can teach us to love our brethren whom we see then much more none but he can teach us to love him whom we do not see and therefore let us earnestly beseech him to help us to take forth this Lesson 2. Let us endeavour to grow up in the knowledge of the Lord and as we know him better we shall love him more That which one affirms of Learning may be well applied to God Non habet inimicum nisi ignorantem He hath such matchless excellency and beauty in him that he that knows him cannot choose but love him Indeed while we are unacquainted with him the admirable worth and lustre that is in him doth not take a whit upon us The Philosopher will tell us that the judgement must be first of all convinced of the worth and value of a thing before the heart will close with it and the affections cleave to it Nec enim potes aut amare quem nescias aut habere quem non amaveris Thou canst not love him thou knowest not nor have him whom thou lovest not And hence it is that wicked and ungodly men love not God or Christ at all because they know him not at all Or if they know him any way it is not under such a notion as makes him beautifull and lovely to them Perhaps they know him as a Judge or an Avenger not as a Father and a Saviour And this is indeed the cause why the triumphant Saints in heaven love him more then the Saints militant on earth because they have a fuller clearer and distincter knowledge of him We see him darkly in a glass but they see him face to face And this is the reason also why we love not God so much on earth as we shall do in heaven viz. because we know him not so well here as we shall do in that place So that our love to God you see is answerable to our knowledge of him as we know him more or less so we love him more or less And therefore if we do desire indeed to love him more let us strive to know him more 3. Another means to grow up in the love of God is to have daily more communion and intimacy with him And this as I conceive it is a means distinct from that which goes before For it is one thing to know him and another to have communion and to be familiar with him We know abundance with whom we have no intimacy in the world No we know them too well perhaps to be familiar with them So we may have a speculative knowledge of the Father and the Son and yet may have no intimate acquaintance with them And this is very necessary to encrease love To kindle and enflame affection as the Philosopher observeth there must be Convictus crebra conversatio They must dine and supp together they must walk and talk together And wheresoever there is strangeness there can be no great love And therefore if we would abound in the love of God and Christ let us have more communion with them Beloved if we be not wanting to our selves we may be very much with God We may speak with him often in a day we may talk with him face to face in our addresses to his holy Majesty we may give him many visits he doth not interdict us but invite us to come and sup with him and be acquainted with him throughly once he is so pretious and so sweet a friend that we shall love him out of all measure 4. Endeavour to the utmost of your power to dispossess your hearts of the unlawful love of worldly things for this is incompatible inconsistent with the love of God If any man saith the Apostle love the world the love of the Father is not in him 1 Joh. 1.15 Let him be what he will my Brethren if he love the world he loves not God And therefore ler not any covetous and wretched worldling make shew of having any love to God For certainly it is not in him The friendship of the world saith the Apostle James 4.4 is emnity with God And therefore if we would be friends of God we must dissolve this friendship with the world Inordinate irregular unlawful love of worldly things must be expelled And as this love is cast out the love of God will come in 5. Be often in the company and fellowship of those that love God Converse with those who are most endeared to him and they will be continually speaking of him and seting forth his excellency beauty love and so will kindle and enflame your hearts towards him They who are full of sweet affections to the Lord if you be much among them will work you to the same temper You may observe it in Cant. 5.10 and the following verses that when those daughters of Jerusalem who at first despised Christ and wondred why the Church his Spouse should praise him so and make such a stir about him yet when they had a while conversed with the Church and heard her speak of Christ with such affection admiring and extolling him above the skies they also fall in love with him and they will go together with the Church to seek him out Whither is Beloved gone say they O thou fairest among women whither is thy Beloved turned aside that we may seek him with thee And thus you see my Brethren frequent intercourse and holy conference with those that love God is one effectual means to fill and to enflame our hearts with love to him 6. Labour to comprehend with all the Saints the greatness of the love of God to you and to assure it to your own souls It is not all the beauty and the excellency in the world that will allure us to the 〈◊〉 love one that we imagine doth not love us But if we see and be assured of the love of God to us this will kindle love to him and make our hearts to melt towards him When we consider with our selves what kindness he hath shewed to us what he hath done for us what matchless and unfathomed love he hath discovered to us this will raise our affections high to him again and make us even sick of love And therefore I beseech you strive to be more and more assured of this for at this flame you must kindle your fire Here you must fetch your little spark of love whereof the Saints are capable in this life from the love of God to you which being kindled in your hearts it will never leave aspiring and flying higher and higher still till it have joyned it self unto that infinite and endless flame from whence it issued and proceeded And indeed as Bernard very well observes we cannot answer God or Christ so well in any thing as love To say the truth we must not answer him in other things If he be angry or displeased with us we ought not be angry or displeased with him again If he condemn and censure us we
shewed great love O my Beloved if such mercy be discovered to us we cannot choose but do as she did if we survey our lives and find perhaps that we have been grievous sinners beyond the ordinary rate that we were over head and ears in debt to God that there were horrid crimes upon the bill against us scarlet sins and bloody sins and then the Fathers name is manifested to us that he hath been to us The Lord the Lord God merciful and gratious forgiving iniquity transgression and sin And that according to the multitude of his tender mercies he hath blotted out our transgressions how will our hearts come off to him how will they flame with love to God so that we shall cry out O how do we love the Lord we are not able to express it how infinitely dear is God to me The Love of God is a part of his name and this if it be manifest also will beget love in us When it shines forth from God upon our hearts it will reflect and so return to God again This flame will kindle our fire and make it burn that all the waters in the world will never quench it as Cant. 8.7 Many waters cannot quench love neither can the flouds drown it Amor est cos amoris love is the special thing that whets love and that makes it keen and sharp So it is with the love of man and so with the love of God If it be made known to us and if we have assurance of it it will exceedingly indear our hearts to him We love him saith the Evangelist John 1 Epist 4.19 Why so because he loved us first The declaration of his love to us works love in us to him again First he loves us and when we know it then we love him So that the point is fully proved The Declaration of the Fathers name to men is one great means to work the grace of love in them Vse 1 To make a little Application First is it so That the Discovery c. We see the reason then my brethren why a great part of the world have not the love of God in them Though he be altogether lovely yet they love him not at all because his loveliness is hidden from them His name is not declared to them they have no knwledge of his beauty goodness mercy love c. and hence it is that they bear no affection to him They are alienated from him strangers to him love him no more then they do a meer stranger But how comes this to pass by reason of the ignorance and blindness that is in them How many Heathen Nations in the world and Christians by profession are in this condition and so will certainly continue till Jesus Christ declare the Fathers name to them And therefore in the second place if you desire indeed to love God Vse 2 and to grow up in this love Labour to be acquainted with his name Wait on the discoveries of it that Jesus Christ is pleased to make both in publique and in private Wheresoever Christ declares his Fathers name there be you attending on him to see what he will further shew you of his beauty goodness mercy love to you in special and you shall find that as you know more of him your hearts will be accordingly endeared more to him when you are with other Christians discourse of this name of God the greatness of his beauty goodness mercy love and your hearts will burn within you with ardent flames of holy love to his blessed Majesty When you are single and alone study the name of God think of his attributes let them be often in your meditations as you shall see they were in Davids if you read the Book of Psalms and then you will cry out not much unlike as he O my God how do I love thee while I meditate of the beauty of thy glorious Majesty and thy marvailous works And thus far of the first end of our Saviours declaration of his Fathers name That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them The second follows in the last place to be handled And I in them that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them First that love may be in them and then that I may be in them The latter is adjoyned to the former by the connective particle and as that which out of all dispute will keep it company and dwell with it If love be in them I shall be in them too saith Christ I shall be where love is and therefore I have manifested and declared thy name to them in reference to both these That love being wrought in them I may be in them too by this means This I conceive to be the drift and purpose of our Saviour in the words The point suggested then is this DOCTRINE Where Love is there Christ is If love be in a man Jesus Christ is in him too that is out of all question He comes with love into the souls of true believers Brethren Christ is an utter stranger to every soul that hath not true love in it But if you knock at the door of any heart and enquire Is love within is love here If love be there you may conclude that Jesus Christ is there too You see my brethren they are knit together in my Text That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them Love in them and I in them Love and I. To shew that Jesus Christ and Love do always dwell together in the same heart they are not be separated or divided each from other but wheresoever one is there is the other also where love is there Christ is But then you must not understand it of love the passion or natural affection but of love the saving grace of that love which is wrought by the effectual revelation of the Fathers name to men Where this love is there Christ is as I shall make it evidently to appear to you For Where love the saving grace of love is there the spirit is and where the spirit is there Christ is First where love is there the spirit is whose special dwelling in believers is not by his Essence but his graces and chiefly by the grace of love And hence we read of the Spirit of love 2 Tim. 1.7 because the Spirit is the cause of love And hence we also read of the love of the spirit Rom. 15.30 because love is the fruit of the spirit so the Apostle stileth it expresly Gal. 5.22 Yea it is the prime fruit the chief fruit upon which all the rest follow as the Apostle makes it there The fruit of the Spirit is love and then joy peace meekness and so on Love is indeed the special grace by which the spirit of love dwells in us so that where love is there the spirit is Now where the spirit is there Christ is For his inhabitation in the soul
with the error of the world and so fall from your own stedfastness if you be carried down with the swinge and with the current of the times and of the places where you live do not deceive your selves you are yet of this world I must confess it is a very strong temptation when the stream runs in a wrong course and often shakes the holiest Saints But yet in such a case they that belong to Jesus Christ must consider with themselves that they are of another world and therefore are not much to eye the fashion and the wayes of this They must behave themselves according to the fashion of their own Country They must conclude with holy Joshua 24.15 If it seem evil to other men to serve the Lord if they will forsake God and forsake his worship let them serve whom they will for me as for my own part I am at a point for that I and my house will serve the Lord. And they must say in such a case as David did Away from me ye wicked I am not for your company because I am not for your courses away from me ye wicked I will keep the Commandements of my God If you be now no longer of this world but of the other your language is not of this world but of the other You speake the language of the world and of the Country you belong to You are full of good discourse your heart boyles with good matter as the expression of the Prophet is Psal 45.1 It is like a boyling pot for that is the similitude that is alluded to it is alwayes bubling up and running over and then it speaks of good things as it is added there in that place The heart within boyles and the tongue without speakes and as the boyling Pot runs over with the self same matter which it hath within it so it fares with such an heart It bubleth up with good matter the matter which it hath conceived and meditated touching Christ this is that which is so readily and freely uttered with the tongue My heart is enditing of a good matter I speak of the things which I have made touching the King Such are the hearts and tongues of those that are of the other world their speech is gracious and either tends to glorifie their God or to edifie their Brethren this is the language of their Country What think we then of those whose language is alwayes vain and frivolous it doth not benefit the hearers it ministreth no grace for there is no grace in it or which is worse it is wicked and pernitious Their speech is rotten and corrupt there is no salt to season it and make it wholesom and hence their throat is likened to an open Sepulchre Rom. 3.13 which breathes and steames up nothing else but odious smells and loathsom exhalations or else at best their speeches and discourses are of nothing else but earth and earthly things Talk with them while you will you hear of nothing else but worldly matters from them Of what Country do you think are these men The Apostle John tells you 1 John 4.5 They are of the world and they speak of â—he world Shibboleth never descryed so many Ephraimites as this doth worldly wrerches They are of Galilee they are of this world for their speech bewrayeth them Shall I believe they are Inhabitants of the Celestial Canaan who cannot speak almost without an oath whose tongues are alwayes dipping in that blood which alone can cleanse them from all sin Shall I say that such a man or woman is of heaven whose tongue is set on fire of hell Brethren do not deceive your selves if you cannot spake the language you belong not to that Country If you be now no longer of this world but of the other you have a dear affection to your Contrymen to those that are given up to Christ out of the world as you are If travailers and strangers meet with any of their Country-men in a remote and forreign Land how lovingly do they embrace them what kindness do they shew them how are they knit together in a bond of love Just so it is with those who are of the other world If they light any time on any of that same world which they themselves belong to they are extreamly taken up with joy although they never saw them nor had acquaintance with them in their lives before and presently their hearts and their affections do wonderfully close together And therefore they are gross dissemblers who would be thought to be given up to Christ out of the world and yet their bosom friends and their Companions are all of them of this world These are the men which they converse withall and which they take delight in Nay which is worse then this they hate the men whom Jesus Christ hath called and chosen out of the world They persecute them with the hand and with the tongue and do them all the spight and all the mischief that they can Suppose thou wert in Italy or Spain or any other forreign Land and there shouldst meet an Englishman wouldest thou mock and scoff at him wouldest thou deride and jear at the fashion of his cloaths the manner of his complement his gate and carriage and the like wouldest thou procure him to be taken up imprisoned put to death thy Earthly Country would not own thee if thou shouldst be so unworthy And truly heaven will not own the men who deal thus basely and injuriously with the Inhabitants of that Country Use 3 Are there some certain men whom God the Father gives to Jesus Christ out of the world so that however they were once the worlds now they are of the world no longer You then that find you are given up to Jesus Christ think it not much if you have but ill usage and untoward entertainment in the world Truly my Brethren if you consider whence you are and to what Country you belong there can no other be expected by you if you were of the world the world would love her own but because you are not of the world but Christ hath chosen you out of the world therefore the world hates you And it shall be your wisedom to look out and to provide for such usage If Turks or Spaniards walk along the streets every one will gaze upon them they will wonder at their gate and at their habit and the like Every one will be ready to abuse them and to put them to the worst for they are friendless being in a strange Country And are not you my Brethren of another Country yea of another world are you not men of singularity are not your wayes and fashions diverse from the fashions of this world No marvel then though you be men of wonder as the Prophet speakes though you be pointed at and though you be made spectacles and gazing stocks Though every one presume to injure you and wrong you and deal unworthily and basely with you
his first coming No man hath ascended up to heaven saith our Saviour Christ himself Joh. 3.13 but he that came down from heaven So that when he was incarnate he came down from heaven in a sense for of this our Saviour speaks in that place And to this speech of Christ it is that the Apostle Paul alludeth when speaking of our Saviour Christs ascension Ephes 4.8 he addeth presently by way of Explication Now that he ascended what is it but that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth So then descend he did at first from heaven as after he ascended up again to heaven And because he came from heaven he is more properly of heaven then of earth as the Apostle Paul insinuates very clearly when he calls him the Lord from heaven heavenly 1 Cor. 15.47 48. Because from heaven therefore heavenly not of this world but of another 2. Jesus Christ when he was here in this world yet he was not of this world but of another because he lived in another Here he breathed but there he lived he did not live the life of this world but the life of heaven and that not in expectation as we do but in fruition He lived the life of perfect righteousness and perfect holiness the life of Angels yea a life above Angels while he was here in this world That life which is to be attained by us nowhere but in heaven only Christ lived here in this world and this perhaps was partly aimed at by our Saviour in that speech of his Joh. 3.13 No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven even the Son of man which is in heaven He was then come down from heaven he was then upon the earth when he spake these words And yet he addeth he was then in heaven too even the Son of man which is in heaven And he was then in heaven not only as the Son of God but as the Son of man too Virtually he was there though he were not locally His life did relish infinitely more of heaven then of earth And therefore it is very notable that he disclaimed all medling with these earthly things he would not once so much as touch with them neither as a Judge or a divider as himself professeth Luk. 12.14 nor as possessor neither It 's true he was a King as he implicitely acknowledges to Pilate and he had a kind of Kingdom while he was here in this world but it was not of this world My Kingdom is not of this world saith Christ himself Joh. 18.36 And therefore he did nor erect it outwardly with any outward policy and splendour among men but he did only set it up in the hearts of a few despised people to whom he said My Kingdom is within you Luk. 17.21 And so in every thing my Brethren he avoided such a conversation as might intimate him to be one of this world 3. Jesus Christ when he was here in this world yet he was not of this world but of another because indeed he was but going to another world From another world he came as you have heard before and to another world he was about to go Only he tarried here a little about some weighty and important business which his Father sent him down into this lower world to do and as soon as that was ended he returned to heaven again So that you see brethren he conversed here but as a Messenger from God the Father whose errand he came down upon and to whom he was to go assoon as he had finished what he came for And therefore he avoided any kind of setlement in this world any way of making this his fixed habitation as he told the Scribe that was about to follow him Mat. 8.20 The Foxes have holes and the Birds of the air have nests but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head Yea he professed that he was not in the world while he was here because indeed he was not to continue here he was shortly to depart he was as good as gone already as in this Chapter I am handling ver 11. And now I am no more in the world but I come to thâ—e And this for cleering of the former member of the point that Christ himself is not of this world but of another Now for the second branch that Christs Disciples are in this respect like Christ himself this lies before you in the letter of the text They are not of the world even as I am not of the world And this our Saviour often minds them of as you may see that place for instance to name no more at this time John 15.19 Ye are not of the world saith he but I have chosen you out of the world Indeed as Christ is so they are in this world as the Apostle speaks 1 John 4.7 So in this world that they are not of the world And that in all the three respects wherein we have clearly shewed you that Christ is not of this world but of another 1. Christs Disciples came from another world and so in that respect they are not of the world as Christ is not of the world I say they came originally from another world although not as they are men yet as they are Saints and Christians So they are from above of God they are his off-spring as Paul said to the Athenians God is their Father for they are begotten of him 1 John 5.18 And God is their Mother too for they are born of him 1 Iohn 3.9 So that you see they are no less then a divine and heavenly generation And they are members of the New Jerusalem which John saw coming down from heaven Apoc. 21.2 They are only for a while let down from heaven in a sheet as the creatures were to Peter in a vision and so taken up again 2. As Christs Disciples came from another world so they live in another world and so in that respect they are not of the world as Christ is not of the world Their Conversation is in heaven as the Apostle speaks Phil. 3.20 With the woman Apoc. 12. they tread the Moon this variable and unconstant world under their feet Trample with a disdainfull and a holy scorn upon earth and earthly things Honors are too ignoble to command them riches too poor to buy them pleasures too fleeting to allure them Sometimes they are transported as it were rapt and taken up into heaven in sweet Soliloquies and in holy contemplations ravished beyond themselves with cleer and comfortable apprehensions of their Fathers love Indeed they get above the world they soare higher then the earth their treasure is in heaven and there are their hearts also Their life is Angel-like they live with men indeed but walk with God as Moses speaks of Enoch They have their eyes on him as Moses they see him who is invisible and they are taken up with him in all their wayes and
to be as mercifull as God is if you look to the degree For as the heavens are higher then the earth so are his thoughts above ours in this particular But yet we may be mercifull as he is though not as mercifull as he is So in the Text our Saviour prayes for his Disciples That they may all be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us The meaning is not that they may be one as nearly that is impossible but as truly as we are That as we are in one another so they may in some respect be all in us How and in what respect they may be so I shall shew at large anon in the mean time the point is this DOCTRINE It is the will of Jesus Christ that his Disciples should not only be one among themselves but that they also should be one in God Indeed it is the will of Jesus Christ that his Disciples should be one Vse 4 among themselves That they should be all one as you have it in my Text Indeed he shed his blood for this purpose Eph. 2.14 that though they be of divers Nations as for instance Jews and Gentiles yet they may be both one as in the fore-alledged Scripture He is our peace saith the Apostle there who hath made both one having abolished in his flesh the enmity to make in himself of twain of Jews and Gentiles one man Though they be of divers places some in heaven and some on earth and though they that are on earth are many of them many thousand miles asunder yet he would have them to be all one It is his project and design to gather all things into one which are in heaven and which are in earth as Ephes 1.10 But you will ask me How can this be done that they that are so distant should be one I answer Very easily because the bonds of this conjunction are not carnal but spiritual So that they may be one without a corporeal or local union From him the head saith the Apostle all the body by joints and bands is knit together Col. 2.19 Part of the body is in heaven and part of it is on earth and here some persons are in one some in another quarter of the earth yet all the body so divided and so distant as you see by joints and bands is knit together And you will easily conceive it when you consider what these bands are 1. They have all one spirit and so in that respect are one I speak not of the spirit or soul of a man but of the spirit of the Lord Christ which being one dwells in all the Saints at once and so makes them one too yea let them be as distant as they will And as the formal reason of the union of the members of the body natural consisteth not so much in contiguity as animation by the same soul so that if any part be mortified and if the soul give over to enliven it it is no more to be esteemed a member notwithstanding its external and corporeal inherence to the body So though the Saints be far from one another in regard of place yet they are closely knit together by the same spirit being joyned to the Lord they are all one spirit and so indeed are all one 2. They have all one faith one at least in fundamentals and one faith makes one as Ephes 4.4 5. They that are of many faiths in fundamentals cannot come so close together to be all one and therefore Jesus Christ when he ascended up on high gave gifts unto men for the work of the Ministry and for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come all both Jews and Gentiles come in the unity of the faith c. So that there is a unity in the faith you see and to say truth my Brethren faith will make a union at a distance as well as if the persons joyned were all together What doth th the corporal or local presence of the parties contribute to the union that is made by faith which is a spiritual and invisible thing and consequently joineth in a spiritual and invisible manner which no division or distance in regard of place can hinder 3. They have all one heart and one affection and so in that respect are one The multitude of believers were of one heart Act. 4.32 Though they were multitudes yet they had but one heart and when there is but one heart there is a great Oness The understanding is the principle of speculation the heart the seat of love and of affection And the Saints are so united and linked togther in affection as if they had among them but one common principle of this affection as if they had but one heart and therefore the Apostle speaking of the faithful saith that they were knit together in love Col. 2.2 The term there used importeth such a knitting as is between the divers parts and peices of a building For so the Saints though there be Millions of them in the world yet they are built up altogether to a spiritual house 1 Pet. 2.5 And love is as it were the morter and the pins the ligaments and tyes of the connexion and elsewhere it is called a bond Col. 3.10 Above all these things put on charity which is the bond of perfectness with which we are perfectly joined together 1 Cor. 1.10 Now love will make a union at a distance as well as near at hand The nearness of the place simply considered in it self contributes nothing to the nearness and to the strength of the affection No love will reach a person at the other end of all the earth as well as if he were just by us in the very next room or in the very next dwelling You see both that and how it is the will of Jesus Christ that his Disciples should be one among themselves which is the first thing in the point But now there is a Second branch he would not have them only to be one among themselves but he would have them also to be one in God This is the special thing for which he is a Suitor to his Father in my Text That they may be all one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us Not one among themselves alone but one in us which is indeed a very high thing Now that you may the better know what Christ intends in this particular you must consider that he speaks to God the Father as man and Mediator in this place For he speaks in prayer here and consequently when he saith As thou Father art in me and I in thee he speaks not of the union which is between his Father and himself as he is God For in that consideration the Father and the Son are so in one another that they are the very same The same Essence for so the union is Identical though they
A wicked wretch may touch another man indeed and yet never touch God because he is without God there is no union between God and him But whosoever touches him that is in God must touch God in touching him And hence saith the Lord himself Zac. 2.8 He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye In touching you he toucheth me and that in the most tender place the very apple of mine eye And do you think that God will ever suffer such audacious boldness as this is That he will quietly sit still and let ungodly wretches thrust their fingers into his eyes and pluck the very apples of his eyes out of his head Take this and take all If true believers be in God you then that are out of God endeavour Vse 3 to keep in with them In any case make them your friends and keep them so and do not fall at any difference or odds with them You know not what you lose when you lose their love and their friendship A friend in place they say is worth something And certainly they are in place that are in God the best place that can be And therefore it is good for those that are without and live abroad to have some friends in this place you may fare the better for them and they may do you a good turn and a good office there when time serves Wicked men have had advantage oftentimes by the friendship of believers Moses did a good turn for Pharaoh more then once when he knew not what to do and when he could not help himself Alas poor miserable man he was an alien he lived without God in the world and therefore sends for Moses still who was in God to speak a word for him and he was ready to sollicite hard in his behalf and divers times prevailed for mercy till in the end his heart was hardned to his utter ruine And therefore if you love your selves make much of such friends as these are And thus far of the application of the first branch of the Explication of the point I shall be briefer on the other two Is it the will of Jesus Christ that true believers should be one in God Vse in the Father and himself by dear affection You then that are believers let your hearts be knit to God and Jesus Christ by this indissoluble bond Let love make you all one And as the Father and the Son are one among themselves so be you one in them by love Let your affections to them be so high as to unite you to the Father and the Son And even as dear affection joyns you to your fellow-Saints that you are knit in love as the Apostle Pauls expression is so let it joyn you much more to the Father and the Son for they are infinitely more to be beloved Oh let your hearts no longer live in creature comforts and in creature satisfactions which do so often fail you and deceive you but let them live in God by inexpressable and choice love There live and there rest and there dwell and there nestle as it were in the bosome of the Father and the Son Mark that expression of the Apostle John 1.4.16 God is love and he that dwelleth in Love dewelleth in God and God in him God is love essentially for whatsoever is attributed to God is God And he is the Original and fountain of the love that is Communicated to the Creature All the Love with which we love him or the Creature regularly comes from him It is a ray of the divinity a beam of God a part of the divine nature And seeing God is love in the sence before expressed essentially originally it follows thence as the Apostle John infers that he that dwells in love must dwell in God He that dwells that is continues and abides in love to fellow Saints and fellow-members dwels in God But he that dwells in love to God himself dwells in God much more And therefore I beseech you let your hearts set up their rest in love to God and Jesus Christ there let them fix and dwell let not your love be scattered up and down among the creatures as it is but let it be united all in God and let it joyn and unite you all to God that nothing in the world may ever separate you or divide you from him Brethren you may be the losers by Love of other things or other friends For after your affections and your hearts are set upon them they may forsake you and be unfaithfull and unkind to you And besides you must bestow some pains and travail and expence on those who are indeed beloved by you Or else it is but a dissembling feigned love for love where it is sound and real is very bountiful and very active And hence it is my brethren that there is so little true affection in the world The love of men is for the greater part in complement in shew and in appearance only they will do nothing they will part with nothing for those whom they are pleased to call their friends as they must do if they love in deed and truth But now in loving God my brethren though I acknowledge you must part with all for him yet you shall be no losers by it Though you forgo your friends your houses and estates and all for him you shall have him instead of all Yea you shall not have him only but you shall be in him by this means And therefore I beseech you my beloved grow up into this uniting grace in these divided and distracted times which will not only make you one among your selves but one in God But you will ask me how may this be done I will give you some directions 1. Let prayer struggle for it at the throne of grace It cannot choose but be a pleasing lovely suit indeed to be importunate with God to make us love him and to draw up our hearts to him A man would think that such a sweet request as this should not be turned off with a denial It s true that prayer is the great Catholicon and universal means in all cases But yet it is expedient in a special manner to the attainment and enlargement of this grace of love which is a special gift of the spirit It is the great work of the spirit of God to make us love God and to endear our hearts to him I know that Hope and Patience c. are graces of the Spirit but Love is a prime grace It is a grace of the first magnitude and therefore placed first by the Apostle in that Catalogue of his Gal. 5.22 The Love of God is shed abroad into our hearts saith the Apostle Rom. 5.5 how so by the Holy Ghost that he hath given us And in another place he tells the Saints Ye are taught of God saith he to love one another 1 Thes 4.1 None in the world can teach you this but God only And if none but he
neither do believe nor shall believe Now all the question is which of these three sorts of people our Saviour Christ denoteth by the world in this place There is no colour to conceive that the world should here be taken for believers for such as did then believe when Christ spake these words the very next word that he adds doth evidently cross and dash that That the world may believe that thou hast sent me So then the world in this place apparently importeth unbelievers But whether such as beleived not for the present but should believe in after times Or such as neither did believe nor should believe Whether elected unbelievers or reprobated unbelievers will need a little briefly to be enquired and resolved Some of no small authority conceive that by the world is meant elected unbelievers such as did not then believe but should believe in after times conceive it with a saving and a justifying faith and that the rather for Christs Disciples unity among themselves And hence he prays That they may all be one as thou Father c. that the world may believe that thou sent me But if our Saviour had intended justifying faith in these words in probability he would have said that the world may believe in me They are but poor believers that come no further then barely to assent to this that Jesus Christ is sent of God the Father a reprobate may do this Besides which carries me exceedingly me thinks the world is here apparently opposed to such as did believe and should believe with a justifying faith Our Saviour mentions it as opposite to both these In the first place you know he prays for such as did believe when he made this prayer and then for such as should believe in after times Neither pray I for these only but for them also that shall believe on me that they may all be one c. That the world who neither do believe nor shall believe with a justifying faith may yet by this means be so far convinced as historically to assent to this That thou hast sent me q. d. This is that which I desire that they who shall in after times believe by my Apostles word may by their unity so far convince and work upon the world that never shall believe as that they may be brought to this at least to acknowledge that thou hast sent me For so believing here is nothing else but knowing or acknowledging and therefore in the 23. verse that word is used I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one that the world may know that thou hast sent me You see the meaning of the words The point to be observed is this DOCTRINE The unity of Christs Disciples is one especial means to cause the world to have the better thoughts and apprehensions of their Master Though this will not convert the world and bring them to be true believers yet this will very much convince the world and make them look with a better eye on Christ and on the Doctrine of the Gospel when they that teach it and profess it harmoniously agree among themselves And hence is this Petition of our Saviour here that they may all be one c. that so the world although it be an enemy to me yet seeing the consent and love and unity of my Disciples of them that own me and profess me may be even forced to acknowledge and confess that I am sent of God that my Doctrine is of God and that I am not as the world is apt to think a seducer and impostor q.d. If my Disciples be not one among themselves if they be rent asunder by a spirit of division the world will never yield that I came forth from thee who art the God of love and peace That thou hast sent me down to be a Mediator and a Peace-maker to make up all the breaches and the differences between thee and thy people They will look strangely upon me and they will never be perswaded to acknowledge that I am come on such an Errand as this is And therefore I beseech thee Father that I may be entertained under the notion of a Mediator and that I may be looked upon as sent by thee do thou take care that my Disciples be at unity among themselves Now here I shall a little more distinctly shew you that the unity of Christs Disciples in Doctrine and Opinion and in Affection and in Conversation is one especial means to cause the world to have the better thoughts of Christ himself The unity of Christs Disciples in Doctrine and Opinion is one especial means c. If they maintain and hold the same things if they teach the same things they will the sooner gain the approbation and assent of those that are without But if they wrangle and contend this will make them more averse from Jesus Christ from the Gospel And truly no one thing almost hath kept men more aloof from Christ and the Doctrine of Salvation in and by through him then the perpetual hot and endless controversies and Disputes that have been among the Teachers of the Gospel Nay if they be not able to agree among themselves say they that are without even let them all alone we will carry till they do And therefore the Apostles still were very circumspect to manifest agreement and consent among themselves in that which they delivered to the people because they knew of how great consequence it was to further the success efficacy of their Doctrine It is observable that Paul joyns one or two together with himself in his Epistle sometimes Sylvanus sometimes Sylvanus and Timotheus who were not inspired men as it is probably conceived and so could not add a whit to the divine authority of his Epistle But yet he shews how they accorded all together for the better satisfaction of the people So the Apostles and the Elders and the Brethren go joyntly all together in the Resolutions of the Synod at Jerusalem Acts 15.23 that their decrees might find the readier entertainment among those to whom they sent them And though it be a certain and confessed truth that the agreement and consent of teachers neither doth nor can work saving faith in any The word it self my brethren as it is the Object so it is the instrumentall cause of faith yet it may prepare the heart and work it up to better thoughts and apprehensions both of Christ and of the Gospel The unity of Christs Disciples in affection and in conversation is one especial means c. If they live in unity and love and sweet accord together they that are Aliens to religion strangers to Jesus Christ and to his Gospel will think the better of them for their sakes But if they be continually brawling and opposing one another this keeps others off from Christ If he be owned and followed by none but by a company of wrangling quarrelsome contentious people they will
and the like and you receive them at the hands of God he gives you the desire of your hearts in these things Well now consider with your selves what use you put them to when you have gotten them and what bills you bring in What so much health and so much strength bestowed upon the prosecution of your worldly and ambitious projects and designs so much means and so much time upon riot and excess Item so much upon your pride and so much upon your lusts and so much upon the satisfaction of your malice and revenge so much upon Hawks and Hounds and Whores but nothing upon God his Cause or his poor distressed servants Are these the bills that you bring in to God and will you own them in the latter day Brethren by your layings out you may discover to what intent you have prayed for outward blessings whether to consume them on your Lusts or no And if that hath been your end the spirit hath not been your principle in these petitions If we act by Christs spirit we keep a constant course in prayer We do not pray by fits and starts as Job observeth of the Hyppocrite who hath not Christs spirit Job 27.10 Will he delight in the Almighty will be alwayes call on God No he will be on and off in this duty Our spirits are unconstant and unstable my beloved but Christs spirit is 〈◊〉 not so And hence it is that they that pray by their own spirits are so uncertain in the duty many times Sometimes their spirits stir them up to pray and sometimes they do not Though there be differences in this too for some mens spirits naturally are more ready and more fixed then others are And there may be other things as fear and strong conviction and the like that may hold some certain men almost to a continued practice of the outward duty yet it is very rare that he is constant who acts by his own spirit But now my brethren he that acts by Christs spirit is a steady man in prayer he can appeal to God as David doth Psal 40.9 I have not restrained my Lips Oh Lord thou knowest Christs spirit dwells in him he doth not sojourn in him for a time but he dwells in him as in his fixed and his setled habitation and he dwells in him as a spirit of supplication So the spirit of Christ is called Zech. 12.10 And hence it is that he is alwayes putting him upon the duty upon all occasions so that he is constant in it Christs spirit is at home still though ours be wandring many times even to the other end of all the earth And though Christs spirit seem to be given sometimes as a spirit of consolation yet then he will be present as a spirit of supplication He will set a Saint to prayer even when he seems most indisposed and averse he will not suffer him to lay it by and wholly to neglect the duty as is observable in David I said that I am cut off from before thine eyes saith he Psal 31.22 Nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my prayer Even then I prayed to thee when I was in that temper so in another place from the end of the earth will I cry unto thee even when my heart is overwhelmed Psal 61.2 And whence proceedeth this my brethren surely these prayers of all others flow from Christs spirit as the Apostle teacheth Rom. 8.20 The spirit helpeth our infirmities We know not what to pray for as we ought but then the spirit it self makes intercession for us with sighs and groans that cannot be exprest If we act by Christs spirit we come to God as to a Father we cry Abba Father to him as you have it Gal. 4.6 Because ye are Sons saith the Apostle God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts And what doth that spirit there you have it in the next verse crying Abba Father So that Christs spirit if he act in us makes us address our selves to God as to a Father And that my brethren carries two things in it This spirit makes us come to God with the expectations of Children and with the affections of Children 1. If Christs spirit act in us he makes us come to God in prayer with Child-like expectations Expecting from him all the mercy pitty and compassion which a Child can look for from his own Father He makes us to approach the throne of grace with great assurance of audience and acceptance and success there commonly he doth this 2. But yet I must confess An hypocrite may sometimes have these expectations and a child of God may want them The Jews had Child-like expectations Jer. 3.4 they cryed to God Thou art my Father and wilt not thou that art my Father pitty me and help me sure thou wilt and yet they had no Child-like affections no care at all to please God and therefore it is added in the next words that they said and did as evill as they could But now my brethren he that acts by Christs spirit as he hath Child-like expectations so he hath Child-like affections or if at any time he want his Child-like expectations yet still he hath his Child-like affections Though he be in such a case that he is verily perswaded for the present that God will neither own him nor regard him nor look upon him as a Son yet he loves God still He hath a Childs heart to God even when he thinks that God hath not a Fathers heart to him Though he seem to frown upon him and to hide his face and to turn away his prayers yet he hath dear affections to the Lord notwithstanding all this And this appears by the trouble he is in at God displeasure it grieves him so that he is sick of love as the poor Church was Cant. 2.5 when Christ withdrew himself a while this was her grief I sought him whom my soul loveth I will go into the City and seek him whom my soul loveth I said unto the watchmen Did ye see him whom my soul loveth And so when God withdraws himself from such a one as is endued with his spirit the very soul of such a person loves him still when he is very much afraid that he shall never find God more that God will never shew him favour more when he hath lost his Child-like expectations yet still he maintains his Child-like affections JOHN 17.24 That they also whom thou hast given me be with me c. AND thus far of the manner of our Saviours prayer Proceed we to the matter of it And here we have the persons that he prayes for those whom thou hast given me And then the thing that he desires in the behalf of those persons that they also may be with me where I am As for the persons whom our Saviour prayes for you see they are described here by the Fathers giving them to Jesus Christ Let them be what they will in all considerations and
respects besides it matters not in this of what Nation Condition Station Disposition or Conversation for the present if God have given them to him his will is that they be with him where he is But then we must distinguish as we have done before of the Fathers giving to the Son The Father gives men to the Son either for outward Ministration or inward union and incorporation Either to be his servants or to be his members In the first sence Judas was himself given to the Lord Christ to be his Minister and his Apostle as Christ himself acknowledges ver 12. Those whom thou gavest me I kept and none of of them is lost but the Son of perdition Now they who in this sence are given to the Lord Christ to be his Ministers and Servants only not his members are not the men for whom he prayes in this place that they also may be with him where he is because he knows they are appointed for another place Judas was so bestowed upon him and yet he was a lost Creature The Father gave him to the Son and he lost him as you may see in the forecited Text never to enjoy him more But now there are another sort whom God the Father gives to Christ for inward union whom he bestows upon him for to be members of his body And they must needs be with him who are in him And therefore out of question these are they for whom he prayes Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am But where was Christ when he spake these words Why he was upon the earth he was here in the world what then doth he desire that true believers might be with him here Is that the aim of his petition No it is a higher thing for which he is Suitor here their being with him in a higher and more glorious place Only you must conceive him here to speak as his usual manner is as if he were in heaven already As ver 11. of this Chapter And now I am no more in the world So in my Text Father I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am That is in heaven where I am to be and whither I am now going So that it is as if I were already there it being such a certain near approaching instant thing and in that place I would have all those to be whom thou hast given me by election and whom in thine eternal Counsell and Decree thou hast appointed to be members of my body Father I will c. So that the Point to be observed is this DOCTRINE It is the will of Jesus Christ that all that are his own by the donation of the Father shall be in heaven where he is There are two things in the Doctrine which I might prove clear in order before I come to Application First that there are some certain men whom God the Father hath made over to the Son that belong to Jesus Christ and are his own by donation from the Father Secondly that it is the will of Christ that they who are so his own shall be in heaven where he is There are some certain men who belong to Jesus Christ who are his own by donation from the Father And he gives them to the Son by his Decree from everlasting and by the execution of the same Decree in time This I do but mention here because it hath been largely handled on ver 12. Now for the second branch that it is the will of Christ that they who are so his own shall be in heaven where himself is you see it is the Suit he makes to God the Father in my Text Father I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that is in heaven where I am to be In heaven where I am already in my Godhead and where I am to be very shortly in my Manhood there I will have them to be also And for this end our Saviour Christ is gone to heaven even to make heaven ready for his people that so they may be presently admitted when they come He yields it as one special cause of his departure from his Apostles and Disciples when he was about to leave them saith he I go to prepare a place for you Joh. 4.2 When he entred into heaven and passed in to the immediate presence of his Father he took possession of it in our name and stead and left it open after him to all his members He hath in this respect prepared it for them that he hath made it ready to receive them And when they are ready too he will come and receive them to himself that where he is there may they be also as it is added Joh 14.3 And upon this account it was that the Apostle Paul desired to be dissolved because he was assured that assoon as that was over he should be with Christ Phil. 1.23 and so he teaches us expresly in another place that all that sleep in Christ Jesus shall be for ever with the Lord 1 Thes 4.17 By which it is apparent that it is the will of Christ that all that are his own by the donation of the Father shall be in Heaven where himself is But you will ask me Why will he have them to be there To this I answer that a man would think it necessary by reason of the union between Christ and them that seeing they are one they should be in one place But you must know my brethren that the corporeal and local presence of the parties contributes nothing to the union that is made between Christ and his members which is a spiritual and invisible thing and which no neerness in regard of place can further no distance in regard of place can hinder So that Christs people may be in him though they be not with him in the sence wherein I speak I mean not with him in the same place Their being with him locally in heaven is no way necessary to their union with him Or were it so the Saints on earth were in a very ill case Well then this cannot be the reason why Christ would have his people to be in one place with him that they may be one with him They may be this without the other But there are divers other weighty reasons of the Point I shall name a few of them Reason 1 Christ would have his people be in heaven where himself is because he hath a dear affection to them his heart is carried out exceedingly in love to them And more particularly and distinctly he loves them with a love of benevolence and he loves them with a love of complacency 1. Christ would have his people be in heaven where himself is because he loves them with a love of benevolence With such a love as makes him with them all the good that they are possibly capable of Now my beloved what greater good can be
they could never side with those that are professed adversaries to the Lord Jesus and who endeavour to subvert and overthrow his worship and religion and destroy his people And certainly Christ cannot choose but take them for his enemies and use them like his enemies while they incorporate themselves with those that live in open opposition and hostility against him And as the friends unto the enemies of Christ even so the enemies unto the friends of Christ are enemies to Christ himself They that are adversaries to the Saints who are as it is said of Abraham the friends of God the friends of Christ must needs be adversaries to the Lord Jesus There is a Covenant and a League of love between the Lord and them and the league is not defensive only but offensive too he that toucheth them saith Christ toucheth the Apple of mine eye touch them touch me Zac. 2.8 Nay they are not alone in Covenant with him but more then so my brethren they are one with him And therefore they are called Christ 1 Cor. 12.12 For as the body is one and hath many members and all the members are but one body so also is Christ conceive it Christ in aggregate comprizing all the Church with him for caput corpus unus est Christus as Austin speaks the head and the body is but one Christ and that which is the name of Christ Jer. 23.6 This is his name by which he shall be called The Lord our Righteousness is the Churchss name too Jer. 33.16 This is the name wherewith she shall be called The Lord our Righteousness Indeed his people are the members of his body and he can never be a friend unto the head who is an adversary to the members Now if on triall by the former evidences you find that you hate Christ believe it God hates you The dearer his affection to his Son Christ is the greater is his hatred of the enemies of Christ The union is so neer and the love so infinite between the Father and the Son that God may truly say to Jesus Christ Do not I hate them that hate thee I hate them with a perfect hatred as though they were mine enemies And I will surely take a course with them I will bring them low enough Sit thou at my right hand there sit thou still unmoved and undisturbed till I have made thine enemies thy footstool JOHN 17.24 For thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world IS it so that God the Father dearly loveth Jesus Christ hence then it Vse 2 follows that as he hates them that hate Christ so on the other side he loveth them that love Christ The dear affection that he bears to Christ draws out his very heart to all those that love Christ And this is that which Jesus Christ himself teacheth John 14.21 He that loveth me saith Christ shall be loved of my Father Let him be what he will of what condition or estate he will never so poor and mean and despicable in the world if he do really and truly love me my Father loves that man and loves him dearly for my sake Nay saith the Father this man is my Sons friend he bears a very great affection to my Son Christ and therefore I must needs esteem and love him for my Sons sake I have alwayes loved my Son even from all eternity and that out of all measure and upon this account my love and my affection overflows to all those that love him Oh how should this prevail with every one of us to love Christ and love him dearly since God the Father will requite us to the utmost for all the love we shew to him all the love that we lay out on Jesus Christ he will pay us back again and pay us in the same coin We may depend upon it that we shall have love for love If we love Christ the Father he will love us And is the Fathers love worth nothing Ah my beloved it bringeth with it all the happiness and mercy that a poor soul is capable of And therefore I beseech you let us love Christ let Christ have our love that we may have the Fathers love And here to warm your hearts a little and to draw them out to Christ take notice of these few things 1. View him in himself behold him in the choiceness and excellency of his own beauty There is no spot nor imperfection in him in the very least degree He is fairer then the children of men Psal 45.2 then any of them all let them be what they will for they have blemishes but he hath none All the perfections in the world do meet in him so that there can be nothing added to him Indeed my brethren he is altogether lovely All others have their imperfections and defects something there is unlovely in them but he is altogether lovely And this is that which makes the Church so far in love with him She is taken with his beauty and the delicious savour of his ointments the sweetness of the graces that are in him Cant. 1.3 How is she ravisht in the contemplation of him Cant. 5.8 What is thy beloved more then another beloved say the daughters to her there What is he more saith she me thinks she is an end with that word Why have you no eyes to see He is transcendent incomparable and so describeth him from top to toe and then concludes This is my beloved O ye daughters look upon him this is he As who should say now judge you whether I have cause to love him yea or no. And therefore I am not ashamed to own it and if you meet with my beloved you may tell him that I love him yea that I am sick of love 2. Consider in the next place what he is to you what interest and propriety you have in him Why my beloved he is yours I speak this to believers only And this the Church and Spouse of Christ professeth often I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine and yields this as the reason of the high and dear affection that she bears him A woman you will say hath cause to love her own husband Now Jesus Christ is the husband of the Church she is his wife his spouse his second self she is called by his name We are thine say the people of the Lord the heathen are not so nor are they called by thy name So that the Saints in this respect are infinitely more obliged to love him then these that are without the pale because they have not such relation to him 3. Let the exceeding love of Christ to you draw out your love to him again Amor they say is Câ—s amoris And so let his love be a whet to you Consider he hath loved you and therefore you have reason to love him again This reason doth not hold on both sides we cannot say that we have loved Christ and therefore he hath cause to love us
For we never loved him till he loved us first the love began on his side But we may truly say that Jesus Christ hath loved us and therefore we have cause to love him For he prevented us with mercy and with loving kindness as the Prophet speaks and this should win our hearts to him We love him saith the Apostle in the name of all the faithfull 1 John 4.19 Why so what is the cause of this love you have it in the following words because he loved us first Our love is not the cause of his but his love is the cause of ours 4. Survey what Christ hath done for you and see if it deserve not at the least a return of love from you He hath made you that is little in comparison I mean all things were created by him Col. 1.16 but more then this he hath redeemed you from sin from death from hell it self You had been utterly undone and lost for ever had it not been for Jesus Christ But he hath saved that which was lost He hath raised you from nothing to a Kingdom from poverty to matchless riches yea from death to life it self we were dead but are alive all this is Christs doing We use to love them who have saved our lives and surely we have cause to love Christ for he hath saved our lives and that not from a temporal but from eternal death Not from the first alone but from the second death where the worm never dies and the fire is never quenched And therefore he is called our life that is the cause and fountain of it Col. 3.4 When Christ who is our life shall appear So that we may truly call him in the Prophets words the God of our life And therefore we have cause to make him the object of our love and wholly to bestow our hearts upon him to love him by whom we live the life of grace and look to live the life of glory Is it so that God the Father dearly loveth Jesus Christ The more Vse 3 it is to be admired and wondred at that he should use him as he did for our sakes That he should be angry with him that he should hide his face from him and forsake him in a sence that he should load him with such a burthen of his wrath as made him weep and cry and sweat and faint Ah my beloved what an admirable thing is this who can reach the utmost of it in his thoughts had he not cared for Jesus Christ had he born no affection to him it had not been so strange that God the Father should deal with him in this manner But that he should be so extreamly harsh to him in whom his very soul delights that he should handle him so roughly whom he loves so dearly whom he hath ever loved from all eternity this is an admirable thing indeed And that you may the better see the wonder of it the miracle of mercy that is in it let us consider a little more particularly and distinctly how the Father used him and for whose sake he used him so who was so infinitely dear c. 1. Consider how the Father used him who is so infinitely dear to him he gave him up into the hands of sinfull men to deal with him as they pleased There take the darling of my bosome saith the Father revile him mock him beat him spit upon him scourge him pierce him nail him stretch his limbs upon the Cross crucifie him kill him shed his blood take away his life from him wreak all your malice on him to the utmost and though he cry and roar I will not save him I will be far from helping him and from the words of his roaring as the expression is Psal 22.1 Though God doth love him infinitely he left him in the hands of vile men to use him at their own pleasure and they used him bad enough as you may see if you survey the Gospel story Oh the indignities reproaches and contempts that sinfull wretches poured out upon the Lord of glory In which respect the Prophet saith he was despised and rejected and men hid their faces from him as if they were ashamed of him Isa 53.3 I am a reproach of men saith holy David as a type of Christ Psal 22.6 and despised of the people all that see me laugh me to scorn Oh the abasures that he suffered from persons viler then the earth they trod upon and God the Father who so dearly loved him stood by and made as if he saw nothing Nay more then so he suffered much even from his Fathers own hands q He made him sin that is a sacrifice for sin and he made him a curse for us that there was nothing visible upon him for a season but the severest and feircest wrath of a revenging Judge as if he had been utterly accursed from his Father He scourged him most bitterly even till he blead and roared and sunk away under his hand Thus it pleased the Father to bruise him He spared not his own Son Rom. 8.22 Though he were his own Son he laid on and did not spare him He remitted not to Christ the least jot of those exquisite unsufferable tortures that were in justice due to our transgressions He drank off at his Fathers hands the cup of fury he drank the very dreggs and wrung them out All this the Father did to Jesus Christ and more then I am able to express and yet he loved him infinitely all this while and did from eternity and therein lies the great wonder 2. But secondly if we consider for whose sake the Father used him so who is infinitely dear to him the wonder will be yet greater It had not been so admirable had it been for friends but it was for enemies This raises and commends the Love of God saith the Apostle Rom. 8.10 that we being sinners yea being enemies he reconciled us to him by his Son He used a means by giving up his Son to shame to make up all the breaches between us and him and herein lies the quintessence of this business the sparkle in the jewel of the grace of God That he should prefer the good the glory the salvation of his enemies who lived in open opposition and hostility against him before the ease refreshment safety life of his own Son whom he so dearly loved from all eternity That he should rather choose that one whom he loved so exceedingly should die then they should be made a curse then they should undergo the tortures and the pains of hell then they justice resolves they must be undergone either by his beloved Son or his hatefull enemies It must and will be satisfied either by the one or by the other Well then if it must be so his dearest Son shall suffer and his enemies go free yea he shall suffer to the very death rather then they shall be punished saith the Father There go my poor harmless Lamb to
not all that is so called page 211 Believers priviledges page 256 379 450 451. 479 480 561 Their sins more hainous page 257 Have many enemies and why page 360 363 458 Object of Believers faith Christ page 439 The Word God Heaven and Salvation page 440 Believers loved as Christ page 478 479 Body of Christ Natural and Mystical page 167 Bodily outward worship not to be neglected page 12 Rules and directions for it page 13 C Certainty of salvation page 80 314 315 Christ the Fathers Son and Wisdom page 5 16 Our great Prophet and Preacher ib. 339 Glorified by the Father page 32 Author of all good to the Church page 34. 72 123 124 To be glorified by us and how page 42 44 One with the Father page 48 Came not to quicken and save all men page 105 Must be known page 119 120 123 Comforts to the sons of God in Christ page 17 22 Comforts to the godly page 17 22 70 253 257 342 452 518 Against injuries of the world page 194 258 352 To the distressed page 290 291 365 524 Our Conscience and Faith not subject to men page 65 Conference page 206 Sons by Creation page 15 19 By Creation all the world is the Fathers page 98 199 Knowledge of our Creation page 119 Christ the Fathers Creature page 160 Curiosity condemned page 183 445 Sinfulness thereof page 184 D. DEath not to be prayed for page 366 c. Believers Dead to the world page 190 Comforts against Death page 89 93 387 Desire good things page 49 Dishonourers of Christ page 38 39 c. 262 Disobedient condemned page 59 70 162 164. 404 Despair not of those that are dead in sin page 103 185 255 438 Disorderly walkers page 162 163 Divine glory communicated to Christ page 173 Discovery of the Father See Manifestation Doubtful are unbelievers page 210 212 Disobedience to the word whence it proceeds page 229 Discord the causes thereof page 296 Evils and inconveniencies thereof page 467 E. WHo the Elect page 192 197 Elect cannot perish page 99 312 End of all is Gods glory page 43 154 Eternal God 129. Eternal love of God page 509 Eternal life from Christ page 86 What it is page 87 To be sought after and how page 90 Christs free gift page 90 Unbought unsought untaught page 92 93 How it consists in knowledge and begun therein page 108 Enemies outward and inward page 353 360 363 Evil. How Christ preserveth from all Evil page 371 372 c. Excellency of Christs people above others page 257 Of the Gospel above other Truths page 397 F FAith page 90 120 129 133 See Belief Father God to be apprehended under that notion page 15 21 The Father glorified by Christ page 46 Fears of failing page 88 185 God must be feared page 117 140 Fearful are unbelievers page 211 Father essentially taken page 198 Free love and mercy of God and Christ page 91 92 147 Faithfulness of Christ and his Ministers 244 246. Signs page 247 Christs word to be kept by Faith page 207 208 226 To be heard with Fear page 225 G. GIft of Christ wonderful page 98 516 517 Some given to Christ in special manner page 97 189 Outward fitting Gestures in prayers requisite page 12 13 Gifts of Christ 35. See Qualification page 412 413 Glory of Christ page 32 33 170 472 Gospel the subject of Christs words page 6 8 To be attended 90. 114. The Instrument of life page 109 398 Means to Sanctification page 389 The Truth page 396 God not slack page 30 Glorifieth Christ page 32 Only true God page 126 Godhead of the Trinity page 128 They that have made choice of God happy page 141 They must glorifie God here who will be glorified hereafter page 152 Vain expecters of future Glory page 153 How God is to be glorified here page 154 The Glory that Christ prayed for page 170 171 Christ Glorified in those that are his page 261 472 H. HAters of Christ page 512 513 Hearers how they may profit by the Word page 395 396 Hearing necessary page 392 445 Heathen people in dangerous state page 121 251 534 Heavenly conversation alliance kindred 190 191. Marks thereof page 385 Honour of God to be aimed at page 49 50 154 Honour from honouring Christ page 44 Hour of God page 28 29 30 Hope of Heaven page 174 Hinderances to obedience page 223 We must be Humble as Christ was page 162 Humiliation of Christ page 161 Hypocritical gestures in prayer page 13 Humility commended page 542 543 Holiness of God page 280 Knowledge thereof very profitable page 281 282 Holiness to be laboured for page 435 I. IDols not to be served 136. Causes of Ignorance page 531 533 Ignorance an impediment to life page 109 Ignorant persons sad condition 113 444 inexcusable page 182 533 534 For the Instruction of others page 115 122 Incarnation of Christ page 178 Impatient are unbelievers page 209 210 Intercession of Christ page 250 252 253 267 340 352 438 Judging and censuring others unlawful page 65. 248 Judgements sent not so much for the destruction of enemies as preservation of friends page 77 How to Judge of true Ministers page 248 249 411 412 Imperfections of the Saints page 296 374 441 541 Joy Christ the Author and Original page 338 None to those that are out of Christ page 341 Means and matter of Joy page 343 348 Marks of spiritual Joy page 350 False Joy page 351 Justification page 442 Justice commended page 526 Justice and righteousness of God page 519 520 to be meditated page 528 A comfort to the righteous page 523 524 K. CHrist Keepeth those that are given him page 201 Word of Christ how Kept in the memory heart page 204 Power of God Keepeth those that belong to Christ page 285 How they are Kept and why page 286 287 312 313 Knowledge to be laboured for page 90 108 109 to 114 The beginning of eternal life page 108 109 Knowledge of God and Christ too necessary page 116 536 537 Knowledge of the Father without the knowledge of Christ is but vain and insufficient page 117 118 The most perfect Knowledge here imperfect page 541 543 L. LAnguage suitable for Christians page 193 385 Law none free from it page 60 Believers under the binding power of the Law page 61 62 How given to the righteous page 63 Law-giver none but Christ page 64 Life from Christ page 82 Life of Sanctification and Justication page 83 Christ our Lord by Creation Redemption Covenant page 19 Life not be valued 89 93 a mercy page 367 Come to Christ for Life page 93 Love towards God how to get and increase it page 460 461 552 553 Love of God and Christ to be admired 20. See Admire Love unto the Word 213. Marks thereof page 214 216 Loveliness of Christ page 515 516 Lusts of our own or others not to be obeyed page 139 Where Love is there is Christ page 558 559 Misery of those that have no
Love to God or his children page 561 M. MAgistrates to execute Justice page 525 526 Marks Of faith page 209 Of living by Christ page 84 85 Of Gods children page 24 Of being given up to Christ page 192 193 to 212 Mediator Christ page 47 52 73 101 145 250 Messengers and Ministers of Christ not to be slighted page 40 413 How they ought to use their delegated power page 76 406 408 414 Their faithfulness required page 245 246 390 Their duty page 391 Message and errand of Christ page 148 410 Manifestation of the Father by Christ page 177 Wherefore by Christ alone page 180 Memory means to strengthen it page 206 207 Meditation page 206 215 272 N. NAme of the Father declared a special means to work love in those that hear it page 556 557 Name of God is beauty mercy goodness love page 557 Name of God manifested by Christ page 176 Have recourse to it in any distress page 292 Natural knowledge insufficient page 539 540 Natural life how frail page 89 387 A blessing page 367 368 Neerness of Christ to God page 33 48 253 256 265 Neerness of believers to God page 446 to 450 453 474 562 Nobility of true Chirstians page 257 448 454 O. OBedience due to Christ page 19 69 76 150 203 Due to men also 64 to the Word page 220 Offices of Christ page 34 181 236 250 339 473 Obedience of Christ active and passive page 157 158 One God page 129 130 Omnipotent page 129 How to Obey and serve God page 130 134 God Only to be served page 134 136 138 Our Obedience ought to be total cordial constant page 220 221 228 Our Obedience active and passive page 203 Christ Ordered by the Father in his works page 156 157 c. P. MAtter and manner of Prayer page 496 497 Preparation of the heart for Prayer page 492 493 Passion of Christ page 158 165 166 433 Perfect manifestation of the Father page 180 Perfection of Christs work page 168 169 181 442 Words page 239 241 242 445 Peace of Christ page 145 Power of God doth preserve believers page 286 287 Power of Christ Legislative page 53 432 Judiciary page 53 432 Prayer the outward gesture and utterance thereof to be considered page â—10 Vocal when necessary and requisite page 14 154 Prayers of whom sure to be heard page 17 22 49 254 354 Pride page 104 296 393 Praise vocal page 154 real page 154 Propagation of the Gospel page 416 548 Preservation See Keeping page 361 Preaching of Christ page 4 159 178 546 548 Practice a help to the memory page 206 Perseverance Motives thereunto page 169 People of Christ are the Fathers page 198 255 Promises to be believed 209 who believe them not page 210 Our great Prophet is Christ page 234 236 c. Prophecies shall be accomplished page 332 c. Q VVHo Quickned by Christ page 84 85 Qualification of Christ page 144 425 Questioning proves not want of faith page 212 R. THat Christ ought and how to be Received page 149 150 Receive and entertain the Spirit page 271 272 Private Revenge condemned page 65 66 67. Sinfulness thereof ibid. Remedies and rules against Revenge page 67 68 Repetition page 206 380 Reproof page 413 Resignation to the Word page 228 S. SAnctification means thereof page 388 End of Christs Office page 434 Satisfaction of Christ page 157 Christ the Fathers Servant page 47 102 160 Scriptures to be believed and assented to page 132 444 445 Scriptures proved to be the Word of God page 230 231 Sons by Adoption page 15 Creation page 15 Sons of God 15 16 17 their comfort ib. Signs page 23 24 Spiritual desires how discerned page 498 499 Spiritual service promoted by gesture and utterance page 11 Signs of the Spirit 24 500. Of Spiritual Joy page 350 Spirit of Christ slighted page 40 270 271 Service of God 134. See Obedience Sending of Christ 142 145 c. Of Ministers page 406 425 426 Spirits operation page 159 178 206 233 548 Shame of the world page 174 To Christ page 175 Our Strength is in God not in our selves page 289 290 Sufferings of Christ glorious page 36 161 433 Society to be made choice of page 459 460 Solitude page 195 Helps and remedies against Sin page 283 284 Sins of Christians more sinful then of others page 257 456 457 Sooner and more sharply chastised ibid. How the Saints are kept from Sin page 373 374 How to follow Christ in our Spirits page 273 How we are to Seek unto God page 293 Security page 319 563 Believers ought not to be Sorrowful page 342 347 T. THreatnings have an implicit condition page 333 Threatnings to be believed 209. Comfort to the Church page 338 Thankfulnsss due to God and Christ page 81 86 182 284 423 Set Time of God the fittest page 28 Time not to be prescribed to God page 29 Time-servers condemned page 138 Titles of Christ 33 communicated to believers page 473 Temptation how we are kept from it page 372 Tribulation See Affliction Benefits thereof page 370 378 379 How we are kept from it page 373 Trial of Prophets page 237 411 True God page 128 129 133 335 Cleer Truths may be questioned and doubted page 212 Truth the whole word but especially the Gospel page 396 397 To be maintained how page 402 To be obeyed page 403 Trust in God alone page 140 237 Tryals and troubles of this life page 275 277 V. VEngeance See Revenge page 67 Unbelievers dishonour Christ page 39 Vnbelievers sin and danger page 56 208 395 531 537 Uncharitable page 58 59 Vngodly 70. See Wicked why they have prevailed page 243 Their destruction not intended by Christ page 72 77 79 Vnity of the Trinity page 128 130 173 Vnity to be studied and put in practice page 141 A matter of great difficulty and concernment page 295 c. Benefits of Vnity and means conducing page 307 308 459 466 Vnion of believers page 446 447 474 How one as God and Christ are one page 448 Defective Vnion of worldly men page 478 Vniversal Redemption page 251 328 Vnderstanding page 109 Vocal prayer page 14 Vocal praise page 154 W. VVAit Gods time Motives thereunto page 30 Will of Christ a law with the Father page 490 491 That they who are given him should be in heaven page 501 We must suffer Willingly page 161 433 Wicked men dishonour Christ page 39 Words of Christ worthy of our observation page 4 5 6 7 401 To be highly valued page 8 149 206 214 216 218 238 How kept in the heart memory c. page 203 205 To be loved and the signs thereof 213 214. Motives page 218 Word of God inward and essential outward and declaratory page 202 Gods Word must be known to be his page 224 225 Work of Christ how finished before his Passion page 165 Is full and perfect page 166 167 Worlds shame to be despised page 174 194 True believers are of another world page
you be carried down the stream with the times and with the places where you live if you have fellowship with the unfruitfull works of darkness hear what the Apostle says 1 John 3.10 you have discovered whose you are and to whom you appertain By this the children of God are manifest and the châ—ldren of the Devil He that doth not righteousness is not of God he is none of Gods children If God be your Father and you be his children you have a dear affection to those who are his children as your selves are There is a tender Love a sweet agreement between you and your fellow brethren If any difference fall out then say as Abraham once to Lot Let there be no strife between us for we are brethren Gen. 13.18 Let brotherly love continue Hebr. 1.12 And the defect of this affection on the other side is an apparent evidence of non-adoption as you may see 1. Joh. 3.10 he that doth not righteousness is not of God saith the Apostle the meaning is he is not the childe of God and he that loveth not his brother what think we then of those whose sons are they who hate and trouble and disquiet those who are indeed the Sons of God and work them all the woe and mischief they can and that because they are so like God because they bear the image of God and the clear impressions of his Holiness upon them If they will know their pedegree they are the Children of the Devil they are the seed of the old Serpent between whom and the womans seed the Lord hath put an unreconcileable and Endless Enmity and Opposition And therefore let not such while they continue in this way of opposition to the Saints presume to come to God and call him Father For if they do they fall into the sin of Ananias in another way Acts 5.4 they lye to God And they have cause to fear that he will even strike them dead before him But if you find within you working and warm affections to your fellow-brethren if your hearts be mightily and vehemently carried out to such and that because you see the Image of your Father shining in them and even as God is even such are they in this world They are so like him whom you love transcendently and incomparably more then all the world besides that you cannot choose but love them and affect them dearly too for his sake and in reference to him So that your delight is in them yea all your delight is in them You find no pleasure or complacency in any other Company but such as theirs is I say my brethren if you love them thus and upon this account it is a comfortable sign that God is a Father to you and you may look upon him as a Father when you are making your petitions to him John 17.1 The hour is come c. ANd thus far of the object of our Saviours prayer or the person to whom he presents it to and that as you have heard is God the Father Proceed we to the parts of it which have been noted to be two according to the paties whom he prayes for In the first place he prayeth for himself the Head of the Church And in the second place he prayes for the inferiour Members of the Church First For himself the Head of the Church he desireth glorification Then for the Members of the Church he desireth confirmation and that for the Apostles and Disciples then about him the Members of the present Church or else for those who were after to believe by their word or to be called by their preaching the Members of the Church to come as I have shewed you formerly when I drew up a short Analysis or resolution of the whole Chapter We are at this time to begin with that part of our Saviours prayer which concerns himself In which you may take notice with me of these three things the rise of it the matter of it and the reasons of it First You have here the rise of it from whence our Saviour takes occasion to present it to his Father The hour is come Secondly You have the matter of it or the thing which he desireth of the Father and this is that he may be glorified Father glorifie thy Son Thirdly you have the reasons of it with which he presseth and enforceth this request of his and they are many and of great importance as God assisting you shall see at large hereafter At this time I shall fasten on the first Particular the rise of this Petition of our Saviour from whence he takes occasion to present it to his Father The hour is come The hour is come What hour is come the hour in which the Father had decreed and fore-appointed to glorifie his Son Christ that hour was come and therefore he desires his Father to execute his purpose now seeing this was his own time But you will say the hour which was now at hand was the hour of Christs Passion in which he was abased and humbled as you may see he was betrayed almost as soon as he had done this prayer And how then could this be the hour in which he was appointed to be glorified of the Father To this I answer that Christ was glorified in some respect even while he suffered he triumphed upon the Cross as the Apostle Paul speaks Col. 2.15 blotting out the hand-writing that was against us and took it out of the way nailing it to his Cross And having spoyled Principalities and Powers he made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it that is in the same Cross The word that the Apostle uses there alludeth to the fashion of the Roman Conquerours whose manner was to lead their vanquished Captives bound before their Chariots in a glorious way the people gratulating their heroick acts and Victories with loud and joyful acclamations Our Saviour having spoyled Principalities and Powers did somewhat Analogical to this and hence the terms by which those ancient Roman Triumphs were expressed are attributed to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he made a shew of them openly that is he brought them to extream dishonour and made them spectacles of ignominy and reproach and gazing-stocks of shame to men and Angels and this he did upon the very Cross It s true that to a carnal Eye this was the place of his humiliation but to an eye of faith it was the place of his triumphant Exaltation The world sees nothing but dishonour in the Cross of Christ but they that are enlightned see the great work of mans redemption finished there sin and his kingdom broken there and the Devil vanquished and led captive there to Christs eternal honour and their eternal ignominy and confufion So that even with respect to this this time of suffering on the Cross our Saviour Christ might say The hour is come Father glorifie thy Son Or if you look a little further to the time of his ascention and
of his people He had not been a Mediator he had not been a King as man but for his people They are the end of his Kingdom and of his power and hence the Execution of it is carried wholly and throughout with relation to the Saints All the authority he exercises is for them and all the judgements that he executeth are for them That which he doth as King and as a Iudge against the world is for them If he rebuke the great ones of the world it is for them as you may see Psal 105.10 He suffered no man to do them wrong but reproved Kings for their sakes and therefore he is called the King of Saints Apoc 15.3 True he is King of all the world his power is over all flesh but this Authority of his relates especially to his people He is peculiarly the King of Saints yea when he walks in ways of wrath and judgement and revenge towards his Churches Enemies he doth this as the King of Saints with relation to the Saints And hence those Sinâ—ers in the fore-alledged Text behold him in that act of pouring out the vials of his wrath upon the Beast they look upon him as the King of Saints And therefore they applaud him by no other name but this they pick and cull out this to magnifie him by They might have said Just and true are thy wayes O Lord Iesus O Lord Christ O Emmanuel or the like But they make choice of this Expression just and true are thy wayes O thou King of Saints To intimate that he did execute those judgments upon Antichrist and his Adherents not as King of the world so much but as the King of his people and for the better government the greater ease and peace and quiet of his people His aim was not so much at the destruction of his Enemies as at the relaxation of his Church He did it not so much out of hatred to the wicked as out of love to his people I deerly love my Saints whose King I am and they are not to be preserved in tranquillity and peace they will be always vexed and troubled and diisturbed unless I take this rigid course with such incorrigible wretches as these are The authority of Iesus Christ with c. must needs be chiefly for the salvation of his own people and not so much for the destruction of the wicked because the wicked might have been destroyed though he had never been invested with this authority as man but his own people could not have been saved The reprobate would certainly have gone to hell though all mankind had not been under the authority of Christ as Man and Mediator but under the authority of God only But the Elect and chosen had not gone to heaven It could not have been so but I make the supposition if it had been so So that his Father need not to have given him this power that wicked wretches might be punished with Eternal death that would have been done of course but that his own might have Eternal Life which they could not have had without Christ That other End had freely been accomplished and attained if Christ had never been incarnate if he had never been invested with this power as man the wicked had been damned But it was absolutely necessary to this end that the Godly might be saved that their Head and Mediator should have power to give Eternal life to them All the world had been destroyed they had been plunged in Eternal death if Christ had not been thus authorized to deliver his and save his And therefore this authority is put upon him by his Father that some might have Eternal life that he might give eternal life to as many believe in him The authority of Jesus Christ c. must needs be chiefly for the good and the salvation of his own people and not so much for the destruction of the world because he is invested with it by his Father out of love to mankind and that which is done in Love must needs be for a good end God did not send his son into the world and put such power upon him out of hatred to it but out of pitty and compassion to his own chosen God so loved the world that he gave his own son John 3.16 he did it out of much love and the End is answerable that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have life everlasting as it is added in the next words This is annexed you see that suits with love whereas if he had done it that unbelievers might be ruined and destroyed if that had been his main intention it had proceeded from another principle a principle of wrath and anger But this he disavows in the succeeding verse God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world by him might be saved And that God did not send his Son and give him power over all flesh out of hatred and displeasure but out of favour and good will and so by consequence his aim must be especially and chiefly at the good of his people The authority c. must needs be chiefly c. because he exerciseth this authority so long and but so long as they have any good to reap by it and when it is no further useful to his people he in some sense resigns it up to him from whom he had it And therefore certainly it is for them and their profit As long as there is an Enemy to hinder the good and comfort and salvation of his people either within them or without them he keeps this power in his hands to curb them and to keep them down And so as the Apostle tels us He must reign till all those enemies be under foot 1 Cor. 15.25 till they be utterly subdued And then when this is done when there is none to trouble or molest his people any longer when he hath past the sentence of eternal condemnation on the wicked and sent them packing unto hell and seemed to say unto his Saints These Enemies which you have seen to day you shall see them again no more for ever when he hath cast out every thing that offendeth that is offensive to his people and made an everlasting separation between the wicked and the godly when he hath cast the wicked into the Lake that burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death and given eternal life to all his people when he hath done them all the good that they are capable of and when there is no further use of his authority for their advantage he even yields it up to him that gave him power over all flesh 1 Cor. 15.28 By which it is apparent that he took this power upon him principally for his peoples sake Is it so that the authority of Jesus Christ with c. is chiefly for the Use 1 benefit and the salvation of his people This then may be one great encouragement among the
Scripture and never leave till you know the heart of it And this is that which the Apostle Paul insinuates Col. 3.16 Let the Word of God dwell in you richly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let it dwell let it be a houshold-guest let it rise and sit and walk dine and sup and lodge with you let it be familiar to you Be you as throughly acquainted with it as any man that dwells in your house with whom you have discourse and dealing every hour And truly if you strive not thus to be acquainted with the Word of God you do not love it as you ought to do 3. If you love the VVord of God you will not easily fall out with it when you find the meaning of it and perceive it is against you in something that is naturally dear to you you will not quarrel with it your hearts will not rise up in enmity against it No your dear affections to it will make you quietly and meekly to submit to it Indeed ungodly men cannot endure the VVord of God the Precepts and Commandements of it are like bonds and cords to them they lay restraint upon them they curb them and they hold them in and hence they are enraged against it They endeavour what they can to break the bonds of God asunder they are always contradicting and opposing and gainsaying and raising quarrels and disputes against the Word because they hate it But now the Saints upon the other side are very much in Love with it and hence it is that the Commandements of it are not grievous to them they agree with their spirits they are written in their hearts Or if at any time it cross them they are not angry with the Word but with themselves that their base hearts should not in every thing agree with it Yea when it is a little sharp and bitter though their stomachs rise at first yet in the issue they submit and say as Hezekiah to Isaiah Isa 39.8 Good is the Word of the Lord which thou hast spoken They find a sweet and pleasing savour even in the sowrest passage of the Word There goes a savour with their knowledge of it as the Apostle Pauls expression is 2 Cor. 2.14 Carnal men may know abundance of the Scripture more then a pretious Saint of God but here is the difference they find no savour in their knowledg of it at least no sweet and pleasing savour No it is distastful to them it doth not suit with their palates it doth not fit their humors A Drunkard knows it is a sin to be intemperate to drink himself down to a beast A wanton and lascivious person knows it is a sin to be unclean but this doctrine doth not please him and so it is in other cases whereas the Truth is sweet to those that are in Christ they look upon it as their friend and love it because it joyns with them against their lusts who are their greatest enemies whom they abhorre and whom they hate with a perfect hatred 4. If you love the VVord of God you will hardly part with it you will not let it go from you if you can keep it any way by any means And much less will you go from it I have not departed from thy judgements saith holy David to the Lord Psal 119.102 for thou hast taught me Brethren there are a sort of men who have a kind of knowledge of the Word of God but they have no love to it and hence it is that they are easily withdrawn from it as multitudes have been in these times while they that have it dear in their affections are rooted and established in the present truth as 2 Pet. 1.12 They are not carryed clean away with every new opinion and conceit as others are They cleave unto the Truths of God with full purpose of heart They are setled in their judgements and resolved in their minds This is undoubtedly the Truth of God I know it to be so I find it to be so by sensible experience in my soul and to this I mean to stick even to the loss of goods and life and all I am resolved that I will not relinquish it what ever hazard I may undergo to hold it whatever Sophisters and slie Seducers object against it 5. If you love the Word of God you will be extreamly troubled when it is slighted and abused it will vex you to the heart to see it undervalued and despised You will be ready to reply in such a case The VVord is a good friend of mine one whom I love dearly from whom I have received much comfort And I am no way able to endure it wounds me to the very soul to see it used in this fashion Beloved these are times in which the VVord of God hath suffered much from wicked and ungodly men It hath been strangely scorned and contemned and even trampled under foot It hath been usual in these days of ours for men to speak against those things that are delivered from the VVord contradicting and blaspheming Now my Beloved how have such things as these affected you and wrought upon you what tears have they drawn from you what sorrow have they wrought in you how often have they sent you over-loaden to your closets there to open all to God It is observed by the Holy Ghost that when Jehoiakim had cut the roll in pieces with a pen-knife which Jeremiah brought him from the Lord and burnt it in the fire upon the hearth they that stood by were not afraid neither did they rent their garments nor manifest their sorrrow Jer. 36.23 24. Beloved some of you have seen as high contempt as this offered to the word of God though not in the same kind And truly if you have not rent your hearts at least if you have not been inwardly afflicted in your spirits and done what you are able to the vindication of it you have shewed but little love to Gods word By these things you may try whether you have kept the word of God in your affections by loving it and so have made it to appear that you belong to Jesus Christ by the donation of the Father Now in the last place let me quicken you a little to the love of Gods word That if you love it not already you may come to love it Or if you love it you may go on to love it yet more And to this end I shall desire you to take notice of how great excellency and admirable use it is to you as I shall lay it open in a few particulars 1. Are you yet in your natural estate the word of God is the means to convert you The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul Psal 19.7 Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God Sanctifie them saith our Saviour How By thy truth thy word is truth Joh. 17.17 That speech of Paul is apposite and full God hath chosen you to salvation through sanctification
interest is so far from being weakned and abated 〈◊〉 that indeed it is strengthened and increased by this means Vse 1 Is it so that all the people of the Lord Christ are belonging to the Father Then certainly they are most excellent and pretious people for he will never own vile things It is a frequent thing in Scripture that admirable and eximious things are said to be the Lords The hill of Sion the hill of God because the excellentest of all other hills Psal 68.15 The trees of Lebanon the trees of the Lord because the excellentest of all other trees And so the Saints the people of the Lord because the excellentest of all other people and surely that must needs be excellent which he owns And therefore let us learn to value them aright and as the Lord in this respect hath made them high above others as he speaks of Israel Deut. 26.18.19 God hath avouched thee to be his own peculiar people to make thee high above all Nations So let us have an high esteem of them let us not slight and disrespect them as carnal men are apt to do because they have a meer outside but let us look upon them as the Fathers as that which he peculiarly owns and that not as his ordinary stuffe but as his Treasure and his Jewels as they are often stiled in the Scripture And though they may be trodden under foot awhile by wicked men we may be confident the time is coming when the Lord will make them up as it is said Mal. 3.17 When he will make up his Jewels when he will take them up out of the mire and wipe them clean from those abasures that have lain upon them to hide their beauty and obscure their lustre and shew them in their brightness and their splendor to the world Is it so that all the people of the Lord Christ do belong c. Then let Vse 2 it be their care and their endevour so to walk and so to carry and behave themselves as a people ought to do who have such near relation both to God and Christ both to the Father and to the Son And hence the people of the Lord are exhorted to be strict and to be holy in a peculiar manner on this very ground as you may see that place for instance Lev. 20.26 You shall be holy to me saith the Lord. And why so For I have severed you from other people that you should be mine And so say I to you my Brethren you are the Lords own people and he hath severed you from others to be his peculiar ones Oh see now that you walk as it becometh those to do who are the Lords and that upon these two grounds For 1. The sins of those who are his own reflect with more disparagement upon him then the sins of others do He suffers not so much in the exorbitancies of other men that appertain not to him as he doth in yours and therefore you should be the more wary Oh let not wicked men have any cause to say of you as the Heathen did sometimes of the people of the Jews the only people of the Lord at that time Ezek. 36.20 These are the people of the Lord and they are gone out of his Land They carried and demeaned themselves so ill that he could not bear with them but he was fain to cast them forth out of the Land which he had bestowed upon them So let not wicked wretches say of you These are the people of the Lord and yet they are proud covetous worldly wanton loose c. Let not his name I pray you be dishonored and blasphemed by your means but think when you are tempted and enticed to any sin Whether it be fit for those who are the Lords own people to do such wickedness and sin against their God 2. As your iniquities who are the Lords dishonour him more so he will chasten you if you miscarry sooner and quicker then he will do other men who are further off from him this should make you yet more cautious that known place is home and apposite to this purpose Amos 3.12 You only have I known of all the families of the earth therefore I will punish you For other families that are not mine as you are and that appertain not to me in such a special manner as you do I shall not be so quick to exercise my Discipline upon them But you are mine own houshold and therefore if you do amiss I will be sure to take a course with you If God see many Aliens to him doing any wickedness he may bear with them long for it concerns him not so much to deal against them but if he spy out any of his own amongst them doing as the rest do he will be sure to single him and call him out from all the rest and say You are my own you appertain especially to me and what will you do as these vile abominable wretches do will you run out with them to the same excess of riot Come I must order you though I let the rest alone I must not suffer you in such courses Is it so that all people of the Lord Christ do belong c. Here then is pretious comfort for the Saints arising from the property and interest that God the Father hath in them For it they be his own and that in such a special and peculiar way as we have shewed we may be confident he will do very much for them and that in divers cases I will name a few of them 1. If they be his own the Father certainly will hear the Son for them he will be easily entreated for those that have such near relation to him If they were only Christs and not his this were enough to make him facile to the Intercession that his own Son makes for them because they appertain to one that is so infinitely dear to him But seeing they are Christs and his too this carries all before it and this is that our Saviour urges in my Text That those for whom he prayed and interceded did aswell belong to his Father as himself so that his Father was as much engaged to hear as he was to pray for them I pray for them whom thou hast given me for they are thine q. d. I hope thou wilt not put me off with a denyal For they are thine as well as mine whom I intercede for 2. If they belong to God the Father we may depend upon it he doth love them and love them very dearly too as those that are so near to him Property and interest is one special ground of love we use to love our own you know yea many times to dote upon them out of measure though there be nothing lovely in them And certainly the Lord hath very dear affections to his own too though they be black yet they are comely in his eyes His love towards them is so great that it covers many faults
we thrive apace in knowledge then we grow to perfectness then the Church of Christ goes up But till the stones be joined close together there will be no edifying that is in English no building It is of great concernment to the entertainment of Christ Jesus in the world that his Disciples be at nearest c. If they be alwayes wrangling and contending others will not come among them No they will stand off from them and from the Master which they serve if he be owned and followed by none but by a company of quarrelsome contentious people And hence is that Petition of our Saviour in behalf of his Apostles and Disciples at ver 23. of this Chapter In my text he prayes the Father that they may be one even as the Father and himself were one And in the cited verse he renews the same petition that they may all be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they may be one in us And why so That the world may believe that thou hast sent me q. d. If my disciples be not one among themselves if they be rent asunder by a spirit of division the world will not believe that I came forth from thee who art the God of love and peace that thou hast sent me down into the world to be a Mediator and a Peace-maker to make up all the breaches and the differences between thee and thy people They will look strangely upon me and I shall never bring them to believe that I am come on such an errand as this is And therefore I beseech thee Father that I may be entertained under the Notion of a Mediator that the world may believe that thou hast sent me on this business do thou take care that my Disciples may be at unity among themselves It is of great concernment to the happiness of Christs Disciples that they be at neerest c. Among the eight beatitudes the third in order falleth to the meek and peaceable Mat. 5.5 And if the meek and peaceable be blessed then certainly the fierce and furious are accursed It is a pretty observation of Ludolphus out of Bede on that place Heaven is promised to the pure blessed are the pure in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Earth is promised to the meek Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth So there remaineth nothing else but hell for the contentious and impure spirit Ah my beloved would we avoid the curse and would we be partakers of the blessing would we have heaven and earth to be our portion Let us be pure and peaceable let us make and keep peace and so the blessing of the God of peace will be upon us And therefore David having broken out into a passionate and pithy commendation of the unity of brethren behold how good and pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity it is like pretious oyntment c. Psal 133.2 he shuts up all with this conclusion There the Lord commanded the blessing and life for evermore There where brethren live in unity and love there the Lord commands blessing it cannot choose but come upon them for the Lord himself commands it And this blessing it is life and this life it is eternal There the Lord commanded the blessing and life for evevermore Vse 1 Now to proceed to application Is it so my brethren that it is a matter of wondrous difficulty and of great concernment for Christs Disciples to be at neerest unity among themselves Then let this quicken us and stirr us up who would be taken to be Christs Disciples to labour after this oneness and to endeavour to the utmost of our power to get and keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace You hear it is a matter of great concernment and therefore it is worth the striving for It is a matter of wondrous difficulty and therefore is not to be had without striving Now I beseech you my beloved let us set our selves to this business There was never greater need them now when God hath suffered such a spirit of division to possess his own people And when the members of the body mysticall of Christ are of so many minds and draw so many wayes and have sometimes such vehement and hot contentions and disputes among themselves So that the Church had never greater reason to cry out as Rebecca sometimes did when she had parties in her womb If it be so why am I thus and therefore we had need to put some spirit into this perswasion and you had need to put some spirit into your endeavours and if the Lord will put his spirit of unity and peace into us it may subdue and overcome the spirit of division which reigns too much abroad in these times But you will ask me How may we attain this and what are we to do that we may come to be at neerest unity among our selves Though it be very difficult as you have heard it may be compassed notwithstanding by the blessing of the Lord upon the use of these directions You must endeavour to the utmost of your power to mortifie those lusts and those corruptions that incline you to dissentions I shewed you formerly in explication of the point that the cause of our divisions is within and not without us They do not come so much from outward provocations as inward corruptions If there were no lusts within there would be no wars without as the Apostle James insinuates And verily if our corruptions as pride and passion and self-love were throughly mortified within those outward provocations would never cause such wofull rents and such implacable contentions as they do And therefore let us set our selves effectually and throughly to subdue these lusts of ours though they be naturally as dear and near as the members of our bodies let us persue them to the very death as the Apostle Paul advises Col. 3.5 Mortifie therefore your members which are upon the earth Let nothing satisfie us till we have the life of them Let us not wound them only but destroy them that ought to be the Christians aim as the Apostle shews Rom. 6.6 that the body of sin may be destroyed Our lusts seek our life either they must dye or we And they seek Gods life Omne peccatum est Deicidium And they have sought Christs life and brought him to a shamefull and accursed death And therefore let us seek their lives too and never satisfie our selves till we have the blood of them Let it be far from any of us to nourish or to cherish our corruptions to favour them or to deal kindly with them any way No let us dash this Babylonish brood against the stones let us shew them no mercy And when they are once destroyed our differences and debates will end with them As we must mortifie our carnal lusts so we must chase away out of our hearts our carnal reasonings that foment
of joy when he promised him you know to his Apostles and Disciples they were full of sorrow and he did this as an antidote against it Come be not troubled saith our Saviour I will send you another Comforter that shall abide with you for ever John 14.16 I have been a Comforter to you I confess but seeing I am ready to depart from you I will not leave you comfortless no I will send you another Comforter one that shall comfort you as much as I have done and one that shall stick to you too and shall not leave you as I am about to do but shall abide with you for ever So that you see one special end of Christ in sending down the Holy Ghost into the hearts of his people is to comfort them and cheer them to be to them not only a spirit of Sanctification but a spirit of Consolation and so discovers that he hath a great regard to the joy of his people Christ gives deliverance to his people that they may be full of joy He hath divers other ends why he becomes a Saviour to them in the day of their distress but this is not the least of all that he may put new joy into their hearts and a new Song into their mouths When he appears to the salvation of his people in doing so he appeareth to their joy as you may see Isa 66.5 That is the End and Drift of his Appearance Christ hath purchased Heaven for his people that they might be full of ioy For Heaven as it is a place of the heigth of holiness so it is a place of the heigth of happiness Here indeed we are in Bochim in a place of weeping we go through a vale of tears and digg up Wells but they are of salt water the rain also fills the pools But when we are arrived at Heaven we shall weep no more but all our tears shall be wiped from our eyes We shall not have a wrinkle in our faces nor a tear upon our cheeks nor a sad thought upon our hearts but all shall be smooth and clear and sweet and that for ever Then we shall be full of joy Christs joy shall be fulfilled in us yea we shall have the fulness of joy Psalm 16. ult Indeed full joy importeth nothing but enough to fill us so much as we are capable of as is commensurate to our capacity as we are able to receive But on the other side the fulness of joy importeth all the measures and degrees of it So that there can be nothing added to it there is nothing wanting to it to make it absolute in all respects It is not to be raised higher any way And this hath Christ prepared and purchased for us By these things it is evident that Jesus Christ would have his people to be full of holy joy But wherefore will he have it to be so Why would he have his people to be full of holy joy Out of self-respect he would have it to be so because by reason of the Reason 1 neerness of his union with his people he hath a kind of share in their comfort As his joy is their joy according to his own expression in my text that they may have my ioy fulfilled in themselves So upon the other side their joy is his joy And as there is a social glory of the head and of the members as the School-expression is as Christ is glorified in the glory of his people 2 Thes 1.12 so there is a social joy of the head and of the members Christ rejoyceth in the joy of his people The Comfort of the members redoundeth also to the Comfort of the head As Christ delights in the prosperity so in the joy of his people When they are joyfull he rejoyceth over them with joy and joyeth over them with singing as his own expression is Zeph. 3.17 Reason 2 Christ would have his people to be full of holy joy to recompence them for their sorrow They are described to be such as mourn Mat. 5.4 That uses to be first with them they use to begin there But then they do not use to end there And therefore it is added presently for they shall be comforted Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted And Christ would have their comfort to be answerable to their sorrow That as his sufferings have abounded in them their consolation also may abound by him as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 1.5 Indeed they go forth weeping bearing pretious seed as you may see Psal 126.6 They sow in showry weather in a weeping time In such a time did David sow the seed of true repentance for his sin he wept so much that he made his bed to swimm and watered his Couch with his tears In such a time did Peter sow the same see in a time of bitter weeping Mat. 26. ult But then the harvest makes them ample recompence for all the dark and sad and showry weather in the sowing time They come again with joy and they bring their sheaves with them They scatter it by grains but they gather it by sheaves they have twenty thirty forty yea an hundred fold for one So that if any now should ask me You say that Christ would have his people to rejoyce but what would he not have them mourn too Yes he would have them mourn but in order to rejoycing Sorrow is an unperfect passion and is not for it self but for some higher use as all the rest of the declining passions or affections are As hatred is for love and fear for confidence so sorrow also is for joy unto which it is subservient As lancing is not for it self but for ease and remedy and as a potion is not properly for sickness though it cause it for a season but for health so sorrow is for joy and joy is the end of sorrow in the Saints And Christ intends it to be so You shall be sorrowfull saith Christ to his Disciples but your sorrow shall be turned into Joy John 16.20 He gives to them that mourn in Zion beauty for ashes the oil of gladness for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness Isa 61.3 The ransom'd of the Lord go out lamenting but they return to Zion with Songs and everlasting Joy upon their heads Isa 35. ult Reason 3 Christ would have his people to be full of holy joy that they may be large in duty Sorrow is a kind of straightning the heart a sad heart is a straigthned heart it is shut up it cannot pray it cannot praise it can do nothing with enlargement And therefore the Apostle calleth mourning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a contraction of the heart 2 Cor. 2.4 And I appeal for this to those whose spirits are opprest with sadness and dejection whether it do not make them indisposed to duty unfit to hear unfit to pray and in a word unfit for any part of Christs service But holy joy upon the
actions They are acquainted very well with the Almighty to use the phrase of holy Job they converse with God here come very often to his house now and then sup with him speak with him twice a day at least and that in a familiar way untill at length they be admitted to a more neer and intimate enjoyment of the Lord for ever 1 Thes 4.17 till they be caught up as they were first let down to meet him and so to be for ever with the Lord. 3. Christs Disciples are going to another world and so in that respect they are not of the world as Christ is not of the world because the world is not their fixed habitation It is the character of wicked wretches that they are men of this world and that they have their portion here Psal 17.14 In which respect the Prophet sets them in opposition to the Saints And so ungodly men are stiled the inhabitants and the indwellers of the earth very often in the Book of Revelation But now the Christian on the other side is not a dweller but a stranger on the earth And this the Saints of God have frequently professed in the Scriptures The Fathers they acknowledged as the Apostle Paul observeth Heb. 11.13 that they were forreigners and pilgrims here And Abraham as the same Apostle notes sojourned in the Land of promise Observe it well he did not dwell there but sojourned as in a strange Countrey Heb. 11.9 And why because he looked for a City where he meant to dwell he had it not but he expected it and looked for it And this is that which the Apostle Paul professeth in the name of all the faithfull that they had no continuing City here no City that they meant to settle in but they sought for one to come This was the City that the Fathers saw a great way of and made towards And so despising all the happiness and glory of the present world where they were strangers and in which they were tarrying only for a little space they set their eyes and hearts on this which was their own Countrey Heb. 11.19 They desired a better Countrey which was an heavenly where God had prepared for them a City And the same disposition you may note in others of the faithfull mentioned there in that Chapter Use 1 Is it so that Christs Disciples are in this respect like Christ himself that they are of another world as he is Then let us prove our selves by this my brethren whither we be Christs Disciples yea or no. If we be the indwellers of the earth if we be at home here if we have our portion here no portion in the other world we are none of Christs Disciples No no if we belong to him we are strangers in the earth we are absent from our home while we are here we are not of the world as Christ is not of the world and whether we be so or no we may discover by these evidences following They that are not of this world are not in all respects conformed to it they fashion not themselves according to the world Rom. 12.2 they walk not according to the course of this world Ephes 2.2 As Turks and Spaniards are not like to Englishmen they have another kind of visage another garb and habit and the like So they that are not of this world differ manifestly from it There is a clear distinction to be made between them and worldly men by any man that marks them well and hath his Judgement exercised to discern There are none like them in the earth their wayes are of another fashion then the wayes of other men Now I beseech you my beloved think upon it If you be fashioned to this world if you be carried with a swinge of the prophane and vitious times and places where you live if you run down the stream with others if you sleep as others do 1 Thes 5.6 if you swear as others do if you run out with others to the same excess of riot you are surely of this world and not the other They that are not of this world but of the other have a very dear affection to those of the other world If travellers and strangers meet with any of their Countreymen in a remote and forreign Land how lovingly do they embrace them What kindness do they shew them how are they knit together in a bond of love Just so it is with Christs Disciples if at any time they light on those who are not of this world but of the other as themselves are they are taken up with joy and presently their hearts and their affections by a kind of sympathie do wonderfully close together And therefore those dissemblers deal too grosly to deceive si tamen Hypocrisis dici debeat quae jam latere prae abundantia non potest prae impudentia non quaerit as Bernard speaks who would be taken to be Christs Disciples while their companions and their bosome friends are the men of this world yea Traytors to the place to which they would be thought to appertain And others hate the very men whom Christ hath called out of the world holiness whereever they find it being the object of their fury Suppose thou wert in Italy or in another forreign land and there shouldst meet an Englishman wouldst thou mock and scoff at him wouldst thou deride and jear the fashion of his Hat and Cloak and Sute the manner of his Complement his Gate and Carriage c. wouldst thou procure him to be taken up imprisoned put to death Thy earthly Countrey would not own thee if thou shouldst be so unworthy and truly Heaven will not own the men who deal thus basely and injuriously with the inhabitants of that Countrey They that are not of this world their language is not of this world but of the other they speak the tongue of the heavenly Canaan their speech is gratious and usually to glorifie their God or to edifie their brethren But they that are of this world they speak of this world 1 Iohn 4.5 Shibboleth never discried so many Ephramites as this doth worldly men Of what place are they inhabitants whose language is so harsh and tart whose mouths are full of cursings and bitterness the poyson of Aspes being under their lips Where dwell they Alas too neer us who cannot speak almost without an oath whose tongues are alwayes dipping in that blood which was shed for mans salvation Are they inhabitants of the Celestial Canaan whose tongues are keen as swords and sharp as Arrows to hew and wound their brethrens names Shall I say that man or woman is of heaven whose tongue is set on fire of hell To what place do they appertain whose speech is stuft with filthiness and ribauldry whose words are rotten as the Apostles speaks Brethren do not deceive your selves if you cannot speak the language you belong not to the Countrey Use 2 Is it so that Christs Disciples are in this respect
be a Offring and a Sacrifice to God the Father Reason And it must needs be so my brethren for being God there was no greater power then his to master him and overcome him A man is never forced to any thing against his will unless some outward violence prevail against him which he is no way able to resist Now this was not the state and the condition of our Saviour his death was not inflicted on him by an excess of strength in those that gave him up to it His Father was not able to constrain him for he was God and therefore equally Almighty with the Father And men had infinitely less ability to overrule him and to force him to it and therefore it must needs be voluntary of himself and this he cleerly intimateth in that speech of his in the fore-alledged Scripture John 10.17 No man takes my life from me the meaning is no man can take my life from me and therefore it is added in the following words I have power to lay it down that is to lay it down of choice and free election so that I cannot be constrained to it and I have power to take it up again And certainly if he had power to take it up again when he had lost it then he had much more power to keep it when he had it and enjoyed it So that you see he was not neither could he be inforced to die but of his own accord he willingly and freely gave himself to it Use 1 Is it so that Jesus Christ did willingly and freely set himself a part to be an Offering and Sacrifice to God the Father The greater and the more unsearchable was the exceeding riches of his love to us and the greater cause have we to magnifie it and admire it Had he done it by constraint and had be been enforced to it there had been no such matter in it so no such cause of Admiration and Thanksgiving The praise had then been due to him that forced him and not to him that was inforced But this was love as the Apostle John speaks love in the height and with a witness this was unparalleld and matchless love that Christ should willingly and freely lay down his life for us Had his life been taken from him for our sakes this had been no great love but that himself should lay it down freely of his own accord here was love and here was mercy to be spoken of and to be wondred at in all ages What that he should abase himself that he should not be made obedient by another but that he should himself become obedient to the death yea to that shamefull and accursed death that he should willingly expose himself to such abasures to such indignities reproaches scorns and to such unsufferable tortures to such a heavy and intolerable burthen of his Fathers wrath and all for those that were not undeserving only but even ill deserving too that were not friends but enemies Oh let us stand astonished at such a mercy We need not wonder that he whose love and kindness was so full of wonder should be called wonderfull Isa 9.6 Is it so that Jesus Christ did willingly and freely set himself apart to be Use 2 an Offring and Sacrifice to God the Father Then let us learn of him my brethren as willingly if it be possible to offer up our selves our persons our estates our names or lives and all to him to suffer any thing for him again What my beloved did he suffer willingly for us and shall we suffer grudgingly and unwillingly for him did he consecrate himself to be an offering and sacrifice for us and shall not we on our parts consecrate our selves to be an offering and sacrifice for him if he shall call us thereunto did he give himself for us and shall not we as readily give our selves for him again did he take up his Cross and go before and shall not we take up our Crosses too and follow him I do not say we should draw Crosses and afflictions on our selves but if they come upon us for our Saviours sake we should not take them as inforced upon us but we should freely set our shoulders to them and cheerfully submit our selves to bear them And thus far of the first conclusion mentioned The second followeth DOCTRINE 2. Christ did not set himself apart to be an Offring and a Sacrifice to God the Father for his own sake but for his peoples sakes and that to this end that they might be sanctified by this means Not that they might be justified only but that they might be sanctified also He did not do it for his own sake for there was no sin in him and so in that respect he need not to be made a Sacrifice for sin There was no transgression in him and why then should there be an expiation for him But it was for his peoples sake To say the truth all that he did all that he suffered was for their sakes For their sakes he became man for their sakes he became Mediator between God and man for their sakes he became a King a Prophet and a Priest And as a Priest so a sacrifice and offring to the Father for he offered up himself All was for their sakes And that to this end that they might be sanctified by this means Not only that they might be justified but that they might be sanctified also That which was the scope and aim of Gods election Ephes 1.4 He hath chosen us in him that is in Christ to this end that we might be holy and unblameable before him of Gods Vocation 1 Thess 4.7 he hath not called us to uncleanness but to holiness The same my brethren was the end of Christs redemption He sanctified himself that is he set himself apart to be a Sacrifice to God the Father for his peoples sakes that they also might be sanctified as you have it in the Text. He loved his Church and out of the abundance of this love of his he gave himself for her as the Apostle speaks Ephes 5.25 What that he might redeem and justifie her only No my beloved more then this that he might sanctifie and cleanse her too through the washing of Water by the word and that he might present her to himself a glorious Church not having any spot or wrinkle but being holy and without blemish He bare our sins in his own body on the Tree that we being dead to sin might henceforth live to righteousness as the Apostle Peter speaks 1 Pet. 2.24 he dyed for us that we which live should henceforth live no longer to our selves to our lusts and to our ends but to him who dyed for us He hath performed the mercyes promised he hath remembred his holy Covenant he hath saved us from our enemies and from the hands of those hate us Luke 1.74 What that from henceforth we might be our own Masters and live at liberty and walk according to our
be not the same Person And in this sense it is impossible for Christs Disciples to be so one in God and Christ as God and Christ the Father and the Son are the one of them in the other Well then our Saviour speaks here of the oneness which is between his Father and himself as he is the Mediator and as he is the Head of his Church For so they are both one as Jesus Christ himself speaks Joh. 10.30 And in another place he uses the very same expression in my Text and tells us that he is in the Father and the Father in him Joh. 14.10 Now the Father is in Christ as he is Mediator of the Church and Christ is in the Father in the same respect that is they are both one especially three ways 1. By Hypostatical union of the Manhood to the Godhead in the Person of our Saviour for the Manhood being joyned to the Godhead in the Person of the Son it must be mediately joyned also to the Father to whom the Son as God is joyned in the nearest tye that can be We have no higher phrase you know my Brethren to express the closest union then to affirm of two that they are one they two are are one and we cannot say more There is a union between faithful friends for there is one heart in two bodies as the Philosopher expresses it There is a nearer union between man and wife for they two are one flesh as the Apostle Paul speaks Ephes 5.31 and therefore they have one name But there is the nearest union between the Father and the Son for they two have one Essence one Nature one Name And so the Godhead being joined to the Manhood in the Person of our Saviour that Manhood by and through that God-head must needs be neerly and indissolubly joyned to God the Father 2. God the Father and the Son are one by dear affection Thus they are in one another and they live in one another as it were by inexpressible and tender love which they bear to one another How doth the Father love the Son beyond expression and that as he is Mediator for under that capacity he speaks of him Isa 42.1 and he seems to glory in it Behold my servant mine Elect in whom my soul delighteth and in another place he gives this attestation out of heaven to him Mat. 3 17. This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased q. d. I have some other children that I love well but This is my Beloved Son above the rest take notice of him this is he And hence he lays him in his bosome next his heart Joh. 1.18 acquaints him with his counsels tells his secrets to him entrusts him with the revelation of them sets him in the highest place next to himself advances him above yea far above all principalities and mights and Dominions and puts more honour on him then he doth on all the creatures And hence the Son is often speaking of the Fathers love to him and on the other side professes his affection to the Father and he would have the world to know it too Joh. 14.31 That the world may know that I love the Father so do I. So that you see here is union of dear love 3. The Father and the Son are one by unexpressable agreement and consent together Though they be divers yet they never differ No they continually mind the same things they will and nill the same things love and hate the same things and this agreement is between the Father and the Son not only as the Son is God but as the Son is Man and Mediator too The will of Jesus Christ as he is Man in all respects accordeth and consenteth with the will of God the Father Or if it were not so it must be sinful and irregular and therefore he submitted still yea even in those things which were against the Nature that he had assumed Not my will but thine be done And thus you see how the Father is in Christ as he is Man and Mediaator and how Christ as Mediator is in God the Father how they are both one viz. by hypostatical union by dear affection by unexpressable agreement and consent together Now we shall easily discover how he would have his Apostles to be one in his Father and himself which is the second thing to be unfolded in the point It is the will of Jesus Christ that his Disciples should not only be one among themselves but that they also should be one in God in the Father and the Son This is the special thing for which he prays That they may all be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us 1. Then as the Father is in Christ as Mediator and Christ as Mediator in the Father by the Hypostatical union so Christ would have his Disciples to be in both of them by the mystical union That as the Manhood of the Son is mediately in God the Father in being joyned to the Godhead of the Son which is one with God the Father so we should also be mediately in the Father in being joyned to the Godhead and the Manhood in the Person of Christ That we should be in the Father by and through Jesus Christ And so indeed are all the members of the body mystical by reason of their union with the Lord Christ Christ is one with God the Father and we are one with Jesus Christ and therefore in a sense we are one with God the Father Jesus Christ is in the Father and we are in Jesus Christ Ephes 1.10 We all are gathered into one in him and therefore we are also mediately in the Father And hence it is that all the Saints are said not only to be one among themselves and to be one in Christ but also to be one in God the Father as in my Text you see I pray for them saith Christ that shall believe on me that they may all be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us not one among themselves but one in us Not in me only but in thee too Not one in me but one in us So that you see believers all of them are in the Father by the Son 2. As God the Father and the Son are one by dear affection so Christ would have all his Disciples to be one both with the Father and himself in the very same manner He would not have them only to be one among themselves by love but he would have them also to be one in God by love He would have their hearts to live in his Father and himself by unexpressible and choice affection That they should find no rest no quiet anywhere but in God and Christ only To be so closely and indissolubly joyned to the Father and himself that nothing in the world should be able to divide them to separate them from the love
inclined to it by his inward Disposition he hath a self propensity to righteous dealing The righteous Lord loveth righteousness Psal 11.7 his very heart is set upon it as he acteth without so he affecteth it within There are many in the world that do justice who yet do not love justice They execute it out of Politick respects and reasons only or out of affectation of applause with men not out of inward inclination and affection The Judge of whom our Saviour Christ makes mention Luk. 18.2 did the poor widdow justice and yet he calls him an unjust Judge because he did not execute it out of love to justice but himself To wit that he might quit himself and rid his hands of the unwearied importunities of such a sutor as would not give him rest till he had done it Because this widow troubleth me I will avenge her not because her cause is just His aim was not to do her right but obtain his own quiet But herein God excells he doth justice and that because he loves justice He doth not execute it by compulsion and constraint or out of by-sinister ends but out of the affection that he bears it and the dear regard he hath to it And this is that which he professeth of himself Isai 16.8 I the Lord love judgement Vse 1 Is God a very just and righteous God This then may serve to quiet us and calm our troublous and tumultuous thoughts about the great disorders and confusions that we discover in the world It may preserve us from repining against God and charging him foolishly What though the wicked prosper in the world what though their eyes stand out with fatness while the people of the Lord are troubled and afflicted and distressed Will you presume to question Gods Justice Rather conclude the Lord is righteous and where you cannot fathom his proceedings cry out with the Apostle Paul O the depth and the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgements and his ways past finding out Let Davids error be your caution I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperous state of wicked men Psal 73.3 They are not in trouble neither are they plagued like other men But as for me I have washt my hands in vain for all the day long I have been plagued and chastned every morning It was no fair and equal dealing as it seemed to him he knew not what to make of these proceedings And where was Jeremiah when reasoning with him of his judgements as he calls it Jer. 12.1 he thus expostulateth the case Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously He could conceive no reason for it and therefore takes upon him to call the Lord to coram how he could warrant his proceedings If such blasphemous thoughts assault us my Beloved let us remember that of Austin The judgements of the Lord are aliquando aperta aliquando ecculta semper justa sometimes secret sometimes open always just yea just when they are secret when with the Prophet Jeremiah we cannot see the reason of his judgements And let us have it always in our thoughts that the time is drawing on when the justice of the Lord which in this present life is cover'd and obscur'd shall be revealed and made bare-fac't to the world to wit at the great day of retribution which is therefore called in Scripture The day of Revelation of the just judgement of God which here is hid in the prosperity of the wicked and the pressures of the righteous Is God a very just and righteous God Then let it comfort and encourage Vse 2 those who are abused and injured and opprest by them who are too strong and mighty for them so that they know not which way in the world to help themselves against them Consider with your selves you who are in this condition though others do you wrong yet God will surely do you right and he will do it readily for he takes delight in it He hath prepared his Throne for judgement and he shall judge the world in righteousness saith David Psal 9.8 And what doth he infer upon it He will be a refuge to the oppressed And therefore let all those that are oppressed fly to this refuge and let the righteousness of God support them and uphold them against the wicked and unrighteous dealing that they find from men He loveth righteousness and therefore he will surely do you right he hateth iniquity and therefore he will surely punish them that do you wrong And therefore go and cry to him tell him how you are used by those that over-power you in the world and that you have no friends nor means to help your selves and so beseech him earnestly to shew himself and to appear for you say as Hezekiah did Isa 38.14 O Lord I am opprest undertake for me and be confident of this that you cannot easily put any business into the hands of God that he takes more delight to do O it is a thing that pleaseth him exceedingly he loves it dearly to do them right that suffer wrong and to avenge the wrong they suffer upon those that do it He loveth righteousness and hateth iniquity yea the less able you are to relieve and help your selves the more he loves to do you justice And therefore takes upon himself the special care of those who are most destitute of earthly succour as the fatherless and widdows and the like A Father of the fatherless and a judge of the widdows is God in his holy habitation Psal 68.5 Vse 3 Is God a very just and righteous God This then may be a motive and inducement to us to stand no longer out against him but to come in to him and become his subjects It is a great advantage to the subject and a special benefit when he that is invested with Supream authority and power will not abuse it any way to the damage of his people Our earthly Governors are very seldom so upright but they will strain their power a little now and then and it may be not a little to incroach and to intrench upon the liberty upon the property upon the rights and priviledges of the Subject But God my Brethren is a righteous God yea he is so incomparably just that though he be Omnipotent and doth what pleaseth him in heaven and earth so that none can stay his hand nor say unto him What dost thou By means of which Almightiness of his he might oppress his subjects at his own pleasure and need not fear that they will rise against him to recover and resume their right from him Yet he doth nothing else but right to them he doth not injure them or wrong them any way Yea he ruleth righteously not out of politick respects and reasons only but out of inward inclination and affection O my Beloved who would not be subject to such a King as this is
posture she will be when Christ shall have declared his Fathers name to all the Nations under heaven when the Jews shall be converted and when the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in Oh my beloved that will be a joyfull time indeed It s true those times my brethren shall be very comfortable and full of gladness many wayes And this is not the least that people shall be brougbt in to the knowledge of the Lord out of all the quarters of the world and that by heaps and multitudes And when they come thâ—â— shall be brought with gladness and rejoycing as the Psalmist speaks Psal 45.15 With gladness and rejoycing shall they be brought And truly they that have the happiness to live in those dayes cannot but be extreamly taken with it when they behold the Fathers name declared to the people of the Jews and to such multitudes of Nations of the Gentiles so that they shall come thronging in so fast as if they were in haste to be acquainted with him and to know more of him Oh they will be an end at this and their hearts will leap within them There was never such a time since the foundation of the world nor shall be till that blessed season come and therefore let our souls rejoyce in the foresight of it though we never live to see it And thus far of our Saviour faithfullness in the delivery of his Fathers Errand in the discovery of his Fathers name to his people He hath been faithfull and will be faithfull in it In the remainder of the verse he shews the end and reason of it why he hath been so and will be so That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them It is a very great question whether believers be intended here to be the objects or the subjects of the love our Saviour mentions Whether the name of God be manifested to them to this end that they may be beloved by him or to this end that they may love him I must acknowledge all Interpreters almost that I have seen make them the objects not the subjects of this love That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them That is say they may reach to them or come to them their meaning is so as to lay hold upon them and embrace them In plainer terms that thou maist love them with the love wherewith thou hast loved me with the very same affection Against this Exposition there are two Exceptions to which I must confess I know not how to give a cleer Solution For First If this were the intention of our Saviour I have declared unto them thy name that thou maist love them he would have said in probability That thy love may be towards them or That thy love may be upon them rather then That thy love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as here we have it may be in them This is a strange expression to say My love is in a man when my intention is I love him or I have set my love upon him But secondly if when our Saviour Saviour saith that thy love may be in them his meaning be That thou maist love them how shall this be the end of his forementioned delaration of his Fathers name as it is cleerly made in this place I have declared unto them thy name and will declare it that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them That thou maist love them with the love wherewith thou hast loved me Doth Christ declare his Fathers name to men his love his mercy to this end that he may love them Is this a proper means to that end for God to be made known to men that God may love them whom he is made known to Brethren God doth not love men because his name is manifested and declared to them but men love him upon that ground and for that reason the declaration of his name to them is a means to make them love him And therefore I must needs crave leave to think the latter Exposition probable by which believers are made the subjects of the love here mentioned I have declared unto them thy name and will declare it that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them as in the subjects of it That the love which is originally in thy self as in the fountain as all other graces are may be communicated and dispensed from thee to them and become inherent in them You know my Brethren we are said to be partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 not by participation of the essence but by communication of the properties of God when the communicable properties of God as holiness and love and wisdom are dispenst to us So here our Saviour prayes his Father that the love wherewith he hath loved Christ may be given down from him into the hearts of his people that they may have that very property in them also And to this end saith Christ I have declared thy name thy mercy goodness love to them that this love may be wrought in them That by this means their hearts may be enflamed and filled with the love of thee That they may have the love of thee in them as the Apostle hath the very Phrase 1 John 3.17 How dwelleth the love of God in him So here that the love wherewith thou hast loved me that very property may be in them by way of derivation from thee and that by the revealing of thy name to them If this be our Saviours meaning as I can see no other for the present the Observations will be two First The love which is in true believers comes from God The love wherewith true believers love is in a sense the same wherewith God himself loves Or the love wherewith God loves is in a sense in true believers Secondly The declaration of the Fathers name to them is the great means that begetteth love in them DOCTRINE The love which is in true Believers comes from God The love wherewith he loveth is in them saith our Saviour in my text viz. by way of dispensation from him Love is originally primitively and essentially in the Lord and from him it is given down into the hearts of true believers This is part of the divine nature which they are made partakers of as the Apostle speaks 2 Pet. 1.4 This is a print of his Image whereby they are conformed to God and made suitable to God when they love as he doth And consequently as he is such are they in this world So that when an enlightned eye looks first on God and sees that he doth love that he is love and then looks on the believer and sees this grace of love communicated and dispensed from God to him he finds that he is such a one as God is That he is like God in this world though he shall be better like him in the world that is to come This is a beam of his light as
an image and a pattern of that holiness which is originally and compleatly in the Lord who hath in this respect all beauty in him Yea it is called the glory of the Lord Rom. 3.23 All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God which shined in us in the state of innocency Indeed my brethren he hath in him the Sum and the perfection of beauty He hath all in him that doth win and raise nothing that cools or deadens the affection all things to invite nothing to avert love Others there are my brethren who have some things beautiful and comely to invite and draw love but other things uncomely and unbeautiful to keep it off Something or other there is in them that is odd unpleasing and so a bar and hindrance to affection Brethren it is not so with God he is all beautiful and all alluring altogether lovely Others are so in some respects but he is so in all respects He is altogether lovely the allurement of all hearts And the desire of all Nations Hag. 2.7 So he is always in the merit although he be not always so in the event Object But if God be so beautiful what is the reason that men do not love him Answ Because his name in this respect is not made known to them All men are naturally blind you know and blind men cannot judge of beauty until their eyes be anointed with the Eye-salve Apoc. 3.18 to make them see such beauty as this is The beauty of holiness is a spiritual beauty and that is not discerned by a natural Eye There must be a spiritual eye to see and to discern a spiritual beauty And when you have such eyes as these to see the beauty of the Lord your hearts will be enamoured on him you will be in the case the Church was you will be sick of love and say Lord turn away thine eyes for they have overcome us We cannot bear the dazling rayes of such beauty as thine is The goodness of the Lord is a part of his name and goodness being manifested and discovered is a means to draw love Now herein God excels my brethren he is good beyond pattern and beyond measure He is essentially good good without goodness as Austin speaks because indeed he is goodness it self The creatures be good but not goodness Their nature is good but goodness is not their nature But now the nature and substance of God is goodness it self so that he is essentially good and then he is also causally good as Psal 119.68 Thou art good and dost good Thou art good in thy self and thou dost good to the creature so that the earth is full of thy goodness He is eminently good so that whatsoever goodness is to be found among the creatures is eminently and transcendently in God himself Now goodness is the object of love and consequently the allective of affection If we have cause to fear God for his goodness as Hos 3. ult then surely we have much more cause to love him especially since he is not only good in himself but good to us If this part of his name be manifested and made known to us we cannot choose but love him and delight in him That phrase of the Apostle Paul is notable and may be very well applyed to our purpose Rom. 5.7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die but for a good man one would even dare to die Uprightness draws not love as goodness doth One man will hardly love another so much for his uprightness as to die for him but for his goodness manifested to himself on all occasions continually doing good to him he may come to love him so as even to lay down his life for him And even for this cause we shall love God and love him out of all measure so as even to die for him if this part of his name be fully manifested and made known to us The mercy of the Lord is a part of his name and this if it be manifested to us will beget love in us You know the Lord is said in Scripture to be merciful yea to be rich in mercy and that not only because the mercy that he hath is pretious but because there is abundance of this pretious mercy in him For both of these concur to riches there must be something that is pretious and there must be much of it and so it is with God in this case He hath a mass of mercy in him a bottomless and endless treasure such as the wants of all the world are never able to draw dry And as a rich man though he spend exceedingly yet because he hath a treasure the e is no failing no deficiency of his store so God though he communicate his mercy freely to the sons of men yet he cannot be exhausted no there is more behind still it is an infinite a bottomless an endless mercy A mercy that endures for ever Now this rich mercy God lays out as many other ways so chiefly in the pardon of our sins and hence we read of mercies and forgivenesses in God as Dan. 9.9 Mercies as the cause and fountain Forgivenesses as the effect and stream And both you see my brethren in the plural number to shew the over-flowing mercy of the Lord. Indeed my brethren there is mercy in all pardons but in the pardon and remission of the sins of Gods people there is admirable mercy And hence the Prophet wondred at it not knowing what to think or to say of it Who is a God like thee that pardoneth iniquity c. Mic. 7.18 The Prophet is transported and carryed out beyond himself in admiration And mark it well He doth not say There is no man like thee but there is no God like thee Indeed it goes beyond the mercy of any but the true living God to do this In which respect is that expression Hos 11.9 I will not execute the fierceness of my wrath for I am God and not man that speech of the Apostle Paul is full Ephes 1.7 We have remission of our sins according to the riches of his grace Now if this part of Gods name be made known to us it cannot choose but work love in us We love them who forgive us common debts especially if they be great we think that we can never do enough for them or manifest respect enough to them But we have cause to love him more who forgives us such debts as these are which if they should be rigorously exacted of us we were not able to discharge them but must be laid up under everlasting chains Oh my beloved how can this choose but draw out our affection to the Lord The woman in the Gospel had much forgiven her and what was the effect and issue of it Why she loved much Her love was answerable to her pardon Much was forgiven her and she loved much She was a great sinner and she had a large pardon and so accordingly she