must have or else they are not capable of medling with the affairs and the negotiations of their master And therefore God hath furnished Jesus Christ with powers with ample and compleat authority for the Embassage he hath sent him in All power is given to him without any limitation You see he hath a large Commission and consequently what he doth concerning what he hath received in Commission is as valid and effectuall to all intents and purposes as if God the Father did it He hath not only set his seal to Christs Commission but he hath sealed Christ himself Him hath God the Father sealed Iohn 6.27 So that he came into the world with the stamp and with the seal of God upon him that all men might receive him as sent forth from him As God hath qualified him with authority so he hath qualified him with ability for the effecting of the business and the delivery of the errand which he sent him in He hath made him fully able to go through with it and to that end hath furnished him with a fulness of Merit and a fulness of Spirit A fulness of Merit to make Peace and a fulness of Spirit to preach Peace First as God hath sent him so he hath furnished him with a fulness of Merit to make Peace Made him able to the utmost to satisfie his justice and to obtain his pardon for his people For he is God as well as man in him dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead bodily God that his Merits might be valuable for us Man that his merits might be applicable to us Secondly as he hath furnished him with a fulness of Merit to make Peace so of Spirit to preach Peace The Spirit of the Lord is upon me saith our Saviour Luke 4.18 and by this Spirit he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel as it is added there in that place As he hath sent and appointed me to preach so annointed me to preach And therefore grace is said to be poured into the lips of Jesus Christ Psal 45.2 so that he spake as never man did Iohn 7.46 That some were astonied at his doctrine and all men bore him witness and wondered Luke 4.22 JOHN 17.3 And Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent Use 1 NOW is it so that Jesus Christ is Gods Apostle a Messenger sent c. This then may teach us in the first place to admire the mercy of the Lord both of the Father and of the Son in this business The mercy of the Father in sending Jesus Christ and the mercy of the Son in that he would be sent by him In both of these the grace of God is eminent to admiration Let us here observe and wonder at the mercy of the Sender There was rich grace in this that God the Father sent his Son into the world for our sakes He is his Son his only begotten Son a Son that is extreamly like him the very picture of his Father the express image of his person a Son that never did displease him a Son that he dearly loves in whom his very soul delights in which respect he layes him in his bosom next his heart as a choice and precious thing And yet this Son of his he is content to part withall in some respect that he and we might come together To send him out of his bosom and to dispatch him down into this lower world there to continue for a while that when he returned again he might bring us up with him Had God any need of us that he should send his Son for us Ah my Beloved he is self-sufficient there is enough in him to make him happy everlastingly without us But we must be for ever miserable without him And therefore it was nothing else but free mercy that made him send down his beloved Son to us Herein is love saith the Evangelist 1 Iohn 4.10 not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son Here is love and here is mercy to be spoken of and to be wondered at in all ages Let us here take notice of the mercy of the Son in that he would submit himself so far as to become the Fathers Messenger in this business Though he be man he is the Fathers fellow notwithstanding so he stiles him Zach. 13.7 Awake O sword against the man that is my fellow saith the Lord of hosts Though he be found in fashion as a man he thinks it no robbery to be equall with God every way as good as God Philip. 3.6 And was it not an admirable condescention that when the Father had a Message to dispatch into the world for the recovery of lost creatures Jesus Christ should say to him as once the Prophet in another case Here I am send me I am very well content to be sent of this errand Especially if we consider where and whither he was sent from heaven to earth yea to the lowest parts of the earth as the expression is Ephes 4.9 In a sense to hell it self From the bosom of the Father if not into the place into the state and the condition of the damned In which respect he saith Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell Psal 16.10 He was sent to make peace to reconcile us to his Father as you heard before in Explication of the point and this he was to do by the blood of his Cross as the Apostle shews us Col. 1.20 By his extream and bitter Passion by suffering death it self yea such a shamefull and accursed death upon the Cross accompanied with such ingredients as made him roar and sweat and faint under it And was it not a miracle of mercy that Jesus Christ should yield himself to be sent on such an errand as this is That he should willingly submit himself to be the Fathers Messenger in such a business We need not wonder that he whose love and kindness was so full of wonder should be called wonderfull Isa 9.6 But you will say perhaps Object that this indeed was rare and admirable mercy if Jesus Christ had willingly exposed himself to this for us But it seems he was constrained it was against his will For he was afraid of it Heb. 5.7 Yea more then so he prayed against it Mat. 26.39 Father if it be possible saith he let this cup pass from me To this I answer my Beloved Answ that Christ must be considered in a double notion and respect either as a private man or as a Mediator and a surety for his people Take him as a private man who had assumed a nature to which death was an enemy especially so bitter and so sharp a death as he was now about to undergo and so he justly feared it and declined it Take him as a publick Surety and a mercifull high-Priest and so he willingly submitted to it And this his willingness by reason of his Office was the greater because his will by reason of his nature could not choose but shrink from
duty you do to him can be accepted 4. You can hope for no pardon of sin 5. Cannot come to God with boldness 124. What meant by the only true God p. 126. viz. the whole Essence of the Godhead 3. Doctr. That the Father Son and Holy Ghost is the only true God p. 128. Reason For he only hath being of himself 2. He is the living God 3. None can do that which he doth 4. He only is Eternal 1. Vse Be stirred up to confirm your faith of this Motives 1. For then the more and better we shall walk with him 2. Serve and obey him p. 130. Direct 1. Give full assent to the Scriptures 2. Know him to be above all other Gods 3. Be resolved not doubtful of this point 4. Pray for faith in this particular p. 133. 2. Vse Obey serve and honour him as the true God p. 134. 3. Vse Let us have no other God but him only p. 135. Serve the Lord and not Idols p. 136. Times p 138. Lusts neither your own nor that of others p. 139. 2. Fear none but him 3. Trust in him alone p. 140. 4. Vse Learn from hence to be at unity among our selves 5. Learn to see our happiness of having chosen him for our God p. 141. 4. Doctr. That Christ is the Apostle or Messenger of God p. 142. Explication 1. Sent from God and from heaven How possible p. 143. 2. Into the world 3. The errand on which he was sent viz. to make peace preach peace 4. Therefore fitly qualified with 1. Authority 2. Ability Fulness of Merit to make peace p. 145. Spirit to preach peace p. 145. 1. Vse Admire the mercy of the sender 2. Of him that would be sent Void of fear and constraint p. 147 2. Be all intreated to receive and entertain him For 1. His errand is your business 2. It 's for your good and advantage 3. The Father expects you should honour his Embassadour and Son 4. He will avenge the refusers of him 5. This Messenger can prevail with God for you p. 149. Direction 1. Receive him so as to hearken to him 2. To believe in him 3. To obey him p. 150. 5. Doct. Whoever wil be glorified with God in heaven must glorifie him first on earth p. 152 Reason It is the everlasting counsel and decree of God Vse 1. Against vain expecters of future glory p. 153. 2. Vse Learn to glorifie God here 1. By a vocal declaration 2. By a real representation in what you 1. are p. 154. 2. do p. 154. Gods glory how to be our aim in all Ver. 4 1. Doctr. That Christ was ordered by his Father in the work he did in this world p. 156. Expl. Christ was so ordered in his works of Satisfaction His obedience Active p. 157. Passive p. 158. Application p. 158. As by the 1. Promulgation of the Word 2. Internal operation of the Spirit p. 159. Reas 1. Christ was the Fathers creature 2. The Fathers servant p. 160. 1. Vse Admire the humble condescension of Christ 2. Learn to be humbled in like manner and to suffer willingly p. 161. 3. Vse Some do the good others the evil which God hath not given them to do p. 162. Danger of neglecting Gods order p. 164. How Christ had finished the work before his Passion p. 165. 2. Doct. Christ did not do his work by halves but went through with it p. 166. Sufferings of Christs body Natural Mystical 1. Vse Who guilty of adding to the works of Christ 2. Let us persevere in our work and finish it Five Motives hereunto p. 169. Ver. 5 What glory Christ prayed for Doct. Christ as Man in some measure partaker of the divine glory 1. By the grace of union 2. By the grace of dispensation from the Father p. 173. 1. Vse Know the advancement of our nature in the Person of Christ 2. Their personal advancement that belong to Christ partly in 1. Fruition 2. Assured expectation 3. This should make us despise the shame of this world 2. So to walk as not to be a shame to Christ p. 174. Ver. 6 How Christ had manifested Gods Name Doct. Christ made an absolute and compleat discovery of his Father to the people 1. By his Personal appearance in the flesh 2. By his Word and Gospel 3. By his Spirit p. 178. 2. Q. Why Christ only makes this discovery R. 1. None but he is able 2. None but he is fit to make this discovery p. 180. 3. Q. Why the discovery he makes is so full and absolute R. 1. As being the faithful Prophet of his Church 2. That the discovery may be effectual 1. Vse The ignorant inexcusable 2. Learn to bless his Name for this discovery 3. Grow up in the knowledge of this Name made known p. 182. 4. Vse Be satisfied with the discovery which Christ hath made search not beyond it Pride Sin Danger vanity thereof p. 184. 5. Vse Walk worthy of this discovery i. e. Despair not under sin or misery p. 185. 2. Doct. Some the Father giveth to Christ out of the world 2. A certain number of them 3. Being once the Lords they are no longer of the world Confirm 1. The actual members of Christ are dead with Christ and of another world as are their kindred and alliance p. 190. 3. Their habitation is spiritual so is their action and traffique 1. Vse Therefore the world storms and rageth at mens being given up to Christ 2. Examin Are we given up to Christ p. 192. Marks 1. They are not conformable to this present world 2. They speak the language of another world p. 193. 3. They dearly affect their Countreymen 3. Vse Think not strange of ill usage in the world p. 194. 4. Vse Regard not the things of this world 5. Follow not a multitude to sin It s safe and honorable to be retired 6. Be not troubled at worldly troubles 3. Doct. All Christs people were first belonging to the Father p. 197. 1. The Father essentially taken 2. All belonged to God 1. By Creation 2. By Election 3. Christs people not so his as not the Fathers 1 Vse Christ will tenderly keep those that are so given him Word of God Inward and Essential p. 202. Outward and Declaratory p. 202. 4. Doct. They whom the Father gives to Christ keep his word p. 203. Christs Word is kept In the memory by retaining In the heart by believing In the affections by loving In the life by obeying with obedience Active Passive Vse Exam. Are we so given up to Christ that we keep his Word p. 205. 2. Vse Direct For helping memory 1. Be intent and fix your mind on the Word 2. Get a good understanding 3. Value the Word 4. Strengthen the memory by meditation repetition conference 5. Set instantly to practice the truth you hear 6. Pray for the Spirit to do his Office 3. Vse of Examination Do we keep Christs word by Faith Some believe none of it 2. Some but part of it
grace consider with your selves Now Jesus Christ draws nigh to me he that is above in heaven and with relation to his bodily and fleshly presence is no more in this world is in another way coming into my soul And therefore do not shut the doors against him but bid him very welcome when he comes when he offers more knowledge faith love hope patience let not these offers be refused Remember when you take in these you take in Christ with them in the presence of his Spirit So much as you enjoy of these so much you enjoy of Christ and therefore seek and value every saving grace the more and be the readier to receive and entertain it because it brings Christ with it Is it so that Jesus Christ as he is man is gone away c. Then let us Vse 3 also go away out of the world to him that we may be where he is I say as Christ to his Disciples in another case Arise let us go hence Jesus Christ is gone you hear and why then do we stay behind him why do we tarry here when Christ is gone It 's true we cannot go to him in the body but yet as Christ though he be absent from us in the body yet he is present with us by his Spirit so we upon the other side though we be absent from him in the body let us be present with him in the Spirit and as he comes from heaven to us by his Spirit though his body stay there so let us go from earth to heaven to our Saviour in our spirits though our bodies stay here But you will ask me How may this be done or how may we be present with our Saviour in our Spirits I Answer 1. We may be present with him in the thoughts and meditations of the Spirit These are the proper actings of the soul the inner man and if our thoughts be much upon him we are in this respect much with him And therefore I beseech you my Beloved let us feed our selves continually with sweet and pretious thoughts of Jesus Christ though we be here below and must continue so till Christ be pleased to take us to himself yet let our minds ascend to heaven and let our thoughts and meditations be where Christ is Oh let us think upon him in the day and in the night upon our beds when we are still and have nothing to distract us then let our hearts be filled with sweet soliloquies with ravishing and transporting thoughts of Christ that we may speak to him as David did Psal 104.34 How pretious are the thoughts of thee O Lord How great is the sum of them It passes my Arithmetique to cast them up 2. Let us be present with our Saviour in the affections of the Spirit let our spirits cleave to him though we be absent from him in the body Where Jesus Christ our treasure is there let our hearts be also That as Elisha said to Gehazi once Went not my heart with thee when at that very time he was sitting in his house and Gehazi was abroad 2 King 5.26 So we may say to Jesus Christ though in another way However we be absent from thee in the body yet is not our heart with thee as the Apostle to the Thessalonians We Brethren being taken from you in presence not in heart 1 Thes 2.17 so we to Jesus Christ Oh Lord though we be separated from thee in our bodies we are not separated from thee in our hearts They are continually with thee nor shall they be divided from thee 3. Let us be present with our Saviour in the desires and anhelations of the Spirit let them be always mounting up where he is he is gone and in the mean time till he come again to us let us long to go to him Oh let us build no Tabernacles on the Tabor of this world since our Saviour is not here But let us look upon our selves as banished men as the Apostle did knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord 2 Cor. 5.6 and so let us groan earnestly to get to Christ as he did Let us be always breathing gasping fainting after Jesus Christ and putting out our heads to see when he will come and receive us to himself that where he is there may we be also And thus far of the first particular suggested in the words the departure of our Saviour out of this lower world to the immediate presence of his Father And now I am no more in the world but I come to thee The second follows now in order to be handled and that is his Disciples stay behind him But these are in the world and are where they are like to be and where they are to tarry and remain when I am gone The world in which our Saviour Christs Apostles and Disciples were and were to stay must be conceived to be the very same which Christ himself was now about to leave and from which he was ready to depart viz. this lower world beneath heaven that from which he was to go in that were his Disciples and Apostles to remain And now I am no more in the world but these are in the world the self same world in which I am to be no more But why is this alleadged by our Saviour to his Father here that the Apostles and Disciples were to stay in this world apparently to shew what cause he had to mention them in his Petitions and to commend them to the special care and mercy and protection of his Father As in the words that are immediately annexed Holy Father keep them through thy own Name q. d. I am even now about to leave them and to leave them in the world and thou knowest what a place the world is how troublesome unpleasing and vexatious it hath continually been to my Disciples and therefore I beseech thee Father keep them have a special eye upon them who are to stay behind me in such a place as this is So that the point apparently suggested here is this DOCTRINE The world hath alwayes been and is an evil and uncomfortable place to Christs Disciples It is a sad and doleful place to live in and hence our Saviour seeemeth to bewail the case of his Apostles and Disciples in my Text These are in the world saith he as if he should have added and that is but an ill place Now that I may the better clear it and evince it to you I shall shew in what respects the world is such an evil and uncomfortable place to Christs Disciples It is in this respect an evil and uncomfortable place to Christs Disciples that it is a place of suffering In which they are continually to be exposed to many tryals and to many troubles Though they be in the world yet they are not of the world and therefore they are hated by the world as Jesus Christ himself informeth his Disciples John 15.19 If ye were of
will preserve those that belong to Jesus Christ either from the act and guilt or hurt of corruption that is in them I shall a little touch upon them in their order In a qualified sence he keeps them from the act of their corruption so that they act it not at all as thus sometimes and in some certain things he keeps them and withholds them from or not at least as other men They also saith the Prophet David speaking of the Saints do no iniquity Psal 119.3 They sin not saith the Apostle 1 John 3.6 neither can they sin Conceive it not so freely and so remorselesly as others For the seed remaineth in them The spirit lusts against the flesh so that they cannot do the evil that they would at least not all the evil that they would Gal. 5.15 God keeps them by this means from much evil which else they would fall into as to instance in particulars He keeps them wholy from the great and unpardonable sin the sin against the Holy Ghost There is a sin to death saith the Apostle 1 John 5.16 to death not in the merit of it only for so is every sin to death if you look to the desert but in the issue and event And this God surely keeps them from that belong to Jesus Christ so that they never fall into it 2. He keeps them usually from the grosser acts of sin which the Apostle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the defilements and pollutions of the world 2 Pet. 2.20 being the common mire and kennel in which the filthy Swine of this world wallow and which are termed by the Apostle Paul the works of the flesh which are manifest even to the the dimmest eye even to the light of nature it self Chap. 5.19 Such are adultery drunkenness perjury theft and such like Now from these foul and gross corruptions which cross the principles of common life and honesty in which the lewdest and prophanest wallow God usually keeps them that belong to Jesus Christ 3. He keeps them from committing any known sin resolvedly and with full consent of will Indeed there may be a velleity an incompleat and an imperfect will to sin in those that belong to Christ but a compleat and perfect will there cannot be For flesh and spirit being interwoven and commixt in every faculty and consequently in the will the will so farr as it is sanctified and renewed can never give allowance to the act of sin And whereas wicked and ungodly men are totally addicted and universaly devoted to it they act it wholly and with every part and power being nothing else but flesh It is not so with those that are renewed And hence saith Paul it is not I that do it Rom. 7.17 yet in the verse immediately before he said what I would not that do I. So that there is a double I in Paul I spiritual and I carnal I do it and I do it not Not I that am spiritual or in that part wherein I am spiritual but I that am carnal or in that part wherein I am carnal It is not I that do it but the flesh that dwelleth in me And thus God keeps them from the acts of sin Or if he do not alwayes keep them from the acts he alwayes frees them from the guilt of sin and so in that respect he keeps them from the evil of corruption and therefore he assures it to himself as his peculiar I even I am he that blotteth out thy sin It is God that justifies saith the Apostle Rom. 8.33 And with relation to this act of his he is called a deliverer Rom. 11.26 There shall come out of Zion the deliverer and he shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my Covenant with them when I shall take away their sin God alwayes keeps them that belong to Jesus Christ from the hurt of the corruption that is in them he turns their very sins against their nature by accident to their advantage if all things then all these things work together for the best to them God doth them good even by their sins and by their falls he makes that to promote and further their salvation which seemeth most directly to hinder it and to oppose it Oh the riches of his mercy Blessings and Ordinances by accident do hurt to wicked men And even sins by accident do good to Gods people Thus we have shewed you that God can and will preserve those that belong to Jesus Christ from the evil of temptation and corruption And as God keeps those that belong to Jesus Christ from the evil of temptation and from the evil of corruption so from the evil of affliction I must confess he doth not keep them so that they are utterly exempt from all affliction They have their share and portion of it many times as well as any other men Many are the afflictions of the righteous saith the Psalmist Psal 34.19 not of the wicked only but the righteous too Yea their afflictions oftentimes are more and greater then the afflictions of the wicked are The Prophet David was too sensible of this so that his spirit fretted at it and he was envious at the foolish as himself confesseth Psal 73.3 when he saw the prosperity of wicked men Their strength is firm saith he there are no bands in their death They are not in trouble like other men nor are they plagued like other men no nor like better men Their eyes stand out with fatness they have more then heart can wish These are the wicked saith the Psalmist they prosper in the world But how fares it with David all this while why verily saith he I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my bands in innocency for all the day long have I been plagued and chastned every morning And this is that which Christ forewarned his Disciples of that in the world they must have troubles there would be no avoiding of it But yet however God keeps them from the evil of affliction in the sence that I shall open to you in a few particulars 1. Sometimes when he sees it best he keeps them from affliction that it doth not touch them for a considerable time together He environs them with loving kindness round about so that no trouble or calamity can find a way to enter and to seize upon them according to that pretious promise Psal 5. ult For thou Lord wilt bless the righteous with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield And thus he dealt a while with Job as Satan enviously suggested to the Lord Job 1.10 Hast thou not made a hedge about him and about all that he hath on every side thou hast blessed the work of his hands and his substance is increased in the Land So David though he were a man of many troubles and afflictions yet he had his Halcyon dayes There was a time when God had made his Mountain of prosperity so strong that he was verily perswaded he
opinion But you will interpose and ask me then What are not private Christians to imploy their gifts for the common benefit Yes to the very utmost my Beloved As every man hath received the gift so let him minister the same one to the other as good stewards of the manifold graces of God 1 Pet. 4.16 Their gift they have received to profit withal and that not themselves alone but others also But still within their own sphere within compass of their own calling They may and ought as they are able to teach c. as the Apostle speaks Col. 2.12 in a way of conference and this lies as a duty on them all in some degree For this is no Evangelical counsel but an Evangelical precept it is not permitted only but required But none of them may take upon him to be the publick Teacher of the whole without a due Vocation and Ordination thereunto How shall they preach except they be sent saith the Apostle Rom. 11.15 How shall they do it lawfully He doth not say except they be gifted but except they be sent Qualification is not enough without mission he must not go forth of himself but must be sent forth by Christ Is it so That the Apostles and Ministers of Christ are sent by him Vse 2 This then may serve to let us see how far the power and the authority of Ministers extends in binding and in loosing and in proclaming either war or peace They do it but as servants in a ministerial way and by a delegated power and in the execution of it they must exactly keep them by the rule and the directions which they have received from him that sent them They may not act according to their own discretion and as it seemeth good to them but must proceed in every thing according to the orders and instructions of their Master Or if they swerve a jot from these they stray beyond the bounds of their Commission and their authority is void So that the power of Ministers in this regard is Ministerial and declarative Yet this I add because they do it by Commission from the Lord and as Messengers of Christ it comes from them by reason of his Ordinance with more assurance to the Conscience then from any private person Vse 3 Is it so that the Apostles c. This then may serve to mind them what their duty is and I shall give it you in two words 1. They must do his work and deliver his message the errand which he sends them in They must not bring their own devices to the people their own fancies and conceits the issue of their own brains the froth of their own spirits as many do in these times No they must speak the words of Christ and speak them fully and compleatly They must fulfill the word of God as the Apostle speaks Col. 1.25 They must without respect or fear deliver all their Masters message to any man to whom he sends them how great soever he may be They must not out of base and servile dread of any suppress or mince their errand in the least degree or deal so mannerly with men that they become unfaithfull to the Lord Christ No they must seriously consider that though themselves be mean and despicable persons yet they are Ministers and Messengers of Christ himself who is higher then the highest among men And therefore as the Noble Roman said non ita memor sum dignitatis vestrae ut obliviscar me esse consulem So they must say when they are dealing with the great ones of the world I am not mindfull of dignity so far as to forget that I am the Embassador and Messenger of Jesus Christ They must be bold and resolute with this assurance that he that sendeth them will bear them out according to his many pretious promises which he hath made for their encouragement to faithfulness in his service 2. And as they must deliver Christs errand and not their own so for Christs ends and not their own they must not seek their own profit or their own honour but the honour of their Master As Christ who was the Fathers messenger glorified not himself as the Apostle speaks but him that sent him Heb. 5.5 so they that are the messengers of Christ must not glorifie themselves but Christ that sent them They must act for him and wooe for him and win the souls of men to him Their work must be to set him up and to advance him that he may appear They must with John the Baptist be contented to decrease to wither in their reputation and esteem so Christ may be in the increasing hand They must not endeavour to take such a course in the work of the Ministry that they may seem witty and learned and eloquent that men may admire them and applaud their abilities but that they may admire Christ that the thoughts and affections of men may be carried to him They must not preach themselves but the Lord Jesus Christ as the Apostle did 2 Cor. 4 5. Vse 4 Is it so that Apostles Ministers c. Then let the Church be here directed and advised to prove those that pretend they are the Ministers of Jesus Christ whether they be sent by Christ or no. The Church of Ephesus is much commended for her care and diligence in this regard Apoc. 2.2 I know thy works saith Christ there and thy labour and thy patience and how thou canst not bear them which are evil c. And thou hast tried them who say they are Apostles and are not and hast found them lyers They said they were the Messengers of Christ and that they were sent by Christ for that 's the meaning of the word Apostle but indeed they were not The Church did not give them credit till she tried them and so discovered them to be impostors and deceivers And truly there are many such in these times who say they come from Jesus Christ when indeed he never sent them They are Messengers of Satan and not of Christ and therefore it concerns the Church to prove them well who come with these pretences and to sift them to the bottome that they may know not the speech of these men only but the power as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 4 19. And here you are not only to consider whether they have obtained the election and ordination of the Church or no for many reach to this who are never sent by Christ But there are other things to be observed I shall lay them down in order They that are sent by Jesus Christ are furnished with competent ability at least for the delivery of their message You must not think that Christ will send by the hand of a fool No if there be a Messenger of Christ he is one of a thousand for gifts and abilities In the time of the Law when he raised up Prophets what spirit what power what understanding was there in them And is his hand shortned
Christ will have none neither We have two Advocates and Intercessors to the Father An Intercessor or an Advocate within us an Intercessor or an Advocate without us An Intercessor to plead in us and to plead by us and an Intercessor to plead for us In the first sense the Spirit is our Intercessor so the Apostle calls him Rom. 8.20 In the Latter Christ only Now these two Advocates or Intercessors are agreed you get not one of them without the other Christ will not be your Lawyer unless you make the Spirit your Attorney And as the Father never grants that which Christ doth not present and plead before him So our Saviour never pleads that which the Spirit doth not frame and draw up If the Petition which you tender be of the Spirits forming in you Christ entertains and urges it without any more ado and so the Father gives assent to it If then you would have Christ to be your Advocate you must engage him by his Spirit your Supplications and Petitions must be the voyce of his Spirit in your hearts the Holy Ghost must raise and frame them there you must take heed they be not barely natural desires as the Petitions of abundance are which seek for nothing else but that which nature craves for on natural principles and for natural ends And that they be not only the voyce of your own spirits but that they be the voyce of Christs spirit and if Christs Spirit make you prayers if he make Intercession in you with sighs and groans Christ will make Intercession for you and then the Father will be sure to hear you For if he deny you he must deny Christ too that pleads for you and that he never doth as you have heard His will is as it were a law with God the Father he may have what he will of him JOHN 17.24 Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me AND thus far I proceeded on the last occasion to discover to you how we may have Jesus Christ to be our Spokesman and our Advocate in all Petitions that we make to God We must walk by his Rule and we must act by his Spirit But now because the thing is weighty and of very great concernment and it is no easie matter for every one to judge and to determine whether in his supplications he walk by Christs Rule and act by Christs Spirit I shall give you some directions in reference to both these And in the first place I shall shew you how you may discover whether in the Petitions that you make you walk exactly by the Rule of Christ or no whether you pray according to his will or no. And to this end my Brethren you must search the Scriptures in which the will of Christ is manifested touching this as well as other points of duty And then compare your prayers with the Rule in all particulars to see whether they agree with it or dissent from it as the Apostle stirring up the Romans to offer up acceptable service to the Lord Rom. 12.1 to this end in the following verse advises them to prove and to find out what the will of God is the same advice I give you See what the will of God and what the will of Christ is and then examine how your prayers suit with it whether they be framed and ordered by your own invention or by his direction And here you must take notice what the will of Christ prescribes touching the preparation to them the matter and the manner and the ends of them it regulateth all these Well then the first thing that you are to do is to consider what the will of Christ is in reference to preparation and how your practice suits with it For you must know that Christ will have you pray with preparation You must not rush into the presence of the Lord like the Horse into the battel not remembring where you go nor what you are about to do No you must set about it seriously and with much deliberation so is the rule of Christ Eccles 5.2 3. Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before the Lord. Our hearts must be prepared to the duty as the Prophet Davids was And this consists in divers things I will name a few of them 1. That our hearts may be prepared they must be purged they must be washed and cleansed from every known sin If thou prepare thine heart saith Zephar Job 11.13 which preparation is to prayer as it is apparent by the following words and stretch out thine hands towards him Well if thou so prepare thy self what must thou do then Why If iniquity be in thine hand put it far away from thee and let not wickedness dwell in thy Tabernacle as it is added in the next words And hence saith David If I regard iniquity in my heart any known iniquity if I do not commit it only in my life but regard it in my heart my heart is not fit to pray the Lord will not hear my prayer Psal 66.18 The promise of acceptance with him is made to such and none but such as fear him so far at least as to desire and to endeavour to depart from evill He will fulfil the desire of such as fear him he also will hear their cry and save them Psal 145.19 2. That our hearts may be prepared they must be humbled both in the sense of the transcendent Majesty and Glory of the Lord and of our unworthiness We must endeavour to possess them with an awful apprehension of the greatness of the Lord whom we are making our approaches to that we may pray in reverence and holy fear according to the Psalmists exhortation Psal 2.11 Serve the Lord with fear saith he and according to his practice and example Psal 5.7 in thy fear will I worship towards thy holy Temple And hence the Saints in the beginnings of their prayers when they have buckled to the duty have been wont to set the Lord upon the Throne and there to represent him in his greatness by reckoning up his glorious attributes And then to vilifie and to abase themselves exceedingly before him That they might bring their hearts by this means to a frame and temper fit for prayer In such a disposition was the heart of the Centurion when he sought to Christ for mercy Luk. 7.6 7. He did not think himself worthy that Christ should once come under his roof And so the prodigal that said to his Father I am not worthy to be called thy son Luk. 15.21 3. That our hearts may be prepared they must be fixed They must be setled upon God and on the words we utter to him They must not rove and wander up and down as they are very apt to do They must attend the business that they are about In such a disposition was the heart of David when he was about to praise the Lord My heart is fixed O
and the like and you receive them at the hands of God he gives you the desire of your hearts in these things Well now consider with your selves what use you put them to when you have gotten them and what bills you bring in What so much health and so much strength bestowed upon the prosecution of your worldly and ambitious projects and designs so much means and so much time upon riot and excess Item so much upon your pride and so much upon your lusts and so much upon the satisfaction of your malice and revenge so much upon Hawks and Hounds and Whores but nothing upon God his Cause or his poor distressed servants Are these the bills that you bring in to God and will you own them in the latter day Brethren by your layings out you may discover to what intent you have prayed for outward blessings whether to consume them on your Lusts or no And if that hath been your end the spirit hath not been your principle in these petitions If we act by Christs spirit we keep a constant course in prayer We do not pray by fits and starts as Job observeth of the Hyppocrite who hath not Christs spirit Job 27.10 Will he delight in the Almighty will be alwayes call on God No he will be on and off in this duty Our spirits are unconstant and unstable my beloved but Christs spirit is 〈◊〉 not so And hence it is that they that pray by their own spirits are so uncertain in the duty many times Sometimes their spirits stir them up to pray and sometimes they do not Though there be differences in this too for some mens spirits naturally are more ready and more fixed then others are And there may be other things as fear and strong conviction and the like that may hold some certain men almost to a continued practice of the outward duty yet it is very rare that he is constant who acts by his own spirit But now my brethren he that acts by Christs spirit is a steady man in prayer he can appeal to God as David doth Psal 40.9 I have not restrained my Lips Oh Lord thou knowest Christs spirit dwells in him he doth not sojourn in him for a time but he dwells in him as in his fixed and his setled habitation and he dwells in him as a spirit of supplication So the spirit of Christ is called Zech. 12.10 And hence it is that he is alwayes putting him upon the duty upon all occasions so that he is constant in it Christs spirit is at home still though ours be wandring many times even to the other end of all the earth And though Christs spirit seem to be given sometimes as a spirit of consolation yet then he will be present as a spirit of supplication He will set a Saint to prayer even when he seems most indisposed and averse he will not suffer him to lay it by and wholly to neglect the duty as is observable in David I said that I am cut off from before thine eyes saith he Psal 31.22 Nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my prayer Even then I prayed to thee when I was in that temper so in another place from the end of the earth will I cry unto thee even when my heart is overwhelmed Psal 61.2 And whence proceedeth this my brethren surely these prayers of all others flow from Christs spirit as the Apostle teacheth Rom. 8.20 The spirit helpeth our infirmities We know not what to pray for as we ought but then the spirit it self makes intercession for us with sighs and groans that cannot be exprest If we act by Christs spirit we come to God as to a Father we cry Abba Father to him as you have it Gal. 4.6 Because ye are Sons saith the Apostle God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts And what doth that spirit there you have it in the next verse crying Abba Father So that Christs spirit if he act in us makes us address our selves to God as to a Father And that my brethren carries two things in it This spirit makes us come to God with the expectations of Children and with the affections of Children 1. If Christs spirit act in us he makes us come to God in prayer with Child-like expectations Expecting from him all the mercy pitty and compassion which a Child can look for from his own Father He makes us to approach the throne of grace with great assurance of audience and acceptance and success there commonly he doth this 2. But yet I must confess An hypocrite may sometimes have these expectations and a child of God may want them The Jews had Child-like expectations Jer. 3.4 they cryed to God Thou art my Father and wilt not thou that art my Father pitty me and help me sure thou wilt and yet they had no Child-like affections no care at all to please God and therefore it is added in the next words that they said and did as evill as they could But now my brethren he that acts by Christs spirit as he hath Child-like expectations so he hath Child-like affections or if at any time he want his Child-like expectations yet still he hath his Child-like affections Though he be in such a case that he is verily perswaded for the present that God will neither own him nor regard him nor look upon him as a Son yet he loves God still He hath a Childs heart to God even when he thinks that God hath not a Fathers heart to him Though he seem to frown upon him and to hide his face and to turn away his prayers yet he hath dear affections to the Lord notwithstanding all this And this appears by the trouble he is in at God displeasure it grieves him so that he is sick of love as the poor Church was Cant. 2.5 when Christ withdrew himself a while this was her grief I sought him whom my soul loveth I will go into the City and seek him whom my soul loveth I said unto the watchmen Did ye see him whom my soul loveth And so when God withdraws himself from such a one as is endued with his spirit the very soul of such a person loves him still when he is very much afraid that he shall never find God more that God will never shew him favour more when he hath lost his Child-like expectations yet still he maintains his Child-like affections JOHN 17.24 That they also whom thou hast given me be with me c. AND thus far of the manner of our Saviours prayer Proceed we to the matter of it And here we have the persons that he prayes for those whom thou hast given me And then the thing that he desires in the behalf of those persons that they also may be with me where I am As for the persons whom our Saviour prayes for you see they are described here by the Fathers giving them to Jesus Christ Let them be what they will in all considerations and