I begotten thee And Sit thou on my right hand till I make thy foes thy foot-stool Heb. 1.5.13 Yea All the fullness of the God-head dwells in him bodily Col. 2.9 2. A State of greater Authority Power and Majesty For he is set above all Authorities Principalities Powers Thrones Might or Dominion yea and every name that is named not only in this World but in that which is to come Eph. 1.21 For He hath put all things under his feet And Given him to be Head over all things to his Church ver 22. The Head top or chief of all Principality and Power Col. 2.10 Not only Lord of Lords and King of Kings Gods first-born higher then the Kings of the Earth As Rev. 17.14 19.16 Psal 89.27 But he is also A great King above all Gods Psal 95.2 Angels and Principalities and Powers being made subject to him 1 Pet. 3.22 Lord of all Act. 10.36 Being made in the Nature of Man so much better higher and more glorious then the Angels at he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name then they being not only owned of God as his Son begotten by him from the dead to all this excelâ—ent glory dignity and majesty even to be set at his right hand on the Throne of Majesty in the highest Heb. 1.3 4 5 13. 8.1 But as set on Gods own Throne Rev. 3.21 So as it 's said to all other Potestates and Powers Let all the Angels of God Or as in Psal 97.7 Worship him all ye Gods And again to him it is said Thy Throne O God endureth for ever The Sceptre of thy Kingdom is a Sceptre of Righteousness or a right Sceptre Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity Therefore God thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows Above all other Gods Potentates or Powers among either Men or Angels And thou Lord Jehovah in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the Earth and the Heavens are the work of thy hands they shall perish but thou remainest they shall all wax old as a Garment as a Vesture shalt thou change them Or fold them up And they shall be changed but thou endurest and thy years shall not fail Heb. 1.6 8 9 10 11 12. Yea the Angels are all Ministring Spirits to him commanded by him and with one consent proclaim him the excellent and worthy one Worthy to receive Power and Riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing Rev. 5.11.12 In a word All Authority and Power in Heaven and over the Earth is given unto him And all that the Father hath is his Even all the Authority Power and fullness of the Father and it pleases to dwell in him Mat. 28.18 John 16.14 15. Col. 1.19 2.9 So that it may well be said as the Prophet foresaw That He is exalted extolled and very high Higher then Moses then Adam or David as some Jewish Criticks observe from the letters of the word Translated very being made up of the initial letters of those three Names Yea and should they to Adam joyn Abraham too whose name begins with the same letter their observation might hold true Isa 52.13 And herein also he is lifted up and so it behoved that he should be that he should suffer such things as he did and so should enter into Glory Luk. 24.26 That he might exercise and discharge the most glorious Offices most useful for us and most honourable for himself for and concerning our welfare and happiness Such as wherein he answers to all the most excellent and honourable things and persons under the Law and among the Israel after thâ— flesh that was lifted up to any honourable and useful Office or Service as the Covenant of Circumcision the Sabbaoth Sacrifices Temple c. Of which I may say more elsewhere I shall here only mention such Offices as were estated upon and exercised by most honourable persons amongst them as 1. The Prophets were holy and honourable persons and the office of a Prophet a most excellent useful and honourable imployment they having intercourse and Power with God and receiving their message from him for directing the people into the knowledge of him and of his mind and will concerning them Whence that of God to Abimelech concerning Abraham Restore the man his wife For he is a Prophet and he shall pray for thee Gen. 20.7 And Do my Prophets no harm Psal â—05 15 The Son of Man was to be and is lifted up into that honour and office For this is he of whom it was said A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you from among your Brethren like unto me him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you Deut. 18.15 18. With Act. 3.22 23. The Great Prophet And The Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy Rev. 19.10 The Great Light In his Testimony Word and Doctrine and the true Light lightning every man coming into the World Who came a Light into the World that whosoever believeth on and followeth him may not abide in darkness but see the Light of Life John 1.9 8.12 12.46 And so I might say also of the Apostles That they were highly honourable and useful as to their office and he is the Great Apostle of our Profession Heb. 3.1 2. The Priests were holy and honourable Persons under the Law in respect of their Office And the Priesthood a most honourable and useful Office for making attonement and Reconciliation for the People by offering gifts and Sacrifices for them to that purpose their lips keeping Knowledge also and teaching the People the Law And Christ the Son of Man was to be and is exalted to that Honour and Office to be the Priest the great High Priest after the order of Melchisedech As God did raise him up to be his Prophet and Apostle giving him that honour and glory that no man in Heaven or Earth or under the Earth was found worthy of even to open the book of Gods Counsels and unloose the Seals of it and unfold the Mysteries therein contained Rev. 5.2 3 6. So he gave him also the honour and Office of the Priest-hood For no man takes to himself that honour of the High Priest-hood but he that is called of God as Aaron was Wherefore Christ also glorified not himself to be made an High Priest but he that said to him Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Said also to him Thou art a Priest to me for ever after the Order of Melchisedec Yea the Lord sware and will not repent saying Thou art a Priest for ever c. Heb. 5.3 4 5. c. 3. Whereas some of the Prophets or Priests had other additional honours beside merely their being Prophets and Priests or the like Christ is lifted up in this his glory unto such honour also As to say 1. Whereas Moses was also a Deliverer of them by the Power of God out of
subsistence here withdrawing from oâ— not singly depending on Christ and God in him 1 Tim. 6.17 Ier. 9.23 24. Psal 62.9 10. and 146.3 4. Prov. 3.5 5. In a word by taking any relyance on God and Christ wherein the heart is not from the belief of Gods testimony carried up to Christ and God in Christ to depend on him and to be guided and governed by him to be that believing on him Such a relyance and staying upon God without that dependance on submission for guidance to him the Prophets sometimes tax Israel with as a false deceitful trust and confidence Isai 48.1 Mich. 3.10 11. Ier. 7.4 5 c. And all such relyance is false though it look back to what God hath done in and by Christ formerly or to any present testimony of his mercy and goodness which lead to love and submit to him as well as and not without them to expect help from him For this believing on the Son of man is a single hearty belief of Gods Testimony concerning Christ so as to like come and seek to rest and depend upon him as the sole full compleat and perfect Saviour in all things and in all cases and conditions in listening to and obeying him in his wholesome counsels and instructions and as the full ground and foundation of our expectation of Gods help and salvation in such a way of obeying him And so He and He only and upon his own account that is upon account of what He is hath done is doingâ— and is become with God for us and is made of God to us is to be believed on 1. For all forgiveness pardon of sin and justification therefrom as it 's said Through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses Act. 13 38 39. And he is set forth for a propitiatory through faith in his blood for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God Rom. 3.25 and being justified through his blood much more shall we be saved from wrath Chap. 5.9 And in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of our sins Eph. 1.7 Col. 1.14 2. For all acceptance with God in our access to and service of him as also all our liberty thereto we have through him He hath made us accepted in his beloved Eph. 1.6 And having liberty or boldness to the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus by a new living way which he hath consecrated through the vail his flesh and having an High Priest over the House of God Let us draw nigh with true hearts and full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evill conscience and our bodies washed with pure water let us draw nigh as believing our welcome and with full assurance of faith as in respect of the truth of the faith believed so also in respect of confident expectation of acceptance coming with such truth of heart sprinkling of conscience and washing of our body as grace requireth and worketh Heb. 10.19 20 21 22. And so our Spiritual sacrifices are acceptable through Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 2.5 For Christ is made to us of God righteousness 1 Cor. 1.30 3. For all spiritual blessings in heavenly things for our comfortable and acceptable walking with God here in this life and usefulnesse towards men As for instance 1. For all light and knowledge of God and understanding in all things He being come a light into the World that whosoever believeth on him might not walk in darkness but see the light of life Joh. 8.12 and 12.46 Psal 34.5 He will teach us his ways Isa 2.3 2. For all wisdom for making a right and profitable construction and use of Gods truths and providences and for chusing the good and refusing the evil and ordering our conversations aright before him and towards others improving all providences mercies chastisements and occurrences to the right and best advantage and acting wisely in all things Jam. 1.5 Col. 4.3 and 2 3. Psal 144.1 He being made of God wisdome to us 1 Cor. 1.30 3. For all sanctification and holiness The subduing of corruptions renewing of our minds hearts and spirits and conforming us unto God Christ is made unto us of God holiness or sanctification 1 Cor. 1.30 Ye are sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6.11 Sanctified by the faith that is me said Christ Act. 26.18 4. For all strength to walk with God and in his ways against all discouragements and difficulties and to bear and indure all troubles and exercises that he orders to us I am able to do all things through Christ that strengthneth me Phil. 4.13 He shall strengthen them in the Lord and they shall walk up and down in his name Zach. 10.12 Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 2.1 who is made unto us of God redemption 5. For all peace of conscience and quiet of mind and spirit He is our peace Eph. 2.24 and being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 5.1 And these things have I spoken saith Christ that in me ye might have peace Joh. 16.33 6. For all joy and consolation in our hearts and spirits from and in God That ye may be filled with joy and peace in believing Rom. 15.13 By Christ we have accesse into the grace of God in which we stand and rejoyce in hope of the glory of God Yea we joy also in tribulations and not only so but we joy also in God through Jesus Christ by whom also we have received the atonement Rom. 5.2.3.11 And so 7. For all hope in and confidence toward God and for the performances of his gracious promises Thence he is called our hope 1 Tim. 1.1 Iesus Christ our hope and Christ in you the hope of Glory Col. 1.27 in believing ye may be filled with hope through the power of the Holy Ghost Rom. 15.13 8. For all useful gifts by which we may be fitted to be useful and profitable in our Generation in that place of the body of Christ in which he sets us For it is he who being ascended up on high gives gifts unto men distributing to every one according as he will Ephes 4.7 8 11. 4. For all supplies also of outward mercies necessary for our present subsistance here so as we may seek after wait upon and walk with God cheerfully and comfortably and be useful to and among men My God will supply all your needs according to the riches of his glory by Jesus Christ Philip 4.19 All the promises of God are in Christ yea and in him Amen to the glory of God 2 Cor. 1.20 And the promises of God are some of them for the life that now is 1 Tim. 4.8 Therefore the living God is to be trusted in through Jesus Christ
God and Man and the high Priest and Apostle of our professiion in that thereby he hath both contracted an affinity and kindred to us as is partly said afore and hath had experience of what is in man even of the weakness and frailty of the nature of man and what temptations oppositions and evils from Men and Devils they are exposed to and meet with that walk with God and by Word and Conversation witness against the wickedness of men and warr against the lies and deceipts of Sathan As also he hath had an experimental knowledge of the weakness of the nature of man to stand under and bear the Wrath of God the hidings of his face from or strokes of his hand upon him Inasmuch as he being made man the Son of man hath proved the frailties of man and as a good man obeying his Father hath grappled with the contradictions of sinners and the rage and malice of evil man and Devils and as bearing our sins in his own body on the Tree hath felt in his humanity the force and power of the Wrath of God And so also hath had tryal of poverty reproaches hunger thirst weariness c. Through which he is the meeter to be the high Priest over the house of God and the mediator for us This the Apostle mentions Heb. 2.17 18. Wherefore it behoved him in all things to be made like to his Brethren that he might be a merciful and a faithful high Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people For in that he suffered being tempted He is able also to succour those that are tempted And in Heb. 4.14 5. As the greatness of his Person in being the Son of God and gone into the Heavens So also the reality of his Manhood and therein the experience he had of our condition is made an incouragement to a bold and confident approach to him and so to God for his mercy and grace to be extended to us for our seasonable help for so those words imploy wherein it is said Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith for we have not an high Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like to us without sin And that was also for our great advantage that he sinned not under any temptation for he thereby is the more pure and acceptable to the holy and pure God in all his actings for us with him Let us therefore go boldly c. Were there any sort of men of any Profession or occupation that stood in need to Petition the King in any thing of concernment for their welfare or for removing any impediment thereto redressing any grievance or the like of what great advantage would it be to them to have a friend that is set up purposely by the King to seek their welfare so gracious with the King as that there is none like him with him his ear and eye and heart and hand all at his dispose as it were And this person one advanced from among the men of that Profession and occupation and one that himself had been sometime before such his advancement tryed and exercised with the very same grievances that they now groan under and seek redress in Surely in such a case though they might have no incouragement to hope of success upon their own account as being ignorant how to draw their Petition and how to present it in such manner as might be becoming the person and presence of one so Mighty having been also rebels against him yet in the confidence of their friends interest in him and faithfullness to them how might they be assured of speeding in putting up their Petition by his hand and as directed formed and tendred by him Such our case Our Lord Jesus that came on purpose into the World to save sinners and is gone up to the Father to be our friend with him A Prince and Saviour ever living as the great high Priest to make intercession for them that come to God by him is one of us as it were a real man and our kinsman and hath been tryed with our infirmities temptations and grievances and so knows our mold and temper as to the weakness and frailty of it by his own proper experience And how also may that give incouragement to hope for mercy and help from him as in mediating with God for us so in ordering the government of God as the great Prince and Lord over us so as not to lay upon us more then we can bear much less more then is equal and right He being also such a lover of us as is manifest in the next consideration Namely that 3. He therefore became the Son of Man and so a real very man that he might be in a capacity to suffer and offer for us what was needful and behooveful for our Redemption from sin and death and for obtaining for us Gods favour and blessing It was his great business in coming into the World to save sinners And to that purpose to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself 1 John 3.5 Heb. 9.26 Now in all Sacrifices for Sin there was the suffering of the Sacrifice to Death that being given and taken in exchange for the Sinner who ought to have suffered else for his own sin and then there was the offering of it up unto God on the Altar as a gift as it were to him Now then Christ being come into the World to take or purge away our sin by Sacrifice was first to bear our sin on himself even the punishment of it and so suffer for it as to satisfie Gods Justice and make amends to the Law that sin had violated that so God might with equity and justice release the punishment and forgive the sinner and so destroy the interest right and title of him that had the power of Death that is the Devil to urge for or be an arbitrary inflicter of punishment upon us according to his will Christ as in the form of God and as God could not suffer the weight of our sin and punishment unto Death Therefore it was behooveful that he should be made in a nature capable of suffering And what should that be for us men but the nature of man even the same that sinned And so it 's said in Heb. 2.14 Forasmuch as the Children were partakers of flesh and blood He himself also took part of the same that by Death he might destroy him who had the power of Death that is the Devil As implying that he could not have destroyed the Devil that is made null his Power and Jurisdiction over us but by death Nor could he have died to that end if he had not been partaker of flesh and blood with us and therefore he took part with us in flesh and blood that is was made of a Woman and under the Law in the similitude of sinful flesh The Son of Man
according to the testimony of God by his Holy Spirit concerning him Psal 106.3 and accordingly in their hearts liking loving and desiring after the knowledge and enjoyment of him trusting in and cleaving to him with purpose of heart Psal 31.23 Cant. 1 2 3 4. 2.4 5. 5.7 8. 8.6 7. 1 Cor. 16.22 Isa 26.8 9. Phil. 3.7 8 9 10.1 John 3.23 Acts 11.23 24. 2. In their word speaking nothing but what is high holy and honourable concerning him Holding forth the word of life and blessing and speaking well of his name Psal 47.6 7. 98.1 4. 66.1 2 3. 100.1 2 4 5. 3. In their Life and Conversation for there also he may be lifted up and glorified and magnified of us yea both in life and in death Phil. 1.20 As therein also he may be blasphemed dishonoured and denied as is implied 1 Tim. 6.1 Tit. 2.5 1.16 But surely he ought not to be denied blasphemed or put to reproch by us or by occasion of us He hath not so deserved of any man but to be blessed and highly honoured And that is best done when to a high commendation of him in our words we add also such a conversation and carriage as speaks him excellent in our esteems and experiences of him When we shew that he is upright and that there is no unrighteousness in him Matth. 5.16 2 Thess 1.12 Psal 92.15 1 Pet. 2.9 11 12. Now though the lifting him up by his Father in the acts done to him in his personal body in his calling him to upholding and accepting him in raising him from and rewarding him for and after his Sufferings and the obedience and service done and performed by him for us be the main and most fundamental lifting him up absolutely necessary with respect to us and our Regeneration and Salvation Yet I apprehend That the lifting him up also as to manifestation and commendation of him to and in the eyes of others both by the Spirit of God and by men especially his holy Saints and Servants that desire and are set for his Glory and the good of others is here also with the former way and acts directly included and intended And indeed as to his being lifted up of God both Father Word and Spirit it must be so as we have partly said because it was so purposed and decreed of God It was his purpose and grace given us in Christ Jesus before the world that is made manifest now by his appearance in what God hath wrought by and done to him for us 2 Tim. 1.9 10. And as for mans exalting him and lifting him up in his ministration and service in the Gospel and in heart and life it 's no more then God requires of us and his love and the excellency in and love of Christ to us obliges us to and challengeth of us And therefore so it must and ought to be also Psal 96.3 4. But because that must be lifted up the necessity of his being lifted up hath direct and main respect to the end whereto he is to be lifted up that is That whosoever believeth on him may not perish but have eternal life As also the necessity that he be so lifted up As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness hath reference thereto Therefore I shall not more fully speak to the necessity of his being lifted up and so lifted up till after the speaking to those two following Points The Son of Man must be lifted up that 's the second Point The other two follow in order The manner how and the end to which he must be and must be in such manner lifted up For I shall also leave the Use of all this till we have considered and viewed those Points also they both appertaining to the full view of this which is the main Point CHAP. VIII The third Point That the Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness Where several Analogies and Agreements between them are considered Point 3 HOw the Son of Man is to be lifted is the next Point to be spoken to and that is As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness In which may be implied 1. As verily and certainly as that was done so must this be done also and indeed that lifting up of the Serpent being a type and figure preaching forth this lifting up of the Son of Man must not be made frustrate for then as a type it should have failed and been false Where the shadow goes before the body follows And where the type and figure was fore-ordained to instruct into the truth that was to be revealed there the truth also thereby signified must in its time take place and be accomplished all things written of him in the Law of Moses also whether Prophecy or Type and Figure must be fulfilled Luke 24.46 But not onely so but also 2. As so As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness So even after such a sort and manner must the Son of Man be lifted up There is agreeableness correspondency and answerableness between the one and the other as may be seen in many Particulars As 1. In the occasion of it There the people walking in the Wilderness were disobedient murmured against God despised his mercy bounty and goodness and provoked him in wrath to send fiery serpents among them to bite and kill them and as a remedy there against that Serpent was commanded to be and accordingly was lifted up And so here men in the wilderness of thâ—s world being ransomed by Christ out of that sentence of Condemnation that lay upon us all for our first Fathers Transgression and under a state of much mercy and bounty from God yet not without trials and temptations are found sinning against God and despising the Heavenly Manna Christ Jesus and the knowledge of God in him and discontent with Gods dealings through the temptations of sin and Satan and so fall under his power and are obnoxious to destruction This occasions a necessity of lifting up the Son of Man both in his exaltation by God and unto men for their healing Yea our first Parents and we all in them being tempted though in a Paradise listening to the Tempter and siding with him to a discontent with Gods allowance to us in the Creation because one Fruit was forbidden and to a desire of and coveting after what was unlawful and forbidden us fell under the power of the old Serpent the Devil and Satan So as by him to be stung and wounded to death even a death of our souls and spirits from the life and favour of God and of both body and soul to be exposed to and filled with misery and mischief to destruction and as a remedy against that Bite it was necessary Christ should be lifted up on the Cross and dye for us and be raised up again and exalted to a state of Power and Glory for raising us up and so he is
and despised knowledge brought to them by him to turn at his reproofs promising to pour out his Spirit to them and make known his words In which is implied that upon their turning he would forgive their former sleightings of him and sinnings against him which if they had not been to be forgiven and overlooked by him would have hindred them of such dispensations of his Grace and Spirit to them Prov. 1.22 23. As thence also the wicked are called upon to forsake their ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts and turn to the Lord and he will have mercy upon them and abundantly pardon them Isa 55.7 And Christ tells the unbelieving Jews that would not come to him that they might have life that he would not accuse them to his Father and that if any man heard his voice and believed not he judged them not now because he came not into the world to judge the world but to save the world John 5.40 45. 12.47 In which saying it 's evident that the world he came to save includes also the now unbelieving persons in it while it 's yet a day of Grace he is saving them Also by his Intercession for transgressours as the Propitiation for the sins of the whole world and by renewed dispensations of patience forbearance and further grace to them as appears 1 John 2.1 2. Isa 53.12 Luke 13.8 Yea he prayed for such as actually abused and crucified him and in the repenting of such afterward he actually pardoned and forgave them Luke 23.34 with Acts 2.37 38 39. 3.19 20. 2. As Moses lifted up the Serpent that whosoever were stung with the fiery Serpents might have advantage and opportunity there-through to look upon it he declaring and informing them that it was set up as a means of healing and that it was Gods mind for giving healing by it that they look up to it and that it would not give forth any healing-virtue to them if not beheld by them yea probably if not beheld till they were healed if they turn'd their eye from it before its virtue had its force in and upon them though the Serpent was the same whether beheld or not beheld Even so is and must the Son of Man be lifted up that men may have an advantage and opportunity of beholding him he being not to be beheld if not lifted up How can they believe on him of whom they have not heard And how can they hear without a Preacher Or how can they preach except they be sent For Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God Rom. 10.14 17. Which makes it needful that they that know him and are commissionated of God as every one that hears hath commission to say to others Come Rev. 22.17 do hold him forth commend and magnifie him to men It 's true that the Apostle there in Rom. 10.18 propounding that question Have they not all heard answers Yes doubtless their voice is gone into all the world and their words to the ends of the earth Alluding to Psal 19.2 3 4. Where the Holy Ghost speaks of the Heavens declaring the glory of God and the firmament shewing his handy-work And so of Gods Works and Providences setting him forth and uttering knowledge as elsewhere it 's said All his works shall praise him To which also they are often called upon Psal 145.8 9. 148. 150. And the Lord they commend and praise is doubtless the same of and to whom he saith Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the works of thine hands c. Psal 102.25 Which the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews applies to the Lord Jesus the Son of Man by whom the Lord hath spoken to us in these last days and by whom he made the worlds Heb. 1.1 2 10 11. And surely whosoever beholds him as there lifted up and praised so as to betake themselves to him for help they do and shall find mercy with him Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved In every nation he that fears God and works righteousness is accepted of him Rom. 10.12 Acts 10.34 They that by nature or without verbal or vocal instruction do the things contained in the Law that love God and their neighbour though uncircumcised or not under the outward Regiment of Gods Kingdom and Ordinances their uncircumcision shall be accounted circumcision that is they shall be accepted and accounted of as Gods Church Rom. 2.25 26. And of those that by such means also are won in to God I understand in part what our Saviour saith That many shall come from the East and from the West even such as are not the children of the Kingdom and born under the distinct knowledge and Ordinances of God as the opposition to them in the following words do manifest wherein he adds and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac in the Kingdom of God when the children of the Kingdom such as are born and brought up in the professed Church and so are professedly under Gods Government or Ordinances shall be cast out Matth. 8.12 But I say notwithstanding whatever of this nature may be true however God in his lifting him up in his Providences and Works and the manifestations of him implicitely therein may do for the rendring him visible to men that they may behold him look to him and be saved by him Yet it concerns us as our duty and is that which God requires of us that we so lift up Christ in our distinct Preaching of him to men that men through our ministration may behold him in the distinct express declaration of him and be saved from their errours ignorances and iniquities which while they by their wisdom know him not in the wisdom of God as manifested in his works and providences they run into As to that purpose and for that cause it hath pleased God to appoint the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe 1 Cor. 1.21 It was not another light John bare witness to then that which enlighteneth every man coming into the world and that shined in the darkness before he bare witness to it It was not made another in or by his witness only more plainly declared and pointed to It was the same that was in the world though the world knew him not that came to his own and by his own was not received which whosoever received whether of the world or of his own were made the sons of God It was the same Word which was in the beginning with God that in due time was made flesh to bring us through his Sufferings in the flesh unto God in whom was the life and from whom the light came that always shined and in all the world But God to help men to discern him whom otherwise in his wisdom or more wise way to the view of the world as the way of his Creation and Providence is they usually overlook and
know not hath ordered gifts to men for a distinct and plain preaching him in a way seeming to the world more foolish for their Salvation And in this foolishness even the plain ungarnished way of preaching He is I say to be so held up or set forth as men may have opportunity or advantage to see him as given in the flesh to the world to be their Saviour according to Gospel-revelation with perswasions also to men to mind and look to him as the great and onely one in whom there is certain healing for them and as one who being neglected by them or not looked to to the end they cannot be healed cannot be forgiven and saved from their sins and Gods wrath and judgements though he be the same in himself seen or not seen looked to or not looked to believed in or not believed in Yet he is not the same to us that is he gives not forth his virtues otherwise then as lifted up he is looked to and believed on by men as to persons that are in capacity as being of years or otherwise of discretion as such onely in a sense agreeable to Scripture speaking may more properly be said to be come into so as to be of the world nor can he be otherwise or further then as lifted up to them beheld by them Isa 45.22 Mark 16.15 16. Heb. 2.1 3. 3. As Moses lifted up the Serpent Not to the end that God might take occasion to punish them the more for their necessitated or wilful neglects of it or as a thing intended of God to that end but for this gracious end That when a Serpent had bitten any man however often or seldom deeply or sleightly he might look to the Brazen Serpent and live Though in case any man out of pride or scornfulness or other principles neglected it he might be worthily left to dye of his wounds and was without excuse if he then perished Even so the Son of Man is and must be of men lifted up not to the end that men might harm themselves by him and be left without excuse if either through defect on Gods part of effectual Grace to enable them they cannot as some erroneously hold or through wilfulness on their part in neglecting the grace and power given them they will not look to and believe in him and so perish But to those gracious ends that they might when through the deceits of Sin and the Devil they fall into sin and misery look up to him and be healed by him Not perish but have eternal life both believe and live Though if when he is lifted up to those gracious ends any man neglect to use the power and liberty given him of God to look to him and in the help of his grace in such looking to him met with to believe in him or having begun to believe withdraw again and so through unbelief perish he is the cause of his own destruction and is and will be without excuse in Gods presence when he comes to judge him Isa 5.3 4. Hosea 13.9 Matth. 22.12 Rom. 3.4 19. Now that Gods ends in ordering Christ to be lifted up and so in lifting him up are so gracious and not as some represent them to be a snare to them otherwise then in case they wilfully reject him when lifted up to those gracious ends that such a thing shall be the event as is implied Isa 8.14 1 Pet. 2.8 that they might perish I say that Gods gracious ends in it are directly that men might believe on him and that whosoever so do might not perish but have eternal life both the next words and the two following Verses shew The next words are That whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have eternal life And the next Verses confirm that saying For God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved Mark that Negative Not to condemn the world and then the Affirmative But that the world through him might be saved Such the gracious end of God being acted by love in it to the world though the event is like the event that might be to the people from the Serpent lifted up if any were so foolish for their bodies as many in the world are for their souls namely He that believes is not condemned he obtains the gracious end of God even as there it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man when he looked to the brazen Serpent he lived Numb 21.9 But he that believeth not is condemned now or already because he hath not believed on the Name of the onely begotten Son of God Not because it was Gods end in giving Christ that any man should refuse him and be condemned but because he neglected Gods gracious end which was that through him he might be saved John 3.16 17 18. as follows Verse 19. This is the condemnation the reason of the unbelievers being condemned that light is come into the world but men loved darkness rather then light But this I might add as 5. The last agreement viz. As to the event It came to pass there upon Moses lifting up that Serpent that if a Serpent had bitten any man when he beheld the Serpent of brass he lived As implying that not till then had it its effect to revive or cure and so not at all if never looked to or if before perfect recovery it was turned from that may possibly be implied too but if any looked to and beheld it he lived No matter from what part of the Camp whether East or West or whether he stood so near it as to behold its express form or at such a distance as he had but a confused sight of it whether his wounds were more or fewer deeper or sleightier c. when he looked he lived Even so here when any man seeth and believeth on Christ lifted up of God and in the Gospel not till then or otherwise but then he is justified from all things from which he could not be justified by the Law of Moses Whatever or wherever he is or whether his sight be more distinct or more dim and confused so be it his sight be hearty he lives with God or in his sight and living and believing he shall not dye for ever Acts 13.39 Gal. 3.7 9 26 29. John 1.12 13. Acts 10.34 43. John 11.25 26. But I onely mention this and proceed now to CHAP. IX The fourth and last Point The end of the Son of Mans being lifted up viz. That whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have eternal life Six Observations drawn from hence The first of which concerning mens danger of perishing opened Point 4 THe end why or whereto the Son of Man must be so lifted up as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness is
alive 1 Cor. 15.22 They shall not use that Proverb in the Resurrection and Judgment to come That the Fathers have eaten sower Grapes and the Childrens teeth are set on edge the Soul that sinneth it shall dye Ezek. 18.2 3. The Condemnation is not nor shall be then that Adam sinned but That light came into the World and men loved darkness rather then light John 3.19 Prov. 1.24 25 29. Though as to the taking guilt off from the ignorant and unbelieving conscience in respect of that first Sin also Men in their ignorance and unbelief often charging themselves with the guilt of that Sin of Adam so as to think themselves therefore under Condemnation from God and in danger of perishing as also for purging out the corruption of Nature there-through entred the Son of Man is to be lifted up in the Preaching of him to men who though so delivered from that first Death as that they shall not perish in it yet as they come up into the World to be capable of choosing the good and refusing the evil are generally in danger of perishing 2. In a Second Death so as not to have eternal life For 1. God being of purer eyes then to behold iniquity evil may not dwell with him fools may not stand in his sight nor any unclean thing inherit his Kingdom Psal 5.4 5. Hab. 1.12 1 Cor. 6.9 And we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousness as a menstruous or filthy cloth Isa 64.6 None Righteous no not one altogether are become unprofitable None that doth good no not one Rom. 3.10 13. None therefore are fit to come into Gods Kingdom and to have eternal Life without a Regeneration or new Birth John 3.3 5. Which we naturally run from siding with evil and falling into yea walking in new disobediences against God and so making our selves obnoxious to his judgment upon our own personal accounts for our own personal transgressions For 1. We all naturally have a heart deceitful in us and desperately wicked inclining us to those ways that lead to Destruction Jer. 19.9 For out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts adulteries fornications murthers thefts covetousness wickedness deceits lasciviousness an evil eye blasphemy pride foolishness all these evil things come from within and they defile the man Mark 7.21 22 23. We are naturally carnal sold under sin Rom. 7.14 2. The World is full of baits allurements and snares to draw us away unto and intangle us in such sins as expose us to Gods Wrath and Judgment again the riches pleasures honours pomps and vanities of it are apt to insnare us through the lust that is in us 2 Pet. 1.4 1 John 2.15 16. And the persons in it being sinful and vicious are apt to infect and defile one another inticeing counselling yea and sometimes commanding to sin Psal 1.1 Prov. 1.10 11. 〈◊〉 3.4 5. 6.7 9. Mich. 6.16 3. The old adversary and enemy the Devil with his many Angels evil and wicked Spirits subtil and powerful to intice and move to evil goes about like a roaring Lyon seeking to devour tempting and alluring to sin and prevailing with such as are heedless of them and unskilful to discern them or their enmity and wickedness and to resist them 1 Chron. 21,1 1 Pet. 5.8 Rev. 20.2 3 8. There is none so strong or good that this Adversary will not so far as God permits set upon to tempt Mat. 4.1 2. Luk. 4.2 13. 22.33 And he blinds the minds of all those that believe not the truth and thereby gets power over them 2 Cor. 4.4 Act. 26.18 2. There is none can mend himself or his condition toward God so as either to obtain his favour to Justification If any could it must be by offering him Sacrifice or doing him service such as he requireth in his Law for we are become so altogether bruitish and void of goodness in our selves by our fall which we increase by new compliances with Sathan that we can of our heads and by our own inventions find out or imagine nothing well-pleasing in his sight Jer. 10.14 2 Cor. 3.5 Rom. 7.18 The Lord knows the though of Men yea of the wise that they are vain empty of any righteousness goodness or suitableness to him Psal 94.11 1 Cor. 3.19 20. And therefore it must be in mans learning and keeping Gods Law if in any thing but man is unable of himself to keep Gods Law he being carnal sold under sin and the Law holy pure and spiritual Too high for him in his falleth state Rom. 7.14 Or so as to cleanse himself For who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean Not one No Creature whatsoever Job 14.4 And that 's another reason too why the Law cannot help us nor we help our selves or one another by it it 's too weak because of the Flesh Rom. 8.3 By the deeds of it can no flesh living be justified in the sight of God For by the Law is not either satisfaction for or cleansing from but the knowledge of Sin Rom. 3.20 Which we daily generally commit there being not a just man upon Earth that doth good and sinneth not Eccles 7.20 1 King 8.43 Nay instead of satisfying for or cleansing us from our sins it occasions sin more to abound and become more sinful Rom. 5.20 7.8 Sin taking occasion by it fills men with all lust and concupisence So that as a whorish Woman that cannot forbear to play the harlot seeks and plots more desperately to fulfil her lust and falls more under the danger of the Law there through by being married to a strict and severe Husband that cannot abide the least motion or inclination to such uncleanness and watcheth her at all times then if she had no husband at all so is our case under the Law of works for justification and life they that are of the works of the Law thinking to be justified thereby are thereby more condemned and â—all more under the curse Gal. 3.10 It stands cross and contrary to us like the fiery flaming Sword in the hand of the Cherubim turning every way upon us Gen. 3.22 Col. 2.14 And while men trusting in Moses for like refuge to come to Christ for it Moses will accuse them John 5.40 45. Nor can any man by that or by any devise of his own or others defend and keep himself or be kept from the power of Sin and Sathan so as not to fall by them If they could Christ and his word would not be needful thereto for them which may not be granted Gal. 2.21 3.21 It being his office to succour men in temptations Heb. 2.27 18. 3. Yea God is holy and will not only not admit to eternal life those that are unclean and sin but will also Judge the World in Righteousness and punish the sins of it taking vengeance on the evil doer And rendring to every one according to his works Heb. 9.27 Jer. 17.9 10. Rom. 2.6 11 3.5 And
him Gen. 22.12 How may not we then much more perceive the love of God to us in not withholding but sending down his onely begotten Son from Heaven and making him the Son of Man that he might save us This is Love indeed passing all parallel yea all knowledge Surely we need not as the Pharisees seek after another or greater sign from Heaven that God desires not our ruine but our salvation and happiness but may well rest in this unspeakable gift of God as a sufficient demonstration thereof to us accepting it with all reverence love and thankfulness This is a faithful saying and worthy all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 To save us from the curse of the Law from the wrath of God from the state of death and destruction from the power malice and rage of the Devil and in a word from all that might harm us And had that been all it had been very much but it was not all he sent him also to bring us back to him and so to eternal life glory and happiness 1 Pet. 3.18 John 3.16 Surely this may engage us also Secondly To think well of God to land and bless him perpetually as our great Benefactor our merciful Father our mighty yea almighty Helper as one that so desired our good so loved the world as to send us such a one to save us He may well expect from us and we give to him upon this account all possible love thanks dutifulness and ready obedience He is worthy to be honoured by us that had such a respect for us Well may we cry out with admiration Lord what is man that thou shouldst so magnifie him and that thou shouldst so set thine heart upon him as to send thine own and onely Son not by Adoption and Regeneration a Son onely but by eternal and divine Generation thine onely begotten Son to be the Son of Man and so in Relation and of Kindred to him to help and save him when none else could help him This was the Lords own doing and greatly worthy our admiration Psal 118.22 3. And well may we accept of and confide in such a one as this Son of Man Gods onely Son as a person fit and meet and All-sufficient to save us and to bring us to Heaven and Happiness Good encouragement may this consideration give us as well as it shews us a necessity there being Salvation and Life in none other for us to hearken to him and give up our selves wich full assurance of faith and expectation of good success to his direction and dispose We need not fear but God will be with him to help him in and carry him on with success in all his undertakings for us seeing God is in him and he is God When God sends any on any gracious message he uses to accompany them and give them good success So he was with Moses and Aaron when he sent them to Pharaoh and gave them a command to bring Israel out of Egypt and they effected it in his name notwithstanding the many threatning difficulties and discouragements they encountred with though they were but Gods servants neither of them his proper Son Indeed they led not the people into Canaan because they failed in their faith in and obedience to him not sanctifying him before them at the waters of strife He sent Joshua therefore to lead them in thither expelling and driving out the Gentiles to divide the Land to Israel for their Inheritance And God was with him therein and did not fail him nor forsake him or them that followed him and obeyed his commands but made them successfull by his assisting presence He was with Gideon also when he sent him against their enemies so as with a small handful by unlikely means he vanquished an innumerable number of enemies And what should I mention David Cyrus and divers others Now if God strengthned his servants always in their obedience to him in what he sent them to do how shall we question or doubt the Sufficiency and prevailing powerfulness of his onely Son with whom and in whom he was reconciling the world to himself and is still after a more wonderful way of presence and union of Being then with any of them Surely we may have high expectations of Life and Salvation by him He being sent of God to such purposes to and for us He being neither liable to sin as Moses Aaron and many others did nor hath death any place upon him much less dominion as it had over all them so as that he should fail there-through in his undertakings till he hath perfected what concerns us Indeed his undertakings or the things God sent him to do are and were of a far higher nature and heavier then ever he sent any others about As to take away sin by the Sacrifice of himself Destroy the power of Satan Abolish death through his own death And to save our souls But by how much his work was and is greater by so much is his person more excellent and glorious And why then should we not thankfully entertain and embrace him depend on and trust to him yielding up our selves to his guidance with greatest confidence and fullest assurance both of his sufficiency and faithfulness For in that he is Gods Son his onely Son he hath his power and virtue strength and all-sufficiency rendring him able to save us And in that he is his onely begotten he hath in him his perfect likeness and similitude and therefore God being Love or Charity full of goodness and faithfulness to us he is so also being the express character of his person the brightness of his Glory And being our Kinsman and our Brother and become so on purpose for our good what may we not expect of compassion and faithfulnes from him upon that account also Object But if the Son of God was in his love sent to be our Saviour and he so able and willing to do the work he was sent about how is it then that all are not in the issue saved from perishing nor have eternal life But so many and great multitudes as the Scriptures imply perish If he will save us who can hinder him therein seeing he being Gods onely Son and coming in his Name and Power is Almighty to do what he pleases for and to us Answ He was not sent or came to save us so as to bring us to eternal life absolutely by his omnipotent power otherwise then in a way of willing obedience to him performed by us being endued by him with capacities for such obedience He is able to save us to the utmost and he is willing but he expects that we should come and seek to him in the grace wherewith he prevents us that we may be saved by him and live with him and through him as is agreeable to what we observed in the next place viz. CHAP. XII The Fourth Observation considered and therein the necessity
her hand which signifies a putting forth her strength and tendring her help to men to turn them to her self and bring them in to God Prov. 1.4 5. 1.20 24. 4. In his reproofs and judgments even to and upon the Heathen for not calling on his name to which believing on him is necessary Rom. 10.14 it being excellent in all the earth and declared by his wondrous works Psal 79.6 Jer. 10.25 Psal 8.1 9. 75.1 Mal. 1.11 14. And for not glorifying him as God nor being thankful to him but withholding the truth in unrighteousness seeing what was to be known of God was manifested in them and God shewed it to them so as they knew but liked not to have him in their knowledge Rom. 1.18 19 20 21 28. Yea for not believing God as now the Jews believe him not Rom. 11.30 All imply that God requires that men believe him and believe on him as made known to and among them But much more evident is this in his often reproofs of Israel among whom he was more signally made known Psal 76.1 2. 147.19 20. in his faulting and judging them for not hearing and hearkening to his voice law and words but rejecting them and for not liking to have him for their God the object of their stay trust and confidence but turning adulterously from him after others Psal 81.9 10 11 12. Isa 66.3 4. Jer. 2.5 13. 6.19 7.25 26. though using more special means with and towards them so as he vouchsafed not to any other Nation to make them cleave to himself Jer. 13.11 Yea his very condemning men both here and hereafter for their not believing on the Son of Man is an evidence that he would they should have believed on him John 5.40 3.18 19 36. 5. Yea in a word all that I have said on Observ 2â— about Gods desire of mens Salvation and living rather then that they dye and perish are evidences of the truth of this also that God requires that men believe on his Son the Son of Man as evidenced and lifted up by him and that their so doing is acceptable to him for so much as that believing on him is necessary to that Salvation and living with him 2. As for the acceptableness of it his requiring it and using or vouchsafing means and power for it and his threatning and punishing men for not improving them thereto and profiting by them so as to practise it evidence that also But much more clearly is this evidenced to and in them that believe 1. In his forgiving their sins as it is said To him give all the Prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth on him shall receive forgiveness of their sins Acts 10.43 2. In his justifying them as righteous there-through as it is said By him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not have been justified by the Law of Moses Acts 13.39 3. In giving them the priviledge to be his Children as it is said To them that received him to them he gave this power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his Name John 1.12 And Ye are all the Sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus Gal. 3.26 4. In blessing them as it is said So many as are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham being reputed as his Children Gal. 3.7 9 29. And in a word 5 In that they shall not perish but have eternal life And so this Point of the acceptableness to God of mens believing on Christ is confirmed by the next Observation and what is contained in it Which we shall nextly consider reserving the Use of this Observation in its several branches to afterward CHAP. XIII The fifth Observation having two branches the former of them is here explicated what the perishing is from which the believer on the Son of Man is preserved and how he is preserved from it Obser 5 WHosoever believeth on the Son of Man shall not perish but have eternal life and it is the gracious mind of God it should be so This the next Verse also confirmeth wherein it is said God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life And in Verse 36. where it is said He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life And in Chap. 6.40 where it is said This is the will of him that sent me that he that seeth beholdeth the Son and believeth on him should have everlasting life c. But here it is to be minded that he saith not that whosoever believeth on him should not be sick or poor or tempted or dye in Prison or on the Gallows or any such like violent death by men and their authority or any thing of the like nature For any of these may and sometimes do befall those that believe on him For Hezekiah was sick and so was Lazarus the brother of Martha and Mary whom Jesus loved John 11.1 3 11. And so was Epaphroditus Phil. 2.27 30. And Lazarus that begged at the rich mans door was poor and God hath chosen the poor of this world rich in faith Jam. 2.5 And both Christ himself and his Saints Paul and Peter and many of his Worthies were tempted And we account them happy that endure temptation and so they are For when they are tryed they shall receive a crown of life which God hath promised to tâ—em that love him James 1.12 5.11 Heb. 2.18 11.37 And many Confessors of his Name and Truth have dyed in Prison or been put to shameful deaths for his Names sake as in Heb. 11.35 36 37. besides many other places of Scripture may be seen Let no man therefore think himself unhappy or not approved of God and of Christ in his believing because of such thiÌ„gs as Sathan is busie to tempt some to think 1 Pet. 5.8 they being not the things which God sent his Son to keep those that receive and believe on him from Neither let any man promise himself that in his believing on Christ he shall be saved from such things befalling him otherwise then he sees good to save him there-from lest missing of his hope and expectation therein he should be offended John 16.1 2 3. Think not saith our Lord that I am come to send peace on earth but a sword c. Nor is it said That whosoever believeth on him should have a rich and prosperous life in this world free from crosses and exercises for that is included in the peace which Christ would not have us think that he came to send upon earth Peace in the Hebrew and Scripture Language signifying prosperity No nor a long life upon earth or great promotions and honours with men Much less is it said that they should live here for ever No we see Death is common to all Abraham is dead and the Prophets be dead and so be the Apostles and all others must
deprive our selves of such unspeakable bliss and happiness as cannot be conceived and plunge our selves into such miseries as cannot be imagined And yet evident it is that such folly and madness the world is greatly guilty of For evident it is that it generally rejects and treads under foot the Lord Jesus and the doctrine that declares him and is left to us by him in which is included our salvation and happiness Deut. 32.46 47. Prov. 4.13 Joh. 12.49 50. That the world generally slights both him and his doctrine the bleatings of the sheep and the lowings of the Oxen testifie that is the general Atheism Prophaneness Disorder and Wickedness the false Religions and Worships generally practised commanded or countenanced do loudly proclaim it Use 3. It may also provoke such as do believe on the Son of Man the Lord Jesus Christ to hold fast the faith and so their believing on him and by no means to suffer themselves to be withdrawn therefrom For let us consider with our selves that Consideration 1. If we turn away and fall from our dependance on him we turn after vain things and things that cannot profit because vain 1 Sam. 12.19 20. and so we deprive our selves of all the good in him and plunge our selves into all the misery that can be incurred by us For this eternal life being in the Son of Man Christ Jesus in departing from him we depart from it and losing him we lose it and he being the Saviour and Salvation in withdrawing from him we withdraw from it and lie open to all the evil that the unbeliever may fall into Nay indeed better never to have known the way or word of truth or the holy commandement or to have had fellowship with him then to turn away again therefrom for the latter end in that case is worse than the beginning 2 Pet. 2.20 Luk. 11.26 27. For as all that are far from him do and shall perish So he doth and will destroy them who go a whoring from him Psal 73.27 The consideration then of the certain danger of loss and misery yea of the greatest loss because of the greatest and longest abiding good and of the greatest misery because of the greatest and longest continued evill may move us all with all earnestness to hold fast the profession of the faith and the exercise thereof And that is one consideration often urged by the Apostles So in Heb. 10.23 24 25 26 29 39. Let us hold fast the profession of the faith without wavering not forsaking the Assembling our selves together as the manner of some is For if we sin wilfully after the knowledge of the truth received there remains no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearfull looking for of fiery indignation which shall devour the Adversary For if they that sinned against so as they despised Moses Law dyed without mercy under two or three witnesses Of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy that hath troden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing and hath done despite to the Spirit of grace It is a fearfull or terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God And if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him As also the Consideration of Consid 2. The exceeding profit and benefit accruing from the holding fast the faith and believing on him and the great incouragements we have thereunto These may more powerfully move us to it What is there better than safety from destruction and the injoyment of Eternal life in which there is an everlasting injoyment of God and Christ and of all that is or can be good and desirable and what have we to incourage to it and assure us of it To that consider Encouragement 1. We have to encourage us to this believing and holding fast the faith all the Trinity for us God the Father gave his Son to that end that we might believe on him and be saved and live for ever Joh. 3.16 And he fills strengthens and upholds his Son in and unto all his undertakings for us in order to the bringing us to that safety and eternal life and happiness Isa 42.1 5 6. Psal 89.20 21 22. And gives his holy Spirit in and through him to strengthen and help us therein against all that would harm us or pull us from it The Son himself or Word is for us in all he hath done and suffered and in all he now doth in heaven or earth in his mediation and intercession with God for us and in his government of the World in the name and power of God about us and his ordering of his providences to us Joh. 14 2 3 18. and 16.33 and dispences his Word and Spirit to that purpose to animate and hearten us thereunto and therein is working in us the works of God for us even what he requires of us Joh. 14.16 17 26. and 16.13 14 15. And the holy spirit encourages us by his word and by his heavenly and powerful working in us therewith and gives us all motives and inducements that may be with exhortations counsells promises c. to perswade and strengthen us And what shall we say to these things If God be for us herein who is he that is against us Or what is there that can be presented to our view that may so much discourage us as the consideration that God both Father Son and Spirit are for us may encourage us and hearten us Rom. 8.31 32 33. 1 Joh 5.6 9. Encour 2. Having God for us we have his creatures the best of them and all that are on Gods side to encourage us too We have the holy Angels to protect and defend us therein Psal 34.7 and 91.11 12. Heb. 1.13 14. This they will do for us while we are here and when we go hence they will carry us up to Christ or into Abrahams bosome to be at rest with Christ and his holy ones Luk. 16.22 We have the holy Apostles and Prophets and so the Spirits of just men made perfect for us both to encourage us by their testimonies instructions provocations and all means used in their writings left on Record for us animating and heartning us in believing on the Son of man and by their own practice and examples in all ages we have in them a cloud of witnesses going before us as a guide to us all witnessing to this That the just shall live by faith and shewing us by their examples how to exercise it and live by it Heb. 10.38 with 11 throughout and 12.1 and we have the living Saints the holy men led by the spirit of God to encourage and hearten us on For whatsoever difference there may be among such in any by-opinions or apprehensions yet they all agree in this That he that believeth on the Son of man the Son of God is in a good and right way in the certain way to happiness and shall in holding
words as the Serpent did Evah from her obedience For many that way have been corrupted from the faith while they have been made to believe they could not be corrupted at least so as to a total and final falling therefrom Mat. 7.15 16 and 24 4 5.24 25. 2 Cor. 11.2 3. Col. 2.4.8.16.18 1 Joh. 2.18 19. 2 Joh. 7 8 9 10. 2 Tim. 2.18 5. Take heed of the World and of the love of it for that if loved will choke the seed of the word and steal out the love of God from the heart and lead us to fall away from Christ 1 Joh. 2.15 16 17. Matth. 13.22 Luke 21.34 35 36. 6. Take heed of indulging any corruption and walking after the flesh in any of it's lusts or affections For to be carnally minded is death and deads the heart to Christ and the things of Christ And therefore If believers walk after the flesh they will dye Rom. 8.6.13 7. Take heed of too earnest eying or looking upon discouragements as our sinfulness ignorance weakness witheredness unfruitfulnesse the troubles of this World Gods corrections and the like with a neglect of minding the help in Christ for us and the incouragements there-against But casting away every weight and the sin that easily besâ—ts let us run with patience the race set before us Looking off from other things unto Jesus and considering him who endured such contradictions of sinners least we be weary and faint in our minds Heb. 12.1 2.3 But for this see more in my Balaams Wish Pag. 89.90 91. And in the Penitent Prodigal or Gods Gracious Reproof Pag. 209. 210. And indeed that Universal Particle whosoever here used in the Text when he saith that Whosoever believeth might not perish but have eternal life is of singular usefulness to be considered against such discouragement and the temptations thence to withdraw from Christ and from dependance on and confidence in him for it takes away all respect of persons and signifies Christs impartiality and his irrespectiveness to any other thing than what is contained in the believing on him in his saving from perishing and giving life eternal Suitable to that saying of the Apostle Now perceive I of a truth that God is no respecter of persons but in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousnesse is accepted of him with which agrees Rom. 2.6.11 and 3.22 23 24 25. Gal. 3.27 28. God hath opened a door of life and righteousness in Christ for all men and all the earth are invited by him to enter it and whosoever duely enters it finds entertainment Psal 100.1.4 Ioh. 6.37 If any man who or whatsoever believe on that is accept of submit to and depend on Christ it 's no matter what he is otherwise in himself whether great or small old or young Jew or Gentle greater or lesser sinner before conversion to him Yea whether rich or poor wise or foolish in respect of natural parts or wordly and humanely acquired science whether exercised with more or fewer temptations more or less inclined naturally to any lust or corruption sinfull affection or passion more quick or dul of apprehension in a word what ever a man be in and of himself or after the flesh that is not considerable as causing or hindring his acceptance with God provided that he believe on Christ with such a believing or exercise of faith in him as in which he is kept in obedience to him so as not to walk after the flesh but after the spirit It 's not considerable here what a man was or what he did how he walked or lived before he came to and closed with Christ For neither for his better walking then is he more acceptable now his righteousness then being such as could not justifie him in whole or in part nor his worser walking then makes him less accepted now his former unrighteousness being not at all now mentioned against him For it is wholly forgiven and blotted out in his coming into Christ and heartily closing with and believing on him Nay no former failings or falls after the hearing of or believing on Christ though hindring and disturbing a mans rest and peace for the time and procuring chastisements yea depriving of much good to a mans self and usefulness to others while continued in yet being seen confessed repented of and turned from to the believing in and exercise of faith in Christ again shall hinder his salvation and the injoyment of eternall life by and through him it being the good will of God That whosoever believeth on him yea though sometimes he hath not believed or hath failed or turned aside out of the way of believing on him should not perish but have Eternal life To this agrees that of Samuel to Israel when they had many ways sinned against him after he had made them his people and had to all other their former sins added that sin of rejecting not only Samuel from being their Judge and Governour But God himself also from being their King Though saith he ye have done all this wickedness yet turn not aside from following the Lord For the Lord wil not forsake his people any that still own and follow after him seeking forgiveness mercy and blessing of him only for his great names sake because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people 1 Sam. 12.19 20 21 22. To the same purpose also the Apostle John 1 John 1.9 If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness And If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the just or righteous one who is the propitiation for our sins for the sins of the whole World 1 Ioh. 2.1 2. Not as incouraging any man to sin but as preventing mens sinning and the worst and most destructive way of their sinning namely in departing from Christ and from attenâ—ing to and believing on him for salvation because they find sin in them warring against them yea or because not duly watching and warring against it they have actually sinned and defiled themselves thereby and made their case such as that they stand in greater need of his mercy and salvation Remember we this then that it is the gracious end of God in sending Christ delivering him to death and raising him up again from the dead and exalting and glorifying him and the great undertaking and buisinesse of Christ The great end unto which he dyed and unto which he now ever lives that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life Look we not therefore upon our selves to see what we are as thinking to gather incouragement to hope from what we are in our selves out of him or without him or as discouraging our selves by poâ—ing upon our selves and the evils in us or befalling us but mind we only Jesus Christ in all conditions as the only needfull and perfect way and mean to all true rest and
Grace heartily repent and turn to God by him Yea of such Value and Force was and is his Obedience and Righteousness therein with his Father that upon account and in the virtue thereof he is both the Propitiation for our sins that believing have him our Advocate with the Father taking away our defects sins and failings from before him so as we walking in the Light as God is therein we have fellowship with God and God with us and his blood cleanseth us from all sin yea if through temptation sinning we confess it he is here-through just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness And also he is the Propitiation for the sins of the whole world So as he obtains here-through a day of Grace and Patience towards them and keeps off destruction therein from them and obtains the holding open as it were of a door of Repentance to them and a Readiness in God to accept of any of them in heartily repenting and turning to him Yea he here-through obtains all that Goodness Bounty Long-suffering and Patience towards them which is afforded them with whatsoever Calls Counsels means of Repentance and Grace with Dispensations and Operations of the Holy Spirit to Move Lead Excite Provoke and strengthen to Repentance and Faith are afforded to them that they might be Saved 1 Tim. 2.6 Isa 53.4 5 6 9 10. Heb. 2.9 and 9.26 and 10.5.10 Rom. 3.24 and 5.18 1 John 2.1 2. and 1.7 9. Acts 10.43 and 13.38 39. Psal 68.18 19 20. Yea 6. And also as it declares by virtue hereof and as a reward therefore God having taken him up and he being gone into Heaven to Gods Right-hand whereon he hath set him and where he hath glorified him even the Man Christ Jesus with himself with the Glory he had with him before the world was all Authority in Heaven and upon Earth is committed to him and all the fulness of the Godhead bodily dwells in him So as he is the Great God and our Saviour the Saviour of the World even of all men and especially of all those that believe Having the Power of forgiving sins and justifying from them all that come to and believe on him As also all Power of Teaching and Guiding into and in all right Ways and preserving from all hurt and evil of doing us good by and seasonably bringing us out of all Troubles Afflictions and Death subduing all Enemies within or without working all good for and in us and filling us with all Good and Blessing In a word of doing all things to and for us that may prevent our Perishing and promote our eternal Happiness Phil. 2.9 10 11. Isa 53.12 John 17.4 5. 1 Pet. 3.22 Acts 5.31 Col. 1.19 and 2.9 Mat. 28.18 Isa 9.6 and 63.1 Tit. 2.13 1 Tim. 4.10 Ephes 1.3 c. As also 7. That he is unspeakably Merciful Gracious and Loving to Mankind ready to do us good and save us yea actually doing great good to and for all and ready to do all good to all that will listen to and be ruled by him having received his Power and Offices to that purpose and that having ingaged and promised to God and men to do whatever may be requisite to the Salvation and Eternal Life of all that listen look to and obey him he is also Infinitely Faithful to both for performing all his Ingagements and Promises to them Heb. 2.17 18. and 3.1 2. and 4.14 15. and 5.9 Isa 42.1 2 3 4. Yea and further that 8. He abides for ever an everlasting unchangeable Priest after the order of Melchisedeck and an everlasting King whose Kingdom shall continue for ever and his Dominion have no end nor shall his Divine Power as God ever alter So that he is perfectly able to save to the utmost and for ever all that come to God by him being unchangeably the same yesterday to day and for ever Heb. 1.10 11 12. and 7.1 24 25. and 13.7 8. to whom that in Psal 146. may be applied Where having asserted the happiness of him that hath the God of Jacob for his help and whose hope is in the Lord his God upon the account of his Power and Greatness shewed in his having made Heaven and Earth the Seas and all therein and of his Faithfulness in keeping truth for ever and of his Mercy and Goodness in Executing Judgment for the Oppressed giving Food to the hungry loosing the Prisoners opening the Eyes of the Blind raising up those which are bowed down loving the Righteous preserving the Strangers relieving the Fatherless and Widow and turning upside down the way of the Wicked All of them works of Mercy and Goodness to men and such as argue his special Care over them that have him for their God He shuts up all with the consideration of his Eternity or Ever-abiding saying The Lord shall reign for ever even thy God O Sion to all Generations praise ye lift ye up the Lord. Whereto we may yet add 9. That herein is declared how by his Death and Sacrifice he hath purchased and obtained and in his Word and Testimony promised and assured not only supply of all good things and defence from evil so as he sees good in this Life and World but also a glorious and perfectly happy state and blessed condition for ever in a World to come in an everlasting Kingdom to be brought in and manifested by him as the certain and infallible Portion of all that love and look to and believe on him and wait for him Such as is beyond all our present Capacities to conceive of much more to express and set forth to the understandings of others so as the Excellency and Glory thereof may be perceived by them Ephes 4.14 Isa 53.12 Rom. 2.7 10. Rev. 2.26 27. and 3.21 Jam. 1.12 and 2.5 Heb. 6.12 13 18 19. Isa 64.5 1 Cor. 2.9 And in those things are contained all that may allure the heart to seek after and believe on him yea and to further that also there is further in this Testimony of him 10. A discovery of our unspeakable Wretchedness Lostness and Misery in our selves and the Emptiness Weakness and Insufficiency of all other Things and Persons to Help Save and Satisfie us None other in Heaven or Earth having been Crucified and Died for our sins nor is any else Exalted of God to Relieve and Save us There is none of them therefore that have in them Redemption Remission of sins Deliverance from wrath and vengeance None of them have the fulness of the Holy Spirit and of the Godhead in them nor any thing thereof but as he extends of it by them and so no Thing or Person else hath Power Riches Wisdom Strength Honour Glory and Blessing but only he who is judged of God and all his holy Angels worthy to receive of God all fulness This Voice is in this Testimony to take us off from all other things that might detain or withdraw us from him viz. All flesh is Grass and
man and Saviour of the World that hath dyed for all men and through his Death hath the only name in which there is salvation and that He is the only Justifier of men that will convince them of a need of going out of themselves and all their own works and righteousness unto Christ to believe on him 2 Cor. 5.14 Gal. 2.15 16. Those who were not sinners of the Gentiles but Jews and had great fleshly priviledges which they looked upon as advantage to them yet hereby were convinced of their righteousness that it would not profit them even by the Spirit witnessing to and glorifying Jesus in and by the Ministry of his Servants Phil. 3.4 7 8. as it is said He the Holy Ghost namely shall convince the World of righteousness because I go to my Father and ye see me no more Joh. 16.10 And that 's our way through the Spirit to convince such too And so Instance 4. Would we convince men of righteousness in Christ for them the righteousness of God freely prepared for and given to them of God that so they may come to believe on him This is the way glorify Christ and Preach his acceptable Sacrifice which He hath offered for us that He the Son of God the Word by whom all things were made hath given himself the ransome for all the Propitiation for the sins of the whole World and that He hath offered up so acceptable a Sacrifice to God that in the vertues of it He is ascended up to God and is entertained of him so as He comes down no more to be abased or to suffer for us In the sight of this that men are not justified by the works of the Law but by the faith of Jesus which implies the vertues of his Death and Sacrifice and the acceptableness thereof for taking away sin and obtaining favour for the approachers to God thereby the Apostles and others were moved to let go their trusting in their own righteousness according to Law and to believe in Christ that they might be justified Gal. 2.16 And so in the lifting up of the Son of man all that have come in to believe on him have been prevailed with thereto it being as well through his Name that any do believe on him as that they that do believe on him do and shall receive there-through remission of sins Act. 10.43 1 Cor. 1.21 Instance 5. Would we convince the World of Judgment that their judgment is naturally false and wrong and that God will judge the World in righteousness and give to every man according to his works The way is to lift up the Son of man and shew forth the truth as it is in him for that light makes manifest whatsoever is reproved and lays open the foundation of the Eternal Judgment and discovers the truth certainty and impartiality thereof Upon this ground and in so lifting up the Son of man Paul preached to the Athenians the reproof of their former judgment and the certainty of the Judgment to come Act. 17.30 31 32. And to the Corinthians He saith that their judgment concerning both Christ and all men besides so as no more to know them after the flesh sprung from their understanding and judging that Christ dyed for all as also from thence he grounds the judgment and the appearance of all before Christ's Tribunal 2 Cor. 5.10 14 15 16. with Rom. 14.9 10 11 12. Because Christ hath dyed for all and released all from under the first judgment and is there-through become Lord of all and all ought to live to Him and not to themselves Instance 6 Would we have men to Repent yea or exercise Faith The way to move them thereto is to lift up the Son of man So the Apostle Paul that saith He testified both to Jews and Greeks repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus tells us he did that in testifying the Gospel of the Grace of God Acts 20.21 24. And that he fulfilled his Commission given him of Christ To open the eyes of the blind and turn them from Darkness to Light and from the power of Satan unto God in shewing to them at Damascus and at Jerusalem and throughout all the Coasts of Judea and to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God and do good Works meet for Repentance All which he did in Witnessing both to small and great saying no other things but those which Moses and the Prophets did say should come to pass to wit that Christ should suffer and be the first that should rise from the Dead and should shew light to the People and to the Gentiles Acts 26 18.20.22 23. Or with these Arguments he moved them to that Repentance and Faith which he Preached and Urged Instance 7. Would we dehort from any sin This is our way to do it lift up the Son of man shew him to be Lord and Christ that to him we owe subjection and obedience and that he hath suffered for sins the Just for the unjust that he might bring us to God and therein hath given himself for us that he might redeem us there-from to himself So the Apostle disswades from Fornication 1 Cor. 6.14.18 19. and so we may disswade from Covetousness Fraud Envy Malice and every evil thing as is implied Rom. 6.1 2 3.9 10 11. Tit. 2.11 12 13 14. and 3.4 5. Yea it 's the usual way of the Apostles first laying down the Doctrine of Christ and therein lifting him up in the former part of their Epistles then in the latter part to dehort and disswade from all evil and provoke and stir up to all Virtue and Goodness And therefore also Instance 8. Would we perswade to Obedience and Virtue This is the powerful Argument to be used and the way wherein to do it Lift up the Son of man and shew how all is due from us to God upon account of the Grace in him and brought to us by him by which he Teacheth us that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present world looking for the blessed hope c. Tit. 2.11 12 13. And so that 's here observable that we noted in the foregoing going particular concerning the manner of the Apostles in their Epistles as may be seen in the Epistles to the Romans Galatians Ephesians Hebrews c. Instance 9. Would we convince of Errour The way is to hold forth the Truth as it is in Jesus Lifting up and Glorifying the Son of man So the Apostle refutes those that denied the Resurrection of the Dead by minding them of the Gospel Preached to them and therein of the Death Burial and Resurrection of Christ 1 Cor. 15.1 2 3. And so he reproves the Errours of the false Apostles and the Galatians by minding them of the Lord Jesus his giving himself for our sins that he might deliver us from the present evil world and of the Grace in and of him Gal. 1 2 3 4 5
1 Cor. 1.17 and 2.1 2 5. 3. Now if they be reproveable that lift him not up as they ought or not at all much more then are they so who instead of lifting Him up endeavour to cast him down as is said of some Psal 62.3 4. They only consult to cast him down from his excellency they delight in lies they bless or praise with the mouth but they curse inwardly or underneath And this they do 1. Either by bringing in damnable Heresies denying the Lord that bought them and these bring upon themselves swift destruction 2 Pet. 2.1 Such as deny or confess not Christ come in the Flesh but throw him by as useless or as one gone out of the Flesh and so Preach up a God or Spirit without Him taxing deriding or blaspheming those that confess Him come in the Flesh and the so confessing or acknowledging of Him and so all expectation of any thing from or by his Person as exalted and glorified and as having received Gifts in the man as of the Seed of David the Son of man or any looking for him in Person to appear again from Heaven mocking at the faith of his coming as is said of some 2 Pet. 3.4 5. 1 Joh. 4.3 2 Joh. 7.8 2. Or by their lives and doings exposing Him to shame scorn and reproach and so denying and decrying him while by their fruitless lives and sinful demeanours and abuses of the grace of God they blemish the profession which they make of him walking in lusts of uncleanness riotous excesses rebellious against and disobediences towards Magistrates and Princes covetousness pride fraud and the like who are the enemies of the Cross of Christ while in deeds they deny him making their Bellies their Gods and minding earthly things crucifying him to themselves afresh and putting him to open shame Heb. 6.4 5 6 7. 2 Pet. 2.1 5 6 7. Jude 1.2 7 8 c. And all these with others are faulty as guilty of not lifting up Christ the Son of man though of these some make it a piece of Religion to lift up a wooden cross and carry it in Procession and follow after and look to it and some Image or Picture of him as crucified set upon or fastened to it or so lift up and look to the Bread or Host which they call the very Body it self that was crucified or rather the whole Christ yet of the true Cross of Christ and the true and right lifting him up as crucified they are ignorant yea and enemies thereto and so are all such as are here mentioned as reproved Vse 5. And here we might also before we pass to the other Branch of Persons to be reproved take notice that in all aforesaid we have a Discovery of Doctrines Spirits or Teachers here hinted to us Our Saviour bids us beware of false Prophets who come to us in Sheeps clothing but inwardly are ravening Wolves Matth. 7.15 And to take heed least any deceive us for saith he many shall come in my Name and say I am Christ and deceive many yea and that there shall come false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signs and wonders so as to deceive if possible the very Elect Matth. 24.4 5 24. And the Apostles have told us of a man of sin whose coming should be after the working of Sathan Yea that as we have heard that Antichrist shall come in the last times so there are many Antichrists and false Prophets come into the World 1 Joh. 2.18 and 2 Joh. 7.8 And therefore they also have warned us to take heed to our selves Now this is one good Character by which they may be known and discerned their denying or not lifting up the Son of man but exalting themselves or some other thing or person in opposition to or instead of him according as the Apostle John giving that warning to the Churches not to believe every spirit but to try the spirits whether they be of God because many false spirits are gone out into the World adds this as a Rule for discerning the false spirits or Prophets from the true Every spirit that confesseth that is acknowledgeth praiseth speaketh out Jesus Christ come in the flesh is of God He suits with and pursues Gods design who in his Doctrine and in the drift and scope of it makes it his work and business to commend and speak forth Jesus Christ come in the flesh not only God in his naked consideration as in himself and not in Christ Jesus nor only Christ as he was before the foundations of the World or as in the Word or Prophecy only but as come in the Flesh both acknowledging that he is come in the Flesh and lifting him up as so come as the only powerful sufficient Saviour Medicine and Cure of miserable Man that men might address themselves to Him and Him only as evidencing himself in his testimony and attend upon him for his help and salvation in all his ways and appointments ordered by him as come in the flesh and having their foundation in him witnessing of and leading to him as in attending to him in his Word and waiting upon Him in his Ordinances and Gifts given and appointed for the perfecting the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the Body of Christ c. But on the other hand Every spirit that confesseth not Jesus Christ come in the flesh is not of God but is that spirit of Antichrist that should come into the World that is every Doctrine and Spirit breathing therein and so every Teacher preaching any doctrine however otherwise he may appear full of spirit force zeal and efficacy in his teaching and doctrine for moving and working upon his Auditory yea though he should speak yea or walk like an Angel in his outward conversation and appearance among men yet if he bring not this Doctrine of Christ come in the Flesh if he do not confess acknowledge speak out so as to set forth glorify and lift up Jesus Christ as come in the Flesh to be the only Saviour the Great Design and Devise of God for his bringing in or reconciling men to himself as the power and wisdom of God that in which the only wise God hath shewed forth the riches of his wisdom and that in which is the greatness of his power for destroying and overthrowing the Kingdome of Sin and Sathan and delivering men from destruction and for making them wise and able to every good thing that man is not sent of God or authorized of him in his Ministry and Doctrine nor is owned of him as acted by his Spirit but inasmuch as he lays by hides and conceals owns or acknowledgeth not that great mystery He is of Antichrist and the Spirit that acts and leads him out to and in all his zeal and fervour for promoting any other way for bringing men to God laying by this design of God this Doctrine of Christ come in the Flesh is not of God
but is the Spirit that enlivens and works in and for Antichrist according as the Apostle saith Gal. 1.8 9. If I Paul or an Angel from Heaven preach another Gospel to you then that which we have preached let him be accursed Many People judg of Teachers and Ministers either by their Authority from Men or their Learning in Worldly or Humane Sciences or the Zeal or seeming Innocency or Piety in their walkings but these the Apostle implies may possibly be in those that are not of God they may be like Angels in their appearance or they may also pretend and seem to have immediate mission and furniture from God without such ordinary ways and means as others attain to understanding and fitness by for as the Apostle elsewhere saith Sathan is transformed into an Angel of light and therefore it is no great matter if his Ministers be transformed into the Ministers of righteousness 2 Cor. 11.14 And yet be Messengers of Sathan still those things which most men look upon of the conversation and walking of men may be included in the sheeps clothing the Sheep is distinguished from the Wolf by his bleating rather then by his clothing joyned with the innocency meekness in him the holy men of God had the end of their conversation Jesus Christ yesterday and to day and the same for ever It s good for us to mind them and to follow their Faith and such as so walk and not to be carried about with divers and strange doctrines Doctrines different from that whereof Christ is the great matter and end Heb. 13.8 9. The Gospel preached by the Apostles was a Doctrine setting forth to Men and calling them into the grace of Christ Gal. 1.6 and that which swarves there-from is another Gospel or a perverting of the Gospel of Christ and is not to be heard who ever he be and how-ever he be gifted or walk that brings it no nor is he to be received to house or bid God speed to He that so doth being therein a partaker of all his evil deeds saith 2 Joh. 10 11. Implying that they be evil doers as indeed they must needs be and so they are called Philip. 3.2 who pervert or change the Gospel of Christ into another Doctrine as was before noted in chap. 21. The Prophets all witnessed to Christ as to come in the Flesh proclaiming Him the Seed of the Woman that was to bruise the Serpents head Gen. 3.15 The Seed of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob that was to be the blessing of all the Nations and Families of the Earth Gen. 22.18 and 26.4 and 28.14 The Prophet to be taken out of Israel like to Moses in all things The Seed of David in whose hands the Kingdom and Peace was to be established for ever Psal 89.3 4. and 132.11 Isa 9.7 A Root out of the stemme of Jesse and a Branch out of his Roots Isa 11.1 A Child born to us and a Son given to us and yet the Wonderful the Counsellor the Mighty God Isa 9.6 A man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs that was to be wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities upon whom was to be laid the chastisement of our peace and who by his knowledge should justifie many as bearing their sins c. Isa 53.3 4 5 10 11. And all the Apostles have preached confessed and lifted him up as such a one saying no other things then what Moses and the Prophets did say should come to pass Yea and the end of their walking hath been to commend glorify and win in to him and therefore they who so preach and speak and walk are the true Ministers of God and such as are to be heard whether they have humane authority eloquence of speech and worldly learning or not for even Christ and the Prophets and Apostles at least divers of them had not nor came with those things Joh. 7.15 Act. 4.13 Amos 7.14 Yea though they should have like passions as other men and be men of infirmities as the Prophet Elias Jam. 5.17 And the Apostles were Act. 14.15 Or be Men mean in their Person and Speech as they said of the Apostle Paul 2 Cor. 10.10 as on the other side the false Prophets and Teachers may boast of and have an appearance of all the contrary Mind we then what it is that men confess and whether in their word and conversation that be their end to exalt and glorify the Son of man and win in to Christ as come in the Flesh and close we with and receive them that so do but if Any bring not that Doctrine reject and refuse him whether it be that He 1. Deny Jesus to be the Christ or the Anointed one that should come into the World and whom Moses and the Prophets meant and wrote of whether he preach and expect another Person yet to come distinct and diverse from him and to do either the same works that he hath done or some other acts of saving Men by setting up an outward Kingdom for the Jews after the manner of other great Princes and Emperors in the World or whether they look for no other man but turn all into an Allegory of some light or power within whereof that Person was only an outward Representation Type or Figure Or 2. Assert a necessity of Moses Law to be observed and kept that men may be justified and accepted of God and saved as if Christ was not the end of the Law for righteousness for that 's a denying of him come in the Flesh as to the work and business of his coming Act. 15.2 Gal. 1.7 8 9. 2 Joh. 7.8 Or whether He 3. Deny the dispensation of the Spirit and the pouring it out upon all Flesh or the openness of the grace of God in and through him and liberty of access to God in the faith of him and of what he hath done and suffered for us for that 's not a confessing praising and commending him as so come as an All-sufficient compleat Saviour or as the Anointed the Christ furnished for helping and saving Mankind and as a good ground for all or any Man to repent upon and to turn to and hope in God Or whether He 4. Look for and teach to expect another and further Revelation of the truth of God then that given in and by him as if he had not compleated the Vision and Prophecy or was not the Person anointed of God to give the full Revelation of the mystery or had not done it in the Gospel preached by him and by his Servants in his Name and at his appointment and in the Spirit thereunto and therein given forth Or 5. Talk to men of an immediate approach to God and receit of Word and Spirit grace and blessing from Him without looking to him in and by Christ as if He was not in the nature of man or as Man exalted at Gods right hand and there abiding and interceding for us and obtaining for and
dispensing to us his grace and blessing and so remaining as a perpetual High Priest for us and Mediator of God and us through whom we are to have all our access to and dependance on God in all things but as if Christ was gone out of the Flesh or Beeing of a Man again Or else or also 6. Talk of waiting upon God or the Spirit without use of or attending to the Means and Ordinances appointed by Him and the gifts given by him for our helpfulness dissolving Jesus at it were and loosing or dividing the Spirit from the Flesh or Humanity of Christ and so from the Means and Mediums appointed in liew of the Personal Presence of his Flesh in the World the Apostles Prophets Evangelists and other Ordinances given and appointed by him Eph. 4.8 11 12 13 14 c. Or whether He 7. Mock at or deny the glorious appearance of the Person of Christ as the Son of man sitting on the right hand of God and coming in the power and glory of God with all the Angels of his might to raise the Dead in Body out of their Graves and to judge them all according to their works condemning the wicked to everlasting misery for their obstinacy in their wickedness and giving an everlasting Kingdom and glory to all that have here believed in and obeyed him for these deny him a great part of the glory given him of his Father and so do not lift Him up but cast him down from his excellency Act. 10.42 and 17.30 31. Matth. 26.64 Luc. 22.69 c. Take we heed of all these Principles and Spirits as erring and not lifting up the Son of man and therefore not of Gods sending and owning CHAP. XXVII The second Branch of the use of Reproof viz. Of those who look not to Christ as lifted up of God his Spirit and Servants Use 6 Reproof 2 ANd as they are worthy of Reprehension and Reproof who lift not up the Son of man in their Doctrine or make not that their great design in order to the glorifying of God and doing good to others What ever or who ever else they lift up yea though they lift up as some do humane Virtues yea or Gods Gifts and Graces which are lift up out of their places when men lift them up neglecting him the right Spring of all truly good Works and the Author and Infuser of all real and right Virtues as discovered to and looked to by us So again many are greatly faulty too in not looking to and believing on him when lifted up as he is rightly lifted up in the Scriptures And indeed as the former sort are reproveable exceedingly as dishonouring God and Christ abrogating Gods Grace and obscuring Christs Glory so as men may not clearly see it and so are also very injurious and destructive to men hindring them of what is prepared of God for their Welfare and Happiness as was noted before And thereby also procure a woe and curse against themselves for how shall they escape the damnation of Hell who stand so cross and opposite to God in his grand Design and to Christ in the Honour due to him and to his Name and to the good of all men if they repent not Surely wrath is likely to and without Repentance will come upon them to the utmost 1 Thes 2.16 So also are they enemies to their own good and go contrary to Gods Ordinance Will and Command and by their evil examples are also at least prejudicial and injurious to others who when he is rightly lifted up of God and of his Spirit and his holy Apostles and Prophets as all their liftings of him up are right and by his Servants Ministers and Disciples yet refuse to behold and look to him and to seek their help and healing in and by him But either First Neglect him looking after and upon other things As the World and Flesh going in their hearts after their Covetousness their Oxen Farms Wives that I say not worse things as Hawks Hounds Whores Wine and Belly-chear Sports Pastimes c. like those in Mat. 22.5 6. Luke 14.19 20 21. and as those that look to their gain from their quarters neither sensible of their Wounds nor seeking to be healed of them they look rather on the Wine when its red or on Women or the Wedg of Gold c. Prov. 6.25 and 23.5.31 Josh 7. Or Secondly In case they be sensible that they be as it were bitten and punished for their sins If Afflictions Dangers Fears Poverty Pains or the like come upon them yet they look not to the Son of man for help or healing They turn not to him that smites them neither seek the Lord of Hosts but look to other things as their Policies and Contrivances for themselves saying In the pride and stoutness of their hearts the Bricks are fallen down but we will build with hewen stones The Sycamore Trees are cut down but we will build with Cedars Isa 9.10 13. Or else looking to those that smite them as instruments of their troubles thinking by complying with them and getting their favour and friendship and making them on their side shall be safe saying A confederacy to them that say a confederacy and staying upon them Isa 8.12 and 10.20 Or else looking to Humane helps and Carnal ways of defence and safety as when God brought War upon and discovered the Covering of Judah the weakness and nakedness of their Covering or else that Covering of his Spirit wherewith they should have covered themselves Isa 30.1 Even Christ as held forth to them in the Law and Prophets the true Propitiatory or covering Mercy-seat Rom. 3.25 then they not looking to that true Covering looked to the Armour of the house of the Forest and and saw the breaches of the City of David that they were many and gathered together the Waters of the lower Pool and numbred the houses and made a Ditch c. Such like Humane courses for safety they took But they looked not to the Maker thereof nor had respect to him that Fashioned it long ago looked not to the Lord the Maker Advancer and Blesser of their City nor to him that Fashioned it or made and fashioned the Covering wherewith they should have covered long ago Isa 22.8.11 Or they looked to Egypt and their Horses and Chariots Isa 30.1 2. but looked not to the holy One of Israel Isa 31.1 2 3. As men in a danger or fright that look hither and thither for help but look not to the true place for help So are men apt to look to Hills and Mountains in times of War in times of Sickness to the Physician as Asa 2 Chron. 16 12. and the like But seeing God hath set up and exalted such a one as is mighty to save the Son of man one chosen out of the People one who is one with us our Brother and Kinsman and so one compassionate of us as acquainted with our Temptations and Troubles And one that
forgetful hearer but a doer of the work shall be blessed in his doing Iam. 1.26 But that continuing therein minds me of another sort reproveable Namely Fourthly Those who having begun to look to him continue not till in beholding his Glory with open face as in a Glass they be changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory as by the Spirit of the Lord but look off from him again going away from this glorious Glass of the Gospel in which the beautiful Face of Christ and its Comliness and Glory for Escape and for Delight is represented and so forgetting what manner of men they are And so what need they have of being healed and changed yea and what manner of one he is too and so are not healed and changed as they need Whether it be that 1. They turn with Demas to embrace the present World and looking upon the Beauty and Comeliness and pleasing Form of their Injoyments Fellowships Friendships Riches Pleasures play therein the Adulterers and Adulteresses from Christ and provoking his displeasure and judgment against themselves they leave off to believe on and follow him James 4.4.7 1 John 2.15 16 17. Or 2. With the Galatians and others they turn to beggarly Rudiments thinking to make themselves perfect in the flesh after they have begun in the Spirit looking upon the fair shews which the delude dones make in the the flesh and how great in flesh and fleshly Gloryings and Rejoycings of their Zeal Devotions Orders or Attainments others are with whose false Ways they are taken and by which they are corrupted from the simplicity in Christ Like the Adulterous Woman Aholah and Aholibah complained of in Ezek. 23. who were snared and committed Adultery with the Egyptians Assyrians and Chaldeans because of their greatness of Flesh brave appearance in their Attire and lusty Looks their flesh like the flesh of Asses and their issue like the issue of Horses vers 14 15 20. And like Jerusalem who committed Whoredom with the Egyptians great of flesh when they saw them Ezek 16.26 Gal. 3.2 3. and 6.12 Or 3. As Jerusalem of old in EZek. 16.16 17 18 Looking upon themselves and their own Beauty and Comeliness received from Christ they grow proud and high-minded and slight Christ and the lowness of the Doctrine of the Cross and so of the Gospel and say they are Lords themselves Owners Possessors Self-sufficient as full as Christ is as good and able to live as He or however able to live without exercise of Faith in and dependance on him from which therefore they cease and live upon their own Receits Conceits and imagined Perfection And truely these are in a sad and dangerous state puffed up Lucifer-like in themselves and may easily fall or rather are already fallen into the fault and condemnation of the Devil and prove the greatest mischief to others to seduce and draw them away from the Simplicity in Christ to behold and dote on them and to affect a likeness to them in like conceits of Self-sufficiency in themselves and independency on Christ-crucified for Life and Salvation Even as the evil Spirits or the Serpent fallen into and by Pride made it his design and business to Tempt and Draw man after him by the like aspiring pride to effect equality with God and so into the same fault and condemnation with himself All these are here by this Doctrine of the Exaltation of Christ crucified the Son of man Lifted up Reproved and we may be all warned that we be not led away with their errour to fall with them from our own stedfastness even from Christ Jesus and the Grace in him and Doctrine of him wherein our stedfastness lieth 2 Pet. 3 17. But that we attend to grow in Grace and in the Knowledg of him even Christ Jesus to whom be Glory both now and for ever Amen Verse 18. And truly they that rightly view and discern how little Christ is Lifted up by men even by those also who pretend to befriend him and to be his Disciples and Worshippers or that are called Christians after his Name yea his Servants and Ministers and how great defects there are in their Lifting him up who think to lift up and exalt him and how few there are that look to him or continue so to do for healing may be filled with grief and sorrow of heart both for that God and his Grand Design and great grace is so much under-valued and abrogated Christ to whom we are so much directed of God and ingaged for the infinite fulness of grace and of God in him so slighted disregarded and abused His visage so marred more then any mans and his forme more then the Sons of men as is said Isa 52.14 And so many men for want of knowledge of and looking to him perishing the cause equity and inevitableness of whose destruction may be seen also in this Decree and appointment of the Father that the Son of man must be lifted up that whosoever believeth on him might not perish but have everlasting life as we shall in the next place take a little further view of CHAP. XXVIII Of the Cause and Reason Equitableness and Inevitableness of Mens destruction who shall be thereto adjudged of Christ and yet the Consolation that this Doctrine affords to Christ and his Members Use 7 HEre is also I say a Demonstration of the Reason and Cause Justness and Equitableness Certainty and Inavoidableness of Mens destruction who shall be thereto adjudged by Christ For 1. As to the reason and cause of it it appears hence to be as originally and firstly their sin against God provoking his wrath and anger against themselves in their personal sinnings against his Law and Doctrine or declared will as the original and first cause of the dying of the People in the Wilderness to whom allusion is here made was their being stung and bitten by the Serpents but against those first and original causes of destruction there is a remedy prepared of God in Christ and tendred in the Gospel and the declarations of God and his goodness leading to repentance in and through Christ as there was a Remedy in the brazen Serpent for the People there But as there the stung People then perished because they refused if any of them did so to look to that Serpent So the cause and reason here of Mens perishing is their refusing to look to Christ and to God in and through Christ and so to the grace in him for help and healing or their refusing to be healed thereby through looking off from him to other things This is now the great reason of Mens perishing the condemnation that Light is come into the World and men love darkness rather than light refusing the remedy because they love their diseases or love not the smart the remedy will put them to in order to the curing them of their diseases because their deeds be evil for every one that doth evil that goeth on and
in due time of all Men and be very high exceeding high and glorious As many were astonished at thee speaking to him his visage was so marred c. so he shall sprinkle many Nations The Kings shall shut their mouths at him for that which hath not been told them shall they see and that which they had not heard shall they consider Whatsoever the Father giveth him shall come to him nothing shall keep it back or any part of it who or whatever opposes it And then He that person Man or Woman that cometh to him He will in no wise cast them out which is a great incouragement also to any man to come to him Yea here is a double incouragement 1. That He shall have the heigth and greatness that God gives him He shall and must be lifted up and be made high 2. That He being so high and by consequent able to help succour satisfy and save all that come to Him He also is so good and merciful that whosoever cometh to him for help salvation or satisfaction he will in no wise refuse or cast him out which may both comfort us in his behalf and incourage us in our own to look to him who-ever they be that look away from or neglect and slight him For He came not down from Heaven to do his own will but the will of him that sent him and this is the will of him that sent him that of all that which the Father hath given him he should loose nothing nothing of all that honour glory Kingdom c. but should raise it up again at the last day And this is the will of him that sent him that every one that seeth the Son and believeth on him should have everlasting life and he will raise him up at the last day Joh. 6.37 38 39 40. And these two Branches of his will answer to those two Branches of his assertion in vers 37. and that given him is distinct from him that seeth and believeth on him and the raising up of the one distinct from the raising up of the other as those words And this is the will of him that sent me in the beginning of vers 40. implies it being spoken of as a distinct business and so we may say As God gave him in the nature of man the Throne of Majesty in the Heavens and a great and glorious Name here on Earth among men notwithstanding all the folly and negligence of the Jews that see and believed not yea and against all the oppositions both of Jewes and Gentiles opposing Him his Doctrine and Servants and persecuting Him and them to Death so God lifted Him up to Heaven both in his Personal Body and as brought forth by his Church in the knowledge and faith of Him wherein he was taken up to the Throne of God Rev. 12.5 As also among men he was exalted extolled and made very high But now by the Anti-christian Beast and false Prophet arisen and grown great in the World He is darkned and diminished again as it were The Beast hath the great Company of followers and worshippers and is wondred after and magnified by them saying Who is able to make War with the Beast and Who is like the Beast even that which appertains to the Lamb the Lord Jesus is attributed to him see Psal 89.6 8. And we may take up that complaint which follows in that Psalm vers 38. Thou hast cast off and abhorred thou wast wrath with thy Anointed or Messiah not as to his Person but as to the appearance of his Name and Glory in the World and as to his Members here as his Name and Glory is upon them and they by his permission and providence are rendred as if they were objects of his wrath and abhorrency Thou hast made void the Covenant of thy Servants the Gospel-covenant at the present takes little place in the World thou hast prophaned by casting down his Crown to the ground c. But now saith our Saviour This is the will of Him that sent me that how-ever low my Crown Glory or Repute seem to lye I should not loose it but raise it up again at the last day and so He will When He arises and lifts up Himself to judge the World and to take to Himself his Great Power and Reign His Enemies shall be scattered Antichrist the Beast and false Prophet shall be discomfited and taken The Lamb shall overcome them and then when they are overcome by him He will thereby raise up his Name Covenant Throne and Kingdom again in the eyes views and hearts of the World as it were or into a more high and glorious form and appearance then before they fell down then before there was such an Apostacy and departure from him even as the Persons and Bodies also of those who see and believe on Him shall be raised into a better state and form then they were in before they fell into the earth by death then God will give him the Throne of his Father David and he shall raise up the Tabernacle of David that is fallen down and he shall build it up and shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever then shall that be fulfilled which is spoken of by the Prophet Isaiah chap. 2.11 22. That the lofty looks of man shall be humbled and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down and the Lord alone even the Lord Jesus and God in him shall be exalted in that day for the day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty and upon every one that is lifted up and he shall be brought low and upon all the Cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up and so upon all that 's high or pleasant to men that now eclipses or darkens his glory and robs him of his honour and they shall all be cast down and the Idols shall be utterly abolished and the Lord even Jesus alone shall be exalted and then great shall be his glory in Gods salvation visibly and apparently in the World also For at that last day he shall appear in glory and all his Saints shall appear in glory with him and then he shall be exalted and extolled and be very high indeed not only in himself but in his appearance in the World also and in the eyes and hearts of all men For then all the Kings of the earth shall praise him even such as now despise and persecute him when they shall hear the words of his mouth yea they shall sing in the ways of the Lord for great shall be his glory Psal 138.4 5. Yea and then all the ends of the World shall remember and turn to the Lord and all the Kindreds of the Nations shall worship before him for the Kingdom shall be and is the Lords and He the Governour then most gloriously among the Nations all they that be fat upon the earth shall eat and worship and all they that go down to
the dust shall how before him every one shall confess and give an account of himself to Him see Isa 45.23 with Rom. 14.10 11 12. and Philip. 2.10 11 and none can keep alive his own Soul Psal 22.27 28 29. Yea all Nations that he hath made shall come and worship before him and shall glorify his Name because He is great and doth wondrous things He as all the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily is God alone Psal 86.9 10. Yea and all Flesh shall worship him and bless his holy Name for ever and ever Psal 145.21 Isa 66.23 Then shall those Prayers and Prophecies be accomplished that we have in Psal 67.3 4 5 6 7. Let all the People praise thee O God let all the People praise thee O let the Nations be glad and rejoyce or sing for joy for thou shalt judge the People righteously and govern the Nations upon Earth let the People praise thee O God yea let all the People praise thee then shall the Earth yield her increase for then shall all things be restored and made new new Heavens and new Earth in which shall dwell righteousness Isa 65.17 25. 2 Pet. 3.13 14. Rev. 21.1 5 6 and God even our God shall give us his blessing God shall bless us and all the ends of the Earth shall praise Him And then what our Lord directs his Disciples and Children to pray for daily shall be fully answered God's Name shall be so hallowed and his Kingdome come that his will shall be done on Earth as it is in Heaven as universally perfectly and perpetually for Sin and Satan and all that are wicked and love iniquity and would not let it go shall be thrust down into the Lake and shall have no place either in Heaven or Earth and those that believe on Christ being saved from perishing therein shall enjoy eternal life The sinners shall be consumed out of the Earth and the wicked shall be no more Bless thou the Lord O my soul praise ye the Lord Psal 104.35 CHAP. XXIX A brief Discovery of the True and False Church their distinct Manners and Priviledges And the Conclusion of the whole Treatise in a Brief Exhortation Use 9 HEre also we may take a brief View of the True Church of God who they be and what their Priviledges Many there be who greatly mistake that as well as their Fathers did mistake the Christ the Son of man the Lord and Head of it many cry up and lift up the Church instead of Christ crying the Church the Church the holy Catholick Church calling men as they think to it when they totally mistake themselves and it doing as those in Isa 48.1 2. who Sware by the Name of the Lord and made mention of the God of Israel but not in Truth nor in Righteousness though they called themselves of the holy City the holy Catholick Church and stayed themselves on the God of Israel the Lord of Hosts is his Name This that men usually magnifie as the Holy Church is but the outward Court that is without the Temple which the Beast and False-prophet the Antichrist or man of Sin sits in and sets up their Image in and which the Angel ordered the holy Man to cast out and not to measure as being prophane and no sufficient mark by which to know who is Holy and Accepted of God it being given unto the Gentiles even to those that are Uncircumcised in heart and life boasting in and knowing themselves by and after their flesh and fleshly Priviledges As their Birth Breeding Riches Learning Places Offices and the like and walking in and after the Flesh performing and rejoycing in a carnal fleshly Worship Religion Zeal Devotion and upon such accounts trampling under foot the holy City which they say they are of but Know Own or Love it not but do hate and Persecute it even the true holy Catholick Church indeed because it hath not nor approves and applauds but reproves and faults such carnal rejoycings and confidences as Adulteries and Treacheries against her Lord even the Lord Jesus That which they cry up in stead of it is the Whore that sits upon the many Waters or multitudes mounted stately upon the Beasts back riding him and upheld by him even by the Imperial power of the World Dressing her self partly with Christs Jewels his Scriptures and Ordinances mingled with and marred by her Adulterous additions her Inventions Orders and Impositions in Doctrine and Worship even the Church or Court of Rome and her Daughters that exercise her or a like power which is so far from being the holy Church that it is indeed a Nest and Cage of all unclean and impure Birds as is too evidently seen in the Lives and Practices of those that are of them too generally from the Pope to the Apparitor every where But leaving that filthy Whore with all her Members drunk with the Blood of the Saints and of the Martyrs of Jesus the filthy Sink of sin and wickedness both Mother and Daughters we may note here That the true Church is indeed those and all those who through the Lifting up of the Son of man do believe on him obeying and following him and his holy Doctrine All that in their hearts perceiving his Excellency and Goodness do love and cleave to him receive his Commandments and keep them being Ruled and Governed by him and living in dependance on him These as united in and by one Spirit in and with him and so among themselves and one to another in the Faith and Love of him and love of one another for his sake are his holy Church his Body all of them together and Members of him in particular 1 Cor. 12.12 27. Rom. 12.5 And these need not to nor desire to Lift up Preach and commend themselves as the Whore the false Church and her Members do But they make it their business to lift up their Head and Husband the Son of man in whom they think themselves lifted up sufficiently This Church knowing her self to be his Body his Members his Beloved she judgeth that she hath enough in knowing his Worth Height Glory Excellency Power and Authority and that is the thing that She looks after yea looks upon and admires and cannot but talk and boast of to others She desires nothing but his Love and Fellowship to be admitted into the Knowledg of and Acquaintance with him and through him to have Access to and Acceptance with his Father who is through him her Father also and that she may Honour and Serve him and bring forth Children to him Let him have the Glory the Power the Riches the Wisdom the Strength the Honour and Blessing yea though she be Despised Dishonoured Impoverished and made conformable to him in her Use and Intertainment in the World she is well contented therewith for his sake She leans not upon the Power Riches and Authority of Princes and of the Nobles of the Earth though if God perswades any of
have everlasting life we may well give up our selves unto him and say Truly we are thy Servants we are thy Servants the Sons of thy Handmaid thy perpetual Servants Thou hast loosed our bonds offering up our Bodies a living Sacrifice holy and acceptable to him which is our reasonable service of him Psal 116.16 Rom. 12.1 Yea how doth it become us to accept this his grace with all acceptation and for ever to laud and magnify Him To enter his Gates with thanksgiving his Courts with praises being thankful to him and blessing his Name Lauding and praising him that He hath passed such a Decree as this that as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth on him might not perish but have everlasting life And as the Son himself our Lord the Son of man hath published and will publish the Decree saying I will proclaim the Decree The Lord hath said unto me thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee ask of me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance and the utmost ends of the Earth for thy possession thou shalt rule them with an Iron-Rod c. So let us make it our rejoycing and the business we mind to proclaim the same to all calling upon all to hear it and be glad of it to imbrace and submit to it for ever blessing him and calling upon all Creatures to bless him with us who hath so Decreed for us and is so Decreed of for us Let us lift up our voice and sing for the Majesty of the Lord and cry aloud from the Sea glorifying the Lord though in the fires of afflictions and sufferings even the Name of the Lord God of Israel the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of mercies and the God of all grace comfort and consolation from the Isls of the Sea Yea let us make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth serving the Lord with gladness and coming into his Presence with a Song Giving thanks unto him because he is good his mercy prepared for us and given to us in Christ Jesus everlasting and his truth enduring from generation to generation Calling upon all to take notice of his goodness herein unto all and to praise and laud and bless him with us Yea and upon all Creatures too as in Psal 148. especially the Saints and holy ones who believing on him have title to and interest in his promises of salvation and life everlasting Yea let us praise him every where and in all things chiefly in his Sanctuary or Holy Place and Holy Ordinances looking diligently unto Jesus that we fail not of the grace given us in him through any of the politick workings of Siâ— the World and Satan to that purpose against us but that we may be accounted worthy of it to life everlasting To whom â—e Glory and Dominion Honour and Praise now and in all Ages throughout all Places of his Dominions even for ever and ever Amen And Oh that my Soul may bless the Lord at all times and all that is within me may bless his holy Name and let every thing that hath life and breath praise Him till we all come to sing everlasting Hallelujahs in his glorious Kingdom Amen and Amen Laus Deo Christo suâ— in Eternâ—m c. FINIS THE CONTENTS Chap. 1. BRief Observations upon Nicodemus and our Saviours discourse with him p. 1. Chap. 2. The words of the Teâ—t considered its Parts four main Points then observed The first Point The Type of the Brazen Serpent lifted up spoken to in some brief Notes upon it p. 22. it should have been p. 14. Chap. 3. The Second Point in part considered viz. That the Son of man must be lifted up Who is the Son of man And three Reasons propounded why Christ is so called p. 23. alias 26. Chap. 4. Two other Reasons and they the principal ones of Christ calling himself the Son of man p. 48. alias 40. Chap. 5. A twofold Sense of the Phrase of lifting up viz. putting to Death and Glorifying or Advancing and what is implied in it in the latter Sense especially p. 65. alias 57. Chap. 6. A twofold way of Exalting the Son of man viz. either by Real Action upon his Person or by Demonstration of him and of his Worth and Excellency to others The former of these Enlarged upon p. 77. alias 69. Chap. 7. Of the second way of Lifting him up viz. By Demonstration of him and of his Glory unto men by whom that was and is to be performed and wherein p. 85. Chap. 8. The third point viz. That the Son of man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness and therein several Analogies and Agreement between them considered p. 109. Chap. 9. The fourth and last Point The end of the Son of mans being so lifted up viz. That whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting Life Six Observations drawn from hence the first of which concerning mens danger of perishing opened p. 136. Chap. 10. The second Observation spoken to viz. That God hath no pleasure in mens death or perishing and some objections against it answered very briefly p. 147. Chap. 11. The third Observation briefly spoken to shewing Christ to be the only Medicine for our misery and Way to happiness appointed of God for us and what an inducement that consideration is to love God and accept of Christ p. 154. Chap. 12. The fourth Observation considered and therein the necessity and nature of believing on the Son of man unto Salvation with its desirableness and acceptableness to God p. 162 Chap. 13. The fifth Observation viz. That whosoever believeth on the Son of man shall not perish but have Eternal life having two Branches the former of them is here explicated What the perishing is from which the believer on the Son of man is preserved and how he is preserved from it p. 182. Chap. 14. Of the second Branch of the fifth Observation What Eternal life is and how the believer on Christ shall have it p. 202. Chap. 15. The Application of the two former viz. the 4th and 5th Observations in part in Exhortation to believe Reproof for not believing Incouragements to continue in believing on the Son of man and some Directions thereto p. 212. Chap. 16. Some further usefulness of the said Observations in Cautions and Instructions p. 225. Chap. 17. The sixth and last Observation viz. about the necessity of the Son of mans being lifted up spoken to in certain Conclusions the first of which in two Branches shews the necessity of Gods lifting up Christ in himself both as to mens believing on him and as to their being saved and living for ever by him p. 239. Chap. 18. Another Conclusion proving the necessity of his being lifted up by way of Demonstration to men both by God and men both unto mens