First you have here the nature of it suggested in the name our Saviour gives it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power And then you have the measure and extent of it it is not over some but over all flesh As thou hast given him power over all flesh As for the first of these my Brethren you must know that there are two sorts of power There is either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either potentia or potestas Or to be plain either power of ability or power of authority Power of ability by which he that enjoys it is enabled to do things de facto Power of authority by which he that enjoys it is enabled to do things de jure This latter is apparently intended in my Text As thou hast given him saith our Saviour not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our last Translation reads it power it would have been more clear and easie if they had rendred it authority as thou hast given him authority over all flesh Now this authority you see is of a very large extent it is over all flesh You must conceive it over all mankinde It is a usual form of speech as I might give you divers instances out of the Scripture God looked and behold all flesh had corrupted his way Gen. 6.12 The corruption there is sinfull of which no other flesh is capable but that of mankinde only So Luke 3.6 All flesh shall see the salvation of God And in this sense you are to apprehend the same expression in my Text Father glorifie thy Son as thou hast given him power over all flesh over all humane flesh or the whole race of Mankinde And this authority you must conceive him to enjoy and exercise as he is Man and Mediator of the Church for that Authority which he enjoys as God he had from all eternity as co-equal with the Father He had it not made over to him by the Father no it was his own original and primitive and native right together with the Father Whereas the power intended in my Text is that which he received by way of dispensation and donation from the Father As thou hast given him power over all flesh You see the meaning of the Words the Point is clear DOCTRINE That all mankinde is under the authority of Jesus Christ as he is Man and Mediator of the Church His Jurisdiction as you see is of a very large extent no creature is exempted from it he ruleth over all as David speaks Psal 103.19 And he is king of all the earth Psal 47.7 He hath dominion from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth Psal 72.8 His Father the Apostle tels us hath set him over the works of his hands Heb. 2.7 You must conceive it over all without exception and hath put all things in subjection to him as it is added presently So that you see my Brethren there is nothing left that is not under his dominion He hath advanced him far above all principality and power and might and every name not only in the present world but in that which is to come and hath put all things under his feet Eph. 1.22 And in another place His Father loves him and hath put all things into his hands Joh. 3.35 These two may seem to clash and interfere he hath put all things into his hand and he hath put all things under his feet But the fence and meaning is he hath put all things of one sort into his hands conceive it all his people and his friends concerning whom our Saviour saith No man can pluck them out of my hand He hath put all things of another sort under his feet conceive it all his enemies concerning whom the Father saith unto the Son Sit thou at my right hand untill I make thy enemies thy foot stool So that you see apparently Christ hath an universal Jurisdiction he hath all things in his power under his dominion some things in his hand to honour them and some things under foot to shame them Some things in his hand to keep them and some things under feet to tread upon them and to ruine them for ever If any were without the verge of the authority of Jesus Christ the Kings and Princes of the earth might seem to have the strongest plea for this exemption But God hath made him his first-born higher then the kings of the earth as you may see Ps 89 27. Not higher in regard of dignity of nature only for so the Angels as you know are higher then the greatest earthly Princes but higher in regard of Jurisdiction too and hence he hath that name upon his vesture written in great Capitals Apoc. 19.16 King of Kings and Lord of Lords So that the point you see is fully proved That all mankinde c. Now to unfold the point a little to you that you may see it in the latitude and in the full dimension of it There is a twofold power of Jurisdiction or Authority which Jesus Christ as Man and Mediator of the Church is vested with and exerciseth over all flesh A Legislative power and a Judiciary power A Legislative power to give Laws and a Judiciary power to execute the Laws that he hath given First then Christ hath an universal Legislative power a power of giving Laws to all flesh And hence it is that the Apostle stiles him the Law-giver Jam. 4.12 and that exclusively he tels us that here is but one and that is Christ There is one such and no more the universal Legislative power is in himself alone and not in any other either with him or besides him It is his own prerogative it is a flower of the Imperial Crown of heaven which he communicateth not to any other to give Law to all flesh And hence the Law is said in Scripture to come out of Zion as you may see that place fore-instanced Isa 2.3 for out of Zion shall go forth the Law which is the Seat of Christs Kingdom It is not said to be imposed on Zion only to be restrained to Zion only but out of Zion to go forth to all flesh Because our Saviour though he be King of all the earth yet he keeps his Court in Zion in the Church there is his place of residence and thence he dates and sendeth forth his Royal Proclamations and Edicts Witness our self at Zion Now Christ by vertue of this Legislative power of his gives Laws both to the outward and the inward man Both to the members and the conscience and that without restraint of all flesh Christ hath an universal Legislative power a power of giving Laws to all mankinde so as to binde their members and their outward man And hence the Moral Law which is an universal Law which no man is exempted from which takes hold on all flesh which all men shall be judged by as the Apostle tels us is called the Law of Christ Gal.
bound to the obedience of it so as to be justified and saved by this obedience They are not bound to the obedience of it so as the condition of a Covenant of works But they are bound to the obedience of it so as to testifie their faith and love and thankfulness and service to the Lord Christ who hath imposed this Law upon all flesh so that all men yea even believers are under the commanding power of this Law Yea but it will be said by some that Jesus Christ hath made us free Object that he hath purchased liberty for all his members which liberty they are commanded to maintain Gal. 5.1 And this they think and teach to be even from the obligation of the Moral Law True Christ hath made us free indeed but from the servitude of sin Sol. not from the service of himself and from the Law of sin as the Apostle calls it Rom. 7.23 not from his own Law Why should we think that Christ hath shed his blood to free his people from the obligation of his own Law Indeed my Brethren if the Moral Law the Law of love the Law of works were not the Law of Christ as the Apostle calls it Gal. 6.2 I should be easily perswaded to believe his people are exempted from the binding power of it It seemeth reasonable that his members should be freed from any Law but that which he himself gives But the commandment of the Moral Law which is fulfilled in love is his Commandment John 15.12 strengthened with his authority delivered in his hand and name to men and who can think that he should not impose his own Law upon his own people Mark that of the Evangelist Luke 1.74 75. He hath saved us from our enemies and from the hands of all that hate us that we might serve him who hath saved us in holiness to God and in righteousness to man which is indeed the summ and substance of the Moral Law So that the liberty which Christ hath purchased for his people is liberty to keep not liberty to break the Law and that is liberty indeed as David thinks Psal 119.32 I will run the wayes of thy Commadments when thou hast set my heart at liberty To say it in a word my Brethren there is a twofold liberty a twofold freedom the one enjoyed under sin and the other under Christ Under sin we are free to do any thing but good under Christ we are free to do any thing but evil Of the first sort of freedom speaks the Apostle Paul Rom. 6.20 When you were the servants of sin ye were free from righteousness and of the second faith the same Apostle in ver 22. of that Chapter Being the servants of God ye are free from sin Well then our Saviour Christ hath brought us from the former to the latter sort of freedom so that we are at liberty from sin and not at liberty to sin We are at liberty to serve him and obey him and to keep his Law Object But it is objected further out of these words of the Apostle to the believing Romans Rom. 6.19 where he tells them ye are not under the Law but under Grace And if believers are not under it why then how are they subject to the obligation of it Sol. To this I answer that believers are not under it respectively to the coaction of it for they willingly obey it They are not under it respectively to the severe exaction of it for they are delivered from it it comes to them with Evangelical allay and Gospel mitigation They are not under it respectively to the malediction and the condemnation of it for they are not accursed they shall not be condemned by it But they are under the commanding and the binding power the obligation of it notwithstanding because from this they are not neither can they be delivered For if you look upon the substance of the Moral Law it is an everlasting an eternal Law as David calls it Psal 19.7 It sheweth what is good and what is evil in it self and in its nature So that the things that are commanded there are not good because they are commanded but are commanded because they are good And so the things that are forbidden they are not evil because they are forbidden but are forbidden because they are evil And hence this Law is never charged as the Law of the forbidden fruit and as the Ceremonial and Judaical Laws no it is stedfast as the Apostle Paul speaks Heb. 2.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word that was spoken by Angels that is the Moral Law that was delivered by their Ministry is stedfast Indeed this Law the Law of nature was written in the heart of Adam in the state of innocency and Christ intendeth not to blot out any thing that was engraven there but promises to write it out again more fairly for it was much obliterated by the fall in the hearts of his people So runs the tenor of the New Covenant Ier. 31.33 The last Objection that I shall insist upon Object is taken from those words of the Apostle 1 Tim. 1.9 The Law saith the Apostle there is not given to the Righteous And if it be not given to them why then it seems that it belongs not to them any way To this I answer that the Apostles purpose is not that the righteous are not under the command and obligation of the Law for mark it Sol. Adam was exactly righteous and yet it was a Law to him even in the state of innocency it self But this is that which the Apostle means the Law is not given to the righteous so as to force him to obedience so as to be against a righteous man It is not given for his hurt and condemnation He doth not say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lex non est lata but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lex non est posita which intimates an action or a plea against a man So that the Moral Law is not the action or the plea of God against a righteous man to bring him under judgement and to oblige and bind him over to damnation And so it is the same in sense with that which is delivered by the same Apostle in another place speaking of such as are guided by the spirit and express the fruits of it in their lives and conversations Gal. 5.23 He doth not say to such a one but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against such there is no Law Indeed the Moral Law so far as it is against believers is not imposed but removed by Christ He hath blotted out the hand writing of Ordinances that was against us that was contrary to us and took it out of the way nayling it to his Cross Col. 2.14 even the hand writing of Moral ordinances so far as it is against us and contrary to us Christ hath taken out of the way It is against us in the rigor and in the curse and malediction of it and
thy will for thy Law is in my heart Lord we delight to pray read hear perform religious duties it is our meat and drink to do thy will for thy Law is in our hearts It is not written in our understandings only but in our hearts and our affections and this is that which makes obedience to it pleasing and delightful to us So that if you might be free from the injunctions and directions of the Word with the servant in the Law you would not value such a libertie You would not swear and be unclean and run out into all excess of ryot if you might because your spirits have by grace an inward contrariety and antipathy against it you would not cease to pray and hear and perform religious duties if you might because your spirits have an inward sweet complacencie in these things If you thus keep the Word it is a sign that you are Christs Disciples As you must keep the Word wholly and keep it cordially so you must keep it constantly you must keep it to the end as the Prophet David speaks Psal 119.33 You must hold on in keeping it you must persist in your obedience to it even to your lives end that Christ may say at last concerning you when you depart out of this world and appear before his Father Thou hast given them to me and they have kept thy word And indeed to obey it for a time and then to throw it off again is not to keep it but to lose it Alas how many such are there among us in these latter times who for a while were very diligent and Instant in the study of the Scriptures seem'd to be very cautious and exact to frame their lives in every thing according to the word of God so that they would not vary from it in the least particular Or if they found themselves at any time in any thing to swerve from the direction of the Rule they would judge themselves for it But now the Word the rule it self is laid aside as an unnecessary and a useless thing as if it were not worthy the keeping any longer there is no care at all to walk by it when there are gross and horrid deviations from it they are not looked upon as matter of Humiliation or Contrition in the least degree I wish that such would seriously consider with themselves how Christ shall own them in the latter day how he shall plead before his Father for them that they have kept his word Now my Beloved lay these things to heart and never rest till you have gotten this Character of those that are bestowed on Jesus Christ by the donation of the Father Never satisfie your selves till you keep the Word of God in your lives by obeying it till you keep it wholly and till you keep it cordially and till you keep it constantly And then there is a blessing poured out upon you by the mouth of Christ himself Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it that is that do not hear it only but obey it And to the same effect speaks the Apostle James Jam. 1.23 If as you look into the Law the word of God and understand it so you continue in it and are doers of the work not forgetful hearers of it but doers of the work you shall be blessed in the deed And that you may attain this blessedness that follows those that are obedient to the word I shall give you some direction 1. You must seek to God to teach you though you may learn to know it as that a Castaway may do yet you can never learn to keep it any other way you shall never keep the word in the obedience of your lives unless God and Christ teach you David was very sensible of this and therefore poured out his prayer to the Lord Psal 119.33 Teach me O Lord the way of thy statutes and I will keep it to the end When thou thy self hast taught me once and not before I shall walk accordingly I shall be obedient to it It is not in the power of any in the world to teach a man to frame his life in every thing according to the word unless God himself do it But if he undertake it once if he be pleased to be our Teacher all is well And this is that which the Apostle Paul insinuates Ephes 4.20 and in the following verse ye have not so learned Christ saith he viz. to say and to profess that you are Christians and yet to live prophanely and licentiously and lewdly still If so be that you have heard him and been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus Why what doth he intend what is it to be taught by him he tells us in the following verse That you put off touching the former conversation the old man and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man It is such a kind of teaching whereby we are transferred and brought to the obedience of it And therefore if you do indeed desire to have your lives conformed to the rule and Word of God seek to Christ himself to teach you 2. Be sure to set your selves to the obedience of it out of hand Procrastinations and delays will dash all It is observed of the Colossians that they obeyed the Word from the day they heard of it Col. 1.6 So you my Brethren do you grow practical from this day It may be you are now convinced of many things you think of this and that in which your practice is not answerable to the rule you have secret inward motions and it may be resolutions to amend all as David had I have said that I would keep thy Word saith he to God Psal 119.57 strike now while it is hot do as the same holy Prophet did I made haste and delayed not saith he to keep thy precepts Psal 119.60 Assoon as I resolved I made haste and set about it If you have holy resolutions wrought to practice any duty which you have hitherto neglected up and be doing presently do not permit such resolutions to grow cold and die within you least you never have them more I am perswaded there are many souls in hell who have purposed in many things to bring their practice to the Word to abandon such a sin and to set on such a duty they were resolved upon the thing but they could not do it yet and so the Lord hath cut them off and their delays have proved their ruine 2. If you will keep the Word of God in your lives by obeying it you must find out and mortifie the lusts that hinder you in this business or if you do not so you may resolve on this and that but surely it will come to nothing and therefore if you have within you any holy purposes of coming nearer to the Rule of leaving such a sin or setting upon such a duty think now what lust or what corruption there is
blood of Bulls and Goats But now it is confirmed by the blood of Christ himself which is a better and a more effectual confirmation And this is that which the Apostle shews at large Heb. 9.16 and in the following verses So that the blood which ratified the Old Testament was but the shaddow and the Type of that which ratifies the new and therefore this hath the advantage of the other I must confess that the Old Testament was ratified by the death of Jesus Christ in destination for so he was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world But this is ratified by the death of Christ in actual execution which is if not in it self to us at least a cleerer and a better confirmation Gospel truth excelleth for the operation of it it hath effects transcendently beyond all other truth that ever was revealed to the world I shall name but two only suggested in those two great Gospel Epithites the word of grace the word of life 1. Gospel truth works grace Not common grace and common sorrow and humiliation and repentance as the Law doth but saving grace And therefore it is called the word of grace Acts 20.32 It is so exclusively it worketh grace alone without the help and the assistance of the Law in that business Something the Law may do towards us indeed but it doth nothing in the work of grace Of his own will begat he us saith the Apostle by the word of truth that is the Gospel James 1.18 That only that is properly and strictly sanctifying truth Sanctifie them with thy truth 2. Gospel truth infuseth life and that no other truth can do The Law indeed can kill but it cannot make alive It is the Ministry of death and condemnation The Gospel only is the Ministry of life and of Salvation And therefore this exceeds the other and surpasseth it in glory as the Apostle shews at large 2 Cor. 3.6 7 c. In this respect we find the Gospel called the word of life 1 John 1.1 because it is the word that worketh life It is the quickning word that raises men from death to life to the life of grace in this world and to the life of glory in the world to come And thus I think we have sufficiently cleered the point the word of God especially the Gospel is the truth Proceed we now to make some application of it according to the divers branches of the point in order I shall but touch upon the first because I would no be prevented in the second Is it so my brethren that the word of God is all truth then certainly Vse 1 it ought all to be believed This truth on Gods part calls for faith on ours For what is faith but the belief of truth as the Apostle Paul defines it 2 Thes 2.13 He hath chosen us to Salvation through Sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth So that if the word be truth it ought to be believed by us And this our Saviour Christ insinuates in his expostulation with the Jews John 8.46 If I say truth why do you not believe me Though that which is delivered in the word of God be never so improbable never so much above corrupt reason never so impossible to a humane apprehension yet it admitteth not of doubtfull Disputation and Expostulation but rather calls for absolute belief And therefore they are deeply to be censured who give no credit to the word of truth further then their private spirits close with it who do not answer Gods truth with their faith They read it and they hear it preached but they yield no assent to it No they oppose it and dispute against it they are meer Scepticks in religion There are a multitude of such in these times They consent not to wholesome words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Doctrine which is according to godliness as the Apostle Paul speaks 1 Tim. 6.3 4. Whereas they that have ever felt the saving power of Gods word have their thoughts captivated to it and will say as the Apostle we can do nothing we can speak nothing against the truth 2 Cor. 13.8 These men upon the other side when they hear the truth of God delivered to them speak against it contradicting and blaspheming as the stubborn Jews did Acts 13.45 They do not only ask with Mary how shall this be A question not of opposition but of inquisition Luke 1.34 But even peremptorily determine they can never be And thus they belye the Lord like those of whom the Prophet speaks Jer. 5.12 This in a word for application of the former member of the point We shall now apply the latter Vse 2 Is it so that the word of God especially the Gospel is the truth Is Gospel truth excelling truth Then let us give it the preferment before any other truth both in our inquisition and our acceptation Let us dive into it most and let us value and prize it most First Let us give it the due preferment in our inquisition let us dive into it most and labour more to be acquainted with it then with any other truth Let us read those books let us hear those Preachers and let us nourish those studies which help us most to this knowledge let us make this our main endeavour to be seen in Gospel truth let us undervalue and neglect all other knowledge incomparison of this It is the dangerous mistake of the greater part of men who had rather be acquainted with the matters of the world and to be skild in secular and humane learning then in the doctrine of the Gospel How do abundance plod to dive into the secrets and depths of nature and set their wits upon the tenter-hooks to search into the mysteries of Arts and Trades how do they beat and work their brains to get abundance of experience and skill in worldly dealings and employments but take no pains at all in hearing reading meditation to dive into the mysteries of Jesus Christ Tell me my beloved have you ever among all your earnest strivings after insight either into humane knowledge or into matters of the world been half so studious and industrious to search into this Gospel truth to be acquainted with Christ Jesus who is the subject of the Gospel to know that he was born and lived and dyed for you to know him and the virtue of his resurrection not by speculation only but experience raising you up to newness of life to know that he loved you and gave himself for you Alas the hearts of a great many of you cannot choose but tell you that you have hardly ever spent a serious thought on this And the very best among us cannot choose but say that we have been too slight and careless in our enquiries into this knowledge Ah my beloved had we the spirit of the Apostle Paul or of those blessed Angels who desire to peep and pry into the Gospel truth as you may
of the Gospel Faith comes by hearing Rom. 10.17 When the Apostles perswaded sinners to believe as that was very usual with them might not a man have said to them What do you speak to them They cannot do what you perswade them to and yet you know what multitudes sometimes were brought to believe by one Sermon So that the word is not in vain though men be dead and unable to believe because when God is pleased to work with it it quickens them and begetteth faith in them Use 2 Is Christ the Object of a true believers faith Are we justified by faith as it layes hold on Christ and on the Righteousness of Christ This then discovers the defect and imperfection of inherent righteousness This laying hold upon the Lord Jesus this going forth out of our selves to fetch Righteousness abroad to justifie us in the sight of God implies an emptiness and want of it at home T is true indeed had we continued in our first integrity had we remained in that uprighteness and perfection which was at first bestowed upon us there had been then no need at all of justifying faith But when our own inherent righteousness was lost in Adams fall so that there was an utter failing of it an absolute deficiency in our selves Faith was provided to supply us and to furnish us again by fetching in the righteousness of Christ so that this laying hold upon imputed apparently implyes the absence of inherent righteousness And therefore when we shall be raised again to that perfection which we once enjoyed in Adam in the state of Innocency which shall be done you know my brethren in the other Paradise in heaven in the state of glory this justifying faith shall cease at least with reference to the receiving of Jesus the Lord our Righteousness because we shall have righteousness enough in heaven of our own And this is that which the Apostle meaneth in that memorable place 1 Cor. 13. ult And now abideth faith hope and charity Now they abide conceive it in the present life they all continue for that is his intention there but the chiefest of these is charity the chiefest in regard of permanency and duration because that never faileth as he affirmeth in the eighth verse of that Chapter No not in heaven in the state of blessedness where justifying faith and hope shall fail and be taken both away Is Christ the Object of a true believers faith This then as it discovers Use 3 the defect and imperfection of inherent righteousness so the perfection of imputed righteousness as the defect of sanctification so the perfection of justification It is the righteousness of Christ which we fetch in by faith and that you know is absolute and accomplisht righteousness And this administers incomparable sweet and pretious comfort to the Saints who are so far dejected with the sense and feeling of their wants as to conclude they are not justified in the sight of God they are so full of imperfections and defects Oh they come so far short their graces are so small and weak and their obedience is so slender that they resolve the Lord will not accept and justifie such wretched creatures as they are Indeed my brethren if our being justified and accepted with the Lord depended on the highth and the perfection of inherent righteousness we had cause to be discouraged But seeing we are justified by faith in Christ by laying hold on the Lord our righteousness by fetching in the righteousness of Christ and not by perfecting our own if we have taken him we are compleat in him as the Apostle speaks amidst our many unallowed imperfections and defects And though we should be humbled for our failings with refererence to sanctification yet we should not doubt our selves and our estates with reference to justification for having once received Christ by faith we are compleat in him though imperfect in our selves If all the Righteousness which is in Christ will make us righteous we are righteous for he is made to us righteousness 1 Cor. 1.30 Oh how should this support their drooping spirits who pine away in endless sorrow for their failings and defects If they be sure they have laid hold on Christ by faith they may conclude his righteousness is theirs and that is perfect though their own be weak and wanting And though they be discouraged in themselves they may encourage and cheer up themselves in Christs And certainly in doing so they honour Christ and advance his fulness JOHN 17.20 But for them also that shall believe on me through their word VVE are at length arrived at the third particular considered in the words viz. The instrumental means of their believing whom our Saviour prayes for in my Text Neither pray I for these alone but for them also that shall believe on me through their word There hath been noted as you may remember the time of their believing not the present but the future time they shall believe The Object of it Jesus Christ The instrumental means of it through their word Through their word through whose word why through the Apostles word for whom our Saviour is a Suitor to his Father in the foregoing parcell of his prayer and addeth in my Text Neither pray I for these only but for them also that shall believe on me through their word Their word as the Publishers and Pen-men of it not their word as the Authors of it For the Apostles were the Preachers and the Writers though not the Authors of the Gospel This word our Saviour makes the instrument of faith in this place Mark it not the Prophets word but the Apostles word Their word Them that shall believe on me through their word So that you see DOCTRINE It is the Gospel word that maks believers the Gospel is the instrumental means of faith If faith be wrought in any soul it is by the Apostles word the word of the New Testament not of the Old Of the New Covenant not of the Old In brief not of the Law but of the Gospel And this is that which the Apostle shews expresly Rom. 10.15 16 17. How beautifull are the feet of them saith he that preach the Gospel But they have not believed the Gospel For Isaiah said Who hath believed our Report So then faith comes by hearing viz. by hearing of the Gospel And hence the Gospel is said to be the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth Rom. 1.16 Q. But what then hath the Law no hand at all in the working faith A. No hand in working it but only in preparing to the work Indeed it shews a man his sin and his transgression it empties him of all opin on of himself it humbles him and layes him low and so it makes him fit to close with Jesus Christ by faith as the Apostle shews Gal. 3.24 The Law was our Schoolmaster to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith John Baptists rough
fathers own son But you will say wise fathers have very often weak children But Jesus Christ is so his fathers son that he partaketh with him of his wisdom it is poured out into him in abundance And therefore he is sometimes called the wisdom of the father in the abstract as see 1 Cor. 1.24 Iesus Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God And if he be so very wise you may be sure he spake wise words and wise words are worth the marking In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge Col. 2.3 And out of question what he bringeth forth is of the treasure that is hid in him 2. But in the next place if you look upon him downwards with Relation to the Church you will see further reason why the words that Jesus spake should be so exactly noted and so carefully observed As he is the fathers wisdom so he is made to us wisdom as the Apostle Paul speaks 1 Cor. 1.30 His father hath appointed him to be the great Prophet of of his Church The great preacher the greater revealer of his truth and will to men and therefore out of question he can speak well and his words are worth the marking You may be sure the father would not send out such a Prophet to the Church as were not worth the listening to No no God hath annointed me to preach faith Christ himself Luke 4.18 not appointed me to preach but annointed me to preach endued me with abilities and gifts for that office God who in former times saith the Apostle spake to the fathers by the Prophets hath in these latter dayes spoken to us by the Son He was designed you see to be the spoksman for the father to the world to tell them what his mind is and to preach the Gospel to them We that are ordinary preachers of the Gospel we that are underlings to Christ in this business must be enabled with some competent ability in this respect or else we are not fit for this work And therefore when our Saviour sent out his disciples he promised to give them wisdom and a mouth that is matter and expression Luke 21.15 wisdom within together with a mouth to utter and to bring forth that wisdom To shew that both of these must go together in a preacher of the Gospel I know there is a latitude to be admitted and allowed in this regard but yet a competent ability to speak so as the people may be edified by it is indisputably required And if the under-ministers of Christ must have such a faculty how great ability then must their Master have Who was designed to be the great Preacher the great Prophet and as the Apostle stiles him the chief Bishop of our Souls And if he had such a transcendent faculty to speak then certainly the words he spake are fit to be commended c. Then secondly if you consider as whose the words were so in the next place what the words were you will allow them to be worthy of our choicest observation What the words were that Jesus spake either for the matter of them or for the efficacy of them let us a little weigh them in their order and we shall see they both help to this business 1. The words of Jesus for the matter of them commonly were Gospel words Such were the words to which my text alludes in the three chapters next before full of nothing else my brethren but Gospel-sweetness Gospel-Promises and Gospel-consolation against approaching troubles and afflictions these were the words that Jesus spake Christ in a sense my brethren was the first and certainly the chiefest preacher of the Gospel this great Salvation at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed afterwards by them that heard him Heb. 2.3 And hence the Gospel as you know is called Christs saying John 8.51 The Law was the fathers saying God spake these words The Gospel is the Sons saying This was spoken by the Son And hence saith Christ in the fore-alledged text if a man keep my saying he shall never see Death So that the sayings and the words of Jesus are very fit to be considered For his you see are Gospel-sayings and Gospel sayings are worthy of all acceptation as the Apostle tels you 1 Tim. 1.15 Indeed Law-Sayings are not so readily attended to and entertained You know my brethren on mount Sinai at the giving of the Law there were thunderings and lightnings and terrible voices and the event and issue was the people fled and would not hear they were not able to endure the noise But Gospel-sayings on the other side allure affection and invite attention Upon mount Tabor where our Saviour was transfigured there was a shining Sun a bright cloud a gentle and a pleasing voice and the Disciples said Edificemus Domine Let us build here c. 2. And as the words of Jesus for the matter of them were Gospel-words so for the efficacy of them they were saying words and so in that respect the words that Jesus spake are very fit to be commended c. The words that I speak saith our Saviour to the Jews are spirit and life John 6.63 they are so in their operation and effect they give Spirit and they work life And who would not attend unto and entertain such words as these are His saying if it be received and kept will surely save a man from death yea from eternal death We may depend upon it he binds it with a strong asseveration which he repeats twice for the more Surety Iohn 8.51 Verily verily I say unto you if a man keep my saying he shall never see death Death is not visible the meaning is he shall not be annoyed and hurted by it as you have the like Expression Jer. 5.12 We shall not see sword nor famine And should not such words be commended to the Church and embraced by the Church as save from death and bring eternal life with them The setting down of which upon Record in holy Scripture and leaving them to after-times hath been the life of many souls and will be yet of many more in every age even to the worlds end If you consider in the last place as whose the words were and what the words were that Jesus spake so the manner how he spake them you will see further reason yet why they should be commended c. For this you may depend upon Never man spake like him It is the attestation that is given him John 7.46 Which coming from his enemies the officers that went to take him is of the more validity Never spake man like this man Grace was poured into his lips as the expression is Psalm 45.2 to shew us that the grace there mentioned is a gift of utterance and a faculty of speech whereof the lips are instruments They are the lips that form the words we speak and bring them forth to those that hear them and hence this gift of
great honour It appears that God hath a design to honour Christ by the authority that he hath endowed him with and that is his own authority yea all his own authority as Christ himself acknowledges Mat. 28.18 All power is given to me both in heaven and in earth not some but all power The father judgeth no man saith our Saviour but he committed all Judgment to the Son John 5.22 He hath done in this respect as great men sometimes use to do if they have any title office or place of honour they are contented to convey it over to their eldest Son that they may credit him and raise him to esteem and reputation in his Country and it delighteth them as much to have him honoured as themselves Just so hath God the Father done by Jesus Christ The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgement to the Son He will be Iudge no longer by immediate execution but he hath made his Son the Judge of all the world And why so that he may compass the design of his for glorifying of his Son Christ That all men should honour the Son as they honour the Father as it is added in the next verse And as he hath in the sense that we have said resigned up his judiciary power abroad to Iesus Christ so the private Government of his family at home He hath made his eldest Son the Lord of all he hath set him over his house Heb. 3.6 The Son of God hath got a match though a poor one I confess and now the Father gives up the house-keeping wholly to him And hence saith the Apostle Paul Eph. 3.14 15. I bow my knees unto the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named The whole family of heaven and earth is named from Christ whether the upper family of heaven or the lower family on earth whether the Church triumphant or the Church militant it is Christs family and Christs Church and Christs houshold God you see hath two houses and yet he doth not govern one himself and leave the other to his Son he commits the government of both to Jesus Christ that he may be all in all that he may be the more honoured It appears that God hath a design to glorifie his Son Christ by the great offices of dignity and trust and honour which he hath advanced and raised him to For he hath crowned him with glory and honour Three offices there are which have been alwayes looked upon as full of honour The office of a King of a Priest and of a Prophet Of a King in the Commonwealth and of a Ptiest and Prophet in the Church And all of them concurr in Jesus Christ he is annointed to them altogether And this is singular to Jesus Christ it is peculiar to himself alone no other man was ever thus advanced besides himself Some other men have had one of these offices or two at most but never any man had all three but Christ only So that he is in this respect transcendently advanced you see and God hath glorified him beyond measure and beyond pattern And that you may the better see the honour that is done to Iesus Christ in that he hath these three great Offices altogether in his hands I shall represent it to you in a few Particulars First By this means whatsoever good is purchased for the Church is procured by him only The Father that he may advance and honour Christ the more will have the Church beholding unto none but him for any good that she enjoys or looks for He must purchase peace and he must purchase grace for her the grace of righteousness and the grace of holiness he must satisfie he must sanctifie he must obtain her absolution and he must obtain her sanctification and he must obtain her glorification he must renew her right in outward things which she forfeited in Adam And he must do all this alone there must be none besides him none with him No he must tread the wine-press of his Fathers wrath alone By once offering of himself he must perfect for ever them that are sanctified The Lord hath given us no other King to subdue our enemies and to get peace for us No other Priest to satisfie his wrath and to obtain Grace for us No other Mediator between God and man either of Redemption or Intercession either of Redemption to purchase grace or of Intercession to sue out that which he hath purchased All lies on Jesus Christ you see that he may be all in all that all the glory may redound to him As whatsoever good is purchased for the Church is procured by him only so it is revealed by him only As he and he alone must get it so he and he alone must tell us of it It is an honour to be sent with good news and God hath done his Son this honour The Gospel as you know is glad tydings of great Joy and Christ is he that makes it known to men He brings it forth out of the bosome of the Father And therefore it is called the word of Christ Not only because Jesus Christ is the author and the Subject matter of it but the revealer of it too God in these latter daies hath spoken to us by his Son saith the Apostle speaking of the revelation of the Gospel Heb. 1.2 He had good news to tell the world and he sent his Son with it He sent Moses with the Law which was a Message full of terrour Moses was good enough for that The Gospel was a Message full of sweetness and full of Comfort and Christ must have the honour to reveal that to the world Indeed my brethren whatsoever good we know of God or of his favour and good will towards us or of the work of our redemption and reconciliation and attonement all comes out by Jesus Christ Christ is the only Prophet of the Church and if we ask the question which the Psalmist mentions Psal 4.6 Who will shew us any good The answer must be None but Iesus Christ can do it or those that are sent out by him with his Message and in his Name As whatsoever good is purchased for the Church is procured by Christ only and revealed by Christ only so it is dispensed by Christ only God doth not give it out immediately himself but he communicates it to us in and by and through Christ as the Expression of the Scripture is The grace of God is shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Lord Titus 3.6 As all comes by his means so all goes through his hands And therefore he is said to have received gifts for men Isa 68.18 God doth not give his gifts directly and immediately to men himself but Jesus Christ receieth their endowments for them of the Father that of his fulness they may all receive He is the Treasurer of his Fathers grace that every one may come to him
6.2 Bear you one anothers burthen and so fulfill the Law of Christ that is the Law of love for that my Brethren is the Law of Christ A new Commandment give I unto you Novum quia renovatum A new Commandment give I unto you that you love one another And what is love but the fulfilling of the Moral Law as the Apostle speaks And yet this same Apostle speaking of this Law of love calls it not the Law of nature but the Law of Christ Bear ye one anothers burthen which is a special act of love and so fulfill the Law of Christ So that the Moral Law you see my Brethren is the Law of Christ and therefore he is pleased to own it and to call it his Commandment John 15.12 to fortifie it with his own authority as in the Sermon on the Mount and to impose the precept of it on the people And that this Moral Law is universal and extends to all flesh appears by this that it is not imposed alone upon the members of the Church but on the very heathen too upon the Kings and Princes of the earth as you may see Psal 2.2 The Kings and Princes of the earth set themselves and the Rulers take Counsel together against the Lord and his Christ saying Let us break their bondâ— asunder and cast away their cords from us that is the Precepts and Commandments not of the Gospel only but also of the Moral Law Which is the Law of nature and obliged not the Jews alone but all the Nations of the world So that no marvel though they both conspire together to rid themselves of these bonds The Heathen rage the people of the Jews imagine the Kings and Rulers not of Jews only but of all the earth stand up and say Let us break these bonds asunder and cast away these cords from us These bonds and cords which are imposed and laid upon us all with which we all of us do finde our selves restrained and bound that is the Precepts and Commandments of the Moral Law So that you see Christ by his Legislative power gives Law to all flesh as to the outward man and to the Members He gives Law to all flesh as to the inward man and to the conscience The Law of Jesus Christ is Spiritual as the Apostle Paul tels us Rom. 7.14 not only in the nature of it but also in the subjects of it It takes hold upon the souls the spirits and consciences of men It captivates their very thoughts 2 Cor. 10.5 And herein Jesus Christ is singular and manifesteth such authority as no one exerciseth but himself It s true that men do oftentimes give Laws unto the outward man and to the members in politick and civil things and then they do it too as Christs Vicegerents and his Deputies they do it under him and by authority from him But it is Christ and he alone that gives Laws unto the Conscience in holy and religious things He delegates the former power to Magistrates who in the same respect are stiled the Ministers of Christ But this authority he makes not over to any of the sons of men And yet he exercises this authority over all the sons of men so that there is not one of them exempted from his Power As Jesus Christ hath a Legislative power so a Judiciary power As he hath a Legislative power to give Laws so a Judiciary power to execute the Laws that he hath given And this is universal too my Brethren as the other is As he gives his Laws to all so he executes his Laws on all flesh And therefore he is called a Judge very often in the Scripture I need not give you instances for they are known yea he is stiled the Judge of all and not alone of all that are alive but even of those that are departed and deceased as you may see that place for instance Acts 10.42 where he is stiled the Judge of the quick and dead It s true that other Judges in the world can judge the quick they can deal well enough with those that are alive but if they die they are gone out of their hands for ever But Jesus Christ is Judge of all flesh quick flesh and dead flesh Judge of quick and dead too Death cannot rescue men out of his hands no my Beloved he can pursue them to eternity and follow them into another world and there can execute the rigour of his wrath upon them to the very utmost And as he is the Judge of all persons so he is Judge of all cases All judgement is committed to him not some but all judgement Job 5.22 whether the case be manifest and open or whether it be hid and secret all is one Christ is Judge of both these and this is singular to Jesus Christ Men can do nothing in a case that is absolutely secret If a murther be committed and nothing be discovered any way no not so much as by a circumstance or by some grounds of strong suspition what can an earthly Judge do He knows the Law is broken but yet he cannot execute the sentence of the Law because he is not able to discover the Offender Now Jesus Christ is not to seek in such Cases To him all things are naked and uncovered And therefore he brings every work to judgement and every secret thing Eccl. 12.14 And the Apostle tels us of a day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to his Gospel Rom. 2.16 So that you see no flesh can escape his judgement let the man be what he will and let the cause be what it will Now this Judiciary power of Christs consists of two things in passing sentence upon all flesh in executing the sentence after it is past A word or two of these in order Christ hath the power of passing sentence upon all flesh All mankinde is under his authority in this respect and they must all appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ as the Apostle Paul speaks 2 Cor. 5.10 there to receive their last doom either of absolution or condemnation Sometimes he passeth sentence on them in the Court of Conscience here he sealeth up mens condemnation to them and makes it to become a certain thing They are condemned already in themselves and there remaineth nothing to them but a certain looking for of judgment as the expression is Heb. 10.27 And on the other side he sealeth up mens absolution he sealeth Pardons to the conscience This he hath power to do and this he doth sometimes on earth Mat. 9 6. The Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins At utmost in the last and dreadfull day all the dead both great and small appear before him and receive a sentence from him either the one way or the other as you may see Apoc. 20.12 And as he hath the power of Passing so the power of Executing Sentence upon all Flesh All mankinde is under his authority in
this respect And therefore the Apostle having spoken of his Legislative power before he comes to this judiciary Power James 4.12 There is one Law-giver saith he And what can he but give the Law yes he can execute the Law too and therefore it is added presently Who is able both to save and to destroy to save those that are acquitted by the Law and to destroy those that are condemned by the Law Sometimes he executeth his sentence partly here The works of some men go before to judgement as the Apostle Paul speaks 1 Tim. 5.24 Christ punisheth the wicked and rewards the Godly in this present world but the full retribution of them both he keepeth and reserveth to the day of his appearing when both of them shall have their full reward Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me saith our Saviour He sends not his reward before him he leaves not his reward behind him but brings it with him to dispense it when he comes And then he will discover it to all the world that he hath power over all flesh for he will then dispose eternally of all flesh either in heaven or in hell John 17.2 As thou hast given him power over all Flesh Vse 1 NOw is it so that all mankind is under the authority of Jesus Christ under his Legislative power so as to give Law to them Then first of all they are severely to be censured who submit not to the authority of Jesus Christ who do not yield obedience to the Law he gives them let him lay what commands he will upon them they are at a point for that they will not be obedient to them they break the bonds of Christ in sunder and cast away his cords from them Now the Delinquents here are twofold according to the twofold Law which the authority of Jesus Christ imposeth on his Subjects I say there is a twofold Law which the authority of Jesus Christ imposeth upon men the Law of Faith and the Law of Love We read of both these my Brethren in the Gospel and of both as his Laws And so accordingly there are two sorts of men who stoop not to the Legislative power of Jesus Christ I shall proceed with them in order The first of them are unbelievers they violate the Law of faith and so submit not to the power which God hath given him over all flesh You must know that Jesus Christ requireth all men to believe You believe in God saith he to his Disciples believe also in me John 14.1 And therefore the Apostle tels us of the Law of faith and setteth it in opposition to the Law of works the Moral Law as you may see Rom. 3.27 Now the great thing which this Law of faith requires is the receiving of the Son of God upon the terms that he is offered in the Gospel as you have been often shewed And it requires it on the greatest penalty even everlasting condemnation which is as certain to the unbelievers as if it had already past upon them He that believeth not is condemned already John 3 18. And yet alas how many are there who submit not to this Law of faith who though Christ be proposed and tendred to them in the Gospel though he be even forced and pressed upon them though Christ command them to believe yet they will not be obedient Indeed if he had no authority to impose this Law upon them they had reason to stand out but God hath given him power to do this yea he himself requires the very same thing This is his Commandment that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 3.23 so that you see my Brethren this is the Commandment of the Father and this is the Commandment of the Son both joyn in this Law and therefore they are deeply to be censured who are refractory to so great a Law as this And that it may the better work and take upon them I shall shew them first the sin and secondly the danger of their disobedience That it is a sin not to believe in Jesus Christ is evident by that which hath been said because it is the violation of a Law the Law of faith But more then so it is a very great sin It is a sin of no ordinary size no my beloved it is a sinning sin it is abundantly and out of measure sinfull It is a sin indeed to violate the Law of works which the Apostle stileth Moses Law because it was delivered by the hand of Moses But it is a greater sin to violate the Law of faith and that both with relation to the Father and the Son First for the Father it is an horrible indignity to him it is the basest undervaluing and despising of his love that can be he gives his Son out of his bosom to suffer shame and death for poor Creatures and having done it he sends his Messengers to mind men of the danger they are in without Christ and to exhibite and propose him to them as the means the only means of their salvation and as endeavouring to overcome men with his goodness he doth in love and pity beg them and beseech them to accept of it And what is the event of this why my beloved when he hath abased himself so low and stooped so much below himself as to become a suitor to them to receive his Son they carry matters so as if he stood in need of them as if he came to make a motion to them for his own advantage as if he knew not what to do if they should refuse his Son Is not this good usage that when he hath descended so in ways of mercy they should shake him off and tell him in effect that his profered wares stink and that they do not need him nor his Son neither he may go offer him to them that have a mind to him Oh what abuse of love is this Oh what an high indignity what an unsufferable provocation even to incense the Lord so far as to cause him to resolve that he will never stoop so low again that he will never prostitute his Son again to the disdain and the refusal of a company of base unthankful men that he will make them rue the time that ever they contemned this mercy to them Then for the Son my Brethren in the second place it is an high affront to him and so in that respect a great sin It cost him dear to purchase and obtain remission and salvation for a company of lost creatures indeed his dearest life his dearest blood And is it not an horrible indignity to slight and to despise so great salvation to trample under foot the son of God to scorn such rich and precious mercy yet this all unbelievers do if not in their intention yet in the issue and event Truly their sin in this respect is greater then the sin of Devils whose nature Christ hath not assumed he took not on him
the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham for whom he never suffered and to whom he was never offered They will have something to excuse themselves withall something to plead before the Lord in the great and dreadful day Alâ—s may Devils say there was no possibility of our recovery there was no Mediator between God and us to purchase and obtain our peace there was no pardon tendred to us but you had the eternal Son of God to dye for you for you mankind to shed his blood and to lay down his life for you and yet when all was done and when he came and brought a pardon to you sealed with his blood and besought you to accept of it you even shut him out of doors you would not look upon him nor receive him you baffled him and dodged with him Ah my beloved what heart if it be truly touched can hold from breaking under the sight and sense of such abominable and prodigious wickedness as this is And as the sin is great so in the second place the misery and condemnation will be great also There will be no avoiding of it for how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation Heb. 2.3 There will be no enduring of it it will be infinitely heavy it will be easier for Turks and Pagans in the day of judgement then for such wretches Alas poor souls that as if their condemnation were not deep enough already the incarnation and the passion and the offer of a Saviour the richest mercies in themselves that ever were bestowed upon the Creature should accidentally encrease it That Christ should die and shed his blood to sink men deeper into hell then if he had not died at all for this is the event and issue of it this is a lamentable thing indeed The second sort of such as stoop not to the authority of Jesus Christ and to his Legislative power are such as violate the Law of Love I mean the Moral Law the decalogue the ten Commandments for that my Brethren is the Law of love And therefore the Apostle tels us that love is the fulfilling of the Law he means apparently the Moral Law Rom. 13.10 and he that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law see the eighth verse of that chapter in which respect our Saviour Christ himself divides the Law into these two Commandments Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and the neighbour as thy self what then it may be you will say Doth Christ by his authority impose the moral Law on men the ten Commandments of the Decalogue The Law of faith is his indeed but is the Law of works his too Yes the Law of works is his for he requireth works as well as faith And the faith which he bestows upon his members works by love And love is his own commandment so he cals it John 15.12 This is my Commandment that ye love one another Indeed he rules his Subjects by the Moral Law that is the precepts and commandments of it are the Statutes of his Kingdom It s true when it was first delivered to Adam in the state of innocency it came to him but in the hand of the Creator only But it comes to us my Brethren in the hands of the Redeemer and of the Mediator Jesus Christ who was typified by Moses at the delivery of the Law the second time upon Mount Sinai Gal. 3.19 And hence the precepts of it are stiled not the bonds of God only but the bonds of Christ too Psal 2.2 Let us break their bonds asunder and cast away their cords from us The Gospel all men yield is Christs he is in a peculiar way the author of the Gospel and therefore it is called the word of Christ Now the Commandments of the Law are all of them revived in the Gospel The whole of what the Law requires is for the manner and measure of obedience exacted also in the Gospel there is no duty which the Law enjoyns but it is taught us in the Gospel The Gospel teacheth to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly and righteously and godlily in this present world Titus 2.12 soberly towards our selves righteously towards our Brethren and piously towards our God And these Particulars apparently involve and comprehend all the Commandments of the Moral Law from the beginning of it to the end There being nothing in the Decalogue the Ten Commandments interdicted or required but may be reduced to one of these three heads So then you see my Brethren not the Law of faith only but the Law of works too is Christs Law or if it be not Christs Law it can be no Law at all The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all Judgement to the Son And consequently he that violates this Law of works resisteth the authority of Jesus Christ and the power with which he is invested by his Father to give Law to all flesh And yet alas how many are there who live in the resolved and the constant breach of all the precepts and commandments of the Law of Christ who in their practice daily break these bonds asunder and cast away these cords from them who are not subject to the Law of Christ nor indeed can they be If it be pressed home upon them to bind them to the good behaviour and to restrain them from their sinful and ungracious courses they are out of all patience If the commands of Christ be laid upon them to hold them fast to duty and obedience and to abridge them of their carnal liberty if they be told they must no take their old courses but they must hear and pray and fast and sanctifie Gods holy day and live strictly they will be very much incensed The Law of Christ is too severe and strict for them it curbeth and abridgeth them too much and therefore they will shake it off from them And as the Lunatick who was restored by our Saviour to his reason brake all the bonds and cords with which they bound him so these unreasonable Creatures deal with Christs Law nothing will hold them to obedience Let him lay what command he will upon them they will surely break it that they may live at liberty and walk according to their own humours Yea sin in such by the Commandment becomes exceeding sinful as the Apostle speaks Rom. 7.13 Not by way of declaration for that is not the purpose and intention of the place but by way of Irritation When the Commandment labours to lay hold on sin to bind him and to chain him up then sin begins to lay about him to struggle for his libertie and so by accident to be the more sinful When we press home the precepts of the Law and urge them hard on wicked men as there are some that yield themselves up to the binding power and to the obligation of it so there are others that stand out against the Law and they are much the worse for it
God in him and hence our Saviour said to Philip when he entreated him to shew him the Father he that hath seen me hath seen the Father also If we would know God vve must seek to know Christ and vve shall know God in him And therefore let us set our selves to this business to know God and Iesus Christ whom he hath sent yea to know God in Jesus Christ and to this I shall perswade vvith some Motives First till you know God in Jesus Christ you can have no assurance of any blessing from God either spiritual or temporal that any thing comes to you in a Covenant-way for all the Promises of God are made in Christ They are the Promises of God indeed as they are called 2 Cor. 1.20 but they are made in Jesus Christ they are in him Yea and in him Amen as it is added there in that place So that if you know God and not Christ you know him not as making any promise to you You may know him as a threatner this he doth with reference to Christ but you can never know him as a Promiser at least not as a Promiser to you in special You have no Promise of the Lord for any thing no Promise of the Lord will reach to you to profit you as long as you know not Christ the means of Conveyance Look over all the book of God consider all the precious Promises contained in it from the beginning of it to the End and this resolve if you know not God you have no right to in any one of them nor shall you ever if you so continue be a whit the better from them God hath made Jesus Christ his Steward he hath put all things into his hand as vve may see Mat. 11.27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father saith our Saviour so that they come not to us but through him they go all through his hands God hath made him heir of all things as the Apostle speaks Heb. 1.2 So that you see my Brethren all is his and Consequently we can have nothing but from and by and through him Till you know God in Jesus Christ the Blessings which you have from God you have them not in love and mercy So that indeed you can find no true and kindly relish in them For this is that vvhich sweetens all the Blessings of the Lord when a man can say as Iacob of his Children Gen. 33.5 These are the Children which God hath graciously given thy servant As David being rescued out of danger The Lord delivered me saith he because he delighted in me 2 Sam. 22.20 Then are his Blessings and Deliverances sweet indeed vvhen we can relish love in them vvhen vve can look upon them as the fruits of mercy Alas vve know God poureth out his Blessings abundantly on many men not in love but in displeasure He gave them their desire saith the Psalmist of the Jews that perished in the Wilderness but while the meat was in their mouthes the wrath of God went out against them and slew the fattest of them Psalm 78.31 they had the Blessing but they had it with a curse The Lord did curse their blessings to them and so he doth to all that know him not in Jesus Christ who is his first Beloved and in whom he loves others Christ is the only Way of Intercourse between God and our souls He is the Way from God to us He is the Channel and the Pipe in which the stream of Gods love runs down to us So that there is not one drop of Love from God to any soul but it is conveyed and carried to it in and by and through Christ Out of Christ we have no Love and consequently nothing in Love Till you know God in Jesus Christ as he gives nothing in Love to you so he takes nothing in Love from you Do what you will or what you can he is never pleased vvith you He accepts of no Duties no service you perform to him This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Matth. 3.17 Observe it well for it is very notable He doth not say with whom I am well pleased but in whom I am well pleased In whom I am well pleased with all with vvhom I am well pleased with all that are in him and with no man out of him If you know God in Christ you may know him as a God vvell pleased vvith you otherwise you cannot He hath made us accepted in the Beloved saith the Apostle Eph. 1.6 First Christ is the Beloved of the Father and then vve are beloved and accepted in him Till you know God in Jesus Christ you know him not as one that pardons and forgives you but as one that charges all your sins upon you In him we have Redemption through his blood saith the Apostle even the forgiveness of our sins Eph. 1.7 We have not pardon but in him Him hath the Lord set forth as a propitiation through faith in his blood saith the Apostle Rom. 3.25 God hath made him the Mercy-seat the seat of Mercy from vvhich Mercy is dispensed And whereas formerly the Mercy-seat under the Law vvas placed within the Vail and so vvas hidden both from the people and the Priests the High-Priest only had access to it and that but once a year neither The Lord hath now set forth this Mercy-seat to the view of all men that all may have access to it And as the High-Priest came not to the Mercy-seat without blood Levit. 16.14 even so may no man hope to have mercy from the Lord in the forgiveness of his sins but through the blood of Jesus Christ if he know not God in him he can expect no pardoning mercies from him Till you know God in Jesus Christ you cannot come to God with any boldness or with any confidence No man cometh to the Father but by me saith Jesus Christ John 14.6 He must make our way to God In him saith the Apostle we have boldness and access with confidence Ephes 3.12 so that we can hold up our heads with courage and lift up our faces to him as the expression is Job 22.26 But if we know not Jesus Christ how can we be but flat and faint in our approaches to the throne of Grace It is in his name that we must desire the blessings that we seek for at the hands of God and whatsoever we ask the Father in his name he will give it us John 16.23 It is in his name that we must return the praise for blessings that we have received giving thanks to God the Father by him Col. 3.17 If we draw blessings down from God we must do it through Christ If we send praises up to God we must do it through Christ If we have no acquaintance with the Lord Christ how shall we come to God with prayers how shall we come to God with praises with what heart or encouragement shall we draw nigh to God either to
great men do for their magnificence and state and glory And as the hatchet serves to make the pin the pin to hold the timber the timber to receive the tyle and all refers to this supream and utmost end to build the house we may aim at divers ends but all of them must be subservient and helping onward to this utmost end the glory of God JOHN 17.4 I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do AND thus far of the first thing which our Saviour Christ had done of which he minds his Father as an inducement to him to glorifie him with himself I have glorified thee on earth The second follows now in order to be handled which he proposes also for the very same end I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do And here I shall take notice only of these two things First what it was that Christ did and then the manner how he did it First what it was that Christ did the work which God the Father had committed to him which he had put into his hands which he had given him to do And then the manner how he did it he did it absolutely and compleatly He did not enter on it and desist again he did not give it over when he had begun no he followed and pursued it till he had brought it to perfection I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do At this time I shall fasten on the first of these what it was that Christ did the work which God the Father put into his hands which he had given him to do To give is sometimes nothing else but to ordain or to appoint or to impose a thing upon another And therefore they that have the legislative power are said with us to give Law That is by their authority to enact it and impose it on those that are subjected to their power And to the same effect our Saviour Christ himself uses the very same expression John 13.34 A new Commandment give I unto you because he laid it on them now by his authority as he was Mediator of the Church and so accordingly the King and Ruler of his people So in my Text you see he makes mention of the works which God had given him to do That is which he had laid upon him and appointed him to do The business which he had designed him ordained him and enjoyned him to dispatch in this world This was the work he was employed about that which his Father ordered him to do he did I have finished the work saith he which thou gavest me to do So that the point suggested here is this DOCTRINE That Jesus Christ was ordered by his Father in the work he did in this world The task which his Father set him the work which his Father gave him that he did As he was Man and Mediator he did not do things of his own head if I may reverently express it so no his eye was on his Father for direction He looked to have his Warrant and Authority for what he did His Father gave him works before he did them And this is that which he professes very often that he came down from heaven not to do his own will but the will of him that sent him John 6.38 not to do his own works but the works of him that sent him Yea more then so he tells us plainly that a necessity in this respect is laid upon him I must work the works of him that sent me Iohn 9.4 And hence he calls the works he did and which he was employed about his Fathers works Iohn 10.37 And is content that all the credit which he had or looked to have among the people should be put to this issue If I do not my Fathers works saith he believe me not So that the works he did you see were his Fathers not his own No doubt they were in this respect his own that he was the immediate agent of them But in another way they were his Fathers in that he was the orderer and disposer of them His they were as being done by his direction and by his command That Text is full and home to this purpose and parallel to this which I am handling Iohn 5.36 The works which the Father gave me the same works I do These very works and no other So that you see my Brethren Jesus Christ was ordered c. To open this a little further the works of Jesus Christ as he was Man and Mediator were principally and especially of two sorts Either of satisfaction or of application His works of satisfaction by which he fully and compleatly answered the Justice of his Father for the sins of all the world if you respect the Merit and the Value of these works of his His works of application by which this satisfaction came to be applyed and so accordingly to be effectuall to such particular and individuall men Now in both these works of his he was ordered by his Father as I shall shew you briefly and in order First he was ordered by his Father in his works of satisfaction Those which he did to satisfie his Justice and to pacifie his anger and so accordingly to reconcile him to his people Now these works of satisfaction may be reduced especially to two heads For they were either works of active or else they were works of passive obedience And I will shew you that his Father ordered him in both these 1. Jesus Christ was ordered by his Father in his works of active obedience He did them by his Fathers rule and in subjection to his Fathers Law For though if you look downwards he gave Law to others and therefore he is called the Law-giver yet on the other side if you look upwards he received Law from God the Father And therefore the Apostle saith that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the Law Gal. 4.4 That is as some translations read it subject to the Law Subject to the Ceremoniall Law and therefore circumcised Subject to the Morall Law and therefore conversant in all the works and duties of holiness to God and of righteousness to man And this not only as a Man but as a Mediator and a Surety in our stead He sanctified himself and lived holily and consequently in obedience to the Law and will of God for our sakes What the Law could not do in us it did in Christ as the Apostle Paul intimates Rom. 8.3 It could not make us perfectly obedient but it made Christ so It could not be fulfilled in us but it was fulfilled in Christ and by Christ in our stead and for our sakes He lived exactly by his Fathers Rule and Law in every thing his works were always regulated by his Fathers will and therefore he is said to do them in his Fathers name John 10.25 that is by his authority and according to his pleasure and command It is my meat and drink saith he when he was so
chosen you out of the world therefore the world hateth you To open this a little further to you because it is the great thing of the Doctrine and the Text that they that are bestowed on Jesus Christ are given him out of the world and so are of the world no longer I shall make it to appear in a few particulars They that are actually given up to Jesus Christ to be his Members are actually dead with Christ and consequently they are out of this world We use to say of men when they are dead that they are gone they are departed out of this world The same may be affirmed in a sense of those who are dead with Jesus Christ And this is that which the Apostle Paul insinuates Col. 2.20 If ye be dead with Christ saith he as that he takes for granted and supposed why as though living in the world are ye subject to Ordinances He reasons there from the Condition and the state of the Colossians on whom those worldly Ordinances were imposed They were dead in relation to the world they lived not in the world and therefore were not to be burthened in their consciences at least with the inventions and constitutions of the world Law is the rule of life and action so that where there is a cessation of life there is no further obligation of the Law because there is no action in a dead man to be ordered by it Know ye not saith the Apostle to the Romans chap. 7.1 that the Law hath Dominion over a man so long as he liveth So long and no longer for assoon as he is dead he is loosed from the Law as it is added there in that place It were a senseless thing to lay Commandements on the carriages of men and to exact obedience from them after they are dead But ye are dead saith the Apostle dead to the world and therefore these unlawful Ordinances ought not to be imposed upon you by the world They should not burthen you with these things for this is not the Countrey that you live in And in another place the Apostle speaking of himself saith he was crucified to the world Gal. 6.6 14. not only dead but crucified to it and so he was no more of this world They that are actually given up to Jesus Christ to be his members as they are actually dead and so departed out of this world so they are actually living in another world You are dead saith the Apostle Col. 3.3 and what follows you are not so dead that you do not live at all but you do not live here no you live above with God You are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God Their conversation is indeed in heaven as the same Apostle speaks Phil. 3.20 their life is Angel-like they walk with God as Noah did Gen. 6.9 They are with him in the Palace Psal 45.15 Others are abroad in the Town or in the Countrey but these men are in house with him they are without doors but these are within such faithful souls have fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ as the Apostle speaks 1 Joh. 1.3 They are far from God and far from Jesus Christ by Nature they dwell a great way from him as the Prodigal in a strange Countrey and so have no commerce with him But when they are converted and given up to Christ they are made nigh as the expression is Ephes 2.13 When peace is once effectually preached to those that are afar off they have access by one Spirit to the Father and so they are no longer forreigners and strangers but fellow-Citizens of the Saints and of the houshold of God Indeed my Brethren whatsoever they that are bestowed on Christ do in regard of their natural life yet in regard of their spiritual life they do not live so properly in this world as in the other and therefore in that respect are out of this world as I shall shew you in a few particulars For 1. There is no life but is accompanyed with some relation to those that have the same alliance and descent and Original of life Now true it is that they that are bestowed on Jesus Christ in regard of their natural life have natural parents and kindred and allies in this world But in regard of their spiritual life they have spiritual parents and kindred in another world Their Father that begat them God is of another world Their Mother that conceived and bare them and gave them suck the Church is of another world The new Jerusalem which is above is free which is the Mother of us all Gal. 4.26 Their Brethren and their special friends that are united to them in the nearest bond and tie of grace are of another world So that their chief relations are above in heaven And wheresoever they may sojourn for a Season there they live where their Father and their Mother and their Brethren and their choice Relations are 2. There is no life but is accompanyed with some place of habitation though in some I must acknowledge it may be more unsetled then in others and with some means of sustentation Now it is very true that they that are given up to Christ in regard of their natural life may have an earthly habitation and earthly means of sustentation and so in that respect they may be yet in this world But in regard of their spiritual life their mansion house is in another world as the Apostle tels us 2 Cor. 5.1 They have a building with God a house not made with hands but eternal in heaven The means which they subsist upon by which this life is nourished and maintained are not any earthly things They feed upon the bread which comes from heaven which was prefigured by the Manna with reference to which the Psalmist saith that man did eat Angels food My Father gives you the true bread from heaven saith our Saviour John 6.32 And what is that I am the bread saith he that came down from heaven at ver 41. This bread all they that appertain to Christ do eat by faith and of his blood do they drink and so the life of grace is strengthened in them And for the estate they live upon the main possession it lies not here but in another world In Christ they have obtained an inheritance incorruptible undefiled c. and so in him they sit already in heavenly places 3. There is no life but is accompanyed with some action Now they that are bestowed on Jesus Christ may in regard of their natural life act in and with and for this world They may in many things do as worldly men do they may labour in their callings they may deal in the affairs and trade in the Commodities of this world for the procuring of subsistence here But in regard of their spiritual life their actings are in and for another world Their minds and thoughts do work exceedingly on heaven and heavenly things Their
you to a reckoning you may say to him as he doth to his Father in my Text and say it truly Those whom thou gavest me to keep I kept and not one of them is lost by my means 2. So Magistrates are Christs servants his Shepherds in the Common-wealth as they are called 1 King 22.17 And they must learn to keep them safe who are committed to them to be kept as Christ doth They must be very careful of the sheep of Christ that none of them miscarry in their hands And to this end they must do two things 1. They must chase away the Wolves that seek to prey upon the sheep of Christ The Wolves that prey upon their persons or estates These you must either make to fly or break their jaws as Job did and pluck the prey out of their teeth The Wolves that prey upon their souls that bring in soul-destroying errors damnable heresies as the Apostle calls them 2 Pet. 2.1 There are some errors which whosoever holds them and continues in them suffers loss but he himself is saved as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 3.15 But there are others in which if any man continue he himself is lost for ever Now they that bring in those destroy the sheep of Christ and therefore they that keep his sheep must take course with such according to the power which the Law of God and Man hath put into their hands 2. They must be very tender of the sheep of Christ which he hath given them to keep as David was Alas those sheep what evil have they done And as Hezekiah was who as a Type of Christ is stiled a hiding place from winde and a covert from the Tempest Isa 32.2 where the poor sheep might fly for shelter in a storm and there find sure refuge Now I beseech you honorable and respected Preached at the Assizes who are the Ministers of Christ be you such to his people Let them have protection from you let them be kept safe by you Oh do not see them injured and undone if you can help them Oh do not see them lost if you can save them Keep them as you desire that Jesus Christ should keep you let those who will assuredly find favour at the last day at the bar of Jesus Christ find favour at your bar now I speak not this that you should boulster any out in any evil God forbid but that you should be very careful that those who appertain to Christ be not so far neglected by you as to be over-born unjustly and malitiously by those who are the enemies of Christ and them Oh be a covert and a hiding place to such Make them ashamed who report I hope untruly that many times an honest man finds less respect and countenance then an enemy of Christ And in a word in all your actings and administrations have a careful eye upon the little flock of Jesus Christ to fence it and to mound it and safe-guard it that no damage come to it that when the Stewardship is out and the counting time is come you may not be dejected and hang down your heads but may appear before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy that you may rejoyce in Christ and Christ may rejoyce in you to see how well and faithfully you have demeaned your selves in his service JOHN 17.12 But the Son of Perdition AND thus of our Saviours general profession that he had safely and entirely kept all those that were bestowed upon him by his Father Those whom thou gavest me I kept and none of them is lost Proceed we now to his particular exception of Judas but the son of perdition none of them is lost but the son of perdition How and upon what account Judas is excepted here from the rest of the Apostles you may remember I have shewed you fully heretofore And therefore I shall touch no more at the Exception But I shall fasten on the appellation that is given him who is excepted here The son of perdition Now he is called the son of perdition not only to imply that he was a lost creature as considered in himself but more then so that he was destinated and appointed to be lost in the eternal Counsel and Decree of God that he designed him to destruction A manner of Expression very usual with the Hebrews as Calvin and some others after him observe upon the Text. Now this our Saviour mentions not to lay the fault of the destruction of this wretched man on Gods Decree or to take it off from Judas But to make it to appear that though he were a lost creature yet the election of the Lord remained firm and stood unalterable notwithstanding For he was not elected but reprobated and appointed to perdition This being the intention of the phrase the Observation clearly offered to us here is this DOCTRINE That God in his Eternal Counsel and Decree hath appointed and designed some certain special persons to destruction This was the case of Judas in my Text he was Perditioni destinatus ac devotus destinated and devoted to perdition And therefore when he was destroyed and lost the Holy Ghost observeth of him that he went to his own place Act. 1.25 that is to Hell the place which was appointed for him from Eternity And therefore Bildad speaks of some whom God hath cast away Job 8.4 And Job of some who are reserved to destruction Job 21.31 The Wise man tells us that God hath made the wicked for the day of evil Prov. 16.4 The Lord made all things for himself his own glory yea even the wicked for the glory of his Justice to be declared and manifested on them in the evil day the day which is so to them That is the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men as the Apostle Peter calls it 2 Epist 3.7 to which day they are reserved as the same Apostle speaks you must conceive it in the everlasting purpose and decree of God 1 Pet. 2.9 As there are vessels of mercy ordained to glory so there are vessels of wrath prepared to destruction Rom. 9.22 Not only by their own misdeeds but in some sence by the decree of God Meritoriously indeed and in desert they are prepared for it only by themselves and by their own sins But in design they are prepared for it also by the Counsel and the fore-appointment of the Lord. And this indeed is specially intended in the place Or else wherefore doth the Apostle for clearing of the Justice of the Lord in this particular fly to his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his absolute and soveraign power which he hath over all his creatures to bestow them at his pleasure either to wrath or to salvation Even as the Potter is at liberty to mould his clay to what shape and to what use he pleases either to honour or to dishonour The answer had been ready and at hand if God had had no finger in the business in preparing men to
truth thy word is truth And here we have two things to be considered A Supplication and an Explication First We have here our Saviours Supplication to his Father in behalf of his Apostles and Disciples Sanctifie them through thy truth And then we have this Explication in which he shews what he intends by truth viz. the word of God Sanctifie them with thy truth thy word is truth Begin we with the Supplication in which you may take notice with me of these two particulars First the thing desired Sanctification Sanctifie them saith our Saviour And then the outward instrumental means by which he prayes they may be sanctified the truth of God that is the word as he explains it afterwards Sanctifie them through thy truth Both yeild us our this Observation DOCTRINE The word of God is the ordinary Means by which he Sanctifies his people It is the instrument in Gods hands by which he doth this great work He sanctifies them he is the God of all grace he calleth and he makes perfect stablisheth strengthneth settleth them But he doth it by this means according to our Saviours prayer here Sanctifie them through thy truth And here I shall distinctly cleer these two things First that the word of God is the ordinary Means by which he sanctifies his people in a way of inchoation by which he begins that work in them by which he converteth them regenerates them and makes them to become new creatures And this we find abundantly exemplified in the times of the Apostle how mightily the word of God prevailed to the Conversion of their hearers and to the working of unfeigned faith and grace in them You may behold three thousand sinners wrought upon by one Sermon Acts 2.41 And yet again as if these had been a few five thousand by another Sermon Acts 4.4 And hence it is my brethren that the word is called the word of grace because it works grace in Gods people But whether this be the work of the Law or of the Gospel whether one or both of them be the ordinary means by which God sanctifies his people will need to be a little further opened and resolved And I shall shew you from the Scripture that both of them are instruments in Gods hand by which he sanctifies his people 1. God sanctifies his people preparatively by the Law The Law converts and worketh grace by way of preparation It shews a man his sin and his trangression it emptieth him of all opinion of himself it humbles him and layes him low in apprehension of his own unworthiness And so indeed it makes him fit to entertain the grace of God for he will give his grace unto the humble John Baptists rough and rigid preaching of the Law you know my brethren must prepare the way for Christ He must be like a Pioner to go before him to bring down every high exalted thought to make the Mountains levell with the Valleyes He must be like a Harbinger to ride before and take up room for Jesus Christ to write his name upon the heart This heart is taken up for Christ To cause these everlasting doors to be set open to him when he comes And when the heart is thus prepared thus emptied and thus opened once then it is fit for Jesus Christ with all the graces of his spirit to enter in and dwell there And this is all that God doth by the Law he sanctifieth men by way of preparation and predisposition only But 2. The means by which he sanctifieth them indeed and works the truth and the reality of saving grace in them is the preaching of the Gospel and therefore the Apostle puts the question to the renewed Galathians Gal. 3.2 This only would I learn of you saith he received ye the spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of faith q. d. for this I appeal to you I put the matter to your consciences whether the saving graces of the spirit were not first wrote in you by the hearing of faith that is by hearing the doctrine of faith which is the Gospel And hence the Gospel is sometimes called the grace of God as you may see that place for instance Titus 2.11 and that not formaliter for so the Gospel is not neither can it be the grace of God neither that grace which is in God I mean his free and undeserved favour nor yet that grace which is communicated and dispensed from him to us I mean the gifts of his spirit whether they be such as appertain to edification or sanctification but effective as the School-men speak the Gospel is the grace of God because the grace of God is the effect and issue of the Gospel The Gospel is the instrumental means of grace and holiness which it effecteth under God and worketh in the hearts of his people And under this expression it is set in opposition to the Law For as the Law doth not reveal the grace of God in Jesus Christ the Mediator and Redeemer as the Gospel doth so neither doth it work the grace of God I mean the saving gifts of his spirit and therefore it is called the Ministration of the Letter and not the Ministration of the Spirit because there goes no spirit with it Or if it carry any of the spirit with it it is the spirit of fear and bondage and legal humiliation and not the spirit of adoption and sanctification But on the other side the Gospel carries spirit in the ministration of it which it conveyes into the heart of those that hear it and embrace it as they ought to do It operateth and begetteth the endowments of the spirit and worketh grace and sanctification And as the word of God is the ordinary means by which he begins the work of Sanctification So it is the means also by which he carries on the same work to further measures and degrees They were sanctified already for whom our Saviour makes this prayer in my text the work was begun in them they were his own Apostles and Disciples and yet for them he prays sanctifie them with thy Truth q. d. Sanctifie them yet more fully make them yet more gratious and more humble and more holy by a more full discovery of the Truth revealed in thy Word to them Sanctifie them with thy truth thy Word is truth Indeed the Word my Brethren as it is incorruptible seed by which men are regenerate and born again to God as the Apostle shews 1 Pet. 1.23 Being born again not of corruptible but incorruptible seed by the Word of God so it is milk which nourishes and makes them thrive and grow while they are but babes in Christ and it is also strong meat on which they feed until they come ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ This for clearing of the point proceed we to the Application Vse 1 Is it so That the Word of God is
sent by Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 1.17 Christ sent me what to do not only no not chiefly to baptize but to preach the Gospel And as for ordinary Ministers I take the seventy Disciples to be such And of them it is observed in the story Luk. 10.1 c. After these things the Lord appointed other 70. also and sent them two and two before his face and addeth presently Behold I send you forth as Lambs among Wolves It is a rule that the Apostle Paul lays down Rom. 10.15 How shall they preach except they be sent He doth not say unless they be gifted but unless they be sent How shall they do the work and business of the Ministers of Christ unless they be sent by Christ so that the point is clear you see that the Apostles and the Ministers of Christ are sent by Christ But least I be mistaken here I must interpose a caution You must not understand that they are sent by Christ Exclusively that is by him and none but him Neither as to the sending of the Father and the holy Ghost the other Persons of the Godhead Nor yet as to the sending of the Church Neither of them is excluded when we say That the Apostles and Ministers of Jesus Christ are sent by him They are not sent by him Exclusively as to the sending of the other Persons of the Godhead the Father and the Holy Ghost The works of the Trinity without are undivided and certainly it is their work as well as his to send forth Ministers into the Church and hence it is not only said that Christ when he ascended up on high he gave some Apostles Prophets Evangelists and Teachers Eph. 4.11 Some extraordinary some ordinary Ministers in his Church But it is also said That God hath see some in the Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets thirdly Teachers c. 1 Cor. 12.28 God hath sent them and that not God the Son only but God the Father and Holy Ghost too Indeed the Scripture is express for this that all the three concurred in this business The Father thrusts forth Laborers into his Vineyard Mat. 9.38 The Son gives Ministers in the fore-cited Text Ephes 4.11 The Holy Ghost makes Over-seers Act. 20.28 Take heed to your selves saith the Apostle to the Elders of Ephesus and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you Over-seers So that you see Christ sends not Ministers exclusively as to the sending of the Father and the Holy Ghost 2. Nor doth he send them in the second place exclusively as to the sending of the Church She also hath a hand my Brethren under Christ and by authority from Christ in this mission Election appertains to her according to the rule of Christ she chooses out fit men Act. 6.3 So Ordination appertains to her I mean she doth it by her Officers as Act. 14.23 And Ordination as it is a Designation to the Ministry so it is at least a virtual and implicite sending forth to the work of the Minstry And therefore Ministers are called the Messengers of the Churches 2 Cor. 8.23 Not the Messengers of Christ alone but of the Church of Christ too They are not only sent by him but they are sent by her also she is the Wife the Spouse of Jesus Christ and so he suffers her to have a hand in sending of her own servants For so are Ministers the Churches servants though in some respects the Rulers in other some the servants also the servants of the Wife and not the servants of the Husband only as the Apostle insinuates 2 Cor. 4.5 We preach not our selves but the Lord Jesus Christ and our selves your servants for Jesus's sake This shall suffice for clearing of the Observation by way of Application here are some things that concern the Ministers and some things that concern the people I shall proceed with them in order Vse 1 Is it so That the Apostles and Ministers of Jesus Christ are sent by him This then may serve to let them see their great mistake who take upon themselves the Office of the Ministers of Christ and yet are not sent by him Concerning whom he may complain as God complains of those in Israel Jer. 23.21 I did not send them yet they ran faster then a good pace They were forward of themselves but they were never sent by me Brethren men may not call themselves or send themselves because they think themselves sufficient No Jesus Christ will call and send whom he pleases For though he call not men immediately from heaven now as in the times of the Apostles he calls and sends them mediately still by the Churches suffrages as you may see Act. 6.3 and by the laying on of the hands of the Presbyters as the Apostles phrase is 1 Tim. 4.14 And as it was a rule to the Levitical Priesthood under the Law Heb. 5.4 No man takes this honour on him no man doth de jure take it but he that is called of God as was Aaron So to the Ministry under the Gospel no man takes this honour on him but he that is sent of Christ There may be many private Souldiers in an Army that may be fit to be Commanders every way it may be fitter then some of them that do command and yet they may not take upon them to be so without a regular and due admission There may be many in the Common-wealth that may be fitter to be Justices of Peace then some of them that bear that Office and yet they may not take upon them to be so until they have received a Commission Or if they should it were impossible that their sufficiency should advantage the Army or the Commonwealth so much as the ill president which they would give and the disorder and confusion they would make would do it hurt and so there may be many private Christians that may be fitter to be Rulers and Pastors of a Congregation then many that do rule and teach and yet they may not take upon them to be either until they be sent by Christ For if one may call himself and send himself a second may and so a third and then they may be all Teachers which is the thing that the Apostle implicitely at least forbiddeth 1 Cor. 12.19 And if all were one member where were the body as the same Apostle speaks And indeed if any man put himself into an office meerly upon this account because he thinks himself sufficient the weakest will be most forward and most conceited of their own sufficience and on the other side the ablest men most modest because they best know their own weakness And if you look on those who call themselves to be the Teachers of publick Congregations and who impose themselves upon them by force and by a strong hand as some have done in these times you shall not find them of the ablest and the most judicious sort of men No not of those who are it may of their own
his Priesthood must of necessity be co-extended and so for whomsoever he is a Priest to sacrifice for them also he is a Priest to intercede as he hath offered up himself for them so he hath offered up his prayers for them and will do to the worlds end Use And this to give you but a touch of Application may serve to hearten us exceedingly when we are are putting up our prayers for them who are as yet without the pale who have as yet no faith or grace at all in them It may be they are neer to us Parents Children Husbands Wives and we are often carried out in prayer for them that God would yet shew mercy to them that he would yet prevail upon them and cause them to come in to Jesus Christ That he would break their stubborn lusts and work unfeigned faith in them And while we are breathing out our souls to God in such a way as this is we are surpized with distrustful thoughts that we shall never speed in this request of ours God will never be entreated and so upon a sodain our affections cool our hearts grow dead and flat within us In such a case as this is it may be some encouragement and comfort to consider that Jesus Christ for ought we know hath prayed and may be praying to the Father for the very same person though for the present he believe not yet he may be such an one as shall believe as is appointed to believe in after-times And then he is as you have heard within the compass of our Saviours Intercession so that the prayers that we make for him are seconded by Christ in heaven While we are asking such a child or such a friend of God it may be Christ is asking him or her of God too according to the Covenant of the Father with the Son Ask of me and I will give thee And therefore let us not grow cold or faint in such a suit as this is but let us follow and pursue it to the utmost Let us not cease to pray for such a person let us not cast him out of our prayers whom Jesus Christ hath not cast out of his I pray saith he for such as shall believe and this for ought we know may be one of that number And thus far of the first particular by which our Saviour Christ describeth those for whom he prays viz. the time of their believing They are not such as did believe when Christ put up this supplication for them to the Father but such as should believe in after-times Proceed we to the second thing by which he sets them forth and that is by the Spirit of this faith of theirs they should believe in Jesus Christ Neither pray I for these alone saith Christ here but for them also which shall believe on me He doth not say for them which shall believe on God or for them which shall believe the Word of God but for them which shall believe on me so that the point to be observed is this DOCTRINE That true Believers do pitch their Faith on Jesus Christ and make him the object of it Christ is the object of a true beleiving faith So he is represented in my Text you see The faithful do beleive on him It 's true indeed that faith in general which even Reprobates and Devils have looks with an equal eye on all the Book of God assenteth to the truth of all in gross But justifying faith whith is the faith whereof we speak picks out this special object Jesus Christ which is imbraced and received By him saith the Apostle Paul that is by Christ and none but him all that believe are justified from all those things from which they could not have been justified by the Law of Moses Act. 13.39 The Law will never justifie us but condemn us No we are justified by faith in Christ and him alone who is revealed and manifested to us in the Gospel The Rightousness of God that is the righteousness which makes us righteous the righteousness of man will never do it No it must be the righteousness of God himself This is ours by faith in Christ as the Apostle shews Rom. 3.22 He that believeth in the Son hath life Joh. 3. ult Observe it well he saith not in the Father nor the Holy Ghost though certainly we must believe in both these But Christ is the immediate object of the faith which justifieth or of it as it justifieth He that believeth in the Son hath life the life of holiness and the life of righteousness for both of them are very clearly meant in that place Object But you will say perhaps Is not the Word of God and is not God himself and is not everlasting life the object of our faith how then is Christ as I have said and Christ alone the next and the immediate object of it Sol. To this because it is compounded as it were of divers things I must answer divers ways 1. For the Word of God that is not properly the object of the faith that justifieth but is so called by a figure because it holds forth and exhibits Christ who is indeed the proper object of this justifying faith Or secondly the Word of God although it may in some respects be called the object of faith that justifieth yet not qua justificat not as it justifieth as the School speaks It 's true that justifying faith believeth other things propounded in the Word of God But faith as it justifieth lays hold on Christ and him only not knowing any other thing here but Jesus Christ and him crucified 2. As for the second thing propounded in the Querie True it is that God the Father is the Object of our faith I mean the faith which justifyeth but not the next and the immediate Object of it Christ must be first laid hold upon and God in Christ Such trust have we through Christ in God saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 3.4 Even Turks and Jews and Arrians boast of faith in God you know amd yet because they apprehend not Jesus Christ they miserably lose their own souls He that denyeth and so by consequence believes not in the Son can never have the Father as you may see 1 John 2.23 He is like a man goes about to grasp a thing that is too big for him a large and smooth round-bodyed Cup it slips away out of his fingers whereas he might have held it by the handle The faith which justifies us my beloved apprehendeth Christ receiveth and layeth hold on him and then as it is added in the fore-alledged Scripture He that hath the Son hath the Father also 3. As for the third particular propounded whether salvation and eternal life be the object of our faith To say the truth salvation and eternal life is not so properly believed as hoped for Nor can it be so fitly called the object as the consequent and end of faith So the Apostle calls it 1 Pet.