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
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
over all the world It is not bounded or confined to any Countrey or to any Nation but it is to stretch and to extend it self to all places and to all people And hence the Kingdom of the Lord Christ is likened to a stone that swells into a Mountain and in the end replenishes the world as Dan. 2.35 The stone that smote the Image became a great Mountain and filled the whole earth A very fit resemblance of our Saviours Kingdom First it is a little stone it lyes within a little compass it is confined within very narrow limits but yet at length it grows into a Mountain yea a great Mountain it stretches and extends out it self exceedingly and in the end replenishes the whole earth The beginnings are but small a little stone a man may put it in his pocket but the stone becomes a Mountain and the Mountain fills the world And this is that which the same Daniel in his vision did foresee as if it had been done already Dan. 7.14 And there was given him saith he dominion and glory and a Kingdom speaking of the Lord Christ And what Kingdom shall he have See in the following words he shall have such a Kingdom that all the people Languages and Nations in the world shall serve him There is a Prophecy to this purpose Psal 22.27 28. All the ends of the world shall turn to the Lord and all the kinreds of the Nations shall worship before him For the Kingdom is the Lords and he is the Governour among all Nations with which accordeth that Psal 72.8 He shall have Dominion from Sea to Sea and from the River unto the ends of the Earth and yet again Psal 86.9 All Nations whom thou hast made and you know there is no Nation which he hath not made shall come and worship before thee O Lord and shall glorifie thy Name This is the meaning of that famous Proclamation of our King himself Mal. 1.11 From the rising of the Sun unto the going down of the same my Name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every place incense shall be offered to me and a pure offering for my Name shall be great among the Heathen saith the Lord of Hosts And when all these predictions shall be brought to execution then shall that which was represented in a Vision unto John be really accomplished Apoc. 7.9 I beheld saith he and loe a great multitude which no man could number of all Nations and kinreds and people and tongues stood before the Throne and before the Lamb cloathed with white Robes and Palms in their hands and then shall that triumphant voyce take place Apoc. 11.15 The Kingdoms of the world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign for ever and ever Now how shall this be brought to pass my Brethren but by the preaching of the Gospel over all the world which by our Saviour Christ himself is called the Gospel of the Kingdom Mat. 24.14 because his Kingdom is erected by it and that is the first reason why Christ sends forth his Ministers to preach the Gospel over all the world that so his Kingdom may be erected by it over all the world This Gospel of the Kingdom saith our Saviour in the fore-alledged place that is this Gospel by which my Kingdom is set up and propagated and enlarged shall be preached in all the world to all Nations and then shall the end come When this is done this Gospel preached and this Kingdom thereby propagated unto all the world then saith our Saviour and not till then shall the end come 2. And as the Kingdom of our Saviour is to be erected so Churches in the second place are to be planted over all the world And that is another reason why Christ sends forth his Ministers to preach the Gospel over all the world for Gospel preaching serves as to erect the one so to collect and plant the other The Church indeed was antiently shut up among the Jews but now it is let out to all Nations so that neither Jew nor Grecian neither Scythian nor Barbarian is excluded from the Church Thou hast redeemed us by thy blood say the Elders to our Saviour Apoc. 5.9 not out of one but out of every Kindred Nation Tongue and People This enlargement of the Church is clearly taught us in the Prophesie of Hosea 2.23 which may serve instead of all And I will sow her to me in the earth saith God there which is a Metaphorical or borrowed speech by which the Lord fore-shews the great extension of the Church in these latter Gospel days For as the Husbandman that means to have his Corn increased and multiplyed first sows it in the ground that so it may take root and spring and bear him many grains for one so God affirming he will sow his Church insinuates he will make it do as corn when it is sowen to grow and multiply exceedingly So that from a very small it shall encrease to a great number And hence he saith not I will sow her in the land of Canaan only but in the earth at large without restraint or limitation In former times he made his breach in Iewry only his field the Church was but a little corner of the world but here the Lord fore-shews that he will multiply her so that she shall be dispersed over all the earth And I will sow her to me in the earth And for this reason Jesus Christ sends forth his Seedesmen into all the Earth that they may sow the Church in all Countries This shall suffice for clearing of the point And is it so that Jesus Christ doth not send his Ministers particularly Vse 1 or restrictively c. This then may serve my Brethren in the first place at least to justifie the practice of those Ministers of Christ who for the propagating of the Church of Christ and elarging of his Kingdom have done as the Apostle Paul professed he had strived to do Rom. 15.20 saith he I have strived to preach the Gospel not where Christ was named least I should build upon another mans foundation but as it is written To whom he was not spoken of they shall see and they that have not heard shall understand Preached when a Collection was made for propagation of the Gospel in New-England You heard even now of many zealous Instruments of Christ who have had the same design viz to preach the Gospel in America where Christ was never named till within these few years To lay the first stone of the Foundation of Religion there to gather Churches and to erect the Kingdom of the Lord Christ among the poor blind Indians in the remotest quarter of the world That so the Fathers promise may at length be made good to Jesus Christ Psal 2.8 Ask of me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession And verily in this my
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
Will savingly declared to them have yet defects and imperfections in their knowledge of him so that they stand in need of further Declaration The Name of God was so far manifested and declared to these Apostles and Disciples as was necessary to salvation So far our Saviour had fully and compleatly made it known to them he had concealed nothing from them of his Fathers Name in the ignorance of which whosoever dies must perish For they were in the state of grace and of salvation when he spake those words I have declared unto them thy Name And yet he addeth presently you see I will declare it I will make further declarations and discoveries of thy Name to them And so accordingly he did assoon as he was risen from the dead He shewed himself alive to them being seen of them forty days together Act. 1.3 And what did he in that time Why he instructed them in things concerning God and his Kingdom as you may see in that place And when he was ascended into Heaven he was mindful of his promise which he had often made to them and so accordingly dispatched the Holy Spirit down among them to lead them further onward in the knowledge of the Father Indeed the best are Novices in this regard they have not yet attained to a perfect man in point of holy and divine knowledge as Ephes 4.13 It is true there is a great deal of variety among the Saints aswell in this as other graces according to the measure of the gift of Christ Ephes 4.7 But in the best it is a measure and no more it is not fulness and perfection He that hath most of God revealed to him yet knows him but in part and he that hath the clearest sight of him sees him but darkly in a glass as 1 Cor. 13.12 And therefore this is called the seeing of the back parts of the Lord as when we see the back parts of a man we know him but by guess only we know him not so perfectly and so distinctly as when we come to see his face Such a sight of God it is that we attain in this world And therefore the Apostle Paul who in this point of holy and divine knowledge was not behind the very chiefest Apostles who had his Raptures and his Extasies and who was taken up into the third Heaven and had such things revealed to him as were not to be uttered by the tongue of man professeth notwithstanding that he had not yet attained nor was he yet perfect But saith he I follow after that I may apprehend Phil. 3.12 So that he was Viator and not Comprehensor he was in the condition that the people were Hos 6.3 he followed on to know the Lord. The people of Coloss were eminent for grace and knowledge and yet for them it is the Apostle prays That they might increase in the knowledg of God Col. 1.10 So that the point is plain as you see They that have the Name of God his Nature and his Will savingly c. Object But you will interpose and say perhaps That it should seem by some expressions in the Scriptures that God hath been revealed fully to some certain men in this life as to Jacob for an instance Gen. 32.30 and to Moses Numb 12.8 With him will I speak saith God mouth to mouth even apparently not in dark speeches and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold Sol. But this my Brethren must be understood comparatively of the more clear and full discovery of the Lord to Jacob and to Moses then to many other men but as for the perfect sight and knowledge of him this was not imparted neither to Jacob nor to Moses and for the latter God himself affirms expresly Thou shalt not see my face saith he to Moses Exod. 33.10 that is the fulness of my glory for none shall see my face and live That is reserved to the state of glory when we shall see God face to face as the Scripture phrase is when we shall know as we are known And this is that which Schoolmen call the beatifical vision wherein consists the main of our beatitude hereafter as Matth. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God He doth not say they do see him but they shall see God which the Apostle makes the great ingredient in the happiness and glory prepared for the Saints at the time of Christs appearing 1 Joh. 3.2 We know that when we shall appear he shall be like him and we shall see him as he is Now we see him as we may then we shall see him as he is But why have they who have the Name of God savingly declared to them defects and imperfections in their knowledge Why doth not Jesus Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and that for the accommodation of his members furnish and supply them Why doth he not assoon as he begins to teach them declare all his Fathers Name to them but keeps back something still for further discovery There are two special reasons of it to name no more at this time Christ doth not shew them all at once because they are not capable of it A scholar is not capable of all he is to learn at first dash He cannot take in all at once even in his first lesson and hence his Master leads him onward by degrees first gives him easier and after brings him on to harder Lessons Even so doth Jesus Christ with his scholars he goes along with every one as he can learn as he is able to receive it in He doth not shew them all his Fathers glory at a clap for that he knows would dazle them and over-whelm them but le ts in now a little light upon them and then a little more as he perceives their senses to be exercised Instils into their minds and understandings the knowledge of his Father by degrees and as by learning their capacities are widened so he goes on to further discoveries This course he took with the Apostles what they were able to receive he taught them out of hand but reserved other things as you may see Joh. 16.12 I have many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now I am to say them but you cannot bear them now and therefore I will take some other time to reveal those things to you Christ doth not shew them all at once that he may keep his Saints humble As long as there is flesh and nature in us as there will be while we remain in this world high measures and degrees of knowledge may exalt us and lift us up above our selves And therefore Jesus Christ in love and wisdom uses to bestow upon his people so much knowledge as he sees fit for them A little more it may be would undo them They would set their hearts it may be as the heart of God himself They would be as Gods knowing good and evil Shrewd fellows
God hath given him who are comparatively but a small number What use hath this authority in reference to other flesh to whom he doth not give eternal life if this be all the end of it For clearing of this my Brethren you must know that this is not the only end but it is the chief end for it is very manifest in Scripture that the authority of Jesus Christ as it extends to all flesh so it is exercised one way or another upon all flesh It is bestowed upon him by his Father as well that he may give eternal death to some as eternal life to others And so accordingly he executes this power and this authority of his as well in passing sentence of condemnation upon unbelievers as of salvation upon believers In judging some and that the most of men to death as well as other some to life The Father saith our Saviour hath committed all judgment to the Son judgement as well of condemnation as of absolution So that the giving of eternal life to as many as God hath given him is not the only end of the authority of Iesus Christ but it is the main end the prime end the chief end This end is principally in the eye of God and Christ the other end is not considerable in regard of this And therefore that is not so much as hinted at you see but this is clearly and expresly mentioned As who should say This was the end indeed for which his Father gave him power over all flesh this was the thing he chiefly aimed at that he might give eternal life to as many as God had given him So that the Point to be observed is this DOCTRINE That the authority of Jesus Christ with which he is invested over all flesh is chiefly for the benefit and the salvation of his own People It hath another end indeed but this is the great end he hath it not so much for the hurt of wicked men and unbelievers as for the good of his Members Not so much to destroy them as to save these And hence his Father who gave him this authority gave him such a name withall as shews us why he took upon him this authority as man why he became a Priest a Prophet and a King as you may see Mat. 1.21 Saith the Angel there to Joseph speaking of the Virgin Mary She shall bring forth a Son and thou shalt call his name Jesus And why so to shew the end for which he came into the world for he shall save his people from their sins Not so much to destroy ungodly men as to save his own people In which respect his Father would not have him called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Destroyer the name imposed upon the King of Locusts mentioned Apoc. 9.11 though he be so to many men yea to the greatest part of men whom he will punish with everlasting destruction But Jesus a Saviour its true indeed that Christ is set as that is the Expression Luke 2.34 that he is appointed by his Father for the fall and rising again of many in Israel as for the rising of believers so for the fall of unbelievers But this is but by accident and besides the main intention either of God in sending or of Christ in coming He doth not cause the fall of such as perish directly as he doth the raising of such as are saved by him And this is not obscurely mentioned in that place which is parallel to this Isa 8.14 He shall be for a Sanctuary saith the Prophet there that is the main end which he serveth for to be a place of refuge to his people and therefore that which follows is added with a But as coming in upon the by besides his purpose He shall be for a Sanctuary but for a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to the house of Israel and many among them shall stumble and fall and be broken Though he be in himself a Sanctuary yet this shall be the issue and event to some men Indeed he came into the world to save sinners as the Apostle Paul speaks 1 Tim. 1.15 not to destroy Sinners It s true that Sinners are destroyed by him but this was not the end of his coming God did not send his Son into the world saith the Evangelist Ioh. 3.17 to condemn the world but that the world by him might be saved And so our Saviour Christ himself professeth John 12.47 I came not to judge the world but to save the world And therefore if you look upon his story you shall find that he was frequently employed in works of mercy of helping and of saving people every way but when his hot Disciples would have the Samaritans destroyed by fire from heaven you know he would not hear of it You shall observe that he absolved and acquitted many in the dayes of his flesh Be of good cheer your sins are forgiven you But whom did he condemn or whose sins did he bind upon him No not the woman that was taken in adultery yea in the very act to shew how much this was besides his purpose And therefore when he delegated his Authority to his Apostles you may see the drift of it Mat. 28.19 20. It was to bring in his Elect to him that they might be saved by him having told them that all power was given to him both in heaven and in Earth Immediately by vertue of that power he gives them their Commission that they should go preach the Gospel and convert men to the faith and baptize them in his name He doth not say to them as God doth to the Prophet Ier. 1.10 I have set you over the Nations and over the Kingdoms to root out and to pull down and to destroy but I have sent you to the Nations to teach them and to save them Go teach all Nations baptizing them So that the point you see is fully proved That the authority of Jesus Christ with which he is invested over all flesh is chiefly for the benefit and the salvation of his own people And it must needs be so as I shall make it evidently and demonstratively to appear to you For First His very Mediatorship is chiefly for the benefit and salvation of his Reas 1 people and therefore the authority which he enjoys and which he is invested with as man and Mediator must needs be for the same End why was the Son of God incarnate why was he made the Mediator not for the hurt of wicked men but for the good of his chosen Not to bring them out or to keep them out but to bring these in not to make enmity or war for them but to make amity and peace for these And consequently his authority must have the same aim He took our nature on him he took upon him to be the Mediator between God and man and so accordingly assumed the Oeconomical and the dispensatory Kingdom too and the authority whereof we speak for the sake
while you remain as Sojourners in this Country Use 4 Are there some certain men whom c. so that however they were once the worlds now they are of the world no longer Then do not you regard the world nor the things of this world We see that Travailers do not use to set their hearts on any thing they meet with in a strange Country If they see stately houses orchards gardens if they hear curious musick they are not taken up with these things no they keep on their way and are not hindered or withdrawn by the most pleasing avocations Doth any stranger fall a building at his Inn or doth he plant and sow as he travails by the way And therefore seeing we are of another world let us not set our hearts on these things No let us use the world but as though we used it not for necessity alone not for delight to further us in holy duties not to stop us to help us heaven-ward not to hinder Are there some c. so that however you were once c. This fits Use 5 you then with a reply to that usual argument with which the Saints of God are often pressed to sinful practices Other men do thus and thus and why will not you too will you be singular and will you go in a way by your selves and will you do as no body doth Why what though other men do this whence are those other men they are not of the world that we are and therefore they are no examples for us We must not do as they do no we must differ from them we must come out from among them and be separate and touch no unclean thing Though they handle it we must not touch it When Shadrach Mesach and Abednego refused to bow before the Golden Image which Nebuchadnezar the King had set up they might have said to them What will you do as no body doth you see that all men universally fall down before it and they no small ones neither the Judges Councellors Princes Rulers of the people Dan. 3.3 And will you take upon you to be wiser then your betters will you stand out alone and be so stiff in your opinion yet this did not one whit move them neither must such an argument as this prevail with us No we must keep the right way though we go alone though all the world should leave us and forsake us And to this end I propound two things 1. It will be a safe course thus to reserve our selves from the pollutions of the world and the contagion of the times and places where we live The Lord most commonly vouchsafes to such a special priviledge of preservation when dangers and calamities and troubles come as he did to Lot and Noah and the Mourners in Ezechiel And as they have not shared in common corruptions so he exempteth them from Common desolations c. 2. And as it will be safe for us thus to reserve our selves so it will be honourable too The veriest wretch may keep himself from wicked acts sometimes when there are no examples no temptations to withdraw him But in a world of wickedness to be singular in goodness is Christian-like indeed It was Tullies Commendation of Muraena Laudandus Muraena non tam quod in Asia vixerit quam quod in Asia continenter vixerit And Gods of Job that there was none like him in the earth Are there some certain c. And are you of that number there is Use 6 no reason then why you should be so much distracted and disquieted to see such stirs and troubles such alterations and confusions in the world Why should you be so out of patience to see things turned upside down in such a Country where you do not live to which you do not appertain What need you care I spake of such a Care as eateth out the joy and comfort of a man how matters go what stirrs and hubbubs and combustions there are here in this world so long as all goes well at home in your world Remember still in such a case that you are not of this world but of another And why then should it startle you though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the Sea Yea though the Kingdoms of this world be shaken so long as your world and the Kingdom of it is not shaken so long as that stands firm and sure you have no reason to be swallowed up with overmuch fear and overmuch sorrow But rather on the other side when you see all the world and all the Kingdoms of it in a flame to bless and magnifie the Lord that you are out of this world that you are out of Gun-shot out of the reach of these things Indeed with reference to the men of this world who have their Conversation and their portion here whose friends and means and dwellings lye in this Country we have reason to be troubled when Concussions and Confusions come upon the earth for we should pity those who are of the self same nature with us in their troubles and distresses But for our selves we may behold the greatest tribulation and distractions that come upon the world as things that do not much concern us just as we do the wars in Italy when we have peace we pitty the poor people there and rejoyce that we live not in that Country So long as all goes well at home as no ill tydings come from heaven from our own Country we are in a good Condition It may be we may suffer some outward evils and extremities we may be banished from the Country which we sojourn in but then we are but banished from a place of banishment We may be banished if I may express it so out of this world into the other that is we may lose our lives but then at worst we are but banished home They do but send us to the world that we are of and that we belong to men may deprive us of the Life by which we live in this world but this is but a seeming Life the shaddow of a Life it is but as though we lived in the world But the life by which we live in the world that we are of is an enduring and abiding life It is a lasting and an endless life it is above the reach of death and dissolution And though the natural life decay this life of grace will flourish and grow stronger still till it be perfected in that of glory JOHN 17.6 Thine they were c. thou gavest them to me ANd thus far of the description of the persons to whom our Saviour had made known his Fathers Name not by their own condition or their own action but by his Fathers act upon them or in reference to them his giving them to Jesus Christ out of the world I have manifested thy Name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world The following words seem to be added to
Brethren they have not gone beyond their line they have not strayed beyond the bounds of their Commission Christ doth not send his Ministers as you have heard particularly or restrictively to any Countrey or to any Nation but their Commission leaves them free to all the world Even the Commission not of Apostles only but of the ordinary Ministers of Christ as I have shewed before in Explication of the point so that they are within their compass still though they be among the Indians even at the other end of all the Earth And it is to be very much observed that Christ hath given abundant testimony to this glorious work of theirs in the incredible success of their endeavours there so that poor naked souls come continually to Jesus Christ stoop to the Government and Scepter of his Kingdom desire to be acquainted with his will to be instructed in the way of his worship to have their children brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord And in a word they shame us who have so long enjoyed the Gospel that we are even weary of it and begin to put it from us and so to judge our selves unworthy of eternal life The Lord in mercy grant it go not from us to the Indians who prize it more are more eager after it and more fruitful under it according to their light then multitudes of us professed Christians are Now I beseech you my Beloved cast an eye upon them travail thither in your thoughts and meditations there you shall see some Ministers of Jesus Christ once our fellow-Labourers spending themselves undergoing difficulties without number or measure to convert souls and gather Churches among blind Heathens There you shall see the Gospel blossoming the Church enlarging her Tent and stretching forth the Curtains of her habitation the Doves flocking to the windows of the Ark the Church of Christ the fulness of the Gentiles now beginning to come in and in a word that great work going on which is incomparably the most remarkable that Christ hath yet to do in this world What shall we do now my Beloved and how shall we behave our selves under such a dispensation shall we as many have done heretofore and it may be yet do condemn the Instruments as if they went beyond themselves in this business Shall we mock at these beginnings of the building of the Temple shall we despise the day of small things shall we as Gallio care for none of these matters Truly the least that we can do is to comply with Jesus Christ in this design of his for which he sends his Ministers into the world and to promote this glorious work to the utmost of our power It is in the hands of those for whom as you have heard it is too heavy so that they cannot mannage it they are not able to go through with it They seem to call over to us as the man of Macedonia Come to America and help us Oh let not such a work miscarry and fail of being driven on for want of any help that we can yield to it a work that is so purely Christian as this is But which way can we help it on it may be you will say to me Truly my Brethren if no other way we may promote and help it on at least without purses and our prayers This we may do at this distance I shall speak a word to either 1. We may promote it with our prayers This was the course the Prophet took as you may see Isa 62.1 In the precedent chapter he is very large and eloquent on this business shewing the future glory of the Church by the addition of the fulness of the Gentiles in all Countries and in all Nations And having done with the description of it in two whole Chapters me thinks he is an end to hasten the fruition of it For Zions sake I will not hold my peace saith he and for Jerusalems I will not rest So we my Brethren having heard of the beginning of this great work in America let us do as Isaiah did let us be always crying to the Lord let him be hard beset on all hands let him not have a quiet hour The Lord hath set his Watchmen on the walls of his Jerusalem to this purpose Isa 62.6 that they may watch such opportunities as these are And least he should forget this great work when it is upon the wheel he hath appointed some remembrancers to mind him of it and therefore let us be continually minding God of this business beseeching him to go on with this work till he hath brought it to perfection till the whole fulness of the Gentiles be come in till Christ inherit all Nations Let us remember that we have a little sister in America and that now is the day of speaking for her for now her case and business is in agitation and therefore now let us be earnest with the Lord let us pray and pray hard let us not be cold or dead in such a suit as this is We may promote it with our purses and estates And this is that especially we have in hand at this time There are very many things in that great business now on foot that need pecuniary helps as hath been said The charge that lies on these that are the agents in it is exceeding great and indeed too heavy for them and therefore we me thinks that share not in the difficulties and the labours that other of our Brethren undergo among the Indians should be content to share a little in the costs for who would willingly sit wholly out in such a blessed work as this is Alas my Brethren how much idle mony do we spend a hundred ways that might be saved for such a purpose And truly I believe we never had occasion to lay mony out to a better end then this Now we may help in a qualified sense to purchase souls with money to further the accomplishment of the Gospel promises with money we may make temporal and earthly things serve spiritual and heavenly ends And therefore I beseech you my Beloved enlarge your bounty more then ordinary in such a choise and extraordinary work as this is Let love to Christ and to his Church compassion to those blind Americans draw out your very hearts to them that those poor Indian souls whose Conversion and Salvation you may further by this means may bless you Thus make you friends of the unrighteous Mammon that you may render up a good account when the day of reckoning comes Is it so That Jesus Christ sends forth his Ministers into the world and Vse 2 that as I have said to gather Churches and erect his Kingdom over all the world Then let this raise our hearts my Brethren in reference to this work which is indeed the greatest and the most eximious that Christ hath yet to do in this world Oh let our hearts be lifted up towards it and that especially three ways in
faith in expectation in Petition I shall speak to them in order Let our hearts be lifted up in faith with reference to this work Let them be raised to a full and firm belief that it shall surely be accomplished in the Lords own time Christ hath sent forth his Ministers about it and brought it on a great way and therefore let us rest upon it that he will surely finish it in his season It may be you may look upon it as a thing almost impossible that all the Nations of the world should turn to Christ and receive him for their King But if you will cast back your eye on the beginnings of this glorious work you cannot but acknowledge that it was as hard to bring it on to what it hath attained already in the world as to perform that which remaineth to be done All that which we expect is not so hard as that which Christ hath done already If you had seen him here upon the Earth and his fishermen about him you would not have imagined that so many Nations would ever have been brought in to him as there are at this day When he sent out a company of poor despised men to preach the Gospel and to draw men in to him by telling them they must deny themselves and they must take up their Cross and suffer persecution for his sake they must forsake all leave all and follow him you would have thought this had been an unlikely way to do very great matters And yet by such improbable unlikely means as these hath Christ been entertained in many Nations and many Countreyes and multitudes of people have been brought to stoop to him And therefore seeing he hath done so much already and that in such a strange way as you would never have believed if you had not seen it done you may the better cast your selves upon him with this assurance that he will overcome the difficulties that are yet behind that he that hath begun the work and prospered it so far as he hath done will finish it untill he hath brought in the fulness of the Gentiles to his Church and Kingdom from one end of the earth unto the other Object But you will ask me now perhaps What would you have us to believe that all the people of the world shall accept of Jesus Christ and receive him for their King and be the Subjects of his Kingdom Why then it seems there should be no tares no Goats no wicked when that time comes Sol. No my beloved this is not the thing at which I aim And therefore you may not be mistaken you must remember that distinction of the Kingdom of Christ Iesus into the Kingdom of power and the Kingdom of grace The first of these indeed is universal and doth already reach to all places and to all persons Though all be not the subjects of the grace of Christ yet all are subject to the power of Christ And hence the Psalmist tells us that his Kingdom rules over all Psal 103.19 And that he is the King of all the earth Psal 47.7 he is King of all the places in the earth yea and of all the persons in the earth either one way or the other Either he is a gracious King to rule them or a powerfull King to break them And thus his Kingdom doth already reach to all Countreys and to all people But now my brethren for the second Kingdom which we have called the Kingdom of grace that is also in a sence to stretch and to extend it self to all places and to all people I shall clear it very briefly 1. It is to stretch and to extend it self to all places and to all Countreyes The Church of Jesus Christ is to be Catholick in this respect and so by consequence his Kingdom too it is to be erected and set up in all Nations And hence the Holy Ghost affirmeth that all the people Languages and Nations in the world shall serve him And the Apostle tells us that in the business of sanctification or setting up the Kingdom of Christ Jesus in the hearts of men there is neither Greek nor Jew neither Scythian nor Barbarian but Christ is all in all That is the Jew is not preferred before the Greek and neither of them is preferred before the Scythian and Barbarian but all of them are one to Christ and Christ is one to all of them and he will have a Church and Kingdom as well among the Scythians and Barbarians as among the Jews themselves 2. And as this Kingdom is to stretch and extend it self to all places and to all Countreyes so it is also to extend it self to all people That is to all degrees and sorts of people though not to all of those sorts And as there is no Nation so there is no condition or estate or rank of men excluded from the grace of Jesus Christ nor barred from being subjects of his gratious Kingdom here and of his glorious Kingdom hereafter Let our hearts be lifted up in expectation of this glorious work Since Christ hath sent forth his instruments about it to gather Churches and to erect his Kingdom over all the world and since the work hath prospered very far and now is going on amain among the Indians let us not lye still and idle as if we knew not what is a doing in the world Now Christs work is in his hand let our eyes be in our heads and let it raise up extraordinary expectations in us The Prophet having had a glymps of this most excellent and glorious work in contemplation when it was not yet begun is on tip-toe presently Isa 62.1 And so let us especially now we behold it in the execution let us lift up our heads and look let us get up on our watch-towers where we may have more advantage to see if by any means we can discover more of it and let our spirits be continually reaching after the fufilling of it as being full of hope about it Let our hearts be lifted up in supplication for the accomplishment of this work Not that we can change the Lord by any means or antedate his Counsels and Decrees but yet if we would have such glorious works to come to execution it is extreamly necessary for us to do that on which the execution of them is suspended in the Scripture I will build the ruined and I will plant the desolate and desert places saith the Lord Ezek. 36.37 I will build the ruined Nation of the Jews which was a Church in former times and I will plant the desolate and desert places of the Gentiles I the Lord have spoken it and I will do it But yet on this condition that I will be enquired of by my people The Lord will surely come my brethren in his own appointed season and gather Churches and erect his Kingdom over all the world But in the mean time he will have his people pray Thy Kingdome come he will have
Baptist Joh. 1.18 No man hath seen God at any time conceive it with the outward eye The Son of man who is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him He hath discovered him in some respect to that eye because he is so very like him So that if you see the Son you shall see the Father in him the resemblance is so great that in seeing one of them you see the other And hence saith Christ to Philip once Joh. 14.9 He that hath seen me hath seen the Father also So that our Saviour both as God and Man is like the Father and so in that respect is fitted for his Fathers love And as there is Proportion so Propriety as he is like the Father so he is the Fathers own and therefore meet to be beloved of him Indeed there is an interest on both hands God is Christs God God even thy God hath anointed thee saith David Psal 45.7 And Christ is Gods Christ Psal 2.2 The Kings of the earth set themselves and the Rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Christ Indeed he is the Fathers Chosen the Fathers servant the Fathers Son He is his Son as God by eternal generation as man by union He is his in all capacities and under all considerations take him which way you will he is the Fathers So that no marvail though the Father love him and love him dearly too We that are men are wont to love our own yea many times we dote upon them though they have little lovely in them But Christ who is his Fathers own is altogether lovely so that he hath cause to love him And this for clearing of the first branch that God the Father loveth Jesus Christ Now for the second branch that he hath loved him from everlasting This is expresly taught us also in the Text Thou hast loved me saith Christ before the foundation of the world that is before time was As the time will never be when God will not love Christ So the time never was when God did not love Christ That place is notable to this purpose Prov. 8.22 The Lord possessed me in the beginning c. I was set up from everlasting c. I was as one brought up with him and I was dayly his delight Observe it well I was dayly his delight I you will answer he was so as God But how was he so as man Object How could the Father love the Son as Man from everlasting since he was not from everlasting God is one pure act Answ he doth not that in time as to internal immanent acts which he did not from everlasting Though things are past present and to come with us yet they are not so with God All things are present with him at the same time as Jesus Christ in reference to God and his decree was slain so he was incarnate too before the foundation of the world and so he was beloved as man and as incarnate before the foundation of the world and under this consideration he speaks especially to his Father in my Text Thou hast loved me saith he viz. as Man and Mediator before the foundation of the world Now is it so That God the Father dearly loveth Jesus Christ Use then surely it is ill with them that hate him and it is well with them that love him If God love Jesus Christ so dearly certainly he hates them that hate Christ and he loves them that love Christ 1. If God love Jesus Christ so dearly he hates them that hate Christ and he will surely be avenged on them to the very utmost The love he bears to Jesus Christ will stir him up to execute his fiercest wrath and to take most severe revenge upon them Believe it brethren God will not spare them in the day of vengeance he will shew no bowels of compassion to them who hate his dear Son Christ to whom he bears such infinite affection The more he loves Christ the more he will hate them that hate him and the more sharply will he deal with them But you ask me Are there any such that hate Christ and if there be Quest which way may they be discovered Some there are that hate Christ Answ and that not in Hell only the Devil and the damned ghosts there but on earth among men yea in the very bosom of the Church it self He is not hated only of a company of men that are but forraigners and strangers to him as the Heathen are for that is no such admirable thing that they that know him not should hate him but of his Citizens who are acquainted with him and who are under his immediate Rule and Jurisdiction Luk. 19.14 He is refused not of the Heathen people only but of divers in the Church and some of them of greatest note authority and learning there to wit the builders of the Church He is the stone which they that would be counted Workmen Master-workmen stumble at and set aside Psal 118.22 There be that live in opposition and hostility against him even where his Kingdom is set up he ruleth in the midst of his enemies as his Father speaks of him Psal 110.2 Where our Saviour hath a Church there the Devil hath a Chappel yea it may be a Cathedral I know thy works and where thou dwellest saith our Saviour to the Church of Pergamus even where Satans seat is Apoc. 2.13 Observe it well where Satans seat is that is where he is Bishop where he keeps his residence where his Episcopal Cathedral and his chair is Christ can never want his enemies where Satan hath such interest and such authority as this is Indeed the greatest Enemie that Christ hath in the world conceit it among mortal men is in the Church and that is Antichrist a Bishop too who hath his name from being opposite to Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as who should say against Christ He sitteth in the Temple in the Church as the Apostle Paul speak 2 Thess 2.4 There were false brethren in the Church of the Philippians who notwithstanding all their glorious protestations were enemies to Christ as the Apostle tells them plainly Phil. 3.18 and he tells it them with tears he was so much affected with it And surely there are many everywhere and in every Congregation who pretend much worship and submission and Ceremony and respect to Christ And yet such is the damnable hypocrisie and falseness of the hearts of men they swell with inward ranck or rage and hate against him It is not every one that calls him Rabbi Master as the false Herodians did that kisses him and bows before him and salutes him with Hayl Master as deceitful Judas did that is indeed a friend to Christ No men may make a flourish and profess they love the Lord and say that he is infinitely dear unto them and yet may be as real enemies to him and to his Kingdom as Judas that betrayed him the Judge and Officers