Two Books, Treatise 1 · Chapter 25
CHAP. XXV.
Application. Then there are but few Receivers of Jeſus Chriſt. This Ʋſe concerns three ſorts of Perſons. 1. Such as do not receive Jeſus Chriſt as he is.
USE
IS Faith ſuch a kind of Receiving? then truly it will caſt even all the world almoſt. There are but few Receivers of Jeſus Chriſt. Many to whom he is offered, but few that give him entertainment by Faith. And thoſe that have given him entertainment, have not done according to the Law of that duty in receiving him with that kindneſs, which he ſhould have been entertained with. I ſhal put both theſe ſorts together, becauſe they are both under one reproof, though not both under the ſame danger.
Firſt: I ſay this Point diſcovers many to be under unbelief, and ſo not to be the Sons of God, but the wrath of God to abide upon them. And that even many of thoſe who do live under the Goſpel, & have beleeved & received Chriſt, but not received him with love; As the Apoſtle ſaith in another caſe, you have not ſo learned Chriſt, So may I ſay they have not ſo received Chriſt. They have received him, but not as a friend, and not as a gueſt and not as one that loves him: But even as ſomtimes a poor Child is taken to keeping, becauſe they are compelled thereunto by Law, and they cannot rid themſelves of that charge. So men are compelled by their light and conviction to beleeve that there is no way for ſalvation but by Jeſus Chriſt; Their Underſtanding is forced to receive in this truth becauſe it ſhines ſo cleerly: As the light that opens the ſleeping mans eyes that lies againſt it; but they do not love him. In John 3.19. They loved darkneſs rather than light, becauſe their works were evill. Loved darkneſs more than light. Jeſus Chriſt is that light and Faith is that ſight whereby we ſee that light, and they love darkneſs, that is, they love even the moſt uncomfortable eſtate that they could be in the world, better then they love the way of Jeſus Chriſt, darkneſs in the Scripture is referred to uncomfortableneſs. Whether you refer it to the darkneſs of the ſhadow under the Law, Or to the darkneſs of heavineſs and grief of Spirit wherein men are put when they apprehend what they have done to the deſtruction of their Souls. Men love any thing (darkneſs) rather than Jeſus Chriſt. I ſhall have occaſion to open that again, and therefore I paſs it over ſhortly.
Out of the mouths of Babes and Sucklings thou haſt ordained praiſe, that thou maieſt ſtill the avenger and the enemy, Pſal. 8.2. And who is the Enemy and the Avenger? It is only the naturall man. For in the Hebrews you ſhall find that the eighth Pſalme is only a Prophecy of Jeſus Chriſt under whoſe feet. God puts all things, Jeſus Chriſt was the praiſe of God the Father, becauſe he was as unfit to have undertaken and perfected the work of our ſalvation in the eyes of the world, as a Child is unfit to do the ſervice of a man. Or, as the language of a Child is inſignificant, and is not able to expreſs it ſelf. Now why will God take ſuch a courſe? That he may ſtill he Enemy and the Avenger. That I would have you note. That there is in men an enmity and a rage againſt Jeſus Chriſt and the way of ſalvation by him. If there were any thing he would deſtroy, and if there were any wall he would pluck down, and if there were any truth, he would deny, namely ſalvation by Jeſus Chriſt. He came to his own, and his own received him not. His own, that is, thoſe that were ſeparated from the reſt of the world. As we call that a mans own wherein a man hath a particular intereſt, title, and poſſeſſion. If they were Chriſts own, then they had in ſome meaſure owned him, as wel as he had owned them. They had owned him by profeſſion, and yet they received him not, becauſe they received him not with love. foreign, the word ſignifies properly a receiving kindly, and reſpectively and gladly. So, they received him not. The Jews they thought they had received the Meſſiah, when they refuſed the Meſſiah. They thought that he that ſhould be the Meſſiah ſhould be ſuch a one, and becauſe Chriſt came not cloathed like unto him, therefore they rejected him. So Chriſtians are apt to a great miſtake about Jeſus Chriſt preached and born in the Goſpell, (as I may ſay) as the Jews were about him when that he came in the Fleſh. I ſhall inſtance only in one.
They do not love beleeving, nor receive Jeſus Chriſt with love: who beleeve him not to be ſuch a one as he is: who receive him not according to the greatneſs and glory with which he is inveſted, and which belonges unto him. Suppoſe a Noble man ſhould come unto a mans houſe, and be regarded but as an ordinary man: Let his entertainment be otherwiſe what it wil be, he is not uſed kindly, but you do degrade him, and level him to an ordinary mans condition, when as he is a perſon of Honor. Kind uſage of one lyes in the ſhewing him that reſpect and eſteem which belongs unto him. He is an unkind man to his wife, who reſpects her but as his Father and Mother, when as he muſt leave Father and Mother in his affections in compariſon of her. So now, he uſeth Chriſt unkindly, and he doth not ſhew his love by beleeving on him, who doth not by faith receive him as he is God and Man, One in whoſe hands al power is, & may do what he pleaſeth, viz. (Give the ſpirit from the father) And one who is holy, and harmleſs, and ſeparate from ſinners: I ſay, unleſs you beleeve upon him as ſuch a one, and receive him as ſuch a one, and love him as ſuch a one, then you do not beleeve, In 1 Rom. 21. They Glorifyed him not as God, and therefore God gave them up to vile affections. They Glorified God, he confeſſeth, But not as God, and therefore they were puniſhed. Wherein lay that, that they glorified him not as God; It lay in this, God had put forth his power and wiſdom in the things that he had made, and they ſet up things which they made in the memorial of that God, but they praiſed him not as a God of infinite power: They looked after no more then was in the creation and therefore not giving infinite power to him, they Glorified him not as God. So I ſay here, They do not love Jeſus Chriſt as Chriſt, who do not acknowledg him to be what indeed he is, and to be ſuch a one as he is revealed. I ſhall ſpeak more plainly thus. The Jews did ſtumble at the meaneſs of Chriſts out-ſide, becauſe they looked by him to have a temporall kingdome. There are as falſe & as erronious apprehenſions of Chriſt in the minds of men now. The dealings of Chriſt with the Souls of men, are as contrary and as unanſwerable unto mens expectations and preſumptions, as the mean coming of Jeſus Chriſt into the world was contrary unto the expectation of the Jews. Mark it. Chriſts dealings with the Spirits of men, are as unanſwerable, as his coming in the Fleſh was unanſwerable to what the Jews expected. When ever Jeſus Chriſt comes, he comes as a King, he will be Lord, or nothing. As Kings when they come into private mens houſes, command all their ſervants as their own, and uſe every roome as if they that owed them had nothing to do with them: They take all power out of their hands for the preſent, and uſe nothing but what they bring with them, and that which is of their own providing. So when Jeſus Chriſt is come into the Soul, he will have every thought after his mind, and not give a man leave ſo much as to look after any other thing than himſelf. Men look not for ſuch a kind of thing as this is by Chriſt, and therefore they are not able to endure it. Men look for eaſe, and not to be kept to their duty, and they look for peace, and not for to be under the reproof and corrections and inſtructions of the Lord. And men look to have their good will accepted, and that Jeſus Chriſt will be ſerved with nothing of what is ours, but of what he gives. Or rather thus, when Jeſus Chriſt comes unto men, he brings trouble, Behold a Sword: He changeth men from what they were, and takes them off from the practiſes wherein they walked, which they thought were good. As when Jeſus Chriſt came, he nulled all the ſervices of the Jews, which they thought were exceeding Glorious. Now Jeſus Chriſt comes and ſets the ax at the root of the Tree, and ſaith, If we will not bring forth Fruit, we ſhall be cut down. Now the Soul looks not for any ſuch thing as this. What are the expectations of men by Jeſus Chriſt, but only that Jeſus Chriſt ſhould be a Chariot, that Jeſus Chriſt ſhould give him his hand to ſit by him in Heaven? Men look that Jeſus Chriſt ſhould come with his Arms ready to receive them, and his Boſom to lay them in: They look for nothing but what may make their lives more free, and their Spirits more quiet than they were before. You will be miſtaken in receiving Chriſt: If you have peace with him, you ſhall have trouble. You ſhall be a King and reign, but he will be a King and reign over you. He will be ſerved by you, but you ſhall take all from his Treaſure, that you may ſay only as David did, Of thy own do I ſerve thee. Now this being contrary to mens apprehenſions, they are not willing to it, and being not willing to it, they are not believing.
If Jeſus Chriſt be not received according to that Glory which he hath, and which doth belong to him, (Make as much of him as you will) yet ſtill it will not be ſalvation to you. We ſaw his Glory (ſaith the Apoſtle, (when he preached) as the Glory of the only begotten Son of God, John 1.14. [As] that is, it was no other Glory, and can be counted no other Glory but what belongs unto God himſelf. Now as Jeſus Chriſt is preached and known, ſo he muſt be received by the hearers. There is nothing that is worſhip and honor unto God, nothing that will make us happy, but what is done unto God and Chriſt, as ſuch. The Apoſtle makes this in 1 Theſ. 2.13. to be a ſign of the effectuall calling and converſion of the Theſſalonians, That they received the word, not as the word of man, but as it was indeed the word of God. As the word muſt be received as Gods word indeed, ſo muſt Jeſus Chriſt be received as he is indeed. Look therefore what Jeſus Chriſt muſt be that he may be the Author of ſalvation, you muſt receive him as ſuch, if your Faith be ſaving. It was neceſſary if he would ſave us, that he ſhould be God and Man: that he ſhould be the head of al things: that he ſhould be holy and ſeparate from ſinners. Do you now receive him by Faith as ſuch a one? Doth your Faith cloſe with him gladly under theſe reſpects? It is not enough to ſaving Faith that you do not deny him to be thus, but he muſt be owned by you to be thus. I ſay he muſt be owned by you. A man may under one conſideration be wonderfull kind and reſpectfull to a Perſon, when under another conſideration he will ſhew no reſpect to him. As for example. They ſaid unto Lot that he came in among them to ſojourn, and would have Lorded it over them. That is, (as if they ſhould have ſaid) If Lot will live among us, and take his being with us as an ordinary Perſon, he may: But if he thinks all things muſt be as he wil, If he will trouble himſelf with our matters, and order al things according to his Will, and be our Governor, we wil have nothing to do with him. Therefore the Apoſtle faith of ſome men, that they love him not as a Lord, 1 Cor. 16.22. If a man love not the Lord Jeſus Chriſt, let him be accurſed. They love him as Chriſt, for ſo he is anointed: and as Jeſus for ſo he is a Savior: But this [Lord] being added, makes their hearts to riſe againſt him, and againſt the precious oinment and Graces that are in him. And ſo you ſhal find in Jude 4. He ſaith, there are ſome that do deny the Lord. The word foreign, uſed for a [Lord] is a Maſter of a family: If Jeſus Chriſt will come, and he wil have all our time, and ſtrength, and not only that, but the things that are done muſt be after his order, and according to his mind: Our wiſdome and reaſon muſt not direct us in the things that we do, though they be materially good: If ſo, the Text ſaith, They deny him: that is, They profeſs they will not have ſuch a one to rule over them. And thus if you compare it carefully in Luke 20. from 9. to 17. verſe, with Math. 21. where the ſame parable is repeated, though thoſe that had the Vineyards let out to them were angry with the ſervants, yet they uſed them not ſo il, as they uſed the Son: And why did they uſe him ſo ill? It was only becauſe he was the heir, and would have ruled over them. We will not (ſay they) have this man rule over us. And therefore as Perſons are wont to enquire what the quality and diſpoſition of thoſe are, with whom they deſire to marry, before they make any treaty or Covenant with them. A wiſe Man or Woman firſt ſits down and conſider, whether they can like a Man or Woman of ſuch a Spirit and behavior: Suppoſe him to be dull, and harſh, and contrary to her deſire. So firſt get the knowledg of Jeſus Chriſt as he is one that ſaves, and then examine your ſelves how you can ſubmit unto him, that you may judg whether your Faith be true or not. Can you ſubmit unto Chriſt as God, having all things of himſelf, and having an abſolute dependance on him for all? Can you receive him as your Lord and head? and therefore ſay as John did, he muſt increaſe, but I muſt decreaſe, he muſt reign, and I muſt be put under his feet, and it is fit it ſhould be ſo: Yea, canſt thou receive him thus ſimply and not upon condition only or principally? Rather than the Prodigall would ſtarve, he would ſerve, and ſerve in the meaneſt condition that could poſſibly be. Rather than he would die he would eat and feed with the Hogs. A great change, and altogether unlike the Spirit of ſuch a one as he was when he went out from his Father, that could not endure to live upon his Fathers curteſie, in hopes of his portion, but muſt have it in his own hands. Now as he did it out of neceſſity, ſo may men be ready to receive Jeſus Chriſt. But in ſuch a caſe as that is, it is a burden to a man, and unto Jeſus Chriſt alſo. For I beſeech you conſider it. If there be no greater cauſe or reaſon, why a man would have Jeſus Chriſt, than that he may be a Plaiſter to heal him of his ſores than that he may be life to recover him from the dead. (His life is dear to him, that is cleer, And his ſalvation is dear to him but) Jeſus Chriſt is only as a means to ſerve his turn, and ſo far he cannot but be deſired of a man. What man is there (as you ſhall hear by and by) that will take delight in Phyſick for it ſelf, or that doth not count it a miſery to be alwaies in Phyſick, though it be a means to preſerve his health. Salvation is to be looked for by Jeſus Chriſt, But Jeſus Chriſt eſpecially. When Faith gives entertainment unto Jeſus Chriſt, it alſo receives ſalvation. As Chriſt ſaid unto Zacheus, This day ſalvation is come unto thy houſe: But Jeſus Chriſt is the great and chief Gueſt. Faith (I ſay) bids welcome unto Chriſt and his benefits, but moſt of all unto himſelf. And ſo much now ſhall ſuffice to have ſpoken of that firſt ſort, ſuch as receive not Chriſt willingly, and therefore have no true Faith, becauſe they receive him not according to that Glory which he is of.