Exposition of John 17, Exposition · Part 12
JOHN 17.3.
And this is Life Eternal.
AND thus we have at length diſpatched the End for which our Saviour is inveſted with ſo large and ample Power over all fleſh; That he may give Eternal Life to as many as God hath given him.
But what is Eternal Life? what is there comprehended under that expreſſion? As when our Saviour once diſcourſed of Truth, he had this queſtion put to him, what is Truth? So having ſpoken here of Life Eternal; if any of you now ſhould put the queſtion, what is life Eternal? you have the reſolution in the following verſe which I am now to enter on, And this is life Eternal, if you deſire to underſtand it, this it is, to know the only true God, and Jeſus Chriſt whom he hath ſent. So that theſe words you ſee are an foreign, an Explication of that which is delivered in the former verſe, in which our Saviour ſhews expreſly what he intendeth by Eternal Life, and wherein it conſiſts, in the Knowledge of the Father and the Son, or of the Father in the Son.
And here I ſhall take notice only of theſe two Particulars, viz. the thing explained, and the way of Explication. The thing explained is life Eternal. As for the way of Explication, he doth not ſhew you quare ſit, why this life Eternal is, he doth not open and unfold it by the Cauſes of it; I ſay he doth not here, though he doth in other places, but he ſhews you quid ſit, what this Eternal life is. This ſaith he, is Life, Eternal life. This is it; what is it? why, it conſiſts you ſee in holy Knowledge, which is ſet forth both by the Act and Object of it. The Act, that they might know. The Object of it, God the Father, the only true God, and Chriſt the Son, Jeſus Chriſt whom thou haſt ſent. This is life Eternal, that they might know thee, &c.
What then? Doth there go nothing elſe to life Eternal but the knowledge of the Father and the Son? Doth it conſiſt in this, and this only? This is a ſcruple that is very variouſly reſolved by thoſe that write upon the Text. Some think that knowledge here is put for faith, by which we live the life of Grace, which is Eternal, as the Apoſtle ſpeaks, The life which I live, I live by the faith of the Son of God. And ſo it is, as if our Saviour Chriſt had ſaid, this is Eternal life, ſo to know as to believe in thee the only true God, and Jeſus Chriſt whom thou haſt ſent.
Others conceive that life Eternal here importeth nothing elſe but the way to Eternal life, the ready path that leads to it: And that our Saviour ſhews us here how he brings thoſe to life Eternal, who are beſtowed upon him by his Father, viz. by giving them the ſaving Knowledge of his Father and himſelf; That he ſhould give Eternal life to as many as thou haſt given him. And this is life Eternal, this is the way to it, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jeſus Chriſt whom thou haſt ſent.
As far as I can apprehend, the ſcruple might be cleared beſt by a diſtinction. Eternal life is either Inchoate, or conſummate.
Eternal life Conſummate conſiſts eſpecially in the compleat and perfect knowledge of God, which Schoolmen all Beatifical viſion. And hence our Saviour Chriſt himſelf ſets forth our happineſs, of which we ſhall be made partakers in the world to come, by this, that there we ſhall ſee God. Mat. 5.8. Bleſſed are the pure in heart, for they ſhall ſee God, that is, we ſhall know God, as knowledge ordinarily is ſet forth by the ſenſe of ſeeing in the Scripture. Yea, we ſhall know him clearly and diſtinctly, we ſhall ſee him face to face. And this is that which the Apoſtle makes the main of the Beatitude and glory prepared for the Saints at the time of Chriſts appearing, 1 Iohn 3.2. We ſhall ſee him as he is: now we ſee him as we can, then we ſhall ſee him as he is: we ſhall know him as we are known, viz. of God, 1 Cor. 13.12. We ſhall know God, even as God knows us. As we are known of God diſtinctly, clearly, perfectly, ſo we ſhall know God. He knows us perfectly according to his nature now, and we ſhall know him perfectly according to our nature then, as far as our created nature is capable of. So we ſhall know as we are known: for as there is a note of Similitude and not of Equality. And this ſhall be our happineſs in Heaven, and our glorious life there, that we ſhall ſee the very face of God, and not his back parts only as we have done in this world. That we ſhall have him fully and compleatly. So that this is Eternal life (you ſee) conſummate in the Heavens, to know the only true God, and Jeſus Chriſt whom he hath ſent.
But as I take it, the life Eternal mentioned in my Text, is that of which the Saints are made partakers in this preſent life, and which our Saviour gives them here in this world. As in another place he tells us, My ſheep hear my voice (ſaith he) and I give unto them Eternal life. He doth not ſay, I will give them Eternal life hereafter, but I give it them for preſent, and therefore it is added in the words immediatly annexed, neither ſhall any man pluck them out of my hands, Iohn 10.27, 28. And this I do, this Eternal life I give them, by teaching and inſtructing them, and making them to hear my voyce: as who ſhould ſay, by working knowledge in them, My ſheep hear my voyce, and by this means I give unto them Eternal life. And this Expreſſion in my Text looks much the ſame way. As thou haſt given him power ever all fleſh, that he ſhould give Eternal life to as many as thou haſt given him. And this is life Eternal to know thee the true God, and ſo on.
This is the way to give them life Eternal, by making them to know thee. And this I have begun to do already, as he addeth afterwards, I have made known thy Name (that is) thy Nature and thy Attributes to the men which thou haſt given me. So that this life Eternal here is not, or not ſo much that which is perfect and Conſummate in the Heavens, as that which is begun in this world, and which the Saints are made partakers of while they are here: for even here they have Eternal life abiding in them. And this, this inchoate Eternal life conſiſts eſpecially in ſaving knowledge. This is Eternal life, this is it in the beginning, to know thee the only true God, and Ieſus Chriſt whom thou haſt ſent. So that the Point to be obſerved is this;
DOCTRINE. That Life Eternal, or the life of Grace which is Eternal, is begun in holy Knowledge.
Chriſt gives Eternal life to us at leaſt in the beginning of it, when (as the Prophet of his Church) he teaches us, and cauſes us to know his Father and himſelf. When he makes known his Fathers Name, and his own Name to us, he cauſes us to paſs from death to life. In him was life (ſaith the Evangeliſt,) 1 John 4. and the life was the light of men.
This Life communicated to the ſons of men, was the Light of ſaving knowledge which he made to ſhine into them. He gave them life, in that he gave them light and knowledge, who were before in darkneſs, and ſo by Conſequence in the ſhadow of death, as the Scripture phraſe is. And hence ſaith the Apoſtle, Awake and riſe up from the dead, and Chriſt ſhall give thee Light, Eph. 5.14. Indeed, as long as we are ignorant and in the dark, we are all dead men, we know not what the life of God means: And therefore the Apoſtle ſpeaking of the Gentiles, ſaith, That they were ſtrangers from the life of God. They live the life of men indeed, but they were ſtrangers from the life of God, the life of Grace, by reaſon of the Ignorance and blindneſs that was in them, Eph. 4 18. The Grace of God is now made manifeſt by the appearing of our Saviour Jeſus Chriſt, ſaith the Apoſtle, 2 Tim. 1.10. who hath aboliſhed death. But how hath he done this? by bringing life and Immortality to light; as it is added in the next words, by bringing life and …ortality. The latter as I take it, is the Explication of the former. q. d. by bringing ſuch a Life as is immortal, as is above the power of Death, as the life of Grace is; By bringing this to men, by ſhining on them with the bright and glorious light and luſtre of the Goſpel: I might be very copious here, but this may ſatisfie to clear the Point, That life Eternal, &c.
And this appeareth further divers wayes.
It will appear that life Eternal, or the life of Grace which is Eternal, is begun in holy knowledge, if we conſider what it is that is the great Impediment of Life, and what it is that holds men, and detains men in a ſtate of Death. It is apparently their want of knowledge, the ignorance and errour that is in them. How came ſin, and with it death into the world, but by cozenage and deceit? The woman being deceived was in the tranſgreſsion; as the Apoſtle Paul ſpeaks, 1 Tim. 2.14. She fell into it by a meer cheat. And how are men continued in this ſtate of ſin and death? They are corrupt according to deceitful luſts, Eph. 4, 22. Look as their luſts deceive them more or leſs, ſo are they more or leſs corrupt. And therefore they that ſit in darkneſs, are ſaid to fit in the ſhadow of death. And which way then ſhall life Eternal be begun in men, but by diſpelling this darkneſs by the light of holy Knowledge, and by tranſlating men out of the power of darkneſs, as the Expreſſion is, Col. 1.14. Out of ignorance and darkneſs which hath ſuch a power upon them to hold them under ſin and death, and to keep them ſtill in a condition of eſtrangement from the life of God, as the Apoſtle Paul inſinuates in the cited place, Eph. 4.18. If it be ignorance that keeps men from the life of Grace, then ſurely it is holy Knowledge that begins it, and that brings men to it.
It will appear that the life Eternal, or the life of Grace which is Eternal, is begun in holy Knowledge, if you conſider who it is that is the principal Efficient of it, and the way which he works it. The Principal Efficient of this Life is Jeſus Chriſt, and therefore he is called our Life very often in the Scripture. And he is ſaid to give it in the words which I have finiſhed, that he ſhould give Eternal life. And which way doth he give it to his people, but by working knowledge in them? And therefore it is added in my Text, This is Eternal life (this is the life which he gives) to know thee the true God. Indeed he gives it to us as a Prophet; he purchaſes and gets it for us I acknowledge, as a Prieſt, by his Invaluable ſatisfaction. But he begets and works it in us, by his effectual Teaching and inſtruction as a Prophet: And therefore he is ſaid to ſpeak in life to his people, Iohn 6.63. The words that I ſpeak unto you, they are Life. To ſhew us that he quickens us in a way of Information; for to what End doth ſpeaking tend, but to make us underſtand? Thou haſt the words of eternal life, ſaith Peter to our Saviour Chriſt, Iohn 6.68. That is, the words that work life; and which way can they work it, but by conveying knowledge to the mind of him that hears them? So that you ſee that Jeſus Chriſt is the Efficient Cauſe of the life of Grace in his people, by teaching them, by working ſaving knowledge in them, by turning them from darkneſs to light. He gets it for them as a Prieſt, He gives it to them as a King, He works it in them as a Prophet.
It will appear that life Eternal is begun in holy Knowledge, Becauſe the Inſtrumental means of Life is the means of knowledge to. Yea, it is the means of Life, in that it is the means of Knowledge. The Inſtrumental means of Life you know (my Brethren) is the Goſpel. And therefore it is called the word of Life, Phil. 2.16. holding forth the word of Life, that is the Goſpel & the Miniſtry of life, 2 Cor. 3.7. in oppoſition to the Law, which is the Miniſtry of death and condemnation. And which way doth the Goſpel work life, but by inſtilling knowledge into men, by making them to underſtand that which they never knew before, that they are naturally dead in treſpaſſes and ſins, that they are in a ſtate of death and condemnation, that there is life enough in Jeſus Chriſt, that he is ready to diſpenſe and give it out to all that come to him for it? And ſo convincing them that it is neceſſary for them to go to him that they may have Life; Till they come to know this there is no life of Grace in them. And it is by Goſpel-Teaching that this life is infuſed into them.
It will appear unto you that the life of Grace is begun in holy Knowledge, if you conſider with what part the Lord begins, when he puts this Life into us. He begins not with the members, he begins not with the will, but he begins with the mind and underſtanding, by Illuminating that, and by endewing that with ſaving knowledge; And therefore we are ſaid to be transformed, or to be changed from the ſtate or life of nature to the ſtate or life of Grace, by the renewing of the mind, Rom. 12.2. No doubt the will and members are renewed too, for the change is univerſal. But there the work begins my Brethren, in the mind and underſtanding, we are renewed firſt in the ſpirit of the mind, Eph. 4.23. and from that it goes on to the inferiour faculties, and to the outward converſation. And conſequently it begins in knowledge, of which the mind is capable, which is the proper object of it. And therefore ſaith our Saviour, ſanctifie them with thy Truth, Renew them, make them holy, work the life of Grace in them by revealing Truth to them.
It is apparent that the life of Grace begins in Knowledge, becauſe all other grace is brought into the ſoul by it, and therefore this muſt be the firſt Grace. The firſt I mean in order, and in courſe of nature, not of time. As long as there is no knowledge, there is no grace at all, and ſo no Life in ſuch a perſon. But when knowledge once comes in, I ſpeak of ſanctified Knowledge, it brings all ſaving Grace with it; This is the prime work of Grace and the Foundation of the reſt. The New man is renewed in Knowledge, Col. 3.10. why ſo it is in Faith, and Love, and other graces. But it is firſt renewed in knowledge, there is the riſe & the original of all. And even as in the firſt, the old Creation, the Lord began with natural Light, Gen, 1.3. ſo in the ſecond or the New Creation, he begins with ſpiritual Light, with ſuper-natural and ſaving Knowledge; and gives us other graces by this means. To which effect is the Apoſtles prayer, 2 Pet. 1.2, 3. Grace be multiplyed upon you through the knowledge of God: and after more expreſly to our purpoſe, As he hath given us all things that pertain to life and godlineſs, through the knowledge of him. So that we have this Life, the life of holineſs and grace, through knowledge; without it we have no Grace, but with it all Grace. It is the ſeed from whence all other graces grow; it is the means by which they are begotten in the ſoul. Holy Knowledge will bring forth heavenly Affections and deſires. If a man know God, and know Chriſt, his will ſhall cloſe with him, and his affections ſhall be carried out to him: it will effectually reſtrain a man from ſin and reform the Converſation. They ſhall not hurt, neither deſtroy in all my holy Mountain ſaith the Lord, Iſa. 11.9. And why ſo? for the earth ſhall be full of the Knowledge of the Lord. If you have been taught by him, as the Truth is in Jeſus, why then you will put off the old man. It will draw a man to practice and obedience, if it be ſound and ſaving Knowledge; as holy David intimates in that requeſt of his, Pſalm 119.34. Give me underſtanding, ſaith he, And what then? why, I ſhall keep thy Law, yea, I ſhall obſerve it with my whole heart. So that you ſee, all holineſs and Grace is brought into the ſoul by Knowledge: and therefore certainly the life of Grace begins in it.
Uſe 1 Now is it ſo, that life Eternal, or the life of Grace which is Eternal, is begun in holy Knowledge? This then may ſerve to teach us in the firſt place, how to value Knowledge, and what account and eſtimate to put upon it. Why truly, as we value life, yea everlaſting Life, ſo we ought to value Knowledge at the very ſame rate: For this is life Eternal to know the only true God, and Jeſus Chriſt whom he hath ſent. We all of us do make a very great account even of our temporary Lives, which yet when all is done muſt periſh and decay, and come ro nothing; we are ready to Redeem them, if there be no other way, with the loſs of all things elſe. Though yet even then when all is done, we know we can enjoy them but a few years, and are not certain to enjoy them one hour. How is it then that we deſpiſe and undervalue holy Knowledge in which Eternal life conſiſts, which if we can attain, we have Eternal life abiding in us, a life which is above the power of death and diſſolution: Alas, how miſerably is it ſlighted by the greater part of men, yea by the greater part of Chriſtians! Chriſtians I mean, in name and in profeſſion. Though it be offered them, they will not take it, but ſay in effect to God, Depart from us, for we will not have the knowledge of thy wayes. When light is tendered them, they even ſhut their eyes againſt it that they may not ſee. So that it may be ſaid of ſuch, as God complains of ſome in Iſrael: their eyes have they cloſed, leſt they ſhould ſee with their eyes, and underſtand with their hearts, and be converted, and be healed. And the Apoſtle Peters charge muſt needs fall home upon them, they are wilfully ignorant. They enjoy the means of Knowledge, but they will not wait upon them, they take no care at all to profit by them. They need not to aſcend up into heaven to bring Chriſt down from above, nor to deſcend into the deep, to bring up Chriſt again from the dead, as the Apoſtle ſpeaks, Rom. 10.6. that they may be acquainted with him; the word is nigh them, as it is added there in that place. The Word that manifeſteth and revealeth God and Chriſt, is nigh to them. They need not to go far to hear it, and to hear of God in it. But many will not ſpend an hour, they will not ſtep without their doors to meet with God, and to be acquainted with him: as if the Knowledge of the Lord were worth nothing, as if it were of no value; Ah, my Beloved, do you know what it is that you deſpiſe, and ſet at nought in this faſhion? Is life worth any thing? Is life Eternal worth any thing? Why in contemning Knowledge, you contemn no leſs then this; for this, as you have heard, is life Eternal. And how deſervedly may you be left to periſh in Eternal Death, who put the means of knowiedge from you, and judge your ſelves unworthy of Eternal life!
Is it ſo, that life Eternal, or the life of Grace, which is Eternal, is begun Uſe 2 in holy Knowledge? See here the ſad Condition and eſtate of thoſe who are ignorant of God, have no acquaintance with him, who know him not the only true God, and Jeſus Chriſt whom he hath ſent. They are abſolutely dead, the life of holineſs and Grace is not yet begun in them; They have not yet the leaſt Degree, the leaſt ſpark of this life: No they are ſtrangers to the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, in the place ſo often cited. They are ſo far from being quickened to this life of Grace, that they are meer ſtrangers to it. They know not what this kind of life means; And are there not a multitude of ſuch among us, who are almoſt as ignorant of God and Chriſt as the very beaſts that periſh? Who beſides ſome common names and notions of God, and of a Jeſus and Saviour, and the like, which it may be they can talk a little of, becauſe they hear them every day, know nothing of the one, or of the other: Examine them and ſift them well, and you ſhall find that rhey have nothing but a form of words at utmoſt, of which they can give no more account then if they were ſome ſtrange Language. And are not theſe men in a ſad caſe? Truly my Brethren, they are but walking Ghoſts, and gaſtly ſhadows, they have no true life in them, no not ſo much as the beginning of it, for life Eternal is begun in Knowledge.
I know it is a Common fancy, that if a man profeſs the true Religion, if he have been baptized, and come to the Aſſemblies, and hear and pray as others do, he is in a good Condition; but be aſſured of this, if he be ignorant of God and Jeſus Chriſt whom he hath ſent, he is no better then a dead man. It is a cooling word my Brethren, and that which one would think ſhould aſtoniſh and amaze you; Suppoſe a Meſſenger ſhould come to any of you from them that have the power of life and death, and with a ſerious and compoſed look ſhould tell him that he is a dead man, how would it ſtrike him to the heart? how would his colour come and go? how would the powers of his ſoul tremble? Now we are Meſſengers diſpatched from him who hath the Keyes of Hell and Death, to tell you who are ignorant of God and Chriſt, that you are in a ſtate of death and condemnation, and that you are in danger every hour of being caſt into the lake that burns with fire and brimſtone, which is the ſecond Death. It may be you will take no notice of it, but chaſe away the meditation of it from your thoughts. You will (as many do) delude your ſelves with this conceit, that though you die in this condition, yet God notwithſtanding will be merciful to you. But as you tender the ſalvation of your precious ſouls, I beſeech you to obſerve that Gods own Word is peremptory and expreſs for this. That none that is devoid of knowledge, and continues ſo, ſhall have any ſhare in the mercy of God, or in the glory of the world to come. Oh continue thy loving kindneſs to them that know thee, (to them and none but them,) ſaith David, Pſalm 36.10. It is a people of no underſtanding, ſaith the Prophet of the Jews, Iſa. 27.11. And what follows? Therefore he that made them will not have mercy upon them. It is the common apprehenſion of the vulgar ſort that he that made them cannot chuſe but ſave them too. No, ſaith the Prophet there, if they be groſly ignorant, Then God that made them will have no mercy upon them. They have not known my wayes, ſaith God, unto whom I ſwore in my wrath, that they ſhould never enter into my reſt. The time is coming when the Lord Jeſus ſhall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire, rendring vengeance unto them that know not God. And therefore I beſeech you do not ſlight it, but lay it ſeriouſly to heart, while yet the pardon may be gotten, while the condemnatory ſentence which the Law hath put againſt you, may be yet revoked.
Uſe. 3 Is it ſo, that life Eternal is begun in holy Knowledge? You ſee then what you are to do, and what courſe you are to take, if you would live Eternally. Originally we are all dead men, we are in a condition and a ſtate of death. And if you yet continue as you came into the world, this is ſurely your caſe. Now my Beloved, are you ſenſible of this? would you come out of this condition? do you deſire to live, and live for ever? Labour after holy Knowledge; And this is life eternal, to know the only true God, and Jeſus Chriſt whom he hath ſent. Though this as I have ſhewed you, be not all that goes to life Eternal, yet this is the beginning of it; and therefore if you mean to live Eternally, this is the firſt thing that you are to do, this is the firſt ſtep that you are to make. Till ſaving knowledge be attained in ſome degree, the ſoul continues in a ſtate of death; as ſoon as this comes once into the ſoul, Eternal life comes in with it. The Exhortation of the Wiſe man ſeems to go far, Prov. 2 4. Seek for knowledge as for ſilver, and ſearch for her as for hidden treaſure. But we muſt go a great deal further, ſeek for it as for life, yea as for Eternal Life; Struggle for knowledge as it were for life and death.
But you will ask me, which way ſhall we come to know God, and know Chriſt? To this I anſwer, that you cannot know him by innate and in-bred light, by any ſelf-ability, let it be what it will, it is incompetent and inſufficient to reveal God to you: though much of him be manifeſted in the Book of the Creation, his Wiſdom, his eternal power and God-head, and though there be foreign ſomething to be known of God as the Apoſtle ſpeaks, by ſtudying in this Book, you cannot know him ſavingly by this means. No, neither can you know him ſo by ſtudying in the Book of Scriptures neither, though there he be revealed more fully then he is in the book of Creatures, unleſs ſome other help go with it; Nay more then ſo, you cannot know him fully and compleatly any way by any means in this life. As he is in himſelf, he is not to be known of any but himſelf. And hence t… Scripture tells us, that no man hath ſeen God at any time, John 1.18. It is very full you ſee, no man at any time But though he doth not, yet he may. No, ſaith the Apoſtle Paul, 1 Tim. 6.16. He dwells in light that no man can approach unto, whom no man hath ſeen, nor can ſee. Indeed we ſee him darkly here, as the Apoſtle ſpeaks, 1 Cor. 13.12. And therefore this is called the ſeeing of the back-parts of the Lord. As when we ſee the back-parts of a man, we know him but by gueſs only, we know him not ſo perfectly and diſtinctly as when we come to ſee his face. Such a ſight of God is that which we attain in this life. And however it may ſeem by ſome expreſſion in the Scripture, that God hath fully manifeſted and made known himſelf to ſome here, as to Jacob, Gen. 32.30. and to Moſes, Num. 12.8. To him will I ſpeak (ſaith God) by viſion, not in darkneſs, and he ſhall ſee the ſimilitude of God. This muſt be underſtood comparatively of the Lords more clear and full revealing of himſelf to Jacob, and to Moſes, then to other men. But as for perfect light and knowledge of the Lord, my Brethren, this was not imparted, neither to Jacob, nor to Moſes. Thou ſhalt not ſee my face, ſaith God to Moſes, Exod. 33.10. That is, the fulneſs of my glory: for none ſhall ſee my face and live.
But which way may we come to know him, ſo far as he is to be known in this life?
Truly there is but one way of coming to the knowledge of him, and this way is Jeſus Chriſt. No man hath ſeen God at any time, ſaith the Evangeliſt, Ioh. 1.18. What then, is he not to be ſeen, not to be known at all, by any means? Yes, though he be not to be ſeen or known immediately in himſelf, yet mediately in and by the Son he may be known; for he hath manifeſted and revealed him to us. No man hath ſeen God at any time, the only begotten Son which is in the boſom of the Father, he hath declared him. And therefore when our Saviour was Incarnate, it is ſaid, that God was manifeſted in the fleſh, 1 Tim. 3.16. In which reſpect it is, that when Philip was ſo earneſt to have the Father ſhewn him, our Saviour bids him to behold himſelf, and addeth preſently, he that hath ſeen me, hath ſeen the Father alſo. Indeed it was the buſineſs of our Saviour Chriſt into this Lower world, to bring God down to us, that we might be acquainted with him: And therefore if you do indeed deſire to know him, go to Chriſt, and uſe his help in this buſineſs. If you ever ſee God, and have that knowledge of him, which is life Eternal, you muſt have light from Jeſus Chriſt to ſee him by. I am the light of the world, ſaith he, Ioh 8.12. without me there is no light in all the world, none but that which comes from me, and which I am the Fountain of. He that follows me ſhall have the light of Life, that is the light which is life. And therefore if you would have this light follow Jeſus Chriſt for it, and follow him three wayes, or in the uſe eſpecially of three Means: follow him in a Goſpel-Ordinance, a Goſpel grace, a Goſpel-duty.
Follow him in the Goſpel-ordinance of preaching; there it is that Chriſt ſhines, that he gives out the light, by which he ſhews his Father to his people. Its true indeed that Moſes ſhewed him in the Law as a Judge and an Avenger. But it is Jeſus Chriſt that ſhews him in the Goſpel as a Father and a Saviour. He is not manifeſt in a ſaving way anywhere but in the Goſpel. The Knowledge of him as he is diſcovered there, and none but that is life eternal. And therefore wait on that diſcovery, if you mean to live for ever; where there is any Goſpel-preaching, ſay Chriſt ſhews his Father there, and follow him, that ſo you may have life by this means. I ſay as Solomon, Prov. 4.13. Take faſt hold of Inſtruction, keep her, for ſhe is thy life.
Follow him in a Goſpel-grace, and that is faith; by this it is that we come to ſee God, and know God; as by it we believe the Revelations and Diſcoveries that are made of God, which other men may read and hear, and yet becauſe they have no faith to give belief and credit to them, they get no ſight, no knowledge of the Lord by them. It is by faith that we ſee him who is inviſible, as the expreſſion is, Heb. 11.27. There are ſome things that muſt be firſt believed before they can be fully underſtood: if you believe them not, you can never underſtand them. And hence ſaith the Apoſtle in the third ver. of the fore-cited Chapter, by ſaith we underſtand the world to be created by the word of God. A man would think he would have ſaid, by faith we credit and believe it, and not by faith we underſtand it. But the Creation is a thing that is above Philoſophy: and therefore is not to be fully underſtood, unleſs it be believed firſt. It is our faith that helps us to the perfect Knowledge of it, and ſo by faith we ſee and know God, becauſe by faith we give aſſent to the diſcoveries that are made of God in Scripture; and having once believed them, we come to ſee and underſtand the nature of the Lord in them. We ſee the Lord in his All-mightineſs, his All-ſufficiency, his Omni-preſence, &c. which a man that hath not faith can neuer do: we bring him near us, by believing his Immenſity, and that he filleth all places, (as he is ſaid to do in Scripture) we look upon him now as juſt by us, and ſo we have a clear and diſtinct ſight of him.
Follow Chriſt in a Goſpel-duty, and that is Prayer; beſeech him to reveal God to you, make your addreſs to him as Philip doth, Iohn 14.9. Shew us the Father: we cannot ſee him of our ſelves, Lord ſhew him to thy poor ſervants. If Chriſt withdraw himſelf and ſtep away, go after him, follow him, and you ſhall have the light of Life. If he ſtop his ears againſt you, cry the louder, as the Direction is, Prov. 2.3. Cry after Knowledge, lift up your voyce for Underſtanding: and what then? Then ſhall you underſtand the fear of the Lord, and find the Knowledge of God.
Is it ſo that life Eternal, &c. If then you deſire to ſave men from Eternal Uſe 4 death, to bring men to Eternal Life, inſtill the Knowledge of the Lord into them? It may be you have Children, it may be you have Friends or ſervants, whom you look upon as dead, they have no life of grace in them: well, Would you have them quickened? Would you have them live for ever? Do what you can, by all the means that you can think upon to make them know God. Inſtruct them, bring them to the means of grace; examine them how they thrive and profit by them. Oh do not ſee them ſink away to hell, and die for ever, for want of any help that you can yield them, of any pains that you can beſtow upon them. Have compaſſion upon them, ſave them with fear, pulling them out of the fire, out of the fire of hell by this means. Oh pitty ſuch a Child, or ſuch a Friend, or ſuch a ſervant as you ſee Ignorant of God, let your bowels earn upon him, Ah poor dead ſoul! And if you can be Inſtrumental to inſtill the Knowledge of the Lord into him, you ſhall do a great work, you ſhall ſave a ſoul from death, yea from Eternal death you ſhall bring it to Eternal life.