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
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
mercy grant that we may be in heaven while we hear it To make way to the handling of it I shall consider three things First the transition to it Then Secondly the gesture and the carriage of our Saviour in it Thirdly the substance and the matter of it First the transition to it from the former chapter These words spake Jesus these words expressed in the long discourse before Then Secondly the gesture and the carriage of our Saviour in it he lifted up his eyes to heaven while he made it Thirdly the substance and the matter of it and it is wholly for the Church either for himself the head of the Church in reference and with relation to the Church or for the members of the Church First for himself the head of the Church he desireth glorification Father glorifie thy Son in the first verse of the chapter and this in reference and with relation to the Church as is apparent at verse 24. That they may behold his glory Then Secondly for the members of the Church he desireth confirmation and that either for the Apostles and Disciples then about him the members of the present Church Or else for those who were after to be called by their preaching the members of the Church to come In the first place he prayes for the Apostles and Disciples then about him the members of the present Church who were already called and sanctified at the sixth and following verses whom God had given him out of the world I pray for them saith he I pray not for the world In the Second place he prayes for those who were after to be called by their preaching the members of the Church that was to come ver 20. and so on to the conclusion of the Chapter Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe in me through their word So that this prayer of our Saviour Christ you see is very full It is for himself the head of the Church And it is for the Church which is his body of which alone he is the Saviour and the Intercessor It is for the present Church it is for the Church to come It is for the Apostles and the Ministers the officers and teachers of the Church And it is for the ordinary members of the Church who believe through their words So that whoever appertaineth to the Church let him live in what time he will be he of what condition or estate he will he hath a share in this prayer We must begin with the transition to it These words spake Jesus These words what words the words in the three Chapters next before all tending to establish his Apostles and Disciples which the Evangelist relates exactly for the comfort and confirmation of the Church of Christ even to the worlds end and having done with the relation he shuts it up with this These word spake Jesus and so goes onward to his supplication The point apparently suggested to us here is this DOCTRINE The words that Jesus spake are very fit to be commended to the choicest observation of his Church and people And here they are so carefully and so exactly gathered up by the Evangelist and knit together in a chain every Link of which is precious And having laid them all together he writes this under them These words spake Jesus qâ—d Take heed that you observe and mark them well they are the words not of an ordinary man but of the blessed Son of God the great Prophet of the Church These words were breathed from the lips of Jesus Christ himself and therefore see that you take notice of them and value them accordingly These words spake Jesus indeed the summ and substance of the four Evangelists is but the history of Jesus Christ of his words and of his actions and therefore Luke reduceth all that he hath written in his Gospel to these two heads Acts 1.1 The former Treatise have I made O Theophilus of all that Jesus began both to do and teach His treatise as you see consisted of these two things either that which Jesus did or else that which Jesus spake So that his sayings as you see are very memorable and remarkable being by special revelation and direction of the Spirit put in writing and so left upon record for the instruction and the consolation of his people to the worlds end You may observe what care is taken to gather up the words of Jesus as they dropt from him upon all occasions that none of them might perish and be lost by which it is apparent they were things of worth and use and fit to be preserved for posterity And it is noted to the praise of Mary that she kept his Sayings when others lost them yea she kept all his sayings and she kept them in her heart that was the Cabinet in which she put them when others valued them as things of nothing and looked upon them but as loose words And therefore she is set in opposition to them Iohn 2.5 They understood not the sayings which he spake to them but Mary kept all these sayings in her heart She laid them near her heart as choice things It was the promise of our Saviour Christ to his disciples and one of the last he made them and therefore certainly it was a precious one that if they should forget the words that he had spoken to them he would dispatch them down his spirit out of heaven and this should be one great part of his business with them to mind them of such words of his as were slipt out of their minds Ioh. 14.26 The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost shall come and he shall teach you all things and bring all things to remembrance whatsoever I have said to you By which it is apparent that the words which Jesus spake are very fit c. And this will yet appear more fully and distinctly to you if you consider but these three things First whose the words were Then what the words were Thirdly the manner how the words were spoken As for the first of these if you consider whose the words were you will discern them to be very fit to be commended to the choicest observation of the Church The author of them if you look no further will purchase them so much credit They are the words that Jesus spake as you have in my text And shall that which Jesus spake any thing which he delivered be thought unworthy of the notice of his people Why what was Jesus that the words that dropt from him must be so highly valued and esteemed My brethren if you look upon him upwards with relation to the father or if you look upon him downwards with relation to the Church you will see enough for this on all hands 1. If you look upon him upwards with relation to the father you will see reason why his words should be Commended to the choicest observation of his Church and people He is the
of joy when he promised him you know to his Apostles and Disciples they were full of sorrow and he did this as an antidote against it Come be not troubled saith our Saviour I will send you another Comforter that shall abide with you for ever John 14.16 I have been a Comforter to you I confess but seeing I am ready to depart from you I will not leave you comfortless no I will send you another Comforter one that shall comfort you as much as I have done and one that shall stick to you too and shall not leave you as I am about to do but shall abide with you for ever So that you see one special end of Christ in sending down the Holy Ghost into the hearts of his people is to comfort them and cheer them to be to them not only a spirit of Sanctification but a spirit of Consolation and so discovers that he hath a great regard to the joy of his people Christ gives deliverance to his people that they may be full of joy He hath divers other ends why he becomes a Saviour to them in the day of their distress but this is not the least of all that he may put new joy into their hearts and a new Song into their mouths When he appears to the salvation of his people in doing so he appeareth to their joy as you may see Isa 66.5 That is the End and Drift of his Appearance Christ hath purchased Heaven for his people that they might be full of ioy For Heaven as it is a place of the heigth of holiness so it is a place of the heigth of happiness Here indeed we are in Bochim in a place of weeping we go through a vale of tears and digg up Wells but they are of salt water the rain also fills the pools But when we are arrived at Heaven we shall weep no more but all our tears shall be wiped from our eyes We shall not have a wrinkle in our faces nor a tear upon our cheeks nor a sad thought upon our hearts but all shall be smooth and clear and sweet and that for ever Then we shall be full of joy Christs joy shall be fulfilled in us yea we shall have the fulness of joy Psalm 16. ult Indeed full joy importeth nothing but enough to fill us so much as we are capable of as is commensurate to our capacity as we are able to receive But on the other side the fulness of joy importeth all the measures and degrees of it So that there can be nothing added to it there is nothing wanting to it to make it absolute in all respects It is not to be raised higher any way And this hath Christ prepared and purchased for us By these things it is evident that Jesus Christ would have his people to be full of holy joy But wherefore will he have it to be so Why would he have his people to be full of holy joy Out of self-respect he would have it to be so because by reason of the Reason 1 neerness of his union with his people he hath a kind of share in their comfort As his joy is their joy according to his own expression in my text that they may have my ioy fulfilled in themselves So upon the other side their joy is his joy And as there is a social glory of the head and of the members as the School-expression is as Christ is glorified in the glory of his people 2 Thes 1.12 so there is a social joy of the head and of the members Christ rejoyceth in the joy of his people The Comfort of the members redoundeth also to the Comfort of the head As Christ delights in the prosperity so in the joy of his people When they are joyfull he rejoyceth over them with joy and joyeth over them with singing as his own expression is Zeph. 3.17 Reason 2 Christ would have his people to be full of holy joy to recompence them for their sorrow They are described to be such as mourn Mat. 5.4 That uses to be first with them they use to begin there But then they do not use to end there And therefore it is added presently for they shall be comforted Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted And Christ would have their comfort to be answerable to their sorrow That as his sufferings have abounded in them their consolation also may abound by him as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 1.5 Indeed they go forth weeping bearing pretious seed as you may see Psal 126.6 They sow in showry weather in a weeping time In such a time did David sow the seed of true repentance for his sin he wept so much that he made his bed to swimm and watered his Couch with his tears In such a time did Peter sow the same see in a time of bitter weeping Mat. 26. ult But then the harvest makes them ample recompence for all the dark and sad and showry weather in the sowing time They come again with joy and they bring their sheaves with them They scatter it by grains but they gather it by sheaves they have twenty thirty forty yea an hundred fold for one So that if any now should ask me You say that Christ would have his people to rejoyce but what would he not have them mourn too Yes he would have them mourn but in order to rejoycing Sorrow is an unperfect passion and is not for it self but for some higher use as all the rest of the declining passions or affections are As hatred is for love and fear for confidence so sorrow also is for joy unto which it is subservient As lancing is not for it self but for ease and remedy and as a potion is not properly for sickness though it cause it for a season but for health so sorrow is for joy and joy is the end of sorrow in the Saints And Christ intends it to be so You shall be sorrowfull saith Christ to his Disciples but your sorrow shall be turned into Joy John 16.20 He gives to them that mourn in Zion beauty for ashes the oil of gladness for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness Isa 61.3 The ransom'd of the Lord go out lamenting but they return to Zion with Songs and everlasting Joy upon their heads Isa 35. ult Reason 3 Christ would have his people to be full of holy joy that they may be large in duty Sorrow is a kind of straightning the heart a sad heart is a straigthned heart it is shut up it cannot pray it cannot praise it can do nothing with enlargement And therefore the Apostle calleth mourning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a contraction of the heart 2 Cor. 2.4 And I appeal for this to those whose spirits are opprest with sadness and dejection whether it do not make them indisposed to duty unfit to hear unfit to pray and in a word unfit for any part of Christs service But holy joy upon the
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
be sanctified By consecration a person or a thing is made holy when it is set apart for holy uses In this respect the Sabbath day is holy in this respect the Temple the Utensils and Vessels of the house of God in this respect the Priests were holy Thus all the first born of the Jews were holy and set apart for God And therefore having charged Moses to sanctifie the first born thus he explains it afterwards Exod. 13.2 12. Thou shalt set them apart to God and in a word thus all the Sacrifices and oblations under the Ceremonial Law were holy they were consecrated things For consecrated things are sanctified things as I might give you instances enough in that particular Thou shalt annoint them saith the Lord speaking of Aaron and his Sons Exod. 28.4 and thou shalt consecrate and sanctifie them that they may Minister unto me in the Priests office So after speaking of the Ramm of consecration Aaron and his Sons shall eat it saith the Lord to consecrate them and to sanctifie them Exod. 29.33 Now all the question is in which of these respects our Saviour here is said to sanctifie himself whether by way of qualification or of consecration I must acknowledge I have heretofore conceived it in the former way as in a way of qualification that he made himself holy by the communication of the gifts and graces of the holy spirit to his humane nature For though it be a certain truth that Christ was not neither could be made holy of not holy privatively as man who by the fall had wholly lost his holiness is sanctified and made holy by regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost Yet it is very manifest that Christ was sanctified and made holy of not holy negatively for there was once a time when Christ as man had not this holiness inherent in his humane nature because there was a time viz. before his incarnation when his humane nature had not a being in the world And thus Christ was sanctified for his Apostles and Disciples sake his peoples sake That they might be sanctified That is he was endued abundantly with the gifts of holiness and the graces of sanctification to this end that he might communicate them and dispense them to his people and that they might be sanctified by this means That of his fulness they might all receive and grace for grace So that this looks extreamly well you see as the meaning of the Text. And for their sakes I sanctifie my self that they also might be sanctified through the truth But yet I find interpreters even universally running in another stream and understanding it of being sanctified in a way of consecration The former I suppose they leave because indeed it is not consonant to Scripture phrase For Jesus Christ to say as man that he sanctified himself in a way of qualification That is to say that he endued himself with the sanctifying gifts and graces of the holy spirit It is usually affirmed that God the Father sanctified him That it pleased the Father that in him should all the fulness of the holy spirit dwell Col. 1.19 That God even his God did annoint him with the oyl of his spirit Psal 45.7 And therefore he is called him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world John 10.36 Besides it seems not to be congruous that Christ should pray his Father to sanctifie his Apostles and Disciples because for his part he had sanctified himself with the graces of the spirit to this end that they might be sanctified by communication of those graces to them And therefore I shall run down with the common stream of exposition and understand our Saviour here to tell his Father that he sanctified himself by way of Consecration That he set himself apart to be a Priest an Altar an Offring and a Sacrifice to God the Father for the sins of his people And that to this end that they might be sanctified by this means Not only that they might be justified but that they might be sanctified too And sanctified through the truth through the effectual revelation of the Gospel to them which is called the truth in Scripture Or truly sanctified as it is rendred in the Margine not only in the Type and Figure as the Offrings and Sacrifices of the Ceremonial Law but in reality and truth And on this ground our Saviour prayes his Father to sanctifie his Apostles and Disciples that he might not be disappointed of his great end for which he sanctified himself and made himself an offring to his Father Sanctifie them with the truth And why so Why for their sakes I sanctifice my self I set my self apart to be a Sacrifice to thy justice that they also might be sanctified with the truth The words thus opened yield us out two Observations First Jesus Christ did willingly and freely set himself apart to be an Offring and a Sacrifice to God the Father Secondly he did this for his peoples sakes and that to this end that they might be sanctified by this means DOCTRINE 1. Jesus Christ did willingly and freely set himself apart to be an Offring and a Sacrifice to God the Father He was not forced to become an Expiation for the sins of men No he did it of himself and of his own accord I sanctifie my self saith our Saviour in my text by consecration So he is said to offer up himself Heb. 7.27 To humble himself and to become obedient conceive it passively obedient to the death even the death of the Cross Phil. 2.8 T is true indeed the death and passion of our Saviour was necessary if we look to God the Father and his eternal Counsel and Decree for he was slain in that respect i. e. appointed to be slain from the beginning of the world It was determined to be done as the Apostle speaks Acts 4.28 And therefore it behoved him to suffer as himself speaks Luke 24.46 and he must be lifted up upon the Cross an unavoidable necessity was laid upon him John 3.14 And as his death was necessary if we look to God the Father so it was violent my Brethren if we look to men With murderous and wicked hands they slew him Acts 2.23 They kild and crucified the Lord of glory But if we look to Christ himself his death and passion was a voluntary thing to which he willingly resigned and yielded up himself His life was not extorted from him but he laid it down himself John 10.17 He was delivered up to death by God the Father Acts 2.23 He was delivered up by Judas and the Jews too Mat. 27.2 And yet he freely yielded up himself he loved us and gave himself for us Gal. 2.20 he gave himself for us an Offring and a sacrifice to God Ephes 5.2 He sanctified himself for our sakes and set himself apart to this hard and sharp service so that the Point is plain you see That Jesus Christ did willingly and freely set himself apart to
therefore my Beloved when there are any such abroad as some have been in our days who say that they are Christ you shall do well to call one of them who are in Christ to tell you whether this be Christ indeed or no. This being in the Father and the Son importeth ready easie and familiar access to the Father and the Son They are in one another and therefore they must needs be much together Believers need not to go far to speak with God he is at hand continually for they are in him So that they have his ear and heart too they can come to him and speak with him when they please Others that are abroad they hear him when he speaks in publick in the open Congregation and when he cryeth in the place of concourse as the wise man speaks But alas they have no private talk with him as these have when there is none but God and them together And therefore they that are without that live without God and without Christ are fain to use those that are in God and Christ sometimes to promote their suits to him If they have any special business to prefer to God they that are without must be beholding to them that are within to tender their Petitions for them as Pharaoh was in such a case Send for Moses and Aaron and let them use their interest in my behalf let them pray to God for me This being in the Father and the Son doth carry in it a more immediate enjoyment of all the comforts satisfactions and contentments that the soul of man can reach after For God involves and comprehendeth in him all the good that can be thought upon and infinitely more then the poor narrow heart of man can reach to We would think abundance of us that we were very well if we had all the happiness that all the creatures in the world could yield us If we had such a wife house gardens servants in-come by the year honors pleasures and delights as we would fancy to our selves then we would think that we were happy men indeed Why my Beloved whatsoever good there is to please or give us satisfaction in the creatures any way if we had them all together is eminently and transcendently in God They had it all from him and therefore certainly he hath it all in him and that without dregs too The spirits and the quintessence of all these comforts are in God refined from the drossie part so that in having him we have all A naked God a naked Christ is infinitely more to make a man compleatly happy then all the comforts in the world without him Or if it were not so my Brethren our state in heaven would be worse then it is here upon the earth the happiness of Heaven would be much below and much inferiour to our earthly happiness In Heaven we shall have nothing else but God no Sun no Moon Apoc. 21.23 The Creatures shall not give us comfort as they do in this world No God shall be our Sun and Moon there he shall be every thing to satisfie us and content us and to make us happy He shall be all in all 1 Cor. 15.18 Now if the Lord have not as much in him as all the creatures which we leave when we are taken hence by death we are losers by the bargain whereas we know the heighth and the perfection of our happiness is there where we have nothing else but God And therefore certainly we stand in need of nothing else to make us absolutely and compleatly happy And whensoever we have least of creatures and most of God in this world then we are nearest to that full beatitude Now God we have if we be in him my Beloved and so we have the Fountain of all happiness and satisfaction He that is in God in the Father and the Son must needs have all that is in God so far as it is necessary for him And that indeed is all that can be This being in the Father and the Son doth carry in it admirable safety He is secure enough from any hurt that is in God For what should seize upon him to annoy him there You know the Lord is often called a house a habitation in the Scripture and to make up the Allegory the Saints are said to dwell in God 1 Joh. 3.24 He that keepeth his Commandements dwelleth in him and he in him So that believers are in God as in a house where they are warm and well and safe however matters go abroad what ever storms there be upon land they are not like to the Egyptian servants in the storm of hail they are not left abroad in the woods and in the fields to be smitten and destroyed No God hath fetched them into house into himself they are in God who is the habitation of his people and there they are secure enough as the Psalmist intimates Psal 91.1 He that dwelleth in the secret of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty So that when the storm is fiercest he can stand quiet and look out at window and see others perish in the tempest He is in the Ark in God and a few more with him while all the world besides are drowned in the deluge It matters not to him what waves and floods there are abroad he is where he is safe enough Nay God is not resembled to an ordinary habitation only but to a place of refuge and defence Psal 18.2 A Castle and a strong Tower c. So that they that are in God are in a Castle and a strong Tower that never was and never will be taken by assault and what need they fear there They that are without indeed are in very great danger they are exposed to the mercy of the Enemy because they know not whether to betake themselves for shelter but they that are within may say as David when the Drums beat and the bullets flie I will lay me down in peace and sleep for thou Lord only makest me dwell in safety Psal 4. ult and that because I am in thee thou art thy self my Castle and my refuge and my strong Tower This being in the Father and the Son doth carry in it certainty of perseverance What my Beloved do you think that it is in and out In God to day and out to morrow as Arminians teach It is a most uncomfortable Doctrine which they have broached Ah my Beloved what solid and induring satisfaction will the best condition that they can be in afford them if they be not sure to keep it Now here Beloved is the fullest and the best assurance against this discomfort that is contained in the Book of God You hear that true believers are in God in the Father and the Son yea they are so in God so in the Father and the Son as they are in one another I pray for them saith Christ that they may all be one as thou Father art in me
such grounds and reasons as his spirit naturally is not likely to suggest because they do not any way concern him as a natural man as when upon the apprehension of some great dishonour that will come to God if such a thing should be denyed a man is much enlarged and quickned in his prayers yea when his prayers are against his natural desires when he is earnest with the Lord in secret to help him to pluck out a right eye or to cut off a right hand to mortifie and curse and kill those lusts and those corruptions which naturally are extreamly dear to him and that upon such grounds and motives wherein there is no self respect When he shall seriously and sincerely beg the Lord to give but a little wealth a little honour if he perceive that more will do him spiritual hurt that it will puff him up and make him proud as Agur did Give me not riches feed me with food convenient for me left I be full and deny thee and say Who is the Lord this man is like to act by Christs Spirit If we act by Christs Spirit in our prayers we strive most for spiritual things What do you think the Spirit of Christ will make us long more after earth and earthly things then Christ himself that it will make us more importunate for wealth then grace more earnest after temporal and worldly blessings then after those spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus as the Apostle calls them Ephes 1.3 Is it a likely thing my Brethren that the Spirit should make us struggle more for bodily and outward things then for those things that are more agreeable and suitable to it more near to its own nature I make no question David acted by the Spirit in that Petition and request of his Psal 4.6 There be many that will say Who will shew us any good you must conceive it any temporal or worldly good many that look after this But this is that which I desire saith he Lord lift upon me the light of thy countenance and when thou hast done this Thou hast put gladness in my heart much more then in the hearts of worldly men when their corn and wine increaseth If we act by Christs-Spirit we pray for temporal and worldly things in reference to spiritual ends They that have the Spirit of Christ and they that are devoid of it do both pray for earthly blessings For there are promises of these as well as of the other But now the difference lies in this both aim not at the same ends He that hath the Spirit of Christ desires these outwards blessings moderately with submission that he may serve God with them that he may promote his ends that he may be the abler instrument to help his Church to support his people to advance his glory to appear for his cause Even these desires of his are spiritual although not for the matter of them at least for the end of them But now my brethren on the other side he that hath not Christs spirit desires these outward blessings that he may consume them on his Lusts as the Apostle speaks Jam. 4.3 Ye ask and receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lusts That you may make provision for the flesh with it and that it may be oyle to nourish and to feed the sinfull flames that are within you And thus it is my brethren with a multitude of men they pray to God for some thing to bestow upon their sensual appetite to serve their carnal turns to satisfie their brutish and voluptuous pleasures and desires They would be in place and power that they may raise their names and families that they may swell and swagger over their inferiours that they may plague their enemies and pleasure those that are observant of them They would have wealth and riches in abundance that they may swimm in full delights and fare delitiously every day Agur measures the conveniency or inconveniency of his outward state as it would fit him more or less for Gods service Not poverty least I deny thee not riches left I forget thee But these men measure it by nothing but their sensual appetite and so their prayers serve their lusts and they would have God himself to serve them too if they could prevail with him And are such desires as these like to be raised by the spirit of Christ what will the spirit stir men up to pray for any thing to nourish and maintain the flesh the carnall part which is the spirits enemy The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit lusteth against the flesh for those two are contrary one to another And will the spirit notwithstanding strive for that which shall uphold and feed those lusts against which the spirit lusteth Believe it brethren they that pray for any blessings to maintain their lusts with them their pride intemperance c. do not act by Christs spirit Object But you will ask me then How shall we know whether we pray for blessings to consume them on our Lusts how shall we discern that I shall give you some discoveries 1. If you will observe deal impartially and freely with your selves you shall know it by your thoughts The end is first in the intention and last in execution and therefore certainly the heart works much upon it Now my beloved consider what runneth often in your thoughts when you are sick and pray for health and continuance of your lives are your aimes as Davids were that you may praise and glorifie the Lord among the living Psal 6.5 as Hezekiahs were Loth he was to die poor man but wherefore was he so averse from death The grave cannot praise thee death cannot celebrate Isa 38.18 Or do you feed your minds with nothing but pre-apprehensions of the carnal pleasure and delight and satifaction you shall have when you recover So when you pray for outward things do you entertain your spirits with pleasing dreams of honour and ambition by this you may discover what your aims are 2. You shall discern it by the manner of your prayers whether you pray for blessings to consume them on your lusts or no. If so you will be absolute and peremptory in your prayers Carnal desires will make the spirit of a man impetuous and impatient of denial He that aims at satisfaction of his lusts will not be at Gods disposal there will be no sweet submission to the will of God No he must have this or that and he cannot bear a check as Rachel must have children or she dies when once the heart is set on any thing that serves to feed a sensual appetite whether it be the lust of the flesh or the lust of the eye it is violently bent and it must not be denyed 3. You shall discover it by the effect I mean the use of those external blessings which you pray for you pray for health you pray for riches
and people that condemned and scourged and crucified the Lord of glory And now my brethren Will you say to me as the Disciples to our Saviour when he told them that one of them should betray him Will you ask me man by man Is it I and is it I No I expect to hear you say It is not I. What I an enemy to Christ I defie it and they that are his greatest enemies will be as bold and resolute in the denyal as any other And therefore as our Saviour gave a sign to the Disciples by which the Traytor might be known so I will give you certain signs out of Scripture by which the enemies of Christ may be discovered First they that are willing to submit to sin and are unwilling to submit to Christ they are enemies to Christ I will a little stand on either branch of this mark They that are willing to submit to sin they are enemies to Christ 'T is true indeed men may be taken captive by it as Saint Paul was they may be forc't to obey it in some certain acts notwithstanding all their striving by the power of a temptation which they are no way able to resist and yet may be the friends of Christ they may unfaignedly and dearly love the Lord Jesus But if they render up themselves to any lust if they make a Covenant with it as being willing and resolved to obey it if not content that they are sold by Adam they sell themselves to sin as Ahab did they are enemies to Christ No man can serve two Masters that are contrary as God and Mammon Christ and sin for saith our Saviour He will love the one and hate the other Mat. 6.24 So then if you be servants voluntarily engaged to any sin as being willing to obey it in the lusts thereof Whether it be drunkenness or swearing or uncleanness or the like If you resolve it is a sweet it is a profitable sin I will not strive nor pray against it because I mean not to forsake it you do indeed hate Christ It may be you do think that you may serve a lust and love the Lord Christ too But you deceive your own souls for the Truth of God hath said it that he that loves the one will hate the other As they that serve Christ hate sin so they that serve sin hate Christ And for the second branch of this mark as they that willingly obey sin so they that are unwilling to obey Christ they are enemies to Christ You are my friends saith Christ to his Disciples if you do whatsoever I command you Joh. 15.14 otherwise you are not And hence he styleth those his enemies who will not have him rule over them Luk. 19.27 Observe it well he saith not simply Those that will not have me raign but those mine enemies that will not have me raign over them bring them forth and slay them before me If then you will not stoop to Christ and to the Scepter of his Kingdom if you will not have him rule you if you will not do the things that he commands you but are resolved to walk according to your own humors and though you are informed what is good and what the Lord requireth of you yet you hate to be reformed and pluck away the shoulder as the Prophet speaks and say with those rebellious wretches Psal 2.3 Let us break his bonds asunder and cast away his cords from us that we may walk at liberty and that there may be no restraint from any thing that seemeth good in our own eyes be not deceived for you are Adversaries of the Lord Christ 2. They are enemies to Christ that love that which Christ hates and hate that which Christ loves It is the property of near and bosome friends to will and nill to love and hate the same things and enemies are just upon the other hand and so it is in this case They that are in love with sin which is the thing the only thing which Christ hates are surely out of love with Christ They that love the Lord hate evil Psal 97.10 and I may say as well They that love evil hate the Lord. It 's true that such as love him may commit it but yet they have a strange antipathy against it they hate it with a perfect hatred and every false way they utterly abhor And hence it is that they endeavour to destroy it to crucifie it every day to put it to the cruellest and basest death and if they had it in their power they would shew it no mercy You would not use a Turk a Toad as such a man would use sin But when a man shall cocker it and stroke it and delight in it when he shall not endure to have it striken with the hammer or wounded with the Sword of Gods Word but shall be ready to do violence to any man that offers it a blow or gives it but an ill word the heart of such a person is not right towards Christ And even as they are enemies to Christ who love that which Christ hates so also they who hate that which Christ loves and that is holiness and grace which he cannot choose but love because it is a beam of his own light a gift of his own spirit a stamp of his own Image a part of his own fulness for of his fulness have we all received and grace for grace But you will say Who hates this I answer they that persecute and scorn and vex their brethren for their strictness and preciseness because they follow that which good is because they fear an oath because they run not out with them to the same excess of riot they are the men that hate grace For it is holiness and grace you see that is the proper object and indeed the formal reason of their hatred And they that hate their brethren for their holiness and grace which they have received from Christ by which they are conformable and like to Christ would hate him so much more then them if he should come and live among them by how much he is holier then they are And therefore let not such as say they could affect and like of such a person well enough but that he is so pure and so precise he will not do as they do pretend any love to Christ For certainly the same affections of spite and malice and reproach which they discover against such men they would with so much greater bitterness express against the Lord Christ if he were conversant upon the earth by how much he exceedeth and transcendeth them in holiness and grace 3. They that are friends to the enemies of Christ and enemies to the friends of Christ are enemies to Christ himself Be they who they will that close with those that live in enmity against Christ and help them in their opposition to his truth and to his cause and to his glory they can never love Christ No if they did
themselves by nature so much as a receptivity or an immediate passive capability of saving knowledge For there is somewhat in them superfluous and there is somewhat in them defective somewhat too much and somewhat too little 1. In every unbeliever there is somewhat that repells divine knowledge and that keeps out the beams of truth And that is carnal reasoning and carnal wisdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8.7 The wondrous perspicuity and sharpness of conceit that is in any man that is but flesh is so far from helping him to know God that it doth but hinder him And the ground is evident for such a person leanes to his own wisdom he doth not yield himself up to be taught of God but weighs those things that are divine and supernatural in the ballance of his reason As far as that will reach he is content to go And where that faileth him as infinitely short it falls there he desists and what he is unable to perceive by this is foolishness to him as 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural man receiveth not the things of God for they are foolishness unto him They are not so indeed and in themselves they are but so to him He is too wise to take in such foolish things and therefore the Apostle saith not many wise 1 Cor. 1.16 and tells us plainly that if we ever mean to attain to saving knowledge we must be renewed in the spirit of our mind Eph. 1.24 that is in the highest purest and the most refined part of it As spirits are the quintessence of things that are most abstract from dross and that have least of earth in them Even these must be renewed or saving knowledge will not be received 2. In every unbeliever and unsanctified person as there is something redundant that repells divine knowledge so there is something wanting to receive it and that is the spirit of God Saving truths are often called the things of the spirit as 1 Cor. 2.14 Now my beloved the things of our own spirits carnal natural and worldly things our own spirits will take in but the things of Gods spirit Gods spirit only will take in Though they be brought home to our doors if Gods spirit be not there to take them in if he be not at home to entertain them and receive them it is all to no purpose And this is the case of the natural man he hath not the spirit of God and therefore he receiveth not the things of the spirit because he hath no principle within him that is agreeable and suitable unto them And this is that which the Apostle aims at when he saith we speak wisdom to them that are perfect 1 Cor. 2.6 That is to them that have all the parts of a spiritual man whereof the spirit is the principal the doctrine which we teach is accounted wisdom But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the animal man the souly man the man that hath a soul indeed but no spirit I mean none of Gods spirit he perceives not these things nor can he know them And why so because they are spiritually discerned And he poor man hath not the spirit to discern them by And therefore though he hear the words of God and Christ he never knows the mind of God or Christ as it is added in the end of that Chapter I shall add but one reason more unbelievers and unsanctified persons know not God because as they are of themselves unable in the respects which have been mentioned so they are unwilling also to know God They will not understand Psal 82.5 They are wilfully ignorant as 2 Pet. 3.5 God comes and shews himself to them and they say to God Depart from us for we will not the knowledge of thy wayes Light is offered and they shut their eyes against it So that it may be said of such Their eyes have they closed lest they should see with their eyes They need not to ascend up into heaven to bring God down from thence that they may see him No the word that manifesteth and revealeth God is nigh to them Rom. 10.6 They need not to go far to hear it and to hear of God in it But many will not step out of their doors to meet with God and to be acquainted with him If any light break in upon them by which they have a glimpse of God they even thrust it out again They do as the Gentiles did Rom. 1.19 they liked not to retain God in their knowledge They had him there but they liked not to retain him they had no mind to keep him there feign they would put him out again the apprehension of a God called upon them for love and duty and obedience and was a curb and a restraint from many evils and therefore they were weary of such thoughts as those and sought to chase them from their minds To say the truth they did not like them and therefore would be rid of them And thus it is with many Christians These are the reasons why unbelieving and unsanctified persons know not God Vse 1 Now to descend to application In the first place here we see the misery of unbelieving and unsanctified persons For all that know not God are in an infinitely sad condition They are exposed to his fiercest wrath and most direfull indignation The ignorant of God as you may see Jer 10.28 are made the object of a fearfull imprecation yea the ignorant of God among the Heathen who are deprived of the means though not of all yet at the least of any saving knowledge of him and yet the Prophet prayes Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that have not known thee And what then will become of the ignorant of God among Christans If ignorance of God yea though it be invincible expose men to the vengeance of the Lord and damn them everlastingly because the knowledge of him is required necessitate medii to salvation what will it do if it be wilfull and affected If Jeremy desire the Lord to pour his fury on the heathen who yet have not so much as the outward means of knowledge What rivers and what floods of indignation think you will be poured out on them who have the means and will not learn nor be instructed by them what will they do when the day of judgement comes when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven c. rendring vengeance to them that know not God as 2 Thes 1.4.8 I beseech you think upon it and lay it seriously to heart you that have long enjoyed the means and yet know very little of the nature or the will of God Or if you know with a notional discoursive knowledge you know him not with an affective and effective knowledge You glorifie him not as God you do not walk according to your knowledge of him And so your knowledge is as good as no knowledge You may and many do delude themselves with this conceit that though they dye in this