composition of parts compleat and in a sweet order there is a free intercourse of blood and spirits between each part and in each passage whence the whole is in perfect strength and each part active and able to its office But when there grow obstructions the passages between part and part are stopped the work is hindered and the whole prejudiced both in health and strength So it is when this Oneness and this neer relation in the power and expressions of it betwixt the Soul and the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ hath his ful and free-passage There is a special intercourse of the presence and spiritual influence of the spirit of Adoption upon the soul whence follows a quickning vertue and inlarged fruitfullness in all the services to God and man As they are one with the Father and Christ so are they wholly acted by them and approve both their hearts and carriages unto them in all well pleasing So the Apostle 1. Joh. 3.6 He that abideth in Christ sinneth not but he that sinneth hath not seen him nor known him Use to Instruct Comfort Exhort Us. 1. Instruction The practise of our Savior is a precedent and pattern of praying to al the faithful unto the end of the world teaching us how we should order our desires when we appear before the Lord and put up our petitions unto the throne of Grace Thou seest here what our Savior seeks for sues for and that in thy behalf and for thy good yea when he would lay in for the relief of his servants and provide for their comfort in this world before he was to go into another world When he would suit them with blessings and good things that might be serviceable for their everlasting wellfare This is the great and grand request and that put up in the first place That they may be one in us Go thy way do thou likewise pray thou likewise Let this petition have the chief place in thy heart and the first place in thy prayer As the Apostle in another case I may in this Let the same mind be in thee that was in Jesus Christ He is most wise and best knows what may procure our good and is more merciful and careful for our wellfare than we our selves If wise and knows best merciful and cares more for our eternal good than we for our selves when we have such a Guid that can not erre who shews us the way we may safely follow it A pattern beyond all exception we may nay we ought if we be wise-hearted to imitate it The prayer of our Savior is the standard by this we should make al prayers judg all True in every thing our prayers and supplications ought to be made known to God What ever we would have or have a sanctified use of seek it and seek a blessing upon it what ever we receive be thankful for it But that which is of greatest worth we have most need of and may receive most good by affect that more than al the rest and seek that before all other Of the six Petitions but one for worldly things Where the Lord in his word bestows more lives and labour to direct thee bestow thou most care to attend and take it Set then this prayer of our Savior a Sampler dayly before thine Eyes when thou comest to petition good things for thy self say It is not the profiting of this world that may inrich not comforts conveniences which might content that I seek for But Oh that I and al mine and al thine the families of thy servants and the assembly may be not one only in affection but one in that neerest relation of dearest love to thee blessed Father and blessed redeemer That we might not live but thou wouldest live in us That we may be al one in thee Use 2. Comfort We have here matter of unconceiveable comfort to support the feeble spirit and fetch up the fainting and drooping hearts of the poor and faithful servants of the Lord. What ever difficulty ye meet withal that may dismay you what ever opposition from without which may resist and hinder or weakness from within that may discourage you either from the seeking or expecting so great a favor so high and happy a priviledg from the hands of the Lord What that I Such a sinful and wretched creature who am sit to be cooped up with the damned and chained up with the Devils who have been one with them in al their wickedness temptations have not been presented occasions offered so soon but Oh! this vile heart hath been one and sided with them and been carried by them and transported with distempers as with a violent stream What I can this carnal cursed heart ever be one with so holy and blessed a God what I that have been a Traytor to the Lord Jesus and shed his Blood and crucified again the Lord of life I who have been a Rebel against the Rich mercy and Grace of the Father so graciously provided so freely offered that ever I should imagine to be one with these who have been an enemy to both its beyond my thoughts much more my Hopes it s not possible therefore not credible Why alas mine own experience wil give in evidence and that undeniable against my Soul I have had all means injoyed all ordinances God hath tried all conclusions compassed me about with mercies hedged me in with afflictions to hold my heart to him and keep me with him All Hopes and helps have been plucked away from whence I expected relief that I might look to him and be quickened and carried by him It s not possible therefore to be attained True It s not possible for al means to work Nor possible by any power or ability of thine own to bring it about And yet it is not possible if the Lord Jesus have prayed for it but God should give it and you undoubtedly receive it from his Majesties hands Our Savior professeth so much Father I know tho hearest me alwaies Joh. 1 4â— therefore it s no more but that which Christ avoweth he knows and therefore thou mayst build upon it know Yea upon this ground he supports the heart of Peter in that heavy Shock when almost al was gone Luk. 22.32 Satan hath destred to winnow you but I have prayed that thy Faith fail not When therefore Satans Assaults are never so fel and fierce his temptations never so fiery which with their vehemency multitude and continuance seem to shake and sink thy heart when helps and heart and Hopes and prayers and al fail so that thou art at thy wits end and utmost period of thy thoughts yet the prayer of our Savior never fails of acceptance and success Therefore set thy heart at rest Christ shal either miss of his prayer or I will not miss of this priviledg Therefore yet this staggering and back-sliding heart wil be seâ—led Therefore this giddy and unstedy heart wil be established If the Father
be one with the Father and the Son is the END and so of greater excellency than al the glorious Grace the Saints do partake of 1. This unity or oneness is not the unity of affection which the faithful as members of the same body ought to maintain in their hearts and consciences and convers As being of one heart and mind Keeping the unity of the faith in the bond of peace For First The express words of vers 21. hold forth the contrary and the latter looks another way That they may be one in us As though our Savior had purposely added the interpretation of his prayer and words q. d. If you ask me of what unity I speak when I pray that beleevers should be one my intendment may most easily and fully be understood of this resemblance As I am in the Father and the Father in me the scope of my prayer is they should be one in us The unity in themselves wil surely follow but that 's not it I now so fully look at Again the words of the verse wil not admit this sense The glorious grace given to the Saints by Christ is made here distinct from this Oneness as the means is different from the end and less excellent than the end But unity of Affection is part of that glorious Grace which our Savior hath given the faithful So that it is the unity of relation As the Father wholly and alone gives his being and Sonship to Christ The Son as he receives so he returnes his being to the Father as things in relation look each to the other receive and give consistence one to the other and so may be said to be in each other and to be one in this mutual respect Joh. 14.10 Beleevest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me So here As the Father is to Christ looks only as a Father to a Son and gives subsistence to him The Son again looks only to a Father and returnes his being subsistence of a Son to him So Christ to the faithful He gives Spiritual being in Adoption to them as his Sons only They as Sons return al that spiritual being to him again So our Savior As I am one in them and thou in me and by spiritual influence communicate the being of Sons to them So they are one in me and to in thee by receiving and returning al alone unto us So that our Savior doth not only bring the Soul of the faithful into the neeâ—est relation of dearest love as Adopted Sons But also into that spiritual intercourse of the peculiar and divine operation of God upon the Soul whereby the Soul returnes unto God to do al and receive al. To do all for himself in man To receive al to himself by man The Lord Jesus having fitted the Soul for himself and united the Soul to himself and made the Soul acceptable to the Father in his Blood He sends the spirit of Adoption into the hearts of his sets their hearts for God Holds the â—ent of their hearts towards him This is the gracious look of a Father towards them The faithful receiving this spiritual being of Sonship Fasten to Christ as the fountain of life leave their hearts with him and abide in him to be wholly acted by the influence and assistance of his Spirit and to hold up the excellency thereof Thus they return al to God in Christ 2. How this glorious Grace which the Lord imprints upon the Soul is distinguished from this Oneness Answ The words in the Text evidence the distinction i. e. They differ as the means appointed to an end are distinct from the end This unity of relation carries the glorious operations or motions of the presence of the Spirit upon the beleevers Heart I cal them Stirrings of his presence as implying that which is somwhat more general than the gracious dispositions spiritual and supernatural habits of Grace For though those also Issue from the operation of the spirit yet they are somwhat more As the Spirit assisting fastening holding the heart and making it to abide under the stroke of the spirit pacifying quickening Are not so much habits of Grace poured into the Soul but rather Dints and stirrings of the Spirit assisting or inhabiting As he that sets or Joints the part that is out and chafeth it out of its numness leaves a remembrance of the power and motion of his Hand But he that puts in Oyl leaves a quality or Oyly moisture which remaines in the part So here The spirit draws and unites the soul in vocation leaves the poyse of the assistance of the spirit upon it in Adoption whereby it makes the soul abide in Christ and under the stroke of his spirit as he abides in it And hence follows the impression of the image of God the gracious habits of wisedom holiness righteousness in the wil and so a liberty to spiritual good whereby the beleever is inabled not only to put forth acts of obedience and observance which concern the works of the Law but even to set a going and that a fresh those several operations of the Spirit unto which he had been formerly quickened by the vertue of the Gospel and carried unto by this covenant of Grace as to fasten to Christ to abide in him and resign it self to be acted by him and the power of his spirit and Grace And this is indeed a thing of highest excellency and therefore to this end and purpose the Choicest of all Graces ought in an eipecial manner to be improved And this appeares by these Reasons following 1. That therein the glory of God and his divine and unconceiveable excellencies are most magnified and Advanced for that end even the glorious Graces in their highest pitch ought to be improved But in this union of relation towards God al the divine excellencies will most gloriously appear and in truth much more than in al the gracious habits the Soul is capable of Thus the Apostle intimates to my apprehension with some evidence as though he of purpose intended it and would have al to understand it so 2 Thess 1.10 When the Lord shal come at the day of Judgment to render vengeance to those that obey not the Gospel then saies the Apostle The Lord shal be glorified in his Saints but admired in those that beleeve True it is that those who are Saints do beleeve but the Apostle seems apparently to shew the odds and this glorious excellency of the true Graces They who are sanctified and express the power of Gods Grace in their hearts and lives God wil be glorified in them that they do express his vertues and so set forth the glory of his Name But when he comes to consider of the bringing of a man to beleeve here the work of God and the excellency of his dealing is that which dazels the very Eyes of Angels and amazeth the hearts of Devils There his works are beyond all admiration Admiration
nothing but in love and out of mercy to the one intercede now in Heaven order al creatures and overwork al occasions in Earth for the good of the one and do nothing for the other but there is a hand of Justice and the Poyson of his displeasure which first or last either in the entrance or in the Issue wil be an ingredient in every passage of Gods providence towards them Let them both have the same outward blessing its Diet to the one surfet to the other poyson to the one and a preservative to the other the one wil be quickned and inlarged to God by it with thankfulness the other becomes proud insolent towards men careless and negligent towards God Let them both be under the same Rod and correction the one wil be made more humble and the Heart wil be wrought to a more watchful care to walk more awfully before the Lord the other wil be made more frampful and preverse and hardned in a self willy erring frame of Spirit Thus some expound that of Paul Gal. 1.15 God who had separated him from the Womb had set him a part in his counsel and purpose to such a service and even from the Womb in his education and course of life and studyes he was severing and suiting of him for his own turn Object But it wil be said do not we see by proof and experience that even the dearest servants of the Lord before their conversion pervert even the bounty and blessing of the Lord to the increase of their sin and hasting of their ruin The learning and wisdome of Paul lifts up his Heart in pride and sets on his spirit to presecute the Church He profited more than his equals and breathed out threatnings more than they al. How are these then fruits of mercy when they are thus accursed to a man and indeed can be no other for an unbeleeving Heart wil suck Poyson out of the sweetest blessing the Lord bestows Answ They are blessings as they come from God and as he give them they prove Curses as the Heart that is yet graceless abuseth them they are preservatives as they come from the Hand of the almighty and he administers them they are turned to Poyson as a corrupt Heart perverts them to its own hurt As the Physitian out of love and wisdom administers a wholsom potion but a foul stomack turns it al into matter of an ill Humor and so a Disease And yet also I answer in the Second place That in the Issue at the last the Lord even out-bids all and over-works all even the abuse of all blessings the the furfeting upon al his kindnesses to the further abasing of the soul fearful and thankful walking before him when once he is effectually brought home There is a special Confection made out of the kindnesses and our corrupt distempers for our deeper Humiliation in regard of our selves and admiration in regard of Gods goodness As it was said of them in Egypt so the Psalmist applies it to al The Lord doth marvaâ—lously separate his mercier Hence also we have an answer to the cavil of the Papists who plead that Christ doth not bear al the punishment which the Saints deserve For say they before their conversion when they were not in the state of Grace nor in Christ those afflictions that were laid on them must needs be true punishments and issue from divine Justice revenging not from the love of a Father correcting therefore Christ may suffer for the pardon of al their sins and yet not bear al their punishments Answ They do come from the love of a Father who in his counsel hath determined it and in Christ hath fully transacted it though it is not yet actually either bestowed or received of them in the work of redemption Use 2. Here is matter of admiration of the boundless and unconceivable compassion of the Lord Jesus towards those that do beleeve they should get them into Davids Counting-House of serious consideration and Sum up al those precious expressions of his faithfulness and goodness in their whol course Instead of reckoning up the value of them melt away and be wholly swallowed up in the wonderment and admiration of that they are not able to recount much less to comprehend according to the worth thereof Psal 40.5 Many O Lord my God are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to us-ward they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee Look back therefore men Bretheren and Fathers beloved and blessed of the Lord unto the daies forepast even from that first birth unto this present hour The goodness of the Lord how hath it grown up and gone along with you from time to time view the succession of those sweet and tender compassions which have been renewed and multiplied upon you as your years and daies and months and moments of your life Know it was from the care and through the vertue of the prayers of Christ that you came into this world that he first time of your breathing had not been the first time of your damning He hath rocked your Cradles nursed you at your Mothers Breasts trained you up in your tender years taken care of you and then prayed for you when you did not could not pray for your selves Oh the Riches of that Mercy Will not every Man say cannot each Man confess it had I continued in such a place conversed with such wretched company with whom I was somtimes linked and confederate had not the Lord freed me from those snares delivered me from those temptations had he not born with the baseness of my Heart but taken the advantage against me and snatched me away when I was posting down to Hell in the eager pursuit of such and such base lusts there had been no possibility but I had perished Oh the Riches of that Mercy Nay had he but let Satan loose upon me or mine own corruptions loose within me unto which I was addicted and which was my delight and life This wretched Heart had never come to an end nor measure in sin A Cain here A Judas here An Achitophel here nay a Hell was here in this Heart yea what the Heart of Beelzebub harbored the spawn of it was here So that might I have had but mine own will I had never ceased sinning until I had come unto that unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost and so had been past Hope of recovery But it was the care the prayer of Jesus that prevented it and my everlasting ruin Oh the Riches of that mercy Nay when I lay secure and senseless in my sin and never thought of means nor ever sought for them he sent them though I was careless he continued them when there was no Eye to pity me nor I had a Heart to pity my self yet when he saw me in my Blood he said live Poor creature live Oh the Riches of that mercy of a Christ Nay such was the
sickness had he but the Physitian by him that could heal It would refresh the Child in Misery and want were the tender mother by that would pity could relieve Our Saviour is al and more than al he can answer al thy desires and he is present and apprehensive of thy grievances In all their afflictions he was afflicted He is in thee he shares in al thy sorrows Why persecutest thou me So David Psal 73.26 My heart and my flesh al inward and outward helps fail but the Lord is the strength of my heart his wisdom was in his mind his subjection in his wil his sweet calms and quiet in his distempered affections that strengthened al. USE 6. Matter of Humiliation to all the Saints who have Christ so neer to them so spiritually so specially present with them and yet they know so little of him are so little acquainted with him As Paul in another case Acts 17.23 touching the Altar set up to the unknown God he answers Whom ye ignorantly worship him I shew unto you for he is not far from you for in him we live and move and have our being So of Christ whom ye ignorantly worship and desire to see and enquire of Christ by Christ As Mary asked of the Lord where the Lord Jesus was O! they go weeping and seeking after a Savior complain they cannot hear of him c. mourn after him He is not far from you nay is in you and works al your works for you Your Consciences have been in terror and perplexity and again quelled Tweetly and calmed it was Christ that did it Your Spirits were sunk down in discouragements and knew not how to recover themselves and yet beyond hope supported it was Christ that did it And therefore as our Saviour complained and checked Philip John 14.9 Have I been so long with you and dost thou not know me Philip Hath Christ so long striven with those rebellious so long comforted quickened in weaknesses strengthened you in wants supplied helped you to cal so often heard so long born with al that baseness and do ye not yet know Jesus Christ Complain of thine own blindness and heedlesness The Lord Jesus was in this place in this heart and I was not aware of him wretch that I am Gen. 28.16 USE 7. Here is matter of Admiration even to force us to stand amazed at the endless compassion of a Savior Why should he pass by so many as good and better than our selves as we came out of the Lyons of Adam yet to knock at our doors cal upon us John 14.22 Lord why wilt thou shew thy self to us and not unto the world Why shed his blood for us send his Spirit to us why pass by so many provocations and pity and pardon us As Solomon Behold the Heaven is not able to contain thee how shal this so poor a Tent So thou of thy heart and is it possible Or as she How comes it that the Mother of my Lord is come unto me It was Moses his Dispute Deut. 4.34 Did ever God assay c. Did ever people hear God c. But they have God dwelling in them USE 8. Of Exhortation 1. To be affected with the presence of so great a Majesty and so affected with his presence as to see our own weakness and worthlesnes When God had Schooled Job out of the Whirl-whind see how he sits down abased Behold I am vile How the Centution esteemed the presence of our Saviour in the daies of his Humiliation Behold I am not worthy thou should'st come under my Roof How we of our Saviours Spiritual presence now in glory to come so neer as to dwel in these wretched hearts of ours 2. Therefore study to give suitable entertainment and welcom to so glorious a Guest set al our abilities on work as Abraham his Servants that we may answer the coming and kindness of the Lord. And that 's in Two things 1 Content him with the provision we make 2 Honor him with attendance that is meet 1 Study his Content Walk in all well-pleasing Col. 1.10 2 Cor. 5.9 Be Ambitious to please As with persons of great quality we enquire of their followers what wil please what Diet they desire we provide it if can be purchased with money So here This in four things 1. Bring truth of Spirit in al our performances Psal 51.6 Thou lovest truth in the inner parts So Hezekiah Remember how I have walked before thee with an upright heart Isa 38.3 God seeks for such who is a God of Truth just and right Deut. 32.4 only the heart of al the Sacrifice 2. Present him with nothing but his own That which he commands not he accepts not Who required these things No man knows what wil please him before he shew his pleasure Matth. 15.9 They worship him in vain when they invent dishes of their own 3. Let the Diet be fresh and new dressed That which is old and stale it is not wholsom much less honorable to set it before a stranger It must be fresh fat and good and new killed Psal 98.1 David speaks of a new Song of Thanksgiving As in the Shew-bread which was dayly set before the Lord it must be set on fresh in the several seasons Levit. 24.8 Exod. 25.30 each Sabboth God gives a new Command It 's an old Command but renewed with fresh colors a new Covenant Jer. 31.31 So we bring new Love Faith and Repentence renew and stirr up a fresh thy Graces 4. Humility and feare Mic. 6.8 Isa 66.2 Men converse with marvailous underness and awfullness before great personages when they are sleight and negligent in the presence of their underlings So must we be awful and feareful when we come into Christs presence to be negligent here is to dishonor and to distast him it is to use him as an underling 2. Honor him with our attencance 1. Attend him with gladness and cheerfullness of heart Joy is a sit Chamberlain to wait comes and goes readily Deut. 28.47 With glad hearts Act. 2.46 Eat their meat together with joyfulness of heart God loves a cheerful look not lowring 2. With a ready watchfulness to listen to the intimation of Gods mind Observe every look take notice of the least beck listen to the lowest speech watch every passage and appearance of the pleasure of the Lord. Luk. 12.35 Stand with your loynes girt and your Lamps burning waiting for his coming Have al trim our Lamps and Vessels Here Lord. See what God would and suit answerably Thou in me We have handled the first degree attending the order of our Savior who looks at them as they appeare to us and therefore so propounds them as they may be most easily apprehended We are now come to the first fountain and original from whence this spiritual priviledg and unity hath his rise dispensed and communicated That is from the In-being of the Father in Christ This is the highest degree further than which we cannot
To do al form himself in man not man to do it To receive all to himself by man not man to take it which was otherwise in the covenant of works The Lord Jesus having fitted the Soul for himself and united the Soul to himself and made the Soul acceptable to the Father in his Blood He sends the spirit of Adoption into the hearts of his sets their hearts for God and holds the bent of their heâ—rts towards him This is the gracious look of the Father The faithful the spiritual being of Sonship 1. Fasten to God in Christ as the fountain of life 2. Leave their hearts there and abide to be wholly acted by the influence and assistance of his Spirit 3. And to hold up the excellency thereof not I but Christ by the power of his might Mark that to be acted by the influence of the spirit not by a principle of Grace in our selves This is the Oneness to be carried beyond the covenant of works and the work of Grace or any principle thereof in our selves but to cling about God in Christ that he may act al in us and by us and we hold out him in al our works 2. How is this said to be perfected We shall better understand this if we a little consider the imperfection of this Oneness and wherein it appears the ful removal of those weaknesses wil be the perfecting of this priviledg in our Souls This imperfection lies in three things 1. In the feebleness and unsoundness of our spirit when we do not abide in the Lord we do out leave our selves under the power and stream of the Spirit of promise in and through which al spiritual vertue is dispensed and the influence of the Spirit is conveyed unto us But either we are crowded and thrust off by the strength and violence of temptation which as violent and boisterous winds and raging waves force the Vessel out of the Channel carries at upon the shore and shelves where it is set on ground if not split So Peter in the shock the assault came so fierce that it rowted his heart wholly and David in hast faid I shal one day perish c. Psal 16.11 Or Els We go aside willingly through the folly and deceiveable lusts of our carnal mind which catch at every Twigg hang upon every Hedg rawm and reach after re set by our own devices Will ye also go away Joh. 6.67 Jonah hath a fetch of his own and forlook his own mercies Jon. 2.8 Somtimes out of sinful discouragements the Soul like the Body in a fainting sit cannot see his way nor his Comfort nor can it help it self by holding that which is next at hand Like a man wildering in a dark night and out of the way he goes he knows not which way Isa 49.14 My God hath forsaken me This comes thus to be helped when God settles and stakes down the soul that it wil not go away nor be carried away O! intreat me nat to leave thee Ruth 1. Ashur shall not save us but with thee the fatherless finds mercy Hos 14.3 When we grow up in Christ as they I will wait upon him that hides his face from the house of Jacob and will look upward Isa 8.17 not inward outward downward backward when nothing from without moves us nothing from within stirs us or makes us turn back 1 Chron. 29. 18 as they Dan. 3.16.17 We care not to answer our God can and if he please he will however thither they look and thence they wil not go 2. As there is feebleness we abide not so there is crossness to the power of the Spirit which gives not way thereunto Though God through Christ let in some intimation to the soul and our Savior put his hand into the hole of the door and his fingers drop Mirrh leaves sweet insinuations of his favor present remembrances of himself Cant. 4.4 yet the soul is composing it self to a secure sluggish frame Psal 77.3 My soul refused comfort Ahaz will not ask a sign Isa 7.12 So Exod. 6.9 As Job in another case If God will speak kindly I could not beleeve it As Asa in a desperate pang refused to hear and receive Direction and Reproof from the Seen who would have brought him again to the Lord 2 Chron. 16. told him the eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the world to shew himself stronger He lost his strength and peace all his daies This hindrance is removed when this crossness of whatever kind it is that may â—op the passage and Influence of the Spirit is taken off and when it 's wholly removed then is it fully perfected I can do nothing against the Truth 2 Cor. 13.8 I came without gainsaying Acts 10.29 Pray without Dialogueing 1 Tim 2.8 Abraham considered noâ— Sarahs barren Womb Rom. 4.19 Live and walk in the Spirit Gal. 5.25 As the Soul when a obstructions are removed hath his ful intercourse in the Body so when this opposition is removed 3. When by feebleness we abide not by crossness we close not or come to be fully ingrafted into the Promise So lastly When the Soul will joyn any thing with Christ or expect any Principle or Power to quicken or carry our hearts or abilities to any Service beside Christ as sharing with him in any quickening vertue further than he appoints them goes with them works by them This is a desperate prejudice to the perfection of this Unity and returning al to God in Christ To lean upon Christ and our own Wisdom expect from Christ and our own Abilities Ordinances Offices c. I am Pauls and I am Christs 1. Cor. 1.12 this is to joyn a stone and staff together and so we hold neither in our hand This is perfected When we come to eye nothing but Christ to joyn nothing with him expect nothing but from him no strength but from a Savior but from Christ who hath appointed it sanctified and blessed it Paul is nothing Apollo is nothing Word Ordinances nothing but Christ in them they work nor further than Christ is in them prosper not further than Christ blesseth them A Sacrament may poyson thee as wel as nourish if thou discernest not there who is the Food of thy Soul The Word may be a savor of Death as wel as of Life if Christ breath not bless not Therefore al the Faculties should fasten upon God in Christ as Eagles upon their Prey or as so many lines about the Centre al meet him Hopes expect Grace from God in Christ and from nothing else Desires long for mercy from God in Christ and nothing else As they We will remember thy Name only Jehosaphat had al the Forces in Israel yet staies there There is no strength in us our eyes are towards thee When once it comes to that we shall see him as be is then we shall be like unto him 1 John 3.2 When we are setled so that we stir not yield so to al of Christ
second Adam it wholly fastens upon God in Christ and so leaves it self wholly to be acâ—ed by the influence thereof and holds out the excellency thereof that is not I but Christ not by my power and might but by the power of the might of Christ Thus the Sinner is wholly beyond the covenant of works So that the faithful hath nothing of himself doth nothing from himself or for himself As Christ the Son doth nothing of himself but what he sees the Father do Joh. 5.19 But God in Christ doth al for himself in man man doth it not receives al himself by man man can take nothing This I said was the leaving of the Soul under the influence of the spirit not under a principle of Grace or sanctification for that comes after is there is acted and preserved by this For the spirit holds nor us only but our Graces quickens and keeps them But a clinging about God in Christ that he may act al in us and by us Therefore the Apostle joins both these Eph. 3.16 Praies that we may be strengthened by the power of the spirit in the inward man The inward man is the man of Sanctification Now there is a power of his spirit that gives strengthening vertue to that This is that for Christ to abide in us and we in him Joh. 15. As the Father abides in Christ so Christ in the Father so Christ abides in us and we in him Christ gives al we receive and return all Christ looks upon us by his spirit we look wholly to Christ or wholly to the influence of that spirit in Christ hold out the power and vertue thereof that it may leave impression of al vertues in us preserve perfect quicken what it leaves So that God is in Christ and he as from the Father is in them God out of his love begets his Son gives the being of Son to him Christ out of his love begets his gives the being of adoped ones to them Once more As Christ looks only towards the Father as his Son begotten as he receives so he returnes So the faithful under the impression of the spirit of Christ as his begotten and adopted ones look towards him leave their hearts with him as of him to receive al as from him to do al. If Christ as begotten of the Father and one with him and abiding in him doth from the Father beget his adopted ones and makes them one with the Father and himself then doth the Father love the faithful with the like love of union as his Son issues from a like ground is in a like manner dispensed Only the odds is in the measure His love infinite immediate inconceiveable This finite mediate and proportionable to the condition of a creature And I cannot see by al the little light I have how to give a savory and seasonable interpretation of the place but according to this ground Joh. 10.14 15. I know mine his sheep his Sons whom he hath taken to himself and am known of them his knowing of them makes himself to be known and the rise from whence this comes verse 15. As my Father knows me and I am known of my Father 2. God loves the faithful with a like love of complacency as he doth the Son stil attend the likeness not the largness and equality of it with Christ God is first wel pleased and in him with is and such a complacency the Father takes in the Son as no creature indeed could procure and therefore no meer creature was able to receive and without Christ none ever could have been made partaker of it For had Adam obeyed the Law and done that which suited the covenant and so answered the rewarding justice of the Lord yet the revenging justice of the Lord had not yet been manifested When then sin was committed and an infinite justice wrought and an infinite punishment deserved it was beyond the compass of any creature to answer that wrong pay that debt Therefore the Lord Jesus takes our Nature that he may suffer and support our Nature in suffering by the power of his Deity that it sink not under the infinite wrath and justice of the Father and so this revenging justice is answered to the very ful and his rewarding justice please also And as thus with Christ so with the faithful Hebr. 10.14 They who have the acceptation of God in Christ made theirs to them the Lord extends the love of complacency But they have the love of God in Christ made theirs and set the evidence of this by the proportion A finite sin committed against an infinite being infinitely offends A finite suffering infinitely satisfies because the person was infinite that bore it God is infinitely wel pleased Because from the worth of his person and the vertue of his Merit he hath laid down ful Satisfaction But he is infinitely pleased with the Faithful by way of imputation because the fruit of that Merit proceeding from such a person is accounted theirs God loves the faithful with the love of Benevolence he wisheth the like good to them procures a like good for them as for Christ He makes them sharers with him in Christ-like priviledges He only hath the preheminence and they the second place They are said to ascend into Heavenly places to sit with Christ to judg the world yea al enemies to be put under feet Yea when the Kingdom shal be given up by our Savior no further dispensation in any outward means 1 Cor. 15.28 God the Father shal be all in all But in the infinite expressions of the riches of al glorious Grace upon the man Christ Jesus and in and through him upon them God the Father hath taken the Lord Christ into neerest union with himself Taken unconceiveable content in him Advanced him to infinite glory with himself The faithful next to Christ they are in a like manner united to God as Jesus In like manner accepted as Jesus Advanced as Jesus And herein lies the Crown of this glory the Diadem of this Crown the excellency above the happiness of Heaven that none of al this did come from a man by the power of any Grace or performance of any work Hence we have matter of admiration in regard of the goodness and kindness of the Lord who is al-sufficient of himself in himself yet should vouchsafe to look from Heaven to such poor worthless creatures and to extend such tender compassions unto poor wretches Tantus Tantum Tantillis but that we have spoken unto There be many Collections yet remaining we shall touch only some because we would willingly put an end to the verse 1. Instruction The sinns of the faithful are exceeding grievous unto the Lord above the sins of al other persons they go neerest unto the heart of the Almighty Not only against light but again love yea the greatest love that could be shewed and therefore cause great distast If Enemies abuse and wrong us If Strangers to whom we are
he wil drop in in this or that Ordinance and how liâ—tle do we see of hinâ—â— yet that 's al we seek and that 's al the good we can receive to do us good But them â—hrist in the glorious sufficiency of the fulness of his Grace shal shine in a-main upon the mind in the ful beauty of it Al Comfort and Peace and Grace of al kinds shal like a mighty stream take up the whol man Here by re-tale as persons who are poor buy and bring in their Provisions Then by whol-sale Here the Light of the Sun shining in a crevis and day-hole leaves yet the place dark but then the Lord Christ shal arise as the Sun of Righteousness and fil as that the whol Heaven so this the whol heart So Christ shines in the Counsels Comrorts c. of the Ministry of the Word and makes us see the Day-star arising but stil there be shadows But then he wil arise in our hearts and al these shadows shal fly away I shall know as I am known 3. Most effectually and powerfully 1 John 3.2 It 's the Inference the Apostle makes and the reason he brings to force this Consequence and that infallibly We shal be like him How comes that We shall see him as be is For as the Spirit of Christ by his Special presence in the Soul and work upon it is the only Author of al Grace and Holiness which we do here or shal hereafter possess 2 Cor. 3.18 We are transformed into one degree of glorious Grace from another by the same Spirit So the Spirit of God useth first to enlighten our minds aâ— the first means whereby he comes to make way for himself into the heart and to communicate al that glorious Grace to those upon whom he is pleased to bestow it And hence our Savior when he would difference his Servants from the wicked in the World to whom he never intends any saving good nor do they partake thereof he gives this as a ground John 14.17 The Father will send his Spirit of Truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him No Spirit no Grace But the World hath no Spirit because they cannot receive him and that because they do not see not know But they see therefore receive and therefore have the Spirit and therefore have Grace and therefore the Apostle concludes 1 John 3.6 Whoever sinneth hath not seen him nor known him True it is possible the wicked may have a glimmering of the Truth and hear tel of a Christ by the common bruit of the World as they read such things writ But this is a false Light the Star-light of some common apprehensions of Reason Arguments which are presented to us in Speech and Discourse But the Apostle ads Eph. 4.20 If ye have heard and learned Christ and been taught by him as the Truth is in Jesus Ye have heard of the Truth and Christ as then are in words which report him as Arguments and Reasons which discourse and dispute about him but the Truth as it is in Jesus as it issues from a Jesus from a Savior and from that saving enlightening over-powring work when it 's set on by the hand of a Jesus not by Man Education or Disputation then it wil make men to put off the old man and be renewed in the spirit of their minds This the eyeing of Jesus in a right manner in this Life wil do But when we come to see Christ as he is in his Glory all those impediments which either stopped or lessened the work of the Spirit from conveying that fulness of Grace which otherwise it would and by which we might have been perfectly like him are then taken away Now the impediments which stop the current and passage of the Spirit are either in regard of the means whereby he is dispensed or in regard of our hearts wherein he is received 1. For the means they are either narrow as Conduits from the Fountain or Creeks from the Sea of smal power and convey little help in spiritual supply as Word and Sacraments Or else the Instruments are weak and cracked and so stop the stream and corrupt and sinful and therefore though not utterly hinder the work of the Spirit yet wrong and defile it much But then the Lord Christ wil do his work by himself when his Spirit shal have ful scope the narrowness of means shal not streighten him the weakness of instruments hinder him to express the ful power of his Grace in ful perfection but God shall now be all in all 1 Cor. 15.28 1. Whatever Word and Sacraments and Prayer could or did convey whatever the Power of Ordinance the Ministry of the Word the Counsel of Saints endeavored to work in you he wil be instead of al and do more than al. Ye prayed for a Christ did ye not Ye heard for a Christ received for a Christ conferred humbled to come more neer a Christ to enjoy more of him do more for him Alas that Christ ye desired to hear some Tidings of ye shal see him not in weakness of Ordinances Ministry of his Servants c. ye shal see him as he is in the highest strain of Eminency of al Grace acting to its utmost for your good that which they all could not do They did convey but imperfect power against sin peace and comfort to your Conscience but now ye shal find al power perfectly and constantly gloriously conveyed from this Glory of Christ 2. There shal be no impediment to hinder or streighten the Spirit from conveying no impediment on our part no hindrance in our Souls because they shal readily receive the ful impression of Grace The set frame and face of the Soul being alone for Christ and towards him The whol imployment of the whol man being nothing else but to attend upon Christ and to submit to him to be carried by the presence power and influence of his Spirit alone Look as it is with In-mates under a Roof the one is constrained to confine himself to heap up and tumble his Houshold-stuff together because he hath not room to set it forth but when al are outed and he hath ful scope in his House and Family he may order al in their ful beauty So here paâ—â—ly our Corruptions partly the World and Earthly occasions keep house with Christ thoughts of Christ and the Family â—are for the Promises and for Provision also pains and labor to settle our Spiritual the like contrivements to suit our temporal Condition and al takes up if not take off and carriâ—â— our minds and thoughts our hearts our care so that Christ and the works of his Grace are crowded into corners and narrows But then the House wil be free the heart quit of al these and Christ wil have ful scope Hence the Apostle 1. Thes 4.17 We shall ever be with him We are now pestered with unwelcome guests which we cannot send going
of affection but of divine operation of God upon the soul whereby the soul returns all unto God to do al and to receive all to do all for himself in man and to receive all to himself by man So that God alone doth all in this firstly upon man and then by man If this work was so much in the Eye of our Savior and that intended So chief also in the performance and that accomplished with care no wonder it had the next Room and remembrance in his prayer But so it was this was the main errand of our Savior when he was sent into the world and the very life of the kingdom of Grace and the covenant of Grace as it concerned them So the Lord professeth by the Prophet Esa 49 5 And now saith the Lord that formed me from the Womb to be his servant Our Savior appointed in Gods decree sanctified and overshadowed by the Holy Ghost in the womb and called to this end for this work To bring Jacob back again to him It was that which was plotted by the Head and policy of Satan and brought about by the fal and through the folly of our first parents To break off this unity and Oneness betwixt God and Adam For Satan had found it by woful experience in himself that by sin God would be estranged from him and he also from God neither to find his favour towards him nor the presence of his spirit of Grace to work upon him nor yet would Adam thus departed act for God nor return to him that praise he ought So that God and Adam are not one but at odds It s the meaning of that place Gal. 3.19 20. When the Apostle had shewed the weakness of the Law in the work of Justification and the promise only carried it He makes thig Objection wherefore then served the Law i.e. The giving of the Law Answer It was to discover transgression and therefore it was given by the Hand of a Mediator to-wit Moses who was between God and the people Now in that Moses was a Mediator it shews there was diverse parties differing and disagreeing one from another for a Mediator is not of one not of parties that are at unity and agreement but God is one ever like himself and the same Therefore the cause of difference was not on Gods part but by Reason of trangression which shews man to be other than he was by Nature ful of guilt and sin and that 's the reason God is at odds with him as he is departed from God Now the scope of our Saviors coming is to bring the Soul back again unto God by himself and to make it one with the Father and himself It was beyond the power of any created Grace to bring back a fallen Soul but the God-Head of Christ in the Nature of man assumed must bring the Nature of man to God again And where as it was found by proof in our first parents that the power of created Grace did not nay indeed could not hold the Soul unchangeably to him and so to act by and for him Herein lies the life and incomparable excellency of the covenant of Grace and the fulness of the sufficiency of the quickning power of the second Adam the Lord Jesus not only to procure unto acceptance and approbation with the Father but the lively communication of himself and the assistance of his spirit to keep our hearts and the gracious work thereof to him for ever So that though our Graces might and would fall us in Adam yet the spirit of Jesus upholds and holds us for ever towards him a fountain of living water Though the vertue and work thereof would wanse away and through not-attendance not put forth it self upon the rule and for the work as we see in Adam He attended not unto acted not upon a command but listened to the delusion and suggestion of the enemy Yet the spirit of Christ which dwelleth with us and shall be in us is there not only to keep with us and carry us to Christ but to quicken us by vertue from Christ according to the tenure of the Gospel Joh. 14.17 And this is indeed to be under the powerful impression of the covenant of Grace And this is the meaning of that place I live not but Christ lives in me Gal. 3.20 Christ by Faith brings me to God By his spirit keeps the bent of the heart towards him carryes it to himself acts it upon himself quickens it by influence of vertue the fountain whereof is in himself Adam might have said I live by a power and principle of Grace in which I was created and in which I have pleased God thereby and according to a covenant of works may challenge life and happiness But Paul in the person of al self-denying sinners professeth that I live not Christ hath called me brought me to himself gives me his spirit and keeps the Eye of my Soul upon himself That he may thereby Be all in all to me work all in me and by me It s the meaning also of that Col. 3.3 4. Our life is bid with Christ in God when Christ who is our life shall appeare God is in Christ is in us keeps us to himself and communicates al saving Graces of life here and will quicken and perfect all in the whol man at his resurrection Thus then we see The end of our Saviors coming and the life of the covenant of Grace both these our Savior would further by his prayer But this unity with the Father and the Son is the end of our Saviors coming and the life of the Covenant 2. Reason This work being savingly and effectually made good upon the soul it maks way for the inlarged expression of all the fruits and works of holiness which might further set forth the honor of God the kingdom of Christ our own comforts here and happiness in another world It s the meaning of that Joh. 15.5 He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit True it is done by faith but it is somthing other and somthing more than the bare coming to Christ or our Union with him It is the keeping the Eye of the soul and carrying the bent of the Heart upon the engagements of Gods dearest love and the unchangeable work of the spirit of Adoption to be acted by the quickning vertue thereof in Gods time and after Gods manner and answerable to our need and that condition and place we possess in the Body of Christ for so that phrase implieth Joh. 6.56 He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood that is done by beleeving He abideth in me and I in him That is another and a further work And it intimates a free and a ful intercourse of spiritual communion between God and the soul and a communication of his presence and spiritual influence upon the beleever As it is in the Body natural when the constitution is healthful and the