The Treasure of the Church, Lecture 2
The second Lecture.
THese things spake Iesus, Vers. 1. Doct… 1.and lift vp his eies to heauē, &c. this gesture of lifting vp the eies in praier, was often vsed by our Sauiour, as Marke 7. 34. when hee healed the deafe man, he looking vp to heauen, The gesture required in prayer.sighed, Iohn 11. 41. at the raising vp of Lazarus, Iesus lift vp his eies, and saide, Father I thanke thee: By this holy gesture of our Sauiour we are taught, as to lift vp the eies of our bodie, so to fasten the eies of our soule, vponupon God, and to eleuate the meditations of our hearts, that they wander not, neither bee vainely occupied while we pray.
This is that which Saint Paul saith, hee would hauehave men lift vp pure or holie hands foreign, 1. Tim. 2. 8. that is, being holily and purely affected, to lift vp their handes as also their eies: and Saint Iames requireth, that the praier of a righteous man should bee feruent, Iames 5, 16. the word is foreign ▪ effectuall, that the feare thereof bee not abated or slaked with earthly and worldly thoughts.
Thus praied Dauid, Psalme 121. I will lift vp my eies vntounto the hilles from whence commeth my helpe: and not his eies onelie were lift vp, but his heart: as hee saith, Psalme 57. 7. My heart is fixed, my heart is fixed, I will sing and giuegive praise: Thus praied Stephen, when he looked stedfastly into heauen, and saw Iesus standing at the right hand of God, Acts 7. 56. Thus were Saint Peters affections rauished, when in his praier hee fell into a traunce, and saw that vision of the foure cornerd vessell, &c. Act. 10. 10.
3 For looke as the eyes of seruants looke to the hand of their masters, so should our eyes wait vponupon God, Psalme 123. 2. as Peter biddeth the lame man looke vponupon him, Acts 3. 5. and he gaue heede vntounto them, trusting to receiue somthing of them, verse 6. so we must looke and waite vponupon GOD in our prayer, from whom wee expect a blessing; our eyes must be as Doues eyes, Cantic. 4. 1. that is not vnconstant, wandering vnstedfast, but simple, sober, chaste, staid.
4 For the Preacher saith, Ecclesiast. 9. 10. Whatsoeuer thou doest, pro omni facultate fac: Do it with all thy power: therefore when we pray, our eyes, our hands, our tongue, our heart must all be occupied and attent vponupon God; and this it is to louelove God with all our strength, Luke 10. 27. when we pray vntounto him, and worship him with all our inward and outward powers.
5 Wherfore, they which pray with wandering eyes, and wauering thoughts are not herein like vntounto our Sauiour; the wise man saith: that the eyes of the foole are in the corners of the world, Prou. 17. 24. but the eyes of the wise are in his head, Eccles. 2. 14. that is, fixed and setled to looke vp vntounto God: the wandring of the eyes shew an vnstedfast heart and running thoughts: for death first entreth in by the windowes, Ioel 9. 9. And the eyes which are as the windowes of the bodie, do first minister occasion of euill. But like as in other things the husband is a veile of the eyes to the wife, as it was said to Sara, Gen. 20. 16. that is, the eyes and affection of the wife ought to be setled vpō her husband, and his likewise vponupon her: so in this spirituall businesse of prayer, heauen and heauenly things should be a veile to our eyes to couer and keepe them, from looking toward or attending vponupon any thing else: all worldly thoughts and earthly desires should be chased away from our prayers, as Abraham droue away the birds from his sacrifice, Gen. 15. We all are subiect to this temptation in prayer: I remember Hierome thus complaineth of himselfe: Creberrimè in oratione mea, aut per porticus deambulo, aut de foenore computo: sic…ine putamus orasse Ionam? sic Danielem? Oftentimes in my prayer me thinke I am walking in galleries and porches, or casting of an account and reckoning. Do we thinke that Ionas prayed so, or Daniel?
Father] God is Christs Father after a more excellent manner then he is called our Father:God Christs father, otherwise then ours. he is the Son of God by nature, non factus, sed natus, not made the So…ne of God, but so bo…ne from all eternitie, Prou. 8. 23. I was set vp from euerlasting, vers. 25. before the hils, was I begotten. We are the sonnes of God facti, non nati; made, not borne: the Angels are the sonnes of God, so made by priuiledge of their creation, Iob. 1. 6. cap. 38. 7. and Adam also in the same sense is called the sonne of God, Luk. 3. 38. being created in the state of perfection: the faithfull are the sonnes of God, so made by adoption and grace. Rom. 8. 15. We hauehave receiued the spirit of adoption, whereby we crie Abba, Father.
From hence then this doctrine is concluded,Doct. 2. that Christ praying vntounto God and calling him Father, (and he is his Father as he is God) did execute his Mediatorship not onelyonly as he was man, but as he was both God and man.
This Saint Paule testifieth 2. Cor. 5. 19. God was in Christ, and reconciled the world to himselfe. Christ then reconciled the world, wherein consisted the office and worke of the Mediator, not as he was man onelyonly, but as God was in him; that is, as he was God: for God to be in Christ is nothing else, but to shew that Christ is God; as Colos. 2. 9. In him dwelleth all the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily. Likewise Heb. 7. 28. The Law maketh men high Priests which hauehave infirmitie, but the word of the oath, &c. maketh the Sonne, which is consecrated for euermore: if Christ be cō secrated a Priest as he is the Sonne, then as he is God; for the Sonne is God.
A further proofe and experience hereof, we hauehave in this Chapter, vers. 24. …ather, I will that they which thou hast giuen me, be with me where I am, &c. Christ prayeth not here as an inferiour, but as equall vntounto God, as whose will is one with Gods: neuer any humble suppliant would thus pray, I will this, or I will that. Againe another example we hauehave in the dispensation of the law, which was giuen by the hand of a Mediator, Gal. 3. 19. which most interpreters both old and new do vnderstand of Christ. There are onelyonly two of the ancient Writers that I know, Theodoret and Gennadius, that expound it of Moses, and Maister Beza of the New. If Christ then did in some sort performe the office of a Mediator before his incarnatiō, he did it then as God: for whether we say he is called a Mediator onelyonly Propheticè, prophetically; because he was then designed and appointed to be our Mediator, or that the legall Mediation is one, the Euangelicall (which before his incarnation he entred not into) another; both which I willingly grant, yet neither of these could be affirmed of Christ, without a necessary relation to his diuine Nature.
This also is yet more euidently expressed in that vision of Iohn, Reu. 5. 7. Where the Lambe taketh the booke out of the ri…ht hand of him that sate vponupon the throne, which was a worke of the Mediator: this Lambe stood as though he had bene killed, (wherby his humilitie is signified) and he had seuen hornes and seuen eyes, which are the seuen spirits of God, and he was in the midst of the throne: by which three circumstances of his power, his authoritie in sending the spirit, his sitting in one throne with God, his diuine Nature, is insinuated.
The reason why both natures of God and man must concurre not onelyonly in the constitution, but in the execution of the Mediatorship, Saint Paul sheweth, Gal. 3. 20. For a Mediator is not of one, but God is one: the Mediator then is not God onelyonly, nor man onelyonly; but he must partake of both, and exercise his Mediators office in both.
First then by this doctrine is refuted the opinion of the Papists, who affirme and hold, that Christ exercised the office of his Priesthood and Mediatorship onelyonly as man, not as God: because the Apostle saith, There is one God and one Mediator between God and man, the man Iesus Christ: which words as they vrge them, would as well conclude the Mediator not to be God, as not to exercise his Mediatorship as God. And whereas the Apostle saith, the man Iesus Christ, though he say not, God and man Iesus Christ; yet this name Iesus, which signifieth a Sauiour, includeth the Godhead also, as the Apostle saith, vers. 3. God our Sauiour.
Secondly, whereas the Arrians obiected, that Christ was inferior and lesse then God, because he that prayeth is lesse then he to whom prayer is made: the answer is readie; that all the parts of the Mediators office, which do betoken seruice or subiectiō vntounto God, Christ performed as man: but the power of the worke, perfection, glorie, he executed as God: though he prayed as man, he could not preuaile by the merit of his prayer, but as both God and man: and as Bernard saith, ad hunc miseria, ad illum pertinet potentia: to the manhood belongeth the sufferings and sorrowes of the Mediator, to the Godhead the honor and power: and as Augustine, Diuina humanitas, humana diuinitas Mediatrix: his diuine humanity, and humane Diuinitie is the Mediator.
Thirdly,Pray with confidence. as Christ in his prayer saith Father, so he teacheth vsus to pray, Our Father, that is, with confidence and full assurance: like as there is no father, which if his child aske him bread, will giuegive him a stone, Mat. 7. 10. much more will our heauenly Father giuegive good things to those that aske him. Our Sauiour promiseth, that whatsoeuer we desire when we pray, if we beleeue that we shall hauehave it, it shall be done vntounto vsus. Mark. 11. 24. No maruell then, if when we pray doubtfully and vncertainly, we obtaine not our requests. Therefore when we want any grace, and wold hauehave any necessitie relieued, let vsus go with a chearefull resolution vntounto God, as the prodigall sonne did, when he was readie to die for hunger: I will rise (saith he) and go to my father, &c. then shall we find merciemercy at our heauenly fathers hand, as he did. He will call for the robe, for the ring, and shoes, Luk. 15. 22. No good thing will he withhold.
The houre is come] Wherby we learne,Doct. 3. that before God eueryevery thing is determined,The appointment of times is from God. he hath appointed times for eueryevery purpose: and as the glorification of Christ, that is, the manifestation of his glorie, was assigned to this houre and time, which Christ here speaketh, which followed immediatly vponupon his passion: so times are limited of God for the comfort and deliuerance of his Church.
So the Preacher saith, that there is a time to eueryevery purpose, Eccles. 3. 1. and that God hath made eueryevery thing beautifull in his time, vers. 11. and God hath put times and seasons in his owne power, Act. 1. 7.
Thus our Sauiour aunswered his mother, Ioh. 2. 4. Mine houre is not yet come: the same answer he maketh to his kinred, Ioh. 7. 6. My time is not yet come: and affirmatiuely, Mat. 26. 45. Behold, the houre is at hand, and the sonne of man is giuen into the hand of sinners.
This is signified by that vision of Ezechiel, 1. 18. he saw wheeles full of eyes… shewing thereby, that the motion and gouernment of the world, and the course of times, runneth not by chaunce, but is ordered and directed by Gods al-seeing prouidence. S. Iohn also saw a mightie Angell, which had a rainebow about his head, which is Iesus Christ the Angell of the couenant, who sware by him that liueth for euermore, that there should be no more time, Reuel. 10. 6. Who then hath the ordering of times, but he that gaue a beginning, and setteth an end of time?
The reason the Psalmist sheweth, Psa. 104. 24. O Lord, how manifold are thy workes, in wisedome hast thou made them all. wherfore, because all wisdome is in God, and no man hath instructed him or was his counseller, Isa. 41. 13. all things must be referred to the prouidence of God. vnlesse then that men could find out a wiser then God, or would take vponupon them to teach and instruct him▪ his counsell and aduice must stand, his rule and gouernement, setting and ordering of times must take place.
First, both the Stoickes and Epicures (which were two of the most famous sects of Philosophers amongst the Gentiles, as we may reade Act. 17. 18.) are confuted: The first whereof did bring in a fatall necessitie, making all things to depend, not vponupon the will and prouidence of God, but vponupon a certain connexion of causes, to the which the diuine power it selfe should be subiect:Against Astrologers. like as vaine Astrologers and stargazers do attribute all to their constellations and aspects of starres. But the Scripture teacheth vsus, that the Lord doth in heauen and earth whatsoeuer it pleaseth him Psal. 135. 6. he is not forced by, or tyed to any such fatall coniunction of causes.
The Epicures imputed all to Fortune, so do many carnall men, that cannot look into Gods prouidence, as the Preacher speaketh in the person of such, Eccle. 9. 10. Time and chance commeth to all. Ambrose hereof writeth well: Epicurei putabant nihil Deum curare de nobis, & Aristoteles vsque ad lunam tantum Dei descendere prouidentiam: sed quis operator negliget operis sui curam? &c. The Epicures thinke, that God taketh no care of vsus: and Aristotle, that Gods prouidence descendeth no lower then the Moone: but what workeman doth cast off the care of his worke? If it be a wrong to rule them, it was a greater to work them: for not to hauehave made them nulla iniustitia, was no iniustice: Non curare quod feceris summa inclementia: Not to care for that thou hasi made, is great inclemencie.
Secondly, this doctrine hath a speciall comfort both to Christs Church in generall, and to eueryevery member thereof in particular:We must wait the acceptable time. that when the time of merciemercy and deliuerance is fulfilled, they shal surely see the Lords sauing health. Thus the Church of the Iewes did find refreshing, Psal. 102 13. Thou wilt arise and hauehave merciemercy vponupon Sion, for the appointed time is come: thus Ioseph with patience endured his affliction, vntill his appointed time came, and the counsell of the Lord had tried him, Psal. 10…. 18. Thus eueryevery one, whether afflicted in mind, or humbled in bodie, ought patiently to expect the Lords appointed time, to visite them in merciemercy. How was our Sauiour Christ himselfe turmoyled & tossed in this world? he endured hunger, thirst, wearinesse, he was mocked, whipped, tormented, tasted of bitter sorrowes of his soule, and grieuous paines in his bodie, till his time came, that God manifested his kingdome and glorie.
Glorifie thy sonne, that thy sonne also may glorifi… thee: The glorie of the Sonne redoundeth to the glorie of the Father. Ioh. 5. 23. He that honoureth not the Sonne, honoureth not the Father. We learne hereby, that whatsoeuer gifts we aske of God, or he in his merciemercy vouchsafeth to vsus, we should vse them to the honor and glorie of God.
Therefore our Sauiour teacheth vsus to conclude our petitions thus, For thine is the glorie, Mat. 6. 13. for we are assured to be heard, when we make the glorie of God the end of that which we ask. Pro. 3. 9. Honor the Lord with thy riches▪ so eueryevery gift beside, either inward or outward, must be referred to the praise of God.
Thus Dauid sheweth how he would behaue himselfe in his kingdome, Psal. 101. 2. I will walke in the vprightnesse of my heart in the midst of my house, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: as he receiued his authoritie from God, so he vseth it to his glorie.
Achitophels counsell and wit was turned to foolishnesse, because he imployed it euill, in vpholding rebellious Absalom against his father.
Like as Manna that angelicall food, whē the people did abuse it to couetousnesse, keeping it till the morning, contrary to the commaundement of God, …tunke and was full of wormes. Exod. 16. 20. so God depriueth them of their gifts that do not vse them well: as the talent was taken from the vnthriftie and vnprofitable seruant, that did not imploy it to his maisters aduantage. Mat. 25. v▪ 26.
4. For the Lord will not giuegive his glory to another. Isay 42. 8. he wil not suffer that the praise of his giftes should be ascribed to any beside himselfe: and therefore was Herode stroken with wormes, because he gaue not the glorie to God. Act. 12.
5. By this doctrine they are reproued,All gifts must … vsed to Gods glory. which hauing receiued any grace or gift from God, as knowledge, wit strength of bodie, riches, honor, do not vse them soberly and vertuously to Gods glorie: as rich men become proud of their riches: they that hauehave knowledge, are puffed vp: they which hauehave abundance offend in riot and excesse: and this is the next way to depriue them of that they hauehave. As also, whē men aske any thing of God to a wrong end, they misse of their desires: as S. Iames saith, Ye aske and hauehave not, because ye aske amisse, that you might consume it on your lustes: wherefore if we would obtaine at Gods hands those things which we want, or would hauehave increased that we hauehave, we must simply and vnfainedly intend Gods glory, he will admit no partner, nor deuide his glorie, or share it with any. He therefore that maketh his gifts common, that is, employing them to any other end then to Gods honor, doth pollute his gifts, as Origene well saith: Consu…tudine scripturae commune dicitur quod immundum est, consequenter quod sanctum separatū est, &c. By the vse of Scripture that is said to be common which is vncleane, that is holy which is set apart: that which is holy doth onelyonly appertaine to God, and hath no fellowship with any other. Peccator & immundus multorum est: But the sinner and vncleane person is common to many. He then which doth not apply his gifts onelyonly to the praise of God, but maketh them common to serue his owne carnall affections, doth pollute and defile them.