Mediation of the Son the holy Spirit unto whom the actual Application of them is committed communicates Life Light Power Grace and Mercy unto all that are designed parts of the New Creation Hereon doth God glorifie both the essential Properties of his Nature his infinite Wisdom Power Goodness and Grace as the only eternal Spring of all these things and also his ineffable glorious Existence in three Persons by the Order of the Communication of these things unto the Church which are originally from his Nature And herein is the glorious Truth of the Blessed Trinity which by some is opposed by some neglected by most looked on as that which is so much above them as that it doth not belong unto them made precious unto them that believe and becomes the Foundation of their Faith and Hope In a View of the glorious Order of those divine Communications we are in a steady Contemplation of the ineffable Glory of the Existence of the Nature of God in the Three distinct Persons of Father Son and Holy Ghost 7. ACCORDING unto this Divine Order the Elect in all Ages are by the holy Spirit moving and acting on that Mass of the New Creation formed and animated with spiritual Life Light Grace and Power unto the Glory of God They are not called accidentally according unto the external Occasions and Causes of their Conversion unto God but in every Age at his own Time and Season the holy Spirit communicates these things unto them in the Order declared unto the Glory of God 8. AND in the same manner is the whole New Creation preserved every Day every moment there is vital Power and Strength Mercy and Grace communicated in this Divine Order to all Believers in the World There is a continual Influence from the Fountain from the Head into all the Members whereby they all consist in him are acted by him who worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure and the Apostle declares that the whole Constitution of Church-order is suited as an external Instrument to promote these Divine Communications unto all the Members of the Church it self Eph. 4. 13 14 15 16. THIS in general is the Order of Divine Communications which is for the Substance of it continued in Heaven and shall be so unto Eternity For God is and ever will be all and in all But at present it is invisible unto Eyes of Flesh yea the Reason of Men. Hence it is by the most despised they see no Glory in it But let us consider the Prayer of the Apostle that it may be otherwise with us Ephes. 1. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23. For the Revelation made of the Glory of God in the old Creation is exceeding inferior to that which he makes of himself in the New HAVING premised these things in general concerning the Glory of Divine Communications I shall proceed to declare in particular the Grounds and Way whereby the Lord Christ communicates himself and therewithal all the Benefits of his Mediation unto them that do believe as it was before proposed WE on our part are said herein to receive him and that by Faith John 1. 11 12. Now where he is received by us he must be tendred given granted or communicated unto us And this he is by some divine Acts of the Father and some of his own THE Foundation of the whole is laid in a Soveraign Act of the Will the Pleasure the Grace of the Father And this is the Order and Method of all divine Operations in the Way and Work of Grace They originally proceed all from him and having effected their Ends do return rest and center in him again see Ephes. 1. 4 5 6. Wherefore that Christ is made ours that he is communicated unto us is originally from the free Act Grant and Donation of the Father 1 Cor. 1. 30. Rom. 5. 15 16 17. And hereunto sundry things do concur As 1. His Eternal Purpose which he purposed in himself to glorifie his Grace in all his Elect by this Communication of Christ and the Benefits of his Mediation unto them which the Apostle declares at large Ephes. 1. 2. His granting all the Elect unto Christ to be his own so to do and suffer for them what was antecedaneously necessary unto the actual Communication of himself unto them Thine they were and thou gavest them to me Joh. 17. 3. The giving of the Promise or the Constitution of the Rule and Law of the Gospel whereby a participation of Christ an Interest in him and all that he is is made over and assured unto Believers Joh. 1. 12. 1 Joh. 1. 1 2 3 4. 4. An Act of Almighty Power working and creating Faith in the Souls of the Elect enabling them to receive Christ so exhibited and communicated unto them by the Gospel Ephes. 1. 19 20. Chap. 2. 5 6 7 8. THESE things which I have but named have an Influence into the Glory of Christ herein For this Communication of him unto the Church is an effect of the eternal Counsel Wisdom Grace and Power of the Father BUT they are the Acts of Christ himself herein which principally we enquire into as those which manifest the Glory of his Wisdom Love and Condescention AND 1. He gives and communicates unto them his holy Spirit the holy Spirit as peculiarly his as granted unto him of the Father as inhabiting in him in all fulness This Spirit abiding originally as to his Person and immeasurably as unto his Effects and Operations in himself he gives unto all Believers to inhabit and abide in them also Joh. 14. 14. 20. 1 Cor. 6. 16 17. Rom. 8. 8. Hence follows an ineffable Vnion between him and them For as in his Incarnation he took our Nature into personal Union with his own so herein he takes our Persons into a Mystical Vnion with himself Hereby he becomes ours and we are his AND herein is he unspeakably glorious For this Mystery of the Inhabitation of the same Spirit in him as the Head and the Church as his Body animating the whole is a transcendent Effect of Divine Wisdom There is nothing of this Nature in the whole Creation besides no such Union no such mutual Communication The strictest Unions and Relations in Nature are but Shadows of it Ephes. 5. 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32. Herein also is the Lord Christ precious unto them that do believe but a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offence unto the Disobedient This glorious ineffable Effect of his Wisdom and Grace this rare peculiar singular Way of the Communication of himself unto the Church is by many despised They know it may be some of them what it is to be joyned unto an Harlot so as to become one Flesh but what it is to be joyned unto the Lord so as to become one Spirit they know not But this Principle and Spring of the spiritual Life of the Church and of all vital spiritual Motions towards God and Things
way or manner of its accomplishment But now when every word of it is explained declared and its Mystical Sence visibly laid open unto us in the Gospel and by the accomplishment exactly answering every expression in it it is Judicial Blindness not to receive it Nothing but the Satanical Pride of the hearts of men which will admit of no effects of Infinite Wisdom but what they suppose they can comprehend can shut their eyes against the Light of this Truth 6. PROMISES Prophesies Praedictions concerning his Person his coming his Office his Kingdom and his Glory in them all with the Wisdom Grace and Love of God to the Church in him are the Line of Life as was said which runs through all the Writings of the Old Testament and take up a great portion of them Those were the things which he expounded unto his Disciples out of Moses and all the Prophets Concerning these things he appealed to the Scriptures against all his adversaries Search the Scriptures for they are they that testifie of me And if we find them not if we discern them not therein it is because a vail of Blindness is over our minds Nor can we read study or meditate on the Writings of the Old Testament unto any Advantage unless we design to find out and behold the Glory of Christ declared and represented in them For want hereof they are a sealed book to many unto this day 7. IT is usual in the Old Testament to set out the Glory of Christ under Metaphorical Expressions yea it aboundeth therein For such Allusions are exceedingly suited to let in a sense into our minds of those things which we cannot distinctly comprehend And there is an Infinite Condescention of Divine Wisdom in their way of Instruction Representing unto us the Power of Things Spiritual in what we naturally discern Instances of this kind in calling the Lord Christ by the Names of those Creatures which unto our senses represent that Excellency which is spiritually in him are innumerable So he is called the Rose for the sweet savour of his Love Grace and Obedience the Lilly for his gracious Beauty and Amiableness the Pearl of Price for his worth for to them that believe he is precious the Vine for his fruitfulness the Lion for his Power The Lamb for his Meekness and Fitness for Sacrifice with other things of the like kind almost innumerable THESE Things have I mentioned not with any design to search into the depth of this Treasury of those Divine Truths concerning the Glory of Christ but only to give a little Light unto the words of the Evangelist that he opened unto his disciples out of Moses and all the Prophets the things which concerned himself and to stir up our own souls unto a contemplation of them as contained therein CHAP. IX The Glory of Christ in his intimate Conjunction with the Church VVHAT concerns the Glory of Christ in the Mission of the Holy Ghost unto the Church with all the Divine truths that are branched from it I have at large declared in my Discourse concerning the whole dispensation of the Holy Spirit Here therefore it must have no place amongst those many other things which offer themselves unto our contemplation as part of this Glory or intimately belonging thereunto I shall insist briefly on Three only which cannot be reduced directly unto the former heads AND the first of these is That intimate Conjunction that is between Christ and the Church whence it is just and equal in the sight of God according unto the Rules of his Eternal Righteousness that what he did and suffered in the Discharge of his Office should be esteemed reckoned and imputed unto us as unto all the fruits and benefits of it as if we had done and suffered the same things our selves For this conjunction of his with us was an act of his own Mind and Will wherein he is ineffably glorious THE Enemies of the glory of Christ and of his Cross do take this for granted That there ought to be such a conjunction between the guilty person and him that suffers for him as that in him the guilty person may be said in some sense to undergo the punishment himself But then they affirm on the other hand That there was no such conjunction between Christ and sinners none at all but that he was a man as they were men and otherwise that he was at the greatest distance from them all as it is possible for one man to be from another Socin de Servat lib. 3. cap. 3. The falseness of this latter Assertion and the gross ignorance of the Scripture under a pretence of subtilty in them that make it will evidently appear in our ensuing Discourse THE Apostle tells us 1 Pet. 2. 24. That in his own self he bare our sins in his own body on the tree and chap. 3. 18. That he suffered for sin the just for the unjust that he might bring us unto God But this seems somewhat strange unto Reason where is the Justice where is the Equity that the just should suffer for the unjust Where is Divine Righteousness herein For it was an act of God The Lord hath laid on him the iniquites of us all Isa. 53. 6. The Equity hereof with the grounds of it must be here a little enquired into FIRST of all it is certain that all the Elect the whole Church of God fell in Adam under the curse due to the transgression of the Law It is so also that in this curse Death both Temporal and Eternal was contained This curse none could undergo and be saved Nor was it consistent with the Righteousness or Holiness or Truth of God that sin should go unpunished Wherefore there was a necessity upon a supposition of Gods Decree to save his Church of a Translation of punishment namely from them who had deserved it and could not bear it unto one who had not deserved it but could bear it A SUPPOSITION of this Translation of punishment by Divine dispensation is the foundation of Christian Religion yea of all supernatural Revelation contained in the Scripture This was first intimated in the first promise and afterwards explained and confirmed in all the institutions of the Old Testament For although in the Sacrifices of the Law there was a revival of the greatest and most fundamental principal of the Law of Nature namely That God is to be worshipped with our best yet the principal end and use of them was to represent this translation of punishment from the offender unto another who was to be a Sacrifice in his stead THE reasons of the equity hereof and the unspeakable glory of Christ herein is what we now enquire into And I shall reduce what ought to be spoken hereunto to the ensuing Heads 1. IT is not contrary unto the nature of Divine Justice it doth not interfere with the principles of natural light in man that in sundry cases some persons should suffer punishment for the fine
heavenly wherein and whereby our Life is hid with Christ in God is the Glory the Exaltation the Honor the Security of the Church unto the Praise of the Grace of God The Understanding of it in its Causes Effects Operations and Priviledges wherewith it is accompanied is to be preferred above all the Wisdom in and of the World 2. HE thus communicates himself unto us by the Formation of a new Nature his own Nature in us so as that the very same spiritual Nature is in him and in the Church Only it is so with this difference that in him it is in the absolute perfection of all those glorious Graces wherein it doth consist in the Church it is in various Measures and Degrees according as he is pleased to communicate it But the same Divine Nature it is that is in him and us for through the precious Promises of the Gospel we are made Partakers of his Divine Nature It is not enough for us that he hath taken our Nature to be his unless he gives us also his Nature to be ours that is implants in our Souls all those gracious Qualifications as unto the Essence and Substance of them wherewith he himself in his human Nature is endued This is that new Man that new Creature that Divine Nature that Spirit which is born of the Spirit that Transformation into the Image of Christ that putting of him on that Workmanship of God whereunto in him we are created that the Scripture so fully testifieth unto Joh. 3. 6. Rom. 6. 3 4 5 6 7 8. 2 Cor. 3. 18. Chap. 5. 17. Ephes. 4. 20. 24. 2 Pet. 1. 4. AND that new Heavenly Nature which is thus formed in Believers as the first vital Act of that Union which is between Christ and them by the Inhabitation of the same Spirit is peculiarly his Nature For both is it so as it is in him the Idaea and the Exemplar of it in us inasmuch as we are predestinated to be conformed unto his Image and as it is wrought or produced in our Souls by an Emanation of Power Vertue and Efficiency from him THIS is a most heavenly Way of the Communication of himself unto us wherein of God he is made unto us Wisdom and Sanctification Hereon he says of his Church This now is Bone of my Bone and Flesh of my Flesh I see my self my own Nature in them whence they are comely and desirable Hereby he makes way to present it to himself a glorious Church not having Spot or Wrinkle or any such thing but holy and wiâ—hout Blemish On this Communication of Christ unto us by the forming of his own Nature in us depends all the Purity the Beauty the Holiness the inward Clory of the Church Hereby is it really substantially internally separated from the World and distinguished from all others who in the outward forms of things in the Profession and Duties of Religion seem to be the same with them Hereby it becomes the First Fruits of the Creation unto God bearing forth the Renovation of his Image in the World Herein the Lord Christ is and will be glorious unto all Eternity I only mention these things which deserve to be far more largely insisted on 3. HE doth the same by that actual Insitition or Implantation into himself which he gives us by Faith which is of his own Operation For hereon two Things do ensue one by the Grace or Power the other by the Law or Constitution of the Gospel which have a great Influence into this Mystical Communication of Christ unto the Church AND the first of these is that thereby there is communicated unto us and we do derive Supplies of spiritual Life Sustentation Motion Strength in Grace and Perseverance from him continually This is that which himself so divinely teacheth in the Parable of the Vine and its Branches Joh. 15. 1 2 3 4 5. Hereby is there a continual Communication from his All fulness of Grace Vnto the whole Church and all the Members of it unto all the Ends and Duties of spiritual Life They live nevertheless not they but Christ liveth in them and the Life which they lead in the Flesh is by the Faith of the Son of God And the other by vertue of the Law and Constitution of the Gospel is that hereon his Righteousness and all the Fruits of his Mediation are imputed unto us the Glory of which Mystery the Apostle unfolds Rom. 3. 4 5. I MIGHT add hereunto the mutual Inbeing that is between him and Believers by Love for the way of the Communication of his Love unto them being by the shedding of it abroad in their Hearts by the Holy Ghost and their returns of Love unto them being wrought in them by an Almighty Efficiency of the same Spirit there is that which is deeply mysterious and glorious in it I might mention also the Continuation of his Discharge of all his Offices towards us whereon all our Receptions from him or all the Benefits of his Mediation whereof we are made Partakers do depend But the few Instances that have been given of the Glory of Christ in this Mysterious Communication of himself unto his Church may suffice to give us such a View of it as to fill our Hearts with holy Admiration and Thanksgiving CHAP. XI The Glory of Christ in the Recapitulation of all things in him IN the last Place the Lord Christ is peculiarly and eminently glorious in the Re-capitulation of all things in him after they had been scattered and disordered by sin This the Apostle proposeth as the most signal Effect of Divine Wisdom and the soveraign Pleasure of God HE hath abounded towards us in all Wisdom and Prudence having made known unto us the Mystery of his Will according unto his good Pleasure which he hath purposed in himself That in the Dispensation of the fulness of time he might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in the Heavens and which are on Earth even in him Ephes. 1. 8 9 10. FOR the Discovery of the Mind of the Holy Ghost in these Words so far as I am at present concerned namely as unto the Representation of the Glory of Christ in them sundry brief Observations must be premised and in them it will be necessary that we briefly declare the Original of all these things in Heaven and Earth their Primitive Order the Confusion that ensued thereon with their Restitution in Christ and his Glory thereby GOD alone hath all being in him Hence he gives himself that Name I AM Exod. 3. 14. He was eternally All when all things else that ever were or now are or shall be were nothing And when they are they are no otherwise but as they are of him and from him and to him Rom. 11. 36. Moreover his Being and Goodness are the same The Goodness of Good is the Meetness of the Divine Being to be communicative of it self in its Effects Hence this is the first Notion of
me ye can do nothing THERE is a twofold coming unto Christ by believing The first is that we may have life that is a spring and principle of spiritual life communicated unto us from him for he is our life Col. 3. 3. and because he liveth we live also Joh. 14. 19. Yea it is not so much we that live as he liveth in us Gal. 2. 19 20. And unbelief is a not coming unto him that we may have life Joh. 5. 40. But secondly there is also a coming unto him by believers in the actual exercise of Faith that they may have this life more abundantly Joh. 10. 10. That is such supplies of Grace as may keep their souls in a healthy vigorous acting of all the powers of spiritual life And as he reproacheth some that they would not come unto him that they might have life so he may justly reprove us all that we do not so come unto him in the actual exercise of Faith as that we might have this life more abundantly SECONDLY When the Lord Christ is near us and we do behold his Glory he will frequently communicaâ—e spiritual refreshment in peace consolation and joy unto our souls We shall not only hereby have our graces excited with respect unto him as their object but be made sensible of his actings towards us in the communications of himself and his love unto us When the Sun of Righteousness ariseth on any soul or makes any near approach thereunto it shall find healing under his Wings his beams of Grace shall convey by his spirit holy spiritual refreshment thereunto For he is present with us by his spirit and these are his fruits and effects as he is the Comforter suited unto his Office as he is promised unto us MANY love to walk in a very careless unwise profession So long as they can hold out in the performance of outward duties they are very regardless of the greatest Evangelical Priviledges of those things which are the marrow of divine Promises all real endeavours of a vital communion with Christ. Such are spiritual peace refreshing consolations ineffable joys and the blessed composure of assurance Without some taste and experience of these things profession is heartless lifeless useless and Religion it self a dead carcass without an animating soul. The peace which some enjoy is a meer stupidity They judge not these things to be real which are the substance of Christs present reward and a renunciation whereof would deprive the Church of its principal supportments and encouragements in all its sufferings It is a great evidence of the power of unbelief when we can satisfie our selves without an experience in our own hearts of the great things in this kind of Joy Peace Consolation Assurance that are promised in the Gospel For how can it be supposed that we do indeed believe the promises of things future namely of Heaven Immortality and Glory the faith whereof is the foundation of all Religion when we do not believe the promises of the present reward in these spiritual Priviledges And how shall we be thought to believe them when we do not endeavour after an experience of the things themselves in our own souls but are even contented without them But herein men deceive themselves They would very desirously have evangelical Joy Peace and Assurance to countenance them in their evil frames and careless walking And some have attempted to reconcile these things unto the ruin of their souls But it will not be Without the diligent exercise of the Grace of Obedience we shall never enjoy the Grace of Consolation But we must speak somewhat of these things afterwards IT is peculiarly in the view of the Glory of Christ in in his approaches unto us and abiding with us that we are made Partakers of Evangelical Peace Consolation Joy and Assurance These are a part of the Royal Train of his Graces of the Reward wherewith he is accompanied His reward is with him Wherever he is graciously present with any these things are never wanting in a due measure and degree unless it be by their own fault or for their trial In these things doth he give the Church of his loves Cant. 7. 12. For if any man saith he loveth me I will love him and manifest my self unto him Joh 14. 21. Yea I and the Father will come unto him and make our abode with him v. 23. and that so as to sup with him Rev. 3. 20. which on his part can be only by the Communication of those spiritual refreshments The only enquiry is by what way and means we do receive them Now I say this is in and by our beholding of the Glory of Christ by Faith 1 Pet. 1. 9 10. Let that Glory be rightly stated as before laid down the Glory of his Person his Office his Condescention Exaltation Love and Grace let Faith be fixed in a view and contemplation of it mix it self with it as represented in the Glass of the Gospel meditate upon it embrace it and virtue will proceed from Christ communicating spiritual supernatural refreshment and joy unto our souls Yea in ordinary cases it is impossible that believers should have a real prospect of this Glory at any time but that it will in some measure affect their hearts with a sense of his love which is the spring of all consolation in them In the exercise of Faith on the discoveries of the Glory of Christ made unto us in the Gospel no man shall ever totally want such intimations of his Love yea such effusions of it in his heart as shall be a living spring of those spiritual refreshments Joh. 4. 14. Rom. 5. 5. When therefore we lose these things as unto a sense of them in our souls it is evident that the Lord Christ is withdrawn and that we do not behold his Glory BUT I cannot here avoid another short digression There are those by whom all these things are derided as distempered fancies and imaginations Yea such things have been spoken and written of them as contain a virtual renunciation of the Gospel the powers of the World to come and the whole work of the Holy Ghost as the comforter of the Church And hereby all real entercourse between the Person of Christ and the souls of them that do believe is utterly overthrown reducing all Religion to an outward shew and a pageantry â—itter for a stage than that Temple of God which is in the minds of men According unto the sentiments of these prophane scoffers there is no such thing as the shedding abroad of the love of God in our hearts by the Holy Ghost nor as the witnessing of the spirit of God with our spirits that we are the Children of God from which these spiritual joys and refreshments are inseparable as their necessary effects No such thing as the lifting up of the Light of Gods countenance upon us which will put gladness into our hearts that gladness which comprizeth all the things mentioned No such
all these things pass by without any further consideration BUT here I must fix with them unto whom I speak at present unless there be a full Conviction in them of the woful deplorable condition of every Soul of whatever Quality Profession Religion outward State it be who is not yet made partaker of Christ all that I have further to add will be of no signification Remember then that the due consideration hereof is unto you in your State your chiefest concernment in this World and be not afraid to take in a full and deep sense of it for if you are really delivered from it and have good Evidence thereof it is nothing unto you but matter of eternal Praise and Thanksgiving And if you are not so it is highly necessary that your Minds should be possessed with due Apprehension of it The work of this Conviction is the first effect of true Religion and the great Abuse of Religion in the World is that a pretence of it deludes the Minds of men to apprehend that it is not necessary for to be of this or that Religion of this or that way in Religion is supposed sufficient to secure the Eternal State of men though they are never convinced of their lost estate by Nature 4. HEREON consider the Infinite Condescention and Love of Christ in his Invitations and Calls of you to come unto him for Life Deliverance Mercy Grace Peace and Eternal Salvation Multitudes of these Invitations and Calls are recorded in the Scripture and they are all of them filled up with those blessed Encouragements which Divine wisdom knows to be suited unto lost convinced Sinners in their present state and condition It were a blessed Contemplation to dwell on the Consideration of the Infinite Condescention Grace and Love of Christ in his Invitations of Sinners to come unto him that they may be saved of that mixture of Wisdom and perswasive Grace that is in them of the force and efficacy of the pleading and Argument that they are accompanied withal as they are recorded in the Scripture but that belongs not to my present Design This I shall only say that in the Declaration and Preaching of them Jesus Christ yet stands before Sinners calling inviting encouraging of them to come unto him THIS is somewhat of the Word which he now speaks unto you Why will ye dye why will ye perish why will you not have compassion on your own Souls Can your Hearts endure or can your hands be strong in the day of Wrath that is approaching It is but a little while before all your Hopes your Reliefs and Presumptions will forsake you and leave you eternally miserable Look unto me and be saved come unto me and I will ease you of all Sins Sorrows Fears Burthens and give rest unto your Souls Come I entreat you lay aside all Procrastinations all delays put me off no more Eternity lyes at the door cast out all cursed self-deceiving Reserves do not so hate me as that you will rather perish than accept of Deliverance by me THESE and the like things doth the Lord Christ continually declare proclaim plead and urge on the Souls of Sinners as it is fully declaclared Prov. 1. ver 20. to the 34. He doth it in the preaching of the word as if he were present with you stood amongst you and spake personally to every one of you And because this would not suit his present state of Glory he hath appointed the Ministers of the Gospel to appear before you and to deal with you in his stead avowing as his own the Invitations that are given you in his Name 2 Cor. 5. 19 20. CONSIDER therefore his Infinite Condescention Grace and Love herein Why all this towards you doth he stand in need of you Have you deserved it at his hands Did you love him first Cannot he be happy and blessed without you Hath he any Design upon you that he is so earnest in calling you unto him Alas it is nothing but the overflowing of Mercy Compassion and Grace that moves and acts him herein Here lyes the entrance of innumerable Souls into a Death and Condemnation far more severe than those contained in the Curse of the Law 2 Cor. 2. 15 16. In the contempt of this Infinite Condescention of Christ in his Holy Invitation of Sinners to himself lies the sting and poyson of Unbelief which unavoidably gives over the Souls of Men unto Eternal Ruine And who shall once pity them to Eternity who are guilty of it Yea but 5. PERHAPS if you should on his Invitation begin to look to him and resolve to come to him you are greatly afraid that when it comes to the Tryal he will not receive you for no Heart can conceive no Tongue can express what wretched vile and provoking Sinners you have been That the Lord Christ will receive unto him such as we are we have no hopes or that ever we shall find Acceptance with him I say it is not amiss when Persons come so far as to be sensible of what Discouragements they have to conflict withall what difficulties lye in their way and what objections do arise against them for the most do perish in a senceless stupidity they will not consider how it is with them what is required of them nor how it will be in the latter end they doubt not but that either they do believe already or can do so when they please but when any come so far as to charge the failure of their Acceptance with Christ on their own unworthiness and so are discouraged from coming unto him there are Arguments for their Conviction and Perswasion which nothing but the Devil and Unbelief can defeat Wherefore that which is now proposed unto consideration in answer hereunto is the Readiness of Christ to receive every Sinner be he who or what he will that shall come unto him And hereof we have the highest Evidences that Divine Wisdom and Grace can give unto us This is the Language of the Gospel of all that the Lord Christ did or suffered which is recorded therein This is the Divine Testimony of the Three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and of the Three that bear witness in Earth the Spirit the Water and the Blood all give their joynt Testimony that the Lord Christ is ready to receive all Sinners that come to him they who receive not this Testimony make God a Lyar both Father Son and Spirit Whatever the Lord Christ is in the Constitution of his Person in the Representation of the Father in his Office in what he did on the Earth in what he doth in Heaven proclaims the same Truth Nothing but cursed Obstinacy in Sin and Unbelief can suggest a thought unto our minds that he is not willing to receive us when we come unto him Herein we are to bear Testimony against the Unbelief of all unto whom the Gospel is preached that come not unto him Unbelief acting
Wisdom unites both the Natures he had sinned against in the one Person of the Son who was the first Object of his Pride and Malice Hereby his Destruction is attended with Everâ—â—sting Shame in the Discovery of his Folly wherein he would have contended with infinite Wisdom as well as Misery by the Powers of the two Natures united in one Person HERE lies the Foundation of the Church The Foundation of the whole Old Creation was laid in an Act of absolute Soveraign Power Hereby God hanged the Earth upon nothing But the Foundation of the Church is on this Mysterious immoveable Rock Thou art Christ the Son of the living God on the most intimate Conjunction of the two Natures the Divine and Humane in themselves infinitely distant in the same Person WE may name one place wherein it is gloriously represented unto us Isa. 9. 6. For unto us a Child is born unto us a Son is given and the Government shall be on his Shoulders and his Name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of Peace Here must the whole Church fall down and worship the Author of this wonderful Contrivance and captivating their Understandings unto the Obedience of Faith humbly adore what they cannot comprehend THIS was obscurly represented unto the Church of old Exo. 3. 2 3 4 5 6. And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a Flame of Fire out of the midst of a Bush and he looked and behold the Bush burned with Fire and the Bush was not consumed And Moses said I will now turn aside and see this great Sight why the Bush is not burnt And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see God called unto him out of the midst of the Bush and said Moses Moses and he said here am I. And he said draw not nigh hither â—ut of thy Shooes from off thy Feet for the Place whereon thou standest is holy Ground Moreover he said I am the God of â—hy Fathers the God of Abraham c. THIS Fire was a Type or Declaration of the Presence of God in the Person of the Son For with respect unto the Father he is called an Angel the Angel of the Covenant but absolutely in himself he was Jehovah the God of Abraham c. And of his Presence the Fire was a proper Representation For in his Nature he is as a Consuming Fire and his present Work was the Delivery of â—he Church out of a Fiery Tryal This Fâ—â—e placed it self in a Bush where it burned but the Bush was not consumed And although the Continuance of the Fire in the Bush was but for a short season a present Appearance yet thence was God said to dwell in the Bush The good will of him that dwelt in the Bush Deut. 33. 16. And this is so spoken because the being of the Fire in the Bush for a season was a Type of him in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily and that for ever Col. 2. 9. Of him who was made flesh and dwelt among us Joh. 1. 14. The Eternal Fire of the Divine Nature dwells in the Bush of our frail Nature yet is not consumed thereby God thus dwells in this Bush with all his Good will towards Sinners MOSES looked on this sight as a marvellous and wondrous thing And if it were so in the Type what is it in the Truth Substance and Reality of it AND by Direction given unto him to put off his shooes we are taught to cast away all fleshly Imaginations and carnal Affections that by pure Acts of Faith we may behold this Glory the Glory of the only begotten of the Father I DESIGN not here to insist on the Explication or Confirmation of this glorious Truth concerning the constitution of the Person of Christ in and by his Incarnation What I can comprehend what I do believe concerning it I have fully declared in a large peculiar Treatise Here I take the Truth it self as known or as it may be thence learned My present Business is only to stir up the Minds of Believers unto a due Contemplation of the Glory of Christ in the sacred Mysterious Constitution of his Person as God and Man in one So much as we abide herein so much do we live by the Faith of the Son of God and God can by a Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation open the Eyes of our Understandings that we may behold this Glory unto our ineffable Consolation and Joy And unto the diligent Discharge of our Duty herein I shall offer the ensuing Directions 1. LET us get it fixed on our Souls and in our Minds that this Glory of Christ in the Divine Constitution of his Person is the best the most noble useful beneficial Object that we can be conversant about in our Thoughts or or cleave unto in our Affections What are all other things in comparison of the Knowledge of Christ In the Judgment of the great Apostle they are but Loss and Dung Phil. 3. 8 9 10. So they were to him and if they are not so to us we are carnal WHAT is the World and what are the things thereof which most men spend their Thoughts about and fix their Affections on The Psalmist gives his Judgment about them in comparison of a View of this Glory of Christ Psal. 4. 6. Many say who will shew us any good Who will give and help us to attain so much in and of this World as will give Rest and Satisfaction unto our Minds That is the good enquired after But saith he Lord lift up the Light of thy Countenance upon us The Light of the Glory of God in the Face of Christ Jesus is that satisfactory Good alone which I desire and seek after THE Scripture reproacheth the Vanity and Folly of the Minds of Men in that they spend their Money for that which is not Bread and their Labour for that which profiteth not They ingage the Vigor of their Spirits about perishing things when they have durable Substance and Riches proposed unto them HOW do Men for the most part exercise their Minds What are they conversant about in their Thoughts SOME by them make provision for the flesh to fulfil it in the Lusts thereof as Rom. 13. 14. They search about continually in their Thoughts for Objects suited unto their Lusts and carnal Affections coyning framing and stamping of them in their Imaginations They fix their Eyes with delight on Toads and Serpents with all noisome filthy Objects refusing in the mean time to behold the Beauty and Glory of the Light of the Sun So is it with all that spend their Thoughts about the Objects of their sinful Pleasures refusing to look up after one view of this Glory of Christ. SOME keep their Thoughts in continual Exercise about the Things of this World as unto the Advantages and Emoluments which they expect from them Hereby are they transformed into the Image of the World becoming earthly carnal
they knew not what Luk. 9. 30 33. And the reason hereof was because no man in this life can have a Visive Power either spiritual or corporeal directly and immediately to behold the real Glory of Christ. SHOULD the Lord Jesus appear now to any of us in his Majesty and Glory it would not be unto our edification nor consolation For we are not meet nor able by the Power of any Light or Grace that we have received or can receive to bear the immediate appearance and representation of them His beloved Apostle John had leaned on his bosom probably many a time in this life in the intimate familiarities of love But when he afterwards appeared unto him in his Glory he fell at his feet as dead Rev. 1. 17. And when he appeared unto Paul all the account he could give thereof was that he saw a light from Heaven above the brightness of the Sun whereon he and all that were with him fell to the ground Act. 26. 13 14. AND this was one Reason why in the days of his Ministry here on earth his Glory was vailed with the infirmities of the flesh and all sorts of sufferings as we have before related The Church in this life is no way meet by the Grace which it can be made partaker of to converse with him in the immediate manifestations of his Glory AND therefore those who dream of his Personal Reign on the earth before the day of Judgment unless they suppose that all the Saints shall be perfectly glorified also which is only to bring down Heaven to the Earth for a while to no purpose provide not at all for the edification or consolation of the Church For no present grace advanced unto the highest degree whereof in this World it is capable can make us meet for an immediate converse with Christ in his unvailed Glory How much more abominable is the folly of men who would represent the Lord Christ in his present Glory by Pictures and Images of him When they have done their utmost with their burnished Glass and Guildings an eye of flesh cannot only behold it but if it be guided by reason see it contemptible and foolish But the true Glory of Christ neither inward nor outward sight can bear the rays of in this life THE dispensation which we are meet for is only that of his presence with us by his Spirit We know him now no more after the flesh 2 Cor. 5. 16. We are advanced above that way and means of the knowledge of him by the fleshly carnal Ordinances of the Old Testament And we know him not according unto that bodily presence of his which his Disciples enjoyed in the days of his flesh We have attained somewhat above that also For such was the nature of his Ministry here on earth that there could not be the promised dispensation of the spirit until that was finished Therefore he tells his Disciples that it was expedient for them that he should go away and send the spirit to them John 16. 7. Hereon they had a clearer view of the Glory of Christ than they could have by beholding him in the flesh This is our spiritual posture and condition We are past the knowledge of him according to the flesh we cannot attain nor receive the sight of him in Glory but the life which we now lead is by the Faith of the Son of God I SHALL not here enquire into the nature of this vision or the power and ability which we shall have in Heaven to behold the Glory of Christ. Some few things may be mentioned as it relates unto our Minds and our Bodies also after the Resurrection 1. FOR the Mind it shall be perfectly freed from all that Darkness Unsteadiness and other Incapacities which here it is accompanied with and whereby it is weakened hindred and obstructed in the Exercise of Faith And they are of two sorts First such as are the remainders of that depravation of our Natures which came upon us by sin Hereby our Minds became wholly vain dark and corrupt as the Scripture testifieth utterly unable to discern spiritual things in a due manner This is so far cured and removed in this Life by Grace as that those who were darkness do become light in the Lord or are enabled to live unto God under the Conduct of a new spiritual Light communicated unto them But it is so cured and removed in part only it is not perfectly abolished Hence are all our remaining Weaknesses and Incapacities in discerning things spiritual and eternal which we yet groan under and long for deliverance from No Footsteps no Scars or Marks that ever it had place in our Minds shall abide in glory Ephes. 5. 27. Nothing shall weaken disturb or incapacitate our Souls in acting all their Powers unimpeded by Vanity Diversions Weakness Inability upon their proper Objects The Excellency hereof in universal Liberty and Power we cannot here comprehend Nor can we yet conceive the Glory and Beauty of those immixed spiritual actings of our Minds which shall have no Clog upon them no Encumbrance in them no Alloy of Dross accompanying of them One pure Act of spiritual Sight in discerning the Glory of Christ one pure Act of Love in cleaving unto God will bring in more Blessedness and Satisfaction into our Minds than in this World we are capable of 2. THERE is an Incapacity in our Minds as unto their Actings on things spiritual and eternal that is meerly natural from the Posture wherein they are and the Figure which they are to make in this Life For they are here cloathed with Flesh and that debased and corrupted Now in this State though the Mind act its Conceptions by the Body as its Organ and Instrument Yet is it variously streightned encumbred and impeded in the exercise of its native Powers especially towards things heavenly by this Prison of the Flesh wherein it is immured There is an Angelical Excellency in the pure Actings of the Soul when delivered from all material Instruments of them or when they are all glorified and made suitable helps in its utmost spiritual Activity How and by what degrees our Minds shall be freed from these Obstructions in their beholding the glory of Christ shall be afterwards declared 2. AGAIN a new light the light of Glory shall be implanted in them There is a Light in Nature which is the Power of a Man to discern the things of Man An Ability to know perceive and judge of things natural It is that Spirit of a Man which is the Candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly Prov. 20. 27. BUT by the light hereof no man can discern spiritual things in a due manner as the Apostle declares 1 Cor. 2. 11 12 13 14 15. Wherefore God gives a superior a supernatural Light the Light of Faith and Grace unto them whom he effectually calls unto the knowledge of himself by Jesus Christ. He shines into their hearts to give
Heaven AMONG the many other Differences which might be insisted on altho the greatest of them are unto us at present absolutely incomprehensible and so not to be enquired into I shall name two only and so put a close to this Discourse 1. IN the View which we have here of the Glory of Christ by Faith we gather things as it were one by one in several parts and parcels out of the Scripture and comparing them together in our Minds they become the Object of our present Sight which is our spiritual comprehension of the things themselves We have no proposal of the Glory of Christ unto us by Vision or illustrious appearance of his Person as Isaiah had of old Chap. 6. 1 2 3 4. or as John had in the Revelation Chap. 1. vers 13 14 15 16. We need it not it would be of no advantage unto us For as unto the assurance of our Faith we have a word of prophesie more useful unto us than a Voice from Heaven 2 Pet. 1. 17 18 19. And of those who received such Visions tho of eminent use unto the Church yet as unto themselves one of them cryed out Wo is me I am undone and the other fell as dead at his feet We are not able in this life to bear such glorious Representations of him unto our Edification AND as we have no such external proposals of his Glory unto us in Visions so neither have we any New Revelations of him by immediate inspiration We can see nothing of it know nothing of it but what is proposed unto us in the Scripture and that as it is proposed Nor doth the Scripture it self in any one place make an entire proposal of the Glory of Christ with all that belongs unto it nor is it capable of so doing nor can there be any such Representation of it unto our capacity on this side Heaven If all the Light of the Heavenly Luminaries had been contracted into one it would have been destructive not useful to our sight But being by Divine Wisdom distributed into Sun Moon and Stars each giving out his own Proportion it is suited to declare the Glory of God and to enlighten the World So if the whole Revelation of the Glory of Christ and all that belongs unto it had been committed into one series and contexture of Words it would have overwhelmed our Minds rather than enlightned us Wherefore God hath distributed the Light of it through the whole Firmament of the Books of the Old and New Testament whence it communicates it self by various parts and degrees unto the proper use of the Church In one place we have a description of his Person and the Glory of it sometimes in words plain and proper and sometimes in great variety of Allegories conveying an heavenly Sense of things unto the Minds of them that do believe In others of his Love and Condescention in his Office and his Glory therein His Humiliation Exaltation and Power are in like manner in sundry places represented unto us And as one Star differeth from another in Glory so it was one way whereby God represented the Glory of Christ in Types and Shadows under the Old Testament and another wherein it is declared in the New Illustrious Testimonies upon all these things are planted up and down in the Scripture which we may collect as choice flowers in the Paradise of God for the SO the Spouse in the Canticles considered every part of the Person and Grace of Christ distinctly by it self and from them all concludes that he is altogether lovely Chap. 5. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16. So ought we to do in our study of the Scripture to find out the Revelation of the Glory of Christ which is made therein as did the Prophets of old as unto what they themselves received by immediate Inspiration They searched diligently what the spirit of Christ which was in them did signifie when it testified before hand the sufferings of Christ and the glory which should ensue 1 Pet. 1. 11 12. But this seeing of Christ by parts in the Revelation of him is one cause why we see him here but in part SOME suppose that by Chopping and Painting and Gilding they can make an Image of Christ that shall perfectly represent him to their Sences and carnal Affections from head to foot But they feed on ashes and have a lie in their right hand Jesus Christ is evidently crucified before our eyes in the Scripture Gal. 3. 1. So also is he evidently exalted and glorified therein And it is the Wisdom of Faith to gather into one these parcelled Descriptions that are given of him that they may be the Object of its View and Contemplation IN the Vision which we shall have above the whole Glory of Christ will be at once and always represented unto us and we shall be enabled in one act of the Light of Glory to comprehend it Here indeed we are at a loss our minds and understandings fail us in their Contemplations It will not yet enter into our hearts to conceive what is the beauty what is the Glory of this compleat Representation of Christ unto us To have at once all the Glory of what he is what he was in his outward State and Condition what he did and suffered what he is Exalted unto his Love and Condescention his Mystical Union with the Church and the Communication of himself unto it with the Recapitulation of all things in Him and the Glory of God even the Father in his Wisdom Righteousness Grace Love Goodness Power Shining forth eternally in him in what he is hath done and doth all presented unto us in one view all comprehended by us at once is that which at present we cannot conceive We can long for it pant after it and have some foretasts of it namely of that State and Season wherein our whole Souls in all their powers and faculties shall constantly inseparably eternally cleave by Love unto whole Christ in the fight of the Glory of his Person and Grace until they are watered dissolved and inebriated in the Waters of Life and the Rivers of Pleasure that are above for evermore So must we speak of the things which we admire which we adore which we love which we long for which we have some foretasts of in sweetness inessable which yet we cannot comprehend THESE are some few of those things whence ariseth the difference between that view which we have here of the Glory of Christ and that which is reserved for Heaven namely such as are taken from the difference between the means or instruments of the one and the other Faith and Sight IN the last place the great difference between them consists in and is manifested by their effects Hereof I shall give some few instances and close this discourse 1. THE Vision which we shall have of the Glory of Christ in Heaven and of the Glory of the immense God in him is perfectly and absolutely transforming