sunk him had he not had more then the strength of a man Therefore that he might be a perfect Mediator between God and man he was God-Man taking Humane nature into the fellowship of the Deity and communicating Divine nature unto those which he did intend to save Hence Paul saith Rom. 3.24 25. We are justified freely by Gods grace through the Redemption which is in Christ Iesus whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood Hence he further saith Acts 20.28 that God did purchase the Church with his own blood So that in this part of the Priestly Office of Jesus Christ there was the power of God himself put forth Neither is there less strengthning grace manifested when he comes to appear for his people in heaven in the presence of God as Heb. 7.24 This man because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable Priesthood which passeth not from one to another certainly here was wonderful strength that Christ being once offered should bear the sins of many and unto them that looked for him he should appear the second time without sin unto salvation as in Heb. 9.28 That his having done away all their sins should advance them to Salvation which still shews the strength of his grace Therefore well might Paul annex that Heb. 7.25 Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them This is the ground of Pauls triumph not onely for himself but in the name of all the Saints in that admirable place Rom. 8. from the 34 to the 39. ver Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword As it is written For thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter Nay in all these things we are more then conquerors through him that loved us For I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. Here is strengthning grace of Almighty and everlasting efficacy As Jesus Christ is the Churches King he hath a proportionable inexhaust stock of strengthning grace without such a power he could never suppress the numerous and potent adversaries of the Church which was the the solemn agreement betwixt him and his Father Psal. 110.1 The Lord said unto my Lord God the Father said unto God the Son Davids Lord sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool He will bring them to the lowest and most abject condition though for the present they look never so high and big upon the poor members of Christ. And accordingly he is still acting in heaven whereas he doth appear for his people so doubtless against his enemies as is most clear in Heb. 10.12 13. But this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever so much strength of grace in that it need be but one sate down on the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool We may with much encouragement wrestle with God and wait upon him both for the discovering and confounding of the great Impostors Mahomet and the Pope and the removing all the Crutches of Babylon in any of the Kings Dominions or elswhere for this work is carried on with so much power that in Gods time all the Kingdoms of the earth will become the Lords and his Christs To the same purpose you shall finde an Angel come down from heaven having great power and the earth was lightned with his glory and he cryed mightily with a strong voyce Babylon is fallen all suitable to the powerful design of Christ Rev. 18.2 And she shall be utterly burned with fire in whom was found the blood of Prophets and of Saints of all that were slain upon the earth some way reducible to her or her adherents for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her ver 8. Neither could Jesus Christ be a Resurrection to any sinners nor quicken with Spiritual life whom he would as Ioh. 5.20 unless that were true ver 26. As the Father hath life in himself so hath he given the Son to have life in himself and that to be able to raise his own unto eternal life ver 29. All which argues abundance of strengthning grace in him This was the foundation of Pauls Prayer for his Ephesians chap. 1. ver 18. That the eyes of their understanding being inlightened here is powerful grace still they might know what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power Here is a great heap of Emphatical expressions to shew the accumulative power of the grace that is in Jesus Christ Were he not so strong that he were able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think according to the power that worketh in us Eph. 3.20 Paul would never have used such an expression That ye may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height there must it seems be a power in us to inable us to fathom and comprehend the vast dimensions of that strengthning grace that is in our Head here is the breadth of this grace covering all the sins of every one of his eleâ—t even from Adam to the end of the world Here is the length of this grace it extends from everlasting to everlasting Here is the depth of it it lifts up poor creatures from the very pit of hell And the height of it it advances them to sit by him in his own throne in Heaven After the intrinsecal fulness of the grace of Christ follows the Redundancy thereof for there is in him not onely plenitudo vasis but also plenitudo fontis there is the original fulness of a living fountain in him which he delights to communicate for the supplies of his people This discovers it self in four particulars There is a Redundancy into all the faculties of our souls he fills the Minde with gracious principles the Conscience with a holy tenderness the Will with flexibleness and compliance with his Will and sways the Affections to act regularly upon their objects Doubtless Christ Jesus the second Adam will do as much for all those that have Vnion with him as the first Adam did against those that were in him And therefore whereas by his fall there was not onely a total deprivation of original righteousness but a universal depravation of all the faculties a general
Spirit which he purchased at so dear a rate and shall the Spirit give gifts to men and those gifts be actuated and exercised and prepared for you and shall not we improve them O what an ill requital is here 2. He hath a vehement desire of union and communion with all those that God the Father hath given to him Behold I stand and knock at the door if any will hear my voyce then I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me that is a melting place a winning place in Rev. 3.20 Jesus Christ is impatient as it were I may speak it with reverence to want communion with them who are his in Gods eternal counsels But then thirdly Christ may well expect this Because attaining the intended stature and measure of the fulness of Christ we are fit for heaven as in Ephe. 4.13 Till we all come to the unity of faith and to the perfect stature of the fulness of the age in Christ therefore there is such a pitch and Jesus Christ expects it you will never be fit for him till you come to your pitch there is a minimum quod sic as Philosophers speak about natural bodies so about every member of the mystical body you must come to such a degree of grace before you are fit for heaven now God hath designed you that that you may be meet to be partakers of the inheritance with the Saints in light it is not slipping out of a drunkards habit and to desire to be dissolved or to receive the communion or to give such and such legacies or to send for a Minister and say Lord have mercy on me No thou hast been a drunkard and an Atheist all thy days thou art not meet to go to heaven Paul blesseth God that hath made him meet Heaven is a holy place and God is a holy God and thou hast a very cursed sinful nature very unfit for heaven till thou be pollished fashioned and framed now Jesus Christ expects this The third particular follows I shall not dispatch all you 'll give me leave to consult for my own health As you have had the expectation it self and the grounds of it so you shall have The end Now the ends of it are two why Christ intended this and expects this First For your stability in Christ and Secondly For your improvement of Christ. 1. Your stability in Christ. 2. Stability in judgement O that is an admirable thing Health of body is a great matter but truly soundness of faith especially in these unstable times is much greater It is a good thing to have the heart established with grace that is with the doctrine of grace and not with meats not to be carried up and down with this wanton opinion and that wanton opinion in Heb. 13.9 A good thing to have the heart established in grace To have a stability in affection that thy affections may centre upon Christ as thy love and thy desire and thy hope and thy joy thou mayest desire other things yet thou mayest be able to say I have none in heaven but thee and none in earth that I desire in comparison of thee you may love other things but you may be able to say I love Jesus Christ for himself and love my self and all other things in reference to him I value power and estate learning and all outward thing nothing but with reference and subservience to Jesus Christ O here is a sweet stability of affection and that Jesus Christ may not onely be thy joy but the exceeding gladness of thy joy a triumph of joy to joy more in knowledge of Christ and communion with Christ then you do in all outward comforts and advantages whatsoever here is a sweet stability of affection these people will not be carried up and down so much with either crosses or comforts as very many are But then There is a stability of conversation that is a blessed stability in James 1.8 A double minded man is unconstant in all his ways as long as you have an end and an end a heart and a heart a minde and a minde you 'll never be constant you know not where to finde any men in the world but godly men because they have fixed principles they make conscience but come to a covetous man when you speak of his covetousness there you have him when you speak against his earthliness there you lose him he hath a double minde something for God and something for the world hath no more Religion then suits with his worldly designs he will hear a Sermon because it is cheap yet he will it may be deceive you in his shop because there is his interest and he will it may be be jolly and frollick and scoff over a cup of sack at the people of God soon after Sermon though he hath expressed it may be a great deal of zeal to the Minister why there lies his interest he is a jolly man a professor at large he must be bold O here is no stability It is a blessed thing and a sweet advantage and Jesus Christ intends this that you should be grounded in Christ being rooted and grounded and stablished in the faith in Colosians 2.7 Now the next end is this Your improvement of Christ An improvement of him for what purpose Why for all necessary gifts as a Magistrate as a Minister in any place of trust he hath variety of gifts in 1 Cor. 12. For all graces he hath variety of graces he hath abundance of Spirit that you may be filled with all the fulness of God as I remember in Eph. 3.19 In all conditions and relations that you may know how to be sick and how to be poor how to be Magistrates how to be Ministers I have learned to want and abound I can do all things through Christ enabling me saith Paul in Philippians 4.13 And then In all duties you can do nothing without Christ but as he gives in as he communicates himself and vouchsafes to assist you when he withdraws you flag you wither I 'le be bold to say a word to my Brethren of the Ministery O that Ministers would chiefly study and minde this work this is proper Pulpit-work to put people upon such an entertainment of the Gospel that they might improve Jesus Christ and grow up to a stability in him Paul was sent had a Commission according to the faith of Gods elect in Tit. 1.1 and Gal. 4.19 I travel in birth with you saith Paul till Christ be formed in you O what pain it cost him every Sermon It was a great speech yet I have heard it as a certain truth concerning Reverend Mr. Bains That every Sermon cost him as much in his sence as he thought as it did ordinarily cost a woman to bring a childe into the world I travel in birth till I see Jesus Christ formed in you
know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Fifthly and lastly There is a rich proportion of strength in Christ for our crowning and persevering in him even so much that the very ' Devil himself shall not be able to rend us off we standing by a Covenant of Grace being kept by the power of God not onely through our Faith to salvation The father will hold the childe though the poor childe through weakness let go his hold Now follows the Spiritual improvement of all this in a seasonable and short Application A serious and seasonable invitation to all such who are yet strangers unto Jesus Christ that they would seek acquaintance with him and interest in him It is most wholesom counsel Job 22.21 Acquaint now thy self with him and be at peace thereby good shall come unto thee This will be the worlds condemnation with a witness yea with a vengeance That light came into the world and men loved darkness better then light because their deeds were evil O most unhappy mistake when Sin the worst of evils hinders them from Jesus Christ the best of good This this if there were no more will fully justifie him in their eternal condemnation being that he so seriously sought unto them to wit in the way of his outward Ministery Mat. 23.37 O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and ye would not by those Prophets which thou didst kill Themistocles as Story reports in his lower condition was much in love with a yong Gentleman which scorned him when he grew to his greatness which was soon after he sought to him but Themistocles said We are both both grown wise but too late If when Jesus Christ in the course of his Ministery in an humble maner stands and knocks at the door of thy heart speaking this melting language unto thee as he did to those great sinners the Laodiceans Rev. 3.20 If any will hear my voyce and open the door I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me If you shall then deny him entertainment when he thus condescends to seek to you that you might seek to him for your own Spiritual and eternal welfare wonder not if afterwards you see you are wise too late when the Master of the house shall have shut the door and ye begin to stand without knocking and crying Lord Lord open to us and he shall repulse you with this doleful answer I know you not whence you are it may be ye will complement with him beginning to say We have eaten and drunk in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets but he will resolutely persist to proceed against them who have so wilfully rejected him and say to their eternal confusion I tell you I know not whence ye are depart from me all ye workers of iniquity O all ye who have tasted the sweetness of this grace which flows from the Rock Christ Jesus do what you can to rescue poor deluded seduced souls from under their prejudices and any other temptations which alienate them from him who is their only happiness O that you would tread in their steps Joh. 1 40 41. when Andrew had found Christ presently he findes his brother Simon and saith unto him We have found the Messias which is being interpreted the Christ and he brought him to Jesus at least endeavor to bring them to Jesus in Gospel means and v. 44 45. Philip having found Christ findeth Nathanael and saith unto him We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write Jesus of Nazareth Observe they speak great and good things of Christ that they may perswade them to seek him a good copy for you how to deal with your carnal friends Thus the Samaritan woman Joh. 4. though in her parley with Christ she had been very carnal ver 9 11. yet being convinced and perceiving that he was a Prophet ver 19. upon this she bears her water-pot and goes into the City to the men ver 28. saying Come and see a man which hath told me all things that ever I did Is not this the Christ ver 29. Her invitation was so effectual that the men went out of the City and came to see him v. 30. many of the City believed on him for the saying of the woman she won them to a credulity so may you if you endeavor to gain a good opinion of him in their mindes But many more believed because of his own word ver 41. How would this woman rejoyce in their acceptance of her invitation How will they eternally bless God for it Why will not you endeavor that you and your carnal friends should have the same occasion of everlasting triumphing mutually in one another in heaven FINIS BEhold what convincing reason all you Saints here have to put an high value upon Jesus Christ He is called by the Prophet The Rock of Ages Isa. 26.3 And therefore upon the strongest grounds called by the Psalmist Psal. 73.26 The Rock of his Heart and his Portion for ever and that after he had been in the Sanctuary of God beholding his glory ver 17. coming from the North so Chaldea lay in regard of Judea Hereupon to the same purpose when Habakuk saw a bitter and hasty Nation as he calls the Chaldeans Hab. 1.6 threatning and indeed beginning to ruine Judah its probable the Captivity was then begun appeals to God in this language ver 12. Art not thou from everlasting O Lord my God O Rock God This is the Prophet Micahs Dialect its sweet to observe the harmonious breathings of the Spirit in several Prophets chap. 5.2 who speaking of Christ as the Ruler in Israel there 's his strength addes Whose goings forth have been from of old from the days of Eternity Where is your Faith in this Eternal Rock that should be emboldened to frequent actings upon for all new supplies as in Romans 1.17 Paul tells us The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith that is righteousness enough for one act of faith after another So in Christ grace upon grace ' though the actings of faith be never so often repeated which indeed is very pleasing to him O remember I beseech you where your strength lieth and know that unless you do learn this Art of Memory it may cost you very dear many a smarting whipping The want of this provokes God to be sometimes severe with his beloved children Here is a double method of his proceedings 1. He whips them unto Christ and to the dependance upon his grace by Spiritual desertions A most sharp remedy the sting of other afflictions His gracious presence doth sweeten every thing his absence will embitter any thing David found this by woful