you resemble God your Father Jesus Christ his eldest son is the very picture of him as we are wont to say the express of his fathers person They are so like in all respects that he that knoweth one of them cannot but know the other too The resemblance is so perfect and so absolute in all respects that in seeing one of them you see the other And hence said Christ to Philip John 14 19. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father also And truly we that are the younger sons of God though we be not so like him yet we are very much like him And therefore we are said to be renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created us Col. 3.10 And the new man is said to be renewed after God in holiness Ephes 4.24 And are you thus conformed to God do you bear his Image so that every one that sees you and observes you may judge who is your father Are you holy as God is and are you mercifull as God is and are you perfect in desire and endeavour as your Father that is in Heaven is perfect do you love your enemies do you bless them that curse you and pray for them that despitefully use you that you may shew your selves to be the children of your Father who makes his Sun to shine his rain to fall upon the evil and the good Mat. 5.44 are you freely merciful lending and doing good to those where there is nothing to be hoped for but unkindness for your good will that you may make it to appear you are the children of the highest who is kind to the unthankfull and unkinde Luk. 6.35 These are good evidences of your interest in the Father-hood of God But if you be prophane and vicious and cruel and unmerciful as the greater number are I may say to such as you are as once our Saviour to the wicked Jews You are of your Father the Devil and his works you do If God be your Father as you bear your Fathers Image see you have your Fathers Spirit The Spirit of the Father is that which the Apostle calls the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father Rom. 8.15 So that if we be Sons we have this Spirit poured out upon us But you will say that every one almost pretendeth to the Spirit and it is evident that many are deceived in this particular How shall we know infallibly whether the spirit which we think we have be the spirit of the Father yea or no Why my beloved the Spirit of the Father iâ— an active Spirit where it is it leadeth men even where it will it carries them and guides them in its own way And as many as are led by this Spirit they are Sons of God Rom. 8.14 Well then thus far we are clear if we be the Sons of God as we have his spirit so we are led by his Spirit we walk not after the flesh but after the spirit The flesh calls and the spirit calls This is the way walk in it The flesh would have us follow it the spirit would have us follow it And the event is this if we be the Sons of God we leave the flesh and go after Gods Spirit We walk not after c. So then if you would know whether you be the Sons of God examine whether you be guided by his spirit yea or no And this may be discovered by the course you take and by the path in which you walk Gods Spirit guides and leads you always in the way of God which is prescribed and chalked out before you in the word of God And this is clearly and expresly taught us in that alledgement of the Covenant mentioned Exod. 36.27 I will put my Spirit upon you saith the Lord to his people And what shall this Spirit do it shall cause you to walk in my Statutes and to keep my Commandments and do them It shall not give you new directions it shall not shew you new ways and new paths other then those which are beaten out in Scripture but it shall cause you to walk in my Statutes If then you err and wander from the ways of Gods Statutes and walk on in your own ways as the Apostle speaketh of the Gentiles the way of your own hearts which of your selves you choose and follow your ways of drunkenness uncleanness prophanation of Gods holy day c. if you walk in the way of Cain a way of cruelty and malice and run greedily after the error of Balaam for a reward as Jude speaks ver 11. A way of covetousness and unlawfull gain you are not guided by the Spirit of the Father but by the spirit of the wicked one which ruleth in the children of disobedience But if you keep the ways of God the ways of truth and love and holiness and peace the way that is so evilly spoken of by lewd prophane and vitious men And are no sooner swerved from it in the least degree but you are crying to the Lord with Moses Lord shew us thy way with David I am gone astray Lord seek thy servant enquiring of your brethren to direct you and striving to get in again you are guided by the spirit of your father and may be confident that you are the sons of God If God be your Father and you be his children you are a company of singular and choice people As you are like your Father and consequently like your brethren too so you are unlike other men you dwell alone and are not like to other people And as the sons of Kings and Nobles differ from the sons of other men they have another kinde of garb and habit and behaviour Even so the Sons of God the King of Kings do manifestly differ from the children of the world The Lord hath singled them and drawn them out and put them in another way so that they are men of wonder in the world their ways are of another fashion And this declareth them to be the children of the High God he owns them only upon this condition as you may see 2 Cor. 6.17 18. Come out saith God and be ye separate and I will be a father to you and you shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord God almighty Now my beloved are you thus come out and separated from the world which lies in wickedness as the Apostle speaks have you left your old haunts your old courses your old Companions and Associates with whom you ran out formerly to the same excess of riot are you accounted gazing stocks and wonders to the world because you are so different from them in all your ways And can you say in the uprightness of your hearts that this your singular and holy walking is not in shew and in hypocrisie but in sincerity and truth you may assure your selves you are the sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty But if you walk according to the course and fashion of the world if
appellation ever and anon on all occasions so that the point to be observed is this DOCTRINE God is the Father of the Lord Christ and so he apprehended him and looked upon him when he was making his Petitions to him The point you see hath two branches First God is the Father of the Lord Christ then Christ did look upon him as a Father and apprehend him as a Father when he was making his Petition to him God is the Father of the Lord Christ I shall not waste away my time to prove it it is so clearly and expresly taught in Scripture every where you shall observe them often owning one another under the relation of a Father and a Son Sometimes the Father owns our Saviour for his Son and this he doth by an immediate attestation out of heaven it self Mat. 3.17 Lo a voice from heaven saying This is my beloved Son Me thinks he seems to point him out to special observation This is he Sometimes our Saviour on the other side acknowledges and owns the Father and this is very usual upon all occasions But how is God the Father of the Lord Christ or in what sense doth he call him Father here no otherwise then we do this will need a little opening To clear it to you in a word or two you must consider that God the Father hath two sorts of sons either he hath sons made or else he hath sons begotten He hath sons made and that both by Creation and Adoption First he is said to be a Father by Creation and thus he hath a kind of universal Fatherhood to all the Creatures And therefore the Apostle stiles him the Father of all Eph. 4.6 He is in this regard the Father of our bodies and the Father of our Spirits The Father of our bodies mediatly and virtually Created in the loins of Adam The Father of our Spirits immediatly and actually infused by himself with this distinction only that there are men who under him are the Fathers of our Flesh but he himself alone is the Father of our Spirits as the Apostle lays it down Heb. 12.9 And in this sense he is the Father of the Angels who were immediately framed and created by his own Almighty hand and therefore are called the sons of God Job 1.6 This Fatherhood of God as I have said is universal and all the Creatures have a share in it so that even all of them may call him Father too as well as we and use the Prophets words Mal. 2.10 Have we not all one Father hath not one God created us And thus our Saviour as a Creature hath an interest in the Fatherhood of God And here he hath an Interest above others though not an interest without others For he is the first-born of every Creature as the Apostle Paul speaks Col. 1.15 And as this Father hath his Sons made by creation so he hath Sons made by Adoption by which a remnant of Mankinde are set apart out of the free and undeserved Grace of God to be the children and the heirs of God And here I see not why our Saviour Christ as Man should not come in for one of the Adopted Sons of God for one I mean above the rest though not for one among the rest so that he hath his Priviledge in this regard as the Apostle intimates Eph. 1.5 God hath predestinated us to the adoption of Children by Iesus Christ Perhaps the meaning may be this first he hath adopted Christ as man and as a creature and then he hath adopted us by him as part of Jesus Christ and as Members of his body And as this Father hath his Sons made both by creation and adoption so he hath his sons begotten and his sons born for both of these expressions we shall finde in Scripture He hath begotten us saith the Apostle Peter 1 Pet. 1.3 Of his own will begat he us Jam. 1.18 And whosoever loves him that begat loves him that is begotten 1 John 5.1 And thus our Saviour also is begotten of the Father and here he hath his priviledge and his preheminence as well as in the rest For he is the first-begotten of the Father Heb. 1.6 when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world herein he is above Men yea he is above Angels For unto which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son this day c. And when he bringeth in c he saith And let all the Angels c. It s true that even we that are his Children are begotten as Christ is he is begotten from eternity but we in time He is begotten so that he partaketh of his substance and of his very essence that begets him We are indeed partakers of the Divine nature but not by communication of the Essence of God but by participation of the properties of God He is begotten of the Father personally taken whereas none of us are so It s true we are the Sons of God begotten by an Act without but we are not the Sons of God the Father taken as distinct from both the other persons of the God-head begotten by an act within as Christ is He is begotten by a proper and peculiar act of God the Father in an unspeakable communication of the Essence of the God-head from the Father to the Son which we are better able to admire then to express for as the Prophet saith who can declare his generation And this for clearing of the former member of the point God is the Father of the Lord Christ Now for the second that Christ did look upon him as a Father and apprehend him as a Father when he was making his Petitions to him You see it evidently and demonstratively in my Text. This is the appellation that he gives him in this prayer all along as I have noted to you heretofore It s true that God is frequently in Scripture stiled the God of Christ as see the place c. Psal 45.7 God even thy God and Christ doth sometimes call him his God as Iohn 20.17 I ascend to my God but to the best of my remembrance he never calls him so in prayer He comes not to him by the name of his God but by the name of his Father that is the sweet and precious name that he delights to call him by when he is pouring out his prayers to him I shall add no more for proof the point is plain God is the father of the Lord Christ and so he apprehended him c. Is God the Father of the Lord Christ this then may serve for sweet Use 1 and precious consolation to the Saints and to those that are in Christ For if God be Christs Father then he is their Father too And this our Saviour Christ himself acknowledges to his Disciples for their comfort I ascend to my Father and your Father My Father but so that he is yours too first mine and then yours My interest indeed in this respect is
for us saith the Apostle Paul Tit. 2.14 that was the purchase that he made a very dear one you will say He gave himself for us to what end that he might reedeem us from all iniquity from the dominion and power of sin And what now are we masterless And are the reins upon our own necks Now mark what follows presently And purifie us a peculiar people himself a people to himself to serve him and to do his work and to be very earnest in it too and purifie to himself a peculiar people Zealous of good works And so being free from sin we are not left at large my Brethren but we became the servants of Christ Rom. 6 22. This was the End that he intended and propounded to himself in our Redemption he dyed for us that we which live should henceforth live no longer to our selves but to him that dyed for us 2 Cor. 5.15 He hath performed the mercy promised he hath remembred c. he hath saved us from c. Luke 1.74 What that we might from henceforth be our own men and live at liberty and walk according to our own wills Oh no my Brethren but on the other side that we might serve him who hath saved us in holiness and righteousness all the daies of our lives The third is an Engagement of Covenant-obligation we are his Covenant servants and therefore we are bound to serve him if we run away from him we are Covenant-breakers with him Indeed we that are born of those that are in Covenant with him are born his Covenant-servants in a sense For such as the condition of the Parent is Beloved such is the condition of the child as to outward priviledge and as to outward duty too And hence it is perhaps that David saith to God Psalm 116.16 O Lord saith he I am thy servant My servant might the Lord reply Why how so why saith the Psalmist I am the son of thy hand-maid So we whose parents were within the Covenant were born to Christ in some respect for we were born within his family and so to outward view and cognizance belong to his houshold But this is but an outward thing some of us have gone further yet and made a Covenant with the Lord to serve him we were in Covenant all of us with sin by nature and so with death and hell we were at an agreement too But some of us have utterly dissolved that Covenant and entred into Covenant with the Lord Christ We are bound let us obey now we have made this Covenant with him we are the more engaged to serve him and the greater is our sin if we run away from him Use 3 Is God the Father of our Lord Christ The greater is his love to us that he should give Christ for us If he had given but a servant or a friend it had been much that he should part with either of them for an enemy but that he should give us his son his own begotten son to shame to punishment to death for us here is love and here is mercy with a witness The Evangelist me thinks knows not which way to express it and therefore leaves it to the largest heart and the vastest understanding to guess at it John 3.16 God so loved the world So how I cannot tell you it swallows up my apprehensions and expressions And therefore I must leave it to your selves to think of it and reach after it And truly my Beloved did we weigh it well in our advised and deliberate thoughts we should be carried out beyond our selves in an Extasie of wonder What my Beloved that when the Father had but one begotten Son by nature and one that was so well like him the very picture of his Father c. one whom he loved dearly in whom his very soul delighted that he should give him forth out of his bosom for such wretches as we are That he could not spare his Son that he might spare his Enemies behold what love the Father hath declared in this Here is love to be spoken of and to be wondred at in all ages And thus far of the uses of the former member of the point Proceed we now to make some application of the latter Use 1 Is it so my Brethren that as God is the Father of the Lord Christ So Christ did apprehend him as a Father and look upon him as a Father when c. Then let us also apprehend him so and look upon him so who are the sons of God in Christ when we come to God in prayer Let us present our supplications to him under the notion of a Father as Christ did Christ is in this respect our Pattern and Example whom we ought to follow We are required you know to be followers of Christ viz. in all his imitable actions and this is one of those actions We ought to walk as he walked and to pray as he prayed And therefore as his manner was to pray to God himself in this language to come to God as to a Father So he hath taught us also so to pray in the very same language to come to God as to a Father as he did Mat. 6.9 After this manner pray ye Our Father which art in heaven So that we have in this you see the Precept and Example of the Lord Christ his Precept in the cited place and his Example in my Text. And therefore let us learn this lesson of him since he is pleased to teach us both waies both by Precept and Example When we are making our addresses to the Lord in prayer let us endeavour to apply unto our selves the love and father-hood of God in Jesus Christ Let us not satisfie our selves with a general perswasion that he is a gracious Father to all his sons and daughters in the Lord Christ But let us strive for a distinct and a particular assurance that he is our own Father that he is so to us in special and that we are among the number of his children That we may look upon him so and confidently call him so when we are pouring out our prayers to him and so expect the love and mercy of a Father from him And to this very End as the Apostle tells us The Spirit of the Son is sent abroad into our hearts To what End Why to make us cry Abba Father Gal. 4.6 That is to make us pray to God as to a Father while others come to God as to a stranger with whom they have no acquaintance and to whom they have no relation So that you see we have not only the Precept of Christ and the Example of Christ but we have also the Spirit of Christ that we may pray in this manner And therefore in this Faith and confidence the Saints of God have prayed in Scripture So did the Church as you may see Isa 63.16 Doubtless say they thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us and Israel acknowledge us
and the like and you receive them at the hands of God he gives you the desire of your hearts in these things Well now consider with your selves what use you put them to when you have gotten them and what bills you bring in What so much health and so much strength bestowed upon the prosecution of your worldly and ambitious projects and designs so much means and so much time upon riot and excess Item so much upon your pride and so much upon your lusts and so much upon the satisfaction of your malice and revenge so much upon Hawks and Hounds and Whores but nothing upon God his Cause or his poor distressed servants Are these the bills that you bring in to God and will you own them in the latter day Brethren by your layings out you may discover to what intent you have prayed for outward blessings whether to consume them on your Lusts or no And if that hath been your end the spirit hath not been your principle in these petitions If we act by Christs spirit we keep a constant course in prayer We do not pray by fits and starts as Job observeth of the Hyppocrite who hath not Christs spirit Job 27.10 Will he delight in the Almighty will be alwayes call on God No he will be on and off in this duty Our spirits are unconstant and unstable my beloved but Christs spirit is 〈◊〉 not so And hence it is that they that pray by their own spirits are so uncertain in the duty many times Sometimes their spirits stir them up to pray and sometimes they do not Though there be differences in this too for some mens spirits naturally are more ready and more fixed then others are And there may be other things as fear and strong conviction and the like that may hold some certain men almost to a continued practice of the outward duty yet it is very rare that he is constant who acts by his own spirit But now my brethren he that acts by Christs spirit is a steady man in prayer he can appeal to God as David doth Psal 40.9 I have not restrained my Lips Oh Lord thou knowest Christs spirit dwells in him he doth not sojourn in him for a time but he dwells in him as in his fixed and his setled habitation and he dwells in him as a spirit of supplication So the spirit of Christ is called Zech. 12.10 And hence it is that he is alwayes putting him upon the duty upon all occasions so that he is constant in it Christs spirit is at home still though ours be wandring many times even to the other end of all the earth And though Christs spirit seem to be given sometimes as a spirit of consolation yet then he will be present as a spirit of supplication He will set a Saint to prayer even when he seems most indisposed and averse he will not suffer him to lay it by and wholly to neglect the duty as is observable in David I said that I am cut off from before thine eyes saith he Psal 31.22 Nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my prayer Even then I prayed to thee when I was in that temper so in another place from the end of the earth will I cry unto thee even when my heart is overwhelmed Psal 61.2 And whence proceedeth this my brethren surely these prayers of all others flow from Christs spirit as the Apostle teacheth Rom. 8.20 The spirit helpeth our infirmities We know not what to pray for as we ought but then the spirit it self makes intercession for us with sighs and groans that cannot be exprest If we act by Christs spirit we come to God as to a Father we cry Abba Father to him as you have it Gal. 4.6 Because ye are Sons saith the Apostle God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts And what doth that spirit there you have it in the next verse crying Abba Father So that Christs spirit if he act in us makes us address our selves to God as to a Father And that my brethren carries two things in it This spirit makes us come to God with the expectations of Children and with the affections of Children 1. If Christs spirit act in us he makes us come to God in prayer with Child-like expectations Expecting from him all the mercy pitty and compassion which a Child can look for from his own Father He makes us to approach the throne of grace with great assurance of audience and acceptance and success there commonly he doth this 2. But yet I must confess An hypocrite may sometimes have these expectations and a child of God may want them The Jews had Child-like expectations Jer. 3.4 they cryed to God Thou art my Father and wilt not thou that art my Father pitty me and help me sure thou wilt and yet they had no Child-like affections no care at all to please God and therefore it is added in the next words that they said and did as evill as they could But now my brethren he that acts by Christs spirit as he hath Child-like expectations so he hath Child-like affections or if at any time he want his Child-like expectations yet still he hath his Child-like affections Though he be in such a case that he is verily perswaded for the present that God will neither own him nor regard him nor look upon him as a Son yet he loves God still He hath a Childs heart to God even when he thinks that God hath not a Fathers heart to him Though he seem to frown upon him and to hide his face and to turn away his prayers yet he hath dear affections to the Lord notwithstanding all this And this appears by the trouble he is in at God displeasure it grieves him so that he is sick of love as the poor Church was Cant. 2.5 when Christ withdrew himself a while this was her grief I sought him whom my soul loveth I will go into the City and seek him whom my soul loveth I said unto the watchmen Did ye see him whom my soul loveth And so when God withdraws himself from such a one as is endued with his spirit the very soul of such a person loves him still when he is very much afraid that he shall never find God more that God will never shew him favour more when he hath lost his Child-like expectations yet still he maintains his Child-like affections JOHN 17.24 That they also whom thou hast given me be with me c. AND thus far of the manner of our Saviours prayer Proceed we to the matter of it And here we have the persons that he prayes for those whom thou hast given me And then the thing that he desires in the behalf of those persons that they also may be with me where I am As for the persons whom our Saviour prayes for you see they are described here by the Fathers giving them to Jesus Christ Let them be what they will in all considerations and
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
Love to God or his children page 561 M. MAgistrates to execute Justice page 525 526 Marks Of faith page 209 Of living by Christ page 84 85 Of Gods children page 24 Of being given up to Christ page 192 193 to 212 Mediator Christ page 47 52 73 101 145 250 Messengers and Ministers of Christ not to be slighted page 40 413 How they ought to use their delegated power page 76 406 408 414 Their faithfulness required page 245 246 390 Their duty page 391 Message and errand of Christ page 148 410 Manifestation of the Father by Christ page 177 Wherefore by Christ alone page 180 Memory means to strengthen it page 206 207 Meditation page 206 215 272 N. NAme of the Father declared a special means to work love in those that hear it page 556 557 Name of God is beauty mercy goodness love page 557 Name of God manifested by Christ page 176 Have recourse to it in any distress page 292 Natural knowledge insufficient page 539 540 Natural life how frail page 89 387 A blessing page 367 368 Neerness of Christ to God page 33 48 253 256 265 Neerness of believers to God page 446 to 450 453 474 562 Nobility of true Chirstians page 257 448 454 O. OBedience due to Christ page 19 69 76 150 203 Due to men also 64 to the Word page 220 Offices of Christ page 34 181 236 250 339 473 Obedience of Christ active and passive page 157 158 One God page 129 130 Omnipotent page 129 How to Obey and serve God page 130 134 God Only to be served page 134 136 138 Our Obedience ought to be total cordial constant page 220 221 228 Our Obedience active and passive page 203 Christ Ordered by the Father in his works page 156 157 c. P. MAtter and manner of Prayer page 496 497 Preparation of the heart for Prayer page 492 493 Passion of Christ page 158 165 166 433 Perfect manifestation of the Father page 180 Perfection of Christs work page 168 169 181 442 Words page 239 241 242 445 Peace of Christ page 145 Power of God doth preserve believers page 286 287 Power of Christ Legislative page 53 432 Judiciary page 53 432 Prayer the outward gesture and utterance thereof to be considered page â—10 Vocal when necessary and requisite page 14 154 Prayers of whom sure to be heard page 17 22 49 254 354 Pride page 104 296 393 Praise vocal page 154 real page 154 Propagation of the Gospel page 416 548 Preservation See Keeping page 361 Preaching of Christ page 4 159 178 546 548 Practice a help to the memory page 206 Perseverance Motives thereunto page 169 People of Christ are the Fathers page 198 255 Promises to be believed 209 who believe them not page 210 Our great Prophet is Christ page 234 236 c. Prophecies shall be accomplished page 332 c. Q VVHo Quickned by Christ page 84 85 Qualification of Christ page 144 425 Questioning proves not want of faith page 212 R. THat Christ ought and how to be Received page 149 150 Receive and entertain the Spirit page 271 272 Private Revenge condemned page 65 66 67. Sinfulness thereof ibid. Remedies and rules against Revenge page 67 68 Repetition page 206 380 Reproof page 413 Resignation to the Word page 228 S. SAnctification means thereof page 388 End of Christs Office page 434 Satisfaction of Christ page 157 Christ the Fathers Servant page 47 102 160 Scriptures to be believed and assented to page 132 444 445 Scriptures proved to be the Word of God page 230 231 Sons by Adoption page 15 Creation page 15 Sons of God 15 16 17 their comfort ib. Signs page 23 24 Spiritual desires how discerned page 498 499 Spiritual service promoted by gesture and utterance page 11 Signs of the Spirit 24 500. Of Spiritual Joy page 350 Spirit of Christ slighted page 40 270 271 Service of God 134. See Obedience Sending of Christ 142 145 c. Of Ministers page 406 425 426 Spirits operation page 159 178 206 233 548 Shame of the world page 174 To Christ page 175 Our Strength is in God not in our selves page 289 290 Sufferings of Christ glorious page 36 161 433 Society to be made choice of page 459 460 Solitude page 195 Helps and remedies against Sin page 283 284 Sins of Christians more sinful then of others page 257 456 457 Sooner and more sharply chastised ibid. How the Saints are kept from Sin page 373 374 How to follow Christ in our Spirits page 273 How we are to Seek unto God page 293 Security page 319 563 Believers ought not to be Sorrowful page 342 347 T. THreatnings have an implicit condition page 333 Threatnings to be believed 209. Comfort to the Church page 338 Thankfulnsss due to God and Christ page 81 86 182 284 423 Set Time of God the fittest page 28 Time not to be prescribed to God page 29 Time-servers condemned page 138 Titles of Christ 33 communicated to believers page 473 Temptation how we are kept from it page 372 Tribulation See Affliction Benefits thereof page 370 378 379 How we are kept from it page 373 Trial of Prophets page 237 411 True God page 128 129 133 335 Cleer Truths may be questioned and doubted page 212 Truth the whole word but especially the Gospel page 396 397 To be maintained how page 402 To be obeyed page 403 Trust in God alone page 140 237 Tryals and troubles of this life page 275 277 V. VEngeance See Revenge page 67 Unbelievers dishonour Christ page 39 Vnbelievers sin and danger page 56 208 395 531 537 Uncharitable page 58 59 Vngodly 70. See Wicked why they have prevailed page 243 Their destruction not intended by Christ page 72 77 79 Vnity of the Trinity page 128 130 173 Vnity to be studied and put in practice page 141 A matter of great difficulty and concernment page 295 c. Benefits of Vnity and means conducing page 307 308 459 466 Vnion of believers page 446 447 474 How one as God and Christ are one page 448 Defective Vnion of worldly men page 478 Vniversal Redemption page 251 328 Vnderstanding page 109 Vocal prayer page 14 Vocal praise page 154 W. VVAit Gods time Motives thereunto page 30 Will of Christ a law with the Father page 490 491 That they who are given him should be in heaven page 501 We must suffer Willingly page 161 433 Wicked men dishonour Christ page 39 Words of Christ worthy of our observation page 4 5 6 7 401 To be highly valued page 8 149 206 214 216 218 238 How kept in the heart memory c. page 203 205 To be loved and the signs thereof 213 214. Motives page 218 Word of God inward and essential outward and declaratory page 202 Gods Word must be known to be his page 224 225 Work of Christ how finished before his Passion page 165 Is full and perfect page 166 167 Worlds shame to be despised page 174 194 True believers are of another world page
utterance which the Psalmist calls a Grace is said there to be poured into the Lips of Jesus Christ There was a stream of holy eloquence continually flowing there which sometimes even drowned them that heard him He spake with power and authority his words had the command of mens affections so that he carried them where he pleased Indeed he carried them beyond themselves in wonder and astonishment to hear him speak sometimes as he did Mar. 1.22 They were astonished at his doctrine not only at the matter of it though that were admirable too but at the manner of delivery For he taught them as one that had authority and not as the Scribes And Luke informs us that all men bare him witness and gave testimony to him he was so famous and renowned for this gift of his and wondred at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth Luke 4.22 You heard but now that grace was poured into his lips and here you see that grace was poured out of his lips God poured it in and he as freely poured it out so as the people wondred at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth Such were the words that Jesus spake and such words you will say are very fit for choicest observation and attention The gift of eloquence my brethren calls for audience especially such heavenly and Holy eloquence as Christs is And thus much shall suffice for Confirmation c. Now is it so my Brethren that the words that Jesus spake are very fit to be commended c. Vse Then let them be received with choicest observation by his Church and People Let them not undervalue any of the words that Jesus spake but let them entertain them with a very high esteem There have been some of late who have slighted those words who have been bold to call them inckie divinity a dead letter and the like And yet our Saviour Christ himself tells us The words that I speak are Spirit and Life Iohn 6.63 Oh my beloved I beseech you let every one of us be far from giving way to any mean account or slight thoughts of any words that Christ spake Let us keep up our observation our estimation our admiration of them to the very highest It 's true my Brethren we should carefully attend and duly mark all Scripture words For all the Scripture is given by inspiration of God 1 Tim. 3.16 And all the Scripture is profitable for our selves for Doctrine for Correction for Instruction to make the man of God perfect as it is added there in that place But the words that Jesus spake are the choicest part of Scripture and therefore must have choicest observation Never man and what if I should say never inspired man spake like to him they came not fully home to his measure They had the spirit indeed and so had he but he received not the Spirit by measure as they did He was annointed with that oyl above his fellows though not without them yet above them as the chief Prophet and they the under-Prophets of the Church And therefore when we read or hear or meet with any words that Christ spake let us take special notice of them let us fix and dwell upon them and let them rest and dwell in us Let the words of Christ dwell in us Richly let us have an eye to mark them an ear to hear them and a heart to keep them as Mary had of whom it is observed that she kept all his sayings in her heart How carefully did the Apostle keep that which our Saviour spake though it be no where mentioned in the Gospel and wishes other men to do so too Acts 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 in a special manner of that which Christ himself spake with his own voice not by the Ministry of others 1 Cor. 7.10 To the married I command and yet not I but the Lord not I as an Inspired Apostle but the Lord with his own mouth when he was conversant upon the earth as if the words that dropped immediately from his lips did challenge singular regard And such regard my brethren let them have from us when we meet with his prayers his sermons his sayings let us set Asterisks in the Margent and the finger of a hand to point them out to special observation Let us write under them as the Evangelist doth in my Text These words spake Jesus Its true my brethren we have not the happiness as some have had in former times to wait upon the Lips of Jesus Christ nor to hear the graciâ— words that dropt thence yet we may hear him in a sense at this Dayâ—â—e may hear him in his word and in his Gospel and there may be Partaâ— of these streams of holy Eloquence which flowed from his mouth and 〈◊〉 may hear him in his faithful Ministers concerning whom the Lord himâ—â—â—f hath said He that heareth them hears me And out of question that Injunction of the father yet takes hold upon us This is my besâ—ed Son hear him Hear him in his writing and hear him in his Messenâ—ers although you cannot hear him in his own person And therefore I beseech you let us hear him and let us hear him so as to be obedient to him Let us remember what a dreadfull curse there is gone forth against the men that will not hear this Prophet which will assuredly take hold upon them Acts 3.23 Every Soul that will not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the people It was a dangerous thing you hear 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 as it is added there Heb. 10.28 It went very hard with those who reâ—used the word that was spoken by Angels that is the Law that was delivered by the Ministry of Angels But if we refuse the word that was spoken by Christ that is the Gospel 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 c. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which was spoken by the Lord And therefore I beseech you let us hear this great Prophet 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 speaks are spirit and life and if we keep his sayings we shall never see Death John 17.1 And lift up his eyes to heaven and said AND thus of the transition to our Saviours Supplication These words spake Iesus The manner of presenting it to God the Father or if you will the carriage of our Saviour in it comes now in
and so they make the Son of God as much as in them lies to suffer and to die in vain they spill his precious blood upon the ground as if it were of no value Christ shed his blood to this end that his people might be holy and they will be impure still and wallow in their lusts still They care not what become of it let it be shed in vain for them they reckon not Oh what a high contempt is this to Jesus Christ These men as the Apostle speaks tread underfoot the Son of God they trample on him in Disdain and put him to the greatest shame that can be They that despise and slight the spirit of Christ dishonour Christ himself the Comforter the holy Spirit is the messenger of Christ he is instead of Christ to his people he represents him absent to the soul And therefore he is said in Scripture to be with them in that his holy Spirit is with them Behold I am with you alwayes viz. by my Spirit to the end of the world Mat. 28. ult I will not leave you comfortless saith Christ to his Disciple I will come to you Iohn 14.18 he meaneth not by himself but by his Spirit So that when the Spirit comes Christ comes and therefore it is added presently At that time you shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you So that if this sweet Messenger of Jesus Christ who is to us instead of Christ be ill-entreated by us it is apparently a very great indignity to Christ himself And yet how often do we damp the holy motions of this Spirit in our hearts When good desires and gracious purposes are raised and kindled there how often do we smother them and put them out again how frequently do we misuse him who comes with counsel and with comfort and with grace from such a choise and pretious friend as Christ is How do we slight the seasonable caveats that the spirit gives us either for our information or else for our consolation and what is this upon the matter but to despise and slight Christ They that despise and slight the Messengers and the Embassadors of Christ they dishonour Christ himself He is in this respect at the same hand that Princes are the wrongs and the indignities that are done to those they send they take as offered to themselves and truly so doth Jesus Christ His Ministers the Preachers and Dispensers of his Gospel are his Embassadors to men they are instead of Christ as the Apostle Pauls expression is 2 Cor. 5.20 Now then we are Embassadors for Christ we pray you in Christs stead and they that injure or dishonour those that are for Christ and that are in Christs stead must needs dishonour Christ himself Our Saviour is express and plain for this to his Apostles Luke 10.16 He that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me q. d. My Father sent me and therefore he that despiseth me despiseth him And I send you and therefore he that despiseth you despiseth me I shall say little of this Argument for fear of misconstruction I shall but leave it to your selves to judge whether Christ be in this respect despised and dishonoured yea or no. Whether he be abused in those whom he hath sent whose labours he hath blessed and to whom he hath given the seals of their Ministry I hope they will not much complain to any but to Christ that sent them and if he be resolved to bear it I make no question he will give them grace and strength to bear it too and to profit much by it They that fall away from Christ after some acquaintance with him they dishonour and disgrace him For in deserting him they seem to tell the world that there is nothing in him why we should desire him They have tried him and they find him by experience to be such a one as is not worth the keeping any longer And therefore the Apostle speaking of Apostates saith that they put Christ to open shame for that is his expression Heb. 6.9 if they fall away saith he they crucifie the Son of God afresh and put him to open shame A servant looks upon it as a shame and a disparagement if he be put away So if a Servant leave his Master if the reason be not known it is some disgrace to him Men are very apt to think that he is a hard Master that he is faulty in some kind or other and that he deals not well with those that serve him And so when men forsake the service of the Lord Christ they make the world believe that he is an ill Master that there is better wages and more content and satisfaction to be had in the service of sin then the service of Christ And is not this a great dishonour to him And yet how many are there in these latter times who bring disparagement to Jesus Christ by this means and make his service despicable in the eyes of others How many have withdrawn from Jesus Christ of late given over waiting on his holy Ordinances and left performing of those duties to him which they were wont exactly and constantly and duly to discharge They talk of Christian Liberty and this they take to be from the service of Christ whereas it is indeed from the service of sin And so they are more loose and careless and remiss and negligent then they have been in former times These men disgrace Christ whom God hath set himself to honour and so they cross him in his great design Now I beseech you think upon it you that dishonour Christ in any of the ways forementioned or in any other way let it be what it will Remember that it is the purpose and design of God to glorifie his Son Christ and what then will become of you who thwart with him who seek as much as lies in you to hinder him from execution of that which he is so intent upon Will he take it at your hands Nay if he send his Son among you and say as in the Parable Luke 20.13 They will reverence my Son and you upon the other side neglect him and contemn him and abase him every way he will be out of patience with you to be thus crossed by wretched men he will certainly destroy you he will make you know the price of slighting and despising him whose honour is as dear and tender to him as his own Is it so that it hath been the design c Then be we all exhorted to Vse 2 comply with God in this great design of his and to promote it to the utmost of our power Let us endeavour every way to help him in that which he is so intent upon the glorifying of his Son Christ It s true God needs not any of our help he can do his own work and bring his own design and purposes to pass without us he can glorifie his
intent upon the business of saving the poor woman of Samaria to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work John 4.34 2. Jesus Christ was ordered by his Father as in his works of active so in his works of passive obedience He did what he would have him do in both these And therefore when he was about to suffer and when the nature which he had assumed was averse he came at length to this Conclusion not my will but thine be done Mat. 26.39 Father if it be possible saith he let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt Here it is evident he did his Fathers will and not his own And therefore it is said He became obedient to the death even the death of the Cross Phil. 2.8 To shew that he submitted to it in obedience to the Father And therefore when the Article of death was come which was the complement of his passive obedience he cried out It is finished The work which I have undertaken and which the Father imposed upon me is accomplished and dispatched Just as he tels the Father in my Text when he was about to suffer I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do In this respect is that expression of our Saviour John 16.10 The Spirit saith he will convince the world of righteousness that is full and perfect righteousness wrought out by me for all my people And why so because saith he I go to my Father and ye see me no more If I had not performed the work of my obedience absolutely and compleatly if I had not done enough to satisfie the justice of my Father for the sins of all my Members and so to justifie them and to make them fully righteous you should be sure to see me again If I had not done and suffered all that I was appointed and designed to do before my going up to God the Father he would be sure to send me down again among you But now because I go and stay with him because I go to my Father and you see me no more you may be confident that all is well that I have ended all the business that my Father hath ordered me to finish and dispatch in this world So that you see my brethren Christ was ordered by his Father in his works of satisfaction whether they were works of active or whether they were works of passive obedience Christ was ordered by his Father as in his works of satisfaction so in works of application I mean in those works of his by which that satisfaction came to be applyed and so accordingly to be effectual Now this he doth I mean he makes it applicable and effectuall for he doth all in this business by working faith in the hearts of his people And faith he works First By the outward promulgation of the Word and Secondly By the inward operation of the Spirit In both of which while he was conversant upon the Earth he was ordered by his Father 1. First In his outward promulgation of the Word or in his preaching Jesus Christ was wholly ordered by his Father He appointed him precisely both to whom he should preach and what he should preach First He appointed him to whom he should preach and that was not to the Gentiles but to the people of the Jews only And hence said Christ to the woman of Canaan Mat. 15.24 I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel As he was sent by God the Father so he appointed him to whom he should go and what he should say He was the Fathers Messenger the Fathers spokesman to the world and therefore he put words into his mouth In which respect it is that God is said to speak unto us by the Son Heb. 1.2 The Son doth not speak himself he doth not speak his own thoughts as he is man and Mediator but God speaks to us by him So that he speaks his Fathers mind he publishes his Fathers will and pleasure to the world In which respect our Saviour saith my doctrine is not mine but his that sent me John 7.16 See how the Father orders him in this business Mat. 12.18 A bruised reed shall he not break and smoaking flax shall he not quench until he send forth judgement into victory And so accordingly our Saviour tels us that his Father had appointed him both that he should preach and what he should preach He hath anointed me to preach saith he Isa 61.1 to preach what good tydings to the meek to proclaim liberty to the Captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And this order of the Fathers he obeyed and therefore it is much to be observed that he begun his publike Ministry with this The first Sermon he preached in Nazareth his own Country was upon this Text as you may see Luke 4.18 2. Secondly Jesus Christ was ordered by his Father as in that work of application of his satisfaction which is done in the external promulgation of the Word so in that work of application of it which is done by the internal operation of the Spirit He did not by his Spirit draw any to himself nor work faith in the hearts of any that so his satisfaction might be actually applyed to them but only those that were appointed to it by his Father Those whom his Father gave hm by Election whom he designed him to justifie and sanctifie and save those he saved and no others Our Saviour Christ as he was man was not to choose whom he would make partakers of his satisfaction to whom he would apply the merits of his passion no he must take such as his Father was contented to bestow upon him That place is notable to this purpose John 6.37 38. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and I will raise them up and give them everlasting life all them and only them And why so For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me My own will as I am man would carry me to justifie and save a greater number But in this I must be ordered I must remember I am come to do my Fathers will and not my own and therefore I must be contented with those whom he is pleased to allot me I am come that they might have life saith Jesus Christ John 10.10 They who why his sheep as he explains it both before and after I am the doâ—r of the sheep and I am come that they may have life And at verse 27. My sheep hear my voice and I give unto them eternal life But how comes Christ by these sheep why by his Fathers own gift And therefore it is added in the very next words My Father which gave them me is greater than all So that it is as if our Saviour Christ had said I am dispatched into
20. and so on to the conclusion of the Chapter Neither pray I for these alone but for them also that shall believe on me through their word I must at this time make a little entrance upon our Saviours Prayer in behalf of his Apostles and Disciples who were present with him They were very near to him they were waiting then upon him they were converted immediately by himself and called by his own word and therefore they have the precedency and the preferment in his Prayer And here we have to be considered First the preparation to it and secondly the matter of it The preparation to this Prayer of our Saviour in the behalf of his Apostles and Disciples Discovers first what he himself had done in reference to them And then what they had done in reference to him What they were both in relation to himself and to his Father And where they were viz. In such a place wherein they stood in need of his Prayers These things are interwoven and commixt and we must take them in our progress as we find them Only this would be considered that all of them are premised by our Saviour before he puts up one Petition for them to shew what cause there was why they should be remembred in his Prayers Begin we with the first thing which our Saviour mentions by way of preparation to the Prayer which he makes for his Apostles and Disciples I have manifested thy Name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world And here you may take notice with me of these two particulars First the action of our Saviour in reference to his Apostles and Disciples of which he minds his Father here I have manifested thy Name Secondly the description of the persons to whom he had made known his Fathers Name viz. the men which he had given him out of the world For opening of the former we must examine and resolve what is intended by the Fathers Name which Christ affirmeth here he had made known I have manifested thy Name Some think the meaning to be only this that he had made him known to his Apostles and Disciples under the notion of a Father They knew him as a God before and so did generally all the people of the Jews but as a Father in his Son they had no acquaintance with him Now by this Name our Saviour had discovered him to those whom he had called and sanctified he had brought them now to know him as a Father This is the title he gives him all along from the beginning of his Prayer to the end Father Holy Father Righteous Father and the like This is the name by which he represents him unto his Apostles and Disciples and under which he would have them to conceive and apprehend him as a Father to his Son and as a Father to themselves in him and this is that which he intends as some conceive in this profession I have manifested thy Name c. This is something I acknowledge yea this is very much of that which he intends but yet I think it is not all The Name of God in general is all that makes him known to men wherein soever the nature or the will of God or whatsoever else of God can be imagined or conceived is discovered and made known all this is intimated by the Name of God So that our Saviour in my Text in saying he had manifested Gods Name saith in effect that he had fully manifested and revealed his Father to his people So that there was nothing of him necessary to be known which he had concealed from them He had not hid one letter of his Name from them So that the point to be observed is this DOCTRINE That Jesus Christ hath made an absolute compleat and full discovery of his Father to his people The Name of God sometimes imports his Nature sometimes his Titles sometimes his Attributes sometimes his Ordinances and sometimes his works as I could give you instances of all these And all of these our Saviour had laid open fully to his Apostles and Disciples as he professes to his Father here I have manifested thy Name unto the men which thou hast given me out of the world And this is that which the Evangelist affirmeth of him Ioh. 1.18 No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him Observe it well it is not said he hath declared something of him but he hath declared him Declared him wholly and compleatly all that is declarable of him he hath made known to his people The protestation which he makes to his Apostles when he was about to leave them runs very much to this purpose Joh. 15.15 All that I have heard of my Father not from my Father but of my Father I have made it known to you Whatsoever I have been informed in concerning my Father at least as Mediator and as the Prophet of my Church I have discovered it to you I have been very faithful to you in the business whatsoever hath been shewn me of my Father for your instruction and your information I have not kept one whit from you I shall add no more for proof that I may have time to shew you How Jesus Christ hath made this full discovery and then why Jesus Christ hath made this full discovery of his Father to his people And in pursuance of the latter I shall examine and resolve why Jesus Christ and none but he hath made it And in the second place why the discovery he hath made is such an absolute and full discovery As for the first of these how Jesus Christ hath made such a discovery of his Father This will be necessary to be known for the distincter understanding of the point And he hath made it principally three ways by his Personal appearance in the flesh by his Word and by his Spirit 1. First by his Personal appearance in the flesh our Saviour Christ hath made some discovery of his Father Jesus Christ as he is Man and as he hath assummed our Nature is the Image and resemblance of his Father And this is that which the Apostle aims at when he saith He is the Image of the invisible God Col. 1.15 by which he intimates expresly that however God be in himself invisible yet there is some resemblance of him in the Lord Christ so that he may be seen in him It 's true indeed that Jesus Christ as God is the invisible Image of God and thus he is the very picture of the Father Heb. 1.3 But as he hath assumed our flesh he is the visible Image of God And this is clearly the Apostles meaning when he saith He is the Image of the invisible God His purpose is not to declare how Jesus Christ is the invisible Image of God the Father from Eternity but visible to us in time And hence he saith not simply who is the Image of God
but of the invisible God In which there is a close Antithesis q. d. Having assumed our Nature he is now become the visible Image of the invisible God That God who is invisible is made visible in him And this is that which is suggested Ioh. 1.18 No man hath seen God at any time you may conceive it with the outward eye the Son of Man who came out of the bosome of the Father hath declared him He hath discovered him in some respect to that eye And therefore when our Saviour was incarnate it is said that God was manifested in the flesh which is the object of the eye of sense 1 Tim. 3.16 So that he that had looked upon him might have seen the Father in him In which respect it is that when Philip was so earnest to have the Father shewn him our Saviour bid him to behold himself and addeth presently He that hath seen me hath seen the Father also Joh. 14.9 This is the Vision mentioned in the Book of Iob I know that my Redeemer c. yet in my flesh I shall see God Not in my spirit or my understanding only but my flesh yea and I shall look on him not with other but with these same eyes Which can be no other way but in the glorified Body of Christ 2. Secondly Christ hath made a discovery of his Father by his Word and by his Gospel There he hath shewed him forth to men so far as it is necessary that he should be known by them And this is partly intimated in that speech of his to Philip Joh. 14.9 10. How saist thou shew us the Father Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me The words that I speak unto you I speak not of my self saith Christ My manner is not to be speaking to you of my self so much as of my Father nor to advance my self so much as to set up my Father upon all occasions And how then is it that you that have so long conversed with me and have heard so much from me are yet so unacquainted with my Father If you observe the manner of our Saviours teaching and discoursing you shall find that he insisted very much on matters that concerned his Father he was always talking of him especially when he was drawing near his passion and ready to depart from his Disciples he laboured very much to make his Father better known to them And when he was about to leave them he professed that he had perfectly acquainted them with all things that concern his Father so far as they were come to his knowledge for the instruction and the information of his people Indeed the word of Christ the Gospel containeth in it all things that are necessary to be known of God the Father whether his Nature or his Will or his Son or his Spirit c. And therefore it is said that it is able of it self without addition to make us wise unto salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 This is a perfect and a full discovery so that we need no other knowledge of the Lord to bring us to salvation then that which is revealed to us in the Scripture 3. Thirdly Christ makes a full discovery of his Father by his Spirit And this is that which is the Complement of all in this business Indeed there is a full discovery of him in the Word materially there is nothing wanting there But it is not full to us without the revelation of the Spirit Christ shews his Father there in all his glory excellency over-flowing love to his people But if the Spirit do not cure the blindness of our eyes and open them and take away the vail that is upon them we can never see him It is the Comforter the holy Ghost that teaches all things conceive it efficaciously and with success Ioh. 14.28 who comes out from the Father and makes known the Fathers Name to his people Thus we have seen how Jesus Christ makes this discovery Now let us see why Jesus Christ makes this discovery of his Father And here you may remember I propounded two things First why Jesus Christ and none but he makes this discovery And secondly why the discovery which he makes is such an absolute and full discovery 1. First as for the first of these Why Jesus Christ and none but he makes this discovery There are two weighty reasons for it For first none but he is able And next none but he is fit to make it 1. First none but Jesus Christ is able to make this full discovery of his Father For none but he is perfectly acquainted with him Alas all men are strangers to the Father the worst men absolutely and in all respects and the best in some measure And all the knowledge which any soul hath of him it hath from Jesus Christ too But now my Brethren Jesus Christ hath the full knowledge of his Father he doth not know him outwardly alone but he knows his very heart and the secrets of his bosom And therefore he is said to lodge there and so to be the only possible revealer of the Father to the world No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him Joh. 1.18 How is it possible for any one to make the Father known unless he know him Now this is proper and peculiar to the Son No man knows the Father but the Son that is originally primitively of himself and therefore it is added presently and he to whom the Son will reveal him Joh. 11.27 2. Secondly as none but Christ is able so none but Christ is fit to manifest his Father to his people He is the only Mediator between God and man there is but one as the Apostle tells us and that is Christ 1 Tim. 2.5 And therefore it is congruous that he should manage and transact the business all the business between God and man that all should go through his hands He is to make God friends with us and to make us friends with God the peace must be on both sides And how shall he effect the latter but by revealing and making known his Father to us in all his beauty and his glory and his excellency in himself in all the tenderness and dearness of his love to us and so to joyn our hearts to him This latter is especially the Name of God which Christ was as a Saviour to discover viz. his attributes of Love and Mercy This was the proper work of Christ indeed to manifest this Name of God all that is sweet and lovely in him to his people This may suffice to let you know why Jesus Christ and none but he makes this discovery of the Father to his people We have but one thing yet behind why the discovery that he makes is such an absolute and full discovery I give you but two reasons of it and I have done for this time he doth it
were bestowed upon him So that they were severed separated from the world they were no longer of the wicked unbelieving world but of another party that were divided and distinguished from the world In the world they were indeed but they were not of the world And these are evidently they of whom our Saviour speaks in this place The men whom thou gavest me out of the world Now to those he here affirmeth that he had manifested and made known his Fathers Name And you must understand it to be spoken by our Saviour here exclusively I have manifested thy Name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world that is to them and none others Why did not Christ make known his Fathers name to all without distinction Did he not Preach to all Did he not open and unfold his Fathers love and mercy and the like to all the multitude that came to hear him He did indeed as to the outward Promulgation but not as to the inward and effectual revelation He did not manifest it by his Spirit savingly to all No my Beloved this was the Priviledge but of a few and in particular of those who were bestowed upon him by his Father to be Members of his body So saith our Saviour to his Father here I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world To them and not to others or else at least to them so as I have not done to others They have a Priviledge in this respect which others are not made partakers of I have made it known to them effectually and savingly and not to others You see the meaning of the words the Points to be observed are two First There are some certain men whom God the Father gives to Iesus Christ out of the world Secondly that Iesus Christ doth make his Father known effectually and savingly to them and none besides them At this time of the first DOCTRINE There are some certain men whom God the Father gives to Jesus Christ out of the World In prosecution of this Observation I shall distinctly evidence and clear these four things First There are some men whom God the Father giveth to Jesus Christ Secondly There are a certain number of them Thirdly They are of the World before the Father gives them to the Son And Fourthly After they are given up to Jesus Christ they are of the world no longer All these particulars are wrapt up in the Observation and the Text as I shall shew you briefly and in order First There are some men whom God the Father gives to Jesus Christ So he himself describes the persons to whom he manifests his Fathers name not by their inward disposition not by their outward action or condition but by the Act of God upon them or concerning them his giving them to Jesus Christ They are the men saith he whom thou gavest me So that some have this priviledge you see above the rest of lost mankinde that God the Father gives them to his Son Christ and gives them to him in a special manner as I shewed you even now not to be his Servants only but to be his Members too He bestows them upon Christ to be his own peculiar people I will not stay on this because it hath been largely handled heretofore Secondly Now for the second thing there are a certain number of them there are some certain men whom God the Father gives to Christ They are thus many not a person more or less The number of them is exactly known to God and Christ he knows how many of them there be to a man And hence our Saviour speaks of them in such a way as being able to distinguish them from all the world besides I have manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world And so he tels us that he knows his sheep that are given him of his Father as his own expression is John 10.27 29. And yet he calls his sheep by name ver 3. and in the 9th verse of this very Chapter I pray for them saith he I pray not for the world but for them whom thou hast given me So that our Saviour Christ distinguishes you see he knows who are his own by free donation of his Father and for them he prays He knows who are not given him and for them he prays not There are a certain number of them known to Christ Thirdly now this selected Company are of the world before the Father gives them to the Son I do not mean before he gives them by Election but before he gives them to him by actual union and incorporation And therefore they are said expresly to be given to Jesus Christ out of the World so that the World is always beforehand with Jesus Christ in this regard The World hath the possession of them first and afterwards they come to appertain to Jesus Christ In the first place they are the worlds as all unsanctifyed and unregenerated persons are and then at length they come to be the Lords Fourthly and then when they are once the Lords they are no longer of the world which is the last thing in the point They are given Jesus Christ out of the world and consequently when he hath them once they are not of it they are no longer men of this World As for the rest that are not actually bestowed on Christ they are Inhabitants Indwellers of the earth as they are often stiled in the Revelation they are the men of this World as the Prophet David calls them who have their portion in this present life Psal 17.14 They are not of the Father as the Apostle speaks but of the World 1 John 2.16 They are of the world therefore speak they of the world and the world heareth them John 4.5 But they that are delivered up to Jesus Christ and become his Members they are of the World no longer And this the Saints in Scripture have confessed that they were Strangers Pilgrims Sojourners in this World and therefore looked for and made towards their own Country Hebr. 11.6 I am a stranger on the earth saith David Psal 119.196 not in his place of banishment alone with the Philistims but in the Land of Canaan too yea in his house yea in his bed yea any where upon the earth he was a Stranger he counted not himself at home in any place but heaven only To say the truth the world lays no claim at all to those that belong to Christ and therefore this will need no great proof It doth not own them or acknowledge them for hers but rather casts them out and persecutes them and doth them all the spight and mischief that it can And this evinceth manifestly that they are not the Worlds as Christ himself informeth his Disciples upon the very same ground Joh. 15.19 If ye were of the world the world would love his own but because you are not of the world but I have
chosen you out of the world therefore the world hateth you To open this a little further to you because it is the great thing of the Doctrine and the Text that they that are bestowed on Jesus Christ are given him out of the world and so are of the world no longer I shall make it to appear in a few particulars They that are actually given up to Jesus Christ to be his Members are actually dead with Christ and consequently they are out of this world We use to say of men when they are dead that they are gone they are departed out of this world The same may be affirmed in a sense of those who are dead with Jesus Christ And this is that which the Apostle Paul insinuates Col. 2.20 If ye be dead with Christ saith he as that he takes for granted and supposed why as though living in the world are ye subject to Ordinances He reasons there from the Condition and the state of the Colossians on whom those worldly Ordinances were imposed They were dead in relation to the world they lived not in the world and therefore were not to be burthened in their consciences at least with the inventions and constitutions of the world Law is the rule of life and action so that where there is a cessation of life there is no further obligation of the Law because there is no action in a dead man to be ordered by it Know ye not saith the Apostle to the Romans chap. 7.1 that the Law hath Dominion over a man so long as he liveth So long and no longer for assoon as he is dead he is loosed from the Law as it is added there in that place It were a senseless thing to lay Commandements on the carriages of men and to exact obedience from them after they are dead But ye are dead saith the Apostle dead to the world and therefore these unlawful Ordinances ought not to be imposed upon you by the world They should not burthen you with these things for this is not the Countrey that you live in And in another place the Apostle speaking of himself saith he was crucified to the world Gal. 6.6 14. not only dead but crucified to it and so he was no more of this world They that are actually given up to Jesus Christ to be his members as they are actually dead and so departed out of this world so they are actually living in another world You are dead saith the Apostle Col. 3.3 and what follows you are not so dead that you do not live at all but you do not live here no you live above with God You are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God Their conversation is indeed in heaven as the same Apostle speaks Phil. 3.20 their life is Angel-like they walk with God as Noah did Gen. 6.9 They are with him in the Palace Psal 45.15 Others are abroad in the Town or in the Countrey but these men are in house with him they are without doors but these are within such faithful souls have fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ as the Apostle speaks 1 Joh. 1.3 They are far from God and far from Jesus Christ by Nature they dwell a great way from him as the Prodigal in a strange Countrey and so have no commerce with him But when they are converted and given up to Christ they are made nigh as the expression is Ephes 2.13 When peace is once effectually preached to those that are afar off they have access by one Spirit to the Father and so they are no longer forreigners and strangers but fellow-Citizens of the Saints and of the houshold of God Indeed my Brethren whatsoever they that are bestowed on Christ do in regard of their natural life yet in regard of their spiritual life they do not live so properly in this world as in the other and therefore in that respect are out of this world as I shall shew you in a few particulars For 1. There is no life but is accompanyed with some relation to those that have the same alliance and descent and Original of life Now true it is that they that are bestowed on Jesus Christ in regard of their natural life have natural parents and kindred and allies in this world But in regard of their spiritual life they have spiritual parents and kindred in another world Their Father that begat them God is of another world Their Mother that conceived and bare them and gave them suck the Church is of another world The new Jerusalem which is above is free which is the Mother of us all Gal. 4.26 Their Brethren and their special friends that are united to them in the nearest bond and tie of grace are of another world So that their chief relations are above in heaven And wheresoever they may sojourn for a Season there they live where their Father and their Mother and their Brethren and their choice Relations are 2. There is no life but is accompanyed with some place of habitation though in some I must acknowledge it may be more unsetled then in others and with some means of sustentation Now it is very true that they that are given up to Christ in regard of their natural life may have an earthly habitation and earthly means of sustentation and so in that respect they may be yet in this world But in regard of their spiritual life their mansion house is in another world as the Apostle tels us 2 Cor. 5.1 They have a building with God a house not made with hands but eternal in heaven The means which they subsist upon by which this life is nourished and maintained are not any earthly things They feed upon the bread which comes from heaven which was prefigured by the Manna with reference to which the Psalmist saith that man did eat Angels food My Father gives you the true bread from heaven saith our Saviour John 6.32 And what is that I am the bread saith he that came down from heaven at ver 41. This bread all they that appertain to Christ do eat by faith and of his blood do they drink and so the life of grace is strengthened in them And for the estate they live upon the main possession it lies not here but in another world In Christ they have obtained an inheritance incorruptible undefiled c. and so in him they sit already in heavenly places 3. There is no life but is accompanyed with some action Now they that are bestowed on Jesus Christ may in regard of their natural life act in and with and for this world They may in many things do as worldly men do they may labour in their callings they may deal in the affairs and trade in the Commodities of this world for the procuring of subsistence here But in regard of their spiritual life their actings are in and for another world Their minds and thoughts do work exceedingly on heaven and heavenly things Their
be known by them Answ I mean as yet in the Condition they were in at that time All things which he heard from God the Father with this intent that they should hear them and be made acquainted with them he had imparted to them to the very utmost so that he had been faithful in the business There is no doubt our Saviour Christ as man had many things revealed to him from his Father which he instilled not into his Disciples for he was perfect in regard of knowledge and they were not so nor could be so in this world But whatsoever was communicated to him as the Mediator and the Prophet of the Church in that behalf and for the information and behoof of his people all this he manifested and made known to them again as far as the estate which they were in would bear it and their condition did require it And this he clearly intimateth in the fore-alleadged place I have yet many things to say to you but ye cannot bear them now And to what end should Christ say that which he knew they could not yet bear why should he lay a burthen on them which was too heavy for their shoulders But if he had said all before how had he many things to say yet He had said all that was to be said before all that his Father had appointed him to say and he had many things to say that were not to be said yet because they were not suitable to the condition they were in at that time But did our Saviour say them afterwards or if he had many things to say and did not say them how was he such a faithful messenger as I have shewn from his Father to his people For clearing this we must distinguish of our Saviours sayings something he was to say to his Apostles and Disciples with his own immediate voyce while he was conversant upon the earth Other things he was to say by his Spirit afterwards and he was very faithfull both ways 1. What things he was to say to his Apostles and Disciples with his own immediate voyce he said all those things He kept nothing back from them He taught them lesson after lesson still as they could learn And so he carryed them along as long as he remained among them So that he might have said at any time while he was with them I have made known all to you all that you are yet to know And whereas he affirmeth in the cited place I have yet many things to say to you if they were such as he was himself to speak to utter to them with his own mouth there is no question to be made he spake them afterwards before he left them and ascended to his Father And it is manifest that after he was risen he conversed with them forty days talking of mysterious things speaking of things pertaining to the Kingdom Act. 1.7 The Kingdom which had been set up in the hearts of a few poor despised ones before but was now to be erected in the Church These and such things as these they could not hear till now and therefore though our Saviour had these things to say yet he said them not till now And now he said them that he might be faithful and that he might discharge the trust that was reposed in him by his Father 2. But there were other things which he was not to say to his Apostles and Disciples by his own immediate voyce while he was conversant among them but by his Spirit afterward when he had left them And these he said accordingly by that Spirit And this is chiefly aimed at and is the main intention of the fore-alleadged Text I have yet many things to say to you but you cannot bear them yet But what then did he say them afterwards Yes he said them afterwards by his Spirit and what the Spirit said he said And therefore it is added presently Howbeit when the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all truth For he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear viz. of me that shall he speak He shall receive of me and shall shew it unto you While Christ was conversant with his Apostles in the flesh they were capable of nothing in a manner It was but little they could bear then and therefore there was little to be shewed to them But when he was ascended once their hearts were presently enlarged to a capacity of greater measures and degrees of knowledge And Christ was now accordingly to shew them and the Church by them much more by his Spirit which he performed with all fidelity as the event hath manifested and declared The point you see is fully cleared Christ hath approved himself a faithful Messenger from his Father to his people For he hath added nothing to his message and he hath taken nothing from it All the words his Father gave him to deliver by himself and by his own immediate voyce he hath delivered All that he gave him to deliver by his Spirit all these he hath delivered too and so he hath been absolutely and exactly faithful every way Hath Christ approved himself a faithful Prophet to the Church a Vse 1 faithful Messenger c. Hath he not failed in speaking any thing that he should have concealed or in concealing any thing he should have spoken hath he not spoken so much as a word too little or a word too much This then may serve to teach us divers things As 1. To hear this Prophet and diligently to observe and mark all that he speaks to us He hath no loose words no vain expressions nothing too little or too much in that which he delivered to us and therefore it must be the better noted and the more valued The words of men yea the exactest of them are sometimes defective and sometimes redundant The words of Christ are not so I speak not this that you should do as some of the Church of Corinth did I am for Paul saith one I am for Cephas said another I am for neither of them said a third I am for Christ only That which Christ himself said I will hear and I will read but I will hear no other man I would not have you hear Christ so as to hear none but him But I would have you hear Christ so as to hear none like him for never man spake like this man And therefore when we meet with his words let us take special notice of them let us fix and dwell upon them and let them rest and dwell in us Let the word of Christ dwell in us richly Let us have an eye to mark them an ear to hear them and a heart to keep them as Mary had of whom it is recorded that she kept all his sayings in her heart How carefully did the Apostle keep that which our Saviour spake though it be no where mentioned in the Gospel and wishes other men to do so too Act.
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
I am even ready to withdraw my corporal and fleshly presence from them and therefore I beseech thee Father take them into thy tuition receive them into thy especial custody and care I had them from thee and here I render and resign them up again safe and whole and sound to thee I pray thee Father keep them henceforward as well as I have done to this day This passage of our Saviour hath two considerable things in it a general profession and a particular exception First you have here a general profession that he had safely and entirely kept all those that were bestowed upon him by his Father While I was with them in the world I kept them in thy Name those that thou gavest me I kept and none of them is lost And then you have a particular exception of Judas who here is stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the son of perdition An Hebrew manner of expression that is perditioni destinatus devotus as Beza reads it destinated and devoted to perdition None of them is lost but the son of perdition who was designed and appointed to destruction He is lost and he only In the general profession and assertion of our Saviour I shall desire you to take notice with me of these three things viz. whom he kept in whose behalf he kept them and how long he kept them First whom he kept those who were bestowed upon him by the donation of the Father only those and all those Those whom thou gavest me I kept and none of them is lost Secondly in whose behalf he kept them in his Fathers As he had them from the Father so he kept them as the Fathers I kept them in thy Name saith he though they were made over to him by a deed of gift he kept them notwithstanding in his Fathers Name and not in his own He keep them as his Fathers goods and as a servant in the business to his Father As if he should have told the world they are my Fathers and for him I keep them Thirdly how long he kept them while I was with them in the world saith he He speaks as if he were in heaven already because the time of his departure was at hand he was as good as gone into the bosom of the Father while I was with them in the world I kept them But did he keep them no longer then he was with them in the world No my Beloved no longer in the way that he intends No longer as God manifested in the flesh and in a visible and corporal and fleshly way and therefore in the verse before which I have finished he yeelds them up to the tuition of the God-head and addeth this immediately while I was with them conceive it corporally in the world I kept them in thy Name those whom thou gavest me I kept and none of them is lost You see my Brethren here are many weighty things if I should undertake to handle all I should over-grasp my self and let fall more then I should hold And therefore I shall fasten on the first particular observed which though it be not first in place and in the order of the words yet it is first in reason to be handled Whom our Saviour kept and they as you have heard were those that were bestowed upon him by the Father Those that thou gavest me I kept and none of them is lost and here the Observation lies before us DOCTRINE Christ hath been wont to keep them safe who are bestowed upon him by the Father Those whom the Father gives him he is sure to keep So he did when he was conversant upon the earth among them and so he doth now he is resident in heaven for he is yesterday and to day the same for ever Then indeed he kept them one way and now he keeps them in another then he was with them to preserve them in a visible and fleshly way by the presence of his body Now he is with them to preserve them in an invisible and spiritual way by the presence of his Spirit And however in the verse immediately before my Text he resigns them to the Father as if he meant to take no further charge of them that Father my Beloved is the whole God-head of which himself as God makes one Person For Jesus Christ as he is man is not the Son of the first Person of the God-head only but of all the three Persons And in my text he speaks as man for he speaks in prayer here and prayer is part of worship and God doth not worship God And therefore when as man he yeelds up his Disciples to the Father his Man-hood being now to be withdrawn he yeelds them to the whole God-head which is the Father of the Son as he is Man And consequently Jesus Christ as Man resigns them to himself as God aswell as to the other two Persons and so in that capacity he keeps them to this day and wil do so to the worlds end Still you see he keeps them safe who are bestowed upon him by the Father Now to evince and clear the point I shall dispatch these two things First I shall shew you that and how the Father gives men to the Son And then in what respects and how far forth the Son preserves and keeps them safe who are thus bestowed upon him by the Father As for the first of these that some there are some certain choice selected ones whom God the Father in a special manner gives to Jesus Christ this is apparent in the Text Those whom thou gavest me I kept Indeed originally all the world and all the people in it appertain to God his they are for he made them So that if Jesus Christ as he is Man have any people it must be by donation from the Father And therefore he is often said to give men to the Son in the Scripture especially in the New Testament according to his promise in the old Psal 2.7 Ask of me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance And yet you must not apprehend that he doth so bestow them on the Son that he doth utterly devest himself of all his interest and wholly pass away his right in them No my Beloved the Father gives men to the Son just as a great Sheep-master gives his sheep unto his Shepherd to keep them and to look to them to save them and answer them again So Jesus Christ who is the servant of the Father as he calls him Isa 42.1 Behold my servant receives men from him under that notion And therefore he is said to keep them in his Fathers Name and as his Fathers goods as a shepherd and a servant to his Father It is his own expression in my Text While I was with them in the world I kept them in thy Name those whom thou gavest me I kept and none of them is lost They are his you see to keep them not to sell them or
to God the Father for us and takes our Suites into his hands That he excuses what is wanting in our prayers and supplies it in his own That he is lively there where we are dull that he is quick where we are flat that he is full where we are short My Clyent saith our Advocate means this and this this is the meaning of the spirit in him He is not able to express himself as many others can but this is that which he intends and aims at His words are not so ready and so apt but he hath as sincere a heart as the most voluble and fluent of them all and he is one for whom I have laid down my life and shed my blood for whom I have deserved all the good that he can ask and stand in need of And therefore I beseech thee Father let him have what he desires give him a speedy and a gratious answer for my sake Ah my beloved is it not able to fill our hearts brimfull of joy when we remember that we have such an Advocate as this is The knowledge of our Saviours Intercession for his people is a means to comfort them in reference to the defects of all our graces For we come short in all of them there is not one of them compleat There is much lacking in our faith as the Apostle speaks 1 Thes 3.10 and so there is in all the rest which spring from faith For if there be a failing in the root there cannot choose but be a failing in the branches And this is that which makes us walk so heavily and sadly many times when we consider with our selves how slender the degrees and measures of our graces are so that we know not where to find comfort What shall we do in such a case to keep our spirits from despondency Why truly among many other wayes this is a very special one to fix our thoughts upon the intercession of our Saviour for us and to consider seriously with our selves that this is one great business that he urges to his Father that he would sanctifie his people That he would give them out more grace and more holiness This prayer of our Saviour in my text as I have hinted formerly is but a Counterpane of the perpetual intercession that he makes for his in heaven And it consists especially of two branches which comprehend the two main things that he desireth of his Father for his people Preservation and Sanctification The latter he is large upon sanctifie them with thy truth and so on They were sanctified before for they were not of the world and he desires they might be sanctified yet more That they might have larger measures of all the graces of the spirit And is not this an extraordinary comfort to those who are but meanly furnished and who have but a slender stock of grace that Jesus Christ is alwayes interceding to his Father in their behalf for a more full supply It was a suit that he begun on earth and he is still pursuing it in heaven to this day and will do to the worlds end he will never give it over so that we may be confident we shall have such degrees of holiness and grace bestowed upon us as are necessary for us The knowledge c. as it assures us of his dear love to us and his tender care of us What our Saviour doth in heaven in a way of Intercession if it were unknown to us though it might profit us and benefit us very much it could not comfort as at all But when we know that Jesus Christ hath such a singular regard to us and that his heart and his affections work towards us so sweetly and so strongly now he is in heaven at so great a distance from us I mean as he is man that he is always taking all advantages to further and promote our business with his Father and speaking to him upon all occasions for our good and in a word that he is so extremely kind and loving to us so infinitely tender of our welfare every way This cannot choose if it be duly weighed but fill our hearts up to the brim and make them over-flow with joy Vse 1 Now is it so my Brethren that the assured knowledge of our Saviours Intercession is one c. If then we would abound in this heavenly affection let us exactly study and throughly pâ—y into our Saviours Intercession that we may know as much of it as we are able to attain to We are here in an unquiet and unstable world in which we meet with many causes of discomfort from within and from without and many times they take extremely deep upon us so as almost to make our lives a burthen to us Now if we would be free from such distempers let us endeavour to look more into our Saviours Intercession And if we understand it well it will fill us full of comfort that will swell high exceedingly above all the afflictions of this present life Indeed the intercession of our Saviour is of it self a large volume too much for us to read over and that Volume sealed too shut up in heaven that we cannot open it or look into it But he hath given us a brief compendium and a short abridgement of it in the Prayer that he made for his Apostles and Disciples and in them for all the Church that is or shall be to the worlds end that we may read it and acquaint our selves with it He spake that prayer in the world that they might hear it from him and so might have his joy fulfilled in them And that we might hear it from them and so might have his joy fulfilled in us In which regard my Brethren it is left upon record in publique in the Church for ever that all his people might have recourse thereto on all occasions for their Comfort And therefore when we are in any trouble when sorrow seizes deep upon us let us study this prayer in all the parts and branches of it that from thence we may conjecture what he doth in our behalf now he is fitting at the right hand of his Father And this let us depend upon that if he spake one word in our behalf in any case while he was here upon earth he speaks a hundred for us now he is heaven And truly if this Counterpane of our Saviours Intercession were dived into and studied more there would be more holy joy among the Saints Their troubles and their sorrows would be less and they would be more full of comfort then they are JOHN 17.14 I have given them thy Word and the world hath hated them AND thus of the first argument with which our Saviour presseth and enforceth his Petition to his Father in behalf of his Apostles and Disciples that he himself would undertake the keeping of them Which hath been taken as you may remember from his own effectual preservation of them during the time that he had
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
see 1 Pet. 1.12 we would not foolishly mispend so much of our pretious time in empty frothy and unnecessary studies nor waste away that Lamp of reason in our bosoms in unprofitable blazes but we would set more time apart to look into the Patent of salvation and to acquaint our selves with Jesus Christ before hand that when we come into his presence at the latter day we may be entertained as friends and not as strangers You hear that Gospel truth is the study of the Angels they had a little inckling of it and it was so ravishing that they must dive and prie into it they were not able to forbear it Oh Fools and Ideots that we are that now the Lord hath made it plain to us we should be so careless of it that now the knowledge of it is attainable we should wilfully neglect that pretious truth which was so studied and enquired into in Heaven which Angels reacht after and yet when all was done came short of the discovery Secondly Since Gospel truth excells all other truth let us give it the preferment as in our Inquisition so in our acceptation and let us value it and prize it above other truth Every truth of God is pretious but this truth is most pretious and therefore should be most esteemed and layed up with most care All the sayings of God are worthy of acceptation but Gospel sayings are worthy of all acceptation 1 Tim. 1.15 all that is possible to entertain them with And therefore the Prophets call the time of the Gospel tempus acceptabile the acceptable time the year of the Lord Isa 16.2 And if we look into the Scriptures my beloved we shall see what worthy acceptation it hath found Zacheus made haste and received our Saviour gladly into his house Luke 19.6 So did the brethren at Jerusalem receive the Apostles because they brought the Gospel with them Acts 21.17 So did the Bereans receive the Gospel it self with all readiness of mind or forward affection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 17.11 So did the Galathians receive the Apostle with the honour of an Angel even as Jesus Christ himself because he preached this excelling truth to them Gal. 4.14 The Merchant in the Parable you know did dearly purchase it the Saints did earnestly contend for it and took the Kingdom of heaven by violence And hath it found the like esteem with you my brethren have you received and entertained it as a transcendent and excellent truth have your souls been even ravisht with the knowledge of it have you preferred it in your thoughts and your desires before all other knowledge yea before all other things Alas how many are there that never valued it who think it to be foolishness in comparison of that which brings them worldly profit or advantage It is a miserable thing to see how this incomparable Gospel is slighted in the world Now I beseech you my beloved think upon it what is it that you despise The wisdom of God in a mysterie which is adorned with so many glorious Titles in the Scripture to raise our hearts and our affections to it without which all the wisdom and all the learning in the world is nothing else but loss and dung And who is it that you despise in it for the contempt and undervaluing of the Gospel carries in it more dishonour to every person of the Trinity then any other sin It is a shamefull undervaluing of the Fathers wisdom which he hath shewed in no one thing so much as in the revelation of the Gospel and therefore it is called the wisdom of God as if the Gospel were the short abridgement the summ and the Epitome of Gods wisdom It is a fearfull slighting of the Fathers love as if in all the business of our Saviours passion he had but put himself to needless compassion and shewed such love to men as he might very wel have kept in his own bosome for any thing we either need it or care for it It is an horrible contempt to Jesus Christ to suffer him to stand waiting at our doors even till his head be full of dew and his locks with the drops of the night to put in his fingers by the hole of the lock to humble empty and deny himself to suffer the indignities and wrongs of men the heavy wrath of God himself and after all to have that pretious blood which was drawn out with such woful agonies and with such exquisite and horrid tortures counted no other then the blood of a common Malefactor no more regarded nor lookt after no though presented and offered to us and that with obsecrations and intreaties too who is able to express such baseness as this is It is a high indignity to the blessed Spirit of grace to suffer him to wait in vain to move and to perswade in vain to beg and to beseech in vain till we do even weary him and send him sad from us Oh let us tremble of such contemptuous usage of the Father of the Son and of the Spirit in the contempt of their Gospel And henceforth let us receive it and embrace it as an excelling truth as that which is of singular behoof and use and consequently calls for singular esteem from us Vse 2 Is it so That the Word of God especially the Gospel is the truth That Gospel truth is the truth that it excells all other truth Then certainly it lies on the professors of this truth to have a carriage answerable to it to have an excellent carriage according to this excellent truth that so it may not be disparaged and dishonoured by our unsuitable and unagreeing conversations As it is glorious in it self so it should be glorified by us and among us as the Apostles phrase is 2 Thess 3.1 As it is excellent in it self so it should be presented to the world as excellent by us while we adorn it by our holy lives as the Apostle Paul exhorteth Tit. 2.10 that we adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things And in a word my Brethren We must walk as becometh the Gospel of Christ this excellent Gospel Phil. 1.27 And to this end I shall commend unto you but these two things First you must maintain it as an excellent truth Secondly you must obey it as an excellent truth This Gospel truth must be maintained by you as an excellent truth Indeed my Brethren you must stand for all Truth you must never be against it but you must be always for it as the Apostle Paul insinuates 2 Cor 13.8 I can do nothing against the truth but for the truth But you must stand for Gospel truth rather and more then for any other truth because it is of more concernment and of more use We are more eager and earnest in asserting the right and interest we have in things of worth then in things of smaller value That which is excellent will have more to stand for it then that which is
by the Gospel as they that cast behind their backs the precepts of the Gospel and will not walk accordingly in their lives and conversations It is a dreadful sentence to this purpose able to break the hearts of wicked men and to shake their joynts in pieces 2 Thess 1.8 The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire rendring vengeance to them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Indeed as Gospel truth is most excellent so disobedience to this Gospel truth is most dangerous we know what a fearful doom and dreadful sentence the Apostle thunders out against it Heb. 10.26 If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth the Gospel truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin From which perversly wrested though Novatus did extract that desperate Heresie of his denying hope of pardon unto those who after they were once baptized relapsed into sin Yet those uncomfortable inferences being laid aside this is most evidently taught us in that Scripture viz. That where the mind hath been enlightned once with Gospel truth it tends exceedingly to the increase and aggravation of those sins that are committed after and against it And therefore upon these considerations labour to walk worthy of so glorious a Gospel and so great a Salvation JOHN 17.18 As thou sent me into the world c. AND thus far of our Saviours Prayer in the behalf of his Apostles and Disciples for Sanctification Sanctifie them with thy truth thy word is truth Proceed we to the arguments and reasons with which he urgeth and enforceth this Petition request of his And they are two Whereof the first is taken from the business and employment that he is setting them about viz. the very same in some respect at least which he himself hath hitherto sustained and undergone by the appointment of the Father As thou hast sent me into the world so I have sent them into the world I am now about to send them it is as good as done already For yet they had not their Commission to preach the Gospel to all the world to every creature And therefore thou hadst need to sanctifie them saith our Saviour to his Father by a more full discovery of thy truth to them that so they may be fitted and enabled for such a service as this is It is extreamly necessary that they should be qualified with all the gifts and graces of the Spirit to the very utmost being to go upon the very self same errand and business on which thou hast imployed me Sanctifie them saith our Saviour Why might the Father answer why so Cause enough saith Jesus Christ for as thou hast sent me into the world even so have I also sent them into the world There are two things to be considered in the words There is something positive and there is in the second place something comparative 1. There is something positive in these words which Christ affirmeth positively of himself and his Apostles That which he affirmeth positively of himself is that his Father hath sent him into the world That which he affirmeth positively of his Apostles and Disciples is That he is sending them into the world There is something Comparative in which our Saviour Christ compares his Fathers sending him with his own sending his Apostles As thou hast sent me into the world even so have I also sent them into the world I shall but touch on that which Christ affirmeth positively of himself and that as you have heard is that his Father hath sent him down into the world He would not suffer him to stay in heaven but sent him forth upon some weighty and important business so that the point to be observed is this DOCTRINE That Jesus Christ was sent into the world by the appointment and command of God the Father The word in the Original importeth an authoritative sending which is accordingly submitted to and yield to by the person that is sent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith our Saviour to the Father Thou hast sent me into the world so sent that I accordingly am come into the world I have stoopt to thy mission But this hath for the substance of it been handled on the third verse and therefore I shall wave the further prosecution of it here and pass on to the following words JOHN 17.18 Even so have I also sent them into the world AND thus of that which Jesus Christ hath affirmed of himself in relation to his Father Thou hast sent me into the world Proceed we now to that which he affirms of his Apostles and in them of his succeeding Ministers in relation to himself I also have sent them into the world And here we have to be considered three things First the author of the Mission I I stands for Jesus I have sent Secondly the term or local object of the Mission the world without restraint or limitation all the world I have sent them into the world Not into Judea only but into the world Thirdly the comparison between our Saviours mission of his Apostles and Embassadors and his Fathers mission of himself suggested in the word also I also have sent them into the world as thou sent me into the world even so have I also sent them c. As the parts so the Observations are three First the Apostles and Ministers of Jesus Christ are sent by him they are of Christs own sending Secondly Christ doth not send them particularly or restrictively to any Countrey or to any Nation But their Commission leaves them free to all the world Thirdly Jesus Christ sends his Apostles and his Ministers even as his Father sent him There is a great similitude between Gods sending Christ into the world and Christs sending his Apostles and Ministers into the world I shall handle these distinctly as God shall give ability and opportunity Beginning with the first DOCTRINE The Apostles and the Ministers of Jesus Christ are sent by him they are of Christs own sending For the Apostles they have their very name from sending The word in the Original importeth such a one as is dispatched upon the errand of another upon the business that another sends him in And Christ is often said to send them There are two memorable missions of them mentioned in the Gospel story The first a little after he had called them Mat. 10.1 c. When he had called his twelve Disciples and they were his twelve Apostles as they are stiled ver 2. he gave them power against unclean spirits And these twelve he sent forth ver 1. and after at ver 16. Behold I send you forth saith he as sheep among Wolves The second memorable mission of them was a little after he was risen from the dead and was even ready to ascend Joh. 20.21 Even as my Father sent me so send I you And this is that which the Apostle Paul acknowledges that he was
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
in But doth our Saviour so with his Apostles and his Ministers yes my Beloved just so he qualifies them with the Spirit too and therefore having said to his Apostles and his Messengers Joh. 20.22 As my Father hath sent me so send I you The very next words are And when he had said thus he breathed on them and said unto them receive the Holy Ghost And so accordingly the Holy Ghost fell upon them abundantly to fill them and enable them for their Ministerial Office even as they were about to go abroad and preach Act. 2. Here is a greater similitude you see between the Fathers sending Christ into the world and Christs sending his Apostles and Ministers into the world in regard of qualification But yet as the similitude is great so is the dissimilitude in this too The unction which the Ministers of Christ received from him though it be like the unction which Christ himself receiveth from the Father in the thing yet it is nothing like it in the measure and degree Though they be both the unction of the Spirit Christs is surpassingly transcendently beyond theirs He is endowed with all the graces of the Spirit of every sort and every kind so that not one of them is wanting in him And therefore it is said in Scripture that in him all fulness dwells that is the fulness of all graces whatsoever But now my Brethren in the Ministers of Christ it is not so in them there is a division of graces though not of the graces of Sanctification yet of the graces of Edification and one is made partaker of a gift which another hath not There are diversities of gifts saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 12. to one is given by the Spirit the word of knowledge to another prophesie c. But all these concur and â—â—er in Jesus Christ so that he is in this respect inricht above them all And as our Saviour is qualified by the Father with all kinds and sorts of graces so with all measures and degrees As he hath all graces in him so each of them is raised and intended to the highest measure so that there can be nothing added to it to make it more compleat and perfect Indeed my Brethren he received not the Spirit by measure from the Father as the Evangelist observes John 4.32 but beyond all measure But now the Ministers of Christ receive from him but a measure of grace as the expression is Rom. 12.3 So much as he sees fit to qualifie them for the work that he imploys them in as you may see Eph. 4.8 When he ascended up on high he gave gifts unto men for the work of the Ministry and for the edifying of the body of it There is a great similitude between the Fathers sending Christ into the world and Christs sending his Apostles and Ministers into the world in relation to the Errand that both of them are sent in Christ sends his Ministers into the world upon the very same errand that the Father sent him into the world For mark it why did God the Father send Christ into the world Truly my Brethren to be his spokesman unto the world as the Apostle shews God who in times past spoke to the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son To preach the Gospel to the world He hath anointed me to preach saith Christ Luk. 4.18 To preach what to preach the Gospel to the poor to heal the broken-hearted to preach deliverance to the Captives c. And why did Christ send his Apostles and Ministers into the world Why to preach the Gospel too That is the sum of their Commission Mar. 16.15 Go preach the Gospel to every Creature The Ministers of Christ are separated to the Gospel as Rom. 1.1 They must preach all Gospel or else all for Gospel ends They must preach Law with Gospel purposes and Evangelical intentions So that the Father sends the Son and the Son sends his Apostles and Ministers upon very the same errand here the similitude is very great But then the dissimilitude is very great too in that the Son whom God the Father sends is transcendently above the Ministers whom Christ sends in the very same business both are Apostles but Christ is the chief Apostle both are Preachers of the Gospel but Christ is the chief Preacher He preaches it with such authority as they are not invested with and with such efficacy too as they can never reach to He preaches by the Spirit to the heart and to the inward man and so he doth it with infallible success They can preach only to the ear and to the outward man and hence they often fail of the desired issue they spend their strength in vain as the Prophet once complained Indeed the efficacy of their preaching dependeth wholly on the work and power of Christ So that you see he is transcendently above them in the same business And then besides Jesus Christ is sent on business which they are not to touch with He is sent about the work of mans Redemption of satisfaction to the justice of his Father by his bitter death and passion which is too heavy and too hard for any Man or Angel to go through with or to have a hand in There is a great similitude between the Fathers sending c. in relation to the end that both of them are sent for Christ sends his Ministers into the world for the very same end that God the Father sent him For why did God the Father send his Son into the world To save his people as the expression is Mat. 1.21 In which respect his Father would not have him called Apollyon a destroyer but Jesus a Saviour It 's true that Christ is set and appointed by his Father for the fall and rising again of many As for the rising of believers so for the fall of unbelievers But this is but by accident and besides the main intention of God in sending and Christ in coming He doth not cause the fall of such as perish so properly and so directly as the rising of such are saved by him Indeed he came into world to save sinners 1 Tim 1.15 not to destroy sinners It 's true that sinners are destroyed by him but this was not the proper end of his coming God did not send his Son to condemn the world but to save the world Joh. 3.17 And so our Saviour Christ himself professeth Joh. 12.47 I came not to judge the world but to save the world Even so he sent his Ministers for the very same end to work together with him in the Conversion and the Salvation of his people by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe 1 Cor. 1.21 To save themselves and those that hear them 1 Tim. 4.16 Here the Similitude again is great between the Fathers sending Christ c. in relation to the end that both of them are sent for But then the dissimilitude is great
too In that the Father sends the Son to save his people by his merit and his Spirit The Son sends his Ministers to save them by the application of his merit and his Spirit to them in the preaching of the Gospel The Father sends the Son to save them by dying for them the Son sends his Ministers to save them by preaching to them and so by crucifying Christ again before their eyes as Gal. 3.1 The Father sends his Son to save his people meritoriously and by way of effectual operation The Son sends his Ministers to save them Ministerially and by way of vocal Declaration so that Christ only is the proper Saviour and Ministers at most are but the Instrumental Saviours of his people Vse 1 Now is it so my Brethren That there is a great similitude between the Fathers sending c. Here then my Brethren is a perfect pattern for all the Minsters of Jesus Christ they must look on him that sent them and see what power he was endued withal what errand he was sent on and for what ends and so act accordingly As God invested him with power and sent him into the world to preach the Gospel and to save his people So Jesus Christ hath invested them with power to do the same thing for the same end So that they must not aim at the destruction and the hardning of the people No they must make this their business how they may bring about their conversion and salvation It 's true they must be sons of Thunder now and then as well as sons of Consolation they must preach the Law sometimes as well as the sweet comforts of the Gospel they must threaten men sometimes with wrath and hell and eternal condemnation But then they must not do it so as wishing that these things might come upon them but rather that they might avoid them They must threaten them with wrath that they may flee from the wrath to come and threaten with hell that they may escape the damnation of hell they must preach the Law with Gospel purposes and Evangelical intentions they must send out the avenger of blood to dog them at the heels that they may fly to the City of refuge They must use sharpness now and then it cannot be avoided But it must be for the same end that the Apostle speaks of 2 Cor. 13.10 where having minded the Corinthians that in case he must use sharpness according to the power the Lord had given him he had authority from Christ to do it but mark in the succeeding words to what end for edification and not for destruction according to the power the Lord hath given me for edification and not for destruction And therefore it is very notable that when our Saviour Christ had said to his Disciples All power is given to me both in heaven and in earth and having put a part of that power and authority of his on his Apostles having sent them as his Father sent him he doth not say to them as God doth to the Prophet Jer. 1.10 I have set you over the Nations and over the Kingdoms to root out and to destroy but I have sent you to the Nations to teach them and to baptize them that they may be saved He doth not make them rooters but planters he doth not bid them to go out and preach damnation to the people in the first place but go and preach the Gospel to them that they may be saved And the Apostle speaking of the execution of this Commission and authority in the Administration of the censures of the Church saith he would give a foul offendor up to Satan for no other end but this even for his good and his salvation 1 Cor. 5.34 I have already judged saith he concerning him that hath so done this deed with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver him to Satan for the destruction of the flesh the carnal part that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord So that when we threaten judgement when we retain the sins of men when we give them up to Satan either in preaching or in Church-censure our aim is that their corruption may be mortified and that their spirits may be saved by this means And all the Ministers of Christ ought to have this continually in their eye how they may reach this great end they must remember that Jesus Christ hath sent them as God the Father sent him and that was not to condemn the world but that the world by him might be saved And thus of the First Argument with which our Saviour presseth and enforceth his Petition to his Father in behalf of his Apostles for Sanctification which hath been taken from the business and imployment that he is setting them about viz the very same in some respect which he himself hath hitherto sustained and undergone by the appointment of the Father Sanctifie them with thy Truth thy Word is Truth Why might the Father answer why so Cause enough saith Jesus Christ for as thou hast sent me into the world even so have I also sent them into the world and therefore thou hadst need to sanctifie them that so they may be fitted and enabled for such a service as this is JOHN 17.19 And for their sakes I sanctifie my self that they also might be sanctified through the truth PRoceed we to the Second Argument with which he backs the same Petition and it is taken from the end for which he sanctified himself And for their sakes I sanctifie my self that they also might be sanctified through the truth q. d. It was the very end at which I aimed in sanctifying of my self that they might be sanctified it was my scope and drift in that business and therefore I beseech thee Father let me not be disappointed of my purpose let not this great design of mine be frustrated but do thou sanctifie them with the truth because I sanctified my self for their sakes with this intent that they might also be sanctified through the truth Two things we have apparently presented to us in the words what our Saviour did and why he did it First what our Saviour did He sanctified himself Secondly then why he did it and this is in the first place generally exprest that it was for their sakes for his Apostles and Disciples sakes that he sanctified himself And then it is particularly and expresly specified in what regard it was for their sakes that they might also be sanctified through the truth The difficulty of the text lies especially in this how Christ is said to sanctifie himself and what he means by that expression for their sakes I sanctifie my self To sanctifie is properly to make holy now a person or a thing is made holy especially two wayes viz. by qualification when holiness and grace is put into it when a man is made partaker of the saving gifts and graces of the holy spirit then he is said in Scripture to
be sanctified By consecration a person or a thing is made holy when it is set apart for holy uses In this respect the Sabbath day is holy in this respect the Temple the Utensils and Vessels of the house of God in this respect the Priests were holy Thus all the first born of the Jews were holy and set apart for God And therefore having charged Moses to sanctifie the first born thus he explains it afterwards Exod. 13.2 12. Thou shalt set them apart to God and in a word thus all the Sacrifices and oblations under the Ceremonial Law were holy they were consecrated things For consecrated things are sanctified things as I might give you instances enough in that particular Thou shalt annoint them saith the Lord speaking of Aaron and his Sons Exod. 28.4 and thou shalt consecrate and sanctifie them that they may Minister unto me in the Priests office So after speaking of the Ramm of consecration Aaron and his Sons shall eat it saith the Lord to consecrate them and to sanctifie them Exod. 29.33 Now all the question is in which of these respects our Saviour here is said to sanctifie himself whether by way of qualification or of consecration I must acknowledge I have heretofore conceived it in the former way as in a way of qualification that he made himself holy by the communication of the gifts and graces of the holy spirit to his humane nature For though it be a certain truth that Christ was not neither could be made holy of not holy privatively as man who by the fall had wholly lost his holiness is sanctified and made holy by regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost Yet it is very manifest that Christ was sanctified and made holy of not holy negatively for there was once a time when Christ as man had not this holiness inherent in his humane nature because there was a time viz. before his incarnation when his humane nature had not a being in the world And thus Christ was sanctified for his Apostles and Disciples sake his peoples sake That they might be sanctified That is he was endued abundantly with the gifts of holiness and the graces of sanctification to this end that he might communicate them and dispense them to his people and that they might be sanctified by this means That of his fulness they might all receive and grace for grace So that this looks extreamly well you see as the meaning of the Text. And for their sakes I sanctifie my self that they also might be sanctified through the truth But yet I find interpreters even universally running in another stream and understanding it of being sanctified in a way of consecration The former I suppose they leave because indeed it is not consonant to Scripture phrase For Jesus Christ to say as man that he sanctified himself in a way of qualification That is to say that he endued himself with the sanctifying gifts and graces of the holy spirit It is usually affirmed that God the Father sanctified him That it pleased the Father that in him should all the fulness of the holy spirit dwell Col. 1.19 That God even his God did annoint him with the oyl of his spirit Psal 45.7 And therefore he is called him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world John 10.36 Besides it seems not to be congruous that Christ should pray his Father to sanctifie his Apostles and Disciples because for his part he had sanctified himself with the graces of the spirit to this end that they might be sanctified by communication of those graces to them And therefore I shall run down with the common stream of exposition and understand our Saviour here to tell his Father that he sanctified himself by way of Consecration That he set himself apart to be a Priest an Altar an Offring and a Sacrifice to God the Father for the sins of his people And that to this end that they might be sanctified by this means Not only that they might be justified but that they might be sanctified too And sanctified through the truth through the effectual revelation of the Gospel to them which is called the truth in Scripture Or truly sanctified as it is rendred in the Margine not only in the Type and Figure as the Offrings and Sacrifices of the Ceremonial Law but in reality and truth And on this ground our Saviour prayes his Father to sanctifie his Apostles and Disciples that he might not be disappointed of his great end for which he sanctified himself and made himself an offring to his Father Sanctifie them with the truth And why so Why for their sakes I sanctifice my self I set my self apart to be a Sacrifice to thy justice that they also might be sanctified with the truth The words thus opened yield us out two Observations First Jesus Christ did willingly and freely set himself apart to be an Offring and a Sacrifice to God the Father Secondly he did this for his peoples sakes and that to this end that they might be sanctified by this means DOCTRINE 1. Jesus Christ did willingly and freely set himself apart to be an Offring and a Sacrifice to God the Father He was not forced to become an Expiation for the sins of men No he did it of himself and of his own accord I sanctifie my self saith our Saviour in my text by consecration So he is said to offer up himself Heb. 7.27 To humble himself and to become obedient conceive it passively obedient to the death even the death of the Cross Phil. 2.8 T is true indeed the death and passion of our Saviour was necessary if we look to God the Father and his eternal Counsel and Decree for he was slain in that respect i. e. appointed to be slain from the beginning of the world It was determined to be done as the Apostle speaks Acts 4.28 And therefore it behoved him to suffer as himself speaks Luke 24.46 and he must be lifted up upon the Cross an unavoidable necessity was laid upon him John 3.14 And as his death was necessary if we look to God the Father so it was violent my Brethren if we look to men With murderous and wicked hands they slew him Acts 2.23 They kild and crucified the Lord of glory But if we look to Christ himself his death and passion was a voluntary thing to which he willingly resigned and yielded up himself His life was not extorted from him but he laid it down himself John 10.17 He was delivered up to death by God the Father Acts 2.23 He was delivered up by Judas and the Jews too Mat. 27.2 And yet he freely yielded up himself he loved us and gave himself for us Gal. 2.20 he gave himself for us an Offring and a sacrifice to God Ephes 5.2 He sanctified himself for our sakes and set himself apart to this hard and sharp service so that the Point is plain you see That Jesus Christ did willingly and freely set himself apart to
of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 3. As God the Father and the Son are one by will and by consent so Christ would have all his Disciples to be one with the Father and himself in the very same manner And as the Father and the Son agree in every thing and never differ in the least degree that which one wills the other wills So true believers should agree in every thing not among themselves only but with God and Christ too God and Jesus Christ and they should so accord in every thing that they should be as it were all one Look what God and Christ wills assoon as it is manifested and revealed to them they should will the very same yea though it be against them in their honours profits pleasures and delights They should conform their wills in all respects to the will of God and Christ And even as Christ said to the Father Not my will but thine be done So we should say to the Father and Son Not our wills but yours be done As you agree together so we agree in you and then indeed my Brethren we are like to agree among our selves when we agree in God and Christ and when our wills are suitable to their wills Or otherwise agreement without this is combination and not union And therefore Christ desiring that his Disciples should be one among themselves desireth also that they might be one in God in his Father and himself That they may all be one as thou Father art in me c. Now to descend to Application and therein to proceed with all the Use 1 branches of the Explication in their order First Is it the will of Jesus Christ that his Disciples should be one in God by the mystical union Here then you see the glorious priviledge of Christs Disciples of all that do indeed believe in him The Scripture makes it a great matter to be nigh to God and so it is indeed my Brethren a very blessed and a happy thing What is it then Beloved to be in him in the Father and the Son as they are in one another This is a priviledge to purpose and carries high and glorious things in it such as we are not able to conceive and much less are we able to express I shall endeavour according to the light I have to lay them open to you in a few particulars This being in the Father and the Son implies most intimate Communion with them both It is very much my Brethren to be with them to have fellowship with the Father and the Son 1 Joh. 1.3 All of us are far from God and far from Jesus Christ by nature we dwell a great way from them in a strange Countrey and so have no commerce with them and when we are converted we are said in Scripture to be made nigh to them Ephes 2.13 To have access by one Spirit to the Father and the Son vers 17 18. And this indeed importeth near and sweet Communion with them such as the world is not acquainted with But to be in them importeth yet more near and close Communion Indeed the nearest and the closest and most intimate that can be It is much to be with God with the Father and the Son there must be heavenly communion if it were but so But to be in them as they are in one another this must needs be much more This being in the Father and the Son importeth special interest in God The greatest interest that can be when we express the interest that any man hath in such or such a great man we use to say that he is in with him And truly it is much to say that we are in with God the Father and with Jesus Christ this is a very great matter It shews that we have much of their regard and love That God and Jesus Christ and we are great friends That while all the world are out with the Father and the Son we are the only people that are in with them This I confess is very much But what is it then to say that we in them That God and Jesus Christ and we are in a sense all one That as the Father is in Christ and Christ in him so we are one in both of them Here is interest indeed such as is impossible to be expressed This being in the Father and the Son importeth great acquaintance with them both They that are much with one another are acquainted each with other but they that are in one another must be acquainted much more They know not that which is without only that which every one knows but they know that which is within which is obscure and hid from other men They know God inwardly for they are in him They know the secrets of his heart Psal 25.14 and the mysterie of his will Ephes 1.9 And even as Christ is said to be in the bosome of the Father and so to be the only one that is acquainted with him fully and can reveal him to the world Joh. 1.18 No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him So true believers are in the bosom both of God and Christ and so are infinitely more acquainted with them then any in the world besides And here to be a little more particular they know God more immediately and more distinctly then others do 1. They know God more immediately then others do they do not know him at a distance and at second hand but they know him by himself they have their knowledge of him at the Fountain head for they are in him Others hear of him by the hearing of the ear but they see him Job 12.5 and they taste him which sense requires the nearest application of the object 1 Pet. 2.3 They know him at first hand they are taught of God himself they do not only hear what others speak of God and so accordingly discourse of him as many do by memory but they speak with God himself God shews himself to them as his own phrase is and so accordingly are more immediately acquainted with him 2. And as they know him more immediately then others so they know him more distinctly then others they have not a confused knowledge of him only as we have of strangers or those whom we behold a far off as when we see a person at a great distance it may be we discover that it is a man or a woman in the general but are not able to distinguish whether it be such a man or such a woman whether it be such a friend or such a one of our acquaintance yea or no But they have a clear knowledge they see God evidently and distinctly in a measure for they are near enough to him they are in him so that they can distinguish God and Christ from any other that comes in his Name or that pretends that he is God or Christ And
as he calls Christ so so Christ makes him to call all true believers so He will have them to share with him by any means in this honour Is God the God of Christ why Christ makes him the God of all believers Is God the Father of Christ why Christ makes him the Father of believers Is he the God that brings again from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ why he is the God too that will surely bring again from the dead all true believers as the Apostle tells us them that sleep in Jesus will he also bring with him 1 Thess 4.14 Me thinks it is as if Christ should have said to him That which thou art to me thou shalt be to them too That which thou dost for me thou shalt do for them too I will have none of this honour unless they partake with me The Son as Man receives much glory from the Father in that he sets him at own right hand in the next place to himself Why now the self same glory doth the Son bestow upon the Church in that he sets her at his own right hand in the next place to himself If Jesus Christ be raised so high how high is the Church raised If Jesus Christ be so transcendently exalted in this that he is set in the next place to God how is the Church exalted then that she is set in the next place to Christ Look upon Christ and you shall see that God hath highly exalted him and set him at his own right hand Ephes 1.21 and then look upon the Church and you shall see that Christ hath highly exalted her and set her at his own right hand Psal 45.9 On thy right hand did stand the Queen i. the Church Now my beloved is the place of Christ high How high then is the Churches place Is Christ at the right hand of God She is at the right hand of Christ Is Christ in the next place to God She is in the next place to Christ Is there none above Christ but God None is above the Church but Christ and God Is he exalted far above all principality and powers might and dominion not only in this world but in that which is to come not only above all principalities and powers on earth but even above all principalities and powers in heaven too above the very Angels yea the highest orders of them She is exalted far above them As Christ comes between them and God so she comes between them and Christ she is neerer Christ in union nature and dignity The Angels are but Ministers and servants whiles the Saints the members of the Church are heirs Yea they are Ministers to these heirs They are all the best of them ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation Heb. 1. ult So that no marvail though our Saviour tells his Father here The glory which thou gavest me I have given them The Son as Man receives much glory from the Father in the vast authority and power which he hath vested him withall Why now the same power he dispenseth to the Church to be executed by her Officers And therefore having said All power is given to me both in Heaven and in Earth Mat. 28.18 he adds immediately to his Apostles in the very next verse Go ye and teach all Nations baptizing them q. d. the power which is given me I give you in some measure As God the Father hath given me all power so I give you some power so much as you are capable of And as the government is put upon my shoulders by the Father as the Prophet speaks Isa 9.6 so I put over some part of this Government to you my under-Officers whom I depute to manage and negotiate the affairs of my Kingdom As God the Father hath set me over his house so I set you to be my Stewards under me to whom I give the Keyes of this house As God the Father hath given me the King-key of Davids Princedom which I keep my self so that I shut and no man openeth I open and no man shutts so I give you the Ministerial Keyes which I intrust with you who are the Stewards and the guides of my houshold To whom I give a special power to open and to shut the doors of my house to let in and put out And though it be my own prerogative and a chief flower of that Imperial Crown which God the Father hath been pleased to set upon my head to seal pardons and to forgive sins viz. to do it in the Court of heaven and Conscience yet I commit to you my Viceroyes and my under-Officers a Ministerial power both to remit and to retain sins in the outward Court that is the face and presence of the Church in regard of declaration Verily I say unto you whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven c. Mat. 18.18 19. And in another place whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted and whosesoever sins you retain they are retained And in a word as God the Father hath committed all judgement unto me so I commit some judgement to you And hence it is my brethren that the Church assisted by her Officers iudgeth them that are within although she judge not them that are without as Paul speaks 1 Cor. 5.22 over whom no power is given her by the Lord Christ But those that are within she judgeth and condemneth too if there be cause and casts them out and gives them over to the Executioner There take them Satan disquiet them afflict them for the destruction of the flesh the carnal part that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. The Son as Man receives much glory from the Father in the great offices of dignity and trust and honour which he hath advanced him to Why now the self same glory hath the Son communicated to believers in that he hath advanced them to the self same Offices to which he is himself advanced by the Father As God the Father hath made Jesus Christ a King a Priest and a Prophet to himself so Christ doth make all true believers Kings and Priests to God his Father for both those Offices are mentioned Apoc. 1.6 He makes them to become a royal Priesthood 1 Pet. 2.9 A Priesthood and a royal Priesthood And as he makes them Kings and Priests so he makes them Prophets too to teach their families and make known his wayes to them to teach their neighbours and acquaintance and to admonish one another within the compass of their own Spheres Col. 3.16 In which respect it is the Counsel of the Apostle in the cited place Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in you the people of Colosse not in the learned Doctors only but in the private members of the Church So that you see Christ hath advanced all true believers with him to all the offices to which he is advanced by the Father and so hath made
believed for the present or should believe in after times If he had said I am in them and thou in me exclusively this would not have been properly applyed to them which had believed in former times supposing that I am excludeth I have been or should believe in after times If he had said I shall he in them and thou in me this could not have been properly applyed to them which had believed or did believe So that which way soever he had fully set it down he had seemed to exclude past believers or present believers or future believers which he had no intent to do And therefore he doth purpo ely express it so as I conceive that he might take in all of them without exception I in them and thou in me to which you may add have been are and shall be I have been in them that did believe I am in them that do believe and I will be in them that shall believe That so they may be all of them by this means closely linkt together One special end of my inhabitation in believers past present and to come of this inhabitation in my self the Mediator between thee and them is this That they may all be one yea that they may be perfect in one therefore I beseech thee Father let us have our end in this business For Explication of the words we have three things to be enquired and resolved First how Christ as Mediator is in true believers Secondly how God the Father is in Christ as Mediator Thirdly how the Mediator being in believers and God the Fathers being in the Mediator do serve to this great end whereof our Saviour speaks viz. to make believers one yea to make them perfect in one I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one I shall be brief upon the former two because they are more easie to be apprehended and the third indeed is the main thing in the Text. As for the first of these How Christ as Mediator is in true believers I suppose you are not to seek of this He is in true believers by his Spirit And that not by the Essence of the Spirit for so he is no more in one man then another but by the operation and effects that is the gifts and graces of the Spirit and especially by faith which is the grace that gives them the denomination of believers And therefore Christ is said expresly to dwell in the heart by faith Eph. 3.17 As for the second thing proposed how God the Father is in Christ as Mediator for clearing this you must remember that which hath been often hinted that God the Father all along this prayer of our Saviour is taken for the whole God-head Now in our Saviours humane Nature the whole Godhead dwells as the Apostle shews Col. 2.9 In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Others are partakers of the Divine Nature as the Apostle speaks 2 Pet. 1.4 but he is partaker of the Divine Essence Others are partakers of the properties of God but he is partaker of the Godhead it self Others are partakers of the grace of God but he is partaker of the God of grace And therefore the Apostle saith not that in Christ dwelleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Divinity but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Godhead And that the fulness all the fulness of it In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Because it is indeed and really united to the humane Nature to the body of Christ Jesus as I have somewhere noted heretofore You see how Christ is in believers and how God is in Christ Now for the third and last particular proposed how their being each in other doth serve to this end mentioned in my Text viz. to make believers one yea to make them perfect in one I in them and thou in me that they may be perfect in one This will need a little further Explication That Christ is in believers by his Spirit to this end that they may be one among themselves and with the Father and the Son is very manifest in Scripture But is God in Jesus Christ to this end Yes my Beloved to this end God had never been in Christ as Mediator but that believers might be joyned to himself in and by and through Christ True my Beloved the Father had been in the Son as God however so he was from everlasting But God had never been in Christ as Man and Mediator but for effecting this union so that as the Apostle saith God was in Christ reconciling the world the world of believers so I may say as well God was in Christ uniting the world the same world of believers to himself Originally they are disjoynted and divided each from other and which is worst of all from God But down comes Christ and dwells in all of them together and down comes God and dwells in Christ that so they may be all one I in them and thou in me that they may be perfect in one Not only that they may be one but that they may be perfect in one what doth our Saviour mean by that expression That they may be perfect in one Truly nothing else but this as I conceive that they may so be one that there may be a perfect union There is a two-fold perfection a perfection of parts and a perfection of degrees The first of these is specially intended here that there may be a perfect union in regard of parts that is that all the parts that should be joyned may be joyned together Therefore am I in all of them saith Christ here and thou in me that am in all of them I in them and thou in me that they may be perfect in one that there may be such a union to which no part that should be joyned is wanting so that there can be nothing added to it in regard of parts at least to make it more consummate and compleat If I were not in them though they were never so indissolubly joyned among themselves that would not be a perfect union for there would be Christ wanting If thou wer 't not in me as Mediator though I were never so indissolubly joyned to them that would not be a perfect union neither for there would be God wanting And therefore I in them saith Christ I have been in them that did believe I am in them that do believe and I will be in them that shall believe to the end of the world And thou in me thou hast been art and wilt be still in me that they may be perfect in one That they may be so one that there may be a perfect union You see the meaning of the words as far as I have attained There might be many things observed which have been divers times insisted on from other places The doctrine proper to the Text is this DOCTRINE That the perfection of believers union stands in this that
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
God saith he my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise Psal 57.7 There hath been much talk of late concerning fixing arms but surely this of fixing hearts is the most necessary business 4. That our hearts may be prepared they must be awakened they are naturally dead and dull and sleepy especially at sometimes by means of some corporal or spiritual distemper They cannot watch to prayer one hour and though the spirit is ready yet the flesh is weak And therefore we must quicken them and rouse them up from drowsiness before we set about the duty and while we are in the performance of it we must call upon our hearts as Deborah Judg. 5.12 Awake awake Deborah awake awake utter a song And as David on his Harp Awake Harp so we awake heart I my self will awake early Psal 108.2 You see in brief the Rule of Christ in reference to preparation Now let us see what he prescribes both for the matter the manner and the end of prayer As for the matter of your prayers you must search the promises You are to pray for nothing but only what you have a promise for not what you have a mind to but what you have a promise for It is the business and the work of prayer to put the promises of God in suit not our desires but his promises And therefore we must study promises if we would know how to make prayers or how to judge of prayers after we have made them If they agree not with the promises they are but rash and inconsiderate desires they are the sacrifice of fools as they are called Eccles 5.1 And God will never look after them nor shew respect to them as Elibu teaches us Job 35.13 Surely God will not hear vanity neither will the Almighty regard it As for the manner of our prayers the rule of Christ is very large here and so accordingly directions might be copious both how to form our supplications which we are about to tender and having tendred them how to resolve whether they have been according to the will of Christ or no. I shall but touch upon the principal 1. It is in the will of Christ that we pray without wrath for so is the express direction 1 Tim. 2.8 I will therefore that men may pray every-where lifting up pure hands without wrath We must not come to God with hearts distracted and disturbed with passion but with composed meek and quiet spirits It was the fault of James and John who when a certain Town of the Samaritans repelled Christ and refused to receive him would in a fit of rage and anger have prayed for fire to come down from heaven to consume them Luk. 9.54 And so when the malitious enemies of Christ have done his cause or people any great mischief it may be we are ready in a heat to call for vengeance out of heaven upon them But if we pray in such a manner we may look for such a censure as James and John had in the fore-alleadged Text Ye know not what spirit ye are of You think it may be you are zealous but you are very much mistaken you are cholerick and angry you do know not the temper and disposition of your spirits Brethren we must not go to prayer in a fit of anger and a pang of discontent as it seems Eliah did 1 King 14.4 It is enough Lord take away my life for I am not better then my Fathers And as it seems Job did Job 6.8 Oh that I might have my request and that God would grant me the thing that I long for Even that it would please God to destroy me that he would let loose his hand and cut me off And as it is extreamly probable that Moses did when he conceived his burthen was too heavy for him Numb 11.10 15. For it is said he was displeased and in that angry mood he said to God Wherefore hast thou afflicted me You see he calls the Lord to coram to see how he can answer his proceedings Wherefore c. I am not able to bear all this alone And if thou deal thus with me kill me I pray thee out of the way and do not let me see my wretchedness And thus it is apparent Jonah did who being crost in a punctilio in a point of honour out of a pettish childish humor will go die God must take away his life We must not come to God in such a temper to empty and disgorge our choler and to vent our passions to him No Tempus mansuetudinis est tempus orationis The time of meekness is the time of prayer 2. It is the will of Christ that we pray without doubtings and this is also added in the Text before alledged 1 Tim. 2.8 Pray lifting up pure hands without wrath or doubting He would have us come to God with confidence and strong assurance as it beseemeth those to do who are indeed in Covenant with him You know a houshold servant that is in Covenant with his Master cals confidently for his break-fast and his dinner and his Supper whereas a beggar or a stranger doth not so So he that is in Covenant with the Lord should come with boldness to the Throne of Grace relying formerly on the promises of God as David did I cryed and I hoped in thy Word Psal 119.147 Lord I want faith give it me I want patience let me have it I find my heart is out of order joynt it mend it unite it to thy self It is for those that are without and that are strangers to the Lord that live on nothing else but common providence to come doubtfully to God when their distresses force them to his presence But if those that are his friends and that are in Covenant with him come in such a posture to him he may justly say to such Why what 's the matter that you are so strange and that you are not bold with me as you have wont to be you shall fare neer a whit the better for coming to me after such a manner And verily my Brethren unless we draw nigh to God in faith well grounded on the promises we can have no hopes to speed in our petitions He that would ask any thing of God saith the Apostle James chap. 1.6 7 let him come in faith nothing doubting Otherwise let him not think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 3. It is the will of Christ that we pray with much zeal that our Petitions be not formal cold and drowsie prayers but that there be some heat and fervour in them You know the prayers of Gods people are compared to Incense Psal 141.2 And Incense sends up no sweet savour till the fire come to it It is the fervent prayer only that is effectual with the Lord as the Apostle teaches us Jam. 5.16 The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much And hence saith David Hear me O Lord and why so I cry with my
Will savingly declared to them have yet defects and imperfections in their knowledge of him so that they stand in need of further Declaration The Name of God was so far manifested and declared to these Apostles and Disciples as was necessary to salvation So far our Saviour had fully and compleatly made it known to them he had concealed nothing from them of his Fathers Name in the ignorance of which whosoever dies must perish For they were in the state of grace and of salvation when he spake those words I have declared unto them thy Name And yet he addeth presently you see I will declare it I will make further declarations and discoveries of thy Name to them And so accordingly he did assoon as he was risen from the dead He shewed himself alive to them being seen of them forty days together Act. 1.3 And what did he in that time Why he instructed them in things concerning God and his Kingdom as you may see in that place And when he was ascended into Heaven he was mindful of his promise which he had often made to them and so accordingly dispatched the Holy Spirit down among them to lead them further onward in the knowledge of the Father Indeed the best are Novices in this regard they have not yet attained to a perfect man in point of holy and divine knowledge as Ephes 4.13 It is true there is a great deal of variety among the Saints aswell in this as other graces according to the measure of the gift of Christ Ephes 4.7 But in the best it is a measure and no more it is not fulness and perfection He that hath most of God revealed to him yet knows him but in part and he that hath the clearest sight of him sees him but darkly in a glass as 1 Cor. 13.12 And therefore this is called the seeing of the back parts of the Lord as when we see the back parts of a man we know him but by guess only we know him not so perfectly and so distinctly as when we come to see his face Such a sight of God it is that we attain in this world And therefore the Apostle Paul who in this point of holy and divine knowledge was not behind the very chiefest Apostles who had his Raptures and his Extasies and who was taken up into the third Heaven and had such things revealed to him as were not to be uttered by the tongue of man professeth notwithstanding that he had not yet attained nor was he yet perfect But saith he I follow after that I may apprehend Phil. 3.12 So that he was Viator and not Comprehensor he was in the condition that the people were Hos 6.3 he followed on to know the Lord. The people of Coloss were eminent for grace and knowledge and yet for them it is the Apostle prays That they might increase in the knowledg of God Col. 1.10 So that the point is plain as you see They that have the Name of God his Nature and his Will savingly c. Object But you will interpose and say perhaps That it should seem by some expressions in the Scriptures that God hath been revealed fully to some certain men in this life as to Jacob for an instance Gen. 32.30 and to Moses Numb 12.8 With him will I speak saith God mouth to mouth even apparently not in dark speeches and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold Sol. But this my Brethren must be understood comparatively of the more clear and full discovery of the Lord to Jacob and to Moses then to many other men but as for the perfect sight and knowledge of him this was not imparted neither to Jacob nor to Moses and for the latter God himself affirms expresly Thou shalt not see my face saith he to Moses Exod. 33.10 that is the fulness of my glory for none shall see my face and live That is reserved to the state of glory when we shall see God face to face as the Scripture phrase is when we shall know as we are known And this is that which Schoolmen call the beatifical vision wherein consists the main of our beatitude hereafter as Matth. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God He doth not say they do see him but they shall see God which the Apostle makes the great ingredient in the happiness and glory prepared for the Saints at the time of Christs appearing 1 Joh. 3.2 We know that when we shall appear he shall be like him and we shall see him as he is Now we see him as we may then we shall see him as he is But why have they who have the Name of God savingly declared to them defects and imperfections in their knowledge Why doth not Jesus Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and that for the accommodation of his members furnish and supply them Why doth he not assoon as he begins to teach them declare all his Fathers Name to them but keeps back something still for further discovery There are two special reasons of it to name no more at this time Christ doth not shew them all at once because they are not capable of it A scholar is not capable of all he is to learn at first dash He cannot take in all at once even in his first lesson and hence his Master leads him onward by degrees first gives him easier and after brings him on to harder Lessons Even so doth Jesus Christ with his scholars he goes along with every one as he can learn as he is able to receive it in He doth not shew them all his Fathers glory at a clap for that he knows would dazle them and over-whelm them but le ts in now a little light upon them and then a little more as he perceives their senses to be exercised Instils into their minds and understandings the knowledge of his Father by degrees and as by learning their capacities are widened so he goes on to further discoveries This course he took with the Apostles what they were able to receive he taught them out of hand but reserved other things as you may see Joh. 16.12 I have many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now I am to say them but you cannot bear them now and therefore I will take some other time to reveal those things to you Christ doth not shew them all at once that he may keep his Saints humble As long as there is flesh and nature in us as there will be while we remain in this world high measures and degrees of knowledge may exalt us and lift us up above our selves And therefore Jesus Christ in love and wisdom uses to bestow upon his people so much knowledge as he sees fit for them A little more it may be would undo them They would set their hearts it may be as the heart of God himself They would be as Gods knowing good and evil Shrewd fellows
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
will do to the worlds end For certainly he is not less regardfull of them now in Heaven which is the most proper place of acting the second part of his Mediatorship which consists in intercession then he was upon the earth So that whatever our Condition be how sad or sorrowfull soever if we would know our Saviours intercession what it is for us in heaven we may survey this counterpane thereof on earth which is recorded for this very end That we may have an exemplar and a pattern of it continually lying by us in the Scripture to have recourse unto and to fetch overflowing comforts from in all cases Now to cleer this a little further to you I shall proceed to shew you in a few particulars that the perfect knowledge of our Saviours intercession is one especial means to fill his people full of holy joy It is a means to comfort them exceedingly in reference to all the oppositions of their enemies whether without them or within them Do you not think it was a comfort to the Host of Israel when they had got a Champion to stand up for them against the daring insolencies of Goliah who had so long defied the armies of the living God It made them even shout for joy And so it is a comfort to the poor soul when he hath been long contending with the world which sets upon him mightily with all its blandishments and its allurements on the one side and with its threats and persecutions on the other side and with the Devil who furiously assaults him with his fiery darts and his violent temptations and with his own corruptions and his lusts that warr against the soul as the Apostle speaks And when he is about to faint and sink away he considers with himself Why though I have all these against me yet I have Jesus Christ for me and he is pleading-hard on my behalf that I may not have the worst in these Encounters but that I may be more then a Conqueror I seem to hear him saying to me These enemies of thine have desired to winnow thee and to destroy thee but I have prayed for thee that thy faith may not fail Thy courage and thy strength may fail a little but thy faith shall never fail When Christ was here upon the earth he earnestly besought his Father for me that he would keep me through his own name and what he did on earth I know he doth in heaven much more and he cannot be denyed So that I am as safe as the Almighty power of God can make me Oh what a matchless comfort and encouragement is this The poor perplexed soul but now was tossing on the boystrous waters of violent temptations and of raging passions and of furious lusts and even ready to be cast away But now as David speaks the soul is glad because it is at rest and it is brought to the desired haven Ah my beloved when a man who is mightily assaulted by corruptions and temptations and persecutions and afflictions and when the stones and buffets are about his soul can look up as Stephen did Acts 7.56 and see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God this cannot choose but fill him full of comfort Nay sayes the soul If thou art there pleading for me to the Father and standing up in my defence I know it is impossible that I should perish or miscarry The knowledge of our Saviours Intercession for his people is a means to comfort them in reference to all the accusations that are laid against us at the barr of Gods justice The Law comes in with a black bill against us layes very heavy things to our charge and taxes us with many grievous violations of it which we are no way able to deny Sathan for his part is the grand accuser of the brethren and he objecteth heynous things against us and layes it on with full load And then our consciences perhaps accuse us as fast as any of the other two They are not able to gainsay the allegations either of Sathan or the Law but are forced to acknowledge that all the curses that are written in the Book of God are very justly due to us What shall we do or how shall we keep up our hearts from sinking into utter desperation in such a case as this is As for our parts we have nothing to alledge in or of or from our selves why the sentence of the Law should not be pronounced against us But this is that which fills us full of Comfort that Jesus Christ hath enough to say for us and that he sits in heaven for this very end to make intercession for us when any thing comes in against us there to appear in our behalf and to plead our cause If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father saith the Apostle 1 John 2.2 and he is the propitiation for our sins We have such an Advocate as is a propitiation So that when Sathan and when sin accuses and makes a dreadfull noise against us he can wipe all off again with one word Saith he This person hath offended I confess but what of that There is a full propitiation made it is well known that I have done it and what hath any one to say to this man If he have out-sinned my satisfaction even let him be condemned But if not let him be acquitted or what do I sit here for How can this choose but ravish and transport the soul into an Extasie of joy and make it to triumph with the Apostle Rom. 8.33 Who can lay anything to my charge who is he that condemneth Let me but see the man that durst to do it So that no marvail though our Saviour Christ be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the forecited place which signifieth both a Comforter and Advocate To shew that Jesus Christ doth comfort us exceedingly by undertaking for us as an Advocate and pleading for us with the Father The knowledge of our Saviours Intercession for his people is a means to comfort them in reference to the many weaknesses and imperfections of our own prayers Oh how are we dejected and cast down sometimes when we are dull and flat and cold and speechless in our addresses to the Majesty of God When we are so deserted and our hearts are so shut up that as Hezekiah once we cannot speak in prayer but only chatter like a Swallow Isa 38.14 when we know not what to say nor what to plead we are so barren when we are destitute of matter and expression this puts us many times into a very sad condition and overwhelms our hearts with sorrow As David once complained in such a case Psal 77.3 I remembred God saith he I was troubled I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed But now my brethren is it not a matter of exceeding comfort to consider that we have an Intercessor to help us out with all this That he puts in
that he is a Son for there are sons whom fathers will deny in every thing almost because they have deserved ill of them and so they bear but little love to them But Christ is not such a Son no as he is a Son so he is a beloved son it is the Fathers attestation of him Mat. 3.17 This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And that is a second reason why Christ may have even what he will of God the Father because he bears such dear affection to him And this is intimated also in the Text it self saith Christ in the words mediately before which we have even now dispatched thou hast loved me saith he and what follows Father I will q. d. I know thou will let me have my will because thou lovest me Reason 3 Yet this is not sufficient neither that he is a Son and a beloved Son too For there are sons that are very well beloved who yet will ask that of their fathers many times which would be neither beneficial for them to receive nor honourable for their fathers to bestow upon them and God himself hath some of these sons who now and then put up their supplications and requests for that which would be neither good for them to have nor him to give and therefore they receive the answer that the two Disciples did Ye know not what ye ask But Jesus Christ is none of those sons he never faileth in the least degree in the matter or the manner of his prayers He never asketh what he should not ask he never asketh what he should in such a manner as he should not And that is a third reason why he may have even what he will of God the Father because as he is a Son and a beloved Son so he is such a Son as never asketh any thing amiss he never prays but just according to his Fathers own will His will as he is Man and Mediator agrees in every thing and all respects with the will of God the Father And therefore while the Father lets our Saviour have his will he hath his own and if he should not let him have his will he should not have his own neither We that are adopted sons are many times mistaken in the supplications that we make to God we do not ask according to his will and hence it is my Brethren that he doth not always hear us But Jesus Christ who is the Fathers own begotten Son is never at a loss in this respect He never misses of conforming his desires to his Fathers own pleasure and hence it is that his Will is a law with God the Father Reason 4 And then there is a fourth reason which is more then all the rest why Christs Will is a Law with God the Father because indeed he willeth nothing but that which he deserves of him If he sue for any thing as Mediator in the behalf of his people it is but that which he hath dearly bought and paid for So that his Father ought not in justice to deny him His Intercession as Divines observe is nothing else but the presenting of his merits to the Father And this is that which makes him bold and confident as you see him in my Text Father I will have it thus That which I seek I have purchased with my blood and therefore let me not be wronged but let me have what I have paid for Father I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am q. d. Thou knowest that I have bought that place for them and I have satisfied thee for it to the very utmost and therefore I will have them to be there and I must not be denyed Now is it so my Brethren that the will of Christ is as it were c. Vse 1 The first serves to let us see their happiness who have Christ to speak for them They who have him to be their Intercessor and to present his supplications and requests for them are in a very good Condition for they can want no good thing They might stand begging long enough themselves and never speed But if Christ do undertake to plead for them if he put in a good word for them all is ended presently they have a gracious answer out of hand God may deny them as I shewed you while they are speaking for themselves but if Christ speak for them he can never be denyed he may have what he will of God the Father O the the blessedness of those to whom this glorious priviledge belongs and who have such a powerful Advocate as Christ is Is it so that the will of Christ c. why then if we have any suit Vse 2 to make or any supplication to present let us not go directly to the Father but let us get the Lord Christ to speak for us And then we may be confident that all is sure We may be denyed but he cannot But how shall we make Christ to be our Spokesman and our Advocate in all supplications that we make to God I will give you two directions 1. We must walk by his Rule the Rule that he would have us guide our prayers and our supplications by We must be sure to put up such petitions and none but such as are agreeable to his will For as the Father will not grant the suit that is not suitable to his will if we ask any thing according to his will he hears us otherwise he doth not so Christ will not take the suit that is not suitable to his will And to say truth that is the reason why the Father doth not grant it viz. because the Son doth not present it and pursue it for if he do it never fails of audience or success If Christ undertake it once his Father never puts it off with a denyal His will is as it were a Law with God the Father Brethren our Saviour is not such an Advocate as pleads for fees and undertaketh any thing that any Clyent puts into his hands No what he likes and what he hath a mind to he pursues and prosecutes with God the Father and never leaves till he obtain a grant from him but if he mislike the suit if it agree not with his mind or will he never speaks a word in it and then it never speeds with God For as the Father granteth all that Christ desires so he denyeth all in which he doth not shew himself an Intercessor If Christ the Mediator do not own it the Father never gives assent to it And therefore he must be engaged and interested in every suit we make to God by framing it agreeably to his will 2. We must act by his Spirit who knows his mind as the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 2.11 and what will surely take and rellish with him Beloved if the Spirit draw up the Petition Christ will present and follow it and get it signed But if the Spirit have no hand in it
posture she will be when Christ shall have declared his Fathers name to all the Nations under heaven when the Jews shall be converted and when the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in Oh my beloved that will be a joyfull time indeed It s true those times my brethren shall be very comfortable and full of gladness many wayes And this is not the least that people shall be brougbt in to the knowledge of the Lord out of all the quarters of the world and that by heaps and multitudes And when they come thâ—â— shall be brought with gladness and rejoycing as the Psalmist speaks Psal 45.15 With gladness and rejoycing shall they be brought And truly they that have the happiness to live in those dayes cannot but be extreamly taken with it when they behold the Fathers name declared to the people of the Jews and to such multitudes of Nations of the Gentiles so that they shall come thronging in so fast as if they were in haste to be acquainted with him and to know more of him Oh they will be an end at this and their hearts will leap within them There was never such a time since the foundation of the world nor shall be till that blessed season come and therefore let our souls rejoyce in the foresight of it though we never live to see it And thus far of our Saviour faithfullness in the delivery of his Fathers Errand in the discovery of his Fathers name to his people He hath been faithfull and will be faithfull in it In the remainder of the verse he shews the end and reason of it why he hath been so and will be so That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them It is a very great question whether believers be intended here to be the objects or the subjects of the love our Saviour mentions Whether the name of God be manifested to them to this end that they may be beloved by him or to this end that they may love him I must acknowledge all Interpreters almost that I have seen make them the objects not the subjects of this love That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them That is say they may reach to them or come to them their meaning is so as to lay hold upon them and embrace them In plainer terms that thou maist love them with the love wherewith thou hast loved me with the very same affection Against this Exposition there are two Exceptions to which I must confess I know not how to give a cleer Solution For First If this were the intention of our Saviour I have declared unto them thy name that thou maist love them he would have said in probability That thy love may be towards them or That thy love may be upon them rather then That thy love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as here we have it may be in them This is a strange expression to say My love is in a man when my intention is I love him or I have set my love upon him But secondly if when our Saviour Saviour saith that thy love may be in them his meaning be That thou maist love them how shall this be the end of his forementioned delaration of his Fathers name as it is cleerly made in this place I have declared unto them thy name and will declare it that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them That thou maist love them with the love wherewith thou hast loved me Doth Christ declare his Fathers name to men his love his mercy to this end that he may love them Is this a proper means to that end for God to be made known to men that God may love them whom he is made known to Brethren God doth not love men because his name is manifested and declared to them but men love him upon that ground and for that reason the declaration of his name to them is a means to make them love him And therefore I must needs crave leave to think the latter Exposition probable by which believers are made the subjects of the love here mentioned I have declared unto them thy name and will declare it that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them as in the subjects of it That the love which is originally in thy self as in the fountain as all other graces are may be communicated and dispensed from thee to them and become inherent in them You know my Brethren we are said to be partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 not by participation of the essence but by communication of the properties of God when the communicable properties of God as holiness and love and wisdom are dispenst to us So here our Saviour prayes his Father that the love wherewith he hath loved Christ may be given down from him into the hearts of his people that they may have that very property in them also And to this end saith Christ I have declared thy name thy mercy goodness love to them that this love may be wrought in them That by this means their hearts may be enflamed and filled with the love of thee That they may have the love of thee in them as the Apostle hath the very Phrase 1 John 3.17 How dwelleth the love of God in him So here that the love wherewith thou hast loved me that very property may be in them by way of derivation from thee and that by the revealing of thy name to them If this be our Saviours meaning as I can see no other for the present the Observations will be two First The love which is in true believers comes from God The love wherewith true believers love is in a sense the same wherewith God himself loves Or the love wherewith God loves is in a sense in true believers Secondly The declaration of the Fathers name to them is the great means that begetteth love in them DOCTRINE The love which is in true Believers comes from God The love wherewith he loveth is in them saith our Saviour in my text viz. by way of dispensation from him Love is originally primitively and essentially in the Lord and from him it is given down into the hearts of true believers This is part of the divine nature which they are made partakers of as the Apostle speaks 2 Pet. 1.4 This is a print of his Image whereby they are conformed to God and made suitable to God when they love as he doth And consequently as he is such are they in this world So that when an enlightned eye looks first on God and sees that he doth love that he is love and then looks on the believer and sees this grace of love communicated and dispensed from God to him he finds that he is such a one as God is That he is like God in this world though he shall be better like him in the world that is to come This is a beam of his light as