with which Christ was to deal after his ascending for them And because when before his death he had spoken of his going to his Father their hearts had been troubled Iohn 14. 28. they thinking it was for his owne preferment onely as Christs speech there implyes they did therefore he here distinctly addes I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God He had in effect spoken as much before in the words fore-going Goe tell my Brethren but that was onely implicitely therefore more plainly and explicitely he sayes it for their further comfort I goe to my Father and your Father And consider that Christ being now newly risen and having as yet not seen his Disciples and being now to send a message his first message a Gospel of good tidings to them and that in a briefe sentence by a woman he chooseth out this as the first word to be spoken from him now when he was come out of the other world at their first heare-say of his return he utters forth at once the bottome the depth of all comfort the summe of all joy then which the Gospel knows no greater nor can go higher So as if Christ should intend now at this day to send good news from Heaven to any of you it would be but this I am here an Advocate interceding with my Father and thy Father All is spoken in that Even He could not speake more comfort who is the God of comfort Now therefore let us apart consider these two relations which afford each of them their proper comfort and assurance both that Christ is ascended and intercedes with his own Father and also with Our Father and therefore how prevailing must this Intercession be First 1. That Christ intercedes with his Father Christ intercedes with his Father who neither will nor can deny him any thing To confirme this you have a double Testimony and of two of the greatest witnesses in Heaven both a Testimony of Christs owne whilst he was on Earth and Gods own word also declared since Christ came to Heaven The 1. in the 11. of Iohn whilst Christ was here on earth and had not as then fully performed that great service which he was to finish which since he having done it must needs ingratiate him the more vvith God his Father When Lazarus was now foure dayes dead Martha to move Christ to pittie her first tels him that if he had been there before her brother dyed that then he had not dyed and then as having spoke too little shee adds yea thou canst if thou pleasest remedie it yet But I know sayes she ver 22. that even now though he be so long dead what ever thou wilt ask of God God will give it thee Here was her confidence in Christs Intercession though this were a greater worke then ever yet CHRIST had done any And Christ seeing her faith in this he confirmes her speech when he came to raise him and takes a solemn occasion to declare that God had never denyed him any request that he had ever put up to him first thanking God particularly that he had heard him in this ver 41. Father I thank thee that thou hast heard me He had it seems prayed for the thing at her entreaty and now before the thing was done he being assured his prayer was heard gives thanks so confident was he of his being heard And then secondly shews upon what this his confidence at this time was grounded his constant experience that God had never denyed him any request for it follows ver 42. And I know that thou hearest me alwayes and therefore was so bold as to expresse my confidence in this before the thing was done but because of them who stood by I said it As if hee had said Though I gave this publique thanks for being heard onely in this one miracle and at no time the like so publiquely yet this is no new thing but thus it hath been alwayes hitherto in all the miracles I have wrought and requests I have put up which made me so to give thanks before-hand and this is not the first time that God hath heard me thus which I speak that they might beleeve Thus he was never denyed on earth from the first to the last For this was one of his greatest miracles and reserved unto the last even a few dayes before his crucifying And now he hath performed the service designed him and is come to heaven let us secondly heare God himselfe speake what hee meanes to doe for him You heard before when he came first to heaven what God said to him and how he welcommed him with a Sit thou at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy foot-stool And before Christ opened his mouth to speak a word by way of any request to God which was the office that he was now to execute God himselfe prevented him and added Thou art my Sonne this day have I begotten thee Ask of me and I will give thee Psal 2. ver 8. He speaks it at Christs first comming up to heaven when he had his King on his holy hill as ver 6. Christ was new glorifyed which was as a new begetting to him To day have I begotten thee And this is as if he had said I know you will ask me now for all that you have dyed for and this I promise you before-hand before you speak a word or make any request unto me you shall ask nothing but it shall be granted and this I speak once for all as a boone and a grace granted you upon your birth-day as the solemnest celebration of it for such was his Resurrection and Ascensision and sitting at Gods right hand This day have I begotten thee Ask of mee and I will give thee So full of joy was his Fathers heart that he had his Sonne in Heaven with him whom he had begotten from everlasting and ordained to this glory who was lately dead and in a manner lost and therefore now as it were new begotten Gods heart was so full that he could not hold from expressing it in the largest favours and grants And whereas Kings upon their own birth-dayes use to grant such favours to their favourites So Herod on his birth-day to the Daughter of Herodias promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask Mat. 14. 7. God himselfe having no birth-day nor being of himselfe capable of it yet having a Sonne who had he honours him with that grace upon that day and if Q. Esther a Subject yea a slave in her originall condition was so prevalent for the Iews her People and Nation when their case was desperate and when there was an irrevocable decree past and that not to be altered for their ruine and destruction then what will not Christ so great a Sonne even equall with his Father prevail for with his Father for his brethren be their case for the time past never so desperate be there never so
hast set my heart upon them and hast loved them thy selfe as thou hast loved me and thou hast ordained them to be one in us even as we are one and therefore I cannot live long asunder from them I have thy company but I must have theirs too I will that they be where I am ver 24. If I have any glory they must have part of it So it follows in the fore-named verse That they may behold the glory which thou hast given me he speakes all this as if he had beene then in Heaven and in possession of all that glory and therefore it is an expression of his heart in Heaven which you have very good ground to build upon §. 2. Demonstrations from passages and expressions after his Resurrection THese Demonstrations have beene taken from his carriage and Sermon before his death even at his first breaking of his mind unto his Disciples concerning his departure from them Let us now take a view of our Saviour in his behaviour after his Resurrection whence a further Indicium of his heart how it would stand towards sinners when he should be in Heaven may be taken and his love demonstrated For his Resurrection was the first step unto his Glory and indeede an entrance into it when hee laid downe his bodie he laid downe all earthly weaknesses and passions of flesh and blood It was sown as ours is in weaknesse but with raising of it up again he took on him the dispositions and qualifications of an immortal and glorious body It was raised in power And The dayes of his flesh or frail estate as the Author to the Hebrews by way of distinction speaks were past and over at his Resurrection and the garment of his body was new dyed and endowed with new qualities and thereby it was made of a stuffe fit to beare and sustain Heavens Glory and therefore what now his heart upon his first rising shall appeare to be towards us will be a certain demonstration what it will continue to be in heaven And to illustrate this the more consider that if ever there were a tryall taken whether his love to sinners would continue or no it was then at his Resurrection for all his Disciples especially Peter had carryed themselves the most unworthily towards him in that interim that could be and this then when he was performing the greatest act of love towards them namely dying for them that ever was shewne by any And by the way so God often orders it that when hee is in hand with the greatest mercies for us and bringing about our greatest good then we are most of all sinning against him which he doth to magnifie his love the more You know how they all forsook him and in the midst of his Agonie in the Garden in which he desired their company meerly for a reliefe unto his sadded spirit they slept and lay like so many blocks utterly senslesse of his dolours which had they had any friendly sympathie of they could never have done Could you not watch with me one houre Then you know how foulely Peter denyed him with oathes and curses and after that when he was laid in the grave they are giving up all their faith in him We trusted it should have been he say two of them that should have redeemed Israel They question whether he was the Messiah or no Luke 24. 21. Now when Christ came first out of the other world from the dead cloathed with that heart and body which he was to weare in heaven what message sends he first to them we would all think that as they would not know him in his sufferings so he would now be as strange to them in his Glory or at least his first words shall be to rate them for their faithlesnesse and false-hood but here is no such matter for Iohn 20. 17. his first word concerning them is Goe tell my Brethren c. You reade elsewhere how that it is made a great point of love and condescending in Christ so to entitle them Heb. 2. 11. He is not ashamed to call them Brethren surely his brethren had beene ashamed of him Now for him to call them so when he was first entering into his glory argues the more love in him towards them He caries it as Ioseph did in the height of his advancement when hee first brake his minde to his brethren I am Joseph your brother sayes he Gen. 45. 4. So Christ sayes here Tell them you have seene Iesus their Brother I own them as brethen still This was his first compellation but what was the message that he would first have delivered unto them that I sayes he ascend to my Father and your Father A more friendly speech by far and arguing infinite more love then that of Iosephs did though that was full of bowels for Ioseph after he had told them he was their brother adds whom you sold into Egypt he minds them of their unkindnesse but not so Christ not a word of that hee minds them not of what they had done against him Poore sinners who are full of the thoughts of their own sinnes know not how they shall be able at the latter day to looke Christ in the face when they shall first meet with him But they may relieve their spirits against their care and feare by Christs carriage now towards his Disciples who had so sinned against him Be not afraid your sins will he remember no more Yea further you may observe that he minds them not so much of what he had been doing for them He sayes not Tell them I have been dying for them or That they little think what I have suffered for them not a word of that neither but still his heart and his care is upon doing more he looks not backward to what is past but forgets his sufferings as a woman her travaile for joy that a man-child is borne Having now dispatcht that great work on earth for them he hastens to heaven as fast as he can to doe another And though he knew he had businesse yet to doe upon earth that would hold him forty dayes longer yet to shew that his heart was longing and eagerly desirous to be at work for them in heaven hee speakes in the present tense and tels them I ascend and he expresseth his joy to be not onely that he goes to his Father but also that he goes to their Father to be an advocate with him for them of which I spake afore And is indeed Jesus our Brother alive and doth he call us Brethren and doth he talk thus lovingly of us whose heart would not this over come But this was but a message sent his Disciples before he met them let us next observe his carriage and speech at first meeting together When he came first amongst them this was his salutation Peace be to you ver 19. which he reiterates ver 21. and it is all one with that former speech of his used in that his
Sermon after Acts 2. 33. he then received it and visibly powred him out So Ephes 4. 8. it is said He ascended up on high and gave gifts unto men for the work of the Ministery ver 15 and for the joynting in of the Saints to the encrease of the body of Christ ver 16. that is for the converting of elect sinners and making them Saints And the gifts there mentioned some of them remain unto this day in Pastors and Teachers c. And this spirit is still in our preaching and in your hearts in hearing in praying c and perswades you of Christs love to this very day and is in all these the pledge of the continuance of Christs love still in Heaven unto sinners All our Sermons and your Prayers are evidences to you that Christs heart is still the same towards sinners that ever it was for the Spirit that assists in all these comes in his name and in his stead and works all by commission from him And doe none of you feele your hearts moved in the preaching of these things at this and other times and who is it that moves you it is the Spirit who speakes in Christs name from heaven even as himselfe is said to speake from heaven Heb. 12. 25. And when you pray it is the Spirit that endites your prayers and that makes intercession for you in your own hearts Rom. 8. 26. which Intercession of his is but the evidence and eccho of Christs Intercession in heaven The Spirit prayes in you because Christ prays for you he is an Intercessor on earth because Christ is an Intercessor in Heaven As he did take off Christs words and used the same that he before had uttered vvhen he spake in and to the Disciples the vvords of life so he takes off Christs prayers also when he prayes in us hee takes but the vvords as it were out of Christs mouth or heart rather and directs our hearts to offer them up to God He also follovvs us to the Sacrament and in that Glasse shews us Christs face smiling on us and through his face his heart and thus helping of us to a sight of him vve goe away rejoycing that we savv our Saviour that day Then secondly all those vvorks both of miracles and conversion of sinners in answer to the Apostles prayers are a demonstration of this What a handsell had Peters first Sermon after Christs Ascension when three thousand soules were converted by it The Apostles you know went on to preach forgivenesse through Christ and in his Name and to invite men to him and what signes and wonders did accompany them to confirme that their preaching and all were the fruits of Christs Intercession in heaven So that what he promised Iohn 14. 12. as an evidence of his minding them in heaven was abundantly fulfilled They upon their asking did greater works then he so Acts 4. 29 30. at the prayers of Peter And Heb. 2. 3 4. the Apostle makes an argument of it How shall we escape sayes he if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him God also bearing them witnesse both with signes and wonders and with divers miracles c. Yea let me adde this that take all the New Testament and all the Promises in it and expressions of Christs love it was written all since Christs being in heaven by his Spirit and that by commission from Christ and therefore all that you find therein you may build on as his very heart and therein see that what he once said on earth he repealeth not a word now he is in heaven his mind continues the same And the consideration hereof may adde a great confirmation to our faith herein Thirdly some of the Apostles spake with him since even many yeeres after his Ascension Thus Iohn and Paul of which the last was in heaven with him and they both doe give out the same thing of him Paul heard not one Sermon of Christs that we know of whilst on earth and received the Gospel from no man Apostle or other but by the immediate Revelation of Jesus Christ from heaven as he speaks Gal. 1. 11 12. But he was converted by Christ himselfe from heaven by immediate speech and conference of Christ himselfe with him and this long after his Ascension And in that one instance Christ abundantly shewed his heart and purpose to continue to all sorts of sinners to the end of the world Thus in two places that great Apostle telleth us the first is 1 Timoth. 1. 13. I was a persecuter a blasphemer sayes he but I obtained mercie and the grace of our Lord namely Jesus Christ was exceeding abundant and upon this he declares with open mouth as it were from Christs own selfe who spake to him from Heaven that this is the faithfullest saying that ever was uttered that Christ came into the World to save sinners whereof I am chiefe sayes he ver 15. And to testifie that this was the very scope of Christ in thus converting of Paul himselfe and Pauls scope also in that place to Timothy to shew so much appears by what follows v. 16. For this cause I obtained this mercie that in me first Iesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to all them that should hereafter beleeve on him unto life everlasting It is expresse you see to assure all sinners unto the end of the world of Christ heart towards them this was his drift For this very cause sayes Paul The second place I alledge in proofe of this is the story of Pauls conversion where he diligently inserts the very words that Christ spake to him from heaven Acts 26. 16. which were these I have appeared unto thee for this purpose to make thee a Minister and a witnesse to send thee to the Gentiles to open their eyes and to turne them from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgivenesse of sinnes and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in me Brethren these are Christs words since he went to Heaven and he tels Paul hee appeared unto him to testifie thus much This for Pauls conference with him Then againe sixty yeares after his Ascension did the Apostle Iohn receive a Revelation from him even when all the Apostles were dead for after all their deaths was that book written and that Revelation is said to be in a more immediate manner the Revelation of Iesus Christ so Chap. 1. 1. then any other of the Apostles writings and you read that Christ made an Apparition of himselfe to him and said I am he that was dead and am alive and live for evermore Chap. 1. 18. Now let us but consider Christs last words in that his last book the last that Christ hath spoken since he went to Heaven or that hee is to utter till the day of Judgement
you have them in the last Chapter ver 16. I Iesus have sent mine Angel to testifie unto you these things in the Churches I am the root and the off-spring of David and the Spirit and the Bride say Come and let him that heareth say Come and let him that is athirst come and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely They are the latter words I cite this place for The occasion of these words was this Christ was now in Heaven and had before promised one day to come again and fetch us all to Heaven And in the meane time marke what an ecchoing and answering of hearts and of desires there is mutually betweene Him from heaven and beleeving sinners from below Earth calls upon Heaven and Heaven calls upon earth as the Prophet speaks The Bride from earth sayes unto Christ Come to me and the Spirit in the Saints hearts below sayes Come unto him also and Christ cryes out as loud from Heaven Come in answer unto this desire in them so that heaven and earth ring againe of it Let him that is athirst come to me and let him that will come come and take of the waters of life freely This is Christ speech unto men on earth They call him to come unto earth to Judgement and he calls sinners to come up to heaven unto him for mercie They cannot desire his comming to them so much as he desires their comming to him Now what is the meaning of this that upon their calling upon him to come he should thus call upon them to come It is in effect as if he had plainly uttered himselfe thus I have a heart to come to you but I must have all you my Elect that are to be on earth come to me first You would have me come downe to you but I must stay here till all that the Father hath given me be come to me and then you shall be sure quickly to have me with you Hereby expressing how much his heart now longs after them This to be his meaning is evident by the words which he adds ver 20. He which testifies these things namely Christ sayes Surely I come quickly And if we observe how much by the by as it were these words of Christs doe come in it makes them the more remarkable to shew his heart in uttering them This Book was intended meerly as a Prophecie of the times of the Gospell untill his comming unto which period of it when Iohn had brought that Prophetique story he brings in the Bride longing for that comming of Christ The Bride sayes Come And no sooner sayes she so but Christ by way of retortion doth likewise say Come unto her also yea it puts the more observation upon it that he had uttered the same words before Revel 21. 6. but notwithstanding he will repeate them again and have them to be his last words All which shews how much his heart was in this part of the Gospel to invite sinners to him that now when he is to speake but one sentence more till wee hear the sound to judgement he should especially make choice of these words Let them therfore for ever stick with you as being worthy to be your last thoughts when you come to die and when you are a going to him He speakes indeed something else after them but that which he sayes afterwards is but to set a seal unto these words and to the rest of the Scriptures whereof this is the chiefe And further to shew that these words vvere singled out to be his last and that he meant to speak no more till the day of judgement therefore also he adds a curse to him who should adde to them or take from them He adds indeed after that another speech but it is onely to ingeminate his willingnesse to come quickly were all his elect but once come in to him so ver 20. And all this tends to assure us that this is his heart and wee shall find him of no other minde untill his comming again And that you may yet the more consider them as thus purposely brought in by him as his last words to make them stick with us let me adde another observation about them and that is this that at another time when he was upon earth he in like manner singled out these very words I mean the matter of them as the conclusion and shutting up of many dayes preaching Thus Iohn 7. 37. In the last day that great day of the Feast Iesus stood and cryed If any man thirst let him come to me and drinke These words were spoken on the last day of the feast after which hee vvas to preach no more at that time and for a good vvhile after unto them and he had preached upon all the former dayes of that feast as his manner vvas and it vvas the great day of the Feast vvhen he had the greatest audience and you see he chooseth this for his last sentence of tht his last Sermon then and vvhen he vvould give them something at parting as a Viaticum vvhich he would have them carry home vvith them to feede upon above all the rest these are his vvords If any man thirst let him come to mee and drinke which himself interprets to be beleeving on him ver 38. and he stands up to speak this yea he cries sayes the text vvith open mouth with utmost vehemencie to the intent that all might heare this above all sayings else And thus in like manner at this time also when he is to speak no more but to hold his tongue for ever till the day of Judgement nor is to write any more Scriptures he then sends his Angel to testifie these to be his last words and this although he had spoken them before It was therefore assuredly done to shew his heart in them They were his last words then and they shall be mine in the closure of this Discourse for vvhat can there be added to them THE HEART OF Christ in Heaven TO Sinners on Earth II. PART HEB. 4. 15. For we have not an High-priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin THE onely Use I shall make of these words is to be a foundation unto that second part of that head or point of Doctrine into which I have made an entrance which was to demonstrate the gracious inclination and temper of Christs he art towards sinners now he is in Heaven The extrinsecall Demonstrations of this which I make the first part of it are dispatched And for a ground-word to these more Intrinsecall Demonstrations which make a second part I have chosen this Text as that which above any other speaks his heart most and sets out the frame and workings of it towards sinners and that so sensibly that it doth as it were take our hands and lay them upon Christs breast and let us feele how his heart
more like to these of ours then those are which the Angels have So then by these two steps we have gained these two things That even in Christs humane nature though glorified affections of pity and compassion are true and reall and not metaphorically attributed to him as they are unto God and also more neere and like unto ours here then those in the Angels are even affections proper to mans nature and truly humane And these he should have had although this humane nature had from the very first assumption of it been as glorious as it is now in heaven But now thirdly adde this further that God so ordered it that before Christ should cloathe this his humane nature with that glory he hath in heaven and put this glory upon it he should first take it as cloathed with all our infirmities even the very same that doe cleave unto us and should live in this world as we doe for many yeeres And during that time God prepared for him all sorts of afflictions and miseries to run through which we our selves doe here meet withall and all that time he was acquainted with and inured unto all the like sorrowes that we are and God left him to that infirmity and tendernesse of spirit to take in all distresses as deeply as any of us without sin and to exercise the very same affections under all these distresses that we at any time doe find stirring in our hearts And this God thus ordered on purpose thereby to fit him and to frame his heart when he should be in glory unto such affections as these spoken of in the Text. And this both this Text suggests to be Gods end in it as also that fore-mentioned place Heb. 2. 13. For as much as we namely his members are partakers of flesh and bloud which phrase doth ever note out the frailties of mans nature as 1 Cor. 15. 50. c. he himselfe tooke part of the same that he might be a mercifull High-Priest c. ver 17. And then the Apostle gives this reason of it ver 18. For in that himselfe hath suffered being tempted he is able this Ability is as was before interpreted the having an heart fitted and enabled out of experience to pity and to succour them that are tempted The meaning of which is that it was not the bare taking of an humane nature if glorious from the first that would thus fully have fitted him to be affectionately pitifull out of experience though as was said the knowledge of our miseries taken in thereby would have made him truly and really affectionate towards us with affections humane and proper to a man and so much neerer and liker ours then what are in the Angels themselves or then are attributed to God when he is said to pity us but further his taking our nature at first cloathed with frailties and living in this world as we This hath for ever fitted his heart by experience to be in our very hearts and bosomes and not onely or barely to know the distresse and as a man to be affected with an humane affection to one of his kind but experimentally remembring the like in himselfe once And this likewise the Text suggests as the way whereby our distresses are let into his heart the more feelingly now he is in heaven We have not an High-Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sinne And the more to comfort us herein observe how fully and universally the Apostle speaks of Christs having beene tempted here below First for the matter of them or the severall sorts of temptations he sayes he was tempted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all points or things of any kind wherewith we are exereised Secondly for the manner he addes that too 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like as we are His heart having been just so affected so wounded pierced and distressed in all such tryals as ours use to be onely without sinne God on purpose left all his affections to their full tendernesse and quicknesse of sense of evill So that Christ took to heart all that befell him as deeply as might be he slighted no crosse either from God or men but had and felt the utmost load of it Yea his heart was made more tender in all sorts of affections then any of ours even as it was in love and pity and this made him a man of sorrows and that more then anyother man was or shall be Now therefore to explicate the way how our miseries are let into his heart come to stir up such kindly affections of pity and compassion in him it is not hard to conceive from what hath now been said and from what the Text doth further hint unto us 1. The understanding and knowledge of that humane nature hath notice and cognisance of all the occurrences that befall his members here And for this the Text is cleare For the Apostle speaks this for our encouragement That Christ is toucht with the feeling of our infirmities Which could not be a reliefe unto us if it supposed not this that he particularly and distinctly knew them And if not all as well as some we should want reliefe in all as not knowing which he knew and which not And the Apostle affirmes this of his humane nature as was said for he speaks of that nature that was tempted here below And therefore the Lambe that was slaine and so the man Christ Jesus is Revel 5. 6. said to have seven eyes as well as seven hornes which seven eyes are the seven spirits sent forth into all the earth His eyes of Providence through his annointing with the Holy Ghost are in all corners of the world and view all the things that are done under the sunne in like manner hee is there said to have seven hornes for power as seven eyes for knowledge and both are defined to be seven to shew the perfection of both in their extent reaching unto all things So that as all power in heaven and earth is committed unto Him as Son of man as the Scripture speakes so all knowledge is given him of all things done in heaven and earth and this as Son of man too his knowledge and power being of equall extent He is the Sunne as well in respect of knowledge as of Righteousnesse and there is nothing hid from his light and beames which doe pierce the darkest corners of the hearts of the sons of men He knowes the sores as Solomon expresseth it and distresses of their hearts Like as a looking-glasse made into the forme of a round globe and hung in the midst of a roome takes in all the species of things done or that are therein at once so doth the enlarged understanding of Christs humane nature take in the affairs of this world which hee is appointed to governe especially the miseries of his members and this at once 2. His humane nature thus knowing
Yet so as his sitting in heaven as it is indefinitely expressed is understood to be as in our right and stead and as a Common person and so is to assure us of our sitting there with him And yet How we may be said to sit in his Throne in our proportion So Rev. 3. 21. it is expresly rendred as the mind and intendment of it Him that overcommeth I will grant to sit with me in my throne even as I also am set downe with my Father in his throne There is a proportion observed though with an inequality we sit on Christs Throne but He onely on his Fathers Throne that is Christ onely sits at Gods right hand but we on Christs right hand And so the Church is said to be at Christs right hand And represents our sitting at the latter day as Judges with him Psal 45. 9. Yea further and it may afford a farther comfort to us in the point in hand this represents that at the latter day we shall sit as Assessors on his Iudgement-seat to judge the world with him So Mat. 19. 28. and Luke 22. 30. When the Sonne of Man shall sit in his glory ye shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the Tribes of Israel So as this our sitting with him it is spoken in respect to Iudgement and to giving the sentence of it not a sentence shall passe without your votes So as you may by faith not onely look on your selves as already in heaven sitting with Christ And so if we be condemned it must be with our own votes and consent as a Common person in your right but you may look upon your selves as Judges also So that if any sinne should arise to accuse or condemne yet it must be with your votes And what greater security can you have then this for you must condemne your selves if you be condemned you may very well say Who shall accuse Who shall condemne for you will never pronounce a fatall sentence upon your owne selves As then Paul triumphed here The triumph of faith thereupon so may we for at the present we sit in heaven with Christ and have all our enemies under our feet As Ioshuah made his servants set their feet on the necks of those five Kings so God would have us by faith to doe the like to all ours for one day we shall doe it And if you say We see it not I answer as Heb. 2. the Apostle saith of Christ himself Now we see not yet all things put under him ver 8. Now not under him for he now sits in heaven and expects by faith when his enemies shall be made his foot-stoole as Heb. 10 12 and 13. ver but we see for the present Iesus crowned with glory and honour ver 9. and so may be sure that the thing is as good as done and we may in seeing him thus crowned see our selves sitting with him and quietly wait and expect as Christ himselfe doth till all be acomplished and our salvation finished and fully perfected His Intercession now remains only to be spoken of which yet will afford further considerations to strengthen our Faith His sitting at Gods right hand notes out his power over all from God but his Intercession all power and favor with God for us so as to effect our salvation for us with Gods highest contentment and good will and all yet further to secure us Who shall condemne c. SECT V. The Triumph of faith from Christs INTERCESSION ROM 8. 34. Who also maketh intercession for us CHAP. I. A connection of this with the former and how this adds a further support Two things out of the Text propounded to be handled First The concurrencie of influence that Christs intercession hath into our Salvation Secondly The security that Faith may have there-from for our Justification WE have seene Christ sitting at Gods right hand as a Judge and King having all authority of saving or condemning in his own hands and having all power in Heaven and Earth to give eternall life to them that believe And the confidence that this giveth us Let us now come to his Intercession and the influence which it hath into our Iustification and salvation which as it strikes the last stroake to make all sure so as great a stroake as any of the former therfore as you have heard that there was an All-sufficiencie in his Death Who shall condemne it is Christ that dyed a Rather in his Resurrection yea rather is risen again a much rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he lives and is at Gods right hand Rom. 5. 10. The Apostle riseth yet higher to an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a saving to the utmost put upon his intercession Heb. 7. 25. Wherefore he is able to save to the utmost seeing he ever lives to make intercession So that if you could suppose there were any thing which none of all the former three could doe or effect for us yet his intercession could do it to the utmost for it selfe is the uttermost and highest If Money would purchase our Salvation his Death hath done it which he laid downe as a price and an equivalent ransome as it is in 1. Tim. 2. 6. If Power and authority would effect it his sitting at Gods right hand invested with all power in Heaven and Earth shall be put forth to the utmost to effect it If favour and entreaties added to all these which oft times doth as much as any of those other were needefull he will use the utmost of this also and for ever make intercession So that if Love Money or Power any of them or all of them will save us we shall be sure to bee saved saved to the utmost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all manner of wayes by all manner of meanes saved over and over For the cleering of this last generall head The Intercession of Christ and the influence and security it hath into our faith and justification I shall handle two things and both proper to the Text. First Shew how unto all those other forementioned Acts of Christ for us this of Intercession also is to be added by him for the effecting our salvation and the securing our hearts therein This that particle Also in the Text calls for Who also maketh Intercession for us Then Secondly to shew the security that faith may assume and fetch from this Intercession of Christ or his praying for us in heaven Who shall condemne it is Christ that maketh intercession for us CHAP. II. The first Head explained by two things First Intercession one part of Christs Priesthood and the most excellent part of it TOwards the Explanation of the first of these two things are to be done First To shew how great and necessary and how excellent a part of Christs Priesthood his Intercession and praying for us in heaven is Secondly To shew the peculiar influence that Intercession hath into our salvation and so the reasons for which God ordained
heaven and earth was his so soone as he should set footing in heaven then in the midst of these thoughts he tells us he went and washed his Disciples feet after he had first considered whither he was to goe and there what he was to be But secondly what was Christs Heart most upon in the midst of all these elevated meditations Not upon his own glory so much though it is told us that he considered that thereby the more to set out his love unto us but upon these thoughts his Heart ran out in love towards and was set upon his owne Having loved his owne sayes the 1. ver 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his owne a word denoting the greatest nearnesse dearnesse and intimatenesse founded upon propriety The Elect are Christs owne a piece of himself not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as goods Iohn 1. 11. He came unto his owne and his own received him not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word shews that he reckon them his owne but as goods not as persons but he cals these here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his own by a nearer propriety that is his owne children his owne members his owne wife his owne flesh and he considers that though he was to goe out of the world yet they were to be in the world and therefore it is on purpose added which were in the world that is to remaine in this world Hee had others of his own who were in that world unto which he was going even the spirits of just men made perfect whom as yet he had never seene One would think that when he was meditating upon his going out of this world his heart should be all upon Abraham his Isaacs and his Iacobs whom he was going to no hee takes more care for his own who vvere to remain here in this vvorld a world wherein there is much evil as himselfe sayes Iohn 17. 15. both of sinne and miserie and vvith which themselves vvhilst in it could not but be defiled and vexed This is it vvhich draws out his bowels towards them even at that time vvhen his heart was full of the thoughts of his own glory Having loved his own he loved them unto the end Which is spoken to shew the constancie of his love and vvhat it vvould be when Christ should be in his glory To the end that is to the perfection of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sayes Chrysostome having begun to love them he vvill perfect and consummate his love to them And to the end that is forever So in the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sometimes used and so by the Euangelist the phrase is here used in a sutablenesse to the Scripture phrase Psal 103. 9. He will not alwayes chide nor reserve anger for ever so we translate it but in the Originall He reserves not anger unto the end So that the scope of this speech is to shew how Christs heart and love vvould be towards them even for ever when he should be gone unto his Father as well as it vvas to shew how it had beene here on earth they being his owne and hee having loved them he alters he changes not and therefore vvill love them for ever And then thirdly to testifie thus much by a reall testimony what his love would be when in heaven to them the Euangelist shews that when he was in the middest of all those great thoughts of his approaching glory and of the soveraigne estate which he was to be in he then tooke water and a towell and washed his Disciples feete This to have bin his scope will appeare if you observe but the coherence in the second verse it is said that Iesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands then ver 4. he riseth from supper and layes aside his garments and tooke a towel and girded himselfe ver 5. after that he powred water into a bason and began to wash his Disciples feete c. where it is evident that the Euangelists scope is to hold forth this unto us that then when Christs thoughts were full of his glorie when he tooke in the consideration of it unto the utmost even then and upon that occasion and in the midst of those thoughts he washt his Disciples feete And what was Christs meaning in this but that whereas when he should be in heaven he could not make such outward visible demonstrations of his heart by doing such meane services for them therefore by doing this in the middest of such thoughts of his glory hee would shew what hee could be content as it were to doe for them when hee should bee in full possession of it so great is his love unto them There is another expression of Christs like unto this in Luke 12. 36 37. which confirms this to be his meaning here and to be his very heart in heaven At ver 36. he compares himselfe to a Bridegroome who is to go to heaven unto a wedding-feast who hath servants on earth that stand all that while here below as without waiting for him at which because they wait so long they may think much Christ adds Verily I say unto you that when the Bridegroome returnes refreshed with wine and gladnesse he shall gird himselfe and make them sit downe to meate and will come forth and serve them The meaning is not as if that Christ served at the latter day or now in heaven those that sit downe there but onely it is an abundant expression in words as here in a real instance to set forth the over-flowing love that is in his heart and the transcendent happinesse that we shal then enjoy even beyond what can be expected by us he utters himselfe therefore by an unwonted thing not heard of that the Lord should serve his servants and wait on them that waited for him And it is to shew his heart to them and vvhat he could be contented to doe for them So that you see what his heart was before he went to Heaven even amidst the thoughts of all his glory and you see vvhat it is after he hath beene in heaven and greatned vvith all his glory even content to wash poore sinners feete and to serve them that come to him and wait for him Now fourthly what was the mystery of this his washing their feete It was as to give them an example of mutuall love and humility so to signify his washing away their sins thus ver 8. and 10. himselfe interprets it It is true indeede that now he is in heaven he cannot come to wash the feete of their bodies but he would signifie thus much thereby that those sinners that will come to him when in his glory he will wash away all their sins He loved his Church gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle c. Eph. 5. 25 26 27. This specimen
Againe a little while and ye shall see me a little while and ye shall not see me sayes he Which not seeing him refers not to that small space of absence whilst dead and in the grave but of that after his last ascending forty dayes after his Resurrection when he should goe away not to be seene on earth againe untill the day of Judgement and yet from that Ascension but a little while sayes he and you shall see me againe namely at the day of Judgement It is said Heb. 10. 37. Yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry The words in the Greek are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A little little as may be Though long for the time in it selfe yet as little while as may be in respect of his desire without the least delaying to come He will stay not a moment longer then till he hath dispatcht all our businesse there for us And then the doubling of the phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Veniens veniet Comming he will come implyes vehemencie of desire to come and that his mind is alwayes upon it he is still a comming he can hardly be kept away Thus the Hebrew phrase likewise signifies an urgencie vehemencie and intensenesse of some act as Expecting I have expected Desiring I have desired so Comming he will come And as not content with these expressions of desire hee adds over and above all these And will not tarry and all to signifie the infinite ardencie of his mind towards his Elect below and to have all his Elect in heaven about him He will not stay a minute longer then needs must he tarryes onely till he hath throughout all Ages by his Intercession prepared every room for each Saint that he may entertaine them all at once together and have them all about him Thirdly what his heart would be towards them in his absence he expresseth by the carefull provision hee makes and the order hee takes for their comfort in his absence Ioh. 16. 18. I will not leave you as Orphanes so the word is I will not leave you like father-lesse and friendlesse children at sixes and sevens My Father and I have but one onely friend who lyes in the bosome of us both and proceedeth from us both the holy Ghost and in the meane time I will send him to you Doing herein as a loving Husband useth to doe in his absence even commit his Wife to the dearest friend he hath so doth Christ Ver. 16. I will pray the Father sayes he and he shall give you another Comforter And Chap. 16. 7. he saith I will send him to you Who First shall be a better Comforter unto you then I am to be in this kind of dispensation which whilst I am on earth I am bound up towards you in So in that 16. of Iohn ver 7. he intimates It is expedient sayes he that I goe away for if I goe not away the Comforter will not come who by reason of his office will comfort you bettet then I should doe with my bodily presence And this Spirit as he is the earnest of heaven as the Apostle speaks so he is the greatest token pledge of Christs love that ever was and such a one as the world cannot receive And yet secondly all the comfort he shall speak to you all that while will be but from the expression of my heart towards you For as he comes not of himselfe but I must send him Ioh. 16. 7. so he will speake nothing of himselfe but whatsoever he shall heare that shall he speake ver 13. And ver 14. he sayes He shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you Him therefore I shall send on purpose to be in my roome and to execute my place to you my Bride Spouse and he shall tell you if you will listen to him and not grieve him nothing but stories of my love So it is there He shall glorifie me namely to you for I am in my selfe already glorified in heaven All his speech in your hearts will be to advance me and to greaten my worth and love unto you and it will be his delight to doe it And he can come from heaven in an instant when he will and bring you fresh tidings of my mind and tell you the thoughts I last had of you even at that very minute when I am thinking of them what they are at the very time wherein he tells you them And therefore in that 1 Cor. 2. by having the Spirit ver 12. we are said to have the mind of Christ ver ult For he dwelleth in Christs heart and also ours and lifts up from one hand to the other what Christs thoughts are to us and what our prayers and faith are to Christ So that you shall have my heart as surely and as speedily as if I were with you and he will continually be breaking your hearts either with my love to you or yours to me or both and if either you may be sure of my love thereby And whereas sayes he you have the Spirit now in your hearts so ver 17. of Chap. 14. He now dwels in you yet after my Ascension he shall be in a further measure in you as it follows there And at that day ver 20. you shall know namely by his Dictate that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you He will tell you when I am in Heaven that there is as true a conjunction between me and you and as true a dearnesse of affection in me towards you as is between my Father and me and that it is as impossible to breake this knot and to take off my heart from you as my Fathers from me or mine from my Father And then thirdly you shall be sure that what he sayes of my love to you is true for he is the Spirit of truth Chap. 16. ver 13. as also Chap. 1. ver 16 17. which Christ speaks of him as he is a Comforter And as you beleeve me when I tell you of my Father because I come from him so you may beleeve him in all that hee sayes of mee and of my love to you for hee comes from me Ay but might they say Will not hee also leave us for a time as you have done No sayes Christ Chap. 14. 16. The Father shall give you another Comforter and he shall abide with you for ever Christ speakes it in opposition to himselfe He himselfe had beene a Comforter unto them but he was now to be absent but not so the Spirit He shall be with you for ever and as he is now with you so he shall be in you ver 17. In the fourth place if this be not enough to assure them how his heart would bee affected towards them he assures them he will give them daily experience of it Doe but try me sayes he vvhen I am gone and that by sending me vvord upon all occasions vvhat you
that because of his Fathers command It is evidenced thus For it being a Law vvritten in the midst of his bowels by his Father it becomes naturall to him and so indelible and as other Morall Laws of God written in the heart are perpetuall And as in us when we shall be in heaven though Faith shall faile and Hope vanish yet Love shall continue as the Apostle speaks so doth this love in Christs heart continue also and suffers no decay and is shewne as much now in receiving sinners and interceding for them and being pitifull unto them as then in dying for them And this love to sinners being so commanded pressed upon him as was said that as he would have his Father love him he should love them and so being urged upon all that great love that is betweene him and his Father this as it must needs worke and boile up a strong love in him unto sinners so likewise the most constant and never-decaying love that could be And this is argued from the analogie of that principle upon which Christ urgeth us to love himself Iohn 15. 10. He moveth his Disciples to keep the Commandments he gave them and useth this argument For so shall you abide in my love and backs it with his owne instance even as I have kept my Fathers commandments and abide in his love Now therefore this being the great Commandment that God layeth on him to love and die for and to continue to love and receive sinners that come to him and raise them up at the latter day certainly hee continues to keep it most exactly as being one of the great tyes betweene him and his Father so to continue in his love to him Therefore so long as hee continues in his Fathers love and now he is in heaven and at his right hand he must needs continue in highest favour with him so long wee may be sure he continues to observe this And thus that he should continue still to love us both love to his Father and love to himselfe obligeth him we may therefore be sure of him that he both doth it and will doe it for ever O what a comfort is it that as children are mutuall pledges and tyes of love betweene man and wife so that wee should be made such betweene God the Father and the Sonne And this demonstration is taken from the influence of the first Person of the Trinity namely from God the Father Then secondly this his love is not a forced love which he strives onely to beare towards us because his Father hath commanded him to marry us but it is his nature his disposition Which added to the former affords a second demonstration of the point in hand and is drawn from God the Sonne This disposition is free and naturall to him he should not be Gods Son else nor take after his heavenly Father unto whom it is naturall to shew mercie but not so to punish which is his strange worke but mercie pleaseth him he is the Father of mercie hee begets them naturally Now Christ is his own Sonne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as by way of distinction hee is called and his naturall Sonne yea his humane nature being united to the second Person is thereby become the naturall Son of God not adopted as we are And if he be his naturall Son in priviledges then also his Fathers properties are naturall to him more naturall then to us who are but his adopted sons And if we as the elect of God who are but the adopted sons are exhorted to put on Bowels of mercie kindnesse humblenesse of minde meekenesse c. as Col. 3. 12. then much more must these dispositions needs be found in Christ the Naturall Son and these not put on by him but be as naturall to him as his Son-ship is God is love as Iohn sayes and Christ is love covered over with slesh yea our flesh And besides it is certain that as God hath fashioned the hearts of all men and some of the sonnes of men unto more mercie and pitie naturally then others and then the holy Spirit comming on them to sanctifie their natural dispositions useth to work according to their tempers even so it is certain that he tempered the heart of Christ and made it of a softer mold and temper then the tendernes of all mens hearts put together into one to soften it would have been of When he was to assume an humane nature he is brought in saying Heb. 10. A body hast thou fitted me That is an humane nature fitted as in other things so in the temper of it for the God-head to work and shew his perfections in best And as he tooke an humane nature on purpose to be a mercifull High Priest as Heb. 2. 14. so such an humane nature and of so speciall a temper and frame as might be more mercifull then all Men or Angles His humane nature was made without hands that is was not of the ordinary make that other mens hearts are of though for the matter the same yet not for the frame of his spirit It was an heart bespoke for on purpose to be made a vessel or rather fountain of mercie wide and capable enough to be so extended as to take in and give forth to us again all Gods Manifestative mercies that is all the mercies God intended to manifest to his elect therefore Christs heart had naturally in the temper of it more pity then all men or Angles have as through which the mercies of the great God were to be dispensed unto us and this heart of his to be the instrument of them And then this man and the heart of this man so framed being united to God and being made the naturall Son of God now naturall must mercie needs be unto him And therefore continue in him now hee is in Heaven For though he laid down all infirmities of our nature when he rose again yet no graces that were in him whilst he was below they are in him now as much as ever and being his nature for nature we know is constant therefore still remains You may observe that when he was upon earth minding to perswade sinners to have good thoughts of him as he used that argument of his Fathers command given him so hee also layes open his own disposition Mat. 11. 28. Come to me you that are weary and heavy laden for I am meek and lowly of heart Men are apt to have contrary conceits of Christ but he tells them his disposition there by preventing such hard thoughts of him to allure them unto him the more We are apt to thinke that hee being so holy is therefore of a severe and sowre disposition against sinners and not able to beare them no sayes he I am meek gentlenesse is my nature and temper as it was of Moses who was as in other things so in that grace his Type he was not revenged on Miriam and Aaron but interceded for them So
all I know thy workes thy labour and thy patience c. Rev. 22. He therewithall hath an act of memory and recalls how himself was once affected and how distressed whilst on earth under the same or the like miseries For the memory of things here below remaines still with him as with all spirits in either of those two other worlds heaven or hell Son remember thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and Lazarus evill c. sayes Abraham to the soule of Dives in hell Luke 16. 25. Remember me when thou commest into thy Kingdome said the good theefe to Christ And Revel 1. I am hee sayes Christ that was dead and am alive Hee remembers his death still and the sufferings of it and as he remembers it to put his Father in mind thereof so he remembers it also to affect his owne heart with what we feele And his memory presenting the impression of the like now afresh unto him how it was once with him hence he comes feelingly and experimentally to know how it is now with us and so affects himselfe therewith as Dido in Virgil Haud ignara mali miseris succurrere disco Having experience of the like miseries though a Queene now I know how to succour those that are therein As God said to the Israelites when they should be possessed of Canaan their own land Exo. 23. 9. Ye know the hearts of strangers seeing ye were strangers c. and therefore doth command them to pitty strangers and to use them well upon that motive So may it be said of CHRIST that he doth know the hearts of his children in misery seeing himselfe was once under the like Or as the Apostle exhorts the Hebrews Heb. 13. 3. Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them and them that suffer adversity as being your selves in the body and so ere you die may come to suffer the like So Christ the Head of the body which is the fountaine of all sense and feeling in the body doth remember them that are bound and in adversity having himselfe beene once in the body and so he experimentally compassionates them And this is a further thing then the former We have gained this further That Christ hath not onely such affections as are reall and proper to an humane nature but such affections as are stirred up in him from experience of the like by himselfe once tasted in a fraile nature like unto ours And thus much for the way of letting in all our miseries into Christs heart now so as to strike and affect it with them §. II. A more particular disquisition What manner of affection this is The Seat thereof whether in his spirit or soule onely or the whole humane nature Some Cautions added BUt concerning this Affection it selfe of pity and compassion fellow-feeling and sympathie or suffering with as the Text calls it which is the product result or thing produced in his heart by these there still remaines another thing more particularly to be inquired into namely What manner of affection this is For that such an affection is stirred up in him besides and beyond a bare act of knowledge or remembrance how once it was with himselfe is evident by what we find in the Text. The Apostle sayes not onely that he remembers how himselfe was tempted with the like infirmities that we are though that be necessarily supposed but that he is struck and toucht with the feeling of our infirmities to the producing of which this act of remembrance doth but subserve And he tels us Christ is able and his heart is capable of thus being toucht And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a deep word signifying to suffer with us untill we are relieved And this affection thus stirred up is it which moveth him so cordially to helpe us Now concerning this affection as here thus expressed how far it extends and how deep it may reach I think no man in this life can fathome If Cor Regis the heart of a King be inscrutable as Solomon speaks the heart of the King of Kings now in glory is much more I will not take upon me to intrude into things which I have not seen but shall endeavour to speak safely and therefore warily so far as the light of Scripture and right reason shall warrant my way I shall set it forth three wayes 1. Negatively 2. Positively 3. Privatively 1. Negatively It is certaine that this affection of sympathie or fellow-feeling in Christ is not in all things such a kind of affection as was in him in the dayes of his flesh Which is cleare by what the Apostle speaks of him and of his affections then Heb. 5. 7. Who in the dayes of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong cryings and teares was heard in that which he feared Where we see his converse and state of life here below to be called by way of difference and distinction from what it is now in heaven The dayes of his flesh By flesh meaning not the substance of the humane nature for he retaines that still but the fraile quality of subjection to mortality or passibility So Flesh is usually taken as when all flesh is said to be grasse It is spoken of mans nature in respect to its being subject to a fading wearing and decay by outward casualties or inward passions So in this Epistle Chap. 2. 14. For as much as the children we his brethren did partake of flesh and bloud that is the frailties of mans nature he himselfe also took part of the same And accordingly the Apostle instanceth in the following words of that 14. verse as in death which in the dayes of his flesh Christ was subject to so also in such fraile passions and affections as did work a suffering in him and a wearing and wasting of his spirits such as passionate sorrow joyned with strong cryes and teares both which he mentioneth and also feare in those words He was heard in that which he feared Now these dayes of his flesh being over and past for this was onely as sayes the Apostle in the dayes of his flesh hence therefore all such concomitant passionate overflowings of sorrow feare c. are ceased therewith and he is now no way capable of them or subjected to them Yet 2. Positively why may it not be affirmed that for substance the same kinde of affection of pittie and compassion that wrought in his whole man both body and soule when he was here workes still in him now he is in heaven If this Position be allayed with those due cautions and considerations which presently I shall annexe For if for substance the same flesh and blood and animall spirits remaine and have their use for though Christ in Luke 24. 29. mentioned only his having flesh and bones after his resurrection unto Thomas and the other Disciples because these two alone were to be the object of his Touch and Feeling yet Blood
and Spirits are included in that flesh for it is caro vitalis living flesh and therefore hath Blood and Spirits that flow and move in it then why not the same affections also and those not stirring only and meerely in the soule but working in the body also unto which that soule is joyned and so remaining really humane affections The use of bloud and spirits is as to nourish which end is now ceased so to affect the heart and bowels by their motion to and fro when the soule is affected And why this use of them should not remaine and if not this we can conceive no other I know not Neither why this affection should be onely restrained to his spirit or soule and his corporeall powers not be supposed to communicate and partake in them That so as he is a true man and the same man that he was both in body as well as in soule for else it had not been a true Resurrection so he hath still the very same true humane affections in them both and such as whereof the body is the seat and instrument as well as the soule And seeing this whole man both body and soule was tempted and that as the Text sayes he is touched with a feeling in that nature which is tempted it must therefore be in the whole man both body and soule Therefore when as we reade of the wrath of the Lambe as Revel 6. 16. namely against his enemies as here of his pity and compassion towards his friends and members why should this be attributed onely to his Deity which is not capable of wrath or to his soule and spirit onely And why may it not be thought he is truly angry as a man in his whole man and so with such a wrath as his body is affected with as well as that he is wrathfull in his soule onely seeing he hath taken up our whole nature on purpose to subserve his Divine nature in all the executions of it But now how far in our apprehensions of this we are to cut off the weaknesse and frailty of such affections as in the dayes of his flesh was in them and how exactly to difference those which Christ had here and those which he hath in heaven therein lyes the difficulty and I can speak but little unto it Yet first this we may lay downe as an undoubted Maxime That so far or in what sense his Body it self is made spirituall as it is called 1 Cor. 15. 44. so far and in that sense all such affections as thus working in his Body are made spirituall and that in an opposition to that fleshly and fraile way of their working here But then as his Body is made spirituall not Spirit spirituall in respect of power and likenesse to a Spirit not in respect of substance or nature so these affections of pity and compassion doe work not onely in his Spirit or Soule but in his Body too as their seat and instrument though in a more spirituall way of working and more like to that of Spirits then those in a fleshly fraile body are They are not wholly spirituall in this sense that the soule is the sole subject of them and that it drawes up all such workings into it selfe so that that should be the difference between his affections now and in the dayes of his flesh Men are not to conceive as if his body were turned into such a substance as the Sun is of for the soule as through a case of glasse to shine gloriously in onely but further it is united to the soule to be acted by it though immediately for the soul to produce operations in it And it is called spirituall not that it remains not a body but because it remains not such a body but is so framed to the soule that both it selfe and all the operations of all the powers in it are immediately and entirely at the arbitrary imperium dominion of the soule that as the soule is pleased to use it and to sway it and move it even as immediately and as nimbly and without any clog or impediment as an Angel moves it selfe or as the soule acteth it selfe So that this may perhaps be one difference that these affections so far as in the body of Christ doe not affect his soule as here they did though as then under the command of Grace and Reason to keep their motions from being inordinate or sinfull but further the soule being now too strong for them doth as its owne arbitrement raise them and as entirely and immediately stir them as it doth it selfe Hence 2. these affections of pity and sympathie so stirred up by himselfe though they move his bowels and affect his bodily heart as they did here yet they doe not afflict and perturbe him in the least nor become they a burthen a load unto his spirit so as to make him sorrowfull or heavy as in this life here his pity unto Lazarus made him and as his distresses at last that made him sorrowfull unto death So that as in their rise so in their effect they utterly differ from what they were here below And the reason of this is because his Body and the blood and spirits thereof the instruments of affecting him are now altogether impassible namely in this sense that they are not capable of the least alteration tending to any hurt what ever And so his body is not subject to any griefe nor his spirits to any wast decay or expence They may and doe subserve the soule in its affections as they did whilst he was here but this meerly by a locall motion moving to and fro in the veynes and arteries to affect the heart and bowels without the least diminution or impaire to themselves or detriment to him And thus it comes to passe that though this Blood and spirits doe stir up the same affections in his heart and bowels which here they did yet not as then with the least perturbation in himselfe or inconvenience unto himselfe But as in this life he was troubled and grieved without sinne or inordinancie so now when he is in heaven he pitties and compassionates without the least mixture or tang of disquietement and perturbation which yet necessarily accompanied his affections whilst he was here because of the frailty in which his body and spirits were framed His perfection destroyes not his affections but onely corrects and amends the imperfection of them Passiones perfectivas to bee now in him the best of Schoolemen doe acknowledge Thirdly All naturall affections that have not in them Indecentiam status something unbefitting that state and condition of glory wherein Christ now is both Schoole-men and other Divines doe acknowledge to be in him Humanae affectiones quae naturales sunt neque cum probro vel peccato conjunctae sed omni ex parte rationi subduntur denique ab iis conditionibus liberantur quae vel animo vel corpori aliquo modo officiunt
the present but imperfectly mortified in our selves yet when corruptions arise the Apostle bids us help our selves against them by faith reasoning our selves to stand wholly dead to sin when Christ dyed and so to conclude from thence that we shall one day be fully dead to sin because we then did perfectly dye in Christ unto it which kinde of reasoning also God would have us use as a motive and of all motives that are in the Gospell it is the strongest against any corruption when as it ariseth Shall I that am dead to sin in Christ and so am freed from it shall I live any longer therein Ver. 2. Now as God would have our faith make this use of our Communion with Christ in his death in point of sanctification just so when guilt of sin ariseth in thy conscience to accuse or threaten condemnation reason thou thy selfe as the Apostles word is in that other case or reckon thy selfe as our translation hath it justified in Christ in his Justification which was done at his Resurrection Yea and seeing God would have thee use thy Communion with Christ in his Death as an argument to move thee to mortifie sin bidding thee to reckon thy self dead to sin in Christ doe thou desire him in like manner to reckon thee as justified at Christs Resurrection for the ground of both is the same and return that as an argument to him to move him to justifie thee And this is that answer of a good conscience which Peter speaks of this is the meaning of Pauls challenge Who shall condemne Christ is risen And should thy heart object and say But I know not whether I was one of those that God reckoned justified with Christ when he arose Then go thou to God and aske him boldly whether he did not doe this for thee and whether thou wert not one of them intended by him put God to it and God will by vertue of Christs Resurrection for thee even himselfe Answer thy faith this question ere thou art aware He will not deny it And to secure thee the more know that however Christ will bee sure to look to that for thee so as that thou having been then intended as if thy heart be drawne to give it self up to Christ thou wert shalt never be condmned SECT IV. FAITH supported by Christs ASCENSION AND Sitting at Gods right hand ROM 8. 34. Who is he that condemneth It is Christ who is even at the right hand of God CHAP. I. A Connexion of this third Head with the two former Shewing how it affords a farther degree of Triumph Two things involved in it 1. Christs Ascension 2. Christs power and authority in heaven I Come next to this third great Pillar and support of Faith Christs Being at Gods right hand and to shew how the view and consideration hereof may strengthen faith seeking justification and pardon of sinne Who is he that condemneth Christ is even at Gods right hand In the opening of which I shall keep to the begun method both by shewing how Iustification it selfe depends upon this and the evidence thereof to us both which the Apostle had here in his eye and from both which our faith may derive comfort and assurance And I meane to keep punctually to the matter of Iustification onely as in the former These two latter that remain here in the Text Christs sitting at Gods right hand and his interceding for us are brought in here by the Apostle as those which have a redundant force and prevalencie in them for the non-condemnation of the Elect that although the two former abundantly served to secure it yet these two added to the former do make the triumph of faith more compleat and full and us more then Conquerours as it after follows Nor doth this place alone make mention of Christs sitting at Gods right hand which I now am first to handle in this its relation and influence into our Iustification the assurance of faith about it but you have it to the same end use and purpose alleadged by that other great Apostle 1. Pet. 3. from the 18. to the 22. And if the scopes of these two Apostles in both places be compared they are the same Here the Resurrection of Christ and his sitting at Gods right hand are brought in as the ground of this bold challenge triumph of faith and there is Peter is mentioned the Answer or Plea of a good conscience in a beleever justified which it puts into the Court and opposeth against all condemning guilts so it is called ver 21. The Apostle alleadging the Resurrection of Iesus Christ as one ground of it the answer of a good conscience by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ And then further to back and strengthen this Plea or Answer of a good conscience the Apostle puts his Ascension and sitting at Gods right hand into the Bill as further grounds confirming it so it follows who is gone into Heaven and is at the right hand of God Angells and Authorities and Powers being made subject to him All which the Apostle here expresseth in one word as enough to carrie it that Christ is even at Gods right hand The soule hath a sufficient answer against condemnation in Christs death and Resurrection full enough though it should stop there yea therein can faith triumph though it went no further for it can shew a full satisfaction given in his death and that accepted by God for us and Christ acquited and we in him Therefore faith you see comes to a rather there But then let it go on to consider Jesus sitting at Gods right hand and making intercession for us and then faith will triumph and insult over all accusers be more then a Conqueror then it comes not to a rather onely as here but to a much more shall we be saved by his life thus Rom. 5. 10. And the meaning thereof is that if his death had power to pay all our debts and justifie us at first then much more hath his life this power So that his death is but the ground and foundation of our faith herein and the lowest step of this ladder but these other are the top full triumph of faith therein And our spirits should rise as the Apostle herein riseth Faith upon these wings may not onely fly above the Gun-shot of all accusations and condemners but even cleane out of their sight and so far above all such thoughts fears as it may reach to a security that sins are forgotten and shall be remembred no more What joy was there in the Disciples when they saw Christ risen Ioh. 20. Therefore in the Primitive times it was used as a voice of joy and to this day the Grecian Christians s entertain each other at that time of the year with these words The Lord is risen your Surety is out of Prison fear not But as Christ said in another case so say I what will you say if you see your Surety ascended
up to Heaven and that as far above Angels and Principalities as the Apostle speaks Eph. 1. as the Heavens are above the Earth will you not in your faiths hopes proportionably ascend and climb up also have thoughts of pardon as far exceeding your ordinary thoughts as the heavens are above the earth Therefore first view him as ascending into Heaven ere ever hee comes to be at Gods right hand and see what matter of triumph that will afford you for that you must first suppose ere you can see him at Gods right hand and so is necessarily included thought not expressed here But that place fore-quoted out of Peter 1 Pet. 3. gives us both these two particulars included in it 1. His Ascension Who is gone into Heaven And 2. his power and authority there Is at Gods right hand and hath all power and authority subject to him and prompts both these as fit matter to be put into a good conscience its Answer and Apologie why it should not be condemned therfore both may here as well come in into faiths triumph and that as being intended also by the Apostle and included in this one expression He speaks with the least to shew what cause faith had to triumph for the least expression of it his purpose being but to give a hint to faith of that which cōprehensively contains many things in it which he would have us distinctly to consider for our comfort CHAP. II. Shewing first what evidence for our justification Christs Ascension into Heaven affords unto our Faith upon that first forementioned consideration of his being a Surety for us FIrst then to see what triumph his ascending into Heaven will add unto our faith in matter of non-condemnation And herein 1. By considering what was the last action he did when he was to Ascend Blessing his Disciples first there is not nothing in it to consider what he then did and what was his last Act when he was to take his rise to fly up to Heaven He blessed his Disciples and thereby left a blessing upon earth with them for all his elect to the end of the World The true reason and minde of which blessing them was that he being now to go to execute the eternall office of his Priest-hood in Heaven of which God had sworn Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec As Melehisedec in the Type blessed Abraham and in him all the faithfull as in his loins therefore the Apostle said that Levi paid tithes unto Melchisedec in Abrahams loines therefore he was blessed in his loines so did Christ begin this new and second part of his Priest-hood with blessing the Apostles and in them all the elect to the end of the World This was the last thing that Christ did on earth yea this he did whilst ascending he was taken up whilst he did it So Luke 24. 50. 51. And thus solemnly he now did this to shew that the curse was gone and that sin was gone and that action speakes thus much as if Christ himselfe had said To shew the curse was removed and their sins pardoned O my brethren for so he styled his Disciples after his Resurrection I have been dead and in dying made a curse for you now that curse I have fully removed and my Father hath aquited me and you for it and now I can be bold to blesse you and pronounce all your sins forgiven and your persons justified For that is the intendment and foundation of blessing Blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven him and therefore that was the true meaning of his blessing them which he reserved thus as his last Act to shew how by his death he had redeemed them from the curse of the Law now going to Heaven was able to blesse them with all the spirituall blessings that are there and which Heaven can afford for Heavenly they are called in that respect And in blessing his Apostles thus he blessed all that should believe in him Ephes 1. 4. And as in Abraham blessed by Melchisedec all the faithfull were blessed so in these Apostles all the elect to come are blessed As when God individually blessed Adam and Eve at the first Creation yet he in them blessed all that were for ever to come of them so Christ in blessing them blessed us and all that shall beleeve through their word to the end of the World And that they were thus then to be considered as common persons receiving this blessing for us all appeareth by Christs words then uttered I am with you to the end of the World i. e. with you and all your successors both Ministers other believers Mat. 28. ult And Christ herein did as God did before him When God had done his worke of creation He looked upon all he had done and saw that it was good and he blessed it Thus did Jesus Christ now that he had by that one offering perfected for ever all the elect he comfortably vieweth and pronounceth it perfect and them blessed and so goes to Heaven to keepe and enjoy the Sabbath of all there Now Secondly let us see him Ascending A second support from the very Act of Ascending and see what comfort that will also afford our faith towards the perswasion of Iustification The Apostles stood gazing on him and so doe you lift up your hearts to gaze on him by faith and view him in that act as he is passing along into Heaven as leading sin hell death and devill in triumph at his Chariot wheeles And therewith let your faith triumph in a further evidence of justification Thus Ephesians 4. 8. out of the 68. Psalme ver 18. the Apostle saith How it was an act of Triumph over death hel sin c. When he ascended up on high he led captivity captive to which Hebraisme the Latine phrase vincere victoriam to win a victory doth answer then He led captive all our spirituall enemies that would have captived us they being now captived Now leading of captives is alwaies after a perfect victory And therefore whereas at his Death he had conquered them at his Rising scattered them now at his Ascension he leades them captive And so that Psal in the Type begins ver 1. Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered let them flee before him so at his Resurrection they did And then he ascends in triumph ashere in token of victory he is ascended up on high ver 18. he ascends as David after his victory up to Mount Sion for the celebrating of which that Psal seemes to have beene made by David whereof this was the intended Type Two Acts of Triumph in it And two Actus triumphales triumphing Acts there were here mentioned 1. Leading the captives bound to his Chariot wheeles as the manner of the Roman triumphs was when the Conqueror went up to the Capitol and other Heathens in Davids time As Achilles led Hector captive who
Beatis nequaquam repugnare censendae sunt Those affections which are naturall to man and have no adhaesion of sinne or shame unto them but are wholly governed by reason and lastly are exempt from such effects as may any way hurt either the soule or the body there is no ground to thinke that such affections may not wel stand with the state of souls in blisse sayes Justinian upon this place Now if we consider it Christ his very state in glory is such as it becomes him to have such humane affections of pity and compassion in his whole man so far as to quicken and provoke him to our helpe and succour not such as to make him a man of sorrowes in himselfe again that were uncomely nay incompatible to him but such as should make him a man of succours unto us which is his office To this end it is to bee remembred that Christ in heaven is to be considered not personally only as in himselfe made happy in his Father but withall in his relations and in his offices as an Head unto us and in that relation hee now sits there as 1 Ephes 21. 22. and the head is the seat of all the senses for the good of the body and therefore most sensible of any other part Wherefore because his members unto whom he beares this relation are still under sinne and miserie therefore it is no way uncomely for him in that estate to have affections suitable to this his relation If his state of glory had been wholly ordained for his owne personall happinesse then indeede there had beene no use of such affections to remaine in him but his relation to us being one part and ingredient of his glory therfore they are most proper for him yea it were uncomely if he had them not Neither are they a weaknesse in him as so considered but rather part of his strength as the Apostle calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And although such affections might in one respect be thought an imperfection yet in another respect namely his relation to us and office for us they are his perfection As he is our Head which he is as he is a man it is his glory to be truly and really even as a man sensible of all our miseries Yea it were his imperfection if he were not And 4. let me adde this for our comfort that though all such affections as are any way a burthen to his spirit or noxious to his body be not now compatible to him and though that passionate frailty and infirmity which did help him here to pity and relieve men in misery out of a suffering hurtfull to himselfe though these be cut off yet in those workings of affections and bowels which he hath now which for substance are the same there is instead of that passionate frailty a greater capaciousnesse vastnesse and also quicknesse in his affections now in heaven so to make up a compensation so no lesse effectually to stir and quicken him to relieve us then those former affections did For it is certaine that as his knowledge was enlarged upon his entring into glory so his humane affections of love pity are enlarged in solidity strength and reality as true conjugall love useth to be though more passionate haply at first They are not lesse now but are onely made more spirituall And as Solomons heart was as large in bounty and royalty as in knowledge so Christs affections of Love are as large as his Knowledge or his Power They are all of a like extent and measure So far as Gods intention to shew mercy doth reach and who knowes the end of those riches so farre doth Christs disposition to bestow it Ephes 3. 19. The Love of Christ God-man passeth knowledge It hath not lost or beene diminished by his going to heaven Though God in his nature be more mercifull then Christs humane nature yet the act and exercise of Christs affections is as large as Gods purposes and decrees of mercy are And all those large affections and mercies are become humane mercies the mercies of a Man unto men 3. Privatively If these affections of Christs heart be not suffering and afflicting affections yet we may be way of Privation expresse this of them that there is a lesse fulnesse of joy and comfort in Chriss heart wstilst he sees us in misery and under infirmities comparatively to what will be when we are presented to him free of them all To cleare this I must recall and I shall but recall that Distinction I made in the 4. Demonstration Sect. 2. Part 2. of a double capacity of Glory or a double fulnesse of Joy which Christ is ordained to have The one Naturall and so due unto his person as in himselfe alone considered The other Additionall and arising from the compleated happinesse and glory of his whole Church wherewith mystically he is one So in Ephes 1. ult although he by reason of his personall fulnesse is there said to fill all in all yet as he is an Head in relation to his Church as his body as in the verses before he is spoken of thus the perfection of this his bodies beatitude it is reciprocally called his fulnesse and therefore untill he hath filled them with all happinesse and delivered them from all miserie himselfe remaines under some kinde of imperfection and answerably his affections also which are suited to this his relation have some want of imperfection in them whilst theylie under miserie in comparison of what his heart shall have when they receive this fulnesse Wee may warrantably say Christ shall bee more gladde then and is now as his children are growne up from under their infirmities and as they doe become more obedient and comfortable in their spirits so John 15. 10 11. I shall adde some illustration to this by this similitude which though it hold not in all things yet it will hold forth some shadowe of it The spirits of just men departed are said to be perfect Heb. 12. yet because they have bodies unto which they have a relation and unto which they are ordained to bee united they in this respect may be said to be imperfect till these bodies be re-united and glorified with them which will adde a further fulnesse to them Thus in some analogie it stands between Christ Personall and Christ Mysticall considered Although Christ in his owne Person be compleat in happinesse yet in relation to his members he is imperfect and so accordingly hath affections suited unto this his relation which is no derogation from him at all The Scripture therefore attributes some affections to him which have an imperfection joyned with them and those to be in him untill the day of judgement Thus Expectation and Desire which are but imperfect affections in comparison to that joy which is in the full fruition of what was expected or desired are attributed to him as he is man untill the day of Judgement Thus Heb. 10. 12 13. He
is said to sit in heaven expecting till his enemies be made his footstoole The destruction of which enemies will adde to the manifestative glory of his kingdome Now as that will adde to the fulnesse of his greatnesse so the compleat salvation of his members will add to the compleatnesse of his glory And as the expectation of his enemies ruine maybe said to be an imperfect affection in comparison of the triumph that one day he shall have over them so his joy which he now hath in his Spouse is but imperfect in comparison of that which shall fill his heart at the great day of Marriage And acordingly the Scripture calls the accomplishment of these his desires a satisfaction so Isai 63. 11. He shall see of the travaile of his soule and be satisfied which argues desires to be in him lying under a want of something in the end to bee obtained Onely we must take in this withall that Jesus Christ indeede knowes and sees the very time when this his fulnesse through the exaltation of his members up to himselfe shall bee compleated and when he shall trample upon the necks of all his and their enemies Hee sees their day a comming as the Psalmist hath it which alleviates and detracts something from this imperfection that hee should thus expect or tarrie §. III. This Scruple satisfied How his heart can be feelingly touched wtth our Sinnes our greatest infirmities seeing he was tempted without sinne THere remaines one great unsatisfaction to be removed which cannot but of it selfe arise in every good heart You told us may they say that by infirmities sinnes were meant and that the Apostles scope was to encourage us against them also and they are indeede the greatest discomforts and discouragements of all other Now against them this which the Apostle here speakes affordeth us but little seeing Christ knowes not how experimentally to pitie us therein for he knew no sinne Yea the Apostle himselfe doth here except it Hee was tempted in all things yet without sinne It may comfort us indeede that Christ doth and will pittie us in all other infirmities because hee himselfe was subject to the like but hee never knew what it was to bee under sinne and vexed with a lust as I am and how shall I releeve my selfe against that by what the Apostle here speakes of him I shall endeavour to give some satisfaction and reliefe in this by these following considerations First The Apostle puts in indeede that hee was tempted yet without sinne and it was well for us that he was thus without sinne for he had not beene a fit Priest to have saved us else so Heb. 7. 25. Such an High-Priest became us as was separate from sinners innocent c. Yet for your reliefe withall consider that hee came as neer in that point as might be he was tempted in all things so sayes the Text though without sinne on his part yet tempted to all sinne so far as to bee afflicted in those temptations and to see the miserie of those that are tempted and to know how to pittie them in all such temptations Even as in taking our nature in his birth he came as neere as could be without being tainted with originall sin as namely by taking the very same matter to have his body made of that all ours are made of c. So in the point of actuall sinne also he suffered himselfe to bee tempted as far as might be so as to keepe himselfe pure He suffered all experiments to be tryed upon him by Satan even as a man who hath taken a strong antidote suffers conclusions to be tryed on him by a Mountibanke And indeede because hee was thus tempted by Satan unto sinne therefore it is on purpose added yet without sinne And it is as if he had said sinne never stained him though hee was outwardly tempted to it Hee was tempted to all sorts of sins by Satan for those three temptations in the wildernesse were the heads of all sorts of temptations as Interpreters upon the Gospels do shew Then Secondly To fit him to pittie us in case of sinne he was vext with the filth and power of sinne in others whom he conversed with more then any of us with sinne in our selves His righteous soule was vexed with it as Lots righteous soule is said to have been with the impure conversation of the Sodomites He endured the contradictions of sinners against himselfe Heb. 12. 3. the reproaches of them that reproached thee that is upon his God fell upon me Rom. 15. 3. It was spoken by the Psalmist of Christ and so is quoted of him by the Apostle that is every sinne went to his heart So as in this there is but this difference betwixt him and us that the regenerate part in us is vexed with sin in our selves and that as our own sin but his heart with sin in others onely yet so as his vexation was the greater by how much his soule was more righteous then ours which makes it up yea in that he sustained the persons of the elect the sinnes which he saw them commit troubled him as if they had beene his owne The word here translated Tempted is read by some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is vexed Yea and Thirdly to helpe this also it may be said of Christ whilst he was here below that in the same sense or manner wherein hee bore our sicknesses Mat. 8. 17. who yet was never personally tainted with any disease in the same sense or manner he may be said to have borne our sins namely thus Christ when hee came to an elect child of his that was sick whom he healed his manner was first by a sympathie pittie to afflict himselfe with their sicknesse as if it had beene his owne Thus at his raising of Lazarus it is said that he groaned in spirit c. and so by the merit of taking the disease upon himselfe through a fellow-feeling of it he tooke it off from them being for them afflicted as if he himselfe had beene sick And this seemes to be the best interpretation that I have met with of that difficult place in Mat. 8. 16. 17. where it is said He healed all that were sick that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the Prophet saying Himselfe tooke our infirmities and bare our sicknesses Now in the like way or manner unto this of bearing our sicknesses hee might beare our sinnes too for hee being one with us and to answer for all our sinnes therefore when he saw any of his owne to sinne hee was affected with it as if it had beene his own And thus is that about the power of sin made up and satisfied And fourthly as for the guilt of sinne and the temptations from it he knowes more of that then any one of us He tasted the bitternesse of that in the imputation of it more deeply then wee can and of the cup of his Fathers wrath for it