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
us that there should be consideration had not only of the matter but even of the circumstances c. What then it may be you will ask me do our gestures or doth the manner of presenting our requests to God the outward manner with the voice or otherwise fall under the command of God Are we expresly bound to pray in such a posture in such a way or manner of expression Do these external circumstances appertain to Gods worship I answer No in no case the difference is wide between the bodily exercise and the Spiritual service We are not under any ceremonial Law that binds us to an outward circumstance to a place or to a posture as the Jews of old were And yet there should be due consideration had not only of the matter but even of the circumstances c. and that especially upon these two grounds For These outward circumstances may in case promote the spiritual service Reason 1 The very gesture or the utterance of a prayer may help sometimes to raise and quicken the affection which is the life and Soul of prayer Our hearts are naturally dead and stupid and prophane and stand in need of all good outward helps to stir up zeal and reverence and devotion in them And to this end they have been used by the Saints in Scripture and that not only in their publike but even in their private and their secret prayers when their submiss and humble gestures could have no influence upon other men And consequently had no other use but to help their own hearts As Daniel was exact in this even in his chamber and it is carefully recorded Dan. 6.10 He kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed He prayed three times a day and still he was in this posture And it is noted of our Saviour that he kneeled down and prayed Luke 22.10 and this was in Private too So that he did it not with reference to others and therefore a most eminent and worthy man observeth that undoubtedly he saw he needed it himself And if that be admitted assuredly we need such helps and furtherances much more These outward circumstances if they do not further yet they express Reason 2 the spiritual service They testifie the sorrow the humility the affection and the devotion of the heart and the reverence of the soul As in my text our Saviours lifting up his eyes to heaven discovered where his heart was And therefore humble gestures are especially required in publike worship because God will be honoured in the sight of others yea they are sometimes put for all his service Rom. 14.11 As I live saith the Lord every knee shall bow to me And seeing hypocrites in matter of the worship and the service of the Lord are alwayes ready to pretend they have as good hearts as the very best Therefore the Lord is wont to call so often and so earnestly for the external Service of the body and that in the new Testament as well as in the old as you may see that place for instance 1 Cor. 6.20 Glorifie God saith the Apostle there and that not in your Spirit only but in your body also which is Gods Use 1 Now is it so that there should be consideration had not only of the matter but even of the circumstances c. Then First it serves to let them see their error and mistake who utterly neglect such things as these are who take no notice of their outward carriage in such holy duties but rather look upon it as a thing below the observation of a Christian who should be wholly and entirely taken up with their spiritual service And yet as you have heard the Holy-Ghost takes notice of a gesture a cast of the eye in Prayer and sets it down in white and black we need not doubt for our information I must confess the great defect is on the other side men are imployed so much about the form the surface and the outside of religious duties many times that they neglect the main business Their thoughts are exercised so far about the gesture of their body the composure of their words the framing of their voices and the like especially in publike prayer that they have no regard at all to the inward and spiritual service The outward work is infinitely more easie and there is much more ostentation in it And hence it is that the greater part of men are wholly taken up with that which they themselves can do and being done procure them most applause from other men But yet their placing all in forms and outsides and minding nothing else in holy duties doth not justifie at all our running off to the Extream upon the other side No it is possible that even as hypocrites and rotten-hearted wretches may be so intent upon the outside that they have no regard unto the inside So on the other side the holiest and sincerest Christians may be so intent upon the inside that they have no regard at all unto the outside They may so far look after the affection and the zeal and the devotion of the heart which is indeed the main thing to be looked to that they may have no thought at all of the External circumstances of their prayers the gesture or the manner of their utterance which are Considerable notwithstanding as I have made it plain enough and therefore to be wholly careless of them is a failing yea though it should be in the best of Gods people Use 2 And therefore in the second place let me perswade you to think such outward circumstances worthy of your thoughts the very gesture and the utterance of your prayers Let there be due consideration had of such things as these are I would by no means hinder you from having your especial eye on that whereon the eye of God is most when you are making your approaches and addresses to him I mean the carriage of the soul and spirit the inward fervor and humility affection and devotion of the heart without which all the rest is worth nothing But yet let not the gesture of your bodies the utterance of your voice in prayer be utterly neglected by you concerning both of which because I find them in my Text I shall give you some directions As for the gesture of your bodies I shall commend these few things We are not bound to all the self-same gestures which were in use among the people of the Lord of old we read that Joshua and the Elders when they were routed at the Siege of Ai and came before the Ark of God to pray they rent their cloaths and put dust upon their heads Joshua 7.16 And Hezekiah when he came into the house of God to pray at the time when Senacherib besieged Jerusalem he rent his cloaths and put on Sack-cloath Isa 37.1 And this they did not that these fashions were appropriated to the worship of the Lord but because they were in use in those times and
those places to express their grief by So in the self-same place in Joshua they fell down to the ground upon their faces when they prayed And so did Jesus Christ himself as you may see Mat. 26.39 Not that this gesture was peculiar to this piece of service but it was taken from the civil usage of the Country because this was their way of shewing reverence to superiors as you may see Ruth 2.10 And therefore we do well and suitably to the directions and examples of the Scripture that we take up such gestures only in our prayers as are usual in our Country to express our sorrow and dejection or else our civil reverence and respect by Those reverend gestures which we use in prayer should be most observed in publike There may more liberty be taken in private and in secret then there may in publike and open prayer both in the use of outward gesture and in the forbearance of them Some gestures may be used in private prayer which would become us ill in publike in which we should not go remarkably beyond the rest of the Assembly for fear and danger of hypocrisie And gestures on the other side may be forborn in some case in private prayer which yet in publike ought not to be so For evermore in publike as far as it is possible our gesture must be such as may express some reverence and devotion that we may honour God before the People and that our outward posture may not carry in it an appearance of a sleight esteem of God and of his service whereas in private there is greater freedom because indeed there is no need of such Caution But thirdly this must be continually heeded both in publike and in private that the gestures which we use be such as that we do not hinder but rather further the spiritual service It were far better to abate of the reverence of our gesture then the affection of our heart It were far better for a man to stand in prayer then that by the disease and trouble of the other posture he should be distracted and consequently his devotion and his heart should fall That may be allowed the weak in this regard which would not be convenient in the strong The bodily exercise be it of what kind it will is but a means to the spiritual service The end is better then the means and must be more regarded then the means I must not use the means but for the end so far as they are serviceable to the end And much less must I use the means aganist the end We must be very wary that the outward gesture especially in publike prayer do not exceed the inward affection and that we make not shew of more without then there is indeed within for if we do there is hypochrisie Such duties are not done in truth when there is more in shew and in appearance then there is in substance If either of the two be lower then the other it were far better that the outward expression were lower then the inward affection then that the inward c. It were far better that the gesture came short of the heart then that the heart c. It is not good to compass God about with lies meer shews do never please in his service This for the gesture of your bodies when you pray A word or two for your direction touching the use or the omission of the voice in prayer c. And here the first thing that I offer is Those prayers that are publike whether in the family or the assembly wherein one is the mouth of many to the Lord must of necessity be vocall so was our Saviours in my text you see he prayed with his Apostles and Disciples and therefore did no only form a prayer in his heart but expressed it with his mouth he did not only think but speak that they might hear He lifted up his eyes to heaven and said The voice is not of absolute necessity in private prayer For however men who having bodies are endued with ears and senses know not our meaning otherwise then by our words yet God who is himself a spirit knows the meaning of our spirits Sighs may find audience and acceptance with him inward and mental supplications may be in some case more fit then vocal But yet if other circumstances will permit in which your Christian prudence must direct you use your voices We shall observe it to have been the usual practise of the Saints to speak in prayer yea in private prayer as our Saviour did Mark 10.39 God made the tongue aswel as other members of the body and therefore will be served with this as well as them And so the Prophet David praised God with the best member that he had which some expound to be his tongue And therewith bless we God saith the Apostle James 3.9 It is sometimes a quickning to the heart and stirreth up the dead affections to greater fervency and zeal which by continuing in a mental supplication would be apt to languish and decay It keepeth in the heart from wandring by binding it to give exact attendance on the tongue to furnish it with matter and expression whereas in mental prayer it is more apt to slide away and run a roving unobserved Howbeit here I shall not peremptorily prescribe in certain cases to omit the voice is more expedient and therefore I shall shut up all and leave it to your Christian prudence to direct you to pitch upon that way and method of presenting your requests to God which ye will find most to conduce to the affectionate spiritual and heavenly performance of the duty And thus of the transition to our Saviours supplication together with the manner of presenting it to God the Father both his gesture and expression Proceed we now to enter on the Prayer which he makes and here I shall take notice only of these two things the Object of it and the parts of it The Object of it or the Person whom he presents it to you see is God the Father or to come a little nearer God his Father so he stiles him in the entrance of his Prayer Father the hour is come c. and the same phrase he uses all along as you shall see if you survey it from the beginning of it to the end Indeed he gives him once the attribute of Holy and once the attribute of Righteous Father but this is still the appellation that he uses and from whence he never varies If he calls him any thing he calls him Father And in this notion he considers him while he is putting up his prayer to him and therefore this you see my brethren is the first word that he uses when he sets himself to pray Father the hour is come c. I make these addresses to thee as a Father I look upon thee as a Father still while I am pouring out my prayer to thee and therefore he reviews the
in Paradise no we are branches of such a Vine as never withers we are members of such a head as never dies So that undoubtedly the life of Jesus in us although it be not priviledged from abatements and temptations yet it hath nothing in it that tends to utter dissolution Secondly the life which Jesus Christ bestows upon his people as it hath no inward principles of dissolution in it self so neither is there any outward force that can prevail against it to destroy it Christ will preserve and maintain it in us in spite of any opposition The world may set upon us and endeavour to extinguish this life of holiness and grace in us she may assault us with her violent tentations every way with promises and sweet insinuations on the one side with threats and bloody persecutions on the other But this we may relie upon the world shall never overcome us for Christ hath overcome the world And we must know that Christ hath overcome the world not for himself alone but for his members And as he overcame it for us so he doth overcome it in us too by his grace as the Apostle intimates 1 John 5.5 This is the victory that overcomes the world even your faith The Devil is a far more subtile and pernitious adversary then the world but yet he cannot overthrow this life of grace in any of the Saints The gates of Hell cannot so far prevail against them The Serpent can but bruise the heel of Christ and those that appertain to Christ he cannot touch the head or breast he cannot wound us in the vital parts or take away our life from us The flesh is the worst enemy of all in this respect because it is an inward Enemy and a mortal enemy Either that must die or we as the Apostle Paul insinuates Rom. 8.13 But here 's our Comfort now the the flesh shall die and we shall live Christ will destroy the flesh in us and he will put the Spirit into us and maintain the Spirit in us And by this Spirit we shall live and this life shall be eternal We shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting Gal. 6.8 So that the point you see is fully cleered The life which Jesus Christ bestowes c. For first it hath no inward principles of frailty in it self And secondly there is no outward force that can prevail against it to destroy it But here it may be you will interpose those words of the Apostle Jude in the 12th v. of his Epistle where he speaks of some Revolters who were twice dead for that is his expression there they are trees whose fruit withereth Object twice dead plucked up by the roots And how were they twice dead They were not dead at all in regard of their outward and natural life for they were then alive and working mischief in the Church and therefore out of question his intention must be this First they were dead in trespasses and sins Then for a while in some respect or sence they lived the life of Grace And afterwards they died again and so they were twice dead and how then is the Doctrine true The life which Christ c. For resolution of the Scruple you must know my brethren that a man may live the life of grace either in deed and truth or else in shew and appearance only The Church of Sardis lived in shew she had a name Answ our Saviour tells her that she was alive but she was dead Rev. 3.1 There was but a name of life she had a name that she did live but there was the reality of Death she was dead Now they that live in name only who have the shew and the appearance of the life of Christ may die in shew and in appearance too And therefore the Apostle speaking according to the common apprehension and conceit of men saith they were twice dead Once indeed and really before they gave so much as any outward evidence of life And then again in shew and in appearance when they lost that life of grace which both to others and themselves they seemed to enjoy Now is it so that the life which Jesus Christ c. This then should stay Vse 1 us and support us against the fear of those tentations which threaten us with the destruction of the life of grace It is a great affliction to the Saints sometimes when they are mightily assaulted by Satan and their own corruptions and even ready to be overcome they cry out with relation to their spiritual as Job with respect to his natural life What is my strength that I should hope What grace have I that I should hold out against such violent Encounters as these are How should I hope to live when my life is thus assaulted with such fiery darts without with such distempers noxious humours and such lusts within Oh but remember my beloved Christ gives eternal life to his people a life that is not subject to destruction either by inward weakness or outward violence If ever once you have it from him you can never lose it He that once lives the life of Christ can never die death hath no more dominion over him Is it so my brethren that the life of c. This then may clear and Vse 2 comfort us against the frailty and dissolution of the life of nature It 's true my brethren that is subject to decay it is a perishable life but this is an eternal life That may and will be lost indeed but this endures to all eternity And why then are we so afraid of death why doth it terrifie us and affright us so when it hath done its utmost we shall live for ever Why are we grieved and troubled when they die the death of nature who have the life of Christ in them Truly my brethren we may say of such as our Saviour of the Damsell they are not dead As Christ to Martha when she bewailed the loss of her dear brother Lazarus John 11.26 Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die He shall never die the death that overthrows the life of Christ the life of Grace for so you must conceive him there in that place q. d. Lazarus is a believer and therefore whatsoever thou maist apprehend he is not dead He is not dead in reference to that which is a Christians life indeed no true believer is capable of dying so whosoever liveth and believeth in me can never die It 's true my brethren such may lose the life of nature but that alas is but an image and a shadow and a shew of life The life of grace and holiness is life indeed he that liveth in sin is dead while he lives he that lives in holiness is alive when he dies and if the life of nature be not worth the name of life then certainly the death that overthrows no other but the life of nature deserveth not the name of death And hence the death of
thy will for thy Law is in my heart Lord we delight to pray read hear perform religious duties it is our meat and drink to do thy will for thy Law is in our hearts It is not written in our understandings only but in our hearts and our affections and this is that which makes obedience to it pleasing and delightful to us So that if you might be free from the injunctions and directions of the Word with the servant in the Law you would not value such a libertie You would not swear and be unclean and run out into all excess of ryot if you might because your spirits have by grace an inward contrariety and antipathy against it you would not cease to pray and hear and perform religious duties if you might because your spirits have an inward sweet complacencie in these things If you thus keep the Word it is a sign that you are Christs Disciples As you must keep the Word wholly and keep it cordially so you must keep it constantly you must keep it to the end as the Prophet David speaks Psal 119.33 You must hold on in keeping it you must persist in your obedience to it even to your lives end that Christ may say at last concerning you when you depart out of this world and appear before his Father Thou hast given them to me and they have kept thy word And indeed to obey it for a time and then to throw it off again is not to keep it but to lose it Alas how many such are there among us in these latter times who for a while were very diligent and Instant in the study of the Scriptures seem'd to be very cautious and exact to frame their lives in every thing according to the word of God so that they would not vary from it in the least particular Or if they found themselves at any time in any thing to swerve from the direction of the Rule they would judge themselves for it But now the Word the rule it self is laid aside as an unnecessary and a useless thing as if it were not worthy the keeping any longer there is no care at all to walk by it when there are gross and horrid deviations from it they are not looked upon as matter of Humiliation or Contrition in the least degree I wish that such would seriously consider with themselves how Christ shall own them in the latter day how he shall plead before his Father for them that they have kept his word Now my Beloved lay these things to heart and never rest till you have gotten this Character of those that are bestowed on Jesus Christ by the donation of the Father Never satisfie your selves till you keep the Word of God in your lives by obeying it till you keep it wholly and till you keep it cordially and till you keep it constantly And then there is a blessing poured out upon you by the mouth of Christ himself Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it that is that do not hear it only but obey it And to the same effect speaks the Apostle James Jam. 1.23 If as you look into the Law the word of God and understand it so you continue in it and are doers of the work not forgetful hearers of it but doers of the work you shall be blessed in the deed And that you may attain this blessedness that follows those that are obedient to the word I shall give you some direction 1. You must seek to God to teach you though you may learn to know it as that a Castaway may do yet you can never learn to keep it any other way you shall never keep the word in the obedience of your lives unless God and Christ teach you David was very sensible of this and therefore poured out his prayer to the Lord Psal 119.33 Teach me O Lord the way of thy statutes and I will keep it to the end When thou thy self hast taught me once and not before I shall walk accordingly I shall be obedient to it It is not in the power of any in the world to teach a man to frame his life in every thing according to the word unless God himself do it But if he undertake it once if he be pleased to be our Teacher all is well And this is that which the Apostle Paul insinuates Ephes 4.20 and in the following verse ye have not so learned Christ saith he viz. to say and to profess that you are Christians and yet to live prophanely and licentiously and lewdly still If so be that you have heard him and been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus Why what doth he intend what is it to be taught by him he tells us in the following verse That you put off touching the former conversation the old man and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man It is such a kind of teaching whereby we are transferred and brought to the obedience of it And therefore if you do indeed desire to have your lives conformed to the rule and Word of God seek to Christ himself to teach you 2. Be sure to set your selves to the obedience of it out of hand Procrastinations and delays will dash all It is observed of the Colossians that they obeyed the Word from the day they heard of it Col. 1.6 So you my Brethren do you grow practical from this day It may be you are now convinced of many things you think of this and that in which your practice is not answerable to the rule you have secret inward motions and it may be resolutions to amend all as David had I have said that I would keep thy Word saith he to God Psal 119.57 strike now while it is hot do as the same holy Prophet did I made haste and delayed not saith he to keep thy precepts Psal 119.60 Assoon as I resolved I made haste and set about it If you have holy resolutions wrought to practice any duty which you have hitherto neglected up and be doing presently do not permit such resolutions to grow cold and die within you least you never have them more I am perswaded there are many souls in hell who have purposed in many things to bring their practice to the Word to abandon such a sin and to set on such a duty they were resolved upon the thing but they could not do it yet and so the Lord hath cut them off and their delays have proved their ruine 2. If you will keep the Word of God in your lives by obeying it you must find out and mortifie the lusts that hinder you in this business or if you do not so you may resolve on this and that but surely it will come to nothing and therefore if you have within you any holy purposes of coming nearer to the Rule of leaving such a sin or setting upon such a duty think now what lust or what corruption there is
entertained by us and we will not entertain him or if we do it is in such a careless and in such a slight way as if he were not worthy to be looked upon The evil spirit comes and he hath all the welcome that the house can make he finds it swept and garnished the Holy Spirit comes and he is set behind doors He offers holy motions to us he stirs us up to read to pray to humble and afflict our souls to meditate of holy things and we neglect them as if they were not worth the hearkning to He offers sweet and pretious comforts to us and we forsake our own mercy we hanker after other pleasures and delights the comforts of the Spirit will not rellish with us our souls loath this light bread we must have fleshly satisfactions and refreshments spiritual will not serve the turn Brethren this is no good usage the Holy Spirit grieves at this He thinks as well he may he hath deserved better at our hands then this is I have brought down Christ to them and so have comforted and cheered them thinks he and now they slight and grieve me 2. And as we deal unkindly with him when we slight him so we deal more unkindly with him when we oppose him and resist him when we set our selves against him I know the Spirit of grace is irresistible in some respect but yet ad luctam he may be resisted though he cannot ad victoriam and so he is sometimes even by the Lords own people Even they have flesh within them that lusts against this Spirit as the Apostle Paul speaks That doth not slight it and neglect it only but lust against it The Spirit will have this or that done no saith the flesh it shall not the Spirit shall not be obeyed the Spirit will have such a lust cast out that is always crossing him and thwarting with him No saith the flesh it shall not goe The Spirit would have us set about such or such a holy duty the flesh opposes and resists the motion and we are well content it may be at present that it should do so and so we sit still and let all alone say the Spirit what he will Brethren the Spirit takes it very ill to be thus used by us it makes him sad that these whom he hath done so much for should make him such a recompence and that he should be wounded thus in the house of his friends That they should keep and favour fellows there and make them houshold-guests that go to thrust him out of doors when he comes to lodge with them I beseech you think upon it and give him better entertainment that so he may take pleasure to be with you If you desire to make the most of the presence of your Saviour in the Spirit now he is absent from you in the body as you must not grieve him so you must take singular and extraordinary comfort in him for he is sent down as a Comforter you know in Christs absence and therefore this is the special use that you are to make of him It is sad that Christ is gone but it is comfortable that the Spirit is come down from heaven to supply his place and therefore let us see that we take comfort in it Ah my Beloved is not this a sweet and welcome Office of the Spirit to represent Christ to us and so pretious and so sweet a friend as Christ is when he comes in and tells us Christ is gone up indeed to heaven and he will fetch you after him ere it be long that where he is there may you be also And in the mean time he hath taken care of you and he hath sent me down of purpose to be instead of him to you and he would have you look upon me as if he himself were with you Ah my Beloved should not our hearts even leap within us at such news as this Doth not the Spirit comfort us should it not be a ravishing and a reviving thing to us when he comes in Christs stead and supplies Christs room and Christs place Doth not our Saviour Christ himself propound it oftentimes to his Apostles and Disciples for their comfort when they were in heaviness and when their hearts were even about to break within them come be not troubled that I am about to leave you I will send you another Comforter that shall abide with you for ever Joh. 14.16 I have been a comfort to you I confess but I will send you another Comforter one that shall comfort you as much as I have done and one that shall stick to you and shall not leave you as I am about to do but shall abide with you for ever I will not leave you comfortless as Christ adds in the 18. verse No which way will you help it might they say How can we but be comfortless when Christ is gone why this way I will help it might our Saviour say I will come to you and be with you by my Spirit And though the world can never see me while my body is withdrawn and I am only present with you by my Spirit yet you have eyes to see me present with you this way and while you have this presence with you I hope you have no reason to complain that you are left without comfort So that the Spirit is a comforter you see by representing Christ to us yea it is a greater comfort that the Spirit is with us then if Christ himself were with us It is a greater comfort that Christ is present with us by his Spirit then if he should be present with us by his body then the comfort were more narrow but now it is more large then the comfort were more outward but now it is more inward then the comfort were more fleshly but now it is more spiritual and therefore let us take in this comfort If you desire to make the most of the presence of your Saviour in the Spirit now he is absent from you in the body as you must take in the comforts so you must take in the graces of the Spirit for even as Christ is present with you by the comforts so he is present with you by the graces of the Spirit By these he dwells among us though he be in heaven in the body as the Psalmist intimates Psal 68.18 When he ascended up on high he received gifts for men the gifts and graces of the Spirit to bestow on men that the Lord God might dwell among them by those gifts and those graces And therefore the Apostle prays for the Ephesians that Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith one of the principal of those graces Ephes 3.17 Well then my Brethren when Jesus Christ makes tenders of himself to you by these graces let him come in and dwell with you Make the more of this way of his residence and habitation with you because you cannot have him in the other When he offers any
to be they may be one even as the Father and the Son are one Holy Father keep them through thy own Name that they may be one as we are So that the Observation clearly intimated here is this DOCTRINE It is a matter of wondrous difficulty and of high Concernment for Christs Disciples to be at neerest unity among themselves Both these particulars I take it are apparently suggested in the words First that it is a point of wondrous difficulty Then that it is a point of high concernment that all that are bestowed on Jesus Christ should as far as men may be be one as God and Christ are one I shall clear them in order from the Text and other Scriptures It is a matter of wondrous difficulty even for Christs Disciples to be at neerest unity among themselves Our Saviour saw it to be very hard for them in all things to agree together and therefore he desires it may be brought about by the Almighty power of God himself Holy Father keep them through thy own Name that they may be one as we are He prays his Father to set his own Almighty power about it to effect it by which he intimateth that it is no easie matter It is observable how the Apostle struggles for it 2 Thess 3.16 The God of peace himself give you peace always by all means So that there is no possibility of having peace unless God himself bestow it unless he bow the heavens and come down and work it in the hearts of his people It is beyond the power of any creature to keep the Saints themselves in unity and peace unless God himself do it And so the Apostle having well considered the wondrous difficulty of it turns himself to God Now the God of peace himself give it q. d. I see no other means will do it and therefore I beseech thee Lord thou who art the God of peace do thou thy self make unity among thy people That phrase of the Apostle is notable to this purpose Eph. 4.3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word there used imports the doing of a thing with much intention with inward care and outward diligence and labour and endeavour to the very utmost The setting of ones self about a business strenuously and with all his might which would not need if it were an easie matter Endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace So that you see it is a matter of wondrous difficulty for Christs Disciples to be at neerest unity among themselves But you will ask me how it should be so A man would think it should be no hard matter for Christs Disciples to be all one for them who are so closely and so neerly joyned so many wayes and by so many tyes who are all one body one spirit who have all one Head one God one Lord one faith one hope one baptism to be at unity among themselves Indeed it is a task almost insuperable to have peace with all the world To say the truth it is impossible as the Apostle Paul insinuates in his exhortation Rom. 12.18 If it be possible as much as lies in you live peaceably with all men But to live peaceably with Saints and fellow members for such to be at unity among themselves what difficulty should there be in this How cometh it to pass that this is such a hard matter That the almighty power of God himself is called down from heaven about it Why my beloved there be many things even in the Saints and Christs Disciples that make the matter difficult And I shall draw them all that I shall mention to these two heads There are some things in which they are too much alike and there are other things in which they differ overmuch and both of them do make it wonderfully hard even for the Saints to be at unity among themselves There are some things in which they are too much alike to agree among themselves They are all the holiest of them too carnal they have too much corruption in them easily to close together And this is that the Apostle Paul observes in the Corinthians 1 Epist 3.3 Whereas there is among you strife and envy and division are you not carnal Is it not very manifest that there is much corruption and much flesh in you And is not this the cause of these dissentions It may be you are apt to think it to be otherwise but mark what the Apostle saith James 4.1 From whence come wars and fightings among you Whence do they come Why hence they come will some men say I am so troubled and molested I am so grosly injured and abused that I cannot live in peace Never was any man so basely used so vilely dealt withall as I have been and that by those that are accounted honest men And hence it is that I cannot be at rest No no saith the Apostle thou art much deceived I had as lief thou hadst said nothing It is the wickedness and the corruption that is in thee that is the true and real cause of all this From hence come wars and fightings among you even from your lusts that warr in your members And I will shew you what those lusts are which make it so extremely hard even for the Saints to be at unity among themselves 1. They are too proud The wise man tels us this hath a stroke in all quarrels Prov. 13.10 And if in all then in the quarrels of the Saints too And truly my beloved were it not for this there would not be such endless and implacable contentions about matters civil as there are sometimes between those that are Christs Disciples It is their pride that neither side will stoop or bow both are high and both are stiff and so there can no possible accommodation or accord be made between them And were it not for pride there would not be such endless and implacable contentions about matters doctrinal This is the true and real cause why men will not indure to be gainsaid and crost in their opinion but presently they fret and fume and fall into an everlasting strife about words whereof cometh envy railing evil surmisings and perverse disputings as the Apostle shewes 1 Tim. 6.4 5. Now would you have the character of such a person as carryes matters in this fashion saith the Apostle he is proud knowing nothing He thinks himself a very knowing man but this is nothing but his pride And hence it comes to pass that men are so unalterable in their fancies and conceipts that having once asserted them and owned them they will not lay them down again no though they be convinced for their honours sake Remarkable and exemplary is the resolution and humility of Job in such a case Job 6.24 Teach me and I will hold my peace and make me know wherein I have erred In which ingenuous disposition did those who differ
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
in But doth our Saviour so with his Apostles and his Ministers yes my Beloved just so he qualifies them with the Spirit too and therefore having said to his Apostles and his Messengers Joh. 20.22 As my Father hath sent me so send I you The very next words are And when he had said thus he breathed on them and said unto them receive the Holy Ghost And so accordingly the Holy Ghost fell upon them abundantly to fill them and enable them for their Ministerial Office even as they were about to go abroad and preach Act. 2. Here is a greater similitude you see between the Fathers sending Christ into the world and Christs sending his Apostles and Ministers into the world in regard of qualification But yet as the similitude is great so is the dissimilitude in this too The unction which the Ministers of Christ received from him though it be like the unction which Christ himself receiveth from the Father in the thing yet it is nothing like it in the measure and degree Though they be both the unction of the Spirit Christs is surpassingly transcendently beyond theirs He is endowed with all the graces of the Spirit of every sort and every kind so that not one of them is wanting in him And therefore it is said in Scripture that in him all fulness dwells that is the fulness of all graces whatsoever But now my Brethren in the Ministers of Christ it is not so in them there is a division of graces though not of the graces of Sanctification yet of the graces of Edification and one is made partaker of a gift which another hath not There are diversities of gifts saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 12. to one is given by the Spirit the word of knowledge to another prophesie c. But all these concur and â—â—er in Jesus Christ so that he is in this respect inricht above them all And as our Saviour is qualified by the Father with all kinds and sorts of graces so with all measures and degrees As he hath all graces in him so each of them is raised and intended to the highest measure so that there can be nothing added to it to make it more compleat and perfect Indeed my Brethren he received not the Spirit by measure from the Father as the Evangelist observes John 4.32 but beyond all measure But now the Ministers of Christ receive from him but a measure of grace as the expression is Rom. 12.3 So much as he sees fit to qualifie them for the work that he imploys them in as you may see Eph. 4.8 When he ascended up on high he gave gifts unto men for the work of the Ministry and for the edifying of the body of it There is a great similitude between the Fathers sending Christ into the world and Christs sending his Apostles and Ministers into the world in relation to the Errand that both of them are sent in Christ sends his Ministers into the world upon the very same errand that the Father sent him into the world For mark it why did God the Father send Christ into the world Truly my Brethren to be his spokesman unto the world as the Apostle shews God who in times past spoke to the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son To preach the Gospel to the world He hath anointed me to preach saith Christ Luk. 4.18 To preach what to preach the Gospel to the poor to heal the broken-hearted to preach deliverance to the Captives c. And why did Christ send his Apostles and Ministers into the world Why to preach the Gospel too That is the sum of their Commission Mar. 16.15 Go preach the Gospel to every Creature The Ministers of Christ are separated to the Gospel as Rom. 1.1 They must preach all Gospel or else all for Gospel ends They must preach Law with Gospel purposes and Evangelical intentions So that the Father sends the Son and the Son sends his Apostles and Ministers upon very the same errand here the similitude is very great But then the dissimilitude is very great too in that the Son whom God the Father sends is transcendently above the Ministers whom Christ sends in the very same business both are Apostles but Christ is the chief Apostle both are Preachers of the Gospel but Christ is the chief Preacher He preaches it with such authority as they are not invested with and with such efficacy too as they can never reach to He preaches by the Spirit to the heart and to the inward man and so he doth it with infallible success They can preach only to the ear and to the outward man and hence they often fail of the desired issue they spend their strength in vain as the Prophet once complained Indeed the efficacy of their preaching dependeth wholly on the work and power of Christ So that you see he is transcendently above them in the same business And then besides Jesus Christ is sent on business which they are not to touch with He is sent about the work of mans Redemption of satisfaction to the justice of his Father by his bitter death and passion which is too heavy and too hard for any Man or Angel to go through with or to have a hand in There is a great similitude between the Fathers sending c. in relation to the end that both of them are sent for Christ sends his Ministers into the world for the very same end that God the Father sent him For why did God the Father send his Son into the world To save his people as the expression is Mat. 1.21 In which respect his Father would not have him called Apollyon a destroyer but Jesus a Saviour It 's true that Christ is set and appointed by his Father for the fall and rising again of many As for the rising of believers so for the fall of unbelievers But this is but by accident and besides the main intention of God in sending and Christ in coming He doth not cause the fall of such as perish so properly and so directly as the rising of such are saved by him Indeed he came into world to save sinners 1 Tim 1.15 not to destroy sinners It 's true that sinners are destroyed by him but this was not the proper end of his coming God did not send his Son to condemn the world but to save the world Joh. 3.17 And so our Saviour Christ himself professeth Joh. 12.47 I came not to judge the world but to save the world Even so he sent his Ministers for the very same end to work together with him in the Conversion and the Salvation of his people by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe 1 Cor. 1.21 To save themselves and those that hear them 1 Tim. 4.16 Here the Similitude again is great between the Fathers sending Christ c. in relation to the end that both of them are sent for But then the dissimilitude is great
whole heart Psal 119.145 so runs the promise of the Lord to his people Jer. 29.13 Ye shall seek and find me when ye search for me with your whole heart And thus you see in brief what Christ prescribeth for the manner of your prayers Now in the last place for the end of prayer that must be his glory we must aim at his ends and not our own If we seek any thing my Brethren meerly for our own ends to advance our own credits or our own profit we have no aim at all but self in our Petitions If we would have gifts and graces for no other ends but this that we may be applauded and observed if we would have wealth and riches in the world for no other end but this that we may strut and swagger and satisfie our own lusts and so accordingly we may conceive of other things we have cause enough to doubt that Jesus Christ will leave us in such suits as these are yea though we be his own people But if we would have nothing from the Father but in reference to Christ and to his glory if we would have grace and if we would have outward things that we may serve him the better that we may honour him the more we have good grounds to hope that Jesus Christ will second us in such requests as these are Now he will tell the Father There is such a suit of such a member such a Saint of mine I pray thee hearken to it and dispatch it out of hand for it concerneth me aswell as him Fain he would have more grace but I assure thee for I know his heart it is not to be proud or to be lifted up himself but to lift up me with it and to glorifie my name Poor soul he never thinks he gloryfieth me enough and therefore he would have more strength from thee to do it Thou seest how I am interessed in this suit of his and therefore I beseech thee do not put him off but answer him for my sake It is thy great design to glorifie me in the world and if thou wilt but give this Saint of mine more grace he will give me more glory Come let me set thy Treasure open and give him out a large share for I my self shall be a gainer by it And thus far I have shewed you how we may have Jesus Christ to be our Advocate in our Petitions We must walk by his Rule and pray according to his Will as I have laid it open to you both in relation to the Preparation and the Supplication both for the matter manner and the end If thus we do we may be confident of the good word of Christ for us But what if we fail in this I answer in a word and so an end If we fail in the matter of our prayer if that be not according to the will of Christ such a Petition and request as this we may resolve upon is laid by If we fail in the manner of our prayer either it is a total failing or a gradual failing If it be a total failing if we pray without faith without any faith at all without zeal and the like farewell to the success of such petitions If it be but a partial failing and that failing strived against and prayed against the case is very different By Evangelical allay we do what we desire to do in Gods gracious acceptation We pray in faith if we desire to pray in faith we pray with zeal if we desire to pray with zeal We pray according to the Will of Christ if we desire to pray according to the Will of Christ as to the manner of our prayers And if we pray according to his Will but in such a sense as this Christ intercedes and God hears Our Advocate strikes in with us and begs his Father to regard the matter and not the manner of our prayers He is an Intercessor for us to his Father in reference to both these both to the thing desired and the manner of desiring that he would give the one and that he would forgive the other And thus far of the first sort of directions how to judge whether in the Petitions that we make we walk by the Rule of Christ or no. Proceed we to the second sort how to determine whither we act by the Spirit of Christ or no. If in our prayers we act by Christs Spirit there are some measures and degrees of fervency and zeal in them The Holy Ghost is frequently compared to fire in Scripture He shall baptize you saith John the Baptist speaking of our Saviour with the Holy Ghost and with fire that is with the Holy Spirit which is not like water only but like fire too in those that are baptized with it so that where the Spirit is there is an holy heat in those that are partakers of it which shews it self in prayer as in other duties They are fervent in spirit serving the Lord. And though their heat may be allaid and cooled sometimes by outward means like water cast on this fire yet still there is an inward striving and disposition to be fervent The Holy Ghost within them is like fire to this incense I mean the incense of their prayers And though it may be smothered sometimes that it cannot flame or burn up either by afflictions or temptations or desertions yet it is never utterly extinguished in the Saints Although there be not flames perhaps yet there are coals continually on the Altars of their hearts which though they may be raked in the ashes now and then yet at some other times they burn amain Their hearts are hot within them and the fire kindles If we act by Christs Spirit our prayers are not purely natural but spiritual desires For you must know my Brethren that a man may pray yea he may think that he is much assisted by the Spirit in his prayers when all proceeds from his own Spirit and all his prayers may be nothing else but meerly natural desires As when a man perceives himself to be in great distress and sees no way or means to be delivered from it and is convinced and satisfied that God can save him notwithstanding this extremity of danger In such a case these suppositions being made he may enlarge himself to God in prayer and yet he may be stirred and quickned to it by nothing but his own Spirit which is naturally carryed to the use of any means which it conceives may be effectual to such an end as this is So that this man for all his earnestness may not act by Christs Spirit but his own as it is very manifest those wretches did who when they saw themselves invironed round about with dangers and thought that none but God could help them cryed vehemently to the Lord Exod. 14.10 and yet in the succeeding verse it appeareth what they were They shew themselves in their own colours But when a man is carryed high in prayer upon
own humours O no but on the contrary that we might serve him who hath saved us in holiness and righteousness all the dayes of our lives By one offering of himself he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified saith the Apostle Heb. 10.14 Not them that are justified but them that are sanctified And hence the blood of Jesus which he shed when he was a made a sacrifice to God the Father hath not a pacifying only but a purging quality in it It hath not only a value to satisfie but a virtue to sanctifie The blood of Jesus cleanseth us from all sin 1 John 1.7 Compleatly from the guilt of all in justification and inchoatively from the filth of all in sanctification I might be copious in the proof but this may satisfie to clear the point Christ did not set himself apart to be an offring and a sacrifice to God the Father for his own sake but for his peoples sakes and that to this end that they might be sanctified by this means Reason 1 And the grounds are evident I shall but touch upon them only and hasten to Application For first his scope and purpose in this work of his was not only to preserve his people from destruction but to bring them to salvation not only to deliver them from hell but to obtain their entrance into heaven And truly had he not accomplished both of these he had not been a perfect Saviour he had not saved us to the utmost as the Apostle Paul speaks Now my beloved had he justified us only from the guilt of our transgressions he had done but one of these for guilt is nothing but the obligation or binding over of the sinner to damnation so that in quitting us of this he had but saved us from the wrath to come as the Apostle speaks he had not brought us to the happiness to come And therefore since he had a further aim that he might bring his whole intent about he hath not justified us only and so delivered us from death and condemnation but he hath sanctified us also and so prepared us for life and salvation For without holiness it is impossible to see the Lord To be admitted as inhabitants into that holy habitation concerning which the holy Ghost hath said There shall no unclean thing enter into it Rev 21.27 And therefore our Redeemer sanctified himself to be a Sacrifice for us not that we might be justified only and so delivered from Hell and utter darkness but that we might be sanctified also and so made meet to be partakers of the inheritance with the Saints in light Our Saviour sanctified himself to be a Sacrifice for us not only that Reason 2 we might be justified but that we might be sanctified also because he had a purpose and design not to glorifie us only but to glorifie himself in this business And more particularly and distinctly to glorifie himself in us and to glorifie himself by us 1. It was the project and design of Christ in this great work of his to glorifie himself in us and therefore it was necessary that he should not justifie us only but sanctifie us too For had he justified us only from the guilt of our transgressions his glory had appeared indeed upon us to wit the glory of his mercy but which way had his glory shewed it self in us But now by sanctifying us and by inriching us with all the saving graces of his holy Spirit which far exeeed the brightest and Orient Pearls both in lustre and in value his glory shineth forth in us Now he us glorified in his Saints as the Apostle Paul speaks The glory of his grace appeareth in them and sparkles forth with dazling lustre And as in the Creation of the world is seen his wisdom and his power and God-head and the like So in the renovation and the new creation of some certain persons in it is seen the riches of his grace He doth it that he might make known his glory as the Apostle tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he may declare it in the vessels of his mercy prepared by him unto glory Rom. 9.23 And as the greatness and magnificence of any Prince is seen in the Revenues and the Titles and the Dignities of those whom he hath raised and advanced So in our present gracious priviledges and endowments preparing us for glory in the world to come are seen the unsearchable riches of Christ 2. It was the project and design of Christ in this great work of his to glorifie himself by us And therefore it was necessary that he should not justifie us only but sanctifie us too For had we not been sanctified we should have dishonoured Christ in our whole Conversation But being once regenerated and endowed with saving grace and purified as a peculiar people to himself then we glorifie our Saviour Then we shew forth the vertues and with them the praises of him that hath saved us We cause our works to shine before men and Jesus Christ who strengthneth us to shine in them Now is it so my Brethren that Christ did not set himself apart c. Vse 1 for his own sake but for his peoples sakes that so they might be sanctified by this means My Exhortation shall be somewhat sutable to that of the Apostle on the like occasion Gal. 5.13 Take heed you use not this incomparable grace and mercy of the Lord Christ as an occasion to the flesh by taking any kind of licence thence to give it satisfaction in the lusts thereof It is a dangerous desperate course of many men who apprehending that they are delivered by the death of Christ from all their sins and that the Justice of the Lord is satified and appeased for them are by this means imboldned and encouraged on in their evill ways And when they are reproved for their licentious courses they satisfie themselves with this that Christ hath satisfied for them and that not only for their past and present sins but for their sins to come also so that they need not be afraid to act them nor to be humbled for them after they have done them But I must tell them Christ hath not satisfied for them if he do not sanctifie them He hath not set himself apart to to be a sacrifice for them if he do not set them apart to be a holy and peculiar people to himself And unto such as turn this grace into licentiousness I say as Moses did sometime to Israel Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Oh Hellish people and prophane yea I protest against them in the words of the Apostle Gal. 5.2 that Jesus Christ shall profit them nothing Vse 2 Is it so That Christ c. Oh how should this provoke and stir us up to strive and labour after holiness and to endeavour every way to clense our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit What motive more prevailing can be tendered
to our thoughts then this is Ah my Beloved were there nothing in the world but this alone to quicken us and egge us on to purity and a holy conversation no peace of conscience waiting on it no inward joy and comfort of the Holy Ghost no fruit of sanctity no reward of it neither in the present life nor in that which is to come whereas it hath the promises of both I say my Brethren were there nothing else to move us this of it self were sufficient to perswade viz. That Christ in all those torments those abasures those agonies and horrors which he suffered when he sanctified himself and set himself apart to be a sacrifice to God the Father aimed at this that he might sanctifie us to himself that we for whom he suffered might be holy And shall we now like base unthankful and unworthy wretches endeavour to the utmost of our power to thwart and cross him in his purpose to frustrate and make void his end Hath he laid down his life to this end that we might be pure and shall we notwithstanding be prophane Hath he shed his pretious blood to this end that we might be holy and shall we notwithstanding be unclean Is this the reckoning that we make of all those exquisite and those unutterable pangs and tortures which our Saviour suffered when not his body only but his soul was made an offering for sin that we regard not though he suffer them in vain I say to you my Brethren as the Church Lament 1.12 Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by Shall all those wounds those stripes those horrors he endured those streams of pretious blood be shed in vain Oh think upon it you that rot away in your corruptions and that by weltring in the goar of your abominable sins and though you have been frequently advised intreated besought to wash you and to make you clean yet are resolved to be filthy still For you make the Son of God as much as in you lies to suffer to die in vain you spill this pretious blood and tread it under foot And be assured of this your sin is infinitely great and your damnation will be heavy in the world to come And therefore as King David once when his three Worthies had adventured to fetch him water from the Well of Bethel with the apparent and extreamest hazard of their lives refused utterly to drink it or to taste of it Be it far from me saith he for is not this the blood of these men 2 Sam. 23.17 Even so say you when you are tempted and enticed by Satan or your lusts to any fin to be drunken or unclean or to defraud or over-reach your brother or the like Oh be it far from me to do this thing for is not this the blood of Jesus Christ He shed his blood to purifie me and to make me clean from such sins as these are Is it so that Christ c. Oh how should this astonish all prophane Vse 3 and graceless persons Me thinks the thought of this should even break their hearts amidst their greatest earthly pleasures and contentments For what do they imagine that Christ will fail of his intention or that he will attain but half his purpose That since he sanctified himself to be a sacrifice to God the Father for his people that they might be sanctified he will ever justifie and save them whom he never sanctifieth That he will fall short of that which was his scope and aim in this business Oh foolish fancie and absurd imagination Nay Jesus Christ himself hath said yea he hath sworn the contrary and if you will not take his word I hope you will believe his Oath This the is oath that he hath sworn that all they that are saved by him from the guilt and from the punishment of all their sins shall serve him too in holiness So that if any filthy and unsanctified person should be saved Jesus Christ must be forsworn which were blasphemous to imagine And thus we have at length dispatched the first part of our Saviours prayer for the Church and are arrived at the Second In the first place he prays as I have shewed you for his Apostles and Disciples then about him the members of the Church that then was who were already called and sanctified whom God had given him out of the world I pray for them saith he I pray not for the world and this part of the prayer he shuts up with the verse which we have even now ended And now my Brethren in the second place he comes to pray for those who were after to be called by their preaching or their writing who were to be the members of the Church that was to come Neither pray I for these alone but for them also that shall believe on me through their word And here we have in general these two main things to be considered 1. Christs description of the persons for whom he now becomes a Suitor to his Father them which shall believe on me through their word 2. The matter of the prayer which he makes for these persons That they may all be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee and so on At this time we shall enter on the first of these and that is Christs description of the persons for whom he now becomes a suitor to his Father and they in general are true believers who are described three ways First by the time of their faith they are not such as did believe when Christ put up his Supplication to his Father but such as should believe in after-times Secondly by the object of their Faith they should believe in Jesus Christ Thirdly by the instrumental means of this faith they should believe in Christ through the Apostles word I shall speak a word or two of the circumstance of time by which our Saviour here describeth those for whom he prays they are not such as did believe when Christ put up this supplication to his Father but such as should believe in after-times Neither pray I for these only for my Apostles and Disciples who believe in me already but for them also who shall believe on me through their word So that you see DOCTRINE Our Saviours Intercession is not confined to those who believe but it extends to those who shall believe though for the present they have no faith at all in them It reaches to believers by Election to all that are appointed to believe to the end of the world I pray saith Christ for them also for all them which shall believe on me through their word And as God loves believers by Election though for the present they be unbelievers as I have shewed you very lately so Christ prays for all such Indeed he died for all such for all such as shall believe and not for such alone as do believe and therefore he must needs pray for all such For both the branches of