The Father loves believers as he doth Christ Reas For he loves them 1. In Christ 2. Through Christ 1. Vse Depend on him 1. Without doubting 2. By real love 3. Vse Comfort to all true believers In that 1. He will uphold them as he did Christ 2. Assist us in his service 3. Reward his own work in us 4. Hear us 5. Provide for us 3. Doctr. Christs will is even a Law with the Father Reas 1. Being the only Son 2. The Beloved 3. Never asks amiss 4. Sueth for nothing but what he deserver p. 491. Vse How to make Christ our Advocate Ver. 24 Direct 1. To prepare their hearts they must be 1. Purged 2. Humbled 3. Fixed 4. Awakened Then 2. For Matter of prayer search the promises p. 496. Manner Pray without wrath 2. Doubting 3. With much zeal 2. If we pray acted by Christs Spirit 1. There will be zeal 2. Desires spiritual 3. For spiritual things chiefly Not to be spent on lusts 4. We shall pray constantly 2. Doct. It is Christs will that they who are given him should be in heaven Reas He loves them with a love 1. Of benevolence 2. Of Complacency 3. To see his glory 3. Doct. God hath loved Christ from all Eternity Reas Being like him both as God and Man Vse Wo to them that hate Christ They hate Christ 1. Who willingly obey sin 2. Who love and hate that which Christ doth not 3. Who are friends to the Enemies of Christ Contra p. 513. 2. Vse God therefore loveth them that love Christ Christ is amiable and worthy of our love 1. In respect of his perfections p. 515. 2. In respect of our Interest and propriety in him 3. Of his great love to us 4. Of that he hath done for us 3. Vse Admire that he should so use him as he did for our sakes 1. Giving him up to the hands of sinful men and to his own wrath 2. So using him for such as we are p. 517. 4. Vse Comforts to those that belong to Christ that they are loved from everlasting 4. Doct. God is a very just and righteous God Confirmed 1. From the largeness of his Jurisdiction 2. The Immensity of his presence 3. From his inward propensity and disposition 1. Vse This should settle our minds amidst the confusions and disorders of the world 2. Vse Comfort to those that are abused and oppressed 3. Vse Come into him and become his subjects 4. Vse Terror to the ungodly 5. Vse Comfort to the righteous even in Gods Justice 6. Vse Admonition to Magistrates Perswasions to execute Justice 1. It will settle the land 2. Be amiable to God 3. Beneficial to your selves p. 526 7. Vse Meditate on Gods righteousness It will 1. help us against sin 2. Strengthen our faith in prayer p. 528. Ver. 25 Doct. Unbelievers and unsanctified persons know not God in such manner as they ought p. 531. 1. Know him not so as to delight in him 2. Nor so as to serve and obey him 3. Nor so as to know him in Christ Reason 1. Unbelieving Heathens want the means of knowledge 2. Unbelieving Christians want the Spirit to unveil 1. The understanding 2. The Gospel 3. In every unbeliever there 's something 1. Redundant to repell divine Truth 2. Wanting to receive it viz. The Spirit of God 4. They are unwilling to know God p. 535. 1. Vse The misery of unsanctified unbelievers 2. Vse Admire Gods mercy in vouchsafing us the means of knowledge p 537. 2. Doct. That Christ alone knows God immediately and others by his means p. 539. Vse None saved by his own natural knowledge 3. Doct. The most saving knowledge hath defects and imperfections standing in need of farther declaration p. 541. Reason Christ doth not shew them all at once 1. Because they are not capable 2. That he may keep them humble 1. Vse Be not proud of your knowledge 2. Vse Comforts to the humble 1. A sign that thy knowledge is right and sound 2. It 's the measure which Christ hath alloted thee 3. The time is coming when these thy defects shall be supplyed 4. We shall be rewarded according to our practice not our knowledge Ver. 26 Doct. Christ will be making farther declarations of his Fathers Name to the worlds end p. 546. 1. By his written Word and Ministers in all ages 2. By his holy Spirit p. 548. 1. Vse Believe what he hath spoken 2. Expect the execution of his promise 3. Thereunto strive with Christ in prayer p. 549. 2. Doct. The Love which is in true believers comes from God Reason For it cannot be Originally in of or from our selves yet not without means Vse If we want it have recourse to God Love is the chiefest thing 1. That comes from God p. 554. 2. That conformeth us to God p. 554. 3. Doct. Declaration of the Fathers Name is a special means to work love in them Reason 1. Beauty is a part of his Name 2. Goodness 3. Mercy 4. Love p. 557. 4. Doct. Where Love is there Christ is Reason 1. For where Love there the Spirit 2. Faith 3. God is p. 560. 1. Vse Misery of those that love not God and his children 2. Comforts to those that have love in them They have Christ and therefore 1. Have intimate Communion with him 2. Have free access to him 3. Have the confluence of all Accommodations 4. Are secure 2. Let Christ live quiet in your hearts Excellency of Christs prayer An Alphabetical Table of the Chief Heads contained In this TREATISE A ADopted children page 15 Admire the love of God and of Christ page 20 98 146 161 361 455 537 Affections of the heart testified by outward gesture page 11 Affliction should not dismay us See Tribulation page 104 195 290 291 367 Abilities of Christ page 145 Active Obedience of Christ page 157 Our Advancement in Christ page 174 The Apostle and Messenger of God is Christ 142 149 234 235 other Apostles page 407 our Affections are to keep Christs word page 204 213 Apostates from Christ page 41 210 Application of Christ page 158 441 Assurance Means and benefit thereof page 22 our Active and Passive obedience page 203 Authority grace and power of Christs words page 7. 473 Authority of Christ over all men 52 144. for the benefit and Salvation of his people page 72 73 Agreement with God and Christ necessary page 465 Agreement See Unity The benefits thereof page 303 304 All things revealed by Christ in what sense page 236 Aimiableness of Christ page 514 515 Adding to the work of Christ page 168 word of Christ page 241 Absence of Christ from the Father page 265 Ascension of Christ 266. End fruit and benefits thereof page 267 B PArtial Believers page 208 â—99 Belief See Faith Wrought by the Gospel page 443 444 Believers not free from the Law page 61 62 Believe the Trinity page 130 132 the Scriptures page 133 399 in Christ page 149 150 441 Christs word 204. 559
blood of Bulls and Goats But now it is confirmed by the blood of Christ himself which is a better and a more effectual confirmation And this is that which the Apostle shews at large Heb. 9.16 and in the following verses So that the blood which ratified the Old Testament was but the shaddow and the Type of that which ratifies the new and therefore this hath the advantage of the other I must confess that the Old Testament was ratified by the death of Jesus Christ in destination for so he was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world But this is ratified by the death of Christ in actual execution which is if not in it self to us at least a cleerer and a better confirmation Gospel truth excelleth for the operation of it it hath effects transcendently beyond all other truth that ever was revealed to the world I shall name but two only suggested in those two great Gospel Epithites the word of grace the word of life 1. Gospel truth works grace Not common grace and common sorrow and humiliation and repentance as the Law doth but saving grace And therefore it is called the word of grace Acts 20.32 It is so exclusively it worketh grace alone without the help and the assistance of the Law in that business Something the Law may do towards us indeed but it doth nothing in the work of grace Of his own will begat he us saith the Apostle by the word of truth that is the Gospel James 1.18 That only that is properly and strictly sanctifying truth Sanctifie them with thy truth 2. Gospel truth infuseth life and that no other truth can do The Law indeed can kill but it cannot make alive It is the Ministry of death and condemnation The Gospel only is the Ministry of life and of Salvation And therefore this exceeds the other and surpasseth it in glory as the Apostle shews at large 2 Cor. 3.6 7 c. In this respect we find the Gospel called the word of life 1 John 1.1 because it is the word that worketh life It is the quickning word that raises men from death to life to the life of grace in this world and to the life of glory in the world to come And thus I think we have sufficiently cleered the point the word of God especially the Gospel is the truth Proceed we now to make some application of it according to the divers branches of the point in order I shall but touch upon the first because I would no be prevented in the second Is it so my brethren that the word of God is all truth then certainly Vse 1 it ought all to be believed This truth on Gods part calls for faith on ours For what is faith but the belief of truth as the Apostle Paul defines it 2 Thes 2.13 He hath chosen us to Salvation through Sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth So that if the word be truth it ought to be believed by us And this our Saviour Christ insinuates in his expostulation with the Jews John 8.46 If I say truth why do you not believe me Though that which is delivered in the word of God be never so improbable never so much above corrupt reason never so impossible to a humane apprehension yet it admitteth not of doubtfull Disputation and Expostulation but rather calls for absolute belief And therefore they are deeply to be censured who give no credit to the word of truth further then their private spirits close with it who do not answer Gods truth with their faith They read it and they hear it preached but they yield no assent to it No they oppose it and dispute against it they are meer Scepticks in religion There are a multitude of such in these times They consent not to wholesome words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Doctrine which is according to godliness as the Apostle Paul speaks 1 Tim. 6.3 4. Whereas they that have ever felt the saving power of Gods word have their thoughts captivated to it and will say as the Apostle we can do nothing we can speak nothing against the truth 2 Cor. 13.8 These men upon the other side when they hear the truth of God delivered to them speak against it contradicting and blaspheming as the stubborn Jews did Acts 13.45 They do not only ask with Mary how shall this be A question not of opposition but of inquisition Luke 1.34 But even peremptorily determine they can never be And thus they belye the Lord like those of whom the Prophet speaks Jer. 5.12 This in a word for application of the former member of the point We shall now apply the latter Vse 2 Is it so that the word of God especially the Gospel is the truth Is Gospel truth excelling truth Then let us give it the preferment before any other truth both in our inquisition and our acceptation Let us dive into it most and let us value and prize it most First Let us give it the due preferment in our inquisition let us dive into it most and labour more to be acquainted with it then with any other truth Let us read those books let us hear those Preachers and let us nourish those studies which help us most to this knowledge let us make this our main endeavour to be seen in Gospel truth let us undervalue and neglect all other knowledge incomparison of this It is the dangerous mistake of the greater part of men who had rather be acquainted with the matters of the world and to be skild in secular and humane learning then in the doctrine of the Gospel How do abundance plod to dive into the secrets and depths of nature and set their wits upon the tenter-hooks to search into the mysteries of Arts and Trades how do they beat and work their brains to get abundance of experience and skill in worldly dealings and employments but take no pains at all in hearing reading meditation to dive into the mysteries of Jesus Christ Tell me my beloved have you ever among all your earnest strivings after insight either into humane knowledge or into matters of the world been half so studious and industrious to search into this Gospel truth to be acquainted with Christ Jesus who is the subject of the Gospel to know that he was born and lived and dyed for you to know him and the virtue of his resurrection not by speculation only but experience raising you up to newness of life to know that he loved you and gave himself for you Alas the hearts of a great many of you cannot choose but tell you that you have hardly ever spent a serious thought on this And the very best among us cannot choose but say that we have been too slight and careless in our enquiries into this knowledge Ah my beloved had we the spirit of the Apostle Paul or of those blessed Angels who desire to peep and pry into the Gospel truth as you may
of joy when he promised him you know to his Apostles and Disciples they were full of sorrow and he did this as an antidote against it Come be not troubled saith our Saviour I will send you another Comforter that shall abide with you for ever John 14.16 I have been a Comforter to you I confess but seeing I am ready to depart from you I will not leave you comfortless no I will send you another Comforter one that shall comfort you as much as I have done and one that shall stick to you too and shall not leave you as I am about to do but shall abide with you for ever So that you see one special end of Christ in sending down the Holy Ghost into the hearts of his people is to comfort them and cheer them to be to them not only a spirit of Sanctification but a spirit of Consolation and so discovers that he hath a great regard to the joy of his people Christ gives deliverance to his people that they may be full of joy He hath divers other ends why he becomes a Saviour to them in the day of their distress but this is not the least of all that he may put new joy into their hearts and a new Song into their mouths When he appears to the salvation of his people in doing so he appeareth to their joy as you may see Isa 66.5 That is the End and Drift of his Appearance Christ hath purchased Heaven for his people that they might be full of ioy For Heaven as it is a place of the heigth of holiness so it is a place of the heigth of happiness Here indeed we are in Bochim in a place of weeping we go through a vale of tears and digg up Wells but they are of salt water the rain also fills the pools But when we are arrived at Heaven we shall weep no more but all our tears shall be wiped from our eyes We shall not have a wrinkle in our faces nor a tear upon our cheeks nor a sad thought upon our hearts but all shall be smooth and clear and sweet and that for ever Then we shall be full of joy Christs joy shall be fulfilled in us yea we shall have the fulness of joy Psalm 16. ult Indeed full joy importeth nothing but enough to fill us so much as we are capable of as is commensurate to our capacity as we are able to receive But on the other side the fulness of joy importeth all the measures and degrees of it So that there can be nothing added to it there is nothing wanting to it to make it absolute in all respects It is not to be raised higher any way And this hath Christ prepared and purchased for us By these things it is evident that Jesus Christ would have his people to be full of holy joy But wherefore will he have it to be so Why would he have his people to be full of holy joy Out of self-respect he would have it to be so because by reason of the Reason 1 neerness of his union with his people he hath a kind of share in their comfort As his joy is their joy according to his own expression in my text that they may have my ioy fulfilled in themselves So upon the other side their joy is his joy And as there is a social glory of the head and of the members as the School-expression is as Christ is glorified in the glory of his people 2 Thes 1.12 so there is a social joy of the head and of the members Christ rejoyceth in the joy of his people The Comfort of the members redoundeth also to the Comfort of the head As Christ delights in the prosperity so in the joy of his people When they are joyfull he rejoyceth over them with joy and joyeth over them with singing as his own expression is Zeph. 3.17 Reason 2 Christ would have his people to be full of holy joy to recompence them for their sorrow They are described to be such as mourn Mat. 5.4 That uses to be first with them they use to begin there But then they do not use to end there And therefore it is added presently for they shall be comforted Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted And Christ would have their comfort to be answerable to their sorrow That as his sufferings have abounded in them their consolation also may abound by him as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 1.5 Indeed they go forth weeping bearing pretious seed as you may see Psal 126.6 They sow in showry weather in a weeping time In such a time did David sow the seed of true repentance for his sin he wept so much that he made his bed to swimm and watered his Couch with his tears In such a time did Peter sow the same see in a time of bitter weeping Mat. 26. ult But then the harvest makes them ample recompence for all the dark and sad and showry weather in the sowing time They come again with joy and they bring their sheaves with them They scatter it by grains but they gather it by sheaves they have twenty thirty forty yea an hundred fold for one So that if any now should ask me You say that Christ would have his people to rejoyce but what would he not have them mourn too Yes he would have them mourn but in order to rejoycing Sorrow is an unperfect passion and is not for it self but for some higher use as all the rest of the declining passions or affections are As hatred is for love and fear for confidence so sorrow also is for joy unto which it is subservient As lancing is not for it self but for ease and remedy and as a potion is not properly for sickness though it cause it for a season but for health so sorrow is for joy and joy is the end of sorrow in the Saints And Christ intends it to be so You shall be sorrowfull saith Christ to his Disciples but your sorrow shall be turned into Joy John 16.20 He gives to them that mourn in Zion beauty for ashes the oil of gladness for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness Isa 61.3 The ransom'd of the Lord go out lamenting but they return to Zion with Songs and everlasting Joy upon their heads Isa 35. ult Reason 3 Christ would have his people to be full of holy joy that they may be large in duty Sorrow is a kind of straightning the heart a sad heart is a straigthned heart it is shut up it cannot pray it cannot praise it can do nothing with enlargement And therefore the Apostle calleth mourning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a contraction of the heart 2 Cor. 2.4 And I appeal for this to those whose spirits are opprest with sadness and dejection whether it do not make them indisposed to duty unfit to hear unfit to pray and in a word unfit for any part of Christs service But holy joy upon the