because the Lord hath anointed me to Preach glad tidings to the meek c. This was excellently held forth in the Person of Aaron the High Priest under the dark Dispensation of the ceremonial Administration an Eminent and Glorious Type and Shadow of Christ the Elects High Priest Psal 133.2 It is like the Precious Ointment upon the Head that ran down upon the Beard even Aarons Beard that went down to the Skirts of his Garment The material Oyl wherewith Aaron Christs Type was anointed did prefigure and type out the Effusion of the Spirits Gifts and Graces on the Human Nature of Christ to fit and qualifie him for the Work the Father hath sent him about this anointing was poured out on Christ without measure as witnesseth the Scripture Jo. 3 34. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the Words of God for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him This is further backt and confirm'd by Colos 1.19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell And Colos 2.9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Besides the personal Anointing of Christs Human Nature wherewith the Father anointed him above his fellows Psal 45.7 there was a Soul enriching Stock of Grace put into his Hands as Mediator in time to be communicated to all the Elect who are to be the Members of his Mystical Body Hence it is that Believers are said to receive of Christ's Fulness Jo. 1.16 And of his Fulness have all we received and Grace for Grace Ephes 4.7 But unto every one of us is given Grace according to the measure of the Gift of Christ Christ as God is the Source and Fountain of all the Graces of Believers as God-man he is the Meriter and Purchaser of all Grace for them and Christ as Mediator he hath the dispencing Power committed to him by the Father to communicate to and bestow upon every Member of his Body what measure of Grace he pleaseth Secondly Christ far excels all Adam's Children on the account of the Work to which the Father design'd him in Eternity and whereto he in time call'd him This great Work is to reconcile God and elect Sinners together by the Interposition of his Mediatorial Righteousness to make up that Breach which the Sin and Apostacy of Adam had effected between God and the Elect and to keep and continue them in an everlasting Covenant of Love and Peace so as that there should never be any Possibility of their being at Enmity any more for ever 2 Cor. 5.19 to wit that God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself not imputing their Trespasses to them By World in this as in other places is intended the elect World for whom Christ was made Sin and a Curse and between whom and God his offended Father he stept in as a Mediator to make Peace by offering up himself in Sacrifice to God's Justice 1 Tim. 2.5 6. for there is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus Who gave himself a Ransom for all to be testified in due time Compare with this Jo. 10.15 and Jo. 17.9 and it will plainly appear that Christ became a Mediator of Redemption and Intercession for God's Elect and none else If what hath been said concerning what Christ is in himself and the great Work to which the Father hath design'd and call'd him be rightly considered it will appear beyond all Contradiction that he infinitely excels and transcends all the Children of Adam None of Adam's Posterity were ever qualified like him neither were any of them ever call'd to so great and glorious a Work as he was this in the general But more particularly to come to the Allegory or Metaphor by which his transcendent Excellency is allegorically set forth there are three things in the Apple-Tree which bespeaks the Lord Jesus a None-such to the Elect. First The Lowness and Comliness of the Apple-Tree above other Trees It grows lower and nearer the Ground than other Trees usually do The matchless Lowliness and Humility of Christ is hereby set forth none could ever compare with him herein Mat. 11.29 Take my Yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly This is anciently Predicted of him as appears Zach. 9.9 Rejoyce greatly O Daughter of Zion shout O Daughter of Jerusalem behold thy King cometh unto thee he is just and having Salvation lowly and riding upon an Ass and upon a Colt the Foal of an Ass Mat. 21.4 5. Six things wherein this will appear First His condescending to become his Father's Inferior first as a Son a Relation which imports Superiority and Inferiority Psal 2.7 I will declare the Decree the Lord hath said unto me Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee c. Jo. 3.16 For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son c. Jo. 14.28 For my Father is greater than I. Secondly As a Servant to do his Work Psal 89.20 I have found David my Servant with my Holy Oil have I anointed him Esa 42.1 Behold my Servant whom I uphold mine Elect in whom my Soul delighteth * This Inferiority of Christ to God is to be understood in respect of the Office he voluntarily took on him for the Elects sake not in respect of Nature or Essence as appears Zach. 13.7 Awake O Sword against my Shepherd and against the Man that is my Fellow Jo. 10.30 I and my Father are one Heb. 1.3 Who being the Brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person c. Secondly His condescending to assume the Humane Nature Heb. 2.14 Forasmuch as the Children did partake of Flesh and Blood he also himself took part of the same Vers 16. For verily he took not upon him the Nature of Angels but he took upon him the Seed of Abraham There are two things which if considered will put a bright Lustre on this Act of Christ's Condescention First The Baseness of the Matter of that Body he assumed viz. A Clod of Earth and that the worst of Earth viz. Red Earth so the word Adam in Hebrew signifies Secondly The abject State and wretched Condition into which it fell by the Apostacy and Rebellion of Adam to which he knew he must become subject Hence it is he is stiled a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief Esa 53.3 4. Rom. 8.3 For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh c. Thirdly In his being Born of mean Parents Christ as God did single out and choose the Womb in which his Humanity was to be Conceived which was not an Empress a Queen or some Lady of Rich and Noble Extraction according to the Flesh but a mean and despicable Maid of a mean and poor Family so poor that she was not able to compass a Lamb but must be trusting to a pair of Turtle Doves for a Sacrifice
gives that honourable Title of Mediator to any but the Son of God Secondly None was ever found by the Wisdom of God who was capable of such an high Office and that for two Reasons First Because the Mediator who must come in between God and sinners must be God as well as Man Now it is most certain that neither the Virgin Mary nor any other of the Saints of whom Papists make use as Mediators are God Secondly Because none of the Creatures to be Redeem'd were able to encounter with the Death and Miseries through which the Mediator was to go in making up the Breach between God and the Elect. Neither Virgin Mary nor any other Saint shed their Blood on the Account of Ransoming sinners I have trodden the wine press alone and of the people there was none with me Esa 63.3 And I looked and there was none to help and I wondred that there was none to uphold therefore mine own Arm brought Salvation unto me and my fury it upheld me ver 5. Is Christ divided was Paul Crucified for you c. 1 Cor. 1.13 This Work of bearing sin as a Surety for sinners was for unconceiveably great that I am very bold in affirming that had the Virgin Mary that Capital Idol of the Romish Synagogue with all the other Saints whom the Papists joyn with her as Coadjutors or fellow Helpers to make her Mediation and Intercession in Heaven the more successful joyn'd with her in lying under the weight of the sins of God's Elect It would have sunk her and them to into the nethermost Hell yea and all the Angels of Heaven had they been under that Load It never yet belonged to any to be a Mediator of Intercession but to him that was a Mediator of Redemption These two constitutive Parts of a compleat Mediator must never be parted they are both in Christ and in none other in Heaven or Earth Esa 53.12 with the Scriptures already Quoted To which I add a third Reason viz. Because neither Virgin Mary nor any other Saints or Angels were ever nominated or appointed to that High and most Sacred Office by God the Father This is Christ's Right excluding all others and that by the Priviledge of his Birth I will declare the Decree the Lord hath said unto me thou art my Son this day have I Begotten thee Ask of me and I will give thee c. Psal 2.7 8. to this great Office he was Anointed and set apart by the declared Will and sacred Oath of him who cannot lie or change The Lord hath sworn and will not repent thou art a Priest forever after the Order of Melchizedech Psal 110.4 Neither of these things can be said of the Virgin Mary or any meer Creature without horrid Lying and Blasphemy against the Glorious and ever Blessed Trinity Branch the second Learn hence how near akin to Popery such be who notwithstanding they declare against Popery lay the stress of their Hope of obtaining any Mercy on their own worse than Threadbare Performances Such Persons sacrifice to their own drag Hab. 1.16 Their own deep Humiliations their Prayers their Fastings their Almsdeeeds something of their own Qualifications must claim the Honor of procuring the favor and kindness God shews them or at least be brought in collaterally with Christ's Merits as the procuring Cause of the Mercy they receive How do these kind of Professors extol and and advance the Honour and Dignity of the Lord Jesus Christ These instead of running to shelter themselves under the shadow of this Appletree viz. The Righteousness and Satisfaction of Christ They run to the false covering of their own Qualifications ascribing their success unto them not to Christ How little differing from downright Papists are these Esa 30.1 Oh! how hard a thing is self-denial for a Man to do duty and not to trust to it For a Christian to be all in Christ and nothing in himself in the point of Merit and Trust to obtain the good he wants These are as great strangers to the Grace of the Gospel and will in the end be found as far from the Kingdom of Heaven as those Papists from whom they think they separate being no better than those foolish Virgins in Mat. 25. who for want of the Oyl of Grace in their Hearts were shut out of Heaven He that is a Christian in Truth as he devolves the whole concerns of his Life and Salvation on the Lord Jesus Christ to be secured by him alone and in his own way so he ascribes the Praise of every Blessing he receives for Soul and Body to Christ the Son of God not excluding God the Father and the Holy Ghost such a Soul knows it to be high Sacriledge to ascribe any part of the Praise of his Salvation to any but God Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give Glory for thy Mercy and for thy Truths sake Psal 115.1 For my Names sake will I defer mine Anger and for my Praise will I refrain for thee that I cut thee not off Esa 48.9 Not for your sakes doo I this saith the Lord God be it known untâ—â— you be ashamed and confounded for your own ways O house of Israel Ezek. 36.32 To which I will only add that of our Saviour So likewise ye when ye have done all these things which are commanded you say we are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to do Luke 17.10 In the Scriptures now Quoted it is most plain and conspicuous to any who are not either judicially or wilfully blind that all occasion is taken away from saved sinners of ever boasting of any worth or goodness of their own in the sight of a Holy God Ephes 2.9 Branch 3d. See and learn hence what little Cause or Reason any true Believers have to be dismay'd or discouraged at any Difficulties which lies in their way of Duty to God He who sits by Faith and humble Dependence under the shadow of this Almighty Redeemer and All-sufficient Saviour needs not fear tho' all the World were up in Arms against him For most certain it is the Word of God and rooted Experience assures me of it that Christ will either blast and confound all the crafty Pollicy and Strength of the Believers Enemies that they shall not be able to touch him so as to spoil him or else he will endue the Believer with an Heroick Spirit of Fortitude and heavenly Courage whereby he shall be enabled to suffer patiently and constantly for the Cause of God which is unspeakably better and every way more eligible to that Believer who would give an Evidence of his Faith in and his Love to the Person and Cause of his Beloved Jesus I even I am he that comforteth you who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die and the Son of man that shall be made as the grass Esa 51.12 Fear not for I have Redeemed thee I have called thee
are intended the Personal Graces of the Lord Jesus Christ these are all sweet and delightful to a real Believer and they are said to be so on a threefold Account First On the Account of the Purchase which the due and full Improvement of those Graces in him hath made for God's Elect. Hence those Expressions of the Apostle Acts 20.28 To feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own Blood Ephes 1.14 Which is the earnest of our Inheritance until the Redemption of the purchased Possession to the Praise of his Glory That Stock of Grace put into the first Adams Hand to be improved for himself and us his Posterity was lost and thereby both he and we in him are become meer Bankrupts uncapable of ever paying to Justice a Ransom for our own Redemption But the Stock of Grace wherewith the second Adam was Intrusted for God's Elect it was improv'd to the uttermost for the everlasting Advantage of God's chosen Here by Christ hath purchased for the Elect Justification Sanctification and all other Good spiritual and temporal Secondly The personal Graces of Christ are sweet and delightful to the real Believer on the Account of their being both the Original from which the Graces of the Believers receive their first Rise and their After Nourishment Christ's Fulness is the Fountain the Graces in Believers are the Streams or Springs which flow therefrom Hence we have that Expression of the true Church of real Believers Psal 87. last verse All my springs are in thee From this Christ assures all Believers of the Infallible Certainty of their Eternal Salvation Jo. 14.19 Because I live ye shall live also Jo. 15.4 Abide in me and I in you as the Branches cannot bear Fruit except they abide in the Vine no more can you except ye abide in me Thirdly The Imputation of the Perfection of Christ's Graces to the Believer is that which renders both the Believers weak Graces and all his Imperfect Performances acceptable and pleasing to God They who question or oppose this will find it a hard task to shew in what other Sense the Scriptures following are to be taken Ephes 1.6 To the praise of the glory of his Grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved Rev. 8.3 And another Angel came and stood at the Altar having a golden Censer and there was given unto him much Incense that he should offer it with the Prayers of all Saints upon the golden Altar which is before the Throne The highest and most refined Acts of Sanctification in Believers even those Acts which come nearest to that sinless Perfection which is every Believers Duty to strive after they are imperfect and therefore stand in need of the spotless Sanctification of the Mediator to recommend them to God Pertinent to the purpose in hand is that of Augustin Domine lavas lachrymas meas O Lord wash thou my Tears of Repentance Vnto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own Blood Rev. 1.5 And have washed their Robes and have made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. Rev. 7.14 Secondly By the Fruit of Christ we are to understand his Word this is the meaning of the Spouse in Cant. 5. last verse His mouth is most sweet yea he is altogether lovely Here the Words of Christ are Synechdochically intended by which the Love and Grace of God to sinners Elect and chosen in Christ is revealed in the Gospel and made sensibly manifest in the Conscience of true Believers by the Holy Ghost with this accords that of the Psalmist How sweet are thy words unto my taste yea sweeter than hony to my mouth Psal Three things there be which bespeaks the Words of Christ sweet and delightful to a real Believer First The Suitableness of them to a Believers necessitous Condition What is it which bespeaks the Gospel of Christ to be so sweet and preferrable before the Law but the Suitableness thereof to poor distressed sinking Souls the Doctrin thereof being a System of sweet and precious Promises suited to every Condition Believers can be in in this Life According to 2 Cor. 1.20 For all the Promises of God in him are yea and in him Amen to the Glory of God by us And 2 Pet. 1.4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious Promises that by these ye may be made partakers of the Divine Nature The Suitableness then of the Words of Christ's Mouth is one thing which bespeaks them sweet and delightful to a real Believer what is or can be more suitable to a Creature who is dying of the Wounds given him by sin than the glad Tidings and Discovery of a Saviour who is both Able and Willing to save and reconcile him to God The Spirit of the Lord saith Christ is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted to preach Deliverance to the Captives and recovering of Sight to the blind to set at Liberty them that are bruised Luke 4.18 What makes bodily Medicaments or Plasters so valu'd and desirable but their Suitableness to the Distemper or Ailment of the Body A Promise of the Everlasting Covenant of God's Grace suited to the afflicted tempted and despairing Condition of a poor Sinner It is like Physick or a Plaster suited to the Body When the poor sinner inwardly feels through the powerful Influence of the Holy Ghost the healing Virtue of the Promise Oh! how sweet and comfortable is such a Promise to that Soul I will never forget thy Precepts saith Holy David for with them thou hast quickned me Psal 119.93 Every experienced Believer can more or less tell how surpassing all other words the Words of Christ are and that on the account of their Suitableness to the necessitous and streightened Condition they have been in Hence the Commendations given by real experienc'd Believers to the Word of Christ above all other Writings and Sayings whatever I was saith one experienc'd Believer to another in such and such a Streight and the Spirit of Grace brought such and such a word of Promise to my Mind and Thoughts and thereby reliev'd and comforted my drooping pensive Spirit And saith another I was so and so tempted in such a place at such a time even to a bordering on the very Verge or Precipice of Desparation and Ruin And when I concluded my self past all Hope of escaping the Blessed Spirit brought to my Remembrance such and such a Promise which was every way suited to the tempted Condition I was in and thereby my Spirit was stayed and holpen Oh! how blessed a Priviledge are those Souls blessed with who can speak these things experimentally Secondly The Words of Christ are sweet to a real Believer on the account of the Seasonableness of them This was one of the needful Qualifications which was to be in Christ to make him a compleat high Priest viz. to know how to time Deliverance
and Comfort to poor fainting desponding Souls Esa 50.4 The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary c. The Spirit of God by Solomon tells us that a word fitly spoken is like Apples of gold in Pictures of silver Prov. 25.11 Here we are to understand that a word in due time and place and pertinent to the purpose As beyond all dispute it is Amiable and Ravishing to the Eye to behold so orient and dazling a sight as Apples of Gold drawn to the Life in Pictures of Silver So undoubtedly a word of Counsel and Comfort brought Home to the Conscience of a doubting wounded Sinner ravisheth and gladdeth the broken Heart As cold water to a thirsty Soul so is good news from a far Country Prov. 25 25. When the word suited to a poor tempted Souls Distress is brought home in the nick of time as we say Oh! how sweet is it then Thirdly A third thing which bespeaks the Word of Christ sweet to a real Believer is the Holy Ghost his Efficiency and quickening Power accompanying the same what we say of corporal Bread Rayment Physick Drink c. what can they avail to comfort and nourish the Body without the Spirit of God bless and sanctifie their use to the end for which they are appointed The same may be truly said of the Word and Sacraments c. what can they avail for the Souls good if the Efficiency and quickning Influence of the Spirit of God go not along with their use It is for want of this quickening Virtue of the Spirit of God that so many Sermons are Preached and so few sinners really Converted It is for want of this quickning Efficacy of the Spirit that so many Ordinances of Religion are attended and enjoy'd by thousands of Professors without any sensible or visible Growth in Grace The Word of God is like a well made Knife or Razor tho' never so keen and sharp yet without a living Agent they can neither Cut nor Shave So the Word of God neither the Law can awaken convince or wound the Conscience for sin Nor yet the Gospel Heal or Comfort a Soul in Distress without the Energy and quickening Efficacy of the Spirit of God There are two sorts of People who hereby appear to be in a woful Condition First such as frequently hear and read the Word Receive Sacraments and go the Round in all external Acts of Religious Duties and yet without any motion of spiritual Life from the Spirit of God in their Souls These are like blind Horses in a Mill going round all day long alway treading in the same Tract not seeing or considering where they are or what they are doing These keep to the Form in a Customary way but heed not the inward Power which is that which renders all Acts of Religious Worship both pleasing and acceptable to God and which proves the Soul to be in Reality a living Member of Christ's Mystical Body Esa 29.13 2 Tim. 3.5 Rev. 3.17 Secondly There be others who in pretence of internal Motion and Power in the Soul from the Spirit who to avoid the Damning Formality of the others now mention'd will not only neglect but even slight the Word and Ordinances reflecting on the Word as a dead Letter and the Holy Institutions of Christ in his Churches as carnal poor empty and beggarly Elements Some of these are Seekers in plain English Quakers who are always learning But never come to the knowledge of the Truth 2 Tim. 3.6.7 Others are super-ordinanced who have gotten above all ordinary Means These in their own Conceits at least are so near Perfection that they need not the use of outward Ordinances These are gotten in outward Shew and Profession above Ordinances but never yet were they acquainted with true Piety Both these sorts are under the powerful working of an Infernal Spirit of Delusion which feeds their Souls with Chymerical Whimsies and Enthusiastical Dreams instead of the Doctrin which is according to Godliness These wretched Extreams are to be carefully shunn'd and avoided as the as the Paths which lead to Hell and Eternal Ruin The sure way hereto is to keep within sight and hearing of the Shepherds Tents Cant. 1.8 Beâ—are of false Teachers and avoid the Doctrin which hath not God's Word for its Foundation Esa 8.20 In hearing and reading and all other Ordinances of Religious Worship see that the outward Form and the inward Power be not separated Those things which God hath joyned together must not be put asunder Esa 59.21 Mat. 19.6 That great Man Augustin us'd to call the Word of God Creating Words Verba Divâ—na saith he sunt verba creativa And that on the account of the quickening Energy and Power that goes along with them This is a Truth which hath been acknowledged â—s well by Enemies as by Friends to the Truth Jo. 7.46 The Officers answered never Man spake like this Man Luke 24.32 And they said one to another did not our Hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the Scriptures He that brags of the Word of God and is a Stranger to the Power thereof in his own Soul he is an hypocritical Formalist He who boasts of the Power of the Spirit within and holds not the Form of sound Words indited by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost to be a Rule of Faith and Holy Life he is a deluded Enthusiast From both these Extreams the Care and Faithfulness of the Great Shepherd will keep all who are given him by the Father Thirdly The Works of Christ are all sweet to the true Believer By Works here I intend the Works of his Mediatorial Undertaking Among the gods there is none like unto thee O Lord neither are there any works like unto thy Works Psal 86.8 Besides the Works of Creation and Providence which are common to the whole Trinity there are Works which are Peculiar to Christ as Mediator I will reduce them to six Heads First His Work of Incarnation or his Assuming the Human Nature into Unity with his Sacred Godhead This is the Mystery of all other Mysteries and of this the Temple and Tabernacle of old were shadowy Types To this Mystery that in Prov 8.31 had reference even before Christ came in the Flesh yea before the Birth of Time it self if I may so speak rejoycing in the habitable Parts of his Earth c. The then intended Union between the Godhead and our Flesh is in that Scripture pointed at and this is chiefly intended by John Jo. 1.14 And the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us c. And by Paul in 1 Tim. 3. last And without controversie great is the Mystery of Godliness God was manifested in the flesh c. There are three things especially which bespeak the Incarnation of Christ to be sweet and delightful to the true Believer