wisdome more various and admirable curiositie more filling and plentifull satisfaction more proportion to the boundlesse desires of a soule once rectified more fruit and salvation which should bee the end of every Christian mans learning than in all other knowledge which either past or present ages can afford In one word every where and in all things I am there taught how to want and how to abound and how to do all things through Christ that strengthens me A Christian can be set in no estate wherein the abundant Care of Christ over him is not in the Gospell wonderfully magnified And commonly in the greatest straits he sheweth the greatest care as waters runne strongest in the narrowest passages when we walk in darknesse and have no light when we seeke water and there is none and our tongue faileth for thirst then is his fittest time to helpe us and then is our fittest time to stay upon him Israel were deliverd by miracles of mercy from their Egyptian bondage and in the wildernesse conducted by a miraculous presence and fed with Angels food Isaak was upon the Altar and then in the mount was the Lord seene and his mercy stepped in betweene the knife and the sacrifice Iacob in great feare of his brother Esau and then comforted by prevailing with an Angell which was stronger than Esau. Peter in sorest distresse for denying Christ and he the first man to whom Christ sent newes of his Resurrection Paul in the shippe visited by an Angell Peter in prison delivered by an Angell The distressed woman at Christs Sepulcher comforted by an Angell Such as the extremities of the Saints are such is Christs care for their deliverances And this Care is further commended that it proceedeth solely from the grace and compassion of Christ there is no affection naturally in us to desire it there is no vertue in us to deserve it when we were in our bloud well pleased with our owne pollution hee doubled his goodnesse and used a kinde of violence and importunitie of mercy to make us live when we did not seeke after him when wee did not so much as aske whether hee were fit to bee sought when wee were aliens from his Covenant and strangers to his name hee even then multiplied his invitations unto us I said behold mee behold me unto a people that were not called by my name When we were weake full of impotencie when wee were sinners full of antipathy when we were enemies full of obstinacie and rebellion when wee cared not for him but turned our backes and stopped our eares and suffered him to throw away in vaine so many Sermons so many Sacraments so many mercies so many afflictions upon us when we cared not for our selves no man repented or said what have I done even then did hee magnifie his compassion towards us hee cared for us when we neglected our selves and despised him he bestowed his mercy not onely upon the unthankfull but upon the injurious But then a little compassion is enough for those that had deserved none for those that had provoked scorne and displeasure against themselves but herein is the care and tendernesse of Christ abundantly magnified that it hath in it all the ingredients of a most soveraigne mercy that nothing more could have beene done than he hath done for us First for the foundation and original of al mercy there is in him an overflowing of love without stint or measure a turning of heart a rouling and sounding of bowels a love which surpasseth all knowledge which is aâ— much beyond the thoughts or comprehensions as it is above the merits of men Secondly there is a studie and inquisitivenesse how to doe good a debating within himselfe a consulting and projecting how to shew mercy an arguing as it were of his grace with mans sinne and his owne severitie How shall I give thee up Ephraim How shall I deliver thee Israel How shall I make thee as Admah How shall I set thee as Zeboim mine heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together True it is thou hast beene unto me as the Rulers of Sodome and as the people of Gomorrah But shall I be unto thee as I have beene unto them Am I not God and not man shall I change my Covenant because thou hast multiplied thy backslidings The Lord useth such humane expressions of his proceedings with men as if their sinnes had put him to a stand and brought him to difficulties in shewing mercy I said how shall I put thee amongst the children and give thee a pleasant Land c. Thy case is very desperate and thou hast stopped up the courses of my mercy towards thy selfe how then shall I make good my resolutions of compassion towards those that reject and nullifie it to themselves surely there is no way but one to over-rule the hearts of obstinate sinners that they may not turne away any more Thou shalt call mee my Father that is I will put filial affections awful thoughts constant resolutions into thy heart and thou shalt not turne away from mee I will melt them and trie them saith the Lord for how shall I doe for the daughter of my people The Lord setteth himselfe to study and contrive mercie for his people that as they set up their sinnes as it were in pride to pose his Covenant so he gathereth together his thoughts of mercy as it were to conquer their sinnes Thirdly there is constancie and continuance in this his Care His mercy endureth his compassions faile not but are renewed every morning And therefore the mercies of David that is of Christ for so he is called or the mercies of the Covenant made with David are called Sure mercies they have a foundation the everlasting love and counsell of God upon which they are built they have many seales by which they are confirmed the faithfulnesse the immutabilitie and the oath of God If there were not continuance in his mercies if he were not the same yesterday and to day and for ever in his truth and fidelitie to his Church if hee should change and turne from us as oft as we forsake him if he should leave us in the hand of our owne counsell and not afford us such daily supplies of his Spirit as might support us against the ruinous disposition of our owne nature wee should be children of wrath every day anew But herein doth the abundant care of Christ in the Gospell declare it selfe unto us that though we are wormes in our selves full of weaknesse and of earthly affections yet God hath a right-hand of righteousnesse which can uphold us that though we are bent to back-sliding yet he is God and not man unchangeable in his Covenant with the Persons almighty in his power and mercy towards the sinnes of men both to cover them with his righteousnesse and to cure them by his Spirit both to forgive for the time past
fitted it to the manifestation of his glory and mercy to the reconciliation of him and his creature and to the exaltation of his Sonne secondly the Sonne is willing hee chearfully submitted unto it Heb. 10.9 and freely loved us and gave himselfe unto us Gal. 2.20 thirdly the sinner is willing and accepteth and relieth upon it as wee have seene at large before in the third verse so that there can bee no injury done to any party where all are willing and where all are glorified Fourthly that an innocent person may thus in Iustice and equity suffer for a nocent there is required besides these acts of ordination in the supreme of submission in the surety and of consent in the delinquent first an intimate and neere conjunction in him that suffereth with those that should have suffered Severall unions and conjunctions there are as Politike between the members and subjects in a state and thus is a commonwealth universally sinfull a few righteous men may as parts of that sinfull society be justly subject to those temporary evils which the sinnes of the society have contracted and the people may justly suffer for the sinnes of the Princes 2 Sam. 24.17 and hee for theirs 1 Sam. 12.25 secondly Naturall as betweene parents and children so the Lord visited the sinnes of Dathan upon his little ones Numb 16.27.33 thirdly Mysticall as betweene man and wife so the Lord punished the sinnes of Amaziah the priest of Bethel by giving over his wife unto whoredome Amos 7.17 and wee see in many cases the husband is liable to be charged and censured for the exorbitancies of his wife fourthly Stipulatory and by consent as in the case of fidejussores or obsides who are punished for the sinnes of others whom they represent and in whose place they stand as a caution and muniment against injuries which might be feared as we see in the parable of the prisoner committed to the custody of another person 1 King 20 39-42 fifthly Possessory as betweene a man and his goods and so wee finde that a man was to offer no beast for a sinne offering but that which was his owne Levit. 5.6 7. Now in all these respects there was in some manner conjunction betweene us and Christ He conversed amongst men and was a member of that Tribe and society amongst whom he lived and therefore was together with them under that Romane yoke which was then upon the people and in that relation paid tribute unto Caesar hee had the nature and seed of man and so was subject to all humane and naturall infirmities without sinne Hee was mystically married unto his Church and therefore was answerable for the debts and misdemeanours of the Church He entred into covenant and became suretie for man and therefore was liable to mans engagements Lastly hee became the possession in some sort of his Church whence it is that we are said to receive him and to have him 1 Ioh. 5.12 not by way of Dominion for so we are his 1 Cor. 6.19 but by way of communion and propriety and therefore though wee cannot offer him up unto God in sacrifice for our sinnes yet we may in our faith and prayers shew him unto his Father and hold him up as our owne armour and fence against the wrath of God Rom. 13.14 Secondly there is required in the innocent person suffering that he have a free and full dominion over that from which hee parteth in his suffering for another As in suretiship a man hath free dominion over his money and therefore in that respect he may engage himselfe to pay another mans debt but he hath not a free dominion over himselfe or his owne life and therefore he may not part with a member of his owne in commutation for anothers as Zaleucus did for his sonne nor be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to lay downe his owne life for the delivering of another from death except in such cases as the Word of God limiteth and alloweth But Christ was Lord of his owne life and had therefore power to lay it downe and to take it up And this power he had though he were in all points subject to the Law as we are not solely by vertue of the hypostaticall union which did not for the time exempt him from any of the obligations of the Law but by vertue of a particular command constitution and designation to that service of laying downe his life This commandement have I received of my Father Ioh. 10.18 Lastly it is required that this Power be ample enough to breake thorow the sufferings he undertaketh and to re-assume his life and former condition againe I have power to lay it downe and I have power to take it up So then the summe of all is this by the most just wise and mercifull will of God by his owne most obedient and voluntary susception Christ Jesus being one with us in a manifold and most secret union and having full power to lay downe and to take up his life againe by speciall command and allowance of his Father given him did most justly without injury to himselfe or dishonour to or injustice in his Father suffer the punishment of their sinnes with whom he had so neere an union and who could not themselves have suffred them with obedience in their owne persons or with so much glory to Gods justice mercy and wisdome If it be here againe objected that sin in the Scripture is said to be pardoned which seems contrary to this payment and satisfaction To answer this wee must note first that in the rigour of the Law Nâ—xa seqâ—itur caput the delinquent himselfe is in person to suffer the penaltie denounced for the Law is In the day that Thou eatest thou shalt dye and the soule that sinneth it shall die Every man shall beare his owne burthen Gal. 6.5 So that the Law as it stands in its owne rigour doth not admit of any commutation or substitution of one for another Secondly therefore that another person suffering may procure a discharge to the person guilty and be valide to free him the will consent and mercy of him to whom the infliction of the punishment belongeth must concurre and his over-ruling power must dispence though not with the substance of the Lawes demands yet with the manner of execution and with that rigour which bindes wrath peremptorily upon the head onely of him that hath deserved it So then wee see both these things doe sweetly concurre first a precedent satisfaction by paying the debt and yet secondly a true pardon and remission thereof to that partie which should have paid it and out of mercy towards him a dispencing with the rigor of that Law which in strictnesse would not admit any other to pay it for him Thus wee see how Christ hath suffered our punishment Secondly hee did all obedience and fulfilled all actions of righteousnesse for us for such an high Priest became us who is holy harmelesse undefiled
inchoate as all those penall defects of our nature which neither were sinnes nor grounded upon the inherence of sinnes for hee tooke not our personall but onely our naturall defects And these were either corporeall as hunger thirst wearinesse and the like or spirituall as feare griefe sorrow temptations c. consummate were those which he suffered at last And these likewise were either corporeall as shame mockings buffets trials scourgings condemnation an ignominious and a cursed death Or spirituall and those were principally two First a punishment of Dereliction My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee Matth. 27.46 There was some kinde of separation betweene God and Christ during the time of his sufferings for sinne in that cursed manner For understanding wherof we must note that he had a fourfold Vnion unto God First In his humane Nature which was so fast united in his person to the divine that death it selfe did not separate it either from the person or from the deitie It was the Lord that lay in the grave Secondly In Love and so there was never any separation neither but when hee hanged on the Crosse hee was still the beloved Sonne of his Father in whom hee was well pleased Thirdly In the Communion of his Spirit and Holinesse and in that regard likewise there was no disunion for hee was offered up as a lambe without spot or blemish Lastly In the fruition of the light of his countenance and of his glory and favor and in this respect there was for the time of his sufferings a dereliction subtractione visionis non dissolutione unionis by the withdrawing of his countenance not by the dissolving of his union Hee looked upon Christ as a God armed against the sinnes of the world which were then upon him Secondly There was a punishment of malediction Hee did undergoe the curse of the Law hee did graple with the wrath of God and with the powers of darknesse hee felt the scourges due unto our sinnes in his humane nature which squeezed and wrung from him those strong cries those deepe and woefull complaints that bloudy and bitter sweate which drew compassion from the very rocks And surely it is no derogation to the dignity of Christs person but on the other side a great magnifying of the Iustice of God against sinne of the power of Christ against the Law and of the mercy of them both towards sinners to affirme that the sufferings of Christ what-ever they were in specie in the kinde of them were yet in pondere in their weight and pressure equally grievous with those which we should have suffered for being in all things save sinne like unto us and most of all in his liablenesse to the curse of the Law so farre as it did not necessarily denotate either sinne inherent or weaknesse to breake through in the person suffering why hee should not bee obnoxious to as great extremities of paine I see no reason for no degree of meere anguish and dolor can bee unbefitting the person of him who was to bee knowne by that Title A man of sorrowes And surely farre more indignity it was to him to suffer a violent death of body from the hands of base men than to suffer with patience obedience and victorie farre sorer stripes from the hand of God his Father who was pleased upon him to lay the iniquity of us all For the second thing proposed Why Christ suffered these things The Scripture giveth principally these five reasons First to execute the decrees of his Father Act. 4.27 28. Secondly to fulfill the prophesies prefigurations and predictions of Holy Scriptures Luk. 24.46 Thirdly to magnifie his mercy and free love to sinners and most impotent enemies Rom. 5.8 Fourthly to declare the Righteousnesse and truth of God against sinne who would not bee reconciled with sinners but upon a legall expiation Rom. 3.25 For although wee may not limit the unsearchable wisedome and wayes of God as if hee could no other way have saved man yet wee are bound to adore this meanes as being by him selected out of that infinite treasure of his owne counsell as most convenient to set forth his wonderfull hate of sinne his inexorable Iustice and severity against it his unsearchable riches of love and mercy towards sinners and in all things to make way to the manifestation of his glory Lastly To shew forth his owne power which had strength to stand under all this punishment of sinne and at last to shake it off and to declare himselfe to bee the Sonne of God by the resurrection from the dead Rom. 1.4 For though Christ did exceedingly feare and for that seeme to decline and pray against these his passions yet none of that was out of jealousie or suspicion that hee should not breake through them But hee feared them as being paines unavoidable which hee was most certainly to suffer and as paines very heavie and grievous which hee should not overcome without much bitternesse and very woefull conflict Now for a word of the last Clause Therefore shall hee lift up the Head Wee may hence observe that Christ hath conquered all his sufferings by his owne power As in his passion when hee suffered hee Bowed downe his head before-hand and gave up the ghost with a loud voice to note that his sufferings were voluntary Ioh. 19.30 So in his resurrection hee is said to lift up his head himselfe to note that hee had life in himselfe that hee was the Prince of Life that it was impossible for him to be held under by death as we were by the Law Rom. 7.6 And that his exaltation was voluntary likewise and from his owne power for he was not to have any assistant in the worke of our redemption but to doe all alone Ioh. 2.19.5.26.10.17 Act. 3.15 If it bee objected that Christ was raised from the dead by the Glory of his Father and that hee raised him up Rom. 6.4 Act. 13.33 To this I answer that this was not by way of supplement and succor to make up any defect of power in Christ but onely by way of consent to Christs owne power and action that so men might joyntly honour the Sonne and the Father Ioh. 5 19-26 Or by the Glorie of the Father wee may understand that glorious power which the Father gave unto his Sonne in the flesh to have life in himselfe Ioh. 5.26 annexing thereunto a command to exercise the same Power Ioh. 10.18 Or hee is said to bee raised by himselfe and his Father both because that Holy Spirit which immediatly quickned him Rom. 1.4 1 Tim. 3.16 1 Pet. 3.18 was both his and his Fathers It was not any personall thing wherein the Sonne differ'd from the Father which raised Iesus from the dead but that Spirit which was common to them both To conclude then with the consideration of those great benefits and that excellent use which this resurrection of Christ doth serve for unto us First it assureth us of the accomplishment
care or respect towards it This is an errour of Gods benevolence and the latitude of his mercy and heighth of his thoughts towards sinners Hee hath declared himselfe willing that all men should be saved he hath set forth examples of the compasse of his long-suffering his invitations run in generall termes that no man may dare to preoccupate damnation but looke unto God as to one that careth for his soule Let a mans sinnes be never so crimson and his continuance therein never so obdurate I speake this for the prevention of despaire not for the encouragement of security or hardnesse yet as soone as he is willing to turne God is willing to save as soone as he hath an heart to attend God hath a tongue to speake salvation unto him Wee see then the way to trust in Christ is to looke upon him as the Bishop of our soules as the Officer of our peace as one that careth and provideth for us as one that hath promised to save to the uttermost to give supplies of his Spirit and Grace in time of need to give us daily bread and life in abundance to bee with us alwayes to the end of the world never to faile us nor forsake us And we may hereby learne our dutie one to another to put on the affections of members and the minde of Christ in compassionating considering and seeking the good of one another in bearing one anothers burthens in pleasing not our selves but our neighbour for his edification for even Christ pleased not himselfe that man cannot live in honour nor dye in comfort who liveth only to himselfe and doth not by his praiers compassions and supplies imitate Christ and interest himselfe in the good of his brethren Now the ground of all this power majestie and mercie of the Gospell is here set forth unto us in two words First it is the strength of Christ Secondly it is sent by God himselfe The Lord shall send the Rod of Thy strength out of Sion Here then we may first note That the Gospel is Christs owne Power and strength and the Power of God his Father by whom it is sent abroad So the Apostle cals it The Power of God unto Salvation and the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power that our faith should not stand in the wisedome of men but in the Power of God Therefore in one place we are said to be taught of God and in another to be taught of Christ in one place it is called the Gospell of the blessed God and in another the Gospell of Christ to note that whatsoever things the Father doth in his Church the same the Sonne doth also and that the Father doth not make knowne his will of mercie but by his Sonne that as in the Sonne he did reconcile the world unto himselfe so in the Son hee did reveale himselfe unto the world No man hath seene the Father at any time but the Sonne and he to whom the Sonne shall reveale him Christ is both the Matter and the Authour of the Gospell As in the worke of our Redemption he was both the sacrifice and the Priest to offer and the Altar to sanctifie it So in the dispensation of the Gospell Christ is both the Sermon and the Preacher and the Power which giveth blessing unto all He is the Sermon Wee preach Christ crucified saith the Apostle wee preach not our selves but Christ Iesus the Lord. And he is the Preacher See that yee refuse not him that speaketh Hee came and preached peace to those afarre off and to those that were nigh And lastly he is the Power which enliveneth his owne word The dead shall heare the voice of the Sonne of man and they that heare shall live for as the Father hath life in himselfe so hath he given to the Sonne to have life in himselfe My sheepe heare my voyce and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternall life c. He is the Lord of your faith we are but the Helpers of your joy He is the Master in the Church wee are but your servants for Iesus sake He is the chiefe Shepheard the Lord of the sheepe the sheepe are his owne we are but his Depositaries entrusted with the ministerie of reconciliation unto us is committed the dispensation of the Grace of God So then the Word is his but the service ours From whence both the Ministers of the Word and they which heare it may learne their severall duties First we should learne to speake as the Oracles of God as the Servants and Stewards of a higher Master whose Word it is which wee preach and whose Church it is which we serve We should therefore doe his worke as men that are set in his stead preach him and not our selves There can bee no greater sacrilege in the world than to put our owne image upon the Ordinances of Christ than to make another Gospell than we have received Saint Paul durst not please men because hee was the servant of Christ neither durst he preach himselfe because hee was the servant of the Church For hereby men doe even justle Christ out of his owne throne and as it were snatch the Scepter of his kingdome out of his owne hand boldly intruding upon that sacred and uncommunicable dignitie which the Father hath given to his Sonne onely which is to bee the Authour of his Gospell and the totall and adequate Object of all Evangelicall Preaching This sacrilege of selfe-preaching is committed three manner of wayes First when men make themselves the Authors of their owne preaching when they preach their owne inventions and make their owne braines the seminaries and forges of a new faith when they so glosse the pure Word of God as that withall they poison and pervert it This is that which the Prophet calleth lying visions and dreames of mens owne hearts which Saint Peter cals perverting or maketh crooked the rule of faith and Saint Paul the huckstering adulterating and using the Word of God deceitfully Which putteth mee in minde of a speech in the Prophet The Prophet is the snare of a fowler in all his wayes Birds wee know use to be caught with the same corne wherewith they are usually fed but then it is either adulterated with some venemous mixture which may intoxicate the bird or else put into a ginne which shall imprison it and such were the carnall Preachers in the Prophets and in Saint Pauls time who turned the truth of Christ into a snare that by that meanes they might bring the Church into bondage The occasions and originals of this perverse humour are first without men the seducements of Satan unto which by the just severity of God they are sometimes given over for the punishment of their owne and others sinnes Secondly within them upon which the other is grounded as Pride
goodnesse who when wee were desperately and incurably gone had found out a way of escape and deliverance for us God stood not in need of us or any service of ours he could have glorified himselfe in our just destruction Who then can enough expresse either the mercy of God or the dutie of man when hee considers that God should call together all the depths of his owne wisdome and counsell to save a company of desperate fugitives who had joyned in combinations with his greatest enemies to resist and dishonour him It would have posed all the wisdome of the world though misery be commonly very witty to shape and fashion to it selfe images of deliverance to have found out a way to heaven betweene the wrath of God and the sinne of man It would have posed all the heavenly intelligences and the united consultations of the blessed Angels to have reconciled Gods mercy in the salvation of man and his justice in the condemnation of sinne to have powred out hell upon the sinne and yet to have bestowed heaven upon the sinner If God should have instructed us thus farre you are miserable creatures but I am a mercifull God the demands of my justice I must not deny neither will I deny the entreaties of my mercy finde me out a sacrifice answerable to my justice and it shall be accepted for you all O where could man have found out a creature of capacitie enough to hold or of strength enough to beare the sinnes of the world or the wrath of God Where could he have found out in heaven or earth amongst men or Angels a Priest that durst accompany such a sacrifice into the presence of so consuming a fire Or where could he have found out an Altar whereon to offer and whereby to sanctifie so great a sacrifice No no the misery of man was too deepe and inextricable for all the created counsell in the world to invent a deliverance Now then if God himselfe did studie to save me how great reason is there that I should studie to serve him How ought all my wisdome and counsell and thoughts and desires be directed to this one resolution to live acceptably and thankfully unto him who when hee might have produced glory to himselfe out of my confusion chose rather to humble and as it were for a while to unglorifie himselfe for my salvation Certainly that man did never rightly understand the horrour of sinne the infinite hatred of God against it the heavinesse of his wrath the malediction of the Law the mystery and vast dimensions of Gods love in Christ the preciousnesse of his sacrifice the end purpose or merit of his death any of those unsearchable riches of God manifested in the flesh who will not crucifie a vanitie a lust a pleasure an earthly member unto him againe who findes more content and satisfaction in his owne wayes of sinne and death more wisdome in the temptations and deceits of Satan and his owne fleshly minde than in those deepe mysteries of grace and contrivances of mercie which the Angels desire to prie into Therefore in the last place wee should labour to feele this necessitie we have of such a Priest This is the only reason why so few make use of so pretious a fountaine because they trust in their owne muddie and broken cisternes at home and are never sensibly and throughly touched with the sense of their owne wants for it is not the saying and confessing ore tenus that I have nothing nor the knowing in speculation only that I have nothing but the feeling and smâ—rting by reason of my want which will drive me to seeke for reliefe abroad If a man did seriously consider and lay together such thoughts as these I am very busie for the affaires and passages of this present life which will quickely vanish and passe away like a Weavers shuttle or a tale that is told I have another and an abiding life to live after this is over All that I toile for here is but for the backe the belly the bagge and the posterity And am I not neerer to my selfe than I am to my money Am I not neerer to my soule than I am to my carkasse or to my seed Must I not have a being in that when neither I nor my posterity have either backe to be clothed or belly to bee fed or name to be supported O why am I not as sadly imployed why spend I not some at least as serious and inquisitive thoughts about this as about the other Doe I not know that I must one day stand before him who is a consuming fire that I must one day be weighed in the ballance and woe be unto me if I am found too light Appeare before him I dare not of my selfe alone without a Priest to mediate for me to cover and protect me from his fury and to reconcile me unto him againe My person wants a Priest it is clogg'd with infinite Guilt which without him cannot bee covered My nature wants a Priest it is overspred with a deepe and universall corruption which without him cannot be cured My sinnes want a Priest they are in number and in quality above measure sinfull which without him cannot bee pardoned My services want a Priest they are blemished and poisoned with many failings and corruptions without him they cannot be accepted I say if men did seriously lay together such thoughts as these it could not be that rationall and sad men men of deepe thoughts in other matters who love to boult out things to the bran and to be very solicitous for evidence and certainty in them should suffer such a businesse as this their interest in that Priest who must alone clothe their persons with his righteousnesse and cleanse their nature with his Spirit and wash away their sinnes with his bloud and sanctifie their prayers and almes and all religious devotions with his incense and intercession or else all of them must passe thorow the triall of such a fire as will consume them all to be slubber'd over with loose and slender thoughts and to bee rested in and resolv'd upon rather by the lying presumptions of a deceitfull heart than by the evidences and testimony of Gods holy Spirit Consider what I say and the Lord give you understanding in all things The second thing proposed to bee considered in the Priesthood of Christ was the qualification of that person who was to be a fit High-Priest for us Legall sacrifices would not serve the turne to purge away sin because of their basenesse They were not expiations of sin Heb. 9.9.12 but were onely remembrances and commemorations of sinne Heb. 10.3 necessary it was that heavenly things themselves should be purified with better sacrifices Heb. 9.23 for they of themselves without that typicall relation which they had unto Christ Gal. 3.23 and that Instrumentall vertue which in that relation they had from him Heb. 9.13 were utterly weake and unprofitable Heb. 7.18 as the
and victorie to encourage him none of which shall be allowed the wicked in hell who shall not onely bee the vessels of his vengeance but which will bee as grievous as that the everlasting objects of his hatred and detestation which made I say even the Sonne of God himselfe notwithstanding all these abatements to pray with strong Cries and bloudy drops and woefull conflicts of soule against the Cup of his Fathers wrath and to shrink and decline that very worke for which onely hee came into the world Thirdly to praise God for that great honour which hee hath conferred upon our nature in the flesh of his Sonne which in him is anointed with more grace and glory and filled with more vast and unmatchable perfections than all the Angels in heaven are together capable of for though for a little while hee was made lower than the Angels for the purpose of his suffering yet hee is now sat downe on the right hand of the Majesty on high Angels and Authorities and Powers being made subject unto him Heb. 2 6-9 1 Pet. 3.22 Heb. 1 4-13 And for the infinite mercy which hee hath shewed to our soules bodies and persons in the sacrifice of his Sonne in our reconciliation and favour with him in the justification of our persons from the guilt of sinne in the sanctification of our nature from the corruption of sinne in the inheritance reserved in heaven for us in the Communion and fellowship wee have with Christ in his merits power Priviledges and heavenly likenesse Now saith the Apostle wee are Sonnes and it doth not yet appeare what wee shall bee but wee know that when hee shall appeare wee shall bee â—ike him for wee shall see him as hee is 1 Ioh. 3.2 From these things which have been spoken of the Personall Qualifications of our High Priest it will bee easie to finde out the third particular inquired into touching the Acts or Offices of Christs Priesthood or rather touching the parts of the same Action for it is all but one Two Acts there are wherein the execution of this office doth consist The first an Act of Oblation of himselfe once for all as an adequate sacrifice and full compensation for the sinnes of the whole world Heb. 9.14.26 Our Debt unto God was Twofold As we were his Creatures so wee owed unto him a Debt of Active Obedience in doing the Duties of the whole Law and as wee are his prisoners so wee owed unto him a Debt of passive obedience in suffering willingly and throughly the Curses of the Law And under this Law Christ was made to redeeme us by his fulfilling all that righteousnesse who were under the precepts and penalties of the Law our selves Therefore the Apostle saith hee was sinne for us that is a Sacrifice for sinne to meete and intercept that wrath which was breaking out upon us 2 Cor. 5.21 Herein was the great mercy of God seen to us that hee would not punish Sinners though he would not spare Sinne. If hee should have resolved to have judged Sinners wee must have perished in our owne persons but being pleased to deale with sinne onely in abstracto and to spare the sinner hee was contented to accept of a Sacrifice which under the Relation and Title of a Sacrifice stood in his sight like the body of sinne alone by it selfe in which respect hee is likewise said to bee made a Curse for us Gal. 3.13 Now that which together with these things giveth the complete and ultimate formality of a Sacrifice unto the death of Christ was his owne willingnesse thereunto in that hee offered himselfe And therefore hee is called the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world because hee was dumbe and opened not his mouth but was obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse Phil. 2.8 Christs death in regard of God the Father was a necessary death for hee had before determined that it should bee done Act. 4.28 Thus it is written and thus it behov'd Christ to suffer Luk. 24.46 The Sonne of Man must bee lifted up Ioh. 3.14 And therefore hee is said to bee a Lambe slaine from the beginning of the world in regard of Gods Decree and preordination But this gave it not the formality of a Sacrifice for God the Father was not the Priest and it is the Action of the Priest which giveth the being of a Sacrifice to that which is offered Againe Christs death in regard of men was violent They slew him with wicked hands and killed the Prince of life Act. 2. â—3 3.15 And in this sense it was no Sacrifice neither for they werâ—â—ot Priests but butchers of Christ. Thirdly his death in regard of himselfe was voluntarie I lay down my life no man taketh it from mee but I lay it downe of my selfe I have power to lay it downe and I have power to take it againe Ioh. 10.17 18. And this oblation and willing obedience or rendring himselfe to God is that which gives being to a Sacrifice Hee was delivered by God Act. 2.23 Hee was delivered by Iudas and the Iewes Matth. 27.2 Act. 3.13 and hee was yeelded and given up by himselfe Gal. 2.20 Eph. 5.25 In regard of God it was Iustice and mercy Ioh. 3.16 17. Rom. 3.25 In regard of man it was murther and crueltie Act. 7.52 In regard of Christ it was obedience and humility Phil. 2.8 And that voluntary act of his was that which made it a Sacrifice Hee gave himselfe for us an offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweete smelling savor Eph. 5.2 His death did not grow out of the condition of his nature neither was it inflicted on him by reason of an excesse of strength in those that executed it for he was the Lord of glory but onely out of mercy towards men out of obedience towards God and out of power in himselfe For omnis Christi infirmitas fuit ex potestate By his power hee assumed those infirmities which the oeconomic and dispensation of his Priesthood on the earth required and by the same power hee laid them aside againe when that service was ended And this I say was that which made it a Sacrifice As martyrdome when men lay down their lives for the profession of the truth and the service of the Church is called a Sacrifice Phil. 2.17 If it bee here objected that Christs death was against his owne will for hee exceedingly feared it Heb. 5.7 and prayed earnestly against it as a thing contrary to his will Matth. 26.39 To this I answer that all this doth not hinder but commend his willingnesse and obedience Consider him in private as a Man of the same naturall affections desires and abhorâ—encies with other men and consider the cup as it was calix amarituâ—â—â—â—s a very bitter cup and so hee most justly feared and declined it as knowing that it would bee a most woefull and a heavy combate which hee was entring upon but consider
in the grave and he that ascended was the same that descended into the lower part of the earth Matt. 28.6 Eph. 4.10 and shall we then defile this nature by wantonnesse intemperance and vile affections which is taken into so indissoluble an unitie with the Sonne of God Christ tooke it to advance it and it is still by his Spirit in us so much the more advanced by how much the neerer it comes to that holinesse which it hath in him We should therefore labour to walke as becommeth those that have so glorious a head to walke worthy of such a Lord unto all well pleasing in fruitfulnesse and knowledge to walke as those that have received Christ and expect his appearing againe Phil. 1.27 Col. 1.10.2.6.3.4 5. Secondly the sitting of Christ on the right hand of God notes unto us the Consummation of all those Offices which hee was to performe here on the earth for our redemption For till they were all finished hee was not to returne to his glorie againe Hee that hath entred into his rest hath ceased from his owne workes saith the Apostle Heb. 4.10 first he was to execute his Office before hee was to enter into his rest Though he were a Sonne and so Iure naturali the inheritance were his owne before yet he was to learne Obedience by the things which hee was to suffer before hee was made perfect againe Heb. 5.8 9. After hee had offered one Sacrifice for sinnes for ever that is after he had made such a compleat expiation as should never need bee repeated but was able for ever to perfect those that are sanctified hee then sate downe on the right hand of God expecting till his enemies bee made his footstoole Heb. 10.12 13 14. This is the argument our Savior useth when hee prayeth to be glorified againe with his Father I have glorified thee on earth or revealed the glorie of thy truth and mercy to thy Church I have finished the worke which thou gavest mee to doe and now O Father glorifie thou me with thine owne selfe c. Ioh. 17.4 5. Hee humbled himselfe saith the Apostle and became obedient to death even the death of the crosse wherefore God hath highly exalted him c. Phil. 2.8 9. Noting unto us the Order of the Dispensation of Christs Offices some were workes of Ministrie and service in the Office of Obedience and suffering for his Church Others were workes of power and Majestie in the protection and exaltation of his Church and those necessarily to precede these He ought to suffer and to enter into his glory Luk. 24.26 46. Necessarily I say First by a Necessity of Gods Decree who had so fore-appointed it Act. 2.23 24. Secondly by the Necessity of Gods Iustice which must first be satisfied by obedience before it could bee appeased with man or in the person of their head and advocate exalt them to his glory againe Rom. 3.25 Rom. 5.10 Rom. 6.6 11. Eph. 2.5 6. Thirdly by the Necessity of Gods Word and will signified in the predictions of the Prophets Luk. 24.46 1 Pet. 1. 10 11. Fourthly by the Necessity of Christs infinite Person which being equall with God could not possibly be exalted without some preceding descent and humiliation That hee ascended saith the Apostle what is it but that hee descended first into the lower parts of the earth Eph. 4.9 Therefore it is that our Savior saith The Spirit should convince the World of Righteousnesse because hee was to goe to the Father and should bee seen here no more Ioh. 16.10 The meaning of it is that the Spirit shall in the Ministery of the Word reveale unto those who are fully convinced of their sinfull condition and humbled in the sense thereof a treasure of full and sufficient Righteousnesse by my obedience wrought for sinners And the reason which is given of it stands thus Our Righteousnesse consists in our being able to stand in Gods presence Now Christ having done all as our suretie here went up unto glory as our head and advocate as the first fruits the Captaine the Prince of life the author of salvation and the forerunner of his people so that his going thither is an argument of our justification by him First because it is a signe that hee hath finished the worke of our redemption on earth a signe that hee overcame death and was justified by the Spirit from the wrongs of men and from the curse of the Law Therefore hee said to Mary after his resurrection Goe tell my Disciples I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God Ioh. 20.17 that is by my death and victory over it you are made my brethren and reconciled unto God againe Secondly because hee hath Offices in heaven to fulfill at the right hand of his Father in our behalfe to intercede and to prepare a place for us to apply unto us the vertue of his death and merits If hee had ascended without fulfilling all Righteousnesse for the Church hee should have been sent downe and seen againe but now saith he you see me no more for by once dying and by once appearing in the end of the world I have put away sin by the Sacrifice of my selfe Heb. 9.26.7.27 Rom. 6.9 10. He was taken saith the Prophet from Prison and judgment to note that the whole debt was payed and now who shall declare his generation That is hee now liveth unto numberlesse generations he prolongeth his dayes and hath already fulfilled Righteousnesse enough to justifie all those that know him or beleeve in him Esai 53.8 10. Thus wee see that Christs deliverance out of prison and exaltation at the right hand of God is an evident argument that he is fully exonerated of the guilt of sinne and curse of the Law and hath accomplished all those workes which he had undertaken for our Righteousnesse And this likewise affords abundant matter both to humble and to comfort the Church of Christ. To humble us in the evidence of our disabilities for if we could have finished the workes which were given us to doe there would have been no neede of Christ. It was weaknesse which made way for Christ. Our weaknesse to fulfill obedience and that weaknesse of the Law to justifie sinners Rom. 5.6 Rom. 8.3 Heb. 7.18 19. All the strength we have is by the power of his might and by his grace Eph. 6.10 2 Tim. 2.1 and even this God dispenceth unto us in measure and by degrees driving out our Corruptions as he did the Canaanites before his people by little and little Exo. 23.30 because while we are here he wil have us live by faith and fetch our strength as we use it from Christ and waite in hope of a better condition and glorifie the patience and forbearance of God who is provoked every day To comfort us likewise First against all our unavoidable and invincible infirmities every good Christian desires to serve the Lord with all his strength desires to be
the land of Canaan which was a type of Christs Church which he should conquer unto himselfe if any people accepted of the peace which they were first to proclaime they were to become tributaries and servants unto Israel So it is said of Salomon whose peaceable kingdome was a type of Christs after his many victories that he bond-service upon all the nations about Israel and that those princes with whom he held correspondence brought unto him presents as testimonies of his greatnesse and wisedome So when the wise men the first fruits of the Gentiles after Christ exhibited came to submit unto his kingdome they opened their treasure and presented him with gifts gold frankincense and myrrh Againe Monetarum leges valores the authorizing and valuations of publike coines belong unto the prince onely it is his image and inscription alone which maketh them currant Even so unto Christ onely doth belong the power of stamping and creating as it were new ordinances in his Church nothing is with God nor should be currant with us which hath not his image or expresse authority upon it Neither can any man falsify or corrupt any constitution of his without notable contempt against his royall prerogative Againe Iudicium or potestas judiciaria a power of judging the persons and causes of men is a peculiar royalty the administration whereof is from the prince as the fountaine of all humane equitie under God deposited in the hands of inferiour officers who are as it were the mouth of the prince to publish the lawes and to execute those acts of justice and peace which principally belong to his owne sacred breast And so Christ saith of himselfe The Father hath committed all judgement unto the Sonne and hath given him authority to execute judgement Againe Ius vitae necis A power to pardon condemned persons and deliver them from the terrour of the Lawes sentence is a transcendent mercie a gemme which can shine only from the diadems of Princes Now unto Christ likewise belongeth in his Church a power to forgive sinnes it is the most sacred roialty of this prince of peace not onely to suspend but for ever to revoke and as it were annihilate the sentence of malediction under which every man is borne There are likewise Ornamenta Regia regall Ornaments a Crowne a Throne a Scepter and the like Thus we finde the Romanes were wont to send to those forraine kings with whom they were in league as testimonies and confirmations of their dignity scipionem eburneum togam pictam sellam curulem an ivorie scepter a roiall robe and a chaire of state And the like honours wee finde in the Scriptures belonging unto Christ that hee was crowned with glory and honour and that hee had a Throne and righteous scepter belonging to his kingdome Thus we have seene in severall particulars how Christ hath his Royalties belonging to his kingdome Some principall of them we finde in this place A throne a scepter ambassadours armies for the right dispensing of his sacred power We will first consider the words and then raise such observations as shall offer themselves First what is meant by the Rod of Christs Strength or his Strong Rod It notes a thing which a man may leane upon or lay the whole weight of his body on in his wearinesse But being spoken of Christs kingdome wee take it for a scepter or rod of majestie I will not hold you with the variety of acceptions in Expositors Some take it for the branch that groweth out of that roote of Iesse Some for the wood of the crosse Some for the body of Christ borne of a Virgin Some for the kingdome of Christs power taking the signe for the thing signified Some for the power of his mightie workes and preaching That of the body and of the crosse of Christ except by them wee understand the vertue of Christ crucified I conceive to be not so pertinent to the purpose of the Prophet The rest agree in one But for the more distinct understanding of the words wee may consider out of the holy Scriptures what things were sent out of Sion And we finde there two things First the word of the Lord or his holy Gospell The Law shall proceed out of Sion and the word of the Lord from Ierusalem Mic. 4.2 Secondly the spirit of the Lord which was first sent unto Sion for at Hierusalem the Apostles were to wait for the promise of the Father Act. 1.4 and from thence was shed abroad into the world upon al flesh Act. 2.17 and both these are the power or strength of Christ. His word a Gospell of power unto salvation Rom. 1.16 2 Cor. 4.7.10.4 and his spirit a spirit of power 1 Cor. 2.4 2 Tim. 1.7 which is therefore called the finger and the arme of the Lord Luk. 11.20 Matt. 12.28 Esai 53.1 so by the Rod is meant the Gospell and the Spirit of Christ. Secondly what is meant by Gods sending this Rod of Christs strength It notes the manifestation of the Gospell we knew it not before it was sent The donation of the Gospell we had it not before it was sent the invitations of the Gospell we were without God in the world and strangers from the Covenant of promise before it was sent The Commission of the Dispensers of the Gospell they have their patent from heaven they are not to speake untill they be sent Thirdly what is meant by sending it out of Sion It is put in Opposition to mount Sina from whence the Law was sometimes sent with thunders and fire and much terrour unto the people of Israel Ye are not come saith the Apostle unto the mount that burned with fire nor unto blacknesse and darknesse and tempest c. but yee are come unto mount Sion and unto the City of the living God the heavenly Ierusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels and to Iesus the Mediator of the new Covenant c. Heb. 12.18.24 and the Apostle elsewhere sheweth us the meaning of this Allegoricall opposition betweene Sina and Sion betweene Sarah and Hagar namely the two covenants of the Law and of Grace or of bondage and liberty Gal. 4.24 25. Sion was the place whither the tribes resorted to worship the Lord the place towards which that people praied the place of Gods mercifull residence amongst them the beauty of holines the place upon which first the gift of the holy Ghost was powred forth and in which the Gospell was first of all preached after Christs Ascension We may take it by a Synechdoche for the whole Church of the Jewes unto whom the Lord first revealed his Covenant of Grace in Christ Act. 3.26 Act. 13.46 Rom. 2.10 Rule Thou that is Thou shalt rule which is a usuall forme to put the Imperative for the future Indicative It is not a command which hath relation unto any service but it is a promise a commission a dignity conferred
generall motion from the supreme so in the motions of grace in the soule the proportion of all the rest a riseth frō the measure of our spirituall and saving light The more distinctly and throughly the spirit of a mans mind is convinc'd of the necessity beauty and gloriousnesse of heavenly things the more strong impressions therof wil be made upon all subordinate faculties for we move towards nothing without preceding apprehensions of its goodnes which apprehensions as they more seriously penetrate into the true and intimate worth of that thing so are the motions of the soule thereunto proportionably strengthen'd As the hinder wheeles in a Coach ever move as fast as the former which leade them so the subordinate powers of the soule are overrul'd in their maner measure of working towards grace by those spirituall representations of the truth and excellency thereof which are made in the understanding by the light of the Gospel Thus the Apostle telleth us that the excellency of the knowledge of Christ was that which made him so earnest to winne him the knowledge of the power of his resurrection and fellowship of his sufferings was that which made him reach forth and presse forward unto the marke and price of that high calling which was before him Thirdly the Glory of the Gospell of Christ with his Spirit may be considered in regard of the matters which are therin contain'd namely the Glory the Excellencies the Treasures of God himselfe We all saith the Apostle with open face behold as in a Glasse that is in the spirituall ministration of the Gospell having the veile of carnall stupidity taken away by the Spirit The glory of the Lord. What glory doe we here behold but that which a glasse is able to represent Now in speculo nisi imago non cernitur nothing can be seene in a glasse but the image of that thing which sheddeth forth its species thereupon and therefore he immediately addeth we are changed into the same image from glory to glory and he elsewhere putteth these two together Man is the image and the glory of God for nothing can have any thing of God in it any resemblance or forme of him but so farre it must needs be glorious But how doe we in the Gospell see the Image of God who is invisible The Apostle expresseth that else-where God who commanded the light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ. Christ is the Image and expresse Character of his Fathers glory as the impression in the wax is of the forme and fashion of the seale there is no excellencie in God which is not compleatly adequately and distinctly in Christ so that in that glasse wherin we may see him we may likewise see the glory of the Father Now the Gospell is the face of Iesus Christ that which as lively setteth forth his grace and Spirit to the soule as if he were present in the flesh amongst us Suppose we that a glasse could retaine a permanent and unvanishing species of a mans face within it though hee himselfe were absent might we not truly say this glasse is the face of that man whose image it so constantly retaineth So in asmuch as Christ is most exactly represented in his Gospell so that when we come into his personall and reall presence to know even as we are knowne we shall be able truely to say this is indeed the very person who was so long since in his Gospell exhibited to my faith sic ille manus sic ora gerebat it is therefore justly by the Apostle called the face of Iesus Christ and therefore the Glasse wherein we see the Image and glory of God as it is the same light which shineth from the Sunne upon a glasse and from a glasse upon a wall so it is the same glory which shineth from the Father upon the Sonne and from the Sonne upon the Gospell so that in the Gospell we see the unsearchable treasures of God because his treasures are in his Sonne Therefore that which is usually called Preaching the Gospell is in other places called Preaching the Kingdome and the riches of Christ to note the glory of those things which are in the Gospell revealed unto the Church It containeth the glory of Gods wisdome and that wisdome is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a manifold and various wisdome as the Apostle speaketh who therefore calleth Christ and his Gospell by the name of Wisdome wee preach Christ crucified to those that are called the power of God and the wisdome of God and we speake wisdome amongst them that are perfect wisdome to reconcile his owne attributes of mercy and truth righteousnesse and peace which by the fall of man seemed to be at variance among themselves wisdome in reconciling the world of obstinate and rebellious enemies unto himselfe wisdome in sanctifying the whole creation by the bloud of the crosse and repairing those ruines which the sinne of man had caused wisdome in concorporating Christ and his Church things in their owne distinct natures as unapt for mixture as fire and water in their remotest degrees wisdome in uniting the Iewes and Gentiles and reducing their former jealousies and disaffections unto an intimate fellowship in the same common mysteries In one word wisdome above the admiration of the blessed Angels in finding out a way to give greater satisfaction to his offended justice by shewing mercie and saving sinners than he could ever have received by either the confusion or annihilation of them It containeth the Glory of Gods goodnesse and mercy of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good-will towards men which brought glory to God and to the earth peace for the Gospell is as it were a Love-token or commendatory Epistle of the Lord unto his Church God left not himselfe without witnesses of his care and evidences of some love even to those whom he suffered to walke in their owne wayes without any knowledge of his Gospell he did them good he gave them raine from heaven and fruitfull seasons so even they had experience of some of his goodnesse the goodnesse of his providence for hee is the Saviour of all men but the Gospell containeth all Gods goodnesse as a heape and miscellany of universall mercy I will make all my goodnesse passe before thee and I will proclaime the name of the Lord before thee and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I will shew mercy to whom I will shew mercie Gods speciall and gracious mercy the mercy of his promises in Christ doth convey unto the soule an interest in all his goodnesse nay it maketh all things good unto us so that we may call them ours as gifts and legacies from Christ. He hath given to us all things that pertaine to life and godlinesse the world and life and death and things
the Law The Law was a glorious ministery as appeares by the thunderings and lightnings the shining of Moses his face and trembling at Gods presence the service of the Angels and sound of the trumpet the ascending of the smoke and the quaking of the mountaine but yet still the glory of the Gospell was farre more excellent a better Covenant a more excellent ministery The Law had weaknesse and unprofitablenesse in it both termes of diminution from the the glory thereof and therefore it could make nothing perfect But that which the Law could not doe in as much as it was weake through the flesh the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus which is a periphrasis of the Gospell as appeareth 2 Cor. 3.6 did doe for us namely make us free from the law of sin and death So then the Law was glorious but the Gospell in many respects did excell in glory 2 Cor. 3.10 To take a more particular view of the spirituall glory of the Gospell of Christ in those excellent ends and purposes for which it serveth First It is full of light to informe to comfort to guide those who sate in darknesse and the shadow of death into the way of peace Light was the first of all the creatures which were made and the Apostle magnifieth it for a glorious thing in those other luminaries which were after created 1 Cor. 15.41 How much more glorious was the light of the Gospell The Apostle calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A marvellous light and therefore the kingdome of the Gospell is exprest by light and glory together as termes of a promiscuous signification Esay 60.1 2 3. Of all other learning the knowledge of the Gospell doth infinitly excell in worth both in regard of the object thereof which is God manifested in the flesh and in regard of the end thereof which is flesh reconciled and brought unto God A knowledge which passeth knowledge a knowledge which bringeth fulnesse with it even all the fulnesse of God a knowledge so excellent that all other humane excellencies are but dung in comparison of it What Angell in heaven would trouble himselfe to busie his noble thoughts which have the glorious presence of God and the joyes of heaven to fill them with metaphysicall or mathematicall or philologicall contemplations which yet are the highest delicacies which humane reason doth fasten on to delight in And yet we finde the Angels in heaven with much greedinesse of speculation stoope downe and as it were turne away their eyes from that expressesse glory which is before them in heaven to gaze upon the wonderfull light and bottomlesse mysteries of the Gospell of Christ. In all other learning a Devill in hell the most cursed of all creatures doth wonderfully surpasse the greatest proficients amongst men but in the learning of the Gospell and in the spirituall revelations and evidences of the benefits of Christ to the soule from thence there is a knowledge which surpasseth the comprehension of any angell of darknesse for it is the Spirit of God onely which knoweth the things of God It was the devillish flout of Iulian the Apostate against Christian Religion that it was an illiterate rusticitie and a naked beliefe and that true polite learning did belong to him and his Ethnick faction and for that reason he interdicted Christians the use of Schooles and humane learning as things improper to their beleeving religion a persecution esteemed by the Ancients as cruel as the other bloudy massacres of his predecessors To which slander though the most learned Father might have justly returned the lye and given proofes both in the canonicall bookes of holy Scripture and in the professours of that religion of as profound learning as invincible argumentation and as forcible eloquence as in any Heathen Author for I dare challenge all the Pagan learning in the world to parallel the writings of Clemens of Alexandria Origen Iustin Tertullian Cyprian Minutius Augustine Theodoret Nazianzen and the other champions of Christian Religion against Gentilisme yet he rather chooseth thus to answer that that authoritie which the faith he so much derided was built upon came to the soule with more selfe-evidence and invincible demonstration than all the disputes of reason or learning of Philosophie could create Though therefore it were to the Iewes an offence as contrary to the honour of their Law and to the Greekes foolishnesse as contrary to the pride of their reason yet to those that were perfect it was an hidden and mysterious wisdome able to convince the gain-sayers to convert sinners to comfort mourners to give wisdome to the simple and to guide a man in all his wayes with spirituall prudence for what ever the prejudice of the world may be there is no man a wiser man nor more able to bring about those ends which his heart is justly set upon than hee who being acquainted with God in Christ by the Gospell hath the Father of wisedome the Treasurer of wisedome the Spirit of wisedome and the Law of wisedome to furnish him therewithall It is not for want of sufficiencie in the Gospell but for want of more intimate acquaintance and knowledge thereof in us that the children of this world are more wise in their generation than the children of light Secondly another glorious end and effect of the Gospell is to be a ministration of Righteousnesse a publication of a pardon to the world and that so generall that there is not one exception therein of any other sin than onely of the contempt of the pardon it selfe And in this respect likewise the Gospell exceeds in glory If the ministration of condemnation saith the Apostle bee glory much more doth the ministration of righteousnesse exceed in glory 2 Cor. 3.9 It is the glory of a man to passe by an offence and the Lord proclaimeth his glory to Moses in that he would forgive iniquitie transgression and sinne that is multitudes of sinnes and sinnes of all degrees Exod. 34.7 And thus the Lord magnifies his mercie and thoughts towards sinners above all the wayes and thoughts of men even as the heavens are higher than the earth because he can abundantly pardon or multiply forgivenesses upon those who forsake their wayes and turne to him Esay 55.7 8 9. and therefore justifying faith whereby we rely upon the power of God to forgive and subdue our sinnes is said to give glory to God Abraham staggered not at the Promise through unbeleefe but being strong in faith hee gave glory to God namely the glory of his power and fidelity Rom. 4.20 21. Ye shall not bring this congregation into the Land which I have given them saith the Lord to Moses and Aaron because yee beleeved me not to sanctifie mee in the eyes of the children of Israel that is to give me the glory of my power and truth for to sanctifie the Lord of hoasts signifieth to glorifie his power by fearing him
spirits senses which are in the head are there placed as in a Watch-tower or Councell-chamber to consult and provide for the good of the whole the eye seeth the eare heareth the tongue speaketh the fancie worketh the memory retaineth for the welfare of the other members and they have all the same care one for another Fourthly He is our Advocate and Mediatour he is the onely practicer in the court of heaven and therefore he must needs be full of the businesses of his Church It is his office to dispatch the affaires of those that come unto him and crave his favour and intercession to debate their causes and he is both faithfull and mercifull in his place and besides furnished with such an unmeasurable unction of Spirit and vast abilities to transact all the businesses of his Church that whosoever commeth unto him for his counsell and intercession hee will in no wise cast them out or refuse their cause And this is one great assurance we may take comfort in that be our matters never so foule and unexcusable in themselves yet the very entertaining him of our counsell and the leaning upon his wisdome power fidelity and mercy to expedite our businesses to compassionate our estate and to rescue us from our owne demerits doth as it were alter the propertie of the cause and produce a cleane contrary issue to that which the evidence of the thing in triall would of it selfe have created And as we may observe that men of extraordinary abilities in the Law delight to wrestle with some difficult businesse and to shew their learning in clearing matters of greatest intricacie and perplexitie before so doth Christ esteeme himselfe most honoured and the vertue and wisedome of his Crosse magnified when in cases of sorest extremitie of most hideous guilt of most blacke and uncomfortable darknesse of soule which pose not onely the presumptions but the hope faith conjectures thoughts contrivances which the hearts of men can even in wishes make to themselves for mercy they doe yet trust him whose thoughts are infinitely above their thoughts and whose wayes above their wayes who is there among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh in darknesse and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God When the soule can goe unto Christ with such complaints and acknowledgements as these Lord when I examine my cause by mine owne conscience and judgement of it I cannot but give it over as utterly desperate and beyond cure my bones are dried my hope is cut off I am utterly lost my sins and my sorrowes are so heavie that they have broken my spirit all to peeces and there is no sound part in me But Lord I beleeve that thou knowest a way to make dead bones live that thy thoughts and waies are above mine that thou knowest thine owne thoughts of peace and mercy though I cannot comprehend them that thy riches are unsearchable that thy love is above humane knowledge that thy peace passeth all created understandings that though I am the greatest of all sinners and feele enough in my selfe to sinke me as low as Iudas into hell yet thou hast not left me without patternes of all long-suffering of thy royall power in enduring and in forgiving sinnes And now Lord though thou afford me no light though thou beset me with terrours though thou make me to possesse the sinnes of my youth yet I still desire to feare thy name to walke in thy way to wait upon thy counsell I know there is not in men or Angels so much wisdome compassion or fidelity as in thee and therefore if I must perish I will perish at thy feet I will starve under thy table I will be turned away and rejected by thee who hast promised to cast away none that come unto thee I have tried all wayes and I here resolve to rest and to looke no further thou that hast kept such a sinner as I am out of hell thus long canst by the same power keep me out for ever upon thy wisdome and compassion who canst make dried bones to flourish like an herbe and broken bones to rejoyce and sing I cast the whole weight of my guilty spirit into thy bosome I emptie all the feares cares and requests of my distracted and sinking soule I say when a man can thus powre out himselfe uâ—to Christ he esteemeth the price and power of his bloud most highly honoured when men beleeve in him against reason and above hope and beyond the experience or apprehensions they have of mercy for Christ loveth to shew the greatnesse of his skill in the salvation of a Manasse a Mary Magdalen a crucified Theefe a persecutour and injurious blasphemer in giving life unto them that nailed him to his Crosse the more desperate the disease the more honourable the cure Fifthly He is our Purchaser our Proprietary wee belong unto him by grant from the Father Thine they were and thou gavest them unto me and by payment from him unto the Father yee are bought with a price There is no good that concernes the Church that he hath not fully paid for with his owne pretious bloud And Christ will not die in vaine he will take order for the accomplishing of that redemption which himselfe hath merited And this is the greatest argument of his care and fidelitie that he is not as a servant but as a Lord and his care is over His owne house An ordinary advocate is faithfull onely ratione officii because the dutie of his office requireth it but the businesses which he manageth come not close unto his heart because he hath no personall interest in them but Christ is faithfull not as Moses or a servant onely but ratione Dominii as Lord in his owne house so that the affaires of the Church concerne him in as neere a right as they concerne the Church her selfe so that in his office of intercession hee pleadeth his owne causes with his Father and in the miscarriages of them himselfe should lose that which was infinitely more pretious than any thing in the world besides even the price and merit of his owne bloud These are the grounds of the great care of Christ towards his people And from hence we should learne faith and dependence on Christ in all our necessities because we are under the protection and provision of him who careth for us and is able to helpe us A right judgement of God in Christ and in his Gospell of salvation will wonderfully strengthen the faith of men Paul was not ashamed of persecutions because he knew whom he had beleeved hee doubted neither of his care or power and therefore hee committed the keeping of his soule unto him against the last day and therefore when all forsooke him he stood to the truth because the Lord forsooke him not The reason why men
constant to any rules Now this division of the minde stands thus The heart on the one side is taken up with the pleasures of sinne for the present and on the other with the desires of salvation for the future and now according as the workings and representations of the one or other are at the time more fresh and predominant in like maner is sinne for that time either cherished or suppressed Many men at a good Sermon when the matter is fresh and newly presented while they are looking on their face in the glasse or in any extremitie of sicknesse when the provisions of lust doe not relish for the present when they have none but thoughts of salvation to depend upon are very resolute to make promises vowes and professions of better living but when the pleasures of sin grow strong to present themselves again they returne like a man recover'd of an ague with more stomacke and greedinesse to their lusts againe As water which hath been stop'd for a while rusheth with the more violence when its passages are opened A double heart is like the boles of a Scale according as more weight is put into one or other so are they indifferently over-rul'd unto either motion up or downe When I see a vapour ascend out of the earth into the aire why should I not thinke that it will never leave rising till it get up to heaven and yet because the motion is not naturall but caused either by expulsion from a heat within or by attraction from a heat without when the cause of that ascent is abated and the matter gathers together into a thicker consistence it growes heavie and fals downe againe Even such is the affection of those faint unresolved desires of men who like Agrippa are but halfe-perswaded to believe in Christ. But now lastly wee must observe that in the day of Christs power when he by his word and Spirit worketh effectually in the hearts of men they are then made free-will offerings Totally willing to obey and serve him in all conditions The heart of every one stirreth him up and his Spirit maketh him willing for the worke and service of the Lord Exod. 35.21 They yeeld themselves unto the Lord and their members as weapons of righteousnesse unto him 2 Chron. 30.8 Rom. 6.19 They offer and present themselves to God as a living Sacrifice and therefore they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an oblation sanctified by the Holy Ghost Rom. 12.1 Rom. 15.16 Therefore they are said to come unto Christ by the vertue of his Fathers teaching Ioh. 6.45 To runne unto him Esai 55.5 To gather themselves together under him as a common head and to flow or flock together with much mutuall encouragement unto the mountaine of the Lord Hos. 1.11 Esai 2.2 3. To waite upon him in his Law Esai 42.4 To enter into a sure covenant and to write and seale it Nehem. 9.38 In one word To serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing minde 1 Chron. 28.9 when the heart is perfect undivided and goeth all together the minde will bee willing to serve the Lord. This willingnesse of Christs people sheweth it selfe in two things First in begetting most cordiall and constant Enmitie against all the enemies of Christ never holding any league or intelligence with them but being alwayes ready to answere the Lord as David did Saul Thy servant will goe and fight with this Philistime Hee that is a voluntary in Christs armies is not disheartned with the potencie policie malice subtlety or prevailing faction of any of his adversaries Hee is contented to deny himselfe to renounce the friendship of the world to bid defiance to the allurements of Satan to smile upon the face of danger to hate father and mother and land and life to be cruel to himselfe and regardlesse of others for his masters service Through honor and dishonor through evill report and good report through a Sea and a wildernesse through the hottest services and strongest oppositions will hee follow the Lambe whither soever he goeth though he receive the word in much affliction yet hee will receive it with joy too Secondly in begetting most loving constant and deare affections to the mercy grace glory and wayes of God an universall conformity unto Christ our head who was contented to take upon him the forme of a servant to have his eare bored and his will subjected unto the will of his Father I delight to doe thy will ô my God yea thy Law is within my heart Psal. 40.8 And as hee was so are all his in this world of the same minde judgement Spirit conversation and therefore of the same will too Now this deare and melting affection of the heart toward Christ and his wayes whereby the soule longeth after him and hasteth unto him is wrought by severall principles First by the Conviction of our naturall Estate and a through humiliation for the same Pride is ever the principle of disobedience They were the proud men who said unto Ieremie thou speakest falsly the Lord hath not sent thee Ier. 43.2 And they were the proud men who hardned their necks and withdrew the shoulder and would not heare and refused to obey Nehem. 9.16 17 29. A man must bee first brought to denie himselfe before hee will bee willing to follow Christ and to lug a crosse after him A man must first humble himselfe before he will walke with God Mic. 6.8 The poore onely receive the Gospell The hungrie onely finde sweetnesse in bitter things Extremities will make any man not onely willing but thankfull to take any course wherin hee may recover himselfe and subsist againe when the soule findes it selfe in darknesse and hath no light and begins to consider whither darknesse leads it that it is even now in the mouth of Hell under the paw of the roaring lion under the guilt of sinne the curse of the Law and the hatred and wrath of God it cannot chuse but most willingly pursue any probability and with most inlarged affections meete any tender of deliverance Suppose wee that a Prince should cause some bloudy malefactor to bee brought forth should set before his eyes all the racks and tortures which the wit of man can invent to punish prodigions offenders withall and should cause him to tast some of those extremities and then in the middest of his howling and anguish should not onely reach out a hand of mercy to deliver him but should further promise him upon his submission to advance him like Ioseph from the iron which enters into his soule unto publike honor and service in the state would not the heart of such a man bee melted into thankfulnesse and with all submission resigne it selfe unto the mercy and service of so gracious a Prince Now the Lord doth not onely deale thus with sinners doth not onely cause them by the report of his word and by the experience of their own guilty hearts to feel the weight fruitlesnesse
of what hee speakes Heb. 6.17 I have sworne by my selfe the word is gone out of my mouth and it shall not returne c. Esai 45.23 Thus wee finde God confirming the unmoveablenesse of his covenant by an Oath Esai 54.9 10. Psal. 89.34 35. When the Lord doth onely say a thing though his word bee as certaine in it selfe as his oath for it is as impossible for him to lie as to forsweare himselfe yet there is an implicite kinde of reservation for the altering revoking or reversing that word by some subsequent declaration As in the covenant and Priesthood of Aaron though God made it for a perpetuall ordinance yet there was after a change of it for the weaknesse and unprofitablenesse thereof So when the Lord sent Ionah to preach destruction unto Ninive within fortie dayes though the Denuntiation came not to passe yet was it not any false message because it was made reversible upon an implicite condition which condition the Lord is pleased sometimes in mercy to conceale that men may bee the sooner frighted out of their security upon the apprehension of so approching a danger At what time saith the Lord I shall speake concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdome to pluck up and to pull downe and to destroy If that Nation against whom I have pronounced turne from their evill I will repent of the evill that I thought to doe unto them Ier. 18.7 8. But when the Lord sweares any absolute Act or promise of his owne for the Revocation whereof there can no other ground de novo arise than was extant at the time of making it and yet was no barre nor hinderance unto it namely the sinne of man he then by that oath seales and assures the immutability thereof to those that rely upon it Secondly it is to commend the excellencie and preeminencie of that above other things which hath this great seale of Heaven the Oath of God to confirme and establish it Inasmuch saith the Apostle as not without an oath hee was made Priest by so much was hee made a surety of a better Testament Heb. 6.20 22. and this is a consequent of the former for by how much the more abiding by so much the more glorious is the Ministery of the Gospell If that which is done away were glorious much more that which remaineth is glorious 2 Cor. 3.11 The more solemne and sacred the institution was the more excellent is the Priesthood Now this Oath was that Seale of God by which hee designed and set apart his Sonne for that great Office in a more solemne manner of ordination than was to others usuall Him hath God the Father sealed Iohn 6.27 It was but Hee hath said unto others ye are Gods but it is He hath sanctified to his Sonne Iohn 10.34 36. Thirdly It is to commend Gods great compassion and good will for the establishing of the hearts of men in comfort and assurance He therefore confirmed his promise by an oath That by two immutable things wherein it is impossible for God to lie we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope which is set before us Heb. 6.17 18. an oath even amongst men is the end of all controversie the determination and composing of all differences how much more when hee sets his Seale upon his mercy and covenant should the hearts of men bee secure and lay fast hold thereon without doubt or scruple Therefore wee finde the Saints in the Scripture make mention of the Oath of God for establishing their hearts against feares or dangers Thou wilt performe the truth to Iaakob and the mercy to Abraham which thou hast sworne to our fathers from the dayes of old Micah 7.20 Thy bow was made quite naked according to the oathes of the tribes even thy Word Hab. 3.9 that is Thou didst make it appeare to thine enemies that thou didst fight for thy People and remember thy Word or Covenant of mercy which thou didst sweare unto Abraham the Father of the faithfull and so oftentimes new ratifie unto his seed the Tribes which proceeded from him And this is the ground of all the Churches comfort and stabilitie for alas wee every day deserve to have God abrogate his Covenant of mercy with us but hee is mindefull of the Oath which hee hath sworne Deut. 7.7 8.9.5 There was wickednesse enough in the world to have drawne downe another flood after that of Noah the same reason that caused it did remaine after it was removed Genes 6.12 13.8.21 But Gods Oath bound him to his mercy Esay 54.9 The meaning then of this first Clause is this The Lord to shew the immutability of his Counsell the unchangeablenesse of Christs Priesthood the excellencie of it above the Priesthood of Aaron the strong consolation which the Saints may there hence receive hath sealed it by an Oath so that he is a Priest by a decree which cannot be revoked It notes unto us the Solemne call of Christ unto the office of Priesthood as before of King verse 1. He did not usurpe this honour to himselfe as Nadab and Abihu did when of their owne heads they offered strange fire unto the Lord nor incroach upon us as Vzziah but hee was ordained and begotten and called of God thereunto after the order of Melchisedech Heb. 5.5.10 Hee was sanctified and sent and had a commandement and a worke set him to doe Iohn 10.18.36.37 In which respect hee was called a Servant or a chosen officer formed for a speciall imployment Esay 42.1.49.5.53.11 Phil. 2.7 here then is the consent of the whole Trinitie unto Christs Priesthood First the Fathers consent in his Act of ordination for him hath God the Father sealed Iohn 6.27 Thou art my Sonne this day have I begotten thee Heb. 5.5 6. Secondly The Sonnes by voluntary susception and vadimonie for mankinde for he was the Suretie of the Covenant Heb. 8.22 The Apostle joyneth these two together Heb. 10.9 10. Loe I come to doe thy Will O God there was Gods Will and Christs submission thereunto in which regard he is said to sanctifie himselfe Iohn 17.19 There was a Covenant betweene God and Christ Christ was to undertake an office of service and obedience for men to offer himselfe a sacrifice for sinne to be made of a woman under the Law c. And for this God was to prolong his dayes to give him a seed and a Generation which could not bee numbred a Kingdome which cannot bee bounded a portion with the great and a spoyle with the strong a Name above every name to set a joy and a glory before him after hee should have finishâ—d his worke c. Thirdly here is the consent of the Holy Ghost which did hereunto anoint him which came along with him which formed him in the wombe of the Virgin and descended upon him in his solemne susception of this office in Iohns Baptisme by which Spirit he was consecrated warranted and
enabled unto this great function Esay 61.1.42.1 Matth. 3.16 17. Heb. 1.9 If then God call Christ unto his Priesthood by a solemne Oath and make him surety of a better covenant we ought to take the more especiall notice thereof for when God sweares he must be heard The more excellent any thing is the more earnest hee should bee given unto it for how shall we escape saith the Apostle if wee neglect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so great Salvation so sure a covenant Heb. 2.1 3. This is the onely rocke on which we may cast anchor in any trouble doubt or feare of Spirit It is not our owne will or strength that holds us up from ruine but onely Gods Oath by which Christ is made a Priest Able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him Saint Paul and his company were in a great tempest all hope that they should be saved was taken away Act. 27.20 yet he exhorts them to bee of good cheere because there should not bee the losse of any mans life amongst them and the ground hereof was Gods promise which he beleeved verse 24 25. The case is the same with us we are compassed about with infirmities with enemies too hard and with sinnes too heavie for us with feares and doubting that we shall lose all againe how can wee in such tempests of Spirit be cheered but onely by casting anchor upon Gods covenant which is established by an oath by learning to hope above hope Rom. 4. 18. to be strong in him when we are weake in our selves to bee faithfull in him when wee are fearefull in our selves to be stedfast in him when we stagger in our selves in the midst of Satans buffets and our owne corruptions to finde a sufficiencie in his Grace able to answer and to ward off all 2 Cor. 12.10 To catch hold of his covenant and to flie to the hope that is set before us as to the only refuge and sanctuary of a pursued soule when wee are not able to stand by our selves Esay 56.6 Heb. 6.18 It is hard very thing when a man hath a distinct view of his filthinesse and guilt by reason of time not to give over himselfe and his salvation as desparate things It is nothing but ignorance and insensibilitie which makes men presume of the pardon of sinne In this case then we must consider Gods Oath and Covenant with his people First not to reject them for their sinnes Israel hath not beene forsaken nor Iudah of his God though their land was filled with sinne against the holy One of Israel Ier. 51.5 My People are bent unto backsliding c. and yet I will not execute the fiercenesse of mine anger I will not return to destroy Ephraim For I am God and not Man c. Hos. 11.7 9. Secondly not alwayes to suffer them to lie under sin but in due time to heale their backeslidings Hos. 14.4 he will not onely remove our transgressions from himselfe but he will remove them from us too and that so farre as that it shall be as possible for the East and West to meet together as for a man and his sin Psal. 103.12 Though we have made him to serve with our sinnes and wearied him with our iniquities yet Hee will not remember against us our sinnes past Esay 43.25 neither will hee see against us the sinnes which remaine Numb 23.11 These he will forgive and these he will subdue and all this because of his Truth unto Iacob and his mercy unto Abraham which he sware unto our fathers from the dayes of old Micah 7.18 19.20 Hee hath given us ground for both our feete to stand upon and hold fast for both our hands to cleave unto A Promise and an Oath that by two immutable things wee might have strong consolation Heb. 6.18 So the Apostle saith that all the promises of God in Christ are yea and amen yea to note their Truth and amen to note their certainty and stability being confirmed by the Oath of Christ. For so that word may be conceived either as an Oath or at least as a very strong and confident affirmation which is equivalent unto an oath 2 Cor. 1.20 except happily we will understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bee the same thing expressed in severall tongues as Abba Pater in other places thereby noting not onely the stabilitie but the universalitie of Gods promises Many things there are in this call of Christ unto his Office to confirme this consolation and upon which the troubled soule may cast Anker First from the Father he hath received a command and call unto thy service and so as a Servant he hath fidelity for God choseth none but faithfull servants Hee was an Apostle and high Priest sent to preach the Will and to pacifie the wrath of God and he was faithfull to him that appointed him as Moses was Heb. 3.11.2 And if he be faithfull we may trust him for he will doe the worke which is given him to doe Faithfull is he that calleth you who also will doe it 1 Thes. 5.24 Secondly from himselfe there is a voluntarie submission whereby he gives himselfe for his Church and layes downe his owne life Eph. 5.25 Tit. 2.14 Ioh. 10.11 for being of himselfe equall with the Father he could not be by him commanded ordained or overruled to any service without a voluntary concurring to the same decree emptying himselfe and taking on him the forme of a servant making himselfe lesse than his Father and in some sort for a while lower than the Angels that so he might be commanded So that besides his fidelitie to rest on as a servant here is his especiall mercy as a concurring agent in the decree whereby he was ordained unto this office He is not onely a Faithfull but a mercifull high Priest to make reconciliation for the sinnes of men Heb. 2.17 But a man may both by his Fidelitie as a servant and by his Mercy as having the same tender compassion with him that sent him be willing to helpe another out of misery and yet may not be able to effect his owne desires for want of Power And therefore Thirdly by the Vnction of the holy Spirit who proceedeth from the Father and himselfe hee is said to bee sanctified by the Father Iohn 10.36 and to sanctifie himselfe Iohn 17.19 To have received power and authority from his Father Matth. 28.18 Iohn 5.27 Iohn 17.2 and to have power likewise within himselfe Iohn 10.18 That spirit which for the discharge of this office hee brought with him in fulnesse and unto all purposes of that service into the world is a Spirit of Power 2 Tim. 1.7 whereby he is enabled perfectly to save all commers Heb. 7.25 so that unto his Fidelity and Mercy here is added Abilitie likewise Fourthly as he received an office and a service so hee received a Promise from his father likewise which did much encourage him in
that so we through the vertue and merit of his Sacrifice might bee sanctified likewise Iohn 17.19 Hee was to be God as well as man Medium participationis before hee could bee Medium reconciliationis that so he might bee himselfe supported to undergoe and breake through the weight of sinne and the Law and having so done might have compasse enough in his Sacrifice to satisfie the Iustice of God and to swallow up the sinnes of the world Fifthly in as much as the Vertue of the Deitie was to bee attributed truly to the Sacrifice else it could have no value nor vertue in it and that Sacrifice was to be his Owne Life Soule and Body who is the Priest to offer it because hee was not barely a Priest but a Suretie and so his person stood in stead of ours to pay our debt which was a debt of bloud and therefore hee was to offer himselfe Heb. 9.26 1 Pet. 2.24 And in as much as his person must needs bee equivalent in dignity and representation to the persons of all those for whom hee mediated and who were for his sake onely delivered from suffering for these causes necessary it was that God and man should make but one Christ in the unity of the same infinite person whose natures they both were that which suffered and that which sanctified The humane nature was not to bee left to subsist in and for it selfe but was to have dependence and supportance in the person of the Sonne and a kinde of Inexistence in him as the graft of an apple may have in the stock of a plumb From whence ariseth first the Communication of properties betweene the natures when by reason of the unity of the person wee attribute that to one nature which is common to the other not by confusion or transfusion but by Communion in one end and in one person as when the Scriptures attribute Humane properties to the Divine Nature The Lord of Life was slaine Act. 3.15 God purchased the Church with his owne bloud Act. 20.28 They crucified the Lord of Glory 1 Cor. 2.8 Or Divine to the Humane Nature As the Sonne of Man came downe from heaven Ioh. 3.13 and the Sonne of Man shall ascend where hee was before Ioh. 6.62 Or when both natures worke with their severall concurrence unto the same worke as to walke on the waters to rise out of the grave c. By which Communication of properties vertue is derived from the Altar to the Sacrifice in as much as it was the Lord of Glory which was crucified So that his passions were in regard of the person which bare them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both Humane and Divine because the person was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God and Man Secondly from the unity of the person supporting the Humane Nature with the Divine ariseth the Appliablenesse of one sacrifice unto all men Because the Person of the Sonne is infinitely more than equivalent to the persons of all men as one Diamond to many thousand pebbles and because the obedience of this sacrifice was the obedience of God and therefore cannot but have more vertue and well-pleasingnesse in it than there can bee demerit or malignity in the sinne of man Now this Person in whose unity the two Natures are conjoyned is the second person in the Holy Trinity He was the person against whom the first sinne was principally committed for it was an affectation of wisedome and to bee like unto God as the falling-sinne now is the sinne against the third person and therefore the mercy is the more glorious that hee did undertake the expiation By him the world was made Col. 1.16 17. Ioh. 1.3 and therefore being spoiled hee was pleased to new make it againe and to bring many Sonnes unto glory Heb. 2.10 Hee was the expresse image of his Father Heb. 1.3 Col. 1.15 And therefore by him are wee renewed after Gods image againe Col. 3.10 He was the Sonne of God by Nature and therefore the mercy was againe the more glorified in his making us Sonnes by Adoption and so joynt heirs with himselfe who was the heire of all things So then such an high Priest it became us to have as should bee first an equall middle person between God and Man In regard of God towards man an officer appointed to declare his Righteousnesse and in regard of man towards God a suretie ready to purchase their pardon and deliverance Secondly such an one as should bee one with us in the fellowship of our nature passions infirmities and temptations that so hee might the more readily suffer for us who in so many things suffered with us and one with God the Father in his Divine Nature that so by the vertue of his sufferings and resurrection he might bee able both to satisfie his Iustice to justifie our persons to sanctifie our Nature to perfume and purifie our services to raise up our dead bodies and to present us to his Father a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle And both these in the Vnitie of one Person that so by that meanes the Divine Nature might communicate vertue merit and acceptablenesse to the sufferings of the humane and that the dignity of that person might countervaile the persons of all other men And this person that person of the three by whom the glory of the mercy should bee the more wonderfully magnified In one word two things are requisite to our High Priest A Grace of Vnion to make the person God and man in one Christ and a Grace of Vnction to fit him with such fulnesse of the Spirit as may enable him to the performance of so great a worke Esai 11.2 By all which wee should learne First to adore this great mysterie of God manifested in the flesh and justified in the Spirit the unsearchablenesse of that love which appointed God to bee man the Creator of the world to bee despised as a worme for the salvation of such rebels as might justly have been left under chaines of darknesse and reserved to the same inevitable destruction with the Devils which fell before them Secondly to have alwayes before our eyes the great hatefulnesse of sinne which no sacrifice could have expiated but the bloud of God himselfe and the great severity and inexorablenesse of Gods Iustice against it which no satisfaction could pacifie no obedience compensate but the suffering and exinanition of himselfe O what a condition shall that man bee in who must stand or rather everlastingly sinke and bee crushed unto the weight of that wrath against sinne which amazed and made heavie unto death the soule of Christ himselfe which made him who had the strength of the Deitie to support him the fulnesse of the Spirit to sanctifie and prepare him the message of an Angell to comfort him the relation of a beloved Sonne to refresh him the voyce of his Father from heaven testifying unto him that hee was heard in what hee feared the assurance of an ensuing glorie
of him that is above all and so are a security unto us against all adverse power or feare for what or whom need that man feare that is one with the most high God If God be for us who can be against us Rom. 8.31 When God blesseth his blessing is ever with effect and successe it cannot be reversed it cannot be disappointed Hath he said and shall he not doe it or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good Behold saith Balaam I have received commandement to blesse and hee hath blessed and cannot reverse it Numb 23.19 20. Note fifthly from Melchisedeks meeting Abraham returning from the slaughter of the Kings we may observe the great forwardnesse that is in Christ to meet and to blesse his people when they have beene in his service Thou meetest him that rejoyceth and worketh righteousnesse Esay 64.5 I said I will confesse my sinnes and thou forgavest the iniquitie of my sinne Psal. 32.5 No sooner did David resolve in his heart to returne to God but presently the Lord prevented him with his mercy and anticipated his servants confession with pardon and forgivenesse Thou preventest him with the blessings of goodnesse Psal. 21.3 As the father of the Prodigall when he was yet a great way off far from that perfection which might in strictnesse be required yet because hee had set his face homeward and was now resolved to sue for pardon and re-admittance when he saw him he had compassion and ranne the fathers mercy was swiâ—ter than the sonnes repentance and fell on his necke and kissed him Luke 15.20 We doe not finde the Lord so hastie in his punishments He is slow to anger and doth not stirre up all his wrath together He is patient and long-suffering not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance hee comes and hee comes againe and the third yeere he forbeares before he cuts downe a barren tree But when hee comes with a blessing hee doth not delay but prevents his people with goodnesse and mercy O how forward ought we to be to serve him who is so ready to meet us in his way and to blesse us Note sixthly from the refection and preparations which Melchisedek made for Abraham and for his men we may observe That Christ as King and Priest is a comforter and refresher of his people in all their spirituall wearinesse and after all their services This was the end of his unction to heale and to comfort his people The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because hee hath annointed me to preach the Gospell to the poore he hath sent mee to heale the broken hearted to preach deliverance to the captives and a recovering of sight to the blinde to set at libertie them that are bruized and to preach the acceptable yeare of the Lord Luke 4.18 19. To provide a feast of fatted things of wines on the lees of fat things full of marrow of wines on the lees well refined Esay 25.6 To miâ—ke out unto his people consolations and abundance of glory Esay 66.11 To speake words in season to those that are weary and to make broken and dry bones to rejoyce and to flourish like an herb Esay 50.4 Psal. 51.8 Esay 66.14 And this is a strong argument to hold up the patience faith and hope of men in his service and in all spirituall assaults we have a Melchisedek which after our combate is ended and our victory obtained will give us refreshments at the last and will meet us with his mercies If we faint not but wait a while we shall see the salvation of the Lord that in the end he is very pitifull and of tender mercy Exod. 14.13 Iam. 5.11 He is neere at hand his comming draweth nigh He is neere that justifieth mee who will contend with mâ—e Let us stand together Who is mine adversary let him come neere to me The readinesse of the Lord to helpe is a ground of challenge and defiance to al enemies Phil. 4.5 Iam. 5.8 Esai 50.8 9. Iob went forth mourning and had a great warre to fight but the Lord blessed his latter end more than his beginning and after his battle was ended met him like Melchizedek with redoubled mercies David Hezekiah Heman the Ezrahite and many of the Saints after their example have had sore and dismall conflicts but at length their comforts have beene proportionable to their wrestlings they never wanted a Melchizedek after their combats to refresh them Rejoyce not against mee O mine enemie when I fall I shall rise when I sit in darkenesse the Lord shall bee a light unto me I will beare the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him untill he plead my cause and execute judgement for me he will bring me forth to the light and I shall behold his righteousnesse Mic. 7.8 9. He hath strength courage refection spirit to put into those that fight his battles though they bee but as Abraham a family of three hundred men against foure kings yet hee can cut Rahab and wound the dragon and make a way in the sea for the ransomed to passe over and cause his redeemed to returne with singing and with joy and gladnesse upon their heads I even I am he that comforteth you who art thou that shouldest bee affraid of a man that shall dye and of the sonne of man that shall bee as grasse Esai 51.12 Note seventhly from Melchisedeks receiving of tithes from Abraham which the Apostle taketh speciall notice of foure or five times together in one Chapt. Heb. 7.2 4 6 8 9. we may observe That Christ is a receiver of homage and tribute from his people There was never any type of Christ as a Priest but he received tithes and that not in the right of any thing in himselfe but meerely in the vertue of his typicall office so that originally they did manifestly pertaine to that principall Priest whom these represented whose personall priesthood is standing unalterable and eternall and therefore the rights thereunto belonging are such too If it objected why then did not Christ in his life receive tithes I answer first because though hee were the substance yet the standing typicall priesthood was not abolished till after his ministery on earth was finished for his priesthood was not consummate till his sitting at the right hand of God secondly because he tooke upon him a voluntary poverty for especiall reasons belonging to the state of his humiliation and to the dispensation of mans Redemption 2 Corinth 8.9 You will say now Christs priesthood is consummate and hee himselfe is in heaven whither no tithes can bee sent therefore none are due because he hath no typicall priests in earth to represent him I answer though hee bee in heaven in his body yet he is on earth in his ministery and in the dispensation of the vertue of his sacrifice and the Ministers of the Gospell are in his stead 2 Cor. 5.20 and ought to bee received
is to deny our selves and all we doe to doe no good thing for this end that we may rest in it or rely upon it when we have done but after all to judge our selves unprofitable servants when wee have prayed to see hell betweene heaven and our prayers when wee have preached to see hell betweene heaven and our sermons when we have done any worke of devotion to see hell between heaven and all our services if God should marke what is amisse in them and should enter into judgement with us In one word to see hell betweene heaven and any thing in the world else save onely betweene Christ and heaven Till in this manner men be qualified for mercy they will have no heart to desire it and God hath no purpose to conferre it Christ must be esteemed worthy of all acceptation before God bestowes him and the way so to esteeme of him is to feele our selves the greatest of all sinners And when the soule is thus once humbled with the taste and remembrance of that worme-wood and gall which is in sinne there is then an immediate passage unto hope and mercy Lament 3.19 22. and that hope is this That Christ hath drunken up and dried that torrent of curses which was betweene us and heaven and hath made a passage through them all by himselfe unto his Fathers Kingdome He was made sinne and a curse for us that so hee might swallow up sinne and death and might bee the destruction of hell Hos. 13.14 I will here but touch upon two things First What Christ suffered Secondly why he suffered for understanding of the first we must note first that Christ Humane nature was by the hypostaticall Vnion exalted unto many dignities which to all the Creatures in the world besides are utterly incommunicable as the communication of properties the adoration of Angels the primogenituâ—e of the Creatures the cooperation with the Deitie in many mighty workes the satisfaction of an infinite Justice by a finite passion c. Exalted likewise it was by his spirituall unction above all his fellowes with that unmeasurable fulnesse of grace as wonderfully surpasseth the united and cumulated perfections of all the Angels in heaven Secondly wee must note likewise that all these things Christ received for the worke of mans Redemption and therefore he had them in such a maner as was most suteable and convenient for the execution of that worke Now Christ was to fulfill that worke by a way of suffering and obedience by death to destroy him that had the power of death as David by Goliahs sword slew him that was master of the sword As there fell a mighty tempestuous winde upon the red sea whereby the passage was opened for Israel to goe out of Egypt into Canaan so Christ was to be torne and divided by his sufferings that so there might be a passage for us to God through that sea of wrath which was betweene our Egypt and our Canaan our sinne and our Salvation Here then are two generall Rules to be observed concerning the sufferings of Christ. First that the Oeconomie or dispensation of his Mediatorship is the measure of all that he suffered So much as that required he did suffer and more he did not for though he suffered as man yet he suffered not because he was a man but because he was a Mediator Secondly in as much as a Mediatour betweene God and sinners was to be holy and separate from sinners for if he should have beene a sinner he had beene one of the parties and not a Mediator therefore none of those sufferings which are repugnant to his holinesse and by consequence unserviceable to the administration of his office could belong unto him Such things then as did no way prejudice the plenitude of his grace the union of his natures the quality of his mediation such things as were suteable to his person and requisite for our pardon such as were possible for him and such as were necessary for us those things he suffered as the punishments of our sinnes Now punishments are of severall sorts some are sins some onely from sinnes Some things in severall respects are both sinnes and punishments In relation to the Law as Deviations so they are sinne in relation to the order and disposition of Gods providence so they are punishments As hardnesse of heart and a reprobate sense Other punishments are from sinne and in this regard sinne is two wayes considerable either as inherent or as imputed from sinne as inherent or from the consciousnesse of sinne in a mans selfe doth arise remorse or torment and the worme of conscience Againe sinne as imputed may be considered two wayes either it is imputed upon a ground in nature because the persons to whom it is imputed are naturally one with him that originally committed it and so it doth seminally descend and is derived upon them Thus Adams sinne of eating the forbidden fruit is imputed unto us and the punishment thereof on us derived namely the privation of Gods Image and the corruption of our nature Or else it is imputed upon a ground of voluntary contract vadimonie or susception so that the guilt thereupon growing is not a derived but an assumed guilt which did not bring with it any desert or worthinesse to suffer but onely an obligation and obnoxiousnesse thereunto As if a sober and honest person be suretie for a prodigall and luxurious man who spending his estate upon courses of intemperance and excesse hath disabled himselfe to pay any of his debts the one doth for his vitious disability deserve imprisonment unto which the other is as liable as he though without any such personall desert Now then the punishments which Christ suffered are onely such as agree unto sinne thus imputed as all our sinnes were unto Christ. Againe in punishments we are to distinguish betweene punishments inflicted from without and punishments ingenerated and immediately resulting from the condition of the person that suffereth Or betweene the Passions and Actions of the men that are punished Punishments inflicted are those paines and dolorous impressions which God either by his owne immediate hand or by the ministery of such instruments as he is pleased to use doth lay upon the soule or body of a man Punishments ingenerated are those which grow out of the weakenesse and wickednesse of the person lying under the sore and invincible pressure of those paines which are thus inflicted As Blasphemie despaire and the worme of conscience In one word some evils of punishment are vitious either formally in themselves or fundamentally and by way of connotation in regard of the originals thereof in the person suffering them Others are onely dolorous and miserable which presse nature but doe no way defile it nor referre to any either pollution or impotency in the person suffering them and of this sort onely were the punishments of Christ. Now these punishments which Christ thus suffered are either inchoate or consummate
and shame of sinne and the first fruits of that eternall vengeance which is thereunto due not onely set forth Christ before them as a rock of redemption reaching out a hand to save and offering great and pretious promises of an exceeding eternall abundant weight of glory but besides all this doth inwardly touch the heart by the finger of his Spirit framing it to a spirituall and divine conformity unto Christ. How can the soule of such a man in these present extremities of horror which yet are but the pledges of infinite more which must ensue and in the evidence of so wonderfull and sweete promises the seales of the eternall favor and fellowship of God choose but with much importunity of affection to lay hold on so great a hope which is set before it and with all readinesse and ambition of so high a service yeild up it selfe into the hands of so gracious a Lord to bee by him ordered and over-ruled unto any obedience Secondly this willingnesse of Christs People is wrought by a spirituall illumination of minde And therefore the Conversion of sinners is called a Conviction because it is ever wrought in us Secundum modum judicii as wee are reasonable and intelligent creatures I take it under favor and submission to better judgements for a firme truth that if the minde of a man were once throughly and in a spirituall manner as it becommeth such objects as are altogether spirituall possessed of the adequate goodnesse and truth which is in grace and glory the heart could not utterly reject them for humane liberty is not a brutish but a reasonable thing it consisteth not in contumacie or headstrongnesse but in such a manner of working as is apt to bee regulated varied or suspended by the dictates of right reason The onely cause why men are not willing to submit unto Christ is because they are not throughly and in a manner suteable to the spirituall excellency of the things illightned in their minde The Apostle often maketh mention of fulfilling and making full proofe of our ministery and of preaching the Gospell fully namely with the evidence of the Spirit and of power and with such a manifestation of the truth as doth commend it selfe unto the conscience of a man The Word of God saith the Apostle is not yea and nay that is a thing which may bee admitted or denied at pleasure but such a word as hath no inevidence in it selfe nor leaveth any uncertainty or hesitancie in a minde sitted to receive it And as wee may thus distinguish of preaching that there is an imperfect and a full preaching so may wee distinguish of understanding the things preached in some it is full and in others but superficiall for there is a Twofold illumination of the minde the one Theoreticall and meerly Notionall consisting in knowledge the other Practicall Experimentall and spirituall consisting in the irradiation of the soule by the light of Gods countenance in such an apprehension of the truth as maketh the heart to burne therby when we know things as wee ought to know them that is when the manner and life of our knowledge is answerable to the nature and excellencie of the things knowne when the eye is spiritually opened to beleeve and seriously conclude that the things spoken are of most pretious and everlasting consequence to the soule as things that concerne our peace with God This is the Learning of Christ the teaching of the Father the knowing of things which passe knowledge the setting to the seale of our owne hearts that God is true the evidence of spirituall things not to the braine but to the conscience In one word this is that which the Apostle calleth a spirituall Demonstration And surely in this case the heart is never over-ruled contrary to the full spirituall and infallible evidence of divine truths unto a practicall judgement Therefore the Apostle saith that Eve being Deceived was in the transgression and there is frequent mention made of the deceitfulnesse of sinne to note that sinne got into the world by error â—nd seduction For certainly the will is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Rationall Appetite and therefore as I conceive doth not stirre from such a good as is fully and spiritually represented thereunto as the most universall adequate and unquestionable object of the desires and capacities of a humane soule for the freedome and willing consent of the heart is not lawlesse or without rules to moderate it but it is therefore said to bee free because whether out of a true judgement it move one way or out of a false another yet in both it moveth naturally secundum modum sibi competentem in a manner suteable to its owne condition If it bee objected that the heart being unregenerate is utterly averse unto any good and therefore is not likely to bee made willing by the illumination of the minde To this I answere that it is true the will must not onely bee movâ—d but also renewed and changed before it can yeeld to Christ. But withall that God doth never so fully and spiritually convince the judgement in that manner of which I have spoken without a speciall worke of grace thereupon opening the eye and removing all naturall ignorance prejudice hesitancie inadvertency misperswasion or any other distemper of the minde which might hinder the evidence of spirituall truth By which meanes hee also frameth and fashioneth the will to accept embrace and love those good things of which the minde is thus prepossessed Thirdly this willingnesse of Christs people is wrought by the Communion and adspiration of the spirit of Grace which is a free spirit a spirit of love and a spirit of liberty a spirit which is in every faculty of man as the soule and principle of its Christianity or heavenly being and working And therefore it makes every faculty secundum modum sibi proprium to worke unto spirituall ends and objects As the soule in the eye causeth that to see and in the eare to heare and in the tongue to speake so the spirit of Grace in the minde causeth it rightly to understand and in the will causeth it freely to desire heavenly things and in every facultie causeth it to move towards Christ in such a way and maner of working as is suteable to its nature Fourthly this willingnesse of Christs people ariseth from the apprehension of Gods deare love bowels of mercy and riches of most unsearchable grace revealed in the face of Iesus Christ to every broken and penitent spirit Love is naturally when it is once apprehended an Attractive of love And therefore it is that the Apostle saith Faith worketh by love that is By faith first the heart is perswaded and affected with Gods Love unto us in Christ. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himselfe for me Gal. 2.20 Eph. 3.17 18. Being thus perswaded of his love to us the heart is framed