his promise because I live ye shall live also Ioh. 14.19 Christ and the Believer are One this is that Great Mystery the Apostle speaks of Eph. 5. though ' it s a common known truth the words and outside of it obvious to all yet none can understand it but they that indeed partake of it by vertue of that Unction their sins were accounted His and Christs sufferings are accounted theirs and by consequence His Glory the consequent of his sufferings is likewise theirs there is an indissoluble connection betwixt the life of Christ and of a Believer Our life is hid with Christ in God and therefore while we remaine there our life is there though hid and when he who is our life shall appear we likewise shall appear with him in glory Colos. 3.14 Seeing the sufferings and Glory of our Redeemer are the maine subject of the Gospel and the Causes of our salvation and our comfortable persuasion of it ' it s a wonder that they are not more the matter of our thoughts should we not daily consider the bitterness of that cup of Wrath he drunk for us and be wrought to Repentance and Hatred of sin to have sin imbitter'd to us by that Consideration and find the sweetness of his Love in that he did drink it and by that be deeply possessed with Love to him these things we now and then speak of but they sink not As our Saviour exhorts where he is speaking of those same sufferings O that they were engraven on our hearts and that sin were Crucified in us and the world Crucified to us and we unto the world by the crosse of Christ. And then considering the Glory wherein he is And to have our eye often upon that and our hearts solaceing and refreshing themselves frequently with the thoughts of that Place and condition wherein Christ is and where our hopes are ere long to behold lin Both to see his Glory and to be Glorified with him is it not reason Yea ' its necessary it cannot be otherwise if our Treasure and Head be there that our hearts be there likewise The Third Expression here of the Gospell is that 't is the Doctrine of Grace The work of Redemption it self and severall parts of it and the Doctrine revealing it have all the name of Grace because they all flow from free Grace that is their spring and first Cause And 't is this wherein the Doctrine of Salvation is mainly comfortable that it is free ye are saved by Grace Eph. 2.8 't is true God requires faith it is through faith but he that requires that gives it too that 's not of your selves 't is the gift of God 't is wonderfull Grace to save upon believing believe in Jesus for Salvation and live accordingly and 't is done there is no more requir'd to thy pardon but that thou receive it by faith But truely Nature cannot do this 't is as impossible for us of our selves to Believe as to doe this then is that which makes it all Grace from Beginning to End that God not onely saves upon believeing but gives believeing it self Christ is called not onely the Author and finisher of our Salvation but even of our Faith Free Grace being rightly apprehended is that which stayes the heart in all Estates and keeps it from fainting even in its saddest times what though there is nothing in my self but matter of sorrow and discomfort it cannot be otherwise ' its not from my self that I look for Comfort at any time but from my God and his free Grace Here is Comfort enough for all times when I 'm at the best I ought not I dare not rely upon my self when Im at the worst I may and should rely upon Christ and his sufficient Grace Though I be the vilest sinner that ever came to him yet I know he is more Gracious then I am sinfull yea the more my sin is the more Glory will it be to his Grace to pardon it it will appear the richer doth not David argue thus Psa. 25.11 For thy names sake O Lord pardon mine iniquity for it is great But 'T is an empty fruitless notion of Grace to Consider it onely in the Generall and in a wandring way we are to look upon it particularly as address'd to us and 't is not enough that it comes to us in the message of him that brings it onely to our ear but that we may know what it is it must come into us then 't is ours indeed but if it come to us in the message only and we send it away again if iâ— shall so depart we had better never have heard of it it will leave a Guiltiness behind it that shall make all our sins weigh much heavier then before Enquire whether you have entertain'd this grace or not whether it be come to you and into you or not whether the kingdom of God is within you As our Saviour speaks 't is the woefullest condition that can be not to be far from the kingdom of God and yet to fall short and miss of it The Grace of God revealed in the Gospell is intreating you daily to receive it is willing to become yours if you Reject it not were your eyes open to behold the Beauty and Excellency of this Grace there would need no deliberation yea you would endure none desire your eyes to be opened and light from above that you may know it and your hearts open'd that you may be happy by receiving it The Apostle speaking of Jesus Christ as the foundation of our Faith calls him the same yesterday and to day and for ever Yesterday under the Law to day in those primitive times neerest his Incarnation and for ever in all succeeding ages And the Resemblance holds good between the two Cherubims over the Mercy-seat and the two Testaments those had their faces towards one another and both toward the Mercy-seat and these look to one another in their Doctrine agreeing perfectly and both look to Christ the true Mercy-seat and the great Subject of the scriptures This we see here the things that the Prophets foretold to come and the Apostles reported were accomplished were the same and from the same spirit they were the sufferings of Christ and his after Glory and in them our Salvation by free Grace The Prophesies look forward to the times of the Gospel and the things then fulfilled look back to the Prophesies and each confirms the other meeting all in Christ who is their truth and Center We have spoken already of the Author and subject of this salvation Now we come to say something of those who are Employed about it as well in Administring to it as in Admiring it And those are the Prophets and Apostles the first foretold what was to come the second Preached them when they came to pass In the Prophets there are three things here remarked 1. Their Dilligence 2. The Success of it 3. The Extent of its usefulness This
obedience fall short so that he can never come to be upon even disengaged terms much less to oblige a new and deserve somewhat further besides that same Grace by which any serves and obeys God is likewise his own gift as 't is said All things come of thee and of thine own have I given thee both the ability and the will of giving to him is from him so that in these respects not Angels nor Man in Innocency could properly merit at the hands of God much less Man lost redeemed again and so coming under the new obligation of Infinite Mercy And this is so evident a truth that the learnedst and most ingenuous Jesuits and Schoolmen have in divers passages of their writings acknowledg'd it that there cannot be any Compensation and much less merit from the creature to God but onely in relation to his own free purpose and the tenour of his word and Covenant which is inviolable because he is unchangeable and truth it selfe His first grace he gives freely and no less freely the increases of it and with the same gracious hand sets on the Crown of glory upon all the Grace that he hath given before 'T is but the following forth of his own work and fulfilling his own thoughts of free Love which love hath no cause but in himself and finds none worthy But gives them all the worthiness they have and accepts of their Love not as worthy in it self to be accepted but because he himself hath wrought it in them not onely the first tastes but the full draught of the waters of life is freely given Reve. 22.17 nothing brought with them but thirst That is to be brought not that is brought or that shall be brought but if we will render it strictly it is that is a bringing to you That blessedness that Consummation of grace the Saints are hastening forward to walking on in their way wheresoever it lyes indifferently through honour and dishonour through evill report and good report And as they are hastening to it it is hastn'ng to them in the course of time every day brings it nearer to them than before and notwith standing all difficulties and dangers in the way they that have their eye and hopes upon it shall arrive at it and it shall be brought safe to their hand all the malice of men and Devils shall not be able to cut them short of this grace that is a bringing to them against the day of the Revelation of Iesus Christ. At the Revelation of Iesus Christ. This is repeated from the 7 th Verse and it is a day of Revelation a Revelation of the just judgement of God Rom. 2 5. And thus it would be to all were it not that it is withall the Revelation of Iesus Christ therefore is it a day of Grace all Light and blessedness to them that are in him because they shall appear in him and if he be glorious they shall not be inglorious and ashamed indeed were our secret sins then to be set before our own eyes in their affrightfullest visage and to be set open to the view of Angels and Men and to the eye of divine Justice and we lest alone so revealed who is there that could gather any comfort and would not rather have their thoughts fill'd with horrour at the remembrance and expectation of that day and thus indeed all unbelieving and ungodly Men may look upon it and find it terrible but to those that are shadowed under the Robe of Righteous Jesus yea that are made one with him and shall partake of his glory in his appearing 't is the sweetest the most comfortable thought that their souls can be entertain'd and possess'd withall to remember this glorious Revelation of their Redeemâ—r 'T is their great grief here not that themselves are hated and vilified but that their Lord Jesus is so little known and therefore so much despised in the world he is vail'd and hid from the world many Nations acknowledge him not at all and many of those that do in word confess yet in deed deny him that have a form of Godliness and do not onely want but mock and scoffe the power of it and to such Christ is not known his Excellencies are hid from their eyes now this glory of their Lord being tender to them that Love him they rejoyce much in the consideration of this that there is a day at hand wherein he shall appear in his bright and full glory to all nations and all shall be forc'd to acknowledge him it shall be with out doubt and unquestion'd to all that here is the Messiah the Redeemer the Judge of the world And as it is his day of Revelation ' it s also the Revelation of all the adopted sons of God in him Rom. 8.9 they are now accounted the refuse of the world exposed to all kind of comtempts but then the beams of Christ's glory shall beautifie them and they shall be known for his 1 Ioh. 3â— 2. Col. 3 4. Next there is The Exhortation Hope to the end The difference of these two graces faith and hope is so small that the one is often taken for the other in Scripture 't is but a divers aspect of the same confidence faith apprehending the infallible truth of those divine Promises of which Hope doth assuredly expect the accomplishment and that is their truth so that this immediately results from the other· This is the Anchor pitch'd within the vail that keeps the soul firm against all the tossings on these swelling Seas and the winds and tempests that arise upon them The firmest thing in this Inferiour world is a believing soul. Faith establishes the heart on Jesus Christ and Hopelifts it up being on that Rock over the head of all intervenient Dangers Crosses and Tentations and sees the glory and happiness that followes after them To the end Or perfectly and therefore the Christian seeks most earnestly and yet waits most patiently Psal. 130.6 Indeed this hope is perfect in continuance 't is a hope unto the end because 't is perfect in its nature although imperfect in degree sometimes doubtings intermixed with it in the Christian soul yet this is their infirmity as the Psalmist speaks not the infirmity and insufficiency of the object of their hope Worldly hopes are in their own nature imperfect they do imply in their very being doubtfulness and wavering because the things whereon they are built are inconstant and uncertain and full of deceit and disappointments how can that Hope be immoveable that is built upon moving sands or quagmire 'T is that which is it self unfixed cannot give stability to any other thing resting on it but because the truth and goodness of the immutable God is the foundation of spiritual hope therefore it is assur'd and like Mount Sion that cannot be removed and this is its perfection Now the Apostle exhorts his Brethren to endeavour to have their hearts possess'd with as high a measure and degree of
as to be scorn'd out of it being so honourable and happy and the day is at hand wherein those that scoffe you would give much more than all that the best of them ever possess'd in the world to be admitted into your number Seeing you have purifi'd your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit Here is 1. The chief seat or subject of the work of sanctification the Soul 2. The subordinate means Truth 3. The Nature of it obeying of truth 4. The chief worker of it The Holy Spirit For the first 'T is no doubt a work that goes through the whole man renews and purifies all Heb. 10.22 2 Cor. 7.1 But because it purifies the soul therefore 't is that does purifie all There begins impurity Mat. 15. not onely evil thoughts but all evill actions come forth from the heart which is there all one with the soul and therefore this purifying begins there makes the tree good that the fruit may be good 't is not so much externall performances that are the difference of Men as their inward temper we meet here in the same place and all partake of the same word and prayer But how wide a difference is there in Gods eye betwixt an unwash'd profane heart in the same exercise and a soul purified in some measure in obeying the truth and desirous to be further purified by further obeying it 2. That which is the subordinate means of this purity is the Truth or the word of God it is truth and pure in it self and begets truth and purity in the heart by teaching it concerning the holy and pure nature of God shewing it and his holy will which is to us the rule of purity And by representing Jesus Christ unto us as the fountain of our purity and Renovation from whose fulness we may receive grace for grace 3. The nature of this work that wherein the very being of this purifying consists is the Receiving or Obeying of this Truth So Gal. 3.1 Where 't is put for right believing The chief point of obedience is believing the proper obedience to Truth is to give credit to it and this divine belief doth necessarily bring the whole soul into obedience and conformity to that pure Truth which is in the word and so the very purifying and renewing of the soul is this obedience of faith as unbelief is its cheif impurity and disobedience therefore Act. 15.9 faith is said to purifie the heart 4. The chief worker of this sanctification is the Holy spirit of God they are said here to purifie themselves For 't is certain and undeniable that the soul it self doth act in believing or obeying the truth but not of it self it is not the first principle of motion They purifie their souls but 't is by the spirit They doe it by his enlivening power and a purifying vertue recevied from him Faith or obeying the truth works this purity But the Holy Ghost works that faith as in the forecited place God is said to purifie their hearts by faith Verse 8. He doth that by giving them the Holy Ghost The truth is pure and purifying yet can it not of it self purifie the soul but by the obeying or believing it and the soul cannot obey or believe but by the spirit which works in it that faith and by that faith purifies it and works Love in it ' it s the Impurity and Earthliness of Mens minds that is the great cause of disuâ—ion and disaffection amongst them and of all their striâ—es Iam. 4.1 This spirit is that fire that refines and purifies the soul from the dross of earthly desires that possess it and sublimates it to the love of God and of his Saints because they are his and are purified by the same spirit T is the property of fire to draw together things of the same kind the outward fire of Enmities and persecution that are kindled against the godly by the world doth some-what and if it were more considered by them would do more in this knitting their hearts closer one to another but it is this inward pure and purifying fire of the Holy Ghost that doth most powerfully unite them The true reason why there is so little truth of this Christian mutuall Love amongst those that are called Christians is because there is so little of this purifying Obedience to the truth whence it flowes Faith unfeigned would beget this Love unfeigned men may exhort to them both but they require the hand of God to work them in the heart Verse 23. Being borne again not of Corruptible seed But of Incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever THE two things that make up the Apostles Exhortation are the very summe of a Christians duty to walk as obedient children towards God and loving brethen one towards another And that it may yet have the deeper impression he here represents to them anew that new birth he mentioned before by which they are the children of God and so brethren We shall first speak of this Regeneration And then of the Seed This is the great dignity of believers that they are the sons of God Io. 1.12 and the great Evidence of the love of God that he hath bestow'd this dignity on them 1 Io. 3.1 For they are no way needfull to him he had from Eternity a Son perfâ—ctly like himself the character of his person and one Spirit proceeding from both and there is no Creation neither the first nor the second can add any thing to those and their happiness 't is most true of that blessed Trinity Satis amplum alter alterj Theatrum sumus But the gracious purpose of God to impart his goodness appears in this that he hath made himself such a multitude of sons not onely Angels that are so called but man a little lower than they in nature yet dignified with this name in his Creation St. Luke 3.38 Which was the Son of Adam which was the son of God He had not onely the Impression of Gods footsteps as they speak which all the Creatures have but of his Image and most of all in this is his rich Grace magnified that sin having defac'd that Image and so degraded Man from his honour and devested him of that title of sonship and stampt our polluted nature with the marks of vileness and bondage yea with the very Image of Satan Rebellion and Enmity against God that out of Mankind thus ruin'd and degenerated God should raise to himself a new Race and Generation of sons For this designe was the word made flesh Io. 1. The son made Man to make men the sons of God and 't is by him alone we are restor'd to this they that receive him receive with him and in him this priviledge Verse 12. And therefore 't is a sonship by Adoption and is so called in scripture in difference from his Eternall and Ineffable Generation who is and that was the onely begotten son of God yet that we may
awak'd to seek diligently after Jesus and not to rest till they find him they 're well enough without him it suffices them they hear there is such a one but they ask not themselves is he mine or no But sure if that be all not to doubt the Bruites believe as well It were better out of all question to be labouring under doubtings if it be a more hopeful condition to find a Man groaning and complaining than speechless and breathless and not stirring at all There be in Spiritual doubtings two things their is a sollicitous care of the Soul concerning its own estate and diligent inquiry into 't and that is laudable being a true work of the spirit of God but the other thing in them perplexity and distrust that arises from darkness and weakness in the soul as where there is a great deal of smoak and no clear flame it argues much moysture in the matter yet it witnesseth certainly that there is fire there and therefore dubious questioning of a Man concerning himself is a much better evidence than that senseless deadness that most take for believing Men that that know nothing in sciences have no doubts he never truly believ'd that was not made first sensible and convinc'd of unbelief This is the Spirits first errand in the World to convince it of sin and the Sin is this that they believe not If the Faith that thou hast grew out of thy natural heart of it self 't is but a Weed be sure the right plant of Faith is alwayes set by Gods own hand and 't is watered and preserv'd by him because expos'd to many hazzards he watches it Night and Day Isa. 27.3 I the Lord do keep it I will water it every moment lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day Again how impudent is it in the most to pretend believing while they wallow in Profaness if Faith unite the soul unto Christ certainly it puts it into participation of his Spirit for if any Man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his sayes St. Paul This faith in Christ bring us into Communion with God Now God is light says St. Iohn and therefore inferrs if we say we have fellowship with God and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth The lie appears in our practise an unsuitableness in our carriage as he said of him that sign'd his Verse wrong fecit solaecismum manu But there be imaginary Believers that are a little more refin'd that live after a blameless yea and a Religious manner for there outward and yet are but appearances of Christians have not the living work of Faith within and all these exercises are dead works in their hands Amongst these some may have such motions within themselves as may deceive themselves as well as their outward deportment deceives other some transient touches of desire to Christ upon the unfolding of his excellencies in the Preaching of the word and upon some conviction of their own necessity and conceive some joy upon thoughts of apprehending him and yet all this proves but an evanishing fancy an embracing of a shaddow And because Men that are thus deluded meet not with Christ indeed do not really find his sweetness therefore within a while they return to the pleasure of sin and their latter end proves worse than their beginning their hearts could not possibly be stedfast because there was nothing to fix them on in all that work wherein Christ himself was wanting But the truly believing Soul that is brought unto Jesus Christ and fastened upon him by Gods own hand abides stay'd on him and departs not And in these the very belief of the things that are spoken concerning Christ in the Gospel the perswasion of Divine truth is of a higher nature than the common consent that they call Historical another knowledge and evidence of the mysteries of the Kingdom than natural Men can have this is indeed the ground of all the very thing that causes a Man rest upon Christ when he hath a perswasion wrought in his heart by the Spirit of God that Christ is an able Redeemer a sufficient Saviour able to save all that come to him Then upon this the heart resolves upon that course seeing I am perswaded of this that whoso believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life as here it is shall not be confounded I am to deliberate no longer this is the the thing I must doe to lay my soul upon him upon one that is an Almighty Redeemer And it does so Now these first actings of Faith have in themselves an evidence that distinguishes them from all that 's counterfeit a light of their own by which the soul wherein they are may discern them and say this is the right work of Faith especially when God shines upon the Soul and clears it in the discovery of his own work within it And further they may find the influence of Faith upon the affections purifying them as our Apostle sayes of it Act. 15.9 Faith knits the heart to a holy Head a pure Lord the spring of purity and therefore cannot chuse but make it pure it is a beam from heaven that raises the mind to a Heavenly temper Although there remaines of sin in a believing soul yet 't is a hated wearysome guest there 't is not there as its delight but as its greatest grief and malady that it is still lamenting and complaining of and had rather be rid of than gain a World Thus 't is purified from affecting sin So then where these are a Spiritual apprehension of the Promises and a cleaving of the Soul unto Christ and such a delight in him as makes sin vile and distastful that the heart is set against it and as the Needle touch'd with the Loadstone is still turn'd towards Christ and lookes at him in all estates The Soul that is thus dispos'd hath certainly Interest in him and therefore ought not to affect an humour of doubting but to conclude that how unworthy soever in it self yet being in him it shall not be ashamed not only it shall never have cause to think shame of him but all its just cause of shame in it self shall be taken away it shall be cover'd with his Righteousness and appear so before the Father Who must not think if my sins were to be set in order and appear against me how would my face be fill'd with shame Though there were no more if some thoughts that I am guilty of were laid to my charge I were utterly sham'd and undone Oh! Nothing in my self but matter of shame but yet in Christ more matter of glorying who endured shame that we might not be ashamed We cannot distrust our selves enough nor trust enough in him Let it be right Faith and there is no excess in believing Though I have sinn'd against him and abus'd his goodness yet I will not leave him for whether should I go he and none but he hath
the words of Eternal life yea though he being so often offended should threaten to leave me to the shame of my own follies yet I will stay by him and wait for a better answer and I know I shall obtain it this is assur'd me for my comfort that whosoever believes in him shall not be ashamed Verse 7. Vnto you therefore which believe he is precious but unto them who be disobedient the stone which the Builders disallowed the same is made the head of the Corner BEsides all the opposition that meets Faith within in our hearts it hath this without that it rowes against the great stream of the Worlds opinion And therefore hath need especially where it is very tender and weak to be strengthened against that The multitude of unbelievers and the considerable quality of many of them in the world is one continuing cause of that very multitude And the fewness of them that truely believe doth much to the keeping of them still few and as this prejudice prevails with them that believe not so it may sometimes assault the mind of a believer when he thinks how many and many of them wise men in the world reject Christ Whence can this be Particularly the believing Jews to whom this Epistle is address'd might think it strange that not only the Gentiles that were strangers to true Religion but their own Nation that was the select people of God and had the light of his Oracles kept in amongst them only that yet so many of them yea and the chief of them should be despisers and haters of Jesus Christ. And that these that were best vers'd in the Law and so seem'd best able to judge of the Messiah foretold should have persecuted Christ all his life and at last put him to a shameful death That they may know this makes nothing against him nor ought to invalide their faith at all but rather indeed testifies with Christ and so serves to confirm them in believing the Apostle make use of those Prophetical Scriptures that foretell the unbelief and contempt the most would entertain Christ withal as old Simeon speaks of him when he was come conform to these former predictions That he should be a sign of contradiction as he was the promis'd sign of salvation to believers so he should be a very mark of enmities and contradictions to the unbelieving world the places the Apostle here useth suite with his present discourse and the words cited from Esay in the former Verse continuing the resemblance of a corner stone they are partly from Psa. 118. partly out of 8th of Esay Vnto you c. Wonder not that others refuse him but believe the more for that because you see the word to be true even in their not believing of it it is fulfill'd and verified by their very rejecting it as false And whatsoever are the worlds thoughts concerning Christ that imports not For they know him not but you that do indeed believe I dare appeal to your selves your own faith that you have of him whether he is not precious to you if you do not really find him fully answerable to all that is spoken of him in the word and that accordingly you have believ'd concerning him We are here 1. To Consider the opposition of the persons And then 2. Of the things spoken of them 1. They are oppos'd under the name of believers and disobedient or unbelievers for the word is so neer that it may be taken for unbelief as is by some so rendered And the things are large as near as the words that signify them disobedience and unbelief 1. Unbelief is it self the grand disobedience for this is the work of God that which the Gospel mainely commands Ioh. 6.29 that ye believe Therefore the Apostle calls it the obedience of faith Rom. 1.5 And there is nothing indeed more worthy the name of obedience than the subjection of the mind to receive and believe those supernatural truths that the Gospel teaches concerning Jesus Christ. To obey so as to have as the Apostle speaks the impression of that divine pattern stamp'd upon the heart to have the heart delivered up as the word there is and laid under it to receive it Rom. 6.17 The word here us'd for disobedience signifies properly unpersuasion and there is nothing can more properly express the nature of unbelief than that and it is the very nature of our corrupt hearts We are Children of disobedience or unpersuasibleness altogether incredulous towards God who is truth it self and as pliable wax in Satan's hand he works in them what he will as there the Apostle expresses most easie of belief to him that is the very father of lies as our Saviour calls him a Liar and a murderer from the beginning murdering by lies as he did in the beginning 2. Unbelief is radically all other disobedience For all flowes from unbelief This we least of all suspect but 't is the bitter Root of all that ungodliness that abounds amongst us A right and lively persuasion of the heart concerning Jesus Christ alters the whole frame of it brings low its high lofty Imaginations and brings not only the outward actions but the very thoughts unto the obedience of Christ. Concerning these disobedient unbelievers these two testimonies taken together have in them 1. Their rejection of Christ. 2. Their folly 3. Their misery in so doing 1. They did not receive him as the father appointed and design'd him as the foundation and chief corner stone but slighted him and threw him by as unfit for the building and this did not only the ignorant multitude But the builders they that proâ—ess to have the skill and the office or power of building The Doctors of the Law the Scribes and Pharisees and chief Priests and think to carry the matter by the weight of their authority as overbalancing the belief of those that followed Christ. Have any of the Rulers believed in him But this People who know not the Law are cursed Iohn 7.48.49 2. We need not wonder then that not only the powers of the world are usualy enemies to Christ and that the contrivers of policies those builders leave out Christ in their building but that the pretended builders of the Church of God though they use the name of Christ and serve their turn with that yet reject himself and oppose the power of his spiritual kingdom There may be Wit and Learning and much knowledge of the Scriptures amongst those that are haters of the Lord Christ and the power of godliness and corrupters of the worship of God 'T is the Spirit of humility and obedience and â—aving faith that teaches Men to esteem of Christ and build upon him But the vanity of those builders opinion appears in this that they are over power'd by the great Architect of the Church his purpose stands notwithstanding their rejecton of Christ he is still made the head corner stone They cast him away by their miscensures and reproaches
is first impressed on the mind hence flowes out pleasant obedience and full of love hence all the affections and the whol body with its members learn to give a willing obedience and submit unto God whereas before they resisted him being under the standerd of Satan This Obedience tho imperfect yet hath a certain if I may so say imperfect perfection It s universal three manner of wayes 1. in the subject 2. In the Object 3. In the duration the whole man subjected to the whole Law and that constantly and perseveringly The first universality is the cause of the other because it s not in the tongue alone or in the hand c. but has its root in the heart therefore doth not wither as the grasse or flower lying on the superfice of the earth but it flourishes because rooted and therefore it embraces the whole Law because it arises from a reverence it has for the Lawgiver himself Reverence I say but tempered with Love hence it accounts no Law nor command little or of small value which is from God because he is great and highly esteemed by the pious heart No command hard tho contrary to the flesh because all things are easie to Love there is the same authority in all as St. Iames divinely argues And this Authority is the golden chain of all the commandments which if broke in any link all falls a pieces That this three fold perfection of obedience is not a picture drawn by fancy is evident in David Psal. 119. where he subjects himself to the whole Law His feet v. 105. his mouth v. 13. his heart v. 11. the whole tenor of his life v. 24. He subjects himself to the whole law v. 6. and he professes his constancy therein in v. 16. and 33. teach me the way of thy Statutes and I shall keep it unto the end According to the foreknowledge of God the Father The exactest knowledge of things is to know them in their causes it is then an excellent thing and worthy of their endeavours that are most desirous of knowledge to know the best things in their highest Causes and the happiest way of this knowledge is to possess those things and to know them in Experience to such the Apostle here speaks and sets before them the excellency of their spiritual condition and leads them to the causes of it Their Estate is that they are sanctified and justified the nearest cause of both these is Iesus Christ he is made unto them both Righteousness and Sanctification the sprinkling of his blood purifies them from guiltines and quickens them to obedience Now followes to consider the appropriateing or applying Cause the Holy and holy making or sanctifying Spirit the Author of their selecting from the world and effectual calling unto grace The source of all the appointing or decreeing Cause is God the Father for though they all work Equally in all yet in order of working we are taught thus to distinguish and particularly to ascribe the first work of Eternal Election to the first Person of the blessed Trinity In or through Sanctification for to render it Elect to the sanctification is strained so then I conceive this Election is their Effectual Calling which is by the working of the holy Spirit 1 Cor. 26.27.28 where Vocation and Election are used in the same sense Ye see your Calling Brethren how that not many wise after the flesh c. but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to condemn the wise 't is the first act of the decree of Election the beginning of its performance in these that are Elected and 't is in it self a real seperating of men from the profane and miserable Condition of the world and an appropriating and consecrating of a man unto God and therefore both in regard of its relation to Election and in regard of its own nature it well bears that name Rom. 8.28.30 Act. 2.47 13.48 Ioh. 15.19 Sanctification in a narrower sense as distinguished fâ—om Iustification signifieth the inherent holiness of a Christian or his Inclinement and Innablement to obedience mentioned in this verse but 't is here more large and so extends with the whole work of Renovation and is the severing and seperating of men to God by his holy Spirit drawing them unto him and so it comprehends Justification as here and the first working of faith by which the soul is justified through its apprehending and applying the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Of the spirit The Word calls men externally and by that Eternal calling prevails with many to an External receiving and professing of Religion but if it be left alone it goes no further it is indeed the means of sanctification and effectual calling Joh. 17.17 Sanctifie them through thy truth But this is doth when the spirit that speaks in the Word works in the heart and causes it to hear and obey The Spirit or Soul of a man is the chief and first subject of this work and 't is but slight false work that begins not there but the Spirit here is rather to be taken for the Spirit of God the Efficient then the Spirit of man the Subject of this sanctification And therefore our Saviour in that place prayes to the Father that he would sanctifie his own by that truth and this he doth by the concurrence of his Spirit with that word of truth which is the life and vigour of it and makes it prove the power of God unto salvation to them that believe 't is a fit means in it self but 't is then a prevailing meanes when the Spirit of God brings it in to the heart 't is a Sword and sharper then a two edged Sword fit to divide yea even to the dividing of Soul and Spirit But this it doth not without it be in the Spirits hand and he applyes it to this cutting and dividing The word calls but the Spirit Drawes not sever'd from that word but working in it and by it 'T is a very difficult work to draw a Soul out of the hands and strong chains of Satan and out of the pleasing Entanglements of the world and out of its own natural perversness to yield up it self unto God to deny it self and live to him and in so doing to run against the main stream and the current of the ungodly world without and Corruption within The strongest Rhetorick the most moving and persuasive way of discourse is all too weak the tongue of Men and Angels cannot prevail with the soul to free it self and shake off all that deteins it although it be convinced of the truth of those things that are represented to it yet still it can and will hold out against it and say non persuadebis etiamsi persuaseris The hand of Man is too weak to pluck any soul out of the croud of the world and set it in amongst the select number of Believers Only the Father of Spirits hath absolute command of Spirits viz. the Souls of Men
Nay but O man who art thou that replyest against God Who can conceive whence this should be that any man should believe unless it be given him of God and if given him then it was his purpose to give it him and if so then is it evident that he had a purpose to save him and for that end he gives faith not therefore purposes to Save because Man shall believe 4. This seems cross to these Scriptures where they speak of the subordination or rather Coordination of those two as here Foreknown and Elect not because of Obedience or sprinkling or any such thing but to Obedience and sprinkling which is by faith So he predestinated not because he foresaw Men would be conform to Christ but that they might be so as Rom. 8.29 For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate and the same order Act. 2.47 And the Lord added to the Church dayly such as should be saved and 13.48 And as many as were ordained to Eternal life believed This Foreknowledge then is his Eternal and Unchangable Love and that thus he Chuseth some and rejecteth others is for that great End to manifest and magnifie his Mercy and Justice but why he appointed this Man for the one and the other for the other made Peter a vessel of this mercy and Iudas of wrath this is even so because it seemed good to him This if it be harsh yet is Apostolick Doctrine Hath not the Potter saith St. Paul power over the same Lump to make one Vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour This deep we must admire and alwayes in considering it close with this O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God Now the Connexion of these we are for our profit to take notice of that effectual Calling is inseparably tyed to this Eternal Foreknowledge or Election on the one side and Salvation on the other These two links of the chain are up in Heaven in Gods own hand but this middle one is let down to earth into the hearts of his Children and they laying hold on it hath sure hold on the other two for no power can sever them and therefore the reading the characters of Gods Image in their own souls those are the counterpain of the golden characters of his Love in which their names are written in the Book of Life Their believing writes their names under the promises of the revealed Book of Life the Scriptures and so ascertains them that the same names are in the secret Book of Life that God hath by himself from Eternity So finding the stream of grace in their hearts tho they see not the Fountain whence it flowes nor the Ocean into which it returns yet they know that it hath its source and shall return to that Ocean which ariseth from their Eternal Election and Salvation and shall empty it selfe into Eternity of happiness Hence much joy ariseth to the Believer this tye indissolvable as the Agents are the Father the Son and the Spirit So Election and Vocation and Sanctification and Iustification and Glory and therefore in all conditions they may from the sence of the working of the Spirit in them look back to that Election and forward to that Salvation but they that remain unholy and dissobedient have as yet no evidence of this Love and therefore cannot without vain presumptions and self delusion Judge thus of themselves that they are within the peculiaâ— Love of God but in this Let the Righteous be glad and let them shout for joy all that are upright in heart 'T is one main point of happiness that he that is happy doth know and judge himselfe to be so this being the peculiar good of a reasonable creature 't is to be enjoyed in a Reasonable way 't is not as the dull resting of a Stone or any other natural body in its natural place but the knowledge and consideration of it is the fruition of it the very relishing and tasting its sweetness The perfect blessedness of the Saints is abiding them above but even their present condition is truly happy tho incompleatly and but a small beginning of that which they expect and this their present happiness is so much the more the more clear knowledge and firm perswasion they have of it 't is one of the pleasant fruits of the Godly to know the things that are freely given them of God 1 Cor. 2.12 Therefore the Apostle to comfort his dispersed Brethren sets before them a description of that excellent Spiritual Condition to which they are called If they be inseparably linkt together then by any one of them a man may lay hold upon all the rest and may know that his hold is sure and this is that way wherein we may attain and ought to seek that comfortable assurance of the Love of God Therefore Make your Calling sure and by that your Election for that being done this follows of it self We are not to pry immediately into the Decree but to read it in the performance though the Mariner sees not the Pole-star yet the Needle of the Compass that points to it tells him which way he sails thus the heart that is touched with the Loadstone of Divine Love trembling with godly fear and yet still looking towards God by fixed believing it points at the Love of Election and tells the soul that its courss is heavenward towards the Haven of Eternal rest He that Loves may be sure he was loved first and he that chuses God for his delight and Portion may conclude confidently that God hath chosen him to be one of those that shall enjoy him and be happy in him for ever for that our Love and Electing of him is but the return and repercussion of the beams of his Love shining upon us Find thou but within thee Sanctification by the Spirit and this argues necessarily both Justification by the Son and the Election of God the Father 1 Ioh. 4.13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he has given us of his Spirit 'T is a most strange demonstration ab Effectu reciproco He Called those he hath Elected he Elected those he Called where this sanctifying Spirit is not there can be no perswasion of this Eternal Love of God they that are Children of disobedience can conclude no otherwise of themselves but that they are the Children of wrath Although from present unsanctification a Man cannot inferre that he is not Elected for the Decree may for part of a Mans life run as it were under-ground Yet this is sure that that estate leads to death and unless it be broken will prove the black line of reprobation A man hath no Portion amongst the Children of God nor can read one word of Comfort in all the Promises that belongs to them while he remains unholy Men may please themselves in prophane Scoffing at the Holy Spirit of Grace but let them withal know this that that Holy Spirit
it shall appear in its full brightnesâ— at the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The peculiar treasure of a Christian being the Grace that he receives from Heaven and particularly that Soveraign Grace of Faith whatsoever he can be assur'd will better him any way in this he will not only bear it patiently but gladly imbrace it Rom. 5.3 Therefore the Apostle sets this before his Brethren in those words of this verse where is 1. The Worth and Excellency of Faith 2. The usefulness of Temptations in relation to it The trial of Faith is call'd more precious a work of more worth then the tryal of Gold because Faith it selfe is of more value then Gold the Apostle chuses this comparison as fitting his purpose for both for the Illustration of the worth of Faith and likewise the use of Temptations representing the one by Gold and the other by the trying of Gold in the Fire The worth of Gold is 1. Real the purest and preciousest of all mettals having many excellent properties beyond them as they that write of the nature of Gold observe 2. Far greater in the Esteem and Opinion of Men. See how Men hurry up and down over Sea and Land unwearied in their pursuit with hazard of life and often with the loss of Uprightness and a good Conscience and not only thus Esteem it in it self but make it the Rule of their Esteem one of another valuing Men less or more as they are more or less furnish't with it and we see at what a height that is for things we would commend much we borrow its name to them viz. Golden Mediocrity and that Age which they would call the best of all they name it the Golden Age and as Seneca observes describing heavenly things as Ovid the Suns Pallace and Chariot still Gold is the word for all And the Holy Scriptures descending to our reach do set forth the Riches of the new Ierusalem by it Rev. 21. And the Excellency of Christ. Cant. 5.11.14 And here the preciousness of Faith whereof Christ is the Object is said to be more precious then Gold I will not insist in the parallel of Faith with Gold in the other Qualities of it as that it is pure and sollid as Gold And that ' it s most ductile and malleable as gold beyond all other mettals it plies any way with the Will of God But then Faith truly Enriches the soul And as Gold Answers all things so Faith gives the Soul propriety to all the rich Consolations of the Gospel to all the promises of Life and salvation to all needful Blessings it draws vertue from Christ to strengthen it self and all other Graces And thus 't is not onely precious as Gold but goes far above the Comparison 't is more precious yea much more precious 1. in its Originall the other is dig'd out of the bowels of the Earth but the Mine of this Gold is above it comes from Heaven 2. In its Nature answerable to its Originall it is Immateriall Spirituall and pure we refine Gold and make it purer but when we receive Faith pure of it self we mix dross with it and make it Impure by the allay of Unbelief 3. in its Endurance flowing from the former it perisheth not Gold is a thing in it selfe Corruptible and perishing and to particular owners it perisheth in their loss of it being depriv'd of it any way Other Graces are likewise tryed in the same Furnace but Faith is named as the Root of all the rest Sharp afflictions give a Christian a tryal of his Love to God whether it be single and for himself or not for then it will be the same when he strikes as when he Embraces and in the fire of affliction will rather grow the hotter and be more taken off from the world and set upon him Again the Grace of Paâ—ience is put particularly upon triall in distresses but both these spring from Faith for Love rises from a right and strong belief of the Goodness of God and patience from a persuasion of the Wisdom and Love of God and the truth of his promises He hath said I will not fail thee And that we shall not be tempted above our strength and he will give the Issue Now the belief of those Causes patience The triall of faith worketh Patience Iam. â— 3 For therefore doth the Christian resigne up himselfe and all that concerns him his triall the measure and length of them all unto Gods dispose because he knowes that he is in the hands of a wise and loving Father Thus the trial of those and other particular Graces doe still resolve into this and are compris'd under it the triall of Faith This tryal as 〈◊〉 of Gold may be for a 〈◊〉 â—old end 1 for Experiment of the truth and pâ—reness of a Christians faith 2. for râ—fining it yeâ— more and to raise it to a higher pitch or degree of pâ—reness 1. The furnace of Affliction shows upright â—eal Faith to be such indeed remaining stâ—ll the same even in the fire the same thaâ— it was undiminished as good Gold 〈◊〉 none of its quantity in the fire Doubtless many are deceiv'd in time of ease and prosperity with imaginary Faith and Fortitude so that there may be still some doubt while a Man is under set with outward helps as Riches Friends Esteem c. whether he leanes upon those or upon God who is an Invisible support though stronger then all that are visible and is the peculiar and alone stay of Faith in all Conditions But when all these outward props are pluckt away from a Man then it will manifest whether something else upholds him or not for if there be nothing else then â—e falls but if his mind stand firm and unremoved as before then 't is evident he laid not his weight upon these things he had them about him but was built upon a foundation though not seen which is able alone to stay him although he be not only frustrated of all other supports but beatâ—n upon with stormes and tempests as our Saviour sayes the house fell not because it was founded upon a rock Mat. 7.25 This testified the truth of Davids Faith who found it staying him upon God when there was nothing else near that could do 't I had fainted unless I had believ'd Psa. 27.13 So in his strait 1. Sam. 30.6 Where it s said that David was greatly distressed but he encouraged himself in the Lord his God Thus Psa. 73.26 My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and portion for ever The Hearts naturall strength of spirit and Resolution may beaâ— up under outward weakness or the failing of the flesh but when the Heart it self fails that is the strength of the flesh what shall strengthen it nothing but God who is the strength of the heart and its portion for ever Thus Faith worketh alone when the Case suites that of the Prophets Haback â— 17 Although the fig
tree shall not Blossom neither shall fruit be in the vine c. yet vers 18. I will rejoice in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation In spirituall tryalls that are the sharpest and fieryest of all when the furnace is within a Man when God doth not onely shut up his loveing kindness from its feeling but seems to shut it up in hot displeasure when he writes bitter things against it yet then to depend upon Him and wait for his salvation this is not onely a true but a strong and very refined Faith indeed and the more he smites the more to cleave to him well might he say When I am tried I shall come forth as Gold who could say that word though he slay me yet will I trust in him though I saw as it were his hand lifted up to destroy me yet from that same hand would I expect salvation As the furnace shews faith to be what it is so also it betters it and makes it more precious and purer then it was The Graces of the spirit as they come from the hand of God that infuses them are nothing but pureness but being put into a heart where sin dwells which till the body be dissolved and taken to pieces cannot be fully purg'd out there they are mixed with Corruption and dross And particularly Faith is mixed with Unbelief and Love of earthly things and dependance upon the Creature if not more then God yet together with him and for this is the furnace needfull that the soul may be purified from this droâ—s and made more sublime and spirituall in believing T is a hard talk and many times comes but slowly forward to teach the heart by discourse and speculation to sit loose from the world at all sides not to cleave to the best things in it though we be compass'd about with them though Riches do increase yet not to set our hearts on them not to trust in such uncertain things as they are as the Apostle speaks Therefore God is pleas'd to chuse the more effectual way to teach his own the right and pure exercise of Faith either by witholding or withdrawing those things from them makes them relish the sweetness of spirituall Comfort by depriving them of those outward Comforts wherein they were in most danger of excess to have doted on them and so forget themselves and him when they are necessitate and experimentally train'd up easily to let go their hold of any thing Earthly and to stay themselves onely upon their Rock this is the very refining of their faith by those losses and afflictions wherewith they are exercised they that learn bodily Exercises as fencing c. Are not taught by sitting still and hearing Rules or seeing others practise but they learn by exercising themselves The way to profit in the art of believing or comeing to this spirituall activity of faith is to be often put to that work in the difficultest way to make up all wants and losses in God and to sweeten the bitterest griefs with his loving kindness Might be found unto praise and honour and glory This is the end that is intended and shall be certainly obtain'd by all these hot trials Faith shall come through them all and shall be found unto praise c. An unskillfull beholder may think strange to see Gold thrown into the fire and left there for a time but he that puts it there would be loath to lose it his purpose is to make some costly piece of work of it every believer gives himself to Christ and he undertakes to present them blameless to the Father not one of them shall be lost nor one dram of their faith they shall be found and their Faith shall be found when he appears That faith that is here in the furnace shall be then made up into a Crown of pure Gold it shall be found unto praise and honour and Glory This Praise and Honour and Glory may be referr'd to believers themselves according to the Apostle S. Pauls Expression Rom. 2.7 or to Christ that appears but the two will agree well together that it be both to their Praise and to the Praise of Christ for certainly all their praise and glory shall terminate in the Glory of their Head Christ who is God blessed for ever they have each their Crown but their Honour is to cast them all down before his Throne He shall be glorified in his Saints and admired in them that believe They shall be glorious in Him and therefore in all their glory he shall be glorified for as they have derived theâ—r glory from him it shall all return back to him again At the appearance of Iesus Christ This denotes the Time when this shall come to pass For Christ is faithfull and true he hath promised to come again and to Judge the World in Righteousness and he will come and will not tarry he shall Judge Righteously in that day that was himself unrighteously judged here on Earth T is called the Revelation all other things shall be Revealed in that day the most hidden things good and evil unvail'd but 't is eminently the day of His Revelation it shall be by his Light by the brightness of his coming that all other things shall be reveal'd but he himself shall be the worthiest sight of all All eyes shall behold Him He shall then gloriously appear before all Men and Angels and shall by all be acknowledged to be the son of God and Judge of the World some shall with joy know him and acknowledge him to be foâ— others â—o their Horrours and amazement How beautifull shall he be to those that Love him when he as the glorious Head shall appear with his whole body mysticall together with him Then the Glory and Praise that all the Saints shall be honoured with shall recompense fully all the Scorns and Ignominies and Distresses they have met with here And they shall shine the brighter for them Oh! if we Consider'd often of that solemn day how light would we seâ— by the opinions of Men and all ouâ—ward hardships that can befall us digest dispraise and dishonour here and pass through all cheerfully providing we may be then found in him and so partakers of Praise and Glory and Honour in that day of his appearing Verses 8 9. 8. Whom haveing not seen yee Love in whom tho you see him not yet believing ye reâ—oyce with joy unspeakable and full of Glory 9. Receiveing the End of your faith even the Salvation of your Souls IT is a paradox to the world that the Apostle hath asserted that there is a Joy that can subsist in the midâ—â— of sorrow therefore he insists in the Confirmation of it And in all those words proves it to the full yea with advantage that the Saints have not only some measure of Joy in the griefs that abound upon them here but excellent and eminent Joy such as makes good all that can be said of it cannot
not then be our wisdom to make the worthiest choyce seeing it is offered us and is extream folly to reject it Grace doth not pluck up by the roots and wholly destroy the natural passions of the mind because they are distempered by sin that were an extreme remedy to Cure by killing and heal by cutting off no but it corrects the distemper in them it dries not up this main stream of Love but purifies it from the Mud it is full of in its wrong Course or calls it to its Right Channel by which it may run into Happiness and empty it selfe into the Ocean of goodness The Holy Spirit turns the love of the soul towards God in Christ for in that way only can it apprehend his Love so then Jesus Christ is the first Object of this divine Love he is Medium unionis through whom God conveys the sense of his Love to the soul and receives back its Love to him And if we will consider his incomparable Beauty we may look on it in the holy Scriptures particularly in that divine song of Loves Wherein Solomon borrowes all the beauties of the Creatures dips his pencill in all their severall Excellencies to set him forth unto us who is the chief of ten Thousands There is an inseparable intermixture of Love with Belief and a pious Affection receiving divine Truth so that in effect as we distinguish them they are mutually strengthened the one by the other and so though it seem a Circle 't is a divine one and falls not under censure of the School's Pedantry If you ask how shall I do to Love I Answer Believe If you ask how shall I believe I Answer Love Although the Expressions to a carnall mind are altogether unsavoury by gross mistaking them yet to a Soul taught to Read and Hear them by any measure of that same Spirit of love wherewith they were penn'd they are full of heavenly and unutterable sweetness Many Directions and means of begetting and increasing this Love of Christ may be here offered but they that delight in number may multiply them but sure this One will Comprehend the greatest and best part if not all of them Believe and you shall Love Believe much and you shall Love much labour for strong and deep persuasions of the glorious things that are spoken of Christ and this will command Love Certainly did Men indeed believe his worth they would accordingly Love him for the Reasonable Creature cannot but affect that most which it firmly believes to be worthy of affection O this mischief of Unbelief is that which makes the heart cold and dead towards God Seek then to believe Christs Excellency in himselfe and his Love to us and our interest in him and this will kindle such a fire in the heart as will make it ascend in a Sacrifice of Love to him Many Signes likewise of this Love may be multiplied according to the many fruits and workings of it but in them all it self is its own most infallible Evidence When the soul finds that all its Obedience and endeavour to keep the Commands of Jesus Christ which himself makes its Character do flow from Love then it is true and sincere For do or suffer what you will withour Love all passes for nothing All are Cyphers without it they signifie nothing 1. Cor. 13. This is the Message of the Gospell and that which the Ministry aimes at and therefore the Ministers ought to be Suitors not for themselves but for Christ to Espouse souls to him and to bring in many hearts to Love him And certainly this is the most compendious way to perswade to all other Christian duties this is to converse with Jesus Christ and therefore where his Love is no other incentive will be needfull For Love delights in the presence and converse of the party Loved If we are to perswade to duties of the second Table the summe of those is Love to our Brethren resulting from the Love of Christ which diffuseth such a sweetness into the soul that its all Love and meekness and Gentleness and long suffering If times be for suffering Love will make the soul not onely bear but welcome the bitterest afflections of life and the hardest kinds of death for his sake In a word there is in Love a sweet constraint or tying of the heart to all Obedience and Duty The Love of God is requisite in Ministers for their preaching of the word so our Saviour to St. Peter Iohn 21.15 Peter lovest thou me then feed my lambs It is requisite for the people that they receive the Truth in the Love of it and that Christ preach'd be Entertain'd in the soul and Embrac'd by Faith and Love You that have made choyce of Christ for your Love let not your hearts slip out to renew your wonted base familiarity with Sin For that will bring new bitterness to your souls and at least for some time will deprive you of the sensible favour of your beloved Jesus delight alwayes in God and give him your whole heart for he deserves it all and is a satisfying good to it the largest heart is all of it too strait for the riches of consolation that he brings with him seek to Increase in this Love for tho its at first weak yet Labour to find it daily rise higher and burn hotter and clearer and consume the dross of Earthly desires Receiving the end of your Faith Although the soul that Believes and Loves is put in present possession of God as far as it is Capable in its sojourning here yet it desires a full Enjoyment which it cannot attain to without Removing hence While we are present in the body we are absent from the Lord saith the Apostle And because they are assur'd of that happy Exchange that being united and freed of this body they shall be present with the Lord and that having his own word for 't that Where he is they shall be also this begets such an assured Hope as bears the name of possession Therefore its said here Receiveing the end of your faith This Receiveing likewise flows from Faith Faith apprehends the present Truth of the divine Promises and so makes the things to come present and Hope looks out to their after Accomplishment which if the promises be true as Faith averrs then Hope hath good reason firmly to expect it This desire and Hope are the very wheels of the Soul that carry it on and Faith the common Axis on which they rest In the words there are two things 1. The good hoped for in Christ so Believed on and Loved 2. The assuredness of the Hope it selfe yea as sure as if it were already accomplished As for the good hoped for it consists 1. In the nature of it Viz. The Salvation of their Soul 2. in a Relative Property of it the End of their Faith The nature of it is Salvation and Salvation of the soul it imports full deliverance from all kind of misery and
and set with Princes As there is Joy from Faith so also from Love Though 't is in it self the most sweet and delightfull passion of the Soul yet as we foolishly misplace it it prove often full of bitterness but being set upon Jesus Christ the only right and worthy Object it Causeth this unspeakable Delight and Rejoycing 1. T is matter of joy to have bestowed our Love so worthily and though our Saviour seems to withdraw himselfe and sometimes sadden the soul that loves him with absences in regard of sense yet even in those sad times the soul delights to Love him and there is a pleasure in the very pains it hath in seeking after him And this it knowes that his mercies are Everlasting and that he cannot be long unkind but will return and speak comfortably unto it 2. Our Love to Christ gives us assurance of His to us so that we have not only chosen worthily but shall not be frustrate and dissapointed and it assures us of his not as following but preceeding and Causing ours for our Love to Jesus Christ is no other but the reflex of his on us Wine maketh glad the heart but thy love is better then wine saith the Spouse And having this perswasion that he hath loved us and wash'd us in his blood and forgets us not in our conflicts that though he himself is in his Glory yet that he interceed's for us there and will bring us thither what condition can befal us so hard but we may Rejoyce in it And in them so far as we are sure to arrive at that full Salvation and fruition of him who hath purchas'd it Then there is the third Cause of our Rejoyceing viz. our Hope Now Hope is our anchor pitch'd within the vail that stayes us against all the stormes that beat upon us in this troublesome Sea that we are tossed upon The Soul that strongly Believes and Loves may confidently Hope to see what it believeth and Enjoy what it loves and in that rejoyce It may say whatsoever hazards whether ontward or inward whatsoever Afflictions and Temptations I endure yet this one thing puts me out of hazard and in that I will Rejoyce the salvation of my Soul depends not upon my own strength but is in my Saviours hand my life is hid with Christ in God and when he who is my Life shall appear I likewise shall appear with him in Glory The Childish world is hunting shadows and gaping and hoping after they know not what but the Believer can say I know whom I have trusted and am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day Now we have not only right to those things but withal there must be frequent Consideration of them to work Joy The Soul must often view them and so Rejoyce My meditation of him shall be sweet saith David I will be glad in the Lord Psal. 104. And the Godly failing in thiâ— deprive themselves much of that Joy they might have and they that are most in these sublime thoughts have the highest and truest Joy The Excellency of this Joy the Apostle here expresseth by these two words Vnspeakable and full of glory That 't is Vnspeakable no wonder seeing the matter of iâ— is Inconceivable it is an Infinite Good God reconciled in Jesus Christ and testifying and sealing his Love unto the soul and giving assured hope of that blessed Vision of Eternity what more unspeakable than this And for the same Reason 't is Glorious or glorified joy having the highest and most glorious Object for it derives all its Excellency from thence Vnspeakable The best worldly Joyes are easily speakable they may be express'd to the uâ—most yea usually more is spoke of them then they are indeed Their name is beyond their worth they are very seldom found upon experience equal to the opinion and expectation that men have of them But this spiritual Joy is above the report any can make of it say what they can of it who are of happiest Expression yet when a Man comes to know it in his own breast he will say as that Queen said of Salomons wisdom the half was not told me of it Again earthly Joyes are Inglorious Many of which Men are asham'd of and those that seem most plausible yet are below the Excellency of the Soul and cannot fill it but the Joyes that arise from Union with Christ as they are most avowable a Man needs not blush to own them so they are truly contenting and satisfying and that 's their Glory and the Cause why we may glory in them My soul shall make her boast in God sayes David For Application of all this If these things were believed we would hearken no more to the foolish prejudice that the World hath taken up against Religion and wherewith Satan endeavours to possess mens hearts that they may be scarr'd from the wayes of Holiness 't is that they think it a Sour Melanel oly life that hath nothing but Sadness and Mourning in it but to remove this prejudice Consider 1. Religion barres not the lawful delights that are taken in natural things but teaches the moderate and regular use of them which is far the sweeter for things lawful in themselves are in their excess sinful and so prove Bitterness in the end and if in some cases it require the forsaking of lawful Enjoyments as of pleasure or Profits or Honour for God and for his Glory this is Generous and truly more delightful to deny them for this reason then to enjoy them Men have done much this way for the Love of their Country and by a Principle of Moral Vertue but to lose any delight or to suffer any hardship for that highest End the glory of God and by the strength of love to him is far more Excellent and truly Pleasant 2. The delights and pleasures of sin Religion indeed banishes but 't is to change them for this Joy that is unspeakably beyond them it calls men from sordid and base delights to those that are pure delights indeed it calls to Men drink ye no longer of the pudle here are the Crystal streams of a living fountain There is a delight in the very despising impure delights as he said how pleasant is it to want these pleasures But for such a change to have in their stead such delights as in comparison the other deserve not that name To have such spiritual joy as shall end in Eternal Joy 't is a wonder we hasten not all to chuse this joy but 't is indeed because we believe it not 3. 'T is true the Godly are subject to great Distresses and Afflictions but their Joy is not extinguished by those no nor diminished either but often sensibly increasâ—d When they have least of the Worlds joy they abound most in Spiritual Consolations and then Relish them best They find them sweetest when their taste is not depraved with Earthly enjoyments We rejoyce in
tribulation sayes St. Paul and here our Apostle insists on that to verifie the subsistance of this Joy in the midst of the greatest afflictions 4. Spiritual Grief that seems most opposite to this Spiritual Joy prejudgeth it not for there is a secret delight and sweetness in the tears of Repentance a Balm in them that refreshes the Soul and even their saddest kind of mourning viz. The dark times of Desertion hath this in it that is some way sweet that those mournings after their Beloved who absents himselfe is a mark of their Love to him and a true Evidence of it and then all these spiritual sorrowes of what nature soever are turn'd into Spiritual Joy that 's the proper End of them they have a natural tendency that way 5. But the Natural Man still doubts of this Joy we speak of because he sees and hears so little of it from them that profess to have it and seem to have best right to it If we consider the wretchedness of this Life and especially the abundance of Sin that 's in the World what wonder though this their Joy retire much inward and appear litle abroad where all things are so contrary to it and so few that are capable of it to whom 't were pertinent to vent it Again we see here 't is Vnspeakable it were a poor thing if he that hath it could tell it all out And when the Soul hath most of it then it remains most within it self and is so inwardly taken up with it that possibly it can then least of all express it 'T is with Joyes as they say of Cares and Griefs Leves Loquuntur ingentes stupent The deepest waters run stillest true Joy is a sollid grave thing dwells more in the heart then the Countenance whereas on the Contrary base and false Joyes are but superficial skin-deep as we say they are all in the face Think not that it is with the godly as the Prophet sayes of the wicked that there is no peace to them and the LXX Reads it no Ioy. Certainly 't is true There is no true Joy to the wicked they may revel and make a noise but they Rejoyce not the Laughter of the fool is as the crackling of thornes under the pot a great noise but little heat and soon at an End There is no continuing Feast but that of a good Conscience Wickedness and real Joy cannot dwell together as the very Moralist Seneca hath it often and at large but he that can say the Righteousness of Jesus Christ is Mine and in him the favour of God and the hope of Eternal Happiness hath such a light as can shine in the darkest Dungeon yea in the dark valley of the shadow of death it selfe Say not thou if I betake my self to the way of Godliness I must bid farewel to gladness never a merry day more no on the contrary never a truly Joyful day till then yea no dayes at all but night to the soul till it entertain Jesus Christ and his kingdom which consists in those Righteousness Peace and Ioy in the Holy Ghost Thou dost not sacrifice Isaac which signifies Laughter as St. Bern. but a Ram. Not thy Joy but filthy sinful delights that end in Sorrow Oh seek to know in your Experience what those Joyes mean for all describing and commending it to you will not make you understand it but taste and see that the Lord is good you cannot see and know it but by tasting it and having tasted that goodness all those poor Joyes you thought sweet before will then be bitter and distasteful to you And you that have Christ yours by Believing know your happiness and Rejoyce and Glory in it Whatsoever is your outward Condition Rejoyce alwayes and again I say Rejoyce for Light is sowâ— to the Righteous and Ioy for the upright in heart Verses 10 11 12. 10. Of which Salvation the Prophets have enquired and searched dilligently who prophesied of the Grace that should come unto you 11. Searching what or what maner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signifie when he testified before hand the sufferings of Christ and the Glory that should follow 12. Vnto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they did Minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have Preached the Gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven which things the Angels desire to look into IT is the Ignorance or at least the Inconsiderance of Divine things that makes Earthly things whether good or evil appear great in our Eyes Therefore the Apostles great aime is by representing the Certainty and Excellency of the Belief and Hope of Christians to his afflicted Brethren to strenthen their minds against all discouragements and oppositions That they may account nothing too hard to doe or suffer for so high a Cause and so happy an End 'T is the low and mean thoughts and the shallow perswassion we have of things that are spiritual that is the Cause of all our Remisseness and Coldness in them The doctrine of Salvation he mention'd in the former verse at the End of our Christian Faith is illustrated in these words from its Antiquity Dignity and infallible truth 'T is no more Invention for the Prophets enquir'd after it and foretold it in former ages from the beginning Thus the prejudice of novelty is removed that usually meets the most ancient truth in its new discoveries Again 't is no mean thing that such Men as were of unquestion'd Eminency in Wisdom and Holiness did so much study and search after and having found out were careful not only to publish it in their own times but to record it to posterity and this not by the private motion of their own spirits but by the Acting and Guidance of the Spirit of God which sets likewise the truth of their Testimony above all doubtfulness and uncertainty But taking those three Verses entirely together we have in them those three things testifying how Excellent the Doctrine of the Gospel is 1. We have the Principal Author of it 2. The matter of it 3. The worth of those that are exercis'd about it viz. The best of Men the Prophets and Apostles in administring it and the best of all the Creatures the Angels in admiring it The first Author is the absolutely first the Spirit of God in the prophets Ver. 11. in the Apostles Ver. 12. but Ver. 11. The spirit of Christ there is the same spirit that He sent down on his Disciples after his Ascending to Glory and which spoke in his Prophets before his Descending to the Earth It is the spirit of Christ proceeding joyntly from him with the Father as he is the son of God and dwelling most richly and fully in him as the son of Man The Holy Ghost is in himself Holiness and the Source and worker of Holiness and Author of this holy doctrine that breaths
when we shall know as we are known and of these praises we shall then offer him when that new song shall be taught us A Child hath in it a reasonable soul and yet by the indisposedness of the body and abundance of moysture it is so bound up that its difference from the beasts and partaking of a rational life is not so apparent as afterwards and thus the spiritual life that is from above infus'd into a Christian though it doth act and work in some degree yet is so clogg'd with natural corruption still remaining in them that the excellency of it is that way much clouded and obscur'd but in the life to come it shall have nothing at all incumbring and indisposing it and this is the Apostle St. Pauls Doctrine 1 Cor. 13.9 10 11 12. And this is the wonder of Divine grace that brings so small beginnings to that height of perfection that we are not able to conceive of that a little sparkle of true grace that is not only indiscernable to others but often to a Christian himself Yet should be the beginning of that condition wherein they shall shine brighter then the Sun in the Firmament The difference is great in our natural life in some persons especially that they that in Infancy were so feeble and wrapt up as others in swadling cloaths yet afterwards come to excel in wisdom and in the knowledge of sciences or to be Commanders of great Armies or to be Kings But the distance is far greater and more admirable betwixt the weakness of these New born babes the small beginnings of grace and our after perfection that fulness of knowledge that we look for and that crown of Immortality that all they are born to that are born of God But as in some Childrens faces or actions have appear'd some characters and presages of their after greatness as a singular beauty in Moses's face as they write of him and Cyrus made King among the Shepherds Children with whom he was brought up c. so also certainly in these children of God there be some Characters and evidences that they are born for Heaven by their new birth That Holiness and Meekness that Patience and Faith that shine in the actions and sufferings of the Saints are Characters of their Fathers Image and shew their high Original and foretel their glory to come such a glory as doth not only surpass the Worlds thoughts but the thoughts of the Children of God themselves 1 Ioh. 3.2 Now that the Children of God may grow by the word of God the Apostle requires these two things of them 1. The Innocency of Children 2. The appetite of Children For this As I conceive is relative not only to the desiring the milk of the word but to the former Verse the putting off malice as the Aposte Paul 1 Cor. 14.20 as concerning malice be ye children Wherefore laying aside This imports that we are nâ—turally prepossess'd with these evils therefore exhorted to put them off our hearts are by nature no other but cages of those unclean birds malice envy hypocrisie c. The Apostles sometimes name some of these evils and sometimes other of them But they are inseparable all one garment and all comprehended under that one word Eph. 4. the old Man which the Apostle there exhorts to put off And here 't is press'd as a necessary evidence of their New birth and furtherance of their Spiritual growth that these base habits be thrown away ragged filthy habits unbeseeming the Children of God they are the proper marks of an unrenewed mind the very Characters of the Children of Satan for they are his Image He hath his names from enmity and envy and slandering and he is that grand hypocrite and deceiver that can transform himself into an Angel of Light So on the contrary the Spirit of God that dwells in his Children is the spirit of meekness and Love and Truth That dove-like spirit that descended on our Saviour is from him communicated to Believers 'T is the grossest impudency to pretend to be a Christian and yet to entertain hatred and envyings upon whatsoever occasion for there is nothing more recommended to them by our Saviour's own doctrine and more imprest upon their hearts by his spirit than love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be taken generally but I conceive t is that which we particularly call malice Malice and envy are but two branches growing out of the same bitter root self-love and evill speakings are the fruit they bear Malice is properly the procuring or wishing anothers evil Envy the repining at their good and these vent themselves by evil speaking This infernall fire within smoaks and flashes out by the tongue which S. Iames sayes is set on fire of hell and fires all about it miscensuring the actions of those they hate or envy aggravating their failings and detracting from their vertues taking all things by the left Ear for as Epictetus sayes Every thing hath two handles The art of taking things by the better side which charity alwayes doth would save much of those janglings and heart burnings that so abound in the world But folly and perverseness possess the hearts of the most and therefore their discourses are usually the vent of those For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth must speak The unsavory breaths of Men argues their inward corruption Where shall a Man come almost in societies but his ears shall be beaten with the unpleasant noise sure 't is so to a Christian mind of one detracting and disparaging another And yet this is extreme baseness and the practice only of false counterfeit goodness to make up his own esteem out of the ruines of the good name of others real vertue cannot endure nor needs not that dishonest shift It can subsist of it self and therefore ingenuously commends and acknowledges what good is in others and loves to hear it acknowledged and neither readily speaks nor hears evil of any but rather where duty and conscience require not discovery casts a vail upon Mens failings to hide them this is the true temper of the Children of God These evils of Malice and envy and evil-speakings and such like are not to be dissembled by us in our selves and conveyed under better appearances But to be cast away not to be covered but put off and therefore that which is the upper garment and cloak of all other evills the Apostle here commands to cast that off too namely hypocrisie What availes it to wear this mask a Man may indeed in the fight of Men act his part handsomely under it and pass so for a time but know we not There is an eye that sees through it and a hand that if we will not put of this mask will pull it off to our shame either here in the sight of men or if we should scape all our life and go fair off the stage under it yet there is a day appointed wherein all hypocrites shall be
took that bitter cup of the father's wrath and drunk it out that he might be free from it Think not that you believe if your hearts be not taken up with Christ if his love do not possesse your soul so that nothing is precious to you in respect of him if you cannot despise and trample upon all advantages that either you have or would have for Christ and count them with the great Apostle loss and dung in comparison of him And if you do esteem him labour for increase of Faith that you may esteem him more for as Faith growes so will he still be more precious to you And if you would have it grow turn that Spiritual Eye frequently to him that 's the proper object of it for even they that are Believers may possibly abate of their love and esteem of Christ by suffering Faith to ly dead within them and not using it in beholding and applying of Christ And the World or some particular vanities may insensibly creep in and get into the heart and cost them much paines ere they can be thrust out again but when they are daily reviewing those excellencies that are in Christ which first perswaded their hearts to love him and discovering still more and more of them his Love will certainly grow and will chase away those follies that the World dotes upon as unworthy to be taken notice of Verse 9. But ye are a chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar People that ye should shew forth the Praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light IT is matter of very much both consolation and instruction to Christians to know their own Estate what they are as they are Christians This Epistle is much and often upon this point for both those ends both that the reflecting on their dignities in Christ may uphold them with comfort under suffering for him and may lead them in doing and walking as becomes such a condition Here it hath been represented to us by a building a Spiritual Temple and by a Priesthood conform to it The former is confirm'd and illustrated by testimonies of Scripture in the preceeding Verses In this the latter in these words tho 't is not expressly cited yet 't is clear that the Apostle here hath reference to Exod. 19.5 6. where this dignity of Priesthood together with the other titles here express'd is ascrib'd to all the chosen People of God 'T is there a promise made to the Nation of the Jewes but under the condition of obedience and therefore is most fitly here apply'd by the Apostle to the believing Jews to whom particularly he writes 'T is true that the external Priesthood of the Law is abolish'd by the coming of this great high Priest Jesus Christ being the body of all those shaddowes But this promis'd Dignity of Spiritual Priesthood is so far from being nulled by Christ that it is altogether dependant on him and therefore fails in those that reject Christ although they be of that Nation to which this Promise was made But it holds good in all of all Nations that believe and particularly sayes the Apostle 't is verified in you You that are believing Jewes by receiving Christ you receive withal this dignity As the Legal Priesthood was remov'd by Christs fulfilling all that it prefigur'd so he was rejected by them that were at his coming in possession of that Office as the standing of that their Priesthood was inconsistent with the revealing of Jesus Christ so they that were then in it being ungodly Men their carnal minds had a kind of antipathy against him though they pretended themselves builders of the Church and by their calling ought to have been so yet they threw away the foundation stone that God had chosen and design'd and in rejecting it manifest that they themselves are rejected of God but on the contrary You that have laid your soules on Christ by believing have this your chusing him as a certain evidence that God hath chosen you to be his peculiar People yea to be so dignified as to be a Kingly Priesthood through Christ. We have here 1. To Consider the estate of Christians in the words that here describe it 2. The opposition of it to the state of Unbelievers 3. The end of it A chosen Generation Psal. 24. The Psalmist there speaks first of Gods universal Soveraignty then of his peculiar choyce The earth is the Lords But there is a select company appointed for this holy Mountain describ'd and then clos'd thus This is the generation of them that seek him Thus Deut. 10.14 15. So Exod. 19.5 Whence this is taken for all the Earth is mine and that Nation which is a figure of the Elect of all Nations Gods peculiar beyond all others in the World As Men that have great variety of Possessions yet have usually their special delight in some one beyond all the rest and chuse to recide most in it and bestow most expence on it to make it pleasant Thus doth the Lord of the whole earth chuse out to himself from the rest of the World a number that are a chosen generation Chusing here is the work of effectual calling or severing of Believers from the rest for it signifies a difference in their present estate as the other words joyned with it But this election is altogether conform to that of Gods Eternal Decree and is no other but the execution or performance of it Gods framing of this his building just according to the Idea of it which was in his mind and purpose before all time The drawing forth and investing of such into this Christian this Kingly Priesthood whose names were expresly written up for it in the Book of life Generation This imports them to be of one race or stock as the Israelites who were by outward calling the chosen of God were all the seed of Abraham according to the flesh So they that believe in the Lord Jesus are Children of the Promise and all of them by their new birth one People or Generation they are of one Nation belonging to the same blessed Land of Promise all Citizens of the new Ierusalem yea all Children of the same family whereof Jesus Christ the root of Iesse is the stock who is the great King and the great high Priest and thus they are a Royal Priesthood there is no devolving of his Royalty or Priesthood on any other as it is in himself for his proper dignity is Supreme and incommunicable and there is no succession in his Order he lives for ever and is Priest for ever Psal. 110.4 and King for ever too Psal. 45.6 but they that are descended from him do derive from him by that new original this double dignity in that way that they are capable of it to be likewise Kings and Priests as he is both They are of the Seed-Royal and of the holy seed of the Priesthood in as much as they partake of a new
Captain or Leader of our salvation as the Aposte speaks was consecrate by suffering that was the way by which he entred into the holy place where he is now our everlasting High Priest making intercession for us if he be our Leader to Salvation must we not follow him in the way he leads whatsoever it is if it be as we see 't is by the way of sufferings we must either follow on in that way or fall short of salvation for there is no other Leader nor other way but that which he open'd up so that there is not only a Congruity in it that his followers be conform to him in suffering but a necessity if they will follow him on till they attain to Glory and the consideration of both these cannot but argue a Christian into a Resolution for this via regia this Royal way of suffering that leads to Glory through which their King and Lord himself went to his Glory It could hardly be believ'd at first that this was his way and we can as hardly yet believe that it must be ours Luk. 24. O fools and slow of heart to believe ought not Christ to have suffer'd these things and so to enter into his glory Would you be at glory and will you not follow your Leader in the only way to it Must there another way be cut out for you by your selfe O absur'd shall the servant sayes he be greater than his Master Are you not fairly dealt with if you have a mind to Christ You shall have full as much of the Worlds good will as he had if it hate you he bids you remember how it hated him But though there were a way to do otherwayes would you not rather chuse if the love of Christ possess'd your hearts to take a share with him in his Lot and find delight in the very trouble of it is not this conformity to Jesus the great ambition of all his true hearted followers We carry about in the body the dying of the Lord Iesus sayes the great Apostle besides the unspeakable advantage to come that goes link'd with this that if we suffer with him we shall reign with him there is a glory even in this present resemblance that we are conformed to the Image of the Son of God in sufferings Why should we desire to leave him Are you not one with him Can you chuse but have the same common friends and enemies Would you willingly if it might be could you find in your heart to be friends with that World that hated your Lord and Master Would you have nothing but kindness and ease where he had nothing but enmity and trouble or would you not rather when you think right on 't disdain and refuse to be so unlike him As that good Duke said when they would have Crown'd him King of Ierusalem No said he by no means I will not wear a Crown of Gold where Iesus was Crown'd with thornes 2. This Spotlesness and Patience in suffering are both of them set here before us the one Verse 22. the other 23. Whosoever 't is that makes such a noise of the injustice of what he suffers and thinks to justify his Impatience by his Innocency let me ask thee art thou more just and innocent then he that is here set before thee Or art thou able to come near Him in this Point Who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth This is to signify perfect holiness according to that Iames. 3.2 Man a litle world a world of wickedness and that litle part of him a litle world of Iniquity all Christs words and actions and all his thoughts flow'd from a pure Spring that had not any thing defiled in it and therefore no tentation either from Men or Satan could seize on him other Men may seem clear unstirr'd but move and trouble them and the mudd arises but he was nothing but holiness a pure fountain all purity to the bottom and therefore stirr and trouble him as they would he was still alike clear The Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me This is the main ground of our confidence in him that he is a Holy Harmeless undefil'd high Priest and such an one became us sayes that Apostle that are so sinfull the more sinfull we the more need that our High Priest should be sinlesse and being so we may build upon his perfection standing in our stead yea we are invested with him and his righteousness Again there was no guile found in his mouth this serves us concerning all the promises that he hath made us that they are nothing but truth hath he said Him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out then you need not fear how unworthy and vile soever do you but come to him and you have his word that he will not shut the door against you and as he hath promis'd access so hath he further promis'd ease and Souls rest to those that come then be confident to find that in him too for there was never a false nor guilefull word found in his mouth But to consider it only in the present action this speaks him the most innocent sufferer that ever was not only judicially just in his cause but entirly just in his Person altogether righteous and yet condemn'd to death and an opprobrious death of Malefactours and set betwixt two as chief of the three I am sayes he the rose Sharon and the Lillie of the valley And the Spouse saith of him My wel beloved is White and ruddy thus indeed in his death ruddy in his bloodshed and white in his innocency and withal in his meekness and patience the other thing wherein he is here so exemplary Verse 23. Who when he was reviled reviled not again This spotless Lamb of God was a Lamb both in guiltlesness and silence and the Prophet Esay expresses the resemblance in that he was brought as a Lamb to the slaughter he suffer'd not only an unjust Sentence of death but withall unjust revilings the contradictions of sinners none ever did so litle deserve revilings none ever could have said so much in his own just defence and to the just reproach of his enemies and yet in both he preferr'd silence None could ever threaten so heavy things as he could against his enemies and have made good all he threatned and yet no such thing was heard from him The heaven and earth as it were spoke their resentment of his death that made them But he was silent or what he spoke makes this still good how far he was from revilings and threatnings As spices pounded or precious ointment poured out give their smell most thus his name was an ointment then poured forth together with his blood and fill'd Heaven and Earth with its sweet perfume was a favour of rest and peace in both appeasing the wrath of God and so quieting the Consciences of Men and even in this particular was it then most fragrant in
that we being dead to sin should live unto Righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed THat which is deepest in the heart is readily most in the mouth That which abounds within runs over most by the Tongue or Pen when Men light upon the speaking of that Subject that possesses the affection they can hardly be taken off or drawn from it again Thus the Apostles in their writings when they make mention any way of Christ suffering for us they love to dwell on it as that which they take most delight to speak of Such delicacy and sweetness is in it to a Spiritual taste that they like to keep it in their mouth and are never out of their theam when they insist on Jesus Christ though they have but nam'd him by occasion of some other Doctrine for he is the great subject of all they have to say Thus here the Apostle had spoke of Christ in the foregoing words very fitly to this present Subject setting him before Christian Servants and all suffering Christians as their compleat example both in point of much suffering and of perfect Innocency and Patience in suffering And express'd their engagement to study and follow that example yet he cannot leave it so but having said that all those his sufferings wherein he was so exemplary were for us as a chief consideration for which we should study to be like him he returns to that again and enlarges himself in it in words partly the same partly very near those of that Evangelist among the Prophets Esay Chap. 53. And it suits very well with his main scope to press this point as giving both very much strength and sweetness to the Exhortation as being most reasonable that we willingly conform to him in suffering that had never been an Example of suffering nor subject at all to sufferings nor capable of them but for us and most comfortable in the light sufferings of this Moment to consider that he hath freed us from the sufferings of Eternity by suffering himself in our stead in the fulness of time That Jesus Christ is in doing and suffering our Supream and Matchless Example and that he came to be so is a truth but that he is nothing further and came for no other end is you see a high point of falshood for how should Man be enabled to learn and follow that example of obedience unless there were more in Christ and what would become of that great reckoning of disobedience that Man stands guilty of No these are too narrow he came to bear our sins on his own Body on the tree and for this purpose had a Body fitted for him and given him to bear this burden to do this as the will of his Father to stand for us in stead of all Offerings and Sacrifices and by that will sayes the Apostle we are Sanctified through the offering of the body of Iesus Christ once for all This was his business not only to rectifie sinful Mankind by his example but to redeem him by his Blood he was a teacher come from God As a Prophet he teaches us the way of Life and as the best and greatest of Prophets is perfectly like his Doctrine and his actions that in all Teachers is the livelyest part of Doctrine his carriage in Life and death is our great Pattern and instruction But what is said of his forerunner is more eminently true of Christ he is a Prophet and more then a Prophet a Priest satisfying justice for us and a King conquering sin and death for us an Example in deed but more than an Example our Sacrifice and our Life and all in all 't is our Duty to walk as he walked to make him the pattern of our steps 1 Ioh. 2.6 But our comfort and salvation lyeth in this that he is the propitiation for our sins Verse 2. So in the first Chapter of that Epistle Verse 7. We are to walk in the Light as he is in the Light For all our walking we have need of that which followes that bears the great weight the Blood of Iesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin and so still that glory which he possesseth in his own Person is the pledge of ours he is there for Vs. he lives to make intercession for us sayes the Apostle and I go to prepare a place for you sayes he himself We have in the words these two great points and in the same order as the words ly 1. The nature and quality of the sufferings of Jesus Christ And 2. The end of them In the expression of his suffering we are to consider 1. The commutation of the Persons he himself for us 2. The work undertaken and performed he bare our sins in his own body on the tree 1. The Act or sentence of the Law against the breach of it standing in force and Divine justice expecting satisfaction death was the necessary and inseperable consequent of sin If you say the Supream Majesty of God being accountable to none might have forgiven all without satisfaction We are not to contest that nor foolishly to offer to sound the bottomless deep of his absolute prerogative Christ implies in his Prayer that it was impossible that he could escape that cup But the impossibility is resolv'd into his Fathers will as the cause of it But this we may clearly see following the tract of the holy Scriptures our only safe way that this way wherein our salvation is contriv'd is most excellent and suitable to the greatness and goodness of God so full of wonders of wisdom and love that the Angels as our Apostle tells us before cannot forbear looking on it and admiring it for all their exact knowledge yet they still find it infinitly beyond their knowledge still in astonishment and admiration of what they see and still in search looking in to see more Those Cherubims still haveing their eyes fixed on this Mercy Seat Justice might indeed have siez'd on rebellious Man and laid the pronounc'd punishment on him mercy might have freely acquit him and pardon'd all But can we name any place where mercy and justice as relating to condemned Man could have met and shined joyntly in full aspect save only in Jesus Christ in whom indeed Mercy and truth met and righteousness and peace kissed each other Yea in whose Person the Parties concern'd that were at so great a distance met so near as nearer can not be imagin'd And not only was this the only way for the consistence of these two Justice and Mercy but take each of them severally and they could not have been in so full lustre as in this Gods just hatred of sin did out of doubt appear more in punishing his own only begotten Son for it than if the whole race of Mankind had suffer'd for it Eternally Again it raises the notion of Mercy to the highest that sin is not only forgiven us but for this end God's own coeâ—ernal Son is given to us and for us Consider