great honour It appears that God hath a design to honour Christ by the authority that he hath endowed him with and that is his own authority yea all his own authority as Christ himself acknowledges Mat. 28.18 All power is given to me both in heaven and in earth not some but all power The father judgeth no man saith our Saviour but he committed all Judgment to the Son John 5.22 He hath done in this respect as great men sometimes use to do if they have any title office or place of honour they are contented to convey it over to their eldest Son that they may credit him and raise him to esteem and reputation in his Country and it delighteth them as much to have him honoured as themselves Just so hath God the Father done by Jesus Christ The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgement to the Son He will be Iudge no longer by immediate execution but he hath made his Son the Judge of all the world And why so that he may compass the design of his for glorifying of his Son Christ That all men should honour the Son as they honour the Father as it is added in the next verse And as he hath in the sense that we have said resigned up his judiciary power abroad to Iesus Christ so the private Government of his family at home He hath made his eldest Son the Lord of all he hath set him over his house Heb. 3.6 The Son of God hath got a match though a poor one I confess and now the Father gives up the house-keeping wholly to him And hence saith the Apostle Paul Eph. 3.14 15. I bow my knees unto the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named The whole family of heaven and earth is named from Christ whether the upper family of heaven or the lower family on earth whether the Church triumphant or the Church militant it is Christs family and Christs Church and Christs houshold God you see hath two houses and yet he doth not govern one himself and leave the other to his Son he commits the government of both to Jesus Christ that he may be all in all that he may be the more honoured It appears that God hath a design to glorifie his Son Christ by the great offices of dignity and trust and honour which he hath advanced and raised him to For he hath crowned him with glory and honour Three offices there are which have been alwayes looked upon as full of honour The office of a King of a Priest and of a Prophet Of a King in the Commonwealth and of a Ptiest and Prophet in the Church And all of them concurr in Jesus Christ he is annointed to them altogether And this is singular to Jesus Christ it is peculiar to himself alone no other man was ever thus advanced besides himself Some other men have had one of these offices or two at most but never any man had all three but Christ only So that he is in this respect transcendently advanced you see and God hath glorified him beyond measure and beyond pattern And that you may the better see the honour that is done to Iesus Christ in that he hath these three great Offices altogether in his hands I shall represent it to you in a few Particulars First By this means whatsoever good is purchased for the Church is procured by him only The Father that he may advance and honour Christ the more will have the Church beholding unto none but him for any good that she enjoys or looks for He must purchase peace and he must purchase grace for her the grace of righteousness and the grace of holiness he must satisfie he must sanctifie he must obtain her absolution and he must obtain her sanctification and he must obtain her glorification he must renew her right in outward things which she forfeited in Adam And he must do all this alone there must be none besides him none with him No he must tread the wine-press of his Fathers wrath alone By once offering of himself he must perfect for ever them that are sanctified The Lord hath given us no other King to subdue our enemies and to get peace for us No other Priest to satisfie his wrath and to obtain Grace for us No other Mediator between God and man either of Redemption or Intercession either of Redemption to purchase grace or of Intercession to sue out that which he hath purchased All lies on Jesus Christ you see that he may be all in all that all the glory may redound to him As whatsoever good is purchased for the Church is procured by him only so it is revealed by him only As he and he alone must get it so he and he alone must tell us of it It is an honour to be sent with good news and God hath done his Son this honour The Gospel as you know is glad tydings of great Joy and Christ is he that makes it known to men He brings it forth out of the bosome of the Father And therefore it is called the word of Christ Not only because Jesus Christ is the author and the Subject matter of it but the revealer of it too God in these latter daies hath spoken to us by his Son saith the Apostle speaking of the revelation of the Gospel Heb. 1.2 He had good news to tell the world and he sent his Son with it He sent Moses with the Law which was a Message full of terrour Moses was good enough for that The Gospel was a Message full of sweetness and full of Comfort and Christ must have the honour to reveal that to the world Indeed my brethren whatsoever good we know of God or of his favour and good will towards us or of the work of our redemption and reconciliation and attonement all comes out by Jesus Christ Christ is the only Prophet of the Church and if we ask the question which the Psalmist mentions Psal 4.6 Who will shew us any good The answer must be None but Iesus Christ can do it or those that are sent out by him with his Message and in his Name As whatsoever good is purchased for the Church is procured by Christ only and revealed by Christ only so it is dispensed by Christ only God doth not give it out immediately himself but he communicates it to us in and by and through Christ as the Expression of the Scripture is The grace of God is shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Lord Titus 3.6 As all comes by his means so all goes through his hands And therefore he is said to have received gifts for men Isa 68.18 God doth not give his gifts directly and immediately to men himself but Jesus Christ receieth their endowments for them of the Father that of his fulness they may all receive He is the Treasurer of his Fathers grace that every one may come to him
for us saith the Apostle Heb. 9.24 Not for all without exception but for us whom he hath taken into his special and peculiar love and care who are comparatively but a small number So that the point is plain you see Christ is an Intercessor to his Father c. Reason And the reason is apparent because he is a Priest for none but them only and Intercession is a part of his Priesthood There are two branches as you may know my Brethren of the Priesthood of our Saviour Sacrifice and Intercession and they are both of them for his people He offers Sacrifice for none but them and so accordingly he intercedes for none but them neither for both the branches of his Priesthood of necessity must go together He is a Mediator for and only for his own people he makes peace for none but them And even as he is not a Mediator of redemption for the world so he is not a Mediator of Intercession for it neither Indeed my Brethren all that he is or doth as he is Man and Mediator is for his people Why was the Son of God incarnate but for them why did he take our Nature on him but for them why was he made a Mediator but for them He is a King to rule them a Prophet to instruct them a Priest to sacrifice and intercede for them He had never been a King as he is a Man he had never been a Prophet he had never been a Priest but for the sake of his people And hence it follows very clearly that whatsoever he doth in the administrations of these Offices of his he doth it next to his own glory for his Churches good He carries it throughout in reference to them and so accordingly the Execution of his Priestly Office in both the parts and branches of it is for them He is an Intercessor to his Father for none but for c. Is Christ an Intercessor c. this may serve to satisfie us in the point Vse 1 which some have vented in these latter times that Christ is the Redeemer of the whole world and that he dyed for all men universally without restraint or limitation What think you my Beloved is it a likely thing that Christ should dye for those for whom he will not pray That he should offer up himself a Sacrifice for those for whom he will not intercede That he should spend his blood for those for whom he will not spend his breath That he should give his life for those for whom he will not give his word will he do that which is abundantly the greater for them and then refuse to do the less You see he saith expresly in my Text I pray not for the world And might he not have said as well I dye not for the world and if our Saviours intercession now in heaven be not vocal as it is usually resolved but a real presentation of the merits of his death and the vertue of his passion to his Father That as the blood of Martyrs cries for vengeance to be executed upon those that shed it so on the other side the blood of Jesus Christ the Mediator cries for mercy to be shewed to them for whom he shed it It claims it out of right and justice in the behalf of those for whom he dyed Why then it follows that if he dyed for all he cannot choose but intercede for all too Or if he should be silent his blood would cry for mercy for them to whom it was intended and designed and consequently if he pray not for the world he dyed not for the world neither Is Christ an Intercessor c. Here then you see the sad condition of Vse 2 those who are without the pale that are not only in the world but of the world Christ never intercedes for them let their cause be what it will let their necessity be what it will Christ even leaves them to themselves and never interposes for them to his Father There you may cry and howl your selves when you are in any straight you may stand beging for your selves and all in vain for Jesus Christ will not speak a word for you nor any such as you are Beloved I beseech you think upon it there come in heavy things against you every day at the bar of Gods Justice Sin cryes and the Law cryes all the Commandements which you break continually come in with open mouth against you and importune Gods Justice for wrath and vengeance to be executed on you They cry How long Lord and sin cryes How long Lord and Christ who is the only Mediator to avert wrath and make peace he sitteth still and saith nothing Oh my Beloved what should hinder now but that the black decree for execution should go forth against you when there is none to interpose and stand between you and the wrath of God! when these complaints and cryes of all the sins that you have done of all the Oathes that you have sworn of all the lyes that you have made c. come in against you in the Court of heaven and the Father puts the question to the Son the only advocate in that Court What have you any thing to say for this man why judgement should not pass against him will you undertake for him and Christ shall answer no I have not a word to say for him I intercede not for the world Let Justice have its course against him let it be executed on him to the utmost I pray for my own people and I desire they may be spared as in right they ought to be for I have satisfied for them But for the rest I even leave them to the vengeance and the wrath they have deserved I will not hinder it or stop it in the least degree Let Justice pay them home in full weight and full measure Look how much they have sinned and how much wickedness they have committed so much torment and so much sorrow let it give them Oh what a flood of horrour and confusion think you will be poured out upon you when once the day of vengeance and of visitation comes when God comes forth against you as an Enemy with nothing else but war and death and blood and mine and destruction in his looks and there is none to pacifie and appease him none to speak a word for you but Christ the only Mediator leaves you to the utmost of his fury Oh consider this c. Vse 3 Is Christ an Intercessor to his Father for none c. here then you may behold the matchless happiness of those who belong to Jesus Christ In this respect they have a priviledge above the world that they have him to intercede for them to be their Advocate and to present their Supplications and requests to God Brethren I know not how you value it or what account you make of it but I assure you it is a rich Prerogative that you have such an Intercessor with the
very great hazard He doth what lies in him to cross the Lord in that which he is most intent upon on which his heart is wonderfully set Great men cannot endure you know to be crossed in their wills or hindered of their purposes and how think you will the great God endure to be affronted and opposed and crossed in such a thing as this is From all Eternity he hath determined with himself to glorifie his Son Christ he hath had it in his heart from everlasting he hath resolved he shall be honoured and that not by men alone but by the very Angels too those eminent and glorious Creatures It is the Fathers pleasure that it shall be so as the Apostle tells us Heb. 1.6 When he bringeth in his first begotten into the world he saith and let all the Angels of God worship him Not serve him and obey him only but worship him with divine and with religious adoration which is the heigth and top of honour with the same honour that belongeth to the Father as Christ himself expresseth it Iohn 5.23 And if he must have honour such transcendent honour from the very Angels must he not have it from inferiour creatures who are far below Angels Yes Gods expects it that at the name that is the power and authority of Jesus every knee should bow not of things in heaven only but of things in earth too that is not of Angels only but of men So that you see the father looks for this at our hands he looks we should do honour to his Son He saith as in the Parable They will reverence my Son Though they have slighted and abused other messengers that I have sent among them yet they will surely reverence my Son It is impossible they should be so unworthy to contemn my own Son And what then do we think of those who dishonour and contemn him notwithstanding will the father who hath sent him to this End that he might be honoured take this well at their hands to be thus crossed in such a great design of his by wretched men To see his own begotten Son despised and scorned whom he hath done so much to honour Why you will say what need you be so earnest upon this particular Who doth dishonour Jesus Christ Who doth despise him or contemn him do we not all acknowledge him to be our Lord and Saviour and the like yes we do all acknowledge him in words indeed we call him Lord. But many of us buffet him and spit upon him in the very same breath There are abundance of us my beloved who in name are Christians who do exceedingly dishonour Jesus Christ whatever their pretences and protestations be and I will shew you briefly who they are All unbelievers do dishonour Christ exceedingly in this respect that they do not close with him That when he is proposed and offered to them in the Gospel they do not take him and receive him on the terms that he is offered but put him off with a denial This is a great dishonour to the Lord Christ It is no less then an implicite scorning and despising of him As if he were so poor a gift that he were not worth the taking Ah my beloved do but think upon it that after Christ hath undergone so much as he hath done for our salvation and after comes a begging to our own doors beseeching us that we will entertain him and receive him and accept of him and that not for his own advantage or profit that accrews to him but meerly for our own good That he should stoop so low even by entreaties to impose himself upon us and we should be inexorable to him and basely thrust him quite away from us and refuse to meddle with him Oh what a horrible indignity is this to Jesus Christ What an unspeakable debasing of him Yet thus all unbelievers use him All I mean where Christ is preached And that may be applied to them which the Evangelist affirmeth of the Jews Iohn 1.11 He came unto his own his own friends his own Kindred his own acquaintance his own nation yea people of his own Country But though they were his own they would not own him nor embrace him He came unto his own and his own received him not And so he comes to these men and that with obsecrations and entreaties too and they clap the door against him and shamefully gâ—ve him the repulse They tell him in effect that he may go to those that need him and look after him or care for him For their parts they will none of him then which there cannot be a viler or more ignominions usage in the world They that despise and slight the blood of Christ they dishonour Christ himself His blood you cannot chuse but think is dear to him and the contemptuous usage of it reflects with high disparagement upon him But you will say who de pises Christs blood are any so unworthy and so base among us yes there are some such among us who use the blood of Christ as if they did account it an unholy thing as if it were but common blood the blood of any ordinary creature which they might freely undervalue at their pleasure And so in doing this they tread underfoot the son of God as the Apostle speaks Heb. 10.29 they throw him down and tread him under foot as if he were but dust or dung or some such base unworthy thing which is the horriblest contempt that can be They tread under foot the Son of God while they account his blood an unholy thing But who accounts it so you will demand Why they that use it so do in effect account it so and truly there are multitudes of such among us When ordinary blood is shed as the blood of any beasts you know we make no reckoning of it we look not after it we spend not any thought upon it it is shed and there 's an end And verily my brethren there are many who make no more of the blood of Christ himself then if it were but common blood then if an Ox or any other beast were slain and so account it an unholy thing They never think upon it unless it be to swear by it they never meditate upon the end for which he shed it or the use which they ought to make of it He shed his blood for us saith the Apostle that we should live no longer to our selves but to him that died for us And yet how many are there who live wholly to themselves notwithstanding all this who seek themselves their own ends their own things and not the things of Jesus Christ He loved his Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it Eph. 5.25 that he might wash it in his own blood Apoc. 1.5 And yet what multitudes are here among us who are not cleansed or washed to this day but tumble in the Kennel still wherein the swine of this world wallow
Christ descended that he was sent down from heaven And that of Christ in the forecited place is very notable to this purpose John 3.13 No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven even the son of man which is in heaven He was then come down from heaven he was then upon the earth when he spake these words and yet he addeth he was then in heaven too even the son of man who is in heaven He speaks not of his manhood or his humane nature that was not come down from heaven for it had never been there at that time And therefore he intends it manifestly of his Godhead in which he was come down from heaven and yet he was in heaven too at the very same time But how was he come down if he were there that is the great scruple Not really but in regard of declaration Answ He seemed to descend from heaven when he took our nature on him assumed a despicable and a low condition and walked up and down upon the earth like other men It looked as if he had forsaken heaven and was come down to dwell with men as John 1.14 The word saith he was made flesh and dwelt amongst us For there the Godhead is in Scripture said to be where it appears where it is manifested and declared to be And therefore seeing Christ appeared in the flesh and was God manifested in the flesh who was till then in heaven and did not shew himself on earth in such a manner and in such a way he is said to have descended to be sent down from heaven to earth And so as Bernard speaks acutely Non venit qui aberat sed apparuit qui latebat He came not who was absent but appeared who was hid And this prevents the answer to the second Querie whither it was that Christ was sent what was the terminus ad quem of this Mission His Father sent him down in the sense before expressed into this lower world And hence he calls himself him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world John 10.36 And the Apostle Paul accordingly affirms that he descended into the lower parts of the earth Ephes 4.9 That is as Beza and some others understand it he took up his abode and residence upon the earth which is the lowest of the elements the lowest part of this world The great enquiry is What errand and what business Jesus Christ is sent into the world about with reference to which he is stiled in my Text Jesus Christ whom God hath sent And this to say it in a word my Brethren he was sent to be a Mediator and a Reconciler between God and man to make up all the breaches and all the differences between his Father and his people So that you see he was dispatched upon a sweet errand And here he had a double business and a double work to do To make Peace and to preach Peace First he was sent to make Peace to do and suffer all that was necessary to compose the business between God and man To satisfie his Father and to pacifie his Father and so to make him friends with his people And therefore God is said by him to reconcile even all things to himself all things reconcilable Col. 1.20 And he is said in the very same verse to have made peace by the blood of his Cross This is the errand that he came upon In this respect he is stiled our peace the Author and procurer of it And he is called the Messenger the Angel of the Covenant Mal. 3.1 to shew us that the Message that his Father sent him in was to bring men into a Covenant and agreement with himself And this he did while he took all the matter of the Controversie between him and them out of the way paid all the debts of his people cancelled all the bonds and bills that were against them and nailed them to his Cross in the view of men and Angels Col. 2.14 That all the world might know that all the matters in debate between God and them were ended and that he had no more against them And when he had done this he cryed out Consummatum est The business which my Father sent me in and which I came into the world about is finished Secondly he was sent to preach Peace As to procure and purchase it so to reveal and publish it to his people And truly if he had not done the latter the former would have been to no purpose And hence the Father hath dispatched him down into the world to do both as to make Peace as a Priest so to preach Peace as a Prophet To let his people know there is a Peace obtained or else how should it profit them if they should never hear of it God hath annointed me to preach saith Christ himself Luke 4.17 To preach what To preach the Gospel which is the doctrine of attonement to heal the broken-hearted to preach deliverance to the captives as it is added there in that place Indeed he was appointed and designed to be the great Prophet the great Preacher and Revealer of the will of God to men And therefore the Apostle tells us That God who in former times spake to the Fathers by the Prophets hath in the last daies spoken to us by the Son He was designed you see to be the Fathers spokes-man to the world to tell them what his mind is to preach the Gospel the word of reconciliation to them This was a great part of the errand which his Father sent him in and therefore he is said to speak by him And Christ himself acknowledges in this respect My doctrine is not mine saith he but his that sent me John 6.0 And when he had dispatched this part of his Embassie too he told his Father I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do And what was that work you have it in verse 6. I have revealed thy name saith he unto the men which thou hast given me out of the world I have made known thy mercy to the Church how ready and inclinable thou art to pardon them and to be at peace with them And now I have done this the business thou hast sent me in is ended I have no more to do in this world And thus you see what business and what errand Christ is sent about Now for the last thing how he is qualified for the dispatch of this business and the delivery of this errand you must know that he is fully qualified every way And you will easily conceive that God would never send his Son into the world upon a business which he could not manage and which he was not able to go through withall And therefore as he hath sent forth his Son so he hath qualified him absolutely for the business he hath sent him in both with authority and with ability He hath qualified him with authority as his Embassadors and Messengers
could not be the least addition to him any way The meaning is that he had manifested and declared him to be glorious that he had shewed him in his glory to the world And this is that which he expresses clearly in the following verse saith he I have made known thy name to the men which thou hast given me And this he tels him he had done on earth It was done in heaven before the glory of the Lord was fully and immediately manifested there And now saith Christ it is done in earth too I have glorified thee on earth And hereupon he looks his Father should glorifie him with himself in heaven as it is added in the following words So that the point to be observed is this DOCTRINE Who ever will be glorified with God in heaven must glorifie him first on Earth Our Saviour Christ himself you see can have it on no other terms And therefore he desires it only upon this account saith he to God the Father I have glorified thee on Earth and now O Father glorifie me with thy self in heaven According to his first desire in his beginning of his prayer Father glorifie thy Son q. d. I should not look for any glory from thee unless I had brought glory to thee I should be far from any expectation that thou shouldst glorifie me with thy self in heaven unless I were assured in my self that I had glorified thee here upon the earth But seeing I have done the former I pray thee Father do the latter since I have glorified thee let me be glorified by thee And as it was with Christ the Head so it must be in some degree with all the Members No glory to be had in heaven till they have glorified God on earth It s true they merit not the glory they receive from God by that which they bring to God as Christ did but yet the one is not to be attained without the other They that bring God no glory in the present world shall have no glory from him in the world to come The Lord indeed will render glory to every man that worketh good and so glorifieth him as the Apostle shews Rom. 2.10 But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness and so dishonour God in their lives and conversations he will render nothing else but shame and ignominy and confusion They shall be raised to everlasting contempt Dan. 12.2 and be made spectacles of shame to men and Angels Reas 1 And the ground is evident because so is the everlasting Counsel and Decree of God which is not to be altered or reversed Those whom he chuses for himself whom he predestinateth to be glorified with him in the world to come those he predestinateth also to bring glory to him in this present world As he predestinateth such to the inheritance above who is abundantly and out of measure glorious so he predestinates them also that they should be to the praise of his glory as the Apostle shews you Eph. 1.11 12. That he may manifest the riches of his glory in the vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory so that you see as he prepares them unto glory as he appoints them to be glorified themselves so he prepares them and appoints them to bring glory to himself Rom. 9.23 To shew forth the praises of him that hath called them to his Kingdom and glory 1 Pet. 2.9 Thy people shall be all righteous saith the Lord of his Church Isa 60.21 The branch of my planting the work of my hands that I may be glorified Not only that they may be glorified but that I may be glorified too And if this be the purpose and decree of God will he not see it executed and fulfilled in all respects as well with reference to his glory as with reference to theirs shall his Counsel be accomplished in the one and not in the other do you imagine that the Lord will be put off in such a fashion that he will be disappointed of his end and of his purpose in such a business as this is No no assuredly if he predestinate men that they may be to the praise of his glory as well as that they may be glorified by him to his praise and to his glory they shall be And if they be not so at all it is apparent they are not predestinated by him and consequently they shall have no glory from him Now is it so my Brethren that whoever will be glorified with God Vse 1 in heaven must glorifie him first on earth This then may serve to shew the vanity of their conceit and apprehension who look for glory in the world to come and yet they bring the Lord no glory here It is the miserable folly and delusion of the greater part of men there is not one of us almost but thinks that God will glorifie him with himself hereafter He is an extraordinary man that doth not feed himself with this fancy And yet those very persons many of them who are strong in this opinion take no care to honour God in any of their ways nor to bring him any glory why my beloved how can you think now to be glorified with him Jesus Christ his own Son the darling of his own bosom could not have glory with him upon these terms He did not once so much as look for it Had he not glorified his Father here in this world he would not have expected that he should have glorified him with himself in heaven ye see he seeks it and desires it only upon this account And what now do you think to speed better with the Father then Jesus Christ his own Son do you imagine that you shall have glory from him though you bring no glory to him when Christ himself did not could not obtain it upon such terms as these are do you look in this regard to be preferred before Christ to have the better of God himself Ah my beloved do not gull your souls with this delusion I beseech you think upon it you who by your lewd and vitious conversations dishonour God continually you who lie in wickedness and wallow in uncleanness whose lives are full of nothing but prophaneness who are conscious to your selves that God hath not a whit of glory brought him by you unless ungodliness and sin will do it To whom a man may truly say as the Apostle doth to some Rom. 2.24 The name of God is blasphemed by your means do you expect that God should glorifie you with himself in heaven when you have done nothing else but dishonoured him on earth believe it he will be so far from this that seeing he hath not been glorified by you he will be glorified upon you He made you for his glory and glory he will have either one way or another he will not lose a farthing by you And if he be not glorified by your holy conversation he will be glorified in
farewell of our Saviour in my Text his own departure and his Disciples stay behinde him His own departure and now I am no more in the world but I come to thee his Disciples stay behinde him but these are in the world and are to continue so for that is intimated in the words Christ must go and they must stay so that a dolefull separation is at hand If Christ had been to have remained among them here or if he would have taken them up with himself into the other world it had been well they had been together still But Christ is now about to go and they must not go with him Begin we with the first particular suggested in the words the departure of our Saviour and now I am no more in the world but I come to thee And here you have the terminus à quo the term from which he goes and that is from this lower World Now I am no more in the world And the terminus ad quem the term to which he goes to the presence of his Father but I come to thee I am no more in this world this lower world beneath Heaven He speaks of that which is approaching and at hand as if it were already acted and accomplished for it is evident he was in this world when he uttered these words And it is usual with the Holy Ghost in the Scripture to speak of instant things as done already And so our Saviour in my Text I am no more in this world q. d. I am as good as gone already the time of my departure is at hand Now this our Saviour doth not here affirm of himself as he is God for so he doth not neither can he go or come He filleth every place at once and consequently cannot move in that respect from place to place But he speaks it of himself as he is man and in relation to his bodily and fleshly presence So he is now to be no more in this world he is to leave it and depart from it But whether is he then to go if he do not tarry here Why to his Father as you have it in the following words I come to thee Why was he absent from his Father here Was there a distance between his Father and himself while he remained in this World Was not the Father present with him everywhere Yes he was in his Fathers presence every where but not in his immediate presence where he reveals and shews himself in the fulness of his glory that is confined to the heaven of the blessed And thither is our Saviour now about to go to the Immediate presence of his Father as accordingly he did in a short time after I am no more in the world but I come to thee So that the Point to be observed is this DOCTRINE That Jesus Christ as he is man is gone out of this lower world to the immediate presence of his Father Though he were once yet he is now no more in this world no he is gone up far above all heavens as the Apostle Paul speaks Eph. 4.10 above all that we see to the Heaven of the blessed And therefore David speaking in the person of our Saviour saith Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell neither shalt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption but shalt shew me the path of life in thy presence is fulness of joy and at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore Psal 16.10 11. Thither is our Saviour gone to the immediate presence and to the right hand of the Father And there are witnesses enough of this while they beheld saith the Evangelist Acts 1.9 that is the Apostles assembled together as you may see in the foregoing part of the Chapter While they beheld he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight And that must be as he was man in which respect alone he was in sight before he was withdrawn from them And after Stephen saw the heaven opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God Acts 7.56 He saw Jesus Christ there in his Humanity and as he is the Son of man And there he must continue in his humane Nature until he come again to Judgement as the Apostles were certified by the Angels as soon as he was taken from them Acts 1.11 Why stand ye gazing up into heaven this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen him going into heaven And this is that which the Apostle intimateth in his Sermon to the Jews Acts 3.20 21. He shall send Jesus whom the heaven must receive until the time of restitution of all things Indeed my Brethren Christ was once manifested in the flesh appeared in his humane Nature in the World but now he is departed hence and received up to glory as the Apostle Paul speaks 1 Tim. 3.16 So that the point is plain you see That Jesus Christ as he is man is gone out of this lower c. But wherefore did he not continue here Why did he leave this lower World Let us see the reasons of it and they are many and of great importance some of them concern himself and some of them concern his Church we will survey them in their order Reason 1 Jesus Christ as he is man is gone c. because it was expedient for himself that he should be exalted after he had been abased and glorified after he had been dishonoured This World you know was the place of his abasure and humiliation in which he was to be emptied of his glory and to be made of no reputation And so accordingly he was despised and slighted and scornfully entreated here The other world my Brethren was the place in which he was to have his recompence for these abasures and to be glorified after all the shame and ignominy and contempt which the world had poured upon him And therefore when he had been throughly humbled here it was expedient for him to be received up to glory to be translated to the immediate presence of his Father where his transcendent exaltation was to be And this he intimates in his Petition John 17.5 And now O Father glorifie me with thy self q.d. I see there is no glory for me till I come to thee this is the place of my abasure and therefore I beseech thee take me to thy self that I may have glory with thee Reason 2 Jesus Christ as he is man is gone c. because he hath no more to do here He came into the world about business and that business he hath ended and dispatched and why then should he tarry in it any longer This world is not such a place in which one would be willing to continue longer then he hath work to do in it Indeed as long as Jesus Christ had any business to dispatch he was very well contented to stay here But assoon as that was ended he
them hasten him and fetch him by their prayers that he may say unto them as the Angel did to Daniel Dan. 10.12 From the first day that thou didst set thy self to understand thy words were heard and I am come for thy words And here to quicken you a little I shall present you with a few Considerations 1. The Lord expects you should be very earnest and importunate with him this business He hearkens after supplications and looks that men should ply him hard Thus saith the Lord the holy one of Israel and his maker Isa 45.11 Ask of me things to come concerning my Sons command you me q. d. There are great things to come that I am doing for my Church what is the reason that ye are so stil and that I hear of no Petitions from you touching these things You are alwayes plying me for present things but I delight to hear you pleading with me for those glorious things to come which I will surely do for my people Come put in your Petitions and requests concerning them and I will stoop so low to be commanded by your prayers Ask of me things to come concerning my Sons and concerning the work of my hands command ye me 2. Consider in the second place to quicken you in prayer that this is such a business as is worth your earnestness assure your selves you cannot lay out too much heat and zeal upon it When once the Lord hath gathered in a people to him over all the world the Church shall have perfection of beauty It is a very high expression but you shall see it is applied to Sion Psal 50.2 And it is meant apparently my bretren of the Gospel Sion of the Gospel Church for in the following parcell of the Psalm the Lord rejecteth Jewish worship Indeed the Churches happiness shall be so great in those dayes that it is called heaven very often in the Scripture And so the Saints who are to be the Members of that Church are said to dwell in heaven Apoc. 13.6 Indeed my brethren it shall be heaven upon earth 3. Consider that the bringing in of people over all the world to Christ will be an extraordinary honour to him the enlargement of his Kingdom is the enlargement of his glory It adds exceedingly you know my brethren to the Luster of a Kingdom when it hath many people under it and when the territories of it are amplified and enlarged It s no such glory my beloved to be the King but of a little City or a little Island or of a small and inconsiderable company of men But to be the King of many Nations and of many Kingdoms to have a multitude of people in subjection this is a glorious thing indeed In this respect the Empire of Christ Jesus in the latter times shall be unparalleld when once the Jews come in and bring the fulness of the Gentiles with them And therefore out of love to Jesus Christ and regard to his glory we should be intent upon it 4. Consider that the bringing in of people over all the world to Jesus Christ will be very beneficial and advantagious to our selves Perhaps we do not apprehend it to be so this Countrey is come in already to the profession of the Gospel we are come in already and what need we care so much for other Nations and for other people We are well enough our selves and why should we look after others Yes my beloved we have reason to look after others for till all others that belong to Christ of all the Nations of the world be gathered in we are not in so good a case as we shall be afterwards We are in Christ perhaps and that is well for us indeed but others of his people by election of many other Countreyes are as yet without and we without them cannot be made perfect as the Apostle shews Heb. 11. ult We without them are members in a sence of an imperfect body We without them have but imperfect grace nay though we were in heaven already we could have but imperfect glory Till all that appertain to Christ be gathered in of all Nations so long as there is but a man without there can be no day of judgement and so no full reward no complement of our beatitude And therefore we have reason to help on this glorious work to the utmost of our power because till it be accomplished it cannot be so well with us as it will be afterwards we without them cannot be made perfect Is it so that Iesus Christ sends forth his Ministers to gather Churches and to erect his Kingdom over all the world Here then is matter of rejoycing and thanksgiving for us the once rejected and neglected people of the Gentiles There was a time my brethren when we were set without the verge the reach of mercy When the poor Gentiles liv'd and we too liv'd without God without Christ without a promise without Gospel when Christ did never send to them to invite them to come in and when he had no Scepter but in Jewry no subjects in a manner but among that people Alas my brethren Christ was a King in those dayes to break the Gentiles by his power but he was not a King to rule them by his grace But now my brethren in these Gospel dayes there is no such respect of persons with him as the Apostle shews Acts 10.34 In every Nation and in every people he hath or shall have some to serve him and to be accepted with him And therefore whereas formerly he sent his messengers to none but to V se 3 the people of the Jewish Nation and gave them an express Injunction Goe not into the way of the Gentiles In which respect it was that Peter was scrupulous to preach the Gospel to Cornelius Now he sends forth his Ministers to all the world to all Nations now he enlargeth their Commission Go preach the Gospel to every Creature So that we Gentiles are included in it All Countreys People Callings Nations are alike to Christ in this respect the publication of the Gospel and the tender of Salvation belongeth to them all alike and if they entertain it and embrace it whether they be Jews or Gentiles whether they be Males or Females whether they be bond or free they shall have salvation by him How great a cause have we my brethren that are Gentiles of rejoycing and thanksgiving that Jesus Christ should send to us that the word is come to us as it is to all the world that we should have the Gospel published and revealed to us That we who formerly were utterly shut out from the enjoyment of the means of our salvation should have as full and free a title to them now as the very Iews themselves Nay that we should have the preferment of the Jew in that by the abundant blessing of the Lord upon the means the Churches of the Gentiles which were wholly desolate and barren heretofore should be more
respects besides it matters not in this of what Nation Condition Station Disposition or Conversation for the present if God have given them to him his will is that they be with him where he is But then we must distinguish as we have done before of the Fathers giving to the Son The Father gives men to the Son either for outward Ministration or inward union and incorporation Either to be his servants or to be his members In the first sence Judas was himself given to the Lord Christ to be his Minister and his Apostle as Christ himself acknowledges ver 12. Those whom thou gavest me I kept and none of of them is lost but the Son of perdition Now they who in this sence are given to the Lord Christ to be his Ministers and Servants only not his members are not the men for whom he prayes in this place that they also may be with him where he is because he knows they are appointed for another place Judas was so bestowed upon him and yet he was a lost Creature The Father gave him to the Son and he lost him as you may see in the forecited Text never to enjoy him more But now there are another sort whom God the Father gives to Christ for inward union whom he bestows upon him for to be members of his body And they must needs be with him who are in him And therefore out of question these are they for whom he prayes Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am But where was Christ when he spake these words Why he was upon the earth he was here in the world what then doth he desire that true believers might be with him here Is that the aim of his petition No it is a higher thing for which he is Suitor here their being with him in a higher and more glorious place Only you must conceive him here to speak as his usual manner is as if he were in heaven already As ver 11. of this Chapter And now I am no more in the world So in my Text Father I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am That is in heaven where I am to be and whither I am now going So that it is as if I were already there it being such a certain near approaching instant thing and in that place I would have all those to be whom thou hast given me by election and whom in thine eternal Counsell and Decree thou hast appointed to be members of my body Father I will c. So that the Point to be observed is this DOCTRINE It is the will of Jesus Christ that all that are his own by the donation of the Father shall be in heaven where he is There are two things in the Doctrine which I might prove clear in order before I come to Application First that there are some certain men whom God the Father hath made over to the Son that belong to Jesus Christ and are his own by donation from the Father Secondly that it is the will of Christ that they who are so his own shall be in heaven where he is There are some certain men who belong to Jesus Christ who are his own by donation from the Father And he gives them to the Son by his Decree from everlasting and by the execution of the same Decree in time This I do but mention here because it hath been largely handled on ver 12. Now for the second branch that it is the will of Christ that they who are so his own shall be in heaven where himself is you see it is the Suit he makes to God the Father in my Text Father I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that is in heaven where I am to be In heaven where I am already in my Godhead and where I am to be very shortly in my Manhood there I will have them to be also And for this end our Saviour Christ is gone to heaven even to make heaven ready for his people that so they may be presently admitted when they come He yields it as one special cause of his departure from his Apostles and Disciples when he was about to leave them saith he I go to prepare a place for you Joh. 4.2 When he entred into heaven and passed in to the immediate presence of his Father he took possession of it in our name and stead and left it open after him to all his members He hath in this respect prepared it for them that he hath made it ready to receive them And when they are ready too he will come and receive them to himself that where he is there may they be also as it is added Joh 14.3 And upon this account it was that the Apostle Paul desired to be dissolved because he was assured that assoon as that was over he should be with Christ Phil. 1.23 and so he teaches us expresly in another place that all that sleep in Christ Jesus shall be for ever with the Lord 1 Thes 4.17 By which it is apparent that it is the will of Christ that all that are his own by the donation of the Father shall be in Heaven where himself is But you will ask me Why will he have them to be there To this I answer that a man would think it necessary by reason of the union between Christ and them that seeing they are one they should be in one place But you must know my brethren that the corporeal and local presence of the parties contributes nothing to the union that is made between Christ and his members which is a spiritual and invisible thing and which no neerness in regard of place can further no distance in regard of place can hinder So that Christs people may be in him though they be not with him in the sence wherein I speak I mean not with him in the same place Their being with him locally in heaven is no way necessary to their union with him Or were it so the Saints on earth were in a very ill case Well then this cannot be the reason why Christ would have his people to be in one place with him that they may be one with him They may be this without the other But there are divers other weighty reasons of the Point I shall name a few of them Reason 1 Christ would have his people be in heaven where himself is because he hath a dear affection to them his heart is carried out exceedingly in love to them And more particularly and distinctly he loves them with a love of benevolence and he loves them with a love of complacency 1. Christ would have his people be in heaven where himself is because he loves them with a love of benevolence With such a love as makes him with them all the good that they are possibly capable of Now my beloved what greater good can be
wished to true Believers then to be with Christ in heaven To be in heaven where they shall be absolutely and compleatly holy and happy where they shall never sin and where they shall never suffer any more where holiness and happiness shall be both perfect where there is fulness of joy and pleasure for evermore and to be with Christ there of whose immediate prefence true believers are inavoidably debarred as long as they remain in this world While they are at home in the body they are absent from the Lord as 2 Cor. 5.6 But when they come to heaven they shall be with him they shall have the compleat and full fruition and enjoyment of him which is the greatest happiness that can be To be with Christ is best of all 1 Phil. 23. To be with Saints on Earth is good though they be imperfect here and though by reason of their imperfections they be the less delightfull and the less beneficial to us To be with Saints in heaven is better because they are perfect there There are the spirits of just men made perfect But to be with Christ there is best of all This is so good that there is nothing better there is no higher happiness attainable by any creature And therefore Christ would have his people to enjoy it to be in heaven where himself is because he loves them with a love of benevolence 2. Jesus Christ would have his people to be in heaven where himself is because he loves them with a love of complacency because he takes delight in them and friends that delight in one another think it not sufficient to be present each with other by the presence of their hearts and spirits No if it be possible they will be present each with other in their bodies too as you may see in Jonathan and David what shifts they made to come together So Jesus Christ who loves his people out of measure is not content that he is with them in his spirit and that they are again with him in their spirits No this is not enough but he must have their bodies with him too he must enjoy their company in heaven or else it is not well there Christ is not fully satisfied till he enjoy the sweet Society of his beloved Saints in heaven with whom he hath such intimate and dear acquaintance while they are here upon earth And hence he beggs his Father for them to bring them to the same place where himself is as if he could not live in heaven without them Father I will that c. 2. There is a second reason added in the Text which I shall handle Reason 2 only under that consideration Father I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am And why so might the Father ask him Why that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me as it is added in the next words That they may see the lustre which I sparkle with The glory of Christs humane nature in heaven is exceeding great The Evangelist who saw it through the dimm spectacles of humane frailty endeavours as he can to set it forth Saith he his Countenance was as the Sun that shineth in his strength Apoc. 1.16 But this was but a short resemblance Our Saviour Christ who knew it better carries it a little higher The Son of man saith he shall come in the glory of the Father Mat. 16.27 In comparison of whose incomparable lustre and transcendent brightness the Sun it self is but a shaddow Now Christ would have his people be in heaven where himself is that they may see this glory which he sh nes withall But why would he have them see it what shall they gain by it 1. While they see it they cannot but exceedingly rejoyce in it It cannot but transport them even to an extasie of joy to see him whom they love so infinitely sparkle forth with such dazling raies of glory Oh will the poor believer say This is my head my husband whom my soul loveth that is become so out of measure glorious There was a time when he was black and when there was no form nor beauty in him when wretched men made him vile and ignominious and when they hid their faces as if they were ashamed of him But now he shines forth as the Sun that hath been masked with a gloomy cloud This is he that died for me that shed his blood for me that loved me and gave himself for me Oh how my heart is ravished to behold his glory 2. While they behold it as they shall rejoyce in it so they shall partake of it And that especially two wayes both by union and reflection First they shall partake of it by union for being one with Jesus Christ they cannot choose but share together with him in his glory And as the glory of the members redoundeth to the glory of the head in which respect it is that the Apostle saith that Christ shall be admired in all them that believe So on the other side the glory of the head redoundeth much more to the glory of the members Secondly And as they shall partake hereof by union so also by reflection when they see Christ while they behold the glory of the Lord they shall be transformed into the same image from glory to glory Their vile bodies shall be conformed to his glorious body Phil. 3.21 And while they see him as he is they shall be like him as the Apostle John insinuates 1 Epist 3.2 They shall bear the very image of the heavenly Adam 1 Cor. 15.48 And as the face of Moses shined when he had been with God upon the Mount so when we come to be with Christ in heaven and to behold his glory there we shall reflect it back again and so shall shine together with him in the same glory And this is another reason why Christ will have his people to be with him that they may see his glory and seeing may partake of it both by union and reflection Use Now to descend to application Is it the will of Christ c. Here then you see the singular and extraordinary happiness of Christs people If they were alwayes to remain to set up their perpetual abode in this world it would be very sad with them It is a vale of tears a most uncomfortable place especially to Christs people in which they are not like to have a quiet hour almost as long as they remain in it But now the comfort is that it is the will of Christ that they that are bestowed upon him by his Father shall not alwayes stay here that he will have them come to heaven where himself is That he will not alwayes leave them in this vale of tears but he will one day bring them to a place of joy there to enjoy himself for ever to keep no longer at a distance from him but to be with him where he is To be with Christ in any
not all that is so called page 211 Believers priviledges page 256 379 450 451. 479 480 561 Their sins more hainous page 257 Have many enemies and why page 360 363 458 Object of Believers faith Christ page 439 The Word God Heaven and Salvation page 440 Believers loved as Christ page 478 479 Body of Christ Natural and Mystical page 167 Bodily outward worship not to be neglected page 12 Rules and directions for it page 13 C Certainty of salvation page 80 314 315 Christ the Fathers Son and Wisdom page 5 16 Our great Prophet and Preacher ib. 339 Glorified by the Father page 32 Author of all good to the Church page 34. 72 123 124 To be glorified by us and how page 42 44 One with the Father page 48 Came not to quicken and save all men page 105 Must be known page 119 120 123 Comforts to the sons of God in Christ page 17 22 Comforts to the godly page 17 22 70 253 257 342 452 518 Against injuries of the world page 194 258 352 To the distressed page 290 291 365 524 Our Conscience and Faith not subject to men page 65 Conference page 206 Sons by Creation page 15 19 By Creation all the world is the Fathers page 98 199 Knowledge of our Creation page 119 Christ the Fathers Creature page 160 Curiosity condemned page 183 445 Sinfulness thereof page 184 D. DEath not to be prayed for page 366 c. Believers Dead to the world page 190 Comforts against Death page 89 93 387 Desire good things page 49 Dishonourers of Christ page 38 39 c. 262 Disobedient condemned page 59 70 162 164. 404 Despair not of those that are dead in sin page 103 185 255 438 Disorderly walkers page 162 163 Divine glory communicated to Christ page 173 Discovery of the Father See Manifestation Doubtful are unbelievers page 210 212 Disobedience to the word whence it proceeds page 229 Discord the causes thereof page 296 Evils and inconveniencies thereof page 467 E. WHo the Elect page 192 197 Elect cannot perish page 99 312 End of all is Gods glory page 43 154 Eternal God 129. Eternal love of God page 509 Eternal life from Christ page 86 What it is page 87 To be sought after and how page 90 Christs free gift page 90 Unbought unsought untaught page 92 93 How it consists in knowledge and begun therein page 108 Enemies outward and inward page 353 360 363 Evil. How Christ preserveth from all Evil page 371 372 c. Excellency of Christs people above others page 257 Of the Gospel above other Truths page 397 F FAith page 90 120 129 133 See Belief Father God to be apprehended under that notion page 15 21 The Father glorified by Christ page 46 Fears of failing page 88 185 God must be feared page 117 140 Fearful are unbelievers page 211 Father essentially taken page 198 Free love and mercy of God and Christ page 91 92 147 Faithfulness of Christ and his Ministers 244 246. Signs page 247 Christs word to be kept by Faith page 207 208 226 To be heard with Fear page 225 G. GIft of Christ wonderful page 98 516 517 Some given to Christ in special manner page 97 189 Outward fitting Gestures in prayers requisite page 12 13 Gifts of Christ 35. See Qualification page 412 413 Glory of Christ page 32 33 170 472 Gospel the subject of Christs words page 6 8 To be attended 90. 114. The Instrument of life page 109 398 Means to Sanctification page 389 The Truth page 396 God not slack page 30 Glorifieth Christ page 32 Only true God page 126 Godhead of the Trinity page 128 They that have made choice of God happy page 141 They must glorifie God here who will be glorified hereafter page 152 Vain expecters of future Glory page 153 How God is to be glorified here page 154 The Glory that Christ prayed for page 170 171 Christ Glorified in those that are his page 261 472 H. HAters of Christ page 512 513 Hearers how they may profit by the Word page 395 396 Hearing necessary page 392 445 Heathen people in dangerous state page 121 251 534 Heavenly conversation alliance kindred 190 191. Marks thereof page 385 Honour of God to be aimed at page 49 50 154 Honour from honouring Christ page 44 Hour of God page 28 29 30 Hope of Heaven page 174 Hinderances to obedience page 223 We must be Humble as Christ was page 162 Humiliation of Christ page 161 Hypocritical gestures in prayer page 13 Humility commended page 542 543 Holiness of God page 280 Knowledge thereof very profitable page 281 282 Holiness to be laboured for page 435 I. IDols not to be served 136. Causes of Ignorance page 531 533 Ignorance an impediment to life page 109 Ignorant persons sad condition 113 444 inexcusable page 182 533 534 For the Instruction of others page 115 122 Incarnation of Christ page 178 Impatient are unbelievers page 209 210 Intercession of Christ page 250 252 253 267 340 352 438 Judging and censuring others unlawful page 65. 248 Judgements sent not so much for the destruction of enemies as preservation of friends page 77 How to Judge of true Ministers page 248 249 411 412 Imperfections of the Saints page 296 374 441 541 Joy Christ the Author and Original page 338 None to those that are out of Christ page 341 Means and matter of Joy page 343 348 Marks of spiritual Joy page 350 False Joy page 351 Justification page 442 Justice commended page 526 Justice and righteousness of God page 519 520 to be meditated page 528 A comfort to the righteous page 523 524 K. CHrist Keepeth those that are given him page 201 Word of Christ how Kept in the memory heart page 204 Power of God Keepeth those that belong to Christ page 285 How they are Kept and why page 286 287 312 313 Knowledge to be laboured for page 90 108 109 to 114 The beginning of eternal life page 108 109 Knowledge of God and Christ too necessary page 116 536 537 Knowledge of the Father without the knowledge of Christ is but vain and insufficient page 117 118 The most perfect Knowledge here imperfect page 541 543 L. LAnguage suitable for Christians page 193 385 Law none free from it page 60 Believers under the binding power of the Law page 61 62 How given to the righteous page 63 Law-giver none but Christ page 64 Life from Christ page 82 Life of Sanctification and Justication page 83 Christ our Lord by Creation Redemption Covenant page 19 Life not be valued 89 93 a mercy page 367 Come to Christ for Life page 93 Love towards God how to get and increase it page 460 461 552 553 Love of God and Christ to be admired 20. See Admire Love unto the Word 213. Marks thereof page 214 216 Loveliness of Christ page 515 516 Lusts of our own or others not to be obeyed page 139 Where Love is there is Christ page 558 559 Misery of those that have no
appellation ever and anon on all occasions so that the point to be observed is this DOCTRINE God is the Father of the Lord Christ and so he apprehended him and looked upon him when he was making his Petitions to him The point you see hath two branches First God is the Father of the Lord Christ then Christ did look upon him as a Father and apprehend him as a Father when he was making his Petition to him God is the Father of the Lord Christ I shall not waste away my time to prove it it is so clearly and expresly taught in Scripture every where you shall observe them often owning one another under the relation of a Father and a Son Sometimes the Father owns our Saviour for his Son and this he doth by an immediate attestation out of heaven it self Mat. 3.17 Lo a voice from heaven saying This is my beloved Son Me thinks he seems to point him out to special observation This is he Sometimes our Saviour on the other side acknowledges and owns the Father and this is very usual upon all occasions But how is God the Father of the Lord Christ or in what sense doth he call him Father here no otherwise then we do this will need a little opening To clear it to you in a word or two you must consider that God the Father hath two sorts of sons either he hath sons made or else he hath sons begotten He hath sons made and that both by Creation and Adoption First he is said to be a Father by Creation and thus he hath a kind of universal Fatherhood to all the Creatures And therefore the Apostle stiles him the Father of all Eph. 4.6 He is in this regard the Father of our bodies and the Father of our Spirits The Father of our bodies mediatly and virtually Created in the loins of Adam The Father of our Spirits immediatly and actually infused by himself with this distinction only that there are men who under him are the Fathers of our Flesh but he himself alone is the Father of our Spirits as the Apostle lays it down Heb. 12.9 And in this sense he is the Father of the Angels who were immediately framed and created by his own Almighty hand and therefore are called the sons of God Job 1.6 This Fatherhood of God as I have said is universal and all the Creatures have a share in it so that even all of them may call him Father too as well as we and use the Prophets words Mal. 2.10 Have we not all one Father hath not one God created us And thus our Saviour as a Creature hath an interest in the Fatherhood of God And here he hath an Interest above others though not an interest without others For he is the first-born of every Creature as the Apostle Paul speaks Col. 1.15 And as this Father hath his Sons made by creation so he hath Sons made by Adoption by which a remnant of Mankinde are set apart out of the free and undeserved Grace of God to be the children and the heirs of God And here I see not why our Saviour Christ as Man should not come in for one of the Adopted Sons of God for one I mean above the rest though not for one among the rest so that he hath his Priviledge in this regard as the Apostle intimates Eph. 1.5 God hath predestinated us to the adoption of Children by Iesus Christ Perhaps the meaning may be this first he hath adopted Christ as man and as a creature and then he hath adopted us by him as part of Jesus Christ and as Members of his body And as this Father hath his Sons made both by creation and adoption so he hath his sons begotten and his sons born for both of these expressions we shall finde in Scripture He hath begotten us saith the Apostle Peter 1 Pet. 1.3 Of his own will begat he us Jam. 1.18 And whosoever loves him that begat loves him that is begotten 1 John 5.1 And thus our Saviour also is begotten of the Father and here he hath his priviledge and his preheminence as well as in the rest For he is the first-begotten of the Father Heb. 1.6 when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world herein he is above Men yea he is above Angels For unto which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son this day c. And when he bringeth in c he saith And let all the Angels c. It s true that even we that are his Children are begotten as Christ is he is begotten from eternity but we in time He is begotten so that he partaketh of his substance and of his very essence that begets him We are indeed partakers of the Divine nature but not by communication of the Essence of God but by participation of the properties of God He is begotten of the Father personally taken whereas none of us are so It s true we are the Sons of God begotten by an Act without but we are not the Sons of God the Father taken as distinct from both the other persons of the God-head begotten by an act within as Christ is He is begotten by a proper and peculiar act of God the Father in an unspeakable communication of the Essence of the God-head from the Father to the Son which we are better able to admire then to express for as the Prophet saith who can declare his generation And this for clearing of the former member of the point God is the Father of the Lord Christ Now for the second that Christ did look upon him as a Father and apprehend him as a Father when he was making his Petitions to him You see it evidently and demonstratively in my Text. This is the appellation that he gives him in this prayer all along as I have noted to you heretofore It s true that God is frequently in Scripture stiled the God of Christ as see the place c. Psal 45.7 God even thy God and Christ doth sometimes call him his God as Iohn 20.17 I ascend to my God but to the best of my remembrance he never calls him so in prayer He comes not to him by the name of his God but by the name of his Father that is the sweet and precious name that he delights to call him by when he is pouring out his prayers to him I shall add no more for proof the point is plain God is the father of the Lord Christ and so he apprehended him c. Is God the Father of the Lord Christ this then may serve for sweet Use 1 and precious consolation to the Saints and to those that are in Christ For if God be Christs Father then he is their Father too And this our Saviour Christ himself acknowledges to his Disciples for their comfort I ascend to my Father and your Father My Father but so that he is yours too first mine and then yours My interest indeed in this respect is
And he is often speaking of his being sent out by the Father and that to do his will and not his own his work and not his own to signifie that he was in the state and the condition of a servant to the Father Now a servant must not seek his own honour but the honour of his Master As he must do his Masters will his Masters work and not his own so he must do it for his Masters ends and not his own If his Master set him up he must improve it to his Masters commendation And so our Saviour Jesus Christ being as Man and Mediator in the condition of a Servant to his Father it was his duty in the execution of his Mediatorship to aim at his Masters glory to do all things for his end viz. his glory Or otherwise in doing his Fathers work his Fathers will he might even serve himself and not his Father If any honour did accrew to him in the performance of his Office he was bound to ascribe it to the Father it was his duty as a servant so to do and so accordingly he did and this was one ground of it why he did no otherwise desire to have glory from the Father but that he might bring glory to the Father Reason 2 There may a second reason be assigned as he is God for so he and the Father are one and consequently his glory and the Fathers are one So that no marvel that he desire as God to bring glory to the Father seeing in doing so he brings glory to himself As on the other side it is no marvel that the Father takes occasion still to glorifie the Son seeing in doing so he glorifies himself You shall observe that they are always setting one another up the Father he is always setting up the Son the Son upon the other side is always setting up the Father and it is no wonder that it should be so because in setting one another up they do indeed set up themselves If the Son were to lose the glory that he gives the Father we need not doubt he would be loth enough to part with it So if the Father were to lose the glory that he gives the Son he would not let him have it neither for he hath said He will not give his glory to another But here 's the business now my Brethren when he gives glory to the Son he doth not give it to another but himself And so the Son when he gives glory to the Father he doth not give it to another but himself They are so absolutely one in all respects as God that the glory of the one is the glory of the other And therefore it is said that God is glorified in the Son Iohn 13.31 Mark that expression Not by the Son but in the Son for he is glorified in that the Son is glorified The glory that may seem to be imparted to the Son darts back again upon him by reflection it is doubled by this means and consequently he is not a loser by it but a gainer If he glorifie his Son his Son also glorifies him so that no marvel if there be such an exchange of glory continually between the Father and the Son and putting of it always over to the other That place is very notable to this purpose John 12.28 if it be read as some have rendred it and the Original will fitly bear saith Jesus Christ Father glorifie thy Name the Father answers by a voice from Heaven I have glorified thee not glorified it as in our last Translation but glorified thee and I will glorifie thee again the Son he prays not Father glorifie me but thy self thy own name Father glorifie thy name the Father answers not I have glorified my name my self but I have glorified thee Neuter sibi uterque alteri gloriam attribuens as one notes upon the text The Son desires the Father that he will glorifie himself and not him the Father tells the Son that he hath glorified him and not himself or if you will that he hath done what he desires he hath glorified himself in glorifying him so that the one is glorified in the glory of the other Vse Now is it so my Brethren that it is the desire of Christ to have glory from the Father to the end c. I shall apply it in the first place my beloved to perswade you to learn of Christ in this particular as he himself hath taught you in another case Learn of me for I am meek Learn to be as I am learn to do as I do So be you followers of Christ in this thing and do you learn of him when you desire or seek for any thing at Gods hands any place or any gifts that will advance or set you up among men that you desire it for no other end but this that you may glorifie the Lord with it It is a usual thing with many of us we would get up into some place of dignity we would have extraordinary parts and gifts we would be eminent in knowledge and in grace we would have God to honour us with these things and we are very earnest and importunate with him about it but can we say in the uprightness of our hearts as Christ doth Father we pray that thou wouldst honour us with these things that we also may glorifie thee That by this means we may be capable of bringing thee the more glory It is not to set up our selves that we desire this dignity or these accomplishments in any kinde but that we may advance thee Do we not know that we desire such things as these too many of us meerly for our own ends for the attainment of our own glory that we may get our selves a name that we may be accepted and reputed and esteemed Do not our hearts accuse us that we have such low aims as these are Now I beseech you my Beloved let us conform our selves to Christ in this particular any thing that we desire that will be honourable to us let us desire it in reference to Gods glory if we would have more knowledge and more grace and more ability to holy duties let it not be to this end that we may be some body among the Saints and that our names with Davids may be much set by If we would have more wealth and more power let it not be that we may strut and swell and swagger in the world but that if God shall honour us in this regard we also may glorifie him that having had such honour from him we may bring the more to him And truly if we seek it to this end we have the greater hope to speed with God in our Petitions and to obtain the gifts and blessings that we seek for and that upon a double ground which I shall briefly set before you as inducements to perswade If we desire that which will honour us that we may honour God with it we may be like to
and become the more vitious What bind and curb and limit them tell them that they must not swear and they must not be unclean They will not be restrained and hampered they no they will swear the more and drink the more and be unclean the more They are resolved with the rebellious Jews we will not hear we will not do but we will do as we have done I will fetch wine and we will fill our selves with strong drink and to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant Well my beloved if any of you be at this hand hear but a few particulars before we part Consider Christ is infinitely tender of his Authority and of his Law He will not easily endure it to be sleighted and infringed He came not to destroy the Law himself no he was far from any such intention in his coming nor will he suffer any other to destroy it neither Heaven and Earth shall pass away before one jot or tittle of his Law shall pass away Mat. 18.5 He had as lief that Heaven and Earth should come to nothing as that his Law should be dissolved And judge you then how great their provocation is who violate and break the precepts of it day by day as Sampson did his green cords as if they had no strength or force at all in them Could they set Heaven and Earth on fire and consume it into ashes they could not anger Christ so much nor vex him as they do by this their cursed violation of his blessed Law And there is extraordinary peril in the wrath of Christ If once he be incensed there is very great hazard and hence saith David Psalm 2. ult Kiss the son least he be angry and you perish Consider that the Law as it hath a commanding power that requireth us to do so it hath a threatning power that obligeth us to suffer in case of disobedience to the Law As it bindeth men to do the things that are commanded in it so in case they do them not and have no interest in Christ by faith it bindeth them to suffer all the things that are denounced in it For every one that doth not every thing that is contained in the Law is exposed to the curse as you may see Gal. 3.10 There 's not a curse contained in the book of God from the beginning of it to the end but such a man lies open to it and if he persevere without repentance he shall be sure to feel it to his pain Well then my brethren you may perhaps out-stand the precept but are you able to out-stand the threatning You may decline the duty but are you able also to avoid the curse Here Christ commands you replie We will not hear we will not do But when he shall pronounce the sentence of the Law upon you in the great and great dreadful day will you replie We will not bear we will not suffer Will you tell him to his face We will not go to hell we will not be condemned by the Law as you have told him here We will not be obedient to the Law Alas it is not all mens scorns and haughty looks it is not all their pride and sturdiness that will prevail at that time No no the haughtiness of men shall be brought low and Christ alone shall be exalted in that day Consider Christ hath ability to back and second his authority All power is given to him all kinds all degrees of power power of authority and power of ability Power of authority alone is but an empty and a despicable thing he that hath it may command and they whom he commandeth if they please may disobey he cannot force them to obedience nor punish them for disobedience The hazzard is not great of disobeying such power But where ability goes with authority there the despising of it must be full of danger Now so it doth in Jesus Christ and therefore he is peremptory Rom. 14.11 As I live saith the Lord that is the Lord Christ as you may see by the coherence every knee shall bow to me willingly or by compulsion If it bend not willingly I will make it bow or break Christ will be King though the earth be never so unsteady and the haters of the Lord shall be subject unto him How shall his haters be his Subjects yes they shall be subject to him either one way or another For though they be not subject to his grace they shall be subject to his power They that will not be ruled by him shall be broken by him We read of some that break his bonds asunder Psal 2 3. but presently he breaks their bonds asunder If they be good at breaking Christ will fall a breaking too He will break them with a rod of Iron and dash them in pieces like a Potters Vessel The authority of Christ as it hath some that stoop to it so it hath others that oppose it And such are they of whom we read Luke 19.19 His Citizens hated him sent a message after him to tell him to his teeth we will not have this man to rule over us They were in haste they could not tarry till he came about again but they must send this sawcy Message after him But see now what becomes of these men and whether it be all as they will ver 27. But these my Enemies that would not have me to rule over them bring them forth and slay them before me Oh think on this you that will not be ruled by Jesus Christ who when his will is manifested to you and when you are acquainted with the Laws and Statutes of his Kingdom regard it not at all but make light of all this Oh be advised to be wise and serve the Lord. Kiss the son he hath authority and therefore do him fealty least he be angry and you perish Is it so that all mankind is under the authority of Jesus Christ they are mistaken then who think that some men are exempt from his authority and from his Legislative power and that they are not bound to the obedience of the Laws he gives I am very apt to think that Infidels heathens who never had the Gospel preached to them who never heard of Jesus Christ are no way bound to the obedience of the Law of faith so that they sin in not believing in the Lord Christ and taking him to be their Saviour whom they have no means to know The Law of faith I mean of justifying faith the Commandment to believe is not a natural but a positive Law and consequently promulgation is absolutely necessary to the obligation of it But the Decalogue the Moral Law the Law of works is written in the heart of man by nature and therefore bindeth all men to obedience Yea but say some believers are exempted from the obligation of it the faithful are not bound to the obedience of the Moral Law It s true I must confess they are not
rest to all his people to stoop to this authority of his and to yield obedience to it If it were managed to their hurt and disadvantage they had reason to avoid it and to decline submission to it to the utmost of their power Who would be under such authority as aims at nothing else but the undoing of the Subject But since the end of the authority of Jesus Christ is the good of his people they have great reason to submit to it Ah my beloved how should this sweeten the authority of Christ and make it amiable and desirable and pleasing to his Subjects How should the Children of Zion be joyful in their King as the Prophet David speaks Psal 109.2 how should the members of the Church triumph and be exceeding glad that they are so well provided that they have Jesus Christ to be their Soveraign that they have such a Governour as he who manages his whole authority for their profit and advantage This is a joyful thing indeed The Lord reigneth saith the Psalmist Psal 97.1 and what doth he inferr upon it Let the Earth rejoyce let the multitudes of the Isles be glad of it And truly we that are the people of the Lord of this Isle as well as other Isles and quarters of the world have reason to be glad of this that Christ rules and that we are his Subjects We are afraid continually of new storms and new troubles but here is our comfort in the midst of all this that the rains of government are in the hands of Jesus Christ who is a King for our sake who is invested by his Father with authority yea with supreme authority such as none can overtop for our good and for our safety We may apply the Prophets speech Isa 33.20 Look upon Zion the City of our solemnities thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation a tabernacle that shall not be taken down not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken But the glorious Lord will be to us a place of broad rivers And why so For the Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King and he will save us So that however we be rent and torn with sad divisions however we be shaken with continual fears yet when we look to Jesus and consider Is not he out Law-giver and is not he our Judge is not the supreme authority in his hand we may conclude that he will save us that he will do us good and that because he hath received his power and his authority for this End John 17.2 That he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him Use 2 IS it so that the authority of Jesus Christ with which c. chiefly for the good c. Then let the Ministers of Jesus Christ be hence directed and advised how to use the power which they have received from Christ As God hath sent the Son so Jesus Christ hath sent his Ministers and his Embassadors It is his own expression to his own Apostles John 20.21 As my Father hath sent me so I send you And as God hath given power to Jesus Christ whom he hath sent so Jesus Christ hath given power to his Embassadors whom he hath sent And therefore it is added presently in the fore-alledged Scripture whosesoever sins ye remit they be remitted and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained You must conceive it either in the preaching of the word or else in the administration of the censures of the Church And this is that which the Apostle cals the power which Christ hath given him 2 Cor. 13.10 Now all that have this power from Jesus Christ are here directed how to manage it and what use to make of it It is apparent they must use it to the very same end to which Christ doth use his For even as Christ hath his Commission from the Father so they have their commission from Christ And even as Christ hath his authority from the Father so they have their authority from Christ And therefore even as the authority of Christ is managed chiefly for the good and the salvation of his people so must they manage theirs too for the very same end they must not aim at the destruction or the hardning of the people they must not preach the Gospel to them for such purposes as these though this by accident be the effect sometimes No they must make this their business how they may save themselves and them that hear them how they may bring about the conversion and salvation of the people how they may draw in souls to Iesus Christ and make proselytes for heaven this ought to be the great thing which they aim at It is true they must be sons of thunder now and then as well as sons of consolation They must preach the Law sometimes as well as the sweet comforts of the Gospel They must threaten men sometimes with wrath and hell and eternal condemnation But then they must do it so as wishing that these things might might not come upon them but rather that they might avoid them They must threaten them with wrath that they may fly from the wrath to come and they must threaten them with hell that they may escape the damnation of hell They must preach the Law to them with Gospel-purposes and Evangelical intentions They must send out the avenger of blood to dog them at the heels that they may fly to the city of refuge They must use sharpness now and then it cannot be avoided But it must be for the same end which the Apostle speaks of in the fore-alledged place 2 Cor. 13.10 where he mindeth the Corinthians that in case he must use sharpness according to the power the Lord hath given him he hath authority from Christ to do it but mark in the succeeding words to what end to edification and not to destruction According to the power the Lord hath given me to edification and not to destruction And therefore it is very notable that when our Saviour Christ had said to his Disciples All power is given to me both in heaven and in earth and having put a part of this authoâ—ity and power of his on his Apostles he doth not bid them to go out and preach damnation to the people but go and preach the Gospel to them and baptize them that they way be saved And the Apostle speaking of the execution of this power in the administration of the censures of the Church saith he would give a foul offender up to Satan for no other end then this even for his good and his salvation 1 Cor. 5.3 4. I have already judged saith he concerning him that hath so done this deed with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver him to Satan for the destruction of the flesh the carnal part that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord. So that
complain as Rebecca sometimes did when she had parlies in her womb and when the twins were struggling there If it be so with me why am I thus Is it so that our God is the only true God Then let us see our happiness Use 5 in this regard that we have chosen him for our God and that we have not taken any other The most part of the world my Brethren are mistaken in their god they serve them who by nature are no gods as Gal. 4.8 And what mistake is like this Oh what an happiness is this that we have not been left to this errour Now therefore let us say as David Psalm 34.2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. Let us boast of our God and let us glory over other men in this regard that while they have false gods we have the only true God for our God So that we are not to be equalled for a God by any people in the world besides which is indeed the highest priviledge that any creature is capable of It is no sin to vaunt and pride our selves in this prerogative to make comparisons with others as the Psalmist doth Psalm 113.5 Who is like the Lord our God there are other gods abroad but what god is like ours who can compare with us in this regard who can shew us such a God as we have If we be miserable and unhappy as we apprehend in other things Oh let our happiness in this which is transcendent and incomparable quiet all and make us still We have the greatest happiness imaginable and attainable in that we have such a God Happy are the people that are in such a case saith David that have outward peace and plenty But infinitely happy are they who have the Lord for their God And thus far of the Attribute of God the firmer object of the knowledge wherein Eternal life consists the only true God The Attribute of Jesus Christ the second object of it mentioned here comes now in order to be handled sent of God This is the Eternal life to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent The word in the Original importeth such an one as is dispatched upon the errand of another upon the business that another sends him in The theame from which it comes is that from which Apostle comes So that as the Apostles were to Christ so was Christ to God the Father Jesus Christ was Gods Apostle as the twelve were his Apostles God the Father sent him even as he sent them And this is that which he expresses clearly to them when he reneweth their Commission immediately upon his resurrection Joh. 20.21 As my Father hath sent me so send I you By this you may a little guess at the intention of the phrase I shall open it more fully when I come to Explication In the mean time the point is this DOCTRINE That Jesus Christ is Gods Apostle he is a Messenger sent forth from God So is his own expression of himself to his Father in my Text This is Eternal Life to know thee the only true God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent or whom thou hast made thy Apostle And therefore it is usuall with him when he hath occasion to make mention of his Father to call him nothing else but him that sent him He that receiveth me saith Christ receiveth him that sent me and you know who that is Luke 9.48 so to his own Apostles and Disciples It is my meat and drink to do the will of him that sent me or that hath made me his Apostle And having done his will and business in the world and dispatched the errand he employed him in I go my way saith he to him that sent me John 16.5 And God upon the other side speaking of Jesus Christ uses to call him Him whom he hath sent his Angel and his Messenger you may see that place for instance Mal. 3.1 there are two Messengers in that text the first is John the Baptist the Messenger of Christ Behold I send my Messenger that shall prepare my way before me the next is Christ himself the Messenger of God The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come even the Messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in I might load you with quotations but I shall add no more for confirmation of the point that Jesus Christ is Gods Apostle he is a Messenger c. Indeed it needs not proof so much as Explication Now that you may the better understand the drift and the intention of it there are some Queries to be answered First whence it is that Jesus Christ is sent the terminus a quo of this mission Then in the next place whether he is sent the terminus ad quem Thirdly what errand and what business he is sent about Fourthly how he is qualified for the delivery of this errand and the dispatch of this business As for the first of these the terminus a quo whence it is that Christ is sent To this I answer he is sent from the bosom of the Father as that is the expression John 1.18 he comes out of the Ivory Palace Psalm 45.8 In plainer terms my Brethren he is sent from heaven and therefore he is called the Lord from heaven 1 Cor. 15.47 Not the Lord in heaven only but the Lord from heaven too and that not only with relation to his second but also to his first coming No man hath ascended up to heaven saith our Saviour Christ himself John 3.13 but he that came down from heaven And who is that even the Son of man who is in heaven So then when he was incarnate he came down from heaven in a sense for of this our Saviour speaks in that place And to this speech of Christ it is that the Apostle Paul alludeth when speaking of our Saviour Christs Ascention Eph. 4.8 he addeth presently by way of Explication Now that he ascended what is it but that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things So then descend he did at first from heaven as after he ascended up again to heaven But you will ask me How could Christ be sent from heaven Object and how could he descend from heaven It could not be with relation to his manhood for so when he came down he had never been in heaven his body had not been there A man would think it could not be with relation to his Godhead for that is everywhere it filleth heaven and earth as the Prophets phrase is The infiniteness and immensity of the divinity admits not motion it cannot stir from place to place because it is in all places and so there is no other place into which it may remove Well then the Essence of the Godhead is immovable neither is that the meaning when the Scripture saith that
it So that here was rich mercy Had he done it by constraint had he been enforced to it there had been no such matter in it I confess of admiration or thanksgiving The praise had then been due to him that forced him and not to him that was enforced But that he should go forth of such an errand willingly for our sakes that he should willingly expose himself to such a death for those who were not friends but enemies both to his Father and himself This was love as the Apostle Iohn speaks Love in the heighth and with a witness love to astonishment and admiration Is it so that Jesus Christ is Gods Apostle a Messenger c. Then be Use 2 you all entreated to receive him and to give him entertainment when he comes Do not reject and slight a Messenger that comes from such a one as God is you cannot but acknowledge that you owe so much to any one whom God sends as to give him fair quarter and to shew him all the kindness that you can Indeed the carriage of the world to Jesus Christ in this respect is very shamefull and unworthy The Evangelist observes it Iohn 1.10 11. that for the greater part he is neglected slighted and despised on all hands He came into the world saith he but they refused him they did not account him worth the looking after And why so the cause is evident they knew him not as it is added there in that place But yet the Jews a man would think who were his own of whom he came according to the flesh who knew the prophesies concerning him should have received and entertained him No for the greater number of them they were as bad and as averse as it was possible for men to be He came unto his own his own friends his own kindred his own acquaintance his own Nation the people of his own Countrey but though they were his own they would not own him nor embrace him He came unto his own and his own received him not Yea more then so it is observed with reference to them that God sent his Son among them and they cast him out and slew him Mat. 21.39 Now I beseech you my Beloved be not you like those men Since Jesus Christ is Gods Apostle and his Messenger since he is sent from God to you let him be received by you When he comes to your doors let him not stand knocking there till his head be full of dew and his locks with the drops of the night No open presently and let him in and entertain him with such honour and respect as is agreeable and suitable to him who comes immediately from God who is the Messenger and Embassador of the great God of heaven and earth And that you may the rather be prevailed withall I shall present you with a few considerations Consider Jesus Christ as he is sent forth from God so he is sent on your business The errand which he comes about concerns you and therefore you have cause to look after him If he were sent into the world about a matter that you had not to do withall and that concerns you not at all there were some colour that you should neglect him that you should leave him to be entertained by those whose business he is come about For what have you to do with him that comes upon a message to another man But sure the errand and the business which our Saviour comes into the world about is yours it is but reason that he should be entertained by you And as the business which he comes about concerns you so it concerns you for your good and your advantage It might be your business and yet it might be but a bad business such as you have no cause to hearken much after nor to give any welcome entertainment to him that is employed about it It might be for your hurt and for your ruine and your condemnation But Jesus Christ is not sent into the world at least he is not sent immediately and directly upon any such errand The Father disavows it and saith he did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world by him might be saved John 3.17 And so doth the Son too Iohn 12.47 I came not to judge the world but to save the world So that you see Christ is the Messenger of God for good to you He is not come to judge you and condemn you but to save you He comes not with a Writ of death but with a Pardon and a Pardon sealed with his own blood and therefore you have cause to bid him welcome He is sent to make Peace for you and to preach Peace to you as I have shewed you formerly The Spirit of the Lord is upon me saith our Saviour Isaiah 61.1 he hath annointed me to preach good tidings to the meek he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. You see the errand he is sent upon is all sweetness the message which he brings is nothing else but glad tidings of good things And therefore let his very feet be beautifull let his reception and his entertainment be answerable to his business Consider that the Father who hath sent the Son into the world expects he should be well received and entertained by you He looks for this at your hands that you should honour his Embassador and use him with respect for his sake Especially since he is not his Embassador in ordinary as he hath many such among you every Minister is so No my Beloved Jesus Christ is more then so he is the Extraordinary Messenger and Embassador of God and therefore he will have him entertained with extraordinary honour and respect And this is that which he suggesteth in the parable Mat. 21.37 Last of all he sent his Son saying they will reverence my Son He had sent many other Messengers before and they despised and abused them as you may see in that place But last of all he sent his Son the greatest and the best Embassador he had to send and said though they have slighted other Messengers of mine yet surely they will reverence my Son Though they have abused my servants they will not deal so with my Son it is impossible they should be so unworthy to despise my Son So that you see my Brethren when God sends his Son to you he looks he should be well received and entertained by you Consider that if you deceive his expectation he will take deep revenge upon you If when he hath dispatched his own Son to you you will not give him entertainment but shut the doors against him as it were and turn him off with a refusall it will fall heavy on you in the end It is such a base affront and high indignity to God and Christ as he
exceeding abundantly above all that we can either ask or think according to the power that worketh in us He is able by that power whereby he hath sustained thee so long to strengthen and support thee still what ever further trial come upon thee beyond all that thou canst ask yea beyond all that thou canst think he is able to do more then thou art able to imagine If our danger be without from enemies that set against us with all their policy and power and have reduced us to great extremities and streights let us resolve we shall be kept by the Almighty power of God without us guarding and defending Let us say boldly as the Psalmist did in such a case The Lord is my helper I will not fear what man can do unto me I must confess that we are apt to cast away our confidence and to despair of succour and deliverance It was the Prophet Davids weakness as himself acknowledges Psal 77.10 But if we fail at any time with holy David let us come off as he did let us ingenuously confess that it is our infirmity and let us call to mind with him the right hand of the most High Oh let us think upon the great and the Almighty power of God for that is intimated by his right hand which commonly is stronger then the left and so let us uphold our fainting spirits when they are apt to sink within us As Luther did when one supposed that the Emperor with all his Forces would fall upon the Duke of Savoy who was the great Protector of the Protestants at that time And where saith he will Luther be then That holy man returned this suddain answer Aut in Coelo aut sub Coelo either in Heaven or under Heaven because he expected protection from Heaven as long as he lived and knew he should have possession of heaven when ever he died But may we rest upon it then that we shall have protection from the Name of God in all dangers That he will keep us through his own Name To this I answer if we belong to Jesus Christ we may be sure we shall be kept by it either one way or other either from the outward danger or else from the inward dammage either in a way of deliverance or if not so in a way of assistance The Prayer of our Intercessor in my text shall not be in all respects in vain for us It 's true the Lord may leave us sometimes in the outward danger and may not keep us by his power for us But then he will be sure to keep us by his power in us If he take not off our burthen he will give us strength to bear it And if he do not keep us from the evill he will keep us in the evil One way or other we shall have succour from his great Name If it be not a shield to cover us and protect us it shall be an arm to underprop us and support us underneath us shall be the everlasting arms as Moses speaks Deut. 33 27. So that here is comfort still in any trial or temptation If we be not delivered from it we shall be enabled to bear it And here lest any of you should look on this as cold comfort I must tell you that it is a richer mercy to be enabled by the power of God within to bear a trial then to be rescued and delivered from it by his power without this latter we desire most but out of doubt the first is best for us For do but weigh it my Beloved outward help and outward succor and deliverance by the power of God is but a common mercy of which the worst of men partake yea of which the beasts partake in this respect he saveth man and beast How often doth the Lord put forth his power to rescue the vilest of the sons of men from outward danger yea the vilest of the creatures But he supports and strengthens by his grace within none but his own people It is the proper and peculiar priviledge of those that are given up to Jesus Christ to be kept this way by the Name of God Paul was importunate you know to be delivered from the Messenger of Satan that was sent to buffet him For this thing besought the Lord thrice that is might depart from me 2 Cor. 12.8 He could not speed in that Petition he could not get deliverance but he got support which was abundantly the richest mercy And when did God ever say to an ungodly wretch in such a case as he doth there to the Apostle Paul My grace is sufficient for thee and my strength is perfected in weakness He hath very often given wicked men sufficient outward succour but he never gave them yet sufficient inward grace this is peculiar to his own people Vse 3 Is it so that they that belong to Jesus Christ are kept c. Then when you are in any danger or distress have recourse to this power Seek not so much to outward means and second helps but say as David Psal 68.11 Lord do thou give us help from trouble If you be kept it must be by the Name of God to which you are committed by your Saviour He saith not to the Father in my text Let them be kept by humane strength by worldly succours and accomodations But keep them through thy own Name And therefore when you know not what to do run to this Tower the Name of God Seek the Lord and seek his strength as the Psalmist counsels you Psal 105.4 For you must know my Brethren it is not enough to make us capable of having sure protection in the name and power of God that we belong to Jesus Christ No we may be so careless of our duty that we may be deserted for the present of the power of God and may not have it to relieve us and defend us And this is that which Ezra intimates Ezra 8.22 The hand that is the power of God is upon all them for good that seek him If we neglect him we may miss of favour from him as Asa did in such a case the Lord would not put forth his power to heal him because he sought not to the Lord but to Physitians And therefore when we are in danger any way from within or from without let us lift up our hearts and cry to God with the afflicted Church Psal 80.2 Stir up thy strength and come and save us and let us see that we do it in the way that God would have us and that we seek him in the due order as the expression is 1 Chron. 15.13 And to this end I shall give you some directions 1. Seek him early while he may be found of you you must not run through all your other holds and fly to all your other stays and when you find that you are disappointed in them all then go to hide your selves and not till then in this Name when you know not
fail Luk. 16.17 that is to miss of execution and accomplishment Fail it may in the Letter and Paper of it but not in the fulfilling of it No saith our Saviour Heaven and Earth shall pass away but my Word shall not pass away Mat. 24 35. Heaven and Earth are more inconstant and variable then my Word is and therefore the Apostle Peter speaking of the Prophesies of Scripture saith that they are sure 2 Pet. 1.19 We have saith he a more sure Word of Prophesie whereunto ye do weâ—â—â—hat ye take heed Not as if the Prophets words or writings were in thâ—â—selves more sure then the Apostles but to the Jews they were more sure For they received the Prophets words and writings but they rejected the Apostles Well sure the writings and predictions of the Prophets are you see we may rest safely upon them and conclude That whatsoever is foretold c. And it must needs be so my Brethren For The Author of the Prophesies is unchangeable and true and consesequently whatsoever he foretels or any Messenger of his from him must surely be accomplished and fulfilled 1. The Author of the Prophesies as well as other parts of Scripture is unchangeable He is the Lord that changeth not Mal. 3.6 He is yesterday to day the same for ever Heb. 13.8 And therefore what be saith must come to pass men say sometimes that they will do a thing to day which yet they alter and revoke again to morrow But if God say a thing to day he will stand to it firm to morrow he will not change his resolution He is not as man that he should lye and as the son of man that he should repent But he hath seemed to repent Object and to change his resolution in many things foretold in Scripture For instance he foretold by Jonah that Nineveh should be destroyed at the end of forty days Jonah 3.4 yet when they were expired he did not as he had foretold so that he altered in appearance yea it is said expressly that he repented of his Commination so that he brought it not to execution God repented of the evil which he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not Jonah 3.10 For clearing this Sol. you may remember that universal rule which God lays down for the better understanding of all Prophetical Praedictions in a way of Commination Jer. 18.7 The sum is this that they have all of them annexed to them or implyed at least if not an exprest condition And so had this against the Ninivites Yet forty days and Niniveh shall be destroyed conceive it if they be not humbled that was the reserved condition But they were humbled repented though they were preserved God did not otherwise then he determined and yet indeed he is said to have repented because he did so that he seemed to repent For as a man if he have threatned that thus and thus he is resolved to do and after do not so if he have power is said to change his mind and to repent of what he said Even so the Lord when he had threatned Niniveh and had concealed the condition because he spared it afterwards and did not just according the letter of the Commination is said to have repented because he seemed to do that which in a man would have discovered change and alteration of his resolution And even as anger is ascribed to the Lord Non per affectum sed per effectum as the Schoolmen say The passion or affection of it is not properly attributed to God but the effect and fruit is Vengeance is mine and I will repay it Even so repentance is not in the nature of the Lord but the effect and issue of it is usually ascribed to him The recalling or undoing of a thing which as far as we could judge by his words or by his works or our deserts or any other evidence that was before us seemed unto us to have been his intent and purpose to have done 2. And as the Author of the Prophesies as well as other parts of Scripture is unchangeable so he is true Yea He is the God of Truth as the Prophet David stiles him Psal 31.5 And therefore that which he foretells must be accomplished and fulfilled Observe it well my Brethren the Prophet doth not say He is the true God in himself and in his nature but he is the God of Truth in his discoveries and in his revelation of himself to men All that comes from him is truth He is the faithful and the true witness Apoc. 3.14 Not only true and faithful as a God but true and faithful as a witness In all the testimonies that he gives of himself or of his Son or of his works already done or intended to be done there is nothing else but truth He cannot be the Author of a falsehood it is impossible as the Apostle tells you Heb. 6.18 It is impossible that he should lye He can assoon deny himself put off his Deity cease to be God as father an untruth and therefore that which he foretels must be accomplished in his season And as the Author of the Prophesies is unchangeable and true so the Word of God it self of which the Prophesies are part is so also The Word of God is unchangeable and true even as God himself is and therefore all the Prophesies and the Praedictions of it must be accomplished and fulfilled 1. The Word of God is an unchangeable an unalterable Word when he hath said a thing and said it absolutely that must stand there is no revocation of it in the sense that he hath said it Thy Word O Lord saith holy David is setled in heaven Psal 119.89 It is an Established thing never to be removed again And therefore it is said to be setled in heaven There are great changes here below continually but there is none above in heaven and there the Word of God is setled above the reach of any alteration All flesh is grass saith the Apostle 1 Pet. 1.24 all the glory of man as the flower of grass the grass withereth and the flower thereof fadeth away but the Word of the Lord endureth for ever 2. And as it is unchangeable so it is true yea it is the Word of Truth It is an Epithite that is imposed upon it often Thy Word is true from the beginning saith the Psalmist to the Lord Psal 119.160 And so it shall be to the end And therefore it is added presently The judgements of the Lord endure for ever not in their being only but their truth You know the Scripture is often called a testimony or a witness Either it is a testimony that the Father gives us of the Son or that the Son gives us of the Father either it is a witness to us of things that have been done or else which is a little stronger it is a witness to us of things that shall be done Now this is a condition absolutely
Christ And therefore it is called his joy because originally it is his and comes from him to them by way of dispensation and communication that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves So in another place he tells his Apostles and Disciples that if they were obedient to him they should abide in his love And adds immediately these things have I spoken to you that my joy might remain in you that is to say the joy that I give you John 15.11 Indeed it is the fruit and the effect of Christs kingdom erected in the hearts of his people as the Apostle shews us Rom. 14.17 His Kingdom is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost You shall be sorrowfull saith Christ to his Disciples but your sorrow shall be turned into joy John 16.20 And who can turn it into joy but Christ only But you will ask me how and in what respect is Christ the Author of the joy of his people Beloved I might instance in a multitude of things but I shall draw them all to three heads Christ is the Author of the joy of his people As he is their Prophet to instruct them The state of ignorance my brethren is a state of darkness so it is often stiled in Scripture And that is an uncomfortable state full of fear and full of sorrow But when Christ comes with light and information and instruction when he becomes a Prophet to them he gives them extraordinary comfort In that he gives them light he gives them joy for both of them are joyned together Psal 97.11 Light is sown for the righteous and joy for them that are upright in heart As he is their King to rule them you heard but now that his kingdom stands in joy And hence his subjects are exhorted to rejoyce in him Psal 149.2 Let the Children of Zion be joyful in their King Now as a King my brethren he is many wayes the author of the joy of his people I will name a few of them 1. As he subdues their enemies and gives them peace And this he doth my brethren for he is the King of Salem and the Prince of peace And when he doth it he is an extraordinary comfort to his people When he subdues their enemies within them and so gives them inward peace When he masters and brings under their stubborn and rebellious Lusts and strong corruptions which are such a daily trouble and vexation to them O what a joy is it to his people when according to his Covenant he saves them from those enemies then they serve him without fear Luke 1.75 and if without fear then certainly with great joy So when he saves them from their enemies without them and so gives them outward peace then he gives them joy too Such times have still been celebrated and observed with extraordinary gladness and rejoycing Especially when Babylon goes down the arch-enemy of his Church and his people then Christ hears many Halelujahs for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth Then they that stand upon the glassie sea are in a very chearie frame They sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb Just and true are thy wayes O thou King of Saints 2. As a King Christ is the Author of the joy of his people as he gives them his spirit For this he doth under the notion of a King and when he doth it then he fils them full of joy The Spirit is the Comforter that is his name so he is stiled very often to shew us what his Office work and business is And therefore joy is made a companion of the Spirit to shew us that they use to go together Act. 13.52 The Disciples saith the Text were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost and the Apostle tells us that joy is one especial fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 The fruit of the Spirit is live joy And hence the Holy Ghost is called the Oyl of gladness Isa 45.7 As it is the Oyl of gladness it makes glad the heart of man and it makes his face to shine And consequently when our King pours out this Oyl upon his people he pours out joy and gladness with it Then his joy is fulfilled in them because they have this oyl from him He is anointed with it above his fellows it flows down from him the head even to the lowest members of his body 3. As a King Christ is the Author of the joy of his people as he dispenses recompences and rewards to them For this he must do as a King too and when he doth it he makes them overflow with joy and therefore he will have them to be out of measure glad even in the expectation of it Luk. 6.23 Rejoyce and leap for joy saith he and why so for great is your reward in heaven And if they have such cause to be transported in the expectation how much more in the fruition When Christ shall say to every one of his as Mat. 25.21 Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord into the self-same joy which I thy Lord and Master entred first into and took possession of before thee Then indeed the joy of Christ shall be communicated to them Then they shall have his joy fulfilled in them to the very utmost Christ is the Author of the joy of his people as he is their Priest to sacrifice and intercede for them Both ways he is the Fountain of their comfort I shall a little touch them in their order 1. As he is their Priest to sacrifice he is the Author of their joy for by this means he satisfies the justice of his Father for them he frees them from the guilt of all their sins he reconcileth them to God And is he not in this respect the cause of extraordinary comfort to his people Is it not a sad thing for a person to live at enmity with God who made him and will judge him in the great day If peace with God be so infinitely sweet is not enmity with God full of fear and full of horror is it not a doleful thing for any person to be dead in Law bound over to the everlasting wrath and vengeance of the great God in danger every hour to be haled and dragged away to execution and to be cast into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone and is it not a joyful thing to be delivered out of such a state as this is Now this our Saviour as a Priest hath done for his people in a way of satisfaction and so hath given them cause of exceeding great joy as the Angel intimates when he informs the Shepherds where he was born and what he was to do Luk. 2.10 Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy 2. As Christ is his peoples Priest to intercede for them he is the Author of their joy It is an extraordinary comfort to them that Christ appears in heaven for them in all causes to offer up and to
will do to the worlds end For certainly he is not less regardfull of them now in Heaven which is the most proper place of acting the second part of his Mediatorship which consists in intercession then he was upon the earth So that whatever our Condition be how sad or sorrowfull soever if we would know our Saviours intercession what it is for us in heaven we may survey this counterpane thereof on earth which is recorded for this very end That we may have an exemplar and a pattern of it continually lying by us in the Scripture to have recourse unto and to fetch overflowing comforts from in all cases Now to cleer this a little further to you I shall proceed to shew you in a few particulars that the perfect knowledge of our Saviours intercession is one especial means to fill his people full of holy joy It is a means to comfort them exceedingly in reference to all the oppositions of their enemies whether without them or within them Do you not think it was a comfort to the Host of Israel when they had got a Champion to stand up for them against the daring insolencies of Goliah who had so long defied the armies of the living God It made them even shout for joy And so it is a comfort to the poor soul when he hath been long contending with the world which sets upon him mightily with all its blandishments and its allurements on the one side and with its threats and persecutions on the other side and with the Devil who furiously assaults him with his fiery darts and his violent temptations and with his own corruptions and his lusts that warr against the soul as the Apostle speaks And when he is about to faint and sink away he considers with himself Why though I have all these against me yet I have Jesus Christ for me and he is pleading-hard on my behalf that I may not have the worst in these Encounters but that I may be more then a Conqueror I seem to hear him saying to me These enemies of thine have desired to winnow thee and to destroy thee but I have prayed for thee that thy faith may not fail Thy courage and thy strength may fail a little but thy faith shall never fail When Christ was here upon the earth he earnestly besought his Father for me that he would keep me through his own name and what he did on earth I know he doth in heaven much more and he cannot be denyed So that I am as safe as the Almighty power of God can make me Oh what a matchless comfort and encouragement is this The poor perplexed soul but now was tossing on the boystrous waters of violent temptations and of raging passions and of furious lusts and even ready to be cast away But now as David speaks the soul is glad because it is at rest and it is brought to the desired haven Ah my beloved when a man who is mightily assaulted by corruptions and temptations and persecutions and afflictions and when the stones and buffets are about his soul can look up as Stephen did Acts 7.56 and see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God this cannot choose but fill him full of comfort Nay sayes the soul If thou art there pleading for me to the Father and standing up in my defence I know it is impossible that I should perish or miscarry The knowledge of our Saviours Intercession for his people is a means to comfort them in reference to all the accusations that are laid against us at the barr of Gods justice The Law comes in with a black bill against us layes very heavy things to our charge and taxes us with many grievous violations of it which we are no way able to deny Sathan for his part is the grand accuser of the brethren and he objecteth heynous things against us and layes it on with full load And then our consciences perhaps accuse us as fast as any of the other two They are not able to gainsay the allegations either of Sathan or the Law but are forced to acknowledge that all the curses that are written in the Book of God are very justly due to us What shall we do or how shall we keep up our hearts from sinking into utter desperation in such a case as this is As for our parts we have nothing to alledge in or of or from our selves why the sentence of the Law should not be pronounced against us But this is that which fills us full of Comfort that Jesus Christ hath enough to say for us and that he sits in heaven for this very end to make intercession for us when any thing comes in against us there to appear in our behalf and to plead our cause If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father saith the Apostle 1 John 2.2 and he is the propitiation for our sins We have such an Advocate as is a propitiation So that when Sathan and when sin accuses and makes a dreadfull noise against us he can wipe all off again with one word Saith he This person hath offended I confess but what of that There is a full propitiation made it is well known that I have done it and what hath any one to say to this man If he have out-sinned my satisfaction even let him be condemned But if not let him be acquitted or what do I sit here for How can this choose but ravish and transport the soul into an Extasie of joy and make it to triumph with the Apostle Rom. 8.33 Who can lay anything to my charge who is he that condemneth Let me but see the man that durst to do it So that no marvail though our Saviour Christ be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the forecited place which signifieth both a Comforter and Advocate To shew that Jesus Christ doth comfort us exceedingly by undertaking for us as an Advocate and pleading for us with the Father The knowledge of our Saviours Intercession for his people is a means to comfort them in reference to the many weaknesses and imperfections of our own prayers Oh how are we dejected and cast down sometimes when we are dull and flat and cold and speechless in our addresses to the Majesty of God When we are so deserted and our hearts are so shut up that as Hezekiah once we cannot speak in prayer but only chatter like a Swallow Isa 38.14 when we know not what to say nor what to plead we are so barren when we are destitute of matter and expression this puts us many times into a very sad condition and overwhelms our hearts with sorrow As David once complained in such a case Psal 77.3 I remembred God saith he I was troubled I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed But now my brethren is it not a matter of exceeding comfort to consider that we have an Intercessor to help us out with all this That he puts in
to God the Father for us and takes our Suites into his hands That he excuses what is wanting in our prayers and supplies it in his own That he is lively there where we are dull that he is quick where we are flat that he is full where we are short My Clyent saith our Advocate means this and this this is the meaning of the spirit in him He is not able to express himself as many others can but this is that which he intends and aims at His words are not so ready and so apt but he hath as sincere a heart as the most voluble and fluent of them all and he is one for whom I have laid down my life and shed my blood for whom I have deserved all the good that he can ask and stand in need of And therefore I beseech thee Father let him have what he desires give him a speedy and a gratious answer for my sake Ah my beloved is it not able to fill our hearts brimfull of joy when we remember that we have such an Advocate as this is The knowledge of our Saviours Intercession for his people is a means to comfort them in reference to the defects of all our graces For we come short in all of them there is not one of them compleat There is much lacking in our faith as the Apostle speaks 1 Thes 3.10 and so there is in all the rest which spring from faith For if there be a failing in the root there cannot choose but be a failing in the branches And this is that which makes us walk so heavily and sadly many times when we consider with our selves how slender the degrees and measures of our graces are so that we know not where to find comfort What shall we do in such a case to keep our spirits from despondency Why truly among many other wayes this is a very special one to fix our thoughts upon the intercession of our Saviour for us and to consider seriously with our selves that this is one great business that he urges to his Father that he would sanctifie his people That he would give them out more grace and more holiness This prayer of our Saviour in my text as I have hinted formerly is but a Counterpane of the perpetual intercession that he makes for his in heaven And it consists especially of two branches which comprehend the two main things that he desireth of his Father for his people Preservation and Sanctification The latter he is large upon sanctifie them with thy truth and so on They were sanctified before for they were not of the world and he desires they might be sanctified yet more That they might have larger measures of all the graces of the spirit And is not this an extraordinary comfort to those who are but meanly furnished and who have but a slender stock of grace that Jesus Christ is alwayes interceding to his Father in their behalf for a more full supply It was a suit that he begun on earth and he is still pursuing it in heaven to this day and will do to the worlds end he will never give it over so that we may be confident we shall have such degrees of holiness and grace bestowed upon us as are necessary for us The knowledge c. as it assures us of his dear love to us and his tender care of us What our Saviour doth in heaven in a way of Intercession if it were unknown to us though it might profit us and benefit us very much it could not comfort as at all But when we know that Jesus Christ hath such a singular regard to us and that his heart and his affections work towards us so sweetly and so strongly now he is in heaven at so great a distance from us I mean as he is man that he is always taking all advantages to further and promote our business with his Father and speaking to him upon all occasions for our good and in a word that he is so extremely kind and loving to us so infinitely tender of our welfare every way This cannot choose if it be duly weighed but fill our hearts up to the brim and make them over-flow with joy Vse 1 Now is it so my Brethren that the assured knowledge of our Saviours Intercession is one c. If then we would abound in this heavenly affection let us exactly study and throughly pâ—y into our Saviours Intercession that we may know as much of it as we are able to attain to We are here in an unquiet and unstable world in which we meet with many causes of discomfort from within and from without and many times they take extremely deep upon us so as almost to make our lives a burthen to us Now if we would be free from such distempers let us endeavour to look more into our Saviours Intercession And if we understand it well it will fill us full of comfort that will swell high exceedingly above all the afflictions of this present life Indeed the intercession of our Saviour is of it self a large volume too much for us to read over and that Volume sealed too shut up in heaven that we cannot open it or look into it But he hath given us a brief compendium and a short abridgement of it in the Prayer that he made for his Apostles and Disciples and in them for all the Church that is or shall be to the worlds end that we may read it and acquaint our selves with it He spake that prayer in the world that they might hear it from him and so might have his joy fulfilled in them And that we might hear it from them and so might have his joy fulfilled in us In which regard my Brethren it is left upon record in publique in the Church for ever that all his people might have recourse thereto on all occasions for their Comfort And therefore when we are in any trouble when sorrow seizes deep upon us let us study this prayer in all the parts and branches of it that from thence we may conjecture what he doth in our behalf now he is fitting at the right hand of his Father And this let us depend upon that if he spake one word in our behalf in any case while he was here upon earth he speaks a hundred for us now he is heaven And truly if this Counterpane of our Saviours Intercession were dived into and studied more there would be more holy joy among the Saints Their troubles and their sorrows would be less and they would be more full of comfort then they are JOHN 17.14 I have given them thy Word and the world hath hated them AND thus of the first argument with which our Saviour presseth and enforceth his Petition to his Father in behalf of his Apostles and Disciples that he himself would undertake the keeping of them Which hath been taken as you may remember from his own effectual preservation of them during the time that he had
present nor our future happiness 1. Our present happiness consisteth in the title that we have to Christ the interest we have in him and the Communion we have with him Can the hatred of the world put an end to this Communion No saith the Apostle Paul Rom. 3.35 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 are we killed all the day long Nay in all these things we are more then Conquerours through him that loves as For I am verily perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor heigth not depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nay to say truth Christ loves us most and hath most communion with us when the world is most against us Then he is specially present with us as he was with Paul Acts 18.9 and with the Martyrs in the Dungeon in the Stocks in the flames And it is certain that Christ doth then reveal himself most sweetly to his people when the world discovers most malignity and rage against them So that it is not all their hatred can keep a Christian from the love and fellowship of Jesus Christ and so by Consequence it cannot keep him from his present happiness 2. And for our happiness to come it cannot hinder that neither It doth not lie so loose my brethren that all the world can take it from us No it is in Gods keeping he openeth and no man shutteth he shutteth and no man openeth He opened Heaven upon Stephen when the world was shewing the utmost of its rage against him And verily a Christian is as near the complement and the perfection of his happiness when he suffers all the wrong and ignominy and contempt that the world can pour upon him and sometimes nearer then he is at other times for that may be the way to it And hence saith Christ in the fore-alledged text Mat. 5.11 Blessed are ye when men revile you Rejoyce and be exceeding glad And why so For great is your reward in heaven JOHN 17.15 I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world c. AND thus far of the second Argument with which our Saviour presseth and enforceth his Petition to his Father in behalf of his Apostles and Disciples that he would keep them through his own name viz. because our Saviour for his own part was even ready to depart from them and to abandon them in such a place where they were hated universally almost the world hath hated them saith Christ Why then a man would think the only way were to remove them out of such a place where they are so ill beloved and so maligned upon all hands If the world hate them because they are not of the world what should they do there any longer the best way were to take them thence and to translate them to a place where they are likely to have more quiet No saith our Saviour I disown that that is not the intent and drift of my Petition I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world c. So that these words my brethren are an Explication of that which is delivered in the former verse that it might not be mistaken Not that our Saviour was afraid his Father would mistake his meaning but he knew they might mistake him who heard him speaking to his Father And therefore as a learned Writer notes upon the text he speaks unto his Father as a man for mens sake because he speaks in their hearing He tells them plainly and expresly what he doth not pray for I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world And then he tels him clearly what he doth pray for but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil Begin we with the first part of the explication in which our Saviour tells his Father plainly and expresly what he doth not pray for I do not pray that thou should take them out of the world So that the point to be observed hence is this DOCTRINE Removal out of this world is not the proper subject matter of Petition You see our Saviour Christ disowns it clearly in my text he would by no means have it thought that he desires his Father to remove his Disciples hence by death to take them out of the world No saith our Saviour that is not the thing I pray for I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world And even as he disowns it in his prayer so should we for we must walk in every imitable thing as we have him for an example And out of doubt he speaks not this for the direction of his Father that he might not be mistaken as I noted even now but on the other side for the instruction of his Apostles and Disciples who were by and heard him pray That they might learn not to exceed their bounds in their petitions And when they seriously consider how they are hated and maligned and abused in the world they might not yet desire the Lord on this account that he would take them hence but rather that he would preserve and keep them here as you have it in my Text I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil And the ground is evident Reason Removal out of this world is not the proper subject matter of Petition because it is not simply in it self a blessing Indeed by accident I must acknowledge death and departure hence is turned exceed ngly to the advantage of the Saints For by it they are freed from evils penal and from evils sinful from suffering and from sinning they are admitted to most near communion with him whom their soul loves and whom their hearts do even gasp after from whose immediate presence they are unavoidably debarred as long as they remain in this world But properly life and continuance in the body is the blessing and therefore it is properly to be desired We find it usually to be propounded in the promise as the reward of holiness and of obedience And in this form we have it in the fifth Commandment which is the first Commandment with promise the only one that hath a promise of the second Table the only one of all the ten that hath a distinct and particular promise And now you will expect I know there should be some transcendent mercy comprehended in such a singular and extraordinary promise as this is And yet it is but long life in this world that thy days may be long in the land c. That promise is a pregnant one to this effect Psal 91. ult with long life will I satisfie him and shew him my salvation First I will satisfie him with long life he
his first coming No man hath ascended up to heaven saith our Saviour Christ himself Joh. 3.13 but he that came down from heaven So that when he was incarnate he came down from heaven in a sense for of this our Saviour speaks in that place And to this speech of Christ it is that the Apostle Paul alludeth when speaking of our Saviour Christs ascension Ephes 4.8 he addeth presently by way of Explication Now that he ascended what is it but that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth So then descend he did at first from heaven as after he ascended up again to heaven And because he came from heaven he is more properly of heaven then of earth as the Apostle Paul insinuates very clearly when he calls him the Lord from heaven heavenly 1 Cor. 15.47 48. Because from heaven therefore heavenly not of this world but of another 2. Jesus Christ when he was here in this world yet he was not of this world but of another because he lived in another Here he breathed but there he lived he did not live the life of this world but the life of heaven and that not in expectation as we do but in fruition He lived the life of perfect righteousness and perfect holiness the life of Angels yea a life above Angels while he was here in this world That life which is to be attained by us nowhere but in heaven only Christ lived here in this world and this perhaps was partly aimed at by our Saviour in that speech of his Joh. 3.13 No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven even the Son of man which is in heaven He was then come down from heaven he was then upon the earth when he spake these words And yet he addeth he was then in heaven too even the Son of man which is in heaven And he was then in heaven not only as the Son of God but as the Son of man too Virtually he was there though he were not locally His life did relish infinitely more of heaven then of earth And therefore it is very notable that he disclaimed all medling with these earthly things he would not once so much as touch with them neither as a Judge or a divider as himself professeth Luk. 12.14 nor as possessor neither It 's true he was a King as he implicitely acknowledges to Pilate and he had a kind of Kingdom while he was here in this world but it was not of this world My Kingdom is not of this world saith Christ himself Joh. 18.36 And therefore he did nor erect it outwardly with any outward policy and splendour among men but he did only set it up in the hearts of a few despised people to whom he said My Kingdom is within you Luk. 17.21 And so in every thing my Brethren he avoided such a conversation as might intimate him to be one of this world 3. Jesus Christ when he was here in this world yet he was not of this world but of another because indeed he was but going to another world From another world he came as you have heard before and to another world he was about to go Only he tarried here a little about some weighty and important business which his Father sent him down into this lower world to do and as soon as that was ended he returned to heaven again So that you see brethren he conversed here but as a Messenger from God the Father whose errand he came down upon and to whom he was to go assoon as he had finished what he came for And therefore he avoided any kind of setlement in this world any way of making this his fixed habitation as he told the Scribe that was about to follow him Mat. 8.20 The Foxes have holes and the Birds of the air have nests but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head Yea he professed that he was not in the world while he was here because indeed he was not to continue here he was shortly to depart he was as good as gone already as in this Chapter I am handling ver 11. And now I am no more in the world but I come to thâ—e And this for cleering of the former member of the point that Christ himself is not of this world but of another Now for the second branch that Christs Disciples are in this respect like Christ himself this lies before you in the letter of the text They are not of the world even as I am not of the world And this our Saviour often minds them of as you may see that place for instance to name no more at this time John 15.19 Ye are not of the world saith he but I have chosen you out of the world Indeed as Christ is so they are in this world as the Apostle speaks 1 John 4.7 So in this world that they are not of the world And that in all the three respects wherein we have clearly shewed you that Christ is not of this world but of another 1. Christs Disciples came from another world and so in that respect they are not of the world as Christ is not of the world I say they came originally from another world although not as they are men yet as they are Saints and Christians So they are from above of God they are his off-spring as Paul said to the Athenians God is their Father for they are begotten of him 1 John 5.18 And God is their Mother too for they are born of him 1 Iohn 3.9 So that you see they are no less then a divine and heavenly generation And they are members of the New Jerusalem which John saw coming down from heaven Apoc. 21.2 They are only for a while let down from heaven in a sheet as the creatures were to Peter in a vision and so taken up again 2. As Christs Disciples came from another world so they live in another world and so in that respect they are not of the world as Christ is not of the world Their Conversation is in heaven as the Apostle speaks Phil. 3.20 With the woman Apoc. 12. they tread the Moon this variable and unconstant world under their feet Trample with a disdainfull and a holy scorn upon earth and earthly things Honors are too ignoble to command them riches too poor to buy them pleasures too fleeting to allure them Sometimes they are transported as it were rapt and taken up into heaven in sweet Soliloquies and in holy contemplations ravished beyond themselves with cleer and comfortable apprehensions of their Fathers love Indeed they get above the world they soare higher then the earth their treasure is in heaven and there are their hearts also Their life is Angel-like they live with men indeed but walk with God as Moses speaks of Enoch They have their eyes on him as Moses they see him who is invisible and they are taken up with him in all their wayes and
especially in two things to name no more at this time 1. You must give them honour as those that come from Jesus Christ Yea double honour the honour of reverence and the honour of maintenance The Messengers and the Embassadors of Jesus Christ must be received and entertained with all respects by you Or if they be not he esteemeth their dishonour as his own He that despiseth you despiseth me saith Christ And verily if this be true he was never more despised then in these dayes Oh my beloved what floods of ignominy and contempt and scorn are poured out upon the Messengers of Jesus Christ those that are most faithfull to him so that abundance of them are hardly able to bear up against the venome that men spit upon them 2. You must give them audience as those that come from Jesus Christ considering that the message they deliver is Jesus Christs and not their own and therefore when at any time you are advised by them to come in and stoop to Christ Oh think that Christ himself doth counsell you and call upon you And when they offer peace and mercy and atonement and beseech you to accept it Oh think that Christ himself beseecheth and entreats you by them and therefore do not baffle him and slight him and put him off with a denial for if you do it is a most unsufferable provocation O think as often as you hear them speaking to you that you are hearing Christ himself from heaven and then consider how you dare to slight them For you despise not men but Christ as the Apostle speaks in this case 1 Thes 4.8 Is it so that the Apostles Ministers c. this then should teach you in Vse 6 the last place to bear with all their earnestness and plainess and not to stomack them and storm against them when they are free or sharp with you Considering that they are but servants and cannot but deliver the message of their Master it s that to which their place and calling and the trust which Christ hath put into their hands doth bind them which trust they must discharge and not betray be the hazard what it will and therefore be prevailed withall to take all in good part and not to think them injurious to you because they dare not to be unfaithfull to Christ JOHN 17.18 Even so have I also sent them into the world DOCTRINE 2. Christ doth not send his Ministers particularly or restrictively to any Countrey or to any Nation but their Commission leaves them free to all the world YOU see he doth not tell his Father I have sent them into Jewry only or into any other Region of the earth but I have sent them into the world That is the local object of their Mission the world at large without restraint or limitation all the world Indeed our Saviour once professed of himself I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel Mat. 15.24 And so accordingly when first he sent forth his Apostles his express injunction was Go not into the way of the Gentiles but go ye rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel Mat. 10.5 At his ascention he appointed them to be his witnesses first in Judaa and Jerusalem Acts 1.8 This course and method the Apostles very carefully observed as you may see Acts 13 46. It was necessary say Paul and Barnabas unto the Jews that the word of God the Gospel should first of all be preached unto you But if you mark it well my brethren the final and the last Commission of our Saviour was Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature Mark 16.15 Go ye and teach all Nations Mat. 28.19 But you will say that this was a Commission proper to Apostles and doth not any whit concern succeeding ordinary Ministers and Pastors in the Church who are restrained to special places and fixed in special Congregations I grant indeed that many ordinary Ministers are restrained and fixed so but all are not so restrained neither are any so restrained but that they may in case remove to other places and to other Countreyes And in that any are restrained and fixed it is not meerly as they are Ministers of Christ but as they are the chosen Officers and Pastors of such a Congregation or of such a people Their Commission as from Christ doth not fix them anywhere but leaves them free as I have said to exercise their Ministry wheresoever they are called in all the world Indeed the Apostle tells us that God hath set some in the Church some Ministers of all sorts as you may see 1 Cor. 12.28 He hath placed and fixed them there But that is out of all dispute the universal Church which is not limited to any Countrey but is to be extended over all the world For if you mark it the Apostle saith not God hath set some in the Churches in the plural number but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Church and that in such a latitude as that it comprehendeth in it all gifts all members all officers of all sorts which cannot be intended of the Church of Corinth or any single Congregation but only of the universal Church of Christ on earth There Christ hath set his Ministers not his Apostles only but his ordinary teachers and if they be confined to narrower limits it is not properly by his Commission but by a call from men or by some other secundary means And as for that Commission mentioned even now Go ye and teach all Nations though it were given immediately to the Apostles it cannot be restrained to the Apostles being evidently meant in and with them of all the Ministers and Preaches of the Gospel that should succeed them in the Church to the end of the world And therefore it is added presently in the next verse Lo I am with you alwayes to the end of the world They were not to continue for their own parts by many hundred years so long and therefore it must also stretch to those who were to follow them in the office and work of Gospel-preaching till it be published universally to all Nations which was not done you know by the Apostles it was but begun by them and must be carried on till it be finished by other Ministers of Christ in ever age successively to the end of the world So that the point is clear you see Christ doth not send his Ministers particularly or restrictively to any Countrey or to any Nation but their Commission leaves them free to all the world And there are two great reasons of the Point viz. because his Kingdom Reason 1 is to be erected and his Church is to be planted over all the world in every Countrey and in every Nation under heaven And therefore Jesus Christ doth send his Ministers to all the world for this purpose for the erecting of the one and the planting of the other 1. His Kingdom is to be erected
fruitfull and have more encrease of children then she that sometimes had an husband Oh let us magnifie the grace of Iesus Christ let us adore the infiniteness of his mercy that he hath cast us on these happy times wherein he takes such care of poor Gentiles wherein he sends to them and wherein he looks after them as if they were some rich purchase Ah my beloved did we follow this mercy as far as we could reach it in our thoughts we should at length finding no end or bottom in it cry out with the Apostle Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and goodness of Christ c. JOHN 17.18 Even so have I also sent them into the world DOCTRINE 3. There is a great similitude between the Fathers sending Christ into the world and Christs sending his Apostles and Ministers into the world THis is apparently suggested here in the particle as and the particle also As thou hast sent me into the world even so have I also sent them into the world My sending them is much like thy sending me So he compares them each with other in another place almost in the same words Iohn 20.21 As my Father hath sent me so send I you The thing is plain enough that so it was in some respects But wherein and in what respects this likeness stood will need to be explained with much Caution Because as there was great likeness between the Fathers sending Christ and Christs sending his Apostles and Ministers into the world so there was a great unlikeness too As the similitude was great so certainly the dissimilitude was great too And therefore while I shew the likness I will shew you the unlikeness both of them at one veiw That you may see the one the better for the other As God the Father sent the Son with authority and power so Jesus Christ sends his Apostles and Ministers with authority and power too as God gives him power so he gives them power And therefore having said to his Apostles All power is given to me both in heaven and in earth Mat. 28.18 he adds immediately in the very next words Go ye therefore and teach all Nations and baptize them q. d. because I have received such ample power my self therefore I give you this Commission by which I put a part of this authority and power on you Go forth and exercise it over all the world And this is that which the Apostle calls the power which Christ hath given him 2 Cor. 13.10 To intimate that he received his power and his authority by way of delegation from the Lord Christ as Christ received his power and his authority as he is man and Mediator by way of delegation from the Father and as the Father gives the Son a Key of power as you may see in that remarkable place Isa 22.22 The Key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder that is upon the shoulder of Eliakim who was in that respect a figure and a Type of Christ and he shall open and none shall shut and he shall shut and none shall open so Christ gives Keyes of power to his Apostles and his Ministers as you may see exemplified in Peter Mat. 16.19 I will give thee saith Christ the Keyes of the Kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven viz. either in the preaching of the word or in the regular administration of the censures of the Church Here is a great Similitude you see between the power with which the Father sendeth Christ and the power with which Christ sendeth his Apostles and his Ministers into the world As Christ hath power to shut and open from the Father so have they from Jesus Christ as Christ hath power to bind and loose from God the Father so have they from Jesus Christ As Christ hath power to remit sins and to retain them from the Father so have they from Christ and therefore having said to his Apostles As my Father hath sent me so send I you he adds immediately in the next verse save one Whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained But yet as the similitude is great in this respect so is the dissimilitude The power which Jesus Christ received from God the Father is an universal power All power is given to me saith our Saviour both in heaven and in earth Mat. 28.19 And in another place he minds his Father That he had given him power over all flesh Joh. 17.2 But now that power which the Apostles and the Ministers of Christ received from him is more particular and more confined Jesus Christ hath all power all sorts and all degrees of power they have but some power some sorts and some measures The power which Jesus Christ receives from God the Father is a Kingly power he sets him up as King upon his holy hill of Sion and so accordingly he crowns him The power which they receive from Christ is but a Ministerial power Christ hath a Legislative power to make laws while they have but a Legis-narrative or Declaratory power to publish laws Christ doth jus dare and they do but jus dicere Christ binds and looses shuts and opens remitteth and retaineth sins authoritatively as a Soveraign Lord they do it but declaratively as his Ministers and servants There is a great similitude between the Fathers sending Christ c. in regard of qualification as Christ receives an unction from the Father to his Office so they received an unction from the Son to their Office as Christ is qualified with the Spirit so are they Let us compare them each with other and we shall see it very clear The Prophet speaking in the Person of our Saviour saith The Spirit of the Lord is upon me he hath anointed me to preach Isa 61.1 And so accordingly when he first began to preach he took this very Text to preach upon as you may see Luk. 4.18 Behold my servant saith the Lord whom I uphold Isa 42.1 and mine Elect in whom my soul delighteth I have put my Spirit upon him and that to qualifie him for his Office as is apparent in the following words for it is added presently That he shall bring forth judgement to the Gentiles A bruised reed shall he not break c. And this is that which is suggested in the Prophesie Isa 11.2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him and it shall rest upon him in those graces and endowments that fit him for the places to which he is designed And hence it is immediately annexed The Spirit of wisdom and of understanding the Spirit of counsel and of might the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. So then you see the Father as he sends Christ so he endues him with the Spirit to fit him for the business that he sends him
his Priesthood must of necessity be co-extended and so for whomsoever he is a Priest to sacrifice for them also he is a Priest to intercede as he hath offered up himself for them so he hath offered up his prayers for them and will do to the worlds end Use And this to give you but a touch of Application may serve to hearten us exceedingly when we are are putting up our prayers for them who are as yet without the pale who have as yet no faith or grace at all in them It may be they are neer to us Parents Children Husbands Wives and we are often carried out in prayer for them that God would yet shew mercy to them that he would yet prevail upon them and cause them to come in to Jesus Christ That he would break their stubborn lusts and work unfeigned faith in them And while we are breathing out our souls to God in such a way as this is we are surpized with distrustful thoughts that we shall never speed in this request of ours God will never be entreated and so upon a sodain our affections cool our hearts grow dead and flat within us In such a case as this is it may be some encouragement and comfort to consider that Jesus Christ for ought we know hath prayed and may be praying to the Father for the very same person though for the present he believe not yet he may be such an one as shall believe as is appointed to believe in after-times And then he is as you have heard within the compass of our Saviours Intercession so that the prayers that we make for him are seconded by Christ in heaven While we are asking such a child or such a friend of God it may be Christ is asking him or her of God too according to the Covenant of the Father with the Son Ask of me and I will give thee And therefore let us not grow cold or faint in such a suit as this is but let us follow and pursue it to the utmost Let us not cease to pray for such a person let us not cast him out of our prayers whom Jesus Christ hath not cast out of his I pray saith he for such as shall believe and this for ought we know may be one of that number And thus far of the first particular by which our Saviour Christ describeth those for whom he prays viz. the time of their believing They are not such as did believe when Christ put up this supplication for them to the Father but such as should believe in after-times Proceed we to the second thing by which he sets them forth and that is by the Spirit of this faith of theirs they should believe in Jesus Christ Neither pray I for these alone saith Christ here but for them also which shall believe on me He doth not say for them which shall believe on God or for them which shall believe the Word of God but for them which shall believe on me so that the point to be observed is this DOCTRINE That true Believers do pitch their Faith on Jesus Christ and make him the object of it Christ is the object of a true beleiving faith So he is represented in my Text you see The faithful do beleive on him It 's true indeed that faith in general which even Reprobates and Devils have looks with an equal eye on all the Book of God assenteth to the truth of all in gross But justifying faith whith is the faith whereof we speak picks out this special object Jesus Christ which is imbraced and received By him saith the Apostle Paul that is by Christ and none but him all that believe are justified from all those things from which they could not have been justified by the Law of Moses Act. 13.39 The Law will never justifie us but condemn us No we are justified by faith in Christ and him alone who is revealed and manifested to us in the Gospel The Rightousness of God that is the righteousness which makes us righteous the righteousness of man will never do it No it must be the righteousness of God himself This is ours by faith in Christ as the Apostle shews Rom. 3.22 He that believeth in the Son hath life Joh. 3. ult Observe it well he saith not in the Father nor the Holy Ghost though certainly we must believe in both these But Christ is the immediate object of the faith which justifieth or of it as it justifieth He that believeth in the Son hath life the life of holiness and the life of righteousness for both of them are very clearly meant in that place Object But you will say perhaps Is not the Word of God and is not God himself and is not everlasting life the object of our faith how then is Christ as I have said and Christ alone the next and the immediate object of it Sol. To this because it is compounded as it were of divers things I must answer divers ways 1. For the Word of God that is not properly the object of the faith that justifieth but is so called by a figure because it holds forth and exhibits Christ who is indeed the proper object of this justifying faith Or secondly the Word of God although it may in some respects be called the object of faith that justifieth yet not qua justificat not as it justifieth as the School speaks It 's true that justifying faith believeth other things propounded in the Word of God But faith as it justifieth lays hold on Christ and him only not knowing any other thing here but Jesus Christ and him crucified 2. As for the second thing propounded in the Querie True it is that God the Father is the Object of our faith I mean the faith which justifyeth but not the next and the immediate Object of it Christ must be first laid hold upon and God in Christ Such trust have we through Christ in God saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 3.4 Even Turks and Jews and Arrians boast of faith in God you know amd yet because they apprehend not Jesus Christ they miserably lose their own souls He that denyeth and so by consequence believes not in the Son can never have the Father as you may see 1 John 2.23 He is like a man goes about to grasp a thing that is too big for him a large and smooth round-bodyed Cup it slips away out of his fingers whereas he might have held it by the handle The faith which justifies us my beloved apprehendeth Christ receiveth and layeth hold on him and then as it is added in the fore-alledged Scripture He that hath the Son hath the Father also 3. As for the third particular propounded whether salvation and eternal life be the object of our faith To say the truth salvation and eternal life is not so properly believed as hoped for Nor can it be so fitly called the object as the consequent and end of faith So the Apostle calls it 1 Pet.
be not the same Person And in this sense it is impossible for Christs Disciples to be so one in God and Christ as God and Christ the Father and the Son are the one of them in the other Well then our Saviour speaks here of the oneness which is between his Father and himself as he is the Mediator and as he is the Head of his Church For so they are both one as Jesus Christ himself speaks Joh. 10.30 And in another place he uses the very same expression in my Text and tells us that he is in the Father and the Father in him Joh. 14.10 Now the Father is in Christ as he is Mediator of the Church and Christ is in the Father in the same respect that is they are both one especially three ways 1. By Hypostatical union of the Manhood to the Godhead in the Person of our Saviour for the Manhood being joyned to the Godhead in the Person of the Son it must be mediately joyned also to the Father to whom the Son as God is joyned in the nearest tye that can be We have no higher phrase you know my Brethren to express the closest union then to affirm of two that they are one they two are are one and we cannot say more There is a union between faithful friends for there is one heart in two bodies as the Philosopher expresses it There is a nearer union between man and wife for they two are one flesh as the Apostle Paul speaks Ephes 5.31 and therefore they have one name But there is the nearest union between the Father and the Son for they two have one Essence one Nature one Name And so the Godhead being joined to the Manhood in the Person of our Saviour that Manhood by and through that God-head must needs be neerly and indissolubly joyned to God the Father 2. God the Father and the Son are one by dear affection Thus they are in one another and they live in one another as it were by inexpressible and tender love which they bear to one another How doth the Father love the Son beyond expression and that as he is Mediator for under that capacity he speaks of him Isa 42.1 and he seems to glory in it Behold my servant mine Elect in whom my soul delighteth and in another place he gives this attestation out of heaven to him Mat. 3 17. This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased q. d. I have some other children that I love well but This is my Beloved Son above the rest take notice of him this is he And hence he lays him in his bosome next his heart Joh. 1.18 acquaints him with his counsels tells his secrets to him entrusts him with the revelation of them sets him in the highest place next to himself advances him above yea far above all principalities and mights and Dominions and puts more honour on him then he doth on all the creatures And hence the Son is often speaking of the Fathers love to him and on the other side professes his affection to the Father and he would have the world to know it too Joh. 14.31 That the world may know that I love the Father so do I. So that you see here is union of dear love 3. The Father and the Son are one by unexpressable agreement and consent together Though they be divers yet they never differ No they continually mind the same things they will and nill the same things love and hate the same things and this agreement is between the Father and the Son not only as the Son is God but as the Son is Man and Mediator too The will of Jesus Christ as he is Man in all respects accordeth and consenteth with the will of God the Father Or if it were not so it must be sinful and irregular and therefore he submitted still yea even in those things which were against the Nature that he had assumed Not my will but thine be done And thus you see how the Father is in Christ as he is Man and Mediaator and how Christ as Mediator is in God the Father how they are both one viz. by hypostatical union by dear affection by unexpressable agreement and consent together Now we shall easily discover how he would have his Apostles to be one in his Father and himself which is the second thing to be unfolded in the point It is the will of Jesus Christ that his Disciples should not only be one among themselves but that they also should be one in God in the Father and the Son This is the special thing for which he prays That they may all be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us 1. Then as the Father is in Christ as Mediator and Christ as Mediator in the Father by the Hypostatical union so Christ would have his Disciples to be in both of them by the mystical union That as the Manhood of the Son is mediately in God the Father in being joyned to the Godhead of the Son which is one with God the Father so we should also be mediately in the Father in being joyned to the Godhead and the Manhood in the Person of Christ That we should be in the Father by and through Jesus Christ And so indeed are all the members of the body mystical by reason of their union with the Lord Christ Christ is one with God the Father and we are one with Jesus Christ and therefore in a sense we are one with God the Father Jesus Christ is in the Father and we are in Jesus Christ Ephes 1.10 We all are gathered into one in him and therefore we are also mediately in the Father And hence it is that all the Saints are said not only to be one among themselves and to be one in Christ but also to be one in God the Father as in my Text you see I pray for them saith Christ that shall believe on me that they may all be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us not one among themselves but one in us Not in me only but in thee too Not one in me but one in us So that you see believers all of them are in the Father by the Son 2. As God the Father and the Son are one by dear affection so Christ would have all his Disciples to be one both with the Father and himself in the very same manner He would not have them only to be one among themselves by love but he would have them also to be one in God by love He would have their hearts to live in his Father and himself by unexpressible and choice affection That they should find no rest no quiet anywhere but in God and Christ only To be so closely and indissolubly joyned to the Father and himself that nothing in the world should be able to divide them to separate them from the love
and I in thee so that they may be one in us Now my Beloved do but seriously consider how is the Father in the Son how is the Son in God the Father What so that they may be out again and that they may part again No surely they are so in one another that they can never be divided each from other Just so are true believers in them both So that if God cannot be out of Christ if Christ cannot be out of God believers cannot possibly be out of either When God and Christ are rent asunder each from other believers shall be rent asunder from them both When God and Christ do come to part with one another believers must expect to part with both and that would be a sad parting if God the Father should go one way and Christ another and believers a third never to come together any more But in the mean time while they stay together believers shall continue with and in them both while God the Father is in Christ and Christ in God the Father believers shall be one in them It is the will of Jesus Christ as he declares it to his Father That as thou Father art in me and I in thee so that they also should be one in us and he will surely have his will in this business JOHN 17.21 As thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us IS it the will of Jesus Christ that his Disciples should be one in God Use 2 by the mystical union Then in the second place let us be hence instructed to admire and magnifie the goodness of the Lord in this business that he is pleased so highly to advance and honour us That we poor wretches should be made not only nigh to God but that we should be one in God in the Father and the Son That the great God of Heaven and Earth should take us up into himself and thereby raise us to such glorious priviledges as have been mentioned in the former use My Brethren doth it seem a small thing to you consider it a little and resolve Is it but a small thing that God should take us into such union with himself I know not how you apprehend it but I assure you my Beloved it amazes me That such transcendent honour should be put upon such worms as we are Me thinks we should break out to admiration with Elizabeth Whence is this to us Why is it possible that God should ever honor dust and ashes thus Whence is it Oh my Beloved how humble and how thankful should we be Let us not brag of this honour as some do in these times who never were advanced to it who say that they are taken in to God so that they are God himself and thus they swagger and blaspheme beyond measure Oh my Beloved let it not be so with us let us not brag of this honour but let us tremble to consider what a weight of duty and obedience lies upon us to walk answerably to it and how exactly pure and holy they should be who are in any sense in God in the Father and the Son And this conveys me to a third use which shall be for admonition Use 3 to every one of us who are advanced to this glorious priviledge to live and act as men that are in God in the Father and the Son There is a suitable expression of the Apostle Paul to this purpose Col. 2.6 As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him As you have taken him by faith and so are made one with him As you are in him so walk in him Even so say I to you my brethren As you are in God in the Father and the Son so walk in God Take such a course in the whole tenour of your conversation as they should do who are in God And truly my beloved that must be a strict a holy and exact course As far as it is possible there must be no exorbitancy no uncleanness in it It was the protestation of the Lord to Moses which he repeats to Aaron when his Sons were cut off for drawing nigh to God with strange fire Lev. 10.3 Then Moses said to Aaron This is that the Lord spake saying I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me Ah my beloved will God be sanctified in them that are nigh him and will he not be sanctified in them that are in him And if they must be holy who are nigh him how holy must they be my brethren that are in him in the Father and the Son How precisely and exactly must they live who live in God And therefore I beseech you my beloved who are advanced to this high Prerogative look narrowly to all your wayes and keep your selves as far as it is possible from every sin And that upon these three Considerations For 1. Your sin is strangely and unutterably heightned by the station that you have in the Father and the Son It is such an aggravation as I am no wayes able to express What my beloved will you sin in God shall God have wickedness counted in him by your means will you be intemperate will you be wanton and lascivious and unclean in any kind will you be covetous and worldly will you be unjust in God you do what lies in you to draw the infinitely pure and holy God into Communion with you in your sin Indeed sin cannot be committed by him but by your means it is committed in him which is a horrid and amazing thing to think upon You do what lies in you to defile and pollute the holy God with the impurest and uncleanest thing in all the world for so is sin with that which is most against his nature which is most odious and abominable to him which he is no wayes able to endure And you are so audacious that you do not only do it nigh him and do it by him but you do it in him Ah my beloved me thinks your hearts should not be strong enough to bear up under that weight of such wikedness as this is but that they should even faint and sink within you Why my beloved for those that are without God and who are far from him as wicked men are said to be their sins do not so much concern God they cannot be so grievous and so vexatious to him But to have sin committed in him this is a most unsufferable provocation This goes very near him because it is done so near him I beseech you think upon it and let it have a mighty operation on your hearts The sins of other men are committed out of God but yours are committed in him 2. As they are committed in him so in the second place they cannot choose but be observed by him For God takes special notice of them and their carriage and behaviour who are in him So that they cannot do amiss they cannot step awry in any thing but he spies them
only but he is his heir too Yea he hath made him heir of all things Heb. 1.1 Why just so he hath done by us for we are children whom he loves even as he loves Christ As Christ is his Son and Heir so we are heirs of God through Christ Gal. 4.17 Joint heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 Not heirs divided and apart from Christ but joint with Christ And even as Christ is heir of all things so we are heirs of all things too All is ours and we are Christs 1 Cor. 3.21 A man can have but earth and heaven and we are heirs to both in Christ The meek shall inherit the earth saith the Psalmist Psal 37.11 c. And as we are heirs to earth so we are heirs of heaven too and that by virtue of our Son-ship we are begotten to it as the Apostle speaks 1 Pet. 1.3 He hath begotten us to an inheritance c. So that the child of God you see engrosseth all earth is his and heaven is his and nothing else remains for other men but hell only Oh the unutterable happiness of those whom God the Father loves even as he loves Christ he gives his own Son nothing but they have a share with him And thus far of the first main thing which Christ desires of God the Father in the behalf of true believers that they may be all one Which suit he prosecutes with many arguments as you have heard The second follows now in order to be handled and this is that they may be all in one place They may be one by such an union as our Saviour means a spiritual and a mystical union though they be in divers places But Christ is not content with this you see he will not only have them to be all one but he will have them also to be all in one place the same place where he is Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am c. And here you may take notice with me of these two particulars First the manner how our Saviour Christ propounds this suit of his And then the matter of it or the suit it self First the manner how our Saviour here propounds this suit of his and that is boldly and confidently as you see Father I will he saith not as in other places Father I pray or I desire or I beseech thee and entreate thee that it may be thus but I will have it to be thus No more but so Father I will that they whom thou hast given me Secondly And then you have the matter of the suit which he propounds the thing which he will have to be That they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am Begin we with the manner how our Saviour here propounds this suit of his confidently as I said Father I will I shall not hence conclude as Austin did sometimes against the Arrians the Sons equality with God the Father because he speaks in such a peremptory manner to him if I may express it so Father I will or elsesaith he he would have spoken in a supplicating and entreating not in a willing and commanding way That Christ as God is equal with the Father is a certain truth and manifestly to be proved from other Scriptures But certainly it is not to be gathered hence for in this Chapter all along he speaks as man and as man he is inferiour to the Father And therefore usually before he saith I pray or I intreat he speaks in a submissive way though here he uses such a term as seems to to carry more authority Father I will Now since he speaks as man and mediator as that is very evident we must understand him here in such a way as is agreeable to Christ in that capacity and under that consideration And consequently that he doth not here imperiously require of God the Father and yet upon the other side he doth so express himself as being very confident that he shall have his own pleasure and that his will shall surely carry it with God the Father without any contradiction If he will it it is done without any more ado Father I will have it so and there 's an end And so accordingly the point shall be DOCTRINE The will of Christ as Mediator is as it were a law with God the Father or Christ may have even what he will of God the Father And therefore praying here that all believers might be together with him in the same place he saith no more but this Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am And this is that which Martha was so stedfastly perswaded of that Christ was sure to speed with God in any suit that he would make to him She had no doubt at all concerning this as you may see John 11.22 I know saith she that whatsoever thou wilt ask of God God will give it thee Let it be what it will God will not turn thee off with a denial And least you should conceive that this was but a groundless confidence in her you shall find it seconded by Christ himself ver 42. of the very same Chapter which puts it out of all question If you survey the supplications that he made while he was here upon the earth you shall perceive what force they had with God the Father The Apostle Paul observes that he was very earnest with him in a weighty business Heb. 5.7 and what was the event and issue of it he was heard as it is added presently no more but so he was granted out of hand So in another place he prayed for Peter in a special manner that his faith might never faâ—l Luke 22.32 that it might not wholly fail so as to be quite lost and utterly extinct in him His faith was shaken after this indeed but it was not overthrown it fainted but it did not fail So that Christ had his full desire in that particular I shall add no more for proof you see the will of Christ as Mediator is c. And there are many Reasons of it For He is the Fathers own Son And Fathers use to be indulgent to their Reason 1 Children to let them have their ears yea and their very hearts too Our Saviour calls him Father all along this prayer Indeed he gives him once the attribute of Holy once the attribute of Righteous Father But this is still the appellation that he uses and from which he never varies If he call him any thing he calls him Father And therefore he presumeth much upon him because of this relation to him that he shall not be denyed he is the bolder while he considers he is speaking to a Father as that is his expression in my Text it self Father I will Come I must have my will in this particular thou must not put me off with a denyal for I am thine own Son Reason 2 Yet this is not sufficient
God saith he my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise Psal 57.7 There hath been much talk of late concerning fixing arms but surely this of fixing hearts is the most necessary business 4. That our hearts may be prepared they must be awakened they are naturally dead and dull and sleepy especially at sometimes by means of some corporal or spiritual distemper They cannot watch to prayer one hour and though the spirit is ready yet the flesh is weak And therefore we must quicken them and rouse them up from drowsiness before we set about the duty and while we are in the performance of it we must call upon our hearts as Deborah Judg. 5.12 Awake awake Deborah awake awake utter a song And as David on his Harp Awake Harp so we awake heart I my self will awake early Psal 108.2 You see in brief the Rule of Christ in reference to preparation Now let us see what he prescribes both for the matter the manner and the end of prayer As for the matter of your prayers you must search the promises You are to pray for nothing but only what you have a promise for not what you have a mind to but what you have a promise for It is the business and the work of prayer to put the promises of God in suit not our desires but his promises And therefore we must study promises if we would know how to make prayers or how to judge of prayers after we have made them If they agree not with the promises they are but rash and inconsiderate desires they are the sacrifice of fools as they are called Eccles 5.1 And God will never look after them nor shew respect to them as Elibu teaches us Job 35.13 Surely God will not hear vanity neither will the Almighty regard it As for the manner of our prayers the rule of Christ is very large here and so accordingly directions might be copious both how to form our supplications which we are about to tender and having tendred them how to resolve whether they have been according to the will of Christ or no. I shall but touch upon the principal 1. It is in the will of Christ that we pray without wrath for so is the express direction 1 Tim. 2.8 I will therefore that men may pray every-where lifting up pure hands without wrath We must not come to God with hearts distracted and disturbed with passion but with composed meek and quiet spirits It was the fault of James and John who when a certain Town of the Samaritans repelled Christ and refused to receive him would in a fit of rage and anger have prayed for fire to come down from heaven to consume them Luk. 9.54 And so when the malitious enemies of Christ have done his cause or people any great mischief it may be we are ready in a heat to call for vengeance out of heaven upon them But if we pray in such a manner we may look for such a censure as James and John had in the fore-alleadged Text Ye know not what spirit ye are of You think it may be you are zealous but you are very much mistaken you are cholerick and angry you do know not the temper and disposition of your spirits Brethren we must not go to prayer in a fit of anger and a pang of discontent as it seems Eliah did 1 King 14.4 It is enough Lord take away my life for I am not better then my Fathers And as it seems Job did Job 6.8 Oh that I might have my request and that God would grant me the thing that I long for Even that it would please God to destroy me that he would let loose his hand and cut me off And as it is extreamly probable that Moses did when he conceived his burthen was too heavy for him Numb 11.10 15. For it is said he was displeased and in that angry mood he said to God Wherefore hast thou afflicted me You see he calls the Lord to coram to see how he can answer his proceedings Wherefore c. I am not able to bear all this alone And if thou deal thus with me kill me I pray thee out of the way and do not let me see my wretchedness And thus it is apparent Jonah did who being crost in a punctilio in a point of honour out of a pettish childish humor will go die God must take away his life We must not come to God in such a temper to empty and disgorge our choler and to vent our passions to him No Tempus mansuetudinis est tempus orationis The time of meekness is the time of prayer 2. It is the will of Christ that we pray without doubtings and this is also added in the Text before alledged 1 Tim. 2.8 Pray lifting up pure hands without wrath or doubting He would have us come to God with confidence and strong assurance as it beseemeth those to do who are indeed in Covenant with him You know a houshold servant that is in Covenant with his Master cals confidently for his break-fast and his dinner and his Supper whereas a beggar or a stranger doth not so So he that is in Covenant with the Lord should come with boldness to the Throne of Grace relying formerly on the promises of God as David did I cryed and I hoped in thy Word Psal 119.147 Lord I want faith give it me I want patience let me have it I find my heart is out of order joynt it mend it unite it to thy self It is for those that are without and that are strangers to the Lord that live on nothing else but common providence to come doubtfully to God when their distresses force them to his presence But if those that are his friends and that are in Covenant with him come in such a posture to him he may justly say to such Why what 's the matter that you are so strange and that you are not bold with me as you have wont to be you shall fare neer a whit the better for coming to me after such a manner And verily my Brethren unless we draw nigh to God in faith well grounded on the promises we can have no hopes to speed in our petitions He that would ask any thing of God saith the Apostle James chap. 1.6 7 let him come in faith nothing doubting Otherwise let him not think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 3. It is the will of Christ that we pray with much zeal that our Petitions be not formal cold and drowsie prayers but that there be some heat and fervour in them You know the prayers of Gods people are compared to Incense Psal 141.2 And Incense sends up no sweet savour till the fire come to it It is the fervent prayer only that is effectual with the Lord as the Apostle teaches us Jam. 5.16 The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much And hence saith David Hear me O Lord and why so I cry with my
place must needs be sweet It was a high expression of an holy man that he had rather be in hell with Christ if it were possible then anywhere besides without him But to be in heaven with Christ this is excellent indeed To be in such a glorious place as heaven is the blessedness of which no tongue of men or Angels is sufficient to express and to be with Christ there To behold his glory there and to partake with him of the same glory This is such happiness as neither eye hath seen nor ear hath heard nor can it enter into the heart of man to conceive But who shall partake of it who shall be raised to this high felicity why they that are Christs own people as you have it in the point It is the will of Christ that all that are his own shall be in heaven where himself is So that if you be Christs people if God have given you to Christ and put you into him as members of his body you are the men that shall be with him where he is When other men are cast out when they are punished with eternal perdition from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power you shall be admitted into nearest fellowship with Jesus Christ when he saith to other men Avaunt be gone in the sad day of separation Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire there to enjoy no better company then the Devil and his Angels he will say to you Draw neer come you are company for me you must dwell with me for ever Come ye blessed of my Father sit down with me in my Kingdom Ah my beloved this is a sweet and comfortable thing indeed And thus far of the matter of our Saviours prayer or the thing which he desires in the behalf of true believers that they may be with him where he is Together with the reason of it why he would have them to be with him that they may behold his glory which we have handled also with relation to the point In the remainder of the verse you have a reason of a reason Our Saviour having spoken of the glory bestowed upon him by his Father which he would have believers to behold it might be questioned how he came by this glory or what induced the Father to bestow it on the Son Why saith our Saviour he gave it me because he loved me from Eternity Father I will that they c. that they may behold the glory which thou hast given me For thou hast loved me mark it thou hast loved me and therefore thou hast given me this glory That they may behold my glory which thou hast given me for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world There is no difficulty in the words unless it be in that expression before the foundation of the world a phrase of speech very usual in the Scripture and applyed to many things as I might give you instances enough But it will be sufficient to observe that it denotes Eternity wheresoever it is used And that before or from the foundation of the world for we meet with both expressions is as much in Scripture language as to say from everlasting For whatsoever was before the world was made my brethren was eternal so that when our Saviour saith to God the Father Thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world It is as much as if he should have said Thou hast loved me from Eternity from Everlasting And so accordingly the point shall be DOCTRINE That God the Father hath dearly loved Jesus Christ from all Eternity There are two things in the point which I shall orderly pursue First God the Father hath dearly loved Jesus Christ Secondly he hath done so from all Eternity Before the foundation of the world was laid As for the first of these That God the Father loveth Jesus Christ you see it is the clear express assertion of our Saviour in my Text. And therefore if you mark him you shall find that he is often speaking of his Fathers love to him as Joh. 15.9 and in the 23. verse of this Chapter And on the other side the Father he professes his transcendent love to Christ and that out of heaven it self Mat. 3.17 This is my beloved Son I have some other children that I love well but this is my beloved Son above the rest take notice of him this is he This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased I shall not stand to prove so clear a truth That God the Father dearly loveth Jesus Christ But you will ask me Why doth God the Father love him Truly my Brethren there is cause enough why he should love him Reason and love him out of all measure There are two things my Brethren that qualifie an object and that make it meet for love Proportion and Propriety and both of these must meet together Now both of these concurre in Christ so that he is compleatly fitted for his Fathers love For There is Proportion He is very like the Father and that both as God and Man 1. As God he is extreamly like the Father he is the very picture of him as we use to say The express Image of his Fathers Person not of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 1.3 Indeed he representeth and resembleth him in every thing The Father is Almighty so is he the Father is Eternal so is he the Father is Immutable and Omnipresent c. so is he He is his express Image Nay shall I go a little further The Father as a Person distinguished from the Son hath nothing proper and peculiar to himself but is in some respect expressed and declared in the Son His act of generation or begetting is shewed forth in the begotten so that unless he were the Father it is impossible he should be nearer to the Father or better like the Father then he is And if he were the Father he could not be the Fathers Image he could not be like the Father for Nullum simile est idem Thus Christ as God you see my Brethren is the most absolute and perfect Character of God the Father like him in every thing in all respects as one face answereth another in a glass Having no other inward difference between them save only this that by their relative properties they are distinguished the one from the other 2. As man our Saviour is extreamly like the Father too He is the Image of the invisible God Col. 1.15 As he hath assumed our flesh he is the very Image of the Father And therefore the Apostle saith not simply who is the Image of God but of the invisible God In which there is a close Antithesis q. d. Having assumed our Nature he is now become the visible Image of the invisible God That God who is invisible is made visible in him And this is that which is suggested in that speech of John the
slaughter in their stead there go his blood and life and all He shall bleed and bleed to death that they may be healed and live Oh the narrow hearts of men how far short do they fall of comprehending such a miracle of mercy Well may the Angels wonder at it and desire to peep into it Yea the blessed Lord himself whether as wondring at or willing to make us wonder at this admirable business hath called the nane of Christ Wonderfull Vse 4 Is it so that God the Father hath dearly loved Jesus Christ from all eternity This then may serve for sweet and pretious consolation to all them that belong to Christ for they may be hence assured that God hath loved them from all eternity even as he did Christ For if you mark it well our Saviour speaks here of the love the Father bare him as man and Mediator as the head of his Church and so he loved him not alone but he loved his members in him and he loved his members with him Indeed he loved him as Mediator in reference to those for whom he was to make peace and loved him as a head in reference to those who were to be members of his body and as he had not been a Mediator and a head but for the working of their salvation whom God appointed thereunto so neither had he been beloved in that capacity and under that consideration but upon the same account and consequently if he were beloved as man and Mediator and head of his Church from everlasting his people and his members were beloved from everlasting too without whom he was no head They were designed to be members by the same decree by which he was designed to be head And as they were elected in him so they were beloved in him before the foundation of the world But you will ask me Which way doth this yield you out such pretious comfort that you have been beloved of God from all eternity 1. It is a comfort to consider that the great and glorious God of heaven and earth should think of such poor worms as we from everlasting much more that he should set his love upon us The world it may be looks upon us as not worth the speaking of as not worth the thinking of much less as worthy of the least respect And this it may be troubles and dejects us now and then But this may cheer us and encourage us upon the other side that God himself did think upon us yea and dearly love us too from all eternity when we had not a being in the world save only in the Counsel and Decree of God he made more of us then these men do now we have a gratious being 2. It is a comfort to consider that God and we have been such old friends that he hath loved us from all eternity For it is like the love will hold that hath been of such standing We have a Proverb Change not an old friend for a new because the new is like to be more fickle God hath been an old friend time out of mind And therefore he is like to be the more constant From everlasting he hath loved us and therefore we may safely rest and rely on his love 3. If God have loved us from everlasting then he hath loved us all along since that time Before we had a being in the world and since we had a being before we had a gratious being when we were dead in trespasses and sins And if he loved us then assuredly he will not cease to love us now notwithstanding all our unallowed imperfections and defects He will continue and go on to love us still till he have lodged us with himself in glory Oh how should this revive the hearts of those among the Saints who are so apt to doubt the love of God because they sin so often and so much against him Why man God loved thee when thou didst sin against him more then now thou dost he loved thee when thou hatedst him and therefore certainly he will not hate thee now thou lovest him No he that loved thee from the beginning will love thee also to the end He that loved thee from everlasting will love thee to everlasting and nothing in the world shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And thus we have at length dispatched the body of our Saviours prayer and are arrived at the close or the conclusion of it In which his drift and purpose is to render his Disciples for whom he hath petitioned all along before very acceptable and very gratious to his Father and so to leave them in his hands And that upon this account because they only had the true and saving and affective knowledge of him They only were acquainted with him when as all the world beside were strangers to him And it was reason he should rather do for them then do for strangers Oh righteous Father the world hath not known thee but I have known thee and these have known that thou hast sent me and I have declared unto them thy name q. d. And now to shut up all and to come to a conclusion I pray thee Father to consider this for close of all That the world for whom I have not said a word in all my prayer nay for whom I have professed not to pray I pray for these I pray not for the world yet they the world are wholly ignorant of thee and unacquainted with thee But I that have put up this prayer to thee know thee very well no one in the world better And they for whom I have put up this prayer know thee too by my means for I have manifested and declared thee to them And therefore I am confident that thou wilt hear and answer me in their behalf None know thee in the world but I and they I that pray and they for whom I pray Remember that and I have done I say no more but even leave thee to consider whether thou wilt hear and answer me for them or no Oh righteous c. the world c. In this conclusion of our Saviours prayer I shall consider but these two things To whom he speaks and What he speaks for close of all First to whom he speaks and that you see my brethren is to God whom he stileth righteous Father Secondly what he speaks in the remainder of the two verses which may be very well divided by the subjects of his speech the persons that he speaks of viz. the world himself and true believers as we shall see at large hereafter Begin we with the person that he speaks to and him he mentions by his title and his attribute His title here you see is Father his attribute is righteous righteous Father As for the first of these my brethren I have shewed you more then once that Father in this prayer of our Saviour is not personally taken for the first person of
the devil is in them He keeps the house as Christ speaks While the strong man keeps the house He keeps house in the hearts of wicked men the Devil himself is the house-keeper there there he dwells and there he works as the Apostle speaks Ephes 2.2 he worketh in them they are the Devils house the Devils shop they are the house where he dwells and the shop where he works I say while it is thus with other men while others have the Devil in them they have Jesus Christ in them The strong man is bound and dispossessed of his habitation The Prince of this world is cast out and Jesus Christ the King of glory is come in Ah my Beloved what a happiness is this I wish that I were able to express it to you to set it off as it deserves How would it ravish and transport you and make you to sit down in admiration at your blessedness in this world That you may guess a little at it review the things that have been hinted at before If Christ be in you faith is in you yea all saving grace is in you You are blessed with all spiritual blessings in that you have him in you You have a magazine a treasure of the graces of his holy Spirit So that you are inestimably rich and this riches is Christ in you as the Apostle speaks Col. 1.27 Not Christ without us but Christ within us by his graces is our riches If Christ be in you the Holy Ghost himself is in you as a Spirit of Illumination and a Spirit of Sanctification and as a Spirit of Consolation If you be ignorant you have one within you to enlighten you If you be impure if you have dregs of sin and of corruption in you you have one within you to sanctifie you if you be sad and comfortless you have one within you to comfort you the fountain and the spring of Consolation is within you so that he is at hand in all cases you need not faint or swound away while they fetch a cordial for you If Christ be in you God is in you your hearts are his Temples and the great God of heaven himself is the light and glory of them O blessed hearts that have God to dwell in them But more particulary yet 1. If Christ be in you you have most intimate and near acquaintance and Communion with him It is very much my brethren for Christ Jesus to be with you It was a pretious promise that he made to his Apostles Behold I am with you But for Christ Jesus to be in you is much more This importeth yet more close and sweet Communion Indeed the closest and the sweetest that can be You cannot choose but know him inwardly if he be in you 2. If Christ be in you you have free access to him you need not travail far to speak with Christ he is at hand continually for he is in you so that you may on all occasions make your addresses to him when you please If you have any supplication to present any complaint to make to him do but open your own hearts and you shall find Christ there 3. If you have Christ Jesus in you you are partakers of a confluence of all accommodations comforts satisfactions and delights that the poor heart can reasonably long for or look after For Jesus Christ hath all in him and brings all with him where he comes Indeed my Brethren he himself is all as the Apostle tells us Jesus Christ is all in all Col. 3.11 In all in whom he is my brethren he is all So that in having him we have all There is more in him alone to make us really and fully happy then in all the world without him 4. If Christ be in you as you are happy so you are secure there is no fear of falling from your happiness if you fall Jesus Christ falls with you for he is in you And this is that which makes our happiness in all respects accomplisht that as it is compleat and full so it is permanent and indeficient too The more excellent it is if it were not firm and stable the greater were the fear the greater were the misery of deprivation Fuisse faelicem to have been happy is the greatest unhappiness But this felicity my brethren is enduring In whomsoever Christ is he dwells there he doth not sojourn but he dwells there never to depart again The heart of such a man is his setled habitation of which he saith Here is my resting place here will I dwell for ever So that if Christ be in you you are safe for he will never leave you nor depart from you and then it is impossible that you should perish Ah my Beloved can a man be damned with Christ in him cast into hell with Christ in him separated from the Lord with Christ in him Christ willl not cannot leave him that is once in Christ so that if such a man should go to hell Christ must go to hell in him And now to shut up all since Christ is in you Let me give you this caution let him live quiet in your hearts do not molest him and disturb him there Do not make him vex and fret let it not be a pennance to him to continue in you Let him not suffer by your sins who suffer'd for them But labour every way to please him and to give him satisfaction and content that so the house which he hath chosen meerly for your sakes for he hath heaven to dwell in may not be dark and doleful but delightful to him And thus at length we have dispatched this heavenly Prayer of our Great High Priest and Intercessor Jesus Christ He was even ready to go forth to suffer when he made it Me thinks I hear him saying to his Apostles and Disciples The time is now at hand that I must leave you and be taken from the earth Come let us pray before we part and there withall he lifted up his eyes to heaven and poured out these holy breathings of his Spirit for himself and them Oh what a blessed frame of heart O what a choice and raised temper think you was he in at that time O what a Prayer must that be that was made by such a person in such a company on such an occasion Christ was in heaven in his thoughts and his affections when he uttered it and we have seemed sometimes to be in heaven too while we have handled it and heard it Well it hath been a sweet and precious subject as ever we have dealt upon I shall desire you to review it often and let not any choice impressions that have been made upon you by it out again Let them not be like lines drawn upon the sand no sooner formed but defaced like water spilt upon the ground that is not to be gathered up again Here you have seen the heart of Jesus Christ opened and his affections plentifully flowing out to his people Our prayers shew our hearts to Christ his prayer shews his heart to us Here you have seen how our dear Friend our Head our Husband loved us and had us in his mind and thoughts before he dyed Us I say who now believe as well as them that did believe in former times How earnest and importunate he is with God the Father that we may be one here and that we may be in one place hereafter O let us search into the heart of Jesus Christ laid open to us in this Abridgement of his Intercession for us that we may know it and the workings of it continually more and more until at length this precious Prayer come to have its full effect and we be taken up to be for ever with the Lord that where he is there may we be also Amen FINIS