these things shall be that is the commendations of a man and the excellency of a Christian above another man Another man doth all by sense but the Christian will trust God on his word I ascend saith Christ We must not think of the ascâ—nsion of Christ as a severed thing from us but if we would have the comfort of it we must think of it as our selves ascending with him Think of Christ as a publick person and a surety for us and then we shall have great comfort in that that he saith I ascend God prepared paradise before he made the Creature he would have him to come into a place of honour and pleasure And so God before ever we were born provided a place and paradise for us in Heaven that we might end our dayes with greater comfort We may be streightned here many a good Christian hath scarce where to lay his head but Christ is gone to prepare a place for them in Heaven And this may comfort us in the consideration of all our sins for sin past and for corruption present and for any sin that we may commit for time to come for any thing that is past if we confesse our sins to God he will forgive them the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sins even for the present corruptions that attend on us We have one that stands between God and us as a surety he will give us his spirit to subdue our corruptions and at length make us like himself a glorious spouse If we were perfect men we needed not a Mediator and this may teach us comfort rather because we are sinners and daily subject to offend God We have one to make our peace for time to come if we sin we have an Advocate When Christ taught us to pray forgive us our daily tuespasses he supposed we would daily run into sins We have an Advocate in Heaven every day to stand between God and us to answer God to undertake that at length we should cease to offend him and for the present we are such as he shed his pretious blood for and he appeareth for us by vertue of his death which is a marvellous comfort We think if we commit sin there is no hope but what needs a Mediator but to make peace between the parties disagreeing If all things were made up between God and us what need of an intercessor but God knoweth well enough we run into daily sins by reason of a spring of corruption in us which is never idle And therefore we may daily go to God in the name of our Advocate and desire God for Christs sake to pardon and desire Christ to intercede for us let us therefore shame our selves There is not a Christian but will be in himself apprehensive of being thrown into Hell every day There is a spring of corruption in him and should God take a forfeiture of his daily rebellions his conscience tells him it were just And therefore we must every day live upon this branch of his priestly office his mediation We must live by faith in this branch of Christ and make use of it continually for this will keep us from hell And therefore if we sin every day go to God in the name of Christ and desire him to pardon us This is to feed on Christ and therefore we should more willingly come to the Sacrament When we be in heaven we shall need a Mediator no longer for we shall be perfectly holy We cannot think of these things too much they be the life of Religion and of comforts and it may teach us to make a true use of Christ in all our conditions Poor souls that are not acquainted with the Gospel they think God will cast them into hell for every sin and they live as if they had not an high Priest in Heaven to appear for them The matter of the message is Christ ascendeth to God as a common Father and God to him and them He doth not say I ascend to the Father that were no great comfort for what were that to them or to my Father only neither doth he say I ascend to our Father for that is true in the order of it for he is not in equal respect the God and Father of Christ and the God and Father of us And therefore he speaks of himself in the first place I go to my God and your God For he is first and specially Christs Father and Christs God and then ours as we shall see in the particulars We have a common Father and a common God with Christ God the Father is Christs Father by eternal generatioÌ„ as he is God and man we have therefore the nature of Christ ashe is God and man There is this difference between Gods being Christs Father and the Father of any else First of all God is Christs Father from eternity God had a being and was a Father from all eternity There is no man of equal standing with his Father he is born after his Father cometh to be a man but Christ is of God from all eternity his generation is eternall and therefore there is a grand difference Then Christ is coequal with the Father in glory and majesty every way The Sun is not coequal with the Father but Christ is with his Father Again the Son in other Generations comes of the Father and is like the Father taken out of his substance but of a different substance from the Father but Christ and the Father both the persons are in one substance in one essence The essence of the Father differeth not from the essence of the Son We must remember this to give Christ the prerogative and preheminency that God is his Father in another manner then ours He is his Father by nature ours by adoption What he is by nature we are by grace though Christ was intent upon his ascension yet he forgetteth not this grand differrnce here but mentioneth it Go to my Brethren We must not call him brother again we may think of him as our Brother but my God and my Lord as Thomas saith If the greatest person should call us Brother yet it is most behoveful for the inferior to say my God my Lord to acknowledge Christ as a great person and to make use of his love to strengthen our faith not to diminish our respect to him in any way It is his infinite mercy to tearm us Brethren but when we go to him we must have other tearms Thus we see how to conceive of Christ after his Resurrection When he hath triumphed over all his enemies and reconciled God by his death then I go to my Father and your Father Then he is a common Father by virtue of Christs satisfaction to divine wrath and justice and victory and triumphing over all his enemies So we must not conceive of God as our Father but in reference to Christs victory over death God is our
up in believers reverence and obedience Let us sin because grace abounds is the Devils application of Christs Doctrine These and several other particulars are with much brevity spirituality and perspicuity handled in this Treatise and with that liveliness that they shew they come from one whose own heart savored what he taught to others The largest part of this Book is spent upon that sweet Doctrine viz. A Believers interest in God as a Father and the comforts that flowe from that sweet relation The foundation of our relation to God is here handled and how God is first a Father to Christ and in him to us What can be more comfortable in this earthly interest shaking disjoynting confounding age then to clear up to our souls an interest in God Tolle meum tolle Deum as he said it were better for me there were no God then that he should not be my God this will be thy comfort that when thou canst not say my state my liberty my House my Land my friend my Trade thou may'st be able to say my Father my God If therefore thou savorest the things of God this subject will be acceptable and grateful to thee and if this Treatise may be any wayes instrumental for putting thee upon study how to get it or upon practice how to improve it or in casethy soulsits in darknes how to endeare and clear thy interest the publishers shal have much of their aim and thou wilt have no cause to repent thy cost in buying or thy pains in reading We shall adde no more but this Blessed is that man or woman that hath an interest in him who is the Father of Jesus Christ by eternal Generation and of all believers in Christ by adoption and regeneration in which inheritance and portion that thou may'st have a share shall be the prayer of Thy souls and thy faiths Servants in the work of the Ministery for Jesus sake Simeon Ash James Nalton Joseph Church A heavenly Discourse between Christ and Mary after his Resurrection JOHN 20. 16. Jesus said unto her Mary she turned her self and said to him Rabboni that is to say Master And Jesus said to her touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my Father but go to my Brethren and say to them I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God THe same love of Christ that drew him from Heaven to the womb of the Virgin from the womb of the Virgin to the Crosse and from the Crosse to the grave the same love of Christ moved him to discover himself after he was risen from the grave to them that he knew did intirely and wonderfully love him And therefore before he would ascend to Heaven he did vouchsafe many apparitions and discoveries of himself partly to instruct them in the certainty of his Resurrection and partly but especially to comfort them Those that he knew did love him His first apparition of all was made to Mary the woman out of whom he had cast seven Devils She was much beholding to him and therefore loved much No Sex may discourage any sinner from Christ She expresseth her love to Christ by her desire of finding him by her seeking weeping notwithstanding all impediments before she found him As she wept she stooped down and looked into the Sepulchre and there saw two Angels in white a colour of glory purity and joy because it was a time of joy they were one at the head and the other at the feet As in the Law when the Mercy-Seat was made two Cherubims were also fram'd and placed one at the one end and the other at the other end thereof with their faces looking one towards another And when Christ was risen there were two Angels one at the head another at the feet to shew that peace was to be expected in the true propitiatory Jesus Christ One at the head the other at the feet of the body of Jesus And they sate there it was a time of peace peace was made between Heaven and Earth God and man and here is a posture of peace They sate quietly In Christ Angels and we are at one God and we and all There is a recapitulation and gathering of all things in Heaven and Earth The Angels they attended on Christ in all the passages of his life death till they brought him to heaven They brought news of his birth comforted him in his agony they were at his resurrection and you see here they attend At his ascension they accompany him And as they did to the head so they will to the Members In our Infancy they take charge of our tender years in our dangers they pitch their tents about us in our deaths they carry our souls to Abrahams bosome a place of happiness At our Resurrection their Office is to gather our bodies together That service and attendance they afforded the head they afford to the Members to mysticall Christ as well as naturall Therefore let us comfort our selves in the service they did to Christ Now besides the apparition of the Angells here is the speech of the Angels Woman why weepest thou they knew she had no cause of weeping for Christ whom she sought was ris n again She answereth because they have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him If it had been as she supposed there had been cause enough of her weeping if her Lord had been taken away for when the Lord is taken away what remaineth that is comfortable And if the Lord be not taken away it matters not what is taken away for he is all in all Carnall people so they have their wealth and friends and comforts in the world they care not what is taken away But she is of another mind They have taken away my Lord and what comfort can I have if my Lord be taken away But it was but the speech of an opinion she did but think it And there were two things might lead her truth and probability which is the foundation of opinion Probability he is not here therefore he is taken away Truth Christ promised he would rise again therefore he would take away himself There was certain truth to ground faith and weak probability to ground opinion yet such is the nature of weak persons in distress if there be probability certain truth yet they will be sure to cleave to their probabilities Oh their 's be great sins I but there is greater mercy for faith to lay hold upon So the presumptuous sinner faith God is mercifull I but God hath excluded thee from Heaven thou art an adulterer a swearer a filthy person thy opinion is grounded scarce upon probability God is mercifull but not to such sinners as live in sins against reconciliation as thou dost Therefore when one hath but probability to ground opinion and the other certain truth to ground faith be so wise for our souls
as to take the best and leave the other If she had remembered his promise to raise himself out of the grave she needed not to have doubted They have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him They have taken away she instanceth none And when she had thus said she turneth her back and saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was Jesus The Angels hold their peace when Christ speaks and it is their place so to do But she knew not that it was Jesus in respect of her passion Her senses were held partly by the power of God partly by a kind of passion that was a Cloud between her and Jesus that she knew him not at that time What doth Jesus say to her Woman why weepest thou whom seekest thou The first words that ever Christ spake after his resurrection to them he appeared to is woman why weepest thou It is a good question after Christs Resurrection what cause of weeping when Christ is risen Our sins are forgiven because he our head and surety hath suffered death for us and if Christ be risen again why weep we If we be broken-hearted humbled sinners that have interest in his death and resurrection we have no cause to grieve It is therefore a good question to them that believe why weepest thou whom seekest thou They were questions not for satisfaction to him he knew it well enough but to draw out her mind and to draw out by confession what God had hid in her heart that he might comfort her afterwards But she supposing him to be the Gardiner said Sir if thou hast born him hence tell me c. She had a misconceit of Christ as if he had been the Gardiner Beloved so it is with a sinner especially in times of desolation of spirit and disconsolate condition they present Christ to themselves as an enemy She in passion thinks Christ the Gardiner Do not many when they be melancholy of body and troubled in mind conceive of Christ as an Austere Judge that will undoubtedly damn such wretches as they are who present Christ to themselves in that fashion that the Scripture doth not doth not he bid all that be weary and heavy laden come to him and yet they out of passion will present Christ to be an austere judge that will take them at their disadvantage observe all their wayes and will surely damn them It is a great violence that passion and opinion offers to truth and to saving truth and the hardest matter in the world for a distressed conscience to apprehend God aright and to apprehend Christ aright Secure persons apprehend God under a false notion they apprehend God as a God all of mercy and Christ as if he were not judge of the world as if he observed them not nor their sinfull courses and therefore they care not whether they serve him or no. And Satan presenteth Christ all of mercy and Satan and their hearts meeting together the mistake is dangerous It is a great art of faith and an excellent skill to apprehend Christ sutable to our condition that we are in When we be in any sin then think him a Judge then think of Moses rather then of Christ then think of Christ as one that will judge both quick and dead for their hard and wicked actions But when we be humble and broken-harted and touched with sence of sin present him as a sweet Saviour inviting and alluring all to come to him Come to me all ye c. Present him as a gentle Shepheard present him in all the sweet relations he names himself by in the Scriptures lest otherwise we do Christ dishonour and our selves wrong If thou have born him hence tell me where thou hast laid him and I will take him away She was a likely woman indeed to take Christ away for a weak woman to take a heavy body away But love thinks nothing impossible Faith and Love agree in this nothing is impossible Love is strong as death Neither love nor faith care for difficulties they arm the soul to break through all Tell me where thou hast laid him and I will take him away One would think the dead body might have frighted the woman and the heavy body might have been above her strength but she was in such an extasie of love and desire and grief for want of her desire that she considered not well what she said They be words of passion and indeed if you observe the story of Mary Magdalen she was a woman of extremity in all conditions like Jonah when he grieves he grieves exceedingly when he rejoyces his joy is wound to the highest pitch So she was full of love when she loved and full of grief when she grieved and full of joy when she joyed she had large affections all were in the highest measure and strained to the highest pin in her and that made her say If thou hast c. Jesus could not indure her longer in this perplext condition he was too mercifull and therefore saith Mary she turned to him and saith Rabboni which is to say Master And Jesus said to her Mary The words are a sweet and loving intercourse between Christ and Mary in a seasonable time when she was in all her perplexity and depth of sorrow for losse of her Lord. Christ seasonably at length as not being able to hold any longer but must needs discover himself saith to her Mary You see first of all Christ beginneth and saith Mary she answereth in the second place and saith Rabboni and till Christ begins no voice in the world can do any good The Angels they spake to her but till Christ spake nothing could comfort her Christ began and till Christ began nothing would comfort Mary Christ began himself and used but one word It is a word and but one word Nothing will comfort but the word of Christ The word that comforted her when he spake and it was but one word and yet enough therâ— was such fulness of spirit and comfort in that one word And she answered with one word again You may aske why they spake but one word Beloved he was full of affection and she was full of affection also too full to expreâ—s themselves in many words As it is in grief Grief sometimes may be so great that scarce any words are able to express it and if any words then broken words which shew fulness of affection rather then any distinct sense Christ was so full and she so full that a word discovers And indeed there was so much sense and so much love so much contained in these little words Mary and Rabboni that it is impossible to express them shorter and her passion would not stay any longer discourse it was by words and by one word Mary it was by a word which sheweth he took notice of her Christ knowes the names of the Starres he knowes
presently 4. But to go on you see here again that Christ must begin to us before we can answer him He began to Mary and then she said Rabbony all the passages of salvation are done by way of Covenant by way of commerce and entercourse between God and man but God begins first In election indeed we choose him but he chuseth us first And he knoweth who are his and we know him but he knows us first And in calling we answer I but he calleth first and we do but eccho to his call in justification forgivness of sins we accept of justification and submit to the righteousness of Christ and Gods purpose of saving man that way but he giveth faith first for faith is the gift of God We glorifie him here on earth but it is from a result of Gods glorifying us in Heaven some earnests we have but they are of Gods giving All we do is but reflexion of his love first or his knowledge first The Christian soul saith thou art my God I but he saith first I am thy salvation As Augustine saith non frustra dicit anima Deus salus tua when God saith I am thy salvation it is eaâ—ie for the soul to say thou art my God And this may teach us in our devotions when we are to deal with God when we are to bring to him any request to desire him first to reveal himself to us desire Christ to reveal himsâ—lf by his spirit to us It is an errour in he case of mens devotions they think to bring something of their own strength and to break in as it were upon God without his discovery first But Paul saith Gal. 4. 9. We know God or rather are known of him We must desire that he would make known his heart to us first and then we shall know him again that the would speak to us by his spirit and then we shall answer to him again That he would say to our souls he is our salvation and then we may lay claim to him he is our God Desire the spirit of revelation to reveal his bowels and love to us in Christ by his holy spirit for certainly in every return of ours to Christ God begins to us all in all though not so sensibly but we ought to pray every day more and more for a sensible revelation that God would reveal his love to us in Christ And we cannot but answer if Christ saith Mary Mary cannot but answer Rabboni But you will say then it is not our fault but Christs fault if he must begin If God begins we shall answer I answer briefly That God doth alwayes begin to us and is before-hand with us in all dealings with our selves He giveth us many motions and never withdraweth himself from us but when he is despised and slighted first therefore let us take heed that we labour to answer Christs call vvhen he doth call If vve slight it then in a judicious course he ceaseth to speak further to us if vve slight his beginnings of revelations There be many degrees and passages to faith and assurance if vve do not observe the beginning hovv God begins to reveal himself to us by little and little speaking to us by his spirit in our hearts vvhen he begins then in a spirituall judgement sometimes he leaves us to our selves And therefore let us regard all the motions of the spirit and all the speeches of the spirit of Christ for he begins by little and little else our consciences will say afterward we are not saved because we would not be saved We would not yield to all the passages of salvation but when he was beforehand with us and offered many sweet motions yet we loved our sins better then our souls and so repelled all Therefore I beseech you do not refuse the sweet messages from Heaven the gracious and sweet motions of the spirit of Christ make much of them God hath begun to you be sure to answer Learn it of Mary when Christ began she set not her heart and infidelity against it but she opened her heart and said Rabboni learn therefore the duty of spirituall obedience when God speaks speak Lord for thy Servant heareth Do not shut your eares to the motions of Gods blessed spirit do not harden your hearts against his voice but open your hearts as she did Rabboni Our Saviour Christ here saith Mary but when after he had concealed himself from her a long time It is not presently Mary nor Rabboni He had coÌ„cealed himself a great while Christ doth not usually open himself fully at first though at first he doth in some degree but he observeth degrees as in the church in generall You see how that he discovers himself in his gracious promises by little and little darkly at first and at last the Sun of righteousness ariseth clearly So the day-Starre ariseth in our hearts by degrees It is a great while before Mary heareth the satisfying speech of Christ Mary But why doth Christ thus conceal himself in regard of his fuller manifestation It is partly to try and exercise our faith and other graces and therefore God doth seem to withdraw himself in the sence of his love 1. To see whether we can live by faith or whether we be all together addicted to sense as the world is who live altogether by sense and not by faith 2. He would have our patience tryed to the utmost he would have patience have its perfect work she had much patience to indure all this but her patience had not a perfect work till Christ spake 3. Christ will stir up and quicken zeal and fervency in his Children and therefore he seemed to deny the woman of Cnnaan first he giveth no answer but a harsh answer A Dogge And she works upon it though I am a Dogge yet Dogs have crumbs All which denyal was only to stir up zeal and earnestness And therefore though Christ doth not manifest himself to us at first yet it is to stir up zeal and affection to seek after him more earnestly A notable passage there is of this Cant. 3. 16. The soul sought Christ and sought long and sought in the use of all means but at length she waited and in waiting she found him 4. Christ doth this for to set a greater price upon his presence when he comes to make his presence highly valued when he doth discover himsâ—lf Desiderata diu magis placent Things long desired please more sweetly And things when wanted are ingratiated to us as warmth after cold and meat after hunger and so in every particular of this life And therefore God to set a greater price on his presence and that he would be held more strongly when he doth reveal himself he defers a long time That is one reason why he did defer revealing himself to Mary that she might have the more sweet contentment in him when he did reveal
brother said the King of Israel as common Offices make kindred He had but let passe the tearm of brother and they would not let it go but catcht at it thy brother Benhadad We see what wisdom flesh and blood can teach to make an improvement of any comfort in the world if by kindred or office or any relation in the world they make use of them And when we be in Christ shall not we make use of them when we be troubled with sense of sin or in desperate conditions when Christ calleth us brother shall not we answer I am thy brother Blessed be thy mercy and love that descended so low as to make me thy brother I beseech you let us not lose the comforts we may have in the Disciples being called Christs Brethren when they were in some sort enemies but he knew their hearts were sound and it was but their weakness therefore let no weakness discourage thee He will not quench the smoaking flax nor break the bruised Reed Is thy heartright to Christ art not thou a false Hypocrite a secret Traitor to Christ and to his cause and Church then be of good comfort thou mayst go to Christ as to thy brother Though Peter denyed him with his mouth yet he confest him with his heart And therefore go tell my Disciples and Peter he hath most guilt and therefore hath most need of comfort Be thy guilt never so great if thou wilt come into Covenant with God here is mercy for thee and therefore make this use of it Never forget in your worst condition that may be since Christ will stoop so low to own you to be brethren to make use of it if your hearts be right towards him Go to my brethren now I come to the Commission or Charge given to her Go to my brethren who is the party charged Mary And what is her charge to go to the Apostles under the sweet tearm of brethren When doth he call them so after his Resurrection when he was in the state of glory what is the Message it is very sweet Go say to them I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God I ascend that is I presently am to ascend in a very short time I shall ascend It was but forty dayes between Easter and the Ascension and all that time Christ appeared now and then It is the nature of faith where it is glorious for to present future things as if present especially when they be near I ascend that is I shall very shortly ascend and it is all one as if I ascend presently To whom do I ascend I ascend to my Father To my Father that is not comfort enough therefore to your Father too I ascend to God that is not comfort enough therefore to my God and your God We shall unfold the words as we come at them First Mary Magdalen a woman a sinner is used in the great work of an Apostle to be an Apostle to the Apostles I would there were that love in all men to teach what they know and that humility in others to be instructed in what they know not It were a sweet conjunction if it were so She was a mean person to instruct the great Apostles But beloved where there is a great deal of love there they will teach what they know and where there is humility there they will be taught what they know not though they be never so great And God will humble the greatest to learn of the meanest sometimes therefore he sendeth Mary to the Apostles I beseech you in matters of salvation stand not on tearms Let us take truth from Christ let us see God and Christ in it see our own comfort in it not stand upon persons Aquila and Priscilla teach the great men knowledg And so it is sometimes mean persons are honored to be instruments of great comforts to persons greater then themselves She is to go to the Apostles under the name of Brethren Go tell my Brethren And she must go to the Apostles that were Christs Brethren and owned to be so now when he was in glory when he was risen and exempt from all his former abasements of the Crosse and grave where he was held captive three dayes under the dominion of sin when he was freed from all enemies of salvation and had triumphed over all Go tell my Brethren So you see there is a sweet affinity and nearness between Christ and his Christ took our nature on him for this end he became flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone that we spiritually might be flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone It is no comfort at all an inducing comfort it is but no actuall present comfort that Christ was incarnate for us for all the world might have comfort in that Turks Jews Pagans that had the nature of man in them And all have some comfort in it as their nature is dignified and that he took not on him the nature of Angels but the nature of man his spouse his Church it is that hath the comfort of it Therefore it is not sufficient that he be bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh but we must be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh We must be ingraffed and baptized into him by faith and then the tearm holdeth and never till then so that there is a sweet nearness betwixt Christ and his Brother is a most comfortable relation It is comfort that he took our nature upon him that God would take dust and ashes earth into the unity of his person for God to become man is a great dignifying of mans nature but to take not only our nature on him but to take our person particularly near to him thou and thou to be a Member of Christ there is the honor of it It induceth us to come to Christ that hath loved our nature so much But the other is an actual present comfort when we can say I am my Beloveds my Beloved is mine Our hearts are too narrow a great deal to imbrace the whole comfort that this word affords unto us That Christ should own us as his Brother after his Resurrection for that sheweth a reconciliation Brother is a tearm of friendship nay more then a tearm of reconciliation for a man may be reconciled to an enemy but it is a tearm of amity to shew that when we believe in Christ and are one with him our sins are quitted death is overcome Satans head is crushed when God is reconciled What have they to do with us they are only to serve our turns to bring us to Heaven and fit us for it I beseech you consider of the excellent freedom and dignity of a Christian his freedom in that he is the Brother of Christ free from all being owned by Christ after his Resurrection all being quit by his death who w as our surety else he
but Christ ascended to Heaven that his departure from them might not be prejudicial to them but that they might have comfort through the God of comfort the spirit of comfort the Holy Ghost I will send the Comforter And though there was no losse by the ascension of Christ they might fear by losing of Christ that all their comfort was gone I but Christ telleth them I go to prepare a place for you He goeth to take up Heaven for his Church and then to send his spirit What a blessed intercourse is there now since Christs ascension between Heaven and Earth Our body is in heaven and the spirit of God is here on earth The flesh that he hath taken into heaven is a pledge that all our flesh and bodies shall be where he is ere long In the mean time we have the spirit to comfort us and never to leave us till we be brought to the place where Christ is This is great comfort and this is the main end why Christ ascended to the Father that he might send the comforter And comfort might well come now in more abundance then before because by the death of Christ all enemies were conquered and by the Resurrection of Christ it was discovered that God was appeased The Resurrection of Christ manifested to the world what was done by death and now all enemies being conquered and God being appeased what remains but the sweetest gift next Christ the Holy Ghost And that is the reason why the holy Ghost was more abundant after Christs Resurrection because God was fully satisfied and declared by the rising of Christ to be fully satisfied and all enemies to be conquered 4. One end likewise of his Resurrection was to make a shew of his Conquest There is a double victory over the Enemy There is a victory in the field and triumph together with it And then there is triumphing in Civitate Regia a triumphing in the Kingly City So Christ did conquer in his death and shewed his Conquest by resurrection but he did not lead captivity captive and make shew thereof till he ascended and then he made open shew of his victorious triumph in Civitate Regia 5. One special end likewise why he would have this Message sent that he was to ascend was that he might appear there in Heaven for us as Heb. 9. He appears for ever in Heaven for us and maketh intercession for us When the high Priest was to enter into the holy of holies which was a type of Heaven he carried the names of the twelve Tribes ingraven in stones upon his brest Christ our true high Priest being entred into the true Holy of Holies carried the names of all his Elect in his breast into Heaven and there appeareth before God for us He carrieth us in his heart Christ doth fulfill that which in John 17. he prayeth for appearing in heaven before his Father by virtue of his blood-shed and that blood that speaketh better things then the blood of Abel it speaks mercy pardon the blood of Abel crieth for vengeance justice but the blood of Christ saith here is one that I shed my blood for And when we pray to God God accepts of our prayers and by virtue of Christs blood-shed there is mercy and pardon and favour procured which is sprinkled by faith upon the soul God manifesting to the soul by his spirit that Christ dyed in particular for such a soul which soul praying to God in the name of Christ that blood not only in Heaven but sprinkled upon the soul speaketh peace there The spirit saith that to the soul which Christ doth in Heaven Christ saith in Heaven I dyed for such a soul the spirit saith in the soul Christ dyed for me and the blood of Christ is sprinkled on every particular soul As Christ in Heaven appears and intercedeth for me so the spirit intercedeth in mine own guilty heart that always speaks discomfort till it be satisfied with particular assurance Christ dyed for me and God is mine and Christ is mine Thus particular faith sprinkleth the blood of Christ upon the soul So that now my sins are not only pardoned in Heaven but in my soul There is not only intercession in Heaven but in my soul My soul goeth to God for pardon and for mercy and rejoyceth in all the mercies it hath and hopeth to have What is done in Heaven is done in a mans soul by the spirit in some measure 6. The last end is that he might shew that our salvation is exactly wrought that God is perfectly satisfied to the full else he should never have risen much lesse ascended to Heaven And therefore if we once believe in Christ for forgiveness of sins and yet say I doubt of salvation it is all one as if you should go about to pluck Christ from Heaven The doubtful distrustful heart till it be subdued by a spirit of faith saith who shall ascend to Heaven to tell me whether I shall go to Heaven or who shall enter into the deep to tell me I am freed from hell I am afraid I shall be damned saith the guilty heart till the spirit of God hath brought it under and perswaded it of Gods love in Christ Say not who shall ascend up to Heaven for that is to bring Christ down from Heaven And what an injurious thing is it to bring Christ from heaven to suffer on the Crosse This is a great indignity though we think not of it to doubt of our salvation and not cast our selves on his mercy For as verily as he is there we shall be there He is gone to take up a place for us he is there in our name as the Husband taketh a place for his spouse And if we doubt whether we shall come there or no we doubt whether he be there or no. And if we doubt of that we doubt whether he hath wrought salvation or no and so we bring him down to the Crosse again Who shall descend to the deep that is to bring Christ from the dead again such is the danger of a distrustful heart So that by Christs ascending into Heaven we may know all is done and accomplished all our enemies are subdued God is appeased and fully satisfied Heaven is taken up in our room and therefore labor for a large heart answerable to the large unchangeable grounds we have for faith to pitch and bottom it self upon Therefore make this further use of this ascension of Christ and thereupon his intercession in Heaven for us He is there to plead our cause he is there as our surety to appear for us and not only so but as a Councellor to plead for us and not only so but one of us as if a Brother should plead for a Brother and not only so but a favorite there too all favorites are not so excellent at counselling perhaps but we have one that is favorite in Heaven
into Christ by a spirit of adoption and have the stamp of the Father upon them The likeness of the Father and of Christ whom God begetsto his own likeness that are in a word like Christ Christ is the first Son and in him and for his sake we are Sons He is the natural Son and they may say our Father that labor to express the disposition of Christ who is the first Son See this disposition of Christ in the Gospel how marvellously patient he was under the hand of his Father obedienâ— to the death of his Crosse humbled full of love full of goodness He went about doing good Do we thâ—n walk as Christ did carry we the image of the second Adam have we the patient humble meek disposition of Christ in our measure do we love Christ in his members God in his Image do we love the Ordinances and the power of Reâ—igion this sheweth what we are and is our conversation sutable to our inward disposition do we walk in light do we shew by our conversation whose Children we are do our speeches give a Character of the inward man If this be in us though in never so small a measure with comfort we may say our Father But may not another man that is not in Christ come to God under the sweet name of our Father yea he may come to him as his Father by creation and providence or sacramentally a Father or as brought into the Church and having God to create him and to provide for him Lord thou hast shewed thy self a gracious Father thus far though I cannot from any inward perswasion say My Father Thus far as I can I say my Father strive against our spiritual infidelity believe God and cast our selves on his gracious promises in Christ God will meet us at the same time and he will send us his spirit to make us his Sons And therefore let no man that hath been a wicked liver be discouraged from going to God in the name of a Father in that wherein he is a Father Lord thou hast created me and preserved me and it is thy mercy I am not in Hell yet thou offer'st to be my Father in Christ thou hast made gracious promises and invited me and upon this when the heart yieldeth to the gracious apprehensions of God as a Father there is a spirit of faith wrought in the heart presently therefore think of the name of a Father and the very thoughts of it will bring the spirit of adoption Only it speaks no comfort to the bitter malicious satanical enemies of Christ and the power of Religion they be Children of the Devil But now poor souls that groan under the burden of sin let them think that God is a Father and of the mercies of God though they do not see they be interested in them By the very contemplation of the mercies of God in Christ and his inviting them to receive them the spirit of God will be wrought in the soul whereby they may have confidence to come to God as a Father I desire you therefore to remember this it is the first Sermon of our Saviour Christ after his Resurrection and therefore forget not to think of God as a Father and Christ as a Brother Indeed whatsoever comfort is in any relation God and Christ have taken it on them A Father is more comprehensive then any other Title Christ is Father and Husband and Spouse And God is our Rock and Shield and whatsoever is comfortable he hath taken on him and in Christ we may command him to be so And if we had ten thousand Worlds they could not be compared to the comforts that arise from hence that we can call God Father It is more to us if we could improve it in our spiritual Trade for Heaven then if we had a thousand worlds especially in dayes of affliction and in the hour of death For it improveth whatsoev er is in the bowels of God for poor distressed souls When nothing else will comfort this will comfort if we can say to God Father Though we cannot make a distinct prayer yet if we can say Father God can pick matter out of our broken Language Now Christ is ascended up to Heaven he doth us more good then he did when he was upon the earth The Sun in the Firmament yieldeth us heat and comfort but if it were nearer it would do us hurt or if further off it would not do us so much good God hath placed it being a common light of the world high to inlighten inferior bodies and to convey influence by means into them And so Christ the Son of righteousness being ascended and advanced to Heaven doth more good then on earth And therefore saith he it is for your good that I ascend It is for our good that we have Christ in Heaven to appear there for us I ascend to my Father and to your Father Father is here taken personally not essentially though it be true in that sense to my Father as the first person of the Trinity especially Christ might well say I ascend to my Father now for he was risen again and was mightily declared to be the Son of God by his Resurrection from the dead Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee that is this day have I declared thee It is said of things fiunt cum pate fiunt they are done when they be open and declared to be done Christ was the Son of God when he rose again because he was discovered by his glorious Resurrection to be so indeed And therefore Christ may well say after his Resurrection I go to my Father and your Father Observe from hence That God in Christ is our Father We say Relations are Minimae entitatis they are little entities founded on others but they are maximae consequentiae of great concernment I beseech you before I leave the point give me leave to go on a little further in this to shew that wonderful mercy that admirable goodness which the tongues and hearts of all the men in the world and Angels in Heaven are not able to express that love of God which is contained in the Relation he hath taken on him in Christ to be our Father 1. Consider who and whom Who the great God that hath the Son to solace himself in he did not adopt us because he wanted Sons he had Sons of his own and Sons of his love to sollace himself in what need he have took Traitors Rebels enemies to make them his Sons Oh it is a marvellous advancement of our nature that God should in Christ become our Father It is said Psalm 113. God abaseth himself to behold things below and indeed so he doth with reverence be it spoken to his great Majesty he abaseth himself in regard of things below In regard of us worms of the earth that be enemies yea Devils by nature For
to your own souls if you do not And therefore I beseech you if you be not yet come in adde this more you be sacrilegious persons if you be not Christians in earnest have not you given your selves to God in baptisme and have not you in your lives given your selves to lusts which you renounced at your baptisme now you have alienated your selves from God to whom you were dedicated Did not you ingage your selves to God in your Baptisme and is not he willing to receive you He thought of you when you could not think of your selves And therefore as it bindeth you over to greater punishment if you will not come in but continue sacrilegious persons from God to whom you have dedicated your selves so God preventeth you with mercy He incourageth by the seal of election in Baptisme to make it good by faith without which it will do no good being but a seal to a blank therefore how many incouragements have you to come in Take Gods gracious offer he giveth you time to make your peace it is nothing but wilful rebellion to stand out against God For they that have given themselves to God and now renewed their interest in him by the Sacraments let them conceive what a word of comfort they have in this That Christ is theirs and God is theirs What an ocean of comfort is it when all things leave you as all things will yeâ— we have God that will be a God for evermore At the time of death what comfort will it be to say God is mine Christ is mine Life is mine no longer world is mine no longer friends forsake me but I am interessed in God and have made Covenant with God who is a God for ever the Covenant I have made is an everlasting Covenant It is of that largeness the comfort is that the Angels themselves admire it the Devils envie it and it is a matter of glory and praise in Heaven for ever Therefore make much of such a priviledge that is the envy of Devils the admiration of Angels that is the joy of a Christians heart here and matter of glorifying God for ever world without end That God in Christ is become his God here and for ever it is a ravishing consideration It is larger then our hearts here be comforts larger then the capacity of our hearts Cor vestrum soli Deo patere debet our hearts ought all to lie open to divine things for they have more in them then the heart can contain If we will shut them shut them to worldly things Oh the comfort of a Christian that hath made his state sure let him glory in the Lord. There be three degrees of glory in all let him glory under hope of glory glory in afflictions and glory in God that is we glory in God to be our God That in the sharing and dividing of all things God hath given himself to us and what an offer is this that when God divideth the world to the Children of men you shall have this and that but you shall not have me But to his Children he hath given himself and he hath nothing better to give and indeed there is nothing else needs for there is more in it then we can speak but that when God divideth all things he should give such a share as himself is not this a glory that a poor Creature should have God to be his and all he hath to be his to make use of it in life and in death it is worth all the world It is worth our endeavors to make our Calling and Election sure when we may have this comfort from it FINIS Prutitus disputandi scabies ecclesiae Sir H. VVotton Ideo conversa est quia angeli assurrexerunt praesentiae Christi Gerfon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. se domum versus praeter virum suum qui subsequebatur ipsam Junius in anal in Gen Exodo 25. 20 Col. 1. 20. Ministery of Angels towards Christ Luke 2. 9. 10. Luke 22. 4â— John 10. 12. Act. 1. 10. Heb. 1. 14. Psal 34. 7. Luke 16. 22. Mat. 24. 31 Presence of Christ comfortable weaknesse of faith now seen 1 Cor. 6. 9. When Christ speaks the Angels are silent Christs first words after his Resurrection Misapprehensions of Christ in good men Mat. 11. 28 Passion clouds understanding Act. 17. 81 Mat. 11. 28. Esay 40. 11. Love a willing grace Cant. 8. 6. Nothing can comfort the grieved soul till it heares the voice of Christ Ingâ—ntes dâ—lores stupent Christ takes notice of all 〈◊〉 Rabboni The believing soul is never satisfied till it comes to Heaven Obser 1. Cathedraâ— habet in caelis qui cordâ— dâ—cet Observ 2. Necessity of hearing Note Christ can easily comfort God is the beginner of all saving works Object Answ The motions of the spirit must not be slighted Alloquenti Christâ— fideles respondent 1 Sam. 3. 10. Grace a graduall work Quest Reasons why God defers mercy James 1. 4. Mat. 15. Mark 7. 27. 28. Communion with Christ is the Christians life Directions to re injoy Christ Gen. 45 3. Psal 63. Caution Mat. 28. 1. Mark 16. 9 Luk. 24. 1. Joh. 20. 1. Where to find him Luk. 2. 46. Christ conveyeth himself to us by the ear and by the eye first by the word and Sacraments The excellency of the Sacrament â— Cor 6. 2. Caveat The teachings of Christ by his spirit are powerful and cannot be resisted General promises must be particularly applied Christâ— dying for sinners is no comfort to the soul but by a particular application Spiritus Dei Dei hominis secreta cognoscit John 20. 27. Love to Christ cannot be satisfied without the injoyment of Christ Sense much affects carnal men Christ after his Resurrection is to be touched by faith and not by sense The Regenerate knoweth no man no not Christ himself after the flesh Joh. 4. 24. Externâ— dei placere nequtunt Hos 10. 11. â—rduum difficile est in fide vivere Christ not to be touched because not ascended non solum significat tangere sed ad haeâ—ere coÌ„glutinari Esa 52. 11. 2 Cor. 6. 17. A tabernaculo im piorum hominum recedite Num. 16. 27. Mitte fidâ—m in caelum tetigisti Christs care of mourning souls Charity Mat. 5. 24. God uses weak instruments to effect great matters 2 Cor. 4. 7. 1 King 17. 4. Quest Answ Rom. 8. 29 Rom. 8. 17 Heb. â— 14. Christ not ashamed to be neerly related to us Joh. 15. 15 1 Cor. 11. 3 1 Cor. 12. 27. Ephes 5. 23. John 2. Revel 22. Object Answ Relation to Christ must not be denyed because of sin Luk. 15. 21 Tentatio est ad Christum eundi opportunitas ut nobis succurrat Vanity of Popery Popish Orders Mark 9. 24 Relyance on Christs comforts The consideration of Christs free gracâ— and love keeps from desperation A Christian is Confessor Mark 8 18 Deserting of Christ is betraying of him