Love to God or his children page 561 M. MAgistrates to execute Justice page 525 526 Marks Of faith page 209 Of living by Christ page 84 85 Of Gods children page 24 Of being given up to Christ page 192 193 to 212 Mediator Christ page 47 52 73 101 145 250 Messengers and Ministers of Christ not to be slighted page 40 413 How they ought to use their delegated power page 76 406 408 414 Their faithfulness required page 245 246 390 Their duty page 391 Message and errand of Christ page 148 410 Manifestation of the Father by Christ page 177 Wherefore by Christ alone page 180 Memory means to strengthen it page 206 207 Meditation page 206 215 272 N. NAme of the Father declared a special means to work love in those that hear it page 556 557 Name of God is beauty mercy goodness love page 557 Name of God manifested by Christ page 176 Have recourse to it in any distress page 292 Natural knowledge insufficient page 539 540 Natural life how frail page 89 387 A blessing page 367 368 Neerness of Christ to God page 33 48 253 256 265 Neerness of believers to God page 446 to 450 453 474 562 Nobility of true Chirstians page 257 448 454 O. OBedience due to Christ page 19 69 76 150 203 Due to men also 64 to the Word page 220 Offices of Christ page 34 181 236 250 339 473 Obedience of Christ active and passive page 157 158 One God page 129 130 Omnipotent page 129 How to Obey and serve God page 130 134 God Only to be served page 134 136 138 Our Obedience ought to be total cordial constant page 220 221 228 Our Obedience active and passive page 203 Christ Ordered by the Father in his works page 156 157 c. P. MAtter and manner of Prayer page 496 497 Preparation of the heart for Prayer page 492 493 Passion of Christ page 158 165 166 433 Perfect manifestation of the Father page 180 Perfection of Christs work page 168 169 181 442 Words page 239 241 242 445 Peace of Christ page 145 Power of God doth preserve believers page 286 287 Power of Christ Legislative page 53 432 Judiciary page 53 432 Prayer the outward gesture and utterance thereof to be considered page â—10 Vocal when necessary and requisite page 14 154 Prayers of whom sure to be heard page 17 22 49 254 354 Pride page 104 296 393 Praise vocal page 154 real page 154 Propagation of the Gospel page 416 548 Preservation See Keeping page 361 Preaching of Christ page 4 159 178 546 548 Practice a help to the memory page 206 Perseverance Motives thereunto page 169 People of Christ are the Fathers page 198 255 Promises to be believed 209 who believe them not page 210 Our great Prophet is Christ page 234 236 c. Prophecies shall be accomplished page 332 c. Q VVHo Quickned by Christ page 84 85 Qualification of Christ page 144 425 Questioning proves not want of faith page 212 R. THat Christ ought and how to be Received page 149 150 Receive and entertain the Spirit page 271 272 Private Revenge condemned page 65 66 67. Sinfulness thereof ibid. Remedies and rules against Revenge page 67 68 Repetition page 206 380 Reproof page 413 Resignation to the Word page 228 S. SAnctification means thereof page 388 End of Christs Office page 434 Satisfaction of Christ page 157 Christ the Fathers Servant page 47 102 160 Scriptures to be believed and assented to page 132 444 445 Scriptures proved to be the Word of God page 230 231 Sons by Adoption page 15 Creation page 15 Sons of God 15 16 17 their comfort ib. Signs page 23 24 Spiritual desires how discerned page 498 499 Spiritual service promoted by gesture and utterance page 11 Signs of the Spirit 24 500. Of Spiritual Joy page 350 Spirit of Christ slighted page 40 270 271 Service of God 134. See Obedience Sending of Christ 142 145 c. Of Ministers page 406 425 426 Spirits operation page 159 178 206 233 548 Shame of the world page 174 To Christ page 175 Our Strength is in God not in our selves page 289 290 Sufferings of Christ glorious page 36 161 433 Society to be made choice of page 459 460 Solitude page 195 Helps and remedies against Sin page 283 284 Sins of Christians more sinful then of others page 257 456 457 Sooner and more sharply chastised ibid. How the Saints are kept from Sin page 373 374 How to follow Christ in our Spirits page 273 How we are to Seek unto God page 293 Security page 319 563 Believers ought not to be Sorrowful page 342 347 T. THreatnings have an implicit condition page 333 Threatnings to be believed 209. Comfort to the Church page 338 Thankfulnsss due to God and Christ page 81 86 182 284 423 Set Time of God the fittest page 28 Time not to be prescribed to God page 29 Time-servers condemned page 138 Titles of Christ 33 communicated to believers page 473 Temptation how we are kept from it page 372 Tribulation See Affliction Benefits thereof page 370 378 379 How we are kept from it page 373 Trial of Prophets page 237 411 True God page 128 129 133 335 Cleer Truths may be questioned and doubted page 212 Truth the whole word but especially the Gospel page 396 397 To be maintained how page 402 To be obeyed page 403 Trust in God alone page 140 237 Tryals and troubles of this life page 275 277 V. VEngeance See Revenge page 67 Unbelievers dishonour Christ page 39 Vnbelievers sin and danger page 56 208 395 531 537 Uncharitable page 58 59 Vngodly 70. See Wicked why they have prevailed page 243 Their destruction not intended by Christ page 72 77 79 Vnity of the Trinity page 128 130 173 Vnity to be studied and put in practice page 141 A matter of great difficulty and concernment page 295 c. Benefits of Vnity and means conducing page 307 308 459 466 Vnion of believers page 446 447 474 How one as God and Christ are one page 448 Defective Vnion of worldly men page 478 Vniversal Redemption page 251 328 Vnderstanding page 109 Vocal prayer page 14 Vocal praise page 154 W. VVAit Gods time Motives thereunto page 30 Will of Christ a law with the Father page 490 491 That they who are given him should be in heaven page 501 We must suffer Willingly page 161 433 Wicked men dishonour Christ page 39 Words of Christ worthy of our observation page 4 5 6 7 401 To be highly valued page 8 149 206 214 216 218 238 How kept in the heart memory c. page 203 205 To be loved and the signs thereof 213 214. Motives page 218 Word of God inward and essential outward and declaratory page 202 Gods Word must be known to be his page 224 225 Work of Christ how finished before his Passion page 165 Is full and perfect page 166 167 Worlds shame to be despised page 174 194 True believers are of another world page
his work as he professes to his Father in my Text I have manifested thy Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have brought it forth saith he into the light and set it in open view for so much that word imports By which he intimateth that his Fathers Name was like a rare and curious piece behinde a curtain like a rich treasure covered or a glorious Image vailed But now saith Christ the vail is taken off the covering is removed the curtain drawn I have exposed my Fathers Name to the veiw of all my people This Christ hath done you see and now let us consider what we are to do No question he hath brought it forth that we might see it that we might feed our eyes upon it that we might grow up in the knowledge of his Fathers Name of the dearness of his love and the sweetness of his mercy the tenderness and the abundance of his compassions unto poor lost creatures This is the Name which Jesus Christ hath manifested to us that we might be acquainted with it Now I beseech you my Beloved let us not by neglecting this discovery go about to frustrate Christ and do as much as in us lies to disappoint him of his purpose Oh let us labour that our knowledge of the Name of God may be in some sort answerable to the revelation that Jesus Christ hath made of it And that as we have since our Saviours coming in the flesh a fuller and a more compleat discovery of it then they in former ages had we may accordingly exceed and go beyond them in the knowledge of it too We may know more of God especially of his love and of his mercy to his people in his Son then they did Or if it be not so to what end is the pains that Christ hath taken to manifest his Fathers Name to us Oh let us be ashamed to come behind the Saints of the Old Testament in the knowledge of this Name who came behind us in the means of this knowledge Is it so That Jesus Christ hath made an absolute c. Then let us satisfie Vse 4 our selves with the discovery he hath made And let us not attempt or undertake to know more of the Father then he hath made known to us Indeed if Jesus Christ had fallen short in this discovery it were but reason that we should exceed and go beyond it If he had not told us all that is fit for us to know it were a congruous thing that we should strive to know more But seeing the discovery he hath made is so compleat and absolute in all respects so that there can be nothing added to it we have cause to rest in it and to content our selves with so much knowledge of the Father as he hath revealed to us Indeed there is an itch in Nature to search into those things especially concerning God which are concealed and hid from us Fain we would see his face when Christ hath manifested but his back-parts to us we would know more of his Nature of his Counsels and Decrees the order of them the measure of them the objects of them then he hath thought expedient to reveal to us We would approach too nigh to gaze we would intrude on those things which we have not seen for which we have no revelation as the Apostle speaks Col. 2.18 And this my Brethren is the evill Genius of these very times men go beyond themselves in sifting into things concerning God and beyond Christ too I mean beyond any thing that he hath manifested of his Father to them Indeed they tell us that Christ reveals it to them by his Spirit But that is not the Spirit of Christ which shews us any thing beyond what he hath written in his Word The business of the Spirit is not to bring us any other truths then those which are revealed in the Word but to clear those to us If any spirit bring us any thing crossing with or but so much as diverse from the Scripture if an Angel dropt from Heaven teach us any other Doctrine he must not be believed but accursed To the Law and to the Testimony saith the Prophet Isa 8.20 If any man or Angel speak not according to this Word let him pretend what light he will it is because there is no light in him And therefore let us satisfie our selves with that which Christ hath manifested of his Father in his Word and in his Gospel Since his discovery is so full let us not seek to go beyond it That speech of God to Moses who whether he were curious or no was very earnest to behold his glory is observable Exod. 33.19 I will make all my good go before thee that is I will discover so much of my self to thee as shall be good for thee to know And this our Saviour Christ hath done compleatly We need no further knowledge of the Father here to make us happy to make us wise unto salvation And therefore let us rest in it And to this end I shall present you with a few Considerations It is a fruit and evidence of pride to strive to know more of the Fathers Name then Christ hath manifested to us It proceeds from a desire to be observed as having something more then ordinary in us and this hath much prevailed with many men in these times to know no more of God then Christ hath shewed us in the Scripture this is no such great matter this will never make them famous And therefore they must have their nice and curious speculations by themselves beyond any written word they must have hidden things discovered to them which other men are not acquainted with that they may be observed to be men of singular depth and extraordinary intercourse with the Spirit of Christ This the Apostle notes in those Impostors Col. 2.18 Intruding into those things which they have not seen But how comes this to pass vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind There is the cause of this intrusion And hence the Prophet David to shew that he was not proud and haughty makes this the evidence Psal 131.1 I do not exercise my self in things that are too high for me It is a grievous sin to labour to know more of God then Christ hath manifested to us It is no better then intrusion on the right of God himself such a man doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the fore-alledged Text Col. 2.18 Intrudes upon anothers right enters on the possession of another Now whose possession are these secret things To whom do they belong to God saith Moses Deut. 29. ult The secret things belong unto the Lord our God but those things which are revealed belong unto us and unto our children So that while we content our selves with these revealed things we are like honest-minded men that keep and use their own and love not to encroach upon their neighbours But if we be not satisfied with the things which God hath manifested
of the Spirit and belief of the truth whereto that is to which sanctification and belief he hath called you by our Gospel 2 Thes 2.13 14. 2. Are you wandering from the way as who hath not his deviations The word of God is a light to guide you it is a Lanthorn to your feet as David speaks Thou shalt guide me with thy Counsel Psal 73.14 q. d. although thou do not lead me by the pillar of a cloud and fire as once thou didst thy people in the Desert although thou goest not with me in a visible appearance yet thou hast left me such exact directions such wholesome Counsel in thy word that if I follow that exactly it is impossible I should miscarry 3. Are you ignorant the word of God is a teacher to inform you It giveth understanding to the simple Psal 119.130 And makes them wise unto Salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 There is no knowledge indispensably required to salvation nothing of necessary faith or practice either to be believed or done but is abundantly revealed in the Scripture 4. Are you infirm and weak in grace The word of God is a means to confirm you This was the Instrument by which the Apostles confirmed the Churches Act. 15.4 And as it is the usual means by which the grace of God is begotten in the heart in which respect we find it stiled The word of grace because it works it Acts 20.32 so it is the instrument by which it is confirmed and encreased We grow by sucking the sincere milk of the word 1 Pet. 2.2 And we are built up by it to Salvation 5. Are you in any deep distress The word of God is the means to comfort you Through-comfort of the Scriptures we have hope Rom. 15.4 And David to the same purpose Vnless thy Law had been my delight I should then have perished in my affliction Psal 119.92 And in another place cries out Remember thy word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope this is my comfort in my affliction for thy Word hath quickned me Psal 119.49 50. 6. Are you lost as we are all of us by nature The word of God is the means to save you this is the saving doctrine Act. 11.14 The word of life Phil. 2.16 the word that brings men to life and glory The Gentiles saith the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians Ephes 3.6 came to be fellow-heirs and partakers of the promise by the Gospel To sum up all we have cause to love the word to have it dear in our affections for it is the word that guides us it is the word that informs us it is the word that confirms us it is the word that comforts us it is the word that saves us that is the power of God unto salvation with which agrees the Apostles valediction to the Elders of Ephesus Act 20.32 wherewith I take my leave of you at this time I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified JOHN 17.6 And they have kept thy Word WE have been long upon this use of trial and discovery whether we be given up to Christ or no by the donation of the Father Three branches of it we have now dispatcht and are arrived at the fourth and last which God assisting we shall finish at this time Have we kept the word of God as in our minds by remembring and in our hearts by believing and in our affections by loving so in our lives by obeying For all of these as you have heard are comprehended under this expression And this indeed my Brethren as it is the last so it is the heigth the upshot and the sum of all to keep the word of God in the life by obeying Many there are that remember much of it that give assent and credit to it yea that pretend a great deal of affection to the word of God and are indeed much taken with many things that are delivered in it and yet they fail in this which is the main business they do not give themselves up to the practice and obedience of it They leave the rule of God and are a way and rule unto themselves And this was Herods temper right he heard the word of God gladly he took some kind of pleasure in it and therefore out of doubt had some affection to it but when it came to practice and obedience there he failed He did but many things at most he did not all that was delivered to him from the word of God and this was that which marred all and made all the rest worth nothing And so the second ground the stony places in the parable Matth. 13.20 they received the Word of God and that with joy and there must be some love where there is delight and joy and yet no fruit at all follows as you may see in that place And truly there are many such among us who find some taste in the good Word of God as the Apostle speaks Heb. 6.5 There is a pleasing relish in it which they are delighted with as there is something in the Word that may content a palate that is meerly carnal but they make it not their rule in their lives and conversation They sit before the Preacher as the people sits and listen with affection to his words perhaps they are a pleasant sound to them but their hearts are far from stooping to the obedience of the Word no they are for their covetousness their uncleanness and their lusts still Now I beseech you my Beloved see how it is with you in this regard If you will have this sweet assurance in your selves that you are given up to Jesus Christ by the donation of the Father you must keep the Word of God in your lives by obeying it you must not rest in this that you have as you conceive some love to it and that you take some kind of pleasure and delight in it for this a carnal wretch a reprobate may do but you must yeild obedience to it you must be ruled and ordered by it in your ways the Word of God must be a guide to you When you have any thing to do you must not think what is agreeable to your wills humors interests ends and so act accordingly But you must seriously consider with your selves what is agreeable to the direction of the Word of God and to the rule which he hath there prescribed to you and to that you must conform how unsutable soever it may be to your desires or to your aims Thus you must keep the Word of God if you will clear your interest in Jesus Christ in your lives by obeying it And here that you may not be mistaken and deceive your selves I shall desire you to take notice of a few things You must keep it wholly and entirely you must not keep some parts and parcels of the Word of God and leave
necessary to a testimony or a witness that it declare the truth and nothing else Or else how shall it be depended and relyed upon and so how shall the Scripture be the Word of Faith as it is called unless it be the Word of Truth How shall this testimony challenge faith from us unless it utter truth to us How shall it be believed if it be not wholly true and therefore truth is frequently ascribed to it as a witness The testimonies of the Lord are sure saith David Psal 19.7 That which they tell hath been and that which they foretell shall surely be accomplished and fulfilled Vse 1 And this by way of use and application may serve for terror in the first place unto those against whom there is any thing foretold in Scripture in a way of Commination for it shall surely be accomplished and fulfilled How should they tremble for fear of God and how should they be afraid of his judgements though only hanging in the threatning How should their hearts dissolve within them when they hear his threatning words denounc't against them How should the Adulterer tremble when he hears that flaming Commination Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge how should the drunkard tremble when he hears those dreadful woes that are denounced to drunkards up and down the Prophets everywhere How should the wretched worldling tremble when he hears that dreadfull threatning that no covetous person hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God How should the lier and the dogg that barks and snarls and snaps at holiness and the unclean wretch tremble when they hear that such shall have their everlasting portion in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone And so for other sinners against whom there are heavy things foretold in Scripture how should they shake and quiver when they read and hear them But alas there are abundance who steel and fortifie their hearts against them who give no credit to the threatnings of the word as if they were but bruta fulmina but empty cracks who when they hear them thundred out against them say with Israel Jer. 5.12 It is not he neither shall evil come upon us nor shall we see sword or famine Oh my beloved do not belye the Lord in this fashion do not delude your own souls Believe it Judgement is towards you as the Expression is Hosea 5.1 although it be not actually upon you The wrath of God commeth it is a comming still and in the end depend upon it it will come home What do you think that if you do such things you shall escape the vengeance of God No be assured that if you persevere without repentance you shall feel it with a witness There is not any thing denounced against you in the Scripture but shall be fulfilled upon you to the utmost And Secondly it serves for sweet and pretious comfort to the Vse 2 Church since all the good that is foretold in Scripture shall surely be accomplished and fulfilled You that are members of the Church look over all the Book of God collect together all the promises contained in it from the beginning of it to the end consider all the choice and pretious mercies that are contained in those promises and satisfie your souls with a certain expectation of them all There is not one of all those promises shall fall unaccomplished to the ground or fail of execution in the Lords time And therefore look on all the good things promised there as sure mercies so they are called the sure mercies of David which shall not fail you when the season comes And when you meet with any thing that specially concerns you in such a case or such a condition that might be a support and comfort to you in affliction and the like Oh give not way to one unbelieving thought do not forsake your own mercies Remember it is the word of the Lord which as the Angel said shall be fulfilled in its season And so for any good thing that is foretold in Scripture to the Church as there are glorious things you know foretold concerning it in after times that God will raise it to an admirable state of glory and felicity which while the world continues shall not be overthrown again Let us not make any question but they shall absolutely and compleatly be accomplished and fulfilled And therefore let us strengthen and confirm our hearts in the assured expectation of it and let us put those promises in suit in our Petitions as Isaiah in the same case Chap. 62.1 And let us stand upon our watch-towers waiting for the execution of them Let us account it our especial happiness that we live under promises that shall surely be accomplished though they should be never fulfilled in our time Let us embrace them as the Fathers did yea though they be afar off Oh let us hugg them and take especial joy and comfort in them And though the Lord should take us hence before he bring them into act and execution yet let us cheer our hearts with the apprehension of the happiness and glory that shall be upon the Church after we are dead and gone And so dye with our arms full of promises and our hearts full of faith and our souls full of comfort Vse 3 To pass on to a third use Since this is so that whatsoever is foretold in Scripture shall surely be accomplished and fulfilled whatsoever is foretold in a way of Commination or in a way of Consolation by way of threatning or by way of promise Let us endeavour to believe both and act our faith upon them Let us work up our hearts to give a firm and full assent to all the threatnings and to all the promises though that which is delivered in the Scripture either way be never so improbable never so much against corrupt reason never so impossible to a humane apprehension Let us depend upon it that the word of God shall be fulfilled to the very utmost Let us imitate the faith of the antient Saints of God as I shall give you some examples of it in reference to both of these both to the threatnings and the promises of Scripture As for the threatnings That which the Lord denounced to Noah that he might publish it to all the world that he would utterly destroy all flesh from off the earth and by a flood of water too was as improbable as any thing almost could be as like to be derided by the wise men of the world Yet Noah being warned of God believed it and so accordingly prepared the Ark as you may see Heb. 11.7 And so that Commination by the Prophet Jonah was almost incredible that Nineveh so flourishing so glorious and so great a City should be destroyed in forty dayes and yet it is observed to the praise of Nineveh that they believed God that is the word of God his threatning message sent them by the Prophet Jonah 3.5 So for the promises of
truth saith our Saviour in my text It is thine and therefore truth For he that is the author of it he is the God of truth as the Prophet David stiles him Psal 31.5 Observe it well he doth not say he is the true God in himself and in his nature but he is the God of truth in his discoveries and revelations of himself to men All that comes from him is truth He is the faithfull and the true witness Apoc. 3.14 Not only true and faithfull as a God but true and faithfull as a witness And his word is his witness not his ordinary saying only but his witness to confirm us and assure us of that which is delivered to us to work and strengthen faith in us And therefore it is called the Testimony or the witness of the Lord I think no less then twenty times in Scripture Now for the second branch the Gospell is the truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in a specialty above the rest of holy Scripture Thy word is truth saith our Saviour in my Text that is thy sanctifying word which is the Gospell Sanctifie them with thy truth thy word is truth The Law as far as I am able to remember is nowhere called distinctly by it self the word of truth but the Gospel commonly not in my Text alone but elswhere often Indeed the Psalmist prayes to God Take not thy word of truth away out of my mouth but he intends the promises for which he hoped as you may see in that place Psalm 119.43 And all the promises you know are Gospel they are in Christ yea and in Christ Amen But on the other side the Law is mentioned as in some respect contradistinct to truth The Law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ 1 John 17. And yet you must not apprehend the Gospel to be truer then the Law or any parts of Scripture If it be truer they are absolutely false But it delivers truth of greater excellency then the rest of Scripture doth as will appear if you consider either the subject matter of it or the Revelation of it or the Confirmation of it or the Operation of it Gospel truth excelleth for the matter of it Christ is the subject matter of the Gospel and therefore it is called the word of Christ Col. 3.16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly not of Christ the Author only but of Christ the subject matter and herein it surpasses and transcends not all other Books only that handle other arguments but even all other parts and parcels of the Book of God it self For Christ is the most pretious and delicious matter He is the richest and the sweetest subject in the world 1. Christ the Subject of the Gospel is the most rich and pretious subject He is the wealth and treasure of the faithfull soul there is in him an endless Myne and infinite Mass of inestimable riches And therefore the Apostle having spoken of the riches of the glory of the Gospel adds in the words immediately anexed which riches is Christ in you Col. 1.27 In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge Col. 2.3 A treasure is much but treasures are more But when all the treasures that are in the world shall be gathered together and laid in a heap there must needs be vast and riches And this transported the Apostle Paul and swallowed up his thoughts and words as unable to conceive it or express it yea even ravished him beyond himself that he was entrusted to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ Ephes 3.8 He found no end no bottome of them he could not reach the heigth and depth and length and breadth of those treasures they had such immense and endless dimensions 2. Christ the subject of the Gospel is the sweetest and most delicious subject in the world It was the only thing that weakned the delight that Austin took in reading of a certain work of Cicero's because he could not find the name of Christ in it That is a pleasant name indeed to every true believing soul and wheresoever that is found or whatsoever writing hath that high and holy person for the subject of it whom to know is life eternal should be read with full delight and high pleasure And therefore that which treats of Jesus Christ is stiled Gospel good news and good tydings yea good tydings of great joy It tells us of a Jesus a Saviour a deliverer out of bondage to sin and Sathan and damnation out of the most sad and miserable thraldom in the world and this is infinitely sweet Oh with what melting self-consuming wishes and desires doth the poor distressed Captive long to hear of a Redeemer how welcome is this news to him and such a one is Jesus Christ to us and therefore it is sweet to hear of him And as the Gospel tells us of deliverance out of bondage so of admission to such incomparable priviledges here to such unutterable happiness hereafter as cannot choose but melt the heart with ravishing delight that hath assurance of a share in them As Gospel truth excelleth for the subject matter of it Jesus Christ so for the manner of the revelation of it The trurh in the Old Testament was covered with a Vail not of Types and Shaddows only but of dark expressions too so that it was obscure and hid But now it is unvailed as it were and therefore the Apostle tells us that we behold it now with open face 2 Cor. 3.18 There is nothing now to hide it The truth of the Old Testament is likened to the glimmering twilight in the dawning of the day or to the faint and dimmer twinkling of a star But Gospel truth is likened to the shining of the Sun at noon-day And therefore we that live under Gospel-revelation are called the Children of the light and of the day 1 Thes 5.5 And the Apostle tells us that now the grace of God which brings salvation hath appeared Tit. 2.11 It is a Metaphor in which the Gospel is resembled to a glorious Light that having been obscured and masked awhile even as the Sun when it is overcast and mufled with a dark and gloomy cloud at length shines forth with admirable brightness and shewes it self with darling splendor to the world Though it were hid from ages and from generations yet it is now made manifest unto the Saints Col. 1.26 Gospel truth excelleth for the confirmation of it It is better ratified then other truth Truth may not be believed you know it may not gain assent from those that hear it for want of solid and substantial confirmation But Gospel truth hath this preheminency that it is now established to the very utmost by the death of Christ himself He hath sealed it with his blood and therefore we have reason to believe it Indeed the truth of the Old Testament was ratified and confirmed yea it was confirmed in blood But this was but the
1.9 Receiving the end saith he Conceive it the perfection or the reward of your faith even the salvation of your souls Salvation then you see my brethren is the end Christ is the object of our faith Use 1 Is Christ the Object of a true believers faith Then do not satisfie your selves my brethren with a general assent to sacred Revelation neither do you rest in this that you believe the word of God in gross Alas how many men that have been throughly convinced of the truth of all the Scripture are notwithstanding under everlasting Chains and darkness the Devils themselves believe and tremble They believe the word historically you must understand it and because it makes against them the greater their faith is the greater is their fear As therefore you desire to be absolved and acquitted from the guilt of all your sins which else will sink you down into the pit of Hell for ever to be invested with the righteousness of Christ without which you can never have admittance to the marriage of the Lamb nor to those joyes and pleasures at the Lords right hand for evermore lay hold on Jesus Christ and clasp the arms of faith about him Men and brethren to you is this salvation sent and we declare unto you glad tydings preaching through Christ the forgiveness of sins and that by him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not have been justified by the Law of Moses We offer and exhibit Christ unto you and we beseech you to accept him that you may be saved We stand and cry Ho every one that thirsteth came to this water Now as you tender the salvation of your pretious souls let faith make out to Jesus Christ that comes towards her let her fasten on her object And that you may the better know what I perswade you to I shall shew you very briefly that there are four acts of the soul in reference to Jesus Christ wherein the essence and the being of justifying faith consists Whereof the former two are of the understanding and the two latter of the will I shall but only touch at them 1. Well then the first thing you are to do you must endeavour to know Christ aright distinct explicite knowledge of him in a measure is necessary to the being of this justifying faith And therefore knowledge is sometimes put for faith in Scripture by his knowledge or the knowledge of himself shall my righteous servant justifie many saith the Father of the Son Isa 53.11 And here to be a little more distinct you must know that Christ is a compleat and al-sufficient Saviour to free you from the wrath of God and to bring you to eternal life That he is offered by the Lord to you as well as any other for so the messengers of God have their Commission to make an universal tender of him to all to whom they preach without exception Go preach the Gospel to every creature Mark 16.15 And what is it to preach the Gospel to them but to say as the Angel to the Shepherds Luke 2.10 11. I bring you good tydings of great joy which shall be to all people for unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord And as Peter to the Jews Acts 2.39 The promise is to you and to your children yea and to all that are afar off as many as the Lord our God shall call Yea you must know that Christ is offered to you so that you are peremptorily commanded and required to believe in him Come to me saith our Saviour Mat. 11.28 i. e. Believe in me for so himself expounds the phrase as you may see John 6.35 all you that labour and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest This is the first thing requisite to justifying faith of which Christ is the proper Object 2. The second act is the Assent and Credit of the mind to this that Christ is such a one indeed and that God offers him indeed in such a way as hath been said And that in this his gracious offer he intendeth as he saith That Christ and all his merits will be yours if you accept him This you must consent to you must say with the Apostle 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithfull saying and in relation to this act it is that faith is called believing John 3.36 and elsewhere often in the Scripture 3. The third act is the yeelding of the Will to this external exhibition of the Son of God this blessed offer of him in the Gospel not only for the certain truth but the incomparable excellency of it when the heart accepteth of it and embraceth it and saith with the Apostle in the fore-alledged Scripture 1 Tim. 1.15 This saying as it is a faithfull one so it is worthy of all acceptation It is a faithfull saying saith the Understanding and therefore I will give assent to it It is a saying worthy of all acceptation saith the will and therefore I will close with it So the faith of the Fathers is described Heb. 11.13 in which all the three acts which we have mentioned are wrapt up together They saw the promises conceive it with the understandings eye they knew them and they understood them They were perswaded of them they gave assent to them and they received them and embraced them for both these terms are there used not the words and surface of them but Christ in them In which respect this act of faith is sometimes called receiving of Christ as see John 1.12 To as many as received him c. So that believing and receiving are all one this is the third act 4. The fourth and last act is a resting a relying and recumbency on Christ for mercy and salvation this is the great act of the soul in faith A roling of it self on Jesus Christ expecting life and happiness no other way and by no other mean but him only And this is that which is so often called believing in the Son of God believing in his name trusting in him as the Apostle Pauls expression is Ephes 1.12 or trusting to him for all the good that we expect or look for These are the four great acts of faith and Christ you see is the immediate and proper object of them all So that you easily perceive what I intend when I perswade you and exhort you to fasten on this object and to believe in Jesus Christ Object But you will say perhaps as that is now a great Objection the Creature is not able to believe it is an impotent and dead thing what can the Creature do And why do you perswade it to believe Sol. True my beloved it can do nothing and you would have it to do nothing by this Rule Keep away the means from it and when will it attain the end It hath no faith it is not able to believe but faith comes by this means by the perswasions and intreaties
rigid Ministry must prepare the way for Christ He must be like a Pioner to go before to bring down every high exalted thought to make the Mountains levell with the Vallies The Law must bite and sting men with the curses and the terrors of it and so work inclinations in them to look up to Jesus Christ who is the brazen Serpents Antitype erected in the Gospel And this is all the Law can do it can but fit a man for Jesus Christ and prepare a man for faith which is indeed and properly effected in him by the Gospel This is the royall and triumphant Chariot in which the Son of God comes riding gloriously into the soul and so dwelleth there by faith as the Apostle Paul speaks Eph. 3.17 And hence the Gospel hath the name of faith in Scripture as you may see that place for instance Gal. 1.23 because it worketh faith in the hearts of Gods people Is it the Gospel word that makes believers Then surely they are in Vse 1 an infinitely sad Condition who want the Gospel who want it wilfully as the Jews do and have done many hundred years They have it but they put it from them as the Apostle speaks They receive the Prophets words but they receive not the Apostles words And how then should they believe through their word And there are others in the world who want it necessarily or of necessity and through the just severity and righteous judgement of the Lord upon them Many persons many Nations are in this lamentable case to this day They have no Gospel and so no means at all to work faith in them without which there is no salvation No they are shut up under unbelief as the Apostle speaks Rom. 11.32 God hath concluded them in that condition There they are and there is no coming out the door of wrath is shut upon them whose miserable case in bowels of compassion we have cause to pitty though they pitty not themselves Is it the Gospel word that makes believers then certainly it is no Vse 2 other word that is the means or ground of faith We have a company of men in our times that believe strange things that bottom faith upon a strange foundation Revelations and discoveries of a spirit that hath no commerce at all no agreement with the Gospel let the Apostles word be what it will if they have another word from that which they conceive to be the spirit of God they believe that and not this whereas the spirit that brings men any other Gospel then that which the Apostles taught though he come from heaven it self ought not to be believed but accursed And yet alas how confident have many been in their assent to such discoveries as have been clear against the Gospel and against the Apostles words Ah my beloved this is not revelation but delusion this is not faith but unbelief Our Saviour speaking in my Text of all that should believe from that time in which he prayed to the end of the world describes them to be such as should believe through the Apostles word Not through any other word but that of the Apostles only that which they preached and that which they writ which they have left recorded in the Scripture If any man believe through any other word or any other revelation that accordeth not with this he is none of Christs beleivers none of them which he owns none of them for which he prayes I pray for them that shall believe on me through their word For them and none but them He that believes through any other word you see is out of Christs prayer Vse 3 Is it the Apostles word the Gospels word that makes believers you then that are as yet without faith be hence prevailed withall to hear it and to attend upon it This is that which the creature can do I mean by general influence of common Providence without any supernatural grace and therefore this do you do It is the word of faith as I have shewed you formerly and when the Lord is pleased to concurr with it it worketh faith in those that hear it It s true you are not able to convert your selves or to believe in Jesus Christ but the Apostles word the Gospel is a fit instrument for this purpose Faith comes by hearing and therefore hear that you may believe You that are strangers to the life of faith be you entreated and prevailed withall to put your selves under the powerfull preaching of the Gospel as the Apostle speaks be swift to hear lay hold on every opportunity to be partakers of this holy Ordinance and then perhaps it may in time become a word of faith to you Wait diligently on the doors of Wisdoms house listen attentively to them that teach you Apostolical doctrine and who knows but you may yet believe through their word And thus of Christs description of the persons for whom he here becomes a Suitor to his Father Them which shall believe on me through their word Proceed we to the matter of the prayer which he makes for these persons And there are two main things that he desires in their hehalf First that they may be one next that they may be in one place together The first of these he proposes in the verse that I have read and prosecutes in the succeeding verses 1. He proposes it in the verse that I have read that they may all be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us 2. And then he prosecutes this Suit of his with divers arguments and reasons to ver 24. as God permitting we shall see hereafter In the proposal of this Suit of his you may observe that it is both expessed and amplified First it is nakedly expressed in plain terms that they may all be one Secondly then it is amplified by a Similitude in which our Saviour shews how he would have them to be one as thou father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us A strange expression if you look upon it with a superficial view That the Disciples of our Saviour may be one in some respects is very easie to imagine But how they should be one as God the Father and the Son are one how they should be in God and Christ as they are in one another is very hard to be conceived Yet this is the expression of our Saviour to his Father in my Text That they may all be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us For clearing this beloved you must know that as in Scripture many times is a note of similitude not of equality It intimates the truth and the reality of that wherein likeness stands and not the measure and degree I might give many instances wherein that Particle is so taken See Luke 6.36 Be mercifull as your heavenly Father is mercifull It is impossible for any man
duty you do to him can be accepted 4. You can hope for no pardon of sin 5. Cannot come to God with boldness 124. What meant by the only true God p. 126. viz. the whole Essence of the Godhead 3. Doctr. That the Father Son and Holy Ghost is the only true God p. 128. Reason For he only hath being of himself 2. He is the living God 3. None can do that which he doth 4. He only is Eternal 1. Vse Be stirred up to confirm your faith of this Motives 1. For then the more and better we shall walk with him 2. Serve and obey him p. 130. Direct 1. Give full assent to the Scriptures 2. Know him to be above all other Gods 3. Be resolved not doubtful of this point 4. Pray for faith in this particular p. 133. 2. Vse Obey serve and honour him as the true God p. 134. 3. Vse Let us have no other God but him only p. 135. Serve the Lord and not Idols p. 136. Times p 138. Lusts neither your own nor that of others p. 139. 2. Fear none but him 3. Trust in him alone p. 140. 4. Vse Learn from hence to be at unity among our selves 5. Learn to see our happiness of having chosen him for our God p. 141. 4. Doctr. That Christ is the Apostle or Messenger of God p. 142. Explication 1. Sent from God and from heaven How possible p. 143. 2. Into the world 3. The errand on which he was sent viz. to make peace preach peace 4. Therefore fitly qualified with 1. Authority 2. Ability Fulness of Merit to make peace p. 145. Spirit to preach peace p. 145. 1. Vse Admire the mercy of the sender 2. Of him that would be sent Void of fear and constraint p. 147 2. Be all intreated to receive and entertain him For 1. His errand is your business 2. It 's for your good and advantage 3. The Father expects you should honour his Embassadour and Son 4. He will avenge the refusers of him 5. This Messenger can prevail with God for you p. 149. Direction 1. Receive him so as to hearken to him 2. To believe in him 3. To obey him p. 150. 5. Doct. Whoever wil be glorified with God in heaven must glorifie him first on earth p. 152 Reason It is the everlasting counsel and decree of God Vse 1. Against vain expecters of future glory p. 153. 2. Vse Learn to glorifie God here 1. By a vocal declaration 2. By a real representation in what you 1. are p. 154. 2. do p. 154. Gods glory how to be our aim in all Ver. 4 1. Doctr. That Christ was ordered by his Father in the work he did in this world p. 156. Expl. Christ was so ordered in his works of Satisfaction His obedience Active p. 157. Passive p. 158. Application p. 158. As by the 1. Promulgation of the Word 2. Internal operation of the Spirit p. 159. Reas 1. Christ was the Fathers creature 2. The Fathers servant p. 160. 1. Vse Admire the humble condescension of Christ 2. Learn to be humbled in like manner and to suffer willingly p. 161. 3. Vse Some do the good others the evil which God hath not given them to do p. 162. Danger of neglecting Gods order p. 164. How Christ had finished the work before his Passion p. 165. 2. Doct. Christ did not do his work by halves but went through with it p. 166. Sufferings of Christs body Natural Mystical 1. Vse Who guilty of adding to the works of Christ 2. Let us persevere in our work and finish it Five Motives hereunto p. 169. Ver. 5 What glory Christ prayed for Doct. Christ as Man in some measure partaker of the divine glory 1. By the grace of union 2. By the grace of dispensation from the Father p. 173. 1. Vse Know the advancement of our nature in the Person of Christ 2. Their personal advancement that belong to Christ partly in 1. Fruition 2. Assured expectation 3. This should make us despise the shame of this world 2. So to walk as not to be a shame to Christ p. 174. Ver. 6 How Christ had manifested Gods Name Doct. Christ made an absolute and compleat discovery of his Father to the people 1. By his Personal appearance in the flesh 2. By his Word and Gospel 3. By his Spirit p. 178. 2. Q. Why Christ only makes this discovery R. 1. None but he is able 2. None but he is fit to make this discovery p. 180. 3. Q. Why the discovery he makes is so full and absolute R. 1. As being the faithful Prophet of his Church 2. That the discovery may be effectual 1. Vse The ignorant inexcusable 2. Learn to bless his Name for this discovery 3. Grow up in the knowledge of this Name made known p. 182. 4. Vse Be satisfied with the discovery which Christ hath made search not beyond it Pride Sin Danger vanity thereof p. 184. 5. Vse Walk worthy of this discovery i. e. Despair not under sin or misery p. 185. 2. Doct. Some the Father giveth to Christ out of the world 2. A certain number of them 3. Being once the Lords they are no longer of the world Confirm 1. The actual members of Christ are dead with Christ and of another world as are their kindred and alliance p. 190. 3. Their habitation is spiritual so is their action and traffique 1. Vse Therefore the world storms and rageth at mens being given up to Christ 2. Examin Are we given up to Christ p. 192. Marks 1. They are not conformable to this present world 2. They speak the language of another world p. 193. 3. They dearly affect their Countreymen 3. Vse Think not strange of ill usage in the world p. 194. 4. Vse Regard not the things of this world 5. Follow not a multitude to sin It s safe and honorable to be retired 6. Be not troubled at worldly troubles 3. Doct. All Christs people were first belonging to the Father p. 197. 1. The Father essentially taken 2. All belonged to God 1. By Creation 2. By Election 3. Christs people not so his as not the Fathers 1 Vse Christ will tenderly keep those that are so given him Word of God Inward and Essential p. 202. Outward and Declaratory p. 202. 4. Doct. They whom the Father gives to Christ keep his word p. 203. Christs Word is kept In the memory by retaining In the heart by believing In the affections by loving In the life by obeying with obedience Active Passive Vse Exam. Are we so given up to Christ that we keep his Word p. 205. 2. Vse Direct For helping memory 1. Be intent and fix your mind on the Word 2. Get a good understanding 3. Value the Word 4. Strengthen the memory by meditation repetition conference 5. Set instantly to practice the truth you hear 6. Pray for the Spirit to do his Office 3. Vse of Examination Do we keep Christs word by Faith Some believe none of it 2. Some but part of it
The Father loves believers as he doth Christ Reas For he loves them 1. In Christ 2. Through Christ 1. Vse Depend on him 1. Without doubting 2. By real love 3. Vse Comfort to all true believers In that 1. He will uphold them as he did Christ 2. Assist us in his service 3. Reward his own work in us 4. Hear us 5. Provide for us 3. Doctr. Christs will is even a Law with the Father Reas 1. Being the only Son 2. The Beloved 3. Never asks amiss 4. Sueth for nothing but what he deserver p. 491. Vse How to make Christ our Advocate Ver. 24 Direct 1. To prepare their hearts they must be 1. Purged 2. Humbled 3. Fixed 4. Awakened Then 2. For Matter of prayer search the promises p. 496. Manner Pray without wrath 2. Doubting 3. With much zeal 2. If we pray acted by Christs Spirit 1. There will be zeal 2. Desires spiritual 3. For spiritual things chiefly Not to be spent on lusts 4. We shall pray constantly 2. Doct. It is Christs will that they who are given him should be in heaven Reas He loves them with a love 1. Of benevolence 2. Of Complacency 3. To see his glory 3. Doct. God hath loved Christ from all Eternity Reas Being like him both as God and Man Vse Wo to them that hate Christ They hate Christ 1. Who willingly obey sin 2. Who love and hate that which Christ doth not 3. Who are friends to the Enemies of Christ Contra p. 513. 2. Vse God therefore loveth them that love Christ Christ is amiable and worthy of our love 1. In respect of his perfections p. 515. 2. In respect of our Interest and propriety in him 3. Of his great love to us 4. Of that he hath done for us 3. Vse Admire that he should so use him as he did for our sakes 1. Giving him up to the hands of sinful men and to his own wrath 2. So using him for such as we are p. 517. 4. Vse Comforts to those that belong to Christ that they are loved from everlasting 4. Doct. God is a very just and righteous God Confirmed 1. From the largeness of his Jurisdiction 2. The Immensity of his presence 3. From his inward propensity and disposition 1. Vse This should settle our minds amidst the confusions and disorders of the world 2. Vse Comfort to those that are abused and oppressed 3. Vse Come into him and become his subjects 4. Vse Terror to the ungodly 5. Vse Comfort to the righteous even in Gods Justice 6. Vse Admonition to Magistrates Perswasions to execute Justice 1. It will settle the land 2. Be amiable to God 3. Beneficial to your selves p. 526 7. Vse Meditate on Gods righteousness It will 1. help us against sin 2. Strengthen our faith in prayer p. 528. Ver. 25 Doct. Unbelievers and unsanctified persons know not God in such manner as they ought p. 531. 1. Know him not so as to delight in him 2. Nor so as to serve and obey him 3. Nor so as to know him in Christ Reason 1. Unbelieving Heathens want the means of knowledge 2. Unbelieving Christians want the Spirit to unveil 1. The understanding 2. The Gospel 3. In every unbeliever there 's something 1. Redundant to repell divine Truth 2. Wanting to receive it viz. The Spirit of God 4. They are unwilling to know God p. 535. 1. Vse The misery of unsanctified unbelievers 2. Vse Admire Gods mercy in vouchsafing us the means of knowledge p 537. 2. Doct. That Christ alone knows God immediately and others by his means p. 539. Vse None saved by his own natural knowledge 3. Doct. The most saving knowledge hath defects and imperfections standing in need of farther declaration p. 541. Reason Christ doth not shew them all at once 1. Because they are not capable 2. That he may keep them humble 1. Vse Be not proud of your knowledge 2. Vse Comforts to the humble 1. A sign that thy knowledge is right and sound 2. It 's the measure which Christ hath alloted thee 3. The time is coming when these thy defects shall be supplyed 4. We shall be rewarded according to our practice not our knowledge Ver. 26 Doct. Christ will be making farther declarations of his Fathers Name to the worlds end p. 546. 1. By his written Word and Ministers in all ages 2. By his holy Spirit p. 548. 1. Vse Believe what he hath spoken 2. Expect the execution of his promise 3. Thereunto strive with Christ in prayer p. 549. 2. Doct. The Love which is in true believers comes from God Reason For it cannot be Originally in of or from our selves yet not without means Vse If we want it have recourse to God Love is the chiefest thing 1. That comes from God p. 554. 2. That conformeth us to God p. 554. 3. Doct. Declaration of the Fathers Name is a special means to work love in them Reason 1. Beauty is a part of his Name 2. Goodness 3. Mercy 4. Love p. 557. 4. Doct. Where Love is there Christ is Reason 1. For where Love there the Spirit 2. Faith 3. God is p. 560. 1. Vse Misery of those that love not God and his children 2. Comforts to those that have love in them They have Christ and therefore 1. Have intimate Communion with him 2. Have free access to him 3. Have the confluence of all Accommodations 4. Are secure 2. Let Christ live quiet in your hearts Excellency of Christs prayer An Alphabetical Table of the Chief Heads contained In this TREATISE A ADopted children page 15 Admire the love of God and of Christ page 20 98 146 161 361 455 537 Affections of the heart testified by outward gesture page 11 Affliction should not dismay us See Tribulation page 104 195 290 291 367 Abilities of Christ page 145 Active Obedience of Christ page 157 Our Advancement in Christ page 174 The Apostle and Messenger of God is Christ 142 149 234 235 other Apostles page 407 our Affections are to keep Christs word page 204 213 Apostates from Christ page 41 210 Application of Christ page 158 441 Assurance Means and benefit thereof page 22 our Active and Passive obedience page 203 Authority grace and power of Christs words page 7. 473 Authority of Christ over all men 52 144. for the benefit and Salvation of his people page 72 73 Agreement with God and Christ necessary page 465 Agreement See Unity The benefits thereof page 303 304 All things revealed by Christ in what sense page 236 Aimiableness of Christ page 514 515 Adding to the work of Christ page 168 word of Christ page 241 Absence of Christ from the Father page 265 Ascension of Christ 266. End fruit and benefits thereof page 267 B PArtial Believers page 208 â—99 Belief See Faith Wrought by the Gospel page 443 444 Believers not free from the Law page 61 62 Believe the Trinity page 130 132 the Scriptures page 133 399 in Christ page 149 150 441 Christs word 204. 559
90 193 World rageth at true Converts page 191 360 This World to be undervalued and contemned page 195 196 277 386 459 This World an uncomfortable place to Christs Disciples page 274 Vexations and troubles thereof page 275 Worlds hatred and enmity against Christians page 359 360 Christans as Christ was are of another world page 381 383 Signs and Marks thereof page 384 Z. ZEal to be used in prayer page 497 Zeal and fervency will accompany the Spirit page 498 Courteous Reader be pleased to take notice that these Books following are Printed for and sold by Edward Brewster at the Crane in Pauls Churchyard 1660. 1 Mr. Elton his Commentary on the seventh eighth and ninth of the Romans folio 2 Mr. Hildersham his 108. 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Twiss Vindicia Gratiae quarto 56 The Assemblies Confession and Catechism with proofs at large quarto 57 Mr. Ley of the fury of war and folly of sin quarto 58 A Monitor of Mortality in two Sermons 59 General Reasons against the payment of the fifth part to sequestred Ministers 60 A Debate concerning the English Liturgie quarto 61 Mr. Abbot against Brownists octavo 62 Mr. Iohn Brewens Life and Death octavo 63 Mr. Birkbecks quatuor novissima or a Treatise of Death Judgement Heaven and Hell octavo 64 Mastersons Arithmetick octavo 65 Wingats Logarithms octavo 66 Mr. Palmers Gospel-new Creature octavo 67 Against free admission to the Sacrament 68 Mr. Angiers help to better hearts for better times 12o. 69 Mr. Rogers Righteous Mans Evidence for Heaven 12o. 70 His good News from Heaven 12o. 71 Mr. Abbots four Sermons 12o. 72 Mr. Byfields Light of Faith 12o. 73 Signs of a Godly Man 12o. 74 Essays concerning assurance of Gods love and mans salvation 75 Mr. Moulins Christians Combar 12o. 76 The Marrow of Alchymy octavo 77 Mr. Yarrows Comforts for troubled Consciences 12o. 78 Mr. Belks Scripture Enquiry or Helps for memory in duties of Piety octavo 79 Mr. Lawson of the Sabbath 12o. 80 Mr. Typping of the Life of the Lady Hall 12o. 81 The Preachers plea in defence of Tythes 82 The Fathers Counsel to his Son 83 Major General Skippon of the Promises 12o. 84 Observations and Resolutions 24o. 85 Of Vows 24o. 86 Wits Recreations octavo 87 Mr. Iellinger Christ and his Saints spending their time together day and night 12o. 88 Mr. Paul Bains Directions to a Godly life 12o. 89 His Christian Letters 12º 90 Mr. Iemmats Rock or a setled heart in unsetled times 12o. 91 The Doctrine of the Bible 12o. 92 Mr. Nirmans Watch-charged or A warning to Gods Watchmen a Sermon preached at a solemn Ordination and General Meeting of the Associated Ministers at Bridgwater octavo 93 Mr. Chetwind Christs Commission Officer or the Preachers Pattent cleared and peoples plea considered in a Sermon preached before the Associated Ministers of Christ in the County of Sommerset at a solemn Ordination 94 Mr. Hartlibs Compleat Husbandman or a Discourse of the whole Art of Husbandry both Forraign and Domestick quarto 95 English Presbyterian and Independent reconciled quarto 96 Gregorii Cura Pastoralis octavo 97 Willis Meditations 12o. 98 Raleighs Meditation 12o. 99 Ward de Magnete 12o. 100 Dr. Burges Preservative against Popery 12o. 101 Dents Path line for Parents octavo 102 Elegies on the Lord Vere octavo 103 Baxters Call to the Unconverted in Welch 104 The Assemblies Catechism in Welch octavo 105 Catelyns Catechism in Welch octavo School Books 106 Danelii Grammatica quarto 107 Herodiani Historia octavo Gr. 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for us saith the Apostle Paul Tit. 2.14 that was the purchase that he made a very dear one you will say He gave himself for us to what end that he might reedeem us from all iniquity from the dominion and power of sin And what now are we masterless And are the reins upon our own necks Now mark what follows presently And purifie us a peculiar people himself a people to himself to serve him and to do his work and to be very earnest in it too and purifie to himself a peculiar people Zealous of good works And so being free from sin we are not left at large my Brethren but we became the servants of Christ Rom. 6 22. This was the End that he intended and propounded to himself in our Redemption he dyed for us that we which live should henceforth live no longer to our selves but to him that dyed for us 2 Cor. 5.15 He hath performed the mercy promised he hath remembred c. he hath saved us from c. Luke 1.74 What that we might from henceforth be our own men and live at liberty and walk according to our own wills Oh no my Brethren but on the other side that we might serve him who hath saved us in holiness and righteousness all the daies of our lives The third is an Engagement of Covenant-obligation we are his Covenant servants and therefore we are bound to serve him if we run away from him we are Covenant-breakers with him Indeed we that are born of those that are in Covenant with him are born his Covenant-servants in a sense For such as the condition of the Parent is Beloved such is the condition of the child as to outward priviledge and as to outward duty too And hence it is perhaps that David saith to God Psalm 116.16 O Lord saith he I am thy servant My servant might the Lord reply Why how so why saith the Psalmist I am the son of thy hand-maid So we whose parents were within the Covenant were born to Christ in some respect for we were born within his family and so to outward view and cognizance belong to his houshold But this is but an outward thing some of us have gone further yet and made a Covenant with the Lord to serve him we were in Covenant all of us with sin by nature and so with death and hell we were at an agreement too But some of us have utterly dissolved that Covenant and entred into Covenant with the Lord Christ We are bound let us obey now we have made this Covenant with him we are the more engaged to serve him and the greater is our sin if we run away from him Use 3 Is God the Father of our Lord Christ The greater is his love to us that he should give Christ for us If he had given but a servant or a friend it had been much that he should part with either of them for an enemy but that he should give us his son his own begotten son to shame to punishment to death for us here is love and here is mercy with a witness The Evangelist me thinks knows not which way to express it and therefore leaves it to the largest heart and the vastest understanding to guess at it John 3.16 God so loved the world So how I cannot tell you it swallows up my apprehensions and expressions And therefore I must leave it to your selves to think of it and reach after it And truly my Beloved did we weigh it well in our advised and deliberate thoughts we should be carried out beyond our selves in an Extasie of wonder What my Beloved that when the Father had but one begotten Son by nature and one that was so well like him the very picture of his Father c. one whom he loved dearly in whom his very soul delighted that he should give him forth out of his bosom for such wretches as we are That he could not spare his Son that he might spare his Enemies behold what love the Father hath declared in this Here is love to be spoken of and to be wondred at in all ages And thus far of the uses of the former member of the point Proceed we now to make some application of the latter Use 1 Is it so my Brethren that as God is the Father of the Lord Christ So Christ did apprehend him as a Father and look upon him as a Father when c. Then let us also apprehend him so and look upon him so who are the sons of God in Christ when we come to God in prayer Let us present our supplications to him under the notion of a Father as Christ did Christ is in this respect our Pattern and Example whom we ought to follow We are required you know to be followers of Christ viz. in all his imitable actions and this is one of those actions We ought to walk as he walked and to pray as he prayed And therefore as his manner was to pray to God himself in this language to come to God as to a Father So he hath taught us also so to pray in the very same language to come to God as to a Father as he did Mat. 6.9 After this manner pray ye Our Father which art in heaven So that we have in this you see the Precept and Example of the Lord Christ his Precept in the cited place and his Example in my Text. And therefore let us learn this lesson of him since he is pleased to teach us both waies both by Precept and Example When we are making our addresses to the Lord in prayer let us endeavour to apply unto our selves the love and father-hood of God in Jesus Christ Let us not satisfie our selves with a general perswasion that he is a gracious Father to all his sons and daughters in the Lord Christ But let us strive for a distinct and a particular assurance that he is our own Father that he is so to us in special and that we are among the number of his children That we may look upon him so and confidently call him so when we are pouring out our prayers to him and so expect the love and mercy of a Father from him And to this very End as the Apostle tells us The Spirit of the Son is sent abroad into our hearts To what End Why to make us cry Abba Father Gal. 4.6 That is to make us pray to God as to a Father while others come to God as to a stranger with whom they have no acquaintance and to whom they have no relation So that you see we have not only the Precept of Christ and the Example of Christ but we have also the Spirit of Christ that we may pray in this manner And therefore in this Faith and confidence the Saints of God have prayed in Scripture So did the Church as you may see Isa 63.16 Doubtless say they thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us and Israel acknowledge us
any time But though he doth not yet he may No saith the Apostle Paul 1 Tim. 6.16 He dwells in light that no man can approach unto whom no man hath seen nor can see Indeed we see him darkly here as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 13.12 And therefore this is called the seeing of the back-parts of the Lord. As when we see the back-parts of a man we know him but by guess only we know him not so perfectly and distinctly as when we come to see his face Such a sight of God is that which we attain in this life And however it may seem by some expression in the Scripture that God hath fully manifested and made known himself to some here as to Jacob Gen. 32.30 and to Moses Num. 12.8 To him will I speak saith God by vision not in darkness and he shall see the similitude of God This must be understood comparatively of the Lords more clear and full revealing of himself to Jacob and to Moses then to other men But as for perfect light and knowledge of the Lord my Brethren this was not imparted neither to Jacob nor to Moses Thou shalt not see my face saith God to Moses Exod. 33.10 That is the fulness of my glory for none shall see my face and live But which way may we come to know him so far as he is to be known in this life Truly there is but one way of coming to the knowledge of him and this way is Jesus Christ No man hath seen God at any time saith the Evangelist Ioh. 1.18 What then is he not to be seen not to be known at all by any means Yes though he be not to be seen or known immediately in himself yet mediately in and by the Son he may be known for he hath manifested and revealed him to us No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him And therefore when our Saviour was Incarnate it is said that God was manifested in the flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 In which respect it is that when Philip was so earnest to have the Father shewn him our Saviour bids him to behold himself and addeth presently he that hath seen me hath seen the Father also Indeed it was the business of our Saviour Christ into this Lower world to bring God down to us that we might be acquainted with him And therefore if you do indeed desire to know him go to Christ and use his help in this business If you ever see God and have that knowledge of him which is life Eternal you must have light from Jesus Christ to see him by I am the light of the world saith he Ioh 8.12 without me there is no light in all the world none but that which comes from me and which I am the Fountain of He that follows me shall have the light of Life that is the light which is life And therefore if you would have this light follow Jesus Christ for it and follow him three wayes or in the use especially of three Means follow him in a Gospel-Ordinance a Gospel grace a Gospel-duty Follow him in the Gospel-ordinance of preaching there it is that Christ shines that he gives out the light by which he shews his Father to his people It s true indeed that Moses shewed him in the Law as a Judge and an Avenger But it is Jesus Christ that shews him in the Gospel as a Father and a Saviour He is not manifest in a saving way anywhere but in the Gospel The Knowledge of him as he is discovered there and none but that is life eternal And therefore wait on that discovery if you mean to live for ever where there is any Gospel-preaching say Christ shews his Father there and follow him that so you may have life by this means I say as Solomon Prov. 4.13 Take fast hold of Instruction keep her for she is thy life Follow him in a Gospel-grace and that is faith by this it is that we come to see God and know God as by it we believe the Revelations and Discoveries that are made of God which other men may read and hear and yet because they have no faith to give belief and credit to them they get no sight no knowledge of the Lord by them It is by faith that we see him who is invisible as the expression is Heb. 11.27 There are some things that must be first believed before they can be fully understood if you believe them not you can never understand them And hence saith the Apostle in the third ver of the fore-cited Chapter by saith we understand the world to be created by the word of God A man would think he would have said by faith we credit and believe it and not by faith we understand it But the Creation is a thing that is above Philosophy and therefore is not to be fully understood unless it be believed first It is our faith that helps us to the perfect Knowledge of it and so by faith we see and know God because by faith we give assent to the discoveries that are made of God in Scripture and having once believed them we come to see and understand the nature of the Lord in them We see the Lord in his All-mightiness his All-sufficiency his Omni-presence c. which a man that hath not faith can neuer do we bring him near us by believing his Immensity and that he filleth all places as he is said to do in Scripture we look upon him now as just by us and so we have a clear and distinct sight of him Follow Christ in a Gospel-duty and that is Prayer beseech him to reveal God to you make your address to him as Philip doth Iohn 14.9 Shew us the Father we cannot see him of our selves Lord shew him to thy poor servants If Christ withdraw himself and step away go after him follow him and you shall have the light of Life If he stop his ears against you cry the louder as the Direction is Prov. 2.3 Cry after Knowledge lift up your voyce for Understanding and what then Then shall you understand the fear of the Lord and find the Knowledge of God Is it so that life Eternal c. If then you desire to save men from Eternal Use 4 death to bring men to Eternal Life instill the Knowledge of the Lord into them It may be you have Children it may be you have Friends or servants whom you look upon as dead they have no life of grace in them well Would you have them quickened Would you have them live for ever Do what you can by all the means that you can think upon to make them know God Instruct them bring them to the means of grace examine them how they thrive and profit by them Oh do not see them sink away to hell and die for ever for want of any help that you can yield them of any pains
be a God at all or if there be whether ours which we have chosen be the right and true God it is impossible but we should so far as those doubts prevail upon us go out from him and apply our selves to those things which are obvious to the sence which we see and know to be The more undoubtedly and firmly we believe that our God is the true God the more perfectly and fully we shall serve him and obey him the more we shall trust in him the more we shall seek to him the more we shall strive to please him according to the strengthening or weakening of our faith in this particular will be the measure of our service and obedience to him of our reliance and dependence on him For even as if a man believe there is no God at all he will not serve him he will not roll himself upon him whom he thinketh not to be So if he believe it weakly and with many haesitations that there is a God or that the God which he hath chosen is the true God he will fear him and he will trust him very weakly and remisly He will be on and off and up and down according to the ebbings and the flowings of his faith But if we have a strong and an unshaken confidence that our God is God indeed then we will set our selves to serve him fully and without halting Then we will trust him perfectly we will apply our selves to please him in all our ways and all our actions But you will ask me then how shall we do to put this matter out of all question that our God is the true God and what means shall we use to satisfie our selves and to confirm our faith in this particular because it is a Point of such concernment and hath such influence in our lives I shall give you some Directions First Endeavour to the utmost of your power to give compleat and full assent and credit to the Scripture admit not any doubt in that particular One main thing that the Scripture doth is to give testimony to the God whom we worship and if we can but say that this witness is true there is an end of this business So far as we believe the Scripture we cannot but believe without any haesitation that our God is the true God If we be satisfied of the one we cannot possibly have any scruple of the other And therefore we should spend our thoughts upon such meditations as will settle us in this We should consider with our selves the strange Consent of Scripture-writers living in so many Ages the strange accomplishment of Scripture-Prophesies the strange effect of Scripture-admonitions exhortations threatnings Though it be carried in a low and easie stile how it commands us and prevaileth more upon us then all the Eloquence of men and Angels could ever do were it united altogether Especially we should observe we that are God's I mean for to such I now speak what admirable operation it hath had upon our own hearts how it hath pierced in and made a separation between our very joynts and marrow how it hath even told us all that ever we have done how it hath cast us down with sorrow unconceivable and then raised us up again with joy unspeakable and glorious how it hath altered and changed us and turned us clear about and made us to renounce our profits pleasures and delights our wills our reasons and desires yea to deny our selves that we might walk by this Rule Such things as these methinks should mightily confirm us in the truth of this that the Scripture is the very Word of God And then this cannot chuse but follow out of all dispute that our God is the true God Secondly Examine all pretenders to the Godhead and see if any of them have so good a Plea so good a Title to the Deity as the God whom we worship This I suppose is out of question with you that there is a God this is apparent by the current and the joynt-consent of men in all times and in all places For this is not a thing that hath been taught by this or that sect or held by this or that people But all sects how much soever they have differed in all other things have held this and all Nations how wide soever each from other in place or manners have taught this But now the thing we are upon is who this God is whether ours or any other And truly my Beloved if this be once admitted that there is a God our God will carry it from any other that hath laid any claim to it As for the Idols of the Heathen stocks and stones I know you will not think it worthy your consideration whether any of them were the true God And for the gods which the Barbarians worshipped the Sun the Moon the very beasts themselves of every sort they are no great pretenders neither we need no more then ordinary reason to convince us that these can be no Gods For to say truth they are below men The Romane gods are more considerable then the other and yet they were but men as Jupiter and Saturn and the like Yea to say truth they were vile and wicked men addicted to the grossest vices and such as led most prophane and lewd lives Yea they were mortal men and therefore certainly they were not Gods And hence their very Worshippers would shew you in one place a Temple and in another place a Sepulchre erected to the same God which is a most apparent Contradiction And truly if a man consider who have pretended to the Godhead besides our God and what poor things they were it will exceedingly establish and confirm him in this business You cannot think that if there be a God as that is granted of all hands he is concealed from the world till this time And truly for the other gods that have been worshipped if you will but examine them you will apparently discover them to have deluded and deceived the world so that you may exceedingly confirm your faith in this respect by an induction of particulars This god and that god cannot be the true God and so along in all the rest And therefore our God is undoubtedly the true God And you shall find the Lord to have such poor Competitors that you will certainly cry out at last as being fully satisfied The Lord is God the Lord is God Be sure to sift this business to the full when you set your selves about it and not to leave it undetermined in your own thoughts Never give over till you be resolved and till you be established in the present truth It is the fault of many men yea I believe of many good men that when some thoughts of Atheism are cast in and when they have some doubts arising in their hearts whether the Lord be God or no as this the very best may have they do not altogether scatter them before they leave them but
did otherwife as the Apostle testifies of them to their commendation 1 Thess 2.13 The word which ye heard of us saith the Apostle there ye received it not as the word of men though ye received it of us who are but men yet ye received it not as the word of men but as it is indeed the word of God Is it so that they that will give the word of God such entertainment Vse 2 as it ought to have must know c. You see then what you are to do if you desire to entertain the word aright and to receive it in such a manner as you ought to do you find perhaps much slightness and irreverence and stubbornness and disobedience in your hearts against it you cannot bring your hearts to such a temper in the reading or the hearing of it as you unfeignedly desire to do your thoughts are wandring or your hearts are unbelieving or your lusts are struggling or your corrupt and carnal reason is gainsaying while you are attending on it Something or other there is still that hinders you from a right receiving of it And this is a continual grief and burthen to you Now my Beloved I will shew you how you shall help all this at once You must come to be assured to know for certain that that which is delivered in or from the Scripture is the word of God If you have any secret unbelief of this any doubt in this particular do what you will in all respects besides and labour what you can you will never bring your selves to give the word such entertainment as it ought to have This one defect will hurt you more then all the means that you can use besides will help you And truly Satan knowing well of how great consequence it is endeavours what he can if not to overthrow us utterly at least to weaken us in this assurance And if he can but weaken us in this and make as faint in this assurance that that which is delivered in or from the Scripture is the word of God he knows he doth much work at once He weakens by proportion our Reverence our Assent Submission and Obedience with it And verily my Brethren though it may not be perceived yet this is that which lies at the bottom and is the main original of all that slightness and incredulity and obstinacy and disobedience which many of the pretious Saints of God discover in themselves in relation to the word and know not how to remedy They are not firmly and inviolably setled and confirmed in this perswasion that it is the word of God Their faith is weak in this particular and so accordingly they are weak in all those things which concern the due and right receiving of it For even as if a man believe it not to be the word of God at all he will give it no fear no faith no submission no obedience So on the other side if he believe it weakly and with many hesitations he will accordingly be weak in all these he will be on and of and up and down according to the ebbings and the flowings of his faith And therefore I beseech you my Beloved strive and labour what you can to strengthen and fortifie your selves in this perswasion which is of such concernment to you And certainly the best among us have need of Confirmation here for we are apt sometimes to waver and to have doubtful thoughts about it And they that are most free from these have yet defects and imperfections in their faith of this as well as other parts of holy truth They have not yet attained to such a pitch but they may be adding to it and go on to further measures and degrees And therefore let it be our labour and endeavour to encrease our faith in this particular and to grow up to full assurance of this inviolable principle that That which is delivered in the Scripture is verily the word of God Now that you may know this for certain I shall do two things First I shall lay down such considerations as make it credible And in the next place I shall shew you what you are to do that it may be certain to you As for the first of these my Brethren there are many things that make it very credible that whatsoever is delivered in or from the Srripture is the word of God I shall name a few of them as 1. The evident accomplishment of all the prophesies contained in it I mean of all excepting those the time of whose fulfilling is not come in It hath been Ruled long ago that De futuris contingentibus non datur determinata veritas Man cannot certainly determine of future things that are contingent He cannot do it of himself and by his own fore-sight Now this the Prophets and Apostles did as by the issue and event is manifest and therefore it appears that in their prophesies they were directed by the All-knowing and Omniscient God 2. It is made credible by the harmonious testimony of the Church in every age who have assented to it and acknowledged and received it as that which comprehendeth and containeth the divine and holy Oracles of God himself And however divers Churches have been at very sharp dissentions about divers other things yet herein they have still agreed and none of them have once so much as questioned whether the Scripture be the word of God or no. 3. It is made credible by the almost incredible consent between the Scribes and Pen-men of it who writing in such divers places tongues and seasons must needs unreconcileably have crossed and thwarted one another had they been guided by their own spirits We see how men that write upon the Scripture differ in their Expositions of it and speak directly one against another How more would the Prophets and Apostles then have jarred unless they had been all directed by the same Spirit We know in reason men would far more easily agree in Explicating Principles already made then in composing those Principles and Rules themselves if every man had liberty to frame what Axioms he thought good himself and to set them down for text And therefore certainly the Pen-men of the Scripture were guided all by one viz. the Holy Ghost himself who lead them into one Truth 4. It is made credible by the effectual and mighty working of it on the hearts and souls of men above all other writings whatsoever For however it be carried in a low and easie stile yet it commands us and prevails upon us more then all the eloquence of men and Angels could possibly do were it united all together And herein I appeal to Gods people let them consider with themselves what wonderful effects it hath wrought upon their hearts how it hath pierced in and made a separation between their very joynts and marrow how it hath even told them all that ever they have done how it hath cast them down with unutterable sorrow and then raised
yet his message is compleat for all that For though they be not clearly mentioned and set down disertis verbis they may by manifest and necessary consequence be gathered and deduced from that which he hath taught us in the Scripture And to this end I shall desire you to take notice of these three particulars 1. Where generals are taught us there all particulars comprised in them and comprehended under them are in the purpose and intention of our Saviour taught also as when he interdicteth any sin suppose it murther or adultery there all the sorts and kinds and measures and degrees of that corruption are with it interdicted and condemned 2. Where principles and causes are delivered to us there the effects that flow and issue from them and are caused by them are intended and comprised as virtually comprehended and contained in their causes 3. Where we find one like taught we must conceive alike of all the rest of like nature Quia parium par ratio and where there is par ratio there is also par Lex where things are like there the reason is alike and where there is like reason there is also like law And thus not any instance can be given of any point of necessary faith or practice that is not taught by our Saviour in the Scripture So that we need to go no further but may content and satisfie our selves with his teaching Vse 3 Hath Christ appeared himself a faithful Messenger from his Father to his people in both respects that he hath added nothing to that he hath taken nothing from his message Then let the Messengers and Ministers of Jesus Christ be faithful to him in the same respect As Christ hath his Commission from the Father so they have theirs from Christ As the Father sends him so he sends them It is his own expression to his own Apostles Joh. 20.21 As my Father hath sent me so send I you And therefore even as he is faithful to his Father so they accordingly must be faithful unto him And even as he delivers that which he hath received from his Father so they must deliver too that which they have received from Christ And that without addition without diminution as Christ doth They must deliver it without addition as Christ addes nothing to the message which his Father puts into his mouth so they must adde nothing neither to the message which Christ hath put into their mouths They must not stray beyond the bounds of their Commission and come with matters of their own devising and inventing to the people They must not preach another Gospel Gal. 1.8 another Doctrine 1 Tim. 1.3 but must be able in uprightness to say as the Apostle doth to his hearers 1 Cor. 11.23 That which I have received of the Lord I have delivered unto you Only that and no more And here there are three sorts faulty I shall but only name them to you and go on 1. The Superstitious Teacher there were a multitude of such not long ago but blessed be the Lord their number now is well lessened whose manner was to beat on nothing in the Pulpit but humane Observations and Inventions and Traditions They must stand up at Gloria Patri they must bow before the Altar and the like These were the things that many Preachers dwelt upon in which their greatest heat and zeal was shewn as if they were of greater consequence then Principles and Fundamentals of Religion 2. The Sceptick Teacher who doateth about foolish idle questions which do not serve to edifie and which when all is done have neither ground nor resolution in the Scriptures And here the Schoolmen were extreamly faulty who have filled the world with multitudes of needless and unprofitable scruples and inquiries concerning which our Saviour the great Prophet of the Church speaketh nothing of or on Such were the points that many of them even spent themselves upon which many Preachers tossed and canvassed in the Pulpit by which they spoiled the people as appears by the Egyptian darkness of those ages which they lived in And truly there are many in these days of ours who spend their time and thoughts on idle questions and disputes about words and are extreamly vain in their imaginations and so are hindred from studying weighty things and matters absolutely necessary to salvation 3. The vain-glorious Teacher who stuffes his Sermons to the people with nothing else almost but humane Learning as if that which Christ hath taught us would not yeild sufficient matter to deliver to the people It 's true my Brethren there may be in preaching a lawful use of secular learning but not a lawful ostentation of it Use it we may so far as it illustrates any thing of Christ and helps us to the clearer explication or better application of it to the hearers But if we preach our selves and not Christ if we lay aside the perfect and the pretious doctrine which he hath delivered to us and study nothing else but how to vent our own witt our own learning our own fancies this is dangerous to our selves and pernitious to the people And as the Messengers of Christ must utter what they have received from him without addition so without diminution They must fulfill the Word of Christ as the Apostle speaks Col. 1.25 declare it fully to the people as Jesus Christ revealed fully what his Father put into his mouth as we have plentifully shewed you so must the Messengers of Christ deliver fully what they have received from him they must not mince it out of fear or favour or any other base end It was the strict injunction of the Angel to the Apostle Peter and his fellows when he sent them forth to preach Act. 5.20 Go stand and speak unto the people all the words of this life And Gods immediate precept to the Prophet Jer. 26.2 Speak all the words that I command thee diminish not a word And therefore let not any Messenger of Christ suppress and smother what he hath received delivering so much as he thinks expedient and no more so much as suits with his fancy or with his ends Let him not upon any grounds considerations or pretences whatsoever wrap up any thing in silence which Christ would have him to make known But let all his Embassadors resolve with faithful Micaiah whatsoever the Lord shall put in our mouths whether it be good or evill whether the hearers will approve it or dislike it that will we speak I shall lay down a few Considerations which though they may not seem so pertinent and proper for this Assembly yet may be of some use At least to make you bear with Ministers the better in their faithfull dealing with you when you see how much it lies upon them to be faithful For 1. If they suppress and smother what they have received to deliver they draw upon themselves the guilt of blood yea of the blood of souls yea of the souls of those whom they
or the temptation of our own hearts God can and will preserve us from it or the evil of it as I shall shew you evidently from the Scripture Either he will preserve from the assault or from the prevalence or from the hurt of the temptation 1. Sometimes the Lord preserves those that belong to Christ from the assault of the temptation He doth not give the Tempter leave to tempt them For you must know my Brethren that the Devil cannot once inject a wicked thought or suggest a sinful motion without allowance granted him from God you may behold him bound and chained Apoc. 20.2 and that to this end that he may deceive no more untill the time and season of his chaining be expired and after loosed at the Lords appointment And he will loose him only when himself pleaseth So that the Devil cannot tempt us when he will he must confine himself within the compass of his chain Indeed if God enlarge him once he may go forth and entice us and prevail as you may see in that example 1 King â—2 22 But if he limit him he cannot move nor meddle with us any way This roaring Lyon walketh up and down saith the Apostle 1 Pet. 5.8 seeking whom he may devour Not whom he will it is not so but whom he may devour There are some whom he may assault and others whom he may not some whom he may devour and others whom he may not 2. If God preserve not those who belong to Jesus Christ from the assault he uses to preserve them from the prevalence of the temptation Perhaps he gives the tempter power to tempt them but then he doth not give them up into the tempters power And then the Devil or their own corruptions may entice them long enough before they can prevail against them unless he give them up to Sathan or their own lusts unless he leave them as it is said of Hezekiah in the same case 2 Chron. 32.31 You know that Sathan was permitted to set upon our Saviour Christ himself but though he had obtained leave to tempt him he had not leave to overcome him So at his earnest motion he procured a commission from the Lord to worry Job But he had only power to tempt him Job was not given up to his power and therefore though he did his worst he could not foll him in the combate So he desired to sift add winnow Peter and so far forth it seemeth he obtained his desire that he winnowed him indeed But though he winnowed him he could not hurt him because he had a God to keep him a Christ to intercede for him Simon Simon saith our Saviour Satan hath desired to have you that he may winnow you as Wheat Luke 22.31 But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not We want not many sweet and pretious promises to this effect dispersed and scattered up and down the Scripture that God will either keep us from temptation or if he suffer and permit us to be tempted he will not give us up into the power of the temptation but will preserve us so that the very gates of hell shall not prevail against us Mat. 16.18 If Sathan or the world desire to set upon us the Lord will either save us and deliver us from the temptation which he knoweth how to do be the temptation what it will as the Apostle Peter speaks 1 Pet. 2.9 or else he will support us in it according to his Covenant with us for he is faithfull and will not suffer us to be tempted above measure as the Apostle shews 1 Cor. 10.13 And though he do not free us from it yet he will uphold us in it as he did the Apostle Paul 2 Cor. 12.9 who having received a thorn in the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet him and seeking earnestly to God that he would free him from this troublesome unpleasing guest although he could not be delivered from it yet he was fortified against it and had this answer to his prayer My Grace is sufficient for thee and my strength is perfected in weakness Or 3. If the Lord preserve not those who belong to Jesus Christ neither from the assault nor from the prevalency of the temptation at least he keeps them from the hurt of the temptation He keeps them from the evil of it according to our Saviours prayer in my text I pray that thou wouldst keep them from the evil I must confess the holiest Saints in case may not be assaulted only but overcome and foiled in a temptation David a man who hath as large a testimony from the Holy Ghost himself for his uprightness as any man almost in sacred story yet he was tempted of the Devil 1 Chron. 21.1 yea and not tempted only but seduced and drawn away And that which was David case that might be the case of any other But then God suffers it for mercifull and gratious ends which himself best knows Perhaps to try them as he permitted Hezekiah to be foiled for that end God left him to try him 2 Chron. 32.31 and thus he deals with many that belong to Christ It may be they are apt to please themselves with a too good opinion of their own graces because they look upon themselves at such a time when there is no temptation to discover what they are And therefore God in such a case permits them to temptation for their good and then they see those gross corruptions in themselves which they could not have imagined Peter did little think till he was tried he had been such a Coward as he prov'd What that the question of a silly Maid should make him flatly to deny his Lord and Master and that with oaths and execrations too No it is evident he thought himself a stout and valiant man for he was resolute that death it self should never work so far upon him And therefore he was brought to the encounter that he might see how much he was mistaken of himself and how far short his real graces came of his imaginary fancies and conceits Sometimes God suffers those who belong to Jesus Christ to be foiled in a temptation to make them the more humble and the more watchfull and the more prayerfull and so by consequence the more holy even all their lives after And thus however the temptation doth them one way some hurt yet in another way it doth them much more good and so upon the whole they are better for it not the worse And thus God keeps them from the evil of temptation And as God keeps them from the evil of temptation so from the evil of corruption Indeed he doth not keep them so that they have no corruption in them for this is unattainable in this world neither doth he keep them so that this corruption doth not shew it self at all in the outward conversation No it hath both its esse and its operari in the holiest Saints But yet he can and
his Priesthood must of necessity be co-extended and so for whomsoever he is a Priest to sacrifice for them also he is a Priest to intercede as he hath offered up himself for them so he hath offered up his prayers for them and will do to the worlds end Use And this to give you but a touch of Application may serve to hearten us exceedingly when we are are putting up our prayers for them who are as yet without the pale who have as yet no faith or grace at all in them It may be they are neer to us Parents Children Husbands Wives and we are often carried out in prayer for them that God would yet shew mercy to them that he would yet prevail upon them and cause them to come in to Jesus Christ That he would break their stubborn lusts and work unfeigned faith in them And while we are breathing out our souls to God in such a way as this is we are surpized with distrustful thoughts that we shall never speed in this request of ours God will never be entreated and so upon a sodain our affections cool our hearts grow dead and flat within us In such a case as this is it may be some encouragement and comfort to consider that Jesus Christ for ought we know hath prayed and may be praying to the Father for the very same person though for the present he believe not yet he may be such an one as shall believe as is appointed to believe in after-times And then he is as you have heard within the compass of our Saviours Intercession so that the prayers that we make for him are seconded by Christ in heaven While we are asking such a child or such a friend of God it may be Christ is asking him or her of God too according to the Covenant of the Father with the Son Ask of me and I will give thee And therefore let us not grow cold or faint in such a suit as this is but let us follow and pursue it to the utmost Let us not cease to pray for such a person let us not cast him out of our prayers whom Jesus Christ hath not cast out of his I pray saith he for such as shall believe and this for ought we know may be one of that number And thus far of the first particular by which our Saviour Christ describeth those for whom he prays viz. the time of their believing They are not such as did believe when Christ put up this supplication for them to the Father but such as should believe in after-times Proceed we to the second thing by which he sets them forth and that is by the Spirit of this faith of theirs they should believe in Jesus Christ Neither pray I for these alone saith Christ here but for them also which shall believe on me He doth not say for them which shall believe on God or for them which shall believe the Word of God but for them which shall believe on me so that the point to be observed is this DOCTRINE That true Believers do pitch their Faith on Jesus Christ and make him the object of it Christ is the object of a true beleiving faith So he is represented in my Text you see The faithful do beleive on him It 's true indeed that faith in general which even Reprobates and Devils have looks with an equal eye on all the Book of God assenteth to the truth of all in gross But justifying faith whith is the faith whereof we speak picks out this special object Jesus Christ which is imbraced and received By him saith the Apostle Paul that is by Christ and none but him all that believe are justified from all those things from which they could not have been justified by the Law of Moses Act. 13.39 The Law will never justifie us but condemn us No we are justified by faith in Christ and him alone who is revealed and manifested to us in the Gospel The Rightousness of God that is the righteousness which makes us righteous the righteousness of man will never do it No it must be the righteousness of God himself This is ours by faith in Christ as the Apostle shews Rom. 3.22 He that believeth in the Son hath life Joh. 3. ult Observe it well he saith not in the Father nor the Holy Ghost though certainly we must believe in both these But Christ is the immediate object of the faith which justifieth or of it as it justifieth He that believeth in the Son hath life the life of holiness and the life of righteousness for both of them are very clearly meant in that place Object But you will say perhaps Is not the Word of God and is not God himself and is not everlasting life the object of our faith how then is Christ as I have said and Christ alone the next and the immediate object of it Sol. To this because it is compounded as it were of divers things I must answer divers ways 1. For the Word of God that is not properly the object of the faith that justifieth but is so called by a figure because it holds forth and exhibits Christ who is indeed the proper object of this justifying faith Or secondly the Word of God although it may in some respects be called the object of faith that justifieth yet not qua justificat not as it justifieth as the School speaks It 's true that justifying faith believeth other things propounded in the Word of God But faith as it justifieth lays hold on Christ and him only not knowing any other thing here but Jesus Christ and him crucified 2. As for the second thing propounded in the Querie True it is that God the Father is the Object of our faith I mean the faith which justifyeth but not the next and the immediate Object of it Christ must be first laid hold upon and God in Christ Such trust have we through Christ in God saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 3.4 Even Turks and Jews and Arrians boast of faith in God you know amd yet because they apprehend not Jesus Christ they miserably lose their own souls He that denyeth and so by consequence believes not in the Son can never have the Father as you may see 1 John 2.23 He is like a man goes about to grasp a thing that is too big for him a large and smooth round-bodyed Cup it slips away out of his fingers whereas he might have held it by the handle The faith which justifies us my beloved apprehendeth Christ receiveth and layeth hold on him and then as it is added in the fore-alledged Scripture He that hath the Son hath the Father also 3. As for the third particular propounded whether salvation and eternal life be the object of our faith To say the truth salvation and eternal life is not so properly believed as hoped for Nor can it be so fitly called the object as the consequent and end of faith So the Apostle calls it 1 Pet.
God so it is in some respect the chiefest thing that comes from God It is a grace of the first magnitude and therefore it is placed first by the Apostle in that Catalogue of his Gal. 5.22 The fruit of the spirit is love and then joy and other graces It is an excelling gift and therefore the Apostle Paul to shew the matchless worth and the surpassing value of it admits a kind of Solaecism in his discourse and makes it better then the best of gifts 1 Cor. 12. ult Covet saith he and covet earnestly the best gifts And then immediately annexeth a discourse of love and touching that he saith I shew unto you a more excellent way Indeed it is of greater latitude then other graces it runs through every precept of the Law of God For love is the fulfilling of the Law and that no other grace is It is of greater power then other graces for it sets them all on work And hence the acts of other graces are frequently ascribed to love as 1 Cor. 13.4 c she hopeth she believeth c. It is of greater permanency then other graces then faith or hope And other graces without love are nothing as the Apostle shews at large in that Chapter 2. And as love is the chiefest thing that comes from God so it is the chiefest thing that conformeth us to God It makes us like him more then other graces do God is not said in Scripture to be faith or hope or patience but he is said in Scripture to be Love If we believe God doth not so if we hope God doth not so if we suffer quietly God doth not so Indeed he suffer not at all either by way of passion or compassion But if we love my brethren so doth God In this we do as God himself doth And therefore we may pray for this my brethren in another way then we may pray for other graces according to the pattern in my Text. We cannot pray to God Lord grant us that the faith which is in thee may be in us Lord grant us that the hope which is in thee may be in us But we may pray Lord grant us that the love which is in thee may be in us That the love wherewith thou lovest may be given down to us Vse 2 Is it so that the love which is in true believers comes from God If then we have the love of God in us let us remember whence it came and to whom the glory of it ought to be returned We can hate God of our selves but we can never love him of our selves So that if there be any spark of the love of God in us we may be confident that it was kindled at his fire And therefore let it be continually working upward upward still yea let it never leave ascending till it have joyned it self unto that infinite and endless flame from which it issued and proceeded JOHN 17.26 That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be c. DOCTRINE 2. The Declaration of the Fathers Name to men is one especial means to work the grace of love in them IT is to this end that our Saviour makes it known as you may see expresly in my Text I have declared unto them thy Name and will declare it Why so to what end That the love wherewith thou hast loved me that very property may be in them That as it is in thee it may be wrought in them also And out of doubt the means our Saviour pitches on are useful and available to his ends Indeed men come to know the Father by the discovery of his name to them for so his name is all that makes him known to men And that which worketh knowledge of him doth mediately work love to him So that if the discovery of his name do make men know him as that is very manifest it doth make them love him too That which one affirms of Learning may be applyed to God Non habet Inimicum nisi ignorantem Whosoever knows him clearly loves him truly Indeed while we are unacquainted with him the admirable worth and beauty and excellency that is in him every way doth not take a whit upon us The Philosopher will tell us that the mind must be informed and convinced of the goodness of a thing before the heart will cleave to it or the affections close with it And hence it is that carnal and unsanctified persons love not God because they know him not Or if they know him any way it is not under such a notion as renders him desirable or lovely to them Perhaps they know him as a Judge or an avenger they cannot know him as a Saviour and Redeemer And this is the real cause why the triumphant Saints in Heaven love him more then the Saints Militant on earth because they have a fuller clearer and distincter knowledge of him We see him darkly in a glass they face to face And this is the reason also why we love not God with such a high affection here as we shall do hereafter because we know him not so well we have not such distinct and full discoveries of his name as then we shall attain to So then you see in general that the discovery of the Fathers name to men is one especial means to work the grace of love in them To clear it yet a little further to you I shall shew you particularly and distinctly that there are divers things in Gods name which being manifested and declared unto men are means to win their hearts to him and so to work love in them As The beauty of the Lord is a part of his name and beauty being manifested and discovered is a means to win love It is a great attractive of affection Now herein God excells my brethren in this respect he is incomparably out of measure lovely The greatest beauty in the world is holiness so it is often called as 1 Chron. 16.19 Psal 29.2 To shew that holiness hath beauty in it yea it is called Beauties in the plural number The beauties of holiness Psal 110.3 to intimate that holiness is full of beauty and that it over-matches all the beauties in the world if all of them were put together And therefore this is made in Scripture the greatest beauty of the creature as Sin is the deformity so Grace and Holiness is the beauty of the Soul it adorns the inner man And therefore the Apostle Peter exhorteth Christian women to adorn the hidden man of the heart with this 1 Pet. 3.4 Even with the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is of great price in the sight of God And hence it is that holiness is likened to the fairest things to Robes and Gems and Crowns and Gold and Jewels and the like Now God is matchless in this kind of beauty He is holiness it self yea he is infinitely holy And therefore holiness is called the Image of God The holiness that is in men is but
is by the Spirit and so it is explained by all Expositors with one consent where Christ is said to dwell in and be in us as such expressions are very frequent in the Scripture He is with us by his Spirit and in us by his Spirit as we are the habitation of God so we are the habitation of Christ through the Spirit as it is in Ephes 2. ult And as the Spirit dwells in us by love so Christ dwells in us by the Spirit so that where love is there the Spirit is and where the Spirit is there Christ is That is the first thing Where love is there faith is and where faith is there Christ is Where love is there faith is And therefore you shall find them often knit together and made inseparable in the Scripture Faith and Love I need not give you instances Virtutes Christianae sunt connexae as a Father speaks All saving graces are united and conjoyned they are made up together in a chain so that if but one link be wanting all the rest are useless If all of them be not united not one of them is in sincerity But Faith and Love have a more near relation one to the other then the rest have Faith to Love hath the nature of a Cause Love to Faith the nature of an Evidence Faith worketh love love proveth faith Faith without Love is a dead Belief Love without Faith is a frozen Charity So that where love is there faith is Now beloved where faith is there Christ is Faith takes in Jesus Christ into the soul and makes him to inhabit there And therefore he is said expresly to dwell in the heart by faith Ephes 3.17 And he received gifts for men saith David Psal 68.18 Yea for the rebellious also that the Lord may dwell among them And if he dwell among and in us by his gifts then certainly by faith which is principal of those gifts So that where love is there faith is and where faith is there Christ is That is the second thing Where love is there the Father is and where the Father is there Jesus Christ the Son is where love is there the Father is God is love saith the Apostle 1 Joh. 4.8 he is Essentially so as I have shewed you and consequently God and love cannot be separated each from other He can no more be severed or divided from it then he can be divided from his Essence And therefore the Apostle adds in the aforesaid place that he that hath the grace of love in him dwells in God and God in him So that where love is God is Now my Beloved where God is there Chist is For he and the Father are one and consequently they must always be together You are not ignorant that Christ and God the Father are often said to be in one another as in that place which we have largely handled in the 21 verse of this Chapter That they may all be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee As Christ is God the Father and himself are one Essence In that consideration they are so in one another that they are the very same The same Essence for so the union is Identical though not the same Person As Christ is Man the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son by the union of the Manhood to the Godhead in the person of our Saviour for the Manhood being joyned to the Godhead in the person of the Son it must be mediately joyned also to the Father with whom the Son as God is one So that in both considerations Christ is one with God the Father and if they be one they must be together they cannot be in all respects asunder who are one So that where love is God is and where God is Christ is That is the third thing By this time I suppose the point is clear where love is there Christ is For 1. where love is there the Spirit is 2. Where love is there faith is 3. Where love is there God is Now is it so my brethren That where love is there Christ is That Vse 1 he is there and only there where love is for so it must be understood exclusively Then in the first place what a sad condition are they in who have not this love in them who have not love to God nor to his children Nay who indeed are Enemies to both who hate God and hate his people and that with a perfect hatred as multitudes there are of such my Brethren and that not in Hell only among the Devils and the damned crew but on earth among men who taste continually of the goodness of the Lord yea in the very bosom of the Church it self There were false brethren in the Church of the Philippians who notwithstanding all their glorious protestations were Enemies to Christ as the Apostle tells them and that with tears Phil. 3.18 And surely there are many every where and in every Congregation who pretend much love to Christ and yet do really and truly hate him It is not every one that calls him Rabbi Master as false Judas did that kisses him and bows before him that hath indeed the love of Christ in him No men may make a flourish and a shew of love to Christ and yet may be as hearty enemies to him and to his members as Judas Pilate and the Jews were And truly multitudes of such there are among us and every place swarms with them Now my Beloved in what a sad and lamentable case are these men For they that have no love in them have no Christ in them neither they that are without love are without Christ too And so they are exposed to all those matchless miseries which follow being without Christ such as no tongue is sufficient to express as I have laid them open largely to you on Ephes 2.12 Is it so my brethren that where love is there Christ is They then Vse 2 that find upon undoubted evidences that they have this love in them may take incomparable comfort hence For they may be hence assured that they have Jesus Christ in them If love be in them Christ is in them as is apparently suggested in my Text That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them If that be in them I shall assuredly be in them too and therefore I have manifested and declared thy name to them that love and I may dwell in them Ah my Beloved what an admirable thing is this that Jesus Christ should live in you as the Apostles phrase is Gal. 2.20 that your hearts should be his house in which he dwells and walks and dines and sups and lodges every night so that he is at home in your hearts that while he is a meer stranger to the remainder of the world that while they are so far from having Jesus Christ in them that they have the Devil in them Christ is not in them but