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
not doubting but that the Spirit of Christ which made it so delightful and ravishing to themselves would make it the same to other Believers if once Printed At their earnest Request I did make a Promise of Publishing the same when I found my self thereunto Encouraged by Providence All the Harm I wish thee kind and charitable Reader is that the Spirit of Truth who Inspir'd Solomon the Penman of that Glorious Mystery handled in this short Treatise may graâ—iously vouchsafe unto thee such a measure of the Anointing from above as may Render thee capable of understanding and applying thy self by Faith the things held forth and contain'd in it that so thou may'st Experimentally come to taste and feel the sweet Joy and Delight wherewith the unworthy Author met in Studying and Preaching the same And wherewith those godly Believers who heard it Preacht did meet at whose Importunity I have now Publisht the same for the publick Good If thou findest any Comfort and Soul Advantage by reading it let it be a Motive to stir thee up to joyn with me in heartily requesting the more Learned and Experienced of the Bridegrooms Friends and faithful Ambassadors to supply my great Deficiency and shortness in setting forth the Commendation of this Incomparably Excellent Appletree in whose Shadow and Fruit consists the very Life and the Ail of all true Believers both here and hereafter If it happens thou think me too sharp and too bâ—ld in handling the Papist the Quaker and Arminians c. In this Treatise I heartily desire thee to consider but two things for preventing Prejudice in thy Spirit either against the Truth herein discover'd or against the Instrument by whom the Providence of God sees fit to make the Discovery to thee First The apparent Disparagement which the Principles and Practises of the above mention'd Hereticks put upon the â—hurches Appletree in that they hold and teach that Christs Righteousness alone is not sufficient to justifie a Sinner at the Bar of God without the Sinners Qualifications as concauses with Christs Righteousness in Justification This is a disparagment to Christ the Churches Appletree which the God of Love and Patience himself cannot bear Deut. 18.18 Jo. 5.23 And should not I herein Patrizare that is Imitate my Father in decrying and condemning such a Christ debasing and Soul damning Principle I should not by being silent herein evidence my self to be the Adopted Son of God Secondly Boldness for God and Zeal for the Honour of his Son are some of those blessed Effects which the Shadow and Fruits of the Appletree produce in all true Believers who sit under the shadow and feed on the Fruit of the Churches Appletree Acts 4.13 Gal. 4.18 To convince any hereof who question the Truth of what I now assert Let such but once get saving Acquaintance with this Appletree by sitting under its comfortable and delightful shadow in time of the most raging Storms they meet with and by feeding believingly on its Fruit And in case they become not bold and zealous for God and Christ I shall be willing to bear the ignominious Brand or Character of a false Prophet Acquaint now thy self with him and be at Peace thereby God shall come unto thee Job 22.21 O taste and see that the Lord is goodâ— blessed is the Man that trusteth in him Psal 34.8 Sermon I. Cant. 2.3 As the Appletree among the Trees of the Wood so is my Beloved among the Sons I sat down under his Shadow with great Delight and his Fruit was sweet to my taste AMong all the Metaphors whereby the Wisdom of God hath seen sit to set forth the Excellency and Commodiousness of Christ his Son as he is design'd for the Happiness and Comfort of poor elected Sinners None so sets him forth to the life as this of the Appletree as will most plainly appear by two things First By explaining or unfolding the Sense and Meaning of the Spirit of God in this Allegory or Metaphor Secondly By a due and scriptural Application of the same to the Souls of poor weak tempted Believers for the Relief and Comfort of whom the same is left upon Record I begin with the first viz. to Explain and unfold the Sense and Meaning of the Spirit of God in this Allegory or Metaphor The design of the Spirit of God in this Allegory is I humbly conceive to set forth the incomparable and transcendent Excellency of Jesus Christ above all other of Adams Children and that on a twofold Account First On the Account of what he is in himself Secondly On the Account of the great Work he is design'd and call'd to by his Father First On the Account of what Christ is in himself he far and unspeakably transcends all the Children of Adam so witnesseth the Spirit of God concerning him Psal 45.2 Thou art fairer than the Chlidren of Men Grace is poured into thy Lips therefore God hath Blessed thee for ever To this also witnesseth the Church of God the true Spouse of Christ which is acted and guided by the Spirit of God Cant. 5.10 My Beloved is white and ruddy the chiefest among ten thousand and ver 16. His mouth is most sweet yea he is altogether lovely This transcendent Excellency of Christ in himself on which account he Excells all the Children of Adam is to be considered with respect to two things First In respect of his Godhead as Christ is God he is blest with an uncreated essential Excellency above all Created Beings from whom as such all created and communicated Excellency in Angels and Saints flows and springs Zach. 13.7 Jo. 17.5 Phil. 2.9 Heb. 1.3 Secondly In respect of his Humanity Christ is transcendently more Excellent than all the Children of Adam and that on a twofold Account First On the account of the Spotless Purity and perfect Integrity of his Human Nature whereby a Foundation was laid for uniting the elect World to God in a Bond of an Everlasting Union Had not the Humanity of Christ been spotless and free from all Stain of sin it could not possibly have been capable of Union with thâ— Divine Being Psal 5.4 Mal. 1.13 2 Cor. 5.21 It is on this Account that Christ is stil'd the Lamb of God Jo. 1.36 John speaks with Allusion to the Pascal Lamb under the Law which was to be a Lamb without Spot or Blemish Exod. 12.5 To this also alludes the Apostle Peter 1 Pet. 1.19 But with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without Blemish and without Spot The sinless Purity of his Human Nature and the exact Conformity of all his Human Actions to the demand of Gods Law are here intended Secondly On the Account of the extraordinary Anointing of the Spirit poured out on the Humanity of Christ to sit and meeten him for the great Work of Mediation between God and elect Sinners Of this Christ himself gives an Account by the Evangelical Prophet Esa 61.1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me
own Performances Somewhat he must do in order to help and save himself but how or where to begin he finds himself at a loss Hence those Queries what shall we do Acts 2.37 Mark 10.17 Acts 16.30 which plainly shews that all Adams Children when awakened by the Terrors of God's Laws do seek for Life and Salvation in a way of Works this is further confirm'd by Rom. 10.3 For they being ignorant of God's Righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves to the Righteousness of God One while the Sinner resolves with himself he will amend his sinful Course and be for time to come a better Man He will say his Prayers he will confess and break off his sins he will forsake his vain Companions and sinful Pastime and the Church and serving God he resolves he will frequent and constantly attend He will now take on him a strict Profession a Church Communicant he must be to the Sacrament he goes and from that to other Duties such as Fasting and Almsdeeds and keeping up a strict Watch over himself in all his ways He is now not the same Man he was before he can with the Pharisee boast of his negative and positive Righteousness Luke 18.11.12 And now he thinks and hopes the work is done albeit he was never nearer Hell and eternal Ruin than by these acts of Morallity Negative and Possitive he hath brought himself He hath been all this while but scouring and making clean and bright the outside of the Cup and Platter not heeding or regarding the Filth and Nastiness which cleaves to the inside A change of State he is a Stranger to External Reformation he takes to be the Conversion which must fit him for Heaven tho' most certain it is that no Reformation but what flows from an effectual change of State will evidence or prove a Man to be a real Convert Such an External Reformation may qualifie a Man for Church Communion but never for Heaven And it is to be feared that there is but very little even of this visible Reformation in some Churches who seem at least in their own and other Injudicious Peoples Conceits to be far purer and holier than their Neghbour Churches who make not so much a Noise and Blunder as they themselves do There are some Churches so called who for want of Charity monopolize a pure Church State to themselves as if Christ had no true Gospel Church in this day besides themselves whose Preachers and Rulers are of so impetuous a Spirit as drives them to the very Precipice of Anathematizing all but themselves As if the Doctrin of God's Grace and the Form of a true Gospel-Church State were to be found no where but among them these are like violent Storms and Showers which will not hold long and indeed 't is pity they should All I shall further say of such is the Lord rebuke their furious and Bedlam-like Spirit and give them to see and in time to be convinced how far wide they are from what they fancy they have attain'd to viz. a Christ-like Spirit and a true Conformity to the Pattern of God's House a thing so much boasted of and gloried in and that without cause The Word of God assures us up and down that no Works or Duties which sinners are capable of performing can possibly give Ease or Peace to that Conscience which the Law of God set home by the Spirit of Bondage hath wounded Healing and Peace are to be found no where but under the shadow of Christ's Satisfaction there being nothing short of what satisfies Divine Justice for the violation of the Moral Law which can satisfie and quiet the Conscience of a wounded sinner Job 5.18 For he maketh sore and bindeth up he woundeth and his hands make whole Mat. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest A third Storm wherewith the elect meets is the fiery Assaults and Temptations of the Devil They are call'd fiery from their sad and dreadful Effects in the Soul and Conscience of the poor distressed sinner they being to the Soul what Poyson and Fire are to the Body Ephes 6.16 Above all taking the shield of Faith whereby ye shall be able to quench all the fiery Darts of the wicked The Darts here intended are the Assaults and Temptations of the Devil which are injected or cast into the Soul suddenly and invisibly as Darts are cast or shot by an unseen Enemy which when they find Entrance they immediately inflame the Soul as poyson'd Darts or Arrows hardened in Fire Invenom or Poyson the Body These Temptations or satanical Injections are numberless and of various sorts sometimes to Presumption sometimes to Desparation sometimes to Atheism sometimes to Blasphemy against the Majesty of God sometimes to one Wickedness and sometimes to another Satan is a busie Enemy and a Restless Enemy always tempting and that all Men and to all manner of Folly and sin on which very Account he is by the Spirit of God stil'd in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Tempter who is always busie at his Trade piercing to know what is in Men that so he might accordingly suit his Baits to the Disposition and Temper of Adams Children whom he seeks to prey upon Yea so restless and unwearied is he at his Trade of throwing or injecting his fiery Darts into the Soul that he will not loose the time of Men's sleeping Satan in this case is like an Enemy that surprizes in the dead of the Night when Persons are bury'd in Sleep and Security And as in Nature no Alarm is so amazing and frightful as that which is given in the dead of the Night so as Experience teacheth no Temptation makes a sadder Hurricane in the Soul than the night Sallies which he makes on the Soul when the Person is buried in sleep Now in such Storms as these what can poor tempted Souls do were it not for the shadow of Christs Cleansing and Healing Virtue herein the Brazen Serpent in the Wilderness did eminently type out the Lord Jesus Christ his Virtue to heal and cleanse the Sting and Pollution given and occasion'd by the infernal Serpents stinging temptations No way possible for Help or Cure in this Case but flying by Faith and Prayer to the shadow of Christ's healing and cleansing Virtue It is on this very Account that the Grace of Faith is preferr'd above all the other Parts of the Christians spiritual Armor in that it looks and flies to Christ immediately for Help and Cure No sooner hath the Devil cast in his Soul affrightning Dart into the Soul of a True Believer but the Grace of Faith like an expert and experienc'd Soldier who whips up the Granado thrown in by the Enemy and throws it back on the Enemy again repels and throws back the fiery poyson'd Dart injected by Satan A fourth Storm wherewith the Elect soul meets is the Wrath of God seared
Blessing to all the Members of Christ viz. All who savingly believe in him There are some whose Names I am unwilling to mention who tell Men that bodily Death is a Part of the Curse due to sin and that the Believer as well as the Unbeliever must undergo and bear it as such namely the Curse which is due to the Believer for sin From whom I do and shall for ever dissent and that for the two Reasons here following First Because Death puts an end to all a Believers sinning and sorrowings which occasioned holy Master Dod's Saying that Death was the greatest Friend to a true Believers Grace that is in the World For saith he that which Praying and Hearing and Sacraments c. do but help to weaken viz. sin in the Heart and Life of the Believer Death comes and with one stroak cuts it off And at the same time and with the same Blow puts an end to all the Believers Sorrows and Afflictions And if this be a Curse to a Believer for my part I do not understand what it is to be Blest Though Death in it self be a Curse to the first Adam and his Children as it is the Wages of sin Rom. 6.23 yet to them who are in Christ that Curse is turned into a Blessing so saith the Holy Ghost whose Testimony goes beyond all other Testimonies in Matters of Faith See Rev. 14.13 And I heard a voice from Heaven saying write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord From henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them And of such it is also said And God shall wipe away all Tears from their Eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying nither shall there be any more paâ—n for the former things are passed away Rev. 21.4 Secondly Because Death not only perfects the Grace of a true Believer but it is also an Inlet to the Kingdom of Glory On these two Accounts it is I doubt not that the day of Death is preferrable before the day of ones Birth Eccles 7.1 A good Name is better than precious Oyntment and the day of death than the day of ones Birth On the same Accounts I do not question Paul did prefer to die rather than to continue in the Body as he himself tells us Phil. 1.21 For to me to live is Christ and to die is Gain Herewith also concurs 1 Cor. 3.22 Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the World or Life or Death or things present or things to come all are yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods In this Enumeration of Particulars of second causes wherein the Members of Christ are said to be interrested I understand the same thing to be intended which is held forth in that general Assertion And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose Rom. 8.28 And is not this a sweet Fruit to a Believers spiritual Taste Fourthly The Powerful and Glorious Resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the Dead is most sweet and delightful to the true Believer That Christ was raised up from Death is beyond controversie Acts 2.24 Whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of Death because it was not p ssible he should be holden of it Acts 17.31 Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given Assurance unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the dead Rom. 1.4 And declared to be the Son of God with Power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection f om the dead This Resurrection of Christ from the dead can be no other than sweet to all true Believers and that on a threefold Account First As it is God the Fathers Actual Discharge to Christ the Publick Head and Representative of Gods Elect and to them in him from that sin of theirs which he as their Surety stood charg'd with and from the whole of that Debt which he undertook to pay for them As Christs Active and Passive Obedience was the full Payment of Believers Debts to God so Gods raising him from Death was Gods Actual Discharge to his Son and in him to all Elect Believers to assure them that the Debt which Christ his Son undertook to pay for them is now fully paid and satisfied witness his Actual Release and Discharge from the Prison of the Grave where Christ as Undertaker and Surety for Gods Elect was detain'd until the Justice of his Father said it is enough I am now satisfied to the full every Iota and Tittle of the Law is by him perfectly obey'd both Actively and Passively I have no more to lay to his or the Elects Charge for whom he became a Surety Discharge him let him be set at Liberty as Christ the Son prov'd faithful to the Father in performing to the utmost what he had undertaken for securing the Fathers Glory and the Salvation of the Elect committed and given in charge to him by the Father So God the Father proves Just and Righteous to Christ in giving him under the Hand of his Unerring Spirit of Truth a full Release and General Discharge not only for himself but for his Redeemed ones also Of this Christ had not the least doubt when he struck Hands with his Father he knew his Father to be the God of Truth who could not lie or deal unjustly with any much less with his own only Son who he could not but know would stick at nothing though it were to empty himself and to become nothing And which was worse to be made a Curse to finish the Work his Father had given him to do For the Lord God will help me therefore I shall not be confounded therefore have I set my Face like a Flint and I know that I shall not be ashamed He is near that justifieth me who will contend with me Let us stand together who is mine Adversary let him come near to me Isa 50 7 8. What was of old predicted by this Evangelical Prophet concerning God the Fathers justifying his Son upon his finishing the Work he had undertaken to go through it is now declared and made known by the Gospel to be Actually accomplished and made good according to those and other the like Predictions of him I have glorified thee on the Earth I have finished the Work which thou gavest me to do Jo. 17.4 5. And now O Father glorifie thou me with thine own self with the Glory which I had with thee before the World was All Power is given me in Heaven and in Earth Mat. 28.18 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins Acts 5.31 And without Controversie great is the Mystery of Godliness God was manifested in the flesh