A Discourse of Christian Religion, Part 1 · Chapter
The Coherence lies thus: Colosse was a City in Phrygia in the lesser Asia, where by the Ministry of Epaphras, a Church was gathered, and soon after troubled by certain Seducers, pressing upon them the Observation of Mosaical Ceremonies, and many Human Traditions. Epaphras goes to Rome to acquaint Paul with the present state of this Church, verse 8. whereupon he, as the great Apostle of the Gentiles, upon whom the Care of all the Churches lay, writes this Epistle to the Collossians; taking notice of their Conversion to the Faith, and giving Thanks to God upon that account, v. 3. Praying for them, That they might be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that they might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, and be strengthned with all might, unto all patience and long-suffering, with joyfulness, verse 9, 10, 11. Then he takes occasion to set forth the Excellency of Christ preached unto the Gentiles, laying open the Benefits of our Redeemer, vers. 12, 13, 14. And then he gives an admirable Character of the Divine Person of the Redeemer, from the 15th verse to the 23d. exhorting them thereupon to persevere, v. 23. by divers Arguments drawn from the Necessity of Perseverance; from the Multitude of those who had embraced the Gospel; from his own Ministry; from the Afflictions they suffered for the Gospel, v. 24. and from that Obligation that lay upon him to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, v. 25. extolling the Dignity of the Gospel as a Mystery hid from Ages, but now made manifest to the Saints, v. 26. And in the beginning of this 27th verse, he sets forth the Riches of this Mystery; He shews in the Words of the Text, how all this is contained in Christ, of whom they were now possessed; they had him in their very hearts, dwelling there, which is, Christ in you the Hope of Glory. So much for the Coherence.
I now come to open the Terms of the Text; To shew you what is meant by Christ; and what by the Hope of Glory. And because there is more of Mystery in the first part of the Text, Christ in us; than in the second part, the Hope of Glory; not but that there is great Mystery in this too, as will appear by and by: But I say, there is more of Mystery in the first part, because we have some Natural Notions of Hope and Glory, that may help to lead us up into the Spiritual Sense of the Apostle here. But we can have no natural Notion of Christ being in us; this is above all the Apprehensions of Reason, and must be taken in by pure Faith, from the Word of God revealing it: Therefore I will dispatch the second part of the Text first; and shew, What we are to understand by the Hope of Glory. First, What by Hope, Secondly, What by Glory.
All Hope presupposes Desire, tho every Desire doth not amount to Hope; It must be desire continued. Hope implies that; Desire maintain'd and kept up in the Soul. We may have a sudden liking, a pleasing, transient fancy to such or such a thing from the first glance of the eye upon it; this is not properly Hope. The Moralists tell us it is durabilis Affectus, a durable, permanent, fixed, habitual Desire, when the Mind is set upon such a thing, dwells upon it, must have it, is continually reaching out after it from an eager Propensity towards it, so as it cannot be satisfied without it: This is continued Desire, strong Desire; Valdè vult; the Will is bent upon it, cannot be taken off from looking, waiting, and longing after it. And this is the Nature of that Hope in the Text.
Secondly, What are we to understand by Glory, which begets all this waiting and longing Desire? Now, Brethren! I must rise upon you a little: We have a great Subject before us. I will give you first the plainest Exposition of it, and then go as far higher as I can.
By Glory we commonly understand the Happiness of Saints in Heaven; the Perfection of Grace in Glory. It is the highest Degree of that Good, that man is capable of to Eternity. It is the Consummation of Divine Election: The actual accomplishment of all that Good that God intended man from Eternity.
Having given you this plain Account of Glory, let us now look a little further into it, and consider it as flowing from God the Fountain of it. Let us, as well as our weak eyes will bear, look upon this Excelling, Overcoming Object, Heavenly Glory.
It is called Rom. 5. 2. The Glory of God, because God is the Author of it: He is the Fountain and first Subject of it; and therefore he is stiled, Acts 7. 2. The God of Glory; and the Father of Glory, Eph. 1. 17. Compare Matth. 5. 16. with Rom. 8. 30. and you will find that we are said to glorifie God; and God also is said to glorifie us; but with this difference; We glorifie God by declaring those Divine Excellencies that were in God before; God glorifies us, by putting an Excellency upon us which we had not before. We glorifie God here on Earth, God glorifies us in Heaven; as our Saviour saith, John 17. 4, 5. I have glorified thee on earth; now, O Father, glorifie thou me with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. What was that? I wish I were able to tell you: It may be some of you may think I say too much; and others too little. I desire, as God will help me, to say something of it, that may lead your Thoughts into a further Consideration of this matter: Therefore I shall endeavour to open that difficult Scripture, Glorifie thou me with that glory which I had with thee before the World was, John 17. 5.
I conceive thus; That Christ's Human Nature upon his Ascension to Heaven, was, according to its finite capacity, lifted up by vertue of the Hypostatical Union, into the Essential Glory of the Godhead; which did not so shine forth in the Man Christ here on Earth, as it doth now in Heaven: It was under an Eclipse then in his state of Humiliation; but now this Glory is fully communicated to the Human Nature of Christ, and through Christ unto us, John 17. 22. compared with Joh. 14. 20. I am in my father, and ye in me, and I in you, saith he: I say, the Glory of the Godhead is communicated to the Human Nature of Christ, and through Christ unto us who are united to him: And by vertue of this Union, the other Two Persons of the Trinity, the Father and the Holy Ghost, are said to dwell in us, and to be in us: The Father dwells in us, and we in him, 1 John 4. 12, 13, 16. If we dwell in Love, we dwell in God, and God dwells in us; that is, we have deep Apprehensions of the Love of God. And the Spirit dwells in us, Rom. 8. 11. comp. with 1 Cor. 3. 16. I speak this, to shew how near we are brought to God in Glory, to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And thus you see how Saints are glorified in Christ; blessed with all Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly Places in Christ, Eph. 1. 3. And how Christ is glorified in them, John 17. 10. Christ takes the Saints into his own Glory, which is their Glorification, perfective of their Happiness. And this Manifestation of the Glory of Christ in and upon the Saints, is said to be a glorifying of Christ, John 17. 10. The Original Glory of Christ shining out upon us, is our Glorification; which doth consist in the Beatifical Vision, in beholding the Glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ; we see him face to face, 1 Cor. 13. 12. Mat. 18. 10. We see him as he is; which transforms us into his likeness, 1 Joh. 3. 2. We then appear with him in glory, Col. 3. 4. Joh. 7. 24.
What can we conceive of this Glory? What is this Glory?
The Scripture sets it forth by Allusions to things that are natural; and so shall I.
Glory, then, is a Splendor or Lustre arising up, and resulting from the Beauty and Excellency of a thing above other things. So God outshines all Creatures, being transcendingly Good. So that Glory, in its perfection, as it is in God the Fountain of it, it is a continual Effulgency and Brightness flowing from God the Perfection of Beauty. He dwells in inaccessible Light. This is called sometimes, The brightness of his glory, Heb. 1. 3. always sending forth resplendent Beams and Rays of Light, which do reach us in Heaven, and do reflect a Glory upon us.
Thus the Glory of God is set forth in Scripture by things that are most glorious in our sight: And I must tell you, That Faith sees something in God, that is beyond all these Metaphors of Light and Brightness; I say, beyond all these Notions of Light and Brightness, a more excelling Glory; in comparison of which, all created Glory is no Glory. But the Beatifical Vision is abo…e all the Visions of this Glory, that Faith now gives us, because it fills and satisfies the whole Capacity of our Souls: We are then possessed of all, and desire no more. The School-men tell us, Heaven is Appetitus quietivum, doth satisfie and quiet the Desires of a man. So saith the Scripture, Psal. 17. 15. When I awake, I shall be satisfied with thy likeness; speaking of the Resurrection. If the Love of the world is in you, the love of the father is not in you, 1 John 2. 15. If we are still flying out in our affections after worldly things, it is a sign our minds are not quieted and satisfied with God alone. School-Divines say further, That in Hell there is fear, but Heaven is above all Hope: And they give this reason for it, Because in Hell there is Successio Poenarum, a Succession of Punishment, which causes Fear; but, say they, in Heaven, Glory is absque Successione, without Succession; i. e. 'Tis all present before 'em. I suppose they mean this, That the Saints above, have a kind of actual Comprehension of their Eternal Beatitude, in which there is nothing past, or to come, but all as present before them. They don't Hope, but certainly know that their Blessedness doth continue for ever: That is, I say, the Saints above, after the Resurrection, cannot be more happy to all Eternity, than they are the first moment of their Glorification. And this I mean by an actual Comprehension of our Eternal Beatitude: All is as present to Glorified Saints.
Brethren! If these things seem difficult to you, and do pass your knowledge, are above your comprehension, it is your happiness it is so, that there is more Glory reserved for you, than you can conceive. Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it entred into the heart of man, the things that God hath prepared for them that love him. Besides, pray consider; we that are Ministers, do prophesie but in part; we see but through a glass darkly; no wonder then if these things seem abstruse and enigmatical. The more spiritually-minded you are about these deep things of God, seriously considering the Sufferings of Christ, and the Glory that shall follow, as 1 Pet. 1. 11. the more plain and evident will this Glory be unto you. You will know more of it than the Tongue of Men or Angels can express. There are certain Elevations of an enlightned mind, that do sometimes raise our Apprehensions of Divine Mysteries above and beyond our ordinary thoughts of them. The Spirit takes us up into the Mount of Glory, and shews us the things of Christ more demonstatively than any Minister in the World is able to do. When we are heaving at some heavy body, we lift here, and we lift there, and it may be upon some sudden strain, we move it a little, though ordinarily we cannot stir it: So there are some certain strains of Faith, that give us that discerning of Spiritual Things, that we never had before, lifting up our heads within the Vail.
Let us then wait upon God for such further manifestations of his Spirit, and pray, That he would shine in our hearts the Light of the Knowledge of his Glory.
What shall I say more? Now we live upon Creatures, and have but a remote View of God in them and through them; and this is our Grace. But when we come to Heaven, God will be all in all: We shall stand in no need of Creature-Comforts to Eternity, but shall derive all our support, satisfaction, and joy, immediately from God himself. His Spirit will be instead of Meat, Drink, and Cloaths to our bodies, and will to Eternity fill up the Capacity of our Souls with Ravishing Joys and Delights: And this is our Glory.
The sum of all is, That Christ received into the heart by Faith, as our Jesus, our Redeemer and Saviour, doth beget in the Soul thus relying upon him, an earnest Expectation, and lively Hope of all that Good that may consummate and perfect mans Happiness to Eternity. And this in the Text is called Glory, Christ in us the Hope of Glory. So much for that part of the Text.
I come now to the First Part of the Text. What are we to understand by Christ in us? And this is Mystery upon Mystery: It is evident, that in Scripture Christ is said to be in us, and we in him; he to abide in us, and we to abide in him. I shall now only give you a more general Exposition of these Words; in the general sense of the Text.
I say, Christ is said to be in us, and we in him; To abide in us, and we in him, John 15. 4. And all this must be spiritually understood; all this is by Believing; by Faith we receive him, and by continued Acts of Faith we do keep him dwelling in our hearts, Eph. 3. 17. We abide in Christ, and Christ in us; we are in him, and he in us, when we do persevere in the Faith; when we have in our hearts an inward belief and persuasion of all the Gospel saith, concerning Christ as our Redeemer and Saviour: He is in the thoughts and imaginations of our hearts continually; and we do act towards him according to what we believe of him; this is believing indeed. And here comes in hope, as most suitable to the apprehensions of our Faith concerning Christ as our Jesus: Christ in you, foreign; some render the Greek thus, Christ among you, outwardly Preached to you, is the hope of Glory. This is Doctrinally true; but this is not enough to beget Hope: Many hear, and don't believe; they have much of Christ without them, but nothing of Christ within them. Hope arises from something within impressed upon the mind; the Soul doth not stir till then, doth not put forth any act of Hope till Faith comes; That sets all the wheels in motion, draws our affections after him; such is the power of Faith, that we cannot but love and desire what we believe to be so good and desirable. Hope naturally springs out of Faith; and in this Hope you have the comfort of your Faith; you see the benefits of Faith, rejoycing in what you believe. Gospel truths are very advantageous to a believer, when he sees the advantage that accrues to him by them; and therefore is filled with joy unspeakable, and full of Glory, by believing. We should be little concerned in our Faith, were it not for the Hope it begets. It is life Eternal to know Christ; in the light of that knowledge you perceive how you live in him, and by him: As Faith carries up our Souls to Heaven, so it brings down all the good things of Heaven to our Souls. Faith is a very enriching Grace; rich in Faith, saith the Apostle; when the Soul takes notice of this, it cannot but Hope: What Faith hath obtained of God through Christ, Hope goes out after, longs for, and patiently waits for things unseen: Faith hath ensured them, and therefore Hope will expect them. So that Christ outwardly Preached, is the Hope of Glory; that is, Doctrinally so: It is Doctrinally true, but it is not experimentally true to you and me, that Christ is our Hope of Glory, till we do believe in him: Christ must be ours, before this Hope in the Text can be ours: Christ is not ours, till we receive him by Faith from an inward Revelation of him, Gal. 1. 16. Till then, he is a Christ without us, not in us. With the heart man believes; It is an inward act of the mind to believe in Christ. The Soul doth converse with Christ about its own Salvation; our Thoughts are much taken up in considering him; applying to our selves the benefits of his Death. If Christ be thus in you, you cannot but have Hope.
I am upon the general Exposition, and shall shew you more at large, how Christ is in us by believing.
I say Faith lets Christ into the Understanding, Will, and Affections.
Naturally when the Vnderstanding acts upon any Object, it draws the species and image of that Object into its self: Hence they say, Intellectus intelligendo fit omnia; the Understanding is every thing it understands; That is, it takes in the Idea, Shape Image of that thing which it knows, under all its distinguishing Properties; else there would be confusion in the Understanding; we should not know one thing from another, which is not to know at all.
So Faith brings in Christ into the Soul under a peculiar Character, as the fairest of Ten thousand; proposes him as the greatest truth to the Understanding; as the greatest good to the Will, and frames conceptions of him accordingly; thus is Christ formed in us. Faith doth not take in Christ notionally only, to lye by, as other notions do in which we are little concerned; but it takes him in in reference to our selves, as a new Mould into which the Soul is to be cast, as a Spirit and Principle of new life: He comes to rule and reign, and to reduce man to a conformity to himself. And here lies the difference between historical and saving Knowledg; one is purely Speculative, the other is Experimentally Practical; that is, there is always something done upon it, in and by the Soul, 2 Cor. 3. 18. We do behold as in a glass the glory of God, and are changed. Pray observe that Text: There is a Beholding, and there is a Transformation upon that beholding, a being changed into the same Glory. We do not know Christ savingly, if every thing we know of him doth not help to change us more and more into his Image; I say, we do not know Christ savingly till then. You must judge of your saving knowledge of Gospel Truths, by the lively impressions they make upon your hearts. Are you brought to act, do, think, that which you never did before? Do you find Christ hath had a quickning influence upon your Hearts? is indeed become your life? He savingly knows Jesus Christ, who doth act towards him according to what he believes of him. Let men talk of this or that concerning Christ, and pretend to understand all Mysteries, to have all knowledge; yet unless they can shew the work of the Gospel written in their hearts, as the Apostle speaks of the work of the Law, Rom. 2. 15. I say, unless they can shew the work of the Gospel written in their hearts, I am sure they are nothing. For it is impossible to receive Christ by the saving knowledge of Faith, and not to have his Image impressed upon all the faculties of the Soul by that Faith which first brought it in. The very conceptions of Faith concerning Christ, are the very thoughts of a mans own heart; so he is, so he thinks, so he acts, even as he believes. Gospel truths cannot enter into our rational Nature at any other door, than that of Faith: When Faith comes, there needs nothing else to turn that Soul unto God. Every man is an his Faith is. Faith contains the true inward sense of the Soul about Jesus Christ: And God is the Author and Finisher of this Faith, and understood to be so by all true Believers. Pray let us close up all with this; for I am only now labouring as well as I can to shew you in general, how Faith lets Christ into the Soul. The main thing in Conversion, is Faith; and the main thing in Faith, is the Power of God in working it. These two things are principally taken notice of by all Believers. They observe them in others, much more in themselves, Acts 11. 17, 18. compared with Acts 14. 23. What notice did they take there of the Faith God had wrought in those? They perceived they had received the same Faith with themselves; that God had granted unto the Gentiles, Repentance unto life. Faith is the main thing in Conversion: Christ is the same in himself, both before and after Conversion: So are all Gospel-truths the same in themselves; only then we did not believe them, and now we do. It is Faith makes all the difference; and the principal thing in Faith, is the power of God in working it. How doth Paul admire the goodness of God to him, that he should obtain Mercy, and believe in Jesus! Lord, saith he, What wilt thou have me to do? He never called him Lord before: The High Priest was his Lord and Master before, from whom he received his orders what to do against the Saints. Now he is Sick of that imployment; he lays down his Commission at the feet of Christ, and desires he would give him instructions what to do: None should be his Lord; None should now command him but Christ; Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? The beginning of Faith and Conversion, lyes in looking unto Christ for Power to believe. And our first Faith usually breaks out in an Outcry to God to help our unbebelief. All true Converts are sensible of this, they in Acts 7. 47. How did they Praise God for their Conversion? They ascribe it all to him. I say, our first Faith in the Lord Jesus, comes in with a sense of God's Power in working it; and Faith is known to be the gift of God, by those who have it. They who begin their Faith in the strength of their own Reason, thinking to take in such considerations of God and Christ, and to draw such arguments from Scripture, as can induce them to believe, will find themselves mistaken. I am persuaded the doubts and fears of many Believers have their rise from hence; That they did not begin their Faith in such an humble dependance upon God for strength to believe; they did not, I say, do this as they should. And it appears that that is the cause of their fears, because nothing but such a dependance upon Christ for Grace does cure them. When once they have learned the right way of believing and trusting in Christ, they enter into rest, there is an end of all their fears.
There are Promises in Scripture made unto Faith; and there are Promises made of Faith. These, so far as we may be concerned in them, seem to be made to Believers quite void of Faith: Though to Unbelievers remaining in unbelief, nothing is promised; yet all things are promised to Unbelievers, going out by Faith unto Jesus Christ: Or, if you will, I had rather express it thus; These promises of our first faith, of the first Grace, of giving the Spirit, and the like, they are made to Christ in the behalf of Unbelievers, such who were from Eternity ordained unto Life; so many of them whose Names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life. The Covenant of Grace made between God and us, doth respect the Covenant of Redemption between the Father and the Son. This first Faith is wrought in us in such a manner, that we are sensible of the Divine Power and Efficacy of God's Grace in working it. Though God doth lead out our Souls into rational considerations of Himself and his Son; yet we find that these considerations do flow into our Minds from an inward Revelation made of Christ. We do know, that such thoughts of God and Christ, could never have come into our minds, if the Holy Ghost had not suggested them. In his Light we see Light; and our coming to Christ, is always by the Father's drawing.