is our Father Jesus saith unto them If ye were Abrahams Children ye would do Abrahams works but ye seek to kill me and this did not Abraham But ye do the deeds of their Father They could not conceive what he meant And therefore stil reply We are not born of Fornication we have one Father even God Our Savior again returnes an undeniable evidence If ye were of God ye would love me for I came from God nor came I of my self but God sent me But because al these were Riddles he speaks out and shews them the Root of their wretchedness Verse 44. Ye are of your Father the Devil and the lusts of your Father ye wil do He was a murderer and abode not in the truth and what he saies of one he saies of al sins in the like case When he speaks a lie he speaks of his own for he is the Father of lies As God is the first cause of truth and goodness and from his fulness al the beams and streams of truth are derived to any who share therein So Satan is the first cause of falshood and wickedness and therefore called The Wicked one And from him al wickedness is derived And hence ungodly men are called The Seed of the Serpent Gen. 3.15 They are said to be of that Wicked one 1 Joh. 3.11 Cain was of that Wicked one Put in way of opposition To be born of God This I take to be the meaning of those Phrases and texts which hence receive their explication as belonging I conceive properly to this place Joh. 8.23 When our Savior would shew the distance and great disagreement between himself and the wretched and ungodly Jews he speaks Ye are from beneath I am from above Ye are of this world I am not of this world Joh. 17.14 I have given them thy word and the world hath hated them because they are not of this world even as I am not of this world Here we have the Wel-head of hatred because they are not of the world And we see that this agrees to Christ as to them and to them by means of Christ that as he speaks els where Joh. 8.28 He can do nothing but what he sees his Father do Joh. 14.10 The words that I speak I speak not of my self but the Father that dwelleth in me As the first person dwels in the second he is thus from the Father and works from the Father So his Saints and faithful are of and from the Father by him Whereas the wicked They are of the world That is their dispositions which are corrupt they issue firstly from Saâ—an who cast's in his Seed of rebellion into their hearts according to which they are framed And upon this ground he is called the God of the world As he is firstly evil and cannot but be evil and al evil is from him that is in the world For by his wickedness al the world and wicked comes to be tainted and by the leaven of his wickedness defiled Their minds so far as erronious are made up of his delusions Their hearts as they are stuborne and ungodly are made up of his rebellions 2. Consider the next immediate cause by which they are acted this also wil evidence the strength and distance of their opposition and that in the greatest extremity And this you shal find most pregnantly 1 Cor. 2.12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are graciously given us of God So that there is a spirit of the world which blinds mens minds and minds which the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ cannot shine upon them nor the power of any savory truth or good come neer them or work upon them but they stop the passage against al do most desperately and resolutely oppose al. And that is perverted mutability set on or set a going by the provoking and cursing power of the Law the malignity of Satan having leave and somtime command from God to wind up the wickedness of mens spirits to the highest strain of the activity of evil When God said who wil go and deceive Ahab Satan answers I wil. The Lord asks how I wil saies he Be a lying Spirit in the mouth of the fals Prophets q. d. It was in his power if God would give leave to act their minds and Tongues as one man to speak and perswade unto deceiptful waies which would undoubtedly bring to ruin And this is the meaning of those two Phrases Eph. 2.2 Men are said to walk according to the course of the world one Spirit and guise in them al. If it be asked what that is he adds According to the Prince of the Air the Spirit that now worketh c. When the Prince of the Air by his impulsions and suggestions draws out the distempers of the ungodly to the utmost activity And this is noted in the next words They fulfilled the wils of the Flesh and of the mind what a corrupt heart and Vain Head would carry a man unto He must needs go whom the Devil drives This is called the wil of the Gentiles that is what men left to the corruption of their Natures would wil. Contrarily The Holy Ghost takes ful possession of our Savior and from Christ dwels in the hearts of his Saints by which they are strengthened Eph. 3.16 Strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man So that there is 1. The inner man which is Grace 2. Strengthened in this 3. By the might of his Spirit So led by the Spirit Rom. 8.15 yea not only strengthen and lead but mightily and actively works in his when they are quickened to work the Works of God Col. 1. last I strove but it is according to the working of Christ and that is mightily therefore Stephen said They could not resist the Spirit by which he spake Acts 6. As the Prince of Darkness by his Impulsions draws out the Activity of Corruption in the strength of it So the Prince of Light and Grace the Lord Christ is greater than he that is in the World and carries the Faithful by an invincible Power 3. Look at them in the main ends at which they aim in al their Operations and Proceedings Our Savior came not to do his own wil or seek his own but to do the wil and seek the Glory of the Father Therefore the Scope of his whol Work it is to break the Head of the Serpent Gen. 3.15 To destroy the works of the Devil 1 John 3.8 To deliver from the present evil world Gal. 1.4 And al the Saints are of the same Heart follow his Colors and Command When the Devil and the World the Prince of this World and the Children of this World they set themselves in al their Contrivements plottings practices to destroy the Glory of God the Kingdom of God and Christ and set up the Kingdom of darkness and
A COMMENT UPON Christ's last Prayer In the Seventeenth of JOHN Wherein is opened The Vnion Beleevers have with God and Christ and the glorious Priviledges thereof Besides many other Gospel Truths there is also shewed 1 That the end why the Saints receive all glorious Grace is That they may be one as the Father and Christ are one 2 That God the Father loveth the Faithful as he loveth Jesus Christ 3 That our Savior desireth to have the Faithful in Heaven with himself 4 That the happiness of our being in Heaven is to see Christs Glory 5 That there is much wanting in the knowledg of Gods Love in the most able Saints 6 That the Lord Christ lends dayly direction according to the dayly need of his Servants 7 That it is the desire and endeavor of our Savior that the dearest of Gods Love which was bestowed on himself should be given to his faithful Servants 8 That our Vnion and Communion with God in Christ is the top of our happiness in Heaven By that Faithful and known Servant of Christ Mr. THOMAS HOOKER late Pastor of the Church at Hartford in New-England somtimes Preacher of the Word at Chelmsford in Essex and Fellow of Emmanuel Colledg in Cambridg Printed from the Authors own Papers written with his own Hand And attested to be such in an Epistle By Thomas Goodwin And Philip Nye London Printed by Peter Cole at the sign of the Printing-Press in Cornhil neer the Royal Exchange 1656. M R Hooker On the Seventeenth of John Being his Seventeenth Book made in New-England THE EPISTLE TO THE READER THE more eminent Matter of these Sermons is our mystical Union with God and Christ a Subject but rarely handled by Divines and then but overly in comparison to what those other Benefits by Christ have been that yet but flow from this or do accompany it So as any smal advance of Light into this Mystery is highly to be valued specially from so good a Hand or Heart rather so deeply experienced and acutely insighted as was our Author This Head though it lay in the Road of another Course of Ministry the Author held namely the opening the whol Work of the Application of our Redemption in all the parts thereof shortly to follow this into publick view so far as he had proceeded in it whereof this of Vnion was designed one as by his Draught or Scheme of that Work to be Prefaced to the whol appears and accordingly should have been largely treated on Subject wise apart by it self in its due place and order Yet whether it was that himself fore-apprehending he might not live so long as he did not to arrive thereat in that Method and yet withall considering the more special necessity of this Subject to this Age he therefore did anticipate this miscellaneous Treatment of it is not for us to say only we may surely affirm that our all-wise God who disposeth of the Gifts Ministrations and Operations of and by his faithful Servants he foreseeing all secretly guided him to this Precursory handling of it in this way of Comment upon the seven last Verses of Christs last Prayer which we may well suppose to have been intended by himself but as a preliminary Essay of that more ample and set Tractate on this Argument he afterwards intended because he intermingleth therewith Observations about other high and glorious Gospel Truths whereof this Soyl of al other Scriptures must be supposed most fertile as the Text did give occasion And surely he was by the same Divine hand as specially directed both in his Choyce of this Scripture for his Ground unto this Subject which being the Conclusion of Christs most solemn last Prayer must be supposed to express the very bottom of his heart and what lay deepest therein and therfore came forth last As also in the Occasion on which he chose to preach these Sermons which was then when this Union is designed to be sealed up to Beleevers more conspicuously than in other Ordinances namely at the Administration of the Lords Supper and towards his latter end conjunct with the Solemnization whereof even among his Apostles it was that Christ did pour forth this Prayer unto his Father before his Death And indeed he that is spiritual and reads these Explanations will readily find and must acknowledg that he was proportionably raised and assisted by a Gospel Spirit as the Dignity of the Matter and Solemnity of the Dignity of the Matter and Solemnity of the Occasion meeting in such a Conjunction did require it being found in experience that according to the elevation of the Occasion and Sublimity of the Matter discoursed of the Holy Ghost raiseth and enlargeth the Spirits of an holy man of God that is experienced in what he speaks The true stating the Bounds for kind or degree of that Union with God which the Saints are admitted to by God is of great use and necessity to this Age the Fate whereof is erring either on the right hand or the left in the greatest Points of Religion and in this Point more grossly and wretchedly than in any other yea and in the other as may easily be observed upon occasion first of a misunderstanding of this one and particularly of some passages and Clauses in this Prayer of our Lord which here have passed the search and discovery of our Author as that they may be one as we are one c. which some have dared to interpret to be Unity that is Union to be oneness in Nature with God himself others to be at least a sameness of Union for kind with that which the man Jesus holds with the Natural Son of God whereof one is a contradiction to the Nature of Creature and Creator as Paul hath set it Rom. 1.25 the other to Christs being Mediator and Head between God and us Of whom we ARE in Christ Jesus who is that one Lord and we by him his Union therefore Primary and Original ours Secondary and Derivative Set but then and keep the true distance between God and his Elect as Creatures and between Christ and those Elect as whose all they are from God is in and through Christ so as that the Creature can never be one in Nature with God who alone is blessed for ever and that the Saints shal never be one Person with the Son of God who is God blessed for ever And whatever Unions or Communions with God are or can be supposed to be next to these two to be sure the Saints are and shall be partakers thereof for next to himself and his Son they are Gods Beloved and the only beloved of him Besides what Glory spiritual quickening our Author giving the very Life-meaning of our Lord concerning this Union an holy heart wil secretly and suddenly find breaking in upon it and it self inspired withal in the reading It wil together therewith confound without speaking a word of set Confutation all such lewd mistakes which it is better to let
of affection but of divine operation of God upon the soul whereby the soul returns all unto God to do al and to receive all to do all for himself in man and to receive all to himself by man So that God alone doth all in this firstly upon man and then by man If this work was so much in the Eye of our Savior and that intended So chief also in the performance and that accomplished with care no wonder it had the next Room and remembrance in his prayer But so it was this was the main errand of our Savior when he was sent into the world and the very life of the kingdom of Grace and the covenant of Grace as it concerned them So the Lord professeth by the Prophet Esa 49 5 And now saith the Lord that formed me from the Womb to be his servant Our Savior appointed in Gods decree sanctified and overshadowed by the Holy Ghost in the womb and called to this end for this work To bring Jacob back again to him It was that which was plotted by the Head and policy of Satan and brought about by the fal and through the folly of our first parents To break off this unity and Oneness betwixt God and Adam For Satan had found it by woful experience in himself that by sin God would be estranged from him and he also from God neither to find his favour towards him nor the presence of his spirit of Grace to work upon him nor yet would Adam thus departed act for God nor return to him that praise he ought So that God and Adam are not one but at odds It s the meaning of that place Gal. 3.19 20. When the Apostle had shewed the weakness of the Law in the work of Justification and the promise only carried it He makes thig Objection wherefore then served the Law i.e. The giving of the Law Answer It was to discover transgression and therefore it was given by the Hand of a Mediator to-wit Moses who was between God and the people Now in that Moses was a Mediator it shews there was diverse parties differing and disagreeing one from another for a Mediator is not of one not of parties that are at unity and agreement but God is one ever like himself and the same Therefore the cause of difference was not on Gods part but by Reason of trangression which shews man to be other than he was by Nature ful of guilt and sin and that 's the reason God is at odds with him as he is departed from God Now the scope of our Saviors coming is to bring the Soul back again unto God by himself and to make it one with the Father and himself It was beyond the power of any created Grace to bring back a fallen Soul but the God-Head of Christ in the Nature of man assumed must bring the Nature of man to God again And where as it was found by proof in our first parents that the power of created Grace did not nay indeed could not hold the Soul unchangeably to him and so to act by and for him Herein lies the life and incomparable excellency of the covenant of Grace and the fulness of the sufficiency of the quickning power of the second Adam the Lord Jesus not only to procure unto acceptance and approbation with the Father but the lively communication of himself and the assistance of his spirit to keep our hearts and the gracious work thereof to him for ever So that though our Graces might and would fall us in Adam yet the spirit of Jesus upholds and holds us for ever towards him a fountain of living water Though the vertue and work thereof would wanse away and through not-attendance not put forth it self upon the rule and for the work as we see in Adam He attended not unto acted not upon a command but listened to the delusion and suggestion of the enemy Yet the spirit of Christ which dwelleth with us and shall be in us is there not only to keep with us and carry us to Christ but to quicken us by vertue from Christ according to the tenure of the Gospel Joh. 14.17 And this is indeed to be under the powerful impression of the covenant of Grace And this is the meaning of that place I live not but Christ lives in me Gal. 3.20 Christ by Faith brings me to God By his spirit keeps the bent of the heart towards him carryes it to himself acts it upon himself quickens it by influence of vertue the fountain whereof is in himself Adam might have said I live by a power and principle of Grace in which I was created and in which I have pleased God thereby and according to a covenant of works may challenge life and happiness But Paul in the person of al self-denying sinners professeth that I live not Christ hath called me brought me to himself gives me his spirit and keeps the Eye of my Soul upon himself That he may thereby Be all in all to me work all in me and by me It s the meaning also of that Col. 3.3 4. Our life is bid with Christ in God when Christ who is our life shall appeare God is in Christ is in us keeps us to himself and communicates al saving Graces of life here and will quicken and perfect all in the whol man at his resurrection Thus then we see The end of our Saviors coming and the life of the covenant of Grace both these our Savior would further by his prayer But this unity with the Father and the Son is the end of our Saviors coming and the life of the Covenant 2. Reason This work being savingly and effectually made good upon the soul it maks way for the inlarged expression of all the fruits and works of holiness which might further set forth the honor of God the kingdom of Christ our own comforts here and happiness in another world It s the meaning of that Joh. 15.5 He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit True it is done by faith but it is somthing other and somthing more than the bare coming to Christ or our Union with him It is the keeping the Eye of the soul and carrying the bent of the Heart upon the engagements of Gods dearest love and the unchangeable work of the spirit of Adoption to be acted by the quickning vertue thereof in Gods time and after Gods manner and answerable to our need and that condition and place we possess in the Body of Christ for so that phrase implieth Joh. 6.56 He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood that is done by beleeving He abideth in me and I in him That is another and a further work And it intimates a free and a ful intercourse of spiritual communion between God and the soul and a communication of his presence and spiritual influence upon the beleever As it is in the Body natural when the constitution is healthful and the
shouldest be mindfull of him and the Son of man thou shouldest regard him So What is man so base so sinful so vile so miserable As Saul who ever found his enemy and slue him not but who ever found his enemy and sent his Son to him Use 2. Comfort to bear up the fainting hearts of the Saints amidst al the corruptions that annoy temptations that oppose feebleness and difficulties that discourage why yet Christ is sent for the work who is furnished with al sufficiency to do it He hath laid salvation upon one that is mighty Mighty pride mighty distempers to foil thee mighty temptations to assault thee mighty allurements in the world to intangle thee Why here is Salvation upon one that is mighty to save free and deliver thee Hither Paul retires and strengthens himself 2 Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have beleeved when I am not able to resist or vanquish Christ is able and nothing ever miscarried that was committed to his care All power in Heaven and Earth is committed into his had Use 3. Of Direction How to expect all from God How to go to God for all 1. Expect all from God in Christ Eph. 1.3 c. blesseth us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in him Adopts us in him makes us accepted in him God was in Christ reconciling the world 2. Go to God for al in Christ In the performances of al Duties in the use of al Ordinances go to Christ first and then to the Father As its true the Father judgeth no man so he comforts quickens sanctifies no man but hath committed al unto his Son Christ is the Fathers Almner and to him we must repaire if we desire to share in the bounty of the Father He is that Joseph Gen. 41.44 45. If the Son make you free ye shal be free indeed Joh. 8.30 If he comfort ye shal be comforted indeed Therefore do three things 1. Be Dexâ—rous in our apprehensions to see the footsteps of our Savior and be so wel acquainted with his passages that we may perceive his whispers and know him at a turn though we â—ee but his back parts 2. Use no meanes nor entertain any but such as come by his own appointment Because those that come not from him lead not to him Col. 2.10 We stand complete in him Math. 17.5 Hear him and none but him As the Prophet to the King of Judah Go not with the King of Israel for God is not with him So go not out in the use of such means for God is not in them 3. Look at him as sent on purpose for this work Joh. 6.26 This is the work of God that ye beleeve on him whom the Father hath sent This answers all If the Father appoint him who shal gainsay It the Son hath undertaken it how can it fail If al power be in his hand who shal hinder If all the execution be in his hand there wil be no miscarriage We have dispach't the first The second now follows Viz. That God will have this beleeved by the ungodly world And its possible they may when the Saint attain this unity Christ shall attain this glory even from the wicked that they shall acknowledg his call and commission and so execution of this work of our Redemption For the explication hereof we may inquire 1. What it meant by world 2. How they are said to beleeve 3. What do they beleeve in the sending of Christ for which our Savior so praise and at which he so aimes 1. WORLD here not to trouble with any thing Impertinent or superfluous iâ— is put for the WICKED of the world who have their hearts inheritance and happiness here therefore go no higher look of further So ye shall find the word used in this Chap. verse 9. I pray for them I pray not for the world where the opposition gives the true sense explication of the word they are here distinguished and differenced from those that were given to Christ and to whom he hath given his word and hearts to beleeve and to whom he gave eternal life The like ye have 1 Joh. 5.4 We know that we are of God and the whol world lieth in wickedness Where those two are put in opposition to be of God begotten of God called to be Saints out of the world But those that are not begotten of God they are made up as it were of worldly principles and they keep and take up their abode in wickedness they are brought to bed in it And thus wicked men are stiled from three grounds 1. Because the God of this world rules in them 2 Cor. 4.4 i.e. Satan whose abode and habitation is in this visible world for where the Devils are cast there is Hell but hither they are cast into the Air the prince of the Air. Eph. 2.2 He compasseth the Earth to and fro Job 1. And somtimes he hurries into the great deep God hath given him a commission in his Justice to exercise a Soverainty over the wicked and to use all these earthly and worldly things as baits to take them at his will and he never fails With honor he catcheth the ambitious with wealth the câ—veâ—cus And they acknowledg no God but Saâ—an in these carried and taken aside by his temptations and overpowred by his allurements when he wil. 2. They are acted by the Spirit of the world And therefore the Apostle puts these two in opposition 1 Cor. 2.12 We have not received the Spirit of the world but the Spirit of God As the â—ons of God are led by the Spirit of God who works mightily in them that beleeve So wicked men are acted by the Spirit of the world Now that which gives life and being to the world as it is in opposition to God is vanity and emptiness vanity and emptiness perverted inordinate or Exorbitant vanity running wry from the command of God and cross to the fear of God Emptiness and weakness of the creature captivating the Soul under its command and carrying of it according to its will It s the Spirit of the world 1 Joh. 2.16 The lust of the Eves carry all away Thus the Prophet Wine and Women take away the heart Hos 4.11 3. They take contentment in the things of the world and there they take up their stand set up their rest They are called the men of the Earth and lay up their treasures here on Earth Ps 17.14 Mind earthly things Philip. 3.19 Here they are in their Element like fish in the Water and some conceive and not improbably that the Psalmist aimed at some such thing The Heavens are the Lords but the Earth he hath given to the sons of men Psal 115.16 By Earth is meant all these visible things which they who live by sense set up as their Gods serve and worship them The heaven is Gods throne where no unclean thing comes but the Earth these visible things where wicked men have sinned and by their sins
that is the Father appointing and sending The other Viz. The Son coming upon that commission of love and life for the good of his which they knew and in which they rejoyce That Christ who was in the commission to work this and they for whom it was wrought and knew it have an interest in it and take content to injoy it That such persons should Beg for such Priviledges From such a Father whose heart is towards them and their minds and hearts towards him and his Fatherly affection This must of necessity be of great power to prevail with so righteous a Father to hear and grant therefore we must hold it to this point and respect Christ knows him as a righteous Father The Lord Christ hath the knowledg of the Father and his love and Faithfulness in an especial manner Take a place or two which wil give undeniable testimony to this truth Math. 11.25 No man knows the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son wil reveal him Joh. 1.18 No man hath seen the Father at any time but the only begotten Son who was in the Bosom of the Father He saw al his Bosom secrets and was fully acquainted with Gods heart and counsels he hath revealed them unto us And therefore the Apostle issues al here speaking concerning the deep things of God The Spirit searcheth the deep things of God that is of the Father but how come we to rellish either the things of the Father or Spirit who hath known the mind of God Why we have Christs mind and he knows the Fathers mind And our Savior professeth as much touching this expression Joh. 8â—38 Ye speak the things that ye have seen with your Father and I speak the things that I have seen with my Father Here we shal open three things 1. How Christ as Second Person is said to knâ—w the Father 2. How as Man becomes to share in this knowledg 3. The Reason of it To the First For the right apprehending how the Second Person may in a peculiar manner be said to know the Father we must conceive that the knowledg of Christ as Second person may be attended upon a double consideration or ground 1. As it Issues from the understanding of the God-Head For God according to the expression of the Scripture being a Spirit of al other most excellent and therefore reasonable he must have the most excellent faculties and therefore understanding and wil. For what is most eminent that we have allowance from the rule to beleeve that it doth belong to the God-Head and we may so conceive of it From this understanding it is that the God-Head is said to be Omniscient to know al things that are knowable This being an Attribute of the Deity it doth equally belong to al the persons For al the Persons having one and the same God-Head they have equally al the Attributes of the God-Head indifferently equally belonging to them Therefore al are eternal immortal infinâ—e Omnipotent Omniâ—cient and so know al things and â—o know each other in this generall sense and the Father and spirit know the Son and He them by this kind of knowledg But this is too large not here attended For it is not proper to say That the God-Head knows the Father to be Father of it with that speciâ—l reference or that the God-Head should cal the Father my Father I say it is not proper nay it is not true For the Father is not the Father of the God-Head but of the Son If it could cal the Father as Father of it then it should be the Son of the Father then it should be begotten of the Father But the Father begets the Son not the God-Head That which belongs to the God-Head belongs to al the persons as being common then to the Spirit Then the spirit might know and cal the Father the Father of it but that he is not That which belongs to the God-Head belongs to the Father and so the Father might be a Son to himself 2. This knowledg is to be considered according as it attends the manner of the work of the understanding which carries a specialty of respect with it in the act thereof and so it may in a peculiar manner be affirmed of Father and Son and in the several regards appropriated unto either The reason whereof we shal scan anon as it comes in our way when the understanding of the God-Head by knowing it self conceiveth an image of it self makes an impress or engraven character of it self which it ever eyes and owns this manner of knowing belongs to the Father and thence Issues an especial manner of knowing the Father by and in the Son As Joh. 10.15 As the Father knows me I know the Father And that appears in a Three-fold act of the Son 1. The Son takes the Impression of his Image 2. Returnes it 3. Eyes and ownes the Imprinter of it 1. Takes this Impression The Father gives him Sonship and the nature of al relation requires they give being each to other The Father by understanding conceives an Image the Son is the Image conceived As a man is not a Father because he is a man but because he begets a Son A man is not a Son because he is a man but because he is begotten of a Father So the God-Head is not a Father because God-Head but because it conceives an Image of it self The Son is not a Son because God but because he is conceived of another who did conceive This is the meaning of the Apostle The words are marvailous pat and Pithy and carry wieght with them but answer exactly to the thing in Hand Hebr. 1.3 Christ as the second person is called The Ingraven Form or Character of the Fathers Person The word signifies to ingrave and implies an Image of a thing not feigned only in our mind and Imagination nor vanishing and changing as in a representation in a Glass as the form of the face thâ—re But a form or resemblance Ingraven Cut or instamped on Brass or Wood which hath stability permanency with it As Beza in Locum 2. Returns this Impression As the Son takes all from the Father â—o he Returns al to the Father It is the Nature of those things that are relates or in relation to look one towards another and to give being relative one to another That is the meaning of the Apostles other phrase in the place formerly alledged Hebr. 1.3 Christ is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Shine of his glory the word signifies a Light or brightness shining from a Light a shine from a light reflecting or looking back to that reflection of light again And here by the way ye have the rise and reason of these divers manners of understanding in the God-Head and so the diverse subsistences and Personalities Namely because the understanding of the God-Head acting upon it self it becomes to be reflected and turned back upon it self If there be a reflect act
the Lord Jesus the Son of his Love blessed for ever and that to such as they are so unworthy and vile in themselves so loathsom and abominable by reason of the Number and Nature of their Hellish Iniquities That it seems so cross to the compass of al Reason that they cannot but cavil at it as a thing absurd and unreasonable to beleeve and their distrustful and guilty hearts cannot but reject it as a thing impossible Yea the Disciples themselves when the hardness of the work was resembled by a comparison from our Savior they cried out Who then can be saved To make known and make good this Ambassage to the Soul God must make known his Almighty Power to the sinner which he only that feels is forced to confess others cannot conceive So Paul to the Ephesians Chap. 1.17 c. praies for a Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation another Spirit and common Understanding cannot come neer such things That they might know the excessive exceeding great Activity of the might Power of God in bringing a sinner home to himself verse 19. and therefore the Convert 1 Cor. 14.24 when he hath but a glimpse hereof in the search of the Secrets of his own heart he fals down and confesseth God is in you of a Truth It 's the Wisdom Power Soveraignty of a God It 's beyond al created Power ever to discover such things to work so upon the Soul 2. As the Power that settles the Message so the Light that discovers the Beauties and Excellencies that are therein utterly beyond apprehension expectation admiration Peter professeth that the very Angels of Heaven pry into these Secrets delight to lie down and look wishly into them because they lie so low and deep beyond their discerning 1 Pet. 1.11 yea the Apostle Paul concludes the Eye never saw the Ear never heard nay it never entred into the heart of man to conceive thâ—se things 1 Cor. 2.9 Nothing can be seen by proof and observation nothing heard by report from others no such thing can be anvilled and contrived by the conceitings of al the Understanding of men and yet they are such things which God hath revealed by his Spirit in the Gospel Hence the Phrase 1 Pet. 2.9 God hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous Light Every thing is a Mystery a marvel in the work of Grace when once we have an Eye to see We marvel at our own wretchedness and baseness we marvel at Gods Patience to bear with such worthless and sinful ones as we be our Peace is marvelous such as passeâ—h al understanding joy marvelous unspeakable and glorious And the ungodly meddle not in any of these things being indeed unknown to them There is hid Manna Revel 2. Secret and unconceivable refreshings â—ound in Câ—rist a white Stone and a new Name which no man knows but he that hath it and therefore he judgeth all things saith the Apostle he that is Spiritual and is judged of no man And Lastly For the setling of the heart It lets in such an overbearing both Power and Sweetness of the good thus known that it carries the heart along with it and settles and keeps the heart to it And therefore it ever hath Faith accompanying it They that know thy name wil trust in thee Psal 9 10. Hadst thou known who it is that said unto thee give me to drink thou wouldst have asked of him and he would have given thee living Water Joh. 4.10 Therefore she should have asked in Faith By this we know that we do know We have the science of knowledge that we have the truth and soundness of Faith And somtimes yea frequently in the phrase of Scripture it is put for faith Joh. 17.3 This is Eternal life to know thee that is to beleeve in thee 2. The means how this knowledge comes to settle the faithful Answ It is by the means which God in the course of his Providence appointment hath ordained for that end that is his good word in the Scriptures recorded by his Ministery delivered to them It is true there is a spirit of Wisdom and revelation that is put forth in this dispensation but it s as true that this Spirit goes along with this word and works in this word as seems good to the good pleasure and wil of Christ The place is more precious than Pearls and worthy to be retained in the table of our hearts for ever Joh. 17.7 8. Now they to wit the Apostles Have known that all things whatever thou hast given me are of thee Whence comes that Answer verse 8. I have given to them the words which thou givest me and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from thee and they have beleeved that thou didst send me Loe The words that God the Father gave Christ the words of he Gospel Evâ—ngelium that good tidings he gave the Apostles And they received them and by them they knew that Christ came from God and beleeved he was sent of that message Quest Is this the condition of all the Saints Answ For the reality and substance of what hath been said it appertains to al though there be much difference in the manner and measure how these discoveries come to be dispensed Object But we see by experience many of Gods own are Ignorant here Answ There is a discovery of these in a manner and measure to al for al have that spiritual light all have notice of that Ambassage of peace of love and of life brought them in and by Christ and by that overbearing power and light those good things of Christ in the Gospel are discovered so convictingly and set on so efficaciously that the heart is kept to them By such a knowledg they come to be apprehended and receive But there is a reflect act when our understanding views and looks over the work of the mind and heart so that we know that we do know and know that we do receive This the Saints may and do want many times for some while We have this dispatcht the four Particulars and so cleared our way to the understanding of the Doctrine proposed which was The Saints have a special knowledg that the Lord Christ is sent of God the Father for the work of their Salvation We shal now proceed to the Reasons and Uses in few words The Reason of the point is double 1. From the Office of our Savior Reas 1. and the Aim and scope he hath in the execution of the work thereof He comes not to do his own wil nor to seek his own glory but to do the wil and seek the glory of him that sent him Therefore he must dispense al as from him draw al Eyes and hearts towards him For the Nature of an Ambassage doth of necessity imply and require this It makes al to look to the person who sends the Ambassage whose power and pleasure is there firstly attended and leads al by the hand