of its Duty more especially upon Gods Command as imposing it upon him Davids heart inclined to seeking of God from that principle of Grace that was in it But now when moreover God Himself requires him to do so this makes him to be so much the more determined and resolved about it When thou saidest seek my face then I sought thy face indeed The Ground hereof may be thus laid forth unto us First That holy Reverence and awe which they have of Gods Majesty Fear it works obedience and where we stand in awe of the Person we do more readily submit to the Command now thus is it with the children of God Secondly Their Love to God There 's nothing so complying as Love it is the most yielding Affection of any and so here in our carriage to God If we love him we will keep his Commandments And thus do all who are his true servants and therefore run at his call Thirdly There is this also considerable in it that Gods Power goes along with his Command This it did here as to Davids heart when God said seek my face he did cause him to seek it whiles he said it And so he does likewise with the rest of His servants which he does not with other persons And it is the true account of so much difference as is betwixt them that whiles they both receive the same word yet they are not alike wrought upon by it because in the one there 's the command in the bare proposal but in the other there 's the Spirit going along with it to make it Effectual In the Covenant of Grace God performs that in us which he requires of us which is the Great Advantage of all true Believers Thirdly Observe in General thus much That a Good and Conscientious Hearer is careful to apply the word of God to his own particular God spake it here at large and in the General seek ye my face in the Plural but David brings it home to himself and fastens upon it This is the Duty of all others besides Thus we find it to have been sometime with St. Peters Auditors in Act. 2.37 The word was spoke to the whole company at large This Jesus whom ye have crucified is Lord and Christ But those that were converted they applyed it and appropriated it to themselves And therefore it is said that when they heard it they were pricked at the heart And there is this Considerable that makes for it First Because the Particular is still comprehended in the General as the part 's in the whole That which is said to all it does respect whosoever are contained and comprized in that number and that successively in all Ages of the world that which was said to Moses and Joshua and David is said also to us The precepts of Religion they do indifferently extend themselves to all sorts of Persons When God says seek ye my face he says it to me and to thee and to a Third and so to all the world over Indeed there are some Positive particular Commands which are now and then given to such and such persons distinctly and so do reach onely to them in such and such Circumstances But the common Duties and Practises of Godliness they are promiscuously imposed upon all Secondly This is the very Life and Power of all kind of Teaching whatsoever to bring it home to a mans own Particular As the benefit of Meat in the Stomach is the degesting of it and sending its Nourishment into every particular part Aures omnium pulso sed Conscientias quorundam Convenio c. Says St. Austin the Parson he delivers things in General but it is every mans Conscience that must make the particular Application And accordingly it concerns us to do so upon all occasions The Neglect and want hereof is the cause why there is oftentimes no more good got by the Ministry and the Preaching of it because men think what is said to all is said to none when as indeed it is said to every one if they had Grace to apply it to themselves and every one is particularly interested and concern'd in it according to the particular occasions in which they are and the Circumstances which may be upon them And that in points also of all sorts and natures and qualities whether of Information or Direction or Reprehension or Consolation or Command Indeed ye shall have some kind of people who it may be will be pritty forward in Application but it is to others not to themselves They are ready to say that such an one had his Lesson and Instruction given him but in the mean time they pass over their own Now it is the Duty of every good Christian here with David to apply the Doctrine to Himself And so he shall close with Gods Intentions in the Discovery and Proposal of it and so much may be spoken of the points observable in General and Preparatory We come now more particularly and closely to the words of the Text it self Thy face Lord will I seek And here again I shall with Gods Assistance take notice of two things more First The Substantials of the Text. And Secondly The Circumstantials First To look upon the Substantials and that is as it does exhibit to us the main Duty which is here required of us which is the seeking of the Face of God for that which was Davids Practise is our Duty and is accordingly required of us we have heard out of the words before that it is that which God himself does invite us to Here now we shall see likewise that it is that which we our selves are bound too in acceptance of this Invitation which we shall the better be able to do if we do but consider what it is which is here Commended to us and what we are to understand by this expression The seeking of the face of God it does imply divers things in it and all such as is required by us we may take it in these following Explications First To labour for the knowledge of God and more intimate acquaintance with him because we know a man usually by his Face and outward countenance therefore our knowing of God is set forth to us by this expression of seeking his face and it is that which lies upon all men especially to do those that are absolutely ignorant of him to know him at first those that know him in part already to indeavour to know him more and still to increase in the knowledg of him And that we may do it indeed the more effectually to look upon him in that Glass wherein he has presented himself unto us which is the Lord Jesus Christ Take God consider'd in Himself and his Face is very terrible and dreadful as I told them before there is no seeking for us of it but rather seeking how to avoid it and to run away from it but in Christ here it is Lovely and Amiable In John 14.8.9 When Philip said
the chief Plaintiff and party wrong'd by this transgression of Davids Secondly When God will give peace and quietness none can there make trouble because as he is the onely plaintiff so he is the best evidence and witness which can come in and testifie either for or against us Though a man have a quarrel against another and that deservedly which he may justly fasten upon him yet if he have no body to witness on his side the party accused will do well enough for all this especially if there be a strong witness and evidence on his side that is accused Now thus it is here with us in this particular business whiles God himself is reconciled unto us there is no witness which can come in against us of any worth or validity which might be able to cause trouble to us And besides we have a special witness on our side which does bear down all and that 's the witness of the Holy Ghost in Rom. 8 16. The Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God He that is a swift witness against others Mal. 3.5 shall be a swift witness for us This is like the witness of a Prince Teste mcipso which where ever it comes there 's no further question to be made of the thing as Chrysostom speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It puts the matter out of all doubt where this is exhibited All the clamors and accusations of Satan of evil men or of mis-giving spirit are not able to bear down this witness and testimony of the Holy Ghost in the heart when he will give quietness in this manner who can make trouble Thirdly He is also the Judge in whom the power of condemning and absolving does wholly lye when the Plaintiff hath done his part and when the witnesses have done theirs yet notwithstanding the Judge be a mans friend and will shew him some special curtesie and favour in such a cause he will do well for all this Now this is further the state and condition of such a person as is in good terms with God He has the Judge his friend to acquit him and absolve him and set him free so that none shall be able to trouble him Rom. 3.26 That he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus To him that believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousnes Rom. 4.5 And Rom. 8 30. Whom he called them he also justified and ver 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth In all which places we see how God himself takes upon him to justifie and absolve and quit from condemnation The Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Lawgiver the Lord is our King he will save us as it is Isa 33.22 Lastly It is he also who hath the power as of giving the sentence so of suspending the execution He hath power to cast into hell to save or destroy all these things are in his hands So that now if he will give this same spiritual quietness none in the world can make trouble This Point for the use of it is very comfortable to the children of God in all their spiritual assaults and temptations which they are subject unto that what ever may indeavour to disturb them yet nothing shall have power over them or prevail to an absolute trouble or molestation of them A child of God may set that peace and comfort which he has in his own heart and conscience against all the sollicitations and disquietings of the whole world besides when he gives quietness who then can make trouble as against a Nation so against a man onely And so much may suffice of the first Branch of the Proposition in this second Reference in matter of peace I come now to the second In matter of trouble And when he hides his face who then can behold him who can behold him That is who can behold him comfortably so as to have any sweetness or refreshment from him This no man can have when God will hide his face Thou hidest thy face sayes David and I was troubled in Psal 30.7 For the better opening of this Point and Truth before us we must know that Gods hiding of his face as we here speak of it from a particular Person may be consider'd two manner of wayes and so we shall find it taken in Scripture and common experirience either Privatively for a meer substraction or withdrawing of the light of his countenance or positively for some evident expression and manifestation of his wrath and displeasure now either of these when God does it is full of trouble First though that be the least when he does but withdraw the light of his Countenance and that sweet communication of himself which he does sometimes afford to his children then he hides his face There 's the darkness of an Ecclipse as well as the darkness of a Night And there is a sadness from the want of Gods smilings as well as from the making of His frowns and the knitting of his brows against us And this former is that which we now speak unto as a matter of disquiet We shall find how it was thus to the Spouse in the Canticles when her beloved was gone from her which is a parable to set forth unto us the condition of Christian in this particular The case is ill with him when God does but hide his face from him there is a great deal of darknesse and deadnesse upon his soul in such an estate as upon the earth when the Sun is Eclipst and 't is that which every good heart will be easily sensible and apprehensive of As the child does not onely cry when the Nurse or Mother strikes it but as well when she hides her self from it even so is it with a child of God in this particular He does not mourn onely under terrors of Conscience and the immediate expressions of Gods anger but as well under deadness of spirit and the loss of the sense of Gods favour when there is not that sweet intercourse and familiarity betwixt God and his heart as there hath been in former times Thus it was with the Prophet David Psal 51.12 He was not satisfied with bare salvation but he calls for the joy of salvation and he was not satisfied with holy Spirit but he desires the free spirit also This arises Partly from Affection as bearing a special love to God and desires a reflection of his love back again They that love another delight to be loved by them and to have some assurance of this love to them There 's nothing more troublesome amongst lovers then not to be sensible of each others affections and so it is likewise with the soul which bears a true love to God There 's an holy jealousie which is wrought in it c. Secondly It arises from experience and the former sense of this comfortable condition They
together at this present time IN the Text it self there are two General parts considerable First The sight or spectacle propounded And Secondly An Invitation to the seeing and regarding of it The Spectacle or sight it self that we have in these words How good and how pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in Vnity The Invitation to the seeing of it that we have in the word Behold which is prefixt by way of Introduction Wee 'l begin with the former viz. The sight it self wherein two Branches more First The Duty Commended and that is Paternal agreement for Brethren to dwell together in Vnity Secondly The Terms of this Praise and Commendation or the Particulars whereof it doth consist and hat is from a two-fold Qualification First of the goodness of it Behold How good a thing it is And Secondly Of the Pleasantness of it Behold how pleasant First to speak of the first branch and that is the Duty commended in these words for Brethren to dwell together in unity wherein again taken notice of three particulars more First The Vertue it self and that is Vnity Secondly The Subject of this Grace And that is Brethren Thirdly The Exercise or Activity and Improvement and manifestation of it And that is In dwelling together For the first The Grace or vertue it self which is here mentioned and commended unto us it is Vnity or Agreement This is that which the Scripture is very frequent in the commendation of to us not onely here in this present Text but in divers others besides As more expresly in Eph. 4.3 Endeavouring to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Mark 9.50 Have salt in your selves and have peace one with another Phil. 2.2 Fulfil ye my joy that ye be like minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind 1 Thes 5.13 Be at peace among your selves And many such places as these This is that which is most agreeable to the Principles of Religion it self it is the very end and scope of the Gospel and the blessed fruit and effect and consequent of the Kingdom of Christ This was that which was Proclaimed by the Angels when our blessed Saviour came at first into the world As Glory to God on High so peace on earth and good will towards men not onely from God but to one another And it is made the promise which respects the Times of the New Testament that it shall make men which are of different Natures and Dispositions to dwell together in Vnity as we may see in Isa 11.6 The Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard shall lye down with the Kid. The Cow and the Bear shall feed their young ones together The sucking-child shall play on the hole of the Asp and the weaned child shall put his hand on the Cockatricedens They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea All which are Emphatical expressions of that sweetness and peaceableness and agreement which does follow upon the receiving and imbracing of the Gospel Look as Christ himself hath made Peace by the blood of his Cross as the Apostle speaks Col. 1.20 so accordingly it hath this answerable effect in such persons as doe close with this Peace which he has wrought It does make them to be of one heart and one mind at least proportionally to the receiving and entertaining of it There are two manner of wayes especially in which the Gospel is a Gospel of Unity even betwixt man and man The one is as it teaches peace and the other is as it transmits it First It is so as it teaches it and Commands it for so it does at large and in the proper scope and intent of it It teaches us as to deny ungodliness so to deny uncharitableness And as to live righteously and godly so likewise to live quietly and peaceably in this present evil world Hence this Commandment of Love and Unity and agreement it is made to be Emphatically the new Commandment of Christ A new Commandment I give unto you that ye love one another which is not to be understood of the time of giving it but of the ground of urging it An old Commandment which is prest and urged and inforced upon new Considerations and that is from Gods love in the Gospel Secondly As the Gospel teaches and Commands this Vnity so it also works and transmits it where it comes in the power of the Spirit going along with it As it it is a Transforming Doctrine in other respects so especially in this amongst the rest as changing the Hearts of those that doe truely believe it and receive it into a disposition like unto itself It changes and alters mens evil natures and transforms them into contrary qualities it takes away their natural fierceness and makes them mild and tame and to live in peace with other men The wisdom which is from above is first pure then peaceable Jam. 3.17 That 's the first particular The Grace it self here mentioned And that is Vnity The second is the Subject of this Unity And that is here exprest to be Brethren Unity does well in any but in none better then in Brethren which carries it as it were in the very Name and Title of it It as the Argument of Abraham to Lot whereby he would work him to a friendly concord and agreement with him Let there be no strife I pray thee betwixt thee and me for we are Brethren Anashim Achim Anachnu Gen. 13.8 And it is the reproach of a false witness that he sowes discord amongst Brethren Prov. 6.19 Discord amongst Brethren is most abominable And so on the other side Love and Vnity amongst such is most desirable and that of all others besides Now Brethren that this word may be rightly understood by us is of a Threefold Denomination either Natural or Civil or Spiritual Natural Brethren are such as are so according to the Flesh Civil which are so by Custom or Contract Spiritual which are so by Grace and Religion Now take it which way ye will this Vnity it is required of them to be practised and expressed by them for Brethren to dwell together in it under what Title or Notion soever First Take it for Brethren by Nature and blood and Carnal Generation such persons as are Children of one and the same Natural Parents These are such of whom Vnity is required who are Brethren in the first and Primitive and Original acceptation of the word by us and there is nothing more unworthy when t is otherwise Though it is that which is too often to be observed that those that have come out of the same Stock yet they cannot be of the same mind And those oftentimes who have lain together in the same Womb yet they cannot sometimes dwell together in the same house such feuds and enmities and animosities are there now
which is required to such a work as that is If ye ask what is required else I answer a competent understanding in the whole Body of Divinity and Religion a Genius which I know not how to express to you a particular faculty for the understanding and interpreting of Scripture a Theological and Ministerial frame and disposition of mind a spirit of discerning in reference both to persons and truths together with a mind wholly imployed and taken up in such things as these are and given up altogether to them The whole frame and bent of a mans course is to be inclined and carried on this way and dedicated to it an ability rightly to divide the word of truth and to give every one his portion in due season as Paul to Timothy 1 Tim. 4.15 Meditate on these things give thy self wholly to them that thy preaching may appear unto all or in all things as some interpret it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be in them wholly The work of the Ministry is such as it requires the whole man and all his time to be taken up in it or else in such things as do border and confine upon it and belong unto it at least not such as are alterius generis or do divert from it This in other and private Christians of other callings is not nor cannot be which yet is necessary to be And this we speak of the intrinsecal and immediate qualifications hereunto Besides all this to say nothing now at this time of the setting apart hereunto by the Church if there be any which have real gifts for it and approved of though of other callings I should not be sorry but close with you with all my heart but this is sooner presumed than to be hoped But so much for that And so now I have done with the first General part of the Text viz. the Counsel or Exhortation which is here given by the Apostle Covet earnestly the best gifts The second is the Additional Regulation of the said counsel and yet here the Apostle raises his note a little higher than in the former he had done He would not have the Corinthians rest in the common gifts of the Spirit of God and to content themselves only with them but to proceed somewhat further than so as he does here intimate and imply unto them that it was possible for them to do In this second Branch of the Text we have two parts more considerable First The thing propounded The more excellent may Secondly The Proposition of it I shew it unto you We have each of these observable of us First Here 's the thing it self propounded The more excellent way The more excellent way what way do ye call that why surely that will quickly appear if we do but read on to the following Chapter which there are some Interpreters of very good note that would make these words of the Text to be the beginning of And there we shall find charity to be especially commended unto us Charity it is a large word of large extent as large as the whole Decalogue no less than so It is as the Apostle calls it the fulfulling of the Law whatever we can imagine as required in Gods Commandments we have it epitomized and comprehended unto us in this one word of Charity or Love love to God and love to our neighbour and our selves in a due manner and in reference to God this is Charity And so indeed and in effect and conclusion the more excellent way it is nothing else but Piety and Religion Grace and Holiness and Goodness the sanctifying and saving gifts of Gods Spirit both for the habit and operation of them in us these are that excellent way which the Holy Ghost by this advice to the Corinthians does commend unto us There are three points especially which are here observable of us First That Religion it is a Way Secondly That it is an excellent way and more excellent than all other ways and abilities and accomplishments besides Thirdly That it is such a way as we are to pursue and follow after in the most principal manner First I say Religion it is a way and so it is here represented unto us This distinguishes it from a mere sitt or some transient act and no more which abides only for some particular time True Grace and Holiness it is not so it is not only the doing of one or two good Duties and away and for such a season as we may judg most expedient but it is a fixt and setled course through the whole time of our lives Therefore we may from hence judg and conclude of our selves what we are examine what our course is and what it is that we do for the most part apply and bend our selves to and how one part of our lives is suitable and agreeable to the other This is the best discovery of us Even Saul himself may be sometimes among the Prophets and there is not the worst man that is but he may be now and then found in a good action But this is not his way and course and so from thence he cannot be concluded to be good It is the question which Job puts about the Hypocrite Will he delight himself in the Almighty will be always call upon God no he will not in Job 27.10 Secondly As Godliness and Religion is a way so it is the most excellent way of all others it is via per eminentiam as it is here exprest unto us it 's via Regia although it be not via publica a way which has a transcendency in it above any other So the Arabick Interpreter another way which is more excellent One would have thought that when the Apostle had made mention of the best gists he could now have gone no higher for what can be the better than the best But yet he does for all that here 's a superlative beyond a superlative and that 's the most excellent way which belongs to Religion True Grace and Holiness it has an excellency and transcendency in it above all learning and common Gifts whatsoever This will be easily cleared unto us upon this account First Because it is that which does bringus into a nearer likeness and similitude to God himself that 's undoubtedly the most excellent way and carries he preheminence to all other which does make us most conformable to him who is the chiefest excellency Now this we are not so much by our gifts and parts and such accomplishments as those as we are by the work of Grace in our bearts The most exact Image of God it does consist in righteousness and true holiness as the Scripture expresses it to us Indeed it is true that we are made like unto God in some sort in the natural faculties and powers of our Soul our Reason and Understanding c. But this is not all nor the chiefest no but so far forth as we are new created and made over again by the sanctifying work
commonly in the object which is attractive of it in one kind or other In the love of Christ towards us there was nothing at all he loved us whiles we loved not him I knew says Christ that ye have not the love of God in you Joh. 5.42 Nay he loved us whiles we hated him Joh. 15.25 They hated me without a cause As we hated him without a cause so he without a cause loved us and thereby after a most happy exchange was avenged upon us You which were sometimes aliens and enemies in your minds by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled c. says the Apostle in Gol. 1.21 Here is the excellency of the love of Christ that it is bottom'd and founded in his own good-will and pleasure and nothing else besides as Moses tells the Israelites in Deut. 7.7 The Lord did not chuse you nor set his love upon you because you were thus and thus c. But because the Lord loved you c. He loved you because he loved you that 's the best account which can be given of the love of God That manner of reasoning which in other cases seems to carry an absurdity and incougruity with it here is the most rational of all other That 's the first kind of love the love of pity or benevolence The second is the love of Complacency or Beneficence as Christ loves us so far forth as to bestow his Grace upon us so he loves his own Graces in us Therefore where he has taken any persons into fellowship and communion with himself he does there bear a tender love and affection to them First Christ loves us so far forth as to make us his people and then he loves us upon this account because we are his people This we may see in the whole Book of the Canticles which is nothing else but an expression of the mutual love which is betwixt Christ and his Church and the contentment which they have in each other The consideration of this Point is thus far useful to us as it is an argument to us for our loving of Christ again Love it engages to love it has a special force and vertue with it in a mutual reciprocation And so it should likewise be with us in this particular we have cause to love Christ for himself and that variety of excellency which is in him considered abstractly but when we shall consider him in reference to our selves how he begins and prevents us with his love this does over and above challenge it from us If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha 1 Cor. 16. And further it teaches us also to love our Brethren This love of Christ is exemplary and is propounded for a pattern unto us and so we should make it thus Ephes 5.1 2. Be ye followers of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also loved us c. And 1 Joh. 4.11 Beloved if God so loved us we ought also to love one another Such persons carry themselves unsuitably and unequally to the love of Christ who have not some proportionable affection for others who are the members of Christ And so much of the first Emphasis as it may be laid upon the action of love and so having this Point in it that Christ does bear a special love and affection to his people Now the second is as it may be laid upon the Person of Christ himself To him that loved us It is spoken in a manner exclusively as if none did so much love us as Christ as indeed there does not This expression in the Text it is made a kind Of Periphrasis and description of Christ unto us whereby he is known and distinguished from all other persons Thus also in some other places as Rom. 8.37 We are more than conquerours through him that loved us Through him that loved us â— who is that namely through Christ so in 2 Thes 2.16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ and God even our Father who hath loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace Still this love of us it is fastened upon Christ The Use of this Point is to believe it and to be perswaded of it and to teach us to labour more and more to assure our hearts of it We should endeavour to have the sense and feeling of this love of Christ more upon our souls and to be well setled and established in it Which was that which the Apostle Paul did so much pray for in reference to the Ephesians That they being rooted and grounded in love might be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and might know the love of Christ that passeth knowledg Ephes 3.16 17 c. To know the love of Christ that is sensibly and experimentally in themselves by the power and vertue of the Holy Ghost shedding it abroad in their hearts as it is in Rom. 5.5 This is known and discerned by such notes aâ— are most proper and peculiar to it we may know that Christ hath loved us according to that which he has done for us and especially done in us by changing of our natures and by infusing of his Graces into us There are many who think that Christ loves them because he casts outward blessings upon them in a way of common Providence but alas these will not serve the turn to assure us of his love he may do as much as this for such persons as to whom he will one day say I know you not No but we must make good his love from matters of an higher nature which is from that care which he has wrought in us to serve him and to keep his commandments this is the best discovery and trial of his love Then may we probably conclude that Christ does love us when he has perswaded us to love him which we cannot do in good earnest without his love first fastened upon our souls We love him because he first loved us not only as the motive of our love but also as the efficient Thus again in Joh. 14.23 If any man love me he will keep my word and my Father will love him and we will come in unto him and will make our abode with him And so I have done with the first General Part of the Text which is the description of Christ from his affection propounded in General in those words Vnto him that loved us The second is from the discovery or manifestation of this affection in particular in these words And hath washed us from our sins in his own blood This passage is considerable of us two manner of ways First Absolutely as it is an expression of our Priviledg and secondly Relatively as it is an expression of the love of Christ First Take it absolutely and in it self as it is an expression of the Priviledg of Believers and that is to be washed from their sins by Christs Blood The
pressing and inculcating it upon them This as he does in many other Scriptures besides so amongst the rest in this present Text which we have now before us THE Text is nothing else but a Discovery and Intimation to us of that special and singular Delight which God takes in his People which is here considerable of us two manner of wayes First Absolutely and Emphatically and by way of simple Proposition He delights in them Secondly Exclusively or Comparitively and by way of Relative Opposition He delights in none else or so much as he does in those c. Each of these are here exhibited to us We begin with the Former Namely the Truth as it is considerable in its simple Proposition and deliver'd Emphatically The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercy Where those words of them that fear him are again considerable under a twofold Notion First As a General Description of the Saints and Servants of God and so they are taken by way of Specification Secondly As a Particular account of Gods Delight and taking pleasure in them and so they are taken by way of Reduplication For the first Take them Specificatively as they are a General Description of God's people which they usually are in Scripture And so the Lord takes pleasure in them God does very much delight in his People That 's the point which we have now before us Thus Psal 149.4 The Lord taketh pleasure in his People he will beautifie the Meek with salvation The Church is call'd Hephzibah which signifies My delight is in her Isa 62.4 And the Prophet there gives the reason of it Because the Lord delighteth in thee Prov. 11.20 They that are of a froward heart are an Abomination to the Lord but such as are upright in the way are his Delight For the better opening of this present Point unto us There are divers things which are here considerable in the People of God as to which the Lord himself may be said to delight and take pleasure in them First He takes pleasure in their Persons and delights in them That which was said more particularly of Daniel in Dan. 8.23 that he was Ish chamoudhim A man of Desires or as we Translate it greatly beloved it may be in a sort applyed to all the Saints and Servants of God they are Persons in special Favour and Acceptance with God and He is very much delighted in them Thus He is so far forth as they Members of his son Jesus Christ and by Faith incorporate into Him Christ he is the First Lovely The Son of Gods Love His Dear Son as he is call'd Col. 1.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And all true Believers they are accepted and beloved in Him He hath made us accepted in his Beloved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 1.6 This is my Beloved son in whom I am well pleased 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pleased not onely with him but in Him With Him for himself and with all his Members in and through Him and for His sake Whiles God looks upon a Believer as clothed with the Righteousness of Christ and made one with him He cannot but take pleasure in Him and so he does Thus Christ expresses it Himself in His Prayer to his Father Joh. 17.26 I have declared thy Name unto them and will declare it that the Love wherewith thou hast Loved me may be in them and I in them The same Love that God bears to Christ Himself he does proportionally bear also to all those that are Members of Christ This is the Difference now betwixt the children of God and other men As for the men of the world and such who are as yet remains in their Natural and Carnal Condition God hath no delight in them at all but their very Persons are odious to Him so considered As they take no pleasure in God so neither does he in them Heb. 10.38 They are said to be an Abomination to Him to be abhorr'd of Him to be such as his soul hates and such expressions as these My soul loathed them and their soul abhored me as he sayes of the evil Shepherds in Zech. 11.8 This is a sad and miserable Condition where ever it happens to be so but now on the other side for those who are his Servants they are very acceptable unto him and takes a great deal of delight in them and that as I said especially from that Relation which they bear to Christ who is his first beloved Behold my servant whom I uphold Mine Elect in whom my soul delighteth It is spoken particularly of Christ Isa 42.1 And the Comfort and Benefit of it does redound to all Believors by Reflection from him And that 's one Explication of God's taking pleasure or delight in his servants to wit first of all in their Persons Secondly As He takes pleasure in their Persons so also He takes pleasure in their Graces and those Heavenly Qualifications which are in them This He does especially as they are so many Reflexions of himself and expressions of his own Image in them The Graces of several Christians they are the work of the Spirit of God in them which are therefore so far forth delightful to God Himself as he is much pleased to observe them in them upon that consideration There are two special Denominations which the Scripture puts upon Christians as we shewed before His Sons and the work of his hands And in reference to either of them does God delight in them for their Graces First As they are his children who are regenerate and born again to himself and so are as it were the Image of Himself as the Son is of the Father Partakers of his Holiness and partakers of the Divine Nature as the Scripture expresses both unto us in Heb. 12.10 and in 2 Pet. 1.4 God delights in them so And then Secondly As they are his workmanship created by Him in Christ Jesus to good works as the Apostle also expresses it Eph. 2.10 He delights in them so far forth likewise Thirdly He takes pleasure in their Prayers and their Applications of themselves unto Him He takes very great Delight in these also Job 42.8 My servant Job shall pray for you for him will I accept Job had Acceptance with God in Prayer which his Friends had not So Cornelius Act. 10.3 Thy Prayers and thine Alms are come up for a Memorial before God Prov. 15.8 The Sacrifice of the wicked are an Abomination to Lord But the Prayer of the upright is his delight Let me see thy Countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voyce and thy Countenance is comely sayes Chirst to His Spouse Cant. 2.14 Thy voyce that is the voyce of thy Prayers This is as sweet and pleasant Musick which sounds in the ears of God and Christ Fourthly and lastly In the Services of his People He takes pleasure also in them He Delights very much to improve them and to make use
arising from it to them much more then is it so to true Christians in the exercise of the Graces of the Spirit These must have needs a great deal of comfort and so indeed they have which makes their lives full of sweetness in the midst of many outward crosses and difficulties which they here meet withal To instance in some few particulars for the clearing of the Point unto you In Faith The Exercise of that Grace what a great deal of sweetness is there in this whereby a Christian has somewhat to stay and support and hold up himself in the greatest discouragements When all the world is disquieted and knows not which way to turn it self then does a Believer quiet himself in God and his interest in Him He shall not be afraid of evil tydings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord like a man who is on the top of a Rock that the waves are not able to reach him even so is it with a Christian who is led to the Rock that is higher then himself In the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him Psal 32.6 Yea though he be in the midst of the waters yet he makes a shift to hold up his head As we see it was with David himself in that great affliction at Ziklag 1 Sam. 30.6 He comforted himself in the Lord. He had experience of this himself and accordingly he commends it to others to delight in that Psal 17.4 And so the Prophet Isaiah shews us a view of comfort from hence in the saddest conditions Isa 50.10 Who is among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God This for the exercise of Faith And so again for the Exercise of Patience which is a principal sprig of faith How much sweetness is there also in this An impatient Person is a burden to himself and the more he struggles with any evil the more he intangles himself with it and findes a greater bitterness in it whereas by a quiet submission to it and patience under the hand of God it becomes so much themore easier Levius sit patientia quicquid corrigere est nefas And so for meekness and love and peace how much sweetness in that A quarrelsom person is a burden as it were to himself he has no quietness in his own breast but is like the raging Sea which casts up mire and dirt but where there 's Love and Unity and Agreement there 's a sweet calmness and tranquillity of mind So for Repentance and Godly sorrow there is a joy which is mingled with it and which flowes from it The more we mourn for sin the more true comfort in our own heart The jolliness of sinners it has sometimes a bitterness with it but the quiet of penitent persons is not without some mixture of a great deal of comfort attending upon it Last of all To add no more in this kind The practise of Mortification in the subduing and restraining of lusts it has a great deal of delightfulness in it also The Delight of sin is nothing to the delight of holy restraint when a man has grappled with any strong Temptation resisted any violent lust denyed himself in a sinful allurement what a contentment does from hence now come in and flow into the heart which another is unsensible off This is the misery of any sin yielded to or any temptation closed withal that besides the guilt which it brings upon the conscience it leaves an unfavoriness upon the spirit it does not onely smart but foul which is very displeasing but now on the otherside the resistance of it is not onely peaceable but pleasant It is a great comfort to him that does it And that 's the second Explication There 's a sweetness in the exercise of Grace in all the several kinds of it Thirdly There 's a great pleasingness likewise in all the Duties and Exercises of Religion whatsoever they be As for instance First in Prayer and a daily and continued ejaculation and communion with God in this performance What a great deal of Solace does a gracious heart find to it self here when upon all occasions it can unbosom it self to God and draw near to him for any thing which it wants and stands in needs of lay open all its complaints and express its desires and send up all its groans It is impossible to express the contentment which the soul findes in such a performance The crying Abba Father and the sweet returns of Gods Spirit upon the heart back again how do they ravish it and lift it up to heaven We know what is recorded of Hannah 1 Sam. 1.18 That when she had prayed she was no more sad but was satisfied and well-contented with her condition David had great peace and comfort in this performance when nothing else could quiet him besides And so Job My friends sayes he spake freely against me but my soul powred forth complaints unto God Prayer is a very comfortable Duty not onely in regard of the effects and consequents and benefits which come by it but also from the very thing it self Not onely in that it is a means to obtain great things from him but likewise that it is a work wherein we injoy communion with him wherein there 's intercourse betwixt God and us As it is betwixt friend and friend the very discourse which they have one with another is pleasing and delightful though the things which they discourse about may be but ordinary affairs Even so betwixt a Christian and God Though the things which sometimes he asks at Gods hands be but common matters as pertaining to the things of this life yet the fellowship and holy Society which the heart hath with God in the Duty is reward enough to him that is exercised and imployed in it Prayer it is a kind of Ascension of the mind to God as it uses commonly to be describ'd and in that regard very delightfull That 's the first Duty the Duty of Prayer Secondly The Reading of the Scriptures There 's a great deal of sweetness likewise in that David speaking of the word of God sayes 't is to him as his appointed food that he rejoyces in it more then in great Riches That Gods Testimonies are his delight and his Counfellors and that the word of God is sweeter to him then the honey or the honey-comb and such like expressions as these We shall read in the Chronicles of the Martyrs what contentment some of them took in Pauls Epistles and if they could get but a leaf or two of the Bible they made account of it as a very great Treasure The sweetness of Prayer is that therein we speak to God and the sweetness of Reading is that therein we have God speaking to us and revealing his mind unto us we have here a satisfaction of us in a double
signified or exprest unto us Leaving the scorner here in a doubtfulness and uncertainty of condition which is commonly and for the most part accounted to be very sad and grievous It is some kind of ease and satisfaction if men must needs undergo punishment that they may know what it is aforehand to fit and prepare themselves for it But this is that which is here denyed to a Scornful person That he shall not know his doom and misery Let him take what follows upon it at a venture but what that is he shall not understand till he come by experience to feel it and to be made sensible of it This is the misery of Scorners that they run themselves upon infinite hazzards and do not know where they shall stop Thou shalt bear it but what that is no body knows neither He himself nor any one else for him Secondly Heres 's the Vniversality of it Forasmuch as whiles none is named all are in a manner implyed and so indeed they are Here 's a blanck prepared for the putting in of whatsoever we please not one excepted Judgements are prepared for Scorners that is all kind of Judgments whatsoever one with another Prov. 19.29 Judgements are prepared for Scorners and stripes for the back of fools Look as Vniversal good is attending upon wisdom and Godliness as we have shewen out of the former Branch Thou shalt be wise for thy self at large in whatsoever may be convenient for thee So here also Universal evil is attending upon Scornfulness and folly Thou shalt bear it in all evils whatsoever which may befall thee In Outward man in Inward man In thy Body in thy Estate in thy Friends and which is worst of all in thy soul If there be any thing worse then other it thou shalt be sure to bear Thou shalt bear it Thirdly Here 's the Vnavoidableness of it It is not onely an indefinite expression and Vniversal but also absolute and peremptory Thou shalt bear it it may be not as yet but in time and within a while thou shalt suffer for it Those that Scorn they shall suffer punishment and not escape He that being often reproved hardneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy Prov. 29. vers 1. This it meets with security and presumption of a Scornful Spirit which promises it self freedom from punishment because of present Indulgence They do not yet find no evil by it therefore they shall never well but they shall at last for all this and that in good earnest And there are these Considerations following which lay ground hereunto First Because Scorners they do still persist and go on in Sin and thereby aggravate it so much the more to themselves He that refuses to be admonish'd he perseveres and continues in Sin now that does alwayes make Sin so much the worse to those which are guilty of it Repentance that makes some amends where any thing hath been done amiss but proceeding in Sin it is a kind of further justifying of it this is the case of a Scorner and so he deserves Punishment even for that Secondly It is an abuse of Love and Friendship which is exprest in Admonition there is no truer love or kindness if it be duely thought of then a seasonable and pertinent reproof Encline not my Heart to any Evil thing to practice wicked works with men that work Iniquity And let me not eat of their dainties Let the Righteous smite me it shall be a kindness and let him reprove me it shall be an excellent Oyl which shall not break my head for yet my prayer also shall be in their Calamities When their Judges are overthrown in stony places they shall hear my words for they are sweet Psal 141.4.5.6 Now a Scorner undervalues this kindness and mis-interpret's it lookes upon that as a discurtesie which is the greatest Curtesie of all and carries himself contrarily to it which has the greatest sinfulness in it Thirdly Which is worst of all it is a slighting even of God Himself and the motions and stirrings of his Spirit men are ready to think that when they neglect good Counsell which is given them that they offend none but men who are the conveyers of that good Counsell to them Well but there is somewhat more then so in it This their Contempt it arises a little higher even to the Divine Majesty Himself He that despiseth dispiseth not man but God who hath also given to us his holy Spirit as the Apostle Paul tells us But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you for ye your selves are taught of God to love one another 1 Thes 4.8.9 Therefore is the Lord himself an Avenger of all such as the same Apostle also has it in that place while either Ministers or Christian Friends are scorn'd and despised in their Counsels God himself is despised in them and will call them to an account for them Hence it is said also of the Pharisees But the Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the Connsell of God against themselves being not Baptized of him And the Lord said whereunto then shall I licken the men of this Generation and to what are they like They are like unto Children sitting in the Market place and calling one to another and saying we have piped unto you and ye have not Danced we have mourned to you and ye have not wept Luk. 7.30.31.32 Where as it is said to be against themselves the point which we shall come to anon thou alone shalt bear it So it is said to be the Counsel of God which was rejected by them Forasmuch as it is God Himself that speaks in such as these They have not rejected thee but they have rejected me says God to Samuel of the Peoples casting him off Let this then teach us to beware of such a Sin as this is what ever we be guilty of besides let us be sure to take heed of Scorning which is the aggravation of guilt upon us and that which adds to the weight of all other Sins besides and which God does in a more especial manner abhor and set himself against when men come once to this they begin to be almost past hope of Recovery and the influences of Gods Grace upon them Surely he scorneth the Scorner but he giveth Grace unto the Lowly The wise shall Inherit Glory but shame shall be the promotion of Fools Prov. 3.34.35 There is none that is more scorned by God then those which are most scorning of Him Those that Honour me says he I will Honour but those that despise me shall be lightly esteemed 1 Sam. 2.20 There is none which God can worse away withall then such persons as these are nor whom he will proceed more in wrath and Judgment against them and that in what ever Circumstances we may possibly consider them in Better is a poor and wise Child then an old and foolish King that will no more be admonished says the Prophet
of Faith There are many which reckon themselves in the highest form of Divinity which are in the lowest form of Christianity as having little of the true knowledg of Christ abiding in them Secondly Weaker Christians are compared to little Children as for the smallness of their growth so for the shallowness of their understanding and the weakness and feebleness of their digestion Little children they cannot digest strong meats as is before implied no more can weaker Christians stronger or higher truths There are some Truths in Religion which weaker minds are apt to abuse and to pervert to their own perdition as the Apostle Peter tells us some did with those hard things in Pauls Epistles 2 Pet. 3.16 They are too strong and difficult for them 1 Cor. 3.1 Thirdly Little children they are froward and apt to be complaining in regard of the tenderness which is in them a small matter troubles them and so it is with weak Christians there 's a peevishness and morosity upon them from whence a little thing molests them and soon puts them out of frame Fourthly and lastly as most pertinent to the Text. Little children they are not long in a mind they quickly change and alter their opinions and so it is with weaker Christians It was so in particular with these Galatians for which the Apostle indeed does here call them little children they were soon removed from him that had called them c. chap. 14. Upon this account does the Apostle also express himself after this manner to the Ephesians That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine Take little children and ye may turn them which way ye will and that which to day they play with to morrow they are ready to cast away The same desposition is there in weaker Christians both in regard of Teachers and Doctrines those Teachers which for the time they admire within a while they have enough of them and those Doctrines which now they imbrace ere long they 'l be of a contrary mind and judgment to them But so much of the first thing here considerable which is the Title or Compellation Little children c. The second is the condition in which he stood in reference to them and that we have in these words of whom I travel in birth again Wherein two particulars more First The simple Proposition of it I travel in birth Secondly The additional Reiteration I travel in birth again For the first The simple Proposition The Apostle says he travels in birth with these Galatians where having before call'd them little children he still continues the metaphor about them by resembling and comparing himself to a travelling woman and so upon occasion he is made all things to the people of God sometimes a spokes-man to betratb them 2 Cor. 11.2 I have espoused you to one husband that I might present you a chast virgin to Christ sometimes a Father to beget them 1 Cor. 4.15 For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel sometimes a Nurse to cherish them 1 Thes 2.7 We were gentle among you even as a nurse cherisheth c. sometimes a Mother to bear them My little children of whom I travel in birth And this latter is that which we are now to consider of at this present time Here 's that wonder which the Prophet Jeremy speaks of of a man travailing with child in Jer. 30.6 The Apostle Paul here assumes it to himself but he does not restrain it to himself he does by this expression signifie the condition of the Ministerial employment especially in the hands of those which are faithsul in it it is like the travel of a woman in child-birth of whom I travel in birth There are three things especially which are observable in a travailing woman and each of them appliable to a Minister and Pastor of souls First Sense of pain Secondly Desire of delivery Thirdly Fear of miscarriage First sense of pain There 's pain amd labour in travel so great as that other things which were painful are set forth and resembled by it in Scripture and a woman when she is in traved we say she is in labour as if there were no labour to speak of but only that Now this is also considerable of us in the work of the Ministry howsoever some may count it and others may make it yet in it self and in the conscionable discharge of it it is a laborious work And accordingly we shall find it in Scripture exprest in so many terms 1 Cor. 3.9 We are labourers together with God 1 Cor. 15.10 I laboured more abundantly than they all 1 Tim. 5.17 They that labour in the word and doctrine Still the work of the Ministry is represented and exhibited to us as a business of pains and labour and so indeed it is Indeed it is so differently to a difference and variety of persons as it is in the other kind of travel and bodily child-birth some have an easier pull of it than others accordingly as it please God to be assistant to them as it is noted of the Hebrew-women Exod. 1.19 So here in this spiritual travel according to different gifts and inablements the labour is different but yet all who are that which they should be have their share in this pain and labour This as it is a good Meditation to Ministers themselves to teach them with what thoughts to enter upon so weighty an employment so it is also a good item to people how to carry themselves towards them even by knowing them that labour amongst them and admonish them and to esteem them very highly in love for their works-sake as the Apostle Paul makes that use himself of it to the Thessalonians 1 Thes 5.12 13. We see what cause we have to bear a tender affection to the true Ministers of Christ to pity them and to pray for them even as we would for a woman which is drawing near the time of her travel so should we for those which are understanding such a great work as this is even seek to God earnestly for them especially considering that it is for our sakes and in reference to our good that it is undertaken by them That 's one thing which is considerable in this resemblance of the work of the Ministry to travel viz. sense of pain The second is desire of delivery A travelling-woman she longs to be eased of her burden with which she goes and waits for the times of her redemption and freedom from it and she has a great desire to bring forth what she carries into the world So also had the Apostle here of doing good to these Galatians he was with child till he had wrought some what upon them and brought them into a good temper of spirit This is another thing observable in a good Minister from whence he is said to travel in child for those which are committed unto him Thus Rom. 1.11 I
neither interest in him nor influence from him they are strangers and enemies to him and so is he to them and will have nothing to do with them whiles they remain in such a condition as to any comfortable impartment of himself to them This is very sad and lamentable indeed and the height of all other evils The Apostle could not have past a more fearful doom upon them than this when he says They have not God This Poena Damni this punishment of loss it is above all other punishments besides which can either be named or thought of and such as is not recompenced or made amends for by any other enjoyments He that hath not God what else hath he besides even of that which he seems to have though never so much surely nothing at all It is that which may humble men in the midst of their greatest possessions and fruitions here in the world which they are apt sometimes to glory and pride themselves in that they have this thing and that thing wherein to comfort and solace themselves They have health and strength and wealth and friends and the like all that their heart can wish in regard of the world Oh but if they have not God in the mean time they have nothing at all they are but beggers in the midst of plenty and in the fulness of sufficiency are in straits as Job speaks Look as a true Christian that has God and interest in him he has virtually and eminently every thing else besides because he has the spring and fountain from whence every good thing comes So a carnal man that has not God he has in deed and in effect nothing because he has not him who should bestow all good things upon him and bless and sanctifie every condition to him Therefore in the second place let us make this use of the Point even to acknowledg Christ and his Doctrine and the Grace of God which is revealed in it Let us not own either such a Doctrine or state as does make void Christ unto us but rather close with the goodness of God in this gracious impartment and conveyance of himself unto us The reason why he which has not Christ has not God is not only from the simplicity of their essence God and Christ which are both one and the same but likewise from the nature of the dispensation because God will not communicate himself any other way than in and by Christ He is resolved that whomsoever he saves he will save by him and him alone or not at all If therefore we can save our selves of our selves let us do it and there 's an end but if ever we expect or hope to be saved by God and to be beholding to him for it we must be saved by him upon his own terms and conditions and in that way which he has set Salvation for the bestowing of it or else be content for ever to be damned and we deserve to be so Beloved it is a great piece of peevishness in the corrupt nature ofman which we have cause all of us to be very much humbled for that the way which Go himself desires more especially to save us by that of all other ways we should decline and refuse and keep our selves from which is by the Mediation of Jesus Christ. This is that which God has invented and devised and found out for us and herein exprest the riches of his wisdom counsel towards us The manifold wisdom of God And yet we would seem so much wiser than he as to think this way not so requisite for us Besides to add to this his importunity for the perswading of us God has not only found out Christ for us and offered him to us but he has wooed us and besought us and intreated us to accept of him He sends his Messengers and Embassadours to us who pray us in his stead that we would be reconciled to him in his Son And what a fondness and perverseness then is it for us to stop our ears against it and to refuse to come off unto it How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation Heb. 2.3 Especially if we shall add further the excellency of the Dispensation it self which is the best and happiest of all an that in two particulars First It 's the surest way of conveyance And secondly It is the sweetest it has the greatst security and the greatest contentment in it First This conveyance of all good to us in the Covenant of Grace and in the name of Christ it is the safest and surest Dispensation We are now upon very good terms which we may rest upon If salvation with the appurtenances of it had been in any other hand besides we had not been so sure of it if in our own hands we might have lost it as we did once before in our fall from Innocency or if in any creatures hands else yet being creatures we could not have been so secure but now being in the hands of Christ and dispenst by him it is in safe and sure hands indeed And that love which God bears to us in and for his Son it must needs be sure and firm love because as he loves him so he will love us also for him and upon his account That the love wherewith thou lovest me may be in them and I in them in Joh. 17.26 Look what the ground and foundation of any love is the same is the constancy and continuance of it if it have a weak and slight foundation it is weak and slight love Again if it have a strong and firm foundation the love is accordingly Nay this is the love of God to a Believer Forasmuch as it is founded in Christ who is his Beloved and the Son of his love as the Scripture calls him in whom he is well pleased it must needs be therefore firm love Those words of God concerning Christ which we find more than once spoken of him at his Baptism and at his Transfiguration both This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased they do not only denote the object of Gods love but likewise the conveyance Neither do they only terminate upon Christ himself but also rebound from Him upon all Believers in reference to Him God is well-pleased with Christ and in him he is well-pleased with all such as submit to Christ for Christs-sake That 's one Commendation of this conveyance and dispensation by Christ viz. The safety and security of it Secondly There is the sweetness of it also there is a great deal of delightfulness also in it if we were capable of it to apprehend it to see every thing coming to us strained through the love of God in Christ it 's wonderful pleasing and satisfying and the heart of a true Believer does exceedingly rejoyce in it All the priviledges of the Covenant of Grace they are from hence now doubled to us as having in them not only the sweetness of the things themselves
Now that which Christ submitted to for us was the worst and most grievous of any other Now the greater was the suffering by so much greater also was the love Thirdly In the full and perfect Application of this his death unto us It is said That he washed us in his own blood He did not sprinkle us only but bath us He did not only bestow some few drops of it upon us but he did drench us and souse us and immerse us over head and ears in it he did give us a plentiful share and interest in it And lastly There 's an Emphasis also in the word of propriety in that it is said His own blood The Priests under the old Law in the discharge and execution of their office they sprinkled the people with blood and did in a sense and after a sort wash them from their sins in it But that blood it was not their own but the blood of beasts yea but Christ he hath of himself purged us from our sins in his own blood as it is here intimated to us And this is a further inlargement of his love towards us The Use of all to our selves is to inlarge our hearts in all thankfulness and acknowledgment to Christ for his goodness which we should be very much quickened unto Oh it is that which we can never sufficiently prize or be affected withal and therefore we should be often and frequent in the thoughts and meditation of it He hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood Oh what an high favour was this and what could he have done more for us It was the highest expression of love that possibly might be And we should be exceedingly ravisnt with it It is a great piece of dulness and deadness in us when it is otherwise with us For it has the perfection of all love in it And we should make it a ground of Incouragement in the expectation of all things else from Christ which are requisite and necessary for us He that has not stuck at this great expression of love which is here mentioned in the Text will be sure not to stick at any thing which is inferiour to it and he that has given us the greater will not stick to give us the less And so the Apostle himself teaches us to reason Rom. 8.32 He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Again we may also carry it higher as to the expectation of higher things from him and as reason from the greater to the less so likewise from the less to the greater and in particular as to the expectation of Heaven and Glory to come If he has received us he will also actually save us as the Apostle reasons Rom. 5.10 For he that has done the one he will do the other likewise upon it He that hath loved us and washed us in his blood will also love us and set us in his throne and will fully perfect and accomplish the work of Salvation for us And so I have done also with the second General part of the Text which is the Description of Christ from the particular discovery of his Affection Who hath washed us c. The third and last is from the effect and result of it in these words And hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father Wherein there 's a twofold Dignity which Believers do partake of from and with Christ the one is the Dignity of Kings and the other is the Dignity of Priests All true Believers they have a share in each of these Offices First In his Kingly Office all true Believers are Kings This is to be taken not in a Temporal sense but in a Spiritual and so the Scripture still expresses it Thus Luk. 12.32 Fear not little flock for it is your Fathers pleasure to give you the kingdom and Luk. 22.29 I appoint unto you a kingdom as my Father hath appointed unto me This it consists of two Parts which are belonging unto it the one is the state of Grace and the other the state of Glory First For the state of Grace All true Christians they are Kings in this particular namely so far forth as they have power over their spiritual Enemies and all those things which might hinder their salvation A true Believer he has power over his own lusts and the corruptions of his own heart in some kind of measure and degree and so in that respect is a King Take men that are slaves to their lusts and they are the greatest slaves and vassals that are But now a Christian he is free from this slavery through the Grace of Christ which is communicated to him And so as he has power over Sin so in some measure over Satan also the King of the bottomless pit as he is call'd the Prince of the world A good Christian by the help of Christ's Spirit hath some power over him also and at last shall be inabled to trample him under his feet in Rom. 16.20 And then for the World also A good Christian he has power over this also so far forth as all things are order'd and disposed to his good All things are yours c. There 's no Providence whatsoever but he is still getting good out of it if it be prosperity it makes him more cheerful in God's service and if it be adversity it draws him so much the nearer to God All things work together for good to them that love God whether in themselves they be good or evil Take even Death it self which is sometimes called the King of Terrours A true Believer through the Grace and help of Christ is in a sort a King over this as having the sting of it taken out of it to him and of an enemy made a friend unto him as being the passage to Glory Thus is he a King in reference to the state of Grace And then in reference to the state of Glory also so far forth as he is an heir of Heaven and shall reign with Christ for ever and ever Thus he is a King in regard of right and title even here in this life though he be not in actual possession Therefore we should learn so to carry and demean our selves as suitable to this condition we should abhor to conform to the world and the lusts and vanities thereof as considering to what we are appointed we should endeavour to have a frame of spirit suitable to such a noble estate as this is wherein we are And this for the first piece of Dignity which is here mentioned and that is of Kings The second Dignity is of Priests And hath made us Priests c. These were another sort of persons who in times past were anointed and Christians are spiritually thus also in sundry respects First In regard of the Prayers which are continually put up by them both for themselves and others