thy great work in Heaven to keep me in the world and bring me to Heaven What wil you do to honor this Christ who hath thus honored you how should you indeavor to serve him in Earth who indeed serves you in Heaven He provides for your safety and comfort provide you for his Glory He stands betwixt you and your Harms against al sins Devils Temptations stand you between him and his wrongs that may be done to him Before we pass from this verse one thing more may be shortly handled and that taken from the consideration of the Time When these persons shall beleeve for whom our Savior here prayes and that is cleerly discovered to continue until the end of the world those who yet were not in the world and those who should beleeve even at the end of the world for these now our Savior praies Hence Our Savior hath a speciall care for those that shal beleeve on him Doct. even in the worst condition of their Unbeleef So the text gives in undeniable evidence even before many had any being in Nature and when some were and others should be brought into the world and had neither mind to know God nor Heart to seek after Christ or to pray for themselves Yet here ye see our Savior takes in al those now within the compass of his prayer and care to provide for them and to contrive all for their good when they neither did nor could care for him or for themselves therefore its plain Our Savior cares for such who shal beleeve in him when they are in the depth of their unbeleef and his prayer is then working for their good when they intend no good unto themselves Our Savior when they were in the heat of that hellish villany in blaspheming and killing the Lord of life even then he intends life to them procures and purchaseth life for them Luk. 23 34. Father forgive them they know not what they do This prayer it was that wrought more than Peters preaching when his spirit was warmed with the Love of Jesus and the Blood of a dying Savior ran fresh now in al the Veins of his Heart and the power and vertue of it was mighty upon the consciences of Peters Hearers such as had before been Crucifyers of the Lord of life It then took place and prevailed mightily Isa 57.18 I have seen his waies c though he see not himself See this made good in some particulars as 1. In the several degrees of it 2. The Reason and 3. The Use This care and the vertue of this prayer of our Savior will appear thus in five Particulars Hence 1. It is that the Lord contrives means in the waies of his Providence for the bringing of these men into the world so that the Parents and Predecessors of such though happily desperately wicked and forlorn shal yet have their stock and posterity continued in the world because they shal bring these into the world who shal beleeve And therefore it is the patience of God is extended towards many a wicked parent nay to the whole stock and Linage of vile and loose men not for their sakes but the sakes and cause of some that shal come of them whom the Lord Christ doth purpose to bring to himself Math. 24.22 Had not God shortned those daies no flesh had been saved but for his Elects sake the Lord shortned those daies i.e. The generation of the Jews now rejecting and most Hellishly blaspheming the Lord Jesus Christ had so provoked the Eyes of the Lord That should he in Justice have proceeded against them and executed his righteous Judgments either as the Nature of their sins deserved or their Enemies intended and out of their power and rage could easily have accomplished it there had not been one Jew left alive to propagate their posterity or name or Nation But the Lord had an Eye to his Elect that should come of these in the last Age of the world after so many Ages and generations past when their dead Bones shal live and the Redeemer shal come out of Sion and turn Jacob from iniquity then all Israel shal be saved So the Apostle Rom. 11.28 Hated for their sins sake but beloved for their Fathers sake i.e. For Abraham with whom through Christ the covenant of the Gospel was made to him and to his Seed i.e. To al the faithful whether Jew or Gentile but with the Jew first and then with the Graecian For this calling and covenant being everlasting is without repentance and wil assuredly take place in the season thereof when it shal be most sutable to shew forth free grace 2. The Lord even so provides that such means in an ordinary way of Providence may be sent continued and dispensed to such who never had a thought of them enquired after them or had a Heart to entertain them when they are offered Upon this ground the Lord appoints and incourageth the Apostle Act. 18.9 10. Speak and hold not thy Tongue Speak plainly and fully fear no mans frowns regard no mans favors no man shal do thee harm for I have people in this City Thus the Spirit stopped the passage into Bithynia for when they assayed the Spirit suffered them not Act. 16.7 But Christ sends post by an express in a Vision to Paul A man of Macedonia appeares with this Petition in his Hand subscribed by the Hearts of the messengers Come into Macedonia and help us And when they came the Issue shewes their Errand A poor Woman a Purple-seller and a Stubborn and Rebellious spirited Jailour was all the Markets he made But this is the Lords manner if there be but one Grain of Corn in many heapes of Chaff he wil never leave winnowing rather than lose it send he wil Messenger after Messenger until he hath gathered that into his barn Onesimus a Runnagate from his Master without the reach of government of Gospel God coops him up in Prison and casts Paul thither also that so he may come to the speech of him 3. He keeps them by his restraining Grace and some strong hand of Providence sometimes from grosser sins I say some of those that shal beleeve from some loathsome and hainous evil but alwaies from falling into that sin against the Holy Ghost because that is a Disease which admits no Remedy a Dungeon of that depth from whence there is no deliverance beyond the reach of the work of Redemption as that which comes not within the compass of mercy and the Riches of the compassion of the Almighty The Lord hath passed the sentence and that most Peremptory and shews the deadly Malignity of that evil by way of difference from all others Math. 12.31 Wherefore I say unto you all manner of sin and Blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven in this world nor in the world to come i.e. There is no Hope It here cannot be pardoned and at the great
day he shal never be acquitted neither here done nor then declared So that such a person hath the Tombstone of everlasting destruction turnd upon him sealed past Hope and help And therefore the Apostle puts it upon an impossibility Heb. 6.4 How far that goes I wil not now dispute whether in regard of the covenant of the Gospel the counsel of the Lord the Decree of the Almighty that he shal never have Grace give him to repent for then it should not so much aggravate the hainousness of the sin because from impenitency and final presevâ—rance in any sin it s not possible such should be recovered and this great evil upon this ground should have no other impossibility than many other And withal the impossibility should then ly in Gods counsel and definitive purpose not in the Nature of the evil which answers not the terrible expression of the wrath of God in the Text. But however it is it is safe and sure to Joyn Issue with the word of truth and to take that upon trust It s impossible such a one should be renewed by repentance And therefore its impossible a man whom Christ hath ordained to beleeve and repent should ever fal into that evil 4. However the Lord many times for reasons best known to himself and his infinite good pleasure suffers some and many of those whom he will afterwards effectually cal to be overtaken with most loathsom abominations yet he ever over-rules and over-works al those Hellish miscarriages of theirs for the furtherance of his own work in them when he seriously sets upon the accomplishment of it Somtimes there is no waies to cure Poyson but with Poyson no means to crush the pride and self-confidence and overweening conceit of a mans own worth but to leave him to himself that he may bedaub himself with some dirty and detestable distemper that so his own experience may evidence his own baseness and force him to put his Mouth in the Dust and cover himself with confusion when through his own self deceiving apprehension he could never either see it or bring his heart to be humbled for it before the Lord. Thus many who in former times have soothed up themselves with the glorious appearance of a formal profession so that they could keep out or wipe off al the convictions that were presented before them At length the Lord leaves them to some noysom lusts one is overtaken with bruitish Drunkenness another with some base uncleanness and so the breaking of the impostume and the venting of those vile evils constraines their consciences to condemn themselves for rotten when the evidence of the word could not and this hath been the occasion of the through conversion of some men Somtimes again the Lord takes some men out of a sink to make them mirrors of the power of his saving mercy to al posterity The greatness of their sin was the occasion why their Hearts were pierced for al sin Act. 2.36 37. 1 Tim. 1.16 5. When the time appointed and determined before in the counsel of the Lord is come then the prayer of our Savior ever takes place and makes the means effectual and prevailingly successeful for the good of such for whom he hath taken the care Joh. 10.16 I have other sheep which are not yet of this fold such as in his counsel were ordained to life yet not called to the saving knowledg of the truth them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice These wandering sheep that are gone astray from the walks of the Lord yet he must bring he must pluck the Adulterer from his lusts and the Drunkard from his Cups and worldling who hath been Buried in his earthly occasions these shall hear his voice they are within his Ken and under his care and he provides for their good though they intend no good unto themselves So Christ to Paul he is then pitying while he is persecuting he comes to save him when he purposeth to destroy himself why persecutest thou me Act. 9. So Again he sends a Physitian to him Ananias go c. vers 11. Reas 1. From the Soveraignty of Gods wil who looks at nothing in the creature for which he should be moved to do good unto it but only his good wil and pleasure according to which â—e curves out his compassion as suits with his own liking Rom. 11.7 The Election hath obtained it it s not in the power of Israel And therefore hence it is He shews mercy because he wil shew mercy and he it is that raiseth up a mighty Salvation for his people when they were in the depths of their sins and confusions also Luk. 1.69 Ezek. 16.6 I saw her in her Blood and then I said Live 2 The Riches of Gods mercy in Christ and the scope of our Saviors coming it is to destroy the work of Satan and to bring life out of death and light out of Darkness Rom. 5. and last That where sin abounded Grace hath abounded much more That is the aim of the place why then was the Law given since the Law could not save but only Christ Answ It was that sin might abound when corruption was discovered opposed and provoked then it was made out of measure sinful That where sin hath abounded Grace also might much more abound q.d. The Lord Christ would redeem his people let the Devil and sin do their worst So the Apostle again disputes Rom. 5.8 God commended his love to us that when we were sinners Christ died for us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lord painted and limned out the surpassing excellency of his love in most lively Colors It s the scope also of the coming of our Savior He came not to call the righteous but sinners to Repentance He was not to find them blessed but to make them so Isa 49.5 Christ was formed from the Womb to be his servant that he might bring Jacob again It s he that leaves the ninty nine in the Wilderness and goes to seek up that which was lost in the Wilderness If the Soveraignty of Gods good pleasure appointed this The Riches of his free Grace and the scope of our Saviors coming intended this then certainly our Savior would carefully accomplish it but the antecedent is such therefore the consequent Use 1 of Instruction Here see the different dispensation of the dealing of the Lord in the waies and works of his providence towards men of the same quality and that in the same condition men as sinful one as another and under the power of their sin and in an unregenerate state both of them Yet the counsel of God and the care of our Savior Christ is farr different even surpassing mans imagination and thought Be they both unbeleevers now for the present adversaries to his Grace and opposers of his word and the work of his spirit and it may be with greater out-rage and violence the one more than the other And yet the Lord may do
nothing but in love and out of mercy to the one intercede now in Heaven order al creatures and overwork al occasions in Earth for the good of the one and do nothing for the other but there is a hand of Justice and the Poyson of his displeasure which first or last either in the entrance or in the Issue wil be an ingredient in every passage of Gods providence towards them Let them both have the same outward blessing its Diet to the one surfet to the other poyson to the one and a preservative to the other the one wil be quickned and inlarged to God by it with thankfulness the other becomes proud insolent towards men careless and negligent towards God Let them both be under the same Rod and correction the one wil be made more humble and the Heart wil be wrought to a more watchful care to walk more awfully before the Lord the other wil be made more frampful and preverse and hardned in a self willy erring frame of Spirit Thus some expound that of Paul Gal. 1.15 God who had separated him from the Womb had set him a part in his counsel and purpose to such a service and even from the Womb in his education and course of life and studyes he was severing and suiting of him for his own turn Object But it wil be said do not we see by proof and experience that even the dearest servants of the Lord before their conversion pervert even the bounty and blessing of the Lord to the increase of their sin and hasting of their ruin The learning and wisdome of Paul lifts up his Heart in pride and sets on his spirit to presecute the Church He profited more than his equals and breathed out threatnings more than they al. How are these then fruits of mercy when they are thus accursed to a man and indeed can be no other for an unbeleeving Heart wil suck Poyson out of the sweetest blessing the Lord bestows Answ They are blessings as they come from God and as he give them they prove Curses as the Heart that is yet graceless abuseth them they are preservatives as they come from the Hand of the almighty and he administers them they are turned to Poyson as a corrupt Heart perverts them to its own hurt As the Physitian out of love and wisdom administers a wholsom potion but a foul stomack turns it al into matter of an ill Humor and so a Disease And yet also I answer in the Second place That in the Issue at the last the Lord even out-bids all and over-works all even the abuse of all blessings the the furfeting upon al his kindnesses to the further abasing of the soul fearful and thankful walking before him when once he is effectually brought home There is a special Confection made out of the kindnesses and our corrupt distempers for our deeper Humiliation in regard of our selves and admiration in regard of Gods goodness As it was said of them in Egypt so the Psalmist applies it to al The Lord doth marvaâ—lously separate his mercier Hence also we have an answer to the cavil of the Papists who plead that Christ doth not bear al the punishment which the Saints deserve For say they before their conversion when they were not in the state of Grace nor in Christ those afflictions that were laid on them must needs be true punishments and issue from divine Justice revenging not from the love of a Father correcting therefore Christ may suffer for the pardon of al their sins and yet not bear al their punishments Answ They do come from the love of a Father who in his counsel hath determined it and in Christ hath fully transacted it though it is not yet actually either bestowed or received of them in the work of redemption Use 2. Here is matter of admiration of the boundless and unconceivable compassion of the Lord Jesus towards those that do beleeve they should get them into Davids Counting-House of serious consideration and Sum up al those precious expressions of his faithfulness and goodness in their whol course Instead of reckoning up the value of them melt away and be wholly swallowed up in the wonderment and admiration of that they are not able to recount much less to comprehend according to the worth thereof Psal 40.5 Many O Lord my God are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to us-ward they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee Look back therefore men Bretheren and Fathers beloved and blessed of the Lord unto the daies forepast even from that first birth unto this present hour The goodness of the Lord how hath it grown up and gone along with you from time to time view the succession of those sweet and tender compassions which have been renewed and multiplied upon you as your years and daies and months and moments of your life Know it was from the care and through the vertue of the prayers of Christ that you came into this world that he first time of your breathing had not been the first time of your damning He hath rocked your Cradles nursed you at your Mothers Breasts trained you up in your tender years taken care of you and then prayed for you when you did not could not pray for your selves Oh the Riches of that Mercy Will not every Man say cannot each Man confess it had I continued in such a place conversed with such wretched company with whom I was somtimes linked and confederate had not the Lord freed me from those snares delivered me from those temptations had he not born with the baseness of my Heart but taken the advantage against me and snatched me away when I was posting down to Hell in the eager pursuit of such and such base lusts there had been no possibility but I had perished Oh the Riches of that Mercy Nay had he but let Satan loose upon me or mine own corruptions loose within me unto which I was addicted and which was my delight and life This wretched Heart had never come to an end nor measure in sin A Cain here A Judas here An Achitophel here nay a Hell was here in this Heart yea what the Heart of Beelzebub harbored the spawn of it was here So that might I have had but mine own will I had never ceased sinning until I had come unto that unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost and so had been past Hope of recovery But it was the care the prayer of Jesus that prevented it and my everlasting ruin Oh the Riches of that mercy Nay when I lay secure and senseless in my sin and never thought of means nor ever sought for them he sent them though I was careless he continued them when there was no Eye to pity me nor I had a Heart to pity my self yet when he saw me in my Blood he said live Poor creature live Oh the Riches of that mercy of a Christ Nay such was the
will deny Christs prayer I am content he should deny my comfort and support But the one is impossible and the other is incredible It s seasonable even for unbeleeving creatures leaving secret things to Gods counsel when they have no heart to pray not Hope to expect any favor and where ever they cast their Eye they find nothing but cause of discouragement and confusion of face look into the world there is nothing but vanity there to deceive and vex look they into their own hearts and lives there is nothing but Hells of sin and guilt which might overwhelm them Look then to the Prayer of our Savior who prayed for His in their worst condition when they did not beleeve and could not pray for themselves and were as bad as I am even for Paul when he was persecuting and blaspheming even for many of the Jews when they were killing of him and why not for me why may I not Hope the best when I cannot conclude the worst what God wil do he knows not what he may do he hath revealed and I will yet expect Use 3. Exhortation He prayed for this disposition labor thou to attain it He desired it of his Father in Heaven indeavor thou to the utmost of that care and skill thou hast in the use of all means to attain it upon earth The Sum is That the whol strength of the Soul should be wholly carried to God in Christ for all not to any thing in our selves we have or for any thing we can do as Adam might have pleaded I have done I have deserved it but wholly to be quickened and acted by the spirit of God through Christ The Soul should be like the Herb Heliotropium the Nature whereof is such as the philosopher observes It turnes the face of it towards the Sun what way soever it turnes In the morning looks to the East the Sun rising In the evening to the West the Sun setting So it should be with the beleeving sinner the face and Eye of the Soul ever towards God in Christ That which our Souls need and which is able to answer our desires and satisfie our necessities is here alone to be had hither alone we must come from hence for ever look to receive it So Peter disputes Act. 4.12 Job 6. When our Savior would settle their staggering disposition least they should be taken aâ—â—de will ye also go away He answers and yields the argument Whither should we go thou only hast the words of eternal life Here only is that wisedom that may guid here only that mercy that may succor here only is that Grace that may refresh and quicken It s good therefore coming being here So they by experience concluded Jer. 3.29 Surely in vam is Salvation hoped for from the Hills and from the multitude of the Mountaines truly in the Lord our God is the Salvation of Israel And upon the like ground they resolves Hos 14.3 For in thee the Fatherless findeth mercy It s not Els-where to be found Therefore learn we to chide our hearts out unto God in Christ As Jacob his Sons Why stand ye here gazing one upon another go unto Egypt and buy that we may live and not die Gaze not upon the sins weaknesses temptations miseries means ordinances c. get ye to God in Christ that ye may for ever be assured comforted and quickened As its alone here to be had So here we shal never fail to receive what we seek and expect Ps 10.20 Verse 21. That the world may beleeve that thou hast sent me THese last words lay out the main scope of the Prayer of our Savior at which he aimed and which he looked at principally by the grant of that spiritual unity which he craved in the behalf of his disciples And the end is To lift up the prais and honor of that supream and absolute soveraignty of God the Father in sending his own faithfulness and infinite sufficiency in executing and accomplishing the great work of Redemption about which he was sent so that there was nothing failed of all that the Father purposed and he undertook to perform and that the world and worst of men however formerly they rebelled against his authority counsel and command in sending rejected also the person and proceeding of our Savior Christ in coming who was a stumbling to the Jew and foolishness to the Grecians The Head-corner-stone whom the Jews refused whom the Gentiles trampled under their feet against whom both Jews and Gentiles banded themselves So the Apostle Peter observes the Prophecy and concludes by proof and experience and accomplishment of it Act. 4.24 25 26 27. Lord thou art God which hast made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and al that in them is who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said why did the Heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing The Kings of the Earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ for of a truth against thy holy Child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together c. Let us break their bonds and cast their cords away I know not the Lord saies Pharaoh We know that God spake unto Moses as for this fellow so contemptuously they spake of Jesus we know not whence he is Joh. 9.29 The Jews had certain questions against Paul saies Festus and of one Jesus Act. 25.19 And the whol rabble cry out Away with him from the earth not him but Barabbas And yet when the prayer of our Savior shal attain his end in the hearts of the Faithful so that they shal be wholly carried to God in Christ by the immutable assistance of his Spirit their hearts kept with him their graces acted upon him themselves quickned by him for ever then al these wil they nil they shal by a constraint be forced to acknowledg their own consciences wil yield it and their mouths confess it at the day of Judgment That Christ was the true Messias sent by the Father and that he hath fully accomplished the great work of salvation for the good of his And God only shal be exalted in that day There be two particulars in the words We shall open all and handle that which is the main 1. Christ is sent by God the Father 2. God will have this beleeved by the ungodly Which will be when the Saints attain this unity here prayd for then Christ will attain this glory To the First That Christ is sent by God the Father for the Redemption of his It needs no further witness to settle it the words are so express We will a little open it that as it is true so it may be plain and evident and so much the rather because our Savior laies so great a weight upon it and bestows the very strength of his prayer in the first place for the attainement of the
under the Soveraignty and Authority thereof it was utterly impossible as being against the Principles of Reason and the Nature of Grace and the Covenant of Truth which the Lord hath left in his Word This ye shal find most plain in the very express words of our Savior when he discovers this Work John 17.6 I have manifested thy Name to the Men which thou gavest me out of the World He gets them out of the hand of the World from the lust of the eyes and lusts of the Flesh and the Pride of Life 1 John 2.16 For that is al which is in the World and from al these whether the vanity of the Creature with which our Eye and Sences are taken from without or the sensual filth and dunghil steams of noysom distempers which arise of our own Concupiscence or whether it be Pride and overweening Self-confidence which ariseth and issues out of al. this is al that is in the World and from al these the Father gains the Souls of those men he gives unto his Son For they had given away themselves unto these Lusts of the World and that must be repealed before this could be tendred afresh And here again by the way ye may observe That this Giving cannot be the Act of Electing for that is an eminent Act and remains in Gods Breast and Bosom and goes not out This is called a Transient Act is an Act which passeth upon the Creature That is without respect and consideration of Mans being much less the being of Sin as ye have fully heard But this supposeth a man in the World that is under the power of the Vanity thereof if he must be given out of the World 2. God the Father doth actually deliver up the Soul into the hand of Jesus commends it to his keeping to rule him in the Kingdom of Grace while here he remains in this World and to bring him to Glory hereafter He gives the Soul and our Savior takes it and undertakes for it as his Charge according to the terms of the Covenant and Agreement made between the Father and him The Expression of Calvin is pat and pleasant God the Father causeth the Soul to pass into the Care and Custody of the Lord Jesus leaves him in the power and possession of his Son Jesus as the Second Adam the Head of the Covenant of Grace that he may see him redeemed As the First Adam neglected the Covenant and destroyed himself and his Posterity There was a Parly and Consultation held between the Father and the Lord Jesus touching the Salvation of his Elect and the Agreement fully transacted and passed But now it comes to be put into Execution and he gives them into the hand of Christ The Soul comes into Christs presence and Christ comes to speech with it Behold the party I wil have redeemed and the Lord takes him as his Charge and provides for him both to bring him to himself and so to Life and Salvation which he hath purchased and possesseth and can communicate The Soul as yet consents not nor hath the powerful impression of Gods Grace come home to the heart God gives the Soul the Soul doth not yet give up it self but God giving to Christ as his charge put and passing under his care He undertakes to get the good wil of the Soul and to bring it to himself and through himself to Life and Glory 3. When the Father hath thus delivered the Soul unto the care of Christ he then gives Christ to the Soul reveals the Lord Jesus as the Surety and Savior that hath covenanted with the Father and hath purchased al from the Father for him so that there is nothing that can stand betwixt Mercy and him This Christ and Mercy so provided and intended for his good is now rendered and given to him Behold thy Savior who is the Head of the Covenant of Grace who hath purchased and procured by the Fathers Appointment al good for thee and can and wil communicate al good to thee This leaves a mighty impression of the sweet of the good upon the Soul Thus God tendring Christ and through him mercy as he that hath covenanted with the Father and undertaken for the soul commended to his care by the Father This tender of a Christ and of Mercy in him makes the Soul take it this offering of Christ as one to whom he was before given to save works the heart to receive Christ and that is beleeving which is thus wrought as ye see by the giving of the Soul to Christ Because Christ gave himself and Mercy to the Soul therefore the Soul comes to him But because the Soul was given to Christ and his care he gave himself and mercy to it Therefore the Soul was given to Christ therefore it comes and beleeves If God the Father had not given the Soul to Christ he ad never taken care of him never given himself to them they never received him nor good from him Hence Beleeving is said to be Receiving and receiving we know as a Co-relative is the cause of giving REASON 2. 1. Because they are the Fathers own and therefore he hath most right and reason to dispose of them and to give them away as he sees sit when it wil be most seasonable to procure the good and comfort therof This is the ground our Savior goes upon Thine they were and thou gavest c. Each man hath most to do with that which is his proper right Now the Father had set his heart upon them before the World and appointed them to be Vessels of Mercy in his everlasting purpose and therefore it 's but equal that he should order al things for the accomplishment of the Counsel of his own Will and the performance of his Soveraign good Pleasure without controul John 6. I came not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me and this is the will of him that sent me That I should lose none that he hath given me It 's sit that God should do his own Will whose Will is the absolute First-Cause of all things that are done 2. As Gods own Right so their own proper and peculiar good is hereby especially if not only procured For had not God the Father given them to his Son he would not nay I may truly say he never could have given Grace and Mercy or Good to them in a righteous way preserving the Right and Honor of his Justice and so the Glory of himself For had not Christ taken the care and charge of us the Justice of God would never have suffered him to have shewed us Mercy we should never have been fitted nor enabled to receive Mercy For we having wronged his Justice and provoked his Anger by reason of our Transgressions his Justice would have stood offended and his Displeasure incensed against us by reason thereof Nay he did give a Commission to our sins under the hand of Divine Justice to take vengeance
of the Soul and this stopped the influence of Gods Mercy or the least intimation of God from coming to our Souls and being now under the guilt and power of our sins though mercy had been tendred we were utterly disenabled to receive it having no power thereunto But when Jesus Christ takes the charge of us and undertakes in our behalf he takes off al the impediments on Gods part answers his Justice and appeaseth his Wrath that so they wil not stand betwixt us and our Comfort but an open passage is made for the good pleasure of the Lord to be fully manifested and the intimation and communication of Mercy tendred and offered to us 2 Tim. 1.9 Who hath called us according to the purpose of his Grace which was given us in Christ before the world was that is was then purposed and in time exhibited It could not be given to us as in our selves considered but when God gave us to Christ and Christ to us he gave us himself and Grace and mercy in him and by him that as the Head of the Covenant of Grace being in our room and undertaking for our Salvation The Father made him the Treasurer and Dispenser of al Grace and Mercy to give life to them that he had given to his hand betrusted as his Charge and bequeathed unto his care As he takes away al Impediments on Gods part that his wrath and justice wil not hinder So al on our parts they cannot hinder that though our corruptions would oppose and our selves being dead could not receive it He is a quickning spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 Job 36.10 He commands us to turn and gives by his command He makes the dead hear his voice and makes us live who hear Col. 1.13 He translates us from Darkness into the Kingdom of his dear Son USE 1. Information It serves to settle our jugdment in many truths of the Lords which at this day are much questioned and many cavils raised by carnal minds and hearts to oppose and darken we may hence have undeniable evidence to convince and quiet our own minds and hearts as touching Gods counsel therein The Papists Pelagians Arminians al the Popish Schools dispute whether God gives sufficient Grace and power to al men to be saved if they wil Whether Gods election issues out of his meer good wil and pleasure or from the prevision and foresight of faith and good works and they determine affermatively unto both these Which delusions notwithstanding are fully dashed by the former Doctrins If God give sufficient help to al indifferently to be saved to Judas as to Peter Then he gives al into the hand and commends al unto the care of Christ For this is a principal Grace and favor and an especial means of life without which it cannot be attained But this God doth not bestow upon al. For al that God gives to Christ certainly come to him by Faith for al such he prayes they shal be with him in glory But al do not come to him by beleeving al shal not be with him in Heaven Again If coming unto Christ be an effect of giving unto Christ an effect of Election I pray for those thou hast given me becouse they are thine Thine they were and thou gavest them me Then it follows necessarily That because Elected therefore they have these as fruits thereof not because they have these therefore they are Elected The Parties for whom this Prayer was made and the description of them we have opened and finished The second Particular The thing desired We are now to inquire after that which is here requested in their behalf and it is That they might be where Christ is The Lord Jesus is as I may so say fond of their presence and therefore he is not willing to be in Heaven unless they may be with him as though Heaven were no Heaven unless the Saints should take up their abode there The House would be forlorn and Heaven desolate unless the Inhabitants were there these poor servants of the Lord to fil up their Rooms and mansions In this Second Particular there be Three Points especially observeable One which is the Foundation of the rest is taken as a thing granted upon which ground the Prayer is made To Wit The presence of Christ and the glory of which Christ stands possessed These are things supposed only the Question ariseth why Christ so earnestly desires their injoyment of his presence since now they had it conversing with him and he with them What presence therefore doth our Savior intend or what is the glory here meant Ans True our Savior was now present with them and they with him and therefore that is not the thing he principally aimes at but he looks at his own being in Heaven which was immediately to succeed his death and he speaks of it as a thing past because of the infallible certainty thereof As it is the usual course of Scripture in the like case so to express things Rev. 18.2 Babylon is fallen it s fallen It was to be undoubtedly and therefore he speaks of it as done certainly It was impossible that any thing should hinder our Savior from coming thither and therefore he takes it as a thing done That he is as though he were certainly there already q. d. I am now going to my death and grave and thence to rise again and go to Heaven and I am desirous they should be there also I am not willing to be without them And by consequence the glory he mentions is the glory of Heaven For should we look at his Present condition it was the time of his Humiliation and the very season of his greatest abasement was growing on when he was to undertake his sufferings and to empty himself of his glory Philip. 2.7 He is said to make himself of no reputation and took upon him the forme of a servant humbled himself unto the death of the Cross and as his present state was the time of his abasement So his ASCENSION is called the time of his Glory because that great discovery of his glory was reserved for that season and was then made manifest Joh. 17.4 Father glorifie me with thy self with the glory I had with thee before the world was The words then being clear the points are plain and those are Three 1. Christ is in Heaven and hath unconceiveable glory given him of the Father 2. It s the earnest desire of the Lord Jesus that his faithful ones should be in Heaven with him 3. The end of our being there is to behold the glory given to Christ look at the glory and look at it as given of the Father whose everlasting good will and love is thereby expressed and by that communicated to his It s the happiness of Heaven to gaze upon the glory of Christ The first Point hath two parts in it We shal take them asunder and so handle the several branches otherwise we shal not so readily and familiarly
or Bottom out of which it doth arise This is included but not the special consideration attended 2. The expression and putting forth of such perfection in the most eminent operations thereof therein appears the lustre and beauty of such excellencies and therefore it is said to be the Glory thereof Thus the shine of the Sun in its beauty is called the Glory of the Sun as we have more at large opened this Point before The Glory of Christ then here attended Is the meeting and concurrence of the expression of all the Divine Perfections and Grace in Christ in the highest strain of Eminency and to the utmost activity of that power they can put forth â—or the Creature can receive Here is the work of Wisdom and the power and mercy of Faithfulness expressing themselves for the good and welfare the Faithful But there the Glory of al these 〈◊〉 discovered to the utmost of al excellency that is therein The magnificent triumph of the soveraign royalty and Raign of al those excellent perfections of Wisdom Mercy Power and Faithfulness Christ set as it were in the Throne of Estate Then wil appear the Power of Christ in the highest strain of Excellency put forth in the destruction of the wicked to the utmost in al that the damned can endure and not be annihilated In the preservation to the utmost of the Saints that nothing can be added desired received The triumph of Wisdom expressed to the utmost in breaking the Head of the Serpent out-bidding al his subtilties al the slights of sin and the deceit of the hearts of the Sons of men though deceit ful above al things The triumph of Mercy and Grace which hath put forth the utmost of her activity to quit the â—ecoâ—lings of guilt and fears and terrors Conscience never accusing doubting fearing any more 〈◊〉 delivering from the hand of Hell and Sin and Death and Devil frees from the Faithfulness performed and al promises nay hath been better than al Promises Al these perfections of our Savior and not only set on the Throne of Glory but they heads Wisdom shal glory over al plots subtilties policies deceits of the World and Sin and Devil it hath now defeated al. The Mercy and Merits and Blood of Christ glories over al the curies and guilts punishments acculations fears and miseries and death they are al swallowed up in Victory they are hereby abolished al. They were upon every occasion annoying troubling molesting distracting nibling they are now swallowed up their name and place and presence appear no more Grace glories now over al the violence of temptations the rage of distempers the allurements of the World not only dead but buried our of the way and out of sight it hath now removed al. 1 Cor. 15.24 Christ is said to put down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 take off al activity of rule authority and power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no right they can claim no authority they can exercise no power they can put forthâ— whereas here Satan before conversion hath a right exerciseth authority puts forth power and al these in part after Conversion When thus our Savior is exalted in the Highest strain of Eminency and activity or al these Divine Excellencies and Perfections far above al Principalities so that he stands fully possessed of al right in fulness of Communication and the fulness of al exercise for immediate dispensation How Christ hath Glory given him we have shewed before So that there is no impediment in regard of Enemies World Flesh Devil to oppose no weakness on our part to receive it no stoppage on Christs part either in regard of his Covenant or Counsel and way of his Providence to cause him to withhold the letting in of the ful â—ouâ—â—â— of his saving Grace and Mercy in that ful measure the Saints can attain in the Body of Christ 2. What it is to behold this Glory For Answer enquire two Things 1. What this Beholding implies 2. The Manner how it is done First The Word translated here to Behold carries three things in it 1. An attentive eye and a setled holding of our Mind and thoughts about the things that are presented to our understanding Heb. 7.4 Now consider how great this man was When the holy Apostle would draw the Hebrews to the serious attendance of the excellency of the Type and so of our Savior who was typified by Melchizedek he bid them to consider hold their thoughts bent to the object of so worthy attention 2. It implies a through viewing of the whol compass of any thing thus presented to consideration and so the word is very often used among Heathen Authors to pass as a Traveller from one place to another to acquaint a mans self with the manners and condition of the place and people to the ful So when the Mind travels to and fro in a serious contemplation of that which is offered to our Apprehensions with a careful search and observation to take the scantling of whatever on circumstances of any conceived worth may be in it Luke 23.49 It 's said the women that followed Christ from Galilee stood aloof off beholding those things They kept al the carriages and occurrences of what beâ—el our Savior from first to last 3. Not only a mans apprehension comes to be exercised as in the two former but the quality and nature of the thing comes so to be taken into our observation and consideration That the heart comes to be experimentally affected therewith John 12.19 Do ye not see how ye profit nothing The whol World follows him that is your own sence and experience wil give you proof and evidence that this your opposition wil do no good To behold then the Glory of Christ is by an actual and attentive survey of the excellency thereof to be suitably or experimentally affected therewith 2. The Manner how this is done appears in three Things 1. Immediately as he is then pleased to shine in and send in beams of his Grace and Holiness directly and nextly upon the Soul 1 Cor. 13.12 We now see through a Glaâ—s darkly as the excellency of our Savior comes covered and vailed in Providences and Ordinances and so made liable to the dimness or our Eye while we walk in the shadow of darkness here As the Soul of a man which cannot come to our view in regard of its Spiritual Nature yet we perceive the presence of it as it 's speaking in the tongue and stirring in other parts of the Body So 2. We see him then more fully wese 11. more of him and the excellency of his Glory than can be attained in this Life 1 John 3.2 â—â—e shall see him as he is that is in himself We here appreâ—end so much of Christ as the Ordinances either present or convey in the work thereof either according to its weakness or Gods blessing One text affords matter of Humiliation another of Comfort another of Direction and that so much of Christ as
not failing in the least nor falling short in the performance of whatever was promised Lam. 3.23 Great is thy Faithfulness which provides new mercies every morning every moment answering to new occasions therfore it 's said Psal 36.5 Thy Faithfulness reacheth unto the Clouds and therfore it is noted that there failed nothing of al those words that God had spoken 3. There must be as a certain so an immutable continuance of his Fatherly care through our dayly course without any interruption for he hath undertaken to see us safely arrived he hath engaged himself he wil not neglect it and nothing can hinder it unless it can out-bid his Power or over-reach his Wisdom or out-bid his Mercy for al stand bound Psal 89.33 I will not suffer my Faithfulness to fail and 119.90 Thy Faithfulness endures through all Generations Therefore Gen. 28.15 he would not leave him until he had fulfilled al his Goodness II. The Reason 1. Because hereby the Glory of the Riches of his Mercy and Grace comes to be manifested yea magnified When every thing else failed and was at a loss God out of his Faithfulness he undertakes he recovers he preserves his in the waies of Life and it 's out of Faithfulness that he gives any continues and maintains what he gives succeeds and gives a Blessing to al means and out of Faithfulness over-works al pressures and hindrances from good Thou out of Faithfulness hast corrected me Psal 119.75 So that al is Grace Grace and nothing but Grace Faithfulness hath an influence into al our waies walks up and down the World with us Psal 89.24 My Faithfulness and Mercy shall be ever with him yea verse 2. he wil build up one Mercy upon another until he bring us to Heaven and there his Faithfulness shal be established Therefore the whol Gospel is called a Promise q.d. that is the Cabinet that keeps al those precious Jewels of Grace and Glory 2. Hereby also the Salvation and safety of the Saints is made sure and established for ever Rom. 4.16 It was therefore of Grace that it might be sure to all the Seed When Adam had undertaken for al his to bring them to Life by his doing and working we see that he and his Grace and Abilities and Performances came to nothing he was unfaithful in the Trust But God hath engaged himself and his Word is gone out of his Mouth that he wil not fail David Psal 89.35 Hence comes to be a sure Covenant sure Mercies sure Peace Comfort c. Surely persevere and shal undoubtedly be saved USE 1. Instruction Out of Gods Fatherly Love look for Afflictions Miseries Changes and Necessities to attend us in our dayly Course because this is one part of Gods Faithfulness and according to that he dispenseth his Fatherly Love Psal 119.75 I know thy Judgments are right and thou out of very Faithfulness hast afflicted me out of Faithfulness hast disparaged me hast brought me to great extremities afflicted me in the world that thou mightest not condemn me with the world The Psalmist accounts he cannot in a surfet but Diet in rankness of Blood but bleed in strength of distempers but purge It s part of his Faithfulness to be true to his rule and that 's health He hath promised ye shal have Houses and lands with persecution would ye not have him Faithful He hath promised he wil do you good and then he must lead you in the wilderness and prove you that he may do it Deut. 8.4 5. He hath promised the world shal not be your bane and he wil deliver you from this present evil world And therefore if he pluck away if he keep you to a spare Diet it s his Faithfulness Hebr. 12.9 We have had the Fathers of our Bodies and they have corrected us how much more ought we to be subject to the Father of our Spirits that we may live It s your life that God intends and his Faithfulness USE 2. Strong and invincible CONSOLATION and that is the main use The truth which as a mighty stream issues from al the faithful performances of the Lord. Hebr. 6. That by two Immutables we might have strong consolation When al failes Eyes and heart and Hopes yet God wil not suffer his faithfulness to fail This is a bottom to bear our hearts a rock that is higher than we and higher than al misery When thy friends prove false and play fast and loose It was thou my familiar friend c. When they cast thee off as Paul at my first answer no man stood by me al men forsook me c. But God stood by me when they leave thee Gods faithfulness and mercy wil never leave thee Psal 89.24 When thy flesh and thy heart fails the Lord wil be the strength of thy heart and thy portion for ever Ps 73.26 In temptation when the strength fails thee and Satan hath got the Wind and Hil and Sun upon thee faithfulness gives â—hee strength 1 Cor. 10.12 13. No temptation c. When thy Grace grows feeble and thou growest behind hand little good thou dost with al and little good receivest wantst life and power faithfulness wil quicken this and perfect al. 1 Cor. 1.9 Nay when thy faith fails thou hast dealt falsly in his covenant broken thy vows thy promises been unfaithful under the means and mercy and hast denied him faultered in thy profession as Peter I know not the man I know not the rule the reproof yet he is faithful he cannot deny himself Here thou wilt and thou must smart for it he wil bring thee by Hell but yet he wil recover thee Psal 89.28 Though thou leave and forsake him yet he wil not leave thee but of his faithfulness be mindful and not forsake thee Mark how Nehemiah recovers himself upon this board Neh. 9. Thou art a God that keepest covenant and mercy they rebelled against thee many times and did evil before thee but thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not And many times didst deliver them for thou art a gracious and merciful God upon this shelf of the boat he stil swims out USE 3. A word of Reproof It shews the hainousness of the sin of unbeleef in the Saints departing from God Who have had a God faithful to them and yet they not place their faith in him hath God ever failed did ye ever seek ever humble your selves ever trust in him in vain why have ye done thus how unkindly how unreasonably have ye dealt with him Ask your Fathers and they wil tel you ask your own hearts and they can testifie hath he spoken and not performed nay hath he not been better than his word even aboundant in goodness and truth So Samuel 1. Sam. 12.7 So God pleads Jer. 2.5 What Iniquity have your Fathers sound in me That they are gone far from me c. Be astonished at this ye Heavens and be horribly confounded saith the Lord. Verse 12 13. Thus we have done with the
reason to find this or Fathom this being improved to the highest pitch Yet after it is revealed and dispensed with plainness out of the word The reason of a carnal man may yield assent thereto and by force of Argument be constrained to submit to the convincing Evidence thereof for it s above reason but not against reason It s beyond the reach of reason to Fathom but it s not Cross to the rule of right reason but it may and wil confess it For its a staple truth for ever to be held There is nothing in the Nature of God or the actions of God that can be contrary to the Wisdom of God for then God should be contrary to himself which is assuredly blasphemous to think and certain it is the rule of right reason is a beam of Gods blessed Wisdom which he can no more Cross than in truth he can be Cross or contrary to himself Therefore Paul cals it Wisdom in the greatest Eminency 1 Cor. 2.6 4. When this Fatherly love and Faithfulness of God is revealed out of the Scripture though the judgment of a carnal man may confess the truth yet he cannot conceive it He may be constrained to yield to the evidence of Argument which he cannot gainsay yet the reality and spiritualness of that divine good that is therein couched he cannot comprehend The Sum in short is this When the love and Faithfulness of God is in the Scriptures revealed or out of the experience of the faithful recorded in Books or wrightings or by relation There be these three things carefully to be considered and as warily to be distinguished 1. There is the sound of the word syllable and sentences whereby they are expressed 2. There is Reason and Argument which is conveyed by those words Arguments cloathed with Language and Speech a mans Apprehensions walk abroad in a mans Expressions 3. There is the reality of that Spiritual and Divine Good and Truth that lies couched and contained within that Reason as a precious Diamond in a curious Cabinet A carnal man may hear the sound of the words understand the Grammer Congruity and signification His Judgment may see the Evidence of the Argument and force of Reason which concludes beyond gain-saying what is there disputed And yet the reality and Spiritualness of that Divine Good never apprehended Psal 25.14 The Secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will teach c. There be Secrets in Praying Secrets in Preaching and there be Secrets in al the Truths Divine and Mysterious that are spoken and preached and a man may speak of the Truths and preach of them and yet never know those Secrets he preacheth As a man may preach the Word and alledg the Scriptures and there be Spiritual Mysteries which are therein contained that happily he never knew though he published the Word and Reasons that did convey them to the hearing of others when God is pleased to work thereby There be in the Several Mettals and Herbs three things which are secretly inclosed in the bowels of the Mettals a Salt an Oyl and a special Soveraign Water which Alchymists that can dissolve and unbowel the Mettals can bring out Another man happily hath more Gold Silver A timony take whatever other Mettal you wil and yet he shal never see those Secrets never know them nor ever have the use of them though he see the view Mettals dayly But he that is a skilful Alchymist he can tel how by his Distillation to find them by his Art to use them So here There be in the Profession of God and his Truth special Secrets of this Fatherly Love and Faithfulness which the Saints by beleeving as by Spiritual Chymistry can see discern have the use find the comfort of Whereas others who profess as much and can speak aâ— freely and it may be more freely never come to find really or truly to discern what they speak As Job I have heard of thee by the Ear but now mine Eye hath seen To speak of God by hear-say but to find God making himself real and to see him as he is though not in Perfection yet in truth and in some kind of proportion and therefore in effectual Calling and Conversion it 's said That the Saints are turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God Sin seems another thing than ever Gods Love and Faithfulness carry an amazing kind of astonishment that the sinner wonders where he hath been Now he can see a God in the World and the wonders of his God like Love and Mercy al which were in the dark and he in the dark before al came by report and relation now he sees them real and knows what it is to have Fatherly pardoning Mercy and indeed knows and confesses he never knew what God meant or Sin meant There is one only Objection that I know that is a little to be removed which carries some kind of difficulty at the first appearance John 7.27 We know say the Pharisees when they would not entertain Christ as the Messias this man whence he is but when Christ cometh no man knoweth whence he is They had respect to that of Micah 5.2 3. Whose goings have been from ever-lasting To which Speech Jesus replied Ye both know me and from whence I am and I am not come of my self but he that sent me is true that is Faithful whom ye know not Whereas our Savior professeth that they â—ever knew him nor his Father John 16.3 And again if they had seen him they had seen his Father and yet now both these seem to be contradicted Answ Our Savior is to be attended in a double Respect 1. As Man and so they spake of him We know whence he is Is not this Jesus the Son of Joseph whose Father and Mother we know John 6.42 2. As the Son of God by eternal Generation and as God and Man by Hypostatical Vnion who was appointed by God and in his time sent out from the Father upon the great work of Redemption He granâ—s they knew him as a Man But as sent from the Father as God-man upon the great work of Mediation They neither knew the Father as sending nor him as sent REASON 1. Gods own Secrets must and can be discerned by Gods own Spirit and the Spiritual Light from thence received There be some of Gods ordinary Courtesies which he extends in common to al Creatures his Rain fals his Sun shines upon good and bad He gives Life and Breath and Being to al things Acts 17. Al things are at his finding and the eyes of al things look to him and he fils every living thing with his Goodness There be also peculiar and choyce Favors which he hath reserved for his Secret Ones in the secret Conveyances of his Providences which none know but his Favorites The deep things of God as Paul 1 Cor. 2.10 The Spirit only searcheth these deep things His
where he is and so may see the Glory given him by God the Father For if he hath for the present made them know the Name of the Father and is resolved and doth engage himself that he wil not cease further dayly to inform them until he hath made them perfect in this Knowledg then are they fittest to be partakers of that happiness to be with him and to behold his Glory But t his he hath done and resolves stil further to do Therefore c. We have then these two Things here to be attended 1. The Work of our Savior what he hath done He hath made known this Name that is for time past 2. The Profession and Engagement of Christ what he wil do for time to come He will make it known To the First I have made known thy Name to them The Doctrine we shal observe from hence it this Viz. To make known the Name of the Father to the truly humbled Soul Doct. is a Work in a peculiar manner appropriate to our Savior Christ I say in a peculiar manner appropriate to our Savior in that he takes it here unto himself as a part of that Prerogative Royal that doth appertain to him I have made known I wil make known As though this Trade were wholly and only in his hand this knowledg and Science were only taught in Christ School and is only to be learned there and that by himself alone And this is done to the truly humbled Soul For such only are to be conceived as intended in the word Them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with an eye and reference to that which was mentioned in Verse 24. To them that thou hast given me These were Beleevers but if ye look at them as under that Name and special respect in which they must be considered when they become as proper Subjects unto which the knowledge of the Name of the Father comes to be manifested in the Order appointed by Christ this is the most proper expression that can be made and the Holy Ghost speaks most exactly to in this behalf So John 17.6 I have manifested thy Name to them that thou gavest me out of the World This as hath formerly been proved cannot imply Election properly for that is meant in another Phrase in the same Verse Thine they were that is by Election and thou gavest them to me This is an effect of Election and so distinct from it else it would be a vain Repetition which cannot fal upon the Spirit of God nor may by us be once imagined Those who are given to Christ are given him out of the World so verse 6. that is out of the corrupt World But it is not a Truth nor Orthodoxal to affirm that Election is out of the corrupt Mass Ye see then the Scope and ful Purpose of the Doctrine propounded and so of the Place in hand We shal hence proceed to the Explication which we shal do by opening of three Things 1. What this Name is 2. What it is to make it known 3. Why this is properly given to our Savior 1. What is meant by the Name of the Father The Name of God in General signifies any thing by which God comes to be known as a man is known by his Name Exod. 20.7 But here it must of necessity be restrained to a narrower sense But what that is is hard to discover We may thus gather in upon it by the several Circumstances in the Text. Look backward to that which follows It 's the discovery of that Name by which the Love wherewith the Father Loved Christ may be in them and that cannot be the Name of his Wrath and Justice of a Judg and an Avenger But it must be the Name of his Mercy and the Name of his Fatherly Mercy also For unless it were the Name of a Father How could he love them as he loved Christ for he loved him as a Father Besides it is such Love as is extended to such as have provoked him as the Father and first Person in the Trinity and to such as be miserable and distressed therefore it must be Fatherly Mercy that is he must be the Father of Mercy as wel as of men that must extend such Love to such undeserving ones Again As such who are miserable and forlorn in themselves cannot have help but through Mercy and the Mercy of him against whom they had finned There must needs be a way how to interest them in this and intitle them to this Mercy which others as miserable as themselves do never share in nor shal be made partakers of For what avails it that there is Mercy if I cannot come at it And that which must convey this interest can be nothing on our parts by which we may deserve it or purchase it or once come to challenge it It must come from God alone As there is no mercy but in himself so there is no way but by himself to interest any therein He being bound to none of the Sons of Adam who had deserved nothing but wrath at his hand by reason of their sinnes and provocations If he had been pleased to have shut up the Bowels of his compassions and reserved his mercy to himself that none should ever have been able to make any claim thereunto or have had any expectation thereof he might have done it But as he had Fatherly mercies in himself though he was free and bound to none He out of his Fatherly mercy that he might give others an interest therein he did freely ingage himself and al his sufficiencies to procure and accomplish the good and welfare of such as he should pluck out of themselves and the world and put into the hands of Christ And thus he becomes bound and makes himself a debtor to them to whom nothing was due both for the conveyance of al good to them and continuance of al that good with them that might be for their everlasting comfort And thus his love might not only be offered but comes to be and abide in them That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them So that it s hence evident that its the name of Fatherly mercy and Faithfulness that is here to be understood and the name that Christ would make known the name of a Father and a Father of mercies who hath al good and of faithfulness who is ingaged to perform al that may be good and helpful to his servants Look we forward a little the foregoing circumstance gives in the like evidence also They know that the Father had sent him and the making known of this name makes them know it This sending argues As his Authority that be can So his Fatherly affection that he wil use his Authority of Order and communication of work and his faithful word which he hath ingaged to send Christ â—o this end And he being sent stands ingaged to answer the Order of the Father and to act under the wil of
him that sends to the ful accomplishment of this work for the procuring of the welfare of the humbled Soul and then his love may be in them and Christ in them also We have now got shore and gained thus much that we understand what this name is which is to be made known We shal open it in both the Particulars 1. The Name of the Father of mercies containes four things 1. That everlasting compassions are firstly and independently in him he is the Father of them al these yerning commiserations come out of his own Bowels Isa 63.15 Where are the sounding of thy Bowels We should father compassion upon nothing we have or do or deserve but only upon God No good we have or can do can cause these no evil we can do except the sin against the Holy Ghost can hinder these 2. There is a generation and succession of mercies which have been extended through al Ages to al conditions of men and that upon al occasions al which are of the same House and pedegree come from the same Father of mercies are of the same line and lineage Al the sins of al his which have been committed in all Ages and generations with al the heightning Circumstanceâ— thereof could never lessen weaken interrupt the course of these Fatherly compassions much less exhaust them and draw them dry The Psalmist finds no end of them Psal 136.23 24. For his mercy endureth for ever Though temptations endure which may annoy yet his mercy indâ—res for ever And that which is especially to be attended is that he works as the Father who hath been wronged and provoked and yet as a Father pities us .. 3. There be renewed and unknown Commiserations which were never heard of before yet may be expected and wil certainly be provided for the good of those that he wil do good unto He is the Father of mercies he begets fresh and new compassions every day and moment such as never saw light nor happily ever entred into the apprehensions of the sons of men Such things as wel looked mot for Isa 64.3 This props up the heart under overbearing pressures Thou saiest ordinary medicines wil cure ordinary and common diseases but thy rebellions are not to be matched no sinner no sin like thine Be it so either in truth or in thy conceiving yet here be unheard of compassions if thine be unheard of provocations Lam. 3.22 23. 4. He hath sent Christ on purpose to help those that cannot help themselves Hos 14.3 With thee the Fatherless finds mercy With this Father of merc es the most helpless Hopeless Orphane Fatherless Soul may find relief He was sent on purpose not to cal the righteous not the haughty and self confident who pride themselves in their excellencies conceive they can heal themselves with their own balsom and that their own abilities wil work their own welfare No but was sent to cal the sinner the broken-hearted and self-denying sinner And he is come on this Errand and wil not fail of his end or the effecting of that for which he was sent 2. There is yet another piece of this name of the Father which is his Faithfulness As he is the Father of mercy and of al good in himself so he hath freely and fully ingaged himself to accomplish the good and welfare of such as be truly humbled and he hath given to the Lord Jesus He hath passed his Word and signified his Wil to see al good done for them that can be desired as needful al evil removed which they can fear as hurtful and dangerous to their Souls And in this the Psalmist triumphs Psal 56.4.10 In God will I praise his Word c. In the Lord wil I praise his Word For what had it availed that God hath al mercy in himself unless he had ingaged his word to improve and imploy that for my benefit I had had no ground to claime any thing nor Hope to expect any thing at his hand Psal 138.2 Therefore herein God hath magnified his word above al other his Name he hath laid al his excellencies and sufficiency to pawn and improved al that the Salvation of an humbled sinner shal not miscarry This is the sweet that goes through all his names and gives a pleasing relish unto al When his word is in his Power it wil preserve not destroy c. As he sent Christ for to save so it is his wil which he hath expressed and its the end which he intended in furnishing our Savior with al fulness of power Joh. 17.2 Thou haft given him power over all flesh that he might give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him Now there is some ground for our hearts and Hopes to look unto that this wil shal be accomplished and this power improved See how all the work of life proceeds on pleasantly They who were thus given they shal come that is beleeve Joh. 6.37 and Joh. 17.8 When they come then Christ keeps them Joh. 17.12 Those whom thou hast given me I have kept and none of them is lost Nay he prayes the Father would keep them also Yea he wil not overly keep them himself but he intreats the Father Keep through thine won Name that is the Name of thy Fatherly mercies for in thy word those are also ingaged for their good Joh. 17.11 Nay not only kep't but quickned increased perfected in all Grace and not left til he see them Crowned in glory Joh. 6.39 No wonder therefore that our Savior should resolve ever to be making known this name of the Fathers mercy and Faithfulness since it comprehends the beginning continuance end and perfection of al we can have or Hope for here or hereafter Learn this and learn all Perfect this and perfect al. All that Christ wil teach returnes to this All that we can learn is Vertually contained in this As a Father of mercies he hath al begets all good Out of the Faithfulness of his word he dispenseth all Thus we see what the Name of the Father containes 2. How doth Christ make known this Answ This wil appear in a double work 1. The Lord Christ spreads all those glorious excellencies before the Eyes of the Soul darts in the Beams of those surpassing Beauties of mercies and compassions and causeth all this glorious good to pass before us as he speaks to Moses which at the first dazels and draws the Eyes of the Soul towards them to gaze at such an amazing sight 2 Tim. 1.10 Brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel Joh. 3.13 No man hath ascended up into these Heavenly apprehensions but the Son of man Who is in Heaven he brings Heaven down to the Soul Those were like dazeling Colors laid forth in the greatest perfections laid in a dark Room not discerned but the light came that acted them to the Eyes The strangeness of the sight takes up the understanding makes it stand wondering and gazing As Moses did
cannot conceive them so they do not for the most part attend them because they are beyond their reach So it is with our Spiritual Child-hood The things of God and Grace which are most easie and openly familiar we are most exercised and taken up withal but the great Mysteries of Godliness the unsearchable Riches of Mercy and the deep things of God we are not able upon the sudden to search into Our Savior gives this Reason to his Disciples I have many things to say but ye cannot yet receive them A Child that is in the lower Form happily entring into his Latin he is not able to carry away his Lecture of Greek not to touch difficult things of Phylosophy but his Principles and Abilities must have time to ripen before he be set up into so high a Form So here 2. Is taken from the freeness of Gods Dispensation in whose pleasure it is to give when and what he wil and after what manner And hence he doles his Grace answerable to the growth he hath appointed each man to come unto and in what time Eph. 4.13 Till we all come in the Vnity of the Faith to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Some are of a larger Stature and grow more speedily than others some are of a less and stand at a stay for a season until the Lord by the effectual working of the Spirit make them to grow and so they encrease with the encreasings of God Col. 2.19 USE 1. Of Instruction Hence see the Reason of those mis-apprehensions that the dear and faithful Servants of the Lord have of the Fatherly Mercy and faithfulness of God towards them They want much knowledg of this incomprehensible sweetness and goodness of Gods Nature and that is the Reason they missjudg and mistake so much and make such unkind Constructions and maintain such groundless surmizes of his Fatherly kindness He that is jealous and fearful of the Love and Favor of another who is of tried Truth and Sincerity al men wil easily and readily give him the Reason because he knows him not So here It 's because we know noâ— God These misconceivings of God may be referred to two Heads 1. When they are under pressures and necessities and miseries march in upon them the Lord seems like an angry Father to withdraw himself They presently sit down discouraged and conclude as they Isa 49.14 Sion hath said The Lord hath forsaken me my God hath forgotten me The Lord answers from the consideration of those Fatherly Compassions which rest in his Bowels Can a Woman forget her Child that she should not have compossion on the Son of her Womb these may yet I wil not Psal 89.8 Who is like to thee or to thy Faithfulness round about thee it's round about him per omnes circuitus But I have dealt carelesly yea unkindly and faithlesly with him and grieved the eyes of his Glory by dayly provocations True thou hast first broken with him and thou mayest see and know thy falsnels but thou dost not know his Faithfulness and Fartherly mercy Psal 89.33 Nevertheless my loving kindness I will not take away from him nor suffer my Faithfulness to fail Though he may deserve it and I may justly do it yet I wil not suffer c. Thou knowest thine own falsnels and wretchedness who keepest not touch with God but failest yet my Faithfulness and my Mercy I wil keep with him verse 24. And my Covenant shal stand fast verse 28. Thou knowest not the heart of a Heavenly Father and therefore thou so misjudgest 2. They conceive their Sins so many and so hainous that it 's beyond the compass and bounds of his Fatherly Compassions to remit and pardon Thou dost not know what these Bowels of a Father are and therefore thou dost not judg aright what he can and wil do When Ephraim bemoaned his sin God yerneth towards him and bemoaneth him though he doth not hear God yet God hears him Jer. 31.18 I have heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised See how gods Bowels turn within him verse 19. My Bowels are turned within me I wil surely have mercy upon him Mercy is mourning over thy Soul when thou art mourning for thy sin True could I repent but I have been smitten and yet walked after the way wardness of my heart so that I dare not look upon my sin and I cannot look to Heaven because of my guilt I know not how I can be pardoned Because thou dost not know the Name of this Father and this Mercy see and consider what it can do that thou canst not conceive Isa 57. I was angry and smote him and he went away verse 17. I have seen him and his waies and wil heal him I wil lead him also and restore Comforts unto him and to his mourners q. d. I have seen him and his waies though he can neither see me nor himself though he hath wounded himself I wil heal him I wil make him mourn and others with him and comfort both Obj. But I cannot think it Ans This Mercy can do what thou canst not think Isa 55.8 9. My thoughts are not your thoughts c. for as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my waies higher than your waies and my thoughts than your thoughts And thou wilt find it relieving when thou dost least look for it True I have found him somtimes in desperate streights relieving me when I was linking and past hope my head under water when al his billows were running over then comforting and supporting me This is but a Lightening before my Death he wil leave me at last it 's but a Reprieval before some more heavy Plague and Condemnation God hath a Secret purpose to hasten my ruine even by his Bounty which I have had and abused I shal one day perish by the hand of Saul 1 Sam. 27.1 Thou hast these hard thoughts of God because thou dost not know the heart of a Father and his never-failing Faithfulness Thou hast been many yeers preserved why perish one day He doth thee no harm why should'st thou think he intends thee any He hath said I wil not leave thee nor forsake thee Heb. 13.5 USE 2. Of Direction Be willing to hear and willing to follow the Direction of such who are Gods Favorites and acquainted with this Name of his and that by plentiful Experience There was never yet a blind man known but was willing to be guided never man ignorant of his way that was not phrenitick but was willing to be directed where he was in doubt The Rules are Two 1. The Counsel thou art not able to gainsay with Reason know Thou oughtest in Reason and according to Rule to submit unto it I do not think it I cannot beleeve it I much suspect and fear Away with such Dreams these are al but pangs of way wardness It is made a Point of Religion