there we may sing as prisoners of hope Zech. 9. 12. It is an helmet to receive all Blows securing the head from hurt Ephes. 6. 17. It is an anchor to keep the Soul steady in a tempestuous season Heb. 6. 19. Great is the patience of Hope 1 Thes. 1. 3. It bespeaks a troubled Soul as Psal. 42. Why art thou cast down O my soul why art thou disquieted within me Hope thou in God There is little comfort for a Christian in this world if the hope of eternal life be cut off 1 Cor. 15. 19. First The usual Effects of this Hope when it is in any other Power are these 1. Hope of Glory and an earnest expectation of the coming of Christ are joyned together and indeed they are almost the same Waiting for his Coming looking for and hastning to the Coming of the Day of the Lord Christ was called the hope of Israel Acts 28. 20. Because our Fathers looked for his first Coming and so he is now called the Hope of Glory because the Saints do so earnestly look for his second Coming 1 Cor. 17. 2 Pet. 3. 12. 2. This Hope and Prayer go together The Schools tell us that Petitio is Interpretativa spei we cannot better express our Hopes than by wishing Praying and earnest breathing after what we Hope for Would you know whether you shall enter into Glory and be Eternally Saved If you have the Spirit of Prayer you will certainly be Saved But mistake not the gift of Prayer which may be nothing but words for the grace of Prayer that lies in the inward earnestness of the heart sometimes in Groans that are unutterable If you can pray inwardly in the frame of your Hearts with Fervency and Affection in the Name of Christ this is Praying in the Holy Ghost let your words be never so few and your expressions never so broken and imperfect if the desire of your Souls be after Christ it is laid down as an infallible Mark of your title to Heaven Gal. 4. 6 7. Because you are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father Wherefore we are no more servants but Sons and if sons then heirs of God through Christ. The Spirit of Prayer is a convincing Evidence to those that have it or else the Spirit of God would miss of his end if he did not assure us by that assuring act which is put forth for that very purpose Therefore be much in Prayer If you are not in that measure of lively Hope as you would be much in Prayer for Hope Saints can't but Pray much under Hope Hope invites to Prayer and disposes to it if it be but to tell God what we Hope for which we cannot do but under some present renewed Acts of Hope which possibly we may not perceive in our selves Yet however Pray under all your despondencies for Hope that God would raise it and kindle it in you Though you pray but faintly weakly through fear and diffidence yet pray on God usually comes in with strengthning Grace in the time of Prayer He saith to the fearful Soul Fear not there is a sudden reviving a shedding abroad of the Love of God in our hearts by the Holy Ghost We may be under dismal apprehensions of of the Wrath of God in the beginning of Prayer and yet conclude with rejoying and triumphing in his Grace towards us There are many instances of this in the Psalms Faith if it be right knows not how to conclude a Prayer till it hath taken some hold of Christ for relief we cannot say Amen till then we cannot come to the conclusion till then and then the Soul rises up in a comfortable frame under some Hope of Mercy Thus Hope is raised nourished and increased in us by earnest fervent Prayer 3. Hope of Glory and Mortification of Sin go together He that hath this hope saith the Apostle purifies himself as God is pure 1 Joh. 1. 3. Every Sin in any measure Mortified brings on a further degree of Glory upon us and leaves a deeper impression of the Image of God upon the Soul you resemble him more which brings you nearer to your Heavenly State when you shall be exactly like him 4. Hope of Glory and Chearfulness under all outward Afflictions go together 2 Cor. 4. 16 17 18. We faint not because of that far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory You should always hold fast the rejoycing of your hope firm unto the end Heb. 3. 6. Gird up the loyns of your mind be sober and hope unto the End for the Grace that is to be brought unto you at the Revelation of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1. 13. We are often assaulted by Temptations outward Afflictions and inward Desertions are ready to sink our hope We say sometimes as the Church did Lament 3. 18. My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord. Our hopes seems to be plucked up even by the roots as a tree that is removed Job 19. 10. yet revives again and springs up as God turns his face towards us filling us with joy and peace in believing then we abound in hope tbrough the power of the Holy Ghost Rom. 15. 13. Directions how to get under the Power of this Cristian Hope for a Power it hath and it is nothing to us till we come under that Power 1. Labour to understand your Hopes What it is you look for from Christ how great the inheritance is A Minor under Age who is born to a great Estate is little affected with it till he comes to know what he is Heir to what Houses Mannors and Lordships belong to him then he counts himself rich indeed The Apostle prays for this Ephes. 1. 17 18. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory may give to you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him The eyes of your understanding being enlightned that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the Glory of his inheritance in the Saints Did you know what a rich Glorious Inheritance is reserved for you this would mightily raise quicken strengthen your Hope You would count your Hope something then and rejoyce more in it That is the First Direction Labour to understand your Hopes Read over the Inventory of God's Gifts bequeathed to you in the Covenant of Grace till you can say This is mine and that is mine and all is mine through Christ. 2. Call over former experiences What God hath already done for you Experience begets Hope as in Jacob Gen. 32. 10 11 12. With my staff did I come over this Jordan and now I am become two Bands Lord I am not worthy of the least of thy mercies deliver me from the hand of my Brother Esau Thou that hast done such great things for me go on and deliver me Be not afraid of present danger but remember what the Lord hath done for you suppress
himself here under all our Infirmities And he sends his Spirit to put a Beauty and a Comeliness upon us to adorn the Bride to clothe her with beautiful garments against the day of his coming that she may be fit to stand in the Presence of the Bridegroom as the king's daughter all glorious within and without too then being perfectly sanctified both in Body Mind and Spirit The Spirit of Christ gives us access now into the Grace of God but nothing but the glorified Person of Christ can gives us access into the Glory of God Come ye blessed All are admitted into Heaven by the glorified Person of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Christ acting now through the Word in the Absence of the Person of Christ prepares us for his coming keeps us waiting for that blessed day Rev. 22. 17. The spirit and the bride say Come The spirit saith so in the Word saith so in the hearts of the Saints that is makes them to say so The whole Church and every particular Member saith the same thing for himself Amen so come Lord Jesus come quickly If Believers were asked one by one Whether they desire the Coming of their Lord they would all agree with John and say Amen so come Lord Jesus they care not how soon Come quickly They are all of a mind in that thing The earnest longings of every gracious Soul after Christ are from the Spirit of Christ breathing in Believers kindling and keeping up strong desires in them after Christ They retain these desires in their Spirits after death The Souls under the Altar cry out How long Lord holy and true c. Rev. 6. 9 10. We are still to conceive of the Spirit as the Spirit of Christ. It is Christ in us shedding abroad his Love in our hearts uniting them to himself He will see we shall not forget him therefore he dwells in us by his Spirit to keep up love in our hearts to his Person And is not this a good ground of hope That Christ and Saints shall have a joyful meeting ere long who do thus continually remember each other The heart of Christ is towards them and their hearts are towards him They are joined together in one spirit now The Glory of the Saints lies in beholding the Glorified Person of Christ because in him they see the Human Nature so highly dignified and exalted in the Divine Person of Christ. They see the express Image of God in Christ shining out in the brightness of Glory They see the Image of Christ in themselves shining out in the Perfection of Grace When he shall appear they shall be like him which is their Glory Thus Christ dwelling in us now by his Spirit raises our Souls to the Hope of this Glory in the Text. The Application contains a Threefold Exhortation 1. That you would be persuaded to examine and prove your Hopes Whether they be well grounded yea or no. 2. If you find them otherwise not sufficiently grounded upon Christ that you would be persuaded to throw away those vain Hopes to lay them aside And 3. That you would earnestly labour every one of you to come under the Power of this true Christian Hope in the Text and then you will know where you are I begin with the First Let us examine and prove our Hope to be well-grounded upon Christ within us 2 Cor. 13. 5. Know ye not your own selves how that Christ is in you of a truth except ye be Reprobates that is such who dying in that state God will reject at the last day We should do all we can to secure our Hopes lest our Crown be taken from us Hope rises out of Faith yet we must not so take it upon trust as not to be able to give a Reason of it 1 Pet 3. 15. Hope without Faith is Presumption Hope without Faith is without a Reason a foolish Hope Till we are justified by Faith we can have no Hope but we lye under all the damning Circumstances of our sins exposed to the Wrath and Vengeance of God To be without Christ implies all misery Then we have no hope Eph. 2. 12. He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life nor shall ever see life 1 John 5. 12. We should not rest till we know this because it may be known The Spirit is given us to this very end 1 John 3 24. To shew us that we are in Christ and Christ in us John 14. 20 21. Such a manifestation of Christ to us is a great Argument of his love to us ver 21. The Spirit doth testifie of Christ John 15. 26. Besides it is a Glory to Christ to make him our Hope of Glory We render him great in the eyes of men when we look upon him as one who makes us great The generality of men know nothing of Christ but what the Faith and Hope of Christians speak him to be They understand the Language of your Hope who have none themselves How mean thoughts soever they have of Christ yet they cannot but look upon him as one greatly admired by others whose expectations from him are so high Ambition is natural to men all would have Glory tho few take the right way to obtain it The present satisfaction men take in sins may be great yet their Hopes of any future good from them are very small When they give themselves time to think they are usually surprized with some fear of the ill consequence of their sins they are under some secret bodings of some evil that will follow Let them ask their Consciences if it be not so Therefore that you may have more solid grounds of Future Blessedness search for Christ within you rest not till you feel the quicking Influences of his Divine Power and Spirit in your selves till you feel Christ living in you It is one thing to walk as men another thing to walk as Christians in the Spirit of Christ. Did we pray more to the Father to reveal his Son in us form Christ in us make us Partakers of the Divine Nature waiting for the coming down of the Spirit upon us we should be endued with Power from on High we should know what it is to do all things in the strength of Christ to have all our Works wrought in God What it is to act supernaturally which every Christian should aim at experimentally to know what it is to act supernaturally They who do so will know that they do so They cannot be well ignorant of that which is so new so much another thing from all that is Natural They are lifted up above themselves they are carried away by the Spirit of God and they may know that they are in that Spirit every such appearance of God in the Soul is a manifestation of the Spirit not only to others but more especially to our selves The Spirit bears Witness that the Spirit is truth The Spirit witnesseth with and to
of man made of the dust of the Earth laying aside all consideration of sin made it impossible for man to be brought so near to God as Christ has brought him 'T is something difficult to apprehend how Adam in Innocency held Communion with God how he could pray without a Mediator But after he fell for those few hours before the Promise of Christ came to him no doubt he was full of horror The Text says he was afraid and hid himself from the presence of the Lord Gen. 3. 8 9 10. But Christ interposes took our nature upon him to convey his to us to make that ours by Grace which was his by Nature so uniting us to God again CHAP. IV. 4. How Christ was fitted and qualified for the Office of a Mediator HE had the Nature of both parties in him as our Immanuel Isa. 7. 14. He had a right in both as God manifest in the Flesh he stood in the middle between both parties and may be called the Third Isa. 19. 24. because Israel was joined in league and amity with Egypt and Assyria they all had an interest in one another all were Blessed of God v. 25. So God and man considered as united in a Third Person who is God-man they both have an interest in him and he is them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mediator is one who stands in the middle between Two partaking of both the extreams In this sense Christ is a middle Person medius not only by Office but by Nature as God-man Divinity and Humanity being substantially united in his Person he must be God that he may be able to satisfie he must be man that he may be in a capacity to die So that medius may refer to the Person Mediator to the Office the Office depends upon the Person such an Office requires such a Person who was God-man Christ is a Mediator according to both his Natures as God-man as his Divine Person is Incarnate in Christ's Mediation both natures are imployed and do act distinctly His Deity did what was Divine his Humanity what was Humane and what was done according to either Nature is ascribed to his Person The Person of the Mediator hath something common to both the dissenting parties viz. The same essence of the Godhead though not the same Personality with the Father and the Holy Ghost and the same humane Nature with us not numerical but specifical In the Incarnation of Christ humane Nature is not individuated to a formal subsistency in this particular Man by the Divine Essence but by the Personality of the Son and therefore the Son is said to be Incarnate because the Person of the Son gives humane Nature a subsistency in himself The Person of Christ joins Two Natures not disagreeing for the sinless Humanity of Christ was never contrary to his Divinity though inferior to it Christ thus Incarnate lays out himself to reconcile God and man which his Two Natures do fit him for disposing and giving an aptitude to the Office of a Mediator for Christ is Mediator oeconomically and by Office Christ's assuming humane Nature was part of his Humiliation and did fit him for his Mediatory Office Phil. 2. 7 8. Though as has been said there was no enmity between God and Christ's sinless humane Nature yet as 't is in us 't is defiled and contrary to God therefore Christ mediates for us with the Father Though Christ Offered up himself a Sacrifice for us in humane Nature yet the whole Divine Person may be said to be offered up in that Nature John 10. 17 18. Christ speaks there as Mediator the power that he had of laying down and taking up his life was the power of the Divine Person not of his humane Nature Some of the Schoolmen have this apt similitude viz. As a man draws a Sword out of a Scabbard holding the Sword in one hand and the Scabbard in the other so the Divine Person of Christ separated his Soul from the Body as a Sword from the Scabard and yet kept both parts united to himself Toletus Christ took our Flesh in which he was mortal and freed even our flesh from that mortality when he raised it from the dead Aug. de Civ D. l. 9. c. 15. mortalitatem habuit transeuntem and so raising us ex mortuis facit immortales Who could swallow up death but he who was life it self It makes much for the relief of fearful Consciences that our Mediator is God-man we should tremble at the mention of God only but when we hear he is Man as well as God then we come willingly to a man like our selves God hath hid and veiled his Majesty under our flesh that the brightness of his Glory might not overcome us When God appeared of old to the Patriarchs it was in some visible shape which he took up for that time and laid down again but now he has really taken the substance and truth of humane Nature into a fixed union to the Person of his Son never to be dissolved Heb. 1. 1. Christus Incarnandus was Mediator under the Old Testament as Exod. 23. 20 21. This could not be a created Angel because he had power to forgive sin therefore it was Christ to come apud Deum facta facienda things actually done and to be done hereafter things present and to come are all one Jesus Christ the same yesterday to day and for ever Heb. 13. 8. Who was verily fore-ordained 1 Pet. 1. 20. Faith in Christ to come saved our fore-fathers Christ was an effectual Mediator then in esse cognito not in esse reali this gives present efficacy to a moral Cause hence Abraham had the benefit of Christ's Mediation therefore he rejoyced John 8. 56 58. The Israelites are said to tempt Christ 1 Cor. 10. 9. Therefore he was with the Church then so verse 4. called a rock David calls Christ Lord Psal. 110. 1. Which shews that Christ had power over him to save him to redeem him so that you see Christ tho not actually Incarnate procured Remission of sin for the Saints then who acted Faith on Christ to come they saw him a far off Numb 24. 17. Promises do signifie something before they are fulfilled the Merits of Christ's Blood being known to God before it was actually shed had its vertue and influence from the beginning According to the Divine Oeconomy Christ mediates with the Father only he is never in Scripture brought in praying to the Son or the Spirit Christ as God-man is Mediator to himself as he is essentially God and Christ as Mediator is inferior to himself As he is essentially God so he is the Party offended but as Mediator God-man so he is the party that makes reconciliation A Mediator is not of one i. e. He consists of two distinct Natures Angels and Saints are mere Creatures and never will be more and therefore will make but sorry Mediators the Man Christ is the highest Creature Image of God because he
Matth. 5. 16. with Rom. 8. 30. and you will find that we are said to glorifie God and God also is said to glorifie us but with this difference We glorifie God by declaring those Divine Excellencies that were in God before God glorifies us by putting an Excellency upon us which we had not before We glorifie God here on Earth God glorifies us in Heaven as our Saviour saith John 17. 4 5. I have glorified thee on earth now O Father glorifie thou me with the glory which I had with thee before the world was What was that I wish I were able to tell you It may be some of you may think I say too much and others too little I desire as God will help me to say something of it that may lead your Thoughts into a further Consideration of this matter Therefore I shall endeavour to open that difficult Scripture Glorifie thou me with that glory which I had with thee before the World was John 17. 5. I conceive thus That Christ's Human Nature upon his Ascension to Heaven was according to its finite capacity lifted up by vertue of the Hypostatical Union into the Essential Glory of the Godhead which did not so shine forth in the Man Christ here on Earth as it doth now in Heaven It was under an Eclipse then in his state of Humiliation but now this Glory is fully communicated to the Human Nature of Christ and through Christ unto us John 17. 22. compared with Joh. 14. 20. I am in my father and ye in me and I in you saith he I say the Glory of the Godhead is communicated to the Human Nature of Christ and through Christ unto us who are united to him And by vertue of this Union the other Two Persons of the Trinity the Father and the Holy Ghost are said to dwell in us and to be in us The Father dwells in us and we in him 1 John 4. 12 13 16. If we dwell in Love we dwell in God and God dwells in us that is we have deep Apprehensions of the Love of God And the Spirit dwells in us Rom. 8. 11. comp with 1 Cor. 3. 16. I speak this to shew how near we are brought to God in Glory to the Father Son and Holy Ghost And thus you see how Saints are glorified in Christ blessed with all Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly Places in Christ Eph. 1. 3. And how Christ is glorified in them John 17. 10. Christ takes the Saints into his own Glory which is their Glorification perfective of their Happiness And this Manifestation of the Glory of Christ in and upon the Saints is said to be a glorifying of Christ John 17. 10. The Original Glory of Christ shining out upon us is our Glorification which doth consist in the Beatifical Vision in beholding the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ we see him face to face 1 Cor. 13. 12. Mat. 18. 10. We see him as he is which transforms us into his likeness 1 Joh. 3. 2. We then appear with him in glory Col. 3. 4. Joh. 7. 24. What can we conceive of this Glory What is this Glory The Scripture sets it forth by Allusions to things that are natural and so shall I. Glory then is a Splendor or Lustre arising up and resulting from the Beauty and Excellency of a thing above other things So God outshines all Creatures being transcendingly Good So that Glory in its perfection as it is in God the Fountain of it it is a continual Effulgency and Brightness flowing from God the Perfection of Beauty He dwells in inaccessible Light This is called sometimes The brightness of his glory Heb. 1. 3. always sending forth resplendent Beams and Rays of Light which do reach us in Heaven and do reflect a Glory upon us Thus the Glory of God is set forth in Scripture by things that are most glorious in our sight And I must tell you That Faith sees something in God that is beyond all these Metaphors of Light and Brightness I say beyond all these Notions of Light and Brightness a more excelling Glory in comparison of which all created Glory is no Glory But the Beatifical Vision is aboâ—e all the Visions of this Glory that Faith now gives us because it fills and satisfies the whole Capacity of our Souls We are then possessed of all and desire no more The School-men tell us Heaven is Appetitus quietivum doth satisfie and quiet the Desires of a man So saith the Scripture Psal. 17. 15. When I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likeness speaking of the Resurrection If the Love of the world is in you the love of the father is not in you 1 John 2. 15. If we are still flying out in our affections after worldly things it is a sign our minds are not quieted and satisfied with God alone School-Divines say further That in Hell there is fear but Heaven is above all Hope And they give this reason for it Because in Hell there is Successio Poenarum a Succession of Punishment which causes Fear but say they in Heaven Glory is absque Successione without Succession i. e. 'T is all present before ' em I suppose they mean this That the Saints above have a kind of actual Comprehension of their Eternal Beatitude in which there is nothing past or to come but all as present before them They don't Hope but certainly know that their Blessedness doth continue for ever That is I say the Saints above after the Resurrection cannot be more happy to all Eternity than they are the first moment of their Glorification And this I mean by an actual Comprehension of our Eternal Beatitude All is as present to Glorified Saints Brethren If these things seem difficult to you and do pass your knowledge are above your comprehension it is your happiness it is so that there is more Glory reserved for you than you can conceive Eye hath not seen ear hath not heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that love him Besides pray consider we that are Ministers do prophesie but in part we see but through a glass darkly no wonder then if these things seem abstruse and enigmatical The more spiritually-minded you are about these deep things of God seriously considering the Sufferings of Christ and the Glory that shall follow as 1 Pet. 1. 11. the more plain and evident will this Glory be unto you You will know more of it than the Tongue of Men or Angels can express There are certain Elevations of an enlightned mind that do sometimes raise our Apprehensions of Divine Mysteries above and beyond our ordinary thoughts of them The Spirit takes us up into the Mount of Glory and shews us the things of Christ more demonstatively than any Minister in the World is able to do When we are heaving at some heavy body we lift here and we lift there and it may be upon some sudden
God towards us Here lyes the Converting point the effectual working of the Word when together with the outward proposal Christ lets forth some Virtue from himself to draw in the Heart unto him When God owns us for his Children who were not his Children before yet his Adoption makes us Children that is the time of our effectual Calling When under the outward Preaching of the Gospel Christ doth so powerfully impress his own first act of Love upon us in dying for us that we cannot but be sensible of it His Love is shed abroad in our hearts we are overcome by it we cannot but call him Father who by calling us Children hath made us so letting in at the same time the Spirit of the Son into our hearts God's owning us for his Children is a sufficient proof that he is our Father we cannot but call him so ever after Zec. 13. 9. Thus Christ makes himself inwardly known to us by giving us Faith in himself for there is no other way of knowing Christ but by believing Sense and Reason cannot bring Christ into the Soul but Faith can giving that account of him from the Word that is fully satisfactory How Glorious is Christ in the Eye of Faith How is a believing Soul taken with him as the Fairest of Ten thousand And this is the first step according to the Method of the Holy Ghost that God takes in bringing Christ into the Soul Secondly Christ is let into the Soul by an appropriating act of Faith by which we do take him into our hearts as our Jesus Every Believer saith for himself the Lord Jesus my Righteousness and my Life and my Salvation my God and my Lord The Soul knows this by that sense that Faith gives of that act by which we do receive him I say by that sense that Faith gives of that appropriating act by which we do receive Christ as our Jesus Those who understand themselves in an act of believing know it to be so Saving Faith so far as it reaches is all evidence it carries conviction along with it of those Truths which we believe Heb. 11. 1. I told you the last time How Faith doth Spiritually draw in the object upon which it acts into every believing Soul Faith is in us Christ is in our Faith as the object of it always in the view and eye of Faith Faith hath nothing else to act upon for Justification but Christ held forth in the Word Now Faith takes Christ out of the Word into the Heart And this I would a little open to you for here lyes the Mystery of your Faith this is the critical Act of Faith I say thus Faith takes in the Promise and in and with the Promise Christ himself who is wrapt up in it Faith takes in the Promise and in and with the Promise the Mercy it self that is Promised Our Title to and Interest in the Lord Jesus Christ it doth arise out of this Act of Faith By this Act of Faith all is compleated both on God's part and our part that may confirm our Title to Christ. God hath past his word in the Promise Faith lays hold upon that Promise receives Christ from the hand of the Father as his Gift hath it from God's own Mouth that Christ is ours and Faith doth so interpret the Promise of God to the Soul by a particular application of it unto us by Name which gives us that security of mind about our real Interest in Christ that we do no longer doubt of it We are under a sense of the greatness of the Gift of the free Grace of the Donor of our Propriety and Interest in so great a Gift and all this by our actual receiving the Promise and in and with the Promise Christ himself promised Faith draws both into the heart together Christ and the Promise and Faith keeps them together it is impossible to have and to hold one without the other A Promise of Christ is Christ to a Believer Faith takes hold of Christ in and by the Promise Faith carries in the Promise as well as Christ into the Soul To prevent all after challenges The Devil is ready to question our Interest in Christ How came you by Christ By Peace And Pardon What have you to shew that Christ is yours Then the Soul holds up a Promise Here is the offer that God hath made of Christ to me saith a Believer and what should hinder my acceptance of it I have accepted it and I will keep my hold on this Promise It is the Word of God to me who cannot lye and what have you Satan to say against this Thus by resisting the Devil we make him fly from us And this Armour of Light doth so dazzle the Eyes of the Prince of darkness that he is not able to stand before it Many complain that Christ is not theirs but they do not consider that it is long of themselves because they don't receive him To as many as received him to them he gives power to become the Childreu of Cod. You will never be able to apprehend your self to be a Child of God till you receive Christ do that and you will quickly find the Spirit witnessing with your spirit that you are a true Child of God Thirdly We always have in this appropriating act of Faith by which we take Christ into our Souls a respect and reference to Christ without us to him as actually Incarnate according to the Word and personally Glorified now in Heaven yet Spiritually present in us I speak this against a late Generation of Men who speak so much of the Light within them and would seem to understand the same that we do by Christ in us though it is evident they put a mere natural Principle for Christ it is not the Person of Christ as God-Man who dyed at Jerusalem and is now Glorified in Heaven and in our Nature in Heaven it is not this Christ whom they rely upon but a Principle of Light in themselves which they call Christ a mere imaginary Christ. If our Faith doth not terminate upon the Person of Christ without us and fix distinctly upon him observing what was done in by and upon his Person as Dying for us Rising Ascending up to Heaven continually making Intercession there for us I say if our Faith doth not begin with the Person of Christ and end in the Person of Christ we may be mistaken in all our seeming Spiritual apprehensions of Christ. The Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of a real Person of the second Person in the Trinity who is very God and very Man To talk of the Spirit of Christ without any relation and reference to the Divine Person of Christ is mere Enthusiasm and overthrows the foundation of Christian Religion When the Scriptures speak of Christ as dwelling in us it still refers to the Person of Christ to what was really done and acted by and upon that Person Rom. 8. 11. His Spirit dwells
of Glory because Christ without us is now personally in Heaven And if since his Ascension and Glorification he is pleased to descend down into us by his Spirit and dwell in us this is a sure sign he intends to bring us to the same place of Glory with himself Christ was to bring many sons to glory Heb. 2. 7. And he sends his Spirit as an earnest to assure us of this The Spirit never quite leaves that soul into whom he once comes He abides with us for ever John 14. 16. He comes to take possession for Christ he enters in in his name he sets his mark upon the Soul casts out the Devil seals up the Soul for Christ Thou art mine saith the Spirit of Christ The Spirit it self bears witness with our spirits that we are the children of God Rom. 8. 16. Saints are sensible of this and do give themselves unto the Lord As Christ gives himself unto the Saints so they give themselves unto the Lord. My beloved is mine and I am his they do mutually own each other And this is the happy day of our Espousals we are married unto the Lord and he is become an husband to us and ever after we dwell comfortably together in Love Brethren If we set our minds to know these things the Spirit will shew us out of the Word what Christ is now doing for us in Heaven That he is gone to prepare a place for us John 14. 2. To make intercession for us Rom. 8. 34. He is entred in for us as a forerunner Heb. 6. 20. that we may follow after He will come again and receive us to himself John 14. 3. We shall partake of his glory Joh. 17. 22. We shall sit down with him on his Throne Rev. 3. 21. These are good grounds of Hope we should seriously weigh and consider these things we should ponder them well in our hearts Some apply themselves with great earnestness to outward Duties of Religion Others they study the Controversial part and rest in an Orthodox Judgment in the bare knowledge of the Truth And may be neither the one nor the other do attend to the acting of their Faith upon Christ which only brings down Religion to our selves engages our Hearts and Consciences in it And I am sure till then let our Profession and Knowledge be what it will we are not real Christians in the sight of God Christ is not in us of a truth I see many Professors wrapt up close in their several Forms crying Lo here and Lo there each one contending for his own Opinion pleasing themselves with their different ways and methods of outward Devotion Here they rest and are no further concerned in Religion than to join to such or such a Party going under such or such a Name We may see many Professorts of all sorts and forms walking softly to Hell talking of Christ all the way they go This is Truth This is Gospel This is the Protestant Religion This and that is a good Sermon And yet it is visible that the most important Truths of the Gospel have not that weight with them as they should They do not carry on the grand design of their Profession They don't live and walk as if they really believed what they so solemnly profess This is the Charge I have against the Professors of this Age I am afraid of them I am afraid of you I am afraid of my self Let every one examine himself If you know these things happy are ye if you do them Let us either resolve to live up to our Christian Principles or lay aside that Name to live by which we deceive both our selves and others Let us lay aside all Hope of Salvation by Christ or study Christ more who is the only sure Ground and Foundation of our Hope of Glory CHAP. IV. THAT I may take occasion to look a little further into the Text I shall put this Query from the running of the Words as they lye before us Christ in us our Hope of Glory The Query is this If Christ be in us can we hope for any thing more If Christ be ours all is ours How then can Christ in us beget Hope of any thing further Is there any thing more than Christ Can Christ be nearer to us than to be within us Is any thing beyond Christ Any thing more desirable than Christ One would think that Christ in us should compleat our Fruition and not lead out our Souls to a Hope and Expectation of something else This is the Query I answer We must distinguish between the Spiritual and Personal Presence of Christ Christ is present with us in Spirit here but he will be personally present with us in Glory hereafter It is a great deal more or as the Apostle speaks far better for us to be with Christ that is with his Glorified Person than for Christ to be in us now by his Spirit This is in order to that to fit us for himself and to make us meet for the inheritance of the saints in light All is ours if Christ be ours All ours How Not in hand not in full possession but only in Hope in the account and reckoning of Faith all is made over and secured to us our Title is firm and good to the whole Inheritance and all that God hath promised but still the Inheritance is reserved 1 Pet. 1. 4. We are not yet entred into it are not yet invested with all that belongs to us God hath begun a good work here which he will not finish till the Resurrection Our Grace lies in the Spiritual Presence of Christ in us here our Glory lies in the Personal Presence of Christ with us in Heaven hereafter We must speak of these things as men and you must bear with our infirmity and with the weakness of our expression I beseech you consider what I am now saying The Glorified Person of Christ will not bear that which the Spirit of Christ bears now in the Saints The Spirit comes to sanctifie us comes where Sin is and casts it out Tho the Spirit never mingles with our Sins yet the Spirit will hold Communion with those in whom Sin dwells which the Glorified Person of Christ will not No unclean thing shall enter Heaven We must not think to come so near to the Person of Christ till we are perfectly sanctified We must be without spot or blemish or wrinkle or any such thing before we can have immediate Fellowship with the Father and the Son in Glory The Presence of the Spirit now tho it be an inward intimate Presence yet it is but a mediate Presence through the Word through Gospel-Ordinances But the mutual Presence of God and the Saints with each other in Heaven is an immediate Presence face to face We had need have no spot upon our face then but be throughly washed and cleansed that no filth may be found in our skirts Christ hath espoused us now by his Spirit to
our Spirits When the Spirit comes as a witness he stands forth distinct from our Spirit that the joynt Testimony of the Spirit of God with ours may be discerned from the single Testimony of our own Spirit which could not be if the Holy Ghost when giving in his Witness laying down his proposition did not stand forth by himself in distinction from the spirit of a man that the truth may be confirmed out of the mouth of two Witnesses at least in the Conscience of a Believer Some of the Heathen of old had their Extasies and Raptures were sensible they were acted by a spirit higher than their own and thought themselves Divinely Inspired when they were under the greatest Infatuation of Satan imaginable But it doth not hence follow that those who are truly inspired by God may not know it Were Christ in us of a truth we should find our selves strong in the power of his Might He that is in us is greater than he that is in the World could we take hold of this great one and go forth in his Name Spirit and Strength we should do great things I can do all things saith Paul through Christ that strengthneth me what do we then in the strength of Christ which we know we could not do of our selves I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me We should labour after some experience of this in our own selves not to rest satisfied till we can experimentally say it of our selves Without this experience we live but at a low rate do no more than others and sometimes not so much neither whereas we should hold forth Christ and walk in his Spirit having our conversation more in Heaven resisting the Devil overcoming the World denying our selves as those who are strengthned by Christ in our inward man so to do While I am putting you upon this search to feel for Christ within you as the Ground of your Hope I shall lay down Two Cautions 1. This Mystical Union between Christ and Believers this Spiritual In-being of Christ in our hearts is a great Mystery We cannot fully comprehend it in this world Some experience we now have of such a thing in our selves but a perfect distinct knowledge of these deep Mysteries is reserved for Heaven Then we shall have a clearer Revelation of the Mystery of the Trinity At that day saith Christ you shall know that I am in my Father and ye in me and I in you John 14. 20. At that day but not before In that day you shall know it perfectly now you know something you see something tho but darkly and we must be content 2. Never take that to be from the Spirit of Christ in you that leads you from the Scripture and would make you wise above what is written Some have run into strong delusions this way fancying every thing they do or say to be by Divine Inspiration What tho some are deceived in thinking they have the Spirit of Christ when they have him not It doth not therefore follow that those who have the Spirit indeed and in truth may not know that they have him One man's Error in this case cannot overthrow another man's Experience He that hath not the Spirit may think he hath him but he that hath the Spirit indeed may know he hath the Spirit Because some men mistake the Truth it doth not follow therefore it cannot be known by any When you seek for Christ in your selves and for further Teachings of his Spirit you should always pray over some Word have your eye upon some Scripture which you beg a right understanding of for no inward Revelation is now to be expected but only of things already revealed in the Word which the Spirit opens to us that is Christ in us doth this But in Heaven we have an Intuitive Knowledge of the things themselves in God who is the First Spring the First Cause the Fountain of all supernatural Truths contained in the Bible In Heaven we shall know the Truth only as it is in Jesus now we know it as it is in our Bibles we know it by the Word as a Sign and Symbol of the Will of God from whence we abstract all our knowledge of Divine things in a discoursive way But Intuitive Knowledge in Heaven is another thing there needs no written Word no other Bible in Heaven but Christ the Essential Word of God who will shew us all in himself all Gospel-Truths do center in him which shews that for us to be with Christ in Glory is more than for Christ to be in us by his Spirit here Secondly Let us lay aside all vain Hopes that confound and make us ashamed Job 6. 20. The Vanity of Hope lies not so much in the Object of Hope as in our Hope it self The Object may be real to wit Life and Eternal Glory They are gay things desirable things and they are real things too But we must see that our Hope be well-grounded If the Grounds be weak such as by no just Consequence of Reason will bear what we infer from them then our Hope is vain we must give a reason of the hope that is in us and such a reason as may answer all Objections against our Hope The Object of Hope is Bonum arduum futurum sed possibile If there be not a possibility of obtaining what we hope for upon the ground we go upon our Hope is vain and will certainly make us ashamed the issue not answering our expectation Job 11. 20. comp with Prov. 10. 28. There are Two Things which men ground their vain Hope of Salvation of Heaven and Glory upon in both which they overlook Christ and pass him by 1. Their own Righteousness so far as they can pretend to any they make the most of it grow proud of it look to be considered by God for it as if he was beholden to them for their good Lives and inoffensive Carriage that they run not into the same excess of Riot with others But alas what a sandy foundation is this to build our Hope of Heaven upon Be not offended at what I am saying but weigh it well in the Balance of the Sanctuary consider it strictly by Gospel-Light I say this We may as soon be saved in our Sins as by our own Righteousness It is as contrary to the Gospel to trust in our own Righteousness as to the Law not to do it Our Sins are not more opposite to the Holiness of the Law than trusting in our own Righteousness is to the Free Grace of the Gospel Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saveth us Tit. 3. 5. It is true a Holy Life becomes a Christian we cannot be Christians without it but it doth not make a Christian Nothing but Faith in Christ doth make a Christian from whence all true Holiness found in Believers doth spring I have sometimes told you That Preaching of Holiness pressing Holiness with little
13. that believe in the Name of the Son of God that you may know that ye have eternal life John wrote this Epistle purposely to satisfie weak Believers that whatsoever they thought of themselves they had Eternal Life and he would have them know as much Put then the Trial of your state upon this very point Whether you have Christ and in him Eternal Life Do you make good the former and we who are Ministers of the Gospel may by the Blessing of God undertake to prove the latter to your great Comfort and Satisfaction These things have I written to you that believe that you may know you have eternal life Then Believers themselves stand in need of such Writings and Sermons as may help to open the Mysteries of Christ to them and to this end is a Gospel-Ministry appointed to make manifest a savour of his knowledg in every place 2 Cor. 2. 14 15. We are a sweet savour of Christ unto God in them that perish under our ministry saith he We must seek to please God in our Preaching and not men whatever the issue be Men have no savour don't savour such Sermons and Gospel-Discourses that do lead them into the Mysteries of the Gospel they are for a more Rational way of Preaching they love Moral Preaching but this Mystical Mysterious Preaching of Christ and Faith in him and Union to him this they count foolishness they don't savour it but saith he we are a sweet savour of Christ to God even in them that perish 2. The Spirit doth not only teach us to know Christ in us but confirms us in that knowledge by an after-Testimony bearing witness with our spirits that so it is This fixes and settles our minds in a firm persuasion of the Truth Had we no other witness but our own Spirits we should vary and fluctuate in our minds about these great Points of the Gospel we should be of one mind to day and of another to morrow Reason is not always consistent with it self varies in its apprehensions of things argues pro and con according to the different appearance of things the different Impressions that contrary Reasonings make upon our unstable minds I say all these things make Reason very uncertain Fancy and Imagination are very uncertain and variable and do strongly influence mens understandings It is hard to know whether Sense or Reason do lead us but the Testimony of the Spirit of God is a more uniform Testimony doth never vary from it self always passes the same Judgment about the same point It is not yea and nay it doth not say and unsay but stands to the first judgment it is purposely given to testifie of Christ and of the infallible consequents of our Faith in him which must needs beget Hope The oftner we appeal to this witness and hear the Testimony of the Spirit in our hearts concerning Christ the more are we confirmed in our Faith and Hope They who are full of the Holy Ghost they are full of Faith and Hope When we have found out Christ within us we should appeal to the Spirit of God Whether it be not so indeed Whether Christ be not in us of a Truth None knows the Son but the Father and it is by his Spirit he reveals him in us Ask the Spirit then Whether this be the Christ of God which your Faith hath taken hold of and brought into your Soul to Live Rule and Reign there Did we live in more Communion with the Holy Ghost we could not be so much estranged from the Life of Christ we should not be so unacquainted with Christ. No man can say That Jesus is the Lord but by the Spirit Say what you will of Christ you understand not what you say till the Spirit reveal him in you There is no thinking talking no meditating on Christ in our own Light and Strength if the Holy Ghost doth not help us Believers have a sense of this that God hath taught them and shined into their hearts it is in his Light they see Light and have a true Spiritual Discerning of the Mystery of God in Christ. You know in the first days of the Gospel the Spirit bore witness unto the Divine Person of Christ That he came from God and was God for the world could believe neither John 15. 26 27. comp with Acts 5. 32. It was the great business of the Spirit I say to testifie to the world That Christ was sent of God and that he was very God This the Holy Ghost did by many signs and wonderful effects of the Divine Power of Christ wrought through Faith in his Name And so ever since the same Spirit breathing in the Consciences of Believers doth testifie of Christ in them with that Evidence and Power that they cannot withstand they are convinced and satisfied That Salvation is only by him and that relying upon him their Souls are secured to all Eternity This begets Peace in their before affrightned Consciences If you ask how doth the Holy Ghost bring over the Mind of a man to be so fully persuaded of the truth of that which Flesh and Blood cannot reveal unto him I Answer The Holy Ghost doth this as a Spirit of Power Luk. 24. 49. Christ is said to Teach us as one having Authority There is Power and Authority as well as Teaching Reasoning and Objective light I say the Spirit acts as a Spirit of Power impressing a sense of God's Love so upon our Hearts that we cannot but count upon it rejoyce in it feeling it shed abroad into our Hearts The Testimony of the Spirit is a convincing undeniable Evidence able to persuade of the truth of that he bears witness to against all surmises of Flesh and Blood Were not the Spirit of Christ a Spirit of Power it would be impossible he should ever establish such a a Doctrine so contrary to all the sentiments of Nature and to all rational Inferences men can make from any principles of Reason The Spirit comes as a Spirit of Power will have the Heart open will bring over Man to assent though it be to what his Understanding cannot reach and this the Spirit of God doth by particular Application of the Blood of Christ to us by Name so revealing Christ in us that we cannot but feel the Virtue of his Blood in our Conscience cannot but know him and own him as our Jesus In all Hope there is a peculiar Application of Promises to our selves He that believes hath eternal Life John 3. 36. Is not only persuaded there is such a thing but that he hath it already begun in him and shall be further let into it ere long We shall be like him 1 John 3. 2. We shall be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life Tit. 3. 7. For the hope which is laid up for you Col. 1. 5. There is a particular Application to our selves of those things we Hope for It is impossible for a man to Hope and be no
of it The Jews to prove themselves to be Freemen and never in bondage alledge that they were Abraham's seed vers 33. They said Abraham was their father v. 39. and God was their father ver 41. Christ denies both and says the Devil was their Father which he proves by their contempt of him and his Doctrine as more at large appears in this Chapter The Sum of all is this viz. They vainly pretend to an Interest in God who dishonour the Son of God it is my Father that honoureth me Of whom ye say he is your God yet ye have not known him First I shall make good the Words of our Saviour against the Jews and prove That they knew not God because they knew not Christ the Son of God God cannot be savingly known but as he hath revealed himself in Christ. God hath revealed himself to the Jews in his word not only as the Creator of Heaven and Earth and as that God who brought them out of Egypt so they knew him but that he intended to send his Son into the world the Seed of the Woman to redeem Man Zech. 9. 11. Isa. 45. 17. Had the Jews believed this they would never have treated Christ so scornfully saying Where is thy Father v. 19. Such a spiritual Redeemer they looked not for they thought the Messiah should be some Temporal Prince who should come of some Noble Family with great attendance armed with Power and Strength to deliver them from the Roman Yoak to restore the people to their Liberties to enlarge his Dominion over other Nations keeping up the Mosaical Polity every where they never dreamed that the Son of God was to come in man's Nature to dye for Sinners to bring in a new Everlasting Righteousness and Life though all this was foretold in the Old-Testament yet they did not so understand it All outward deliverances promised to the Jews were through Christ. So to unbelieving Ahaz Isa. 7. 14. All Mercies promised to the Jews hung upon the Kingdom of David which pointed to Christ. Isa. 55. 3 4. Jer. 23. 3 4 5 6. Ezek. 34. 22 23. and Ezek 37. 25 c. All the hope of Israel in all Ages was reposed in Christ only Zech. 9. 9. c. Amos 9. 11. c. The Gospel being first to be Preached to the Jews Christ ceased not to Preach to them notwithstanding all their scorn and contempt of Him and his Doctrine expressed by their Contumelious words and wicked attempts to take away his Life They took up stones and cast at him v. 59. 'T is evident that the greatest part of the Jews did not know God though the Psalmist says Psal. 76. 1 2. In â—udah is God known his name is great in Israel in Salem also is his Tabernacle and his dwelling-place in Sion Yet Christ here reproves them for their ignorance of God even in â—erusalem According to that of the Prophet Isa. 1. 3. The â—x knoweth his owner and the â—ss his masters crib but Israel doth not know my people â—oth not consider o My people is sottish they have not known me they are sottish châ—ldren they have no understanding Jer. 4. 22. No wonder the Gentile world knew not God but that his own people the Jews should not know him this is strange They knew there was a God and did worship him according to the Law but not according to the Gospel therefore though they said they knew him yet not doing the Duty of those who rightly know God they are said not to know him But Secondly to bring down the point nearer to our selves 1. Obs. Many do pretend to an Interest in the God of Abraham as their God and Father who yet know him not As there were many carnal Israelites of old who had a form of knowledg in the Law Rom. 2. 20. So there are many formal Christians now who have a form of knowledg according to the Letter of the Gospel and yet do not truly know God in Christ Jesus Many call God their God and Father whom he will never own for his true Children God owns none for his Children who do not own Christ for his Son carrying it towards him accordingly Our relation to God as Children springs from our relation to Christ the Son of God our union to Christ by Faith proves our adoption but whilst we are without Christ we are looked upon as aliens and strangers as without God in the world Eph. 2. 12. I shall include all that I have further to say from this Text in this general observation viz. 2. Oâ—s A right saving Knowledge of God is only in and through Christ We cannot know God unto Salvation any other way From the Analysis of these two Chapters and the coherence of the Text with the Context it plainly appears by these words of our Saviour to the Jews That none do truly know God the Father who do not acknowledg Christ to be the Son of God All the saving Knowledge we have of God is from the Knowledge Christ hath of God who lying in the bosom of the Father hath declared him to us John 1. 18. John 14. 9. We ought not to speak any thing of God but what he has said of himself in his word Theology is the Doctrine of God concerning himself concerning his works and his will Christ as man was ignorant of some things and knew no more than the Father revealed to him Mark 13. 32. so Joh. 7. 16 17. My doctrine says he is not mine but his that sent me 't is of God I speak not of my self or from my self but as I hear John 5. 30. So he received the Revelation from the Father Rev. 1. 1. As our Knowledge of God flows from the Knowledge Christ has of God So our Knowledge of Christ is from himself John 14. 21. As he does by his Spirit reveal himself to us so he doth reveal the Father to us in himself Mat. 11. 27. John 6. 46. No man hath seen God at any time no not Moses himself hath seen the Father but had all from Christ who gave the Law upon the Mount Acts 7. 38. Whatever Notices there may be in the minds of men of a Deity yet they know not God aright without faith in Christ. Saving Knowledge is that by which we understand the right way of a sinners salvation by Christ or it 's the Knowledge that shews us what we must do to be saved A convinced sinner is at a great loss about his Salvation till God open to him the Mystery of his free Grace in Christ giving him thereby the Knowledge of Salvation Luk. 17. 7. God's love is towards the Elect before they know him but it is not in them till they know him then they understand how they are beloved of God his love is shed abroad in their Hearts Rom. 5. 5. 'T is in them John 17. 26. And I in them Not only for them but in them before we knew God or Christ Christ had
choice of his God 6. Many of the more civilized sober Professors even of Christianity are apt to rest in general Notions of a Deity when they don't know God himself they don't know him who is God My Text leads me to speak of The Knowledge of God in Christ if what I shall say be not so plain and easie as you would have it Pray remember that I am speaking of that great mystery of godliness God manifest in the flesh which no tongue neither of men or angels is able fully to set forth and to express Yet I hope through the guidance of the Spirit of God what I shall deliver upon this high Subject will fall in with the Conceptions of your Faith and with the Spiritual Apprehensions of an Enlightned Mind Now I proceed A True Saving Knowledge of God implies these Three Things 1. A Knowledge of God in the Person of Christ Incarnate That God manifest in the Flesh of Christ is the only True God 3. That this only True God manifest in the Flesh is our God CHAP. IV. Of the Knowledge of God in the Person of Christ. WHat this Personal Knowledge of God in Christ is I shall explain We conceive God to be a distinct Being from all created Beings above all beyond all and before all the only Jehovah the Great Essentiator who is an Eternal Being himself and gives Being to all other things this God we cannot see with our bodily eyes but with the eyes of a mind spiritually enlightned we may i. e. we may see him by an eye of Faith conceiving him to be all that which he hath revealed himself to be in Christ. Till we see God in the Person of Christ the Mediator we have no certain Object for our Faith to fix upon our natural Notions of God will never carry us to any Person who is God the Scriptures only lead us to Christ as the Son of God The Person of the Father and of the Holy-Ghost are invisible but the Second Person hath made himself visible by taking our Nature upon him and is the only True Visible Image of the Invisible God He is God-Man which signifies not Two Personalities but Two Natures united in One Divine Person The Person of Christ Incarnate is Divine tho many in the days of his flesh here saw his Person who did not own his Divinity they saw him who was God but did not own him to be God 't is Saving Knowledge only that gives us a true sight of God in Christ we never see him till then God in Christ is God indeed all other representations of God do change his Glory into a lye they are all idols and vanities The Heathens became vain in their imaginations multiplying gods to themselves but never agreed who was the only true God Christ said to the Jews vers 19. Ye neither know me nor my Father if ye had known me ye should have known my Father also because the Will of the Father concerning the Salvation of Sinners is revealed by Christ. To believe the Being of a God That there is a God and to believe in God are two things The light of Nature leads to the former but not to the latter because we must have a particular distinct Knowledge of God i. e. of him in particular who is God the only True Living Eternal God we must know his Name his Attributes his Power Wisdom Infinite Love and Mercy We must be able to prove all this from Divine Revelation before we can have sufficient ground for our Faith and Hope in him to believe we know not why in we know not whom is not Faith but fond Credulity this way we render Faith a very irrational thing a mere fancy We cannot prove the Attributes of God but by the Almighty Acts and Works of God we believe him to be God for his Works sake which the Word gives us so full an account of 'T is strange to see what a slight Knowledg of God men do rest in reposing so great a trust as they pretend to do in one whom they know not whether he be able to answer that trust they worship they know not whom they trust they know not whom Tho they own God whoever he be to be Almighty Infinite in Wisdom Love c. yet they chuse a God for themselves who is none of all this and so deceive themselves General Notions of Infinite Power Wisdom c. unless we see where to place them and to whom they do belong are but empty speculations no sufficient ground for our Faith Christ has outdone all that ever were called gods and therefore he only deserves that Name who has in himself revealed the true God to us all the Idols of the world are vanities The Son of God hath made himself visible by taking our flesh upon him and through that veil we look in upon the whole Trinity and know all that is called God in Christ Jesus He that hath seen me hath seen the Father John 14. 9. hath seen the Infinite Power of that Holy Spirit put forth by me No mere Creature holds forth two Natures but the Person of Christ does and therefore is the only Image of the Invisible God holding forth all that is contained in the Infinite Essence of the Divine Nature truly representing God in all his Essential Properties as God and his Father Christ is properly the Image of the Father not of the God-head for that is really in him he is very God The thing it self cannot be said to be the Image of it self Christ and the Father are one in the Essence of the God-head I and my father are one John 10. 30. But Christ is not the same Person with him whose Image he is When Christ is said to be the Image of God God is taken personally for the Father not essentially for the Divine Nature I am not now speaking of the Characteristical Differences of the Three Persons but of the Unity of Essence in which they all agree These three are one If you would know what manner of God the Father is you must look upon Christ his Image and conceive of him according to that manifestation of himself in the Flesh of Christ who has in that very flesh expressed and acted over all the Divine Attributes of God in the Miracles he wrought upon earth letting out a Divine Power through our humane Nature acting as God in our flesh Something of God's Glory appears in the Works of Creation but the Brightness of his Glory shines out only in the Face of Christ as men are known by their faces so God is known by Christ God having in an ineffable manner communicated his Essence to Christ he is therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the express image of his person As he holds forth the Glory of God to us he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the brightness of his glory This is that Divine Person upon whom the eye of our Faith must be fixed I say
the eye of our Faith because many who looked upon Christ with their bodily eyes when he was upon Earth saw the man Christ but saw not God in that man Nay they Crucified him as a Blasphemer for saying he was God Obj. How can we now see God in the Person of Christ since his Ascension Who shall Ascend into Heaven after him Answ. You may as well nay upon some accounts betteâ— discern God now in the Person of Christ since his Ascension as they could who were present with him upon Earth for they could not discern his Godhead but by Faith and so may we now But you will further Object We cannot see his Person Answ. Not with our bodily Eyes neither would that help us to discern his God-head if we could so see him with our bodily eyes unless the Father did inwardly reveal him and this he does now to his Saints as well as then then he did convincingly reveal the God-head of Christ in the Person of Christ livingupon Earth now he does reveal the same God-head of Christ in the same Person of Christ though not as living upon Earth but as represented to us in the word and living now in Heaven We must consider Christ as held forth in the word it 's enough that he was once upon Earth and that we have such a perfect Character of him such a full authentick description of the Person of Christ Incarnate and of his coming again left upon record in the Scriptures the word is nigh thee act your faith upon that and you will quickly have a spiritual discerning of God in Christ. You cannot believe all that the Scripture says of Christ but you must believe him to be God the very Son of God by eternal Generation from the Father and if you believe this you cannot but believe the eternal Procession of the Spirit from them both How can you conceive a living eternal Father and a living eternal Son without a living eternal Spirit The account the Scriptures give of the Son of God incarnate is ground enough for our Faith to fix upon set but your Faith a-work upon Christ and you 'l quickly have a spiritual sight of God in him Faith will observe that in Christ that speaks out his Godhead 't will spy out such Rays and Beams of Divine Majesty shining out in his Person that will create in us a holy Reverence towards him and cause us to fall down and worship him Though Christ be Personally Ascended yet he is Spiritually present with us and in us faith knows how in the light of the word to follow him up to Heaven to sit down in Heavenly places by him and to keep up a constant Communion with him As Christ was in Heaven as God when he was upon Earth as Man John 3. 13. So tho now he is contained in Heaven as Man yet he fills both Earth and Heaven as God Tho his finite Humane Nature cannot co-extend it self to an Ubiquity to reach as far as the Divine yet the Two Natures in Christ are always hypostatically united and tho the Divine Nature do act in with and through the Humane yet it does in many things act above and beyond it even under this hypostatical Union by which God intended to advance Humane Nature but without any Contraction or Diminution of the Divine If you ask What is that Object which we should set before us in every Act of Worship Publick or Private I Answer The Father Son and Holy-Ghost one God and Three Persons Through Christ by one Spirit we have access unto the Father Eph. 2. 18. According to that Oeconomy we worship one God all along applying our selves in a distinct manner to each Person according to the Word that the whole of our Worship may center in one God We shall become vain in our imaginations if we worship God any otherwise Our own Notions of Omnipotency c. let them rise never so high are but mere empty Speculations till we know the subject to whom they belong If they are true they are true of something Attributes ascribed to nothing are nothing in themselves but when we see in whom they are vested they command a Reverence in us towards so great an Object they that know thy name will trust in thee the name leads us to the thing to God himself as an Infinite Eternal Being cloathed with all those Attributes that render him worthy of all Honour Praise and Glory from us The Heathens for want of a right Object to fix their natural Notions of a Deity upon set up such Similitudes and Images of God as did no way represent him but rendred him like unto corruptible things God forbid us to make any Image or Likeness of him and set up his Son as his only True Living Image that we might conceive of him according to that Image and no otherwise The Sum of all is this The New Testament declares Christ to be the Son of God equal with the Father the express image of his person Flesh and blood cannot reveal this to us i. e. can 't perswade us to believe it but when it pleases the Father to reveal his Son in us then we see the Eternal Father in his Son in knowing one we know both because both are one and the same God We see the Eternal Spirit in Christ also who is called the Spirit of Christ residing in him without measure 'T is by the Son that we know both the Father and the Spirit as One God and Three Persons One and yet Three Three and yet One God has said it therefore let us admire and believe The greatest things that are cause no admiration till we believe them and then we sit down astonished That Three Personalities belong to One Infinite Essence must needs be true because God in effect says it who knows himself best I am that I am says God i. e. I am all that is revealed and I am that I am besides Secret things belong to God not to know what is not revealed is not culpable ignorance but a holy Nescience that will become us 'T is fit that God should so reveal himself to us that he may appear incomprehensible by us had he revealed himself as comprehensible by us we should have had no reason to believe him to be God for he must have been a finite God and therefore none at all 'T was fit therefore that God should shew himself to man in his transceedent Excellencies as incomprehensible by man so that his very incomprehensibleness which may occasion some doubt and hessitation in us yet if rightly considered it may be brought in as a strong argument to prove the truth and certainty of his Divinity Men are now for Comprehending not Believing but all men are not Philosophers Besides the Philosophical Reasons you bring for the Being of a God may prove there is a God and that you know there is a God but they do not prove that you know who that God
God's grace comes to us we either receive it or put it from us and 't will be no joy of heart to us in a dying Hour to think how often we have refused our own Mercies offered to us which nothing but our final unbelief can hinder us of you who do not now believe know assuredly that you will never believe 'till God turn your hearts and he then begins to turn them when he puts you upon seeking earnestly to him for it as that which none can do besides I wish this sign of Conversion were more apparent in us all how diligently should we wait upon God for converting Grace in the use of means the reason why many receive so little benefit from the word is because they expect so little from it they do not come with raised expectations of a powerful Revelation of the Arm of God upon their hearts you that do have I doubt not seen and felt the mighty works of God upon your Souls Faith begins at the promises is raised from thence and ever after waits for the performance of them it shall be done according to your Faith Some think they must bring Faith to the Covenant as a preparatory Qualification for all the Grace that is there promised whereas we must come to the Covenant for our first Faith and fetch it thence the Spirit by the outward proposal of the Covenant kindles Faith in us by which we cast our selves upon the free Grace of God in Christ We have nothing to believe till then Do this and then look for the Law written in your hearts for the Spirit of God and all the fruits of the Spirit in your repentance Love Obedience and holy walking with God all Graces flow from the Covenant of Grace Pray that God will give you a heart to assent to and close with Christ upon the terms of the Covenant and then see if all be not made good to you God will do much for the Glory of his Grace but he will do nothing to nourish your Pride and Conceitedness of your selves and your own righteousness seek all from Grace and you have all but if you go about to establish your own righteousness you will never attain unto righteousness if you seek it not by Faith Rom. 9. 32. 3. How come we to discern God to be our God in Christ or what is there in Christ that makes out this unto us 1. Christ as Man does own God to be his God and the God of all who are in him My Father and your Father my God and your God John 20. 17. God is not only the God of Christ Personal but of Christ Mystical his Head both ways 1 Cor. 11. 3. When we are one in Christ then the God of Christ is our God we cannot since the fall have an Interest in God but through a Mediator he is the great Peace maker 't is Christ makes God to be ours who otherwise would be against us not for us God is in Christ reconciling the World unto himself As Christ owns God to be his God so God the Father owns Christ incarnate as his wellbelovedSon and the same love he beareth to him he beareth to all his Members John 17. 23 26. We can have no immediate Knowledg of God in his own Divine Essence So he is perfectly known only to himself all that concerns us to know of him he has revealed in Christ Without a personal knowledge of God in Christ we cannot act our Faith upon him nor have any real Communion with him Notions are not Persons or Subsistencies but Mental Conceptions neither can we apply our selves to those Speculations if we know not the Person to whom they belong all Divine Attributes relate to their proper Subject nay more all Divine Attributes are of the essence of God they are God himself neither do our thoughts of Omnipotency Allsufficiency c. signify any thing to our relief unless we know him who is all this we cannot know Omnipotency to be God himself unless we see it acted and expressed by him who is God 't is a hard matter to prove the reality of that which was never acted and 't is impossible to know that such Attributes have been exerted unless we know by whom None of the idol gods were ever able to act over any one of the essential Attributes of God by the help of the Devil they pretended something that way but it was a mere pretence easily disproved by any considering man strictly examining either their Predictions of future Events or their feigned Miracles which were all mere Delusions false and groundless Christ out-did them all he did the works of God indeed and for his work-sake ought to be believed to be God indeed 2. In Christ we see God's Wrath appeased his Justice satisfied for all our Offences all causes of Enmity between God and us are taken away by Christ Eph. 2. 13 14. The body of sin destroyed Rom. 6. 6. We Crucified to the World Gal. 6. 14. The Image of God restored his Law writ in our hearts 3. The Spirit of Christ dwelling in us tells us so teaches us to cry Abba Father As no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12. 3. So none can say that God is their God but by the Holy Ghost By the Spirit of Christ which is the Spirit of God Rom. 8. 9. When God himself tells you by his own Spirit that he is your God he makes you to understand what he says and to see how happy you are in having God for your God Till we come to some sense of this we lose the comfort of our Religion it has little Influence upon us whence does the power of godliness arise but from the power of God who is the Author of true Religion and puts that power into it that belongs to true godliness take away the relation that is between Godliness and God and you quite destroy the power of godliness Religion is a weak thing if it be not maintained and supported by the authority and power of God himself 4. We see that of God in Jesus Christ that makes us fall down and Worship him as our God crying out with Thomas John 20. 28. My Lord and my God When we look upon Christ with an eye of Faith we do with open face behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord 2 Cor. 3. 18. God causes his glory to pass before us le ts out some beams of his Divine Majesty that we may know him to be the Lord such Manifestations of God to the Soul through Christ have I hope fallen under your own experience many a time and that you are not now without such a sight of God in Christ as does create in you a holy Reverence towards him a holy trembling at his word if you receive it as the word of God of your God it must have this effect upon you any thing from our God that bears his
Name comes with authority commands a due respect from us Since we are redeemed with the precious Blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1. 19. Justified by his Blood saved from Wrath through him reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. 5. 9 10. We may conclude from all that has passed between God and Christ concerning our Salvation that God is our God Christ has made him so When we know who is our God what he will be unto us and do for us we may enter into rest for ever rejoycing in his Salvation Two things prove God to be ours 1. His giving himself to us in a Promise 2. Our receiving him in that Promise by Faith which holds him fast will not let him go neither will God wrest himself out of the hand of our Faith for that would be to recede from his own Promise to deny himself no he will approve himself to be every way ours taking a universal Care of us and providing eternally for us causing his fulness to flow in upon our Souls more and more every day Jer. 17. 8. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters that spreadeth her roots by the river and shall not see when heat cometh but her leaf shall be green nor shall cease from yeilding fruit CHAP. VII Some further Evidences of God's being OVR God 1. LOOK into your own hearts for this see what impressions of his Love and Fear you can find there what measure of the Spirit of his Son breathing in you examine prove your own selves that you may know whether Christ be in you of a truth he who has God for his God his heart is much set upon Christ who has brought this about and by a Spirit of Adoption made it known to us that God is our Father the Spirit does not tell us this only by an external Declaration of it in the word but by an internal operation or breathing in our hearts as the Spirit of the Son inclining us to go to God as Children of our Heavenly Father We know God to be our Father by a Divine Instinct the spirit of the Son leads us naturally to our Heavenly Father the Spirit of the Son knows no other Father but God and God acts as a Father towards all in whom he sees the Spirit of his Son when we are joyned to the Lord in one Spirit we stand in the same relation to God the Father as Christ our elder Brother does then it is I and the children which thou hast given me Heb. 2. 13. All Children of the same Father I the first born and these my Brethren Being partakers of the Divine Nature that Nature tells us who is our Heavenly Father we need not say with Philip shew us the Father we shall see the Father in the Son and move towards him in the Spirit of the Son feeling in our selves such childlike affections towards God as will make us call him Father We must be clear in the actings of our Faith upon Christ before we can apprehend God to be our Father still remembring that it 's the Father of Christ who is our Father 2. By that inward satisfaction and rest we find in our selves under this new Covenant-relation to God he that believes doth enter into rest Heb. 4. 3. Soul take thine ease a Child of God may truly say so upon our believing in Christ there is a secret shedding abroad of that love of God in the Soul when we turn to God God turns about to us looks pleasingly upon us we tast and see that God is gracious this is the sinners welcome into a state of Grace he sees it much better with him than before 3. By the confidence we put in him for help and comfort in all our times of need The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want Psalm 23. 1. We see that in God that answers all our fears do we want strength the Lord is our strength would a rock or fortress stand us in any stead God is both would a Buckler a high Tower the Lord is all this to a Believer and Faith understands as much Psal. 18. 1 2. And therefore is confident in God knows that every Promise will be established God will act like a God towards us like a God to Israel as 1 Chron. 17 24 25. We may safely trust in him Dan. 3. 17. Our God is the God of Salvation Psal. 68. 20. Isa. 41. 10. We should apply to him for help upon all occasions Isa. 8. 19. And let others have a care of medling with the people of God to their hurt Jer. 2. 3. All that devour him shall offend evil shall come upon them saith the Lord. They are sensible how God stands engaged to them and they to God God promises to do great things for them and they promise to walk in his ways and to keep his statutes Deut. 26. 16. ad finem Not to do this is to deny God Josh. 24. 27. You say he is your God don't unsay it again by your wilful Disobedience When God owns any for his people he makes them to own him for their God he works answerable Dispositions in their hearts towards himself as he avouches them to be his people so they avouch him to be their God Hos. 2. 23. I will say i. e. I will make them my people Dei dicere est efficere our saying is to believe and obey when we disobey God we disown him we set up something else for our God we say unto God Depart from us Job 21. 14 15. 4. By his appearing for us against all our sworn Enemies as he did for Israel of old bringing them out of Egypt with a Mighty hand when things come to extremities between God and his People he will then save them because he is their God Psalm 3. 7. For his own name sake Isa. 43. 25. David knew the strength of the Argument Psal. 119. 94. Though God may severely Chastise his people yet he will not take away his Loving kindness utterly from them he will not make an utter end of them God cannot do this Hos. 11. 8. 5. By our zealous appearing for God upon all occasions The way of the Lord is strength to the upright Prov. 10. 29. The people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits Dan. 11. 32. 6. The Apostle Phil. 3. 3. when he would prove himself and the Philippians to be the peculiar people of God to belong to him indeed he gives Three Signs of it viz. Worship God in the spirit rejoyce in Christ Jesus have no confidence in the flesh They who say God is their God from a true saving Knowledg of God in Christ they believe there is no other God that he is the only true God Who is God save the Lord who is a rock save our God Psal. 18. 31. Above all gods 2 Chron. 2. 5. And him only will they serve Mat. 4. 10. He is their guide unto death Psal. 48. 14. They
God's Justice would not permit that man should be received into favour and freed from that misery he had brought upon himself 'till a sufficient Price was paid for his ransom nothing but the Blood of Christ could quench that flaming Sword of God's just Anger that kept man when cast out of Paradise from the Tree of Life So that the right that God recovered was for the good of man a right to shew Mercy to the worst of Penitent sinners without any reflection upon his Justice That he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus Rom. 3. 26. That a Holy God should justifie a sinful man is the greatest Mystery that ever the World heard of but God who works wonders hath in his infinite Wisdom Job 28. 23. glorified his Justice and Mercy both in our Salvation by Christ. God had a special right by Election in all his chosen Ones but foreseeing the fall of his Elect he provides for their Redemption in case of Transgression Election was unto Eternal Life but sin intervening between Election and Salvation threatens Eternal Death puts such a rub in the way which must be removed or else the Elect themselves could not be Saved therefore that Election might stand and obtain its end Rom. 11. 7. God provides for our Redemption laies help upon one that is Mighty we were chosen in him in whom we have redemption Eph. 1. 4 7. God had an Eye to Christ in our Election 't is that makes it sure What wonderful difficulties does Election meet with enough if it were possible to hinder the Salvation even of the Elect Mat. 24. 24. But Christ has secured them John 10. â—8 I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my hand The end of our Redemption was not to rescue us quite out of the hand of God to take us out of his power for that cannot be but to let us into his Love to reconcile us to him to bring us to a nearer conjunction with him than ever John 17. 21. That which moved God to Redeem us was his Love and Pity Isa. 63. 9. CHAP. IV. Seventhly How by tbe Law of Redemption the Redeemed pass over Body and Soul into the possession of the Redeemer LAstly The relation that Christ hath to and the interest and propriety that he hath in all Believers as their Redeemer obliges them in Reason Justice Equity and Conscience to Dedicate and Devote themselves all that they are and have to his Service to Glorifie God in their Body and Spirit which are God's All the Persons of the Trinity have a special Interest in the Persons of all true Believers 1. God the Father Their Body and Spirit are God's says the Text they are Redeemed unto God Rev. 5 9. 2. God the Son as they are Members of Christ 1 Cor. 6. 15. 3. God the Holy Ghost as they are the Temples of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6. 19. 1 Cor. 3. 6. Eph. 2. 21. 2 Cor. 6. 16. The Spiritual House of God 1 Pet. 2. 5. If any man defile the temple of God him shall God destroy 1 Cor. 3. 17. for the temple of God is holy which temple ye are Redemption fixing such a right and propriety in the Redeemer over the Redeemed must necessarily imply obedience and subjection on our part Ye are not your own How shall we live any longer in sin Rom. 6. 2. Being made free from sin we should become servants of righteousness v. 18. Believers are not sui juris to live as they list Rom. 14. 7 8 9. 1 Pet. 4. 2. For me to live is Christ Phil. 1. 21. My business is to serve him not to comply with the lusts of men 1 Cor. 7. 23. What to Glorifie God in our body viz. When in all our outward actions we govern our selves by the law of Christ following the rule of his word and the guidance of his Spirit The Body is for the Lord who is our Head to govern our bodies in all their motions Christ is the Saviviour of the body and will raise it up to eternal life Rom. 6. 5. and make it conformable to his glorious body Our Bodies are the Members of Christ and as such they ought to subject themselves to the command of the Soul under Christ mortifying the deeds of the Body through the Spirit Rom. 8. 13. The whole man is the temple of the Lord 1 Cor. 3. 16. Our Bodies are as it were the Porch of this temple therefore we should not touch any unclean thing 2 Cor. 6. 16 17. lest we grieve the Spirit of God who dwells in us The Sanctification and Holiness of the Body is opposed to any outward pollution of it by which we do defile and dishonour the Body 1 Thes. 4. 3 4 5. If Christ has such an undoubted right to your Bodies as they are his members and temples of the Holy-Ghost then be sure you keep them holy and undefiled I need not exhort you to flee Fornication you are all convinced of the evil of that but the outward Attire I will not say of whom Prov. 7. 10. lest I put some to the blush does not become serious Worshippers of the true God a more grave sober modest Apparel would convincingly testify to others the due respect and reverence you have for the holy Spirit dwelling in you your Bodies are the temples of the Holy-Ghost do not then prophane these temples by antick exotick dresses the sure emblems of a vain mind such plumes and wethercocks as some wear upon their heads become not the Pinacle of these Temples of the Holy-Ghost Therefore if there be any fellowship of the Spirit cloathe your selves as women professing Godliness and that I may apply this to both Sexes 1 Cor. 11. 14. I must tell you it argues a very Effeminate age to see so many men's head thatch'd with Womens hair what may be brought by some as an argument in point of health for the cutting of their own Hair will never justifie what is put on by most in the room of it When you have trickt up your selves according to the Mode and Fashion of the world before you go forth to be seen of others put this question to your selves Is this to Glorifie God in my body or will it not rather open the mouths of many to blaspheme that profession of Godliness that I have taken up Answer it to your Consciences if you can He that does not keep his body in a due subjection to the Spirit of Grace will never keep his heart long in a right frame What to Glorifie God in our Spirit To serve God only with our bodies is Hypocrisy it must be with Body and Spirit else our service is not reasonable service Rom. 12. 1. If our minds are not pure in the sight of God and our outward profession answerable thereunto in the sight of men Paul sets forth this inward service Rom. 1. 9. God is my
is the exemplar the Spirit impressing upon us the similitude of that exemplar we become the Children of God I shall open this a little and shew you what influence Christ has into our Adoption God gives the Elect to Christ as his Children as the Heirs of God and joint-Heirs with Christ they lostt-heir Inheritance in the first Adam and recovered it in the second Adam they now stand in the same relation to God in their measure as Christ does I and the children thou hast given me Heb. 2. 13. The Son of God must become the Son of Man that we might be made the Sons of God in him Gal. 4 4 5. Here comes in our Adoption by vertue of our relation to Christ our elder Brother as one with him Gal. 3. 28. All God's Adopted Children are found in his natural Son mystically united to him deriving from him that filial relation which they have to God Al God's Chidren are of one mould of one shape and fashion all conformable to the image of his Son this is the Mark by which they are known and distinguished from others The great enquiry that God makes is What of Christ there is in us what of Christ there is held forth by us God owns none for his Children but such as resemble Christ Christ is the express Image of the Father and Christians are the express Image of Christ. The reason why God the Father is so well pleased with the man Christ is because he sees his own Image in him he sees himself his own essence in Christ not so in the Saints the Image of the Father in Christ and the Image of Christ in the Saints do agree in many things yet they differ in some the Image of Christ in the Saints is not the essence of God for that is incommunicable to any mere Creature but it is a lively resemblance of all the communicable attributes of God in some degree and measure drawn from the very face of Christ upon the faces hearts and lives of all Christians yet still Christ is the original by eternal Generation the Saints are but so many Copies drawn in time from that Original and they are drawn to the life not only in a way of outward resemblance but by a real inward participation of the Life and Spirit of Christ according to their finite capacity As the humane Nature does subsist in the Divine Person of Christ so our humane Persons so far as we are new Creatures do Subsist in Christ in whom we spiritually live move and have our Being as New Creatures the Divine Graces of Christ do subsist in the Saints by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them i. e. They act the same Graces finitely which Christ acts infinitely they receive of his fulness but cannot contain all his fulness they have not a capacity for that they enter into his fulness but all his fulness cannot enter into them 3. Our Adoption is brought about not only by the Father and the Son but also by the Spirit bearing Witness with our spirit to the truth of the Image of Christ drawn upon the Soul inferring from thence our Adoption The same Image bears the same name implies in a measure the same nature and Spirit to be in us that is in Christ puts us into the same relation to God that the Man Christ stands in the names of things would never occur to our memories if the likeness of the object we look upon did not teach us what to call it conveniunt rebus Nomina c. The Spirit witnesses by inward impressins tho no voice be heard and these impressions are always according to the word the Spirit does not speak from himself suggesting any thing to us not contained in the word but of this more hereafter I am now shewing how Adoption is carried on by the Spirit therefore called the Spirit of Adoption because given only to the Adopted and because he bears witness to them of the good Will of God wherewith the Father hath accepted them in the beloved that he might be a Father to them Tho the Spirit works all other saving Graces in us yet because Adoption is the prime and chief work of the Spirit therefore he is called the Spirit of Adoption 2. The manner of it This is clearly set down Gal. 3. 25. ad finem 'T is Faith makes us the Children of God by joyning us to Christ our union to and communion with Christ the natural Son of God is the Foundation of our Adoption Gal. 3. 29. Christ by coming into the World in our Nature made way for our Adoption of which Baptism is the symbol or sign we are Baptized into Christ we put on Christ are incorporated into him by Faith are all one in him Gal. 3. 27 28. If ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise Gal. 3. 29. All Abraham's believing Posterity are blessed in Isaac i. e. in Christ Gal. 3. 16. They are Children and remain in the House of God i. e. in the Church for ever John 8. 35. 3. The time of it 1. From Eternity in the purpose of God This is virtual Adoption Eph. 1. 5. Hence the Elect not yet called are said to be the Children of God John 11. 52. compare with John 10. 16. God intended Adoption in Predestination and in the fulness of time sent Christ to effect it Gal. 4. 4 5. And his Spirit to evidence it Gal. 4. 6. We were Adopted in the purpose of God before we were born this is virtual Adoption 2. At our effectual vocation then actual Adoption begins we receive the first fruits of it here it follows Faith at least as to our sense of it Ephesians 1. 13. 3. At our Glorification then will our Adoption be compleated and perfected in our Bodies and Souls we shall actually enjoy all the Priviledges of it then there will be a clearer manifestation of the Sons of God the glorious Liberty of the Children of God will more fully appear then now it does Rom. 8. 19 21. Hence the Consummation of our Redemption at the last day is called Adoption Rom. 8. 23. 24. But I now speak only of the present fruits of Adoption which the Saints enjoy in this life CHAP. II. Thirdly How it differs from humane Adoption 1. DIVINE Adoption presupposes a Title to the Heavenly Inneritance by Justification John 1. 12. Humane Adoption gives all the Title that a Man otherwise a Stranger to the Blood hath to the Inheritance of him who adopts him 2. Humane Adoption conveys only outward goods to a person does not change his nature but the Father communicates to us the Spirit and likeness of his natural Son Rom. 8. 29. 3. Humane Adoption is for want of a natural Son 't is an act of law imitating nature for the comfort of those who have no Children But Divine Adoption is from the abounding love of God to us making us joint heirs with his well-beloved Son Though God
imperfect Obedience pleases God 3. Whether God allows the free use of all indifferent things These are the puzzling points that are apt to disturb our Consciences till we rightly understand the nature of Christian Liberty which does not countenance that excess that too many of the Richer sort run into vying who shall be finest in their Apparel most sumptuous in their Entertainments these things are not forbidden say they 'T is true the things themselves are not forbidden but the immoderate use of them is forbidden Therefore let your moderation be seen in all things and know that your Christian Liberty lies as well in abstaining from indifferent things when inexpedient as in using them Christian Liberty relates to Conscience both thy own and thy Brothers So use your Estates that you may glorifie God and edifie your Brother and we shall not question your Liberty 't is not for nothing that so many woes are pronounced against the Rich Luke 6. 24 25 26. Read that place and also Amos 6. to v. 7. I don't quote these places that you should throw away your Riches and lay aside all Mirth no do but throw out the sin that is in all these and I have nothing to say against the lawful use of the things themselves but see you don't abuse them CHAP. V. The APPLICATION LET us labour to live in the comfortable sense of our Adoption as the only way to walk worthy of it Mal. 1. 6. 'T is a shame to do otherwise Deut. 32. 6. The best way to keep up a sense of our Adoption and of all the high priviledges belonging to it Is 1. To attend to the witness of the Spirit within us Our Adoption is a great mystery the grounds and reasons of it lie very deep quite out of the reach of a mere Humane understanding that cannot discern the deep things of God we shall certainly be at a loss in our own thoughts how to clear up our Adoption if the Spirit do not help us and make it out plainly to our Spirit from the word and when that is done we sit down astonished at the greatness of God's Love when the Spirit has satisfied us that it is so we can give no reason why it should be so but must resolve all into the Love of God in Christ that passes our knowledg Behold what manner of love is this 1 John 3. 1. That we should not only be called but really be the Children of God We must observe what inward evidence and demonstration the Spirit gives of our particular Adoption by name that is properly the work of the Spirit in witnessing to us the Spirit applies in particular the promises of Life and Pardon they are generally propounded by Ministers but there comes a word behind from the Spirit Isa. 30. 21. privily assuring a man of his Adoption You may know 't is not a delusion of your own Spirit nor of Satan Not of your own Spirit because this testimony to the truth of our interest in Christ is usually given in when we have no sensible apprehension or feeling of the Love of God to us as Mat. 27. 46. The Spirit comes in to comfort us when we are most cast down and overwhelmed in our own spirits and so not in a condition to speak comfort to our selves Not from Satan who at such a season seeks to drive you to utter despair but the Spirit strengthens our Faith at such a time sets it against all discouragement 't is not said he that feels but He that believes has everlasting life John 3. 36. And there is a feeling that belongs to Faith that none but the Spirit of God can give us the sense of hence it is that the Saints know more certainly that they are the children of God than the men of the World do that they are the Children of those whom they call their Fathers in the Flesh. The witness of the Spirit is a secret information of the Love of God and his Fatherly affection to us a still voice from Heaven that God is thy God which the heart rests in and is fully satisfied 't is more than if an Angel should come from Heaven and tell thee Thou art greatly beloved as Dan. 9. 23. The earnest of the Spirit in our hearts is more than all this 2 Cor. 1. 22. We may without this testimony of the Spirit know that there is such a thing as Adoption spoken of in Scripture but that we in particular are Adopted none can assure us of this but the Spirit by a particular application of this Grace to our selves The Spirit of God in us speaks particularly to us to our case to our state to our Souls I hope he is so speaking to you now so speaking in you at this time shewing you what interest you have in Christ and what follows upon it reasoning you into a belief of the thing in reference to your selves When the Spirit comes in as a witness 't will be believed the Spirit comes on purpose to answer all our doubts and objections to make the matter plain and evident to us else the Spirit could not be so effectual a Comforter if he did not bring convincing light along with him into our dark Souls You may put by all that we can say to you and remain unsatisfied after all the arguments that Ministers may use to convince you of your Adoption you may hang down your heads every one of you and say notwithstanding all this I fear I am not a Child of God But when the Spirit himself comes into that Soul there is no resisting the wisdom of the Holy Ghost Ministers have not wisdom enough to quiet a troubled Conscience We may set outward light before a dark Soul and yet that Soul be as dark as ever for want of inward light we may speak the truth as it is in Jesus but we cannot give you a discerning of that truth we may hold the object before you but cannot give you eyes to see it but the Spirit does both gives us a capacity to learn and take in what he teaches us I grant an enlightned mind may reason it self into some present sense of his Adoption but seeing so many things contrary to the Divine Nature in himself he doubts again and questions his Adoption and will be ever and anon at a loss wavering in this matter 'till the testimony of the Spirit confirm him which is distinct from all his own spiritual reasonings from all the right inferences that his Faith draws from the word I mean the testimony of the Spirit hath a greater cogency and force with him than all the apprehensions of his Faith can have though Faith and the Spirit both go upon the same grounds and quote the same Scriptures yet the testimony of the Spirit is stronger than the bare apprehensions of our Faith and makes deeper impression upon the mind of Believers than their Faith can which impressions are more easily retained and remembred than all the
to bring us to God 1 Pet. 3. 18. And that he may effect this he shews us God in himself They who have not seen God in Christ they know not what God is they have never yet seen him who is invisible This is the Excellency of the Christian Religion That it brings us to the knowledge of that very Person who is God which cannot be said of any other Religion whatever CHRIST THE Foundation of our Adoption GAL. IV. 5. That we might receive the Adoption of sons CHAP. I. Of Adoption in general THE Apostle here shews the difference between the Jewish and the Gentile Church That was as an Heir in his Minority This as an Heir come to full age All Old Testament Saints were God's Heirs But living under a darker Dispensation of Gospel Grace before the coming of Christ in the flesh in that respect they were under age and in bondage under the Elements of the World but when the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under the law v. 4 5. i. e. To free them from the servile Discipline of the Law pouring our a more ample measure of his Spirit upon Believers now That we might receive the Adoption of Sons Old Testament Sains were Children as well as we they are so called Deut. 14. 1. Jer. 31. 20. Isa. 63. 16. Doubtless thou art our Father they had God for their Portion Lam. 3. 24. were Heirs as well as we Gal. 4. 1. But their time and ours was not the same they lived in the beginning of Gospel time when Grace first broke out the Glass was then first set a running and is now run to a fulness v. 4. i. e. to the time appointed of the father v. 2. For the fuller manifestation of Gospel-Grace Adoption is not to be restrained altogether to the times of the New Testament the Saints of Old had their share of it sucked some comfort from those more obscure Promises of Gospel-Grace they were acted by some love as well as fear truly Saints now are not altogether without their fears under this abundance of Grace that is revealed to them so that their Adoption and ours differ not in substance but in the manner of Revelation 't is clearer to us than it was to them Adoption in Scripture is taken more largely as including those who are Sons of God by Name only as all common Professors who are but externally in Covenant such are called the Sons of God and of the Kingdom Gen. 6. 2. Mat. 8. 12. But such Children may prove Bastards not true sons of God So God chuseth the Nation of the Jews to be his peculiar People this is called Adoption Rom. 9. 4. Exod. 4. 22. Jer. 31. 1. This was a type or resemblance of our spiritual Adoption in Christ and in this strict sense I now take it as it is applicable only to those who are the Children of God from special Saving Grace who have the Nature Affection and Disposition of Children Christ is the Son of God by eternal Generation Angels by Creation Believers by a voluntary Adoption and of this I am now to speak First What this Adoption is 1. As to the thing it self Adoption is a high expression of Godâ—s love to us a clear evidence of that great intimacy and nearness that is between God and Believers who are admitted into fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. How our Adoption rises from the Son-ship of Christ by vertue of our Union to and Communion with him I shall shew in its proper place For the present take this general description of it viz. 'T is a gracious act of God giving all Believers power to become the Children of God John 1. 12. looking upon them ever after as such taking them into his Family and under his eternal Care Eph. 2. 19. Eph 3. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi filii constituti constituted ordained and appointed by God to be his Children to be in the state and condition of Children unto him Power to become i. e. jus or right to Adoption the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a lawful Liberty or License given by God 1 Cor. 8. 9. So here Believers do not usurp a Name or Title that does not belong to them God has called them his Children and made them his Children therefore they may lawfully and rightfully be called by that Name The word also implies a special Prerogative Dignity and Honour conferred upon them which is primarily intended in this place As Justification so Adoption makes only a relative change of state in the Judgment of God reckoning or reputing us to be his Children whom he will love and own as such 2. As to its order and place in Divinity how comes it in and where after what 'T is an Article of Faith I am now enquiring What joint in the whole body of Divinity is the proper Seat of this Article that we may know what immediately goes before it and what immediately follows after it We have not a right Method or Scheme of Divinity in our Heads till we see the coherence dependance and reference that one Gospel-truth hath with upon and to another that stands next it There is some variation here among Divines tho no material difference some referring it to Predestination some to Vocation some to Justification some to Sanctification and some to Glorification indeed it has some reference to all those as will appear by and by I conceive Adoption comes orderly to be considered after Justification as an Appendix or consequent of it it presupposes Faith John 1. 12. And therefore is no part of Justification but a Spiritual priviledge flowing from it Believers have a double right to Heaven one from Redemption the other from Filiation this is an accumulative right ex abundanti given purposely to confirm them in their hope of Glory Rom. 8. 17. Adoption tends to Glorification and gives a right to it I mean it is not the Meritorious cause but only causa dispositiva it doth naturally tend both to Sanctification and Glorification God draws Arguments from one act of his Grace towards us to proceed further and further in a way of Grace with us having made us his Children it pleases him to give us a Kingdom Secondly How it is brought about as to the cause manner and time of it 1. The cause of it 1. The free Grace of God the Father not any Merit of ours John 3. 1. Eph. 1. 5. Therefore we should be thankful to him for it Col. 1. 12. To the father who hath made us meet c. He hath wrought us for the self-same thing 2 Cor. 5. 5. Who hath not only conferred a right of inheriting Glory but also hath suited and qualified our hearts and nature by his Grace to enjoy this glory and delight in it 2. As God the Father is the prime Author of Adoption so Christ