choice of his God 6. Many of the more civilized sober Professors even of Christianity are apt to rest in general Notions of a Deity when they don't know God himself they don't know him who is God My Text leads me to speak of The Knowledge of God in Christ if what I shall say be not so plain and easie as you would have it Pray remember that I am speaking of that great mystery of godliness God manifest in the flesh which no tongue neither of men or angels is able fully to set forth and to express Yet I hope through the guidance of the Spirit of God what I shall deliver upon this high Subject will fall in with the Conceptions of your Faith and with the Spiritual Apprehensions of an Enlightned Mind Now I proceed A True Saving Knowledge of God implies these Three Things 1. A Knowledge of God in the Person of Christ Incarnate That God manifest in the Flesh of Christ is the only True God 3. That this only True God manifest in the Flesh is our God CHAP. IV. Of the Knowledge of God in the Person of Christ. WHat this Personal Knowledge of God in Christ is I shall explain We conceive God to be a distinct Being from all created Beings above all beyond all and before all the only Jehovah the Great Essentiator who is an Eternal Being himself and gives Being to all other things this God we cannot see with our bodily eyes but with the eyes of a mind spiritually enlightned we may i. e. we may see him by an eye of Faith conceiving him to be all that which he hath revealed himself to be in Christ. Till we see God in the Person of Christ the Mediator we have no certain Object for our Faith to fix upon our natural Notions of God will never carry us to any Person who is God the Scriptures only lead us to Christ as the Son of God The Person of the Father and of the Holy-Ghost are invisible but the Second Person hath made himself visible by taking our Nature upon him and is the only True Visible Image of the Invisible God He is God-Man which signifies not Two Personalities but Two Natures united in One Divine Person The Person of Christ Incarnate is Divine tho many in the days of his flesh here saw his Person who did not own his Divinity they saw him who was God but did not own him to be God 't is Saving Knowledge only that gives us a true sight of God in Christ we never see him till then God in Christ is God indeed all other representations of God do change his Glory into a lye they are all idols and vanities The Heathens became vain in their imaginations multiplying gods to themselves but never agreed who was the only true God Christ said to the Jews vers 19. Ye neither know me nor my Father if ye had known me ye should have known my Father also because the Will of the Father concerning the Salvation of Sinners is revealed by Christ. To believe the Being of a God That there is a God and to believe in God are two things The light of Nature leads to the former but not to the latter because we must have a particular distinct Knowledge of God i. e. of him in particular who is God the only True Living Eternal God we must know his Name his Attributes his Power Wisdom Infinite Love and Mercy We must be able to prove all this from Divine Revelation before we can have sufficient ground for our Faith and Hope in him to believe we know not why in we know not whom is not Faith but fond Credulity this way we render Faith a very irrational thing a mere fancy We cannot prove the Attributes of God but by the Almighty Acts and Works of God we believe him to be God for his Works sake which the Word gives us so full an account of 'T is strange to see what a slight Knowledg of God men do rest in reposing so great a trust as they pretend to do in one whom they know not whether he be able to answer that trust they worship they know not whom they trust they know not whom Tho they own God whoever he be to be Almighty Infinite in Wisdom Love c. yet they chuse a God for themselves who is none of all this and so deceive themselves General Notions of Infinite Power Wisdom c. unless we see where to place them and to whom they do belong are but empty speculations no sufficient ground for our Faith Christ has outdone all that ever were called gods and therefore he only deserves that Name who has in himself revealed the true God to us all the Idols of the world are vanities The Son of God hath made himself visible by taking our flesh upon him and through that veil we look in upon the whole Trinity and know all that is called God in Christ Jesus He that hath seen me hath seen the Father John 14. 9. hath seen the Infinite Power of that Holy Spirit put forth by me No mere Creature holds forth two Natures but the Person of Christ does and therefore is the only Image of the Invisible God holding forth all that is contained in the Infinite Essence of the Divine Nature truly representing God in all his Essential Properties as God and his Father Christ is properly the Image of the Father not of the God-head for that is really in him he is very God The thing it self cannot be said to be the Image of it self Christ and the Father are one in the Essence of the God-head I and my father are one John 10. 30. But Christ is not the same Person with him whose Image he is When Christ is said to be the Image of God God is taken personally for the Father not essentially for the Divine Nature I am not now speaking of the Characteristical Differences of the Three Persons but of the Unity of Essence in which they all agree These three are one If you would know what manner of God the Father is you must look upon Christ his Image and conceive of him according to that manifestation of himself in the Flesh of Christ who has in that very flesh expressed and acted over all the Divine Attributes of God in the Miracles he wrought upon earth letting out a Divine Power through our humane Nature acting as God in our flesh Something of God's Glory appears in the Works of Creation but the Brightness of his Glory shines out only in the Face of Christ as men are known by their faces so God is known by Christ God having in an ineffable manner communicated his Essence to Christ he is therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the express image of his person As he holds forth the Glory of God to us he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the brightness of his glory This is that Divine Person upon whom the eye of our Faith must be fixed I say
A DISCOURSE OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION In Sundry Points Preached at the Merchants Lecture in Broadstreet By THOMAS COLE Minister of the Gospel in London LONDON Printed by R. R. for Thomas Cockerill at the Three Legs in the Poultrey over-against the Stocks-Market MDCXCII THE Preface to the Reader I Dictate nothing to thee I only offer my thoughts about some Points if you find them agreeable to the line and measure of the Word of God receive them if not you cannot do either your self or me a greater kindness then to reject them To take all for truth that we read in humane Authors hath filled the world with Error therefore search the Scriptures whether things are so or no and impartially pronounce that judgment which the Word gives of them whether for or against them I pretend to no new discoveries neither do I affect to be wise above what is Written an improvement of known truths is all I aim at Here is no new unscriptural Light hung up I only snuff the Candle that is already burning seeking to free the Truth from some Obscurities that hinder a right perception of it I am persuaded the chief if not the only cause of difference among real Christians lies not so much in different thoughts as different expressions they mean right but are understood wrong We are not so Angelical yet as to have an intuitive knowledge that looks Truth directly in the face and judges of it as it is But we range about in a discoursive way inferring one thing from another the least error in the Premises affects the Conclusion and leaves a blemish upon it that renders it suspected by all wise men If our more refined thoughts aud speculations in some abstracted notions of truth that we please our selves with lose something of their beauty and lustre when put into Words we must allow for the grossness of the medium thorough which they pass all things being handed to the Intellect by our senses we must phansy something before we know any thing Common sense that rises from particulars may present very unintelligible species to the understanding and occasion much confusion there by those false images of things upon which right notions of truth cannot well be built To avoid these Vncertainties Ambiguities and indistinct Conceptions that our own words are apt to lead us into our surest way is to ground our judgment upon the Infallible Word of God not receeding from the literal Interpretation of Scripture so far as it agrees with the Analogy of Faith and the general scope of the Bible in other places We must not suppose a Figure where there is none nor Allegorize plain Texts into a foreign sense not intended by the Holy Ghost In all our Expositions of such plain Scriptures we should justifie the Letter of the Text and not force a sense of our own upon it which the words will not bear this is the real cause of those unscriptural Expressions that some men cloath their false Conceptions with They cannot speak as the Scripture speaks which argues thoughts within very disagreeable to the Word of God all their Labour and Study is to distinguish the Scripture out of its own sense into theirs that they may have some shew of Divine Authority to maintain their brain-sick Notions which this giddy Age abounds too much with The use of Reason in Divine Mysteries lies in Three things 1. In observing what is plainly laid down in Scripture that it is so and so Written 2. In understanding the true sense and signification of Scripture-terms 3. In discerning the natural consequences of plain truths how one thing follows by a rational deduction from another But as some men would have it we must first look into the nature of the most incomprehensible Mysteries of the Gospel and draw up a Rationale of the Bible that reason may judge what is fit to be believed before we give any credit to the Word of God which is to make our selves the first judges of Gospel-truths and in effect to slight all Divine Testimony If I keep not always the common road but now and then step out of it all I have to say is this I count not my self obliged to go thorough thick and thin for Company especially when I see a nearer and a cleaner way There is some latitude even in the narrow way to Heaven we may take a compass and go wide of each other yet have our faces fixed upon the same point and meet at the same place at night Where there is the greetest agreement among Saints in any point of Doctrine yet we may find some difference in their conceptions of the same thing we are not yet come to that Vnity of knowledge which will make us intirely one in our perfect state In the mean time let us not except against that diversity of gifts and operations that flow from the same Spirit One may follow another though his pace be slower though he tread not directly in his steps who goes before nay short steps often repeated may rid more ground than long deliberate paces one shows how far he can stride the other how fast he can go and a nimble Feet is better than a long lazy Leg that out-strides those whom it cannot out-go I shall give thee only this brief Account of the ensuing discourse I suppose thou hast read the Title Page if thou thinkest thy self concerned in so weighty a Subject read on if not I fear thy hope is only in this life Paul will tell thee what a miserable man thou art 1 Cor 15. None in the world more wretched than thy self So I leave thee to give thy self a reason if thou canst why thou slightest the Hope of Glory and art so unconcerned in the next state of things when this world shall be no more The Knowledg of God in Christ requires frequent and fervent Prayer serious Meditation and diligent searching the Scriptures which testifie of Christ God never made himself visible to man but in the person of Christ Incarnate who is the express Image of the Father best able to make the truest representation of God to man being himself both God and man What is occasionally spoken of some other Points viz. Of the Law of the New Covenant of the Instrumentality of Faith in Justification of Repentance and New Obedience as required in all who are Justified though not unto the Justification of any I refer to thy serious consideration My design is not to satisfie the captious reason of the Disputers of this world but to speak to the experience of humble Christians If I do that I shall have witnesses enough to the truth of what I say Though some may not understand in a Christian Faith is the best understanding Were there more of this among our men of Reason Gospel-Mysteries would not seem such unintelligible Notions as they do to many who think there is no ground of certainty but Logical Evidence The Divine Authority of the Scripture
of it The Jews to prove themselves to be Freemen and never in bondage alledge that they were Abraham's seed vers 33. They said Abraham was their father v. 39. and God was their father ver 41. Christ denies both and says the Devil was their Father which he proves by their contempt of him and his Doctrine as more at large appears in this Chapter The Sum of all is this viz. They vainly pretend to an Interest in God who dishonour the Son of God it is my Father that honoureth me Of whom ye say he is your God yet ye have not known him First I shall make good the Words of our Saviour against the Jews and prove That they knew not God because they knew not Christ the Son of God God cannot be savingly known but as he hath revealed himself in Christ. God hath revealed himself to the Jews in his word not only as the Creator of Heaven and Earth and as that God who brought them out of Egypt so they knew him but that he intended to send his Son into the world the Seed of the Woman to redeem Man Zech. 9. 11. Isa. 45. 17. Had the Jews believed this they would never have treated Christ so scornfully saying Where is thy Father v. 19. Such a spiritual Redeemer they looked not for they thought the Messiah should be some Temporal Prince who should come of some Noble Family with great attendance armed with Power and Strength to deliver them from the Roman Yoak to restore the people to their Liberties to enlarge his Dominion over other Nations keeping up the Mosaical Polity every where they never dreamed that the Son of God was to come in man's Nature to dye for Sinners to bring in a new Everlasting Righteousness and Life though all this was foretold in the Old-Testament yet they did not so understand it All outward deliverances promised to the Jews were through Christ. So to unbelieving Ahaz Isa. 7. 14. All Mercies promised to the Jews hung upon the Kingdom of David which pointed to Christ. Isa. 55. 3 4. Jer. 23. 3 4 5 6. Ezek. 34. 22 23. and Ezek 37. 25 c. All the hope of Israel in all Ages was reposed in Christ only Zech. 9. 9. c. Amos 9. 11. c. The Gospel being first to be Preached to the Jews Christ ceased not to Preach to them notwithstanding all their scorn and contempt of Him and his Doctrine expressed by their Contumelious words and wicked attempts to take away his Life They took up stones and cast at him v. 59. 'T is evident that the greatest part of the Jews did not know God though the Psalmist says Psal. 76. 1 2. In â—udah is God known his name is great in Israel in Salem also is his Tabernacle and his dwelling-place in Sion Yet Christ here reproves them for their ignorance of God even in â—erusalem According to that of the Prophet Isa. 1. 3. The â—x knoweth his owner and the â—ss his masters crib but Israel doth not know my people â—oth not consider o My people is sottish they have not known me they are sottish châ—ldren they have no understanding Jer. 4. 22. No wonder the Gentile world knew not God but that his own people the Jews should not know him this is strange They knew there was a God and did worship him according to the Law but not according to the Gospel therefore though they said they knew him yet not doing the Duty of those who rightly know God they are said not to know him But Secondly to bring down the point nearer to our selves 1. Obs. Many do pretend to an Interest in the God of Abraham as their God and Father who yet know him not As there were many carnal Israelites of old who had a form of knowledg in the Law Rom. 2. 20. So there are many formal Christians now who have a form of knowledg according to the Letter of the Gospel and yet do not truly know God in Christ Jesus Many call God their God and Father whom he will never own for his true Children God owns none for his Children who do not own Christ for his Son carrying it towards him accordingly Our relation to God as Children springs from our relation to Christ the Son of God our union to Christ by Faith proves our adoption but whilst we are without Christ we are looked upon as aliens and strangers as without God in the world Eph. 2. 12. I shall include all that I have further to say from this Text in this general observation viz. 2. Oâ—s A right saving Knowledge of God is only in and through Christ We cannot know God unto Salvation any other way From the Analysis of these two Chapters and the coherence of the Text with the Context it plainly appears by these words of our Saviour to the Jews That none do truly know God the Father who do not acknowledg Christ to be the Son of God All the saving Knowledge we have of God is from the Knowledge Christ hath of God who lying in the bosom of the Father hath declared him to us John 1. 18. John 14. 9. We ought not to speak any thing of God but what he has said of himself in his word Theology is the Doctrine of God concerning himself concerning his works and his will Christ as man was ignorant of some things and knew no more than the Father revealed to him Mark 13. 32. so Joh. 7. 16 17. My doctrine says he is not mine but his that sent me 't is of God I speak not of my self or from my self but as I hear John 5. 30. So he received the Revelation from the Father Rev. 1. 1. As our Knowledge of God flows from the Knowledge Christ has of God So our Knowledge of Christ is from himself John 14. 21. As he does by his Spirit reveal himself to us so he doth reveal the Father to us in himself Mat. 11. 27. John 6. 46. No man hath seen God at any time no not Moses himself hath seen the Father but had all from Christ who gave the Law upon the Mount Acts 7. 38. Whatever Notices there may be in the minds of men of a Deity yet they know not God aright without faith in Christ. Saving Knowledge is that by which we understand the right way of a sinners salvation by Christ or it 's the Knowledge that shews us what we must do to be saved A convinced sinner is at a great loss about his Salvation till God open to him the Mystery of his free Grace in Christ giving him thereby the Knowledge of Salvation Luk. 17. 7. God's love is towards the Elect before they know him but it is not in them till they know him then they understand how they are beloved of God his love is shed abroad in their Hearts Rom. 5. 5. 'T is in them John 17. 26. And I in them Not only for them but in them before we knew God or Christ Christ had
the eye of our Faith because many who looked upon Christ with their bodily eyes when he was upon Earth saw the man Christ but saw not God in that man Nay they Crucified him as a Blasphemer for saying he was God Obj. How can we now see God in the Person of Christ since his Ascension Who shall Ascend into Heaven after him Answ. You may as well nay upon some accounts betteâ— discern God now in the Person of Christ since his Ascension as they could who were present with him upon Earth for they could not discern his Godhead but by Faith and so may we now But you will further Object We cannot see his Person Answ. Not with our bodily Eyes neither would that help us to discern his God-head if we could so see him with our bodily eyes unless the Father did inwardly reveal him and this he does now to his Saints as well as then then he did convincingly reveal the God-head of Christ in the Person of Christ livingupon Earth now he does reveal the same God-head of Christ in the same Person of Christ though not as living upon Earth but as represented to us in the word and living now in Heaven We must consider Christ as held forth in the word it 's enough that he was once upon Earth and that we have such a perfect Character of him such a full authentick description of the Person of Christ Incarnate and of his coming again left upon record in the Scriptures the word is nigh thee act your faith upon that and you will quickly have a spiritual discerning of God in Christ. You cannot believe all that the Scripture says of Christ but you must believe him to be God the very Son of God by eternal Generation from the Father and if you believe this you cannot but believe the eternal Procession of the Spirit from them both How can you conceive a living eternal Father and a living eternal Son without a living eternal Spirit The account the Scriptures give of the Son of God incarnate is ground enough for our Faith to fix upon set but your Faith a-work upon Christ and you 'l quickly have a spiritual sight of God in him Faith will observe that in Christ that speaks out his Godhead 't will spy out such Rays and Beams of Divine Majesty shining out in his Person that will create in us a holy Reverence towards him and cause us to fall down and worship him Though Christ be Personally Ascended yet he is Spiritually present with us and in us faith knows how in the light of the word to follow him up to Heaven to sit down in Heavenly places by him and to keep up a constant Communion with him As Christ was in Heaven as God when he was upon Earth as Man John 3. 13. So tho now he is contained in Heaven as Man yet he fills both Earth and Heaven as God Tho his finite Humane Nature cannot co-extend it self to an Ubiquity to reach as far as the Divine yet the Two Natures in Christ are always hypostatically united and tho the Divine Nature do act in with and through the Humane yet it does in many things act above and beyond it even under this hypostatical Union by which God intended to advance Humane Nature but without any Contraction or Diminution of the Divine If you ask What is that Object which we should set before us in every Act of Worship Publick or Private I Answer The Father Son and Holy-Ghost one God and Three Persons Through Christ by one Spirit we have access unto the Father Eph. 2. 18. According to that Oeconomy we worship one God all along applying our selves in a distinct manner to each Person according to the Word that the whole of our Worship may center in one God We shall become vain in our imaginations if we worship God any otherwise Our own Notions of Omnipotency c. let them rise never so high are but mere empty Speculations till we know the subject to whom they belong If they are true they are true of something Attributes ascribed to nothing are nothing in themselves but when we see in whom they are vested they command a Reverence in us towards so great an Object they that know thy name will trust in thee the name leads us to the thing to God himself as an Infinite Eternal Being cloathed with all those Attributes that render him worthy of all Honour Praise and Glory from us The Heathens for want of a right Object to fix their natural Notions of a Deity upon set up such Similitudes and Images of God as did no way represent him but rendred him like unto corruptible things God forbid us to make any Image or Likeness of him and set up his Son as his only True Living Image that we might conceive of him according to that Image and no otherwise The Sum of all is this The New Testament declares Christ to be the Son of God equal with the Father the express image of his person Flesh and blood cannot reveal this to us i. e. can 't perswade us to believe it but when it pleases the Father to reveal his Son in us then we see the Eternal Father in his Son in knowing one we know both because both are one and the same God We see the Eternal Spirit in Christ also who is called the Spirit of Christ residing in him without measure 'T is by the Son that we know both the Father and the Spirit as One God and Three Persons One and yet Three Three and yet One God has said it therefore let us admire and believe The greatest things that are cause no admiration till we believe them and then we sit down astonished That Three Personalities belong to One Infinite Essence must needs be true because God in effect says it who knows himself best I am that I am says God i. e. I am all that is revealed and I am that I am besides Secret things belong to God not to know what is not revealed is not culpable ignorance but a holy Nescience that will become us 'T is fit that God should so reveal himself to us that he may appear incomprehensible by us had he revealed himself as comprehensible by us we should have had no reason to believe him to be God for he must have been a finite God and therefore none at all 'T was fit therefore that God should shew himself to man in his transceedent Excellencies as incomprehensible by man so that his very incomprehensibleness which may occasion some doubt and hessitation in us yet if rightly considered it may be brought in as a strong argument to prove the truth and certainty of his Divinity Men are now for Comprehending not Believing but all men are not Philosophers Besides the Philosophical Reasons you bring for the Being of a God may prove there is a God and that you know there is a God but they do not prove that you know who that God
c. In the day thou eatest thou shalt die Nothing does establish this Law and give it its full course towards Believers but faith in Christ Jesus who was made a curse and died according to Law for our sins and being risen again he brings those whom he freed from the curse of the Law under the blessing of the Gospel giving eternal Life as a free-gift to all who thankfully receive it from his hand by faith owning him as the Author and Donor of it 3. The nature of the Offence as committed against an infinite God requires a price equivalent to it of infinite value none but God could satisfie God the wrath of God is asswaged by the blood of God and that he might bleed he became Man the Second Person of the Trinity as incarnate died for man tasted death for us in our nature which he still kept hypostatically untied to his own Divine Person for Christ by dying did not lay down humane Nature but humane Life only which he took up again and now lives for ever as a quickning Spirit communicating eternal Life to Believers through his humane nature now glorified in Heaven Therefore Christ is said to be our life Col. 3. 4. And this life is in his son 1 John 5.11 Hid with Christ in God Col. 3. 3. The life which we derive from mere humane nature will quickly fail but the life which we derive by faith form the Divine Person of the Son of God is everlasting John 3. 16. As the father hath life in himself so hath he given to the son to have life in himself John 5. 26. i. e. He is life essentially the essence of the Deity is communicated by the Father to Christ incarnate and so he becomes the Fountain of life to us therefore let all those who hope to inherit eternal life join themselves by faith to Christ the only Fountain of life How little of this hidden life does appear in the effects of it among Professors We live more by sense than faith very solicitous about natural life but how few do carry it as those who have eternal life abiding in them 1 John 3. 15. Living in the flesh by the faith of the Son of God Gal. 2. 20. Who fell a Sacrifice for our sins but rose again and now lives for ever And gives eternal life to as many as the father hath given him John 17. 2. He has undertaken to the Father to draw all the Elect into a participation of that eternal life which he as man possess now in Heaven and because he lives we shall live for ever in him The Second person in the Trinity died as a man in our human nature to satisfie the Law and to evidence the reality of his death he lay buried three days in the Grave he was alive as God when dead as Man what a profound Mystery is this that the Deity of Christ should suffer his human Body to fall under the power of death for three days this shews the strength of sin the strength of the law and the strength of the wrath of God that so great a man as Christ was could not stand under and live die he must by the sanction of the law being found in the likeness of sinful flesh Rom. 8. 3. bearing our sins in his own Body on the Tree but the dignity of his person was such and the extremity of his sufferings so great that his three days death was equivalent to eternal death he did that in three days which a damned sinner in Hell cannot effect to eternity for that which is doing to eternity can never be actually done and compleated i. e. Christ gave full satisfaction to the Law in three days and therefore could not longer be detained in the Grave there was no Law nor Reason for it having paid the utmost farthing of our whole Debt the Prison-doors were opened and Christ let out That which keeps the Damned in Hell for ever is because they can never fully satisfie the law of God by all their sufferings therefore they must suffer on still to eternity but Christ by one offering hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10. 14. Christ could have chose whether he would have died or no but for this end he came into the World and did voluntarily yield up himself to the Death of the Cross but rising the Third Day he lives for ever and has brought eternal life into human Nature to be communicated to all his Members who cannot forfeit that life which they derive from the second Adam as we all did that which we derived from the first Adam In Adam all die and in Christ all are made alive 1 Cor. 15. 22. CHAP. II. To whom was this PRICE paid FIfthly To whom was this Price paid viz. Into the hands of God the Father to appease his wrath under which we were Joh. 3. 36. God's justice requires this 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the judgment of God that sinners are worthy of death Rom. 1. 32. To this end Christ is our propitiation Rom. 3. 25. Reconciling God to us that we may be received into his favour again hence God declares in the new Covenant I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more Heb. 8. 12. Sing O ye heavens c. Isa. 44. 23. vide That satisfaction that Christ gave to the Justice of God lay in his bearing the Punishment of our sins which is the wrath of God in all the dreadful effects of it 2 Cor. 5. 21. 1 Pet. 2. 24. He was made a curse for us Gal. 3. 13. Died for us Mat. 20. 28. Isa. 53. 5. Was cut off for our sins Dan. 9. 26. Death was required to make satisfaction for sin In the day thou eatest c. The Wages of sin is death Rom. 6. 23. There is no escaping this death for us but by dealing with the Justice of God in some way that may satisfie Justice and save the sinner this Christ undertook and by his own Death effected for us He gave himself for our sins Gal. 1. 4. His Blood was the Price of our Redemption Price here is not taken as vulgarly for Money but whatever may satisfie him in whose hands the captive is that is the Price of Redemption God does not seek to make a gain of us that which he stand upon is the vindication of the honour of his Law and Justice the maintaining his Truth and Faithfulness To declare his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth ion Jesus Rom. 3. 26. Christ did not pay the Price of our Redemption to the Devil but to God the Father who had power to condemn us and as a Judge to detain us in prison till his Justice was satisfied therefore Christ deals with the Law-giver takes the penalty upon himself Whilst the condemning power of the Law is in force against us the Devil has a right in
as Christ make many Righteous Therefore 't is said 1 Tim. 2. 5 6. One Mediator gave himself a ransom for all There is one Lord Ephes. 4. 5. Obj. 4. From Psal. 132. 10. The Papists infer from thence That God does not hear us for Christ's sake only but for David's sake too Answ. When 't is said for David's sake 't is not meant for the Merit Intercession or Mediation of David as we understand when we say for Christ's sake But here 't is for the sake of the Covenant made with David and his seed from whom should spring the Messiah this Covenant is mentioned Psal. 89. 3 4 24. Hence the Saints expostulate with God in the same Psalm v. 49 50. So these words in Psalm 132. 10. are explained in the next v. 11. CHAP. VI. The APPLICATION 7. WHAT use we should make of Christ our Mediator Are we come to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant Then let us never think to obtain any New Covenant-mercy without the Mediation of Christ 't is great presumption to come alone and in our own names to the Throne of Grace all the force and efficacy of our Prayers depends upon the Intercession of Christ who is our Advocate with the Father our great High-Priest always appearing in Heaven for us he undertakes that our Prayers shall be heard Mat. 21. 22. Whatsoever ye ask in prayer believing ye shall receive Mark 11. 24. Joh. 14. 6. No coming unto the Father but by me and whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do If ye shall ask any thing in my name I will do it V. 13 14. Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you John 16. 23. What encouragement does Christ give us to pray in his Name to make use of him for our Mediator in all things wherein we have to do with God! He presents his People and their services to God for acceptance What can a man do for himself How can he deal with God without a Mediator I have sinned says Job 7. 20. What shall I do unto thee O thou preserver of men A Sinner knows not what to do without a Mediator We can have no Communion with God but by a Mediator no Mediator but Christ our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son i. e. with the Father by the Son and no otherwise 'T is not enough to own one God unless we own one Mediator the man Christ 1 Tim. 2. 5. I am the door no entring but by me John 10. 9. No other name under heaven whereby we must be saved Acts 4. 12. Christ is the Ladder reaching from Earth to Heaven Gen. 28. 12. No climbing up to Heaven any other way they are Thieves and Robbers who attempt it we can have no access to God but through Christ John 10. 1 7 8 9. All our Spiritual Sacrifices are acceptable to God through Christ 1 Pet. 2. 5. All Blessings come upon us through Christ Tit. 3. 6. and in Christ Eph. 1. 3. Let us come in that Name for the Remission of Sins Acts 10. 43. By him let us offer the Sacrifice of Praise to God continually Heb. 13. 15. Let us be sure to eye Christ in all the actings of our Faith upon God 1 Pet. 1. 21. By him believing in God And in all our accesses unto God that we may come boldly by the Faith of him Eph. 3. 12. Since our High Priest hath such fellow-feeling of all our infirmities sympathysing with us therefore let us come boldly unto the throne of grace Heb. 4. 15 16. To Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant The New Covenant implies That God will deal with men upon new terms upon other Terms than he did before under the first Covenant this is a better Covenant established upon better Promises more encouraging more relieving to a poor Sinner The Mediator of the New Covenant lives for ever to make intercession for us Heb. 7. 25. From this the Apostle argues That they shall be Saved to the uttermost or evermore as in the Margin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in eternum or perfectè servare or vivificare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to quicken or make alive Christ as Mediator will do every thing that tends to the perfecting of eternal life Christ is a very powerful Advocate heard in all the requests he makes to the Father John 11. 41 42. If so then the perseverance of the Saints is built upon a sure bottom because Christ has prayed for them John 17. 24. That they may be kept v. 15. That their Faith fail not Luke 22. 32. Christ's Mediation as useful and necessary as it is extends not it self beyond his Church and Chosen Rom 8. 33 34. Acts 20. 28. Eph. 5. 25. John 10. 14. He plainly declares this John 17. 9 20. His Mediation reaches no further than the Covenant every Mediator is the Mediator of a Covenant all men are not taken into the Covenant of Grace though Christ prayed for his Enemies here on Earth Luke 23. 34. That was because he knew some of his Elect were to be found among his Murtherers this Prayer of Christ took effect for some of them were afterwards converted Acts 2. 23 37. You see how effectual the Mediation of Christ is therefore if we intend to speed at the Throne of Grace let us be sure to direct all our Prayers to God by Faith in the Name of Christ Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant As we are directed to come to God by Christ and through Christ so we must be sure to come to God in Christ to God in a Mediator as well as by him Christ though he be another Person yet he is not another God from the Father and the Holy Ghost he is alius but not aliud not differing in the essence of the Deity from the Father we shall become vain in our imaginations if we set our selves to conceive of God out of Christ we are apt to pass through the Mediator to the Father as to a God distinct from the Mediator Some Christians have been very much at a loss in the actings of their Faith upon God through Christ because they have not looked unto God in Christ so much as they should Christ calls us to the knowledge of himself that we might know the Father in him John 14. 7. If ye had known me ye should have known my Father also He that hath seen me hath seen the father v. 9. I am in the father and the father in me v. 10. God in Christ is the only true object of all Divine Worship In him the Godhead dwells bodily Col. 2. 9. We can have no Communion with the Godhead but through the Flesh of Christ as he is God Incarnate our Emanuel and Mediator Faith first takes hold of the Flesh of Christ and through that veil draws nigh to God who is a Spirit Heb 10. 19 20. John 6. 56. The main end of Christ in dying for us was
Matth. 5. 16. with Rom. 8. 30. and you will find that we are said to glorifie God and God also is said to glorifie us but with this difference We glorifie God by declaring those Divine Excellencies that were in God before God glorifies us by putting an Excellency upon us which we had not before We glorifie God here on Earth God glorifies us in Heaven as our Saviour saith John 17. 4 5. I have glorified thee on earth now O Father glorifie thou me with the glory which I had with thee before the world was What was that I wish I were able to tell you It may be some of you may think I say too much and others too little I desire as God will help me to say something of it that may lead your Thoughts into a further Consideration of this matter Therefore I shall endeavour to open that difficult Scripture Glorifie thou me with that glory which I had with thee before the World was John 17. 5. I conceive thus That Christ's Human Nature upon his Ascension to Heaven was according to its finite capacity lifted up by vertue of the Hypostatical Union into the Essential Glory of the Godhead which did not so shine forth in the Man Christ here on Earth as it doth now in Heaven It was under an Eclipse then in his state of Humiliation but now this Glory is fully communicated to the Human Nature of Christ and through Christ unto us John 17. 22. compared with Joh. 14. 20. I am in my father and ye in me and I in you saith he I say the Glory of the Godhead is communicated to the Human Nature of Christ and through Christ unto us who are united to him And by vertue of this Union the other Two Persons of the Trinity the Father and the Holy Ghost are said to dwell in us and to be in us The Father dwells in us and we in him 1 John 4. 12 13 16. If we dwell in Love we dwell in God and God dwells in us that is we have deep Apprehensions of the Love of God And the Spirit dwells in us Rom. 8. 11. comp with 1 Cor. 3. 16. I speak this to shew how near we are brought to God in Glory to the Father Son and Holy Ghost And thus you see how Saints are glorified in Christ blessed with all Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly Places in Christ Eph. 1. 3. And how Christ is glorified in them John 17. 10. Christ takes the Saints into his own Glory which is their Glorification perfective of their Happiness And this Manifestation of the Glory of Christ in and upon the Saints is said to be a glorifying of Christ John 17. 10. The Original Glory of Christ shining out upon us is our Glorification which doth consist in the Beatifical Vision in beholding the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ we see him face to face 1 Cor. 13. 12. Mat. 18. 10. We see him as he is which transforms us into his likeness 1 Joh. 3. 2. We then appear with him in glory Col. 3. 4. Joh. 7. 24. What can we conceive of this Glory What is this Glory The Scripture sets it forth by Allusions to things that are natural and so shall I. Glory then is a Splendor or Lustre arising up and resulting from the Beauty and Excellency of a thing above other things So God outshines all Creatures being transcendingly Good So that Glory in its perfection as it is in God the Fountain of it it is a continual Effulgency and Brightness flowing from God the Perfection of Beauty He dwells in inaccessible Light This is called sometimes The brightness of his glory Heb. 1. 3. always sending forth resplendent Beams and Rays of Light which do reach us in Heaven and do reflect a Glory upon us Thus the Glory of God is set forth in Scripture by things that are most glorious in our sight And I must tell you That Faith sees something in God that is beyond all these Metaphors of Light and Brightness I say beyond all these Notions of Light and Brightness a more excelling Glory in comparison of which all created Glory is no Glory But the Beatifical Vision is aboâ—e all the Visions of this Glory that Faith now gives us because it fills and satisfies the whole Capacity of our Souls We are then possessed of all and desire no more The School-men tell us Heaven is Appetitus quietivum doth satisfie and quiet the Desires of a man So saith the Scripture Psal. 17. 15. When I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likeness speaking of the Resurrection If the Love of the world is in you the love of the father is not in you 1 John 2. 15. If we are still flying out in our affections after worldly things it is a sign our minds are not quieted and satisfied with God alone School-Divines say further That in Hell there is fear but Heaven is above all Hope And they give this reason for it Because in Hell there is Successio Poenarum a Succession of Punishment which causes Fear but say they in Heaven Glory is absque Successione without Succession i. e. 'T is all present before ' em I suppose they mean this That the Saints above have a kind of actual Comprehension of their Eternal Beatitude in which there is nothing past or to come but all as present before them They don't Hope but certainly know that their Blessedness doth continue for ever That is I say the Saints above after the Resurrection cannot be more happy to all Eternity than they are the first moment of their Glorification And this I mean by an actual Comprehension of our Eternal Beatitude All is as present to Glorified Saints Brethren If these things seem difficult to you and do pass your knowledge are above your comprehension it is your happiness it is so that there is more Glory reserved for you than you can conceive Eye hath not seen ear hath not heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that love him Besides pray consider we that are Ministers do prophesie but in part we see but through a glass darkly no wonder then if these things seem abstruse and enigmatical The more spiritually-minded you are about these deep things of God seriously considering the Sufferings of Christ and the Glory that shall follow as 1 Pet. 1. 11. the more plain and evident will this Glory be unto you You will know more of it than the Tongue of Men or Angels can express There are certain Elevations of an enlightned mind that do sometimes raise our Apprehensions of Divine Mysteries above and beyond our ordinary thoughts of them The Spirit takes us up into the Mount of Glory and shews us the things of Christ more demonstatively than any Minister in the World is able to do When we are heaving at some heavy body we lift here and we lift there and it may be upon some sudden
of Glory because Christ without us is now personally in Heaven And if since his Ascension and Glorification he is pleased to descend down into us by his Spirit and dwell in us this is a sure sign he intends to bring us to the same place of Glory with himself Christ was to bring many sons to glory Heb. 2. 7. And he sends his Spirit as an earnest to assure us of this The Spirit never quite leaves that soul into whom he once comes He abides with us for ever John 14. 16. He comes to take possession for Christ he enters in in his name he sets his mark upon the Soul casts out the Devil seals up the Soul for Christ Thou art mine saith the Spirit of Christ The Spirit it self bears witness with our spirits that we are the children of God Rom. 8. 16. Saints are sensible of this and do give themselves unto the Lord As Christ gives himself unto the Saints so they give themselves unto the Lord. My beloved is mine and I am his they do mutually own each other And this is the happy day of our Espousals we are married unto the Lord and he is become an husband to us and ever after we dwell comfortably together in Love Brethren If we set our minds to know these things the Spirit will shew us out of the Word what Christ is now doing for us in Heaven That he is gone to prepare a place for us John 14. 2. To make intercession for us Rom. 8. 34. He is entred in for us as a forerunner Heb. 6. 20. that we may follow after He will come again and receive us to himself John 14. 3. We shall partake of his glory Joh. 17. 22. We shall sit down with him on his Throne Rev. 3. 21. These are good grounds of Hope we should seriously weigh and consider these things we should ponder them well in our hearts Some apply themselves with great earnestness to outward Duties of Religion Others they study the Controversial part and rest in an Orthodox Judgment in the bare knowledge of the Truth And may be neither the one nor the other do attend to the acting of their Faith upon Christ which only brings down Religion to our selves engages our Hearts and Consciences in it And I am sure till then let our Profession and Knowledge be what it will we are not real Christians in the sight of God Christ is not in us of a truth I see many Professors wrapt up close in their several Forms crying Lo here and Lo there each one contending for his own Opinion pleasing themselves with their different ways and methods of outward Devotion Here they rest and are no further concerned in Religion than to join to such or such a Party going under such or such a Name We may see many Professorts of all sorts and forms walking softly to Hell talking of Christ all the way they go This is Truth This is Gospel This is the Protestant Religion This and that is a good Sermon And yet it is visible that the most important Truths of the Gospel have not that weight with them as they should They do not carry on the grand design of their Profession They don't live and walk as if they really believed what they so solemnly profess This is the Charge I have against the Professors of this Age I am afraid of them I am afraid of you I am afraid of my self Let every one examine himself If you know these things happy are ye if you do them Let us either resolve to live up to our Christian Principles or lay aside that Name to live by which we deceive both our selves and others Let us lay aside all Hope of Salvation by Christ or study Christ more who is the only sure Ground and Foundation of our Hope of Glory CHAP. IV. THAT I may take occasion to look a little further into the Text I shall put this Query from the running of the Words as they lye before us Christ in us our Hope of Glory The Query is this If Christ be in us can we hope for any thing more If Christ be ours all is ours How then can Christ in us beget Hope of any thing further Is there any thing more than Christ Can Christ be nearer to us than to be within us Is any thing beyond Christ Any thing more desirable than Christ One would think that Christ in us should compleat our Fruition and not lead out our Souls to a Hope and Expectation of something else This is the Query I answer We must distinguish between the Spiritual and Personal Presence of Christ Christ is present with us in Spirit here but he will be personally present with us in Glory hereafter It is a great deal more or as the Apostle speaks far better for us to be with Christ that is with his Glorified Person than for Christ to be in us now by his Spirit This is in order to that to fit us for himself and to make us meet for the inheritance of the saints in light All is ours if Christ be ours All ours How Not in hand not in full possession but only in Hope in the account and reckoning of Faith all is made over and secured to us our Title is firm and good to the whole Inheritance and all that God hath promised but still the Inheritance is reserved 1 Pet. 1. 4. We are not yet entred into it are not yet invested with all that belongs to us God hath begun a good work here which he will not finish till the Resurrection Our Grace lies in the Spiritual Presence of Christ in us here our Glory lies in the Personal Presence of Christ with us in Heaven hereafter We must speak of these things as men and you must bear with our infirmity and with the weakness of our expression I beseech you consider what I am now saying The Glorified Person of Christ will not bear that which the Spirit of Christ bears now in the Saints The Spirit comes to sanctifie us comes where Sin is and casts it out Tho the Spirit never mingles with our Sins yet the Spirit will hold Communion with those in whom Sin dwells which the Glorified Person of Christ will not No unclean thing shall enter Heaven We must not think to come so near to the Person of Christ till we are perfectly sanctified We must be without spot or blemish or wrinkle or any such thing before we can have immediate Fellowship with the Father and the Son in Glory The Presence of the Spirit now tho it be an inward intimate Presence yet it is but a mediate Presence through the Word through Gospel-Ordinances But the mutual Presence of God and the Saints with each other in Heaven is an immediate Presence face to face We had need have no spot upon our face then but be throughly washed and cleansed that no filth may be found in our skirts Christ hath espoused us now by his Spirit to
suffered for us interceded for us but before Faith he is not said to be in us i. e. Not to live in us by his Spirit that we may live to God Gal. 2. 20. This Saving Knowledge of God which I am now speaking of is not the Knowledge of his Essence but of his Grace Love and Good-Will towards us in Christ and this the only begotten Son declares to us John 1. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is plenior perfectior rerum explitio CHAP. II. THat I may more distinctly open to you the nature of this saving knowledge of God in Christ I shall shew 1. What may be known of God out of Christ. 2. All that may be known of God out of Christ is better known in and by Christ. 3. What may be known of God in and by Christ that cannot be known any other way 4. What it is to know God in Christ. 5. What a true saving knowledge of God implies 1. What may be known of God out of Christ viz. The invisible things of God even his eternal Power and Godhead Rom. 1. 19 20. This Natural Philosophical knowledge of God though it be not sufficient to Save us yet 't is sufficient to Damn us to render us inexcusable and consequently to justifie our Damnation It may convince us of Sin but does not enable us to shun it or to do Good to addict our selves to it in a constant way this is a special work of the Holy Spirit Natural Concience knows something of God but nothing of Christ till our Ears are opened Psal. 40. 6. Aures perfodit digged or bored our Ears There is an obstruction a stoppage in all our Natural faculties that Spiritual objects can't enter till we are Spiritually enlightned till God moves our Hearts to assent to this Divine Revelation of God in Christ so giving us knowledge which is an effect of Divine Power 2 Pet. 1. 2 3. Eph 1. 19 2 Thes. â— 11. Which overthrows the Pelagian Doctrine asserting it to be in man's power to believe contrary to 2 Cor. 4. 7. and 2 Cor. 2. 5. in the Power of God i. e. In the irresistible efficacy of his Grace Though all Natural men do resist Grace at first yet Grace overcomes them at last takes away all final prevailing resistance turning the heart of stone into a heart of flesh Ezek. 36. 26. Besides to be able to resist the Grace of God is no Argument of man's Power but of his Weakness Malice and Pride The Gentiles knew God by the Creation but not by the Scriptures forbidding inward Lust and Concupiscence which natural light does not Rom 7. 7. They judged thoughts to be free for this reason the Gentiles are said not to know God 1 Thes. 4. 5. 2. All that may be known of God out of Christ is better known in and by Christ By Reason we know that the World was made but by Faith we know it more certainly Heb. 11. 3. The light of Nature gathers up something from the Works of God but Faith gathers up more from the Word of God the Word speaks more distinctly than the Works of God do these hold forth something of God in the general Notion of a Deity but leave us in the dark where to find out this God They speak out God to our Reason by some remote consequences leading us up to a first cause and in a discursive way convincing us of the Being of a God but few men have such Logical heads as to keep themselves under the power of these reasonings they are apt ever and anon to sink at last into practical Atheism He is a Practical Atheist who does not order his life according to those inward speculations he has of God The Word holds forth God more powerfully and directly to our Faith shewing us that God in Christ which it speaks of Since in the Wisdom of God i. e. by the Fabrick of Heaven and Earth setting forth the Wisdom of God the World cannot by all its Wit and Wisdom comfortably know God unto Salvation therefore he calls us to Faith in Christ 1 Cor. 1. 21. 3. What may be known of God in and by Christ that cannot be known any other way viz. His Pardoning Grace which as Sinners we are most of all concerned to know all other Attributes of God make against us without the knowledge of this which makes all to be for us The way of a Sinners Salvation is no where revealed but in Christ the last word the Law speaks is Death in the day thou eatest thou shalt dye and so leaves us under that Sentence till the day of Execution The Devils knew God without a Redeemer and therefore tremble Jam. 1. 19. The Gentiles knew God but not in Christ Rom. 1. 20. The Jews knew God as the Creator of the World as their Deliverer out of Egypt as the founder of their Commonwealth but not as the Father of Christ the true Messiah All this knowledge of God out of Christ does represent him to us only as our Judge which leads a Sinner to utter Despair overwhelms him with a sense of God's Wrath. 'T is only in Christ that we look upon God as a Saviour freely pardoning all our Sins This Pardoning Grace flows down to us only through Christ In whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins Col. 1. 14. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be apâ—opitiation through Faith in his blood to deelare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God Rom. 3. 24 25. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 1. 15. Who hath saved us and called ws with a holy calling Not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel 2 Tim. 1. 9 10. From all these Texts it plainly appears that God never had a thought from all Eternity of Pardoning Sinners but only in and through Christ and what applications we have made and do make every day unto God in the Name of Christ for the Pardon of Sin does highly concern every one of us seriously to consider This hidden Mystery of Gods Pardoning Grace unknown to the World before Mat. 13 35. is revealed to us in and by Christ being intimate with the Father even in his bosom Joh. 1. 18. And what he hath seen and heard that he testifieth John 3. 32. Let us receive his Testimony and set to our seal that God is true and will never pardon any who believe not in Jesus The end of his Coming into the World in our Nature was
must be preserved inviolable to every one Pray see you don't invade God's property which you cannot do without manifest injustice to God and wrong to your selves we are depending Creatures because we are Creatures our being well-being our safety comfort and sufficiency lyes in another and not in our selves A Creature separated and cut off from all Divine influences must needs wither away and sink into nothing God hath bought you have a care of selling your selves away from him into other hands of alienating your selves from God as if you could shift well enough without him have a care of living to your selves of bringing forth fruit to your selves Hos. 10. 1. All that you are and have is God's and all that you do should be for God 'T is a rule in Civil Law quodcunque per servum adquiritur id Domino adquiri Whatever a Servant gets he gets to and for his Master and that a Servant running away from his Master does furtum sui facere he steals away himself he takes away that which is none of his own a Servant was reckoned among the Goods Utensils and Possessions of his Master he had nothing at his own disposal all was his Masters and for his use So are all Believers vessels of honour sanctified and meet for the master's use prepared unto every good work 2 Tim. 2. 21. Whos 's they are and whom they serve Acts 27. 23. Did we better consider whose we are we should quickly see whom we ought to serve They live without God indeed who cast him off will not be governed by him but resolve to live as they list to speak and act as they please our lips are our own Psal. 12. 4. Our hands our strength our estates are our own who is Lord over us I shall from this Text shew you whose you are to whom you belong who is your Lord and Master to whom you are accountable for every thing done in the Body even to him who hath bought you and hath the first right to every thing that is your his servants must serve him Rev. 22. 3. That I may the better clear up the interest and right that God hath in you and the Service and Duty you owe to him as your Lord and Master I shall cast all I have to say from this Text under these following heads viz. 1. Who are they who are said to be bought 2. Who was the Buyer 3. What was the price paid by Christ for our Redemption 4. Who set the price of our Redemption so high 5. To whom was the price paid 6. For whom and to what end was it paid 7. How by the Law of Redemption the Redeemed pass over Body and Soul into the possession of the Redeemer First Who are they who are said to be bought Ye are bought i. e. The believing Corinthians and all other Believers whose hearts God has drawn to close in with Christ by a true saving Faith as their only Redeemer and Saviour Till Faith be wrought in us we can have no sure evidence that we are among God's Redeemed ones 't is Faith only that tells us this from the word of God ye are bought this implies that we were sold under sin reduced to a miserable state of Bondage by our Apostacy from God which none could deliver us from but Jesus Christ our mighty Redeemer and Saviour Secondly Who was the Buyer Christ our Redeemer who was God and Man The right of Redemption among the Jews lay in the next Kinsman who was to purchase the Widow's land and to marry her person Deut. 25. 5. comp with Ruth 4. 3 4. That Christ might claim kindred with us in order to a Marriage afterwards to be compleated he took part of our flesh Heb. 2. 14. A body hast thou prepared me Heb. 10. 5. I am willing to take it up lo I come to dye in that Body for all the Elect that having overcome death I may be Married to them and become their Head and Husband had an Angel offered himself supposing him otherwise qualified he could not have been our Redeemer because he must be akin to us bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh who undertakes that Office therefore I say Christ took up that Body prepared of the Father died in it rose in it ascended into Heaven in it is now glorified in it to shew what he intended to bring fallen Man unto as many as should believe in him Thirdly What was the price paid by Christ for our Redemption Viz. His own Blood 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. Pretium pretiorum the greatest price that ever was paid for any thing that ever was bought all the Gold and Silver in the World heaped together is not to be compared to the value of the Blood of Christ by this you see the great love of Christ to the Souls of Men who in themselves were hopeless and helpless could do nothing towards the Redemption of their own Souls but Christ being God and Man pours out his Soul as man and takes it up again as God when he had done his work that we might have a sure ground for our Faith and Hope to rest upon not doubting but as Christ raised himself from the dead so he will also raise us at the last day who dye in him that we may live by him with him and upon him for ever who is the Resurrection and the life as his death is imputed to us and spiritually acted over upon us in the mortification of sin so is his life actually communicated in some degree to all Believers here by the same spirit that dwells in him and in them and this eternal spirit of life in Christ will never cease working higher and higher in the mystical Body of Christ diffusing it self more abundantly through all the Members till Mortallity be quite swallowed up of life this will be more manifest when Christ who is our life shall appear You see that God went not out of himself for a Mediator but appointed the Second person of the Trinity to that Office that the whole transaction between God and Man might go through his hands who is both God and Man Fourthly Who set he price of our Redemption so high 1. God the Father who also found out this Ransom he knew the whole world could not raise it it must come out of the Treasury of Heaven God himself was at the charge of our Redemption and whatever it cost him was resolved to effect it and therefore he spared not his own Son but parts with the greatest Jewel in the Crown of Heaven to buy off sinful man from that Thraldom and Bondage he was involved in and could never have extricated himself out of 2. The Law sets the price by consequence not that the Law provides a Mediator the Law seeks its own satisfaction in saving and damning men it promises Salvation upon our perfect Obedience and all who come short of that it threatens with eternal Damnation Cursed is every one
God's Justice would not permit that man should be received into favour and freed from that misery he had brought upon himself 'till a sufficient Price was paid for his ransom nothing but the Blood of Christ could quench that flaming Sword of God's just Anger that kept man when cast out of Paradise from the Tree of Life So that the right that God recovered was for the good of man a right to shew Mercy to the worst of Penitent sinners without any reflection upon his Justice That he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus Rom. 3. 26. That a Holy God should justifie a sinful man is the greatest Mystery that ever the World heard of but God who works wonders hath in his infinite Wisdom Job 28. 23. glorified his Justice and Mercy both in our Salvation by Christ. God had a special right by Election in all his chosen Ones but foreseeing the fall of his Elect he provides for their Redemption in case of Transgression Election was unto Eternal Life but sin intervening between Election and Salvation threatens Eternal Death puts such a rub in the way which must be removed or else the Elect themselves could not be Saved therefore that Election might stand and obtain its end Rom. 11. 7. God provides for our Redemption laies help upon one that is Mighty we were chosen in him in whom we have redemption Eph. 1. 4 7. God had an Eye to Christ in our Election 't is that makes it sure What wonderful difficulties does Election meet with enough if it were possible to hinder the Salvation even of the Elect Mat. 24. 24. But Christ has secured them John 10. â—8 I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my hand The end of our Redemption was not to rescue us quite out of the hand of God to take us out of his power for that cannot be but to let us into his Love to reconcile us to him to bring us to a nearer conjunction with him than ever John 17. 21. That which moved God to Redeem us was his Love and Pity Isa. 63. 9. CHAP. IV. Seventhly How by tbe Law of Redemption the Redeemed pass over Body and Soul into the possession of the Redeemer LAstly The relation that Christ hath to and the interest and propriety that he hath in all Believers as their Redeemer obliges them in Reason Justice Equity and Conscience to Dedicate and Devote themselves all that they are and have to his Service to Glorifie God in their Body and Spirit which are God's All the Persons of the Trinity have a special Interest in the Persons of all true Believers 1. God the Father Their Body and Spirit are God's says the Text they are Redeemed unto God Rev. 5 9. 2. God the Son as they are Members of Christ 1 Cor. 6. 15. 3. God the Holy Ghost as they are the Temples of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6. 19. 1 Cor. 3. 6. Eph. 2. 21. 2 Cor. 6. 16. The Spiritual House of God 1 Pet. 2. 5. If any man defile the temple of God him shall God destroy 1 Cor. 3. 17. for the temple of God is holy which temple ye are Redemption fixing such a right and propriety in the Redeemer over the Redeemed must necessarily imply obedience and subjection on our part Ye are not your own How shall we live any longer in sin Rom. 6. 2. Being made free from sin we should become servants of righteousness v. 18. Believers are not sui juris to live as they list Rom. 14. 7 8 9. 1 Pet. 4. 2. For me to live is Christ Phil. 1. 21. My business is to serve him not to comply with the lusts of men 1 Cor. 7. 23. What to Glorifie God in our body viz. When in all our outward actions we govern our selves by the law of Christ following the rule of his word and the guidance of his Spirit The Body is for the Lord who is our Head to govern our bodies in all their motions Christ is the Saviviour of the body and will raise it up to eternal life Rom. 6. 5. and make it conformable to his glorious body Our Bodies are the Members of Christ and as such they ought to subject themselves to the command of the Soul under Christ mortifying the deeds of the Body through the Spirit Rom. 8. 13. The whole man is the temple of the Lord 1 Cor. 3. 16. Our Bodies are as it were the Porch of this temple therefore we should not touch any unclean thing 2 Cor. 6. 16 17. lest we grieve the Spirit of God who dwells in us The Sanctification and Holiness of the Body is opposed to any outward pollution of it by which we do defile and dishonour the Body 1 Thes. 4. 3 4 5. If Christ has such an undoubted right to your Bodies as they are his members and temples of the Holy-Ghost then be sure you keep them holy and undefiled I need not exhort you to flee Fornication you are all convinced of the evil of that but the outward Attire I will not say of whom Prov. 7. 10. lest I put some to the blush does not become serious Worshippers of the true God a more grave sober modest Apparel would convincingly testify to others the due respect and reverence you have for the holy Spirit dwelling in you your Bodies are the temples of the Holy-Ghost do not then prophane these temples by antick exotick dresses the sure emblems of a vain mind such plumes and wethercocks as some wear upon their heads become not the Pinacle of these Temples of the Holy-Ghost Therefore if there be any fellowship of the Spirit cloathe your selves as women professing Godliness and that I may apply this to both Sexes 1 Cor. 11. 14. I must tell you it argues a very Effeminate age to see so many men's head thatch'd with Womens hair what may be brought by some as an argument in point of health for the cutting of their own Hair will never justifie what is put on by most in the room of it When you have trickt up your selves according to the Mode and Fashion of the world before you go forth to be seen of others put this question to your selves Is this to Glorifie God in my body or will it not rather open the mouths of many to blaspheme that profession of Godliness that I have taken up Answer it to your Consciences if you can He that does not keep his body in a due subjection to the Spirit of Grace will never keep his heart long in a right frame What to Glorifie God in our Spirit To serve God only with our bodies is Hypocrisy it must be with Body and Spirit else our service is not reasonable service Rom. 12. 1. If our minds are not pure in the sight of God and our outward profession answerable thereunto in the sight of men Paul sets forth this inward service Rom. 1. 9. God is my
and Fear lest we should not walk worthy of it unto all well-pleasing Grace pleases a Believer so well that he cannot but study to please God in all things ever after the Law of Grace constrains him Obs. The clearer Gospel-Light we live under the more holy we should be in our lives and conversations not continuing in sin because Grace abounds Since we are delivered from the terror and bondage of the Law let us not desire to be under it Gal. 4. 21. We are not under the Law but under Grace or which is all one are not come unto Mount Sinai but unto Mount Sion God was very terrible upon Mount Sinai but very amiable and gentle upon Mount Sion sitting upon a Throne of Grace ready to shew Mercy to all who come unto him Heb. 7. 25. he will in no wise cast off any So that Believers now are in a far better case than they were under the Old Testament they enjoy now far greater Priviledges and among the rest we have a more powerful Mediator than Moses was even Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant CHAP. III. Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant IN opening these Words I shall speak to these following Heads viz. 1. What a Mediator is 2. The difference between Moses and Christ. 3. The necessity of a Mediator between God and fallen man 4. How Christ was fitted and qualified for the Office of a Mediator 5. What are those special Mediatory Acts that Christ puts forth 6. Answer some Popish Objections and open some Scriptures very much perverted by them 7. Shew what use we should make of Christ our Mediator First What a Mediator is viz. One who interposes himself as a middle person between two or more who are at variance that he may reconcile them and joyn them together in a New Covenant A Mediator is one coming between two parties at variance to take up the quarrel and reconcile them Medium refertur ad duo extrema the middle refers to two extremes so a Mediator is not of one Gal. 3. 20. There must be two at variance God is one there must be some other at variance with God else no need of a Mediator whilst God and man were one i. e. united in love and affection for then they are said to be one Joh. 17 21. 1 Cor. 6. 17. of the same nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. But there being a difference between God and man Christ is not the Mediator of one i. e. of God only but of God and man God and sinful man for God and a just man are not at variance The first Covenant in Innocency was made between persons perfectly united and agreed the second Covenant between persons mortally offended therefore this needed a Mediator extrema unjuntur in medio So here 2 Cor. 5 18 19. A Mediator stands in the middle to unite both extremes So Christ is the Prince of Peace Isa. 9 6. The Parties disagreeing are God and Man the cause of the difference is sin Isa. 59. 2. which cannot be expiated but by the blood of Christ and because God would not contend for ever Isa. 57. â—6 he sent his Son to dye for our sins and so to make Peace Rom. 5. 10. A Mediator is one who takes hold of both disagreeing Parties one with his right the other with his left hand so bringing them together in Love as Job 9. 33. Isa. 41. 10. God and Man agreeing in one Mediator do walk together Amos 3. 3. The Person of the Mediator as Mediator is inferior to the Father by a voluntary exinanition of himself in the form of a servant but he is above us 1. As God by his Divine Nature 2. As Man by the Purity of his Humane Nature 3. By vertue of his Office and high Prerogatives belonging to it Mediator and Saviour are all one for Mediation is in order to Salvation one the means the other the end He is our Saviour because he is our Mediator Heb. 7. 25. The knowledg of a Mediator is not from the Creatures but from the Scriptures 't is a point of revealed Religion to know who is our Mediator even the Son of God Secondly The difference between Moses and Christ as to their Mediation 1. Christ as Mediator of the new Covenant effectually wins and draws to it all those to whom the benefit of this Covenant belongs he undertakes for the full accomplishment of the Covenant on both sides So did not Moses He was mediator of the old covenant Gal. 3. 19. Exod. 20. 19. Deut. 5. 4 5. 2. The Mediator of the New Testament must die because he is the Testator as well as Mediator Heb. 9. 15 16 17. vide The Priests under the Law did offer Sacrifice but did not offer up themselves as Christ did Moses was only a Ministerial Mediator he was not the Author of the Covenant but only a Witness to the delivery and publication of it in God's Name by his Hand But Christ himself is the Author of the New Covenant and he stands engaged to make good the terms of it to take up the difference between God and us Eph. 2. 14. He is our peace Man's reconciliation with God was drawn into a Covenant therefore Christ is called the Mediator of the New Covenant he is both our Mediator and our Ransom he that is our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is also our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 John 2. 1 2. 3. The Priest and Sacrifices of old were tipes of Christ the great Mediator of the New Testament the only high Priest who is both Priest and Sacrifice 4. Under the Law many Sacrifices and they often repeated Heb. 10. 11. But in the Gospel but one Sacrifice and but once offered Heb. 9. 28. Heb. 10. 12 14 18. 5. Christ does not only intercede with the Father for us Joh. 16. 23. but promises to do it himself John 14. 14. He does not only intercede for us as an Advocate but himself hears our Prayers and grants our Petitions so could not Moses he is an extraordinary Mediator not only procuring remission from the Party offended but actually remitting the offence himself 6. The new Covenant comprehends both Jew and Gentile Eph. 2. 14 15. Eph. 1. 10. So did not the old 7. There was only Typical forgiveness in the old Covenant as pertaining to the conscience Heb. 9. 9 10 13 14. Heb. 10. 1 2 3. But real forgiveness in the new Heb. 10. 16 17. A real purging the Conscience Heb. 9 14. 8. Moses was not Surety of the new Covenant unto God on the part of the people but only an Internuncius or middle agent between them declaring the mind of God unto the people 9. The Sinai Covenant had relation to the Covenant of Grace and therefore the Ceremonial Law was annexed to it Circumcision was a Seal not of the Covenant of works as the Jews misconceived but of the second Covenant of Righteousness by Faith Rom. 4. 11. Confirmed before of God in Christ Gal. 3.
of man made of the dust of the Earth laying aside all consideration of sin made it impossible for man to be brought so near to God as Christ has brought him 'T is something difficult to apprehend how Adam in Innocency held Communion with God how he could pray without a Mediator But after he fell for those few hours before the Promise of Christ came to him no doubt he was full of horror The Text says he was afraid and hid himself from the presence of the Lord Gen. 3. 8 9 10. But Christ interposes took our nature upon him to convey his to us to make that ours by Grace which was his by Nature so uniting us to God again CHAP. IV. 4. How Christ was fitted and qualified for the Office of a Mediator HE had the Nature of both parties in him as our Immanuel Isa. 7. 14. He had a right in both as God manifest in the Flesh he stood in the middle between both parties and may be called the Third Isa. 19. 24. because Israel was joined in league and amity with Egypt and Assyria they all had an interest in one another all were Blessed of God v. 25. So God and man considered as united in a Third Person who is God-man they both have an interest in him and he is them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mediator is one who stands in the middle between Two partaking of both the extreams In this sense Christ is a middle Person medius not only by Office but by Nature as God-man Divinity and Humanity being substantially united in his Person he must be God that he may be able to satisfie he must be man that he may be in a capacity to die So that medius may refer to the Person Mediator to the Office the Office depends upon the Person such an Office requires such a Person who was God-man Christ is a Mediator according to both his Natures as God-man as his Divine Person is Incarnate in Christ's Mediation both natures are imployed and do act distinctly His Deity did what was Divine his Humanity what was Humane and what was done according to either Nature is ascribed to his Person The Person of the Mediator hath something common to both the dissenting parties viz. The same essence of the Godhead though not the same Personality with the Father and the Holy Ghost and the same humane Nature with us not numerical but specifical In the Incarnation of Christ humane Nature is not individuated to a formal subsistency in this particular Man by the Divine Essence but by the Personality of the Son and therefore the Son is said to be Incarnate because the Person of the Son gives humane Nature a subsistency in himself The Person of Christ joins Two Natures not disagreeing for the sinless Humanity of Christ was never contrary to his Divinity though inferior to it Christ thus Incarnate lays out himself to reconcile God and man which his Two Natures do fit him for disposing and giving an aptitude to the Office of a Mediator for Christ is Mediator oeconomically and by Office Christ's assuming humane Nature was part of his Humiliation and did fit him for his Mediatory Office Phil. 2. 7 8. Though as has been said there was no enmity between God and Christ's sinless humane Nature yet as 't is in us 't is defiled and contrary to God therefore Christ mediates for us with the Father Though Christ Offered up himself a Sacrifice for us in humane Nature yet the whole Divine Person may be said to be offered up in that Nature John 10. 17 18. Christ speaks there as Mediator the power that he had of laying down and taking up his life was the power of the Divine Person not of his humane Nature Some of the Schoolmen have this apt similitude viz. As a man draws a Sword out of a Scabbard holding the Sword in one hand and the Scabbard in the other so the Divine Person of Christ separated his Soul from the Body as a Sword from the Scabard and yet kept both parts united to himself Toletus Christ took our Flesh in which he was mortal and freed even our flesh from that mortality when he raised it from the dead Aug. de Civ D. l. 9. c. 15. mortalitatem habuit transeuntem and so raising us ex mortuis facit immortales Who could swallow up death but he who was life it self It makes much for the relief of fearful Consciences that our Mediator is God-man we should tremble at the mention of God only but when we hear he is Man as well as God then we come willingly to a man like our selves God hath hid and veiled his Majesty under our flesh that the brightness of his Glory might not overcome us When God appeared of old to the Patriarchs it was in some visible shape which he took up for that time and laid down again but now he has really taken the substance and truth of humane Nature into a fixed union to the Person of his Son never to be dissolved Heb. 1. 1. Christus Incarnandus was Mediator under the Old Testament as Exod. 23. 20 21. This could not be a created Angel because he had power to forgive sin therefore it was Christ to come apud Deum facta facienda things actually done and to be done hereafter things present and to come are all one Jesus Christ the same yesterday to day and for ever Heb. 13. 8. Who was verily fore-ordained 1 Pet. 1. 20. Faith in Christ to come saved our fore-fathers Christ was an effectual Mediator then in esse cognito not in esse reali this gives present efficacy to a moral Cause hence Abraham had the benefit of Christ's Mediation therefore he rejoyced John 8. 56 58. The Israelites are said to tempt Christ 1 Cor. 10. 9. Therefore he was with the Church then so verse 4. called a rock David calls Christ Lord Psal. 110. 1. Which shews that Christ had power over him to save him to redeem him so that you see Christ tho not actually Incarnate procured Remission of sin for the Saints then who acted Faith on Christ to come they saw him a far off Numb 24. 17. Promises do signifie something before they are fulfilled the Merits of Christ's Blood being known to God before it was actually shed had its vertue and influence from the beginning According to the Divine Oeconomy Christ mediates with the Father only he is never in Scripture brought in praying to the Son or the Spirit Christ as God-man is Mediator to himself as he is essentially God and Christ as Mediator is inferior to himself As he is essentially God so he is the Party offended but as Mediator God-man so he is the party that makes reconciliation A Mediator is not of one i. e. He consists of two distinct Natures Angels and Saints are mere Creatures and never will be more and therefore will make but sorry Mediators the Man Christ is the highest Creature Image of God because he
is the exemplar the Spirit impressing upon us the similitude of that exemplar we become the Children of God I shall open this a little and shew you what influence Christ has into our Adoption God gives the Elect to Christ as his Children as the Heirs of God and joint-Heirs with Christ they lostt-heir Inheritance in the first Adam and recovered it in the second Adam they now stand in the same relation to God in their measure as Christ does I and the children thou hast given me Heb. 2. 13. The Son of God must become the Son of Man that we might be made the Sons of God in him Gal. 4 4 5. Here comes in our Adoption by vertue of our relation to Christ our elder Brother as one with him Gal. 3. 28. All God's Adopted Children are found in his natural Son mystically united to him deriving from him that filial relation which they have to God Al God's Chidren are of one mould of one shape and fashion all conformable to the image of his Son this is the Mark by which they are known and distinguished from others The great enquiry that God makes is What of Christ there is in us what of Christ there is held forth by us God owns none for his Children but such as resemble Christ Christ is the express Image of the Father and Christians are the express Image of Christ. The reason why God the Father is so well pleased with the man Christ is because he sees his own Image in him he sees himself his own essence in Christ not so in the Saints the Image of the Father in Christ and the Image of Christ in the Saints do agree in many things yet they differ in some the Image of Christ in the Saints is not the essence of God for that is incommunicable to any mere Creature but it is a lively resemblance of all the communicable attributes of God in some degree and measure drawn from the very face of Christ upon the faces hearts and lives of all Christians yet still Christ is the original by eternal Generation the Saints are but so many Copies drawn in time from that Original and they are drawn to the life not only in a way of outward resemblance but by a real inward participation of the Life and Spirit of Christ according to their finite capacity As the humane Nature does subsist in the Divine Person of Christ so our humane Persons so far as we are new Creatures do Subsist in Christ in whom we spiritually live move and have our Being as New Creatures the Divine Graces of Christ do subsist in the Saints by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them i. e. They act the same Graces finitely which Christ acts infinitely they receive of his fulness but cannot contain all his fulness they have not a capacity for that they enter into his fulness but all his fulness cannot enter into them 3. Our Adoption is brought about not only by the Father and the Son but also by the Spirit bearing Witness with our spirit to the truth of the Image of Christ drawn upon the Soul inferring from thence our Adoption The same Image bears the same name implies in a measure the same nature and Spirit to be in us that is in Christ puts us into the same relation to God that the Man Christ stands in the names of things would never occur to our memories if the likeness of the object we look upon did not teach us what to call it conveniunt rebus Nomina c. The Spirit witnesses by inward impressins tho no voice be heard and these impressions are always according to the word the Spirit does not speak from himself suggesting any thing to us not contained in the word but of this more hereafter I am now shewing how Adoption is carried on by the Spirit therefore called the Spirit of Adoption because given only to the Adopted and because he bears witness to them of the good Will of God wherewith the Father hath accepted them in the beloved that he might be a Father to them Tho the Spirit works all other saving Graces in us yet because Adoption is the prime and chief work of the Spirit therefore he is called the Spirit of Adoption 2. The manner of it This is clearly set down Gal. 3. 25. ad finem 'T is Faith makes us the Children of God by joyning us to Christ our union to and communion with Christ the natural Son of God is the Foundation of our Adoption Gal. 3. 29. Christ by coming into the World in our Nature made way for our Adoption of which Baptism is the symbol or sign we are Baptized into Christ we put on Christ are incorporated into him by Faith are all one in him Gal. 3. 27 28. If ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise Gal. 3. 29. All Abraham's believing Posterity are blessed in Isaac i. e. in Christ Gal. 3. 16. They are Children and remain in the House of God i. e. in the Church for ever John 8. 35. 3. The time of it 1. From Eternity in the purpose of God This is virtual Adoption Eph. 1. 5. Hence the Elect not yet called are said to be the Children of God John 11. 52. compare with John 10. 16. God intended Adoption in Predestination and in the fulness of time sent Christ to effect it Gal. 4. 4 5. And his Spirit to evidence it Gal. 4. 6. We were Adopted in the purpose of God before we were born this is virtual Adoption 2. At our effectual vocation then actual Adoption begins we receive the first fruits of it here it follows Faith at least as to our sense of it Ephesians 1. 13. 3. At our Glorification then will our Adoption be compleated and perfected in our Bodies and Souls we shall actually enjoy all the Priviledges of it then there will be a clearer manifestation of the Sons of God the glorious Liberty of the Children of God will more fully appear then now it does Rom. 8. 19 21. Hence the Consummation of our Redemption at the last day is called Adoption Rom. 8. 23. 24. But I now speak only of the present fruits of Adoption which the Saints enjoy in this life CHAP. II. Thirdly How it differs from humane Adoption 1. DIVINE Adoption presupposes a Title to the Heavenly Inneritance by Justification John 1. 12. Humane Adoption gives all the Title that a Man otherwise a Stranger to the Blood hath to the Inheritance of him who adopts him 2. Humane Adoption conveys only outward goods to a person does not change his nature but the Father communicates to us the Spirit and likeness of his natural Son Rom. 8. 29. 3. Humane Adoption is for want of a natural Son 't is an act of law imitating nature for the comfort of those who have no Children But Divine Adoption is from the abounding love of God to us making us joint heirs with his well-beloved Son Though God