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
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
acknowledgment thereof And to speak once for all 1. What the word the weight of the phrase carries 2. In what regard our Savior is said to be sent 3. Wherein this sending lies 1. The word sending or as the Latin phrase hath it Mission carries ever two things in it 1. The Authority of him that sends in respect of the party that is sent but it is not the authority of dominion and rule so much as that Authority of order or communication of a work from one unto another And in this sence he only can be said to be sent who works from another and works not originally from himself 2. It implies a new act or impression upon the creature whereby it hath it's self in some other frame or disposition than formerly Take it in this breadth and extent you shal find that in scripture the Son and holy Spirit are only said to be sent and it is never attributed to the Father Gal. 4.4 God sent his son Joh. 15.26 But when the Comforter shall come whom I will send unto you from the Father And this cannot be any created Grace or work for the words following determine that full The Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father Joh. 14.20 But the Comforter which is the holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name When-ever then the action with the manner also from such a person are comprehended in this sending It is 〈◊〉 given to or affirmed of the Father because it sigâ—â—â—ie not an act only expressed by a person but an 〈◊〉 from a person in such a manner as that he hath Auâ—â—â—â—â—y in way of order originally to act before another at the least And the other to act from him But because the Father cannot act from the Son and Holy Ghost but both Son and Holy Ghost they do not act only but act in their order and manner from another the Son from the Father and the Holy Ghost from both therefore they are truly said to be sent But if they look at the act only which is expressed upon the creature then this sending is and ought to be given to all the presons As the Incarnation of our Savior is one thing in his sending Therefore those two are joined God sent his Son made of a Woman as made so sent and herein the Holy Ghost had a hand whether we look at the sanctification of the seed in the Womb or the uniting of it to the second person There al the persons work So likewise in the dispensation of the office of our Savior in his whol proceeding the works of the Holy Ghost went along Isa 61. The Spirit of God was upon me he sent me to preach and he preached and performed all those great works by the strength and operation of his spirit 2. In what regard our Savior is said to be sent Not as the second person in the glorious Trinity whereby he is God blessed for ever equal with the Father for so the Apostle professeth Phil. 2.6 Being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God i.e. Had the glory of the Deity truly appertaining to him and the God-Head dwelling in him and knew his own worth and right therefore willingly submitted himself to that Under-condition not by constraint for he wel understood what his due was But as he was God and man and assumed our Nature and became mediator in our Room and stead So he professeth of himself That his Father is greater than he As he took upon him the forme of a servant became our surety and came in the similitude of sinful flesh yet without sin Joh. 14.28 In his voluntary and free dispensation as he was willing to take our flesh and dwel thereby amongst us so is he inferiour to himself as God and so to his Father And yet take the work it self and the manner of the work as it was explicated before and the phrase of sending implies he is only sent of the Father But look at the work Earely he may be said to be sent by all but that is unusual nay in open phrase never to be found in Scripture because the word comes not in that sense to our view As he becomes to take our Nature so he was sent But as Son by eternal generation he is made fit to take our Nature And therefore it is the assuming of Human Nature is made a propriety a thing peculiar to the second person Insomuch that it is heresie to say the Father was incarnate or the Holy Ghost incarnate What ever appertaines to our Savior as the second person and as the Son of the Father that he had by eternal generation and in a peculiar manner from the Father But as second person he assumes and so is sent and dispenseth the work of our Redemption Therefore so far he is in a peculiar manner sent from the Father and in this sense he is never said to be sent but from the Father in the Verdict of Scripture 2. As he assumes and becomes incarnate so is our Nature taken into personal union with the second person so far is it advanced and hath a priviledg and liberty to use any Attribute so far he sends the spirit even the Holy Ghost from the Father and dispenseth al power from the Father by the spirit for the Good of his And therefore so far he doth al in al as he is sent from the Father in a peculiar manner In a word hence it appears that the work of incarnation as he took our Nature the work of dispensation in sending the spirit appointing al Officers Offices ordinances and accompanying and blessing all for good Issues in a peculiar manner from this his sending from the Father Which the wicked world doth not see will not acknowledg cannot submit unto but they shal one day be forced unto it Hence it is our Savior alwaies professeth he doth al as sent Joh. 5.36 Arms himself by his sending against al. Joh. 10.36 Looks wholly and only at that work for which he was sent Joh. 5.30 And generally all runs upon this string comforts all from his sending As my Father sent me So I send you shews the greatness of their sin that oppose him He that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me 3. Wherein this sending consists look at the work of it Answer in four things 1. He is appointed and set apart to this great imployment and Ambassage Joh. 6.27 For him hath God the Father sealed Jsa 49.5 I have formed thee from the Womb to be my servant to bring Jacob again And verse 6. That thou maist be my Salvation to the end of the Earth He is now in Gods counsel and everlasting decree designed to this so great a work and in his season called out to the execution sent from his Bosom abroad into this world to act the great affaires of Gods everlasting purposes touching the recovery of man 2. The Father committed this so
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
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
is our Father Jesus saith unto them If ye were Abrahams Children ye would do Abrahams works but ye seek to kill me and this did not Abraham But ye do the deeds of their Father They could not conceive what he meant And therefore stil reply We are not born of Fornication we have one Father even God Our Savior again returnes an undeniable evidence If ye were of God ye would love me for I came from God nor came I of my self but God sent me But because al these were Riddles he speaks out and shews them the Root of their wretchedness Verse 44. Ye are of your Father the Devil and the lusts of your Father ye wil do He was a murderer and abode not in the truth and what he saies of one he saies of al sins in the like case When he speaks a lie he speaks of his own for he is the Father of lies As God is the first cause of truth and goodness and from his fulness al the beams and streams of truth are derived to any who share therein So Satan is the first cause of falshood and wickedness and therefore called The Wicked one And from him al wickedness is derived And hence ungodly men are called The Seed of the Serpent Gen. 3.15 They are said to be of that Wicked one 1 Joh. 3.11 Cain was of that Wicked one Put in way of opposition To be born of God This I take to be the meaning of those Phrases and texts which hence receive their explication as belonging I conceive properly to this place Joh. 8.23 When our Savior would shew the distance and great disagreement between himself and the wretched and ungodly Jews he speaks Ye are from beneath I am from above Ye are of this world I am not of this world Joh. 17.14 I have given them thy word and the world hath hated them because they are not of this world even as I am not of this world Here we have the Wel-head of hatred because they are not of the world And we see that this agrees to Christ as to them and to them by means of Christ that as he speaks els where Joh. 8.28 He can do nothing but what he sees his Father do Joh. 14.10 The words that I speak I speak not of my self but the Father that dwelleth in me As the first person dwels in the second he is thus from the Father and works from the Father So his Saints and faithful are of and from the Father by him Whereas the wicked They are of the world That is their dispositions which are corrupt they issue firstly from Saâ—an who cast's in his Seed of rebellion into their hearts according to which they are framed And upon this ground he is called the God of the world As he is firstly evil and cannot but be evil and al evil is from him that is in the world For by his wickedness al the world and wicked comes to be tainted and by the leaven of his wickedness defiled Their minds so far as erronious are made up of his delusions Their hearts as they are stuborne and ungodly are made up of his rebellions 2. Consider the next immediate cause by which they are acted this also wil evidence the strength and distance of their opposition and that in the greatest extremity And this you shal find most pregnantly 1 Cor. 2.12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are graciously given us of God So that there is a spirit of the world which blinds mens minds and minds which the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ cannot shine upon them nor the power of any savory truth or good come neer them or work upon them but they stop the passage against al do most desperately and resolutely oppose al. And that is perverted mutability set on or set a going by the provoking and cursing power of the Law the malignity of Satan having leave and somtime command from God to wind up the wickedness of mens spirits to the highest strain of the activity of evil When God said who wil go and deceive Ahab Satan answers I wil. The Lord asks how I wil saies he Be a lying Spirit in the mouth of the fals Prophets q. d. It was in his power if God would give leave to act their minds and Tongues as one man to speak and perswade unto deceiptful waies which would undoubtedly bring to ruin And this is the meaning of those two Phrases Eph. 2.2 Men are said to walk according to the course of the world one Spirit and guise in them al. If it be asked what that is he adds According to the Prince of the Air the Spirit that now worketh c. When the Prince of the Air by his impulsions and suggestions draws out the distempers of the ungodly to the utmost activity And this is noted in the next words They fulfilled the wils of the Flesh and of the mind what a corrupt heart and Vain Head would carry a man unto He must needs go whom the Devil drives This is called the wil of the Gentiles that is what men left to the corruption of their Natures would wil. Contrarily The Holy Ghost takes ful possession of our Savior and from Christ dwels in the hearts of his Saints by which they are strengthened Eph. 3.16 Strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man So that there is 1. The inner man which is Grace 2. Strengthened in this 3. By the might of his Spirit So led by the Spirit Rom. 8.15 yea not only strengthen and lead but mightily and actively works in his when they are quickened to work the Works of God Col. 1. last I strove but it is according to the working of Christ and that is mightily therefore Stephen said They could not resist the Spirit by which he spake Acts 6. As the Prince of Darkness by his Impulsions draws out the Activity of Corruption in the strength of it So the Prince of Light and Grace the Lord Christ is greater than he that is in the World and carries the Faithful by an invincible Power 3. Look at them in the main ends at which they aim in al their Operations and Proceedings Our Savior came not to do his own wil or seek his own but to do the wil and seek the Glory of the Father Therefore the Scope of his whol Work it is to break the Head of the Serpent Gen. 3.15 To destroy the works of the Devil 1 John 3.8 To deliver from the present evil world Gal. 1.4 And al the Saints are of the same Heart follow his Colors and Command When the Devil and the World the Prince of this World and the Children of this World they set themselves in al their Contrivements plottings practices to destroy the Glory of God the Kingdom of God and Christ and set up the Kingdom of darkness and
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