a state of Subjection and Obedience to Him And for Heaven He is likewise the head of all Principalities and Powers Col. 2 10. And Angels and Authorities and Powers are made subject unto him 2 Pet. 3 22. This for his Kingly Office Secondly Take it for his Priestly Office And here he is likewise like Jacobs Ladder in the work of Atonement and Reconciliation as bringing Heaven and Earth together Thus Col. 1 20. It pleased the Father by him to reconcile all things to himself whether they be things in Earth or things in Heaven And so likewise in Eph. 1 20. That in the Dispensation of the fulness of time he might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in Heaven and which are in Earth Even in Him Take us what we are in our selves and there is a Disproportion betwixt God and us we are not onely Strangers but Enemies to him And he to us But now in Christ this Enmity is removed and taken away and there is perfect peace wrought according to that againe of the Apostle Col. 1 21. You that were sometimes alienated and Enemies in your minde by wicked works Yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his Flesh through Death c. And again Rom. 5 10. When we were Enemies we were reconciled unto God by the Death of his Son And not onely so but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ By whom we have now received the Atonement Christ hath made God and us Friends And then again as for Reconciliation so also for Access which is the Fruit and Effect of it It is by Christ that we come unto God and have Admission unto the Throne of Grace As we have the Benefit of his Satisfaction so likewise of his Intercession and both of them consider'd as our high Priest Thus the Apostle seats it Eph. 2 18. Speaking of Jew and Gentile Through him we both have an Access by one Spirit unto the Father And so Chap. 3 12. In whome we have boldness and Access with confidence through the Faith of Him What ever intercourse there passes at any time betwixt God and us it is in all the Covenant of Grace and as it is obtained and procured by Christ And it is he alone that does effect it for us and that brings it to pass And therefore upon this Ground are we still incouraged to have recourse unto God and to perfect our Communion with him as Heb. 4 14. Seeing then that we have a great High Preist that'is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy and find Grace to help in time of need And so again Heb. 10.19 c. Having therefore boldness to enter into the Holyest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vayl that is to say his Flesh And having an high Preist over the House of God let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of Faith And Rom. 5 1 2. Therefore being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ By whom also we have Access 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hence has he in Scripture such Names and Titles put upon him as doe import thus much when he is called the Door whereby we Enter and the Key whereby we Open and the Rock whereby we Climbe and the Ladder whereby we Ascend as it is here in the Text. A twofold Ladder as I may so express it which he hath set up for us The Ladder of his Flesh and the Ladder of his Cross both together make that New and living way for us which was mentioned in the foregoing Scripture Christ is our Conveyance to God and He alone as the Scripture again inform's us Joh. 14 6. I am the way the Truth and the Life No man Cometh unto the Father but by me As no Man come's to Christ except the Father draws him so no Man com's to the Father except Christ brings him Neither is there Salvation in any other for there is no other Name under Heaven given among Men whereby we must be saved Acts 4 12. God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself 2 Cor 5 19. Therefore this by the way shews the Vanity of all such Persons which dream of any other way or Conveyance besides whether of Angels or Saints or their own Free-will and the like that neglect and lay aside Christ as in a manner Needless and Superfluous in this great Work of Salvation surely such as those they are exceedingly deceived and mistaken These that throw down the Ladder they will never be able to get up to Heaven by all the Ropes they can hoyse up to themselves He that hath the Son hath Life but he that hath not the Son hath not Life 1 Joh. 5 12. And so as for final Salvation So for Intermediate Communion likewise It is that which we partake off through Christ and him alone we cannot come into the presence of God nor offer up a Prayer before him which may be acceptable to him but through his Mediation By the Mediation of his Spirit as inabling us and by the Mediation of his Blood as purchasing acceptance for us He is the Angel namely the Angel of the Covenant who offers up the Prayers of all the Saints upon the Golden Altar is before the Throne as it is in Revel 8 v. 3. And what ever are presented otherwise they are of no Force or Validitie at all Thus is Christ our Ladder that reaches from Earth to Heaven in the Consideration of his Preistly Office in both the parts of it whether of Satisfaction or Intercession Thirdly For his Prophetical Office if we take it there also we shall finde that Christ has the notion of a Ladder And as he conveys out Prayers and Desires to God so he does likewise carrye God's words and will to us Joh. 1 18. No man hath seen God at any time The onely begotten Son who is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him And again Joh. 3 13. No man hath ascended up to Heaven but he that came down from Heaven Even the Son of man which is in Heaven He speaks concerning the knowledge of heavenly Mysteries and the Communication of them which did belong onely to Christ who though then upon Earth as Man Yet as to his Godhead was still residing in Heaven having the same Essence and Glory with the Father Matth. 11 27. All things are delivered unto me from my Father and no man knoweth the Son but the Father neither knoweth any man the Father but the Son And he to whom the Son will reveale him It is Christ that brings Heaven down to Earth in regard of discoveries And thus a Ladder in his prophetical Office also To draw up this Point to an head Take Christ in his full extent whether of Nature or Offices
and in all the expressions and accomplishments of either and we shall find him to be very fitly set forth to us by this resemblance in the Text whether as to the steps of the Ladder or to the terms of it The terms of it of Heaven and Earth And the steps of it in the Pasages betwixt either They are such as are very remarkable in Christ in all the works and performances of his Mediatorship from his Conception to his Ascension it self In them all he reach'd from Earth to Heaven as he testifies of himself Joh. 16 28. I came forth from the Father and am come into the World And again I leave the World and go to the Father And so Eph. 4 10. He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all Heavens that he might fill all things It is that which is observable and considerable in every Mistery in his Birth in his Passion in his Ascention and what not There was somewhat of Earth in Each and somewhat of Heaven and he was a Ladder set up betwixt both in the undergoing of them And so much may be spoken of this Ladder here in the Text in the primary and Principal notion of it viz. As it referrs to Christ The Second is the Secundary and Subordinate as it refers to the Church of Christ and every particular part and member of it The Church is either Collectively taken or distributively Collectively in the whole Company of Believers or Distributively in every single and distinct Christian This Ladder it was a Representation in part of Jacob himself and that both Mystically and Personally Mystically as he was a tipe of the whole Church at large And Personally as he was such a man in particular First Wee 'l take it in the first Sense for the Church of God considered at large that is established in Scripture called by the name of Jacob and may very well have the Notion of this Ladder fasten'd upon it for it reaches also from Earth to Heaven in the militant part and the triumphant the body on Earth and the head in Heaven The Church it is Earth as it were removed and transplanted into Heaven Believers they are taken out of the World and they are first sent into that before they are taken into a better place Born first from Below and then Born from Above This is the State and condition of the Church in regard whereof this expression does sute unto it Secondly Take it more restrainedly for every particular Christian and so it agrees with Jacob personally as this Ladder which is here intended in the occasional Scope of it The Lord by this Vision of the Angels of God ascending and descending upon this Ladder and himself standing above it would signify to Jacob his special Providence and care of him in his Journey And so upon this account Jacob must be the Ladder himself in the next and immediate Sense though not in the cheif and Principal And thus indeed also is every true Believer he is one consisting both of Earth and Heaven His Body from Earth his Soul from Heaven his aboad upon Earth his Heart in Heaven His Pilgrimage upon Earth his treasure and his Inheritance in Heaven Heaven and Earth they do devide every Christian And so I have done with the first branch of this Vision here before us and this is the Ladder reaching from Earth to Heaven which is Primarily to be understood of Christ and Secondly to be understood of Christians that is Jacob both Mystically and Personally The Second Branch of this Vision is of the Angels of God ascending and descending upon this Ladder wherein again are two particulars more First The Persons mentioned and Secondly the Motion of those Persons The Persons mentioned they are the Angels of God The Motion of these Persons that is that they ascended and descended Reciprocally First For the Persons themselves These are here exprest to be the Angels of God which they are called upon a threefold Account First From their Creation as made by God Secondly From their Qualification as being made like unto God holy Angels And Thirdly from their Imployment and specially Ministry as being continually in Attendance upon God and standing in his Presence expecting their Commands from him and yeilding all ready and chearful Obedience to him These are the Persons here mention'd Now Secondly For the Motion whereby is attributed and ascribed to these Persons it is of Ascent and Descent reciprocally They ascended and descended upon the Ladder whereby in one word is signified their special attendance upon Christ and the Church and the discharge of their Ministry towards them Wee 'l take them both together and in their order as they lie before us in reference to the Expression above mention'd First Take it of Christ himself And so this ascending and descending of the Angels upon this Ladder it does intimate and declare unto us their special regard and respect to Him which is very eminent in them These Blessed and Glorious Spirits are very remarkable in their observation of Christ It is that which we may take notice of in every Mistery and Passage concerning him how the Angels were still imployed about him and subservient to him upon all occasions whatsoever For his Conception an Angel foretels it to the blessed Virgin Luk. 1 31. Behold thou shalt Conceive in thy Womb and bring forth a Son and shalt call his name Jesus An Angel declares it to Joseph Matth. 1 20. The Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a Dream saying Joseph thou Son of David fear not to take unto thee Mary thy Wife For that which is conceived in her is of the holy Ghost For his Birth an Angel publishes it to the Shepherds with a Glorious Hymn which they Sung saying Glory be to God on High on Earth peace and good will towards Men in Luke 2 14. And when he comes into the World All the Angels of God worship him in Hebr. 1 v. 6. c. In his Temptations in the Wilderness the Angels came and ministred unto him in Matth. 4 11. In his Agony in the Garden an Angel was sent to Comfort him in Luke 22 vers 43. At his Resurrection the Angel roll'd the Stone from the Sepulchre and brought the tidings of it to the Women that sought for Him In his Ascnesion the Angels attended upon him and informed the Desciples concerning him And at his Comming at last to Judgment the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels Thus take him which way you will whether in his State of Abasement and Humiliation or in his State of Advancement and Exaltation do those blessed Creatures still Minister unto him According to either Motion of Christ is the Motion of Angels If Christ be pleased to descend in his State of Abasement the Angels descend with him If Christ again be pleased to ascend in his State of Advancement the Angels they ascend with him Thus do
sure and his counsel it must needs stand and the gifts and calling of God are without repentance Such Points and Doctrines as these do we meet withall in Scripture which all hang together and have a dependance one upon another and concur to the making good of this Conclusion which we have here now before us All that the Father hath given me shall come unto me The improvement which we may make of this Point to our selves is manifold and various First we see here against the Arminians that Election it is peremptory and irreversible there is no deseating or frustrating of it for whosoever is given shall come Christ shall lose none of those which are câ—nferr'd upon him but they shall be certainly and without all doubt brought home unto him Not onely Glory but Grace it is the fruit and effect of Gods Decree and accordingly shall be sure to obtain its effect in us Therefore we see how may which have for a long time gone on in sinful courses yet at last they have been wrought upon and reduced Why how has this come bout namely as the fruit of Gods good-will and purpose concerning them Thus Ephes 1.4 5. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will And Rom. 8.28 The called according to his purpose Secondly we have here also an account of the continuance still of the world and the procrastination of the day of Judgment which is namely for this reason that so those who are clected may have a time and season to be converted that all which the Father has given Christ may by this means come in unto him This is plainly signisied unto us by the Apostle Peter 2 Pet. 3.9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness but is long suffering to us ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance Not any that is not any of his Elect whom he hath appointed and set apart to salvation these he is not willing they should perish for want of space and time of repentance and conversion to God but that they should have a full and large opportunity in this particular afforded unto them that 's the meaning of it Thirdly We learn from hence likewise how to make our Calling and Election sure which the Apostle Peter does advise us unto and that is by making sure our closing with the conditions of the Gospel We may know whether we are given unto Christ by considering whether or no we are come to him forasmuch as all which are given to him they come If any of us shall hang off from him and resuse to close with him we cannot for the present conclude that we are in the number of his Elect Children which is known to us no otherwise than by the effects of our Conversion and turning to him and by these is known certainly Whosoever of us can find in his heart a willingness to accept of Christ we may be sure that we are given unto Christ and that we are in the number of those which shall hereafter be saved by Christ But against this which hath been said may be objected that which our Saviour himself has of Judas Joh. 17.12 Those that thou gavest me I have kept and none of is them lost but the son of perdition The son of perdition is given to Christ and yet lost therefore all which are given to him do not come or at least come in good earnest but in such a sort as they may depart from him again which is as good as nothing What shall we say to his To this we answer That we must here distinguish of being given to Christ There is a giving to him to be a Member and there is a giving to him to be a Minister Those which are given to Christ in the first sense they shall certainly stick by him and cleave unto him and never depart but those which are given to him onely in the second sense they may be lost and fall away from him Now in the number of this last was Judas he was given to Christ for an Aposile one of his Family and external Society but as a Believer so he was not given He was not a vessel of Election but a son of perdition and being so he might very well be lost and so he was though given to Christ According to that of the Apostle John also in another place 1 Joh. 2.19 They went out from us speaking of seducers and false teachers which were externally joyned to the Church because they were not of us for if they had been of us they would have no doubt continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us So much for that Point by taking the words in a way of Latitude All that are Elected shall be Converted Secondly They may be likewise taken in a way of Restriction All that the Father hath given me as excluding any other besides from this Condition There 's none can come to Christ but those which are given to Christ Take notice of this Thus expresly in Joh. 6.44 No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him c. And 2 Cor. 3.5 Our sufficiency is of God And Phil. 2.13 It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his own good pleasure Would we know the true ground and reason of it why none can come to Christ but those whom God does give to come to him we may take it thus First because all others they are quite ignorant of him without the knowledge of Christ there 's no coming to Christ The fick man dares not go to that Physician whom he does not know Now Christ he is unknown to the world and none is able to reveal him to it but God alone Matth. 11.27 No man knoweth the Son but the Father And because no man does so therefore either he must reveal him or none will come to him This is clear from the reply of Christ himself to Simon Peter there in that place Matth. 16.16 17. when Peter had made there a glorious confession of him Thou art Christ the Son of the living God Jesus answered and said unto him Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in heaven There is naturally a blindness in mens minds and understandings whence they know not Christ unless the Father reveal him And then secondly there 's a perversness also in their Wills and their Affections that though they know him yet they hang off from him Light is come into the world men loved darkness rather than light c. Joh. 3.19 To make men come to
This is the scope and drift of this Text. IN the Text it self there are three general Parts considerable First a seasonable Information Secondly a rational Illustration Thirdly an additional Encouragement The Information that 's in those words In my Father's house are many mansions The Illustration in those If it were not so I would have told you The Incouragement in those I go to prepare c. We begin with the first of these Parts viz. the Seasonable Information or discovery which is here made of the future Estate In my Father's house are many mansions which is nothing else as I may so call it but a Prophesie and description of Heaven wherein there are two Particulars considerable of us First the Title and Appellation which is put upon it Secondly the Conveniences or Accommodations which are belonging unto it The Title which is put upon it that is My Fathers house The Conveniencies belonging unto it that is there are many mansions First To speak a little of the Title or Appellation which is put upon it My Fathers house They are the words of Christ in reference to God whom he calls his Father and Heaven as belonging to Him Heaven it is the House of God and so it is here denominated as being so after a more peculiar manner The whole world is Gods house in some sort as wherein he manifests his wisdom and power But the Church is so more especially and that in the full latitude and extent of it whether the Church Militant or Triumphant The Militant Church as that wherein he manifests his Grace and the Triumphant as wherein he manifests his Glory As for the former of these Houses to wit the Church Militant here upon Earth that we have spoken to very lately upon another Scripture and shewn you how Judgment begins at this house of God 1 Pet. 4.17 The latter to wit the Church Triumphant which is above in Heaven this is that which we are now to speak of at this present time and is out of the reach of any Judgment as lighting upon it This is the House of God emphatically and so to be understood by us as intended here in this Text where it is so called and it is so upon a double account First as he is the Maker of it and Secondly as he is the Possessor of it First He is the Maker of it Heaven it is the House of God so Heb. 11.10 Whose builder and maker is God And Heb. 1.10 The heavens are the work of thy hands 2 Cor. 5.1 A building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens Every house that is every earthly house is builded by some man says the Apostle Heb. 3.4 but he that hath built this heavenly house is God And so his house more especially But secondly as he is the Maker so he is the Owner and Possessor of it likewise And it is so his house also Every one that builds an house does not own it nor dwell in it But Heaven it is the place of God's abode not as confined to it whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain but as manifesting his special presence and glory in it Thus Psal 11.4 The Lord is in his holy Temple the Lords Throne is in Heaven And Psal 103.19 The Lord hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens c. Heaven it is the house of God but here it is exprest in the Text by the Relative Denomination My Fathers house namely with respect to Christ whose Father he is said to be not onely here but in divers other places The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ It is an ordinary expression in Scripture And likewise with respect to the Disciples and all other Believers whose Father God is also upon the account of his being the Father of Christ I ascend to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God Joh. 20.17 Because God is the Father of Christ who is the Son by nature he is Father consequently of all the Members of Christ who are his sons by Grace and spiritual Adoption And so he would have them here to understand it in this expression in the Text and we are also to understand it so with them In mine and your Fathers house there are many mansions This is that which every Christian and true Believer may say of Heaven as Christ does here before him It is my Fathers house And it is very sweet and comfortable to him so to think and consider with himself When Gods Children leave the world and depart and go out of these places here below they do but go home as it were to their Fathers their being here in the world is no more but a kind of sojourning and pilgrimage and they live but as it were in the house of strangers But when they go hence they go home to their nearest and chiefest Relations As that blessed Martyr of Christ Dr. Rowland Taylor when he was drawing near to the Town of Hadley in Suffolk where he had been Minister and was now going to be burnt in Queen Maries days for the profession of the Gospel being ask'd how he did answer'd Never better for now I know that I am almost at home I lack not above two styles to go over and I am even at my Fathers house Such apprehensions have Gods Children of Heaven that they look upon it as their proper home and from hence are the more easily perswaded to leave the world when they are called so to do even upon this consideration as it was also here with Christ himself And this is that also which contents them and satisfies them whiles they are here in the world with all the ill usage and harsh dealing which they meet withall here The Children of God whiles they abide here upon earth they meet with many a coarse entertainment from earthly and worldly persons whom they are strangers as it were unto and they are willing so much the rather to put it up because they know they shall be recompenced when they come home what-ever dealings they meet withall abroad they shall have them all made up unto them when they come home to their Fathers house But so much of the first particular observable in this first General viz. the Title or Appellation which is here put upon Heaven and that is My Fathers house the house of God who is the Father of Christ and in him of all Christians The second is the Conveniencies or Accommodations belonging hereunto and that is that in it there are many mansions whiles it is said that there are many mansions in Heaven there are three things which seem to be impli'd in this exprossion First Reception Secondly Duration Thirdly Variety There 's room and place of entertainment there 's continuance and time of abode and there 's likewise choice and store of it First There 's room and place of reception and entertainment there 's opportunity of dwelling and habitation God house is large
besides If Heaven were a meer Fancy if Glory were no more but an Imagination it the state and condition of Believers hereafter were but an empty dream if there were not such glorious Mansions provided for us as are sometimes hinted to us certainly we should have been acquainted with it from Christ himself If it were not so I would have told you That 's the second General viz. The Rational Illustration The third and last is the Additional Encouragement in those words I go to prepare a place for you This is a very comfortable passage and such as deserves very much to be regarded and taken notie of by us as giving us an account of Christs departure and removal to Heaven now at this time it was for the god and benefit of his Church that he might promote their intererest and do that which was most expedient for them We see here where Christs chiefest thoughts were when he was now leaving the world they were not so much upon Himself as upon his poor Disciples how to comfort and encourage them and how to cast and provide for them that it might be well with them however it went with him They were loth now to part with him and were much troubled at the thoughts of it and now he satisfies them and pacifies them with this That he went away for their sakes He did not go away first to take away the place from them and to prevent them by going before no but to take up the place for them and to make room for them against they came themselves There were three special acts of Christ whereby he might be said to prepare a place in Heaven for Believers by his Death by his Ascension and by his Intercession First by his Death he prepared for them by that so far forth as the merit of that did reach and extend hereunto Christ by suffering of death and therein satisfying the Justice of God did obtain unto all his Members a right unto everlisting Life and Glory Thus 1 Pet. 3.18 it is said that Christ hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but quickned by the spirit Bring us to God how is that namely by reconciling us and re-joyning us to him again and so giving us an entrance into his glory according to that in Heb. 2.20 It became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons unto glory to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings And so likewise in Heb. 9.11 12 15. Christ being become an high Priest of good things to come not by the bloud of goats and calves but by his own blood he entred in once into the holy place having obtain'd eternal redemption for us And for this cause is he the Mediator of the new testament that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first testament they that are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance that is the eternal inheritance which was promised From these and the like places it is clear that Christ by his death did prepare Heaven for his people But if this be so it may be demanded What one may think of the Fathers that lived under the Old Testament and before he coming of Christ into the World If Christ by dying did prepare Heaven for Believers in what place were they who left the World before the death of Christ The Papists in answer hereunto tell us that they were in Limbo a place distinct from Heaven and in the confines of Hell which they have intended and devis'd for them But there 's no need at all for such a Device or Imagination as this is We say that they were even then in Heaven and that also by vertue of the Merit and Efficacy of the death of Christ which is of an infinite and eternal extent and reaching both forward and backward Forward to the salvation of all Believers that came after it backward to the salvation of all Believers that went before it Hence is Christ sometimes said in Scripture to be a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world not as to actual accomplishment which was perform'd in the fulness of time but as to virtual efficacy and extent as reflecting upon all Ages and Generations indefinitely and redounding to the special good and benefit of them as many as believed in them This is that which hath prepared a place in Heaven for all Believers under Both Testaments even the Death and Bloud of Christ According to that again of the Apostle Heb. 10.19 20. Having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a true and living way which he hath consecrated for us that is to say through the veil of his flesh and having an high Priest over the house of God let us draw near c. This serves so much the more to magnifie and advance the great love and kindness of Christ unto us that was pleased to take such a course as this was for us that he might procure and promote our happiness that was willing himself to die that we might live and to be crowned with a Crown of Thorns that we might be crowned with a Crown of Glory He went to prepare a place for us Went that is went unto the Cross And went that is went into the Grave he prepared it by his death and sufferings and the Virtue and Merit thereof That was the first way of his Preparation Scondly By his Resurrection and Ascension He prepared Heaven for us by going into Heaven before us After going to his Cross so also by going to his Grave When he had overcome the sharpness of death when he had by himself purged our sins he sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high Heb. 1.3 he did open the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers Opened it by himself entring into it There was the opening of Heaven Christs Personal taking possession of it And it was the opening of it for us also who are said upon that account to be our selves already entred into it namely in Him who is our Head and hath entred into it afore us and in our behalf according to that of the Apostle in Ephes 2.6 He bath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ This was that whereby our Saviour desired at this time to satisfie the minds of his Disciples as concerning his departure and present going away from them that it was in order to their greater good He left Earth that so he might go to Heaven and he went to Heaven that so they might come to Heaven after him and come to Heaven by him as he signifies in the verse immediately following And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also
away from us A Christian when he does at any time find himself in any cheerful and comfortable frame of spirit he should endeavour to keep it up and maintain it allhe can as that which is of very great consequence and importance to him not only for the sweetness and pleasingness of the condition it self but also in reference to that duty which is to be performed by him yea we must know that it is also more pleasing to God himself that his Children upon good and right grounds should walk comfortably and cheerfully before him and rather to close with the Consolations of his spirit than to lye down under the suggestions of Satan or the false and dark representations of their own sad and mis giving hearts therefore walk in the spirit also in this sense that is in the comforts and encouragements of the spirit And so much may suffice of the first term in these words to be explained by us namely what is meant by the spirit which we have shewn in a twofold Explication In the spirit that is in his Graces and Principles as subjected and radicated in us walk in the spirit that is walk after a spiritual manner and in the spirit that is according to his motions and suggestions as objected and propounded to us walk in the spirit i. e. walk according to the guidance and moderation of the Spirit of God The second Term here to be considered is walking and what is meant by that Now in this there are three particulars which seem to be intimated and implied First Here 's implied activity in opposition to bare speculation or profession or idleness in Religion Walking it is a business of motion he that walks he does not stand still Secondly Here 's implied strength in opposition to faintness or remisness he that walks he moves strongly Thirdly Here 's implied perseverance in opposition to declining or giving out he that walks he moves constantly All these particulars are in walking and so appliable to our Conversation in the spirit First Here 's implied activity in opposition to bare speculation or profession or idleness in Religion he that walks he moves himself and does not stand still And thus must it be with us in Religion an the ways of God We must be active and put forward in them it is not only have the spirit or understand it or pretend to it no but walk in it that is be careful to improve the Doctrines and Principles of it in the activity and fervency of a godly and holy Conversation This is that which is in a special manner required of us as Christians and accordingly we shall find t preach'd and urg'd upon us As in vers 25. of this present Chapter If we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit that is if we have a principle of spiritual life in us let us carry our selves answerably thereunto Look as the soul in the body it is not there after an idle manner but it does distribute motion and vigor to the several parts and members of it even so should it be with grace in the soul it should not nor will not be there to no purpose but so as to make the man of God perfect and ready to every good work that I may use the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Tim. 3. ult And so the Apostle Peter also signifies unto us in 2 Pet. 1.8 When he had spoken of the several graces of the spirit in the words before If these things says he be in you and abound they will make you that ye shall not be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ This life of the spirit in us should work in us a walking up to it and whiles it is said here walking we may take notice of the variation of the phrase in the Original Text for it is not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which latter signifies a regular and orderly walking a walking by rule so it becomes us to walk who live in the spirit so to walk as not turning either to the right hand or to the left not carried by our own corrupt lusts nor yet overswayed by the mis-guidings of others but led by the sweet conduct and inclinations of the Spirit of God in us and doing that which he requires of us In a word This is that which is commended to us in this Text that our conversation be answerable to our principles and that as we make any claim to Religion more than others so we should behave our selves suitably thereunto It is not leaves that God stands upon but fruit it is not profession but action it is not only the principles which are in us but the works and duties which come from us in a correspondency and agreement to those Principles Not every onethat saith Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven says our blessed Saviour but he that doeth the will of my father which is in Heaven Matth. 7.21 It is doing that God does principally look after And this it does sadly come home to the consciences of many people in the world which are very guilty in this particular which have a name that they live but are dead as was said of the Church of Sardis which talk much of the spirit and the gifts and graces of it but in the mean time shew but little power and efficacy of it upon their hearts by framing of their lives thereafter as it becomes them to do such as these can have but little comfort whiles they live here in the world or hope and expectation when they go out of it so remaining We see how the Scripture puâ—s all still upon action If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them John 13.17 And then are ye my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you John 15.14 And he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever 1 John 2.17 and many more places besides tending to this purpose Therefore we should not content our selves with any thing below this whatsoever it be First Not with agreat measure of knowledg only no more but so let not that satisfie or content us the devils themselves have this in great abundance and yet but miserable creatures they know and believe and tremble as the Apostle James speaks of them And there were many in this Church of Galatia to whom St. Paul here writes his Epistle which were very knowing and intelligent persons as to the Doctrine of Religion and Christianity which yet for all that the Apostle seems not to be satisfied with Therefore we may observe that he does not say Spiritually understand the law but walk in the spirit There have been some who have so supersticiously sought after and urged the former as that they have laid all the stress of Piety and true Religion wholly thereupon and counted them the only spiritual men which were exercised therein namely in finding out the
All these things are in the hands of God and so the Power to get Wealth by them Thirdly The power of Success It is he that gives this likewise when all things are prepared in the Means as much as can be yet there is a further Blessing which is required for the perfecting of them And this is also from God himself It is the Blessing of the Lord that makes Rich and adds no Sorrow with it as Solomon tells us Prov. 10.22 This is that which is absolutely requisite and necessary hereunto so that ther 's no Power of being Rich without it or devidedly from it Except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it Except the Lord keep the City the watchman waketh but in vain It is vain for you to rise early to sit up late to eate the Bread of sorrow c. Psal 27.1.2 What ever Course any may take to be Rich it is to no purpose without the Blessing of God And this Blessing of God it will make Rich where ther 's little else besides How many men are in the world who can give little account of their Estates but onely this that God has been pleased in his Providence to make a little go a great way with them and to increase them before they were aware as Jacob said once to Laban Gen. 31.42 Except the God of my Father the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac had been with me surely thou hadst now sent me away Empty Yea have sown much and bring in little Hag. 1.6 Fourthly and lastly It is God that gives thee Power to get Wealth that is that gives thee Grace and makes thy Gettings to be lawful to thee When we have mention here made of a Power to get Wealth we must not understand it of an unlimited Power but a restraind Not of a Power which is per fas et nefas Either by hook or Crook but of a Power which is subordinate to the Commandment and will of God and which is agreeable to the Rules of his word Take your Thieves and Robbers and Oppressors and such persons as these and they seem to have a Power to get Wealth such as it is but it is not a Power of Gods giving and bestowing upon them but of their own taking to themselves It is not a Power of Donation but a Power of Vsurpation A Power which God may be said to suffer rather then to give and so it is not the Power which is here meant in the Text. But the Power which is here intended is an orderly and regular Power and consistent with the principles of Religion To get Wealth in Gods way and according to his allowance and approbation this is power to get Wealth indeed And this also together with all the former is the gift of God which he bestows upon those which are his People Secondly Exclusively When it is said here That He gives this power this as I said is to be taken not onely Emphatically but Exclusively and so there are these Intimations in it First That Wealth and Riches and great Estates they are not matters of mere accident and Casualty and Chance but that ther 's a special hand of Providence in them Indeed such things as these they are commonly called Bona Fortunae the goods of Fortune but it were a great deale better and more proper to call them rather Bona Providentiae the goods of Providence which indeed they are being such as are bestowed and ordered according to divine Dispensation The Silver is mine and the Gold is mine saith the Lord. Hagg. 2.8 And as it is his to the owning of it so it is his also to the Disposing The poor and the Rich meet together and the Lord is the maker of them both as Solomon tells us Prov. 22.2 Secondly It is not from our Selves neither that we do any time come to be Rich and to increase in Wealth It is the gift of God This is the very scope of the Text as we may see in the words immediately preceding in vers 17. of this Chapter Take heed thou say not in thy Heart my power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this Wealth but thou shalt remember the Lord thy God This was the miscarriage of Ephraim Hos 12.8 Ephraim said I am become Rich I have found me out Substance c. He attributed his Riches to himself and to his own finding out And so Habb 1.16 They Sacrifice unto their own Net and burn Incense unto their own Dragg Because by them their portion is fat and their Meat is plenteous Indeed the Scripture sometimes tells us that the Diligent hand maketh rich and so it does But it is still in a Subordination to the good hand and blessing of God himself that is supposed to go along with it otherwise all the diligence in the World will never be able to effect it and all the hands in the World will never be able to reach it Therefore we see sometimes even by Experience that it proves otherwise That those who take never so much pains and waite never so many Occasions and leave no Stone un-turn'd for the procuring of Wealth to themselves yet they do not always light upon it because it pleases God himself to deny it unto them Thirdly It is not from other men neither It is Exclusive to them Parents and Friends and Progenitors and such as these Indeed Solomon tells us in one place That Houses and Riches are the Inheritance of Fathers Prov. 19.14 But this must be understood so far as they are able to make them which is not absolutely but with its Restriction How many have there been in the World who though they have had great Estates left them by others yet not withstanding have been poore themselves and have not known either how to Increase or how to keep that which has been left them These and the like Considerations do evidence and make it good unto us which we have here now before us That it is God that giveth men power to get Wealth and that Exclusively We have seen how he does it Emphatically he is not wanting in doing it we have seen also how he does it Exclusively Ther 's none to purpose that does it but he Let us take in one Inlargement and Amplification more to the former and that 's Comprehensively for this likewise is implyed in the Text and very proper and pertinent to our Purpose That which is here in our English Translation rendred to get is in the Hebrew Bible to do or to work Le-gnasoth Chayl And this has somewhat more in it than as yet we have spoke unto we may reduce it to two heads Especially First He gives thee Power to keep it and Secondly He gives thee Power to use it both of these must be taken in and added as belonging to the former First To keep it The Lord thy God gives the Power to do this Alas To how many Casualties and
the earth will I cry unto thee when my heart is over-whelm'd lead me to the rock that is higher then I. See here where David would set his footing in this flood of evils which was ready to overwhelm him him He would not set it upon the Sand but upon the Rock and upon the rock which was higher then himself that is upon God alone There 's nothing higher then our selves which we can rely upon but onely God Take any Creature whatsoever which we might trust to and we are equal with it but the Lord he is a most high Rock and which is exalted far above us that we might be encouraged to trust in him we have an excellent place to this purpose in Isa 26.3.4 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee trust ye in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength or as it is in the Hebrew Text a Rock of Ages God's a Rock of Ages and it is good trusting in him forasmuch as a man then shalt be kept in peace Now we can no further be able to do this then we are at terms of agreement and reconciliation and attonement with God and therefore let it be our main care and study to apply our selves hereunto and to search and examine our selves in this particular to see whether God and we are upon good terms or no and whether he does indeed give quietness to us And remember to this purpose that nothing else will serve the turn It is when he gives quietness that none can make trouble He That is He emphatically and He that is He exclusively in opposition to all others besides For we must know that there are three sorts of peace-makers which though they may serve to give quietness yet in conclusion cannot free from trouble First A mans self Secondly Satan Thirdly false-teachers and flattering friends First A mans corrupt self There are many whom their hearts do not condemn them but it is their hearts which are blinded and hardned with self-love and the deceitfulness of sin and these they promise freedom from trouble but they are not able to give it nay rather do involve in it As ye may see in Deut. 29.19 20. He that when he heareth the words of the Law blesseth himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of my heart to add drunkenness to thirst what 's the issue of such a person why ye shall see in the words that follow The Lord will not spare him but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoak against that man and all the curses that are written in this book shall lye upon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven Secondly Satan He is another false Peace-maker He gives quietness too but it is in his hand and way as he hath sometimes his false-terrours so he hath also his false-peace He lulls people many times asleep in the wayes of sin that so he may so much the deeper involve and plunge them in them He perswades them that all 's well with them and that they have need to enquire into themselves when t is far otherwise Now alas this is also far enough from the preventing of trouble nay indeed it rather increaseth it which he also knows well enough and therefore so disposes of it Satan never gives any man quietness but that occasionally from that quietness he may fill him with greater trouble and perplexity afterwards To this we may add in the third place False-Teachers and flattering friends which cry peace peace and sow pillows under mens elbows when their condition is never so bad These gives quietness too but it is a quietness of that nature which we had a great deal better be without Such as these the Lord tells are guilty of the blood of the souls of his people c. Now all these three sorts of of Peace-makers are in a special manner to be avoided and declined by us And we should labor to have such a quietness in us as is given by God himself and none but him Where the Question yet further will be as pertinent to the matter in hand how we may attain hereunto how we may put our selves into such a posture and condition as wherein God may give us that peace and quietness which will uphold us and preserve us from trouble And here we may briefly observe and take notice of these following particulars for our best direction First We must acquaint our selves with God Be such as are sure to know him and are known of Him This quietness we speak of belongs not to strangers but to friends and special acquaintance Job 22.21 Acquaint now thy self with him and be at peace Mark how these two are joyn'd together and the one as the consequent of the other Acquaintance with God and Peace to signifie thus much unto us that this latter follows from the former If any one would have peace from God they must have acquaintance with him they must know him who he is Therefore all ignorant persons which have no knowledge of God and his wayes but live like heathens and without God in the world they can have no true quietness or peace at all in their hearts They may be sensless and stupid and secure and un-apprehensive of the miserable condition which they are in but for true peace they know not what it means nor were never as yet partakers of it Secondly To our acquaintance with God we must likewise joyn converse and communion also Those which are acquainted with God and have some particular interest in him yet they may not have that quietness they should have for want of communion with him There 's strangeness of Person and there 's a strangeness of conversation and either of these will cause a disquietness and unpeaceableness of spirit wherever they are The first that is proper to carnal and unregenerate persons The second that is incident even to Gods own children themselves Those which are not strangers in the former sense but have some knowledge and acquaintance with him yet they may be strangers to God in the latter sense and be much alienated and diverted from him As friends which know one another well enough yet may have some distance and alienation from one another Now this we ought to be very careful off for the preservation of this inward peace in outward affliction let us labour to keep a constant and daily communion betwixt God and our own Souls that so we may have constant and daily reflections of his love and favour upon our selves and have continual pledges of his good will and affection to us Thirdly Vigilant and Dutiful behaviour we be also careful of this to be conscionable in the performance of those Duties which God at any time requires of us according to the particular Places wherein he has set us Debts they are apt
in sundry regards First As to matter of Preparation consider it so and thus it is in the hand of the Lord. Esay 45.7 I form the Light and create Darkness I make Peace and create Evil. I the Lord do all these things So Deut. 32.39 I kill and I make alive I wound and I heal neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand all is attributed to him Shall there be Evil in a City says Amos that is to say Evil of Punishment and the Lord hath not done it Amos 3.6 Affliction it is in the Hand of God and it is so as well as Blessing He has an Hand for one as well as for the other An Hand to Strike as well as an Hand to Stroke An Hand to inflict his Punishments as well as an Hand to distribute his Favours He is as well fitted for this as he is for that that so we may have right and congruous Appehensions of Him Indeed t is true that this of Punishment it is not altogether so pleasing to Him nor such as he takes delight in It is in his Hand but it is in his left Hand as we may so express it that hand which he does not so ordinarily or at least so readily make use off and so does the Scripture represent it in Esay 28.21 He calls it his Work his strange work and his Act his strange Act. As being such which we in a manner drive him to or else he would not undertake it And Hos 11.8 Ye shall see there how he struggles with it and how loath he is to come to it How shall I give thee up Ephraim how shall I deliver thee Israel Pleasures they are at his right hand At thy right hand there are pleasures for ever more Psal 16.11 And Victory that 's at his right hand The right hand of the Lord does Valiantly Psal 118.16 But Judgment that 's at his left where he is said to place the Goats that is the People which are appointed to Destruction He sets them at his left hand well but though it be at his left yet it is his hand still we may take notice of that he has an hand for this cup of red wine and this hand of his is stretched out as there is occasion for it as the Scripture declares it And therefore accordingly let us expect it and make account of it Let us look upon God as a Punisher and a revenger as well as any thing else as a Judge as well as a Father There are some kind of people in the world that look upon God as all Mercy as if he had no Justice at all in him This is to rob and spoyl him of that which is most due unto him it is to separate and divide him from Himself which is not to be done No it does as well beseem him to Punish as it does to shew Mercy and it does as much express him to the World and therefore says the Prophet David of him The Lord is known by the Judgments which he executeth in Psal 9.16 Gods Judgments they are Demonstrations of Gods Nature and they shew him to be that which he is in his Wisdom and Power so that this may not be denyed by us in any case And as not denyed in the Theory and Speculation so neither in the Practise which is more often and frequently done There are many which if ye put it to the Question and ask and demand of them what ye think of him in this matter they will be ready with their mouths to acknowledg that God is a God of Justice and Revenge and that in his hand there is a Cup of Red wine as it is here before us yea but their Livâ—s and Conversations are not answerable and sutable hereunto for they so walk and behave themselves as if there were no such matter as if there were no Eye to observe them nor no hand to inflict Punishment upon them Now let all such People and Persons as these are be here admonish't from this Expression what ever Mischief or Wickedness or Evil practise which any are undertaking or going about let them still meditate and think this with themselves That in the hand of the Lord there is a Cup of Fury and Wrath and Indignation it is in his hand and t is at his hand also t is ready at hand as he may be provoked unto it let them remember that And so ye have the first Explication how this Cup is in the hand of the Lord namely by way of Preparation It is he that provides it Secondly By way of Qualification It is he that tempers it ye heard before It was full of mixture Here now ye see who t is does it namely God Himself he orders and disposes and regulates all the Evil which is done in the World My Times are in thy hand says David Psal 31.15 What ever Troubles and Calamities there are flying abroad through the Earth they first come through Gods hands before they light upon such and such Persons as the sufferers of them he must give them their Fiat and their Pass before they can proceed any further Thus it shews what cause all have to make their peace with God and to keep in good terms with him especially in such times of Danger and hazard as these now are in which we live we see what Symptomes of wrath and Judgement there are almost in every place and what continual threatnings of more Now how much does it concern us in these cases to look to our selves and to do somewhat which may prevent it from falling upon our own Heads as the Prophet David gives us advice in Psal 2.12 Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled yea but a little Blessed are all they that put their trust in him This is the Comfort of Gods children in trouble That all Afflictions are in the hands of God In His hand to order and temper them by way of Qualification that is the second Thirdly By way of Distribution as giving to every one his share and portion in it it is in the hand of the Lord so when God has prepared this Cup which is here spoken of it is not to run loosely and at random without any difference or discretion at all No But as there 's an hand to temper it so there 's also an hand also to dispose it and he gives to every one so much of it as he pleases and thinks fittingest for them we may take notice of that also And it is very profitable among other improvements which may be made of it to this purpose hereby to keep me from murmuring and impatience and discontent Ye know what was the reasoning of our Blessed Saviour for his own particular Joh. 18.11 The Cup with my Father hath given me shall I not drink it The same likewise may every Christian and true Believer say also with him This is that which is
had the means betimes and continued a great while under them and neglected and slighted them such as these have very seldom in Age found the comfort and benefit of them God does so far prize and value his own grace and the means for the working of it as that he will not easily yield it to those that reject it Therefore I say It is a very hazardous business it carries a great deal of peril and danger in it for youth to be spent in sin Again Thirdly It is very grievous and uncomfortable when men shall come to reflect upon it and call themselves to an account for it as sometime they will There will a time one day come when men are landing in Eternity that they will then stand upon the shore and look back upon the way and course which has been past by them in the Sea of this world when they will be ready to consider how they have spent their former time Now when they shall find that it has been in vanity and in the waies of looseness and ungodliness how pinching and vexing will it be to them especially when they shall consider that there is now no revoking at all or recalling of it These evils are still the most grievous which are most incorrigible which are desperate and past remedy Now such for the most part is this of which we now speak Because that time 's irrecoverable it is such as being once spent cannot be again fetcht back and restored The Consideration of this Point may be therefore a very good Item to such persons as are now in their youth and in the prime of their Age to mind it and to have regard unto it how it is spent by them as being that which they are accountable to God at another day and which he will sadly reckon with them for Take heed here of the censure of Ephraim Strangers have devoured his strength strange courses or strange company ye may take it of which ye will and the latter has a great influence upon the former and upon the devouring of this strength which we now speak of How many poor mouths are there in the world especially which have any thing of the world belonging unto them who are ensnared and set upon by strangers and evil companions which devour their strength to whom they are made a very booty and prey for the undoing of them Now what a miserable condition is this and how much to be lamented What need have Parents in these cases to look to themselves when they shall see it thus with them But so much for that As we may take these words here before us in their Personal Notion as denoting the fin and miscarriage of such particular Persons Now further Secondly We may take them in their Notional signification and more at large namely as setting forth to us the condition of this people of Israel in their latitude and full extent And so as I must still put ye in mind of it we have their sin and their punishment promiscuously and involved one in the other forasmuch as the words may be very well applied to either and if ye will to both we shall see it in the particular explication and handling of them The word that stands in the front and which leads on to the two other is strangers Zarim as it is the Hebrew Text which is of a large and various Interpretation But accordingly as it lyes here before us in this present Scripture may admit of a threefold Reference or Emphasis in it First Strange Gods Secondly Strange Women Thirdly Strange Enemies of if ye please Allyes and Confederates All these are the strangers which had devoured Ephraim's strength Strange Gods that we have signified in Hos 4.17 Ephraim is joyned to Idols Strange Women that we have signified in the 18th of the same chapter They have committed whoredom continually Strange Enemies or Allies and Confederates that we have also in Hos 5.14 Then went Ephraim to the Assyrian and sent to King Jareb And this diversity and variety of Strangers to make the connexion so much the fuller it does refer to a variety of strength which is answerably devoured by them the one is Spirtual the other is Natural the third is Temporal The Spiritual or strength of Grace that 's devour'd by strange Gods The Natural or strength of Temper that 's devoured by strange women The Temporal or strength of Estate and Power and worldly subsistence that 's devoured by strange Enemies or such Allies and Confederates as were aliens and strangers to them Here 's the full and perfect connexion of these things one with another and the order in which they lye in the Text now before us We begin with the first Strangers have devoured his strength that is strange Gods have devoured his grace false and Idolatrous Worship which he has for a while addicted himself to has eaten out the very strength and marrow of Religion and Piety in him so that he has nothing left him but the very outside and form of godliness yea hardly that This is one thing to be taken notice of by us and of very great consequence That what-ever's corrupt or amiss in Religion it does take out the very heart of Religion in those which do give themselves to it or partake in it This is true not only of Idolatry and the grossest kinds of Superstition as is here principally intended but also as well such as we may take notice of of formality and a customary service of God in the Duties and Exercises of Christianity which are performed by us It is not only so in strange Gods but in strange Fire as it was with Nadab and Abihu That is in the application of it with strange affections and an undue frame of heart and spirit in those sacrifices which we offer up unto the Lord. And for as much as it is more pertinent and seasonable I will now fasten upon this to shew how this strange kind of worship not only strange for the object and matter of it as it is in flat and absolute Idolatry but also strange for the manner and carriage of it as it is in formal and customary performances it does devour the very strength of Piety and Religion in those persons which do give themselves to it or content and please themselves with it or allow and favour themselves in it This is the Point now in hand Look as it is on the other side that hearty and lively services and a spiritual use of the Ordinances it does keep up grace alive in the heart and increase the habits and principles of it so fomal and customary do abate it and diminish it and take from it and make it less and cause a very great decay of spiritual vigor in those which yield thereunto When men come to the Ordinances of God carelesly and hand over head or behave themselves slightly and perfunctorily and superficially and negligently in them they do many times
our hearts does thereby bring us to Glory and make us partakers of his heavenly Kingdom And so they are all upon the point one and the same and accordingly have the name of one thing put here upon them As the several links of a chain make up but one chain even so is it here in this particular But Secondly How is this alone said to be needful We know that there are many other things that we have need of besides this We know that we have need of food and rayment and employment and things conducing to these as our Saviour tells his Disciples in another place Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things as it is in Matth. 6.32 How then do we confine it to Religion as if nothing were needful but only that To this again we answer That our Saviour here intends his speech of an absolute necessity other things are necessary in their place as conducing to such and such ends but nothing is simply indispensibly necessary but this It is the only that is the chiefly needful the words being thus explain'd we come now to the truth it self which is exhibited to us in them and that 's this That the main and principal business which it concerns every one to look after whiles they live here in the world is to endeavour God's Glory in the salvation of their own souls Or if ye will more briefly thus That Religion is the one thing which is needful This is abundantly confirm'd unto us out of divers other places of Scripture Thus Eccl. 12.13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole duty of man It is Col Adham as the words run in the Text the whole duty and the whole dignity and the whole happiness of any man whatsoever So Matth. 6.33 Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all other things shall be added unto you And Joh. 6.27 Labour not for the meat that perisheth but for the meat endureth to everlasting life c. In Prov. 4.7 Wisdom is the principal thing therefore get wisdom and with all thy getting get understanding By Wisdom there he means Grace and the knowledg of the Holy as it is call'd Prov. 30.3 Isa 55.1 2. Ho every one that thirsteth come unto the waters c. Wherefore do ye spend your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Hearken unto me and eat ye that which is good It is the voice and invitation of Christ calling men to look after their souls and the means which tends to the salvation of them This it may be further amplified and confirmed from these following Illustrations First This is that which is most noble and excellent in its own nature that is mainly and principally to be regarded and look'd after by us which of all other things is most noble and excellent consider'd in it self Now this is the present business in hand whereof we now speak There 's no such sweet and blessed condition as the state of God's children who are indued with Grace in this life and who are perfected with Glory in another It is that which does indeed excel all the comforts and contentments of this World they are nothing in comparison with it There 's an emptiness and a defectiveness in them and such as will be unable to satisfy at another day whereas this it makes a man fully and compleatly happy And on the other side without this a man is for ever wretched and miserable That is certainly and undoubtedly the main thing to be minded without which a man can least subsist Now this is this one thing in the Text. It can be least spared of all other things besides Honours and profits and pleasures and such things as these men in some sense may be able to spare them and they may do well enough without them But Grace it is such a thing as we cannot spare and to purpose be without it so essential is it to true happiness Secondly It is of the greatest influence and extent and usefulness to us it is that which we have occasion for in the whole course and compass of our lives and we cannot properly do any thing without it Grace it is a general and universal qualification it fits a man for every state and condition which he is subject unto for want and for abundance for prosperity and for adversity for life and for death It manages all Callings and all Providences and all Affairs whatsoever they be And a man cannot carry himself in them so decently and as becomes him that wants it That man that neglects his soul there 's nothing else which can be well minded by him Thirdly It is of the greatest continuance and duration All that men look after in the world it lasts no longer than the world it self when that is but once at an end there 's an end of all those things which are pursued in it But now this one thing which is here spoken of it lasts to eternity And so the Scripture expresses it self about it an enduring substance an inheritance that fades not away a well of water springing up unto everlasting life and such phrases as these Hence it is said also in the close of the verse that this good part which Mary had chosen it should never be taken away from her It is eternal both in regard of the enjoyment and in regard of the consequent in regard of the thing it self and of the fruit and reward of it which abides and continues for ever Grace it will stand us in stead as long as we have any being which nothing else will do besides Fourthly and lastly This is also the main purpose for which every man was sent into the world therefore it is mainly to be regarded and looked after by him Every wise man looks after his end and that scope whereunto he is ordain'd to be most of all fitted for that Now what 's the end of our coming into the world it's all and only for this one thing We came not into the world only to be in the world to eat and to drink and to sleep and to take our pleasure to live a natural or a secular life and there 's an end But we come into this world as an opportunity to prepare for a better We come into the world to be useful and profitable in it to employ our talents and to improve our mercies and to serve our generations to do all that possibly we can for the Glory of God and the good of others and the advancement of Religion to get a stock of Grace and Holiness to work out our own Salvation to lay up in store to our selves a good foundation against the time to come laying hold on eternal life As our Blessed Saviour says of himself To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the
affections and hearts off from the principles But Thirdly Especially let us go to Christ himself to hold us in his hand Joh. 15.4 Abide in me and I in you c. We must first labour to find our selves truly ingrafted and incorporated into Christ and then we must draw strength and power from him whereby we may subsist We must continue in Christ himself that so his words may continue the better in us And so ye have both parts of this Speech of Christ brought together The Duty supposed and the Priviledg inferr'd and one following upon the other It is the priviledg of all true Christians to be the Disciples of Christ indeed and that which chiefly gives them right and title to this priviledg is their continuing and abiding in his words If ye continue in my words then are ye my Disciples indeed SERMON XV. JOH 6.37 All that the Father hath given me shall come unto me and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out The World's rejection of Christ and of the Doctrine which is delivered by him it is no disparagement either to Christ himself or to his Doctrine which was delivered but to those rather which reject both Him and it which is that which by way of prevention he does intimate here in this Scripture Our blessed Lord and Saviour had in some Verses going before shewn who and what he was and the Excellencies and Commodities which were in him Now because the Jews might perhaps have objected That for all this he was not generally so embrac'd but there were many still which held off from him For this he tells them That the Truth of God not withstanding has that honour given it which belongs unto it for let others be that which they will be those which are Chosen and Elected of God they are sure to have benefit by it and to make a profitable improvement of it All that the Father hath given me shall come unto me c. IN the Text it self we have two General Parts observable of us First An account of the persons that come to Christ All that the Father hath given me shall come unto me Secondly Christs Entertainment of those that come to him and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out We begin with the first viz. an account of the Comers All that the Father hath given me shall come c. Before we come to handle the main Doctrine which is here exhibited to us there are two Terms in this passage to be opended and explained by us First what is meant by coming to Christ Secondly what is meant by being given to Christ by the Father When we have understood both of these we shall the more easily proceed in the points which slow from them For the first Coming to Christ it hath a various sense in it and may be diversly taken by us but we will reduce it to two Heads First an Outward coming in application of our selves to the means we are then said to come to Christ when we come to the Ordinances of Christ This is that which we often meet withall in Scripture a coming thus Mark 10.14 Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not And so in many other places besides in the Gospel There were divers which came to Christ that is they had access to his person and did repair unto him this we cannot do now in the Letter and directly but we may in the Analogy and that is by our attendance upon the external means of Salvation so long as we come to them we do in a sort come to Him He that receiveth you receiveth me Matth. 10.40 And Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me 2 Cor. 13.3 But this is not all the coming which is intended here in this place there is somewhat more in it than so Therefore secondly Coming to Christ is as much as closing with Christ embracing him and believing on him and submitting to him it is a coming not onely of the feet but especially of the heart of the Soul and inward man This is the coming which is here principally aimed at when we so come to Christ as that we do yield up our whole selves to be at his disposing When we come off to him and comply with him and resign our selves to him then we come to him and come to him to purpose and not before And that 's the first term to be explained what 's meant here by coming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall come unto me The second is What by Given All that the Father hath given me Now for this we must know that there is a double Gift of us to Christ First In God's Eternal Purpose and Counsel and Decree We are given to Christ when we are design'd and set apart for him That 's the Gift of Election So All that the Father hath given me that is All that he hath separated for me that he hath made choice of as Members of me Secondly We are given to Christ in the drawing of our hearts unto him in our effectual Calling and Vocation when God by his Spirit does perswade us to close with Christ in those terms which he offers to us in the Gospel then he is said to give us to him And this Giving it is mutual and reciprocal Christ he is given to us and we are given to him and so there is a Marriage-knot which is drawn and contracted betwixt us And this now for the meaning of the words what we are to understand by Coming and what by Given Now to come to the main Doctrine it self which is here exhibited to us All that the Father hath given me shall come unto me This it hath a double force or emphasis with it either first of all as an expression of Latitude and Vniversality or secondly as an expression of Confinement and Restriction According to the first sense so there is this in it That whosoever are Elected shall be Converted All that God has given unto Christ that is ordained and set apart for him they shall be converted and brought home unto him According to the second sense so there is this in it That none can come to Christ but those which by God himself are given to him All that the Father hath given me as excluding any other besides from this Condition We begin with the first viz. as it is an expression of some Latitude and Universality Whosoever are Elected shall be Converted Whosoever are appointed to Glory they shall be made partakers of Grace Rom. 11.7 The Election hath obtained it but the rest were blinded And Acts 13.48 As many as were ordained to eternal life believed So 2 Thess 2.13 God hath chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth This must needs be so because the End and the Means they still go both together according to Gods manner of dispensation and the foundation of the Lord is
if it were hardly any sight at all Surely it is not a seeing of God in his Essence but onely of what he is towards us for our particulars And the Scripture does speak of it as imperfect Thus 2 Cor. 13.12 Now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face Now I know in part but then shall I know even as also I am known Where are three words of disparagement which are put upon this kind of sight in comparison with that which is more perfect First it is but in a Glass 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we know that such sights as those are they are but imperfect because they are but reflexive As the sight of the Sun-beams in Heaven which cannot be look'd upon directly so is knowledge of God by Faith it is tantum in speculo The second is darkly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we conceive of things in a Riddle or Mystery which implies a great deal of cloudiness and mistiness and obscurity in it The third is but in part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which still denotes a shortness in it And this for that disco very which we have of God in a way of ordinary Revelation by the sight of Faith The second is Extraordinary in Prophetical manifestation Thus some of the Servants of God in former times had a special elevation of mind peculiarly vouchsafed unto them whereby they were enabled to have notable apprehensions of God and a glorious sight of him as in the instances above-mentioned Isaiah seeing him upon the Throne Jacob face to face Moses beholding his glory c. But yet neither did these reach so high as the Essence of God Moses that saw the most of him he is said to see but his back-parts that is some imperfect image and representation of his glory his face he could not nor might not see Ex. 33.20 Thou canst not see my face for no man shall see my face and live This imports That Moses did not see the Substance of God but onely that God did after a familiar manner reveal himself to him and in some resemblance shew him his Glory so far forth namely as Moses was capable of it which did wonderfully affect him And thus we have the second thing here considerable for the explaining of this passage and that is the Act No man hath seen God at any time that is perfectly in his Divine Substance and Essence and that as to sight in the full latitude and extent of it whether Corporeal with the eyes of the Body or Mental with the eyes of the Mind And for this latter in all its varieties also whether of Nature or Grace of Reason or Revelation not by way of Causality not by way of Negation not by way of Eminency as to the obscurity of Reason nor yet either by the sight of Faith as more ordinary or by the light of Prophesie as more extraordinary as to Divine Revelation The third and last is the Medium or Means by which That must be also here taken in for the explication of this passage to us No man hath seen God but in Christ whereby he hath made himself in a manner visible and conspicuous to us so that He who cannot be seen otherwise yet in Him is seen after a most illustrious manner Hence he is said to be the Image of the invisible God Col. 1.15 because all the Excellencies and Perfections of God they are entirely in Christ Thus even the Father Himself which we shewed before was never seen yet comes to be so according to that of our Saviour to Philip Joh. 14.9 He that hath seen me hath seen the Father namely because the glory of the Father does shine forth in the face of Jesus Christ. As it is again in Joh. 1.14 We beheld his glory the glory as of the onely begotten of the Father c. No ma hath seen God to purpose any other ways than as revealed in his Son And thus we have the full explication as I conceive of this present Proposition That no man hath seen God at any time No man hath seen the Father No man hath seen the Father Essentially No man hath seen the Father but in Christ There 's the Object the Act the Medium Now to give you some account of the Point there is a two-fold ground which may be assign'd hereof unto us why God cannot be seen by us whiles we live here in this world in the sense which I have now given of it the one is taken from God and the other is taken from our selves First on Gods part there 's an obstruction from the Incomprehensibleness of his Nature which cannot be fully reached unto by any Creature whether in Heaven or Earth Even the blessed and glorious Angels themselves who are in a state of Comprehension though they comprehend so much of God as the Creature is comprehensive of yet they can never comprehend so much of him as is indeed comprehended in him Our God to speak strictly of him is beyond and above all Comprehension Therefore this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here which we translate no man may be as well rendred no Creature and it agrees with other places in Scripture as Matth. 11.27 No man knoweth the Son but the Father neither knoweth any man the Father but the Son It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is no person whatsoever So Rev. 5.3 No man in heaven and earth was able to open the book it is also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is no creature The Nature and Essence of God in the Fulness it is beyond any created Comprehension And so there is an obstruction to our perfect seeing of Him on His part But secondly There where he is also comprehensible and shall be also comprehended hereafter yet there is at present an Obstruction of it on ours and that again two manner of ways First of all from the frailty of our Nature as we are flesh and blood And secondly from the corruption of our Nature as we are sinful flesh and blood First there 's the frailty of our Nature as we are flesh and blood Who shall dwell with the devouring fire c. There is such an Infinity betwixt the glorious God and poor mortal man as there is no coming near unto him Here some even of the Servants of God when God has appeared unto them have conceived presently they should die as Gideon in Judg. 6.22 and Manoah Judg. 13.22 We shall die because we have seen God face to face Secondly As from the frailty of our Nature as it is flesh and bloud so from the corruptions of our Nature as it is sinful flesh and bloud Thus in the place before cited Isa 6.5 Isaiah bewails himself as one undone because being an unclean person and of polluted lips he had seen the King the Lord of Hosts And Job when his eye had once seen God he then says he abhorred himself and repented in dust and ashes in Job 42.5 6. Thus is
to make the Captain of our Salvation perfect through sufferings Our sins had wholly obstructed and stopp'd up the way to Heaven and made it unpassable to us now Christ by his death hath opened it and made way for us The Blood of Jesus Christ hath cleansed us from all sin 1 Joh. 1.7 Having taken our nature upon him and in that nature suffer'd in our behalf he hath now made us capable of partaking of eternal happiness This is that new and living-way which we find mention made of by the Apostle in Heb. 10.19 20. Having therefore Brethren boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail that is to say his flesh And having an High Priest over the house of God Let us draw near c. This is the benefit which we have by Christ's death and the satisfaction of God's Justice for our sakes not only that our sins are pardoned but also that we have favour and grace to be entituled to eteral life This in the discharge of Christ's office of Priesthood He is the way first of all so The Second is in discharge of his Prophetical Office He may be said to be the way also thus so far forth as he hath revealed and made known this way unto us which he hath done for us This he did in his own person whiles he was here upon earth He went about teaching in the Synagogues and preaching the Kingdom of God as we may see in divers places of the Gospel Joh. 1.18 No man hath seen God at any time The only begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him He hath declared him he hath declared God himself and he hath declared the way of coming to God as being privy to God's mind in this particular This he did whiles he lived here in the World And since that he is gone up into Heaven he hath done it also and still does it by his Ministers and Embassadors whom he hath sent to this purpose to prepare the way of the Lord and to make his paths known The Preaching of the Gospel it is no other than the way of Christ which he hath consecrated for us as a means to bring us to Heaven and Christ himself may be said to be the way in reference to it Thirdly As to his Kingly Office he is the way to Heaven also thus He is Via Regia so far forth as he does cause this way to be laid out for us and does order us and regulate us in it When we have found out the right way to Heaven yet being left to our selves we are apt to stagger and stumble in it and ever and anon to be wandring and running out of it Now this is a part of Christ's Government which he does exercise over his chosen to reduce them and keep them right To make strait paths for our feet lest that which is lame be turned out of the way and that it be rather healed as it is in Heb. 12.13 And then also by the same Kingly Power he does likewise remove and take away any thing that may hinder and obstruct us herein Oh there are a great many difficulties in our passage to Heaven which are hindrances and impediments to us many lusts and temptations and afflictions and enemies of all sorts as so many Pyrats and Robbers which we are to grapple withal Therefore Christ is fain to be our way as to the removal of these difficulties from us which he does as our King To all this we may further add his conduct and guidance of us by his own pattern and example He is thus far the way to Heaven as himself hath walked in that way in the tenour of an holy conversation So the Apostle Peter expresses it 1 Pet. 2.21 22. Christ hath left us an example that we should follow his steps who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth Our Saviour's life whiles he was ere upon earth it was an heavenly life and favour'd of that blessed place which he was tending and going to and thereby shewed us what ours should be too He chalk'd out the way to Heaven for us for the direction of us And therefore the Scripture still calls us to the following and imitation of him and walking in his ways Thus Matth. 11.29 Learn of me for I am meek and lowly c. Joh. 13.15 I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you Phil. 2.5 Let the same mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus And 1 Joh. 2.6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked Thus still is Christ himself propounded as a Guide and Conduct to us And thus in all these respects is he very fitly and properly termed the way This is a Point of great comfort and satisfaction to us that there is such a way as this is which is found out for us to everlasting Salvation which whiles we are careful to enter into and to persevere and hold on in we may at last come to the enjoyment of it That it is not only provided for us but also discovered to us as it is now here in this present Scripture That Christ himself who is it is pleased to shew it and to acquaint us with it as here he does Every man by nature is a stragler and has lost his way We all like sheep have gone astray and have turn'd every one to his own way as the Prophet makes complaint Isa 53.6 But here there is a way opened for us which it concerns us therefore to attend unto and not to depart from it This is the way walk ye in it It is our concernment so to do especially if we shall consider the divers properties and excellencies which are in it There is nothing which is desirable in any way but it is to be found and observed in this way whereof we now speak As to instance in some sew particulars First it is a true way A way that comes perfectly home to the journeys end And therefore as I hinted in the beginning some have thought the word Truth to be added in the Text. by way of special denomination He is the way and the truth That is he is the true way There There are a great many ways which men sometimes do dream of in the World as whereby to come to happiness but they all fall short of home and do not attain it yea but Christ he is the way indeed so as those that lay hold on him shall be sure never to miss Our way to happiness when time was lay in another tract to wit in our selves when Adam was entrusted with it for himself and all his posterity But that we parted withal of our own accord But now there 's a new and living way provided for us which is a great deal better and that is
the Word as he was Man he might be ignorant of it And this is one thing here considerable in order to this explication viz. the subject of this knowledg It was the same that knew or not knew it But the Son of God that knew it the Son of Man that knew it not The Second is the means or kinds of this knowledg The means whereby or the kinds according to which he is said to know it And that 's thus He knew it in his humanity but not by his humanity His humanity was not the principle of this his knowledg There 's a twofold knowledg considerable in Christ as Divines distinguish of Vision and of Action According to the former kind of knowledg namely the knowledg of vision so he knew the time of the last judgment But according to the latter knowledg namely the knowledg of action so as yet he did not know it namely so as to execute it and put it in practice Christ knew not the day of judgment in such a way and by such kind of helps as men do ordinarily attain to knowledg The Third is the manner of this knowledg Christ knew not the time of the last judgment we may take it oeconomically and by way of dispensation He knew it not so as now to reveal it or make it known for knowledg in Scripture is sometimes taken in such a sense as this is as 1 Cor. 2.2 I determined to know nothing amongst you c. The last is the time of his knowledg he knew it but he knew it not yet namely not then when he uttered those words till his resurrection and ascension For Christ as he was man was capable of improving in knowledg and so he did as we may see in Luke 2.52 And thus much for the explication of that passage which we meet withal in the Gospel wherein it is said of Christ that he knew not the day and hour of the latter judgment To return now to the Text it self which we have here before us It is not for you to know the times and seasons c. And here we may take notice of the persons which are excluded from this knowledg according to a threefold reduplication which is observable First in their Humane capacity It is not for you that is for you Men. Secondly in their Christian capacity It is not for you that is for you Believers Thirdly in their Ministerial capacity It is not for you that is for you Apostles Not as Men to know it by natural sagacity not as Christians to know it by supernatural illumination not as Apostles to know it by Divine inspiration or extraordinary revelation First It is not for you that is for you Men by the strength and power of reason or natural sagacity ye cannot know it so ye cannot find it out as the Preacher sometimes speaks by laying one thing by another to find out the account Eccl. 7.27 Reason is unable to dive into so great a depth as this is to wit the nature and quality of future times and seasons and more particularly which seems here to be related to the certain time of Christ's coming in his Kingdom And that because it is a thing which is lock'd up in the breast of God It is a path which no Fowl knoweth and which the Vulture's eye hath not seen seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living and kept close from the fowls of the air as Job speaks of heavenly wisdom in Job 28.7 21. Men may blunder and grope in the dark and make some kind of plausible guesses and conjectures at it according to their own several fancies and conceits and private imaginations but they can make no true judgment of it All the wit of man is not able to reach such a mystery nor to attain to the knowledg of it Though reason may pierce very far into the mysteries and secrets of nature and may be able to speak probably about it yet it cannot attain unto the depths and secrets of providence or predestination Secondly It is not for you that is for you Christians by supernatural illumination There are many things which are too high for reason which yet are not too high for Grace and which are not known by the light of nature which yet are known by the light of the Spirit yea but this which we now speak of it is not known by this neither The Spirit that searcheth all things even the deep things of God and accordingly reveals them to us so far forth as is convenient for us yet hath concealed this depth from us and reserved it to himself You have an unction from the holy One and know all things says the Apostle 1 Joh. 2.20 And again You need not that any one teach you but as the anointing teacheth you c. in verse 27. But these all things are all things requisite and necessary to be known by you especially in order to your Salvation whereof this is none Thirdly I is not for you that is for you Apostles by the means of Divine inspiration or extraordinary revelation As Christians have knowledg of more things than ordinary Men so Apostles had knowledg of more things than ordinary Christians and yet for all that they had not the knowledg of this neither did it become you to have even in their Ministerial and Apostolical capacity And therefore though they ask'd after it yet they were kept from it nay even St. Paul himself who had partaked of abundance of revelations and visions from the Lord as himself testifies had been caught up into the third Heaven and Paradise and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter it is probable that he never was acquainted with this mystery What do we speak of the Apostles when-as it is above the knowledg of Angels as we have it in the place before cited out of the Gospel Which knoweth no man no not the very Angels in Heaven Thus in all these respects and according to all these capacities is this passage here made good unto us It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put into his own power Now the consideration of this Point for the use of it comes to this improvement which may be made of it First as it meets with mens vain curiosity and affectation in this particular There are a great many people in the world which do very much trouble both their own and other mens heads with such questions and enquiries as these are as to know the particular time and year of Christ's coming to judgment But this answer here of our Saviour which he makes to his Disciples puts them off from such kind of scrutinies and inquisitions for if it be not for you to know them then it is not for you to enquire or to desire to know them but to rest your selves satisfied in the present ignorance of them There are many other things besides
thou Simon Bar-jona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in Heaven Flesh and blood is no revealer of Christ nor of the Mysteries which belong unto him And so 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural man receives not the things of the spirit for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned And so in the place before cited 1 Cor. 2.8 Which none of the Princes of the world knew The Princes of the world who are they these are not as I conceive only those which are properly so call'd earthly Kings and Potentates and the like for but few of them had an hand in the actual crucifying of Christ but by the Princes of the world we are to understand rather the great Rabbies and Doctors of the world which were as it were Princes for learning and humane knowledg which did Dominari in Scholis The Scribes and Pharisees the Philosophers and Naturalists and the like these were Principes seculi hujus and which notwithstanding were wholly ignorant of Christ So that we see how men may much abound in worldly wisdom and yet fall short of Evangelical knowledg First Because this Mystery of the Gospel it is a thing which is meerly dependant upon the will and counsel of God himself that which has its sole ground work and foundation in the wisdom of God that cannot be discovered or discerned by the meer wit and wisdom of man now thus it is with the Doctrine of the Gospel and the way to Salvation by Christ it is a thing purely dependant upon Gods Wisdom and Decree for the accomplishment and revelation of it Hence it is said in Scripture to be the Wisdom of God in a mystery and the hidden Wisdom which God had before the world ordained to our glory 1 Cor. 2.7 Again it is said to be hid in God Eph. 3.9 that is in the secret of his own purpose and eternal counsel This makes it to be such as is beyond the reach not only of the wisest men in the world but likewise without particular revelation of the Angels themselves Secondly As it is hid in God so it is also hid by God and that of purpose oftentimes from those which are otherwise the wisest men in the world thus we have it in that acknowledgment of our Saviours Mat. 11.25 I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes Even so O Father because it seemed good in thy sight God does think fitting sometimes in his infinite and unsearchable wisdom to conceal and hide from the great ones and Rabbies of the world those things as concerning Religion which yet he discovers to mean persons And so if we will we may apply the phrase in the Text in another sense than as yet we have taken it In the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God namely by taking this Wisdom of God Oeconomicè as well as Objectivè God did so order it dispense it in his Providence and unsearchable Wisdom that the world by all their wisdom should not attain to the right knowledg of him Thirdly The world by the strength of natural wisdom is not able to know God in Christ in regard of the disproportion betwixt the faculty and the object the knowledg of Christ being of a far different and contrary nature and condition hereunto We know that no faculty can act beyond its own sphere nor reach an object which is above it self As bodily eyes cannot see spiritual substances no more can wit and natural sagacity be able to reach the knowledg of God in Christ which is an object transcendent unto it The improvement of this Point to our selves is not as some would make it to be from hence to cast a reproach and disparagement upon Wit and Parts and humane learning simply considered it is not in the sense of the times at least of many foolish people in them to cry down Schools and Colledges and Universities and such places of Learning and Education as these are nor to diminish or take off from those which are eminent in such kind of perfections humane wisdom and wit and skill in Philosophy and sagacity they are singular gifts and endowments which proceed from God himself and God does highly honour those persons whom he does bestow them upon for which reason we are to honour them also and whosoever speaks against them they speak evil of the things which they know not as the Apostle speaks It may be requisite for us therefore to consider the right sense and meaning of these things that we may not mistake There 's a threefold disparagement especially if so be I may call it a disparagement which we do justly and most deservedly cast upon humane learning and the wisdom of the world First Comparative and Exclusive we do disparage it and diminish from it so Humane learning if we compare it with Divine and worldly wisdom with the wisdom from above here it is as good as nothing a very poor and mean business For a man to know all kind of things in the world and in the mean time to be ignorant of Christ and those things which concern his soul this knowledg will in effect profit him nothing and he is but a very Ignoramus There 's no comparison to be made betwixt them we see how the Apostle himself sets it when he speaks to this point Phil. 3.8 I count all things says he but dung and dross for the excellency of the knowledg of Christ Jesus my Lord c. Saint Paul was a very learned man and that in the Mysteries of humane learning a great and deep Scholar yet when he compared his knowledg here with the knowledg of Christ and the Gospel here he set it at a very low rate and so indeed it was to be set and is so still to be by all others whatsoever Thus far now we disparage humane wisdom as we do dross by setting it below Gold not absolutely but only by comparison And that 's the first Explication Secondly We do disparage Humane wisdom Vt fundamentum superbiae carnalis confidentiae as a ground or argument of pride and boasting and carnal confidence wit and learning and parts and the wisdom of the world they are very noble and excellent qualifications but yet they are such as none have cause to be proud of or lifted up with whosoever they are There 's no man who has any of these things in the greatest measure that can be who has any reason to swell in himself for the enjoyment of them If he considers either how he comes by them which is only by gift or if he considers how easily he may lose them and may have them taken away from him or if he considers how they are such gifts as may be bestowed even upon enemies and wicked men these are enough to
at all in him and receive formally his formality weakens it and let a man have any lust at all in him and receive carelesly and his miscarriage herein increases it Those which are naught before the Sacrament they will be so much the worse after it and more hardned and confirmed in their naughtiness and wickedness than ever before as we see in the example of Judas of whom 't is said that the Devil entred into him when he had taken the sop he entred into him Why was he never in danger till then yes but now he entred more fully and took possession of him and so 't is also with other men Thus in point of Grace and sin Again likewise in point Comfort and Assurance The receiving of the Sacrament to those which come unworthily to it is a very great prejudice here also in that by this means people are exposed to greater spiritual desertions and apprehensions of the wrath of God against them Thus is it an occasion of spiritual judgment and that here in this present life And then further for eternal it is that which does expose to that also and sooner bring a man unto it A man after unworthy communicating is a child of wrath a great deal more than before Thus ye see how Christ crucified in the thing and in the word and in the seal all these ways is an offence and stumbling-block to men in their sins This proceeds first from the corruption of nature which turns every thing into a bane and a curse Vnto the pure all things are pure but unto them which are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure but even their mind and conscience is defiled says the Apostle Paul Tit. 1.15 And so in that place 1 Pet. 2.7 c. Vnto you which believe he is precious but unto them which are disobedient the stone which the builders disallowed the same is made the head of the corner A foul and naughty stomack corrupts the best meat which is put into it c. Secondly From the Judgment of God who for just reasons gives men up to this temper so as to be worse for that which should better them God makes these things stumbling-block to them according to that expression Jer. 6.21 I will lay stumbling-blocks before this people and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them the neighbour and his friend shall perish This should therefore first be to waken all such persons as those are who are yet in their unregenerate condition and in their natural estate forasmuch as so remaining the very best things that are in Religion are an offence unto them As they have other things turning to their hurt and prejudice in a way of the world Honour and Riches and Parts and such things as these so they also stumble upon the Priviledges of Grace and Salvation the Word and the Sacraments yea Christ himself is a scandal to them And how miserable is their condition whom 't is thus withal This is not an ordinary and simple evil but an evil which has a great deal so much more sadness and aggravation in it as the sickness which is caused by Physick is the worst sickness of all Again For our selves let us be hence perswaded to use these things with the greater care and attention that so they may not prove stumbling-blocks to us which otherwise they will and in particular now the Sacrament let us not come to it out of meer course Two things here first take heed of neglecting it and secondly take heed of profaning it But so much of the first Particular wherein Christ crucified is a Doctrine of offence to wit as he is a stumbling-block to the Jews Vnto the Jews a stumbling-block The second is as he is foolishness to the Gentiles Vnto the Greeks foolishness We have already shewn unto you how the Preaching of Christ crucified is foolishness out of vers 21. of this Chapter By the foolishness of Preaching Here we have declared unto us how Christ crucified himself is foolishness taken for the matter of Preaching and the Argument Preached about This Dispensation of God in his Providence to save the World by Christ crucified seem a fond and foolish business to the proud and carnal wits of the world Therefore accordingly we shall find it to be thus received and entertained in the Preaching of it Thus Act. 2.13 when the Apostles Preached of these things they were said to be no better than drunk and full of new wine Again Act. 17.20 Thou bringest strange things to our ears we would therefore know what these things mean And Act. 26.24 Festus to Paul Thou art besides thy self too much learning hath made thee mad The Apostle Paul himself has given us an account of this business in another place in 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned c. These things they are above the reach and apprehension of carnal people which have no more but flesh and blood and the spirit of the world remaining in them There are two things commonly which make men to think any thing to be foolishness The one is when it is indeed above them and the other is when as they think it is below them And both of these are the grounds of this point here in hand why the Greeks count Christ crucified foolishness It is so high a thing as their carnality cannot reach it and so low as their wisdom cannot condescend unto it First It is a thing which is above them Scientia neminem inimicum habet praeter ignorantem we see 't is an usual practice for men to speak evil of those things which they know not and that which they have not wit to fathom they have commonly malice to disparage Thus it is here in this particular Christ crucified and the deep mysteries of Religion they are beyond the reach of carnal understandings and they know not what to make of them Secondly It is a thing which is below them at least as they take it to be in regard of the contradiction which it seems to carry to natural reason and the outward pomp and gloriousness of the world A Saviour and yet crucified was so difficult a thing in the account and apprehension of these Gentiles that as on the one side it puzled their wit so on the other side it provoked their scorn Now to open this further unto us there are three things in Christ crucified which seem foolishness to a proud carnal heart and which accordingly were so to these Gentiles First The Mystery as I said it self that he which was a Saviour should be crucified this they knew not what to make of as carrying some seeming contradiction in the thing it self Secondly That this Saviour thus crucified should be believed on and relyed upon for Salvation this their high spirits could not yield to It has
carkass and as a body without soul This for spiritual death And then for Eternal which is damnation it self that 's clearly the end of all such courses It is so demeritoriously to all who thereby ate made lyable thereunto In the day that thou eatest c. thou shalt surely dye and it is so actually to all such as by repentance and faith in Christ are not freed from the execution of this sentence This is the plain and constant Doctrine of the Scripture that the wages of sin are wages of damnation both as to poena damni the loss of Gods gracious Presence and poena sensus the enduring everlasting torment c. This is that which the Apostle still is so careful to perswade and fasten upon those to whom he writes in divers places Phil. 3.19 Whose end is damnation whose glory is in their shame c. and 1 Cor. 11.29 Drinketh damnation And 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God Be not deceived c. and Gal. 5.21 speaking of the works of the flesh Of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in times past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God Therefore let us labour more to be perswaded of these things and have serlous apprehensions of them let us look upon sin in its colours and in the true shape and representation of it as that which has Death and Hell at the end of it that so we may the better be kept and preserved from it We should make use of this present Doctrine now in all suggestions and temptations to sin which we are at any time put upon Think not upon sin in the profit of it or in the pleasure of it which is but a meer fancy though it usually shews it self so but think of it in the end of it and in the concomitants of it and in the sad and pernicious effects which is death and damnation it self which though men perceive not presently yet at last they shall find to their cost if they take not better care to prevent it as the Apostle Peter speaks of them their judgment now of a long time lingers not and their damnation slumbers not Let us not look upon these things as words and notions and expressions as bug-bears to scare Children but as realities and unquestionable truths and let us labour to find the Power and Efficacy of them upon our own hearts It being better to hear of them than to feel them and to feel them now in the conscience by being affected and wrought upon by them than to feel them hereafter after another manner as all such shall which now make nothing of them let all which hath been said make us so much the more out of love with sin and if one argument alone will not do it let us take them all together as the Holy Ghost does here offer them to us Here 's a threesold Cord which theresore is not easily broken and if one or two should fail yet the other would make amends for the rest Those which have a mind to sin yet if it appears to be any prejudice to their profit that they get no good nor benefit by it it may be here they would be restrained Now for this consider says the Apostle that there 's no such sad fruit in it others there are which do not stand upon their prosit but their honour that goes near unto them and they are loth to forfeit their credit and reputation Now for this consider that these things bring shame whereof ye are now ashamed A third there are which are not moved yet They care neither for profit no honour so they may have their pleasure and safety and ease but their skin that a little affects them and their life goes to their heart and is very dear unto them all they have they would part with for this Now therefore consider here further that it is death and if there be any that stick not at this yet if they have any care but of their own souls consider further that it is damnation not only natural the death of the body but spriritual the death of the soul yea eternal the death of both and as wisdom speaks of her self Prov. 8.36 He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul all that hate me love death There 's but one thing more which I will here name and so end We may here from this Text further take notice not only of the wretchedness of sin considered in the streams and actions of it but also the wretchedness of nature and an unregenerate nondition as the fountain and spring which these issue from Here 's not only a Censure upon the performances What fruit had ye in those things c. But here is also a Censure upon the state What fruit had ye then Then when ye were unregenerate then ye were in your natural condition then when ye were at the present unconverted and as yet not brought home to God What fruit had ye then Whatever has been said of sin it may be applied in this An unregenerate condition is an unfruitful condition a shameful condition a dead and mortal condition All the time that any man spends and lives only in that he does but lose his time and run further upon the score with God for a back-reckoning hereafter We are all by nature the children of wrath Ephes 2.3 What 's the improvement which is to be made of this point and observation But first for all those which are yet but in the state of nature to labour to bear it and to come out of it as soon as may be and not to content themselves with it Let us not think too well of nature and our condition from that as many persons are ready to do both for themselves and others For our selves if we have no better Principles in us than we brought with us at first into the world we are but in a sad an miserable condition although perhaps we should abound in some kind of outward and moral actions which might have some lustre and splendor upon them as the Heathem had What fruit had ye in those We may say it not only of those actions which are plain sins in their nature but in a sense also of those which for the matter of them are duties themselves yet not done in a right manner and from a right principle What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed The sacrifice of the wicked says Solomon is an abomination to the Lord how much more when he brings it with a wicked mind Prov. 21.27 All the time that a man remains unregenerate he is unprofitable as to matter of duty as well as provoking as to matter of sin and let us take heed of being too well perswaded of the Heathem Philosophers rather make our own salvation than destruction This is a great
Thus 1 Pet. 2.5 Ye are an holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ Every good Christian he hath great interest in Heaven and can very much prevail with God through Christ in his approaches to the Throne of Grace And we have frequent instances and examples of it both in Scripture and in daily experience Secondly As to the keeping of themselves from the pollutions and defilements of the world The Priests they were prohibited the touching of those things which were unclean and so are Christians careful to keep themselves unspotted of the world Thirdly As to the teaching and instructing of others in the Communion of Saints The Priests lips should preserve knowledg Mal. 2.7 And so should every Christian also in his way and within his compass Parents and Masters of Families should be thus far Priests in them as with Abraham to teach their children and their housholds after them Gen. 18.19 c. Fourthly As to the offering up of themselves to God they must be Priests in this respect also The Priests they were used and imployed in the killing of beasts so should Christians be in slaying of their lusts and unruly affections And then the High-Priest especially he entered into the Sanctum Sanctorum so should every Christian have his heart always towards the Holy of Holies c. Lastly The Priests they still blest the people so would the mouths of Christians do others with whom they converse 1 Pet. 3.9 not railing but contrarily blessing c. The sum of all comes to this namely to raise the esteem and opinion of Gods people in the world and from hence to set an high price and valuation upon them The world it commonly looks upon the Saints and Servants of God as a base and contemptible generation but see here what names and titles the Spirit of God in Scripture puts upon them namely of Kings and Priests which have the greatest Dignity and Excellency in them of any other whatsoever These they are so to God and the Father howsoever they be to any other that is not only to his service but likewise to his Approbation The Father is here named as the first in order and fountain of the Godhead though the whole Trinity be included and intended in it So much for that And then there is this Use also of it in the close of the verse To him be Glory for ever and ever c. And so I have done also with the third and last Description of Christ in the execution of his Offices And hath made us Kings and Priests to God and his Father Now to him be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Amen SERMON XLVIII Revel 22.17 And the Spirit and the Bride say Come This Text which I have now read unto you is a further improvement of that Scripture which was handled by us the last day and does contain somewhat in it as additional and accumulative thereunto For there we had propounded to us but only the hope and expectation of Christians as those which looked for the Lord Jesus Christ to come from Heaven out of that place of the Apostle Paul to the Philippians Chap. 3. ver 20. And here we have exhibited to us their desire and earnest importunity so that he comes not before he is welcome and he is not more certainly expected than he is gladly and joyfully entertained For the Spirit and the Bride say Come That is the Church by the secret suggestion and instigation of the Holy Ghost towards her does invite him and call for him and hasten him towards his second Appearing This is the scope and drift of the Text. IN the Text it self there are two General Parts considerable First The Persons mentioned Secondly The action which is attributed unto these Persons The Persons mentioned they are the Spirit and the Bride The action which is attributed to these Persons that is a calling after Christ they say to him Come We begin with the former viz. the Persons mentioned The Spirit and the Bride By the Spirit we are here to understand the Holy Ghost the Spirit of God which is called the Spirit by way of Excellency the third Person in the blessed Trinity And by the Bride we are to understand either the Church of God in general or every faithful and believing soul which is a member of Christ in particular These are the Persons here that speak And we must take them in a mutual reference and connexion of one with another The Spirit speaks in the Bride and the Bride speaks from and by the Spirit And so they both speak together and have the same action ascribed unto them First Here 's mention made of the Spirit and that as considerable of us under a twofold notion First Of his Presence and secondly of his Influence Of his Presence as join'd with the Bride of his Influence as assistant unto her and helping and enabling of her First Here 's the Spirits presence the Spirit and the Bride they are joined both together to signifie and intimate unto us that special residence which the Holy Ghost hath in all true Believers where-ever there is the Bride there 's the Spirit that is where-ever there is any true Christian there 's the Holy Ghost abiding in him And so the Scripture sets it in sundry places of it as 1 Cor. 3.16 Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you And so Chap. 6. v. 19. Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you So again Ephes 2.22 In whom ye also are built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit The Spirit of God resides both in the whole Church at large as also in every particular Believer as the soul is in the whole Body and also in every particular member Therefore we may accordingly know whether we are espoused to Christ or no upon this account and consideration If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8.9 Because where ever there is the Spouse there 's the Spirit It holds both as a discovery of Churches and as a discovery of Persons As a discovery of Churches to distinguish the true from the false and as a discovery of persons to distinguish the sound from the Hypocritical Again as it is distinguishing so it is also comforting It is a great satisfaction to the Church in the present withdrawing and absentation of Christ from her that his Spirit is yet with her that he does not leave her altogether destitute in an orphan-like or fatherless condition as himself hath sometime exprest it Joh. 14.18 but that he does provide for the supply of her I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive as it is also there in that Chapter And again Chap. 16.