lost Marie's good part which she had chosen could never be taken from her The Saints and their graces are in the hand of God and who can snatch them out of that mighty and powerfull hand Mount Zion standeth fast for ever and the Lord is about his people â—s the Mountaines are about Jerusalem they are therefore in a most safe and persevering condition In Solomons Temple there were two pillars the one was called Jachin and the other Boaz 1. Kings 1 Kings 7. 21. 21. as much as to say stability and strength now what doth this figure unto us but the more then brazen stedfastnesse and strength of the Church of God of all the members of it and of all their saving graces which can never perish never decay but shall dure beyond the world unto all eternity never to be broken as the two staffes Beauty and Bands were which the Prophet Zach. 11. 10. 14. speakes of but still to be supplyed by the Spirit of Christ with fresh strength and abilities and so to last for ever and ever Fifthly looke upon Christ as upon Reas 5 the most gainfull and profitable thing to the soule that can bee imagined nothing more commodious nothing more enriching then Christ is And verily Christ is absolute gaine Universall gaine And gaine for himself First he is absolute gaine absolute because whatsoever we give unto him we lose it not there is no alienation of it but it is ours still and ours in a farre safer custody and keeping then in our owne if wee cast our affections upon Christ they be not lost hee onely makes them better if wee give them to the world they differ little or nothing from the affections of beasts but if Christ have them he makes heavenly and gracious and such as will fit us for the presence of God if wee lay downe our lives for him they be not lost neither but gained unto life eternall Matth. 10. 39. Againe the necessity of getting Christ makes him to be absolute gaine to such as have him the necessity of a thing puts worth upon it it is not absolutely necessary to be rich or honourable or great in the world but Christ being the life of our soules and one without whom wee cannot subsist happily he must needs be of absolute necessity and therefore absolute gaine unto us Without me saith Christ you can doe nothing Joh 15. 5. As the branch cannot beare fruite except it abide in the vine and if it beare no fruit men cast it into the fire and burne it so if we bee not in Christ and abide in him we can beare no good fruite and for such as beare no good fruite the fire of Gehenna is prepared how absolutely necessary theâ— is Christ and how absolutely gainfull to us if once wee have him Secondly Christ is universally gaine First universall for all persons rich and poore young and old noble and ignoble Learned and unlearned bond and free there is no man rich without Christ neither is there any poore that have him none noble without him none ignoble with him none learned or free without him none bond or unlearned with him There be distinctions in the world among men honouring some and debasing others exalting some and depressing others but in the body of Christ they are not to be found There is neither Jew nor Greeke there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female for yee are all one in Christ Jesus saith the Apostle Galat. 3. 28. Secondly Christ is universall gaine in respect of all times All things are beautifull in their season saith Solomon Musick is good but it is so onely in a time fit for mirth food is good but it is so onely when men are hungry cloathing is good but it is then for them that are naked and Physicke also is good but it is when men are sick and distempered but Christ is seasonable at all times he is that tree of life that beares twelve sorts of fruit and before the old store is done new comes for it yeilds fruit every moneth Revel 22. 2. Christ is never out of season and therefore universally gainfull Thirdly Christ is gaine also to all things In Christ are made unto us promises of all sorts both of this life and of that which is to come for which cause the Apostle saith that Godlinesse is profitable for all things When the Prophet saith that the just shall live by Hab. 2. 4. his Faith we must conceive that it is true as well of food and rayment and temporall deliverance as of Justification Sanctification and eternall salvation this is not so well observ'd by Christians as it ought to be for many can trust Christ with their soules but not with their bodies not with their Estates Peter rested upon him for salvation thou hast the words of eternall life saith he but hee could not trust him with the safety of his flesh for going to him on the water he doubted and began to sinke But beleeve it whatsoever our weaknesses are whatsoever our ignorance ouâ— doubting our forgetfulnesse Christ is profitable for all things both for soule and body for this life and for the life to come for ever Thirdly Christ is gaine for himself other things are gainefull in aspect and relation to their ends as wealth is good to supply want food to maintaine life cloathes to keep off the cold aire a staffe to support feeble legges a bed to rest wearie limbes on and the like but Christ is a rich and inestimable treasure to the soule without reference to a further end then himselfe he is to be desired even for himselfe Wisdome is better then Rubies and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it Proverb 8. 11. And doubtlesse Christ is the wisdome there spoken of Now then if Christ be the most gainefull thing in the world absolute gaine universall gaine and gaine for himselfe without aime at some better thing if Christ be thus gainefull I say who can denie him to be most precious and excellent I passe to a sixt Reason Sixtly then Christ is precious to Beleevers Reas 6 because of the attractivenesse and alluring vertue Of his Love Of his Beauty Of his Grace First of his love Magnes amoris est amor Love is the attractive Load-stone of Love and never was there such a love as Christs love to his Elect free and undeserved from everlasting to everlasting cast upon them even when they were enemies and in their stomachous grassations and rebellions overcoming all difficulties and oppositions all peevish frowardnesse and prevarications after reconcilement never wearled or tired out with any provocations a love lifting up Adam Earthly man as high as Heaven and translating Enoch miserable and enthralled man into the glorious liberty of the Sonnes of God a love infinite and past comprehending so that well might the Apostle set a Behold to it Behold saith he what manner of love
their abused rule power and authority and quite abolished death the last Enemie so that then Christ shall cease to reigne any longer as Mediatour he shall then cease to reigne according to the present dispensation and administring of his Office but not as one God co-essentiall with the Father for his Kingdome according to his God-head shall then be compleate consummate and perfect yea and his humanity also shall reigne then not as by or of it selfe but as joyned in one person with his Godhead and as the common head of all those whom he hath redeemed and sanctified and brought toglory through taking their nature upon him and suffering in it So that the forementioned place in the Corinthians doth not speake of the abolishing of Christs Kingdome but of the perfection of it rather when God whose glory is now much obscured and darkned by Enemies shall be all in all among his Saints and the eternall Father shall triumph eternally in his Sonne as a finall Conquerour The like answer also must be given to the objection which may bee made from the words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 28. where he saith that the Sonne also himselfe shall be subject unto him that did put all things under him These words are not so to be understood as if the Father were not for the present well pleased with the Sonne or as if the Sonne were not already subject to the Father as Mediatour but the meaning of them is this that when all things which doe now during the present forme of his administration make opposition and resistance against Christ shall bee subdued unto him and brought under his feet then Christ himselfe also as touching his Mediatorship shall be subject unto the Father and God shall be all in all neither doth this subjection imply a depressing or pulling downe lower but rather Christ and his Saints shall be at the height and top of their glory when they shall be so subject as on the other side whosoever shall not then be so subject they shall be at the bottome of all remedilesse misery and wretchednesse Before I passe away to another head I must needs touch againe upon a place of Scripture before cited 1 Tim. 1. 17. Now unto the King eternall immortall invisible c. Here be two words that doe expresse the perpetuity and everlasting duration of Christs Kingdome eternall and immortall and neither of them is idle or superfluous the Holy Ghost doth not use tautalogie or vaine repetition in them I have shewed you already what is meant by immortall namely that the Kingdome of Christ is not subject to succession it is not liable to be devolved and rould downe to after comers which Daniel expresseth thus his Kingdome shall not be left unto other people as the Monarchies of the Babylonians Medes Alexander and the Kingdomes of the Seleucidae which the Prophet had spoken of were they were translated from Nation to Nation and from man to man and at last quite dissolved But Christs Kingdome shall not be pluck't up for others beside himselfe but it shall hold on constantly through all ages and centuries of the world unto the end and when the end commeth it shall not expire and give up the Ghost but it shall attaine to its full beauty and perfection it shall come to its meridian or verticall point as I may say and shall never decline never decay it shall last beyond the world and beyond all time for ever therefore the Apostle calls Christ not onely an immortall King but also an eternall King Thus you see that the Spirit of God doth to good purpose use two words somewhat of kinne iâ— signification one to the other that thereby hee might set forth the excellency of Christs Kingdome above all other Kingdomes by the one word is shewed the course of his Kingdome through this world during the time of his Mediatourshipâ— and by the other word is declared the lasting of it unto all eternity after his Mediatorship is laid downe Lastly Christ is matchlesse and eminent above all other Kings in all Royall vertues endowments and accomplishments First he is a most sapient and wise King called therefore Counsellour by the Prophet and onely wise by the Apostle the wonderfull Numberer he that sealeth up the summe full of wisdome none essentially wise but he none but are depending and beholding for their wisedome but he his foolishnesse is wiser then men they be all doters to him Earthly Kings have their Counsellours but he needs none Solomon was the wisest among them but a greater then Solomon is here Secondly he is Rex armipotens bellicosus a most puissant and warlike King called therefore a man of Warre the Lord of Hosts the Captaine of our Salvation the armies in Heaven Angels and righteous men follow him he is the stone cut out of the Mountaine without hands sent from heaven and acting by no humane but meerely Divine Authority which smote the Image and brake in pieces the iron the brasse the clay the Silver and the Gold the great Monarchies and Kingdomes of the world to make way for his owne Kingdome he is terrible to all the Kings of the Earth that withstand him he is so mighty and so politick that he gets ground of his enemies by giving ground to them The world Hell Death sinne the Accuser of the brethren the enmity of the carnall mind all these are in the Trophes of his victories All his foes are and shall be made his footstoole he will make even the proudest of them to stoope and to hold his stirrup yea he will make them his very stirrup to get on horse-back by as once Sâ—por the Persian served Valerian the Romane Emperour Thirdly Christ is as eminent in peace also as he is in warre called therefore the Prince of Peace When hee was borne warres were husht every where and all the world was at peace Jacob beheld him as a ladder reaching from Earth to Heaven and what was this but the Image of a Peace-maker between God and man the Angels of God ascended and descended by that ladder signifying that by Christ wee have the benefit of the Ministry of Angels they ascend to receive new commission from God concerning the Saints and again descend to execute it by Christ also our prayers as Intelligencers and signifiers of our wants doe ascend into the presence of God and againe his blessings as Angels and Messengers of his good will towards us doe descend and light upon us Thus is Christ a ladder reaching from Earth to Heaven partaking of both God and man in one person our blessed Reconciler and Peace-maker he died to purchase peace for us when he went away he left his peace with us and he reignes for ever to maintaine our peace Melchisedec was King of Salem that is King of Peace nominally and in a figure onely but Christ is the very body and substance of that shadow Fourthly Christ is a most just and righteous
to say sporting greatly a metaphor or simile taken from little ones which sport and play before their Parents Christ must needs be precious being thus highly esteemed of the Father And to this head of Argumentation wee may adde the great and high account that the most excellent of all Gods Creation the holy Angels have of him they all worship him and adore him Hebr. 1. 6. yea they doe exceeding earnestly desire to stoope downe and pry into the great mystery of our Redemption by Christ as the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Peter 1. 12. doe import where the Apostle alludes to the manner of the Cherubims looking downe into the Mercy-seate this is the study yea this is the delight and recreation of the elect Angels to looke into the severall scopes of our salvation by Jesus Christ to behold the whole frame and fabrick of it to observe all the parts of it from the beginning to the end and the glorious attributes of God his wisdome his power his Justice his Mercy all shining and glittering in it like bright Starres in the firmament this I say is their worke yea this is their festivity and past-time Then let the profane ones of the world thinke what they will of Christ let them slight him and scorne him and cast him at their heeles as they doe let them trample upon his bloud and passion as their wicked manner is making it a common and worthlesse thing let them despise those high and celestiall Mysteries of his Mediatorship wee need not care for their thoughts it is enough for us that God the Father hath honoured and exalted him that the holy Angels doe venerate and worship him yea and all the Saints doe magnifie him and count him very precious the opinion that one of the least of these hath of Christ is more to be regarded then the Judgement of the wisest and most judicious worldlings that are The Preacher saith that a wise mans heart is at his right hand but a fooles at his left Eccles 10. 2. what is the meaning of this Wee know that naturally every mans heart is placed on the left side therefore surely that sentence aimeth at something higher then Nature doubtlesse then Heavenly things are figured by the right hand and Earthly by the left The first is the choyce of the Saints they are therefore those wise ones whose heart is at their right hand the other is the delight of Heathenish and carnall people they then are the fooles whose heart is on their left hand and here is the true reason why the men of this world doe despise Christ their heart is a left-handed heart as I may say they favour and rellish nothing but earthly things and therefore Christ and the glorious things of the Gospel are lightly set by such wisedome is too high for fooles as Solomon saith they cannot attaine unto it Even the Heathen Philosophers as wise as they were could not reach it they were so farre from embracing it that they counted it very foolishnesse and be it so saith the Apostle for he doth after a sort gratifie them yet the foolishnesse of God is wiser then men and the weaknesse of God is stronger then men It skils not then what the men of the world doe thinke of Christ but what esteeme God and his holy Angels and the Saints illuminated and enlightned by the Spirit of God have of him if they count him precious this is an Argument irrefragable and a proofe beyond all exception that he is so indeed Thirdly the great and excessive price Illustration III that is given for a thing doth likewise render it very precious Precious things have their denomination from this Argument The oyle wherewith Mary anoynted Christ was called precious in this respect this oyntment might have been fold for much and given to the poore Thus also the life of a man is said to be precious Proverb 6. 26. because he will part with one thing after another till all begone to save it as wee see in the Egyptians who parted first with their mony after that with their cattell and last of all with their Lands and all to buy bread to save their precious lives Now this also doth set forth the preciousnesse of Christ but who shall value him Who shall set the price upon him not men of corrupt minds not people of depraved affections for they will set too low a rate upon him Judas sold him and the High-Priests bought him for 30. pieces of silver a goodly price saith Christ that I was prised at of them Zach. 11. 13. Magnificum pretium as Junius renders it a very worthy price I promise you ironically spoken meaning nothing lesse and yet he was no lesse then the eternall Jehovah that was so prised Jehovah said unto me cast it unto the potter a goodly price that I was prised at of them But they did thus to fulfill the good Counsell and purpose of God for others that would esteeme more highly of him There be them in the world that doe enhaunse the price of Christ and value him at the highest rate though some will not part with a beastly lust for him though like hogs they count the base wash and figge to be farre sweeter yet there be others that know well the worth of him there be others that are willing to forsake all for him we have forsaken all saith Peter and have followed thee Matth. 19. 27. The Merchant of whom you heard before sold all to buy the preclous pearle he valued it above all things in the world and was willing to leave all for it The holy Martyrs thought not their very lives and their heart-bloud too deare for Christ so it is said that they loved not their lives unto the death Revel 12. 11. that is they despised their lives in comparison of Christ they exposed their bodies to horrible and painfull deaths their temporall estates to the spoyle and their persons to all manner of shame and contempt for the cause of Christ they thought nothing too hot for him A soule that by Faith hath sense of the worth of Christ will willingly give all for him will goe away rejoycing and will thinke his pennie-worth to be very good Fourthly the usefulnesse and profitablenesse Illustration IV of a thing makes it also to be precious in this sense are the fruits of the Earth called precious as we reade Deut. 33. 14. there the precious fruits put forth by those heavenly luminaries the Sunne and Moone are a part of Josephs blessing and precious they were because very usefull and serviceable to the life of man and the influence of those heavenly bodies by a course which God had constituted and set in Nature made them the more usefull and therefore the more precious So also are the afflicted and persecuted Saints said to beare precious seed Psal 126. 6. because their sufferings shall profit them much in the end such seed shall
drops of bloud which hee did sweat in his agony had nothing availed without death Death is the summe of the curse due to us in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death Christ then dying for us here was the accomplishment of all his sufferings and the height of his love towards us Surely that bloud must needs be very precious which could not be let out but the vitall spirits must follow after it Those that professe skill in words doe derive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bloud from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to burne or to kindle whether this be a true etymologie or not I will not dispute the heate that is in the bloud of a living creature if at leastwise in good temper speakes for it sure I am that the bloud of Jesus Christ shed for our sinnes both testifies his ardent and burning love toward us and requires a like affection in us the kindling and fiering of our love toward him Fourthly the preciousnesse of Christs bloud appeares likewise from the personall union of his manhood with his God-head The Divine and humane natures of Christ subsisting together in one and the same person is called an hypostaticall union properly the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a placing or standing under when the Godhead stands under the manhood and the manhood is taken into the same person with the God-head this is hypostaticall Now from this marvellous and wonderfull union floweth though not a reall communication of properties yet a promiscuous predication of them as if they were all alike common and naturall to both natures Hence the manhood is said to be in heaven even while it was circumscribed compassed with a place on earth John 3. 13. and on the other side the bloud of the humane nature is called the bloud of God Acts 20. 28. and else where by reason of this union God himselfe is said to be crucified Oh how precious was the bloud of Christ then doubtlesse it had more worth in it then all the creatures in Heaven and earth Angels and men and all the world beside The uniting and consequently the cooperation and compliance of the impassible Deity in the same person with that soule and body which suffered must needs put infinite dignity and preciousnesse beyond all account upon the bloud of Christ yet this was not thought too deare for his Saints Fiftly and lastly the blessed effects of Christs bloud is another strong Argument of the inestimable value and price of it It justifies our persons in the sight of God It frees us from the guilt from the punishment and from the power of all sinne It saves us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from that wrath that is to come 1 Thessalonians 1. 10. Wicked people are Light and merry-hearted and never dreame of an after recoming but there is a thunder shower of Gods wrath to come which will light heavily upon the heads of unbeleeving ones Wee are all of us by nature obnoxious to and involved in this danger therefore the Apostle useth the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 snatching or pulling us out from the wrath to come even wee of the children of God wee of the Corporation and society of the Saints we Beleevers as well as others were liable to this wrath but Christ hath dâ—livered us this is his tender loving kindnesse and good will to his Elect. Againe the bloud of Christ obtaines eternall redemption for us Heb. 9. 12. whence it is that the Apostle opposes it to Gold and Silver though these be among the most precious things that the Earth affords yet being corruptible and transitory they cannot purchase incorruption and eternity for us The bloud of Christ is the price of our Redemption yee are bought with a price saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 7. 23. and a like phrase he uses in the end of the precedent chapter yet there is neither a pleonasme in the words that is to say a fulnesse of speech though that sometimes be rhetoricall enough nor impropriety or unfitnesse of Language as if a thing could be bought without a price though I confesse the Scripture in some respects doth sometimes speake so neither is there an hebraisme whereby words of the same signification are itterated and repeated ob vehementiam to set the matter on with the greater vehemency and force but the word price is used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shew the superlative excellency and dignity of the price wherewith the Saints are bought so that ye are bought with a price is as much as to say yee are dearely bought 't was a price with a witnesse that was given for you a price of inestimable value a price past the number of a man it cannot be calculated or summed up it is so infinite such a rich and exceeding price is the bloud of Jesus Christ costly and chargeable were our soules that required such a ransome This is the price wherewith wee are bought from the earth bought out of Hell and bought into Heaven and everlasting glory This is the price that redeemeth us from condemnation and this is it that cleanseth us from the filth and staine of sinne This is it that purgeth our Consciences from dead workes to serve the living God Heb 9. 14. The Apostle in that place draweth an Argument â— minori ad majus as the Logician speakes If typicall rites and sacrifices as the bloud of Bulls and goates and the ashes of an Heifer sprinckled upon the uncleane availed for externall Sanctification namely for the purifying of the flesh legally and ceremonially how much more shall the bloud of Christ sprinkled upon our Consciences purge away the guilt of sinne and avayle to the internall spirituall and everlasting sanctifying of our persons Againe by this bloud it was that Christ as the high Priest of our profession that is of Christians entred into Heaven so saith the Apostle Heb. 9. 12. Christ entred â—y his owne bloud into the holy place hee did not enter into the presence of God as the high-priest of old did with the bloud of Goates and Calves what should those slender things doe in the Tabernacle made without hands there are no such meane and poore offerings there Neither did Christ enter to offer for himselfe as well as for his Family as Aaron did Levit. 16. 6. he had no need of expiation himselfe but he went into the holiest to offer for his people only whom he hath for ever washed justified and sanctified not with bloud of others as the Apostle speakes but with his owne bloud Lastly from the precious bloud of Christ we also that are so cleansed and purged have boldnesse to enter into the holiest Heb. 10. 19. 20. The bloud of Christ breeds us and begets us this confidence The Apostle in that place doth covertly oppose the liberty of Christians unto the restraint of them that lived under the Law The Jewes of old might not presse into the Holy of Holies it