Fellowship with God, Sermon 3
SERMON III·
1 Joh. 1.1, 2, 3.
That which we have heard and seen of the word of life, declare we unto you, &c.
THings that are excellent in themselves, will be lo…ed for themselves; but they become the more suitable object of affection, if they have with…l some suitablenesse and conveniency to us: Yet neither the excellency, nor conveniency of the object, is sufficient to engage the heart, if the…e be not something in the mind too, suitable to the obj…ct: that is, the apprehension of that reality and good that is in it; for …s there is a certainty in the object, that makes it a real, not imaginary thing; so there must be a certainty in the subject, whereby the thing is …pprehended to be true, good, and excellent; …nd then the object of af…ection is compleated. Some things there are in nature, excellent in themselve…, but they rather beget admiration, then …ffection, because they are not suitable to our necessities: Other things of a more ordinary purchase, have some conveniency to supply our wants; and though they be lesse worth in their own nature then precious stones, and such like; yet they are more desired. But there is this lamentable disproportion betwixt our …pprehensions, and the things themselves, which is the ground of much disappointment; and so of vexation. The things of this world having nothing of that solid excellency, or true worth, and conveniency to our souls, nothing suit…ble to our immortal spirits; but being empty vain shadows, and windy husks, in stead of substantial tru… food; yet there are high apprehensions, and big conceits of them, which is a kind of monst…uous production, or empty swelling of the mind; which because it hath no bottom of solidity, it will fall and evanish. Again, take a view of spiritual things, holden out in the Gospel, and there is as incong…uous and unproportioned carriag… of our hearts towards them, they have a certainty, and reality, and subsistence in themselves, they alone are excellent, and suit…ble to our spirits; notwithstanding, the mind of man is hug… ly mishapen towards them by unbelief, and hath nothing in his apprehension suitable to the thing… themselves: they are represented as far belo… their true worth, as things temporal above their just value; and therefore men are not enamoured with them, souls …re not ravished after that beauty that is in them.
Now the end of these word… read, is to reform this irregular, disorderly posture of your minds, to hold out to you things truly excellent, and exceedingly convenient, things good and profit…le, in the most superlative degree, in the highest rank that your imagination can suppose; and then to pe…swade you, that you are not deceived with vain words, or fair promises, but that there is a certain truth, and an infallible reality in them, that you being assertained in your souls, …ccording to the ce…tainty of the things presented, you may then …reely, without any reserve, give your hearts to love, imbrace, and follow them. O that there might be such a meeting between your hearts and this eternal life, that as he hath come near to us, to be suitable to us, your apprehension… might draw near to be suitable to him: and by this means, your souls might meet immediatly with that Word of Life, and have that constant fellowship with him, that is spoken of, vers. 3. so your joy should be full. For joy is but the full peace of the desires; fill up all the wants of the heart, and then it is full of joy. And so, when such a satisfying object is pitched on, as doth exactly correspond, and answer the inward …pprehensions of the mind; th… there is no more room in the heart for any other thing: as if two Superfices were exactly plain and smooth, they could joyn so closly together, that no air could come between them, and then they could hardly be pull'd asunder.
We spoke something of the excellency of tha… Word of Life in himsel…, and i… is …ut little that is said, when all is said, in re…pect of that which He truly is; but I fear we speak, and ye hear more of the…e things, then either o… us lively and affectionatly apprehends, or l…ys up in our hearts. I fear, that as we say lesse then is, so more then we think; I mean, se…iously think upon. But we shall proceed, such an eve…lasting glorious Person, though he have life in himself, though he be never so excellent, as the Son of God, yet what is that to us? It seems he is never a whit nearer us, or not m…re suitable to restore us, then th… very Majesty that we …ffended. How far is he without our sight, and without our comprehension? He is high as Heaven, Who shall ascend to b…ing down that …ternal life to us? But stay and co…side…, tha… he is not only so glorious in himself, but so gracious to us; he is not only invisible, as God, but manifested to our senses, as Man: not only hath life in himself, but is an eve…lasting spring of life to us; not only hath his Throne in Heaven with his Father, but hath c…m… down to the world, to bring that eternal li…e near u…, even in our mouth and hearts; to preach it, to purchase it, to seal it, and to bestow it, and the life was manifested: The life, and that eternal life, word… of force, that have some Emphasis in them: the life is much, that eternal life is more; and yet these had been little to us, if not manifested to u…: Life might have remained hid in God, eternal life might have recided in Christ the Fountain for all eternity, and nothing diminished of their happiness, if these had never sprung out and vented themselves; if that life that was with the Father from the beginning, had never come down from the Father, we wo…ld have missed it, not they; we alone had been miserable by it: Well then, there is a manifestation of life in Christ… low descent to death; the…e is a manifestation of the riche… of love and grace in the poverty and emptinesse of our Saviour, and thus he is suited to us and our necessities every way fitly correspondent: and now it is not only, as the F…ther hath life in himself, so the Son h…th life in himself, but there is a derivation of that life to man; that donation of life to the Son, Ioh. 5.26. was not so much for any need he had of it, as by him to bestow it on us, that it might b…, as the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: So he that eats me, even he shall live by me, Joh. 6.57. As Parents that retain …ffection to their Children, albeit they have committed great injuries, for which they are driven out of their hous…, yet they will, as it were underhand bestow upon them, and exercise that same love in … covered way, by a third person, by giving to them, to impart to their Children. Notwithstanding this halts too much, for our Father dissembles not his love, but proclaim… it in sending his Son: Nor doth Christ hide it, but declares, that he is instructed with sufficient fu…niture for eternal life, that himself is the bread of life sent from Heaven, that whosoever receiveth it with delight, and ponders, and meditats on it in the heart, and so digests it in their …ouls, they shall find a quickning, quieting, comforting, and strengthning ve…tue in him. Nay, the…e is a strait connexion between his life and ours, because I live, ye shall live also; as i… he could no more want us, then his Father can want him, Ioh. 14.19. And as if he could no more be happy without u…, then his Father without him. And whence is it come to passe, but from his manifestation for this ve…y end and purpose? How should such strange Logick hold? Whence such a because? If this had not been …ll his errand into the world, for which his Father dispensed to want him, as it were, and he did likewise condescend to leave his Fathe… for a season. And now this being the businesse he came about, it is strange h… appeared in so unsuitable and unlikely a form, in weaknesse, poverty, misery, ignominy, and all the infirmities of our flesh; which seemed rather contrary to his design, and to indispose him for giving life to others, whose life was a continued death in th… eyes of me…; and the last act of the scene seems to blow up the whole design of quickning dead sinners; when he who was designed Captain of Salvation, is killed himself: For if he save not himself, how should he save others? And yet be…old the infinit wisdome, power, and grace …f God, working unde…-g…ound, giving life to the dead, by the dea… o… life it …elf: saving those that are lost, by one that lost himself: overcoming the world by weaknesse: conq…ering Satan by suffering: t…iump…ing over death by dying: L…ke that …enowned King of the Lacedemonians, who (when he heard of an Oracle, that if the Gene…al were sa…ed alive, the Army could not be victoriou…) changed his h…bit, and went amongst the Camp …f his enemies, and sought valiantly till he was killed; whom when the Armies of the enemies understood to be the King and General, they presently lost their hearts, and retired and fled: So our Saviour, and Captain of our Salvation, hath offered himself once for all, and by being killed, hath purc…ased life to all that believe in hi… death, and that eternal life: Therefo…e, he is not only the word of life in himself, and th…t eternal life in an essential manner, but he alone hath the words of eternal life, and is the alone fountain of life to us.
Now for the certainty of this manifestation of the word of life in our flesh, both that he wa… man, and that he was more then a man, even God: this, I say, we have the greatest evidence of, that the world can afford, next to our own seeing a…d handling. To begin with the testimony set down here, of thes… who were e…r and eye-w…tnesses of all; which if they be men of credit, cannot but make a great impression of faith upon others. Consider who the Apostles were, men of great simp…icity, whose education was so me…n, and expectations in the wo…ld so low, that they could not be supposed to conspire together to a falshood; and especially when there was no wo…ldly inducement leading them thereto, but rather all things pe…wading to the contra…y: their very adve…sa…ies could never object any thing against them, but want of lea…ning, and simplicity, which are furthest from the su…pition of deceitfulnesse. Now how were it possible, think you, that so m…ny thousands every where, should h…ve received this new Doctrine, so unsuitable to humane …eason, from their mouths, if they had not pe…swaded them that themselves were eye-witnesses of all these miracles that he did, to confi…m his Doct…ine, and this testimony had not been above all imaginable exception? Yea, so evident was it in matter of fact, that both enemies themselves confessed, the Jews and Gentiles that persecuted that way, were constrained through the evidence of the truth, to acknowledge, that such mighty works shewed forth themselves in him, though they out of malice imputed it to ridiculous and blasphemous causes: And besides, the Apostle used to provoke to the very testimony of 500. who had seen Iesu… rise from death, which is not the custom of liars, neither is it possible for so many, as it were, of purpose, to conspire to such an untruth, as had so many miseries and calamities following on the profession of it, 1 Cor. 15.6.
But what …ay they? That which we have heard of, not only from the Prophets, who have witnessed of him …om the beginning, and do …ll con…pi…e together to give a testimony that he i… the Saviour of the wo…ld: but from Iohn, who was his Messenger, immediatly sent before his f…ce, and whom all men, even Christs enemies, acknowledged to be … Prophet; and therefore, his visi…le pointing out the Lamb of God, his decla…ing how near he was, and preferring of him …nfinitly before himself, who had so much authority himself, (and so is likely to have spoken the truth; being misled with no ambition, or affectation of honour,) his instituting a new ordinance, plainly pointing out the Messiah at the door…, and publishing constantly that voice, The kingdom of Heaven is at hand; these we, and all the people have heard, and he…rd not with indignation, but with reverence and respect. But above all, we heard himself the true Prophet, and sweet Preacher o… Israel, since the first day he began to open his mouth in the Ministry of the Gospel, we have with attentive ears, and earnest hearts, received all from his mouth, and laid up these golden sayings in our heart…: He did not constrain them to abide with him, but there w…s a …ecret power that went from him, that chained them to him inevitably, Lord, whither shall we go from thee, for thou hast the words of eternal life? O! that was an attractive vertue, a powerful conserving vertue, that went out of his mouth. We heard him, say they, and we never heard any speak like him, not so much for the pomp and Majesty of his stile, for he came low, sitting on an Asse, and was as condescending in his manner of …peech, as in his other behaviour: but because he taught with authority: there was a divine vertue in his Preaching, some spa…kles of a divine spirit and power in his discou…ses, broke out from under the plainnesse and simplicity of it; and made our souls truly to apprehend of him what was sacrilegiously attributed in flattery to a man, the voice of God and not of man. We heard him so many years speak familiarly to us, and with us, by which we were certainly perswaded he was a true man, and then we heard him in his speeches open the hid mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, revealing the will of the Father, which no man could know, but he that was with the Father, and came down from him: we heard him unfolding all these shadows and coverings of the Old Testament, expounding Moses and the Prophets, taking off the vail, and uncovering the Ark and Oracles: And how did our hearts burn within u…, while he talked with us, and opened to u… the S…riptures? We heard him daily in the Synagogues expound the Scriptures, whereof himself was the living Commentary, when he read them, we saw the true Exposition before our eyes.
Now, my beloved, you may be admitted to hear him too, for the sum of the living words that c…me …om the Word of Life are written; his Se…mons are ab…idged in the Evangelists, that y…u m…y read them, and when you read them, think within your se…f, that you hear his holy mouth speak them; S…t your selves as amongst hi… Disciple…, th…t s… …u may believe, and believi…g m…y h…ve etern…l life; for, for this end a…e they written, Ioh. 20.30, 31.