beloued as a sea or fountaine from whose fulnesse loue must be deriued to all other Eph. 1. 6. He hath made vs accepted in his Beloued the head of the body must be filled with sense and spirit and life because it must send these into all the members so the Head of the Church As the Apostle therefore saith In him are the treasures of wisedome so he is Gods store-house of loue whence all our supplies must be fetched Of consolation 1. In respect of Gods affection 2. Of Christs intercession 3. Of our owne acceptation The first if God thus dearely loue Christ the Head he must needes dearely loue the mēbers whence Christ prayeth thus Ioh. 17. 23. That the world may know that thou louest them as thou hast loued me namely with a fatherly and free loue What then if the child of God be in want distresse danger death it selfe God looking on him in Christ cannot but pitty him the wife and children cannot so pitty and helpe vs when they can weepe about vs. Psal. 103. 13. Secondly Christs intercession for vs must needes be powerfull and preuailing because he therefore euer liueth to make requests for vs and being also euer loued it must needes be fruitfull for vs he was heard in all things in the dayes of his flesh and much more now in his glory We see what great suits a Kings fauorite can carry away as Ahashuerosh because Hester found grace in his sight would not deny her to the halfe of his Kingdome and shee easily got her suit for her selfe and all her people But Christ shall not be denied the whole Kingdome if he aske it for his Elect. Thirdly hence comes in our boldnesse to come to God in the name and for the sake of Christ in whom our persons and prayers finde acceptance we in our selues being enemies to God strangers from God and his couenant hauing forfaited all are by his mediation receiued into such fauour as Aske what wee will in his name in faith and vnderstanding and wee shall be speeders Of instruction in two things 1. If God thought not his deare Sonne too deare for vs but although his whole loue was cast on him would not spare him shall wee thinke any thing too deare for him If benefits will binde search heauen and earth you shall not finde such a loue which is left with an admiration Ioh. 3. 16. God so loued the world c. And oughtest not thou to giue vp thy soule body and life it selfe as a reasonable sacrifice for him Oh the ingratitude of men that are so farre from this as that they will not part with a grain of their wealth with a dram of their credit nor with their base lusts The proud will not depart from his pride nor the drunkard with his drunkennesse nor the froward with his malice and reuenge for Christ and much lesse from liberty life c. And what is the reason Men loue their liues their lusts c. and did not God loue his Sonne more than thou canst loue these he set his whole loue euen an infinite loue vpon him and yet hee gaue him to death for thee and wilt thou doe nothing suffer nothing for him Wilt thou loue hatefull things better than God who loued not his dearest Sonne too well for thee 2. If God so dearely loued Christ his Sonne so must we we want no reasons or motiues thereunto for first hee loued vs first not existing yea resisting Secondly he hath declared his loue by innumerable gifts of body and soule yea by that inualuable gift of his owne bodie and soule Thirdly hee hath more to declare to vs hereafter in greater things which eye hath not seene eare hath not heard for hee will not be in heauen without vs. Fourthly God cannot loue vs if wee loue not his beloued Sonne Can a father who hath cast his whole affection on his childe and worthily endure that hee should be contemptuously entreated and despised The sentence is passed If any loue not the Lord Iesus let him bee accursed Fifthly the greatest reason of all is the strait vnion and band between Christ and the Christian he the foundation wee the building coupled he the roote we the branches ingrafted he the Head we the body vnited he the Husband we the wife married and hence is the communication betweene vs in natures goods estates he puts on our nature to cloath vs with his diuine nature he put vs in state of all his goods wisedome righteousnes sanctification and Redemption yea giues vs right to heauen to earth and the creatures he takes on him our low estate to aduance vs to his glory yea our troubles are his in our wrongs he is wronged and whatsoeuer is done to vs of well or woe hee takes it as done to himselfe either to recompence or reuenge it Now what an vnseemly and confused sight were it to behold the building falling off of the foundation the branches seuering from the roote the members cutting themselues from the head and the wife suing for a diuorce or at daggers with her husband Notes of our loue to Christ are these 1. Often to thinke of him and these thoughts bee deepe large frequent which argues abundant affection in the soule Often out of that abundance to speake of him and neuer but to his glory for where we heartily loue we can willingly praise Thus the loue of God in Dauids heart filled his mouth and pen with often praises Psal. 119. 164. Seuen times a day doe I praise thee Thus the Spouse in the Canticles loued much and praised much My beloued is white and ruddy the fairest of ten thousand chap. 5. 10. Yea by this meanes bring others to be in loue with him as wee doe with our deare friends Psal. 31. 23. O loue the Lord all ye his Saints Cant. 5. 16. His mouth is as sweet things he is wholly delectable this is my welbeloued and this is my louer O daughters of Ierusalem 2. To bee carefull to please and content him in all things the man I loue I will doe any thing wherby I may please him I will abstain from y t which will offend and incense him 2. Cor. 5. 9. We couet both at home and from home to be acceptable vnto him I will not forget his desire his word I will thinke the time short and well spent to do his requests I will not imprison his loue in my heart or mouth but expresse it in my whole course and calling as Peter was thrice enioyned to expresse his loue to Christ in feeding his sheepe and lambes Ioh. 21. 16. 3. Loue is bountifull I will spare nothing for my friend all I haue is his to command and vse because my selfe am sincere loue is communicatiue and will be at cost for Christ those that loue Christ first giue themselues to Christ and then their gifts their graces their goods to the vse of Christ and of his members
second place the reasons why the heauens were opened were sundry 1. To manifest the truth and certaintie of the other signes which followed that seeing the heauens opened they might not conceiue that either the Doue or the voyce came from any other place 2. To shew that howsoeuer Christ stood there as a weake man and in similitude of sinfull flesh yet he was the Lord from heauen heauenly of whom was verified Ioh. 3. 31. Hee that is come from heauen is aboue all 3. That as his person so likewise his doctrine was diuine and heauenly ver 34. He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God and this was the speciall worke of his doctorall office to reueale the will of his Father And Io. 1. 18. No man hath seen God at any time the onely begotten Sonne which is in the bosome of the Father hath declared him The power also and grace whereby he wrought miracles was not from Beel-zebub but from heauen 4. To shew that his office into which he was now entred was and is to open heauen again for vs who by sinne had shut it against our selues he hath made our way vnto y e throne of grace And thus this second Adam standeth in opposition with the first he shut vs out of Paradise a token that we were shut out of heauen but this lets vs into the Paradise of God againe The heauens are opened by his passion not by his baptisme Heb. 10. 19. They are opened by his death as by a common cause which must be specially and singularly applied and that is by baptisme therefore it is said Rom. 6. 3 4. We are baptized into his death that is to haue benefit by his death 1. Note hence that Christ by fulfilling all righteousnesse hath set heauen open vnto vs and consequently the iustification of a sinner is not onely by the obedience of his passion but also by his actiue obedience in fulfilling the Law for 1. the whole summe of the Law is to loue God with all the heart c. which if we performe not in our selues or in Christ then the whole Law is abolished whereof euery iot must be accomplished Math. 5. and Christ came not to destroy the Law but to fulfill it 2. The sanction of the Law Cursed is euery one that abideth not in all things cannot be auoided if all those things be not done in our selues or our surety 3. There are two parts of iustification 1. Remission of sinne which is by the blood of Christ which takes away all sin 2. Imputation of Christs righteousnesse neither can the one stand without the other as 1. Cor. 5. 21. Hee hath made Him sinne that knew no sinne that we should be made the righteousnesse of God in Him And this meetes with their maine obiection that when sin is taken away the Law is fulfilled and the sinner acquitted and iustified for that is not true for a sinner is not iustified when sinne is abolished vnlesse iustice be added Sinne must be couered indeed but that is but fulfilling of halfe righteousnesse vnlesse righteousnesse be imputed Rom. 4. 25. He was deliuered for our offences and was raised againe for our iustification where iustification is farre more then remission of sinnes 4. The words of Scripture are plaine Rom. 5. 18. By the obedience of Christ many are made righteous and 10. 4. Christ is the end of the Law for righteousnesse and not only to remoue vnrighteousnesse As for all those places wherein it is said that Christ hath purged all sinne with his blood c. they are to be meant exclusiuely in respect of the blood of beasts or any meritorious workes of men out of Christ but not to exclude the meritorious actiue obedience of the Sonne of God 5. Hee that is circumcised is bound to keepe the whole Law Obiect That was to make him a fit Sauiour Answ. No but that hee might redeeme them that were subiect to the Law and that they might receiue the adoption of sonnes vers 5. Hee speakes plainely of Christs actiue obedience We will conclude with Bernard Totus mihi datus totus in meos vsus expensus est When I can haue too much of Christ I will renounce his actiue obedience but if by fulfilling all righteousnesse he hath opened heauen I will lay fast hold vpon all his righteousnesse to bring mee thither Secondly hence wee note what we are to thinke of the doctrine of Christ who came from heauen and spake from heauen Heb. 1. 1. In these last dayes God hath spoken to vs by his Sonne and therefore our meanes of saluation are great and glorious the onely begotten Son which is in the bosome of his Father hath reuealed the Fathers will vnto vs. Naturall light hath manifested much of God to many men supernaturall light hath made him more manifest both by the deliuery of the Law and the promises of the Gospell concerning Christ to come whereby the Iewes saw God after a sort through the vaile of types and shadowes but did not see him clearely and perspicuously till Christ was manifested in the flesh who was in his person the brightnes of his Fathers image and in his office the chiefe Doctor and Teacher of his Church Whence it followes Heb. 12. 25. That if they escaped not who refused him vvhich spake on earth much lesse shall we if we turne from him that speaketh from heauen and 2. 2. If the vvord spoken by Angels was stedfast c. how shal we escape if wee neglect so great saluation which was first begun to be preached by the Lord and is confirmed to vs by them that heard him Obiect Oh if we should heare Christ speake from heauen wee would obey Answ. The doctrine that we bring is from heauen heauen opened it selfe to giue confirmation to it the same it is which Christ taught which the Apostles receiued from him and we from them and of vs holding our selues to the Apostles doctrine our Sauiour saith Hee that heareth you heareth mee With how great danger therefore doe men refuse and turne away from our doctrine how shall they escape that refuse doctrine from heauen A iust thing it is that they be giuen ouer to Satanicall and hellish delusions who refuse doctrine from heauen 3. This opening of heauen being a signe of that which Christ had done affoordeth speciall comfort to all the members of Christ in that heauen being shut against vs by our sin for into it shall no vncleane thing enter Christ hath set the gate of it open vnto vs againe hee hath made a way and as it were a thorow-fare betweene heauen and earth By him saith the Apostle all things in heauen and earth are gathered into one Ephes. 1. 10. and Col. 1. 20. He hath reconciled to himselfe through him all things which are in earth and in heauen that is all elect and beleeuing men on earth and the blessed Saints and Angels in heauen and this followes that
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God of himselfe and therefore not by generation Consider him in respect of his God-head and he is God of himselfe as the Father and holy Ghost but consider him in his Person and so hee is the Sonne begotten of the Father and not of himselfe for the Father is a beginning to the rest of the Persons And whereas the Athanasian Creed confesseth him God of very God and the Nicen Light of light and very God of very God the word God in both places must bee taken not essentially but personally namely the Sonne of God begotten of the Father But the God-head of the Son is from the Father because the Sonne is God The God-head of the Sonne is not begotten of the Father but the Person of the Sonne is begotten for the God-head of the Sonne is without beginning as the Father is but the Person of the Sonne is of the Father But the Son hauing the same Essence with the Father then the Father begetting the Sonne the Sonne begets himselfe also Person begets Person not diuine Essence begets diuine Essence the Person of the Father begets the Person of the Sonne but not the God-head of the Sonne If the Father and Sonne be one in Essence then the Sonne being incarnate so is the Father also It is a weake argument because Incarnation belongs not properly to the Essence but to the person or the diuine Essence of the Person of the Sonne became incarnate and tooke flesh or if to the Essence yet not absolute but limited The whole diuine Essence is the Father the Sonne is the whole diuine Essence therefore the Sonne is the Father not distinct or begotten There is an Homonymie in the word whole diuine Essence which is taken either essentially and absolutely as in the Proposition or personally limited to the second Person as in the assumption and therefore the reason is faulty because of foure tearmes in it But if the Father beget the Sonne then hee communicates either a part of his Essence or the whole but hee can doe neither not a part because it is indiuisible not whole for then he leaues none for himselfe The Father begetting communicates his whole Essence and yet retaines it wholly as a candle giuing light to another retaineth it wholly to it selfe If the Father begot the Son then either when the Son subsisted or when he did not if he did subsist how could hee beget him if he did not subsist then he had a beginning The Father begot the Sonne subsisting for generation and subsisting are in time together or rather both from eternity and in the Trinity there is nihil prius or posterius in time And thus also that obiection is stopt that the Father begetting must be before the Sonne begotten for the Father is not in time before the Sonne but in order But Christ is the first begotten and the first borne of many brethren Rom. 8. 29. and Col. 1. 15. therefore he is not the onely Sonne of God 1. The word Primogenitura is sometimes a word of dignity and not of order 2. Christ is called The first borne of euery creature because hee was begotten eternally before any creature 3. He is called First borne by a Metaphor and resemblance being shadowed by the first borne in the old Testament who were Heires and Priests in the family and had double portions c. All which types were verified in Christ who was first borne not of a few brethren in one family as they but of many brethren in all Tribes and Families Christ was the Sonne of the holy Ghost because he was conceiued by him No because he was conceiued not of the substance but power of the holy Ghost Againe consider him either according to the flesh so he was of the substance of the Virgin Mary not of the holy Ghost or according to his Deity and so hee was of the substance of his Father not of the holy Ghost But the Article he is that my Sonne is not to be omitted namely that promised seed Messias on whom all the fathers eyes haue been fixed whose day Abraham desired to see on whom all the Patriarkes cast their hopes whom all the Prophets with one mouth haue declared and poynted at as with one finger This is that my Son whom ye haue already seene borne of a Virgin Isa. 7. 14. Come out of Bethleem Mic. 5. 2. Called out of Egypt Hos. 11. 1. Out of Egypt haue I called my Sonne This is he before whom Eliah hath prepared the way Mal. 3. 1. that is Iohn Baptist in the Spirit of Eliah And as ye haue seen these things already so expect the accomplishment of all other predictions concerning him till he hath finished his course the whole worke of mans Redemption Is Christ thus peculiarly the Sonne of God then note the wonderfull loue of God and of Christ God the Father setting his onely Sonne separated from sinners and higher then the heauens among sinners to receiue among them not only the badge of sin but the curse of sin wherein hee was cast lower then earth and hell it selfe that we might by him become the adopted sons of God for this was the Fathers end that we might be vnited to his naturall Son and so to himselfe by him and receiue our title of Son-ship And what father that loued his son would so debase him that hee might take in some strāger yea an enemy to be heire with him And yet the loue of God hath done thus for vs. Againe the loue of Christ is surpassing and appeareth in his voluntary and extreme abasement that he would be pleased from the height of his Glory being Gods naturall Son to become not onely like but lower then all other men in his life and death No man liuing euer was or can be so abased for hee that is lowest of all can fall but from one degree in earth to another but Christ falls from the highest degree of the glory of heauen to the very bottome of hell What doth this infinite loue call for at our hands but returne of loue for loue Shall we thinke any of his Commandements grieuous shall we think much of any conditiō which God seeth fit for vs and Christ hath sanctifyed be it neuer so base shall we refuse the lowest abasement for his sake seeing we cannot bee brought so low for him as hee for vs Who art thou that professest loue to Christ and wilt not endure a word a frowne of a superiour a checke and rebuke for his sake and good conscience Was Christs loue such to thee or if it had where had thy hopes and saluation been Had he disdayned the frownes of his Father for thee the rebukes and shame of the world the cursed death to which hee voluntarily subiected himselfe thou hadst bin layd for euer vnder the frownes of God the Father and the