that have one mind and have given their strength and power unto the Beast make warre with the Lamb the Lamb shall overcome them for he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings Rev. 17.13,14 To conclude this first branch of this use of consolation The Apostle Paul having spoken largely of the Soveraignty confer'd upon Christ in his exaltation Heb. 2.5,6,7,8 in the end of the eight verse he moveth a doubt against it but now we see not yet all things put under him we see it indeed with an eye of faith but not with an eye of sense and carnall reason we may say of that as the Apostle doth of the future state of the Saints of God it doth not yet appeare what we shall be but we know that when he shall appeare we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Joh. 3.2 but though it doth not yet appeare yet we believe it and faith is an evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 And the Apostle in his answer unto the doubt layeth downe a very good argument for the strengthening of our faith herein But we see Jesus who was made a little lower then the Angels for the suffering of death crowned with honour and glory vers 9. seeing he is crowned with glory and placed at the right hand of God and then hath all power given unto him in heaven and earth he will exercise this his power and authority for the good of his Church and overthrow of his enemyes and at the last day he will put all either persons or things that oppose him absolutely under his feete he will subdue them and trample upon them as upon a footstoole It is said of him Heb. 10.12,13 He sate downe on the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstoole If he our Soveraigne waits patiently till this worke be done it would be very bad manners in us his subjects to be impatient and not contented to wait the Lords Leisure I proceede unto a second benefit accrewing unto believers by the fulnesse of Christs authority and that is positive subserviency of all things to their salvation seeing he hath all power in heaven and in earth therefore he can make all creatures in heaven and earth to promote the glory and happinesse of his people Are not the Angels all ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heires of salvation All believers are joint heires with Christ Rom. 8.17 Now he is the heire of all things Heb. 1.3 therefore they share with him in this his inheritance and are in a way of subordination to him heires of all things too All things are yours * Nota omnia vestra sunt non quasi omnia bona sint commania uti erant in statu innocentiae aut quasi justi omnium rerum sint propriè domini c. sed vestra sunt non possessione sed fine usu quia scilicet vobis in ministerium auxilium salutis deputata data sunt ita Anselm Amb. Theodoret. S. Thom. Chrysostom data inquam ad usum vel realem vel mentalem qui est in omnibus creaturis agnoscere laudare creatorem hoc est quod vulgò dicitur fideli totus mundus divitiarum est Corn. à Lapide in Locum Universalem enumeratione illustrat Vestri sunt omnes ministri summi infimi c. Vestrae sunt omnes res totus inquam mund us c. Vestra omnis conditio vita mors c. Vestri denique omnes eventus presentes in hac vita prosperi et adversi vel futuri in altera vita Omnia inquit vestra sunt Anabaptistae abutuntur hoc loco ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 facultatum probandam Apostolus verò non loquitur de possessionibus civilibus sed de ordine divino quo omnia debent servire utilitati Ecclesiae quia omnia sunt condita ad piorum salutem communicationem officiorum charitatis quae non tollit justitiam sicut nec Evangelium tollit politias Nec loquitur Apostolus de omnibus individuis sed de omnibus speciebus rerum Pareus in Locum See also Reynold's vanity of the creature pag. 27 28. saith the Apostle speaking of believers 1 Cor. 3.21 not in regard of propriety or possession but only in regard of end or use that is All things so farre as their need and occasion shall be usefull helpfull and serviceable unto the salvation of your soules and this is that which is meant by that usuall saying quoted out of Aug. fideli tâ—tus mundus divitiarum est The Apostle illustrates the universall by an enumeration of particulars vers 22. whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all are yours Of which words I shall out of Pareus give you this short following Paraphrase All ministers are yours the highest and the lowest Paul Apollo Cephas All things are yours the whole world All conditions are yours life and death All events are yours present and future things present or things to come things present in this life whether prosperous or adverse Rom. 8.28 And we know that all things worke together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose Things to come that is all the glory of the new Jerusalem Rev. 21. Lastly upon this fulnesse of Christs authority we may ground exhortations unto severall duties and that regarding either God Christ or our brethren First we may hence be exhorted unto thankfulnesse towards God for that he hath vouchsafed such dignities unto our nature in the person of his sonne Psal 97.1 The Lord reigneth let the earth rejoyce let the multitude of Isles be glad thereof When the multitude saw the cure of the man sick of the Palsy they marveiled and glorified God which had given such power unto men Math. 9.8 How should we marvell and glorify God for the giving of all power in heaven and earth unto the man Christ Jesus for that his head is as the most fine gold Cant. 5.11 * Aynsworth that is his head-ship regiment and kingdome is most glorious like splendent gold Because he is the head of the corner the Psalmist our Saviour himselfe would have us to acknowledge the Lords doing and that it should be marveilous in our eyes Ps 118.22 Math. 21.42 The Apostle Paul entertains it with stupor and admiration what is man sayth he that is the man Christ Jesus that thou art mindfull of him or the Son of man that thou visitest him that thou crownest him with glory and honour and didst set him over the workes of thine hands that thou put'st all things under his feet Heb. 2.6,7,8 In Cant. 3.11 we have an exhortation unto an heedfull and gratefull observation and contemplation of Christ in his exaltation Go forth O daughter of Zion and behold King Solomon with the crowne wherewith his Mother
in him that we should be holy and without blame before him in love Eph. 1.4 Aquinas part tert quaest 24. art 4. determineth that the predestination of Christ is the cause of our predestination non secundùm actum praedestinantis not in regard of the act predestinating For God with one and the same act hath predestinated us and Christ And nothing can be the cause of it selfe But secundùm terminum praedestinationis in regard of the terme or effect of predestination Because the grace unto which Christ was predestinated is the cause of that grace unto which we are predestinated and that both meritorious and exemplary whom he did foreknow he did also predestinate to be conformed unto the image of his Son that he might be the first borne among many brethren Rom. 8.29 our Saviour in that solemne prayer of his Joh. 17. hath ver 22. this passage The glory which thou gavest me I have given them Where Maldonate by the glory which the Father gave him understands his love of him For was it not an unspeakable glory unto his manhood to be so superlatively beloved by God And was not the publication hereof at his Baptisme a publicke glorifying of him Well this affection of his Father he deriveth unto all believers for 't is for his sake that his Father setteth his heart upon them The glory which thou hast given me I have given them that is saith Maldonate as thou hast loved mee so have I loved them If God accept of him he will not refuse any that belong unto him It is noted by some concerning Math. 3.17 that the preposition in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is more comprehensive then with or by or through whom for it signifies not onely that God is well-pleased with Christ but also that he is well-pleased with others for his sake And who should those others be but such in whose hearts he dwelleth by faith for they are as it were parts of his fulnesse Ephes 1.23 God's complacencie in his Sonne exempts them alone of all the sonnes of men from his displeasure and if God be well pleased with them it matters not who is displeased If they have his favour they need not feare any mans frowne His grace and love is an impregnable bulwarke against the hatred of all the world But to breake the consolation that this point affords unto the members of Christ into some particulars They may hence inferre that here in this life they shall enjoy a full remission of their sins a gracious acceptation of their persons a plentifull provision for their wants an assured and continuall confirmation of their graces and then for the life to come they may hence undoubtedly expect the full and perfect glorification of their soules and bodies 1. They may conclude the full remission of their sins from the fulnesse of Christs grace and favour with God If any man sinne we have an advocate with the father 1 Joh. 2.1 an advocate that is in the bosome of the father Joh. 1.18 that hath his eare and heart And such an advocate must needes prevaile Ahasuerus a barbarous King could not withstand the petition of his Queene for the life of her people Esth 8. And can God thinke you deny the intercession of his beloved sonne for the life and pardon of his Queene his Church and people We have an advocate with the father The judge whose favour and mercy in our behalfe he as man imploreth is his father and our father in him And a father cannot be inexorable unto a sonne pleading for his brethren We indeed are guilty but he is innocent We have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous He is righteous and therefore needs no remission for himselfe And so might the better and more boldly speake for us if his intercession were onely out of Charity But his intercession is out of justice and in a way of authority for what he hath merited and therefore cannot have a repulse He is such an advocate as is also a propitiation vers 2. that is a propitiatory sacrifice for our sinnes He hath fully satisfied Gods justice for all the sinnes of all his people And therefore he may justly challenge the forgivenesse of them Beza and Maldonate thinke that in those words Math. 3.17 and 17.5 In whom I am well-pleased the father signifieth that Christ alone is the mediatour and peacemaker between God and man When he looketh upon him he layeth aside all indignation and is fully appeased and reconciled This may comfort against the incessant accusations of Satan He accuseth the brethren before our God day and night for their sins Revel 12.10 But the intercession of the beloved will silence all his accusations When Alexander the great had read over a long letter which Antipater had written unto him against his mother Olympias Loe saith he Antipater knoweth not that one teare of a mothers eye will wipe out ten-thousand such letters Christ's intercession now in heaven is not as it was in the dayes of his flesh with cryes and teares Heb. 5.7 but in an authoritative way in the right and vertue of his sacrifice his death the bloud of sprinkling which speaketh better things then the bloud of Abel Heb. 12.24 And the sacrifice the bloud the death of the sonne of Gods love is sufficient to blot out all the criminations that the accuser of the Brethren puts up against them 2. They may hence inferre the gracious acceptation of their persons with God Of his fulnesse have all we received and that grace for grace Joh. 1.16 that is as Pelargus out of Chemnitius expounds that clause we are gracious and accepted with the Father for that grace wherewith he loveth and accepteth the Son made under the Law for us Hereupon is it also that Pareus supposeth that those words of the Apostle Ephes 1.6 in his grace he hath made us accepted in the beloved are a commentary of this part of the Fathers voyce from heaven In whom I am well-pleased And hence also Beza compareth those words of the father with Exod. 28. ver 36 38. where the high Priest is commanded to appeare before the Lord with a plate of pure gold upon his forehead upon which was to be engraven Holinesse unto the Lord that the people of Israel might be accepted before the Lord. For herein the high priest was a type of our great high Priest Christ Jesus in whose face and for whose sufferings and mediation God accepted the person and services of his people And this acceptation of them by God should worke their hearts unto an holy and humble disdaine of all the scorne and contempt of the world If God accept and embrace them for the sake of his beloved what need they care though all the enemies of him and his beloved despise them and shunne all conversation with them 3. From the dearnesse of Christ unto God compared with Gods exposall of him unto death for his members they may conclude that
God will make plentifull provision for all their wants It is the inference of the Apostle himselfe Rom. 8.32 He that spared not his owne sonne but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things He that soared not his owne sonne his deare son his most tenderly beloved sonne but delivered him up for us all unto the slaughter how shall he not with him freely give us all things that is all things needfull for our eternall happinesse and salvation all things that pertaine to life and godlinesse 2 Pet. 1.13 The promises of the life that now is and of that which is to come 1 Timoth. 4.8 4. They may hence be certaine of a continuall confirmation of their graces and preservation from Apostacy Gods t If Kings bear goodwill to some family if his love begin in some chief one who is with him at court as his speciall favourite it is so much the firmer to all the rest of them Thus here how firme and sure is his love to us whoâ—n he hath loved unto life in Christ our head and eldest brother who is his naturall sonne from whom it is impossible that his love should ever start and when it is sure to the head can the body be forsaken Mr Bayne on Eph. â— ver 4. pa. 39. love of them is like his love of him immutable Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me saith Christ Joh. 17.23 If the head be alwaies the beloved the members can never be hated The fruits therefore of this love the gifts and callings of God are without repentance Rom. 11.29 If the naturall sonne of God be daily his delight and that as well unto as from eternity Therefore with everlasting kindnesse he will have mercy on his adoptive sonnes The mountaines shall depart and the hils be removed But my kindnesse shall not depart from them neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on them Isai 54.8,10 But now if he should not uphold and establish them by his spirit Psalm 51.12 if he should not continually support and underprop their graces but suffer them totally and finally to decay and wither this would be a palpable withdrawing of his loving kindnesse and a shutting up his tender mercies in anger Besides the sonnes love of them resembleth the fathers love of him Joh. 15.9 As the father hath loved me so have have I loved you Now there is no change in the fathers love of him therefore neither in his love of them And therefore we may conclude that as it is their duty so it shall be their priviledge and happinesse to continue in his love The Apostle Paul professeth in the behalfe of all believers that nothing can divorce them from the love of God in Christ that is for Christ I am perswaded saith he that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Rom. 8.38,39 In those last words which is in Christ Jesus our Lord The Apostle layeth downe the ground of the perpetuity of God's love of his children 'T is not in themselves but in Christ Jesus that is it is for his sake for that unalterable affection which he beareth unto him Lastly from the eminency of God's favour unto Christ his members may with confidence expect the perfect and full glorification of their soules and bodies hereafter in heaven For our Saviour himselfe in that prayer of his Joh. 17. having petitioned for the glory of all that were to believe on him he inforceth this his petition by representing unto the Father the love that he hath borne unto him as man from all eternity Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with mee where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given mee for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world ver 24. Is is as if he had said That love which thou bearest unto me expresse unto those that are mine As thou loved'st mee invest them with that glory which thou hast decreed unto my humanity Believers then may as confidently expect their owne glory as they are assured of the Fathers affection unto Christ and this assurance should digest all their sorrowes and miseries here in this life From Consolations I proceed unto Exhortations and they shall be directed either unto the enemies or members of Christ 1. Then for enemies and aliens they may hence be exhorted 1. Unto humiliation for their past enmity against Christ 2. Unto a serious and earnest endeavour after reconciliation and union with him 1. Unto humiliation for their past enmity against him and his his members ministers and other ordinances Who dare almost oppose the Minions of earthly Princes for History presents us with plentifull instances of such whom their very frownes have ruined O then the hatred of heavens favourite must needs be infinitely more fatall and unfortunate Because he is able to crush his most potent adversaries tremble then to consider that all thy life long thou hast hated the beloved loathed and abhorred God's darling been averse from the Son of his love rejected his elect servant in whom his soule delighteth been a most disaffected and malignant Antagonist unto him in whom the Father is well-pleased 2. Because Christ is so highly graced with God all his enemies may be exhorted to doe what lieth in them for the future for reconciliation and union with him by application of themselves unto the diligent use of such meanes and ordinances as God hath sanctified and set apart for that purpose For those that are not united with him cannot expect so much as a good look from God because God is reconciled onely in him 2 Cor. 5.19 he accepts none but in the beloved Ephes 1.6 He is well pleased with none but such as are in him Those that are out of him lye under the displeasure and wrath of God which is a consuming fire In terrene courts how ambitious are men to be related unto the grand favourite as knowing that he is the channell of all considerable preferments Should it not then be the utmost ambition of men to have relation unto Christ for through him onely God dispenseth all saving favours unto the sonnes of men We may say of him in reference unto God as Tacitus did of Sejanus the powerfull favourite of Tiberius ut quisque Sejano intimus ita ad Caesaris amicitiam validus Contrà quibus infensus esset metu ac sordibus conflictebantur He that was an intimate of Sejanus needed not with any great labour search for honours He that had him his enemy languished under dispraise and misery None had any honour without his favour Neither without him could any keep any place of either profit or credit with security Besides
clearly demonstrates the matchlesse eminency of the Fathers love unto us and so is a very pressing argument for our thanksgiving See what our Saviour himselfe speakes in exaltation and as it were admiration of this love Joh. 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten sonne c. The particle so points out such an height of love as is unexpressible Ransacke all the Poëts and in all their fictions you can find no paralell unto this love That he should seeme for a time to suspend his love unto his beloved that he might extend his love unto enemies unto traytors and rebels that he should deliver up the sonne of his love unto the utmost severity and rigour of the law for the ransome of Children of wrath that he should not spare him for this intent that he might spare them that hee should make him a curse to redeeme them from the curse of the law Galat. 3.13 that hee should scourge him to heale them Isai 53.5 punish him to save them give him up unto death that they might enjoy eternall life that he should desert him in point of consolation that they might not be eternally lost but embraced in the armes of his love for ever O this speaketh the most transcendent love that ever God shewed towards any miserable creature And therefore the most enlarged thankes and praises will fall infinitely short of it In the next place if we consider the connexion of this fulnesse of Gods love unto Christ with Christ's fulnesse of love unto us we shall find very great reason for the direction of our thankes and praises unto Christ himselfe as well as unto the Father We have these two fulnesses of love connexed by Christ under the name of wisdome Prov. 8.30,31 Though he was by God as one brought up with him and was daily his delight rejoycing in the habitable part of his earth and his delights were with the sons of men Which passage we may expound by those words of our Saviour Joh. 15.3 As the Father hath loved me so have I loved you O what an astonishable condescention is there in this love of our Saviour that the darling and onely beloved of the great God of glorious heaven should fetch a spouse from this miserable earth should cast his eye and set his heart upon such forlorne creatures and depraved sinners as we are that he which is in the bosome of the Father should take such despicable wretches as we are into his owne bosome marry us unto himselfe and rejoyce over us as a Bridegroome rejoyceth over his bride Isai 62.5 Such was the happinesse of Christ in the fruition of his Fathers eternall love as that it was uncapable of any further improvement But yet notwithstanding this his happy state and condition he stooped so low as to make his rebellious servants the objects of a boundlesse affection Was not this as it were a debasing of himselfe and such a mercy unto us as is above recompence All that we can do is humbly and thankfully to acknowledge admire and adore it to resigne up our selves unto the service of him and unto suffering for him if he honour us with a call thereunto and to make it the chiefest matter of our care to decline whatsoever is unsuitable unto this high place of grace and favour with him and will reflect any dishonour or reproach thereon 4. The height of Christs grace and favour with God should prevaile with us for obedience unto his doctrine and submission unto his directions This use was made of it by Christ himselfe Prov. 8.30,32 c. I was dayly his delight Now therefore hearken unto me O ye Children for blessed are they that keepe my wayes vers 33. Heare instruction and be wise and refuse it not It is also pressed by his father in his transfiguration Math. 17.5 This is my beloved son in whom I am well-pleased Heare ye him that is in the language of scripture obey him accept him not onely as a priest to satisfy for you as a redeemer to save you but also as a prophet to instruct you as a King and soveraigne Lord to governe and guide you The onely begotten sonne is alone in the bosome of the father and therefore best acquainted with his mind and will and consequently best qualified and enabled for the revelation thereof He onely can declare him for no man besides him hath seen God at any time Joh. 1.18 Unto him therefore in his word let us onely have recourse for instruction in things towards God And unto such instructions let us lend an open eare and heart let us yield a ready and full conformity without farther consulting with flesh and bloud 5. Because Christ is in such great grace and favour with God it will be discretion to have all our addresses unto and worship of God in his name through his mediation He is the powerfull favourite of heaven and therefore all accesses unto the God of Heaven are by him all dispatches from heaven unto earth passe through him not a promise not a saving mercy not a word of peace and comfort is conveyed unto a believing soule but through his mediatorship The greatest part of publicke ceremoniall worship under the law was lawfull and acceptable unto God onely at the Temple in Jerusalem Sacrifices were to be offered onely upon the Altar there Isai 20.4 and 56.7 The Temple and Altar were herein types of Christ in whom alone the whole morall worship and service of God is acceptable out of him God rejecteth and looketh upon the most glorious performances as heathenish abominations as the butchery of a man the cutting off a dogs neck the offering swines bloud the blessing of an Idol Isay 66.3 It is in the beloved alone that God accepteth of and is well pleased with as our persons so our services all prayers preferred all duties performed in his name will speed well and find a gracious and favourable reception It is related in Plutarch of Themistocles that when he fled from the fury of his Citizens unto Admetus King of the Molossians whom yet he had formerly provoked he tooke the Kings little young sonne in his armes and went and kneeled downe before the Altar in his chappel which humble manner of sueing the Molossians tooke to be most effectuall and such as was not to be refused When being pursued by the guilt and cry of our sinnes the rigorous sentence of the law the accusations of Sathan and the terrours of our owne conscience for them we runne unto an incensed God for mercy there is no way to appease him but to take his deare sonne in the armes of our faith and to lodge or offer him as it were upon the Altar of his bosome This is such an enforcing manner of supplication as that God in his new covenant of grace hath engaged himselfe unto a complyance with it 6. Because Christ is so eminently gracious with God the father we should be stirred
teares Here they sow in teares Psal 126.5 Thou feedest them with the bread of teares and givest them teares to drink in great measure Psalm 80.5 But light is sowen for the righteous and gladnesse for the upright in heart Psalm 97.11 and a glorious harvest will come wherein they shall reape in joy and God shall wipe away all teares from their eies Revel 21.4 Man that is borne of a woman is of few dayes and trouble Job 14.1 man is borne unto trouble as the sparkes flee upward Job 5.7 But there remaineth a rest unto the people of God Hebr. 4.9 a rest from all their labours Revel 14.13 their hearts therefore may be glad and their glory may rejoyce and their flesh also shall rest in hope Psalm 16.9 who almost but may take up that complaint of the Psalmist Psalm 88.3 My soule is full of troubles and my life draweth nigh unto the grave But unto it all Christ's members may oppose that which David speaketh in the name of Christ himselfe Thou wilt make knowne unto mee the waies of life Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance Act. 2.28 Here Gods people have waters of affliction of a full cup wrung out unto them Psalm 73.10 Here they have a full draught of misery But against the bitternesse of this cup they may be cheared by expectation of the river of divine pleasures the streames thereof make glad the city of God which God hath promised to make all those drinke of that put their trust under the shadow of his wing For with him is the fountaine of life in his light shall we see light Psalm 36.8,9 Amongst the miseries of this life we may well range the infamy of our names and it is common and incident to the most of men Who almost so innocent but hath occasion to complaine as David Psal 69.19,20 Thou hast knowne my reproach and my shame and my dishonour c. Reproach hath broken my heart and I am full of heavinesse Against this we should comfort our selves with this confidence that God will one day cleare up our reputations and wipe away all obloquies from our names The Lord Christ will come to be glorified in his saints and to be admired in all them that believe 2 Thes 1.10 The Lord Christ will be the fountaine of their glory and the measure of it will be unto admiration Unto the reproaches which the names of saints and Believers lie under we may add that which ministreth no lesse argument of griefe and sorrow unto a sanctified soule the unavoidable society of the ungodly How was just Lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked 2 Pet. 2.7 Woe is me saith David that I sojourne in Mesech that I dwell in the tents of Kedar Psalm 120.5 But against this we must solace our selves by the hopes of Gods glorious presence in which we shall enjoy as Christ now doth fulnesse of joy and pleasures for evermore at the right hand of God Lastly here is comfort and encouragement unto those that are Christs against the terrours of death When we are as Joshua and David to goe the way of all the earth Joshua 23.14 1 Kings 2.2 to die This consideration may comfort us that God will shew us the path of life make knowne unto us experimentally the waies of life Nature trembleth to consider that one day it must descend downe into the throne of death make it's bed in the dust among wormes and putrefaction But Faith erects the soule by giving evidence of our future full vindication from all the dishonour of the grave and full conformity unto the all-fulnessē of Christs glory Lastly the all-fulnesse of glory that dwelleth in Christs humanity may be applied in a way of exhortation 1. Because it is the pattern pledge of our owne fulnesse of glory Phil. 1.21 Therefore it should weane us from the love of this miserable world and life and quicken in us an earnest expectation of and fervent longing for that time day wherein this glory shall be not only revealed but communicated unto us Death will put a period unto the most lasting joyes of this world therefore we should not let out our hearts unto them but there are pleasures at Gods right hand that are beyond its reach for they shall be for evermore The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived from a word that signifies victory because * Rivet in locū eternity is as it were a conquest of time and whatsoever is measured thereby Unto these everlasting delights our soules should be alwaies suspiring Here we are troubled with the passibility animality and weaknesse of our bodies and we dread all thoughts of the corruption and dishonour of the grave and therefore we should sigh and groane in our selves for the redemption of our bodies we should ardently wish and pray for incorruptible powerfull glorious and Spirituall bodies The sin of the soule is an heavier loade unto a gracious heart then the frailty of the body O wretched man that I am saith Paul who shall deliver me from the body of this death Rom. 7.24 Why death it selfe will give a full and finall deliverance it will exempt as from the pollution of sin so from the vexation of all temptation to it After death there will be no more any lustings of the flesh against the Spirit no more any warring of the law in our members against the law of our minds and bringing us into captivity unto the law of sin which is in our members Rom. 7.23 And therefore death is desirable by all that are in Christ Phil. 1.23 so it be with submission unto the decree of God with a patient contentation to serve our owne generation by the will of God Act. 13.36 To do first that service for the Church which God hath appointed us No filthinesse comparable unto that in the spot of sin and therefore how welcome should a glorified condition be unto us in which we shall be without spot blemish wrinkle or any such thing The mortification of sin in this life is attended with the peace of conscience that passeth all understanding but because it is not perfect therefore it is often interrupted with stormes But the utter eradication of sin is followed with a perpetuall calme and therefore ardently desired by all that know and prize tranquillity of Spirit A cluster of grapes cut down at the brook of Eshcol and brought into the wildernesse was very sweet Numb 13. Oh then how pleasant will the whole vintage in the land of Canaan be If the first fruites of our glory be so joyous and delightfull O then the comfort that we shall reap in the whole crap or harvest The fulnesse and perfection of our glory is such as never entered into the heart of man 1 Cor. 2.9 The glory of Christ in his transfiguration on the mount was so satisfactory unto Peter as that he desired his sight of it might never have end or
I shall yet farther propound by way of motive to stirre up unto this union this following difference betwixt the Court of Heaven and those of earth Though men do not shine and glitter in earthly Courts they may be safe in a retired privacy But now in the Court of Heaven there is no middle betwixt the two extreams of intimacy and hatred They are all either enemies or intimates Those are under a cloud that are not in grace and favour All they are rejected that are not accepted in the beloved And therefore in disunion from Christ there is nothing to be expected but rejection disgrace shame everlasting contempt and confusion I passe on unto those exhortations that concerne the members of Christ and they are seven 1. If we compare the transcendency of Gods love of Christ with the greatnesse of his sufferings for their sins this will afford a strong argument unto an hatred of and sorrow or humiliation for sinne For nothing can more lively discover the hainousnesse of sin and the terrour of Gods wrath against it Christ was an object of a fulnesse of grace and favour and withall he was the object of a fulnesse of wrath as our sins were charged upon him as our surety He was wounded for our transgressions bruised for our iniquities Isai 53.5 For the transgressions of my people was he stricken ver 8. He made his soule an offering for sinne ver 10. God would never have used such a rigour and extremity of severity towards his deare Sonne for sinne imputed to him if sinne had not beene a thing which he infinitely abhorred O what horrour is there in that for which God was u Irae autem hujus objectum fuit Christus non absolute sed tantummodo quoad paenam quae per iram infertur quam ille tanquam sponsor noster subivit Ames med Theol. lib. 1. c. 22. sect 9. angry with the son of his love for which for a while he deserted him in whom he was well pleased which turned the favourable countenance of a loving father into frownes against a beloved sonne 2. They may hence be exhorted unto a fulnesse in their love of Christ If he be the beloved of God it is fit that he should be their beloved too that they may say unto him as the Church Cant. 1.7 O thou whom our soule loveth He is in the bosome of the Father therefore he should be no stranger unto our bosomes We should alwaies lodge him in our hearts thoughts and affections We should not be cold and remisse in our love of the Sonne of Gods love He ever was is and will be the delight of God and therefore our complacency should be in him above all the creatures God hath set his whole love upon him and therefore we semblably should set our whole hearts upon him also and not divide them betwixt him and the creature betwixt him and our corruptions 3. The members of Christ may hence be provoked unto thank-fulnesse and that both unto the father and unto Christ himselfe 1. Unto the father and that in regard of two considerations 1. Because his love of him is the Originall of his love of us 2. The giving of a person so highly beloved unto the death for us is a most evident demonstration of the unmeasurablenesse of his affection unto us 1. Then let us glorify him for the fulnesse of his love unto Christ as man and mediatour because it is the Originall of all the love that he bareth unto his Children if we speake of Gods love quoad effectum that is it is the fountaine of all the good decreed unto them Christ's election is the cause of our election non quoad actum eligentis not of the act of election for that being in God is the same with God himselfe and therefore independant and without a cause but quoad res electione praeparatas as touching the grace and glory unto which we are by election designed All the fruits and effects of our election are derived unto us from Christ's election And if Christ as man had not been elected unto the grace of personall union a fulnesse of habituall grace and perfection of glory we had been for ever rejected from the presence and favour of God If he had not beene the sonne of Gods love we had all of us been for ever Children of wrath and sonnes of perdition and therefore is it that John the Baptist in his testimony of Christ ascribes unto him the comming of grace or favour unto men The law was given by Moses but grace c. came by Jesus Christ Joh. 1.17 If Jesus Christ had not come in the flesh the grace of God that bringeth salvation had never appeared unto the sonnes of men Tit. 2.11 but they had all of them for ever layne under the curse and condemnation of the Law In that benediction of the Apostle 2 Cor. 13.14 grace is appropriated unto Christ and that not onely as God but also as man The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ He was in himselfe the principall object of Gods grace and favour he was the meritorious cause of it's derivation unto us He purchased and procured all the grace and favour we enjoy with God Hence also is it that the Angels in their doxologie averre that the good will of God accrewed unto men by Christ incarnate Luk. 2.14 After the fall all the expressions of Gods good will unto mankind were for the merits of his beloved In him alone he was well pleased Our Saviour himselfe Joh. 17.24 prayeth for the glorification of believers upon the account of his Fathers love of him Father I will that they also whom thou hast given mee be with mee where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given mee for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world This sufficiently intimates that they owe all their glory unto Gods love of Christ as man and mediatour for otherwise there were little congruence in bringing this as an argument to back his prayer for that If God then had not loved Christ before the foundation of the world lapsed man could never have been glorified never have seen the face of God in heaven God hath blessed us saith the Apostle with all spirituall blessings in Christ Eph. 1.3 that is for Christ's sake All the sweet and precious promises of the Gospell are as so many beames of Gods love and that they shine upon us it is onely by reflection from this Sun of righteousnesse If the light of Gods countenance had not shined upon him we had still sate in darknesse and in the shadow of death Not so much as one promise of the Gospell had ever shone upon our poore soules for all the promises of God in him are yea and in him Amen that is they are all made and performed for him 2 Cor. 1.20 2. The dearnesse of Christ unto the Father compared with the Fathers exposall of him unto death for us
Priests bearing the names of the children of Israel upon his two x Quod verò spectat usum Ephod seu amiculi debuit reliquis vestibus summi Sacerdotis superindui eidem pectorale inseri in gemmis quae humero aptarentur habere nomina duodecim filiorum Israel ut significaret Christum Ecclesiam ejusque membra omnia semper in memoria habere etiam obverso tergo propter amorem ardentissimum quo eos prosequitur ac propter ipsos coram Deo semper apparere Heb. 7.16 Rivet in locum shoulders for a memoriall as well as on his breast plate ver 12. His heart is towards them when his face is not I shall close all these testimonies with that of the Apostle Paul Ep. 3.18,19 then which no one place of Scripture more fully expresseth the transcendency of Christs love unto us 1. Vers 18. He ascribes unto Christ's love one dimension more then Naturalists attribute unto bodies not onely length breadth depth but also height a Dickson in locum Length in regard of it's eternity breadth in respect of it's extent unto all ages and orders of men unto the Catholique Church scattered over the face of the whole earth depth in regard of it's condescension unto a deliverance of us out of an abysse of sinne and misery Height in regard of it's exaltation of us unto an heavenly happinesse Aquinas as Estius informeth mee thinkes that the Apostle here alludeth unto Job 11.8,9 It is as high as heaven what canst thou doe Deeper then Hell what canst thou know the measure thereof is longer then the earth and broader then the sea But now in vers 19. we have this immensity of Christ's love set forth more plainly The love of Christ passeth knowledge that is cannot be perfectly fully and exactly knowne either by men or Angels The Apostle thinks b Videri potest Apostolus respice real Gnosticos qui hoc superbo nomine sese nuncupaverunt à scientia quam sihi peculiariter venditabant utitur enim vocabulo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Atqui longè majus est scire charitateÌ„ Christi â—…pote quae universam Gnosticorum omniúmque Philosophorum scientiam excedit quia mysterium charitatis Christi quâ semetipsum pro nobis tradidit in cor hominis cujusquam non ascendit sicut in genere de hujusmodi mysteriis sapientiae Christianae testatur Apostolus 1. Cor. 2.9 Estius seems to have regard unto the Gnosticks who called themselves by this proud name from that knowledge which they pretended unto above others To take them off from this overweening conceit the Apostle tels them that the love of Christ is so incomprehensible as that it surpasseth all the capacity of our wits fully to conceive it in our minds and therefore it is able to puzzle and non-plus them and all others that vainly boast a knowledge of darke and hidden mysteries Unto these testimonies I shall adde two other arguments of the fulnesse of Christs love 1. The freenesse of it And 2. the unmeasurablenesse of it's fruits or effects 1. The absolute freenesse of it It was neither for his advantage as an end nor for our deservings as a motive He first loved us 1 Joh. 4.19 While we were sinners Christ died for us Rom. 5.8 When we were enemies we were reconciled unto God by the death of his Sonne vers 10. As it is unmerited so secondly its fruits and effects to wit his purchase and application of our redemption are unmeasurable by our understandings here in this life 1 His purchase of our redemption not by corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious bloud of Christ 1 Pet. 1.18,19 did so farre exceed humane reason as that it became thereunto a rocke of offence Greater love saith our Saviour hath no man then this that a man lay downe his life for his friend Joh. 15.13 But he himselfe hath given us a greater expression of his owne love He hath laid downe his life for enemies for traytours and rebels and besides this life that he laid downe cannot be equalled by the lives of the greatest of all the sons of men For it was the life of the Son of God and therefore of peerelesse and inestimable value 1 Joh. 3.16 2. As for his application of our redemption if we endeavour to search it unto the bottome it will be found farre to surmount humane reach Is not the originall of it our election one of the most mysterious points in all Divinity are not the parts of it vocation justification adoption sanctification glorification all matters of perplext difficulty Alas how endlesse intricate are the disputes of most learned Theologues touching their nature order and distinction And we should but flatter our selves to expect a decision of these disputes fully and clearely satisfactory as long as we remaine cloathed with corruptible flesh To make now some briefe application of this fulnesse of Christ's love unto us 1. It yeilds abundant consolation unto all true believers That may be said of them which was prophesied of Naphtali Deut. 33.23 They shall be satisfied with favour and full of the blessing of the Lord. The earth is full of the goodnesse of the Lord Psal 33. â—5 Therefore much more the Church Riches of patience long suffering and forbearance are extended unto vessels of wrath Rom. 9.22 Rom. 2.4 therefore undoubtedly the c Divitias gloriae pro gloriofissimas Hebraismus Pareus riches of glory that is glorious grace or the most glorious riches of grace Rom. 9.23 shall be heaped and poured upon vessels of mercy If Christ as a private person out of Charity unto the humane nature as * Dr Twisse some hold did commiserate the impenitent Jewes and wept over them Luk. 19.41 O then what yearning of bowels what tendernesse of compassion is there in him by vertue of his office as he is mediator towards those whom his father hath given him If our hearts be sad and disconsolate our spirits weary wounded and heavy laden with the sense of sinne Why Christ's love saith the Church is better then wine Cant. 1.2 Wine is a very comfortable creature making glad the heart Psal 104.15 and the life merry It maketh the needy and those that are of heavy heart to forget their poverty and remember their misery no more Prov. 31.6,7 and therefore may very well by a synecdoche be put for all worldly delights The words then may be thus paraphrased Thy love is sweeter more comfortable pleasant and rejoycing the heart then the choicest of earthly pleasures If we are assayled by our Corruptions within by temptations afflictions and persecutions without why Christ's love is a banner over us animating us to quit our selves as becommeth the souldiers of the Lord of Hosts for the use of a banner standard or ensigne is as to draw and keepe souldiers togeither Isay 5.26 and 11.10 So also to encourage them Psal 60.4 thou hast given a
our dayes in the fruits and offices of love so that all our actions flow from love be manaâ—…d in love and end in love 2. The Apostle directs us to conforme our selves herein unto Christs love of us Walke in love as Christ hath loved us There be foure things especially wherein our love of our brethren should be conformable unto Christs love of us 1. Constancy 2. Freenesse 3. Selfe-denyall and humility 4. Reality of expressions 1. Constancy As God he hath loved us from everlasting Prov. 8.30 As man he loveth his owne in the world unto the end Iohn 13.1 That is for ever Our love of our Brethren should therefore be perpetuall and not be altered interrupted or abated by their petty unkindnesses much lesse by the greatest and most miserable change of their outward condition Prov. 17.17 2. Freenesse He died for the ungodly and for sinners Rom. 5.6,8 He loved us in the very height of our rebellion How did he weep over Jerusalem and bemoane its sad fate though it were a place replenisht with persons that breathed nothing but hostility against him Luk. 19.41,42 c. And at his death how fervently prayed he for the pardon of his rageing and insulting crucifyers Luk. 23.34 If we will walke by this patterne of Christs love we must exercise some love unto the most impious and undeserving wretches imaginable We must love our enemies blesse them that curse us doe good to them that hate us and pray for them which despitefully use us and persecute us Math. 5.44 3. Our love must be conformable unto Christs love in the selfe-denyall and humility of it 2 Cor. 8.9 Phil. 2.5,6,7,8 His love was so humble as that it condescended unto the very washing of his disciples feet Iohn 13. We must so farr deny our selves in our love as to shew it though it make nothing unto our advantage nay though it make much unto our disadvantage though it be with the hazard of peace reputation wealth and in some cases of life We must stoop unto the lowest and meanest offices of love especially to promote the good of soules Lastly we should imitate Christs love in the reality of its expressions He went about all his life doing good Act. 10.38 and at last sacrificed 〈◊〉 life for us and therefore we should love not in word neither in tongue but in deed and in truth 1 Ioh. 3.18 Iam. 2.15,16 There should be a labour and worke of our love 1 Thes 1.3 Heb. 6.10 that is our love should be laborious and working ministering unto the saints Christs love was so liberall as that he gave himselfe his blood his life his soule for us and he communicates unto us the satisfaction and merit of his sufferings the graces of his spirit and all his communicable prerogatives There should be likewise such a franke disposition in our love as that we should impart what we hold dearest for the good of Gods Church and people We should lay downe our lives for some brethren 1 Iohn 3.16 Thus Aquila and Priscilla for the life of Paul laid downe their owne necks Rom. 16.3,4 Christ expressed his love in forgiving those that offend as well as in giving those that want He forgiveth us ten thousand talents infinite treasons and rebellions we should not therefore be inexorable unto our brethren for a debt of an hundred pence Math. 18. from verse 24. unto the end of the chapter I proceed unto the second fulnesse of grace that dwelleth and inhereth in Christ's humanity The fulnesse of the grace of the spirit which shall be by me with all possible brevity and plainnesse 1. explained and cleared 2. confirmed 3. applied 1. For explication In the words of the Apostle under this sence we have an adjunct grace set forth unto us 1. By its extent and excellency 2. By its subject 3. By its inhesion in that subject 4. By its cause and originall 1. The extent and excellency of it is expressed in two severall gradations It was 1. A fulnesse 2. An all-fulnesse of grace 2. It s subject was Christs humane nature in him that is in Christ as man 3. We have the inhesion of this adjunct grace in this subject him dwelleth Of which terme I conceive choice is made to denote that this all-fulnesse was in Christ after a permanent and fixed manner it dwelled in him Sutable to which expression is that of the Prophet Isaiah chap. 11. ver 2. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him Vbi verbum requiescit saith Suarez ibi indicat permanentiam per modum habitus The word rest signifieth the permanency and constancy of abode that the spirit was to make in him it was habitually to rest in him 4. Lastly we have the cause of all of all this fulnesse dwelling in him the decree of the father It pleased the father that in him should all fulnesse dwell Christ owed it not either to his owne or others merits but solely to the free purpose and independant pleasure of heaven Indeed the word father is not found in the Originall yet it is understood and therefore rightly supplied by Erasmus who herein is followed by the best translations All that I shall say in farther unfolding these words as understood of Christ's habituall grace shall be in giving satisfaction unto these two questions 1. What is meant by this fulnesse of grace in Christ 2. How an all-fulnesse of grace can be said to be in his humane nature 1. What is meant by this fulnesse of grace in Christ Antonius Delphinus upon John 1.14 puts a difference between these two expressions To be full of grace and to have the fulnesse of grace A river nay a pit or pond the least vessell or measure may be full of water only a fountaine the sea hath in it a fulnesse of water A starr a beame nay a glasse inlightned by the Sun may be full of light only the Sun hath in it the fulnesse of light Even so divers of the saints the virgin Mary Iohn the Baptist Zacharias Elizabeth and Stephen are in Scripture said to be full of the holy Ghost and grace full as vessells as streames full as starrs as beames But Christ only had in him the fulnesse of grace he was full of grace as a fountaine as a sea as a sun He was not only full of grace but the fulnesse of grace dwelled in him so that in his grace there was an all-sufficiency an indeficiency 1. An all-sufficiency sufficient it was for ornament unto himselfe and for influence upon others He had so much as was requisite for the dispensation of all his offices and for transacting all businesses belonging to his Church and as was necessary for his filling up all the emptinesse of grace expelling all the fulnesse of sinne and supplying all the defects and wants possible in his members 2. An indeficiency It will never faile Chrysostome in the beginning of his 13. Homily upon the first of John illustrates this by the
of it's owne or the Churches safety seeing the head of the Church who hath the key of David openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth that is governeth and protecteth his Church irresistably if we take the word irresistably in opposition unto a final complete and victorious resistancy why should we feare the malice and enmity of weak men as long as we have the love and favour of so potent a Saviour if he be our friend no matter though we have all the world for foe If he be with and for us who can be against us Rom. 8.31 In that terrible invasion of Israel by Shalmanaser which ended in the utter ruine desolation and captivity of the whole nation described Isay 8. ult to be a time of trouble and darknesse and dimnesse of anguish far surmounting their former troubles though very great and grievous cap. 9.1 yet the prophet goeth to support the sinking spirits of the believing and penitent party with the promise of comfort and liberty v. 2 3 4. the ground of all which he makes to be Christs soveraignty vers 6. though the remnant of Christs people amongst the captiv'd Israelites walked in darknesse and dwelt as it were in the shadow of death yet they shall see a great light vers 2. the light of sprituall comfort and deliverance shall shine upon them they shall joy according to the joy of harvest vers 3. they shall be freed from the bondage of their spirituall enemies the yoke of their burden the staffe of their shoulder the rod of their oppressours shall be broken as in the day of Midian vers 4. for unto us a child is borne unto us a son is given upon whose shoulders the government of the Church the whole world is cast vers 6. And this government is managed as by unconceivable wisdome He is the wonderfull Counsellor so by unspeakable love the Zeale of the Lord of Hostes will performe this And the ground of this assertion is his relation unto us He is our everlasting Father v 6. If the Church be full of disorder and Confusion 1 Cor. 14.32 if the Spirits of the prophets be not subject to the prophets 1 Cor. 12.17 if the whole body affect to be the eye and the hearing why his government is upon the throne of David and his king dome to order it if the Church be in a weake and tottering condition his government is upon the throne of David and upon his Kingdome to establish it vers 7. We find Psal 80. that when the hedges of the Church of Israel were broken downe the hedge of discipline the hedges of God and the Magistrates protection vers 12 13. so that all they which passe by the way did pluck her The Beare out of the wood did wast it and the wild beast of the field did devoure it Why then the alone refuge and Sanctuary of her genuine members was the exaltation of Christ vers 17 18. Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for-thy selfe So will we not go◠back from thee As if the Psalmist should have said if our blessed Saviour be highly exalted a name given him above every name and hath all power given unto him in heaven and earth why then we may wax confident of our perseverance for he wil imploy this his power and authority to preserve us from Apostacy and defection the shipwrack of faith and a good conscience so that we shall never draw back unto perdition Heb. 10.39 And this will satisfy and compose our spirits let the world goe how it will let all things be turned topsy turvy so as we goe not back from thee O Lord of Hostes so long as there is not in us an evill heart of unbeliefe we hope we shall possesse our soules in patience Though the vineyard of the Lord be burnt with fire and cut downe though there be scarce left among us so much as the face of a Church visible men may throw us out of our earthly enjoyments they may shut us up in a deep and darke dungeon and there exclude the light of the Sunne from us but in such a condition the power of our Mediatour should uphold our spirits He hath the Key of David and openeth and no man shutteth if he open heaven gates unto us not all the men in earth not all the Devils in hell are able to shut or barre them against us If we be cast upon a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time why at that time Michael shall stand up the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people and at that time thy people shall be delivered every one that shall be found written in the booke Dan. 12.1 This place of Daniel you may expound by Revel 12.7 where we have a warre raised in heaven that is in the Church of God by the Dragon and his Angels that is Satan and his adherents but they are encountered by Michael and his Angels who give them a totall rout and overthrow vers 8. They prevailed not neither was their place found any more in heaven They had no more power to tyrannize over the Church And it is observable that the Instruments of this great victory are none but poore martyrs for such as these were the Angels of Michael that is Christ described to be vers 11. They loved not their lives unto death The strongest weapons of their warfare are their sufferings The victory that overcometh the world is the faith and patience of the Saints 1 John 5.4 The shedding of their blood drawes blood from their adversary and their death puts life into the cause which they dye for so that we may say of them as of the King of Sweden at the Battell of Lutzen they conquer when they are killed If that befall our Church which Paul foretold of the Church of Ephesus that grievous wolves enter in among them not sparing the flock Act. 20.29 If foxes spoyle the vines and tender grapes Cant. 2.15 If hereticks false teachers seduce weake Christians especially new converts why he is the great shepherd of the sheepe and is able to represse them and chase them away If never so malitious potēt adversaries assayle the house the Church of God why Christ is the Lord of the house and he is faithfull to him that appointed him Heb. 3.2 therefore there is no need of any other garrison for it's protection then his power and care Psalm 2.1,2,3,4,9 the Kings of the earth set themselves the rulers take counsell together against the Lord against his anointed saying Let us breake their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision Thou shalt breake them with a rod of Iron thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potters vessell If ten Kings
locum Speciem ponit pro genere nam per lotionem pedum quod omnium ministeriorum humillimum est omnia exempla omnia ministeria intelligit humilitatis Maldonat in locum Quod ad externam pedum ablutionem attinet minimè fuit Christo propositum talem ritum sacrum in Ecclesia instituere sed secutus morem illis temporibus regionibus ab ultima vetustate consuetum ablutionis pedum ad viatores praesertim vespere excipiendos ut ex quamplurimis Scripturae locis apparet hoc genere sermonis mutuam verorum Christi Discipulorum omnium inter se conjunctionem ad quid vis muruae aedificationis causâ praestandum commendavit non verbo tantum sed suo quoque ipsius exemplo 1 Cor. 9.19.1 Tim. 5.10 Luc 7.44 Generalis est ergo haec praeceptio mutuam Christianorum omnium inter se charitatem omni officiorum genere testandam complectens quidem iis inprimis conveniens quos Dominus caeteâ—is doctrina omni verarum virtutum exemplo praefecit inter quas excellit profecto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tantopere ipsis commendata Mat. 20.27,28 Beza in locum Vide Piscatorem in locum The holiest of men have Christ for their Master the greatest and most powerfull have him for their Lord his washing then the feet not the head of his Disciples and servants should be a forcible inducement unto any man whatsoever to serve even the meanest of his brethren in the most condescending and self-denying acts of love especially seeing hee himselfe tells his disciples that this his practice was not so much for admiration as imitation vers 15. for I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done unto you This example of Christ obligeth all Christians for he speaketh unto his Apostles not only in the notion of Apostles or Ministers but also under the capacity of Christians and believers but yet there may be and no doubt is an appropriation of the obligation unto ministers so that it concerneth them in a more especiall manner then it doth others and so much may very probably be gathered from the last words of the next verse neither is he that is sent greater then he that sent him They that are sent by Christ as Ambassadors should not above all men disdaine the doing that of which they have a president in him their great Lord and Master but should make use of the meditation hereof as a powerfull incentive unto an affable humble carriage and behaviour and that unto both their fellow ministers and their brethren First unto their fellow brethren of the ministry no kind of eminency whatsoever can put such a distance between ministers of the gospell as there was between Christ the Apostles for he had all things delivered into his hand and them amongst the rest yet though he knew this he performed unto them an act of such servility as that when he addressed himselfe unto the performance thereof Peter was transported with a just wonder and utterly refused it as he thought then out of a devout reverence because he judged it no way suiting with the relation he had unto Christ for he was his Lord and Master and therefore he thought he should much forget himselfe to receive such service from him Peter saith unto him Lord dost thou wash my feet thou shalt never wash my * Tu mihi quid est tu quid est mihi cogitanda sunt potius quaÌ„ dicenda ne forte quod ex iis verbis aliquatenus dignum concepit anima non explicet lingua Aug. Oratio est abominantis remabsurdam indignam nam interrogando quidnam faciat Christus quasi manuÌ„ illi injicit Calv. in locum Interrogatio admirantis detrectantis tanquam rem absurdam minimeque decentem Piscat in locum feet ver 6 8. would some ministers but seriously sadly ponder this servile act of our Saviour unto his disciples servaÌ„ts they would not looke with such an eye of scorne neglect as they doe upon their poore brethren over whom they are advanced in this worlds lottery either by others ignorance or their own confidence Pragmaticalnesse rather then any true desert and ability This point of the humility of ministers towards one another our Saviour enforceth from the scope of his whole humiliation and from the last and lowest act thereof his death and passion Math. 20.28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his life a ransome for many Seeing Christ who is the King of Kings hath for our sake subjected himselfe as a servant taken upon him the form and nature of a servant done the worke of a servant dyed the * Crucifixion was a death that commonly servants were sentenced unto seldome times freemen whence it is many times noted out by the name of servile supplicium by Tacitus Godwin Rom. Ant. death of a Servant he humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse Phil. 2.8 There is a great deale of reason that as all Christians so all ministers should serve one another by love Gal. 5.13 Looke upon the words foregoing those but now quoted out of Mathew and you may see that Christ brought this his example as a motive whereby first he backs his prohibition of all affectation of Prelacy or domination in his ministers verse 25 26. Secondly he presseth them either unto humility diligence and faithfulnesse in discharge of the worke of their ministry in generall or else more particularly as some thinke unto an humble submission unto their fellow servants in the ministry for the furtherance of that which should be the common designe the salvation of mens soules and in this only he placeth the eminency of a minister vers 26 27. whosoever will be great among you let him be your minister And whosoever will be chiefe among you let him be your servant Those ministers that otherwise have been of great parts and learning have not left behind them so precious a name in the Church of God as those despised ones that have made it their study by submissive service of their brethren to further the common worke Mr Dickson hath another interpretation of these last words with which I have not met in any other and therefore I think it not amiss to acquaint the Reader with it If this command do not prevaile with the ambitious party but he must needs bring forth his ambitious desires then the rest of the Ministers are warranted to diminish of that mans estimation and to account the lesse of him by so much as he is ambitiously inclined to a principality and majority over the rest for so do the words beare let him be your Servant that is let him be so esteemed of and no more If any one among you affect to rule the rost to be a Dominus fac totum expect that his ipse dixit
Eph. 2.20 in which he will dwell and walke The high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity who dwelleth in the high and holy place would never have dwelt and tabernacled amongst us Joh. 1.14 never have dwelt in the flesh unlesse it had been his gratious purpose to dwell with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit To revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones Isay 57.15 The personall union you see considered single by it's selfe is a very high demonstration of Christ's love unto mankind But it is capable of farther amplification and exaggeration by comparison with his actions and sufferings in our nature Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid downe his life for us 1 Joh. 3.16 Because Christ who was God laid downe his life for us because he in whom dwelled all fulnesse of the Godhead bodily submitted himselfe unto the shamefull and painfull death of the crosse unto the curse of the law and the wrath of God and that for us that harboured nothing but thoughts of hostility against him This therefore speaks such a matchlesse eminency of love as is beyond the comprehension of either men or Angels To distrust the constancy and future expressions of such a love is a high piece of ingratitude Seeing a person so infinitely great and glorious hath done and suffered so much for the purchase of our salvation we may therefore collect that it was his absolute decree to apply and conferre the salvation thus purchased and consequently to accomplish all things requisite for the compleating thereof He will make knowne the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory Rom. 9.23 Thirdly from the personall union we may be dehorted from embasure of our natures by sin The relative presence of God in the midst of his people was used as an argument against not only Morall but also Leviticall and Ceremoniall uncleannesse Defile not the land which ye shall inhabit wherein I dwell for I the Lord dwell amongst the Children of Israel Num. 35. ver 34. And the Lord said unto mee Son of man the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever and my holy name shall the house of Israel no more defile neither they nor their Kings by their whoredome nor by the carcasses of their Kings in their high places Ezek. 43.7 And the Lord spake unto Moses saying Command the Children of Israel that they put out of their camp every leper and every one that hath an issue and whosoever is defiled by the dead c. that they defile not their camp in the midst whereof I dwell Num. 5.1,2,3 Now this relative presence is nothing almost in comparison of that substantiall and personall presence of the Godhead in Christ's humane nature and therefore that is a more effectuall disswasive from the pollution of sin There can be no greater grace shewed towards man then that God should vouchsafe to unite to mans nature the person of his only begotten son Hooker p 297 We should then be very mindlesse of and unthankfull for Gods thus gracing and exalting of our nature if we should by sinfull lusts corruptions defile our natures which are for sort or kind the same with that of the only begotten son of God 4. From this doctrine of the personall union we may first be exhorted unto the worship of Christ 2. Directed in our worship of God 1. We may hence be exhorted unto a divine worship and a religious adoration of him Revel 1.5,6 Chapt. 5.8,12,13,14 Chapt. 7.9,10 the fulnesse of the Godhead in him is the ultimate formall and adequate object of divine worship and calls for a divine faith and trust in him Joh. 6.29 John 14.1 John 16.9 As also for such an height of love as cannot be given unto a meere creature without Idolatry Luk. 14.26 Because he is the Lord therefore serve him with feare and rejoyce with trembling He is the son therefore kisse him least he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little Psalm 2. v. 11 12. He is thy Lord and worship thou him Psal 45.11 He is the Lord of Hosts therefore sanctify him and let him be your feare and your dread Isai 8.13 He is God and none else therefore let every knee bow unto him let every tongue swear by him Isai 45.22,23 He thought it not robbery to be equall with God Phil. 2.6 And therefore let us honour him even as we honour the father Joh. 5.23 He is God over all and therefore let him be blessed for ever Rom. 9.5 He is the mighty God Isai 9.6 therefore let us humble our selves under his mighty hand 1 Pet. 5.6 He is worthy to receive glory honour and power for he hath created all things Revel 4. ult 2. From the personall union we may take direction for our worship of God The Israelites under the old testament were to bring all their holy thinges their offerings and sacrifices before the Altar and Tabernacle and afterwards the Temple the habitation of Gods howse and the place where his honour dwelt Levit. 16.13,14 Deut. 12.5,6 They were to pray and worship towards the city which God had chosen and towards the howse the holy temple which God had built for his name 1 Kings 8.35,44,48 Psalm 5.7 Dan. 6.10 But now the Arke tabernacle and temple were but types of Christ's manhood and the presence of God in them was but typicall In the manhood it selfe there is a personall presence of the Godhead And therefore we should bring all our duties and services all our acts of worship unto Christ man and present them in his name and through his mediation that is in our performance of them we should eye Christ man as the instrument and morall cause meriting of and interceding for their acceptation From above the mercy seate where God dwelt typically betwixt the Cherubims Psalm 80.1.2 Kings 19.15 there God communed with Moses and met with his people Exod. 25.22 Exod. 29.42,43 Numb 7.89 And this was to teach that all the approaches of Gods people unto him and all acts of their communion with him in faith hope love prayers prayses hearing of the word and receiving of his sacraments should be in Christ our alone mercy seate or propitiation 1 Joh. 2.2 as the way and means of their acceptance For in him onely dwelleth all-fulnesse of the Godhead bodily and therefore in him alone for his sake meerely will God be well pleased with our persons and services all the worship and honour that we tender him For farther application of this point I shall referre the reader unto what I have said on Joh. 1.14 and for the present I shall onely dispatch the consideration of those inferences that the Apostle himselfe drawes from it in this place in the words foregoing and
and gracious unto them for Christ Psalm 34.8 1 Pet. 2.3 A practicall and experimentall full knowledge then and assurance of Gods love of Christ implieth in the result knowledge and assurance of Gods love of us so that they who are doubtfull and distrustfull of Gods love of themselves fall short in a due apprehension of Gods love of Christ The reason for this coherence of these two assurances is the connexion betwixt their objects Gods love of Christ and Gods love of us For 1. If wee looke upon the act of each as considered in God so they are one and the same decree of election Gods election of Christ and his members are not different acts à parte rei à parte rationis in our manner or way of conceiving they are as Dr Twisse often sheweth coordinate and simultaneous as being parts of one formall compleat decree de mediis 2. If we compare the fruites of each love so the fruits or effects of God's love of us all the good we enjoy for the present or expect for the future depend upon the effects of Gods love of Christ the habituall grace of his humane nature the satisfaction and merit of his obedience c. This assurance and feeling that believers have of Gods love of Christ and of themselves for Christ is amplified here from the cause and from a concomitant of it 1. From the cause of it manifestation of the name and revelation of the arme of the Lord Isai 53.1 I have declared unto them thy name and will declare it that the love wherewith thou hast loved mee may be in them By the name of God is meant the x Cyrilli interpretationem magis probo nomen hoc loco pro gloria positum esse ut apud Solomonem cùm dicit melius est nomen bonum quam divitiae multae Hoc ita esse ex eo perspicuum est quod pro eodē accipiat glorificare Patrem id est ejus declarare apud homines gloriam nomen ejus hominibus manifestare Continet ergò hoc loco nomē Dei quicquid in Deo gloriosum quicquid beneficum quicquid hominibus salutare est quale imprimis fuit quod ita mundum dilexerit ut filium suum unigenitum daret ut omnis qui credit in eum non pereat sed habeat vitam aeternam Maldonate glory of God even as the name of men is taken for that credit estimation and regard which they are in There is a glory of God which the very creatures declare Psal 19.1 Rom. 1.20 The glory of his power wisdome and generall love as he is the creatour preserver governour of the world But now the glory which is the name of the Lord of which Christ here is the revealer is that of especiall saving and redeeming love and mercy which shineth in the Gospell covenant of grace The heavens and firmament declare not so much glory as the crosse of Christ What glory of God can be cōparable unto his so loving the world that lieth in wickednesse as to give for it his only begotten son Joh. 3.16 And therefore this glory doth most eminently merit to be intitled his name Well you see the knowledge sence of Gods love of Christ and of us in Christ is the maine end and drift of Christs manifesting this name this glory of God by his word and Spirit And therefore we should give all diligence to make this love sure to have a due and deep taste and feeling of it to have it shed abroad in our hearts If believers have not attained hitherto they walke as yet below the revelation of Gods name and arme in the Gospell But now the first manifestation of Gods name at our first conversion will not serve the turne I have declared unto them thy name and will declare it c. I have manifested it in their first illumination and I will manifest it in the further growth and progresse of their knowledge Hence then we may observe that to raise believers unto such an height as the due assurance of this love there will be continuall need of new fresh farther and fuller discoveries or manifestations of Gods name in the Gospell And therefore let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisedome Col. 3.16 Watch daily at the gates of wisdome waiting at the posts of her doores Prov. 8.34 Narrownesse in the manifestations of Gods name is ever followed with weaknesse and feeblenesse in our assurance of his love They to whom the arme of the Lord is revealed but in a small measure may presume much but they know but little of the love wherewith God loveth Christ and his members 2. We have this assurance of believers amplified from the concomitant of it growth in their union with Christ That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them The meaning of those last words and I in them is that I may dwell more and more in their hearts by faith The increase of our union with Christ is inseparably connexed with our assurance of Gods love of us for Christ as a necessary effect thereof And this may serve both for comfort and triall 1. For Comfort For what an unspeakable Comfort and advantage doe believers reape by their assurance in that it thus promoteth their union with Christ by knowledge and assent by love and adherence It begets more clearenesse and evidence in their knowledge of more certainty in their assent unto the promises of the Gospell It workes fulnesse in their love of and firmnesse in their adherence unto Christ and so every way in every regard it knits and unites more closely unto him and increase of our union with him enlargeth our communion with him in all the blessings flowing therefrom and depending thereon 2. This may serve for tryall of the soundnesse and sincerity of believers assurance of Gods love wheresoever it is there is a progresse in their union with Christ he dwelleth more and more in their hearts by faith He doth not onely knock at the doores of their hearts as a passenger but he comes in unto them and makes his abode with them Joh. 14.23 He dwels in them He doth not onely dwell in their tongues and in their understandings but he dwelleth in their hearts Ephes 3.17 He hath his throne in their wills and affections Those that grow in such an union as this with Christ they have fruitfulnesse for their character assigned by Christ himselfe Joh. 15.5 He that abideth in mee and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit He in whom Christ hath his abode is no barren professour but is filled with the fruits of righteousnesse which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God Phil. 1.11 2. Christ as a man was the subject of a fulnesse of grace He had a twofold grace the grace of his favour towards us the grace of his spirit in himselfe and of both there was
banner to them that feare thee that it may be displayed because of the trueth If the great men of the world be averse from us slight and contemne us it matters not Christ's desire is unto us Can. 7.10 He will put us as a seale upon his heart and his arme Can. 8.6 Though we have but little favour with the world we have a fulnesse of favour riches of grace with Christ We should not be discouraged at the unspeakable and implacable malice and hatred of our rageing persecutors as long as we have an unexpressible and incomprehensible love of Christ to oppose unto it We should not be dismayed at the depth's of Satans envy and malignity Revel 2.24 For in Chri'sts love there are all dimensions We should not afflict our selves for our povertie meannesse of birth and calling and the like outward abasures For none of them exclude from the grace of Christ He is rich unto all that call upon him We should not therefore despaire of pardon though guilty of many and great enormities For Christ's love passeth knowledge the comprehension of men or Angels and therefore hideth covereth nay quite burieth a multitude of sins All the sinnes of believers But now that prophane persons may not abuse this comfortable doctrine of the fulnesse of Christ's love I shall desire you to take notice of the character that the Scripture giveth of those unto whom it is appropriated The riches of his Glory that is glorious grace is made knowne only on vessells of mercy Rom. 9.23 and vessells of mercy are vessells unto honour sanctified and meet for the masters use and prepared unto every good worke 2 Tim. 2.21 The Lord Jesus Christ is rich in mercy but it is only unto those that call upon him to wit out of an unfeigned faith and undissembled love Rom. 10.12 that have a Spirit of prayer and supplication powred upon them 2. From this fulnesse of Christs love we may be exhorted unto three dutyes 1. Thankefulnesse for it 2. A diligent study and 3. a carefull imitation of it 1. Thankefulnesse for it We will remember thy love more then wine saith the Church unto Christ Cant. 1.4 But she hath a thankfull tongue as well as heart as she remembreth it inwardly in her selfe so with joy and triumph she outwardly publisheth and manifesteth it unto others chap. 2. chap. 3. chap. 7. And this her recognition and commemoration of Christs love is not in a formall dull cold and unpracticall way for it hath such an impression upon her heart as that it makes her even sicke with the love of him Cant. 2.5 It begets in her a love of a most powerfull and unconquerable influence It is a love as strong as death Cant. 8.6 that is it is as forcible and irresistible trampling upon and breaking through all difficulties that occurr in performance of duties unto or undergoing of sufferings for Christ This love is inflamed into jealousy and this jealousy is as cruell or hard as the Grave ibid. that is as inexorable unto all the enemies of Christ unto her most profitable and pleasant sins her darling and most indulged lusts This love is for its intensivenesse motion upwards unto heaven and consumptive efficacy compared unto fire ibid. The coales thereof are as coales of fire which hath a most vehement flame 1. Fire is the hottest of elements So the Churches love of Christ is more solidly intense then her love of any creature whatsoever She is as it were all in a fire with the love of him 2. The motion of fire is upwards towards heaven The love of Christ is as a fiery Chariot whereby a soule is carried up unto heaven 3. Fire burnes all things combustible So love of Christ consumeth all a mans corruptions And whereas elementary fire may be quenched the love of Christ is a celestiall flame Many waters cannot quench it neither can the flouds drowne it Cant. 8.7 It cannot be extinguished or abated by calamities And in the last place it is so sincere and incorrupt as that it cannot be bribed by any treasure If a man would give all the substance of his house for love it would utterly be contemned ib. If your love of Christ reach not this height we have described it comes short of a due gratitude we are unthankfull for Christs fulnesse of love if it be not as a loadstone to attract from us a love of him with all our hearts soules and might In the language of the Scripture we are utterly forgetfull of Christs love if it do not constraine unto duty and restraine from sin We despise the riches of Christs goodnesse grace and bounty forbearance and long-suffering if it do not lead us unto a strict and severe repentance 2. The fulnesse of Christs love may provoke unto a most diligent study of it It is an inexhaust fountaine an unfathomeable ocean a bottomelesse unsearcheable mine There is therefore more then enough in it to satisfy the restlesse inquiries of those that are most curious and thirsty after knowledge In Eph. 3.13,16,17,18 There be 4. Motives unto this study of Christs love 1. The comprehensivenesse 2. the incomprehensiblenesse of this love 3. The subject and 4. the influence of the knowledge thereof 1. The comprehensivenesse of the Love of Christ It takes in all the d Paulus nihil per istas dimensiones intelligit quam Christi charitatem de quâ continuò post significans eum cui verè perfectè cognita est undequaque sapere ae si diaeisset quaquaâ—versùm respiciant homines nihil reperient in salutis doctrinâ quod non huc referendum sit Continet enim una Christi dilectio omnes sapientiae numeros ideo quo facilior sit sensus ita resolvi debent verba ut valeatis comprehendere Christi dilectionem quae est longitudo latitudo profunditas alâ—…tudo sapientiae nostrae hoc est tota perfectio Similitudinem enim sumit à Mathematicis ut à partibus totum desigâ—et Quoniam hic omnium ferè communis est morbus rerum inutilium studio ardere utilis vallè est ista admonitio quod scire nobis expediat quid Dominus considerare nos velit sursum deorsum ad dextram sinistram à fronte à tergo Dilectio Christi nobis proponitur in cujus meditatione nos exerceamus dies ac noctes in quam nos quasi demergamus Hanc unam qui tenet satis habet extra eam nihil est solidum nihil utile nihil â—enique rectum aut sanum Circumeas licet coelum terras maria non altius transcendes quin legitimum sapiendi finem transilias Calvin in Ephes 3. v. 18. dimensions the length breadth depth height of spirituall wisedome all the objects of saving knowledge which are some way or other reducible unto it And hereupon that great Doctor of the Gentiles resolved to study privately and to preach publikely nothing but what did some way or other referre unto that
great expression of Christs love his death upon the crosse 1 Cor. 2.2 I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified Indeed Christs love is the epitome and center the fulfilling of both Law and Gospell Rom. 13.8 it was out of love that he performed the duties and sufferd the penalties of the law for us It is out of love that he hath revealed and will accomplish the promises of the Gospell unto us A second motive unto the study of the love of Christ is the incomprehensiblenesse of it It passeth knowledge and therefore though we arrive unto never so great a degree in our knowledge of the love of Christ yet still there will be a terra incognita place for new and farther discoveries Christs love is a structure of vast indeed infinite extent It is as it is said of God Iob. 11.8,9 As high as heaven deeper then hell larger then the earth and broader then the sea and therefore impossible we should exactly measure it in all these dimensions However let us labour to measure it as exactly as we can that we may comprehend so much of the length breadth depth and height thereof as is discoverable by the saints here in this life The love of Christ then is a most spacious object for contemplation in the meditation of which we may exercise our selves day and night and into which to use the expression of Calvin nos quasi demergamus we may as it were plunge our selves over head and eares as into an ocean that hath no bottome A third motive in this place is from the proper and adequate subject of this knowledge That ye may be able to comprehend with all Saints c. The knowledge of Christs love is the priviledge of the saints common unto all believers and withall it is so proper and peculiar unto them as that it belongs unto none but saints If thou hast an effectuall and applicative knowledge though but in a remisse degree of the transcendent love of Christ thou art then a saint and if thou art a gratious faint here on earth thou maist be confident that thou shalt be a glorious saint in heaven But now if on the other side thou livest dyest in ignorance or meerely in a notionall or uneffectuall knowledg of the love of Christ thou can'st have no evidence of thy saintship And if thou art not a saint here thy portion will be with damned Fiends and Divels in hell hereafter A fourth motive is the influence of the knowledge of Christ's love and that is 1. preservative from fainting in tribulations here 2. preparative for the allfulnesse of God in heaven hereafter 1. Preservative from fainting in tribulation here And this may be gathered from comparison of these verses with the foregoing For vers 13. The Apostle dehorts them from fainting at the newes of his troubles I desire that you faint not at my tribulation for you and in the following verses he backes this dehortation with a most humble and fervent petition the preface unto which we have verses 14 15. for this cause I bow my knee unto the father of our Lord Jesus Christ c. The matters or things petitioned for are three 1. Corroboration and confirmation by the spirit of God vers 16. that he would grant you according unto the riches of his glory to be strengthned with might by his spirit in the inner man 2. A further union with Christ vers 17. and 3. which belongs unto our purpose a practicall and experimentall apprehension of the love of Christ that ye may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge c. 18 19. By this coherence you see that a feeling and efficacious knowledge of Christs love and the dimensions thereof will embolden and hearten the saints in their owne and others troubles and as a soveraigne cordiall keep them from all despondency and sinking of spirit A second branch of its influence is preparative for the all fullnesse of God vers 19. I bow my knees unto the father of our Lord Jesus Christ vers 14. that ye may be able to comprehend c. and to know the love of Christ c. that ye might be filled with all the fullnesse of God vers 18 19 that is with a full knowledge of God in the beatificall vision the full image of God a full participation of the divine nature a full union with fruition of God full and immediate influences from God according unto that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.28 God shall be all in all that is in all the elect he shall be vice omnium instead of all ordinances unto their soules instead of all meanes and helpes unto their bodies And I saw no temple therein for the Lord God almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it And the city had no need of the Sun neither of the Moone to shine in it for the glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof Revel 21.22,23 The meaning of the place is that God shall immediatly by himselfe supply the efficiency of all second causes whatsoever Before I leave these words I shall out of them direct unto a cause of the knowledge of the love of Christ to wit to be rooted and grounded in love vers 17. that is either in our assurance of Gods love in Christ unto us or else in the habit of our love unto God and Christ I bow my knees unto the father c. that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend know the love of Christ c. They which are rooted and grounded in love are able to reach the dimensions of Christs love to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge c. A full and firme assurance of Gods love in Christ unto us and our firme and constant love of God and Christ will put us upon a most industrious search after all the secrets of Christs love unto our soules Whereas on the other side those that either despaire or doubt of that love of God and Christ as also those that have but faint affections and inconstant desires towards them all such make but a very slow progresse in the study and knowledge of Christs love The last exhortation is unto an imitation of this fulnesse of love Walke in love saith the Apostle as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himselfe for us an offering and a sacrifice unto God c Ephes 5.2 In which words we have 1. An exhortation unto the duty of love walke in love 2. A direction unto a patterne whereunto we must conforme our selves in performance of this duty 1. As for the exhortation it is observed by the solid and judicious Zanchy that it is not barely to love but to walke in love that is to passe the whole course of our life to spend all
and confirmation of his veracity He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seale that God is true And this he proves because his testimony is alwayes the testimony of God For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God ver 34. Ordinary Prophets did not alwayes speake the words of God but sometimes they spake out of their owne private spirit and not as Prophets having the spirit of prophecy upon them as is plain in Samuel 1 Sam. 16.6 and Nathan 2 Sam. 7.3 But now Christ whom God hath sent singularly and eminently as the chiefe of all his ambassadours speaketh only the words of God so that his testimony is simply and absolutely divine And of this he assigneth the reason ground or cause in the following words for God giveth not the spirit by measure to him Secondly Hence we may be informed that if Christ had lived in these our dayes he would have beene extreamly hated by all carnall and unregenerate men who yet carry a very great outward and ceremonious respect unto him and professe a deep detestation of all that had any hand in his murder and crucifying For there is nothing that they so much maligne as holinesse and therefore their malignancy against Christ the most holy would have beene unspeakable If but some few and faint some broken raies or beames of grace shine in the life of a member of Christ this presently makes him the butt of their malice And therefore if they had conversed with Christ in the dayes of his flesh they would have accounted him of all persons living the most odious They that disgust the drops of goodnesse in his would never have relished the fountaine and ocean thereof in himselfe They looke with envy upon starres of the least magnitude in the Churches firmament And therefore the sunne of righteousnesse could not but be a most unpleasing object unto them They loath the least measure of the spirit and therefore what would their abhorrence have been of him unto whom God gave not the Spirit by measure They contemne and deride that anoynting which believers receive from the holy one and therefore the unmeasurablenesse of his owne unction would have ministred unto them ample matter for their contempt and derision Secondly this point may serve for confutation of a passage in the Learned Dr Hammond against Mr Cawdrey to wit that Christs love of God was capable of farther degrees That I doe not fasten this tenet wrongfully upon him will appeare unto any rationall man by his owne words which I will therefore transcribe Dr Hammond pag. 222. In the next place he passeth to the inforcement of my argument from what we read concerning Christ himselfe that he was more intense in prayer at one time then another when yet the lower degree was sure no sin and prepares to make answer to it viz. that Christ was above the Law and did more then the Law required but men fall short many degrees of what is required But sure this answer is nothing to the matter now in hand for the evidencing of which that example of Christ was brought by me viz. that sincere love is capable of degrees This was first shewed in severall men and in the same man at sever all times in the severall rankes of Angels and at last in Christ himselfe more ardent in one act of prayer then in another The conclusion which the Dr undertakes to evidence is that sincere love is capable of degrees Now this the example of Christ will never prove unlesse it inferre that Christs love of God was capable of degrees more intense at one time then at another If Christs greater ardency in one act of prayer then in another doth not argue a greater fervency in his love at one time then another this argument from Christs praying more earnestly will never reach the proposition for which it was brought Indeed in his treatise of Will-worship p. 24. he minceth the matter and speaketh more cautelously It is possible saith he for the same person constantly to love God above all and yet to have higher expressions of that love at one time then another Thus we read of Christ himselfe Luk. 22.24 c. But of this we may say as he doth of Mr Cawdrey's answer It is nothing to the matter now in hand Because there may be a graduall difference in the expressions of the same love for degree Christs death for us was a higher expression of his love of us then his poverty hunger thirst c. and yet they might proceed from a love equally intense His Argument then you see from Christs example will not serve his turne unlesse it conclude a greater intension in his love of God at one time then at another And the falsehood of such an assertion is evident from the point here handled and confirmed the absolute fulnesse of Christs grace which by the generall consent of the Fathers and Schoolmen was such as that it excluded all intensive growth It was a sequele of the personall union and therefore it was from the very first moment of his conception The Word was no sooner made flesh but it was forthwith full of grace truth His love of God was uncapable of farther degrees unto whom God gave not the spirit that is the gifts and graces of the spirit by measure But unto Christ God gave not the spirit that is the gifts graces of the Spirit by measure Joh. 3.34 therefore his love of God was not capable of farther degrees There have beene some that here by Spirit have understood the Godhead of Christ which was given unto him as Sonne by eternall generation as man by the Hypostaticall union But whether the Doctor will imbrace either of these expositions I cannot divine Indeed many learned men have thought that the Spirit of Christ may signifie his Godhead in distinction from or opposition unto either his flesh Rom. 3.4 1 Tim. 3.16 or blood Heb. 9.14 yet that standing single and absolutely by it selfe without such comparison it should have any such signification in Scripture can never I am very confident be made good by the Doctor and therefore I shall acquiesce in the common interpretation which giveth an utter and totall overthrow unto the Doctors opinion Unto it also the Schoolmen are generally opposite as will soone be confessed by those that will peruse such of them as comment in tertiam part Summae Aquinatis quaest 7. art 12. and in tert lib. sentent distinct 13. The Scotists thinke that in grace and consequently in the love of God there is a maximum quod sic impertransibile per divinam potentiam absolutam and then they conceive that there is a great condecency in the cloathing dignifying or beautifying of Christs humanity therewith Because of all other creatures it was most straitly nearly conjoyned with the Deity the author of grace also for that it was by God designed to be the universall principle and fountaine of grace
to meddle with the comfort of this point Though in Christ there was a fountaine of oyle as it was said there was in * The new Annotations on Canti 1.2 Rome at the day of his birth yet the streames thereof make glad the city of God Psalm 46.4 The two olive branches through the two golden pipes empty the golden oyle out of themselves Zachar. 4.12 Here grace is the golden oyle Gods ordinances are the golden pipes The two olive branches are the two anointed ones vers 14. that is say they that interpret the words of Christ only either the two natures of Christ his Godhead and Manhood or his two offices Royall and Priestlie as man and priest of his Church he merited and purchased grace as God and King he actually produceth it in the soules of such as have relation unto him As the ointment trickled downe from Aarons head unto the very skirts of his garment Even so the oyle of the Spirit in Christ is diffused from him unto all the members of his body unto his lowest members Yee have received an unction from the holy one saith John 1 Joh. 2.20,27 unto those little children new converts or novices in the faith that he wrote unto In these words there is remarkeable for our speciall consolation the influence of this unction we receive from Christ against errour and seduction in fundamentals plainly implyed in the adversative particle prefixed unto both verses In ver 18.19 he speakes of Antichrist and Apostates that swarmed every where But he hath no sooner mentioned them but he forthwith opposeth this unction of the Spirit from Christ as a preservative against the poyson of their heresie and danger of their Apostacy But ye have received an unction from the holy one that will preserve you from all back-sliding Hereticks In vers 26. he makes speciall mention of seducers These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you And presently vers 27. he directs unto this spirituall anointing as a sufficient antidote against their infection But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lie and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him There are two properties in the words of this anointing which yeild full security unto believers against such false teachers The sufficiency and the permanency of it 1. The fulnesse and sufficiency of it Ye have an unction from the holy one and ye know all things vers 20. that is all things necessary to salvation And ye need not that any man teach you vers 27 to wit the grounds and principles of Christian Religion 2. The permanency of it The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you vers 27 and hereupon in the close of the verse he inferreth their perseverance in union with Christ even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him In Ephes 4.7 The Apostle sheweth what kind of doale or distribution Christ makes of grace unto his Church and there be 4 particulars by which he illustrates it 1. the universality 2. The variety diversity or inequality 3. The limitation 4. The freenesse of it 1. It is common and universall Vnto every one of us grace is given not unto every man but unto every believer unto every true member of Christ and his Church 2. This distribution is with great diversity and inequality Thus Cornel. Alapide comments upon it Cuique data est saith he gratia non una par sed varia dispar huic major illi minor Unto every one of us are given severall graces We have not the same degrees if we speake of the graces of sanctification We have not the same sorts or kinds if we speake of the graces of edification There is great variety both in the quantity and quality of the talents or gifts of the servants of Christ One may have five another but two talents The talents of the one may be of gold the talents of the other but of silver 3. We have the limitation that is observed in this distribution of grace Unto every one of us Grace is given by measure The best of us have but our measure a small and narrow scantling For an absolute fulnesse is the incommunicable property of Christ himselfe 4. Lastly Here is the freenesse of this distribution Unto every one of us grace is freely given not sold The diversity that is in the measure of mens gifts and graces proceedeth not from any inequality in their merits or foregoing preparations but meerely from the free grace the gift the good will and pleasure of Christ Grace is given unto us according unto the measure of the gift of Christ It may perhaps seeme that this place is not so pertinently alleadged because it speakes only of a measure in the grace of the saints and so asserts not a conformitie unto the fulnesse thereof in Christ But in the least measure of sincere grace there is a kind of fulnesse Plenitudo respectiva secundum quid And that Christ communicateth such a fulnesse unto his Church I shall farther confirme 1. From it's relation unto Christ 2 from Gods end in the collation of all fulnesse of grace upon Christ 3. By going over the severall gradations of the fulnesse of grace that Christ imparts unto her in this life 1. From the relation of the Church unto Christ She is related unto him as a spouse unto her husband as a house unto the Lord or Proprietary as a body unto the head 1. As a wife or spouse unto her husband Canticl 4.8 Eph. 5.23,25,29,30,31 In him the husband there are hid unsearchable riches of grace and wisedome And will he then suffer her whom he hath taken so neare unto himselfe to want to be poore in grace He hath grace as a treasurer and can dispense of it to whom he will May not shee who is as it were the wife of his bosome freely begge it of him The garments of holinesse are all in his custody and at his disposall Can his tender heart then possibly endure to see her goe naked and in rags Christ was a lambe absolutely without spot 1 Pet. 1.19 and therefore he will not suffer any raigning or unmortified spot in his love Thou art all faire saith he himselfe unto her and there is no spot in thee Cant. 4.7 that is if we understand the words of sanctification comparatively in comparison of the wicked and unregenerate who are all over defiled Deut. 32.5 and spotted with the world Jam. 1.27 2. The Church is related unto Christ as a house unto the Lord or proprietary Christ was faithfull as a sonne over his house whose house are we Heb. 3.6 Now did he of old fill his materiall house the Temple with his presence and glory and will he not now fill his spirituall house with his spirit and grace undoubtedly
those whom thou hast given me c. And to be given unto Christ signifies the state of Election for it signifies a good and happy state or condition precedaneous unto effectuall vocation Iohn 6.37 All that the father giveth me shall come unto me But to come unto Christ is to believe in Christ by an effectuall Vocation By this then you may gather that none shall communicate in the fulnesse of Christs glory but such as the father hath given unto him by election And they are such as in God's appointed time are drawne and wrought over to come unto Christ that is to believe in Christ by an effectuall calling None then can have a sound confidence of their future glorification that are not assured of their past election and a well built assurance of election presupposeth an assurance of vocation and of comming unto Christ thereby and therefore the Apostle Peter in his exhortation 2 Pet. 1.10 premiseth the making sure of their calling unto the making sure of their election Give diligence to make your calling and election sure None can make their election sure that have not first made their calling sure Those mens hopes therefore of glory are but rash and ungrounded presumptions who turne the deafe eare unto the call and command of Christ who stand of and refuse to come in and submit to his Regiment but stick still in their sins without repentance and wallow in that filthinesse wherein the world lieth 1 Joh. 5.19 A second amplification of this glory which awaits believers is from the causes of it and that both moving and disposing 1. From the moving causes of it to speake of God after the manner of men and the impulsive causes of it are either outward or inward outward Christs intercession inward 1. Gods love of Christ 2. Gods righteousnesse The dispositive cause is a sanctifyed and saving knowledge of Christs mission To begin with the moving causes of it and 1. with that which is outward and procatarticke Christs intercession Father I will that those c. It is not voluntas imperantis but optantis rogantis It is not a will of command but a will of desire request and prayer and God cannot but gratify Christ in all his petitions He cannot but fulfill his will and satisfy his desires Christ intercedeth for the future glory of his members and therefore they cannot but be happy for impossible that the father should deny him any thing for which he is a suter Iohn 11.42 The inward or proegumenall moving causes of the glory of believers come next to be considered 1. Gods love of Christ 2. Gods righteousnesse 1. Then they have Gods love of Christ as it were a pawne and pledg of their compleate glory in heaven Father I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am c. for thou hast loved me before the foundations of the World The summe of the words is because thou hast loved me the head therefore glorifie them my members Thou hatest all those whom thou dost not glorifie and hatred of the members is inconsistent with love of the head If thou lovest me thou canst not hate them and therefore as thou lovest me let them be where I am and there participate in my glory Can believers desire greater security against the hazard of their blisse and salvation They cannot misse of heaven and happinesse unlesse there be a change in Gods affection unto his owne sonne whom as man and our mediatour he hath loved before the foundation of the world That love of God then which raised Christ from his grave the state of the dead unto a throne and crowne at the right hand of the majestie on high will also in due time exalt all believers unto a full conformitie unto his glory It will place them with him in his throne Revelat. 3.21 and kingdome 2 Timoth. 2.12 and distribute unto them fulnesse of joy and pleasures for evermore Secondly The second impulsive cause of the glorification of those whom the father hath given unto the sonne is his righteousnesse compared with the dispositive cause thereof on their part their faith the condition of the new Covenant O righteous Father c. these have knowne that thou hast sent me It is as if he had said because thou art righteous therefore let those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am and behold my glory For in them there is the condition prerequired unto a full enjoyment of glory They believe in me and they know that thou hast sent me And faith in Christ which is often expressed by knowledge of Christ is the prerequisite of eternall life and glory Iohn 17.3 This is life eternall that they might know thee the onely true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent Unto these then compleatnesse of glory is due though not by debt of desert yet by debt of promise Therefore though eternall life be the gift of God through Iesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6.23 yet it is also tearmed a crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous judge will give 2 Timoth. 4.8 And the reason of this appellation of it is because God by his promise hath bound himselfe to give it and in the performance of his promise he is approved righteous The righteousnesse then of God that Christ here appealeth unto in the behalfe of believers is justitia fidelitatis Gods truth and fidelity in the making good of his word and promise Believers have the fidelity and veracity of God engaged for their perfect and compleate happinesse Lastly We have the disposing cause of their glory These have knowne that thou hast sent me Because they have knowne this let them be where I am and there behold my glory The knowledge of an object in scripture ever implieth suitable affections and actions To know Christ then is to believe in him to adhere unto him to imbrace and love him to obey him c. To know that the father hath sent him is besides the knowledge hereof and assent hereunto to accept Christ in regard of all those offices for the discharge of which he was sent by the father to depend upon him as a prophet for the declaration and revelation of his father to rest upon him as a priest for the remission of our sinnes and acceptation of our persons to submit unto him as a king for government and guidance in all spirituals Such a knowledge as this is though not a meritorious yet a disposing cause of heaven a necessary antecedent thereof the way thereunto Our future happinesse and glory is stiled in scripture the light of life Iohn 8.12 the inheritance of the saints in light Col. 1.12 and therefore what qualification or preparation for it more congruent then the light of such a knowledge as we have described By it we are made meete to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light Whereas on the contrary the darknesse of Ignorance is a
forinâ—…cus super numerum ad quam Ecclesiam verè pertinet certus sanctorum numerus praedestinatus ante mundi constitutionem Quandoquidem igitur soli pii sideles persiciunt hoc corpus Christi impii autem infideles potius insiciunt manifestum est ex impiis hoc corpus non constare Tetrum ergo illud tabidum cadaverosum corpus quod maximam ob partem ex mortuis putridis membris coalescit licet vicarium illud caput sibi unire baud dedignetur verum tamen caput viva membra solummodo tan quam sua agnoscet amplexabitur Davenant Determinat quaest 46. pag. 217. Saviour Is it probable nay is it possible that such a body should be the fulness of him that filleth all in all God forbid that ever we should be guilty of such blasphemy either in thought or word I appeal to any indifferent man's judgment and conscience whether or no dead and rotten members perfect the head compleat and adorne the body to which they are joyned or doe not rather as I said before dishonour the head infest and cumber the whole body He confesseth that they are united to the Church but by an outward conjunction and was ever any man so deprived of common sense and understanding as to call a wooden legge a part of the body to which it was annexed as to terme wennes worts and moles sores and botches members of the body in which they were To conclude this use the Church is Christs outward fulness and therefore every true member of the Church externally perfects and helps as it were to compleat and fill up Christ taken mystically as head of his body mystical the Church Now I shall demand any ingenuous adversary whether or no Christ be made the fuller and compleater by damned castaways cursed hypocrites whom unquenchable fire awaites desperate impenitents given over to a Reprobate sense and hardened Unbelievers who are condemned already upon whom the Wrath of God already abideth Should Christ lack one of these would he esteem himselfe maymed were his body incompleat without them or rather would it not remaine the more compleat when all such are quite cut off from it Thus you see all that are in the Church are not of the Church doe not belong thereunto as genuine and proper members And thus much for information and reformation of the judgment I shall next proceed on to practical uses and they are either of reprehension exhortation or consolation Use 1. Of Reprehension 1. To begin with those of reprehension 1. Is the Church Christs fulness then are they much overshot and deeply to be blamed who stop their eares and harden their hearts against Gods gracious and loving calling of them out of this wicked and miserabe world unto the glorious society of the Church How would they canvass to be admitted into many other societies Why they are earnestly intreated and wooed to be of this by which yet true and greater honour would accrue unto them then the Empire of the whole world could yeeld For the Church is the fulness of him that filleth all in all Every member of the Church is a part of that fâ—lness and yet they like fooles shall I say rather like mad-men scorne the priviledge turne the deaf eare to all his invitations Had the Churches being Christ's fulness but it's due meditation it would work a more thankful acceptance of this so gracious an offer But alas this is hid from most of our eyes Use 2. Of Reprehension 2. Is the Church Christ's fulness then are they sharply to be taxed who contemne jeere and flout the true members of the Church making them as the filth of the world and as the off-scouring of all things 1 Cor. 5.13 bestowing upon them many unbeseeming termes of derision Why know they what they doe They durst not thus abuse the reteyners of a great man How then dare they adventure to injure in this manner the members of the Church which is the body of Christ the fulness of him that filleth all in all If they are not ashamed yet me thinks they should be afraid hereof seeing the wrong in an high measure reflects upon Christ himselfe and he in point of honour must needs be sensible of it What Vilifie his body which he hath been pleased so highly to honour as to esteem his fulness Can such an affront pass unpunished unrevenged What abuse the members of the Church without whom he accounteth himselfe incompleat and maimed and yet not fear a thunder bolt but rather hugge and applaud themselves in their Atheistical Sarcasmes 2 Exhortation As for the exhortations that may be drawne hence they concerne either Aliens from or members of the Church considered mystically as the body of Christ 1. Of Aliens from the Church 1. Then all that are as yet Aliens from the Church may from the Churches being Christ's fulness be instructed to labour after a place in her I mean the place of a living member of her which hath spiritual combination with and quickenance from the head of the Church Christ Jesus and is not only externally tyed unto him by sacramental admission into his body or Church visible by a bare outward profession of him How vainly are men ambitious after places of credit in great mens houses and Princes Courts why to be a member of the Catholicke Church is a place of high honour and unspeakable dignity What Be a part of Christ's fulness As it were perfect fill and compleat him who filleth all in all Why this is a priviledge that humane expressions cannot reach O therefore doe your utmost to attaine it and with all diligence care and constancy apply your selves to the use of those ordinances which God hath sanctified for communication of this favour 2. Of Members of the Church A second second sort of exhortations concernes such as have assurance that they are members of the Church and they may hence be exhorted unto three duties one regarding God another respecting the Church and a third themselves 1. The first regards God and it is thankfulness unto him for his advancement of them unto an honour priviledge so great as that by meanes thereof they become parts of Christ's fulness The blessing is great in it selfe but made far greater by the condition they were in when God called them thereunto to wit in open defyance with and rebellion against him Their father was an Amorite their mother an Hittite they were polluted in their own bloud and yet then was the time of Christ's love unto them then spread he his skirt over them and covered their nakedness Ezek. 16. took them so near unto him as that he made them one with himselfe a part and portion of himselfe Surely it would raise them to an high degree and measure of love and gratitude but duely and throughly to consider that he who is so high as that he is over all Ephes 1.22 as that he
is farre above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come vers 21 should descend so low as to reckon himselfe made full and compleat by weak and unworthy men rather wormes and no men that he who is so full as that he filleth all in all should yet be pleased so farre to humble himselfe as to call his members his fulness who alas are naturally empty of all spiritual good and full of sinne and misery A second duty unto which we may hence be exhorted respects the Church Is the Church Chrift's fulness then compassionate her sufferings doe and suffer your utmost for her delivery To see the fall of great men the funeral or ruine of great cities workes in those that either see or hear of it a kind of relenting or commiseration Why the Church of God his body his fulness is all in flames and shall not this command our most serious passions our sincerest and heartiest prayers and our utmost endeavours for her deliverance A Third exhortation regards themselves and it is to walk worthy of their high relation not to discredit it but to adorne it rather in an holy conversation The misdemeanours of favourites reflects upon their Princes And doe not the evil lives and actions of the Churches members redound unto the dishonour of Christ the head of the Church especially seeing he hath taken them into so streight and intimate a fellowship with him as that he hath made them of his body and fulness As they that honour him shall be honoured so they that cast any disgrace upon him or his body shall be sure to meet with shame and dishonour at the last Let them therefore be exhorted not to receive so great a favour as exaltation to be a part of Christ's fulness in vaine but to walke fittingly to the excellency of so high a condition as becometh the members of him who filleth all in all Lastly those that after an impartial examination of their relation unto the Church find themselves not only to be in her but of her as true proper and living members may upon this their assurance ground diverse consolations and that especialy in these five following particulars Use 1. Of consolation 1 If you are members of the Church and so consequently parts of Christ's fulness why then you may rest confident of all true blessings all spiritual honour and advancement He will be unto you a sunne and a shield he will give you grace and glory no good thing will he withhold from you Psal 84.11 You are his own and therefore he is neerly interested in your good your bliss and prosperity and consequently will be as careful of promoting it as you your selves will or can be For who will not use his utmost care and fidelitie in his own concernments All the members of the Church are one with Christ in a very near relation so that he and they make but one Christ they are as parts and portions of himselfe they are his fulness and therefore in all their advancements he is honoured and after a sort farther filled Whereupon divers Interpreters translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Eph. 1.23 passively and render the words thus qui omnia in omnibus adimpletur which is filled all in all that is is filled in all his Saints according to all graces and vertues requisite unto their eternal salvation By conferring then any grace or vertue or any other blessing upon them he conferreth it as it were upon himselfe he honoureth and filleth himselfe and on the contrary if he should deny blessings unto them he should deny them unto himselfe which is a thing not to be imagined Because the Church is Christs fulness because the members of the Church are said to be parts and portions of this fulness therefore as the Apostle phraseth it Hebr. 3.14 they partake of Christ they partake of all his communicable perfections 1. Of the satisfaction and merit of his death and sufferings Phil. 3.10 1 Pet. 4.13 2 of the graces of his spirit Joh. 1.16 3 of his glorious dignities priviledges and relations We are by him a royal Priesthood spiritual Kings and Priests sonnes and coheirs with him Nay 4 We shall reap from him not only relative but real glory when he shall appear we shall be like him 1 Joh. 3.2 and that not only in our soules but in our bodies Phil. 3.21 It is said of him that at the day of judgment he shall be glorified in his Saints 2 Thes 1.10 There is saith D. Sclater upon the place a personal glory of the Mediatour Joh. 17.5 And there is his social glory as I may terme it resulting unto his person from the glory which he communicates unto his Children And of this the Apostle here speakes Conjunct with the glory of Saints is the glory of Christ so neerely at that in their glorification himselfe is glorified Every Saint then may warrantably be assured that Christ will take all possible care for his glorification 2 You may hence find great cause of consolation in and against the forest afflictions For being parts of Christ's fulness whatsoever evil befals you he will deeply resent it he will be most tenderly affected with it nay exceedingly afflicted in it In all their afflictions saith the Prophet he was afflicted Isai 63.9 that is he compassionates their afflictions and as it were sympathizeth with them He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities Hebr. 4.14 Zech. 2.8 Judg. 10.16 Psal 106 44. Hereupon is it that Christ looked upon Saul's persecution of his members as reaching himselfe and therefore cried unto him from heaven Saul Saul why persecutest thou me I am Jesus whom thou persecutest Act. 9.4,5 Thus when the foot is trodden on the tongue in the head complaineth why treadest thou on me linguam non tetegit compassione clamat non attritione saith one Clemens Monilianus speaking of this passage of Saul The partie complained of toucheth not the tongue at all and therefore this cry and complaint of the tongue is not so much out of d Hinc autem Theologi quidam putant ostendi sanctorum passiones fidelibus prodesse ad remissionem poenarum quae vocatur Indulgentia Ex hoc tamen Apostoli loco nobis non videtur admodum solide statui posse Non enim sermoiste quo dicit Apostolus se pati pro Ecclesiâ necessario sic accipiendus est quod pro redimendis peccatorum poenis quas fideles debent patiatur Estius in Col. 1.24 paine or passion as sympathy and compassion Now the ground of Christ's thus sympathizing with his members is their mystical union with him As Christ the head and his body make one Person mystical one full Christ so the passions of the head and of the body and members make one compleat masse or body of passions with such difference for all that between the one sort and