is the exemplar the Spirit impressing upon us the similitude of that exemplar we become the Children of God I shall open this a little and shew you what influence Christ has into our Adoption God gives the Elect to Christ as his Children as the Heirs of God and joint-Heirs with Christ they lostt-heir Inheritance in the first Adam and recovered it in the second Adam they now stand in the same relation to God in their measure as Christ does I and the children thou hast given me Heb. 2. 13. The Son of God must become the Son of Man that we might be made the Sons of God in him Gal. 4 4 5. Here comes in our Adoption by vertue of our relation to Christ our elder Brother as one with him Gal. 3. 28. All God's Adopted Children are found in his natural Son mystically united to him deriving from him that filial relation which they have to God Al God's Chidren are of one mould of one shape and fashion all conformable to the image of his Son this is the Mark by which they are known and distinguished from others The great enquiry that God makes is What of Christ there is in us what of Christ there is held forth by us God owns none for his Children but such as resemble Christ Christ is the express Image of the Father and Christians are the express Image of Christ. The reason why God the Father is so well pleased with the man Christ is because he sees his own Image in him he sees himself his own essence in Christ not so in the Saints the Image of the Father in Christ and the Image of Christ in the Saints do agree in many things yet they differ in some the Image of Christ in the Saints is not the essence of God for that is incommunicable to any mere Creature but it is a lively resemblance of all the communicable attributes of God in some degree and measure drawn from the very face of Christ upon the faces hearts and lives of all Christians yet still Christ is the original by eternal Generation the Saints are but so many Copies drawn in time from that Original and they are drawn to the life not only in a way of outward resemblance but by a real inward participation of the Life and Spirit of Christ according to their finite capacity As the humane Nature does subsist in the Divine Person of Christ so our humane Persons so far as we are new Creatures do Subsist in Christ in whom we spiritually live move and have our Being as New Creatures the Divine Graces of Christ do subsist in the Saints by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them i. e. They act the same Graces finitely which Christ acts infinitely they receive of his fulness but cannot contain all his fulness they have not a capacity for that they enter into his fulness but all his fulness cannot enter into them 3. Our Adoption is brought about not only by the Father and the Son but also by the Spirit bearing Witness with our spirit to the truth of the Image of Christ drawn upon the Soul inferring from thence our Adoption The same Image bears the same name implies in a measure the same nature and Spirit to be in us that is in Christ puts us into the same relation to God that the Man Christ stands in the names of things would never occur to our memories if the likeness of the object we look upon did not teach us what to call it conveniunt rebus Nomina c. The Spirit witnesses by inward impressins tho no voice be heard and these impressions are always according to the word the Spirit does not speak from himself suggesting any thing to us not contained in the word but of this more hereafter I am now shewing how Adoption is carried on by the Spirit therefore called the Spirit of Adoption because given only to the Adopted and because he bears witness to them of the good Will of God wherewith the Father hath accepted them in the beloved that he might be a Father to them Tho the Spirit works all other saving Graces in us yet because Adoption is the prime and chief work of the Spirit therefore he is called the Spirit of Adoption 2. The manner of it This is clearly set down Gal. 3. 25. ad finem 'T is Faith makes us the Children of God by joyning us to Christ our union to and communion with Christ the natural Son of God is the Foundation of our Adoption Gal. 3. 29. Christ by coming into the World in our Nature made way for our Adoption of which Baptism is the symbol or sign we are Baptized into Christ we put on Christ are incorporated into him by Faith are all one in him Gal. 3. 27 28. If ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise Gal. 3. 29. All Abraham's believing Posterity are blessed in Isaac i. e. in Christ Gal. 3. 16. They are Children and remain in the House of God i. e. in the Church for ever John 8. 35. 3. The time of it 1. From Eternity in the purpose of God This is virtual Adoption Eph. 1. 5. Hence the Elect not yet called are said to be the Children of God John 11. 52. compare with John 10. 16. God intended Adoption in Predestination and in the fulness of time sent Christ to effect it Gal. 4. 4 5. And his Spirit to evidence it Gal. 4. 6. We were Adopted in the purpose of God before we were born this is virtual Adoption 2. At our effectual vocation then actual Adoption begins we receive the first fruits of it here it follows Faith at least as to our sense of it Ephesians 1. 13. 3. At our Glorification then will our Adoption be compleated and perfected in our Bodies and Souls we shall actually enjoy all the Priviledges of it then there will be a clearer manifestation of the Sons of God the glorious Liberty of the Children of God will more fully appear then now it does Rom. 8. 19 21. Hence the Consummation of our Redemption at the last day is called Adoption Rom. 8. 23. 24. But I now speak only of the present fruits of Adoption which the Saints enjoy in this life CHAP. II. Thirdly How it differs from humane Adoption 1. DIVINE Adoption presupposes a Title to the Heavenly Inneritance by Justification John 1. 12. Humane Adoption gives all the Title that a Man otherwise a Stranger to the Blood hath to the Inheritance of him who adopts him 2. Humane Adoption conveys only outward goods to a person does not change his nature but the Father communicates to us the Spirit and likeness of his natural Son Rom. 8. 29. 3. Humane Adoption is for want of a natural Son 't is an act of law imitating nature for the comfort of those who have no Children But Divine Adoption is from the abounding love of God to us making us joint heirs with his well-beloved Son Though God
himself here under all our Infirmities And he sends his Spirit to put a Beauty and a Comeliness upon us to adorn the Bride to clothe her with beautiful garments against the day of his coming that she may be fit to stand in the Presence of the Bridegroom as the king's daughter all glorious within and without too then being perfectly sanctified both in Body Mind and Spirit The Spirit of Christ gives us access now into the Grace of God but nothing but the glorified Person of Christ can gives us access into the Glory of God Come ye blessed All are admitted into Heaven by the glorified Person of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Christ acting now through the Word in the Absence of the Person of Christ prepares us for his coming keeps us waiting for that blessed day Rev. 22. 17. The spirit and the bride say Come The spirit saith so in the Word saith so in the hearts of the Saints that is makes them to say so The whole Church and every particular Member saith the same thing for himself Amen so come Lord Jesus come quickly If Believers were asked one by one Whether they desire the Coming of their Lord they would all agree with John and say Amen so come Lord Jesus they care not how soon Come quickly They are all of a mind in that thing The earnest longings of every gracious Soul after Christ are from the Spirit of Christ breathing in Believers kindling and keeping up strong desires in them after Christ They retain these desires in their Spirits after death The Souls under the Altar cry out How long Lord holy and true c. Rev. 6. 9 10. We are still to conceive of the Spirit as the Spirit of Christ. It is Christ in us shedding abroad his Love in our hearts uniting them to himself He will see we shall not forget him therefore he dwells in us by his Spirit to keep up love in our hearts to his Person And is not this a good ground of hope That Christ and Saints shall have a joyful meeting ere long who do thus continually remember each other The heart of Christ is towards them and their hearts are towards him They are joined together in one spirit now The Glory of the Saints lies in beholding the Glorified Person of Christ because in him they see the Human Nature so highly dignified and exalted in the Divine Person of Christ. They see the express Image of God in Christ shining out in the brightness of Glory They see the Image of Christ in themselves shining out in the Perfection of Grace When he shall appear they shall be like him which is their Glory Thus Christ dwelling in us now by his Spirit raises our Souls to the Hope of this Glory in the Text. The Application contains a Threefold Exhortation 1. That you would be persuaded to examine and prove your Hopes Whether they be well grounded yea or no. 2. If you find them otherwise not sufficiently grounded upon Christ that you would be persuaded to throw away those vain Hopes to lay them aside And 3. That you would earnestly labour every one of you to come under the Power of this true Christian Hope in the Text and then you will know where you are I begin with the First Let us examine and prove our Hope to be well-grounded upon Christ within us 2 Cor. 13. 5. Know ye not your own selves how that Christ is in you of a truth except ye be Reprobates that is such who dying in that state God will reject at the last day We should do all we can to secure our Hopes lest our Crown be taken from us Hope rises out of Faith yet we must not so take it upon trust as not to be able to give a Reason of it 1 Pet 3. 15. Hope without Faith is Presumption Hope without Faith is without a Reason a foolish Hope Till we are justified by Faith we can have no Hope but we lye under all the damning Circumstances of our sins exposed to the Wrath and Vengeance of God To be without Christ implies all misery Then we have no hope Eph. 2. 12. He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life nor shall ever see life 1 John 5. 12. We should not rest till we know this because it may be known The Spirit is given us to this very end 1 John 3 24. To shew us that we are in Christ and Christ in us John 14. 20 21. Such a manifestation of Christ to us is a great Argument of his love to us ver 21. The Spirit doth testifie of Christ John 15. 26. Besides it is a Glory to Christ to make him our Hope of Glory We render him great in the eyes of men when we look upon him as one who makes us great The generality of men know nothing of Christ but what the Faith and Hope of Christians speak him to be They understand the Language of your Hope who have none themselves How mean thoughts soever they have of Christ yet they cannot but look upon him as one greatly admired by others whose expectations from him are so high Ambition is natural to men all would have Glory tho few take the right way to obtain it The present satisfaction men take in sins may be great yet their Hopes of any future good from them are very small When they give themselves time to think they are usually surprized with some fear of the ill consequence of their sins they are under some secret bodings of some evil that will follow Let them ask their Consciences if it be not so Therefore that you may have more solid grounds of Future Blessedness search for Christ within you rest not till you feel the quicking Influences of his Divine Power and Spirit in your selves till you feel Christ living in you It is one thing to walk as men another thing to walk as Christians in the Spirit of Christ. Did we pray more to the Father to reveal his Son in us form Christ in us make us Partakers of the Divine Nature waiting for the coming down of the Spirit upon us we should be endued with Power from on High we should know what it is to do all things in the strength of Christ to have all our Works wrought in God What it is to act supernaturally which every Christian should aim at experimentally to know what it is to act supernaturally They who do so will know that they do so They cannot be well ignorant of that which is so new so much another thing from all that is Natural They are lifted up above themselves they are carried away by the Spirit of God and they may know that they are in that Spirit every such appearance of God in the Soul is a manifestation of the Spirit not only to others but more especially to our selves The Spirit bears Witness that the Spirit is truth The Spirit witnesseth with and to
choice of his God 6. Many of the more civilized sober Professors even of Christianity are apt to rest in general Notions of a Deity when they don't know God himself they don't know him who is God My Text leads me to speak of The Knowledge of God in Christ if what I shall say be not so plain and easie as you would have it Pray remember that I am speaking of that great mystery of godliness God manifest in the flesh which no tongue neither of men or angels is able fully to set forth and to express Yet I hope through the guidance of the Spirit of God what I shall deliver upon this high Subject will fall in with the Conceptions of your Faith and with the Spiritual Apprehensions of an Enlightned Mind Now I proceed A True Saving Knowledge of God implies these Three Things 1. A Knowledge of God in the Person of Christ Incarnate That God manifest in the Flesh of Christ is the only True God 3. That this only True God manifest in the Flesh is our God CHAP. IV. Of the Knowledge of God in the Person of Christ. WHat this Personal Knowledge of God in Christ is I shall explain We conceive God to be a distinct Being from all created Beings above all beyond all and before all the only Jehovah the Great Essentiator who is an Eternal Being himself and gives Being to all other things this God we cannot see with our bodily eyes but with the eyes of a mind spiritually enlightned we may i. e. we may see him by an eye of Faith conceiving him to be all that which he hath revealed himself to be in Christ. Till we see God in the Person of Christ the Mediator we have no certain Object for our Faith to fix upon our natural Notions of God will never carry us to any Person who is God the Scriptures only lead us to Christ as the Son of God The Person of the Father and of the Holy-Ghost are invisible but the Second Person hath made himself visible by taking our Nature upon him and is the only True Visible Image of the Invisible God He is God-Man which signifies not Two Personalities but Two Natures united in One Divine Person The Person of Christ Incarnate is Divine tho many in the days of his flesh here saw his Person who did not own his Divinity they saw him who was God but did not own him to be God 't is Saving Knowledge only that gives us a true sight of God in Christ we never see him till then God in Christ is God indeed all other representations of God do change his Glory into a lye they are all idols and vanities The Heathens became vain in their imaginations multiplying gods to themselves but never agreed who was the only true God Christ said to the Jews vers 19. Ye neither know me nor my Father if ye had known me ye should have known my Father also because the Will of the Father concerning the Salvation of Sinners is revealed by Christ. To believe the Being of a God That there is a God and to believe in God are two things The light of Nature leads to the former but not to the latter because we must have a particular distinct Knowledge of God i. e. of him in particular who is God the only True Living Eternal God we must know his Name his Attributes his Power Wisdom Infinite Love and Mercy We must be able to prove all this from Divine Revelation before we can have sufficient ground for our Faith and Hope in him to believe we know not why in we know not whom is not Faith but fond Credulity this way we render Faith a very irrational thing a mere fancy We cannot prove the Attributes of God but by the Almighty Acts and Works of God we believe him to be God for his Works sake which the Word gives us so full an account of 'T is strange to see what a slight Knowledg of God men do rest in reposing so great a trust as they pretend to do in one whom they know not whether he be able to answer that trust they worship they know not whom they trust they know not whom Tho they own God whoever he be to be Almighty Infinite in Wisdom Love c. yet they chuse a God for themselves who is none of all this and so deceive themselves General Notions of Infinite Power Wisdom c. unless we see where to place them and to whom they do belong are but empty speculations no sufficient ground for our Faith Christ has outdone all that ever were called gods and therefore he only deserves that Name who has in himself revealed the true God to us all the Idols of the world are vanities The Son of God hath made himself visible by taking our flesh upon him and through that veil we look in upon the whole Trinity and know all that is called God in Christ Jesus He that hath seen me hath seen the Father John 14. 9. hath seen the Infinite Power of that Holy Spirit put forth by me No mere Creature holds forth two Natures but the Person of Christ does and therefore is the only Image of the Invisible God holding forth all that is contained in the Infinite Essence of the Divine Nature truly representing God in all his Essential Properties as God and his Father Christ is properly the Image of the Father not of the God-head for that is really in him he is very God The thing it self cannot be said to be the Image of it self Christ and the Father are one in the Essence of the God-head I and my father are one John 10. 30. But Christ is not the same Person with him whose Image he is When Christ is said to be the Image of God God is taken personally for the Father not essentially for the Divine Nature I am not now speaking of the Characteristical Differences of the Three Persons but of the Unity of Essence in which they all agree These three are one If you would know what manner of God the Father is you must look upon Christ his Image and conceive of him according to that manifestation of himself in the Flesh of Christ who has in that very flesh expressed and acted over all the Divine Attributes of God in the Miracles he wrought upon earth letting out a Divine Power through our humane Nature acting as God in our flesh Something of God's Glory appears in the Works of Creation but the Brightness of his Glory shines out only in the Face of Christ as men are known by their faces so God is known by Christ God having in an ineffable manner communicated his Essence to Christ he is therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the express image of his person As he holds forth the Glory of God to us he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the brightness of his glory This is that Divine Person upon whom the eye of our Faith must be fixed I say
Name comes with authority commands a due respect from us Since we are redeemed with the precious Blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1. 19. Justified by his Blood saved from Wrath through him reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. 5. 9 10. We may conclude from all that has passed between God and Christ concerning our Salvation that God is our God Christ has made him so When we know who is our God what he will be unto us and do for us we may enter into rest for ever rejoycing in his Salvation Two things prove God to be ours 1. His giving himself to us in a Promise 2. Our receiving him in that Promise by Faith which holds him fast will not let him go neither will God wrest himself out of the hand of our Faith for that would be to recede from his own Promise to deny himself no he will approve himself to be every way ours taking a universal Care of us and providing eternally for us causing his fulness to flow in upon our Souls more and more every day Jer. 17. 8. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters that spreadeth her roots by the river and shall not see when heat cometh but her leaf shall be green nor shall cease from yeilding fruit CHAP. VII Some further Evidences of God's being OVR God 1. LOOK into your own hearts for this see what impressions of his Love and Fear you can find there what measure of the Spirit of his Son breathing in you examine prove your own selves that you may know whether Christ be in you of a truth he who has God for his God his heart is much set upon Christ who has brought this about and by a Spirit of Adoption made it known to us that God is our Father the Spirit does not tell us this only by an external Declaration of it in the word but by an internal operation or breathing in our hearts as the Spirit of the Son inclining us to go to God as Children of our Heavenly Father We know God to be our Father by a Divine Instinct the spirit of the Son leads us naturally to our Heavenly Father the Spirit of the Son knows no other Father but God and God acts as a Father towards all in whom he sees the Spirit of his Son when we are joyned to the Lord in one Spirit we stand in the same relation to God the Father as Christ our elder Brother does then it is I and the children which thou hast given me Heb. 2. 13. All Children of the same Father I the first born and these my Brethren Being partakers of the Divine Nature that Nature tells us who is our Heavenly Father we need not say with Philip shew us the Father we shall see the Father in the Son and move towards him in the Spirit of the Son feeling in our selves such childlike affections towards God as will make us call him Father We must be clear in the actings of our Faith upon Christ before we can apprehend God to be our Father still remembring that it 's the Father of Christ who is our Father 2. By that inward satisfaction and rest we find in our selves under this new Covenant-relation to God he that believes doth enter into rest Heb. 4. 3. Soul take thine ease a Child of God may truly say so upon our believing in Christ there is a secret shedding abroad of that love of God in the Soul when we turn to God God turns about to us looks pleasingly upon us we tast and see that God is gracious this is the sinners welcome into a state of Grace he sees it much better with him than before 3. By the confidence we put in him for help and comfort in all our times of need The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want Psalm 23. 1. We see that in God that answers all our fears do we want strength the Lord is our strength would a rock or fortress stand us in any stead God is both would a Buckler a high Tower the Lord is all this to a Believer and Faith understands as much Psal. 18. 1 2. And therefore is confident in God knows that every Promise will be established God will act like a God towards us like a God to Israel as 1 Chron. 17 24 25. We may safely trust in him Dan. 3. 17. Our God is the God of Salvation Psal. 68. 20. Isa. 41. 10. We should apply to him for help upon all occasions Isa. 8. 19. And let others have a care of medling with the people of God to their hurt Jer. 2. 3. All that devour him shall offend evil shall come upon them saith the Lord. They are sensible how God stands engaged to them and they to God God promises to do great things for them and they promise to walk in his ways and to keep his statutes Deut. 26. 16. ad finem Not to do this is to deny God Josh. 24. 27. You say he is your God don't unsay it again by your wilful Disobedience When God owns any for his people he makes them to own him for their God he works answerable Dispositions in their hearts towards himself as he avouches them to be his people so they avouch him to be their God Hos. 2. 23. I will say i. e. I will make them my people Dei dicere est efficere our saying is to believe and obey when we disobey God we disown him we set up something else for our God we say unto God Depart from us Job 21. 14 15. 4. By his appearing for us against all our sworn Enemies as he did for Israel of old bringing them out of Egypt with a Mighty hand when things come to extremities between God and his People he will then save them because he is their God Psalm 3. 7. For his own name sake Isa. 43. 25. David knew the strength of the Argument Psal. 119. 94. Though God may severely Chastise his people yet he will not take away his Loving kindness utterly from them he will not make an utter end of them God cannot do this Hos. 11. 8. 5. By our zealous appearing for God upon all occasions The way of the Lord is strength to the upright Prov. 10. 29. The people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits Dan. 11. 32. 6. The Apostle Phil. 3. 3. when he would prove himself and the Philippians to be the peculiar people of God to belong to him indeed he gives Three Signs of it viz. Worship God in the spirit rejoyce in Christ Jesus have no confidence in the flesh They who say God is their God from a true saving Knowledg of God in Christ they believe there is no other God that he is the only true God Who is God save the Lord who is a rock save our God Psal. 18. 31. Above all gods 2 Chron. 2. 5. And him only will they serve Mat. 4. 10. He is their guide unto death Psal. 48. 14. They
the true Vine bring forth much fruit John 15. 5. The efficacy of Christ's Mediation and the effectual Application of the Merits of his Blood to us in our Justification appears 1. In our Regeneration Tit. 3. 5 6. 2. By preserving us from final Apostacy John 10. 28. John 17. 12. 3. By raising us up unto glory at the last day John 6. 39 40. John 17. 22. In order to all this God chose us in Christ our Mediator from Eternity Eph. 1. 4. The office of a Mediator lies in Trans acting all things with God that concerns the people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 2. 17. That he may save his people from their sins Mat. 1. 21. Christ is Mediator of Redemption to man 1 Tim. 2. 5. Heb. 2. 16. Of Conservation and Confirmation unto Angels who need such a Mediator Job 4. 10. Angels were mutable Creatures till Confirmed by Christ for which they are no doubt very thankful unto God We ought to be thankful not only for deliverance out of evils already come upon us but also for being kept from many evils that might have befallen us as Psal 86. 12 13 Psal. 144. 9 10 11. Upon this account Christ is to be worshipped not only by men but by Angels Heb. 1 6. And Angels being sensible of so great a benefit by Christ their Head they do willingly Minister to his Members Mat. 18. 10. Heb. 1. 14. They rejoyce at the Conversion of sinners Luke 15. 10. They gain more knowledge in Gospel Mysteries by the Church Eph. 3. 10. 1 Pet. 1. 12. They have all Prophetick Revelations from Christ Rev. 19. 10. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophesy All such Gospel discoveries are called the Revelation of Jesus Christ Rev. 1. 1. The word of God and the testimony of Jesus v. 2. Who is the faithful witness v. 5. Men and Angels bare record to the truth of this John did Rev. 1. 2. That Heavenly Host of Angels did it Luk. 2. 13. 14. Angels are a part of the Church which is preserved by Christ Heb. 12. 22. They are called the Sons of God Job 1. 6 Job 2. 1. Elect and therefore in Christ 1 Tim. 5. 21. Therefore that the Angels stand and that fallen man is raised up again both are from Christ our great Mediator and Intercessor whose Prayers are always heard for the Church Zech. 1. 12 13 c. Because Christ hath the same will with the Father John 10. 30. Because Christ is well beloved his Person is Accepted and we in him Ephes. 1. 6. and his Prayers are offered on the Altar of his Godhead Heb. 9. 14. 6. Answer Some Popish Objections and open some Scriptures very much perverted by them 1. Obj. Christ is Mediator in respect of his Humane Nature only as man from 1 Tim. 2. 5. There is one God and one Mediator between God and men tbe Man Christ Jesus Answ. Man here is taken in the concrete for the whole Person of the Mediator not in the abstract for his Humane Nature only in saying the man Christ we don't exclude his Divinity quia in homine Deus est Ambros. The Man Christ and Christ as a man differ very much the First signifies God-man the Second only Man Therefore we say against the Lutherans That though Christ who is man be every where yet Christ as man is not every where these Two Propositions are not equipollent The First is true the Second is false 't is the Error of the Vbiquitarians If Christ were only God or only Man then not medius inter Deum hominem and consequently no Mediator Therefore how can Saints who are only men become fit Mediators When we say the Man Christ the Species is explained and limited by the individuum to such a man who is the Christ of God God and Man 2. Obj. Since Christ our Mediator is Ascended and Glorified and is to resign up his Mediatory Kingdom 't is necessary that others be preferred to that Office v. 9. the Virgin Mary the Apostles Martyrs and Confessors c. Answ. 1. Christ has not yet resigned up his Mediatory Kingdom 2. The Apostle 1 John 2. 1 2. confutes this and says We now have an advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous So Psal. 110. 4. Thou art a priest for ever always making intercession for us Rom. 8. 34. Heb. 9. 24. I grant indeed according to 1 Cor. 15. 24. that Christ will resign up his Mediatory Kingdom to the Father when Sin Death and all the Enemies of the Church are overcome there will be no need of such a Mediator then as Christ now is riding on conquering and to conquer Rev. 6. 2. So long as there are any to be conquered Christ is in a Warlike posture on Horseback but when all are subdued then he possesses the Kingdom in peace with his Father Reigns with him as God to Eternity Triumphing in the final overthrow of all his Enemies Though he then cease from those Mediatory acts which the present necessities of his suffering Church and People call for yet he continues a Mediator still he did not finish that Office in the Garden or upon the Cross that he should be no more a Mediator When 't is said Christ shall deliver up the Kingdom to the Father this is not to be so taken as if the Father did not now Reign or that the Son should not Reign afterwards But because while the Prince of Darkness reigns and the far greater part of the World goes after him God seems not to reign while they won't own him for their King But when Christ shall have conquered all his Enemies and brought all the Elect into a due subjection to God then he shall deliver up the Kingdom in a quiet setled state to the Father so as the Son shall Reign with him for ever for of his kingdom there is no end Luke 1. 33. The subjection spoken of here is not any thing unworthy of Christ but makes rather for his glory to have his humanity more visibly subject to the Divine Nature For as long as Christ holds his Mediatory Kingdom having all Judgment committed to himself doing all himself though by Commission from his Father yet while he is exerting this Regal Authority by virtue of his Mediatory Office it does not so well appear how as Man he is subject to the Father as it will do when God shall be all in all Yet still the Efficacy of Christ's Offices is eternal though the present Execution of them may in divers respects then cease Obj. 3. The Papists hold That though there be but one Mediator of Redemption yet there may be many Mediators of Intercession Answ. If many Mediators in any sense had been necessary to save man this had reflected upon the Grace of God since the sin of one man was enough to damn all mankind By one man's disobedience many were made sinners Rom 5. 19. Wy should not the Obedience of one especially such a Man
Matth. 5. 16. with Rom. 8. 30. and you will find that we are said to glorifie God and God also is said to glorifie us but with this difference We glorifie God by declaring those Divine Excellencies that were in God before God glorifies us by putting an Excellency upon us which we had not before We glorifie God here on Earth God glorifies us in Heaven as our Saviour saith John 17. 4 5. I have glorified thee on earth now O Father glorifie thou me with the glory which I had with thee before the world was What was that I wish I were able to tell you It may be some of you may think I say too much and others too little I desire as God will help me to say something of it that may lead your Thoughts into a further Consideration of this matter Therefore I shall endeavour to open that difficult Scripture Glorifie thou me with that glory which I had with thee before the World was John 17. 5. I conceive thus That Christ's Human Nature upon his Ascension to Heaven was according to its finite capacity lifted up by vertue of the Hypostatical Union into the Essential Glory of the Godhead which did not so shine forth in the Man Christ here on Earth as it doth now in Heaven It was under an Eclipse then in his state of Humiliation but now this Glory is fully communicated to the Human Nature of Christ and through Christ unto us John 17. 22. compared with Joh. 14. 20. I am in my father and ye in me and I in you saith he I say the Glory of the Godhead is communicated to the Human Nature of Christ and through Christ unto us who are united to him And by vertue of this Union the other Two Persons of the Trinity the Father and the Holy Ghost are said to dwell in us and to be in us The Father dwells in us and we in him 1 John 4. 12 13 16. If we dwell in Love we dwell in God and God dwells in us that is we have deep Apprehensions of the Love of God And the Spirit dwells in us Rom. 8. 11. comp with 1 Cor. 3. 16. I speak this to shew how near we are brought to God in Glory to the Father Son and Holy Ghost And thus you see how Saints are glorified in Christ blessed with all Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly Places in Christ Eph. 1. 3. And how Christ is glorified in them John 17. 10. Christ takes the Saints into his own Glory which is their Glorification perfective of their Happiness And this Manifestation of the Glory of Christ in and upon the Saints is said to be a glorifying of Christ John 17. 10. The Original Glory of Christ shining out upon us is our Glorification which doth consist in the Beatifical Vision in beholding the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ we see him face to face 1 Cor. 13. 12. Mat. 18. 10. We see him as he is which transforms us into his likeness 1 Joh. 3. 2. We then appear with him in glory Col. 3. 4. Joh. 7. 24. What can we conceive of this Glory What is this Glory The Scripture sets it forth by Allusions to things that are natural and so shall I. Glory then is a Splendor or Lustre arising up and resulting from the Beauty and Excellency of a thing above other things So God outshines all Creatures being transcendingly Good So that Glory in its perfection as it is in God the Fountain of it it is a continual Effulgency and Brightness flowing from God the Perfection of Beauty He dwells in inaccessible Light This is called sometimes The brightness of his glory Heb. 1. 3. always sending forth resplendent Beams and Rays of Light which do reach us in Heaven and do reflect a Glory upon us Thus the Glory of God is set forth in Scripture by things that are most glorious in our sight And I must tell you That Faith sees something in God that is beyond all these Metaphors of Light and Brightness I say beyond all these Notions of Light and Brightness a more excelling Glory in comparison of which all created Glory is no Glory But the Beatifical Vision is aboâ—e all the Visions of this Glory that Faith now gives us because it fills and satisfies the whole Capacity of our Souls We are then possessed of all and desire no more The School-men tell us Heaven is Appetitus quietivum doth satisfie and quiet the Desires of a man So saith the Scripture Psal. 17. 15. When I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likeness speaking of the Resurrection If the Love of the world is in you the love of the father is not in you 1 John 2. 15. If we are still flying out in our affections after worldly things it is a sign our minds are not quieted and satisfied with God alone School-Divines say further That in Hell there is fear but Heaven is above all Hope And they give this reason for it Because in Hell there is Successio Poenarum a Succession of Punishment which causes Fear but say they in Heaven Glory is absque Successione without Succession i. e. 'T is all present before ' em I suppose they mean this That the Saints above have a kind of actual Comprehension of their Eternal Beatitude in which there is nothing past or to come but all as present before them They don't Hope but certainly know that their Blessedness doth continue for ever That is I say the Saints above after the Resurrection cannot be more happy to all Eternity than they are the first moment of their Glorification And this I mean by an actual Comprehension of our Eternal Beatitude All is as present to Glorified Saints Brethren If these things seem difficult to you and do pass your knowledge are above your comprehension it is your happiness it is so that there is more Glory reserved for you than you can conceive Eye hath not seen ear hath not heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that love him Besides pray consider we that are Ministers do prophesie but in part we see but through a glass darkly no wonder then if these things seem abstruse and enigmatical The more spiritually-minded you are about these deep things of God seriously considering the Sufferings of Christ and the Glory that shall follow as 1 Pet. 1. 11. the more plain and evident will this Glory be unto you You will know more of it than the Tongue of Men or Angels can express There are certain Elevations of an enlightned mind that do sometimes raise our Apprehensions of Divine Mysteries above and beyond our ordinary thoughts of them The Spirit takes us up into the Mount of Glory and shews us the things of Christ more demonstatively than any Minister in the World is able to do When we are heaving at some heavy body we lift here and we lift there and it may be upon some sudden
c. In the day thou eatest thou shalt die Nothing does establish this Law and give it its full course towards Believers but faith in Christ Jesus who was made a curse and died according to Law for our sins and being risen again he brings those whom he freed from the curse of the Law under the blessing of the Gospel giving eternal Life as a free-gift to all who thankfully receive it from his hand by faith owning him as the Author and Donor of it 3. The nature of the Offence as committed against an infinite God requires a price equivalent to it of infinite value none but God could satisfie God the wrath of God is asswaged by the blood of God and that he might bleed he became Man the Second Person of the Trinity as incarnate died for man tasted death for us in our nature which he still kept hypostatically untied to his own Divine Person for Christ by dying did not lay down humane Nature but humane Life only which he took up again and now lives for ever as a quickning Spirit communicating eternal Life to Believers through his humane nature now glorified in Heaven Therefore Christ is said to be our life Col. 3. 4. And this life is in his son 1 John 5.11 Hid with Christ in God Col. 3. 3. The life which we derive from mere humane nature will quickly fail but the life which we derive by faith form the Divine Person of the Son of God is everlasting John 3. 16. As the father hath life in himself so hath he given to the son to have life in himself John 5. 26. i. e. He is life essentially the essence of the Deity is communicated by the Father to Christ incarnate and so he becomes the Fountain of life to us therefore let all those who hope to inherit eternal life join themselves by faith to Christ the only Fountain of life How little of this hidden life does appear in the effects of it among Professors We live more by sense than faith very solicitous about natural life but how few do carry it as those who have eternal life abiding in them 1 John 3. 15. Living in the flesh by the faith of the Son of God Gal. 2. 20. Who fell a Sacrifice for our sins but rose again and now lives for ever And gives eternal life to as many as the father hath given him John 17. 2. He has undertaken to the Father to draw all the Elect into a participation of that eternal life which he as man possess now in Heaven and because he lives we shall live for ever in him The Second person in the Trinity died as a man in our human nature to satisfie the Law and to evidence the reality of his death he lay buried three days in the Grave he was alive as God when dead as Man what a profound Mystery is this that the Deity of Christ should suffer his human Body to fall under the power of death for three days this shews the strength of sin the strength of the law and the strength of the wrath of God that so great a man as Christ was could not stand under and live die he must by the sanction of the law being found in the likeness of sinful flesh Rom. 8. 3. bearing our sins in his own Body on the Tree but the dignity of his person was such and the extremity of his sufferings so great that his three days death was equivalent to eternal death he did that in three days which a damned sinner in Hell cannot effect to eternity for that which is doing to eternity can never be actually done and compleated i. e. Christ gave full satisfaction to the Law in three days and therefore could not longer be detained in the Grave there was no Law nor Reason for it having paid the utmost farthing of our whole Debt the Prison-doors were opened and Christ let out That which keeps the Damned in Hell for ever is because they can never fully satisfie the law of God by all their sufferings therefore they must suffer on still to eternity but Christ by one offering hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10. 14. Christ could have chose whether he would have died or no but for this end he came into the World and did voluntarily yield up himself to the Death of the Cross but rising the Third Day he lives for ever and has brought eternal life into human Nature to be communicated to all his Members who cannot forfeit that life which they derive from the second Adam as we all did that which we derived from the first Adam In Adam all die and in Christ all are made alive 1 Cor. 15. 22. CHAP. II. To whom was this PRICE paid FIfthly To whom was this Price paid viz. Into the hands of God the Father to appease his wrath under which we were Joh. 3. 36. God's justice requires this 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the judgment of God that sinners are worthy of death Rom. 1. 32. To this end Christ is our propitiation Rom. 3. 25. Reconciling God to us that we may be received into his favour again hence God declares in the new Covenant I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more Heb. 8. 12. Sing O ye heavens c. Isa. 44. 23. vide That satisfaction that Christ gave to the Justice of God lay in his bearing the Punishment of our sins which is the wrath of God in all the dreadful effects of it 2 Cor. 5. 21. 1 Pet. 2. 24. He was made a curse for us Gal. 3. 13. Died for us Mat. 20. 28. Isa. 53. 5. Was cut off for our sins Dan. 9. 26. Death was required to make satisfaction for sin In the day thou eatest c. The Wages of sin is death Rom. 6. 23. There is no escaping this death for us but by dealing with the Justice of God in some way that may satisfie Justice and save the sinner this Christ undertook and by his own Death effected for us He gave himself for our sins Gal. 1. 4. His Blood was the Price of our Redemption Price here is not taken as vulgarly for Money but whatever may satisfie him in whose hands the captive is that is the Price of Redemption God does not seek to make a gain of us that which he stand upon is the vindication of the honour of his Law and Justice the maintaining his Truth and Faithfulness To declare his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth ion Jesus Rom. 3. 26. Christ did not pay the Price of our Redemption to the Devil but to God the Father who had power to condemn us and as a Judge to detain us in prison till his Justice was satisfied therefore Christ deals with the Law-giver takes the penalty upon himself Whilst the condemning power of the Law is in force against us the Devil has a right in
and Fear lest we should not walk worthy of it unto all well-pleasing Grace pleases a Believer so well that he cannot but study to please God in all things ever after the Law of Grace constrains him Obs. The clearer Gospel-Light we live under the more holy we should be in our lives and conversations not continuing in sin because Grace abounds Since we are delivered from the terror and bondage of the Law let us not desire to be under it Gal. 4. 21. We are not under the Law but under Grace or which is all one are not come unto Mount Sinai but unto Mount Sion God was very terrible upon Mount Sinai but very amiable and gentle upon Mount Sion sitting upon a Throne of Grace ready to shew Mercy to all who come unto him Heb. 7. 25. he will in no wise cast off any So that Believers now are in a far better case than they were under the Old Testament they enjoy now far greater Priviledges and among the rest we have a more powerful Mediator than Moses was even Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant CHAP. III. Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant IN opening these Words I shall speak to these following Heads viz. 1. What a Mediator is 2. The difference between Moses and Christ. 3. The necessity of a Mediator between God and fallen man 4. How Christ was fitted and qualified for the Office of a Mediator 5. What are those special Mediatory Acts that Christ puts forth 6. Answer some Popish Objections and open some Scriptures very much perverted by them 7. Shew what use we should make of Christ our Mediator First What a Mediator is viz. One who interposes himself as a middle person between two or more who are at variance that he may reconcile them and joyn them together in a New Covenant A Mediator is one coming between two parties at variance to take up the quarrel and reconcile them Medium refertur ad duo extrema the middle refers to two extremes so a Mediator is not of one Gal. 3. 20. There must be two at variance God is one there must be some other at variance with God else no need of a Mediator whilst God and man were one i. e. united in love and affection for then they are said to be one Joh. 17 21. 1 Cor. 6. 17. of the same nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. But there being a difference between God and man Christ is not the Mediator of one i. e. of God only but of God and man God and sinful man for God and a just man are not at variance The first Covenant in Innocency was made between persons perfectly united and agreed the second Covenant between persons mortally offended therefore this needed a Mediator extrema unjuntur in medio So here 2 Cor. 5 18 19. A Mediator stands in the middle to unite both extremes So Christ is the Prince of Peace Isa. 9 6. The Parties disagreeing are God and Man the cause of the difference is sin Isa. 59. 2. which cannot be expiated but by the blood of Christ and because God would not contend for ever Isa. 57. â—6 he sent his Son to dye for our sins and so to make Peace Rom. 5. 10. A Mediator is one who takes hold of both disagreeing Parties one with his right the other with his left hand so bringing them together in Love as Job 9. 33. Isa. 41. 10. God and Man agreeing in one Mediator do walk together Amos 3. 3. The Person of the Mediator as Mediator is inferior to the Father by a voluntary exinanition of himself in the form of a servant but he is above us 1. As God by his Divine Nature 2. As Man by the Purity of his Humane Nature 3. By vertue of his Office and high Prerogatives belonging to it Mediator and Saviour are all one for Mediation is in order to Salvation one the means the other the end He is our Saviour because he is our Mediator Heb. 7. 25. The knowledg of a Mediator is not from the Creatures but from the Scriptures 't is a point of revealed Religion to know who is our Mediator even the Son of God Secondly The difference between Moses and Christ as to their Mediation 1. Christ as Mediator of the new Covenant effectually wins and draws to it all those to whom the benefit of this Covenant belongs he undertakes for the full accomplishment of the Covenant on both sides So did not Moses He was mediator of the old covenant Gal. 3. 19. Exod. 20. 19. Deut. 5. 4 5. 2. The Mediator of the New Testament must die because he is the Testator as well as Mediator Heb. 9. 15 16 17. vide The Priests under the Law did offer Sacrifice but did not offer up themselves as Christ did Moses was only a Ministerial Mediator he was not the Author of the Covenant but only a Witness to the delivery and publication of it in God's Name by his Hand But Christ himself is the Author of the New Covenant and he stands engaged to make good the terms of it to take up the difference between God and us Eph. 2. 14. He is our peace Man's reconciliation with God was drawn into a Covenant therefore Christ is called the Mediator of the New Covenant he is both our Mediator and our Ransom he that is our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is also our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 John 2. 1 2. 3. The Priest and Sacrifices of old were tipes of Christ the great Mediator of the New Testament the only high Priest who is both Priest and Sacrifice 4. Under the Law many Sacrifices and they often repeated Heb. 10. 11. But in the Gospel but one Sacrifice and but once offered Heb. 9. 28. Heb. 10. 12 14 18. 5. Christ does not only intercede with the Father for us Joh. 16. 23. but promises to do it himself John 14. 14. He does not only intercede for us as an Advocate but himself hears our Prayers and grants our Petitions so could not Moses he is an extraordinary Mediator not only procuring remission from the Party offended but actually remitting the offence himself 6. The new Covenant comprehends both Jew and Gentile Eph. 2. 14 15. Eph. 1. 10. So did not the old 7. There was only Typical forgiveness in the old Covenant as pertaining to the conscience Heb. 9. 9 10 13 14. Heb. 10. 1 2 3. But real forgiveness in the new Heb. 10. 16 17. A real purging the Conscience Heb. 9 14. 8. Moses was not Surety of the new Covenant unto God on the part of the people but only an Internuncius or middle agent between them declaring the mind of God unto the people 9. The Sinai Covenant had relation to the Covenant of Grace and therefore the Ceremonial Law was annexed to it Circumcision was a Seal not of the Covenant of works as the Jews misconceived but of the second Covenant of Righteousness by Faith Rom. 4. 11. Confirmed before of God in Christ Gal. 3.
of man made of the dust of the Earth laying aside all consideration of sin made it impossible for man to be brought so near to God as Christ has brought him 'T is something difficult to apprehend how Adam in Innocency held Communion with God how he could pray without a Mediator But after he fell for those few hours before the Promise of Christ came to him no doubt he was full of horror The Text says he was afraid and hid himself from the presence of the Lord Gen. 3. 8 9 10. But Christ interposes took our nature upon him to convey his to us to make that ours by Grace which was his by Nature so uniting us to God again CHAP. IV. 4. How Christ was fitted and qualified for the Office of a Mediator HE had the Nature of both parties in him as our Immanuel Isa. 7. 14. He had a right in both as God manifest in the Flesh he stood in the middle between both parties and may be called the Third Isa. 19. 24. because Israel was joined in league and amity with Egypt and Assyria they all had an interest in one another all were Blessed of God v. 25. So God and man considered as united in a Third Person who is God-man they both have an interest in him and he is them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mediator is one who stands in the middle between Two partaking of both the extreams In this sense Christ is a middle Person medius not only by Office but by Nature as God-man Divinity and Humanity being substantially united in his Person he must be God that he may be able to satisfie he must be man that he may be in a capacity to die So that medius may refer to the Person Mediator to the Office the Office depends upon the Person such an Office requires such a Person who was God-man Christ is a Mediator according to both his Natures as God-man as his Divine Person is Incarnate in Christ's Mediation both natures are imployed and do act distinctly His Deity did what was Divine his Humanity what was Humane and what was done according to either Nature is ascribed to his Person The Person of the Mediator hath something common to both the dissenting parties viz. The same essence of the Godhead though not the same Personality with the Father and the Holy Ghost and the same humane Nature with us not numerical but specifical In the Incarnation of Christ humane Nature is not individuated to a formal subsistency in this particular Man by the Divine Essence but by the Personality of the Son and therefore the Son is said to be Incarnate because the Person of the Son gives humane Nature a subsistency in himself The Person of Christ joins Two Natures not disagreeing for the sinless Humanity of Christ was never contrary to his Divinity though inferior to it Christ thus Incarnate lays out himself to reconcile God and man which his Two Natures do fit him for disposing and giving an aptitude to the Office of a Mediator for Christ is Mediator oeconomically and by Office Christ's assuming humane Nature was part of his Humiliation and did fit him for his Mediatory Office Phil. 2. 7 8. Though as has been said there was no enmity between God and Christ's sinless humane Nature yet as 't is in us 't is defiled and contrary to God therefore Christ mediates for us with the Father Though Christ Offered up himself a Sacrifice for us in humane Nature yet the whole Divine Person may be said to be offered up in that Nature John 10. 17 18. Christ speaks there as Mediator the power that he had of laying down and taking up his life was the power of the Divine Person not of his humane Nature Some of the Schoolmen have this apt similitude viz. As a man draws a Sword out of a Scabbard holding the Sword in one hand and the Scabbard in the other so the Divine Person of Christ separated his Soul from the Body as a Sword from the Scabard and yet kept both parts united to himself Toletus Christ took our Flesh in which he was mortal and freed even our flesh from that mortality when he raised it from the dead Aug. de Civ D. l. 9. c. 15. mortalitatem habuit transeuntem and so raising us ex mortuis facit immortales Who could swallow up death but he who was life it self It makes much for the relief of fearful Consciences that our Mediator is God-man we should tremble at the mention of God only but when we hear he is Man as well as God then we come willingly to a man like our selves God hath hid and veiled his Majesty under our flesh that the brightness of his Glory might not overcome us When God appeared of old to the Patriarchs it was in some visible shape which he took up for that time and laid down again but now he has really taken the substance and truth of humane Nature into a fixed union to the Person of his Son never to be dissolved Heb. 1. 1. Christus Incarnandus was Mediator under the Old Testament as Exod. 23. 20 21. This could not be a created Angel because he had power to forgive sin therefore it was Christ to come apud Deum facta facienda things actually done and to be done hereafter things present and to come are all one Jesus Christ the same yesterday to day and for ever Heb. 13. 8. Who was verily fore-ordained 1 Pet. 1. 20. Faith in Christ to come saved our fore-fathers Christ was an effectual Mediator then in esse cognito not in esse reali this gives present efficacy to a moral Cause hence Abraham had the benefit of Christ's Mediation therefore he rejoyced John 8. 56 58. The Israelites are said to tempt Christ 1 Cor. 10. 9. Therefore he was with the Church then so verse 4. called a rock David calls Christ Lord Psal. 110. 1. Which shews that Christ had power over him to save him to redeem him so that you see Christ tho not actually Incarnate procured Remission of sin for the Saints then who acted Faith on Christ to come they saw him a far off Numb 24. 17. Promises do signifie something before they are fulfilled the Merits of Christ's Blood being known to God before it was actually shed had its vertue and influence from the beginning According to the Divine Oeconomy Christ mediates with the Father only he is never in Scripture brought in praying to the Son or the Spirit Christ as God-man is Mediator to himself as he is essentially God and Christ as Mediator is inferior to himself As he is essentially God so he is the Party offended but as Mediator God-man so he is the party that makes reconciliation A Mediator is not of one i. e. He consists of two distinct Natures Angels and Saints are mere Creatures and never will be more and therefore will make but sorry Mediators the Man Christ is the highest Creature Image of God because he
to bring us to God 1 Pet. 3. 18. And that he may effect this he shews us God in himself They who have not seen God in Christ they know not what God is they have never yet seen him who is invisible This is the Excellency of the Christian Religion That it brings us to the knowledge of that very Person who is God which cannot be said of any other Religion whatever CHRIST THE Foundation of our Adoption GAL. IV. 5. That we might receive the Adoption of sons CHAP. I. Of Adoption in general THE Apostle here shews the difference between the Jewish and the Gentile Church That was as an Heir in his Minority This as an Heir come to full age All Old Testament Saints were God's Heirs But living under a darker Dispensation of Gospel Grace before the coming of Christ in the flesh in that respect they were under age and in bondage under the Elements of the World but when the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under the law v. 4 5. i. e. To free them from the servile Discipline of the Law pouring our a more ample measure of his Spirit upon Believers now That we might receive the Adoption of Sons Old Testament Sains were Children as well as we they are so called Deut. 14. 1. Jer. 31. 20. Isa. 63. 16. Doubtless thou art our Father they had God for their Portion Lam. 3. 24. were Heirs as well as we Gal. 4. 1. But their time and ours was not the same they lived in the beginning of Gospel time when Grace first broke out the Glass was then first set a running and is now run to a fulness v. 4. i. e. to the time appointed of the father v. 2. For the fuller manifestation of Gospel-Grace Adoption is not to be restrained altogether to the times of the New Testament the Saints of Old had their share of it sucked some comfort from those more obscure Promises of Gospel-Grace they were acted by some love as well as fear truly Saints now are not altogether without their fears under this abundance of Grace that is revealed to them so that their Adoption and ours differ not in substance but in the manner of Revelation 't is clearer to us than it was to them Adoption in Scripture is taken more largely as including those who are Sons of God by Name only as all common Professors who are but externally in Covenant such are called the Sons of God and of the Kingdom Gen. 6. 2. Mat. 8. 12. But such Children may prove Bastards not true sons of God So God chuseth the Nation of the Jews to be his peculiar People this is called Adoption Rom. 9. 4. Exod. 4. 22. Jer. 31. 1. This was a type or resemblance of our spiritual Adoption in Christ and in this strict sense I now take it as it is applicable only to those who are the Children of God from special Saving Grace who have the Nature Affection and Disposition of Children Christ is the Son of God by eternal Generation Angels by Creation Believers by a voluntary Adoption and of this I am now to speak First What this Adoption is 1. As to the thing it self Adoption is a high expression of Godâ—s love to us a clear evidence of that great intimacy and nearness that is between God and Believers who are admitted into fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. How our Adoption rises from the Son-ship of Christ by vertue of our Union to and Communion with him I shall shew in its proper place For the present take this general description of it viz. 'T is a gracious act of God giving all Believers power to become the Children of God John 1. 12. looking upon them ever after as such taking them into his Family and under his eternal Care Eph. 2. 19. Eph 3. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi filii constituti constituted ordained and appointed by God to be his Children to be in the state and condition of Children unto him Power to become i. e. jus or right to Adoption the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a lawful Liberty or License given by God 1 Cor. 8. 9. So here Believers do not usurp a Name or Title that does not belong to them God has called them his Children and made them his Children therefore they may lawfully and rightfully be called by that Name The word also implies a special Prerogative Dignity and Honour conferred upon them which is primarily intended in this place As Justification so Adoption makes only a relative change of state in the Judgment of God reckoning or reputing us to be his Children whom he will love and own as such 2. As to its order and place in Divinity how comes it in and where after what 'T is an Article of Faith I am now enquiring What joint in the whole body of Divinity is the proper Seat of this Article that we may know what immediately goes before it and what immediately follows after it We have not a right Method or Scheme of Divinity in our Heads till we see the coherence dependance and reference that one Gospel-truth hath with upon and to another that stands next it There is some variation here among Divines tho no material difference some referring it to Predestination some to Vocation some to Justification some to Sanctification and some to Glorification indeed it has some reference to all those as will appear by and by I conceive Adoption comes orderly to be considered after Justification as an Appendix or consequent of it it presupposes Faith John 1. 12. And therefore is no part of Justification but a Spiritual priviledge flowing from it Believers have a double right to Heaven one from Redemption the other from Filiation this is an accumulative right ex abundanti given purposely to confirm them in their hope of Glory Rom. 8. 17. Adoption tends to Glorification and gives a right to it I mean it is not the Meritorious cause but only causa dispositiva it doth naturally tend both to Sanctification and Glorification God draws Arguments from one act of his Grace towards us to proceed further and further in a way of Grace with us having made us his Children it pleases him to give us a Kingdom Secondly How it is brought about as to the cause manner and time of it 1. The cause of it 1. The free Grace of God the Father not any Merit of ours John 3. 1. Eph. 1. 5. Therefore we should be thankful to him for it Col. 1. 12. To the father who hath made us meet c. He hath wrought us for the self-same thing 2 Cor. 5. 5. Who hath not only conferred a right of inheriting Glory but also hath suited and qualified our hearts and nature by his Grace to enjoy this glory and delight in it 2. As God the Father is the prime Author of Adoption so Christ
just consequences of our Faith we have not always that presence of mind cannot so soon recollect our selves as to be always under the light of that demonstration that Faith well studied and acted can and does sometimes make of our Adoption and then the Spirit comes in and helps us under our present Temptations gives such an unquestionable Testimony of the truth of that which we were in some suspence about that we can doubt no more but are setled and established in our belief of it so that when the Soul is clouded when Faith is not so ready and prompt as formerly to make clear aud evident proof of our Adoption cannot set before us so plainly the reasons and grounds of it the Spirit 's Testimony puts the matter out of doubt and makes us not only to know but to feel that we are the true Children of God by that Childlike disposition towards God and our Heavenly Father which we find in our selves If you observe how the Children of God come out of their doubts about their Adoption you 'll find it to be this way the same Scriptures and spiritual reasons that Faith alone cannot set home at one time do suddainly enter and prevail at another time we see that in them now that convinces us which we could not see before and this is from the testimony of the Spirit witnessing with our Spirit our Spirit was alone before labouring to perswade and convince but could not then in comes the Spirit and gives such a corroborating Testimony with our Spirit that in the mouth of these two Witnesses the truth is confirmed and cleared up to our full satisfaction Worldly men boast of their being the Children of God tho they do the works of the Devil this is from their own Spirit not from God's As we are to attend to the witness of the Spirit so we should 2. Apply our selves often to God as our Father say Our father which art in heaven from the instinct of the Divine Nature in us we cannot be beaten out of it but that God is our Father Doubtless thou art our father tho Abraham be ignorant of us Isa. 63. 16. We don't doubt of that we will lie at thy feet and commit our selves to thy care not questioning thy love to us A woman may forget her sucking child and not have compassion on the son of her womb yet thou wilt not forget us Isa. 49. 15 16. Therefore cry Abba Father he is not the God of the Jews only but of the Gentiles also the believing Gentiles may in their several Languages cry Father with as much confidence as the Jews cryed Abba if you from your hearts own God as your Father he will answer to that name and call you his Children make the Tryal when you will in uprightness of heart you will find his Fatherly Bowels will earn towards you he has stiled himself your Heavenly Father and your naming that word in Faith will have a secret influence upon your Souls and let in a sense of his Fatherly love to you and make you pray like his Children the more you do express a willingness to have God for your Father counting your selves happy in that relation the more willing is God to own you for his Children here is a poor Soul says God who counts himself utterly undone if I do not become a Father to him he has cast himself down at my Feet I cannot contain my self any longer from owning him as my dear Child I must tell him so Son Daughter be of good cheer I am thy Father and will be a Father to thee for ever all that I have is thine This is the highest degree of comfort we are capable of in this World to live under a clear manifestation of the love of God to us in Christ Jesus Obj. I can sometimes call God Father and do think my self to be his Child yet I am afraid he won't own me because I have been a rebellious Child I have sinned greatly against him and am afraid to come into his presence Ans. So it was with the Prodigal Luk. 15. 21. But his Father instead of taking notice of his former Miscarriages sets himself to give him all the demonstrations of his love immaginable in the highest expressions of his kindness to him v. 22 23 24. And so does God carry it towards a returning Sinner But if after all doubts still remain you are still under a secret Trepidation in your own mind that you shall not be accepted of the Father that he will not own you for his Child Then 3. Consider your alliance to Christ apply to him as your elder Brother A brother is born for the day of adversity Prov. 17. 17. Never was there such a Brother as Christ he is not ashamed to call us Brethren Heb. 2. 11. Tho he be so infinitely above us being the only Natural Son of God his first-born yet Believers by the Grace of Adoption are called his first-born too Heb. 12. 23. Being mystically joyned to Christ the natural Son of God Adam in his innocency was never so joyned in that nearness to God the priviledge of the first-born under the Law belongs to Believers now who are therefore made Priests unto God The Foundation of our Adoption lies in our Alliance to Christ our elder Brother who is able to bring us into and to fix us in that relation to God Because 1. He hath a great interest with the Father as his well-beloved Son you may think your selves not beloved but you cannot think so of Christ who is the express Image of the Father if Christ be so like the Father and the Saints so like Christ then stand before God in the Image of Christ and you will find every cast of God's Eye upon his Son Christ will reach your hearts Christ in you draws the eye and the heart of God towards you for all the acts of love and complacency that God puts forth towards the Person of the Son do extend themselves to all the operations of the Spirit of the Son in the hearts of Believers let me tell you God cannot disown you but he must disown Christ in whom you are and who is in you let God look either upon Christ or upon Believers he still sees them both together one in another John 17. 21 22 23. Then keep close to Christ go to the Father in his name to his Father and your Father if not to your Father yet go as to his Father when Faith cannot act one way yet it may do the same thing another way when it cannot enter in at one door it may enter in at the other door of the same House what can't be proved by one medium may be proved by another the Devil can never so block up all ways of access to God but Faith will break through somewhere 't will either find a way or make a way 2. Because he is a merciful and faithful High Priest Heb. 2. 5. Every
way fitted for the Office of a Mediator touched with the feeling of our Infirmities in all points tempted as we are Heb. 4. 15. A body hast thou prepared me Heb. 10. 5. i. e. Framed to such a temper that Christ through our nature might best express God's love to man Christ acted over the life of God in man's nature therefore it was necessary that the humane Nature of Christ should be adapted and suited to the Divine Nature which was done three ways viz. First By the perfection of it being free from all contagion of sin by a miraculous conception the Holy Ghost over-shadowing the Virgin Mary and separating humane Nature in the first conception of Christ from original sin that descends down upon it in all who come into the World by natural Generation Secondly By the Hypostatical union of the humane Nature to the Divine in the second Person of the Trinity which eternally secures our humane Nature in Christ from all possibility of the least defection puts it quite out of the power of the Devil any way to corrupt or vitiate it by all his subtil contrivances and temptations by which he did vainly attempt such a thing perfect Nature in the first Adam I don't say could not but did not preserve it self Adam did not fall for want of light and knowledge no he could never have fallen unless he would 't was from the mutability of his Will that he fell but the humane Nature of Christ the second Adam being under the Government of a Divine immutable Will can never fall hence it is that our standing in Christ is secured to eternity Thirdly By the pouring out of the Spirit without measure upon him that so strengthned all his humane Faculties that 't was impossible the Devil should ever impose upon him such an overflowing fulness of the Spirit leaves no room for any carnal impression to be made upon him his humane Nature received such a Divine tincture from the essence of the Godhead so powerfully influencing his Manhood that the Devil found nothing in him to work upon he met with God in every thought in every word in every Action of Christ in every motion and affection of his heart and finding one so much greater than himself continually aiding and strengthning the Man Christ he despairs of Victory and leaves him The Devil was not mistaken in the Nature of the Man Christ which was really humane but he was mistaken in the Person of Christ which was solely Divine such a Person in such a Nature he never thought to meet with that which posed the Devil was the Person of Christ he might know him to be God and yet apply himself to him as Man that he is sure he was he could not conceive how humane Nature could subsist but in a humane Person and as such a Person he set upon him but found it hard to kick against the pricks such a mighty Man he never grapled with before he was so shamefully foyled in this encounter that he never durst look Christ in the face afterwards he came behind him often like a Coward in disguise and by his wicked Instruments annoyed him all he could but durst not send him a second Challenge to fight it out with him once more hand to hand no he had enough of that already now he foams and rages at a distance throws his fiery darts here and there strikes at the Image of Christ in the Saints where ever he sees it but dares not come up to his Person face to face the great thing that the Devil dreads in the second coming of Christ he knows that is the time of his torment Therefore having such a high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens Heb. 8. 1. who is not ashamed to call us Brethren let us not be ashamed to call God Father Christ will bear us out in it the Children of God as such are not known to the World 1 John 3. 1. Have hard usage from the World 2 Cor. 48. 9 10. Yet God knows them is kind to them and tender of them Isa. 54. 11. Behold now we are the sons of God 1 John 3. 2. Now under all our infirmities and afflictions God is with us in the fire and in the water he has a great love to and very high esteem of all his Children since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable and I have loved thee Isa. 43. 2 3 4. He will by no means take away his loving kindness utterly from them Psal. 89 32 33. Deut. 8. 5. We are apt to think otherwise Isa. 49. 14. Zion said the Lord hath forsaken me my Lord hath forgotten me We shall be apt to entertain hard thoughts of God upon all occasions if we live not under the daily sense of our Adoption in which we see the Fatherly love of God flowing down so strongly towards us through Christ that we cannot but greatly rejoyce in it THE NECESSITY OF Preaching CHRIST I COR. I. 23 24. But we preach Christ crucified c. THE design of the Apostle here is to vindicate the Doctrine of our Salvation by Christ from all those Aspersions that were cast upon it both by the Jews and Gentiles the Gospel then was as much cry'd down by some as it was cry'd up by others The Apostle tells you who were for it and who were against it he divides all men into two ranks viz. The Called and Uncalled the Converted and Unconverted he tells you that they who were effectually Called and Converted were for the Gospel but the Uncalled and Unconverted were against it and as it was then so it is now Hence note Obs. That all unregenerate Persons whether Jews or Gentiles will have a fling at the Gospel 't is contrary to them and they are as contrary to it they can't reach the Mystery of it and therefore do slight and contemn it but all who are effectually called and savingly enlightned do highly prize it they see much of the Power and Wisdom of God in that excellent contrivance of Man's Salvation by Christ they desire to know nothing but Christ and him Crucified Let us have a care we do not darken the evidence of our Conversion by a Spirit of opposition to the Gospel in the main fundamental points of it I shall do little else in this Exercise but open the terms of the text observing some things by the way But we preach Christ crucified c. He shews the matter and manner of his Preaching in this Chapter what he Preached and how 1. The matter of his Preaching or what he Preached viz. The Gospel v. 17. The Cross v. 18. Or Christ Crucified v. 23. 2. The manner of his Preaching v. 17. Not with Wisdom of words So 1 Cor. 2. 4. vide Vnto the Jews a stumbling-block they were offended at Christ's low mean humble state in the flesh they did not look for any great matter from such