a Son The Son is not therefore Son because he is God but because he hath a Father for they are both equally one God and have the Deity indifferently agreeing to them both As a man is not therefore a Husband because he is a man for then every man should be a husband but in reference to the Woman he hath married And hence the Father is said to be in the Son and the Son in the Father namely to be one in this mutual respect The Father had an Eye only to the Son in giving his subsistence of a Son The Son again hath an Eye to the Father alone returning the being of his sonship to him And they are prefect in this They wholly give wholly take Thus they are said to be in each other Joh. 14.10 Beleevest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me so said again to be one with another and delighting one in another Prov. 8.30 And mutually to glorifie one another Father glorifie thy Son that thy Son may glorifie thee Joh. 17.1 3. The second person in the glorious Trinity so takes our Human Nature into personal Union with him that he is the same person he was no other and it becomes one person with him leanes upon him hath his dependance from him looks alone to him for his subsistence As a Son he assumes our Nature and as a Son with our Nature looks to the Father Therefore said he doth nothing of himself but what he sees the Father do Joh. 5.19 As the Father hath life in himself so he hath given to he Son to have life in himself because the Son of man verse 26.27 4. As the Father is said to beget his Son and give being to him so the Son as thus begotten assumes our Nature be comes the Head of the covenant and gives being of Sonship to his Children and they returne al that being to the Lord Christ and the Father in him Therefore called the eternal Father Isa 9.6 Hebr. 2.1 3. Here am I and the Children thou hast given me called also his seed The manner of which words may thus be conceived The Lord hath purchased the Spirit he is said then to beget when he sends the spirit of Sons inâ—o their Hearts which by the immutable assistance thereof sets their hearts for God holds the bent thereof towards him alone as their Father and principle of life As they receive this being of Sons they returne it wholly to the Father in Christ The whole man in the whol and that with his whol strength fastens upon God in Christ acted wholly by the influence of his spirit and holds the not excellency thereof The Sum of all out of all that hat been said 1. Vnity is the chiefest priviledg for which Christ prayes and beleevers can partake of as their peculiar good in themselves I add that In themselves because there be higher ends than this in the Text To-wit the setting up of God in Christ in the Consciences of the ungodly that they may be forced to confess that God sent his Son to this end That he loved them as he loved Christ There is yet another and higher end That they may behold and wonder and be swallowed up in the admiration of the glory of Christ which the Father hath given him Enquire here how far Christ being in the Saints and his love in them may yet be a higher end than this 2. This Vnity is not the unity of affection between each other so much but the unity of relation to God in Christ That as the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father by eternal generation Beleevers so ought to be in both by spiritual Adoption 3. In this Spiritual Adoption as there is an influence from God in Christ to bend and settle the frame of the Heart towards him So there is a re-fluence and return by the power and impression left of the same spirit to come again to him Conveyance of help on Gods hand should quicken our dependance to look to him and stay our selves with him there 4. Had Adam stood his posterity out of principles in themselves might have challenged happiness though a covenant performed by a man conveyed by a man unto them by way of natural generation But in the covenant of the Gospel the second Adam the second person taking our Nature by the power of the Deity wrought al for us communicates al to us by the same almighty power inables us to receive what we have from him To be acted in al by him To return all to him The mutable principle in the creature never brought a man to God nor kept him with him But the mutable presence and Spirit of Christ So that there is a priviledg here above that principle of Grace that was in Adam for that was but a creature But here the spirit and so the power of God through Christ that takes our Nature into the neerest union with him even personal which in Adam it attained not in that purchaseth all for us Not a principle in us firstly but the spirit of God in Christ it is by which the bent of our Hearts are held and carried towards him acted by him and so inabled to hold out the vertue power praise and excellency of the spirit in Christ from the Father So that a poor creature is compassed about with nothing but whith the power of God in Christ and becomes one with Father and Son in their mutual relation to them and totall dependance upon them And this is above the innocency and excellency of Adam in Paradise and all that he could attain unto and above all created Grace in Heaven being wholly taken up with God in Christ and loose our selves in God and Christ Eph. 4.13 The acknowledgment of the Son of God It was not the Son of man that did it The Son of God that recovered us held the bent of our hearts to him acted us kept us perfected us crownes us God shal be all in all The Father gives being to the Son returnes all to the Father and that eternal generation and so one The Lord Christ as a son and begotten of the Father gives us the being of Children by Adoption sets us and holds us We take al acted by him return to him As the Father in Christ gives all we receive and to the Father through Christ we return al and so we are one in the Father and the Son I. Reason 1. Because this is the scope of our Saviors coming into the world and the next end I say the next end he intended in the great work of Redemption which he wrought for lost man To bring him into this neer relation of dearest Love of the Father by himself and the work of his spirit and it s that wherein the life and power and pith of the covenant of Grace doth especially consist and appeare and the excellency thereof That peculiar and spiritual intercourse not alone
second Adam it wholly fastens upon God in Christ and so leaves it self wholly to be acâ—ed by the influence thereof and holds out the excellency thereof that is not I but Christ not by my power and might but by the power of the might of Christ Thus the Sinner is wholly beyond the covenant of works So that the faithful hath nothing of himself doth nothing from himself or for himself As Christ the Son doth nothing of himself but what he sees the Father do Joh. 5.19 But God in Christ doth al for himself in man man doth it not receives al himself by man man can take nothing This I said was the leaving of the Soul under the influence of the spirit not under a principle of Grace or sanctification for that comes after is there is acted and preserved by this For the spirit holds nor us only but our Graces quickens and keeps them But a clinging about God in Christ that he may act al in us and by us Therefore the Apostle joins both these Eph. 3.16 Praies that we may be strengthened by the power of the spirit in the inward man The inward man is the man of Sanctification Now there is a power of his spirit that gives strengthening vertue to that This is that for Christ to abide in us and we in him Joh. 15. As the Father abides in Christ so Christ in the Father so Christ abides in us and we in him Christ gives al we receive and return all Christ looks upon us by his spirit we look wholly to Christ or wholly to the influence of that spirit in Christ hold out the power and vertue thereof that it may leave impression of al vertues in us preserve perfect quicken what it leaves So that God is in Christ and he as from the Father is in them God out of his love begets his Son gives the being of Son to him Christ out of his love begets his gives the being of adoped ones to them Once more As Christ looks only towards the Father as his Son begotten as he receives so he returnes So the faithful under the impression of the spirit of Christ as his begotten and adopted ones look towards him leave their hearts with him as of him to receive al as from him to do al. If Christ as begotten of the Father and one with him and abiding in him doth from the Father beget his adopted ones and makes them one with the Father and himself then doth the Father love the faithful with the like love of union as his Son issues from a like ground is in a like manner dispensed Only the odds is in the measure His love infinite immediate inconceiveable This finite mediate and proportionable to the condition of a creature And I cannot see by al the little light I have how to give a savory and seasonable interpretation of the place but according to this ground Joh. 10.14 15. I know mine his sheep his Sons whom he hath taken to himself and am known of them his knowing of them makes himself to be known and the rise from whence this comes verse 15. As my Father knows me and I am known of my Father 2. God loves the faithful with a like love of complacency as he doth the Son stil attend the likeness not the largness and equality of it with Christ God is first wel pleased and in him with is and such a complacency the Father takes in the Son as no creature indeed could procure and therefore no meer creature was able to receive and without Christ none ever could have been made partaker of it For had Adam obeyed the Law and done that which suited the covenant and so answered the rewarding justice of the Lord yet the revenging justice of the Lord had not yet been manifested When then sin was committed and an infinite justice wrought and an infinite punishment deserved it was beyond the compass of any creature to answer that wrong pay that debt Therefore the Lord Jesus takes our Nature that he may suffer and support our Nature in suffering by the power of his Deity that it sink not under the infinite wrath and justice of the Father and so this revenging justice is answered to the very ful and his rewarding justice please also And as thus with Christ so with the faithful Hebr. 10.14 They who have the acceptation of God in Christ made theirs to them the Lord extends the love of complacency But they have the love of God in Christ made theirs and set the evidence of this by the proportion A finite sin committed against an infinite being infinitely offends A finite suffering infinitely satisfies because the person was infinite that bore it God is infinitely wel pleased Because from the worth of his person and the vertue of his Merit he hath laid down ful Satisfaction But he is infinitely pleased with the Faithful by way of imputation because the fruit of that Merit proceeding from such a person is accounted theirs God loves the faithful with the love of Benevolence he wisheth the like good to them procures a like good for them as for Christ He makes them sharers with him in Christ-like priviledges He only hath the preheminence and they the second place They are said to ascend into Heavenly places to sit with Christ to judg the world yea al enemies to be put under feet Yea when the Kingdom shal be given up by our Savior no further dispensation in any outward means 1 Cor. 15.28 God the Father shal be all in all But in the infinite expressions of the riches of al glorious Grace upon the man Christ Jesus and in and through him upon them God the Father hath taken the Lord Christ into neerest union with himself Taken unconceiveable content in him Advanced him to infinite glory with himself The faithful next to Christ they are in a like manner united to God as Jesus In like manner accepted as Jesus Advanced as Jesus And herein lies the Crown of this glory the Diadem of this Crown the excellency above the happiness of Heaven that none of al this did come from a man by the power of any Grace or performance of any work Hence we have matter of admiration in regard of the goodness and kindness of the Lord who is al-sufficient of himself in himself yet should vouchsafe to look from Heaven to such poor worthless creatures and to extend such tender compassions unto poor wretches Tantus Tantum Tantillis but that we have spoken unto There be many Collections yet remaining we shall touch only some because we would willingly put an end to the verse 1. Instruction The sinns of the faithful are exceeding grievous unto the Lord above the sins of al other persons they go neerest unto the heart of the Almighty Not only against light but again love yea the greatest love that could be shewed and therefore cause great distast If Enemies abuse and wrong us If Strangers to whom we are
not known nor whom we know deal harshly and discourteously with us in our common occasions of commerce or If those of alliance and acquaintance who are prophane and ungodly if they be fals in their promises or injust or injurious in their carriages towards us They deal like themselves they do but their kind as we say If fals hearted persons deal falsly If loose men shew themselves base to us it s that they do to al yea to their own Souls we expect no other and therefore if we find no better measure it doth not trouble If it had been an Enemy I could have born it saies David but when it comes to that It was thou my familiar Friend we took sweet counsel and went up to the house of the Lord together It was he that lift up himself against me this is more bitter than death It is so with the Lord. If the Ignorant world who knows him not who are strangers from him and the convenant of his Grace If the wicked and prophane who are professed adversaries to his Grace and Kingdom if they dishonor his name transgress his Laws grieve his spirit and cast his Ordinances behind their back It I say the world deal so with the Lord he looks for no other he hates the world he never gave his Son for the world Christ never prayed for the world But that his faithful whom he hath owned imbraced in the Bowels of his tenderest mercies should deal frowardly in his covenant this is killing unkindness Will ye also go away Joh. 6.67 When the Crown of those counterfeit wretches who followed Christ for the Loaves when they missed of their Dinner and sweet morsels they departed presently and came no more at him Our Savior is content to see so free a riddance of them and the place quit of their company But turnes himself to his disciples with that melting expression wil ye also go away q. d. That they are gone I care not it matters not I never knew them nor was known of them but wil ye also go away that would be unsufferable Though Israel play the Harlot yet let not Judah offend And hence it is The Lord is compelled with such unreasonable carriages to make his complaint unto the senseless creatures as those who would give in witness against such miscarriages as professedly cross to the course of things Hearken O Heaven and hear O Earth I have nourished and brought up Children and they have rebelled against me Isa 1.2 And upon this ground it is the Lord makes that so sad an expression when the Sons of God married with the Daughters of men and were carried with the common stream Gen. 6.6 The Text saith It grieved God to the Heart It went to the heart of the Almighty Bears any thing but the Contempt of his love and goodness For it is a sin out of measure sinful Not only that which Nature gainsaies and reason rejects and conscience condemnes and Grace abhorres to the bottomless pit But it is a practise more vile than the worst of sinners wil adventure upon Math. 5.46 If ye love them that love you what reward have ye Do not the Publicans the same Not to return love for love c. It s that which the Publicans the worst and most reffuse wretches in the world do loath For the faithful who have been redeemed by the precious Blood of Jesus comforted by the spirit of Jesus beloved of the Father as the Lord Jesus his only begotten Son for them to be tainted with that sin which the Publicans the worst of men wil give witness against Oh how hamous are such miscarâ—iages and how grievous must they needs be to the God of love I shal Instance in two Evils unto which the Saints are usually too much subject and taken aside withal which are so professedly opposite to this enlarged compassion of the Lord. 1. When the Faithful either question this Love when it is so sure Or 2. Undervalue it and little esteem of it when it is so great as that it exceeds the thoughts and apprehensions of men Both are marvelously distastful and that justly to the Father of Mercies and in truth unsufferable were it not that he makes us acceptable and lovely through his wel-beloved It could not be that he could bear with the abuse of his constant kindness in so gross and unkind manner and yet this is the baseness and wretchedness of our unreasonable hearts He hath loved us with an everlasting Love he never ceaseth loving and we never cease questioning and quarrelling with his kindness we are ever of the jealous and suspicious hand that this favor of the Lord it is but for a fit it wil one day fail and we shal be forsaken utterly If Christ wil cease to be a Son and to be this wel-beloved of his Father with whom he is wel pleased then wil he cease to love thee to accept of thee and to be wel pleased with thee in him The one is impossible the other is incredible and therefore stifle those distempered pangs they are so deeply injurious to the Lord and distastful to his Majesty that he cannot bear them but wil undoubtedly correct Such a way-ward jealous pang ye shal perceive in the Church of the Jews in the day of Discouragement when God cals Heaven and Earth to rejoyce in the Consolation of his People Sing O Heavens and be joyful of Earth break forth into singing O Mountains for God hath comforted his People and will have mercy on his afflicted Isa 49.13 but they were silent in this Quaere and sate down in sullen discouragement verse 14. But Zion said The Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me Can a Woman forget her sucking Child that she should not have compassion on the fruit of her Womb yea they may but yet will not I forget thee verse 15. and therefore the Lord professeth he takes it unkindly Isa 40.27 Why sayest thou O Jacob and speakest O Israel amp c. This is the dayly talk of al dismayed and gloomy discouraged Spirits it 's al they speak and have in their Meetings Jacob saies and Israel speaks this is common My way in hid from the Lord and my Judgment is passed over of my God Thus ye say but what saies God Why speakest thou c. q. d. I cannot abide those words God cannot brook such groundless suspicions of his Favor which is more sure than the Foundations of the Earth As it is whith men who are real and cordial in their kindness and sincere hearted in the expression of their Love so that they never gave the least appearance of any instability and feebleness in their Promises and Performances as either their engagements or others desires or necessities should require if yet their Friends and intimate Familiars should out of their jealousie either cast out such words in their presence or give it in their expressions to others to understand That however they have ever been
that is the Father appointing and sending The other Viz. The Son coming upon that commission of love and life for the good of his which they knew and in which they rejoyce That Christ who was in the commission to work this and they for whom it was wrought and knew it have an interest in it and take content to injoy it That such persons should Beg for such Priviledges From such a Father whose heart is towards them and their minds and hearts towards him and his Fatherly affection This must of necessity be of great power to prevail with so righteous a Father to hear and grant therefore we must hold it to this point and respect Christ knows him as a righteous Father The Lord Christ hath the knowledg of the Father and his love and Faithfulness in an especial manner Take a place or two which wil give undeniable testimony to this truth Math. 11.25 No man knows the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son wil reveal him Joh. 1.18 No man hath seen the Father at any time but the only begotten Son who was in the Bosom of the Father He saw al his Bosom secrets and was fully acquainted with Gods heart and counsels he hath revealed them unto us And therefore the Apostle issues al here speaking concerning the deep things of God The Spirit searcheth the deep things of God that is of the Father but how come we to rellish either the things of the Father or Spirit who hath known the mind of God Why we have Christs mind and he knows the Fathers mind And our Savior professeth as much touching this expression Joh. 8â—38 Ye speak the things that ye have seen with your Father and I speak the things that I have seen with my Father Here we shal open three things 1. How Christ as Second Person is said to knâ—w the Father 2. How as Man becomes to share in this knowledg 3. The Reason of it To the First For the right apprehending how the Second Person may in a peculiar manner be said to know the Father we must conceive that the knowledg of Christ as Second person may be attended upon a double consideration or ground 1. As it Issues from the understanding of the God-Head For God according to the expression of the Scripture being a Spirit of al other most excellent and therefore reasonable he must have the most excellent faculties and therefore understanding and wil. For what is most eminent that we have allowance from the rule to beleeve that it doth belong to the God-Head and we may so conceive of it From this understanding it is that the God-Head is said to be Omniscient to know al things that are knowable This being an Attribute of the Deity it doth equally belong to al the persons For al the Persons having one and the same God-Head they have equally al the Attributes of the God-Head indifferently equally belonging to them Therefore al are eternal immortal infinâ—e Omnipotent Omniâ—cient and so know al things and â—o know each other in this generall sense and the Father and spirit know the Son and He them by this kind of knowledg But this is too large not here attended For it is not proper to say That the God-Head knows the Father to be Father of it with that speciâ—l reference or that the God-Head should cal the Father my Father I say it is not proper nay it is not true For the Father is not the Father of the God-Head but of the Son If it could cal the Father as Father of it then it should be the Son of the Father then it should be begotten of the Father But the Father begets the Son not the God-Head That which belongs to the God-Head belongs to al the persons as being common then to the Spirit Then the spirit might know and cal the Father the Father of it but that he is not That which belongs to the God-Head belongs to the Father and so the Father might be a Son to himself 2. This knowledg is to be considered according as it attends the manner of the work of the understanding which carries a specialty of respect with it in the act thereof and so it may in a peculiar manner be affirmed of Father and Son and in the several regards appropriated unto either The reason whereof we shal scan anon as it comes in our way when the understanding of the God-Head by knowing it self conceiveth an image of it self makes an impress or engraven character of it self which it ever eyes and owns this manner of knowing belongs to the Father and thence Issues an especial manner of knowing the Father by and in the Son As Joh. 10.15 As the Father knows me I know the Father And that appears in a Three-fold act of the Son 1. The Son takes the Impression of his Image 2. Returnes it 3. Eyes and ownes the Imprinter of it 1. Takes this Impression The Father gives him Sonship and the nature of al relation requires they give being each to other The Father by understanding conceives an Image the Son is the Image conceived As a man is not a Father because he is a man but because he begets a Son A man is not a Son because he is a man but because he is begotten of a Father So the God-Head is not a Father because God-Head but because it conceives an Image of it self The Son is not a Son because God but because he is conceived of another who did conceive This is the meaning of the Apostle The words are marvailous pat and Pithy and carry wieght with them but answer exactly to the thing in Hand Hebr. 1.3 Christ as the second person is called The Ingraven Form or Character of the Fathers Person The word signifies to ingrave and implies an Image of a thing not feigned only in our mind and Imagination nor vanishing and changing as in a representation in a Glass as the form of the face thâ—re But a form or resemblance Ingraven Cut or instamped on Brass or Wood which hath stability permanency with it As Beza in Locum 2. Returns this Impression As the Son takes all from the Father â—o he Returns al to the Father It is the Nature of those things that are relates or in relation to look one towards another and to give being relative one to another That is the meaning of the Apostles other phrase in the place formerly alledged Hebr. 1.3 Christ is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Shine of his glory the word signifies a Light or brightness shining from a Light a shine from a light reflecting or looking back to that reflection of light again And here by the way ye have the rise and reason of these divers manners of understanding in the God-Head and so the diverse subsistences and Personalities Namely because the understanding of the God-Head acting upon it self it becomes to be reflected and turned back upon it self If there be a reflect act
wil a little make some search with Sobriety so far as may help us to understand the place in hand Thus our Savior makes it the Head Corner Stone of our Confidence This is Eternal Life to know thee that is the Father to be only God not he only to be God but to be the only God there is but one only Deity and he hath that only God-head and what beside and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ Know him as a Christ annointed and fitted and as a Jesus a Savior who hath performed the work and that he is sent for that very End and Errand and for that purpose from God the Father For had our Savior done it if he had not been sent the Soul would have been at a loss whether he had ever satisfied or should ever be accepted But when our Faith can reach this That the Father who is the only God hath sent him he wil then assist and accept and we should go no further seek no other we then â—it down and are at rest John 12.44 We shall therefore make way for the Discovery of the Nature of this Sending by the Propositions following 1. This Sending taken in a ful Sense is not an Act of the Deity or Divine Nature properly but of the Person or Persons in the Deity who nextly and immediately dispenseth it Reas That which is an Act of the Deity or God-head belongs indifferently and equally to al the Persons in that al are equally God and have the Essence of the Deity and al the Essential Attributes equally attributed to them al. As al are Eternal Omnipotent all Create Decree c. But to send much less to send the Lord Christ doth not belong to al the Persons The Spirit is never said to send in the Phrase of Scripture nor is the Father ever said to be sent And this shal be further cleared and proved in the Conclusions that follow and by the Nature of Mission as it 's set forth to us in the Word 2. This Sending hath a double Reference 1. To the Person that is sent 2. To the thing about which he is sent namely When the Person sent leaves a new act or impression upon the Creature so that the Creature is said to be otherwise than it was and to have somthing which formerly it had not and the Person is sent on purpose to leave such operations and impressions God sent his Son made of a Woman sent him to take our Nature here the second person takes our Nature into personal union with him Sanctifies it unites it supports it Though Christ be the same yet here be new impressions which appear in the Creature which formerly did not I wil send the Comforter and be shal teach you and lead you into al truth Here be new and diverse expressions of the work of the Spirit appearing which formerly did not Joh. 16.10.11 The second respect implies ever the first the sending to a work implies a person that must be and is sent to that end though then these may be distinguished in our reason and consideration yet in the Nature of the thing the one is included in the other 3. Sending when it respects a Person properly It ever implies in the Nature of the thing The Authority of him that sends in respect of the party that is sent I say Authority but not of rule or Dominion so much as Authority of Order Communication of work from one to another and in this sense which is a proper and true sense he only can be said to be sent who works from another whether it be in way of Origination or firstness of Order to be first beginner or setter in of a work before al other or whether it be in regard of operative or active production when several persons may as one Joint principle put forth a work for the producing They are not one in order before another but both meet as one principle and producer or bringer forth of the other And therefore hence it is plain and undeniably Evident which ye must especially observe that in this breadth and extent of sending which the Scripture speaks to The Son and the Spirit are only said to be sent and it is never and indeed it can never be affirmed of the Father If sending imply Authority of Order and communication of work from another then there is none can send the Father because there is none in Order before him nor can he be sent because he works of himself and from himself nor from another therefore cannot be sent from another Hence again it follows The Spirit may be sent from the Father and the Son and the Father and the Son may sent because the Spirit the Holy Ghost works in Order from both and there is Authority of Order and communication from both Gal. 4.6 God hath sent forth the Spirit of the Son That is the Father as appears by the distinction of Son in the words Joh. 15.26 When the Comforter is come whom I wil send unto you from the Father Joh. 14.26 When the Comforter is come whom the Father wil send in my Name Hence Christ can only be said to be sent of the Father not of the Holy Ghost I speak now of this internal sending which is attended only in regard of the Person not of the thing about which he is sent the Reason and ground is the same Sending implies the Authority of Order and Communication of work from one to another but the Son works only from the Father therefore can be said only to be sent from the Father Hence are there so many expressions and confessions of our Savior in this kind almost in every verse when he would settle his commission Joh. 5.30 I seek not mine own Wil but the Wil of my Father which sent me And verse 36. I have greater witness than that of John for the works which the Father hath given me to finish they bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me 4. Propos This sending of our Savior is the first of al others and makes way for al other sending or spiritual good things that are sent unto us from God Have this have al make sure of this make sure of al maintaine this maintain a certain intercourse and Communication of al good things unto our Souls from the Lord. This is the first out filet of God everlasting love and goodness 1 Joh 4.9 God so loved us that he sent his only begotten Son c. There is no expectation of the Spirit there is mo possibility of having no in truth of the sending of the Spirit but only by this way and upon this ground Joh. 16.7 It behooves that I go away for unless I go the Spirit wil not come unto you but if I go I wil send him No coming of the spirit unless he had first come Unless he go to Heaven no sending of the Spirit from Heaven As it is true for the measure in regard
who had his Being from him and so his working In the daies of his Humiliation he laid aside the Dispensation of Power and suffered the Power of darkness to prevail but now he desires al might be restored to him verse 5. Al these belong to Christ God-man in regard of the Union of our Nature with his Person And this is the Love that is here intended Reas 1. Love of the highest strain and pitch of greatest and choycest Excellency is here intended and understood This is the Standard to al the rest But the Love of God to Christ is the cause of other the Blessings and Benefits that are bestowed John 3.35 The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hands Therefore this Love is a peerless and unmatchable Love al other things which are given to our Savior Grace Glory al Power in Heaven and Earth are but the effects of it Again Joh. 17.24 The glory that our Savior hath given him of the Father it is said to Issue from a higher fountain and to be but a stream of it Namely The Father loved him from the foundation of the World Love is from Eternity the fruits are in time Lastly The whol Tenor of the Prayer and expressions of our Savior in this Chapter gives further evidence and argument to confirm it 2. How is this Love said to be in them When this love of God in Christ sets God on work to wil a like or proportionable good to the Creature I would say thus When God wils to have a Creature neer to him in his Son as his Son to communicate intimately with the Creature through his Christ as his Christ Then this love leaves a being like it self upon the Creature It s then in its vertue and efficacy in the fatithful It was with God put forth upon Christ before the World was and therefore much more before they were But our Saviors Prayer is that this love which was expressed upon him might also be extended unto his made effectual and operative in his It s true the expressions of common love and the communication of ordinary good is of larger extent and issues from God as the Creator of al and he that is the first being and so gives being to al Creatures But special union to be so high unto God and to communicate so intimately with him it s firstly here to be seen and from hence therefore must be derived to all such who shal be so Priviledged as to be made partakers thereof 3. The Means and Order how this is done Answ The means by which God doth convey the efficacy of this love wherewith he loved his Son unto his Saints may be thus conceived As the eternal generation of the Son from the Father was the foundation of his love of the Father to the Son as we have shewed he begat him knew and owned and loved him So the vertue of this eternal generation is the Cause whence this love comes to have a being in the Saints For out of this eternal generation it is that God sends his Son The Son being sent acts under that Authoritative Order and doth answer the purpose of the Father And as Second Adam and as Son and as begotten of the Father he assumes ouâ— Nature into personal union with himself becomes Head of the Covenant and as he was begotten of the Father so he begets Children unto God the Father Therefore he is called the eternal Father and the Father is said to beget Children because Christ doth as sent by God the Father 1 Pet. 1.3 The Father begets us through his resurrection Joh. 13. Born of God And thence they have the Spirit of Sons So in the text The love wherewith thou hast loved them may be in them But how is that And I in them That our Savior adds to intimate how this comes about 4. When is this done Answ When the love of God in Christ set Gods love or set God on work to send Christ begotten of him to beget Children to him And then this love through Christ leaves like impression and operations upon the Soul 1. Brings the Soul into neerest union with God through Christ 2. Most intimately communicates of the special operations of the Spirit of the Father through Christ 1. Brings the finner into neerest union to wit Christ is in the Soul Rom. 8.10 If Christ be in you the Body is dead c. Yea dwelt in the heart Eph. 3.17 And God by and through Christ Rom. 8.9 So Joh. 17.23 I in them and thou in me So 1 Joh. 2.24 Ye shall continue in the Son and in the Father 1 Thess 1.1 The Church which is in God the Father and in our Lord Jesus Christ 2. Leaves like operations the most intimate and special communion of the Spirit of Christ and the Soul So that God doth al through Christ by man he doth nothing of nor from himself Thus Christ is al in al Col. 3.11 And the sinner is wholly now beyond the covenant of works made with Adam and with him in Adam So that as Paul observes I live not but Christ lives in me Gal. 2.20 I work not I but the Grace of God with me 1 Cor. 15.10 And Christ in me Coloss 1. and last Verse When the love of God in Christ sets God on work to send his Son begotten of him to beget Sons unto him so that he brings them to the neerest union God in Christ and Christ he one in them They in Christ and through Christ in God the Father So that the Father in Christ doth al by them they nothing of themselves receives also al from them they take nothing to themselves Then this love of Christ is in them and leaves a like efficacious impression upon them Hence a double Collection 1. We may hence learn how to come to a right apprehension of Gods special love and so to a right explication and understanding of several Scriptures thereby Gods special love is when he purposeth to make the Creature neer to him in his Son as his Son is neer The Father is in his Son Christ in the Faithful and the Father by Christ in them Christ is in the Father the Faithful in Christ and by him in the Father He doth intimately communicate with them through his Christ as with his Christ God by Christ doth al by them they not of themselves He through Christ receives al from them they take nothing to themselves This Love is like the main Hinge upon which the whol Frame of Gods Dispensations turn and many Scriptures seem to be made familiar and somwhat open hereby As this Because I wil make a Creature to me in my Son as my Son therefore I wil Elect him to set out this Love And therefore create and give Grace and because his own Grace cannot bring him so neer as my Son he shal through his default fal and then I wil send my Son and he shal take Humane Nature into Personal
acknowledgment thereof And to speak once for all 1. What the word the weight of the phrase carries 2. In what regard our Savior is said to be sent 3. Wherein this sending lies 1. The word sending or as the Latin phrase hath it Mission carries ever two things in it 1. The Authority of him that sends in respect of the party that is sent but it is not the authority of dominion and rule so much as that Authority of order or communication of a work from one unto another And in this sence he only can be said to be sent who works from another and works not originally from himself 2. It implies a new act or impression upon the creature whereby it hath it's self in some other frame or disposition than formerly Take it in this breadth and extent you shal find that in scripture the Son and holy Spirit are only said to be sent and it is never attributed to the Father Gal. 4.4 God sent his son Joh. 15.26 But when the Comforter shall come whom I will send unto you from the Father And this cannot be any created Grace or work for the words following determine that full The Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father Joh. 14.20 But the Comforter which is the holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name When-ever then the action with the manner also from such a person are comprehended in this sending It is 〈◊〉 given to or affirmed of the Father because it sigâ—â—â—ie not an act only expressed by a person but an 〈◊〉 from a person in such a manner as that he hath Auâ—â—â—â—â—y in way of order originally to act before another at the least And the other to act from him But because the Father cannot act from the Son and Holy Ghost but both Son and Holy Ghost they do not act only but act in their order and manner from another the Son from the Father and the Holy Ghost from both therefore they are truly said to be sent But if they look at the act only which is expressed upon the creature then this sending is and ought to be given to all the presons As the Incarnation of our Savior is one thing in his sending Therefore those two are joined God sent his Son made of a Woman as made so sent and herein the Holy Ghost had a hand whether we look at the sanctification of the seed in the Womb or the uniting of it to the second person There al the persons work So likewise in the dispensation of the office of our Savior in his whol proceeding the works of the Holy Ghost went along Isa 61. The Spirit of God was upon me he sent me to preach and he preached and performed all those great works by the strength and operation of his spirit 2. In what regard our Savior is said to be sent Not as the second person in the glorious Trinity whereby he is God blessed for ever equal with the Father for so the Apostle professeth Phil. 2.6 Being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God i.e. Had the glory of the Deity truly appertaining to him and the God-Head dwelling in him and knew his own worth and right therefore willingly submitted himself to that Under-condition not by constraint for he wel understood what his due was But as he was God and man and assumed our Nature and became mediator in our Room and stead So he professeth of himself That his Father is greater than he As he took upon him the forme of a servant became our surety and came in the similitude of sinful flesh yet without sin Joh. 14.28 In his voluntary and free dispensation as he was willing to take our flesh and dwel thereby amongst us so is he inferiour to himself as God and so to his Father And yet take the work it self and the manner of the work as it was explicated before and the phrase of sending implies he is only sent of the Father But look at the work Earely he may be said to be sent by all but that is unusual nay in open phrase never to be found in Scripture because the word comes not in that sense to our view As he becomes to take our Nature so he was sent But as Son by eternal generation he is made fit to take our Nature And therefore it is the assuming of Human Nature is made a propriety a thing peculiar to the second person Insomuch that it is heresie to say the Father was incarnate or the Holy Ghost incarnate What ever appertaines to our Savior as the second person and as the Son of the Father that he had by eternal generation and in a peculiar manner from the Father But as second person he assumes and so is sent and dispenseth the work of our Redemption Therefore so far he is in a peculiar manner sent from the Father and in this sense he is never said to be sent but from the Father in the Verdict of Scripture 2. As he assumes and becomes incarnate so is our Nature taken into personal union with the second person so far is it advanced and hath a priviledg and liberty to use any Attribute so far he sends the spirit even the Holy Ghost from the Father and dispenseth al power from the Father by the spirit for the Good of his And therefore so far he doth al in al as he is sent from the Father in a peculiar manner In a word hence it appears that the work of incarnation as he took our Nature the work of dispensation in sending the spirit appointing al Officers Offices ordinances and accompanying and blessing all for good Issues in a peculiar manner from this his sending from the Father Which the wicked world doth not see will not acknowledg cannot submit unto but they shal one day be forced unto it Hence it is our Savior alwaies professeth he doth al as sent Joh. 5.36 Arms himself by his sending against al. Joh. 10.36 Looks wholly and only at that work for which he was sent Joh. 5.30 And generally all runs upon this string comforts all from his sending As my Father sent me So I send you shews the greatness of their sin that oppose him He that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me 3. Wherein this sending consists look at the work of it Answer in four things 1. He is appointed and set apart to this great imployment and Ambassage Joh. 6.27 For him hath God the Father sealed Jsa 49.5 I have formed thee from the Womb to be my servant to bring Jacob again And verse 6. That thou maist be my Salvation to the end of the Earth He is now in Gods counsel and everlasting decree designed to this so great a work and in his season called out to the execution sent from his Bosom abroad into this world to act the great affaires of Gods everlasting purposes touching the recovery of man 2. The Father committed this so
1.1 The Word with God that is the Father and it was God that is had the Essence of the Deity 2. As the Subsistences look at the Essence with his Relative Properties so in Relation each Person gives being each to another and is one in another John 14.9 The Father dwels in Christ That cannot in any propriety of speech be said of the Essence that the Persons dwel in the God-head because they are Relations and therefore no impression in the subject So hence our Savior is said to be in the bosom and come from the Bosom of the Father Hence he is said Joh. 10.15 As the Father knowes me even so I know the Father Which Issues from this relation For its that which appertaines to the Nature of Relates because they are mutual causes one of another the knowledge of the one is the knowledg of the other And this also seems to be the meaning of that Joh. 10.30 I and my Father are one The Jews they conceived he blasphemed because he made himself God Verse 33. Our Savior defends himself thus Say ye of him whom the Father hath sent that he blasphemeth because I said I am the Son of God verse 36. And so the Argument may well stand that they are one in relation and so one in another for having said that none shall pluck his sheep out of his hand he gives this relation because the Father who hath given them him is greater than al and none can pluck them out of his hand If none can puck them out of my Fathers hand then not out of mine If my Father and I be one then it follows but we are one One in this reference and relation one to another and so in this action of sending and being sent both as one attend the accomplishment of this work We here want examples to Illustrate because the creature cannot afford in propreity of speech one essence to relation yet a little to help take that which is familiar As my hand is closing and closed These two as they look to the hand are with it and with one another As they look to the hand closing And so closed closing and closed are causes each of other and one in another So in the deity these properties of knowing and being known like closing and being closed with it self as they look at the essence or God-Head they are with it and one with another 4. This subsisting each in other is not an Individual relative porperty but a notional respect which attend al the relations of the persons in common therefore cannot make any distinct personality But appertaines to al and is and may be affirmed of al as relatives giving being each to other they abide each in other As the Scripture phrase the Father dwels in the Son Three Things for Explication Viz. How this may be attended in our Savior as God and man for so he seems to speak of himself in this place in the several passages For so he is in the faithful so he received glory and gave glory verse 22. So he was sent verse 18. In such mysteries that we may be wise unto sobriety and yet not slorthful neither too curious to search more than we need nor yet too careless to neglect what God reveales we shal study to walk in a safe path and therefore I briefly answer generally particularly Generally This In-being or subsistence in the Father belongs firstly to the Son as second person and to the human Nature so far as the relation of Sonship leaves some impression and so alteration thereupon according to the Nature and condition thereof So that the second person in the Trinity is no other nor acts no otherwise than he did in himself But this manner of existing or acting appears in the Human Nature and leaves new impressions in a special manner and the Father also in and by him and that in a three-fold regard Viz. Of Vnion Mission Operation The Father his act in the son and the son from the Father discover new impressions here and all of them in a special manner follow these relations 1. The second person takes the Human Nature into Personal UNION with himself so that there are not two Sons but one son and therefore as the son is in the Father the Human Nature by the son may be said so to be being one person with him For as the Father gives being to the Son and the son receiving returnes his being unto the Father So the Human Nature hath a total dependance upon the Son and reference to him and in him to the Father And therefore as to be reflected is the property of the second person or looking back to the Father or returning his subsistence So our Nature in Christ looks to Christ having a total dependance upon Christ and being one person with him looks as the second person wholly to the Father And whether the return of the Saints in God and of al things in them be not firstly from hence inquire it wil do you no harm 2. In regard of MISSION The son in regard of this relation is said to be sent that is a communication of work in order from one to another so as the second person works from the Father he originally from himself The second person takes the Human Nature into this order of Mission So that al Grace is bestowed upon it and it is sent upon commission in the Mission of the second person to which it is now united to dispense all Grace according to the will of the Father Joh. 16.15 All that the Father hath is mine Thus he becomes the Head of the Church For the second person in the Trinity sent of the Father works next in order from him As so sent and working terminates the Human Nature upon himself for the great work of Redemption And so its proper to him bringing our Human Nature under the commission offending to have al Grace firstly in way of right of communication He being thus sent and having the commission of al Grace he is head of the Church neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit in propriety of speech Thus said to give him authority to Judg because he is the son of man Joh. 5.27 That is because he is taken into personal union and so under that commission as sent from the Fathers as the second person was Thus usually he shews authority Joh. 14.20 The word which you hear is not mine but the Fathers which sent me And verse 26. The Father sends the comforter in the name of Christ therefore the commission was first his 3. In regard of OPERATION For the second person in vertue of that his relation he not only hath commission from another but works from another and so executes the wil of the Father And thus lastly the second person takes the Human Nature into this dispensation to work al from the Father and that the second person doth by vertue of this relation and so of
this In-being of the Father in him See the very ground given Joh. 10.10 The word I speak is not mine but the Father that dwels in me c. Joh. 8.38 For the works sake beleâ—ve that the Father is in me and I in the Father Joh. 5. The Son doth nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do Issue the whol Thus. What ever the second person and Son of God as such doth that he doth by vertue of his eternal generation from the Father and from his abiding in him But as Son he takes our Nature into personal union with himself and as Son advanceth it to that priviledg and liberty to set al the Attributes on work and to send the Holy Ghost yea sends al Officers and appoints al Offices and blesseth them Therefore by vertue of this his eternal generation from the Father and his abiding in him this Union Mission and Operation of the Human Nature proceeds The second person by this eternal generation from the Father and abiding in him is reflected upon the Father and as the Father hath an Eye only to the son in giving the susibstence of a Son the Son hath an Eye to the Father in returning the subsistence of a son to him they wholly give and take So the Son uniting the Human Nature into one person holds it in reference and dependance with himself upon the Father All is communicated to him as sent and so to the Human Nature All acted by him and so by the Human Nature The In-being or existence of the Father in the Son is the first rise whence the unity of the faithful with the Father and the Son comes to be perfected Hither our Savior ascends and here he staies Leads us to the Well-Head and fountain whence our spiritual wellface and everlasting good Issues And this is the highest of al and higher we cannot go beyond this visible world and al creatures therein even to Heaven and in Heaven above Angels to God and in the God-Head to the first original in the glorious and blessed Trinity and the first act in that origination To this accords that of the Apostle each place adds mutual light unto the other Col. 3.3 We are dead and our life is hid with Christ in God Christ is the Treasurer but the Father is the Author Christ is the keeper but the Father is the first Appointer thereof For so you must understand the Name God not essentially but personally being put in opposition and reference unto Christ our life is hid with Christ but Christ and life and al is in God in the Father Upon this ground it is and to the like purpose that the Apostle carries the hearts of the Corinthians in the work of their calling unto this consideration as that wherein the lowest part of the foundation of our comfort lies 1 Cor. 1.30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God in made unto us wisedom righteousness Sanctification and Redemption Christ is all even complete Redemption who delivers from the power and presence of al evil and gives all Grace quickens what he gives perfects what he quickens owns what he perfects But he is made this to us not of himself but of the Father for so stil the word and Name of God is to be taken as appears verse 24. Christ is the power of God and the Wisedom of God Christ is made our Redemption and we are made his redeemed ones and the Father makes both he our Redemption and we his redeemed And this is the cause why the Apostle is so inlarged inlaying forâ—h the soveraignty of the Fathers work beyond al the compass either of the being of the creature or the Graces and apprehensions of all Churches Eph. 4.5 6. There is one Lord Jesus one Faith and one Baptisme one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you al. Above al even in the highest power that is dispensed in his Church Christ is the Head and Husband the Holy Spirit the comforter God is the Father Through al the operations and administrations that are in the Churches and Graces dispensed He sends his Son to the great work of our Redemption God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself 2 Tim. 1.4 Given us Grace in Christ Jesus before the world was He sends the Spirit in the work of Application Joh. 26. In all the Saints as drawing and conjoining the hearts of the faithful as fellow Brethren unto himself with the Father and one to another in him and for him So one in relation here as wel as in a Savior And from hence lastly it is we meet usually with that phrase which may receive a right explication and true understanding from t he point in hand 1 Then 1.1 To the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and in our Lord Jesus And that so al the Churches and al the faithful are in God the Father as the Father of the Churches in the Son as the Head of the Church In the Father who out of the Authority or priority of order not of dominion first appoints our Savior to the word and the work to him In the Lord Jesus as he is appointed by the Mission to work from the Father and by commission sent as man united to the second person to have al Graces first in way and right of communication to the Church The Father he knows the Son there is the Deity and al the excellencies thereof reflecting exemplifying or characterising upon it self where the expressions of the Deity and all the excellency thereof exemplifying from it self that 's to be in the Father that is it is in the vertue of the Father that it is so done The Son again as the Character reflected or exemplified and where this examplification or excellencies returned again is to be seen so far the Soul may be said to be in Christ that is in his vertue not looking so much at the work or thing done for that Issues from all but at the manner of doing and carry that along it wil direst and not deceive Open the Doctrin 1. Recal what this Oneness is 2. How it s Perfected The first I shal not trouble you withal because I have heretofore opened it at large only mention so much as you may keep your Eye or consideration upon it as the White or Mark that you may discern how the following expressions hit it Briefly then This unity as ye have heard is not the Oneness of affection amongst the Saints but the Oneness of relation they have to God in Christ as his Adopted ones One with us nor one with themselves This Oneness of Relation lies here in that our Saviour doth not bring the Souls of the faithful in neerest relations of dearest love as adopted Sons but also into that spiritual intercourse of peculiar and divine operation of God upon the Soul whereby the Soul returnes unto God to do al and to take al.
him as we have heard But the same Spirit by the same power that raised Christ from the dead works it Eph. 1.20 No man comes unless the Father draw John 6.44 He that hath heard and learned of the Father comes verse 45. He it is that begets us again by the Word of Truth Jam. 1.18 2. Adams closing with God in the performance of this Covenant was in this That he did imitate the Lord in the manner of his Work for that was the excellency of his Image to work as God had wrought To do not what God requited only but to wil Gods Wil that is to meet with him and to concur with him in the Act of his Will As the Clock doth with the Sun at the point of such an hour when the Sun goes twelve it strikes twelve or as ye have heard somtimes two Clocks meet and melt into the same stroak at an instant To wil as he love as he delight as he Make my heart one with thee Psal 86.11 Acts 13.22 Col. 4.12 But every Saâ—â— of God that by his Spirit is carried to him he is made one with Christ in an unspeakable manner 1. The Soul is pitched immediately upon the Deity and so the Father Son and Holy Ghost and in the most intimate Union that can be imagined Not as the Branches to the Vine John 15.1 nor as the Members to the Head Eph. 1.22 but yet neerer they are bone of his bone and flâ—sh of his flesh and that is neerer than to be Members to a Head Eph. 5. and 30.32 yea are one Spirit â—ith him 1 Cor. 6.17 and this is beyond the compass of al that sufficiency and excellency God implaâ—ted in Adam The Spirit of the Lord Jesus that caâ—ried the Soul to the Father and Christ closeth the â—oul with the Spirit of the Father and Christ By the Spirit from the Father and Christ we close with the Spirit in Christ and the Father If the Spirit which raised Christ from the dead be in you Rom. 8.11 As by the same Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 Adam had Supernatural Grace but this â—s more than Supernatural for that was not able to incorporate the Soul into Christ The Lord by his Eternal Spirit plucks him from his sin carries him to himself and puâ—s him under the power of the Spirit of the Second Adam As the first Adam by natural Generation turns the Soul from God to Sin puts it under the right and rule of the perverted mutability or disobedience and curse of the first Adam Adam traded out of his own Stock and from those Principles of Grace he had received and the Lord had implanted in his Nature coming into the World gifted and qualified from the bounty goodness and faithfulness of the Lord And therefore it 's said He had wherein to rejoyce had he obeyed and performed the Covenant and wrought for his Life But beleevers are not in their own hands nor at their own finding but kept in the hand of Christ and live meerly and immediately upon dependance have all their Store and Stock in the hand of the Lord Jesus are brought and taken into fellowship with the Father and his Son and thence fetch al that dayly quickening and efficacious influence of the Favor and presence of the Lord to carry them out to al the Duties they do Thus the Apostle Gal. 2.20 I live not but Christ lives in me and that I do now live The Fountain of Life is not firstly in himself Adam might have said I live by the Power and Principle of Grace received and in which I was created and thereby I have pleased God and according to the Covenant of Works may challenge life and happiness But Paul in the Person of al beleeving sinners professeth that I live not Christ hath brought me to himself made me one with himself that he might be al in al to me and work al by me We are dead and our Life is hid with Christ in God Christ is the Keeper of our Life the Father the Author of it So that it is not any Power in Man or Principle of Grace whereby we come firstly to close with God but the Spiritual Union of the Faithful is of a higher or neerer Nature than that it can at the first readily be apprehended namely not by the Power of Man or Principle of Grace for al this is but a Creature never brought the Soul to God or kept it with him But the power of the Deity in Christ by his Spirit hath fitted me for himself and hath carried me to himself made me one Spirit with himself doth al for himself in me that he may receive al to himself from me and I might wholly have such a desire that al that we have may hold out his Excellency in al these his Dispensations and so have nothing of my self do nothing from my self which excludes Works wholly Here the Soul is compassed about with al the Power of Heaven nothing but with the power of God in Christ Whereas Adam who did somting of himself from a Principle he had so he might have taken somthing to himself he had whereof to rejoyce But God in this way and work he doth al from himself by man no man doth it He receives al to himself from Man Man must take nothing 2. Love of complacency that the Father takes content and solaceth himself in the enjoyment of his Faithful whom he hath thus chosen out of the World therfore termed his own Joh. 13.1 A little of our own say we gives to little content and rest to their owner A mans own house he delights to lodg in delights to converse with his own servants or little ones Thus the Lord is said to know the righteous not to know the way of the Vngodly Depart I know you not As a man is said to own such a person so educated As the sensible Creatures can own their Mates and their yong by the sence they scent the Nature of such and own somthing of themselves in them as generated of them So he that hath not the Spirit is none of Christs the Spirit which God the Father sent in Christs Name by that his are owned As somtime a Parent when the Child sent into a far Country and conceived to be lost and dead shall yet return there is some manner of his Speech some Natural guise in his Carriage some cast of his Look whereby the Parent wil own him and know him for his As there was a secret owning and yerning of Bowels in the true Mother to the Child when it could not be determined whose it was So God the Father who hath sent the Spirit of his Son into the hearts of his he cannot but know and acknowledg it and take complacency and contentment in it Rom. 8.27 he is said to know the meaning of his Spirit Hence they are called Gods precious ones Isai 43.4 his Jewels Mal. 3.17 yea Christ professeth he is ravished
Earth And truly were their hopes only in this life they were of all men most miserable and further than this Life men do not look nor can in truth see wanting Faiths Prospective which is the Evidence of things not seen that they so judg nay conclude it as beyond controversie And this somtime stumbled holy Asaph Psal 73. See also 1 John 3.1 2. Our Life is hid with Christ in God when Christ who is our Life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in Glory Because their Understandings are wholly perverted and their hearts also so corrupt that they are not able to judg of the Love of the Lord or the evidencing expressions thereof The god of this World hath so blinded their eyes that the beauty of Gods Grace and so the beams and heat of Gods Love cannot come home to their Consciences to convince them thereof And such is the corrupt distempered frame of their hearts that they savor only the things of the Flesh and not to have things suit their sensual Appetite or to contrive Contentments to their own carnal Affections they count it the greatest curse and expression of Gods distast and displeasure that may be The carnal heart savors the things of the Flesh nothing seems sweet unless it suits his corruption So that If the Life of a Beleever and so the Evidences of Gods Love be hid and cannot be discerned The hearts and minds of the World be so perverted and surfeted with the sweetness of their own lusts that they cannot judg of the fruits of Gods Love though presented before them Then it is no marvel that they do not know it nor acknowledg it as dispensed to the Saints The Point now explicated the Reasons which give in the Proof thereof will appear more easie and more undeniably plain 1. At the Day of Judgment the World of the wicked they come to have convicting Evidence which can neither be gain-sayed nor wil ever be removed what is a never failing proof of Gods Love by the sense woful Experience they have of Gods direful hatred and displeasure upon their own Souls Their hearts now find it and feel it their Consciences confess it their Judgments acknowledg it that the Plague of al Plagues the Curse of al Curses that wherein the venom of Gods Vengeance and infinite Indignation and hatred of the Lord from his Blessing and comforting presence to be destroyed from the Presence of the Lord and the Glory of his Power the glorious and powerful expression of his saving Mercy However formerly the soul while it was surfeting in its sinful distempers found no greater content nor conceived any greater favor than to have it ful of its own lusts and not to be crossed with the Counsel of the Lord and concluded no other Heaven nor happiness like the enjoying of their hearts delight without check of God or Conscience Yet now he sees the sweet and surfets of those sins become the greatest torment unto him the very quintessence of the Curse and the substance of the Sentence of Condemnation Depart from me ye cursed was the Commission thereof I thought nothing so delightful that I might without gainsaying depart from God by sinning therein the execution of Gods Indignation doth wholly appear to cast me out of his presence and to stake me down in his departure never to see his face enjoy his presence come within the smile of his Favor any more Therefore those who are brought so neer to God so accepted of him Christ at the right hand of the Father they at the right hand of Christ being ever with him what that Love is we cannot tel that is beyond our reach yet it is a fruit of the greatest Love we cannot but see and confess our departure being the fearful fruit of Gods fierce displeasure Thus Ecclesiasticus brings them in at the day of Judgment taking the shame to themselves which formerly they cast upon the Saints We Fools thought this mans life madness but now he is advanced and we cast out of Gods fight and presence for ever 2. They are fully convinced and experimentally perswaded that al this comes from Christ and not from them and from Christ as the Head of the Second Covenant for from Adam it could not come in whom they had a like share as al the Sons of Men hewed out of the same Rock and digged out of the same Pit had the same Nature as they had as good Abilities and as great means as they and yet notwithstanding they found infinitely beyond their power nay their own Apprehensions either to attain this nay it could not enter once into their thoughts that they who knew not Christ should receive him they who opposed him should become one Spiritually and one Spirit with him even as neer as the Members to the Head for so they now hear the Saints acknowledg it it was the Son that died for them that was sent from the living Father that they might live through him They now see the Son of God the Lord Jesus stands betwixt them and al their harms that no Devils can accuse them that no malice can charge them but Christ saies I have undertaken answered satisfied and they now come to be accepted as he advanced as he set up on the Throne to judg as he and to regin as he through al Eternity They who receive al this good from the Father through Christ as the Head of the Covenant for them and in their behalf and enjoy al next unto Christ they are loved as the Lord Jesus Christ O! we wretches hated them when God loved them contemned them when God honored them we did not know them and therefore wo unto us we despised them we looked at them as the basest of al men when they were more than men yea more excellent than the Angels the Spouse of Christ the Members of Christ the Beloved of the Father in Christ yea beloved as Christ USE 1. Hence we have matter of Patience for the Saints of God they are the contempt of the wicked the scorn of the World the Object of the ignominy and reproach of ungodly men But their Life is hid with Christ in God beyond their ken their reach and reason and no wonder they know nor them nor Christ The God of this World hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts no marvel that what they cannot see they cannot judg aright of they know not the things of the God of Heaven nor the work of his Grace nor the worth of his Servants The Saints are Princes but they are not in their Country they are in strange places and amongst strange People who do not know them and therefore cannot honor them and therefore they are content to bear it for the while to stay til they come into their own Countrey and to the day of Coronation Saies Paul I pass not for mans day This is mans day but at that day the day of Jesus c. The
of his ascension so it is true for the reality of the thing in regard of his Mission from the Father For the spirit must be sent from the Father and the Son And therefore it presumes his sending And Hence it is when he is come being sent of the Father He shal teach you al things and shal bring to mind what ever I have said to you And that which Christ speaks he hath from the Father not from the Spirit Joh. 14.10 The words he speaks not of himself And Verse 24. The words which ye hear are not mine but the Fathers which sent me He hath the message from him Joh. 12.49 I have not speken of my self but the Father which sent me gave me a command what I shal say and what I should speak Nay our Savior doth not take of the Spirit but the Spirit hears from him speaks from him Joh. 16.13 Howbeit when the Spirit of truth is come he wil guid you into al truth For he shal not speak of himself but whatever he shal hear that shal he speak He shal take of mine and shew it unto you Verse 15. Christ doth not go to take of the graces from the Spirit but the Spirit because Christ is sent to be the Head of the Church to have al Grace and to be the Fountain to communicate al Grace therefore the Spirit takes of his Not takes of the Father because the Father hath given al to him but takes of his who hath his commission from the Father and is sent out his work of purpose The sending of al Officers is hence As my Father sent me I send you And this is the order and Method of Gods Communication He that receives you receives me and he that receives me receives him that sent me Yea the sending of Gospel and al ordinances Joh. 17.8 For I have given unto them the words thou gavest me and they have received them and have known and beleeved that thou didst send me Yea the ground of al those glorious works he hath accomplished in his own Person and wil perform for his and against his enemies for their good is hence Joh. 9.4 I must do the works of him that sent me while it is day And 5.36 The works which the Father hath given me to do bear witness that the Father hath sent me And when he had fulfilled al he then returnes to his Father 5. As sending evidenceth an Authority in him that sends So to be sent implies that he that is sent takes this Authoritative Order stands ingaged to answer it thus given and taken And is fully to act under the will of him from whom he must work And thus it is with the Lord Christ as second person in the glorious Trinity being sent by God the Father to work as from him For as the manner of their being so is the manner of their working the Son from the Father and therefore works from the Father he is ready to entertain this Order of working and ingageth himself to answer the Order and wil of the Father and stands fitted to have the Nature of man united to him that he may go upon the operation of that work of the Father according to the Order of the Father given him and al this in a peculiar manner appropriate to the Son What ever belongs to the Second Person and none els that he hath as a Son received from the Father But to act by Authoritative order form the Father alone belongs to the Second Person and none els Therefore this as a Son he hath received from the Father Therefore as he must act from him alone so he is bound to answer that Order of his Therefore works nothing but what he sees his Father work speaks nothing but what he hears his Father say Therefore does nothing but what the Father wil. Therefore to be fitted when his wil is to take the Nature of man into Personal union that he may go upon the execution of his wil. I say receive it into personal union Because this belongs to no other Person not Father nor Holy Ghost but himself For its Haeresie to say the Father is incarnate or the Holy Ghost is incarnate How ever therefore he did not receive the Human Nature but in time Yet he was fitted for this work by this sending and eternal mission of his before al time this makes way for that work of Redemption The Human Nature hath a new manner of subsistence and alteration according to its being but there is no alteration in the Second Person As Gods power is the same before the things were made though they cannot be supported but when they are made Again when the Human Nature is united this union we know is in reason reall me non cogitante If the proper being of the union issued only from the Human Nature then there should be no difference in regard of the persons but they should share a like in it But that is false and Heretical For neither Father nor Holy Ghost are incarnate Nor is the Human Nature taken into personal union or becomes one person with the Father on Holy Ghost Therefore there is somthing of this union issues from the Second Person in an especial manner and that is to receive it into personal union for which he was fitted from eternity by his mission but takes it up in the fulness of time when he was sent by the Father thereunto Some such thing I have thought might be intimated in those Scriptures Joh. 8.42 and 17.8 and 13.2 He came out proceeded from God When he was to enter upon the Execution of the work and make the Human Nature feele that support Leaning and being terminated in the subsistence of the Second Person and went abroad in the execution of the work and therefore now he returnes to God again Lastly this sending in regard of the work upon the Creature This conclusion may give some light as much as shal serve our purpose The Lord Christ as God and man hath some things proper to himself 1. In the manner of the work and Priviledg where with he stands possessed he is the head of his Church and hath the immediate dispensation of al power committed to him for the good of it and these are peculiar He is the Head of his Church None but he Al power is committed to him and to none but him But in regard of the work there is a common concurrence of al the Persons with him II. For what he is sent 1. To bring Jacob again Isa 49.5 Those I must bring Joh. 10.16 All that he hath given me come to me Joh. 6.37 And Verse 39. God gives them to him And Chap. 17.8 And he gives them his word and they know that he is sent 2. To keep them when they are brought Joh. 6.38 I came to do the wil of my Father And Verse 39. This is his wil that I should lose nothing And Therefore prayes for them that the
sinners This is a faithful word and worthy of al acceptance and therefore the Soul looks out and saies It may be This keeps the Head above Water Reason 2. Here in the Gospel only is certainty to be had of some interest and special Title whereby the Soul may be encouraged and faith also find some foot-hold whereby the heart may bottom and bear up it self in some confidence For righteousness there is to be had from God in Christ but this Issues only in the communication of it from free mercy The Lord may do with his own what he will and therefore he may deny whom he wil and give to whom he please how then shal I know and have any ground or evidence upon any certainty that he wil do good to me God is bound to none True God is bound to none further then he will bind himself and he binds himself in no wise to the creature but by his promise and that he wil never deny who cannot deny himself Now in the Gospel only this promise and ingagement of God is revealed he hath promised to work the condition and then tied himself in his truth to do good to those whom he wil so fit for his mercy And now the Soul upon this notice grows in upon God here is a handle as it were for faith to lay hold on therefore said a word of promise Rom. 9.9 and therefore the whole Gospel is called the promise Gal. 3.29 Beleevers are said to be the Children of the promise that is of the Gospel Reason 3. The Gospel is the only means whereby the Soul is inabled with power from above even with a Spirit of Grace fâ—â— to go for succour and reliefe where it is thus evidenced and whence it hath now received some intimation of Gods ingagement intendment and so of certainty by which it may be incouraged to go upon such grounds as will never fail nor break under a man That he may go stedily and comfortably 2. Cor. 3.6 It s said to be the administration of the Spirit Not of the Letter that is there is not Barely a discovery and manifestation of what Gods mind and counsel is that should be done such the sense and meaning of words and sentences may descry set out and hold forth But there is a Spirit of power that is promised and so dispensed and conveyed in and by this word for to inable the Soul to do that which the Letter shews it should do Gods saying is doing his calling is making he speaks not only to the ear but conveyes a power by speaking Lazaruscome forth The dead shall hear John 5.25 Gal. 3.3 Received ye the Spirit even this Spirit by the preaching of the Law or by the Doctrin of faith This is the word by which God begets us Jam. 1.18 If in the Gospel there be that freeness of Grace that is sufficient to answer all the necessities and desires of the Heart certainty of promise to incourage it if it shal come and power and Spirit to inable it for to come Then The word of the Gospel is the only meanes to work faith Use 1. Of Terror This discovers the woeful and miserable condition of such who want this Gospel But especially the hainousness of the sin and the dreadful condemnation of such who Oppose the Gospel God hath shut up al under unbelief in the Kingdom of darkness under the power of the Prince of darkness they look out as prisoners through the Grates of Hell and Infidelity there is no possibility to help to a Key to open this Dore but the Key of the Gospel they wilfully keep the Dore bolted and refuse the only help which the Lord hath provided Christ hath purchased with his Blood appointed and sanctified by his spirit and doth promise to accompany for their deliverance yea this they oppose This was the doom and sentence which Paul passed upon them Act. 13.46 Ye judg your selves unworthy of everlasting life by putting away the word Thou stoppest thine ear at the glad tidings of it shuttest thine eyes at the righteousness thereof Puttest by and castest away withdrawest thy soul from under the prevailing power of that word Know Thou needest no Devil to accuse no witness to evidence no Judg to condemn thy practise doth judg thy self unworthy unfit to receive Grace who resistest it to share in mercy who despisest it or to injoy eternal life who hast rejected the offer of eternal life So Paul again sent those away with their load when they refused to hear Act. 28.26 Use 2. Instruction and Comfort Therefore this word of the Gospel shal undoubtedly be preserved and published and that until the end of the world as long as the Lord Christ hath any to be gathered any of his to be brought home to himself by a saving Faith They shal beleeve by this therefore they shal have this maugre al the malice the power and policy of Hel the rage and restless opposition of al the instruments of Satan That word cannot be falsefied This Prayer cannot be frustrated and therefore This work cannot be hindâ—ed Seem it never so improbable never so impossible in our Eyes and feeble apprehensions Measure not the power and Faithfulness and wisdom of the Lord by the scantling of our shallow apprehensions but know he hath said it and he wil doe it The fan is in his hand not in any mans hand It s said of the Apostles their sound went through the world They are compared to the course of the Sun in his Sphoere and Orb. So it wil be with his messenger when it is his mind to cal any of his His Doctrine is as the dew no man can hinder it from falling Either the means to the man or the man to the means he wil send Onesimus his theft shal bring him to prison and so to Pauls ministery and so to Heaven Naaman must go to be cured of his Leprosy and so meets with the Prophet to cure him of his sin Philip is sent post to the Eunuches Coach though it was in an extraordinary way Use 3. Examination Know whether our Faith be of the right make or no. Ask whence came it where hadst thou thy Faith by what word If it came the right way It came by preaching the Gospel It wil shew thee 1. Thou hadst once none 2. That thou art not able to beleeve Jam 1.18 By bis own good wil begat be us by the word of truth If thou canst say I heard thus and thus of a Christ and so I beleeved then it is in thy wil to beleeve not in Gods wil that begets thee 3. It wil shew thee that Faith is made of the immortal Seed of the word 1 Pet. 1.23 that is the Spirit in the promise That as a man is made up of the Seed which enters his constitution so made up of promises Hither belongs that of Eph. 5.30 We are Flesh of his Flesh and Bone of his Bone i. e. As the woman
implies a thing not expected or some thing more than we looked for or lies open in a common course we wonder at such a thing when it fals And secondly we cannot tel what to make of it or how to conceive or comprehend the Reason its matter of admiration not of comprehension When the Devil and wicked men knew such men in their unbeleeving courses under the curse of the Law and the power of their corruptions contemners of Christ and mercy The Devils have seen men holy and to walk unblameably so in paradise and therein God is glorified and his vertues expressed But when they shall see such poor wretched creatures at Gods right hand He was sunk deep under the curse of the Law now pardoned under the Tyranny of Satan and so in his Claws he took him alive now restored In the bottom of Hel now delivered In death and darkness now again restored to life and he that was so opposite to Christ now brought so neer to him and the Father and in them injoy the blessed and holy communion which is beyond the happiness of Heaven The Angels wil be swallowed with admiration and the Devils confounded and astonished at the wonderment of the unconceivable compassion of the Lord and the blessedness of this condition 1 Cor. 15. The first Adam was a living Soul could by natural generation beget one like himself But the second Adam is a quickening spirit That when dead he can quicken them when lost and opposite to him and Grace he can and doth receive them to himself 2. That which brings us neerer unto God and makes us to receive more from him that is most excellent and other things must be subordinate thereunto But this unity of relation doth so For to have glorious Graces and to put forth obedience there from is no more but that a creature may do from a principle in it self had Adam stood his posterity might have challenged happiness by vertue of a covenant of works done by a man and from a man conveyed by natural generation But in the covenant of the Gospel the God-Head of Christ in the Nature of man brings man again unto God and keeps it with him The God-Head in our Nature wrought al for us communicates al to us The mutable principle of Grace never brought a man to God or kept him with him nor since the fal can do it But it was not a principle in us firstly but the holy spirit of God by the infinite power of the God-Head carries the bent of our hearts to him acts it upon him keeps it with him and so inables us to hold up the power and praises of Christ from the Father So that a poor creature is compassed about with nothing but the power of God in Christ being one with the Father and the son in his relation to them and dependance upon them USE 1. Of Reprehension This shews the greatness of the sin of unbeleef and the misery of unbeleevers who not only oppose the righteousness of the Law of God which should rule them his statutes and precepts which should direct them But the Blood of the covenant shed by Christ they trample upon it the reconciliation wrought and tendered they despise it the Bowels compassions which would imbrace them they scorn and cast behind their Back If the union to the Father and the Son be beyond Heaven and happiness it self Then the opposition to these by unbeliefe is more bitter than death and worse than Hell And Therefore it seemes God comes against such in the fierceness of his fury as the marks and Objects of his heaviest iâ—dignation 2 Thess 1.8 9. He will come in flaming fire to render vengeance to such that obey not the Gospel Against these he proceeds in the first place with greatest fury and punisheth them with everlasting destruction from his face not have one favorable cast of his countenance or smile when before he hath woed them and wept over them and intreated in the Gospel to be reconciled Yea from the glory of his power Object But is not that an ease that his power should not plague Answ That is not the meaning for this is their plague that they are secluded from the presence of his glorious power The glorious power of all Gods Attributes were put forth in the Gospel and they shal be beyond the Hope and thought of it The glorious power of Gods wisedom will never contrive any thing for their good nor his mercy accomplish it or goodness communicate it 2. It s matter and ground of marvailous comfort and Content to the faithful to solace them in the interest they have in Christ and this their Relation to Christ as their Redeemer Head and Husband with whom they are made one Spirit which is more than to be in Heaven better than happiness it self Thus Asaph Ps 73. Answers all doubts supplies al his wants cures all his feares Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none in Earth that I desire in comparison of thee The Covetous have the world the Epicures their pleasures but I have thee in comparison of whom these are not worth the having nay not worth the nameing Yea in Heaven when I am come to the end of my Hopes what would I what can I have there I can have no more but this but that the Lord wil be all in all to us in glory As long as he is and wil be all in all to us in mercy what need we fear why should we care But these thoughts be precious and Meditations sweet and let us go to them and be in them with the like affection as we shall be in Heaven Verse 23. I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast love me THe foregoing verse discovered the means which our Savior appointed and improved also for the accomplishment of that Vnion which he so earnestly begged for his disciples and hath pursued by so many expressions In this verse we have the Order set down according to which it is wrought by the wise counsel of the Lord And this our Savior fetcheth very far I in them and thou in me that they c. Two things we are to attend in this vâ—rse 1. The ORDER and several Degrees by which this Vnity Oneness is accomplished and these are here now expressed 1. The Father is in Christ 2. Christ is in them and that which is implied is that they are one in them 2. We have the several ENDS aimed at in this proceeding of the Lord and those are three 1. That they may be perfected in one 2. That the world may know that thou hast sent me 3. That they may know thou hast loved them as thou lovest me 1. As touching The ORDER our Savior doth not mention and propound it as it is in Nature but so as it may be best
with the cast of the eye of the Spouse Cant. 4.9 That cast of the eye of Faith that looks only to God in Christ takes al from him holds out nothing else 3. Love of Benevolence God wisheth wel unto the Faithful and studies to advance them and their happiness with the advancing of Christ 2 Thes 1.12 That the Name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him according to the Grace of God and the Lord Jesus Christ Quest Why you wil say Is there any Name higher than the Name of Christ or Glory due to any beyond and after Christ Why is it added That Christ may be glorified and you in him Answ The meaning may thus be conceived The Apostle having prayed in the fore-going verse That God would count them worthy of their Calling worthy of the Glory unto which they were called and so fulfil al the good pleasure of his goodness that is fully bestow al that Spiritual good which is the ful purpose of his good pleasure he intended to them and that he would bring the Work of Faith to perfection by his mighty Power Now the end of al that glory and fulness of al that Spiritual good he praies for and they should partake by vertue of his Prayer is That the Name of Christ that is Christ as he is made known in the Gospel in his Offices and Execution of the great Work of Redemption may be made glorious in you who from the Father hath given al to you you also may be glorified not in your selves but in your reference and oneness with Christ As God was made glorious in receiving al so also in returning al to the Father by him And therefore it 's added According to the Grace of God and our Lord Jesus Christ God the Father through Grace in Christ gives himself and Christ to you so they are glorified in you receiving you also through Grace give up your selves to Christ and through him to God and return al to God in Christ Thus he is said to the admired in them that beleeve So John 3.27 The Father loves the Son and hath given al things into his hands and in Christ also he hath given al unto them for all things are yours and you Christs yea he hath advanced them and set them in Heavenly places with Christ their Bodies made Spiritual which Adams could not be and therefore it 's taken down to be glorified as Christ's is Thou fool unless the Seed fall it riseth not again The Saints die not because of sin for Christ hath freed them from the second Death and so from the first but they die to be like Christ and so to be glorified with him and then both Bodies and Souls to sit at Gods right hand in Heaven It 's a proper Prerogative appertaining to our Savior to ascend and sit and therefore to al from him not from Adam USE 1. Comfort and Contentation to the Saints in the meanest and lowest Condition though the World hate and the Wicked pursue Saran tempt Ungodly undermine they al conspire to cast reproaches upon your Persons and disgrace upon your Religion and shame upon your Faces when they curse God wil bless If they hate and God love you you need not fear you should not care In Love is no lack If thou hast Gods Love thou hast himself art sure to speed when thou seekeft sure to obtain when thou askest So Martha for Lazarus He whom thou lovest is sick he whom thou lovest is troubled is tempted persecuted discouraged What price dost thou put upon thy Health if sick upon Wealth if poor on Life if at the point of dying If thou hadst these for thy succor al was wel Behold Gods loving kindness better than Life it self 2. If God love the Saints what are they who hate them This is a certain evidence of a Son of the Devil 1 John 3.11 He that hates his Brother is a Man-slayer c. Therefore they are worthy our love This second particular I shal further open as follows Viz. That the Farthers love to the Saints is like to that wherewith he loved his Son The Father loves the faithful as he loves Jesus Christ This Love carried to them carries a lively expression or is as a picture wherein the love of the Father to the Son is discovered in fresh colors in an especial manner This love to the faithful however it is impossible it could not was it reasonable or suitable to the wisedom or goodness of the Lord it should equal the love of God to his Son in the measure or largeness of it Because that was infinite unconceivable incomprehensible and therefore there is no equality of measure or greatness which is beyond al measure yet it comes up to it as neer as may be in the proportion and likeness thereof in like resemblance and answerableness thereunto it s not to be found in any creature nor in the whol creation beside As it is in the Parelion It s like the Sun in appearance and resemblance yet in no wise equal either for bigness or greatness or the vertues thereof So it is with this love of God to the Saints it lively resembles not fully equals the love of the Father to the Lord Jesus We shal further follow the several particulars 1. The Father loves us with the like love of union as he did Jesus Christ The Father wholly and alone gives being to Jesus Christ and that thus appears The Father stands in relation to the Son looks only towards him his Eye is ever upon him The Son as he receives so he returnes his being as a Son to the Father As Relations refer each to other only and heâ—ce the Father is said to be in the Son the Son in the Father Verse 22. As I told you before my hand closing and closed are one in another both with the hand The Father looks to the Son in giving The Son to the Father in returning his being They are perfect in this wholly give wholly take Thus they wholly delighted in each other mutually glorified each other Verse 2. Now as God in Christ thus begets and gives being of Sonship So Christ as Son and second person he so assumes for had he assumed as God all had assumed But he assumes person and to say that any person assumes but the Son is Haeresie Therefore its peculiar to the Son and that as Son then as begotten and as such he assumes and becomes the Head of the covenant and so he begets and gives being of Adopted Sons to the faithful sending his Spirit immutably to set their hearts for God and to hold the bent thereof towards him Thus receiving this impression from Christ and so from God the Father through Christ The faithful receiving this impression as from the Father by Christ they return it wholly and perfectly to the Father in and through Christ Namely The whol man under their impression of the begetting Spirit of the
free in the manifestation of their Favor and they have ever found them faithful that they cannot challenge them in the least yet they fear in the issue when it comes to a dead lift they wil leave in the lurch Should such expressions be dayly presented before a man and such unkind expressions be laid in his dish he could not but with indignation cast off such a one Why have I ever failed of my Word ever been wanting in my labor to answer al your desires bestead you in al your needs and have I this for my love and labor that ye look at me as one feeble and faithless Take ye other and chuse ye better Friends I wil have no more to do with you And it is not possible but our groundless needless surmises hard conceits that we harbor and unloving thoughts of the Lords dealing and goodness but it should imbitter Gods heart against a wretched Creature and suffer him to sink in his sorrows and however he cannot out of his Love forsake his yet he cannot in respect to the Honor of his Love and Faithfulness but draw and with-hold the sense of it that the way-ward heart may the better perceive its own wretchedness and unreasonable dealing and learn not to doubt of Gods Love when there is no cause Our groundless surmises of Gods Favor causeth yea compels God to darken our apprehensions and his expressions The Second Evil. The little and mean account we make of the intimation on Gods Love unless it answer our conceits and humors in each particular Unless we may have what we wil and when we wil and as much as we wil unless the Lord take measure of our mind and please us in every Point we cast al his kindness behind our back and the Love of the Almighty is in but little esteem with us when their complaints are many and sad that their temptations grow fierce and their corruptions get head and over-bear their abilities smal and their comforts less But yet the Lord loves you notwithstanding whatever these hindrances be which stand in the way and that is enough to settle and satisfie the heart Obj. True I cannot say but he loves me but if yet my Graces be so weak and my distempers so strong what is that Ans What is that It 's of more worth than al thy Graces thou canst either attain or desire if thou did'st know how to value things according to the worth O! if I had such a measure of Grace the enlargedness of heart and abilities to perform Service in a Spiritual manner as such and such then I might be comforted and might be perswaded the Lord loved me to purpose As though the Child that is now yong and smal should conceive his Father did not carry the strength of Fatherly affection towards him because his Coat was not so long or his Doublet Jerken or Apparrel was not so large as his Elder Brothers when indeed it is not because he wants Love to provide them but he is not able to wear them So it is here Thou art happily but a Babe in Christ not of time and standing in Christianity canst not tel how to wield and exercise such eminency of Abilities for the present Let if suffice he is thy Father and loves thee as he doth the most able and excellent Christian upon Earth Doth not that please your Pallates What would ye have which would please if ye can be pleased I wil say more He loves thee aâ— he doth the Lord Jesus the Son of his Love I hope now ye are contented What! love me so ye wil say poor silly weak ignorant worthless Creature it 's a likely matter indeed Yea thee Hast thou but a grain of Faith but as a grain of Mustard-seed even the least of al others the poorest weakest filliest unworthy Worm be thy place thy parts never so mean he loves thee as his Son Go thy way never quarrel question any more never murmur repine any longer this is enough on Conscience nay it 's too much I could not have thought it I durst not have desired it I could not have beleeved â—t but that thou hast said it that thou should'st love me who loath my self and know my self worthy to be abhorred Therefore rest thy weary heart here in thy weaknesses do not think to bring such measures of Grace to deserve this Love Nay lay hold upon this Love it wil encrease the eminency of al Graces and that in the most glorious manner in thy Soul Eph. 3.18 Paul praies That they might comprehend with all Saints the length breadth depth and height c. and know the Love of God which passeth knowledg that so they may be full of all his fulness View this Love wistly and warm thy heart with it and thou shalt not need to complain of barrenness or emptiness thou shalt be ful of Grace not have a scant measure thou shalt be ful of Wisdom and Meekness Patience Holiness c. Nay ful of the fulness nay of al the fulness of God-like Grace no kind of Grace no Excellency in any kind that suits the Station and Condition thou dost obtain in the Body of Christ but thou shalt be possessed of it How the knowledg of this Love brings in this fulness it 's not now a place to enquire only the Doctrine now delivered wil lead us by the hand to some further Light in this Work While we know that is while we constantly attend to the Dispensation of Gods Love in Christ begetting of us as his adopted ones by his Spirit to himself while we experimentally find this and so know it and leave our hearts under the influence thereof as of him to receive al as from him to do al we shal then be ful Whatever may be lacking to thy Hope Meekness c. repair to this Love and know there is no lack I have the choicest Love of God that either Heaven or Earth affords and that is beyond the excellency of al Grace and the chiefest of al Abilities that either I do want or can desire He loves me therefore let him do what he wil with me take what he wil Love wil supply al give that he wil Love is better than al. Cant. 1.1 His Love is better than Wine As Elkanah comforted Hannah in the want of Children Am not I better to thee than ten Sons 1 Sam. 1.8 2. Instruction We hence infer beyond denyal and conclude beyond al doubt That the Love of God to his is unchangeable As he loves his Son he loves his Saints and adopted ones That did never change this will never fail We are accepted as Christ nothing can prejudice us in Gods Favor or shal be able to condemn us We are advanced as Christ he wisheth al good and works al good for us as for him sets us far above al Principalities and Powers and what is named in this World or the World to come Though we know it not understand it
of the Soul and this stopped the influence of Gods Mercy or the least intimation of God from coming to our Souls and being now under the guilt and power of our sins though mercy had been tendred we were utterly disenabled to receive it having no power thereunto But when Jesus Christ takes the charge of us and undertakes in our behalf he takes off al the impediments on Gods part answers his Justice and appeaseth his Wrath that so they wil not stand betwixt us and our Comfort but an open passage is made for the good pleasure of the Lord to be fully manifested and the intimation and communication of Mercy tendred and offered to us 2 Tim. 1.9 Who hath called us according to the purpose of his Grace which was given us in Christ before the world was that is was then purposed and in time exhibited It could not be given to us as in our selves considered but when God gave us to Christ and Christ to us he gave us himself and Grace and mercy in him and by him that as the Head of the Covenant of Grace being in our room and undertaking for our Salvation The Father made him the Treasurer and Dispenser of al Grace and Mercy to give life to them that he had given to his hand betrusted as his Charge and bequeathed unto his care As he takes away al Impediments on Gods part that his wrath and justice wil not hinder So al on our parts they cannot hinder that though our corruptions would oppose and our selves being dead could not receive it He is a quickning spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 Job 36.10 He commands us to turn and gives by his command He makes the dead hear his voice and makes us live who hear Col. 1.13 He translates us from Darkness into the Kingdom of his dear Son USE 1. Information It serves to settle our jugdment in many truths of the Lords which at this day are much questioned and many cavils raised by carnal minds and hearts to oppose and darken we may hence have undeniable evidence to convince and quiet our own minds and hearts as touching Gods counsel therein The Papists Pelagians Arminians al the Popish Schools dispute whether God gives sufficient Grace and power to al men to be saved if they wil Whether Gods election issues out of his meer good wil and pleasure or from the prevision and foresight of faith and good works and they determine affermatively unto both these Which delusions notwithstanding are fully dashed by the former Doctrins If God give sufficient help to al indifferently to be saved to Judas as to Peter Then he gives al into the hand and commends al unto the care of Christ For this is a principal Grace and favor and an especial means of life without which it cannot be attained But this God doth not bestow upon al. For al that God gives to Christ certainly come to him by Faith for al such he prayes they shal be with him in glory But al do not come to him by beleeving al shal not be with him in Heaven Again If coming unto Christ be an effect of giving unto Christ an effect of Election I pray for those thou hast given me becouse they are thine Thine they were and thou gavest them me Then it follows necessarily That because Elected therefore they have these as fruits thereof not because they have these therefore they are Elected The Parties for whom this Prayer was made and the description of them we have opened and finished The second Particular The thing desired We are now to inquire after that which is here requested in their behalf and it is That they might be where Christ is The Lord Jesus is as I may so say fond of their presence and therefore he is not willing to be in Heaven unless they may be with him as though Heaven were no Heaven unless the Saints should take up their abode there The House would be forlorn and Heaven desolate unless the Inhabitants were there these poor servants of the Lord to fil up their Rooms and mansions In this Second Particular there be Three Points especially observeable One which is the Foundation of the rest is taken as a thing granted upon which ground the Prayer is made To Wit The presence of Christ and the glory of which Christ stands possessed These are things supposed only the Question ariseth why Christ so earnestly desires their injoyment of his presence since now they had it conversing with him and he with them What presence therefore doth our Savior intend or what is the glory here meant Ans True our Savior was now present with them and they with him and therefore that is not the thing he principally aimes at but he looks at his own being in Heaven which was immediately to succeed his death and he speaks of it as a thing past because of the infallible certainty thereof As it is the usual course of Scripture in the like case so to express things Rev. 18.2 Babylon is fallen it s fallen It was to be undoubtedly and therefore he speaks of it as done certainly It was impossible that any thing should hinder our Savior from coming thither and therefore he takes it as a thing done That he is as though he were certainly there already q. d. I am now going to my death and grave and thence to rise again and go to Heaven and I am desirous they should be there also I am not willing to be without them And by consequence the glory he mentions is the glory of Heaven For should we look at his Present condition it was the time of his Humiliation and the very season of his greatest abasement was growing on when he was to undertake his sufferings and to empty himself of his glory Philip. 2.7 He is said to make himself of no reputation and took upon him the forme of a servant humbled himself unto the death of the Cross and as his present state was the time of his abasement So his ASCENSION is called the time of his Glory because that great discovery of his glory was reserved for that season and was then made manifest Joh. 17.4 Father glorifie me with thy self with the glory I had with thee before the world was The words then being clear the points are plain and those are Three 1. Christ is in Heaven and hath unconceiveable glory given him of the Father 2. It s the earnest desire of the Lord Jesus that his faithful ones should be in Heaven with him 3. The end of our being there is to behold the glory given to Christ look at the glory and look at it as given of the Father whose everlasting good will and love is thereby expressed and by that communicated to his It s the happiness of Heaven to gaze upon the glory of Christ The first Point hath two parts in it We shal take them asunder and so handle the several branches otherwise we shal not so readily and familiarly
and distinctly open the particulars therein some whereof desire and deserve special consideration and explication Namely What is that glory that Christ hath and how it is said to be given him To begin the with the first Branch The Lord Jesus is gone to Heaven This was Shadowed out by his Transfiguration Math. 17.2 3. When Moses and Elias came down to see this preparative of his departure to give tidings of it Of the passage of our Savior the Apostles give in undeniable evidence as such wherein they could not be deceived nor deceive For it was not done when they were heedlesly looking about them and so might easily be mistaken but while they looked stedfastly wishly considerately towards Heaven even while they were gazing upon our Savior he was taken up into Heaven Act. 1.9 10. And Stephen in the time of his greatest extremity being the first Martir who laid down his Blood for his sake he saw him there arrived Act. 7.55 Being ful of the Holy Ghost looked up stedfastly into Heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God And Chap. 3.21 Whom the Heavens shal contain until the restitution of al things And it s made the upshot of the Mistery of godliness 1 Tim. 3. and last Christ manifested in the flesh preached in the world received into glory And from hence the Saints expect him and they shal see him descending with a mighty shout with the voice of the Arch-angel and with the 〈◊〉 of God 1 Thess 4.6 The Lord shal come in most glorious and magnificent state these shal be dreadful notice given of his approach yea every Eye shal see him yea such who have pierced him with their sins Reas 1. Taken from the excellency of his Divine Nature which must be suited with a place and throne answerable to the dignity and soveraignty thereof For however it pleased the Lord out of his infinite love to step out of the Chair of Estate to visite this inferior world to be included in the Womb of a Virgin and to take his progress into these lowermost parts of the Earth yet it carried no proportion in point of honor that he should take up his abode there but to reâ—â—rn again to the Royal Palace of state Heaven is my throne and the Earth is my footstool In reason he may stoop to his footstool and tread upon it but to stay there and to make it the chief place and habitation where his heavenly majesty should dwel It suited not the excellency of his Divine Nature This is that which the Apostle intimates to be the ground of the difference between the advancment of the posterity of the second Adam above the first The Faithful shal be raised and Translated from Earth to Heaven whereas ad Adam stood in Paradise he and his posterity had injoyed an earthly paradise that is God there only and the reason is rendred from the point in hand 2 Cor. 15.45 The first man was a living Soul able to beget one like himself by a natural course of generation But the second Adam was a quickning Spirit able to give life to the dead and so raise up them from the Grave and to make them spiritual Bodies which was beyond the power of Adam Again The first man is of the Earth earthy His covenant and his countenance such But the second is the Lord from Heaven And thence he infers As is the heavenly such are they that are heavenly Especially in the main point of resurrection whereof now he disputes And as in resurrection so in ascension That which first belongs to the Lord Jesus as the Head of the covenant that belongs to al through him and only by him But our ascending and sitting is the prerogative Royal of our Savior therefore it never did nor should have belonged to any but through and by him It s true our Savior consists of two Natures Divine and Human but because the humanity is the meaner and more inferiour therefore that must follow the Deity and be where it is And we also whose Nature our Savior took and whose places and persons he sustained we must follow our Nature and our Nature the God Head that hath his proper place in Heaven And therefore the Human Nature with that and all those who are the members of that Head must be there where the Head is And hence our Savior professeth for the comfort of his disciples That he went before to prepare a place for them Joh. 14.4 In my Fathers House there be many mansions I go to prepare a place for them He as God-man the Head of the Covenant goes to Heaven and the wil bring al his to Heaven by vertue thereof he makes way for them thither Room and entertainment there Heaven is the Lords the place of the God-Head our Nature assumed follows that and we our Nature Reas 2. Taken from the Quality of his Office and the Manner of the dispensation and execution thereof He is sent as an Ambassador from the Father to transact the work of Redemption And to bring Jacob back again And therefore in reason he must return and give an account unto God the Father how the great Affaires of Redemption prosper under his hand Thus he speaks usually Joh. 13.3 Jesus Knowing that is considering this That the Father had given al things into his hands and that he came from God and was to go to God he forthwith addresseth himself to make way for his death wherein the great weight of the work lay q. d. He had received his commission from the Father and he must give account to the Father again And upon this he intimates his departure Joh. 7.33 Yet a little while am I with you and then I go to him that sent me He that is sent of an errand and service he must return an account of the success and how things prosper under his hand and by his indeavor Els there should be a failing in the faithful discharge of his Office and that is the reason the Lord Jesus is so punctual in each particular Loe here am I and the Children that thou hast given me And of those that thou hast given me I have not lost one It s also the manner of great commanders when they go upon great exploits and special service though they conquer other people possess the places and countries where they pervail yet they return into their native and natural Country there to be honored amongst their own and to have their greatness Admired amongst them as Feared amongst the Adversaries So it was with our Savior Eph. 4.8 c. His death was his conquering his resurrection his triumph by his ascension he returned into his own Countrey and his sitting at the right hand of God the Father is there crowned with the fulness of all glory that is compatible to the condition of a created Nature 3. The efficacy of the Priviledg as that which so much concernes the
be with the Head the Body where the Life is our Life is in Christ the Wife where the Husband is As Thomas said Let us go and die with him much more let us die to raign with him If Christ be in Heaven why are we on Earth Saies Paul I desire to be dissolved to be uncloathed to put off these rags that I may put on the Robes of Immortality We have been too long with the world our sins c. let us long to be with him USE 4. See the Hainousness of their sin and heavy plague which appertains to such as rebel against this Christ now in Glory We have done with the first Part of the Point we are now to enquire the meaning of the other Vâ—z That Christ hath unconceivable Glory given him of the Father This is taken for granted and presupposed That they may behold the Glory which thou hast given me therefore he hath Glory and it 's given of the Father And of this now we are to enquire with Modesty and Godly fear as being a search and inquisition far exceeding the meanness of such poor Anâ—s as we be creeping here upon ouâ— Molehils sitting here upon our dunghils compassed about with the Mud-wals of Mortality Misery and Corruption An enquiry suitable for such as are come to the highest form the souls of the blessed now ascended and the glorious Angels who are before the Lord and see his Face They may search into the surpassing excellency of his Glory which is far removed out of our sight who sit here upon the Face of the Earth at so far a distance from thence It shal beseem us then to be wise unto Sobriety not to peep into Gods Secrets Yet because that which is writ is writ for our learning it 's not only in our Liberty but our Duty and matter of necessity to look after such things and to learn them with what pains and endeavor we may We shal then open the Sense of the Words 1. What is meant by Glory in the General 2. In what respect it 's attributed to Christ as God or Man or both 3. Wherein that peculiar Glory consists which is thus attributed to him 4. How it 's said to be given him of the Father I. What is meant by Glory in the General Answ It commonly and usually implies three things in Scripture 1. The world and excellency that is in any thing whereby it obtains Superiority and Eminency above other of meaner quality and condition Thus the Apostle cals the Graces given to us in Adam Our Glory Rom. 3.23 We have all sinned and are deprived of the Glory of God 2 Cor. 3.18 We are transformed from one degree of Glory unto another that is of glorious Grace Thus we cal a man of special Spiritual Abilities a glorious Christian an eminent Christian So in verse 22. foregoing The Glory thou gavest me I have given to them So it is said Joh. 1.14 We beheld the Glory of Christ what that is he ads and explicates full of Grace and Truth 2. The Expressions or putting forth of such Abilities in the most eminent and choice Operations thereof because in such Actions the lustre and beauty of all such excellencies shines forth and discovers it self These are termed the Glory of any thing Thus Acts 22.11 The shine of the Light that compassed Paul is called The Glory of the Light The lustre and majesty which appeared upon Moses Face when he came from the Mount is called The Glory of his Countenance 2 Cor. 3.7 And that beauty of the Light of the Sun whereby it out-bids the rest of the other Stars is called The Glory of the Sun I Cor. 15.41 And when our Savior raised Lazarus from the dead the expression of that power he cals The Glory of God John 11.40 Said I not unto thee if thou would'st beleeve thou should'st see the Glory of God that is the glorious expression of Gods Power and it 's the best and only explication of that place 2 Thes 1.9 They shall be destroyed from the glory of his power The infinite and utmost expression of Gods power shal put forth it self in the destruction of the ungodly 3. The acknowledgment of all these Excellencies and of al the expressions thereof in al the eminencies that are discovered therein This is Glory And thus we are said to give glory to God or Man in such acknowledgments which are suitable and agreeable in some measure to the worth of the things My Son give Glory to God The Second Sense is most properly intended in this place The first is not altogether excluded but in part only considered II. In what respect is Glory attributed to Christ as God or Man or both Answ It is given to the Person of the Son both as God and Man now sitting at the right hand of God the Father 1. As God That Glory which no meer Creature is capable of that must appertain to him that is more than a Creature and in that respect But of this Glory no meer Creature is capable For it 's such a glorious power which he possesseth and which is here understood whereby he subdues al things even death unto himself Phil. 3. last 2. This also is evident by the Question which our Savior Christ makes and the Argument he brings for the evidencing and evincing this Sense that indeed he was God as wel as man and that this Glory of his exaltation did in that behalf belong to him Matth. 22.42 43. He asked the Pharisees What think ye of Christ the Messias whose Son is he They say unto him the Son of David that is they looked at him as meer man Against which he thus reasons How then doth David in spirit call him Lord In Spirit that is by the dictate and direction of the Holy Ghost as Mark 12.36 The Lord that is God said unto my Lord that is unto my Seed which is my Lord Sit thou on my right hand until I make thine Enemies thy Footstool Now if his Son how is he his Lord If Davids Seed be Davids Lord then Davids Seed is more than meer Man For if he had been meer Man the Child is inferior and subject to the Father is not Lord over the Father as it 's said He was subject to his Parents But Davids Seed is Davids Lord and therefore more than meer Man As Christ is Davids Lord so is he exalted for it 's so affirmed so attributed to him He said to my Lord sit at my right hand But as God he is Davids Lord therefore as God he is exalted 3. It 's plain also by that Prayer and Expression of our Savior John 17.5 Father Glorifie me thy self with that Glory which I had with thee before the World was Now that must needs be the Glory which did appertain unto him as God For his Humane Nature was not before the World and therefore did not nor could not partake of any Glory And hence it is undeniable it
hand of God 1. Set his Love on work and that wil set his Grace Power and Spirit on work to be enlarged in al the glorious operations thereof Go go to this 2 Thes 3 5. The Lord direct your hearts into the Love of God This wil give God no rest This made him send his Son and set his Counsel on work to contrive al for thy good By this thou maiest plead and wilt certainly prevail John 16. I will not say I wil ask the Father for the Father himself loveth you q. d. though I shal speak a good word yet there is that which wil do it and that it may be more effectually That Love sent me set me on work therefore I need not set that on work As David to Jonathan 1 Sam. 20.8 Thou shalt deal kindly for thou hast brought thy Servant into Covenant with God When Boas his heart was towards Ruth Naomi tels her Ruth 3. last He will never rest until he bath done the thing 2. Keep we our selves in this Love John 15.10 If we keep his Commandements we shal abide in his Love John 14.21 23. Jude 20. And thus we have done with this last Clause which we said we were inforced to take into consideration before we would come to the main Point wherein the pith of our Saviors Prayer appears which was the Second Particular observed in the Verse and are now to enquire into it The thing which our Savior praies here so earnestly for The 2d Partic. That they might be where he is And thence we have this Point namely Our Savior doth affectionately desire to have the presence of the Faithful in Heaven with himself Doct. I say he affectionately desires and that appears in his expression I WILL Which implies Three Things in this place as thus used That it is thing which suits the heart of the Lord Christ and which he chuseth as a thing that is wel pleasing to him This is as he would have it 2. That he presents the efficacy of his Merits and Obedience before God the Father and by vertue of the Covenant and Agreement betwixt him and the Father transacted touching his Elect and Chosen whose Redemption and Recovery he hath undertaken and he challengeth and claimeth at the hands of the Father the enjoyment of Heaven and Happiness which he hath purchased for his Servants the Faithful and his enjoyment of them and their presence 3. He earnestly requests and praies unto the Father for the accomplishment and performance of this The first and last of these Particulars ye have fully declared by the same word as used upon the like occasion When our Savior was to enter into his Agony in the Garden a little before he was betrayed he prayed more earnestly saies the Text If it be possible let this Cup pass and in the close ends and issues al with this subjection Not as I will but as thou wilt Marth 26.39 that is according to the Rules of Nature and Reason I would chuse and do desire mine own preservation as man yet as Mediator having undertaken the Redemption of mine I submit my Wil and Prayers to thy good pleasure and purpose And for the Second Particular it 's thus also plain Because his Prayer is one part of his Priestly Office and of that Intercession which he makes for his redeemed ones and that appears amongst other things in this As he purchased so in a righteous way he may obtain the performance of al that good from the Father in the behalf of his That they may be with them and happy in them for ever Isa 53.11 He shal see the travel of his Soul he shal see the fruit of his dying and praying the bringing of his unto God the Father into Heaven and their blessedness there And this our Savior doth not as man only but as God-man the Mediator of his Elect as he voluntarily submitted to the place of a Surety and became a Servant for our sakes and so less than the Father John 14.30 The Father is greater than I. Look as his Complaint so his Prayer may be conceived as issuing and proceeding from the same ground But when he complains My God my God why hast thou forsaken me he was not forsaken of God by the withdrawing of the sence and sweetness of his Favor as man only but as Surety therefore as Mediator and therefore so he prayed and so was heard then and now also heard and accepted of God the Father And this affectionate desire of our Savior appears in this That as he cannot take content in Heaven unless he have his Faithful with him So he wil not rest in Heaven but wil come again to fetch them to him John 14.3 I will come again and take you to my self He hath betrothed his Bride and Spouse here and he wil come as somtimes Princes and States come from their own Places and Kingdoms with the great retinue of his Courtiers and attendance of glorious Angels thousands shal go before him and thousand thousands administring to him at the Solemnization of the day of Marriage and he shal say as in Psal â—0 Gather my Saints to me those that have made a Covenant with me by Sacrifice We shal al be taken up with him into the Clouds and he shal carry his Bride with Triumph into his own Country and Kingdom into Heaven and there we shal be ever with him REASON 1. Hereby the Scope and End of the great Work of Restitution of lost man is in part and in an especial part thereof attained This is the end of the Death and offering of our Savior Heb 9.7 8. But into the Second went the High-Priest alone once every Yeer not without Blood the Holy Ghost thus signifying That the way into the Holy of Holies that is into Heaven was not yet made manifest while the first Tabernacle was standing but verse 11. Christ being come an High Priest of good things to come not by the blood of Goats but by his own Blood he entred once into the Holy Place that is Heaven having obtained eternal Redemption for us So that we have boldness to enter into the Holiest of the Blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the Vail that is his Flesh This is the Scope of his Resurrection and Ascention John 14.3 In my Fathers House there be many Mansions I go to prepare a place for you that is He ascended into Heaven that by vertue of his Ascention we also might arise and ascend and sit in Heavenly places with him For Ascention doth firstly appertain to our Savior and from him as our Head it is communicated to us as his Members Had not the Second Adam ascended for ought I can see no Son of Adam had ever come into Heaven When the last Enemy which is Death is vanquished and that he hath brought al the Elect home and presented them to God the Father Here am I and
first part observed in this Prayer The person to whom it s directed Viz. To God as a Righteous Father 2. The Prayer it self The second part comes now into consideration Viz. The Prayer it self where digressing from the order of the particulars as they were laid out in the opening of the text and taking the words as they first come to hand we shal begin with the description of the parties for whom the Prayer was made and therein first that dissimilitude and unlike condition that is between the world and them The World hath not known thee 1. By WORLD is meant the wicked of the world I pray not for the world but for those that thou hast given me out of the world Verse 6.9 1 Joh. 5.19 We know that we are of God and the whole WORLD liveth in wickedness Where these two are put in way of opposition To be of God to be begotten and called of him and to be such As lie in Wickedness they are such as be made up of Worldly Principles take up their abode in wickedness and are brought to bed in it Because the God of this world rules in them 2. Cor. 4.4 Because the Spirit of the world acts them perverted mutability whereby they are under the power of the Creature that carries them along 1 Cor. 2.12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit of God Because they take content in the things of the world Mind earthly things Phil. 3.19 Are Children of the World 2. These Wicked persons do not know the Father Know That is they have not a real and right conceiving of the Father as in that Faithfulness and Fatherly affection wherein he communicates himself to his For in that special consideration this knowledg is here to be attended and so restrained He saith not nor yet meaneth that they did not know God or know the Father as God or his Deity for it is directly contrary to the expression and affirmation of the Apostle touching the Gentiles in the general look at them in the lump as they lie in the loynes of lost Adam Rom. 1.18 They know God but did not glorifie God as God nay God is not only manifest to them but in them Verse 19. But look at him as a Father and in regard of that Faithfulness he expresseth towards his and then ye have the meaning of our Savior and the mind of the Spirit of God in the place The wicked and ungodly of the world Doct. they know not the Fatherly Love of God which he in faithfulness dispenseth towards his They know him not as a Righteous Father though they may and happily do know him as a God This our Savior takes as granted and gives it as the reason of al that wretched proceeding of the ungodly against the Saints in al Ages Joh. 16.3 These things they wil do unto you because they have not known the Father nor me Joh. 15.12 These things wil they do unto you for my Names sake because they knew not him that sent me And this is not only true of those Who are of meane place and parts who happily neither had helps to instruct them nor abilities to improve such means of knowledg as might lead them to the understanding of the Father As they spake of the baser sort This People that know not the Law A company of Poor silly deluded sottish Creatures that never had teaching and training up in the knowledg of the Lord But our Savior affirmes it of such who thought their penny good Silver and prided themselves in the profession knowledg of the truth nay Chalenged both interest and acceptance in God as a Father Joh. 8.54 55. If I honor my self my honor is nothing It is my Father that honoreth me of whom ye say that he is your Father And yet ye have not Known him q. d. Though ye lift up your heads and would bear the world in hand that ye are the only people of the Lord stand in such neer relation are so dearly affected to him and so highly esteemed of him that he is your Father when in truth these are but fals Presumptions of your Priviledges and vaunting of your Pride for yet to this day ye have not known him you that are the learned Doctors of the Law you who profess your selves the Guides and Leaders of the people and to be instructers of such who are ignorant and therefore should know the mysteries of Godliness yet ye know not the Father but I know him Object But you wil say however this may be granted confessed to be true of the rude and unlearned multitude which are marvailous sottish in themselves and insufficient to search into the knowledg of the perfections of the Deity Yet that the profound Schollers yea Ministers though wicked and ungodly yet for time Standing studies mervailous eminent Dextrous and famous for their skil in al Tongues and Arts Nay who have Preached both long and much of the Deity and persons of Christ and of the special relation betwixt the Father and Christ should yet be ignorant of them how can this suit with reasonable apprehension Answer four things 1. Though the perfections of the Deity may be apprehended by the dictates of our consciences and the creation of the world yet the discerning of the Trinity of the persons in the unity of the God-Head is beyond the ability of any of the lost Sons of Adam being left unto the search which the light of their own reason wil lead them unto And because as the unity of the God-head doth most appear by the works of creation so the distinction of the persons is best perceived by the works of Redemption Because our natural reason cannot compass it it s not sufficient to conceive this And therefore ye shal observe when ever either question or expression is presented to any of the wisest of the Heathen touching Redemption or resurrection They look at it as a meer delusion and dream and cast it a way with scorn Act. 17.32 When Paul Spake of the resurrection some mocked some wondred and said we wil hear thee again of this matter 2. That God the Father should be the Father of Christ as God-Man and in Faithfulness dispense Fatherly love to any of his It exceeds the reach of al Humane Reason and had it not been revealed in the Scriptures it could never have been apprehended by the improvement of the best abilities of men and Angels 1 Cor. 1.20 When the world in the Wisdom of God knew not God that is by the Wisdom that he had left imprinted on the works of creation and providence they could not know God in Christ nor the way of his dispensation therein It pleased God the foolishness of Preaching to save them that belâ—eve By that which the world cals foolishness For the Cross of Christ is foolishness to the Grecian and a stumbling Block to the Jew 3. Though it doth exceed the reach of