the Angel of the Lord delivered Peter out of Prison Acts 12. 7. And behold the angel of the Lord came upon him and a light shined in the prison and he smote Peter on the side and raised him up saying Arise up quickly and his chains fell off from his hands c. but he doth not give thanks to the Angel but to God ver 11. Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath sent his angel and hath delivered me c. He directeth it to God not to the creature The Angels do us many favours all the thanks we do them is that we do not offend them by our sins against God other gratitude they expect not 6. Their last office is at Death and Judgment In death to convey our souls to Christ Luk. 16. 22. And it came to pass that the beggar dyed and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom that so we may enjoy our rest in heaven In the last day they will gather the bodies of Christs Redeemed ones from all parts of the World after they have been resolved into dust and mingled with the dust of other men that every Saint may have his own body again wherein he hath obeyed and glorified God Matth. 24. 31. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other That is from all parts and quarters of the World that their Souls may return to their old beloved habitations and then both in body and in soul they may be for ever with the Lord. USE Now this is a great comfort to the Church and People of God when the Powers and Principalities on earth are employed against them to consider what Powers and Principalities attend upon Christ. We serve such a Master as hath authority over the holy Angels to employ them at his pleasure and in their darkest condition his people feel the benefit of it As the Angel of the Lord appeared to Paul in a dreadful storm Acts 27. 23 24. There stood by me this night the angel of the Lord whose I am and whom I serve saying Fear not Paul c. So to Christ in his Agonies Luk. 22. 43. There appeared an angel to him from heaven strengthning him So against Satan the good Angels are ready to comfort us as the evil Angels are ready to trouble and tempt us Let us then look to God at whose direction they are sent to help and comfort us Doct. V. If God taketh away ordinary helpes from us he can supply us by means Extraordinary As he did Christ's hunger by the Ministry of Angels Therefore till Gods power be wasted there is no room for despair We must not limit the Holy One of Israel to our ways and means as they did Psal. 78. 41. They turned back and tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel THE TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST SERMON I. Matthew 17. 1. And after six dayes Iesus taketh Peter Iames and Iohn his brother and bringeth them into an high mountain apart With Luke 9. 28. It came to pass about an eight dayes after these sayings he took Peter and Iohn and Iames and went up into a mountain to pray I Mean to handle the Transfiguration of Christ which was 1. A solemn Confirmation of his Person and Office 2. A pledge of that glorious estate which is reserved for us in Heaven 1. It was a confirmation of his Person and Office as appeareth Matth. 17. 5. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him So Peter who was one present urgeth it 2 Pet. 3. 16 17 18. We have not followed cunningly devised Fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eye-witnesses of His Majesty For he received from God the Father Honour and Glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent Glory This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And this voice which came from Heaven we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount and Iohn also Iohn 1. 14. We beheld his glory as the glory of the onely begotten of the Father they were Eye and Ear-witnesses and therefore could affirm the certainty of this Doctrine 2. It is a pledge of our glorious estate for Christs Body was adorned with heavenly Glory and he had spoken chap. 16. 27. of his coming in the glory of the Father and now he gives his Disciples a pledge and earnest of it In this Introduction four things are observable 1. The Time after six days 2. The Persons whom he takes with him Peter Iames and Iohn 3. The Place he bringeth them to into an high Mountain apart 4. The Preparative action he went up into a Mountain to pray First The Time The Evangelist Luke saith about an eight dayes Matthew and Mark after six days The Reconciliation is easie Matthew and Mark spake of the space of Time between the day of Prediction and the day of Transfiguration exclusively Luke includeth them both The Jews called that flux of time between one Sabbath and another eight dayes including not onely the intervening week but both the Sabbaths according to their custom Luke speaketh Matthew of the time between Secondly The Persons chosen to attend him in this Action Peter Iames and Iohn 1. Why Three 2. Why Those three 1. Why Three so great an Action as this was needed valuable Testimony for the Law saith in the mouth of two or three Witnesses every thing shall be established Deut. 17. 6. Now Christ would go to the utmost of the Law and would have not two onely but three Witnesses as the Apostle speaks of three Witnesses in Heaven and three on Earth 1 Iohn 5. 7 8. so here are three and three three from Heaven God the Father Moses and Elias and three from Earth Peter Iames and Iohn 2. Why those Three Many give divers reasons Peter had led the way to the rest in that notable confession of Christ Matth. 16. 16. and is conceived to have some primacy for the orderly beginning of Actions in the Colledge of the Apostles Iames was the first Apostle who shed his bloud for Christ Acts 12. 2. and Iohn was the most long lived of them all and so could the longer give testimony of those things which he heard and saw till the Church was well gathered and setled Others give other Reasons but to leave conjectures it is certain that these had many singular favours afforded them above the rest of the twelve as appeareth partly in this that Christ changed their names calling Peter Cephas or a stone and the other two Boanerges sons of Thunder which was a token that Christ loved these more then the rest Yea among these Iohn was his bosome Favorite and therefore called often the Disciple whom Jesus loved Partly because he was in the whole course of his life more intimate with these
then with the rest of the Disciples You shall see when he raised Iairus his daughter from death to Life Luke 8. 51. he suffered no body to go in but Peter Iames and Iohn and the Father and Mother of the Maiden so these very Persons were those who in Mount Olivet were conscious to his Agonies Matth. 26. 27. he took with him Peter and the two Sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and very heavy Now these who were to be conscious to his Agonies are first in Mount Tabor beholders of his great Majesty and Glory for their better encouragement and preparation for his and their own sufferings Thirdly The Place he bringeth them into an high Mountain apart This Mountain is supposed to be Tabor though not named by the Evangelists a fit place both for height and secrecy both which were necessary to the double Action that was to be performed there either his Transfiguration or Prayer 1. To his Transfiguration height and secrecy were necessary 1. Height this work required not onely a Mountain but an high Mountain for his Transfiguration was a middle state between the infirmity of his Flesh and the Glory that he now possesseth So the top of a very high Mountain was chosen it is as a middle place between Heaven the Habitation of God and Earth the Habitation of Men. Besides since Moses and Elias were to appear in this Action and that with Bodies above the state of those natural Bodies which we have here below it was more agreeable this should be done in a Mountain then in the lower parts of the Earth yea moreover they were so nearer to Heaven to which they went back again 2. Secrecy was necessary to his Transfiguration for Christ was about a business which he would not have presently to come abroad therefore it was to be confined to the knowledge of a few who were to be called up from the rest into an high Mountain verse 9. Jesus charged them that they should tell the vision to no man till the Son of man was risen from the dead and what was done before many will hardly be concealed The due time for the general and publick manifestation of the divine Glory was not yet come therefore he would not have it unseasonably divulged And hereby he teacheth us modesty Christ was Crucified in the City before all but Transfigured in the Mountain only before a few 2. The other action of Prayer doth very well agree with height and secrecy 1. For Height Though God heareth us every where wheresoever we lift up pure hands without wrath and doubting yet a Mountain is not altogether disagreeable to this duty it is good to be as near Heaven as we can I am sure it is good to get up the Heart there We have a freer prospect of Heaven from a Mountain and may look up to those blessed Regions where our God is therefore Christ often chose a Mountain to pray in not onely now but at other times Matth. 14. 23. Certainly when we pray we should turn our backs upon all earthly things and have our Hearts and Minds carryed up to him to whom our prayers are directed and that place where he dwelleth 2. Secrecy is necessary for this Duty partly to avoid ostentation Matth. 6. 6. When thou prayest enter into thy Closet and shut thy doors Publick prayer must be performed before others but not private for fear of Hypocrisie so also to increase fervency secret Prayers are usually most ardent Ille dolet verê qui sine teste dolet My soul shall weep sore in secret places Ier. 13. 17. And Peter went out and wept bitterly Matth. 26. 75. And Iacob wrastled with God alone Gen. 32. 24. Frequency of objects draws away the Mind obstructeth our Affections abates the vehemency of our zeal fills us with carnal thoughts therefore Christ retireth himself and his three Disciples that being separated from all Distractions they might attend the Prayer and the vision without interruption Fourthly The Preparative Action In Luke it is he went into a Mountain to Pray Christ had two ends he told his Disciples the one but concealeth the other He spake only of Prayer the more to hide the thing from the rest of the Apostles which would soon be evident enough to those whom he took along with him Now this telleth us that every weighty business should be begun with Prayer when we go about the performance of weighty and serious Duties we should withdraw ourselves from all occasions which may hinder us and distract us therein as our Lord being to give himself to Prayer goeth apart into a Mountain In this Introduction I shall only take notice of two things 1. The choice of his Company 2. His preparative Action he Prayed and whilest he prayed he was Transfigured I. Of the choice of his Company He took Peter Iames and Iohn That Christ doth not use all his servants alike familiarly in every thing Partly because he had his liberty for in matters of free favour it is not tance of Persons to pass by some and admit others no not in the most necessary spiritual dispensations Matth. 11. 27. All things are delivered to me of my Father and no man knoweth the Son but the Father and he to whomsoever the Father will reveal him The plea of the Lord of the Vineyard will ever hold firm and valid Mat. 20. 15. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own But this is a thing of another nature the dispensing of his arbitrary respects acceptance of Persons in Judgment is a violation of Justice but not in matters of free favour Partly because he would consecrate and hallow spiritual Friendship and commend it to us by his own example and therefore though he loved all his Disciples yet he choose out some for intimacy and special converse these were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the flower of the Apostles either because of their sutableness he had a special inclination to them or for their sincerity and eminency in Grace he delighted in them more then in the rest sicut se habet simpliciter ad simpliciter ita magis ad magis if I love all that are godly I love those most who are most godly Now as Christ consecrated holy Friendship in his own Person so was it exemplified in his Disciples for I find a great Friendship between two of these mentioned in the Text Iohn and Peter you find them mostly together Iohn 20. 2 3 4. Mary Magdalen runneth and commeth to Peter and to the other Disciple whom Jesus loved Peter went forth and the other Disciple and came to the Sepulcher so Acts 3. 1. Now Peter and Iohn went up together into the Temple at the hour of Prayer Iohn 21. 7. The Disciple whom Iesus loved said unto Peter It is the Lord and Iohn 21. 21 22. Peter seeing the Disciple which Iesus loved said Lord and what shall this man do as willing to know the
sense and the conceits of the sufferer When we are but newly under the affliction we feel the smart but do not presently find the benefit but within a while especially in the review it is good for me It is matter of Faith under the Affliction it is matter of Sense afterwards Gods Physick must have time to work That which is not good may be good though it be not good in its Nature it may be good in its Use and though for the present we see it not we shall see it Therefore good is not to be determined by Feeling but by Faith The Rod is a sore thing for the present but the bitter Root will yield sweet Fruit. If we come to a Person under the Cross and ask him What is it good to feel the lashes of Gods correcting hand to be kept poor sickly exercised with losses and reproaches to part with Friends and Relations to lose a beloved Child he would be apt to Answer No. But this poor Creature after he hath been exercised and mortified and gotten some renewed Evidences of Gods Favour ask him then Is it good to be afflicted Oh yes I had been Vain Neglectful of God wanted such an Experience of the Lords Grace Faith should determine the case when we feel it not Well then Let us learn to distinguish between what is really best for us and what we judge to be best Other Diet is more wholesome for our Souls than that which our sickly Appetite craveth It is best many times when we are weakest worst when strongest all things are good as they help on a blessed Eternity so sharp afflictions are good That part of the World that is governed by sense will never yield to this You cannot convince a Covetous Man that the loss of an Estate is good or a worldly rich man that Poverty is good or an Ambitious man that it is good to be despised and contemned or a sensual Voluptuous Man that it is good to be in Pains that the Body be afflicted for the good of the Soul they will never believe you But those that measure all things by Eternity they know that Poverty makes way for the true Riches and Ignominy for the true Glory Want for fulness of Pleasures and Misery mortifies Sin SERMON V. MATTH 17. 5. While he yet spake behold a bright Cloud overshadowed him and behold a voice out of the Cloud which said This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him IN this branch of the story two things are remarkable and there is a Behold prefixed before either of them to excite our Attention First they see a bright Cloud and then they hear a voice out of the Cloud First Of the Cloud and while he yet spake behold a bright cloud overshadowed them it was not a dark cloud as upon Mount Sinai when God gave the Law but a bright one yet not so bright and lightsome but that it was mixt with some obscurity It was no natural and ordinary cloud such as are commonly engendred in the air above us but extraordinary and supernatural created by God for this occasion The use of it was double 1. To convey Moses and Elias out of their sight when this conference was ended therefore some expound that which is said Luke 9. 34. They feared as they entred into the Cloud after this manner the Disciples feared when they saw Moses and Elias entring into the Cloud that is involved and covered in it It is said of Jesus Christ himself when he ascended into Heaven Acts 1. 9. A cloud received him out of their sight 2. To be a token of the extraordinary presence of God whose voice immediately came out of the cloud as also to vail the glory thereof which was best done by a Cloud a thing of a middle nature between terrestrial and Celestial bodies When Solomon builded the Temple the Lord shewed his special presence thereby filling the House with a Cloud 1 Kings 8. 10. This way of Apparition God useth to moderate the splendor of his excellent Glory We are not able to behold God as he is and must not pry into his Glory there is a Cloud and vail upon it Secondly They heard a Voice and behold a voice out of the Cloud which said this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him 1. Observe That there was a voice distinctly and audibly heard Though God did sensibly now manifest his presence in the Mount with Christ and did audibly speak to them yet he did not appear in any distinct form and shape either of man or any other living Creature but all was done by a voice out of the cloud so Deut. 4. 12. Ye heard the voice of the words but saw no similitude and verse 15. take good heed to your selves for ye saw no similitude in the day that the Lord spake to you in Horeb least ye corrupt your selves and make to you any graven Image The similitude of any figure c. The voice of God may with less danger come to us then any sight or representation of him 2. The matter or what this voice said This is my beloved Son hear ye him By this voice there is 1. A Testimony given to Christ. 2. A command to hear him Or 1. The dignity of Christ he is the beloved Son of God in whom he is well pleased 2. A suitable respect bespoken for him The words are few but yet contain the sum of the whole Gospel and they are spoken not by a Man nor by an Angel but by the Lord himself and therefore they should be entertained with the more reverence The Apostle Peter who was one of the parties present could never forget this Testimony of the Father concerning his Son Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1. 17. He received from the Father Honour and Glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent Glory This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and besides what Christ speaketh of another voice from Heaven is true of this Iohn 12. 30. This voice came not because of me but for your sakes not so much to encourage him in his suffering as to our edification and instruction All the testimonies given unto Christ from Heaven tended to point him out to sinners as the true Messiah approved and accepted of God therefore these words should ever be in our minds especially when we draw nigh to God in solemn duties I shall begin with the Dignity Honour and Glory of Christ solemnly declared from Heaven there are three things in it 1. The Relation between him and the Father He is a Son 2. The dearness of that Relation His beloved Son 3. The complacential satisfaction which he taketh in him and the price of our Redemption paid by him in whom I am well pleased Doctrine That it is the main and principal point of the Gospel and of great necessity to be known and believed to Salvation that Iesus
Christ is the Beloved Son of God in whom he is well pleased 1. I shall open this Testimony given to Christ. 2. Speak of the importance and weight of it I. Of the Testimony given to Christ. 1. Let me open the term that expresseth his Filiation that he is Gods Son Christ is the son of God properly so called a Son only begotten Iohn 3. 16. God so loved the World that he gave his onely begotten Son Eternally begotten Prov. 8. 22 23. I was set up from everlasting the Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of old A Son coequal with his Father Iohn 5. 18. The Jews sought to kill him because he said God was his Father making himself equal with God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his own proper Father So co-essential of the same substance with his Father Iohn 1. 1. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God Now thus is he the Son of God Why is it mentioned there 1. To shew the special dignity of Christ above all others he is the Son of God Christians are the Sons of God but in a different manner he by nature we by Adoption Tho God have many sonsby Creation and Adoption yet Christ is his Son in a peculiar proper way by eternal Generation and communication of the same Essence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Son that beloved Son so a Son as none else is the son of God properly so called 2. To distinguish him from Moses and the Prophets from Moses Heb. 3. 5 6. Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant but Christ as a son over his own house whose house we are c. so from the rest of the Prophets Heb. 1. 1 2. God at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the Prophets but hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the World This is the great Doctor of the Church now as to meekness above Moses as to zeal above Elias as to familiarity and communion he was with God and was God 3. To shew the old Prophesies were fulfilled which foretold the union of the two Natures in his Person the predictions concerning one whose name should be Immanuel God with us and who should save and redeem the Church Isa. 7. 14. And of a child that should be the Mighty God the Everlasting Father Isa. 9. 6. This the Prophets foretold that he should be God and the Son of God Micah 5. 2. His going forth is from Everlasting though born at Bethlehem so the bud of the Lord and the fruit of the Earth Isa. 4. 2. The man Gods fellow Zech. 13. 7. and in many other places the union of the two Natures is asserted 2. He is the beloved Son 1. That God loved Christ Christ is the object of his Fathers Love both as the second Person and as Mediator As the second Person of the Trinity two things are wont to attract love nearness and likeness they are both here nearness he was in the bosome of the Father Iohn 1. 18. The only begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him Likeness is another loadstone of Affliction Heb. 1. 3. He is the brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person such as the Father is so is Christ. 2. As Mediator so God loveth him on the account of his obedience Iohn 10. 17. Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life for the Sheep Iohn 3. 35. The Father hath loved him and put all things into his hand the Father approved Christs undertaking for sinners delighted in it as an excellent way of glorifying his name and recovering poor creatures out of their lost condition and rested satisfied and was pleased with his death as a sufficient ransom for poor souls Well then God loved him so as to trust the souls of all mankind in his hands and to appoint him to be the great Mediator to end all differences between him and us and the more he doth in pursuance of his Office the more beloved he is and acceptable to God 2. The testimony of his love to him as Mediator for his unspeakable rejoycing in him as second person in the Trinity we are not competent judges of It is described Prov. 8. 30. I was dayly his delight rejoycing alwayes before him The mutual complacency which the divine persons take in one another is there set forth God delighted in Christ and Christ in God But in the second love as Mediator God expressed his love to him in two things the gift of the Spirit and the Glory of his humane nature 1. The gift of the Spirit Iohn 6. 34. God giveth not the Spirit in measure to him for the Father loveth the Son and hath put all things into his hands This was the great expression of his love to Christ as Mediator not to make him a visible Monarch of the World but by the gift of his Spirit to be head of the Church 2. The other expression of his love to him as Mediator was the gift of Everlasting Glory Iohn 17. 24. Father I will that those whom thou hast given me should be where I am and behold my glory for thou hast loved me before the foundation of the World Gods love to Christ as Mediator was manifested in exalting him to glory and this Everlasting These are the great expresses of Gods love to Christ as God incarnate or appearing in our nature 3. Why is it put here 1. To shew the end for which Christ came to represent the amiableness of God that he is Love 1 Iohn 4. 8. and hath love for his children Christ is the pattern of all for he is first beloved and the great instance and demonstration of Gods love to the World 2. To intimate the redundancy of this Love it over-floweth to us for Christ being beloved we are beloved also Eph. 1. 6. he hath made us accepted in the beloved to the praise of his glorious Grace It is an overflowing Love he is loved and all that have an interest in him are loved There is a twofold love in God the love of Benevolence and complacency The Elect from all Eternity are loved by God with a love of Benevolence whereby he willed good unto them and decrees to bestow good upon them but the love of complacency and delight is that love whereby God accepteth us delighteth in us when he hath made us lovely as his own children reconciled them by the death of Christ renewed them by the Spirit of Christ and furnished them with all the Graces which make us acceptable to him and precious in his sight 3. To shew the kind and manner of the expressing of his love to his redeemed ones Christ prayed Iohn 17. 23. That the World may know that thou hast loved them as
because that God sent his onely begotten Son into the world that we might live by him That God should bestow his Son upon us to procure our salvation God tried Abraham's love in sacrificing his son but manifested his Love to us in sending his own Son he spared him not but delivered him up for us all Now that such a Remedy and Ransome is found out for us it should leave an Impression of Gods love on our Hearts that we may love him again who first loved us 1 Ioh. 4. 19. Think nothing too dear for God who thought no rate too dear to purchase our Life and Peace As our salvation was precious to him let his Glory be dear to us onely let me tell you this Love must not be confined to a bare act of our Reason but you must pray to God to shed abroad this love in your hearts by the Holy Spirit Rom. 5. 5. that so you may study to love and please God prize Christ and his precious Benefits above all things in the World and live to him who died for you that you may feel the constraining Efficacy and Force of Love SERMON VI. MATTH 17. 5. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased Hear ye him 1. THe Design and Intent of this Scripture is to set forth the Lord Jesus as the great Mediator as appeareth 1. From the occasions upon which this Voice came from Heaven at his Baptisme which was Christs dedication of himself to the work of a Redeemer and Saviour and now at his Transfiguration to distinguish him from Moses and the other Prophets and publickly to instal him in the Mediatory Office 2. The matter of the words shew his fitness for this Office for here you have 1. His Dignity not a servant but a Son Heb. 3. 5 6. Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant but Christ as a son over his own house Now the old Prophesies foretold the Union of the two Natures in his Person and necessary it was that our Mediator should be God-Man There is a Congruity between his Person and Office one fit to be familiar with Man and naturally interessed in his Concerns and yet so high and near the Father as may put a sufficient value upon his Actions and so meet to Mediate with God for us 2. The Dearness between God and him my beloved son Christ is the Object of his Fathers love both as the second Person in the Trinity and Mediator The one is the ground of the other for because he loved him he intrusted him with souls Ioh. 3. 35. The father hath loved him and put all things into his hands the Elect and all things else all power that conduceth to their salvation Afterwards loved him as Mediator Ioh. 10. 17. Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life that I might take it again Now such a beloved Son is fittest to Mediate for us and to come upon a design of Love to demonstrate Gods great Love to wretched sinners and to be a pledge of that love which God will bestow upon us who are altogether so unworthy of it 3. His Acceptableness to God who is well-pleased with the Design the Terms the Management of it II. This work of Mediator Christ executeth by three Offices of King Priest Prophet For he is Head and Lord of the renewed state a Priest to offer a sacrifice for sin which having once offered he for ever represents in Heaven he was also to be Teacher of Mankind to acquaint us with the way of salvation These Offices are often alluded unto in Scripture Rev. 1. 5. The faithful witness the first begotten from the dead the prince of the kings of the earth So Heb. 1. 2 3. God hath spoken to us by his son he having by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high The effect of them is more briefly described Ioh. 4. 6. I am the way the truth and the life The way was opened by his Passion and is kept open by his Intercession Truth as a Prophet Life we have from him as Prince of Life or Head of the renewed Estate So the effects 1 Cor. 1. 30. But of him are ye in Christ Iesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness sanctification and redemption Wisdom as a Prophet to cure our Ignorance and Folly Righteousness and Sanctification as a Priest Redemption as the King and Captain of our Salvation The same Benefits which he purchaseth as a King he bestoweth as a Priest revealeth as a Prophet These three Offices were typed out by the First-born who were Heads of Families and also Prophets and Priests 3. That though all the three Offices be imployed yet the Prophetical Office is more explicitely mentioned partly as suiting with the present occasion which is to demonstrate that Christ hath sufficient authority to repeal the Law of Moses which the Prophets were to explain confirm and maintain till his coming But now Moses and Elias appear in Person to certifie their consent and God his Approbation from Heaven to that new Law of Grace which Christ should set up Partly because it is not necessary that in every place all the Offices should be mentioned sometimes but one as where Christ is called either King Priest or Prophet sometimes two together Heb. 3. 1. Prophetical Sacerdotal Consider the apostle and high priest of our profession Christ Iesus sometimes his Prophetical and Kingly Isa. 55. 4. Behold I have given him for a witness to the people and for a leader and commander to the people Partly because if Christ be received in this one Office he will be received in all the rest for as a Prophet he hath revealed that Doctrine which establisheth his Kingly and Priestly Office for he hath revealed all things necessary to salvation and therefore his own sacrifice and Regal Power Lastly some think all expresly mentioned here thus Christ is Gods beloved Son and therefore the Heir of all things and Lord and King in whom he is well pleased that is pacified and satisfied with his offering as a Priest or appeased by his compleat sacrifice Hear him as the great Prophet and Doctor of the Church This premised I come now to observe Doct. That Christ is appointed by God the Father to be the great Prophet and Teacher whose voice alone must be heard in the Church I. That Christ is the great Prophet and Teacher of the Church appeareth 1. By the Titles given to him he is compared with Moses the great Law-giver among the Iews The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of you like unto me unto him shall ye hearken Deut. 18. 15. He was to be like a Moses but greater than Moses a Lawgiver as he a man as he one that saw God Face to Face as he a Mediator as he but far other in all respects a better Law a more glorious Person a more
blessed Mediator working greater miracles than ever did Moses so he is called our Rabbi or Master Mar. 23. 8. One is your master even Christ and ye are brethren The supream Authority the original hight is in Christ We are not Leaders and Teachers but Fellow Disciples so Heb. 3. 1. Consider the Apostle and high priest of our profession Iesus Christ. Again he is called the Angel or Messenger of the Covenant Mal. 3. 1. Christ with a great condescension took upon him the office of his Fathers Ambassador to the Church to promote the Covenant of Reconciliation between God and Man and make offers of it in preaching the Gospel and he it is that doth by this Spirit perswade the Elect and doth make his Covenant sure to them Once more he is called Amen the faithful and true witness Rev. 3. 14. there can be no prejudice against his Testimony he can never deceive nor be deceived it is so it will be so as he hath said Amen is his Name 2. By the Properties of his Office he hath 3 things to qualifie him for this high Office 1. Absolute supream Authority and therefore we must hear him and hearken to him This is usually made the ground and reason of the Gospel invitation to invite sinners to submit themselves to seek after God in this way As Matth. 11. 27 28. All things are delivered unto me of my father and no man knoweth the son but the father neither knoweth any man the father save the son and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden c. There is no true knowing of God but by Christ and the Gospel Revelation which he hath established therefore here must we seek rest for our souls So Ioh. 3. 35 36. The father loveth the son and hath put all things into his hands He that believeth on the son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the son hath not seen life but the wrath of God abideth on him First his Mediatorial Authority is acknowledged and then Faith and Obedience to the Gospel is called for for to the sentence of the Son of God we must stand or fall So when Christ instituted and sent abroad his Messengers to invite the World to the Obedience of the Gospel Matth. 28. 18 19 20. All power is given to me both in heaven and in earth Go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you He hath absolute and supream Authority to gather his Church to appoint Ministers and Ordinances to bestow the Spirit to open and close Heaven and Hell as he pleaseth to dispose of all affairs in the World for the furtherance of the Gospel and to enjoyn the whole World obedience to his Commands and to embrace this Doctrine 2. All manner of sufficiency and power of God to execute this Office Ioh. 3. 34. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God for God giveth not the spirit by measure to him The former Prophets had the Spirit in a limited measure bestowed on them by God for such particular purposes as best pleased him Therefore all their prophesies begin Thus saith the Lord as having for every particular Message and Errand new Revelation but on Christ the Spirit descended once for all and commanded the belief of all and obedience to all that he should say Therefore it is said Col. 2. 3. In him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge He is Ignorant of none of those things which are to be known and practised in order to our eternal salvation they are deposited with him to be dispensed to us 3. There is in him a powerful efficacy As he hath absolute Authority to teach in his own name and fulness of sufficiency to make known the Mind of God to us so he hath power to make his Doctrine Effectual As when he dealt with his Disciples after he had opened the Scriptures he opened their Understandings Luk. 24. 25. so he opened the heart of Lydia Acts 16. 14. He can teach so as to draw Ioh. 6. 44 45. He can excite the drowsie Mind change and turn the Rebellious Will cure the distempered Affections make us to be what he perswadeth us to be There is no such Teacher as Christ who doth not only give us our Lesson but an heart to Learn therefore to him we must submit hear nothing against him but all from him II. About Hearing him that must be explained also First What it is to Hear It being our great duty and the respect bespoken for him In the hearing of words there are 3 things considerable the sound that cometh to the Ear the understanding of the Sense and Meaning and the assent or consent of the Mind Of the first the Beasts are capable for they have Ears to hear the sound of words uttered The second is common to all Men for they can sense such intelligible words as they hear The third belongeth to Disciples who are swayed by their Masters Authority So that Hear him is not to hear as Beasts nor barely to hear as Men but to hear as Disciples to believe him to obey him to believe his Doctrines and Promises and to obey his Precepts For his Authority is absolute and what he doth say doth warrant our Faith and command our practice and obedience I gather this partly from the word Hear which not only signifies Attention and Belief but Obedience as 1 Sam. 15. 22. To obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken then the fat of rams Where to obey and hearken are put as words of the same import and signification Partly from the Matter of Christs Revelation he hath revealed not onely Doctrines to inform the Mind but Precepts to reform the Heart and Practice If we assent to the doctrine but do not obey the precepts we do not hear him Therefore to hear him is to yield obedience to what he shall teach you and when Christ cometh to take an account of the entertainment of the Gospel he shall come in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ. Partly too from the intimate connexion there is between his Prophetical and Regal Office Christ is so a Prophet that he is also a Soveraign and doth not onely give us Counsel and Direction but a Law which we are to observe under the highest penalties If the Gospel were an arbitrary direction which we might observe or not observe without any great danger to our selves surely it were folly to despise good Counsel but it hath the force of a new Law from the great King and Law-giver of the World therefore it must not onely be believed but obeyed Heb. 5. 8. He that is the chief prophet of the church is also the king of saints
the Eyes of Beholders with a false Appearance as Magical Impostors or those Apish Imitators of Divine Glory as Herod Agrippa of whom we read Acts 12. 21 22 23. how he appeared in Royal State and made an Oration and they said the voice of a God and not of a Man Iosephus telleth us the manner how he sat in the Sun with glistering Garments of Cloath of Silver and when the Sun-beames did beat upon it the People cried him up as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as something higher and more excellent then a Mortal Creature No this was not a phantastical Representation but a real Impression of Divine Glory on the Body of Christ. 4. Although this appeared in the face chiefly as the most conspicuous part of the Body the Text saith his face did shine as the Sun yet more or less the other parts of his Body were cloathed with Majesty and Glory and thence was the splendor derived to his Garments 2. How his Body Transfigured differed from his glorified Body this must be stated also for Christ by his Transfiguration was not admitted into the fulness of the state of Glory but onely giveth some glimpse and resemblance of it These two Estates agree in the general Nature but some Clarity Glory and Majesty is put upon Christs glorified Body that was not now But the difference is 1. Partly in the degree and measure the Clarity and Majesty of Christs glorified Body is greater and more perfect Here is a Representation some Delineation but not a full exhibition of his Heavenly Glory 2. Partly in continuance and permanency this change was not perpetual but to endure for a short time onely for it ceased before they came down from the Mount 3. The subject or seat of this Glory differed the Body of Christ being then Corruptible and Mortal but now Incorruptible and Immortal If Christs Body had been Immortal and Impassible then Christ could not die 4. Here are Garments and a glorified Body shall have no other Garments than the Robes of Immortality and Glory in Heaven Christ shall be clothed with Light as with a Garment Secondly The Ends of it By this Transfiguration God would shew 1. What Christ was 2. What he should be And 3. Also what we shall be 1. What Christ was The Dignity of his Person and Office that he was the Eternal Son of God and the Mediator of the New Covenant the great Prophet whom God would raise up to his People 1. The Dignity of his Person was seen for the Transfiguration was a Ray of the Divine Glory It was not the Addition of any Glory to Christ which he had not before but a Manifestation of the Glory which he had though obscured under the Vail of our Flesh for the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily Col. 2. 9. And we beheld his glory as the glory of the onely begotten Son of God Ioh. 1. 14. But it is said 2 Pet. 1. 17. that he received from God the same Honour and Glory This is spoken of him as Mediator the glory of the Son of God Incarnate was so obscured for our sakes that he needed this Solemn Act to represent him to the World 2. His Office The great Prophet of the Church Hear ye him A greater Prophet then Moses Moses saw the Face of God but he was in the Bosom of God Moses his face shone but not as Christs for it could be hidden by a Vail Christ darts his glory through his Garments Moses his shining was Terrible Christs was Comfortable the Apostles were loth to lose the sight of it 2. To show what Christ should be for this was a pledge with what glory he should come in his Kingdom Matth. 16. 27. it prefigured the glory of his second coming Thus for the Confirmation of their Faith Christ would give his Disciples a glimpse of his Glory he knew they would be sorely assaulted and shaken by the Ignominy of his Cross. But what is all this to us we see not his Glory 1. What was once done and sufficiently Attested needs not to be repeated but it is a great satisfaction to us that we have a glorious head and chief when we suffer for him we need not be ashamed of our Sufferings the Apostles urge this concerning us as well as them 2. The immediate Manifestations of him who dwelleth in light inaccessible would undoe us while we are in our mortal Bodies Blessed be God that he hath chosen fit means to reveal himself to us that we may behold the glory of the Lord in a Glass 2 Cor. 3. 18. by the Ministry of the Word and other Ordinances The Israelites were sensible how little they could endure him who is as it were all Sun and all Light and all Fire Exod. 20. 18 19. Let not God speak to us least we dye Elijah wrapt his Face in a Mantle when God appeared unto him 2 Kings 19. 13. when Christ appeared to Paul from Heaven he trembled and was astonished and was three dayes without sight as you may see Acts 9. 9. there was a special Reason why an Apostle should see him in Person 3. We shall see this Glory when fit for it Ioh. 17. 24. Father I will that they whom thou hast given me may be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me The Queen of Sheba took a long Journey to behold the glory of Solomon that was but a Temporal Fading and Earthly Glory Now much more Transcendent is the Glory of Christs Body in Heaven this we shall see to all Eternity 3. To shew what we shall be for Christ is the Pattern primum in unoquoque genere c. 1. It sheweth the possibility of our having a glorified Body When the Lord is pleased to let forth and communicate his Glory he is able to adorn and beautifie our Earthly and obscure bodies the body of man in its composition hath a great mixture of Earth which is dark and obscure Now God can make this clod of Earth to shine as the Star or Sun for brightness Phil. 3. 21. Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself We are apt to say How can it be if we consider the infinite and absolute power of God and this Instance of Christ it will make it more reconcilable to your thoughts and this hard point will be of easier digestion to your Faith 2. The certainty of it as well as the possibility for Christ assumed our body not for Passion only but for Glorification that therein he might be an instance and pattern to us For if the head be glorious so will the members also how base soever the people of God seem to be in this World yet in the Life to come they shall be wonderfully glorious Mark 13. 43. The Righteous shall shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of their
that Spirit of unsubjection which is so natural to us Rom. 8. 7. The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be Psalm 2. 3. Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us Duties are more displeasing to the flesh then Happiness and we like pardon and Life more then we like strictness purity and that watching and striving and waiting and exercising our selves unto Godliness which the Scripture calleth for USE To press us to get this disease cured and our Hearts reconciled to our duty as well as to our Happiness These Considerations may be an help to you 1. God is a Governour as well as a Benefactor and must be respected in both Relations and therefore we must not only desire and wait for his benefits but submit to his Government his Government is seen in his Laws and Providence In his Laws he appoints our Duty in his Providence he appoints their Trials to refuse either is to question his Soveraignty Psal. 12. 4. Who have said With our tongues will we prevail our lips are our own who is Lord over us Exod. 5. 2. And Pharaoh said who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go so also not to submit to his Trials Therefore now if we love God as a Benefactor we must be subject to him as our true and proper Soveraign who will bring us to Heaven in what way he pleaseth 2. The Terms and Means appointed conduce to mortifie our Love to the false Happiness for one great part of Religion is to draw off our hearts from the vain Pleasures and Honours of the World the other part is to carry us on in the pursuit of the true Happiness a Recess from the World and an Access to God Mortification and Vivification We shall sit down with present things if we abandon our selves to our sensual Inclinations Luk. 16. 25. so that our desires of the true happiness will be feeble and easily controuled if we submit not to the means 3. The care and due observance of the Means sheweth the value and Respect to the true Happiness If we do not labour for it and suffer for it we do not value it according to its worth There is a simple naked Estimation and a practical Esteem Naked Approbation Rom. 2. 18. And knowest his will and approvest the things that are excellent being instructed out of the Law The Practical Esteem is a Self-denying Obedience Rom. 2. 7. To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory c. Then they respect means and end together and submit to the one to obtain the other If the wicked are said to despise Eternal Happiness it is not simply as Happiness nor as Eternal for they that love themselves would be happy and everlastingly happy but it is in conjunction with the Means as the Israelites despised the pleasant Land and murmured in their Tents Psal. 106. 24. Yea they despised the pleasant land and they believed not his word but murmured in their tents and hearkened not to the voice of the Lord. The Land was a good fertile Land but afar of and because of Giants and walled Towns and so no thought worthy the pains and difficultiest to be undergone Heaven is a good place but out of Indulgence to the Ease of the Flesh we dislike difficulties and strictness of holy walking 4. The difficulty of Salvation lies not in a respect to the End but the Means and therefore the Trial of our Sincerity must rather be looked for there There is some difficulty about the End to convince men of an unseen Felicity but that may be done in part by Reason but savingly and throughly by the Spirit of Revelation Eph. 1. 18. The eyes of your understandings being inlightened that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his Inheritance in the Saints But man is sooner convinced than converted than drawn off from worldly Vanities that he may seek after this happiness and usually we have a quicker ear for offers of Happiness than Precepts of Duty and Obedience Balaam Numb 23. 10. Oh that I could die the death of the Righteous and that my latter end were like his Ioh. 6. 34. Evermore give us this bread of life But a true Christian if by any means I may attain to the Resurrection of the dead Phil. 3. 11. 5. The Necessity of this Self-denying Resignation of our selves to God to bring us to Heaven in his own way is necessary That we may begin with God Luk. 14. 26. If any man come to me and hate not father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters yea and his own life also he cannot be my disciple And also that we may be true to him and go on with him and be fortified against all the difficulties we meet with in the way to Heaven Heb. 11. 35. Others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection that none of these things move us Acts 20. 24. Mat. 20. 22. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of and to be baptized with the baptisme that I am baptized with 6. There is such an inseparable connexion between the End and Means that God will not give us the one without the other if we believe mortifie waite suffer then shall we reign with him otherwise not Doct. III. Much evil would ensue if we had our Desires in all those thing that we think good for us Peter said It is good for us to be here but alas how ill would it have been for the World if Christ had abode still in the Mount Peters instance sheweth us two things 1. That we are apt to consult with our own Profit rather than Publick Good The World needed him he had great business to do in the Valley but he would be in the Mount It is our Nature if it be well with our selves to forget others Peter little minded his Fellow Apostles the Redemption of the World the Conversion of Nations c. 2. How much we are out when we judge by present sense and the Judgment of Flesh. We consult with the ease of the Flesh and so desire Rest more than Pains and labour what pleaseth rather than what profiteth Peter saith It is good to be here but he must labour first suffer first before he entreth into Glory Well then Let us learn by what measure to determine Good or Evil. 1. Good is not to be determined by our Fancies and Conceits but by the Wisdom of God for he knoweth what is better for us then we do for our selves and the Divine Choices are to be preferred before our foolish Fancies and what he sendeth and permitteth to fall out is better for us than any thing else Could we be perswaded of this how would
thou hast loved me and ver 26. That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them that is by the gift of the Spirit and Everlasting Glory Though Christ was the beloved Son yet his state was but mean and despicable in the world he was afflicted a man of sorrows pursued to the Death even a shameful painful accursed Death yet all this while he was full of the Holy Ghost of his Graces Comforts and afterwards received to Glory and so will he love us At this rate and Tenour his love bindeth him not to give us worldly greatness but if we have the Spirit and may be welcomed to Heaven at the last we have that which is the true discovery of Gods Love So he manifested his Love to the onely begotten Son and therefore the adopted children should be contented with this Love if by the Spirit they may be inabled to continue with Patience in well-doing till they receive Eternal Glory and Happiness 3. The next thing is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whom I am well pleased This is to be interpreted of Christ as Mediator or God Incarnate for this was twice spoken at Christs Baptisme Mar. 3. 17. and now at his Transfiguration both imply his Mediatorship For his Baptisme had the notion of a Dedication he did then present himself to God as a Mediator for us to be the Servant of his Decree as we in Baptisme dedicate our selves to fulfil the Precepts which belong to us and as we are concerned to promote his Glory in the World Christ presented himself as a Mediator that is as a Prophet to acquaint us with the way of Salvation as a Priest to pay a perfect Ransom for us as a King to give us all things and defend and maintain all those who submit to his Government till their Glory be perfected and they attain unto their final Estate of Bliss and Happiness Now then God from Heaven declared himself well pleased and now again when Christ had made some Progress in the Work confirmeth it for the assurance of the World This then must be Interpreted 1. As to Christ. 2. As to those who have benefit by him and interest in him 1. As to Christ. He was well-pleased Partly as to the Design the Reparation of Lost Mankind Partly as to the Terms by which it should be brought about Partly as to the Execution and Management of it by Christ. 1. As to the Design God was well-pleased that lapsed Mankind should be restored at the first God was pleased with his Creation Exod. 31. 17. on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed that is recreated in the View of his Works as the effects of his Wisdom Power and Goodness And Psal. 104. 31. The Lord shall rejoyce in his works The Lord saw all to be good in the beginning and working not to be repented of This was Gods Rest and Sabbath to take delight in his Works When he looked on it altogether behold it was exceeding good but afterwards Man the ungrateful part of the Creation though the Masterpiece of it in this visible and lower world fell from God his Creator and preferred the Creature before him to his Loss and Ruine then God was so far displeased that he had Reason to wish the destruction of Mankind it is said Gen. 6. 6. That it repented God that he had made man That is he was displeased with us estranged from us no more contented with us than a man is in what he repenteth of For properly God cannot repent but this is an Expression to show how odious we were grown to him Psal. 14. 2 3. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and did seek after God They are all gone aside they are altogether become filthy there is none that doth good no not one Alas there is a lamentable appearance of Mankind to Gods sight now nothing good to be found in them an universal Defection both in Piety and Humanity But then Christ undertook the Reparation of Mankind and the Design was pleasing to God that he might not lose the glory of his Creation and all flesh be utterly destroyed Col. 1. 19 20. It pleased the father that in him should all fulness dwell and having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things to himself The restoring of fallen Man to Friendship with God and all things tending to it were highly pleasing to God namely that Jesus Christ the second Person in the Trinity should become a Mediator for that end he had a great Affection and liking to this thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is the same word used here the thing is highly pleasing to God that the Breach should be made up that man who had lost the Image Favour and Fellowship with God should be again restored by renewing his Heart reconciling his Person and admitting him again into Communion with God who was was so justly provoked by him God stood in no need of our Friendship nor could any loss come to him by our Hatred and Enmity onely it pleased the Father to take this way Isa. 53. 10. For it pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed he shall prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands 2. He is pleased with the Terms God who is the Supream Governour of the world and the offended Party stood upon these Terms that the Honour of his governing Justice should be secured and the Repentance and Reformation of man carried on Strictly these must be done or else man must lye under his Eternal Displeasure if one be done and not the other no Reconciliation can ensue Now that God is highly pleased with the satisfaction and compensation made to his governing Justice Heb. 10. 6 7. In burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast no pleasure Then said I lo I come to do thy will O God Ver. 10. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Christ once for all God rejected all other sacrifices but was fully satisfied with this as enough to expiate the sin of Man Christ delighted to give it and God delighted to accept of it He paid a perfect ransom for us besides or above which he craved no more but rested fully content in it for the other the Renovation of Mans Nature to put him into a capacity to serve and please God for God would not admit us to Priviledges without change of heart and disposition Acts 5. 31. God exalted him to be a prince and saviour to give repentance and remission of sins In short God is so satisfied with these Terms that 1. He seeketh no farther amends for all their wrongs Rom. 3. 25. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to