World to come the last Jubilee or Day of Judgment For then They are not to be condemned with the World 1 Cor. 11.32 All therefore that happeneth in this Case is They may live without the Comfort of it here as he that had sold his House in Canaan might live without the Enjoyment of it till the Jubilee They may also seem to come short of it when they die As he in Canaan did that deceased before the Year of Jubilee But as certainly as he that died in Cannan before the Jubilee did yet receive again his Inheritance by the Hand of his relative Surviver when the Jubilee came so certainly shall he that dieth and that seemeth in his dying to come short of the Celestial Inheritance now be yet admitted at his rising again to the Re-possession of his old Inheritance at the Day of Judgment But here is now Room for a Caviller to object and to plead against the Children saying They have forfeited their Part of Paradise by their Sin what Right then shall they have to the Kingdom of Heaven Now let the Lord stand up to plead for he is Advocate for the Children Yea let them plead the Sufficiency of their first Title to the Kingdom and that it is not their doings that can sell the Land forever The Reason why the Children of Israel could not sell the Land forever was because the Lord their Head reserved to himself a Right therein The Land shall not be sold forever for the Land is mine Suppose two or three Children have a lawful Title to such an Estate but they are all profuse and prodigal but there is a Brother also that has by Law a chief Right to the same Estate This Brother he may hinder the Estate from being sold forever because 't is also his Inheritance and he may when the limited time that his Brethren had sold their share therein is out if he will restore it to them again And in the mean time if any that are unjust should go about utterly and forever to deprive his Brethren he may stand up and plead for them that in Law the Land cannot be sold forever for that it is his as well as theirs he being resolved not to part with his Right O my Brethren Christ will not part with his Right of the Inheritance unto which you are also born Your Profuseness and Prodigality shall not make him let go his hold that he hath for you of Heaven nor can you according to Law sell the Land forever since 't is his and he hath the principal and chief Title thereto This also giveth him Ground to stand up to plead for you against all those that would hold the Kingdom from you forever For let Satan say what he can against you yet Christ can say the Land is mine And consequently that his Brethren could not sell it Yes says Satan if the Inheritance be devided O but says Christ The Land is undivided no Man has his part set out and turned over to himself Besides my Brethren yet are under Age and I am made their Guardian They have not Power to sell the Land forever the Land is mine also my Father has made me Feoffee in trust for my Brethren that they may have what is allotted them when they are all come to a perfect Man to the Measure of the Stature of the Fulness of Christ Eph. 4.12 13. and not before and I will reserve it for them till then and thus to do is the Will of my Father the Law of the Judge and also my unchangeable Resolution And what can Satan say against this Plea Can he prove that Christ has no Interest in the Saints Inheritance Can he prove that we are at Age or that our several Parts of the Heavenly House is already delivered into our own Hands and is in our own Power And if he goes about to do this is not the Law of the Land against him Doth it not say that our Advocate is Lord of all Acts 10.36 that the Kingdom is Christ's that it is laid up in Heaven for us Eph. 5.5 Col. 1.5 Yea that the Inheritance which is incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away is reserved in Heaven for us who are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation 1 Pet. 1.3 4 5. Thus therefore is our old Title to our Heavenly Inheritance made good by our Advocate against the thwartings and branglings of the Devil nor can our new Sins make it invalid but it abideth safe to us at last notwithstanding our Weaknesses Tho if we sin we may have but little Comfort of it or but little of its present Profits while we live in this World. A Spend-thrift tho he loses not his Title may yet lose the present Benefit But the Principal will come again at last for we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous Sixthly the Necessity of the Advocateship of Jesus Christ for us further appears in this to wit for that our Evidences which declare that we have a Right to the eternal Inheritance are often out of our own Hand yea and also sometimes kept long from us The which we come not at the Sight or Comfort of again but by our Advocate Specially when our Evidences are taken from us because of a present forfeiture of this Inheritance to God by this or that most soul Offence Evidences when they are thus taken away as in David's Case Psal. 51.12 they were why then they are in the Hand of God laid up I say from the sight of them to whom they belong till they even forget the Contents thereof 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7 8 9. Now when Writings and Evidences are out of the Hand of the Owners and laid up in the Court where in Justice they ought to be kept they are not ordinarily got thence again but by the Help of a Lawyer an Advocate Thus it is with the Children of God. We do often forfeit our Interest in eternal Life but the Mercy is the Forfeit falls into the Hand of God not of the Law nor of Satan wherefore he taketh away also so our Evidences if not all yet some of them as he saith I will take away my Peace from this People even loving Kindness and Mercy Jer. 16.5 This he took from David 1 Chron. 17.13 Psal. 51.12 yet not as he took it from him that went before him and he entreats for the Restauration of it saying Restore unto me the Joy of thy Salvation and uphold me with thy free Spirit And Lord Turn us again cause thy Face to shine and we shall be saved Psal. 80.3 7 19. Satan now also hath an opportunity to plead against us and to help forward the Affliction as his Servants did of old when God was but a little angry Zech 1.15 But Jesus Christ our Advocate is ready to appear against him and to send us from Heaven our old Evidences again or to signifie to us that they are yet good
and Members of his Body 1 Cor. 12.27 Now said Paul to the Church Ye are the Body of Christ and Members in particular Eph. 5.30 This Relation also makes a Man plead hard Were a Man to plead for a Limb or a Member of his own how would he plead What Arguments would he use and what Sympathy and feeling would his Arguments slow from I cannot lose a Hand I cannot lose a Foot cannot lose a Finger Why Saints are Christ's Members his Members are of himself With what Strength of Argument would a Man plead the Necessaryness of his Members to him and the Vnnaturalness of his Adversary in seeking the Destruction of his Members and the Deformity of his Body Yea a Man would shuck and cringe and weep and intreat and make Demurrs and Halts and Delays to a thousand Years if possible before he would lose his Members or any one of them But I say how would he plead and Advocate it for his Members if Judge and Law and Reason and Equity were all on his side and if by the Adversary there could be nothing urged but that against which the Advocate had long before made Provision for the effectual Overthrow thereof And all this is true as to the Case that lies before us Thus we see what Strength there lieth in this second Argument that our Advocate bringeth for us against the Enemy They are hiâ— Flesh and Bones his Members He cannot spare them He cannot spare this because nor that because nor another because nor any because they are his Members As such they are lovely to him as such they are useful to him as such they are an Ornament to him Yea tho in themselves they are feeble weak and through Infirmity much disabled from doing as they should Thus If any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous But Fourthly As Christ as Advocate pleads for us against Satan his Fathers Interest in us and his own So he pleadeth against him that Right and property that he hath in Heaven to give it to whom he will. He has a Right to Heaven as Priest and King it is his also by Inheritance And since he will be so good a Benefactor as to bestow this House on some Body but not for their Deserts but not for their Goodness And since again he has to that end spilt his Blood for and taken a Generation into Covenant-Relation to him that it might be bestowed on them it shall be bestowed on them And he will plead this if there be need if his People sin and if their Accuser seeks by their Sin their Ruin and Destruction Father saith he I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory Joh. 17.24 Which thou hast given me Christ's Will is the Will of Heaven the Will of God shall not Christ then prevail I will saith Christ I will saith Satan But whose Will shall stand 'T is true Christ in the Text speaks more like an Arbitrator than an Advocate More like a Judge than one pleading at a Bar. I will have it so I judge that so it ought to be and must But there is also something of Plea in the Words both before his Father and against our Enemy And therefore he speaketh like one that can plead and determine also yea like one that has Power so to do But shall the Will of Heaven stoop to the Will of Hell Or the Will of Christ to the Will of Satan Or the Will of Righteousness to the Will of Sin Shall Satan who is God's Enemy and whose Charge wherewith he chargeth us for Sin and which is grounded not upon Love to Righteousness but upon Malice against God's Designs of Mercy against the Blood of Christ and the Salvation of his People I say shall this Enemy and this charge prevail with God against the well-grounded Plea of Christ and against the Salvation of God's Elect and so keep us out of Heaven No no Christ will have it otherwise He is the great Donator and his Eye is good True Satan was turned out of Heaven for that he sinned there and we must be taken into Heaven tho we have sinned here this is the Will of Christ and as Advocate he pleads it against the Face and Accusation of our Adversary Thus If any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous But Fifthly As Christ as Advocate pleadeth for us against Satan his Father's Interest in us and his own and pleadeth also what Right he has to dispose of the Kingdom of Heaven So he pleadeth against this Enemy that Malice and Enmity that is in him and upon which chiefly his Charge against us is grounded to the Confusion of his Face This is evident from the title that our Advocate bestows upon him while he pleads for us against him The Lord rebuke thee O Satan O Enemy saith he For Satan is an Enemy and this Name given him signifies so much And Lawyers in their Pleas can make a great Matter of such a Circumstance as this Saying My Lord we can prove that what is now pleaded against the Prisoner at the Bar is of meer Malice and Hatred that has also of a long time lain burning and raging in his Enemy's Breast against him This I say will greatly weaken the Plea and Accusation of an Enemy But says Jesus Christ Father here is a Plea brought in against my Joshua that cloaths him with filthy Garments But it is brought in against him by an Enemy by an Enemy in the Superlative or highest Degree One that hates Goodness worse than he and that loveth Wickedness more than the Man against whom at this time he has brought such an heinous Charge Then leaving with the father the Value of his Blood for the Accused he turneth him to the Accuser and pleads against him as an Enemy O Satan Thou that accusest my Spouse my Love my Members art Satan an Enemy But it will be Objected That the things charged are true Grant it Yet what Law takes Notice of the Plea of one who doth professedly act as an Enemy because 't is not done of Love to Truth and Justice and Righteousness nor intended for the Honour of the King nor for the good of the Prosecuted but to gratifie Malice and Rage and meerly to kill and destroy There is therefore a great deal of Force and Strength in an Advocate 's pleading of such a Circumstance against an Accuser Specially when the Crimes now charged are those and only those for which the Law in the due execution of it has been satisfied before wherefore now a Lawyer has double and treble ground of Matter to plead for his Client against his Enemy And this Advantage against him has Jesus Christ. Besides 't is well known that Satan as to us is the original Cause of those very Crimes for which he accuses us at the Bar of God's Tribunal Not to
13. God has no need of thy Gift nor Christ of thy Bribe to plead thy Cause Take thankfully what is offered and call for more That 's the best giving to God. God is rich enough Talk not then of giving but of receiving for thou art poor Be not too high nor think thy self too good to live by the Alms of Heaven And since the Lord Jesus is willing to serve thee freely and to maintain thy Right to Heaven against thy Foe to the saving of thy Soul without Price or Reward Let the Peace of God rule in thee to the which thou art also called as is the rest of the Body and be thou thankful Col. 3.15 This then is the Privilege of a Christian we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous One that pleadeth the Cause of his People against those that rise up against them of his Love Pity and meer good Will. Lord open the Eyes of dark Readers of disconsolate Saints that they may see who is for them and upon what Terms Obj. 4. But if Christ doth once begin to plead for me and shall become mine Advocate He will always be troubled with me unless I should of my self forsake him for I am ever in Broils and Suits of Law Action after Action is laid upon me and I am sometimes ten times in a Day summoned to answer my Doings before God. Answ. Christ is not an Advocate to plead a Cause or two nor to deliver the Godly from an Accusation or two He delivereth Israel out of all his Troubles 2 Sam. 22.28 and chuses to be an Advocate for such Therefore the Godly of old did use to make from the Greatness of their Troubles and the abundance of their Troublers an Argument to the Lord Christ to send and lend them help Have Mercy upon me said David consider my Trouble which I suffer of them that hate me Psal. 9.13 And again Many are they that rise up against me many there be that say of my Soul there is no help for him in God Psal. 3.1 2. Yea the Troubles of this Man were so many and great that his Enemies began to triumph over him saying There is no help for him in God ver 7. But could he not deliver him or did the Lord forsâ—ke him No no thou hast smitten saith he all mine Enemies upon the Cheek-bone thou hast broken the Teeth of the ungodly And as he delivereth them from their Troublers so also he pleadeth all their Causes O Lord saith the Church thou hast pleaded the Causes of my Soul thou hast redeemed my Life Lam. 3.58 Mark troubled Christian thou sayst thou hast been arrested oft times in a Day and as often summoned to appear at God's Bar there to answer to what shall be laid to thy Charge And here for thy Encouragement thou readest that the Church hath an Advocate that pleadeth the Causes of her Soul that is all her Causes to deliver her He knows that so long as we are in this World we are subject to Temptation and Weakness and through them made guilty of many bad things Wherefore he hath prepared himself to our Service and to abide with the Father an Advocate for us As Solomon saith of a Man of great Wrath Prov. 19.19 so it may be said of a Man of great Weaknesses and the best of Saints are such he must he delivered again and again Yea many a time saith David did he deliver them Psal. 106.44 45. to wit more than once and twice and he will do so for thee if thou entertain him to be thine Advocate Thou talkest of leaving of him but then whither wilt thou go all else are vain things things that cannot profit 1 Sam. 12.20 21 22 23. and he will not forsake his People tho their Land be filled with Sin against the holy One of Israel Jer. 51.5 I know the modest Saint is apt to be abash'd to think what a troublesome one he is and what a make-work he has been in God's House all his Days And let him be filled with holy blushing but let him not forsake his Advocate Having thus spoken to these Objections let us now come to make some use of the whole and Vse 1. First I would exhort the Children to consider the Dignity that God hath put upon Jesus Christ their Saviour For by how much God hath called his Son to Offices and Places of trust by so much he hath heaped Dignities upon him 'T is said of Mordecai That he was next to the King Ahasuerus And what then Why then the Greatness of Mordecai his high Advance must be written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia Esth. â—0 1 2 3. to the end his Fame might not be buried nor forgot but remembred and talked of in Generations to come Why my Brethren God hath exalted Jesus of Nazareth Hath made him the only great one having given him a Name above every Name A Name did I say a Name and Glory beyond all Names and above all Names as doth witness both his being set above all and the many Offices which he executeth for God on behalf of his People 'T is counted no little Addition to Honour when Men are not only made near to the King but also intrusted with most if not almost with all the most weighty Affairs of the Kingdom Why this is the Dignity of Christ he is 't is true the natural Son of God and so high and one that abounds with Honour but this is not all God has conferred upon him as Man all the high and most mighty Honours of Heaven He hath made him Lord Mediator betwixt him and the World. This in general And particularly he hath called him to be his high Priest forever Heb. 7.21 22 23 24. and hath sworn he shall not be changed for another he hath accepted of his Offering once forever counting that there is wholly enough in what he did once to perfect forever them that are sanctified to wit set apart to Glory Heb. 10.11 12 13. He is Captain General of all the Forces that God hath in Heaven and Earth the King and Commander of his People Chap. 9.25 26. He is Lord of all and made Head over all things to the Church Eph. 1.22 and is our Advocate with the Father O the Exaltation of Jesus Christ Let Christians therefore in the first Place consider this Nor can it but be profitable to them if withal they consider that all this Trust and Honour is put and conferred upon him in Relation to the Advantage and Advancement of Christians If Christians do but consider the nearness that is 'twixt Christ and them and withal consider how he is exalted it must needs be matter of Comfort to them He is my Flesh and my Bone that is exalted it is my Friend and Brother that is thus set up and preferred 'T was something to the Jews when Mordecai was exalted to Honour they had thereby Ground to