enriched to be stedfast unmoveable abundant in the worke of the Lord to doe his will as the Angels in heaven doe it yet in many things they faile and have daily experience of their owne defects But here is all the comfort though I am not able to doe any of my duties as I should yet Christ hath finished all his to the full and therefore though I am compassed with infirmities so that I cannot doe the things which I would yet I have a compassionate advocate with the Father who both giveth and craveth pardon for every one that prepareth his heart to seeke the Lord though he be not perfectly cleansed 1 Ioh. 2.2 2 Chron. 30.18 19. Secondly Against the pertinacie and close adherence of our corruptions which cleave as fast unto us as the very powers and faculties of our soule as heat unto fire or light unto the Sunne Yet sure we are that he who forbad the fire to burne and put blacknesse upon the face of the Sunne at midday is able likewise to remove our corruptions as farre from us as he hath removed them from his owne sight And the ground of our expectation hereof is this Christ when he was upon the earth in the forme of a servant accomplished all the Offices of suffering and obedience for us Therefore being now exalted farre above all heavens at the right hand of Majestie and glory he will much more fulfill those Offices of Power which he hath there to doe Which are by the supplies of his Spirit to purge us from sinne by the sufficiencie of his grace to strengthen us by his word to sanctifie and cleanse us and to present us to himselfe a glorious Church without spot or wrinckle He that brought from the dead the Lord Iesus and suffered not death to hold the head is able by that power and for that reason to make us perfect in every good worke to doe his will and not to suffer corruption for ever to hold the members It is the frequent argument of the Scripture Heb. 13.20 21. Col. 2.12 Eph. 1.19 20. Rom. 6.5 6. Rom. 8.11 Thirdly against all those firie darts of Satan wherby he tempteth us to despaire and to forsake our mercie If he could have held Christ under when he was in the grave then indeed our faith would have been vaine we should be yet in our sinnes 1 Cor. 15. 17. But he who himselfe suffered being tempted and overcame both the sufferings and the temptation is able to succor those that are tempted and to shew them mercie and grace to helpe in time of need Heb. 2.17 18. Heb. 4. 15 16. Lastly against death it selfe For the Accomplishment of Christs Office of redemption in his resurrection from the dead was both the Merit the Seale and the first fruits of ours 1 Cor. 15.20 22. Thirdly The sitting of Christ on the right hand of his Father noteth unto us the actuall Administration of his Kingdome Therefore that which is here said sit at my right hand untill I make thine enemies thy footstoole the Apostle thus expoundeth He must raigne till he hath put all enemies vnder his feete 1 Cor. 15.25 And he therefore died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of dead and living namely by being exalted unto Gods right hand Rom. 14.9 Now this Administration of Christs Kingdome implies severall particulars First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The publication of established Lawes For that which is in this Psalme called the sending forth of the rod of Christs strength out of Sion is thus by the Prophets expounded Out of Sion shall goe forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Ierusalem Esai 2.3 Mich. 4.2 Secondly The conquering and subduing of subjects to himselfe by converting the hearts of men and bringing their thoughts into the obedience of his Kingdome Ministerially by the word of reconciliation and effectually by the power of his Spirit writing his Lawes in their hearts and transforming them into the image of his word from glorie to glorie Thirdly Ruling and leading those whom he hath thus converted in his way continuing unto their hearts his heavenly voice never utterly depriving them of the exciting assisting cooperating grace of his holy Spirit but by his divine power giving unto them all things which pertaine unto life and godlinesse after he had once called them by his glorious power Esai 2.2 Ioh. 10.3 4. 1 Cor. 1.4 8. Esai 30.21 1 Pet. 2.9 2 Pet. 1.3 Fourthly Protecting upholding succouring them against all temptations and discouragements By his compassion pittying them by his power and promises helping them by his care and wisedome proportioning their strength to their trials By his peace recompencing their conflicts by patience and experience establishing their hearts in the hope of deliverance Heb. 2.17 Ioh. 16.33 1 Cor. 10.13 2 Cor. 1.5 Phil. 4.7 19. Rom. 15.4 Fifthy Confounding all his enemies First Their projects holding up his Kingdome in the midst of their malice and making his truth like a tree settle the faster and like a torch shine the brighter for the shaking Secondly Their Persons Whom he doth here gall and torment by the Scepter of his word constraining them by the evidence thereof to subscribe to the Iustice of his wrath and whom he reserveth for the day of his appearing till they shall be put all under his feete In which respect he is said to stand at the right hand of God as a man of warre ready armed for the defence of his Church Act. 7.56 Fourthly the sitting of Christ on the right hand of God noteth unto us his giving of gifts and sending downe of the Holy Ghost upon men It hath been an universall custome both in the Church and elsewhere in dayes of great joy and solemnitie to give gifts and send presents unto men Thus after the wall of Ierusalem was built and the worship of God restored and the Law read and expounded by Ezra to the people after their captivitie it is said that the people did eate and drinke and send portions Nehem. 8. 10 12. The like forme was by the people of the Iewes observed in their feast of Purim Ester 9.22 And the same custome hath bin observed amongst heathen Princes upon solemne and great occasions to distribute donations and congiaries amongst the people Thus Christ in the day of his Majestie and Inauguration in that great and solemne triumph when he ascended up on high and led captivity captive he did withall give gifts unto men Eph. 4.10 Christ was notably typified in the Ark of the Testament In it were the Tables of the Law to shew that the whole Law was in Christ fulfilled and that he was the end of the Law for Righteousnesse to those that beleeve in him There was the golden pot which had Manna to signifie that heavenly and abiding nourishment which from him the Church receiveth There was the Rod of Aaron which budded Signifying either the miraculous incarnation of Christ in a Virgin or
first workes lest so excellent a priviledge be removed from us There is no wrath that is wrath to the uttermost but that which depriveth a people of the Gospell and taketh away their Candlesticke from them Thirdly it notes unto us the difference of the two covenants the one out of Sinai and the other out of Sion At first the Law proceeded out of Sinai wherein though the end were merciful yet the manner was terrible and therfore the effect nothing but bondage but after it was sent out of Sion with the Spirit of grace and adoption observed with cheerefulnesse and libertie as by those that know God will spare them as a man spareth his childe that serveth him for in my bond-slave I looke to the perfection of the worke but in my son to the affection and disposition of the heart Lastly it notes unto us that the seat of saving truth the custodie of the promises and Gospell of salvation doth still belong unto Sion to the Church of God Out of the Church there is no Gospell and therefore out of the Church there is no salvation The Apostle saith of children which are borne out of the Church that they are uncleane unto the Church above all congregations of men belongeth this excellent priviledge to be the Treasurer of the riches of Christ and to hold forth the Word of life unto men In which sense the Apostle saith that it is the pillar and the ground of truth not that which giveth being to the Church for the Law must not faile nor perish nor that which giveth authoritie imposeth a sense canonizeth and maketh authenticall is a judge or absolute determiner of the truth for in that sense the Church is held up by the Word and not that by it for the Church is built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles namely upon that fundamentall doctrine which they have laid But the Church is the depositary of the truth that orbe out of which this glorious light shines forth unto it appertaines the Covenants and the giving of the Law and the service of God and the promises Her office and her honour it is to be the Candlesticke which holdeth up the Word of truth to set to her seale unto the evidence and excellencie thereof by her ministery authority consent and countenance to conciliate respect thereunto in the mindes of aliens and to confirme it in the mindes of beleevers to fasten the nailes and points thereof like masters of the assemblies under one principall Shepherd which is Christ in the hearts of men not to dishonour it by their usurped authority above it for by that meanes all controversies of religions are turned not into contentions of doctrine that that may be rested in which doth appeare to have in it most intrinsecall majestie spiritualnesse and evidence but into factions and emulations of men that that sect may bee rested in who can with most impudence and ostentation arrogate an usurped authority to themselves but by their willing submission thereunto to credit it in the affections of men and to establish others in the love and obedience thereunto for the authoritie of the Church is not Autoritas jurisdictionis an authority of jurisdiction above the Scriptures but onely Autoritas muneris an authoritie of dispensation and of trust to proclaime exhibite present the truth of God unto the people to point to the starre which is directed unto by the finger but is seene by the evidence of its owne light To hold forth as a pasquill or pillar that Law and Proclamation of Christ the contents whereof we discover out of it selfe In one word that place sheweth the duty of the Church to preserve knowledge and to shew forth the truth of sacred Scriptures out of themselves but not any infallibilitie in it selfe or authority over others to binde their consciences to assent unto such expositions of Scripture as derive not their evidence from the harmonie and analogie of the Scriptures themselves but only from Ipse dixit because the Church hath spoken it To conclude this point we are to note for the cleere understanding of the office of the Church concerning the holy Scriptures First that some things therein are Hard to be understood as Saint Peter speakes either by reason of their allegoricall and figurative expressions as the visions of Ezekiel Daniel Zechary c. or by reason of the obscure and strange connexion of one part with another or of the dependance thereof upon forren learning or the like but then we must note that the knowledge of such things as these are not of absolute necessitie unto salvation for though the perverting of hard places be damnable as Saint Peter telleth us yet that ignorance of them which groweth out of their owne obscurity and not out of our neglect is not damnable Secondly some things have evidence enough in the termes that expresse them but yet are Hard to be beleeved by reason of the supernaturall quality of them As when we say that Christ was the Sonne of a Virgin or that he died and rose againe there is no difficultie in the sense of these things it is easily understood what he that affirmeth them doth meane by them All the difficultie is to bring the minde to give assent unto them Thirdly some things though easie in their sense to be understood and it may be easie likewise in their nature to be beleeved are yet Hard to be obeyed and practised as repentance and forsaking of sinne c. Now according unto these differences wee may conceive of the office and power which the Church hath in matters of holy Scripture First for hard places in regard of the sense and meaning of the place it is the dutie of the Church to open them to Gods people with modestie and moderation and therein God alloweth the learned a Christian libertie with submission of their opinions alwayes to the spirits of the Prophets so long as they doe therein nothing contrary to the Analogie of faith to the generall peace and unity of the Church to the rules of charitie pietie loyaltie and sobrietie to abound in their owne sense and to declare for the further edifying of the Church what they conceive to be in such difficult places principally intended And further than this no Church nor person can goe for if unto any man or chaire there were annexed an infallible spirit enabling him to give such a cleere and indubitate exposition of all holy Scriptures as should leave no inevidence in the Text nor hesitancie in the mindes of men how comes it to passe that hitherto so many difficulties remaine wherein even our Adversaries amongst themselves doe give severall conjectures and explications and how can that man to whom so excellent a gift of infallibilitie is bestowed cleere himselfe of envie and abuse of the grace of God who maketh not use thereof to expound the Scriptures
the land of Canaan which was a type of Christs Church which he should conquer unto himselfe if any people accepted of the peace which they were first to proclaime they were to become tributaries and servants unto Israel So it is said of Salomon whose peaceable kingdome was a type of Christs after his many victories that he bond-service upon all the nations about Israel and that those princes with whom he held correspondence brought unto him presents as testimonies of his greatnesse and wisedome So when the wise men the first fruits of the Gentiles after Christ exhibited came to submit unto his kingdome they opened their treasure and presented him with gifts gold frankincense and myrrh Againe Monetarum leges valores the authorizing and valuations of publike coines belong unto the prince onely it is his image and inscription alone which maketh them currant Even so unto Christ onely doth belong the power of stamping and creating as it were new ordinances in his Church nothing is with God nor should be currant with us which hath not his image or expresse authority upon it Neither can any man falsify or corrupt any constitution of his without notable contempt against his royall prerogative Againe Iudicium or potestas judiciaria a power of judging the persons and causes of men is a peculiar royalty the administration whereof is from the prince as the fountaine of all humane equitie under God deposited in the hands of inferiour officers who are as it were the mouth of the prince to publish the lawes and to execute those acts of justice and peace which principally belong to his owne sacred breast And so Christ saith of himselfe The Father hath committed all judgement unto the Sonne and hath given him authority to execute judgement Againe Ius vitae necis A power to pardon condemned persons and deliver them from the terrour of the Lawes sentence is a transcendent mercie a gemme which can shine only from the diadems of Princes Now unto Christ likewise belongeth in his Church a power to forgive sinnes it is the most sacred roialty of this prince of peace not onely to suspend but for ever to revoke and as it were annihilate the sentence of malediction under which every man is borne There are likewise Ornamenta Regia regall Ornaments a Crowne a Throne a Scepter and the like Thus we finde the Romanes were wont to send to those forraine kings with whom they were in league as testimonies and confirmations of their dignity scipionem eburneum togam pictam sellam curulem an ivorie scepter a roiall robe and a chaire of state And the like honours wee finde in the Scriptures belonging unto Christ that hee was crowned with glory and honour and that hee had a Throne and righteous scepter belonging to his kingdome Thus we have seene in severall particulars how Christ hath his Royalties belonging to his kingdome Some principall of them we finde in this place A throne a scepter ambassadours armies for the right dispensing of his sacred power We will first consider the words and then raise such observations as shall offer themselves First what is meant by the Rod of Christs Strength or his Strong Rod It notes a thing which a man may leane upon or lay the whole weight of his body on in his wearinesse But being spoken of Christs kingdome wee take it for a scepter or rod of majestie I will not hold you with the variety of acceptions in Expositors Some take it for the branch that groweth out of that roote of Iesse Some for the wood of the crosse Some for the body of Christ borne of a Virgin Some for the kingdome of Christs power taking the signe for the thing signified Some for the power of his mightie workes and preaching That of the body and of the crosse of Christ except by them wee understand the vertue of Christ crucified I conceive to be not so pertinent to the purpose of the Prophet The rest agree in one But for the more distinct understanding of the words wee may consider out of the holy Scriptures what things were sent out of Sion And we finde there two things First the word of the Lord or his holy Gospell The Law shall proceed out of Sion and the word of the Lord from Ierusalem Mic. 4.2 Secondly the spirit of the Lord which was first sent unto Sion for at Hierusalem the Apostles were to wait for the promise of the Father Act. 1.4 and from thence was shed abroad into the world upon al flesh Act. 2.17 and both these are the power or strength of Christ. His word a Gospell of power unto salvation Rom. 1.16 2 Cor. 4.7.10.4 and his spirit a spirit of power 1 Cor. 2.4 2 Tim. 1.7 which is therefore called the finger and the arme of the Lord Luk. 11.20 Matt. 12.28 Esai 53.1 so by the Rod is meant the Gospell and the Spirit of Christ. Secondly what is meant by Gods sending this Rod of Christs strength It notes the manifestation of the Gospell we knew it not before it was sent The donation of the Gospell we had it not before it was sent the invitations of the Gospell we were without God in the world and strangers from the Covenant of promise before it was sent The Commission of the Dispensers of the Gospell they have their patent from heaven they are not to speake untill they be sent Thirdly what is meant by sending it out of Sion It is put in Opposition to mount Sina from whence the Law was sometimes sent with thunders and fire and much terrour unto the people of Israel Ye are not come saith the Apostle unto the mount that burned with fire nor unto blacknesse and darknesse and tempest c. but yee are come unto mount Sion and unto the City of the living God the heavenly Ierusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels and to Iesus the Mediator of the new Covenant c. Heb. 12.18.24 and the Apostle elsewhere sheweth us the meaning of this Allegoricall opposition betweene Sina and Sion betweene Sarah and Hagar namely the two covenants of the Law and of Grace or of bondage and liberty Gal. 4.24 25. Sion was the place whither the tribes resorted to worship the Lord the place towards which that people praied the place of Gods mercifull residence amongst them the beauty of holines the place upon which first the gift of the holy Ghost was powred forth and in which the Gospell was first of all preached after Christs Ascension We may take it by a Synechdoche for the whole Church of the Jewes unto whom the Lord first revealed his Covenant of Grace in Christ Act. 3.26 Act. 13.46 Rom. 2.10 Rule Thou that is Thou shalt rule which is a usuall forme to put the Imperative for the future Indicative It is not a command which hath relation unto any service but it is a promise a commission a dignity conferred
men on the earth The Gospell is the Patent and Charter of a Christian all that hee hath to shew for his Salvation the treasure of his wealth and priviledges all that he hath to boast in either for this life or another the armory of a Christian all that he hath to hold up against the temptations and conflicts of his sorest enemies the only toole and instrument of a Christian all that he hath to doe any action of piety charity loyalty or sobriety withall the onely glasse of a Christian wherein he may see his owne face and so learne to deny himselfe and wherein he may see the face of God in Christ and so learne to desire and to follow him So that upon the matter for any man to be ignorant of the Gospell is to unchristian himselfe againe and to degenerate into a heathen Powre out thine indignation upon the heathen that know thee not Ignorance makes a man a very heathen This I say and testifie saith the Apostle that you henceforth walke not as other Gentiles walke in the vanity of their mind for you have not so learned Christ. It is not the title nor the profession which maketh a man a reall Christian and distinguisheth him from other heathen men but the learning of Christ in his Spirit and Gospell For as he who was onely outwardly and in the flesh a Jew might be uncircumcized in his heart so he who is onely in title and name a Christian may be a heathen in his heart and that more fearefully than Sodome and Gomorrah or Tyre and Sydon because he hath put from himselfe the Salvation of the Lord and judged himselfe unworthy of eternall life Lastly if there bee indeed such power in the Gospell wee should labour to beare witnesse unto the testimony which God giveth of his Word in a holy conversation It is a reproach cast upon the ordinances of God when men doe in their lives denie that vertue which God testifieth to be in them Wicked men are said to crucifie Christ againe to put him to shame to make God a liar not that these things can so really bee but because men in their evill lives carry themselves as if indeed they were so And in this sense the Gospell may bee said to bee weake too because the pride of men holds out against the saving power thereof But these men must know that the word returneth not empty unto God but accomplisheth some worke or other either it ripeneth weeds or corne There is thunder and lightning both in the word if the one breake not a heart the other will blast it if it bee not humbled by the word it will certainly bee withered and made fruitlesse Shall the clay boast it selfe against the fire because though it have power to melt wax yet it hath not power to melt clay Is it not one and the same power which hardneth the one and which softneth the other Is not the word a sweete Savor unto God as well in those that perish as in those that are saved Certainly there is as wonderfull a power in adding another death to him who was dead before which upon the matter is to kill a dead man as in multiplying and enlarging life And the Gospell is to those that perish a Savor of death unto death such a word as doth cumulate the damnation of wicked men and treasure up wrath upon wrath If it doe not convert it will certainly harden if it doe not save it will undoubtedly judge and condemne The Lord doth never cast away his Gospell hee that gave charge to gather up the broken meate of loaves and fishes that nothing might bee lost will not suffer any crumme of his spirituall manna to come to nothing Yet wee finde the Lord giveth a charge to his Prophets to preach even there where hee foretold them that their words would not bee heard Thou shalt speake all these wordes unto them but they will not hearken to thee thou shalt also call unto them but they will not answere thee Sonne of Man I send thee to the Children of Israel to a rebellions nation they are impudent Children and stiffe hearted Yet thou shalt speake my words unto them whether they will heare or whether they will forbeare for they are rebellion it selfe They will not hearken unto thee for they will not hearken unto mee For all the house of Israel are impudent and hard hearted Certainly when the Lord taketh paines by his Prophets to call those who will not heare hee doth it not in vaine they shall know at length that a Prophet hath been amongst them Therefore as the Apostle saith that the Gospell is a sweet Savour even in those that perish So wee finde those messages which have contained nothing but curses against an obstinate people have yet been as honie for sweetnesse in the mouth of those that preached them I did eate the roule saith the Prophet and it was in my mouth as honie for sweetnesse and yet there was nothing in it written but lamentations and mourning and woe Ieremie did not desire the woefull day but did heartily say Amen to the false Prophets in their predictions of safety yet in regard of his ready service unto God and of that glory which God would worke out unto himselfe in the punishment of that sinfull people the word of Prophesie which was committed unto him was the joy and rejoicing of his heart so that in all respects the Gospell of Christ is a word of power and therein wee doe and must rejoice Wee observed before that this Rod of strength is both Sceptrum Majestatis and Pedum Pastorale Both the Scepter of Christ as hee is a King and his Pastorall staffe as hee is a Bishop It denoteth the Administration of Christs Kingdome which consisteth in the dispensing of his Gospell as it is a word of Majesty and of care So then here are as I before observed two observations yet remaining to bee noted out of these words Virga Virtutis the Rod of thy strength The first that the Gospell of Christ accompanied with his Spirit is a word of great glory and Majesty For wee must ever make these concomitants wee preach the Gospell saith S. Peter with the Holy Ghost sent downe from heaven 1 Pet. 1.12 And indeed the Spirit is peculiar to the Gospell and not belonging to the Law at all if wee consider it alone by it selfe under the relation of a distinct covenant For though as it proceedeth out of Sion that is as it is an appendix and additament unto the Gospell it tend unto liberty and so cōmeth not without the Spirit yet by it selfe alone it gendreth nothing but bondage And therefore when the Apostle sheweth the excellency of the Gospell above the Law hee calleth one a ministration of death and of the letter the other a ministration of the Spirit and life To shew that properly the Spirit belongeth unto the Gospell of grace
Now then this Spirituall Gospell of Christ is the Scepter of his Kingdome and therefore as it is insigne regium an ensigne of roialty it importeth Glory and Majestie It is a Gospell full of glory Wee may observe that the very Typicall prefigurations of that mercy which is the sole businesse of the Gospell of Christ are in the Scriptures honored with the name of Glory The garments of the Priests being types of the Evangelicall Righteousnesse of the Saints were made for glory and beauty The Tabernacle which was ordaind for an evidence and seale of Gods Evangelicall presence with that people is called by the Prophet David a Tabernacle of honor the place which God did use to fill with his owne glory The Ark of God which was nothing else but Evangelium sub velo the Gospell under vailes and shaddowes is called by an excellency The Glory of Israel which is the attribute of Christ All Kings shall see thy glory The Temple at Ierusalem was the place of Gods Rest This is my Rest for ever here will I dwell Arise O Lord God into thy Resting place thou and the Arke of thy strength It was so called to note first the stability of Gods Evangelicall covenant in Christ it was not to bee changed nor to bee repented of but to bee sure and fixed in Christ for ever His Kingdome a Kingdome which was not to bee shaken his Priesthood a Priesthood which was not to passe away his teaching a teaching which was to continue to the worlds end And secondly to note the delight of God in Christ and in the mercy which through him was unto the world revealed Therein the Lord â—esteth and reposeth himselfe as in the crowne and accomplishment of all his workes And this Temple is called a glorious Rest a glorious high throne a house of glory of beauty and of holinesse It is said at the first Dedication thereof that the Glory of the Lord filled it It was not the gold or silver wherewith before that Dedication it was beutified wherein the glory thereof did consist but in the evidence of Gods presence which at that time was but a cloud whereas the true glory thereof himselfe was a Sunne as the Prophet cals him And with this did the Lord fill the second Temple which for this cause is said to have been more glorious than the former though in the magnificence of the structure farre inferior Now then as the Apostle in a case of just alike proportion useth a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a terme of excesse when hee speaketh of the substance in comparison of the type If the bloud of bulls and goates did Sanctify to the purifying of the flesh How much more shall the bloud of Christ So may wee in this case If the Types of Evangelicall things were thus glorious how much more glorious must the Gospell it selfe needs bee And therefore as I before observed in other things so in this is it true likewise that Christ and his Gospell have the same attribute of glory frequently given unto them Christ is called the Glory of the Lord and of his people Israel And the Gospell a glorious mysterie a Royall Law a ministration of glory Nay glory it selfe for so I understand that place of the Apostle that yee would walke worthy of God who hath called you unto his Kingdome and glory that is unto the knowledge of his Gospell for of that in all the antecedent parts and in the verse immediatly following doth the Apostle speake A glory which draweth the study and amazement of the most glorious creatures of God unto it To consider this point more particularly The glory and majesty of the Gospell of Christ appeareth principally in foure things in the Author of it in the Promulgation and publishing of it in the Matter which it containes and in the Ends purposes or uses for which it serves First in the Author of it Many things of small worth have yet growne famous by the authours of them and like the unprofitable children of renowned progenitors hold their estimation and nobility from the parents which begate them And yet from men who are uncleane there will ever descend some uncleannesse upon the workes which they doe But the Gospell is therefore indeed a glorious Gospell because it is the Gospell of the blessed God There is glory in all the workes of God because they are his for it is impossible that so great a workeman should ever put his hand to an ignoble work And therefore the Prophet David useth his glory and his handy worke promiscuously for the same thing The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy worke to note that there is an evidence of glory in any thing which hee puts his hand unto And yet the Prophet there sheweth that there is more glory in the law of his mouth than in the workes of his hands The Lord is better known by Sion and his name greater in Israel than in al the world besides the more God doth communicate himselfe unto any of his works the more glorious it is Now there is nothing wherein God hath so much put himselfe wherin he may be so fully knowne communicated with depended upon and praised as in his Gospell This is a glasse in which the blessed Angels doe see and admire that unsearchable riches of his mercy to the Church which they had not by their owne observation found out from the immediate view of his glorious presence In the Creatures we have him a God of power and wisedome working all things in number weight and measure by the secret vigour of his providence upholding that being which he gave them and ordering them to those glorious ends for which he gave it In the law we have him a God of vengeance and of recompence in the publication thereof threatning and in the execution thereof inflicting wrath upon those that transgresse it But in the Gospell we have him a God of bounty and endlesse compassion humbling himselfe that he might be mercifull to his enemies that he might himselfe beare the punishments of those injuries which had beene done unto himselfe that he might not offer onely but beseech his owne prisoners to bee pardoned and reconciled againe In the Creature he is a God above us in the Law he is a God against us onely in the Gospel hee is Immanuel a God with us a God like us a God for us There is nothing doth declare God so much to bee God as his mercy in the Gospell Hee is invisible in himselfe we cannot see him but in his Sonne Hee is unapproachable in himselfe wee cannot come unto him but by the Sonne Therefore when hee maketh himselfe knowne in his glory to Moses hee sendeth him not to the Creation nor to mount Sinai but putteth him into a rocke being a resemblance of Christ and then maketh
present and things to come all are yours saith the Apostle Death it selfe and persecutions are amongst the legacies of Christ unto the Church and a portion of all that goodnesse with which in the Gospell shee is endowed It containes the glory of Gods power and strength for it is the Power of God unto salvation as hath beene declared It containeth the glory of Gods grace The grace of his favour towards us and the grace of his Spirit in us The Law was given by Moses but grace came by Christ that is favour in stead of Gods fury and strength in stead of mans infirmitie for because man was unable to fulfill the Law therefore the Law came with wrath and curses against man but in the Gospell of Christ there is abundance even a whole kingdome of grace the Apostle saith that by Iesus Christ grace raigned there is grace to remove the curse of the Law by Gods favour towards us so that on all sides the Law is weake unable by reason of mans sinne to save and unable by reason of Gods favour to condemne and there is grace to remove the weaknesse of man by Gods Spirit in us for though our owne spirit lust unto envie or set it selfe proudly against the Law of God yet hee giveth more grace that is strength enough to overcome the counterlustings of the flesh against his will and to enable us in sincerity and evangelicall perfection to fulfill the commands of the Law Lastly it containeth in some sort the glory of Gods heavenly kingdome in that therein are let in the glimpses and first fruits the seales and assurances thereof unto the soule by the promises testimonies and comforts of the Spirit And therefore it is frequently called the Gospell of the kingdome and the mysteries of the kingdome of God namely that kingdome which beginneth here but shall never end As if a man borne in Ireland bee afterwards transplanted into England though he change his countrey he doth not change his King or his Law but is still under the same government so when a Christian is translated from earth to heaven he is still in the same kingdome in heaven it is the kingdome of glory mended much by the different excellencie of the place and preferment of the person in earth it is the same kingdome though in a lesse amene and comfortable climate the kingdome of the Gospell These and many other the like things are the glorious matters which the Gospell containeth Here then wee see how and wherein we are to looke upon God so as that wee may abide his glory and bee comforted by it wee must not looke upon him in his owne immediate brightnesse and essence nor by our sawcie curiosities prie into the secrets of his unrevealed glory for he is a consuming fire an invisible and unapprochable light we may see his back-parts in the proclaiming of his mercy and wee may see the hornes or bright beames of his hands in the publishing of his Law but yet all this was under a cloud or under the biding of his Power His face no man can see and live Wee must not looke upon him onely in our selves Though wee might at first have seene him in our owne nature for we were created after his Image in righteousnesse and true holinesse yet now that Image is utterly obliterated and we have by nature the Image onely of Satan and the old Adam in us we must not looke upon him onely in mount Sinai in his Law lest the fire devoure us and the dart strike us thorow we can finde nothing of him there but rigour inexorablenesse wrath and vengeance But we must acquaint our selves with him in his Sonne wee must know him and whom he hath sent together there is no fellowship with the Father except it be with the Sonne too we may have the knowledge of his Hand that is of his workes and of his punishments without Christ but we cannot have the knowledge of his bosome that is of his counsels and of his compassions nor the knowledge of his Image that is of his holinesse grace and righteousnesse nor the knowledge of his presence that is of his comforts here and his glory hereafter but onely in and by Christ we may know God in the World for in the Creation is manifest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which may bee knowne of him namely his eternall power and God-head But this is a barren and fruitlesse knowledge which will not keepe downe unrighteousnesse for the wise men of the world when they knew God they glorified him not as God but became vaine in their imaginations and held that truth of him which was in the Creation revealed in unrighteousnesse Wee may know him in his Law too and that in exceeding great glory when God came from Teman and the Holy One from mount Paran whereabout the Law was the second time repeated by Moses his glory covered the heavens and the earth was full of his praise his brightnesse was as the light c. But this is a killing knowledge a knowledge which makes us flie from God and hide our selves out of his presence and fight against him as our sorest enemies and come short of his glory therefore the Law is called a firy Law or a fire of Law to shew not onely the originall thereof for it was spoken out of the middest of the fire but the nature and operation of it too which of it selfe is to heap fire and curses upon the soule and therefore it is called the ministration of Death 2 Cor. 3.7 But now to know the glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ is both a fruitfull and a comfortable knowledge wee know the patterne we must walke by we know the life we must live by we know the treasure wee must be supplied by we know whom wee have beleeved wee know whom wee may be bold with in all straits and distresses wee know God in Christ full of love full of compassion full of eares to heare us full of eyes to watch over us full of hands to fight for us full of tongues to commune with us full of power to preserve us full grace to transforme us full of fidelity to keepe covenant with us full of wisdome to conduct us full of redemption to save us full of glory to reward us Let us therefore put our selves into this Rocke that Gods goodnesse may passe before us that he may communicate the mysteries of his kingdom and of his glory unto us that by him our persons may be accepted our prayers admitted our services regarded our acquaintance and fellowship with the Lord increased by that blessed Spirit which is from them both shed abroad in his Gospell upon us Now lastly the Gospell of Christ is glorious in those ends effects or purposes for which it serveth And in this respect principally doth the Apostle so often magnifie the glory of the Gospell above
more than men and by relying on him against the power and confederacies of men Esay 8.12 13. And therefore in the same argument touching the happinesse of the Saints if they suffer for righteousnesse sake or be reproched for the name of Christ Saint Peter useth in one place sanctifying of the Lord in our hearts and in another glorifying of him as termes equivalent And therefore unbeleefe is said to make God a lyar that is to dishonour him and to rob him of the glory of his truth And despaire to rob God of his mercy and to make the guilt of sinne greater than the power of God And therefore murmurers and unbeleevers are said to speake against God and to grieve him to tempt to limit him that is to call into question the glory of his power and truth Herein then consisteth another glorious effect of the Gospell of Christ that being a ministration of righteousnesse it is a glasse of that power truth mercy and fidelity of God which by faith we rest upon for the forgivenesse and subduing of sinne Thirdly another glorious end of the Gospell is to be a ministration and a law of life If the ministration of death saith the Apostle were glorious how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious 2 Cor. 3.6 7 8. The Law alone by it selfe is towards sinners but a dead letter onely the rule according unto which a man ought to walke not any principle enabling him to walke If Moses alone should speake unto men he could onely tell them what they ought to doe hee could in no wise enable them to doe it nay further the Law hath occasionally from the sinne of man a malignant propertie in it to irritate and exasperate lust the more to beget an occasionall rage and fiercenesse in our nature As the Sunne shining on a dung-hill exhaleth noysome vapours and maketh it stinke the more But now the Gospell by the Spirit doth not onely teach but helpe too sheweth us what wee should doe and giveth us strength to doe it we doe not onely therein see the glory of God but are withall changed into the same Image even from glory to glory that is as I conceive from that allusion to a glasse the glory of the Lord shining upon the Gospell and from the Gospell shining upon our hearts doth change them into the Image of the same glory even as the glory of the Sunne shining upon a glasse and from that glasse reflecting on a wall doth therein produce a more extraordinary image of its owne light so that the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same with the Poets è speculo in speculum from the glory of the Gospell which is one glasse of Gods Image there is shâ—ped the same glory in the heart which is another glasse of his Image This is that which the Apostle calleth the forming of Christ in the soule and the planting of it into the likenesse of his death and resurrection Fourthly it is a glorious Gospell in the Iudicature thereof The Spirit iâ— the Gospell doth convince not of righteousnesse onely but of Iudgement too that is the Spirit shall erect a throne in the hearts of men shall pull downe the prince of this world and dispossesse him shal enable mens owne hearts to proceed like upright Iudges with truth and with victory which are two of the principall honours of judgement against their owne lusts to censure to condemne to crucifie them though before they were as deare as their owne members to throw all their idols away as menstruous rags and to judge and revenge themselves Ephraim shall say what have I to doe any more with idols In that day saith the Lord every man shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold which your owne hands have made unto you for a sin I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himselfe After that I was turned I repented and after that I was instructed I smote upon my thigh Thus the government of the Gospell in the heart makes a man severe to sentence every sinne to hang up his Haman his favourite lusts to give up himselfe to the obedience of Christ and to have his conversation his trading his treasure his priviledges his freedome his fellowship in heaven as being now constituted under the gracious and peaceable government of an heavenly Prince Fifthly it is a glorious Gospell in that it was to be a continuing ministration and an Immortall seed If that which was done away saith the Apostle was glorious much more that which remaineth is glorious 2 Cor. 3.11 Now the Gospell is able to preserve a man blamelesse unto the comming of our Lord Jesus it will not suffer a man to be shaken nor overturn'd by all the powers of darknesse there is strength enough in it to repell and wisdome to answer all the temptations and assaults of the enemies of our salvation If the world set upon us with any temptations on the right hand or on the left with disgraces persecutions discomforts exprobrations lâ—e this was the man who made God his helpe and would needs be more excellent than his neighbours the Gospel furnisheth us with sure promises and sure mercies this is answer sufficient against all the discouragements of the world I know whom I have beleeved I know that hee hath overcome the world I know that he is able to keepe that which I have committed unto him untill the last day and in the meane time the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world that is we are at an equall point of distance and defiance the world contemnes me and I am as carelesse of the world If with pleasures honours and gilded baites to draw us away from God Faith in the Gospell easily overcommeth the world for it giveth both the Promises and first-fruits of such Treasures as are infinitely more pretious and massie than all the world can affoord the very reproches of Christ how much more his Promises how infinitely more his Performances at the last are farre greater riches than the treasures of Egypt The daily sacrifice of a godly life and the daily feast of a quiet conscience put more sweetnesse into the afflictions of Christ than is in all the profits pleasures or preferments of the world being made bitter with the guilt of sinne If Satan or our owne reasonings stand up against the kingdome of Christ in us the Gospell is a store-house which can furnish us with armorie of all sorts to repell them Faith can quench firie darts the weapons of the spirit can captivate the very thoughts of the heart unto the obedience of Christ no weapon which is formed against it can prosper and every tongue which riseth up against it in judgement it shall condemn it is a staffe which can carry a man over any Jordan and can support comfort him in any shadow of death This is the honour of the Word
nothing at all but in the fellowship of the body and as they are thereunto applied by the same common soule which animates them all so Christian men should doe nothing but as parts of Christ and as actuated by the same gracious Spirit which is in him This is the meaning of our being Christians and of that consent which in our Baptisme we yeeld unto the Covenant of Christ that we will not follow nor be led by Satan the world or the flesh that is by that wisdome which is earthly sensuall or devillish but that we will be ordered by that Spirit of regeneration the seale of whose Baptisme wee receive in our sacramentall washing O then what is become of the Christianity of many men who forget that they have beene purged who live as if they had never beene baptized into Christ who lived as if they had never learned Christ What a prodigie and contradiction is it that that tongue which even now professed it selfe to be Christian and said Amen to a most cleane and holy prayer should like those beasts which Seneca speaketh of which by but turning aside their head to some other spectacle doe immediately forget the meat which they seemed most greedily to eat before breake forth presently into blasphemies oathes lies revilings clamours obscenities which are the very fumes and evidences of hell in the heart That those hands which even now were reached forth to receive the sacred pledges and most dreadfull mysteries of salvation which were even now imployed in distributing almes to the members of Christ or in helping to heave and lift up a prayer unto heaven which seemed like the hands of Ezekiels living creature to have wings of devotion over them should suddenly have their wings melted off and fall downe to covetous and cruell practices againe that those feet which in the morning carried men into the Lords Sanctuary and into the presence of Christ should the same day turne the backes of the same men upon the Temple of the Lord and carry them to stews and stages the nurseries of uncleannesse that those eyes which even now seemed to have beene nail'd unto heaven and to have contended with the tongue and the hand which should more earnestly have presented the prayers of the soule to God should almost in the space of their owne twinkling be filled with sparkles of uncleannesse gazing and glutting themselves upon vaine or adulterous objects What is this but for men to renounce their Baptisme to teare off their seale and dash out their subscription from the covenant of grace to deny the Lord that bought them to repent of their bargaine which they had made for salvation and really to dishonour that Gospell which they hypocritically professe This then is the first honour which wee can doe unto the Gospell of Christ when we set it up in our hearts as a most adequate rule of all wisedome and the alone principle of every action Secondly wee continue to honour the Gospell of Christ by walking in Obedience thereunto as our perfect Rule First in the Obedience of faith receiving it and leaning upon it laying hold on the covenant which is therein revealed as on the onely hope which is set before us for this is a great acknowledgement of the glorie and praise of God when we trust in him for salvation Therefore the Apostle having shewed the Glorie of Christ above Moses maketh this principall use of it that therefore we should heare his voyce and take heed of an evill and unbeleeving heart in departing from him Wee saith he are to the praise of Gods Glory who trust in Christ. Secondly in Obedience of life and Holinesse When for the honour of the Gospell we can denie our selves and dishonour our lusts and part from all that wee had before as from dung and drosse and expresse the image of Christ in our conversations This is indeed the true learning of Christ when we shew forth his life in ours when we walke as he also walked when as he was so we are in this world when the same minde judgement affections are in us which were in Christ. Thus the faithfull are said to honour God when they sanctifie his Sabbath and to glorie him when they bring forth much fruit Thirdly we honour the Gospell of Christ by constancie and continuance in our faith and obedience thereunto for standing fast or persisting immoveably in our course without sorrow or repentance is an argument of the excellencie of the Gospell Walke saith the Apostle as becommeth the Gospell that I may heare of your affaires that you stand fast in one spirit Lusts ever bring inconstancie with them and make the soule like weary and distempered bodies never well in any posture or condition wicked men flye like Bees from one flower to another from one vanity to another can never finde enough in any to satiate the endlesse intemperancie of unnaturall desires onely the Gospell being spiritually apprehended hath treasures enough for the soule to rest in and to seeke no farther And therefore falling away from the truth power or puritie of the Gospell is said to expose Christ to shame and to crucifie him againe For as in Baptisme when wee renounce sinne and betake our selves to Christ we doe as it were expose sinne unto publike infamie and naile it on the Crosse of Christ So when we revolt from Christ unto sinne againe and in our hearts turne backe unto Egypt and thrust him from us we doe then put him to shame againe as if hee were either in his power deficient or unfaithfull in those promises which before we pretended to relie upon If Israel as they consulted should likewise actually have rebelled against Moses and returned in body as well as in heart unto Egypt againe what a scorne would it have wrought in that proud nation that their vassals should voluntarily resume their thraldome after so many boasts and appearances of deliverance If a man should relinquish the service of some noble person and apply himselfe unto some sordid matter for subsistence would not the mouths of men be quickly open or their mindes jealous to suspect that however such a man carry an high name and there bee great expectations from attending on him yet in truth he is but a dry matter whom his own servants doe so publikely dishonour So when any men turne Apostates from the power and Profession of the Gospell of Christ presently wicked men are apt to blaspheme and to conceive desperate prejudices against our high and holy calling If any man make a boast of the Law and yet breake it hee dishonoreth God the more for saith the Apostle The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you as it is written so then constancie in Christs service giveth him the glory of an honourable master and his Law of a royall law putteth to silence the ignorance of those foolish men who lie in waite to take advantages that
they may blaspheme the name of God and his doctrine Fourthly the Gospell of Christ is honoured by the unitie of the Spirit and concurrent judgements and affections of men toward◠it When all the sincere prosessors thereof doe unanimously strive together and earnestly contend for it when all that ever have been or are acquainted therewith doe glorifie it with their suffrages and subscription Nemo omnes neminem omnes fefellere it must needs be a glorious Gospell if all that ever looked on it doe so conclude Nothing was ever able to deceive all men neither did so many ever combine to deceive others When the Philosophers severally strove for the precedence of their severall sects and every man after his owne order gave the next place unto Plato it was undoubtedly concluded that his was the most excellent because after their owne prejudice and personall respects it was honoured by the equall suffrages of all the rest How much more must the Gospell needes bee glorious which hath the joynt attestation of Angels and all holy men since the world began to honour it withall Therefore when the Apostle proveth the greatnesse of this heavenly mystery he useth a word which importeth the consent of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without any doubt or by an universall confession Great is the mysterie of Godlinesse Doth it not much set forth the Glory of a Law that there should be so much wisedome power equitie majestie beautie in the face of it that every true subject in a Realme should concurre in a constant and uniforme love and obedience to it Let us therfore expresse the glory of the Gospell not only in our joynt confessions but in our united obedience thereunto and in our unanimous zeale and contention for it in our brotherly affections and compassions to one another therby for the schismes and disaffections of Christians bring much dishonour upon their holy profession which in all their miscariages doth ever by occasion of the unreasonablenesse of wicked men suffer together with them Therefore the Apostle from the unitie of Christ in himselfe concludeth that such he should be in his members too Is Christ divided hath he divers opinions or hath he the truth of God in respect of persons such as he is such should you bee likewise lest by your contentions you seeme to make another Christ or another Gospell than that which you have received Fifthly the Gospell of Christ is honoured in our studying of it and digging after it in our serious and painefull enquiries into the mysteries of it Saint Paul despised all other knowledge and shooke off every weight that he might presse forward with the more unwearied affections towards so excellent a treasure Surely if men had the spirit of the Apostle or of those blessed Angels which desire to pry into the Gospel of Christ they would not misse-spend so much pretious time in frothy and fruitlesse studies nor waste away that lampe of reason in their bosomes in empty and unnourishing blazes but would set more houres apart to looke into the patent of their salvation which is the booke of God and to acquaint themselves with Christ before-hand that when they come into his presence they may have the entertainement of friends and not of strangers Men that intend to travaile into forraigne kingdomes with any advantage to their parts or improvement of their experience doe before-hand season and prepare themselves with the language with some topographicall observations of the Countrey with some generall notions of the ingenie manners formes civilities entertainements of the natives there doe delight to converse with those men who are best learned in these or the like particulars Surely we al professe a journey to heaven a pilgrimage in this present world to have our conversation now where wee looke to have our everlasting abode with the Lord hereafter Now in the Gospell of Christ we have as it were a map a topographicall delineation of those glorious mansions which are there prepared for the Church we have a taste and description of the manners of that people we have some rudiments of the heavenly language in one word wee have abundantly enough not onely to prepare us for it but to enflame all the desires of our soule unto it even as exiles or captives desire to returne to their native Countrey Now then if wee no way regard to study it or acquaint our selves with it if wee seeme to desire the sight of Christ in heaven and when we may every day have a most blessed view of his face in the Glasse of his Gospel we turne away our eyes and regard it not we doe as good as proclaime to all the world that either our hopes of heaven are very slender or our care thereof little or none at all And this I take for a most undoubted truth that there is so much of the knowledge grace and spirit of Christ and through him of the Father in the holy Scriptures and those onely are the things which make heaven to bee the home and the hope of men as that whosoever neglecteth the study of them and suffereth the Scriptures to lye by him as a sealed booke would bee every whit as unwilling if heaven gates were wide open unto him to relinquish his portion in the earth and to spend his time in the fruition or contemplation of that glorious Countrey Lastly wee honour the Gospell when in our greatest distresses we make it our Altar of refuge our doore of escape the ground of all our hope and comfort the only anchor to stay our soules in any spiritual tempest the only staffe to leane upon in our greatest darkenesse What ever other carnall comforts men may for a time rejoyce in they will all prove but as a fire of sparkes or as a blaze of thornes which can yeeld no solid or abiding light unto the soule When sinners in Sion begin once to be affraid and to be surprized with the fearefulnesse of a guilty soule when the affrighted conscience shall put that dreadfull question in the Prophet to it selfe How can I dwell with devouring fire how can I dwell with everlasting burnings there will no other answere allay the scorching terrour thereof but that in the end of the same Chapter The people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity A man may as soone drinke up the water of the sea with spunges or remove mountaines with one of his fingers as be able to draine out these close and incorporated sorrowes which together with sinne doe soake through the whole substance of the soule with vaine companie worldly imployments or youthfull pleasure All these doe but respite them for a time that they may returne the stronger But if thou wilt indeed be comforted sue out thy pardon flye to the court of mercy which is erected in the Gospell This was our Saviours argument to the man that was sicke of the Palsie Sonne be of good cheere thy sinnes be
libertie and made himselfe a servant unto all to the Jew as a Jew to the Greeke as a Greeke to the weake as weake and all things to all that by all meanes he might save some and so further the Gospell One while he used Circumcision that he might thereby gaine the weake Jewes another while hee forbade Circumcision that he might not misguide the converted Gentiles nor give place by subjection unto false brethren Who is weake saith he and I am not weake who is offended and I burne not His care of mens soules made him take upon him every mans affection and accommodate himselfe unto every mans temper that hee might not offend the weake nor exasperate the mightie nor dis-hearten the beginner nor affright those which were without from comming in but be All unto All for their salvation The same love is due unto all but the same method of cure is not requisite for all With some Love travelleth in paine with others it rejoyceth in hope some it laboureth to edifie and others it fearâ—th to offend unto the weake it stoopeth unto the strong it raiseth it selfe to some it is compassionate to others severe to none an enemy to all a mother But all this it doth non mentiendo sed compatiendo not by belying the truth but by pitying the sinner It is not the wisedome of the flesh nor to bee learned of men The Scripture alone is able to make the man of God wise unto the worke of Salvation Thirdly with meeknesse for that is the childe of wisedome Who is a wise man saith Saint Iames let him shew out of a good conversation his workes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with meeknesse of wisedome and againe the wisedome which is from above is pure peaceable gentle easie to be intreated full of mercie The Gospell is Christs Gospell and it must be preached with Christs spirit which was very meeke and lowly When the Disciples would have called for fire from heaven upon the Samaritanes for their indignitie done unto Christ hee rebuked them in a milde and compassionate manner Ye know not what spirit ye are of A right Evangelicall Spirit is ever a meeke and a mercifull Spirit If a man saith the Apostle be overtaken in a fault ye which are spirituall restore such an one in the spirit of meekenesse and againe In meekenesse saith the Apostle instruct those that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth Lastly with faithfulnesse in as much as the Gospell is none of ours but Christs whose servants and stewards we are Christ was faithfull though hee were a Son over his owne house and therefore might in reason have assum'd the more liberty to doe his owne will much more doth it become us who are but his Officers to be faithfull too not to dissemble any thing which the estate and exigence of those soules committed to our charge shall require us to speake not to adde diminish or deviate from our commission preaching one Gospell in one place and another in another but to deliver onely the Counsell of God and to watch over the soules of men as they that must give an account Againe since the Gospell is Christs owne Power wee must all learne from thence two duties first to receive it as from him with the affections of subjects which have been bought by him that is first in hearing of the word to expect principally his voyce and to seeke him speaking from heaven This is the nature of Christs sheep to turne away their eares from the voyce of strangers and to heare him Two things principally there are which discover the voice of Christ in the ministerie of the word First it is a spirituall and heavenly doctrine full of purity righteousnesse and peace touching the soule with a kind of secret and magneticall vertue whereby the thoughts affections conscience and conversation are turned from their earthly center and drawne up unto him as Eagles to a carcasse Secondly it is a powerfull an edged a piercing doctrine If the word thou hearest speak unto thy conscience if it search thy hart if it discover thy lusts if it make thy spirit burne within thee if it cast thee upon thy face and convince and judge thee for thy transgressions if it bind up thy sores and clense away thy corruptions then it is certainly Christs word and then it must bee received with such affections as becommeth the word of Christ. First with Faith if we conferre with flesh and bloud we shall be apt ever to cavill against the truth For hee that rejecteth Christ doth never receive his word A fleshly heart cannot submit unto a heavenly Doctrine Christ and his Apostles did every where endure the contradiction of sinners But yet hee claimeth this honour over the consciences of men to over-rule their assents against all the mists and sophisticall reasonings of the flesh The Apostles themselves preached nothing but either by immediate commission from him or out of the Law and the Prophets But his usuall forme was Verily I say unto you noting that hee onely was unto the Church the Author and fountaine of all heavenly Doctrine that unto him onely belongeth that authoritative and infallible Spirit which can command the subscription and assent of the conscience that hee onely can say with boldnesse to the soule as hee did to the Samaritan woman Beleeve mee And that therefore no authority either of men or Churches either Episcopall Papall or Synodicall can without open sacrilege usurpe power to over-rule the faith of men or impose any immediate and Doctrinall necessity upon the conscience in any points which are not ultimately and distinctly resolv'd into the evident authority of Christ in his word S. Paul himselfe durst not assume Dominion over the faith of men nor S. Peter neither suffer any Elders amongst whom hee reckoneth himselfe as an Elder also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to over-rule or prescribe unto the heritage of God It is onely Christs word which the hearts of men must stoope and attend unto and which they must mingle with faith that it may bee profitable unto them that is they must let it into their hearts with this assurance that it is not the breath of a man but the message of Christ who is true in all his threatnings and faithfull in all his promises and pure in all his precepts that hee sendeth this ministerie abroad for the perfection of the Saints the edification of his Church and therefore if they bee not hereby cleansed and built up in his body they doe as much as in them lieth make void the holy ordinance of God which yet must never returne in vaine The word of God doth effectually worke onely in those that beleeve It worketh in hypocrites and wicked hearers according to the measure of that imperfect faith which they have but it worketh not
effectually that is it doth not consummate nor accomplish any perfect worke but onely in those that beleeve in the rest it proves but an abortion and withers in the blade Secondly with love and readinesse of minde without despising or rejecting it No man can bee saved who doth not receive the truth in love who doth not receive it as the primitive Saints did with gladnesse and readinesse of minde as Eli though from the hand of Samuel a Child as David though from the hand of Abigail a woman as the Galatians though from the hand of Paul an infirme and persecuted Apostle For herein is our homage to Christ the more apparent when we suffer a little childe to lead us Thirdly with meeknesse and submission of heart reverencing and yeelding unto it in all things Wresting shifting evading perverting the word is as great an indignity unto Christ as altering interlining or rasing a patent which the King hath drawen with his owne royall hand is an offence against him Patience and effectuall obedience even in affliction is an argument that a man esteemes the word to bee indeed Gods owne word and so receives it Hee onely who putteth off the old man the corrupt deceitfull lusts of his former conversation and is renewed in the Spirit of his minde is the man that hath heard and been taught by Christ that hath received the Truth in him Againe in as much as the Gospell is the Rod of Christs owne strength or the instrument of his arme who hath beleeved our report and to whom is the arme of the Lord revealed and the instrument is no further operative or effectuall than according to the measure of that impressed vertue which it receiveth from the superior cause therefore wee should learne alwayes to repaire unto Christ for the successe of his word For he onely is the teacher of mens hearts and the author of their faith To him onely it belongeth to call men out of their graves and to quicken whom hee will Wee have nothing but the ministerie he keepeth the power in his own hands that men might learne to waite upon him and to have to doe with him who onely can send a blessing with his word and teach his people to profit thereby Another ground of the power of the word is that it is sent from God The Lord shall send forth the Rod of thy strength From which particular likewise wee may note some usefull observations as First that Gods appointment and ordination is that which gives being life majesty and successe to his owne word authority boldnesse and protection to his servants When hee sendeth his word hee will make it prosper When Moses disputed against his going down into Egypt to deliver his brethren sometimes alleaging his owne unfitnesse and infirmity sometimes the unbeliefe of the people this was still the warrant with which God encouraged him I will bee with thee I have sent thee doe not I make mans mouth I will bee with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say I was no Prophet neither was I a Prophets Sonne saith Amos but I was an heardsman a gatherer of sycamore fruit And the Lord tooke me as I followed the flock and said unto mee Goe prophecie unto my people Israel And this made him peremptory in his office to prophecie against the idolatry of the Kings Court and against the flattery of the Priest of Bethel And this made the Apostles bold though otherwise unlearned and ignorant men to stand against the learned councill of Priests and Doctors of the Law Wee ought to obey God rather than men Vpon which Grave was the advice of Gamaliel If this counsell or worke bee of men it will come to nought But if it bee of God yee cannot overthrow it lest haply yee bee found even to fight against God For to withstand the power or progresse of the Gospell is to set a mans face against God himselfe Secondly in as much as the Gospell is sent forth by God that is revealed and published out of Sion wee may observe That Evangelicall learning came not into the world by humane discovery or observation but it is utterly above the compasse of all reason or naturall disquisition neither men nor Angels ever knew it but by divine revelation And therfore the Apostle every where calleth it a Mystery a great and a hidden Mystery which was kept secret since the world began There is a Naturall Theologie without the world gathered out of the workes of God out of the resolution of causes and effects into their first originals and out of the Law of nature written in the heart But there is no naturall Christianity Nature is so farre from finding it out by her owne inquiries that shee cannot yeeld unto it when it is revealed without a Spirit of faith to assist it The Iewes stumbled at it as dishonorable to their Law and the Gentiles derided it as absurd in their Philosophy It was a Hidden and secret wisedome the execution and publication whereof was committed onely to Christ. In God it was an Eternall Gospell for Christ was a lambe slaine from before the foundations of the world namely in the predeterminate counsell decree of his father but revealed it was not till the dispensation of the fulnesse of time wherein he gathered together in one all things in Christ. The purpose and ordination of it was eternall but the preaching and manifestation of it reserved untill the time of Christs solemne inauguration into his Kingdome and of the obstinacy of the Iewes upon whose defection the Gentiles were called in Which might teach us to adore the unsearchablenesse of Gods judgements unto former ages of the world whom hee suffered to walke in their owne wayes and to live in times of utter ignorance destitute of any knowledge of the Gospell or of any naturall parts or abilities to finde it out For if these things bee true First that without the knowledge of Christ there is no salvation This is eternall life to know thee and him whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifye many Secondly that Christ cannot bee knowen by naturall but Evangelicall and revealed light The naturall man cannot know the things of the Spirit of God because they are spiritually discerend The light shined in darknesse and the darknesse was so thick and fixed that it did not let in the light nor apprehend it Thirdly that this light was at the first sent onely unto the Iewes as to the first borne-people excepting onely some particular extraordinary dispensations and priviledges to some few first fruits and preludes of the Gentiles He sheweth his word unto Iacob his statutes and his judgements unto Israel Hee hath not dealt so with any nation Hee hath not afforded the meanes of salvation ordinarily unto any other people the world by wisedome knew him not Fourthly that this severall
for hands are not to bee laid suddenly on any man to preach the word and to administer the Sacraments and to doe all those ministeriall acts upon which the edification of the people of Christ doth depend I have now done with the first of Christs regalities in the Text which was the Scepter of his Kingdome Now to speake a word of the second which is Solium the Throne of his Kingdome The Lord shall send the Rod of thy strength out of Sion Which notes unto us First that the Church of the Iewes was the chiefe originall Metropolitan Church of all others Therefore our Savior chargeth his Disciples to Tarry in the City of Ierusalem till they should bee indued with power from on high The Apostle saith that they had the advantage or precedence and excellencie above other people because unto them were committed the Oracles of God To them did pertaine the Adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the service of God and the promises Of them was Christ after the flesh All the Fathers Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and writers of the Holy Scriptures were of them There is no Church can shew such Priviledges nor produce such authentique records for her precedency as the Church of the Iewes Therefore they are called by an excellency Gods first-borne and the first fruits of the creatures they are called The Children of the Kingdome whereas others were at first Dogs and strangers Their Titles Sion Hierusalem Israel are used as proper names to expresse the whole Church of God by though amongst the Gentiles Christ Iesus though hee came as a Savior unto All yet hee was sent to bee a Prophet and a Preacher onely unto them Therefore the Apostle calleth him the Minister of the Circumcision that is of the Iewes and hee saith I am not sent but unto the lost sheepe of the house of Israel And when hee gave his Apostles their first commission he sent them onely into the Cities of the Iewes the Gentiles were incorporated into them were brought in upon their rejection and refusall of the Gospell tooke the Christians of Iudea for their patterne in their profession from that Church were Rules and constitutions sent abroad into other Churches as binding and necessary things To that Church the Churches of the Gentiles were debtors as having been made partakers of their spirituall things and though they bee now a rejected people yet when the fulnesse of the Gentiles is come in Israel shall be gathered againe and made a glorious Church And in the meane time their dispersion tended unto the conversion of the Gentiles For though they were enemies to the faith of Christians yet they did beare witnesse unto those Scriptures out of which the Christians did prove their faith And there is no greater evidence in a cause than the affirmative testimony of that man who is an enemie to the cause If the Church of Rome had such evidences as these out of the booke of God to prove their usurped primacie by how proud and intolerable would they be in boasting thereof and obtruding it unto others who are now so confident upon farre slenderer grounds And from hence we may learne to take heed of the sinnes of that people which were principally the rejecting of the corner stone and the putting off the Gospell of Christ away from them as every obstinate and unbeleeving sinner doth from himselfe This is that which hath made them of all nations the most hated and the most forsaken and hath brought wrath to the uttermost upon them because when Christ came unto his owne they received him not Because of unbeliefe they were broken off saith the Apostle and thou standest by faith be not high-minded but feare for if God spared not the naturall branches take heed lest he also spare not thee And we should likewise learne to pray for the fulnesse of the Gentiles and for the restoring of this people unto their honour and originall priviledges againe for we are their debtors we entred upon the promises which were made to them and therefore good reason we have to doe for them now as they did for us before We have a little sister or rather an elder sister and shee hath no brests the oracles and ordinances of God are taken from her What shall wee doe for our sister in the day when shee shall be spoken for Cant. 8.8 Secondly this notes unto us the calling of the Gentiles into the fellowship of the same mystery which was first preached unto the Iewes that they might be the daughters of this mother Church that they may take hold of the skirt of the Iew and say We will go with you for we have heard that God is with you The Church of Ierusalem was set up as a beacon or an ensigne or a publike sanctuary to which the nations should flie as doves to their windowes Of this merciful purpose some evidences and declarations the Lord gave before in Rahab Iob Ninive the Wise-men and others who were the preludes and first fruits of the Gentiles unto God and did after fully manifest the same in his unlimited commission to his Apostles Goe preach the Gospell unto every creature And now alas what were we that God should bring us hitherto Saint Paul saith that we were filled with all unrighteousnesse that we did neither understand God nor seeke after him Aâ—l our faculties were full of sinne and the fulnesse of all sinne was in us we were ruled by no lawes but the course of the world the Prince of the aire and the lusts of the flesh without God in this world and without any hope for the world to come Here vessels of lust and poyson and fitted to be hereafter vessels of destruction and misery We were no nation a foolish people a people that sought not nor inquired after God and yet his owne people hath he set by and called us to the knowledge of his love and mercie in Christ. And that not as many other Gentiles are called who heare of him indeed and worship him but have his doctrine corrupted and overturned with heresie and his worship defiled with superstition and idolatry but hee hath for us purged his floore and given unto us the wheat without the chaffe he hath let the light of his glory to shine purely upon us onely in the face of Iesus Christ without any humane supplements or contributions How should we praise him for it and as wee have received Christ purely so labour to walk worthily in him How should we runne to him that called us when we knew him not How should we set forward and call upon one another that we may flie like doves in companies unto the windowes of the Church How earnestly should wee contend for this truth the custodie whereof he hath honoured us withall How should we renue our repentance and remember our
his race shall the succession increase and armies of the Church of God bee continually supplied The words thus unfolded doe containe in them a lively Character of the subjects in Christs spirituall Kingdome Described first by their Relation to him and his propriety to them Thy People Secondly by their present condition intimated in the word Willing or Voluntaries and if wee take Thy People and Armies for Synonymous termes The one notifying the order and quality of the other expressed in the Text and that is to bee military men Thirdly by their through and universall resignation subjection and devotednesse unto him For when he conquereth by his word his conquest is wrought upon the wills and affections of men Victorque volentes Per populos dat jura Thy people shall bee willing The ground of which willingnesse is further added for so chiefly I understand those words The Day of thy Power So that the willingnesse of Christs subjects is effected by the power of his grace and Spirit in the revelation of the Gospell Fourthly By their honorable attire and military robes in which they appeare before him and attend upon him In Beauties of Holinesse or in the various and manifold graces of Christ as in a garment of diverse colours Fiftly and lastly by their age multitudes and manner of their birth They are the Dew of the morning as many as the small drops of dew and they are borne to him out of the wombe of the morning as dew is generated not on the earth but in the aire by a Heavenly calling and by the shining of the morning-starre and day-spring upon their consciences Yee are all the Children of light saith the Apostle and the Children of the day wee are not of the night nor of darknesse 1 Thess. 5.5 I said before that I approve not the mincing and crumbling of Holy Scriptures Yet in these parts of them which are written for models and summaries of Christian Doctrine I suppose there may bee weight in every word as in a rich Iewell there is worth in every sparkle Here then first wee may take notice of Christs Propriety to his people Thy people All the Elect and Beleevers doe belong unto Christ. They are His People They are his Owne sheepe There is a mutuall and reciprocall propriety between him and them I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine His desire is towards mee His I say not as hee is God onely by a right of inseparable dominion as wee are his creatures For all things were created by him and for him And hee is over all God blessed for ever Nor his onely as hee is the first-borne and the heire of all things In which respect hee is Lord of the Angels and God hath set him over all the workes of his hands But as he is the mediator and head in his Church In which respect the faithfull are his by a more peculiar propriety Wee are thine thou never barest rule over them they were not called by thy name The Devils are his Vassals The wicked of the world his prisoners The faithfull onely are his subjects and followers His Iewels his Friends his Brethren his Sonnes his Members his Spouse His by all the relations of intimatenesse that can bee named Now this Propriety Christ hath unto us upon severall grounds First by Constitution and Donation from his Father God hath made him Lord and Christ. Hee hath put all things under his feete and hath given him to bee Head over all things to the Church Aske of mee and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession Behold I and the Children whom thou hast given mee Thine they were and thou gavest them to mee For as in regard of Gods Iustice we were bought by Christ in our redemption so in regard of his love wee were given unto Christ in our election that hee might redeeme us Secondly by a right of purchase treaty and covenant betweene Christ and his Father For wee having sold away our selves and being now in the enemies possession could not bee restored unto our primitive estate without some intervening price to redeeme us Therefore saith the Apostle hee was made under the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that hee might Buy out those that were under the Law And againe yee are Bought with a price Hee was our surety and stood in our stead and was set forth to declare the righteousnesse of God God dealt in grace with us but in justice with him Thirdly by a right of conquest and deliverance Hee hath plucked us out of our enemies hands hee hath dispossessed and spoiled those that ruled over us before he hath delivered us from the power of Satan and translated us into his owne Kingdome wee are his free men hee onely hath made us free from the Law of sinne and death and hath rescued us as spoiles out of the hands of our enemies and therefore wee are become his servants and owe obedience unto him as our Patron and deliverer As the Gibeonites when they were delivered from the sword of the children of Israel were thereupon made hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation So wee being rescued out of the hands of those tyrannous Lords which ruled over us doe now owe service and subjection unto him that hath so mercifully delivered us Being made free from sinne saith the Apostle ye become the Servants of Righteousnesse And wee are delivered from the Law that being dead wherin we were held that wee should serve in newnesse of Spirit And againe Hee died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose againe Fourthly by covenant and stipulation I entred into covenant with thee and thou becamest mine Therefore in our Baptisme we are said to bee Baptized into Christ and to put on Christ and to bee Baptized into his name that is wholy to consecrate and devote our selves to him as the servants of his family Therefore they which were Baptized in the ancient Church were wont to put on white rayment as it were the Liverie and Badge of Christ a Testimony of that purity and service which therein they vowed unto him And therefore it is that wee still retaine the ancient forme of vow promise or profession in Baptisme which was to renounce the Devill and all his works the world with the pompe luxury and pleasures thereof And this is done in a most solemne and deliberate manner by way of answere to the question and demand of Christ. For which purpose S. Peter calleth Baptisme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Answere or the interrogative triall of a good conscience towards God Hee that conformeth himselfe to the fashions and setteth his heart upon the favors preferment empty applause and admiration of the world that liveth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
temptation and infirmitie and so may be either in part the sin of another that tempteth us or at least not the sinne of our whole selves but of those remainders of corruption which dwel within us But our love is all our owne Satan can but offer a temptation the heart it selfe must love it and love is strong as death it worketh by the strength of the whole man and therefore ever such as the will is which is the seat of love such is the service too And the reason is First because the will is the first mover and the master-wheele in spirituall workes that which regulateth all the rest and keepeth them right and constant that which holdeth together all the faculties of the soule and bodie in the execution of Gods will In which sense amongst others I understand that of the Apostle That love is the bond of perfection because when love resideth in the heart it will put together every facultie to doe that worke of God perfectly which it goes about And therefore by a like expression it is called The fulfilling of the Law because love aimes still at the highest and at the best in that thing which it loves it is ever an enemie to defects He that loves learning will never stop and say I have enough in this likewise love is as death And he that loves grace will be still Ambitious to abound in the worke of the Lord and to presse forward unto perfection to make up that which is wanting to his faith to be sanctified throughout to bring forth more fruit to walke in all pleasing to be holy and unblameable and unreproveable without spot or wrinkle It is an absurd thing in religion to dote upon mediocrities of grace in eo non potest esse nimium quod esse maximum debet Hee that with all the exactnesse and rigour of his heart can never gather together all grace can surely never have too much In false religions no man so much magnified as he that is strictest that Papist which is most cruel to his flesh most assiduous at his beads most canonicall in his houres most macerated with superstitious penance most frequently prostrated before his idols is of all other most admired for the greatest Saint O why should not an holy strictnesse be as much honoured as a superstitious why should not exactnesse purity and a contending unto perfection be as much pursued in a true as in a false religion Why should not every man strive to be filled with grace since he can never have enough till hee have it all till he is brimme-full Hee that truely loves wealth would be the richest and he that loves honour would be the highest of any other certainly grace is in it selfe more lovely than any of these things Why then should not every man strive to be most unlike the evill world and to be more excellent than his neighbour to be holy as God is holy to be as Christ himselfe was in this world to grow up in unity of faith and in the knowledge of him unto a perfect man Certainely if a man once set his will and his heart upon grace he will never rest in mediocrities he will labour to abound more and more he will never think himselfe to have apprehended but forgetting the things which are behinde hee will reach forth to those things which are before him for all the desires of the heart are strong and will over-rule any other naturall desire The griefe of Davids heart made him forget to eat his bread The desire of Christs heart to convert the Samaritan woman made him carelesse of his owne hunger It is my meate to doe the will of him that sent me and to finish his worke A true heart will goe on to finish the worke which it hath begunne The wicked sâ—eepe not saith Salomon except they have done mischiefe And the enemies of Saint Paul provided to to stop the clamors and demands of an empty stomack with a solemne vow that they would neither eate nor drinke till they had slaine Paul Lust never gives over till it finish sin and therefore the Love of Christ should never give over till it finish Grace Secondly because God is more honoured in the obedience of the will than of the outward man Humane restraints may rule this but nothing but Grace can rule the other for herein we acknowledge God to bee the searcher of hearts the discerner of secret thoughts the Iudge and Lord over our consciences Whatsoever ye doe saith the Apostle doe it heartily as to the Lord and not to men Noting unto us that a man doth never respect the Lord in any service which commeth not willingly and from the inner man Now he worketh in vaine and loseth all that he hath wrought who doth not worke for him who is master of the businesse he goes about and who onely doth reward it Therefore saith the Apostle Doe it heartily as to the Lord knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the Reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ. He onely is the pay-master of such kinde of worke and therefore doe it onely as to him so that he may approve and reward it Before I leave this point touching the willingnesse of Christs people here is a great case and of frequent occurrence to be resolved Whether those who are truely of Christs people may not have feares torments uncomfortablenesse wearinesse unwillingnesse in the wayes of God Saint Iohn in generall states the case There is no feare in love but perfect love casteth out feare Because feare hath torment 1 Ioh. 4.18 so that it seemes where there is torment and wearinesse there is no love for the cleering of this case I shall set downe some few positions First in generall where there is true obedience there is ever a willing and a free spirit in this degree at the least a most deepe desire of the heart and serious endevour of the spirit of a man to walke in all well-pleasing towards God a longing for such fulnesse of Grace and enlargement of soule as may make a man fit to runne the way of Gods Commandements Secondly where there is this will yet there may upon other reasons be such a feare as hath paine and torment in it and that in two respects First there may be a feare of Gods wrath the soule of a righteous man may be surpriz'd with some glimpses and apprehensions of his most heavie displeasure he may conceive himselfe set up as Gods mark to shoot at Iob 7.20 that the poisoned arrowes and terrors of the wrath of God doe sticke fast upon him Iob 6.4 that his transgressions are sealed up and reserv'd against him Iob 14.17 The hot displeasure of the Lord may even vexe his bones and make his soule sore within him Psal. 6.1 2 3. Hee may conceive himselfe forgotten and cast out by God surprized with fearefulnesse trembling and the horrour of death Psal. 13.1 Psal. 55.4 5.
this service And this promise is twofold First the promise of a great seed which by the execution of his office hee should gather unto himselfe and of a great conquest over all his enemies God conferred this hoâ—our upon him to be the King of a mighty People whom he should save and sanctifie to himselfe They were given unto him Psal. 2.8 Iohn 17.6 so that unto his Fidelitie Mercie and Power here is further added a Propriety to the thing which hee saves and who would not use all fidelitie in his owne businesse all mercy towards his owne seed all the power he hath to deliver his owne House from the fire and Christ was faithfull as a Sonne over his owne house whose house are wee Heb. 3.6 Secondly there was the promise of a great Glory and Crowne which the nature he had assumed should in his Person receive after the fulfilling of his Service After he had beene a little while lower than the Angels hee was to bee crowned with Glory and Honour Heb. 2.7 and therefore we may bee sure that hee hath fulfilled all righteousnesse and done for his Church all which hee was to doe upon the Earth because hee is gone and wee see him no more for his sufferings were to goe before and his glory to follow 1 Pet. 1.11 This is the Apostles argument why we are not in our sinnes but delivered from them because Christ is risen 1 Cor. 15.17 Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen againe who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Rom. 8.34 And it is his argument againe why wee ought to hold fast our profession and to come boldly to the Throne of Grace for help in time of neede because wee have a great high Priest that is passed into the Heavens Heb. 4.14 15 16. Fifthly as hee had a Promise from the Father to encourage him so he had a Nature from us to incline him unto the execution of his Office He was made of a woman made like unto us in all things sinne onely excepted tempted and afflicted as we are and so there are two things which the heart of a beleever may rest upon in him in any discomforts First his Sympathie for besides his Essentiall mercy as he is God there was in him a mercie which he learned by being like unto us In all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren that hee might be a mercifull and a faithfull high Priest Heb. 2.17 Such was his compassion towards the hunger of the multitude Matth. 15.32 because hee himselfe knew what hunger was Matth. 4.2 and such was his compassion towards the sorrowes of Mary and Martha Iohn 11.33 35. because he himselfe was acquainted with griefe Esay 53.3 and such was his compassion towards Peter in that state of desertion wherein he lay Luke 22.61 because he himselfe knew what it was to be forsaken Matth. 27.46 And this is the Apostles assurance that we shall obtaine mercy and grace to helpe in time of neede because hee had a feeling of our infirmities and was tempted as wee are Heb. 4.15 16. Secondly His consanguinitie He is not ashamed to call us brethren He is our Goel our Kinsman and therefore our Redeemer Heb. 11. Ruth 3.9.4.4 And will not repent Many things God hath said which hee hath revoked as the destruction of Ninive the death of Ezekiah and the like which implying a tacite condition fit in the particular cases to be conceal'd upon the varieties of that God might bee said either to persevere or to repent Ier. 18.7 8.26.13 19. God is ever most unchangeable in all his wayes counsels and purposes they stand for ever Nothing can fall out to make God more wise more mercifull more provident more powerfull than hee was before and therefore nothing can make him truely to change his will or to repent of his former actions or resolutions There is with him no variablenesse nor shadow of changing He is not a man that hee should repent I the Lord change not Iam. 1.17 1 Sam. 15.29 Mal. 3.6 Only in mercy unto our weaknesse God condescends unto the manner of humane expressions retaining still the stedfastnesse of his owne working which receiveth no variation nor difference from the contingencies of second causes He speaketh according to our capacitie but he worketh according to his owne counsell so that God is then said to repent when that which he once willed to be hee after by the counsell of the same will causeth not to be therein not changing his owne counsell but onely willing the change of the things that the same thing for this period of time shall be and then shall cease As when a rope is fixed to either side of a River by the same without any manner change or alteration in it I draw the boate wherein I am backward or forward so the same will and counsell of God stands constant and unmoved in the severall mutations of those things which are wrought or removed by it Now then when not onely the counsell of God is immutable in it selfe but also hee hath ordained some Law Covenant or Office which hee will have for ever to endure without either naturall expiration or externall abolishment then is God said not to repent To apply this to the present businesse the Apostle speaking of a new covenant which is established upon this new Priesthood of Christ for the Priesthoods and the Lawes goe both together the one being changed there is made of necessitie a change of the other Heb. 7.12 maketh the introducing of this new Covenant which is founded upon the Oath of God to make the preceding covenant old and transitory In that hee saith A new Covenant he hath made the first old Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away Heb. 8.13 And hee saith peremptorily that it was therefore disannul'd because of the weakenesse and unprofitablenesse thereof Heb. 7.18 and this he affirmeth even of the morall Law that law the righteousnesse whereof was to be fulfilled in us by the Spirit of Christ namely in sincerity and in love which is the bond of perfection and the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 8.3 4. For the full understanding then and applying the words to the priesthood of Christ and the Law of Grace or the second covenant thereupon grounded it will be needfull to resolve these two questions First whether God hath repented him of the Law which was the rule and measure of the Covenant of workes Secondly upon what reasons or grounds the immutabilitie of the second Covenant or Law of grace standeth For the first of these the Psalmist telleth us that the Commandements of God are sure and that they stand fast for ever and ever Psal. 111.7 8. and wee may note that the same forme of speech which the Lord useth to shew the stability of the new covenant The Mountaines shall depart and
shadow hath neither being in it selfe nor can give refreshment unto another but dependently on the body to which it belongeth And this appeareth first by their reiteration where the conscience is once purged and there is remission of sin there is no more offring Heb. 10 2-18 for the repeating of the sacrifice shews that the person for whose sake it is repeated is in statu quo prius in the same condition now as hee was in at the time of the former oblation Secondly by their Variety there were both Gifts and sacrifices for sins Heb. 5.1.8.3 buls and goats and calves and lambes Heb. 9.9.12.13 and that shewes that no one thing was fit to typifie the full expiation wrought by Christ whereas he offered but One Sacrifice and by that perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10.12.14 And if legall sacrifices would not serve the turne then neither would legall Priests be fit for so great a worke for all the good which the Priest doth is in the vertue of the sacrifice which he brings and this likewise the Apostle proves by many arguments First because of their sinfulnes for they themselves wanted an expiation and therefore could not be mediatours for the sinnes of others Heb. 5.3.7.27 Secondly because of the carnalnesse of their institution They were made after the Law of a carnall commandement that is of a temporary perishable and meerely externall ordinance Heb. 7.16 which prescribed onely the examples and shadowes of heavenly things Thirdly because of their mortality they were not suffered to continue by reason of death wheras our Priest must live to make intercession Fourthly because of their ministery and the revolution of their services which never came to a period or perfection in which the Priest might give over and Sit downe They Stood daily ministring and oftentimes offering their service did daily returne upon them againe whereas Christ after he had offered One sacrifice for sinne for ever sate downe on the right hand of God Heb. 10.11 12. To shew you then the qualifications of this Priest A Priest in general is ordained for men in things pertaining to God to offer sacrifice for the obtaining of righteousnesse and remission of sinnes First then Christ being a Priest must of necessity be a Mediator and a Surety betweene parties that he might have one unto whom and others for whom in whose behalfe to offer a sacrifice Every Priest must be a mediator to stand betweene God and the people and to intercept and beare the iniquity even of their holy things And unto this mediation there must concur the consent of the parties between whom it is negotiated for a mediator is not a mediator of one Now God giveth his consent by laying on him our iniquities and making his soule an offering for sin and thereby declaring himselfe to be One with us And man gives his consent when by faith hee receiveth Christ and so becommeth not only the friend but the Sonne of God Ioh. 1.12 Secondly but every Mediator is not presently a Priest for there is a mediation onely by way of intreaty prayer and request wherein men doe obtaine but not deserve or purchase remission for others such mediators were Ioab and the Widdow of Tekoah in the behalfe of Absalom 2 Sam. 14. and there are mediators by way of satisfaction as Sureties are between the creditor and the debtor and such a mediator was Christ not onely a Mediator but also a surety of a better covenant Heb. 8.6 Heb. 7.22 he was not to procure remission of our sinnes by way of favor and request but hee was set forth to declare the Righteousnesse of God Rom. 3.25 and such a mediator betweene God and us must needs bee a Priest too for the debt which we owed unto God was bloud Without shedding of bloud there is no remission Heb. ◠22 Thirdly being such a Priest he must have a Sacrifice answerable to the debt which was owed to his Father The debt wee owed was the forfeiture and subjection of our Soules and Bodies to the wrath of God and the curse of the Law God is able to destroy both Soule and Body in Hell Matth. 10.28 It is not to bee understood onely of his Absolute power but of that power which as our Iudge hee hath over us per modum Iustitiae as we are his Prisoners and so obnoxious to the Curses of his Law Therefore our Priest also was to have a Soule and a Body to pay as a surety for our Soules and Bodies Thou shalt make his Soule an offering for sinne Esai 53.10 My soule is exceeding sorrowfull even unto Death Matth. 26.38 And againe A Body hast thou prepared mee we are sanctified through the Offering of the Body of Iesus Christ once for all Heb. 10.5.10 His owne selfe bare our sinnes in his owne Body on the tree 1 Pet. 2.24 So hee was to bee Man that he might have a fit and answerable Sacrifice to offer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou hast fitted or prepared a Body for mee that my Sacrifice might bee proportionable to that in the place whereof it stood And thereby as hee is fit for passion so also for Compassion hee was to bee our Kinsman and of our bloud that hee might bee a mercifull and faithfull high Priest Heb. 2.11.14.17 Deut. 18.15 And fit for derivation of his Righteousnesse and transfusion of his Spirit upon us for hee that Sanctifieth and they that are Sanctified are both of one And as it must bee thus fitted to the sinner that it may bee a proper and suteable Sacrifice for his sinne So must it bee perfect likewise First Without blemish or sinne Such an High Priest became us who is Holy Harmelesse undefiled separate from sinners Heb. 7.26 That so hee might offer himselfe without spot unto God and have no need of a Sacrifice for himselfe Heb. 9.14 1 Pet. 1.19 Secondly without any manner of Defect which should stand in need of supplement and contribution from some thing else that of it selfe alone it might bee sufficient and available to bring perfection and salvation unto men and to leave no more conscience of sinne behinde it Heb. 7.19.10.14 Fourthly as there was to bee such a Sacrifice perfect in it selfe and fit for the use and occasion for which it was appointed so there must bee an Altar upon which to offer it unto the Father for it is the Altar which Sanctifieth the offering that is which in regard of God giveth it acceptance and which in regard of Man giveth it vertue merit and value answerable to his occasions This Sacrifice was to be sufficient for the satisfaction of God and for the justification and reparation of Man and both these by meanes of the Altar on which it was offered which was the Divine Nature Through the Eternall Spirit hee offered himselfe without spot unto God and so by his bloud purgeth our consciences from dead workes Heb. 9.14 For Christ as God sanctified himselfe as man
him in his publike Relation as a mediator a surety a mercifull and faithfull high Priest and so hee most willingly and obediently submitted unto it And this willingnesse ratione officii was much the greater because ratione naturae his will could not but shrinke from it It is easie to bee willing in such a service as is suteable to our naturall condition and affections but when nature shall necessarily shrinke sweate startle and stand amazed at a service then not to repent nor decline nor fling off the burden but with submission of heart to lie downe under it this is of all other the greatest obedience It was the voyce of nature and the presentation of the just and implanted desires of the flesh to say Transeat let it passe from me It was the retractation of mercy and duty to say Glorifie thy selfe What-ever my nature desires what-ever my will declines what-ever becomes of me yet still glorifie thy selfe and save thy Church If it cannot otherwise bee than by my drinking this bitter Cup Thy will bee done The second Act in the worke of Christs Priesthood is the act of Application or virtuall continuation of this Sacrifice to the end of the world and that is in the Intercession of Christ unto which there is prerequired a power and prevalency over all his enemies to breake through the guilt of sinne the Curse of the Law and the chaines of death with which it was impossible that hee should bee held The vision which Moses had of the burning bush was an excellent resemblance of the Sacrifice of Christ. The Bush noted the Sacrifice the fire the suffering the continuance and prevailing of the bush against the fire the victorie of Christ and breaking through all those sufferings which would utterly have devoured any other man And this power of Christ was shewed in his Resurrection wherein hee was declared to bee the Sonne of God with power Rom. 1.4 and in his ascension when hee led all his Enemies captive Eph. 4.8 and in his sitting at the right hand of God farre above all principalities and powers Eph. 1.19 20. All which did make way to the presenting of his Sacrifice before the mercy-seate which is the consummation thereof and without which hee had not been a Priest Wee have such an high Priest saith the Apostle as is set downe on the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens for if hee were on earth hee should not bee a Priest seeing that there are Priests which offer gifts according to the Law Heb. 8.1.4 It was the same continued action whereby the Priest did offer without the Holy place and did then bring the bloud into the holiest of all Heb. 13.11 For the reason why it was shed was to present it to the mercy-seate and to shew it unto the Lord there So Christs act or office was not ended nor fit to denominate him a complete Priest till hee did enter with bloud and present his offering in the holiest of all not made with hands Heb. 9.24 And therefore he had not been a Priest if hee should have continued on the earth for there was another Priesthood there which was not to give place but upon the accomplishment of his for the whole figure was to passe away when the whole truth was come Now Christs Oblation was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Truth prefigured in the Priests Sacrificing of the Beast and his entrance into heaven was the Truth prefigured in the Priests carrying of the bloud into the holiest of all And therefore both these were to bee accomplished before the Leviticall Priesthood did give place Here then it will bee needfull for the more full unfolding of the Priesthood of Christ to open the Doctrine of his Intercession at the right hand of his Father The Apostle calleth it the Appearing of Christ for us Heb. 9.24 which is verbum forense an expression borrowed from the custome of humane courts for as in them when the plaintiffe or defendant is called their Aâ—turnie appeareth in their name and behalfe so when we are summoned by the justice of God to defend our selves against those exceptions and complaints which it preferreth against us wee have an Advocate with the Father even Iesus Christ the righteous who standeth out and appeareth for us 1 Ioh. 2.2 As the high Priest went into the sanctuary with the names of the twelve Tribes upon his breast so Christ entred into the holiest of all with our persons and in our behalfe in which respect the Apostle saith that he was Apprehended of Christ Phil. 3.12 and that we doe sit together in heavenly places with him Eph. 2.6 Merit and Efficacie are the two things which set forth the vertue of Christs Sacrifice by which hee hath reconciled us to his Father The Merit of Christ being a Redundant merit and having in it a plentifull redemption and a sufficient salvation hath in it two things First there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an expiation or satisfaction by way of price Secondly there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Inheritance by way of purchase and acquisition Eph. 1.14 Hee was made of a woman made under the Law for two ends 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that hee might redeeme us from the curse under which wee lay and that hee might purchase for us the inheritance which we had forfeited before for so by adoption in that place I understand in a complexed and generall sense every good thing which belongs unto us in the right of our sonship with Christ and that is the Inheritance of glory Rom. 8.17.23 Now all this effected by the obedience of Christs death for in that was the act of impetration or procurement consisting in the treaty betweene God and Christ. But there is yet further required an execution a reall effectualnesse and actuall application of these to us As it must bee in regard of God a satisfaction and a purchase so it must bee likewise in regard of us an actuall redemption and inheritance And this is done by the intercession of Christ which is the commemoration or rather continuation of his Sacrifice He offered it but once and yet hee is a Priest for ever because the Sacrifice once offered doth for ever remaine before the mercy-seate Thus as in many of the Legall Oblations there was first mactatio and then Ostensio First the beast was slaine on the Altar and then the bloud was together with incense brought before the mercy-seate Levit. 16 11-15 So Christ was first slasnâ— and then by his owne bloud hee entred into the holy place Heb. 9.12.10.12 That was done on the earth without the gate this in heaven Heb. 13.11 12. That the Sacrifice or obtaining of redemption this the Application or conferring of redemption The Sacrifice consisted in the Death of Christ alone the application thereof is grounded upon Christs death as its merit but effected by the Life of Christ as its immediate cause
ex vi pretii out of any price or purchase but the presenting of the will and good pleasure of Christ to his Father that hee may thereunto put his seale and consent the desiring of a thing so as that hee hath withall a right joyntly of bestowing it who doth desire it That the Saints in heaven and the blessed Angels doe pray for the State of the Church militant as well as rejoyce at their conversion in as much as charity remaineth after this life seemeth to bee granted by Cyprian and Hierom neither know I any danger in so affirming if rightly understood But if so they doe it onely ex charitate ut fratres not ex officio ut mediatores Out of a habit of charity to the generall condition of the Church for it reacheth not to particular men not out of an office of mediation as if they were set up for publike persons appointed not onely to pray for the Church in generall but to present the prayers of particular men to God in their behalfe To bee such a mediator belongs onely to Christ because True intercession as it is a publike and authoritative act is founded upon the satisfactory merits of the person interceding Hee cannot bee a right Advocate who is not a propitiation too And therefore the Papists are faine to venture so farre as to affirme that the intercession of the Saints with God for us is grounded upon the vertue of their owne merits Wee pray the Saints to intercede for us that is that wee may enjoy the suffrage of their merits But this is a very wicked Doctrine First because it shareth the Glory of Christ and communicateth it to others Secondly because it communicateth Gods worship to others Thirdly because under pretence of modesty and humility it bringeth in a cursed boldnesse to denie the faith and driveth children from their Father unto servants expressely therein gainsaying the Apostle who biddeth us make our requests knowne to God Phil. 4.6 And assureth us that by Christ wee have boldnesse so to doe Heb. 10.19 and free accesse allowed us by the Spirit Eph. 2.18 whereas one chiefe reason of turning to the Saints and Angels is because sinfull men must not dare to present themselves or their services unto God in their owne persons but by the helpe of those Saints that are in more favour with God and with whom they may bee bolder Now from this Doctrine of Christs intercession many and great are the benefits which come unto the Church of God As first our fellowship with the Father and his Sonne I pray for these that as thou Father art in mee and I in thee they also may bee one in us Ioh. 17.21 Secondly the gift of the Holy Ghost I will pray the Father and hee shall give you another comforter that hee may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of truth Ioh. 14.16 17. all the comforts and workings of the Spirit in our hearts which wee enjoy are fruits of the intercession of Christ. Thirdly protection against all our spirituall enemies Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen againe who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Rom. 8.34 I pray that thou wouldst keepe them from the evill Ioh. 17.15 But are not the faithfull subject to evils corruptions and temptations still how then is that part of the intercession of Christ made good unto us for understanding hereof wee must know that the intercession of Christ is available to a faithfull man presently but yet in a manner suteable and convenient to the present estate and condition of the Church so that there may bee left roome for another life and therefore wee must not conceive all presently done As the Sunne shineth on the Moone by leasurely degrees till shee come to her full light or as if the King grant a pardon to bee drawen though the grant bee of the whole thing at once yet it cannot bee written and sealed but word after word and line after line and action after action so the grant of our holinesse is made unto Christ at first but in the execution thereof there is line upon line precept upon precept here a little and there a little such an order by Christ observed in the distribution of his Spirit and grace as is most suteable to a life of faith and to the hope wee have of a better Kingdome I have prayed for thee that thy faith faile not saith Christ unto Peter yet wee see it did shake and totter non rogavit ut ne deficeret sed ut ne prorsus deficeret the Prayer was not that there might be no failing at all but that it might not utterly and totally faile Fourthly the assurance of our sitting in heavenly places His sitting in heavenly places hath raised us up together and made sit with him Eph. 2.6 First because he sitteth there in our flesh Secondly because hee sitteth there in our behalfe Thirdly because hee sitteth there as our Center Col. 3.1 2. And so is neere unto us natura officio spiritu by the unity of the same nature with us by the quality of his office or Sponsorship for us and by the Communion and fellowship of his Spirit Fifthly Strength against our sins for from his Priesthood in heaven which is his Intercession the Apostle inferres the writing of the Law in our hearts Hebr. 8.4.6.9 10. Sixthly the sanctification of our services of which the Leviticall Priests were a type who were to beare the iniquity of the holy things of the children of Israel that they might be accepted Exod. 28.38 He is the Angell of the Covenant who hath a golden Censer to offer up the prayers of the Saints Revel 8.3 There is a three-fold evill in man First an Evill of state or condition under the guilt of sinne Secondly an Evill of nature under the corruption of sinne and under the indisposition and ineptitude of all our faculties unto good Thirdly an Evill in all our services by the adherencie of sin for that which toucheth an uncleane thing is made uncleane and the best wine mixed with water will lose much of its strength and native spirits Now Christ by his righteousnesse and merits justifieth our persons from the guilt of sinne and by his grace and Spirit doth in measure purifie our faculties and cure them of that corruption of sin which cleaves unto them And lastly by his incense and intercession doth cleanse our services from the noysomenesse and adherencie of sinne so that in them the Lord smelleth a sweet savour and so the Apostle calleth the contributions of the Saints towards his necessities an odour of a sweet smell a sacrifice acceptable and well pleasing unto God Phil. 4.18 Gen. 8.21 And this is a benefit which runneth through the whole life of a Christian all the ordinary workes of our calling being parts of our service unto God for in them we
Lords death till hee come 1 Cor. 11.26 For in the ordinances hee is crucified before our eyes Gal. 3.1 Therefore the Apostle more than once inferres from the consideration of this Sacrifice and office of Christ our dutie of not forsaking the assemblies of the Saints and of exhorting and provoking one another Heb. 3.13.10.24 25. Now I proceed to the last thing mentioned in the words concerning the Priest-hood of Christ and that is about the Order of it Thou art a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedek Secundum verbum or secundum morem rationem the Apostle readeth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the Order of Melchisedeks Priesthood Of this Melchisedek wee finde mention made but in two places onely of the whole Old Testament and in both very briefly the first in the History of Abraham returning from the slaughter of the Kings when Melchisedek being the Priest of the most high God brought forth bread and wine and blessed him Gen. 14.18 19 20. and the other in this place And for this cause the things concerning him and his Order are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hard to bee understood Heb. 5.11 It was so then and so it would bee still if S. Paul had not cleered the difficulties and shewed wherin the Type and the Antitype did fully answere which hee hath largely done in Heb. 7. For understanding and cleering the particulars which are herein considerable here are some questions which offer themselves First who Melchisedek was Secondly what is meant by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Order Thirdly why Christ was to bee a Priest after his Order and not after Aarons Fourthly why hee brought forth bread and wine Fifthly what kinde of blessing it was with which hee blessed Abraham Sixthly in what manner he received Tithes Lastly in what sense hee was without Father and without Mother without beginning of dayes or end of life First for Melchisedek who hee was much hath been said by many men and with much confidence Some hereticks of old affirmed that hee was the Holy Ghost Others that hee was an Angell Others that hee was Sem the Sonne of Noah Others that hee was a Canaanite extraordinarily raised up by God to be a Priest of the Gentiles Others that hee was Christ himselfe manifest by a speciall dispensation and priviledge unto Abraham in the flesh who is said to have seen his day and rejoyced Ioh. 8.56 Difference also there is about Salem the place of which hee was King Some take it for Ierusalem as Iosephus and most of the ancients Others for a citie in the halfe tribe of Manasse within the River Iordan where Hierom reports that some â—uines of the palace of Melchisedek were in his dayes conceived to remaine Tedious I might be in insisting on this point who Melchisedek was But when I finde the Holy Ghost purposely concealing his name genealogie beginning ending and descent and that to speciall purpose I cannot but wonder that men should toile themselves in the darke to finde out that of which they have not the least ground of solide conjecture and the inevidence whereof is expressely recorded to make Melchisedek thereby the fitter type of Christs everlasting Priesthood Secondly what is meant by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is as much as the state condition or prescribed Rule of Melchisedek and that was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After the power of an endlesse life Heb. 7.16 Not by a corporeall unction legall ceremony or the intervening act of a humane ordination but by a heavenly institution and immediate unction of the Spirit of Life by that extraordinary manner whereby hee was to bee both King and Priest unto God as Melchisedek was Thirdly Why was hee not a Priest after the order of Aaron The Apostle giveth us an answere Because the Law made nothing perfect but was weake and unprofitable and therefore was to bee abolished and to give place to another Priesthood Men were not to rest in it but by it to bee led to him who was to abolish it Heb. 7.11 12. as the morning-starre leadeth to the sunne and at the rising thereof vanisheth The ministery and promises of Christ were better than those of the Law and therefore his Priest-hood which was the office of dispencing them was to be more excellent likewise Heb. 8 6. For when the Law and covenant were to bee abolished the Priesthood in which they were established was to die likewise Fourthly Why Melchisedek brought forth bread and wine The Papists that they may have something to build the idolatry of their masse upon make Melchisedek to Sacrifice bread and wine as a Type of the Eucharist I will not fall into so tedious a controversie as no way tending to edification and infinite litigations there have been between the parts already about it In one word Wee grant that the Ancients doe frequently make it a Type of the Eucharist but onely by way of allusion not of literall prediction or strict prefiguration as that out of Egypt have I called my Sonne and in Rama was there a voyce heard which were literally and historically true in another sense are yet by way of allusion applied by the Evangelist unto the History of Christ Matth. 2.15.18 But wee may note first it is not Sacrificavit but Protulit hee brought it forth he did not offer it up Secondly he brought it forth to Abraham as a Prince to entertaine him after his conquest as Iosephus and from him Cajetan understand it not as a Priest to God Thirdly hee if hee did offer he offered bread and wine truely these men onely the lying shapes thereof and not bread and wine it selfe which they say are transubstantiated into another thing Fourthly the Priest-hood of Melchisedek as Type and of Christ as the substance was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Priesthood which could not passe unto any other either as successor or vicar to one or the other and it was onely by divine and immediate unction but the Papists make themselves Priests by humane and ecclesiasticall ordination to offer that which they say Melchisedek offered and by that meanes most insolently make themselves either successors or vicars or sharers and co-partners and workers together with him and his Antitype Christ Iesus in the offices of such a Priesthood as was totally uncommunicable and intransient Heb. 7.24 and so most sacrilâ—giously rob him of that honor which hee hath assumed to himselfe as his peculiar office Fifthly what kinde of blessing it was wherewith Melchisedek blessed Abraham To this I answer that there is a twofold Benediction The one Charitativa oâ—t of love and so any man may blesse another by way of euprecation or well wishing The blessing of the Lord bee upon you we blesse you in the name of the Lord Psal. 129.8 the other Autoritativa as a King a Priest an extraordinary superiour and publike person by a way of office and to the purpose of effecting
condemne and punish them Whence wee may note That Christs victorie over his enemies shall bee by way of pleading and disceptation His military is likewise a judiciary proceeding grounded upon righteous and established Lawes Therefore the day of Gods wrath is called a time of vengeance and recompence for the Controversies of Sion Esai 34.8 To shew that the Lord doth not take vengeance but by way of debate And therefore when hee punisheth hee is said to plead with men The Priest said not where is the Lord and they that handle the Law knew mee not c. Wherefore I will yet plead with you saith the Lord and with your Childrens Children will I plead Ier. 2.8 9. So to plead and to take vengeance goe together Ier. 51.36 And the Lord is said to reprove with equitie and to smite the earth with the rod of his mouth that is to convince and argue before hee doth punish Esai 11.4 as wee see in the case of Sodom Gen. 18 21-33 Herein the Lord sheweth that all our misery beginnes at our selves That if wee perish it is because we would not take his counsell nor be guided by his will That hee did not sell us to any of his creditors but that for our iniquities we sold our selves Esai 50.1 In humane warres though never so regularly and righteously ordered yet many particular men may perish without any personall guilt of their owne Delirant Reges plectuntur Achivi But in these warres of Christ there shall not a man perish till hee bee first convinc'd by a judiciary proceeding of his owne demerit Every mouth must bee stopp'd and all the world by the evidence and acknowledgement of their owne conscience become guilty before God before his wrath shall seise upon them The Lord sent Noah to preach before hee sent a floud to destroy the old world He argued with Adam before he thrust him out of Paradise The voyce goeth ever before the rod Mich. 6.9 This course our Savior observed towards him who had not the wedding garment First convinced him till hee was speechlesse and then cast him into utter darknesse Matth. 22.12 13. And this course the Lord tooke with his people when hee punished them Esai 5.3 4. Amos 2.11.3.7 For hee will have the consciences of men to subscribe and acknowledge the justnesse of his proceedings and to condemne themselves by their owne witnesse when hee entreth into judgement hee doth it by line and plummet Esai 28.17 In proportion to the meanes of grace neglected to the patience and forbearance abused to the times of grace overslipped to the purity of the Law violated and profaned We must take heed therefore of continuing Gentiles of being aliens from that commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenant of promise of living without God in the world No man can with hope or comfort say Enter not into judgement but hee who is the Lords servant and of his houshold wee must be all ingrafted into the naturall Olive and become the seed of Abraham Iewes by covenant before Christ will bee our peace or reconcile us unto his Father Rom. 2 29.11.17-24 Gal. 6.16 Eph. 2 11-14 Hee shall fill the places with dead Bodies This notes the greatnesse of the victory that none should be left to bury their dead There shall be an universall destruction of wicked men together in the day of Gods wrath they shall be bound up in bundles and heaped for damnation Matth. 13.30 Psal. 37.38 Esai 1.28.66.17 And it notes the shame and dishonor of the enemie they shall lie like dung upon the face of the earth and shall bee beholding to their victors for a base and dishonorable buriall as wee see in the great battell with Gog and Magog Ezek. 39 11-16 Hee shall wound the Head over many Countries Either literally Antichrist Rev. 17.2.18 Who taketh upon him to bee oecumenicall Bishop and Monarch and to dispose of crownes and dispence Kingdomes at his pleasure Or spiritually Satan who is the Prince of this World whose head Christ was to crush and tread under our seete Gen. 3.15 Rom. 16.20 Or figuratively the Head that is the counsell and power of many nations which shall at last appeare to have been but a vaine thing Psal. 2.2 1 Cor. 1.19 What sense soever wee follow the maine thing to bee observed is that which wee handled before that Christ will in due time utterly destroy the greatest the highest the wisest of his enemies And therefore this may suffice upon this verse VERSE 7. Hee shall drinke of the Brooke in the way therefore shall hee lift up the Head SOme understand these words in the sense of the two former for a figurative expression of the victories of Christ and they in a twofold manner Some by brooke understand the bloud of the adversarie with which the way should bee filled as with a streame and by drinking hereof the satiating refreshing and delighting himselfe in the confusion of his enemies for the Lord is eased when his enemies are subdued Esai 1.24 Others that hee should pursue his victorie with such heate and importunity that hee should not allow himselfe any times of usuall repast but should content himselfe with such obvious refreshment as should offer it selfe in the way and should immediatly lift up his head againe to pursue the enemie at the heele and in this sense there is no more new matter here intimated than that which hath been before handled Others understand the meanes whereby Christ should thus lift up his head and exalt himselfe above all the enemies of his Kingdome namely by his Passion and sufferings by death destroying death and him that had the power of death which is the Devill I will not undertake to define which sense is most agreeable to the place it being so difficult But upon occasion of this latter which I thinke is more generally embraced I shall speake something of the meanes and ground of Christs victories over his enemies and of his government in his Church namely his sufferings and resurrection He shall drinke of the brooke in the way By Brooke then or Torrent we may understand the wrath of God and the rage of men The afflictions and sufferings which befell Christ. And this is a very frequent Metaphore in holy Scriptures to understand afflictions by water Psal. 18.4 5.42.7.69.1.124.4 5. So the wrath of the Lord is called a streame and a lake Esay 30.33 Revel 19.20 In regard of the rage and irresistiblenesse thereof Sternit agros sternit sata laeta boumque labores and in regard of the turbidnesse and foulenesse thereof for Gods wrath is full of dregs Esay 51.17 Psal. 75.8 It is said in the History of Christs passion when he was going to wrestle with that woefull agony in the garden that hee passed over the brooke Cedron Ioh. 18.1 And we may observe in the History of the Kings that when the good Kings Hezekiah and Asa and Iosiah purged the Citie and the Temple of idolatry
the Law The Law was a glorious ministery as appeares by the thunderings and lightnings the shining of Moses his face and trembling at Gods presence the service of the Angels and sound of the trumpet the ascending of the smoke and the quaking of the mountaine but yet still the glory of the Gospell was farre more excellent a better Covenant a more excellent ministery The Law had weaknesse and unprofitablenesse in it both termes of diminution from the the glory thereof and therefore it could make nothing perfect But that which the Law could not doe in as much as it was weake through the flesh the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus which is a periphrasis of the Gospell as appeareth 2 Cor. 3.6 did doe for us namely make us free from the law of sin and death So then the Law was glorious but the Gospell in many respects did excell in glory 2 Cor. 3.10 To take a more particular view of the spirituall glory of the Gospell of Christ in those excellent ends and purposes for which it serveth First It is full of light to informe to comfort to guide those who sate in darknesse and the shadow of death into the way of peace Light was the first of all the creatures which were made and the Apostle magnifieth it for a glorious thing in those other luminaries which were after created 1 Cor. 15.41 How much more glorious was the light of the Gospell The Apostle calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A marvellous light and therefore the kingdome of the Gospell is exprest by light and glory together as termes of a promiscuous signification Esay 60.1 2 3. Of all other learning the knowledge of the Gospell doth infinitly excell in worth both in regard of the object thereof which is God manifested in the flesh and in regard of the end thereof which is flesh reconciled and brought unto God A knowledge which passeth knowledge a knowledge which bringeth fulnesse with it even all the fulnesse of God a knowledge so excellent that all other humane excellencies are but dung in comparison of it What Angell in heaven would trouble himselfe to busie his noble thoughts which have the glorious presence of God and the joyes of heaven to fill them with metaphysicall or mathematicall or philologicall contemplations which yet are the highest delicacies which humane reason doth fasten on to delight in And yet we finde the Angels in heaven with much greedinesse of speculation stoope downe and as it were turne away their eyes from that expressesse glory which is before them in heaven to gaze upon the wonderfull light and bottomlesse mysteries of the Gospell of Christ. In all other learning a Devill in hell the most cursed of all creatures doth wonderfully surpasse the greatest proficients amongst men but in the learning of the Gospell and in the spirituall revelations and evidences of the benefits of Christ to the soule from thence there is a knowledge which surpasseth the comprehension of any angell of darknesse for it is the Spirit of God onely which knoweth the things of God It was the devillish flout of Iulian the Apostate against Christian Religion that it was an illiterate rusticitie and a naked beliefe and that true polite learning did belong to him and his Ethnick faction and for that reason he interdicted Christians the use of Schooles and humane learning as things improper to their beleeving religion a persecution esteemed by the Ancients as cruel as the other bloudy massacres of his predecessors To which slander though the most learned Father might have justly returned the lye and given proofes both in the canonicall bookes of holy Scripture and in the professours of that religion of as profound learning as invincible argumentation and as forcible eloquence as in any Heathen Author for I dare challenge all the Pagan learning in the world to parallel the writings of Clemens of Alexandria Origen Iustin Tertullian Cyprian Minutius Augustine Theodoret Nazianzen and the other champions of Christian Religion against Gentilisme yet he rather chooseth thus to answer that that authoritie which the faith he so much derided was built upon came to the soule with more selfe-evidence and invincible demonstration than all the disputes of reason or learning of Philosophie could create Though therefore it were to the Iewes an offence as contrary to the honour of their Law and to the Greekes foolishnesse as contrary to the pride of their reason yet to those that were perfect it was an hidden and mysterious wisdome able to convince the gain-sayers to convert sinners to comfort mourners to give wisdome to the simple and to guide a man in all his wayes with spirituall prudence for what ever the prejudice of the world may be there is no man a wiser man nor more able to bring about those ends which his heart is justly set upon than hee who being acquainted with God in Christ by the Gospell hath the Father of wisedome the Treasurer of wisedome the Spirit of wisedome and the Law of wisedome to furnish him therewithall It is not for want of sufficiencie in the Gospell but for want of more intimate acquaintance and knowledge thereof in us that the children of this world are more wise in their generation than the children of light Secondly another glorious end and effect of the Gospell is to be a ministration of Righteousnesse a publication of a pardon to the world and that so generall that there is not one exception therein of any other sin than onely of the contempt of the pardon it selfe And in this respect likewise the Gospell exceeds in glory If the ministration of condemnation saith the Apostle bee glory much more doth the ministration of righteousnesse exceed in glory 2 Cor. 3.9 It is the glory of a man to passe by an offence and the Lord proclaimeth his glory to Moses in that he would forgive iniquitie transgression and sinne that is multitudes of sinnes and sinnes of all degrees Exod. 34.7 And thus the Lord magnifies his mercie and thoughts towards sinners above all the wayes and thoughts of men even as the heavens are higher than the earth because he can abundantly pardon or multiply forgivenesses upon those who forsake their wayes and turne to him Esay 55.7 8 9. and therefore justifying faith whereby we rely upon the power of God to forgive and subdue our sinnes is said to give glory to God Abraham staggered not at the Promise through unbeleefe but being strong in faith hee gave glory to God namely the glory of his power and fidelity Rom. 4.20 21. Ye shall not bring this congregation into the Land which I have given them saith the Lord to Moses and Aaron because yee beleeved me not to sanctifie mee in the eyes of the children of Israel that is to give me the glory of my power and truth for to sanctifie the Lord of hoasts signifieth to glorifie his power by fearing him