Consideration Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God The same good Confession was made once before by Peter John 6.69 And now repeated to evidence his firm Establishment in this grand Article of Faith In which our Lord is describ'd two Ways both by his Office and his Essence 1. Christ is a Name of Office of the same Signification with the Messiah as the Holy Ghost himself Interprets it John 1.41 The anointed of the Lord he to whom the Prophets witness't he that should come into the World as John 11.27 He whose Work and Business was to be a Saviour not a Temporal but an Eternal one a Saviour from Sin and Wrath from the drudgery of the Devil and the Prison of Hell 2. The Son of God is a Name which respects his Essence and Being a Son not by Adoption and Grace as the Baptist and Elias and Jeremy and the other Prophets were but a Son by Nature a Son whose Generation is ineffable for he is infinitely Equal with the Father for he is true God as well as Son of God the Father hath that Title of the Living God in Opposition to false Gods Jer. 10.10 Acts 14.15 And the very same Title is likewise given to the Son Heb. 3.12 Jesus is true Jehovah and according to the true Import of that Word he hath Life in himself as the Father hath John 5.26 Well Christ's Commendation of this Confession is set down in the Text Jesus answered and said unto him c. Where we may take Notice of three Things 1. The Name which Christ calls this Apostle by Simon Bar-jonai or Simon Son of Jona as the Word signifies Peter was the Name that Christ gave to him ver 18. As God gave the Name of Israel to Jacob Gen. 32.28 But here Christ puts him in Mind of the meanness of his Extraction and of what he was originally as he does again after his fall no less than three Times over John 21.15 16 17 What change soever is made upon us by the Favour and Mercy of God 't is good to reflect sometimes upon our Primitive Vileness and Wretchedness to look to the Rock whence we are hewen and the hole of the Pit whence we are digged 2. The Happy State which Christ pronounc't him to be in Blessed art thou Christ had Authority to pronounce Persons blessed for he had Power to make them so Acts 3.26 God having raised up his Son Jesus sent him to bless you He can really and effectually do it what Palak said falsly of Balaam is true of Christ The Man whom he blesses is blessed Numb 22.6 If he blesses we shall be blessed for ever as David said to God 1 Chron. 17.27 Such is the Blessedness which Christ speaks of here both Perfect and Perpetual without Defect and without Decay 3. The Reason assign'd to back this comfortable Sentence which refers to the Way and Means of the discovery of that Truth which Peter had now confest and this is laid down both Negatively and Affirmatively 1. Negatively For Flesh and Blood hath not revealed it unto Thee Flesh and Blood are variously taken in Scripture 1. Sometimes for the humane Nature consisting of Soul and Body so Heb. 2.14 2. Sometimes for the natural Body accompanied with its present Infirmities in Opposition to a spiritual glorified Body So 1 Cor. 15.50 3. Sometimes for humane Instruction so Gal. 1.16 Paul says that he conferred not with Flesh and Blood which is the same Thing with not receiving the Gospel which he Preacht of Man ver 12. 4. Sometimes for humane Opposition so Eph. 6.12 We wrestle not with Flesh and Blood c. i. e. we have not only to do with persecuting Men but raging Devils 5. Sometimes for natural Reason our own Judgments and Understanding And this I take to be the principal Sense of the Phrase here q. d. Thou dost not owe this Revelation to thy self or to any discerning Faculty in thee above other Men. 2. Affirmatively But my Father which is in Heaven Four Things seem to be intimated by this 1. That there is a mysterious Order in all Divine Operations according to which God the Father is to be lookt upon as the Fountain The Father Works and the Son and Spirit Works conjunctly there is no Inequality or Subordination among the Persons and yet we are led by the Gospel to Eye the first Person as the spring of all When our Lord speaks of sending the Comforter 't is from the Father John 15.26 And when the Spirit of the Son is sent forth into our Hearts God is said to do it which is plainly meant of God the Father Gal. 4.6 2. That in all the Works of Grace towards lost Creatures God acts as the Father of Christ Eph. 1.3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual Blessings in him Out of Christ we can expect only the Curse of God as a revenging Judge but we can expect nothing from him as a Father in a way of Love and Mercy 3. Acquaintance with the only begotten Son of God must flow from him that begat him No Man knoweth the Son but the Father as no Man knoweth the Father but the Son Mat. 11.27 Therefore they mutually manifest and declare each other which none else is capable of doing Who should lay open the Secrets of one Man to another but himself And who should reveal the glorious Persons in the Godhead but themselves See 1 Cor. 2.11 4. If therefore we look for Light we must look upwards As the Sun over our Heads is the visible Cause of natural Illumination so spiritual Illumination is from an Infinite Being above the Sun 'T is one of the gracious Issues which belong to our Father in Heaven The dark Places of the Earth unanimously say it is not in us Every good and perfect Gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights James 1.17 The Words thus open'd come to this Point Obs There is a certain Blessedness annext to the Knowledge of those Truths which humane Reason does not discover but God himself Here 1. Shew That there are some Truths necessary to be believ'd which humane Reason neither does nor can discover 2. How such Truths are discovered by God 3. What kind of Knowledge is the Effect of this discovery 4. Wherein lyes the Blessedness annext to that Knowledge 5. Why it is so 6. Use 1. To shew That there are some Truths necessary to be believ'd which humane Reason cannot discover The peculiar Doctrines of the Gospel are as deep as the Commands of the Law are broad But I will confine my self to the instance mention'd in the Context the Godhead of Jesus Christ Every one is bound to believe this and every Man that calls himself a Christian professes the Belief of it without such a Profession his Christianity is void and without such a Belief his Profession is vain To take upon us the Christian Name and
dead rise not for if the dead rise not then is not Christ raised Either he that quickned our Lord's natural Body will quicken our mortal Bodies also or we must renounce the Faith of both together Secondly The Intercession of Christ in Heaven In handling this we should enquire what is meant by this Intercession How he lives to this end how he ever lives in order to it and wherein his infinite Ability to save is evidenc'd hereby 1. What is meant by the Intercession which Christ makesin Heaven That it differs from the Prayers and Supplications which he offer'd up in the days of his Flesh upon the account of the differing Circumstances of his now Glorious State which we must understand it suitably to is I think without all Controversie That all Intercession carries in it in general something of the true nature of Prayer seems also clear whether it be managed with or without the use of words is a disputed Point And therefore I shall sum up all that needs to be spoken to it in these three things 1. He appears in the Presence of God for us Hebr. 9.24 He represents our Persons there presents himelf in our stead and on our behalf As Aaron bore the Names of the Children of Israel in the breast-plate of Judgment upon his Heart when he went into the Holy Place Exod 28.29 And perhaps in Allusion to this Christ's speaks of confessing the names of those that overcome before his Father Rev. 3.5 When no one could undertake such a desperate Cause as ours was he interposes and stands forth to be our Advocate when we did not dare to shew our selves before the Throne God he acts in the place of poor and miserable Clients and makes it his Business to sue and sollicite for them in that awful Court of Heaven 2. He expresses his Will and Desire that we should partake of all that he hath procured for us So far his Intercession above agrees with that Prayer which he made while he was here below John 17.24 Father I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory c. And he who knows what is the mind of the Spirit interceding in us does very well know the mind of Christ in his making Intercession for us The Father knows not only what we want but what his Son would have for us In what way or manner Jesus Christ signifies his Desires to any such purpose we cannot be easily satisifed but that the Desires of Jesus Christ are all really before God and regarded by him we may be very sure 3. He insists upon his own Blood as a moving Plea As the High-Priest under the Law was to carry the Blood of the Sacrifice within the Vail and sprinkle it upon and before the Mercy Seat Lev. 16.14 15. So the Blood of Christ does not like the Blood of Abel cry from the Ground but speaks in Heaven Hebr. 12.24 And 't is stiled the Blood of sprinkling there as being effectually pleaded by him that shed it and the Fruits of it demanded to be bestow'd upon those whom it was shed for Whatsoever needs to be requested for us our Lord Jesus does justly require as due to himself Our Necessities cannot go so far but that his Merits extend still further and upon all occasions it may be perfectly and fitly urg'd by him though by none else Father I am worthy for whom thou shouldst do this 2dly How Christ lives to this End 1. Vltimately Christ lives to God Rom. 6.10 His Exaltation issues and centers in the Glory of God the Father Phil. 2.9 10 11. This was the chief hope and aim of the Life of Christ while he dwelt among us here below and so it is of the Life which he now lives in the World above And therefore it must still be supposed that whatever other Designs he is engaged in the pursuit of they are all subordinate to this The honouring of the Father is more to Christ than the Happiness of any Creature whatsoever tho' they may very consistently be carried on both at once 2. 'T is undeniable that Jesus Christ does not live for this end only in Subordination to the Glory of God but for other purposes besides which have all a reference and tendency to that last end He lives to execute his Prophetical Office still for by his Spirit whom he sheds forth he leads both his Ministers and all Believers into all Truth and so declares and manifests the Counsel of God most effectually to this very day He lives to execute his Kingly Office still in the Holy Government of his Church and further subduing of his Enemies for he must reign till he hath put all under his Feet 1 Cor. 15.25 And he is to sit upon his Throne of his Glory as Universal Judge at the Great Day when all Nations shall be gathered before him and Sentenc'd by him Matth. 25.31 32. 3. The making of Intercession is a very eminent and considerable Act which Christ lives in order to though it be not his ultimate or only end of living I say a very eminent and considerable Act for Intercession is a special part of Christ's Priestly Office the Priesthood of Jesus Christ did not expire at his Death but after Death when he lived again he was to transact and negotiate our Affairs with God This is the true meaning of that Text which is abused and perverted by the Socinians to countenance their false Principles that Jesus Christ was not a Priest till he came to Heaven Hebr. 8.4 If he were on Earth he should be a Priest The plain sense and import of which Passage is this That if Jesus Christ had remain'd on Earth he could not have been a perfect and compleat High-Priest if all his Work as a Priest had ended in what he did on Earth his Office had not been consummated for it was necessary that he should go into Heaven as the High-Priest under the Law did into the Holy of Holies When he had obtained eternal Redemption for us here it was requisite that he should enter there in order to the applying of what he had obtained 3. How is it that Christ ever lives to make Intercession So he is affirmed to be a Priest for ever to be made after the power of an endless Life Verse 16. of this Chapter As Melchisedech as Type of him in a much inferior Sense is said to abide a Priest continually ver 3. 1. Christ Interecedes constantly without intermission He does not as the High Priest did it once a Year but always He spent whole Nights sometimes in Prayer while he was in this World but yet it was not his perpetual Work as now it is He intercedes Year after Year and is never silent on our behalf so much as for a moment As he does not cease to live at any time so he does not cease to Mediate with God for us There never is any demurr
that these Places do not intend the advancing of immediate Illumination in defiance to instituted Means the teaching of God are not to be oppos'd to the teachings of Men for even in the New Testament the teachings of Men are often mention'd as subordinate to the teachings of God He that heareth you says Christ to his Apostles heareth me Luke 10.16 And though Men are Ambassadors for Christ it is as though God did beseech you by them 2 Cor. 5.20 2. The sence of these Places therefore must be that the Effusion of the Spirit under the Gospel would be so plentiful not as to exclude humane Teaching or render it unnecessary but so as vastly to exceed and out-do it that in comparison it should be as no Teaching for Believers that are taught of God though they despise not external Ministrations yet may say to their Ministers as the Samaritans to the Woman John 4.42 Now we believe not because of thy saying for we have heard him our selves and know that this is indeed the Christ c. 2. Though it be in the use of outward Means yet 't is an internal discovery there is an Application not only of Words to the Eye or Ear but of Conviction to the Mind God who commanded the Light to shine out of Darkness hath shined in our Hearts c. 2 Cor. 4.6 So Paul says of himself with respect to the Time of his Conversion When it pleased God to reveal his Son in me Gal. 1.15 16. This inward Revelation is of a perfectly different kind from the bare revealing of Christ to us in the Letter of the Gospel though it be the same Christ who is reveal'd both to us and in us for in the Work of Faith God inspires the Soul with new Perceptions of Divine Objects so that there is communicated and imprinted another Sense and sight of those very Things of which we had formerly heard The Spirit secretly suggests that which we never knew concerning that which we did sleightly and superficially know All the great Transactions of God which accompany Salvation are within us unseen and unknown to any but our selves 'T is the inward Man which is transform'd and renewed in Knowledge and the Spirit who does all this for us is said to be dwelling in us 3. The Spirit Works freely in making this discovery Though we are tyed to use the Means he is not oblig'd to work by them always upon every one that does enjoy them He divides his Gifts and Graces to this and that Person severally as he will 1 Cor. 12.11 He is compar'd to the Wind which bloweth where it listeth John 3.8 'T is not in vain that the Spirit and the Wind have the same Name in the Original Languages of the Scriptures and in that extraordinary pouring out of the Spirit Acts 2.2 There came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty Wind which fill'd the House because as the Wind is not at the command of any Creature with reference to its moving or ceasing blowing one way or another so the Spirit of God is a free Agent in all his Operations he is under no necessity of enlightning those whom he does enlighten he does it for one and not for another in the hearing of the same Word to shew that he Acts with the highest Liberty Mat. 13.11 It is given to you to know the Mysteries c. but to them it is not given 4. The Spirit Works effectually in these Discoveries He makes dead Letters to become lively Oracles There is an Excellency of Power which goes along with the Word when he causes it to be receiv'd According to his working which worketh in me mightily Col. 1.29 The thick scales of Ignorance and Infidelity like those of the Leviathan Job 41.17 stick so close that it must be a strong Hand which removes and separates them from our Understandings There never was any saving Revelation of Gospel-Truths to any Sinner in the World from the very beginning of it without a Revelation of the Arm of the Lord Isa 53.1 But wheresoever this Arm of God is revealed the Report of the Gospel is both understood and believ'd This Omnipotent cause never fails of producing its intended Effect So Christ expresly says John 6.45 Every Man that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me Every Man without one Exception 5. The Spirit Works in this Case suitably to the Nature of our Faculties he does not destroy or force them but enlarge and improve them He does not put out the Eye of our Minds but open it Our foolish Hearts are naturally darkned and he does not impose upon them but clear them Every Believer can testifie this to the Honour of Christ that his sight hath not been taken away but restor'd as he boldly said to the Pharisees John 9.25 One thing I know that whereas I was blind now I see We were blind before and thought that we saw now we really see and know that we were blind The Understanding of a Man is the workmanship of God and he does not overthrow that when he makes us new Creatures The Demonstration of the Spirit is such as we cannot resist and yet it offers no Violence to us The Judgment is truly convinc't and we can say We know whom we have believed 2 Tim. 1.12 6. The Spirit in discovering of such Truths Works alone and by himself There is no Conjunction or proper Co-operation of second Causes with him It is here as it was with those in Mat 20.34 Jesus touched their Eyes and immediately they receiv'd sight 'T is the touch of Christs Hand only which recovers us from spiritual blindness Nature contributes nothing to the efficacious workings of Grace and therefore 't is observ'd that many of the Holy Women whom our Lord descended from were barren to shew that they Conceiv'd not by the strength of their own Womb but by vertue of the Promise As Sarah Rebeckah Rachel c. So we are Light in the Lord Eph. 5.8 But we do not help towards the creating of it in our selves We are meerly Passive in the first Reception of Divine Light as the Eye of the Body is truly Passive in the taking in of natural Light All Light is brought into the Eye so it springs in from Heaven into the Mind which is no better than a very Dungeon of it self 3. What kind of Knowledge is that which is the Effect and Fruit of this discovery of saving Truth by God to the Soul This is the rather to be insisted on a little because it may be of great Advantage to us in the Trial of our State that we may make a right Judgment of our selves whether under the Conduct of Flesh and Blood or of the Father 1. That Knowledge which proceeds from the special inward Revelation of Divine Things is a more assuring Knowledge than any other The end of Luke's Writing his Gospel to Theophilus was That he might know the certainty of those things wherein
as to serve him with Acceptance by their own Strength 1 Cor. 1.21 The Light of Nature may leave Men without excuse but yet it leaves them also without the effectual Remedy it discovers so much as will aggravate Men's Ruine but not so much as will procure their Relief There must be the Faith of Things above Reason for no other Faith will save Reason as now maim'd and corrupted is a fallen Star which instead of leading unto Christ will plunge the Souls that are under his Conduct into outer Darkness If a Man had all the Knowledge which 't is possible for Flesh and Blood to arrive to he would be as far from the Kingdom of God as the most illiterate Person in the World 'T is Light from Heaven which prevents our falling into the Fire of Hell If our Gospel be hid 't is hid to them that are lost 2 Cor. 4.3 The Understanding of all other Mysteries will avail us nothing if we be ignorant of this 2. The Godhead of Jesus Christ is an Article of peculiar importance to the Everlasting welfare of Souls 'T is a fundamental Truth and they that would subvert our Faith in this particular seem to say as those Edomites did in Jerusalem's desolating Day Rase it rase it to the Foundvtion thereof Psalm 137.7 'T is the Corner-stone in our Religion upon which the Building stands It was the very first Doctrine that we hear of from the Mouth of Paul after his Conversion Acts 9.20 Straightway he Preached Christ in the Synagogues that he is the Son of God The whole New Testament Church is oblig'd to have a special regard to this Confession of Peter in the Words before the Text for in the Words immediately following the Text our Lord says Vpon this Rock will I Build my Church ver 18. It is therefore a most important Article but this will further appear if we consider these Four Things 1. We can have no hope of Salvation but by Christ as the Son of the Living God If he were but a Man we might justly put the Question How shall this Man save us How can Israel be saved with an Everlasting Salvation but in the Lord in Jehovah Isa 45.17 How is it true that he would save them by the Lord their God Hos 1.7 If there be not Salvation in any other but Christ he therefore must be the Lord our God 2. We can have no access to God or Communion with him but by a Mediator who is God How should one Creature introduce another into the Presence of such a terrible Majesty who is at an infinite distance from all Creatures The Fellowship which we have with the Father is through the Son and therefore the Holy Ghost is pleas'd to link the greatest intimacy with God to a sincere Confession of the Deity of Christ 1 John 4.15 3. We can look for no Victory over the Devil if we do not look to Christ as God How is the Accuser of the Brethren cast down but by the coming of the Kingdom of our God and the Power of his Christ Rev. 12.10 He must be the Christ of God who hath Power enough to subdue and conquer such an Adversary 'T is the Lord that must rebuke him a created Angel cannot Jude 9. 4. The World it self will be too hard for us if we are not helpt to encounter it by Christ as God 1 John 5.5 Who is he that overcometh the World but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God 'T is in the Strength of this Faith that we must make successful Opposition we are Conquerors by Vertue of his Conquest John 16.33 And this Conquest supposes his Godhead for a meer Man is as uncapable of overcoming the World as of invading Heaven There is an Objection lying against all this in the very Chapter where the Text is ver 20. If the Knowledge and Belief of what Peter had now confess'd be so essential to Blessedness why should Christ charge his Disciples at the very close of this Discourse That they should tell no Man that Jesus was the Christ Was he unwilling that the necessary means of Salvation should be afforded to that Age Was he resolv'd to Conceal that from them the Concealment whereof must needs be Mortal Ans 1. That unbelieving Generation were willingly yea willfully Ignorant and therefore justly given up to be so Mat. 13.13 Therefore spake Jesus to them in Parables because they seeing see not and hearing they hear not c. They shut their Eyes stopt their Ears put away the Word from them and therefore why should it be offer'd or propos'd to them 2. The personal Doctrine and Miracles of Christ were sufficient to have convinc'd them of this Truth if they had given heed to them therefore why should the Apostles Preach the same thing He spake as never Man spake John 7.46 He did the Works which no Man ever did Chap. 15.14 So that in Effect he told them himself but they would not believe 3. There might be a prudential Reason in it Christ would not by such a Publication hasten his own Death Some think on the contrary he forbad their telling of this that it might not hinder his Death Because if they had known they would not have Crucified c. 1 Cor. 2.8 But this seems much the more probable Reason he would not draw upon him the Odium and Malice of the Jews before the Time so Luke 9.21 22. He straitly commanded them to t ll no Man that thing saying the Son of Man must suffer many Things c. q. d. This will provoke their Rage against me which I must and will undergo when my hour comes but till then I design to avoid it The Jews had a bloody Intention in urging him to tell them plainly If he was the Christ John 10.24 That they might accuse him of Treason and Blasphemy and therefore he would answer them as they desir'd but when his Time was come he owned this in express Terms to the High-Priest Mat. 26.63 64. I adjure thee by the Living God that thou tells us c. Jesus saith unto him Thou hast said 4. The great Proof of his Godhead was yet to come viz. his Resurrection so the Apostles were to defer their Declaration of this Truth till they could back it with this Argument Rom. 1.4 He was declared to be the Son of God with Power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection from the Dead By the Spirit of Holiness here is to be understood his Divine Nature which is put in Opposition to the Flesh his humane Nature ver 3. And the like Opposition we meet with 1 Tim. 3.16 1 Pet. 3.18 Now this Deity of Christ was most powerfully demonstrated by his rising from the Dead for he rais'd and reviv'd himself which a Creature could not do he had Power to take his Life again after he had laid it down which no Creature ever had John 10.18 And it was not possible that
he should be held by the Bands of Death of which there is possibility enough as to any Creature Acts 2.24 VI. Vse This Doctrine will hint many things which are proper both for our Learning and Practise 1. There are several Things which we have to Learn from hence As 1. The Contemners of Divine Revelation are miserable forsakers of their own Mercies He that refuseth Instruction despiseth his own Soul Prov. 15.32 This is most true of such as turn their backs with scorn upon the Gospel of Christ and such a sort of Men there are at this Day in the World that bid insolent defiance to all reveal'd Religion The Disciples at Antioch chose to be called Christians in Honour of their Lord on whom they believed but England and London hath bred a race of Monsters that affect the differencing Name of Deists What will the end of such be What can it be but Destruction when Faith founded on the Scripture is the only saving Wisdom 2 Tim. 3.15 From a Child thou hast known the Holy Scripture which are able to c. 2. It ought to cause no Prejudice against real Christianity that the celebrated Men of Learning and Reason embrace it not The Case is clear our heavenly Father reveals these Things to all that know them and he thinks sit to hide them from such Mat. 11.25 26. I thank thee Oh Father c. Because thou hast hid these Things from the Wise and Prudent and hast revealed them unto Babes Even so Father for so it seemed good c. 'T is no wonder therefore that not many wise Men after the Flesh are called 1 Cor 1.26 No wonder that there are so few who will in any wise believe what the Gospel declares the Doctrine of Regeneration was mysterious nousense as one says to Nicodemus an eminent Pharisee a Ruler of the Jews a Master in Israel so are other Things of the like kind to other Men. 3. It is no recommending Character of any Doctrine that it is pleasing and suitable to Flesh and Blood We have Reason to be Jealous that it is no spiritual Truth which the natural Man very readily receives The Doctrines which are promoted and countenanc'd by Flesh and Blood have the suspicious Mark upon them of accursed Doctrines 'T is no Argument why I should give Credit to this or that Opinion because 't is grateful to Nature but rather an Argument against it The swift progress of Error is owing very much to its smooth Concurrence with the Stream of Nature Nature leads all Men to build upon self but Christ will profit that Man nothing who expects to profit by any thing besides him 'T is ill judging after the Flesh John 8.15 They judge best and most wisely that judge contrary to it 4. Visible and nominal Christians may sit in darkness and the shadow of Death as well as perfect Pagans 'T is a Light within us in a sober not Enthusiastick Sense which is the true Light of Life Men may live as much upon the Borders of Hell where the Light outwardly shines as where it shines not The generality of the People in Judea receiv'd no more good by the Ministry of Christ than they in the remotest Parts of the World that never had it John 1.5 The Light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not The real Mystery of the Gospel may be as little understood by Multitudes of Persons here as it is in the wildest Places of America 5. Christians are oblig'd to know as well as do more than others As we must do all the good that other Men do and more so we must know all the considerable Truths that they know and more 'T is said of Heathens Rom. 1.19 That which may be known of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them But there is a great deal more than this to be known by those that Name the Name of Christ or else wo unto them Thou believest that there is one God thou dost well but this is not enough Dost thou believe on the Son of God This is requir'd and this was first ask of that Excommunicate Person by Christ John 9.35 Unless thou knowest and believest more than all the Men in the World can teach thee or learn of themselves thou art condemned already 6. It is both a fruitless and a needless Thing to intrude into what we have not seen as Persons that are vainly pufft up by their fleshly Minds Col. 2.18 It becomes us to be fully satisfied in what God is pleas'd to reveal or hide and to pry no further than Scripture-light Points out our way This should stop the curiosity of our enquiring Minds that we may not demand any account of Things but what God sees good to give us There is blessedness tied to his discoveries but we make our selves oftentimes more unhappy by our own He that increaseth Prophetical Knowledge particularly increaseth Sorrow 2 Kings 8.11 12. The Man of God wept and Hazael said why c. 2. There are some Things which this does very fitly put us upon the Practice As 1. It speaks to Sinners and shews what they should do 1. See your Wretchedness You cannot be blessed till the Father gives you a Revelation of his Son by his Spirit Without this Knowledge the Soul cannot be good all that perish are destroyed for lack of it The external Form of Knowledge which you have will be insignificant to you The Devils knew that he was Christ and proclaim'd him to be the Son of God but Christ rebuk'd them and would not receive any Testimony from them it was unacceptable to him and unserviceable to themselves Luke 4.41 And an heartless Confession out of the Mouth of an Hypocrite is as bad as from the Mouth of a Devil 2. Be earnest with God for the Cure of your Blindness None can do it but he he can and will if you unfeignedly beg it of him The Promise lies ready for you to Plead and he is ready to perform it Prov. 2.3 4 5. If thou cryest after Knowledge and liftest up thy Voice for Vnderstanding c. Then shalt thou understand the Fear of the Lord and find the Knowledge of thy God You may ask saving Wisdom so as not to be denied if you ask it as Persons sensible that your Life is bound up in this Request and if you ask it for Christ's sake for it was his Errand and End in coming into the World That they which see not might see John 9.39 2. This speaks to Believers and shews what they have to do 2. Lift up your Heads and Hearts this Day with thankfulness to Heaven This good News to those that have heard Christ and been taught by him loudly calls them to give Glory to God in the highest Psalm 118.27 God is the Lord who hath shewed us Light even lesus Christ who isspoken of ver 22. The great Light of the World bind the Sacrifice with Cords c. in
Endearments in one Breath and also in the right Order Song 2.16 My Beloved is mine and I am his God is the Ocean from which Love first flows out and to which it always streams back Love when it hath descended from Heaven to Earth hath finished but half its Course but when it ascends from Earth to Heaven the Circle is compleated 2. This Love which is the Product of God's is virtually all Obedience both as it inclines and disposes unto all and as it comprehends all in it 1. It disposes and inclines to all Obedience When the Heart is melted by his Fire within 't is easily cast into the mould of any Precept whatsoever As it puts us upon keeping the Commandments of God so it keeps them from being grievous 1 John 5.3 Obedience can neither be partial nor burdensome where-ever this Love of God dwells but it fulsils the Charge which David gave to Solomon of serving God with a perfect Heart and a willing Mind 1 Chron. 28.9 2. It comprehends all Obedience in it self The end of the Commandment is Charity c. 1 Tim. 1.5 Both Tables are reduc'd by Christ to two Commandments and Love is the grand Inscription of them both Therefore Love is styled the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13.10 All the Duty which we owe to God and to our Neighbour is included in Love to each And indeed we cannot walk in God's Truth unless we walk in Love to one another as well as to him Our Alienations from our Brethren speak our distance from Christ the Center of our Union The nearer any Lines in a Circle come to the Center the nearer they are one to another but the further they go from the Center the more they run out one from another III. To Apply this What are we to be inform'd of and exhorted to I. Vse Information 1. If our Obedience be excited by the Love of God then the Love of God prevents our Obedinence If we did first give to God he is able infinitely to recompence it again above what we can think but who is it that hath first given unto him Rom. 11.35 There is not one whose Heart God hath touched that will dare to pretend it We do not commend our selves to God but God manifests himself to us The Love of God was not purchas'd even by the Obedience of Christ much less by ours 1 John 4.10 Herein is Love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our Sins The sending of the Son was the Effect of the Father's Love and therefore the Son 's coming could not be the Cause of it How then can we procure what Christ did not His Love is not bestow'd upon us for our Service but is the incentive to it 2. 'T is blasphemy against the Love of God to reproach is with being the Parent or Nurse of carnal Security They that have the Kingdness of God in their Eye can take no Encouragement from thence to set any wicked Thing before them for Sin tends to Cloud that Light wherein we rejoyce If God be well pleased with us it lays the greater Engagement upon us to walk worthy of him How absurd is it to say that when God communicates his Thoughts of Peace the Soul is embolden'd to new Acts of Treason As if Men should lay aside the Fear of God because the Secret of the Lord is with them that fear him Psalm 25.14 Or as if the Spirit of Adoption took Men off from Obedience to God when they are call'd to be Followers of him as dear Children Eph. 5.1 3. They that by loose and disorderly Practices give any occasion to such Blasphemers have a great deal of Sin to answer for besides their own If any of us Cause this way of Truth to be evil spoken of we bring the guilt of those Calumnies upon our selves It will be an heavy load to a tender Conscience if sound Doctrine is arraign'd through our unmortified Corruption How do we wrong the Purity of the Gospel when we turn the Grace of our God into lasciviousness For the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation teacheth us the contrary Tis. 2.11 12. What is this but to change the Glory of God into an Image made like to unclean Spirits Wo to those Libertines by whom this offence cometh What Jealousie and Rage does that Adulteress deserve who impudently abuses her Husband's Love 4. The Grace of God in us is a comforting Evidence of his Love to us Though Holy Walking is no Foundation for Trust we may reflect upon it as a Token for good 'T is said of the way of Holiness that the redeemed shall walk there Isa 35.8 9. as Mary Magdalen's Pardon is concluded from her Affection so if God enables us to make straight Paths for our Feet 't is a sign that he hath set his Heart upon us As all Obedience issues from the Spirit so the Gift of that Spirit is a Testimony of peculiar Favour Ezek. 39.29 Neither will I hide my Face any more from them for I have poured out my Spirit c. 5. A denial of the possibility of Assurance is injurious to Holiness The first and best Christians were such as could say we have known and believed the Love which God hath to us 1 John 4.16 And they that have had the same Spirit of Faith have always approved themselves the greatest Saints in all succeeding Times but to say that this their belief was a Delusion is in effect to say that all their Religion was a Cheat too which in this more degenerate Age is hardly to be matcht To stake Men down to uncertain suspended waverings about their Interest in the Love of God is to destroy the most quickening Motive to Obedience 6. The Christian Life is as far from being uncomfortable as from being irregular What greater Pleasure can there be than to be constantly influenc'd by the Love of God to the Service of God A dull and sowre Complexion does not belong to real Christianity Psalm 97.11 Light is sown for the Righteous and Gladness for the upright in Heart Though Cain's Countenance fall Abel's Race may lift up their Heads If there be any Consolation in Christ they that are his have reason to rejoyce and what more sure than that there is all in him and none out of him He hath a Chariet of Gold paved with Love for the Daughters of Jerusalem Song 3.10 What so delightful as to go up and fit with him in that Chariot II. Exhortation 1. Think not only on the Love of God in general but on the most affecting Properties of it in Particular Such as 1. It s Antiquity God loved us from Eternity before we were and before the World was and there have been Early discoveries of it there is the Love of God to us in our Childhood Hos 11.1 And his Kindness in our Youth Jer. 2.2 Which are both Seasons of Vanity The Loving Kindnesses of God
engages for God that all which he hath Promised shall be made good to us he was that Angel of the Lord that appear'd to Moses in the burning Bush and said to him I am the God of thy Father the God of Abraham c. Exod. 3.6 He speaks in his Fathers Name and as a Person concern'd to see the Contract perform'd Now as this general Promise of God's being our God is the summ of the New Covenant so all particular Promises are included in this for if God be our God nothing cna be withheld by him nothing can be wanting to us And this new Covenant being Written as it were and Sealed with his Blood we are not more sure that that Blood was really shed then we are sure that this Covenant will be punctually kept 3. Jesus Christ is the Person to whom the Promises are primarily made As he is said to be the Heir of all Things Heb. 1.2 So is the first and chiefest Heir of Promise The Promises were made to Abraham's Seed which is Christ Gal. 3.16 Many understand that Text of Christ Mystical but I see not why Christ Personal should be shut out However other Scriptures evince the same Thing Tit. 1.2 In Hope of Eternal Life which God that cannot Lye hath Promised before the World began We did not then exist our selves therefore it must be promised to Christ on our behalf as the second Adam the Head of the Election of Grace for from him 't is convey'd to us and belongs to us no otherwise than as we are one with him Hence we read of the sure Mercies of David Isa 55.3 i.e. Of Christ as the Apostle applies it Acts 13.34 See likewise Psalm 89.3 4. where David is to be understood in the same Sense On this account he is said to receive of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost for us Acts 2.33 If God break Promise with us he must be false to his Son 4. Jesus Christ is the first and main Thing promised The most Ancient and Leading Promise had a direct Reference to him The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpents Head Gen. 3.15 And when the Apostle had drawn up a List of those famous Worthies that Lived and Dyed before Christ's Time he says of them These all having obtained a good Report through Faith receiv'd not the Promise Heb. 11.39 There were several Promises which they did receive and were possest of but the Appearance of Christ in his incarnate State which was the grand Promise they liv'd not to see but dyed in the belief of Therefore when he came into the World good Old Simeon was so chearfully willing to leave it Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in Peace c. Luke 2.29 q. d. now I have seen the verifying of thy Word in this great Point I have enough 5. The Promise of Christ was a Pledge of the Performance of all other Promises In the Time of Ahaz one of the worst of King's Syria and Israel were Confederate against Judah and God bids them not to fer nor be faint hearted but rest satisfied that they should be deliver'd and for their Encouragement so as to put their promised Deliverance out all Doubt he gives them a Sign viz Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call his Name Emmanuel Isa 7.14 If your Faith can overcome this difficulty you cannot be tempted to call any thing else into Question God's Manifestation in Flesh and becoming Man is the greatest Thing that can be lookt for If this be done nothing can be left undone 'T is impossible that any Promise should be defeated if this be accomplisht as Rom. 8.32 How shall he not with him c. 6. The Execution of all Promises depends upon Christ's Purchase Whatever is promised by God is performed to us for Christ's sake as the meritorious Cause of its actual Conation Eph. 3.6 That the Gentiles should be Fellow-heirs and partakers of his Promise in Christ by the Gospel The Gospel is the means of our Participation of Divine Promises but Christ himself is the Procurer of all the good Things held forth in them We enjoy nothing but what his valuable Sufferings give us a Right and Title to 'T is hy his Death that they who are called receive the Promise of Eternal Inheritane Heb. 9.15 Terefore the Covenant is stiled a Testament which is of no Strength nor can any of the Things bequeathed in it be demanded except the Testator Dye ver 16.17 Though God be a free Promiser with respect to us yet all that is promised is deserved for us by Christ 7. All Promises issuing and proceeding from Love and Grace must needs be ratified in Christ and cannot without him Promises are Expressions of Favour as threatnings are Revelations of Wrath. Now all the Favour which God shews to us comes Streaming through Christ 't is the Love where with God hath loved him which is in us or exercis'd toward us John 17.26 He is the first Object of Divine Love the first begotten and the first Beloved The beloved Eph. 1.6 If God should look upon us out of him we must be the Objects of his Hatred and he could not speak peaceably unto us As Joseph solemnly protested to his Brethren concerning Benjamin Gen. 43.3 You shall not see my Face except your Brother be with you so we could not have one Smile or good Word or Intimation of any kindness from God unless we had Christ to recommend us SERMON VI. October 22. 1695. II CORINTH I. xx For all the Promises of God in him are Yea and in him Amen unto the Glory of God by us IV. How do these Promises so confirmed in Christ tend to the glorifying of God This may be Opened two ways By considering the tendency of them on his part and on ours 1. They tend to the glorfying of God on his part who is the Author of them and this in four respects especially 1. As they tend to the glorifying of Christ the Mediator who is so much concern'd and employ'd in the making of them sure to us He is had in Honour the more by this means this renders him a precious Corner-Stone as he is called Isa 28.16 It heightens our Esteem of him as well as gives us encouragement to build upon him Now whatever is to the Glory of christ must needs conduce to the Glory of God for God is in Christ as he told the Israelites concerning the Angel whem he promised to send before them My Name is in him Exodus 23.21 Therefore the Exaltation of Christ is to the Glory of God the Father Phil. 2.11 And our Lord tells his Disciples when Judas was gone out with a purpose to betray him into the hands of his Murderers John 13.31 Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorfied in him The Glory of the Father and the Glory of the Son are indeed inseparable that which lifts up the express Image of his Person
1.8 And no Prohibitions or Threatenings must stop their Mouths or tempt them to neglect their Duty But this is not all that which follows in the last Clause of the Verse is yet more considerable And so is also the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey him q.d. Though you quarrel with us and oppose our Testimony there is a witness above all Exception who may not only silence but Cure your lnfidelity we are not alone in this Work we have one to back us who is greater than all even the Spirit of God himself This agrees with what Christ had said John 15.26 27. When the Comforter is come he shall testifie of me and ye also shall bear witness The Words are the Conclusion of Peter's Reply to the Jewish Sanhedrim in which we have a brief Abridgement of his Sermon or larger Discourse upon the Day of Pentecost though that and this had very different Effects they who heard that were pricked to the Heart and it issued in their saving Conversion Chap. 2.37 They who heard this were cut to the Heart and consulted about slaving the Apostles ver 33. of this Chapter The same Expression is us'd concerning Stephen's Murderers Chap. 7.54 And signifies the galling of their Consciences Which provoke them to a more furious Resistance of the Truth when they have been persuaded to embrace it Thus that very Word in substance the same which is the savour of Life unto one becomes the savour of Death unto another Obs The Holy Spirit whom God hath given to them that obey him is a Witness to Jesus Christ The Text is not a direct Assertion of the Doctrine of the Trinity but we have here all the Three Divine Persons brought in and mentioned together Our Lord Christ is the Person witness'd to the Holy Ghost is the Person witnesssin and God the Father is the Person whom this Witness proceeds from and is sent by These are the Three that are siad to bear Record or witness in Heaven 1 John 5.7 And indeed they all Testifie to each other The Father bore Witness of Christ John 5.37 Christ also was given to be a Witness to him Isa 55.4 And in this Place the Holy Ghost is named as a Witness to Christ In handling this I. Shew in what Sense the Holy Spirit is given II. Whom he is given to III. How he performs the Work and Office of a Witness to our Lord Jesus IV. Use I. In what Sense is the Holy Spirit given by God In many Places which 't is needless to repeat the same Phrase occurs to us especially in the New Testament To prevent misunderstanding in so fuudamental a Point I shall endeavour with an humble regard to the greatness of the Mystery to open it Negatively and Positiverly 1. Negatively The giving of the Spirit by God the Father does not import the Spirits being Inferiour to the Father nor does it exclude the Purchase and Gift of Christ 1. This does not import the Spirit 's being Inferiour to the Father How difficult soever it be to conceive the Order which is among the Persons in the Godhead we are sure 't is impossible that there should be any inequality The Blessed Spirit is one with the Father and to him belong all the glorious Perfections of the Supream Being he is the most High God as the Father is All the Three Persons have the same Infinite Essence and Nature the same Understanding Will and boundless Power If any one Person be put beneath another his Deity is thereby destroy'd and therefore we must take heed of any such unscriptural Imagination concerning the Spirit of God The Holy Ghost is given indeed but not as by a Superiour who hath a command over another whether he will or not for he is given with his own Consent and one equal may give another if they agreee to do so as in like manner Jesus Christ whom the Scripture calls God's Fellow is also said to be given of God 2. This does not exclude either the Purchase or the Gift of Christ The Holy Spirit is given by the Father and yet Purchased and given by the Son too 1. Purchased by Christ the Son of God He hath obtained the Spirit for us or else we should never have partaken of him Hence it is that he is said to be shed on us through Jesus Christ our Saviour Tit. 3.5 6. His Bloud was the Price of this Priviledge his Intercession procures our actual Enjoyment of it John 14.16 I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforther c. After the finishing of his Work on Earth and Exaltation to Glory the Apostle tells us That he receiv'd of the Father the Promise of the Holy Ghost Acts 2.33 The Promise of the Holy Ghost here is put for the Holy Ghost promised to speak strictly Christ receiv'd the Promise of the Holy Ghost in the Everlasting Covenant of Redemption upon such and such Conditions which he was to perform in the fulness of Time but now those Conditions being perform'd he receiv'd an abundant Accomplishment of this Promise not for himself but for those that belong to him 2. The Spirit is given by Christ He is said to shed him forth in the last cited Place So he engag'd to send him John 15.26 Chap. 16.7 The same Act may very well be attributed both to the Father and Son as concurring in external Operations My Father worketh hitherto and I work Chap. 5.17 The Father is represented as the Maker of all Things very frequently and so is the Son In the Beginning God Created the Heaven and the Earth and in that beginning Jesus Christ was with God not as an unactive Spectator but as a Co-worker Believers are sanctified by God the Father Jude 1. And they are also sanctified in or by Christ Jessu 1 Cor. 1.2 The Greek Particle is the same in both Places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore 't is manifest that the giving of the Holy Ghost by God the Father is not at all inconsistent with the dispensing of the same Gife by our Lord Christ 2. Positively There are Four Things which seem to be signified to us by the Father's giving of the Holy Ghost 1. That the Grace and Love of the Father is the spring of all Divine Communications Here is the first Rise and Original of all the good that we receive 't is all resolv'd into the Father's good Pleasure as the Primary moving Cause John 3.16 God so laved the World that he gave his only begotten Son c. 'T is from the same Fountain of Eternal Love in the Bosom of God the Father that this Gift of the Holy Ghost does issue also 'T is very remarkable therefore that our Lord directs the Faith of his Disciples to fasten chiefly hereupon Chap. 15.26 27. I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you for the Father himself loveth you The meaning is not that Christ
would omit to mediate for them or that his Mediation was not to be eyed by them but the meaning is that the Father's Love does prevent as it were this Act of Christ and is the very ground which 't is built upon for Christ had never been appointed to this work if God had not lov'd us 2. That the Communication of the Spirit is altogether free and undeserved He is truly given and whatsoever is proper Gift is not bestowed as a recompence to any previous Endeavours but in a way of most gracious voluntary Disposal it might be withheld denied and kept back without the least shadow of unrighteousness or wrong to the Creature God is under no Obligation to give the Spirit to any but what by his own Promise he hath laid upon himself and there is no Promise but what Mercy is as much concern'd in the making as Truth in the keeping of God hath practised to give the Spirit to them that ask him and for our our Encouragement he is describ'd as more willing to give the Spirit upon our asking than the tenderest Parents are to give necessary Sustenance to their own Children Luke 11.13 But is this ever the less an Act of Grace because we are put to beg it And is not our very begging an effect of Grace receiv'd For we cannot ask the Spirit without the Spirit the Spirit of Supplication is poured out where Pleaded for 3. That when the Spirit of God is once communicated he is never totally recall'd God does not take away what he gives of this sort His saving Gists as the Gift of the Holy Ghost most certainly is are without Repentance Rom. 11.29 In them is Continuance as the Prophet speaks Isa 64.5 Their Duration runs Parallel with the being of the Giver They that are really made partakers of the Holy Ghost in his special sanctifying Operations cannot lose him He is given to abide with them for ever they are his Living Temples which shall be at no Time forsaken or left desolate There may be transient workings and long strivings of the Spirit with carnal Hypocrites but they are not indeed possest of him and therefore are sinally without him There was a notable Difference between the Anointing of Saul and David the former with a Vial 1 Sam. 10.1 The latter with an Horn of Oil Chap. 16.1 God's Ceremonies are very signisicant the Horn was a more solid the Glass a more brittle Substance to intimate the permanency of the Divine Presence with David and its sudden removal from Saul 4. That the Communication of the Spirit is an exceeding valuable Blessing When God is said to give the Holy Ghost it implies the Priviledge of those that receive him 'T is an instance of singular Favour on God's Part and a Matter of unspeakable Advantage on their Part both to themselves and others 1. 'T is the greatest Advantage to themselves There are many good and perfect Gifts of God but this Gift excells The Promise of Christ in the Old Testament and of the Spirit in the New contain all the Promises in Eminency There are some Things which God gives in Anger but he never gives the Spirit so There are some Things which God distributes promiscuously and some times to those whom he hates most plentifully but the Spirit is a Gift which the World cannot receive John 14.17 Other Things may be the lot of such as are reserved to the Day of Destruction but they that have the Spirit are sealed to the Day of Redemption 2. T is a great Advantage to others also 1 Cor. 12.7 The Manifestation of the Spirit is given to every Man to profit withal No Persons in the World so useful in their Places as they that partake of this blessed Gift It was this which recommended Joseph to the Egyptians Gen. 41.38 Pharaoh said unto his Servants can we find such an one as this a Man in whom the Spirit of God is One fill'd with the Holy Ghost is worth a Thousand of common Men he is a capable Instrument of much more good in his Generation than all the Philosophers Criticks and Disputers of his World with their vast stores of unsanctified Learning II. Whom is this Spirit given to The Answer is in the Text to them that obey him For the clearing of this there are Three Things which should be a little enquir'd into Who is the Person here said to be obey'd What is meant by our obeying him And how we are to understand the Spirits being given unto such 1. Who is the Person here said to be obey'd To them that obey him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'T is indeed applicable to all the Three Persons Father Son and Spirit as they are all the just Objects of our Obedience God the Father is to be obey'd in the Commands which he gives forth God the Holy Ghost is to be obey'd in his inward Motions upon our own Hearts but I incline rather to their Judgment who Interpret this especially of God the Son Jesus Christ This seems the fairest Construction if we view the Words in the Original we are his Witnesses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. Christ's Witnesses Christ is the Person spoken of first and last the Verse begins and closes with him Now that Christ hath a right to our Obedience is undeniable 1. Because we were made by him and as his Creatures we are bound to be his Servants He that brought us into Being may upon that Account require the utmost Performance of Duty from us 2. As he is our Redeemer he is entitled to be our Ruler He may very well give Laws to us that hath restor'd our Lives to us as the impotent Man urg'd to the Jews when they censur'd him for carrying his Bed on the Sabbath-day John 5.11 He that made me whole the same said unto me take up thy Bed and Walk q.d. it becomes me to follow his Orders to whom I owe my Recovery Christ is Saviour and Lord to the same Persons and all that are ransom'd by him are thereby engag'd to be subject to him 2. What is meant by obeying him here Some render it by Believing and that this must be included if it be not principally intended I would offer these few Argumeuts to prove 1. Faith it self is the highest Act of Obedience We read of the Obedience of Faith Rom. 16.26 As the great End of the Gospels Publication and the very same Words are render'd Obedience to the Faith Chap. 1.5 If we should take Faith here for the Doctrine of Faith 't is evident that the receiving of this Doctrine is set forth by Obedience In believing we obey for this is his Commandment that we should Believe c. 1 John 3.23 Indeed 't is the most difficult Duty as they that are found in the Performance of it are able to declare from their own Experience Presumption is easie but the true Exercise of Faith is hard Work 2. Faith is the Foundation of all Evangelical Obedience Obedience
was intirely lost It was for our Makers Honour to have the Man whom he had made after his Image live in perfect Subjection to his Will but when Man cast off the Yoke of his Obedience though God's Authority and Right remained the exercise of it by actual rule was interrupted He was a King still but of disorderly Rebels that instead of kissing his Scepter renounc'd him and bid defiance to him 2. That Glory which we are tied to give to God was withheld by sin There is a revenue of Glory due from us to God which sin tends to alienate and deprive him of and so the Devil takes the Advantage and seizes it for himself Every sin is upon this account a committing of Theft 't is robbing of God of the Honour which we owe to him We ought to Glorifie him with all we have with every Faculty and Member but the Sinner on the contrary vilifies and reproaches him by the abuse of all Such was and is the state of Mankind without Christ We do not only come short of the Glory of God but we attempt to cut his Glory short As much as in us lies we make God contemptible throw Dirt upon his Name and set him at nought 2. There was Righteousness Holiness and Happiness taken from Man also He was a real loser in all these respects being once in possession of all but cast out of it by sin 1. There was a loss of Righteousness to the Guilty Sinner So long as Adam stood while his outward nakedness was no shame to him he was inwardly cover'd with a Robe of Righteousness but Satan alluring him into sin strip'd him of his Garment and cloath'd him with Confusion instead of it As God made him in his first Estate he was a perfectly just Person and could stand in the Judgment before God but when his Integrity was removed from him Guilt was immediately contracted and he fell into Condemnation under the Sentence of the Law which he had broken And now till Christ repairs this Loss for us the Divine Tribunal is very dreadful For in God's sight no man living can be justified Psal 143.2 2. There was a loss of Holiness to the polluted Sinner The Image of God in Man was defac'd the Divine Nature destroyed and all the Habits of Grace extinguish'd the good Treasure of the Heart was turned into an evil one filled with the Seeds and Principles of all manner of Corruption Every one of them is gone back degenerated from what they originally were when they came out of God's Hands they are altogether become filthy Psal 53.3 Men are now by Nature so void of the least Relicks or Remembrances of their primitive Purity that they are insensible of their present Defilement They are so blinded with their own Mire that they think themselves clean till Christ hath anointed them with his Spirit and washed them in his Blood 3. There was a loss of Happiness to the miserable Sinner Adam's Expulsion out of an Earthly Paradise though a real Punishment was the least part of what Sin render'd him obnoxious to The Misery of Man was much greater upon him in other Respects as he was quite cut off from all Communion with God made an Heir of Wrath not only as to bodily but spiritual Evils of all sorts and not only in Time but to Eternity Upright Man was exempt and secure from all these and placed in as Happy a Condition as a Creature could be out of Heaven but when Sin enter'd Death enter'd with and by it Rom. 5.12 A Death which is comprehensive of all the Calamities and Woes of both Worlds till Christ came that we might have more abundant Life II. Wherein it appears that Christ did not take away those Things from either 1. It is plain as to God he never took away any Glory from him for he never did any Thing dishonourable or offensive to God John 8.29 I do always those Things that please him So Isa 50.5 The Lord God hath opened mine Ear and I was not rebellious neither turned away back Several of the Prophets did for a Time refuse to go at God's call and would have pluckt their Shoulders and shrunk their Necks from the Work which he put upon them as Moses Jeremy Jonas c. But our Lord Jesus shew'd no Reluctancy delighting to do and suffer his Father's Will The second Adam had none of that sinful Enmity in his Nature which all the rest of the Posterity of the first Adam have He was peculiarly that Holy Thing from his very Birth Luke 1.35 God's beloved Son and faithful Servant throughout his Life 2. It is also clear as to Man that he took not away any Rightcousness Holiness or Happiness from him He was not such a Fountain of Guilt Pollution and Misery as the first Adam had been but the contrary as we shall see afterwards The first Man poyson'd and ruin'd all his Seed but he did not so to the Children which God had given him His Conversation was not only blameless and harmless but useful and exemplary He did no Violence Isa 53.9 But he went about doing good Acts 10.38 Whatever was injurious to Men he vindicates himself from When the Disciples call'd for Fire from Heaven to consume the Samaritans he tells them that he came not to destroy men's Lives but to save them Luke 9.56 When the Woman taken in Adultery was brought to him he would not condemn her but bids her go and Sin no more John 8.11 3. The Scripture therefore speaks of Christ's being cut off but not for himself Dan. 9.26 Though he suffered in his own Person he did not suffer on his own Account Christ bath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust 1 Pet. 3.18 Sin was indeed the cause of his Suffering but not any sin committed by himself he was the just One we were the unjust on whose behalf he underwent all that was laid upon him Isa 53.4 5. Surely he hath born our Griefs and carried our Sorrows He was wounded for our Transgressions and bruised for our Iniquities He suffered for that of which we were guilty he made reparation for the Wrongs which we had done he discharged the Debts which we contracted and endur'd the Wrath which we provoked and drunk of the Cup which we had filled 4. The Innocency of Christ was conspicuous in his very Sufferings Though they found no cause of Death in him yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain Acts 13.28 He that gave Sentence against him did first give Sentence for him he pronounc'd him Faultless on the Bench before he deliver'd him up to Execution When they went to apprehend him they came out as against a Thief Matth. 26.55 they proceeded against him as a Malefactor and numbred him with Transgressors but could not prove any Article of their Charge against him so much as by the agreeing Testimony of their Mercenary Perjured Witnesses That which they alledged with greatest truth was that
the utmost Revenge This is that Love of Christ which passeth Knowledge Eph. 3.19 A Love which is and will be the Matter of endless Admiration which the saints in Heaven are always magnifying but can never fully comprehend 'T is sometimes called the Grace of our Lord Yesus 2 Cor. 8.9 1 Tim. 1.14 Which is not meant of the Grace communicated to us but that Grace in him which is the Fountain and Spring of all such Communications We are not only to consider the Love and Good-will of the Father in sending but the exceeding Kindness of the Son in coming which his Desire of and Zeal for our Salvation promoted him to 6. Jesus Christ was willing not only to purchase a new Title for us to our forfeited Blessings but to purchase a new Title to us for himself This is expresly said to be one Part of his Intention and Design Rom. 14 9. To this end he both dyed and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the Dead and Living He was Lord of all upon the old Account of Creation for he could not lose his Propriety and Dominion when Ahaz Reign'd so wickedly and committed all manner of Abominations and for that Reason was delivered into the Hand of the King of Syria the Lord his God is said to do it 2 Chron. 28.5 The Lord was his God by right still though he sinfully renounc't and disown'd him But now Jesus Christ was resolv'd to be our Lord upon a new Account of Redemption that he might lay claim to us not only as the Lord that made us but as the Lord that bought us We are now the ransomed of the Lord Isa 35.10 His purchased Possession Eph. 1.14 By the Payment of the same inestimable Price he hath regain'd all that Sin and Satan had snatcht and torn from us and likewise acquir'd a further Interest and Right in us such as will be acknowledg'd by all his saved ones to his Eternal Praise 7. The Powers of Darkness would have been Triumphant if Christ had not baffled and defeated them by this glorious Persormance It was a great Satisfaction to their Malice and Rage after they were banisht out of Heaven and cast down to Hell to involve all Mankind by one successful Temptation in the same Ruine with themselves and so prevent God from rejoycing in any of his Works on Earth When Judgment was executed upon them never to be revers't they thought it made some amends that they had drawn the whole Posterity of Adam at once into the fatal Snare The Devil gloried over poor miserable Man as his Conquer'd Vassal and lawful Captive having subdued this undone World to himself as a kind of Tributary Province where he might Drink his fill of the Blood of Souls But this Performance of Christ hath disappointed him of the Fruits of that Victory For he hath divided the spoil with the Strong Isa 53.12 And destroyed him that had the Power of Death Heb. 2.14 Jesus Christ hath pluckt his Sheep out of the Teeth of the Devourer and pull'd down the Banners which he had set up and made him give up his Slaves as the Fish that had swallowed Jonah vomited him alive upon dry Land 8. Christ knew that his blessed Performance would not only be a Benefit to Man but turn to the Advantage of Elect Angels also At the same Time that he came about restoring Work for us he might also do confirming Work for them And this their Case requir'd Angels wanted an Head of stability as well as Men a Mediator of recovery they stood in need of his Support as well as we of his Salvation his Blood was necessary for us as actually fallen his Strength necessary to them because naturally mutable All Things in Heaven and Earth were to be gather'd together in one even in Christ Eph. 1.10 They could not safely meet in any other Center but so as to be in danger of being shaken off again We that had left our first Estate were to be reduc'd and brought back to it they that had kept their first Estate were to be fixt and establisht in it Here was a double Work to be done by the same Hand and the same Hand hath done both Christ hath interpos'd for our Restauration and for their Security for the remedying of our Apostacy and the Prevention of theirs The Heart of our dear Lord is set upon the multiplying of Acts of Grace from the Throne to the Footstool that high and low may be taken in V. Vse I. Information Many Things to be learnt from hence As 1. If it were Christs Work to restore what he took not away we may see a vast difference between him and the best of those that were Types of him Some of the greatest Types of Christ were in some Things contrary to him as well as in all Things Inferiour There was not a more eminent Type of Christ in the Old Testament than David the Person speaking in the Text insomuch that Christ is frequently set forth under his Name Isa 55.3 and in many other Places Now this David was so far from doing as Christ did i. e Restoring what he took not away that he confesses the contrary of himself in the Case of his numbring the People for which seventy Thousand of them dyed by the Pestilence 2 Sam. 24.17 He spake unto the Lord when he saw the Angel that smote the People and said Lo I have sinned and done wickedly but these Sheep what have they done Let thy Hand I pray thee be against me c. Our Lord Jesus might have inverted these Words these Sheep have gone Astray indeed and turned every one to his own Way but what have I done Let not thy Sword be awaken'd against me but them They have deserv'd to suffer but wherein have I offended David's Sin punisht upon the People and the Sins of the People upon Christ 2. The unspotted Holiness of our Lord Jesus is not in the least blemisht by the Imputation of our Sins to him He is not at all the less guiltless in himself because our Iniquities are laid upon him We may with sufficient tenderness preserve the Honour of our great Redeemer as one undesiled and separate from Sinners without departing from this important Truth of his being made Sin for us for the Holy Ghost affirms both this and that he knew no Sin in the same Breath 2 Cor. 5. ult He was far from being personally conscious of Sin yet so far charg'd with it as to be accountable in our stead for it When the Scape-goat which had all the Iniquities of the People put upon his Head was sent away by the Hand of a sit Man into the Wilderness He that let him go was to wash his Cloaths and bath his Flesh in Water and afterwards to return into the Camp Lov. 16.26 And so the Priest was to do after the sprinkling of the Blood of the Heifer Numb 19.7 And the man that burnt her ver 8. To
laid as a Foundation and some things proposed as the Effects and Consequences of it 1. Something premised and laid as a Foundation Because you are Sons Here the Adoption of Believers is positively asserted as a thing in present possession There are indeed some further Fruits of our Adoption yet future and expected so the Redemption of our Bodies from the Grave at the end of the World is stiled the Adoption which we wait for Rom 8.23 because the Resurrection to Glory will be an eminent declaration of our Adoption as Christ was declared to be the son of God with power by his rising from the dead chap. 1.4 but still our Adoption it self is not deferr'd till then the Scripture affirms the contrary 1 John 3.2 Beloved now we are the sons of God So in this Epistle chap. 3.26 You are all the Children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus As soon as we come home to God by believing we are taken into this Relation for the Houshold of Faith is his select peculiar Family 2. Some things proposed as the Effects and Consequences of this partly with reference to the Act of God the Father and partly with reference to the Act of the Spirit 1. As to what concerns the Act of the Father who is plainly meant in that Clause God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts Here we may consider the Person spoken of the act respecting this Person and the Objects that have the benefit of this Act. 1. The Person spoken of The Spirit of his Son i. e. the Spirit of Christ So he is call'd Rom. 8.9 1 Pet. 1.11 This Character is given him on this occasion for various reasons 1st Because 't is the same Spirit which was in Christ and which is in all Believers That one Spirit which abode upon him resteth upon them also Though he had a greater Fullness of the Spirit yet they in their measure are filled with him too 2dly By the effectual Operation of this Spirit Christ is formed in us and we conformed to him He fashions the whole Church of the First-born into the lively Similitude of God's only begotten 3dly To intimate Christ's procurement of this Blessing for us We were predestinated to the Adoption of Children by Christ Ephes 1.5 Election is attributed to the Father but the Son is the Purchaser of what we are elected to Hence he is said to give power or right to become the Sons of God to them that receive him John 1.12 and 't is by virtue of our union to him that we recover our lost relation to God all the Children of God are given to Christ written in his Book and ransom'd by his Blood for he redeem'd us that we might receive the Adoption of Sons ver 5. of this Chapter 4thly To teach us that the Spirit it self is procured for us by Christ. They that have not the Spirit are such as have not the Son for an Interest in the one does infallibly carry along with it a participation of the other Those Rivers of living Water by which the effusion of the Spirit is express'd flow out of his pierc'd side The Holy Ghost had never been sent down from Heaven if the Son of God had not desecended first to prepare his way 2. The Act respecting this Person God hath sent forth The same word is used with respect to the Son ver 4. this act is ascribed to God several times in Scripture Psal 104.30 John 14.26 and it imports not any change of place as if he were more distant from the Father when he is thus sent than he was before for he is Omnipresent Psalm 139.7 and of the same undivided Essence with the Father but it notes only his Commission for some special Work in and upon the Creature 3. The Objects that have the Benefit of this Act Into your Hearts i. e. into the Hearts of them that believe Two things are signified by this 1. That the Work here intended is an inward Work Ezek. 36.27 I will put my Spirit within them And therefore 't is secret and does not minister to Vain-glory or carnal Boasting The Testimony of the Spirit is privately given between him and us and the new Name is that which no Man knows but the receiver himself 2. 'T is a saving Work The Residence of the Spirit is appointed not in the Brain by common unsanctified Gifts such as Hypocrites may be endowed with but in the Heart where all the Habits of Grace are planted and from whence all the Issues of Life proceed 2dly As to what concerns the Act of the Spirit Crying Abba Father Here we may examine how the Spirit is said to cry in our Hearts and what it is which he does cry 1. How is the Spirit said to cry in our Hearts when he is sent forth into them Ans Even as God is said to know when he makes others know Deut. 13.3 So the Spirit maketh intercession for us Rom. 8.26 in helping us to Pray for our selves and therefore 't is a vain and feeble Argument which some Socinians would bring from this and the like Texts against the Deity of the Holy Ghost Matth. 10.20 It is not you that speak but the spirit of the Father that speaketh in you i. e. Though your Tongues utter words yet they could not do it without his assistance and direction as the principal necessary Cause As in this Epistle chap. 2.20 I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me The Apostle corrects himself not as if he were not the true and proper Subject of spiritual Life but to shew that Jesus Christ was the Spring and Fountain of it So here the Spirit sent forth into our Hearts is said to Cry because they cry through his gracious Influence The Holy Ghost teaches us to pray but strictly it is we that pray in the Holy Ghost Jude 20. 2. What is it which the Spirit does cry Abba Father i. e. Father Father This Repetition may be upon two accounts 1. To intimate that both Jews and Gentiles are equal sharers in this Blessing of Adoption Therefore the Apostle makes use of two Words in two different Tongues to express the same thing Abba being a Syriack word which was a Language then commonly known among the Jews and that which we render Father beinga Greek word which was a Language then commonly used among the Gentiles Though a Learned Critick Capellus Spicileg hath taken much pains to prove that Abba is a Greek word also and so applied by the Apostle in this place alluding to the manner of little Children when they first begin to speak and call after their Parents which in all Languages as well as the English isn earest to the same sound with this word Abba 2. To note the strength and vehemency of desire The doubling of words does frequently signify this in Scripture Our Lord in the Garden when he offered up prayers and supplications with strong crys and tears as the Apostle
speaks Heb. 5.7 makes use of those very words so repeated Mark 14.36 Abba Father take away this cup from me So on the Cross My God my God c. So when Elijah was caught up Elisha saw it and cry'd My Father my Father c. 2 Kings 2.12 And the foolish virgins that came when the Door was shut cry'd Lord Lord c. Matth. 25.11 All which Passages speak a passionate and extraordinary con cernment of Soul There are several things which may be learned from hence which I shall but mention tho' seasonable enough in an Age so much corrupted by the revival and industrious Propagation of old Errors As 1. That there are Three Sacred Persons in the Blessed Godhead the Father Son and Spirit all of them held forth to us at one view in the compass of this single Verse yea in that single Clause God hath sent forth the Spirit of his son 2. The Spirit is not a Quality or Operation but a Person that hath a true and real subsistence of himself else this Phrase of being sent forth could not agree to him 3. This Spirit proceeds both from Father and Son for he is sent by the Father and he is the Spirit of the Son There is an Order among the Divine Persons though no priority of Being and according to that Order there is an ineffable mysterious communication from the First and Second Person to the Third But the chief thing is this Obs The great Gospel Privilege of a Believer's Sonship is not only discern'd but improv'd by the help of the Spirit of Christ. Here I. Shew that a Believer's Sonship is a great Privilege II. That it is a Gospel Privilege III. How this is discern'd by the help of the Spirit IV. How improved by his help V. Use I. To shew That a Believer's Sonship is a great Privilege This will appear in six things 1. 'T is a Privilege of God's everlasting Kindness which is more durable and therefore more valuable than Life it self The Favour of God is never wholly withdrawn from those that are once his Children by Adoption Goodness shall furely follow them all their Days and continue towards them to Eternity Earthly Parents may abandon and be alienated from their own natural Off-spring but God will not yea cannot forget them A Son abides in the House always John 8.35 he shall not be disinherited nor turned out of doors nor the entail of Covenant Blessings be cut off from him He is brought into a Relation which shall not be destroyed and dignified with a Name which shall never be blotted out If God is pleased to Adopt us 't is certain that he hath loved us from the beginning and will to the end 2. 't is inseparably attended with regenerating Grace Both these Privileges of Adoption and Regeneration do constantly go hand in hand There is a real and a relative change togehter As the Fathers of our Flesh communicate not only their Names but Natures to us so here is a new Birth as well as a new Title When God calls us into this honourable State he begets us of his own Will and at the same time that we contract such an Alliance to him we are also born of him John 1.13 It would be a far less Privilege to be a Child of God if there were not a Divine renewing in the Spirit of our minds connected with it To remain upon the dead stock of the old Adam still is a miserable Curse which would mar the Blessing but thanks be to God it is not so 3. The Sons of God are under the Exercise of sparing mercy There is a sweetness in the Compellation of Father which agrees to the tenderness of God in dealing with his Children Mal. 3.17 I will spare them as a Man spareth his own Son that serveth him He does not mark their Iniquities nor revenge them as he might He does not reckon with them for every Offence nor rebuke them for any in hot displeasure He does not strike them with an Arm like God but chastens them with the Rod of Men. His free Compassion overcomes his deserved Severity he would be just in doing what out of indulgent pity he leaves undone How many wandrings of theirs does he pass over what abatements does he make when sin is visited upon them and how gently doth he lift them up after he hath cast them down 4. They are Objects of a peculiar Providence both in respect of Care by preserving them from Ill and in respect of Bounty by supplying them with Good 1. In respect of Care by preserving them from Evil. His Children have a place of Refuge Prov. 14.26 such an one as others have not They whom God takes as his own are received into his Almighty Protection which the rest of the World can have little ground to hope for To such the Promne belongs and to such only He shall cover thee with his feathers and under his wings shalt thou trust Psal 91.4 what a Charge did David give to all his Officers concerning his Son though at that time in Rebellion Beware that none touch the young man Absalom 2 Sam. 18.12 God is more solicitous for the safety of all his and therefore he is said to carry them in his Bosom where nothing truly hurtful can befal them Isa 40.11 2. In respect of Bounty by supplying them with Good even all that is necessary and convenient for them Whoever want his Children shall not he knows what they need and when they need it and always deviseth means for their seasonable Relief He calls Heaven and Earth to take notice of this Isa 1.2 I have nourish'd and brought up Children There is a Table prepar'd for the King's Sons at which his Mephibosheths eat 2 Sam. 9.11 God hath eminently undertaken for their certain and undoubted maintenance there is an Emphasis upon it Verily thou shalt be fed Psal 37.3 rather than not have a Seed to serve him he 'll raise Children out of Stones rather than they starve those Stones shall become Bread 5. They are made joint Heirs with Christ which is extraordinary indeed and yet follows upon our being Children Rom. 8.17 No Children of God but what is entituled to a glorious Inheritance and which makes it much more marvellous they are made to inherit with our Lord Jesus himself God calls them into the Fellowship of his Son 1 cor 1.9 to partake of the same Glory which is given to him to possess the same Kingdom which is appointed to him to sit upon his Throne and reign in Company with the Lamb for ever and ever As if it were not enough for us to reap the Benefits of the Sufferings of Christ we shall share in his Advancement the depth of his Humiliation was purely for our sakes the height of his Exaltation will likewise turn to our account 6. They have the best and most useful Service from all Creatures in the invisible and visible World both those that are above
them and those that are below them 1. Creatures that are above them do Service to them Angels disdain not to be their Guardians while they are here as they are to be their more intimate and perpetual Associates hereafter Are they not all without exception the highest Orders of them sent forth as ministring Spirits on the behalf of the Heirs of Salvation Heb. 1. ult Who but they can look to be thus attended Angels of Light do gladly minister to the Children of Light they are deputed by our Heavenly Father to keep us in all our ways and at last to convey us home 2. Creatures below them are directed and over-ruled to serve them also Every one in God's great House on Earth shall though perhaps without your knowledge and against your will promote the Interest of those that are design'd to dwell in Heaven As all things are put under the feet of Christ our elder Brother Ephes 1.22 so we by him recover as much of our lost Dominion as we have real occasion for The whole Creation is more subject to the Heirs of God than to the common Men. 2. To shew that this Sonship of Believers is a Gospel Privilege It is so in a two-fold sense by way of opposition to the Law of Works and by way of composition with the times of the Old Testament Consider it either way it is truely and strictly Evangelical 1. In Opposition to the Law of Works No Soul was ever invested thereby with this blessed Privilege of Adoption This is plain because 1. The Law worketh Wrath and nothing else Rom. 4.15 It speaks no Favour to any Son or Daughter of Adam it breaths out Threatnings but is utterly silent as to Promises The Language of the Law is Judgment without Mercy extremity of Vengeance without any mixture of Kindness Therefore 't is said that as many as are under the Works of the Law who are in the first Covenant and adhere to it and rest upon it are under the Curse who are in the first Covenant and adhere to it and rest upon it are under the Curse Gal. 3.10 Adoption through Grace is perfectly concluded by the Law it will never make Men Children of God but pronounces them Children of Wrath. 2. The Law convinces of Sin and Guilt but gives no Righteousness therefore Sonship cannot come by the Law For Adoption presupposes Justification and is consequent upon it The Children of God are all Righteous with a Righteousness that perfectly answers the Legal Demands viz. the Righteousness of Christ For in him shall all the Seed of Israel be justified Isa 45.25 But now all the natural Seed of Adam before they are adopted to God are Condemned for want of such a Righteousness The Law Sentence goes forth against them and takes hold of them as Guilty Sinners that have broken the Commandment can never keep it 2. in comparison with the Times of the Old Testament 'T is true the Believers in those times were the Sons and Daughters of God and they challeng'd their Privilege Isa 63.16 Doubtless thou art our Father but yet it was in so defective a degree that they seem'd more like to Servants than Sons and were trained up under suitable Discipline Hence the Apostle says ver 7. following the Text Wherefore thou art no more a Servant but a Son implying that thou hast been in a kind of servile but art now Translated in these New Testament Times into a more filial State Our Privilege of Sonship under the Gospel excels in Two Regards 1. As to clearness of Manifestation and Discovery The Children of Princes and great Persons many times know little of the Honour and Hopes which they are born to till they arrive at some competent maturity So the Ancient Believers understood a great deal less of Divine Benefits by Jesus Christ than we do now They like Moses had a Veil upon their Faces we behold with open Face if compared with them They were not strangers to the Covenant of Promise but their acquaintance with the things promised fell very short of ours All that is freely given us of God is now made more known and plac'd in a better Light 2. As to Fulness and Amplitude of Enjoyment The Merit and Influence of Christ's Death in all Points extended backwards as far as the First Ages of the World wherein any Believers lived but the Fruits of it then did not so abound as since his coming The Spirit was shed abroad and pour'd out then but not so richly and liberally as now He was given then more sparingly now in a larger measure And consequently their Fruition of this blessed Sonship was not equal to ours though they had such a Privilege they could not use it with so much advantage They were like Heirs in Childhood that have only some smaller allowance during that time we are like those upon the edge of Manhood who have more of their Estate in their own Hands III. How is this Gospel-Privilege discern'd by the help of the Spirit How do we come to know that we have it through the sending of him into ours Hearts Answ In six Propositions 1. The Spirit of God in his dealing with Souls does not ordinarily begin as a Spirit of Adoption but rather as a Spirit of Bondage This seems to be hinted Rom. 8.15 You have not received the Spirit of Bondage again to fear but you have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father This was written to actual Believers those that were called to be Saints and their not receiving of the Spirit of Bondage again after they had received the Spirit of Adoption supposes they had so received him before The Spirit of Bondage and Adoption are one and the same Spirit distinguish'd only by various Operations noting two different Effects of the same Cause Now usually the former of these does precede and introduce the latter while the Spirit is making use of the Law to bring us to Christ we see our selves in a miserable undone Condition when he hath fully brought us to Christ by the Ministry of the Gospel the Scene is alter'd and we perceive our selves to be the Seed which the Lord hath Blessed Strong Cordials are not so fit to be immediately pour'd into foul Stomachs There is a shaking which goes before the Establishment a making of Trouble before the speaking of Peace a Storm raised in the Soul before a comfortable Calm As Manasseh was taken first among the Thorns and bound in Fetters and carried to Babylon and then knew the Lord 2 Chron. 33.11 13. And as Joseph was sold for a Servant into Egypt and laid in Irons there which made way for his Enlargement and Preferment Psalm 105.17 18. c. so does our Exercise under a Spirit of Bondage tend to Liberty by the Spirit of Adoption if we are the Called according to God's purpose 2. The time of our continuance under a Spirit of Bondage before we receive the Spirit of Adoption with the
degrees and measures of its working is very different and uncertain Some know more of the Terrors of the Lord than others and some are held longer in Prison before they are brought out though no Soul knows more or is held longer than God sees needful to its thorough Humiliation We must be laid low and yet we shall not be quite sunk God's wounding and healing of our Spirits is not always performed with the same speed as all Convictions are not alike sharp God does not limit himself in this case to any stated Rules which are known to us but acts as he thinks fit towards various Persons He hath said he will not contend for ever but yet we cannot punctually tell how long he will contend His dealing with one Soul must not be alledged as the exact Pattern of his Dealing with another Some Dispositions are more rough and stubborn some sins have been more hainously aggravated perhaps their Chains may be the heavier and not so soon taken off Common Parents consider the Tempers and Crimes of their several Children and proportion their Rebukes accordingly SERMON XVIII March 9. 1697. GAL. IV. vi And because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts crying Abba Father 3. THE Spirits usual way of evidencing our Sonship to us is nbot by any vocal Testimony or immediate Revelation Every Servant must not look to be as his Lord in this respect who had the Spirit of God visibly descending upon him at his Baptism with a voice from Heaven saying This is my beloved Son c. Matth. 3.16 17. What sudden Divine Suggestions to this purpose filling the Soul in a moment with extraordinary Joy may be sometimes afforded to some peculiar Persons at peculiar seasons I will not dispute it may be when a Soul is under strong and violent Temptations from Satan to throw up all its hopes or after long Attendance upon God in some soleme secret Duties or before our Entrance upon some very difficult and hazardous publick Services but such things are not commonly to be expected God does not tie or confine himself to ordinary means but yet he generally makes use of them and works by them 'T is possible some may be wone without the Word 1 Pet. 3.1 but yet the most are born again by the Word chap. 1.23 so 't is possible that the Spirit may in some cases reveal himself to our Comfort without the Word though never against it but this is not the Method which he commonly takes 4. The usual way of the Spirit in the declaring and confirming of our Sonship to us is by a particular powerful Application of Gospel Promises to us and an illustration of his own Fruits in us 1. By an Application of Gospel Promises There are many Promises to the same Effect with that 2 Cor. 6.18 I will be a Father to you and you shall be my Sons and Daughters c. This avails but little to us till by a Spirit of Faith we are enabled to take hold of it 't is great and precious in it self but we are not at all the richer till it is applied and set home with a mighty power upon the Soul then 't is an inestimable Treasure a Mine a Spring of everlasting Consolation The Spirit takes of Christ's and shews them unto us not only Christ's things but Christ's words too and that word among the rest John 14.8 I will not leave you comfortless Gr. Orphans Such a word as this is enough if he do but imprint it 2. By an illustration of his own Fruits These are the Marks of our Adoption which the Word refers us to and so the Spirit speaks according to the Word in helping us to argue from them As the Grace of God in Truth is by his Operation so the discovery of the Truth of Grace is by his Light reflected upon it that Christ formed in the Soul may be even felt as when the Babe leaped in Elizabeth's Womb at Mary's Salutation Luke 1.44 The Spirit of God submits his witnessing Act to be tried by what he hath wrought in us which is no more dishonour to him than it was to Christ who requir'd the Jews to believe him for his Works sakes John 14.11 As Jacob's Sons pointed him to the Waggons which Joseph sent for a proof that he was alive Gen. 45.27 5. The Spirit of God is very Arbitrary both in the giving and continuing of his Divine Testimony He is an infinitely free Agent as to both He shines as well as breaths upon whom he pleases and when he pleases 1. The Spirit acts Arbitrarily after a Sovereign way in the giving of this Testimony concerning our Adoption The Liberty of the Divine Will appears in the Communication of Grace and yet more in the dispensing of Comfort The Spirit of God is not at our command any more than the Wind which Christ compaes him to and which God is said to gather in his Fists Prov. 33.4 and to bring forth out of his Treasure Jer. 10.13 He is not such a Witness as Men may summon and produce to clear and strengthen their Cause in Humane Courts who sometimes are oblig'd under certain Penalties to appear and give in their Evidence There can be no necessity laid upon him as God sometimes holdsl his peace and is still when he might answer by terrible things so the Spirit of God might be silent in our Hearts when he cryes Abba Father 2. The Spirit Acts after the same Arbitrary manner in the continuing of this Testimony after 't is once given He can weaken and abate it he can suspend and with-draw it at his own Pleasure He that bears Witness at one Time may not do it at another Evidences may be darken'd and obscur'd which were very bright and plain hidden Manna like that in the Wilderness is not constantly gather'd every Day but very often is like that Vessel in Peter's Vision which was let down thrice to the Earth And then received up again into Heaven Acts 10.16 This makes the Ebbings and Flowings in our Hopes and Joys 6. The Spirits testifying of our Adoption is therefore distinct from our Adoption it self and not indispensibly Essential to it The Truth of the Relation does neither include nor depend upon our Knowledge of that Relation A Man may be really a Child of God and not know himself to be so by the infallible Declaration of the Spirit of God he may have as Job had Chap. 16.19 A Witness in Heaven and a Record on high and yet want a legible Copy of it in his own Bosom for his present Satisfaction The Spirits witnessing is not that which makes us the Children of God but supposes us to be so before he Witnesses that we are Children and therefore we are not the less Children though he should not Witness it We should lose the Comfort of our Sonship very much indeed but the fundamental Priviledge it self would remain however Things which for a
Superiour and honour'd accordingly and the more Kind and Indulgent he is the more Honour is due Any behaviour that betrays a slight esteem or a presumptuous Contempt of God is offensive to him and they that carry themselves so have Reason to try and condemn the Spirit which they are acted by He is our Father in Heaven and we his Children on Earth Eccles 5.2 He sits upon a Throne and we must remember that we Worship at his Footstool 7. The Spirit stirs up filial Affection to God in Prayer This makes it a delightful Exercise as indeed it should be Do Children count it a burdensome Task to go to a Father or are they not rather glad of the Opportunity of Converse with those that are so dear to them A Slave indeed hath an Aversion to the Presence of his Lord as the Bond-woman When Sarah dealt hardly with her fled from her Face Gen. 16.6 But when a Child hath to do with a tender Parent 't is quite contrary 't is sweet Employment to pour out the Soul into a Father's Bosom We set about it with Pleasure and a Pleasure which exceeds the Fruition of any Creatures whatsoever The Spirit of Adoption is a Spirit of Love and this Love breaths out it self in Holy Desires to him The Soul loves to commune with him for his own sake even though we could suppose that there were no pressing occasion for it it loves to visit him not only in Trouble when Necessity drives but at all other Times being drawn by internal Motives 8. The Spirit helps us to Pray with unwearied Fervency It behoves us so to do when we are dealing with a Father who will certainly be won and prevail'd upon how deaf or regardless soever he may seem to be for a Time Dull and stupid formality does not suit with the Relation wherein we stand where we look for cold Entertainment 't is apt to cool our Requests but Esau's Opinion of his Fathers Favour made him the more earnest for his Blessing Gen. 27.34 38. The Children of God are baptized with Fire their Hearts burn within them and it would be strange if their Words should freeze Theirs is not an Artificial Zeal which is quickly spent but a Zeal which holds out till the desire comes and by this means they are always Conquerors and as 't is said of I uther Iste vir potuit apud Deum quicquid voluit they can do what they will with God they will take no denial but wrestle and strive till they have obtain'd All this is done by the Assistance of the Spirit of our Father V. Vse I Information 1. The Love of God is to be seen and admir'd in our Adoption as much as in any Thing besides The Love of the Father in predestinating us to it the Love of the Son in procuring it for us and the Love of the Spirit in testifying it to us 'T is God's loving us as Children which is the Foundation and Root of all our Love to him as a Father for his Love descends before ours ascends 'T is marvellous that God should answer to any such Name when we call him by it and that he should give us any such Name himself the Apostle breaks forth into a kind of Ecstasie and Ravishment of Spirit when he consider'd it 1 John 3.1 Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God That in the Place where it was said to us Gentiles Ye are not my People it should be now said You are the Sons of the Living God Hos 1.10 Rom. 9.26 Are such vile Prodigals as we Worthy to be call'd his Sons Luke 15.21 That cannot be suppos'd nor is it for want of other Objects that he bestows this Favour upon us He hath an Eternal Son in whom his Soul delighteth whom he possest with Infinite Joy before all his Works of Old or this Favour might have been directed to fallen Angels but God hath preferr'd us Inferiour Creatures to that which they are excluded from 2. The Dignity of Believers excels all the Titles of Honour in the World 't is of a more glorious Nature and confirm'd by a greater Testimony By Faith Moses refused to be call'd the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter though Pharaoh was a mighty Prince Heb. 11.24 It pleased David to be Son-in-law to the King before he was so but he found little Comfort in it afterwards 1 Sam. 18.26 These Relations to the greatest of Men are poor trifling mean and empty Things in Comparison of Believer's Relation to God Magistrates are called Children of the most High because they bear some little faint Representation of God's Authority Psalm 82.6 But the least of Christ's little ones are God's Children in a sublimer Sense 'T is Ten Thousand Times more honourable to be a Child of God then Lord of the whole Earth 3. Walking after the Commandments of Men is a very ungrateful requital of God Certainly we owe most Duty where we receive the greatest Priviledge and what can Men do for us to be compar'd with what God hath done that we should pay any Homage to them in Opposition to him 'T is basely disingenuous for Children to regard what others say more than the Injunctions of their own Parents The Sense of this unspeakable Benefit of God's adopting us to himself is enough to restrain us from yielding Obedience to Men that is inconsistent with our Obedience to God This is the meaning and scope of that Caution given by Christ Mat. 23.9 Call no Man your Father upon Earth for one is your Father which is in Heaven That one God whose Children we are hath the only Supream Title to our Allegiance 4. The possibility of Assurance one would think should be without all Controversie To call it in Question is to give the lye to this very Text and to cast a blasphemous Reproach upon the Witness of the Spirit 'T is matter of rejoicing to have the single Testimony of our own Conscience for us 2 Cor. 1.12 For Conscience as one says is like a kind of Eccho which makes our spiritual Actions resound after they are past and gone from us but when we have the concurrent Testimony of the Spirit of God this makes our Joy a great deal more full Rom. 8.16 The Spirit it self beareth Witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God The Spirit is more present and conversant with the Soul than the Soul with it self and is better acquainted with its State He knows every Child of God by Name and therefore is best able to make us know if we are such if an Angel from Heaven were sent to tell us it would not be so sure The Spirit that beareth Witness of those things is Truth in the abstract 1 John 5.6 Some may be deluded by a lying Spirit instead of him but does it follow that there must be no Persuasion which comes of him that call us Because there are Counterfeits in
pleased by his Almighty Vertue to Work the Cure and with an irresistible Hand to turn it to himself 2 Tim. 2.25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if peradventure God will give them Repentance c. No Instruction will do if he against whom they Sin do not give them to repent III. How is this Grace the Gift of Christ as the Text affirms it to be Ans In six Things 1. All Things are deliver'd unto him by the Father to him as Mediator Mat. 11.27 All things are given into his Hand John 3.35 And he hath the disposal of them according to his own Pleasure he may with-hold or dispense every Thing as he sees good The Son quickeneth whom he will Chap. 5.21 He is empower'd to give Eternal Life Chap. 10.28 Chap. 17.2 And this Eternal Life is founded in spiritual Now the ground-work is his as well as the Head-stone the first-fruits of Grace as well as the Harvest of Glory the Gift of Righteousness it self as well as the Crown of Righteousness Chap. 4.14 The Water which I shall give him shall be in him a Well springing up into Everlasting Life Christ hath so large a Trust and Commission from the Father that nothing is excepted out of it 2. The giving of Grace is one of his essential Royalties as a King To give only corruptible Things is to give as the World giveth the Men of high Degree scatter their Favours of that kind among those that are below them but it agrees with the Majesty of Jesus Christ to bestow that which is of an incorruptible Nature a Principle of Grace and Holiness in the Hearts of his People Acts 5.31 Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and Saviour to give Repentance c. He would be a Prince without Subjects a meer Titular Prince if he did not by his own Grace bring them into Subjection and keep them in it He never ruled in any Heart which he did not first Conquer rebellious Sinners would never submit and yield themselves to his Authority if he did not make them willing in the day of his Power Psalm 110.3 3. Christ is given to be an Head of Influence as well as of Government to his Church Therefore said to be the Head of the Body Col. 1.18 Now as every Part of the natural Body derives Spirits from the Head so every Part of the mystical Body gracious Influences from Christ There is an effectual working from him throughout the whole Eph. 4.16 And how is this effectual working but by the Communication of his Grace to the various Members This 〈◊〉 what Paul experienc'd and gives an account of with Reference to his own first Conversion 1 Tim. 1.14 The Grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with Faith and Love which is in Christ Jesus Paul's Heart was full of unbelief and hatred before but the prevailing Grace of Christ in whom he was chosen before the World planted Faith and Love in the room of them 4. 'T is the Work of Christ to furnish those whom be unites and espouses to himself with Beauty and Ornaments fit for his Embraces and wherein does this Beauty consist and what are these Ornaments but a Participation of his Grace Some are ready to cry is a deformed filthy Sinner meet to lye in Christ's Bosom But I would Reply who makes the Sinner meet besides Christ himself He can have no complacency or delight in such an one continuing as he is but his Manner is to impart a commending loveliness where he loves As Rebeckah was adorned with Jewel's of Isaac's giving Gen. 24.53 So it was granted to the Lambs Wife that she should be arrayed in fine Linne c. of his preparing Rev. 19.8 For as the imputed Righteousness of Christ so the inherent Righteousness of Saints is his Gift whom they are married to 5. Christ hath the right of distributing Grace as the Effect of his Purchase He hath bought it with his Blood and therefore may confer it on whom he pleases as we know that every one may do what he Will with his own and what we buy at a valuable Price is undoubedtly our own Upon this score all Grace is the Grace of Christ 't is his just Propriety and he hath â—â—â—ain'd it at the dearest Rate which could be demanded He gave himself for the Church that he might sanctifie and cleanse it c. Eph. 5.25 26. Our Sanctification was one end of his Sufferings and as it was he that suffer'd so 't is he that sanctifies Christ merited Grace for us by his Death and therefore the dispensing of it is his due 6. The Spirit of Grace is sent by Christ and supplies his Place John 16.7 If I depart I will send him to you So that he Acts as in Christ's Name and on his behalf and consequently what the Spirit does may be attributed unto Christ and what he divides to every Man may be very well look't upon as allotted by Christ whose Spirit he is for so he is called the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.17 18. There is the very Heart of Christ in all the Spirits saving Operations they are directed by his Infinite Wisdom and Care to all those whom he laid down his Life for As he shed forth the Holy Ghost at Pentecost Acts 2.33 So the pouring of him out at all Times is his continual Providence still IV. After what manner is this Grace given to every one that belongs to Christ Answ Negatively and Positively I. Negatively I. This Grace is not given to all by the same Instruments and Means 'T is most usually by the Word of Grace but sometimes by the Rod of sanctified Affliction 't is oftnest by the Sword in Christ's Mouth but it may be by the Fan in his Hand Ordinarily 't is by the Preaching of Christ's Embassadors but sometimes the edifying Discourses of Private Christians may Minister Grace to the Hearers Eph. 4.29 Again though it be by the same Gospel yet God makes use of several Publishers They whom he sanctifies through the Truth are Converted by several Persons There are many spiritual Fathers some are begotten in Christ by the Ministry of one and some by another 2. It is not given to all at the same Age or Period of Life As in that Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard some were called at the third Hour some at the sixth some at the ninth some at the eleventh Some are sanctified from the Womb filled with the Spirit like John from their very Birth Luke 1.15 Others it may be wear out almost all their Lives and are even dropping into the Grave before they are brought home to God Some are planted into Christ in their tender Years like Paul when a Young Man others not born again till they are Old when the evil Days come And therefore it is not so material or requisite for us to know when we felt the first workings of Grace as to be sure that we feel it 's real workings
those that are most abased in their own Minds 3. Go to God in Christ by Prayer for this blessed Gift It was never denied to any one that sincerely sought it in this Way Direct your Prayers particularly to Christ himself to whom the Dispensation of Grace is committed Remember his Words to the Woman of Samaria John 4.10 If thou knewest the Gift of God and who it is c. thou wouldst have asked of him and he would have given c. He is as willing to bestow it as he is able believe this and apply to him accordingly We may err in the restraining of all our Worship to the Father as if none were due to the Son Why should not we address as well to our Lord Jesus to renew our Spirits as Stephen to receive his Spirit 4. Resolve not to be satisfi'd or dismiss'd without this Gift This may be safely resolv'd and 't is a Resolution very pleasing to God If you do but say with full Purpose of Heart as Jacob did I will not let thee go c. He cannot wrest himself out of your Hands but you must assuredly prevail If you give God any rest you may look for a Refusal if you can be Content without Grace you will never receive it The Rich who feel not the Extremity of Want are but indifferent Beggars and therefore God sends them empty away Luke 1.53 Take hold of God's Feet and go not from his Throne of Grace till you have obtain'd what you go for 5. Be found in the ordinary Road of receiving as the People that brought their Sick into the Streets and laid them on Beds and Conches in the way where Peter was to pass Acts 5.15 They that are desirous of the Alms of spiritual Wisdom must attend at Wisdoms-gates where the Alms are generally given out 'T is wicked Presumption to expect Grace from God in a careless neglect of the Means of Grace They that trust in them and they that forbear to use them are both far from the Kingdom of God If Faith comes by hearing 't is our Duty to wait for it in Hearing and not to think that it should be wrought by Miracle 6. Put away as much as lies in your Power all that tends to hinder this Gift of Grace Though you are unable to qualifie your selves for it unable to prepare the way of the Lord in your own Hearts yet to do what you are able to do is certainly such Advice as you ought to take You cannot mortifie the inward Love of Sin but you can keep your selves from many outward Acts of Sin You cannot it may be overcome some Temptations when you are in them but you can chuse whether you'will run designedly into them Now he that pretends to look up to God for Grace and at the same time wilfully obstructs it by his own contrary Practise is a gross and shameful Hypocrite 2. To those that are truly gracious What shall they do 1. Do not disown this Gift This is mistaken Modesty and real unthankfulness We ought not to make our selves Poor when we have great Riches as if we were hir'd by the Accuser of the Brethren to bear false Witness against our selves The Saints that are in Christ Jesus gratifie the Father of lies as much by saying they have no Grace as by saying they have no Sin For a Man to proclaim his own goodness is a fault on one Hand to deny it is an extream on the other Hand The Apostle hath directed us to the true medium Rom. 12.3 I say through the Grace given unto me to every Man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly c. 2. Be sure to acknowledge it as a Gift Be not pufft up with that which comes down from above If thou didst receive it why dost thou Glory as if thou hadst not received it 1 Cor. 4.7 As we are not to boast of things without our measure so things within our measure are no just ground or matter of boasting If God hath given that to us which he hath not to others what Reason have we to be proud of it If we had earned it by our own Industry and Labour Activity and Diligence we might have some Cloak for spiritual Pride but as it is we have none at all 3. Take heed of lusting to Envy against those that go beyond you There is a sifnul Emulation in holy things a repining at that wherein we should Rejoyce a secret Grief that others do so well instead of an hearty shame that we do no better For the Cure of this remember all is given and if your Gift be less than another Man's you must not murmur and complain as if God had done you any wrong Bless God that some have the Grace which you want and by that means are more serviceable than you 4. Do not think however that a little of this Grace is enough or any measure short of Perfection Be still crying Give give continue still sucking at the same 〈◊〉 till you are fill'd with all the fulness of 〈◊〉 This is no evil Covetousness but that which is requisite and laudable We are not only oblig'd to endeavour the preserving and cherishing of the Grace we have but to look after increase and the getting of more And we are encourag'd to this because the first Grace is a Gift which makes way for more Mat. 25.29 To every one that hath shall be given c. 5. Exercise Faith upon Jesus Christ for constant Succour and Assistance in all your Times of Need. Whatsoever Service or Suffering you are called to you cannot have occasion for more Grace than he hath to impart He is able to make all-Grace abound towards you 2 Cor. 9.8 And let the difficulty be what it will his Grace is as sufficient for you as it was for Paul under his sore and grievous Bussetings Chap. 12.9 How low soever your Stock be his is not to be exhausted and that which is most impossible to your weakness is most easie in his Strength 6. Lay out faithfully all that you receive for the Good and Benefit of others as well as your own It would be better not to be entrusted with any Talent than not to employ it to the utmost Advantage God gives us nothing but what we are to Profit withal and it would be sad if we should give the worst Account of the best Gifts Whatsoever is bestow'd upon any Member in Particular should be so manag'd as that it may be some way useful to the Body in general 1 Pet. 4.10 As every Man hath received the Gift even so Minister the same one to another as good Stewar◠〈◊〉 c. The Grace of God is manifold and 〈…〉 are differing but all is to be ministred by us to others and by others to us we are Stewards of his Grace and if we be not good Stewards we shall never be Heirs of his Glory SERMON XXI
the World before he hath answer'd the End and dispatch'd the Business for which he was born into it A comfortable Death does not suit with a slothful and careless an useless and unprofitable Life He that hath neglected his Duty to himself or to others in his place may very well b backward and unwilling to die Job begs that it would please God to destroy him and crys Let him not spare for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One chap. 6.9 10. 5. Clear and State your Accounts every day set them in Order for their Confusion will cause your Distraction when you come to die Seriously examine and reflect upon your daily Walk and Course and do not leave those Miscarriages to be budled up in a general Repentance when they are forgotten which when they are fresh you may and ought to be particularly humbled for The more diligent and exact we are in this case the less Advantage will Satan have against us A Man can but scarcely die well as the Apostle speaks of being scarcely saved 1 Pet. 4.18 who hath any thing else to do when his hour comes 6. Beware of grieving the Spirit and clouding your own Comforts Though full Assurance be not absolutely necessary to the yielding of this Obedience in Death yet our Obedience must needs be very defective where some degrees of Assurance or good hope through Grace are not gotten and maintain'd 'T is very hard to resign without some Evidence that God will receive us very hard to let go our Temporal Life when we can lay no hold upon Eternal therefore the Advice is needful Jude 21. Keep your selves in the Love of God do nothing that may tend to prejudice or weaken your sense of it 7. Live upon the Death of Christ as the only Foundation of your warrantable Trust Though you do walk before God in Truth you will find the need of something else to depend on for your Title to Glory Some think that there is a Gospel Mystery in Moses's dying short of Canaan and Joshua's leading the People into it viz. to intimate to us That the Works of the Law will bring none to Heaven but Christ by his Blood hath open'd our way to it He that builds his Hope of Salvation upon any thing which he hath done must either perish or pull down all again 8. Look up to Heaven for Divine Instruction in this great Point It was Moses's Prayer to God so teach us to number our days that we may apply our Hearts c. Psalm 90.12 The numbering of our Days aright is no Vulgar Arithmetick nor can we learn it without a more than ordinary Tutor No Man ever died like Moses here according to the Word of the Lord but what was taught of God to do it He that gives out the Command must guide our Spirits to obey it If we can do nothing for God of our selves least of all can we die to him without him SERMON XXIII October 1. 1697. HEBREWS VII xxv Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them THE Glorious Office of the Priesthood of Jesus Christ is the Subject of great part of this Epistle and the Apostle's main Scope and Design is to shew the superlative Excellency thereof beyond the Legal Priesthood which he does at large in various respects In the two immediate foregoing Verses he compares Christ with the Priests under the Law in reference to their Mortality Verse 23. They truly were many Priests many one after another because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death they were dying Men and how well soever they discharged the Duty of their Places yet in a few Years they left it to those that survived them and knew it no more themselves the Ministers of the Old Testament had their appointed time when their Breath went forth and returned not again as you find that the Ministers of the New Testament have now in their Generation But ver 24. this man or this Christ the Anointed of the Lord whom the Apostle here speaks of for the word Man is not in the Original but supplied by our Translators because he continueth ever hath an unchangable Priesthood his Office does not pass from him to another he hath no Successors in it whom the Exercise of it is committed to but he still manages it in his own Person and will perpetually do it Hereupon that comfortable and encouraging Inference and Conclusion is drawn up in the words of the Text Wherefore he is able c. Whcih words if they were to be cast into our usual Forms of Argument would run thus He who ever lives to make Intercession is able to save to the uttermost But Jesus Christ ever lives c. Therefore he is able c. There are many important Truths lying in this Text but all may be brought within the compass of this one Observ Christ's eternal Life and Intercession in Heaven in an infallible Proof of his Infinite saving Power Here I. I shall enquire into the Thing which the Apostle undertakes to prove The infinite-saving-Power of Jesus Christ II. Into the Evidence which he proves it by The Eternal Life and Intercession of Christ in Heaven With the distinct Uses which may be made of both these I. As to the thing which the Apostle here sets himself to prove viz. The infinite-saving Power of our Lord Jesus The Text it self will lead us to the opening of two Things under this Head The nature of this Power and the extent of it How he is able to save and how far even to the uttermost First With reference to the nature of this Power How is Christ able to save This may may be stated in the following Propositions 1. There is a Power which belongs to Christ as he is God In this as in all other Divine Perfections the Second Person is equal with the First Rev. 1.8 I am the Almighty The very same unlimited boundless Power appertains both to the Father and the Son Therefore when Christ had asserted That none should pluck his sheep out of his hand John 10.28 he confirms it by this That his Father is greater than all and none is able to pluck them out of the Father's hand ver 29. Now if any should go about to deny the Consequence the next words will clear it I and my Father are one ver 30. If my Father is greater than all so am I if he be able to secure and preserve the Sheep so am I for he and I are one we are one in Essence and Nature and so all the same glorious Perfections which are inherent in him are in me likewise But this though it be a great Article of Faith and a great support to Believers does not seem to be that which the Apostle hath so much an Eye to in this place for he is now speaking of his Ability to save
under the Notion of our High-Priest 2. There is a given delegated Power which belongs to Christ as he is Mediator a Power received and entrusted with him from the Father God's laying of help upon him for us implies the furnishing and qualifying of him to afford and dispense that help to us So we read Psalm 89.21 With whom my hand shall be established mine arm also shall strengthen him Again Isa 42.1 Behold my Servant whom I uphold c. There was such a mighty Presence and Influence of God with and upon his Son Jesus Christ in the Execution of his Mediatory Office as enabled and empower'd him to all that this Office required Therefore he attributes the Work which he did to the Father and calls them the Works of the Father John 10.37 and argues from them as plain convincing Testimonies that the Father had sent him chap. 5.36 The Power which he had from God to do such things was a demonstration of his Commission The Son of himself consider'd in this Capacity as the Father's Servant and Messenger dispatched from Heaven about the great Business of our Salvation could do nothing ver 19. but his God was his strength he that appointed him this Service gave him Ability to perform it 3. This Power of Christ is determined by the Father's Pleasure It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell Col. 1.19 All Fulness therefore a Fulness of Power as well as Merit but we must suppose it to be all exerted and put forth as is pleasing to the Father also The Power given unto Christ can never be thought to be employed by Christ against the Mind and Will of him that gave it God and Christ go hand in hand as it were in all their mighty Acts of Grace with one consenting Will. John 5.21 As the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them even so the Son quickeneth whom he will not in opposition to the Father's Will but in conjunction with it He came not to do his own will but his that sent him chap. 6.38 It was his delight to do this and impossible that he should do any thing contrary to it This does not import any insufficiency or weakness in Christ but the regularity and exactness of his Obedience 4. Christ's saving Power with respect to us takes in his Sovereignty and Dominion over all Creatures which is for our Advantage We have the benefit of his universal governing Power in order to our Salvation He that is exalted to be our Saviour is a mighty Prince whose Kingdom reaches ever where to every thing that he hath made He that carries his Lambs in his Bosom hath all the things in the world put under his Feet he hath all the Wolves that would tear and destroy them in a Chain and they cannot touch so much as the Fleece of any of his Sheep without his permission All power is given unto him in Heaven and in Earth yea and in Hell too Matth. 28.18 He hath power over all flesh John 17.2 whether Devils and wicked malignant Spirits over all that seek our burt or that give us any cause of Terror He hath a Command over all Creatures that disposal of all Events and he can make every one of these not only not to hinder and obstruct but positively to promote and further our Salvation The whole Administration of the Affairs of Providence which is committed to Christ serves to this very purpose 5. The saving power of Christ to all that have experience of it does necessarily include a great and extraordinary mixture of Compassion We must conclude his Pity equal to his Power and united with it or else no Soul would ever be saved by it His infinite Ability to relieve us would be of small Comfort to us if he were not touched with a feeling of our Infirmities We have an hint of this chap. 2.18 He is able to succour them that are tempted the same Greek word both there and in the Text. Now 't is manifest from the Context there that Christ's being able to succour implies not barely a Power but a fitness and readiness to do it a compassionate Inclination by reason of his being tempted Now though Christ be no longer so tempted for he sits on the right hand of the power of God Luke 22.69 yet his Bowels are the same If he wanted those Bowels his Power would be dreadful we could only look upon him as our Destroyer able to cast us Soul and Body into Hell able to inflict Wrath upon us to the uttermost but we could have no thoughts of Peace or hopes of Mercy 6. There is a destructive Power of Christ which always does and must accompany this saving Power In magnifying his saving Power to us there is a necessity of letting out his destructive Power against our Enemies If he saves our Lives and ransoms them what follows O Death I will be thy Plague O Grave I will be thy Destruction Hos 13.14 We cannot be delivered from Death but Death must be unstung and consequently destroy'd This is the last Enemy but all the rest are dealt with in like manner Hebr. 2.14 That through death he might destroy him who had the power of death i. e. the Devil The chosen and called of God cannot escape if the Devil do if they obtain Salvation in Christ he must be destroy'd not as to his Being but his Power And the Works of the Devil must be destroyed also 1 John 3.8 There must not remain so much as one of them as is said of that total overthrow of the Egyptians in the Red Sea when the Israel of God were saved out of their hands Exod. 14.28 Secondly With reference to the extent of this Power How far is Christ able to save The Text makes the Answer even to the uttermost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are two things intimated by this Phrase The Perfection of that Salvation which Christ is able to work and the duration of it 1. His being able to save to the uttermost notes Perfection He is able to save fully absolutely and compleatly so that nothing more needs or can be done Christ without us and Christ in us does all that belongs to this work of our Salvation He gives a right to Salvation and a meetness for Salvation He justifies perfectly he Sanctifies wholly what the Law could not do that he as the End of the Law not a destroying but a perfecting End hath done Particularly 1. He saves from all Sin or else that indefinite expression could hardly be sav'd from an Equivocation which the Spirit of Truth abhors Matth. 1.21 He shall save his People from their Sins i. e. from all their Sins not one excepted for as to the unpardonable Sin he saves his People from that preventively because none of them shall ever be suffer'd to commit it He is able to save from the greatest Sins as from the least from Sins of the blackest Aggravation and the deepest die He
or stop put to it he never tires or faulters in it 2. It is not probable that the Intercession of Christ should totally end at the end of the World but rather that it will continue to all Eternity In some respects indeed there will be no occasion or necessity for Christ's interceding after the last Judgment to need of interceding for the effectual Calling of any of the Elect nor for the pardon of Sin nor Progress in Sanctification nor for the bringing of God's Sons and Daughters to Glory all those things will be then actually done and fully brought to pass but the Intercession of Christ will be still needful for the everlasting continuance of the Glorified in their Holy and Happy State If the Vertue of the Blood of Christ could ever be spent or its Voice drown'd throughout Eternal Ages what Security would Saints have for their Abode in Heaven 4. Wherein is Christ's infinite Ability to Save evidenc'd hereby Answ Abundantly because 1. He perfectly understands every Case which be takes upon him to manage He is not ignorant of any of our Matters but is acquainted with them all and does not need our poor defective Representations of them to him He knows what the Condition of our Souls requires much better than we do our selves so that we may hope for a Supply of our unmentioned Wants as well as others His infinite Knowledge of our needy miserable State is an encouraging Token of his saving Power for such Perfections always go together 2. He hath a great Interest in the Father and intercedes with him according to his Will He is God's Beloved Son and they whom he intercedes for are beloved by the Father also He is one that God rejoyced and delighted in before the World one that is as dear to the Father as himself one that cannot ask that God can refuse or deny for his Intercessions are always agreeable to the Divine Purposes and he never craves any thing but what God hath certainly determined to grant Every one would think himself safe and sure enough of what he seeketh after if he had such a Favourite to be his Friend in any Earthly Court 3. Christ's Intercession does clearly evince the Validity and Entireness of his Satisfaction God would not have admitted him to intercede if he had not fully satisfied His Intercession is indeed the virtual Continuation of his Offering which he once made and we cannot imagine that God should ever give way to this if that had not been a Sacrifice of a sweet smelling Savour to him It is because he paid our Debt as our Surety that he is accepted to plead the Payment as our Attorney Charnock It is because he is our Propitations that he is also our Advocate He failed not in the first of his Attempts and therefore with God's Approbation entred upon the second 4. Christ is always heard in his Intercession and carries every Cause hie Pleads His Heart's desire is always given him and the request of his Lips is not with-held from him Psalm 21.2 Never was any Supplicant so universally Successful as this mediator is He as a Prince indeed hath Power with God and prevails without exception one Miscarriage would be enough to damp us but when all that he does prospers what should we fear The Altar of Incense which signified the Intercession of Christ as well as the Altar of Burnt-Offering which was a shadow of his Sacrifice had Horns by God's appointment at the four Corners Exod. 30.2 with 27.2 to note that strength of Salvation which Sinners have to flee to and take hold of 3. The Objects of Christs Intercession or Persons for whom he lives to intercede Who are they The Text directs to the Answer For them that come unto God by him Here we should shew What it is to come unto God by Christ and how we are to understand that Christ makes Intercession for such 1st What it is to come to God by Christ Coming to God in the New Testament is put especially for two things 1. 'T is expressive of believing John 6.35 He that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me c. The latter Clause does without all Controversy expound and interpret the former Unbelief is set forth by the contrary Chap. 5. 40. You will not come to me c. In this sense there is no coming to God but by Christ i. e. no believing in him but by Christ The Sinner must go out of himself as having nothing of his own to recommend him or bring along with him expecting Salvation from God meerly and solely on the behalf of Christ 2. 'T is expressive of all the solemn Acts of Religious Worship Hebr. 11.6 He that cometh to God must believe c. The whole Service of God is to be perform'd under the influence of Faith and this Faith must have a respect to Christ and be exercised upon him God is not accessible in any Duty any other way Whatsoever we do is to be done in his Name and to have its acceptance with God upon his account There is no Spiritual Sacrifice pleasing to God but what is offer'd up by Believers through the hands of Christ and there is none so offer'd up but what must needs be pleasing 2. How are we to understand that Christ makes Intercession for such 1. He intercedes for them exclusively For them and no others they that are final Despisers and Rejecters of Christ and pretend to go to God in the Old Way of the First Covenant or any New Invented Ways of their own which usually have a strong Tincture of that in them are such as Jesus Christ hath nothing to do with and is not concerned about All that he lives in Heaven to make Intercession for are taught in due time to make application to God by him renouncing all other Grounds of Hope and Confidence whatsoever His Intercession is limited and restrained to such 2. He intercedes for them and every one of them particularly He calleth his own Sheep by Name John 10.3 and distinctly remembers 'em all with their several respective Cases of which no two in the World are strictly and absolutely alike tho they do agree in many things yet in other things they vary Now Jesus Christ does not remember one and forget another nor does his Intercession run upon Generals only as if he did no more than commend his whole Mystical Body to God but he takes notice of every part I have prayed for thee Peter Luke 22.32 So he does now for you and me and all that commit themselves to him not only Sheep but Lambs not only strong but weak Believers not only those that are worthy of greatest Honour but such as are least esteemed in the Church VSE 1. What a woful condition are legal Worshippers in who still adhere to Rites and Ceremonies which cannot save them The Law having a Shadow of good things to come and not the very Image or
Substance of the things can never with those Sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect Hebr. 10.1 When their Constitution was most flourishing and all those external Appointments were kept up to their very height they had not an High-Priest that ever lived to intercede for them but were obliged to the Mediation of Christ and now they have no Sacrifices nor Holy of Holies to carry the Blood of the Sacrifice into those weak and feeble Grounds of Carnal Confidence are quite taken away Moses in whom they trust and whose Rules they pretend to follow will be their Accuser instead of being their Advocate as Elias made Intercession against Israel not for them 2. What a vile Reproach do they cast upon Christ that employ and make use of other Intercessors besides him The Apostle argues Christ's Power to save from his living to Intercede they who advance and prefer others to this Work do really charge him with Insufficiency Hath he trode the Wine-Press alone and is he not able to perform this business of Advocacy alone Did he redeem us by himself and must he have Partners in his Pleading Work The first was rather more difficult than this last and therefore if he must be assisted in this we may with more reason suspect his needing of help as to the other and consequently we may doubt whether he himself can be the Author of Eternal Salvation to us So that the Antichristian Doctrine of multiplied Mediators between God and us tends to subvert our Faith and opens the door to Infidelity 3. We may learn hence that Jesus Christ tho' taken from us and made higher than the Heavens is not the less mindful of us or less compassionate towards us When the chief Butler was restor'd to his Place he forgat poor Joseph in Prison Gen. 40. ult but Christ's Care and Affection is not lessened by his Exaltation He hath a more tender regard to our Infirmities than any of our Fellow Creatures that are still in Flesh can have as the Brain where all the Nerves which are the Instruments of Sence are terminated is the chief Seat of all Perception so the Mystical Body though one Member may feel the Wrong done to another yet the Head is most apprehensive of it He hath left the World indeed but is as sollicitous as ever for them that are left behind John 17.11 Now I am no more in the World but these are in the World c. 4. Our daily renewed Guilt though Ground of humble Walking ought not to destroy our Comfort or be matter of Discouragement Christ's Intercession would not be continued if there were not continual need of it Some Men weary the Kindness of their Friends by plunging themselves over and over in fresh Dissiculties and so they must be delivered again and again as Prov. 19.19 This is not irksom or uneasy to Christ for though we are every moment Offending one way or other he does not leave off Interceding For if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ c. 1 John 2.1 5. The Preservation of those that are in Christ is very much owing to the Intercession of Christ for them If we receive any Advantage by the Prayers of one another how much more by his What a helpless and hopeless Condition should we soon be in if our Lord Jesus did not confirm his Love towards us by praying the Father for us Our standing in the Grace of God is a Fruit of his sitting at the right Hand of God So some interpret the Life of Jesus being made manifest in our mortal Body 2 Cor. 4.10 11. q. d. We are supported to go through such Exercises and Tryals by the mighty Influence of our Living Saviour 6. Let this embolden us to ask in Faith and quicken us to Pray with greater assurance Having such an High-Priest to introduce us to God we may comfortably plead the Causes of our Souls before him The Prayers of Saints go up as a Memorial and sweet Perfume by reason of the Incense that Christ offers with them Ask of me and I will give thee is the Father's Language to the Son Psalm 2.8 as if he were to fetch out the Grace and Blessing of the Promise by Prayer And the same terms are proposed to us Ask and it shall be given you Matth. 7.7 What can we have more Yea Christ himself will see it done whatever is ask'd in his Name he hath said it twice I will see it done Matth. 14.13 14. 7. Let this be a Motive to us to live to Christ and plead for him as we can while we are here in the World 1. Let us live to Christ who thought it not enough as Mr. Clarkson says to lose one Life for us on Earth but he also improves another in Heaven for us What can we do less then take Paul's Motto and make it our daily Rule To me to live is Christ Phil. 1.21 2. Let us plead for Christ with God and with Men. 1. With God While he intercedes for us let us pray for him i. e. for the Prosperity of his Concerns here in his lower Kingdom This is to be done-continually and without ceasing Psalm 72.15 as the Prophet is our Example For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest c. Isa 62.1 2. With Men. Christ's Intercession on our behalf in Glory will shamefully upbraid our ungrateful Silence if we can quietly suffer his Name to be Blasphemed and his Gospel scoffed out of the World Their Confession of Christ is no better than a Denial that have nothing to say for him in such a Case The Spirit of Christ is his great Advocate here in the World and therefore if we walk in that Spirit Christ's Honour and Interest will be duly regarded by us FINIS BOOKS Printed for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three-Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chapel FOrty Nine Sermons on the whole Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Colossians by Monsieur Daille Minister of the Reformed Church in Paris Folio Sermons and Discourses on several Divine Subjects by the late Reverend and Learned David Clarkson B. D. and sometime Fellow of Clare-Hall Cambridge Folio A Body of Practical Divinity consisting of above One hundred seventy six Sermons on the Lesser Catechism of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster by Tho. Watson formerly Minister of Stephen Walbrook Folio The Support of the Faithful in Times of Persecution or a Sermon Preach'd in the Wilderness to the poor Protestants in France By M. Brousson an Eminent Minister who was broke upon the Wheel at Montpelier Novem. 6. 1698. Quarto The Fountain of Life opened or a Display of Christ in his Essential and Mediatoral Glory containing Forty two Sermons on various Texts Wherein the Impetration of our Redemption by Jesus Christ is orderly unfolded as it was begun carried on and finished by his Covenant Transaction mysterious Incarnation
solemn Call and Dedication blessed Offices deep Abasement and Supereminent Advancement A Treatise of the Soul of Man wherein the Divine Original excellent and immortal Nature of the Soul are opened its Love and Inclination to the Body with the necessity of its Separation from it considered and improved The Existence Operations and States of separated Souls both in Heaven and Hell immediately after Death asserted discussed and variously applied Divers knotty and difficult Questions about departed Souls both Philosophical and Theological stated and determined The Method of Grace in bringing home the Eternal Redemption contrived by the Father and accomplished by the Son through the Effectual Application of the Spirit unto God's Elect being the second Part of Gospel Redemption The Divine Conduct or Mystery of Providence its Being and Efficacy asserted and vindicated all the Methods of Providence in our course of Life opened with Directions how to apply and improve them Navigation spiritualiz'd or a New Compass for Seamen consisting of Thirty Two Points of pleasant Observations profitable Applications serious Reflections all concluded with so many spiritual Poems c. A Saint indeed the great Work of a Christian A Touchstone of Sincerity or Signs of Grace and Symptoms of Hypocrifie being the second Part of the Saint indeed A Token for Mourners or Boundaries for Sorrow for the Death of Friends Husbandry spiritualiz'd or the Heavenly use of Earthly Things All these Ten by Mr. John Flavell A Funeral Sermon on the Death of that Pious Gentlewoman Mrs Judith Hammond late Wife of the Reverend Mr. George Hammond Minister of the Gospel in London Of Thoughtfulness for the Morrow With an Appendix concerning the immoderate Desire of foreknowing Things to come Of Charity in reference to others Mens sins The Redeemers Tears wept over lost Souls in a Treatise on Luke 19.41 42. With an Appendix wherein somewhat is occasionally Discoursed concerning the Sin against the Holy Ghost and how God is said to Will the Salvation of them that Perish A Sermon directing what we are to do after a strict Enquiry whether or no we truly Love God A Funeral Sermon for Mrs Esther Sampson late Wife of Mr. Henry Sampson Doctor of Physick who died Nov. 24. 1689. The Carnality of Religious Contention In two Sermons Preach'd at the Merchants Lecture in Broadstreet A calm and sober Enquiry concerning the Possibility of a Trinity in the Godhead A Letter to a Friend concerning a Postscript to the Defence of Dr. Sherlock's Notion of the Trinity in Unity relating to the calm and sober Enquiry upon the same Subject A View of that Part of the late Considerations Addrest to H. H. about the Trinity Which concerns the sober Enquiry on that Subject A Sermon preach'd on the late Day of Thanksgiving Decemb. 2. 1697. To which is prefix'd Dr. Bates's Congratulatory Speech to the King All these Eleven by Mr. John Howe The Good of Early Obedience or the Advantage of bearing the Yoke of Christ betimes Octavo The Almost Christian or the false Professor Tried and Cast Duodecimo Spiritual Wisdom improved against Temptation Duodecimo The Vision of the Wheels seen by the Prophet Ezechiel Quarto A Sermon of Unity or Two Sticks made one Quarto All Five by Matth. Mead Pastor of a Church of Christ at Stepney Discourses upon the Rich Man and Lazarus Octavo Three last Sermons of Mr. Cruso To which is added a Sermon on Novemb. 5. 1697. Octavo Both by Tim. Cruso M. A. His Funeral Sermon preach'd by Matth. Mead. Quarto The Life and Death of Mr Philip Henry Minister of the Gospel at Whitchurch in Shropshire who died June 24. 1696. Recommended by Dr. Bates David Jones's Sermon in Ember-Week preached before the University of Oxford The Qualifications requisite towards the Receiving a Divine Revelation A Sermon preached in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul January the 2d 1699. Being the First for this Year of the Lecture Founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq By Samuel Bradford M. A. Rector of St. Mary le Bow