true believers which strips them only of the life which stands in union of the body and the soul together and not of that which stands in union of them both to Christ is stiled a rest a sleep in Scripture not a death They only die indeed which go down quick to hell as the prophet David speaks who are cast into the lake of fire and brimstone which is the second death who after many pangs and tortures suffered in the separation of the body from the soul are separated everlastingly from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power Is it so that the life which Jesus Christ c. Oh how doth it concern Vse 3 us then my brethren not to satisfie our selves with the frail life of nature which may expire upon a suddain and let us sink into Eternal death but to make out after the life of Jesus Christ the life of grace which is above the reach and power of death which will not fail us but endure for ever We all have sparks of immortality within us and we have thoughts aspiring to Eternity we would not die if we could choose Oh let us labour then my brethren for the life of grace and this is an eternal life The life of nature is a fading thing it may be gone upon a suddain And it is a sad and dreadfull thing for an eternal soul to have nothing else between it and eternal woe and torture but such a fickle and perishable life which the next minute may be done and let him drop away to hell for ever Oh how suddainly may such perish and come to a fearful End but if we live the life of Christ that is a lasting and abiding life And though the natural life decay and though the body die and rot and turn to dust and putrefaction yet this will flourish and grow stronger still till it be perfected and made consummate in the life of glory And why then are our labours and endeavours wholly spent to nourish and maintain this transitory life with things that perish in the using which yet when all is done will fail and come to dissolution but never strive for the attainment of that life which is eternal It is a lamentable thing my brethren that the divine intentions of eternal minds should be laid out on nothing else but perishable things Now that you may attain this lasting and enduring life of grace I shall but give you two or three directions First You must strive for saving knowledge and seek to get your minds enlightned with the beams of truth The life of holiness and grace consists in light And hence saith the Evangelist that light viz. the light of saving knowledge from the son of God revealed and manifested in the Gospel was the life of men Iohn 1.4 And in the words immediately adjoyned to my text that he may give eternal life c. and this is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent It s true indeed there may be light of knowledge without any life of grace But there can never be the life of grace without the light of holy knowledge And therefore the Apostle speaking of the Gentiles saith they were strangers from the life of God they lived the life of men but they were strangers from the life of God the life of grace by reason of the ignorance and darkness that was in them And surely if we ever look to rise up from our graves of sin and stand up from the dead we must have light from Jesus Christ as the Apostle Paul insinuates Eph. 5.11 Secondly You must endeavour after faith which is the instrument and means of life by which it is conveyed from Christ to all his members And therefore we shall find that faith and life believing and living are joyned together the one as the fruit and effect of the other Whosoever liveth and believeth in me saith our Saviour Ioh. 11.26 id est Whosoever liveth by believing in me shall never die He that believeth in him that sent me hath eternal life saith Christ Iohn 5.24 and shall not come to condemnation but is passed from death to life These things are written that ye might believe that Iesus Christ is the Son of God and that believing ye might have life Joh. 20. ult I live saith the Apostle Paul and yet c. and the life which I live I live by the faith of the Son of God So that the grace of faith you see my brethren is the instrument of life it is the bond of union between Christ and all his members it is the Artery by which his Spirit is conveyed into us And therefore if you ever look to live you must labour after faith Thirdly that you may attain to saving knowledge and to justifying faith and consequently to this life of Christ you must attend upon the voice of Christ in the preaching of the Gospel For that is an effectuall means when God is pleased to concurr to raise men from the death of sin and to make them live to God And this is clearly intimated to us by our Saviour Christ himself John 5.25 The hour cometh saith Christ there when the dead the dead in sin shall hear the voice of the Son of God conceive it in the powerful preaching of the Gospel and they that hear it shall live And hence the word of Christ is called the word of life You see then what you are to do I say to you my Brethren as the Prophet to the Jews Isa 55.3 Hear with an obedient ear a flexible and yielding heart hear and your souls shall live And thus far of the thing to be dispenced by vertue of the power and the authority of Jesus Christ with which he is invested by the Father And this as you have heard is life yea it is Eternal life The manner or the way of dispensation comes next in order to be handled it is to be dispenced as a gift in the nature of a gift in a way of free donation that he should give Eternal life Not that he should communicate it or confer it only but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he should give So that you see my Brethren all is free both on the Fathers side and on the Sons The Father he is free to him that he may be free to others The Father gives him power that he may give his people life As thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him There is no difficulty in the terms the point is obvious DOCTRINE That Jesus Christ doth freely give eternal life to his people They have it from him as a free gift He doth not sell they do not buy it or if they do it is as his own offer is without money and without price They have it from him out of bounty and not out of merit or desert
fathers own son But you will say wise fathers have very often weak children But Jesus Christ is so his fathers son that he partaketh with him of his wisdom it is poured out into him in abundance And therefore he is sometimes called the wisdom of the father in the abstract as see 1 Cor. 1.24 Iesus Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God And if he be so very wise you may be sure he spake wise words and wise words are worth the marking In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge Col. 2.3 And out of question what he bringeth forth is of the treasure that is hid in him 2. But in the next place if you look upon him downwards with Relation to the Church you will see further reason why the words that Jesus spake should be so exactly noted and so carefully observed As he is the fathers wisdom so he is made to us wisdom as the Apostle Paul speaks 1 Cor. 1.30 His father hath appointed him to be the great Prophet of of his Church The great preacher the greater revealer of his truth and will to men and therefore out of question he can speak well and his words are worth the marking You may be sure the father would not send out such a Prophet to the Church as were not worth the listening to No no God hath annointed me to preach faith Christ himself Luke 4.18 not appointed me to preach but annointed me to preach endued me with abilities and gifts for that office God who in former times saith the Apostle spake to the fathers by the Prophets hath in these latter dayes spoken to us by the Son He was designed you see to be the spoksman for the father to the world to tell them what his mind is and to preach the Gospel to them We that are ordinary preachers of the Gospel we that are underlings to Christ in this business must be enabled with some competent ability in this respect or else we are not fit for this work And therefore when our Saviour sent out his disciples he promised to give them wisdom and a mouth that is matter and expression Luke 21.15 wisdom within together with a mouth to utter and to bring forth that wisdom To shew that both of these must go together in a preacher of the Gospel I know there is a latitude to be admitted and allowed in this regard but yet a competent ability to speak so as the people may be edified by it is indisputably required And if the under-ministers of Christ must have such a faculty how great ability then must their Master have Who was designed to be the great Preacher the great Prophet and as the Apostle stiles him the chief Bishop of our Souls And if he had such a transcendent faculty to speak then certainly the words he spake are fit to be commended c. Then secondly if you consider as whose the words were so in the next place what the words were you will allow them to be worthy of our choicest observation What the words were that Jesus spake either for the matter of them or for the efficacy of them let us a little weigh them in their order and we shall see they both help to this business 1. The words of Jesus for the matter of them commonly were Gospel words Such were the words to which my text alludes in the three chapters next before full of nothing else my brethren but Gospel-sweetness Gospel-Promises and Gospel-consolation against approaching troubles and afflictions these were the words that Jesus spake Christ in a sense my brethren was the first and certainly the chiefest preacher of the Gospel this great Salvation at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed afterwards by them that heard him Heb. 2.3 And hence the Gospel as you know is called Christs saying John 8.51 The Law was the fathers saying God spake these words The Gospel is the Sons saying This was spoken by the Son And hence saith Christ in the fore-alledged text if a man keep my saying he shall never see Death So that the sayings and the words of Jesus are very fit to be considered For his you see are Gospel-sayings and Gospel sayings are worthy of all acceptation as the Apostle tels you 1 Tim. 1.15 Indeed Law-Sayings are not so readily attended to and entertained You know my brethren on mount Sinai at the giving of the Law there were thunderings and lightnings and terrible voices and the event and issue was the people fled and would not hear they were not able to endure the noise But Gospel-sayings on the other side allure affection and invite attention Upon mount Tabor where our Saviour was transfigured there was a shining Sun a bright cloud a gentle and a pleasing voice and the Disciples said Edificemus Domine Let us build here c. 2. And as the words of Jesus for the matter of them were Gospel-words so for the efficacy of them they were saying words and so in that respect the words that Jesus spake are very fit to be commended c. The words that I speak saith our Saviour to the Jews are spirit and life John 6.63 they are so in their operation and effect they give Spirit and they work life And who would not attend unto and entertain such words as these are His saying if it be received and kept will surely save a man from death yea from eternal death We may depend upon it he binds it with a strong asseveration which he repeats twice for the more Surety Iohn 8.51 Verily verily I say unto you if a man keep my saying he shall never see death Death is not visible the meaning is he shall not be annoyed and hurted by it as you have the like Expression Jer. 5.12 We shall not see sword nor famine And should not such words be commended to the Church and embraced by the Church as save from death and bring eternal life with them The setting down of which upon Record in holy Scripture and leaving them to after-times hath been the life of many souls and will be yet of many more in every age even to the worlds end If you consider in the last place as whose the words were and what the words were that Jesus spake so the manner how he spake them you will see further reason yet why they should be commended c. For this you may depend upon Never man spake like him It is the attestation that is given him John 7.46 Which coming from his enemies the officers that went to take him is of the more validity Never spake man like this man Grace was poured into his lips as the expression is Psalm 45.2 to shew us that the grace there mentioned is a gift of utterance and a faculty of speech whereof the lips are instruments They are the lips that form the words we speak and bring them forth to those that hear them and hence this gift of
utterance which the Psalmist calls a Grace is said there to be poured into the Lips of Jesus Christ There was a stream of holy eloquence continually flowing there which sometimes even drowned them that heard him He spake with power and authority his words had the command of mens affections so that he carried them where he pleased Indeed he carried them beyond themselves in wonder and astonishment to hear him speak sometimes as he did Mar. 1.22 They were astonished at his doctrine not only at the matter of it though that were admirable too but at the manner of delivery For he taught them as one that had authority and not as the Scribes And Luke informs us that all men bare him witness and gave testimony to him he was so famous and renowned for this gift of his and wondred at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth Luke 4.22 You heard but now that grace was poured into his lips and here you see that grace was poured out of his lips God poured it in and he as freely poured it out so as the people wondred at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth Such were the words that Jesus spake and such words you will say are very fit for choicest observation and attention The gift of eloquence my brethren calls for audience especially such heavenly and Holy eloquence as Christs is And thus much shall suffice for Confirmation c. Now is it so my Brethren that the words that Jesus spake are very fit to be commended c. Vse Then let them be received with choicest observation by his Church and People Let them not undervalue any of the words that Jesus spake but let them entertain them with a very high esteem There have been some of late who have slighted those words who have been bold to call them inckie divinity a dead letter and the like And yet our Saviour Christ himself tells us The words that I speak are Spirit and Life Iohn 6.63 Oh my beloved I beseech you let every one of us be far from giving way to any mean account or slight thoughts of any words that Christ spake Let us keep up our observation our estimation our admiration of them to the very highest It 's true my Brethren we should carefully attend and duly mark all Scripture words For all the Scripture is given by inspiration of God 1 Tim. 3.16 And all the Scripture is profitable for our selves for Doctrine for Correction for Instruction to make the man of God perfect as it is added there in that place But the words that Jesus spake are the choicest part of Scripture and therefore must have choicest observation Never man and what if I should say never inspired man spake like to him they came not fully home to his measure They had the spirit indeed and so had he but he received not the Spirit by measure as they did He was annointed with that oyl above his fellows though not without them yet above them as the chief Prophet and they the under-Prophets of the Church And therefore when we read or hear or meet with any words that Christ spake let us take special notice of them let us fix and dwell upon them and let them rest and dwell in us Let the words of Christ dwell in us Richly let us have an eye to mark them an ear to hear them and a heart to keep them as Mary had of whom it is observed that she kept all his sayings in her heart How carefully did the Apostle keep that which our Saviour spake though it be no where mentioned in the Gospel and wishes other men to do so too Acts 20.35 Remember the words of the Lord Jesus how he said It is more blessed to give then to receive and so he mindeth the Corinthians in a special manner of that which Christ himself spake with his own voice not by the Ministry of others 1 Cor. 7.10 To the married I command and yet not I but the Lord not I as an Inspired Apostle but the Lord with his own mouth when he was conversant upon the earth as if the words that dropped immediately from his lips did challenge singular regard And such regard my brethren let them have from us when we meet with his prayers his sermons his sayings let us set Asterisks in the Margent and the finger of a hand to point them out to special observation Let us write under them as the Evangelist doth in my Text These words spake Jesus Its true my brethren we have not the happiness as some have had in former times to wait upon the Lips of Jesus Christ nor to hear the graciâ— words that dropt thence yet we may hear him in a sense at this Dayâ—â—e may hear him in his word and in his Gospel and there may be Partaâ— of these streams of holy Eloquence which flowed from his mouth and 〈◊〉 may hear him in his faithful Ministers concerning whom the Lord himâ—â—â—f hath said He that heareth them hears me And out of question that Injunction of the father yet takes hold upon us This is my besâ—ed Son hear him Hear him in his writing and hear him in his Messenâ—ers although you cannot hear him in his own person And therefore I beseech you let us hear him and let us hear him so as to be obedient to him Let us remember what a dreadfull curse there is gone forth against the men that will not hear this Prophet which will assuredly take hold upon them Acts 3.23 Every Soul that will not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the people It was a dangerous thing you hear to refuse to hear Moses He that despised Moses Law was to die without mercy But it is much more dangerous to refuse to hear Christ there is a sorer punishment for such as it is added there Heb. 10.28 It went very hard with those who reâ—used the word that was spoken by Angels that is the Law that was delivered by the Ministry of Angels But if we refuse the word that was spoken by Christ that is the Gospel and do it finally there is but one way with us we are gone without recovery For if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast for the execution of it and every transgression and disobedience c. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which was spoken by the Lord And therefore I beseech you let us hear this great Prophet if we hear him not we die and that without mercy too But if we hear him and obey him we shall live and that for ever The words that he speaks are spirit and life and if we keep his sayings we shall never see Death John 17.1 And lift up his eyes to heaven and said AND thus of the transition to our Saviours Supplication These words spake Iesus The manner of presenting it to God the Father or if you will the carriage of our Saviour in it comes now in
have a day to live And thus far of the end of the authority of Jesus Christ for which he is invested with it by his Father considered in the lump and in the gross Proceed we now to take it into parts It is in general as you have heard that he may be enabled to dispence to his people that which is for their everlasting welfare and salvation that he may give eternal life to as many as God hath given him Particularly we have here to be considered First the thing it self to be dispenced by vertue of this power and this authority of Jesus Christ and that is life yea life eternal Secondly the manner or the way of dispensation it is to be dispenced as a gift in the nature of a gift in a way of free donation that he should give eternal life Thirdly the objects of this dispensation or the persons to whom this life here mentioned is to be dispenced and that is not to all men but to as many as the Father hath bestowed on Jesus Christ As thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him Begin we with the thing it self to be dispenced by vertue of this power and this authority of Jesus Christ And here let us take notice of the nature of it and of the adjunct of it First of the nature of it it is life Then of the adjunct of it it is life eternal As for the first of these my Brethren you must know that naturally and originally we are all dead men We are all dead born we came into the world my Brethren in a state of death and condemnation And in this sad condition we continue of our selves we are not able to put life into our selves No we can no more raise our selves to the life of grace then a dead man can raise himself to the life of nature And therefore God because he would have such a number quickened as he hath resolved upon hath given power to Jesus Christ to this end and to this purpose that he may give life to those who of themselves are utterly void of it and no way able to attain it And that his mercy may be full he hath appointed him to give them such a life as is uncapable of dissolution The life that Adam in the state of innocency enjoyed the life of righteousness and the life of holiness you know was perishable in it self and so accordingly was left of God His state in this condition was mutable and accordingly he fell from it from a state of grace and life to a state of sin and death But now God hath invested Jesus Christ with power to give his people such a life as shall be durable as shall in this respect transcend the life that Adam had even in the state of innocency it self that he may give eternal life to as many as God hath given him The points to be observed are two First They that are Christs have life from Christ and secondly The life which they have from him is eternal DOCTRINE They that are Christs have life from Christ He giveth life to as many as God hath given him The life which they enjoy they have from him they have it not originally in themselves he is the author and the fountain of it And therefore he is said to be a quickning Spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 because he quickneth and enliveneth all his members And he is called our life very often in the Scripture I am the way the truth and the life saith our Saviour of himself John 14.6 When Christ who is our life saith the Apostle shall appear then shall we appear with him in glory Col. 3.4 When Christ who is our life that is the author the efficient of our life And hence saith the Evangelist he that hath the Son hath life 1 John 5.20 This may serve to prove the point They that are Christs have life from Christ Now to open it a little before we come to application there is a two-fold life which all Christs people have from Christ according to the two-fold death which they are under out of Christ For as there is a two-fold death in sin The death in sin with relation to the raign and dominion of it the death in sin with relation to the guilt and obligation of it to damnation So on the other side there is a two-fold life of grace opposed to these the life of grace inherent and the life of grace imputed The life of holiness and the life of righteousness The life of Sanctification and the life of Justification And both of these they that are Christs receive from him he gives his people both these First Christs people have from him the life of holiness or the life of Sanctification which is opposed to the dominion and the raign of sin before they are revived by him they are under this dominion and so in that respect are dead as the Apostle Paul intimates to the Romans Rom. 6.12 ye are alive to God saith he through Jesus Christ our Lord. And what doth he infer upon it Let not sin raign in your mortal bodies by which he intimates expresly that while sin raigns in any man so that he voluntarily resigns and yields himself up to the rule and the dominion of it as Subjects to their Soveraign and annointed Prince he is not alive to God he is indeed a dead man he hath no life of holiness or grace in him But when the raign of sin is once abolished and dissolved within him so that he doth no longer willingly obey it in the lusts thereof but yieldeth up himself to God then he is alive to God then he lives the life of God the life of holiness and grace And this life he hath from Christ And therefore it is added presently ye are alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord And of this life it is that the Apostle speaks Gal. 2.20 and makes Christ the Fountain of it I live saith he that is I live the life of grace and yet not I but Christ liveth in me and this life which I live I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved c. Secondly Christs people have from him the life of righteousness or the life of Justification which stands in opposition to the death in sin with relation to the guilt While the guilt of sin remains upon a man so long that person is a dead man so long he is dead in Law as we express it commonly he is bound over to eternal death and condemnation And thus it is with every man while he continues in the state of nature He is condemned to die and so in that respect is dead in the sentence of the Law although the sentence be not executed on him as our Saviour speaks John 3.18 He that believes not is condemned already But when a man is justified absolved and acquitted from the guilt
they live by principles of faith of spirituall men which are far more above the principles of reason then the principles of reason are above the principles of sense Fourthly if you have received life from Christ you live to Christ and therefore it is called the life of Christ because as it comes from Christ so on the other side it tends to Christ from whom it comes It causes us to live no longer to our selves but to him that died for us that is to Christ as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 5.15 All other men who have not this life in them live to themselves and not to Christ they have no higher end then self in all their actions They make themselves their pleasures or their profits or their honours the scope and center of their motions Yea in the very holy and religious duties they perform they look no further then their own ends And so in the performance of them they are but servants to their own Lusts But now they that have life from Christ they live no longer to themselves no they have nobler aims in all their wayes and while unsanctified men who live the life of nature only do make themselves their end even in their holy and religious duties the Saints who live the life of Christ do make the Lord their end even in their ordinary and their Common actions In every thing his glory is continually in their eye even in their worldly and their secular employments while in these they do not seek their own things but the things that are of Jesus Christ Use 2 Is it so that they that are Christs have life from Christ that the life which they enjoy they have from him if then you find upon examination that you have received this life from Christ the life of righteousness and the life of holiness consider with your selves what thanks you should return to him Ah my beloved what cause have we to magnifie and to admire the grace of Christ that he should give us this life That he should raise us from our graves of sin having loosed the powers of death that we might not beholden of them We think that we can never be sufficiently thankfull to one that hath saved our lives and rescued us out of the jaws of death Now Jesus Christ who is our life hath done this for us we were condemned persons we were dead in Law and he by virtue of the power and the authority with which he is invested by his father hath given us our lives he hath sealed a pardon to us So that now we may walk abroad at large and need not fear that the sentence of the Law the doom of death will be executed on us Ah my beloved what shall we return to Christ how shall we melt our souls into sufficient celebrations of his goodness to us We were dead but are alive we were lost but are found Oh let us say as Hezekiah did The living the living they shall praise thee as we do this day And let us do as the Apostle did Rom. 7.25 who having in the former verse cryed out Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death had presently suggested to his thoughts that Christ had done it and then cries out in a way of gratulation as he had done before in a way of lamentation I thank my God through Jesus Christ our Lord. John 17.2 That he should give eternal life DOCTRINE The life which Jesus Christ bestows upon his people is eternal SO it is stiled in my text you see that he should give eternal life to as many as God hath given him Such is the life which Christ gives it is a Lasting and enduring life a life that is above the power of death that is uncapable of dissolution The life of nature as you know and see my brethren is a perishable life It is obnoxious to decay it may be cut off in the twinkling of an eye and we are gone But now this life of Christ the life of grace is the beginning of the life of glory and therefore is an endless life as the Apostles phrase is Heb. 7.16 And as the seed by which this life is generated in a man is incorruptible seed as you may see 1 Pet. 1.23 even so the life it self which is generated by it is incorruptible too It may be said of every Saint who hath received life from Christ and who is raised by him from the death of sin as it is said of Christ himself Rom. 6.9 Being raised from the dead he dies no more death hath no more dominion over him He hath eternal life abiding in him as our Saviour speaks John 6.54 He doth not say that he shall have it but that he hath it in him even in this present world a Life that is eternal and that is abiding in him So that the point is plain you see The life which Jesus Christ bestows upon his people is eternal To cleer it yet a little further to you my beloved no life can end in death or come to dissolution and destruction but one of these two ways viz. either by some inward principles of frailty in it self or else by some outward force that overcomes it and prevails against it If it be destroyed by death it must be either by a natural or a violent death Now the life of Jesus Christ which he bestows upon his people is utterly uncapable of dissolution either way and consequently is an everlasting life as I shall shew you briefly and in order First the life which Jesus Christ bestows upon his people hath no principles of frailty and dissolution in it self it hath no seeds of mortality in it It comes from Christ not only as the giver of it but also from him as the fountain of it with him is the fountain of Life as the Prophet David speaks Psal 33.9 And the Rivulets and streams are alwayes of the self same nature with the fountain And consequently if the life that is in Christ be lasting and enduring as it is the life that is from Christ is so too If it be not perishable in the spring assuredly it is not perishable in the stream This life of grace my brethren is communicated and derived from Christ the root to us the branches from him the head to us the members and if it fail not in the head and in the root how should it fail in the members and the Branches Indeed my brethren if the life of grace were radically and originally in our selves and from our selves it must have principles of dissolution in it For what that is in us and comes from us can be eternal in its own nature But our life is in Christ and comes from Christ it is hid with Christ in God as the Apostle Paul speaks Col. 3.4 and therefore certainly it is in this respect like him from whom it comes We stand not now upon our own bottoms as Adam did it
set at nought in this fashion Is life worth any thing Is life Eternal worth any thing Why in contemning Knowledge you contemn no less then this for this as you have heard is life Eternal And how deservedly may you be left to perish in Eternal Death who put the means of knowiedge from you and judge your selves unworthy of Eternal life Is it so that life Eternal or the life of Grace which is Eternal is begun Use 2 in holy Knowledge See here the sad Condition and estate of those who are ignorant of God have no acquaintance with him who know him not the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent They are absolutely dead the life of holiness and Grace is not yet begun in them They have not yet the least Degree the least spark of this life No they are strangers to the life of God through the ignorance that is in them in the place so often cited They are so far from being quickened to this life of Grace that they are meer strangers to it They know not what this kind of life means And are there not a multitude of such among us who are almost as ignorant of God and Christ as the very beasts that perish Who besides some common names and notions of God and of a Jesus and Saviour and the like which it may be they can talk a little of because they hear them every day know nothing of the one or of the other Examine them and sift them well and you shall find that rhey have nothing but a form of words at utmost of which they can give no more account then if they were some strange Language And are not these men in a sad case Truly my Brethren they are but walking Ghosts and gastly shadows they have no true life in them no not so much as the beginning of it for life Eternal is begun in Knowledge I know it is a Common fancy that if a man profess the true Religion if he have been baptized and come to the Assemblies and hear and pray as others do he is in a good Condition but be assured of this if he be ignorant of God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent he is no better then a dead man It is a cooling word my Brethren and that which one would think should astonish and amaze you Suppose a Messenger should come to any of you from them that have the power of life and death and with a serious and composed look should tell him that he is a dead man how would it strike him to the heart how would his colour come and go how would the powers of his soul tremble Now we are Messengers dispatched from him who hath the Keyes of Hell and Death to tell you who are ignorant of God and Christ that you are in a state of death and condemnation and that you are in danger every hour of being cast into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone which is the second Death It may be you will take no notice of it but chase away the meditation of it from your thoughts You will as many do delude your selves with this conceit that though you die in this condition yet God notwithstanding will be merciful to you But as you tender the salvation of your precious souls I beseech you to observe that Gods own Word is peremptory and express for this That none that is devoid of knowledge and continues so shall have any share in the mercy of God or in the glory of the world to come Oh continue thy loving kindness to them that know thee to them and none but them saith David Psalm 36.10 It is a people of no understanding saith the Prophet of the Jews Isa 27.11 And what follows Therefore he that made them will not have mercy upon them It is the common apprehension of the vulgar sort that he that made them cannot chuse but save them too No saith the Prophet there if they be grosly ignorant Then God that made them will have no mercy upon them They have not known my wayes saith God unto whom I swore in my wrath that they should never enter into my rest The time is coming when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire rendring vengeance unto them that know not God And therefore I beseech you do not slight it but lay it seriously to heart while yet the pardon may be gotten while the condemnatory sentence which the Law hath put against you may be yet revoked Use 3 Is it so that life Eternal is begun in holy Knowledge You see then what you are to do and what course you are to take if you would live Eternally Originally we are all dead men we are in a condition and a state of death And if you yet continue as you came into the world this is surely your case Now my Beloved are you sensible of this would you come out of this condition do you desire to live and live for ever Labour after holy Knowledge And this is life eternal to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent Though this as I have shewed you be not all that goes to life Eternal yet this is the beginning of it and therefore if you mean to live Eternally this is the first thing that you are to do this is the first step that you are to make Till saving knowledge be attained in some degree the soul continues in a state of death as soon as this comes once into the soul Eternal life comes in with it The Exhortation of the Wise man seems to go far Prov. 2 4. Seek for knowledge as for silver and search for her as for hidden treasure But we must go a great deal further seek for it as for life yea as for Eternal Life Struggle for knowledge as it were for life and death But you will ask me which way shall we come to know God and know Christ To this I answer that you cannot know him by innate and in-bred light by any self-ability let it be what it will it is incompetent and insufficient to reveal God to you though much of him be manifested in the Book of the Creation his Wisdom his eternal power and God-head and though there be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something to be known of God as the Apostle speaks by studying in this Book you cannot know him savingly by this means No neither can you know him so by studying in the Book of Scriptures neither though there he be revealed more fully then he is in the book of Creatures unless some other help go with it Nay more then so you cannot know him fully and compleatly any way by any means in this life As he is in himself he is not to be known of any but himself And hence tâ—â— Scripture tells us that no man hath seen God at any time John 1.18 It is very full you see no man at
we thrive apace in knowledge then we grow to perfectness then the Church of Christ goes up But till the stones be joined close together there will be no edifying that is in English no building It is of great concernment to the entertainment of Christ Jesus in the world that his Disciples be at nearest c. If they be alwayes wrangling and contending others will not come among them No they will stand off from them and from the Master which they serve if he be owned and followed by none but by a company of quarrelsome contentious people And hence is that Petition of our Saviour in behalf of his Apostles and Disciples at ver 23. of this Chapter In my text he prayes the Father that they may be one even as the Father and himself were one And in the cited verse he renews the same petition that they may all be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they may be one in us And why so That the world may believe that thou hast sent me q. d. If my disciples be not one among themselves if they be rent asunder by a spirit of division the world will not believe that I came forth from thee who art the God of love and peace that thou hast sent me down into the world to be a Mediator and a Peace-maker to make up all the breaches and the differences between thee and thy people They will look strangely upon me and I shall never bring them to believe that I am come on such an errand as this is And therefore I beseech thee Father that I may be entertained under the Notion of a Mediator that the world may believe that thou hast sent me on this business do thou take care that my Disciples may be at unity among themselves It is of great concernment to the happiness of Christs Disciples that they be at neerest c. Among the eight beatitudes the third in order falleth to the meek and peaceable Mat. 5.5 And if the meek and peaceable be blessed then certainly the fierce and furious are accursed It is a pretty observation of Ludolphus out of Bede on that place Heaven is promised to the pure blessed are the pure in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Earth is promised to the meek Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth So there remaineth nothing else but hell for the contentious and impure spirit Ah my beloved would we avoid the curse and would we be partakers of the blessing would we have heaven and earth to be our portion Let us be pure and peaceable let us make and keep peace and so the blessing of the God of peace will be upon us And therefore David having broken out into a passionate and pithy commendation of the unity of brethren behold how good and pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity it is like pretious oyntment c. Psal 133.2 he shuts up all with this conclusion There the Lord commanded the blessing and life for evermore There where brethren live in unity and love there the Lord commands blessing it cannot choose but come upon them for the Lord himself commands it And this blessing it is life and this life it is eternal There the Lord commanded the blessing and life for evevermore Vse 1 Now to proceed to application Is it so my brethren that it is a matter of wondrous difficulty and of great concernment for Christs Disciples to be at neerest unity among themselves Then let this quicken us and stirr us up who would be taken to be Christs Disciples to labour after this oneness and to endeavour to the utmost of our power to get and keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace You hear it is a matter of great concernment and therefore it is worth the striving for It is a matter of wondrous difficulty and therefore is not to be had without striving Now I beseech you my beloved let us set our selves to this business There was never greater need them now when God hath suffered such a spirit of division to possess his own people And when the members of the body mysticall of Christ are of so many minds and draw so many wayes and have sometimes such vehement and hot contentions and disputes among themselves So that the Church had never greater reason to cry out as Rebecca sometimes did when she had parties in her womb If it be so why am I thus and therefore we had need to put some spirit into this perswasion and you had need to put some spirit into your endeavours and if the Lord will put his spirit of unity and peace into us it may subdue and overcome the spirit of division which reigns too much abroad in these times But you will ask me How may we attain this and what are we to do that we may come to be at neerest unity among our selves Though it be very difficult as you have heard it may be compassed notwithstanding by the blessing of the Lord upon the use of these directions You must endeavour to the utmost of your power to mortifie those lusts and those corruptions that incline you to dissentions I shewed you formerly in explication of the point that the cause of our divisions is within and not without us They do not come so much from outward provocations as inward corruptions If there were no lusts within there would be no wars without as the Apostle James insinuates And verily if our corruptions as pride and passion and self-love were throughly mortified within those outward provocations would never cause such wofull rents and such implacable contentions as they do And therefore let us set our selves effectually and throughly to subdue these lusts of ours though they be naturally as dear and near as the members of our bodies let us persue them to the very death as the Apostle Paul advises Col. 3.5 Mortifie therefore your members which are upon the earth Let nothing satisfie us till we have the life of them Let us not wound them only but destroy them that ought to be the Christians aim as the Apostle shews Rom. 6.6 that the body of sin may be destroyed Our lusts seek our life either they must dye or we And they seek Gods life Omne peccatum est Deicidium And they have sought Christs life and brought him to a shamefull and accursed death And therefore let us seek their lives too and never satisfie our selves till we have the blood of them Let it be far from any of us to nourish or to cherish our corruptions to favour them or to deal kindly with them any way No let us dash this Babylonish brood against the stones let us shew them no mercy And when they are once destroyed our differences and debates will end with them As we must mortifie our carnal lusts so we must chase away out of our hearts our carnal reasonings that foment
in Paradise no we are branches of such a Vine as never withers we are members of such a head as never dies So that undoubtedly the life of Jesus in us although it be not priviledged from abatements and temptations yet it hath nothing in it that tends to utter dissolution Secondly the life which Jesus Christ bestows upon his people as it hath no inward principles of dissolution in it self so neither is there any outward force that can prevail against it to destroy it Christ will preserve and maintain it in us in spite of any opposition The world may set upon us and endeavour to extinguish this life of holiness and grace in us she may assault us with her violent tentations every way with promises and sweet insinuations on the one side with threats and bloody persecutions on the other But this we may relie upon the world shall never overcome us for Christ hath overcome the world And we must know that Christ hath overcome the world not for himself alone but for his members And as he overcame it for us so he doth overcome it in us too by his grace as the Apostle intimates 1 John 5.5 This is the victory that overcomes the world even your faith The Devil is a far more subtile and pernitious adversary then the world but yet he cannot overthrow this life of grace in any of the Saints The gates of Hell cannot so far prevail against them The Serpent can but bruise the heel of Christ and those that appertain to Christ he cannot touch the head or breast he cannot wound us in the vital parts or take away our life from us The flesh is the worst enemy of all in this respect because it is an inward Enemy and a mortal enemy Either that must die or we as the Apostle Paul insinuates Rom. 8.13 But here 's our Comfort now the the flesh shall die and we shall live Christ will destroy the flesh in us and he will put the Spirit into us and maintain the Spirit in us And by this Spirit we shall live and this life shall be eternal We shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting Gal. 6.8 So that the point you see is fully cleered The life which Jesus Christ bestowes c. For first it hath no inward principles of frailty in it self And secondly there is no outward force that can prevail against it to destroy it But here it may be you will interpose those words of the Apostle Jude in the 12th v. of his Epistle where he speaks of some Revolters who were twice dead for that is his expression there they are trees whose fruit withereth Object twice dead plucked up by the roots And how were they twice dead They were not dead at all in regard of their outward and natural life for they were then alive and working mischief in the Church and therefore out of question his intention must be this First they were dead in trespasses and sins Then for a while in some respect or sence they lived the life of Grace And afterwards they died again and so they were twice dead and how then is the Doctrine true The life which Christ c. For resolution of the Scruple you must know my brethren that a man may live the life of grace either in deed and truth or else in shew and appearance only The Church of Sardis lived in shew she had a name Answ our Saviour tells her that she was alive but she was dead Rev. 3.1 There was but a name of life she had a name that she did live but there was the reality of Death she was dead Now they that live in name only who have the shew and the appearance of the life of Christ may die in shew and in appearance too And therefore the Apostle speaking according to the common apprehension and conceit of men saith they were twice dead Once indeed and really before they gave so much as any outward evidence of life And then again in shew and in appearance when they lost that life of grace which both to others and themselves they seemed to enjoy Now is it so that the life which Jesus Christ c. This then should stay Vse 1 us and support us against the fear of those tentations which threaten us with the destruction of the life of grace It is a great affliction to the Saints sometimes when they are mightily assaulted by Satan and their own corruptions and even ready to be overcome they cry out with relation to their spiritual as Job with respect to his natural life What is my strength that I should hope What grace have I that I should hold out against such violent Encounters as these are How should I hope to live when my life is thus assaulted with such fiery darts without with such distempers noxious humours and such lusts within Oh but remember my beloved Christ gives eternal life to his people a life that is not subject to destruction either by inward weakness or outward violence If ever once you have it from him you can never lose it He that once lives the life of Christ can never die death hath no more dominion over him Is it so my brethren that the life of c. This then may clear and Vse 2 comfort us against the frailty and dissolution of the life of nature It 's true my brethren that is subject to decay it is a perishable life but this is an eternal life That may and will be lost indeed but this endures to all eternity And why then are we so afraid of death why doth it terrifie us and affright us so when it hath done its utmost we shall live for ever Why are we grieved and troubled when they die the death of nature who have the life of Christ in them Truly my brethren we may say of such as our Saviour of the Damsell they are not dead As Christ to Martha when she bewailed the loss of her dear brother Lazarus John 11.26 Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die He shall never die the death that overthrows the life of Christ the life of Grace for so you must conceive him there in that place q. d. Lazarus is a believer and therefore whatsoever thou maist apprehend he is not dead He is not dead in reference to that which is a Christians life indeed no true believer is capable of dying so whosoever liveth and believeth in me can never die It 's true my brethren such may lose the life of nature but that alas is but an image and a shadow and a shew of life The life of grace and holiness is life indeed he that liveth in sin is dead while he lives he that lives in holiness is alive when he dies and if the life of nature be not worth the name of life then certainly the death that overthrows no other but the life of nature deserveth not the name of death And hence the death of
that you can bestow upon them Have compassion upon them save them with fear pulling them out of the fire out of the fire of hell by this means Oh pitty such a Child or such a Friend or such a servant as you see Ignorant of God let your bowels earn upon him Ah poor dead soul And if you can be Instrumental to instill the Knowledge of the Lord into him you shall do a great work you shall save a soul from death yea from Eternal death you shall bring it to Eternal life JOHN 17.3 That they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ c. AND thus far of the thing Explained and that as you have heard is life Eternal together with the way of Explication our Saviour shews not quare sit but quid sit what this life Eternal is This saith he is life Eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent So that as you have heard it consists in holy Knowledge Proceed we now to look a little more particularly and distinctly on the Knowledge in which Eternal life consists as it is here described by the Object of it God and Christ Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent So that here is a double Object of the Knowledge mentioned and each of them is set forth by a Title and an Attribute The Title of the former God the Attribute the true God yea the only true God The Title of the latter Jesus Christ the Attribute whom God hath sent Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent And here the first thing that I shall observe is the communication of this double Object of the Knowledge wherein Eternal life consists God and Christ You see my Brethren they are closely knit together by the conjunctive particle And to shew us that they may not be divided in this great business That it is not sufficient to salvation to believe in God unless we believe in Christ to To know God unless we know Christ too Our Saviour saith not this is life Eternal to know the only true God no he doth not stop there The knowledge which proceeds no further will never bring a man to life Eternal There is another Object of this saving Knowledge which must with all be jointly apprehended by us if we mean to live for ever and that is Jesus Christ whom God hath sent And then my Brethren if we take them both together we are right It is impossible that we should perish This is life Eternal to know thee the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent Not thee alone but thee and Christ So that the Point to be observed is this DOCTRINE The Knowledge which is life Eternal in which Eternal life consists is the Knowledge both of God and Christ too not of the former only but the latter also You see my Brethren both of them are jointly made the Object of it in my Text. So that the Knowledge which neglecteth either of them is in-sufficient to salvation If it stay and rest on God and go not on to Jesus Christ it will never reach home This only this is life Eternal to know God and Jesus Christ not divided but together First it is true that it is absolutely necessary to Eternal life to know God The ignorant of him are made the Objects of a dreadful Imprecation Ier. 10.25 Yea more then so the ignorant among the heathen who were deprived of the means though not of all yet of the saving Knowledge of him and yet as you may see the Prophet prayes Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not Indeed the men that have their understandings darkened by reason of their ignorance of God whether they have means or none are alienated from the life of God Ephes 4.18 They do not live the life of Grace in this world nor shall they live the life of Glory in the world to come And the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels rendring vengeance unto them that know not God 2 Thes 1.7 So that without the knowledge of him there is no escaping everlasting wrath and vengeance There is no possibility of coming to enjoy him unless we be acquainted with him Nec cum potes aut amare quem nescias aut habere quem non amaveris thou canst not love him whom thou knowest not nor have him whom thou lovest not Nay let me go a little further that Knowledge of the Lord and only that is life Eternal which bringeth forth obedience to him You may see this evident in both the parts of godliness both in eschewing evil and in doing good As for the first hear what the Lord himself saith Job 28.28 The fear of the Lord that is Wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding To know him so to fear him to fear to disobey him and to sin against him this only is the right Knowledge As for the other part of godliness which consists in doing good see that of the Prophet David Psalm 111.10 A good understanding have they that do his Commandments They only understand and know the Lord effectually and savingly that obey the will of God Others may have understanding but it is no good understanding That alone is good and right which makes a man to do his Commandments and this the Lord himself observes of the knowledge of Iosiah Ier. 22.16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy was not this to know me saith the Lord q.d. This was knowledge to the purpose this was true and real knowledge of the Lord which made him strict and carefull in the practice of his duty And therefore because this is life Eternal God hath bound himself by Covenant to give them whom he means to save such a knowledge of himself His Covenant is to give them Understanding see the abridgement of it Ier. 31.34 They shall all know me saith God there But how shall they know God Why they shall know him so as to serve him and obey him And therefore it is said before I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts They shall not have it only in their minds to know it but in their hearts to practice and obey it And so they shall all know me So that you see the Knowledge which is saving in which Eternal life consists hath God for the object of it Secondly but though it have him for the Object of it it hath him not for the sole and only Object if our knowledge go no further it will never reach home it will never bring us up to Life and Glory The Knowledge which is life Eternal you have heard in which Eternal life consists is the knowledge both of God and Christ too Not of the former only but of the latter also To know God without Christ is not to know him savingly as I shall shew
must have or else they are not capable of medling with the affairs and the negotiations of their master And therefore God hath furnished Jesus Christ with powers with ample and compleat authority for the Embassage he hath sent him in All power is given to him without any limitation You see he hath a large Commission and consequently what he doth concerning what he hath received in Commission is as valid and effectuall to all intents and purposes as if God the Father did it He hath not only set his seal to Christs Commission but he hath sealed Christ himself Him hath God the Father sealed Iohn 6.27 So that he came into the world with the stamp and with the seal of God upon him that all men might receive him as sent forth from him As God hath qualified him with authority so he hath qualified him with ability for the effecting of the business and the delivery of the errand which he sent him in He hath made him fully able to go through with it and to that end hath furnished him with a fulness of Merit and a fulness of Spirit A fulness of Merit to make Peace and a fulness of Spirit to preach Peace First as God hath sent him so he hath furnished him with a fulness of Merit to make Peace Made him able to the utmost to satisfie his justice and to obtain his pardon for his people For he is God as well as man in him dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead bodily God that his Merits might be valuable for us Man that his merits might be applicable to us Secondly as he hath furnished him with a fulness of Merit to make Peace so of Spirit to preach Peace The Spirit of the Lord is upon me saith our Saviour Luke 4.18 and by this Spirit he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel as it is added there in that place As he hath sent and appointed me to preach so annointed me to preach And therefore grace is said to be poured into the lips of Jesus Christ Psal 45.2 so that he spake as never man did Iohn 7.46 That some were astonied at his doctrine and all men bore him witness and wondered Luke 4.22 JOHN 17.3 And Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent Use 1 NOW is it so that Jesus Christ is Gods Apostle a Messenger sent c. This then may teach us in the first place to admire the mercy of the Lord both of the Father and of the Son in this business The mercy of the Father in sending Jesus Christ and the mercy of the Son in that he would be sent by him In both of these the grace of God is eminent to admiration Let us here observe and wonder at the mercy of the Sender There was rich grace in this that God the Father sent his Son into the world for our sakes He is his Son his only begotten Son a Son that is extreamly like him the very picture of his Father the express image of his person a Son that never did displease him a Son that he dearly loves in whom his very soul delights in which respect he layes him in his bosom next his heart as a choice and precious thing And yet this Son of his he is content to part withall in some respect that he and we might come together To send him out of his bosom and to dispatch him down into this lower world there to continue for a while that when he returned again he might bring us up with him Had God any need of us that he should send his Son for us Ah my Beloved he is self-sufficient there is enough in him to make him happy everlastingly without us But we must be for ever miserable without him And therefore it was nothing else but free mercy that made him send down his beloved Son to us Herein is love saith the Evangelist 1 Iohn 4.10 not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son Here is love and here is mercy to be spoken of and to be wondered at in all ages Let us here take notice of the mercy of the Son in that he would submit himself so far as to become the Fathers Messenger in this business Though he be man he is the Fathers fellow notwithstanding so he stiles him Zach. 13.7 Awake O sword against the man that is my fellow saith the Lord of hosts Though he be found in fashion as a man he thinks it no robbery to be equall with God every way as good as God Philip. 3.6 And was it not an admirable condescention that when the Father had a Message to dispatch into the world for the recovery of lost creatures Jesus Christ should say to him as once the Prophet in another case Here I am send me I am very well content to be sent of this errand Especially if we consider where and whither he was sent from heaven to earth yea to the lowest parts of the earth as the expression is Ephes 4.9 In a sense to hell it self From the bosom of the Father if not into the place into the state and the condition of the damned In which respect he saith Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell Psal 16.10 He was sent to make peace to reconcile us to his Father as you heard before in Explication of the point and this he was to do by the blood of his Cross as the Apostle shews us Col. 1.20 By his extream and bitter Passion by suffering death it self yea such a shamefull and accursed death upon the Cross accompanied with such ingredients as made him roar and sweat and faint under it And was it not a miracle of mercy that Jesus Christ should yield himself to be sent on such an errand as this is That he should willingly submit himself to be the Fathers Messenger in such a business We need not wonder that he whose love and kindness was so full of wonder should be called wonderfull Isa 9.6 But you will say perhaps Object that this indeed was rare and admirable mercy if Jesus Christ had willingly exposed himself to this for us But it seems he was constrained it was against his will For he was afraid of it Heb. 5.7 Yea more then so he prayed against it Mat. 26.39 Father if it be possible saith he let this cup pass from me To this I answer my Beloved Answ that Christ must be considered in a double notion and respect either as a private man or as a Mediator and a surety for his people Take him as a private man who had assumed a nature to which death was an enemy especially so bitter and so sharp a death as he was now about to undergo and so he justly feared it and declined it Take him as a publick Surety and a mercifull high-Priest and so he willingly submitted to it And this his willingness by reason of his Office was the greater because his will by reason of his nature could not choose but shrink from
intent upon the business of saving the poor woman of Samaria to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work John 4.34 2. Jesus Christ was ordered by his Father as in his works of active so in his works of passive obedience He did what he would have him do in both these And therefore when he was about to suffer and when the nature which he had assumed was averse he came at length to this Conclusion not my will but thine be done Mat. 26.39 Father if it be possible saith he let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt Here it is evident he did his Fathers will and not his own And therefore it is said He became obedient to the death even the death of the Cross Phil. 2.8 To shew that he submitted to it in obedience to the Father And therefore when the Article of death was come which was the complement of his passive obedience he cried out It is finished The work which I have undertaken and which the Father imposed upon me is accomplished and dispatched Just as he tels the Father in my Text when he was about to suffer I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do In this respect is that expression of our Saviour John 16.10 The Spirit saith he will convince the world of righteousness that is full and perfect righteousness wrought out by me for all my people And why so because saith he I go to my Father and ye see me no more If I had not performed the work of my obedience absolutely and compleatly if I had not done enough to satisfie the justice of my Father for the sins of all my Members and so to justifie them and to make them fully righteous you should be sure to see me again If I had not done and suffered all that I was appointed and designed to do before my going up to God the Father he would be sure to send me down again among you But now because I go and stay with him because I go to my Father and you see me no more you may be confident that all is well that I have ended all the business that my Father hath ordered me to finish and dispatch in this world So that you see my brethren Christ was ordered by his Father in his works of satisfaction whether they were works of active or whether they were works of passive obedience Christ was ordered by his Father as in his works of satisfaction so in works of application I mean in those works of his by which that satisfaction came to be applyed and so accordingly to be effectual Now this he doth I mean he makes it applicable and effectuall for he doth all in this business by working faith in the hearts of his people And faith he works First By the outward promulgation of the Word and Secondly By the inward operation of the Spirit In both of which while he was conversant upon the Earth he was ordered by his Father 1. First In his outward promulgation of the Word or in his preaching Jesus Christ was wholly ordered by his Father He appointed him precisely both to whom he should preach and what he should preach First He appointed him to whom he should preach and that was not to the Gentiles but to the people of the Jews only And hence said Christ to the woman of Canaan Mat. 15.24 I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel As he was sent by God the Father so he appointed him to whom he should go and what he should say He was the Fathers Messenger the Fathers spokesman to the world and therefore he put words into his mouth In which respect it is that God is said to speak unto us by the Son Heb. 1.2 The Son doth not speak himself he doth not speak his own thoughts as he is man and Mediator but God speaks to us by him So that he speaks his Fathers mind he publishes his Fathers will and pleasure to the world In which respect our Saviour saith my doctrine is not mine but his that sent me John 7.16 See how the Father orders him in this business Mat. 12.18 A bruised reed shall he not break and smoaking flax shall he not quench until he send forth judgement into victory And so accordingly our Saviour tels us that his Father had appointed him both that he should preach and what he should preach He hath anointed me to preach saith he Isa 61.1 to preach what good tydings to the meek to proclaim liberty to the Captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And this order of the Fathers he obeyed and therefore it is much to be observed that he begun his publike Ministry with this The first Sermon he preached in Nazareth his own Country was upon this Text as you may see Luke 4.18 2. Secondly Jesus Christ was ordered by his Father as in that work of application of his satisfaction which is done in the external promulgation of the Word so in that work of application of it which is done by the internal operation of the Spirit He did not by his Spirit draw any to himself nor work faith in the hearts of any that so his satisfaction might be actually applyed to them but only those that were appointed to it by his Father Those whom his Father gave hm by Election whom he designed him to justifie and sanctifie and save those he saved and no others Our Saviour Christ as he was man was not to choose whom he would make partakers of his satisfaction to whom he would apply the merits of his passion no he must take such as his Father was contented to bestow upon him That place is notable to this purpose John 6.37 38. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and I will raise them up and give them everlasting life all them and only them And why so For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me My own will as I am man would carry me to justifie and save a greater number But in this I must be ordered I must remember I am come to do my Fathers will and not my own and therefore I must be contented with those whom he is pleased to allot me I am come that they might have life saith Jesus Christ John 10.10 They who why his sheep as he explains it both before and after I am the doâ—r of the sheep and I am come that they may have life And at verse 27. My sheep hear my voice and I give unto them eternal life But how comes Christ by these sheep why by his Fathers own gift And therefore it is added in the very next words My Father which gave them me is greater than all So that it is as if our Saviour Christ had said I am dispatched into
same respect are called the Temples of God But in him dwels the God head bodily that is really united to the humane nature to the body of our Saviour And herein Christ hath no Peer It is an high and matchless honour which no other Creature is capable of By which our nature is advanced in him above all other things and persons in the world besides Vse 2 Is it so that even the Man-hood c. Then as we may take notice here of the advancement of the nature so of our personal advancement too as many of us as belong to Christ For all the Glory of the God-head with which the Man-hood shines is for us and our advantage If he sanctifie himself it is for our sakes as his own expression is And so if he glorifie himself it is for our sakes too It is for our sakes that he prayes And now O Father Glorifie me with thy self with the Glory c. For all his Mediatour-ship throughout is with some respect to us And so it is for our sakes that this unparalelled and matchless Glory is conferred upon him Why you will ask me what is our advantage by it I answer It is very great for we poor men if we be members of the Lord Christ do share in this incomparable Glory of the Man-hood of our Saviour and that partly in fruition and partly in assured expectation First Partly in Fruition for the present we share in this incomparable Glory of the Manhood of our Saviour For as the Man-hood of our Saviour shareth in the glory of the God-head so we my Brethren share in the Glory communicated from the God-head to the Man-hood of our Saviour by reason of our Union to them both in the person of Christ Jesus And even as we are punisht in that Christ is punisht and sanctified in that Christ is sanctified so we are glorified in that Christ is glorified We shine with the incomparable and dazling Lustre of the God-head in that Christ shines with it And as we sit in Christ in heavenly places Eph. 2.6 so we are glorified in Christ with the same glory which he had with God the Father before the world was because he is invested with it as our Head in our flesh on our behalf In him God having raised him up and glorified him he hath glorified us with the very same glory In him we took possession of it So near and so indissoluble is the union between Christ and us that the Divine and Godlike glory wherewithal he shines is truly ours The members cannot choose but share in the glory of the head Secondly we share in this incomparable glory of the Manhood of our Saviour by assured expectation For as his glory in answer to the Prayer of our Saviour is now already communicated to the Manhood so far as it is capable of it So we are certain that the glory of the Man-hood of our Saviour shall one day be communicated to us so far as we are able to receive it We know that when he shall appear we shall be like him And that these vile bodies shall be conformed to his glorious body Phil. 3.21 And this should have a double operation and effect upon us 1. First it should make us to despise the shame of this world though we be trampled under foot and made the dung and the off-scouring of the Earth as this is many times the portion of the Saints our spirits should not droop or sink within us No we should bear them up in spight of all the ignominy and contempt that men pour out upon us and all the venom that they spit against us We should endure the reproach and despise the shame while we think of this glory We should not reckon of a little undeserved shame with men while we consider that we shall shortly shine with the glory of God 2. Secondly it should cause us so to walk that we be not in any thing a shame to Christ whom God hath made so glorious and who will shortly make us so glorious In whom the humane nature is advanced to such honour as to partake of the glory of the Godhead Mark what the Apostle saith Shall I take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot So may I say on this occasion shall I take the nature of Christ the Nature which our Saviour in his Person hath so highly dignified and make it in my person the nature of a Devil Suppose a Prince should marry with a mean woman would he endure to see those of her nearest kindred her Brethren and her Sisters live like Scullions and like Strumpets in his own eye Now Christ my Brethren hath assumed our Nature into a nearer union with himself then that of marriage a union which death it self was not able to dissolve For when the soul was separated from the body the Godhead was not separated from the one or from the other It was the Lord that lay buryed in the grave and he that ascended into heaven was the same that came down from heaven And shall we then defile this nature by wantonness intemperance and vile affections which Jesus Christ hath so honoured to take into so neer a union with himself and to cause it to partake of the glory of the Godhead Especially if we expect hereafter in our persons to partake of this glory Oh let us learn to keep our vessels in all holiness and honour And as we look hereafter to be like him so in the mean time let us purifie our selves as he is pure JOHN 17.6 I have manifested thy Name unto the men which c. WE have been very long upon the first Part of our Saviours Prayer and now at length it is ended and dispatched Charity begins at home and so our Saviour Christ began with his Petitions for himself For that hath been the substance of his Prayer hitherto that as he hath been humbled and abased with men so now he might be glorified with his Father And this he urges very hard with many pressing arguments and so he ceases to solicite any further for himself Charity begins at home as I have said but it doth not end there Our Saviour is not satisfied to put up his Petitions to his Father for himself but in the next place he becomes a Suitor also for his Church And here he prayes for his Apostles and Disciples then about him the members of the present Church And then for those who were after to be called by their preaching the members of the Church to come In the first place he prayes for his Apostles and Disciples then about him the members of the present Church who were already called and sanctified whom God had given him out of the world I pray for them saith he I pray not for the world In the second place he prays for those who were after to be called by their preaching the members of the Church that was to come in vers
for us saith the Apostle Heb. 9.24 Not for all without exception but for us whom he hath taken into his special and peculiar love and care who are comparatively but a small number So that the point is plain you see Christ is an Intercessor to his Father c. Reason And the reason is apparent because he is a Priest for none but them only and Intercession is a part of his Priesthood There are two branches as you may know my Brethren of the Priesthood of our Saviour Sacrifice and Intercession and they are both of them for his people He offers Sacrifice for none but them and so accordingly he intercedes for none but them neither for both the branches of his Priesthood of necessity must go together He is a Mediator for and only for his own people he makes peace for none but them And even as he is not a Mediator of redemption for the world so he is not a Mediator of Intercession for it neither Indeed my Brethren all that he is or doth as he is Man and Mediator is for his people Why was the Son of God incarnate but for them why did he take our Nature on him but for them why was he made a Mediator but for them He is a King to rule them a Prophet to instruct them a Priest to sacrifice and intercede for them He had never been a King as he is a Man he had never been a Prophet he had never been a Priest but for the sake of his people And hence it follows very clearly that whatsoever he doth in the administrations of these Offices of his he doth it next to his own glory for his Churches good He carries it throughout in reference to them and so accordingly the Execution of his Priestly Office in both the parts and branches of it is for them He is an Intercessor to his Father for none but for c. Is Christ an Intercessor c. this may serve to satisfie us in the point Vse 1 which some have vented in these latter times that Christ is the Redeemer of the whole world and that he dyed for all men universally without restraint or limitation What think you my Beloved is it a likely thing that Christ should dye for those for whom he will not pray That he should offer up himself a Sacrifice for those for whom he will not intercede That he should spend his blood for those for whom he will not spend his breath That he should give his life for those for whom he will not give his word will he do that which is abundantly the greater for them and then refuse to do the less You see he saith expresly in my Text I pray not for the world And might he not have said as well I dye not for the world and if our Saviours intercession now in heaven be not vocal as it is usually resolved but a real presentation of the merits of his death and the vertue of his passion to his Father That as the blood of Martyrs cries for vengeance to be executed upon those that shed it so on the other side the blood of Jesus Christ the Mediator cries for mercy to be shewed to them for whom he shed it It claims it out of right and justice in the behalf of those for whom he dyed Why then it follows that if he dyed for all he cannot choose but intercede for all too Or if he should be silent his blood would cry for mercy for them to whom it was intended and designed and consequently if he pray not for the world he dyed not for the world neither Is Christ an Intercessor c. Here then you see the sad condition of Vse 2 those who are without the pale that are not only in the world but of the world Christ never intercedes for them let their cause be what it will let their necessity be what it will Christ even leaves them to themselves and never interposes for them to his Father There you may cry and howl your selves when you are in any straight you may stand beging for your selves and all in vain for Jesus Christ will not speak a word for you nor any such as you are Beloved I beseech you think upon it there come in heavy things against you every day at the bar of Gods Justice Sin cryes and the Law cryes all the Commandements which you break continually come in with open mouth against you and importune Gods Justice for wrath and vengeance to be executed on you They cry How long Lord and sin cryes How long Lord and Christ who is the only Mediator to avert wrath and make peace he sitteth still and saith nothing Oh my Beloved what should hinder now but that the black decree for execution should go forth against you when there is none to interpose and stand between you and the wrath of God! when these complaints and cryes of all the sins that you have done of all the Oathes that you have sworn of all the lyes that you have made c. come in against you in the Court of heaven and the Father puts the question to the Son the only advocate in that Court What have you any thing to say for this man why judgement should not pass against him will you undertake for him and Christ shall answer no I have not a word to say for him I intercede not for the world Let Justice have its course against him let it be executed on him to the utmost I pray for my own people and I desire they may be spared as in right they ought to be for I have satisfied for them But for the rest I even leave them to the vengeance and the wrath they have deserved I will not hinder it or stop it in the least degree Let Justice pay them home in full weight and full measure Look how much they have sinned and how much wickedness they have committed so much torment and so much sorrow let it give them Oh what a flood of horrour and confusion think you will be poured out upon you when once the day of vengeance and of visitation comes when God comes forth against you as an Enemy with nothing else but war and death and blood and mine and destruction in his looks and there is none to pacifie and appease him none to speak a word for you but Christ the only Mediator leaves you to the utmost of his fury Oh consider this c. Vse 3 Is Christ an Intercessor to his Father for none c. here then you may behold the matchless happiness of those who belong to Jesus Christ In this respect they have a priviledge above the world that they have him to intercede for them to be their Advocate and to present their Supplications and requests to God Brethren I know not how you value it or what account you make of it but I assure you it is a rich Prerogative that you have such an Intercessor with the
satisfaction here They have their portion here and they receive their good things here But as for Christs Disciples they must look for no such matter And therefore he forewarns them when he is about to leave them what they are like to meet with in this world persecutions tribulations and afflictions all the injury and wrong and malice and despight and evil usage that the world can pour upon them There remaineth a rest to the people of God Heb. 4.9 their rest remaineth for them it is not to be had in this world And therefore it shall be their wisdom to provide for trouble and not to look the world should be a better place to them then it hath been to Christs Disciples that have gone before them Oh my beloved do not deceive your selves in this particular do not conceive the world will ever yield you any great content or quietness or satisfaction for this is that which makes affliction bitter when it comes But when you live at greatest ease when you enjoy the greatest calm when all things look as if you were confirmed and setled in a prosperous state as if your Mountain should not be removed be sure that you provide your selves for worse times that so afflictions may not find you unprepared when they come How often shall you hear it from the mouths of many when any heavy cross is come upon them Alas they never dreamt of this they never looked to see this dolefull and unhappy day the weaker and unwiser they Did they not know that they are here abiding in a vale of tears and that the world hath alwayes been an evil and uncomfortable place And why should they expect it should be better to them then it hath been to others of the Saints who have perhaps exceeded them in holiness and grace And therefore in the midst of comfort and prosperity let us be wisely casting on the day of trouble and distress Let us not reckon upon much felicity and sweetness here for certainly it is not to be had in this world Is it so that the world hath alwayes been and is an evil c. why then Vse 2 if we find it so let it not seem strange to us Let us not look upon it as a thing to be admired or wondred at if we meet with nothing else but tribulation and affliction and vexations in the world if we have very little quiet or content here Let not the members of the Church think much of it if they be alwayes troubled and distressed if they be alwayes followed and pursued with one affliction or another so that they cannot have a comfortable hour almost but let them look upon it as an usual thing The world hath alwayes been such an uncomfortable place to Christs Disciples And therefore let them seriously consider that they could expect no other living in such a place as they do but this I do but glance at in my passage by Is it so that the world hath alwayes c. why then should Christs Vse 3 Disciples be so much in love with this world and why should any of them be so desirous to continue in it as they are It is the case of many that do indeed belong to Jesus Christ they have a great unwillingness to leave the world O what a cutting thing it is to many of them to think of comming forth out of their earthly tabernacles it is a burthen to them that they cannot bear They say with Peter it is good to be here though their Saviour be not here whereas they should say with Paul It is better to be dissolved and to be with Christ Though Christ himself make mention of it as a sad and dolefull thing that his Disciples were to stay in this world they look upon it as a dolefull thing that they are to remove from it And this it seems was Hazekias case when he heard that he must dye he turned to the wall and wept sore yea he chattered like a Swallow and mourned like a Dove Our Saviour Christ forewarning Peter of his death Iohn 21.18 tells him he should be carried where he would not By which it is apparent that even in the blessed Martyrs there may be a lothness to depart out of these earthly Tabernacles Though the righteous soul of Lot were vexed every day as long as he remained in Sodom yet Oh how did he linger when the Lord would take him thence Gen. 19.16 Even so the Saints of God though while they live in the Sodom of this world they have a sorry habitation being continually vexed with the sins and with the persecutions of ungodly men yet are they not so unwilling to depart and leave the world as they have cause to be When Cyrus made a Proclamation to the Jews that whosoever was disposed might return out of the Land of his Captivity it is observed notwithstanding that none were willing to go out but those whose Spirits God had raised up to go So though this world be nothing but a Babylon to us the Land of our Captivity an evil and aâ— uncomfortable place yet till the Lord raise up our Spirits by his grace we are loth to part with it but are desirous rather still to serve in this bondage Now I beseech you my beloved you that have senses exercised look about you What do you see in this world why you should be loth to leave it There is great reason why you should be weary of it why you should look upon it as a sad thing that you must yet continue in a place where you must alwayes sin and suffer there is no avoiding of it But there is no such reason why you should be so unwilling to depart out of it Vse 4 And therefore on the last place let this perswade you as many of you as are Christs Disciples to be alwayes ready to be translated and removed out of this place which is so evil and uncomfortable to you Indeed you must not wish and long for a departure out of passion and impatience add in a peremptory way as being now no longer able to endure the evils and perplexities that are upon you as thus it seems Eliah did when he fled from Jezabel 1 Kings 19.4 And thus it is extremely probable that Moses did when he conceived his burthen was too heavy for him Num. 1â— 10 15. For it is said he was displeased and in that angry fit he said to God Wherefore â—â—st thou afflicted me I am not able to hear all this alone And if thou deal thus with me kill me I pray thee out of hand and do not 〈◊〉 for my wretchedness And this is apparent Jonah did who being crost in a punctilio in a point of honour out of a pâ—â—tish foâ—â—sh childish humour will go dye forsooth God must take away his life But if you do it out of reason and with submission to the will of God that if he please to take you from a place that is
present nor our future happiness 1. Our present happiness consisteth in the title that we have to Christ the interest we have in him and the Communion we have with him Can the hatred of the world put an end to this Communion No saith the Apostle Paul Rom. 3.35 Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword as it is written for thy sake are we killed all the day long Nay in all these things we are more then Conquerours through him that loves as For I am verily perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor heigth not depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nay to say truth Christ loves us most and hath most communion with us when the world is most against us Then he is specially present with us as he was with Paul Acts 18.9 and with the Martyrs in the Dungeon in the Stocks in the flames And it is certain that Christ doth then reveal himself most sweetly to his people when the world discovers most malignity and rage against them So that it is not all their hatred can keep a Christian from the love and fellowship of Jesus Christ and so by Consequence it cannot keep him from his present happiness 2. And for our happiness to come it cannot hinder that neither It doth not lie so loose my brethren that all the world can take it from us No it is in Gods keeping he openeth and no man shutteth he shutteth and no man openeth He opened Heaven upon Stephen when the world was shewing the utmost of its rage against him And verily a Christian is as near the complement and the perfection of his happiness when he suffers all the wrong and ignominy and contempt that the world can pour upon him and sometimes nearer then he is at other times for that may be the way to it And hence saith Christ in the fore-alledged text Mat. 5.11 Blessed are ye when men revile you Rejoyce and be exceeding glad And why so For great is your reward in heaven JOHN 17.15 I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world c. AND thus far of the second Argument with which our Saviour presseth and enforceth his Petition to his Father in behalf of his Apostles and Disciples that he would keep them through his own name viz. because our Saviour for his own part was even ready to depart from them and to abandon them in such a place where they were hated universally almost the world hath hated them saith Christ Why then a man would think the only way were to remove them out of such a place where they are so ill beloved and so maligned upon all hands If the world hate them because they are not of the world what should they do there any longer the best way were to take them thence and to translate them to a place where they are likely to have more quiet No saith our Saviour I disown that that is not the intent and drift of my Petition I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world c. So that these words my brethren are an Explication of that which is delivered in the former verse that it might not be mistaken Not that our Saviour was afraid his Father would mistake his meaning but he knew they might mistake him who heard him speaking to his Father And therefore as a learned Writer notes upon the text he speaks unto his Father as a man for mens sake because he speaks in their hearing He tells them plainly and expresly what he doth not pray for I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world And then he tels him clearly what he doth pray for but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil Begin we with the first part of the explication in which our Saviour tells his Father plainly and expresly what he doth not pray for I do not pray that thou should take them out of the world So that the point to be observed hence is this DOCTRINE Removal out of this world is not the proper subject matter of Petition You see our Saviour Christ disowns it clearly in my text he would by no means have it thought that he desires his Father to remove his Disciples hence by death to take them out of the world No saith our Saviour that is not the thing I pray for I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world And even as he disowns it in his prayer so should we for we must walk in every imitable thing as we have him for an example And out of doubt he speaks not this for the direction of his Father that he might not be mistaken as I noted even now but on the other side for the instruction of his Apostles and Disciples who were by and heard him pray That they might learn not to exceed their bounds in their petitions And when they seriously consider how they are hated and maligned and abused in the world they might not yet desire the Lord on this account that he would take them hence but rather that he would preserve and keep them here as you have it in my Text I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil And the ground is evident Reason Removal out of this world is not the proper subject matter of Petition because it is not simply in it self a blessing Indeed by accident I must acknowledge death and departure hence is turned exceed ngly to the advantage of the Saints For by it they are freed from evils penal and from evils sinful from suffering and from sinning they are admitted to most near communion with him whom their soul loves and whom their hearts do even gasp after from whose immediate presence they are unavoidably debarred as long as they remain in this world But properly life and continuance in the body is the blessing and therefore it is properly to be desired We find it usually to be propounded in the promise as the reward of holiness and of obedience And in this form we have it in the fifth Commandment which is the first Commandment with promise the only one that hath a promise of the second Table the only one of all the ten that hath a distinct and particular promise And now you will expect I know there should be some transcendent mercy comprehended in such a singular and extraordinary promise as this is And yet it is but long life in this world that thy days may be long in the land c. That promise is a pregnant one to this effect Psal 91. ult with long life will I satisfie him and shew him my salvation First I will satisfie him with long life he
like Christ himself that they are of another world as he is No marvel then though they be made a gazing stock and a wonder in the world If Turks or Indians walk along the streets the common people use to gaze upon them and so wonder at their habit and deportment c. And are not Christs Disciples of another Countrey yea of an other world Are they not men of singularity Are not their wayes and fashions divers from the fashions of this world No marvell then though they be men of wonder as the Prophet speaks Zac. 3.8 though they be hooted at and though they be made as spectacles and gazing stocks to worldly men Use 3 Is it so that Christs Disciples c. Then let them live like men of another world shining as lights amidst a perverse and crooked generation that sit in darkness and in the shaddow of death Let Heaven appear in their discourses and their Conversation Here we may remain and must till God be pleased to call us hence but our continuance here must be accompanied with a reserved exemption of our selves from the Contagion of the times and with an earnest and unwearied striving against the stream of the corruptions of the places where we live not following a multitude to do evil We must be separated from the world my brethren not in place but in affection and in Conversation I pray not saith our Saviour ver 15. of this Chapter that thou wouldst take them out of the world but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil We must not on consideration of the notorious lewdness and prophaness of the inhabitants of this world who vex our souls with their ungodly deeds desire the Lord to carry us to Heaven in a fiery Chariot as he did Elijah to take us presently out of this world but rather to preserve us in it that we may keep our robes pure and undefiled among so many garments spotted with the flesh That against the violent and restless oppositions and temptations of the world and worldly men we may stand impregnable shewing our selves the sons of God by overcoming it and them The veriest wretch may keep himself from grosser acts when he hath no occasions nor allurements to them But in the midst of millions of enticements and commanding provocations and in a world that lies in wickedness to be singular in goodness this is indeed like Christs Disciple who himself was holy harmless separate from sinners It was Tullies commendation of Muraena Non tam laudaâ—dâ—s Muraena quod in Asia vixerit quam quod in Asia continenter vixerit Muraena deserved not so much commendations that he lived in Asia as that he lived continently there amongst such a loose and effaeminate people where his Chastity must of necessity suffer many encounters And Gods of Job that there was none like him in the earth Such must we strive to be and come as neer the pattern as we may Use 4 Is it so that Christs Disciples c. Then let them not regard this world nor the vanities thereof We see that Travellers and Strangers do not set their hearts on any thing they meet with in the way If they see stately Houses Orchards Gardens if they hear curious musick c. they are not taken up with these things No they keep on their way and are not hindred nor withdrawn by the most pleasing Avocations Doth any Traveller fall a building at his Inn a planting or a sowing by the way And therefore seeing we are of another world and consequently strangers here let us not set our hearts and our affections on the things that are beneath but on the things that are above let us use this world as though we used it not for necessity alone and not so much for profit or delight to further us in holy duties not to stop us to help heavenward not to hinder O let us not by scraping up the dung of this world disgrace our Countrey and bring it to a low esteem with worldly men Let it not be said to us as Anacharsis said to Atticus opbraiding him because he was a Scythian Mihi inquit dedecori est patria at patriae tu My Countrey is a shame to me but thou art dishonour to thy Countrey No let us honour it let carnal wretches know that it is a wealthy place that there we have a rich inheritance and large possessions and that our Father who is king thereof is well able to provide for all his children Is it so that Christs Disciples c. Then let us not desire nor fancy Use 5 to our selves my brethren any long continuance here but let us be preparing for our journey home A stranger makes no long abode or residence in any place he tarries for a night or so and passeth onward to the Countrey where he dwelleth And therefore seeing we are of another world let us alwayes be thinking of our journey home and making preparation for it every day I say as Moses Deut. 32.29 O that men were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end Is it so that Christs Disciples c. Why are they so unwilling then Use 6 to leave this world Why are they so averse from death and dissolution and departure hence Indeed for wicked and ungodly wretches who are the men of this world as the Psalmist calls them who have their portion in this present world no portion in the other it is no wonder that they should be loth die O death how bitter needs must thy remembrance be to him that lives at ease and rest in his possessions But unto you who are of another world I say as Christ to his Disciples Arise let us go hence Why my beloved what is the matter with you What are you loth to go home Methinks you should consider with your selves that when you die you go to your own world your own Father your own friends where you shall be as welcome as your hearts can wish God your Father will receive you Christ your brother will embrace you Triumphant Saints and Angels will rejoyce in you And after all the troubles of a tedious journey you shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven feasting it in companies feeding on the hidden Manna and drinking deeply of the pure and Christall River of Water of Life proceeding from the Throne of God and of the Lamb. And who would willingly remain abroad in an unpleasing Pilgrimage and not choose rather to come home to such sweet Company and to such blessed Entertainment as this is And thus we have at length dispatched the first part of our Saviours prayer in behalf of his Apostles and Disciples who were then about him and in it the first main thing which he desireth for them preservation The second follows now in order to be entred on and here the main thing that he seeks in their behalf is Sanctification Sanctifie them through thy
keep them that belong to Jesus Christ from the hurt of their afflictions but more then so he doth them much good by them that they may say as David doth when all is ended It is good for me that I have been afflicted I give you but a taste of this and I have done with Explication 1. Sometimes he awakens them by their afflictions they are sleepy and secure and God jogges and startles them and rouzes them by this means When men are bound in fetters saith Elihu and held fast in the cords of their afflictions so that they are not able to unlooose themselves and get away what then why then he sheweth them their works and their transgressions that they have exceeded in q.d. At such a time his manner is to represent their sins to them with all their circumstantial aggravations See an example of it in the Lords own people Gen. 42.21 when Josephs Brethren saw themselves taken for spies in Egypt and so in present danger of their lives the sin they had committed many years ago came as fresh into their minds and lay as heavy on their Consciences as if it had been newly done I know that troubles and distresses and the approach of death it self hath not always this effect on all men the Lord hath poured on some the spirit of slumber but usually they have on Gods people 2. Sometimes God abates their pride by their afflictions There is not any sin that makes a man more odious to the Lord then pride doth or is a greater bar to his salvation All that are proud in heart are an abomination to him Prov. 16.5 neither is there are any man but hath some reliques of this leaven in him which puffeth up his heart and makes him swell beyond measure Yea the choicest of the Saints have mighty inclinations to it especially if all things go on their side As it is said of Hezekiah when he was put into a prosperous estate his heart was lifted up 2 Chron. 32.25 and therefore God exposes them to sharp afflictions that he may hide the pride of man as the expression is Joh 33.17 that he may lessen and abate and wear it out till it be not to be seen 3. Sometimes God draws his people nearer to himself by their afflictions In their affliction they will seek me early saith the Lord of his people Hos 5.15 It seems they had been wofully regardless of the Lord in former times of happiness and peace and comfort but saith the Lord In their affliction they will hasten to me they will be eager after me and never rest till they have found me And this you shall observe to be the disposition of the sons men yea of the best and holyest of them they look not after God so much at any time as when they are in greatest exigencies and distresses And as the sails though they be some addition to the burthen of the ship yet they help it on the faster to the Haven So crosses and afflictions though they be a burthen to us yet they hasten us to God and draw us on the faster to the port of happiness And therefore God relating divers judgements which he was resolved to bring upon his own people by which he meant to strip them naked of all outward comforts at length concludes that this should be the issue of it Isa 17.7 At that day shall they look unto their Maker and their eyes shall have respect unto the Holy One of Israel It is a miserable thing yet so it is as long as we have any thing on earth to rest upon we enquire not after God With Noahs Dove if we can find a twig to pitch upon we are regardless of the Ark and therefore God by heavy crosses and afflictions strips us of these outward helps and strikes away the earthly things by which we stand and when we know not what to do when we are driven out of all our holes then our eyes are upon God when we look on every hand and refuge fails us every way and no man careth for our souls then we address our selves to God and say to him Thou art our refuge Psal 142.4 It seems that David though he were a holy man was very apt while he was furnished with these outward favors to rely too much upon them so far as to neglect the Lord. But when the Lord by crosses and afflictions took them from him or made him see the vanity and insufficiency of them then he cryed out And now Lord what wait I for my hope is in thee now I have tryed how fickle and how vain the creature is now I perceive by sensible experience that no help is in it Now Lord what wait I for c. And thus I think I have sufficiently cleared the point God can and will preserve c. To add a word or two for Application Vse This serves to let us see the admirable and transcendent happiness of all that have an interest in Jesus Christ in this respect that they are safe from all evil God will withhold no good from them as the Prophet David speaks and then upon the other side he will keep all evil from them as you have it in my Text. Beloved we are here in an uncomfortable place a wicked world in which we are exposed as considered in our selves to all evil We are exempt from no temptation No not the blackest and the bloodlest to the very worst of sins We are secure from no affliction no not the sharpest and the most extream If there be any worse then other which we conceive would be most bitter and intolerable to us it is going in the world and it may seise on us as well as others Yea we are always bearing with us in our bosoms that which is infinitely worse then both the other viz. the evil of corruption so that we seem to be in a very sad condition But yet this comfort waits upon us still the Lord will surely keep us absolutely free from the evil of them all The worst of them may do us good but it shall never do us hurt as long as there is any vertue in our Saviours Intercession as long as he hath any interest in God the Father And therefore when we look upon the world and see it marching out against us with bloody persecutions and afflictions when we look upon the Devil and see him ready to assault us with his fiery darts and fierce tentations when we look inward to our own hearts and see such swarms of hellish lusts and base corruptions there and are ready to cry out in the anguish of our souls Oh miserable men that we are who shall deliver us let us look up to Jesus Christ and think upon his powerful Intercession with the Father that he hath prayed him to preserve and keep us from all the evil in the world and so let us be quiet and secure Let us say as David once Though I walk in
the valley of the shadow of death among men among Devils among temptations and corruptions and afflictions of all sorts of all sizes yet I will not be afraid for Christ hath interceded for me to the Father and he will certainly preserve me from the hurt of all these He will keep me from every evil work and preserve me to his heavenly Kingdom JOHN 17.16 They are not of the world even as I am not c. AND thus far of the Second Argument with which our Saviour presseth and enforceth his Petition to his Father together with the Explication of it To this he adds a repetition of that which he delivered word for word before as you shall see if you compare them both together They are not of the world even as I am not of the world He said before I have given them thy Word and the world hath hated them because they are not of the world even as I am not of the world And here again they are not of the world even as I am not of the world So that you see my Brethren Repetition of the self same thing and in the self same words in Prayer is not to be condemned in all cases Our Saviour as he is our Mediator to pray for us so he is our Master too to instruct us how to pray Master say the Disciples to our Saviour Luk. 11.1 teach us to pray as John also taught his Disciples And he teaches us to pray not by his precept only but by example too And in the latter way he teaches us in this place to fetch over things again that have been said before in prayer yea sometimes in the very same expressions And in another place the Holy Ghost observeth of him that he prayed a second and a third time saying the very same words Matth. 26.44 He could have varied but he would not varie because his judgement and affection led him into the very same tract wherein he had gone once or twice before And so when repetitions are not of necessity but out of choise because the zeal and fervor of the speaker draws him and invites him to it they are sometimes of very good use Indeed our Saviour I acknowledge interdicteth repetitions but mark what repetitions my Beloved Battologies vain repetitions When ye pray 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 use no vain repetitions as the Heathens do and as the Papists do who use to babble over so many Pater Nosters and so many Ave Maries and think to be heard for their much speaking as it is added there in that place Mat. 6.7 Observe it well our Saviour saith not use no repetitions but use no vain repetitions And when they flow from the strength of the affection that knows not which way to get off from some considerable and important thing as you may note in David and other Saints in Scripture they are not vain but to very good purpose What was our Saviours purpose in the repetition that he uses in my Text is diversly conceived by those that write upon it Once this is evident to me there is the same occasion for the repetition that there was for the mention of the self-same thing before Before the hatred to which they were exposed in the world and here the evil which they were like to suffer from the world of both which this was the true reason because indeed they were not of this world but of another There saith our Saviour the world hath hated them how so They are not of the world even as I am not of this world Here saith our Saviour I pray thee Father keep them from the evil of the world Why are they like to suffer evil from the world how so The same again They are not of the world even as I am not of the world And he would have it to be very well observed that all the hatred and injurious dealing to which his poor Disciples were exposed in the world proceeded not from any fault of theirs but it was meerly upon this account because they were not of the world but were conformable to Christ himself in this particular The world likes them much the worse because they were in this respect like Christ I shall not now insist upon the words as considered in dependence and as they are a reason of the evil usage which Christs Disciples use to meet withal in this world For this I did when I last met with them But I shall take them absolutely as considered in themselves And so they yield us out this general Observation DOCTRINE That Christs Disciples are in this respect like Christ himself that they are of another world as he is There are two things in the point which I shall clear distinctly and in order First Christ himself is not of this world but of another Then Christs Disciples are in this respect like him They are like him many ways in many things and especially in this among the rest That they are not of the world as he is not of the world As for the first of these That Christ himself is not of this world but of another you see it is his own express assertion in my Text I am not of this world He doth not say I am not in this world for that indeed he could not say when he made this prayer Nay he saith the contrary but a verse or two before These things speak I in the world But I am not of this world this he affirmeth here and in divers others places Though he were really a man yet he was not like other men at least not like worldly men in this regard as he told the Pharisees Joh. 8.23 Ye are of this world I am not of this world Now to open this a little I shall shew you particularly and distinctly that Jesus Christ when he was here in this world yet he was not of this world but of another especially in these respects As first because he came from another world And secondly because he lived in another world And thirdly because he went to another world I shall follow these in order 1. Jesus Christ when he was here in this world yet he was not of this world but of another because he came from another world And he was more properly of the world he came from then of the world he sojourned in for a little space only And thus he argues with the Jews in the fore-alleadged Scripture Joh. 8.23 Ye are from beneath I am from above saith he And what doth he infer upon it Ye are of this world I am not of this world You see both the clauses answer one another Ye are from beneath and therefore ye are of this world I am from above and therefore I am not of this world In this respect he is called the Lord from heaven 1 Cor. 15.47 Observe it not the Lord in heaven but the Lord from heaven and that not only with relation to his second but also to