SERMON XLII.
Father, I will
that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am; that they may behold my
glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me
before the foundation of the world. —john XVII. 24.
secondly, Now I come to our work and employment in heaven,
'That we may behold his glory.'
Observe, our work, or rather our happiness in heaven, mainly consists
in the sight of Christ's glory: 1 John iii. 2, 'Beloved, now are we the sons of
God, but it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but this we know, that when
he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.' We see
him now under a veil, then in person: 1 Cor. xiii.
12, 'Now we see but through a glass darkly, then face to face.'
Here I shall show—(1.) What is this glory; (2.) What it is to behold
this glory; (3.) Why our happiness lieth in it.
First, What is this glory?
1. The excellency of his person. The
union of the two natures in Christ's person is one of the mysteries that shall
then be unfolded: John xiv. 20, 'At that day ye shall know that I am in my
Father, and you in me, and I in you.' How he is God-man in one person, how the
Father, Son, and Spirit are one. We were made for the understanding of this mystery.
God had happiness enough in himself; he made creatures on purpose, angels and
blessed men, to contemplate his excellency.
2. The clarity of his human
nature. It is happiness enough to see Jesus Christ upon his white throne: Rev.
xxii. 4, 'They shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads.'
We shall be eyewitnesses of the honour which the
Father puts upon him as mediator. It will be a wonderful glory; we want words
to make it intelligible; the visible sun hath scarce the honour
to be Christ's shadow. We [Pg. 103]
may guess at it by his appearance on Mount Sinai,
when he gave the law, Exod. xix., compared with Heb.
xii. 18, 19; by the transfiguration, Mat. xvii., when the disciples were
astonished; by the glimpse given to Paul, when a light from heaven shined round
about him, Acts ix. 3; Paul was three days without sight, and could neither eat
nor drink; by those emissions of light and glory, John xviii. 6, 'As soon as he
had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.' All
these apparitions were formidable, but in heaven they are comfortable. We are
more able to bear it, the natural faculties being fortified; and we come to
consider it as a glory put upon him for our sakes. Secondly, What is this
beholding? It is either ocular or mental.
1. Ocular; our senses have their happiness as well as the soul;
there is a glorified eye as well as a glorified mind: 2 Cor.
v. 7, 'We walk by faith, not by sight.' He doth not mean present sense, and the
present view of things; the life of faith is sometimes opposed to that; but now
he meaneth our privileges in heaven. Job pointed to
his eyes: Job xix. 26, 27, 'Though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet
in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall
behold, and not another.' We shall see that person that redeemed us, and that
nature wherein he suffered so much for us. God intendeth
good to the body, he hath intrusted it with the soul,
and the soul with so much grace, that he will not lose the outward cask and
vessel. There is a glory to entertain our eyes in heaven; not only the
beautiful mansion, and the glorious inhabitants, but the face of the Lamb. We
shall be always looking on that book.
2. There is mental vision or contemplation. The angels, that are
not corporeal, are said 'always to behold the face of our heavenly Father.'
Mat. xviii. 10. Angels have no eyes, yet they see God. When we are said to see
God, it is not meant of the bodily eye; α spirit cannot be seen with
bodily eyes. And therefore God is called \~aoratov\~, 'the invisible God.' Col. i. 15. And
seeing face to face is opposed to knowing in part: 1 Cor.
xiii. 12, 'Now we see through a glass darkly, then face to face; now we know
but in part, then we shall know even as also we are known.' The mind is the
noblest faculty, and therefore it must be satisfied in heaven, or else we
cannot be happy. It is the mind maketh the man; it is
our preferment above the beasts that God hath given us a mind to know him. Man
is a rational creature, and there is as great an inclination to knowledge in
the soul as in beasts to carnal pleasures. Drunkards may talk of their
pleasures, and the gratifications of sense; but the pleasure and delight of the
soul is knowledge. And besides this general capacity, there is a particular
inclination in believers by grace; and therefore, that we may be completely
happy, the mind must be satisfied with the sight of God.
Thirdly, Why our happiness lieth in
beholding Christ?
1. It is the cause of all our fruition and enjoyment in heaven.
2. All fruition and enjoyment
is resolved into it again. 1. It is the cause of all our fruition in
heaven. Ocular vision maketh way for mental, and mental vision for complete
holiness or [Pg. 104] conformity to God, and conformity for love, and love for
delight, and delight for fruition.
[1.] Ocular vision maketh way for
mental. We go to heaven to study divinity in the Lamb's face: Rev. xxii. 4,
'They shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads.' There is
an assembly sitting round about the throne, and the Lamb is in the midst of
them, and there, by looking upon his face, they learn more of God. We
need no other books than beholding his glory. We converse with Christ that we
may know more of God. Thus we come to knowledge without labour
and difficulty; Christ in his glory and eminency is bible enough.
[2.] Mental vision maketh way for
likeness and conformity to God. Knowledge in this life changeth
us: Col. iii. 10, 'And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge
after the image of him that created him.' Much more are we sanctified and made
holy by the light of glory. The sight that we have of Christ in the gospel transformeth us: 2 Cor. iii. 18,
'For we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are
changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the
Lord.' By looking upon Christ through the light of the Spirit we are made like
him; but now in glory, when we see him face to face, we are more like him: 1
John iii. 2, 'We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.' Moses, by
conversing with God, his face shone As a glass held up against the sun, the
image and brightness of the sun is reflected upon it; so the more we behold
Christ, the more we do bear the image of the heavenly; \~thn\~
\~oqin\~ \~anacrwnomenov\~,saith
Basil, he dyeth his own spirit with a
tincture of glory.
[3.] This light and conformity maketh way
for love, that is, knowledge increaseth love. As light is, so is love; our
affection is still according to the rate of our knowledge. In this world love
is but weak, because light is imperfect; we love little, because we know
little: John iv. 10, 'If thou knewest the gift of God,
and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked, and he would have given to thee living
water.' And conformity is a ground of love, it is the highest pitch of love to
love God out of the communion of the same nature. The lowest love is to love
him out of interest, as the highest love is to love him out of a principle of
holiness, not because he is good and bountiful, but because he is holy. Whilst
holiness is weak, love is imperfect We wander and estrange ourselves from him,
and go a-whoring from him, for there is some suitableness between us and the
creature as long as flesh remaineth; but when we are
perfectly holy, there is no suitableness between us and anything but God, and
the saints and angels which partake with us of his image. And we love the
creatures for the need we have of them, as well as the suitableness of them to
us; but when we are likened to God in holiness and in happiness, we are above
these wants, we are above all baits and snares, so that our love is entirely
carried out to God.
[4.] Love maketh
way for delight Can a man cleave to God, and not rejoice in him? Rejoicing in
God is not only a duty but a reward: Isa lviii. 14,
'Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord.' The
[Pg. 105] saints love God, and delight in him, in his essence and
being, as much as in their own glory. This maketh
heaven comfortable. It would be a torment to a carnal heart to be always
thinking of God, and employed in acts of love and service to God; but
the saints delight in him, they delight in his presence, and in their own
happiness, because God is glorified in it There is an inconceivable delight in
seeing, knowing, and being beloved of God.
[5.] Delight maketh way for fruition;
for the more we delight in God, the more doth God delight in us, and giveth us the actual fruition of himself for our
blessedness, so that we are fully satisfied. It is fruition maketh
us happy. We can only speak of it in general terms, the filling up of the soul
with God, and of the 'glory that shall be revealed in us,' Rom. viii. 18. We
are in God, and God in us; as fire in iron that is red hot, it seemeth all on fire. Thus can we prattle a little, and
darken counsel with words.
2. Backward again. Fruition maketh way
for delight. We enjoy God to the full, therefore we delight in him. We are
bidden to rejoice in our pilgrimage: Phil. iv. 4, 'Rejoice in the Lord always,
and again I say, Rejoice' God hath made our work a part of our wages, to train
us up by degrees. But now, when we come to heaven, we enter into our masters
joy. It is our only work in heaven; painful affections have no more use. And
joy maketh way for love; these mutual endearments
pass between God and us to increase love. We delight in God, therefore we are
never weary of him. And love maketh way for likeness,
and light for likeness, eadem velle et nolle. There is the
most perfect imitation and resemblance of God, because the most perfect love.
And for light, there is light in this fire; blunt iron, if it be made red hot, pierceth deeper than a sharp tool: we have but one object.
And likeness maketh way for knowledge: Mat. v. 8,
'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.' A dusky glass
doth not give a perfect representation. Ignorance is the fruit of sin. Man
never knew less than since he tasted of the tree of knowledge. Holiness
clarifies the eye: 'We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is,' 1
John iii. 2. There is little proportion between God and men, and 'therefore we
do not know him; when we are conformed to God, we are in a greater capacity to
understand his nature. And then light, or mental sight, maketh
way for ocular sight, that we may look upon Christ. It is a sweet employment to
see the brightness of the Father's glory in Christ's face; there is God best to
be seen at the rebound and by reflection; it is a delightful spectacle.
Use 1. To ravish your hearts with the contemplation of this happiness.
Oh! what an affective sight is Christ's glory!
1. The sight itself is a privilege.
2. That we shall be able to see it with comfort
1. The sight itself is a
privilege. Abraham had a sight of his incarnation, when it was a thing long
after to come, and it filled him with joy: John viii. 56, 'Your father Abraham
rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad.' Simeon saw him when he
was a child, and then said, 'Now it is enough;' Luke ii. 29, 30, 'Now, Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy
word; for [Pg. 106] mine eyes have seen thy salvation.' Zaccheus
climbed up into a tree to see him. When he was grown up, Luke xix. 4, yet then
he went up and down as the carpenter's son. Many saw Christ in person that had
no benefit by him. So to see him by faith and spiritual illumination fills the
soul with joy: 1 Peter i. 8, 'Whom having not seen,
we love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy
unspeakable and full of glory.' To know Christ by hearsay is lovely and
glorious; but now what will it be to see Christ in the midst of angels and
blessed saints face to face? He is another manner of Christ than ever we
thought him to be. It is ravishing to behold him in ordinances; feasts are poor
things to be spoken of to that; but yet there is a veil upon his glory. Oh!
that there should be such a glorious spectacle provided for us! It is God's own
blessedness to see himself and enjoy himself.
2. That we are able to behold it, and that with comfort. That we
are able to behold it: The world is a dark place, and we are weak creatures;
our eyes now are like the eyes of an owl before the sun; we cannot take in a
full representation of his greatness, nor bear the lustre
of his majesty. God is sometimes represented as dwelling in light, to show the lustre of his majesty: 1 Tim. vi. 16, 'Who only hath
immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto.' And
sometimes as dwelling in darkness, as noting the weakness of our apprehensions:
Ps. xviii. 11, 'He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him
were dark waters, and thick clouds of the sky.' We are dark creatures, and can
but guess; all is mystery and riddle to us. The children of
Use 2. Strive to get an interest in so great a privilege Who are those
that shall have an interest in it?
1. They that are careful to
serve Christ here: John xii. 26, 'If any man serve me, let him follow me; and
where I am, there also shall my servant be;'' His servants shall serve him, and
they shall see [Pg. 107] his face,' &c, Rev. xxii. 3, 4. Those that have
suffered with him and sighed with him, that have owned him now, a hidden
Christ, shall have the honour to behold him a
glorious Christ; they that encourage themselves with these hopes, One day I shall
see Christ: Ps. xxvii. 13, 'I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the
goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.' The true land of the living is
heaven; the world is but the valley of the dead, or the place of mortality. The
queen of
2. They that begin their happiness here make it their study to
know Christ: John xvii. 3, 'This is life eternal, to know thee the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent;' there is the foundation and the
beginning of it Study Christ in his natures, person, offices; this is fit work
for saints. Saith Moses, Exod. xxxiii. IS, 'Show me
thy glory.'
[1.] It is an increasing light, but to the wicked it is a growing
darkness; \~skotov\~ \~exwteron\~, 'outer darkness,' Mat xxv. 30; there they are held in chains of
darkness. You love darkness better than light, and you shall have darkness
enough one day. Now there is a thick curtain and veil drawn between you and
Christ, and hereafter there will be a deep gulf; but our work in heaven is to
behold Christ's glory. Can a man look for it, and not follow on to know the
Lord? None shall have a sight of Christ hereafter that do not know him now.
[2.] It must be such a light as carries proportion with the light
of glory, that is, an affective, transforming light.
(1.) An affective light Many may study to warm the brain, but not
the heart: Rom. ii. 20, 'Which hast, \~morfhn\~ \~thv\~
\~ynwsesv\~,
the form of knowledge,
and of the truth in the law.' They may discourse more exactly than a good
Christian, have a map and model of truth in the brain; they dig in the mines of
knowledge that Christians may have the gold. Do you see him with any affection?
Do you strive, above all things, to see his face? Ps. xxvii. 4, 'One thing have
I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of
the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to
inquire in his temple.' It is David's unicum,
Moses' ravishment, when he saw God's back parts: Exod.
xxxiv. 9, 'If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray
thee, go amongst us.' That is one effect of the sight of God; a man would not
be without his company: 'I pray thee go amongst us;' as Absalom said, 2 Sam.
xiv. 32, 'Come hither, that I may send thee to the king, to say, Wherefore am I
come from Geshur? It had been good for me to have
been there still: now therefore let me see the king's face; and if there be any
iniquity in me, let him kill me;' as if he should say, Let him kill me rather
than deny me the king's face. Prize this above all the world: Ps. iv. 6, 7,
'Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put
gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine
increased;' Ps. lxxx. 3, 'Cause thy face to shine,
and we shall be saved.'
(2.) It is transforming: 2 Cor. iii. 18, 'We all with open face, beholding as in a
glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the [Pg. 108] same image
from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.' Light and grace do
always go together. It is such a looking upon Christ as Laban's
sheep looked upon the peeled rods in the gutter; it maketh
us more like Christ Sight worketh upon the
imagination in brute beasts; shall not the eye of faith be more strong to
change than natural imagination? A bare empty contemplation will do you no
good; those that find themselves to be the old man still, let them have never
so much knowledge, it is no sign of grace, nor of an interest in glory.
Use 3. Let the foresight of this glorious estate wean thee from all
inordinate affections to human and earthly glory. There is 'the lust of the
eyes.' 1 John ii. 16. By the eyes we fire our hearts. Doth a stately glorious
house allure thee? What is this to heaven, the
Fifthly, The next thing is the reason of all this, the
Father's eternal love to Christ, and in Christ to us: 'For thou hast loved me
before the foundation of the world,' that is, from all eternity, as the phrase
is often used in this sense in scripture. But how was Christ loved from all
eternity? I answer—Partly as the eternal Son of God: Prov.
viii. 21-30, before the mountains were settled, before the hills were brought
forth; partly as mediator, designed from all eternity, and so 'loved before the
foundation of the world,' as he was 'slam before the foundation of the world,'
Rev. xiii. 8. Christ was our mediator from all eternity; not only before we
were born, but before ever he came in the flesh. To the eyes of God all things
are present, nothing is past, nothing is to come. But why is this made a
reason? I answer—It is a reason:
1. Of the last clause; the glory given to Christ is a fruit and
evidence of God's eternal love to him as mediator; for so he is considered
here; for whatever was given to Christ was given to him as mediator, for to the
divine nature nothing can be given; though the Father be the fountain of the
godhead, yet he is not so properly said to give glory to Christ as God, because
he loved him.
2. Of the whole verse, and so you may conceive it either thus,
that he improved his whole interest in the Father, conjuring him by his
infinite and eternal love, or rather from love to himself inferreth
love to us; thou hast loved me, and them in me; for we also are loved before the
foundation of the world: Mat. xxv. 34, 'Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit
a kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world.'
The point to be discussed is,
the eternity of God's love to Christ and in Christ to us. [Pg. 109]
1. The eternity of God's love to Christ, as God, as his Son; the
love of parents to children is but a shadow of it. We are finite, so are our
affections. As his image: Heb. i. 3, 'Who is the
brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person.' Likeness is the
ground of love. God loves Christ, not only as like him, but as being of the
same essence with himself: 1 John v. 7, 'For there are three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.'
There is no created instance to answer it: all that we love are without us, but
Christ is of the same essence with God. Then he loveth
him as mediator and head of the church. He doth not only love us in Christ, but
in a sort he loveth Christ in us, because of the
complacency that he took in his obedience: John x. 17, 'Therefore doth my
Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again.' ^ God
did therefore eternally love him, and glorify his manhood for his love to us.
2. In God's loving Christ he loved us. We are elected in him
before the foundation of the world: Eph. i. 4,
'According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.'
When God chose Christ to be mediator, he chose us in Christ This is the method
of the divine decrees. God from all eternity resolved to create man pure and
innocent, but with a changeable will, to permit him to fall; and he resolved on
the remedy, Christ, and in Christ to receive them to grace, and accept them to
life again. First he loveth Christ, and then us in him;
as a king doth not only love a subject that hath done him service, but all his
friends and kindred, they are brought to court, and preferred for his sake.
3. This love to us was eternal also: 2 Tim. i
9, 'Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling; not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began.' So Titus i. 2, 'In
hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world
began.' But how then are we children of wrath by nature, the elect as well as
others? Eph. ii. 3, 'And were by nature children of wrath, even as others.' Ans.
That showeth the merit of the natural estate, not
the purpose and decree of God. There are vessels of wrath, viz., the reprobate;
and children of wrath, viz., the unregenerate elect; and children under wrath,
viz., children of God under desertion. It notes not what God hath determined in
his everlasting counsel, but what we deserve by nature and in the course of his
justice.
Use 1. It is a ground of hope why we may look for everlasting life,
because of God's eternal love. So it is urged here. There are two grounds of
hope—the eternity of his love, and his love to Christ
1. The eternity of his love.
From eternity it began, and to eternity it continueth;
before the world was, and when the world shall be no more: Ps. ciii. 17, 'The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to
everlasting, upon them that fear him; and his righteousness unto children's
children.' It is the weakness of man to change purposes; God's love is not
fickle and inconstant. We have good purposes, but they are speedily blasted,
but certainly God's eternal purpose shall stand. So that the great foundation
of our hope is, the immutable love of God the Father. He that seeth all things at once cannot be [Pg. 110] deceived; we
are ignorant of futurity, and therefore upon new events change our minds.
Whatever falleth out, God repenteth
not: Rom. xi. 29, 'For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.'
His ancient love continues still. We have many backsliding thoughts; we think
to love God, but new temptations carry us away, and so we are fickle and
changeable; but God changeth not, he cannot deny
himself.
2. His love to Christ, which is the ground of his love to us. It
is the wisdom of God that the reasons why man should be loved should be out of
man himself, in and among the persons of the godhead. The Son loveth us, because the Father requireth
it; and the Father loveth us, because the Son merited
it; and the Holy Ghost, that proceedeth from the
Father and the Son, loveth us, because of the
Father's purpose and the Son's purchase. And then the Holy Ghost's work is α new
ground of love. As long as the Son is faithful to the Father, and God regardeth the obedience of Christ and the work of the
Spirit, we are sure to be loved. But will not such an absolute certainty make
way for looseness? It is possible it may with a carnal heart, for the very
gospel is to some the savour of death unto death, but
to the elect it cannot be. The great gift of God's eternal love is holiness:
Eph. i. 4, 'According as he hath chosen us in him,
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame
before him in love' And so for Christ's love: Eph. v. 25, 26, 'Christ loved the
church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it by the
washing of water by the word.' And the Holy Ghost worketh
us to this very thing: 2 Thes. ii. 13, 'Through
sanctification of the Spirit.' If we turn a wheel round, the wheel of necessity
must run round. If God loveth us eternally, we must
be holy. There is not only a necessity of precept, but of consequence; he hath
not only commanded it, but it must be so.
Use 2. It commendeth God's love, that you
may admire it Remember it is eternal, of an old standing; and all that is done
to us in time are but the issues and fruits of eternal love.
1. It is eternal, as ancient as God himself. There was no time
when God did not think of us and love us. We are wont to prize an ancient
friend: the oldest friend that we have is God; he loved us, not only before we
were lovely, but before we were at all; he thought of us before we could have a
thought of him. In our infancy we could not so much as know that he loved us;
and when we came to years of discretion, we knew how to offend him before we
knew how to love him and serve him. Many times God is not in all our thoughts,
when he is thinking how to bless us and do us good. Let us measure the short
scantling of our lives with eternity, wherein God showeth
love to us. We began but as yesterday, and are sinners from the womb; the more
liberal we find God to be, the more obstinate are we, yet he repenteth not of his ancient love. Certainly if God should
stay till he found cause of love in us, we should never be loved.
2. Look to the effects of his
love in time. We receive new effects of his love every day, but all cometh out
of his ancient and eternal love in Christ; though the effects be new, the love
is ancient. It is good sometimes to trace God in the paths of his love, by what
strange [Pg. 111] providences our parents came together, that we might have a
being, how wonderfully were we preserved, that we might not be cut off in our
natural estate 1 How were we converted many times, when we did think of no such
matter! Everlasting love sets itself awork: Jer. xxxi. 3, 'I have loved thee with an everlasting love;
therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.' What could move God when
Paul was in the heat of his persecution? How wonderfully did God take us in our
month, send afflictions to stop the course and career of sin! 1 Cor. xi. 32, 'For when we are judged, we are chastened of
the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.' How many
disappointments did we meet with in a carnal course! As David said to Abigail,
1 Sam. xxv. 32, 33, 'Blessed be the Lord God of
Use 3. It shameth us that we adjourn and put
off our love to God till old age. When we have spent our strength in the world,
and wasted ourselves in Satan's work, we dream of a devout retirement. Oh!
consider, God's love to us is as ancient as his being; and are not we ashamed
that we should put off God till the latter and more de-crepid
part of our lives? It is a commendation to be an old disciple, and God loveth an early love: Jer. ii. 2,
'Thus saith the Lord, I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of
thine espousals;' before our affections are prostituted to other objects. Under
the law, the first-fruits were the Lord's; he should have the first God's
children are wont to return love for love, and like love; therefore let it be
as ancient as you can. Do not say, Art thou come to torment me before my time?
and dream of a more convenient season.
Use 4. It teacheth us to disclaim merit.
1. God's love was before our being and acting. Paul, out of a less
circumstance, concludeth election not to be of works:
Rom. ix. 11, 'For the children being yet unborn, neither having done good or
evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works,
but of him that calleth, it was said, The elder shall
serve the younger.' God's election is before all acts of ours; therefore we
deserve nothing, but all is from God. It is not a thing of yesterday; our love
is not the cause of God's, neither is it a fit reward and satisfaction.
Object, But doth not God foresee our good works, or at
least faith and final perseverance? He knew who would believe the gospel, who
would live holy, and who would remain in their sins.
I answer—If this were true,
there were not such a gracious freedom in grace. It is true God foreseeth all things that shall be, but first he preordaineth them. Prescience includeth
and supposeth preordination. Things are not because
they are foreseen; but they are foreseen, because they shall be. From
predestination issueth faith, sanctification,
perseverance. So that we are not chosen because we are holy, but to be holy:
Eph. i. 4, 'According as he hath chosen us in him
[Pg. 112] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy,
and without blame before him in love.' And to be rich in faith: James ii. 5,
'Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich
in faith, and heirs of the kingdom, which he hath promised to them that love
him?' As Paul saitn of himself, 1 Cor.
vii. 25, 'I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be
faithful;' not that God foresaw that he was so. Our ordination to life is the
cause of faith: Acts xiii. 48, 'as many
as were ordained to eternal life believed.'
2. When we were, we were not lovely; there was nothing to excite
God to show us mercy.' Our natural condition is described, Titus iii. 3, 'For
we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers
lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, \~stughtoi\~
\~misountev\~ \~allhlouv\~, hateful,
and hating one another.' All are abominable and worthy of hatred, yet one hateth another, as if he were lovely, and the other only
abominable.
There are two causes of self-conceit; we have not a spiritual discerning,
and are partial in our own cause, and guilty of self-love.
[1.] We have not a spiritual discerning, \~stughtoi\~;
we are filthy, deformed, hateful in the eyes of God, stink in the nostrils
of God. If we see a deformed creature, overgrown with scurf and sores, or a
stinking carcass, we turn away the head in great abomination, and cry, Oh.
Filthy! yet we are all so before God. A toad, a stinking carcass, cannot be so
loathsome to us as a sinner is to God. If a man had but a glass to see his own
natural face, he would wonder that God should love him. Indeed we have a glass,
but we have not eyes. What could God see in us to excite him to show mercy? God
is not blinded with the vehemence of any passion; yea, the object is uncomely,
uncomely to a spiritual eye, much more to the Father of spirits.
[2.] Self-love blindeth us, \~misountev\~ \~allhlouv\~. If men
would hold together, and like one another, all would be well; but now we cannot
love one another and live with one another in safety, we seem such odd
creatures. Fratrum concordia rara est. We are hateful creatures to
God, to angels, to devils, to ourselves.
Object. But some are more civil and refined.
Ans. It is true natural corruption doth not break out in all with a
like violence; but a benumbed snake is a snake, a sow washed is not changed. As
when the liver groweth, other parts languish; one
great lust intercepteth the nourishment of other
corruptions.
Object. But do not some use free-will better than
others? Sure God loveth them more!
Ans. No; 'Not according to the works which we have done, but according
to his mercy he saved us,' Titus iii. 5. God's original motives to do good are
from himself.
Use 5. We are not to measure
God's love by temporal accidents. That which cometh from eternity, and tendeth to eternity, that is an evidence of his special
love: Eccles. ix. 1, 'No man knoweth either love or
hatred, by all that is before him;' 'The pleasures of sin are for a season,'
Heb. xi. 25, and afflictions are for a season; but spiritual blessings in
heavenly places, which come from heaven, and tend to heaven, which have no
dependence upon this world, whether it stand or no, these evidence the best
love, God's special mercy. Why, they [Pg. 113] were devised before ever the
foundations of the world were laid, and it is most of all showed when the world
is at an end. Therefore moderate' your desires of earthly things, which the
apostle calls 'this world's goods,' 1 John iii. 17; they are of no use in
eternity. And bear afflictions with more patience; you do but lose a little for
the present, that you may be safe for ever. Htc
ure, hic seca, ut in aeternum parcas.
Use 6. It presseth
us to get an interest in this eternal love How shall we discern it?
1. By the scope and aim of
your lives and actions. Do you labour for another
world? 2 Cor. iv. 18, 'While we look not at the
things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal,' \~mh\~ \~skopontwn\~ \~hmwn\~. What is your heart set upon, and what do you make your scope and
aim? A child of God prayeth, professeth,
in order to eternity. A man shall know his general scope y what satisfieth him. Are you contented with the world, to have
your names written in earth, to have your whole portion in this life, for other
things you will give God a discharge? Luther would not give God an acquittance, valde protestatus sum me nolle sic a Deo satiari. Grace must have
eternity, for it would fain answer God's love; it would live for ever, for ever
to praise God and serve God. All the world will not satisfy it without this
eternal enjoyment of God.
2. Have you an eternal principle? Is there a life begun that
cannot be quenched? Is the immortal seed conveyed into your hearts? 1 Peter i. 23, 'Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.' Then certainly thou art loved from
eternity, for thou hast a pledge of it First or last there is a work wrought in
their souls, that can never be undone and disannulled, something that is of an
everlasting nature. And therefore what seeds of eternity hath God planted in
your hearts? Common graces and moral virtues, these are of no long continuance;
the soul must have an abiding work, an immortal work.
3. You may know it by this: you will be much in trial, whether
this be wrought in you or no, whether there be such an eternal principle
conveyed into your hearts. Morality is puffed up, never suspects itself, and
common grace puts us into good moods, now and then gives some tastes and
flashes: Heb. vi. 4, 5, 'They were once enlightened, and have tasted of the
heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the
good word of God, and the powers of the world to come.' Morality doth not labour to see that all is sure and safe, and common grace only
gives us some taste and flashes; but a child of God is looking after the
unction that will abide, the seed that remaineth; and
is careful to see that there is grace, and to be increasing in grace, and is
always examining whether it be real.