desire besides thee A right beholding of Christ in his eternal workings will cause a desire of Christ above all desires the heart now thirsts for nothing but him that is all all power all love all holiness all happiness tell such a soul of the world and gold and glory O what are these the soul will quickly tell you Phil. 3.8 the world is dung and gold is dung glory is dung all is but loss dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. Give me God Christ saith the soul or I die Oh my desires are to him who hath done all this for me Is not this the period still of thy expression at the end of every discourse would Christ were mine thou hearest it may be some worldings talk such a one and such a one hath got so much in these times he that was yesterday as poor as Lazarus he is this day like that nameless rich man cloathed in purple Luk. 16.19 and fine linnen and faring sumptuously every day ay but dost not thou reply either in word or heart would Christ were mine and then I had got more then he Poor soul dost thou not gasp only after Christ when thou fetchest as I may say the very deepest breath canst thou read over the generation of Jesus the Son of God the time when he was begotten the manner of his begetting the mutual kindness and love of him that begets and of him that is begotten and dost not thou pant and breath and gasp after Jesus at every period canst thou read over Jesus his acts and decrees in reference to thy self canst thou turn over those many leaves in every of which is discovered those everlasting loves of God in his projects counsels foreknowledg purpose decree covenant for thy souls happiness and art thou not ready at every discovery to sing Davids Psalm Psa 42.1 2 as the hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God my soul thirsteth for God for the living God O when shall I come and appear before God O my soul hadst thou but these pantings thirstings breathings after God and Christ thou mightest comfortably conclude these are the fruits of Gods Spirit it is the Spirit of the Lord Jesus which makes those sighs and groanes in thee Rom. 8.26 which cannot be expressed He and thee sigh together one in another and one after another O therefore look Look unto Jesus and sigh and desire after him 3. We may and must desire after the full and utmost execution whereby God effectually Workes in time according to all his workings or decrees before time God that purposed and decreed from all Eternity he will not have done the full execution of that purpose or decree till that after-Eternity in that world without end Indeed some part is a fulfilling now but the main the great part is yet to come why then as we see the Plot Phil. 1.23 let us desire after the full accomplishment let us desire after the glory without end to which we were predestinated before the beginning It was Pauls desire to be dissolved to be with Christ As men burthened so should we desire and groan after the enjoyments of God in the world to come O my soul that thou were but cast in the Apostles mould that they affections were but on the wing that they might take flight and steer their course towards heaven and thereupon that thou mightest say yond is the glorious house the goodly building made without hands which God from all Eternity decreed to be my home my rest my dwelling place to all Eternity and in yond stately Fabrick is many an heavenly Inhabitant before I come there are Angels and there are all the souls of Sainâ—s that from Adam to this day have had their pass out of this sinful world yea there is Jesus the Son of God and there is God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost and if I am predestinated to this fellowship Lord when shall I have run through the means that I may come to this end O my end where is my end where is my Lord my God my Comforter where is my rest where is my end I cannot be at rest without my end and therefore come Lord Jesus come quickly be like a Roe Cant. 8.14 or a young Hart upon the Mountains of Spices Christians why are not your Spirits alwayes breathing thus after the glory to which you are predestinated why do not you long after full enjoyment the utmost execution of Gods decree why are not your hearts your souls your spirits already in heaven Surely there be your relations your Father is there your elder brother is there and there are many I dare say most of your other younger brethren again there is your interest your estate is there if you believe and therefore Where should your hearts be but where your treasure is come then come set in tune those desires of your souls set your affections on things above especially on that one thing Jesus Christ Looking unto Jesus SECT IV. Of hoping in Jesus in that respect 4. WE must hope in Jesus as carrying on the great work of our salvation for us in that Eternity It is not enough to know and consider and desire but we must hope and maintain our hope as to our own interest Now hope is a passion whereby we expect probably or certainly some future good All the question is whether that salvation concerning which the great transaction was betwixt God and Christ belongs now to me and what are the grounds and foundations on which my hope is built I know some exceedingly abuse this Doctrine If God had before all worlds appointed me to salvation why then I may live as I list I need not hear or pray or confer or perform any holy Duty for I am sure I shall be saved And thus at once they take away all grounds of hope It is true Gods decrees are unchangeable but they do not afford any such inferences or deductions as these you might as well say the Lord hath appointed me to live to such a time and before that time I shall not cannot die and therefore I need no meat nor drink nor cloathes nor any other thing Ah silly foolish devilish arguing Gods decree is for the means as well as for the end whom God hath decreed to save them also hath he decreed to call to justifie to sanctifie before he save O my Soul look to the grounds whereon they hope is built if those be weak thy hope is weak but if those be strong thy hope will prove most strong and certain and prudent In the disquisition of these grounds say not in thine heart who shall ascend into Heaven Rom. 10.16 or who shall descend into the deep seek not above or below it is not possible for thee to go bodily into Heaven to see the Records of Eternity and to
strong temptations so many lusts that now he doubts O what will become of my poor Soul what will be the issue of this woful work why come now and desire after perseverance when Peter was ravished on the mount it is good being here sayes he let us build three Tabernacles Mat. 17.4 his desire was to have continued there for ever and it was the prayer of Christ in Peters behalf Luk. 22.3 I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not what was this Prayer but Christ's vehement desire of Peters continuing in the faith shall Christ desire and will not thou desire after thy own perfection O come with these Pantings and Breathings after God put forth thy desires in these or the like expressions O Lord thou hast said I will betroth thee unto me for ever Hosea 2.19 and what means this but that the conjugal love of Christ with a gracious soul shall never be broken what means this but that the bond of union in a believer to Christ is fastened upon God and the spirit of God holds the other end of it and so it can never be broken 2. O Lord thou hast discovered in thy Word that th s union is in the Father who hath laid a sure foundation 2 Tim 2.19 the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth them that are his John 13.1 and that this union is in the Son who loves his to the end and that this union is in the spirit who abides in the elect for ever 3. Thou hast discovered that the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee Isa 54.10 neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee 4. Thou hast said that the Saints shall be kept by the Power of God q. d. The special Power I mean to put forth in this world 1 pet 1.5 it is to uphold the spirits of my saints the special work I have in the world to exercise my power about it is to keep Christ and the saints together it is through the power of God that heaven and earth is kept up but if God must withdraw his Power from the one of these sooner should heaven and earth fall in pieces than God would not uphold one gracious soul that hath Vnion with his Son Jesus Christ And if thâ—se be thy sayings why then Lord I desire the accomplishment O fulfil what thou hast said it would break my heart if ever the Covenant should be broken betwixt me and thee my desire is towards thee and the more I enjoy thee the more and more I desire and pant after thee my desires are like thy self infinite eternal everlasting desires 4. Desire after Jesus the great business or the all in all in a Covenant of Grace the most proper object of desire especiaâ—ly to man fallen is Jesus Christ hence it is that a poor sinner under the sense of sin cryes out with the vehemency of desire Christ and none but Christ give me Christ or I dye I am undone I am lost for ever But what is Christ or Jesus to a Covenant of grace Ruâ—kers tryal of Faith I answer he is the great business he is the all in all Christ hath at least a Six-fold relation to the Covenant of grace 1. As he is more than a creature he is the Covenant himself 2. As he deals betwixt parties he is the messenger of the covenant 3. As he saw and heard and testifieth all he is the witness of the covenant 4. As he undertaketh for the parties at variance he is the surety of the covenant 5. As he standeth between the contrary parties he is the Mediator of the covenant 6. As he signifieth the covenant and closeth all the Articles he is the Testator of the covenant Oh here is abundance of fuel for thy desire to work upon 1. Consider the fuel and then set on the flame thy desire Isa 42.6 Isa 41.9 1. Christ is the covenant it self I gave thee for a covenant of the People for a light of the gentiles And I will preserve thee and give thee for a Covenant of the People Christ God and Man is all the Covenant 1. Fundamentally he is the original of the Covenant the Covenant of grace takes iâ—s being and beginning from Christ he is the covenant-maker undertaker manager dispatcher he doth every thing in the covenant 2. Materially the very substance of the covenant stands in this I will be their God and they shall be my People now Christ he is both these in himself he is God unto his People and he is the People representatively unto God and before God 3. Equivalently many branches or fruits of the Covenant are to be fulfilled to believers in their season but as soon as ever they are Justified Christ is said to be the Covenant as a present pawn or earnest delivered into the hands of a man at the very instant of his justification and this pawn is of equal value and worth with the whole Covenant when it is fulfilled to the uttermost Thus Christ in every of these respects is the Covenant it self he is very peace and reconciliation it self and this man shall be the Peace when the Assyrian shall come into our Land As fire is hot for it self and all other things hot for it Micah 5 5. as they participate of it so Christ is the Covenant it self and all we are so far in Covenant to Christ as we have any thing of Christ want Christ and want peace and want the Covenant of grace 2. Christ is the messenger of this Covenant The Lord whom ye seek shall suddainly come to his Temple Mal. 3.1 even the messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in Christ travels with tydings between parties of the Covenant 1. He reports of God to us he commends his Father unto us Joh. 15.1 Joh. 6.29 Joh. 6.48 Joh. 8.12 Joh. 10.9 11. Prov. 1.20 Prov. 9.5 my Father is the husband man and this is the Fathers will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I shall lose nothing and he commends himself to us it became the Lord Jesus to commend himself I am the bread of Life I am the Light of the world I am the Door I am the good Shepherd It is a wonderful thing how Christ is a broker as I may say for Christ wisdom cryeth out she uttereth her voice in the streets come eat of my bread and drink of my wine which I have mingled Ministers cannot speak of Christ and of his Father as he can do himself O my Soul to excite thy desires come and hear Christ speak of Christ and of his Father and of Heaven for he saw all Joh. 17.25 2. He reports of us to God he commends us to his Father O righteous Father the world hath not known thee but I have known thee and
everlasting Kingdom Dan. 7.27 Yet his end shall be and he shall have nothing Dan. 9.26 Thus all along from his Cratch to his Cross sweet Savours but sowr Grapes at last indeed the Grapes grew to a ripeness and then he was pressed and his dearest heart-blood run out in abundant streams this was the sweet juice of our Garden-Vine God planted it the Heavens Water it the Jews prune it what remains now but that we abide in it but of that when we come to the Directions how we are to look SECT VII Of some Consequents after Christ's Birth SOme Consequents after the Birth of Christ may be touched whilest yet he was but a Child of twelve years old As 1. When he was but eight dayes old he was Circumcised and named Jesus As there was shame in his Birth so there was pain in his Circumcision a sharp Razor paseth through his skin presently after he is born not that he needed this Ceremony but that for us he was content to be legally impure In this early humiliation he plainly discovers the Riches of his Grace now he sheds his Blood in drops and thereby gives an earnest of those Rivers which he afterwards poured out for the cleansing of our Nature and extinguishing the wrath of God and for a further discovery of his Grace at this time his Name is given him which was Jesus This is the name which we should engrave in our hearts rest our Faith on and place our help in and love with the overflowings of Charity and Joy and Adoration above all things we had need of a Jesus a Saviour for our Souls and from our sins and from the everlasting destruction which sin will otherwise bring upon our Souls hence this Name Jesus and this Sign Circumcision are joined together for by the effusion of his blood he was to be our Jesus our Saviour Without shedding of Blood is no remission of Sins no Salvation of Souls Heb. 9.22 Rom. 4.11 Circumcision was the Seal and now was it that our Jesus was under God's Great Seal to take his Office We have heard how he carried on the great Work of our Salvation from Eternity this very Name and Office of Jesus a Saviour was resolved on in Gods fore-councel and given forth from the beginning and we have heard of late how it was promised and foretold by an Angel John 6.27 but now it is Signed and Sealed with an absolute Commission and fulness of Power Him hath God the Father fealed John 6.27 It is his Office and his very profession to save that all may repair unto him to that end Mat. 11.28 John 6.37 John 4.42 Come unto me all ye that are weary and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out in which respect he is called the Saviour of the world i.e. of Samaritans Jewes Gentiles Kings Shepherds and of all sorts of men 2. When he was forty daies old he was brought to Jerusalem and presented to the Lord as it is written in the Law of the Lord every Male that openeth the womb shall be called Holy to the Lord. O wonder there was no impurity in the Son of God and yet he is first circumcised and then he is brought and offered to the Lord Luke 2.22 23 he that came to be sin for us would in our Persons be legally unclean that by satisfying the Law he might take away our uncleanness he that was above the Law would come under the Law that he might free us from the Law we are all born sinners but O the unspeakable Mercy of our Jesus that provides a remedy as early as our sin first he is conceived and then he is born to sanctifie our Conceptions and our Births and after his Birth he is first Circumcised and then he is presented to the Lord that by two holy acts that which was naturally unholy might be hallowed unto God Christ hath not left our very Infancy without redress but by himself thus offered he cleanseth us presently from our filthiness Now is Christ brought in his Mothers Arms to his own House the Temple and as Man he is presented to himself as God O how Glorious did that Temple seem now the Owner was within the walls of it Now was the Hour and Guest come in regard whereof the second Temple should surpass the first this was the House built for him and dedicated to him there had he dwelt long in his Typical presence nothing was done there whereby he was not resembled and now the body of these shadows is come and presents himself where he had ever been represented You will say what is this to me or to my Soul O yes Jerusalem is now every where there is no Church-Assembly no Christian heart which is not a Temple of the Living God and there is no Temple of God wherein Christ is not presented to his Father Thus we have the benefit of Christ's fulfilling the Law of Righteousness God sent his Son made of a Woman made under the Law that he might redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons Gal. 3.4 5. It is as if the Father should have said to Christ Come my dear Son here are certain Malefactors under the Law to suffer and to be executed what say you to them Why I will become under the Law saith Christ I will take upon me their Execution and suffer for them and to this purpose he is first circumcised and then he is presented to the Lord. 3. When he was yet under one year old as some or about two as others he fled into Egypt As there was no room for him in Bethlehem so now there is no room for him in all Judea no sooner he came to his own but he must fly from them what a wonder is this Could not Christ have quit himself from Herod a thousand wayes what could an Arm of flesh have done against the God of Spirits had Jesus been of the spirit of some of his Disciples he might have commanded fire from Heaven on those that should have come to have apprehended him but hereby he taught us to bear the yoke even in our youth thus would he suffer that he might sanctifie to us our early afflictions he flies into Egypt the slaughter-house of Gods People the sink of the world the surnace of Israel's ancient afflictions what a change is here Israel the first-born of God â—lie out of Egypt into Judea and Christ the first-born of all Creatures flies out of Judea into Egypt Euseb de demonst l. 6. c. 20. Eusebius reports that the Child Jesus arriving in Egypt and being by design carried into a Temple all the Statutes of the Idol-Gods fell down like Dagon at the presence of the Ark and to this purpose he cites Isaiah's Prophesie Behold the Lord shall come into Egypt and the Idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence Now is Egypt become the Sanctuary and Judea
Saints now have or which the Saints shall have unto the end of the World it is to be conveyed through that flesh yea the Spirit it self dwells in it and is conveyed through it and therefore if they had so much Gospel-Spirit in the time of the Old Testament which indeed was rare how much more should we go to Christ as God in the flesh and look upon it as a standing Ordinance and believe perfectly on it 3. Faith must go and lye at the feet of Christ faith must fix and fasten it self on this God in our flesh some go to Christ and look on Jesus with loose and transient glances they bring in but flashy secondary ordinary actings of faith they have but course and common apprehensions of Jesus Christ Oh but we should come to Christ with solemn serious spirits we should look on Jesus piercingly till we see him as God is in him and as such a person thus and thus qualified from Heaven we should labour to apprehend what is the riches of this glorious mystery of Christ's Incarnation we should dive into the depths of his glorious actings we should study this mystery above all other studies nothing is so pleasant and nothing is more deep that one person should be God and Man that God should be man in our nature and yet not assume the person of a man that blessedness should be made a curse that Heaven should be let down into Hell that the God of the world would shut himself up as it were in a body that the invisible God should be made visible to sense that all things should become nothing and make it self of no reputation that God should make our nature which had sinned against him to be the great Ordinance of Reconciling us unto himself that God should take our flesh and dwell in it with all his fulness and make that flesh more Glorious than the Angels and advance that flesh into oneness with himself and through that flesh open all his councels and rich discoveries of love and free-grace unto the Sons of men that this Man-God God-Man should be our Saviour Redeemer Reconciler Father Friend Oh what mysteries are these no wonder if when Christ was born John 1.14 the Apostle cryes we saw his glory as of the only begotten Son of God noting out that at first sight of him so much glory sparkled from him as could appear from none but a God walking up and down the world O my soul let not such a treasury be unlookt into set faith on work with a redoubled strength surely we live not like men under this great design if our eye of faith be not firmly and stedfastly set on this O that we were but insighted into these glories that we were but acquainted with these lively discoveries Gal. 2.20 how blessedly might we live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us 4. Faith must look principally to the end and meaning of Christ as God coming in the Flesh Now what was the design and meaning of Christ in this The Apostle answers Rom. 8.3 Rom. 8.3 God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh to condemn sin in the Flesh i.e. God the Father sent into the World his eternal and only begotten Son whom in his eternal counsel he had designed to the Office of a Mediator to take away or abolish in the first place Original Sin Mark these two words he condemned Sin in the Flesh the first word condemned is by a Metonymy put for that which follows Condemnation namely for the abolishing of sin as condemned persons used to be cut off and to be taken out of the World that they may be no more so Christ hath condemned or abolished this Sin For the second word in the Flesh is meant that Humane Nature which Christ assumed he abolished sin altogether in his own nature and that Flesh of his being perfectly holy and the holiness of it being imputed unto us it takes away our guilt in respect of the impureness of our Nature also Some may object if this were so then were we without Original sin I answer the Flesh or the Nature which Christ took upon him was altogether without sin and by imputation of it we are in proportion freed from sin Christ had not the least spot of Original sin and if we are Christs then is this sin in some measure abolished and taken out of our hearts But howsoever the filth of this sin may remain in part yet the guilt is removed in this respect the purity of Christs Humane Nature is no less reckoned to us for the curing of our defiled Nature than the sufferings of Christ are reckoned to us for the remission of our actual Sins O my Soul look to this end of Christ as God in the Flesh if thou consider him as made Flesh and Blood and laid in a Manger think withal that his meaning was to condemn sin in our Flesh there flows from the Holiness of Christs Nature such a power as countermands the power of our Original sin and acquits and discharges from the condemnation of the same Sin not only the Death and Life but also the Conception and Birth of Christ hath its influence into our Justification Oh the sweet that a lively Faith may draw from this Head 4. The Encouragements to bring on Souls to believe on Christ Incarnate we may draw 1. From the excellency of this Object This very Incarnation of Christ is the Foundation of all other actings of God for us it is the very Hinge or Pole on which all turn it is the Cabinet wherein all the Designs of God do lie Election Redemption Justification Adoption Glorification are all wrapt up in it it is the highest pitch of the Declaration of Gods Wisdom Goodness Power and Glory Oh what a sweet Object of Faith is this I know there are some other things in in Christ which are most proper for some Acts of Faith as Christ dying is most proper for the pardon of actual sin and Christ rising from the dead is most proper for the evidencing of our Justification but the strongest purest Acts of Faith are those which take in Christ as such a Person laid out in all this Glory Christs Incarnation is more general than Christs Passion or Christs Resurrection and as some would have it includes all Christs Incarnation holds forth in some sort Christ in his fulness and so it is the full and compleat subject of our Faith or if it be only more comprehensive why then it requires more comprehensive Acts of Faith and by consequence we have more enjoyments of Christ this way than any other way Come poor Soul I feel I feel thy eyes are running to and fro the World to find comforts and happiness on Earth O come cast thy eyes back and see Heaven and Earth in one Object look fixedly on Christ Incarnate there is more in this than in all the variety
be in us I cannot see but the Baptism we use and the Baptism of John are in nature and substance one and the very same 1. Mat. 3.15 Luk. 7.29 30. John preached the Baptism of Repentance for the remission of Sins they have therefore the same Doctrine and the same Promise 2. The Baptism Ministred by John pertained to the fulfilling of all Righteousness and Luke testifies that the Publicans and People being Baptized of John they Justified God but the Pharisees dispised the Councel of God against themselves and were not Baptized only herein lies the difference that John Baptized in Christ that should die and rise again but we Baptize into the Name of Christ that is dead and risen again it is a difference in respect of Circumstance but not of the Substance Oh take heed of throwing away the Baptism of water upon the pretence of Baptism only with Fire Christ we see hath joyned them together and let no man separate them asunder Christ himself was Baptized with fire and yet Christ himself was Baptised with water SECT IV. Of the Fasting and Temptation of Christ 3. FOr the Fasting and Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness No sooner is Christ come out of the water of Baptism but he presently enters into the fire of temptarion no sooner is the holy Spirit descended upon his head but he is led by the same holy Spirit to be tempted in the wilderness no sooner doth God say This my Son but Satan puts it to the question if thou be the Son of God all these are but Ghrists preparatives to his Prophetical Office in the former Section Christ was prepared by a solemn Consecration and now he is to be further prepared by Satans Temptations there is much in this particular and therefore in the same method as the Evangelist layes it down Mat. 4.1.2 3. to v. 12. Mat. 4.1 to 12. I shall proceed Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil c. In the whole we may observe these several Branches as First the place where the Temptation was to wit the Wilderness Secondly the cause of Christ's going into the Wilderness the Spirits leading Thirdly the end of the spirits leading Christ into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil Fourthly the time and occasion of the Devils onset at the end of forty dayes fast and when he was an hungred Fifthly the Temptations themselves which are in number three to which are added as many Victories which Christ had over the Tempter who therefore left him and so the Angels came and ministred unto him I shall begin first with the place where the Temptation was to wit in the Wilderness This wilderness was not that same wilderness or not that same place of the wilderness wherein John Baptist lived Mat. 3.1 For that wherein John Baptist lived was a place inhabited there was in that place Cities and Towns and a number of people to whom John Preached but this wilderness was devoid of men full of wild beasts so saith Mark Mark 1.13 He was tempted of Satan and was with the wild Beasts As Adam in his Innocency lived with wild Beasts and they hurt him not so Christ the second Adam lives here in a wilderness with wild Beasts and he has no hurt at all he is Adam-like in his safety and security but above Adam in the resisting of temptation Some say that in this wilderness during his forty dayes abode Christ was perpetually disturbed and assaulted with evil Spirits however the last brunt is only expressed because it was most violent now whether they appeared in any horrid and affrighting shapes during that time it is not certain but 't is most likely that to a Person of so great sanctity and high designation as Jesus was they would appear more angelical and immaterial and in representments intellectual because Jesus was not a Person of those low weaknesses to be affrighted or troubled with any ugly phantasmes 't is not much material to enquire of this but in the wilderness say they Christ was perpetually tempted and in this respect I know not but the Devil had more advantage now he had Christ in a wilderness solitariness is no small help to the speed of a Temptation Wo to him that is alone for if he fall there is not a second to take him up Others say that in this wilderness during his forty dayes abode Christ was continually exercised in Prayer and Fasting all that while he had his immediate Addresses and Colloquies with God he knew he had a great work of Redemption to promote and therefore his Conversation for this interval must be preparatory to it in this respect I know not but the wilderness might be an advantage to Christ's Design In this solitary place he could not but breath out more pure inspiration Heaven usually is more open and God usually is more familier and frequent in his visits in such places I know not what other experiences may be but if I have found any thing of God or of his Grace I may thank a Wood a Wilderness a Desert a solitary place for its accommodation and have I not a blessed Pattern here before me It was Solitude and Retirement in which Jesus kept his Vigils the desert places heard him pray in a privacy he was born in the wilderness he fed his thousands upon a Mountain apart he was transfigured upon a Mountain he died and from a Mountain he ascended to his Father I make no question but in these Retirements his Devotion received the advantage of convenient Circumstances especially of time and place And yet I dare not deny the firster opinion for I suppose both Christ and the Devil had their advantages of this Wilderness the one is to pray and the other to tempt 2. The cause of Christs going into the Wilderness was the Spirits leading Then was Jesus led of the Spirit into the Wilderness Christ was led by the good Spirit to be tempted by the evil Spirit O wonder that same Spirit which was one with the Father and the Son that same Spirit whereby Christ was conceived now drives him or leads him into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil The manner of Christ's leading is a question some think he was led or catcht away from Jordan in some visible rapture towards the wilderness But to leave that and to come to Truths more necessary Christ taught us to Pray unto his Father Lead us not into temptation and yet he himself is now led into the same temptation which we must pray against surely this is for our instruction we are not to thrust our selves upon temptation Christ himself would not go into the Combat uncalled unwarranted how then should we poor weaklings presume upon any abilities of our own who dares grapple with the Devil in his own strength O take heed if we are to pray not to be led into temptation much more are we to
pray not to run into temptation before we are led and yet for the comfort of God's people if it be so that we are led if by divine permission or by an inspiration of the holy Spirit we are engaged in an action or in a course of life that is full of temptations and empty of comforts let us look upon it as an issue of divine Providence in which we must Glorifie God but no argument of disfavour or dislove of God and why because Christ himself who could have driven the Devil away by the breath of his mouth yet was by the Spirit of his Father led to a Tryal by the Spirits of Darkness My Brethren count it all joy saith James James 1.2 when ye enter into divers temptations knowing that the trial of your Faith worketh Patience 3. The end of the Spirits leading Christ into the wilderness it was either immediate or remote 1. For the immediate end it was to be tempted of the Devil to this purpose was Christ brought thither that Satan might tempt him One would think it a very strange design that the Son of God should be brought into a wilderness to be set on by all the Devils in Hell but in this also God had another remote end i.e. his own Glory and our good 1. His own Glory appeared in this had not Satan tempted Christ how should Christ have overcome Satan The first Adam was tempted and vanquished the second Adam to repay and repair that Foil doth vanquish in being tempted now herein was the Power of Christ exceedingly manifested the Devil having the Chain let loose he lets flie at Christ with all his might and Christ that without blows could not have got a Victory by this furious assault of Satan he both overcomes him and triumphs over him And herein were the Graces of Christ exceedingly manifested how was the Faith Patience Humility Zeal and Valour of Christ set forth which they could not have been if he had alwayes lain quietly in Garrison and never had come into the Skirmish Who could have felt the Odoriferous smells of those Aromatical Spices if they had not been punned and bruised in this Mortar of Temptation It was by this means that the Graces of Christ clearly shined forth to his eternal Praise 2. As it was for his Glory so also for our Good Now we see what manner of Adversary we have how he fights and how he is resisted and how overcome now we see the dearer we are to God the more obnoxious we are to a trial of temptation now we see that the best of Saints may be tempted or allured to the worst of evils since Christ himself is solicited to Infidelity Covetousness and Idolatry now we see that we have not a Saviour and High Priest Heb. 4.15 16. that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but such a one as was in all things tempted in like sort yet without sin and therefore we may go boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may receive Mercy and find Grace of help in time of need 4. The time and occasion of the Devils Onset it was at the end of forty dayes Fast and when he was an hungred Some say as you have heard that all those forty dayes when Christ was in the Wilderness he was tempted only invisibly for Satan during that time assumed not any visible or conspicious shape which it the end of forty dayes say they he did my meaning is not to controvert these points Howsoever for his tempting yet for his fasting forty dayes and forty nights there is no controversy and of that we had some Types before Christ came into the World thus Moses fasted forty dayes at the delivery of the Law and Elias fasted forty dayes at the restitution of the Law and to fulfil the time of both these Types Christ thinks it fit to fast forty dayes at the accomplishment of the Law and the promulgation of the Gospel In fasting so long Christ manifests his Almighty Power and in fasting no longer Christ manifests the truth of his Manhood and of his weakness that he might approve that there was no difference betwixt him and us but sin he both fasted and was an hungred we know well enough that Christ could have lived without meat and he could have fasted without hunger it had been an easy matter for him to have supported his Body without any means of nourishment or Life but to shew that he was man as well as God and so fit a Mediator betwixt God and Man he would both feed and fast make use of the Creature and withall suffer hunger And now our Saviour is an hungred this gives occasion to Satan to set upon him with his fierce and violent temptations he knows well what baits to fish withall and when and how to lay them he hath Temptations of all sorts he hath Apples to cozen Children and Gold for Men he hath the Vanities of the World for the intemperate and the Kingdomes of the world for the ambitious he considers the temper and constitution of the Person he is to tempt and he observes all our exterior Accidents Occasions and Opportunities but of this hereafter 5. The Temptations themselves are in number three whereof the first was this If thou be the Son of God command that these stones be made bread What an horrible Entrance is this if thou be the Son of God no question Satan had heard the glad tidings of the Angel he saw the Star and the Journey and the Offerings of the Sages he could not but take notice of the gratulations of Zachary Simeon Anna and of late he saw the Heavens open and he heard the Voice that came down from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and yet now that he saw Christ fainting with hunger as not comprehending how infirmities could consist with a Godhead he puts it to the question if thou be the Son of God Oh here 's a point in which lies all our happiness how miserable were we if Christ were not indeed and in truth the Son of God Satan strikes at the root in this supposition If thou be the Son of God Surely all the work of our Redemption and all the work of our Salvation depends upon this one necessary Truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God If Christ had not been the Son of God how should he have ransomed the world how should he have done or how should he have suffered that which was satisfactory to his Fathers wrath how should his Life or Death have been valuable to the sins of all the world If Christ be not the Son of God we are all gone we are lost we are undon we are damned for ever O alas farewell Glory farewel happiness farewell Heaven If Christ be not the Son of God we must never come there well Satan thou beginnest thy assault like a Devil indeed if thou be the Son of God but
where they were sitting to signifie that all the other houses in Jerusalem felt none of this mighty rushing wind there was no assembly of Saints in any part of the City but only in this house or if any other assembly might be this Spirit blew upon none of them where these men were not that and only that house is filled where they were sitting And this point of blowing upon one certain place is a property very suitable to the Spirit of God the wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof John 3.8 but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whether it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit The Spirit blows where it will and upon whom it will and they shall plainly feel it and others about them not one jot have we not sometimes the experiences of this in our very congregations one sound is heard one breath doth blow and it may be one or two and no more hears the sound or feels the breath inwardly savingly it may be one here and another there shall feel the Spirit shall be affected and touched with it sensibly but twenty on this side them and forty on that side them sit all becalmed and go their way no more moved than when they came into Gods presence Oh that this Spirit of the Lord would come daily and constantly into our congregations Oh that it would blow through them and through them O that it would fill every soul in the assembly with the breath of heaven come holy Spirit awake O North-Wind Cant 4.16 and come thou South-Wind and blow upon our Gardens that the spices thereof may flow out 6. He came down in the form of Tongues As one saith well This Wind brought Tongues even a whole showre of Tongues The Apostles were not only inspired for their now benefit but they had gifts bestowed on them to impart the benefit to more their themselves But why did the holy Ghost appear like Tongues I answer 1. The Tongue is a symbole of the holy Ghosts proceeding from the Word of the Father as the Tongue hath the nearest affinity with the word and is moved by the word of the heart to express the same by the sound of the voice so the holy Ghost hath the nearest affinity that may be with the Word of God and is the expresser of his voice and the speaker of his will 2. The Tongue is the sole instrument of Knowledge which conveighs the same from man to man though the Soul be the Fountain from whence all wisdom springs yet the Tongue is the Channel and the conduit-pipe whereby this Wisdom and Knowledge is communicated and Tansferred from man to man in like manner the holy Ghost is the sole Author and Teacher of all Truth though Christ be the Wisdom of God yet the holy Ghost is the Teacher of this Wisdom to men And hence it is that the holy Ghost appeared in the form of Tongues And yet not meerly in the form of Tongues but thus qualified 1. They were Cloven Tongues to signifie that the Apostles should speak in divers Languages if there must be a calling of the Gentiles they must needs have the Tongues of the Gentiles wherewith to call them if they were debtors not only to the Jews Rom 1.14 but to the Grecians nor only to the Grecians but to the Barbarians also then must they have the tongues not only of the Jews but of the Grecians and Barbarians to pay this debt and to discharge this duty of go and teach all Nations Mat. 28.19 Surely this gift was bestowed for the propagating of the Gospel far and wide The tongues were cloven that the Apostles might speak all Languages and that all Nations of the World whithersoever they came might hear them and understand them speaking in their own Tongues 2. They were fiery Tongues to signifie that there should be an efficacy or fervour in their speaking the World was so over-whelmed with ignorance and errour that the Apostles lips had need to be touched with a coal from the Altar Tongues of flesh would not serve the turn nor words of air but there must be fire put into the Tongue and Spirit of life into the words they speak with such a tongue Christ speak himself when they said of him did not our hearts burn within us Luke 24.32 while he spake unto us by the way and with such a tongue Peter spake at this time Acts 2.73 something like fire fell from him on their hearts when they were pricked in their hearts and said men and brethren what shall we do Oh that we of the Ministry had these fiery Tongues O that the Spirit would put his live-coal into our speeches Oh that our Sermons were warming Sermons may we not fear that the Spirit is gone whiles the people are dead and we are no more lively in our Ministry it is said of Luther that when he heard one preach very faintly cold cold sayes he this is cold preaching here 's no heat at all to be gotten Oh when the Spirit comes it comes with a tongue of fire instead of words sparks of fire will fall from us on the hearts of hearers 3. These cloven tongues sate upon each of them to signifie their constancy and continuance they did not light and touch and away after the manner of butterflies but they sate they abode still they continued steddy without any stirring or starting This was the privy sign by which John the Baptist knew Jesus to be Christ upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him John 1.33 the same is he which Baptiseth with the holy Ghost It was not only the Spirits descending but the Spirit 's remaining on him Psal 51.10 that was the Sign The Spirit of God is a constant Spirit it abides on the Soul to whom it is given and therefore the Psalmist describes these great Transactions of Christ to this very end that the Spirit might dwell with us thou hast ascended on high Psal 68.18 thou hast led Captivity Captive thou hast received gifts for men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them Not only that he might stay and lodg for a night as a way-fairing man that comes to his Inn and then is gone in the morning no no but that he might take up his residence and dwell in them I know it is a question whether the holy Ghost may be lost but certainly of the Elect he is never totally or wholly lost only I dare not say but as touching many gifts he may be lost even of the Elect themselves David after his sins was forced to cry Psal 51.11 12. cast me not away from thy presence O Lord and take not thy holy Spirit from me restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation and uphold me with thy free Spirit we find here that in respect of some gifts even of regeneration the
God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath begotten us anew to an inheritance immortal This seal of sanctification leaves upon the soul the likeness of Jesus Christ even grace for grace 3. There is a work of assisting exciting quickening grace or of Gods gracious concourse with that habitual grace which he hath wrought in his people now this is various according to the good pleasure of his will the Spirit is more migâ—â—ly present to some than to others yea more to the same man at some times and in some conditions sometimes the same Christian is as a burning and shining light sometimes as a smoaking flax John 3.8 The spirit blows how it listeth sometimes he fills the soul with fuller gales sometimes again she is becalmed a man hath more of the Spirit at one time than another now when the Spirit comes in thus by exciting quickning stirring and inabling us to act so that we can say Jer. 20.9 as sometime the Prophet said It was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones and I was weary with forbearing and could not stay why then the spirit seals and gives assurance to our souls that we are his 4. There is a work of shining upon or inlightning those graces which the Spirit plants in us and helps us to exercise this seals to the purpose and of this it is that the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 2.12 We have received not the spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God that we may know the things that are freely given us of God The things given to us may be freely received by us and yet the receit of them not known to us therefore the spirit for our further consolation doth as it were put his hand and seal to our receits he shines upon our graces or he enlightens our graces whereby we may know we believe and know that we live Indeed this is rare with Gods own People sometimes notwithstanding this seal we may be in such a state as Paul and his company were in the ship Acts 27.20 When they saw neither Sun nor Star for many days together so it may be that for a time we may see neither Sun nor Star neither light in God's countenance nor light in our souls no grace issuing from God no grace carrying the soul to God yet in this dark condition if we do as Paul and his company did i.e. if we cast anchor even in the dark night of temptation and pray still for day God will appear and all shall clear up we shall at last see light without and see light within surely the day-star will arise in our hearts 5. There is a work of joy and comfort and this is a super-added seal of the Spirit the works of the spirit you may see are of a double kind either in us by imprinting sanctifying grace or upon us by shining on our souls and by sweet feeling of joy habitual grace or sanctifying grace is more constant and alwayes like it self but this work of comfort and joy is of the nature of such priviledges as God vouchsafeth at one time and not at another and hence it is that a Christian may have grace and a Christian may know himself to be in the state of grace and yet in regard of comfort God may be gone Thus it was with Job he knew his redeemer lived and he resolved to trust in him though he killed him he knew he was no hypocrite he knew his graces were true notwithstanding all the objections and imputations of his friends they could not dispute him out of his sincerity My righteousness I hold fast Job 27.6 and will not let it go yet for the present he saw no light from heaven but he was in a sore and afflicted condition till it pleased the Lord to reveal himself in special favour unto him Now this work of joy usually comes not till after faith and many experiences of Gods love and much waiting upon God These are the several works of the spirits sealing But why is it that we can neither actually believe nor can know that we believe nor can enjoy peace and joy in believing without a fresh and new act of the Spirit I answer because the whole carriage of a soul to heaven is above nature where the Spirit makes a stand we stand and can go no farther without the help of the Spirit we can neither make promises nor conclude for our selves it is the spirit that sanctifies and witnesses and seals our souls unto the day of redemption Many other Reasons may be rendred but I shall speak of them in the end of the spirits mission Thus far we have propounded the object viz. the Ascension of Christ the session of Christ at God's right hand and Christs mission of the holy Ghost our next work is to direct you how to look unto Jesus in these respects CHAP. II. SECT I. Of knowing Jesus as carrying on the great work of our salvation in his Ascention Session and Mission of the Spirit 1. LET us know Jesus carrying on the great work of our salvation for us in his Ascension into Heaven in his Session at God's right hand and in his mission of the Holy Ghost these are points of great use if these transactions had not been where had we been these are points of highest speculation if these transactions had not been where had Christ been after his humiliation herein lay the exaltation of his glorious Person he was exalted above the Earth above the Clouds above the Stars above the Heavens above the Heavens of Heavens O the glorious Majesty of our King Jesus as sitting down at God's right hand our salvation is the greatest mystery that ever was it being made up of the various workings of the glory of God for us men and for our salvation Christ was incarnate and came down from Heaven and for us men and for our salvation Christ was exalted and went up into Heaven Here is an object of admiration indeed the very Angels at the sight of it stood admiring and adoring it took up their heart astonished their understanding surely it was the blessedst sight that ever the Angels did or could behold come then and O my soul do thou take a view of that which they admire the design is not so principally concerning Angels as thy self they are in it only as afar off and in general but it concerns thee in special and particular and therefore study close this Argument and know it for thy self Study first the Ascension of Christ how and whether and why he ascended 2. Study the Session of Christ at God's right hand O the mines the riches of that spiritual heavenly knowledg 3. Study the mission of the Holy Ghost not a circumstance in it but deserves thy Study worlds of wealth ten thousand times better than Gold or Silver or Precious Stones may be found in the diggings of these mines have not many
beyond the external part of it or from their own insensibleness of the working of corruption when yet it doth act only a gracious heart findeth that if it be not strengthened by a Power beyond its own it cannot act any grace or perform any duty as acceptable to God and hence the Apostle prayes That they might be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man Eph. 3.16 4. It is an enabling of the soul to act in Gospel-duties for gospel-Gospel-ends when the spirit leads the soul never aims at a self-advancement it never looks at its own name and glory as they did in Mat. 6.1 5. but it eyes in all its actings the mortification of corruption and the attainment of communion with God and Christ and the increase of all Grace Faith Love Patience Meekness self-denial c. or if it seek for outward mercies it seeks them in a subordination to these and in a way of subserviency to the interest and designs of Christ in all things whether outwarâ— or inward it seeks the glory of God as the ultimate end And in these particulars consists the leadings of the spirit of Christ Rom. 8.16 1 John 5.10 7. The spirit of Christ is a witnessing spirit The spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God and every one that believeth hath the witness within himself But of this two questions 1. What is this witnessing work of the spirit 2. How doth the spirit thus witness for the first I answer 1. In general witnessing is a giving in some evidence upon our knowledge how the matter in question standeth that thereby others may be ascertained of the truth of the thing Deut. 19.15 John 8.17 At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall the matter be established these words Christ cited and said It is written in your Law that the testimony of two men is true not but that it was certain in it self before but that now by the testim ny of two it is rendred certain unto those that question the same this is witnessing 2. In special The witnessing of the spirit is an Office of the spirit whereby it works the soul into a knowledge perswasion or conclusion of its acceptation into favour with God in Christ Now the spirit witnesseth either objectively or efficiently 1. Objectively When it only affords such special operations as have an aptitude to ascertain the soul but do not ascertain thus many a time the Spirit comes and brings in such and such ascertions or affirmations of our adoption as if they were but duly observed might manifest the same but we over-look these evidences we will not hear what the spirit speaks to us John 3.11 We speak that we know saith Christ and testifie that we have seen but ye receive not our witness so may the spirit complain I have testified to you that which I know I have said that ye were children of God but ye have not received my witness doubtless it is a sinful neglect not to yield attention unto the voyce of the spirit and yet the spirit in this way may be resisted 2. Efficiently and if the spirit witness thus it cannot be resisted in this way the spirit causeth the soul to conclude of its adoption by its speakings to it this is not onely the assertions or affirmations of our adoption but the assurances of our souls that we are adopted Rom. 8.38 Job 19.25 1 John 3.24 I am perswaded saith the Apostle and I know that my Redeemer liveth saith Job And hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us But 2. How doth the Spirit thus witness I answer 1. Immediately 2. Mediately 1. Concerning the immediate testimony of the Spirit there is some controversie Antinomians would have no other testimony but this all other evidences say they are deceiving evidences or if not deceiving yet to make use of them it were but to light a candle to the Sun for what are the graces of the Spirit in comparison of the Spirits own testimony and it may be the running into this extream hath caused others absolutely to deny any such testimony or at least to say for these enthusiasms or inspirations let them boast of them that have them wâ— know no such thing Methinks a middle betwixt both these as it is proved by others is most consonant to truth for neither can I reject the graces of sanctification from being grounds of our assurance neither dare I deny but there is something of the work of the Spirits testimony which is an immediate work Let us hâ—ar what others say of it Certainly there is a work wherein the spirit acts as in illumination and infusion of good motions into us Ford of the Spirit wherein by a secret influence upon the heart he quiets and calms the troubled soul concerning its condition by his own immediate power without any grounds from Scripture without or graces within There is a threefold work of the spirit first to conveigh and plant grace in the soul 2. To act and help us to exercise the graces which are planted there 3. To shine upon and enlighten those graces Caryl on Job chap. 10. this last work the spirit fulfills two wayes first by arguments and inferences which is a mediate work 2. By presence and influence which is an immediate work this the Apostle calls witness-bearing There are three that bear witness in Earth The spirit and water and blood the spirit brings in the witness of Water and Blood which is his mediate work but besides and above these he gives a distinct witness of his own which is his immediate work is in a way of peculiarity and transcendency called the witness of the Spirit As it is with the motions of the spirit many a time the spirit excites a man to such or such duties by laying his hand immediately upon the heart and thereby inclining it to obey those motions so in this case when a poor soul sits in darkness and sees no light Boltons direct for a comfortable walking with God sometimes upon a sudden it is as it were taken up into the third Heaven and this is in such away that though the spirit of a man really believe it and is immediately calmed by it yet it cannot tell how it came to pass There is a Testimony of the spirit which sometimes the spirit may suggest and testifie to the sanctified Conscience with a secret still heart-ravishing voice thus or in the like manner Thou art the child of God thou art in the number of those that shall be savid thou shalt inherit everlasting life and that as certainly and comfortably as if that Angel from Heaven should say to thee as he did to Daniel greatly beloved Mighty and remarkable was the work of the spirit this way upon the heart of that noble Martyr Robert Glover upon the first sight and representation of the stake
with men and he will dwell with them Surely it was a miraculous mercy that heaven should come down upon earth and that God should come down to men but Oh what is this that Earth should go up to Heaven that men should ascend up to God yea that my soul with Christ and by Christ should ascend to God and sit down with God in heavenly places yea that my soul should have for its inmate the very same spirit that Christ himself hath Oh I cannot I will not I dare not believe Scrupulous souls be not faithless but believing there is none of these particulars for which we have not a warrant out of the Word of God and therefore believe But that I may perswade to purpose I shall lay down 1. Some directions and 2. Some encouragements of faith 1. For directions of Faith observe these particulars As 1. Faith must directly go to Christ 2. Faith must go to Christ as God in the Flesh 3. Faith must go to Christ as God in the Flesh made under the Law 4. Faith must go to Christ not only as made under the directive part of the Law by his life but under the penal part of the Law by his death 5. Faith must go to Christ not only as put to death in the Flesh but as quickned by the spirit of all these before 6. Faith must not only go to Christ as quickened by the spirit but as going up into glory as sitting down at God's right hand and as sending the holy Ghost Faith should eye Christ as far as he goes if he be ascended so should faith if he go into glory and sit down there and act there for his people so should faith and so should we in a way of believing follow after him and take a view of all his transactions where he is we have heard before how faith should go to Christ as dying and as rising again but yet faith is low while it doth not go within the vail and see him in glory it is not enough to have only a faith of Justification but of Glorification O come let us see Christ in Heaven and we can have no less than a glorious saith how many are there that never yet came to act saith in Christ as a glorified Christ we are yet still in the lower form many of us take in no more of Christ than what was done on the cross or what some natural and common resemblances of him can hold forth we seldom follow Christ into Heaven to see what he is doing these for us O my soul and O my faith mount up and be on the wing Christ is gone up to heaven Christ is set down at God's right hand Christ hath sent down his holy spirit to this purpose it was expedient that he should go away and now he is gone away to do something that remains to be done for thee in his Kingdom he had still some glorious piece to frame for thy salvation and therefore he left this world and went to his Father that he might act it in glory and now he is invested with all the riches of Heaven he hath all the keyes of Heaven and Hell he hath all power to command he hath received all the promise to himself and all that he hath to do it is to let out of himself again unto his Saints he hath not only got his Fathers heart for them but he hath got all his riches to bestow upon them when he came to Heaven the Father bid him sit down at his right hand and take what he would and bestow what he would upon his Saints and thereupon he gave gifts unto men yea he gave the gift of gifts even the Holy Ghost himself What art not thou a partaker of this gift O then Look up unto Jesus in reference to all these actings set him before thee Christ in all these particulars is a right object for thy faith to act upon 7. Faith in going to Christ his ascension session and mission of the holy spirit it is principally to look to the purpose intent and design of Christ in each of these particulars Christ did nothing but he had an end a meaning in it for our good and here is the life of Faith to eye the meaning of Christ in all his doings Now the ends of Christ's ascension session and mission of his spirit were several I shall instance onely in these few As 1. Christ ascended that we might ascend look whatever God acted on Christ's person that he did as in our behalf and he means to act the same on us was Christ crucified so are we is Christ risen again so are we risen together with him is Christ gone up into glory so are we Heaven is now opened and possessed by Jesus Christ for us and at last we shall ascend even as he ascended Christ cannot be content with that glory he hath himself John 17.25 until we be with him Father I will that those also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold or enjoy my glory which thou hast given me Christ as our head is in glory and so we are there already with him and Christ as our advocate is in glory and there he is pleading and praying for us that we may actually be received and brought up to him Father I will that these whom thou hast given me may be with me Christ's crown of glory is as it were a burthen on his own head untill it be set on the heads of all his â—aints O the blessed end of Christ's Ascension how should faith pry into this Believers you see your object you know his person never be quiet untill ye come into his condition as we must go through all ordinances and creatures till we come to Christ so through all conditions of Christ untill we come to glory 2 Christ sate down that we might sit with him in heavenly places what is the end of Christ's Session but â—hat we mâ—ghâ— invest all his â—aints with the same priviledge In this height of glory Christ is the pattern and plat-form and Idea of what we shall be surely this is the very top of Heaven Chriâ—t is exalted above the Heavens that we might in our measure and proportion be exalted with Christ it was Christ's Prayer that his Father and he and we might all be one As thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us Oh how should faith stand John 17.21 and gaze on Jesus Christ in this respect â—hâ—t is he on Gods right hand and is he there preparing a room a seat a mansion for my soul What shall I sit at the right hand of Christ shall I sit as an assessor on his udgment-seat to Judge the world wiâ—h Jesus Christ when the Son of man shall sit oâ— the Throne of his Glory Mat. 19.28 ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel O what
is this had not Christ said it how could I have believed it admire O my soul at this aim of Christ the meaning of his exalting himself it was to exalt thee and the meaning of his exalting thee on this manner it is to mâ—nifest to all the World what the Son of God is able to do in raising so poor a creature to so rich a glory O the end of Christ's sitting at God's right hand hereby thâ— Saints are Christ's ass ssors Lord's of the higher house the Kings Peers to judge the World with him Christ divides as it were the throne with them I appoint unto you a Kingdom as my Father hath appointed unto me Luk. 22.29 30. that you may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel 3. Christ sent down the Holy Ghost that he might dwell in our souls endow us with gifts and graces that he might comfort us seal us unto the day of redemption fit us for glorâ— amongst the many ends for which Christ sent down his holy spirit I shall insist only on these two 1. That he might help us to cry Abba Father and make us to come boldly to the Throne of grace as Chilâ—ren to a Father It is the spirit that takâ—s us by the hand and leads us to the Father when others stand at a distance and cannot come near As a Princes Son is admitted at all times though others are kept our by Oâ—ficers and Guards so though there be never so much darkness and fire and terrour about God yet the adopted child who hath received the spirit of adoption can say make way there and let me come to my Father guards are appointed to keep out strangers but not Sons And no wonder for the spirit makes intercession for us Rom. 8.26 with groanings which cannot be uttered the spirit teacheth us what to pray and how to pray as â—e ought the spirit puts a courage and boldness into the hearts of his Sâ—ints even to admiration this appears in that sometimes they have beset God with his promises that he could no way get off Quicken me according to thy word Psal 119.25.28.29.116.169 And strengthen me acâ—ording to thy word And be mercifull unto me according to thy word And uphold me according to thy word And give me understanding according to thy word And sometimes they have beset God with their challenges of his Justice Faithfulness and Righteousness so David Deliver me in thy righteousness Psal 31.1.35.24.119.40.143.1 And judge me according to thy righteoâ—sness An quicken me according to thy righteousness And in thy faithfulness answer me and in thy righteousness Why this is the â—pirits work he helps our infirmities he imboldens our spirits in their approaches to God surely it is one end of the spirits mission Beâ—ause ye are sons Gal. 4.6 God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts crying Abba Father I will not deny but that bastards strangers without the Covenant having no right to God as their Father may yet petition God as a subdued people do their Conqueror or as Ravens cry to God for food or as some howl upon their beds for Corn and Wine but they cannot pray Hos 7.14 in right Prayer there is not only required gracious ingredients in the action but also a new state of adoption and filiation many speaks words to God who do not pray many tell over their sins who confess not their sins to God many speak good of God who do not praise God thousands claim Fathership in God where there is no Sonship nor ground in the thing it self A new nature is only that best bottom of Prayer that takes it off from being a taking of God's Name in vain Now this is the fruit of the spirit and one of those ends of the spirits mission 2. That he might guide us into all Truth I mean into all necessary Fundamental saving Truths in this respect we have need of the spirit in these dayes He it is that Dictates to us which is the true Religion he it is that transcribes upon our hearts that which was before onely written in our books he it is that not onely reveals truth from without but imprints it also on the soul as a man doth a seal by impressing it on the wax 1 John 5.10 to this purpose saith the Apostle He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself how in himself I answer 1. In that the Spirit gives him a habit of faith 2. In that the Spirit causeth him to bring it forth into act 3. In that the Spirit stamps on the soul all those other impressions of desire hope love joy or whatever else we call the new nature so that now there is a new nature within him he hath new thoughts new designs new desires new hopes new loves new delights he drives a new trade as it were in this world for another world he is become in Christ a new Creature 2 Cor. 5.17 Old things are passed away and all things are become new And from hence we may soundly argue the truth of our religion Mark this as the Written word is the testimony without us so are these impressions of the spirit the testimony within us by which we may know every necessary truth as it is in Jesus this is the meaning of the Apostle He that believeth hath the witness in himself unbelievers have indeed a testimony without them but believers have a double testimony one with out and one within and this witness within us will go with us which way soever we go it will accompany us through all straits and difficulties The external testimony may be taken from us men may take from us our Bibles our Teachers our Friends or they may imprison us where we cannot enjoy them but they cannot take from us the Spirit of Christ this witness within is a permanent setled habituate standing witness O what an excellent help is here that a poor Christian beyond all the furniture of the most Learned Men that want this testimony of the spirit of Christ surely this advantage will exceedingly furnish us against all temptations to any errour that is plainly contrary to the essentials of religion One of our late Divines puts a case Mr. Baxters Spirits witness to the truth of Christianity If the Devill or any seducer would draw us to doubt whither there be indeed a Christ or whither he did rise again ascend sate down at God's right hand and thence sent down the holy Ghost what an excellent advantage is it against this temptation when we can repair to our own hearts and there find a Christ or a Spirit of Christ within us O saith the sanctified soul have I felt Christ relieving me in my lost condition delivering me from my captivity reconciling me to God and bringing me with boldness into his glorious presence and now
will in the ears of God Surely this is the fruit the effect of Christ's intercession and therefore thou mayest comfortably conclude Christ's intercession is mine 2. If at any time in the midst of duties I am savingly affected then is Christ's intercession mine Sometimes it pleaseth God to appear in ordinances and the soul is comforted quickened enlarged affected why now I look on this as the efficacy of Christ's Blood and as the power of Christs intercession at that very instant that I feel any good in any ordinance of Christ why then even then is Christ prevailing with God his Father for what I feel then even then may I boldly say Now is the Lord Jesus who is at God's right hand in heaven remembring me a poor worm on earth Oh now I feel the fruit of his intercession Oh what is this spirit power grace comfort sweetness I drink of but a tast of the hony-comb with the end of my rod dropping from the intercessions of Jesus Christ and if this presence of Christ's Spirit be so sweet what is himself then I know we had need to be wary in laying down this sign it is clearly proved by an eminent Divine Mr. Burges of Assurance Mat. 13.20 Mark 16.20 John 5.35 that sweet motions of heart in holy things are not infallible Evidences of grace the third kind of hearers are said to receive the Word with joy they found some sweet and power in the Ordinances of Christ and Herod heard John gladly and many for a season rejoyced in John's light and Ministry Certainly affections in holy administrations with delight and joy may be in those who yet have no true grace so it may be that the novelty and strangeness of a doctrine may much affect and delight or the nature of the doctrine as it is comfortable without any respect to spiritual operation may exceedingly affect or the Ministers abilities because of his parts eloquence elocution affectionate utterance may much delight and stir up the hearers affections fine head-notions may produce some affectionate heart-motions but what symptome of grace in all this The sign therefore I lay down of my propriety in Christ's intercessions is not every sweet motion or every excited affection but that which is holy spiritual heavenly saving I may discern much of this if I will but look into the grounds and effects of my excited or stirred up affections if the ground thereof be fetched from Heaven and in their effect they tend towards Heaven if they wean my heart from the world if they elevate and raise up my affections to things above if they form and frame my conversation heaven-wards then may I be assured these motions and affections are of the right stamp for all such motions are but sparks of that heavenly fire the the flame whereof is mindful of its own original they are the fruits of Christ and they go back to Christ they work towards their center they tend towards the place from whence they came and in this respect O that I could never hear a Sermon without a savory affection of what I hear O that I could never go to prayer without some warmth and heat and life and fervency Oh that in every duty I were savingly affected that I felt the savour of Christ's ointments whose name and whose intercession is as an ointment poured forth in times of the Old Testament if they offered up a sacrifice and a material fire came down from Heaven and burnt up the sacrifice to ashes it was a certain testimony that the sacrifice was accepted Now in the time of the Gospel we must not expect material fire to come down upon our duties but hath the Lord at any time causâ—d an inward and spiritual fire to fall down upon thy heart warming thy spirit in duty and carrying it up heaven-ward Surely it so thou mayest safely conclude these are the very effects of Christ's intercession his intercession is mine 3. If in my heart I feel a holy frame disposition inclination to pray and cry and intercede for others especially for the miseries and distresses of the Church of God then is Christ's intercession mine We should as near as we may in every thing conform to Christ and this conformity is an evidence or sign to us of our interest in Christ O my soul go down into the inmost closet of thy heart look what disposition there is in it towards the members of Christ and thou mayest conclude there is in Christ's heart the very same disposition towards thee Ah! do I think there is love in my bosom towards the Saints and that there is no love in Christ's bosome towards me what can I think that my narrow straitened sinful bowels are larger than those wide compassionate tender bowels of Jesus Christ as a drop of water is in comparison of the Ocean and as a gravel-stone is in comparison of the sand so is my heart to Christ's and my love to Christ's and my bowels to Christ's Come then and try by this sign Hereby we know that we are translated from death to life if we love the brethren he that loveth not his brother abideth in death Hereby perceive we the love of God 1 John 3.14.16 because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren is not this plain if I love the brethren Christ loveth me if I feel in my heart an holy disposition to go to God and to pray and cry and intercede for a Saint in misery surely the Lord Jesus hath as much bowels towards me to go and intercede for me and to present my prayers unto God the Father his intercession is mine 4. If I am called justified sanctified then is Christ's intercession mine are not these the subject matter of Christ's intercession I pray saith Christ that thou shouldst keep them from the evil I pray that thou wouldst sanctifie them through the truth John 17 15 17 20 24. neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me through their word or preaching Father I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me in glory He first prayes that we may be called and justified and then he prayes that we may be sanctified and saved he holds at both ends of this golden chain of our salvation the one end is hanged at his breast where the names of all his Saints are written and the other end is at his heart that he may be the Author and finisher the first and last the beginning and ending of our souls salvation alas there is nothing in us in our reach here below the first stirrings of grace is up in Heaven at the right hand of the Father and the far end of any gracious thought is as far above us as the heart of Christ is above the earth Come then sith all hangs on this great pin of Christ's intercession let us search and try are we called do we
and destroys the sense as the Sun by its brightness darkens the eye and other things by mighty sounds bring deafness to the ear Paul indeed had a vision of glory but because his faculties were not glorified he was he knew not how whether in the body or out of the body whether alive or dead he did not know certainly the sight of the glory of the other world would amaze distract and destroy us if we had a sight of it as now we are but in heaven the eye shall have great pleasure in beholding the brightest light because it shall be advanced to the highest pitch of strength that may be 2. As the eye shall be glorified so it shall act in a glorified body and this will make the sight of the glory of Christ in stead of hurting us to leave upon us a more sweet enlivening and powerful impression By this means all the impediments that hinder the conveyance of divine influences from that heavenly object will be removed To illustrate this let the most excellent sight be set before a man that is defective in his bodily state and it doth not take him what should a sick man do with such things he makes nothing of the most pleasant gardens orchards buildings nor of the most glorious sights that are when he is sick they are but sick things to him and of none effect but in heaven the body shall be glorified and stript of all corruptions and imperfections so that there shall be no bar unto the influences of the glory of Christ which shall there be seen 3. As there shall be a glorified eye acting in a glorified body so it shall be acted by a glorified Spirit the eye is but the organ or instrument of sight and without the spirit would conveigh no more then a glass doth it is the Spirit of a man that gives life to vision it is the Spirit of a man that discovers things and sets them forth in their worth vertues ends now in heaven the spirit of men shall be glorified and enabled to perform all those offices in perfection so that when a man shall look on the man Christ Jesus by vertue of a glorified spirit he shall see more know more taste more than any other can As a man of understanding when he looks on a diamond or a wedge of gold he hath other apprehensions of it and a further touch upon his spirit then a beast or a child in a cradle hath so where the sight of the eye is acted by a glorified mind it takes in more from the sight of every thing which is to be seen unexpressibly more then what can be done here by the most sanctified Spirit in the World Now in these respects Christ's glorified body though it be the brightest visible thing in the Heaven of Heavens yet may it be the object of the eye of Saints for they shall have glorified eyes in glorified bodies and acted by their glorified spirits 2. There is a mental vision a sight of Christ by the eyes of our understandings and surely this exceeds the former the eye of the body is only on the body of Christ but the eye of the soul is on the body and soul on the Humanity and Deity of Jesus Christ This is the very top of heaven when Saints shall be illightned with a clear and glorious sight of Christ as God Divines usually call it Beatifical vision Quest But how shall Saints behold the glorious Essence or God-head of Christ Answ 1. Some say Christ as God or the God-head of Christ shall be known by the Humanity of Christ such a lustre of his Deity shall shine through his humanity as that thereby and by no other means shall the Essential glory of Christ appear 2. Others say That besides the Humanity of Christ there shall be a species representing the Divine Essence of Christ and a light of glory elevating the understanding by a Supernatural strength and that thereby the glorious Essence of Christ shall be discovered 3. Others say That the Divine Essence shall be represented to the glorified understanding not by Christs humanity nor by any species but immediately by it self yet they also require a light of glory to elevate and fortifie the understanding by reason of its weakness and infinite disproportion and distance from the incomprehensible Deity 4. Others hold that to the clear vision of Christ as God there is not required a sight of Christ's humanity as the first suppose nor a species representing the Divine Essence as the second suppose nor any created light elevating the understanding as the third suppose but only a change of the natural order of knowing It is sufficient say they that the Divine Essence be immediately represented to a created understanding which though it cannot be done according to the order of nature as experience tells us for so we conceive things as first having passed the sense and imagination yet it may be done according to the order of Divine grace I shall not enter into these Scholastical disputes 1 Cor. 13.12 Rev. 22.4 it is enough for a sober man to know that in heaven we shall see him face to face his Servants shall serve him and they shall see his face Quest His face what 's that I answer Answ 1. They shall see Christ as God of the same Essence with the Father and the holy Ghost and yet a distinct Person from them both they shall see the Unity in Trinity and Trinity in Unity they shall see how the Son is begotten of the Father and how the holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son they shall see the difference between the generation of the Son and procession of the Spirit These are mysteries in which we are blind and know very little or nothing but in seeing his face we shall see all these 2. They shall see Christ at their first being or principle of all the good that is in the World they shall see how all things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made they shall see all the good in the creature as flowing from Christ John 1.3 and as contained in the absolute perfection of Christ's Divine Nature they shall see in one Christ all the excellencies of all the creatures united which is indeed to see him in his eminency if there be any beauty riches honour goodness in any creature that is eminently transcendently and originally in Christ and that shall be seen 3. They shall see Christ in all his ways counsels decrees executions transactions from everlasting to everlasting that great business of Election and Reprobation will then be discovered it is an expression of Augustine They shall then see the reason why one is Elected and another Reprobated why one is rich and another poor they shall then see all the works that ever God did or that ever God will do it is not yet Six thousand years since
be one person and in that person he was born and lived and died and rose again and ascended into Heaven there now he hath been sitting sending down the Holy Ghost and interceding for his Saints for above one thousand six hundred years And in this last work he will continue till the end of the World and then he will come again to judge the World and to receive his Saints to himself that where he is they may be with him to see and enjoy him to all eternity This is the epitome of all I have said onely in every particular I have set down Christ's actings towards us and our actings towards Christ in various formes and out-goings of his love he hath acted towards us and in various formes and out-goings of our souls we have been taught fitly and suitably to act towards him Now in all these actings How doth the free grace of God in Christ appear Ye are saved by grace Ephes 2.5 saith the Apostle Eph. 2.5 the decree the means the end of our salvation is grace and onely grace The decree is grace and therefore it is called the election of grace Rom. 1.5 2 Tim. 1.9 Rom. 3.24 Rom. 6.23 Eph. 1.7 Eph. 2.7 the means are of grace and therefore we are called according to his grace and we are justified freely by his grace And the end is of grace for eternal life is the gift of God both beginning and progress and execution is all of grace This is the riches of his grace the exceeding the hyperbolical riches of his grace the conclusion of all is this God's free grace which was first designed will at last be manifested and eternally praised by Saints and Angels the same free grace which from the beginning of the age of God from everlasting drove on the saving plot and sweet design of our salvation will at last be glorified to purpose when Heavens inhabitants will be ever digging into this golden-mine ever rolling this soul-delighting and precious stone ever beholding viewing enquiring and searching into the excellency of this same Christ and this free grace Now all is done shall I speak a word for Christ or rather for our selves in relation to Christ and so an end if I had but one word more to speak in the World it should be this Oh let all our spirits be taken up with Christ let us not busie our selves too much with toyes or trifles with ordinary and low things but look unto Jesus Surely Christ is enough to fill all our thoughts desires hopes loves joys or whatever is within us or without us Christ alone comprehends all the circumference of all our happiness Christ is the pearl hid in the large field of God's Word Christ is the scope of all the Scriptures all things and persons in the old World were Tipes of him all the Prophets foretold him all God's love runs through him all the gifts and graces of the Spirit flow from him the whole eye of God is upon him and all his designs both in Heaven and Earth meet in him Eph. 1.10 the great design of God is this That he might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth even in him All things are summed up in one Jesus Christ if we look on the creation the whole world was made by Christ if we look on providences all things subsist in Christ they have their being and their well-being in him Where may we find God but in Christ where may we see God but in this essential and eternal glass 2 Cor. 4.6 Heb. 1.3 Christ is the face of God the brightness of his glory the express image of his Fathers person the Father is as it were all Sun and all Pearl and Jesus Christ is the substantial rayes the eternal and essential irradiation of this Sun of glory Christ outs God as the seal doth the stamp Christ reveals God as the face of a man doth reveal the man so Christ to Philip He that hath seen me hath seen the Father q. d. I am as like the Father John 14.9 as God is like himself there is a perfect indivisible unity between the Father and me I and the Father are one one very God he the begetter and I the begotten Christ is the substantial Rose that grew out of the Father from eternity Christ is the essential wisdom of God Christ is the substantial Word of God the intellectual birth of the Lord 's infinite understanding Oh the worth of Christ compare we other things with Christ and they will bear no weight at all cast into the ballance with him Angels they are wise but he is wisdom cast into the ballance with him men they are lyars lighter than vanity but Christ is the Amen the faithful witness cast into the scales Kings and all Kings and all their glory why he is King of Kings cast into the scale millions of tallents-weight of glory cast in two Worlds and add to the weight millions of Heavens of Heavens and the ballance cannot down the scales are unequal Christ out-weighs all Shall I yet come nearer home what is Heaven but to be with Christ what is life eternal but to believe in God and in his Son Jesus Christ where may we find peace with God and reconciliation with God but onely in Christ God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself 2 Cor. 5.19 where may we find compassion mercy and gentleness to sinners but onely in Christ it is Christ that takes off infinite wrath and satisfies justice and so God is a most lovely compassionate desirable God in Jesus all the goodness of God comes out of God through this golden pipe the Lord Jesus Christ It is true those essential attributes of love grace mercy goodness are onely in God and they abide in God yet the Mediatory manifestation of love grace mercy and goodness is onely in Christ Christ alone is the Treasury Store-house Magazene of the free goodness and mercy of the God-head In him we are Elected Adopted Redeemed Justified Sanctified Saved he is the ladder and every step of it betwixt Heaven and Earth he is the way the truth and the life he is honour riches beauty health peace and salvation he is a suitable and rich portion to every man's soul that which some of the Jews observe of the Mannah that it was in taste according to every man's pallate it is really true of Christ that he is to the Soul whatsoever the soul would have him to be All the spiritual blessings wherewith we are enriched are in and by Christ God hears our prayers by Christ God forgives our iniquities through Christ all we have and all we expect to have hangs onely on Christ he is the golden hinge upon which all our salvation turns Oh how should all hearts be taken with this Christ Christians turn your eyes upon the Lord Look and look again unto Jesus Why stand ye gazing on the toyes of this World when such a Christ is offered to you in the Gospel can the World dye for you can the World reconcile you to the Father can the World advance you to the Kingdom of Heaven As Christ is all in all so let him be the full and compleat subject of our desire and hope and faith and love and joy let him be in your thoughts the first in the morning and the last at night Shall I speak one word more to thee that believest Oh apply in particular all the transactions of Jesus Christ to thy very self remember how he came out of his Fathers bosom for thee wept for thee bled for thee poured out his life for thee is now risen for thee gone to Heaven for thee sits at God's right hand and rules all the World for thee makes intercession for thee and at the end of the World will come again for thee and receive thee to himself to live with him for ever and ever Surely if thus thou believest and livest thy life is comfortable and thy death will be sweet if there be any Heaven upon Earth thou wilt find it in the practise and exercise of this Gospel-duty in Looking unto Jesus A Poem of Mr. George Herbert in his Temple JESV JESV is in my heart his sacred Name Is deeply carved there but th' other week A great affliction broke the little frame Ev'n all to pieces which I went to seek And first I found the corner where was J After where ES and next where V was graved When I had got these parcels instantly I sate me down to spell them and perceived That to my broken heart he was I ease you and to my whole is JESV FINIS