accompany them to the end of the World But the Pope as great as he is cannot be present in every place we need not spend any more time in crying down that that is so prodigious so many several Saints and so many several Churches in several parts of the world how is it possible that a Pope can be Head of them all but then 2. Beware of being injurious to the least member of Jesus Christ If Christ be the Head of the body surely his body is dear to him never think to ruine the body or to drown the body as long as the Head is able to keep it self above watâ—â— never think to hurt the body as long as the head is able to secure it and protect it and defend it there are very notable expressions in several of the Prophets as in Daniel There are four great Monarchies then came a little stone hewen out of the mountain and breaks them all one after another All opposite powers to the Kingdom and Headship of Jesus Christ shall be confounded in despight of the Pope and Turks and Devil and all All the Kingdoms of the earth shall at last become the Lords and his Christs and then in the 12. of Zachary you shall finde there in the 5. Verse Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls numerously for I saith the Lord will be â—nto her a wall of fire round about and will be the glory in the middest of her a wall of fire to burn up the Enemy and I will be the glory in the midd'st of her for the comfort of his people the presence of God is the glory of any place and therefore he saith He will create a defence upon the glory an admirable place in the 4. of Isaiah Pour upon them a Spirit of burning and judgement to direct them and consume the Enemies and he will create a defence upon all the glory upon his Saints which are the glory so he is pleased to count them though there be no preparations in them to raise a defence he will create it yea in Zach. 12.2 Behold I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling to all people round about And in that day I wil make Jerusalem a burthensome stone for all people all that burthen themselves with it shall be cut in pieces though all the people of the earth shall be gathered together against it O what encouragement is here for the poor Saints the Citizens of Jerusalem let all the desperate Atheists and prophane opposites combine against the people of God and plot although they may have it may be some particular advantages as it is said of the Romans they were Pralio victi but not Bello it may be now and then they may get an advantage in this combate against the Church but yet they shall never totally and finally overcome them though they be all gathered together God will make Jerusalem a burthensome stone to all that burthen themselves with it There will a time come when the Lord will grinde to pieces all those that have any Antipathy against Jerusalem when God will trample Satan and all other Enemies under the feet of his Jerusalem when God will call for all them forth that would not have him to rule over them Bring forth mine Enemies that would not I should raign over them and slay them before me in Luke 19.27 there is the second Use. 3. If Jesus Christ be the Head of the Church then surely he must have a body an head without a body were prodigious and therefore that Doctrine of the Arminians must needs prove false That would have Jesus Christ come into the world upon these terms and to dye upon such considerations that all things should be left so far to mans Free-will that it was in their power unless they would be so good natur'd as to believe when Jesus Christ call'd upon them that he should not have one Member no body at all This is the erronious Doctrine of Arminius and his Followers that go upon his principles is it impossible that Jesus Christ should not have one Member for he gives onely posse he gives not velle if you will not believe and improve your Free-will you may chuse whether ever you will believe or no they will not allow that Jesus Christ by an invinciable by an almighty power shall carry men and overcome men so far as to make them of unwilling to be willing to believe yea where Arminius hath four decrees concerning the Salvation of men you may be within the compass of all those four decrees and yet not be saved a miserable condition he tells you God hath decreed to give Christ and means and that all who believe shall be preserved and saved but he tells you not that he hath decreed to give faith and repentance to any one man to enable him to believe and therefore it is a most dishonorable Doctrine to the Headship of Christ blessed be God that it so much discover'd and we are so far delivered from it though it is most unhappily of late in some parts of it got into too many Popular hands But then 4. Take heed I beseech you of any obstructions that might hinder a sweet communion betwixt the Head and the Members that might hinder an intercourse betwixt Jesus Christ and your souls let this rather be your care to gain that heavenly skill how you may make use of Jesus Christ as the Head 1. Give him the glory of his Soveraignty let him be all in all the Soveraignty of his Grace and the Soveraignty of his Independency to save whom he pleaseth and to do what he pleases with men to have mercy on whom he will have mercy and because he will have mercy 2. Give him the glory of his Wisdom as a Prophet seek wisdom from God and it shall be given you in James 1.5 as you should give him the honor of his Soveraignty allowing him this that as the Potter he may make some vessels to honor and some to dishonor as he pleaseth 3. Give him the honor of his Riches and Fulness seek supplies from him do not live upon your selves nor upon your duties nor upon ordinances onely but live upon Jesus Christ in all so give Christ the honor of being the spring of your Supplies in him are fresh springs 4. Give him the honor of being the best friend in the world and labor for such an intimacy with him that he and you may be acquainted for he saith If ye love him and keep his commandments he and his Father will come and take up his abode with you and he will manifest himself to you in John 14.23 O how much of heaven will that soul have upon earth that he should have Jesus Christ come and dwell with him and when he goes to Prayer manifest himself when he goes to read the Scriptures paraphrase upon the Bible and suggest sweet hints to him
sunk him had he not had more then the strength of a man Therefore that he might be a perfect Mediator between God and man he was God-Man taking Humane nature into the fellowship of the Deity and communicating Divine nature unto those which he did intend to save Hence Paul saith Rom. 3.24 25. We are justified freely by Gods grace through the Redemption which is in Christ Iesus whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood Hence he further saith Acts 20.28 that God did purchase the Church with his own blood So that in this part of the Priestly Office of Jesus Christ there was the power of God himself put forth Neither is there less strengthning grace manifested when he comes to appear for his people in heaven in the presence of God as Heb. 7.24 This man because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable Priesthood which passeth not from one to another certainly here was wonderful strength that Christ being once offered should bear the sins of many and unto them that looked for him he should appear the second time without sin unto salvation as in Heb. 9.28 That his having done away all their sins should advance them to Salvation which still shews the strength of his grace Therefore well might Paul annex that Heb. 7.25 Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them This is the ground of Pauls triumph not onely for himself but in the name of all the Saints in that admirable place Rom. 8. from the 34 to the 39. ver Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us 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 we are killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter Nay in all these things we are more then conquerors through him that loved us For I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. Here is strengthning grace of Almighty and everlasting efficacy As Jesus Christ is the Churches King he hath a proportionable inexhaust stock of strengthning grace without such a power he could never suppress the numerous and potent adversaries of the Church which was the the solemn agreement betwixt him and his Father Psal. 110.1 The Lord said unto my Lord God the Father said unto God the Son Davids Lord sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool He will bring them to the lowest and most abject condition though for the present they look never so high and big upon the poor members of Christ. And accordingly he is still acting in heaven whereas he doth appear for his people so doubtless against his enemies as is most clear in Heb. 10.12 13. But this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever so much strength of grace in that it need be but one sate down on the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool We may with much encouragement wrestle with God and wait upon him both for the discovering and confounding of the great Impostors Mahomet and the Pope and the removing all the Crutches of Babylon in any of the Kings Dominions or elswhere for this work is carried on with so much power that in Gods time all the Kingdoms of the earth will become the Lords and his Christs To the same purpose you shall finde an Angel come down from heaven having great power and the earth was lightned with his glory and he cryed mightily with a strong voyce Babylon is fallen all suitable to the powerful design of Christ Rev. 18.2 And she shall be utterly burned with fire in whom was found the blood of Prophets and of Saints of all that were slain upon the earth some way reducible to her or her adherents for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her ver 8. Neither could Jesus Christ be a Resurrection to any sinners nor quicken with Spiritual life whom he would as Ioh. 5.20 unless that were true ver 26. As the Father hath life in himself so hath he given the Son to have life in himself and that to be able to raise his own unto eternal life ver 29. All which argues abundance of strengthning grace in him This was the foundation of Pauls Prayer for his Ephesians chap. 1. ver 18. That the eyes of their understanding being inlightened here is powerful grace still they might know what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power Here is a great heap of Emphatical expressions to shew the accumulative power of the grace that is in Jesus Christ Were he not so strong that he were able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think according to the power that worketh in us Eph. 3.20 Paul would never have used such an expression That ye may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height there must it seems be a power in us to inable us to fathom and comprehend the vast dimensions of that strengthning grace that is in our Head here is the breadth of this grace covering all the sins of every one of his eleâ—t even from Adam to the end of the world Here is the length of this grace it extends from everlasting to everlasting Here is the depth of it it lifts up poor creatures from the very pit of hell And the height of it it advances them to sit by him in his own throne in Heaven After the intrinsecal fulness of the grace of Christ follows the Redundancy thereof for there is in him not onely plenitudo vasis but also plenitudo fontis there is the original fulness of a living fountain in him which he delights to communicate for the supplies of his people This discovers it self in four particulars There is a Redundancy into all the faculties of our souls he fills the Minde with gracious principles the Conscience with a holy tenderness the Will with flexibleness and compliance with his Will and sways the Affections to act regularly upon their objects Doubtless Christ Jesus the second Adam will do as much for all those that have Vnion with him as the first Adam did against those that were in him And therefore whereas by his fall there was not onely a total deprivation of original righteousness but a universal depravation of all the faculties a general
heaven and is on the right hand of God Angels Authorities and Powers being made subject to him he hath a universal and absolute regiment over all things in heaven and earth over men and Devils but then 3. In regard of that Influence that he doth convey to the bodies Sence and Motion is derived from Christ as the spring it is true that in the natural body there the heart is primum vivens but in the mystical body the head is primum vivens and he gives life to us and we derive our life from Jesus Christ the head he hath life and he hath it abundantly in himself and he lives that we may live as I remember there is such an expression in John 10.10 4. In regard of Vnion he doth tie altogether the nerves and sinews would not unite the members of the mystical body unless Jesus Christ were the Head As he is the Foundation stone and so supports the building so he is the Corner stone both the beauty and strength and union of the building Fundatio fundatissima as Junius renders it in Isa 28.16 a most sure foundation and the Corner stone as Peter hath it in 1 Pet. 2.7 8. with reference to that place and so in these four particulars Jesus Christ hath a Headship the next thing is now The appropriation of this Headship to whom is he a head He is an external Head to all the members of the visible Church to all professors as he is a vine and doth communicate some sap to those that are in him no way but by an external profession as you have it intimated in John 15.2 Every branch in me that bears not fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire and therefore there are some branches in him externally as he is an external Head to the Church as he is a vine but indeed he is properly the Head of his body the Saviour of his body he is a Head to those to whom he is a Saviour in Ephesians 5.23 As the King hath a common relation to all his Subjects but a more pecular relation to the Queen who is a Subject and a Spouse and so hath Jesus Christ to his Church and the reason is this because there is a full commensuration betwixt all the three glorious persons in the Trinitie they are grossly mistaken that will make Jesus Christ to dye for all and yet will not in their sence so as to make them Salvabiles if they will and yet cannot say That either God hath given Christ to all or given all to Christ or that the Spirit of God will apply that Redemption to all for there is a commensuration there is an adaequation betwixt the three glorious Persons in the Trinity and their workings for the Salvation of the Saints Jesus Christ dyes for those whom God hath given to him with purposes of Salvation I do not deny but all the wicked in the world may have some benefit by the death of Christ as all have some common pledges of the bounty of God and all may have some common operations of the Spirit of God but if you 'l speak of any thing as to Salvation there is a commensuration betwixt the three persons in the Trinity and their workings Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father Sanctification of the Spirit and the sprinkling of the blood of Christ in 1 Pet. 1.2 indeed in 1 John 2.2 He is a propitiation for our sins and not for ours onely but for the sins of the whole world to whom did John write that Epâ—stle to the Jews and therefore to shew that they had not all Religion now engross'd amongst them and that the Election of God did not still run amongst them only he speaks in that dialect he did not intend every particular man in the world for then he must intend men that sin against the Holy Ghost which is impossible that they should be saved No man will say that understands any thing even in Catechistical Divinity that Jesus Christ dyed to save them which he must do if he dyed for every man in the world with such purposes to save them and so in 1 Tim. 1.4 5 6. He is given a ransom for all why all There is one God and one Mediator now Jews and Gentiles as Jesus Christ did take our nature upon him both Jews and Gentiles all estates shall have the common priviledge and benefit and advantage of being in a capacity to receive blessings from him spiritual saving blessings that is all conditions whether Kings and all in Authority or Servants or others not every particular person but as in one place Jews or Gentiles so in another place not this or that condition but all estates and all relations and all conditions but still the Appropriation is to the Church as here he saith from whom the whole body is joyned together in the 16. Vers. from whom from Christ the whole body is joyned together so it is the body that hath this influence from him but then 3. What is his Title to his Headship it is threefold First The designation of God and the Father God the Father hath sealed him he gave him to be a Head to the Church over all things in Ephe. 1.22 23. and then Secondly His personal fitness Of his fulness we all receive grace for grace In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and then Thirdly His own propitious readiness We were not in any degree so willing to be saved as he is to save us He came down to seek and to save that which is lost the Spirit of the Lord was upon him and anointed him to preach the Gospel it was his business and as he had a Commission from his Father and came under the Broad-Seal of Heaven so he had a strong inclination â—â—â—m his own bowels to engage him to it there is his Title the use of this 1. To trie the title of the Popes Headship to the Church how comes he by it for a Church to have two Heads one body to have two heads it is a Monster you 'l make it Monstrous we do allow in a good sence That the Supreme Magistrate is Caput politicum in the Church to command good things according to the Word of God and to restrain evil according to that Word we hold forth confidently that Jesus Christ he is the onely proper Head of the Church that doth convey all saving spiritual blessings life nourishment direction and all those admirable advantages to the body we cannot allow a Caput Vicarium a Ministerial Head there is no need of that Jesus Christ is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Head here is an Article that gives an Emphasis what needs it any other Jesus Christ is present always in his Church when he withdrew his Corporal presence he would then requite his Church with his Spiritual presence and that presence of his Spirit it should
Spirit which he purchased at so dear a rate and shall the Spirit give gifts to men and those gifts be actuated and exercised and prepared for you and shall not we improve them O what an ill requital is here 2. He hath a vehement desire of union and communion with all those that God the Father hath given to him Behold I stand and knock at the door if any will hear my voyce then I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me that is a melting place a winning place in Rev. 3.20 Jesus Christ is impatient as it were I may speak it with reverence to want communion with them who are his in Gods eternal counsels But then thirdly Christ may well expect this Because attaining the intended stature and measure of the fulness of Christ we are fit for heaven as in Ephe. 4.13 Till we all come to the unity of faith and to the perfect stature of the fulness of the age in Christ therefore there is such a pitch and Jesus Christ expects it you will never be fit for him till you come to your pitch there is a minimum quod sic as Philosophers speak about natural bodies so about every member of the mystical body you must come to such a degree of grace before you are fit for heaven now God hath designed you that that you may be meet to be partakers of the inheritance with the Saints in light it is not slipping out of a drunkards habit and to desire to be dissolved or to receive the communion or to give such and such legacies or to send for a Minister and say Lord have mercy on me No thou hast been a drunkard and an Atheist all thy days thou art not meet to go to heaven Paul blesseth God that hath made him meet Heaven is a holy place and God is a holy God and thou hast a very cursed sinful nature very unfit for heaven till thou be pollished fashioned and framed now Jesus Christ expects this The third particular follows I shall not dispatch all you 'll give me leave to consult for my own health As you have had the expectation it self and the grounds of it so you shall have The end Now the ends of it are two why Christ intended this and expects this First For your stability in Christ and Secondly For your improvement of Christ. 1. Your stability in Christ. 2. Stability in judgement O that is an admirable thing Health of body is a great matter but truly soundness of faith especially in these unstable times is much greater It is a good thing to have the heart established with grace that is with the doctrine of grace and not with meats not to be carried up and down with this wanton opinion and that wanton opinion in Heb. 13.9 A good thing to have the heart established in grace To have a stability in affection that thy affections may centre upon Christ as thy love and thy desire and thy hope and thy joy thou mayest desire other things yet thou mayest be able to say I have none in heaven but thee and none in earth that I desire in comparison of thee you may love other things but you may be able to say I love Jesus Christ for himself and love my self and all other things in reference to him I value power and estate learning and all outward thing nothing but with reference and subservience to Jesus Christ O here is a sweet stability of affection and that Jesus Christ may not onely be thy joy but the exceeding gladness of thy joy a triumph of joy to joy more in knowledge of Christ and communion with Christ then you do in all outward comforts and advantages whatsoever here is a sweet stability of affection these people will not be carried up and down so much with either crosses or comforts as very many are But then There is a stability of conversation that is a blessed stability in James 1.8 A double minded man is unconstant in all his ways as long as you have an end and an end a heart and a heart a minde and a minde you 'll never be constant you know not where to finde any men in the world but godly men because they have fixed principles they make conscience but come to a covetous man when you speak of his covetousness there you have him when you speak against his earthliness there you lose him he hath a double minde something for God and something for the world hath no more Religion then suits with his worldly designs he will hear a Sermon because it is cheap yet he will it may be deceive you in his shop because there is his interest and he will it may be be jolly and frollick and scoff over a cup of sack at the people of God soon after Sermon though he hath expressed it may be a great deal of zeal to the Minister why there lies his interest he is a jolly man a professor at large he must be bold O here is no stability It is a blessed thing and a sweet advantage and Jesus Christ intends this that you should be grounded in Christ being rooted and grounded and stablished in the faith in Colosians 2.7 Now the next end is this Your improvement of Christ An improvement of him for what purpose Why for all necessary gifts as a Magistrate as a Minister in any place of trust he hath variety of gifts in 1 Cor. 12. For all graces he hath variety of graces he hath abundance of Spirit that you may be filled with all the fulness of God as I remember in Eph. 3.19 In all conditions and relations that you may know how to be sick and how to be poor how to be Magistrates how to be Ministers I have learned to want and abound I can do all things through Christ enabling me saith Paul in Philippians 4.13 And then In all duties you can do nothing without Christ but as he gives in as he communicates himself and vouchsafes to assist you when he withdraws you flag you wither I 'le be bold to say a word to my Brethren of the Ministery O that Ministers would chiefly study and minde this work this is proper Pulpit-work to put people upon such an entertainment of the Gospel that they might improve Jesus Christ and grow up to a stability in him Paul was sent had a Commission according to the faith of Gods elect in Tit. 1.1 and Gal. 4.19 I travel in birth with you saith Paul till Christ be formed in you O what pain it cost him every Sermon It was a great speech yet I have heard it as a certain truth concerning Reverend Mr. Bains That every Sermon cost him as much in his sence as he thought as it did ordinarily cost a woman to bring a childe into the world I travel in birth till I see Jesus Christ formed in you
weigh the place meekly I desire not to meddle with mens persons but I must be faithful to Jesus Christ and the souls of his people and according to the light he hath given me I shall endeavor to make it appear that Interpretation is not consistent with the Text Jesus Christ in the 18. Verse of the 28. of Matthew saith All power is given to me in heaven and earth go therefore and teach all nations Teach all nations surely if this Dispensation be now ended if the Ministry be at an end all nations cannot be taught and so Jesus Christ will lose some of his elect for they cannot be call'd in for there must be no Teaching it seems no Ministery 2. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you All nations will never be taught all things whatsoever Jesus Christ commands them and the Apostles and Ministers cannot fulfil their commission if the Ministery be ceased and we must have no Ministery and no Ordinances to instruct them in all these things And lo lo Christ would have you take notice of it I am with you not onely I will be with you but am with you and that every day he is with you always always even to the end of the world 4. The end of the world What to the end of this Dispensation and for the age of this Ministration only brethren I could fetch it out of the very Original it self whereas he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Signifies an Age I grant it doth but it signifies Eternity many times in Scripture For thine is the Kingdom Power and Glory for ever and ever I am sure of it there it is not a Dispensation onely And then for the end I could fetch it not onely out of Plato but also out of the Septuagint and out of other places where that Greek word signifies Consummation therefore there must be an end but let us go on further I l'e ask any man that will say these words that I am with you to the end of the World That is to the end of this Dispensation When did this Dispensation begin in what year did it begin Let any man tell me that Jesus Christ will be with his Disciples or Ministers to this hundred year or to this age and then he forbears Is it to all persons or to these persons onely then who are they I would very fain have these plain Questions resolved O you 'l say it is till the Spirit comes the Spirit comes Why the Spirit was coming ever since Jesus Christ ascended and doth come with new lights daily and the Spirit will be coming till Jesus Christ come again the second time 6. And I would ask further I beseech you unless there be a Ministery how shall we have Popery confuted You say because Popery hath defiled the Ministery there is no Ministery I say Popery must be confuted by the Ministery you may burn an Arrian on the head but Arrianism must be confounded by the Ministery you may hang a Papist but we know that you can never confute Popery but by the light of the Ministery and Paul hath said this The Pope shall be destroyed by the brightness of Christs coming viz. in the ministry of the Gospel 7. I would know this also If the faith were once delivered to the Saints that is Once for all as Interpreters have expounded it What shall we have a new Edition or a new Gospel had we not an everlasting Gospel before Nay further Jesus Christ will give up all things to the Father When when he hath conquer'd all his Enemies and after the Resurrection and then God will be all in all Well they say they are Goded and Christed and God is immediately in them and they are under the third Dispensation and we are still under these low Administrations then they must make us believe the Resurrection is past for God shall never come to be all in all and Jesus Christ never give up his Kingdom till the Resurrection be past and then further go now to the neighbor words of my Text He gave gifts to men that all might come to the Vnity of the faith and to a perfect stature All come and therefore be confident I dare venture my soul upon it which is a great word that Jesus Christ will have a Ministery more or less till he have brought in all the Elect and I have this ground for it out of the word He gave gifts Pastors and Teachers till all come to the Unity of the faith and to the acknowledgement of the Son of God and to a perfect stature Now if they say there is no Ministery then they must make us believe that all the Saints are come in and that there is a perfect number c. and their graces compleated but I must spare my self the time is past I have had late and sad experience what it is to spend too much upon weak Spirits not recovered though I confess I intended most upon the third point Following the truth in love What is this Truth Why as Gods glory is the Constellation of his Attributes as Gods happiness is the absoluteness of his self-sufficency as Gods holiness is the impression of his image as comfort from God is the glimpse of his loving countenance as the learning we receive is a beam of his wisdom falling upon us so indeed Truth is the issue the representation and the discovery of his revealed will and of his minde to us concerning Doctrine and Worship What we should know and what we should practice What is Love not onely a Love to the Truth that is good not onely a love to Christ the head that is as good and the proper genius of Saints carries them to both these but indeed a love to the Saints to the Members love the brethren love the corporation of Saints in 1 Pet. 2. v. 7. What is it to follow or speak the Truth here For Explication where three things considerable The Greek word here signifies sometimes To speak the Truth in Gal. 4.16 To do the Truth in John 3.21 and in Eph. 4.24 To follow the Truth with a sincere constancy so learned men interpret it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth answer to an Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Niphal that signifies to be firm and to be constant and so doubtless it is a great part of the meaning here by the opposition That you may be no more as children tossed to and fro but following the Truth in Love that is following it with constancy and firmness and cleaving to it I humbly conceive To speak the Truth here is too straight as will appear if you please to compare the Context I chuse rather to take the largest sence adoring the deep and mysterious fulness of holy Scripture so to seek follow and embrace the Truth with that firm constancy that we should be ready to speak