Addresses to Old Men Young Men and Little Children, Doctrine 1 – Improvement 1
DOCTRINE. That a peculiar Acquaintance with the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God as well as Man, is the special Attainment of old men walking in the Ways of GOD.
We have three Propositions here to be regarded.
Proposition I.
All men, and particularly Old Men should study a peculiar Acquaintance with the Lord Jesus Christ. All men should be of the same Resolve with That Man in 1 Cor. 2.2. I determined not to know any thing, but Jesus Christ, and Him Crucify'd. This was the Determination of one whom the Antients do not unfi…ly call, An unsatiable Admirer of the Lord Jesus Christ! and there was no Occasion for that Famous and Learned Philosopher among the Antient Heathens to pity the Apostle Paul upon this account, that such Rare Parts as Pauls were, should be thrown away upon the Knowledge of Jesus Christ. A Needless, Bootless pity! For No man can any where find a fitter Subject for his Acquaintance, than the Lord Jesus is; nor have any of those Doctors who have worn the pompous Titles of subtil, and profound, and Angelical, bin worthy of the Titles, unless this Acquaintance have made them so.
Si Christum discis nihil est si caetera nescis.
Si Christum nescis nihil est si caetera discis.
But Old Men should have a very particular Disposition hereunto. For having try'd an Acquaintance with all other Things, they can upon a long Experience, resent the Vanity and Vexation that is in them all, and cry out, I have seen an end of all perfection in the world. It is therefore time for them to Resolve, I have determined to know nothing but Him that is from the Beginning!
If you Enquire, WHAT is a peculiar Acquaintance with the Lord Jesus Christ?
It imports, First, A Speculative or Notional Knowledge of the Christian Religion, and especially of, That Great Mystery of Godliness, God manifest in the flesh. Old Men should become well informed about the Natures of Him, who is God and Man in One Person; about the Offices of Him, who is the Prophet, the Priest, and the King of our Souls; about the Endowments of Him, who is both Able and Willing to save us unto the uttermost; about the Benefits of Him, who bestows upon us Justification, and Sanctification and Redemption, and all the Inheritance of Adoption; in fine, about the Conditions of Him, who Humbled himself, and became obedient unto Death, Wherefore God hath highly Exalted Him. These are the points of our Catechism, and the first Principles of the Doctrine of Christ; it is a shame for any, but above all, for Old Men, to be Ignorant of these principles.
But here is not all; a Devil once could say to our Lord Jesus, as in Luc. 4.34. I know thee, who thou art. Wherefore it imports, Also, a Fiducial and an Experimental Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Knowledge is put for Faith, in Isa. 53.11. By his Knowledge, my righteous Servant, shall justifie many. We ought so to know the Lord Jesus Christ, as to prize Him, and Love Him, and Apply our selves unto Him, and appropiate Him unto our selves, and say unto Him, like the Disciple, My Lord and my God; or with the Believer, My Beloved is mine, and I am His! And Knowledge must be with Tast, as in 1 Pet. 2.3. Ye have tasted that the Lord is Gracious. We ought so to know the Lord Jesus Christ, as to be very Really sensible of the Beauty and Sweetness that is in Him, & like that woman once, we should feel Vertue going forth from Him unto our Souls; or like Paul, find upon our selves the power of what is in our Lord. Old Men are miserable Non-proficients, if they do not arrive to such a knowledge of our Lord Redeemer. In a word, All men, and especially Old Men should so know the Lord Jesus, as to lead a life of Communion with Him.
But if you Enquire, WHY we should be studious of such an Acquaintance with the Lord Jesus Christ? Briefly,
First, We have nothing so Noble to be acquainted withal, as the Lord Jesus Christ. It was once asked in Cant. 5.9. What is thy Beloved more than another Beloved? and the Answer was, O He is altogether Lovely. Thus if any demand, What is the Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, more than any other Knowledge! the Answer may he, 'Tis the Knowledge of him that is altogether Lovely. Grammar and Rhet'rick is the Knowledge of Speech; Logic is the Knowledge of Respect and Reason; Physicks are the Knowledge of Qualities, and Mathematics are the Knowledge of Quantities. But sure, None of these Things are comparable to our dearest, glorious Lord Jesus Christ; of whom 'tis said, in Col. 1.19. In him does all Fulness dwell. To be acquainted with Him, 'tis to know the brightest Thing in the Third Heaven it self; 'tis to Know those Mysteries, which the very Angels do bend themselves to pry into; 'tis to Know that, which with Paul we should count our selves Losers by every thing that would obstruct us in the Excellent Knowledge of.
Secondly, We have nothing so Ʋseful to be acquainted withal, as the Lord Jesus Christ. For,
The Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ will fill us with a blessed variety of other Knowledge. As now, Would we know God? we are told in 2 Cor. 4.6. The glory of God is to be seen in the Face of Jesus Christ. Right Notions about the Wisdom, and Power, and Justice, and Goodness of God, are shaped in our Minds, by the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus; when we know Him, we are like Moses, put into the Clefts of a Ro…k, where the glory of the great God now passes b…fore us. Or, would we know our selves? The Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, will help us to know what our sins are. Well sings th… Christian Poet,
Who would know Sin, Let him repair
Ʋnto Mount Olivet.
The Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ will help us to know what our plagues are. We may pass a judgment upon our own Wounds by the plaister in Him provided for us; and by what was Exacted from our S…ery, we may guess what our own Debts have been. And we may come likewise to know our Duties by the Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has been a compleat Copy and a perfect Pattern for us; and His Call unto us is, Lo…k on me and do likewise. In short, Jesus Christ is the Key that unlocks all the Scriptures. We have searcht the Scriptures, and known them to good purpose, when we have Dug so far into them, as to find them all testifying of duplicate page duplicate page the Lord Jesus Christ. The Knowledge of Him exposes to us the Pearl of great Price in that Sacred Field. All men should know these things but for old men to be un-instructed in them, is remarkably disgraceful and pernicious.
Again, The Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, will afford an unspeakable satisfaction to our Souls. An Artist, that has met with some New, tho' but small, Discovery, with a strange Satisfaction crys out, I have found, I have found! But above all, the Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, is a River of honey to them that are made partakers of it; hence could the Psalmist say, in Psal. 17.5. I will behold thy Face, I shall be satisfied. This Manna will fully answer the vast craving raging Appetites of an Immortal Soul; whatever fiery thirst was once in such a Soul, yet now, It shall never thirst. We read in Phil. 2.1. about, Consolation in Christ; the Knowledge of Christ places us amidst the Springs and Veins of an interminable consolation. All men should seek for such a Satisfaction; but it is particularly incumbent upon old men, who may complain with Bartillai, that they are past the relish of those worldly pleasures in which others labour to delight themselves. Once more,
The Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, will convey an Eternal Salvation to our Souls. A man may go to Hell, with all other Sciences about him; and sink into that horrible devouring Pit, with such a shriek as that, Qualis Artifex pereo! Behold an Artist, going to be Damned! The Floor, the hideous Floor of Hell, is paved with the skulls of admirable Scholars. You know who said, Nos cum nostris Doctrinis mergimur in Infernum. Who better Scholars than the Devils themselves? All the Learning that many have, serves only as a bag of Gold about a Drowning Man; it sinks them the deeper into the scalding Floods of the Lake that burns with fiery Brimstone: But the Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is a saving thing. He that calls in Isa, 45.22. Look unto me, and be saved, also says, O know me, and you shall be saved. A Look to Him, will bring an Healing to our Dying Souls; as a Look to the Coper Serpent, once did unto the Israelites.
This Knowledge will cause us to escape the pollutions of the World; this Knowledge will cause us to grow in Grace; and in fine, thi… Knowledge has no less a thing spoken of it, tha… … Joh. 17.3. It is Life Eternal. The same … …akes it thus Necessary for All men, makes it for Old men more eminently so. Old men have a Night coming upon them; and they above all, had need get their Lamps lighted with such a Knowledge, as may light them into the Chambers of Everlasting Glory.
Proposition II.
'Tis the special Attainment of Old Men walking in the ways of God, that they have this Acquaintance with the Lord Jesus Christ. For,
First, The Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, is a special Attainment in whomsoever 'tis. It can't be said of all people, They have known him that is from the Beginning. 'Tis the distinguishing favour of God, that has made some Acquainted with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ; and hence 'twas the Rapturous Doxology of our Lord, in Mat. 11 25. I thank thee, O Father, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and Revealed them unto Babes. Those few, that have the true Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, are those to whom, the most high God may say, You only have I known, among all the Families of the Earth. And as there is a singular Difference or Dignity in this Attainment, which renders them that have it, the happy Servants that may see the Glory and hear the Wisdom of Him that is, A Greater than Solomon; so there is a sm… Excellency in it, upon this Account; t… …ds a singular Acceptance with God; we … in Joh. 6.29. This is THE work of God, that ye believe on Him, whom He hath sent; God is pleased with no work that we can do, so much as this, that we so know his Son, as to put our trust in Him; and it brings a singular Advantage to men; 'tis wished in 2 Pet 1.2. Grace and Peace be multiplied unto you, thro' the Knowledge of Jesus our Lord; may we but well Know our Lord. Jesus, that's the way for all manner of grace and peace to be multiply'd unto us.
Secondly, Old Men walking in the ways of God, are usually those that have most of this Attainment. The God of Heaven does gradually give unto Christians, a more large and clear insight into the Covenant of Grace, and so they have a growing Acquaintance with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Medi… tor of that Covenant. At our first Conversion we have indeed so much knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, as Draws us to Run after Him; but we find that Knowledge increasing as long as we live. 'Tis with us, as it was with Apollos, in Act. 18.25, 26. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; but after this, there was Expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. The old Christian comes to know more perfectly the Alsufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to know more perfectly his own infinite Need of such a Redeemer. The old Christian has had more Teaching then we that are younger men; he has been taught by Ordinances, and been taught by Providences, and been taught by the Spirit of God accompanying of both; and he hath over and above been taught by an old Experience; Experience has taught him that he has no Righteousness and no Strength of his own; Experience has taught him that the Lord Jesus Christ is one mighty to save; he goes to the Lord Jesus Christ as one whom he has had an old Acquaintance with, he has been inured unto the Trade of Believing on that Almighty Lord.
Proposition III.
The God-head of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be acknowledged by all that would pretend unto any true Knowledge of Him. We do not know Him that is from the Beginning; unless we own that He is without all Beginning, unless we think him to be as the Philosopher expressed it, [Presbytaton Toon Ontoon] The most Ancient of all Beings; and unless we are sensible of the Challenge made by Wisdom for Him, in Prov. 8.23. I have been declared Princess, from the Beginning. No Arian, or Socinian has a Knowledge of our blessed Jesus, enough to Entitle him to the Denomination of a Christian in the Churches of God. Our Lord is indeed a real and a proper man; but it is the Marble Rock upon which our whole Christianity is founded, that He is more than so; for 'tis his Title, in Rom. 9.5. God over all blessed for ever. Thus the Name of the most High, (or Gneljon, which the Poet means I suppose by Anchialus) the peculiar Name of God among his ancient people, is given to our Lord Jesus. Let it be observed, first, That the Names of GOD are put upon our Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Redeemer, of whom Job says, In my Flesh I shall see God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Angel, of whom Jacob says, He is the God that Redeemed me from all Adversity. 'Tis the Lord Jesus Christ, whom John, in 1. Joh. 5.20. calls, The True God, whom Paul calls, in Tit. 2.13. the Great God; & whom Isaiah in Cap 9.6. calls, the Mighty God. What tho' He once were smitten with many Sorrows in an evil world? still in his deepest Obscurity, He was, as we may read that clause in Isa. 53.4. A smitten God. Yea, 'tis Jehovah, who says in Zech. 12.10. They have pierced me; Behold, the Incommunicable Name of Jehovah given to a crucify'd Jesus; unto which Name answers that in the New Testament, the Lord which is, and which was, and is to come. Hence also our Lord exhibits Himself by that Name, in Joh. 8.58. I AM. And elsewhere He is called, the Lord of Glory; that is, the most gracious Lord.
And as the Incommunicable Names, thus also the Incommunicable Attributes of the Almighty God, belong to our Blessed Saviour. Shall we speak of Eternity? Says our Lord in Joh. 17.5. I had glory before the world was. Shall we speak of Omnipotence? 'Twas said by our Lord, in Mat. 18.20. Where two or three are gathered together in my Name, there am I in the midst of them; or shall we speak of Omniscience? 'Twas said by our Lord, in Rev. 2.23. I am He that searches the Hearts and Reins. None but a God may speak at such a rate as this!
What shall I say more? let it be observed,
Secondly, That the Works of God ere performed by our Lord Jesus Christ. The Creation of the World, is the Work of God; but of our Lord Jesus Christ, is it said, in Joh. 1 3. All things were made by Him. The Government of the World, is the work of God; but of our Lord Jesus Christ, is it again said, in Heb 1.3 He upholds all things by the word of his power. 'Tis undoubted, That none can forgive sins but God; nevertheless 'tis said in Mat. 9.6. The Son of Man has power to forgive Sins. Who but God can send the Holy Spirit? yet said our Lord Jesus in Joh. 16.7. I will send the Comforter.
In a word how many Miracles has our Lord Jesus wrought, & this in his own Name How often were the Sick Healed, the Dead raised, the Possessed Rescued, by the Hand of this Blessed Redeemer, coming in his own Name unto us! And hence also, let it be observed, Thirdly, That the Reghts of God are pertaining to our Lord Jesus Christ. None but God may be the Object of our Worship. Yet we are commanded in Joh. 5.23. To honour the Son, as we honour the Father. And Joshua adored Him as Captain to the Hosts of the Lord. Our Prayer should be to none but God; yet the Dying Stephen, in Act. 7.59. They stoned Stephen calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus. Our Faith should be in none but God; yet we read in Rom. 15.12. There shall be a Root of Jesse, in Him shall the Gentiles trust. We may Swear by none but God; yet the Apostolical Oath ran in such Terms as those in Rom. 9 1. I say the truth in Christ. Hence also, 'tis into the name of Christ, that we are Baptised, when we receive the first of our Sacraments; which implies his being a God unto us.
The Lord Jesus Christ is no less than God; and oh how much is our Love to Him obliged, our Hope in him strengthened by that Consideration!
In our Improvement of these things,
IMPROVEMENT I.
We may Infer from hence, as we go along, how foolish, how absurd, how wicked are the Despisers of the Lord Jesus Christ. If the Lord Jesus be God as well as Man, and if an Acquaintance with Him be an Attainment in us, then 'twere very reasonable to Admire Him. Adore Him and Magn…fie Him for ever; to D…spise him, is of all Follies the most abominable.
But are any so absurd and wicked? I would to God, there were None. But I am to tell you, All that Negl…ct a Christ so far Despise a Chris…. Say sincerely, Have you made sure of a Christ or no? Have you Accepted him, Embraced him, thoroughly Closed with him? Can you certainly and joyfully say, Christ is mine? It is to be doubted, that many must confess this thing to have been left undone all this while. But what is the reason of this horrible Neglect? Why, men are so taken up with secular and sensual matters, that they have no leisure to acquaint themselves with a precious Jesus? A filthy Lust, and a wretched World, are the things for the sake of which, a Matchless Christ is Neglected by Impenitent Unbelievers; it may be said of them, as in Mat. 2.5. they made light of him, and went their ways; One to his Farm, another to his Merchandise. Did not the Jews Despise a Jesus, when they preferred a Barabbas before Him? every Unbeliever does as bad as this c…mes unto; and there are two terrible considerations to be therefore laid before all such woful Cr…atu…es.
Consider f…st, The time will come when there shall None of you all Despise an Inestimable Jesus. As 'twas said in Isa. 1….12. I will make a man more precious than fine g…ld, even a man than the golden wedg… of Ophir: So there will a time come, when whole Wedges, yea, and whole Mountains of the fine…t g…ld, will not be so precious to your poor Souls, as that man who is from the Beginning. When you shortly see a God angry with you, a Soul going from you, and an Hell gaping for you, how much do you think, a Christ will then be worth? The Day is at the door, when the most obstinate Sinner among us all, will pierce the very Heavens, with such a lamentable cry as that, O for a Christ, a Christ! a thousand worlds for a saving Acquaintance with Him!
Consider Secondly, The holy Jesus will then despise, all such as have not seasonably Repented their slighting of him. It is said in Psal. 73.20. O Lord thou shalt despise th…ir Image. Thus, the shadow, (the ghost) of such a sinner, appearing before Christ, the Judge of departed Spirits, with importunate Petitions for pity, and pardon, and mercy, will be answered with nothing but an infinite Contempt. The Lord Jesus will then contemn the Souls of such miscreants, and when they shriek, what will become of me? He will say, Let the Devils take them, if they will, I will make no provision for them. He will then also contemn their prayers, and when they Supplicate unto him with never such raging Ardors, Lord, Lord, open to us! He will only Reply, I know you not. Wherefore, Hear, ye Despisers, and wonder, that ye may not perish.
But of these things, there must be a further Improvement made.