begin it and continue it with him in all conscionable obedience to him We are apt for the most part to please and flatter our selves with thoughts of security and indulgence To morrow shall be as this day and the next year shall be as the last and more abundantly But this is a matter of great uncertainty to us and it is fit should be so It is not for us to know the hour our selves but it is for us to prepare our selves for all times and seasons that may be and to endeavour to make the times so much the better and comfortable to us by our conformableness and fruitfulness under them Lord let it alone this year also till I shall dig c. SERMON V. LUKE 10.38 Now it came to pass as they went that he entred into a certain Village and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house Our Blessed Lord and Saviour who was the great Creator of Heaven and Earth was yet so far pleased to abase himself for our sakes as to have no place of dwelling and abode here upon earth Although he was the Son of the Carpenter yet he had no house built him of his own and that upon the same ground as he was willing to be the Son of the Carpenter which was a piece of his humiliation Foxes have holes and Birds of the air have nests but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head But yet though he had none certain yet he had as many as he pleased at command and though he had ill entertainment from the World yet there were some whom he knew he could be acceptable and welcome unto Where-ever he had an heart he was sure not to want an house where there was ability and opportunity for it And thus here in this Scripture before us he takes up his lodging in the house of two godly and devout Women and Sisters Martha and Mary Wherein we have declared unto us a different frame of spirit in the entertainment of him It is a very pleasing and delightful Story and through the blessing of God upon our thoughts and meditations on it may prove as profitable THis whole Contexture of Scripture in the perfect view of it does contain in it especially two General Parts First Christ's Entertainment which he had in the place where he came And Secondly Christ's carriage and behaviour towards those which entertained him and to her especially which now received him into her house The former of these we have in the three first verses The latter in the two last and close of the Chapter We begin in order with the first the Entertainment which was here given to Christ which we have in the three first which we shall run over with as much expedition as possibly we can And we 'll take them as they lye before us forasmuch as Scriptures of this nature do require another kind of handling than others do Now it came to pass as they went that they entred c. In this we have two things observable First The nature of the place which Christ at this time turn'd into He entred into a certain Village Secondly The party that entertain'd him and took him in upon his entring into the Town A certain woman named Martha receiv'd him into her house To speak a word of the first the nature of the place He entred into a certain Village We see here that Christ did not only take care of Cities and great Towns and populous places where there was great resort of people coming to them and those it may be of quality and estate but also of poor Villages and mean places He had a special regard even to these for the exercise of his Ministry amongst them and the filling them with his heavenly doctrine And thus it does likewise become other Ministers also to bear after the example of Christ himself not only to affect such Auditories and to confine themselves to such kind of places which are more eminent in worldly considerations but also now and then where they are called thereto as there is occasion and opportunity afforded to turn aside into the Villages themselves Thus our Saviour Christ did here and thus we we find him also to have done in other places Jesus went about all the Cities and Villages teaching in their Synagogues and Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom So Mark 6.6 He went round about the Villages teaching And Luke 17.12 He entred into a certain Village c. In Cantic 7.10 The Spouse invites her Beloved hereunto Came says she let us go forth into the Field let us lodge in the Villages This was the temper and disposition of Christ to condescend so far to such places as these are for the scattering of his heavenly Word and Doctrine amongst them And thus there is very good reason for other Ministers likewise to do upon occasion in divers regards First because here 's an opportunity of doing good as well as else-where There are souls to be saved in the Villages as well as in the great Cities And this is that which our work does chiefly and principally respect it is to convert men and bring men to Heaven and this is that which is indifferently to be regarded in one as well as in another All souls are in this sense equal they cost the same price one with another and we are accordingly to be tender and heedful of them Christ had compassion on the multitude when they were as sheep without a shepherd And this drew him abroad into the Villages a love to poor souls And we should labour to find the same gracious affections and dispositions in our selves Secondly There 's incouragement of a man's Ministry in these as well as in other places and sometimes more All Religion is not compast and comprehended within the walls of a City there are gracious souls in the Villages and Countrey-Towns yea often-times more of the sincerity and power of godliness indeed than there is in those places which are of higher education and so likewise a better and more cordial entertainment of the means themselves The full stomach loaths the honey-comb those which are at the well-head and enjoy the means of Grace in great abundance they are apt to scorn and despise those opportunities which are afforded unto them whereas others which are more straiten'd they have them in greater account And then Thirdly For a difference of gists and various improvements of those abilities which God pleases to dispense God bestows upon his servants in the Ministry sundry talents and those fitted to sundry dispositions and sundry places which call for a seasonable exercise and improvement of them Those which do well in one place they may not do so well in another and those which cannot so profitably be exercised and employed here else-where may do very well Now therefore that those which God has given in such and such a kind may accordingly be drawn forth there 's good ground for
of them And what ever they do for Him it is pleasing and acceptable to him As for wicked men God loathes all that comes from them He does not take it kindly at their hands but rather quarrels and findes fault with it and excepts against it as we find often in Scripture Should I accept this from you Mal. 1.13 And who hath required this at your hand to tread my courts Isa 1.12 He takes no pleasure in fools as it is Eccles 5.4 But for His Servants He is pleased to imploy them and He is pleased also with their Imployment Thus we see how in all these respects and Considerations which we have now mentioned the Lord takes pleasure in those that are his In their Persons and in their Graces and their Prayers and all their Services All which together make it up that He takes pleasure in them themselves as is here declared Now for the amplifying and further illustrating of this present Point before us This Delight which God takes in his people is considerable in these following Circumstances 1. As Free 2. As Lasting 3. As Operative and Efficacious First of all It is Free and Originated in Himself The Reason why men doe Delight and take pleasure in one another it is for the most part from some excellency in the Object moving them and inclining them thereunto from some sutableness to the Person delighted in and the Person that does Delight in him But in Gods delighting in His people there 's no such matter It is all here of Free Grace and Favour His taking Pleasure it does proceed from his Good-pleasure And there 's no other Account which can be given of it but His own Will As Deut. 7.7 8. The Lord loved you because He loved you that is His love it is best resolved into Himself as the proper cause and spring of it This is a very great Inlargement and Amplification of it unto us We count it a great piece of Favour especially in Great Persons to own Worth where they find it and to Delight in men there where they have somewhat amiable and delightful in them But to delight in any of their own accord and purely from the Goodness of their own nature without any thing worthy in the Person this is reckon'd a great Favour indeed why this is the case of Gods Delight and pleasure-taking in his servants It is there where they have nothing to move him or provoke him to it at least but what he himself first puts into them They are Comely with his Comeliness which he hath put upon them and from thence amiable to Him Secondly This Complacency and delight which God takes in his people it is lasting and Continuing As for the pleasure of men it is very uncertain and mutable they may delight in one at one time and disrelish him again at another as there are frequent experiences of it But the delight which God takes in his servants it is of a fixed and continued Nature and whom he loves he loves to the end The gists and calling of God are without Repentance This proceeds not onely from the Vnchangeableness which is in Himself but also from the Consideration of that Person through whom he is pleased with them and does accept of them this as I shewed before is Jesus Christ the Son of his Love forasmuch as God's love to Beleivers it is laid and founded in Christ therefore so long as he delights and takes pleasure in Christ he will do so in them also and his love can no more fail to them then to Christ Himself in whom he loves them Thirdly This Delight of God's it is Operative and Efficacious it is such as makes us to delight in God again and so it is mutual and Reciprocall Men they do sometimes delight and take pleasure in such kind of Persons as do not again delight in them but with God now it is otherwise where he is pleased at any time to fasten his Love and Affection upon any person he does cause him to make answerable returns in some degree of love unto him We love him says St. John because he first loved us not only as meriting it for us but as working it in us and not onely as the motive of our Love but also as the Efficient Therefore from hence by the way may we make a discovery to our selves of Gods delight in our selves namely according to this answerable Effect which it hath upon our own Hearts If so be he delights in us we shall also delight in Him and we may know the one by the other Those that shall say unto God depart from us for we desire not the knowledg of thy ways Those that care not to approach to God nor to injoy any Communion with him they may from thence very easily conclude that God does not delight in them forasmuch as this Delight it is operative and Efficacious And those are the several Amplifications of this Delight which is here mentioned to us Now this point thus illustrated to us it may be fruitful in sundry Inferences and deductions which may be drawn from it by way of Improvement and Application First In a way of Comfort and Consolation to the servants of God here 's matter of great Incouragement to them that God himself does take pleasure in in them and thus it is so in sundry respects First In point of Honour it is a great Dignity and Advancement to them We know in the affaires of the world that every one is so far Honourable as he is respected by persons of Honour those who have men of Quality to own them and to take delight in them they have so far forth a great deal of Excellency and Renown put upon them Now thus it is with all those who are true Beleivers and members of Christ they have the great God of Heaven and Earth himself takeing pleasure in them which is the highest Promotion of them Since thou wast precious in my sight thou wast Honourable because I have loved thee says God to Israel in Esay 43.4 And so it hold good of every Christian and Beleiver whatsoever He is so far forth Honourable as he is in favour with God Himself as well-pleased with Him Secondly In point of Safety it holds good in that respect likewise because God delights in his servants he will therefore protect them every one is Chary of that wherein they take pleasure for the keeping and preserving of it and as near as he can will not suffer any Evil to befall it Why thus now it is with God to his people He that toucheth them toucheth the Apple of their Eye as he has exprest it about them Zach. 2.8 So Esay 27.3 Speaking of his Vineyard that is his Church I the Lord do keep it I will water it every moment least any hurt it I will keep it Night and Day Men care not what becomes of the Wilderness of dry and barren Ground because they have no pleasure
the condition and qualification which is is here looked after Those that can upon good grounds assure themselves that they are members of Christ even they are also prayed for by Christ He is a Saviour of his whole Body and so he is an Intercessor for it He prays for them himself and he â—enders their own prayers as acceptable to God the Father in his own name They have all of them this benefit by him high and low rich and poor learned and unlearned one as well as another It is ordinary in Scripture to apply the promises which are made to such a particular Christian so as to extend them to the whole company of Believers As the promise which is made to Joshua I will never leave thee nor forsake thee the Apostle to the Hebrews applies to all others for the strengthening and confirming of their Faith Be Be you content c. For he hath said I will never leave thee c. Heb. 13.5 And so the encouragement which David takes to himself The Lord is on my side c. the same Apostle extends to all Christians So that we may boldly say The Lord is my helper I will not fear what man can do unto me Heb. 13.6 And that 's the first Explication of this word Thee as it is a word of Qualification The Second is as it is a word of Restriction for so it is likewise It has a general notion in it as Peter was a Believer But it has a restrictive notion in it from other considerations And so we may look upon it First For thee i. e. for thee particularly I have prayed for thee So Christ though he prays for all Believers at large and consider'd in general yet it is not only a general Prayer which he makes for them but with respect had to every ones person and to every ones condition He prays not only for a Believer but for Peter that is for this Believer This is one thing which is intimated to us in this expression I have prayed for thee And it is agreeable to other expressions in Scripture as Isa 43.1 Fear not O Jacob c. I have called thee by name thou art mine In Joh. 1.48 Christ takes notice of Nathanael by name and tells him how he saw him when he was under the Fig-tree And Mary Magdalen he calls her by name Joh. 20.16 Jesus saith unto her Mary c. Christ has a special and particular care of every particular Christian and does commend his condition to God He takes notice of our particular persons and he takes notice of our particular conditions and of the particularities of those conditions There 's not an hair we have but he numbers it there 's not a bone we have but he keeps it there 's not a tear we shed but he bottles it there 's not a groan we make but he hears it there 's not a place or state in which we are but he regards it and takes notice of it There are two considerations which do lay ground to this Dispensation The one is the largeness and infiniteness of Christs knowledg Christ he knows the state and condition of every particular Christian and therefore accordingly does he more readily exhibit it and represent it to God This is a Point which makes much for the comfort still of the poor servants of Christ There are many of them which cannot perswade themselves that Christ has any regard to them at least for their particular What thinks a poor soul has Christ any thought of me yea even of thee though never so mean and despicable yet if a Believer he has a regard unto thee and to thee in particular Simon Simon behold I have prayed for thee He knows the persons of his servants he knows their conditions and he does tender them and signify them to his Father to be regarded by him Look as it was with the woman which had the Bloody Issue in the Gospel Christ singled her out in the croud and took notice of her more especially Even so he does also in the like proportion with any other of his servants This is a very great priviledg and advantage when a Christian shall think with himself in what-ever state and condition he may be now I have Christ taking notice of me and in particular praying for me and commending my condition to God And it is comfortable as in other respects so amongst the rest in mens forgetfulness There are many Bills and Petitions sometimes which are put up to the Ministers to be remembred which yet cannot always be thought of in all particulars amongst many we do afore we are aware of necessity leave out some Oh! but Christ still he leaves out none he prays for thee and he prays for thee and he prays for thee every one's case is remembred by Christ with all the several circumstances and apurtenances of it That 's one part of the Restriction I have prayed for thee i. e. for thee particularly Secondly For thee i. e. for thee especially As Christ in the making of his Prayer has regard to every one's person so withal has he regard to their condition and the more that their condition requires it their person has it So it was here now in the Text Our Saviour here expresses it about Peter rather than any other of his Disciples not as the Papists would have it for the dignity of his person but rather for the necessity of his condition He foresaw that Peter was now in greater danger as one that would shortly deny him and therefore he takes the greater care for him so he does also for others He has a respect to all his servants but as any one's condition is more grievous so is the respect of Christ more unto him As the Mother that loves all her Children but tends that most which is most sick and diseased And as a Physitian which minds all his Patients but him especially which is in greatest extremity and in greatest danger Even so does Christ here with Peter For thee who art likely to deny me and to forswear me and for the time in a manner to renounce me I have prayed for thee more especially because thou of all others doest seem most to stand in need of my Prayers Thirdly In a sense also for thee exclusively It has that restriction with it but not as excluding other Christians but only other men Christ prays for all Believers but he prays only for Believers for Believers and for them alone for thee and only for such as thou art This is exprest by our Saviour himself Joh. 17.9 I pray for them that is Believers I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given me for they are mine Christ's Prayer it is denied to the world and appropriated only to his true Disciples such as Peter here was And so I prayed for thee exclusively Thus is thee a word of restriction and this we gather from the person prayed
compassionate to others in that condition Heb. 2.17 18. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his Brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful High-Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people For in that himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted Thirdly God suffers his servants to be tempted for the honour of his own Grace in supporting them and keeping them up and for the confusion likewise of the enemy in his attempts upon them Satan here desired to have Peter and the rest of the Disciples and he promised himself very great matters in the having of them thought he should surely conquer them and have them for his own now would Christ therefore suffer him to assault them that he might come off with the greater reproach that when he had done all he could against them he might see at last how little he could prevail upon them Thus ye see it was in the case of Job the Lord triumphs as it were over Satan in that attempt Hast thou consider'd my servant Job that there is none like him upon the earth a perfect and an upright man c. As if he had said thou hast endeavoured Satan to do all that thou could'st to undo him but yet for all that it will not do he has still the better of thee and for all that holds his integrity This reason which we now mention for this dealing is exprest in the case of Paul why the Lord did not take away his temptation but rather gave him Grace sufficient against it For my strength is made perfect in weakness And the Apostle himself also so improves it in the words that follow Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in mine infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me 2 Cor. 12.9 Thus we see that there is cause why Christ should suffer his servants to be tempted as he did Peter c. The Use which we are to make of it is therefore to arm our selves against temptation as much as we can We should not promise our selves absolute freedom and immunity from it but be prepared for it We should as our Saviour elsewhere advises pray against it that we enter not into it but yet withal be provided against it and to this purpose get a stock of Grace that may then stand us in stead Let us not then have our Armour to get when our Enemy is coming upon us but be furnish'd afore-hand and remember that we trust not to any Grace which we have already received but be still labouring and striving for more We had need of more Grace for the saving of that Grace we have already and especially the Grace of watchfulness and circumspection and of an holy fear But so much of this Passage in the Negative what our Saviour here does not pray for It is not for the preventing of Temptation which he did suffer and permit to befall the Apostle Peter The Second is the Positive part of it in the words of the Text That thy Faith may not fail Which words may be again consider'd of us two manner of ways First Simply and absolutely as they lye in themselves and so they do signify to us the safety of Peter's condition Secondly Respectively and dependantly in their connexion with the words going before and so they do signify to us the cause of Peter's safety First To take them Absolutely as they lye in themselves and so they do signify to us the safety of Peter's condition and together with him of all other Believers Their Faith it shall not fail Those who are true Believers they shall never wholly depart from the Faith but shall abide and continue stedfast to the end For the better opening of this present Point unto us we must know that there is a double Faith and so consequently a double sort of Believers There is the Doctrine of Faith and there 's the Grace of Faith There 's Faith as it lyes in the understanding and is a belief of the Truths of the Gospel And there is Faith as it is rooted in the heart and is a receiving and embracing of Christ Now it is not the former but the latter which is here chiefly intended The Papists that they may from hence prove that their Church cannot err which they will never evince from this Text they carry this Faith altogether to a Faith of Doctrine and so would infer That Peter as the Head of the Church should be infallible But besides the silliness of the inference they are much mistaken in the ground and supposition For the Faith which our Saviour here speaks of it is a Faith of Principles a saving justifying renewing and regenerating Faith whereby we are united to Christ as Members of his Mystical Body This is that which our Saviour here prayed for Peter that it should not fail in him Indeed it has a truth likewise of the other so far forth as it is included those which are born again as they are acquainted with all necessary Truths which God's Spirit does lead them into so they are likewise by the same gracious Spirit preserved in it But that which is mainly here intended is that Faith which lays hold upon Christ which though not excluding the former is more especially the Faith of God's Elect Tit. 1.9 And so Faith may here be taken by a Synecdoche for the whole work of the new creature in us This it is such as shall not fail and so is intimated to us in this Scripture and so in other places besides As Psal 125.1 They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Sion which cannot be moved but abideth for ever And Isa 6.13 He shall be like and Oak whose substance is in him whiles his leaves fall and the holy seed shall be the substance thereof c. This it may be made good unto us from sundry considerations First The nature of Grace it self which is an abiding Principle Faith is not a thing taken up as a man would take up some new fashion or custom but it is a thing rooted and incorporated in us and goes through the substance of us it spreads it self through the whole man and is as it were a new creature in us Therefore it is said of a regenerate person that he cannot commit sin namely the sin of Apostacy and that sin which is unto death because the seed of God remaineth in him 1 Joh. 3.9 Secondly The Covenant of Grace which is an everlasting Covenant Jer. 32.40 I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will never turn from them to do them good but I will put my fear into their hearts that they shall not depart from me Therefore Faith shall not fail because God himself does not fail who hath put this Faith into the hearts of his servants Thirdly The Spirit of Grace which is not only a Worker but an
of the resurrection And then also after the resurrection He is that life of Glory which Believers shall live afterwards in Heaven to all eternity And they are herein likewise made conformable to his image When Christ who is our life shall appear we also shall appear with him in Glory Col. 3.4 And 2 Joh. 3.2 We know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Thus we see how Christ is the life and our life in all particulars of Justification of Sanctification and of Glory Now if it be demanded how this comes to pass I answer by vertue of that true and near union which is betwixt Christ and all true Believers They are members incorporate unto him and so come to partake of life from him as members do from their head He hath merited life for them by his obedience and satisfaction to God's Justice And he does also infuse life into them by his Spirit which he bestows upon them Christ lives in them as the root does in the branches which are knit and united unto it And therefore that life which they have it is said to be first of all in him 1 Joh. 5.11 12. This is the record that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son He that hath the Sâ—n hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life Indeed for the conveyance of it so it is made ours by Faith in all the several and particular distributions of it The life of pardon that 's obtain'd by Faith Rom. 5.1 Being justified by Faith c. And the life of holiness that 's also by Faith I live by the Faith of the Son of God Gal. 2.20 And the life of Glory that also comes by Faith He that believes on him shall not perish but have everlasting life Faith it is still the instrument and conveyance of this life of Christ unto us in all its kinds But it supposes as a ground and foundation our union first of all with his person which is the ground of all other benefits we receive from him Therefore we should exercise our Faith and keep it up upon all occasions and make use of it to such a purpose as this is in all wants and decays of life whatsoever We should not resuse to come to Christ that we might have life which was laid to the charge of the Jews Joh. 5.40 And so now I have done with the First General Part of the Text which is the simple Proposition in the description of Christ himself unto us from a threefold property The Way and the Truth and the Life The Second is the Additional Amplification in these No man cometh unto the Father but by me Wherein we have signified that as Christ is the way absolutely so also that he is the way exclusively He is not only a true way but he is likewise the only way Not only a way in common with some others besides but so a way as that there 's no other way besides himself of coming to the Father And we may take it as holding good in all kind of comings to him whatsoever There is a threefold coming as we may say to God and no other way for it but by Christ First in point of Conversion and Reconciliation Secondly in point of ' Prayer and Invocation Thirdly in point of Happiness and Salvation And we may take notice of it in them all First In point of Conversion and Reconciliation There 's no man who in this respect can come unto God but by Christ It is he that must make way for us to have access and address unto him There 's an enmity and contrariety in our nature as it now defiled by sin from whence God cannot but loath it and abominate it and utterly detest it But it is Christ who by taking our nature upon him hath made it amiable and acceptable in the sight of God And as our nature so likewise our persons so far forth as we have an interest in him and thus alone And so the Scripture signifies and declares as much unto us as 2 Cor. 5.18 19. All things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ And God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself In Christ and by Christ exclusively and no other way besides Therefore the emphasis is still laid upon him as to this purpose Rom. 5.1 2. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ By whom also we have access by Faith into this Grace wherein we stand Into this Grace wherein we stand that is into this state of Grace and favour with him And so in the 11th verse of the same Chapter We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement Our atonement is founded in Christ When we speak of coming to God in this notion which we are now upon it implies two things in it First matter of acquaintance And Secondly matter of acceptance He that comes to another he must have both of these with him to carry him hereunto He must have acquaintance to know the person And he must have acceptance to please the person without either of which it will be impossible for him to come unto him Now both of these do we partake of from Christ and from him alone By him it is that we know God and by him it is that we are well-pleasing to him First We know God by Christ and only by him This is one thing necessary and requisite as to our coming to God that we should know who and what a one he is He that cometh to God must know that God is Heb. 11.6 And this I say we do by Christ Matth. 11.27 Jesus answer'd and said All things are delivered unto me of my Father and no man knoweth the Son but the Father neither knoweth any man the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him There are two ways especially wherein Christ does make known to us the Father The one is by way of representation And the other is by way of explication By way of representation so he does it as he is the Image of the Father By way of explication so he does it as he is the Interpreter of the Father Each of these ways he does it and none else does it but he First By way of representation as he is the Father's Image for so he is The brightness of his Glory and the express image of his person Heb. 1.3 The image of the invisible God Col. 1.15 We know the Father by Christ thus And so himself also tells us as we may see in the verses next following If ye had known me ye should have known my Father and from henceforth ye have known him and have seen him And again in verse 9. Jesus saith unto Philip he that hath seen me hath seen the Father I am in the Father and the Father is
Thus 1 Pet. 2.5 Ye are an holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ Every good Christian he hath great interest in Heaven and can very much prevail with God through Christ in his approaches to the Throne of Grace And we have frequent instances and examples of it both in Scripture and in daily experience Secondly As to the keeping of themselves from the pollutions and defilements of the world The Priests they were prohibited the touching of those things which were unclean and so are Christians careful to keep themselves unspotted of the world Thirdly As to the teaching and instructing of others in the Communion of Saints The Priests lips should preserve knowledg Mal. 2.7 And so should every Christian also in his way and within his compass Parents and Masters of Families should be thus far Priests in them as with Abraham to teach their children and their housholds after them Gen. 18.19 c. Fourthly As to the offering up of themselves to God they must be Priests in this respect also The Priests they were used and imployed in the killing of beasts so should Christians be in slaying of their lusts and unruly affections And then the High-Priest especially he entered into the Sanctum Sanctorum so should every Christian have his heart always towards the Holy of Holies c. Lastly The Priests they still blest the people so would the mouths of Christians do others with whom they converse 1 Pet. 3.9 not railing but contrarily blessing c. The sum of all comes to this namely to raise the esteem and opinion of Gods people in the world and from hence to set an high price and valuation upon them The world it commonly looks upon the Saints and Servants of God as a base and contemptible generation but see here what names and titles the Spirit of God in Scripture puts upon them namely of Kings and Priests which have the greatest Dignity and Excellency in them of any other whatsoever These they are so to God and the Father howsoever they be to any other that is not only to his service but likewise to his Approbation The Father is here named as the first in order and fountain of the Godhead though the whole Trinity be included and intended in it So much for that And then there is this Use also of it in the close of the verse To him be Glory for ever and ever c. And so I have done also with the third and last Description of Christ in the execution of his Offices And hath made us Kings and Priests to God and his Father Now to him be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Amen SERMON XLVIII Revel 22.17 And the Spirit and the Bride say Come This Text which I have now read unto you is a further improvement of that Scripture which was handled by us the last day and does contain somewhat in it as additional and accumulative thereunto For there we had propounded to us but only the hope and expectation of Christians as those which looked for the Lord Jesus Christ to come from Heaven out of that place of the Apostle Paul to the Philippians Chap. 3. ver 20. And here we have exhibited to us their desire and earnest importunity so that he comes not before he is welcome and he is not more certainly expected than he is gladly and joyfully entertained For the Spirit and the Bride say Come That is the Church by the secret suggestion and instigation of the Holy Ghost towards her does invite him and call for him and hasten him towards his second Appearing This is the scope and drift of the Text. IN the Text it self there are two General Parts considerable First The Persons mentioned Secondly The action which is attributed unto these Persons The Persons mentioned they are the Spirit and the Bride The action which is attributed to these Persons that is a calling after Christ they say to him Come We begin with the former viz. the Persons mentioned The Spirit and the Bride By the Spirit we are here to understand the Holy Ghost the Spirit of God which is called the Spirit by way of Excellency the third Person in the blessed Trinity And by the Bride we are to understand either the Church of God in general or every faithful and believing soul which is a member of Christ in particular These are the Persons here that speak And we must take them in a mutual reference and connexion of one with another The Spirit speaks in the Bride and the Bride speaks from and by the Spirit And so they both speak together and have the same action ascribed unto them First Here 's mention made of the Spirit and that as considerable of us under a twofold notion First Of his Presence and secondly of his Influence Of his Presence as join'd with the Bride of his Influence as assistant unto her and helping and enabling of her First Here 's the Spirits presence the Spirit and the Bride they are joined both together to signifie and intimate unto us that special residence which the Holy Ghost hath in all true Believers where-ever there is the Bride there 's the Spirit that is where-ever there is any true Christian there 's the Holy Ghost abiding in him And so the Scripture sets it in sundry places of it as 1 Cor. 3.16 Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you And so Chap. 6. v. 19. Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you So again Ephes 2.22 In whom ye also are built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit The Spirit of God resides both in the whole Church at large as also in every particular Believer as the soul is in the whole Body and also in every particular member Therefore we may accordingly know whether we are espoused to Christ or no upon this account and consideration If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8.9 Because where ever there is the Spouse there 's the Spirit It holds both as a discovery of Churches and as a discovery of Persons As a discovery of Churches to distinguish the true from the false and as a discovery of persons to distinguish the sound from the Hypocritical Again as it is distinguishing so it is also comforting It is a great satisfaction to the Church in the present withdrawing and absentation of Christ from her that his Spirit is yet with her that he does not leave her altogether destitute in an orphan-like or fatherless condition as himself hath sometime exprest it Joh. 14.18 but that he does provide for the supply of her I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive as it is also there in that Chapter And again Chap. 16.