from vers 27 to ver 59. Thirdly You have the issue or consequence of the Sermon some believed and some revolted some murmured and some marvelled The Text that I have now read unto you is part of the Sermon it self wherein our Lord and Saviour because of the stupidity and incredulity of his Auditors doth again and again both press and prove this Heavenly Doctrine that he himself was the Bread of Life I am says he the Bread of Life he that cometh to me shall not hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst In which Text you may take notice of these two parts First An undeniable Proposition I am the Bread of Life Secondly A comfortable Inference upon that Proposition He that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall nevtr thirst I shall begin with the first the evident and undeniable Proposition I am the Bread of Life which words must not be understood literally as if our Saviour was such Corporal Bread as could be chewed in the mouth and digested in the stomach as the Capernaites did fondly conceive when they said How can this man give us his flesh to eat this was as gross a conceit as Nicodemus's who askt If he should go into his Mothers womb again and be born But the words must be understood in a Metaphorical sense That as Bread strengthens the body and revives the spirit and supports the nature of a man and enables him to perform natural actions with more vigour and vivacity so likewise the Lord Jesus Christ strengthens the Soul and revives the spirit and supports us in our spiritual life and helps us to perform spiritual duties in a spiritual manner therefore he saith I am the Bread of Life He is not only bread but the bread of life because it is he that gives us spiritual life here and preserves that life and will hereafter give to us Eternal lise in Glory and therefore he is called The Bread of Life So then the Doctrine I would commend to you from hence is this Doct. The Lord Jesus Christ is that living bread that gives Spiritual and Eternal life to all those that have a part and interest in him This is a Truth so unquestionable that it is no less than six times repeated in this one Chapter And for the better Confirmation of it it may be demanded First Wherein doth our Saviour resemble bread Secondly And how doth it appear that our Saviour is better than bread I shall speak briefly to them both First Wherein doth our Saviour resemble bread I will name but three particulars though I know more might be reckoned up First Bread you know it is prepared food the Corn must be threshed and winnowed and ground in a Mill and baked in an Oven before it can be bread for us to eat So the Lord Jesus Christ he was threshed as I may say by afflictions and tribulations He was a man of sorrows and he was winnowed by temptations he was baked and scorch'd as it were in the Oven of his Fathers wrath for it was he that trod the Winepress of his Fathers wrath alone for us and all this was done before he could be made fit Bread that is a fit Saviour for our Souls Secondly Bread you hnow it is common food it is common to the poor as well as to the rich for the foolish as well as the wise the poor have bread if they have any thing so the Lord Jesus Christ he is a common Saviour common for all ranks and conditions of men for high and low and rich and poor noble and ignoble all are beholding to Jesus Christ here There is neither Greek nor Jew Circumcision nor Vncircumcision Barbarian Scythian Bond nor Free but Christ is all and in all Col. 3.11 Thirdly Bread you know it is the principal food it is the stay and support of a mans life therefore it is called The staff of bread Isa 3.1 So the Lord Jesus Christ he is the principal portion of the Souls of all Believers He is the choicest of ten thousand Cant. 5.10 We may better want any thing than bread The Lord Jesus Christ is as I may say not only the food of our Souls but the Soul of our Souls and the Life of our Lives Secondly It may be demanded But wherein doth Jesus Christ excel this corporal bread I answer in these four respects First Corporal bread though it doth help to preserve life yet it cannot give life but now the Lord Jesus Christ is he that gives spiritual Life he begins it and begets it in his People Ephes 2.1 You hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins And hence it is that the Lord Jesus Christ is called the second Adam The first man Adam was made a living Soul the last Adam was made a quickning Spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 And in John 5.21 For as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickneth them even so the Son quickneth whom be will Secondly Bread doth satisfie but one appetite namely hunger never was it known that bread could satisfie thirst but now the Lord Jesus Christ he can satisfie all the desires of the Soul and supply all the wants of the Soul he is both the bread of life and the water of life nay not only bread and water but he is cloathing to the Soul as it is in Rom. 13. ult Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ So that he is both Food and Spiritual Cloathing Thirdly Bread though it satisfie your hunger for the present yet it cannot so take away your hunger that you shall hunger no more if it satisfie hunger to day you will be hungry again to morrow But now the Lord Jesus Christ doth so satisfie the hunger of our Souls that we shall never hunger nor thirst more for so the Text tells you He that comes to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst Fourthly Corporal bread you know is perishing and doth but nourish a perishing life John 6.27 Labour not for the meat that perisheth But now the Lord Jesus Christ is not perishing bread but that bread that endures for ever and that life that he gives is not a perishing life neither John 6.51 I am the living bread which came down from Heaven if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever and the bread which I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world So you see the Point opened Let me briefly apply it because I principally aim at the second part of the Text the comfortable-Inference But for the improvement of this Point First By way of Information and then by way of Exhortation First By way of Information there are three Doctrinal Inferences from the Point thus opened that may be thence deduced First If the Lord Jesus Christ be that living bread that gives Spiritual and Eternal life to them that believe in him then you may learn this
thee to prove thee and to teach thee to prise Jesus Christ so much the more It may be God le ts loose these infirmities as the avenger of blood was let loose upon the man slayer to force the man slayer to fly to the City of Refuge Numb 35 so these infirmities are let loose to force thee to fly to Jesus Christ the Refuge of thy soul Some there are that was it not for strong infirmities cleaving to them strong temptations meeting with them would never be beholding to Jesus Christ at all Look therefore in every infirmity not only at the evil of it but at the good God intends by it it may be God intends good to thy soul by them Whereas we as he said once many times make plaisters to become a poyson the Lord is able on the contrary to make a plaister of poyson We many times bring sin out of Grace God can bring grace out of sin he can bring Heaven out of Hell therefore as there is something against God so there is something from God in our infirmities therefore we should not be discouraged because of them Secondly Consider the great difference between thy self when thou wast in a state of nature and now when thou art a weak Christian and subject to infirmities did not God reject thee at that time and cast thee off when thou wast an open Traitor and Rebel marching on in a course of rebellion against him did he not cast thee off but had compassion on thee and did pity thee and spare thee then certainly he will not now cast thee off for some unvoluntary errour which thou bewailest and mournest for in his presence Did the Lord seek thee at that time when thou despisedst him certainly then he will not despise thee when thou feekest him That is a good argument of the Apostle to strengthen and support and comfort drooping spirits Rom. 5.10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Certainly therefore God will not reject thee for an infirmity if he was so gracious to thee in thy state of sin and enmity to him there is as great a difference between a state of grace and a state of nature as there is between Heaven and Hell though grace be never so weak and imperfect Thirdly Consider the great danger of being pluckt away from Jesus Christ by giving too much way to despondency Satans main drift and great plot is to drive thee away from Jesus Christ by thy infirmities he labours to bring thee to despond and despair and to say there is no hope for thee because Satan knows the more he draws thee from Jesus Christ the weaker thou wilt be Thy infirmities should not drive thee from Christ but they should drive thee to Christ to improve and make use of his gracious disposition in helping and healing thee in thy miseries and distresses Fourthly Consider what may be the causes of thy infirmities those infirmities will be cured in the causes For example if thy infirmities arise from want of age or time to gather strength that will be cured because the path of the just is as a shining light that shineth more and more to the perfect day Prov. 4.18 Or if from want of the means of grace or because the means of grace thou enjoyest are not such as others enjoy the Lord in such cases will have a tender respect to thee and measure to thee not according to what thou hast but according to what thou wouldst have Again if thy infirmities arise from some corruption that was not discovered to thee at thy first conversion thou must then pray and beg that the Lord would discover thy self to thy self more and more Again if thou hast forsaken some old truths of God and art grown weary of them and hankerest after Novelties and new Opinions then return from thy wandrings and prize solid meat above kickshaws beg that thy soul may taste once again the sweetness of Gospel-truths In a word what ever the cause of your infirmities be get the disease healed in the cause get thy heart more weaned from the World and stir up thy self to take hold of God remember thy former zeal and repent and do thy first works and this is the way to get thy infirmities healed That 's the first Use a Use of Comfort and Consolation The second Use is a Use of Caution The Lord Jesus Christ as you have heard hath a tender respect to his people a tender care of his people in respect of their infirmities let not a wicked man then apply this to himself and say the Lord Christ will have a tender respect to me that go on in the course of sin that live in sin and lye in sin and sleep in sin and wallow in sin No for there is a great deal of difference between the weakness of a Lamb and the wickedness of a Wolf the Lord Jesus Christ pities his Lambs for their weakness but he doth not pity a Wolf for his wickedness that is that man who is resolved to go on in a course of sin say a Minister what he can to the contrary if he is dead in trespasses and sins if he hath no spiritual life in him if there be no work of grace begun in him all that I have said concerning Christs tender care of his peoples infirmities doth not belong to him he hath no part in this Inheritance if thou beest a Wolf and not a Lamb the Lord Christ that hath a tender care of his Lambs will be sure to meet thee not as a Shepherd that carries his Lambs in his Arms but he will meet thee as a Lion Hosea 13.7 8 Therefore I will be unto them as a Lyon as a Leopard by the way will I observe them I will meet them as a Bear that is bereaved of her Whelps and I will rent the caul of their heart and there will I devour them like a Lyon the wild beasts shall tear them The same Christ that is a Shepherd to his People he knows how to be a Lyon a Leopard and a Bear to his Enemies That is an awakening Scripture Psalm 68.21 But God shall wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses If therefore thou art one that goest on in thy trespasses in an unreformed course if thou livest in sin and settest thy heart on wickedness and takest pleasure therein this doctrine doth not belong to thee thou art not a Lamb in Christs account he will not deal tenderly with thee nay he will deal most roughly with thee his wrath and fury will be powred out upon thee as the Prophet speaks That 's the second Use of Caution Lastly A word of Exhortation If the Lord Jesus Christ hath such a tender respect in his carriage to the infirmities of his People O then resolve to have no other
may meet with some knots in Religion fome knotty Disputations he may meet with some Objections that he doth not know how to answer as Saint Austin said That original sin was propagated to the Soul I know it certainly but how it is propagated I cannot tell A man may meet with some Objections that he cannot answer however he will not be overswayed so as to forsake the Truth because he cannot answer some Objections Thirdly When I speak of this full assurance of understanding or knowledg in the mysteries of our Salvation this Caution likewise must be remembred That though it is true that God doth bestow it upon those that do his will yet it is not gained only by doing the will of God but it is gained especially by the gift of the Spirit of God When Saint Peter made that excellent confession of Christ when our Saviour asked his Disciples But whom say ye that I am he answered and said Thou art Christ the Son of the living God Matth. 16.15 16 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him Blessed art thou Simon Bar Jona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in Heaven It is the Spirit of God that leads us into all Truth Fourthly When I speak of a certainty of Knowledg you must remember that it is not a common gift of the Spirit of God but it is a saving gift of the Spirit of God for so saith our Saviour Matth. 13.11 12 13 To you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to others it is not given for whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away even that he hath therefore speak I to them in Parables because they seeing see not and hearing they heart not neither do they understand This same certainty of Knowledg therefore is not attained by any natural qualification it is not a Knowledg that can be gotten or learned in Natures School it is not gotten by Art or Industry or reading of Books neither is it gotten by Tradition The Gentiles had a Natural knowledg of God Rom. 1.21 Because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God They knew God by a Natural light but it is a Knowledg that is revealed by the Spirit of God and therefore the Spirit of God is called the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledg of him Ephes 1.17 Fifthly Take this Caution this assurance of Knowledg is gradual that is it hath different degrees in some it is more and in some it is less some are but Babes in Christ others there are that are strong men some are weak in the Faith Rom. 14.1 Others are rooted in Christ and built up in him and stablished in the Faith Col. 2.7 This certainty of understanding at the first is but very weak as the Disciples of Christ in the great Point of the Resurrection at the first they were not clear in their knowledg of it Luke 24.21 We trusted that it had been him which should have redeemed Israel beside all this to day is the third day since these things were done so that now our hope is almost at an end in the great business of our Saviours Resurrection they were not cleat at the first A man that hath this certainty of Knowledg may have but a weak beginning at the first and yet notwithstanding it will encrease more and more like the morning light that shines more and more to the perfect day Prov. 4.18 So that a man will at last come to be grounded and stablished in the truth he will be stedfast and unmovable abounding in the work of the Lord 1 Cor. 15. ult He will be stablished in Christ and grow in grace and in the knowledg of our Lord and Savour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 3. ult Secondly Let me give you some Distinctions of Knowledg that you may be the better able to find it out Knowledg you must know is twofold there is a Natural and a Supernatural Knowledg First Natural Knowledg which is ingraven in the Soul of man by Nature as the Gentiles by Nature knew God Rom. 1.21 That is a Natural knowledg that is gotten by Art and Industry as the knowledg of Astronomy is and the like Secondly Supernatural Knowledg that is revealed by the Spirit of God Now the Supernatural Knowledg is twofold First It is either common Or secondly It is saving There is a common Supernatural Knowledg that is common to the Reprobates as well as to the Elect for Reprobates who sin the sin against the Holy Ghost they are enlightned with a Supernatural light Every thing that is Supernatural is not Spiritual the Devils they have a Supernatural light and yet it is not a spiritual nor sanctifying light and therefore they that sin the sin against the Holy Ghost have common light which is Supernatural the Text saith They have received the knowledg of the truth Heb. 10.26 Secondly There is a saving Supernatural light viz. that which is infused into the Souls of the Regenerate by the saving work of Gods holy Spirit Now this supernatural saving light that is again twofold First It is either mediate that is that which is acquired by means as Reading Hearing and Praying waiting upon God in the use of his Ordinances according as God told Saint Paul in the preaching of the Word Mens eyes should be opened and they should be turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God Acts 26.18 Secondly Or else it is immediate and this is that light which is darted into the Soul without the use of means Saint Paul for example he was enlightned miraculously by a Revelation from Heaven Acts 9. And so in the Conversion of the Jaylor how wonderfully was he enlightned on a sudden Acts 16. And the Conversion of the Thief on the Cross it was done immediately by the Spirit of God Now when I am speaking of this certainty of Knowledg I speak not of a Natural but of a Spiritual Knowledg neither do I speak of a common Supernatural Knowledg but of the sanctifying and saving gift of the Spirit of God neither do I speak of the immediate without the means but I speak of the mediate in the use of means therefore to come to the third thing that is to give you the Description of this certain and assured Knowledg and the Description is this Certainty of Spiritual Knowledg it is a saving work of the Spirit of God whereby a Believer receives satisfying light and doth give up his understanding resolvedly to those Truths that are revealed to him There are these five things to be noted in this Description First I say it is a saving work of the Spirit of God It is not the knowledg of Devils the Devils have a Supernatural Knowledg neither is it the knowledg of Hypocrites such a knowledg as they that sin the sin against