seek Psalm 27.8 God does not only expect such an Answer but expects it immediately upon his Call When ever he blows with his Wind he looks that we should spread our Sails If we refuse his offer'd help we may deservedly want it when desir'd As Christ withdrew himself from the Spouse because she let him stand knocking so long at the Door of her Heart and she still deferr'd to open and tir'd out his loving Forbearance with vain and frivolous Excuses Song 5.2 c. But as we must not omit the present Performance of any Duty which he excites unto we must not check his Influences by being weary of the Duties which he assists us in If we do not improve extraordinary Aids by holding out the longer we provoke him to depart 11. Dallying with Satan's Temptations This was Sampson's Case he went on Mocking Dalilah three Times one after another till at last he told her all his Heart So Eve's parleying with the Serpent instead of giving a resolute Repulse was the introduction to all that Sin and Misery which hath since fill'd the World There can be no Conversation had with the Vnclean Spirit but that the Holy Spirit will be offended by it An intimate Friend would take it ill and would have Reason to keep at a more than usual distance from us if he saw us maintaining any familiar Correspondence with his avowed Enemy If we grow bold and presumptuous in playing with the Devils baits the Spirit of God will be more shy of having Fellowship with us If we do not vigorously oppose the first Suggestions and Assaults we can have little Hope of being assisted in the progress of Temptation and much less of comeing off with Victory at the End of it He that will tread upon the Edge of a known Snare which he should fly from is generally left to be caught and taken in it 12. Carelessness and Negligence in our daily Walk This may be and is too often the fault of those whose Hearts nevertheless in the main are upright with God The Fear of God is in them but 't is not constantly before them as it ought to be Though they be not habitual Customary Sinners yet for want of taking that heed to their Ways which they should do they may fall into scandalous and hainous Sins and what less can we suppose that this should issue in than a Departure of the Spirit of God from them And therefore when David came to himself after his foul Miscarriage and reflected upon what he had done he might well put up such a Prayer Psalm 51.11 Cast me not away from thy Presence take not thy Holy Spirit from me This was what he dreaded and deprecated as the just and natural Consequent of his Sin He that would not expose himself to such a Judgment as this is needs to be very watchful and Circumspect for if we do not ponder the Path of our Feet and look well to our goings we shall slip into the Mire before we are aware III. What are the Effects which follow upon these Departures 1. A manifest deadness both in Private Duties and Publick Ordinances 'T is said of the slain Witnesses that when the Spirit of Life from God enter'd into them They stood upon their Feet Rev. 11.11 When the Spirit withdraws we can by no means lift up our selves but only creep as it were and grovel on the ground 'T is so 1. In Private Duties the Ebbings and Flowings which we often find in the Exercise of Grace the various and unequal Motions of our Souls towards God when we are alone in our Retirements plainly prove that the Spirit of God is not always alike present and that according as he is more or less so we are either lively or drooping When the Spirit is in the Wheels we are able to run but if not we tire When we have him with us we go on swiftly when we are without him we draw very heavily When God pours out his Spirit upon us how fervently can we pour out our Souls to him When he is departed how strangely are we bound up The Influence of the Spirit sets us on Fire and in his Absence we can get no warmth 2. 'T is the same in Publick Ordinances When God fills them with his own Presence there is a mighty Power a glorious Majesty a charming Beauty a satisfying Sweetness in them but when God withholds himself they are empty of all this When the Spirit of God moves upon the Waters of the Sanctuary they are a Stream that make glad the City of God but else even the Children of Sion have no Refreshment by them Hence it is that the very same Persons are so differently affected with and wrought upon by the same Administrations at several Seasons sometimes it may be we meet with that ravishing Pleasure and Joy in Worshipping Assemblies that we are ready to cry it is good to be here at other Times we feel no such Thing When we are in the Spirit on the Lord's-Day the Sabbath is our Delight the Word is savoury Meat the Supper is a Feast of Fat Things but without the Spirit these Days of Heaven are lost to us and the Wells of Salvation like dry Pits 2. A wretched indifferency towards the Service of God As this is an Effect of God's departing so it naturally follows upon the former for where Men are not quicken'd in God's way they will certainly need to be quicken'd to it When the vigorous Relish of the Soul is gone the Appetite will be gone proportionably Our desiring of the Word depends very much upon our Tasting of it 1 Pet. 2.2 3. The better Meals we make in God's House the more we hunger and the more we drink of the River of his Pleasure the greater is our Thirst Here lies our Misery therefore when through the Absence of the Spirit God's Service is become undelightful to us 't is also too much undesir'd by us Some desire to his Name is still remaining in every gracious Soul but 't is marvelously cooled and abated and the edge of it taken off there is not that vehement Desire which the Scripture speaks of 2 Cor. 7.11 There is not a desiring with Desire as Luke 22.15 There is not that Panting after God nor that earnest longing to come and appear before him which David professes Psalm 42.1 2. They can pass over Seasons of conversing with God or be hinder'd of them more easily than when the Spirit is present 3. The Revival of secret Corruptions whereby Satan gets great Advantages The Evil present with us is never so prevalent as when the Lord is departed from us Then those Lusts which seem'd to be pretty well mortified and subdued before start up again and recover their Strength and the Devil falling in with them does abundance of mischief Believers are hereupon sometimes overcome by Temptations which they Thought themselves most secure against and furthest off from a Compliance with they are led
is that which inseparably results from it but can never be presupposed to it By Faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out of his own Countrey into a strange Land Heb. 11.8 And whoever obey from any other Principle they are nothing in God's Account and all that they do will avail nothing to them Receiving of Christ is the first Act and yielding our selves to him is consequent upon it 3. We are expresly said to receive the Promise of the Spirit through Faith Gal. 3.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Faith is oppos'd to Works twice in this very Case of receiving the Spirit ver 2 5. And therefore the Gospel which is the Doctrine of Faith as distinguisht from the Law which is the Rule of Works is stiled the Ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 A Road of doing separate from believing is not the Way of the Spirit of God 3. How are we to understand the giving of the Spirit to them that obey Christ 1. It must not be understood as if this were the Reason of the Gift or the actual Qualification of the Persons before the receiving of this Gift Our foreseen Faith and Obedience is not the Reason why God gives the Holy Ghost to us for he is given freely as hath been said from no other Motive but the meer Kindness and Good-will of God to lost and undone Sinners Nor are any Persons so qualified and prepar'd for the receiving of the Spirit before he is given to them for we are unbelieving and disohedient till the Spirit hath been mightily at Work in us The whole Race of Manking are by Nature a wretched Company of Insidels and Rebels against Christ without the Spirit And there is not the least Disposition in us to any Duty whatsoever but what is of his producing 2. Believing and Obeying are the present Effects of the Spirit 's Influence upon our Souls assoon as he is given us He is given in Order to this End and this End is immediately and infallibly brought about by his powerful Agency When the Holy Ghost was given to the Gentiles their Hearts were instantly purified by Faith Acts 15.8 9. To have the Spirit and remain one Moment an Unbeliever is a Contradiction So we read of Sanctification of the Spirit unto Obedience 1 Pet. 1.2 Where the Spirit is he Acts as a Sanctifier and where he Acts so it instantly appears by the Fruit of Obedience which flow naturally from it So the Promise runs Ezek. 36.27 I will put my Spirit within-you and cause you to walk in my Statutes c. 3. In the Exercises of Faith and actings of Obedience we have more and more of the Spirit given to us So we may understand the giving of the Spirit to them that obey Christ and believe in him not of the first Donation but of the increased Degrees and Measures of the same Spirit to those that have him already In this Sense we read of the Spirit 's being given and receiv'd John 7.39 He was given before Christ's Ascension but more sparingly when he was ascended the Spirit came down in greater Flouds there was a more signal and liberal Effusion So though the Spirit is poured out that we may believe yet after we believe there are still larger Portions continually given forth This the Apostle calls the supply of the Spirit Phil. 1.19 'T is the same Word which is used 2 Pet. 1.5 Add to your Faith c. God does not stop at the first Gift but vouchsafes daily further additional Supplies III. How is the Work and Office of a Witness perform'd by the Spirit to our Lord Jesus Ans This may be shewn under four Heads distinctly How he did it before Christ's coming and during Christ's stay on Earth and after his Departure to Heaven And how he does it even now at this present Time 1. How did the Spirit perform the Work and Office of a Witness to Christ before his Coming Chiefly by Prophesie Now here two Things are to be prov'd that Prophesie was indeed a Witness to Christ and that the Spirit did witness by it 1. That Prophesie was a Witness to Christ This the Scripture most positively Asserts Acts 10.43 To him give all the Prophets Witness c. There are very numerous and plentiful Instances which might be given of the Truth of this if we look into the Prophetical Writings of the Old Testament which unanimously Point to Chtist as their main Subject Our Lord calls the Jews to search the Scriptures in General upon this account because they testified of him John 5.39 Various Predictions concerning Christ even in the Books of Moses in the Psalms of David in the Greater and Lesser Prophets in those that Prophesied before the Captivity and in them that Prophesied after the return out of Captivity There were few or none among them all but what foretold the coming of the Messiah and gave some Character of him 2. It was the Holy Spirit who witness'd hereby to Jesus Christ The Spirit of God is said to testifie in the Prophets Neb. 9.30 1 Pet. 1.11 Whatever is written in the Word he is stiled a Witness of Heb. 10.15 Because he dictated to the Pen-men of the Word not only the Matter and Substance but the very Expressions themselves For Prophesie as the Apostle says came not in Old Time by the Will of Man but Holy Men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.21 When the Word was brought to them it was not lest to them to invent or chuse out such Terms as they thought best for the declaring and reporting of it but they were acted herein by the Divine Spirit as Passive Instruments to deliver all that which he suggested and nothing else The Gift of Prophesie was entirely his without and antecedent Preparations of their own and the Exercise of this Gift was from him and under his Conduct and Management also Therefore the Angel might justly say Rev. 19.10 The Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophesie This Testimony was born to Christ before his Coming and the Spirit was the Author of it SERMON XII June 30. 1696. ACTS V. xxxii latter Part. And so is also the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey him 2. HOW did the Spirit perform this Work of a Witness when Christ was upon the Earth I will mention only Three Ways 1. His Visible Descent upon Christ at his Baptism Luke 3.22 The Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a Dove upon him c. It is not to my present Purpose to enquire of what Nature or Substance this Appearance was the Form or Resemblance here assum'd is said to be that of a Dove which was obvious to Sense and seen by his forerunner the Person that Baptiz'd him which was the Token that God had given him to know the Messiah by and this he bare Record of John 1.32 33. That this was designed as a solemn Testimony to Jesus Christ
degrees and measures of its working is very different and uncertain Some know more of the Terrors of the Lord than others and some are held longer in Prison before they are brought out though no Soul knows more or is held longer than God sees needful to its thorough Humiliation We must be laid low and yet we shall not be quite sunk God's wounding and healing of our Spirits is not always performed with the same speed as all Convictions are not alike sharp God does not limit himself in this case to any stated Rules which are known to us but acts as he thinks fit towards various Persons He hath said he will not contend for ever but yet we cannot punctually tell how long he will contend His dealing with one Soul must not be alledged as the exact Pattern of his Dealing with another Some Dispositions are more rough and stubborn some sins have been more hainously aggravated perhaps their Chains may be the heavier and not so soon taken off Common Parents consider the Tempers and Crimes of their several Children and proportion their Rebukes accordingly SERMON XVIII March 9. 1697. GAL. IV. vi And because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts crying Abba Father 3. THE Spirits usual way of evidencing our Sonship to us is nbot by any vocal Testimony or immediate Revelation Every Servant must not look to be as his Lord in this respect who had the Spirit of God visibly descending upon him at his Baptism with a voice from Heaven saying This is my beloved Son c. Matth. 3.16 17. What sudden Divine Suggestions to this purpose filling the Soul in a moment with extraordinary Joy may be sometimes afforded to some peculiar Persons at peculiar seasons I will not dispute it may be when a Soul is under strong and violent Temptations from Satan to throw up all its hopes or after long Attendance upon God in some soleme secret Duties or before our Entrance upon some very difficult and hazardous publick Services but such things are not commonly to be expected God does not tie or confine himself to ordinary means but yet he generally makes use of them and works by them 'T is possible some may be wone without the Word 1 Pet. 3.1 but yet the most are born again by the Word chap. 1.23 so 't is possible that the Spirit may in some cases reveal himself to our Comfort without the Word though never against it but this is not the Method which he commonly takes 4. The usual way of the Spirit in the declaring and confirming of our Sonship to us is by a particular powerful Application of Gospel Promises to us and an illustration of his own Fruits in us 1. By an Application of Gospel Promises There are many Promises to the same Effect with that 2 Cor. 6.18 I will be a Father to you and you shall be my Sons and Daughters c. This avails but little to us till by a Spirit of Faith we are enabled to take hold of it 't is great and precious in it self but we are not at all the richer till it is applied and set home with a mighty power upon the Soul then 't is an inestimable Treasure a Mine a Spring of everlasting Consolation The Spirit takes of Christ's and shews them unto us not only Christ's things but Christ's words too and that word among the rest John 14.8 I will not leave you comfortless Gr. Orphans Such a word as this is enough if he do but imprint it 2. By an illustration of his own Fruits These are the Marks of our Adoption which the Word refers us to and so the Spirit speaks according to the Word in helping us to argue from them As the Grace of God in Truth is by his Operation so the discovery of the Truth of Grace is by his Light reflected upon it that Christ formed in the Soul may be even felt as when the Babe leaped in Elizabeth's Womb at Mary's Salutation Luke 1.44 The Spirit of God submits his witnessing Act to be tried by what he hath wrought in us which is no more dishonour to him than it was to Christ who requir'd the Jews to believe him for his Works sakes John 14.11 As Jacob's Sons pointed him to the Waggons which Joseph sent for a proof that he was alive Gen. 45.27 5. The Spirit of God is very Arbitrary both in the giving and continuing of his Divine Testimony He is an infinitely free Agent as to both He shines as well as breaths upon whom he pleases and when he pleases 1. The Spirit acts Arbitrarily after a Sovereign way in the giving of this Testimony concerning our Adoption The Liberty of the Divine Will appears in the Communication of Grace and yet more in the dispensing of Comfort The Spirit of God is not at our command any more than the Wind which Christ compaes him to and which God is said to gather in his Fists Prov. 33.4 and to bring forth out of his Treasure Jer. 10.13 He is not such a Witness as Men may summon and produce to clear and strengthen their Cause in Humane Courts who sometimes are oblig'd under certain Penalties to appear and give in their Evidence There can be no necessity laid upon him as God sometimes holdsl his peace and is still when he might answer by terrible things so the Spirit of God might be silent in our Hearts when he cryes Abba Father 2. The Spirit Acts after the same Arbitrary manner in the continuing of this Testimony after 't is once given He can weaken and abate it he can suspend and with-draw it at his own Pleasure He that bears Witness at one Time may not do it at another Evidences may be darken'd and obscur'd which were very bright and plain hidden Manna like that in the Wilderness is not constantly gather'd every Day but very often is like that Vessel in Peter's Vision which was let down thrice to the Earth And then received up again into Heaven Acts 10.16 This makes the Ebbings and Flowings in our Hopes and Joys 6. The Spirits testifying of our Adoption is therefore distinct from our Adoption it self and not indispensibly Essential to it The Truth of the Relation does neither include nor depend upon our Knowledge of that Relation A Man may be really a Child of God and not know himself to be so by the infallible Declaration of the Spirit of God he may have as Job had Chap. 16.19 A Witness in Heaven and a Record on high and yet want a legible Copy of it in his own Bosom for his present Satisfaction The Spirits witnessing is not that which makes us the Children of God but supposes us to be so before he Witnesses that we are Children and therefore we are not the less Children though he should not Witness it We should lose the Comfort of our Sonship very much indeed but the fundamental Priviledge it self would remain however Things which for a
Vera Effigies TIMOTHEI CRUSO Aetat 40. 1697. T. Forster delin N. White scuÌ„lp TWENTY-FOUR SERMONS Preached at the MERCHANTS-LECTURE AT Pinners Hall By the late Reverend Mr. TIMOTHY CRVSO LONDON Printed by S. Bridge for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside MDCXCIX TO THE READER THese Sermons are some of the Reliques of one who is gone to receive the Fruit of his Labours who hath left Sowing for the sake of the Harvest wherein he is now reaping Though this is a Posthumous Piece yet it speaks out the living Praise of the dead Author whose it was without any Alteration or Addition being Printed from his own Notes If I may use the Phrase in Fashion he lived too fast not as too many do who shorten their Days by their Debaucheries and sinful Excesses but as a Taper which wastes it self to give Light to others His Bodily Constitution was too weak to undergo the Service his Soul put it to in constant Studies and hard Labour that he might Answer the Restlesness of his Mind which was always aspiring to greater Knowledge and higher Attainments whereby he laid greater load upon his Flesh than its weakness could bear and so sinking under the burden he died in the midst of his Days There is no need of my Epistle to Midwife these Excellent Discourses into the World nor had I had any hand in it had it not been to answer the Desires of some Relations of his to whom my Obligations will not allow me to deny any thing And also to take this occasion to Vindicate what I spake and published in his Funeral Sermon about the Vnion of the Spirit of Christ with the Dead Body of a Saint which hath by some been greatly stumbled at and called in question as a new Doctrine I therefore thought it Charity to such to remove this stumbling Block not by any Arguments further than what I have therein already urged but by calling in the Judgment of others in this matter and I shall look no farther back than to the Learned Men of our own Times Mr. Rutherford speaking of the Covenant of Grace Treatise of the Covenant of Grace p. 216. says It is thus Eternal in that the dead Parties Abraham Isaac and Jacob are still in the Covenant of Grace and there remains a Covenant Union between Christ and their rotten Flesh sleeping in the Dust Mr. Calamy says Morning Exercise of Giles in Fields Ser. 24. p. 548. The Bodies of the Saints shall be raised by vertue of their Union with Christ for the Body of a Saint even while it is in the Grave is united to Christ and is asleep in Jesus and shall be raised by vertue of this Union And in p. 557. If thou gettest into Christ while thou livest thou shalt die in Christ and sleep in Christ and be raised by Christ into Eternal Happiness Mr. Case speaking of the Vnion between Christ and Believers Case his Mount Pisgah first Part p. 38. says Not only in Death but even after Death this Union holds the Saints are said to sleep in Jesus that part of the Saints which is capable of sleep is not capable of Separation from Christ While their more noble Part is united to Christ in Heaven among the Spirits of Just Men made perfect Christ is united to their inferiour and more ignoble Part in the Grave their very Dust they sleep in Jesus Mr. Stedman says Stedman's Mystical Vnion of Believers with Christ p. 191. Death it self shall not separate Believers from Jesus Christ but still they are entirely in him even when they are dead As it was in the death of Christ himself though it made Separation between his Body and Soul yet it did not separate the Humane Body from the Divine So it is in the death of the Saints though it rend the Spirit from the Flesh yet it can part neither from the Son of God The very Bodies of Believers are united to Jesus when they are dead Dr. Collings on those words of our Lord Pool 's Annotations on John 11.26 He that believeth on me shall never die says Though his Body shall die because of sin yet his Spirit shall live because of Righteousness and God shall in the great Day quicken again his Mortal Body through the Holy Spirit which dwelleth in him and is united to him Dr. Thomas Goodwin Dr. Goodwin 's first Fol. on Ephes 1.14 p. â—â—1 Doth the Spirit dwell in you now When you are laid in the Grave that Spirit dwelleth in you as he did in the Body of Christ I do not say in the same manner The Spirit of God did dwell in the Body of Christ in the Grave and raised it up he never left him Though his Body was a dead Carkass without a Soul yet that Body was Hypostatically united to the Godhead therefore it was called Holy One My Holy One shall not see Corruption Now the Comparison is If we have the Spirit of Christ and if he dwell in us the same Spirit shall never leave our Bodies till he hath raised us up also Nay while thy Body is dead and rotten in the Grave the Holy Ghost dwells in it And hear what a great Man of the Church of England in his Day saith Christ's Deity was united to his dead Body his Resurrection was perform'd by the Power and Spirit of the Father God reached out his hand to him and raised him up Here then is our Comfort the same Spirit of God is communicable to us the same Arm of Power may be reached out to us He will imploy the same power for us as he did for Christ Ephes 1.19 And again in p. 210. His Spirit dwells in you The Inhabitation of God's Spirit that is the Ground of our Resurrection because it is Vinculum unionis the Spirit is the Bond of our Union and Conjunction with Christ By it we are Incorporated into his Body and made Members of it Now then if our Head rise all the Members must rise with it if the Head be in Heaven the Members shall not for ever perish in the Grave This Union by the Spirit is like the touch of a Load-stone it will attract and draw us to him that where he is we shall be also It is spoken of his Hypostatical but it is true also of his Mystical Union Quod semel assumpsit nunquam deposuit Christ will part with none of his Members Bishop Brownrig 2d Vol. p. 204. And again in the same Page Our Bodies by this Inhabitation are Consecrated to be a Possession of the Holy Ghost and the Temple of God must not be destroy'd God's Spirit takes Pleasure not only in these living Temples but owns them when they are dead takes Pleasure in the dead Bones and Favours the Dust of them I could multiply Testimonies of elder Date to prove the Truth of this Doctrine and that it is no new Notion but there needs no Proof from Humane Testimony
deny the Deity of Christ is a lying to Men and an outward acknowledgment of this where there is not an Hearty Consent is lying to God Now that this is not discoverable by humane Reason is no difficult Matter to prove Let us consider a little these two Things 1. Reason could never have found out this Truth of the Godhead of Christ The Existence of a God is a natural Impression upon the Minds of Men and therefore almost universally own'd but a Trinity of Persons in Unity of Essence and such an Order among the Persons as makes Jesus Christ the Second determinately not the First or Third is one of the great Mysteries of Faith By those common remainders of Light which every Man hath that comes into the World every Age hath brought forth some new Inventions and Discoveries of Things that have been truly ingenious and useful in their kind but still they have been Things within the proper Compass and sphaere of Nature Jesus Christ would have been for ever the unknown God if Reason had been left to make the search For 1. How many parts of the World are there utterly destitute of the Knowledge of this Truth Though the Nations of them that are saved walk in the Light of it yet there are several other Nations of Men that have natural Sagacity enough who sit in gross Darkness as to these Things Multitudes Multitudes in the Wilderness of the Heathen whom God hath not yet brought into the Valley of Vision that never heard whether there be a Christ or no. He that should tell the uncalled Gentiles of such a Person would be a Barbarian to them though he had learnt to speak in their own Tongue 2. The Notions of some of the Learned Heathens which look a little this way were both borrow'd and deprav'd What was true in them was not their own but learnt by Tradition from the Jews who were instructed out of the Law all the rest was wretchedly corrupt and dishonourable to Christ and injurious to Religion Therefore the Apostle gives that Caution Col. 2.8 Beware lest any Man spoil you through Philosophy and vain Deceit c. And therefore he passes that Censure Rom. 1.22 Professing themselves to be wise they become Fools 3. Those Signatures and Prints of this Truth which some fancy to be upon the visible Creation are too obscure to Collect so great a Doctrine from There may be some little dim resemblances of a Trinity in some of the Works of God but as they are too weak to confirm our Faith of it by so we may safely conclude that no Man in the World would ever have spelt a Trinity out of them if he had not heard of it before But as Knowledge is easie to him that understandeth Prov. 14 6. So we fancy many Evidences of those Things of which we are convinc'd already 2. Reason cannot find out this Truth to Perfection though the Scripture hath brought it to Light now it is reveal'd to us another Way Reason is puzzled with it For 1. Things of an Infinite Nature must needs be Eternal Riddles to Finites Minds God would not be God if Men or Angels could comprehend him he must cease to be what he is if we could fully know what he is Uncreated Excellency and Glory cannot be taken in to such shallow and scanty Thoughts We can understand the Relation which is between Creatures like our selves we can explain it and give a satisfactory Account of it one to another but how the Divine Persons our Everlasting Creators as the Spirit sometimes expresses it are mutually related is not to be perfectly unfolded How the same Person should be Man and yet God how the same God should be a Son and yet never begin to be will be matter of endless Admiration 2. Reason Objects so many Difficulties against this Truth of the Sonship of Jesus Christ as make us very slow in receiving it The manner of it is so inexplicable that therefore the thing it self seems to be incredible for naturally we affect to be satisfied how every thing is which we allow to be The carnal Mind is Enmity in this Case and instead of promoting opposes therefore the Apostle speaks of casting down Imaginations or Reasonings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Ministry of the Gospel 2 Cor. 10.5 As there is a natural Popery so a natural Socinianism which exalts it self against the Knowledge of God and Christ 3. The Faith of these Things which is wrought in us is not built upon the Evidence of Reason but the Authority of God There is indeed a Reason of Faith it is reasonable that we should believe whatsoever God reveals and 't is reasonable we should be assur'd that this or that is his Revelation so far Reason is subservient to Faith in the general but to believe a particular Truth because it may be retionally demonstrated is not the Faith of the Gospel we are to believe because it is Divinely Revealed this is Faith Otherwise in believing we do not set our Seal to the Truth of God but the Reason of the Thing So that if it were possible to bring other Proofs as well as Scriptural of the Deity of our Lord Jesus which it is not for it is a Matter of pure Revelation yet the Faith of a Christian as such could not rest upon them 2. How are such Truths as these discovered to us by God In short it is the special Work of the Spirit to reveal Christ to us to direct our Minds into the Knowledge of his Person and to take of his Things and to spread them before us with convincing Light Eye hath not seen c. The Things which God hath prepared c. But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all Things c. 1 Cor. 2.9 10. But as to the Way and Manner of this Revelation of Divine Things by the Spirit of God I would offer these Particulars 1. It is not in the neglect and disuse of outward Means God will not countenance our Contempt of what is required and appointed by himself He hath commanded us privately to search the Scriptures which testifie of Christ and to attend the Publick Preaching of Christ in Worshipping Assemblies and so in and by the Word as a fit vehicle of spiritual Light he is pleas'd to convey the Knowledge of himself and of his Son The Scriptures and Ordinances cannot enlighten us without the Spirit and ordinarily the Spirit does it not without them Ministers are stiled Instructors in Christ 1 Cor. 4.15 And they are so by Vertue of the Institution of Christ and the Spirit of Christ imploys and make use of them to serve the Purposes and Ends of his own Grace Obj. Does not the Holy Ghost say They shall not teach every Man his Neighbour and his Brother saying Know the Lord c. Heb. 8.11 And you need not that any Man teach you 1 John 2.27 Ans 1. 'T is most evident
that these Places do not intend the advancing of immediate Illumination in defiance to instituted Means the teaching of God are not to be oppos'd to the teachings of Men for even in the New Testament the teachings of Men are often mention'd as subordinate to the teachings of God He that heareth you says Christ to his Apostles heareth me Luke 10.16 And though Men are Ambassadors for Christ it is as though God did beseech you by them 2 Cor. 5.20 2. The sence of these Places therefore must be that the Effusion of the Spirit under the Gospel would be so plentiful not as to exclude humane Teaching or render it unnecessary but so as vastly to exceed and out-do it that in comparison it should be as no Teaching for Believers that are taught of God though they despise not external Ministrations yet may say to their Ministers as the Samaritans to the Woman John 4.42 Now we believe not because of thy saying for we have heard him our selves and know that this is indeed the Christ c. 2. Though it be in the use of outward Means yet 't is an internal discovery there is an Application not only of Words to the Eye or Ear but of Conviction to the Mind God who commanded the Light to shine out of Darkness hath shined in our Hearts c. 2 Cor. 4.6 So Paul says of himself with respect to the Time of his Conversion When it pleased God to reveal his Son in me Gal. 1.15 16. This inward Revelation is of a perfectly different kind from the bare revealing of Christ to us in the Letter of the Gospel though it be the same Christ who is reveal'd both to us and in us for in the Work of Faith God inspires the Soul with new Perceptions of Divine Objects so that there is communicated and imprinted another Sense and sight of those very Things of which we had formerly heard The Spirit secretly suggests that which we never knew concerning that which we did sleightly and superficially know All the great Transactions of God which accompany Salvation are within us unseen and unknown to any but our selves 'T is the inward Man which is transform'd and renewed in Knowledge and the Spirit who does all this for us is said to be dwelling in us 3. The Spirit Works freely in making this discovery Though we are tyed to use the Means he is not oblig'd to work by them always upon every one that does enjoy them He divides his Gifts and Graces to this and that Person severally as he will 1 Cor. 12.11 He is compar'd to the Wind which bloweth where it listeth John 3.8 'T is not in vain that the Spirit and the Wind have the same Name in the Original Languages of the Scriptures and in that extraordinary pouring out of the Spirit Acts 2.2 There came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty Wind which fill'd the House because as the Wind is not at the command of any Creature with reference to its moving or ceasing blowing one way or another so the Spirit of God is a free Agent in all his Operations he is under no necessity of enlightning those whom he does enlighten he does it for one and not for another in the hearing of the same Word to shew that he Acts with the highest Liberty Mat. 13.11 It is given to you to know the Mysteries c. but to them it is not given 4. The Spirit Works effectually in these Discoveries He makes dead Letters to become lively Oracles There is an Excellency of Power which goes along with the Word when he causes it to be receiv'd According to his working which worketh in me mightily Col. 1.29 The thick scales of Ignorance and Infidelity like those of the Leviathan Job 41.17 stick so close that it must be a strong Hand which removes and separates them from our Understandings There never was any saving Revelation of Gospel-Truths to any Sinner in the World from the very beginning of it without a Revelation of the Arm of the Lord Isa 53.1 But wheresoever this Arm of God is revealed the Report of the Gospel is both understood and believ'd This Omnipotent cause never fails of producing its intended Effect So Christ expresly says John 6.45 Every Man that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me Every Man without one Exception 5. The Spirit Works in this Case suitably to the Nature of our Faculties he does not destroy or force them but enlarge and improve them He does not put out the Eye of our Minds but open it Our foolish Hearts are naturally darkned and he does not impose upon them but clear them Every Believer can testifie this to the Honour of Christ that his sight hath not been taken away but restor'd as he boldly said to the Pharisees John 9.25 One thing I know that whereas I was blind now I see We were blind before and thought that we saw now we really see and know that we were blind The Understanding of a Man is the workmanship of God and he does not overthrow that when he makes us new Creatures The Demonstration of the Spirit is such as we cannot resist and yet it offers no Violence to us The Judgment is truly convinc't and we can say We know whom we have believed 2 Tim. 1.12 6. The Spirit in discovering of such Truths Works alone and by himself There is no Conjunction or proper Co-operation of second Causes with him It is here as it was with those in Mat 20.34 Jesus touched their Eyes and immediately they receiv'd sight 'T is the touch of Christs Hand only which recovers us from spiritual blindness Nature contributes nothing to the efficacious workings of Grace and therefore 't is observ'd that many of the Holy Women whom our Lord descended from were barren to shew that they Conceiv'd not by the strength of their own Womb but by vertue of the Promise As Sarah Rebeckah Rachel c. So we are Light in the Lord Eph. 5.8 But we do not help towards the creating of it in our selves We are meerly Passive in the first Reception of Divine Light as the Eye of the Body is truly Passive in the taking in of natural Light All Light is brought into the Eye so it springs in from Heaven into the Mind which is no better than a very Dungeon of it self 3. What kind of Knowledge is that which is the Effect and Fruit of this discovery of saving Truth by God to the Soul This is the rather to be insisted on a little because it may be of great Advantage to us in the Trial of our State that we may make a right Judgment of our selves whether under the Conduct of Flesh and Blood or of the Father 1. That Knowledge which proceeds from the special inward Revelation of Divine Things is a more assuring Knowledge than any other The end of Luke's Writing his Gospel to Theophilus was That he might know the certainty of those things wherein
53.3 They that give no Credit to him and have no Dependance on him do not Care so much as to look towards him But where Faith is exercised the Eye is fixed and therefore Believing is very often exprest in the New Testament by Seeing John 8.56 Heb. 11.13 3. To Esteem and Prize it As the casting of the Word behind us Psalm 50.17 is an evidence of Contempt so the keeping of our Eyes upon any Object intimates the value which we have for it And indeed who can take a view of the heighth and depth and length and breadth those unmeasurable Dimensions of the Love of Christ Eph. 3.18 19. Without having his Heart rais'd to an Holy Admiration so as to cry out with David How excellent is thy Loving Kindness Oh God! Psalm 36.7 4. To consider it and be seriously mindful of it As the Fear of God being before our Faces Exod 20 20. Is to stand in actual awe of him and to have the dread of his Majesty upon us so to have the Love of God in our Eye is to have it imprest upon our Minds to roul it in our Thoughts and make it the Matter of our frequent Meditation As the Spouse says to Christ We will remember thy Love c. Song 1.4 3. What is meant by God's Truth here It is capable of a Threefold Sense 1. The Truth of God may import his immutable faithfulness So Psalm 89.49 91.4 And many other Places God is a God of Truth and all creatures compar'd with him are a Lye 2. His Truth may signifie his Word which is called the Truth Psalm 119.142 And his Truth John 17.17 As being given by his Inspiration and containing in it the Counsel of his Will 3. His Truth may denote the Sincerity of those that belong to him This though inhaerent in us and acted by us and therefore stiled our Integrity Prov. 20.7 And our Uprightness Isa 57.2 Yet is the Truth of God as 't is enjoyned by him Psalm 51.6 And implanted by him also for all Truth is an Emanation from him and he is the fountain of it as the Devil is the Father of Lyes 4. What is it to walk in his Truth 1. To Place our firm Reliance on the faithfulness of God This may be taken in as Part of the Sense the trather because the Psalmist makes that Profession ver 1. I have trusted in the Lord and because Experience of God's Kindness does embolden our Hope in his Truth for indeed we can take no Comfort in the faithfulness of God except we have some Proofs of his Love His Kindness and Truth often go together but his Kindness is put first 2 Sam. 2.6 Psalm 40.10 11. Now as the Phrase of walking in God's Name is used by the Holy Ghost Micah 4.5 So his Truth being a Part of his Name we may be said to walk in that when we confide in it 2. To attend strictly to the Word of God both as to the Doctrinal and Practical Parts of it 1. As to the Doctrinal Parts of the Word which are the Truths that the Spirit leads into John 16.13 Not barely into the Form of it which is all that Hypocrites have Rom. 2.20 But into the rooted Possession Hence this Truth is said to dwell in Believers and be with them for ever 2 John 2. So that they shall not be turn'd aside nor led away by contrary Errors 2. As to the Practical Parts of the Word which are the Rule of Life and call'd the way of Truth Psal 119.30 And the Truth which is after Godliness Tit. 1.1 For all Sin is countenanced by falshood This is the Truth which must be obey'd Gal. 3.1 1 Pet. 1.22 And which we are requir'd to do 1 John 1.6 For 't is as necessary to guide our Practice by Divine Commands as to steer our Judgments by Divine Revelation 3. To be upright in our Way in Opposition to that walking in craftiness 2 Cor. 4.2 Which is the celebrated Policy of the Children of this World This seems to be aim'd at by David here because in the very next Words ver 4. He protests against going in with Dissemblers The Curse that God hath pronounc'd against Deceiver should make us afraid of being tinctur'd with the Leaven of Hypocrisie and Guile Our walk is not as it should be if the Law of Truth do not govern our whole Conversation as Persons whose Loins are girt about with it Eph. 6.14 4. Perseverance in this Course must also be added to fill up the Sense How is it a walking in the Truth if it be only taking a step or two and not a continued Motion What less can it include than a diligent Care to approve all our Ways to God to the very End of our Lives If we do not this we imitate the Devil who abode not in the Truth though he stood in it once John 8.44 For though the greatest Saints are too often guilty of sinful waverings and startings in their walk with God yet the least of them is never left finally to depart from him or to quit the Road of Duty The Words thus open'd afford us this Point to be insisted on Obs A deep and constant Sense of the Love of God does most powerfully engage and quicken to steady and sincere Obedience The Two Parts of this verse are to be view'd in their Connexion and then we shall see how clearly this Results from the whole Thy Loving Kindness is before mine Eyes there 's the Antecedent And I have walked in thy Truth there 's the Consequent Here I. Lay down some Propositions for the explaining of this Doctrine II. Offer some Arguments for the Proof of it III. Apply it I. To lay down some Propositions for the explaining of this Point 1. All that pretend to an Interest in the Love of God have not their Hearts engag'd to suitable Obedience for by many this is falsly pretended The Church of Ephesus whom Christ wrote unto Tryed them which said they were Apostles and were not and found them Lyars Rev. 2.2 So Multitudes that say they are the Friends and Favourites of God really are not but by their own Practices discover themselves Lyars If they do not walk in God's Truth 't is most certain that they have not his Loving Kindness before their Eyes Wile carnal Wretches too often delude themselves in this Case and the Delusion is very strong though it be so gross and palpable If any Man say that he hath found Grace in the sight of God who makes little or no Conscience of Duty to God we must say as John does on a like occasion The Truth is not in him 1 John 2.4 To say that I shall have Peace though I have no regard to Holiness and that God will make me up among his brightest Jewels tho I lye wallowing in the Mire still is impudently to give the Lye to the whole Bible as if we kenew the Mind of Christ better than himself Such Imaginations as these are
positive Discovery of Corruption in the actual Commission of Sin is not Apostacy A Man may halt and slip yea he may stumble and fall and yet not go back He that resolvedly holds on his way may notwithstanding oftentimes through Ignorance or Infirmity turn aside out of it before he finishes his Course A Believer may be led into Captivity to the Law of Sin and yet never properly is brought under the Reigning Power of Sin Rom. 6.14 compar'd with 7.23 To be violently seized by another as an Enemy is a very distinct thing from submitting to another's Dominion as a Lord. A Subject may continue Loyal to his Rightful Prince though the Arms of a wrongful Usurper may for a Time prevail against him A voluntary Transferring of my Allegiance is much more than to be taken Prisoner by force Rebellion is an aggravating Addition to Sin Job 34.37 Now Apostatizing in Scripture is very frequently exprest by Rebelling Josh 22.29 God forbid that we should Rebel against the Lord and turn this Day from following the Lord c. Dan. 9.5 We have done wickedly and rebelled by departing from thy Precepts c. Every Offence against a Law is not an Act of Treason or Renunciation of the Soveraign Authority All Sin is a Transgression but this Sin of backsliding is the great Transgression 3. Apostacy from God includes not only a Deviation in the Life but an Alienation of the Heart Not only a sinful wandering but a loving to wander Jer. 14.10 Thus have they loved to wander they have not refrained their Feet So long as the Heart is right with God it cannot be said that the Man goes back from him An unwilling Departure is not so much the Act of the regenerate Person as of the Sin that dwelleth in him Rom. 7.17 No outward Performance good or bad does denominate so much as the inward frame and working of the Spirit A great many miscarriages will be graciously overlookt in the visible Walk and Conversation when there is a cleaving to God with full Purpose of Soul The Errors of a Man's way are far more pardonable than erring in Heart The Generation whom God was so much griev'd with were a People that did err in their Hearts Psalm 95.10 Though there be no manifest or gross backsliding in the Life yet if there be a revolting and a rebellious Heart there is the poysonous Root of all Abomination Here is Apostacy in the sight of God though not in the sight of Men as the Israelites in their Hearts turned back again into Egypt when they were marching in the Wilderness Acts 3.39 According as the Mind is estrang'd from God or keeps close to him a Man is clear or guilty in this Case Our Heart is not turned back was the Church's Vindication Psalm 44.18 4. Apostacy from God is really an undoing of all the good which we have done 'T is a wicked Repentance quite contrary to the Grace of Repentance as that is a Repentance from dead Works so is this a Repentance from Works of a better sort Psalm 36.3 He hath left off to be wise and to do good 'T is a Perversion to Evil after a seeming Conversion from it The first Apostacy wherein all are involved supposes the Creation of Man in a State of Uprightness Every one is gone back Psalm 53.3 Therefore Adams Original Course was a walk with God So here the Apostacy whereof we speak is a miserable change for the worse after a plausible change at least for the better There can be no going back but where a Man hath once run well No looking back but where a Man hath first set his Hand to the Plaugh Luke 9. ult 'T is ending in the Flesh after we have begun in the Spirit when our Faces have been towards Sion and our doings framed to turn to God this is a revoking and disanulling of all and driving towards Hell 'T is a Declaration of War where we have pretended Friendship 't is a saying in Effect the Time past sufficeth us to have wrought the Will of God and therefore now we will Work our own In short 't is no less than our pulling down all that we have built up and a listing of our selves in the Service of Sin and Satan whom we have fought against II. Of what Concernment and Importance it is to Believers to be secur'd against such Apostacy This will appear from two Things their Danger of Apostacy and their Danger by it 1. How much they are in Danger of it viz. If left alone and abandon'd to themselves There are Three Considerations which will sufficiently shew the greatness of this hazard 1. Grace in us is very weak The Apostle does not say be strong in the Grace which is in thy self but in the Grace which is in Christ 2 Tim. 2.1 That fulness of Grace of which Christ is the subject can never be lessen'd but those measures of Grace which are communicated unto us and lodg'd in us might and would be lost if we were separated from him Borrowed Abilities will fail if not continually recruited and supplied All created inhaerent Holiness of it self is a perishable Thing 't is indeed made of God an abiding incorruptible Seed in Believers now but 't is not so in its own Nature If it were how could the Angels in Heaven or Adam in Paradice have ever fallen Grace is a good Treasure in the Heart but it wants Almightiness to guard it as there is no Worldling who thinks that his Bags or Coffers can defend themselves Gracious Habits are the true Riches but they lye open for Thieves to rob us of them except God keep our House after he hath furnisht it Poverty will come upon us like an armed Man 2. Corruption in us is very Active We are very apt and ready to be drawn away by our own Lust James 1.14 There is Folly enough remaining in the wisest and best of Men to pervert and mislead them He was no ordinary Saint who complain'd of his being so foolish and ignorant that he was as a Beast before God Psalm 73.22 There is still too much Brute in him that hath attain'd to be more than a Man None of us are so washed from our silthiness while we are in this World but that the Reliques of a swinish Principle in our Natures would make us return to wallow in the Mire if God did not keep us back If we consider how just Lot linger'd in going out of sinful Sodom we cannot but think that he would have lookt behind him as well as his Wife except those Inclinations had been restrain'd Though our Hearts be Circumcis'd to Love God predominantly there are vile Affections stirring in us still not very easie to be supprest The Law in our Members is not like a dead Letter but a lively Principle which Wars against the Laws of our Minds 3. The Temptations which come against us are very numerous Every Place every Condition every Employment every Relation is full
own Conceits God will disable those from doing any thing praise-worthy that give not him the Praise 4. The setting up of Duties in the room of Christ This we are exceeding apt to do Disciples need to Learn that Lesson of being Converted and becoming as little Children Mat. 18.3 It was very truly said by Mr. Rutherford that Deadness to good and gracious Works and lively Activity in the Performance of them seldom meet together high Degrees of inherent Holiness and a full devolving of the Soul upon Christ's imputed Righteousness rarely Kiss each other 'T is well where they do but 't is a Provocation to God to abandon us where they do not If we would run in the way of God's Commandments we must remember that it is not of him that runneth if we would be assisted in the Duties of Obedience we must bear it upon our Hearts that we can never be entitled to Heaven by them We forfeit the Spirit of Faith if we imagine that Faith it self the noblest of all Graces does enrich us any otherwise than as a Vessel which holds the Treasure Sicut olla paecuniis referta hominem locupletat Calv. 5. Spiritual Sloth is another Cause in the disuse of Gifts not exercising of Grace and neglect of Duty This is the contrary extream to that Self-Confidence mention'd before as that was a Conceit that we could do all Things in our own Strength this is to sit still and do nothing We must stir up the Gift which is in us if we would preserve it God uses to help the Industrious but he abhors the Sluggard Seneca a sober Heathen calls Idleness the Grave of a Living Man Dr. Arrowsmith an Holy Divine stiles it the Hell of a Living Christian We hazard the taking away of our Talents when we do not employ them To let our Graces lye asleep is not the way to nourish but to starve them Many have almost lost the Spirit of Prayer by the restraining of Prayer Arise and be doing and the Lord will be with thee 1 Chron. 22.16 If we leave God to do all God will leave us to our selves if we fold our Hands together we cannot expect that his should be stretcht out for our Assistance 6. Sleightness and Formality A sincere Believer who is so in the Main and Acts as such for the most Part may yet sometimes imitate the Hypocrite too much i.e. his Heart may be too little engag'd in approaching unto God We too often pour out Words in Prayer without suitable Affections too often attend on God's Word without bending our Minds to it or taking heed how we hear Now by our resting so much in the outward Forms of Religion we lose the Spirit of Power by going in a Road of Duty and performing this or that Act of Worship because we are accustomed to do it we put our selves out of the Way of Divine Influences When we do not serve God with our Spirits we may well expect to be depriv'd of his Spirit when we do not seriously and earnestly pursue Communion with God in Duties how can we expect to enjoy any We put off God with a little bodily Exercise God puts off us with a visible Church-Priviledge we lift up our Hands in the Sanctuary without our Souls he lets us see nothing of his Power and Glory there 7. Worldliness and Carnality The minding of Earthly Things clips the Wings wherewith we should mount up towards Heaven So far as we are joyned to such Idols we may look to be separated from God we open our Bosoms to them and he hides his Face from us Hence it is that that Condition of Life which does most please and gratifie the Flesh does most expose to the withdrawings of the Spirit because when our Portion of good Things in this Life is very large we are very prone to rejoyce inordinately in it and when the World smiles much upon us we commonly grow fond of the World Therefore a low or afflicted State hath been oftner bless't with sweet incomes from Heaven than the height of Prosperity 2 Cor. 1.5 As the Sufferings of Christ abound in us so our Consolation also aboundeth by Christ some have enjoy'd so much of God in Prisons as that Martyr in Bonner's Coal-hole that they have been unwilling to receive their Liberty But 't is very usual that according to what Men gain in Temporals they lose in Spirituals 8. Base and sinful Compliances for the avoiding of outward inconveniencie This is as great an Offence to the Spirit of Christ as Peter once was to Christ himself in a like Case The affording of a Man's Presence at false Worship may justly provoke God to deny his wonted Communications to us when we are joyning in the true If a Man partake of the Table of Devils what Divine Fellowship can he look for at the Table of the Lord The woful declinings of many Persons who have been meerly led by Fear to Build up what they formerly destroy'd have been too plain a Testimony to this Truth Sulpitius the Historian who liv'd with St. Martin tells us that after he had joyn'd in Communion with Ithacius the persecuting Bishop through the Threatenings of the Emperor Maximus there was a remarkable Suspension of those Influences and Graces for which he was eminent before Dr. B. Answer to Letter of the Ass Gen. p. 29. The best Way to retain the Spirit is to retain our Integrity whatever we hazard by it 9. Vnbelieving Dejection wilfully indulg'd There is a saying of the Hebrew Doctors mentioned by Drusius Spiritus Sanctus non residet super hominem moestum the Holy Spirit does not delight to dwell with one of a Sorrowful Spirit and 't is in great measure true The Spirit of God is not a Spirit of heaviness 't is no Pleasure to him to see any of his Saints go mourning and bowed down when their Hearts should rather be lifted up in the ways of God Nehemiah was sore afraid when the King took Notice of the sadness of his Countenance Chap. 2.2 And Mordecai would not enter the Court-gates with his Sackcloath on Esth 4.2 An Holy Joyful Frame and Garments of Praise are always comely for Upright ones and most acceptable unto God As David's Musick drove away the Evil Spirit that troubled Saul so Christian Alacrity not vain and foolish Levity is a means of having the good Spirit to abide with us Hardening our selves in Sorrow is giving Way to Unbelief the Sin of which he especially reproves SERMON X. April 7. 1696. JUDGES XVI xx last Clause And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him 10. REjecting the Present Motions of the Spirit which ought to be instantly embrac'd and followed All the Spirits Motions are seasonable and therefore not to be put off for Delay is a kind of denial and savours of such ungrateful Contempt as must needs be very displeasing to him When thou saidst Seek ye my Face my Heart said unto thee thy Face will I
1.8 And no Prohibitions or Threatenings must stop their Mouths or tempt them to neglect their Duty But this is not all that which follows in the last Clause of the Verse is yet more considerable And so is also the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey him q.d. Though you quarrel with us and oppose our Testimony there is a witness above all Exception who may not only silence but Cure your lnfidelity we are not alone in this Work we have one to back us who is greater than all even the Spirit of God himself This agrees with what Christ had said John 15.26 27. When the Comforter is come he shall testifie of me and ye also shall bear witness The Words are the Conclusion of Peter's Reply to the Jewish Sanhedrim in which we have a brief Abridgement of his Sermon or larger Discourse upon the Day of Pentecost though that and this had very different Effects they who heard that were pricked to the Heart and it issued in their saving Conversion Chap. 2.37 They who heard this were cut to the Heart and consulted about slaving the Apostles ver 33. of this Chapter The same Expression is us'd concerning Stephen's Murderers Chap. 7.54 And signifies the galling of their Consciences Which provoke them to a more furious Resistance of the Truth when they have been persuaded to embrace it Thus that very Word in substance the same which is the savour of Life unto one becomes the savour of Death unto another Obs The Holy Spirit whom God hath given to them that obey him is a Witness to Jesus Christ The Text is not a direct Assertion of the Doctrine of the Trinity but we have here all the Three Divine Persons brought in and mentioned together Our Lord Christ is the Person witness'd to the Holy Ghost is the Person witnesssin and God the Father is the Person whom this Witness proceeds from and is sent by These are the Three that are siad to bear Record or witness in Heaven 1 John 5.7 And indeed they all Testifie to each other The Father bore Witness of Christ John 5.37 Christ also was given to be a Witness to him Isa 55.4 And in this Place the Holy Ghost is named as a Witness to Christ In handling this I. Shew in what Sense the Holy Spirit is given II. Whom he is given to III. How he performs the Work and Office of a Witness to our Lord Jesus IV. Use I. In what Sense is the Holy Spirit given by God In many Places which 't is needless to repeat the same Phrase occurs to us especially in the New Testament To prevent misunderstanding in so fuudamental a Point I shall endeavour with an humble regard to the greatness of the Mystery to open it Negatively and Positiverly 1. Negatively The giving of the Spirit by God the Father does not import the Spirits being Inferiour to the Father nor does it exclude the Purchase and Gift of Christ 1. This does not import the Spirit 's being Inferiour to the Father How difficult soever it be to conceive the Order which is among the Persons in the Godhead we are sure 't is impossible that there should be any inequality The Blessed Spirit is one with the Father and to him belong all the glorious Perfections of the Supream Being he is the most High God as the Father is All the Three Persons have the same Infinite Essence and Nature the same Understanding Will and boundless Power If any one Person be put beneath another his Deity is thereby destroy'd and therefore we must take heed of any such unscriptural Imagination concerning the Spirit of God The Holy Ghost is given indeed but not as by a Superiour who hath a command over another whether he will or not for he is given with his own Consent and one equal may give another if they agreee to do so as in like manner Jesus Christ whom the Scripture calls God's Fellow is also said to be given of God 2. This does not exclude either the Purchase or the Gift of Christ The Holy Spirit is given by the Father and yet Purchased and given by the Son too 1. Purchased by Christ the Son of God He hath obtained the Spirit for us or else we should never have partaken of him Hence it is that he is said to be shed on us through Jesus Christ our Saviour Tit. 3.5 6. His Bloud was the Price of this Priviledge his Intercession procures our actual Enjoyment of it John 14.16 I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforther c. After the finishing of his Work on Earth and Exaltation to Glory the Apostle tells us That he receiv'd of the Father the Promise of the Holy Ghost Acts 2.33 The Promise of the Holy Ghost here is put for the Holy Ghost promised to speak strictly Christ receiv'd the Promise of the Holy Ghost in the Everlasting Covenant of Redemption upon such and such Conditions which he was to perform in the fulness of Time but now those Conditions being perform'd he receiv'd an abundant Accomplishment of this Promise not for himself but for those that belong to him 2. The Spirit is given by Christ He is said to shed him forth in the last cited Place So he engag'd to send him John 15.26 Chap. 16.7 The same Act may very well be attributed both to the Father and Son as concurring in external Operations My Father worketh hitherto and I work Chap. 5.17 The Father is represented as the Maker of all Things very frequently and so is the Son In the Beginning God Created the Heaven and the Earth and in that beginning Jesus Christ was with God not as an unactive Spectator but as a Co-worker Believers are sanctified by God the Father Jude 1. And they are also sanctified in or by Christ Jessu 1 Cor. 1.2 The Greek Particle is the same in both Places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore 't is manifest that the giving of the Holy Ghost by God the Father is not at all inconsistent with the dispensing of the same Gife by our Lord Christ 2. Positively There are Four Things which seem to be signified to us by the Father's giving of the Holy Ghost 1. That the Grace and Love of the Father is the spring of all Divine Communications Here is the first Rise and Original of all the good that we receive 't is all resolv'd into the Father's good Pleasure as the Primary moving Cause John 3.16 God so laved the World that he gave his only begotten Son c. 'T is from the same Fountain of Eternal Love in the Bosom of God the Father that this Gift of the Holy Ghost does issue also 'T is very remarkable therefore that our Lord directs the Faith of his Disciples to fasten chiefly hereupon Chap. 15.26 27. I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you for the Father himself loveth you The meaning is not that Christ
is manifest because immediately after this he enter'd upon his publick Ministry here was a Pledge first given of the Authority which he was invested with that he might be accordingly acknowledg'd and regarded in the Exercise of his Office which till now he had not begun 2. The extraordinary Works that were done by Christ these were the Seals of his Commission and prov'd him to come from Heaven for the Doctrine of an Impostor would never have been so signally asserted But now all these Works were done in the Power of the Holy Ghost whom he is said to be anointed with and partly for that End Acts 10.38 Particularly he cast out Devils by the Spirit of God Mat. 12.28 And for that Reason he charges the Jews with Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost the unpardonable Sin who ascrib'd this mighty Act of his to Beelzebub the Prince of Devils ver 31 32. If Christ himself only had been concern'd in this Work this could have been Blasphemy against him only but seeing the Spirit of God concurr'd with him in it they were guilty of Blaspheming that Spirit also 3. The Resurrection of Christ which was a considerable Testimony to his Eternal Deity is ascrib'd to the Spirit likewise This Work is indeed in Scripture ascrib'd to all the Three Persons to the Father Rom. 6.4 To Christ himself John 10.17 18. And the Holy Ghost is interested in it too Rom. 8.11 If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the Dead dwell in you he that rais'd up Christ from the Dead shall also quicken your mortal Bodies by his Spirit c. The Connexion of the Words and the Relation which one Thing in them bears to another shews this to be the meaning that God will revive and raise the Dead Bodies of Believers by the same Spirit by whom he rais'd his Son that Spirit who reunited the Humane Soul and Body of Jesus Christ will reunite ours also So 1 Pet. 3.16 Quicken'd in the Spirit the same Spirit by which he Preach'd to the Disobedient in the Days of Noah ver 19 20. with Gen. 6.3 3. How did the Spirit witness to Christ after his Departure into Heaven I mean in the Times of the Apostles and in those first Ages of the Gospel Answ I. By the Revelation of the Mysteries of the Gospel to the Apostles which they were to Preach to others This we have an Account of from Christ himself John 16.12 13 14 15. I have yet many Things to say unto you but you cannot bear-them now howbeit when the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth c. He shall Glorifie me for he shall receive of mine and shew it unto you which is repeated in the next Words The Disciples then were weak in the Faith prepossest with carnal Notions about the Kingdom of Christ and at that Time also overwhelm'd with Sorrow upon the Notice of his intended Departure and by this means they were uncapable at the present of Learning all that they needed to be taught now Jesus Christ who consider'd their weakness and dealt with them according to it refers them to be more fully instructed by the promised Spirit who though he did not discover any new Truths which they never heard yet he brought old Truths to their Remembrance with new Illumination he help'd their remaining Ignorance and Infrimity in giving them a clearer Understanding of all the Things of Chirist of all those Doctrines concerning Christ which were hid and veil'd from them before 2. By endowing them with a miraculous Power of doing those Things which were above the utmost activity of Nature for the Confirmation of the Christian Doctrine Thus he is said to give Testimony to the Word of his Grace in granting Signs and Wonders to be done by their Hands Acts 14.3 God bearing them Witness with Signs and Wonders and divers Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost Heb. 2.4 A great many of those supernatural Effects were produced by his means in the Course of their Ministry and some of them such as even exceeded what were wrought by our Lord himself So he had told them that it should be John 14.12 He that believeth on me the Works which I do shall he do also and greater Works than these shall he do because I go to my Faither I would not go about to restrain this Text to the Apostles because Christ puts it in larger Terms He that believeth c. but undoubtedly it was verified in them They were enabled to Work the same Miracles which he did and in some Respects such as out-did them Chap. 9. The Healing of those that were laid upon Beds and Couches in the Streets with the Shadow of Peter passing by ver 15. of this Chapter and Chap. 19.11 12. We read of special Miracles wrought by the Hands of Paul so that from his Body were brought unto the Sick Handkerchiefs or Aprons and the Diseases departed from them c. The Reason of these greater Works done by the Apostles was Christ's going to the Father which made Way for an eminent pouring forth of the Spirit and this tended not so much to the Reputation of their particular Persons for they could not Work them when they would as to the Glory of Christ whose Interest was hereby advanced in the World 3. By the remarkable and numerous Conversions of great Multitudes to Christ among whom they preach'd As soon as ever the Holy Ghost was come upon them there were Three Thousand Souls added to them That gladly receiv'd their Word and were Baptized Chap. 2.41 Soon after these were made up Five Thousand Chap. 4.4 All this was done in the compass of very few Days and the first Harvest was the Fruit of one Sermon At Samaria when Philip went and Preach'd Christ to them 't is said that the People with one accord gave heed to the Things which he spake Chap. 8.5 6. Which is the more extraordinary because they had all given heed to Simon the Sorcerer before from the least to the greatest ver 10. What a strang and marvellous turn was here in an whole City upon the Preaching of the Gospel In many other Places the Word of God grew mightily and prevail'd Chap. 19.20 It got ground against all the Opposition both of Jews and Gentiles The Preachers of it were made to Triumph in Christ and baffies all contrary attempts from open Enemies and false Brethren and overcame the Devil by the Word of their Testimony And the way of doing all this is explain'd to us 1 Cor. 2.4 My Speech and my Preaching was in Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power The Spirit of God accompanied their Word and made it thus successful 4. By the supernatural Gifts which were bestowed upon other Believers also as well as the Apostles The Truth of this might be made out by several Instances if it were needful Acts 10.44 While Peter spake the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the Word viz. Cornelius
and his Kindred and Friends whom he had call'd together ver 24. But how did he fall on them Peter himself explains it Chap. 11.15 As on us at the beginning i.e. in a miraculous extraordinary Manner So Christ had said Mark 16.17 These Signs shall follow them that believe in my Name shall they cast out Devils they shall spake with new Tongues c. Not only they that Publisht the Gospel but they that receiv'd it were many of them thus eminently gifted by the Holy Ghost and this was much for the Honour of Christ whom they believed in and serv'd to rescue his Gospel from that Contempt and Reproach which the World was so apt every where to pour upon it 5. By the admirable Patience and Resolution both of the Apostles and other Believers in the extream Sufferings which they underwent for Christ and the Gospel I think says Paul that God hath set forth us the Apostles as it were appointed to Death 1 Cor. 4.9 He protests for his own Part that he Dyed daily Chap. 15.31 Stood in jeopardy every Hour ver 30. Others to whom he writes endured great fights of Afflictions Heb. 10.32 Not little Skirmishes but continual Combats What vast numbers of them crown'd all at last with Martyrdom which is the most peculiar Notion of witnessing And with what meekness and undauntedness was all this done as by Men that had fully learnt to despise their own Lives and dearest Comforts together with the greatest Cruelties of their Adversaries But whence did all this proceed From the Spirit of Glory resting on them 1 Pet. 4.14 As Stephen being full of the Holy Ghost saw the Glory of God when his Murderers gnash their Teeth Acts 7.54 55. Their dying witness to Christ was through the special Assistance of his Blessed Spirit 4. How does the Spirit witness to Christ even now in our own Times For there is a never failing Testimony which he gives still and will always give to the End of the World Not by Voices Dreams or Enthusiastick Inspirations which are usually dangerous Delusions where they are pretended and rested on but in such Ways as are safe and clear and highly beneficial As 1. The Spirit witnesses at this very Day to Jesus Christ in the written Gospel This is the standing Memorial and Register of all Divine Testimony There the Doctrine of Christ is preserved uncorrupt and is the same in writing to us that it was originally to the first Christians and here we have a sufficient History of the Miracles which recommended and backt this Doctrine I say a sufficient History sufficient to Answer the End though not a compleat History of all that was done John 20.30 31. Many other Signs did Jesus in the Presence of his Disciples which are not written in this Book but these are Written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Son of God c. They were not only wrought but are written in Order to our Believing this puts it out of doubt that we are bound to Believe upon the Testimony of those Miracles which we never saw as faithfully related if they were to be renewed in every Age the commonness of them would make them lose their End and every Generation after they are ceased might challenge a Repetition of them as well as one and to what Purpose should Persons be enjoyn'd to tell the wonderful Works of God to their Posterity if they were not oblig'd to give Credit to them As Exod. 10.2 And many other Places 2. He witnesses to Christ by the Operations and Effects which the Gospel hath upon all the chosen of God for hereby it is distinguisht from the Word of Man even by its Effectual Workings 1 Thess 2.13 There is no Comparison between them in their Natures For what is the Chaff to the Wheat Jer. 23.28 Nor in their Operative Vertues For is not my Word like as a Fire saith the Lord and like an Hammer c. ver 29. This shews the Power of the Spirit attending it this is that which puts an Edge upon the Word and gives a force to it which makes it quick and mighty sharp and searching in the Work of Conviction hereby it takes hold of Sinners Casts down Imaginations and brings every thought into Captivity to the Obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 The Word alone would not do this but as it comes in Power and in the Holy Ghost 1 Thess 1.5 There are Impressions of the Majesty and Authority of God upon the Word stampt by the Spirit but the same Spirit must enable us to discern them as a Stranger must Learn to know an Artificer's Workmanship from himself 3. By giving us an inward Experience and feeling of the Things of Christ Spiritual Sences are a great Advantage to those that have them and whoever have them are beholden to the Spirit for them Hence it is that the Things of Christ are called the Things of the Spirit of God which the natural man neither does receive nor can know 1 Cor. 2.14 A meer notional acquaintance with them is vain and insignificant and yet this is all that any Man in the World by Nature without the help of the Spirit can Rise up to We know them by receiving them they are strange Things till they are taken in and made Familiar to us by real and experimental Knowledge Therefore 't is said He that believeth on the Son of God hath the Witness in himself 1 John 5.10 That Verbal Testimony which is without him in the Scripture is then transcrib'd within him on his own Heart he is satisfied from himself which is the highest and fullest Satisfaction 4. By the producing of Faith in Christ which is a Work that 's never fulfilled in any Soul where be is not given for 't is one of his Titles the Spirit of Faith 2 Cor. 4.13 He infuses the Habit he excites to every Act. Divine Supernatural Faith requires a Divine and Supernatural Agent 'T is he that effectually Reproves for the Sin of unbelief John 16.9 He discovers the Disease he applies the Remedy 'T is a part of the Mystery of Godliness that Jesus Christ is believed on in the World and another part of it is that he is justified in the Spirit 1 Tim. 3.16 But one part Contributes to the unriddling of the other If Christ were not justified in the Spirit he would not be believ'd on in the World Christ is justified in or by the Spirit whenever any one in the World is persuaded to believe they are the Spirits internal Arguments on the behalf of Christ that sway the Soul to a receiving of and closing with him He reveals those Things concerning Christ to us which could not enter into our Hearts to conceive of him 1 Cor. 2.9 10. 5. By the strengthening and increasing of this Faith daily after he hath produc'd it There are gradual Displaies of the Glory and Excellency of Christ to the believing Soul all is not manifested at once there are fresh
Communicatious of Light and Grace as long as we are in the World that our Faith may grow and that what is lacking in it may be perfected According as the Spirit enriches us in the Progress of our Sanctification the Testimony of Christ is confirmed in us 1 Cor. 1.6 He grounds and settles us and makes us unmoveable from the Hope of the Gospel he fortifies and establishes us against various contrary Temptations whereby the Devil is frequently endeavouring to loosen our hold of Christ and beat us off from him We are poor wavering unsteady Creatures when we are left to our selves rejoycing one Moment and drooping the next confidently assured of that at one Time which we are ready to call in Question at another The best Believers in the World will most humbly own this the strongest Faith would certainly fail if the Cause of Christ in the Soul were not often pleaded over again by the Spirit as an Antidote for the Motions to Infidelity IV. Vse There are several Things which from hence we may be informed of and exhorted to 1. There are several Things which we may be informed of As 1. Jesus Christ never will nor can be left without a Witness because the Eternal Spirit is his Witness who will never with-dram his Testimony This Spirit of Christ is given to all that obey him and he testifies of Christ to them and by them to others but if we could suppose this whole Generation of the righteous to be extinct which yet shall never be as long as the Earth remains if all these Humane Witnesses were slain and not one left to stand up on the behalf of Christ in the World yet while the Holy Ghost survives as a faithful Witness in Heaven 't is impossible that Christ should be destitute Let the Rage and Malice of the World against Christ go as far as it can in stopping the Mouths or shedding the Blood of all that receive or bear the Record which God hath given of his Son the Spirit cannot be prevented from doing constant Honour to Jesus Christ 2. The Word of Christ hath a better Foundation than any Tesitimony from Man or from any Church or Party of Men whatever As Christ said He had a greater Witnrss than that of John John 5-36 Concerning thy Testimonies I have knowu of Old says David that thou hast founded them for ever Psalm 119.152 But if mortal Witnesses were their only Supporters they would be as liable to fade and perish to be subverted and destroyed as other Inferiour Things To build the Credit of the Gospel upon Humane Tradition is like putting the Ark of the Testimony into a wooden Cart which will be apt to shake and reel if not to tumble The Church of God is the Pillar and Ground of the Truth 1 Tim. 3.15 To hold it forth indeed not to hold it up not such a Pillar as Houses stand upon but as Writings hang upon for Publick Notice 3. The unrighteous Judgment of Satan and the World against Christ is and will be perfectly reversed Now is the Judgment of this World says Christ John 12.31 So Chap. 16.11 When the Sprit is come he will Reprove or Convince the World of Judgment because the Prince of this World is judged I take these Two Texts to refer to one and the same Thing for the Prince of this World and the World it self pass the same Judgment on Jesus Christ and the Judgment of both is very unjust the World and its Prince make up as it were but one Person the Head and the Body and they exactly Agree and Joyn in the same Sentence to condemn our Lord Jesus But here is a Witness that nuls this Sentence and plainly proves the Iniquity and Falshood of it and indeed none of the Devil's Devices can stand when God himself comes forth to withstand and oppose them 4. It must needs be a lying Spirit that speaks a Word against Christ or that derogates any Thing from him 1 Cor. 12.3 I give you to nderstand that no Man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed Whatever is spoken by any to the dishonour of our Lord Jesus cannot proceed from the Spirit of God This is most certain because the Spirit of God cannot contradict himself he cannot testifie for him and against him too The Holy Ghost is Christ's Witness the unclean Spirit is his Adversary and too many Tongues are duided by this unclean and wicked Spirit that pretend to Prophesie in Christ's Name and whereas a true Witness delivereth Souls Prov. 14.25 These do lay snares for their Ruine and Destruction 5. They that have the Spirit of God cannot err in what is essential to the Faith of Christ and necessary to Salvation They are undoubtedly taught to hold the Substance of Divine Testimony though they may be mistaken in lesser Particulars This is hinted by what our Lord says Mat. 24.24 There shall arise false Christ's and false Prophets and shall shew great Signs and Wonders insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very Elect. That Parenthesis is the most material Part of the Proposition there is no possibility of any of God's chosen and called ones miscarrying by a fundamental Delusion they have a Resident Witness for Christ in their own Bosoms who secures them from it 6. Vnbelief is a special Sin against the Holy Ghost all unbelief is so though all unbelief and perhaps no meer unbelief is not the Sin against the Holy Ghost It is the Spirit that beareth Witness because the Spirit is Truth 1 John 5.6 But he that believeth not makes him a Lyar ver 10. Hypocrisie is a lying to the Lord as Ananias and Sapphira lyed to the Holy Ghost but infidelity is a belying of him Jer. 5.12 'T is a painting of the Spirit of God like the Sons of Men who are Lyars upon Record Rom. 3.4 Yea like the Devil who is the Father of Lyes John 8.44 This black aggravated Evil is included in the not receiving of the Spirit 's witness 2. There are some Things which we may hence be exhorted to 1. Set your Seal to the Truth of the Spirits Testimony unto Christ by Believing in him and reject it not against your selves Embrace him with all your Hearts upon the high and honourable Commendation which the Holy Ghost gives of him How readily do we repose a Confidence in Creatures when we have receiv'd a worthy Character of them from Persons of known Integrity And shall we be influenc'd more by the Witness of Man than by the Witness of God God forbid How much greater Encouragements have we to Divine than humane Faith There are infallible Grounds for Divine Faith to rest upon which for humane cannot be 2. Grieve not the Spirit of God by Sin that he may not deliver you up nor leave you alone to be led away by Error The Holy Ghost is often provok'd by Men's loose Conversations to give them over to some unsound Opinions Practical
Godliness is an excellent Means for the maintaining of Doctrinal Orthodoxy If any Man will do his Will he shall know of the Doctrine John 7.17 Follow the Spirits Guidance in the Course of your Lives if you would not forfeit it as to the regulating of your Judgments Be govern'd by him as a Spirit of Holiness if you would be instructed by him as a Spirit of Truth 3. Whatever the Spirit in and according to the Scripture testifies against give it no Entertainment That cannot be the Doctrine of Christ which he doth not attest 'T is another Gospel and therefore not to be receiv'd though an Angel from Heaven were the Publisher of it We have a sure Word of Prophesie whereunto we do well to take heed 2 Pet. 1.19 That must be no Article of our Faith which we have not first tried or which upon the Trial is not approv'd by this Rule of Faith According as the Testimony of the Spirit in the Word is we are to Judge of every Cause which comes before us 4. Regard the Witness of the Spirit with respect to Christ in you as well as Christ without you He is a capable Witness as to both for he searcheth all Things he knows the State and Disposition of our Souls towards God as well as the out-goings of the Heart of God to us He that can reveal Christ in us is undoubtedly the sittest to discover us to our selves Therefore what our Conscience bears us Witness in the Holy Ghost as Rom. 9.1 Is to be comfortably acquiesced in as a faithful unerring Report If Conscience it self be as a thousand Witnesses how much more when the Holy Ghost concurs with it 5. Beg the help of the Spirit in Order to the giving of your Testimony to Christ as you ought to do in your several Places 1 Cor. 12.3 No Man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost Obj. What think you then of those that call Christ Lord Lord and do not the Things which he says Ans 'T is true the meer repeating of such words is easie and may be done without the Spirit but if we say it from a right Principle in a right Manner and to a right End it must be by the Holy Ghost And therefore this saying is like that confessing 1 John 4.15 Not a bare Verbal Confession with the Mouth but joyn'd with believing in the Heart 6. Manifest your having of the Spirit by your ready resolute and eonstant witness-bearing on the behalf of Christ. Be not asham'd of the Testimouy of our Lord 2 Tim. 1.8 'T is the greatest Honour to us when we are call'd to any such Service to our great Redeemer A Work which is done by the Spirit of God himself must unquestionably be a Matter of Glory and Reputation to such as we Nor is it only upon solemn extraordinary special Occasions but in the whole Course of our Lives in all that we think speak and do we should testifie to our Lord Jesus In short you who have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in you can do no less among a World of Men that ungratefully despise him than by your whole behaviour proclaim your deserved esteem of him SERMON XIII September 8. 1696. MARK X. xxvi xxvii And they were astonished out of measure saying among themselves Who then can be saved And Jesus looking upon them saith With Men it is impossible but not with God For with God all Things are possible To understand the occasion of the Words we must look back as far us ver 17. of this Chapter where we find a young Ruler as two of the other Evangelists describe him Mat. 19.20 Luke 18.18 addressing himself with some Earnestness and Reverence to Christ for his Judgment and Advice in a very important Case What shall I do that I may inherit Eternal life Christ framing his Answer according to the Principles then generally embrac'd of living by doing refers him to the commandments He that put the Question having too good an Opinion of himself confidently affirms his keeping of them all Christ in his Reply to convince him that he was not so perfect as he pretended himself to be offers him a Test which he could not comply with viz. Selling what he had and giving to the Poor and taking up the Cross and following him This was no unreasonable Proof of his Obedience for a resolved Preference of Heaven to all that this World affords and actual parting with all for it when we are called thereunto is every one's necessary Duty But this Ruler was sad at that saying and went away grieved Carnal Men may be sorry that they cannot bring down God to their own Terms when they refuse to come up to his they would reconcile Things in Heaven and Things in Earth and enjoy their Portion in both Worlds Hereupon our Lord applies the rest of his Discourse to his Disciples as being most concer'd for their Satisfaction and Improvement to them therefore he says How hardly shall they that have Riches enter into the Kingdom of God ver 23. These Words astonisht the Disciples and yet Christ with little Variation repeats them ver 24. And enforces them by a Proverbial Comparison which was yet more startling ver 25. It is easier for a Camel to go through the Eye of a Needle than for a Rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of God Whether that which we render here a Camel should be rather Translated a Cable-rope because the Original Word sigifies both is not much material but certainly a Man with great Possessions loaded with thick Clay might be fitly enough represented by a camel carrying Burdens more for others than himself and the Entrance into Life being strait and narrow may very well be said to resemble the Passage through the Eye of a Needle But this brings us to the Text it self wherein we have two Parts the Amazement of the Disciples at Christ's Doctrine and his own Explication of it 1. The Amazemenet of the Disciples at this Doctrine of Christ ver 26. And they were astonished out of measure saying among themselves who then can be saved The Word here which we render by Astonishment is not the same with that ver 24. But more significant as if the Mind were not only struck but struck out as it were with Horror and Confusion Besides 't is added here out of measure or abundantly and exceedingly for this Doctrine appear'd very rigorous and severe to them as if it shut out all Persons almost from a possibility of Salvation Becaufe 1. Though all Men are not Rich nor perhaps the most yet there are few but what desire to be so and the Love of Riches which is indeed the Disease prevails where there is not the Possession It was very common among the Jews in the Prophet's Time From the least to the greatest every one is given to Covetousness Jer. 6.13 Chap. 8.10 And 't is not less natural to other People 2. The Rich seem
though many are hid from us He too often deceieves us by his imitating of God covering himself with light as with a Garment and when he is so covered our Eyes are so dazled that 't is hard to see him as he is 2. 'T is difficult many times to avoid him even when we do discern him because our Duty generally lies betwixt Extreams on both hands and when we run from one Extream he drives us into another and in the hurry of Temptation to keep the middle point is very hard The Church of Corinth were first too remiss in dealing with their incestuous Member and afterwards too severe When we find Satan getting an Advantage against us one way to secure our selves from him we run too far the other way and this answers his end as well and is therefore slily promoted by him Either Sin is so small that it needs no forgiveness or else 't is greater than can be forgiven if Mercy be not presum'd upon then it is despair'd of So in the case of Divine Chastisements the Devil tempts us either to despise them and harden our selves against them or else throw up all and utterly faint under them whereas our Duty lies between both Hebr. 12.5 So in the case of natural Affections to natural Relations where we have not only allowance but a command 't is hard so to govern our selves but that Satan will make us either exceed or fall short either let out our Hearts too much or too little either not love them enough or over-love them either be guilty of Neglect or of Idolatry 4. There is a difficulty in the performing of those Duties which seem to be contrary to each other Indeed the contrariety is but seeming for all Duties are harmonious and very well reconcilable as all Scripture is one part of it to another notwithstanding the appearance of opposition in some places but however in matters of Practice 't is really hard sometimes to know how to obey one Precept without transgressing another As 1. 'T is hard to mourn as we ought for sin and yet to rejoice at the same time in Christ For we are to do both and this godly Sorrow is never to shut out spiritual Joy For we are to rejoice in the Lord alway Phil. 4.4 1 Thes 5.16 Our Tears should never drown our Triumphs nor our Lamentations silence our Songs but as God sometimes causes his Rain to fall even while he causes his Sun to shine so even when we are bewailing the breathes of the Command we should take in the Comforts of the Promise Our Souls should be afflicted and yet revived Sin should be ever before us and a Saviour too 2. 'T is hard to be duly thankful for the lowest degrees of Grace and yet not to be contented with the highest measures of it There is a necessity upon us as to both a little Faith requires high Praises to God and yet the greatest that ever Man had is not to satisfie us We are to forget those things which are behind Phil. 3.13 and yet constantly remember to bless God for the least of them We must look beyond them in order to further attainments and yet never ungratefully or contemptuously overlook them We must neither say of our day of small things This is nothing nor yet must we say It is enough 5. There is a difficulty in the right management of our selves in every Condition whether prosperous or afflicted For there are particular Difficulties proper to both as Agur's Prayer against Riches and Poverty does import 1. In a prosperous Condition it is very hard to get our hearts throughly mortified to the Enjoyments of it The savour and relish of the things of God is often insensibly abated and lost very much in a confluence of this World's delights Men that are possessed of a great deal of outward Wealth are mighty prone to place their Felicity in it and set their Hearts upon it If we compare ver 23 and 24. here in the Context it will teach us That 't is hard to have Riches and not to trust in them hard to depend on God as truly then as if we had them not The Holy Ghost very well knew the need which there is of giving such a charge to them that are rich in this World 1 Tim. 6.17 Solomon who was able to make a Judgment from Experience tells us the rich Man's thoughts His Wealth is his strong City and an high Wall in his own Conceit Prov. 18.11 And though Job could purge himself in this case that he had not made Gold his hope or Confidence Chap. 31.24 yet he was a Man that few could match him according to the Character which God gives of him twice That there was none like him in all the earth Chap. 1.8 1 2.3 2. In a afflicted Condition 't is hard to get up our Hearts to such a chearful Frame and keep them in it as the Word calls for A meek and a quiet Spirit under Sufferings is an Ornament to a Believer but this is not enough The Believers in Scripture that were set forth for our Examples went higher and we find it difficult to reach that which they exceeded We are ready to think our selves good Proficients if we have our Passions so far subdued as to be calm and still not to rage and fret to forbear complaining and repining but how much harder is it to give thanks and bless the Name of the Lord in and for Distresses How much harder to Glory and take Pleasure in Infirmities and to be exceeding joyful in all our tribulation 2 Cor. 7.4 This is so unnatural to be glad of that which is most grievous to the Flesh to glorifie the Lord in the Fires and and bear the heaviest Calamities as valuable Mercies that the performance cannot be easie 6. There is the difficulty of living in the highest Exercise of every Grace with the deepest Humility This is as necessary as any thing that can be named and yet perhaps the hardest of all without Christ the best Duty and the worst Sin as one excellently says are both alike and as the Prosperity of Fools destroys them and their fullest Tables are their greatest Snares so not only our Sins but our Duties may undo us and will if they puff us up and yet how apt are we to swell when we have gone through any service in a tolerable manner How few are there in whom the lively Actings of Grace do not abate the sense of their Vileness almost as much as the workings of Corruption encrease it As there are too many in the World that count this Doctrine absurd so I am perswaded that of all who are in Christ there are none but what find the Practice difficult 'T is hard to walk very exactly with God and yet to walk very humbly to do with all our might and yet entirely to renounce it when we have done and mention nothing of it to be rich in good Works and yet as
while are not perceiv'd to be do not therefore cease to be we may be taken into the number of the Sons of God and yet want the Manifestation of our being such Rom. 8.19 I speak not this to discourage any in the least from looking after the clearing up of these Matters as much as can be to their own Souls but to prevent those from being too much discouraged who are yet kept in the dark by God that they may not conclude positively against themselves but rather take Courage with the Church under the hidings of God's Face But thou art our Father Isa 64.7 8. IV. How is this Priviledge of a Believer's Sonship improve'd by the Spirit 's help The Text seems to have a special Reference to Prayer and to our Challenging and Pleading of this filial Relation in that Duty I shall endeavour the opening of this Point in these eight Things 1. That the Spirit of Christ is particularly promis'd and given as a Spirit of Supplication Zech. 12.10 His Influence is eminently needful in this Service We should never sind in our Hearts to Pray one acceptable Prayer to God throughout our Lives if the Spirit did not put it into our Hearts first We cannot speak to God in any Language which he will hear upon any occasion whatsoever without the Spirits Direction They are all vain Words which are not of his Teaching the froth and scum of Man's Invention which however esteemed among Creatures here below bears no Price at all in Heaven Every Petition which the Father receives is dictated and drawn up by the Holy Ghost God never inclines his own Ear but when he thus prepares our Hearts Except this Advocate be at Work in us there is no finding of Audience with him And therefore they that prophanely renounce all Supplication in and by the Spirit as some have done may as well go a little further and lay aside all Supplication in general for whatever Prayer they pour out is as Water spilt on the Ground 2. Effectual Prayer such as the Spirit teaches and helps us in is put up to God as a Father Jesus Christ is a Pattern to us and if we examine the style of his Prayers we shall find that they are all grounded upon this Relation Mat. 11.25 I thank thee oh Father c. which Title is repeated ver 26. Even so Father c. John 12.27 Father save me from this Hour Father glorifie thy Name And no less than six Times over Chap 17. Again in the Garden Mat. 26.39 O my Father if it be possible c. Yea some of his last Words upon the Cross were in the same strain when he came to give up the Ghost Luke 23.46 Father into thy Hands c. And that we might not think this was proper and suitable to him only the Directory which he gave to his Disciples is so likewise After this manner Pray ye Our Father c. Mat. 6.9 When the Scripture speaks of making Supplication to our Judge Job 9.15 We must understand it of Praying that he would not deal with us as a Judge Psalm 143.2 Enter not into Judgment c. 3. The Praying Dispositions of Children are first infus'd into them by the Spirit Every Babe in Christ is furnish'd with them and as he increases in spiritual Strength and Stature they grow up with him Children naturally apply themselves to their Parents for what they want rather than to other Persons and this also is natural to all the Children of God 'T is a part of their new Nature which is the Work and Product of the Spirit He that hath not a Divine Principle in him which leads him to call on the Father deserves not to be call'd a Christian Assoon as the Soul is born again it crys and its cry is immediately to him whom it is born of This cry is renewed every Day several times in a Day for there is an Habit of this kind emplanted in the Soul which puts forth it self in frequent Acts. The Spirit 's quickening is always accompanied with inward groaning so that where no such groans are we may be sure that Death hath Dominion still and the Man hath not begun to Live 4. The Spirit fills the Mouth with Arguments in the very Act of Prayer such as are fit to be us'd and urg'd to a Father Holy and humble Argumentations with God are truly the very sinews of Prayer wherein its great Strength lies It does not so much consist in the bare proposing of our Requests to God as in the alledging of proper Pleas for God's answering and fulfilling of them Such as that of the Church Isa 63.15 Where is the sounding of thy Bowels and of thy Mercies towards me are they restrained This is Connected with their Claim of God as a Father in the next Words twice ver 16. A fatherly Relation speaks Tenderness and Compassion Psalm 103.13 Like as a Fasther pitieth his Children c. Whoever are void of Pity Fathers are wont to put on Bowels or if the Fathers of our Flesh should be unnatural the Father of our Spirits cannot be so and therefore this was a very apt and agreeable Plea which the Spirit of God hath Register'd for us Whatever you need to have done intreat of God to do as becomes a Father 5. The Spirit enables us to go to God as a Father with Confidence for whom can Children repair so freely to as to their own Parent Whom can they with so much certainty expect Relief from as from him that begat them Therefore as we have Access by one Spirit unto the Father Eph. 2.18 So we are said to have boldness and access or access with boldness Chap. 3.12 The Command of God is to ask in Faith to trust him and depend upon him for the seasonable Accomplishment of all our regular Desires and this dependance is as much our Duty as Subjection is and it is every whit as difficult yea as impossible to be perform'd without the help of the Spirit 'T is far easier to utter many thousands of Petitions before God than to lift up one to him believingly But when the Soul is strengthen'd with all might by the Spirit in this Duty all the workings of unbelief are instantly subdued Doubts and Fears of our Acceptance and Success are made to vanish like Shadows that fly away upon the Appearance of the Sun 6. The Spirit instructs us how to Address our selves to God as a Father with becoming Reverence There must be a mixture of this with our Considence or else we abuse our Priviledge instead of improving it The same Spirit is a Spirit of the fear of the Lord as well as of Faith Isa 11.2 We are not to make so bold with God as not to stand in awe of him The Freedom which God allows us in his Presence is not a rude Familiarity this is not Child-like for a Father ought to be respected by those that descend from him He must be consider'd as a
now 3. It is not given to all in her same remarkable Circumstances The Kingdom of God comes with more Observation into some Souls than into others Some are more gently others more sharply dealt with the Travel of the Soul at the New-birth is not with the same sensible Difficulty and Anguish in all Persons Some pass from Death to Life with greater Convulsions Like that noise and shaking when the dry Bones came together Ezek. 37.7 Others are call'd with a more still Voice and drawn to Christ in a more soft and silent way Grace is sometimes introduc'd by deep Humiliations great brokenness extraordinary disquiet at others Times it insinuates it self into the Soul with less of those Preparatives and therefore less discernably 4. It is not given to all in the same Measure To some more Grace to others less Justifying Righteousness is bestow'd alike upon every one no one is made more righteous by the Obedience of Christ than another but as to the Gift of sanctifying Righteousness there are vastly different Degrees Some in God's Israel like Saul higher from the Shoulders and upwards others like Zacchens little of Stature Some Weak others Strong in Faith some eminent for spiritual Understanding But there is not in every one that Knowledge 1 Cor. 8.7 Some are even consum'd by their Zeal for God but all are not such lively Stones Song 1.17 The Beams of our House are Caedar and our Rafters of Firr As Beams in God's building bear greatest weight so Caedar is of greatest worth SERMON XX. June 1. 1697. EPHES IV. vii But unto every one of us is given Grace according to the measure of the Gift of Christ 2. POsitively 1. There is some Grace given to every one which shall never be lost even to the least Babe in Christ the poorest and meanest Believer whatsoever Also upon the Servants and the Handmaids in those Days will I pour out my Spirit Joel 2.29 Every Member of Christ even such as we think to be least honourable hath this Honour bestowed upon it to be made a partaker of the Holy Ghost and partaker of him so as never to fall away For this is a Gift which is without Repentance Rom. 11.29 As to those that are God's workmanship in Christ it never Repents him that he hath new made them Whom he once effectually draws he never suffers absolutely to draw back ' The Devil may steal the Word out of Men's Hearts before 't is engraffed there by the Spirit but afterwards he cannot 2. There is Grace given to every one which is of the same kind in every one All God's Children the little ones as well as those that are more advanc't to greater ripeness and maturity have the same Divine Nature infus'd into them 2 Pet. 1.4 They are all Created again after the Image of God which as to the Substance of it is the same in all though there be some difference in lesser Features They all obtain like precious Faith 2 Pet. 1.1 The Faith of God's Elect is all alike in regard of its main and principal Fruits In every one it purifies the Heart overcomes the present World realizes unseen Things though it does not work and act in every one with equal Vigour 3. There are supplies of Grace given to every one for as all Creatures do necessarily depend upon God for their natural Beings so God's new Creatures especially for the continuance and increase of their spiritual Life From the Day that they first know the Grace of God in Truth there are further Communications every Day of more Grace both in order to Establishment and Growth How much soever God hath already vouchsaf'd it would be of fatal Consequence if he should stop his Hand God is always giving that we may retain and improve what we have receiv'd before Hos 6.3 He shall come unto us as the Rain as the latter and former Rain unto the Earth As the former Rain which opens the Womb of the Earth to take in the Seed and as the latter which serves to plump and swell the Fruit. 4. There is Grace given to every one suitable to their Condition 1 Cor 7.7 Every Man hath his proper Gift of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Gift peculiar to himself one after this manner and another after that As Christ speaks of a saying Which all Men cannot receive save they to whom 't is given Mat. 19.11 Some Men have less mastery over their Affections and God by his wise Providence casts their Lot accordingly Some are exercis'd with more Temptations and such God furnishes with more Strength to resist and stand against them Some are call'd to more eminent Services and then God enlarges their Capacity of performing them It is still so manag'd by him who knows our Necessity that they whose Condition requires most Grace have most V. What Proportion and Similitude does the Grace given to us bear to the Grace which was in Christ Here Premise a few Things to prevent misunderstanding and then State the Truth it self 1. To Premise a few Things to prevent misunderstanding As 1. That Grace in Christ to which the Grace in Believers bears any Proportion is to be understood of his Grace as Man the Grace which was communicated to his Humane Nature Psalm 45.2 Thou art fairer than the Children of Men Grace is poured into thy Lips His gracious Words which often struck the Hearers with wonder and amazement flowed from this Spring and therefore in that Character which the Spouse gives of him His Lips are describ'd like Lilies dropping sweet smelling myrrh Song 5.13 Jesus Christ as God was the God of all Grace the Original Fountain of it in himself and Author of it to us as Man he was a Vessel that receiv'd it by Derivation it was truly given to him as it was given to the first Man Adam When God created him And this is that Grace of Christ which our Grace does especially resemble 2. The Grace which is given by Christ to every one of his Members is not the same individual Grace which was given to him by the Father We are not endowed with that very same particular inherent Holiness which he was for then we must suppose him to be divested of it at the same Time Those gracious Qualities which were lodg'd in Christ cannot be transferr'd to us for Qualities cannot pass from one Subject to another or belong to more than one at once The same Righteousness which Christ fulfill'd is imputed and reckon'd to us for our Justification as the same Money which the Surety lays down is judicially and legally accounted to be paid by the Debtor but the same righteous Habits cannot be infus'd into Christ and Believers not the same in number though the same in Kind The Case is plain because the Person of Christ and the Persons of Believers are really distinct they are united indeed but not by a personal Union for then there would be as many Christs as there are Believers
August 10. 1697. DEUT. XXXIV v. So Moses the Servant of the Lord died there in the Land of Moab according to the Word of the Lord. IT is no Diminution to the Authority of these Books of Moses that this concluding Chapter must be supposed to be added by another hand whether by Eleazer his Nephew or Joshua his Successor is uncertain 'T is enough that it was done with the direction of the Spirit of God by some Holy Person whom he thought fit to appoint for that purpose Moses had been admonish'd by God at two several times of his approaching Death Numb 27.12 13. and Deut. 32.49 50. This Chapter gives an account of his actual Decease In the foregoing Verses we have a relation of his going up to Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah and of the view which he had from thence of the Promised Land whereupon God plainly and positively tells him I have caused thee to see it with thine Eyes but thou shalt not go over thither Verse 4. the Prospect of it must satisfy thee without the Possession And this did satisfy the Man Moses who was very meek above all other Men for immediately we read So Moses c. In which wors we may take notice of three Things First Moses his Honourable Character Moses the Servant of the Lord. This is the Title which God himself puts upon him a little after in his Charger to Joshua Moses my Servant is dead Josh 1.2 and he is so stiled in the New Testament likewise Rev. 15.3 They sang the Song of Moses the Servant of God This seems especially to refer to the eminent Service which he did to God in his Publick Office as Leader and Governor of Israel As David for the same cause hath the same Character in the Titles of Psalms 18. and 36. And so Ministers that are employed in the Dispensation of the everlasting Gospel are called in a peculiar manner The Servants of the Lord 2 Tim. 2.24 And they who are Faithful in that Service are more dignified thereby than any of the Prophane Princes of this World Secondly Theplace of his Death He died there in the Land of Moab i. e. A Land of Enemies Balak's Country originally till taken by the Amorites and now Conquer'd by the Israelites Thus Jacob died in Egypt a strange Land and indeed in some sense we all do so for in that better Country to which we properly belong there is no more Death Though our Lord hath overcome this World for us we are but Pilgrims in it and by Death we pass out of it to our promised Inheritance Thirdly The true Ground and Reason of it Accordig to the Word of the Lord. i. e. As God had order'd and enjoin'd him to do As Simeon to whom it had been revealed that he should not see Death till he had seen the Lords Christ Luke 2.29 when he came and saw him in the Temple crys out Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in Peace according to thy Word ver 29. It cannot be denied that this Word of the Lord to Moses to dle there seems to be an hard saying and he might have raised many Carnal Objections against it He was now in a state of Health and Vigour not wearied and spent by Sickness and Pain or the Infirmities of declining Years his Eye was not dim nor his natural Force abated and he was short of the Age to which many of the Patriarchs arrived he was but an Hundred and twenty Years old ver 7. He had spent very near a third part of his time in the most Toilsom Employment bearing the Burden of Forty Years tedious march through an Howling Wilderness and yet now when he was upon the edge as it were of Canaan he must die upon the Mount When he had gone so far another must enter into his Labours and inherit the Glory of perfecting the Work not one of his Posterity which might be some Satisfaction to his Brother Aaron that he was succeed by his Son Numb 20.28 but Joshua his Servant one that had attended him and ministred to him one that had envied for Moses's sake Numb 11.28 29. and yet Moses now upon a much greater Temptation does not envy for his sake but delivers up his Charge and breaths out his Soul by the soveraign and undisputed Appointment of God And therefore from this singular and remarkable instance we may be all instructed in our own Duty Observ To die according to the Will of God is a great and necessary Act of our Christian Obedience Here I. Shew How the Will of God is concern'd in our Death II. What sort of Obedience we are to yeild to it III. Why we should do so IV. Apply it I. How the Will of God is concerned in our Death This will appear in several things 1. The general Sentence of Mortality pronounc'd upon fall Creatures is the result of the Will of God the common Death of all Men since Sin entred the World is by a Divine Constitution Men did becaus God hath said they shall do so because he hath resolv'd and determined it not meerly because they are compounded of Flesh and Blood which is a Frame that 's liable to be dissolv'd for we were of the same make as to our natural Substance in our innocent State wherein if we had remain'd we should not have died It is as much in the Power of God to preserve and defend us from seeing Corruption now as it was before but his Will is otherwise Death reigns now universally by a Power given to it from above He who changes not hath ordained that this Change shall come 2. Death hath its particular Commission from God with respect to particular Persons As God speaks of numbring men to the Sword Isa 65.12 like Sheep which are pick'd out of a Flock and design'd for slaughter So Jer. 15.2 such as are for death to death and such as are for the sword to the sword c. The Destroyer cannot come near but only where God hath devoted and set apart for Destruction before-hand Hence those distinguishing Dealings of Providence not only with them under the same Roof but in the same Bed one taken and the other left Luke 17.34 The Pestilence which walks in darkness is guided by God to seize only upon such as he hath mark'd out and it never touches any one whom God will spare though Thousands and Ten thousands fall besides him Psalm 91.7 3. The Circumstance of Time in dying is fix'd and settled by the Will of God As we read how Christ knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of the World to the Father John 13.1 so every Child of God hath such a determinate hour yea minute though we know not ordinarily of its coming as our Lord did Every one hath his set time of removing out of this earthly House which can neither be hastned nor delay'd Every one hath his Portion and Share of Life it self as well as
the World before he hath answer'd the End and dispatch'd the Business for which he was born into it A comfortable Death does not suit with a slothful and careless an useless and unprofitable Life He that hath neglected his Duty to himself or to others in his place may very well b backward and unwilling to die Job begs that it would please God to destroy him and crys Let him not spare for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One chap. 6.9 10. 5. Clear and State your Accounts every day set them in Order for their Confusion will cause your Distraction when you come to die Seriously examine and reflect upon your daily Walk and Course and do not leave those Miscarriages to be budled up in a general Repentance when they are forgotten which when they are fresh you may and ought to be particularly humbled for The more diligent and exact we are in this case the less Advantage will Satan have against us A Man can but scarcely die well as the Apostle speaks of being scarcely saved 1 Pet. 4.18 who hath any thing else to do when his hour comes 6. Beware of grieving the Spirit and clouding your own Comforts Though full Assurance be not absolutely necessary to the yielding of this Obedience in Death yet our Obedience must needs be very defective where some degrees of Assurance or good hope through Grace are not gotten and maintain'd 'T is very hard to resign without some Evidence that God will receive us very hard to let go our Temporal Life when we can lay no hold upon Eternal therefore the Advice is needful Jude 21. Keep your selves in the Love of God do nothing that may tend to prejudice or weaken your sense of it 7. Live upon the Death of Christ as the only Foundation of your warrantable Trust Though you do walk before God in Truth you will find the need of something else to depend on for your Title to Glory Some think that there is a Gospel Mystery in Moses's dying short of Canaan and Joshua's leading the People into it viz. to intimate to us That the Works of the Law will bring none to Heaven but Christ by his Blood hath open'd our way to it He that builds his Hope of Salvation upon any thing which he hath done must either perish or pull down all again 8. Look up to Heaven for Divine Instruction in this great Point It was Moses's Prayer to God so teach us to number our days that we may apply our Hearts c. Psalm 90.12 The numbering of our Days aright is no Vulgar Arithmetick nor can we learn it without a more than ordinary Tutor No Man ever died like Moses here according to the Word of the Lord but what was taught of God to do it He that gives out the Command must guide our Spirits to obey it If we can do nothing for God of our selves least of all can we die to him without him SERMON XXIII October 1. 1697. HEBREWS VII xxv Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them THE Glorious Office of the Priesthood of Jesus Christ is the Subject of great part of this Epistle and the Apostle's main Scope and Design is to shew the superlative Excellency thereof beyond the Legal Priesthood which he does at large in various respects In the two immediate foregoing Verses he compares Christ with the Priests under the Law in reference to their Mortality Verse 23. They truly were many Priests many one after another because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death they were dying Men and how well soever they discharged the Duty of their Places yet in a few Years they left it to those that survived them and knew it no more themselves the Ministers of the Old Testament had their appointed time when their Breath went forth and returned not again as you find that the Ministers of the New Testament have now in their Generation But ver 24. this man or this Christ the Anointed of the Lord whom the Apostle here speaks of for the word Man is not in the Original but supplied by our Translators because he continueth ever hath an unchangable Priesthood his Office does not pass from him to another he hath no Successors in it whom the Exercise of it is committed to but he still manages it in his own Person and will perpetually do it Hereupon that comfortable and encouraging Inference and Conclusion is drawn up in the words of the Text Wherefore he is able c. Whcih words if they were to be cast into our usual Forms of Argument would run thus He who ever lives to make Intercession is able to save to the uttermost But Jesus Christ ever lives c. Therefore he is able c. There are many important Truths lying in this Text but all may be brought within the compass of this one Observ Christ's eternal Life and Intercession in Heaven in an infallible Proof of his Infinite saving Power Here I. I shall enquire into the Thing which the Apostle undertakes to prove The infinite-saving-Power of Jesus Christ II. Into the Evidence which he proves it by The Eternal Life and Intercession of Christ in Heaven With the distinct Uses which may be made of both these I. As to the thing which the Apostle here sets himself to prove viz. The infinite-saving Power of our Lord Jesus The Text it self will lead us to the opening of two Things under this Head The nature of this Power and the extent of it How he is able to save and how far even to the uttermost First With reference to the nature of this Power How is Christ able to save This may may be stated in the following Propositions 1. There is a Power which belongs to Christ as he is God In this as in all other Divine Perfections the Second Person is equal with the First Rev. 1.8 I am the Almighty The very same unlimited boundless Power appertains both to the Father and the Son Therefore when Christ had asserted That none should pluck his sheep out of his hand John 10.28 he confirms it by this That his Father is greater than all and none is able to pluck them out of the Father's hand ver 29. Now if any should go about to deny the Consequence the next words will clear it I and my Father are one ver 30. If my Father is greater than all so am I if he be able to secure and preserve the Sheep so am I for he and I are one we are one in Essence and Nature and so all the same glorious Perfections which are inherent in him are in me likewise But this though it be a great Article of Faith and a great support to Believers does not seem to be that which the Apostle hath so much an Eye to in this place for he is now speaking of his Ability to save