up unto a correspondency with him in his affections to love those persons and things which he loveth and to detest whatsoever he hateth Courtiers usually seeme at least to proportion all their passions unto those of the Princes minion They admire whatsoever he liketh they adore whomsoever he affecteth and professe a deepe dislike of all that he disaffecteth They affront and quarrell all upon whom he frowneth Well then may not we be ashamed that there is not the like compliance in us with Gods favourite We dote upon sin which his soule abhorreth We delight in that company and those places unto which he is a stranger We loath those ordinances which have his most evident approbation and institution Those unsavoury and prophane jests rotten communication that are an abomination unto him and stinke before him are the matter of our greatest merriment We distast most the conversation of those that have most intimate communion with him Those are an eye-sore unto us who are as tender unto him as the Apple of his eye His jewels Mal. 3.17 his crowne jewels his crowne of glory and royall diademe Isay 62. ver 3. are accounted by us as the filth of the world and offscouring of all things 1 Cor. 4.13 There is nothing that he esteemeth more amiable in men then the beauty of holinesse the Image of God This is the chaine upon the neck of his spouse Cant. 4.9 that ravisheth his heart And there is nothing more that our hearts rise against O what a dangerous thing is this antipathy unto him that is in the bosome of the father at his right hand How unsafe is it to be thus opposite unto his affections Hereby we must needs incurre the displeasure both of him his father and that is the undoubted path unto everlasting ruine and destruction for in their favour is lise Psalm 30.5 7. And lastly If Christ be so great and gracious with God It then very much concerneth us to labour for assurance of his love and favour For we must needs be liable unto perpetuall torment and terrour of mind as long as we are in suspense of our eternall condition As long as we are doubtfull whether we shall be for ever miserable or happy And the wrath of Christ who is chiefe in the affection of the father is as Solomon speakes of the wrath of a King as the messengers of death and roaring of a lyon Whereas on the other side in the light of his countenance is life and his favour is as a cloud of the latter raine Prov. 16.14,15 and 19.12 and 20.2 If he smile upon a soule nothing can make it miserable and if he frowne upon it nothing can make it happy For God is reconciled to none but in and through him He makes none blessed but for his sake Well then we can expect no tranquility of spirit no solid comfort no sound peace of conscience no joy unspeakable and full of glory untill we have attained a certaine and well bottomed perswasion that the sonne of Gods love in whom alone he is well pleased hath lifted up the light of his countenance upon us What I have said touching our assurance of Christs love may be applied unto our assurance of Gods love of us in and for Christ For it is of no lesse importance as being inseparably connexed therewith and the ground and cause thereof and therefore without Gods love of us for Christ his sake we can never be happy and without assurance of it we can never be comfortable Hereupon is it that in the salutations prefixed unto most of Paul's epistles peace is made a sequele of grace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ Without the grace of acceptation with the father and the Lord Jesus Christ and also sense and apprehension thereof no peace of conscience no serenity of spirit is to be expected That man that is doubtfull of Gods love in and for Christ if his conscience be awak'ned cannot but have a perpetuall tempest in his bosome For he can apprehend God â—o otherwise then a consuming fire And such a consideration must needs beget unutterable horrour Our Saviour himselfe makes this assurance the scope of the revelation of Gods goodnesse and mercy in the gospell John 17.26 And I have declared unto them thy name and will declare it that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them There be some that understand that clause that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them concerning the extension or termination of Gods love of Christ unto Believers as a secondary object and they thus glosse the words That thou may'st love them for my sake that thou may'st love them with that love wherewith thou hast loved me Believers are made by faith one body with Christ and therefore cannot but share in Gods love of Christ If God love him They cannot but be beloved in and for him and therefore our Saviour addes and I in them which is saith Maldonate because I am in them to wit as the head in the members As if he should have said seeing I am in them seeing I dwell in their hearts by faith so that I and they make but one body mysticall therefore thy love of me cannot but be derived unto them If thou lovest me it is impossible thou should'st hate them This termination of Gods love of Christ unto Believers is in regard of the fruites and effects of it so it is the same with it's presence of influence on them The body of the Sun is in the heavens but the efficacy of it reacheth unto the lowest of the elements the earth causing on its surface light and warmth and producing in the very bowels of it many rich metalls and minerals Thus the love wherewith God loveth Christ is in God himselfe if we speake of a presence of inherence taking the word largly as it is applicable unto any adjuncts even such as the attributes of God are But it is in all them that believe in regard of a presence of influence and effective presence for it enlightneth and comforteth them and produceth in their bosomes the precious gifts and graces of the spirit But now the love wherewith God loveth Christ is said to be in believers not onely in regard of their participation but also perception of it not onely effectively in regard of its effects grace and glory but also objectively in regard of an objective or intentionall presence as it is the object of their knowledge apprehension and assurance And they never fully and truly know and apprehend it as they ought but in the rebound and by way of reflection untill they be assured of it's being terminated unto and reflected upon them untill as it is Rom. 5.5 the love of God be shed abroad in their hearts untill they have a full sence and feeling of that love wherewith God loveth them in Christ untill they have tasted that the Lord is good
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
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
made themselves Eunuchs whereupon some ambitious fooles castrated themselves and so that they might be great men in power and place they made themselves monsters and no men Shall men be thus forward to imitate the defects and deformities of powerfull personages here on earth and shall not we be very diligent in our imitation of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who hath all power given unto him in heaven and earth Our Saviour himselfe makes the extent and universality of his dominion a motive as unto faith in him obedience to him so unto imitation of him All things are delivered into my hands c. therefore learne of me and he instanceth in two particulars that more especially deserve to be imitated for I am meeke and lowly in heart which brings me unto the third sort of dutyes unto which from the fulnesse of Christs authority we may be exhorted and they are such as relate unto our Brethren meeknesse and humility Vse 1. of Exhortation First from the fulnesse of Christs authority compared with his meeknesse we may all be exhorted unto meeknesse All things were delivered unto him of his Father and yet he was meek Math. 11.27,29 His carriage unto even his most insulting and provoking enemies was full of meeknesse in his greatest sufferings There never dropt from him so much as one impatient word or syllable who when he was reviled reviled not againe when he suffered he threatned not but committed himselfe to him that judgeth righteously 1 Pet. 2.23 and yet he could have taken upon the greatest of his adversaries a most speedy easy revenge to see such power matched with such patience should make us all blush at the excesses of our anger and the rage of our impatience towards all those almost with whom we converse Not only private but even publick persons those of greatest place may very well in the execution of their places propound unto themselves this matchlesse meeknesse of their Saviour and carry their goverment as Christ did upon their shoulders in patience that is so farr as they may without prejudice unto justice beare with the weaknesse and way wardnesse of their charges Magistrates may hence be instructed to carry their people in their bosome as a nursing father beareth the sucking child Num. 11.12 ministers may hence learne to be patient in meeknesse instructing those that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Divell who are taken captive by him at his will 2 Tim. 2.24,25,26 Aaron carryed the twelve tribes in his brestplate next to his heart to shew that in care he was to bear them Exod. 28. ver 29. But he had them also engraven in two Onyx-stones ver 12. and those set upon his very shoulders to shew he must otherwhile beare them in patience too And it is not only Aarons case and other high Priests under the Law The Morall is applyable unto all ministers of the Gospell they are to beare their people as in their breasts by pastorall care and affection so on their shoulders in great patience and long-suffering Use 2. of Exhortation Secondly from a comparison of the fulnesse of Christs power with the greatnesse of his humility all men the greatest of men may be exhorted unto humility towards even the meanest of their brethren All things were delivered unto him of his father and yet he was lowly in mind therefore learne of him Math. 11.27,28 In Iohn 13. we have his actuall knowledge or consideration of his soveraignty connexed with an action wherein was the very depth of humility vers 3 4 5. Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he was come from God and went to God He riseth from supper and laid aside his garments and tooke a towell and girded himselfe after that he poureth water into a bason and began to wash his Disciples feet and to wipe them with the towell wherewith he was girded Some might interpret this action of our Saviour to proceed from incogitancy or inadvertency and thinke that he forgat himselfe and did a thing unbecoming his dignity To prevent this the Evangelist makes his notice of and meditation upon the fulnesse of his authority the preface unto this his great example of humility knowing that the Father hath given all things into his hand c. he ariseth from supper c. and began to wash his Disciples feet c. The washing of feet was a civility with which at those times in those hot Eastern countryes strangers were entertained especially in the evening and therefore perhaps might be usuall towards superiors and equalls but that he that had all things given into his hands by the Father he that was come from God and was forthwith to goe to God should wash the feet of his owne disciples of which some were poor fisher men is an unheard of condescention who can be proud and looke upon so humble a Saviour whose pride should not so lowly an action of his beat downe what power is there that should swell the spirit of any mortall wight when he that hath all power given unto him in heaven and earth stoops unto so low a service who should refuse to write after such a copy of Lowlinesse Especially seeing our Saviour himself exhorts hereunto vers 13 14. Ye call me Master and Lord and ye say well for so I am If I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet ye also ought to wash one anothers feet In washing of the feet there is Synecdoche Speciei the speciall is put for the generall washing of the feet being a base and abject service stands for all offices or duties of love though never so low and meane unto such offices all men are obliged even superiors unto their inferiors In una itaque specie officii totum genus officiorum intelligimus Ita quod explicando debitum abluendi pedes comprehēditur debitum cujusque officii tam corporalis quā Spiritualis quia ipsa ablutio à Iesu corporalis quidem exercitata est Spiritualis verò sermone exposita Intendit ergo ad literam-Iesus ut ab ip sius exemplo cognoscamus nos debitores invicē ad mutua officia quibus opus est tā ad corpus quà m ad Spiritum Mutua siquidem praecipit dicendo alter alterius Sed intellige proportionaliter ut non dedignentur superiores exercere officia sibi congrua tam ad corporis quà m ad Spiritus aliorum utilia ex quo Iesus Dominus non horum aut illorum sed omnium magister non horum aut illorum sed omnium dignatus est sponte tam vile exercere officium lavandi pedes piscatorum c. Exemplum enim dedi vobis Ne facta à Iesu domino magistro admiranda potius quam imitanda acciperemus explicat imitanda Cajetan in
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
may dearely affect and yet they may be displeased with them But Christ is such a sonne in whom his father delighteth and with whom he is fully contented This is my beloved sonne in whom I am well pleased The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a fulnesse of approbation an infinitenesse of affection without any mixture of displeasure and such an height of delight complacency and contentment as is unexpressible This is my beloved sonne in whom I am well-pleased that is of whom I have an high estimate unto whom I bare singular good-will and affection and in whom I wonderfully delight and rejoyce The Demonstrative * Pareus on Math. 17.4,5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this especially Math. 17.4,5 distinguisheth him from Moses and Elias and all other saints as the Lord from the servants He is exalted above the prophets as a sonne as a lord above the servants He is nearer and dearer unto the father then they are or can be In Col. 2.13 He is tearmed the sonne of his love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where the Apostle useth an Hebraisme whereby the genitive case is put in the roome of an epithete So that the son of his love is as much as his beloved or deareson his most beloved sonne Looke as filius perditionis is filius perditissmus that is most worthy to be destroyed destinated to destruction desperately perishing or notoriously wicked Joh. 17.12.2 Thes 2.3 So Christ is tearmed the sonne of Gods love because he was transcendently beloved by God As also because he was most worthy to be beloved Because he was designed unto all the the possible expressions of love Beza illustrates this Hebraisme by Psalm 15.1 where the mountaine or hill of Gods holinesse is as much as his holy hill or mountaine And Conelius A lapide paralelleth it with Prov. 5.19 Where the hind of loves is as much as the most beloved hind A second particular in Christ that deserveth a fulnesse of grace and favour with God is his service of him and obedience unto him both active and passive And hereupon is it that in Math. 12.18 the Evangelist applieth unto Christ that of the propher Isaiah Chapt. 42.1 Behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect in whom my soule delighteth God had chosen him to be his servant a mediatour betwixt himselfe and man and because he hath discharged this his office therefore he is his beloved in whom his soule is well-pleased Therefore doth my father love me saith Christ himselfe John 10.17 Because I laid downe my life c. Suitable unto this is that analysis which Å¿ Sicut priore clogio personam filiâ— unigenici asseruit pater ita hoc altero commendat ejus officium docens hunc unum esse nobis datum mediatorem servatorem in quo velit nobis esse propitius in quo nos salutem quaerere oporteat sicut testantur Apostoli non est in alio salus nec est datum aliud nomen in quo possimus servari c. Pareus makes of these words this is my beloved sonne in whom I am well pleased The former part of of the words This is my beloved sonne concerneth his person The latter in whom I am well pleased regardeth thinks he his office as he is mediatour our Saviour and surety in and for whom God is propitious to us and reconciled with us Because he was his only begotten sonne therefore he was beloved by him because he would faithfully discharge his office therefore he was well-pleased with him And hereupon it was that his voyce was heard from heaven as at his Baptisme which was a publick inauguration of him for the publicke performance of all his offices so also in his transfiguration which was a private preparation of him for the finall discharge of so much of his office as was to be performed here upon earth But this is not the fulnesse meant here in the text Col. 1.19 For Gods love of and favour towards Christ respected Christ onely objectively and extrinsecally as his adjunctum occupatum terminated unto him Whereas the fulnesse in the text regarded him subjectively and intrinsecally as adjunctum receptum dwelling and inhering in him This fulnesse therefore of Gods grace and favour towards Christ I shall passe over as soone as I have made some briefe use and application thereof The first use is of information The fulnesse of Christs grace and favour with God compared with the fulnesse of his afflictions that he suffered by the decree of God do clearely evince that an height of love and favour is consistent with a depth of affliction Christ was an object of a fulnesse of grace and yet the subject of a fulnesse of sufferings It pleased the Lord to bruise his naturall sonne Isai 53.10 Therefore it is no marvell that he scourgeth every adopted son whom he receiveth Heb. 12.6 If the darling of the father the first borne among many brethren our elder brother were all his life long a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefe Isai 53.3 oppressed and afflicted ver 7. If he suffer'd before he enter'd into his glory Luk 24.26 The rest of the brethren then must not thinke it strange if their way lieth through much tribulation unto the Kingdome of God Act. 14.22 Christ was the beloved son of God even when he hung upon the crosse even then was the Father well pleased with him And therefore to roâ—… in a prison to expire in an ignominious way at a stake or upon a scaffold or under a gallows is not in it selfe a marke of Gods displeasure unto his children The Sonne of Gods love cryed out that he was sorsaken of God Mat. 27.46 that is deprived of the sense of all consolation and therefore spirituall desertions are not alwayes an argument of disfavour Gods dearest children may for a long time walke in darknesse and see no light Isai 50.10 A second use is of consolation For this fulnesse of grace unto Christ reflecteth in some measure upon his members It is impossible that God should hate or abhorre those that are so neerly related unto the Son of his love If he delight in him he cannot be averse from them If the name of Christ be Jedidiah beloved of the Lord His spouse's name is Hephzibah because the Lord delighteth in her Isai 62.4 The God of heaven cannot looke upon the members as enemies as long as the head is his favourite If he be gracious they cannot be disgracious Because he is in the bosome of the Father therefore they are not strangers unto the father but he will carry them in his bosome too as a nursing father beareth the sucking child Numb 11.12 If the first borne be beloved by way of eminency the rest of the brethren are beloved too in a way of subordination If he be the primary object of Gods love They are the Secondary If he be God's elect servant in whom his soule delighteth Isai 42.1 then he hath chosen us
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
in him a fulnesse A fulnesse 1 of the grace of his favour love and mercy towards us The Apostle ascribes unto him riches of this grace and affirmeth that therein he hath abounded unto us Ephes 1.7,8 neither is this barely affirmed but as strongly confirmed from the effects or fruits thereof 1. In our justification In whom we have redemption the forgivenesse of sins according unto the riches of his grace c. both of which are plenary Psal 130.7 In him there is plenteous redemption He will abundantly pardon Isay 55.7 or he will multiply to pardon as it is in the margent 2. In our vocation In the riches of his grace he hath abounded towards us in all wisdome and prudence ver 8. Thus also Rom. 10.12 the Lord is said to be rich to wit in mercy love and favour Ephes 2.4 Vnto all that call upon him Where by Lord saith Diodati is meant Jesus Christ who by his death resurrection hath gotten himselfe a title over all men to be their Lord master to be the head of the elect amidst all Nations And he is said to be rich in the fruits and effects thereof For as Calvin and Estius upon the place observe rich is here taken actively for bountifull liberall or gracious The bounty and liberality of men may be disenabled by extensivenesse unto too many but it cannot be so with the grace love and favour of our Lord Jesus Christ for he hath unsearchable riches Eph. 3.8 that cannot be impaired by communicativenesse He cannot be impoverished though he be rich unto all that call upon him This fulnesse of Christs love is to the full displayed in the Song of Solomon and that both in the Churches confessions and Christs owne professions of it 1. In the Churches confessions of it and that both to Christ and others 1. She makes a gratefull acknowledgement of it unto Christ himselfe Thy love saith she is better then wine Cant. 1.2 Next she celebrates and reports it unto others chap. 3.9,10 King Solomon that is Christ made him a chariot that is framed assumed unto himselfe an humane nature the midst or innermost whereof his heart being paved with love of the daughters of Jerusalem that is the elect of God the children of Jerusalem the mother of us all In Isay 49.16 Zion is said to be engraven upon the palmes of his hand but here to be as it were written upon his heart y But as the heart signifieth inward love so the arme of Christ signifieth his outward manifestation of love by helping bearing supporting her in all her infirmities through his power Psal 77.15 89.10 Esa 40.10,11 Ainsworth She was in his heart to live and dye for her 2 Corin. 7.3 Againe chap. 7.10 His desire saith she or desirous affection is towards mee As it said of the woman Gen. 3.16 that her desire should be unto her husband Next we have Christs owne profession of this great love of his unto his Church He termeth her his love his dove his spouse his sister his beloved his friends Chap. 5. v. 1. He acquaints her that in expression of his love unto her he had endured much trouble and misery for her My head saith he is filled with dew and my locks with the drops of the night Chap. 5.2 Unto the Churches confession and Christs owne profession of this fulnesse of love we joyne also the Churches petition for it Cant. 8.6 Set me as a seale upon thy heart as a seale upon thine arme This was a prayer dictated unto and penned for the Church by the Holy Ghost himselfe and therefore if she put it up with faith and confidence it cannot be successelesse From it then we may conclude that the Church is very precious in Christs esteeme graven as the graving of a seale upon his heart And this his estimate of her he will manifest by wearing her as a signet upon his right hand The high priest Exod. 28. was to beare the names of the children of Israel engraven upon twelve precious stones and set in gold in the breast-plate of judgement upon his heart when he goeth in unto the holy place for a memoriall before the Lord continually vers 17 18 19 20 21 29. Herein the exceeding and wonderfull care and love of Christ unto his members is plainly typified and that in diverse particulars 1. The names of the children of Israel were engraven upon twelve precious stones set in gold to shew that the people of Christ are very deare and precious unto him as it were his jewels and precious stones Mal. 3.17 2. Besides there was curious art bestowed upon the engraving of these names It was like the engraving of a signet ver 21. And this might figure the curiosity of Christs workmanship in creating and engraving holinesse the image of God upon the spirits of his people which farre exceeded that which was used in the framing of those glorious and celestiall bodies the sunne moone and starres And the curiositie of this his workmanship in the beautifying of his members is a demonstration of his extraordinary affection unto them 3. His care of them and affection to them is not onely joynt and generall but particular and severall of one by one * Babington in locum The High priest was to have in his brest-plate the twelve stones with the particular names of the Tribes 4. Christ beareth his members not onely on his shoulders vers 12. by his protection of them and patience unto them but in his breast and heart by his singular and most tender affection towards them While he was here on earth his heart was so set upon them as that he shed his heart blood for them And now he is gone into the holy place they are still upon and in his heart he is still mindfull of and deeply sollicitous for promoting their salvation He even now rejoyceth in the habitable part of his earth and there will never be a period in his delights with the sonnes of men Prov. 8.31 the twelve stones are termed Exodus 25.7 lapides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is stones of fulnesses or filling stones Perhaps thinks Altingius loc com part 2. pag. 1. because the breast plate was filled with them and this might signifie that the breast or heart of Christ was even filled with his members in regard the love of his heart was fully placed upon them more then on all the rest of the creatures 5. The High Priest was to beare the names of the children of Israel for a memoriall before the Lord continually And this might denote that Christ is ever mindfull of his people Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the sonne of her wombe yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee saith the Lord Christ unto his Zion Isay 49.15 Christ remembreth all his people even when as man he seeth them not And this might be imported by the High
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
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
None of all these render a man uncapable of being the object of this filling here spoken of of the giving of gifts unto men For such is the objective latitude thereof as that it excludes no times no places nor any condition of men whatsoever q Caeterum mihi non displicet illa quoque interpretatio quae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 interpretatur omnia Christi officia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro persicere Duo enim officiorum genera injuncta fuerunt a patre Christo perficienda primum continebat omnia quae in terris pro nostra redemptione perficienda erant ut pati mori sepeliri Vbi haec perfecit ait apostolus eum ascendisse ut reliqua etiam omnia impleret in caelo scilicei è caelo Inter quae etiam erat hoc de quo immediate loquitur Apostolus de donis scilicet è caelo dandis distribuendis hominibus in Ecclesia Et eò magis jâm haec interpretatio placet quia complectitur etiam superiorem de effundendo suo spiritu donisqúe spiritus S. super omnem carnem sed illa superior non complectitur hanc Certè erant etià m multa alia Christo implenda in caelo è caelo ut supra declaratum est Ergò quia latiùs patet haec postrema eam amplector Zanchy after he hath insisted upon that interpretation which we have now gone over acquaints us with another that he dislikes not and it is that which by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 understand's all Christs offices and render's the word translated fill fulfill discharge or performe For there were saith he two sorts of offices enjoyned Christ by his father The first contained all those things which were to be performed here below on earth for our redemption as to suffer to dye and to be buried c. As soone as he had finished these the Apostle saith that he ascended that he might fulfill all those other offices which remaine to be performed by him in and from heaven for us at the right hand of his father But this is no prejudice unto what we have said in our sence of the place because one of these offices as Zanchy himselfe informeth us was that which the Apostle speakes of immediatly before the giving of gifts from heaven unto men And the reason why he approveth of this interpretation is because it is so comprehensive as that it takes in the former sence concerning the pouring of his spirit and the gifts thereof upon all flesh The last head of arguments is from the prayers for this progressive fulnesse of the saints recorded in scripture from the prayers of petition and from the prayers of thanksgiving for it 1. From the prayers of petition for it which doubtlesse had a gracious answere and returned into the bosomes of those that put them up This I pray saith Paul unto the Philippians that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment That ye may approve things that are excellent that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ being filled with the fruits of righteousnesse which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God Phil. 1.9,10,11 We do not cease to pray for you saith he to the Colossians and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledg of his will in all wisedome and spirituall understanding Col. 1.9 He prayed unto the Lord to make the Thessalonians to increase and abound in love one towards another and towards all men c. 1 Thes 3.12 He puts up also a petition unto the God of peace c. in the behalfe of the Hebrewes to make them perfect in every good worke Heb. 13.21 You have Peter also 1 Pet. 5.10 petitioning for the perfection of such converts of them as were scattered throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia Bithynia The God of all grace who hath called us unto his eternall glory by Jesus Christ c. make you perfect stablish strengthen settle you Thus also Epaphras was a petitioner for the spirituall compleatnesse and perfection of the Colossians Epaphras who is one of you a servant of Christ saluteth you alwaies labouring fervently for you in prayers that ye may stand perfect and compleate in all the will of God Col. 4.12 2. From the prayers of thanksgiving for it which if this progressive fulnesse were unattaineable would be but a taking of Gods name in vaine I thanke my God alwaies in your behalfe saith he to the Coâ—inthians for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ that in every thing ye are enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledg c so that ye come behind in no gift c. 1 Cor. 4.5,7 The same Apostle Ephes 1.3,7,8 blesseth the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for that in the riches of his grace he hath abounded tawards us in all wisedome and prudence In the 1 Timoth. 1.12,14 We have him presenting his thankes unto Christ Jesus our Lord because the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant towards himselfe with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus And thus have I at large proved that the members of Christ shall enjoy every one of them 1. A communion in the fulnesse of Christ's grace in their justification 2. A conformitie unto it in their sanctification I proceed now unto the last thing which I promised in this use to shew that from the premises Christ's members may reape a double comfort 1. against the strength and fulnesse of sinne 2. against their wants in and emptinesse of grace 1. Against the strength and fulnesse of sinne Naturally there is a fulnesse of sinne in us Our powers and members are full of sinne And the very fulnesse of sinne is in them Now where there is a fulnesse of a thing there that thing must needs be exceeding strong How strong are the waters of the sea onely because the sea is full of waters and the fulnesse of waters is there Against this fulnesse of sin now that is in our natures we have comfort nay a full joy and triumph in the fulnesse of grace that dwelleth in Christ for it is imputed to us that is accepted for us And God will make us conformable unto it And therefore it gives us assurance that Christ will quench cure and expell all our sins If in us there be the treasury of an evill heart bottomlesse depths of folly lust and ignorance in Christ there are hid unsearchable riches and treasures of grace and wisedome If corruption in us be of an unbounded rage if we be out of measure sinfull why the grace of Christ is answerably of an unstinted measure The spirit was not given by measure unto him Joh. 3.34 If sin abound in us grace doth much more abound in him Excedit quippe pietas Jesu omnem criminum quantitatem seu numerositatem as Bernard in Vigilia nativitatis Domini Serm. 1. If the