Lords death till hee come 1 Cor. 11.26 For in the ordinances hee is crucified before our eyes Gal. 3.1 Therefore the Apostle more than once inferres from the consideration of this Sacrifice and office of Christ our dutie of not forsaking the assemblies of the Saints and of exhorting and provoking one another Heb. 3.13.10.24 25. Now I proceed to the last thing mentioned in the words concerning the Priest-hood of Christ and that is about the Order of it Thou art a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedek Secundum verbum or secundum morem rationem the Apostle readeth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the Order of Melchisedeks Priesthood Of this Melchisedek wee finde mention made but in two places onely of the whole Old Testament and in both very briefly the first in the History of Abraham returning from the slaughter of the Kings when Melchisedek being the Priest of the most high God brought forth bread and wine and blessed him Gen. 14.18 19 20. and the other in this place And for this cause the things concerning him and his Order are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hard to bee understood Heb. 5.11 It was so then and so it would bee still if S. Paul had not cleered the difficulties and shewed wherin the Type and the Antitype did fully answere which hee hath largely done in Heb. 7. For understanding and cleering the particulars which are herein considerable here are some questions which offer themselves First who Melchisedek was Secondly what is meant by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Order Thirdly why Christ was to bee a Priest after his Order and not after Aarons Fourthly why hee brought forth bread and wine Fifthly what kinde of blessing it was with which hee blessed Abraham Sixthly in what manner he received Tithes Lastly in what sense hee was without Father and without Mother without beginning of dayes or end of life First for Melchisedek who hee was much hath been said by many men and with much confidence Some hereticks of old affirmed that hee was the Holy Ghost Others that hee was an Angell Others that hee was Sem the Sonne of Noah Others that hee was a Canaanite extraordinarily raised up by God to be a Priest of the Gentiles Others that hee was Christ himselfe manifest by a speciall dispensation and priviledge unto Abraham in the flesh who is said to have seen his day and rejoyced Ioh. 8.56 Difference also there is about Salem the place of which hee was King Some take it for Ierusalem as Iosephus and most of the ancients Others for a citie in the halfe tribe of Manasse within the River Iordan where Hierom reports that some â—uines of the palace of Melchisedek were in his dayes conceived to remaine Tedious I might be in insisting on this point who Melchisedek was But when I finde the Holy Ghost purposely concealing his name genealogie beginning ending and descent and that to speciall purpose I cannot but wonder that men should toile themselves in the darke to finde out that of which they have not the least ground of solide conjecture and the inevidence whereof is expressely recorded to make Melchisedek thereby the fitter type of Christs everlasting Priesthood Secondly what is meant by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is as much as the state condition or prescribed Rule of Melchisedek and that was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After the power of an endlesse life Heb. 7.16 Not by a corporeall unction legall ceremony or the intervening act of a humane ordination but by a heavenly institution and immediate unction of the Spirit of Life by that extraordinary manner whereby hee was to bee both King and Priest unto God as Melchisedek was Thirdly Why was hee not a Priest after the order of Aaron The Apostle giveth us an answere Because the Law made nothing perfect but was weake and unprofitable and therefore was to bee abolished and to give place to another Priesthood Men were not to rest in it but by it to bee led to him who was to abolish it Heb. 7.11 12. as the morning-starre leadeth to the sunne and at the rising thereof vanisheth The ministery and promises of Christ were better than those of the Law and therefore his Priest-hood which was the office of dispencing them was to be more excellent likewise Heb. 8 6. For when the Law and covenant were to bee abolished the Priesthood in which they were established was to die likewise Fourthly Why Melchisedek brought forth bread and wine The Papists that they may have something to build the idolatry of their masse upon make Melchisedek to Sacrifice bread and wine as a Type of the Eucharist I will not fall into so tedious a controversie as no way tending to edification and infinite litigations there have been between the parts already about it In one word Wee grant that the Ancients doe frequently make it a Type of the Eucharist but onely by way of allusion not of literall prediction or strict prefiguration as that out of Egypt have I called my Sonne and in Rama was there a voyce heard which were literally and historically true in another sense are yet by way of allusion applied by the Evangelist unto the History of Christ Matth. 2.15.18 But wee may note first it is not Sacrificavit but Protulit hee brought it forth he did not offer it up Secondly he brought it forth to Abraham as a Prince to entertaine him after his conquest as Iosephus and from him Cajetan understand it not as a Priest to God Thirdly hee if hee did offer he offered bread and wine truely these men onely the lying shapes thereof and not bread and wine it selfe which they say are transubstantiated into another thing Fourthly the Priest-hood of Melchisedek as Type and of Christ as the substance was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Priesthood which could not passe unto any other either as successor or vicar to one or the other and it was onely by divine and immediate unction but the Papists make themselves Priests by humane and ecclesiasticall ordination to offer that which they say Melchisedek offered and by that meanes most insolently make themselves either successors or vicars or sharers and co-partners and workers together with him and his Antitype Christ Iesus in the offices of such a Priesthood as was totally uncommunicable and intransient Heb. 7.24 and so most sacrilâ—giously rob him of that honor which hee hath assumed to himselfe as his peculiar office Fifthly what kinde of blessing it was wherewith Melchisedek blessed Abraham To this I answer that there is a twofold Benediction The one Charitativa oâ—t of love and so any man may blesse another by way of euprecation or well wishing The blessing of the Lord bee upon you we blesse you in the name of the Lord Psal. 129.8 the other Autoritativa as a King a Priest an extraordinary superiour and publike person by a way of office and to the purpose of effecting
soule did before shelter whole flocks of evill affections when hee came out the tide was driven back the streame turned the center of his heart altered his forrest discovered his lusts scattered and subdued What ailes this man Hee hath but heard an houres discourse the same which others heare and their tide riseth the higher by it Certainly these Devils were not cast out these streames were not turned back but by the finger of God himselfe When the minister of Christ shall whisper in the ears of a dead man whom no thunder could have awakened and hee shall immediatly rise up and give glory to God when Christ shall call men to denie themselves to get above themselves to hate Father and Mother and Wife and Children and their owne life to sell all that they have to crucifie and be cruell to their owne members to pull out their right eyes to cut off their right hands to part from those sinnes which before they esteemed their choicest ornaments and from those too which before they made their chiefest support and subsistence to stand at defiance with the allurements or discouragements of the world to bee set up for signes and wonders for very proverbs of skorne and objects of hatred to those of their owne house to receive persecutions as rewards and entertaine them not with patience onely but with thankfulnesse and rejoicing to bee all their life long in the midst of enemies put to tedious conflicts with the powers of the world and of darknesse to beleeve things which they have not seen and to hope for things which they doe not know and yet maugre all this to refuse to consult with flesh and bloud to stand still more in awe of Gods word than of any other thing certainly that which with the voice of a weake man bringeth such great things to passe must needs bee Virga virtutis a Rod of strength A Rod like the Rod of Moses which can lead us through such seas as these to one whom wee have never seen nor knowen before Esai 55.5 Secondly the Gospell of Christ is a Rod of strength in the justification of men as it is Sceptrum Iustitiae a Scepter of Righteousnesse a word of reconciliation a Gospell of salvation a Law of the Spirit of life a ministration of the Spirit of life and of Righteousnesse an opening of prisons and a proclaiming of liberty unto captives in these respects likewise it is full of power There was a mighty power in the Law of God typified in those thundrings and terrors with which it was administred upon mount Sina the Apostle calleth it a Schoolmaster to scourge and drive us unto Christ and the Psalmist an iron Rod able to breake in pieces all the potsherds of the earth And we know boies in a Schoole doe not apprehend so much terror in the King as in their Master Yet in comparison of the Power of the Gospell the Law it selfe was very weake and unprofitable able to make nothing perfect The Power of the Law was onely to destruction the Power of the Gospell for edification The Law could onely hold under him that was downe before it could never raise him up againe Now the power is farre greater to raise than to kill to forgive sinnes than to bind them Herein is the mighty strength of Gods mercy seen that it can passe by iniquities transgressions and sinnes To preach the Gospell of Christ in his name and authority is an evident argument of that plenary power which is given unto him both in heaven and earth And the very dispensing of this word of reconciliation which is committed unto the Ministers of the Gospell how basely soever the ungratefull world may esteeme of them hath honored them with a title of as great power as a man is capable of to bee called Saviors to have the custodie of the keyes of heaven ministerially and instrumentally under Christ and his Spirit to save the soules and to cover the sinnes of men Now then that word which from the mouth of a weake man is able to reconcile a child of wrath unto God and by the words of one houre to cover and wipe out the sinnes of many yeares which were scattered as thick in the soules of men as the starres in the firmament must needs bee virga virtutis a Rod of strength Thirdly the Gospell of Christ is a Rod of strength in the sanctification of men as it is Sceptrum cum unctione a Scepter which hath ever an unction accompanying it As it is a Sanctifying Truth an heavenly teaching a forming of Christ in the soule a making of the heart as it were his Epistle by writing the Law therein and manifesting the power and image of Christ in the conscience If a man should touch a marble or adamant stone with a seale and taking it off should see the print of it left behinde hee could not but conceive some wonderfull and secret vertue to have wrought so strange an effect Now our hearts are of themselves as hard as the nether milstone when then a holy word so meekly and gently laid on upon them shall leave there an impression of its own puritie when so small a thing as a graine of mustard-seed shall transforme an earthy soule into its owne nature when the eyes and hands and mouth of Christ being in the ministerie of his word spread upon the eyes and hands and mouth of a Childe shall revive the same from death when by looking into a glasse wee shall not onely have a view of our owne faces but shall see them changed into the image of another face which from thence shineth upon us how can wee but conclude that certainly that word by which such wonders as these are effected is indeed virga virtutis a Rod of strength Fourthly the Gospell of Christ is a Rod of strength in the Perservation and Perseverance of the Saints as it is Virga germinans a Rod like Aarons Rod which blossomed and the blossomes perished not but remained in the Ark for a Testimony of Gods power For as those buds or the Manna in the Ark did not perish so neither doth the word of the Gospell in the hearts of the faithfull The Apostle saith that wee are kept by the power of God unto salvation and S. Iude that Gods power keepeth the Saints from falling and presenteth them faultlesse before the presence of his glory and what is this power of God whereby hee doth it but the Gospell of Christ which S. Peter calleth semen incorruptibile uncorruptible seed and the Spirit of Christ which S. Iohn calleth semen manens an abiding seed If I should see a tree with perpetuall fruit without any variation from the difference of seasons a tree like that in S. Iohns Paradise which every moneth did bring forth fruite of twelve severall kindes I should conclude that it had an extraordinary vitall power in it so
men on the earth The Gospell is the Patent and Charter of a Christian all that hee hath to shew for his Salvation the treasure of his wealth and priviledges all that he hath to boast in either for this life or another the armory of a Christian all that he hath to hold up against the temptations and conflicts of his sorest enemies the only toole and instrument of a Christian all that he hath to doe any action of piety charity loyalty or sobriety withall the onely glasse of a Christian wherein he may see his owne face and so learne to deny himselfe and wherein he may see the face of God in Christ and so learne to desire and to follow him So that upon the matter for any man to be ignorant of the Gospell is to unchristian himselfe againe and to degenerate into a heathen Powre out thine indignation upon the heathen that know thee not Ignorance makes a man a very heathen This I say and testifie saith the Apostle that you henceforth walke not as other Gentiles walke in the vanity of their mind for you have not so learned Christ. It is not the title nor the profession which maketh a man a reall Christian and distinguisheth him from other heathen men but the learning of Christ in his Spirit and Gospell For as he who was onely outwardly and in the flesh a Jew might be uncircumcized in his heart so he who is onely in title and name a Christian may be a heathen in his heart and that more fearefully than Sodome and Gomorrah or Tyre and Sydon because he hath put from himselfe the Salvation of the Lord and judged himselfe unworthy of eternall life Lastly if there bee indeed such power in the Gospell wee should labour to beare witnesse unto the testimony which God giveth of his Word in a holy conversation It is a reproach cast upon the ordinances of God when men doe in their lives denie that vertue which God testifieth to be in them Wicked men are said to crucifie Christ againe to put him to shame to make God a liar not that these things can so really bee but because men in their evill lives carry themselves as if indeed they were so And in this sense the Gospell may bee said to bee weake too because the pride of men holds out against the saving power thereof But these men must know that the word returneth not empty unto God but accomplisheth some worke or other either it ripeneth weeds or corne There is thunder and lightning both in the word if the one breake not a heart the other will blast it if it bee not humbled by the word it will certainly bee withered and made fruitlesse Shall the clay boast it selfe against the fire because though it have power to melt wax yet it hath not power to melt clay Is it not one and the same power which hardneth the one and which softneth the other Is not the word a sweete Savor unto God as well in those that perish as in those that are saved Certainly there is as wonderfull a power in adding another death to him who was dead before which upon the matter is to kill a dead man as in multiplying and enlarging life And the Gospell is to those that perish a Savor of death unto death such a word as doth cumulate the damnation of wicked men and treasure up wrath upon wrath If it doe not convert it will certainly harden if it doe not save it will undoubtedly judge and condemne The Lord doth never cast away his Gospell hee that gave charge to gather up the broken meate of loaves and fishes that nothing might bee lost will not suffer any crumme of his spirituall manna to come to nothing Yet wee finde the Lord giveth a charge to his Prophets to preach even there where hee foretold them that their words would not bee heard Thou shalt speake all these wordes unto them but they will not hearken to thee thou shalt also call unto them but they will not answere thee Sonne of Man I send thee to the Children of Israel to a rebellions nation they are impudent Children and stiffe hearted Yet thou shalt speake my words unto them whether they will heare or whether they will forbeare for they are rebellion it selfe They will not hearken unto thee for they will not hearken unto mee For all the house of Israel are impudent and hard hearted Certainly when the Lord taketh paines by his Prophets to call those who will not heare hee doth it not in vaine they shall know at length that a Prophet hath been amongst them Therefore as the Apostle saith that the Gospell is a sweet Savour even in those that perish So wee finde those messages which have contained nothing but curses against an obstinate people have yet been as honie for sweetnesse in the mouth of those that preached them I did eate the roule saith the Prophet and it was in my mouth as honie for sweetnesse and yet there was nothing in it written but lamentations and mourning and woe Ieremie did not desire the woefull day but did heartily say Amen to the false Prophets in their predictions of safety yet in regard of his ready service unto God and of that glory which God would worke out unto himselfe in the punishment of that sinfull people the word of Prophesie which was committed unto him was the joy and rejoicing of his heart so that in all respects the Gospell of Christ is a word of power and therein wee doe and must rejoice Wee observed before that this Rod of strength is both Sceptrum Majestatis and Pedum Pastorale Both the Scepter of Christ as hee is a King and his Pastorall staffe as hee is a Bishop It denoteth the Administration of Christs Kingdome which consisteth in the dispensing of his Gospell as it is a word of Majesty and of care So then here are as I before observed two observations yet remaining to bee noted out of these words Virga Virtutis the Rod of thy strength The first that the Gospell of Christ accompanied with his Spirit is a word of great glory and Majesty For wee must ever make these concomitants wee preach the Gospell saith S. Peter with the Holy Ghost sent downe from heaven 1 Pet. 1.12 And indeed the Spirit is peculiar to the Gospell and not belonging to the Law at all if wee consider it alone by it selfe under the relation of a distinct covenant For though as it proceedeth out of Sion that is as it is an appendix and additament unto the Gospell it tend unto liberty and so cōmeth not without the Spirit yet by it selfe alone it gendreth nothing but bondage And therefore when the Apostle sheweth the excellency of the Gospell above the Law hee calleth one a ministration of death and of the letter the other a ministration of the Spirit and life To shew that properly the Spirit belongeth unto the Gospell of grace
present and things to come all are yours saith the Apostle Death it selfe and persecutions are amongst the legacies of Christ unto the Church and a portion of all that goodnesse with which in the Gospell shee is endowed It containes the glory of Gods power and strength for it is the Power of God unto salvation as hath beene declared It containeth the glory of Gods grace The grace of his favour towards us and the grace of his Spirit in us The Law was given by Moses but grace came by Christ that is favour in stead of Gods fury and strength in stead of mans infirmitie for because man was unable to fulfill the Law therefore the Law came with wrath and curses against man but in the Gospell of Christ there is abundance even a whole kingdome of grace the Apostle saith that by Iesus Christ grace raigned there is grace to remove the curse of the Law by Gods favour towards us so that on all sides the Law is weake unable by reason of mans sinne to save and unable by reason of Gods favour to condemne and there is grace to remove the weaknesse of man by Gods Spirit in us for though our owne spirit lust unto envie or set it selfe proudly against the Law of God yet hee giveth more grace that is strength enough to overcome the counterlustings of the flesh against his will and to enable us in sincerity and evangelicall perfection to fulfill the commands of the Law Lastly it containeth in some sort the glory of Gods heavenly kingdome in that therein are let in the glimpses and first fruits the seales and assurances thereof unto the soule by the promises testimonies and comforts of the Spirit And therefore it is frequently called the Gospell of the kingdome and the mysteries of the kingdome of God namely that kingdome which beginneth here but shall never end As if a man borne in Ireland bee afterwards transplanted into England though he change his countrey he doth not change his King or his Law but is still under the same government so when a Christian is translated from earth to heaven he is still in the same kingdome in heaven it is the kingdome of glory mended much by the different excellencie of the place and preferment of the person in earth it is the same kingdome though in a lesse amene and comfortable climate the kingdome of the Gospell These and many other the like things are the glorious matters which the Gospell containeth Here then wee see how and wherein we are to looke upon God so as that wee may abide his glory and bee comforted by it wee must not looke upon him in his owne immediate brightnesse and essence nor by our sawcie curiosities prie into the secrets of his unrevealed glory for he is a consuming fire an invisible and unapprochable light we may see his back-parts in the proclaiming of his mercy and wee may see the hornes or bright beames of his hands in the publishing of his Law but yet all this was under a cloud or under the biding of his Power His face no man can see and live Wee must not looke upon him onely in our selves Though wee might at first have seene him in our owne nature for we were created after his Image in righteousnesse and true holinesse yet now that Image is utterly obliterated and we have by nature the Image onely of Satan and the old Adam in us we must not looke upon him onely in mount Sinai in his Law lest the fire devoure us and the dart strike us thorow we can finde nothing of him there but rigour inexorablenesse wrath and vengeance But we must acquaint our selves with him in his Sonne wee must know him and whom he hath sent together there is no fellowship with the Father except it be with the Sonne too we may have the knowledge of his Hand that is of his workes and of his punishments without Christ but we cannot have the knowledge of his bosome that is of his counsels and of his compassions nor the knowledge of his Image that is of his holinesse grace and righteousnesse nor the knowledge of his presence that is of his comforts here and his glory hereafter but onely in and by Christ we may know God in the World for in the Creation is manifest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which may bee knowne of him namely his eternall power and God-head But this is a barren and fruitlesse knowledge which will not keepe downe unrighteousnesse for the wise men of the world when they knew God they glorified him not as God but became vaine in their imaginations and held that truth of him which was in the Creation revealed in unrighteousnesse Wee may know him in his Law too and that in exceeding great glory when God came from Teman and the Holy One from mount Paran whereabout the Law was the second time repeated by Moses his glory covered the heavens and the earth was full of his praise his brightnesse was as the light c. But this is a killing knowledge a knowledge which makes us flie from God and hide our selves out of his presence and fight against him as our sorest enemies and come short of his glory therefore the Law is called a firy Law or a fire of Law to shew not onely the originall thereof for it was spoken out of the middest of the fire but the nature and operation of it too which of it selfe is to heap fire and curses upon the soule and therefore it is called the ministration of Death 2 Cor. 3.7 But now to know the glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ is both a fruitfull and a comfortable knowledge wee know the patterne we must walke by we know the life we must live by we know the treasure wee must be supplied by we know whom wee have beleeved wee know whom wee may be bold with in all straits and distresses wee know God in Christ full of love full of compassion full of eares to heare us full of eyes to watch over us full of hands to fight for us full of tongues to commune with us full of power to preserve us full grace to transforme us full of fidelity to keepe covenant with us full of wisdome to conduct us full of redemption to save us full of glory to reward us Let us therefore put our selves into this Rocke that Gods goodnesse may passe before us that he may communicate the mysteries of his kingdom and of his glory unto us that by him our persons may be accepted our prayers admitted our services regarded our acquaintance and fellowship with the Lord increased by that blessed Spirit which is from them both shed abroad in his Gospell upon us Now lastly the Gospell of Christ is glorious in those ends effects or purposes for which it serveth And in this respect principally doth the Apostle so often magnifie the glory of the Gospell above
for when he ascended up on high he then led captivitie captive that ignorance and thraldome under which the world was held he triumphed over and gave gifts of his Spirit unto men of all sorts in abundance Visions to the young Dreames to the aged and his gracious Spirit unto all Wee never reade of so many converted by Christs personall preaching which was indeed but the beginning of his preaching for it is the Lord which speaketh from heaven still as by the ministery of his Apostles he thereby providing to magnifie the excellencie of his spirituall presence against all the carnall superstitions of those men who seeke for an invisible corporall presence of Christ on the earth charmed downe out of heaven under the lying shapes of separated accidents And who cannot be content with that All-sufficient Remembrancer which himselfe hath promised to his Church Ioh. 14.26 except they may have others and those such as the holy Scriptures every where disgraceth as teachers of lyes and vanity the Crucifixes and images of their owne erecting therein infinitly derogating from that all-sufficient provision which the Lord in his word and Sacraments the onely living and full images of Christ crucified Gal. 3.1 hath proposed unto men as alone able to make them wise unto salvation being opened and represented unto the consciences of men not by humane inventions but by those holy ordinances and offices which himselfe hath appointed in his Church the preaching of his word and administration of his Sacraments And surely they who by Moses and the Prophets by that Ministerie which Christ after his ascension did establish in his Church doth not repent would bee no whit the neerer no more than Iudas or the Pharises were if they should see or heare Christ in the flesh Therefore it is observed after Christs ascension that the word of God grew mightily and prevailed and that there were men dayly added unto the Church That the Savor of the Gospell was made manifest in every place That the Children of the desolate were more than of the married wife Therefore the beleevers after Christs ascension are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The multitude of them that beleeved and multitudes of men and women were added to the Lord. Ten to one of that there was before Ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations of the skirt of him that is a Iew saying We will goe with you that is shall take the Kingdome of heaven by violence as Saul laid hold on the skirt of Samuels Maâ—tle that hee might not goe from him The Reason hereof is to magnifie the exaltation spirituall presence and power of Christ in the Church while he was upon the earth he confin'd his ordinary residence and personall preaching unto one people because his bodily presence was narrow and could not bee communicated to the whole world For he tooke our nature with those conditions and limitations which belong thereunto But his Spirit and power is over the whole Church by them hee walketh in the middest of the Candlesticks Christs bodily presence and preaching the Iewes withstood and crucified the Lord of glory But now to shew the greatnesse of his power by the Gospell hee goes himselfe away and leaves but a few poore and persecuted men behinde him assisted with the vertue of his Spirit and by them wrought workes which all the world could not withstand Hee could have published the Gospell as hee did the Law by the ministery of Angels hee could have anointed his Apostles with regall oyle and made them not Preachers only but Princes and Defenders of his faith in the world But hee rather chose to have them to the end of the world poore and despised men whom the world without any shew of just reason which can bee by them alleaged should overlooke and account of as low and meane conditioned men that his Spirit might in their ministerie bee the more glorified God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and weake things of the world to confound things that are mighty and base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen ye and things that are not to bring to nought things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence But that his own Spirit might have all the honor therefore I was with you in weaknesse saith the Apostle and in feare in much trembling c. That your faith should not stand in the wisedome of men but in the power of God And againe Wee have this treasure in earthen vessells that the excellency of the power may bee of God and not of us not by might nor by power but by my Spirit saith the Lord. Thus we finde that when the Church was most persecuted it did then most grow and in the worst times it brought forth the greatest fruit to note the power of Christs Kingdome above all the attempts of men A great doore and effectuall is opened unto mee saith the Apostle and there are many adversaries intimating that the Gospell of Christ had great successe when it was most resisted All persecutors as S. Cyprian observes are like Herod they take their times and seeke to slay Christ and overthrow his Kingdome in its infancie and therefore at that time doth hee most of all magnifie the power and protection of his Spirit over the same Never were there so many men converted as in those infant-times of the Church when the dragon stood before the woman ready to devoure her Childe as soone as it should bee borne The great Potentates of the world which did persecute the name of Christ were themselves at last thereunto subjected Non a repugnantibus sed a morientibus Christianis not by fighting but by dying Christians As a tree shaken sheds the more fruit and a perfume burnt diffuseth the sweetest Savor so persecuted Christianity doth the more flourish by the power of that Holy Spirit whose foolishnesse is wiser and whose weaknesse is stronger than all the oppositions and contradictions of men But if there bee such multitudes belonging unto Christs Kingdome is not universality and a visible pompe a true note to discerne the Church of Christ by To this I answer that a true characteristicall note or difference ought to bee convertible with that of which it is made a note and onely suteable thereunto for that which is common unto many can bee no evident note of this or that particular Now universality is common to Antichristian idolatrous malignant Churches The Arrian heresie invaded the world and by the Imperiall countenance spread it selfe into all Churches The whore was to sit upon many waters which were peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues the Kings of the earth were to bee made drunk with the wine of her fornications and all nations to drinke thereof Therefore touching these multitudes in the Church we are thus to state the point
ex vi pretii out of any price or purchase but the presenting of the will and good pleasure of Christ to his Father that hee may thereunto put his seale and consent the desiring of a thing so as that hee hath withall a right joyntly of bestowing it who doth desire it That the Saints in heaven and the blessed Angels doe pray for the State of the Church militant as well as rejoyce at their conversion in as much as charity remaineth after this life seemeth to bee granted by Cyprian and Hierom neither know I any danger in so affirming if rightly understood But if so they doe it onely ex charitate ut fratres not ex officio ut mediatores Out of a habit of charity to the generall condition of the Church for it reacheth not to particular men not out of an office of mediation as if they were set up for publike persons appointed not onely to pray for the Church in generall but to present the prayers of particular men to God in their behalfe To bee such a mediator belongs onely to Christ because True intercession as it is a publike and authoritative act is founded upon the satisfactory merits of the person interceding Hee cannot bee a right Advocate who is not a propitiation too And therefore the Papists are faine to venture so farre as to affirme that the intercession of the Saints with God for us is grounded upon the vertue of their owne merits Wee pray the Saints to intercede for us that is that wee may enjoy the suffrage of their merits But this is a very wicked Doctrine First because it shareth the Glory of Christ and communicateth it to others Secondly because it communicateth Gods worship to others Thirdly because under pretence of modesty and humility it bringeth in a cursed boldnesse to denie the faith and driveth children from their Father unto servants expressely therein gainsaying the Apostle who biddeth us make our requests knowne to God Phil. 4.6 And assureth us that by Christ wee have boldnesse so to doe Heb. 10.19 and free accesse allowed us by the Spirit Eph. 2.18 whereas one chiefe reason of turning to the Saints and Angels is because sinfull men must not dare to present themselves or their services unto God in their owne persons but by the helpe of those Saints that are in more favour with God and with whom they may bee bolder Now from this Doctrine of Christs intercession many and great are the benefits which come unto the Church of God As first our fellowship with the Father and his Sonne I pray for these that as thou Father art in mee and I in thee they also may bee one in us Ioh. 17.21 Secondly the gift of the Holy Ghost I will pray the Father and hee shall give you another comforter that hee may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of truth Ioh. 14.16 17. all the comforts and workings of the Spirit in our hearts which wee enjoy are fruits of the intercession of Christ. Thirdly protection against all our spirituall enemies Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen againe who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Rom. 8.34 I pray that thou wouldst keepe them from the evill Ioh. 17.15 But are not the faithfull subject to evils corruptions and temptations still how then is that part of the intercession of Christ made good unto us for understanding hereof wee must know that the intercession of Christ is available to a faithfull man presently but yet in a manner suteable and convenient to the present estate and condition of the Church so that there may bee left roome for another life and therefore wee must not conceive all presently done As the Sunne shineth on the Moone by leasurely degrees till shee come to her full light or as if the King grant a pardon to bee drawen though the grant bee of the whole thing at once yet it cannot bee written and sealed but word after word and line after line and action after action so the grant of our holinesse is made unto Christ at first but in the execution thereof there is line upon line precept upon precept here a little and there a little such an order by Christ observed in the distribution of his Spirit and grace as is most suteable to a life of faith and to the hope wee have of a better Kingdome I have prayed for thee that thy faith faile not saith Christ unto Peter yet wee see it did shake and totter non rogavit ut ne deficeret sed ut ne prorsus deficeret the Prayer was not that there might be no failing at all but that it might not utterly and totally faile Fourthly the assurance of our sitting in heavenly places His sitting in heavenly places hath raised us up together and made sit with him Eph. 2.6 First because he sitteth there in our flesh Secondly because hee sitteth there in our behalfe Thirdly because hee sitteth there as our Center Col. 3.1 2. And so is neere unto us natura officio spiritu by the unity of the same nature with us by the quality of his office or Sponsorship for us and by the Communion and fellowship of his Spirit Fifthly Strength against our sins for from his Priesthood in heaven which is his Intercession the Apostle inferres the writing of the Law in our hearts Hebr. 8.4.6.9 10. Sixthly the sanctification of our services of which the Leviticall Priests were a type who were to beare the iniquity of the holy things of the children of Israel that they might be accepted Exod. 28.38 He is the Angell of the Covenant who hath a golden Censer to offer up the prayers of the Saints Revel 8.3 There is a three-fold evill in man First an Evill of state or condition under the guilt of sinne Secondly an Evill of nature under the corruption of sinne and under the indisposition and ineptitude of all our faculties unto good Thirdly an Evill in all our services by the adherencie of sin for that which toucheth an uncleane thing is made uncleane and the best wine mixed with water will lose much of its strength and native spirits Now Christ by his righteousnesse and merits justifieth our persons from the guilt of sinne and by his grace and Spirit doth in measure purifie our faculties and cure them of that corruption of sin which cleaves unto them And lastly by his incense and intercession doth cleanse our services from the noysomenesse and adherencie of sinne so that in them the Lord smelleth a sweet savour and so the Apostle calleth the contributions of the Saints towards his necessities an odour of a sweet smell a sacrifice acceptable and well pleasing unto God Phil. 4.18 Gen. 8.21 And this is a benefit which runneth through the whole life of a Christian all the ordinary workes of our calling being parts of our service unto God for in them we
the Lord is said to be at the Right Hand of his Church 485 Christs enemies kings 487 All praise and honour to bee given unto God for the Power and Office of Christ. 489 Christ is present and prepared to defend his people from their enemies 491 Christ in his appointed time will utterly overthrow his greatest enemies 493 Satans enmitie is in Tempting 494 Satans enmitie is in Accusing 495 How the Spirit of judgement overcommeth corruptions 495 How Christ overcommeth his potent adversaries in the world 498 There is a constituted time wherein Christ will be avenged of his enemies 502 1. VVhen sinne is growne to its fulnesse 503 which is knowne by its Vniversality 504 which is knowne by its Impudence 504 which is knowne by its Obstinacie 504 2. VVhen the Church is throughly humbled and purged 506 3. VVhen all humane hopes and expectations are gone 506 Christs victories are by way of pleading and disceptation 509 A torrent of curses betweene man and Salvation 515 The Necessity of Christs Sufferings 522 The Greatnesse and Nature of Christs Sufferings 521 522 The Power and vertue of Christs Resurrection 524 AN EXPOSITION OF THE HVNDRETH AND TENTH PSALME PSALME 110. vers 1. The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou at my right hand untill I make thine enemies thy footstoole CHRIST IESVS the Lord is the Summe and Center of all divine revealed truth neither is any thing to be preached unto men as an object of their faith or necessary element of their salvation which doth not some way or other either meete in him or refer unto him All Truths especially divine are of a noble and pretious nature and therefore whatsoever mysteries of his Counsell God hath been pleased in his Word to reveale the Church is bound in her ministerie to declare unto men And Saint Paul professeth his faithfulnesse therein I have not shunned to declare unto you all the Counsell of God But yet all this Counsell which elsewhere he caâ—s 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the testimonie of God he gathers together into this one conclusion I determined not to know any thing amongst you that is in my pâ—eaching unto you to make discovery of any other knowledge as matter of consequence or faith but onely of Iesus Christ and him crucified And therefore Preaching of the Word is called preaching of Christ and Ministers of the Word Ministers of Christ and learning of the Word Learning of Christ because our Faith our Workes and our Worship which are the three essentiall elements of a Christian the whole dutie of man and the whole will of God have all their foundation growth end and vertue only in and from Christ crucified There is no fruit weight nor value in a Christian title but only in and from the death of Christ. The Word in generall is divided into the Old and New Testament both which are the same in substance though different in the manner of their dispensations as Moses veild differ'd from himselfe unveild Now that Christ is the substance of the whole New Testament containing the Historie Doctrine and Prophesies of him in the administration of the latter ages of the Church is very manifest to all The old Scriptures are againe divided into the Law and Prophets for the historicall parts of them doe containe either typicall prefigurations of the Evangelicall Church or inductions and exemplary demonstrations of the generall truth of Gods justice and promises which are set forth by way of Doctrine and Precept in the Law and Prophets Now Christ is the summe of both these they waited upon him in his transfiguration to note that in him they had their accomplishment First for the Law hee is the substance of it hee brought Grace to fulfill the exactions and Truth to make good the prefigurations of the whole Law The ceremoniall Law he fulfilled and abolished the morall Law hee fulfilled and established that his obedience thereunto might be the ground of our righteousnesse and his Spirit and grace therewith might bee the ground of our Obedience And therefore it is called the Law of Christ. 2 For the Prophets he is the Summe of them too for to him they give all witnesse He is the Author of their Prophesies they spake by his Spirit and he is the object of their Prophesies they spake of the grace and salvation which was to come by him So that the whole Scriptures are nothing else but a Testimonie of Christ and faith in him of that absolute and universall necessitie which is laid upon all the world to beleeve in his name It is not onely necessitas praecepti because wee are thereunto commanded but necessitas medii too because he is the onely Ladder betweene earth and heaven the alone mediator betweene God and man in him there is a finall and unabolishable covenant established and there is no name but his under heaven by which a man can be saved In consideration of all which for that I haue formerly discovered the Insufficiency of any either inward or outward principle of mans happinesse save only the Life of Christ I have chosen to speake vpon this Psalme and out of it to discover those wayes whereby the Life of Christ is dispenced administred towards his Church For this Psalme is one of the cleerest and most compendious prophesies of the Person and Offices of Christ in the whole Old Testament and so full of fundamentall truth that I shall not shunne to call it Symbolum Davidicum the Prophet Davids Creed And indeed there are very few if any of the Articles of that Creed which we all generally professe which are not either plainely expressed or by most evident implication couched in this little modell First the Doctrine of the Trinitie is in the first words The Lord said unto my Lord. There is Iehovah the Father and My Lord the Sonne and the sanctification or consecration of him which was by the Holy Ghost by whose fulnesse he was anointed unto the Offices of King and Priest for so our Saviour himselfe expounds this word Said by the sealing sanctification of him to his office Ioh. 10.34 35 36. Then wee have the Incarnation of Christ in the word My Lord together with his dignitie and honor above David as our Savior himselfe expounds it Matth. 22.42.45 Mine that is my Sonne by descent and genealogie after the flesh and yet my Lord too in regard of a higher sonship We have also the Sâ—fferings of Christ in that he was consecrated a Priest v. 4. to offer up himselfe once for all and so to drinke of the brooke in the way Wee have his Eluctation and conquest over all his enemies and sufferings his resurrection he shall lift up his head his Ascension and Intercession sit thou on my right hand And in that is comprised his Descent into Hell by S. Pauls way of arguing That he ascended what is it but that hee descended first into the lower parts of the earth Eph. 4.9
in the grave and he that ascended was the same that descended into the lower part of the earth Matt. 28.6 Eph. 4.10 and shall we then defile this nature by wantonnesse intemperance and vile affections which is taken into so indissoluble an unitie with the Sonne of God Christ tooke it to advance it and it is still by his Spirit in us so much the more advanced by how much the neerer it comes to that holinesse which it hath in him We should therefore labour to walke as becommeth those that have so glorious a head to walke worthy of such a Lord unto all well pleasing in fruitfulnesse and knowledge to walke as those that have received Christ and expect his appearing againe Phil. 1.27 Col. 1.10.2.6.3.4 5. Secondly the sitting of Christ on the right hand of God notes unto us the Consummation of all those Offices which hee was to performe here on the earth for our redemption For till they were all finished hee was not to returne to his glorie againe Hee that hath entred into his rest hath ceased from his owne workes saith the Apostle Heb. 4.10 first he was to execute his Office before hee was to enter into his rest Though he were a Sonne and so Iure naturali the inheritance were his owne before yet he was to learne Obedience by the things which hee was to suffer before hee was made perfect againe Heb. 5.8 9. After hee had offered one Sacrifice for sinnes for ever that is after he had made such a compleat expiation as should never need bee repeated but was able for ever to perfect those that are sanctified hee then sate downe on the right hand of God expecting till his enemies bee made his footstoole Heb. 10.12 13 14. This is the argument our Savior useth when hee prayeth to be glorified againe with his Father I have glorified thee on earth or revealed the glorie of thy truth and mercy to thy Church I have finished the worke which thou gavest mee to doe and now O Father glorifie thou me with thine owne selfe c. Ioh. 17.4 5. Hee humbled himselfe saith the Apostle and became obedient to death even the death of the crosse wherefore God hath highly exalted him c. Phil. 2.8 9. Noting unto us the Order of the Dispensation of Christs Offices some were workes of Ministrie and service in the Office of Obedience and suffering for his Church Others were workes of power and Majestie in the protection and exaltation of his Church and those necessarily to precede these He ought to suffer and to enter into his glory Luk. 24.26 46. Necessarily I say First by a Necessity of Gods Decree who had so fore-appointed it Act. 2.23 24. Secondly by the Necessity of Gods Iustice which must first be satisfied by obedience before it could bee appeased with man or in the person of their head and advocate exalt them to his glory againe Rom. 3.25 Rom. 5.10 Rom. 6.6 11. Eph. 2.5 6. Thirdly by the Necessity of Gods Word and will signified in the predictions of the Prophets Luk. 24.46 1 Pet. 1. 10 11. Fourthly by the Necessity of Christs infinite Person which being equall with God could not possibly be exalted without some preceding descent and humiliation That hee ascended saith the Apostle what is it but that hee descended first into the lower parts of the earth Eph. 4.9 Therefore it is that our Savior saith The Spirit should convince the World of Righteousnesse because hee was to goe to the Father and should bee seen here no more Ioh. 16.10 The meaning of it is that the Spirit shall in the Ministery of the Word reveale unto those who are fully convinced of their sinfull condition and humbled in the sense thereof a treasure of full and sufficient Righteousnesse by my obedience wrought for sinners And the reason which is given of it stands thus Our Righteousnesse consists in our being able to stand in Gods presence Now Christ having done all as our suretie here went up unto glory as our head and advocate as the first fruits the Captaine the Prince of life the author of salvation and the forerunner of his people so that his going thither is an argument of our justification by him First because it is a signe that hee hath finished the worke of our redemption on earth a signe that hee overcame death and was justified by the Spirit from the wrongs of men and from the curse of the Law Therefore hee said to Mary after his resurrection Goe tell my Disciples I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God Ioh. 20.17 that is by my death and victory over it you are made my brethren and reconciled unto God againe Secondly because hee hath Offices in heaven to fulfill at the right hand of his Father in our behalfe to intercede and to prepare a place for us to apply unto us the vertue of his death and merits If hee had ascended without fulfilling all Righteousnesse for the Church hee should have been sent downe and seen againe but now saith he you see me no more for by once dying and by once appearing in the end of the world I have put away sin by the Sacrifice of my selfe Heb. 9.26.7.27 Rom. 6.9 10. He was taken saith the Prophet from Prison and judgment to note that the whole debt was payed and now who shall declare his generation That is hee now liveth unto numberlesse generations he prolongeth his dayes and hath already fulfilled Righteousnesse enough to justifie all those that know him or beleeve in him Esai 53.8 10. Thus wee see that Christs deliverance out of prison and exaltation at the right hand of God is an evident argument that he is fully exonerated of the guilt of sinne and curse of the Law and hath accomplished all those workes which he had undertaken for our Righteousnesse And this likewise affords abundant matter both to humble and to comfort the Church of Christ. To humble us in the evidence of our disabilities for if we could have finished the workes which were given us to doe there would have been no neede of Christ. It was weaknesse which made way for Christ. Our weaknesse to fulfill obedience and that weaknesse of the Law to justifie sinners Rom. 5.6 Rom. 8.3 Heb. 7.18 19. All the strength we have is by the power of his might and by his grace Eph. 6.10 2 Tim. 2.1 and even this God dispenceth unto us in measure and by degrees driving out our Corruptions as he did the Canaanites before his people by little and little Exo. 23.30 because while we are here he wil have us live by faith and fetch our strength as we use it from Christ and waite in hope of a better condition and glorifie the patience and forbearance of God who is provoked every day To comfort us likewise First against all our unavoidable and invincible infirmities every good Christian desires to serve the Lord with all his strength desires to be
enriched to be stedfast unmoveable abundant in the worke of the Lord to doe his will as the Angels in heaven doe it yet in many things they faile and have daily experience of their owne defects But here is all the comfort though I am not able to doe any of my duties as I should yet Christ hath finished all his to the full and therefore though I am compassed with infirmities so that I cannot doe the things which I would yet I have a compassionate advocate with the Father who both giveth and craveth pardon for every one that prepareth his heart to seeke the Lord though he be not perfectly cleansed 1 Ioh. 2.2 2 Chron. 30.18 19. Secondly Against the pertinacie and close adherence of our corruptions which cleave as fast unto us as the very powers and faculties of our soule as heat unto fire or light unto the Sunne Yet sure we are that he who forbad the fire to burne and put blacknesse upon the face of the Sunne at midday is able likewise to remove our corruptions as farre from us as he hath removed them from his owne sight And the ground of our expectation hereof is this Christ when he was upon the earth in the forme of a servant accomplished all the Offices of suffering and obedience for us Therefore being now exalted farre above all heavens at the right hand of Majestie and glory he will much more fulfill those Offices of Power which he hath there to doe Which are by the supplies of his Spirit to purge us from sinne by the sufficiencie of his grace to strengthen us by his word to sanctifie and cleanse us and to present us to himselfe a glorious Church without spot or wrinckle He that brought from the dead the Lord Iesus and suffered not death to hold the head is able by that power and for that reason to make us perfect in every good worke to doe his will and not to suffer corruption for ever to hold the members It is the frequent argument of the Scripture Heb. 13.20 21. Col. 2.12 Eph. 1.19 20. Rom. 6.5 6. Rom. 8.11 Thirdly against all those firie darts of Satan wherby he tempteth us to despaire and to forsake our mercie If he could have held Christ under when he was in the grave then indeed our faith would have been vaine we should be yet in our sinnes 1 Cor. 15. 17. But he who himselfe suffered being tempted and overcame both the sufferings and the temptation is able to succor those that are tempted and to shew them mercie and grace to helpe in time of need Heb. 2.17 18. Heb. 4. 15 16. Lastly against death it selfe For the Accomplishment of Christs Office of redemption in his resurrection from the dead was both the Merit the Seale and the first fruits of ours 1 Cor. 15.20 22. Thirdly The sitting of Christ on the right hand of his Father noteth unto us the actuall Administration of his Kingdome Therefore that which is here said sit at my right hand untill I make thine enemies thy footstoole the Apostle thus expoundeth He must raigne till he hath put all enemies vnder his feete 1 Cor. 15.25 And he therefore died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of dead and living namely by being exalted unto Gods right hand Rom. 14.9 Now this Administration of Christs Kingdome implies severall particulars First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The publication of established Lawes For that which is in this Psalme called the sending forth of the rod of Christs strength out of Sion is thus by the Prophets expounded Out of Sion shall goe forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Ierusalem Esai 2.3 Mich. 4.2 Secondly The conquering and subduing of subjects to himselfe by converting the hearts of men and bringing their thoughts into the obedience of his Kingdome Ministerially by the word of reconciliation and effectually by the power of his Spirit writing his Lawes in their hearts and transforming them into the image of his word from glorie to glorie Thirdly Ruling and leading those whom he hath thus converted in his way continuing unto their hearts his heavenly voice never utterly depriving them of the exciting assisting cooperating grace of his holy Spirit but by his divine power giving unto them all things which pertaine unto life and godlinesse after he had once called them by his glorious power Esai 2.2 Ioh. 10.3 4. 1 Cor. 1.4 8. Esai 30.21 1 Pet. 2.9 2 Pet. 1.3 Fourthly Protecting upholding succouring them against all temptations and discouragements By his compassion pittying them by his power and promises helping them by his care and wisedome proportioning their strength to their trials By his peace recompencing their conflicts by patience and experience establishing their hearts in the hope of deliverance Heb. 2.17 Ioh. 16.33 1 Cor. 10.13 2 Cor. 1.5 Phil. 4.7 19. Rom. 15.4 Fifthy Confounding all his enemies First Their projects holding up his Kingdome in the midst of their malice and making his truth like a tree settle the faster and like a torch shine the brighter for the shaking Secondly Their Persons Whom he doth here gall and torment by the Scepter of his word constraining them by the evidence thereof to subscribe to the Iustice of his wrath and whom he reserveth for the day of his appearing till they shall be put all under his feete In which respect he is said to stand at the right hand of God as a man of warre ready armed for the defence of his Church Act. 7.56 Fourthly the sitting of Christ on the right hand of God noteth unto us his giving of gifts and sending downe of the Holy Ghost upon men It hath been an universall custome both in the Church and elsewhere in dayes of great joy and solemnitie to give gifts and send presents unto men Thus after the wall of Ierusalem was built and the worship of God restored and the Law read and expounded by Ezra to the people after their captivitie it is said that the people did eate and drinke and send portions Nehem. 8. 10 12. The like forme was by the people of the Iewes observed in their feast of Purim Ester 9.22 And the same custome hath bin observed amongst heathen Princes upon solemne and great occasions to distribute donations and congiaries amongst the people Thus Christ in the day of his Majestie and Inauguration in that great and solemne triumph when he ascended up on high and led captivity captive he did withall give gifts unto men Eph. 4.10 Christ was notably typified in the Ark of the Testament In it were the Tables of the Law to shew that the whole Law was in Christ fulfilled and that he was the end of the Law for Righteousnesse to those that beleeve in him There was the golden pot which had Manna to signifie that heavenly and abiding nourishment which from him the Church receiveth There was the Rod of Aaron which budded Signifying either the miraculous incarnation of Christ in a Virgin or
knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea Esai 11.9 Our Saviour told his Disciples that all things which he had heard of his Father he had made knowne unto them Ioh. 15.15 and yet a little after he telleth them that many other things he had to say unto them which they could not beare till the Spirit of truth came who should guide them into all truth Ioh. 16.12 13. noting that the Spirit when hee came should enlarge their hearts to a capacity of more heavenly wisedome than they could comprehend before For we may observe before how ignorant they were of many things though they conversed with Christ in the flesh Philip ignorant of the Father Ioh. 14.8 Thomas of the way unto the Father Ioh. 14.5 Peter of the necessity of his sufferings Matth. 16.22 The two Disciples of his resurrection Luk. 24.45 all of them of the quality of his Kingdome Act. 1.6 Thus before the sending of the Holy Ghost the Lord did not require so plentifull knowledge unto salvation as after as in the valuations of money that which was plentie two or three hundred years since is but penurie now Secondly in a greater measure of strength for Spirituall obedience They who before fled from the company of Christ in his sufferings did after rejoyce to be counted worthy of suffring shame for his name or as the elegancie of the originall words import to be dignified with that dishonor of Christians Act. 5.41 For suffering of persecution for Christ and the triall of faith by diverse temptations is in the Scriptures reckoned up amongst the gifts and hundred fold compensations of God to his people Mark 10.30 Phil. 1.29 Heb. 11.26 Iam. 1.2 1 Pet. 1.6 7. No man saith our Saviour putteth new wine into old bottles that is exacteth rigid and heavie services of weake and unqualified Disciples and therefore my Disciples fast not while I am amongst them in the flesh But the dayes will come when I shall be taken from them in body and shall send them my holy Spirit to strengthen and prepare them for hard service and then they shall fast and performe those parts of more difficult obedience unto me Matth. 9.15 17. Now farther touching this sending of the Holy Spirit which together with Christs intercession was one of the principall ends of his ascending up unto the right hand of power it may be here demanded why the Holy Spirit was not before this exaltation of Christ sent forth in such abundance upon the Church The maine reason wherof next unto the purpose and decree of God into which all the acts of his wil are to be resolv'd Eph. 1.11 is given by our Savior Ioh. 14.16 Ioh. 16.7 Because he was to supply the corporall absence of Christ and to be another comforter to the Church Of which Office of the Spirit because it was one of the maine ends of his mission and that one of the chiefe workes of Christs sitting at Gods right hand I shall here without any unprofitable or impertinent digression speake a little First then the Spirit is a comforter because an Advocate to his people for so much the word signifies and is else where rendered 1 Ioh. 2.1 Now he is called another comforter or Advocate to note the difference betweene Christ and the Spirit in this particular There is then an Advocate by Office when one person takes upon himselfe the cause of another and in his name pleads it Thus Christ by the Office of his Mediation and intercession is an Advocate for his Church and doth in his owne person in heaven apply his merits and further the cause of our salvation with his Father There is likewise an Advocate by energie and operation by instruction and assistance which is not when a worke is done by one person in the behalfe of another but when one by his counsell inspiration and assistance enableth another to manage his owne businesse and to plead his owne cause And such an Advocate the Spirit is who doth not intercede nor appeare before God in person for us as Christ doth but maketh interpellation for men in and by themselves giving them an accesse unto the Father emboldning them in their feares and helping them in their infirmities when they know not what to pray Eph. 2.18 Heb. 10.15.19 Rom. 8.26 Eph. 3.16 First then the Spirit as our Advocate justifieth our persons and pleadeth our causes against the accusations of our spirituall enemies For as Christ is our Advocate at the tribunall of Gods justice to plead our cause against the severitie of his Law and that most Righteous and undeniable charge of sinne which he layeth upon us so the Holy Spirit is our Advocate at the tribunall of Gods mercie enabling us there to cleere our selves against the temptations and murtherous assaults of our Spirituall enemies The world accuseth us by false and slanderous calumniations laying to our charge things which we never did the Spirit in this case maketh us not onely plead our innocencie but to rejoyce in our fellowship with the Prophets which were before us to esteeme the reproaches of Christ greater riches than the treasures of the world to count our selves happy in this that it is not such low markes as we are which the malice of the world aimeth at but the Spirit of glory and of God which resteth upon us who is on their part evill spoken of 1 Pet. 4.14 Satan that grand accuser of the brethren doth not onely load my sinnes upon my conscience but further endeavoreth to exclude me from the benefit of Christ by charging me with impenitencie and unbeliefe But here the Spirit enableth me to cleere my selfe against the Father of lies It is true indeed I have a naughty flesh the seeds of all mischiefe in my nature but the first means which brought me hereunto was the beleeving of thy lies and therefore I will no longer entertaine thy hellish reasonings against mine owne peace I have a Spirit which teacheth me to bewaile the frowardnesse of mine owne heart to denie mine owne will workes to long and aspire after perfection in Christ to adhere with delight and purpose of heart unto his Law to lay hold with all my strength upon that plaâ—ck of salvation which in this shipwrack of my soule is cast out unto me These affections of my heart come not from the earthly Adam for whatsoever is earthly is sensuall and devillish too And if they be holy and heavenly I will not beleeve that God will put any thing of heaven into a vessell of Hell Sure I am he that died for me when I did not desire him will in no wise cast me away when I come unto him He that hath given me a will to love his service and to leane upon his promises will in mercy accept the will for the deed and in due time accomplish the worke of holinesse which he hath begun Thus the Spirit like an Advocate secureth his clients title against the
up with joy Mal. 2.13 and of all Sacrifices a broken heart is that which God most delighteth in Psal. 51.16 17. there is joy in heaven at the repentance of a sinner and therefore there must needs be joy in the heart it selfe which repenteth in as much as it hath heavenly affections begunne in it Therefore as the Apostle saith Let a man become a foole that he may be wise so may I truly say let a man become a mourner that he may rejoyce If it be objected how one contrary affection can be the ground and inducement of another and that he who feeleth the weight of sinne and displeasure of God can have little reason to boast of much joy To this I answere First that we doe not speake of those extraordinary combates and grapplings with the sense of the wrath of God breaking of bones and burning of bowels which some have felt but of the ordinary humiliations and courses of repentance which are common to all Secondly that such Spirituall mourning and joy are not contrary in regard of the Spirit nor doe one extinguish or expell the other As black and white are contrary in the wall but meete without any repugnancie in the eye because though as qualities they fight yet as objects they agree in communi conceptu visibilis so joy and mourning though contrary in regard of their immediate impressions upon the sense doe not onely agree in the same principle the grace of Christ and in the same end the salvation of man but may also be subordinated to each other as a darke and muddie color is a fit ground to lay gold upon so a tender and mourning heart is the best preparation unto spirituall joy Therefore our Savior compareth Spirituall sorrow unto the paines of a woman in travell other paines growing out of sicknesse and distempers have none but bitter ingredients and anguish in them but that paine groweth out of the matter of joy and leadeth unto joy so though godly sorrow have some paine in it yet that paine hath ever joy both for the roote and fruit of it Ioh. 16.21 and though for the present it may haply intercept the exercise yet it doth strengthen the habit and ground of joy as those flowers in the spring rise highest and with greatest beautie which in winter shrinke lowest into the earth I trembled saith the Prophet in my selfe that I might rest in the day of trouble Hab. 3.16 Secondly the Spirit doth not onely Discover but heale the corruptions of the soule and there is no joy to the joy of a saved and cured man The lame man when he was restored by Peter expressed the abundant exultation of his heart by leaping and praising God Act. 3.8 for this cause therefore amongst others the Spirit is called the oile of gladnesse because by that healing vertue which is in him he maketh glad the hearts of men The Spirit of the Lord saith Christ is upon me because the Lord anointed me to preach good tydings to the meeke he hath sent me to binde the broken hearted Esai 61.6 and againe I will binde that which was broken and will strengthen that which was sick Ezek. 34.16 Now this healing vertue of Christ is in the dispensation of his word and Spirit and therefore the Prophet saith the Sunne of Righteousnesse shall arise with healing in his wings Mal. 4.2 where the Spirit in the word by the which he commeth and preacheth unto men Eph. 2.17 1 Pet. 3.19 is called the wing of the Sunne because he proceedeth from him and was sent to supply his absence as the beame doth the Suns and this Spirit the Apostle calleth the strengthner of the inner man Eph. 3.16 Thirdly the Spirit doth not onely heale but renew and revive againe when an eye is smitten with a sword there is a double mischiefe a wound made and a faculty perished and here though a Chirurgian can heale the wound yet he can never restore the faculty because totall privations admit no regresse or recovery but the Spirit doth not onely heale and repaire but renew and reedifie the spirits of men As he healeth that which was torne and bindeth up that which was smitten so he reviveth and raiseth up that which was dead before Hos. 6.1 2. and this the Apostle cals the Renovation of the Spirit Tit. 3.5 whereby old things are not mended and put together againe for our fall made us all over unprofitable and little worth Rom. 3.12 Prov. 10.20 but are done quite away and all things made new againe 2 Cor. 5.17 The heart minde affections judgment conscience members changed from stone to flesh from earthly to heavenly from the image of Adam to the image of Christ Ezek. 11.19 1 Cor. 15.49 Now this renovation must needs be matter of great joy For so the Lord comforteth his afflicted people Esai 54.11 12 13. Fourthly the Spirit doth not renew and set the frame of the heart right and then leave it to its owne care and hazards againe but being thus restored he abideth with it to preserve and support it against all Tempests and batteries And this further multiplieth the joy and comfort of the Church that it is established in Righteousnesse so that no weapon which is formed against it can prosper Esai 54.14.17 Victory is ever the ground of joy Esai 9.3 And the Spirit of God is a victorious Spirit His judgment in the heart is sent forth unto victory Matth. 12.20 and before him mountaines shall be made a plaine and every high thing shall be pulled downe till he bring forth the head stone with shoutings Ezek. 4.6 7. To Stephen he was a Spirit of Victory against the disputers of the World Act. 6.10 To the Apostles a Spirit of liberty in the prison Act. 16.25 26. To all the faithfull a Spirit of joy and glory in the midst of persecutions 1 Pet. 4.13 14. Fifthly the Spirit doth not onely preserve the heart which he hath renewed but maketh it fruitfull and abundant in the workes of the Lord Gal. 5.22 Rom. 7.4 And fruitfulnesse is a ground of rejoycing Esai 54.1 Therefore they which are borne of God cannot commit sinne that is they are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 workers or artificers or finishers of iniquity because they have the seed of God that is his Spirit in them which fitteth them as seed doth the wombe or the earth to bring forth fruite unto God Partly by teaching the heart and casting it as it were in the mould of the world fashioning such thoughts apprehensions affections judgements in the soule as are answerable to the will and Spirit of God in the word so that a man cannot but set his seale and say Amen to the written Law partly by moving animating applying and most sweetly leading the heart unto the Obedience of that Law which is thus written therein Lastly those whom he hath thus fitteth he sealeth up unto a finall and full redemption by the Testimony
And therfore it is called the fulfilling of the Law True love unto Christ keepes the whole heart together and carries it all one way and so makes it universall uniforme and constant in all its affections unto God for unstedfastnesse of life proceeds from a divided or double heart Iam. 1.8 As in the motions of the heavens there is one common circumvolution which ex aequo carrieth the whole frame daily unto one point from east to west though each severall spheare hath a severall crosse way of its owne wherin some move with a swifter and others with a slower motion So though severall Saints may have their severall corruptions and those likewise in some stronger than in others yet being all animated by one and the same Spirit they all agree in a steddy and uniforme motion unto Christ. If a stone were placed under the concave of the moone though there bee fire and aire and water between yet through them all it would hasten to its owne place so bee the obstacles never so many or the conditions never so various through which a man must passe through evill report and good report through terrors and temptations through a sea and a wildernesse through firy Serpents and sons of Anak yet if the heart love Christ indeed and conclude that heaven is its home nothing shall bee able totally to discourage it from hastning thither whither Christ the forerunner is gone before Secondly the true Love of Christ is grounded upon the evidence of that Proprietie which the soule hath unto him And of that mutuall inhabitation and possession which is between them So that our love unto him in this regard is a kinde of selfe love and therefore very strong because Christ and a Christian are but one And the more perswasion the soule hath of this unity the more must it needs love Christ. For wee love him because hee loved us first 1 Ioh. 4.16.19 And therefore our Saviour from the womans apprehension of Gods more abundant love in the remission of her many and great sinnes concludeth the measure and proportion of her love to him But saith he To whom little is forgiven the same loveth little Luke 7.47 Now True Love of Christ and his Kingdome thus grounded will undoubtedly manifest it selfe first in an universall extent unto any thing wherin Christ is present unto his Church First the soule in this case will abundantly love and cherish the Spirit of Christ. Entertaine with dearest embraces as worthy of all acceptation the motions and dictates and secret illapses of him into the soule will bee carefull to heare his voice alwayes behinde him prompting and directing him in the way he should walke will endevour with all readinesse and pliablenesse of heart to receive the impression of his seale and the testimonie which hee giveth in the inner man unto all Gods promises will feare and suspect nothing more than the frowardnesse of his owne nature which daily endevoureth to quench grieve resist rebel against this Holy Spirit and to fling off from his conduct againe Secondly the soule in this case will abundantly love the Ordinances of God in which by his Spirit hee is still walking in the midst of the Churches for the Law is written in it by the finger of God so that there is a suteablenesse and coincidencie betweene the Law of God and the heart of such a man He will receive the word in the puritie thereof and not give way to those humane inventions which adulterate it to that spirituall treason of wit and fancie or of heresie and contradiction which would stampe the private image and superscription of a man upon Gods owne coine and torture the Scriptures to confesse that which was never in them Hee will receive the word in the power majestie and authority thereof suffering it like thunder to discover the forrest and to drive out all those secret corruptions which shelterd themselves in the corners or deceit of his heart He will delight to have his imaginations humbled and his fleshly reasonings non plus'd al his thoughts subdued unto the obedience of Christ. Hee will receive the word as a wholsome potion to that very end that it may search his secret places and purge out those tough and incorporated lusts which hitherto hee had not prevailed against Hee will take heed of hardning his heart that hee may not heare of rejecting the counsell of God against himselfe of thrusting away the word from him of setting up a resolved will of his owne against the call of Christ as of most dangerous down-fals to the soule Lastly he will receive the word in the spiritualnesse thereof subscribing to the closest precepts of the Law suffering it to clense his heart unto the bottome hee will let the consideration of Gods command preponderate and over-rule all respects of feare love profit pleasure credit compliancy or any other charme to disobedience hee will bee contented to bee led in the narrowest way to have his secretest corruption reveal'd and remov'd to expose his conscience with patience under the saving though severest blowes of this spirituall sword In one word hee will deny the pride of his owne wit and if it bee the evident truth of God which is taught him though it come naked and without any dressings or contributions of humane fancie hee will distinguish betweene the author and the instrument betweene the treasure and the vessell in which it comes and from any hand receive it with such awefull submission of heart as becommeth Gods owne word Thirdly the soule in this case will most dearly love every member of Christ. For these two the love of Christ and of his members doe infallibly accompany one another For though there bee a farre higher proportion of love due unto Christ than unto men yet our love to our brethren is quoad nos and à posteriori not onely the evidences but even the measure of our love to Christ. He that loveth not his brother whom hee hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seene saith the Apostle 1 Ioh. 4.20 hee that hath not love enough in him for a man like himselfe how can hee love God whose goodnesse being above our knowledge requireth a transcendency in our love This then is a sure rule He that loveth not a member of Christ loveth not him and hee who groweth in his love to his brethren groweth likewise in his love to Christ. For as there is the same proportion of one to five as there is of twenty to an hundred though the numbers be farre lesse as the motion of the shadow upon the diall answereth exactly to that proportion of motion and distance which the Sunne hath in the firmament though the Sunne goeth many millions of miles when the shadow it may bee moveth not the breadth of a hand so though our love to Christ ought to be a far more abundant love than to any of his members yet certaine it is that the measure
upon Christ. In the midst of thine enemies Some understand it of changing the hearts of his enemies and converting them as captives unto his obedience Other understand the wonderfull effect of the power of Christs kingdome that he can by his Word and Spirit hold up his Church in despight of all the enemies thereof round about The Church ever was and will be pester'd with divers kindes of adversaries heretikes and hypocrites and false brethren with profanenesse temptations persecutions spirituall wickednesses and in the midst of all these the Church of Christ groweth as a Lily amongst the thornes Now this In medio noteth two things Dominium plenum and dominium securum A perfect and full governement without mutilation without impediment the Church being amongst the wicked as a rocke in the midst of the sea or as a garrison in an enemies towne Media dominantur in urbe is an expression of such a rule as can no way be hindered or removed The Church of God is a burdensome stone they who goe about to remove it out of that place where Christ will plant it shall be cut in pieces though all the people of the earth should gather together against it Zech. 12.3 A secure and confident governement so in the Scripture phrase In the midst notes confidence and security When the Prophet asked the Shunamite would'st thou be spoken for to the king or to the Captaine of the host she answered I dwell amongst mine owne people that is I am safe and have enough already 2 King 4.13 When they of the Synagogue would have cast Christ downe head-long from the brow of a hill it is said that he passed through the midst of them and went his way that is with much confidence safety and assurance he withdrew himselfe Luk. 4.29 30. As the Prophet was full of security and quietnesse in the midst of the Syrian siege 2 King 6 14-16 The words being thus unfolded wee may observe in them Three of Christs principall Regalities Sceptrum Solium and Imperium The Scepter the Throne and the Power or governement of his kingdome His Scepter is the Word of his Gospell animated by the Power of his holy Spirit and accompanied with the blessing and authority of God the Father who sendeth it abroad into the world His Throne from whence this his Scepter is extended Sion the Church of the Jewes His victorious plenarie and secure governement Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies First the Scepter here is the Gospell and the Spirit of Christ. Christ is a Shepheard towards his Flocke the Church Esai 40.11 A great Shepheard Heb. 13.20 that notes his Power and Majesty over them and a good Shepheard Ioh. 10.14 that notes his care and tendernesse towards his Sheepe Kings in the Scripture are called Shepheards to lead and to feed and to govern the people So David is said to have beene taken from the sheepfolds to feed Iacob and Israel Psal. 78.71 2 Sam. 5.2 and thus Christ is a Shepheard and a King I will set up one Shepheard over them and he shall feede them Even my servant David I the Lord will be their God and my servant David a Prince among them Ezek. 34.23 24. Prophets Teachers are in the Scripture likewise called Shepherds Ier. 23.1 4. and so Christ is a Shepheard and a Bishop Ye were as sheepe going astray but now ye are returned unto the Shepheard and Bishop of your soules 1 Pet. 2.25 And therefore wee finde in the Scripture that Christ hath two pastorall staves to note his great care and double office in his Church The Lord is my Shepheard I shall not want I will feare no evill for thou art with me thy Rod and thy Staffe they comfort me Psal. 23.4 I tooke unto me two staves the one I called Beauty and the other I called Bands and I fed the flocke Zech. 11.7 So then the Rod of Christs strength or his strong staffe doth in these severall relations note unto us three things As it is a staffe of strength so it notes the power of Christ. As it is the Scepter of a King so it notes the majestie of Christ. As it is the staffe of a Bishop or Prophet so it notes the care and superintendencie of Christ over his Church So then this first particular of the Rod of Christs kingdome affoords unto us three observations First that Christ in his Gospell and Spirit is full of power and strength towards the Church Secondly that Christ in his Gospell and Spirit is full of Glory and Majesty towards his Church Thirdly that Christ in his Gospell and Spirit is full of care and of tendernesse towards his Church First the words of the Gospell with the spirit is full of power and strength No man will denie that Christ in his owne person is full of power And as the power of a Prince is principally seene in his lawes edicts pardons and gratious patents so is the power of Christ wonderfully magnified towards the Church in his Gospell which unto us is both a Covenant of mercy and a Law of obedience We may observe how Christ is frequently pleased to honor his Gospell with his owne titles and attributes And therefore the Apostle speakes of him and his word as of one and the same thing The word of God is quicke and powerfull a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart neither is there any Creature which is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to doe That which is the word in one verse is Christ himselfe in another which hath given occasion to some learned men without any constraining reason as I conceive to take the Word there for the essentiall Word of God or the person of Christ himselfe to whom I thinke that appellation is not given by any of the sacred Writers but onely by his beloved Disciple Saint Iohn We know that Christ was crucified at Jerusalem and yet the Apostle saith that he was crucified amongst the Galatians Certainely in that he died he died but once unto sin S. Paul could not doe that himselfe which he curseth others for doing Crucifie againe the Lord of Glory So then at Jerusalem he was crucified in his person and at Galatia in the ministery of his Word One and the same crucifying was as lively set forth in Saint Pauls preaching as it was really acted upon Christs person for Christ is as really present to his Church now in the spirituall dispensation of his ordinances as hee was corporally present with the Jewes in the dayes of his flesh And therefore I say it is that we finde the same attributes given to both Christ the power of God and the wisedome of God and the Gospell else-where the Power of God and the wisdome of God in a mystery to them that are perfect Againe Christ the Lord of glory and the Gospell the Gospell of
when I finde Christ in his word promising and by the planting and watering of his Laborers in the vineyard making good that promise unto his Church That every branch bringing forth fruit in him shall not onely bee as Aarons Rod have his fruit preserved upon him but shall bring forth more fruit and shall have life more abundantly how can I but conclude that that word which is the Instrument of so unperishable a condition is indeed Virga virtutis a Rod of strength a Rod cut out of the tree of life it selfe Fifthly the Gospell of Christ is a Rod of strength in comforting and supporting of the faithfull as it is Virga pulchritudinis colligationis a Rod of Beauty and of Binding as it is a word which doth binde that which was broken and give unto them which mourne in Sion beauty for ashes and the garment of praise for the Spirit of heavinesse as it quencheth all the firie darts and answereth all the bloudy reasonings of Satan against the soule as it is a staffe which giveth comfort and subsistence in the very vallie of the shadow of death The shadow of death is an usuall expressioÌ„ in the Scripture for all feares terrors affrightments or any dreadfull calamities either of soule or body The whole misery of our naturall condition is thereby signified Luk. 1.79 Many wayes doth the Prophet David set forth the extremities hee had been driven unto my bones are vexed and dried like a potsheard and turned into the drought of summer my couch swimmeth with teares mine eye is consumed and waxen old with griefe I am powred out like water all my bones are out of joint my heart is like melted wax in the mids of my bowels Thine arrowes stick fast in mee thine hand presseth me sore there is no soundnesse in my flesh my wounds stinke and are corrupt I am feeble and fore broken I have roared by reason of the disquietnesse of my heart Innumerable evils compasse mee about I am not able to looke up Fearfulnesse and trembling are come upon me and horror hath overwhelmed mee My soule is among lions I lie amongst them that are set on fire The waters are come in unto my soule I sinke in deepe mire the flouds overflow mee c. These all and the like are comprehended in that one word The shadow of death And in that it was onely the word and the Spirit of God which did support him This is my comfort in my affliction saith hee for thy word hath quickned mee When my afflictions had brought me to the very brinke and darknesse of the grave thy word revived mee againe and made me flourish Vnlesse thy Law had been my delights I should have perished in mine affliction Now then when I see a man upon whom so many heavie pressures doe meete the weight of sinne the weight of Gods heavie displeasure the weight of a wounded Spirit the weight of a decaied body the weight of skorne and temptations from Satan and the world in the mids of all this not to turne unto lying vanities not to consult with flesh and bloud nor to rely on the wisedome or helpe of man but to leane onely on this word to trust in it at all times and to cast all his expectations upon it to make it his onely Rod and staffe to comfort him in such sore extremities how can I but confesse that this word is indeed Virga virtutis a Rod of strength Lastly the Gospell of Christ is a Rod of strength in sanctifying and blessing of our Temporall things As it is Baculus Panis A staffe of bread Man liveth not by bread alone but by the word which proceedeth out of Gods mouth not by the creature but by the blessing which prepareth the creature for our use Now it is the word of God namely his promises in Christ of things concerning this life as well as that which is to come that doth sanctifie the creatures of God to those whâ— with thankfulnesse receive them The fall of man bâ—ought a pollution upon the creatures a curse upon the stone and timber of a mans house a snare upon his table a poison and bitternesse upon his meat distractions and terrors upon his bed emptinesse and vexation upon all his estate which cleaves as fast therunto as blacknesse to the skinne of an Ethiopian or sinne to the soule of man For all the creatures of God are by sinne mischievously converted into the instruments and provisions of lust The Sunne and all the glorious lights of nature but instruments to serve the pride covetousnesse adultery vanity of a lustfull eye All the delicacies which the earth aire or Sea can affoord but materials to feed the luxurie and intemperance of a lustfull body All the honors and promotions of the world but fuell to satisfie the haughtinesse and ambition of a lustfull heart That word then which can fetch out this leprosie from the creatures and put life strength and comfort into them againe must needs bee Virga virtutis a Rod of strength Secondly the Gospell and Spirit of Christ is a rod of strength in regard of his and his Churches enemies Able both to repell and to revenge all their injuries to disappoint the ends and machinations of Satan to triumph and get above the persecutions of men to get a treasure which no malice nor fury of the enemy can take away a noblenesse of minde which no insultation of the adversary can abate a security of condition and calmenesse of spirit where no worldly tempests can any more extinguish than the darknesse of a cloud or the boisterousnesse of a wind can blot out the lustre or perturbe the order of celestiall bodies a heavenly wisdome able to prevaile against the gates of hell and to stop the mouthes of every gain-sayer The Word hath ever a Readinesse to revenge disobedience as the Apostle speaks it hardens the faces of men and armes them that they may breake all those who fall upon them This power of the Word towards wicked men sheweth it selfe in many particulars First in a mighty worke of Conviction The Spirit was therefore sent into the world to convince it by the ministery of the Gospell which one word containeth the ground of the whole strength here spoken of for all which the word bringeth to passe it doth it by the conviction of the Spirit This Conviction is two-fold A Conviction unto conversion whereby the hearts of men are wonderfully over-ruled ruled by that invincible evidence of the Spirit of truth to feele acknowledge their wofull condition by reason of sinne so long as they continue in unbeleefe to take unto themselves the just shame and confusion of face which belongs unto them to give unto God the glory of his righteous and just severity if hee should destroy them and hereupon to be secondly by the terror of the Lord perswaded to count worthy of all acceptation any deliverance out of that
condition and therefore not within the comprehension of an earthly understanding It is a wisedome which is from above The holy Ghost likewise is a Revealer of the Gospell unto the faithfull He was sent that hee might Convince the world not onely of sinne but of righteousnesse and judgement too which are Evangelicall things The spirit searcheth all things even the deepe things of God that is his unsearchable love wisedome and counsell in the Gospell Therefore the Gospell is called The Law of the spirit of life and the ministration of the spirit and the Revelation of the spirit and No man can call Iesus Lord but by the holy spirit that is though men may out of externall conformity to the discipline and profession under which they live with their mouthes acknowledge him to be the Lord yet their hearts will never tremble nor willingly submit themselves to his obedience their conscience will never set to its seale to the spirituall power of Christ over the thoughts desires and secrets of the soule but by the over-ruling direction of the holy Ghost Nature taught the Pharises to call him Beelzebub and Samaritan but it is the Spirit onely which teacheth men to acknowledge him a Lord. Christ is not the power nor the wisedome of God to any but to those who are called that is to those unto whose consciences the Spirit witnesseth the righteousnes which is to bee found in him So then the Publication of the Gospell belongeth unto men but the effectuall teaching and revelation thereof unto the soule is the joynt worke of the holy Trinity opening the heart to attend and perswading the heart to beleeve the Gospell as a thing worthy of all acceptation Thus the Gospell is a Glorious thing in regard of the Originall and Authour of it From whence wee may inferre that what-ever men thinke of the ministerie and dispensation of the Word yet undoubtedly the neglect and scorne which is shewed unto it is done unto Christ himselfe and that in his glory he that receiveth not his Word rejecteth his person and the sinne of a man against the words which we speake in the name and authority of Christ and in the dispensation of that office wherewith he hath entrusted us is the same with the sinnes of those men who despised him in his owne person You will say Christ is in heaven how can any injuries of ours reach unto him Surely though he be in heaven which is now the Court of his royall residence yet hee hath to doe upon earth as one of the chiefe territories of his dominion and in the ministerie of his Word hee speaketh from heaven still He it was who by his Ambassadour Saint Paul came and preached Peace to the Ephesians who were afarre off His spirit it was which in the Prophets did testifie of his sufferings and glory Hee it was who gave manifest proofe of his owne power speaking in his Apostles He then who refuseth to obey the words of a Minister in the execution of his office when hee forewarneth him of the wrath to come and doth not discerne the Lords voice therein but in despight of this ministeriall citation unto the tribunall of Christ will still persist in the way of his owne heart and as he hath beene so resolveth to continue a swearing blasphemous luxurious proud revengefull and riotous person thinking it basenesse to mourne for sinne and unnecessary strictnesse to humble himselfe to walke with God and yet because all men else doe so will professe his faith in the Lord Iesus that man is a notorious liar yea as the Apostle speaketh he maketh God a liar too in not beleeving the record which he giveth of his Sonne which is that hee should wash away the filth and purge out the bloud of his people with a spirit of judgement and a spirit of burning that he should sit as a refiner and purifier of silver purging his priests that they might offer unto the Lord an offring in righteousnesse Hee walketh contrary to that Covenant of mercy which he professeth to lay hold on for this is one of the great promises of the Covenant I will sprinkle cleane water upon you and you shall be cleane from all your filthinesse and from all your idols will I clense you I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walke in my statutes Hee walketh contrary to the quality of that feare of God which yet he professeth to feele as well as others For the feare of the Lord is a cleane thing He walketh contrary to the vertue of that bloud with which notwithstanding hee professeth to bee sprinkled for the bloud of Christ cleanseth not onely the lives but the very consciences of men from dead workes that is makes them so inwardly labour for purity of heart as that they may not be conscious to themselves of any though the most secret allowed sinne He walketh contrary to the fruitfulnesse of that grace which alone he professeth to boast in for the Spirit of grace which is powred from on high maketh the very wildernesse a fruitfull field He walketh contrarie to the properties of that faith by which alone he hopeth to be saved For true faith purifieth the heart and therefore a pure heart and a good conscience are the inseparable companions of an unfained faith And therefore what-ever verball and ceremonious homage hee may tender unto Christ yet in good earnest he is ashamed of him and dares not preferre the yoke of Christ before the lusts of the world or the reproaches of Christ before the treasures of the world Why should it be treason to kill a Judge in his ministerie on the bench or esteemed an injurie to the state to doe any indignitie to the Ambassadour of a great prince but because in such relations they are persons publike and representative ut eorum bona malaque ad Rempublicam pertineant why should the supreme Officer of the kingdome write Teste meipso in the name and power of his Prince but because he hath a more immediate representation of his sacred person and commission thereunto Surely the case is the same between Christ and his Ministers in their holy function And therefore we finde the expressions promiscuous sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Gospell of Christ and sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My Gospell sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The preaching of Iesus Christ and sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My preaching In the vertue of which synergie and co-partnership with Christ and with God as he saveth so we save as he forgiveth sinnes so we forgive them as he judgeth wicked men so wee judge them as he beseecheth so we also beseech saith the Apostle that you bee reconciled and receive not the grace of God in vaine Wee by his Grace and he by our ministerie He therefore that despiseth any conviction out
intendeth to visit another there is no state nor distance no ceremonies nor solemnities observed but when a prince will communicate himselfe unto any place there is a publication and officers sent abroad to give notice thereof that meete entertainements may be provided So doth Christ deale with men he knoweth how unprepared wee are to give him a welcome how foule our hearts how barren our consciences and therefore he sendeth his Officers before his face with his owne Provision his Graces of Humiliation Repentance Desire Love Hope Joy hungring and thirsting after his appearance and then when hee is esteemed worthy of all acceptation he commeth himselfe Looke upon the more consummate publication of the Gospell for Christ in his owne personall preaching is said but to have begun to teach and we shall see that as Princes in the time of their solemne Inauguration doe some speciall acts of magnificence and honour open prisons proclaime pardons create nobles stampe coyne fill conduits with wine distribute donatives and congiaries to the people So Christ to testifie the glory of his Gospell did reserve the full publication thereof unto the day of his instalment and solemne readmission into his Fathers glory againe When he ascended up on high he then led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men namely the Holy Ghost who is called the Gift of God Act. 2.38 Act. 8 20 Ioh. 4.10 and in the plurall number Gifts as elsewhere he is called seven spirits Revel 1.4 to note the plenty and variety of graces which are by him shed abroad upon the Church Wisedome and faith and knowledge and healings and prophesie and discerning and miracles and tongues All these worke one and the selfe-same spirit dividing to every man severally as he will And these gifts were all shed abroad for Evangelicall purposes for the perfecting of the Saints for the worke of the ministerie and for the edifying of the body of Christ. And this spirit Saint Peter telleth us is a spirit of Glory and therefore that Gospell for the more plentifull promulgation wherof he was shed abroad must needs be a Gospell of Glorie too And this further appeares because in this more solemne publication of the Gospell there was much more Abundance of glorious light and grace shed abroad into the world The Sunne of Righteousnesse in his estate of humiliation was much ecclipsed with the similitude of sinfull flesh the Communion of our common infirmities the poverty of a low condition the griefe and vexation of the sinnes of men the overshadowing of his divine vertue the forme and entertainement of a servant the burden of the guilt of sinne the burden of the Law of God the ignominie of a base death the agonie of a cursed death But when hee ascended up on high like the Sunne in his glory hee then dispell'd all these mists and now sendeth forth those glorious beames of his Gospell and Spirit which are the two wings by which he commeth unto the Churches and under which the healing and salvation of the world is treasured Iohn Baptist was the last and greatest of all the Prophets who foretold of Christ a greater had not beene borne of women and yet he was lesse than the least in the kingdome of heaven that is than the least of those upon whom the Promise of the Spirit was shed abroad for the more glorious manifestation of the kingdome of his Gospell All the Prophets and the Law prophesied untill Iohn but at the comming of Christ they seem'd to bee taken away not by way of abrogation and extinguishment as the ceremonies but by way of excesse and excellency ut stellae exiliores ad exortum solis as the Orator speakes so saith the Apostle Even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the Glory that excelleth Therefore the full Revelation of the Gospell is called an effusion of the spirit not in dew but in showres of raine which multiply into rivers of living water for the raine of the spirit floweth from heaven as from a spring and into wels of Salvation and into a sea of knowledge Which attributes note unto us two things First the abundance of spirituall grace and knowledge by the Gospell it should be a River Secondly the growth and increase thereof it should be living water multiplying and swelling up like the waters of the Sanctuary till it came to a bottomelesse and unmeasurable sea of eternall life And to touch that which was before spoken of very glorious are the vertues of the Spirit in the Gospell intimated in this similitude of living water To quench the wrath of God that otherwise consuming unextinguishable fury which devoureth the adversaries with everlasting burnings To satisfie those desires of the thirsty soule which it selfe begetteth for the Spirit is both for medicine and for meate for medicine to cure the dull and averse appetites of the soule and for meate to satisfie them The Spirit is both a Spirit of supplication and a Spirit of grace or satisfaction A Spirit of supplication directing us to pray and a Spirit of Grace supplying those requests and satisfying those desires which himselfe did dictate To cleanse to purifie to mollifie to take away the barrennesse of our naturall hearts To overflow and communicate it selfe to others To withstand and subdue every obstacle that is set up against it To continue and to multiply to the end By this then wee learne the way how to abound in grace and glory and how to bee transformed into the Image of Christ. The beame and light of the Sunne is the vehiculum of the heate and influence of the Sunne so the light of the Gospell of Christ is that which conveieth the vertue and gracious workings of his Spirit upon the soule And therefore we are to seeke those varieties of grace which are for meate to satisfie the desires and for medicine to cure the bruizes of the soule onely upon the bankes of the waters of the Sanctuary that is in the knowledge of the word of truth which is the Gospell of Salvation The more of this glorious light a man hath the more proportion of all other graces will he have too And therefore the Apostle puts the growth of these two together as contributing a mutuall succour unto one another Grow in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Iesus Christ. Your Grace will inlarge your desires of knowledge and your knowledge will multiply your degrees of Grace And Saint Paul makes the knowledge of the will of God in wisdome and after a spirituall maner to be the ground of fruitfulnesse in every good worke and that again an inducement to increase in knowledge as in the twisting together of two cords into one rope they are by art so ordered that either shall bind and hold in the other As in the heavens the inferior orbes have the measure and proportion of their
the Law The Law was a glorious ministery as appeares by the thunderings and lightnings the shining of Moses his face and trembling at Gods presence the service of the Angels and sound of the trumpet the ascending of the smoke and the quaking of the mountaine but yet still the glory of the Gospell was farre more excellent a better Covenant a more excellent ministery The Law had weaknesse and unprofitablenesse in it both termes of diminution from the the glory thereof and therefore it could make nothing perfect But that which the Law could not doe in as much as it was weake through the flesh the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus which is a periphrasis of the Gospell as appeareth 2 Cor. 3.6 did doe for us namely make us free from the law of sin and death So then the Law was glorious but the Gospell in many respects did excell in glory 2 Cor. 3.10 To take a more particular view of the spirituall glory of the Gospell of Christ in those excellent ends and purposes for which it serveth First It is full of light to informe to comfort to guide those who sate in darknesse and the shadow of death into the way of peace Light was the first of all the creatures which were made and the Apostle magnifieth it for a glorious thing in those other luminaries which were after created 1 Cor. 15.41 How much more glorious was the light of the Gospell The Apostle calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A marvellous light and therefore the kingdome of the Gospell is exprest by light and glory together as termes of a promiscuous signification Esay 60.1 2 3. Of all other learning the knowledge of the Gospell doth infinitly excell in worth both in regard of the object thereof which is God manifested in the flesh and in regard of the end thereof which is flesh reconciled and brought unto God A knowledge which passeth knowledge a knowledge which bringeth fulnesse with it even all the fulnesse of God a knowledge so excellent that all other humane excellencies are but dung in comparison of it What Angell in heaven would trouble himselfe to busie his noble thoughts which have the glorious presence of God and the joyes of heaven to fill them with metaphysicall or mathematicall or philologicall contemplations which yet are the highest delicacies which humane reason doth fasten on to delight in And yet we finde the Angels in heaven with much greedinesse of speculation stoope downe and as it were turne away their eyes from that expressesse glory which is before them in heaven to gaze upon the wonderfull light and bottomlesse mysteries of the Gospell of Christ. In all other learning a Devill in hell the most cursed of all creatures doth wonderfully surpasse the greatest proficients amongst men but in the learning of the Gospell and in the spirituall revelations and evidences of the benefits of Christ to the soule from thence there is a knowledge which surpasseth the comprehension of any angell of darknesse for it is the Spirit of God onely which knoweth the things of God It was the devillish flout of Iulian the Apostate against Christian Religion that it was an illiterate rusticitie and a naked beliefe and that true polite learning did belong to him and his Ethnick faction and for that reason he interdicted Christians the use of Schooles and humane learning as things improper to their beleeving religion a persecution esteemed by the Ancients as cruel as the other bloudy massacres of his predecessors To which slander though the most learned Father might have justly returned the lye and given proofes both in the canonicall bookes of holy Scripture and in the professours of that religion of as profound learning as invincible argumentation and as forcible eloquence as in any Heathen Author for I dare challenge all the Pagan learning in the world to parallel the writings of Clemens of Alexandria Origen Iustin Tertullian Cyprian Minutius Augustine Theodoret Nazianzen and the other champions of Christian Religion against Gentilisme yet he rather chooseth thus to answer that that authoritie which the faith he so much derided was built upon came to the soule with more selfe-evidence and invincible demonstration than all the disputes of reason or learning of Philosophie could create Though therefore it were to the Iewes an offence as contrary to the honour of their Law and to the Greekes foolishnesse as contrary to the pride of their reason yet to those that were perfect it was an hidden and mysterious wisdome able to convince the gain-sayers to convert sinners to comfort mourners to give wisdome to the simple and to guide a man in all his wayes with spirituall prudence for what ever the prejudice of the world may be there is no man a wiser man nor more able to bring about those ends which his heart is justly set upon than hee who being acquainted with God in Christ by the Gospell hath the Father of wisedome the Treasurer of wisedome the Spirit of wisedome and the Law of wisedome to furnish him therewithall It is not for want of sufficiencie in the Gospell but for want of more intimate acquaintance and knowledge thereof in us that the children of this world are more wise in their generation than the children of light Secondly another glorious end and effect of the Gospell is to be a ministration of Righteousnesse a publication of a pardon to the world and that so generall that there is not one exception therein of any other sin than onely of the contempt of the pardon it selfe And in this respect likewise the Gospell exceeds in glory If the ministration of condemnation saith the Apostle bee glory much more doth the ministration of righteousnesse exceed in glory 2 Cor. 3.9 It is the glory of a man to passe by an offence and the Lord proclaimeth his glory to Moses in that he would forgive iniquitie transgression and sinne that is multitudes of sinnes and sinnes of all degrees Exod. 34.7 And thus the Lord magnifies his mercie and thoughts towards sinners above all the wayes and thoughts of men even as the heavens are higher than the earth because he can abundantly pardon or multiply forgivenesses upon those who forsake their wayes and turne to him Esay 55.7 8 9. and therefore justifying faith whereby we rely upon the power of God to forgive and subdue our sinnes is said to give glory to God Abraham staggered not at the Promise through unbeleefe but being strong in faith hee gave glory to God namely the glory of his power and fidelity Rom. 4.20 21. Ye shall not bring this congregation into the Land which I have given them saith the Lord to Moses and Aaron because yee beleeved me not to sanctifie mee in the eyes of the children of Israel that is to give me the glory of my power and truth for to sanctifie the Lord of hoasts signifieth to glorifie his power by fearing him
more than men and by relying on him against the power and confederacies of men Esay 8.12 13. And therefore in the same argument touching the happinesse of the Saints if they suffer for righteousnesse sake or be reproched for the name of Christ Saint Peter useth in one place sanctifying of the Lord in our hearts and in another glorifying of him as termes equivalent And therefore unbeleefe is said to make God a lyar that is to dishonour him and to rob him of the glory of his truth And despaire to rob God of his mercy and to make the guilt of sinne greater than the power of God And therefore murmurers and unbeleevers are said to speake against God and to grieve him to tempt to limit him that is to call into question the glory of his power and truth Herein then consisteth another glorious effect of the Gospell of Christ that being a ministration of righteousnesse it is a glasse of that power truth mercy and fidelity of God which by faith we rest upon for the forgivenesse and subduing of sinne Thirdly another glorious end of the Gospell is to be a ministration and a law of life If the ministration of death saith the Apostle were glorious how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious 2 Cor. 3.6 7 8. The Law alone by it selfe is towards sinners but a dead letter onely the rule according unto which a man ought to walke not any principle enabling him to walke If Moses alone should speake unto men he could onely tell them what they ought to doe hee could in no wise enable them to doe it nay further the Law hath occasionally from the sinne of man a malignant propertie in it to irritate and exasperate lust the more to beget an occasionall rage and fiercenesse in our nature As the Sunne shining on a dung-hill exhaleth noysome vapours and maketh it stinke the more But now the Gospell by the Spirit doth not onely teach but helpe too sheweth us what wee should doe and giveth us strength to doe it we doe not onely therein see the glory of God but are withall changed into the same Image even from glory to glory that is as I conceive from that allusion to a glasse the glory of the Lord shining upon the Gospell and from the Gospell shining upon our hearts doth change them into the Image of the same glory even as the glory of the Sunne shining upon a glasse and from that glasse reflecting on a wall doth therein produce a more extraordinary image of its owne light so that the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same with the Poets è speculo in speculum from the glory of the Gospell which is one glasse of Gods Image there is shâ—ped the same glory in the heart which is another glasse of his Image This is that which the Apostle calleth the forming of Christ in the soule and the planting of it into the likenesse of his death and resurrection Fourthly it is a glorious Gospell in the Iudicature thereof The Spirit iâ— the Gospell doth convince not of righteousnesse onely but of Iudgement too that is the Spirit shall erect a throne in the hearts of men shall pull downe the prince of this world and dispossesse him shal enable mens owne hearts to proceed like upright Iudges with truth and with victory which are two of the principall honours of judgement against their owne lusts to censure to condemne to crucifie them though before they were as deare as their owne members to throw all their idols away as menstruous rags and to judge and revenge themselves Ephraim shall say what have I to doe any more with idols In that day saith the Lord every man shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold which your owne hands have made unto you for a sin I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himselfe After that I was turned I repented and after that I was instructed I smote upon my thigh Thus the government of the Gospell in the heart makes a man severe to sentence every sinne to hang up his Haman his favourite lusts to give up himselfe to the obedience of Christ and to have his conversation his trading his treasure his priviledges his freedome his fellowship in heaven as being now constituted under the gracious and peaceable government of an heavenly Prince Fifthly it is a glorious Gospell in that it was to be a continuing ministration and an Immortall seed If that which was done away saith the Apostle was glorious much more that which remaineth is glorious 2 Cor. 3.11 Now the Gospell is able to preserve a man blamelesse unto the comming of our Lord Jesus it will not suffer a man to be shaken nor overturn'd by all the powers of darknesse there is strength enough in it to repell and wisdome to answer all the temptations and assaults of the enemies of our salvation If the world set upon us with any temptations on the right hand or on the left with disgraces persecutions discomforts exprobrations lâ—e this was the man who made God his helpe and would needs be more excellent than his neighbours the Gospel furnisheth us with sure promises and sure mercies this is answer sufficient against all the discouragements of the world I know whom I have beleeved I know that hee hath overcome the world I know that he is able to keepe that which I have committed unto him untill the last day and in the meane time the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world that is we are at an equall point of distance and defiance the world contemnes me and I am as carelesse of the world If with pleasures honours and gilded baites to draw us away from God Faith in the Gospell easily overcommeth the world for it giveth both the Promises and first-fruits of such Treasures as are infinitely more pretious and massie than all the world can affoord the very reproches of Christ how much more his Promises how infinitely more his Performances at the last are farre greater riches than the treasures of Egypt The daily sacrifice of a godly life and the daily feast of a quiet conscience put more sweetnesse into the afflictions of Christ than is in all the profits pleasures or preferments of the world being made bitter with the guilt of sinne If Satan or our owne reasonings stand up against the kingdome of Christ in us the Gospell is a store-house which can furnish us with armorie of all sorts to repell them Faith can quench firie darts the weapons of the spirit can captivate the very thoughts of the heart unto the obedience of Christ no weapon which is formed against it can prosper and every tongue which riseth up against it in judgement it shall condemn it is a staffe which can carry a man over any Jordan and can support comfort him in any shadow of death This is the honour of the Word
effectually that is it doth not consummate nor accomplish any perfect worke but onely in those that beleeve in the rest it proves but an abortion and withers in the blade Secondly with love and readinesse of minde without despising or rejecting it No man can bee saved who doth not receive the truth in love who doth not receive it as the primitive Saints did with gladnesse and readinesse of minde as Eli though from the hand of Samuel a Child as David though from the hand of Abigail a woman as the Galatians though from the hand of Paul an infirme and persecuted Apostle For herein is our homage to Christ the more apparent when we suffer a little childe to lead us Thirdly with meeknesse and submission of heart reverencing and yeelding unto it in all things Wresting shifting evading perverting the word is as great an indignity unto Christ as altering interlining or rasing a patent which the King hath drawen with his owne royall hand is an offence against him Patience and effectuall obedience even in affliction is an argument that a man esteemes the word to bee indeed Gods owne word and so receives it Hee onely who putteth off the old man the corrupt deceitfull lusts of his former conversation and is renewed in the Spirit of his minde is the man that hath heard and been taught by Christ that hath received the Truth in him Againe in as much as the Gospell is the Rod of Christs owne strength or the instrument of his arme who hath beleeved our report and to whom is the arme of the Lord revealed and the instrument is no further operative or effectuall than according to the measure of that impressed vertue which it receiveth from the superior cause therefore wee should learne alwayes to repaire unto Christ for the successe of his word For he onely is the teacher of mens hearts and the author of their faith To him onely it belongeth to call men out of their graves and to quicken whom hee will Wee have nothing but the ministerie he keepeth the power in his own hands that men might learne to waite upon him and to have to doe with him who onely can send a blessing with his word and teach his people to profit thereby Another ground of the power of the word is that it is sent from God The Lord shall send forth the Rod of thy strength From which particular likewise wee may note some usefull observations as First that Gods appointment and ordination is that which gives being life majesty and successe to his owne word authority boldnesse and protection to his servants When hee sendeth his word hee will make it prosper When Moses disputed against his going down into Egypt to deliver his brethren sometimes alleaging his owne unfitnesse and infirmity sometimes the unbeliefe of the people this was still the warrant with which God encouraged him I will bee with thee I have sent thee doe not I make mans mouth I will bee with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say I was no Prophet neither was I a Prophets Sonne saith Amos but I was an heardsman a gatherer of sycamore fruit And the Lord tooke me as I followed the flock and said unto mee Goe prophecie unto my people Israel And this made him peremptory in his office to prophecie against the idolatry of the Kings Court and against the flattery of the Priest of Bethel And this made the Apostles bold though otherwise unlearned and ignorant men to stand against the learned councill of Priests and Doctors of the Law Wee ought to obey God rather than men Vpon which Grave was the advice of Gamaliel If this counsell or worke bee of men it will come to nought But if it bee of God yee cannot overthrow it lest haply yee bee found even to fight against God For to withstand the power or progresse of the Gospell is to set a mans face against God himselfe Secondly in as much as the Gospell is sent forth by God that is revealed and published out of Sion wee may observe That Evangelicall learning came not into the world by humane discovery or observation but it is utterly above the compasse of all reason or naturall disquisition neither men nor Angels ever knew it but by divine revelation And therfore the Apostle every where calleth it a Mystery a great and a hidden Mystery which was kept secret since the world began There is a Naturall Theologie without the world gathered out of the workes of God out of the resolution of causes and effects into their first originals and out of the Law of nature written in the heart But there is no naturall Christianity Nature is so farre from finding it out by her owne inquiries that shee cannot yeeld unto it when it is revealed without a Spirit of faith to assist it The Iewes stumbled at it as dishonorable to their Law and the Gentiles derided it as absurd in their Philosophy It was a Hidden and secret wisedome the execution and publication whereof was committed onely to Christ. In God it was an Eternall Gospell for Christ was a lambe slaine from before the foundations of the world namely in the predeterminate counsell decree of his father but revealed it was not till the dispensation of the fulnesse of time wherein he gathered together in one all things in Christ. The purpose and ordination of it was eternall but the preaching and manifestation of it reserved untill the time of Christs solemne inauguration into his Kingdome and of the obstinacy of the Iewes upon whose defection the Gentiles were called in Which might teach us to adore the unsearchablenesse of Gods judgements unto former ages of the world whom hee suffered to walke in their owne wayes and to live in times of utter ignorance destitute of any knowledge of the Gospell or of any naturall parts or abilities to finde it out For if these things bee true First that without the knowledge of Christ there is no salvation This is eternall life to know thee and him whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifye many Secondly that Christ cannot bee knowen by naturall but Evangelicall and revealed light The naturall man cannot know the things of the Spirit of God because they are spiritually discerend The light shined in darknesse and the darknesse was so thick and fixed that it did not let in the light nor apprehend it Thirdly that this light was at the first sent onely unto the Iewes as to the first borne-people excepting onely some particular extraordinary dispensations and priviledges to some few first fruits and preludes of the Gentiles He sheweth his word unto Iacob his statutes and his judgements unto Israel Hee hath not dealt so with any nation Hee hath not afforded the meanes of salvation ordinarily unto any other people the world by wisedome knew him not Fourthly that this severall
and to compose those differences thereabouts which doe so much perplex the world Secondly for those places which in their meaning are easie to be understood but in their excellent and high nature hard to be beleeved as all Articles of faith and things of absolute necessitie are in their termes perspicuous but in their heavenly nature unevident unto humane reason the office of the Church is not to binde mens consciences to beleeve these truths upon her authoritie for wee have not dominion over the faith of men neither are we lords in Christs flock and how shal any scrupulous minde which is desirous to boult things to the bran be secure of the power which the Church in this case arrogates or have any certaintie that this society of men must be beleeved in their religion who will allow the same honor to no society of men but thēselves But in this case the office of the Church is both to labour by al good means to evidence the credibility of the things which are to be beleeved to discover unto men those essentiall and intimate beauties of the Gospel which to spirituall mindes and hearts raised to such a proportionable pitch of capacitie as are suteable to the excellency of their natures are apt to evidence and notifie themselves and also to labour to take men off from dependance on their owne reason or corrupted judgement to worke in their heart an experience of the Spirit of grace and an obedience to those holy truths which they already assent unto with which preparations and perswasions the heart being possessed will in due time come to observe more cleerely by that spirituall eye the evidence of those things which were at first so difficult so then the Act of the Church is in matters of faith an act of introduction and guidance but that which begetteth the infallible and unquestionable assent of faith is that spirituall taste relish and experience of the heavenly sweetnesse of divine doctrine which by the ministery of the Church accompanied with the speciall concurrence of almighty God therewithall is wrought in the heart for it is only the Spirit of God which writeth the Law in mens hearts which searcheth the things of God and which maketh us to know them Thirdly for those places which are difficult rather to be obeyed than to be understood The worke of the Church is to enforce upon the conscience the necessitie of them to perswade rebuke exhort encourage with all authority Which should teach us all to love the Church of Christ and to pray for the peace and prosperity of the walls of Sion for the purity spiritualnesse power and countenance of the Word therein which is able to hold up its owne honour in the minds of men if it be but faithfully published we should therefore studie to maintaine to credit to promote the Gospell to encourage truth discountenance errour to stand in the gap against all the stratagems and advantages of the enemies thereof and to hold the candlestick fast amongst us to buy the truth and sell it not betray it not forsake it not temper it not misguize it not This is to be a pillar to put the shoulder under the Gospell of Christ. And surely though the Papists boast of the word and name of the Church as none more apt to justifie and brag of their sobrietie than those whom the wine hath overtaken yet the plaine truth is they have farre lesse of the nature thereof than any other Churches because farre lesse of the pure service and ministration thereof for in stead of holding forth the Word of life they pull it downe denying unto the people of Christ the use of his Gospell dimidiating the use of his Sacrament breeding them up in an ignorant worship to begge they know not what in all points disgracing the Word of truth and robbing it of its certaintie sufficiencie perspicuitie authoritie purity energie in the minds of men And this is certain the more any set themselves against the light and generall knowledge of the Word of truth the lesse of the nature of the Church they have in them what-ever ostentations they may make of the name thereof The last thing observed in this second verse amongst the regalities of Christ was Imperium his rule and government in his Church by his holy Word maugre all the attempts and machinations of the enemies thereof against it Rule thou in the middest of thine enemies that is Thou shalt rule safely securely undisturbedly without danger feare or hazard from the enemies round about their counsels shall be infatuated their purposes shall vanish their decrees shall not stand their persecutions shall but sow the bloud of Christ and the ashes of Christians the thicker they shall see it and gnash with their teeth and gnaw their tongues and be horribly amazed at the emulation and triumph of a Christians sufferings over the malice and wrath of men The kingdome of Christ is two-fold His kingdome of glory of which there shall be no end when hee shall rule over his enemies and tread them under his feet and his kingdome of grace whereby hee ruleth amongst his enemies by the scepter of his Word And this is the kingdome here spoken of noting unto us that Christ will have a Church and people gathered unto him by the preaching of his Gospell on the earth maugre all the malice power or policie of all his enemies Never was Satan so loose never heresie and darknesse so thicke never persecution so prevalent never the taile of the Dragon so long as to sweepe away all the Starres of heaven or to devoure the remnant of the womans seed The gates of hell all the policie power and machinations of the kingdome of darknesse shall never root out the Vine which the Father hath planted nor prevaile against the body of Christ. His Gospell must be preached till the worlds end and till then he will be with it to give it successe Though the Kings of the earth stand up and the Rulers gather together against the Lord and his Christ yet they imagine but a vaine thing and hee that sitteth in heaven shall laugh them to scorne The grounds of the certainetie and perpetuitie of Christs Evangelicall Kingdome is not the nature of the Church in it selfe consider'd either in the whole or parts for Adam and Evah were a Church at first a people that were under the law of obedience and worship of God and yet they fell away from that excellent condition And the Prophet tels us that except the Lord had left a very small remnant the Church had beene all as Sodom and like to Gomorrah But the grounds hereof are First The Decree ordination and appointment of God Psal. 2.7 Acts 10.42 Hebr. 3.2 and wee know what ever men project the counsell of the Lord must stand Secondly Gods Gift unto Christ Aske of mee and I wil give thee the heathen for thine inheritance c. Ps. 2.8
Nature of Holinesse it must needs be very Beautifull In generall it consists in a Relation of conformitie as all Goodnesse save that of God doth for no Creature is so absolute as to have its being from it selfe and therefore its Goodnesse cannot consist in any thing which hath its originall in it selfe It is the Rule and End which denominateth the Goodnesse of any created thing that therefore which ought not to worke for its owne end ought not to worke by its owne Rule for he who is Lord of an end must needs be Lord of the meanes and directions which lead unto that end And this is indeed the ground of all sinne when men make themselves their owne will wit reason or resolutions to bee the spring and fountaine of all their actions Therefore sinne is called our owne wayes and the lusts of our owne hearts and our owne counsels because it is absolutely from our selves and hath no constituted rule to moderate or direct it Impossible it is for any Creature as it comes out of Gods hands to bee without a Law or to be an originall law unto it selfe for as hee who hath none over him cannot possibly be subject unto any Law in as much as a Law is but the declaration of a Superiours will what he requires to bee done and what he threatneth on default thereof to inflict so hee that is under the wisedome and ends of another must needs likewise bee subject to the Lawes which his will prescribes for advancing and compassing his owne ends who if he bee in his owne nature and ends most holy must needs be holy in the Lawes which he enacts By all which we may observe that Holinesse consisteth in conformity so that according to the excellencie of the patterne whereunto it referres so is the measure of its beautie to be conjectured And the patterne of our Holinesse is God himselfe Be you holy as your father which is in heaven is Holy Other Creatures have some prints and paths of God in them and so are all beautifull in their time but man had the image of God created in him his will was set up in our heart as a Law of nature most pure right holy good wise and perfect and that Law did beare the same relation to mans life as his soule doth unto his members to animate forme and organize every motion of the heart every word of the mouth every action of the soule and bodie according unto the will of God When after this man threw away this Image and God was pleased in mercy again to renue Holinesse in him he did it againe by another patterne or rather the same exhibited in another maner He made him then conformable to the Image of his Son the heavenly Adam who is himselfe the Image of the invisible God the expresse Character of his Fathers brightnesse a Sunne of righteousnesse a morning starre the light of the world the fairest of ten thousand so that compare Holinesse with the first originall draught thereof in Paradise the nature of Adam as it came new out of Gods fashioning or that with the Law of God written in his heart or that with the Holinesse of God of which it was a ray shining into the soule or that Image of God with it selfe in Christ the second Adam and every way Holinesse in its nature consists in a Conformity and Commensuration to the most beautifull things Thirdly if we consider some of the chiefe Properties of Holinesse wee shall finde it in that regard likewise very Beautifull First Rectitude and Vprightnesse sinceritie and simplicitie of heart God made man upright but they have found out many inventions that is have sought up and downe through many turnings and by-wayes to satisfie crooked affections It was Davids Prayer Make thy way strait before my face and it is the Apostles instruction Make strait paths for your feet lest that which is lame be turned out of the way True Holinesse is a plaine and an even thing without falsehood guile perversenesse of Spirit deceitfulnesse of heart or starting aside It hath one end one rule one way one heart whereas hypocrites are in the Scripture called Double minded men because they pretend to God and follow the world And crooked men like the swelling of a wall whose parts are not perpendicular nor levell to their foundation Now rectitude sincerity and singlenesse of heart is ever both in the eyes of God and man a beautifull thing Secondly Harmonie and Vniformity within it selfe The Philosopher saith of a Iust man that he is like a Dye which is every way even and like it selfe turne it how you will it fals upon an equall bottome And so Holilinesse keepes the heart like its selfe in all conditions as a watch though all together it may bee tossed up and downe with the agitation of him that carrieth it about him yet that motion doth no way perturbe the frame or disorder the workings of the spring and wheeles within so though the man may bee many wayes tempted and disquieted yet the frame of his heart the order of his affections the governement of the spirit within him is not thereby stopped but holdeth on in the same tenour We know in the body if any part doe exceed the due proportion it destroies the beautie and acceptablenesse of the rest Symmetrie and fitnesse of the parts unto one another is that which commends a body Now Holinesse consisteth in this proportion there is in it an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an exactnesse of obedience an equall respect unto all Gods Commandements an hatred of every false way an universall worke upon the whole spirit soule and body a supply made unto every joynt a measure dispenced unto every part not a grace due unto Christian integritie which is not in some proportion fashioned in a man Christ hath no Monsters begotten by his spirituall seed for Monsters are ever caused either by an excesse or by a defect of seed in the one case nature being overcharged is forc'd to labour that which remaines and will not be laid aside into some superfluous members and in the other for want of materials to leave her worke unfinished and destitute of some necessary parts But now first wee are to note that a man can have no superfluitie of Grace we can never have too much of that the fulnesse whereof we should labour to get and for the other danger wee know Christ hath a Residue of spirit to supply any defect and to make up whatsoever is away for the fashioning of Christ in us so then Holinesse fashioneth the whole man Hee that leaves any one faculty of his soule neglected or any one part of the Service or Law of God disobeyed I speake of a totall and constant neglect is undoubtedly an Hypocrite and disobeyes all Iam. 2.10 11. As David with a little stone slew Goliah because his forehead was open so can our enemie easily deale with us
Consider the Church in it selfe and so it is a very vast body but yet consider it comparatively with the other more prevailing malignant part of the world so it is but a little flock as many graines and measures of corne may lie hid under a greater heape of chaffe Secondly the Church now is many comparatively with the old church of the Iewes more are the Children of the desolate than of the married wife Esai 54.1 But not comparatively with the adversaries of the Church in generall Wee see of thirtie parts of the world nineteene are either idolatrous or Mahumetan and the other eleven serving Christ in so different a manner as if there were many Christs or many Gospels or many wayes to the same end Thirdly though Christ alwayes have a numerous offspring yet in severall ages there is observable a different purity and conspicuousnesse according to the different administrations and breathings of the Spirit upon his garden In some ages the Doctrine more uncorrupt the profession and acceptation more universall than in others In the Apostles times there were many borne unto Christ by reason of the more abundant measure of Spirit which was shed abroad upon them Tit. 3.6 In the times of the Primitive persecutions there were many likewise born because God would glorifie the foundations of his Church and the power of his Spirit above the pride of men In the first countenancing of it by Imperiall Laws and favors it was very generall and conspicuous because professed by the obedience and introduced by the power of those great emperors whom the world followed But after that long peace and great dignities had corrupted the mindes of the chiefe in the Church and made them looke more after the pompe than the purity thereof the mystery of iniquity like a weed grew apace and overspread the Corne first abusing and after that subjecting the power of princes and bewitching the Kings of the earth with its fornications Hence likewise wee may learne to acknowledge Gods mercy in the worst times in those ages wherin the Church was most oppressed yet many have yeelded themselves unto Christ. The woman was with Childe and was delivered even when the Dragon did persecute her Revel 12.1.4 and even then God found out in the wildernesse a place of refuge defence and feeding for his Church As in those cruell times of Arrianisme when heresie had invaded the world and in those blinde and miserable ages wherin Satan was loosed God still stirred up some notable instruments by whom hee did defend his truth and amongst whom hee did preserve his Church though they were driven into solitary places and forced to avoid the assemblies of Hereticall and Antichristian Teachers Wee learne likewise not to censure persons places or times God had seven thousand in Israel when Elias thought none but himselfe had been left all are not alike venturous or confident of their strength Nicodemus came to Christ by night and yet even then Christ did not reject him Therefore we must not presently censure our neighbours as cold or dead if they discover not immediatly the same measure of courage and publike stoutnesse in the profession of Christ with our selves some men are by nature more retir'd silent unsociable unactive men some by the engagement of their places persons and callings wherein they are of more publike and necessary use in the Church are put upon more abundant caution and circumspection in the moderate carriage of themselves than other men Paul was of himselfe very zealous and earnest in that great confusion when Gaius and Aristarchus were haled into the theater to have gone in unto the people in that their outrage and distemper but the wisedome of the Disciples and some of his chiefe friends is herin commended that they sent unto him desiring him that hee would not adventure into the theater and that they suffered him not Act. 19.30 31. It is a grave observation which Gregorie Nazianzen makes of that great champian and universall agent for composing the differences and distractions of the Church S. Basil that pro temporis ratione Haereticorum principatu by reason of the prevalencie of adversaries and condition of the times hee did in the controversies concerning the Deitie of the Holy Ghost abstaine from some words which others of an inferior ranke did with liberty and boldnesse use and that this hee did in much wisedome and upon necessary reasons because it was not fit for so eminent a person and one who had such generall influence by the quality of his place and greatnesse of his parts in the welfare of the Church by the envie of words or phrases to exasperate a countenanced enemie and to draw upon himselfe and in him upon the Church of God any inevitable and unnecessary danger And surely if the wisedome and moderation of that holy man were with the same pious affection generally observed that men when they doe earnestly contend for the truth once delivered which is the duty of every Christian did not in heate of argument load the truth they maintaine with such hard and severe though it may bee true expressions as beget more obstinacie in the adversarie and it may bee suspition in the weake or unresolved looker on differences amongst men might bee more soberly composed and the truth with more assurance entertained Againe wee have from hence an encouragement to goe on in the wayes of Christ because wee goe in great and in good Company many wee have to suffer with us many wee have to comfort and to encourage us As the people of Israel when they went solemnely up to meete the Lord in Sion went on from troope to troope the further they went the more companie they were mixed withall going to the same purpose so when the Saints goe towards heaven to meete the Lord there they doe not onely goe unto an innumerable Company of Angells and just men but they meete with troopes in their way to encourage one another All the discouragement that Elias had was that hee was alone but we have no such plea for our unwillingnesse to professe the truth and power of Religion now Wee are not like a lambe in a wide place without comfort or company but wee are sure to have an excellent guard and convoy unto Christs Kingdome And this use the Apostle makes of the multitudes of beleevers that wee should by so great a Cloud of witnesses bee the more encouraged in our patient running of that race which is set before us Heb. 12.1 Lastly It should teach us to love the multitudes the assemblies and the Communion of the Saints to speak often to one another to encourage strengthen one another not to forsake the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is to concurre in mutuall desires to conspire in the same holy thoughts and affections to bee of one heart of one soule of one judgement to walke by one the same
this service And this promise is twofold First the promise of a great seed which by the execution of his office hee should gather unto himselfe and of a great conquest over all his enemies God conferred this hoâ—our upon him to be the King of a mighty People whom he should save and sanctifie to himselfe They were given unto him Psal. 2.8 Iohn 17.6 so that unto his Fidelitie Mercie and Power here is further added a Propriety to the thing which hee saves and who would not use all fidelitie in his owne businesse all mercy towards his owne seed all the power he hath to deliver his owne House from the fire and Christ was faithfull as a Sonne over his owne house whose house are wee Heb. 3.6 Secondly there was the promise of a great Glory and Crowne which the nature he had assumed should in his Person receive after the fulfilling of his Service After he had beene a little while lower than the Angels hee was to bee crowned with Glory and Honour Heb. 2.7 and therefore we may bee sure that hee hath fulfilled all righteousnesse and done for his Church all which hee was to doe upon the Earth because hee is gone and wee see him no more for his sufferings were to goe before and his glory to follow 1 Pet. 1.11 This is the Apostles argument why we are not in our sinnes but delivered from them because Christ is risen 1 Cor. 15.17 Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen againe who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Rom. 8.34 And it is his argument againe why wee ought to hold fast our profession and to come boldly to the Throne of Grace for help in time of neede because wee have a great high Priest that is passed into the Heavens Heb. 4.14 15 16. Fifthly as hee had a Promise from the Father to encourage him so he had a Nature from us to incline him unto the execution of his Office He was made of a woman made like unto us in all things sinne onely excepted tempted and afflicted as we are and so there are two things which the heart of a beleever may rest upon in him in any discomforts First his Sympathie for besides his Essentiall mercy as he is God there was in him a mercie which he learned by being like unto us In all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren that hee might be a mercifull and a faithfull high Priest Heb. 2.17 Such was his compassion towards the hunger of the multitude Matth. 15.32 because hee himselfe knew what hunger was Matth. 4.2 and such was his compassion towards the sorrowes of Mary and Martha Iohn 11.33 35. because he himselfe was acquainted with griefe Esay 53.3 and such was his compassion towards Peter in that state of desertion wherein he lay Luke 22.61 because he himselfe knew what it was to be forsaken Matth. 27.46 And this is the Apostles assurance that we shall obtaine mercy and grace to helpe in time of neede because hee had a feeling of our infirmities and was tempted as wee are Heb. 4.15 16. Secondly His consanguinitie He is not ashamed to call us brethren He is our Goel our Kinsman and therefore our Redeemer Heb. 11. Ruth 3.9.4.4 And will not repent Many things God hath said which hee hath revoked as the destruction of Ninive the death of Ezekiah and the like which implying a tacite condition fit in the particular cases to be conceal'd upon the varieties of that God might bee said either to persevere or to repent Ier. 18.7 8.26.13 19. God is ever most unchangeable in all his wayes counsels and purposes they stand for ever Nothing can fall out to make God more wise more mercifull more provident more powerfull than hee was before and therefore nothing can make him truely to change his will or to repent of his former actions or resolutions There is with him no variablenesse nor shadow of changing He is not a man that hee should repent I the Lord change not Iam. 1.17 1 Sam. 15.29 Mal. 3.6 Only in mercy unto our weaknesse God condescends unto the manner of humane expressions retaining still the stedfastnesse of his owne working which receiveth no variation nor difference from the contingencies of second causes He speaketh according to our capacitie but he worketh according to his owne counsell so that God is then said to repent when that which he once willed to be hee after by the counsell of the same will causeth not to be therein not changing his owne counsell but onely willing the change of the things that the same thing for this period of time shall be and then shall cease As when a rope is fixed to either side of a River by the same without any manner change or alteration in it I draw the boate wherein I am backward or forward so the same will and counsell of God stands constant and unmoved in the severall mutations of those things which are wrought or removed by it Now then when not onely the counsell of God is immutable in it selfe but also hee hath ordained some Law Covenant or Office which hee will have for ever to endure without either naturall expiration or externall abolishment then is God said not to repent To apply this to the present businesse the Apostle speaking of a new covenant which is established upon this new Priesthood of Christ for the Priesthoods and the Lawes goe both together the one being changed there is made of necessitie a change of the other Heb. 7.12 maketh the introducing of this new Covenant which is founded upon the Oath of God to make the preceding covenant old and transitory In that hee saith A new Covenant he hath made the first old Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away Heb. 8.13 And hee saith peremptorily that it was therefore disannul'd because of the weakenesse and unprofitablenesse thereof Heb. 7.18 and this he affirmeth even of the morall Law that law the righteousnesse whereof was to be fulfilled in us by the Spirit of Christ namely in sincerity and in love which is the bond of perfection and the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 8.3 4. For the full understanding then and applying the words to the priesthood of Christ and the Law of Grace or the second covenant thereupon grounded it will be needfull to resolve these two questions First whether God hath repented him of the Law which was the rule and measure of the Covenant of workes Secondly upon what reasons or grounds the immutabilitie of the second Covenant or Law of grace standeth For the first of these the Psalmist telleth us that the Commandements of God are sure and that they stand fast for ever and ever Psal. 111.7 8. and wee may note that the same forme of speech which the Lord useth to shew the stability of the new covenant The Mountaines shall depart and
of sinnes for making compensation to the justice of God which had beene in sinne violated and to propitiate him againe So that in this regard a Priest was to be a middle person by Gods appointment to stand and to minister betweene him and men in their behalfe to be impartiall and faithfull towards the justice and truth of God and not to be over-ruled by his love to men to injure him and to be compassionate and merciful towards the errours of men and not to be over-ruled by his zeale to Gods justice to give over the care or service of them And such an High Priest was Christ zealous of his Fathers righteousnesse and glory for hee was set forth to declare the righteousnesse of God Rom. 3.25 and he did glorifie him on earth by finishing the things which he had given him to doe Ioh. 17.4 Compassionate towards the errours and miseries of his Church for hee was appointed to expiate and to remove them out of the way Col. 2.14 Touching this Priest-hood wee will thus proceed First to enquire into the Necessitie we have of such a Priest Secondly what kinde of Qualifications are requisite in him who must be unto us such a Priest Thirdly wherein the Acts or Offices of such a Priest-hood doe principally consist Fourthly what is the Vertue fruits ends events of such a Priest-hood Fifthly what are the Duties which the execution of that office doth enforce upon us or what uses wee should make of it In these five particulars I conceive will the substance of most things which pertain unto the Priesthood of Christ be absolved For the first of these wee must premise this generall rule there can be no necessitie of a Priest in that sense which is most proper and here intended but betweene a guiltie creature and a righteous God for if man were innocent in his relations towards God hee would stand in no need of an Expiation and if God were unrighteous in the passages of mans sin there would not be due unto him any just debt of satisfaction This being premised I shall through many steps and gradations bring you to this necessitie of Christs Priest-hood which wee inquire into First every creature is unavoidably subject to the Creator for he made all things for himselfe and all is to returne that glory to him for which he made them Pro. 16.4 Rom. 9.21 And this subjection of the creature to the Creator doth suppose a debt of service to the will of the Creator Impossible it is and utterly repugnant to the quality of a creature not to be subject to some Law and indebted in some obedience or other to him that made it Omne esse is propter operari it is a certaine rule in creatures that God giveth every creature a Being to this end that it might put forth that being in some such operations as hee hath fitted it for and prescribed it to observe The most excellent of all creatures that excell in strength are Ministers to doe his pleasure and to heare his voice Psal. 103.20 21. and all the rest have their severall lawes and rules of working by his wisdome set them in the which they wait upon him and according unto which they move like Ezekiels wheeles by the conduct of an invisible Spirit and by the command of a voyce that is above them as if they understood the Law of their Creator and knew the precepts which they doe obey Ezek. 1.25 26. Psal. 104.19 No creature is for its selfe onely or its owne end for that which hath not its being of its selfe cannot be an end unto it selfe in as much as the end of every thing which is made is antecedent to the being of it in the minde and intention of him that made it The end of things is as a marke fixed and unmoveable in the purpose of the supreme cause the creatures as the arrow ordered by a most wife and efficacious providence some through naturall and necessary others voluntary and contingent motions unto one and the same generall end the glory and service of the Creator Secondly no creature is in its being or in any those operations and services which to God it owes intrinsecally and of it selfe immutable It is Gods owne peculiar honour to bee without variablenesse or shadow of changing Iam. 1.17 Mal. 3.6 There was a time when the Sunne stood still and moved backward and was filled with darknesse as with an internall cloud when the Lions have forgotten to devoure and the fire to consume and the Whales to concoct God can as he will alter the courses of nature let goe the reines and dispence with the rules which himselfe had secretly imposed upon the creatures to observe which shewes that they are not in themselves immutable That constancie which in their motions they observe is from the regular government of that most wise providence which carries them to their end without any turning Ezek. 1.17 but when his glory requires and his will commands it the mountaines tremble the sea cleaves asunder the rivers runne backe the earth opens the Lawes of nature stand still for a while without any execution as if they were suspended or repeal'd by him that made them and therefore in that place things are said to move by a voice which is above them namely by the command of the supreme cause Ezek. 1.24 25. Thirdly man being in his nature and formall constitution a reasonable creature was appointed by God to serve him after a reasonable manner out of judgement discretion and election to make choice of his way above all others as being most excellent and beautifull in it selfe and most convenient and advantageous unto man therefore our service is called a reasonable service Rom. 12.1 and David is said to have chosen the way of truth and the precepts of the Lord Psal. 119.30 and Moses to have chosen the afflictions of Gods people and the reproches of Christ before the pleasures of sinne or the treasures of Aegypt Heb. 11.25 26. And hence it is that Holinesse in the phrase of Scripture is called Iudgement he shall convince the world of judgement Ioh. 16.11 and he shall bring forth judgement unto victory Matth. 12.20 Noting that the Spirit of holinesse ruleth and worketh in the children of obedience by a way of reason and conviction therefore hee is called a Spirit of Iudgement Esay 4.4 And for this cause God did not set any over-ruling law or determinating vertue over the operations of man as of other creatures that so he might truely worke out of the conduct of judgement and election of will Fourthly there is no deviation from a reasonable service or true active obedience properly so called for the obedience of brutes and inanimate creatures is rather passive than active which hath not some intrinsecall pravity in it and by consequence some fundamentall demerit or obligation unto punishment for Guilt is the proper passion of sinne resultant out of it and therefore inseparable from
follow thee whithersoever thou leadest mee But these are but emptie velleities the wishings and wouldings of an evill heart Lord to me belongeth the shame of my failings but to thee belongeth the glory of thy mercy and forgivenesse Too true it is that I doe not all I should but doe I allow my selfe in any thing that I should not doe I make use of mine infirmities to justifie my selfe by them or shelter my selfe under them or dispence with my selfe in them though I doe not the things I should yet I love them and delight in them my heart and Spirit and all the desires of my soule are towards them I hate abhorre and fight with my selfe for not doing them I am ashamed of mine infirmities as the blemishes of my profession I am weary of them and groane under them as the burdens of my soule I have no lust but I am willing to know it and when I know to crucifie it I heare of no further measure of grace but I admire it and hunger after it and presse on to it I can take Christ and affliction Christ and persecution together I can take Christ without the world I can take Christ without my selfe I have no unjust gaine but I am ready to restore it No time have I lost by earthly businesse from Gods service but I am ready to redeeme it I have followed no sinfull pleasure but I am ready to abandon it no evill company but I mightily abhorre it I never sware an oath but I can remember it with a bleeding conscience I never neglected a duty but I can recount it with revenge and indignation I doe not in any man see the Image of Christ but I love him the more dearly for it and abhorre my selfe for being so much unlike it I know Satan I shall speed never the worse with God because I have thee for mine enemie I know I shall speed much the better because I have my selfe for mine enemie Certainly hee that can take Christ offer'd that can in all points admit him as well to purifie as to justifie as well to rule as save as well his grace as his mercie neede not feare all the powers of darknesse nor all the armies of the foulest sinnes which Satan can charge his conscience withall The second great vertue and fruit of the Priesthood of Christ was ex redundantia meriti from the redundancy and overflowing of his merit First hee doth merit to have a Church for the very being of the Church is the effect of that great price which he payed therefore the Church is called a purchased people 1 Pet. 2.9 Ask of mee and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance Psal. 2.8 when hee made his soule an offering for sinne hee did by that meanes see his seed and divide a portion with the great Esai 53.10 11 12. The delivering and selecting of the Saints out of this present evill world was the end of Christs Sacrifice Gal. 1.4 Secondly hee did merit all such good things for the Church as the great love of himselfe and his Father towards the Church did resolve to conferre upon it They may I conceive be reduced to two heads First Immunitie from evill whatsoever is left to bee removed after the payment of our debt or taking off from us the guilt and obligation unto punishment Such are the Dominion of Sinne. Sinne shall not have dominion over you Rom. 6.14 The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Iesus hath made mee free from the Law of Sinne and of Death Rom. 8.2 He that committeth sinne is the servant of sinne but if the Sonne shall make you free you shall bee free indeed Ioh. 8 34-36 Hee that is borne of God doth not commit sinne 1 Ioh. 3.9 That is he is not an artificer of sinne one that maketh it his trade and profession and therefore bringeth it to any perfection Hee hath received a Spirit of Iudgement that chaineth up his lusts and a Spirit of burning which worketh out his drosse Esai 4.4 Mal. 3.2 3. Matth. 3.2 Such is The Vanity of our Minde whereby wee are naturally unable to thinke or to cherish a good thought 2 Cor. 3.5 Eph. 4.17 The Ignorance and hardnesse of our hearts unable to perceive or delight in any spirituall thing Eph. 4.18 Ioh. 1.5 Luk. 24 25.45 The Spirit of disobedience and habituall strangenesse and aversenesse from God Eph. 4.18 Iob 20.14 Such are also all those slavish affrightfull and contumacious effects of the Law in terrifying the conscience irritating the concupiscence and compelling the froward heart to an unwilling and unwelcome conformitie The Law is now made our counseller a delight to the inner man that which was a lion before hath now food and sweetnesse in it Secondly Many Priviledges and dignities in the vertue of that principall and generall one which is our unitie unto Christ from whence by the fellowship of his holy and quickning Spirit wee have an unction which teacheth us his wayes and his voyce which sanctifieth our nature by the participation of the divine nature that is by the renewing of Gods most holy and righteous Image in us Which sanctifieth our Persons that they may bee spirituall Kings and Priests Kings to order our owne thoughts affections desires studies towards him to fight with principalities powers corruptions and spirituall enemies Priests to offer up our bodies soules prayers thanksgivings almes spirituall services upon that Altar which is before his mercy-seate and to slay and mortifie our lusts and earthly members which sanctifieth all our actions that they may bee services to him and his Church acceptable to him and profitable to others Secondly from this unity with him growes our adoption which is another fruit of his Sacrifice Hee was made of a woman made under the Law that wee might receive The Adoption of Sonnes Gal. 4.5 By which wee have free accesse to call upon God in the vertue of his Sacrifice sure supplies in all our wants because our heavenly Father knoweth all our needs a most certaine inheritance and salvation in hope for we are already saved by hope Rom. 8.24 and Christ is to us the Hope of Glory Col. 1.27 Lastly there is from hence our exaltation in our finall victory and resurrection by the fellowship and vertue of his victory over death as the first fruits of ours 1 Cor. 15.20.49 Phil. 3.21 And in our complete salvation being carried in our soules and bodies to be presented to himselfe without spot and blamelesse Eph. 5.26 27. and to bee brought unto God 1 Pet. 3.18 Now to take all in one view what a summe of mercy is here together Remission of all sinnes discharge of all debts deliverance from all curses joy peace triumph security exaltation above all evils enemies or feares a peculiar purchased roiall seed the gift of God the Father to his Sonne deliverance from the dominion and service of all sinne vanity ignorance hardnesse disobedience bondage coaction terror sanctification
wisdome more various and admirable curiositie more filling and plentifull satisfaction more proportion to the boundlesse desires of a soule once rectified more fruit and salvation which should bee the end of every Christian mans learning than in all other knowledge which either past or present ages can afford In one word every where and in all things I am there taught how to want and how to abound and how to do all things through Christ that strengthens me A Christian can be set in no estate wherein the abundant Care of Christ over him is not in the Gospell wonderfully magnified And commonly in the greatest straits he sheweth the greatest care as waters runne strongest in the narrowest passages when we walk in darknesse and have no light when we seeke water and there is none and our tongue faileth for thirst then is his fittest time to helpe us and then is our fittest time to stay upon him Israel were deliverd by miracles of mercy from their Egyptian bondage and in the wildernesse conducted by a miraculous presence and fed with Angels food Isaak was upon the Altar and then in the mount was the Lord seene and his mercy stepped in betweene the knife and the sacrifice Iacob in great feare of his brother Esau and then comforted by prevailing with an Angell which was stronger than Esau. Peter in sorest distresse for denying Christ and he the first man to whom Christ sent newes of his Resurrection Paul in the shippe visited by an Angell Peter in prison delivered by an Angell The distressed woman at Christs Sepulcher comforted by an Angell Such as the extremities of the Saints are such is Christs care for their deliverances And this Care is further commended that it proceedeth solely from the grace and compassion of Christ there is no affection naturally in us to desire it there is no vertue in us to deserve it when we were in our bloud well pleased with our owne pollution hee doubled his goodnesse and used a kinde of violence and importunitie of mercy to make us live when we did not seeke after him when wee did not so much as aske whether hee were fit to bee sought when wee were aliens from his Covenant and strangers to his name hee even then multiplied his invitations unto us I said behold mee behold me unto a people that were not called by my name When we were weake full of impotencie when wee were sinners full of antipathy when we were enemies full of obstinacie and rebellion when wee cared not for him but turned our backes and stopped our eares and suffered him to throw away in vaine so many Sermons so many Sacraments so many mercies so many afflictions upon us when we cared not for our selves no man repented or said what have I done even then did hee magnifie his compassion towards us hee cared for us when we neglected our selves and despised him he bestowed his mercy not onely upon the unthankfull but upon the injurious But then a little compassion is enough for those that had deserved none for those that had provoked scorne and displeasure against themselves but herein is the care and tendernesse of Christ abundantly magnified that it hath in it all the ingredients of a most soveraigne mercy that nothing more could have beene done than he hath done for us First for the foundation and original of al mercy there is in him an overflowing of love without stint or measure a turning of heart a rouling and sounding of bowels a love which surpasseth all knowledge which is aâ— much beyond the thoughts or comprehensions as it is above the merits of men Secondly there is a studie and inquisitivenesse how to doe good a debating within himselfe a consulting and projecting how to shew mercy an arguing as it were of his grace with mans sinne and his owne severitie How shall I give thee up Ephraim How shall I deliver thee Israel How shall I make thee as Admah How shall I set thee as Zeboim mine heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together True it is thou hast beene unto me as the Rulers of Sodome and as the people of Gomorrah But shall I be unto thee as I have beene unto them Am I not God and not man shall I change my Covenant because thou hast multiplied thy backslidings The Lord useth such humane expressions of his proceedings with men as if their sinnes had put him to a stand and brought him to difficulties in shewing mercy I said how shall I put thee amongst the children and give thee a pleasant Land c. Thy case is very desperate and thou hast stopped up the courses of my mercy towards thy selfe how then shall I make good my resolutions of compassion towards those that reject and nullifie it to themselves surely there is no way but one to over-rule the hearts of obstinate sinners that they may not turne away any more Thou shalt call mee my Father that is I will put filial affections awful thoughts constant resolutions into thy heart and thou shalt not turne away from mee I will melt them and trie them saith the Lord for how shall I doe for the daughter of my people The Lord setteth himselfe to study and contrive mercie for his people that as they set up their sinnes as it were in pride to pose his Covenant so he gathereth together his thoughts of mercy as it were to conquer their sinnes Thirdly there is constancie and continuance in this his Care His mercy endureth his compassions faile not but are renewed every morning And therefore the mercies of David that is of Christ for so he is called or the mercies of the Covenant made with David are called Sure mercies they have a foundation the everlasting love and counsell of God upon which they are built they have many seales by which they are confirmed the faithfulnesse the immutabilitie and the oath of God If there were not continuance in his mercies if he were not the same yesterday and to day and for ever in his truth and fidelitie to his Church if hee should change and turne from us as oft as we forsake him if he should leave us in the hand of our owne counsell and not afford us such daily supplies of his Spirit as might support us against the ruinous disposition of our owne nature wee should be children of wrath every day anew But herein doth the abundant care of Christ in the Gospell declare it selfe unto us that though we are wormes in our selves full of weaknesse and of earthly affections yet God hath a right-hand of righteousnesse which can uphold us that though we are bent to back-sliding yet he is God and not man unchangeable in his Covenant with the Persons almighty in his power and mercy towards the sinnes of men both to cover them with his righteousnesse and to cure them by his Spirit both to forgive for the time past
and to heale and prevent back-slidings for the time to come Fourthly that he might be fit for so meane and humble a service there was a lessening and emptying of himselfe he was contented to be subject to his owne Law to be the childe of his owne creature to take upon himselfe not the similitude onely but the infirmities of sinfull flesh to descend from his throne and to put on rags in one word to become poore for us that we through his povertie might be made rich Amongst men many will be willing to shew so much mercy as will consist with their state and greatnesse and may tend to beget a further distance and to magnifie their heighth and honour in the mindes of men but when it comes to this exigent that a man must debase himselfe to doe good unto another that his compassion will be to a miserable man no benefit except he suffer ignominie and undergoe a servile condition for him and doe as it were change habits with the man whom he pities what region of the earth will afford a man who will freely make his owne honour to be the price of his brothers redemption yet this is the manner of Christs Care for us who though hee were the Lord of Glory the brightnesse of his Fathers Majestie and the expresse Image of his Person did yet humble himselfe to endure shame and the contradiction of sinners that he might be the Author and finisher of our faith Fifthly There was not onely an humbling or metaphoricall emptying of himselfe in that he made himselfe of no reputation but there was likewise a reall and proper emptying of himselfe he therein testified his wonderfull Care of the businesses of man that for them he put himselfe to the greatest expence and to the exhausting of a richer treasure than any either heaven or earth could afford besides yee were not redeemed saith the Apostle with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vaine conversation but with the precious bloud of Christ as of a Lambe without blemish and without spot That which no man will bestow upon himselfe and that which was in nature and might justly in love have beene neerest to Christ himselfe even the soule in his body and the bloud in his veines he was contented to make a sacrifice for them who powred it out as the bloud of a malefactour Sixthly besides this great price which he paid to his Father for us hee hath opened another treasure of his Grace and Spirit out of which he affordeth us daily supplies and putteth into our hands as it were an heavenly stocke for the better negotiating and improvement of our salvation Hee setteth up his Spirit in our hearts thereby conversing and communing with us teaching us the trade of the citizens of heaven and of laying up treasures there where our finall abode must be of having our conversation and commerce with innumerable companies of Angels and with the spirits of just men made perfect and withall that generall assembly or Church of the first-borne which is inrolled in heaven Lastly to all this he addeth Preparations and provisions for the future for us he doth not onely give but he prepareth things for those that love him and what ever is wanting now he will make it up unto us in the riches of his glory It was for our expediencie that hee left the Church on earth in regard of his carnall presence and went unto his Father againe Hee was not beholden to change oâ— place for his owne glory for his heaven was within him as a fountaine and indeed it is his presence which maketh heaven to be the place of glory therefore Saint Paul desired to depart and to be with Christ noting that it is not heaven but Christs presence which is the glory of the Saints Therefore I say it was for us that he went to heaven againe for their sakes saith he I sanctifie my selfe it is expedient for you that I goe away Expâ—dient to seale and secure our full and finall redemption unto us for as the Leviticall Priest entred not into the holiest of all without bloud so neither did Christ into heaven without making satisfaction hee first obtained eternall redemption for us and then he entred into the holy place and expedient to prepare a place for us that the glory which is given to him hee may give unto us that being raised up together we may likewise sit together with him in heavenly places for when the head is crowned the whole body is invested with royall honour Hee by the vertue of his Ascension opened the kingdome of heaven for all beleevers even the Fathers before Christ entred not in without respect unto that consummate redemption which hee was in the fulnesse of time to accomplish for his Church As a man may be admitted into an actuall possession of land onely in the vertue of covenants and under the intuition of a payment to be afterwards performed Thus we see in how many things the abundant Care of Christ doth shew it selfe towards the Church And as there are therein all the particulars of a tender care so by the Gospell likewise doe all the fruits and benefits thereof redound unto the faithfull First in the Gospell he feedeth and strengthneth them even in the presence of their enemies he prepareth them a table and feedeth them with his rod and according to their comming out of Aegypt he sheweth unto them marvellous things And therefore our Saviour calleth his Gospell The childrens bread It is that which quickneth which strengthneth them which maketh them fruitfull in spirituall workes Secondly He upholdeth them from fainting if their strength at any time faile hee leadeth them gently and teacheth them to goe As Iacob led on his cattell and his children softly according as they were able to endure so Christ doth lead out his flocke and hold his children by the hand and teach them to goe and draweth them with the cords of a man that is with meeke and gentle institution such as men use towards their children and not to their beasts and with bands of love As an Eagle sluttereth over her young and spreadeth abroad her wings and taketh them and beareth them on her wings so doth the Lord in his Gospel sweetly lead on and institute the faithfull unto strength and salvation he dealeth with them as a compassionate nurse with a tender infant condescendeth to their strength and capacitie when we stumble he keepeth us when we fall he raiseth us when we faint hee beareth us in his armes when wee grow weary of well-doing the Gospell is full of encouragements to hearten us full of spirit to revive us full of promises to establish us full of beautie to entice us when we seeme to be in a wildernesse a maze where there is no issue nor view of deliverance even there he openeth a doore of hope and allureth and speaketh