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
p. 208. 3. Some believe not the threatnings Marks They that believe the threatnings quake and tremble at them 2. Take some course to avert them 4. Some believe not the promises 1. The sad and fearful 2. They that are troubled with doubts cares distractions 3. The wavering and inconstant 4. They that will suffer nothing for it Cautions 1. You are not to believe all that is presented under the title of Gods Word 2. It 's no sign of Infidelity to move questions 3. Nor to have some doubtful thoughts concerning clear truth p. 212. 3. Exam. Have we kept the Word in our affections by loving it p. 213. Marks 1. Lovers of the Word desire on all occasions to converse with it 2. Hear as often as they may 3. Exercise themselves in the reading and meditation of it 4. Endeavour to be inwardly acquainted with it 5. Will not easily quarrel with and disobey it 6. Will hardly part with it p. 216. 4. Motives to love the Word As being 1. the means of conversion 2. A light of direction 3. A Teacher to inform you 4. Means to confirm you 5. To comfort 6. To save you p. 218. 5. You must keep the word by obeying it 1. Not by partial but by a total obedience p. 220. 2. With a cordial obedience 3. Constantly to the end Directions 1. Pray God to teach you 2. Find out and mortifie the lusts that hinder you p. 223. 5. Doctr. To entertain the Word as we ought we must know for certain that it is the Word of God p. 224. Reason 1. Then we shall receive it with holy fear 2. That we may give it full credit and belief 3. That we may yield full resignation and submission 4. That we may allow it absolute and universal obedience 1. Vse See the cause of mens slighting and disobeying the Word p. 229. 2. Vse Learn how to entertain the Word aright viz. By believing that it is Gods Scriptures proved to be the Word of God 1. By the evident accomplishment of promises 2. By the joynt testimony of the Church 3. By consent of the Writers 4. By the effectual and mighty working of it on mens hearts and souls 5. By the blood of many Martyrs sealing it with their lives p. 231. 2. The Spirit of God assures us that the Scripture is Gods Word 1. By removing impediments 2. By giving grace fitting us to receive Ver. 7 Doctr. Christ hath approved himself a faithful Prophet and Messenger to his Church p. 234. Confirm 1. As having added nothing to his message 2. That he hath taken nothing from it How Christ did and did not tell them all p. 236. 1. Vse Diligently observe and hear this Prophet 2. Trust him 3. Try other Prophets p. 237. 4. Vse Not a word of his must be nelected or slighted 5. Seek no further for direction in matters of Salvation p. 239. 6. Let Ministers learn to be so faithful 1. Adding nothing as doth 1. the superstitious 2. Sceptick 3. vain-glorious Teacher p. 241. 2. Not mincing or diminishing the Word 1. Otherwise they are guilty of the blood of souls 2. Diminish their own mercy 3. Expose themselves to the ignominy and contempt of men 4. To the injuries of men Q Why ungodly men have prevailed p. 243. Ver. 8 2. Doctr. The faithfulness of Gods Messenger availeth much to commend him and his message to the people p. 244. Vse Hence so many Ministers slighted because unfaithful 2. A Minister shews himself faithful 1. In the right delivery of his message 2. To a right end Not satisfying their own passions nor aiming at their own respects 3. In a passive way 3. Doctr. The good reception of the message depends upon the peoples good opinion of the Messenger p. 247. Vse Do not rashly judge of Gods Messengers You may judge of him 1. by his entrance 2 By his ability 3. By his readiness to love Ver. 9 1. Doctr. Christ intercedes for none but his own people p. 250. Reas He is a Priest and Mediator only for them 1. Vse Christ died not for all without limitation 2. Vse The sad condition of those without the Church 3. Vse Happiness of those that belong to Christ Having union with him that is so near to God 2. Son near to you 3. That can never dye p. 253. This gives us boldness in address 2. Supports us in the sense of our imperfections 3. Assures the success of our Petitions 4. Keeps from despair under sin 2. Doctr. That all Christs people belong to God the Father Confirm As being more his by being Christs 1. For he hath none to share with him but Christ 2. His title to them being strengthned and enlarged 3. By unity 1. Vse Therefore Christs people excellent and precious 2. Walk worthy of such a relation For 1. your sins dishonour him more 2. They are sharply and sooner chastised for their sins p. 257. 2. Vse The Saints comfort 1. They shall be the more surely heard 2. God doth more dearly love them 3. God will tender their wrong either 1. Defending Or 2. Avenging them 4. God will provide for them 5. He will not lose them p. 257. Ver. 10 1. Doctr. Christ is glorified in all that belong to him Confirm For the present life he is glorified in their Grace p. 261. future he is glorified in their Glory p. 261. 1. Vse They who live to Christs dishonour are none of his 2. It should quicken and stir us up to labour 1. For grace and holiness here 2. After glory hereafter p. 263. How Christ absent from the Father p. 265. 2. Doctr. Christ as Man is gone out of this world to the immediate presence of his Father p. 266. Reas 1. That his humiliation might be recompensed with honour 2. Because he hath no more to do here 3. Hath much to do there 1. He was to triumph there over his enemies and ours 2. That he might send down his Spirit to his people 3. Intercede for them 4. To prepare a place and make heaven ready for us 5. Christ is gone that he may now virtually draw us after him 1. Vse Expect him not here till he return from heaven 2. Make much of his spiritual presence among us Therefore 1. take heed of grieving his Spirit Either by unkinde slighting or stubborn resistance 2. Take singular and mighty comfort in his Spirit 3. Receive and entertain the graces of this Spirit p. 271. 3. Vse Follow Christ in our spirits As 1. by our thoughts and meditations 2. By our affections 3. By our desires and anhelations of the Spirit p. 273. 3. Doct. The world alwayes an uncomfortable place to Christs Disciples p. 274. 1. Here they are continually exposed to many tryals and troubles 2. Vexed with the sins of others but chiefly their own 3. Banished from Christ p 273. 1. Vse Look not for joy and quietness from the world but provide for evil 2. Think it not strange 3. Love not the world nor to continue
order to be handled He lifted up his eyes to heaven and said And here you have his gesture and expression His gesture first he lifted up his eyes to heaven while he made it And in the next place his expression he did not meditate or think it only but he said it his Prayer was not mental only but it was a vocal prayer He lifted up his eyes to heaven and said As for the first of these my brethren it was usual with our Saviour to pray with eyes erected and lift up to heaven as I might give you many instances out of the Scripture And out of question it proceeded from the zeal and earnestness of his affections and from the fixedness and the intention of his thoughts he being as it were withdrawn from the earth and from those lower things and wholly taken up to heaven while he prayed He was no longer here below no he was above with God while he was exercised in this duty Indeed it is observed of the Publican that he was contrary to Christ in this regard viz. in the external gesture of his body Our Saviour prayed as you have heard with eyes erected and lift up to heaven The Publican with eyes dejected and cast downward to the earth and yet this carriage also seems to be approved Luke 18.13 The Publican saies the Evangelist would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven but smote his breast saying God be mercifull to me a Sinner And truly both these gestures have their use in prayer the one to manifest a repentance the other to declare our faith The one to shew that we are cast down in our selves the other to discover that we are raysed and lifted up to God But it became not Iesus Christ to pray in such a posture as that wretched creature did because he had no sin in him and consequently no shame nothing to cast him down or hinder him from looking up with boldness and with confidence to God the Father And hence he prayed not like the Publican in a dejected way but lifted up his eyes to heaven and said That leads us to the second thing considered Christ did not meditate or think his prayer only but he said it His prayer was not mental only but it was a vocal prayer he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said Father the hour is come and so on It s true indeed that as a man may say and yet not pray he may utter good petitions and speak a form of Specious words to God and yet he may not pray indeed so as to find acceptance and success with God So on the other side a man may pray and yet yet not say that is not use the voice at all nor utter any words to God in prayer And therefore it is said of Moses that he cried to God when he was silent And the Apostle speaking of the Spirit tells us that he makes request to God sometimes with sighs and groans that are not yea that cannot be expressed Rom. 8.26 So that a man may make request to God without expression as well by meaning as by speaking And therefore it is added in the following verse God knows the meaning of the Spirit that is he understands it and accepts it David prefers the meditation of his heart as well as the petitions of his mouth Psal 19. ult Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart c. And therefore in another place he saith of God Lord thou hast heard the desire of the humble Psalm 10.17 So that you see that Prayer is not tyed to the expression of the tongue For even Ejaculations that are swift and sudden wishes darted from the heart to God the inward anhelations thirstings longings meditations meanings of the Soul are honoured in the Scripture with the name of prayer Such mentall prayers we have cause to think our Saviour sometimes offered to his Father when he was alone But here his prayer it should seem was vocal he uttered it aloud that his Apostles and Disciples who were about him at that time might hear it He lifted up his eyes to heaven and said Now this you see the Holy-Ghost takes special notice of as a remarkable and a memorable thing He doth not only tell us that our Saviour prayed and what his prayer was from the beginning of it to the end But he acpuaints us also with the manner and the circumstances of his prayer He shews us what his gesture was he tells us how he placed his eyes and how he used his voice in prayer These things may seem but small matters and we may look upon them as petty inconsiderable things But wherefore doth the Holy Ghost so carefully take notice of them and set them down in writing for the Church unless they be of some weight and some consideration Methinks he intimateth thus much to us DOCTRINE That there should be Consideration had not only of the matter but even of the circumstances the very gesture and the utterance of a prayer The Spirit of God you see doth not let pass such things as these no he observeth them exactly And therefore surely so should we too He sets them down for our use and there is somewhat to be learned from them For whatsoever things are written are written for our learning as the Apostle Paul speaks And therefore it is usual in the Scripture not only to express the prayers that the Saints have made and that Christ himself hath made but also to describe their outward carriage and behaviour in them which shews that there is something even in that too Sometimes our Saviour Christ is noted to cast himself prostrate upon the earth in prayer as you may see Mat. 26.39 he fell upon his face and prayed And sometimes to look up to heaven as you have it in my text So also when he raised Lazarus John 11.41 he lifted up his eyes and when he healed the deaf man he looked up to heaven Mark 7.34 Sometimes he only sigheth to himself in prayer and we hear of no expression in the sore-alleadged text He Sighed you must conceive in some petition which he then put up to God and said to the deaf man Epphatah be opened Sometimes he utters words also which are audible to others as I might give you divers instances out of his storie in the Gospel So for the Saints sometimes we find them represented sitting as holy David 2 Sam. 7.18 Sometimes standing up as Neh. 9.2 and sometimes kneeling in their Prayers as that is very usual in the Scriptures Sometimes we find them speaking words in prayer and sometimes using meditation only as David so divides his prayer in the fore-alleadged text into the words of his mouth and the meditations of his heart and prayes that both may find acceptance with the Lord Psal 19. ult And all these wayes the holy Ghost takes special notice of and leaves upon record for our instruction by which he teaches
of all his sins he is no longer dead in Law but as a Malefactor that is pardoned his life is given him as we use to say And therefore it is stiled in Scripture the justification of life because it brings life to the person justified viz. that life that is opposed to condemnation the sentence or the doom of death For of that speaks the Apostle Rom. 5.18 the free gift came upon all to justification of life And this is made the gift of Christ and he is said to be the author and the fountain of this life in that place As by the offence of one that is of Adam judgement came upon all men to condemnation so by the righteousness of one that is of Christ the second Adam the free gift came upon all to justification of life Now is it so my Brethren that they that are Christs have life from Use 1 Christ here then examine in the first place whether you be Christs or no. If you belong to him I mean by real calling and incorporation you have received life from him You hear he hath received power from God the Father to this very end that he may give eternal life to as many as God hath given him And out of question he is not unfaithful in the administration of this power and the discharge of this trust Well then if you be his he hath given you this life he hath quickened you and raised you with himself you are partakers of his resurrection And therefore I beseech you search a little whether it be thus with you or no. It is a thing which may be known in some degree if you be diligent for the Apostle knew that the Ephesians and the Romans were alive that they were quickned from the death of sin And this he did by outward evidence and by the signs of life which he observed in them And we may much more know our own Condition and estate in this respect if we be not very wanting to our selves And therefore prove your selves my brethren whether you have the life of Christ in you and you may do it by these symptoms following First if you have received life from Christ you are strangely altered men some little alteration there may be in some respects and yet a man may scarcely note it or observe it in himself But when so great a change as this shall pass upon him it is impossible almost but he should feel it There be many alterations that may happen to a man in the passage of his life as custom and experience make a change and honour and preferment make a change a great change in some men especially in weak spirits and age and time and place and many other things do make a change But this infusion of the life of Christ into a person that was dead before is the greatest change of all It makes a man a new creature and that in all respects too which is a very great matter Old things are done away all things are become new 2 Cor. 5.17 He hath new thoughts and new affections new pleasures and delights studies desires ends purposes companions and acquaintance So that he is not now the same man that he was before When his old lusts his old temptations his old companions and acquaintance come to call upon him and think to find him as they did in former times he may answer them and say You are deceived for I am altered I am another man another creature I am not in the temper nor of the disposition that I was before Secondly If you have received life from Christ you have within you sharp desires after the food by which this life is nourished and preserved The word of God my brethren is the milk that feeds it which every child of God delights to suck 1 Pet. 2.2 And have you quick and stirring appetites to this milk do you as new born babes desire it do you thirst and long for it do you hunger after it so that you cannot be content without it is it pleasing to your palate delicious to your taste to feed upon it is an evidence of life But if there be no stomack to this kind of food if you be well content without it if you be never hungry if you find no taste at all in the good word of God but say of this as Israel of the Manna once Our souls loaths this light bread there is no weight no substance in it it is a sign you have not yet this light of Christ in you Thirdly If you have received life from Christ you are moved you are acted by the principles of that life Every kind of life my brethren hath principles agreeable to it inclining it to turn to that which suites with it and on the other side to turn from that which is destructive and contrary to it So hath the vegetative life the life of plants so hath the sensitive the life of beasts so hath the reasonable life the life of men and so hath the life of Christ the life of Saints Now this life of Christ my brethren hath principles exceedingly above the principles of any of those other sorts of life And so accordingly they that have this life from Christ do live by higher principles I will not say then those of plants or those of beasts but then those of men too those who are meerly men and no more who are not holy sanctified men Some men there are you know who live like beasts who melt away in sensual and voluptuous pleasures and delights who eat and drink and sleep and lust and satisfie their lusts and there is all And therefore they are said in Scripture to be brutish because the brute part in them over-powers the rational because they live and walk by brutish principles by the principles of beasts They do just as beasts do and many of them worse too as if they were to have the same end that beasts have And some of late have vented such doctrine as if the souls of men did perish with their bodies as the souls of beasts do Others there are who live like men indeed but it is like meer men as the Apostle speaks of the Corinthians 1 Cor. 3.3 Are ye not carnal and walk as men They live at best no higher then the principles of reason carry them and that is but a litt e way They bring them at the very utmost no further then the young man which our Saviour speaks of to be not far from the Kingdom of heaven or not so far as many others are but they can never bring them home But they that have received life from Christ my brethren live by nobler and diviner principles then these are such as are full of light and beauty such as carry on the soul to supernatural and spiritual things for the attaining and enjoying of the highest good They know what it is to live above the principles of beasts above the principles of men
20.35 Remember the words of the Lord Jesus how he said It is more blessed to give then to receive And so he mindeth the Corinthians of that whith Christ himself spake To the marryed I command and yet not I but the Lord 1 Cor. 7.10 As intimating that the words which dropped from his lips did challenge singular regard from them And such regard my Brethren let them have from us when we meet with his Prayers his Sermons his Sayings let us hear this Prophet and hear him so to be obedient to him It was a dangerous thing you know to refuse to hear Moses he that despised Moses Law was to die without mercy But it is much more dangerous to refuse to hear Christ There is a sorer punishment for such Heb 10.28 It went very hard with those who refused the word that was spoken by Angels But if we refuse the word that was spoken by Christ and do it finally there is but one way with us we are gone without recovery For if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast for the execution of it and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation which was spoken by the Lord If we hear him not we die and that without mercy too But if we hear him and obey him we shall live and that for ever The words that he spake are spirit and life And if a man keep his sayings he shall never see death 2. This should teach us in the second place to trust him since he is such a faithful Messenger that he varies not a word we may well rely upon him and believe him to the utmost His words are all heavenly all of God he hath given us those words that are given him of the Father all those and none but those and why then should we not depend upon them for our direction for our Consolation and trust him perfectly in all cases 3. To try other Prophets by this Prophet other Messengers by this Messenger and so accordingly to embrace them or reject them Other men that come from God really or in pretence may speak more or speak less then he hath put into their mouths Christ hath said neither more nor less and therefore let us always try their Messages by his Message if they agree with his let us embrace them but if they disagree let us reject them JOHN 17.8 I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me ANd thus far of the General Application Proceed we now a little more particularly and distinctly to apply the divers branches of the point in order Vse 1 Hath Christ himself approved himself a faithful Messenger from his Father to his people in this respect that he hath added nothing to his Message That he hath not delivered so much as a word more Then surely not a word of his must be neglected by us nor slightly passed over without the most exact examination All the words of Jesus Christ have weight in them and therefore they must all be weighed by them that handle them or read or hear them Every word that he delivered comes from heaven it is given him of his Father as you have it in my Text. And do you think his Father would give down from heaven so much as one vain word to be delivered by him to his Church and people And if there be not one superfluous word in his Message then certainly there is not one to be unadvisedly and lightly passed over by us And therefore let it be our care to pry into and study every word of Jesus Christ which he hath left upon record in Scripture to sift it and to scan it to the very utmost to seek to God by earnest prayer to open and unfold it to us that nothing in it as far as it is possible may scape us unobserved And truly my Beloved this deserves the more to be considered by us because we know not what we lose sometimes by our neglect in this particular by slight and careless handling reading or hearing of the words of Christ Oh the inestimable hidden worth that is wrapt up sometimes in one of his expressions and we take no notice of it Either we are ignorant of the Original the Language and the Tongue in which he speaks and so cannot or else we are negligent and idle and remiss and so do not dive in it It is not to be imagined what a world of light and information in deep and mysterious things of sweet direction of precious Consolation we lose by this means And therefore when we labour to expound the Scripture when we read or when we hear it let us not look upon a sentence or a verse in gross and so indeavour to find out the general intent and drift and meaning of it but let us scan and study every word Were there any loose expressions as there are in other writings that carry nothing of solidity and weight in them we might very well omit them and not spend our thoughts upon them But there is not a word to spare in that which Jesus Christ delivers from his Father to his people nothing but what is necessary to express some matter of importance and concernment to us and therefore let us value it and fist it well that we may know the mind of God and the mind of Christ in it Hath Christ approved himself a faithful Messenger from his Father to Vse 2 his people in this respect that he hath taken nothing from his message Then let us seek no further for direction in matters that concern salvation but let us satisfie our selves with that which Christ hath brought us from his Father Indeed if he were any way defective there were some colourable reason then why we should labour to supply him as the Papists do with their Traditions and unwritten Verities and so botch up as well as we are able that which he hath left unperfect But since he hath delivered to us all that his Father put into his mouth and hath not kept a word back Oh let us rest in the discovery he hath made as that which of it self is able to make us wise unto Salvation Let us beware of itching after novelties and hearkning after new and strange discoveries such as Christ hath never made as many do in these days Oh let not any of us who have heard and learned Christ turn away from wholesome doctrine and be turned after fables as the Apostle Paul speaks Let us not leave the Living Fountain and go to broken Cisterns that will hold no water But let us stick to Jesus Christ and satisfie our selves with that which he hath taught us in the Scripture as comprehending in it all that is necessary to salvation But here to clear my self a little that I may not be mistaken I acknowledge that many necessary things are not expresly delivered to us by our Saviour from his Father and
c. that in the mean time till he take us up to him to heaven personally he may draw us up to heaven virtually That till we follow him in person we may follow him in heart and in affection that may set them on the things that are above where Christ also fits on the right hand of God If Christ were still among us in the body and in a visible and fleshly way you are not able to imagine how much it would detain us here We should not care much to look higher then the place where Christ is But now he is departed from us into heaven this draws up our affections after him who is so infinitely dear pretious to us for where the treasure is there will the heart be also This makes us to desire with the Apostle to be with him to be dissolved and to be with Christ This makes us keep him company though at a distance It makes us heavenly in our discourses meditations conversations as the Apostle was Phil. 3.30 Our conversation is in heaven from whence we look for the Saviour even the Lord Jesus Christ JOHN 17.11 And now I am no more in the world IS it so that Jesus Christ as he is man is gone away out of this Vse 1 lower world c. Then let us not expect to see him here till he return again from heaven It 's true he shall so come again from heaven as the Apostles saw him going into heaven as you may see Act. 1.11 He shall come down again in a remarkable observable and visible way Behold he cometh with the clouds and every eye shall see him Apoc. 1.7 And in the mean time my Beloved the heavens must contain him or confine him as to his bodily or fleshly presence he must be comprehended there Act. 3.21 I say then as our Saviour Christ himself upon the like occasion Mat. 24.4 Take heed that no man deceive you for many shall come in my name saying I am Christ And though it seem so gross a business that there can be no danger in it yet it is added presently and they shall deceive many so that there may be need of this Caveat And therefore I beseech you my Brethren lay it up against the time of trial come if it ever come upon you For there shall arise false Christs and false Prophets as the true Christs tell us Mat. 24.24 insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very Elect. And therefore if they say unto you Lo here is Christ or there believe them not If they say he is in the Desert go not forth he is in the secret chambers believe it not as Christ addes in that place If a seducing spirit tell you Christ is in such or such a place such or such a one is Christ as some have been so grossly impudent in these times believe him not If a Papist or Ubiquitary tell you Lo here is Christ lo he is corporally present in the Sacrament the bread is really and truly chang'd into his body believe him not No my Beloved do you depend on that which Christ himself affirmeth in my Text and now I am no more in the world as to my bodily and fleshly presence untill you see him come again as the Apostles saw him go away for every eye shall see him when he comes be confident he is not here in this world I say as Christ in the fore-alleadged place Take heed I have foretold you Vse 2 Is it so that Jesus Christ as he is man is gone away c. and that he hath withdrawn his corporal and fleshly presence from us Then let us make the more of the presence of his Spirit by which he is still among us If he be absent from us one way it is good reason that we should the more improve his presence with us in another The chief comfort of the soul consisteth in Communion with the Lord Christ in having fellowship with him Now Christ as he is man is ascended into heaven and so in that respect he is no more in the world We cannot yet go up to him though we would gladly die and be dissolved that we might be with Christ yet it cannot yet be But which way then shall we enjoy Communion with him Why my Beloved because we are not able to go up to him the Spirit will do so much for us that he will bring him down to us and thus though he be absent from us in the body yet he is present with us in the Spirit and will be to the worlds end according to his own promise Matth. 28.20 Lo I am with you always to the end of the world They are the last words of the Chapter and the last words of the Book and there is nothing added but Amen Let it be so and sure it is a sweet close Well then my Brethren let our work and business be to consider with our selves how we may the more enjoy him in the Spirit because we can no longer now enjoy him in the body How we may make the most of that we have And I shall give you the best advise that I am able in this great business 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 you must be infinitely cautious that you do not grieve that Spirit by which he is present with you If you grieve and trouble him he will withdraw and hide himself from you and then Christ is wholly gone both in the Body and the Spirit too you do not sensibly enjoy him neither one way nor the other and so are in a very sad case Since the presence of the Spirit is all that you enjoy of Christ so that if he be gone my Brethren all is gone you must be very wary that you do not vex the Spirit and cause him to depart from you But you will ask me Which way do we vex and grieve the Spirit we would know it that so we might be careful to avoid it I might speak much of this Subject and draw out my discourse into abundance of particulars but I will say it in a word you grieve the Spirit when you deal unkindly with him any away This is the specal thing that grieves friends when one of them deals unkindely with another and so it is between the Spirit and the soul He comes to us from Christ in much love and much kindness to supply his absence from us and we are unkind to him and this grieves him out of measure Now we are unkind to him especially two ways and that is either when we slight him or resist him 1. When we slight him this is a very great unkindness and that which friends can very ill bear He makes tenders of himself and we take no notice of him he stands knocking at our doors or rather Jesus Christ by him and we let him knock still He would be
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
satisfaction here They have their portion here and they receive their good things here But as for Christs Disciples they must look for no such matter And therefore he forewarns them when he is about to leave them what they are like to meet with in this world persecutions tribulations and afflictions all the injury and wrong and malice and despight and evil usage that the world can pour upon them There remaineth a rest to the people of God Heb. 4.9 their rest remaineth for them it is not to be had in this world And therefore it shall be their wisdom to provide for trouble and not to look the world should be a better place to them then it hath been to Christs Disciples that have gone before them Oh my beloved do not deceive your selves in this particular do not conceive the world will ever yield you any great content or quietness or satisfaction for this is that which makes affliction bitter when it comes But when you live at greatest ease when you enjoy the greatest calm when all things look as if you were confirmed and setled in a prosperous state as if your Mountain should not be removed be sure that you provide your selves for worse times that so afflictions may not find you unprepared when they come How often shall you hear it from the mouths of many when any heavy cross is come upon them Alas they never dreamt of this they never looked to see this dolefull and unhappy day the weaker and unwiser they Did they not know that they are here abiding in a vale of tears and that the world hath alwayes been an evil and uncomfortable place And why should they expect it should be better to them then it hath been to others of the Saints who have perhaps exceeded them in holiness and grace And therefore in the midst of comfort and prosperity let us be wisely casting on the day of trouble and distress Let us not reckon upon much felicity and sweetness here for certainly it is not to be had in this world Is it so that the world hath alwayes been and is an evil c. why then Vse 2 if we find it so let it not seem strange to us Let us not look upon it as a thing to be admired or wondred at if we meet with nothing else but tribulation and affliction and vexations in the world if we have very little quiet or content here Let not the members of the Church think much of it if they be alwayes troubled and distressed if they be alwayes followed and pursued with one affliction or another so that they cannot have a comfortable hour almost but let them look upon it as an usual thing The world hath alwayes been such an uncomfortable place to Christs Disciples And therefore let them seriously consider that they could expect no other living in such a place as they do but this I do but glance at in my passage by Is it so that the world hath alwayes c. why then should Christs Vse 3 Disciples be so much in love with this world and why should any of them be so desirous to continue in it as they are It is the case of many that do indeed belong to Jesus Christ they have a great unwillingness to leave the world O what a cutting thing it is to many of them to think of comming forth out of their earthly tabernacles it is a burthen to them that they cannot bear They say with Peter it is good to be here though their Saviour be not here whereas they should say with Paul It is better to be dissolved and to be with Christ Though Christ himself make mention of it as a sad and dolefull thing that his Disciples were to stay in this world they look upon it as a dolefull thing that they are to remove from it And this it seems was Hazekias case when he heard that he must dye he turned to the wall and wept sore yea he chattered like a Swallow and mourned like a Dove Our Saviour Christ forewarning Peter of his death Iohn 21.18 tells him he should be carried where he would not By which it is apparent that even in the blessed Martyrs there may be a lothness to depart out of these earthly Tabernacles Though the righteous soul of Lot were vexed every day as long as he remained in Sodom yet Oh how did he linger when the Lord would take him thence Gen. 19.16 Even so the Saints of God though while they live in the Sodom of this world they have a sorry habitation being continually vexed with the sins and with the persecutions of ungodly men yet are they not so unwilling to depart and leave the world as they have cause to be When Cyrus made a Proclamation to the Jews that whosoever was disposed might return out of the Land of his Captivity it is observed notwithstanding that none were willing to go out but those whose Spirits God had raised up to go So though this world be nothing but a Babylon to us the Land of our Captivity an evil and aâ— uncomfortable place yet till the Lord raise up our Spirits by his grace we are loth to part with it but are desirous rather still to serve in this bondage Now I beseech you my beloved you that have senses exercised look about you What do you see in this world why you should be loth to leave it There is great reason why you should be weary of it why you should look upon it as a sad thing that you must yet continue in a place where you must alwayes sin and suffer there is no avoiding of it But there is no such reason why you should be so unwilling to depart out of it Vse 4 And therefore on the last place let this perswade you as many of you as are Christs Disciples to be alwayes ready to be translated and removed out of this place which is so evil and uncomfortable to you Indeed you must not wish and long for a departure out of passion and impatience add in a peremptory way as being now no longer able to endure the evils and perplexities that are upon you as thus it seems Eliah did when he fled from Jezabel 1 Kings 19.4 And thus it is extremely probable that Moses did when he conceived his burthen was too heavy for him Num. 1â— 10 15. For it is said he was displeased and in that angry fit he said to God Wherefore â—â—st thou afflicted me I am not able to hear all this alone And if thou deal thus with me kill me I pray thee out of hand and do not 〈◊〉 for my wretchedness And this is apparent Jonah did who being crost in a punctilio in a point of honour out of a pâ—â—tish foâ—â—sh childish humour will go dye forsooth God must take away his life But if you do it out of reason and with submission to the will of God that if he please to take you from a place that is
spirit That place of the Apostle Paul is cleer and full to this purpose Ephes 3.16 where he desireth God in the behalf of that people That he would grant them to be strengthened with all might in the inner man How so Why by his spirit as you may see in that place And thus you see both that and how they that belong to Jesus Christ are kept by the almighty power of God in them They that belong to Jesus Christ are also kept by the almighty power of God for them For even as God is strong in them so he is also strong for them And as he makes them strong so he shews himself strong in their behalf as the Expression is 2 Chron. 16 9. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of those whose hearts are perfect with him And thus they are preserved and kept not only by the power of God strengthing and fortifying them within but also by the power of God protecting them and helping them without And therefore it is said the name of the Lord that is the power of the Lord is a strong Tower the righteous runneth to it and is safe Prov. 18.10 Now security of any person that runneth to a Tower for shelter consists not in his own strength but in the strength of the Tower he runs to A strong Tower will protect a weak man if he can get within it he is safe And such a stong Tower is the name the power of God for the safeguard of his people And thus you see he keeps us through his own name his own power according to our Saviours prayer in my text in a way of protection by giving outward help and succour when we are in great danger And this outward help he gives us two wayes First sometimes immediately by his own power he helpeth us himself by his own almighty arm without the use of second causes and then his arm is made bare He brings in succour to his people as he made the world of nothing and therefore he is said in Scripture to create it as you may see that place for instance Isa 65.18 Be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoycing and her people a joy And thus he kept his people in the fire and in the water and in the wilderness where there were no means at all of preservation he did it meerly by his own name Secondly Sometimes he helps and keeps his people mediately by his power communicated for that end to second causes He raises instruments of their delivery and makes them able to relieve his people as he did the Judges often And as it is observed of David when God was pleased to use him for the help of Israel in a time of great distress he furnished him with power sufficient to go through with the business which he had designed him to And therefore saith the Lord of that instrument of his Psal 89.19 20. I have laid help upon one that is mighty I have exalted one chosen out of the people I have found David my servant with my holy oil have I annointed him Mighty he is to help indeed but it is because I have made him so because I have laid help upon him And so he stirs up some continually to favour and relieve his people he makes the earth sometimes to help the woman men that have nothing else but earth in them but still the power by which they help them is from him Their power is his power and therefore when his people are preserved and kept by them they are kept by his name as you have it in my text and his name must have the glory This shall suffice for explication of the point they that belong to Jesus Christ are kept by the almighty power of God himself And there is pregnant reason for it For first of all no other power but his will keep them and his is every way sufficient And secondly his power is mightily engaged to keep them Reason 1 They that belong to Jesus Christ are kept c. because no other power but his will keep them Kept they must be and none but this alone will do it Alas the adversaries power that is against them is abundantly too strong for any power that can appear for them but that of the almighty God himself The power of all the world and all the strong temptations that are in it of pleasure profit honour which is bent against the Saints you will conceive to be a great matter Yet this is nothing in comparison this is the least part of their danger What think you of the power of all the lusts and the corruptions that are in them that are continually raging warring Who is able of himself to overpower and master these What think you of the power of Satan and his black confederates the power of darkness as it is stiled in the Scripture All the united strength of hell it self nothing but the power of heaven is able to out wrestle this and they that will struggle with it had need be strengthned by that glorious power And hence our Saviour places the security of his Disciples in this That they are kept by him that is greater then all John 10.29 That is of greater strength as I have shewed so that none can pluck them out of his hand Reason 2 They that belong to Jesus Christ are kept c. because as no other power can keep them so this is mightily engaged to be for them And that especially two wayes by the Sons prayer and the Fathers promise 1. By the Sons prayer and that must not be denyed For this we need to go no further then my text Holy Father keep them through thy own name It was one of the last requests he made when he was taking leave of this world and therefore certainly it was successfull Simon Simon saith our Saviour Satan hath desired to winnow thee as wheat But how is Peter kept now Why by our Saviours intercession I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not 2. By the Fathers promise he hath engaged himself by promise to his people many times that his power shall be for them The Covenant is a Constellation and a heap of promises and he is a God in Covenant with them So that as he himself is theirs so all his attributes are theirs too His mercy to forgive them his justice to avenge them his power to keep them The Romans were in league with many people and if those people were in danger they were obliged in point of honour to defend them And so they did with as much diligence and care as they did their own City Even thus it is between the Lord and his people he is in League and Covenant with them and he hath undertaken their protection And therefore if they be in any streight he is bound
other side dilates the heart it spreads it and it widens it and consequently doth not only make it fit for duty but it makes it large in duty It makes it to abound and to exceed in every service that is suitable to joy It carries it beyond the ordinary rate And therefore Jesus Christ would have his people to be full of joy that they may be full of fruit and that they may abound in his service Is it so that Jesus Christ would have his people full of holy Joy Vse 1 Then first it serves to censure those who seek to hinder the Joy of Christs people and to imbitter all their comfort with spitefull molestations and vexations who like the Cananites are thorns in their sides and daggers at their hearts Jesus Christ would have his people to rejoice yea to be full of Joy as their very hearts can hold but they will not suffer it but alwayes seek as much as lies in them to interrupt their comfort and to disturb their peace and joy They disturb them by their persecutions with the hand and with the tongue and which is worse they disturb them by their sins They rail at holiness and holy men blaspheme religion and the name of Christ of purpose to disquiet and to vex his people who cannot choose but mourn and weep for these things Just like the Sodomites of whom the Apostle speaks 2 Pet. 2.8 who vexed the righteous soul of Lot from day to day with their filthy conversation But yet this difference we may observe they did not their prodigious villanies of purpose to disquiet Lot for ought we find What think we shall their portion be my brethren then who pass the Sodomites in villany whose wicked deeds are yet set forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire Is it so that Jesus Christ would have his people full of holy Joy Vse 2 Then in the second place it taxeth such among the Lords people who waste away themselves in heaviness and discontent who are so far from promoting the design of Christ in this particular that they rather strive to cross him and even waste away their hearts in pleasing sadness and affected discontent and surely there are many such among Christs own people who even give themselves over to sorrow and wilfully thrust away this Joy from them Now I beseech you my beloved consider what the will of Christ is and let him have his will in this business use all means possible to have your hearts brim-full of holy Joy And to this end I shall prescibe you some directions Be conversant and studious in the word of Christ There is the fountain of living waters whence every may draw sufficient to refresh his fainting soul in all his troubles and afflictions The statutes of the Lord are right saith David rejoycing the heart Psal 19.8 Through comfort of the Scriptures we have hope saith Paul Rom. 15.4 Philosophers indeed have taught us many wayes to fence and fortifie our hearts against sorrow But when the Lord shall set afflictions home upon the soul and put a sting into them too there is nothing in the world that can cement and cheer us but the comfort that is fetched out of the Scriture We may run in our distress to other means as Saul when he was with a melancholy humor to the minstrel but we shall find that nothing goes the right way and that we grasp at nothing but some empty succors of contentment unless we comfort our selves with these words as the Apostle Paul speaks 1 Thess 4. ult David was cut short of nothing that the world could have afforded to revive his drooping spirit yet he professeth freely that he must have fainted unless he had been staid with better comfort Vnless thy Word had been my comfort I should have perished in my affliction Psal 119.92 And in another place he cries out Remember thy Word unto thy servant upon which then hast caused me to hope this is my comfort my only comfort in my trouble Psal 119.49 50. And therefore at this Fountain let us draw if we mean to have comfort but chiefly let us wait upon the publick preaching of the Word of God which is called the Ministry of reconciliation in which there are divulged glad tidings of good things which should carry something in the power and efficacy of it to work joy For God doth commonly dispense it rather by the way of hearing them by the way of reading the Scriptures And hence saith David Make me to hear of joy and gladness that so the bones that thou hast broken may rejoyce Psal 51.8 It is the Publique Ordinance it is the Publique Ordinance that is the Interpreter one of a thousand that comforts the dejected soul as you may see Job 33.23 Imploy your serious thoughts upon the meditation and survey of that delitious place where there is fulness of all joy and pleasures for evermore into which you that are Christs assoon as you are past through the veil of tears shall enter and there continue and abide for ever There is the place where you shall sigh and weep and mourn no more where all your tears will be wiped away from your eyes and surely did you think upon this joy with which you shall be filled there to over-flowing this would preserve you here from being swallowed up with over-much sorrow we rejoyce saith the Apostle How not in the fruition No in the hope of the glory of God Rom. 15.4 Indeed the Saints of God while they compass and carry their afflictions according to their present state are very pensive and disconsolate and so at once they do an injury to Christ who hath reserved such pretious comforts for them in the world to come And to themselves who have received good assurance that they shall certainly enjoy them in their season but did they walk by faith and not by sight did they not look so much upon the difficulties that they meet with in the way but on the things that are not seen the invisible pleasures of which they shall be made partakers in the end they should soon find cause enough of joy unspeakable and glorious yea even amidst the greatest tribulation of this present life you see how frolike the poor Worldling is if he have gotten a few thousand pounds and built a goodly house and bought a little earth about it and yet his title to it is so uncertain and unsound that the very following night for ought he knows the Lord may turn him out of all and take away his soul from him and make him roar in Hell before the morning But you who by the hand and seal and earnest of the Lord himself have a most certain title to that happiness and joy which neither tongue of men or Angels can express if you have but a wicked disobedient child a froward wife a sickly body or a low estate do waste away your lives in heaviness and discontent and so
truth thy word is truth And here we have two things to be considered A Supplication and an Explication First We have here our Saviours Supplication to his Father in behalf of his Apostles and Disciples Sanctifie them through thy truth And then we have this Explication in which he shews what he intends by truth viz. the word of God Sanctifie them with thy truth thy word is truth Begin we with the Supplication in which you may take notice with me of these two particulars First the thing desired Sanctification Sanctifie them saith our Saviour And then the outward instrumental means by which he prayes they may be sanctified the truth of God that is the word as he explains it afterwards Sanctifie them through thy truth Both yeild us our this Observation DOCTRINE The word of God is the ordinary Means by which he Sanctifies his people It is the instrument in Gods hands by which he doth this great work He sanctifies them he is the God of all grace he calleth and he makes perfect stablisheth strengthneth settleth them But he doth it by this means according to our Saviours prayer here Sanctifie them through thy truth And here I shall distinctly cleer these two things First that the word of God is the ordinary Means by which he sanctifies his people in a way of inchoation by which he begins that work in them by which he converteth them regenerates them and makes them to become new creatures And this we find abundantly exemplified in the times of the Apostle how mightily the word of God prevailed to the Conversion of their hearers and to the working of unfeigned faith and grace in them You may behold three thousand sinners wrought upon by one Sermon Acts 2.41 And yet again as if these had been a few five thousand by another Sermon Acts 4.4 And hence it is my brethren that the word is called the word of grace because it works grace in Gods people But whether this be the work of the Law or of the Gospel whether one or both of them be the ordinary means by which God sanctifies his people will need to be a little further opened and resolved And I shall shew you from the Scripture that both of them are instruments in Gods hand by which he sanctifies his people 1. God sanctifies his people preparatively by the Law The Law converts and worketh grace by way of preparation It shews a man his sin and his trangression it emptieth him of all opinion of himself it humbles him and layes him low in apprehension of his own unworthiness And so indeed it makes him fit to entertain the grace of God for he will give his grace unto the humble John Baptists rough and rigid preaching of the Law you know my brethren must prepare the way for Christ He must be like a Pioner to go before him to bring down every high exalted thought to make the Mountains levell with the Valleyes He must be like a Harbinger to ride before and take up room for Jesus Christ to write his name upon the heart This heart is taken up for Christ To cause these everlasting doors to be set open to him when he comes And when the heart is thus prepared thus emptied and thus opened once then it is fit for Jesus Christ with all the graces of his spirit to enter in and dwell there And this is all that God doth by the Law he sanctifieth men by way of preparation and predisposition only But 2. The means by which he sanctifieth them indeed and works the truth and the reality of saving grace in them is the preaching of the Gospel and therefore the Apostle puts the question to the renewed Galathians Gal. 3.2 This only would I learn of you saith he received ye the spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of faith q. d. for this I appeal to you I put the matter to your consciences whether the saving graces of the spirit were not first wrote in you by the hearing of faith that is by hearing the doctrine of faith which is the Gospel And hence the Gospel is sometimes called the grace of God as you may see that place for instance Titus 2.11 and that not formaliter for so the Gospel is not neither can it be the grace of God neither that grace which is in God I mean his free and undeserved favour nor yet that grace which is communicated and dispensed from him to us I mean the gifts of his spirit whether they be such as appertain to edification or sanctification but effective as the School-men speak the Gospel is the grace of God because the grace of God is the effect and issue of the Gospel The Gospel is the instrumental means of grace and holiness which it effecteth under God and worketh in the hearts of his people And under this expression it is set in opposition to the Law For as the Law doth not reveal the grace of God in Jesus Christ the Mediator and Redeemer as the Gospel doth so neither doth it work the grace of God I mean the saving gifts of his spirit and therefore it is called the Ministration of the Letter and not the Ministration of the Spirit because there goes no spirit with it Or if it carry any of the spirit with it it is the spirit of fear and bondage and legal humiliation and not the spirit of adoption and sanctification But on the other side the Gospel carries spirit in the ministration of it which it conveyes into the heart of those that hear it and embrace it as they ought to do It operateth and begetteth the endowments of the spirit and worketh grace and sanctification And as the word of God is the ordinary means by which he begins the work of Sanctification So it is the means also by which he carries on the same work to further measures and degrees They were sanctified already for whom our Saviour makes this prayer in my text the work was begun in them they were his own Apostles and Disciples and yet for them he prays sanctifie them with thy Truth q. d. Sanctifie them yet more fully make them yet more gratious and more humble and more holy by a more full discovery of the Truth revealed in thy Word to them Sanctifie them with thy truth thy Word is truth Indeed the Word my Brethren as it is incorruptible seed by which men are regenerate and born again to God as the Apostle shews 1 Pet. 1.23 Being born again not of corruptible but incorruptible seed by the Word of God so it is milk which nourishes and makes them thrive and grow while they are but babes in Christ and it is also strong meat on which they feed until they come ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ This for clearing of the point proceed we to the Application Vse 1 Is it so That the Word of God is
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
fruitfull and have more encrease of children then she that sometimes had an husband Oh let us magnifie the grace of Iesus Christ let us adore the infiniteness of his mercy that he hath cast us on these happy times wherein he takes such care of poor Gentiles wherein he sends to them and wherein he looks after them as if they were some rich purchase Ah my beloved did we follow this mercy as far as we could reach it in our thoughts we should at length finding no end or bottom in it cry out with the Apostle Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and goodness of Christ c. JOHN 17.18 Even so have I also sent them into the world DOCTRINE 3. There is a great similitude between the Fathers sending Christ into the world and Christs sending his Apostles and Ministers into the world THis is apparently suggested here in the particle as and the particle also As thou hast sent me into the world even so have I also sent them into the world My sending them is much like thy sending me So he compares them each with other in another place almost in the same words Iohn 20.21 As my Father hath sent me so send I you The thing is plain enough that so it was in some respects But wherein and in what respects this likeness stood will need to be explained with much Caution Because as there was great likeness between the Fathers sending Christ and Christs sending his Apostles and Ministers into the world so there was a great unlikeness too As the similitude was great so certainly the dissimilitude was great too And therefore while I shew the likness I will shew you the unlikeness both of them at one veiw That you may see the one the better for the other As God the Father sent the Son with authority and power so Jesus Christ sends his Apostles and Ministers with authority and power too as God gives him power so he gives them power And therefore having said to his Apostles All power is given to me both in heaven and in earth Mat. 28.18 he adds immediately in the very next words Go ye therefore and teach all Nations and baptize them q. d. because I have received such ample power my self therefore I give you this Commission by which I put a part of this authority and power on you Go forth and exercise it over all the world And this is that which the Apostle calls the power which Christ hath given him 2 Cor. 13.10 To intimate that he received his power and his authority by way of delegation from the Lord Christ as Christ received his power and his authority as he is man and Mediator by way of delegation from the Father and as the Father gives the Son a Key of power as you may see in that remarkable place Isa 22.22 The Key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder that is upon the shoulder of Eliakim who was in that respect a figure and a Type of Christ and he shall open and none shall shut and he shall shut and none shall open so Christ gives Keyes of power to his Apostles and his Ministers as you may see exemplified in Peter Mat. 16.19 I will give thee saith Christ the Keyes of the Kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven viz. either in the preaching of the word or in the regular administration of the censures of the Church Here is a great Similitude you see between the power with which the Father sendeth Christ and the power with which Christ sendeth his Apostles and his Ministers into the world As Christ hath power to shut and open from the Father so have they from Jesus Christ as Christ hath power to bind and loose from God the Father so have they from Jesus Christ As Christ hath power to remit sins and to retain them from the Father so have they from Christ and therefore having said to his Apostles As my Father hath sent me so send I you he adds immediately in the next verse save one Whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained But yet as the similitude is great in this respect so is the dissimilitude The power which Jesus Christ received from God the Father is an universal power All power is given to me saith our Saviour both in heaven and in earth Mat. 28.19 And in another place he minds his Father That he had given him power over all flesh Joh. 17.2 But now that power which the Apostles and the Ministers of Christ received from him is more particular and more confined Jesus Christ hath all power all sorts and all degrees of power they have but some power some sorts and some measures The power which Jesus Christ receives from God the Father is a Kingly power he sets him up as King upon his holy hill of Sion and so accordingly he crowns him The power which they receive from Christ is but a Ministerial power Christ hath a Legislative power to make laws while they have but a Legis-narrative or Declaratory power to publish laws Christ doth jus dare and they do but jus dicere Christ binds and looses shuts and opens remitteth and retaineth sins authoritatively as a Soveraign Lord they do it but declaratively as his Ministers and servants There is a great similitude between the Fathers sending Christ c. in regard of qualification as Christ receives an unction from the Father to his Office so they received an unction from the Son to their Office as Christ is qualified with the Spirit so are they Let us compare them each with other and we shall see it very clear The Prophet speaking in the Person of our Saviour saith The Spirit of the Lord is upon me he hath anointed me to preach Isa 61.1 And so accordingly when he first began to preach he took this very Text to preach upon as you may see Luk. 4.18 Behold my servant saith the Lord whom I uphold Isa 42.1 and mine Elect in whom my soul delighteth I have put my Spirit upon him and that to qualifie him for his Office as is apparent in the following words for it is added presently That he shall bring forth judgement to the Gentiles A bruised reed shall he not break c. And this is that which is suggested in the Prophesie Isa 11.2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him and it shall rest upon him in those graces and endowments that fit him for the places to which he is designed And hence it is immediately annexed The Spirit of wisdom and of understanding the Spirit of counsel and of might the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. So then you see the Father as he sends Christ so he endues him with the Spirit to fit him for the business that he sends him
Christ will have none neither We have two Advocates and Intercessors to the Father An Intercessor or an Advocate within us an Intercessor or an Advocate without us An Intercessor to plead in us and to plead by us and an Intercessor to plead for us In the first sense the Spirit is our Intercessor so the Apostle calls him Rom. 8.20 In the Latter Christ only Now these two Advocates or Intercessors are agreed you get not one of them without the other Christ will not be your Lawyer unless you make the Spirit your Attorney And as the Father never grants that which Christ doth not present and plead before him So our Saviour never pleads that which the Spirit doth not frame and draw up If the Petition which you tender be of the Spirits forming in you Christ entertains and urges it without any more ado and so the Father gives assent to it If then you would have Christ to be your Advocate you must engage him by his Spirit your Supplications and Petitions must be the voyce of his Spirit in your hearts the Holy Ghost must raise and frame them there you must take heed they be not barely natural desires as the Petitions of abundance are which seek for nothing else but that which nature craves for on natural principles and for natural ends And that they be not only the voyce of your own spirits but that they be the voyce of Christs spirit and if Christs Spirit make you prayers if he make Intercession in you with sighs and groans Christ will make Intercession for you and then the Father will be sure to hear you For if he deny you he must deny Christ too that pleads for you and that he never doth as you have heard His will is as it were a law with God the Father he may have what he will of him JOHN 17.24 Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me AND thus far I proceeded on the last occasion to discover to you how we may have Jesus Christ to be our Spokesman and our Advocate in all Petitions that we make to God We must walk by his Rule and we must act by his Spirit But now because the thing is weighty and of very great concernment and it is no easie matter for every one to judge and to determine whether in his supplications he walk by Christs Rule and act by Christs Spirit I shall give you some directions in reference to both these And in the first place I shall shew you how you may discover whether in the Petitions that you make you walk exactly by the Rule of Christ or no whether you pray according to his will or no. And to this end my Brethren you must search the Scriptures in which the will of Christ is manifested touching this as well as other points of duty And then compare your prayers with the Rule in all particulars to see whether they agree with it or dissent from it as the Apostle stirring up the Romans to offer up acceptable service to the Lord Rom. 12.1 to this end in the following verse advises them to prove and to find out what the will of God is the same advice I give you See what the will of God and what the will of Christ is and then examine how your prayers suit with it whether they be framed and ordered by your own invention or by his direction And here you must take notice what the will of Christ prescribes touching the preparation to them the matter and the manner and the ends of them it regulateth all these Well then the first thing that you are to do is to consider what the will of Christ is in reference to preparation and how your practice suits with it For you must know that Christ will have you pray with preparation You must not rush into the presence of the Lord like the Horse into the battel not remembring where you go nor what you are about to do No you must set about it seriously and with much deliberation so is the rule of Christ Eccles 5.2 3. Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before the Lord. Our hearts must be prepared to the duty as the Prophet Davids was And this consists in divers things I will name a few of them 1. That our hearts may be prepared they must be purged they must be washed and cleansed from every known sin If thou prepare thine heart saith Zephar Job 11.13 which preparation is to prayer as it is apparent by the following words and stretch out thine hands towards him Well if thou so prepare thy self what must thou do then Why If iniquity be in thine hand put it far away from thee and let not wickedness dwell in thy Tabernacle as it is added in the next words And hence saith David If I regard iniquity in my heart any known iniquity if I do not commit it only in my life but regard it in my heart my heart is not fit to pray the Lord will not hear my prayer Psal 66.18 The promise of acceptance with him is made to such and none but such as fear him so far at least as to desire and to endeavour to depart from evill He will fulfil the desire of such as fear him he also will hear their cry and save them Psal 145.19 2. That our hearts may be prepared they must be humbled both in the sense of the transcendent Majesty and Glory of the Lord and of our unworthiness We must endeavour to possess them with an awful apprehension of the greatness of the Lord whom we are making our approaches to that we may pray in reverence and holy fear according to the Psalmists exhortation Psal 2.11 Serve the Lord with fear saith he and according to his practice and example Psal 5.7 in thy fear will I worship towards thy holy Temple And hence the Saints in the beginnings of their prayers when they have buckled to the duty have been wont to set the Lord upon the Throne and there to represent him in his greatness by reckoning up his glorious attributes And then to vilifie and to abase themselves exceedingly before him That they might bring their hearts by this means to a frame and temper fit for prayer In such a disposition was the heart of the Centurion when he sought to Christ for mercy Luk. 7.6 7. He did not think himself worthy that Christ should once come under his roof And so the prodigal that said to his Father I am not worthy to be called thy son Luk. 15.21 3. That our hearts may be prepared they must be fixed They must be setled upon God and on the words we utter to him They must not rove and wander up and down as they are very apt to do They must attend the business that they are about In such a disposition was the heart of David when he was about to praise the Lord My heart is fixed O
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
the world There will be some elect continually to be brought in by this means Some to be added to the Church some to be joyned to the body mystical untill the dispensation of the fullness of time which the Apostle mentions Eph. 1.10 when all things shall be gathered into one which are in heaven and which are on earth So that you see my brethren Jesus Christ will be continually making further declarations of his Fathers Name to other Nations and to other persons But how will he make these further declarations Brethren he will not do it in his own person or by his own immediate voyce But he will do it other wayes 1. By his written word and Ministers in all ages for that which they declare in his name and by authority from him Jesus Christ himself declares To this end Christ hath set some in the Church some Ministers of all sorts as the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 12.28 And that is out of all dispute in the universal Church which is not limited to any Countrey or to any age That so there might be continually some in all Churches and in all ages to publish what is to be manifested of his Father And hence said Christ to his Apostles Mat. 28.20 Lo I am with you to the end of the world They were not to continue for their own parts by many hundred years so long And therefore it must also stretch to those who were to follow them in the office and the work of Gospel preaching till it be published universally to all Nations in the outward promulgation and in the inward and effectual revelation to all persons to whom it is appointed so to be revealed Which was not done you know by the Apostles it was but begun by them and must be carrried on till it be finished by other Ministers to the end of the world And therefore when our Saviour Christ ascended and consequently could no longer teach his Church immediately in his own person he gave gifts unto men such gifts as he never gave before And he gave some Apostles Prophets Evangelists Some temporary some perpetual for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry How long Till we all come all that are chosen whether Jews or Gentiles in the unity of the Faith unto a perfect man So that the Ministry shall be continued till all be gathered into Christ that shall be gathered and that is till the end of the world 2. Christ makes these further declarations of his Fathers name in every age by his spirit As he declares it outwardly to other persons by his word so he declares it inwardly to other persons by his spirit to his elect in every age to the end of the world And therefore when our Saviour Christ withdrew his corporal and fleshly presence he sent his spirit down to teach his people to lead them into all truth And by that spirit he declares his Fathers name and will do to the worlds end And he assured his Apostles in the place even now alledged Mat. 28.20 when he was even about to leave them as to his fleshly presence with them Lo I am with you alwayes viz. by my spirit to the end of the world That is with you and such as you are with you and your Successors still in every age as long as the world endureth Go ye therefore and teach all Nations and my spirit shall be with you So that what you teach all without he shall teach my elect within powerfully and with success till the last man be gathered in And then shall the end come Is it so that Jesus Christ will be continually making further declarations of his Fathers name to other Nations and to other persons to the end of the world Vse Then let us seriously consider what our dutie is in reference to this work which will be beautifull and glorious beyond all comparison and what Christ expects of us If he will do as he hath said let us examine what we are to do and what duty lyeth upon us relating to it in the mean time And here I shall propound a few things 1. Let us give him so much credit as to believe what he hath spoken And though it seem improbable that Christ should manifest his Fathers name to all Nations That all the Countreyes in the world should come to know him and to be acquainted with him yet seeing Christ hath undertaken it and bound himself by faithfull promise to his Father that as he hath declared his name already so he will be continually making further declarations of it to other persons and to other Nations let us say Amen to it As Mary sometimes when she had staggerd at the difficulty of the Promise at length recovered out of that fit of unbelief and set the seal of faith to it Be it according to thy word 2. Let our hearts be full of hope in reference to this business Since Christ hath undertaken it let us expect the execution of it Our Saviours words my brethren are a promise to the Father what he will do in after times for his people Saith he I will declare thy name to them And therefore as it is our duty to believe the promise so to expect the good things promised To be continually in a waiting frame looking and harkning after the accomplishment of this eximious work of his spying if we can see the day break and the Fathers name shine forth to other Nations who never had a glimsp of it by any Gospel Revelation till in the end from the rising of the Sun unto the going down of the same his name be great among the Gentiles according to that Prophesie relating to these latter times and ages of the world Mal. 1.11 3. Let us strive with Christ in prayer that he would make good the word that he hath spoken to the Father before so many witnesses Oh my beloved when ye look on many Heathen Nations that yet are overwhelmed in ignorance and Egyptian darkness that yet know nothing of the Fathers name when you look on many Christians in profession that yet are even in as bad a case as they some of which it may be have relation to your selves go to Jesus Christ and say O Lord thou hast professed that thou wilt declare thy Fathers name to other persons and to other Nations to the end of the world Lord there are such Nations there are such persons who yet are strangers to the Father who know no more of God in Christ then the very beasts that perish O be intreated to declare thy Fathers name to them Lord manifest the Father to them that they may know him to salvation 4. Let our hearts be full of joy while we are looking forward to the accomplishment of this work O let it chear our spirits under all the sinking damps and deep discouragements that are upon them in relation to the Church to think in what a blessed state and glorious
long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth Keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin Sometimes his attribute of Justice as that is also called his name in the very same place who will by no means clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the Fathers upon the children and upon the childrens children unto the third and fourth generation Sometimes his attribute of Power is intimated by his name as you may see that place for instance Psal 20.1 The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble the name of the God of Jacob defend thee that is the power of God defend thee And this is that by which our Saviour prayes that his Apostles and Disciples might be kept keep them through thy own name that is through thy own power And so accordingly the point to be observed is this DOCTRINE They that belong to Jesus Christ as long at they remain in this world are kept by the Almighty power of God himself It is the prayer of our Saviour for them in my text you see Holy Father keep them through thy own name whom thou hast given me and therefore out of question they are kept by that name the almighty power of God For Jesus Christ is alwayes heard in every thing for which he is a Suitor to his Father So that his people are as safe as the power of God can make them They are committed by him to his Fathers Custody and he is able very well to keep that which is committed to him as the Apostle Paul speaks 2 Tim. 1.12 And this is clearly intimated in our Saviours speech John 10.29 with reference to his people My Father which gave them me is greater then all Greater in what regard greater in place and dignity No my beloved greater in power and in ability And therefore it is added presently and no man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand Many are willing but none is able because his power is infinitely greater then theirs is So in another place he shall be holden up Rom. 14.4 he that is weak shall be held up how so For God is able to make him stand And Jude to the same purpose he is able to keep us from falling verse 24. you see our preservation and support is still ascribed to the power and ability of God by which it is apparent what guards us that we are kept and kept safe by that power That of the Apostle Peter is express and full so that we need to add no more for confirmation we are kept by the power of God saith he through faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 The point is plain They that belong c. Now to open this a little because you do not see it in the full extent of it you must conceive that such as appertain to Jesus Christ are kept by the almighty power of God Especially two wayes Either by the power of God in them or by the power of God for them Either by the power of God assisting or by the power of God protecting Either by the power of God within them strengthening or by the power of God without them guarding and defending I shall speak to these in order They that belong to Jesus Christ are kept by the Almighty power of God in them assisting them and strengthning them and fortifying them to stand and to hold out both in temptations and afflictions Man is by nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a feeble and infirm thing So weakned and enfeebled with his fail that of himself he is able to do nothing And therefore God communicates his own transcendent power to such as he intends to keep and to preserve so far as they are capable of it And thus however they be weak in themselves yet they are strong in the Lord and in the power of his might as the Apostle speaks Eph. 6.10 He stands by and strengthens them 2 Tim. 4.17 And of this inward strengthning it is that the Apostle speaks Col. 1.11 Strengthned with all might according to his glorious power that is the power of God himself which he gives in to his people and so corroborates them makes them strong as Oaks to bear the burthen that is laid upon them For if you mark it the Apostle saith not the power of God bears our afflictions resists and overcomes our temptations for us but we are strengthened by his glorious power to both these And God is able saith the same Apostle to do abundantly according to his power that worketh in us Eph. 3.20 Observe it well not his power that worketh for us but his power that worketh in us and that makes us able So that you see my brethren it is an infused thing there goes forth power and vertue from the Lord to us and becomes inherent in us Not as one friend may help another that is weak with an external succour and support bearing his heavy burthen for him but giving him ability himself to bear it Even as a man that hath been much enfeebled with along sickness and being now recovered in a measure and his malignant humours purged away encreaseth every day in strength So we my Brethren having been enfeebled by the fall God makes us sound and strong again enables us to do and suffer what he cals us to So that it is an inward and habitual power that we partake infused into the soul by God And God in this respect is strong in us His power is perfected declared to be perfect in our weakness Now my beloved to follow this a little further this glorious power of his the Lord conveyeth into a Christians soul through Jesus Christ The Father hath annointed him with the Holy Ghost and with power as the Apostle Peter speaks Acts 10.38 And upon him the spirit of power doth rest as you have it in the Prophet Isa 11.2 That so from him it might be given out to all his people He is the Conduit-pipe through which the spirit and the graces of it run obtaining them by vertue of his meritorious intercession from his Father and so conveying them to every member as he by reason of his near communion with the manhood being more deeply touched with the feeling of their wants observeth their necessities to be And so to every one of us is given grace and what is grace but power to do and power to suffer power to stand out and not to faint or yield in temptations or afflictions Habitual grace is nothing but the inward strengthening of the soul To every one of us I say is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ Eph. 4.2 that is as he is pleased to distribute And as this power proceeds originally from the Father by and through Jesus Christ so it is wrought immediatly by the Holy Ghost And hence the strength infused into a Christians soul is called the spirit of power as you may see 2 Tim. 1.7 Because indeed it is wrought in us by the