love and hope and patience and obedience this is an honour to the Lord Christ that he hath such people so qualified and so imployed when they believe in difficult and hard cases they glorifie him in believing as it is said of Abraham Rom. 4.20 He was strong in Faith giving glory to God when they are fruitful in the works of righteousness these are also to the praise of his glory Herein is he glorified if they bring forth much fruit For Jesus Christ is looked upon as the Original of all the good the Fountain and the Spring of all the holiness that is in his people And hence the praise of all returns to him as the Apostle Paul insinuates Rom. 11. ult For of him are all things And what follows To him be glory for ever Amen If any of his people have a special gift of knowledge they have learned it all of Christ if they excel in other grace they receive it all from Christ If they have any choice ability to any holy and religious duty it is Christ that makes them able and it is Christ that strengthens them They that have judgements exercised and are able to discern assoon as they discover any excellency in any kind in any of the Saints they ascribe it all to Christ because they know they had it all from him See what Jesus Christ can do in and for and by those that have Originally nothing that is good in them If any of them shine the beams that make them glister come from Christ and they dart back to Christ again He shines upon them and he shines in them as the Prophet insinuates Isai 60.1 Arise and shine for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee It is a glory to the Lord Christ that he hath such a beautiful and glorious people And thus you see my Brethren he is glorified in the grace of those that belong to him 2. As he is glorified in the grace so he is glorified and shall be glorified in the glory of those that belong to him especially in the great day when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe as the Apostle Paul tells us 2 Thess 1.10 to be glorified in them to wonder and to admiration So that the world shall be astonished and amazed to see the matchless and unutterable glory that he shall adorn them with and in their glory glorifie himself This shall transport beholders into wonder it shall make them to admire them and to admire Christ in them It s true Christ shall be glorified wonderfully on that day in the damnation and destruction of the wicked that belong not to him The wrath of Jesus Christ shall be an admirable wrath the judgements and the vengeance that he shall inflict upon them shall be full of wonder that men shall be astonished and amazed to see that Jesus Christ the Lamb of God who in this life hath shewed himself so meek and patient and long-suffering to abominable sinners should be so out of measure wrath with them Ungodly men themselves will wonder at his fury The Saints will wonder at his glorious justice and adore the righteousness of his proceedings with all the wicked unbelievers of the world Yea their confusion and destruction in that great and dreadfull day will be one special part of that admirable glory whereby Christ will be wonderfull in the eyes of all his people Because for their sakes and the wrongs and injuries that wicked men have offered them shall their judgement be the heavier and the deeper and that to all eternity Oh what an admirable thing is this will the poor people of the Lord say that Jesus Christ should have such dear respect to us that he should be so angry with poor creatures and execute such heavy wrath upon them for our sakes But there will be incomparably greater cause of glorifying Jesus Christ and of wondering at his mercy in the salvation of his own people For alas the wicked shall have nothing else but their deserts in that day But this shall be the height of wonder that Jesus Christ should load his people with such an Hyperbolical and transcendent weight of glory without the least desert on their part yea when they have deserved the same extremity of vengeance that is inflicted on the wicked Oh what a glory must this be to Jesus Christ how shall this fill the mouths of all the Angels and triumphant Saints in heaven with his praises How shall his people wonder at their own glory and at the glory of their fellow-fellow-Saints and the transcendent love of Christ in it How shall the great ones of the earth that have contemned and trampled under foot the poor despised Servants of the Lord Christ stand amazed at their glory beyond all that they looked for Oh my beloved how wonderfull shall Jesus Christ be in that day to all the world in the incomparable glory which then he will bestow upon his poor contemned and despised people Vse 1 Now is it so that Jesus Christ is glorified in all those that belong to him What think we then of those and to whom do they belong in in whom he is not glorified at all who are perpetually a dishonour to him We may be bold to say of such who are so far from being to the praise of his glory that while they have a being they are a prejudice and shame to Christ that they belong not to the Lord Christ they are none of his people Methinks the thought of this should even break the hearts of the wicked and ungodly men you who lye in wickedness and wallow in uncleanness whose lives are full of nothing else but lewdness and prophaness who are conscious to your selves that Christ hath not a whit of honour by you unless ungodliness and sin will bring it to whom a man may truly say as the Apostle doth to some Rom. 2.24 The name of Christ is blasphemed by your means I beseech you seriously bethink your selves what condition you are in believe it for the present you are none of Christs Take notice of his own expression in my text they are mine and I am glorified in them And therefore if he be not glorified in you depend upon it you are none of his And is it nothing my beloved to be renounced by Jesus Christ as men whom he will not own Is it nothing for the Lord to shake a person off to say unto him in displeasure Sir tell me not of any interest you have in me for you belong not to me I will not acknowledge you I tell you plainly you are none of mine Truly my brethren however it may seem at present the day will come when this will be a sad sentence When men in the great day of separation shall strive to make a title to the Lord Christ when they shall tell him Lord we have been acquainted with thee heretofore
them hasten him and fetch him by their prayers that he may say unto them as the Angel did to Daniel Dan. 10.12 From the first day that thou didst set thy self to understand thy words were heard and I am come for thy words And here to quicken you a little I shall present you with a few Considerations 1. The Lord expects you should be very earnest and importunate with him this business He hearkens after supplications and looks that men should ply him hard Thus saith the Lord the holy one of Israel and his maker Isa 45.11 Ask of me things to come concerning my Sons command you me q. d. There are great things to come that I am doing for my Church what is the reason that ye are so stil and that I hear of no Petitions from you touching these things You are alwayes plying me for present things but I delight to hear you pleading with me for those glorious things to come which I will surely do for my people Come put in your Petitions and requests concerning them and I will stoop so low to be commanded by your prayers Ask of me things to come concerning my Sons and concerning the work of my hands command ye me 2. Consider in the second place to quicken you in prayer that this is such a business as is worth your earnestness assure your selves you cannot lay out too much heat and zeal upon it When once the Lord hath gathered in a people to him over all the world the Church shall have perfection of beauty It is a very high expression but you shall see it is applied to Sion Psal 50.2 And it is meant apparently my bretren of the Gospel Sion of the Gospel Church for in the following parcell of the Psalm the Lord rejecteth Jewish worship Indeed the Churches happiness shall be so great in those dayes that it is called heaven very often in the Scripture And so the Saints who are to be the Members of that Church are said to dwell in heaven Apoc. 13.6 Indeed my brethren it shall be heaven upon earth 3. Consider that the bringing in of people over all the world to Christ will be an extraordinary honour to him the enlargement of his Kingdom is the enlargement of his glory It adds exceedingly you know my brethren to the Luster of a Kingdom when it hath many people under it and when the territories of it are amplified and enlarged It s no such glory my beloved to be the King but of a little City or a little Island or of a small and inconsiderable company of men But to be the King of many Nations and of many Kingdoms to have a multitude of people in subjection this is a glorious thing indeed In this respect the Empire of Christ Jesus in the latter times shall be unparalleld when once the Jews come in and bring the fulness of the Gentiles with them And therefore out of love to Jesus Christ and regard to his glory we should be intent upon it 4. Consider that the bringing in of people over all the world to Jesus Christ will be very beneficial and advantagious to our selves Perhaps we do not apprehend it to be so this Countrey is come in already to the profession of the Gospel we are come in already and what need we care so much for other Nations and for other people We are well enough our selves and why should we look after others Yes my beloved we have reason to look after others for till all others that belong to Christ of all the Nations of the world be gathered in we are not in so good a case as we shall be afterwards We are in Christ perhaps and that is well for us indeed but others of his people by election of many other Countreyes are as yet without and we without them cannot be made perfect as the Apostle shews Heb. 11. ult We without them are members in a sence of an imperfect body We without them have but imperfect grace nay though we were in heaven already we could have but imperfect glory Till all that appertain to Christ be gathered in of all Nations so long as there is but a man without there can be no day of judgement and so no full reward no complement of our beatitude And therefore we have reason to help on this glorious work to the utmost of our power because till it be accomplished it cannot be so well with us as it will be afterwards we without them cannot be made perfect Is it so that Iesus Christ sends forth his Ministers to gather Churches and to erect his Kingdom over all the world Here then is matter of rejoycing and thanksgiving for us the once rejected and neglected people of the Gentiles There was a time my brethren when we were set without the verge the reach of mercy When the poor Gentiles liv'd and we too liv'd without God without Christ without a promise without Gospel when Christ did never send to them to invite them to come in and when he had no Scepter but in Jewry no subjects in a manner but among that people Alas my brethren Christ was a King in those dayes to break the Gentiles by his power but he was not a King to rule them by his grace But now my brethren in these Gospel dayes there is no such respect of persons with him as the Apostle shews Acts 10.34 In every Nation and in every people he hath or shall have some to serve him and to be accepted with him And therefore whereas formerly he sent his messengers to none but to V se 3 the people of the Jewish Nation and gave them an express Injunction Goe not into the way of the Gentiles In which respect it was that Peter was scrupulous to preach the Gospel to Cornelius Now he sends forth his Ministers to all the world to all Nations now he enlargeth their Commission Go preach the Gospel to every Creature So that we Gentiles are included in it All Countreys People Callings Nations are alike to Christ in this respect the publication of the Gospel and the tender of Salvation belongeth to them all alike and if they entertain it and embrace it whether they be Jews or Gentiles whether they be Males or Females whether they be bond or free they shall have salvation by him How great a cause have we my brethren that are Gentiles of rejoycing and thanksgiving that Jesus Christ should send to us that the word is come to us as it is to all the world that we should have the Gospel published and revealed to us That we who formerly were utterly shut out from the enjoyment of the means of our salvation should have as full and free a title to them now as the very Iews themselves Nay that we should have the preferment of the Jew in that by the abundant blessing of the Lord upon the means the Churches of the Gentiles which were wholly desolate and barren heretofore should be more
respects besides it matters not in this of what Nation Condition Station Disposition or Conversation for the present if God have given them to him his will is that they be with him where he is But then we must distinguish as we have done before of the Fathers giving to the Son The Father gives men to the Son either for outward Ministration or inward union and incorporation Either to be his servants or to be his members In the first sence Judas was himself given to the Lord Christ to be his Minister and his Apostle as Christ himself acknowledges ver 12. Those whom thou gavest me I kept and none of of them is lost but the Son of perdition Now they who in this sence are given to the Lord Christ to be his Ministers and Servants only not his members are not the men for whom he prayes in this place that they also may be with him where he is because he knows they are appointed for another place Judas was so bestowed upon him and yet he was a lost Creature The Father gave him to the Son and he lost him as you may see in the forecited Text never to enjoy him more But now there are another sort whom God the Father gives to Christ for inward union whom he bestows upon him for to be members of his body And they must needs be with him who are in him And therefore out of question these are they for whom he prayes Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am But where was Christ when he spake these words Why he was upon the earth he was here in the world what then doth he desire that true believers might be with him here Is that the aim of his petition No it is a higher thing for which he is Suitor here their being with him in a higher and more glorious place Only you must conceive him here to speak as his usual manner is as if he were in heaven already As ver 11. of this Chapter And now I am no more in the world So in my Text Father I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am That is in heaven where I am to be and whither I am now going So that it is as if I were already there it being such a certain near approaching instant thing and in that place I would have all those to be whom thou hast given me by election and whom in thine eternal Counsell and Decree thou hast appointed to be members of my body Father I will c. So that the Point to be observed is this DOCTRINE It is the will of Jesus Christ that all that are his own by the donation of the Father shall be in heaven where he is There are two things in the Doctrine which I might prove clear in order before I come to Application First that there are some certain men whom God the Father hath made over to the Son that belong to Jesus Christ and are his own by donation from the Father Secondly that it is the will of Christ that they who are so his own shall be in heaven where he is There are some certain men who belong to Jesus Christ who are his own by donation from the Father And he gives them to the Son by his Decree from everlasting and by the execution of the same Decree in time This I do but mention here because it hath been largely handled on ver 12. Now for the second branch that it is the will of Christ that they who are so his own shall be in heaven where himself is you see it is the Suit he makes to God the Father in my Text Father I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that is in heaven where I am to be In heaven where I am already in my Godhead and where I am to be very shortly in my Manhood there I will have them to be also And for this end our Saviour Christ is gone to heaven even to make heaven ready for his people that so they may be presently admitted when they come He yields it as one special cause of his departure from his Apostles and Disciples when he was about to leave them saith he I go to prepare a place for you Joh. 4.2 When he entred into heaven and passed in to the immediate presence of his Father he took possession of it in our name and stead and left it open after him to all his members He hath in this respect prepared it for them that he hath made it ready to receive them And when they are ready too he will come and receive them to himself that where he is there may they be also as it is added Joh 14.3 And upon this account it was that the Apostle Paul desired to be dissolved because he was assured that assoon as that was over he should be with Christ Phil. 1.23 and so he teaches us expresly in another place that all that sleep in Christ Jesus shall be for ever with the Lord 1 Thes 4.17 By which it is apparent that it is the will of Christ that all that are his own by the donation of the Father shall be in Heaven where himself is But you will ask me Why will he have them to be there To this I answer that a man would think it necessary by reason of the union between Christ and them that seeing they are one they should be in one place But you must know my brethren that the corporeal and local presence of the parties contributes nothing to the union that is made between Christ and his members which is a spiritual and invisible thing and which no neerness in regard of place can further no distance in regard of place can hinder So that Christs people may be in him though they be not with him in the sence wherein I speak I mean not with him in the same place Their being with him locally in heaven is no way necessary to their union with him Or were it so the Saints on earth were in a very ill case Well then this cannot be the reason why Christ would have his people to be in one place with him that they may be one with him They may be this without the other But there are divers other weighty reasons of the Point I shall name a few of them Reason 1 Christ would have his people be in heaven where himself is because he hath a dear affection to them his heart is carried out exceedingly in love to them And more particularly and distinctly he loves them with a love of benevolence and he loves them with a love of complacency 1. Christ would have his people be in heaven where himself is because he loves them with a love of benevolence With such a love as makes him with them all the good that they are possibly capable of Now my beloved what greater good can be
rest to all his people to stoop to this authority of his and to yield obedience to it If it were managed to their hurt and disadvantage they had reason to avoid it and to decline submission to it to the utmost of their power Who would be under such authority as aims at nothing else but the undoing of the Subject But since the end of the authority of Jesus Christ is the good of his people they have great reason to submit to it Ah my beloved how should this sweeten the authority of Christ and make it amiable and desirable and pleasing to his Subjects How should the Children of Zion be joyful in their King as the Prophet David speaks Psal 109.2 how should the members of the Church triumph and be exceeding glad that they are so well provided that they have Jesus Christ to be their Soveraign that they have such a Governour as he who manages his whole authority for their profit and advantage This is a joyful thing indeed The Lord reigneth saith the Psalmist Psal 97.1 and what doth he inferr upon it Let the Earth rejoyce let the multitudes of the Isles be glad of it And truly we that are the people of the Lord of this Isle as well as other Isles and quarters of the world have reason to be glad of this that Christ rules and that we are his Subjects We are afraid continually of new storms and new troubles but here is our comfort in the midst of all this that the rains of government are in the hands of Jesus Christ who is a King for our sake who is invested by his Father with authority yea with supreme authority such as none can overtop for our good and for our safety We may apply the Prophets speech Isa 33.20 Look upon Zion the City of our solemnities thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation a tabernacle that shall not be taken down not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken But the glorious Lord will be to us a place of broad rivers And why so For the Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King and he will save us So that however we be rent and torn with sad divisions however we be shaken with continual fears yet when we look to Jesus and consider Is not he out Law-giver and is not he our Judge is not the supreme authority in his hand we may conclude that he will save us that he will do us good and that because he hath received his power and his authority for this End John 17.2 That he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him Use 2 IS it so that the authority of Jesus Christ with which c. chiefly for the good c. Then let the Ministers of Jesus Christ be hence directed and advised how to use the power which they have received from Christ As God hath sent the Son so Jesus Christ hath sent his Ministers and his Embassadors It is his own expression to his own Apostles John 20.21 As my Father hath sent me so I send you And as God hath given power to Jesus Christ whom he hath sent so Jesus Christ hath given power to his Embassadors whom he hath sent And therefore it is added presently in the fore-alledged Scripture whosesoever sins ye remit they be remitted and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained You must conceive it either in the preaching of the word or else in the administration of the censures of the Church And this is that which the Apostle cals the power which Christ hath given him 2 Cor. 13.10 Now all that have this power from Jesus Christ are here directed how to manage it and what use to make of it It is apparent they must use it to the very same end to which Christ doth use his For even as Christ hath his Commission from the Father so they have their commission from Christ And even as Christ hath his authority from the Father so they have their authority from Christ And therefore even as the authority of Christ is managed chiefly for the good and the salvation of his people so must they manage theirs too for the very same end they must not aim at the destruction or the hardning of the people they must not preach the Gospel to them for such purposes as these though this by accident be the effect sometimes No they must make this their business how they may save themselves and them that hear them how they may bring about the conversion and salvation of the people how they may draw in souls to Iesus Christ and make proselytes for heaven this ought to be the great thing which they aim at It is true they must be sons of thunder now and then as well as sons of consolation They must preach the Law sometimes as well as the sweet comforts of the Gospel They must threaten men sometimes with wrath and hell and eternal condemnation But then they must do it so as wishing that these things might might not come upon them but rather that they might avoid them They must threaten them with wrath that they may fly from the wrath to come and they must threaten them with hell that they may escape the damnation of hell They must preach the Law to them with Gospel-purposes and Evangelical intentions They must send out the avenger of blood to dog them at the heels that they may fly to the city of refuge They must use sharpness now and then it cannot be avoided But it must be for the same end which the Apostle speaks of in the fore-alledged place 2 Cor. 13.10 where he mindeth the Corinthians that in case he must use sharpness according to the power the Lord hath given him he hath authority from Christ to do it but mark in the succeeding words to what end to edification and not to destruction According to the power the Lord hath given me to edification and not to destruction And therefore it is very notable that when our Saviour Christ had said to his Disciples All power is given to me both in heaven and in earth and having put a part of this authoâ—ity and power of his on his Apostles he doth not bid them to go out and preach damnation to the people but go and preach the Gospel to them and baptize them that they way be saved And the Apostle speaking of the execution of this power in the administration of the censures of the Church saith he would give a foul offender up to Satan for no other end then this even for his good and his salvation 1 Cor. 5.3 4. I have already judged saith he concerning him that hath so done this deed with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver him to Satan for the destruction of the flesh the carnal part that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord. So that
sometimes called a lye in Scripture as Ier. 10.11 his molten image is falshood or a lye because it hath not that divinity which it pretendeth to which it is supposed to have by those that worship and adore it And because it doth not yield that succour which it seems to promise You know what God affirmeth of the Idols of the Jews that they are no gods Ier. 5.7 My people have forsaken me and sworn by them that are no gods An oath is taken there by a Synecdoche for all the parts of holy worship as it is often in the holy Scripture so that the sense and meaning is q. d. My people have forsaken me the true God and worshipped them that are no gods So that the point is plain you see our God is the true God and the only true God Now the Scripture proves it further yet by Reason and Uses and Arguments in this present case it will not be unprofitable if I hint them briefly to you It appears that our God is the only true God because he and he only Reason 1 hath his being of himself He was before all things when there was nothing in the world besides him and consequently could not have his being of another Before the mountains were brought forth before the earth or world was made from everlasting to everlasting he is God Psal 90.2 he is the Lord the first and the last Isa 41.1 whereas the heathen gods are new and have their being of another and so indeed are no gods You know how David reasons They are not gods saith he and why so they are the works of mens hands Psalm 115.4 And Hosea to the same purpose Hos 8.6 The workman made it therefore it is not God Indeed it is so far from being God that it is scarce a creature it is nothing in the world Or if it be a creature it is of their own making The workman made it therefore it is not God It appears that our God is the only true God because he only is the Reason 2 living God It is the Prophets argument Ier. 10.10 The Lord is the true God But how doth this appear Why he is the living God as it is added in the next words Other gods are dead gods they have tongues and cannot speak they have feet but cannot walk And hence is the Apostles Exhortation to turn from such dead vanities as these unto the living God Reason 3 It appears that our God is the only true God as by his being and his life so by his operations and effects As it appears by what he is so it appears by what he doth Among the gods there is none like thee saith David Psalm 86.8 how doth he prove this neither are there any works like thy works And therefore the true God upbraids the heathen gods in this respect Isa 41.24 Behold you are of nothing and your work of nothing that is you are not able to do any thing you can do neither good nor evil as it is said in that place Not to speak of the creation of the heaven and the earth which is attributed to God in opposition to all other gods What can the gods of heathen or of professed Christians who make their honour or their wealth their gods what can they do to save a man in the time of his distress Riches deliver not in the day of death So that as the Prophet saith to the Idolaters of his time Isa 45.20 Ye pray unto a God that cannot save So we may say to these Idolaters of our times ye trust in gods that cannot save no this is proper to the true God There is no God besides me saith the Lord a just God and a Saviour and therefore addeth presently Look unto me and be you saved for I am God and there is none else Reason 4 It appears that our God is the only true God by the duration of his being as he is the first so he is the last Isa 41.4 he holds out when all fail For other gods they perish Ier. 10.11 Idols perish riches perish honours friends all perish but God endures to all eternity As he is from everlasting so he is to everlasting Psal 90.2 All other things are subject to decay and dissolution but he abides for evermore They do all perish saith the Psalmist Psalm 102.26 but thou shalt endure for ever They all wax old c. but thou art the same c. Use 1 Now is it so that our God is the true God Then let this serve in the first place to quicken us and stir us up to strengthen and confirm our faith in this particular and to endeavour to believe more fully and distinctly that our God is God indeed and verily the best among us have need of confirmation here for we are very apt to waver and to have doubtful thoughts about it And they that are most free from these have yet defects and imperfections in their faith of this as well as other parts of truth They have not yet attained to such a pitch but they must be adding to it and endeavour to get on to further measures and degrees And therefore let it be our labour and endeavour to encrease our faith in this particular and to grow up by full assurance of this fundamental truth that our God is the true God And to this I shall perswade and stir you up with some motives The more undoubtedly and firmly we believe that our God is the true God the more we will look to him the more we will walk with him and consequently we will converse the less among the creatures For hence it is because we have some doubts and haesitations in our faith of this particular that we have so great an eye upon the creature in our wayes that we approve our selves to men and seek the approbation and applause of men that we are afraid of men afraid of Creatures but are not afraid of God Whence is it my beloved but because we are not absolutely satisfied at all times that our God is indeed the true God but have thoughts arising in us or cast into us tending at least towards some scruple in this business and have not alwayes arguments at hand to put the matter out of all question and to suppress such thoughts as these as soon as they begin to stir in us Who art thou that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall dye and of the son of man that shall be made as grass And forgettest the Lord thy maker that hath stretched out the Heavens and laid the foundations of the earth Esa 51.12 13. By which the Prophet intimates that we should never be transported so with sinful fears of men and creatures as we are but that the great Creator is set by either he is not in our thoughts or which is worse he is not in our faith And when we come to this my Brethren to have some scruples in our selves whether there
other and now they are delivered and believe lyes It is a lie and a delusion but it is a strong delusion so that you cannot stir them from it Do what you can and bring what arguments you will it is in vain the deceit is strong upon them And some are also given up to vile affections and to those burning lusts which the Apostle speaks of in the cited places This is the formidable judgement of the Lord on those who know God and do not walk according to their knowledge And therefore as we own the true God let us serve and let us worship him as such a one let us live and act for him let us be taken up with him let us make this our work to please him let us in every thing so carry and demean our selves as they should do who have the Lord for their God JOHN 17.3 Thee the only true God IS it so that God the Father Son c. is the only true God Then Use 3 let us have no other God but him only Let us be able confidently to challenge any man in the words of holy David Whom have we in heaven but him and whom have we in earth but him Is there any in the world whom we set up to our selves as a God but him only Let us be alwaies mindfull of the first and great Commandment of the Law of God which is indeed the very basis and foundation of the rest Thou shalt have no other God before me Thou shalt have a God and thou shalt have me for thy God and thou shalt have none but me for thy God And that which is annexed is very much to be observed If thou hast any God besides me it will be before me If we could go behind his back and take another god there were the less iniquity and there were the more safety it were not such a hainous thing it were not such a dangerous thing But to go and take another god before his face as if a wife should go and take another Lover and commit uncleanness with him even before her husbands face what an horrid impudence what an unsufferable provocation What saith the Lord as once Ahasuerus in the case of Haman will he commit adultery before my face for so idolatry is spiritual adultery will he do it in my presence and while I am looking on Ah desperate wretch nay then I see there is no hope of him take him away and carry him to execution And therefore let us be extreamly cautious that we have no other God but him alone who is the only true God But you will ask me now perhaps what I intend when I exhort you to have no other God but him only Truly my Brethren it involveth many things but I shall draw them to a few heads When I perswade you to have the Lord and none but him for your God my meaning is that you should serve him and none but him that you should fear him and none but him that you should trust in him and none but him Then since he is the only true God serve him and none but him Serve the Lord so as to serve no other with him So is his own express injunction Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Matth. 4.10 And here to be a little more distinct serve the Lord and not Idols serve the Lord and not Times serve the Lord and not Lusts First serve the Lord and not Idols they are all false gods he is the only true God and therefore see you serve him and not them It is a sin the Scripture very much disswades from and makes the worst of all corruptions and most abominable to the Lord. And therefore this is often called the sin in Scripture by way of eminence above the rest because it is a sin of the most infamous and odious rank And Jeroboams drawing Israel to the worship of the calves is frequently set forth by this expression he made Israel to sin He made them to commit the sinning sin the sin which is abundantly and out of measure sinfull And God himself disswading from it speaketh of it as that on which his very heart did rise which he abhorred to name on which he could not think without extremity of detestation O do not that abominable thing which I hate Jer. 44.4 And otherwise indeed it cannot be For it is the choosing of another god that is the Holy Ghosts expression of it saith he they chose new gods Judges 5.8 by which they made it to appear that they were weary of the old as if they had discovered some iniquity in God as he expostulateth with the Jews upon the like occasion Jer. 2.5 as if the Lord were found upon experience to be such a god or were not worth the keeping any longer This is a thing from which the very heathen are abhorrent and averse the Nations will not change their gods Jer. 2.11 though they be but false gods and consequently no gods as it is added there in that place Oh what an odious thing is this that the Church should change hers who hath the true and everlasting Lord of heaven and earth for her God They will not change their false gods for the true and shall we change the true God for a false Oh what an horrible indignity is this what an unsufferable provocation And therefore God is exceedingly incensed at this iniquity it is a sin that kindles anger great anger yea the heat of great anger Deut. 24.44 What means the heat of this great anger And in the following verses it is shewed to be because they went and served other gods Indeed Idolatry stirs up the jealousie of God and therefore this is added as the reason of the prohibition of it because he is a jealous God And even as jealousie in man is as the wise man notes the rage of man so jealousie in God my Brethren is the rage of God To see his Wife the Church forsake him and run a whoring after Idols is such a thing as blows and kindles up the flames of his hottest indignation In what a fearfull rage was God on this occasion behold and tremble at it Exod. 32.9 when Moses hung about him and besought him for the people he flung him off Let me alone saith God that so my anger may wax hot against them and that I may consume them in a moment And if you search the Scripture you shall find that God hath executed and inflicted the heaviest of his plagues and judgements on those that have been guilty of this sin Look on the monuments of his severest and most direfull vengeance and you shall find that as the wrath of God hath been revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness of men so especially against this hideous sin And as a man transported with a jealous spirit is apt to take unmercifull revenge in which respect the wise man saith He will not spare in the
Christ descended that he was sent down from heaven And that of Christ in the forecited place is very notable to this purpose John 3.13 No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven even the son of man which is in heaven He was then come down from heaven he was then upon the earth when he spake these words and yet he addeth he was then in heaven too even the son of man who is in heaven He speaks not of his manhood or his humane nature that was not come down from heaven for it had never been there at that time And therefore he intends it manifestly of his Godhead in which he was come down from heaven and yet he was in heaven too at the very same time But how was he come down if he were there that is the great scruple Not really but in regard of declaration Answ He seemed to descend from heaven when he took our nature on him assumed a despicable and a low condition and walked up and down upon the earth like other men It looked as if he had forsaken heaven and was come down to dwell with men as John 1.14 The word saith he was made flesh and dwelt amongst us For there the Godhead is in Scripture said to be where it appears where it is manifested and declared to be And therefore seeing Christ appeared in the flesh and was God manifested in the flesh who was till then in heaven and did not shew himself on earth in such a manner and in such a way he is said to have descended to be sent down from heaven to earth And so as Bernard speaks acutely Non venit qui aberat sed apparuit qui latebat He came not who was absent but appeared who was hid And this prevents the answer to the second Querie whither it was that Christ was sent what was the terminus ad quem of this Mission His Father sent him down in the sense before expressed into this lower world And hence he calls himself him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world John 10.36 And the Apostle Paul accordingly affirms that he descended into the lower parts of the earth Ephes 4.9 That is as Beza and some others understand it he took up his abode and residence upon the earth which is the lowest of the elements the lowest part of this world The great enquiry is What errand and what business Jesus Christ is sent into the world about with reference to which he is stiled in my Text Jesus Christ whom God hath sent And this to say it in a word my Brethren he was sent to be a Mediator and a Reconciler between God and man to make up all the breaches and all the differences between his Father and his people So that you see he was dispatched upon a sweet errand And here he had a double business and a double work to do To make Peace and to preach Peace First he was sent to make Peace to do and suffer all that was necessary to compose the business between God and man To satisfie his Father and to pacifie his Father and so to make him friends with his people And therefore God is said by him to reconcile even all things to himself all things reconcilable Col. 1.20 And he is said in the very same verse to have made peace by the blood of his Cross This is the errand that he came upon In this respect he is stiled our peace the Author and procurer of it And he is called the Messenger the Angel of the Covenant Mal. 3.1 to shew us that the Message that his Father sent him in was to bring men into a Covenant and agreement with himself And this he did while he took all the matter of the Controversie between him and them out of the way paid all the debts of his people cancelled all the bonds and bills that were against them and nailed them to his Cross in the view of men and Angels Col. 2.14 That all the world might know that all the matters in debate between God and them were ended and that he had no more against them And when he had done this he cryed out Consummatum est The business which my Father sent me in and which I came into the world about is finished Secondly he was sent to preach Peace As to procure and purchase it so to reveal and publish it to his people And truly if he had not done the latter the former would have been to no purpose And hence the Father hath dispatched him down into the world to do both as to make Peace as a Priest so to preach Peace as a Prophet To let his people know there is a Peace obtained or else how should it profit them if they should never hear of it God hath annointed me to preach saith Christ himself Luke 4.17 To preach what To preach the Gospel which is the doctrine of attonement to heal the broken-hearted to preach deliverance to the captives as it is added there in that place Indeed he was appointed and designed to be the great Prophet the great Preacher and Revealer of the will of God to men And therefore the Apostle tells us That God who in former times spake to the Fathers by the Prophets hath in the last daies spoken to us by the Son He was designed you see to be the Fathers spokes-man to the world to tell them what his mind is to preach the Gospel the word of reconciliation to them This was a great part of the errand which his Father sent him in and therefore he is said to speak by him And Christ himself acknowledges in this respect My doctrine is not mine saith he but his that sent me John 6.0 And when he had dispatched this part of his Embassie too he told his Father I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do And what was that work you have it in verse 6. I have revealed thy name saith he unto the men which thou hast given me out of the world I have made known thy mercy to the Church how ready and inclinable thou art to pardon them and to be at peace with them And now I have done this the business thou hast sent me in is ended I have no more to do in this world And thus you see what business and what errand Christ is sent about Now for the last thing how he is qualified for the dispatch of this business and the delivery of this errand you must know that he is fully qualified every way And you will easily conceive that God would never send his Son into the world upon a business which he could not manage and which he was not able to go through withall And therefore as he hath sent forth his Son so he hath qualified him absolutely for the business he hath sent him in both with authority and with ability He hath qualified him with authority as his Embassadors and Messengers
will never take from you See the event of such a carriage in the close of the forecited parable Mat. 21.41 He will miserably destroy those wicked men Indeed the wickedness of those to whom Christ is never sent is light and little in comparison of theirs He is not sent to Heathen Nations they hear not of him any way God hath not favoured them so far as to dispatch his Son to them to be a Mediator between him and them And therefore their iniquity is comparatively small and their Judgement will be easie But Jesus Christ is sent to you he is the Fathers Messenger to you and if you do not entertain him your sin is great and your damnation will be heavy He will destroy others but he will miserably destroy you So that it will be easier for Tyre and Sydon for Infidels and Heathens in the day of Judgement then for you Consider if you receive this Messenger of God and entertain him as you ought to do he can do very much with God for you You are all out with God by nature he is an enemy to you and you are enemies to him your souls abhor him and his soul abhors you Zach. 11.8 Now Jesus Christ is sent to make peace to make up all the breaches and the differences between God and his people He can make you Gods friends yea he can make you Gods children This was the priviledge of those that entertained him Iohn 1.12 To as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God And this shall be your priviledge if you embrace him And is it such a small thing in your eyes to be the children of the highest to be the sons and daughters of the God of heaven and earth Is it nothing to have free access to God by prayer and by supplication to cry Abba Father to him That whereas others live without God in the world and have no refuge in their troubles we have a Father to betake our selves unto Or is it nothing to have sure protection and defence in such a time as this is For can we think a Father such a Father so powerfull and so mercifull will see his children sink and perish while he is able to relieve them Or is it nothing to have such a great inheritance prepared for us as God provideth for his children that rich inheritance with Saints in light All this we shall be sure to have if we receive this Messenger of God But you will ask me what I mean when I perswade you to receive him I will shew you in a word there go three things to it You must so receive this Messenger of God to hearken to him An Embassador you know is not received unless the Prince or State to whom his Master sends him give him audience A Messenger is not received unless you hear the message that he brings you So Jesus Christ whom God hath sent is not received unless you hear this Prophet unless you hear him in his Ministers unless you hear him in his Gospel-revelations of his mind and will to you You must so receive him to believe in him This is indeed receiving of Christ And therefore it is so explained Iohn 1.12 To as many as received him to them gave c. As received him what is that even to them that believe in his name So that receiving is expounded by believing as if the Holy Ghost had said I mean not by receiving Christ any friendly curteous entertainment that they give him I do not mean receiving him into their houses but I intend receiving him into their hearts by faith And therefore by receiving you must understand believing So do you receive Christ The only acceptable entertainment you can give him is by faith by believing in his name The Messenger of God is ill received unless he have the credit with us to be faithfully believed You must so receive him as to obey him To hearken and to yield to him in that which he delivereth to you in the name of him that sent him You must not think to entertain this Messenger of God as an underling to you so as to rule him no you must be ruled by him When he delivers his Embassage to you from his Father and tells you what his pleasure is as soon as you hear you must obey him There must be no room for disputation or expostulation but obedience You must answer with the Jews and with a better heart then they All that the Lord commandeth we will do And if you thus receive this Messenger of God it will be a blessed time that he ever came to you And thus we have at length dispatched two of the Arguments with which our Saviour presses and enforceth the great petition that he makes to God the Father to be glorified by him Whereof the former hath been taken from the end why he desireth to have glory from the Father viz. that he might be enabled to bring glory to the Father Father glorifie thy Son that thy Son may also glorifie thee The second hath been drawn à Congruo from Congruity it was but meet and congruous that he should have glory from the Father seeing he had power from him As thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to c. And this is life c. The third remaineth to be entred on at this time and this is drawn from the deserving cause Christ had glorified the Father and therefore thinks himself worthy to have glory from the Father I have glorified thee on the earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do And now O Father glorifie me with thine own self And here our Saviour doth these two things he minds the Father what himself hath done and then reminds him what he desireth him to do First He minds the Father what himself hath done and that in two particulars I have glorified thee on earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do And then reminds him hereupon of that which he desireth him to do And now O Father glorifie me with thine own self As he had said before in the entrance of his prayer Father glorifie thy Son so that he reasons here from the desert to the reward as he might do though we cannot for all the works of Christ were meritorious This he had done for God and therefore this he looks that God should do for him again Begin we now with the first thing which our Saviour Christ had done of which he minds the Father as an inducement to glorifie him with himself I have glorified thee on the Earth To glorifie is either really to make or else to manifest and to declare a person to be glorious Christ could not make his Father glorious because there was no time in which he was not infinitely and compleatly so From everlasting he was absolutely glorious in himself so that in this respect there
could not be the least addition to him any way The meaning is that he had manifested and declared him to be glorious that he had shewed him in his glory to the world And this is that which he expresses clearly in the following verse saith he I have made known thy name to the men which thou hast given me And this he tels him he had done on earth It was done in heaven before the glory of the Lord was fully and immediately manifested there And now saith Christ it is done in earth too I have glorified thee on earth And hereupon he looks his Father should glorifie him with himself in heaven as it is added in the following words So that the point to be observed is this DOCTRINE Who ever will be glorified with God in heaven must glorifie him first on Earth Our Saviour Christ himself you see can have it on no other terms And therefore he desires it only upon this account saith he to God the Father I have glorified thee on Earth and now O Father glorifie me with thy self in heaven According to his first desire in his beginning of his prayer Father glorifie thy Son q. d. I should not look for any glory from thee unless I had brought glory to thee I should be far from any expectation that thou shouldst glorifie me with thy self in heaven unless I were assured in my self that I had glorified thee here upon the earth But seeing I have done the former I pray thee Father do the latter since I have glorified thee let me be glorified by thee And as it was with Christ the Head so it must be in some degree with all the Members No glory to be had in heaven till they have glorified God on earth It s true they merit not the glory they receive from God by that which they bring to God as Christ did but yet the one is not to be attained without the other They that bring God no glory in the present world shall have no glory from him in the world to come The Lord indeed will render glory to every man that worketh good and so glorifieth him as the Apostle shews Rom. 2.10 But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness and so dishonour God in their lives and conversations he will render nothing else but shame and ignominy and confusion They shall be raised to everlasting contempt Dan. 12.2 and be made spectacles of shame to men and Angels Reas 1 And the ground is evident because so is the everlasting Counsel and Decree of God which is not to be altered or reversed Those whom he chuses for himself whom he predestinateth to be glorified with him in the world to come those he predestinateth also to bring glory to him in this present world As he predestinateth such to the inheritance above who is abundantly and out of measure glorious so he predestinates them also that they should be to the praise of his glory as the Apostle shews you Eph. 1.11 12. That he may manifest the riches of his glory in the vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory so that you see as he prepares them unto glory as he appoints them to be glorified themselves so he prepares them and appoints them to bring glory to himself Rom. 9.23 To shew forth the praises of him that hath called them to his Kingdom and glory 1 Pet. 2.9 Thy people shall be all righteous saith the Lord of his Church Isa 60.21 The branch of my planting the work of my hands that I may be glorified Not only that they may be glorified but that I may be glorified too And if this be the purpose and decree of God will he not see it executed and fulfilled in all respects as well with reference to his glory as with reference to theirs shall his Counsel be accomplished in the one and not in the other do you imagine that the Lord will be put off in such a fashion that he will be disappointed of his end and of his purpose in such a business as this is No no assuredly if he predestinate men that they may be to the praise of his glory as well as that they may be glorified by him to his praise and to his glory they shall be And if they be not so at all it is apparent they are not predestinated by him and consequently they shall have no glory from him Now is it so my Brethren that whoever will be glorified with God Vse 1 in heaven must glorifie him first on earth This then may serve to shew the vanity of their conceit and apprehension who look for glory in the world to come and yet they bring the Lord no glory here It is the miserable folly and delusion of the greater part of men there is not one of us almost but thinks that God will glorifie him with himself hereafter He is an extraordinary man that doth not feed himself with this fancy And yet those very persons many of them who are strong in this opinion take no care to honour God in any of their ways nor to bring him any glory why my beloved how can you think now to be glorified with him Jesus Christ his own Son the darling of his own bosom could not have glory with him upon these terms He did not once so much as look for it Had he not glorified his Father here in this world he would not have expected that he should have glorified him with himself in heaven ye see he seeks it and desires it only upon this account And what now do you think to speed better with the Father then Jesus Christ his own Son do you imagine that you shall have glory from him though you bring no glory to him when Christ himself did not could not obtain it upon such terms as these are do you look in this regard to be preferred before Christ to have the better of God himself Ah my beloved do not gull your souls with this delusion I beseech you think upon it you who by your lewd and vitious conversations dishonour God continually you who lie in wickedness and wallow in uncleanness whose lives are full of nothing but prophaneness who are conscious to your selves that God hath not a whit of glory brought him by you unless ungodliness and sin will do it To whom a man may truly say as the Apostle doth to some Rom. 2.24 The name of God is blasphemed by your means do you expect that God should glorifie you with himself in heaven when you have done nothing else but dishonoured him on earth believe it he will be so far from this that seeing he hath not been glorified by you he will be glorified upon you He made you for his glory and glory he will have either one way or another he will not lose a farthing by you And if he be not glorified by your holy conversation he will be glorified in
the world the world would love its own but because ye are not of the world therefore the world hates you And hence it comes to pass that it persues them persecutes them casts them out creates them all the trouble and vexation that it can so that they are not like to have a quiet hour almost in this world Besides the evils and afflictions to which they are exposed by the necessity of nature as man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards Job 5.7 distempers and diseases in their bodies loss of their estates and friends and earthly comforts and the like ungodly men come in with their additions The Church of Christ while she is here is ill-seated she grows in an ill place as he himself affirmeth of her 2 Cant. 2. as the Lilly among thorns so is my Love among the daughters She is environed and begirt with them so that she is annoyed and hurt and pierct on every side She cannot stir but one or other of her thorny neighbours hath her by the sleeve She dwels in Mesech while she dwells in this world and hath her habitation in the Tents of Kedar in the midst of wicked men so that she is beleaguered as it were and hem'd about with those that hate her and desire her ruine This is the state and the condition of the Saints while they are here they are continually vexed and troubled So that no marvel though our Saviour tells his own Apostles In the world you shall have tribulation Iohn 16.33 That is your portion as long as you remain here The world hath alwayes been an evil and uncomfortable place to Christs Disciples in this respect that it is a place of sinning Indeed my brethren they are troubled with the sins of other men their righteous souls are vexed with their filthy conversations Rivers of waters run down their eyes because men keep not Gods Law But they are chiefly troubled with their own sins from which they are not to be wholly freed while they remain in this world As long as they continue here they are perpetually in Sathans danger who is the Prince of this world and whose authority and power is confined to this life There will never be an absolute and perfect cure of sin in any of the Saints till this corruption have put on incorruption And hence perhaps the corruptions of our natures are stiled worldly lusts Tit. 2.12 And our members that are upon the earth Col. 3.5 because we cannot possibly be rid of them while we are here upon the earth and while we live in this world The Apostle Paul compares himself and others of the Saints to earthen Vessels 2 Cor. 4.7 And earthen vessels when they were legally defiled could not be made clean again till they were broken all in pieces as you may see Lev. 11.33 So we my brethen are not to be fully cleansed till we be shivered all in pieces We are not to be wholly rescued from the bondage to corruption till death translate is to another world And then he that is dead saith the Apostle is free from sin Rom. 6.7 So that no marvel though the world be a place of such disquiet and discomfort to the Saints For how can they be fully comfortable here while they are alwayes sinning against God He that hath entred into rest indeed hath ceased from his own works as the Apostle speaks Heb. 4.10 Till then he cannot wholly cease from those that are most properly his own works but is in danger of offending God and falling into sin continually and so can have no rest here Nay my beloved no man knows how far the Lord may suffer him to fall in this world Though it be a certain truth that they that are elect can never wholly fall away from God yet they may sin exceedingly to the dishonour of the Lord the scandal of their brethren and the irreparable wounding of their name while they have a day to live And this they are in danger of I mean of falling fearfully so long as they remain here What deadly falls have many of Gods worthies taken in their latter times It is observable that Davids first wayes are commended 2 Chron. 17.3 By which the Holy Ghost insinuates that his last wayes were not answerable to them He speaking of Jehosaphat walked in the first wayes of his Father David Indeed the latter wayes of David were blemished with extremity of sin and scandal The like is also noted of Solomon 1 King 11.9 And Asa 2 Chron. 16.10 And Jehosaphat 2 Chron. 20.35 And how then can the world but but be a doleful and uncomfortable place to Christs Disciples where they are in such hazard How can they but complain as Rebecca sometimes did though in another case If I must still be troubled with my lusts and my corruptions if I must still be over-ruled by them thus what good will continuance in the world do me The world hath alwayes been and is an evil c. in this respect that it is a place of banishment from Jesus Christ from him in whom their very souls delight This makes it sad and grievous to them that they have not Christ with them And this is that at which our Saviour aimeth in my text I am no more in this world but these are in the world There is the dolefulness of their condition that they are to continue here without me Indeed we are debarred of the immediate presence of the Lord while we remain in this world And therefore it is said expresly 2 Cor. 5.6 That whilest we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. And is not this a grievous thing to be kept from the enjoyment of such a one as Christ is Especially to him that knows him and is well acquainted with him and hath tasted of his sweetness can you blame him if he be weary of the world and if it be a trouble to him to continue here if be be willing to be absent from the body that so he may be present with the Lord What holy heart can choose but find a weariness in that place let it be otherwise as pleasant as it will which keeps Christ and him asunder and hinders him from the compleat fruition of his blessed Saviour Who would not gladly leave a place in which as long as he continues Christ and he must be asunder Vse 1 Now is it so my brethren that the world hath alwayes been and is an evil c. Then let it be a Caveat to us not to cast as we are very apt to do on too much joy and comfort here Our manner is when things look a little well and when we have some present quiet and content to promise great and extraodinary matters to our selves To sing a requiem to our souls with the rich man in the Gospel take thine ease eat drink and be merry It s true the men of this world may have some content and quietness and
themselves with others more loose and vitious then themselves they rejoyce in another and not in themselves they think themselves are very good because others are more evil And even as Jerusalem justified Sodom Ezek. 16.5 so drunkards and adulterers justifie them and are occasion of their joy Others there are who finding that they have obtained a good opinion and repute with others and that they are approved by men of judgement and of conscience too are comforted in this exceedingly and here is the foundation of their Joy Oh such a godly man or such a Minister approves of them and is familiar to them and hence it comes to pass that when they once begin to lose the good opinion and conceit of men they are like persons stracken in the head their joy is blasted and their comfort gone because the ground and matter of it was without and not within O then let us endeavour my Beloved to have our comfort in our selves and if it have a spring and fountain in the heart it will not fail there will be a sufficient supply of joy and comfort there though men neglect us and cast away their good opinion of us Whereas if it proceed from that which is without us it will be like a standing Pool that is not nourished with the Spring but with a sodain fall of rain assoon as heat of Summer comes away it dryeth and is seen no more And now my Brethren having proved your joy and found it to be right the joy of Christ which he would have to be fulfilled in you preserve it as your lives and see that neither sin nor Satan steal away this jewel from you and to this end you must especially beware of sinning against Conscience which is the subject and the seat of joy As long as you do well to Conscience Conscience will say well to you but if you wound your Conscience with the guilt of sin Conscience will wound you with the horror and the sting of sin and if by sinning against light you waste your Conscience in regard of grace Conscience will waste you in regard of peace and comfort yea it may set you on the rack of such affrightments as no tongue is sufficient to express What was the cause that David cryed so often in his bones and in his heart that they were broken that it was melted in the midst of his bowels but because he sinned so grosly against the light of his own understanding and the convictions of his own conscience But if in sincerity you have your conversation in the world this will be your rejoycing And if you walk according to the rule peace shall be upon you as upon the Israel of God This joy of Christ shall be fulfilled in you and your joy shall none take from you And thus we have dispatched the first and second Observation Christ is the Author and Original of the joy of his people Jesus Christ would have his people to be full of holy joy DOCTRINE 3. Their clear and perfect knowledge of his intercession for them is one especial means to fill them full of this joy It is the means our Saviour uses in my text and certainly it is available to this end That he might cheer the hearts of his Disciples and replenish them with comfort he lets them hear him pleading for them to his Father He doth it in their presence and while they are listning to him as being very well assured that this will make their joy abound and overflow the banks And this is the account he gives his Father of the business having been very earnest with him to keep them through his own name as he himself had done as long as he had been among them and urged many things in their behalf These things saith he I speak in the world before I come away to thee I speak them here among these men for whom I am a Suitor to thee in the ears of my Apostles and Disciples who are by and listen to me that being witnesses themselves to my importunate and earnest intercession for them they may by this means have my joy fulfilled in themselves True you will say this was an extraordinary comfort to them for the present but what was this to them after Christ was gone from them Or what it this to us in these times Yes my beloved it was much to them even after Christs departure for the fulfilling of their joy For when he was ascended into heaven they could on all occasions reflect upon the prayer that they heard him make in their behalf while he was conversant upon the earth when they were in any fear or any danger when they were even ready to be overcome with grief and sorrow they could consider with themselves We perfectly remember that while our Master was among us we heard him earnestly beseech his Father for us that he would keep us and that he would Comfort us and that he would Sanctifie us and that he would save us as all those things and many more you shall observe along the Current of his prayer here and we shall surely find the fruit of it in such a time as this is Yea we have reason to believe that what he did for us in a way of intercession while he was here upon the earth he doth the same in heaven to this day and will do till we follow him to that place And why then should we not be cheerfull in the midst of these troubles And this our Saviour cleerly aims at in the words These things speak I in the world while I am yet among them that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves That hearing what I do now while I am here they might a little guess what I am like to do hereafter when I am once sate down at the right hand of my Father to be an everlasting Intercessor or for them and therefore might be full of comfort yea though I am departing from them while they consider with themselves If he do so much now surely when he comes to heaven he will do much more And as for us who live in these times it is a means to fill us full of comfort too Christs speaking these things in the world and so giving us a taste of his future intercession For hence it comes to pass that this prayer of our Saviour being uttered in the ears of his Apostles it is pend accordingly and left upon record in Scripture And so we have a specimen a form a modell of our Saviours intercession for his people which he hath left behind him for us to look upon on all occasions and to gather comfort from What he doth in heaven for us we are not able fully and exactly to discover But this he did on earth before he went he did it openly and there is a memorial of it for ever in the Church And by this we may conjecture what he doth in heaven for his people at this day and
will do to the worlds end For certainly he is not less regardfull of them now in Heaven which is the most proper place of acting the second part of his Mediatorship which consists in intercession then he was upon the earth So that whatever our Condition be how sad or sorrowfull soever if we would know our Saviours intercession what it is for us in heaven we may survey this counterpane thereof on earth which is recorded for this very end That we may have an exemplar and a pattern of it continually lying by us in the Scripture to have recourse unto and to fetch overflowing comforts from in all cases Now to cleer this a little further to you I shall proceed to shew you in a few particulars that the perfect knowledge of our Saviours intercession is one especial means to fill his people full of holy joy It is a means to comfort them exceedingly in reference to all the oppositions of their enemies whether without them or within them Do you not think it was a comfort to the Host of Israel when they had got a Champion to stand up for them against the daring insolencies of Goliah who had so long defied the armies of the living God It made them even shout for joy And so it is a comfort to the poor soul when he hath been long contending with the world which sets upon him mightily with all its blandishments and its allurements on the one side and with its threats and persecutions on the other side and with the Devil who furiously assaults him with his fiery darts and his violent temptations and with his own corruptions and his lusts that warr against the soul as the Apostle speaks And when he is about to faint and sink away he considers with himself Why though I have all these against me yet I have Jesus Christ for me and he is pleading-hard on my behalf that I may not have the worst in these Encounters but that I may be more then a Conqueror I seem to hear him saying to me These enemies of thine have desired to winnow thee and to destroy thee but I have prayed for thee that thy faith may not fail Thy courage and thy strength may fail a little but thy faith shall never fail When Christ was here upon the earth he earnestly besought his Father for me that he would keep me through his own name and what he did on earth I know he doth in heaven much more and he cannot be denyed So that I am as safe as the Almighty power of God can make me Oh what a matchless comfort and encouragement is this The poor perplexed soul but now was tossing on the boystrous waters of violent temptations and of raging passions and of furious lusts and even ready to be cast away But now as David speaks the soul is glad because it is at rest and it is brought to the desired haven Ah my beloved when a man who is mightily assaulted by corruptions and temptations and persecutions and afflictions and when the stones and buffets are about his soul can look up as Stephen did Acts 7.56 and see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God this cannot choose but fill him full of comfort Nay sayes the soul If thou art there pleading for me to the Father and standing up in my defence I know it is impossible that I should perish or miscarry The knowledge of our Saviours Intercession for his people is a means to comfort them in reference to all the accusations that are laid against us at the barr of Gods justice The Law comes in with a black bill against us layes very heavy things to our charge and taxes us with many grievous violations of it which we are no way able to deny Sathan for his part is the grand accuser of the brethren and he objecteth heynous things against us and layes it on with full load And then our consciences perhaps accuse us as fast as any of the other two They are not able to gainsay the allegations either of Sathan or the Law but are forced to acknowledge that all the curses that are written in the Book of God are very justly due to us What shall we do or how shall we keep up our hearts from sinking into utter desperation in such a case as this is As for our parts we have nothing to alledge in or of or from our selves why the sentence of the Law should not be pronounced against us But this is that which fills us full of Comfort that Jesus Christ hath enough to say for us and that he sits in heaven for this very end to make intercession for us when any thing comes in against us there to appear in our behalf and to plead our cause If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father saith the Apostle 1 John 2.2 and he is the propitiation for our sins We have such an Advocate as is a propitiation So that when Sathan and when sin accuses and makes a dreadfull noise against us he can wipe all off again with one word Saith he This person hath offended I confess but what of that There is a full propitiation made it is well known that I have done it and what hath any one to say to this man If he have out-sinned my satisfaction even let him be condemned But if not let him be acquitted or what do I sit here for How can this choose but ravish and transport the soul into an Extasie of joy and make it to triumph with the Apostle Rom. 8.33 Who can lay anything to my charge who is he that condemneth Let me but see the man that durst to do it So that no marvail though our Saviour Christ be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the forecited place which signifieth both a Comforter and Advocate To shew that Jesus Christ doth comfort us exceedingly by undertaking for us as an Advocate and pleading for us with the Father The knowledge of our Saviours Intercession for his people is a means to comfort them in reference to the many weaknesses and imperfections of our own prayers Oh how are we dejected and cast down sometimes when we are dull and flat and cold and speechless in our addresses to the Majesty of God When we are so deserted and our hearts are so shut up that as Hezekiah once we cannot speak in prayer but only chatter like a Swallow Isa 38.14 when we know not what to say nor what to plead we are so barren when we are destitute of matter and expression this puts us many times into a very sad condition and overwhelms our hearts with sorrow As David once complained in such a case Psal 77.3 I remembred God saith he I was troubled I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed But now my brethren is it not a matter of exceeding comfort to consider that we have an Intercessor to help us out with all this That he puts in
his first coming No man hath ascended up to heaven saith our Saviour Christ himself Joh. 3.13 but he that came down from heaven So that when he was incarnate he came down from heaven in a sense for of this our Saviour speaks in that place And to this speech of Christ it is that the Apostle Paul alludeth when speaking of our Saviour Christs ascension Ephes 4.8 he addeth presently by way of Explication Now that he ascended what is it but that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth So then descend he did at first from heaven as after he ascended up again to heaven And because he came from heaven he is more properly of heaven then of earth as the Apostle Paul insinuates very clearly when he calls him the Lord from heaven heavenly 1 Cor. 15.47 48. Because from heaven therefore heavenly not of this world but of another 2. Jesus Christ when he was here in this world yet he was not of this world but of another because he lived in another Here he breathed but there he lived he did not live the life of this world but the life of heaven and that not in expectation as we do but in fruition He lived the life of perfect righteousness and perfect holiness the life of Angels yea a life above Angels while he was here in this world That life which is to be attained by us nowhere but in heaven only Christ lived here in this world and this perhaps was partly aimed at by our Saviour in that speech of his Joh. 3.13 No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven even the Son of man which is in heaven He was then come down from heaven he was then upon the earth when he spake these words And yet he addeth he was then in heaven too even the Son of man which is in heaven And he was then in heaven not only as the Son of God but as the Son of man too Virtually he was there though he were not locally His life did relish infinitely more of heaven then of earth And therefore it is very notable that he disclaimed all medling with these earthly things he would not once so much as touch with them neither as a Judge or a divider as himself professeth Luk. 12.14 nor as possessor neither It 's true he was a King as he implicitely acknowledges to Pilate and he had a kind of Kingdom while he was here in this world but it was not of this world My Kingdom is not of this world saith Christ himself Joh. 18.36 And therefore he did nor erect it outwardly with any outward policy and splendour among men but he did only set it up in the hearts of a few despised people to whom he said My Kingdom is within you Luk. 17.21 And so in every thing my Brethren he avoided such a conversation as might intimate him to be one of this world 3. Jesus Christ when he was here in this world yet he was not of this world but of another because indeed he was but going to another world From another world he came as you have heard before and to another world he was about to go Only he tarried here a little about some weighty and important business which his Father sent him down into this lower world to do and as soon as that was ended he returned to heaven again So that you see brethren he conversed here but as a Messenger from God the Father whose errand he came down upon and to whom he was to go assoon as he had finished what he came for And therefore he avoided any kind of setlement in this world any way of making this his fixed habitation as he told the Scribe that was about to follow him Mat. 8.20 The Foxes have holes and the Birds of the air have nests but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head Yea he professed that he was not in the world while he was here because indeed he was not to continue here he was shortly to depart he was as good as gone already as in this Chapter I am handling ver 11. And now I am no more in the world but I come to thâ—e And this for cleering of the former member of the point that Christ himself is not of this world but of another Now for the second branch that Christs Disciples are in this respect like Christ himself this lies before you in the letter of the text They are not of the world even as I am not of the world And this our Saviour often minds them of as you may see that place for instance to name no more at this time John 15.19 Ye are not of the world saith he but I have chosen you out of the world Indeed as Christ is so they are in this world as the Apostle speaks 1 John 4.7 So in this world that they are not of the world And that in all the three respects wherein we have clearly shewed you that Christ is not of this world but of another 1. Christs Disciples came from another world and so in that respect they are not of the world as Christ is not of the world I say they came originally from another world although not as they are men yet as they are Saints and Christians So they are from above of God they are his off-spring as Paul said to the Athenians God is their Father for they are begotten of him 1 John 5.18 And God is their Mother too for they are born of him 1 Iohn 3.9 So that you see they are no less then a divine and heavenly generation And they are members of the New Jerusalem which John saw coming down from heaven Apoc. 21.2 They are only for a while let down from heaven in a sheet as the creatures were to Peter in a vision and so taken up again 2. As Christs Disciples came from another world so they live in another world and so in that respect they are not of the world as Christ is not of the world Their Conversation is in heaven as the Apostle speaks Phil. 3.20 With the woman Apoc. 12. they tread the Moon this variable and unconstant world under their feet Trample with a disdainfull and a holy scorn upon earth and earthly things Honors are too ignoble to command them riches too poor to buy them pleasures too fleeting to allure them Sometimes they are transported as it were rapt and taken up into heaven in sweet Soliloquies and in holy contemplations ravished beyond themselves with cleer and comfortable apprehensions of their Fathers love Indeed they get above the world they soare higher then the earth their treasure is in heaven and there are their hearts also Their life is Angel-like they live with men indeed but walk with God as Moses speaks of Enoch They have their eyes on him as Moses they see him who is invisible and they are taken up with him in all their wayes and
therefore my Beloved when there are any such abroad as some have been in our days who say that they are Christ you shall do well to call one of them who are in Christ to tell you whether this be Christ indeed or no. This being in the Father and the Son importeth ready easie and familiar access to the Father and the Son They are in one another and therefore they must needs be much together Believers need not to go far to speak with God he is at hand continually for they are in him So that they have his ear and heart too they can come to him and speak with him when they please Others that are abroad they hear him when he speaks in publick in the open Congregation and when he cryeth in the place of concourse as the wise man speaks But alas they have no private talk with him as these have when there is none but God and them together And therefore they that are without that live without God and without Christ are fain to use those that are in God and Christ sometimes to promote their suits to him If they have any special business to prefer to God they that are without must be beholding to them that are within to tender their Petitions for them as Pharaoh was in such a case Send for Moses and Aaron and let them use their interest in my behalf let them pray to God for me This being in the Father and the Son doth carry in it a more immediate enjoyment of all the comforts satisfactions and contentments that the soul of man can reach after For God involves and comprehendeth in him all the good that can be thought upon and infinitely more then the poor narrow heart of man can reach to We would think abundance of us that we were very well if we had all the happiness that all the creatures in the world could yield us If we had such a wife house gardens servants in-come by the year honors pleasures and delights as we would fancy to our selves then we would think that we were happy men indeed Why my Beloved whatsoever good there is to please or give us satisfaction in the creatures any way if we had them all together is eminently and transcendently in God They had it all from him and therefore certainly he hath it all in him and that without dregs too The spirits and the quintessence of all these comforts are in God refined from the drossie part so that in having him we have all A naked God a naked Christ is infinitely more to make a man compleatly happy then all the comforts in the world without him Or if it were not so my Brethren our state in heaven would be worse then it is here upon the earth the happiness of Heaven would be much below and much inferiour to our earthly happiness In Heaven we shall have nothing else but God no Sun no Moon Apoc. 21.23 The Creatures shall not give us comfort as they do in this world No God shall be our Sun and Moon there he shall be every thing to satisfie us and content us and to make us happy He shall be all in all 1 Cor. 15.18 Now if the Lord have not as much in him as all the creatures which we leave when we are taken hence by death we are losers by the bargain whereas we know the heighth and the perfection of our happiness is there where we have nothing else but God And therefore certainly we stand in need of nothing else to make us absolutely and compleatly happy And whensoever we have least of creatures and most of God in this world then we are nearest to that full beatitude Now God we have if we be in him my Beloved and so we have the Fountain of all happiness and satisfaction He that is in God in the Father and the Son must needs have all that is in God so far as it is necessary for him And that indeed is all that can be This being in the Father and the Son doth carry in it admirable safety He is secure enough from any hurt that is in God For what should seize upon him to annoy him there You know the Lord is often called a house a habitation in the Scripture and to make up the Allegory the Saints are said to dwell in God 1 Joh. 3.24 He that keepeth his Commandements dwelleth in him and he in him So that believers are in God as in a house where they are warm and well and safe however matters go abroad what ever storms there be upon land they are not like to the Egyptian servants in the storm of hail they are not left abroad in the woods and in the fields to be smitten and destroyed No God hath fetched them into house into himself they are in God who is the habitation of his people and there they are secure enough as the Psalmist intimates Psal 91.1 He that dwelleth in the secret of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty So that when the storm is fiercest he can stand quiet and look out at window and see others perish in the tempest He is in the Ark in God and a few more with him while all the world besides are drowned in the deluge It matters not to him what waves and floods there are abroad he is where he is safe enough Nay God is not resembled to an ordinary habitation only but to a place of refuge and defence Psal 18.2 A Castle and a strong Tower c. So that they that are in God are in a Castle and a strong Tower that never was and never will be taken by assault and what need they fear there They that are without indeed are in very great danger they are exposed to the mercy of the Enemy because they know not whether to betake themselves for shelter but they that are within may say as David when the Drums beat and the bullets flie I will lay me down in peace and sleep for thou Lord only makest me dwell in safety Psal 4. ult and that because I am in thee thou art thy self my Castle and my refuge and my strong Tower This being in the Father and the Son doth carry in it certainty of perseverance What my Beloved do you think that it is in and out In God to day and out to morrow as Arminians teach It is a most uncomfortable Doctrine which they have broached Ah my Beloved what solid and induring satisfaction will the best condition that they can be in afford them if they be not sure to keep it Now here Beloved is the fullest and the best assurance against this discomfort that is contained in the Book of God You hear that true believers are in God in the Father and the Son yea they are so in God so in the Father and the Son as they are in one another I pray for them saith Christ that they may all be one as thou Father art in me
can teach us to love our brethren whom we see then much more none but he can teach us to love him whom we do not see and therefore let us earnestly beseech him to help us to take forth this Lesson 2. Let us endeavour to grow up in the knowledge of the Lord and as we know him better we shall love him more That which one affirms of Learning may be well applied to God Non habet inimicum nisi ignorantem He hath such matchless excellency and beauty in him that he that knows him cannot choose but love him Indeed while we are unacquainted with him the admirable worth and lustre that is in him doth not take a whit upon us The Philosopher will tell us that the judgement must be first of all convinced of the worth and value of a thing before the heart will close with it and the affections cleave to it Nec enim potes aut amare quem nescias aut habere quem non amaveris Thou canst not love him thou knowest not nor have him whom thou lovest not And hence it is that wicked and ungodly men love not God or Christ at all because they know him not at all Or if they know him any way it is not under such a notion as makes him beautifull and lovely to them Perhaps they know him as a Judge or an Avenger not as a Father and a Saviour And this is indeed the cause why the triumphant Saints in heaven love him more then the Saints militant on earth because they have a fuller clearer and distincter knowledge of him We see him darkly in a glass but they see him face to face And this is the reason also why we love not God so much on earth as we shall do in heaven viz. because we know him not so well here as we shall do in that place So that our love to God you see is answerable to our knowledge of him as we know him more or less so we love him more or less And therefore if we do desire indeed to love him more let us strive to know him more 3. Another means to grow up in the love of God is to have daily more communion and intimacy with him And this as I conceive it is a means distinct from that which goes before For it is one thing to know him and another to have communion and to be familiar with him We know abundance with whom we have no intimacy in the world No we know them too well perhaps to be familiar with them So we may have a speculative knowledge of the Father and the Son and yet may have no intimate acquaintance with them And this is very necessary to encrease love To kindle and enflame affection as the Philosopher observeth there must be Convictus crebra conversatio They must dine and supp together they must walk and talk together And wheresoever there is strangeness there can be no great love And therefore if we would abound in the love of God and Christ let us have more communion with them Beloved if we be not wanting to our selves we may be very much with God We may speak with him often in a day we may talk with him face to face in our addresses to his holy Majesty we may give him many visits he doth not interdict us but invite us to come and sup with him and be acquainted with him throughly once he is so pretious and so sweet a friend that we shall love him out of all measure 4. Endeavour to the utmost of your power to dispossess your hearts of the unlawful love of worldly things for this is incompatible inconsistent with the love of God If any man saith the Apostle love the world the love of the Father is not in him 1 Joh. 1.15 Let him be what he will my Brethren if he love the world he loves not God And therefore ler not any covetous and wretched worldling make shew of having any love to God For certainly it is not in him The friendship of the world saith the Apostle James 4.4 is emnity with God And therefore if we would be friends of God we must dissolve this friendship with the world Inordinate irregular unlawful love of worldly things must be expelled And as this love is cast out the love of God will come in 5. Be often in the company and fellowship of those that love God Converse with those who are most endeared to him and they will be continually speaking of him and seting forth his excellency beauty love and so will kindle and enflame your hearts towards him They who are full of sweet affections to the Lord if you be much among them will work you to the same temper You may observe it in Cant. 5.10 and the following verses that when those daughters of Jerusalem who at first despised Christ and wondred why the Church his Spouse should praise him so and make such a stir about him yet when they had a while conversed with the Church and heard her speak of Christ with such affection admiring and extolling him above the skies they also fall in love with him and they will go together with the Church to seek him out Whither is Beloved gone say they O thou fairest among women whither is thy Beloved turned aside that we may seek him with thee And thus you see my Brethren frequent intercourse and holy conference with those that love God is one effectual means to fill and to enflame our hearts with love to him 6. Labour to comprehend with all the Saints the greatness of the love of God to you and to assure it to your own souls It is not all the beauty and the excellency in the world that will allure us to the 〈◊〉 love one that we imagine doth not love us But if we see and be assured of the love of God to us this will kindle love to him and make our hearts to melt towards him When we consider with our selves what kindness he hath shewed to us what he hath done for us what matchless and unfathomed love he hath discovered to us this will raise our affections high to him again and make us even sick of love And therefore I beseech you strive to be more and more assured of this for at this flame you must kindle your fire Here you must fetch your little spark of love whereof the Saints are capable in this life from the love of God to you which being kindled in your hearts it will never leave aspiring and flying higher and higher still till it have joyned it self unto that infinite and endless flame from whence it issued and proceeded And indeed as Bernard very well observes we cannot answer God or Christ so well in any thing as love To say the truth we must not answer him in other things If he be angry or displeased with us we ought not be angry or displeased with him again If he condemn and censure us we
wished to true Believers then to be with Christ in heaven To be in heaven where they shall be absolutely and compleatly holy and happy where they shall never sin and where they shall never suffer any more where holiness and happiness shall be both perfect where there is fulness of joy and pleasure for evermore and to be with Christ there of whose immediate prefence true believers are inavoidably debarred as long as they remain in this world While they are at home in the body they are absent from the Lord as 2 Cor. 5.6 But when they come to heaven they shall be with him they shall have the compleat and full fruition and enjoyment of him which is the greatest happiness that can be To be with Christ is best of all 1 Phil. 23. To be with Saints on Earth is good though they be imperfect here and though by reason of their imperfections they be the less delightfull and the less beneficial to us To be with Saints in heaven is better because they are perfect there There are the spirits of just men made perfect But to be with Christ there is best of all This is so good that there is nothing better there is no higher happiness attainable by any creature And therefore Christ would have his people to enjoy it to be in heaven where himself is because he loves them with a love of benevolence 2. Jesus Christ would have his people to be in heaven where himself is because he loves them with a love of complacency because he takes delight in them and friends that delight in one another think it not sufficient to be present each with other by the presence of their hearts and spirits No if it be possible they will be present each with other in their bodies too as you may see in Jonathan and David what shifts they made to come together So Jesus Christ who loves his people out of measure is not content that he is with them in his spirit and that they are again with him in their spirits No this is not enough but he must have their bodies with him too he must enjoy their company in heaven or else it is not well there Christ is not fully satisfied till he enjoy the sweet Society of his beloved Saints in heaven with whom he hath such intimate and dear acquaintance while they are here upon earth And hence he beggs his Father for them to bring them to the same place where himself is as if he could not live in heaven without them Father I will that c. 2. There is a second reason added in the Text which I shall handle Reason 2 only under that consideration Father I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am And why so might the Father ask him Why that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me as it is added in the next words That they may see the lustre which I sparkle with The glory of Christs humane nature in heaven is exceeding great The Evangelist who saw it through the dimm spectacles of humane frailty endeavours as he can to set it forth Saith he his Countenance was as the Sun that shineth in his strength Apoc. 1.16 But this was but a short resemblance Our Saviour Christ who knew it better carries it a little higher The Son of man saith he shall come in the glory of the Father Mat. 16.27 In comparison of whose incomparable lustre and transcendent brightness the Sun it self is but a shaddow Now Christ would have his people be in heaven where himself is that they may see this glory which he sh nes withall But why would he have them see it what shall they gain by it 1. While they see it they cannot but exceedingly rejoyce in it It cannot but transport them even to an extasie of joy to see him whom they love so infinitely sparkle forth with such dazling raies of glory Oh will the poor believer say This is my head my husband whom my soul loveth that is become so out of measure glorious There was a time when he was black and when there was no form nor beauty in him when wretched men made him vile and ignominious and when they hid their faces as if they were ashamed of him But now he shines forth as the Sun that hath been masked with a gloomy cloud This is he that died for me that shed his blood for me that loved me and gave himself for me Oh how my heart is ravished to behold his glory 2. While they behold it as they shall rejoyce in it so they shall partake of it And that especially two wayes both by union and reflection First they shall partake of it by union for being one with Jesus Christ they cannot choose but share together with him in his glory And as the glory of the members redoundeth to the glory of the head in which respect it is that the Apostle saith that Christ shall be admired in all them that believe So on the other side the glory of the head redoundeth much more to the glory of the members Secondly And as they shall partake hereof by union so also by reflection when they see Christ while they behold the glory of the Lord they shall be transformed into the same image from glory to glory Their vile bodies shall be conformed to his glorious body Phil. 3.21 And while they see him as he is they shall be like him as the Apostle John insinuates 1 Epist 3.2 They shall bear the very image of the heavenly Adam 1 Cor. 15.48 And as the face of Moses shined when he had been with God upon the Mount so when we come to be with Christ in heaven and to behold his glory there we shall reflect it back again and so shall shine together with him in the same glory And this is another reason why Christ will have his people to be with him that they may see his glory and seeing may partake of it both by union and reflection Use Now to descend to application Is it the will of Christ c. Here then you see the singular and extraordinary happiness of Christs people If they were alwayes to remain to set up their perpetual abode in this world it would be very sad with them It is a vale of tears a most uncomfortable place especially to Christs people in which they are not like to have a quiet hour almost as long as they remain in it But now the comfort is that it is the will of Christ that they that are bestowed upon him by his Father shall not alwayes stay here that he will have them come to heaven where himself is That he will not alwayes leave them in this vale of tears but he will one day bring them to a place of joy there to enjoy himself for ever to keep no longer at a distance from him but to be with him where he is To be with Christ in any
slaughter in their stead there go his blood and life and all He shall bleed and bleed to death that they may be healed and live Oh the narrow hearts of men how far short do they fall of comprehending such a miracle of mercy Well may the Angels wonder at it and desire to peep into it Yea the blessed Lord himself whether as wondring at or willing to make us wonder at this admirable business hath called the nane of Christ Wonderfull Vse 4 Is it so that God the Father hath dearly loved Jesus Christ from all eternity This then may serve for sweet and pretious consolation to all them that belong to Christ for they may be hence assured that God hath loved them from all eternity even as he did Christ For if you mark it well our Saviour speaks here of the love the Father bare him as man and Mediator as the head of his Church and so he loved him not alone but he loved his members in him and he loved his members with him Indeed he loved him as Mediator in reference to those for whom he was to make peace and loved him as a head in reference to those who were to be members of his body and as he had not been a Mediator and a head but for the working of their salvation whom God appointed thereunto so neither had he been beloved in that capacity and under that consideration but upon the same account and consequently if he were beloved as man and Mediator and head of his Church from everlasting his people and his members were beloved from everlasting too without whom he was no head They were designed to be members by the same decree by which he was designed to be head And as they were elected in him so they were beloved in him before the foundation of the world But you will ask me Which way doth this yield you out such pretious comfort that you have been beloved of God from all eternity 1. It is a comfort to consider that the great and glorious God of heaven and earth should think of such poor worms as we from everlasting much more that he should set his love upon us The world it may be looks upon us as not worth the speaking of as not worth the thinking of much less as worthy of the least respect And this it may be troubles and dejects us now and then But this may cheer us and encourage us upon the other side that God himself did think upon us yea and dearly love us too from all eternity when we had not a being in the world save only in the Counsel and Decree of God he made more of us then these men do now we have a gratious being 2. It is a comfort to consider that God and we have been such old friends that he hath loved us from all eternity For it is like the love will hold that hath been of such standing We have a Proverb Change not an old friend for a new because the new is like to be more fickle God hath been an old friend time out of mind And therefore he is like to be the more constant From everlasting he hath loved us and therefore we may safely rest and rely on his love 3. If God have loved us from everlasting then he hath loved us all along since that time Before we had a being in the world and since we had a being before we had a gratious being when we were dead in trespasses and sins And if he loved us then assuredly he will not cease to love us now notwithstanding all our unallowed imperfections and defects He will continue and go on to love us still till he have lodged us with himself in glory Oh how should this revive the hearts of those among the Saints who are so apt to doubt the love of God because they sin so often and so much against him Why man God loved thee when thou didst sin against him more then now thou dost he loved thee when thou hatedst him and therefore certainly he will not hate thee now thou lovest him No he that loved thee from the beginning will love thee also to the end He that loved thee from everlasting will love thee to everlasting and nothing in the world shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And thus we have at length dispatched the body of our Saviours prayer and are arrived at the close or the conclusion of it In which his drift and purpose is to render his Disciples for whom he hath petitioned all along before very acceptable and very gratious to his Father and so to leave them in his hands And that upon this account because they only had the true and saving and affective knowledge of him They only were acquainted with him when as all the world beside were strangers to him And it was reason he should rather do for them then do for strangers Oh righteous Father the world hath not known thee but I have known thee and these have known that thou hast sent me and I have declared unto them thy name q. d. And now to shut up all and to come to a conclusion I pray thee Father to consider this for close of all That the world for whom I have not said a word in all my prayer nay for whom I have professed not to pray I pray for these I pray not for the world yet they the world are wholly ignorant of thee and unacquainted with thee But I that have put up this prayer to thee know thee very well no one in the world better And they for whom I have put up this prayer know thee too by my means for I have manifested and declared thee to them And therefore I am confident that thou wilt hear and answer me in their behalf None know thee in the world but I and they I that pray and they for whom I pray Remember that and I have done I say no more but even leave thee to consider whether thou wilt hear and answer me for them or no Oh righteous c. the world c. In this conclusion of our Saviours prayer I shall consider but these two things To whom he speaks and What he speaks for close of all First to whom he speaks and that you see my brethren is to God whom he stileth righteous Father Secondly what he speaks in the remainder of the two verses which may be very well divided by the subjects of his speech the persons that he speaks of viz. the world himself and true believers as we shall see at large hereafter Begin we with the person that he speaks to and him he mentions by his title and his attribute His title here you see is Father his attribute is righteous righteous Father As for the first of these my brethren I have shewed you more then once that Father in this prayer of our Saviour is not personally taken for the first person of
the Godhead For the first person of the Godhead though it be the Father of our Saviour Christ as God yet it is not so properly the Father of our Saviour Christ as man And our Saviour Christ speaks as man in this place And therefore Father here is essentially taken for the whole Godhead subsisting in the three persons And even as we by Father mean the Godhead when we pray our Father which art in heaven So doth our Saviour Christ too As man he is in this respect like us as the Apostle tells us he is in all things like unto us sin only excepted Now the attribute he gives the Godhead which he denotes by Father here is righteous Righteous Father But wherefore doth he mention this rather then any attribute of God on this occasion Why might he not have said as well Almighty or Eternal or Mercifull or Gratious Father The special reason why he chooses this expression as far as I conceive cannot be cleerly and undoubtedly resolved Judicious Calvin thinks he doth it in opposition to the unrighteousness of men So to comfort true believers that however they were like to meet with nothing but injustice and unrighteousness in the world yet he was now committing them into the hands and keeping of a righteous God Others guess at other reasons Once this is clear and manifest that he picks out this attribute of God among the rest and whereas many others lay before him he fixes upon this only He comes to God in prayer by the name of righteous Father The thing is evident though the particular Consideration that induced him to it be unknown So that the Points to be observed here are two First God is a just and righteous God in himself and in all his dispensations Secondly That Jesus Christ came to him as a righteous God when he was pouring out his prayers to him or making his Petition to him DOCTRINE God is a very just and righteous God None knew him better then our Saviour and he calls him Righteous Father So doth the Holy Ghost in Scripture very often The Prophet David stileth him The Righteous God Psal 7.9 And Jeremiah The Lord that judgeth righteously Jer. 11.10 Indeed he doth not judge after the sight of his eyes nor reprove after the hearing of his ears that is he is not deceived with the external shew of things with which the eyes of men are often taken He is not misled and carried with reports to deal unjustly in the least degree No with righteousness he doth judge the poor who many times are over-born in lower Courts by those that are too strong and mighty for them and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth Though they be meek though they be not clamorous and troublesome and though they do not wring out justice from him as the poor widdow in the Gospel did from the unrighteous Judge by unweariedness earnestness and tyring importunity yet they shall have it easily and readily he will dispense it to them freely of his own accord And this is that which holy David so applauds him for and he will have it spoken to his praise among the Heathen Psal 96.10 Say among the Heathen The Lord reigneth and he shall judge the people righteously Let the Heavens rejoyce and let the Earth be glad before the Lord for he cometh for he cometh to judge the Earth He shall judge the world with Righteousness and his people with his Truth So that you see the point is clear That God is a very just and righteous God And you will be the better satisfied in it if you consider but these three things First the largeness of his Jurisdiction and Dominion His Government is universal and extends to all the world and therefore he must needs be righteous He is the judge of all the earth And what said Abraham Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right Gen. 18.25 The Supream and Soveraign Judge before whose dread Tribunal all the World must stand and at whose Bar they must be tryed for that which most concerns them too their precious souls from whose determination no man can appeal with any hope of being righted in a higher Court seeing there is none above it Is God unrighteous I say as the Apostle Rom. 3.5 How then shall he judge the world Indeed inferiour Governours may be unrighteous and corrupt and yet this universal frame continue and subsist because they are perpetually subject to the Soveraign Judge who standeth in the Congregation of the Mighty and is a Judge among the Gods as David speaks Psal 82.1 But if the universal Judge should be unjust whom none can over-top nor call to an account what could be lookt for but confusion Another ground of the righteousness of God is the immensity and infiniteness of his presence As he is Governour and Judge of all the world so he is in all the world The largeness of his presence is answerable to the largeness of his Jurisdiction and Dominion and this contributes very much to the uprightness and the justice of his Government Inferiour Magistrates although perhaps they have no mind to be unjust yet they are often times misled by sinister information They are not present everywhere they see not every thing themselves and therefore are necessitated to proceed secundum allegata probata And many times it comes to pass that things which are untrue are testified and proved before them and so they do injustum though not injustè by means of which the Innocent is injured and oppressed See an example of it in Mephibosheth who by the false suggestions of his wicked servant Ziba was outed of his goods and his possessions 2 Sam. 16.4 Had David known that good Mephibosheth had still remained loyal to him had he not been abused by a forged information how far would he have been from doing such apparent wrong as he did in that sentence But he relyed on Testimony for the truth of that which by reason of remoteness could not fall within the compass of his own notice and so was led into that gross mistake which you have heard Now there can no such Errors happen in the Government of God because himself is present every where and therefore cannot be misguided by finister information He taketh nothing upon trust upon suggestion as all our Governours on earth do No my beloved he sees all with his own eyes he hears all with his own ears nothing is said or done but in his presence His eyes in every place behold the evil and the good saith Solomon Prov. 15.3 whether it be good or evil whether it be near or far off it is within his own veiw his eyes behold it he need not to depend upon a witness for the proof of it So that in this respect he is not subject to such injustice in his government as other Kings and Rulers are Thirdly God must needs be righteous in his Administrations because he is
God so it is in some respect the chiefest thing that comes from God It is a grace of the first magnitude and therefore it is placed first by the Apostle in that Catalogue of his Gal. 5.22 The fruit of the spirit is love and then joy and other graces It is an excelling gift and therefore the Apostle Paul to shew the matchless worth and the surpassing value of it admits a kind of Solaecism in his discourse and makes it better then the best of gifts 1 Cor. 12. ult Covet saith he and covet earnestly the best gifts And then immediately annexeth a discourse of love and touching that he saith I shew unto you a more excellent way Indeed it is of greater latitude then other graces it runs through every precept of the Law of God For love is the fulfilling of the Law and that no other grace is It is of greater power then other graces for it sets them all on work And hence the acts of other graces are frequently ascribed to love as 1 Cor. 13.4 c she hopeth she believeth c. It is of greater permanency then other graces then faith or hope And other graces without love are nothing as the Apostle shews at large in that Chapter 2. And as love is the chiefest thing that comes from God so it is the chiefest thing that conformeth us to God It makes us like him more then other graces do God is not said in Scripture to be faith or hope or patience but he is said in Scripture to be Love If we believe God doth not so if we hope God doth not so if we suffer quietly God doth not so Indeed he suffer not at all either by way of passion or compassion But if we love my brethren so doth God In this we do as God himself doth And therefore we may pray for this my brethren in another way then we may pray for other graces according to the pattern in my Text. We cannot pray to God Lord grant us that the faith which is in thee may be in us Lord grant us that the hope which is in thee may be in us But we may pray Lord grant us that the love which is in thee may be in us That the love wherewith thou lovest may be given down to us Vse 2 Is it so that the love which is in true believers comes from God If then we have the love of God in us let us remember whence it came and to whom the glory of it ought to be returned We can hate God of our selves but we can never love him of our selves So that if there be any spark of the love of God in us we may be confident that it was kindled at his fire And therefore let it be continually working upward upward still yea let it never leave ascending till it have joyned it self unto that infinite and endless flame from which it issued and proceeded JOHN 17.26 That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be c. DOCTRINE 2. The Declaration of the Fathers Name to men is one especial means to work the grace of love in them IT is to this end that our Saviour makes it known as you may see expresly in my Text I have declared unto them thy Name and will declare it Why so to what end That the love wherewith thou hast loved me that very property may be in them That as it is in thee it may be wrought in them also And out of doubt the means our Saviour pitches on are useful and available to his ends Indeed men come to know the Father by the discovery of his name to them for so his name is all that makes him known to men And that which worketh knowledge of him doth mediately work love to him So that if the discovery of his name do make men know him as that is very manifest it doth make them love him too That which one affirms of Learning may be applyed to God Non habet Inimicum nisi ignorantem Whosoever knows him clearly loves him truly Indeed while we are unacquainted with him the admirable worth and beauty and excellency that is in him every way doth not take a whit upon us The Philosopher will tell us that the mind must be informed and convinced of the goodness of a thing before the heart will cleave to it or the affections close with it And hence it is that carnal and unsanctified persons love not God because they know him not Or if they know him any way it is not under such a notion as renders him desirable or lovely to them Perhaps they know him as a Judge or an avenger they cannot know him as a Saviour and Redeemer And this is the real cause why the triumphant Saints in Heaven love him more then the Saints Militant on earth because they have a fuller clearer and distincter knowledge of him We see him darkly in a glass they face to face And this is the reason also why we love not God with such a high affection here as we shall do hereafter because we know him not so well we have not such distinct and full discoveries of his name as then we shall attain to So then you see in general that the discovery of the Fathers name to men is one especial means to work the grace of love in them To clear it yet a little further to you I shall shew you particularly and distinctly that there are divers things in Gods name which being manifested and declared unto men are means to win their hearts to him and so to work love in them As The beauty of the Lord is a part of his name and beauty being manifested and discovered is a means to win love It is a great attractive of affection Now herein God excells my brethren in this respect he is incomparably out of measure lovely The greatest beauty in the world is holiness so it is often called as 1 Chron. 16.19 Psal 29.2 To shew that holiness hath beauty in it yea it is called Beauties in the plural number The beauties of holiness Psal 110.3 to intimate that holiness is full of beauty and that it over-matches all the beauties in the world if all of them were put together And therefore this is made in Scripture the greatest beauty of the creature as Sin is the deformity so Grace and Holiness is the beauty of the Soul it adorns the inner man And therefore the Apostle Peter exhorteth Christian women to adorn the hidden man of the heart with this 1 Pet. 3.4 Even with the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is of great price in the sight of God And hence it is that holiness is likened to the fairest things to Robes and Gems and Crowns and Gold and Jewels and the like Now God is matchless in this kind of beauty He is holiness it self yea he is infinitely holy And therefore holiness is called the Image of God The holiness that is in men is but
duty you do to him can be accepted 4. You can hope for no pardon of sin 5. Cannot come to God with boldness 124. What meant by the only true God p. 126. viz. the whole Essence of the Godhead 3. Doctr. That the Father Son and Holy Ghost is the only true God p. 128. Reason For he only hath being of himself 2. He is the living God 3. None can do that which he doth 4. He only is Eternal 1. Vse Be stirred up to confirm your faith of this Motives 1. For then the more and better we shall walk with him 2. Serve and obey him p. 130. Direct 1. Give full assent to the Scriptures 2. Know him to be above all other Gods 3. Be resolved not doubtful of this point 4. Pray for faith in this particular p. 133. 2. Vse Obey serve and honour him as the true God p. 134. 3. Vse Let us have no other God but him only p. 135. Serve the Lord and not Idols p. 136. Times p 138. Lusts neither your own nor that of others p. 139. 2. Fear none but him 3. Trust in him alone p. 140. 4. Vse Learn from hence to be at unity among our selves 5. Learn to see our happiness of having chosen him for our God p. 141. 4. Doctr. That Christ is the Apostle or Messenger of God p. 142. Explication 1. Sent from God and from heaven How possible p. 143. 2. Into the world 3. The errand on which he was sent viz. to make peace preach peace 4. Therefore fitly qualified with 1. Authority 2. Ability Fulness of Merit to make peace p. 145. Spirit to preach peace p. 145. 1. Vse Admire the mercy of the sender 2. Of him that would be sent Void of fear and constraint p. 147 2. Be all intreated to receive and entertain him For 1. His errand is your business 2. It 's for your good and advantage 3. The Father expects you should honour his Embassadour and Son 4. He will avenge the refusers of him 5. This Messenger can prevail with God for you p. 149. Direction 1. Receive him so as to hearken to him 2. To believe in him 3. To obey him p. 150. 5. Doct. Whoever wil be glorified with God in heaven must glorifie him first on earth p. 152 Reason It is the everlasting counsel and decree of God Vse 1. Against vain expecters of future glory p. 153. 2. Vse Learn to glorifie God here 1. By a vocal declaration 2. By a real representation in what you 1. are p. 154. 2. do p. 154. Gods glory how to be our aim in all Ver. 4 1. Doctr. That Christ was ordered by his Father in the work he did in this world p. 156. Expl. Christ was so ordered in his works of Satisfaction His obedience Active p. 157. Passive p. 158. Application p. 158. As by the 1. Promulgation of the Word 2. Internal operation of the Spirit p. 159. Reas 1. Christ was the Fathers creature 2. The Fathers servant p. 160. 1. Vse Admire the humble condescension of Christ 2. Learn to be humbled in like manner and to suffer willingly p. 161. 3. Vse Some do the good others the evil which God hath not given them to do p. 162. Danger of neglecting Gods order p. 164. How Christ had finished the work before his Passion p. 165. 2. Doct. Christ did not do his work by halves but went through with it p. 166. Sufferings of Christs body Natural Mystical 1. Vse Who guilty of adding to the works of Christ 2. Let us persevere in our work and finish it Five Motives hereunto p. 169. Ver. 5 What glory Christ prayed for Doct. Christ as Man in some measure partaker of the divine glory 1. By the grace of union 2. By the grace of dispensation from the Father p. 173. 1. Vse Know the advancement of our nature in the Person of Christ 2. Their personal advancement that belong to Christ partly in 1. Fruition 2. Assured expectation 3. This should make us despise the shame of this world 2. So to walk as not to be a shame to Christ p. 174. Ver. 6 How Christ had manifested Gods Name Doct. Christ made an absolute and compleat discovery of his Father to the people 1. By his Personal appearance in the flesh 2. By his Word and Gospel 3. By his Spirit p. 178. 2. Q. Why Christ only makes this discovery R. 1. None but he is able 2. None but he is fit to make this discovery p. 180. 3. Q. Why the discovery he makes is so full and absolute R. 1. As being the faithful Prophet of his Church 2. That the discovery may be effectual 1. Vse The ignorant inexcusable 2. Learn to bless his Name for this discovery 3. Grow up in the knowledge of this Name made known p. 182. 4. Vse Be satisfied with the discovery which Christ hath made search not beyond it Pride Sin Danger vanity thereof p. 184. 5. Vse Walk worthy of this discovery i. e. Despair not under sin or misery p. 185. 2. Doct. Some the Father giveth to Christ out of the world 2. A certain number of them 3. Being once the Lords they are no longer of the world Confirm 1. The actual members of Christ are dead with Christ and of another world as are their kindred and alliance p. 190. 3. Their habitation is spiritual so is their action and traffique 1. Vse Therefore the world storms and rageth at mens being given up to Christ 2. Examin Are we given up to Christ p. 192. Marks 1. They are not conformable to this present world 2. They speak the language of another world p. 193. 3. They dearly affect their Countreymen 3. Vse Think not strange of ill usage in the world p. 194. 4. Vse Regard not the things of this world 5. Follow not a multitude to sin It s safe and honorable to be retired 6. Be not troubled at worldly troubles 3. Doct. All Christs people were first belonging to the Father p. 197. 1. The Father essentially taken 2. All belonged to God 1. By Creation 2. By Election 3. Christs people not so his as not the Fathers 1 Vse Christ will tenderly keep those that are so given him Word of God Inward and Essential p. 202. Outward and Declaratory p. 202. 4. Doct. They whom the Father gives to Christ keep his word p. 203. Christs Word is kept In the memory by retaining In the heart by believing In the affections by loving In the life by obeying with obedience Active Passive Vse Exam. Are we so given up to Christ that we keep his Word p. 205. 2. Vse Direct For helping memory 1. Be intent and fix your mind on the Word 2. Get a good understanding 3. Value the Word 4. Strengthen the memory by meditation repetition conference 5. Set instantly to practice the truth you hear 6. Pray for the Spirit to do his Office 3. Vse of Examination Do we keep Christs word by Faith Some believe none of it 2. Some but part of it
order to be handled He lifted up his eyes to heaven and said And here you have his gesture and expression His gesture first he lifted up his eyes to heaven while he made it And in the next place his expression he did not meditate or think it only but he said it his Prayer was not mental only but it was a vocal prayer He lifted up his eyes to heaven and said As for the first of these my brethren it was usual with our Saviour to pray with eyes erected and lift up to heaven as I might give you many instances out of the Scripture And out of question it proceeded from the zeal and earnestness of his affections and from the fixedness and the intention of his thoughts he being as it were withdrawn from the earth and from those lower things and wholly taken up to heaven while he prayed He was no longer here below no he was above with God while he was exercised in this duty Indeed it is observed of the Publican that he was contrary to Christ in this regard viz. in the external gesture of his body Our Saviour prayed as you have heard with eyes erected and lift up to heaven The Publican with eyes dejected and cast downward to the earth and yet this carriage also seems to be approved Luke 18.13 The Publican saies the Evangelist would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven but smote his breast saying God be mercifull to me a Sinner And truly both these gestures have their use in prayer the one to manifest a repentance the other to declare our faith The one to shew that we are cast down in our selves the other to discover that we are raysed and lifted up to God But it became not Iesus Christ to pray in such a posture as that wretched creature did because he had no sin in him and consequently no shame nothing to cast him down or hinder him from looking up with boldness and with confidence to God the Father And hence he prayed not like the Publican in a dejected way but lifted up his eyes to heaven and said That leads us to the second thing considered Christ did not meditate or think his prayer only but he said it His prayer was not mental only but it was a vocal prayer he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said Father the hour is come and so on It s true indeed that as a man may say and yet not pray he may utter good petitions and speak a form of Specious words to God and yet he may not pray indeed so as to find acceptance and success with God So on the other side a man may pray and yet yet not say that is not use the voice at all nor utter any words to God in prayer And therefore it is said of Moses that he cried to God when he was silent And the Apostle speaking of the Spirit tells us that he makes request to God sometimes with sighs and groans that are not yea that cannot be expressed Rom. 8.26 So that a man may make request to God without expression as well by meaning as by speaking And therefore it is added in the following verse God knows the meaning of the Spirit that is he understands it and accepts it David prefers the meditation of his heart as well as the petitions of his mouth Psal 19. ult Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart c. And therefore in another place he saith of God Lord thou hast heard the desire of the humble Psalm 10.17 So that you see that Prayer is not tyed to the expression of the tongue For even Ejaculations that are swift and sudden wishes darted from the heart to God the inward anhelations thirstings longings meditations meanings of the Soul are honoured in the Scripture with the name of prayer Such mentall prayers we have cause to think our Saviour sometimes offered to his Father when he was alone But here his prayer it should seem was vocal he uttered it aloud that his Apostles and Disciples who were about him at that time might hear it He lifted up his eyes to heaven and said Now this you see the Holy-Ghost takes special notice of as a remarkable and a memorable thing He doth not only tell us that our Saviour prayed and what his prayer was from the beginning of it to the end But he acpuaints us also with the manner and the circumstances of his prayer He shews us what his gesture was he tells us how he placed his eyes and how he used his voice in prayer These things may seem but small matters and we may look upon them as petty inconsiderable things But wherefore doth the Holy Ghost so carefully take notice of them and set them down in writing for the Church unless they be of some weight and some consideration Methinks he intimateth thus much to us DOCTRINE That there should be Consideration had not only of the matter but even of the circumstances the very gesture and the utterance of a prayer The Spirit of God you see doth not let pass such things as these no he observeth them exactly And therefore surely so should we too He sets them down for our use and there is somewhat to be learned from them For whatsoever things are written are written for our learning as the Apostle Paul speaks And therefore it is usual in the Scripture not only to express the prayers that the Saints have made and that Christ himself hath made but also to describe their outward carriage and behaviour in them which shews that there is something even in that too Sometimes our Saviour Christ is noted to cast himself prostrate upon the earth in prayer as you may see Mat. 26.39 he fell upon his face and prayed And sometimes to look up to heaven as you have it in my text So also when he raised Lazarus John 11.41 he lifted up his eyes and when he healed the deaf man he looked up to heaven Mark 7.34 Sometimes he only sigheth to himself in prayer and we hear of no expression in the sore-alleadged text He Sighed you must conceive in some petition which he then put up to God and said to the deaf man Epphatah be opened Sometimes he utters words also which are audible to others as I might give you divers instances out of his storie in the Gospel So for the Saints sometimes we find them represented sitting as holy David 2 Sam. 7.18 Sometimes standing up as Neh. 9.2 and sometimes kneeling in their Prayers as that is very usual in the Scriptures Sometimes we find them speaking words in prayer and sometimes using meditation only as David so divides his prayer in the fore-alleadged text into the words of his mouth and the meditations of his heart and prayes that both may find acceptance with the Lord Psal 19. ult And all these wayes the holy Ghost takes special notice of and leaves upon record for our instruction by which he teaches
somewhat higher and above yours but it is not without yours nay to say truth my interest is for yours God is my Father that he may be yours in me Oh my beloved what melting joy and comfort is here for every member of the Lord Christ in regard of this relation I give you but a hint in three particulars First being the sons of God in Christ we may be sure that he will hear us in and by and through Christ He always hears his son Christ and never puts him off with a denial Thou art my son this day c. Ask of me and I will give thee Psal 2.7 and this our Saviour Christ himself professes Iohn â—1 4 and as the Father always hears his son Christ so he doth always hear his Sons in Christ And truly if the first be once admitted the latter follows unavoidably For Christ the eldest Son is intercessor for his brethren in all their regular requests he never faileth to put in with them so that they cannot be denied unless he be denied too Christ and they must either stand or fall together Secondly being Sons of God in Christ we may be confident he will provide for us He hath provided very well for Christ he is not his Son only but he is his Heir too yea he is heir of all without exception Heb. 1.2 And as Christ is the Son and Heir of God so we are sons and heirs of God in Christ there is not a younger brother of us Thou art no more a servant but a son Gal. 4.7 And if a son then an heir of God through Christ If Sons of God through Christ then Heirs of God through Christ too If we be sons then also heirs Rom. 8.17 yea we are heirs of all as Christ is and therefore it is added presently Heirs of God joynt-heirs with Christ Jesus Christ as Mediator is not Heir to any thing but we are joynt-heirs and have a joynt-right with him there is an Inventory of our riches 1 Cor. 3.21 Thirdly being Sons of God we may be confident he will protect us Fathers use to protect their children if they can God can and therefore will As Naomi laid Ruths childe in her bosom Ruth 4.16 so God lays his children Isa 4.11 and that is certainly a safe place And as the Eagle spreads her wings over her young and carries them upon her wings Prov. 32 1â— so God throws his children under the wings of his protection and carries them above the reach of danger This is very sweet comfort be your troubles what they will you have a Father that is able to secure you that is very tender of you that hath set a guard upon you Heb. 1. ult Psal 34.7 John 17.1 Father the hour is come Use 2 IS God the Father of the Lord Christ And consequently Christ the Son of God the Father Why then I say as the Apostle He is the Lord of all Gal. 4.1 He is not a servant in the house but a Son over the house Heb. 3.6 And therefore he must be obeyed and served according to the Psalmists Exhortation Psal 2.11 Serve the Lord. Well then my brethren let us think of this and let us hearken to that Counsel and advice of Christ himself Take my yoke my service on you Brethren let me engage you all this day for this Lord and his service let me perswade you to receive him for the Lord your righteousness Not to call him Lord only but to take him for your Lord and to use him as your Lord and to yield him all that service and obedience which the name calls for Ah my Beloved let us not do in this regard as the greater part of Christians in name and in profession do Let us not wear the badge and cognizance of Jesus Christ and say he is our Lord and Master and the like and in the mean time never do his will nor take any pains at all in his service For this is but to deal with Christ as the perfidious Jews did to put a purple robe upon him and to bow down before him and to call him Hail Master and in the self-same breath to buffet him and spit upon him But as we call him Lord so let us carry and demean our selves towards him as our Lord and Master and let us yield to him that obedience which is due to him And to this end let us consider what engagements lye upon us to draw us and to hold us to the service of this Lord which I shall briefly lay before you as motives to perswade The first is an Engagement of Creation he is the image of the invisible God saith the Apostle Col. 1.15 The first born of every creature that is the Lord of every creature for the first born is Lord of all And why the Lord of every creature You have the reason in the following words For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth All things were made by him and therefore it is fit that all should serve him Nay my Beloved they were not made by him only but they were made for him too as it is added there in that place all things were created by him and for him By his power and for his use And therefore if we be not useful to him if we do not serve him we cross the very end of our creation The brutish and unreasonable creatures serve him in their kind and measure and therefore David saith that all things serve him But we are bound to serve him much more because in our Creation we received more from him He made us Lords of all his creatures â—â—at we might have no Lord but him He made the whole creation to be serviceable to us that we might be the more engaged and the better able to be serviceable to himself that we might serve him for it all that we might serve him with it all He put all things under us and truly we are bound the more my Brethren to be under him and subject to him he made us men he gave us reason which he gave not to other creatures the greater reason have we to obey him and to improve our parts and gifts in his service Indeed we cannot chose but see that it is all the reason of the world that as we have all from him so we should use all for him The next is an engagement of Redemption which binds us to the service of the Lord. As he is the Lord that made us so he is the Lord that bought us as the Apostles phrase is 2 Pet. 2.1 He purchased us my Brethren us I mean that are his own at a very dear rate and therefore it is just that we should serve him especially since it is evident that this was his intention in his purchase He bought us out of Sins and Satans hands not that we might be absolutely free from all commands but that we might be his servants He gave himself
great honour It appears that God hath a design to honour Christ by the authority that he hath endowed him with and that is his own authority yea all his own authority as Christ himself acknowledges Mat. 28.18 All power is given to me both in heaven and in earth not some but all power The father judgeth no man saith our Saviour but he committed all Judgment to the Son John 5.22 He hath done in this respect as great men sometimes use to do if they have any title office or place of honour they are contented to convey it over to their eldest Son that they may credit him and raise him to esteem and reputation in his Country and it delighteth them as much to have him honoured as themselves Just so hath God the Father done by Jesus Christ The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgement to the Son He will be Iudge no longer by immediate execution but he hath made his Son the Judge of all the world And why so that he may compass the design of his for glorifying of his Son Christ That all men should honour the Son as they honour the Father as it is added in the next verse And as he hath in the sense that we have said resigned up his judiciary power abroad to Iesus Christ so the private Government of his family at home He hath made his eldest Son the Lord of all he hath set him over his house Heb. 3.6 The Son of God hath got a match though a poor one I confess and now the Father gives up the house-keeping wholly to him And hence saith the Apostle Paul Eph. 3.14 15. I bow my knees unto the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named The whole family of heaven and earth is named from Christ whether the upper family of heaven or the lower family on earth whether the Church triumphant or the Church militant it is Christs family and Christs Church and Christs houshold God you see hath two houses and yet he doth not govern one himself and leave the other to his Son he commits the government of both to Jesus Christ that he may be all in all that he may be the more honoured It appears that God hath a design to glorifie his Son Christ by the great offices of dignity and trust and honour which he hath advanced and raised him to For he hath crowned him with glory and honour Three offices there are which have been alwayes looked upon as full of honour The office of a King of a Priest and of a Prophet Of a King in the Commonwealth and of a Ptiest and Prophet in the Church And all of them concurr in Jesus Christ he is annointed to them altogether And this is singular to Jesus Christ it is peculiar to himself alone no other man was ever thus advanced besides himself Some other men have had one of these offices or two at most but never any man had all three but Christ only So that he is in this respect transcendently advanced you see and God hath glorified him beyond measure and beyond pattern And that you may the better see the honour that is done to Iesus Christ in that he hath these three great Offices altogether in his hands I shall represent it to you in a few Particulars First By this means whatsoever good is purchased for the Church is procured by him only The Father that he may advance and honour Christ the more will have the Church beholding unto none but him for any good that she enjoys or looks for He must purchase peace and he must purchase grace for her the grace of righteousness and the grace of holiness he must satisfie he must sanctifie he must obtain her absolution and he must obtain her sanctification and he must obtain her glorification he must renew her right in outward things which she forfeited in Adam And he must do all this alone there must be none besides him none with him No he must tread the wine-press of his Fathers wrath alone By once offering of himself he must perfect for ever them that are sanctified The Lord hath given us no other King to subdue our enemies and to get peace for us No other Priest to satisfie his wrath and to obtain Grace for us No other Mediator between God and man either of Redemption or Intercession either of Redemption to purchase grace or of Intercession to sue out that which he hath purchased All lies on Jesus Christ you see that he may be all in all that all the glory may redound to him As whatsoever good is purchased for the Church is procured by him only so it is revealed by him only As he and he alone must get it so he and he alone must tell us of it It is an honour to be sent with good news and God hath done his Son this honour The Gospel as you know is glad tydings of great Joy and Christ is he that makes it known to men He brings it forth out of the bosome of the Father And therefore it is called the word of Christ Not only because Jesus Christ is the author and the Subject matter of it but the revealer of it too God in these latter daies hath spoken to us by his Son saith the Apostle speaking of the revelation of the Gospel Heb. 1.2 He had good news to tell the world and he sent his Son with it He sent Moses with the Law which was a Message full of terrour Moses was good enough for that The Gospel was a Message full of sweetness and full of Comfort and Christ must have the honour to reveal that to the world Indeed my brethren whatsoever good we know of God or of his favour and good will towards us or of the work of our redemption and reconciliation and attonement all comes out by Jesus Christ Christ is the only Prophet of the Church and if we ask the question which the Psalmist mentions Psal 4.6 Who will shew us any good The answer must be None but Iesus Christ can do it or those that are sent out by him with his Message and in his Name As whatsoever good is purchased for the Church is procured by Christ only and revealed by Christ only so it is dispensed by Christ only God doth not give it out immediately himself but he communicates it to us in and by and through Christ as the Expression of the Scripture is The grace of God is shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Lord Titus 3.6 As all comes by his means so all goes through his hands And therefore he is said to have received gifts for men Isa 68.18 God doth not give his gifts directly and immediately to men himself but Jesus Christ receieth their endowments for them of the Father that of his fulness they may all receive He is the Treasurer of his Fathers grace that every one may come to him
very great hazard He doth what lies in him to cross the Lord in that which he is most intent upon on which his heart is wonderfully set Great men cannot endure you know to be crossed in their wills or hindered of their purposes and how think you will the great God endure to be affronted and opposed and crossed in such a thing as this is From all Eternity he hath determined with himself to glorifie his Son Christ he hath had it in his heart from everlasting he hath resolved he shall be honoured and that not by men alone but by the very Angels too those eminent and glorious Creatures It is the Fathers pleasure that it shall be so as the Apostle tells us Heb. 1.6 When he bringeth in his first begotten into the world he saith and let all the Angels of God worship him Not serve him and obey him only but worship him with divine and with religious adoration which is the heigth and top of honour with the same honour that belongeth to the Father as Christ himself expresseth it Iohn 5.23 And if he must have honour such transcendent honour from the very Angels must he not have it from inferiour creatures who are far below Angels Yes Gods expects it that at the name that is the power and authority of Jesus every knee should bow not of things in heaven only but of things in earth too that is not of Angels only but of men So that you see the father looks for this at our hands he looks we should do honour to his Son He saith as in the Parable They will reverence my Son Though they have slighted and abused other messengers that I have sent among them yet they will surely reverence my Son It is impossible they should be so unworthy to contemn my own Son And what then do we think of those who dishonour and contemn him notwithstanding will the father who hath sent him to this End that he might be honoured take this well at their hands to be thus crossed in such a great design of his by wretched men To see his own begotten Son despised and scorned whom he hath done so much to honour Why you will say what need you be so earnest upon this particular Who doth dishonour Jesus Christ Who doth despise him or contemn him do we not all acknowledge him to be our Lord and Saviour and the like yes we do all acknowledge him in words indeed we call him Lord. But many of us buffet him and spit upon him in the very same breath There are abundance of us my beloved who in name are Christians who do exceedingly dishonour Jesus Christ whatever their pretences and protestations be and I will shew you briefly who they are All unbelievers do dishonour Christ exceedingly in this respect that they do not close with him That when he is proposed and offered to them in the Gospel they do not take him and receive him on the terms that he is offered but put him off with a denial This is a great dishonour to the Lord Christ It is no less then an implicite scorning and despising of him As if he were so poor a gift that he were not worth the taking Ah my beloved do but think upon it that after Christ hath undergone so much as he hath done for our salvation and after comes a begging to our own doors beseeching us that we will entertain him and receive him and accept of him and that not for his own advantage or profit that accrews to him but meerly for our own good That he should stoop so low even by entreaties to impose himself upon us and we should be inexorable to him and basely thrust him quite away from us and refuse to meddle with him Oh what a horrible indignity is this to Jesus Christ What an unspeakable debasing of him Yet thus all unbelievers use him All I mean where Christ is preached And that may be applied to them which the Evangelist affirmeth of the Jews Iohn 1.11 He came unto his own his own friends his own Kindred his own acquaintance his own nation yea people of his own Country But though they were his own they would not own him nor embrace him He came unto his own and his own received him not And so he comes to these men and that with obsecrations and entreaties too and they clap the door against him and shamefully gâ—ve him the repulse They tell him in effect that he may go to those that need him and look after him or care for him For their parts they will none of him then which there cannot be a viler or more ignominions usage in the world They that despise and slight the blood of Christ they dishonour Christ himself His blood you cannot chuse but think is dear to him and the contemptuous usage of it reflects with high disparagement upon him But you will say who de pises Christs blood are any so unworthy and so base among us yes there are some such among us who use the blood of Christ as if they did account it an unholy thing as if it were but common blood the blood of any ordinary creature which they might freely undervalue at their pleasure And so in doing this they tread underfoot the son of God as the Apostle speaks Heb. 10.29 they throw him down and tread him under foot as if he were but dust or dung or some such base unworthy thing which is the horriblest contempt that can be They tread under foot the Son of God while they account his blood an unholy thing But who accounts it so you will demand Why they that use it so do in effect account it so and truly there are multitudes of such among us When ordinary blood is shed as the blood of any beasts you know we make no reckoning of it we look not after it we spend not any thought upon it it is shed and there 's an end And verily my brethren there are many who make no more of the blood of Christ himself then if it were but common blood then if an Ox or any other beast were slain and so account it an unholy thing They never think upon it unless it be to swear by it they never meditate upon the end for which he shed it or the use which they ought to make of it He shed his blood for us saith the Apostle that we should live no longer to our selves but to him that died for us And yet how many are there who live wholly to themselves notwithstanding all this who seek themselves their own ends their own things and not the things of Jesus Christ He loved his Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it Eph. 5.25 that he might wash it in his own blood Apoc. 1.5 And yet what multitudes are here among us who are not cleansed or washed to this day but tumble in the Kennel still wherein the swine of this world wallow
and become the more vitious What bind and curb and limit them tell them that they must not swear and they must not be unclean They will not be restrained and hampered they no they will swear the more and drink the more and be unclean the more They are resolved with the rebellious Jews we will not hear we will not do but we will do as we have done I will fetch wine and we will fill our selves with strong drink and to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant Well my beloved if any of you be at this hand hear but a few particulars before we part Consider Christ is infinitely tender of his Authority and of his Law He will not easily endure it to be sleighted and infringed He came not to destroy the Law himself no he was far from any such intention in his coming nor will he suffer any other to destroy it neither Heaven and Earth shall pass away before one jot or tittle of his Law shall pass away Mat. 18.5 He had as lief that Heaven and Earth should come to nothing as that his Law should be dissolved And judge you then how great their provocation is who violate and break the precepts of it day by day as Sampson did his green cords as if they had no strength or force at all in them Could they set Heaven and Earth on fire and consume it into ashes they could not anger Christ so much nor vex him as they do by this their cursed violation of his blessed Law And there is extraordinary peril in the wrath of Christ If once he be incensed there is very great hazard and hence saith David Psalm 2. ult Kiss the son least he be angry and you perish Consider that the Law as it hath a commanding power that requireth us to do so it hath a threatning power that obligeth us to suffer in case of disobedience to the Law As it bindeth men to do the things that are commanded in it so in case they do them not and have no interest in Christ by faith it bindeth them to suffer all the things that are denounced in it For every one that doth not every thing that is contained in the Law is exposed to the curse as you may see Gal. 3.10 There 's not a curse contained in the book of God from the beginning of it to the end but such a man lies open to it and if he persevere without repentance he shall be sure to feel it to his pain Well then my brethren you may perhaps out-stand the precept but are you able to out-stand the threatning You may decline the duty but are you able also to avoid the curse Here Christ commands you replie We will not hear we will not do But when he shall pronounce the sentence of the Law upon you in the great and great dreadful day will you replie We will not bear we will not suffer Will you tell him to his face We will not go to hell we will not be condemned by the Law as you have told him here We will not be obedient to the Law Alas it is not all mens scorns and haughty looks it is not all their pride and sturdiness that will prevail at that time No no the haughtiness of men shall be brought low and Christ alone shall be exalted in that day Consider Christ hath ability to back and second his authority All power is given to him all kinds all degrees of power power of authority and power of ability Power of authority alone is but an empty and a despicable thing he that hath it may command and they whom he commandeth if they please may disobey he cannot force them to obedience nor punish them for disobedience The hazzard is not great of disobeying such power But where ability goes with authority there the despising of it must be full of danger Now so it doth in Jesus Christ and therefore he is peremptory Rom. 14.11 As I live saith the Lord that is the Lord Christ as you may see by the coherence every knee shall bow to me willingly or by compulsion If it bend not willingly I will make it bow or break Christ will be King though the earth be never so unsteady and the haters of the Lord shall be subject unto him How shall his haters be his Subjects yes they shall be subject to him either one way or another For though they be not subject to his grace they shall be subject to his power They that will not be ruled by him shall be broken by him We read of some that break his bonds asunder Psal 2 3. but presently he breaks their bonds asunder If they be good at breaking Christ will fall a breaking too He will break them with a rod of Iron and dash them in pieces like a Potters Vessel The authority of Christ as it hath some that stoop to it so it hath others that oppose it And such are they of whom we read Luke 19.19 His Citizens hated him sent a message after him to tell him to his teeth we will not have this man to rule over us They were in haste they could not tarry till he came about again but they must send this sawcy Message after him But see now what becomes of these men and whether it be all as they will ver 27. But these my Enemies that would not have me to rule over them bring them forth and slay them before me Oh think on this you that will not be ruled by Jesus Christ who when his will is manifested to you and when you are acquainted with the Laws and Statutes of his Kingdom regard it not at all but make light of all this Oh be advised to be wise and serve the Lord. Kiss the son he hath authority and therefore do him fealty least he be angry and you perish Is it so that all mankind is under the authority of Jesus Christ they are mistaken then who think that some men are exempt from his authority and from his Legislative power and that they are not bound to the obedience of the Laws he gives I am very apt to think that Infidels heathens who never had the Gospel preached to them who never heard of Jesus Christ are no way bound to the obedience of the Law of faith so that they sin in not believing in the Lord Christ and taking him to be their Saviour whom they have no means to know The Law of faith I mean of justifying faith the Commandment to believe is not a natural but a positive Law and consequently promulgation is absolutely necessary to the obligation of it But the Decalogue the Moral Law the Law of works is written in the heart of man by nature and therefore bindeth all men to obedience Yea but say some believers are exempted from the obligation of it the faithful are not bound to the obedience of the Moral Law It s true I must confess they are not
God hath given him who are comparatively but a small number What use hath this authority in reference to other flesh to whom he doth not give eternal life if this be all the end of it For clearing of this my Brethren you must know that this is not the only end but it is the chief end for it is very manifest in Scripture that the authority of Jesus Christ as it extends to all flesh so it is exercised one way or another upon all flesh It is bestowed upon him by his Father as well that he may give eternal death to some as eternal life to others And so accordingly he executes this power and this authority of his as well in passing sentence of condemnation upon unbelievers as of salvation upon believers In judging some and that the most of men to death as well as other some to life The Father saith our Saviour hath committed all judgment to the Son judgement as well of condemnation as of absolution So that the giving of eternal life to as many as God hath given him is not the only end of the authority of Iesus Christ but it is the main end the prime end the chief end This end is principally in the eye of God and Christ the other end is not considerable in regard of this And therefore that is not so much as hinted at you see but this is clearly and expresly mentioned As who should say This was the end indeed for which his Father gave him power over all flesh this was the thing he chiefly aimed at that he might give eternal life to as many as God had given him So that the Point to be observed is this DOCTRINE That the authority of Jesus Christ with which he is invested over all flesh is chiefly for the benefit and the salvation of his own People It hath another end indeed but this is the great end he hath it not so much for the hurt of wicked men and unbelievers as for the good of his Members Not so much to destroy them as to save these And hence his Father who gave him this authority gave him such a name withall as shews us why he took upon him this authority as man why he became a Priest a Prophet and a King as you may see Mat. 1.21 Saith the Angel there to Joseph speaking of the Virgin Mary She shall bring forth a Son and thou shalt call his name Jesus And why so to shew the end for which he came into the world for he shall save his people from their sins Not so much to destroy ungodly men as to save his own people In which respect his Father would not have him called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Destroyer the name imposed upon the King of Locusts mentioned Apoc. 9.11 though he be so to many men yea to the greatest part of men whom he will punish with everlasting destruction But Jesus a Saviour its true indeed that Christ is set as that is the Expression Luke 2.34 that he is appointed by his Father for the fall and rising again of many in Israel as for the rising of believers so for the fall of unbelievers But this is but by accident and besides the main intention either of God in sending or of Christ in coming He doth not cause the fall of such as perish directly as he doth the raising of such as are saved by him And this is not obscurely mentioned in that place which is parallel to this Isa 8.14 He shall be for a Sanctuary saith the Prophet there that is the main end which he serveth for to be a place of refuge to his people and therefore that which follows is added with a But as coming in upon the by besides his purpose He shall be for a Sanctuary but for a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to the house of Israel and many among them shall stumble and fall and be broken Though he be in himself a Sanctuary yet this shall be the issue and event to some men Indeed he came into the world to save sinners as the Apostle Paul speaks 1 Tim. 1.15 not to destroy Sinners It s true that Sinners are destroyed by him but this was not the end of his coming God did not send his Son into the world saith the Evangelist Ioh. 3.17 to condemn the world but that the world by him might be saved And so our Saviour Christ himself professeth John 12.47 I came not to judge the world but to save the world And therefore if you look upon his story you shall find that he was frequently employed in works of mercy of helping and of saving people every way but when his hot Disciples would have the Samaritans destroyed by fire from heaven you know he would not hear of it You shall observe that he absolved and acquitted many in the dayes of his flesh Be of good cheer your sins are forgiven you But whom did he condemn or whose sins did he bind upon him No not the woman that was taken in adultery yea in the very act to shew how much this was besides his purpose And therefore when he delegated his Authority to his Apostles you may see the drift of it Mat. 28.19 20. It was to bring in his Elect to him that they might be saved by him having told them that all power was given to him both in heaven and in Earth Immediately by vertue of that power he gives them their Commission that they should go preach the Gospel and convert men to the faith and baptize them in his name He doth not say to them as God doth to the Prophet Ier. 1.10 I have set you over the Nations and over the Kingdoms to root out and to pull down and to destroy but I have sent you to the Nations to teach them and to save them Go teach all Nations baptizing them So that the point you see is fully proved That the authority of Jesus Christ with which he is invested over all flesh is chiefly for the benefit and the salvation of his own people And it must needs be so as I shall make it evidently and demonstratively to appear to you For First His very Mediatorship is chiefly for the benefit and salvation of his Reas 1 people and therefore the authority which he enjoys and which he is invested with as man and Mediator must needs be for the same End why was the Son of God incarnate why was he made the Mediator not for the hurt of wicked men but for the good of his chosen Not to bring them out or to keep them out but to bring these in not to make enmity or war for them but to make amity and peace for these And consequently his authority must have the same aim He took our nature on him he took upon him to be the Mediator between God and man and so accordingly assumed the Oeconomical and the dispensatory Kingdom too and the authority whereof we speak for the sake
vve had in him and which way comes he to be ours again but by a new a second Covenant which he makes the former being broken and dissolved I entered into Covenant with thee and thou becamest mine saith the Lord to his people Ezech. 16.8 And is not Christ the Foundation of the Covenant Is it not made with him in Christ Is not the condition of the Covenant Faith in Christ Mark what the Apostle saith Gal. 3.16 The Covenant was not made to seeds as many but to seed as one that is to Christ in aggregato comprizing all his members with him It was not made immediately to us no it was made immediately to Christ our Head and in and through him to us his members So that the Lord is not in Covenant with us he is not ours vve have no Title to him but in Christ And hence the Interest of Christ in God is made the rise and ground of ours I ascend to my God and your God saith Jesus Christ to his Disciples John 20.17 First mine and then yours God is our Master but in Christ He is his first and chief servant and we are his servants in him God is our Father but in Christ he is his first begotten Son and we are his sons in him So that if we know Christ there is a possibility that vve may know the Lord as our God But if we know not Christ at all how can we know God in him We may know him as a God as Adam did between the fall and the renewing of the Covenant but such a one as we shall flie from and as we can by no means close withall because we look upon him now as none of ours as one in whom vve have no Interest at all And certainly Eternal life cannot consist in such a Knowledge of the Lord as this is Fourthly Knowledge of God is not enough to life Eternal unless we Reason 4 know Christ too because unless we know Christ as we know God without Interest so we know him without Faith I mean without saving faith if vve know God without Christ we may believe in God vvithout Christ vve may believe in him as he is Omnipotent and All-mighty and Eternal and the like But such a faith as this will never justifie us in the present Life nor save us in the life to come Even Turks and Jews and Arrians boast of faith in God you know and yet because they appehend not Jesus Christ they catch at nothing but a shadow and miserably lose their own souls He that denies and so by consequence believes not in the Son can never have the Father as you may see 1 John 2.28 But he that hath the Son hath the Father also Well then if we will so believe in God as to come to life Eternal vve must believe in him through Christ Such trust have we through Christ in God saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 3.4 And this we cannot do unless vve know not God only but Jesus Christ whom he hath sent For distinct explicite Knowledge is absolutely necessary to the being of Faith and perfect Ignorance in any point whatever it be destroyes all faith in that particular And hence is the Apostles question How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and consequently whom they have not known So that if we know not Christ we cannot believe in him vve cannot believe in God with a justifying faith And he that believes not is condemned already such a person is in a state of death and condemnation But if we know both God and Christ too and so as to believe in God through Christ Eternal life consists in this Knowledge This is life Eternal to know the only true God c. Vse 1 Now is it so my Brethren that the Knowledge which is life Eternal in which Eternal life consisteth is the Knowledge both of God and Christ too Then in the first place we may here behold the dangerous estate of Heathen Nations who know not Jesus Christ nor can they any vvay in the condition they are in attain to this Knowledge How should they come to life Eternal if this be life Eternal to know the only true God and Iesus Christ whom he hath sent It s true that even they have means to know God as the Apostle shews and proves Rom. 1.19 20. That which may be known conceive it that which may be naturally known of God is manifest in them that is the Heathen for God hath even shewed it to them For the Invisible things of him from the Creation of the world are cleerly seen being understood by the things which he hath made even his eternal power and God-head So that there is an Image and Resemblance of him stamped upon the Creatures there are apparent Characters and foot-steps and Impressions of the God-head of his Power and of his Wisdom set upon the things that he hath made which may be looked upon by every eye How doth his Glory shine and glister in the Rare and admirable structure of the World the glorious frame of Heaven and Earth And hence it is that David saith the Heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy-work Psalm 19.1 Indeed he tells us afterwards the Law of the Lord is perfect the Word of God and that alone is a perfect a compleat and perfect help to bring us to the knowledge of God but yet there is some declaration of him in the Creatures the Heavens declare the glory of God And the means the Heathens have the creatures Catechize them and instruct them in the Knowledge of God as Job shews Iob 12.7 Ask now the beasts and they shall teach thee the fowls of the heavens and they shall tell thee or speak to the earth and it shall teach thee and the fishes of the Sea shall declare to thee who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this and therefore the Apostle tells us that even they the heathen know God as you may see Rom. 1.21 But now they have no means to know Christ and this is life Eternal to know both both God and Christ too So that in this respect they are cut off from life Eternal which is a very sad case This Knowledge is not written in the Creature-book and they have not the Scripture-book and how then should they come to it It s true that God is written in the Creature-book as I shewed you even now but not a word of Christ there Not a word I mean as Man and Mediator of the Church as he is Christ whom God hath sent He did not make the World as man and so by Consequence as Man he is not represented in the Book of the Creation God is written in the heart but not a word of Christ there The Law is written in the heart by nature but there are no Impressions of the Gospel which is the Word of Christ as the Apostles phrase is
complain as Rebecca sometimes did when she had parlies in her womb and when the twins were struggling there If it be so with me why am I thus Is it so that our God is the only true God Then let us see our happiness Use 5 in this regard that we have chosen him for our God and that we have not taken any other The most part of the world my Brethren are mistaken in their god they serve them who by nature are no gods as Gal. 4.8 And what mistake is like this Oh what an happiness is this that we have not been left to this errour Now therefore let us say as David Psalm 34.2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. Let us boast of our God and let us glory over other men in this regard that while they have false gods we have the only true God for our God So that we are not to be equalled for a God by any people in the world besides which is indeed the highest priviledge that any creature is capable of It is no sin to vaunt and pride our selves in this prerogative to make comparisons with others as the Psalmist doth Psalm 113.5 Who is like the Lord our God there are other gods abroad but what god is like ours who can compare with us in this regard who can shew us such a God as we have If we be miserable and unhappy as we apprehend in other things Oh let our happiness in this which is transcendent and incomparable quiet all and make us still We have the greatest happiness imaginable and attainable in that we have such a God Happy are the people that are in such a case saith David that have outward peace and plenty But infinitely happy are they who have the Lord for their God And thus far of the Attribute of God the firmer object of the knowledge wherein Eternal life consists the only true God The Attribute of Jesus Christ the second object of it mentioned here comes now in order to be handled sent of God This is the Eternal life to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent The word in the Original importeth such an one as is dispatched upon the errand of another upon the business that another sends him in The theame from which it comes is that from which Apostle comes So that as the Apostles were to Christ so was Christ to God the Father Jesus Christ was Gods Apostle as the twelve were his Apostles God the Father sent him even as he sent them And this is that which he expresses clearly to them when he reneweth their Commission immediately upon his resurrection Joh. 20.21 As my Father hath sent me so send I you By this you may a little guess at the intention of the phrase I shall open it more fully when I come to Explication In the mean time the point is this DOCTRINE That Jesus Christ is Gods Apostle he is a Messenger sent forth from God So is his own expression of himself to his Father in my Text This is Eternal Life to know thee the only true God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent or whom thou hast made thy Apostle And therefore it is usuall with him when he hath occasion to make mention of his Father to call him nothing else but him that sent him He that receiveth me saith Christ receiveth him that sent me and you know who that is Luke 9.48 so to his own Apostles and Disciples It is my meat and drink to do the will of him that sent me or that hath made me his Apostle And having done his will and business in the world and dispatched the errand he employed him in I go my way saith he to him that sent me John 16.5 And God upon the other side speaking of Jesus Christ uses to call him Him whom he hath sent his Angel and his Messenger you may see that place for instance Mal. 3.1 there are two Messengers in that text the first is John the Baptist the Messenger of Christ Behold I send my Messenger that shall prepare my way before me the next is Christ himself the Messenger of God The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come even the Messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in I might load you with quotations but I shall add no more for confirmation of the point that Jesus Christ is Gods Apostle he is a Messenger c. Indeed it needs not proof so much as Explication Now that you may the better understand the drift and the intention of it there are some Queries to be answered First whence it is that Jesus Christ is sent the terminus a quo of this mission Then in the next place whether he is sent the terminus ad quem Thirdly what errand and what business he is sent about Fourthly how he is qualified for the delivery of this errand and the dispatch of this business As for the first of these the terminus a quo whence it is that Christ is sent To this I answer he is sent from the bosom of the Father as that is the expression John 1.18 he comes out of the Ivory Palace Psalm 45.8 In plainer terms my Brethren he is sent from heaven and therefore he is called the Lord from heaven 1 Cor. 15.47 Not the Lord in heaven only but the Lord from heaven too and that not only with relation to his second but also to his first coming No man hath ascended up to heaven saith our Saviour Christ himself John 3.13 but he that came down from heaven And who is that even the Son of man who is in heaven So then when he was incarnate he came down from heaven in a sense for of this our Saviour speaks in that place And to this speech of Christ it is that the Apostle Paul alludeth when speaking of our Saviour Christs Ascention Eph. 4.8 he addeth presently by way of Explication Now that he ascended what is it but that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things So then descend he did at first from heaven as after he ascended up again to heaven But you will ask me How could Christ be sent from heaven Object and how could he descend from heaven It could not be with relation to his manhood for so when he came down he had never been in heaven his body had not been there A man would think it could not be with relation to his Godhead for that is everywhere it filleth heaven and earth as the Prophets phrase is The infiniteness and immensity of the divinity admits not motion it cannot stir from place to place because it is in all places and so there is no other place into which it may remove Well then the Essence of the Godhead is immovable neither is that the meaning when the Scripture saith that
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
it So that here was rich mercy Had he done it by constraint had he been enforced to it there had been no such matter in it I confess of admiration or thanksgiving The praise had then been due to him that forced him and not to him that was enforced But that he should go forth of such an errand willingly for our sakes that he should willingly expose himself to such a death for those who were not friends but enemies both to his Father and himself This was love as the Apostle Iohn speaks Love in the heighth and with a witness love to astonishment and admiration Is it so that Jesus Christ is Gods Apostle a Messenger c. Then be Use 2 you all entreated to receive him and to give him entertainment when he comes Do not reject and slight a Messenger that comes from such a one as God is you cannot but acknowledge that you owe so much to any one whom God sends as to give him fair quarter and to shew him all the kindness that you can Indeed the carriage of the world to Jesus Christ in this respect is very shamefull and unworthy The Evangelist observes it Iohn 1.10 11. that for the greater part he is neglected slighted and despised on all hands He came into the world saith he but they refused him they did not account him worth the looking after And why so the cause is evident they knew him not as it is added there in that place But yet the Jews a man would think who were his own of whom he came according to the flesh who knew the prophesies concerning him should have received and entertained him No for the greater number of them they were as bad and as averse as it was possible for men to be He came unto his own his own friends his own kindred his own acquaintance his own Nation the people of his own Countrey but though they were his own they would not own him nor embrace him He came unto his own and his own received him not Yea more then so it is observed with reference to them that God sent his Son among them and they cast him out and slew him Mat. 21.39 Now I beseech you my Beloved be not you like those men Since Jesus Christ is Gods Apostle and his Messenger since he is sent from God to you let him be received by you When he comes to your doors let him not stand knocking there till his head be full of dew and his locks with the drops of the night No open presently and let him in and entertain him with such honour and respect as is agreeable and suitable to him who comes immediately from God who is the Messenger and Embassador of the great God of heaven and earth And that you may the rather be prevailed withall I shall present you with a few considerations Consider Jesus Christ as he is sent forth from God so he is sent on your business The errand which he comes about concerns you and therefore you have cause to look after him If he were sent into the world about a matter that you had not to do withall and that concerns you not at all there were some colour that you should neglect him that you should leave him to be entertained by those whose business he is come about For what have you to do with him that comes upon a message to another man But sure the errand and the business which our Saviour comes into the world about is yours it is but reason that he should be entertained by you And as the business which he comes about concerns you so it concerns you for your good and your advantage It might be your business and yet it might be but a bad business such as you have no cause to hearken much after nor to give any welcome entertainment to him that is employed about it It might be for your hurt and for your ruine and your condemnation But Jesus Christ is not sent into the world at least he is not sent immediately and directly upon any such errand The Father disavows it and saith he did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world by him might be saved John 3.17 And so doth the Son too Iohn 12.47 I came not to judge the world but to save the world So that you see Christ is the Messenger of God for good to you He is not come to judge you and condemn you but to save you He comes not with a Writ of death but with a Pardon and a Pardon sealed with his own blood and therefore you have cause to bid him welcome He is sent to make Peace for you and to preach Peace to you as I have shewed you formerly The Spirit of the Lord is upon me saith our Saviour Isaiah 61.1 he hath annointed me to preach good tidings to the meek he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted 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. You see the errand he is sent upon is all sweetness the message which he brings is nothing else but glad tidings of good things And therefore let his very feet be beautifull let his reception and his entertainment be answerable to his business Consider that the Father who hath sent the Son into the world expects he should be well received and entertained by you He looks for this at your hands that you should honour his Embassador and use him with respect for his sake Especially since he is not his Embassador in ordinary as he hath many such among you every Minister is so No my Beloved Jesus Christ is more then so he is the Extraordinary Messenger and Embassador of God and therefore he will have him entertained with extraordinary honour and respect And this is that which he suggesteth in the parable Mat. 21.37 Last of all he sent his Son saying they will reverence my Son He had sent many other Messengers before and they despised and abused them as you may see in that place But last of all he sent his Son the greatest and the best Embassador he had to send and said though they have slighted other Messengers of mine yet surely they will reverence my Son Though they have abused my servants they will not deal so with my Son it is impossible they should be so unworthy to despise my Son So that you see my Brethren when God sends his Son to you he looks he should be well received and entertained by you Consider that if you deceive his expectation he will take deep revenge upon you If when he hath dispatched his own Son to you you will not give him entertainment but shut the doors against him as it were and turn him off with a refusall it will fall heavy on you in the end It is such a base affront and high indignity to God and Christ as he
were bestowed upon him So that they were severed separated from the world they were no longer of the wicked unbelieving world but of another party that were divided and distinguished from the world In the world they were indeed but they were not of the world And these are evidently they of whom our Saviour speaks in this place The men whom thou gavest me out of the world Now to those he here affirmeth that he had manifested and made known his Fathers Name And you must understand it to be spoken by our Saviour here exclusively I have manifested thy Name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world that is to them and none others Why did not Christ make known his Fathers name to all without distinction Did he not Preach to all Did he not open and unfold his Fathers love and mercy and the like to all the multitude that came to hear him He did indeed as to the outward Promulgation but not as to the inward and effectual revelation He did not manifest it by his Spirit savingly to all No my Beloved this was the Priviledge but of a few and in particular of those who were bestowed upon him by his Father to be Members of his body So saith our Saviour to his Father here I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world To them and not to others or else at least to them so as I have not done to others They have a Priviledge in this respect which others are not made partakers of I have made it known to them effectually and savingly and not to others You see the meaning of the words the Points to be observed are two First There are some certain men whom God the Father gives to Iesus Christ out of the world Secondly that Iesus Christ doth make his Father known effectually and savingly to them and none besides them At this time of the first DOCTRINE There are some certain men whom God the Father gives to Jesus Christ out of the World In prosecution of this Observation I shall distinctly evidence and clear these four things First There are some men whom God the Father giveth to Jesus Christ Secondly There are a certain number of them Thirdly They are of the World before the Father gives them to the Son And Fourthly After they are given up to Jesus Christ they are of the world no longer All these particulars are wrapt up in the Observation and the Text as I shall shew you briefly and in order First There are some men whom God the Father gives to Jesus Christ So he himself describes the persons to whom he manifests his Fathers name not by their inward disposition not by their outward action or condition but by the Act of God upon them or concerning them his giving them to Jesus Christ They are the men saith he whom thou gavest me So that some have this priviledge you see above the rest of lost mankinde that God the Father gives them to his Son Christ and gives them to him in a special manner as I shewed you even now not to be his Servants only but to be his Members too He bestows them upon Christ to be his own peculiar people I will not stay on this because it hath been largely handled heretofore Secondly Now for the second thing there are a certain number of them there are some certain men whom God the Father gives to Christ They are thus many not a person more or less The number of them is exactly known to God and Christ he knows how many of them there be to a man And hence our Saviour speaks of them in such a way as being able to distinguish them from all the world besides I have manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world And so he tels us that he knows his sheep that are given him of his Father as his own expression is John 10.27 29. And yet he calls his sheep by name ver 3. and in the 9th verse of this very Chapter I pray for them saith he I pray not for the world but for them whom thou hast given me So that our Saviour Christ distinguishes you see he knows who are his own by free donation of his Father and for them he prays He knows who are not given him and for them he prays not There are a certain number of them known to Christ Thirdly now this selected Company are of the world before the Father gives them to the Son I do not mean before he gives them by Election but before he gives them to him by actual union and incorporation And therefore they are said expresly to be given to Jesus Christ out of the World so that the World is always beforehand with Jesus Christ in this regard The World hath the possession of them first and afterwards they come to appertain to Jesus Christ In the first place they are the worlds as all unsanctifyed and unregenerated persons are and then at length they come to be the Lords Fourthly and then when they are once the Lords they are no longer of the world which is the last thing in the point They are given Jesus Christ out of the world and consequently when he hath them once they are not of it they are no longer men of this World As for the rest that are not actually bestowed on Christ they are Inhabitants Indwellers of the earth as they are often stiled in the Revelation they are the men of this World as the Prophet David calls them who have their portion in this present life Psal 17.14 They are not of the Father as the Apostle speaks but of the World 1 John 2.16 They are of the world therefore speak they of the world and the world heareth them John 4.5 But they that are delivered up to Jesus Christ and become his Members they are of the World no longer And this the Saints in Scripture have confessed that they were Strangers Pilgrims Sojourners in this World and therefore looked for and made towards their own Country Hebr. 11.6 I am a stranger on the earth saith David Psal 119.196 not in his place of banishment alone with the Philistims but in the Land of Canaan too yea in his house yea in his bed yea any where upon the earth he was a Stranger he counted not himself at home in any place but heaven only To say the truth the world lays no claim at all to those that belong to Christ and therefore this will need no great proof It doth not own them or acknowledge them for hers but rather casts them out and persecutes them and doth them all the spight and mischief that it can And this evinceth manifestly that they are not the Worlds as Christ himself informeth his Disciples upon the very same ground Joh. 15.19 If ye were of the world the world would love his own but because you are not of the world but I have
hearts are always running out to God and Christ and the happiness above and feeding upon such objects They are too large to be contained within the narrow limits of this lower world no as the Psalmist speaks they are continually with God With the woman Apoc. 12.1 They tread upon the Moon this variable and inconstant world they trample with an holy scorn upon these earthly things They are aspiring still to heaven walking and acting heaven-ward Indeed they live in some respect in this world but it is but as though they lived in the world as the Apostle Pauls expression is Col. 2.20 They use the world but yet it is as though they used it not as the same Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 7.29 They lay not out the strength of their affections and endeavours upon these things But on the matters of the other world there they are intent indeed there they are in good earnest there they act with full vigor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Trading their Commerce their Dealing their Negotiation is in heaven Phil. 3.20 The word there used hath very much in it and can hardly be expressed Beza assaies in many wayes The manner of our living is in Heaven or which comes nearer yet we carry and demean our selves as Citizens of Heaven As if Heaven were a City and we as being free there do walk and act according to the Manners and the Customs and the Laws and Constitutions of the City we belong to So that the Saints you see do live as if they were in Heaven already as being now no more of this world Now is it so my Brethren That there are some certain men whom God Use 1 the Father gives to Jesus Christ out of the world Are they the worlds before they come to be the Lord Christs by the donation of the Father Here then you see the reason my beloved why there is such a stir sometimes when God is giving men to Jesus Christ and why the business meets with so much heat and opposition You cannot but take notice what a fray is often made when any one is about to leave the world and to close with Jesus Christ Carnal Parents Brethren Sisters Friends Acquaintance by and by are up as it were in arms against it When the Apostles were bringing men to Jesus Christ at Ephesus you know my Brethren it occasioned such an uproar in the City and such a mutiny among the Tradesmen and Mechanicks there as you can hardly parallel in any story You shall observe in the New Testament when Christ began to gather people to himself that wheresoever there were any numbers given to him by the Father some were exceedingly disquieted out of patience at it It galled the Pharisees and cut them to the very hearts that Jesus Christ had such an harvest among the people there why say they in a great passion the whole world runs after him And so it is to this day and will be to the worlds end when God is pleased to give in souls to Jesus Christ in any place some will fret and storm at it Nor is it any wonder that they should for they are given him out of the world And the world is loth to lose that which appertains to it and which is its own possession If God did give a people to his Son to which the world had no right and to which it could pretend no title the world would like it well enough it would never be against it But this is that which vexes it and troubles it that God must give away that which is his the worlds to Jesus Christ He cannot have a man but the world must be a loser who cannot keep his own for him what hath any one to do to meddle with that which is the worlds known right to fetch away that which hath many years perhaps belonged to him This is an injury as he conceives that puts him out of all patience and this is that which makes him strive and struggle as he doth Christ enters upon every soul that is bestowed upon him by his Father by dispossessing and disseazing him so that it is no marvel though he be extreamly startled and though he labour every way by promises and by preferments on the one side and by threatning and by persecutions on the other to keep that which he hath in his possession Use 2 Are there some certain men whom God the Father gives to Jesus Christ out of the world So that however they were once the worlds now they are the worlds no longer By this let us examine and resolve whether we be given up to Christ or no It is an admirable priviledge an high prerogative for any soul to belong to Jesus Christ to be bestowed upon him by the Father It carries in it all the happiness that is attainable by any Creature Now would you know whether the Father have actually given you to Christ or no Consider whether you be out of this world whether it may be truly said of you that you were once indeed of this world you lived here builded tabernacles here your hearts and your affections and your chief delights were here But now the case is altered with you you are no longer of this world but of another Now that you may be able to discover this I shall give you marks for tryal If you be out of the world you are not fashioned and conformed to this world in the unlawful waies and practices and courses of it You fashion not your selves according to this world as the Apostle speaks Rom. 12.2 not as this world doth As Turks and Spaniards are not like to English men they have another kind of visage another garb another habit and the like So they that are given up unto Christ out of the world they differ manifestly from the world There is a clear distinction to be made between them and other men by any man that eyes them well there are none like them in the earth their wayes are of another fashion Now my Beloved is it so with you do you differ from the world do you live soberly and righteously and godlily in this present evil world In a world of wickedness are you singular in goodness so that the same may be affirmed of you that is recorded to the everlasting praise of righteous Noah that he was just and perfect in his Generations Gen. 6.9 and they were wicked and corrupt enough Of holy Lot that he was so far from joyning with the vitious Sodomites in their vile abominations that his righteous soul was vexed at their filthy conversation 2 Pet. 2.8 This is a comfortable evidence that you are given up to Jesus Christ out of this world But if you walk according to the course and custom of the world as the expression is Ephes 2.2 if you have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness if you run out with others to the same excess of riot if you be also led away
with the error of the world and so fall from your own stedfastness if you be carried down with the swinge and with the current of the times and of the places where you live do not deceive your selves you are yet of this world I must confess it is a very strong temptation when the stream runs in a wrong course and often shakes the holiest Saints But yet in such a case they that belong to Jesus Christ must consider with themselves that they are of another world and therefore are not much to eye the fashion and the wayes of this They must behave themselves according to the fashion of their own Country They must conclude with holy Joshua 24.15 If it seem evil to other men to serve the Lord if they will forsake God and forsake his worship let them serve whom they will for me as for my own part I am at a point for that I and my house will serve the Lord. And they must say in such a case as David did Away from me ye wicked I am not for your company because I am not for your courses away from me ye wicked I will keep the Commandements of my God If you be now no longer of this world but of the other your language is not of this world but of the other You speake the language of the world and of the Country you belong to You are full of good discourse your heart boyles with good matter as the expression of the Prophet is Psal 45.1 It is like a boyling pot for that is the similitude that is alluded to it is alwayes bubling up and running over and then it speaks of good things as it is added there in that place The heart within boyles and the tongue without speakes and as the boyling Pot runs over with the self same matter which it hath within it so it fares with such an heart It bubleth up with good matter the matter which it hath conceived and meditated touching Christ this is that which is so readily and freely uttered with the tongue My heart is enditing of a good matter I speak of the things which I have made touching the King Such are the hearts and tongues of those that are of the other world their speech is gracious and either tends to glorifie their God or to edifie their Brethren this is the language of their Country What think we then of those whose language is alwayes vain and frivolous it doth not benefit the hearers it ministreth no grace for there is no grace in it or which is worse it is wicked and pernitious Their speech is rotten and corrupt there is no salt to season it and make it wholesom and hence their throat is likened to an open Sepulchre Rom. 3.13 which breathes and steames up nothing else but odious smells and loathsom exhalations or else at best their speeches and discourses are of nothing else but earth and earthly things Talk with them while you will you hear of nothing else but worldly matters from them Of what Country do you think are these men The Apostle John tells you 1 John 4.5 They are of the world and they speak of â—he world Shibboleth never descryed so many Ephraimites as this doth worldly wrerches They are of Galilee they are of this world for their speech bewrayeth them Shall I believe they are Inhabitants of the Celestial Canaan who cannot speak almost without an oath whose tongues are alwayes dipping in that blood which alone can cleanse them from all sin Shall I say that such a man or woman is of heaven whose tongue is set on fire of hell Brethren do not deceive your selves if you cannot spake the language you belong not to that Country If you be now no longer of this world but of the other you have a dear affection to your Contrymen to those that are given up to Christ out of the world as you are If travailers and strangers meet with any of their Country-men in a remote and forreign Land how lovingly do they embrace them what kindness do they shew them how are they knit together in a bond of love Just so it is with those who are of the other world If they light any time on any of that same world which they themselves belong to they are extreamly taken up with joy although they never saw them nor had acquaintance with them in their lives before and presently their hearts and their affections do wonderfully close together And therefore they are gross dissemblers who would be thought to be given up to Christ out of the world and yet their bosom friends and their Companions are all of them of this world These are the men which they converse withall and which they take delight in Nay which is worse then this they hate the men whom Jesus Christ hath called and chosen out of the world They persecute them with the hand and with the tongue and do them all the spight and all the mischief that they can Suppose thou wert in Italy or Spain or any other forreign Land and there shouldst meet an Englishman wouldest thou mock and scoff at him wouldest thou deride and jear at the fashion of his cloaths the manner of his complement his gate and carriage and the like wouldest thou procure him to be taken up imprisoned put to death thy Earthly Country would not own thee if thou shouldst be so unworthy And truly heaven will not own the men who deal thus basely and injuriously with the Inhabitants of that Country Use 3 Are there some certain men whom God the Father gives to Jesus Christ out of the world so that however they were once the worlds now they are of the world no longer You then that find you are given up to Jesus Christ think it not much if you have but ill usage and untoward entertainment in the world Truly my Brethren if you consider whence you are and to what Country you belong there can no other be expected by you if you were of the world the world would love her own but because you are not of the world but Christ hath chosen you out of the world therefore the world hates you And it shall be your wisedom to look out and to provide for such usage If Turks or Spaniards walk along the streets every one will gaze upon them they will wonder at their gate and at their habit and the like Every one will be ready to abuse them and to put them to the worst for they are friendless being in a strange Country And are not you my Brethren of another Country yea of another world are you not men of singularity are not your wayes and fashions diverse from the fashions of this world No marvel then though you be men of wonder as the Prophet speakes though you be pointed at and though you be made spectacles and gazing stocks Though every one presume to injure you and wrong you and deal unworthily and basely with you
while you remain as Sojourners in this Country Use 4 Are there some certain men whom c. so that however they were once the worlds now they are of the world no longer Then do not you regard the world nor the things of this world We see that Travailers do not use to set their hearts on any thing they meet with in a strange Country If they see stately houses orchards gardens if they hear curious musick they are not taken up with these things no they keep on their way and are not hindered or withdrawn by the most pleasing avocations Doth any stranger fall a building at his Inn or doth he plant and sow as he travails by the way And therefore seeing we are of another world let us not set our hearts on these things No let us use the world but as though we used it not for necessity alone not for delight to further us in holy duties not to stop us to help us heaven-ward not to hinder Are there some c. so that however you were once c. This fits Use 5 you then with a reply to that usual argument with which the Saints of God are often pressed to sinful practices Other men do thus and thus and why will not you too will you be singular and will you go in a way by your selves and will you do as no body doth Why what though other men do this whence are those other men they are not of the world that we are and therefore they are no examples for us We must not do as they do no we must differ from them we must come out from among them and be separate and touch no unclean thing Though they handle it we must not touch it When Shadrach Mesach and Abednego refused to bow before the Golden Image which Nebuchadnezar the King had set up they might have said to them What will you do as no body doth you see that all men universally fall down before it and they no small ones neither the Judges Councellors Princes Rulers of the people Dan. 3.3 And will you take upon you to be wiser then your betters will you stand out alone and be so stiff in your opinion yet this did not one whit move them neither must such an argument as this prevail with us No we must keep the right way though we go alone though all the world should leave us and forsake us And to this end I propound two things 1. It will be a safe course thus to reserve our selves from the pollutions of the world and the contagion of the times and places where we live The Lord most commonly vouchsafes to such a special priviledge of preservation when dangers and calamities and troubles come as he did to Lot and Noah and the Mourners in Ezechiel And as they have not shared in common corruptions so he exempteth them from Common desolations c. 2. And as it will be safe for us thus to reserve our selves so it will be honourable too The veriest wretch may keep himself from wicked acts sometimes when there are no examples no temptations to withdraw him But in a world of wickedness to be singular in goodness is Christian-like indeed It was Tullies Commendation of Muraena Laudandus Muraena non tam quod in Asia vixerit quam quod in Asia continenter vixerit And Gods of Job that there was none like him in the earth Are there some certain c. And are you of that number there is Use 6 no reason then why you should be so much distracted and disquieted to see such stirs and troubles such alterations and confusions in the world Why should you be so out of patience to see things turned upside down in such a Country where you do not live to which you do not appertain What need you care I spake of such a Care as eateth out the joy and comfort of a man how matters go what stirrs and hubbubs and combustions there are here in this world so long as all goes well at home in your world Remember still in such a case that you are not of this world but of another And why then should it startle you though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the Sea Yea though the Kingdoms of this world be shaken so long as your world and the Kingdom of it is not shaken so long as that stands firm and sure you have no reason to be swallowed up with overmuch fear and overmuch sorrow But rather on the other side when you see all the world and all the Kingdoms of it in a flame to bless and magnifie the Lord that you are out of this world that you are out of Gun-shot out of the reach of these things Indeed with reference to the men of this world who have their Conversation and their portion here whose friends and means and dwellings lye in this Country we have reason to be troubled when Concussions and Confusions come upon the earth for we should pity those who are of the self same nature with us in their troubles and distresses But for our selves we may behold the greatest tribulation and distractions that come upon the world as things that do not much concern us just as we do the wars in Italy when we have peace we pitty the poor people there and rejoyce that we live not in that Country So long as all goes well at home as no ill tydings come from heaven from our own Country we are in a good Condition It may be we may suffer some outward evils and extremities we may be banished from the Country which we sojourn in but then we are but banished from a place of banishment We may be banished if I may express it so out of this world into the other that is we may lose our lives but then at worst we are but banished home They do but send us to the world that we are of and that we belong to men may deprive us of the Life by which we live in this world but this is but a seeming Life the shaddow of a Life it is but as though we lived in the world But the life by which we live in the world that we are of is an enduring and abiding life It is a lasting and an endless life it is above the reach of death and dissolution And though the natural life decay this life of grace will flourish and grow stronger still till it be perfected in that of glory JOHN 17.6 Thine they were c. thou gavest them to me ANd thus far of the description of the persons to whom our Saviour had made known his Fathers Name not by their own condition or their own action but by his Fathers act upon them or in reference to them his giving them to Jesus Christ out of the world I have manifested thy Name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world The following words seem to be added to
grace consider with your selves Now Jesus Christ draws nigh to me he that is above in heaven and with relation to his bodily and fleshly presence is no more in this world is in another way coming into my soul And therefore do not shut the doors against him but bid him very welcome when he comes when he offers more knowledge faith love hope patience let not these offers be refused Remember when you take in these you take in Christ with them in the presence of his Spirit So much as you enjoy of these so much you enjoy of Christ and therefore seek and value every saving grace the more and be the readier to receive and entertain it because it brings Christ with it Is it so that Jesus Christ as he is man is gone away c. Then let us Vse 3 also go away out of the world to him that we may be where he is I say as Christ to his Disciples in another case Arise let us go hence Jesus Christ is gone you hear and why then do we stay behind him why do we tarry here when Christ is gone It 's true we cannot go to him in the body but yet as Christ though he be absent from us in the body yet he is present with us by his Spirit so we upon the other side though we be absent from him in the body let us be present with him in the Spirit and as he comes from heaven to us by his Spirit though his body stay there so let us go from earth to heaven to our Saviour in our spirits though our bodies stay here But you will ask me How may this be done or how may we be present with our Saviour in our Spirits I Answer 1. We may be present with him in the thoughts and meditations of the Spirit These are the proper actings of the soul the inner man and if our thoughts be much upon him we are in this respect much with him And therefore I beseech you my Beloved let us feed our selves continually with sweet and pretious thoughts of Jesus Christ though we be here below and must continue so till Christ be pleased to take us to himself yet let our minds ascend to heaven and let our thoughts and meditations be where Christ is Oh let us think upon him in the day and in the night upon our beds when we are still and have nothing to distract us then let our hearts be filled with sweet soliloquies with ravishing and transporting thoughts of Christ that we may speak to him as David did Psal 104.34 How pretious are the thoughts of thee O Lord How great is the sum of them It passes my Arithmetique to cast them up 2. Let us be present with our Saviour in the affections of the Spirit let our spirits cleave to him though we be absent from him in the body Where Jesus Christ our treasure is there let our hearts be also That as Elisha said to Gehazi once Went not my heart with thee when at that very time he was sitting in his house and Gehazi was abroad 2 King 5.26 So we may say to Jesus Christ though in another way However we be absent from thee in the body yet is not our heart with thee as the Apostle to the Thessalonians We Brethren being taken from you in presence not in heart 1 Thes 2.17 so we to Jesus Christ Oh Lord though we be separated from thee in our bodies we are not separated from thee in our hearts They are continually with thee nor shall they be divided from thee 3. Let us be present with our Saviour in the desires and anhelations of the Spirit let them be always mounting up where he is he is gone and in the mean time till he come again to us let us long to go to him Oh let us build no Tabernacles on the Tabor of this world since our Saviour is not here But let us look upon our selves as banished men as the Apostle did knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord 2 Cor. 5.6 and so let us groan earnestly to get to Christ as he did Let us be always breathing gasping fainting after Jesus Christ and putting out our heads to see when he will come and receive us to himself that where he is there may we be also And thus far of the first particular suggested in the words the departure of our Saviour out of this lower world to the immediate presence of his Father And now I am no more in the world but I come to thee The second follows now in order to be handled and that is his Disciples stay behind him But these are in the world and are where they are like to be and where they are to tarry and remain when I am gone The world in which our Saviour Christs Apostles and Disciples were and were to stay must be conceived to be the very same which Christ himself was now about to leave and from which he was ready to depart viz. this lower world beneath heaven that from which he was to go in that were his Disciples and Apostles to remain And now I am no more in the world but these are in the world the self same world in which I am to be no more But why is this alleadged by our Saviour to his Father here that the Apostles and Disciples were to stay in this world apparently to shew what cause he had to mention them in his Petitions and to commend them to the special care and mercy and protection of his Father As in the words that are immediately annexed Holy Father keep them through thy own Name q. d. I am even now about to leave them and to leave them in the world and thou knowest what a place the world is how troublesome unpleasing and vexatious it hath continually been to my Disciples and therefore I beseech thee Father keep them have a special eye upon them who are to stay behind me in such a place as this is So that the point apparently suggested here is this DOCTRINE The world hath alwayes been and is an evil and uncomfortable place to Christs Disciples It is a sad and doleful place to live in and hence our Saviour seeemeth to bewail the case of his Apostles and Disciples in my Text These are in the world saith he as if he should have added and that is but an ill place Now that I may the better clear it and evince it to you I shall shew in what respects the world is such an evil and uncomfortable place to Christs Disciples It is in this respect an evil and uncomfortable place to Christs Disciples that it is a place of suffering In which they are continually to be exposed to many tryals and to many troubles Though they be in the world yet they are not of the world and therefore they are hated by the world as Jesus Christ himself informeth his Disciples John 15.19 If ye were of
what to do for then perhaps the Lord will shut the doors against you and leave you helpless in your troubles And truly it is just with God that they that seek not to him till they be driven out of all their shifts should be neglected by him when they come 2. Humbly or else the Name of God will not be a refuge to you You may come to him for shelter but he will not receive you into his protection No he will resist the proud he will keep them out of doors he will leave them succourless in their distresses They were so proud and their stomachs were so high in prosperous times that they looked not after God God was not in all their thoughts Psal 10.4 And therefore now when they come running to him because they know not how to live without him the Lord will look as little after them let them do what they will for God But on the other side my Brethren there are many sweet and pretious promises of mercy protection to the humble person 3. Heartily with all the heart and all the soul for so is the direction Deut. 4.29 you must not seek him feignedly with half a heart with a divided spirit for if you do you may expect such entertainment as is threatned to those dissembling wretches mentioned Prov. 1.28 They shall call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me and you may look to speed as hollow-hearted Israel did Hos 5.6 They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord and shall not find him 4. Reformedly in a way of Reformation and amendment It is in vain for a prophane and filthy person so continuing to run to the name of God in his distresses He must not look for any shelter there he shall not come neer God for God will be sanctified in all that come near him He that cannot endure to look upon prophaness with his eye will not shrowd it with his wing But to the Saints to holy persons the Lord will be a sure refuge The Name of the Lord is a strong Tower Prov. 18.10 the righteous runneth into it and is safe 5. Constantly we must hold out in seeking God and that not only in the act but also in the power and vigor of it And as the Spouse though she were long delaid and though she met with many difficulties and disheartnings yet she continued seeking still She followed Christ through every lane and every street and never left till she had found him So we must follow God my Brethren through all the Ordinances all the means all the wayes that lead to him and though he fly away and hide himself we must not faint and languish but continue and hold out till we have found him Vse 4 Is it so that they that belong to Christ are kept c. If then we have been kept in any dangers or distresses let us look up to this Name let us not rest in the external means and secondary causes of our succour or deliverance but let us look beyond them and above them to the name of God Let us see this Name of his engraven and enstampt upon them as the Prophet counsels Mich. 6.9 The man of wisdom shall see thy Name and when we see it let us acknowledge it to be the fountain of our help the cause of all our succour and deliverance Let us confess that God according to our Saviours Prayer in my Text hath kept us through his own Name And let his Name have all the glory And thus far of the means by which our Saviour here desires that his Disciples and Apostles might be kept his Fathers Name Holy Father keep through thy own Name those whom thou hast given me The End for which he prays they might be kept comes now in order to be handled That they may be one as we are A strange expression if we look upon it with a superficial view That the Disciples of our Saviour may be one in some respects is very easie to imagine But how they should be one as God the Father and the Son are one who are so one that they are the very same the same essence for so the union is identical though they be not the same person this is hard to be conceived yet this is the expression of our Saviour to his Father in my Text That they be one as we are Which that you may the better understand my Brethren you must know that as in Scripture is many times a note of similitude and not of equality It intimates the truth and the reality of that wherein the likeness stands and not the measure and degree I might give many instances wherein that particle is so taken you may see that place for instance Luk. 6.36 Be you merciful as your Father also is merciful It is impossible for any man to be merciful as God if you look to the degree For as the Heavens are higher then the Earth so are his ways and thoughts above ours in reference to mercy and forgiveness But yet we may be merciful as God is really and truly so although not so in such a measure We may be merciful as he though not as merciful as he So in my Text our Saviour prays in the behalf of his Apostles and Disciples to his Father that they may be one saith he as we are as thee and I are The meaning is not that they may be one as neerly that is impossible but that they may be one as truly as we are Not that they may be one by a substantial and identical but by a real union as we are Not that they many be one in all respects but that they may be one in some respects as we are But you will ask me then what those respects are I will shew you in a Word God and Christ the Father and the Son are two persons And yet though they be two persons they agree in every thing Though they be divers yet they never differ No they do continually minde the same things they will and nill the same things they love and hate the same things There is an unexpressible agreement and consent between them every way even so it is exceedingly to be desired that the Disciples of our Saviour though they be many persons yet they may be of one mind and one heart and one affection That they may agree in all things that there may be no difference no divisions no jars no strifes no rents among them but that they may in this respect be one even as the Father and Son are And this you see is the great thing for which our Saviour is a suitor to his Father in behalf of his Apostles and Disciples that they might be at unity among themselves This is the end for which he prays they may be kept by the Almighty power of God himself that as far as it is possible for men
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
and nourish discords and dissentions For these if we will give them entertainment will set our hearts on fire of hell And therefore when our thoughts begin to work apace in any injury or provocation that is offered to us and to tell us strange things that it is not to be born and that it may not be endured let us smother and suppress them let us not give place to them no not for an hour no not for a moment It is observed of Abraham that when the fowls came down upon his sacrifice he drove them away Gen. 15.11 so when such foul and noisome thoughts as these offer to pitch upon our heart let them have no footing there no let us watch them narrowly that we may suddenly chase them away And let us follow the advice of the Apostle Heb. 10.24 Let us consider one another to provoke to love Let us consider that and think on that which may stir us up to love let our imaginations work and dwell upon such thoughts as these and not those which lead on to Contestation and Dissention As we should chase away the thoughts so we should avoid the persons that make and nourish breaches and divisions It is the Apostles Counsel that we should mark them that cause divisions and offences and avoid them Rom. 16.17 Mark them not to join with them but to decline them and avoid them Brethren you shall observe that there are some of all hands whose work it is to make peace and to compose breaches And there are others on the other side who are as busie as it is possible for men to be to make rents and separations and divisions And it is our unhappiness that these dividers work goes onward faster then the others Indeed it is an easie thing for one to rip faster then two or three can sow Alas how many are there in these wrangling times who are continually medling and who make this their work and business to see how they can set men one against another how they can blow the coals of discord and kindle them into a flame how they can heighten the contention and the animosity that is too high already among those who are in name at least and in profession Christs Disciples Now I beseech you my beloved as the Apostle doth the Romans in the fore-alledged Scripture Mark these men let them be of what side they will if they be of this spirit do you set a mark upon them that you may know them another time and that you decline them and avoid them It is a bitter imprecation of the Apostle Pauls Gal. 2.12 I wish they were cut off that trouble you Truly I wish that they who are the troublers of our Sions peace the main and unwearied sticklers in our Church-divisions who would not have things come to an accord and a friendly composition for ends which they best know I wish they were cut off from all communion with the Saints That all the people of the Lord on all sides would look aloof upon them and avoid them as the pests of this Nation And certainly if all men would avoid them and keep off from them they would have the less work and we should have the less trouble If we would be at nearest unity among our selves we must be furnished with abundance of that wisdom which cometh from above as the Apostle cals it James 3.17 For that is gentle peaceable easie to be be entreated full of mercy and good fruits Contentious persons may applaud their own wits and think themselves extreamly wise and subtil in making good the quarrels which they undertake But what saith the Apostle ver 14. if you have bitter strife and envy in your hearts glory not lye not against the truth This wisdom descendeth not from above And if it come not from above from heaven it cometh from beneath from earth from hell it is earthly sensual devilish What ever mens abilities or parts or reaches are if they be alwayes quarrelling and falling out as many are it is apparent that they want this blessed wisdom To say the truth my brethren it is want of wit that is much of the cause of all this Anger resteth in the bosom of fools and so the wise man tells us that every fool will be medling Prov. 20.3 It is an honor for a man to cease from strife but every fool will be medling It is the property of every fool to do so You have a sort of men my Brethren that will be at the end of every quarrel If there be any difference or strife near them they will be sure to have a finger in the pie they will never sit out Now would you know what kind of men these are They are a company of fools a company of busie medling fools and were it not for such Idiots we might have much more peace then we have at this day If men were ballasted with wisdom they would not be a tempering and a making variance as they do And if indignities and wrongs were offered to them they would easily digest them and possess their souls in patience and therefore let us labour after this wisdom and let us follow the advise and counsel of our Saviour Mar. 9 50. Have salt in your selves and have peace one with another First let us have the salt of wisedom in our selves and then we shall have unity and peace with others If we would be one and if we would have peace the blessing we must be under the commanding and the ruling power of peace the vertue It must sit upon the throne in our hearts as the Apostle Paul exhorts Col. 3.15 Let the peace of God rule in your hearts Brethren when you are any way exasperated or provoked so that your passions rise or swell and are ready to break out into intemperate words or actions when you are hardly able to contain your selves then let the ruling power of peace appear by stilling and composing all again And let this holy disposition be so strong within you that neither pride nor wrath nor malice nor any other lust may be able to controll it There is a story that the Swevians had a Law among them that in a fray where swords were drawn if a woman or a child did cry but peace a great way of they were bound to end the quarrel or else he died that struck the next stroke after peace was named So if your passions be at war within you to use the Apostles phrase if they be up in arms and you do but think of peace or any friend perswade to peace let all be husht and quiet presently and let that passion die let it be crucified that dares to stir when peace is mentioned So let the peace of God rule in our hearts let it triumph in all and over all our provocations that we may bear them all with an unmoved and undisturbed spirit Let us be earnest with the Lord in prayer that he would make
that of the Apostle in the same case Rom. 9.20 Nay but O man who art thou that replyest answerest again disputest against God! All the objections that are made almost against the point in hand are against God too against his mercy justice power c. If you have any thing to say for God it is worth the hearkning to otherwise you have your answer Who art thou that disputest against God do but consider who art thou Vse 2 Is it so that God in his Eternal c. How should this make us to admire at the transcendent riches of his grace and love to us whom he hath chosen to salvation Paul makes it an especial aim of God in his Decree of Reprobation To shew the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy Rom. 9.23 And if we weigh it well we shall easily discern that it doth strangely heighten the exceeding love of God Had he ordained all men to salvation even so his mercy had been out of measure great But that he hath ordained any of us to salvation when on the contrary he hath ordained so many millions to destruction whose state in Nature was no worse then ours whose strength in nature was as great as ours to exempt them from damnation whose care to be reconciled was no less then ours till God was pleased in mercy to prevent us how should this sweeten the favour of the Lord to us in this respect and even ravish us with admiration of his free grace The Lord delights to amplifie his love by this He took not Angels but the seed of Abraham Heb. 2.16 Was not Esau Jacobs brother saith the Lord Yet I loved Jacob and I hated Esau Mal. 1.2 3. Whose soul that hath tasted of it can choose but be amazed at it Hath God preferred me before Angels before so many thousands in the world Oh the unsearchable depth of his love to me How doth it pass all knowledge JOHN 17.12 That the Scripture might be fulfilled AND thus of our Saviours general assertion that he had safely and entirely kept all those that were bestowed upon him by his Father While I was with them in the world I kept them in thy Name those thou gavest me I kept and none of them lost And likewise of his particular exception of Judas who here is called the son of perdition None of them is lost but the son of perdition Now in the following words that none might be offended at the loss of Judas or stumble at his ruine and destruction our Saviour Christ goes on to shew that as it was designed and fore-appointed in the eternal Councel and Decree of God so it was fore-told in Scripture It was not only fore-ordained but it was fore-shewed too So that in his destruction there fell out nothing otherwise then as it was expresly and apparently declared before in Scripture The Scripture was not crost and contradicted in it but verified and fulfilled None of them is lost but the son of perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled But you will ask me what Scripture where did the Word of God foretel the ruine and destruction of this wretched man I answer David prophesied clearly and expresly of it many hundred years before Psal 109.8 Let Satan stand at his right hand When he shall be judged let him be condemned and let his prayer become sin Let his days be few and let another take his office Judas you know was self-condemned and self-executed too and so his days were few by that means And when he had destroyed himself his place and Office of Apostleship was supplyed by another But you will say perhaps Judas is not named by David in the fore-alleadged Psalm And therefore though the prophesie seem to agree to him and his condition yet how are we assured that he is aimed at in particular in that prediction Why my Beloved though the Prophet David do not name him the Apostle Peter doth apply that Scripture to him Act. 1.20 For having said in the fore-going verses This Scripture must have been fulfilled which the Holy Ghost by David spake before concerning Judas He comes at length to this in the alledged verse For it is written in the Book of Psalms Let his habitation be desolate and let no man dwell therein and his Bishoprick or Charge or Office 〈◊〉 another take so that when he was lost and fell from his Apostleship yâ—â— see that Scripture was fulfilled And yet you must not apprehend the loss of Iudas to be caused by that praediction as if the Prophesie concerning him did really contribute any thing by way of active operation and efficiencie to his destruction Though I acknowledge the expression of my Text may seem to look a little that way None of them is lost but the son of perdition And he is lost that the Scripture might be fulfilled But you must know my Brethren that he had been lost though his destruction had never been foretold in Scripture He was not lost the rather because his loss was prophesied but it was prophesied because he was before from all eternity appointed to perdition And being prophesied when the event fell out accordingly it looked as if the prophesie had been the cause of his destruction So that the particle that as a very learned man observes upon the Text Iudas was lost that the Scripture might be fulfilled denoteth not the true but the appearing cause only Yet thus much it suggests withall which shall be our observation DOCTRINE That whatsoever is foretold in Scripture shall surely be accomplished and fulfilled The issue and event shall answer the prediction every way in all respects And therefore it is often noted not in my Text alone but elsewhere frequently that such and such things came to pass that the Scripture might be fulfilled as you may see that place for instance Mat. 2.14 15. Joseph arose and took the child and departed into Egypt That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet saying Out of Egypt have I called my Son And after in the following verse Herod sent forth and slew the children from two years old and under Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by the Prophet saying In Rama was a voyce heard Lamentation and weeping and great mourning Rachel weeping for her children and would not be comforted because they are not And so in many other places the Apostles very carefully observe the punctual and exact accomplishment of the antient Prophesies and speak sometimes in such a manner as if things came to pass for no other cause but this because they were foretold in Scripture and that the Scripture might be fulfilled Whereas indeed they had been done though they had never been foretold because they were fore-determined only they would have us know that whatsoever is foretold shal certainly be done in Gods time It is easier saith our Saviour for Heaven and Earth to pass away then for one title of the Word of God to
fail Luk. 16.17 that is to miss of execution and accomplishment Fail it may in the Letter and Paper of it but not in the fulfilling of it No saith our Saviour Heaven and Earth shall pass away but my Word shall not pass away Mat. 24 35. Heaven and Earth are more inconstant and variable then my Word is and therefore the Apostle Peter speaking of the Prophesies of Scripture saith that they are sure 2 Pet. 1.19 We have saith he a more sure Word of Prophesie whereunto ye do weâ—â—â—hat ye take heed Not as if the Prophets words or writings were in thâ—â—selves more sure then the Apostles but to the Jews they were more sure For they received the Prophets words and writings but they rejected the Apostles Well sure the writings and predictions of the Prophets are you see we may rest safely upon them and conclude That whatsoever is foretold c. And it must needs be so my Brethren For The Author of the Prophesies is unchangeable and true and consesequently whatsoever he foretels or any Messenger of his from him must surely be accomplished and fulfilled 1. The Author of the Prophesies as well as other parts of Scripture is unchangeable He is the Lord that changeth not Mal. 3.6 He is yesterday to day the same for ever Heb. 13.8 And therefore what be saith must come to pass men say sometimes that they will do a thing to day which yet they alter and revoke again to morrow But if God say a thing to day he will stand to it firm to morrow he will not change his resolution He is not as man that he should lye and as the son of man that he should repent But he hath seemed to repent Object and to change his resolution in many things foretold in Scripture For instance he foretold by Jonah that Nineveh should be destroyed at the end of forty days Jonah 3.4 yet when they were expired he did not as he had foretold so that he altered in appearance yea it is said expressly that he repented of his Commination so that he brought it not to execution God repented of the evil which he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not Jonah 3.10 For clearing this Sol. you may remember that universal rule which God lays down for the better understanding of all Prophetical Praedictions in a way of Commination Jer. 18.7 The sum is this that they have all of them annexed to them or implyed at least if not an exprest condition And so had this against the Ninivites Yet forty days and Niniveh shall be destroyed conceive it if they be not humbled that was the reserved condition But they were humbled repented though they were preserved God did not otherwise then he determined and yet indeed he is said to have repented because he did so that he seemed to repent For as a man if he have threatned that thus and thus he is resolved to do and after do not so if he have power is said to change his mind and to repent of what he said Even so the Lord when he had threatned Niniveh and had concealed the condition because he spared it afterwards and did not just according the letter of the Commination is said to have repented because he seemed to do that which in a man would have discovered change and alteration of his resolution And even as anger is ascribed to the Lord Non per affectum sed per effectum as the Schoolmen say The passion or affection of it is not properly attributed to God but the effect and fruit is Vengeance is mine and I will repay it Even so repentance is not in the nature of the Lord but the effect and issue of it is usually ascribed to him The recalling or undoing of a thing which as far as we could judge by his words or by his works or our deserts or any other evidence that was before us seemed unto us to have been his intent and purpose to have done 2. And as the Author of the Prophesies as well as other parts of Scripture is unchangeable so he is true Yea He is the God of Truth as the Prophet David stiles him Psal 31.5 And therefore that which he foretells must be accomplished and fulfilled Observe it well my Brethren the Prophet doth not say He is the true God in himself and in his nature but he is the God of Truth in his discoveries and in his revelation of himself to men All that comes from him is truth He is the faithful and the true witness Apoc. 3.14 Not only true and faithful as a God but true and faithful as a witness In all the testimonies that he gives of himself or of his Son or of his works already done or intended to be done there is nothing else but truth He cannot be the Author of a falsehood it is impossible as the Apostle tells you Heb. 6.18 It is impossible that he should lye He can assoon deny himself put off his Deity cease to be God as father an untruth and therefore that which he foretels must be accomplished in his season And as the Author of the Prophesies is unchangeable and true so the Word of God it self of which the Prophesies are part is so also The Word of God is unchangeable and true even as God himself is and therefore all the Prophesies and the Praedictions of it must be accomplished and fulfilled 1. The Word of God is an unchangeable an unalterable Word when he hath said a thing and said it absolutely that must stand there is no revocation of it in the sense that he hath said it Thy Word O Lord saith holy David is setled in heaven Psal 119.89 It is an Established thing never to be removed again And therefore it is said to be setled in heaven There are great changes here below continually but there is none above in heaven and there the Word of God is setled above the reach of any alteration All flesh is grass saith the Apostle 1 Pet. 1.24 all the glory of man as the flower of grass the grass withereth and the flower thereof fadeth away but the Word of the Lord endureth for ever 2. And as it is unchangeable so it is true yea it is the Word of Truth It is an Epithite that is imposed upon it often Thy Word is true from the beginning saith the Psalmist to the Lord Psal 119.160 And so it shall be to the end And therefore it is added presently The judgements of the Lord endure for ever not in their being only but their truth You know the Scripture is often called a testimony or a witness Either it is a testimony that the Father gives us of the Son or that the Son gives us of the Father either it is a witness to us of things that have been done or else which is a little stronger it is a witness to us of things that shall be done Now this is a condition absolutely
necessary to a testimony or a witness that it declare the truth and nothing else Or else how shall it be depended and relyed upon and so how shall the Scripture be the Word of Faith as it is called unless it be the Word of Truth How shall this testimony challenge faith from us unless it utter truth to us How shall it be believed if it be not wholly true and therefore truth is frequently ascribed to it as a witness The testimonies of the Lord are sure saith David Psal 19.7 That which they tell hath been and that which they foretell shall surely be accomplished and fulfilled Vse 1 And this by way of use and application may serve for terror in the first place unto those against whom there is any thing foretold in Scripture in a way of Commination for it shall surely be accomplished and fulfilled How should they tremble for fear of God and how should they be afraid of his judgements though only hanging in the threatning How should their hearts dissolve within them when they hear his threatning words denounc't against them How should the Adulterer tremble when he hears that flaming Commination Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge how should the drunkard tremble when he hears those dreadful woes that are denounced to drunkards up and down the Prophets everywhere How should the wretched worldling tremble when he hears that dreadfull threatning that no covetous person hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God How should the lier and the dogg that barks and snarls and snaps at holiness and the unclean wretch tremble when they hear that such shall have their everlasting portion in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone And so for other sinners against whom there are heavy things foretold in Scripture how should they shake and quiver when they read and hear them But alas there are abundance who steel and fortifie their hearts against them who give no credit to the threatnings of the word as if they were but bruta fulmina but empty cracks who when they hear them thundred out against them say with Israel Jer. 5.12 It is not he neither shall evil come upon us nor shall we see sword or famine Oh my beloved do not belye the Lord in this fashion do not delude your own souls Believe it Judgement is towards you as the Expression is Hosea 5.1 although it be not actually upon you The wrath of God commeth it is a comming still and in the end depend upon it it will come home What do you think that if you do such things you shall escape the vengeance of God No be assured that if you persevere without repentance you shall feel it with a witness There is not any thing denounced against you in the Scripture but shall be fulfilled upon you to the utmost And Secondly it serves for sweet and pretious comfort to the Vse 2 Church since all the good that is foretold in Scripture shall surely be accomplished and fulfilled You that are members of the Church look over all the Book of God collect together all the promises contained in it from the beginning of it to the end consider all the choice and pretious mercies that are contained in those promises and satisfie your souls with a certain expectation of them all There is not one of all those promises shall fall unaccomplished to the ground or fail of execution in the Lords time And therefore look on all the good things promised there as sure mercies so they are called the sure mercies of David which shall not fail you when the season comes And when you meet with any thing that specially concerns you in such a case or such a condition that might be a support and comfort to you in affliction and the like Oh give not way to one unbelieving thought do not forsake your own mercies Remember it is the word of the Lord which as the Angel said shall be fulfilled in its season And so for any good thing that is foretold in Scripture to the Church as there are glorious things you know foretold concerning it in after times that God will raise it to an admirable state of glory and felicity which while the world continues shall not be overthrown again Let us not make any question but they shall absolutely and compleatly be accomplished and fulfilled And therefore let us strengthen and confirm our hearts in the assured expectation of it and let us put those promises in suit in our Petitions as Isaiah in the same case Chap. 62.1 And let us stand upon our watch-towers waiting for the execution of them Let us account it our especial happiness that we live under promises that shall surely be accomplished though they should be never fulfilled in our time Let us embrace them as the Fathers did yea though they be afar off Oh let us hugg them and take especial joy and comfort in them And though the Lord should take us hence before he bring them into act and execution yet let us cheer our hearts with the apprehension of the happiness and glory that shall be upon the Church after we are dead and gone And so dye with our arms full of promises and our hearts full of faith and our souls full of comfort Vse 3 To pass on to a third use Since this is so that whatsoever is foretold in Scripture shall surely be accomplished and fulfilled whatsoever is foretold in a way of Commination or in a way of Consolation by way of threatning or by way of promise Let us endeavour to believe both and act our faith upon them Let us work up our hearts to give a firm and full assent to all the threatnings and to all the promises though that which is delivered in the Scripture either way be never so improbable never so much against corrupt reason never so impossible to a humane apprehension Let us depend upon it that the word of God shall be fulfilled to the very utmost Let us imitate the faith of the antient Saints of God as I shall give you some examples of it in reference to both of these both to the threatnings and the promises of Scripture As for the threatnings That which the Lord denounced to Noah that he might publish it to all the world that he would utterly destroy all flesh from off the earth and by a flood of water too was as improbable as any thing almost could be as like to be derided by the wise men of the world Yet Noah being warned of God believed it and so accordingly prepared the Ark as you may see Heb. 11.7 And so that Commination by the Prophet Jonah was almost incredible that Nineveh so flourishing so glorious and so great a City should be destroyed in forty dayes and yet it is observed to the praise of Nineveh that they believed God that is the word of God his threatning message sent them by the Prophet Jonah 3.5 So for the promises of
to God the Father for us and takes our Suites into his hands That he excuses what is wanting in our prayers and supplies it in his own That he is lively there where we are dull that he is quick where we are flat that he is full where we are short My Clyent saith our Advocate means this and this this is the meaning of the spirit in him He is not able to express himself as many others can but this is that which he intends and aims at His words are not so ready and so apt but he hath as sincere a heart as the most voluble and fluent of them all and he is one for whom I have laid down my life and shed my blood for whom I have deserved all the good that he can ask and stand in need of And therefore I beseech thee Father let him have what he desires give him a speedy and a gratious answer for my sake Ah my beloved is it not able to fill our hearts brimfull of joy when we remember that we have such an Advocate as this is The knowledge of our Saviours Intercession for his people is a means to comfort them in reference to the defects of all our graces For we come short in all of them there is not one of them compleat There is much lacking in our faith as the Apostle speaks 1 Thes 3.10 and so there is in all the rest which spring from faith For if there be a failing in the root there cannot choose but be a failing in the branches And this is that which makes us walk so heavily and sadly many times when we consider with our selves how slender the degrees and measures of our graces are so that we know not where to find comfort What shall we do in such a case to keep our spirits from despondency Why truly among many other wayes this is a very special one to fix our thoughts upon the intercession of our Saviour for us and to consider seriously with our selves that this is one great business that he urges to his Father that he would sanctifie his people That he would give them out more grace and more holiness This prayer of our Saviour in my text as I have hinted formerly is but a Counterpane of the perpetual intercession that he makes for his in heaven And it consists especially of two branches which comprehend the two main things that he desireth of his Father for his people Preservation and Sanctification The latter he is large upon sanctifie them with thy truth and so on They were sanctified before for they were not of the world and he desires they might be sanctified yet more That they might have larger measures of all the graces of the spirit And is not this an extraordinary comfort to those who are but meanly furnished and who have but a slender stock of grace that Jesus Christ is alwayes interceding to his Father in their behalf for a more full supply It was a suit that he begun on earth and he is still pursuing it in heaven to this day and will do to the worlds end he will never give it over so that we may be confident we shall have such degrees of holiness and grace bestowed upon us as are necessary for us The knowledge c. as it assures us of his dear love to us and his tender care of us What our Saviour doth in heaven in a way of Intercession if it were unknown to us though it might profit us and benefit us very much it could not comfort as at all But when we know that Jesus Christ hath such a singular regard to us and that his heart and his affections work towards us so sweetly and so strongly now he is in heaven at so great a distance from us I mean as he is man that he is always taking all advantages to further and promote our business with his Father and speaking to him upon all occasions for our good and in a word that he is so extremely kind and loving to us so infinitely tender of our welfare every way This cannot choose if it be duly weighed but fill our hearts up to the brim and make them over-flow with joy Vse 1 Now is it so my Brethren that the assured knowledge of our Saviours Intercession is one c. If then we would abound in this heavenly affection let us exactly study and throughly pâ—y into our Saviours Intercession that we may know as much of it as we are able to attain to We are here in an unquiet and unstable world in which we meet with many causes of discomfort from within and from without and many times they take extremely deep upon us so as almost to make our lives a burthen to us Now if we would be free from such distempers let us endeavour to look more into our Saviours Intercession And if we understand it well it will fill us full of comfort that will swell high exceedingly above all the afflictions of this present life Indeed the intercession of our Saviour is of it self a large volume too much for us to read over and that Volume sealed too shut up in heaven that we cannot open it or look into it But he hath given us a brief compendium and a short abridgement of it in the Prayer that he made for his Apostles and Disciples and in them for all the Church that is or shall be to the worlds end that we may read it and acquaint our selves with it He spake that prayer in the world that they might hear it from him and so might have his joy fulfilled in them And that we might hear it from them and so might have his joy fulfilled in us In which regard my Brethren it is left upon record in publique in the Church for ever that all his people might have recourse thereto on all occasions for their Comfort And therefore when we are in any trouble when sorrow seizes deep upon us let us study this prayer in all the parts and branches of it that from thence we may conjecture what he doth in our behalf now he is fitting at the right hand of his Father And this let us depend upon that if he spake one word in our behalf in any case while he was here upon earth he speaks a hundred for us now he is heaven And truly if this Counterpane of our Saviours Intercession were dived into and studied more there would be more holy joy among the Saints Their troubles and their sorrows would be less and they would be more full of comfort then they are JOHN 17.14 I have given them thy Word and the world hath hated them AND thus of the first argument with which our Saviour presseth and enforceth his Petition to his Father in behalf of his Apostles and Disciples that he himself would undertake the keeping of them Which hath been taken as you may remember from his own effectual preservation of them during the time that he had
day As long as men make no account and reckoning of the Word as long as they profess it only but are not very zealous for it nor very careful to walk in every thing exactly by it they may live pretty quiet with their neighbors But if they come once to contend and that with earnestness for every truth that is contained in the Word if they will not in any case by any means depart in any thing from that Rule the world will be about their ears upon a sodain and shew a great deal of malignity and rage against them But why should this exasperate the world against them you will ask me I cannot tell you why it should but I will tell you why it doth For by this means they cross the world and they condemn and shame the world And this is that which sets the world so much against them By this means they cross the world and this they are not able to endure it makes their very hearts to rise against them And they cross them three ways they cross them in their judgements and they cross them in their wills and they cross them in their lives and conversations 1. First by this means they cross them in their judgements and opinions Till men receive the Word of God they can in every thing conform their judgements and opinions to the world They can think as they do and they can speak as they do they can agree and hold with them in every point and so they walk on lovingly together there grows no difference or debate between them But when they come to entertain the Word to be their rule in every thing both in opinion and in conversation now they are forced to differ from the world to clash with them in many things to contradict and oppose them and gain-say them And this breeds disaffection and dislike yea enmity and hatred against them Nay they are forced sometimes if they will keep exactly to the Word of God to cross the world in those opinions which they are most intent upon and for which they are most eager and this they can by no means bear from them As they that entertained Christ to be the Son of God and the Saviour of the world when he was conversant upon the Earth and in the times that followed next after his Incarnation Passion and Ascension they did exceedingly enrage the world against them The generality of men would not endure to heat of Christ or the Religion that embraced and worshipped him and therefore whosoever undertook to own him and profess him was sure to meet with all the violence and rage and malice that the world could pour upon him He might have crost the world in many other truths and not have found so ill measure but this drew out their rage and malice to the utmost And this is that as I conceive which our Saviour Christ aims particularly at in my text I have given them thy Word thy Gospel Word of that he speaks and they have entertained it and embraced it and therefore the world hates them And if you look into the stories of the Church you shall observe that whosoever closed with the Gospel in those early times and professed the faith of Christ from which the world was so exceedingly averse he was exposed thereby to all the misery that humane cruelty c. could devise to inflict But after when this Gospel-Truth came to be better setled and digested in the world so that they were content to hear of Christ and his Religion with a little patience then there rose up other things in which they would not be gain-said As to leap down to Luther time who ever stuck to him and to the doctrine which he taught against the Pope and his adherents got the world about his ears And so in every age there are some passages of holy Scripture and the truths delivered in them against which the world is violently bent and whosoever sticks to these the world hates him out of measure and doth him all the mischief that it can And therefore this is called the Word of Gods patience Apoc. 3.10 Thou hast kept the Word of my patience that is thou hast not only kept my Word in general but more particularly thou hast kept those portions of my Word and those parcels of my Truth which must have patience to the keeping of them A man may keep some Truths delivered in the Word without patience as being universally received by all opposed by none But there are others which if a man maintain and hold them he shall surely suffer he shall be persecuted for them And he that keeps these notwithstanding keeps the Word of Gods patience The patience which God works in his people 2. They that embrace the Word of God as they cross the wicked world in their opinions so they cross them in their wills They cannot do in every thing as the wicked world would have them they cannot yeild to every thing which they obtrude and force upon them and this is another reason why they are so exasperated and enraged against them Were it not for the Word of God to which they are resolved to yield obedience they might comply in every thing and so the world and they might be very good freinds But when the Word forbiddeth what the world requireth that most vehemently too perhaps they are forced to cross the world and and so the Word brings the world and them out These men say they are so precise and holy that they must have Scripture for every thing they say or do they will do nothing but what they have a warrant for out of the Word of God But we will make them stoop and yield and we will make them turn another leaf ere we have done and when they cannot have their wills because the other cannot bend or vary from the Word of God when they are crost in that which they are so resolved upon this heats the furnace of their wrath seven times hotter then ordinary and this the Prophet David found Psal 119.161 Princes have persecuted me without a cause but my heart standeth in awe of thy Word Either he must have them against him or the Word of God against him They threatned him if he obeyed the Word the Word upon the other side that threatned if he disobeyed it Whom did he fear most why saith the Psalmist My heart standeth in awe of thy Word I fear it more then I fear them And this was that which got him much hatred and bitter persecution too as you may see in that place 3. They that receive the Word of God as they cross the wicked world in their opinions and their wills so in their conversations too they do not live and walk as they do their ways are of another fashion and this is another reason why the world is so malitiously bent against them Were it not for the Word of God and the rules that it
actions They are acquainted very well with the Almighty to use the phrase of holy Job they converse with God here come very often to his house now and then sup with him speak with him twice a day at least and that in a familiar way untill at length they be admitted to a more neer and intimate enjoyment of the Lord for ever 1 Thes 4.17 till they be caught up as they were first let down to meet him and so to be for ever with the Lord. 3. Christs Disciples are going to another world and so in that respect they are not of the world as Christ is not of the world because the world is not their fixed habitation It is the character of wicked wretches that they are men of this world and that they have their portion here Psal 17.14 In which respect the Prophet sets them in opposition to the Saints And so ungodly men are stiled the inhabitants and the indwellers of the earth very often in the Book of Revelation But now the Christian on the other side is not a dweller but a stranger on the earth And this the Saints of God have frequently professed in the Scriptures The Fathers they acknowledged as the Apostle Paul observeth Heb. 11.13 that they were forreigners and pilgrims here And Abraham as the same Apostle notes sojourned in the Land of promise Observe it well he did not dwell there but sojourned as in a strange Countrey Heb. 11.9 And why because he looked for a City where he meant to dwell he had it not but he expected it and looked for it And this is that which the Apostle Paul professeth in the name of all the faithfull that they had no continuing City here no City that they meant to settle in but they sought for one to come This was the City that the Fathers saw a great way of and made towards And so despising all the happiness and glory of the present world where they were strangers and in which they were tarrying only for a little space they set their eyes and hearts on this which was their own Countrey Heb. 11.19 They desired a better Countrey which was an heavenly where God had prepared for them a City And the same disposition you may note in others of the faithfull mentioned there in that Chapter Use 1 Is it so that Christs Disciples are in this respect like Christ himself that they are of another world as he is Then let us prove our selves by this my brethren whither we be Christs Disciples yea or no. If we be the indwellers of the earth if we be at home here if we have our portion here no portion in the other world we are none of Christs Disciples No no if we belong to him we are strangers in the earth we are absent from our home while we are here we are not of the world as Christ is not of the world and whether we be so or no we may discover by these evidences following They that are not of this world are not in all respects conformed to it they fashion not themselves according to the world Rom. 12.2 they walk not according to the course of this world Ephes 2.2 As Turks and Spaniards are not like to Englishmen they have another kind of visage another garb and habit and the like So they that are not of this world differ manifestly from it There is a clear distinction to be made between them and worldly men by any man that marks them well and hath his Judgement exercised to discern There are none like them in the earth their wayes are of another fashion then the wayes of other men Now I beseech you my beloved think upon it If you be fashioned to this world if you be carried with a swinge of the prophane and vitious times and places where you live if you run down the stream with others if you sleep as others do 1 Thes 5.6 if you swear as others do if you run out with others to the same excess of riot you are surely of this world and not the other They that are not of this world but of the other have a very dear affection to those of the other world If travellers and strangers meet with any of their Countreymen in a remote and forreign Land how lovingly do they embrace them What kindness do they shew them how are they knit together in a bond of love Just so it is with Christs Disciples if at any time they light on those who are not of this world but of the other as themselves are they are taken up with joy and presently their hearts and their affections by a kind of sympathie do wonderfully close together And therefore those dissemblers deal too grosly to deceive si tamen Hypocrisis dici debeat quae jam latere prae abundantia non potest prae impudentia non quaerit as Bernard speaks who would be taken to be Christs Disciples while their companions and their bosome friends are the men of this world yea Traytors to the place to which they would be thought to appertain And others hate the very men whom Christ hath called out of the world holiness whereever they find it being the object of their fury Suppose thou wert in Italy or in another forreign land and there shouldst meet an Englishman wouldst thou mock and scoff at him wouldst thou deride and jear the fashion of his Hat and Cloak and Sute the manner of his Complement his Gate and Carriage c. wouldst thou procure him to be taken up imprisoned put to death Thy earthly Countrey would not own thee if thou shouldst be so unworthy and truly Heaven will not own the men who deal thus basely and injuriously with the inhabitants of that Countrey They that are not of this world their language is not of this world but of the other they speak the tongue of the heavenly Canaan their speech is gratious and usually to glorifie their God or to edifie their brethren But they that are of this world they speak of this world 1 Iohn 4.5 Shibboleth never discried so many Ephramites as this doth worldly men Of what place are they inhabitants whose language is so harsh and tart whose mouths are full of cursings and bitterness the poyson of Aspes being under their lips Where dwell they Alas too neer us who cannot speak almost without an oath whose tongues are alwayes dipping in that blood which was shed for mans salvation Are they inhabitants of the Celestial Canaan whose tongues are keen as swords and sharp as Arrows to hew and wound their brethrens names Shall I say that man or woman is of heaven whose tongue is set on fire of hell To what place do they appertain whose speech is stuft with filthiness and ribauldry whose words are rotten as the Apostles speaks Brethren do not deceive your selves if you cannot speak the language you belong not to the Countrey Use 2 Is it so that Christs Disciples are in this respect
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
especially in two things to name no more at this time 1. You must give them honour as those that come from Jesus Christ Yea double honour the honour of reverence and the honour of maintenance The Messengers and the Embassadors of Jesus Christ must be received and entertained with all respects by you Or if they be not he esteemeth their dishonour as his own He that despiseth you despiseth me saith Christ And verily if this be true he was never more despised then in these dayes Oh my beloved what floods of ignominy and contempt and scorn are poured out upon the Messengers of Jesus Christ those that are most faithfull to him so that abundance of them are hardly able to bear up against the venome that men spit upon them 2. You must give them audience as those that come from Jesus Christ considering that the message they deliver is Jesus Christs and not their own and therefore when at any time you are advised by them to come in and stoop to Christ Oh think that Christ himself doth counsell you and call upon you And when they offer peace and mercy and atonement and beseech you to accept it Oh think that Christ himself beseecheth and entreats you by them and therefore do not baffle him and slight him and put him off with a denial for if you do it is a most unsufferable provocation O think as often as you hear them speaking to you that you are hearing Christ himself from heaven and then consider how you dare to slight them For you despise not men but Christ as the Apostle speaks in this case 1 Thes 4.8 Is it so that the Apostles Ministers c. this then should teach you in Vse 6 the last place to bear with all their earnestness and plainess and not to stomack them and storm against them when they are free or sharp with you Considering that they are but servants and cannot but deliver the message of their Master it s that to which their place and calling and the trust which Christ hath put into their hands doth bind them which trust they must discharge and not betray be the hazard what it will and therefore be prevailed withall to take all in good part and not to think them injurious to you because they dare not to be unfaithfull to Christ JOHN 17.18 Even so have I also sent them into the world DOCTRINE 2. Christ doth not send his Ministers particularly or restrictively to any Countrey or to any Nation but their Commission leaves them free to all the world YOU see he doth not tell his Father I have sent them into Jewry only or into any other Region of the earth but I have sent them into the world That is the local object of their Mission the world at large without restraint or limitation all the world Indeed our Saviour once professed of himself I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel Mat. 15.24 And so accordingly when first he sent forth his Apostles his express injunction was Go not into the way of the Gentiles but go ye rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel Mat. 10.5 At his ascention he appointed them to be his witnesses first in Judaa and Jerusalem Acts 1.8 This course and method the Apostles very carefully observed as you may see Acts 13 46. It was necessary say Paul and Barnabas unto the Jews that the word of God the Gospel should first of all be preached unto you But if you mark it well my brethren the final and the last Commission of our Saviour was Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature Mark 16.15 Go ye and teach all Nations Mat. 28.19 But you will say that this was a Commission proper to Apostles and doth not any whit concern succeeding ordinary Ministers and Pastors in the Church who are restrained to special places and fixed in special Congregations I grant indeed that many ordinary Ministers are restrained and fixed so but all are not so restrained neither are any so restrained but that they may in case remove to other places and to other Countreyes And in that any are restrained and fixed it is not meerly as they are Ministers of Christ but as they are the chosen Officers and Pastors of such a Congregation or of such a people Their Commission as from Christ doth not fix them anywhere but leaves them free as I have said to exercise their Ministry wheresoever they are called in all the world Indeed the Apostle tells us that God hath set some in the Church some Ministers of all sorts as you may see 1 Cor. 12.28 He hath placed and fixed them there But that is out of all dispute the universal Church which is not limited to any Countrey but is to be extended over all the world For if you mark it the Apostle saith not God hath set some in the Churches in the plural number but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Church and that in such a latitude as that it comprehendeth in it all gifts all members all officers of all sorts which cannot be intended of the Church of Corinth or any single Congregation but only of the universal Church of Christ on earth There Christ hath set his Ministers not his Apostles only but his ordinary teachers and if they be confined to narrower limits it is not properly by his Commission but by a call from men or by some other secundary means And as for that Commission mentioned even now Go ye and teach all Nations though it were given immediately to the Apostles it cannot be restrained to the Apostles being evidently meant in and with them of all the Ministers and Preaches of the Gospel that should succeed them in the Church to the end of the world And therefore it is added presently in the next verse Lo I am with you alwayes to the end of the world They were not to continue for their own parts by many hundred years so long and therefore it must also stretch to those who were to follow them in the office and work of Gospel-preaching till it be published universally to all Nations which was not done you know by the Apostles it was but begun by them and must be carried on till it be finished by other Ministers of Christ in ever age successively to the end of the world So that the point is clear you see Christ doth not send his Ministers particularly or restrictively to any Countrey or to any Nation but their Commission leaves them free to all the world And there are two great reasons of the Point viz. because his Kingdom Reason 1 is to be erected and his Church is to be planted over all the world in every Countrey and in every Nation under heaven And therefore Jesus Christ doth send his Ministers to all the world for this purpose for the erecting of the one and the planting of the other 1. His Kingdom is to be erected
over all the world It is not bounded or confined to any Countrey or to any Nation but it is to stretch and to extend it self to all places and to all people And hence the Kingdom of the Lord Christ is likened to a stone that swells into a Mountain and in the end replenishes the world as Dan. 2.35 The stone that smote the Image became a great Mountain and filled the whole earth A very fit resemblance of our Saviours Kingdom First it is a little stone it lyes within a little compass it is confined within very narrow limits but yet at length it grows into a Mountain yea a great Mountain it stretches and extends out it self exceedingly and in the end replenishes the whole earth The beginnings are but small a little stone a man may put it in his pocket but the stone becomes a Mountain and the Mountain fills the world And this is that which the same Daniel in his vision did foresee as if it had been done already Dan. 7.14 And there was given him saith he dominion and glory and a Kingdom speaking of the Lord Christ And what Kingdom shall he have See in the following words he shall have such a Kingdom that all the people Languages and Nations in the world shall serve him There is a Prophecy to this purpose Psal 22.27 28. All the ends of the world shall turn to the Lord and all the kinreds of the Nations shall worship before him For the Kingdom is the Lords and he is the Governour among all Nations with which accordeth that Psal 72.8 He shall have Dominion from Sea to Sea and from the River unto the ends of the Earth and yet again Psal 86.9 All Nations whom thou hast made and you know there is no Nation which he hath not made shall come and worship before thee O Lord and shall glorifie thy Name This is the meaning of that famous Proclamation of our King himself Mal. 1.11 From the rising of the Sun unto the going down of the same my Name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every place incense shall be offered to me and a pure offering for my Name shall be great among the Heathen saith the Lord of Hosts And when all these predictions shall be brought to execution then shall that which was represented in a Vision unto John be really accomplished Apoc. 7.9 I beheld saith he and loe a great multitude which no man could number of all Nations and kinreds and people and tongues stood before the Throne and before the Lamb cloathed with white Robes and Palms in their hands and then shall that triumphant voyce take place Apoc. 11.15 The Kingdoms of the world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign for ever and ever Now how shall this be brought to pass my Brethren but by the preaching of the Gospel over all the world which by our Saviour Christ himself is called the Gospel of the Kingdom Mat. 24.14 because his Kingdom is erected by it and that is the first reason why Christ sends forth his Ministers to preach the Gospel over all the world that so his Kingdom may be erected by it over all the world This Gospel of the Kingdom saith our Saviour in the fore-alledged place that is this Gospel by which my Kingdom is set up and propagated and enlarged shall be preached in all the world to all Nations and then shall the end come When this is done this Gospel preached and this Kingdom thereby propagated unto all the world then saith our Saviour and not till then shall the end come 2. And as the Kingdom of our Saviour is to be erected so Churches in the second place are to be planted over all the world And that is another reason why Christ sends forth his Ministers to preach the Gospel over all the world for Gospel preaching serves as to erect the one so to collect and plant the other The Church indeed was antiently shut up among the Jews but now it is let out to all Nations so that neither Jew nor Grecian neither Scythian nor Barbarian is excluded from the Church Thou hast redeemed us by thy blood say the Elders to our Saviour Apoc. 5.9 not out of one but out of every Kindred Nation Tongue and People This enlargement of the Church is clearly taught us in the Prophesie of Hosea 2.23 which may serve instead of all And I will sow her to me in the earth saith God there which is a Metaphorical or borrowed speech by which the Lord fore-shews the great extension of the Church in these latter Gospel days For as the Husbandman that means to have his Corn increased and multiplyed first sows it in the ground that so it may take root and spring and bear him many grains for one so God affirming he will sow his Church insinuates he will make it do as corn when it is sowen to grow and multiply exceedingly So that from a very small it shall encrease to a great number And hence he saith not I will sow her in the land of Canaan only but in the earth at large without restraint or limitation In former times he made his breach in Iewry only his field the Church was but a little corner of the world but here the Lord fore-shews that he will multiply her so that she shall be dispersed over all the earth And I will sow her to me in the earth And for this reason Jesus Christ sends forth his Seedesmen into all the Earth that they may sow the Church in all Countries This shall suffice for clearing of the point And is it so that Jesus Christ doth not send his Ministers particularly Vse 1 or restrictively c. This then may serve my Brethren in the first place at least to justifie the practice of those Ministers of Christ who for the propagating of the Church of Christ and elarging of his Kingdom have done as the Apostle Paul professed he had strived to do Rom. 15.20 saith he I have strived to preach the Gospel not where Christ was named least I should build upon another mans foundation but as it is written To whom he was not spoken of they shall see and they that have not heard shall understand Preached when a Collection was made for propagation of the Gospel in New-England You heard even now of many zealous Instruments of Christ who have had the same design viz to preach the Gospel in America where Christ was never named till within these few years To lay the first stone of the Foundation of Religion there to gather Churches and to erect the Kingdom of the Lord Christ among the poor blind Indians in the remotest quarter of the world That so the Fathers promise may at length be made good to Jesus Christ Psal 2.8 Ask of me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession And verily in this my
faith in expectation in Petition I shall speak to them in order Let our hearts be lifted up in faith with reference to this work Let them be raised to a full and firm belief that it shall surely be accomplished in the Lords own time Christ hath sent forth his Ministers about it and brought it on a great way and therefore let us rest upon it that he will surely finish it in his season It may be you may look upon it as a thing almost impossible that all the Nations of the world should turn to Christ and receive him for their King But if you will cast back your eye on the beginnings of this glorious work you cannot but acknowledge that it was as hard to bring it on to what it hath attained already in the world as to perform that which remaineth to be done All that which we expect is not so hard as that which Christ hath done already If you had seen him here upon the Earth and his fishermen about him you would not have imagined that so many Nations would ever have been brought in to him as there are at this day When he sent out a company of poor despised men to preach the Gospel and to draw men in to him by telling them they must deny themselves and they must take up their Cross and suffer persecution for his sake they must forsake all leave all and follow him you would have thought this had been an unlikely way to do very great matters And yet by such improbable unlikely means as these hath Christ been entertained in many Nations and many Countreyes and multitudes of people have been brought to stoop to him And therefore seeing he hath done so much already and that in such a strange way as you would never have believed if you had not seen it done you may the better cast your selves upon him with this assurance that he will overcome the difficulties that are yet behind that he that hath begun the work and prospered it so far as he hath done will finish it untill he hath brought in the fulness of the Gentiles to his Church and Kingdom from one end of the earth unto the other Object But you will ask me now perhaps What would you have us to believe that all the people of the world shall accept of Jesus Christ and receive him for their King and be the Subjects of his Kingdom Why then it seems there should be no tares no Goats no wicked when that time comes Sol. No my beloved this is not the thing at which I aim And therefore you may not be mistaken you must remember that distinction of the Kingdom of Christ Iesus into the Kingdom of power and the Kingdom of grace The first of these indeed is universal and doth already reach to all places and to all persons Though all be not the subjects of the grace of Christ yet all are subject to the power of Christ And hence the Psalmist tells us that his Kingdom rules over all Psal 103.19 And that he is the King of all the earth Psal 47.7 he is King of all the places in the earth yea and of all the persons in the earth either one way or the other Either he is a gracious King to rule them or a powerfull King to break them And thus his Kingdom doth already reach to all Countreys and to all people But now my brethren for the second Kingdom which we have called the Kingdom of grace that is also in a sence to stretch and to extend it self to all places and to all people I shall clear it very briefly 1. It is to stretch and to extend it self to all places and to all Countreyes The Church of Jesus Christ is to be Catholick in this respect and so by consequence his Kingdom too it is to be erected and set up in all Nations And hence the Holy Ghost affirmeth that all the people Languages and Nations in the world shall serve him And the Apostle tells us that in the business of sanctification or setting up the Kingdom of Christ Jesus in the hearts of men there is neither Greek nor Jew neither Scythian nor Barbarian but Christ is all in all That is the Jew is not preferred before the Greek and neither of them is preferred before the Scythian and Barbarian but all of them are one to Christ and Christ is one to all of them and he will have a Church and Kingdom as well among the Scythians and Barbarians as among the Jews themselves 2. And as this Kingdom is to stretch and extend it self to all places and to all Countreyes so it is also to extend it self to all people That is to all degrees and sorts of people though not to all of those sorts And as there is no Nation so there is no condition or estate or rank of men excluded from the grace of Jesus Christ nor barred from being subjects of his gratious Kingdom here and of his glorious Kingdom hereafter Let our hearts be lifted up in expectation of this glorious work Since Christ hath sent forth his instruments about it to gather Churches and to erect his Kingdom over all the world and since the work hath prospered very far and now is going on amain among the Indians let us not lye still and idle as if we knew not what is a doing in the world Now Christs work is in his hand let our eyes be in our heads and let it raise up extraordinary expectations in us The Prophet having had a glymps of this most excellent and glorious work in contemplation when it was not yet begun is on tip-toe presently Isa 62.1 And so let us especially now we behold it in the execution let us lift up our heads and look let us get up on our watch-towers where we may have more advantage to see if by any means we can discover more of it and let our spirits be continually reaching after the fufilling of it as being full of hope about it Let our hearts be lifted up in supplication for the accomplishment of this work Not that we can change the Lord by any means or antedate his Counsels and Decrees but yet if we would have such glorious works to come to execution it is extreamly necessary for us to do that on which the execution of them is suspended in the Scripture I will build the ruined and I will plant the desolate and desert places saith the Lord Ezek. 36.37 I will build the ruined Nation of the Jews which was a Church in former times and I will plant the desolate and desert places of the Gentiles I the Lord have spoken it and I will do it But yet on this condition that I will be enquired of by my people The Lord will surely come my brethren in his own appointed season and gather Churches and erect his Kingdom over all the world But in the mean time he will have his people pray Thy Kingdome come he will have
fruitfull and have more encrease of children then she that sometimes had an husband Oh let us magnifie the grace of Iesus Christ let us adore the infiniteness of his mercy that he hath cast us on these happy times wherein he takes such care of poor Gentiles wherein he sends to them and wherein he looks after them as if they were some rich purchase Ah my beloved did we follow this mercy as far as we could reach it in our thoughts we should at length finding no end or bottom in it cry out with the Apostle Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and goodness of Christ c. JOHN 17.18 Even so have I also sent them into the world DOCTRINE 3. There is a great similitude between the Fathers sending Christ into the world and Christs sending his Apostles and Ministers into the world THis is apparently suggested here in the particle as and the particle also As thou hast sent me into the world even so have I also sent them into the world My sending them is much like thy sending me So he compares them each with other in another place almost in the same words Iohn 20.21 As my Father hath sent me so send I you The thing is plain enough that so it was in some respects But wherein and in what respects this likeness stood will need to be explained with much Caution Because as there was great likeness between the Fathers sending Christ and Christs sending his Apostles and Ministers into the world so there was a great unlikeness too As the similitude was great so certainly the dissimilitude was great too And therefore while I shew the likness I will shew you the unlikeness both of them at one veiw That you may see the one the better for the other As God the Father sent the Son with authority and power so Jesus Christ sends his Apostles and Ministers with authority and power too as God gives him power so he gives them power And therefore having said to his Apostles All power is given to me both in heaven and in earth Mat. 28.18 he adds immediately in the very next words Go ye therefore and teach all Nations and baptize them q. d. because I have received such ample power my self therefore I give you this Commission by which I put a part of this authority and power on you Go forth and exercise it over all the world And this is that which the Apostle calls the power which Christ hath given him 2 Cor. 13.10 To intimate that he received his power and his authority by way of delegation from the Lord Christ as Christ received his power and his authority as he is man and Mediator by way of delegation from the Father and as the Father gives the Son a Key of power as you may see in that remarkable place Isa 22.22 The Key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder that is upon the shoulder of Eliakim who was in that respect a figure and a Type of Christ and he shall open and none shall shut and he shall shut and none shall open so Christ gives Keyes of power to his Apostles and his Ministers as you may see exemplified in Peter Mat. 16.19 I will give thee saith Christ the Keyes of the Kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven viz. either in the preaching of the word or in the regular administration of the censures of the Church Here is a great Similitude you see between the power with which the Father sendeth Christ and the power with which Christ sendeth his Apostles and his Ministers into the world As Christ hath power to shut and open from the Father so have they from Jesus Christ as Christ hath power to bind and loose from God the Father so have they from Jesus Christ As Christ hath power to remit sins and to retain them from the Father so have they from Christ and therefore having said to his Apostles As my Father hath sent me so send I you he adds immediately in the next verse save one Whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained But yet as the similitude is great in this respect so is the dissimilitude The power which Jesus Christ received from God the Father is an universal power All power is given to me saith our Saviour both in heaven and in earth Mat. 28.19 And in another place he minds his Father That he had given him power over all flesh Joh. 17.2 But now that power which the Apostles and the Ministers of Christ received from him is more particular and more confined Jesus Christ hath all power all sorts and all degrees of power they have but some power some sorts and some measures The power which Jesus Christ receives from God the Father is a Kingly power he sets him up as King upon his holy hill of Sion and so accordingly he crowns him The power which they receive from Christ is but a Ministerial power Christ hath a Legislative power to make laws while they have but a Legis-narrative or Declaratory power to publish laws Christ doth jus dare and they do but jus dicere Christ binds and looses shuts and opens remitteth and retaineth sins authoritatively as a Soveraign Lord they do it but declaratively as his Ministers and servants There is a great similitude between the Fathers sending Christ c. in regard of qualification as Christ receives an unction from the Father to his Office so they received an unction from the Son to their Office as Christ is qualified with the Spirit so are they Let us compare them each with other and we shall see it very clear The Prophet speaking in the Person of our Saviour saith The Spirit of the Lord is upon me he hath anointed me to preach Isa 61.1 And so accordingly when he first began to preach he took this very Text to preach upon as you may see Luk. 4.18 Behold my servant saith the Lord whom I uphold Isa 42.1 and mine Elect in whom my soul delighteth I have put my Spirit upon him and that to qualifie him for his Office as is apparent in the following words for it is added presently That he shall bring forth judgement to the Gentiles A bruised reed shall he not break c. And this is that which is suggested in the Prophesie Isa 11.2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him and it shall rest upon him in those graces and endowments that fit him for the places to which he is designed And hence it is immediately annexed The Spirit of wisdom and of understanding the Spirit of counsel and of might the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. So then you see the Father as he sends Christ so he endues him with the Spirit to fit him for the business that he sends him
too In that the Father sends the Son to save his people by his merit and his Spirit The Son sends his Ministers to save them by the application of his merit and his Spirit to them in the preaching of the Gospel The Father sends the Son to save them by dying for them the Son sends his Ministers to save them by preaching to them and so by crucifying Christ again before their eyes as Gal. 3.1 The Father sends his Son to save his people meritoriously and by way of effectual operation The Son sends his Ministers to save them Ministerially and by way of vocal Declaration so that Christ only is the proper Saviour and Ministers at most are but the Instrumental Saviours of his people Vse 1 Now is it so my Brethren That there is a great similitude between the Fathers sending c. Here then my Brethren is a perfect pattern for all the Minsters of Jesus Christ they must look on him that sent them and see what power he was endued withal what errand he was sent on and for what ends and so act accordingly As God invested him with power and sent him into the world to preach the Gospel and to save his people So Jesus Christ hath invested them with power to do the same thing for the same end So that they must not aim at the destruction and the hardning of the people No they must make this their business how they may bring about their conversion and salvation It 's true they must be sons of Thunder now and then as well as sons of Consolation they must preach the Law sometimes as well as the sweet comforts of the Gospel they must threaten men sometimes with wrath and hell and eternal condemnation But then they must not do it so as wishing that these things might come upon them but rather that they might avoid them They must threaten them with wrath that they may flee from the wrath to come and threaten with hell that they may escape the damnation of hell they must preach the Law with Gospel purposes and Evangelical intentions they must send out the avenger of blood to dog them at the heels that they may fly to the City of refuge They must use sharpness now and then it cannot be avoided But it must be for the same end that the Apostle speaks of 2 Cor. 13.10 where having minded the Corinthians that in case he must use sharpness according to the power the Lord had given him he had authority from Christ to do it but mark in the succeeding words to what end for edification and not for destruction according to the power the Lord hath given me for edification and not for destruction And therefore it is very notable that when our Saviour Christ had said to his Disciples All power is given to me both in heaven and in earth and having put a part of that power and authority of his on his Apostles having sent them as his Father sent him he doth not say to them as God doth to the Prophet Jer. 1.10 I have set you over the Nations and over the Kingdoms to root out and to destroy but I have sent you to the Nations to teach them and to baptize them that they may be saved He doth not make them rooters but planters he doth not bid them to go out and preach damnation to the people in the first place but go and preach the Gospel to them that they may be saved And the Apostle speaking of the execution of this Commission and authority in the Administration of the censures of the Church saith he would give a foul offendor up to Satan for no other end but this even for his good and his salvation 1 Cor. 5.34 I have already judged saith he concerning him that hath so done this deed with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver him to Satan for the destruction of the flesh the carnal part that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord So that when we threaten judgement when we retain the sins of men when we give them up to Satan either in preaching or in Church-censure our aim is that their corruption may be mortified and that their spirits may be saved by this means And all the Ministers of Christ ought to have this continually in their eye how they may reach this great end they must remember that Jesus Christ hath sent them as God the Father sent him and that was not to condemn the world but that the world by him might be saved And thus of the First Argument with which our Saviour presseth and enforceth his Petition to his Father in behalf of his Apostles for Sanctification which hath been taken from the business and imployment that he is setting them about viz the very same in some respect which he himself hath hitherto sustained and undergone by the appointment of the Father Sanctifie them with thy Truth thy Word is Truth Why might the Father answer why so Cause enough saith Jesus Christ for as thou hast sent me into the world even so have I also sent them into the world and therefore thou hadst need to sanctifie them that so they may be fitted and enabled for such a service as this is JOHN 17.19 And for their sakes I sanctifie my self that they also might be sanctified through the truth PRoceed we to the Second Argument with which he backs the same Petition and it is taken from the end for which he sanctified himself And for their sakes I sanctifie my self that they also might be sanctified through the truth q. d. It was the very end at which I aimed in sanctifying of my self that they might be sanctified it was my scope and drift in that business and therefore I beseech thee Father let me not be disappointed of my purpose let not this great design of mine be frustrated but do thou sanctifie them with the truth because I sanctified my self for their sakes with this intent that they might also be sanctified through the truth Two things we have apparently presented to us in the words what our Saviour did and why he did it First what our Saviour did He sanctified himself Secondly then why he did it and this is in the first place generally exprest that it was for their sakes for his Apostles and Disciples sakes that he sanctified himself And then it is particularly and expresly specified in what regard it was for their sakes that they might also be sanctified through the truth The difficulty of the text lies especially in this how Christ is said to sanctifie himself and what he means by that expression for their sakes I sanctifie my self To sanctifie is properly to make holy now a person or a thing is made holy especially two wayes viz. by qualification when holiness and grace is put into it when a man is made partaker of the saving gifts and graces of the holy spirit then he is said in Scripture to
to be as mercifull as God is if you look to the degree For as the heavens are higher then the earth so are his thoughts above ours in this particular But yet we may be mercifull as he is though not as mercifull as he is So in the Text our Saviour prayes for his Disciples That they may all be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us The meaning is not that they may be one as nearly that is impossible but as truly as we are That as we are in one another so they may in some respect be all in us How and in what respect they may be so I shall shew at large anon in the mean time the point is this DOCTRINE It is the will of Jesus Christ that his Disciples should not only be one among themselves but that they also should be one in God Indeed it is the will of Jesus Christ that his Disciples should be one Vse 4 among themselves That they should be all one as you have it in my Text Indeed he shed his blood for this purpose Eph. 2.14 that though they be of divers Nations as for instance Jews and Gentiles yet they may be both one as in the fore-alledged Scripture He is our peace saith the Apostle there who hath made both one having abolished in his flesh the enmity to make in himself of twain of Jews and Gentiles one man Though they be of divers places some in heaven and some on earth and though they that are on earth are many of them many thousand miles asunder yet he would have them to be all one It is his project and design to gather all things into one which are in heaven and which are in earth as Ephes 1.10 But you will ask me How can this be done that they that are so distant should be one I answer Very easily because the bonds of this conjunction are not carnal but spiritual So that they may be one without a corporeal or local union From him the head saith the Apostle all the body by joints and bands is knit together Col. 2.19 Part of the body is in heaven and part of it is on earth and here some persons are in one some in another quarter of the earth yet all the body so divided and so distant as you see by joints and bands is knit together And you will easily conceive it when you consider what these bands are 1. They have all one spirit and so in that respect are one I speak not of the spirit or soul of a man but of the spirit of the Lord Christ which being one dwells in all the Saints at once and so makes them one too yea let them be as distant as they will And as the formal reason of the union of the members of the body natural consisteth not so much in contiguity as animation by the same soul so that if any part be mortified and if the soul give over to enliven it it is no more to be esteemed a member notwithstanding its external and corporeal inherence to the body So though the Saints be far from one another in regard of place yet they are closely knit together by the same spirit being joyned to the Lord they are all one spirit and so indeed are all one 2. They have all one faith one at least in fundamentals and one faith makes one as Ephes 4.4 5. They that are of many faiths in fundamentals cannot come so close together to be all one and therefore Jesus Christ when he ascended up on high gave gifts unto men for the work of the Ministry and for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come all both Jews and Gentiles come in the unity of the faith c. So that there is a unity in the faith you see and to say truth my Brethren faith will make a union at a distance as well as if the persons joyned were all together What doth th the corporal or local presence of the parties contribute to the union that is made by faith which is a spiritual and invisible thing and consequently joineth in a spiritual and invisible manner which no division or distance in regard of place can hinder 3. They have all one heart and one affection and so in that respect are one The multitude of believers were of one heart Act. 4.32 Though they were multitudes yet they had but one heart and when there is but one heart there is a great Oness The understanding is the principle of speculation the heart the seat of love and of affection And the Saints are so united and linked togther in affection as if they had among them but one common principle of this affection as if they had but one heart and therefore the Apostle speaking of the faithful saith that they were knit together in love Col. 2.2 The term there used importeth such a knitting as is between the divers parts and peices of a building For so the Saints though there be Millions of them in the world yet they are built up altogether to a spiritual house 1 Pet. 2.5 And love is as it were the morter and the pins the ligaments and tyes of the connexion and elsewhere it is called a bond Col. 3.10 Above all these things put on charity which is the bond of perfectness with which we are perfectly joined together 1 Cor. 1.10 Now love will make a union at a distance as well as near at hand The nearness of the place simply considered in it self contributes nothing to the nearness and to the strength of the affection No love will reach a person at the other end of all the earth as well as if he were just by us in the very next room or in the very next dwelling You see both that and how it is the will of Jesus Christ that his Disciples should be one among themselves which is the first thing in the point But now there is a Second branch he would not have them only to be one among themselves but he would have them also to be one in God This is the special thing for which he is a Suitor to his Father in my Text That they may be all one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us Not one among themselves alone but one in us which is indeed a very high thing Now that you may the better know what Christ intends in this particular you must consider that he speaks to God the Father as man and Mediator in this place For he speaks in prayer here and consequently when he saith As thou Father art in me and I in thee he speaks not of the union which is between his Father and himself as he is God For in that consideration the Father and the Son are so in one another that they are the very same The same Essence for so the union is Identical though they
and I in thee so that they may be one in us Now my Beloved do but seriously consider how is the Father in the Son how is the Son in God the Father What so that they may be out again and that they may part again No surely they are so in one another that they can never be divided each from other Just so are true believers in them both So that if God cannot be out of Christ if Christ cannot be out of God believers cannot possibly be out of either When God and Christ are rent asunder each from other believers shall be rent asunder from them both When God and Christ do come to part with one another believers must expect to part with both and that would be a sad parting if God the Father should go one way and Christ another and believers a third never to come together any more But in the mean time while they stay together believers shall continue with and in them both while God the Father is in Christ and Christ in God the Father believers shall be one in them It is the will of Jesus Christ as he declares it to his Father That as thou Father art in me and I in thee so that they also should be one in us and he will surely have his will in this business JOHN 17.21 As thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us IS it the will of Jesus Christ that his Disciples should be one in God Use 2 by the mystical union Then in the second place let us be hence instructed to admire and magnifie the goodness of the Lord in this business that he is pleased so highly to advance and honour us That we poor wretches should be made not only nigh to God but that we should be one in God in the Father and the Son That the great God of Heaven and Earth should take us up into himself and thereby raise us to such glorious priviledges as have been mentioned in the former use My Brethren doth it seem a small thing to you consider it a little and resolve Is it but a small thing that God should take us into such union with himself I know not how you apprehend it but I assure you my Beloved it amazes me That such transcendent honour should be put upon such worms as we are Me thinks we should break out to admiration with Elizabeth Whence is this to us Why is it possible that God should ever honor dust and ashes thus Whence is it Oh my Beloved how humble and how thankful should we be Let us not brag of this honour as some do in these times who never were advanced to it who say that they are taken in to God so that they are God himself and thus they swagger and blaspheme beyond measure Oh my Beloved let it not be so with us let us not brag of this honour but let us tremble to consider what a weight of duty and obedience lies upon us to walk answerably to it and how exactly pure and holy they should be who are in any sense in God in the Father and the Son And this conveys me to a third use which shall be for admonition Use 3 to every one of us who are advanced to this glorious priviledge to live and act as men that are in God in the Father and the Son There is a suitable expression of the Apostle Paul to this purpose Col. 2.6 As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him As you have taken him by faith and so are made one with him As you are in him so walk in him Even so say I to you my brethren As you are in God in the Father and the Son so walk in God Take such a course in the whole tenour of your conversation as they should do who are in God And truly my beloved that must be a strict a holy and exact course As far as it is possible there must be no exorbitancy no uncleanness in it It was the protestation of the Lord to Moses which he repeats to Aaron when his Sons were cut off for drawing nigh to God with strange fire Lev. 10.3 Then Moses said to Aaron This is that the Lord spake saying I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me Ah my beloved will God be sanctified in them that are nigh him and will he not be sanctified in them that are in him And if they must be holy who are nigh him how holy must they be my brethren that are in him in the Father and the Son How precisely and exactly must they live who live in God And therefore I beseech you my beloved who are advanced to this high Prerogative look narrowly to all your wayes and keep your selves as far as it is possible from every sin And that upon these three Considerations For 1. Your sin is strangely and unutterably heightned by the station that you have in the Father and the Son It is such an aggravation as I am no wayes able to express What my beloved will you sin in God shall God have wickedness counted in him by your means will you be intemperate will you be wanton and lascivious and unclean in any kind will you be covetous and worldly will you be unjust in God you do what lies in you to draw the infinitely pure and holy God into Communion with you in your sin Indeed sin cannot be committed by him but by your means it is committed in him which is a horrid and amazing thing to think upon You do what lies in you to defile and pollute the holy God with the impurest and uncleanest thing in all the world for so is sin with that which is most against his nature which is most odious and abominable to him which he is no wayes able to endure And you are so audacious that you do not only do it nigh him and do it by him but you do it in him Ah my beloved me thinks your hearts should not be strong enough to bear up under that weight of such wikedness as this is but that they should even faint and sink within you Why my beloved for those that are without God and who are far from him as wicked men are said to be their sins do not so much concern God they cannot be so grievous and so vexatious to him But to have sin committed in him this is a most unsufferable provocation This goes very near him because it is done so near him I beseech you think upon it and let it have a mighty operation on your hearts The sins of other men are committed out of God but yours are committed in him 2. As they are committed in him so in the second place they cannot choose but be observed by him For God takes special notice of them and their carriage and behaviour who are in him So that they cannot do amiss they cannot step awry in any thing but he spies them
as he calls Christ so so Christ makes him to call all true believers so He will have them to share with him by any means in this honour Is God the God of Christ why Christ makes him the God of all believers Is God the Father of Christ why Christ makes him the Father of believers Is he the God that brings again from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ why he is the God too that will surely bring again from the dead all true believers as the Apostle tells us them that sleep in Jesus will he also bring with him 1 Thess 4.14 Me thinks it is as if Christ should have said to him That which thou art to me thou shalt be to them too That which thou dost for me thou shalt do for them too I will have none of this honour unless they partake with me The Son as Man receives much glory from the Father in that he sets him at own right hand in the next place to himself Why now the self same glory doth the Son bestow upon the Church in that he sets her at his own right hand in the next place to himself If Jesus Christ be raised so high how high is the Church raised If Jesus Christ be so transcendently exalted in this that he is set in the next place to God how is the Church exalted then that she is set in the next place to Christ Look upon Christ and you shall see that God hath highly exalted him and set him at his own right hand Ephes 1.21 and then look upon the Church and you shall see that Christ hath highly exalted her and set her at his own right hand Psal 45.9 On thy right hand did stand the Queen i. the Church Now my beloved is the place of Christ high How high then is the Churches place Is Christ at the right hand of God She is at the right hand of Christ Is Christ in the next place to God She is in the next place to Christ Is there none above Christ but God None is above the Church but Christ and God Is he exalted far above all principality and powers might and dominion not only in this world but in that which is to come not only above all principalities and powers on earth but even above all principalities and powers in heaven too above the very Angels yea the highest orders of them She is exalted far above them As Christ comes between them and God so she comes between them and Christ she is neerer Christ in union nature and dignity The Angels are but Ministers and servants whiles the Saints the members of the Church are heirs Yea they are Ministers to these heirs They are all the best of them ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation Heb. 1. ult So that no marvail though our Saviour tells his Father here The glory which thou gavest me I have given them The Son as Man receives much glory from the Father in the vast authority and power which he hath vested him withall Why now the same power he dispenseth to the Church to be executed by her Officers And therefore having said All power is given to me both in Heaven and in Earth Mat. 28.18 he adds immediately to his Apostles in the very next verse Go ye and teach all Nations baptizing them q. d. the power which is given me I give you in some measure As God the Father hath given me all power so I give you some power so much as you are capable of And as the government is put upon my shoulders by the Father as the Prophet speaks Isa 9.6 so I put over some part of this Government to you my under-Officers whom I depute to manage and negotiate the affairs of my Kingdom As God the Father hath set me over his house so I set you to be my Stewards under me to whom I give the Keyes of this house As God the Father hath given me the King-key of Davids Princedom which I keep my self so that I shut and no man openeth I open and no man shutts so I give you the Ministerial Keyes which I intrust with you who are the Stewards and the guides of my houshold To whom I give a special power to open and to shut the doors of my house to let in and put out And though it be my own prerogative and a chief flower of that Imperial Crown which God the Father hath been pleased to set upon my head to seal pardons and to forgive sins viz. to do it in the Court of heaven and Conscience yet I commit to you my Viceroyes and my under-Officers a Ministerial power both to remit and to retain sins in the outward Court that is the face and presence of the Church in regard of declaration Verily I say unto you whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven c. Mat. 18.18 19. And in another place whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted and whosesoever sins you retain they are retained And in a word as God the Father hath committed all judgement unto me so I commit some judgement to you And hence it is my brethren that the Church assisted by her Officers iudgeth them that are within although she judge not them that are without as Paul speaks 1 Cor. 5.22 over whom no power is given her by the Lord Christ But those that are within she judgeth and condemneth too if there be cause and casts them out and gives them over to the Executioner There take them Satan disquiet them afflict them for the destruction of the flesh the carnal part that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. The Son as Man receives much glory from the Father in the great offices of dignity and trust and honour which he hath advanced him to Why now the self same glory hath the Son communicated to believers in that he hath advanced them to the self same Offices to which he is himself advanced by the Father As God the Father hath made Jesus Christ a King a Priest and a Prophet to himself so Christ doth make all true believers Kings and Priests to God his Father for both those Offices are mentioned Apoc. 1.6 He makes them to become a royal Priesthood 1 Pet. 2.9 A Priesthood and a royal Priesthood And as he makes them Kings and Priests so he makes them Prophets too to teach their families and make known his wayes to them to teach their neighbours and acquaintance and to admonish one another within the compass of their own Spheres Col. 3.16 In which respect it is the Counsel of the Apostle in the cited place Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in you the people of Colosse not in the learned Doctors only but in the private members of the Church So that you see Christ hath advanced all true believers with him to all the offices to which he is advanced by the Father and so hath made
even as they are one among themselves so God and Christ or God in Christ is one with them This is that which makes it perfect There are three things required you see to this perfection and all of them apparently suggested in the Doctrine and the Text. First Gods being one with Christ being in Christ as Mediator thou in me Secondly Christs being one with true believers being in believers I in them Thirdly believers being one among themselves or each with other that they may be one And when all these are joyned together then there is a pefect union perfect in regard of parts there can be nothing added to it I in them and thou in me that they may be perfect in one For clearing of this my Brethren you must know that it hath been the project and design of God from everlasting that all believers shall be joyned among themselves and joyned to Christ as Mediator and in and through Christ as Mediator to himself That Christ who is the middle party between God and men God in Heaven and men on earth should reconcile and reconciling joyn things in heaven and earth together That in the dispensation of the fulness of time he should gather into one all things in heaven and earth together in himself Ephes 1.10 So that till all these things be joyned together it cannot be a perfect union because all things are not united that are appointed to be joyned together I shall a little touch upon them in their order 1. That there may be a perfect union perfect in regard of parts believers must be joyned together all of them among themselves As long as one believer by Election is without and is not gathered in to Jesus Christ for in him they are knit together it is not a perfect union because there is a member wanting The body mystical remains imperfect in regard of integrals as the Holy Ghost insinuates Ephes 4.13 And hence saith the Apostle we without them cannot be made perfect Heb. 11. ult We without them are members in a sense of an incompleat body But when all are once come in when all both Jews and Gentiles come in the unity of the Faith unto the knowledge of the Son of God then he is a perfect man conceive it in his mystical Body then is the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ And therefore saith our Saviour I in them that they may be perfect in one As I have been in them that did believe and as I am in them that do believe so I will be in them in all of them that shall believe to the end of the world And of these last especially he speaks as is apparent by the scope Neither pray I for these only saith our Saviour for these only that believe but for them also which shall believe on me through their word for them and all of them I in them in all of them as I have been am in all that do believe so I will be in all that shall believe even to the worlds end That all believers being joyned together past present and to come there may be a perfect union That they may be perfect in one That is the first thing 2. That there may be a perfect union as believers must be joyned together all of them among themselves so Christ must be united to them all he must be in all of them as you have it in my Text For God hath given him to be the Head over all things to the Church Ephes 1.22 over all things of the Church or that are members of the Church And it is the Fathers pleasure which he hath purposed in himself That in the dispensation of the fulness of time he might gather together in one all things in Christ Ephes 1.10 so that if all believers could be gathered into one among themselves and not into one in Christ that would not be a perfect union because they are appointed to be one in him If all the members of the body mystical could be compleatly joyned among themselves and not united unto Christ their Head that would not be a perfect union because God hath appointed him and given him to be their Head The joyning of the members all together you will say will make but an unperfect and a maimed body unless the Head be joyned to them 3. That there may be a perfect union as believers must be one among themselves and Christ must be one with them so God must be one with Christ and in and through Christ with them I mean with Christ as Head and Mediator of the Church Indeed the end for which Christ took upon him the Office of a Mediator was to joyn God and man together who were divided by the fall Therefore God sent him down into the world that he might be in Christ reconciling the world unto himself 2 Cor. 5.19 Now suppose Christ could reconcile believers each to other suppose that he could reconcile them and unite them to himself as man if he could not reconcile them and unite them unto God this were an unperfect union there were a great defect in it Where God my Brethren is left out it is a very poor conjunction And therefore God is in Christ reconciling the world of believers that while Christ reconciles them to himself he may eadem opera reconcile them unto God who is in him that so the union may be perfect and there may be nothing wanting as you have it in my Text I in them and thou in me thae they may be perfect in one Now is it so that the perfection of believers union stands in this that Use 1 even as they are one among themselves so God and Christ or God in Christ is one with them Then first it serves to let us see how faulty and defective the union of the men of this world is True many of them are knit together in a knot they are confederate together they have all one mind as the Holy Ghost speaks Apoc. 17.13 they seem to be as firmly joyned together in a bond of love as it is possible for men to be But God and Christ are not united with them they are out of this conjunction Nay my Beloved they are so far from being one with them that indeed they are against them This is a most unhappy and accursed union I wish all such would think upon it who are as Simeon and Levi brethren in iniquity who are confederate against God as David speaks Psal 85.5 who set themselves and take counsel together against the Lord and against his Christ Psal 2.2 who combine themselves together to oppose the truths of God the ways of God the servants of God the glory of God to do such things as are contrary to God Is God and Christ in their confederation Do God and Christ joyn with them and combine together with them They are all one among themselves touch one and touch all but is God and
only but he is his heir too Yea he hath made him heir of all things Heb. 1.1 Why just so he hath done by us for we are children whom he loves even as he loves Christ As Christ is his Son and Heir so we are heirs of God through Christ Gal. 4.17 Joint heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 Not heirs divided and apart from Christ but joint with Christ And even as Christ is heir of all things so we are heirs of all things too All is ours and we are Christs 1 Cor. 3.21 A man can have but earth and heaven and we are heirs to both in Christ The meek shall inherit the earth saith the Psalmist Psal 37.11 c. And as we are heirs to earth so we are heirs of heaven too and that by virtue of our Son-ship we are begotten to it as the Apostle speaks 1 Pet. 1.3 He hath begotten us to an inheritance c. So that the child of God you see engrosseth all earth is his and heaven is his and nothing else remains for other men but hell only Oh the unutterable happiness of those whom God the Father loves even as he loves Christ he gives his own Son nothing but they have a share with him And thus far of the first main thing which Christ desires of God the Father in the behalf of true believers that they may be all one Which suit he prosecutes with many arguments as you have heard The second follows now in order to be handled and this is that they may be all in one place They may be one by such an union as our Saviour means a spiritual and a mystical union though they be in divers places But Christ is not content with this you see he will not only have them to be all one but he will have them also to be all in one place the same place where he is Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am c. And here you may take notice with me of these two particulars First the manner how our Saviour Christ propounds this suit of his And then the matter of it or the suit it self First the manner how our Saviour here propounds this suit of his and that is boldly and confidently as you see Father I will he saith not as in other places Father I pray or I desire or I beseech thee and entreate thee that it may be thus but I will have it to be thus No more but so Father I will that they whom thou hast given me Secondly And then you have the matter of the suit which he propounds the thing which he will have to be That they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am Begin we with the manner how our Saviour here propounds this suit of his confidently as I said Father I will I shall not hence conclude as Austin did sometimes against the Arrians the Sons equality with God the Father because he speaks in such a peremptory manner to him if I may express it so Father I will or elsesaith he he would have spoken in a supplicating and entreating not in a willing and commanding way That Christ as God is equal with the Father is a certain truth and manifestly to be proved from other Scriptures But certainly it is not to be gathered hence for in this Chapter all along he speaks as man and as man he is inferiour to the Father And therefore usually before he saith I pray or I intreat he speaks in a submissive way though here he uses such a term as seems to to carry more authority Father I will Now since he speaks as man and mediator as that is very evident we must understand him here in such a way as is agreeable to Christ in that capacity and under that consideration And consequently that he doth not here imperiously require of God the Father and yet upon the other side he doth so express himself as being very confident that he shall have his own pleasure and that his will shall surely carry it with God the Father without any contradiction If he will it it is done without any more ado Father I will have it so and there 's an end And so accordingly the point shall be DOCTRINE The will of Christ as Mediator is as it were a law with God the Father or Christ may have even what he will of God the Father And therefore praying here that all believers might be together with him in the same place he saith no more but this Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am And this is that which Martha was so stedfastly perswaded of that Christ was sure to speed with God in any suit that he would make to him She had no doubt at all concerning this as you may see John 11.22 I know saith she that whatsoever thou wilt ask of God God will give it thee Let it be what it will God will not turn thee off with a denial And least you should conceive that this was but a groundless confidence in her you shall find it seconded by Christ himself ver 42. of the very same Chapter which puts it out of all question If you survey the supplications that he made while he was here upon the earth you shall perceive what force they had with God the Father The Apostle Paul observes that he was very earnest with him in a weighty business Heb. 5.7 and what was the event and issue of it he was heard as it is added presently no more but so he was granted out of hand So in another place he prayed for Peter in a special manner that his faith might never faâ—l Luke 22.32 that it might not wholly fail so as to be quite lost and utterly extinct in him His faith was shaken after this indeed but it was not overthrown it fainted but it did not fail So that Christ had his full desire in that particular I shall add no more for proof you see the will of Christ as Mediator is c. And there are many Reasons of it For He is the Fathers own Son And Fathers use to be indulgent to their Reason 1 Children to let them have their ears yea and their very hearts too Our Saviour calls him Father all along this prayer Indeed he gives him once the attribute of Holy once the attribute of Righteous Father But this is still the appellation that he uses and from which he never varies If he call him any thing he calls him Father And therefore he presumeth much upon him because of this relation to him that he shall not be denyed he is the bolder while he considers he is speaking to a Father as that is his expression in my Text it self Father I will Come I must have my will in this particular thou must not put me off with a denyal for I am thine own Son Reason 2 Yet this is not sufficient
inclined to it by his inward Disposition he hath a self propensity to righteous dealing The righteous Lord loveth righteousness Psal 11.7 his very heart is set upon it as he acteth without so he affecteth it within There are many in the world that do justice who yet do not love justice They execute it out of Politick respects and reasons only or out of affectation of applause with men not out of inward inclination and affection The Judge of whom our Saviour Christ makes mention Luk. 18.2 did the poor widdow justice and yet he calls him an unjust Judge because he did not execute it out of love to justice but himself To wit that he might quit himself and rid his hands of the unwearied importunities of such a sutor as would not give him rest till he had done it Because this widow troubleth me I will avenge her not because her cause is just His aim was not to do her right but obtain his own quiet But herein God excells he doth justice and that because he loves justice He doth not execute it by compulsion and constraint or out of by-sinister ends but out of the affection that he bears it and the dear regard he hath to it And this is that which he professeth of himself Isai 16.8 I the Lord love judgement Vse 1 Is God a very just and righteous God This then may serve to quiet us and calm our troublous and tumultuous thoughts about the great disorders and confusions that we discover in the world It may preserve us from repining against God and charging him foolishly What though the wicked prosper in the world what though their eyes stand out with fatness while the people of the Lord are troubled and afflicted and distressed Will you presume to question Gods Justice Rather conclude the Lord is righteous and where you cannot fathom his proceedings cry out with the Apostle Paul O the depth and the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgements and his ways past finding out Let Davids error be your caution I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperous state of wicked men Psal 73.3 They are not in trouble neither are they plagued like other men But as for me I have washt my hands in vain for all the day long I have been plagued and chastned every morning It was no fair and equal dealing as it seemed to him he knew not what to make of these proceedings And where was Jeremiah when reasoning with him of his judgements as he calls it Jer. 12.1 he thus expostulateth the case Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously He could conceive no reason for it and therefore takes upon him to call the Lord to coram how he could warrant his proceedings If such blasphemous thoughts assault us my Beloved let us remember that of Austin The judgements of the Lord are aliquando aperta aliquando ecculta semper justa sometimes secret sometimes open always just yea just when they are secret when with the Prophet Jeremiah we cannot see the reason of his judgements And let us have it always in our thoughts that the time is drawing on when the justice of the Lord which in this present life is cover'd and obscur'd shall be revealed and made bare-fac't to the world to wit at the great day of retribution which is therefore called in Scripture The day of Revelation of the just judgement of God which here is hid in the prosperity of the wicked and the pressures of the righteous Is God a very just and righteous God Then let it comfort and encourage Vse 2 those who are abused and injured and opprest by them who are too strong and mighty for them so that they know not which way in the world to help themselves against them Consider with your selves you who are in this condition though others do you wrong yet God will surely do you right and he will do it readily for he takes delight in it He hath prepared his Throne for judgement and he shall judge the world in righteousness saith David Psal 9.8 And what doth he infer upon it He will be a refuge to the oppressed And therefore let all those that are oppressed fly to this refuge and let the righteousness of God support them and uphold them against the wicked and unrighteous dealing that they find from men He loveth righteousness and therefore he will surely do you right he hateth iniquity and therefore he will surely punish them that do you wrong And therefore go and cry to him tell him how you are used by those that over-power you in the world and that you have no friends nor means to help your selves and so beseech him earnestly to shew himself and to appear for you say as Hezekiah did Isa 38.14 O Lord I am opprest undertake for me and be confident of this that you cannot easily put any business into the hands of God that he takes more delight to do O it is a thing that pleaseth him exceedingly he loves it dearly to do them right that suffer wrong and to avenge the wrong they suffer upon those that do it He loveth righteousness and hateth iniquity yea the less able you are to relieve and help your selves the more he loves to do you justice And therefore takes upon himself the special care of those who are most destitute of earthly succour as the fatherless and widdows and the like A Father of the fatherless and a judge of the widdows is God in his holy habitation Psal 68.5 Vse 3 Is God a very just and righteous God This then may be a motive and inducement to us to stand no longer out against him but to come in to him and become his subjects It is a great advantage to the subject and a special benefit when he that is invested with Supream authority and power will not abuse it any way to the damage of his people Our earthly Governors are very seldom so upright but they will strain their power a little now and then and it may be not a little to incroach and to intrench upon the liberty upon the property upon the rights and priviledges of the Subject But God my Brethren is a righteous God yea he is so incomparably just that though he be Omnipotent and doth what pleaseth him in heaven and earth so that none can stay his hand nor say unto him What dost thou By means of which Almightiness of his he might oppress his subjects at his own pleasure and need not fear that they will rise against him to recover and resume their right from him Yet he doth nothing else but right to them he doth not injure them or wrong them any way Yea he ruleth righteously not out of politick respects and reasons only but out of inward inclination and affection O my Beloved who would not be subject to such a King as this is
of this Chapter This shall suffice for clearing of the Observation That unbelievers and unsanctified persons know not God At least they know him not in such a manner and with such a kind of knowledge as they ought to do in that they know him not with an affective knowledge they know him not with an effective knowledge and they know him not in Christ But what may be the causes why the unbelieving world is so ignorant Reason 1 of God I shall lay them open to you both with relation to the unbelieving world Heathen and with relation to the unbelieving world Christian Christian I mean in name though not in truth First for the unbelieving world Heathen it is no wonder that they know not God for they have no means to know him in such a manner as is necessary to salvation It s true that even they have means to know him in a common way as the Apostle shews and proves Rom. 1.19 20. That which may be known conceive it naturally known of God is manifest to them that is the Heathen for God hath shewed it even to them There is an Image and resemblance of him stampt upon the Creatures There are apparent characters and footsteps and impressions of the Godhead of his power and wisdom set upon every thing which he hath made which may be looked upon by every eye How doth his glory shine my brethren in the rare and admirable structure of the world the glorious frame of Heaven and earth And hence it is that David saith The Heavens declare the glory of God c. Psal 19.1 Indeed he tells us afterwards the Law of the Lord is perfect The word of God and that alone is a compleat and perfect help to bring us to the knowledge of God But yet there is some declaration of him in the Creatures the Heavens declare the glory of God And this means the Heathens have The Creatures catechise them and instruct them in the knowledge of a God as Job shewes Chap. 12.7 Ask now the Beasts and they shall teach thee the Fowls and they shall tell thee speak to the Earth and it shall teach thee and Fishes of the Sea shall declare to thee Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of God hath wrought this And therefore the Apostle tells us that even they the Heathen knew God Rom. 1.21 But now they have no means to know him savingly in Christ And this is life eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent This knowledge is not written in the Creature Book and they have not the Scripture Book and how then should they come to it It s true that God is written in the Creature Book but not a word of Christ there God is written in the Heart Book but not a word of Christ there neither The Law is written in the heart by nature but there are no impressions of the Gospel which is the word of Christ Col. 3.16 And hence it is that all the Nations of the world have groped after God and found him too as Acts 17.27 Let a man run from East to West let him ransake all Nations and where he findeth any men there he shall find some notice of God But now my Brethren among which of all these Nations who never had the book of Scriptures shall you find any notice of a Christ any incling of a Saviour or Redeemer No Christ is not so much as named among them They have no glimpse no crevice to give them any light of God in Christ So that it is no wonder though the unbelieving world Pagan know him not in this manner for they have no means to know him Reason 2 But now the unbelieving world Christian hath the means of this knowledge and why then do not they know God true they have the outward means but they want the inward means They have the outward revelation of the word but they have not the inward revelation of the spirit And without this it is impossible for any man to know God And therefore the Apostle prays for the Ephesians that God would give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him Chap. 1.17 By which he intimates that without spirit-revelation they could never come to know him Now this spirit-revelation or unveiling consists in the removal of a double Veil the Veil that lies upon the faculty and the Veil that lies upon the Object 1. In the spirit-revelation which is the only means of knowing God there must be the removal of the Veil that lies upon the faculty the understanding The sence must be unveiled you know or else we cannot see an object though it be before us For what can a blindfolded person see And so it is in this case for every unbelieving person is blindfolded as it were the God of this world hath blinded his eyes The Veil is on their heart that is their understanding 2 Cor. 3 15. And this Veil the Holy Ghost must take away as in the cited place or else though God be by a man as certainly he is not far from every one of us he will not see him But when once this is removed then revelata ac detecta facie as Beza reads it Then we with open and uncovered face behold the glory of the Lord. 2. In that spirit-revelation which is the only means of knowing God there must be the removal of the Veil that lies upon the Object as of the Veil that lies upon the understanding so of the Veil that lies upon the Gospel where God is represented to us in a saving way For you must know my brethren that the Gospel is a veiled and a covered thing it hath a Curtain drawn before it It is a mysterie a secret thing Nay it is not only secret in it self but it is also kept secret Nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that is the term that the Apostle uses Col. 1.26 Not simply dark or mystical but hid on purpose de industria as Theophilacta observes Among the Jews it was covered with a veil of types and figures and dark expressions And to this day it is hid from natural and carnal men 2 Cor. 4.3 So that however God in Christ be cleerly manifested there let them do what they are able still there is something between them and God that hides him from them that they cannot see him And that is the first reason why unbelieving Christians know not God because they want the inward means of this knowledge viz. spirit-revelation And as they want the inward means of finding out this knowledge when it is closely hidden and covered from them so they want inward capability of receiving this knowledge when it is openly proposed and tendred to them They are so far from being able to go forth to fetch it from abroad that they cannot entertain it when it is brought home to them They have not of
the world There will be some elect continually to be brought in by this means Some to be added to the Church some to be joyned to the body mystical untill the dispensation of the fullness of time which the Apostle mentions Eph. 1.10 when all things shall be gathered into one which are in heaven and which are on earth So that you see my brethren Jesus Christ will be continually making further declarations of his Fathers Name to other Nations and to other persons But how will he make these further declarations Brethren he will not do it in his own person or by his own immediate voyce But he will do it other wayes 1. By his written word and Ministers in all ages for that which they declare in his name and by authority from him Jesus Christ himself declares To this end Christ hath set some in the Church some Ministers of all sorts as the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 12.28 And that is out of all dispute in the universal Church which is not limited to any Countrey or to any age That so there might be continually some in all Churches and in all ages to publish what is to be manifested of his Father And hence said Christ to his Apostles Mat. 28.20 Lo I am with you to the end of the world They were not to continue for their own parts by many hundred years so long And therefore it must also stretch to those who were to follow them in the office and the work of Gospel preaching till it be published universally to all Nations in the outward promulgation and in the inward and effectual revelation to all persons to whom it is appointed so to be revealed Which was not done you know by the Apostles it was but begun by them and must be carrried on till it be finished by other Ministers to the end of the world And therefore when our Saviour Christ ascended and consequently could no longer teach his Church immediately in his own person he gave gifts unto men such gifts as he never gave before And he gave some Apostles Prophets Evangelists Some temporary some perpetual for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry How long Till we all come all that are chosen whether Jews or Gentiles in the unity of the Faith unto a perfect man So that the Ministry shall be continued till all be gathered into Christ that shall be gathered and that is till the end of the world 2. Christ makes these further declarations of his Fathers name in every age by his spirit As he declares it outwardly to other persons by his word so he declares it inwardly to other persons by his spirit to his elect in every age to the end of the world And therefore when our Saviour Christ withdrew his corporal and fleshly presence he sent his spirit down to teach his people to lead them into all truth And by that spirit he declares his Fathers name and will do to the worlds end And he assured his Apostles in the place even now alledged Mat. 28.20 when he was even about to leave them as to his fleshly presence with them Lo I am with you alwayes viz. by my spirit to the end of the world That is with you and such as you are with you and your Successors still in every age as long as the world endureth Go ye therefore and teach all Nations and my spirit shall be with you So that what you teach all without he shall teach my elect within powerfully and with success till the last man be gathered in And then shall the end come Is it so that Jesus Christ will be continually making further declarations of his Fathers name to other Nations and to other persons to the end of the world Vse Then let us seriously consider what our dutie is in reference to this work which will be beautifull and glorious beyond all comparison and what Christ expects of us If he will do as he hath said let us examine what we are to do and what duty lyeth upon us relating to it in the mean time And here I shall propound a few things 1. Let us give him so much credit as to believe what he hath spoken And though it seem improbable that Christ should manifest his Fathers name to all Nations That all the Countreyes in the world should come to know him and to be acquainted with him yet seeing Christ hath undertaken it and bound himself by faithfull promise to his Father that as he hath declared his name already so he will be continually making further declarations of it to other persons and to other Nations let us say Amen to it As Mary sometimes when she had staggerd at the difficulty of the Promise at length recovered out of that fit of unbelief and set the seal of faith to it Be it according to thy word 2. Let our hearts be full of hope in reference to this business Since Christ hath undertaken it let us expect the execution of it Our Saviours words my brethren are a promise to the Father what he will do in after times for his people Saith he I will declare thy name to them And therefore as it is our duty to believe the promise so to expect the good things promised To be continually in a waiting frame looking and harkning after the accomplishment of this eximious work of his spying if we can see the day break and the Fathers name shine forth to other Nations who never had a glimsp of it by any Gospel Revelation till in the end from the rising of the Sun unto the going down of the same his name be great among the Gentiles according to that Prophesie relating to these latter times and ages of the world Mal. 1.11 3. Let us strive with Christ in prayer that he would make good the word that he hath spoken to the Father before so many witnesses Oh my beloved when ye look on many Heathen Nations that yet are overwhelmed in ignorance and Egyptian darkness that yet know nothing of the Fathers name when you look on many Christians in profession that yet are even in as bad a case as they some of which it may be have relation to your selves go to Jesus Christ and say O Lord thou hast professed that thou wilt declare thy Fathers name to other persons and to other Nations to the end of the world Lord there are such Nations there are such persons who yet are strangers to the Father who know no more of God in Christ then the very beasts that perish O be intreated to declare thy Fathers name to them Lord manifest the Father to them that they may know him to salvation 4. Let our hearts be full of joy while we are looking forward to the accomplishment of this work O let it chear our spirits under all the sinking damps and deep discouragements that are upon them in relation to the Church to think in what a blessed state and glorious