Forty Sermons, Sermon 19
SERMON XIX. ON 2 PET. 1. 4.
AND therefore that we may either prevent or refute theſe Preacht at St. Maries, Jan. 17. 165….their miſpriſions and blaſphemies, and convince them that this we ſpeak of is a very reality; be we exhorted to 3. things.
1. To aſpire and indeavour really to attain to this high dignity Ʋſe 4 of being indeed partakers of this divine nature.
2. Then to walk anſwerably to it and worthy of it.
3. Becauſe both will be here imperfect, to long for heaven where both will be in their full perfection.
1. Firſt (I ſay) let us with our whole might aſpire to this higheſt dignity, and not reſt till we arrive at this Divine Prerogative of being the Sons of God, and ſo partakers of the divine nature. John 1. 1….And to quicken us hereto, conſider,
1. How ſtudious and ambitious men have alwayes been of nearneſs to great Princes, and (for that purpoſe) of an imitation Camerar. med. cent. 1. cap. 66. Eunomius cum impeditae linguae erat, hoc facundiam fuiſſe dixit Philoſtorgius Niceph. lib. 12. cap. 29. Epiſt. ad Laetam.and likeneſs of their deportment, faſhions, geſtures, and oftentimes even of their both moral, yea and natural vices and deformities. Poppea's yellow locks a beauty in the Court, Leonides his gate and manners Alexander could not forbear to imitate, as his Courtiers did many things in him. A wry neck or a long hooked noſe much doted on becauſe it looked like an Emperours. And for the minds complexion Hierom from experience could ſay Quorum virtutes aſſequi nequeas citò imitaris vitia, when we cannot reach their vertues, we are very prone to take up in imitating their vices, like fooliſh wanton children when we cannot ſtride their ſteps in fair way, we will follow them through the dirty puddle. Exempla exemplaria, ſo that the imitation As Lactantius obſerves, lib. 5. c. 6. mores ac vitia regis imitari, genus obſequii judicatur.of their manners and vices their ſubjects account to be a piece of the homage they owe to them, which therefore made Tully ſay that plus exemplo quam peccato nocent [3 de legibus] they do more miſchief by their example than by their ſin. Great mens examples (I ſay) are Laws, and holy mens tempers and carriages have a kind of neceſſitating cogency in them to imitation, foreign, ſaid Paul to Peter, Why compelleſt thou the Gentiles to Judaize? Gal. 2. 14. So like do we deſire to be to good at leaſt to great men; but how much rather ſhould we aſpire and endeavour to be like to him who is Optimus Maximus, to the great King and moſt holy God, even God bleſſed for ever? whoſe nature is moſt holy, whoſe works are truth, and his ways judgment, Dan. 4. 37. in whoſe Divine Beauty is no deformity. And therefore as our Saviour ſaid to his D…ſciples, Ye believe in God, believe alſo John 14. 1.in me: I may well ſay to all, Do you imitate man? ſhall we not imitate God and Chriſt rather? If fooliſh men glory in an Apiſh ſymbolizing with men like themſelves, and that in their humane infirmities, how glorious, and therefore deſirable ſhould it be to us to partake with God in his Divine Nature and perfections?
2. And this the rather, becauſe this high honour and happineſs Obj. But you will ſay heaven is high and we cannot reach it. God infinitely higher; and therefore no poſſibility of imitation.is attainable. The happy event puts it out of queſtion. Many in all Ages of the Church have arrived at this height, who have ſhewn forth the vertues of God who hath called them, 1 Pet. 2. 9. who by emanations of Divine Grace in heart and life, have expreſſed a participation of the Divine Nature, and what in this kind hath been in ſome by the ſame Grace, may be in others [Ab eſſe & poſſe, &c.] did we but put forth the ſtrength and activity of Pauls faith, who could be and do all things through Chriſt ſtrengthning him, Phil. 4. 13. The Text in hand (had we nothing elſe) doth ſufficiently clear this poſſibility; for it doth not only ſay that precious promiſes were given to them, that they may be partakers of the Divine Nature (and Goſpel-promiſes do at leaſt aſſure us of a poſſibility, and when by faith laid hold on, of a certainty of their accompliſhment) but withal adds the happy event in their having eſcaped the corruption that is in the world through luſt. In which this actual participation of this Divine Nature in part conſiſteth, and by which (according to the true ſenſe and intention of the Apoſtle in his adding of thoſe words) it is evidenced. Well then, it's hence plain, that ſuch a participation of the Divine Nature may be had, and truly then, ſuch a may-be of ſuch a mercy ſhould be enough to any awaekned ſpirit to imploy and improve its utmoſt endeavours for the attaining of it. It encouraged the Widow of Tekoah to make a great petition to David, becauſe ſhe ſaid in her ſelf, It may be the King will grant it, 2 Sam. 14. 15. And, It may be the Lord will look on mine affliction, ſaid David himſelf, and upon that ground patiently endured it, 2 Sam. 16. 12. Who knoweth? ſaith the Prophet Joel 2. 14. and, Who can tell? ſaid the people of Nineveh, Jonah 3. 9. whether God will turn and repent, and ſo the more ſeriouſly they ſet upon their duty, that he might. Truly Gods may-be's are better than mans ſhall-be's. A may-be of ſalvation is one of the firſt caſts of faiths eye to juſtification. In matters of outward eſtate we much value even our poſſibilities; and they ſet the whole world upon buſie action. What crowds of poor, where a doal may be had? What tr…dging over ſea and land for a may-be of profit? And if ſuch an height of honour or place may be got up to, what creeping up, though upon hands and feet, as Jonathan 1 Sam. 14. 4, 13. V. 6.between ſharp rocks to come at it, upon this very ground, it may be the Lord will work for us? As it was enough for Jacob to hear that there was corn in Egypt to be had (though he was not aſſured to have any of it) to ſay to his ſons, Why do you look one upon another? get you down and buy for us, that we may live and not dye, Gen. 42. 1, 2. And why then ſhould we look here and there, and like fools have our eyes in the ends of the earth to find out other vanities, when Pro. 17. 24.did we but lift up our eyes and hearts to heaven, we might both ſee and get that which will make us like the God of heaven. I ſay not therefore as Jacob there of Egypt, Get you down thither, but get we up hither, though it be with Jonathan and his Armour-bearer on our hands and keens, with humbleſt prayers and earneſteſt endeavours, though (as with them up ſharpeſt rocks) through greateſt difficulties and dangers. But is it poſſible, that a child of wrath by nature may become a Son of God, and by Grace be partaker of the Divine Nature? One in himſelf ſo much the Beaſt and the Devil, be made like the bleſſed God? And ſo I that am ſo vile and ſinful, may I become holy as he is holy? perfect as my heavenly Father is perfect? Then ſure the happineſs of it would not be more inconceivable, than our neglect of it unexcuſable. Let us therefore up and be doing.1 Chron. 22. 16.
3. And this yet the rather upon conſideration of what others, even Heathens, have attempted in this kind, and when they have been ſo mantling the wing this way, let them ſhame us if we take not a further and an higher flight. How doth Plato up and down define the chiefeſt good of man to conſiſt in a full conformity to God! and what a noiſe do they make with their foreign and foreign? of their being God-like whileſt they lived, and Deifi…d when dead? Oh that what we read in their Books we might find in our hearts, and others may ſee in our lives, that we might really be and do what they talked of. At leaſt for ſhame let us exceed what they did or could attain to: whilſt we do ſo much exceed them both for pattern and principle.
1. Our pattern is more fair, and our Copy far more clearly and legibly written before us in the word of truth, than theirs in the dim light of nature. It did more darkly diſcover to them the footſteps of God, that by following him therein they might grope after an Ʋnknown God, and ſo they fumbled about a poor conformity Act. 17. 23, 27. 2 Pet. 1. 19.to him. But upon us the day hath dawned, and the day-ſtar is riſen in our hearts, and the Sun of righteouſneſs ſhineth forth, which hath more fully diſcovered to us the image and nature of God in the face of Jeſus Chriſt, unvailed and clearly diſcovered to us in the glaſs and bright beams of the Goſpel; the Deity in its nature, perſons and properties evidently manifeſted, nor ever could the holineſs, juſtice, power, truth and mercy of God be more fully declared than they are by Chriſt, and as they are held forth in the Goſpel. In Chriſt God is manifeſted in the fl…ſh, He being 1 Tim. 3. 16. Heb. 1. 3. …ol. 2. 9.the Brightneſs of His Father's glory, and the expreſs Image of his Perſon, in whom the fulneſs of the Godhead dwelt bodily, and all grace (which is this Divine nature in the Text) em…nently and without meaſure for our participation & imitation. So that our better Abimelech (our King and Father) in his grace and life ſaith to us all, as the other Abimelech did to his followers, Judg. 9. 48. What ye have ſeen me do, make haſte and do like me. The word was made fleſh and dwelt among us, that we might at a nearer John 1. 14.view behold his glory full of grace and truth, and walkt among us on purpoſe that we ſhould follow his ſteps. In a word, he being 1 Pet. 2. 21.God, took upon him the nature, and was made in the likeneſs of man, that the like mind might be in us, and that whilſt Phil. 2. 7. 5.we have ſuch a perfect pattern ſo near our eye, according to our meaſure (in likeneſs and conformity) we might be made partakers of the divine nature. And if the rich man thought that one coming from the dead would work ſo great matters with his brethren, Luke 16. 30.what a transformation in our hearts and lives ſhould Chriſt make who for this very purpoſe came down from heaven? Our pattern in Chriſt is very fair.
And it very openly and clearly held out to us in the Goſpel. Whether by Chriſts own miniſtry; he being the only begotten Son in his Fathers boſom could beſt declare him, John 1. 18. And ſhould we only conſider his ſermon on the Mount in the 5, 6, 7. Chapters of S. Matthew, we may underſtand ſo much of God's nature and will, that were our hearts and lives anſwerable, we ſhould therein very much partake of the Divine nature, and in our meaſure be perfect as our Father who is in heaven is perfect, as our Saviour there ſpeaks, Matth. 5. 48. Or ſhould we conſider the Goſpel of Chriſt as diſpenſed in the writings or preachings of his Apoſtles or other ſervants; Paul in the general ſpeaks very full to our purpoſe, 2 Cor. 3. 18. that we all with open face as in a glaſs beholding the glory of the Lord are changed into the ſame image from glory to glory as by the ſpirit of the Lord. In which Text every clauſe is very ſtrong and emphatical. We all not only Apoſtles and Miniſters, (as ſome would expound it) but all true Chriſtians; for they are not only ſuch as we call Divines, that are made partakers of the Divine nature.
With open face foreign, not through Moſes his darker veils.
foreign beholding the glory of God; that is, the glorious nature, wiſdom, juſtice and mercy of God, moſt fully and perfectly expreſſed, and expoſed and manifeſted in Chriſt.
And accordingly moſt clearly reflected and held forth in the glaſs and moſt clear mirrour of the Goſpel. This ex parte objecti & medii.
But what ex parte ſubjecti is or ſhould be the effect of it?
foreign we are or at leaſt God expecteth that we ſhould be changed into the very ſame image, not only there to ſee and behold him, but ſo as to repreſent him, in ſpeculo repraeſentantes, as Eraſmus tranſlateth it, and ſo are transfigured into the ſame likeneſs tanquam ſecundariae quaedam imagines, as Beza well expreſſeth it.
And that from glory to glory, that is, not only from one degree of glorious grace to another, as moſt interpreters expound Beza, Lapide.it, but as ſome add from the glory that is in God and Chriſt, from this reflexion of it, to a proportionable glory according to our manner and meaſure communicated to us by it.
And all this as by the ſpirit of the Lord; that is, ſo really and gloriouſly that nothing but the all powerful ſpirit of God could effect it, for ſo that particle foreign As by the ſpirit of the Lord ſignifieth cauſam congruam & dignam tantae transformationis, as C. à Lapide rightly obſerveth.
All cometh to this, and all fully to my preſent purpoſe, That now when God is in Chriſt ſo fully (as I may ſay) exhibited and expoſed to our view, and in the Goſpel ſo clearly manifeſted and held forth to us: He expecteth, and where grace prevaileth he thereby effecteth ſuch a change and transformation, that we are not like our former ſelves, but are molded into his likeneſs, and having laid aſide our corrupt nature we are made partakers of his Divine Nature. This is (or ſhould be) according to Paul's doctrine there, the effect of the Goſpel, and (as Calvin obſerveth upon my Text) according to Peter's doctrine here, when he ſaith that the exceeding great and precious Goſpel-promiſes are given to us foreign that by them we ſhould be partakers of the Divine Nature. He telleth us this is the end of the Goſpel (Notemus hunc eſſe Evangelii finem, ut aliquando Deo conformes reddamur, id verò eſt quaſi Deificari) that at laſt we may be conformable to God, which is, as it were, to be Deified, or, as our Apoſtle phraſeth it, to be made partakers of the Divine Nature. Which whilſt we are ſo plentifully partakers of the Goſpel, we ſhould be exceedingly aſhamed of, that we ſo far fall ſhort of it, which yet the very Heathens ſo much aſpired to, who fell ſo ſhort of us: as thus in pattern, ſo
2. In principle; for as our pattern is more clear, ſo our principle is more high. This conformity to God in true Chriſtians (you heard from 2 Cor. 3. 18) is from the ſpirit of the Lord, whilſt by the ſpirit of Chriſt inlightning and regenerating we are renewed after the Image of God, Col. 3. 10.
As alſo from faith in Chriſt laying hold of th…ſe exceeding great and precious promiſes of the Goſpel, and on Chriſt in them, from whoſe fulneſs alone God would have us receive grace for grace, grace in us anſwerable and conformable to grace in him, and ſo to be partakers of the Divine Nature. Now this faith, theſe promiſes, this Chriſt, and this ſpirit of Chriſt thoſe Heathens and their moſt …limate Philoſophers were utter ſtrangers to, him they knew not, to him by faith they went not, nay out of themſelves they went not; but to their Philoſophical moral conſiderations, and their purgative vertues, to which they ever joyned their heatheniſh idolatries and ſuperſtitious luſtrations and ſacrifices, With Porphyrie to his foreign.and ſometimes to their foreign and foreign charms and ſorceries, as utterly inconſiſtent with the Divine nature as the true God is contrary to a vain idol, and therefore it is no wonder that it was ſo wofully deformed a deiformity which they arrived at, how trimly ſoever their admirers do trim it up and turkeſs it.
And therefore when there is ſo much more light and power in the Goſpel, when our both pattern and principle ſo far every way exceed theirs. Surely God cannot but expect that it ſhould be another-kins likeneſs to him that we ſhould attain to, than what they arrived at. And on the contrary, let us ſadly think what a ſhame it is to us and to the Goſpel too that when there is ſo much of God in it, there ſhould be ſo little in us who profeſs it.
That when we read David's Pſalms, and the other Prophets writings in the old Teſtament, we ſhould find ſo much light and life, that they both breath and expreſs ſo much of God in them, and we ſo little, ſo that in truth although (as Euſebius obſerveth) they were not called, yet indeed they were the true Chriſtians, and many of us are really as much without God as we are ſtrangers from that Commonwealth of Iſrael.
Eſpecially that even Heathens ſhould herein exceed us, that they ſhould ſo honourably ſpeak of that God whom we ſo blaſpheme; that they ſhould expreſs more of God by the twilight of nature, than we in the ſun-ſhine of the Goſpel; that Eraſmus ſhould ſo hardly forbear to pray to Socrates as a Saint, whilſt many who are named Chriſtians may (without breach of charity) be called Atheiſts; that any of us ſhould have upon us ſuch black marks of the Devil, when on many of them we may diſcover (though ruder, yet) very lovely characters and lineaments (by the help only of their natural Divinity) of the Divine nature, which we who have better means in all reaſon ſhould be more poſſeſſed of.