his first step to his glory and therefore this a certaine Demonstration 25 1. From the first gracious message which Christ after his Resurrection sent his Disciples who yet had forsaken him 26 2. From his carriage and speech at his first meeting with them 25 §. III. Demonstrations from passages at and after Christs Ascension into heaven 1. At his Ascension his blessing his Disciples 32 2. After he was come to heaven 1. Pouring out his Spirit on them as in his last Sermon he had promised which Spirit is to this day in our Preaching and an Argument of the fulfilling of this 33 2. All those works of Miracles and conversions of soules that accompanied the first preaching of the Gospel doe argue this as also the New Testament written since 34 3. Christs owne words spoken to Paul since himselfe was in heaven doe confirme it 35 4. The last words uttered in Scripture in the Book of the Revelation which was more immediately given unto John by Christ 37 Part II. Demonstrations Intrinsecall §. I. The first sort of Intrinsecall Demonstrations drawn from the Influence which all the three Persons have into the Heart of the Humane nature of Christ in Heaven 48 1. From God the Father Which Demonstration is made forth by two things 1. God hath given Christ a perpetuall command to love his Elect on earth and hath written a Law of love in his heart 49 2. This Law of love remaines for ever in his heart which is proved by two things 1. That it is a Law and that of Love 52 2. That by observing that Law it is that Christ continues in his Fathers love 53 2. From God the Sonne unto whom the Humane nature is united This disposition of grace is naturall to him as he is Gods naturall Sonne 54 Accordingly the Humane nature framed on purpose with dispositions of mercy and meeknesse above all other 55 3. From God the Holy Ghost who on earth filled him with meekenesse and grace above all other dispositions and now resteth upon him in Heaven more abundantly then ever 60 §. II. A second sort of Demonstrations from severall engagements now lying upon Christ in Heaven 70 1. Engagement The continuance of all his Relations and Alliances to us which no glory of his doth any thing lessen or alter ibid. Which relations were made chiefely for the other world and so must needes continue there 72 The Ground of this Engagement 76 2. His love is engaged and encreased by what he did and suffered for us 77 What a great obligation this is 78 3. His office of Priesthood which continues in Heaven doth further require all mercifulnesse and graciousnesse in him towards us sinners This Demonstration hath two parts 83 The 1. Shewing that the office of Priesthood was erected on purpose for grace and mercie ibid. Which is argued 1. By the Ends of it 2. By the Qualifications required for it 85 The 2. Shewing that by reason of this office an eternall duty lyeth upon him to shew grace and mercy and Christ is a faithfull High-Priest to performe that duty 90 Christs advancement can make no alteration in his heart for his Priesthood is his highest advancement And Grace did both Found and now upholds his Throne of Grace 94 4. His own Interest puts him upon these Affections of heart towards us His own joy happinesse and glory are encreased by shewing mercie to and comforting his children upon earth and it is more for his glory then for our good 98 Christ hath a double fulnesse of joy 1. Personall in his Father 2. Mysticall in his Members 99 How Christ rejoiceth in Heaven at our well-doing here on earth 101 5. His having the nature of man the same for substance in Heaven that he had on earth obligeth him to be mercifull unto men 104 The end of his Assuming mans nature was to qualifie him for mercie 105 Though it adds not to the greatnesse of mercie in God yet it addes a new way of being mercifull even as a man 106 Part III. §. I. Some Generals to cleare 1. How this is to be understood That Christs Heart is touched with the feeling of our infirmities 2. The way how our Infirmities come to be feelingly let into his heart 109 1. How this affection in Christ is to be understood This explained by these degrees 1. This affection of compassion is not wholly to be understood in a Metaphoricall sense as when God is said to be afflicted c. that is not meerely after the similitude of men but in a true and reall sense 111 2. These affections in Christs humane nature are more like to ours then those which the Angells have who notwithstanding have affections analogicall to ours 113 3 Christ having taken fraile flesh ere he went to Heaven this fits him yet more for having affections of mercie like unto ours 115 3. For the way how our miseries are let into Christs heart so as to affect it This explained by two things 1 The Humane nature hath the knowledge and cognizance of all that can or doth befall us here 118 2 He remembers how himselfe was once affected when he was under the like 119 §. II. A more particular Disquisition what manner of affection this is The seat thereof whether in his spirit or soule onely or in the whole humane nature Some Cautious added 121 This affection for our better conceiving it set forth three wayes 1. Negatively it is not in all things such as it was in the dayes of his flesh 2 Positively It is yet for substance the very same affection and the seat of it is his bodily heart as well as his soule 124 Foure Cautions or Positions about this 1. In what sense or so far as his Body is made spirituall so far are these Affections spiritualized as they are in his body 125 2. Hence though they move his Bowels yet they doe not perturbe or hurt him in the least 126 3. All naturall humane affections may be still in him that are not unbecomming his state glory And how much the having such affections are suteable to that state and relation wherein he is 128 4. Though a passionate suffering be cut off yet these affections are now more large and strong for the substance of them then they were on earth 130 3. Privatively If his heart suffers not with us under our Infirmities yet he hath lesse joy then his heart shall have when we are freed from all 131 How the Scripture attributes some kinde of Imperfection to some affection in him and in what sense §. III. This Scruple satisfied How Christs heart can bee feelingly touched with our sins our greatest infirmities seeing he was tempted without sinne 133 Foure answers given thereunto for our comfort Vses of all 137 FINIS THE HEART OF Christ in Heaven TO Sinners on Earth I. PART HAving set forth our Lord and Saviour JESVS CHRIST in all those great and most solemne actions of his his Obedience unto
that because of his Fathers command It is evidenced thus For it being a Law vvritten in the midst of his bowels by his Father it becomes naturall to him and so indelible and as other Morall Laws of God written in the heart are perpetuall And as in us when we shall be in heaven though Faith shall faile and Hope vanish yet Love shall continue as the Apostle speaks so doth this love in Christs heart continue also and suffers no decay and is shewne as much now in receiving sinners and interceding for them and being pitifull unto them as then in dying for them And this love to sinners being so commanded pressed upon him as was said that as he would have his Father love him he should love them and so being urged upon all that great love that is betweene him and his Father this as it must needs worke and boile up a strong love in him unto sinners so likewise the most constant and never-decaying love that could be And this is argued from the analogie of that principle upon which Christ urgeth us to love himself Iohn 15. 10. He moveth his Disciples to keep the Commandments he gave them and useth this argument For so shall you abide in my love and backs it with his owne instance even as I have kept my Fathers commandments and abide in his love Now therefore this being the great Commandment that God layeth on him to love and die for and to continue to love and receive sinners that come to him and raise them up at the latter day certainly hee continues to keep it most exactly as being one of the great tyes betweene him and his Father so to continue in his love to him Therefore so long as hee continues in his Fathers love and now he is in heaven and at his right hand he must needs continue in highest favour with him so long wee may be sure he continues to observe this And thus that he should continue still to love us both love to his Father and love to himselfe obligeth him we may therefore be sure of him that he both doth it and will doe it for ever O what a comfort is it that as children are mutuall pledges and tyes of love betweene man and wife so that wee should be made such betweene God the Father and the Sonne And this demonstration is taken from the influence of the first Person of the Trinity namely from God the Father Then secondly this his love is not a forced love which he strives onely to beare towards us because his Father hath commanded him to marry us but it is his nature his disposition Which added to the former affords a second demonstration of the point in hand and is drawn from God the Sonne This disposition is free and naturall to him he should not be Gods Son else nor take after his heavenly Father unto whom it is naturall to shew mercie but not so to punish which is his strange worke but mercie pleaseth him he is the Father of mercie hee begets them naturally Now Christ is his own Sonne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as by way of distinction hee is called and his naturall Sonne yea his humane nature being united to the second Person is thereby become the naturall Son of God not adopted as we are And if he be his naturall Son in priviledges then also his Fathers properties are naturall to him more naturall then to us who are but his adopted sons And if we as the elect of God who are but the adopted sons are exhorted to put on Bowels of mercie kindnesse humblenesse of minde meekenesse c. as Col. 3. 12. then much more must these dispositions needs be found in Christ the Naturall Son and these not put on by him but be as naturall to him as his Son-ship is God is love as Iohn sayes and Christ is love covered over with slesh yea our flesh And besides it is certain that as God hath fashioned the hearts of all men and some of the sonnes of men unto more mercie and pitie naturally then others and then the holy Spirit comming on them to sanctifie their natural dispositions useth to work according to their tempers even so it is certain that he tempered the heart of Christ and made it of a softer mold and temper then the tendernes of all mens hearts put together into one to soften it would have been of When he was to assume an humane nature he is brought in saying Heb. 10. A body hast thou fitted me That is an humane nature fitted as in other things so in the temper of it for the God-head to work and shew his perfections in best And as he tooke an humane nature on purpose to be a mercifull High Priest as Heb. 2. 14. so such an humane nature and of so speciall a temper and frame as might be more mercifull then all Men or Angles His humane nature was made without hands that is was not of the ordinary make that other mens hearts are of though for the matter the same yet not for the frame of his spirit It was an heart bespoke for on purpose to be made a vessel or rather fountain of mercie wide and capable enough to be so extended as to take in and give forth to us again all Gods Manifestative mercies that is all the mercies God intended to manifest to his elect therefore Christs heart had naturally in the temper of it more pity then all men or Angles have as through which the mercies of the great God were to be dispensed unto us and this heart of his to be the instrument of them And then this man and the heart of this man so framed being united to God and being made the naturall Son of God now naturall must mercie needs be unto him And therefore continue in him now hee is in Heaven For though he laid down all infirmities of our nature when he rose again yet no graces that were in him whilst he was below they are in him now as much as ever and being his nature for nature we know is constant therefore still remains You may observe that when he was upon earth minding to perswade sinners to have good thoughts of him as he used that argument of his Fathers command given him so hee also layes open his own disposition Mat. 11. 28. Come to me you that are weary and heavy laden for I am meek and lowly of heart Men are apt to have contrary conceits of Christ but he tells them his disposition there by preventing such hard thoughts of him to allure them unto him the more We are apt to thinke that hee being so holy is therefore of a severe and sowre disposition against sinners and not able to beare them no sayes he I am meek gentlenesse is my nature and temper as it was of Moses who was as in other things so in that grace his Type he was not revenged on Miriam and Aaron but interceded for them So
worshipped him so his Father welcommed him with the highest grace that ever yet was shewne The words which he then spake The welcome God gave Christ when he came to Heaven The words he first spake to him we have recorded Psal 110. Sit thou at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footestoole You may by the way observe for the illustration of this how upon all the severall parts of performance of his office either God is brought in speaking to Christ or Christ to his Father Thus when he chose him first to be our Mediator he takes an oath Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec Againe when Christ came to take upon him our nature the words he spake are recorded Loe I come to doe thy will a body hast thou fitted me so Heb. 10. out of the 40. Psal Likewise when he hung upon the Crosse his words unto God are recorded Psal 22. 1. My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee In like manner when he rose againe Gods words used then to him are recorded Thou art my Sonne this day have I begotten thee Psal 2. which place is expounded of the Resurrection Acts 13. 33. which is as much as if he had said Thou never appearedst like my Sonne till now for whereas I chose a Son to be glorified with power and Majesty hitherto thou hast appeared onely as a Son of man Enosh sorry man hitherto thou hast been made sin a curse not like my Son but hast appeared in the likenes of sinfull flesh and of a servant all besmeared with bloud therefore this is the first day wherein I make acount I have begotten thee even now when thou first beginnest to appeare out of that sinfull hue and likenesse of sinfull flesh now I owne thee for my Sonne indeed And in him he owned us all thus at his Resurrection And then last of all when he comes into Heaven the first word God speakes to him is Sonne sit thou at my right hand thou hast done all my worke and now I will do thine he gives him a Quietus est rest here sit here till I make all thy enemies thy foote-stoole And now what say you are ye satisfied yet that God is satisfied for your sins What superabundant evidence must this Christs sitting at Gods right hand His sitting downe at Gods right hand afford a double evidence give to a doubting heart It argues First that Christ for his part hath perfectly done his worke and that there is no more left for him to do by way of satisfaction This the word sitting implies Secondly It argues that God is as fully satisfied on his part this his sitting at Gods right hand implyes For the first 1. That he had perfectly and compleatly performed all his work that was to be done by him for our justification The phrase of Sitting doth betoken rest when work is fulfilled and finished Christ was not to returne till he had accomplisht his worke Heb. 10. The Apostle comparing the force and excellencie of Christs Sacrifice with those of the Priests of the old Law sayes that Those Priests stood daily offering of Sacrifices which can never take sins away Their standing implyed that they could never make satisfaction so as to say We have finished it But Christ sayes he ver 12. after he had offered up one sacrifice for ever sate downe c. Mark how he opposeth their standing to his sitting downe He sate as one who had done his work Thus Heb. 4. 10. He that is entred into his rest speaking of Christ as I have elsewhere shewne hath ceased from his work as God from his Secondly 2. That God also accepted it and was infinitely well pleased with it this his being at Gods right hand as strongly argues that God is satisfied for if God had not been infinitely well pleased with him he would never have let him come so neere him much lesse have advanced him so high as his right hand And therefore in that place even now cited Heb. 10. ver 10 11 12. compared with the former verses this is alledged as an evidence that Christ had for ever taken sinnes away which those Priests of the Law could not doe who therefore often offered the same Sacrifice as ver 11. That this man after he had offered one Sacrifice for sinnes for ever sate downe on the right hand of God as thereby shewing and that most manifestly that he had at that once offered up such a satisfactory Sacrifice as had pleased God for ever and thereupon took up his place at Gods right hand as an evidence of it so possessing the highest place in Court This setting him at Gods right hand is a token of speciall and highest favour So Kings whom they were most pleased with they did set at their right hands as Solomon did his Mother 1 Kings 2. 19. and so Christ the Church his Queen Psal 45. 9. and it was a favour which God never after vouchsafed to any Heb. 1. To which of all the Angels did he say Sit thou on my right hand Therefore Phil. 2. it is not onely said that he exalted him but superexaltavit he highly exalted him so as never any was exalted for he was made thereby higher then the heavens Thus much for the first Head CHAP. IV. Demonstrates in the second place what influence Christs Ascension hath in a beleevers non-condemnation upon that second premised consideration of Christs being a Common person for us The security that Faith may have from thence WE have thus seen what triumphing evidence and demonstration both Christs Ascension and sitting at Gods right hand doe afford us for this that Christ being considered as our Surety hath therefore undoubtedly subdued our enemies and sins and satisfied God Let us now consider further what force efficacie and influence these two both his Ascending and fitting at Gods right hand as an Head and Common person for us have in them towards the assured working and accomplishment of the salvation of believers his Elect And from the consideration of this which is a second Head our faith may be yet further confirmed and strengthened in its confidence Who shall condemne it is Christ that is at Gods right hand I shall take in as in the former both his Ascension and sitting at Gods right hand 1. By considering And first for his Ascending consider these two things in it which may uphold our confidence 1. That the great end and purpose of that his Ascending the errand 1. That the great end of his Ascending and entring Heaven was to prepare a place for us and bring us thither the businesse he Ascended for was to prepare and provide a place for us and to make way for our comming thither This he assures his Disciples of Iohn 14. 2. In my Fathers house are many mansions I go to prepare a place for you as Ioseph was secretly sent before by Gods intendment to prepare
Christs blood cries us up into Heaven like to that voice Revel 11. 12. Come up hither So Iohn 17. 24. Where I am let them be for whom this blood was shed But though this speaking An explication in what sense Christs blood is said to cry this voice and intercession be attributed to his blood yet it is but in a Metaphoricall and improper though reall sense as also that this blood is in Heaven is spoken though in a reall yet not a proper sense Some Divines of all sides both Popish and Protestant would make the whole work of Intercession to be onely Metaphoricall It is true indeede the voice and intercession of his blood apart considered is but Metaphoricall I grant and yet reall such a voice as those groanes are that are attributed to the whole creation Rom. 8. 22. But Intercession as an act of Christ himselfe joyned with this voice of his blood is most properly and truly such Therefore in the second place 2. Consideration Christ himselfe living joyning with the cry of his bloud how prevalent it must needs be adde to this Christs own intercession also which was the second thing propounded That Christ by his own Prayers seconds this cry of his blood that not only the blood of Christ doth cry but that Christ himselfe being alive doth joyne with it how forcible and prevalent must all this be supposed to be The blood of a man slain doth cry though the man remain dead even as of Abel it is said though to another purpose that being dead he yet speaketh Heb. 11. but Christ liveth and appeareth Vivit in coelum coelorum venit He follows the suit pursues the Hue and cry of his blood himselfe His being alive puts a life into his death It is not in this as it was in that other the first Adams sinne and disobedience Adam although he himselfe had beene annihilated when he dyed yet he having set the stock of our nature a going in propagation of Children his sin would have defiled and condemned them to the end of the world and the force of it to condemne is neither furthered nor lessened by his subsisting being or his not being it receives no assistance from his personall life one way or other And the reason is because his sinne condemnes us in a na turall and necessary way But the death of Christ and his blood shed these saving us in a way of grace and favour unto Christ himselfe and for his sake that very being alive of Christ that shed this blood adds an infinite acceptation to it with God and moves him the more to hear the cry of it and to regard it In a matter of favour to be done for the sake of another man or in a suit or matter of justice that concerns another who is interested in it that mans being in vivis his being alive puts a life into the cause If David would have respect to Ionathan when dead in his children he would much more if himselfe had been alive God made a Covenant with Abraham Isaac and Iacob to remember their Seed after them And why They are alive and were to live for ever and though dead shall rise againe So Christ reasoneth from it Mat. 22. 32. I am the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob God is the God of the living sayes he and not of the dead and so though Abraham be ignorant of his children as the prophet speakes and should not intercede for them yet because Abrahams soul lives and is not extinct as the Sadduces thought but shall live again at the Resurrection therefore God remembers and respects his covenant with them for he is a God of the living and so his Covenant holds with them whilst they live The old covenant of the first Testament ran in the names of Abraham Isaac and Iacob The God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob but this new covenant runs in the name of Christ The God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ so Eph. 1. 3. and so he becomes our God and our Father in him And God being thus our Father because Christs Father and Christ in whose name the Covenant runs being alive and God by Covenant the God of a living not of a dead Christ This therefore works effectually with him to respect his blood and hear the cry of it and this though Christ were absent much more then when he is present also and on purpose appeareth in the presence of God for us as it is Heb. 9. 24. He is alive and so able to follow his owne suit and will be sure to see to it and to second the cry of his blood if it should not be heard To illustrate this by the helpe of the former comparison begun If as Abels blood cries so also it proves that Abels soul lives to cry that both his cause cries and himselfe lives to follow it So that the cry of Abels blood is seconded with the cry of Abels soule that lives how doubly forcible must this needs be And thus indeede you have it Revel 6. 9. where it is said that the soules of them which were slain for the testimony which they held cryed with a loud voyce saying How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not avenge our blood Yea see that not onely their bloud cryes but their soules live and live to cry And it is not spoken Metaphorically of their soules but what is truly done by them now in Heaven it being mentioned to shew how and by what God was moved to bring vengeance on the Heathenish Empire of Rome that had shed their blood Now not only Christs soule as theirs lives to cry but his whole person for he is risen againe and lives to intercede for ever In the Revel 1. ver 18. Christ appearing to Iohn when he would speake but one speech that should move all in him he sayes but this I am he that liveth and was dead and dyed for thee And whose heart doth it not move to reade it with faith and doth it not move his Father think you who was the chiefe cause and motioner of his death to think My Sonne that was dead and dyed at my request for sinners is now alive again and liveth to intercede and liveth to see the travaile of his soule fulfilled and satisfied God pronounceth this upon it in that 53. of Esay ver 10. By his knowledge or faith in him shall he justify many even as many as he dyed for Who then shall condemne Christ that was dead is alive and liveth to intercede CHAP. VIII Thirdly The prevalencie of Christs intercession and of his grace with his Father demonstrated from the greatnesse and absolutenesse of his power to doe what ever he asks A Third demonstration both of Christs greatnes with God 3. From the great power over all things that God the Father hath put into his hands and therefore will deny him nothing his power to prevail for us is
taken from this that God hath put all power into his hand to doe what ever hee will hath made him his King to doe what pleaseth him either in Heaven Earth or Hell yea to doe all that God himselfe ever meanes to doe or all that God desires to doe And certainly if his Father hath beene so gracious to him as to bestow so high and absolute a soveraignty on him as to accomplish and effect what ever he meanes to do surely his purpose was never to deny Christ any request that he should after this make he would never have advanced the Humane nature to that absolutenesse else Those two great Monarchs made great grants and largesses the one to Esther the other to Herodias daughter but yet they were limited only to the halfe of their Kingdoms so Mar. 6. and Est 5. 6. and the royall power in their Kingdomes they meant still to retain and reserve wholly to themselves But God having placed Christ on his Throne bids him ask even to the whole of his Kingdome for God hath made him a King sitting on his Throne with him not to share halves but to have all power in heaven and earth He hath committed all judgement to the Sonne to save and condemne whom ever he will and so farre as the Kingdome of God goes or is extended he may doe any thing So Iohn 5. 21. As the Father raiseth up the dead so the Sonne quickneth whom he will for as the Father hath life in himselfe so hath he given to the Sonne to have life in himselfe ver 26. and hath in like manner given authority to execute judgement also as the Sonne of man namely of himselfe ver 27. as he had said He had given him to have life in himselfe ver 26. not dependently as we have but independently so to execute judgement also ver 27. So that Christs will is as free and himselfe as absolute a Monarch and King of himselfe as God himselfe is He indeed hath it not à seipso but in seipso not à seipso originally but from his Father but in seipso independently Now then Though Christ as King can command all things yet to honour his Father he intercedes for what himselfe commands if he who is King may and doth of himselfe command all that is done as absolutely as God himselfe doth I speak in respect of the execution of things downward by second causes if he over and above to honour his Father will aske all that himselfe hath power to doe what will not be done Qui rogat imperare potest He that can and doth command what ever he would have done and it is straight done if he shall ask and entreat what will not be done As a King who sues for Peace backt with a potent Army which is able to win what he entreats for must needs treat more effectually So doth Christ sue for every thing with power to effect it Remember that he is said here in the Text first to be at Gods right hand and then to intercede He treats the salvation of sinners as a mighty Prince treats the giving up some Towne to him which lyes seated under a Castle of his which commands that Towne hee stands treating with the Governour having his Ordnance ready for the battery and to bring all into subjection That this is a consideration upon which God denyes him nothing as 2 Cor. 10. 4. And this is a consideration that God himselfe took in that 2. Psal when he made him that promise Ask I will give thee why he made so large a grant He had said before ver 6. I have set my King upon my holy hill of Sion which made him one would think past asking and above the condition of an Intercessour Now God sayes of him He is My King not in respect of his commanding God that were blasphemie to think but it is spoken in respect of commanding all below him God having set him in his Throne to doe as much as he himselfe would or meanes to have done sayes He is my King to rule all not so much under me as for me and in my stead yet absolutely and in himselfe The Father judgeth no man Now when the Father had first made and constituted him thus great a King then he bids him Ask to whom he had first given this absolute power to command We may without blasphemy say of this God-man that God hath not onely not the heart as being his Father but not the power to crosse any thing he doth Thus fast hath he God unto him Onely he who in respect of this his power is to be honoured as the Father as Iohn 5. 23. yet to honour his Father who gave this power originally to him as Mediatour He is to ask for that which of himselfe he yet can doe And therefore sayes God though thou art a King so ver 6. and all my Kingdome even the utmost ends of the earth are thine inheritance by a naturall right now that thou art my Sonne as verse 8. yet because thou art My King of my appointing and I have set thee on the Throne as the word is ver 6. and Thou art my Son and I have begotten thee therefore acknowledge my grant in all Ask of me and I will give thee the utmost ends of the earth for thy inheritance I cannot deny thee but I would have thee aske And therefore Christ asks Yet still withall remember that he asks who can command the thing to be done and yet as he must ask ere the thing be done so if he aske it must needs be granted These are the termes betweene this Father and this Sonne who in a word had not beene so great a Father if he had not had a Sonne thus great that himselfe could not deny what this Sonne would have done it is for his owne honour to have such a Sonne So Iohn 5. 23. That they might honour the Sonne as they honour the Father therefore All judgement is committed to him Now then if he who hath so much power will joyne the force of entreaty with a Father that so loves him if he who is The Word of his Father that commands creates and upholds all as Heb. 1. He spake and it was done if he will become a Word to his Father and speak a word for us and aske all that he means to doe how forcible will such words be Therefore observe Christs manner of praying How forcible Christs prayers and intercestion must needs be by an inference from the prevalencie of ours Iohn 17. which Prayer is a plat-form of Intercession in Heaven ver 24. Father I will that they whom thou hast given mee be where I am He prays like a King who is in joint commission with God If God puts that honour upon our Prayers that we are said to have power with God as Iacob Hos 12. 3. that if God be never so angry yet by taking hold of his strength
sayes Christ injuries and unkindnesses doe not so worke upon me as to make mee irreconcileable it is my nature to forgive I am meeke Yea but may we thinke he being the Sonne of God and Heire of Heaven and especially being now filled with glory and sitting at Gods right hand he may now despise the lowlinesse of us here below though not out of anger yet out of that heighth of his greatnesse and distance that he is advanced unto in that we are too meane for him to marry or bee familiar with Hee surely hath higher thoughts then to regard such poore low things as we are And so though indeed we conceive him meeke and not prejudiced with injuries yet he may bee too high and lofty to condescend so far as to regarde or take to heart the condition of poore creatures No sayes Christ I am lowly also willing to bestow my love and favour upon the poorest and meanest And further all this is not a semblance of such an affable disposition nor is it externally put on in the face and outward carriage onely as in many great ones that will seeme gentle and curteous but there is all this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the heart it is his temper his disposition his nature to be gracious which nature he can never lay aside And that his greatnesse when he comes to enjoy it in Heaven would not a whit alter his disposition in him appears by this that he at the very same time when he uttered these words tooke into consideration all his glory to come and utters both that and his meeknes with the same breath So ver 27. All things are delivered to mee by my Father and presently after for all this he sayes Come unto me all you that are heavie laden I am meeke and lowly ver 28 29. Looke therefore what lovely sweete and delightfull thoughts you use to have of a deere friend who is of an amiable nature or of some eminently holy or meeke Saint of whom you thinke with your selves I could put my soule into such a mans hands can comprimise my salvation to him as I have heard it spoken of some Or looke how we should have beene encouraged to have dealt with Moses in matter of forgivenesse who was the meekest man on earth or treated with Ioseph by what we reade of his bowels towards his brethren or what thoughts we have of the tender hearts of Paul or Timothy unto the soules of men in begetting and in nurturing and bringing them up to life being affectionately desirous of you we were willing sayes Paul to impart our own soules to you 1 Thes 2. 8. and this naturally as his word is 2 Phil. 20. even such and infinitely more raised apprehensions should wee have of that sweetenesse and candour that is in Jesus Christ as being much more naturall to him And therefore the same Apostle doth make Christs bowels the patterne of his Phil. 1. 8. Ge◠is my witnesse how greatly I long after you in the bowels of Iesus Christ This phrase in the bowels of Christ hath according to Interpreters two meanings and both serve to illustrate that which I intend First in the bowels of Christ is taken causally as if he meant to shew that those bowels or compassions were infused into him from Christ and so longed after them with such kind of bowels as Christ had wrought in him and if so that Christ put such bowels into him hath he not them in himselfe much more Paul had reason to say in the bowels of Christ for in this sense I am sure he once had scarce the heart and bowels of a man in him namely when he was out of Christ how furious and Lion-like a spirit had he against the Saints and what havock made he of them being ready even to pull out their bowels And how came Paul by such tender bowels now towards them who gave him now such tender affections Even Jesus Christ it was he that of a Lion made him a Lambe If therefore in Paul these bowels were not naturall but the contrary rather were naturall to him and yet they so abounded in him and that naturally as himselfe speakes how much more must they needs abound in Christ to whom they are native and in-bred Or else secondly In the bowels is put for Instar Like the bowels or After the bowels according to the analogie of the Hebrew phrase And so then the meaning were this Like as the bowels of Jesus Christ do yerne after you so doe mine Bowels are a Metaphor to signifie tender and motherly affections and mercies so Luke 1. 78. Through the tender mercies In the originall it is The bowels of mercie Thus Paul when he would signifie how tender his affections were he instances in the Bowels of Jesus Christ he making Christ his pattern in this in all Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ Now how desirous was this great Apostle to beget men to Christ he cared not what else hee lost so he might winne some he counted not his life deare nay not his salvation deare but wisht himselfe accursed for his brethren who yet vvere the greatest enemies Christ then had on earth How glad was he when any soule came in how sorry when any fell off falling into a new travail he knew not how better to expresse the anxietie of his spirit for the Galatians till Christ was formed in them Hovv comforted vvas he vvhen he heard tidings of the constancie and encrease of any of their Faith 1. Thes 3. 6 7. and ver 8. he sayes for now we live if you stand fast in the Lord. Reade all his Epistles and take the character of his spirit this vvay and vvhen you have done look up to Christs humane nature in Heaven and thinke vvith your selves Such a man is Christ Paul vvarbles out in all these high strains of affections but the soundings of Christs Bowels in Heaven in a lower key Esay 63. They are naturall to Christ they all and infinite more are eminent in him And this is the second Demonstration taken from his own naturall disposition as Sonne of God A third demonstration shall bee taken from the Third Person of the Trinity the holy Ghost If the same spirit that was upon him and in him when he was on earth doth but still rest upon him now he is in Heaven then these dispositions must needes still entirely remaine in him This Demonstration is made up of two Propositions put together 1. That the holy Ghost dwelling in him concurs to make his heart thus graciously affected to sinners And 2. that the same spirit dwels and continues in and upon him for ever in Heaven For the first It was the Spirit who over-shadowed his mother and in the meane while knit that indissoluble knot betweene our nature and the second Person and that also knit his heart unto us It was the Spirit who sanctified him in the vvombe It vvas the Spirit