for the Lord God will help me Heb. 2.13 Isa 50.7 8 9 Isa 59.5 therefore shall I not be confounded And behold the Lord will help me who is he that shall condemn me whereto agrees that other passage and my God shall be my strength 3. There was a promise of submission to his Fathers will in bearing the reproaches and injuries that should be done to him and to lay down his life for those that were given to him by the Father the Lord God opened my ear and I was not rebellious Isa 50.5 6 neither turned away back I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair I hid not my Face from shame and spitting John 10.17 and therefore my Father loves me because I lay down my life Christ first thus Covenanted with his Father and then he was careful to discharge the same and at last he tells God John 17.4 I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do 4. There was an earnest expectation of that glory which the Father promised Christ and his members And now O Father glorifie thou me with thine own self John 17.5 John 17.24 with the glory which I had with thee before the World was And Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me for thou lovedst me before the Foundation of the World These were the Articles of the Covenant on Christs part and hence it is that God is called the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ viz. by reason of the Covenant Ephes 1.3 O my soul with what delight mayest thou consider muse and ponder on these Articles what that God should make a Covenant and enter into these and these Articles with his own Son for thy good and for thy Eternal good what that God should bring in the second person in the Trinity to be the head of the Covenant as on thy part what a mercy is this O run over and over this meditation a thousand and a thousand times O consider thy hope of Eternal life which God that cannot lye Tit. 1.2 promised before the world began If thy soul question what promise was there made before the World began to whom was the promise made who was there before the World began for God to make any promise to why now thou hast learned it was only to the Son of God the second person in the Trinity There was a most blessed transaction between God the Father and God the Son before the world began for thy everlasting good and upon that transaction depends all thy hope and all thy salvation O this is worthy of thy deep and sad and serious and inmost meditation I have been particular and large in this passage of Looking unto or considering Jesus but I shall be brief in the rest SECT III. Of desiring after Jesus in that respect 3. VVE must desire after Jesus carrying on the great work of our salvation in that Eternity It is not enough to know consider but we must desire Now desire is a passion looking after the attainment of some good which we enjoy not and which we imagine to be fitting for us In this respect we cannot desire after Jesus as now to carry on that work of our salvation before the World began for that work is already perfectly done But these things we may desire after as 1. After the manifestation of that work in us 2. After God and Christ the complotters and actors of that great work for us 3. After the full and utmost execution whereby God effectually works in time according to all his workings or decrees before time 1. We must desire after the manifestation of this work in us We have heard of marvellous excellent glorious things done by Jesus Christ for his Saints from all Eternity oh what desires now should be in us to know that we are of that number when I hear and consider that there was such a project and such counsels and such love and such a purpose and such decrees and such a Covenant betwixt God and Christ for salvation of souls and withal that they are but few in comparison concerning whom God and Christ hath all this care will not this whet on my desires and make me cry and cry again Oh that these loves were mine how happy were I if I had a share in these eternal thoughts of God Methinks we should not hear of such transactions but it should stir up our hearts in infinite desires methinks we should pant after assurance and still be wishing Oh what is truth and what is Christ and what did Christ for me before I was or before the World was I would I knew him I would I could enjoy him I would I were assured that he had one good thought of me in that Eternity Christians if you have any share in those transactions sooner or later you will feel these desires nay if my sinful heart deceive me not upon the very consideration of these things I feel my self another creature in my desires then I was before Tell me you that have took a full view of God Christ and of all these wonders of Eternity do you not sensibly differ from your selves in your affections Is not the world worldly pleasures worldly profits and worldly honours fallen too yea ten in an hundred with you have they not lost their price would you not rather be assured that your names are written in the Book of Life then to have all the world yours yea and all the Devils in Hell subject to your commands Certainly if these revelations work nothing in your hearts if your affections be so strong and hearty to the world and the vanities of it if your desires be so impure and strongly working downwards that Gods ancient loves and everlasting workings have no power on your hearts it is a very sad condition If David may have his wish it runs thus Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us he would have the manifestation of Gods Eternal love Psa 4.6 one smile of his countenance as an image of that countenance which God had towards him before the world began was more gladness to his heart then all that which the men of the world had in the time that their corn and their wine increased 2. We may and must desire after God and Christ the complotters and actors of that great work for us what hath the Gospel revealed this truth that before the Creation God and Christ were busied about our good yea and hath Christ especially that came out of the bosom of his Father brought the treasures of his Fathers counsel to the world discovered such love to men how then should our desires be after God in Christ Whom have I in heaven but thee Psa 73.35 there is none upon earth that I
and loyal to Jesus Christ what adultery is this Ye cannot serve God and Mammon Matth. 6.24 that woman that is not contented with one husband must needs be an harlot 3. The preferring of the world before Christ himself This is the height of covetousness and the height of this adultery what to make the members of Christ the members of an harlot Why worldlings those admiring thoughts are Christs those pains are Christs that love is Christs that time that care that earnestness is Christs they are all Christs and will you give that which is Christs unto the world and prefer the world before Christ with his own What live as professed prostitutes that prefer every one before their husbands how will this expose you to the scorn of men and Angels at the last day thy will come pointing and say This is the man that made not God his strength but trusted in the abundance of his riches Psal 52.7 this is the Gadaren that loved his swine more than Christ Jesus Love not the world said John 1 John 2.15 Christ is never precious in mans apprehension so long as the world seems glorious to him As we begin to relish sweetness in Christ so the world begins to be bitter to us Cui Christus incipit dulcâ—ssâ—â—e necess esto marescere mundum Bern. the more sweetness we taste in the one the more bitterness we taste in the other 3. We must look off the world in respect of its sinful honours what is this honour but a certain inordinate desire to be well thought of or well spoken of to be praised or glorified of men as if a man should run up and down streets after a feather flying in the aire and tossed hither and thither with the gusts and blasts of infinite mens mouths it is a question whether ever he get it but if he do it is but a feather such is this pride of life honour vain-glory it is hard to obtaine it but if obtained it is but the breath of a few mens mouths that alter upon every light occasion but that which is worst of all it hinders our sight of Jesus Christ not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called 1 Cor. 1.26 Heb 11.24 26. wordly honour keeps many back from Christ and therefore Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter esteeming the reproaches of Christ greater riches than all the Treasures of Egypt If the blind Man in the way to Jerico had depended on the breath or liking or approbation of the multitude he had never received the benefit of his sight Luke 18.39 for they saith the text which went before rebuked him that he should hold his peace they disswaded him from running crying so vehemently after Christ experience tells us how these things pull and draw us off from Jesus Christ the lusts of the eyes the lusts of the flesh and pride of life Question 2 But why must we look off every thing that diverts our looking unto Jesus 1. Because we cannot look fixedly on Christ and such things together and at once the eye cannot look upwards downwards at once in a direct line we cannot seriously mind heaven earth in one thought no man can serve two masters saith Christ especially such as jar Mat. 6.24 and who have contrary imployments as Christ and Mammon have 2. Because whiles we look on these things we cannot see the beauty that is in Christ suppose a squint look on Christ whilst we have a direct look on other things alas Christ will be of no esteem that while this was the voice of sinners concerning Christ he hath no form Isa 53.2 nor comeliness and when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire him Indeed beauty is the attractive of the soul the soul must see a beauty in that which it lets out it self to in desiring but our wishing looks on other things makes Christ but mean and contemptible in our eyes 3. Because all other things in comparison of Christ are not worthy a look they are but as vile things as under-things as poor low and mean and base things in comparison of Christ I count all things but loss saith Paul for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. Phil 3.8 I count them but dung that I may win Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some translate it chaffe others dogs-meat others excrements dung all agree it is such a thing as men usually cast away from them with some indignation 4. Because it is according to the very law of marriage therefore shall a man forsake father Gen. 2.24 and mother and cleave to his wife the Lord Christ marries himself to the souls of his Saints Hos 2.19 I will betroth thee unto me for ever I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and in judgement and in loving kindness and in mercies and for this cause the soul must forsake all and cleave unto Christ as married wives use to do we must leave all for our husband the Lord Jesus Harken O daughter and consider and encline thine ear forget also thy own people Pâ—al 45.10 and thy fathers House 5. Because Christ is a jealous Christ now jealousie is a passion in the soul that will not endure any sharing in the object beloved the woman that hath a jealous husband must leave all her old companions if she cast any amorous looks or glances after them the husband will be jealous and Jealousie is cruel as the Grave Christians Cant. 8.6 Exod. 20.5 our God is a jealous God our Christ is a jealous Christ He cannot endure that we should look on any other things so as to lust after them 6. Because all other things can never satisfie the eye Eccles 1.8 all things are full of labour saith Solomon man cannot utter it the eye is not satisfied with seeing it is but wearied with looking on divers objects yet still desires new ones but once admit it to behold that glorious sight of Christ and then it rests fully satisfied Hence it is that the Daughters of Zion are called to come forth Go forth O ye daughters of Zion Cant. 3.11 and behold King Solomon with the Crown wherewith his Mother hath crowned him in the day of his espousals and in the day of the gladness of his heart Go forth O ye daughters of Zion lay aside all private and earthly affections and look upon this glory of Christ As the daughters of Jerusalem sitting or remaining in their chambers closets houses could not behold the glory of King Solomon passing by therefore they were willed to come forth of their doors even so if we will behold the great King Jesus Christ in his most excellent glory a sight able to satisfie the Eye to ravish the Heart we must come out of our Doors we must come
must explain the act you must look Secondly the object you must look on Jesus CHAP. III. SECT I. An Explanation of the Act and Object 1. FOr the act you must look Looking is either ocular or mental First for ocular vision there may be some use of that in heaven for there we shall look on Jesus with these eyes shall I behold him saith Job Job 19 27. 1 John 3 2. 1 Cor. 13.12 2 Cor. 5.7 we shall see him as he is saith the Apostle now we see him as in a glass but then we shall see him face to face But till then we must walk by faith and not by sight Secondly for mental vision or the inward eye that is it that will take up our discourse and that is it which the Apostle speaks of in his prayers for the Ephesians Ephes 1.18 that the eyes of their understanding may be opened that they may know c. * Simâ—â—ds sight and saith Now the excellency of this mental sight is far above the ocular sight for there are more excellent things to be seen by the eye of the mind than by the eye of the body we only see a peece of the creation by the eye of the body but the mind reacheth every thing that is in it yea the mind reacheth to him that made it God is invisible yet this eye sees God Heb. 11.27 it is said of Moses that he saw him that is invisible 2. It is the sight of the mind that gives light and vigour to the sight of the eye take away the inward light and the light of the external sense is but as darkness and death 3. It is the sight of the mind that looks into the worth use c. propriety of any thing presented the eye can see a thing but not the worth of it a beast looks on gold as well as a man but the sight and knowledge of the worth of it is by the internal light of the mind so the eye can see a thing but not the use of it a child looks on a tool in the hand of a workman but the sight and knowledge of the use of it is only by a man of reason that hath internal light to judge of it and so the eye can see a thing but not the propriety of it a beast looks on his pasture but he likes it not because it is his but because it is a pasture and well furnished Now we know that the worth and use and propriety of a thing are the very cream of the things themselves and this the eye of the mind conveys Gen. 42.7 8. and not the eyes of the body It is said of Joseph that he saw hiâ— brethren and knew them but they knew not him this was the reason why Joseph was so exceedingly taken at the sight of his Brethren that his bowels wrought with joy and a kind of compassion towards them but they were before him as common strangers though they saw Joseph their brother a Prince yet they were taken no more with the sight of him than of any other man because they knew him not Again this mental looking is either notional and theoretical or practical and experimental the first we call barely the look of our minds it is an enlightning of our understandings with some measure of speculative sight in spiritual and heavenly mysteries the second we call the look of our minds and hearts whereby we not only see spiritual things but we are * Sub oculorum nomine-omnes affectus notari non rarum est Calv. in Ps 25.17 Phil. 3.10 affected with them we desire love believe joy and embrace them To this purpose is that rule that words of knowledge do sometimes signifie the affections in the heart and the effects thereof in our lives And this was the look which Paul longed for that I may know him and the power of his resurrection i.e. that he might have experience of that power In legendu libâ—is non quaeramus scientiam sed sapoâ—em Dei Phil 1.9 that it might so communicate it self unto him as to work upon him to all the ends of it And this was the look that Bernard preferred above all looks In reading of books saith he let us not so much look for science as savoriness of truth upon our hearts This I pray said the Apostle that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgement i.e. in knowledge and feeling And certainly this feeling this experimental Looking on Jesus is that my Text aims at it is not a swimming knowledge of Christ but an hearty feeling of Christs inward workings it is not heady notions of Christ but hearty motions towards Christ that are implied in this inward looking 2. For the Object you must look on Jesus It is the blessed'st Object that the eye of the mind can possibly fix upon of all Objects under Heaven Jesus hath the preheminence in perfection and he should have the preheminence in our Meditation It is he that will make us most happy when we possess him and we cannot but be joyfull to look upon him especially when looking is a degree of possessing Jesus for the name signifies Saviour it is an Hebrew name the Greeks borrowed it from the Hebrews the Latines fom the Greeks and all other Languages from the Latines It is used five hundred times in Pauls Epistles saith Genebrard it comes from the Hebrew word Jehoshua or Joshua which in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah Ezra 5.2 Nehem. 8.17 written after the Babylonian captivity is Jeshua and so is our Saviours Name always written in the Syriack translation of the new Testament This name Jesus was given to Christ the Son of God by his Father and brought from Heaven by an Angel first to Mary and then to Joseph and on the day when he was circumcised as the manner was this Name was given him by his Parents as it was commanded from the Lord by the Angel Gabriel Luke 1.26.31 Not to stand on the Name for the matter it includes both his office and his natures he is the alone Saviour of man Act. 4.12 for there is none other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved and he is a perfect and an absolute Saviour Heb. 7.25 he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them I will not deny but that the work of salvation is common to all the three persons of the Trinity it is a known rule Opera trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa all outward actions are equally common to the three persons for as they are all one in Nature and Will so must they be also one in Operation the Father saveth the Son saveth and the holy Ghost saveth yet we must distinguish them in the manner of saving the Father saveth by the Son the Son saveth
be perswaded to set our hearts on Jesus Christ Christians do you not perceive that the heart of Christ is set upon you and that he is still minding you with tender love even when you forget both your selves and him Do you not find him following you with daily mercies moving on your souls providing for your bodies and preserving both doth he not bear you continually in the armes of love and promise that all shall work together for your good doth he not give his Angels charge over you and suit all his dealings to your greatest advantage and can you find in your hearts to cast him by can you forget your Lord who forgets not you Fie upon this unkind Ingratitude When the Lord speaks of his thoughts and respects to us he gives this language Can a woman forget her sucking-child Isa 49.15 16. that she should not have compassion on the Son of her Womb yea they may forget yet will not I forget Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands thy walls are continually before me But when he speaks of our thoughts to him the case is otherwise Jer. 2 32. can a Maid forget her Ornaments or a Bride her Attire yet my People have forgotten me days without number q. d. you would not forget the cloaths on your backs you would not forget your braveries your Ornaments your Attires and are these of more worth than Christ yet you can forget me day after day 8. Consider it 's a command of Christ that we should look to Jesus Behold me behold me lo I lo I A command not only backt with Authority but accompanied with special Ordinances appointed to this end what is Baptism and what is the Lords Supper 1 Cor. 11.24 25. but the representation of Jesus Christ Is it not Christs command in his last Supper Do this in remembrance of me and this do ye as oft as ye drink in remembrance of me In this Ordinance we have Christ crucified before our Eyes and can we forget him Or can we hold our eyes off him can we see the Bread broken the Wine distinctly severed from the bread and not call to mind according to the Scripture Christs Agony in the Garden and on the Cross can we take and eat the bread and take and drink the cup and not apprehend Christ stooping down from Heaven to feed our souls At such a time if we forget the Lord Jesus Christ it will argue our disaffection our ingratitude our disobedience every way Psa 73.28 Psal 104.34 9. Consider it 's both work and wages to look up unto Jesus Hence David professed it is good for me to draw near to thee and my meditation of him shall be sweet the word imports a sweetness with mixture like compound spices or many flowers Every thought of Jesus is sweet and pleasant nay it 's better than wine Cant. 1.4 we will remember thy love more than Wine there is more content in contemplating on Christ more refreshing to the spirit than wine gives to the body How precious are thy thoughts unto me O God Psa 139.17 look in what kind soever you account a thing precious so precious are the thoughts of God and Christ to a man whose heart is in a right frame Such a one loves every glance of Christ and the more it sees the more it loves It is said of one Eudoxius that he wished he might be admitted to come near the body of the Sun to have a full view of it though it devoured him he was somthing rash in his wish but there is somthing proportionable in a godly spirit he so loves Christ that he could be content to be swallowed up in the beholding of him Certainly there is a blessing in this work when we are bid to look unto Jesus it is but to receive from Jesus is it any thing else but to call and invite us to look on the most pleasing and delightful object That in the beholding of it it may convey it self unto us and we be delighted and filled with it it is all one as if he should bid us sit down by a well of Life and drink or if he should bid us be as the Angels are who are blessed in the beholding of this Jesus why come then if this be a blessed work why will we unbless our selves If the work will exalt us why will we debase our selves in not closing with it If we might live above heaven why will we live below certainly when thoughts of Christ are moving in us Christ himself is not far off he will come and enter too and how sweet is it for Christ to come and take up his habitation in our souls 10. Consider how the Angels exceedingly desire to look on Jesus they stoop down and pry into the Nature Offices and graces of Jesus Christ which things saith the Apostle the Angels desire to look into He alludes to the manner of the Cherubims looking down into the Mercy-Seat this is the study 1 Pet. 1.12 yea this is the delight and recreation of the Elect Angels to look on Jesus and to look into the several scopes of our salvation by Jesus Christ to behold the whole frame and fabrick of it to observe all the parts of it from the beginning to the end to consider all the glorious Attributes of God his Wisdome Power Justice Mercy all shining and glittering in it like bright Stars in the Firmament this I say is their work yea this is their Festivity and Pastime And shall not we imitate the Angels shall not we think it our honour to be admitted to the same priviledge with the Angels 11. Consider that looking unto Jesus is the work of Heaven Vâ—ta contemplativa incipit in hoc seculo proficitur in futuâ—o Bern. it is begun in this life saith Bernard but it is perfected in that life to come not only Angels but the Saints in glory do ever behold the face of God and Christ if then we like not this work how will we live in Heaven the dislike of this Duty is a bar against our entrance for the life of a blessedness is a life of Vision surely if we take no delight in this heaven is no place for us 12. Consider that nothing else is in comparison worth the minding or looking after If Christ have not your hearts who or what should have them O that any Christian should rather delight to have his heart among Thornes and Briers than in the Bosom of his dearest Jesus Why should you follow after drops and neglect the Fountain why should you fly after shadowes and neglect him who is the true substance if the mind have its currant from Christ toward other things these things are not only of less concernment but destructive they are gone far from me and have walked after Vanity Jer. 2.5 and are become vain How unworthy the world is of the look of Christians especially when it
his if God in Christ hath of his own free love set thee apart to life and salvation then know it for thy self Jâ—b 5 27. it is inward experimental knowledge we speak of 4. Study the purpose of God concerning thy salvation this purpose of God speaks the stability and certainty of they salvation in Christ his purpose is in and from himself who is God and not man and therefore cannot repent Numb 23.19 hath he said and shall he not do it hath he spoken and shall he not make it good 5. Study the decrees of God they are all one with Predestination the book of life the seal of God what hath the Lord decreed predestinated booked sealed thee for salvation Psal 89 15. O how blessed is the people that know this joyful sound they shall walk in the light of they countenance O Lord. 6. Study the Covenant of grace remember how the business of eternity lay thus here is every man lost said God to his Son but thou shalt in fulness of time go and be born of flesh and blood and die for some of them and satisfie my Justice and they shall be thine for a portion and they shall be called the holy people the redeemed of the Lord. To whom the Son answered be it so Lord I will go and fulfil thy pleasure and they shall be mine for ever Observe and be acquainted with this Covenant in that very Dialogue first God demands of his Son that he lay down his life and for his labour he promiseth that he shall be his seed and God shall give him many children Isa 53.10 Heb. 10.5 9. And secondly the Son consents to lay down his life and saith here I am to do thy will O God thou hast given me a body What O my soul that the Father and Christ should transact a bargain from eternity concerning thee that there should be any communing betwixt the Father and the Son concerning thy happiness and salvation Surely this is worthy thy paines Job 3.7 and study O hear it and know thou it for thy good SECT II. Of considering Jesus in that respect 2. VVE must consider Jesus carrying on this work of salvation in that eternity It is not enough to study and know him but according to the measure of Knowledg we have attained we must ponder and muse and meditate and consider of him now consideration is an expatiating and enlarging of the mind and heart on this or that subject consideration is a fixing of our thoughts a stedfast bending of our minds to some spiritual matter till it work on the affections and conversation We may know and yet be inconsiderate of that we do know but when the intention of our mind and heart is taken up about some one known object and other things are not for the present taken notice of this is consideration O that if it were possible we could so consider Jesus in this first period of eternity as that for a while at least we could forget all other things Christians I beseech you be dead to the world be insensible of all other things and look onely on Jesus it is said that men in a phrenzy are insensible of what you do to them because their minds are taken up about that which they apprehend so strongly and if ever there was any object made known to take up the mind of a spiritual man it is this even this not but that other objects may be deeply and seriously minded of men it is reported of Archimedes who was a great Mathematician that when the City was taken wherein he was and the warlike instruments of death clattering about his ears and all was in a tumult yet he was so busie about drawing his lines that he heard no noise nor did he know there was any danger but if such objects as those could take up the intention of his mind so as not to regard other things how much more should this consideration of Christ If a carnal heart a man that minds earthly things be so taken up about them because they are an object suitable to him how much more should a gracious heart that can see into the reality of these things of God Christ from everlasting be so taken up with them as to mind nothing else come then O my soul and set thy consideration on work as thus 1. Consider Jesus in his relation to God how he was the eternal Son of the Father I know in some respects we have little reason thus to look on Jesus as we are sinners and fallen from God there is no looking on an absolute Deity alas that Majesty because perfectly and essentially good is no other then an enemy to sinners as sinners so as we are sinners and fallen from God there is no looking on the Son of God I mean on the Son of God considered in the notion of his own eternal being as coequal and coessential to God the Father Alas our sin hath offended his justice which is himself and what have we to do with that dreadful power which we have provoked But considering Jesus as Jesus which sounds a Saviour to all sinners believing on him and that this Jesus containes the two natures of Christ both the God-head man-hood now we that have our interest in him may draw neer Heb 1.3 and as we are capable behold the brightness of his glory To this purpose the Scriptures have discovered to us God the Son how he is the second person in the Trinity having the foundation of personal subsistence from the Father alone of whom by communication of his essence he is begotten from all eternity when there were no depths I was brought forth before the mountains were setled and before the hills I was brought forth Ante colles genita eram Prov. 8.24 25 before the mountains I was begotten as some or ante colles filiata eram before the mountains I was sonned his son as others translate it why thus O my soul consider Jesus the Son of God but in this consideration be not too curious thou hearest of the generation of the Son and of the procession of the Holy Ghost but for the manner how the Father begets the Son or how the Father and Son do spire and send forth the Holy spirit be not too busie to enquire thou mayest know a little and consider a little but for the depth and main of this great mystery of grace let the generation of the Son of God be honoured with silence I remember one being too curious and too inquisitive Aug. lib 1 confess c. 12. what God was doing on that long Evum of eternity before he made the world it was answered he decreed to make hell for such curious inquisitors Be not therefore too nice in this consideration keep within bounds of sobriety and humility and then as thou art able to comprehend the Scriptures will discover that before God made the world in that long-long
Obedience God hath ever the first work as first Jer. 31.33 Eze. 36 26 31 Ezek. 36.25 Ezek. 36.27 Zech. 12.10 I will be your God and then ye shall be my People first I will take away the stony heart and give an heart of Flesh and then you shall loath your selves for your iniquities and for your abominations first I will sprinkle water upon you and then ye shall be clean from all your filthiness first I will put my Spirit into you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and then ye shall keep my Judgments and do them first I will pour out my Spirit of Grace and supplication upon you and then ye shall mourn as a man mourning for his only Son first I will do all and then ye shall do something A perplexed troubled spirit is apt to cry out O! alas I can do nothing I can as well dissolve a Rock as make my heart of stone a heart of flesh Mark now how the Covenant stands well ordered like an Army I will do all saith God and then thou shalt do something I will strengthen and quicken you and then ye shall serve me saith the Lord. 4. It is well ordered in respect of the end and aim to which all the parts of the Covenant are referred Eph. 1.6 the end of the Covenant is the praise of the Glory of his Grace the parts of the Covenant are the Promise and the Stipulation the Promise is either Principal or Immediate and that is God and Christ or secondary and consequential and that is Pardon Justification Reconciliation Sanctification Glorification and the Stipulation on our parts are Faith and Obedience we must believe in him that Justifies the ungodly and walk before him in all well pleasing Observe now the main design and aim of the Covenant and see but how all the streams run towards that Ocean God gives himself to the Praise of the Glory of his Grace God gives Christ to the Praise of the Glory of his Grace God gives pardon justification sanctification salvation to the praise of the Glory of his Grace and we Believe we Obey to the Praise of the Glory of his Grace and good reason for all is of Grace and therefore all must tend to the Praise of the glory of his grace it is of Grace that God hath given himself Christ pardon justification reconciliation sanctification salvation to any Soul it is of grace that we believe By grace ye are saved through faith Eph. 2.8 not of your selves it is the gift of God O the sweet and comely order of this Covenant All is of Grace and all tends to the praise and glory of this grace and therefore it is called a Covenant of grace Many a sweet soul is forced to cry I cannot believe I may as well reach heaven with a finger as lay hold on Christ by the hand of faith but mark how the Covenant stands like a well marshalled army to repel this doubt Phil. 1.29 if thou canst not believe God will enable thee to believe to you it is given to believe O the Covenant of Grace is a gracious Covenant God will not only promise good things but he helps us by his Spirit to perform the condition He works our hearts to believe in God and to believe in Christ all is of Grace that all may tend to the praise of the glory of his grace 5. Wherein is the Covenant sure I answer it is sure in the performance and accomplishment of it Isa 55.3 Hence the promises of the Covenant are called the sure Mercies of David not because they are sure unto David alone but because they are sure and shall be sure unto all the Seed of David that are in Covenant with God as David was the Promises of Gods Covenant are not Yea and Nay various and uncertain but they are Yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 sure to be fulfilled Hence the stability of Gods Covenant is compared to the firmness and unmovableness of the mighty Mountains nay Mountains may depart and the hills be removed by a Miracle but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of my peace be removed Isa 54.10 saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee Sooner shall the Rocks be removed the Fire cease to burn the Sun be turned into darkness and the very heavens be confounded with the earth than the promise of God shall fail psal 19.7 The testimony of the Lord is sure saith David Christ made it and writ it with his own blood to this very end was Christ appointed and it hath been all his work to ensure Heaven to his Saints Some question whether it be in Gods present power to blot a name out of the Book of Life We say no his deed was at first free but now it is necessary not absolutely but ex Hypothesi upon supposition of his eternal Covenant Hence it is that the Apostle sayes If we confess our Sins He is Faithful 1 John 1.9 and Just to forgive us our Sins It is Justice with God to pardon the Elect's Sins as the Case now stands Indeed Mercy was all that saved us primarily but now Truth saves us and stands engaged with Mercy for our Heaven And therefore David prayes Send forth Mercy and Truth and save me We find it often in the Psalms as a Prayer of David Psâ—l 57.3 Ps 31.1 3 24. 119.40.143.1 Deliver me in Thy Righteousness and Judge me according to Thy Righteousness and Quicken me in Thy Righteousness and In Thy Faithfulness answer me and In Thy Righteousness Now if it had not been for the Covenant of Grace surely David durst not have said such a word The Covenant is sure in every respect Isa 55.3 I will make an Everlasting Covenant with you saith God even the sure Mercies of David 6. Whether is Christ more clearlier manifested in this Breaking-forth of the Covenant than in any of the Former The Affirmative will appear in that we find in this Manifestation these Particulars 1. That He was God and Man in One Person David's Son and yet David's Lord The Lord said unto my Lord Sit Thou on My Right Hand Psal 110.1 until I make Thine Enemies Thy Foot-stool 2. That He suffered for us and in His Sufferings How many Particulars are discovered As first His Cry My God My God Why hast Thou forsaken Me Secondly Psal 22.1 Mat. 27.46 Psal 22.8 Mat. 27.43 Ps 22.16 17 18. Mat. 27.35 Psal 16.10 Acts 2.31 Psal 68.18 Ephes 4.8 The Jews Taunts He trusted on the Lord that He would deliver Him let Him deliver Him if He delight in Him Thirdly The very Manner of His Death They pierced My Hands and My Feet I may tell all My Bones they look and stare upon Me they part My Garments among them and cast Lots upon My Vesture 3. That He Rose again for us Thou wilt not leave My Soul in Hell neither wilt Thou suffer Thine
he is troubled with such and such a lust and he cannot keep this and that Commandment he cannot out-wrestle such and such strong inclinations to evil O but then go to God and press him with this Lord it is a part of thy Covenant thou hast said thou wilt circumcise my heart thou hast said thou wilt put thy Law in my inward parts thou hast said thou wilt dissolve these lusts Lord I beseech thee do it for thy Covenants sake But here 's another Question How may we know this inward work of Grace this Law in our inward parts the best way to satisfy our doubts in this is to look within open we the door and closet of our hearts and see what lies nearest and closest there that we say is intimate and within a man Mat. 10.37 which lies next to his heart He that loveth Father or Mother more than Me saith Christ is not worthy of Me We know the love of Father and Mother is a most natural thing it comes not by teaching but it is in-bred in us as soon as we are born and yet if we love not Christ more than these if Christ lye not closer to our hearts than Father or Mother we are not worthy of Christ our natural life is a most inward and deep thing in a man Job 2.4 Luke 14.26 Gal. 2.20 it lies near the heart Skin for Skin said the Devil once truly and all that a man hath will he give for his Life but he that hates not Father and Mother yea and his own life also said Christ he cannot be my Disciple Hence the Apostle to express this intimate inward life of grace he saith I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me What an emphatical strange expression is this I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me q. d. I live not the life of sense I breath not bodily breath that is comparatively to the life of faith his very natural life though inward is said not to be lived in respect of his life of grace which is more inward And let this serve for resolution to that question 4. What is it to have the Law written in our hearts This writing contains the former and is something more the Metaphor is expressed in these Particulars 1. It is said to be written that there might be something within answerable to the Law without it was written without and so it was written within This writing is the very same with copying or transcribing The writing within is every way answerable to the writing without Oh what a mercy is this that the same God who writ the Law with his own finger in the Tables of Stone should also write the same Law with the finger of his Spirit in the Tables of our Hearts as you see in a Seal when you have put the Seal on the Wax and you take it off again you find in the Wax the same Impression that was on the Seal So it is in the hearts of the faithful when the Spirit hath once softned them then he writes the Law i.e. he stamps an inward aptness an inward disposition on the heart answering to every particular of the Law this is that which the Apostle calls the Law of the mind I see another Law in my Members warring against the Law of my mind Rom. 7.23 Now what is this Law in the mind but a disposition within to keep in some measure every Commandment of the Law without and this is the writing of the Law or if you will the copying or transcribing of the Law within us 2. It is said to be written that it might be rooted and rivetted in the heart as when Letters are engraven in Marble so is the manner of Gods writing if God write it can never be obliterated or blotted out Letters in Marble are not easily worn out again no more are the writings of Gods Spirit Some indeed would have them as writings in dust but if Pilate could say What I have written I have written how much more may God Hence are all those promises of perseverance My Covenant shall stand fast with him Psal 89.28 and The root of the righteous shall not be moved Prov. 12.3 and Even to your old Age I am he and even to hoary hairs will I carry you Isa 46.4 I deny not but men of glorious gifts may fall away but surely the poorest Christian that hath but the smallest measure of Grace he shall never fall away if the Law be written in our hearts it still remains there Grace habitual is not removeable sooner will the Sun discard its own beams than Christ will desert or destroy the least measure of true Grace which is a Beam from the Sun of Righteousness 3. It is said to be written that it might be as a thing legible to God to others and to our selves 1. To God he writes it that he may read it and take notice of it he exceedingly delights himself in the graces of his own Spirit and therefore the Spouse after this writing after the planting of his grace in her Cant. 4.6 she desires him to come into his Garden and eat his pleasant Fruits q. d. Come read what thou hast written come and delight thy self in the graces of thy own Spirit the only delight that God has in the world is in his Garden a gracious soul and that he might more delight in it he makes it fruitful and those fruits are precious fruits as growing from plants set by his own Hand relishing of his own Spirit and so fitted for his own taste 2. The Law is written that it might be legible to others So Paul tells the Corinthians 2 Cor. 3.2 3. You are manifestly declared to be the Epistle of Christ How manifestly declared why known and read of all Men. As we are able to read Letters graven in stone so may others read and see the fruits and effects of this Law written in our Hearts And good reason for wheresoever God works the principles of grace within it cannot but shew it self in the outward life and conversation it is Gods promise first I will put my Spirit within them Ezek. 36.27 Mat. 12.34 and then I will cause them to walk in my statutes and it is Gods truth Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh What the mind thinketh the hand worketh 3. The Law is written that it may be legible to our selves a gracious heart is privy to its own grace and sincerity when it is in a right temper if others may read it by its fruits How much more we our selves who both see the fruits and feel that habitual disposition infused into us Nor is this without its blessed use for by this means we come to have a comfortable evidence both of Gods Love to us and of our Love
of assurance but if thou art perswaded of thy Interest O then rejoyce therein is it not a Gospel-duty to rejoyce in the Lord and again to rejoyce The Lord is delighted in thy delights Phil. 4.4 he would fain have it thy constant frame and daily business to live in joy and to be alwayes delighting thy self in him This one Promise I am the Lord thy God is enough to cause thy appetite to run to it and to unite it self to it by Love and to scatter it self on it and to overflow those powers of the Soul that are nearest to it that every part of the Soul may concur to the possession of it Bless the Lord O my Soul saith David and all that is within me bless his holy Name So rejoyce in the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me rejoyce in the Name of God This is true joy when the soul unites it self to the good possessed in all its parts And was there ever such an object of true joy as this Heark as if Heaven opened and the voice came from God in Heaven I will be a God to thee and to thy Seed after thee I am the Lord thy God and I will be thy God What doth not thy heart leap in thy bosom at this sound John the Baptist leaped in his mothers womb for joy at the sound of Maries Voice and doth not thy soul spring within thee at this voice of God O wonder some can delight themselves in sin and is not God better than sin Others more refined and indeed sanctified can delight themselves in remission of Sin in Grace Pardon Holiness Fore-thoughts of Heaven how exceedingly have some gracious hearts been ravished with such thoughts But is not God the objective happiness the Fountain-blessedness more rejoycing than all these Why Dear soul if there be in thee any rejoycing faculty now awake and stir it up it is the Lord thy God whom thou art to rejoyce in it is he whom the glorious spirits joy in it is he who is the top of Heavens joy their exceeding joy and it is he who is thy God as well as their God Enough enough or if this be not enough hear thy Duty as the Lord commands thee Rejoyce in the Lord Phil. 3.1 Phil. 3.1 Be glad ye Children of Zion and rejoyce in the Lord your God Joel 2.23 Joel 2.23 Rejoyce in the Lord all ye Righteous for praise is comely for the upright Psal 33.1 Psal 33.1 Rejoyce in the Lord ye Righteous and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness Psal 97.12 Psal 97.12 Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoyce let thâ—m ever shout for joy because thou defendest them let them also that love thy Name be joyful in thee Psal 5.11 Psal 5.11 Let the Righteous be glad let them rejoyce before God yea let them exceedingly rejoyce Psal 68.3 Psal 68.3 Glory ye in his holy Name let the heart of them rejoyce that seek the Lord Psal 105.3 Psal 105.3 Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him let the Children of Zion be joyful in their King Psal 149.3 Psal 149.3 Be glad in the Lord and rejoyce O ye Righteous and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart Psal 23.11 Psal 23.11 O what pressing Commands are these SECT VIII Of calling on Jesus in that respect 1. WE must call on Jesus or on God the Father in and through Jesus in reference to this gracious Covenant Now this calling on God containes Prayer and Praise Jer. 31.16 1. We must pray we must use Arguments of Faith challenging God Turn thou me and I shall be turned Why for thou art the Lord my God This Covenant is the ground on which all Prayers must be bottomed the Covenant we know contains all the Promises and what is Prayer but Promises turned into Petitions Thus prayed the Prophet Jeremy Jer. 14.21 22. Do not abhor us for thy Names sake do not disgrace the Throne of thy Glory remember break not thy Covenant with us VVhy Art not thou he the Lord our God And thus prayed the Prophet Isaiah Isa 64.9 Be not wroth very sore neither remember iniquity for ever behold we beseech thee and why so we arâ— all thy Poople q. d. Every one doth for its own the Prince for his People the Father for his Children and the Shepherd for his Sheep and will not God do for his own in covenant with him Be thy soul in the saddest desertion yet come and spread the Covenant before God A Soul in the greatest depth swimming on this Covenant of Grace it keeps it from sinking whence Christ in his blackest saddest hour prayed thus My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Be thy Soul in trouble for sin and prevailing corruption yet go to God and plead his Promise and Covenant say as Johoshaphat Lord I am so born down by the power of my sin that I know not what to do only mine eyes are unto thee O do thou subdue mine iniquities Be thy soul troubled for want of strength to do this or that duty yet go to God and Christ in the Covenant of Grace and say Lord thou knowest I have no strength of my self I am a barren Wilderness but thou hast entred into a Covenant of Grace with me that thou wilt put thy Law into my inward parts thou wilt cause me to keep thy judgments and do them Ezek. 36.27 Ezek. 36.27 As sometimes thou saidst to Gideon I have sent thee therefore I will be with thee Judg. 6.16 Judg. 6.16 Many are apt to set upon their duties in their own strength but Oh my soul look thou to the promise of Grace and of the Spirit and put them in suit and alledge them unto Christ Many are apt to work out their sanctifications by their VVatchfulness Resolutions Vows Promises made unto God but alas were there not more help in Gods Promises which he makes to us than in our Promises which we make to him we might lie in our pollutions for ever O here 's the way in every want or strait or necessity fly to God and Christ saying Thou art our Father and we are thy People O break not thy Covenant with us I confess strong expressions and affections are good in Prayer but surely strength of Faith in the Covenant of God is the greatest strength of our Prayer Here it may be some Soul will object Object O if I were assured that I were in Covenant with God thus would I pray but alas I am a Stranger an Alien and so have been to this very day I have no part in the Covenant I Answer Answ If thou art not actually in Covenant yet thou may'st be in Covenant in respect of Gods purpose and gracious intention Howsoever to encourage all to seek unto God consider these Particulars 1. The Freeness of the Promise in this Covenant of Grace Come and buy
conceive the most usual and ordinary course of Faiths working and of the souls conforming to Jesus Christ in its closing with Christ As thus 1. Faith hearing the great things proposed in the Covenant of Grace it stirs up in the heart a serious consideration of their blessed condition that are in covenant with God Blessed art thou O Israel a People saved by the Lord What Nation in the Earth is like thy People Deut. 33.29 2 Sam. 7.2.3 even like Israel whom God went to redeem for a People unto himself Time was saith the Soul that I counted the proud blessed and the rich blessed and the honourable blessed time was when I placed my blessedness in other things as in Riches Preferments Favour Credit with men but now these are become vile and things of no value Faith makes us change our voice and to speak as the Psalmist Blessed are the People whose God is the Lord. Psal 144.15 2. Faith stirs in the heart a longing desire after this condition good being believed cannot but be desired and longed for Desire naturally springs from the apprehension of any good being made known hence Faith we say is both in the understanding and in the will as it is in the understanding it opens the eye to see and clearly to discern the Blessing of the Covenant as it is in the will it pursues and desires the attaining of the Grace revealed nor are these desires faint desires but very earnest eager violent sometimes it is called a thirsting after God and sometimes a panting after God and sometimes a gasping after God it is such a desire as cannot be satisfied by any thing without God himself 3. Faith stirs in the heart some hope to enjoy this condition I say some hope for Faith being as yet in the Bud or in the Seed though its desire be strong yet hope of obtaining is but feeble and weak hence Faith is taken up with many thoughts fain would the Soul be joyned to Christ but being as yet dismayed with the sense of Sin it stands like the Publican afar off as yet Faith can scarce speak a word to God only with Jonah it can look towards his holy Temple As a poor weak babe who lies in the Cradle sick and weak and speechless only it can look towards the Mother for help the cast of the eye expresseth in some sort what it would say thus Faith being weak it would speak to God but it cannot or dares not only it hath its eye towards Heaven 2 Chr. 20.12 as Jehoshaphat sometimes said Our eyes are towards thee It feels a need and fain would have but sense of unworthyness and the sense of the Law strikes such a fear into the heart that it dares not come near Consider Israels Case and we shall find it parallel to this God proclaims on the Mount I am the Lord thy God what was this but Gods offer to be in Covenant with Israel and yet the terrour of the Thunder was so great that Israel durst not come near a poor Soul hearing the Lord to offer himself to be in Covenant in him Come soul I am the Lord thy God Why alas it dares not come near What am I the Lord or what is my Fathers House that I should enter into a Covenant with the most high God The Soul is unquiet within it self it is hurried to and fro and finds no rest it hears of Peace with God but feels it not there is much ado with the Soul to sustain its hope only Faith sets the mind again and again to consider the promises invitatiâ—â—â— and all other incouragements which God hath given in his Word 4. Faith stirs in the heart some resolves to go to Gods Throne and to sue for Grace Faith speaks within as they did Jonah 3.9 Amos. 5.15 Who can tell whether the Lord will return And it may be the Lord God of Hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph So Who can tell saith the Soul It may be the Lord will saith the Soul and this begets some resolves as those Lepers in Samaria knew they were sure to perish if they sate still therefore they resolved to try whether the Aramites would save them Or as Esther knowing all was undone if she would not stir she would try whether the King would hold out his Golden Scepter So the poor Soul knowing there is no way but perishing if it continue in its Natural State therefore it resolves to go to God Doth the Lord say Seek my Face Why Jer. 3.22 thy Face Lord will I seek Doth the Lord say Come unto Me Why Behold Lord I come unto Thee for Thou art the Lord our God And now the Soul betakes it self unto God it sends up Complaints of it self it laments its own sinful Rebellions it puts out a whole Volley of Sighs Groans and strong Cryes towards Heaven it confesseth with Grief and bitter Mourning all its former Iniquities it smites with Repenting Ephraim upon its Thigh it lyes down at God's Foot-stool it puts its Mouth in the Dust it acknowledgeth God's Righteousness if He should condemn and cast off for ever and yet withal it pleads for Grace that it may be accepted as one of His It sayes unto God Lord I have nothing to plead why Thou may'st not Condemn me but if Thou wilt receive me Thy Mercy shall appear in me O let Thy Mercy appear take away all Iniquity and receive me graciously Thus the Soul lyes at God's Throne and pleads for Grace 5. As Faith is thus earnest in suing to God for Grace so it is no less vigilant and watchful in observing what Answer comes from the Lord even as the Prisoner at the Bar not only cries for Mercy but he marks every Word which falls from the Judges Mouth if any thing may give him Hope or as Benhadad's Servants lay at catch with the King of Israel to see if they could take occasion by any thing which fell from him to plead for the Life of Benhadad So the poor Soul that is now pleading for Life and Grace it watcheth narrowly to see if any thing may come from God any Intimation of Favour any Word of Comfort that may tend to Peace O let me hear Joy and Gladness I will hear what the Lord will say for He will speak Peace unto His People 6. As Faith waits for an Answer so accordingly it demeans it self 1. Sometimes God answers not and Faith takes on and follows God still and cryes after Him with more Strength as resolving never to give over till the Lord either save or destroy Nay if the Lord will destroy Faith chuseth to die at God's Feet as when Joab was bidden to come forth from the Horns of the Altar and to take his Death in another Place Nay saith Joab but I will dye here Or as when Christ saw no Deliverance come in His Agony He Prayed more earnestly So a poor Soul Luke 22.44 in the Time
not Christ come down sinners could not have gone up into Heaven and therefore that they might ascend he descends 2. I come down from Heaven not to do mine own will Heb. 3.1 2. but the will of him that sent me his Father had sent him on purpose to receive and to save sinners and to this purpose he is called the Apostle of our profession who was faithful to him that appointed him as also Moses was faithful in all his house His Father could not send him on any errand but he was sure to do it his Fathers mission was a strong demonstration that Christ was willing to receive those sinners that would but come to him Again Jesus stood and cryed saying if any man thirst John 7.37 let him come unto me and drink the very pith heart and marrow of the Gospel is contained in these words the occasion of them was thus on that last day of the Feast of Tabernacles the Jews were wont with great solemnity to draw water out of the fountain of Siloam at the foot of Mount Sion and to bring it to the Altar singing out of Isaiah Isa 12.3 With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of Salvation now Christ takes them at this Custom and recalls them from earthly to heavenly waters alluding to that of Isaiah Isa 55.1 3. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters Incline your ears and come unto me and your souls shall live The Father saith come the Son saith come the Spirit saith come yea Rev. 22.17 the Spirit and the Bride say come and let him that heareth say come and let him that is a thirst come and whosoever will let him drink of the water of life freely All the time of Christs Ministry we see him tyring himself in going about from place to place upon no other errand than this to cry at the markets Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters if any sinners love life if any will go to heaven let them come to me and I will shew them the way to my Fathers bosom and endear them to my Fathers heart Again hither tend all those Arguments of God and Christ to draw souls to themselves Thus God draws 1. From his equity Hear now O house of Israel Ezek. 18.25 is not my way equal or are not your wayes unequal q. d. I appeal to your very consciences is this equal that sinners should go on in sin and Trespass against him that is so willing to receive and save poor sinners 2. From our ruine in case we go on in sin Ezek. 18.31 Cast away from you all your Transgressions whereby ye have Transgressed and make you a new heart and a new Spirit for why will ye dye O house of Israel 3. From his own dislike and displeasure at our ruine I have no pleasure in the death of him that dyeth Ver. 32. saith the Lord God wherefore turn your souls and live ye 4. From his mercy and readiness to pardon sinners Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Hos 14.4 John 3.16 5. From the freeness of his love I will love them freely and God so loved the world so fully so fatherly so freely that he gave his only begotten Son c. and I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely 6. From the sweetness of his Name Rev. 21.6 Exod. 34.6 7. Isa 48.18 19. The Lord the Lord merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity Transgression and sin 7. From the benefits that would follow O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments then had thy peace been as a River and thy righteousness as the waves of the Sea thy seed also had been as the Sand and the off-spring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof 8. From his Oath As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of a sinner but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live O happy creatures saith Tertullian for whom God swears O unbelieving wretches if we will not trust God swearing Ezek. 33.61 Ezek. 33.11 Mich. 6.3 Isa 5.4 Isa 5.3 9. From his expostulations Turn ye turn ye from your evil wayes for why will ye dye O house of Israel O my people what have I done to thee and wherein have I wearied thee testifie against me what could I have done more for my vineyard than I have done wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth grapes brought it forth wild grapes Mich. 6.2 10. From his appeals Judge now O ye inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem and hear O ye mountains the Lords controversie and ye strong foundations of the earth Deut. 5.29 for the Lord hath a controversie with his people and he will plead with Israel 11. From his groans Oh that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep my commandments alwayes Deut. 32.29 that it might be well with them and their children for ever And oh that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end 12. Hos 11.8 From his loathness to give men up How shall I give thee up Ephraim how shall I deliver thee O Israel how shall I make thee as Admah how shall I set thee as Zeboim my heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together O the goodness of God! And as God the Father so God the Son draws Arguments to win souls to himself 1. From his coming it was the very purpose and design of his coming down from Heaven to receive sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying sayes Paul and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners 2. From his fair demeanour and behaviour towards sinners this was so open and notorious that it was turned to his disgrace and opprobry Mat. 11.19 Behold a friend of Publicans and sinners And the Scribes and Pharisees murmured at him Luke 5.30 and his Disciples saying Why do ye eat and drink with Publicans and Sinners 3. From his owning of sinners and answering for them in this respect Luke 5.31 32. And Jesus answering said unto them they that are whole need not a Physitian but they that are sick I came not to call the righteous but Sinners to repentance 4. From his rejoycing at sinners conversion indeed we never read of Christs Laughter and we seldom read of Christs joy but when it is at any time recorded it is at the Conversion of a poor soul he had little else to comfort himself in being a man of sorrows but in this he rejoyced exceedingly Luke 10.21 In that hour Jesus rejoyced in Spirit
judgment to come Acts. 24.25 and see what influence they have when Paul preached such a Sermon to Felix it is said that he trembled a Sermon of the chaffs burning with unquenchable fire is enough to make thy heart tremble if Powerfully delivered and affectionately received but see what effect doth it work on thy heart and life dost thou feel in thee a Spirit of mortification dost thou with the Baptist die to the world dost thou deny thy will of all its natural sinful desires dost thou abstain from pleasures and sensual complacencies that the Flesh being subdued to the Spirit both may join in the service of God dost thou kill the lusts of the flesh by taking away the fuel and incentives of Lusts this is the work of meditation it first employes the understanding in consideration of things and then the will in the reception of things and both these in order to Grace and a pious conversation that meditation which determines in notions or speculations of knowledg is like the winter Sun that shines but warms not O my Soul consider and so long consider on the preaching of this prodromus or forerunner of Christ till thou feelest this consideration to have some warmth in thy heart and influence on thy life in order to holiness self-denial and mortification 2. Consider of the Baptism of Christ he that never sinned was made sin for us and so it was proper enough for Christ to take upon him the Sacrament of sinners or of repentance for sin but especially he was baptised that in the symbole he might purifie our nature whose stains and guilt he had undertaken Consider of this O my soul and bring it home to thy self surely every soul that lives the life of Grace is born of water and the Spirit and to this purpose Christ who is our life went down into the waters of Baptism that we who descend after him might find the effects of it as pardon of Sin adoption into the Covenant of Grace and holiness of life Had not Christ been Baptised what vertue had there been in our Baptism As it became him to fulfil all righteousness Matth. 3.15 and therefore he must needs be baptized so he fulfilled it not for himself but for us Christ's obedience in fulfilling the Law is imputed to all that believe unto righteousness as if themselves had fulfilled so that he was Baptized for us and the vertue of his Baptism is derived unto us O the sweet of this meditation Christ was Baptized and when Baptized the Heavens were opened and the Holy Ghost descended and a voice from Heaven proclaimed him to be the Son of God and one in whom the Father was well pleased and the same ointment that was cast upon the head of our High Priest went unto his beard and thence fell to the borders of his garment for as Christ our Head felt those effects in manifestation so through Christ do we believe the like effects in our very Baptism the Heavens then as it were opened unto us and the holy Ghost then descended upon us and then were we consigned to the inheritance of Sons in whom the Father through his Son is also well pleased O my soul what a blessing is there in the Baptism of Christ and how mayest thou suck and be satisfied if thou wilt put thy meditation to the right use the Baptism of Christ is as a field of flowers wherein is a world of priviledges as justification adoption regeneration sanctification glorification O then fix thy soul at least on some of these flowers and leave them not without carrying some honey away with thee if thou art in Christ thou art Baptised into his death and Baptized into his Baptism thou partakest of the fruit and efficacy both of his death and life and baptism and all 3 Consider the fasting and temptation of Christ in the Wilderness Now we see what manner of adversary we have how he fights how he is resisted how overcome in one assault Sathan moves Christ to doubt of his Fathers providence in another to presume on his Fathers protection and when neither diffidence nor presumption can fasten upon Christ he shall be tryed with honour and thus he deales with us if he cannot drive us down to despair he labours to lift us up to presumption and if neither of these prevail then he brings out pleasures profits honours temptations on the right hand which are indeed most dangerous O my soul whilst thou art in this warfare here 's thy condition temptations like waves break one in the neck of another if the devil was so busie with Christ how shouldst thou hope to be free how mayest thou account that the repulse of one temptation will but invite to another well but here 's thy comfort thou hast such a Saviour as was in all things tempted in like sort yet without sin Heb. 4.15 16. how boldly therefore mayst thou go to the Throne of Grace to receive mercy and to find grace of help in time of need Christ was tempted that he might succour them that are tempted never art thou tempted O my soul but Christ is with thee in the temptation he hath sent his Spirit into thy heart to make intercession for thee there and he himself is in Heaven making intercession and praying for thee there yea his own experience of temptations hath so wrought it in his heart that his love and mercy is most of all at work when thou art tempted most As dear parents are ever tender of their Children but then especially when they are sick and weak and out of frame so though Christ be alwayes tender of his People yet then especially when their souls are sick and under a temptation O then his bowels yearn over them indeed 4 Consider Christs first manifestations by his several Witnesses we have heard of his Witnesses from Heaven the Father Son and holy Ghost and of his Witnesses on Earth the Baptist his Disciples and the works that he did in his Fathers Name and all these Witnesses being lively held forth in the preaching of the Gospel they are Witnesses to us even to this day is Christ manifested to us yea and if we are Christs even to this day is Christ manifested within us O my soul consider this above all the rest O it is this manifestation within that concerns thee most because ye are Sons Gal. 4.6 God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts if Christ be not manifested in thy heart by his blessed Spirit thou art no Son of God and therefore the Apostles puts thee seriously on this tryal Examine yourselves whether ye be in the Faith prove your selves know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ in you 2 Cor. 13.5 except ye be reprobates Is Christ manifested in thee surely this is more than Christ manifested to thee the bare history is the manifestation of Christ unto thee but there 's a mystery in
the inward manifestation The Apostle speaking of the Saints he adds Col. 1.27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of glory O the Riches of the Glory of this mystery consider it Oh my soul God might have shut thee up in blindness with the world or he might only have given thee parts and gifts or at most he might hav enlightened thy reason to have taken in the outward notions of the Gospel but hath he revealed Christ in thee hath he let thee see into the wonders of his Glory hath he given thee the light of his Glory within Oh this argues the witness of Christs Spirit this only the experimental Christian feels Chrysostom sometimes speaking of the more hidden and choice principles of Christianity he useth this phrase Sciunt initiati quid dico those that are initiated or admitted into our mysteries know what I mean so may the Ministers of Christ Preaching of these inward Manifestations say Sciunt initiaty c. it is only the Spiritual man can know these things for they are spiritually discerned O my soul meditate on this untill thou feelest Gods Spirit working in thy Spirit these inward Gracious Glorious manifestations It is Christ in thee is the hope of Glory 5. Consider Christs whipping the buyers and sellers out of the Temple Sometimes O my soul thou art in secret and sometimes thou art in the Assemblies of Gods people and if thou art in duty wheresoever thou art consider the especial presence of Christ and what is that but the presence of his Spirit and the presence of his Angels 1. The presence of his Spirit this we know by his working in us certainly the Spirit doth not only hover over us but worketh in us How in us I answer by his quickning feeding cherishing healing mollifying melting comforting In this manner he works in us when we are in Ordinances Why now is he I hope riding with triumph in the midst of the Assembly now is he in his Chariot in his Throne in the hearts of his people and therefore away away with all buyers and sellers out of that Temple of the holy Ghost 2. The Presence of Christ is the presence of his Angels as a King is where his Court is so is Christ the King of Kings especially present where his blessed Angels pitch their Tents And the presence of Angels is worthy O my soul of thy consideration Certainly they are ministring Spirits that have a work to do upon thy inward man I grant the Spirit of Christ can only enlighten the understanding and determine the will effectually it is he only can bend and turn and form the mind which way soever he pleaseth but the Angels can speak also to thy spiritual parts and though the spirit only determine yet their speaking carries a Power with it By way of digression it is a fine skill to know how the Angels can speak to us and how we may know when they speak and how we may discern what is spoken by the immediate inspiration of the spirit and what by the mediation of the Angels 1. How do the Angels speak to us We must conceive if we understand this first that the Images or phantasms of things received by the outward senses are kept and preserved by the inward senses as the species of sounds of shapes or whatsoever else 2. That the images phantasms so kept may be so moved by our spirits or humours or some extrinsecal things as that they may move the fancy and provoke it to represent and conceive such things as neither appear nor are at that time perceived by any outward sence at all This appears 1. In our ordinary course as we can sit in the dark where we hear and see nothing and yet there we can multiply a fancy in infinitum by an act of our own Will 2. This appears in our dreams when though we hear or see nothing yet the humour can stir up the memory of things and provoke our fancies to the apprehension of this or that 3. This appears also in sickness which altering the body and the humours and so troubling the fancy it begets strange fancies and makes dreadful and fearfull representations unto us now this we must know that whatsoever an inferiour Power can do that a superiour Power can do much more whatsoever an act of our own Will or natural Dreams or preternatural sickness can do that the Angels can do most orderly and efficaciously they know exactly how the Spirits and humors must be moved that the images or phantasms may be applyed to such and such conceptions or apprehensions most accommodate and fitted for the knowledg of what truth they would suggest So that to me here is the difference between the converse of Men and Angels Men can speak to our understandings by the mediation of our external senses but Angels go a nearer way to work and speak to the internals first of all they do no more but come into the memory the treasurer of all our phantasms and imaginations and there make such and such compositions even as they please and then the understanding takes them off and reads what is written without more ado 2. How may we know when the Angels speak to us I confess it is an hard question and easily it cannot be solved only some conjecture we may have as in a case of evil thou art in a way of sin and near to fall into it it may be on a sudden thou hearest within thee some contrary whisperings which also are above the whisperings of a natural conscience common to the wicked or in case of good it may be on a sudden thou hearest within thee some independent supernatural perswasions and reasonings to this or that good or to this or that object which may more easily lead thee to chuse the good in these cases thou mayest conjecturally think that these whisperings or motions are of the Angels of God Bodin tells a story of one who desired of God a guidance and assistance of an Angel and accordingly he had sencible manifestations of a Spirit that assisted him and followed him till his death if in company he spake any unwary words he was sure to be advertised and reproved for it by a dream in the night or if he read any Book that was not good the Angel would strike upon the book to cause him to leave it 3. But how should we discern what is spoken by the immediate inspiration of the spirit and what by the mediation of the Angels here indeed we are at a stand and therefore my best resolution is that of Calvin That in such secrets we should keep one rule of modesty and sobriety and that we should neither speak nor think nor yet desire to know any other thing than such as hath been taught us by Gods Word I know not any great use there may be of this
great inconformity and dissimilitude to the life of Christ how should I but lie in the dust O woe is me what a vast disproportion is betwixt Christ's life and mine why thus O my soul shouldst thou humble thy self each morning each prayer each meditation each self examination shouldst thou fetch new fresh clear particular causes occasions matters of humiliation as thus loe there the evenness gravity graciousness uniformity holiness spiritualities divineness heavenliness of Jesus Christ loe there the fragrant zeal dear love tender pity constant industry unwearied pains patience admirable self-denial contempt of the world in Jesus Christ loe there those many yea continual devout divine breathings of soul after God his Fathers glory after the spiritual and immortal good of the precious souls of his redeemed ones Oh all the admirable meekness mercifulness clemency charity with all other excellent temperance rare composure wonderful order of his blessed soul O the sweet expressions gracious conversation O the glorious shine blessed lustre of his divine Soul Oh the sweet countenance sacred discourse ravishing demeanour winning deportment of Jesus Christ and now I reflect upon my self on alas Oh the total wide vast utter difference distance disproportion of mine there from I should punctually answer perfectly resemble accurately imitate exactly conform to this life of Christ but ah my unevenness lightness vanity Ah my rudeness grossness deformity odiousness sleightness contemptibleness execrableness Ah my sensuality brutishness devilishness how clearly are these and all other my enormities discovered discerned made evident and plain by the blessed and holy life of Jesus so true is that rule Contraria juxta se posita magis elucescunt Psal 103.1 3. Let us quicken provoke and incense our sluggish drousie souls to conform to Christ If we will but strictly observe our hearts we shall find them very backward to this duty and therefore let us call upon our souls as David did Bless the Lord O my soul Rom. 8.29 and let all that is within me bless his holy Name let us work upon our souls by reasoning with our own hearts as if we discoursed with them thus O my heart or O my soul if in the deep counsels of eternity this was Gods great design to make his Son like thee that thou also mightest be like his Son how then shouldest thou but endeavour to conform and what sayes the Apostle For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the Image of his Son this was one of his great purposes from eternity this law God set down before he made the world that I should conform to his Son and what O my soul would'st thou break the eternal bands of predestination O God forbid Again if this was one of the ends of Christ's coming to destroy the works of the devil to deface all Sathan's works especially his work in me his Image in me and to set his own stamp on my soul how then should I but endeavour to conform I read but of two ends of Christ's coming into the world in relation to us whereof the first was to redeem his people and the other was to purifie his people He gave himself for us Tit. 2.14 that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works the one is the work of his merit which goeth upward to the satisfaction of his Father the other is the work of his Spirit and grace which goeth downwards to the sanctification of his Church in the one he bestoweth his righteousness on us by imputation on the other he fashioneth his Image in as by renovation and what O my soul would'st thou destroy the end of Christ's coming in the flesh or would'st thou miss of that end for which Christ came in relation to thy good O God forbid Again consider the example of the Saints before thee if this was their holy ambition to be like their Jesus emulate them in this for this is a blessed emulation it is observable how the heathens themselves had learnt a rule very near to this Seneca Senec. Ep. 11. advised that every man should propound to himself the example of some wise and vertuous personage as Cato or Socrates or the like and really to take his life as the direction of all their actions but is not the life of Jesus far more precious and infinitely more worthy of imitation we read in history of one Cecilia a Virgin who accustomed her self to the beholding of Christ for imitation and to that purpose she ever carried in her breast some pieces of the Gospel which she had gathered out of all the Evangelists and thereon night and day she was either reading or meditating this work she carrried on in such a circulation that at last she grew perfect in it and so enjoyed Christ and the Gospel not only in her breast but also in the secrets of her heart as appeared by her love of Christ and confidence in Christ and familiarity with Christ Cant. 1.13 as also by her contempt of the world and all its glory for Christ his sake There is some resemblance of this in the Spouse when she resolved of Christ He shall lye all night betwixt my breast q. d. he shall be as near me as near may be my meditation of him and by consequence my imitation of him shall be constant and continual not only in the day but He shall lye all night betwixt my breasts What O my soul was this the practise of the Saints and wilt thou not be of that communion O God forbid thus let us quicken and provoke our souls to this conformity let us excite rouze incense awake and sharpen up our wretched sluggish drouzy lazy souls our faint feeble slâ—gging faultering drooping languishing affections desires endeavours let us with enlarged industry engage and encourage our backward and remiss spirits to fall upon this duty of conformity again and again let us come up higher towards it or if possibly we may compleatly to it that the same mind and mouth and life may be in us that was in Jesus Christ that we may be found to walk after Christ that we may tread in the very prints of the feet of Christ that we may climb up after him into the same hâ—â—ven Kingdom that we may aspire continually towards him and grow up to him even to the measure of the statuâ—e of the fulness of Christ 4. Let us regulate our selves by the life of Christ whatsoever action we go about let us do it by this rule what Would Christ have done this or at least Would Christ have allowed this It is true some things are expedient and lawful with us which were not sutable to the Person of Christ Marriage is honourable with all men and the bed undefiled but it did not befit his Person who came into the world only to spiritual purposes to beget sons and daughters writing of books is commendable with
bottomless they pass our understandings yet they recreate our hearts they give matter of admiration yet they are not devoid of consolation O God raise up our souls to thee and if our Spirits be too weak to know thee make our affections ardent and sincere to love thee Surely the death of Christ requires this and calls for this many other motives we may draw from Christ and many other motives are laid down in the Gospel and indeed the whole Gospel is no other thing than a motive to draw man to God by the force of God's love to man in this sense the holy Scriptures may be called the book of true love seeing therein God both unfolds his love to us and also binds our love to him but of all the motives we may draw from Christ and of all the arguments we may find in the Gospel of Christ there is none to this the death of Christ the blood of Jesus is not this such a love-letter as never never was the like read the words For his great love wherewith he loved us Ephes 2.4 or if you cannot read observe the Hyeroglyphicks every stripe is a letter every nail is a capital letter every bruise is a black letter his bleeding wounds are as so many rubricks to shew upon record Oh consider it is not this a great love are not all mercies wrapt up in the blood of Christ it may be thou hast riches honours friends means Oh but thank the blood of Christ for all thou hast it may be thou hast grace and that is better than corn or wine or oyl Oh but for this thank the blood of Jesus surely it was the blood of Christ that did this for thee thou wast a rebellious soul thou hast an hard and filthy heart but Christ's blood was the fountain opened and it took away all sin and all uncleanness Christ in all and Christ above all and wilt thou not love him Oh that all our words were words of love and all our labour labour of love and all our thoughts thoughts of love that we might speak of love and muse of love and love this Christ who hath first loved us with all our heart and soul and might what wilt thou not love Jesus Christ let me ask thee then whom wilt thou love or rather whom canst thou love if thou lovest not him if thou sayest I love my Friends Parents Wife Children Oh but love Christ more than these a friend would be an enemy but that the blood of Christ doth frame his heart a Wife would be a trouble but that the blood of Christ doth frame her heart all mercies are conveyed to us through this channel Oh who would not love the Fountain consider of it again and again our Jesus thought nothing too good for us he parts with his life and blood he parts with the sense and feeling of the love of God and all this for us and for our sakes Ah my soul how shouldst thou but love him in all things and by all means It is reported of Ignatius that he so continually meditated on the great things Christ suffered for him that he was brought entirely to love him and when he was demanded why he would not forsake Christ rather than suffer himself to be torn and devoured of wild beasts he answered that he could not forget him because of his sufferings Oh his sufferings said he are not transcient words or removable objects but they are indelible characters so engraven in my heart that all the torments of earth can never raze them out And being commanded by that bloody Tyrant Trajane to be ript and unbowelled they found Jesus Christ written upon his heart in Characters of Gold Here was an heart worth Gold Oh that it might be thus with us If my hands were all of love that I could work nothing but love if my eyes were all of love that I could see nothing but love if my mind were all of love that I could think of nothing but love all were too little to love that Christ who hath thus immeasurably loved me if I had a thousand hearts to bestow on Christ and they most enlarged and scrued up to the highest pitch of affection all these were infinitely short of what I owe to my dread Lord and dearest Saviour Come let 's joyn hands He loved us and therefore let us love him if we dispute the former I argue from the Jews when he shed but a few tears out of his eyes at Lazarus's grave then said the Jews John 11.36 behold how he loved him John 11.36 how much more truly may it be said of us for whom he shed both water and blood and that from his heart Behold how he loved us why then if our hearts be not Iron yea if they be Iron how should they chuse but feel the magnetical force of this Loadstone of love for to a Loadstone doth Christ resemble himself when he saith of himself And I if I be lifted up from the earth John 12.32 will draw all men unto me SECT VII Of joying in Jesus in that Respect 7. LEt us joy in Jesus as carrying on the great work of Salvation in his sufferings and death what hath Christ suffered for us hath he drunk off all the cup of God's wrath and left none for us how should we be but cheered Precious souls why are you afraid there is no death no hell Rom. 8.1 no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus There is no divine justice for them to undergo that have their share in this death of Christ Oh the Grace and Mercy that is purchased by this means of Christ Oh the waters of comfort that flow from the sufferings and obedience of Christ Christ was amazed that we might be cheered Christ was imprisoned that we might be delivered Christ was accused that we might be acquitted Christ was condemned that we might be redeemed Christ suffered his Fathers wrath and came under it that the victory might be ours and that in the end we might see him face to face in glory is not here matter of Joy It may be the Law and sin and justice and conscience and death and hell may appear as enemies and disturb thy comforts but is there not enough in the blood of Christ to chase them away Give me Leave but to frame the objections of some doubting souls and see whether Christ's death will not sufficiently answer and solve them all 1. One cries thus Oh I know not what will become of me my sins are ever before me against thee thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight Psal 51.3 4. I have sinned against a most dear and gracious and merciful God and Father in our Lord Jesus O the aggravations of my sins are they not sins above measure sinful It may be so but the blood of Christ is a fountain opened for sins and for uncleanness in him we have redemption through his blood
any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his but if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you then he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodyes and I may add your mortal souls by his spirit that dwelleth in you Christs Spirit if Christs resurrection be ours will have the same operation and effect in our souls that it had in his body as it raised up the one so it will raise up the other as it quickened the one so it will quicken the other But the question here will run on how shall we know whether we have received this quickning Spirit many pretend to the Spirit never more than at this day but how may we be assured that the Spirit is ours I answer 1. The Spirit is a Spirit of illumination here is the beginning of his work he begins in light as in the first creation the first-born of God's works was light Gen. 1.3 God said let there be light and there was light so in this new creation the first work is light God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined into our hearts 2 Cor. 4.6 to give the light of the knowledg of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ Hence the state of nature is called darkness and the state of grace is called light Ye were sometimes darkness but now ye have light in the Lord. Eph. 5.8 1 Pet. 2.9 And he hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light There is a light in the mind and a light in the heart of those who have the Spirit of Christ there is a speculative and an affective knowledg not only to know the truth but to love it believe it embrace it O my soul wouldst thou know whether Christs Spirit be thine consider and see then whether any of this new light of Jesus Christ hath shined into thy heart take heed deceive not thy self thou mayest have a great deal of wit and knowledg and understanding and yet go to hell this light is a light shining into thy heart this light is a Christ-discovering light this light is a sin-discoverings light this light will cause thee to find out thy hypocrisy deadness dulness in spiritual duties if thou hast not this light thou art near to eternal burnings darkness is one of the properties of hell and without this light inward darkness will to utter darkness where is nothing but weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth 2. This quickening spirit is a spirit of faith as it reveals Christ so it inclines mens hearts to close with Christ upon those Gospel-terms as he is offered I know there are degrees and measures of faith but the least measure of faith is a desiring panting breathing after the Lord Jesus and no sooner hath the soul received that new light from the spirit of Christ but it is presently at the same instant exceedingly affected with Jesus Christ O it desires Christ above all desires I know not a more undeceiving sign than this read over the whole Bible and where ever there was any soul-saving discoveries there ever followed inward desires soul-longings after Jesus Christ when Paul preached of the resurrection of Christ some there were that mocked jeered and slighted that doctrine but others whose heart the Lord stirred they were exceedingly taken with it saying we will hear thee again of this matter yea this very Sermon so wrought on some that they believed among whom was Dyonysius the Areopagite a woman named Damaris and others with them Acts 17.32 34. and when he preaced another Sermon on the same subject at Antioch the Jews were much offended but the Gentiles were so exceedingly taken with it that they besought Paul that these words the very same resurrection Sermon might be preached to them the next Sabbath day Their very hearts did so long after Christ whom Paul had preached that when the congregation was broken up Acts 13.42 many of the Jews and religious Procelites followed Paul and Barnabas and the next Sabbath day came almost the whole City together to hear the same Sermon O my soul 43. dost thou hear these Sermons of Christs resurrection dost thou hear sweet-Gospel-preaching 44. dost thou hear the free tenders and offers of Christ with all his glory and excellency to poor sinners to vile lost undone souls and art thou no whit taken with them canst thou sleep away such Sermons as these hast thou no heart-risings no stirrings workings longings desires in thy soul O take heed this is a dangerous case but on the contrary if thou sayest in thy heart Oh that I could hear this Sermon again O the sweet vertues of Christs resurrection I had not thought such honey could have dropped out of this rock O the blessed beginnings and springings of grace which I felt in my soul on such a meditation Oh the desire the delight O the longings O the comforts of Christs resurrection O the drawings of the Spirit inclining my heart to receive Jesus Christ to close with him and to rest on him and to give up my self to him why this Spirit of faith doth argue thy title and interest to the quickening spirit of Christ 3. Thy quickening Spirit is a Spirit of sanctification such was the Spirit whereby Christ was raised he was declared mightily to be the Son of God Rom. 1.4 according to the Spirit of sanctification by the resurrection from the dead That same Spirit which raised up Jesus Christ was that same divine Spirit which sanctified his humane nature wherein it dwelt and such is that quickening Spirit to all in whom it dwelleth it is a Spirit of holiness and it works holiness changing the heart and turning the bent of it from sin to holiness 2 Cor. 5.17 If any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are passed away behold all things are become new q. d. When once the believer is by an act of faith passed over unto Christ there goes immediately from the Spirit of Christ into his soul an effectual power which alters and changes the frame of the whole man now he is not the same that he was he is changed in his company in his discourse in his practise he is changed in his nature judgment will affections he is sanctified throughout in soul body and Spirit O my soul try thy self by this sign dost thou find such an inward change wrought in the soul dost thou find the law of God a law of holiness written on thy hearr dost thou find a law within thee contrary to the law of sin commanding with authority that which is holy and good so that thou canst say with the Apostle I delight in the law of God after the inward man Rom. 7.23 25. Rom. 8.1 and with my mind I my self serve the law of God if so surely this is no other but the
particulars 1 He came suddenly which either shews the Majesty of the Miracle that is gloriously done which is suddenly done or the truth of the miracle there could be no imposture or fraud in it when the motion of it was so sudden or the purpose of the miracle which was to awake and affect them to whom it came usually sudden things startle us and make us look up We may learn to receive those holy motions of the spirit which sometimes come suddenly and we know not how I am perswaded the man breathes not amongst us Christians that sometimes feels not the stirrings movings breathings of the spirit of God Oh that men would take heed of despising present motions Oh that men would take the wind while it blows and the water while the Angel moves it as not knowing when it will or whether ever it will blow again 2. He came from heaven the place seems here to commend the gift as from earth earthly things arise so from heaven heavenly spiritual eternal things And this is one sign to distinguish the spirits Beloved believe not every spirit 1 John 4.1 but try the spirits whether they are of God If our motions come from heaven if we fetch our grounds thence from heaven from Religion from the sanctuary it is the spirit of God or if it carry us heaven-ward if it make us heavenly minded if it wean us from the world and if it elevate and set our affections on heavenly things if it form and frame our conversations towards heaven we may then conclude the motions are not from below but from above O that Christians would be much in observation of and in listning to the movings workings hints and intimations of that Spirit that comes from heaven Certainly that Spirit is of God that comes down from heaven and that lifts up our Souls towards heaven 3. He comes down from heaven like a wind The comparison is most apt of all bodily things the wind is least bodily it is invisible and comes nearest to the nature of a Spirit it is quick and active as the Spirit is But more especially the holy Ghost is compared to a wind in respect of its irresistable workings as nothing can resist the wind it goes and blows which way soever it will so nothing can resist the Spirit of God wheresoever it hath a purpose to work efficaciously I will not say but the heart of a man may resist and reject the work of the Spirit in some measure Act. 7.51 2 Cor. 10.5 and in some degrees Stephen told the Jews they had always resisted the holy Ghost and the Apostle tells of strong holds and of every high thing that exalteth it self against God so there is a natural contrariety a constant enmity and active resisting of Gods Spirit by our spirits we must therefore distinguish between a prevalent and a gradual resisting the spirit in conversion so works that he takes away the prevalent but not the gradual resisting A man before he be converted is froward and full of cavils and prejudices he is unwilling to be saved he cannot abide the truth he doth what he can to stifle all good motions yet if he belong to the election of grace God will at last over-master his heart and make him of unwilling willing he will omnipotently bow and change the will and work on his soul by his mighty power efficaciously insuperably and irresistably Again the holy Ghost is compared to wind John 3.8 in respect of its free actings the wind bloweth where it listeth saith Christ and so the Spirit bloweth where it listeth who can give any reason why the Spirit breathes so sweetly on Jacob and not on Esau on Peter and not on Judas is it not the free grace and good pleasure of God springs it not from the meer freedom and pure arbitrariness of his own only workings to you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven saith Christ but to them it is not given Mat. 13.11 And I thank thee O Father Lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent Mat. 11.25 26 and hast revealed them unto babes even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight These and the like Texts are as so many hammars to beat in pieces all those Doctrines of free-will and of the power of man to supernatural things grace makes no gain of mans work free-will may indeed move and run but if it be to good it must be moved and driven and breathed upon God's free grace The Spirit blows where it listeth 4. He came like a rushy mighty wind as the wind is sometimes of that strength that it rends and rives in sunder Mountains and Rocks it pulls up trees it blows down buildings so are the operations of the holy Spirit it takes down all before it it brings into captivity many an exalting thought it made a Conquest of the World beginning at Jerusalem and spreading it self over all the earth it is mighty in operation able to shake the stoutest and the proudest man and to break in pieces the very stoniest heart indeed our words without this spirit are but weak wind we may spend our selves and never waken Souls but if the Spirit blow he will amaze the consciences of the stoutest peers and drive away our sins as the wind drove away the Grashoppers and Locusts that over-spread the land of Aegypt Some Analogy there is betwixt this vehement wind and the spirits workings the spirit first comes as a spirit of bondage and then as a spirit of Adoption the spirit of bondage is as a vehement wind that terrifies to shew that we are not fit to receive the grace of God unless the door be first opened by fear and humiliation others say that the vehement rushing of this wind shewed how irresistably the Apostles should proceed in preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ they had a Commission to go into all the World and to teach all Nations and they had a promise that though many might oppose yet the gates of hell should not prevail against the Church the spirit should go along with them and he in them and they in him should prevail mightily like a rushing mighty wind 5. He filled all the house where they were sitting there were none there that were to filled with the holy Ghost this room contained a congregation of none but Saints All the men and women an hundred and twenty as some think in this room were visited from on high for the holy Ghost came upon them and dwelt in them well might David say Blessed are they that dwell in thy house I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God then to dwell in the Tents of wickedness They that abode in this house were under a promise that the Spirit should come and now was the promise accomplished for it filled all the house where they were sitting I say
exceeding profitable Only concerning the manner of the indwelling of this spirit in us it is most difficult to conceive Certainly it dwells not in us as in Christ viz. bodily Col. 2.9 unmeasurably Joh. 3.34 Originally 2 Cor. 3.17 the spirit is in Christ as light in the sun but the spirit is in us as light in the air In Christo ut lux in sole in nobis ut lumen in aere Ezek. 36.27 37.14 neither dare I affirm that the spirit is in us more essentially than in any other men or creatures for the essence thereof is indivisible and omnipresent But this I say that the spirit is in the faithful above all others 1. In respect of Covenant the Saints have the spirit by God's free Grace and Covenant I will put my spirit within you saith God in the Covenant which is not only to be understood of the gifts and graces of the spirit but also of the spirit it self 2. In respect of intimate familiarity and near acquaintance the spirit is in the faithful like an inmate or coinhabitant comforting directing ruling strengthning and cherishing them in which respect they are said to be his houses and Temples in which he dwelleth whereas contrariwise worldlings and infidels to all these purposes are meer strangers unto him the world cannot receive him saith Christ because it seeth him not neither knoweth him John 14.17 but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you 3. In respect of vertue and efficacy the spirit works efficaciously in his Saints he chooseth them for his own people he possesseth them as of his own right he rules in their hearts as in the chief seat of his Kingdom he purgeth and purifieth them from their sins he replenisheth and filleth them with his saving graces he guides and directs them in the way of holiness and never leaves them till he brings them to his Kingdom 4. In respect of union it was an old errour of the heathens that the soul remaineth in the body after Death which opinion of theirs though false because it contradicts the Word yet the thing it self is possible and doth not contradict reason for the soul may have its local being in the body and yet not give life to the body for it is not the souls being in the body but its being united to the body which makes the body live so it is not the Spirits being locally with the soul but being mystically united to the soul that gives it spiritual life Now in all these respects the spirit is in the faithful above all others I know the objections As 1. If the Spirit be united to a believers soul and so made one with him then may a believer say I am the spirit or I am equal with God in respect of the spirit in me though not as Peter Thomas c. But I answer this follows not for though the spirit be really united to a believers spirit so that he may say with the Apostle 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit or hath one spirit yet first this union is a voluntary act and not a natural act and in that respect the Spirit may unite himself to the soul so far as he pleaseth and no further And certainly thus far he is not pleased to unite himself to a believer as that a believer should say properly I am the Spirit or I am equal with God in respect of the spirit for then a believer might be worshipped with Divine worship 2. This union is by way of application and not by way of mixture if an heap of Wheat and a stone should be joyned together there is an union they make both one heap but the Wheat cannot say I am a stone nor can the stone say I am wheat because this union is only by way of Application but if Wine and Water should be joyned together then every part may say I am Water and I am Wine because this union is not only by application but by way of mixture Certainly there is a great union betwixt the Spirit and a believers soul yet cannot the believer say properly I am the Spirit or I am equal with God because their union is only by way of application and not by way of mixture 2. Object No more was the union of Christ as God with our nature as man any union by way of mixture yeâ— could he say I am God and I am man But I answer Christ's union was not only spiritual or mystical but hypostatical or personal and in that respect though there was no mixture yet there was such an union as cannot be parallel'd in all the world Our souls union with the spirit of Christ goes very far and indeed so far as we cannot express it though we had the tongues and heads and hearts of men and Angels yet comes it short of that union betwixt the second person in the Trinity and the soul and body of Christ his union was personal but so is not ours a believer is a person before he is united to the spirit of Christ but now Christ's soul and body were not a person before united to the person of the Godhead Go we therefore as far as we can and I shall easily yeild that our union with the spirit is a true real essential substantial spiritual invisible mystical intimate union yet is it not a personal or hypostatical union the spirit doth not assume the soul or body of a believer as the second person assumed the soul and body of Christ Away away with these cavils and blasphemies wherewith too many unstable souls are now infected I have done with this Reason 4. That the holy Ghost might according to his Office endow men with gifts no sooner he bestows his person but immediatly he fills us with his train Now the gifts of the Spirit are of these two sorts some are common to good and bad others are proper to the Elect only Those gifts which are common are again two-fold for some of them are given but to certain men and at certain times as the gift of Miracles of Tongues of Prophesies and these were necessary for the Apostles and the Primitive Church when the Gospel was first to be dispersed others are given to all the members of the Church and at all times as the gifts of Interpretation Sciences Arts Prudence Learning Knowledg Eloquence and such like the former gifts we have not but these latter are now given to every member of the Church according to the measure of Christ's gift as the calling and vocation of every member needeth As for those gifts and saving graces which are proper to the godly I shall speak of them anon Now here is another reason of the spirits mission Eph. 4.8 that he might give gifts unto men if you ask what are those gifts the Apostle tells you in one place He gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists v. 11. and
grace well may we cry come holy Spirit Oh what a comfortable condition would it be if our Spirits never lay still but we were alwayes hungring thirsting or moving after God and goodness 6. That the holy Ghost might according to his Office comfort his Saints amidst all their afflictions this was that which Christ had so often told his Apostles John 14.16 V. 18. V. 26. John 15.26 I will not leave you comfortless I will come unto you And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall testifie of me John 16.17 If I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you But how is it that the spirit comforts Saints I answer in these particulars †See at large Dr. Reynolds on Psal 116. 1. The Spirit discovers sin and bends the heart to mourn for sin and such a sorrow as this is the seed and matter of true comfort as Josephs heart was full of joy when his eyes poured out tears on Benjamin's neck so there is a certain seed and matter of joy in spiritual mourning I know they are contrary but yet they may be subordinate to each other as a dark and muddy colour may be a fit ground to lay gold upon Certainly there is a sweet complacency in an humble and spiritual heart to be vile in its own eyes But especially the fruit of it is joy and great joy John 16.21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow because her hour is come but as soon as she is delivered of her Child she remembreth no more the anguish for joy that a man is born into the World 22. and ye now therefore have sorrow but I will see you again and your heart shall rejoyce and your joy no man taketh from you 2. The Spirit doth not only discover but heal the corruptions of the soul and there is no comfort to the comfort of a saved and cured man the lame man that was restored by Peter expressed the abundant exaltation of his heart by leaping and praising God Act. 3.8 and for this cause the Spirit is called the Oyl of gladness because by that healing vertue that is in him he makes glad the hearts of men 3. The Spirit doth not only heal but renew and revive again when an eye is smitten with a sword there is a double mischief a wound made and a faculty perished and here though a Chirurgeon can heal the wound yet he can never restore the faculty because total privations admit no regress or recovery But the spirit doth not only heal and repair but renew and re-edifie the spirits of men as he healeth that which was torn and bindeth up that which was broken so he reviveth and raiseth up that which was dead before Hos 6.1.2 And this the Apostle calls the renovation of the Spirit Tit. 3.5 Now this renovation must needs be matter of great joy for so the Lord comforts his afflicted people O thou afflicted tossed with tempest Isa 54.11 12. and not comforted behold I will lay thy stones with fair colours and lay thy foundations with Saphyres and I will make thy windows of Agates and thy gates of Carbuncles and all thy borders of pleasant stones The meaning is that all must be new and new built up as for a goodly costly and stately structure 4. The spirit doth not only renew and set the frame of the heart aright and then leave it to it self but being thus restored he abideth with it to preserve and support it and to make it victorious against all tempests and batteries and this further multiplyeth the joy and comfort of the heart victory is ever the ground of joy Isa 9.3 They joy before thee as men rejoyce when they divide the spoyle And the spirit of God is a victorious spirit A bruised reed shall he not break and smoaking flax shall he not quench Mat. 12.20 till he send forth judgment unto victory 5. The spirit doth not only preserve the heart which he hath renewed but he makes it fruitfull and abundant in the work of the Lord. And fruitfulness is a ground of comfort Sing O barren thou that didst not bear break forth into singing Isa 54.1 and cry aloud thou that didst not travail with Child for more are the Children of the desolate than the Children of the married Wife saith the Lord. 6. The Spirit doth not only make the heart fruitful but gives it the hansel and earnest of its inheritance and thereby it begets a lively hope an earnest expectation a confident attendance upon the promises and an unspeakable peace and comfort thereupon Oh when I feel a drop of heavens Joy shed abroad into my soul by the Holy Ghost and that I look upon this as a taste of glory and a forerunner of happiness how should I but rejoyce with joy unspeakable in all these respects the Spirit is our Comforter and this is another reason why the Holy Ghost is sent I will not leave you comfortless saith Christ no no for I will come unto you by my spirit Eph. 4.30 7. That the Holy Ghost might according his Office seal us unto the day of redemption By sealing is meant some work of the Spirit by which he assurâ—s a believer that he is Gods it is all one with the spirits witnessing only under that notion I shall speak of it another time But all the question is what is that work of the spirit by which he assures I answer this work is many-fold As 1. There is a reflex work of faith and this is the work of the Spirit too assuring our souls of our good estate to God-ward 1 John 5.10 and Christ-ward He that believeth hath the witness in himself he carries in his heart the Counterpane of all the promises this is the first seal or if you will the first degree of the Spirits sealing the first discovery of our election is manifested to us in our believing as many saith the Text as were ordained to eternal life believed Acts 13.48 2. There is a work of sanctifying grace upon the heart and this is a seal of the Spirit also 2 Tim. 2.19 for whom the Spirit sanctifieth he saveth The Lord knoweth who are his saith the Apostle ay but how should we know it why by this seal as it follows Let every one that Nameth the Name of the Lord depart from iniquity none are children of God by adoption but those that are Children also by regeneration none are heirs of Heaven 2 Pet. 1.3 4. but they are new born to it Blessed be
he did this alone and it constituted the difference betwixt him as he was high Priest and other Priests for they killed and offered the Sacrifices without as well as he but only the high Priest was to approach the holy of hollies with blood and that but once a year 2. This was Typified by Melchizedech's Priest-hood which the Apostle argues to have been much more excellent then that of Aaron's in as much as Levi Aarons Father payed Tythes to this Melchizedech in Abrahams loyns now Melchizedech was his Type not so much in respect of his Oblation or offering Sacrifice as in respect of his continual presentation and intercession in heaven and therefore the same clause for ever still comes in when Melchizedech is named thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedech Heb. 5.6 7.17 Here then is the agreement betwixt Christ and the high-Priests of old in respect of name both were Priests and in respect of Office both had their oblations and presentations or intercessions with God in Glory 3. In the point of Intercession they agreed in these particulars 1. The high-Priest of old usually once a year went into the most Holy place within the vail and so is Christ our great high-Priest passed into the Heavens within the Vail even into the holy of holies Christ by his own blood entred in once into the holy place Not into the holy places made with hands Heb. 9.12 24. which are the Figures of the true but into heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us 2. The high-Priests of old had a plate of pure Gold upon their Fore-heads which was to bear the iniquity of the holy things that they might be accepted before the Lord Exod. 28.38 and so doth Christ bear the iniquity of our holy things Spiritual Christians here is your comfort you are not able to perform any duty to God but there is a great deal of sin in the same you cannot hear nor pray nor confer nor meditate without much sin but Christ bears all these sins even the iniquity of your holy things and he presents your persons and prayers without the least spot to his Father he is the Angel of the Covenant that stands at the Altar Rev. 8.3 having a golden Censer with much incense to offer it with the prayers of his Saints and so they are acceptable before the Lord. 3. The Jewish high-Priests bore the names of the Children of Israel on a breast-plate of judgment upon their hearts for a memorial before the Lord continually Exod. 28.29 and so doth Christ our great high-Priest bear the names of his people upon his heart before the Lord continually But how is Christ said to bear the names of the Saints upon his heart I answer 1. Continually in presenting of them to his Father as they are in him how is that why he represents them without spot as righteous in his own righteousness Ephes 5.27 Christ loved the Church that he might present it to his Father and in him to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish 2. In this continual remembring of them Psal 112.6 the righteous shall be had in continual remembrance this is the souls comfort in a time of desertion or in an evil day Psal 13.1 if any cry out as sometimes David did how long wilt thou forget me Lord for ever how long wilt thou hide thy face from me Isa 40.14 15 16. Let such a one remember that Christ's redeemed ones are upon his heart and he can not forget them But Zion said the Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me Oh no! can a woman forget her suckling child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb yea they may forget yet I will not forget thee behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands thy walls are continually before me the Sons of Zion are upon Christ's heart and hands and they are ever in his sight 3. In his perpetual loving of them they are near and dear unto him he hath set them as a Seal upon his heart so was the prayer of the Spouse set me as a Seal upon thine heart Cant. 8.6 as a Seal upon thine arme and then it follows for love is as strong as death Christ hath an entire love to his Saints he dyed for them and now he intercedes for them he keeps them close to his heart and there is none shall pluck them out of his hands John 13.1 for whom he loves he loves unto the end Thus far of the agreement betwixt Christ's intercessions and the intercessions of the high Priests of old SECT VI. What the difference is betwixt Christ's intercessions and the intercessions of the high Priests of old 6. VVHat is the difference betwixt Christ's Intercessions and the intercessions of the high Priests of old There is no question but howsoever they might agree in some respects yet Christ officiates in a more transcendent and eminent way then ever any high Priest did before him now the difference betwixt Christ and them and betwixt Christ's Intercessions and their Intercessions may appear in these particulars Heb. 4.14 1. They were called high Priests but Christ is called the great high Priest such a Title was never given to any but Christ whence the Apostle argues for the steadfastness of our profession seeing then that we have a great high Priest that is passed into the heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our profession 2. The high-Priests then were Aaron and his Sons but Christ our great high-Priest is the Son of God for so he is styled in the same verse the great high-Priest that is passed into the heavens Heb. 4.14 Jesus the Son of God 3. The high-Priests then were but for a time but Christ is a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedech Heb. 5.6 Heb. 7.3 Melchizedech saith the Apostle was without Father without Mother without descent having neither beginning of days nor end of life That is as far as it is known and so is Christ without a Father on earth and without a Mother in Heaven without beginning and without end he abides a Priest perpetually even to the end of the World yea and the vertue of his Priesthood is infinitely beyond all time even for ever and ever 4. The high-Priests then entred only into that place that was Typically holy but Christ is entred into that place that is properly holy he is entred into the Heavens or if you will as into the holy of holies so into the heaven of heavens 5. The high Priests then did not always intercede for the people only once a year the high Priest entred into the holy of holies and after he had sprinkled the mercy-seat with blood and caused a cloud to rise upon the mercy-seat with his
meet 2 Thes 1.3 because that your faith groweth exceedingly and the charity of every one of you all towards each other aboundeth Christians if we did but consider that every duty done to God or Man that every penny given to a poor naked Saint that every cup of cold water given to a Prophet in the name of a Prophet should not lose his reward but this day should be reckoned up or drawn as it were into a full Inventory Imprimis For this piece of silver given such a day to such a one Item For this piece of bread such a day given to such a one c. Oh who would not abound in faith and love oh who would think any thing too much too good too dear to give to the needy members of Jesus Christ there is a charge laid upon Ministers to preach this Doctrine I beseech you give me leave to discharge my duty and to lay it and leave it at your doors where beggars usually stand 1 Tim. 6.17 18 19. Charge them that are rich in this world that they do good that they be rich in good works ready to destribute willing to communicate laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life You to whom God hath given the riches of this world as you would meet Christ with comfort learn this lessen consider whether of these too reckonings will be more comfortable at that day Item So much given to such and such a religious use or so much given towards such a Feast and for the entertainment of such brave gallants so much to promote the Gospel or so much at Dice Cards Horse-races if one should tell you that either you must feed Christ in the poor or you must starve in Hell you must either cloath naked Christ in the poor or you must be laid naked to the fiery indignation of the Lord for ever oh what strictness would you call this but I recollect my self if Christ set you at his right hand he will then recount all your charities and all your labours of love to the Saints you that are poor and had nothing to give he will tell you of your good works if it was no more but at such a time you cast a mite into his Treasury and at such a time you carried a Letter for the Lord Jesus he will produce and commend these pittances of your poor charities to all the world 2. Nor only good works to man but all the Saints duties to God shall come in remembrance Oh then it will be known who served the Lord in spirit and truth and who did not then Men and Angels shall know such a day this poor Saints performed such a spiritual service every prayer in publick or private every tear shed for sin every sob or sigh every spiritual meditation or self-examination every glance ejaculation or looking unto Jesus shall be recounted by Jesus It was said of Cornelius Act. 10.4 that as well his prayers to God as his alms to men came up for a memorial before God certainly every duty in reference to the first table is booked in Heaven and at this day the book being opened it will appear that such a prayer thou madest such a morning and such an evening in thy closet Mat. 6.6 and now will Christ say Did not I tell thee that if thou wouldst pray to thy Father in secret then he that saw thee in secret should reward thee openly why now shalt thou have thy reward in a full view I will divulge here all thy secret duties to Men and Angels all the world shall know it thy wandrings I told them Psal 56.8 and thy tears I bottled them lo here are they not all written in my Book 3. Nor onely duties but graces shall now be rehearsed thy Knowledge Faith Hope Love spiritual Joy thy Fear Obedience Repentance Humility Meekness Patience Zeal Perseverance shall be fully discovered time was that in the incense of such a Prayer many sweet spices were burned together therein was Faith working by Love therein was Humility therein was Patience in submiting to God's will and pleasure therein was Hope of a gracious answer in God's due time therein was Holiness brokenness of Heart Cant. 5.1 and love to others c. Time was saith Christ that I gathered my myrr with my spices that I eat my honey-comb with my honey that I both accepted and delighted my self in thy heavenly graces I shall never forget how thou didst ravish my heart my sister my spouse how thou dost ravish my heart with one of thine eyes and with one chain of thy neck Why thus shall the Lord set forth and tell all the world what gracious children he had then will appear indeed the Meekness of Moses the Faith of Abraham the Patience of Job the Zeal of Phineas the Love of Magdalen and according to the measure of grace conferred upon thee Christ will set thee out We commend the graces of such and such Saints at their death but oh let Christ blazon me and his graces in me at the resurrection-day Thus far for the Exploration or trial before sentence Mat. 25.24 2. For the sentence it self then shall the King say to them on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Every word here is full of life and joy 1. Come this is the King's invitation of his Saints to his Court he had summoned them before to his presence and now they are about him he will not part with them they must come a little nearer yet they must go with him into his presence chamber the mansions are ready the Supper of the Lamb is ready and now he begins the solemn invitation to his bride Come 2. Come ye blessed of my Father Christ blessed them when he went up to Heaven Luke 6.20 21. and whiles yet on earth he pronounced them blessed many a time Blessed be ye poor Blessed are ye that hunger Blessâ—d are ye that weep but now he calls them the blessed of his Father not onely Christ but God the Father hath ever looked upon them as his children it is the Father's will as well as Christ's that they should be blessed Ye blessed of my Father Luke 12 32. Rom. 8.17 3. Inherit the Kingdom Christ had told them before It is your Father's pleasure to give you the Kingdom but then they were only as servants or as children under age but now they are heirs Eph. 4.13 Heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ and now they are come to full age To the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ and therefore they must have the inheritance in possession they must all be Kings this very word speaks them Kings and makes them Kings it is the solemn coronation of the Saints It is the anointing the setting of the Crown upon
apt to listen to his doubts that in the conclusion I know not how to extricate my self Person Sayst thou so surely in this case there 's no cure no remedy but onely the testimony of God's Spirit but saith not the Apostle Rom. 8.16 That the spirit of it self bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God if a Man or Angel or Archangel should promise Heaven peradventure thou mightest doubt but if the Supream Essence of the Spirit of God bear witness within what room for doubting why this voice of the spirit is the very voice of God hark then enquire O my soul if thou hast but this testimony of the spirit thou art sure enough Soul Oh that it were thus with me oh that the spirit would even now give me to drink of the wells of salvation oh that the spirit would testifie it home oh that he would shine upon and enlighten all those graces which he hath planted in me fain would I come to the highest pitch of hope oh that I could look upon the things hoped for as certainly future Person Thou sayst well O my soul and if these wishes be real then pour out thy self unto God in prayer this was the Apostles method Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing Rom. 15.13 that ye may abound in hope through the power of the holy Ghost let this be thy practise pray as he prayed pray thou for thy self as he prayed for others if an earthly Father will hearken to his child Luk. 11.13 how much more will God the Father give the spirit to them that ask the spirit of him Soul Why if this be it to thee Lord do I come O give me the Spirit the witness of the Spirit the first-fruits of the spirit the sealing of the spirit the earnest of the spirit O give me the spirit and let the spirit give me this hope O the hope of Israel and Saviour thereof in the time of trouble why shouldst thou be as a stranger in my soul and as a way-faring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night Come O come and dwell in my soul Come and blow on my garden that the spices thereof may flow out come and fill me with a livelv hope yea Lord excite and quicken and stir up my soul to act this hope yea so illighten or shine upon my hope that I may know that I hope and know that I joyfully expect and wait for the coming of Christ O Let me hear thy voice Say unto my soul I am and will be thy salvation Person Well now thou hast prayed Psal 35.3 O my soul Come tell me dost thou feel nothing stir is there nothing at all in thee that assures thee of this assurance of hope is there no life in thy affections no spark that takes hold on thy heart to set it on flame no comfort of the spirit no joy in the holy Ghost Soul Yes methinks I feel it now begin to work the Spirit that hath breathed this prayer into me comes in as Comforter O now that I realize Christ's coming and my resurrection Psal 16.9 I cannot but conclude with David Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth and my flesh also shall rest in hope Oh what an earnest is this what a piece hath the spirit put into my hand of the great sum promised not onely that he in great mercy promised me Heaven but because he doth not put me into a present possession he now gives me an earnest of my future inheritance Why surely all is sure unless the earnest deceive me and what shall I dispute the truth of the earnest oh God forbid the stamp is too well known to be mistrusted this seal cannot be counterfeit because it is agreeable with the Word I find in my self an hope a true sincere hope though very weak I find upon trial that I am regenerate that I look and long for the second coming of Jesus that I love his appearance even before hand that my works though imperfect are sincere and true that I believe on the Name of the Son of God and flesh and blood could never work these duties or these graces in me it is only that good spirit of my God which hath thus sealed me up to the day of redemption Away away despair trouble me no longer with a musing thoughts I will henceforth if the Lord enable walk confidently and chearfully in the strength of this assurance and joyfully expect the full accomplishment of my happy contract from the hands of Christ The Lord is my portion therefore will I hope in him Lam. 3.24 25 26. the Lord is good to them that wait for him to the soul that seeketh him it is good that I both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord It is good that I hope to the end 1 Pet. 1.13 for the grace that is to be brought unto me at the revelation of Jesus Christ SECT V. Of believing in Jesus in that respect 5. LET us believe in Jesus as carrying on the great work of our salvation in his second coming Now this believing in Christ is more than hoping in Christ Faith eyes things as present but hope eyes things as future and hence the Apostle describes faith to the substance of things hoped for Heb. 11.1 it is the substance foundation or prop which upholds the building or it is the substance essence existence of things hoped for and consequently absent and a far off to be by a firm apprehension of the believer as already present and real And this is as necessary as the former oh if we could but see things now as they shall appear at that last general day of Judgment how mightily would they work upon our souls I verily think the want of this work of faith is the cause almost of all the evil in the world and the acting of Faith on this subject would produce fruits even to admiration If we could but see that glory of God in Christ and those glorious treasures of mercies that shall then be communicated if we could but see those dreadful evils that are now threatned and shall then be fulfilled would not this draw the hardest heart under Heaven come let us act faith this day as if this day were the last day a thousand years are but as one day to faith it takes hold upon eternal life whensoever it acts it takes present possession of the glorious things of the Kingdom of God even now O then let us believe in Jesus in reference to his second coming to judgment But how should we believe what directions to act our saith on Jesus in this respect I answer 1. Faith must directly go to Christ 2. Faith must go to Christ as God in the flesh 3. Faith must go to Christ as God in the flesh made under the Law 4. Faith must go to Christ made under the