THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 From the col lection of 
 Julius Doerner, Chicago 
 Purchased, 1918. 
 
 2.34 
 
 Amlt 
 
LIBRARY OF THE 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 AT URBANA-CHAMPAICN 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2016 
 
 https://archive.org/details/lookinguntojesus00ambr_0 
 

LOOKING UNTO JESUS: 
 
 A VIEW OF 
 
 THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE SOUL’S EYEING OF JESUS, 
 
 AS CARRYING ON THE GREAT WORK OF MAN’S 
 SALTATION, FROM FIRST TO LAST. 
 
 BY 
 
 ISAAC AMBROSE, 
 
 MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. 
 
 Isaiah 45 : 22 . 
 
 tfampht* h an 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 J. B. LIPPI NCOTT & CO. 
 
 SHIPPENSBURG (Pa): J. C. WILLIAMS. 
 1856 . 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 RECOMMENDATION. 
 
 Allegheny City, November , 1855 . 
 
 Mr. J. C. Williams : — Dear Sir — In reply to your inquiries with respect to the 
 propriety of republishing the justly celebrated work of Ambrose, entitled LOOKING 
 UNTO JESUS, I would unhesitatingly express the belief that you can hardly expect, 
 in the way of reviving old standard works, to subserve the cause of true religion better 
 than by fulfilling such a purpose. To the piety and attainments of Isaac Ambrose, 
 there are full and satisfactory attestations. 
 
 The testimony of the Editors of the New Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, on all subjects 
 of general literature, is, in worth and judiciousness, surpassed by no other, and I tran- 
 scribe their brief account of him, both because it gives his reputation as an author and 
 a scholar, and also notices the principal facts in his history. “ He was,” they say, “ a 
 Presbyterian clergyman of great learning and piety, born in 1591, but his parentage 
 unknown. He appears, however, to have been liberally educated ; and is said by his 
 biographers to have studied the classics and belle lettres with much attention. He 
 was thoroughly skilled in every branch of theology, and was particularly acquainted 
 with Jewish antiquities and the writings of the Fathers. During the long Parliament 
 of Cromwell he was settled at Preston, in Lancashire, and thence removed to Gar- 
 strang; and at length ejected by the act of uniformity in 1662. He employed the 
 remainder of his life in revising his former publications, and composing new tracts. 
 He was one of those divines who resisted the Antinomian errors which were so preva- 
 lent in his time ; who taught the necessity of an inward as well as an imputed righte- 
 ousness ; and who illustrated the faith of the gospel as a practical and purifying prin- 
 ciple. He is described by Calamy as a man of substantial worth, eminent piety, and 
 exemplary life : and the same author relates of him, that it was his usual custom, once 
 a year, for the space of a month, to retire into a little hut in a wood, and, avoiding all 
 human intercourse, to devote himself to contemplation. He died in 1664, at the age 
 of seventy-two. His works are, 1. The first, middle, and last things, viz., Regenera- 
 tion, Sanctification, and Meditations on Life, Death, Judgment, &c. 2. Looking unto 
 Jesus. 3. War with Devils, and Ministration of Angels. 4. Sermon on redeeming 
 Time.” (See Calamy’s Lives, vol. 2.) 
 
 Whether we consider the subject on which he dwells, or the solemn and interesting 
 circumstances, which led to its composition, this work may justly be viewed as the 
 most useful and valuable of the four. 
 
 It was, as we learn, from the introductory address, when this excellent man had just 
 risen from the bed of severe illness, and when a lively sense of what “ Jesus had done 
 for his own soul” was vividly impressed upon his mind, and intensely engaged his 
 affections, that he formed the design of unfolding, more fully, both for his own edifica- 
 tion, and that of others, and for the glory of Christ, the great gospel duty of Looking 
 
 ( v) 
 
 698241 
 
VI 
 
 RECOMMENDATION. 
 
 unto Jesus : and he then resolved, that if his health should be restored, and his life 
 prolonged, he would dedicate the first, and best hours, of renewed strength, to this 
 delightful theme. He began the work with fervent prayer to God, for aid and guid- 
 ance in it ; and under a very deep, and heavenly impression of divine things, (as there 
 is internal evidence,) he has here presented to us, the character and offices of Christ, 
 “ from first to last,” as our propitiatory sacrifice , and pattern , in a most practical, tender, 
 aud luminous manner. 
 
 There is a glow of sacred feeling, in these discussions, which united as it is with 
 accurate and judicious representations of revealed truth, cannot fail to arouse, and 
 enlighten, and invigorate the piety, even of the most established believers. On a 
 subject which has long been the delightful theme of private meditation and public dis- 
 cussion, and which has employed the resources of the ablest minds and the purest 
 hearts on earth, the reader should not, indeed, look for novelties of doctrine, or origi- 
 nality of thought and manner, or for such force and embellishment of language, as is 
 in vain sought for, in those ancient worthies who paid far more attention to things 
 than names, and to the excellencies of truth than the beauties of language ; but he 
 should expect, what he will rarely find, to an equal extent in mere human compositions, 
 a richness of thought, and appropriateness of illustration ; a fervor of devotion, and an 
 unction of the Spirit, in the exposition of the precious truths of the gospel, which, while 
 it extends the limits of his knowledge of Christ, and inspires him with a sense of the 
 beauty and sweetness of the blessed gospel, will lift his own heart in all the desires of 
 a heavenly communion, to Him, who is exalted to grant repentance and remission of sins . 
 As a common practical work, the best days of English Theology and piety have 
 furnished few better. Baxter, Howe, the Henrys, Flavel, and Bates, to mention no 
 others, are writers whose worth is generally known in this country, and it is no mean 
 praise to say of Ambrose , that he was associated with such men, as well by the excel- 
 lence of his spirit, and judiciousness of his writings, as he was in the deprivations for 
 non-conformity, which were then suffered. It has fallen to my lot to know, that this 
 work of Ambrose has often been sought for, both by clergymen and others, and that 
 when copies of it have been imported into this country, they have rapidly sold off, at 
 very advanced prices. Should you be able to bring it into the limits which you con- 
 template, and sell it at the price you propose, it will be decidedly a cheap book. In 
 attempting to do this, I have little doubt that you will receive from the Christian 
 public, every desirable encouragement. 
 
 Respectfully, yours, 
 
 E. P. SWIFT, 
 
 Pastor of the Presbyterian Church , Allegheny City. 
 
TO THE READER. 
 
 Amongst all the duties I formerly mentioned, I omitted one, that 
 now I look upon as chief and choice of all the rest ; this is the duty 
 I call Looking unto Jesus, and if I must discover the occasion of 
 my falling on it, I shall do it truly and plainly, and in the simpli- 
 city of the gospel. As thus, in the Spring 1653, I was visited with 
 a sore sickness, and as the Lord began to restore my health, it came 
 into my thoughts what Jesus had done for my soul, and what he 
 was doing, and what he would do for it, till he saved to the utter- 
 most. In my conceptions of these things, I could find no beginning 
 of his actings, hut in that eternity before the world was made : nor 
 could I find any end of his actings, but in that eternity after the 
 world should be unmade: only between these two extremities, I 
 apprehended various transactions of Jesus Christ, both past, pre- 
 sent, and to come. In the multitude of these thoughts within me, 
 my soul delighted itself, and that delight stirring up in me other 
 affections, (for one affection cannot be alone,) I began to consider 
 of those texts in scripture, which seemed at first to impose the 
 working of my affections on so blessed an object, as a gospel-duty : 
 then I resolved, if the Lord Jesus would but restore my health, and 
 prolong my life, I would endeavor to discover more of this gospel- 
 duty than ever yet I knew : and that my pains therein might not 
 hinder my other necessary labors, my purpose was to fall on this 
 subject in my ordinary preaching, wherein I might have occasion 
 both to search into scriptures, several authors, and my own heart. 
 In process of time, I began this work, begging of God, that he 
 would help me to finish, as he inclined me to begin, and that all 
 might tend to his glory, and the church’s good. In the progress 
 of my labors, I found a world of spiritual comfort, both in respect 
 of the object that I handled, Jesus Christ, and in respect of the act, 
 wherein consisted my duty to him, in Looking unto Jesus. 1. For 
 the object, it was the very subject whereon more especially I was 
 bound to preach, “ Christ in you, the hope of glory,” (saith Paul 
 
 (vii) 
 
viii 
 
 TO THE READER. 
 
 to the Colossians,) and he immediately adds, “ whom we preach,” 
 Col. 1 : 27, 28. And “ unto me who am less than the least of all 
 the saints, is this grace given,” what grace ? “ That I should preach 
 among the gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,” Eph. 3 : 8. 
 Ministers ought in duty more abundantly to preach Jesus Christ. 
 Dr. Sibbs is clear, “ That the special office of the ministry of Christ, 
 is to lay open Christ, to hold up the tapestry, and to unfold the 
 hidden mysteries of Christ.” And therefore he exhorts, “ That we 
 should labor to be always speaking somewhat about Christ, or tend- 
 ing that way ; when we speak of the law, let it drive us to Christ ; 
 when of moral duties, let them teach us to walk worthy of Christ : 
 Christ, or somewhat tending to Christ, should be our theme and 
 mark to aim at,” Sibb’s Can tic. p. 428. And I may feelingly say, 
 it is the sweetest subject that ever was preached on. Is it not “ as 
 an ointment poured forth,” whose smell is so fragrant, and whose 
 savor is so sweet, that “ therefore all the virgins love him?” Is it 
 not comprehensive of all glory, beauty, excellency, whether of things 
 in heaven or of things on earth ? Is it not a mystery, sweet and 
 deep ? Surely volumes are written of Jesus Christ : there is line 
 upon line, sermon upon sermon, book upon book, and tome upon 
 tome, and yet such is the mystery, (as one speaks plainly) that we 
 are all but, as yet, at the first side of the single Catechism of Jesus 
 Christ : yea, Solomon, was but at What is his name ? And I fear 
 many of us know neither name nor thing. It is a worthy study to 
 make farther and farther discovery of this blessed mystery ; and it 
 were to be wished that all the ministers of Christ would spend 
 themselves in the spelling, and reading, and understanding of it. 
 Look as some great point doth require the abilities of many scholars 
 (and all little enough when joined together) to make a good disco- 
 very thereof: such is this high point, this holy, sacred, glorious 
 mystery, worthy of the pains of all the learned ; and if they would 
 all bring their notes together, and add all their studies together, 
 (which I have in some measure endeavored in the following treatise) 
 they should find still but a little of this mystery known, in compari- 
 son of what remains, and is unknown ; only this they should know, 
 Quod difficili intellectua , dilectabile inquisitu , (as Bernard said) 
 “ That which is hard to understand, is delightful to be dived into,” 
 and so I found it. 2. For the act of looking unto Jesus, as it is 
 comprehensive of knowing, desiring, hoping, believing, loving, so 
 also of joying ; how then should I but be filled with joy unspeak- 
 able and glorious, whilst I was studying, writing, and especially 
 acting my soul in the exercise of this looking ? If there be any 
 duty on earth, resembling the duty of the saints in heaven, I dare 
 
TO THE READER. 
 
 IX 
 
 say, this is it. Mr. Rutherford in his epistle to Christ dying, 
 writeth thus, “An act of living in Christ, and on Christ, in the acts 
 of seeing, enjoying, embracing, loving, resting on him, is that noon- 
 day divinity, and theology of beatifical vision ; there is a General 
 Assembly of immediately illuminated divines round about the throne, 
 who study, lecture, preach, praise Christ night and day ; oh ! what 
 rays, what irradiations, and dartings of intellectual fruition, behold- 
 ing, enjoying, living in him, and fervor of loving, come from that face, 
 that God-visage of the Lord God Almighty, and of the Lamb that 
 is in the midst of them ? And, oh ! what reflections and reaching 
 forth of intellectual vision, embracing, loving, wondering, are re- 
 turning back to him again, in a circle of glory ?” Now, if this be 
 the saints’ duty, who are perfect in glory, do not we imitate them, 
 and feel something of heaven in our imitation, in our looking also 
 unto Jesus ? I write what in some measure I have felt, and of 
 which I hope to feel yet more : and therefore, whoever thou art 
 that readest, I beseech thee, come, warm thy heart at this blessed 
 fire ! 0 ! come, “ and smell the precious ointments of Jesus Christ !” 
 0 ! come, “ and sit under his shadow with great delight !” oh ! that 
 all men, (especially into whose hands this book shall come) would 
 presently fall upon the practice of this gospel art of “ looking unto 
 Jesus !” if herein they find nothing of heaven, my skill will fail me ; 
 only let them pray, that as they look to him, so virtue may go out 
 of him, and fill their souls. 
 
 Reader, one thing more I have to say to thee, if thou wouldst 
 know how to carry on this duty constantly, as thou dost thy morn- 
 ing and evening prayer : it were not amiss every day, either morn- 
 ing or evening, thou wouldst take some part of it at one time, and 
 some part of it at another time, at least for some space of time to- 
 gether. I know some, that in a constant daily course carry on in 
 secret those two necessary duties of meditation and prayer : what 
 the subject-matter of their meditation is, I am not very certain : 
 only our experience can tell us, that be it heaven, or be it hell, be 
 it sin, or be it grace, or be it what it will, if we be in the exercise 
 of the self-same subject, either constantly or frequently, we are apt 
 to grow remiss, or cold, or formal ; and the reason is, one thing 
 tires quickly, unless that one be all; now that is Christ, for “ be 
 is all,” Col. 8:11. If then but once a day thou wouldst make 
 this Jesus Christ thy subject, to “ know, consider, desire, hope, 
 believe, joy in, call upon, and conform unto,” in his several respects 
 of plotting, promising, performing thy redemption in his birth, life, 
 death, resurrection, ascension, session, intercession, and coming 
 again ; and that one of these particulars might be thy one day’s 
 
X 
 
 TO THE READER. 
 
 exercise, and so every day thou wouldst proceed from first to last, 
 in thus “ looking unto Jesus,” I suppose thou wouldst never tire 
 thyself : And, why so ? 0 ! there is a variety in this matter to be 
 
 looked unto, and there is a variety in the manner of looking on it. 
 JEx. gr. One day thou mightest act thy “ knowing of Jesus,” in 
 carrying on the great work of thy salvation in his eternity, the 
 next day thou mightest consider Jesus in that respect ; and the 
 next day thou mightest “desire after Jesus” in that respect, and 
 the next day thou mightest “ hope in Jesus” in that respect; and 
 so on till thou comest to the last day of the work, which (beside* 
 the object handled at large in every period, in these very actings 
 upon the object) would in all amount to the number of eighty-one 
 days. Now, would not this variety delight? It is the observation 
 of Mr. Lockyer on Col. 1 : 16, that “ an holy soul cannot tire itself 
 in the contemplation of Jesus.” How much less can it tire itself 
 in “looking unto Jesus,” which is far more comprehensive than 
 contemplating of Jesus ? Come, try this duty, and be constant in 
 it, at least for eighty-one days in a year, and so for eighty-one days 
 in every year during thy life : and then, for thy meditations on any 
 other subject I shall not take thee quite off, but leave the remain- 
 der of the year, which is above three parts more, to thy own choice. 
 If thou art so resolved I shall say no more, but, the Lord be with 
 thee : and if sooner or later, thou findest any benefit by this work, 
 give God the glory, and remember him in thy prayers, who hath 
 taken this pains for Christ’s honor, and thy soul’s good. So rests, 
 
 Thy servant in Christ Jesus, 
 
 ISAAC AMBROSE. 
 
 * I suppose the reader will, at least read over the whole book, and then, for his 
 constant daily exercise, during eighty-one days in a year, I leave the object in every 
 period to be read, or not read, as he pleaseth ; unless it may in whole, or in part, 
 conduce any thing to that one act of “knowing Jesus,” in such or such a respect. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The proem, division and opening of the words Page 17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Section I. The duty of looking off all other things confirmed and cleared, 19 
 
 “ II. An exhortation to look off all other things 22 
 
 “ III. Directions how to look off all other things 24 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Section I. An explanation of the act and object 26 
 
 “ II. The main doctrine and confirmation of it 28 
 
 “ III. Use of reproof 29 
 
 “ IY. Use of exhortation 32 
 
 Y. Motives from our wants, in case of neglect 33 
 
 “ YI. Motives from our riches, in case we are lively in this duty. . . 36 
 
 “ YII. More motives to encourage us in this work 39 
 
 “ VIII. Use of direction 43 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Section I. Of the eternal generation of our Jesus 45 
 
 “ II. Of our election in Christ before all worlds 49 
 
 “ III. Of that great treaty betwixt God and Christ to save souls. ... 51 
 
 “ IV. The project 52 
 
 “ V. The counsel 53 
 
 “ VI. The foreknowledge 55 
 
 “ VII. The purpose 58 
 
 “ VIII. The decree 59 
 
 “ IX. The covenant 60 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Section I. Of knowing Jesus as carrying on the great work of our salva- 
 tion in that eternity 64 
 
 “ II. Of considering Jesus in that respect 65 
 
 “ III. Of desiring after Jesus in that respect 74 
 
 “ IV. Of hoping in Jesus in that respect 76 
 
 “ V. Of believing in Jesus in that respect 79 
 
 “ VI. Of loving Jesus in that respect 82 
 
 “ VII. Of joying in Jesus in that respect 84 
 
 “ VIII. Of calling on Jesus in that respect 85 
 
 “ IX. Of conforming to Jesus in that respect 85 
 
 ( xi) 
 
xii 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Pago 
 
 Section I. Of Christ promised by degrees 89 
 
 “ II. Of the covenant of promise, as manifested to Adam 91 
 
 “ III. Of the covenant of promise, as manifested to Abraham 97 
 
 “ IY. Of the covenant of promise, as manifested to Moses 105 
 
 “ Y. Of the covenant of promise, as manifested to David 115 
 
 “ VI. Of the covenant of promise, as manifested to Israel about the 
 
 time of their captivity 121 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Section I. Of knowing Jesus as carrying on the great work of our salva- 
 
 tion from the creation until his first coming 131 
 
 “ II. Of considering Jesus in that respect 131 
 
 “ III. Of desiring Jesus in that respect 139 
 
 “ IV. Of hoping in Jesus in that respect 144 
 
 “ Y. Of believing in Jesus in that respect 147 
 
 “ VI. Of loving Jesus in that respect 151 
 
 “ YU. Of joying in Jesus in that respect 154 
 
 “ VIII. Of calling on Jesus in that respect... 156 
 
 “ IX. Of conforming to Jesus in that respect 158 
 
 BOOK IY.— PART I. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Section I. Of the tidings of Christ. 165 
 
 “ II. Of the conception of Christ 168 
 
 “ III. Of the duplicity of natures in Christ , 171 
 
 “ IV. Of the distinction of the two natures of Christ 173 
 
 “ V. Of the union of the two natures of Christ in one and the 
 
 same person * 175 
 
 “ VI. Of the birth of Christ 184 
 
 “ VII. Of some consequents after Christ’s birth 192 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Section I. Of knowing Jesus, as carrying on the great work of our salva- 
 
 tion in his birth 195 
 
 “ II. Of considering Jesus in that respect 196 
 
 “ III. Of desiring after Jesus in that respect 201 
 
 “ IV. Of hoping in Jesus in that respect 202 
 
 “ V. Of believing in Jesus in that respect 206 
 
 “ VI. Of loving Jesus in that respect 212 
 
 “ VII. Of joying in Jesus in that respect 214 
 
 “ VIII. Of calling on Jesus in that respect 218 
 
 “ IX. Of conforming to Jesus in that respect ^ 218 
 
CONTENTS. Xiii 
 
 BOOK IV.— PART II. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Page 
 
 Section I. Of the first year of Christ’s ministry, and therein of the be- 
 ginning of the gospel 226 
 
 “ II. Of the preaching of John the Baptist 227 
 
 “ III. Of the baptism of Jesus 230 
 
 IV. Of the fasting and temptation of Christ 234 
 
 “ V. Of the first manifestations of Christ 242 
 
 u VI. Of Christ’s whipping the buyers and sellers out of the temple, 245 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Section I. Of the second year of Christ’s ministry, and of his acts in 
 
 general for that year 248 
 
 “ II. Of Christ’s sermon this year 249 
 
 “ III. Of Christ’s prophetical office 250 
 
 “ IV. Of Christ’s miracles 253 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Section I. Of the third year of Christ’s ministry, and generally of his 
 
 acting that year 259 
 
 “ II. Of Christ’s ordination of his apostles 259 
 
 “ III. Of Christ’s reception of sinners 262 
 
 “ IV. Of Christ’s easy yoke and light burden 269 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Section I. Of the fourth year of Christ’s ministry, and generally of his 
 
 actings in that year 278 
 
 “ II. Of the distinctions, or several divisions of Christ’s righteous- 
 ness 279 
 
 “ III. Of the holiness of Christ’s nature 280 
 
 “ IV. Of the holiness of Christ’s life 281 
 
 “ V. Of the great controversy, Whether we are not justified by the 
 passive righteousness of Christ only, without any conside- 
 ration had to the righteousness of Christ, either inherent 
 in him, or performed by him ? . . . 284 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Section I. Of knowing Jesus as carrying on the great work of our salva- 
 tion in his life 287 
 
 “ II. Of considering Jesus in that respect 288 
 
 “ III. Of desiring after Jesus in that respect. 296 
 
 “ IV. Of hoping in Jesus in that respect 299 
 
 “ V. Of believing in Jesus in that respect 303 
 
 “ VI. Of loving Jesus in that respect 308 
 
 “ VII. Of joying in Jesus in that respect 310 
 
 “ VIII. Of calling on Jesus in that respect 313 
 
 “ IX. Of conforming to Jesus in that respect 314 
 
xiv 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK IV.— PART III. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Pag© 
 
 Section I. Of the day of Christ's suffering, divided into parts and hours, 326 
 
 “ II. Of the brook over which Christ passed 328 
 
 “ III. Of the garden into which Christ entered 332 
 
 “ IV. Of the prayer that Christ there made 333 
 
 “ V. Of the dolors and agonies that Christ there suffered 337 
 
 “ VI. Of Judas's treason, Christ's apprehension, binding and lead- 
 ing unto Annas , 340 
 
 “ VII. Of Christ's examination and condemnation, with their appen- 
 dices 344 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Section I. Of Christ's indictment, and Judas's fearful end 351 
 
 “ II. Of Christ's mission to Herod, and the transactions there 354 
 
 “ III. Of Christ and Barabbas compared, and of the question de- 
 bated betwixt Pilate and the Jews 357 
 
 “ IV. Of Christ stripped, whipped, clothed in purple, and crowned 
 
 with thorns 360 
 
 “ V. Of Christ brought forth and sentenced 365 
 
 “ VI. Of Christ’s crucifying, with its appendices 368 
 
 “ VII. Of the consequents after Christ's crucifying 373 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Section I. Of knowing Jesus, as carrying on the great work of our salva- 
 tion in his death 374 
 
 “ II. Of considering Jesus in that respect 375 
 
 “ III. Of desiring Jesus in that respect 381 
 
 “ IV. Of hoping in Jesus in that respect 385 
 
 “ V. Of believing in Jesus in that respect 391 
 
 “ VI. Of loving Jesus in that respect 398 
 
 “ VII. Of joying in Jesus in that respect 400 
 
 “ VIII. Of calling on Jesus in that respect 403 
 
 “ IX. Of conforming to Jesus in that respect 404 
 
 BOOK IV.— PART IV. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Section I. Of the time of Christ's resurrection 414 
 
 “ II. Of the reasons of Christ's resurrection 416 
 
 “ III. Of the manner of Christ's resurrection 418 
 
 “ IV. Of the arguments of Christ's resurrection 423 
 
 “ V. Of Christ's apparition to Mary Magdalene 426 
 
 “ VI. Of Christ's apparition to his ten disciples 439 
 
 “ VII. Of Christ's apparition to all his apostles 445 
 
 “ VIII. Of Christ's apparition to some of his apostles at the sea of 
 
 Tiberias 453 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XY 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Page 
 
 Section I. Of knowing Jesus as carrying on the great work of our salva- 
 tion in his resurrection 454 
 
 “ II. Of considering Jesus in that respect 455 
 
 “ III. Of desiring Jesus in that respect 462 
 
 “ IY. Of hoping in Jesus in that respect 465 
 
 “ Y. Of believing in Jesus in that respect 472 
 
 “ YI. Of loving Jesus in that respect. 477 
 
 “ VII. Of joying in Jesus in that respect 480 
 
 “ VIII. Of calling on Jesus in that respect 482 
 
 “ IX. Of conforming to Jesus in that respect 483 
 
 BOOK IV.— PART Y. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Section I. Of Christ’s ascension, and of the manner how 493 
 
 “ II. Of the place whither he ascended 495 
 
 “ III. Of the reasons why he ascended 495 
 
 “ IV. Of God’s right hand, and of Christ’s session there 499 
 
 “ Y. Of the two natures wherein Christ sits at God’s right hand . . 501 
 
 “ YI. Of the reasons why Christ doth sit on God’s right hand 502 
 
 “ VII. Of the time when the Holy Ghost was sent 505 
 
 “ VIII. Of the persons to whom the Holy Ghost was sent 507 
 
 “ IX. Of the manner how the Holy Ghost was sent 507 
 
 “ X. Of the measure of the Holy Ghost now given 511 
 
 “ XI. Of the reasons why the Holy Ghost was sent 512 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Section I. Of knowing Jesus as carrying on the great work of our salva- 
 tion in his ascension, session, and mission of the Spirit . . 522 
 
 “ II. Of considering Jesus in that respect 523 
 
 “ III. Of desiring after Jesus in that respect 527 
 
 “ IV. Of hoping in Jesus in that respect 530 
 
 “ Y. Of believing in Jesus in that respect 538 
 
 “ YI. Of loving Jesus in that respect 545 
 
 “ VII. Of joying in Jesus in that respect 548 
 
 “ VIII. Of calling on Jesus in that respect 550 
 
 “ IX. Of conforming unto Jesus in that respect 551 
 
 BOOK IY.— PART YI. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Section I. What the intercession of Christ is 557 
 
 “ II. According to what nature Christ doth intercede 558 
 
 “ III. To whom Christ’s intercession is directed 559 
 
 “ IY. For whom this intercession is made 560 
 
 V. What an agreement there is betwixt Christ’s intercession and 
 
 the intercessions of the high priests of old 560 
 
 “ YI. What the difference is betwixt Christ’s intercessions and the 
 
 intercessions of the high priests of old 562 
 
XVI 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Sect. VII. What the properties of this intercession of Christ are 564 
 
 “ VIII. Wherein the intercession of Christ consists 565 
 
 “ IX. How powerful and prevailing Christ’s intercessions are with 
 
 God the Father 573 
 
 “ X. Of the reasons of Christ’s intercession 577 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Section I. Of knowing Jesus carrying on the great work of our salvation 
 
 in his intercession 580 
 
 “ II. Of considering Jesus in that respect 581 
 
 “ III. Of desiring after Jesus in that respect 584 
 
 “ IV. Of hoping in Jesus in that respect 587 
 
 “ V. Of believing in Jesus in that respect 590 
 
 “ VI. Of loving Jesus in that respect 595 
 
 “ VII. Of joying in Jesus in that respect 598 
 
 “ VIII. Of praying to, and praising Jesus in that respect 600 
 
 “ IX. Of conforming to Jesus in that respect 601 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Section I. Of Christ’s preparing for judgment 606 
 
 “ II. Of Christ’s coming to judgment 609 
 
 “ III. Of Christ’s summoning the elect to come under judgment. . . . 613 
 
 “ IV. Of Christ and the saints meeting at the judgment^day 618 
 
 “ V. Of Christ sentencing his saints 622 
 
 “ VI. Of Christ and the saints judging the rest of the world 626 
 
 “ VII. Of Christ and his saints going up into heaven, and of the end 
 
 of this world 639 
 
 “ VIII. Of Christ’s surrendering, and delivering up the kingdom unto 
 
 „ God, even the Father 643 
 
 “ IX. Of Christ’s subjection to the Father, that God may be all in all 647 
 
 “ X. Of Christ, notwithstanding this, being all in all to the blessed, 
 
 saved, and redeemed saints to all eternity 650 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Section I. Of knowing Jesus, as carrying on the great work of our sal- 
 
 vation in his second coming 659 
 
 “ II. Of considering Jesus in that respect 660 
 
 “ III. Of desiring after Jesus in that respect 665 
 
 “ IV. Of hoping in Jesus in that respect 669 
 
 “ V. Of believing in Jesus in that respect 675 
 
 “ VI. Of loving Jesus in that respect 682 
 
 “ VII. Of joying in Jesus in that respect 684 
 
 “ VIII. Of calling on Jesus in that respect 687 
 
 “ IX. Of conforming to Jesus in that respect 687 
 
 The Conclusion 692 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 THE FIRST BOOK. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Looking unto Jesus, the beginner and finisher of our faith. — Heb. 12 : 2. 
 
 ( 
 
 THE PROEM, DIVISION, AND OPENING OF THE WORDS. 
 
 The most excellent subject to discourse or write of, is Jesus Christ. 
 Augustine, having read Cicero’s works, commended them for their eloquence; 
 but he passed this sentence upon them, “ They are not sweet, because the 
 name of Jesus is not in them.” And Bernard’s saying is near the same, 
 “If thou writest, it doth not relish with me, unless I read Jesus there; if 
 thou disputest or conferrest, it doth not relish well with me, unless Jesus 
 sound there.” Indeed all we say is but unsavory, if it be not seasoned 
 with this salt, “I determined not to know any thing among you, (saith 
 Paul,) save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” He resolved with him- 
 self, before he preached among the Corinthians, that this should be the 
 only point of knowledge that he would profess himself to have skill in; and 
 that, in the course of his ministry he would labor to bring them to : this 
 he made “ the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of his know- 
 ledge;” “yea, doubtless, (saith he,) and I count all things but loss for the 
 excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” Eph. 3 : 18. 
 Phil. 3 : 8. 
 
 In this knowledge of Christ, there is an excellency above all other know- 
 ledge in the world ; there is nothing more pleasing and comfortable, more 
 animating and enlivening, more ravishing and soul contenting; only Christ 
 is the sun and centre of all divine revealed truths, we can preach nothing 
 else as the object of our faith, as the necessary element of your soul’s 
 salvation, which doth not some way or other, either meet in Christ, or refer 
 to Christ; only Christ is the whole of man’s happiness, the Sun to enlighten 
 him, the Physician to heal him, the Wall of fire to defend him, the Friend 
 to comfort him, the Pearl to enrich him, the Ark to support him, the Rock 
 to sustain him under the heaviest pressures, “As an hiding place from the 
 wind, and a covert from the tempest, as rivers of waters in a dry place, and 
 as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” Isa. 32 : 2. Only Christ 
 is that ladder between earth and heaven, the Mediator between God and 
 man, a mystery, which the angels of heaven desire to pry, and peep, and 
 2 (17) 
 
18 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK I. 
 
 look into. 1 Pet. 1 : 12. Here is a blessed subject indeed ; who would not 
 be glad to pry into it, to be acquainted with it ? “ This is life eternal, to 
 
 know God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent/’ John 17 : 3. Come 
 then, let us look on this Sun of righteousness : we cannot receive harm but 
 good by such a look ; indeed by looking long on the natural sun, we may 
 have our eyes dazzled, and our faces blackened; but by looking unto Jesus 
 Christ, we shall have our eyes clearer, and our faces fairer ; if u the light 
 of the eve rejoice the heart, ” Prov. 15 : 30, how much more, when we have 
 such a blessed object to look upon? As Christ is more excellent than all 
 the world, so this sight transcends all other sights; it is the epitome of a 
 Christian’s happiness, the quintessence of evangelical duties, Looking unto 
 Jesus. 
 
 In the text we have the act and object. The act in the original is very 
 emphatical, aphorontes. ei.% the English doth not fully express it ; it signifies 
 an averting, or drawing off the eye from one object to another ; there are 
 two expressions, apo and eis ; the one signifies a turning off the eye from 
 all other objects; the other a fast fixing of the eye upon such an object, and 
 only upon such. So it is both a looking off and a looking on. On what? 
 that is the object, a looking- unto Jesus ; a title that denotes his mercy and 
 bounty, as Christ denotes his office and function. I shall not be so curious 
 as to inquire why Jesus, and not Christ is nominated; I suppose the person 
 is aimed at, which implies them both ; only this may be observed, that 
 Jesus is the purest gospel-name of all other names : Jesus was not the 
 dialect of the Old Testament; the first place that ever we read of this title 
 as given to Christ, it is in Matth. 1 : 21. “ Thou shalt call his name Jesus, 
 for he shall save his people from their sins.” Some observe that this name 
 Jesus was given him twice; once till death, Matth. 1 : 21, and afterwards 
 for ever. Phil. 2 : 10. The first was a note of his entering into covenant 
 with God, to fulfil the law for us, and to die for our sins; the second was a 
 note of so meritorious a person, who for his humility was more exalted than 
 any person ever hath been, or shall be. First, Jesus was the humble name 
 of his deserving grace; now Jesus is the exalted name of his transcendent 
 glory : at first the Jews did crucify Jesus and his name; and the Apostle 
 did then distrust, whether Jesus was the true Jesus: but now God hath 
 raised him from the dead, and “ hath highly exalted him, and given him a 
 name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, 
 of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.” 
 Phil. 2 : 9, 10. My meaning is not to insist on this name, in contradiction 
 to other names of Christ; he is often called Christ, and Lord, and Mediator, 
 and Son of God, and Emmanuel; why? Jesus is all these, Jesus is Christ, 
 as he is the anointed of God; and Jesus is the Lord, as he hath dominion 
 over all the world ; and Jesus is Mediator, as he is the reconciler of God 
 and man ; and Jesus is the Son of God, as he was eternally begotten before 
 all worlds; and Jesus is Emmanuel, as he was incarnate, and so God with 
 us. Only because Jesus signifies Saviour, and this name was given him 
 upon that very account, u for he shall save his people from their sins,” I 
 shall make this my design to look at Jesus more especially as carrying on 
 the great work of our salvation from first to last. This, indeed, is the glad 
 tidings, the gospel, the gospel privilege, and our gospel-duty, Looking unto 
 Jesus. 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 19 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Section I. — The duty of looking off all other things , confirmed and 
 
 cleared. 
 
 Doct. I. But first, we must look off all other things, the note is this, 
 We must take off our mind from every thing which might divert us in our 
 Christian race from looking unto Jesus. Aphorontes, the first word, or first 
 piece of a word in my text, speaks to us thus, hands off, or eyes off from 
 anything that stands in the way of Jesus Christ. I remember it was written 
 over Plato’s door, “ There’s none may come hither that is not a geometer.” 
 But on the door of my text is written clean contrary : “No earthly-minded 
 man must enter here.” Not any thing in the world, be it ever so excellent, 
 if it stand in the way of Jesus Christ, is to be named the same day; we 
 must not give a look, or squint at anything that may hinder this fair and 
 lovely sight of Jesus. 
 
 This was the Lord’s charge to Lot, “ Look not behind thee.” Gen. 19 : 17. 
 He was so far to renounce and detest the lewdness of Sodom, as that he 
 must not vouchsafe a look towards it. 
 
 “ At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have 
 respect to the holy One of Israel, and he shall not look to the altars, the 
 work of his hands.” Isa. 17 : 7, 8. This was the fruit of God’s chastise- 
 ment on the elect Israel, that he should not give a look to the altars, lest 
 they diverted, or drew his eyes from off his Maker. 
 
 “ We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are 
 not seen,” saith Paul, 2 Cor. 4 : 18. A Christian’s aim is beyond visible 
 things. 0 when a soul comes to know what an eternal God is, and what 
 an eternal Jesus is, and what an eternal crown is; when it knows that great 
 design of Christ to save poor souls, and to communicate himself eternally 
 to such poor creatures, this takes off the edge of its desires as to visible 
 temporal things; what are they in comparison ? 
 
 1. Quest. But what things are they we must look off in this respect? 
 
 1 answer, — 1. Good things. 2. Evil things. 
 
 1. Good things. The apostle tells us of a cloud of witnesses in the 
 former verse, which no question, in their season, we are to look unto. But 
 when this second object comes in sight, he scatters the cloud quite, and sets 
 up Jesus himself; now the apostle willeth us, aphoran , to turn our eyes 
 from them, and to turn them hither to Jesus Christ, q. d. If you will in- 
 deed see a sight once for all, look to him ; the saints, though they be guides 
 to us, yet are they but followers to him ; he is the arch guide, the leader 
 of them, and of us all. Look on him. There is a time when James may 
 say, “Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of 
 the Lord, for an example:” James 5:10; but when Jesus comes forth 
 that said, “I have given you an example;” John 13:15; an example 
 above all examples, then “ be silent, 0 all flesh, before the Lord,” Zcch. 
 
 2 : 13. Let all saints and seraphim, then cover their faces with their wings, 
 that we may look on Jesus, and let all other sights go. 
 
 2. Evil things. — 1. In general, 2. In special. 
 
 1. In general, we must look off all things that are on this side Jesus 
 Christ, and so much the rather, if they be evil things. In a word, we must 
 look off all self, whether it be sinful self, or natural self, or religious self; 
 in this case we must draw our eyes off all these things. 
 
 2. In special, we must look off all that is in the world; and that the 
 apostle compriseth under three heads, “ The lusts of the eye, the lusts of 
 
20 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK I. 
 
 the flesh, and the pride of life,” 1 John 2 : 16. 1. Pleasures, profits, and 
 
 honors. 
 
 1. We must look off this world, in respect of its sinful pleasures. Jude 
 tells us, “such as are sensual have not the Spirit,” Jude, ver. 19. We 
 cannot fixedly look on pleasures, and look on Jesus at once. Job tells us, 
 “They that take up the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the 
 organ, that spend their days in mirth,” are the same that say unto God, 
 “ Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways : what is 
 the Almighty that we should serve him ? And what profit should we have 
 if we pray unto him ?” Job 21 : 12, 13, 14, 15. We have a lively example 
 of this in Augustine’s conversion ; he would indeed have had Christ, and 
 his pleasures too, but when he saw it could not be, oh ! what conflicts were 
 within him ! In his orchard, (as he tells us in his book of confessions,) all 
 his pleasures past represented themselves before his eyes, saying, What, wilt 
 thou depart from us for ever, and shall we be no more with thee for ever? 
 0 Lord, (saith Augustine, writing his confession,) turn away my mind from 
 thinking that which they objected to my soul ! What filth ! What shameful 
 pleasures did they lay before mine eyes ! At length after this combat, a 
 shower of tears came from him, and casting himself on the ground under a 
 fig-tree, he cries it out, 0 Lord, how long, how long shall I say, To-morrow, 
 to-morrow ? Why not, To-day, Lord, why not, To-day ? Why should 
 there not be an end of my filthy life even at this hour ? Immediately after 
 this he heard a voice, as if it had been a boy or girl, singing by, Take up and 
 read, take up and read : and thereupon opening his Bible, that lay by hirn at 
 hand, he read in silence the first chapter that offered itself, wherein was written, 
 “Let us walk honestly as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not 
 in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but. put ye on 
 the Lord Jesus, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts 
 thereof,” Bom. 13 : 13, 14. Further than this sentence I would not read, 
 (saith Augustine,) neither indeed was it needful, for presently, as if light 
 had been poured into my heart, all the darkness of my doubtfulness fled 
 away. His eye was now taken off his pleasures, and for ever after it was 
 set on Jesus. 
 
 2. We must look off this world in respect of its sinful profits. A look 
 on this keeps off our looking unto Jesus. “ If any man love the world, 
 the love of the Father is not in him.” 1 John 2 : 15. Just so much as 
 the world prevails in us, so much is God’s love abated both in us, and 
 towards us, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, (saith James) know ye not 
 that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?” James 4:4. 
 Covetousness in Christians is spiritual adultery, when we have enough in 
 God and Christ, and yet we desire to make up our happiness in the creature, 
 this is plain whoring. Now there are degrees in this spiritual whoredom, 
 as ~ 
 
 1. The minding of this world; ye know there may be adultery in affec- 
 tion, when the body is not defiled; unclean glances are a degree of lust, so 
 the children of God may have some worldly glances, straggling thoughts; 
 when the temptation is strong, the world may be greatened in their esteem 
 and imagination. 
 
 2. The setting of the heart upon the world ; this is an higher degree of 
 this spiritual adultery, our hearts are due and proper to Christ ; now to set 
 them on the world, which should be chaste and loyal to Jesus Christ, what 
 adultery is this? “Ye cannot serve God and Mammon,” Matth. 6:24. 
 That woman that is not contented with one husband, must needs be an harlot. 
 
 3. The preferring of the world before Christ himself. This is the height 
 of covetousness, and the height of this adultery; what, to make the members 
 of Christ the members of an harlot? Why, worldlings ! those admiring 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 21 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 thoughts are Christ’s, those pains are Christ’s, that love is Christ’s, that time, 
 that care, that earnestness is Christ’s; they are all Christ,’s„and will you 
 give that which is Christ’s unto the world ? And prefer the world before 
 Christ with his own ? What, live as professed prostitutes, that prefer every 
 one before their husbands? How will this expose you to the scorn. of men 
 and angels? At the last day they will come pointing and say, This is the 
 man that made not God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his 
 riches; this is the Gadareen that loved his swine more than Christ Jesus, 
 Ps. 57 : 2. “ Love not the world,” (saith John,) 1 John 2 : 15. Christ 
 
 is never precious in man’s apprehension, so long as the "world seems glorious 
 to him. As we begin to relish sweetness in Christ, so the world begins to 
 be bitter to us. The more sweetness we taste in the one, the more bitter- 
 ness we taste in the other. 
 
 4. We must look off the world in respect of its sinful honors ; what is 
 this honor but a certain inordinate desire to be well thought of, or well 
 spoken of, to be praised, or glorified of men ? As if a man should run up 
 and down street after a feather flying in the air, and tossed hither and thither 
 with the gusts and blasts of infinite men’s mouths, it is a question, whether 
 ever he get it. But if he do, it is but a feather; such is this pride of life, 
 honor, vain glory; it is hard to obtain it, but if obtained, it is but the 
 breath of a few men’s mouths, that alter upon every light occasion ; but 
 that which is worst of all, it hinders our sight of Jesus Christ, “Not many 
 wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called,” 
 
 1 Cor. 1 : 26. Worldly honor keeps many back from Christ, and therefore, 
 
 “ Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s 
 
 daughter, Esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than all the 
 
 treasures of Egypt,” Ileb. 11 : 24, 26. If the blind man in the way to 
 Jericho, had depended on the breath or liking or approbation of the multi- 
 tude, he had never received the benefit of his sight, for they (saith the text) - 
 “which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace,” Luke 
 18 : 89. They dissuaded him from running and crjing so vehemently after 
 Christ; experience tells us how these things pull and draw us off from Jesus 
 Christ, “ The lust of the eye, the lusts of the flesh, and the pride of life.” 
 
 2. Quest. But why must we look off every thing that diverts our looking 
 unto Jesus ? 
 
 1. Because we cannot look fixedly on Christ, and such things together, 
 and at once ; the eye cannot look upwards and downwards at once in a direct 
 line ; we cannot seriously mind heaven and earth in one thought, “ No man 
 can serve two masters,” saith Christ, Matth. 6 : 24. Especially such as jar, 
 and who have contrary employments, as Christ and mammon have. 
 
 2. Because, whilst we look on these things, we cannot see the beauty that 
 is in Christ; suppose a squint look on Christ, whilst we have a direct look 
 on other things, alas! Christ will be of no esteem that while; this was the 
 voice of sinners concerning Christ, “ He hath no form nor comeliness, and 
 when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire him,” Isa. 53 : 2. 
 Indeed beauty is the attractive of the soul, the soul must see a beauty in 
 that which it lets out itself to in desiring : but our wishing looks on other 
 things make Christ but mean and contemptible in our eyes. 
 
 3. Because all other things, in comparison of Christ, are not worthy a 
 look, they are but as vile things, as under things, as poor and low and mean 
 and base things, in comparison of Christ. “ I count all things but loss 
 (saith Paul) for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord 
 — I count them but dung, that I may win Christ,” Phil. 3 : 8, [ skuhala ,] 
 some translate it chaff ; others, doysmeat ; others, excrements , dung ; all 
 agree, it is such a thing as men usually cast away from them with some 
 indignation. 
 
22 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK I. 
 
 4. Because it is according to the very law of marriage, “ Therefore shall 
 a man leave father and mother, and cleave to his wife,” Gen. 2 : 24. The 
 Lord Christ marries himself to the souls of his saints; U I will betroth thee 
 unto me for ever; I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judg- 
 ment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies Hos. 2 : 19. And for this 
 cause the soul must forsake all, and cleave unto Christ, as married wives do, 
 we must leave all for our Husband the Lord Jesus; “ Hearken, 0 daughter, 
 and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thy own people, and thy 
 father’s house,” Psal. 45 : 10. 
 
 5. Because Christ is a jeakms Christ. Now, jealousy is a passion in the 
 soul, that will not endure any sharing in the object beloved : the woman 
 that hath a jealous husband, must leave all her old companions : if she cast 
 any amorous looks or glances after them, the husband will be jealous, and 
 “ jealousy is cruel as the grave,” Sol. Song, 8:6. Christians! our God 
 u is a jealous God,” Exod. 20 : 5. Our Christ is a jealous Christ ; he cannot 
 endure that we should look on any other things, so as to lust after them. 
 
 6. Because all other things can never satisfy the eye, “ All things are 
 full of labor, (saith Solomon,) man cannot utter it, the eye is not satisfied 
 with seeing,” Eccl. 1 : 8. It is but wearied with looking on divers objects, 
 and yet still desires new ones; but once admit it to behold that glorious 
 sight of Christ, and then it rests fully satisfied. Hence it is, that the 
 daughters of Zion are called to come forth : “ Go forth, 0 ye daughters of 
 Zion, and behold King Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother 
 crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of 
 his heart,” Sol. Song, 8 : 11. Go forth, 0 ye daughters of Zion, lay aside 
 all private and earthly affections, and look upon this glory of Christ. As 
 the daughters of Jerusalem sitting or remaining in their chambers, closets, 
 houses, could not behold the glory of King Solomon passing by, and there- 
 fore they were willed to come forth out of their doors : even so, if we will 
 behold the great King, Jesus Christ, in his most excellent glory (a sight 
 able to satisfy the eye, and to ravish the heart) we must come out of our 
 doors, we must come out of ourselves, otherwise we cannot see his glory : 
 we are in ourselves shut up in a dark dungeon, and therefore we are called 
 upon to come forth into the clear light of faith, aud with the eyes of faith 
 to behold, in daily meditation, the glory of Christ Jesus. 
 
 Section II. — An exhortation to look off all other things. 
 
 One word of exhortation, Christians ! I beseech you look off all other 
 things, especially all evil things. I know I am pleading with you for an 
 hard thing, I had ueed of the rhetoric of an angel, to persuade you to turn 
 your eyes from off these things ; nay, if I had, all were too little, “ It is 
 God only must persuade Japhet to dwell in the tents of Shem,” and yet let 
 me offer a few considerations, venture at a persuading of you, and leave the 
 issue with God. 
 
 1. Consider that all other evil things are in God’s account as very nothing. 
 “ Verily every man at his best estate is altogether vanity,” Psal. 39 : 5. 
 Not only man, but every man ; not every man in his worst condition, but 
 every man at his best estate ; not every man at his best estate is little worth, 
 but every man at his best estate is vanity, emptiness, nothing; it may be 
 so in part, nay, but in every part, he is wholly, totally, altogether vanity. 
 Would any man think, that a great, rich, honorable man, whom we look 
 upon with such high admiring thoughts, should be laid thus low in God’s 
 esteem ? 0 wonder, wonder ! and yet it is no such wonder, but one day 
 
 you shall find the experience of this truth yourselves. Bich men have 
 u slept their sleep, and none of the men of might have found their hands,” 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 23 
 
 or, as others render it, “ They have found nothing in their hands,” Psal. 
 76 : 5. That is, rich men have passed over this life, as men do pass over 
 a sleep, imagining themselves to have golden mountains, and rocks of 
 diamonds, but when they awake at the day of death, they find themselves 
 to have nothing. Why, Christian, “ Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that 
 which is not ?” Prov. 23 : 5. 1st. Observe that riches are not, they are 
 nothing, those things that make men great in the eyes of the world, are 
 nothing in the eyes of God. 2. Observe, That God would not have us 
 so much as set our eyes upon them, they are not objects worth the looking 
 ou. 3. Observe, with what indignation he speaks against those that will set 
 their eyes upon these vanities, wilt thou set thine eyes upon a thing which 
 is not? q. d. What a vain, unreasonable, sottish, senseless thing is this ? 
 
 2. Consider, That all such things (if they are any thing) are but trifles, 
 deceits, thorns, miseries, uncertain things ; this is an ordinary theme, it is 
 every man’s object, and every man’s subject, and a very easy thing it is, to 
 declaim upon the vanity, misery, uncertainty of the creatures : ay, but do 
 you make it the matter of your meditation, and be you serious in it, think 
 of it deeply, and desire God to be in your thoughts ? Oh what work will 
 it then make in your breasts ! Oh how would it wean your loves and desires 
 off all these things ! Christians ! consider all these adjuncts of all sublu- 
 nary things. When the creatures tempt you, be not enticed by the beauty 
 of them, so as to forget their vanity : say, Here is a flower, fair, but fading : 
 here is a glass that’s bright, but very brittle. 
 
 3. Consider the difference of these objects, Christ, and all other things : 
 as thus, all other things are vanities, but Christ is a real, solid, substantial, 
 glorious thing; all other things are temporary, fading things, but Christ is 
 an enduring substance,, “ The same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever, 
 which is, and which was, and which is to come,” Rev. 1 : 4. All other 
 things are thorns, vexations of spirit, but Christ is full of joy and comfort, 
 a most ravishing object, all composed of loves, or altogether lovely. 0 who 
 would make it his business to fill his coffers with pebbles, when he may 
 have pearls, or gold, or silver, or precious things ? What, must you look 
 off your sins ! Why, see before you the graces of the Spirit of Christ. 
 Must you look off your idle sinful company? See before you “the fellow- 
 ship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ,” 1 John 1 : 3. 
 Must you look off your pomp and glory ? See before you the privilege of 
 adoption ? you shall be called “ heirs, the sons and daughters of God, heirs 
 and joint-heirs with Christ,,” Rom. 8 : 17. Must you look off vjorldly 
 riches? See before you the riches of the graces of Christ. Must you look 
 off sinful pleasures? See before you fulness of joy, “at Christ’s right-hand 
 there are pleasures evermore,” Psal. 16 : 11. Must you look off your own 
 righteousness ? See before you the righteousness of Christ Jesus. 0 what 
 a vast difference is there betwixt these objects, Christ, and all other things ! 
 
 4. Consider, that Christ looked off heaven and heavenly things for you, 
 
 how much more should you look off the earth and earthly things, the world 
 and worldly thiugs for him ? Christ left the glory, the company, the plea- 
 sures of paradise for you, and “he made himself of no reputation,” he 
 nothing’d himself (as it were) for you; “ye know the grace of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, 
 that ye through his poverty might be rich,” 2 Cor. 8:9. 0 let that 
 
 melting love win you to him, and wean you off all other things ! 
 
 5. Consider, that the rational soul of man is of too high a birth to spend 
 its strength upon other things; the soul of man is of the same nature with 
 angels ; is a kind of divine spark. Now, if a man have a golden mill, he 
 will not use it to grind dirt, straws and rotten sticks in. The soul, the 
 mind, the thinking faculty of man is too high to be exercised in the things 
 
24 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK I. 
 
 of this earth. The soul is of a most excellent capacious nature, it is fit to 
 converse not only with angels, but with the eternal God himself, with Father, 
 Son and Holy Ghost; it is of a transcendent being; put all the world into 
 the balance with it, and it is nothing in comparison. The soul of the 
 meanest galley slave is more than heaven and earth, than snn and moon 
 and stars, and all the host of heaven. Now, if a man’s soul be of such an 
 high-born nature, if the Lord hath put such a spirit into the bosom of man; 
 for him to bestow the strength of it upon low, base, mean and earthly things, 
 oh what an evil is this ! 
 
 6. Consider, how short is the time that you have here in this world : 
 This is the argument of the apostle, “ because the time is short, therefore 
 let us use this world as not abusing it,” 1 Cor. 7 : 29, 31. Therefore let 
 our hearts be taken off these things, yet a few days, and you shall be here 
 no more ; time passeth on, many hundred diseases are ready to assault you : 
 you that are reading, or hearing, talking, or walking, you must very shortly 
 be carried on men’s shoulders, and laid in the dust, and there left to the 
 worms in darkness and corruption ; you are almost there already, it is but 
 a few days, or months, or years, and what is that when once they are gone 
 and past? And oh ! “What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole 
 world, and lose his own soul?” Matth. 16 : 26. 
 
 7. Consider the great account that you are to give of all earthly things : 
 it is the sin of most of the sons of men, to look on creature-comforts ; but 
 they consider not the account they must give for them. Oh here is a pre- 
 vailing motive to take off your eyes! consider the last accounts; what if 
 you were now to die, and to go the way of all flesh, and then to make up 
 your reckoning, what good would it do you to remember all those content- 
 ments and pleasures you once enjoyed upon the earth ? If the factor, after 
 many years spent in foreign countries, at last returns home with this bill 
 of accounts, “ Thus much for singing, so much for dancing, this for courting, 
 that for feasting.” Who would not blame him for so fond a reckoning ! 
 oh it will be a sad reckoning, if the bill come in, that you have spent most 
 of your time in looking and gazing upon earthly things. 
 
 Sect. III. — Directions how to look off all other things . 
 
 1. Study every day more and more the vanity of the creature : read over 
 the book of Ecclesiastes well ; it is enough that, through the assistance of 
 Christ, to teach you that lesson. A serious and fruitful meditation of that 
 word,' “Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, vanity of vanities, all is 
 vanity,” Eccl. 1:2. What work might it make in your hearts ! Men 
 usually look on these things through some false glass, or at a distance, which 
 makes them so admire them; but if they could see them truly in themselves, 
 oh how uncomely would they be ? Or if they could see them as compared 
 to Christ, oh how vain would they be ? Honors and greatness in that respect, 
 would appear as bubbles, pleasures and delights in that respect, would appear 
 as shadows. 
 
 2. Converse but a little with any evil thing on this side Christ; have as 
 little to do with the world, the sinful pleasures, profits, riches, manners of 
 it, as possibly you can ; the less the better. Things of this world have a 
 glutinous quality ; if you let the heart lie any while amongst them, it will 
 cleave unto them, and if it once cleave to them there will be no way, but 
 either repentance or hell-fire must part them. 
 
 3. Be more and better acquainted with Jesus Christ; get nearer to him, 
 be more in communion with him, get more tastes of Christ and heaven, and 
 earth will relish the worse for them. Oh ! when I look on Christ and 
 consider, That he that was the Lord of heaven and earth, put himself into 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 25 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 so poor and low a condition, merely for the redeeming of his elect, how 
 should this but deaden my heart to the world ? “ I count all things but loss 
 for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; and do 
 count them but dung that I may win Christ,” Phil. 3 : 8. If Christ be in 
 view, all the world then is but dung and dross, and loss in comparison ; the 
 glory of Christ will darken all other things in the world. 
 
 4. Set before us the example of such saints, who accounted themselves 
 pilgrims and strangers upon earth. The apostle gives you a catalogue of 
 such, “ who confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth ;” 
 and see how they are used, “ They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, 
 were tempted, were slain with the sword, they wandered about in sheep- 
 skius, and goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented:” Who were 
 these? They “ were they of whom the world was not worthy,” Heb. 11 : 
 13, 37, 38. Oh! when you read, or hear how joyfully these servants of 
 the most High went through their wilderness-condition, methinks this 
 should take off your hearts from earthly things. 
 
 5. Go in your meditations to heaven, and keep there a while : the mind 
 
 that is in heaven cannot attend these earthly things : would a man leave his 
 plough and harvest in the field, to run with children hunting after butter- 
 flies ? No more will a soul that is taking a survey of heaven and heavenly 
 things, fix his eyes on such poor things below : Non vacat exiguis, &c., is 
 the character of a truly prudent man : the children of that kingdom above, 
 have no while for trifles, and especially when they are employed in the 
 affairs of the kingdom. Oh ! when a Christian hath but a glimpse of eter- 
 nity, and then looks down on the world again, how doth he contemn and 
 vilify these things ? “ How doth he say of laughter, it is mad, and of 
 
 mirth, what doeth it?” Eccl. 2 : 2. Whilst the saints are tasting heaven, 
 they enjoy such sweet, that they care not for other things : Christiaus ! how 
 would this meditation wean your hearts? and make you laugh at the fool- 
 eries of the world ? and scorn to be cheated with such childish toys ? If 
 the devil had set upon Peter in the mount, when he saw Christ in his 
 transfiguration, and Moses and Elias talking with him, would he so easily 
 have been drawn to deny his lord? What, with all that glory in his eye? 
 So if the devil should set upon a believing soul, and persuade his heart to 
 profits, or pleasures, or honors of the world, when he is taken up in the 
 mount, with Christ, what would such a soul say ? ‘ Get thee behind me, 
 
 Satan : wouldst thou persuade me from hence with many trilling toys ! 
 wouldst thou have me sell these joys for nothing ! Is there any honor or 
 delight like this? Or can that be profit, which loseth me this?’ Some 
 such answers would the soul return : Oh ! if we could keep the taste of our 
 souls continually delighted with the sweetness of heaven, as a man would 
 spit out aloes after honey, so should we spit out all the baits of the world 
 with disdain. 
 
 6. Cry mightily unto God, that he would take off your hearts and eyes; 
 “Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity,” Psal. 119: 37, prays 
 David: either God must do it, or you will be wearied in the multitude of 
 your endeavors : but, if the Lord draw oft' the eye, it will be drawn indeed. 
 “Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness,” prays 
 David again, Psal. 119: 3(5. If the heart beud downwards, then go to 
 God to erect it, and to incline it heaven-wards; if it be alter covetousness, 
 then cry to God, and say, “ Lord, not after covetousness, but after thy testi- 
 monies incline my heart.” 
 
 I have hitherto stood only at the door of the text, to call you in; if now 
 
 you will enter and be intent, and fix your eyes, I’ll show you a blessed, 
 
 a most glorious sight. But, First , 1 must explain the act, You must 
 
 look, ^Secondly, The object, you must look on Jesus. 
 
26 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK I. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Section I. — An explanation of the act and object. 
 
 1. For the act, you must look. Looking is either ocular or mental. 
 
 First, For ocular vision, there may be some use of that in heaven, for 
 there we shall look on Jesus. “ With these eyes shall I behold him,” 
 saith Job. “ For we shall see him as he is,” saith the apostle, 1 John 3 : 3. 
 “ Now we see through a glass darkly, then face to face,” 1 Cor. 13 : 12. 
 But till then, “ we must walk by faith, not by sight,” 2 Cor. 5 : 7. 
 
 Secondly , For mental vision, or the inward eye, is that which will take 
 up our discourse, and that it is which the apostle speaks of in his prayers 
 for the Ephesians, “ That the eyes of their understanding may be opened, 
 that they may know,” &c. Eph. 1 : 18. Now the excellency of this 
 mental sight is far above the ocular sight : for there are more excellent 
 things to be seen by the eye of the mind, than by the eye of the body; 
 we only see a piece of the creation by the eye of the body, but the mind 
 reacheth everything that is in it, yea, the mind reacheth to him that made 
 it : God is invisible, and yet this eye sees God. It is said of Closes, That 
 “ he saw him that is invisible,” Heb. 11 : 27. 2. It is the sight of the 
 
 mind that gives light and vigor to the sight of the eyes; take away the in- 
 ward light, and the light of the external sense is but as darkness and death. 
 3. It is the sight of the mind that looks into the worth, use, and propriety 
 of any thing presented. The eye can see a thing, but not the worth of it ; 
 a beast looks on gold as well as a man, but the sight and knowledge of the 
 worth of it is by the internal light of the mind ; so the eye can see a thing 
 but not the use of it; a child looks on a tool in the hand of a workman, but 
 the sight and knowledge of the use of it, is only by a man of reason that 
 hath internal light to judge of it: and so the eye can see a thing, but not 
 the propriety of it ; a beast looks on his pasture, but he likes it not because 
 it is his, but because it is a pasture and well furnished. Now, we know 
 that the worth, and use, and propriety of a thing, are the very cream of the 
 things themselves, and this the eye of the mind conveys, and not the eye 
 of the body. It is said of Joseph, that “he saw his brethren, and knew 
 them, but they knew not him,” Gen. 42 : 7, 8. This was the reason why 
 Joseph was so exceedingly taken at the sight of his brethren, that his 
 bowels moved with joy, and a kind of compassion towards them ; but they 
 were before him as common strangers; though they saw Joseph their brother 
 a prince, yet they were taken no more with the sight of him, than of any 
 other man, because they knew him not. 
 
 Again, this mental looking, is either notional and theoretical, or practi- 
 cal and experimental, the first we call barely the look of our minds; it is an 
 enlightening of our understandings with some measure of speculative sight, 
 in spiritual and heavenly mysteries. The second we call the look of our 
 minds and hearts, whereby we not only see spiritual things, but we are 
 affected with them : we desire, love, believe, joy and embrace them. To 
 this purpose is that rule, “ That words of knowledge do sometimes signify 
 the affections in the heart, and the effects thereof in our lives.” And this 
 was the look which Paul longed for, “ That I may know him, and the power 
 of his resurrection,” Phil. 3 : 10. i. e. That he might have experience of 
 that power, that it might so communicate itself unto him, as to work upon 
 him to all the ends of it. And this was the look that Bernard preferred 
 above all looks. “ In reading of books, (saith he) let us not so much look 
 for science, as savoriness of truth upon our hearts.” “ This I pray (saith 
 
CHAP. III.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 27 
 
 the apostle) that your love may abound yet more and more, in knowledge 
 and in all judgment, ” Phil. 1 : 9. i. e. in knowledge and feeling. And 
 certainly this feeling, this experimental looking on Jesus, is that my text 
 aims at; it is not a swimming knowledge of Christ, but an hearty feeling 
 of Christ’s inward workings ; it is not heady notions of Christ, but hearty 
 motions towards Christ, that are implied in this inward looking. 
 
 2. For the object; you must look on Jesus. It is the blessedest object 
 that the eye of the mind can possibly fix upon ; of all the objects under 
 heaven Jesus hath the pre-eminence in perfection, and he should have the 
 pre-eminence in our meditation. It is he that will make us most happy 
 when we possess him, and we cannot but be joyful to look upon him, especi- 
 ally when looking is a degree of possessing Jesus, for the name signifies 
 Saviour. It is au Hebrew name; the Greeks borrowed it from the Hebrews, 
 the Latins from the Greeks, and all other languages from the Latins. It is 
 used five hundred times in Paul’s epistles, saith Genebrard. It comes 
 from the Hebrew word Jehoshua, or Joshua, which in the books of Ezra 
 and Nehemiah (written after the Babylonian captivity,) is Jeshua, and so is 
 our Saviour’s name always written in the Svriac translation of the New Tes- 
 tament. This name Jesus was given to Christ the Son of God by his 
 Father, and brought from heaven by an angel, first to Mary, then to Joseph. 
 And on the day when he was circumcised (as the manner was,) his name 
 was giveu him by his parents, as it was commanded from the Lord, by the 
 angel Gabriel, Luke 1 : 26. 31. Not to stand on the name, for the matter 
 it includes both his offices and his nature ; he is the alone Saviour of a man, 
 “For there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby 
 we must be saved,” Acts 4 : 12. And he is a perfect and absolute Saviour; 
 u He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, 
 seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them,” Heb. 7 : 25. I will 
 not deny, but that the work of salvation is common to all the three persons 
 of the trinity; it is a known rule, “All outward actions are equally common 
 to the three persons for as they are all one in nature and will, so must 
 they be also one in operation; the Father saveth, the Son saveth, and the 
 Holy Ghost saveth; yet we must distinguish them in the manner of sav- 
 ing. The Father saveth by the Son, the Son saveth by paying the ransom 
 and price of our salvation, the Holy Ghost saveth by a particular applying 
 of that ransom unto men. Now, whereas the Son pays the price of our re- 
 demption, and not the Father, not the Holy Ghost ; therefore, in this special 
 respect, he is called our Saviour, our Jesus, and none but he. 
 
 This objection, though contained^in a word, is very comprehensive : 
 herein is set forth to our view the offices of Christ, the two natures of Christ, 
 the qualities of Christ, the excellencies of Christ. 0 what variety of sweet 
 matter is in Jesus? He hath in him “all the powders of the merchants,” 
 Sol. Song 3 : 6. An holy soul cannot tire itself in viewing Jesus; we know 
 oue thing tires quickly, unless that one be all ; which so is Christ, and none 
 else, “ He is all and in all,” Col. 3:11. All belonging to being, and all 
 belonging to well-being in things below Jesus, some have this excellency, 
 and some have that, but none have all ; and this withers contemplation at 
 the root. Contemplation is soul-recreation, and recreation is kept up by 
 variety : but 0 what variety is in Jesus? Variety of time, “ He is Alpha 
 and Omega;” variety of beauty, “He is white and ruddy;” variety of 
 quality, he is a lion and a lamb, a servant and a son; variety of the excel- 
 lency in the world, he is man and God. 0 where shall we begin in this 
 view of Jesus? “Who shall declare his generation?” Isa. 53 : 8. “Or who 
 shall count and reckon his age?” All the evangelists exhibit unto us the 
 Saviour, but every one of them in his particular method. Mark describes 
 not at all the genealogy of Jesus, but begins his history at his baptism, 
 
28 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK I. 
 
 Matthew searcheth out his original from Abraham. Luke follows it back- 
 wards as far as Adam. John passeth farther upwards, even to the eternal 
 generation of this “ Word that was made flesh.” So they led us to Jesus, 
 mounting up four several steps : in the one, we see him only among the 
 men of his own time; in the second, he is seen in the tent of Abraham; in 
 the third he is yet higher, to wit, in Adam ; and finally, having traversed all 
 ages, through so many generations, we come to contemplate him in the 
 beginning, in the bosom of the Father, in that eternity in which he was with 
 God before all worlds. And there let us begin, still looking unto Jesus, as 
 he carries on the great work of our salvation from first to last, from everlas- 
 ting to everlasting. 
 
 Sect. II. — The main doctrine and confirmation of it. 
 
 But for the foundation of our building, take this note: — 
 
 Duct. 2. Inward experimental looking unto Jesus, such as stirs up affec- 
 tions in the heart, and the effects thereof in our life ; it is an ordinance of 
 Christ ; a choice, a high gospel-ordinance. 
 
 Or thus, inward experimental knowing, considering, desiring, hoping, 
 believing, loving, joying, calling on Jesus, and conforming to Jesus; it is 
 a complicate, folded, compounded ordinance of Jesus. 
 
 I need not so much to explain the point; you see here is an ordinance, 
 or a gospel duty held forth. Many other duties we have elsewhere de- 
 scribed, but this we have kept for this place, and the rather for that, this 
 is a choice duty, a compound duty, a high gospel-ordinance. No ques- 
 tion, but watchfulness, self-trial, self-denial, experiences, evidences, medi- 
 tation, life of faith, &c. dwell in their place and order; yet as oars in a 
 boat, (though it be carried with the tide) may help it to go faster. It is 
 Jesus lifted up , (as Moses lifted up the serpent ) which strikes more soundly 
 into the beholder, than any other way. Looking unto Jesus is that great 
 ordinance appointed by God for our most special good. How many souls 
 have busied themselves in the use of other means? And though, in 
 them, Christ hath communicated some virtue to them; yet, because they 
 did not trade more with him, they had little in comparison. Such a one, 
 as deals immediately with Christ, will do more in a day, than another in a 
 year ! and therefore I call it a choice, a complete, a complicate, a high 
 gospel ordinance. Now what this ordinance is, the text tells you; it is a 
 looking unto Jesus. 
 
 1. Jesus is the object, and Jesus is Jesus, as he is our Saviour, as he 
 hath negotiated, or shall yet negotiate, in the great business of our salva- 
 tion. I ground this on all the text jointly, as on Isa. 45 : 22. Isa. 45 : 1. 
 Mich. 7 : 7. Zech. 12:10. Numb.21:8. John3:15. Heb. 12:2. Phil.3:20. 
 2 Cor 3:18. Matth. 1 : 21, &c. 2. Looking unto, is the act : but how? It 
 is such a look as includes all these acts, knowing, considering, desiring, 
 hoping, believing, loving, joying, enjoying of Jesus, and conforming to 
 Jesus. It is such a look as stirs up our affections in the heart, and the 
 effects thereof in our life. It is such a look, as leaves a quickening and 
 enlivening upon the spirit. It is such a look as works us into warm affec- 
 tion, raised resolution, an holy and upright conversation. Briefly, it is an 
 inward experimental looking unto Jesus. 
 
 For confirmation of the point; this was the Lord’s charge to the Gen- 
 tiles of old, “ Look unto me, and ye shall be saved, all the ends of the 
 earth. And I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not 
 called by my name,” Isa. 45 : 24. 65 : 1. Aud according to this command 
 Was their practice. u Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord, (saith David) 
 and they looked unto him and were lightened, and their faces were not 
 
CHAP. III.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 29 
 
 ashamed,” Psal. 25 : 15. 34 : 5. Thus in the gospel after this command, 
 Looking unto Jesus, it follows, 11 Consider him that hath endured such 
 contradiction of sinners against himself,” Ileb. 12 : 3. And according to 
 this command is the practice of gospel-believers. “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,” 2 Cor. 3 : 
 18. Instead of the veil of Mosaical figures, God hath now given to his 
 church the clear glass of the gospel, and hence all believers under the 
 gospel do, by contemplative faith, behold Christ, together with the glo- 
 rious light of his mercy, truth, goodness, and the rest of his divine attri- 
 butes ; and by means thereof they are made like unto him, in the glory 
 of holiness, and in newness of life. 
 
 The reasons why we are thus to look unto Jesus, will be as so many 
 motives, which we shall reserve to an use of exhortation : but the reasons 
 why this looking unto Jesus, is, 1. An ordinance. 2. An ordinance of 
 Christ, may be these, 
 
 1. Why an ordinance? Here is only this reason, the will of the Lord, 
 “ Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.” Ordinances are 
 certain impositions set forth by an external mandate of a lawgiver, having 
 authority to command. It is the will of Christ to impose this law on all 
 the sons of men, that they should look up unto him; and concerning this, 
 What have we to do to inquire into the reason ? It is our duty to obey, 
 and not to know of him, why he commands. If autos ephe was enough in 
 Pythagoras's school, to put the business past disputing among his scholars, 
 I am sure it should be much more in Christ’s school; we will therefore in- 
 quire no further reason for it. 
 
 2. Why an ordinance of Christ? It is this; because all spiritual ordi- 
 nances, laws, institutions, do hold on Christ. It is not in the liberty of 
 man to erect any new spiritual ordinance in the Church of Christ. I will 
 not deny but the power of man may come in to order such things as are 
 not proper, but rather common to the church with other societies, as to 
 meet together in some place, and at some time, &c. according to that rule, 
 “ Let all things be done decently and in order,” 1 Cor. 14 : 40. For this 
 is not an institution, but only the dictate of right reason. But when it 
 comes up to an ordinance, law, institution, i. e. when something more 
 shall be put on the thing, than nature hath put on it ; when, by virtue of 
 the institution, there is conjoined to it some kind of spiritual efficacy to 
 work upon the soul, this only holds on Christ. Hence, because in the 
 preaching of the word, and in the administration of the sacraments, we ex- 
 pect a virtue, a spiritual efficacy more than they have, or can yield in any 
 natural way, therefore we say, These are ordinances of Christ; aud so be- 
 cause, in looking unto Jesus, we expect a virtue, a special efficacy, to go 
 along together with it, more than nature can give it, therefore we call this 
 an ordinance, aud an ordinance of Christ, to distinguish it from all other 
 ordinances, rules, or constitutions of men whatsoever. 
 
 Sect. III. — Use of Reproof. 
 
 Use 1. Well, then, is inward experimental Looking unto Jesus a choice, 
 a high gospel-ordinance ? How may this reprove thousands ! How many 
 are there that mind not this duty? The truth is, that as “ the whole world 
 lies in wickedness ,” 1 John 5 : 19. so the eyes of the whole world are mis- 
 placed; there are few that have a care of this choice, of this high gospel or- 
 dinance. I shall therefore reprove both the ungodly and godly. 
 
 1. For the ungodly will not seek after God, nor Christ, “ God is not in 
 all their thoughts,” Psalm 10 : 4. Alas ! they never heard of such a duty 
 
80 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESTJS. 
 
 [BOOK I. 
 
 as tliis, they cannot tell what it means to look unto Jesus. Nor speak I 
 only of poor Indians, and other savages of the unchristian world, whose 
 souls are overclouded with the blackest mists of irreiigion, that the prince 
 of darkness can possibly wrap them in, who came into the world, not 
 knowing wherefore, and go out of the world, not knowing whither, an 
 heavy case, which cannot sufficiently be bewailed with tears of blood; but 
 I speak of such as live within the paradise of the Christian church, that 
 have nothing to distinguish them from the Indian miscreants, but an out- 
 ward conformity, outward formalities, the charity of others, and their own 
 slight imaginations. Why, ala.s! these are they that the Lord complains 
 of, that “they have eyes, and see not; my people have forgotten me days 
 without number, ” Jer. 2 : 32. They have negligently suffered me to be 
 out of their minds, and that for a long lime. You will say, Is there any 
 such here ? Can I tax any of you, that you should not look up to Jesus ? 
 Are not your eyes towards Christ in your prayers, praises, soliloquies, 
 public and private duties? Nay, are not you now in the duty, whilst I 
 am speaking, and you hearing? 
 
 I answer, however you may deem, that you do this, or that; yet God 
 reckons it as a thing not done in these respects. 
 
 1. When it is not done to purpose, as if our look to Christ, makes us 
 not like Christ ; a man may give a thousand glances every day towards 
 Christ, yet if there be no effectual impression upon the heart, Christ takes 
 it, as if he had never looked towards him at all. 
 
 2. When it is done unwillingly. Sometimes men think of Christ, but 
 they know not how to shun it; the Lord breaks in upon their spirits, whe- 
 ther they will or no, whereas their own temper is to follow and pursue 
 other objects : thus you drop into our assemblies out of custom, or fashion, 
 or for some sinister end, and here is Christ lifted up upon the pole, he is 
 discovered in his beauties, graces, sweetnesses, excellencies, but when you 
 see him, you say, “ He hath no form or comeliness, there is no beauty, that 
 that we should desire him,” Isa. 53 : 2. Let no man deceive himself, 
 though he cast his eyes towards heaven all the day long, if he love not this 
 work, he doth nothing, he looks not at Jesus. 
 
 3. When it is not done according to the rule, “this is not to eat the 
 Lord’s supper,” said Paul to the Corinthians, 1 Cor. 11 : 20. No question 
 they did eat it, but because it was not done after its due manner, he said, 
 “ This is not to eat the Lord’s supper.” Many think of Christ and look 
 up to Jesus, but because their thoughts are not holy, awful and subjecting 
 to the Spirit, in no way proportionable to the goodness and glory of the Son 
 of God, they look loosely, carelessly and carnally upon him, he therefore 
 reckons it as not done, this is not to look unto Jesus. 
 
 4. When a man makes it not his course and trade to look unto Jesus. 
 A man may come into a carpenter’s shop, and take up his tools, and do 
 something at his work, but this makes him not a carpenter, because it 
 is not his trade. The best saints sin, yet because it is not their trade and 
 course, they are said not to sin, “ Whosoever is born of God sinneth not,” 
 1 John 5 : 18. And so ungodly men may look, and muse, and meditate 
 and think of Christ, but because this is not their course and trade, they 
 make it not their work to look to Christ-, they are therefore said not to look 
 to him. 
 
 Why, now consider, you that plead that you are Christians, and that 
 you mind Christ at this very instant, that you are in the duty, even whilst 
 I am speaking of it, and yet you neither do it to purpose, nor willingly, nor 
 according to rule, nor as if it is your trade ; it is not with you as it was with 
 them of whom Christ spake, Matth. 7 : 22, 23 : “Many will say to me in 
 that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy 
 
CHAP. III.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 31 
 
 name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works ? 77 
 They will plead at the last day as they plead now, but, for all that, you know 
 the answer, “ I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity/ 7 
 ■ Surely Christ will say to you one day, I know you not, I was a stranger to 
 you upon earth, I could not have an eye from you, but when your lazy 
 idle spirits pleased ; and now out of my sight, I will never own you, nor 
 look upon you more. 
 
 2. For the godly, are not they careless of this duty? 0 their excursions 
 from God ! sad dejections of spirit ! inordinate affections of the world ! and 
 in the mean while, 0 the neglect of this gospel-ordinance even amongst 
 saints themselves ! I know not whether through want of skill, or through 
 want of will, but sure I am this duty lies dormant, neglected of most of the 
 people of God : their faults I may express in these respects : 
 
 1. In not sending out their understandings, in not pointing their minds 
 
 towards Jesus. “ I write unto you (said the apostle) to stir up your pure 
 minds, by way of remembrance. 77 2 Peter 3:1. It is in the original 
 egeirein , to awaken your pure minds, and it was but need. See how Da- 
 vid calls upon himself, “ Awake my glory !” Psal. 57 : 8. And see how 
 Deborah calls upon herself, “ Awake, awake, Deborah, awake, awake, utter 
 a song/ 7 Judg. 5:12. Awaking, is a word that imports rousing, as 
 birds that provoke their young ones by flight, to make use of their wings. 
 Now, how few are there, that thus call upon themselves? It was the pro- 
 phet’s complaint, no man, “ stirreth up himself to take hold of thee, 77 Isa. 
 64 : 7. 0 what a shame is this ? Is it fit that our understandings, which 
 
 God hath entrusted us withal, should be no more improved ? Is it fit, that 
 our minds (those golden cabinets, which God hath given us to be filled with 
 heavenly treasure) should either be emptjr, or stuffed with vanity, nothing, 
 worse than nothing ? 0 ! that such glorious creatures as our souls, should 
 
 attend upon every creature, which should be in attendance upon Christ, and 
 should be like angels, waiting and standing in the presence of our God ! 
 0 that such glorious things as our immortal spirits, should run after vanity, 
 and so become vain; which if rightly improved, should walk with angels, 
 should lodge themselves in the bosom of the glorious God ! Do we not see, 
 how Christ is sending out to us continually ? The thoughts of his heart are 
 love, eternal love; and shall not we send out our thoughts towards him? 
 Shall not we let our minds run out towards him ? 
 
 2. In not bending of their minds to this work. It may be the mind looks 
 
 up, but it is so feeble, that, like an arrow shot from a bow weakly bent, it 
 reacheth not the mark. It is the wise man’s counsel, “ Whatsoever thine 
 hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. 77 Eccl. 9 : 10. 0 that God’s 
 
 people should be so lazy, dull, sluggish, slothful in this spiritual work! as 
 Jesus said to the multitudes concerning John, “ What went ye out into the 
 wilderness to see?” Matth. 11 : 7. So may I ask believers in their looking 
 uuto Jesus, What went ye out to see ? When ye crawl, and move, as if you 
 had no hearts, nor spirits within you. Whom go ye forth to see? What, 
 him that is the Lord of glory? What, him that is “the brightness of his 
 Father’s glory, and the express image of his person ?” Heb 1 : 3. What, 
 are such heavy aud lazy aspects fit to take in such a glory as this is ? You 
 see in what large streams your thoughts fly forth to other things, and are 
 you ouly languishing, weak and feeble in things of so great concernment? 
 Oh that Chrietiaus should be so cold in spirituals, and hot in the pursuit of 
 earthly temporal things ! 
 
 3. lb not binding of their minds to this object, in not staying the eye on 
 Jesus Christ. Some may give a glance at Christ, but they are presently 
 wheeled off again : but why doth not the eye abide there, at least till it 
 come to some profitable issue; is not Christ worthy on whom our souls 
 
32 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK I. 
 
 should dwell? Certainly, if we love our Jesus, that love will hold us: 
 Christ then will he in our thoughts and minds, and we cannot forget him. 
 As the loadstone having drawn the iron, and keeps it fast to itself, so, if 
 love draw our hearts, it holds them fast to the object loved. Christ himself 
 acknowledgeth such an operation of love upon himself, u Turn away thine 
 eyes, for they have overcome me. Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, 
 my spouse, with one of thine eyes.” Sol. Song 6:5. 4:9. Christ was held 
 in the galleries, and captivated with love to his people, so that his eye was 
 ever upon them. Nay, he could not get his eyes off them : “ Can a mother 
 forget her child ? No more can I forget you.” Isa. And is Christ so 
 tender in his love towards us, that he ever minds us, and shall our minds 
 be so loose to him; so fluttering, and fleeting? Shall tjrere be no more care 
 to bind ourselves in cords of love to him, who hath bound himself in such 
 cords of love to us? 
 
 4. In not daily exercising this blessed duty ; it may be now and then they 
 are awakened, and they get up into heaven to s^e their Jesus, but it is not 
 daily. Oh consider ! Is this now and then going to heaven within the veil, 
 to live the life of friends ? Is this to carry ourselves as children ? What, to 
 be so strange at home ? But now and then ? Once in a month, in a year ? 
 There to be seldom, where we should always be? Is Jesus Christ such a 
 mean thing, that a visit now and then should serve the turn ? The Queen 
 of Sheba hearing Solomon’s wisdom, Oh, said she, “ Happy are these thy 
 servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom.” 
 1 Kings 10 : 8. If she was so taken with Solomon, remember, “ That a 
 greater than Solomon is here and shall we deprive ourselves of that 
 blessedness, which we might enjoy, by standing always in the presence of 
 Christ, to hear his wisdom, and to behold his glory ? 
 
 Oh ! my brethren, let us take shame to ourselves, that to this day we have 
 been so careless in sending, bending, and binding our minds to this blessed 
 object, Jesus Christ : yea, let us blush, that we have not made it our daily 
 business. David describes the blessed man, by his “delighting in the law 
 of the Lord,” and by his u meditating on that law day aod night.” Psal. 1 : 2. 
 How then is he to be reproved, that neither meditates on the law of the 
 Lord, nor on the Lord, the law-maker, day and night? 0, alas! we keep 
 not a constant course, we are not daily in the exercise of viewing Jesus. 
 Nay, I fear we look upon this duty of looking unto Jesus, as a questionable 
 thing; it seems to many as a duty unknown, unheard of, unthought of, it is 
 not in their notice, and how should it be in their practice ? But I leave 
 this first use. 
 
 Sect. IY. — Use of Exhortation. 
 
 Use 2. Is inward experimental looking unto Jesus a choice, and high 
 gospel ordinance ? One use of exhortation. “I beseech you, by the meek- 
 ness and gentleness of Christ.” 2 Cor. 10:1. “I beseech you, by the 
 mercies of God,” Rom. 12 : 1. “I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Je- 
 sus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit,” Rom. 15 : 30. to look unto 
 Jesus. Or, if my beseechings will not prevail, why, yet look on me as an 
 ambassador of Christ, consider as though “ God did beseech you by me,” I 
 beseech, “ I pray you in Christ’s stead.” 2 Cor. 5 : 20. It is a message that 
 I have from God to your souls, to look unto Jesus; and therefore “ Set your 
 hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, for it is not 
 a vain thing for you; because it is your life.” Deut. 32 : 46,47. 
 
 O that I should need thus to persuade your hearts to look unto Jesus ! 
 What, is not your JeSus worthy of this ? Why, then, are your thoughts no 
 more upon him? Why are not your hearts continually with him? Why 
 
CHAP, m.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 33 
 
 are not your strongest desires, and daily delights in, and after the Lord 
 Jesus? What is the matter? Will not God give you leave to approach this 
 light? Will he not suffer your souls to taste and see? Why then are these 
 words in the text ! Why then doth he cry, aud double his cry, Behold me , 
 behold me? Ah, vile hearts ! how delightfully and unweariedly can we think 
 of vanity? How freely and how frequently can we think of our pleasures, 
 friends, labors, lusts? Yea, of our miseries, wrongs, sufferings, fear? And 
 what, is not Christ in all our thoughts? It was said of the Jews, that they 
 used to cast to the ground the book of Esther before they read it, because 
 the name of God is not in it; and Augustine cast by Cicero’s writings, 
 because they contained not the name of Jesus. Christians ! thus should 
 you humble and cast down your sensual hearts, that have in them no more 
 of Christ: 0 chide them for their wilful or weak strangeness to Jesus Christ ! 
 0 turn your thoughts from off all earthly vanities, and bend your souls to 
 study Christ ; habituate yourselves to such contemplations, as in the next 
 use I shall present; and let not those thoughts be seldom or cursory, but 
 settle upon them, dwell there, bathe your souls in those delights, drench 
 your affections in those rivers of pleasures, or rather in the sea of consolation. 
 O tie your souls in heavenly galleries, have your eyes continually set on 
 Christ! say not, “ You are unable to do thus, this must be God’s work only, 
 aud therefore all our exhortations are in vain.” A learned divine can tell 
 you, (Baxter’s Best,) Though God be the chief disposer of your hearts, yet 
 next under him you have the greatest command of them yourselves : though, 
 “ without Christ ye can do nothing ;” yet under him you may do much : or 
 else it will be undone, and you undone, through your neglect; do your own 
 parts, and you have no cause to distrust whether Christ will do his. It is 
 not usual with Christ to forsake his own people in that very work he sets 
 them on. Oh but we can do nothing ! IIow ! nothing ! What arc you 
 neither spiritual nor rational creatures ? If a carnal minister can make it 
 his work to study about Christ through all his lifetime, and all because it is 
 the trade he lives by, and knows not how to subsist without it; why then, 
 methinks, a spiritual Christian should do much more. If a cook can labor 
 and sweat about your meat, because it is the trade that maintains him, 
 though perhaps he taste it not himself, methinks, you for whom it is pre- 
 - spared, should take the pains to taste its sweetness and feed upon it. Chris- 
 ‘tians! if your souls were sound and right, they would perceive incomparably 
 more delight and sweetness, in knowing, thinking, believing, loving and 
 rejoicing in Jesus Christ, than the soundest stomach finds in his food, or 
 the strongest senses in the enjoyment of their objects. Now, for shame 
 never say, you cannot reach it; “I can do all things (sait’n Paul) through 
 Christ that strengtheneth me.” Phil. 4 : 13. Oh it is our sloth, our security, 
 our carnal mind, which is enmity to God and Christ, that keeps us off. 
 Be exhorted ! Oh be exhorted in the fear of God. 
 
 Sect. Y. — Motives from our Wants , in Case of Neglect. 
 
 To quicken us to this duty; I shall propound some moving considerations : 
 ponder and weigh them with an impartial judgement. Who knows, but, 
 through the assistance of Christ, they may prove effectual with your hearts, 
 and make you to resolve upon this excellent duty of looking unto Jesus. 
 
 Consider, 1. Our wants in case of our neglect. 2. Our riches, in case 
 we are lively in this duty. 
 
 1. For our wants. If Christ be not in view, there is nothing but wants. 
 
 Suppose first a Christless soul, a poor creature, without any beam or ray 
 of the Sun of righteousness, and what sad condition is he in ? I may say of 
 such a one, that — 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK I. 
 
 1. He is without light. There is no oil of saving knowledge, no star of 
 spiritual light arising in his soul, “Ye were once darkness,” Eph. 5:8. 
 saith the apostle to his Ephesians : not only dark, but darkness itself; they 
 were wholly dark, universally dark, having no mixture nor glimpse (whilst 
 without Christ) of spiritual light in them. Of such carnal wretches, saith 
 our Saviour, “They have not known the Father nor me,” John 16:3. 
 They have not known the Father in his word, nor me in mv natures, 
 offices, sufferings, exaltations, communications. Very miserable is the 
 carnal man’s ignorance of God and Christ; he hath no saving knowledge 
 of Jesus. 
 
 2. Such an one is without grace, without holiness. Christ is our wisdom 
 and sanctification, as well as righteousness and redemption, 1 Cor. 1 : 30 
 Where Christ is not, there is no spiritual wisdom, no inclination to the 
 ways and works of sanctification. 
 
 3. Such an one is without contention ; the soul in this case finds 
 nothing but emptiness and vanity in the greatest abundance. Let a man 
 have what the world can give; yet, if he have not Christ, he is nothing 
 worth. Christ is the marrow and fatness, the fulness and sweetness of 
 all our endowments : separate Christ from them, and they are bitter, and 
 do not please us; empty, and do not fill us. 
 
 4. Such an one is without any spiritual beauty; “There is nothing in 
 him but sores and swellings, and wounds and putrefaction,” Isa. 1 : 6. 
 From the sole of his foot, to the crown of his head, there is nothing in 
 him, but loathsome and incurable maladies. Hence the greatest sinner 
 is the foulest monster. Bodily beauty without Christ is but as green 
 grass upon a rotten grave. Did man see his uncomeliness and deformity 
 without Jesus Christ, he would style himself, as the prophet styled 
 Pashur, Magor-misabib, Fear round about , every way a terror to himself, 
 Jer. 20 : 3. 
 
 5. Such an one is without peace. There is no true, spiritual heavenly 
 peace, no joy and peace in the Holy Ghost, without Jesus Christ. Joram 
 asking Jehu, “ Is it peace?” was answered, “What hast thou to do with 
 peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezabel, and her witch- 
 crafts are so many?” 2 Kings 9 : 22. A Christless man asking, Is it peace, 
 0 messenger of God ? He can look for no other but Jehu’s answer, What 
 hast thou to do, 0 carnal man, with peace, so long as thy lusts are so 
 strong within thee, and thy estrangements from the Prince of peace so 
 great? The soul that is without Jesus Christ, is an enemy to the God of 
 peace, a stranger to the covenant of peace, uncapable of the word of 
 peace, an alien to the way of peace, “ There is no peace to the wicked, 
 saith my God,” Isa. 57 : 21. 
 
 6. Such au one is without acceptation with God the Father. Christ 
 only is God’s beloved, and therefore, as Joseph’s brethren might not look 
 him in the face, unless they brought their brother Benjamin, so cannot 
 we look God in the face with any confidence or acceptance, unless we 
 bring Christ with us in the arms of our faith. Without Christ man is 
 stubble, and God is a consuming fire to destroy him; man is a guilty 
 malefactor, and God is a severe judge to condemn him; the whole of man 
 without Jesus Christ is a very abomination in God’s presence. 
 
 7. Such an one is without life ; “ He that hath not the Son, hath not 
 life,” saith John, 1 John 5 : 12. Christ lives not in that soul; it is a dead 
 soul, “dead in sins and trespasses,” Eph. 2:1. As the dead see nothing 
 of all that sweet and glorious light which the sun casts forth upon them, 
 so the dead in sin have no comfortable apprehension of Christ, though he 
 shine in the gospel more gloriously than the sun at noon. And as “ the 
 dead know not anything,” Eccl. 9 : 5. so the dead in sin know nothing 
 
CHAP. III.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 35 
 
 at all of the wisdom of Christ guiding them, or of the holiness of Christ 
 sanctifying them, or of the fulness of Christ satisfying them, or of the 
 death of Christ mortifying their lusts, or of the resurrection of Christ 
 quickening their souls, or of the dominion of Christ reigning in their 
 hearts. 0 what a misery is this ! 
 
 All this you may say is true to a Christless soul, but what evil to him 
 that may have a title to Christ, and yet minds not Christ, makes not use of 
 Christ, doth not look unto Jesus? 
 
 Such a case I confess may be Yea as many duties are neglected by 
 some godly, so this main duty is (I may tremble to think it) exceedingly 
 neglected. But O ! the sin and sadness of those souls ! 0 ! the wants 
 
 attending such poor creatures ! consider them in these particulars : 
 
 1. They have not that wisdom, knowledge, discerning of Christ, as 
 otherwise they might have ; by looking and serious observing of Christ, 
 we gain more and more knowledge of Christ, but if we will not look, how 
 should we understand those great mysteries of grace ? Nor speak I only 
 of speculative knowledge, but more especially of practical and experi- 
 mental; without looking on Christ we cannot expect that virtue should 
 go out of Christ; there is but a poor character or cognizance of Christ upou 
 them that are such ; they have not so clear, and comfortable, and inward, 
 aud experimental a knowledge of Jesus Christ. 
 
 2. They do not so taste the goodness of Christ, as otherwise they might. 
 Christ is no other unto them, whilst neglected by them, but as an eclipsed 
 star, with whose light they are not at all affected ; Christ is not sweet 
 to them in his ordinances, they find not in them that delight and refresh- 
 ment, that comfort and contentment, which they usually minister. They 
 cannot say of Christ, as the spouse did, Cant. 2:3. “I sat down under 
 his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste/’ 
 They are in the case of Barzillai, who could not taste what he did eat, or 
 what he did drink, nor could hear any more the voice of singing-men, or 
 of singing-women : so they canuot taste the things of Grod, nor hear the 
 spiritual melody, which Christ makes to the souls of them that look up 
 to him. 
 
 3. They have not the love to Christ which Christ’s beholders have; they 
 meditate not upon Christ as lovers on their love; they delight not them- 
 selves in Christ, as the rich man in his treasure, and the bride in the 
 bridegroom which they love : their thoughts are rather on the world than 
 Christ; their palates are so distempered, that they have no pleasure in the 
 choicest wine; they cannot say, That their souls long after him; and no 
 wonder, for how should they love Christ, who turn their eyes from him, 
 who is “ the fairest of ten thousands,” to other objects? Surely they have 
 no flaming, burning love to Christ, that will give every base thing a kind 
 of pre-eminence above Christ. 
 
 4. They have not the sense of Chiist’s love, which those that exercise 
 this duty have. Whilst the soul neglects Christ, it cannot possibly discern 
 the love of Christ; it perceives not Christ applying the doctrines of his love 
 to the conscience : Christ appears not in his banqueting house, he enables 
 not the soul to pray with confidence, he makes it not joyful in the house of 
 prayer. And hence it is that such souls move so slowly in Grod’s service; 
 they are just like Pharaoh’s chariots, without wheels. 0 they perceive not 
 the love of Christ, either in the clear revelations of his secrets, or in the 
 free communication of his graces, or in the sanctifying and sweetening of 
 their trials, or in sealing up the pardon of their sins : 0 they feel not those 
 ravishing comforts, which usually Christ speaks to the heart, when he speaks 
 from his heart in love. 0 the waut ! 0 the misery of this want ! 
 
 5. They have not that experience of the power of Christ, which they 
 
36 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK I. 
 
 have that are in the exercise of this duty. Would you know wherein lies 
 the power of Christ? I answer, In casting down the strongholds of sin, in 
 overthrowing Satan, in humbling men’s hearts, in sanctifying their souls, 
 in purifying their consciences, in bringing their thoughts to the obedience 
 of Christ, in making them able to endure afflictions, in causing them to 
 grow and increase in all heavenly graces ; and this power we partake of, 
 who rightly and experimentally look up to Christ. But if this duty be 
 neglected, there is no such thing : hence we call this, The duty of duties, the 
 chief duty, the especial duty; and for all other duties, means, ordinances, if 
 Christ be not in them, they are nothing worth. In every duty this is the 
 essential part; that we look through all, unto Jesus; it is only from Christ 
 that virtue and efficacy is communicated in spiritual ordinances. There 
 were many people in a throng about Christ, but the infirm woman that 
 touched him, it was she alone, that felt efficacy come from him ; we see 
 many attend the ordinances, frequent the assemblies, but some few only 
 find the inward power of Christ derived unto their souls. They that neglect, 
 or are grossly ignorant of this great mystery of looking unto Jesus, are no 
 better than strangers to the power of Christ. 
 
 6. They have not that sense of the worth and excellency of Christ, that 
 are unacquainted with this duty; they are not so ravished with his beauty, 
 they are not so taken with the sweetness and pleasantness of the face of 
 Christ; he is not the fairest of ten thousands in their eyes; and hence it is 
 that they do not pleasure, long after, delight or joy themselves in Christ. 
 Indeed these affections are the evidences of our high esteem ; they that 
 rejoice not in Christ, nor have any longings after Christ, they put a very 
 unworthy price upon Christ. 
 
 7. They have not that sense either of their own wants, or of the world’s 
 vanity, who are not in the practice of this duty. In this glass we see that 
 man is blind, and no sun but Christ can enlighten him ; that man is naked, 
 and no garment but Christ’s can clothe him ; that man is poor, and no 
 treasure but Christ’s can enrich him ; that man is indebted, and none but 
 Christ can make satisfaction for him ; that man is empty, and none but 
 Christ can fill him; that man is distressed, perplexed, tormented, and 
 none but Christ can quiet him. Why all this, and much more than this 
 appears in this glass of Jesus. The soul that looks here cannot but com- 
 prehend an end of all other perfection ; yea, the further it looks on the 
 creature, the deeper and deeper vanities it discerns. But alas ! there is no 
 observation, no sense, no feeling, either of man’s wants, or of the world’s 
 vanity, or of any suitable good in Christ to them that are not in this divine 
 and spiritual contemplation. 
 
 Thus far of their wants that neglect this duty of looking unto Jesus. 
 
 Sect. YI. — Motives from our riches in case ice arc lively in this duty. 
 
 2. For our riches, in case we are lively in this duty ; 0 the blessed in- 
 comes to such ! I may reckon up here those very particulars, which the 
 others wanted. 1. That Christ gives light, unto them. As the receiving 
 of the sun gives light to the body, so the receiving of the Sun of righteous- 
 ness gives light, a spiritual, heavenly and comfortable light to their souls. 
 2. That Christ gives grace and holiness unto them; “of his fulness have 
 all we received grace for grace,” John 1:16. As the print upon the wax 
 answers to the seal, or as the characters upon the son answer to the father ; 
 so there are certain stamps of the grace of Christ upon the saints, that what 
 good they do it springs not from external motives only, as in hypocrites, 
 but from Christ working in them an inward principle of new nature : and 
 upon this account doth John tell us, “ The law was giveu by Moses, but 
 
CHAP. III.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 grace and truth came by Jesus Christ./’ John 1 : 17. 3. That Christ gives 
 
 contentment or satisfaction unto them. As the pearl satisfied the merchant 
 in the parable with treasure, so Christ satisfieth the soul with wisdom in 
 understanding, with the sense of his love in the heart, with sure and 
 blessed peace in the conscience. They that rightly look unto Jesus, may 
 say, as Jacob did, “ I have enough.” 4. That Christ gives glory unto 
 them; “he is the glory of Israel,” Luke 2 : 32. He is both the author 
 and matter of their glory ; he is the glory of their justification, as the 
 garment is the glory of him that wears it; he is the glory of their redemp- 
 tion, as the ransomer is the glory of the captive ; he is the glory of their 
 sanctification, as Jordan cleansing him from his leprosy was the glory of 
 Naaman ; he is their all in all in whom they glory, and “ to whom they 
 give all honor, and glory, and power, and praise.” 5. That Christ gives 
 peace unto them ; “ God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself 
 he is the author, and the world is the object of this reconciliation. 
 “Christ is our peace,” and “peace is preached by Jesus Christ,” Eph. 
 2 : 14. They that hear Christ in the word, or that look unto Christ by 
 the eye of faith, they have this peace, Acts 10 : 36, for Christ only in or- 
 dinances is the revealer, and procurer, and the worker of peace, in all the 
 children of peace. 6. That Christ procures acceptation with God for them ; 
 he stands betwixt God and such believers; and as they mind him, so he 
 is ever mindful of them, pleading their cause, answering all the accusations 
 of Satan, and praying to his Father in their behalf. 7. That Christ gives 
 life unto them, “ He that hath the Sou, hath life,” 1 John 5 : 12. He that 
 hath Christ in his heart as a root of life living in him, or as a king setting 
 up his throne within him, or as a bridegroom betrothing himself in loviug 
 kindness to him, “ he hath life,” the life of grace, and the earnest of the 
 life of glory. 8. That Christ gives wisdom unto them, “ Christ hath iu 
 him all the treasures of wisdom,” and therefore he that looks most to 
 Christ, is the wisest man in the world; he that hath the sun, hath more 
 light than he that hath all other lights in the world, and wants the sun. 
 9. That Christ gives a taste of his goodness unto them. They cannot look 
 unto him, but he makes them joyful with the feeling of himself and spirit; 
 and hence it is that many times they break out into “ psalms, aud hymns, 
 and spiritual songs, and making melody in your hearts unto the Lord,” 
 Eph. 5 : 19. 0 there is a goodness of illumination, regeneration, sanctifi- 
 
 cation, consolation, contentation, pacification, and spiritual freedom flowing 
 from Christ to the souls of his saints, which to carnal men is a sealed well, 
 whose waters their palates never tasted. 10. That Christ gives a sincere 
 and inward love of himself unto their hearts. No sooner is their eye. of 
 faith looking unto Jesus, but presently their heart is all on fire. Such a 
 a'suitableness is betwixt Christ and their souls, as is betwixt the hearts of 
 lovers; their love to Christ is like the love of Jonathau to David, a won- 
 derful love, aud “passing the love of women,” 2 Sam. 1 : 26. They love 
 him as the bridegroom to whom their souls are married, as the choicest 
 pearl by whom they are enriched, as the sun of consolation, by whose 
 beams their souls are comforted, as the fountain by whom their hearts are 
 refreshed, and their desires every way satisfied. 11. That Christ gives the 
 sense of his own love to them ; they cannot look on Christ, but they see 
 him loving, and embracing their humble souls; they see him binding up 
 their broken hearts; they behold him gathering to himself, aud bearing in 
 the bosom of his love, aud comforting with the promises of his word their 
 wounded spirits: they behold him, like Jacob, serving in the heat and iu 
 the cold for Rachel, serving in manifold afflictions from his cradle to his 
 cross, to make a spouse unto himself. 12. That Christ gives the experience 
 of his power to them. They that look on Christ, do feel the power of 
 
38 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK I. 
 
 Christ inwardly in their souls, dissolving the works of Satan, casting down 
 his kingdom, and mighty holds within them, healing all their spiritual 
 maladies, sustaining them in all afflictions, filling their souls with all spiri- 
 tual and heavenly might, making them strong in knowledge, and strong in 
 faith, and strong in love, and strong in motion, and coming to Christ, as a 
 river of much waters is strong in coming home to the ocean. 13. That 
 Christ gives the sense of his own worth and excellency unto them ; they see 
 now in Christ is wisdom surpassing the brightness of the sun, even all the 
 treasures of wisdom ; in Christ is power excelling the strength of rocks, he 
 is not only strong, but strength itself ; in Christ is honor transcending all 
 the kings of the earth, for he is King of kings, and Lord of lords; in 
 Christ is beauty excelling the rose of Sharon, and lily of the valleys ; he is 
 fairer than all the flowers of the field, than all the precious stones of the 
 earth, than all the lights in the firmament, than all the saints and angels in 
 the highest heavens. 14. That Christ gives the sense of their wants, and 
 of the world’s vanity, and of his suitable goodness unto them. In looking 
 unto Jesus, they see themselves in themselves miserable, and all other things 
 miserable comforters; they have learned the meaning of that psalm, “ Put 
 not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. 
 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth ; in that very day his 
 thoughts perfkh. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, 
 whose hope is in the Lord his God,” Psalm 146:3, 4, 5. 15. That 
 Christ gives all things, every thing unto them. “All things are yours, 
 (saith the apostle,) whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or 
 life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours ; and ye 
 are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s,” 1 Cor. 3 : 22, 23. All things are 
 yours ; first, all the ministers of Christ from the highest to the lowest, 
 “ whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas;” they are your servauts; they are 
 men that watch over you for your salvation. Secondly, “ the world is 
 yours.” Iudeed the world stands but for your sakes, if your number were 
 but once completed, quickly would the world be set on fire. You will say, 
 Ay! but how is the world ours? We find not this, for who hath the world 
 at will? Why, though you have not, yet the misery you find in the world, 
 the want of wealth, as well as the enjoying of it is yours, (i. e .) it tends to 
 your advantage. Thirdly, “life is yours.” It is a fitting, a preparing, a 
 squaring of you for a better life, even for eternity. Fourthly, “ death is 
 yours;” for you shall die just then when it is best for you ; death shall 
 serve but as a servant to your advantage. Fifthly, “things present, and 
 things to come are yours; godliness is profitable unto all things, having the 
 promise of this life, and of that which is to come.” 1 Tim. 4 : 8. Sixthly, 
 1 will add, the Lord himself is yours. Take God, and look on him in his 
 greatness, in his mighty power, even this great God the Lord of heaven and 
 earth is yours; he is yours, and all that he hath is yours, and all that he 
 doeth is yours, and ail that he can do is yours, “ 1 will be thine,” (said 
 God to Abraham) “ I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward,” 
 Gen. 15:1. Here is a catalogue, an inventory of a Christian’s riches; 
 have Christ, and have all. When a heathen was but asked, Where all his 
 treasure was, he answered, Where Cyrus my friend is. And if any ask 
 you, Where all your treasure is, you may answer, Where Christ my friend 
 is. In this respect you may truly say, There is no end of your riches, they 
 are called “the unsearchable riches of Christ,” Ephes. 3:8. Paul could 
 find no bottom of these riches; 0 who would not look unto Jesus? If 
 Christ be yours (besides those particulars enumerated in this text, 1 Cor. 
 3 : 22, 23). God is yours, the Father is yours, the Son is yours, the 
 Spirit is yours, all the promises are yours; for in Christ they are all made, 
 and for him they shall be performed. Come, let the proud man boast in 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 39 
 
 CHAP, in.] 
 
 his honor, and the mighty man in his valor, and the rich man in his wealth, 
 but let the Christian pronounce himself happy, only happy, truly happy, 
 fully happy in beholding Christ, enjoying Christ, having Christ, in looking 
 unto Jesus. 
 
 You have the motives of your wants, in case of neglect; and of our riches 
 
 in case we are active, frequent, serious, and lively in this duty. But 
 
 for our further encouragement to fall upon it, I shall add a few motives 
 
 more. 
 
 Sect. YII. — More motives to encourage us in this work. 
 
 1. Consider your looking on Jesus will maintain your communion 
 with Jesus: and is not this worth the while? Why, Christians ! what is this 
 communion with Christ, but very heaven aforehand ? Hereby we enjoy his 
 person, and all sweet relations to his person, his death, and all the saving 
 fruits, privileges, and influences of his death : hereby we are “ brought 
 into Christ’s banqueting house, held in his galleries, his banner over us 
 being love,” Sol. Song 2 : 4. Hereby we are carried up into the mount 
 with Christ, that we may see him (as it were) transfigured, and may say 
 with Peter, “ Master, it is good for us to be here ; and let us here build 
 tabernacles.” Oh it is a happy thing to have Christ dwelling in our 
 hearts, and to lodge in Christ’s bosom ! Oh it is a happy thing to main- 
 tain a reciprocal communication of affairs betwixt Christ and our souls! 
 as thus: He bare our sins, take we his healing? He endured wounds for 
 us, drink we the spiritual balsam that sprang out of his wounds? He took 
 upon him our unrighteousness, do we clothe ourselves with his righteous- 
 ness ? He endured paius for us, come we to him, and take his rest to our 
 souls ? He embraced our curse and condemnation, do we embrace his 
 blessing, justification, and salvation ? To this end do we look on Jesus? 
 If he hide his face by desertions, rest not till we find him; if we find him, 
 hold him fast, let him not go, drive him not out of your heart by your cor- 
 ruptions. Thus, if we would prize the presence of Christ, how comfortably 
 should we maintain aud increase our communion with Christ. 
 
 2. Consider that your daily necessities call for a frequent looking up 
 
 unto Jesus. You have need of Christ, you have need that he pray in you, 
 and need that he pray for you to your heavenly Father; you have need that 
 he work in you, and need that he work for you his own blessed will ; you 
 have need that he present you aud yours blameless before his Father’s 
 presence in life and death, and at the day of judgment: there’s not a mo- 
 ment in your life wherein you stand not in continual need of Jesus Christ; 
 aud can a hungry man forget his bread? Can the hart that pants for 
 thirst forget the river? Can a man in bonds forget freedom ! Can a child 
 in distress forget a father in honor and wealth ? 0 then, let your necessi- 
 
 ties drive you to Christ, and remind you of Christ ! is not he the fountain 
 that supplies all wants? Christians ! consult your own experiences; when 
 you look up to Jesus, and lean on Jesus, are you not best at rest? 0 then, 
 why do you not always re>t and lean upon him ? Sometimes you say, His 
 bread is sweet, aud his cup is pleasant, how amiable is his presence ! At 
 such a time you have never done wondering at him. 0 the sweet impres- 
 sions that are even theu on your spirits ! why do you not then always look 
 unto him. Or, at least, why are you not frequent in his disciples’ posture, 
 “ who looked steadfastly towards heaven as he (Christ) went up?” Acts 1 : 
 10. How richly might your idle hours and spare time be laid out here to 
 the supply of all necessities, bodily or spiritual ? 
 
 3. Consider that an eye, an heart on Christ is one of your most unques- 
 tionable evidences of sincerity. Where your treasure is, thei'e will youi 
 
40 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK L 
 
 heart he. aho , Matth. 6 : 21. If Christ be your treasure, your hearts will 
 be on Christ; and surely an heart set upon God in Christ is a true evidence 
 of saving grace. External actions are easiest discovered, but those of the 
 heart are surest evidences. When thy learning will be no good proof of 
 thy grace, when the arguments from thy tongue and hand may be confuted, 
 yet then will this argument from the bent of thy heart prove thee sincere. 
 Take a poor Christian that hath a weak judgment, a failing memory, a 
 stammering tongue ; yet if his heart be set on Christ, I had rather die in 
 this man’s condition, and have my soul in his soul’s case, than in the case 
 of him, without such an heart, though he had the most eminent gifts, and 
 parts and abilities of any in the world. Christians ! as you would have a 
 sure testimony of the love of God, and a sure proof of your title to glory, 
 labor to get your hearts on Christ, 0 look on Jesus, you may be sure 
 Christ will acknowledge that you really love him, when he sees your 
 hearts are set upon him. 
 
 4. Consider, that your looking on Jesus will strengtheu patience under 
 the cross of Christ. This is the very particular motive of the text, “ Let 
 us ruu with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, 
 the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before 
 him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right 
 hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contra- 
 diction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your 
 minds,” Heb. 12 : 1, 2, 3. It is storied of a martyr, that, having offered him 
 a cup of spirits to sustain him, when he seemed to faint under his greatest 
 trial, he returned this answer, “ My Lord and Master had gall and vine- 
 gar given him to drink ;” as if he had been astonished to see himself fare 
 better than Jesus Christ. How may it strengthen your patience in suffer- 
 ings, to think of Christ’s patience? What, are you served ill? Ay, but 
 Jesus Christ was not served so well. Can you suffer so much as he hath 
 done? “I tell you nay.” O then do you stay your murmurings and re- 
 pinings, bear with patience the little you endure; and, to this end, “Con- 
 sider him that hath endured the contradiction of sinners.” 
 
 5. Consider that a thorough sight of Christ will increase your outward 
 joy in Christ. “ Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw 
 it, and was glad,” John 8 : 5G. A right sight of Christ will make a right- 
 sighted Christian glad at heart. I wonder not that you walk uncomfort- 
 ably, if you never tried this art of Christ-contemplation ; can you have com- 
 fort from Christ, aud never think of Christ? Doth any thing in the world 
 gladden you, when you do not remember it? If you were possessed of all 
 the treasure in the earth, if you had title to the highest dignities, and 
 never thought of them, sure they would never rejoice you. Come, look up 
 unto Jesus; fix your eyes, thoughts, and hearts on that blessed object, and 
 then you may expect David’s experience, “ My mouth shall praise thee 
 with joyful lips, when I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate ou 
 thee in the night-watches,” Psalm 63 : 5, 6. A frequent access to Christ, 
 in a way of meditation, caDnot but warm the soul in spiritual comforts. 
 When the sun in the spring draws near our part of the earth, how do all 
 things congratulate its approach ! The earth looks green, the trees shoot 
 forth, the plants revive, the birds sing sweetly, the face of all things smiles 
 upon us, and all the creatures below rejoice. Christians ! if you would but 
 draw near, and look on this Sun of righteousness, Jesus Christ, what a 
 spring of joy would it be within you? How would your graces be fresh and 
 green ? How would you forget your winter-sorrows? How early would you 
 rise (as those birds in the spring) to sing the praise of our great Creator, 
 and dear Kedeemer. 
 
 6 Consider that your eye on Jesus will preserve the vigor of all your 
 
CHAP. III.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 41 
 
 graces. As the body is apt to be changed into the temper of the air it 
 breathes in, and the food it lives on ; so will your spirits receive an altera- 
 tion, according to the objects which they are exercised about. You that 
 complain of deafuess and dulness, that you cannot love Christ, nor rejoice 
 in his loves, that you have no life in prayer, nor any other duty, and yet 
 you never tried this quickening course, or at least you were careless and 
 uuconstant in it; what, are not you the cause of your own complaints? Say, 
 
 “ Is not your life hid with Christ in God ?” 0 ! whither must you go but 
 
 to Christ for it? If you would have light and heat, why then are you not 
 more in the sunshine? If you would have more of that grace which flows 
 from Christ, why are you no more with Christ for it? For want of this 
 recourse to Jesus Christ your souls are as candles that are not lighted, 
 and your duties are as sacrifices which have no fire ; fetch one coal daily 
 from this altar, aud see if your offerings will not burn ; keep close to this 
 reviving fire, and see if your affections will not warm. Surely, if there 
 be any comfort of hope, if any flames of love, if any life of faith, if any 
 vigor of dispositions, if any motions towards God, if any meltings of a 
 softened heart, they flow from hence. Men are apt to bewail their want of 
 desire and hope, and joy, and faith, and love to Jesus Christ, whilst this 
 very dury would nourish all these. 
 
 7. Consider, it is but equal that your hearts should be on Christ, when 
 the heart of Christ is so much on you. Christ is our friend, and in that re- 
 spect he loves us, aud bears us in his heart; and shall not he be in ours? 
 Surely this is ill requital ; this is a great contradiction to the law of friend- 
 ship ; but Christ is our Lord as well as friend ; and if the Lord of glory can 
 stoop so low as to set his heart on sinful dust, one would think we should 
 easily be persuaded to set our hearts on Jesus Christ. Christians ! do you 
 not perceive that the heart of Christ is set upon you ? and that he is still 
 minding you with tender love, even when you forget both yourselves and 
 him ? Do you not find him following you with daily mercies, moving on 
 your souls; providing for your bodies, aud preserving both? Doth he not 
 bear you continually in the arms of love, and promise that “ all shall work 
 together for your good ?” Doth he not give his angels charge over you, 
 and suit all his dealings to your greatest advantage ? And can you find 
 in your hearts to cast him by ? Can you forget your Lord, who forgets not 
 you? Fie upon this unkind ingratitude? when the Lord speaks of his 
 thoughts and respects to us, he gives this language, “ Can a woman forget 
 her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her 
 womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will not I forget thee. Behold I have 
 graven thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before 
 we/' Isa. 49 : 15, 16. But when he speaks of our thoughts to him, the 
 case is otherwise; “Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? 
 Yet my people have forsaken me days without n umber, ” Jer. 2 : 82. q. d. 
 You would not forget the clothes on your 1 backs, you would not forget your 
 braveries, your ornaments, your attires, and are these more worth than 
 Christ? Yet you can forget me day after day. 
 
 8. Consider it is a command of Christ, that we should look to Jesus. 
 “ Behold me, behold me, lo 1, lo I.” A command not only backed with 
 authority, but accompanied with special ordinances appointed to this end : 
 what is baptism ? Aud what is the Lord’s supper, but the representation of 
 Jesus Christ? Is it not Christ’s command in his last supper, “This do in 
 remembrauce of me ?” And, “ This do ye as oft as ye drink it, in remem- 
 brance of rue,” 1 Cor. 11:24, 25. In this ordinance we have Christ 
 crucified before our eyes, and can we forget him ? Or can we hold our eyes 
 off him ? Can we see the bread broken, and the wine distinctly severed 
 from the bread, and not call to mind (according to the Scripture) Christ’s 
 
42 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK ] 
 
 agony in the garden, and on the cross ? Can we take and eat the bread 
 and take and drink the cup, and not apprehend Christ stooping down from 
 heaven to feed our souls ? At such a time, if we forget the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, it will argue our disaffection, our ingratitude, our disobedience every 
 way. 
 
 9. Consider it is both work and wages to look unto Jesus. Hence David 
 professed, “It is good for me to draw near to God,” Psal. 73: 28. And 
 “ my meditation of him shall be sweet,” Psal. 101 : 34. The word imports 
 a sweetness with mixture, like compound spices, or many flowers. Every 
 thought of Jesus is sweet and pleasant, nay, it is better than wine, “ we will 
 remember thy love more than wine.” Sol. Song 1 :4. There is more content 
 in contemplating on Christ, more refreshing to the spirit, than wine gives to 
 the body, “ How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, 0 God !” Ps. 139 : 17. 
 Look, in what kind soever you account a thing precious, so precious are the 
 thoughts of God and Christ to a man, whose heart is in right frame. Such 
 a one loves every glance of Christ, and the more it sees, the more it loves. 
 It is said of one Eudoxius, that he wished he might be admitted to come 
 near the body of the sun, to have full view of it, though it devoured him; 
 he was something rash in his wish, but there is something proportionable in 
 a godly spirit, he so loves Christ, that he could be content to be swallowed 
 up in the beholding of him. Certainly there is a blessing in his work : 
 when we are bid to look unto Jesus, it is but to receive from Jesus. Is it 
 any thing else but to call and invite us to look on the most pleasing and 
 delightful object; that in beholding of it, it may convey itself unto us, and 
 we be delighted and filled with it? It is all one if he should bid us sit down 
 by a well of life, and drink ; or if he should bid us be as the angels are, 
 who are blessed in the beholding of this Jesus. Why come then ; if this 
 be a blessed work, why will we uubless ourselves? If the work will exalt 
 us, why will we debase ourselves in not closing with it? If we might live 
 above in heaven, why will we live below ? Certainly when thoughts of Christ 
 are moving in us, Christ himself is not far off, he will come, and enter too : 
 and how sweet is it for Christ to come and take up his habitation in our souls ! 
 
 10. Consider how the angels exceedingly desire to look on Jesus. They 
 stoop down and pry into the nature, offices, and graces of Jesus Christ “ which 
 things (saith the apostle) the angels desire to look into,” 1 Pet. 1 : 12. 
 He alludes to the manner of the cherubim looking down into the mercy- 
 seat. This is the study, yea, this is the delight and recreation of the elect 
 angels to look on Jesus, and to look on the several scopes of our salvation 
 by Jesus Christ, to behold the whole frame and fabric of it, to observe all 
 the parts of it from the begining to the end, to consider all the glorious attri- 
 butes of God ; his wisdom, power, justice, mercy, all shining and glittering 
 in it like bright stars in the firmament ; this, I say, is their work, yea, this 
 is their festivity and pastime. And shall not we imitate the angels ? shall 
 not we think it our honour to be admitted to the same privilege with the 
 angels ? 
 
 11. Consider that looking unto Jesus is the wrnrk of heaven ; “ it is begun 
 in this life, (saith Bernard,) but it is perfected in that life to come;” not 
 only angels, but the saints in glory do ever behold the face of God and 
 Christ: if then we like not this work, how will we live in heaven? The 
 dislike of this duty is a bar against our entrance; for the life of blessedness 
 is a life of vision ; surely if we take no delight in this, heaven is no place 
 for us. 
 
 12. Consider that nothing else is in comparison worth the minding, 
 
 or looking after. If Christ have not your hearts, who, or what should 
 have them ? 0 ! that any Christian should rather delight to have his 
 
 heart among thorns and briers, than in the bosom of his dearest Jesus! 
 
CHAP III.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 43 
 
 why should you follow after drops, and neglect the fountain ? Why 
 should you fly after shadows, and neglect him who is the true substance ? 
 If the mind have its current from Christ toward other things, these things 
 are not only of less concernment, but destructive; “They are gone far 
 from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain,” Jer. 2 : 5. 
 How unworthy the world is of the look of Christians, especially when it 
 stands in competition with Jesus, we have discussed before. 
 
 Many other motives might be given, but let these suffice. I have done 
 with the exhortation ; in the next place I shall lay open to you the 
 particular way of this duty, which all this while I have been per- 
 suading to. 
 
 Sect. VIII. — Use of Direction. 
 
 Use 3. Is inward experimental looking unto Jesus a choice or high 
 gospel ordinance? why then, some directions how we are to perform 
 this duty. Practice is the end of all sound doctrine, and duty is the 
 end of all right faith : now, that you may do what you have heard 
 in some good measure, I shall prescribe the directions in the next part 
 prescribed. 
 
 But first in the work, observe those two parts of the text, the act, and 
 object; the act is looking unto; and the object is Jesus. 
 
 1. By looking unto, we mean (as you have heard) an inward experi- 
 mental knowing, desiring, hoping, believing, loving, calling on Jesus, and 
 conforming to Jesus. It is not a bare swimming knowledge of Christ; it 
 is not a bare thinking of Christ. As Christ hath various excellences in 
 himself, so hath he formed the soul with a power of divers ways appre- 
 hending, that so we might be capable of enjoying those divers excellencies 
 that are in Christ; even as the creatures having their several uses. God 
 hath accordingly given us several senses, that so we might enjoy the de- 
 lights of them all : what the better had we been for pleasant odoriferous 
 flowers, or sweet perfumes, if we had not possessed the sense of smelling? 
 Or what good would language, or music, have done us, if God had not 
 given us the sense of hearing ? Or what delight should we have found in 
 meats or drinks, or sweetest things, if we had been deprived of the sense 
 of tasting? So what pleasure should we have had even in the goodness 
 and perfection of God in Christ, if we had been without the faculty and 
 power of knowing, desiring, hoping, believing, loving, joying, and enjoying? 
 As the senses are to the body, so are these spiritual senses, powers, affec- 
 tions to the soul the very way by which we must receive sweetnesss and 
 strength from the Lord Jesus. 
 
 2. By Jesus, who is the object of this act, we mean a Saviour, carrying 
 on the great work of man’s salvation from first to last ; hence we shall fol- 
 low this method, to look on this Jesus as our Jesus in these several periods. 
 
 1. In that eternity before all time until the creation. 2. In the creation, 
 the beginning of time, until his first coming. 3. In his first coming, the 
 fulness of time, until his coming again. 4. In his coming again, the 
 very end of time, to all eternity. In every one of these periods, oh what 
 a blessed object is before us! Oh what wonders of love have we to look 
 upon ! Before I direct you how to look on him in these respects, I must, in 
 the first place, propound the object : still we must lay the colors of this 
 admirable beauty before your eyes, and then tell you the art how you are to 
 look upon them. 
 
 You may object, The apostle in this text refers this look only to the 
 passion and cession of Christ. But a worthy interpreter tells us out of these 
 words, (Audr. Scr.) on the words, “ That Christ our blessed Saviour is to 
 be looked on at ail times, and in all acts; though indeed, then, and in those 
 
44 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK I 
 
 acts more especially.” Besides, we are to “look unto Jesus, as the author 
 and finisher of our faith.” And why, as the author and finisher of our 
 faith, but to hint out to us that we are to stand still, and to behold, as with 
 a steadfast eye, what he is from first to last? You have called us hither 
 (say they in Sol. Song) to see your Shulamite, “ What shall we see in 
 him?” What, saith the spouse, “but as the company of two armies?” 
 that is, many legions of good sights; an ocean of bottomless depths of 
 manifold high perfections. Or if these words be understood of the spouse, 
 and not of Christ, yet how many words do we find in Sol. Songs, express- 
 ing in him many goodly sights? “Myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon, all the 
 perfumes, all the trees of frankincense, all the powders of the merchants 
 are in him ; he is altogether lovely:” he is all, every whit of him, a con- 
 fluence, a bundle, an army of glorious sights ; all in one cluster, meeting 
 and growing upon one stalk. There are many glorious sights in Jesus ; I 
 shall not, therefore, limit myself to those two especial ones, but take all 
 those before me I have now propounded. 
 
 And now, if ever, stir up your hearts. Say to all worldly business and 
 thoughts, as Christ to the disciples, “ Sit ye here, while I go and pray 
 yonder,” Matth. 26:36. Or, as Abraham, when he went to sacrifice 
 Isaac, left his servants and ass below the mount, saying, “Stay you here, 
 and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you;” so 
 say you to all worldly thoughts, Abide you below, while I go up to Christ, 
 and then I will return to you again. Christians ! yourselves may be 
 welcome, but such followers may not. 
 
 i 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 THE SECOND BOOK. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is and 
 which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. — I am Alpha and Omega, the 
 first and the last: and what thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the 
 seven churches. — Rev. 1:8, 11. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the eternal generation of Jesus. 
 
 We must “ look unto Jesus, the beginner and finisher of our faith we 
 must behold Jesus as with a steadfast eye from first to last. As he is 
 “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, the first aud the last;” 
 so accordingly we must look unto him. 1. He is Alpha , the beginner , (so 
 it is in the original,) Archegon , the beginner, the inceptor, the first wheel 
 of our faith, Heb. 12 : 2. and of the end of our faith, the salvation of our 
 souls, 2 Thess. 2:13. 2 Tim. 1 :9. Tit. 1 : 2. Now, Christ may be called 
 a beginner, in respect of the decree, or execution. I shall begin with the 
 decree, wherein he begun before the beginning of time to design oui 
 happiness, for the praise of the glory of his grace, Eph. 1:6. Many 
 depths are in this passage. To this purpose we told you, that Jesus 
 is God’s Son, and our Jesus, eternally begotten before all worlds. In 
 this first period we shall look on him ; 1. In relation to God; 2. In 
 relation to us. 
 
 1. In his relation to God. “ Who shall declare his generation ?” Isa. 
 53 : 8. He is God’s Son, having his subsistence from the Father alone, of 
 which Father, by communication of his essence, he is begotten from all 
 eternity. 
 
 For the opening of this eternal generation of our Jesus, we shall con- 
 sider, 1. The thiug begotten; 2. The time; 3. The manner of begetting; 
 4. The mutual kindness and love of him that begets, and of him that is 
 begotten, which brings forth a third person, or subsistence, which we call 
 the Holy Ghost. 
 
 1. For the thing itself, it is Jesus Christ ; who must be considered two 
 ways, as he is a Son, and as he is God. Now, as he is a Sou, he is the 
 thing begotten, but not as he is a God. As he is God, he is of himself, 
 neither begotten, nor proceeding: the Godhead of the Father, and the 
 Godhead of the Son is but one and the same thing, and therefore essentia 
 Jiln est a seipso , et hac ratione did potest [ auto Theos\ The Son, as he is 
 God, he is God of himself, without beginning, even as the Father; Essen - 
 
 t-45) 
 
46 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK II. 
 
 tia tomen filii non est a seipso, ideo sic non est [ auto Theos,~\ But as he is 
 Son, he is not of himself, but the Son of the Father, begotten of him ; 
 and hereupon it follows, that the Son is begotten of the Father as he is a 
 Son, but not as he is a God. 
 
 2. For the time of this generation, it hath neither beginning, middle, 
 nor end; and therefore it is eternal before all worlds; this is one of the 
 wonders of our Jesus, that the Father begetting, and the Son begotten are 
 co-eternal. Wisdom, in the booK of Proverbs (which with one consent 
 of all divines is said to be Christ) affirmeth thus, “ When there were no 
 depths, I was brought forth : when there were no fountains abounding 
 with water. Before the mountains were settled; before the hills was I 
 brought forth : while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor 
 the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, 
 I was there : when he set a compass upon the face of the depth,” Prov. 8 : 
 24, 25, 26, 27. I was there. And a little before, “ The Lord possessed 
 me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up 
 from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was,” Prov. 8 : 22, 
 23. that is to say, from eternity ; for, before the world was made, there was 
 nothing but eternity. It may be alleged to the contrary, that the saying 
 of God the Father, u Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee,” 
 Psalm 2:7. is expounded by Paul of the time of Christ’s resurrection. 
 “ And we declare unto you glad tidings (saith Paul) how that the promise 
 which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us, 
 their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again,” Acts 13 : 32, 33. 
 As it is also written in the second Psalm, “ Thou art my Son, this day 
 have I begotten thee.” But we distinguish betwixt generation itself, and 
 the manifestation or declaration of it. Jesus the Son of God from all 
 eternity was begotten, but when he was incarnate, and especially when 
 he was raised again from the dead, then was he mightily declared to be 
 God’s Son by nature. And of this declaration or manifestation of his 
 eternal generation is that of the apostle understood. 
 
 3. For the manner of this generation of Jesus the Son of God, under- 
 
 stand there be two manners of begetting, the one is carnal and outward, 
 and this is subject to corruption, alteration, and time; the other is spiri- 
 tual and inward, and such was the beginning of the Son of God, of whose 
 generation there is no corruption, alteration, nor time. But, alas ! how 
 should we “declare his generation,” Isa. 53:8. 0 my soul, here thou 
 
 mayest admire, and adore with Paul and David, and cry out, “0 the 
 depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! how un- 
 searchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out !” Rom. 11 : 33. 
 There is no searching for us into the secret counsels of God, which he 
 never revealed in his word, but so far as he hath revealed himself, we 
 shall in sobriety, according to the light of the scriptures, endeavor a dis- 
 covery of the manner of this spiritual generation of the Son of God; as 
 thus, — 
 
 We must consider in God two things, 1. That in God there is an un- 
 derstanding. 2. That in God this understanding everlastingly acts or 
 works. 
 
 For the first, that God hath a most excellent understanding, or that he 
 is understanding itself in the highest degree, is very clear; for he that 
 gives understanding to all his intelligible creatures, must needs have it, 
 and be it most eminently in himself. If fire be the cause of heat in other 
 things, it must needs be that fire is the hottest of any thing ; Propter quod 
 unumquodque tale , illud est magis tale. The axiom is common, but the 
 scripture verifies it, “ With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel 
 and understanding,” Job 12 : 13. Nay, that this understanding is his very 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 47 
 
 being, is very plain, “ Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom ; I am under- 
 standing; I have strength,” Prov. 8 : 14. 
 
 For the second, that this understanding in God everlastingly acts or 
 works is very clear; for that understanding (which is the nature, essence, 
 and being of God) is a mere act, or the first act; it is all one with the life 
 of God. Now, as all life is active in itself, so the chief life, (such as in 
 the highest degree is to be attributed to God,) must needs be active. 
 What is the life of God, but an essential property whereby the divine 
 nature is in perpetual action, living and moving in itself? And hereof is 
 that speech in scripture so often used, “As the Lord liveth,” Jer. 38 : 16. 
 Hereof likewise is that asseveration or oath so often used by God, “As the 
 Lord liveth.” And, “As I live, saith the Lord,” Rom. 14:11. Well 
 then, the understanding of God being active, or working from all eternity, 
 it must needs have some eternal object on which it acts or works ; every 
 action requires a suitable object about which it must act or be exercised; 
 so then, if God’s understanding act eternally, it must have some eternal 
 object, and if God’s understanding act most perfectly, it must have some 
 most perfect object to act upon ; and what is that but only God himself? 
 That God’s understanding should act out of himself, would argue his un- 
 derstanding to act upon that which is Suite and imperfect. Certainly 
 nothing is infinite, eternal, and perfect, but only himself, and therefore if 
 his understanding will act upon any suitable object, he must act upon 
 nothing but himself. 
 
 And now we come to the manner of this high, mystical, spiritual gene- 
 ration of Jesus the Son of God. As the understanding of God doth act 
 and reflect upon itself from all eternity, so it works this effect, that it un- 
 derstands and conceives itself; it apprehends in the understanding an 
 image of that object which it looks upon, and this very image is the Son 
 of God. This we shall lay out by some similitudes. A man’s soul (we 
 know) doth sometimes muse and meditate on other things; as it thinks of 
 heaven or it thinks of earth; this we call a right, or direct, or emanant 
 thought; but sometimes the soul doth muse or meditate on itself, as when 
 it thinks of its own essence or faculties, or the like; and this we call a 
 reflex thought; why now the soul understands itself; now it hath some 
 idea, or image of itself, now it conceives itself; this is our phrase, it con- 
 ceives itself. There is not only a carnal, but a spiritual conception; as 
 when I understand this or that, I say, I conceive this or that, I have the 
 idea or image of this or that within my soul. Or, as in a glass a man doth 
 conceive and get a perfect image of his own face by way of reflection ; so 
 God, in beholding and minding of himself, doth in himself beget or con- 
 ceive a most perfect, and a most lively image of himself, which very image 
 is that in the trinity, which we call the Son of God. Thus you read in the 
 scripture, that Jesus the Son of God is called, “ the brightness of his glory, 
 and the express image of his person,” Heb. 1:3. 1. “The brightness of 
 
 his glory;” herein God the Father is compared to a lightsome body; and 
 God the Son unto a beam, or splendor sent forth, or issuing out from that 
 glorious body. 2. “The express image of his person,” herein God the 
 Father is compared uuto a seal, and God the Sou unto an impression re- 
 sulting from the seal. Now look, as wax upon a seal, hath the engraven 
 image of the seal ; so the Son of God, (which the Father hath begotten or 
 conceived of his own understanding) is the very image of the Father’s un- 
 derstanding; hence not only the Father, but also the Son is called under- 
 standing itself. “ I have counsel and wisdom, (saith Christ), I am under- 
 standing,” Prov. 8 : 14. Whatsoever the Father is, the Son is; indeed the 
 understanding in men, and the thing understood, are not usually one and 
 the same, but in God it is all one: God’s conceivings and beget tings arc 
 
48 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [book n. 
 
 the most inward of all; the Father conceives of himself, and in himself; 
 and his conceiving is a begetting, and his begetting abideth still in himself, 
 because his understanding can no where meet with any thing suitable, but 
 that which he himself is, and that conceiving of himself, or begetting of 
 himself is the second subsistence of the trinity, which we call the ever- 
 lasting Son of God. 
 
 4. For the mutual kindness and loving kindness of him that begets, and 
 of him that is begotten, we say this brings forth a third person or subsis- 
 tence in God. Now, for the understanding of this matter, we must consider 
 two things, First, That in the essence of God, besides his understanding, 
 there is a will. Secondly, That this will doth work everlastingly upon 
 itself, as his understanding doth. 
 
 For the first, That in the essence of God, besides his understanding, 
 there is a will, is very clear ; for he that gives a will to all rational crea- 
 tures, cannot want it himself. How should he be without will, whose 
 will it is that we will ? Of necessity it is that there should be some prime 
 or chief will, on whose will all other wills should be ; but the scriptures 
 are plain, “ I am God, aud there is none else, I am GOD, and there is » 
 
 none like me. My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure/ 7 
 
 Isa. 46 : 9, 10. 
 
 For the second, That this will in God doth everlastingly work upon it- 
 self is clear: for, as doth the understanding, so doth the will; but the un- 
 derstanding of God doth act upon itself as the chief and most perfect truth : 
 therefore the will of God doth will himself as the chief and most perfect 
 good. Indeed what other suitable object can the will of God have besides 
 himself? An infinite will must needs have an infiuite good, and in this 
 sense, as our Saviour tells us, “ There is none good but one, that is God/ 7 
 Matth. 19 : 17. Hence it is that the will of God doth reflect upon itself, 
 and acquiesce in itself as an infinite good. 
 
 And now we come to the manner of this high, mystical, spiritual proces- 
 sion of the spirit from the Father and the Son. As the will of God doth 
 act and reflect upon itself from all eternity ; so it works this effect, that it 
 delights itself in the infinite good, which it knoweth in itself, for the ac- 
 tion of the will is delight and liking; and this very delight which God or 
 his will hath in his own infinite goodness, doth bring forth a third person 
 or subsistence in God, which we call the Holy Ghost : so that indeed if 
 you would know what the Holy Ghost is, I would answer, u It is the mu- 
 tual kindness and loving-kindness, and joy, and delight of the Father and 
 the Son.’ 7 The Father by this act of will doth joy and delight in his Son, 
 and the Son by this act of will doth joy and delight in his Father; and 
 this is it which the Son saith of himself, and of his Father, u I was daily 
 his delight, rejoicing always before him/ 7 Prov. 8 : 30. q d. I was from 
 all eternity his delight, and he was from all eternity my delight ; the Father 
 (as it were) from all eternity aspired in his will, and love, and joy unto the 
 Son; and the Son (as it were) from all eternity aspired in his will, and love 
 and joy, unto the Father; and from this common desire and aspiring of 
 either person the Holy Ghost proceeds, which makes up the whole trinity 
 of persons. 
 
 I shall lay out this by some similitude or resemblance ; as when a man 
 looks in a glass, if he smile, his image smileth too, here is but one face ; 
 and yet in this unity we may find a trinity : the face is one, the image of 
 the face in a glass is another, and the smiling of them both together is a 
 third, and yet all are in one face, and all are of one face, and all are but 
 one face ; so the understanding which is in God is one, the reflection or 
 image of his understanding he beholdeth in himself as in a glass is a second, 
 and the love and liking of them both together, by reason of the will fulfilled, 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 49 
 
 is a third ; and yet all are in one God, all are of one God, and all are 
 but one God. In this trinity there is neither first nor last, in respect of 
 time, but all are at once, and at one instant : even as in a glass the face, 
 and the image of the face, when they smile, they smile together, and not 
 
 one before nor after another. For conclusion of all, as we have the Son 
 
 of the Father by his everlasting will in working by his understanding; so 
 we have the Holy Ghost of the love, and joy, and delight of them both, by 
 the joint working of the understanding and will together; whereupon we 
 conclude three distinct persons, or subsistences, which we call the Father, 
 Son and Holy Ghost, in one spiritual, yet unspeakable substance, which is 
 
 very God himself. My meaning is not to insist on the Father or the 
 
 Holy Ghost, but only on the Son. Yet thus far I have added, that you 
 may better understand the manner of this generation of the Son of God ; 
 together with the mutual kindness, loving-kindness, joy, and delight betwixt 
 the Father and the Son even from everlasting. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of our Election in Christ before all worlds. 
 
 Now, let us look on Christ in his relation to us before all worlds. God 
 being thus alone himself from everlasting, and besides himself there be- 
 ing nothing at all ; the first thing he did (besides what ye have heard) or 
 the first thing he possibly and conceivably could do, it was this; u A deter- 
 mination with himself to manifest his glory ; or a purpose in himself to 
 communicate his glory out of his aloneness everlasting unto somewhat 
 else I say, unto somewhat else, for what is communication but an efflux, 
 an emanation, an issuing from, or a motion betwixt two terms ? I have now 
 brought you to the acts, or actions of God in reference to his creatures ; 
 follow me a little, and I shall anon bring you to Christ in relation to your- 
 selves. 
 
 These acts or actions of God were and are; 1. The decree. 2. The 
 execution of the decree of God. I must open these terms : 
 
 1. The decree is an action of God, out of the counsel and purpose of his 
 own will, determining all things, and all the circumstances, and order of all 
 things from all eternity, in himself certainly and unchangeably, and yet 
 freely. “ Who worketh all things (saith the apostle) after the counsel of 
 his own will,” Eph. 1:11. And this work or action of God is internal, 
 and forever abiding within his own essence itself. 
 
 2. The execution of the decree is an act of God, whereby God doth effec- 
 tually work in time all things as they were foreknown and decreed. And 
 this action of God is external, and by a temporal act passing from God to 
 the creatures. 
 
 Now, for the decree; that is of divers kinds; As first, There is a decree 
 common and general, which looks to all the creatures; and it is either the 
 decree of creation, or the decree of providence and preservation. 2. The 
 decree is special, which belongs to reasonable creatures, angels and men ; 
 it is called the decree of predestination, and it consists of the decree of 
 election and reprobation. Concerning the common and general decrees we 
 have but little laid down in scriptures; and it is little or nothing at all to 
 our purpose; and concerning the special decree of angels, there is not 
 much in scriptures, and that is as little also to our purpose; we have only 
 to deal with men, and with God's decree in relatiou to man's salvation 
 before all worlds. 
 
 And this we call predestination, or the decree of election ; which is 
 either of Christ, or of the members of Christ. Christ himself was first pre- 
 destinated ; this appears by that saying of God, “ Behold my servant whom 
 I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth,” Isa. 43 : 1. “ I will put 
 
50 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [book n. 
 
 my spirit upon him, and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles.” Matth. 
 12 : 18. These very words the evangelist interprets of Christ himself. And 
 Christ being predestinate, the members of Christ were predestinated in 
 him : so the apostle, “ according as he hath chosen us in him before the 
 foundation of the world,” Eph. 1 : 4. We are chosen in Christ as in a com- 
 mon person, he was the first person elected in order, and we in him. 
 Suppose a new kingdom to be set up, a new king is chosen, and all his suc- 
 cessors are chosen in him ; why God hath erected a kingdom of glory, and 
 he hath chosen Jesus Christ for the king of this kingdom, and in him he 
 hath chosen us, whom he hath made kings and priests unto the most high 
 God. But observe we this of the apostle, “he hath chosen us in him be- 
 fore the foundation of the world.” 1. He hath chosen, (■£. e.) God the 
 Father hath chosen ; not that the Son and Spirit choose not also ; for if 
 three of us had but one will common to us all, one could not will any thing 
 which the will of the other two should not also will; but because the Son 
 sustains the person of one elected, and the Spirit is the witness sealing this 
 grace unto our hearts, therefore the Father only is expressed, as the Father 
 alone is often named in prayer, not that the other persons are not to be 
 prayed unto, but because the Son is considered as the Mediator, and the 
 Spirit as the instructor, teaching us to pray as we ought; therefore the 
 Father only is expressed. 
 
 He hath “ chosen us in him,” and this him, denotes Christ God-man ; 
 and this “ in him,” denotes the same Christ God-man, as the head and 
 first elect, in whom, and after whom, in order of nature, all his body are 
 elected : mark here the order, but not the cause of our election ; though 
 Christ be the cause of our salvation, yet Christ is not the cause of our 
 election ; it is only the foreknowledge of God, and his free love that is the 
 cause thereof. 
 
 3. “ He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,” (%. e.') 
 from all eternity; but because within eternity God doth foresee the things 
 which are done in time ; therefore this phrase, (say some,) may be extended 
 not only to respect the actual creation, but the decree itself of the 
 world’s being : q. d. He hath chosen us in order of nature, before his de- 
 cree did lay the foundation of the world. My meaning is not to enter 
 into controversies; this all grant, that the ancient love which the Lord 
 hath borne us in Christ is not of yesterday, but before all worlds. Paul 
 mentions “ grace given us before all worlds,” 2 Tim. 1 : 9. But that which 
 is the most observable in the text, as to our purpose, is, that we are 
 chosen iu him; we read of three phrases in Scripture speaking of Christ; 
 sometimes we are said to have blessings in him, and sometimes for him, 
 and sometimes through him. Sometimes in him, as here, “ he hath chosen 
 us in him ;” sometimes for him, as elsewhere, “ unto you it is giveu for 
 Christ’s sake, not only to believe, but to suffer,” Phil. 1 : 29. Sometimes 
 through him, as in that of Paul, “ Thanks be to God who giveth us the 
 victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ,” 1 Cor. 15 : 57. Now blessings 
 come through Christ, in respect that Christ is a Mediator, not only of im- 
 putation, but execution ; not only obtaining and receiving from grace all 
 good for us, but in executing and applying efficaciously the same unto us : 
 and blessings come from Christ, in respect that Christ doth by his obedi- 
 ence obtain every good thing, which in time is communicated to us: and 
 we have blessings in Christ, because that iu Christ, as in a common store- 
 house, every thing is first placed, which is to be imparted afterwards to 
 any of us. And thus we are chosen in Christ as in a common person. 
 This grace of election began first at Christ our head, aud so descends 
 downwards to us his members ; Christ is the first begotten among all his 
 brethren, having the pre-eminence, or Christ was “ the firstborn among 
 
51 
 
 CHAP. I.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 many brethren,” Rom. 8 : 29. The first that opened the womb : Christ was 
 sealed and set apart to be the prince of our salvation, before (in order of 
 nature) we are elected. Concerning this election, or predestination of 
 Christ, the apostle puts all out of question, “Who verily was foreordained 
 before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times 
 for you,” 1 Pet. 1 : 20. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of the great Treaty in 'Eternity betwixt God and Christ 
 
 to save Souls. 
 
 Now was it that God the Father called forth his Son to perform the 
 office of Mediator, that in him all those that should be saved might be 
 chosen. Concerning this call of God the Father, in a special sort the apostle 
 is clear, “ No man taketh this honor unto himself but he that is called of 
 God as was Aaron : so also Christ glorified not himself to be made a high 
 priest, but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to-day have I begotten 
 thee.” He called him to this honor, Heb. 5 : 4, 5. Christ thrust not him- 
 self into this office, but he came to it by the will of God the Father, and 
 by his appointment, “ For it pleased the Father, by him to reconcile all 
 things to himself,” Col 1 : 19, 20, and him hath God the Father sealed,” 
 John 6 : 27. And why ? But the more to assure us of the good will of 
 God to save us, seeing he hath called his Son unto it : for therefore will he 
 accept of all that Christ should do for us, as that which he himself hath 
 ordained. 
 
 And now it was that God the Son embraced the call of the Father, and 
 undertook the office of Mediator, “Then said I, lo, I come, ,, Heb. 10 : 7. 
 No question it was truth from everlasting : “ The Lord God hath opened 
 mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back,” Isa. 50 : 5. 
 And “ as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do,” John 14 : 3l. 
 No sooner had the Father called, but Christ accepts the office to which he 
 was designed by the Father: this is plain by these words, “Him hath 
 God the Father sealed ;” sealed by ordination, and sealed by qualification, 
 and sealed by way of investiture, as public officers are invested in their 
 places by receiving their commissions under seal. And it must needs be 
 so, because whatsoever the Father wills, the Son wills also, “ I and my 
 Father are one,” saith Christ, John 10 : 30. How one ? Why, one in will, 
 and one in power, and one in nature. 1. One in will, that appears in 
 the words precedent concerning Christ’s sheep, “ My Father gave them 
 
 me, and I give unto them eternal life,” verses 28, 29. They are both 
 
 agreed to save Christ’s sheep ; the Father is willing and Christ is willing : 
 look how much the will of the Father is in it, so much the will of the Son 
 is in it, “For he and the Father are one.” 2. One in power; that appears 
 likewise in the words precedent, Those “ sheep shall never perish ; (saith 
 Christ) neither shall any pluck them out of my hand : my Father is greater 
 than all, and none is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand,” ver. 
 28, 29. Here is first the power of Christ, and all in him engaged for the 
 salvation of his sheep, that if he have any power in him, and be able to 
 do any thing, not one of them shall perish : and he gives the reason of the 
 prevalency of his power from his Father’s power, engaged as much as his 
 own in this business; they are alike fast iu his hands and in his Father’s 
 hands, For he “and the Father are one.” 3. One in nature, and of this I 
 suppose are the words more especially understood : the Father and the 
 Son are both of one nature, of one essence, of one being, and this is not 
 only an argument that they did both agree, and were like to agree in that 
 great transaction of saving souls, but that they can never disagree; two 
 that essentially have two wills, though for the present agreeing in one, 
 
52 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [boob n. 
 
 yet they may come to disagree, and will not the same things, but if essen- 
 tially they have but one will, it is impossible then but that they ever 
 must agree. So then the Father from everlasting calls the Son to the 
 office of Mediator, q. d. “ Come, my Son, the Son of my joy, and high 
 delight ; my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased ; there is a thought 
 in my heart to communicate myself out of this aloneness everlasting into 
 somewhat else; and my thoughts, or purpose, or intention, lies in this 
 order: First, I intend my own glory, then Christ, then the church, then 
 the world; thus is my providence to dispose every thing so much more 
 principally and timely, by how much it is the more excellent ; next to my 
 glory and the manifestation of it, I will have a Christ, and this Christ shall 
 be the chief pattern of the election of gaace ; and next to Christ the head I 
 intend a body, and this body I will predestinate to be made like, or to be 
 conformed to the image of my Son. And now, behold I call thee to the 
 office of Mediator, thou art my Son ; to-day (even in this day of eternity) 
 have I begotten thee ; and to-day (even this day of eternity) do I call thee 
 to this honor to be an high priest for ever.” And as the Father calls, so 
 the Son from everlasting accepts the office to which he is designed by the 
 Father, q. d. Come, “Is that the voice of my everlasting Father? Why, 
 “ lo I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me; to do thy will, 
 
 0 God.” This is my mind; yea, and this shall be my mind for ever; 
 when I am incarnate, this shall be my meat to do the will of him that sent 
 me to finish his work, Heb. 10 : 7. Glorious Father, thy will is my will; 
 
 1 seek not mine own will (as if I had a will distinct from thine) but the 
 will of my Father, John 4 : 34. Now therefore I accept this honor. Be 
 it to me, or be it with me even as thou pleasest,” John 5 : 30. This call 
 of the Father and answer of the Son is fully confirmed by that saying of 
 Christ, “ I was set up from everlasting,” Prov. 8 : 23. 
 
 But concerning the particular passages of these treaties between God 
 and Christ to save souls, I shall show, 1. The Project. 2. The Counsel 
 3. The Foreknowledge. 4. The Purpose. 5. The Decree. 6. The 
 Covenant. We shall find all these in our first period, in that eternity 
 before all times until the creation. 
 
 Sect. IV. — The Project. 
 
 The project to save souls is diversly laid down by dissenting brethren. 
 Some give it in thus, 1. That there should be a Mediator and Redeemer 
 unto mankind, considered as fallen in the state of sin. 2. That all such 
 should be received into favor as shall repent, and believe, and persevere 
 unto the end. 3. That sufficient and necessary means of grace should be 
 offered and administered unto all men without exception. 4. That certain 
 singular persons should be saved, whom God foresaw would repent and 
 believe, and persevere. This way is justly opposed by others, who deny 
 God’s acts in intention to be in the same order as we see them in produc- 
 tion. In order of material existing it is granted that Christ is revealed, 
 promised, and exhibited after sin, and that we repent, believe, and per- 
 severe before we are saved ; but in order of God’s intention, Christ is before 
 sin, and salvation before repentance, faith, perseverance. The apostle 
 reckoned the order in which things exist thus, 1. The Word. 2. You the 
 Elect. 3. Christ. 4. God, 1 Cor. 3 : 22, 23. But he gives us to un- 
 destand the order of intention thus ; as first, God intends his own glory, 
 then Christ, then the elect, then the world. Certainly it is a hard thing 
 to marshal the eternal emanant acts of the divine understanding, or will it 
 first', second, third, fourth : all God’s projects are like himself, who is iota 
 simul et pcrfecta possessio sui, a whole and perfect possession of himself 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 53 
 
 together and at once; so as in him considered there is no prius nor posterius 
 in any of his acts ; but considered in effects, or in respect of us, one thing 
 may be said to be first, second, or third in nature, time, and being, before 
 or after another. And thus in respect to us, we say the end must be in 
 nature before the means to the end ; now the permission of the fall, repent- 
 ance, faith, and perseverance, are used by God as means, to bring some to 
 salvation ; God therefore doth first project our salvation, and then the 
 means; and both the end and the means are the product of God’s elec- 
 tion or predestination. Here then is the project, that God will glorify his 
 grace, and to this end he will predestinate Christ, and in Christ he will 
 choose some of the sons of men to salvation, whom, notwithstanding sin, 
 he will make holy, and without blame before him in love. This project, 
 or plot, or design of God will be further enlarged upon in the next 
 passage, viz. his counsels. 
 
 Sect. V. — The Counsel. 
 
 Of the counsels of God concerning man before all worlds, we read in 
 several texts, Christ was “ delivered by the determinate counsel and fore- 
 knowledge of God,” Acts 2 : 23. “ For of a truth, against thy holy child 
 
 Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the 
 gentiles, and the people of Israel were gathered together, for to do what- 
 sover thy hand and counsel determined before to be done,” Acts 4 : 27, 
 28. Thus the members of Christ are said to “ have obtained an inherit- 
 ance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh 
 all things after the counsel of his own will,” Eph. 1 : 11. Of this counsel 
 of God’s will, we know but little now, yet this will be made known when 
 we come to glory ; yea, it will be a great part of the glory of heaven for 
 the Lord to make known the counsel of his will; we know his will, but 
 we shall then know the counsel of his will, and praise him to all eternity 
 for it ; this shall be the glory of the saints, that they shall see into the 
 counsel of God’s will in choosing them and calling them, and passing by 
 others, and letting others go. In the meanwhile thus far we may know, 
 for thus far he hath revealed himself concerning his counsels about man 
 from everlasting. 
 
 1. That man should be a reasonable creature, and because that every 
 creature is unavoidably subject to the Creator, (for “ he made all things 
 for himself,” Pr. 16 : 4, and all are to return that glory to him for which 
 he made them,) therefore man should serve him as all other creatures must, 
 only his service should be after a reasonable manner, out of judgment, 
 discretion, and election ; hence David is said to have “ chosen the way of 
 truth,” Ps. 119:30, and Moses to have “chosen the afflictions of God’s 
 people, and the reproaches of Christ, before the pleasures of sin or the 
 treasures of Egypt,” Heb. 11 : 25, 26. And hence it is that holiness in the 
 phrase of scripture is called judgment, “ He shall convince the world of 
 judgment,” John 16:11, and he shall “ send forth judgment unto 
 victory,” Matth. 12:20. And hence it is that our service is called 
 “a reasonable service,” Horn. 12:1. God would not set any such 
 determinating law over the operations of man, as over other creatures, that 
 so he might truly work out of judgment, and stand or fall by his own 
 election. 
 
 2. That if man should deviate from this reasonable service, and 
 break the law which God would give, and which he himself should 
 have an original power to perform, that then he should incur the 
 displeasure of God; and such a curse and such a penalty should be 
 inflicted. And here comes in the fall of man into God’s consideration ; 
 
54 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IL 
 
 he looks upon it as a wilful transgression of his law, and by how much the 
 law was more just, and the obedience more easy, by so much he judges the 
 transgression more unreasonable, and the punishment more certain and 
 intolerable. 
 
 3. That sin should not pass unrevenged : and that for these reasons, 
 
 1. Because of God’s infinite hatred thereof, “ He is of purer eyes 
 than to behold evil, he cannot look on iniquity/’ Hab. 1 : 13. It 
 provokes a nauseousness and abhorrency in him; “ for all these are 
 things that I hate, saith the Lord, — they are a trouble unto me, I 
 am weary to bear them/’ Zech. 8 : 17. 2. Because of his truth he 
 
 hath said, “ In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely 
 
 die,” or, “ thou shalt dying die,” Gen. 2:17, die temporally, and die 
 eternally; and surely God will in no wise abolish his law, “One jot 
 or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled,” 
 Matth. 5:18. 3. Because of his terror and fearful majesty, for God 
 
 will have men always to tremble before him, and by his terror to be 
 persuaded from sinning, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, 
 we persuade men,” 2. Cor. 5:11. “Fear him who is able to destroy 
 
 both soul and body in hell,” Matth. 10:28, and “let us have grace 
 whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly 
 fear, for our God is a consuming fire,” Heb. 12:28, 29. Upon 
 
 these reasons God is resolved sin shall not pass unrevenged, lest 
 
 thereby his justice should be securely abused, his hatred against sin 
 the less declared, his truth questioned, and his dreadful majesty by 
 men neglected. 
 
 4. That every man, notwithstanding sin, should not be utterly 
 
 destroyed; and that for these reasons. 1. Because of that infinite delight 
 which the Lord hath in mercy. Why ? this delight is it that so disposeth 
 him to pardon abundantly, and to exercise loving-kindness on the sons of 
 men; “ Who is a God like unto thee, that pardonest iniquity and passest 
 by the transgression of the remnaut of thy heritage ? Thou retainest not 
 thine anger for ever, because thou delightest in mercy,” Psal. 103 : 8. 
 And, “ I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment and 
 righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, saith the Lord,” 
 Jer. 9:24. 2. Because of that delight which God hath to be actively 
 
 glorified by his creatures’ voluntary service and subjection ; “ Herein is my 
 Father glorified, if ye bear much fruit,” John 15 : 8. And, “ I have no 
 pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that he turn from his way and 
 live,” Ezek. 33:11. He delighteth most in unbloody conquests, when 
 by his patience, and goodness, and forbearance, he subdueth the hearts, 
 affections, and consciences of men unto himself! he esteemeth himself 
 more glorified in the services, than in the sufferings of men, and therefore 
 in this eternity he resolves not to destroy all men, lest there should 
 be no religion upon the earth. When the angels fell, they fell not 
 all, many were still left to glorify him actively in their service to him, 
 but when Adam fell, all mankind fell in him ; so that there was no 
 tree in this paradise left to bring forth any fruit unto God : and this is 
 most certain that God would rather have his trees for fruit than for fuel ; 
 hence he resolves that mankind, notwithstanding sin, should not be utterly 
 destroyed. 
 
 Hereupon the Trinity calls a council, and the question is, “ What is to 
 be done with poor man ?” The learned here frame a kind of conflict in 
 God’s holy attributes, and, by a liberty which the Holy Ghost from the 
 language of holy scripture doth allow them, they speajk of God after the 
 manner of men, as if he were reduced unto some straits and difficulties, by 
 the cross demands of his several attributes. Justice calls upon him for the 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 55 
 
 condemnation of a sinful, and therefore worthily accursed creature; 
 which demand is seconded by his truth, to make good that threatening, 
 “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die the death :” 
 mercy on the other side pleads for favor, and compassion towards man, 
 wofully seduced, and overthrown by Satan, and this plea is seconded by 
 love and goodness, and the like attributes; at last, when the business 
 comes to a determination, wisdom finds out a way, which the angels of 
 heaven gaze on with admiration and astonishment, how to reconcile these 
 different pleas of his attributes together. A Jesus is resolved on ; one 
 of the same blessed Trinity, who by his Father’s ordination, his own 
 voluntary susception, and the holy Spirit’s sanctification, should be fitted 
 for the business. To this purpose this Jesus should be both a surety and 
 a head over sinful men ; a surety to pay men’s debts unto God, and a 
 head to restore God's image unto man ; and thus in him “ mercy 
 and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each 
 other,” Psal. 85 : 10. 
 
 This is the great mystery of the gospel ; this is that which the angels 
 (as I tell you) pry into ; nay, this is that which the angels and saints too 
 shall admire, and bless God for to all eternity; this is that which set the 
 infinite wisdom of God on work from all eternity. If all the angels in 
 heaven, aud all the men in the world, had been put to it to find out a 
 way to answer this question, “ How shall sin be pardoned, the sinner 
 reconciled, and God glorify his justice?” they could never have done it; 
 this cost God dear, it cost him the heart-blood of his own Son, and that is 
 a sure sign that God’s heart was much in it, and indeed we are not Chris- 
 tiaus, until in some measure we see and have our hearts taken with the 
 glory of God in this mystery. 0 the wonder of heaven and earth ! here 
 is the case, man is fallen through sin, and ever since the fall, man and 
 sin are as inseparably joined together as fire and heat; yet God will have 
 mercy on the man, aud be will take vengeance on the sin; the eternal 
 wisdom of God hath found out a way to translate this man’s sins on another 
 person who is able to bear them, and to interest this man’s person in 
 another’s righteousness, which is able to cover him : so that now all is one 
 in regard of man, as if the law had been utterly abrogated ; and all is one 
 too iu regard of God, as if the creature had been utterly condemned. 
 And all this is done in our Jesus; on him was executed the curse of the 
 law, by him was fulfilled the righteousness of the law, for him was re- 
 mitted the sin of man, and through him were all things made new again. 
 The world was in Christ as in its surety, making satisfaction to the justice 
 of God; and God was in Christ as in his ambassador, reconciling the world 
 unto himself again, ((9 bathos!') “0 the depths of the riches both of the 
 wisdom aud knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and 
 his ways past finding out?” Horn. 11:33. You have seen the project, 
 and the councils of God for man’s salvation, before all worlds; it is but 
 dimly “ For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been 
 his counsellor ?” Horn. 11:34. 
 
 Sect. YI. — The Forelcnowledye. 
 
 Of the foreknowledge of God, in this respect we read in scriptures, 
 Christ is said to be “ delivered by the determined counsel and foreknow- 
 ledge of God,” Acts 2 : 23. And it is said of Christ’s members, “ The 
 called according to his purpose, whom he did foreknow,” Horn. 8 : 29. 
 And elsewhere iu the same epistle, “ God hath not cast away his people, 
 which he foreknew,” Rom. 11:2. And Peter writes “to the strangers, 
 elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,” 1 Pet. 1 : 2. 
 
56 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK II. 
 
 Understand, that foreknowledge is ascribed to God in respect of the 
 creature properly; but in respect of God there is nothing past, nothing to 
 come; all things past, and all things to come are present to him; and 
 therefore in that sense he cannot be said to foreknow any thing. Now the 
 Lord in respect of us is said in scripture to foreknow things or persons two 
 ways. 
 
 1. Generally, By a general knowledge, of which David speaks, “ Thine 
 eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect, and in thy book all my 
 members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet 
 there was none of them,” Psalm 139 : 16. 
 
 2. Specially, By a more special foreknowledge, which is a knowledge 
 with love and approbation; the very same which barely comprebendeth that 
 we call election, so God’s choosing is expressed by loving, “ Jaeob have I 
 loved, and Esau have I hated.” Rom. 9:13. And this is that which 
 the apostle speaks of, “ The Lord knoweth who are his,” 2 Tim. 2 : 19. 
 i. e. the Lord from everlasting knoweth his with love and with approba- 
 tion, “ Hath God cast away his people, which he foreknew?” Rom. 11:2. 
 i. e. which he before loved and approved. Hence we gather, that after 
 the project was laid, and the counsels of God were agreed upon it, k then God 
 foreknew or foresaw whom to embrace in his eternal love as his own. At 
 one act he foreknew whom he would choose, and set apart of his own free 
 love, to life and salvation; and here you have the cause of God’s predesti- 
 nating of his saints to glory, it was only the foreknowledge, and free love 
 of God ; the Lord from everlasting, and before the foundation of the world 
 foreordained or foreappointed, some to salvation, nothing moving him 
 thereunto but his own good pleasure, and his own free love. This is it that 
 in order of nature, and strictly, goes before, and is the cause of our pre- 
 destination, “for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate,” Rom. 
 8 : 29. First he foreknew, and then he did predestinate ; first he loved, 
 and then he elected : first he embraced them as his own in the arms of his 
 eternal love, and then of his free love he set them apart to life, and to sal- 
 vation : Hence the apostle calls it, “the election of grace,” Rom. 11 : 5, 
 signifying that our election springs out of the womb of love; free love, free 
 grace is the cause of our election. 
 
 Some object, That we are predestinated and elected according to fore- 
 knowledge, i. e. say they, according to the foreknowledge of our faith, and 
 repentance and perseverance : But if that were Paul’s foreknowledge, why 
 then would he say, That “ those whom he did foreknow, he also did pre- 
 destinate to be conformed to the image of his Son,” Rom. 8 : 29, if God did 
 foreknow them first conformed, why did he then predestinate them to be 
 conformed ? And if that were Peter’s foreknowledge, why then would he 
 say, “ That they were elect according to the foreknowledge of God the 
 Father, — unto obedience ?” 1 Pet. 1 : 3. If God did foreknow them first 
 obedient, how then did he “ foreknow them unto obedience ?” I know it is 
 a question, whether God in foresight “ of belief, and perseverance in faith 
 and holiness, do choose us to salvation ?” For my part I am for the nega- 
 tive upon these well-known grounds. 
 
 1. Because election on faith foreseen makes God to go out of himself, 
 looking to this or that in the creature, upon which his will may be deter- 
 mined to elect; now this is against the all-sufficiency of God’s knowledge, 
 as if he should get knowledge from the things we know ; and against the 
 all-sufficiency of God’s will, as if he must be beholden to something in 
 us, before the business of our election can be determined. 
 
 2. Because election qn faith or love foreseen, it makes God to choose us 
 when we have chosen him, and to love us, when we have loved him first ? 
 But this is contrary to Scripture, “ We love him, because he loved us first: 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 57 
 
 and herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent 
 his Son to be the propitiation for our sins,” 1 John 4 : 19 ; ver. 10 
 
 8. Because election on faith foreseen, stands not with the freedom of 
 God’s will with himself, but God tells us plainly, “ I will have mercy on 
 whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have 
 compassion,” Rom. 9 : 15, 16. See Jo. Goodwin’s expos, on Rom. 9 : 15, 
 16. I know some would not have this text understood of election from 
 eternity, but of justification, adoption, salvation, and yet they ^rant the 
 truth of it to be alike, whether in reference to election, or justification : 
 The words, “ I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,” are one and 
 the same with these words spoken by God to Moses, “ I will be gracious 
 to whom I will be gracious,” Exod. 38 : 19. Now, to be gracious, as is 
 confessed, properly imports a propenseness of mind and will to do some 
 signal good without any motive or engagement thereunto from without, 
 especially from the person or persons to whom this good is done, or in- 
 tended ; which is a plain argument, that “1 will have mercy,” is not of that 
 kind of mercy, the exercise whereof is drawn out, or procured by any thing 
 whatsoever iu those to whom it is showed, but because it pleaseth itself, or 
 him in whom it resideth so to do ; and in this respect mercy differs very 
 little, or nothing at all from grace ; the apostle exchanging Moses’s words, 
 was but his interpreter. 
 
 4. ' Because election on faith foreseen is all one as to say, We are or- 
 dained to eternal life because we believe; but the Scripture speaks contrary, 
 “ As many as were ordained to eternal life believed,” Acts 13 : 48. And 
 not as many as believed were ordained to eternal life. 
 
 5. Because a prime and eternal cause cannot depend on the selfsame 
 temporal effects which are thereby caused ; now election is the prime 
 and eternal cause whence our faith, repentance, and perseverance were 
 derived, and therefore our faith, repentance, and perseverance cannot 
 be imagined antecedent causes, conditions, or motives unto the divine 
 election. 
 
 6. Because election on faith foreseen, or election of men believing and 
 
 persevering in faith and holiness unto the last gasp, brings with it many 
 absurdities. As, 1. This is to elect men, not considered as in the state 
 of innocency, nor of misery, but as in a state of grace, contrary to their 
 own tenets. 2. This is not to bring faith, holiness, perseverance out of 
 the gracious benefit of election, but to bring eleciion out of the foreseen 
 acts of believing, obeying, persevering, quire contrary to scriptures, u He 
 hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should 
 be holy and without blame before him in love,” Eph. 1:4. 3. This were 
 
 to say, that election or predestination affords no man any help at all, in the 
 way unto eternal salvation ; for how can that be the cause leading in- 
 fallibly in the way into eternal life, which conies not so much as into con- 
 sideration, until a man have run out his race (at least in God’s foreknow- 
 ledge) in faith and godliness, and be arrived at heaven’s gates. Such a 
 falsely named predestination might more truly and properly have been 
 called a post-destination. But I have too long stood on this controversy, 
 and indeed it is against my design, u Which is not to minister questions, 
 but rather edifying, which is iu faith,” 1 Tim. 1:4. I remember what I 
 have read, aud indeed I begin already to feel, that these controversial points 
 will but discompose our spirits, and waste our zeal, our love, our delight 
 in Jesus, (this lovely subject and object we are viewing), even by the inter- 
 ruption and diversion of our own contemplations. Not a word more iu 
 that kind. 
 
58 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK n 
 
 Sect. YII. — The Purpose. 
 
 Of the purpose of God concerning man’s salvation before all worlds, 
 we read in scriptures, “ We know that all things work together for good, 
 to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose,” 
 Rom. 8 : ‘28. And it is said of Jacob and Esau, that “ being not yet born, 
 neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according 
 to election might stand,” Rom. 9 : 11. And, u in Christ we are said to 
 obtain an inheritance, being predestinate according to the purpose of him 
 who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,” Eph. 1:11. 
 And elsewhere the apostle speaks of, “ the manifold wisdom of God, ac- 
 cording to the eternal purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus our 
 Lord,” Eph. 3 : 11. And again, “ He hath saved us and called us with an 
 holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own pur- 
 pose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world 
 began,” 2 Tim. 1 : 2. All these hold forth this truth, That God purposed 
 in himself from all eternity to bring them, whom he foreknew, to life and 
 to salvation. This purpose of God, in order of nature, comes before pre- 
 destination, in that we are said to “ be predestinate according to his pur- 
 pose,” Eph. 1:11. And yet it must needs follow after his foreknowledge 
 and counsel : for, first, he loves before he will purpose, “ And every pur- 
 pose is established by counsel.” Yea, “ without counsel purposes (saith 
 the wise man) are disappointed,” Prov. 20 : 18. and 15 : 22. Why then, 
 first he counsels (I speak after the manner of men) and then he foreknows, 
 i. e. either he knows whom he will choose, for God doth not blindly choose 
 he knows not whom, or else he sets his love to life on some, he knows them 
 with a knowledge of approbation, and then he settles a purpose to bring 
 them to life, whom he so foreknows, in that especial and unspeakable 
 way. 
 
 This purpose of God speaks our stability and certainty of salvation in 
 Christ; when God once purposeth, it is past altering; “Surely as I have 
 thought, so shall it come to pass, and as I have purposed (saith God) so shall 
 it stand.” You may write upon it, that God’s purposes are immutable. 
 Would not Paul lightly alter purposes taken up by him ; “ When I was 
 therefore thus minded (saith he) did I use lightness ? Or the thing that I 
 purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be 
 yea, yea, and nay, nay?” Would not Paul (I say) alter his purpose? And 
 will God, think you, alter his? Methinks this word speaks to me, as if I 
 heard God say from all eternity, “ It is my purpose to save a remnant of 
 mankiud, though all are lost by sin, yet my wisdom hath found out a way 
 to choose out some, and though those some, those few that I have purposed 
 to save, stand in very slippery places, yet I will be the same yesterday, and 
 to-day, and for ever,” Ileb. 13 : 8. I foresee indeed many thousands of 
 failings and exasperations, to alter the purpose that I have towards my 
 people, I foresee their daily provocations of my justice, I foresee their many 
 lusts within, and their many enemies without, I foresee that grace inherent. 
 I will give them, to be as mutable in all the progeny, as in their father 
 Adam ; and if I leave them in the hauds of their own counsel, they 
 cannot but depart daily from me, even as water, though it could be made 
 as hot as fire, yet being left unto itself, it will quickly reduce, and 
 work itself to its own original coldness again ; I foresee them in their best 
 condition, at full sea, at their highest tide of grace, to be as changeable 
 and moveable several ways, as wheels; to be as perplexed, hiudered and 
 distracted in themselves, as cross wheels in oue another; grace swaying 
 one way and flesh another way, and what stability can I think in such ? 
 Why yet, (says God) yet I purpose to bring this little flock to heaven, my 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 59 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 purpose is in, and from myself, and I am God, and not man, and therefore 
 I cannot repent, nor call in the purpose which now I have. Have I said, 
 and shall not I do it ? Have I spoken, and shall I not make it good ? 
 Numb. 23 : 19. Yes, yes, my purposes must stand, and for this purpose T 
 will set my Son betwixt my people and myself, so that if they sin, 1 will 
 look on him, and by that means, I will see no iniquity in Jacob, nor trans- 
 gression in Israel, Numb. 23 :21. And for this purpose, I will join to the 
 wheels the living creatures, that when the living creatures go, the wheels 
 shall go, and when the living creatures stand they shall stand, and when the 
 living creatures are lifted up from the earth, the wheels shall be lifted up 
 against them, for the spirit of the living creatures shall be in the wheels, 
 Ezek. 1 : 21. My meaning is, that my saints shall not have their stability 
 from themselves, for they are like wheels, but they shall have it from me, 
 and from my Son, unto whom, by the same Spirit of life, they shall be 
 united.” Thus may I imagine the Lord from all eternity to say, and speak, 
 and purpose with himself ; and surely his purposes must stand upon this 
 account, “ For the gifts and calling of God, are without repentance,” 
 Rom. 11 : 29. 
 
 Sect. YIII. The Decree. 
 
 The decree of God concerning man’s salvation before the foundation of 
 the world, appears in these texte, “ I will declare the decree,” (saith God.) 
 What was that? Why, concerning Christ, and concerning the Church, 
 u Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall 
 give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the 
 earth for thy possession,” Psalm 2:7, 8. It was God’s decree to give out 
 of Jews and gentiles a church to Christ; and this decree was made in that 
 day of eternity, when the Son of God was begotten of the Father. This 
 decree in scripture phrase hath several titles, 1. It is the very same with 
 that which we usually term predestination ; for what is predestination but a 
 decree of God concerning the different preparation of grace, whereby some 
 are guided infallibly unto salvation ? Predestination is a decree both of 
 the means and end ; a decree of given grace effectual unto some persons 
 here, and of bringing the same persons unto glory hereafter. This 
 decree, this predestination, this golden chain of the means and end, is set 
 down by the apostle, “Whom he did predestinate them he also called, 
 and whom he called them he also justified, and whom he justified them he 
 also glorified,” Rom. 8 : 30. As God hath predestinated some to life 
 and glory, so he hath predestinated them to be called and justified before 
 they be glorified; whomsoever the Lord hath decreed to save, them hath 
 he also decreed to sanctify before they come to enjoy that salvation. 
 God hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we 
 should be first holy and then happy, Eph. 1 :4. See how these are twisted 
 by the apostle once and again, “God hath from the beginning chosen 
 you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the 
 truth,” 2 Thess. 2:13. I have heard of some blasphemous reasonings, 
 “ If we are predestinated to be saved, we may live as we list, for howso- 
 ever we live, though never so wickedly, yet we shall be saved.” 0 fear- 
 ful ! 0 devilish reasoning ! surely this comes from the devil, and not from 
 God, or his word : mark here one of Satan’s depths : “ In outward things 
 he tempts men to distrust God, and to rely altogether on means : but in 
 heavenly things and matters of salvation he tempts men to lay all on 
 God’s decrees, and God’s purposes, without any regard had to the means,” 
 Gal. 3 : 29. Such men might as well say, The Lord hath appointed that 
 we shall live to such a time, and till then we shall not die, and therefore 
 •what need we food in health, or physic in sickness ? Oh take heed of these 
 
60 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK H. 
 
 reasonings ! God’s decree doth not remove the use of the means, but 
 
 establish and confirm them. 2. This decree, is the same with that book 
 
 of life wherein are written the names of the elect ; Paul tells us of “ some 
 women, with Clement, and other fellow-laborers, whose names are in the 
 book of life,” Phil. 4:3. And Christ bids his disciples “rejoice, because 
 their names are written in heaven,” Luke 10 : 20. And John saw in 
 his vision “the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books 
 were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life,” 
 
 Rev. 20 : 12. As captains have a book wherein they write the names of 
 
 their soldiers, and citizens have a book wherein they record the names of 
 their burgesses : so God hath his decree or book of life, in which he 
 registers all that belong to him. Some other texts speak of a book of life, 
 as, “ Blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written,” said 
 Moses in his zeal for Israel, to whom the Lord answered, “Whosoever 
 sinneth against me, him will I blot out of my book,” Exod. 32 : 32, 33. 
 But this was not the book (say some) of God’s eternal decree, but the book 
 of his providences. God hath a double book, and both in a figure ; he hath 
 a book of his resolved decrees, and a book of his acted providences; this 
 latter is but a transcript or a copy of the former : those huge original 
 volumes of love and blessings which God bath laid up in his heart 
 for his own people from all eternity, is the book I mean ; indeed this book 
 is writing out every day, by the hand and pen of providence in the ordering 
 of all those affairs which concern our salvation. 3. This decree is the very 
 same also with God’s seal; “The foundation of God standeth sure, having 
 this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his,” 2 Tim. 2 : 19. A seal is used 
 in three cases; 1. To keep things distinct. 2. To keep things secret. 3. 
 To keep things safe; in every one of these respects God’s decrees are 
 seals; but especially in the last; those souls that are sealed by God, they 
 are safe in the love and favor of God; as when Job tells us that “God 
 seale th up the stars,” (i. e.) say some, he preserveth the stars in their orbs, 
 in the places where he hath set them they shall never drop out, so God 
 seals up his saints, (i. e.) he secures them of the eternal love of God, so 
 that they shall never drop out of his heart. All these titles speak the im- 
 mutability of God’s eternal emanant acts, q. d. “ I decree, I predestinate, 
 I book it, seal it, that such and such persons shall be eternally saved ; and 
 why all this ! but to note the certainty and stability of the thing. Shall 
 great monarchs of the earth do thus ? Shall they decree, and book, and 
 seal, to show their greatness and wisdom, that they could so resolve as no 
 person or power whatsoever should be strong enough to cause them to 
 change their resolutions ? And shall not I much more ? Bo not I know, 
 or foresee all that can or will follow ? Is there any power, or ever shall 
 be, to take them out of my hands ? Or is it possible that ever I should 
 
 have a relenting thought at the saving of these souls? Can any thing fall 
 
 out hereafter to make me more provident, more powerful, more wise, more 
 merciful, than now I am ? It may be in some things I may will a change, 
 
 but can I in any thing truly change my will ? No, no, “ I am the Lord, I 
 
 change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed,” Malachi, 3 : 6. 
 
 Sect. IX. — The Covenant. 
 
 The covenant concerning man’s salvation is the last and main particular 
 I instanced in : I dare not be too curious to insist on the order of nature, 
 and the rather, because I believe the covenant betwixt God and Christ from 
 everlasting, is interwoven with the decree, foreknowledge, and election 
 above. So the apostle tells us, “ He hath chosen us in Christ before the 
 foundation of the world/’ Eph. 1:4. Mark that, in Christ. There was 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 61 
 
 an eternal plot betwixt the Father and the Son; there was a bargain made 
 (I speak it with reverence) betwixt God and Christ, there was a covenant 
 betwixt the Lord and his Son Jesus Christ, for the salvation of the elect; 
 and of this observe we especially these following texts. 
 
 In Isaiah 49 : 1, 2, 3, 4. The prophet seems to set it dialogue-ways ; one 
 expresseth it thus: First, Christ begins, and shows his commission, telling 
 God how he had called him, and fitted him for the work of redemption, and 
 he would know what reward he should have of him for so great an under- 
 taking. “ The Lord hath called me from the womb, from the bowels of 
 my mother hath he made mention of my name, and he hath made my mouth 
 like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made 
 m-e a polished shaft, in his quiver hath he hid me,” Isa. 49 : 1, 2. Upon 
 this, God answers him, and tells him what reward he should have for so 
 great an undertaking ; only at first he offers, low, viz : only the elect peo- 
 ple of Israel. And he said unto me, “ Thou art my servant, 0 Israel, in 
 whom I will be glorified : Or, Israel it is in whom I will be glorified by 
 thee,” Isa. 49 : 3. Christ who stood now a maAing his bargain with him, 
 thought these too few, and not worth so great a labor and work, because 
 few of the Jews would come in, but would refuse him, and therefore he 
 says, he should labor in vain, if this were all his recompense, “ Then said 
 I, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in 
 vain,” Isa. 49 : 4. And yet withal he tells God, that seeing his heart was 
 so much in saving sinners, he would do it howsoever for these few, com- 
 forting himself with this, that his work or his reward was with the Lord. 
 Upon this God comes off more freely, and opens his heart more largely to 
 him, as meaning more amply to content him for his pains in dying. u It 
 is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes 
 of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel,” Isa. 49 : 6. That is not 
 worth dying for, I value thy sufferings more than so, “ I will also give 
 thee for a light to the gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the 
 ends of the earth.” Methinks 1 imagine as if I heard God speak unto 
 Christ from eternity, “ See, here I have loved a remnant of mankind both 
 of Jews and gentiles, with an everlasting love, I know they will sin and 
 corrupt themselves, and so become enemies to me, and liable unto eternal 
 death ; now thou art a mighty person, able to do what I require of thee 
 for them ; if thou wilt take upon thee their nature and sins, and under- 
 take to satisfy my justice and law, and take away that hatred that is in 
 them towards me and my law, and make them a believing holy people, 
 then I will pardon them, and adopt them in thee for my sons and daughters, 
 and make them co-heirs with thee, of an incorruptible crown of life.” 
 And then said Christ, “ Lo I come, to do thy will, 0 God,” Heb. 10: 7, 9. 
 Then Christ as it were, struck hands with God, to take upon him the 
 nature and sin of man, and to do and suffer for him whatsoever God 
 required of him. Certainly thus was the whole business of our salvation 
 first transacted betwixt God the Father and Christ, before it was revealed 
 to us. Hence we are said to be given unto Christ. “ I have manifested 
 thy name (saith Christ) unto the men which thou gavest me out of the 
 world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me,” John 17 :6. This 
 very giving implies, as if the Father in his eternity should have said to 
 the Son, “ These I take to be vessels of mercy, and these thou shalt bring 
 unto me, for they will destroy themselves, but thou shalt save them out 
 of their lost estate.” And then the Son takes them at his Father’s hand, 
 and looking at his Father’s will, “ This is the Father’s will which hath 
 sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing,” John 
 6 : 39. He thereupon takes care of each, he would not for a world any of 
 
62 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK II. 
 
 them should be lost, which his Father hath given him, they are more dear 
 than so. 
 
 In Isai. 53 : 10, 11, and in Psalm 40 : 6, Christ is brought in as a surety 
 offering himself for us, and readily accepting of God’s will in this very 
 matter : and hence it is that he is called God’s servant, and his ears are said 
 to be opened. 
 
 In Isaiah 42 : 1, 6, this very covenant is expressly mentioned. Thus 
 God speaks of Christ. “ Behold my servant whom i uphold, mine elect 
 in whom my soul delighteth : — I will give thee for a covenant of the people, 
 for a light of the gentiles, ,, Isa. 53 :11. Psalm 40 : 6. Yea, this covenant 
 and agreement seems to be confirmed with an oath, in Heb. 7 : 28. And 
 for this service Christ is required to “ ask of God and he will give him the 
 heathen for his inheritance, ” Psalm 2 : 8. Observe how the church of God 
 is given to Christ, as a reward of that obedience which he showed in accept- 
 ing of the office of a surety for us. This stipulation some make to be that 
 counsel of peace spoken of by the prophet, “ And the counsel of peace shall 
 be betwixt them both,” ^ech. 6 : 13. (t. e.) between the Lord, “ and the 
 man whose name is the Branch,” verse 12. And for this agreement it is 
 that Christ is called the second Adam ; for as with the first Adam God 
 plighted a covenant concerning him and his posterity, so also he did indent 
 with Christ and his seed concerning eternal life to be obtained by him. I 
 deny not but that some promises were made only to Christ in his own per- 
 son, and not to descend to his children, as, “ Sit thou on my right hand 
 until I make thine enemies thy footstool,” Heb. 1 : 13. u And he shall see 
 his seed, he shall prolong his days, the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in 
 his hands,” Isa. 53 : 10. “ And ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen 
 for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy posses- 
 sion,” Psal. 2 : 8. But there are other promises made to him and his ; as 
 that grand promise, “ I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a 
 Son,” Heb. 1 : 5. Jer. 32 : 38. It is first made to him, and then to us ; and 
 that special promise of spiritual grace, John 1 : 16, of justification, Isa. 
 50:8, of victory and dominion, Psalm 110:2, of the kingdom of glory, 
 Luke 24 : 26. They are every one first made to him, and then to us. — 
 The business from eternity lay thus, “ Here is man lost (said God to his 
 Son) but thou shalt in the fulness of time go and be born of flesh and blood, 
 and die for them, and satisfy my justice, and they shall be thine for a por- 
 tion, and they shall be called, the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, Isa, 
 62 : 12. This shalt thou do, (said the Father,) and upon these terms they 
 shall live that believe.” This was God’s covenant with the Son of his love 
 for us ) to whom the Son answered (as it were) again, “ Content, Father, I 
 will go and fulfil thy pleasure, and they shall be mine forever ; I wMl in the 
 fulness of time die for them, and they shall live in me :” Burnt-offerings, 
 and sin-offerings, thou hast not required, (no it was self-offering)., then said 
 I, “ Lo, I come, in the volume of the book, it is written of me, to do thy 
 will, O my God,” Psal. 40 : 6, 7. In what book was it written, that Christ 
 should come to do the will of God ? Not only in the book of the law and 
 the prophets, but also in the book of God’s decrees. In this sense, “ The 
 Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world,” Bev. 13 : 8. His 
 Father from before all time, appointed him to be our high priest, and he 
 from all eternity subscribed to his Father’s pleasure in it. 
 
 In Gal. 3 : 15. “ Brethren, I speak after the manner of men, though it 
 be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulled or add- 
 ed thereto,” verse 16. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises 
 made, He said not, and to seeds as of many : but as of one, and to thy 
 seed, which is Christ. There is a question whether this covenant here 
 mentioned, was made only betwixt God and Christ, or only betwixt God and 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 63 
 
 us, or both betwixt God and Christ, or only betwixt God and us. The occa- 
 sion of this question is in these words, “ Now to Abraham and his seed 
 were the promises made.” He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as 
 of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. 1. Some argue hence, that there 
 is no covenant or promise made to us, but only to Christ, or with Christ, 
 Christ stood for us, and articled with God for us, and performed the 
 conditions for life and glory; so that the promises are made all to him; 
 yet this .indeed is confessed, that because we are Christ’s, and are 
 concerned in the covenant, it is therefore sometimes called a covenant mado 
 with us ; “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with 
 the house of Judah,” Jer. 31:31. Not that the covenant is really 
 made with us, but only with Christ for us, and when we feel ourselves under 
 the power of the promise, we begin then to know, that we are in that same 
 covenant. But this is rather (say they) to feel ourselves in that covenant 
 which God hath made with Christ, than to enter into covenant with God 
 ourselves. 
 
 2. Others argue hence, that there is no covenant or promise made with 
 Christ personal, but only with Christ mystical, such who are members of 
 Christ, and so united to Christ, for mark the text (say they) “ The promise 
 is made first to Abraham, aud then to his seed This seed is such a seed 
 as comes to have a right to the promise in order from Abraham : now this 
 cannot be Christ personal, but Christ mystical. And whereas the text says, 
 u The promise is not made to seeds, but to one seed, which is Christ.” 
 They distinguish of a double seed of Abraham ; first there is a carnal 
 natural seed, according to the flesh, and in this sense Christ speaks to those 
 wicked unbelieving Jews which went about to kill him. “I know ye are 
 Abraham’s seed, but ye seek to kill me:” John 8:37. Secondly, There is 
 a spiritual seed, that walk in the faith and steps of Ahraham, “ Know ye 
 therefore, that they which are of faith, the same are the children of 
 Abraham.” And, “ if ye be Christ’s, than are ye Abraham’s seed, and 
 heirs according to the promise. Now, the promise is made to Abraham and 
 his seed, not seeds,” i. e. not to both seeds, both carnal and spiritual; but 
 only to the one, which is the spiritual : and this seed is Christ, i. e. Christ 
 mystical, the body of Christ, the faithful that are knit to Christ by a true 
 and lively faith. 
 
 3. Others argue hence, that this covenant is made both betwixt God 
 and Christ, and betwixt God and us; first, betwixt God and Christ; all the 
 work of redemption and salvation was transacted betwixt God and Christ 
 before the foundation of the world ; but this doth not hinder but that the 
 same promise is afterwards in time made to us also : Look, as it is in cove- 
 nants amongst men, while the child is yet unborn, the father takes convey- 
 ance of an inheritance for his child, which he keeps in his own hand till 
 the child be born and come to years, and then he puts it iuto his own 
 possession; so it is here, we are for a time hid in the womb of God’s elec- 
 tion, till we are brought forth by the grace of regeneration; now during this 
 time we are not in ourselves capable of receiving any promise of life made 
 to us; but it is made to Christ in our behalf, aud he receives the promise 
 from the Father in our stead : but yet so that when we come to be born 
 anew, the promises are made unto ourselves, and then we are put into 
 possession of them. 
 
 Here then is the meaning of the text, “The covenant is made with 
 Christ,” i. e. with Christ and his heirs; principally with Christ, and with 
 Abraham’s nature in Christ, and yet personally with believers, who are 
 also the seed of Abraham. All the difference is in that term Christ, What 
 thereby is meant, whether Christ personal, or Christ mystical, or Christ 
 representative ? Aud we say, — 
 
64 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK II. 
 
 1. Not Christ personal, I mean not Christ’s person singly considered ; 
 for that, 1. Would fight with the scope of Paul, whose bent it is to prove 
 the promise of eternal life to be made to all believers; And that, 2. Would 
 conclude the promise of eternal life to be given only to Christ, and not at 
 all to those that are believers in Christ. 
 
 2. Not Christ mystical, for, 1. The promise is made to Christ, “ In 
 
 whom the covenant is confirmed,” verse 17. 2. “ In whom the nations 
 
 were blessed,” verse 8. 3. “ In whom we receive the promise of the 
 
 Spirit through faith,” verse 14. 4. “Who was made a curse for us,” 
 
 verse 13. Now not any of these can agree to Christ mystical : Christ 
 mystical did not confirm the covenant, nor bless the nations, nor give the 
 Spirit, nor was made a curse. 
 
 3. It is Christ representative, Christ mediator, Christ a public person ; 
 to whom the promises are made, for Christ and his heirs are but all of them 
 one confederate family; and as the covenant of works was made with 
 Adam, and all his ; and there were not two covenants ; so here the cove- 
 nant is made with the second Adam and his children, “ But every man in 
 his own order, Christ the first fruits, and afterwards they that are Christ’s,” 
 1 Cor. 15 : 23. 
 
 I have now propounded the object we are to look unto: it is Jesus in 
 that eternity before all time until the creation ; our next business is to 
 direct us in the art or mystery of grace, how we are to look unto him in 
 this respect. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Sect I. — Of knowing Jesus as carrying on the great Work of our Salva- 
 tion in that Eternity. 
 
 Looking comprehends knowing, considering, desiring, hoping, believing, 
 loving, joying, calling upon Jesus, and conforming to Jesus. If then we 
 will have an inward experimental look upon Jesus, we must act and ex- 
 ercise all these particulars. 
 
 1. We must know Jesus carrying on the great work of our salvation in 
 that eternity before all time. Come, learn what this Jesus is, 1. In his re- 
 lation to God, and so he is God’s Son, eternally begotten before all worlds. 
 See above and learn it thoroughly, who it is that was begotten, for the 
 person, when it was, for the time, how it was, for the manner, and what 
 was the mutual kindness and love of him that begot, and of him that was 
 begotten; O the height and depth of this knowledge! Come, learn what 
 this Jesus is in his relation to us before all worlds; and to that purpose 
 study close that great transaction betwixt God and Christ for our salvation. 
 1. Study that project of God, that he would glorify his grace ; and to this 
 end that he would predestinate Christ, and in Christ he would choose some 
 of the sons of men, and amongst the rest that he would choose thee, whom 
 notwithstanding sin, he will make holy, and without blame before him in 
 love. 2. Study the counsels of God concerning man before all worlds ; 0 
 it was an hard question, how sin should be pardoned, the sinner reconciled, 
 and yet God glorify his justice. None but the wisdom of God could ever 
 find out a way to have had mercy on the man, and yet to take vengeance 
 on the sin ; “ But herein appeared the depth of the riches both of the 
 wisdom and knowledge of God;” he devised a way to translate this man’s 
 sin (suppose thine own sins) on another’s person who was able to bear 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 65 
 
 CHAP, n.] 
 
 them, and to interest this man’s person (suppose thine own self) in 
 another’s righteousness, who was able to cover him. 3. Study the fore- 
 knowledge of God, how the Lord knew his from everlasting with a know- 
 ledge of love and approbation ; after the project was laid, and the counsels 
 of God was agreed upon it, then God foreknew, or foresaw whom to 
 embrace in his eternal love ; and, 0 my soul, if thou art one of his, if God 
 in Christ hath of his own free love set thee apart to life and salvation, then 
 know it for thyself, Job. 5:27. It is inward experimental knowledge we 
 speak of. 4. Study the purpose of God concerning thy salvation ; this 
 purpose of God speaks the stability and certainty of thy salvation in 
 Christ ; his purpose is in, and from himself, who is God and not man, and 
 therefore cannot repent; “hath he said, and shall he not do it? Hath he 
 spoken, and shall he not make it good?” Numb. 23:19. 5. Study the 
 
 decrees of God; they are all one with predestination, the book of life, the 
 seal of God. What, hath the Lord decreed, predestinated, booked, sealed 
 thee for salvation ? “0 how blessed are the people that know the joyful 
 
 sound? They shall walk in the light of thy countenance, 0 Lord,” 
 Psalm 89 : 15. 6. Study the covenant of grace : remember how the 
 business of eternity says thus ; “ Here is every man lost, (said God to his 
 Son), but thou shalt in fulness of time go, and be born of flesh and blood, 
 and die for some of them, and satisfy my justice, and they shall be thine 
 for a portion, and they shall be called the holy people, the redeemed of the 
 Lord.” To whom the Son answered, “ Be it so, Lord, I will go and fulfil 
 thy pleasure, and they shall be mine for ever.” Observe and be acquainted 
 with this covenant in that very dialogue, first, God demands of his Son 
 that he lay down his life, and for his labor he promiseth he shall see his 
 seed, Isa. 53 : 10. And God shall give him many children. And 
 secondly, the Son consents to lay down his life, and saith, “ Here I am to 
 do the will of God, thou hast given me a body,” Heb. 10 : 5, 9. What, 
 0 my soul, that the Father and Christ should transact a bargain from 
 eternity concerning thee ? that there should be any communing betwixt the 
 Father and the Son concerning thy happiness and salvation ? Surely this 
 is worthy thy pains and study; “ 0 hear it, and know thou it for thy good,” 
 Job. 5 : 27. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of considering Jesus in that respect. 
 
 We must consider Jesus carrying on this work of salvation in that 
 eternity ; it is not enough to study and know him, but according to the 
 measure of knowledge we have attained, we must ponder, and muse, and 
 meditate, and consider of him : now, consideration is an expatiating and 
 enlarging of the mind and heart on this or that subject. Consideration is 
 a fixing of our thoughts, a steadfast bending of our minds to some spiritual 
 matter, till it work in the affections and conversation. We may know, and 
 yet be inconsiderate of that we do know, but when the intention of our 
 mind and heart is taken up about some one known object, and other things 
 are not for the present taken notice of, this is consideration. 0 that, if it 
 were possible we could so consider Jesus in this first period of eternity, as 
 that for a while at least we could forget all other things ! Christiaus, I 
 beseech you be dead to the world, be insensible of all other things, and 
 look only to Jesus. It is said that men in a frenzy are insensible of what 
 you do to them, because their minds are taken up about that which they 
 apprehend so strongly; and if ever there was an object made known to 
 take up the mind of a spiritual man, it is this, even this : not, but that 
 other objects may be deeply and seriously minded of men; it is reported 
 of one Archimedes, who was a great mathematician, that when the city 
 5 
 
66 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK n. 
 
 was taken wherein he was, and the warlike instruments of death clattering 
 about his ears, and all was in a tumult, yet he was so busy about drawing 
 his lines, that he heard no noise, nor did he know that there was any 
 danger; but if such objects as those could take up the intentions of his 
 mind, so as not to regard other things, how much more should this consi- 
 deration of Christ : If a carnal heart, a man that minds earthly things, be 
 so taken up about them, because they are an object suitable to him ; how 
 much more should a gracious heart, that can see into the reality of these 
 things of God and Christ from everlasting, be so taken up with them as to 
 mind nothing else : Come then, 0 my soul, and set thy consideration on 
 work, as thus : 
 
 1. Consider Jesus in his relation to God, how he was the eternal Son 
 of the Father : I know in some respects we have little reason thus to look 
 on Jesus. As we are sinners, and fallen from God, there is no looking on 
 an absolute Deity; alas, that majesty (because perfectly and essentially 
 good) is no other than an enemy to sinners as sinners ; so as we are 
 sinners, and fallen from God, there is no looking on the Son of God : I 
 mean on the Son of God, considered in the notion of his own eternal being, 
 as co-equal, and co-essential to God the Father : alas ! our sin hath offended 
 his justice, which is himself: and what have we to do with that dreadful 
 power, which we have provoked ? But considering Jesus as Jesus, which 
 sounds a Saviour to all sinners, believing on him ; and that this Jesus con- 
 tains the two natures of Christ, both the Godhead and manhood: now we 
 that have our interests in him, may draw near, and (as we are capable) 
 behold the brightness of his glory, Heb. 1 : 3. to this purpose the scriptures 
 have discovered to us God the Son, how he is the second person in the 
 Trinity, having the foundation of personal subsistence from the Father alone, 
 of whom by communication of his essence he is begotten from all eternity; 
 “ When there were no depths I was brought forth, before the mountains 
 were settled, and before the hills I was brought forth,” Prov. 8 : 24, 25. 
 Ante eolles genercita eram. “ Before the mountains I was begotten,” as 
 some: or, Ante colles jUiata eram , “ Before the mountains I was soned his 
 son,” as others translate it. Why thus, 0 my soul, consider Jesus the 
 Son of God, but in this consideration be not too curious, thou hearest of the 
 generation of the Son, and of the procession of the Holy Ghost, but for the 
 manner how the Father begets the Son, or how the Father and Son do 
 aspire, and send forth the holy Spirit, be not too busy to inquire; thou 
 mayest know a little, and consider a little, but for the depth and main of 
 this great mystery of grace, let the generation of the Son of God be 
 honored with silence. I remember one being too curious, and too inquisi- 
 tive, “What God was doing on that long evum of eternity before he made 
 the world?” It was answered, “He decreed to make hell for such curious 
 inquisitors.” Aug. lib. 1. Confess, ch 12. Be not therefore too nice in 
 this consideration, keep within bounds of sobriety and humility ; and then 
 as thou art able not to he curious to comprehend, the scriptures will discover, 
 that before God made the world in that long, long evum of eternity, he 
 was doing these things.: 
 
 1. Some things in relation to himself. 
 
 2. Some things in relation to his creatures. 
 
 1. Some things in relation to himself; and those things were either proper 
 or common to the three persons. 1. The things proper to each of the 
 persons were those internal, incommunicable actions of God, as, 1. To 
 beget; and that belongs only to the Father, who is neither made nor 
 created, nor begotten of any. 2. To be begotten : and that belongs only to 
 the Son, wno is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten. 
 
 3. To proceed from both; and that belongs only to the Holy Ghost, who is 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 67 
 
 of the Father, and the Son, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but 
 proceeding. And these were God’s actions in that eternity before all 
 worlds; the Father was begetting God the Son: the Son was begotten of 
 God the Father ; the Holy Ghost was proceeding from God the Father and 
 God the Son. But what, were these actions of God ever in action during 
 all that eternity ? Yes, as they are called internal actions, so they are per- 
 manent : look, as the sun doth always beget his beams, and both sun and 
 beams do send forth the heats : so the Father from all eternity ever did, 
 and now doth, and ever will beget his Son, and both the Father and the 
 Son ever did, and now do, and ever will aspire and breathe forth the Holy 
 Ghost. And therefore (Orig. horn. B. in Jerom.) saith well, “ Our Jesus 
 is the brightness of God’s glory; now the brightness of glory is not once 
 begotten, and then afterwards leaves to be begotten ; but as often as 
 the glory riseth from whence the brightness springeth, so often doth 
 the brightness of glory arise,” Heb. 1:3. “ Before the hills, was I 
 
 brought forth,” Prov. 8:25. Some translate thus, Ante colies generat, 
 and not as others, u generavit me, Before the mountains were settled he 
 begetteth me.” Surely the Son of God is ever begetting, and the holy 
 Spirit ever proceeding. 
 
 2. The things common to the three persons in that eternity, were those 
 internal actions of God wherein the three persons did communicate; as 1. 
 That one was in another, and possessed one another; the Father remaining 
 with the Son, the Son with the Father, and the Holy Ghost in, and with 
 them both ; thus we read of Christ, The Lord possessed me in the be- 
 ginning of his way, before his works of old, Prov. 8 : 22. And, “ In the 
 beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,” John 1 : 1. And 
 “I am in the Father, and the Father in me,” John 14 : 10. 2. That one 
 
 glorified another; the Father glorified the Son, and the Son glorified the 
 Father, and the Holy Ghost glorified both the Father and Son ; “ And 
 now, 0 Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which 
 I had with thee before the world was,” Johu 17 : 5. 3. That one delighted 
 
 in another, The Father delighted in the Son, the Son delighted in the 
 Father, and the Holy Ghost delighted in them both : “ Then I was by 
 him, as one brought up with him, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing 
 always before him,” Prov. 8:30. “I was daily his delight,” in the 
 original, delights, intimating, That the Son was variety of delights unto 
 his Father; rejoicing always before him. Christ speaks in terms very 
 quaint and familiar, always rejoicing, q. d. greatly sporting; it is a 
 metaphor or simile taken from little ones, which sport and play before 
 their parents. 0 see how the Father and Son rejoice in one another’s 
 fellowship : nay, see how they spend that long eternity before the crea- 
 tion, in nothing but rejoicing and delights : the Father delights in his 
 Son, and the Son rejoiceth in his Father. Consider, 0 my soul, thou 
 hast sometimes had a tickling to know, what God was doing before the 
 creation. Why, now be sober, and satisfied with this knowledge, God 
 spent all that time (if I may call it time) in delighting himself iu Jesus : 
 why, this was God’s w<rk to delight in his Son, and he so delighted in him, 
 that he desired no other pleasure than the compauy, and beholding of him; 
 which accordingly he twice told from heaven, whilst Christ was on earth, 
 saying, <k This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” The first 
 sound was at his baptism, Mat. 3 : 17. aud the second at his transfiguration, 
 Mat. 17 : 5. 
 
 2. Some other things God was doing in relation to his creatures; they 
 will fall in at our next consideration ; only this by the way, as God and 
 Christ rejoiced in the fruition of one another, without communicating the 
 notice thereof to any creature ; so in the next verse we find them rejoicing 
 
68 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [book n. 
 
 in the salvation of men ; u and my delights were with the sons of men,” 
 Prov. 8 : 31. Amidst thy other considerations, 0 my soul think of this ; 
 what ? That God from all eternity should delight in thy salvation. Why ! 
 this consideration sets out to purpose the heart and desire of God to save 
 thy soul. For, 1. Delights arise out of the strongest and choicest desires; 
 men are pleased with many things in which they delight not. 2. God and 
 Christ are mentioned here to delight in this work, and in no other work 
 of theirs, not in angels, not in the world, nor in any thing in it. 3. This 
 their delight is mentioned next to their delighting in each other. 4. This 
 delight was aforehand, whilst God’s heart was only in the expectation, and 
 his mind but laying the plot of thy salvation ; all these argue how great a 
 matter this was in God’s esteem, and how much his heart was in it, even 
 from everlasting. 0 let all these fall into thy consideration ! 
 
 2. Consider Jesus merely in his relation to us : consider him in that great 
 transaction betwixt God and him for our salvation : and that we may settle 
 our thoughts, and dwell here, — 
 
 1. Consider the project. The great God having entertained thoughts 
 within himself, to communicate himself out of his aloneness everlasting, he 
 lays this plot, that all he would do in that respect, it should be u to the 
 praise of the glory of his grace ” Eph. 1:6. 0 my soul, consider, meditate 
 and muse on this plot of the Almighty ; it is contained by the apostle in a 
 very few words, do thou weigh them all ; here is, 1. The Praise. 2. The 
 glory. 3. Of his grace. 1. Praise is a setting forth of this or that by 
 word or deed, or gesture; it contains in it a reverent respect, an high 
 esteem, a strong admiration. 2. Glory is the glorious being, or essence of 
 God, the glory of God in himself : sometimes we read of the “ glory of his 
 power,” 2 Thess. 1 : 9. that is, his glorious essence, which is most powerful ; 
 and sometimes of the “ glory of his majesty,” Isa. 2:21. that is, his 
 glorious essence, which is most majestical ; and sometimes of the “ glory of 
 his grace,” Eph. 1 : 6. that is, his glorious essence, which is most gracious 
 and merciful. But, 3. Why the glory of his grace ? Mercy and grace meet 
 both in love, only they differ thus, mercy is love as it helps the miserable, 
 and grace is love as it gives good things freely without desert : here then is 
 the great design, which God from everlasting carried on, that the glorious 
 essence of his free love, free grace should be especially manifested to his 
 saints, that so they might admire it, esteem it, honor it, and sound forth the 
 praise of it. All the other designs of God were but subservient unto this. 
 Some reckon up three great designs of the Almighty in communicating him- 
 self: as, 1. The glory of his saints. 2. The glory of Christ. 3. The glory 
 of himself, and especially the glory of his grace. 1. That the saints should 
 be glorious, and to that purpose he made heaven and earth, and he makes 
 them lord of all, u All things are yours,” 1 Cor. 3 : 2 1, 23. 2. That Christ 
 should be glorious, and to that purpose he makes the saints, and gives them 
 to Christ, “ All things are yours, and you are Christ’s.” And certainly, 
 saith the apostle, at the last day, 2 Thess. 1 : 10. w Christ shall come to 
 be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.” 3. 
 That God himself should be glorified : “ he made all things for himself,” — 
 Prov. 16:4. u Bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends 
 of the earth, even every one that is called by my name, for I have created 
 him for my glory,” Isa. 43 : 6, 7. Now this is the high design of God, to 
 which all the rest are subservient : mark the steps, u All things are yours, 
 and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s,” i. e. For God, and for his 
 glory : the two former designs are to which, but not for which God work- 
 eth : he that buildeth an house, that he may lay a sure foundation, and that 
 he may raise the frame, he gives it the due filling which belongs to it; but 
 these are not his proper ends, his main design ; but that he may have an 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 69 
 
 house for his habitation : so God works many things to our glory and that 
 in us Christ may be glorious ; but the proper end, that high design which 
 he hath in all, it is his own glory. And yet, 0 my soul, consider a little 
 further, the plot of our salvation, of the saints’ glory, and of Christ’s 
 glory, as it aims at the glory of God, so especially at the glory of his grace : 
 as if we see that one do this, or that in wisdom, it is the glory of his wis- 
 dom : if he do it in strength or power, it is the glory of his power : if he do 
 it out of grace, it is to the glory of his grace ; so God designing the salva- 
 tion of our souls out of his mere grace, favor, love, he must needs intend to 
 have his grace notified in us, and to have it (being known) accordingly 
 admired, and praised and honored by us; not but that God must be 
 glorified in his wisdom, power, justice, holiness, and his other attributes; 
 ay, but especially in this, it is the grace of God in which he most 
 delighteth ; even as virtuous kings affect, above all their other virtues, to be 
 had in honor for their clemency and bounty : so it is with our God, the 
 King of kings, and Lord of lords ; all he doeth is to this end, that his grace 
 may be manifested to his greater glory. And to this end is the glory of 
 Christ, and the glory of Christians referred. Why, Lord, that this should 
 be thy plot, To save my soul, that my soul should praise the glory of thy 
 grace ? That thy grace should before all worlds think on me for good ? Oh 
 how should I but think on thee, and thy free grace ! how should I but 
 admire it, adore it, praise it, exalt it above sun, moon and stars ! how should 
 I but cry out with the apostle, “ Oh the depth of the riches of thy grace ! 
 for of him, and through him, and to him are all things, to whom be glory 
 for ever, Amen.” Rom. 11 :36. 
 
 2. Consider the counsels of God about thy salvation ; “ he worketh all 
 things after the counsel of his own will,” Eph. 1 : 11. And with him is 
 counsel, and with him is understanding. This counsel (as we have dis- 
 covered) was primarily about that reconciliation of the riches of his grace, 
 and the glory of his justice. Consider this, 0 my soul, thy sin put all the 
 attributes of God to a kind of conflict; hereupon was that great and mighty 
 counsel, how God should make way for his love and goodness, and yet 
 satisfy his truth, and justice ! at last the wisdom of God found out that 
 glorious and wonderful expedient, the Lord Jesus Christ: is not this the 
 meaning of the apostle? “ Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation 
 through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission 
 of sins.” Rom. 3:25. Ponder and weigh these words; God sets not 
 forth Christ to be a propitiation to declare only his mercy in the for- 
 giveness of sins : How ! is there any thing but mercy in the forgiveness 
 of sins ? Yes, there is something else, there is righteousness also : and 
 therefore he hath set forth Christ to be a propitiation, that he might 
 “declare his righteousness;” nay, see it repeated, verse 26. “To declare, 
 I say, his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him 
 which believeth in Jesus:” not that he might be merciful, but that he 
 might be just in justifying him that believeth in Jesus. This text Luther 
 had a great deal ado to understand ; and he prayed much before he could 
 get the right meaning of it. 
 
 This is the great mystery of the gospel ; no wonder if a poor man could 
 not reach it: this is that which set the infinite wisdom of God on work 
 from all eternity, how to find a way to save sinners, and to be infinitely 
 righteous notwithstanding. — Nay, yet, 0 my soul, consider a little further : 
 not only is the mercy of God in this way glorified, but the glory of his 
 justice is as much, yea, more than if the sinner were eternally damned: — 
 It is made good thus, — 
 
 1. \Y hen God appointed a surety, his Son ; and charged our debts upon 
 him to satisfy his justice; in that God would not spare his Son the least 
 
70 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK II. 
 
 farthing, token, I mean not the least degree of punishment ; hereby the 
 Lord shows a stronger love to justice, than if he had damned ten thousand 
 thousand creatures. Suppose a malefactor comes before a judge, the judge 
 will not spare the malefactor, but commands satisfaction to the law; this 
 shows that the judge loves justice, but if the judge’s own son be a delin- 
 quent, and it appears before all the country that the judge will not spare 
 him ; the judge now doth more honor justice in this than in condemning a 
 thousand others; so when the Lord shall cast many thousands into hell, 
 there to be tormented for ever, and ever, and ever, this shows that God 
 loves justice, but when his own Son shall take our sins upon him, and God 
 will not spare him; (that is the very word in scripture, “ He spared not 
 his own Son,” Rom. 8 :32.) this, surely this declares God’s love to right- 
 eousness more than if all the world would be damned. 
 
 2. Suppose the sinner that is reconciled had been damned, then the 
 justice of God bad been but in satisfying, and never had been fully satis- 
 fied : but in that way that God hath found out to save a sinner, his justice 
 is not only satisfying, but it comes fully to be satisfied, to have enough. 
 As, for instance, suppose a man to be a creditor to one, who owes him 
 100,000?. This man is poor, and the utmost he can pay is but a penny a 
 day; suppose the creditor should lay him in the jail until he had paid the 
 uttermost farthing, it is true he would be receiving day after day, but he 
 would never be paid so long as the debtor lives ; now if another rich man 
 should come and lay down 100,000?. at once, the creditor is presently 
 satisfied. Why here is the difference betwixt God satisfying his justice 
 upon sinners and upon Jesus Christ; God comes upon the sinner and re- 
 quires the debt of punishment, because he did not pay the debt of obedi- 
 ence : God casts him into prison and the utmost he can pay is but (as it 
 were) a penny a day ; and hence the poor sinner must still be paying, and 
 paying, to eternity : this is the ground of their eternal punishment in hell, 
 because in any finite time they can never pay enough : but now comes 
 Jesus Christ and he fully pays the debt at once, so that justice saith, “ I 
 have enough, I am satisfied:” surely this is the greater glory to the very 
 justice of God. 
 
 These were the counsels of God from all eternity, how he should make 
 way for his love and goodness, and yet satisfy his truth and justice. O my 
 soul, consider and wonder ! Jesus Christ was the expedient, and in Christ 
 not only God’s mercy, but his justice is exalted, yea, more exalted and 
 more glorified in that salvation than ever it could have been in thy 
 damnation. 
 
 3. Consider the foreknowledge of God; he knew from everlasting whom 
 he would set apart for life and salvation. All the saints of God from first 
 to last, they were then present to him, and before him, and he did look ou 
 them in his beloved Christ. Before there was a world, or a man, or any 
 creature in it, he foreknew Adam, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob and 
 all the patriarchs, and all the prophets, and all the apostles, and all the 
 disciples of Christ, and believers in Christ : And, O my soul, if thou art 
 one of God’s elect, he foreknew thee with a knowledge of love and appro- 
 bation : He had thee in his eye and heart : He had thoughts on Jacob, 
 when he was “yet unborn, and had done neither good nor evil,” Rom. 
 9:11. Assure thyself the Lord works not without provision or foreknow- 
 ledge of the things effected; that cannot be in God, which is not to be 
 found in a wise and prudent man : He that builds a house hath the frame 
 of it first in himself: and the Psalmist tells thee, That “the eyes of the 
 Lord did see thy substance, yet being unperfect,” Psal. 139 : 16. In this 
 hook of knowledge were all thy members written when as yet there was none 
 of them : Yea, he knew thee with a knowledge of singular love, he 
 
CHAP. IT.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 71 
 
 embraced thee in his eternal love; as it is written, “ Jacob have I loved, 
 but Esau have I hated,” Rom. 9 : 13. I will not say that this love was 
 actually bestowed on thee till due time, yet it was prepared for thee 
 from all eternity : And hence it is called, An everlasting love. “ The 
 Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, I have loved thee with 
 an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee,” 
 Jer. 31:3. 
 
 0 muse, and meditate, and ponder on this love ! it contains in it these 
 particulars, as, 1. The eternal good will of God ; what else is the love of 
 God towards the elect, but his everlasting good will to show them mercy, 
 to do them good, and to save their souls? Hence the angels sung that 
 anthem at Christ’s birth, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth 
 peace, good will towards men,” Luke 2 : 14. 2. The eternal pleasure 
 
 and delight of God in the sons of men, the greatest delight that God hath 
 or ever had, is in communicating himself to his Son first, and next unto 
 his saints : Nay, such delight he takes in letting out his mercy to his 
 saints, as that he was well pleased with the death of his own Son, as a 
 means conducing thereto. 0 wonderful ! one should think the death of 
 Christ would be the most abhorrent to the heart of God of any thing in 
 the world, and yet saith the scripture, “ It pleased the Lord to bruise 
 him,” Isa. 53 : 10. He took a pleasure and delight in the very bruising 
 of Jesus Christ: The Lord saw this was the way for him to communicate 
 himself in the fulness of his grace unto his saints, and therefore though it 
 cost him so dear as the death of his own Son, yet he was well pleased 
 with it. 3. This love of God contains in it a foreknowledge and approba- 
 tion of all those effects of his love, whether they be temporal concerning 
 this life, or eternal concerning the life to come. Concerning these effects 
 of his love, saith John, “Behold what manner of love the Father hath 
 bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God,” 1 John 3 :1. 
 q. d. Behold it, stand amazed at it, that children of wrath should become 
 the children of the most high God : for a beggar on a dunghill, a vagabond, 
 a runagate from God, a prodigal, a stranger to God, whom the Lord had no 
 cause to think on, to be made a son of God Almighty : 0 divine love ! 
 Pause a while, and muse on this, O my soul, that God should foreknow 
 thee from all eternity, with a knowledge of love and approbation, it is admi- 
 rable to consider, I say, it is admirable to consider ! 
 
 4. Consider the purpose of God concerning thy salvation : “ God hath 
 not appointed (or purposed) us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord 
 Jesus Christ,” 1 Thess. 5:9* As when we have a will to do any thing, 
 there follows upon this in the mind a settled purpose to effect it; so when 
 God hath loved some to life, there is in God a settled purpose of bringing 
 them to it : “ That the purpose of God according to election might stand,” 
 Rom. 9 : 11. Or be sure it imports God’s stability, and steadiness, and 
 constancy, and firmness in saving souls. There is much inconstancy and 
 fickleness in the love of man, or in the love of a woman, but the love of 
 God to his people is a steady love. “ As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the 
 bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee,” Isa. 62 : 5. Not only so doth thy 
 God, but “ so shall thy God rejoice over thee.” God’s purposes are without 
 any alteration ; the love of Christ after thousands of years is still as the love 
 of a bridegroom upon the wedding day; indeed then ordinarily love is hot, 
 and appears much ; so is Christ’s love, and so is God’s love ever hot : there 
 is no moment of time from eternity to eternity wherein God rejoiceth not 
 over his saints, as the bridegroom rejoiceth over his bride ; not only as an 
 husband over his wife, but as a bridegroom over his bride, we may say of 
 this purpose of God. “ As it was in the beginning, it is now, and ever 
 shall be, world without end.” 
 
72 LOOKING UNTO JESUS [BOOK II. 
 
 0 my soul, muse and meditate on this purpose of God, and by consequence 
 on the sure mercies of David, Isa. 55 : 3. It may be it is not always alike 
 sure to thee : the love of God, as the shining of the sun, doth not always in 
 the fruits of it shine out so gloriously, but the sun keeps his course in a 
 steady way: What, though it be sometimes clouded? What, though at 
 times it shine not so gloriously as at high noon ? yet the purpose of God 
 according to election must stand. All the devils in hell cannot frustrate 
 God’s purpose concerning only one soul : “ This is the Father’s will which 
 sent me, (saith Christ,) that of all which he hath given me I should lose 
 none,” John 6 : 39. 
 
 5. Consider God’s decree concerning thy soul’s salvation, and the means 
 to it. As the purpose of God, so the decree of God, speaks stability and 
 certainty of the thing decreed. “ The foundation of God standeth sure,” 
 2 Tim. 2 : 19. i. e. The decree of God touching man’s salvation is un- 
 changeable. If the laws of the Medes and Persians were so absolute, that 
 they could not be reversed, then much less can the decrees of God be 
 reversed. No man that is not elected, can be elected ; and no man that is 
 elected, can possibly be damned. a My sheep hear my voice, (saith Christ,) 
 and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall 
 any man pluck them out of my hand,” John 10 : 27, 28. And it must 
 needs be so, for God’s decree is grounded on the eternal and unchangeable 
 will of God ; and hence we say that there is a certain number of the elect 
 known only to God which cannot possibly be increased or diminished. “ I 
 know whom I have chosen.” John 13 : 18, saith Christ. And yet thou 
 canst not, 0 my soul, hence infer that thou mayest be secure, for in this 
 decree the end and the means are joined together of God, and they cannot 
 be separated by any man : if thou beest not godly, never expect to be happy; 
 God’s decree of predestination is as well for the giving of grace, as for the 
 giving of glory. 
 
 6. Consider the covenant struck between God and Christ for thy salva- 
 tion, if thou wouldest fain be acquainted with the very articles of it; go on 
 then, take scripture along, and first on God’s part than mayest observe, and 
 meditate, and consider, of these particulars : 
 
 1. That there was a designation and appointment of Christ from all 
 eternity, to the office of mediatorship : whence Christ is said to be sealed 
 by the Father, “ For him hath God the Father sealed,” John 6 : 27. And 
 chosen of the Father, u Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect, or 
 chosen one,” Isa. 42 :1. 
 
 2. There was a commandment from the Father to the Son, which he 
 must obey, and submit unto. As first, he had a command what to teach his 
 people, as the prophet of the church, “ For I have not spoken of myself, 
 (said Christ,) but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment 
 what I should say and what I should speak,” John 12 : 49. Secondly, he 
 had a commandment to lay down his life for those that were given him, 
 “ No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself : I have power to 
 lay it down, and I have power to take it again ; this commandment have I 
 received of my Father,” John 10 : 18. 
 
 3. There was a promise from the Father to the Son, the Father covenants 
 
 with him in these things ; 1. That he will give him the Spirit in abundance, 
 u Behold my servant whom I uphold ; I have put my Spirit upon him he 
 shall bring forth judgment to the gentiles,” Isa. 42 : 1. “ And the Spirit 
 of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, 
 the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of 
 the Lord,” Isa. 11 : 1, 2. 2. That he will give him assistance and help in 
 
 this great work of redemption. “ I the Lord have called thee in righteous- 
 ness, and will hold thine hand,” Isa. 42 : 6. What is that ? Why, I will 
 
CHAP. IT.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 73 
 
 strengthen thee with my power, I will so hold thy hand that thou shalt not 
 be discouraged in the work ; “ he shall not fail, nor be discouraged, till he 
 have sent judgment upon the ea.rth,” Isa. 42 : 4. 3. That he will give him 
 a blessed success, that he shall not labor in vain. “ He shall see his seed, 
 he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his 
 , hands : He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied,” Isa. 
 53 : 10, 11. Christ’s sufferings were as a woman’s travail, though she suffer 
 many pains and pangs, yet she sees her child at last; so shall Christ see 
 many believing on Ms name : they are the promise made by the Father to 
 the Son, that “ nations that knew him not shall run unto him,” Isa 55 : 5. 
 4. That he shall give him and his redeemed ones everlasting glory : to 
 Christ himself there is a promise of glory, “ he hath glorified thee.” 
 And to the members of Christ there is a promise of glory, and this promise 
 of glory to them was made known to Christ from everlasting : it was one 
 of the secrets of God, and Christ brings out that secret from the bosom 
 of his Father, and reveals it to his disciples. ‘‘It is my Father’s 
 pleasure (said he) to give you the kingdom,” Luke 12 : 32. Christ knew 
 his Father’s will by the covenant passing betwixt his Father and him, 
 and this will of the Father concerning glory promised to the saints, 
 Christ doth bring forth to light. These were the articles of the covenant 
 on God’s part; now, 0 my soul, see them on Christ’s part in these 
 particulars. 
 
 1. There was an acceptation of the office, to which he was designed by 
 the Father; he did not take the office of mediatorship upon himself, but 
 first the Father calls him to it, and then the Son accepts it; “Christ glori- 
 fied not himself to be made an high priest, but he that said unto him, thou 
 art my Son, to-day have I begotten thee,” he called him, and then the Son 
 answered, Lo, I come, Heb, 5 : 5, and 1 : 10, 7. 
 
 2. There was a promise on Christ’s part to depend and trust upon God 
 for help, “and again, I will put my trust in him,” Heb. 2 : 13. They are 
 the words of Christ to his Father. And Isaiah brings in Christ as looking 
 for help from God, “for the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not 
 be confounded. And behold the Lord will help me, who is he that shall 
 condemn me?” Whereto agrees that other passage, “and my God shall 
 be my strength,” Isa. 50 : 7, 8, 9, and 49 : 5. 
 
 3. There was a promise of submission to his Father’s will in bearing the 
 
 reproaches and injuries that should be done to him ; and to lay down his life 
 for those that were given to him by the Father. “ The Lord God opened 
 mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back, I gave my 
 back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, I hid 
 not my face from shame and spitting,” Isa. 50 : 5, 6. “ And therefore my 
 
 Father loves me, because I lay down my life,” John 10:17. Christ first 
 thus covenanted with his Father, and then he was careful to discharge the 
 same, and at last he tells God, “ I have finished the work which thou 
 gavest me to do,” John 17 : 4. 
 
 4. There was an earnest expectation of that glory which the Father pro- 
 mised Christ and his members : “ And now, O Father, glorify thou me with 
 thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world 
 was.” And “ 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 
 17 : 5, 24. These were the articles of the covenant on Christ’s part, and 
 hence it is that God is called “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ,” Eph. 1 :3. viz. by reason of the covenant. 
 
 O my soul, with what delight mayest thou consider, muse, and ponder, 
 on these articles ! what, that God shoujd make a covenant, and enter into 
 
74 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK II. 
 
 these, and these articles with his own Son for thy good, for thy eternal 
 good ! What, that God should bring in the second person in the Trinity 
 to be the Head of the covenant as on thy part ! What a mercy is this ! 0 
 run over and over, this meditation, a thousand and a thousand times ! O 
 consider thy “ hope of eternal life which God, that cannot lie, promised 
 before the world began !” Tit. 1 : 2. If thy soul question what promise 
 was there made before the world began ? To whom was the promise 
 made? Who was there before the world began for God to make any 
 promise to ? Why now hast thou learned it was only to the Son of God, 
 the second person in the Trinity. There was a most blessed trans- 
 action between God the Father and God the Son, before the world 
 began, for thy everlasting good, and upon that transaction depends 
 all thy hope, and all thy salvation. 0 ! this is worthy of thy deep, 
 and sad, and serious, and inmost meditation. I have been particular 
 and large in this passage of looking into, or considering Jesus, but I shall 
 be brief in the rest. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of desiring after Jesus in that respect. 
 
 3. We must desire after Jesus carrying on the great work of our salva- 
 tion in that eternity. It is not enough to know and consider, but we 
 must desire. Now, “ Desire is a passion looking after the attainment of 
 some good which we enjoy not, and which we may imagine to be fitting for 
 us.” In this respect we cannot desire after Jesus, as now to carry on that 
 work of our salvation before the world began, for that work is already per- 
 fectly done; but these things we may desire after. As, 1. After the mani- 
 festation of the work in us. 2, After God and Christ the com plotters and 
 actors of that great work for us. 3. After the full and utmost execution 
 whereby God effectually works in time according to all his workings or 
 decrees before time. 
 
 1. We must desire after the manifestation of this work in us; we have 
 heard of marvellous, excellent, glorious things done by Jesus Christ for his 
 saints from all eternity, and oh ! what desires now should be in us to know 
 that we are of that number? When I hear and consider that there was 
 such a project, and such counsels, and such love, and such a purpose, and 
 such decrees, and such a covenant betwixt God and Chri-st for salvation of 
 souls; and withal, that they are but few in comparison concerning whom 
 God and Christ hath all this care, will not this whet on my desires ? and 
 make me cry, and cry again, “ Oh that these lovers were mine ! how happy 
 were I, if I had a share in these eternal thoughts of God! Methinks we 
 should not hear of such transactions, but it should stir up our hearts in 
 infinite desires; methinks we should pant after assurance, and still be 
 wishing, “ 0 what is truth ! and what is Christ ! and what did Christ for 
 me before I was, or before the world was ! I would I knew him, I would I 
 could enjoy him, I would I were assured that he had one good thought of 
 me in that eternity !” Christians ! if you have any share in those trans- 
 actions, sooner or later you will feel these desires : nay, if my sinful heart 
 deceive me not, u]pon the very consideration of these things, I. feel myself 
 another creature in my desires than I was before. Tell me, you that have 
 taken a full view of God, and Christ, and of all these wonders of eternity, 
 do you not sensibly differ from yourselves in your affections ? Is not the 
 world, worldly pleasures, worldly profits, and worldly honors, fallen too, 
 yea/ ten in an hundred with you ? Have they not lost their price ? Would 
 you not be rather assured that “your names are written in the book of 
 life,” than to have all the world yours, yea, and all the devils in hell subject 
 to your commands ? Certainly, if these revelations work nothing in your 
 
CHAP. IT.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 75 
 
 hearts, if your affections be so strong and hearty to the world, and the 
 vanities of it, if your desires be so impure, and strongly working down- 
 wards, that God’s ancient loves and everlasting workings have no power on 
 your hearts, it is a very sad condition. If David may have his wish, it 
 runs thus, “ Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us,” 
 Psal. 4:6. He would have the manifestation of God’s eternal love; one 
 smile of his countenance (as an image of that countenance which God had 
 towards him before the world began) was more gladness to his heart, than 
 all that which the men of this world had, “in the time that their corn and 
 their wine increased.” 
 
 2. We may and must desire God and Christ, the complotters and actors 
 
 of that great work for us, what hath the gospel revealed this truth, that 
 before the creation God and Christ were busied about our good ? Yea, and 
 hath Christ especially, that came out of the bosom of his Father, and 
 brought the treasures of his Father’s counsel to the world, discovered such 
 loves to men ? How then should our desires be after God and Christ ? 
 11 Whom have I in heaven but thee ? And there is none upon earth that I 
 desire besides thee,” Psalm 73:25. A right beholding of Christ in his 
 eternal workings will cause a desire of Christ above all desires ; the heart 
 now thirsts for nothing but him that is all, all power, all love, all holiness, 
 all happiness. Tell such a soul of the world, gold, and glory : oh what 
 are these? The soul will quickly tell you, the world is dung, and glory is 
 dung, “ all is but loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of 
 Christ Jesus my Lord,” Phil. 3 : 8. Give me God and Christ, saith the 
 soul, or I die ; oh my desires are to him who hath done all this for me. Is 
 not this the period still of thy expression at the end of every discourse, 
 Would Christ were mine? Thou hearest it may be, some worldlings talk, 
 such an one hath got so much in these times : he that was yesterday as 
 poor as Lazarus, he is this day like the nameless rich man, “ clothed in 
 purple, ana fine linen, and faring sumptuously every day,” Luke 16 : 19. 
 Ay, but dost not thou reply either in word or heart, “ Would Christ were 
 mine, and then I had got more than he ?” Poor soul, dost thou not gasp 
 only after Christ, when thou fetchest (as I may say) the very deepest 
 breath ? Canst thou read over the' generation of Jesus the Son of God, the 
 time when he was begotten, the manner of his begetting, the mutual kind- 
 ness and love of him that begets, and of him that is begotten ; and dost 
 thou not pant, and breathe, and gasp after Jesus at every period ? Canst 
 thou read over Jesus, his acts and decree in reference to thyself, canst 
 thou turn over those many leaves, in every of which is discovered those 
 everlasting loves of God in bis projects, counsels, foreknowledge, purpose, 
 decree, and covenant for thy soul’s happiness, and art thou not ready 
 at every discovery to sing David’s psalm, “As the hart panteth after 
 the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, 0 God. My soul 
 thirsteth for God, for the living God, 0 when shall I come and appear 
 before God ?” Psalm 42 : 1, 2. 0 my soul, hadst thou but these 
 
 pantings, thirstings, breathings after God and Christ, thou mightest 
 comfortably conclude, these are the fruits of God’s Spirit, it is the Spirit 
 of the Lord Jesus “which makes these sighs and groans in thee, which 
 cannot be expressed,” Rom. 8:26. He and thee sigh together, one in 
 another, and one after another, 0 therefore look, look unto Jesus, and 
 sigh, and desire after him. 
 
 3. We may and must desire after the full and utmost execution whereby 
 God effectually works in time according to all his workings or decrees 
 before time. God that purposed and decreed from all eternity, he will not 
 have done the full execution of that purpose or decree till that after-eternity, 
 in that world without end. Indeed some part is a fulfilling now, but the 
 
76 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK n. 
 
 main, the great part is yet to come : why then, as we see the plot, let us 
 desire after the full accomplishment, let us desire after that glory without 
 end, to which we were predestinated before the beginning. It was Paul’s 
 “ desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ,” Phil. 1 : 23. As men 
 burdened, so shall we desire and groan after the enjoyment of God in the 
 world to come. O my soul, that thou were but cast into the apostle’s 
 mould, that thy affections were but on the wing, that they might take their 
 flight, and steer their course towards heaven, and thereupon that thou 
 mightest say, Yonder is the glorious house, the goodly building, made 
 without hands, which God from all eternity decreed to be my home, my 
 rest, my dwelling place to all eternity ; and in yonder stately fabric, is 
 many an heavenly inhabitant before I come : there are angels, and there 
 are the souls of saints that from Adam to this day have had their pass out 
 of this sinful world : yea, there is Jesus the Son of God, and there is God 
 the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost; and if I am predesti- 
 nated to this fellowship, Lord, when shall I have run through the means 
 that I may come to this end ? 0 my end ! Where is my end ? Where 
 
 is my Lord, my God, my Comforter ? Where is my rest? Where is my 
 end ? I cannot be at rest without my end, and therefore come, Lord Jesus, 
 come quickly, “ Be like a roe, or a young hart upon the mountains of 
 spices,” Sol. Song, 8 : 14. Christians, why are not your spirits always 
 breathing thus after the glory, to which you are predestinated ? Why do 
 not you long after full enjoyment of the utmost execution of God’s decree ? 
 Why are not your hearts, your souls, your spirits already in heaven ? 
 Surely there be your relations, your Father is there, your elder brother is 
 there, and there are many, I dare say, most of your younger brethren : 
 again, there is your interest, your estate is there, if you believe : and 
 therefore where should your hearts be, but where your treasure is; 
 Come then, come : set in tune those desires of your souls, u Set your affec- 
 tions on things above,” especially on that one thing Jesus Christ : Looking 
 unto Jesus. 
 
 Sect. IY. — Of hoping in Jesus in that respect. 
 
 4. We must hope in Jesus, as carrying on that great work of salvation 
 for us in that eternity. It is not enough to know, and consider, and 
 desire ; but we must hope, and maintain our hopes as to our own interest. 
 Now, hope is a passion whereby we expect probably, or certainly, some 
 future good. All the question is, whether that salvation, concerning 
 which the great transaction was betwixt God and Christ, belongs now to 
 me ? and what are the grounds and foundations on which my hope is built ? 
 I know some exceedingly abuse this doctrine, “ If God had before all 
 worlds appointed me to salvation, why then I may live as I list, I need not 
 hear, or pray, or confer, or perform any holy duty; for I am sure I shall be 
 saved.” And thus at once they take away all grounds of hope. It is true, 
 God’s decrees are unchangeable, but they do not afford any such inferences 
 or deductions as these : you might as well say, The Lord hath appointed 
 me to live such a time, and before that time I shall not, cannot die ; and 
 therefore I need no meat nor drink, nor clothes, nor any other things : ah 
 silly, foolish, devilish arguing ! God’s decree is for the means as well as 
 for the end ; whom God hath decreed to save, them also he hath decreed to 
 call, to justify, to sanctify, before he save : 0 my soul, look to the grounds 
 whereupon thy hope is built : if those be weak, thy hope is weak: but if 
 those be strong, thy hope is strong, thy hope will prove most strong, and 
 certain, and prudent. 
 
 In the disquisition of these grounds, “ Say not in thine heart, who shall 
 ascend iuto heaven ? Or who shall descend into the deep ?”_ Rom. 10 : 6. 
 
chap, ii.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 77 
 
 Seek not. above, or below ; it is not possible for thee to go bodily into 
 heaven to see the records of eternity, and to read thy name in the book of 
 life; but search into these fruits and effects of thy election. As, 
 
 1. If thou beest within God’s decrees for salvation, then sooner, or later, 
 God will cause the power of his word to come with authority, and convic- 
 tion upon thy conscience : “ Knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of 
 God, for our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power,” 
 I Thess. 1 : 4, 5. The apostle speaks thus of others; he might know 
 they were the elected of God, either by his judgment of charity, or by a 
 spirit of discerning, which was vouchsafed to some in the apostles’ times; 
 but how comes he immediately to know this truth ? By this glorious 
 effect, “ Our gospel came not in word only, but also in power.” Oh it is 
 good to consider with what power the word preached falls into thy heart. 
 Both it convince thee ? humble thee, mollify thee, soften thee ? This argues 
 thou belongest to God. The word preached will be more than the word 
 of a man, more than a mere human oration, or verbal declamation. 
 Where it comes in power, it will be like fire in thy bowels; like a two 
 edged sword in the secret places in thy heart, thou wilt cry out, Yerily God 
 is here : oh the power ! the conviction ! the meltings of my soul, that I feel 
 within me ! 
 
 2. If God hath ordained thee to salvation, then, sooner or later, God will 
 effectually call thee. “ Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also 
 called,” Rom. 8:30. This calling is a calling of the soul from sin, from 
 amongst the rest of the world unto Jesus Christ; it is such a call, as 
 enables the soul to follow Christ; as Matthew, being called by Christ. 
 “ He arose and followed Christ.” Matth. 9 : 9. These two are linked 
 together in Paul’s golden chain, predestination and effectual vocation, “ We 
 are bound to give thanks always unto God for you, brethren, beloved of 
 the Lord : and why so ? Because God hath from the beginning chosen 
 you to salvation. — Whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtain- 
 ing of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ,” 2 Thess. 2 : 13, 14. All those 
 that belong to God’s election, are sometime or other effectually called by the 
 word and Spirit of Christ ; and it must needs be so, because, as the 
 Lord hath put a difference betwixt his elect and others, before the world 
 was, and he will make a final difference betwixt them and others, after 
 the end of the world, so he will have them differenced and distinguished 
 whilst they are in this world, by this inward, effectual, operative calling; 
 they are men of other minds, wills, affections, dispositions, conversations ; 
 they are “ called from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto 
 God,” Acts 26 : 18. As the apostle, u Ye were sometime darkness, but 
 now are ye light in the Lord. Be ye not therefore partakers with them,” 
 Eph. 5 : 7, 8. 
 
 3. If thou art chosen for salvation, then sooner or later thou shalt have 
 true soul-saving, justifying faith ; “ As many as were ordained to eternal 
 life believed,” Acts 13:48. When God hath a people to call home to him- 
 self, he either brings them to the means, or the means to them, and those 
 that belong to the election of grace believe. 0 my soul, hast thou this 
 saving faith ? not a fancied faith, dead faith, an easy faith, but saving faith ; 
 such a faith as was wrought in thee by the word and Spirit with power; 
 such a faith as was not iu thy power to give, nor in thy power to receive 
 until God enabled thee by his Spirit; then here is thy ground that thou art 
 ordained to eternal life : “ for whom he calls he justifies, aud we are justi- 
 fied by faith,” Rom. 8 : 30. and 5 : 1. Not that the essence of faith justifies ; 
 but faith justifies instrumentally, in that it lays hold upon that which 
 justifies, even the righteousness of Christ Jesus. 
 
 4. If thou art decreed for salvation, then sooner or later the Lord will 
 
78 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK II. 
 
 beget and increase in thee grace, holiness, sanctification : “ Elect according 
 to the foreknowledge of God the father, through sanctification of the Spirit,” 
 1 Pet. 1 :2.. God predestinates his people unto holiness; “ He chose us 
 in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and 
 without blame before him,” Eph.l : 4. If God appoint thee to eternal life, 
 he doth here in this world appoint thee to an holy, gracious life. No 
 sanctification, no election ; no grace, no glory : thou art to be a precious 
 jewel here, ere God will make thee up at that great day. Observe the chain, 
 Rom. 8 : 29, 30. If I be sanctified with the divine nature, in which glory 
 is begun, then I am justified ; if justified, then I have been called, according 
 to the purpose : if called, then I was predestinate : and if predestinate to 
 means, then was I foreknown, as one whom God would choose to the end, 
 even to unfading and eternal glory. 
 
 5. If thou art appointed and prepared for glory, then God will give thee 
 a thankful heart for so great a mercy ; thou canst no more keep in the 
 heart from overflowing, when thou art sensible of this - everlasting love, than 
 thou canst put bounds to the sea : See Paul praising God for the election 
 of himself and others, “After I heard of your faith, and love, I ceased not 
 to give thanks; and, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places 
 in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of 
 the world,” Eph. 1 : 15, 16. and 1 : 3, 4. And what glorious triumph doth 
 Paul in the person of all the elected make over all kinds of enemies that 
 can be thought of? He challengeth every adversary to put forth his sting, 
 aud why ? Even because God hath elected, and nothing can separate them 
 from this unchangeable love; and this was it that begot his thanksgiving. 
 “ I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord,” Rom. 8 : 33, 39. and 7 : 
 25. 0 my soul, how is thy heart affected with praise and thankfulness in 
 this matter ? He that bestoweth great things, looks for great returns of 
 thanks, especially this being all thou canst do. 
 
 6. If the project, counsel, love purpose, decree, and covenant of God with 
 Christ, concerned thee, and thy soul’s happiness, then God will crown thee 
 with perseverance, and a steadfast countenance in that way of grace thou 
 wast first set in : final apostacy, aud total backslidings from the way of God, 
 can never befall those that are thus chosen : “They went from us because 
 they are not of us,” said the apostle, 1 John 2 : 19. And, “ if it were 
 possible, they should deceive the very elect,” said Christ, Matth. 24 : 24. 
 But it is certainly impossible, and why? “I will put my fear in their hearts 
 that they shall never depart from me,” Jer. 32 : 40. Oh what a blessed 
 mercy is this, when there are so many hours of temptation in the world, so 
 many blustering storms and tempests that are able to raze up the very roots, 
 did not that immortal seed preserve them. Of this sign we are sure, if any 
 of the former belongs to us; but to this we cannot actually seal till the end 
 of our life. 
 
 Come now, are these, 0 my soul, the grounds of thy hopes ? Hath God’s 
 word come with power on thy heart ? Hath the Lord so effectually called 
 thee, that thou hast left all to follow Christ? .Dost thou believe on the 
 Lord Jesus for life aud for salvation? Art thou holy? Is thy life holy? 
 Dost thou walk exactly, as the grace of God which bringeth salvation teaeh- 
 eth ? Canst thou with enlarged thankfulness amplify the love aud grace of 
 God in thy election ? Surely these effects are the very fuel of hope, they 
 are the blessed and clear evidences of thy soul’s election ; and therefore 
 hope well, take strong consolation : it is clear as the sun, that God hath 
 predestinated thee to life, and that thy name is written in the book of life, 
 and that none in heaven, or on earth, or in hell, shall be able to blot it out 
 again. Away, away with all sad, dumpish, dejected thoughts : look unto 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 79 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 Jesus : hope in Christ, That that very salvation, concerning which that 
 great transaction was betwixt God and Christ, belongs even to thee, and 
 that one day thou shalt see it, and enjoy the happiness of it to all eternity. 
 
 Sect. V. — Of believing in Jesus in that respect. 
 
 5. We must believe in Jesus, as carrying on that great work of salva- 
 tion for us in that eternity. It is not enough to know, and consider, and 
 desire, and hope ; but we must believe. Now, this is the nature and pro- 
 perty of faith, to apply all these ancient and future doings and dealings 
 of God to ourselves, as if they were now present. Some difference there 
 is betwixt hope and faith : as hope hath respect to that which the word 
 promiseth, rem verbi\ but faith respects the word itself, verbum rei ; 
 hope eyes chiefly the mercy and goodness of the promise, but faith eyes 
 mainly the authority and truth of the promiser; hope looks upon its object 
 as future, but faith only looks upon the object as present; both make a 
 particular application to themselves, but hope in a waiting for it, and 
 faith in a way of now enjoying it. Hence faith is called, “ the substance 
 of things hoped for,” Heb. 11 : 1. It is the substance, or confidence of 
 things hoped for, as if we had them already in hand : faith gives the soul a 
 present interest in God, in Christ, in all those glorious things in the gos- 
 pel of Christ, even in the things of eternal life. Faith is an appropriating, 
 an applying, an uniting grace. It is a blessed thing to have the sight of 
 God, there is much power in it ; but to see God in his glory as my God : 
 to see all the majesty, greatness, and goodness of God, as those things 
 that my soul have an interest in ; to see how the eternal councils of God 
 wrought for me, to make me happy; why this is of the nature of faith : and 
 herein lies the sweetness of faith : in that we believe not Christ only to be 
 a Saviour, and righteousness, but my Saviour, and my righteousness; and 
 therefore Luther affirmed, that the sweetness of Christianity lay in pro- 
 nouns : when a man can say, “ My Lord, and my God, and my Jesus. I 
 live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for 
 me,” Gal. 2 : 20. 
 
 O my soul ! believe for thyself ; believe, and be confident of it, that those 
 eternal projects, councils, love, purpose, decree, and covenant betwixt God 
 and Christ, were all for thee ; hast thou not a promise ? Nay, was there 
 not a promise before the world began ? and that very promise of eternal 
 life ? Mark the words, “ In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot 
 lie, promised before the world began,” Tit. 1 : 2. Here is a promise, and a 
 promise of eternal life made by God, by God that cannot lie, and that 
 before there was a world, or any man in the world. If thou inquirest, to 
 whom then was this promise made ? Sweet soul, it was made to Christ for 
 thee : many promises thou hast in scripture made more immediately to thy- 
 self : but this was the grand promise, and all the other promises they are 
 but a draught of that grand promise, that God the Father made to his Son 
 before the world began. 
 
 0, cries the soul, I cannot believe. What, is it possible that God in his 
 eternity should have any thought of me? What, of me, “being not yet 
 born, neither having done any good or evil ?” Rom. 9 : 11. What, of 
 me, born in these last times of the world, the least of saiuts, the greatest 
 of sinners, less than the least of all God’s mercies? That of such an one 
 the great God, the majesty of heaven and earth, should have a thought, a 
 project, a counsel, a knowledge of approbation, a purpose, a decree : uay, 
 enter into a covenant with his Son for my salvatiou ? I cannot believe it. 
 Alas! what am I to God? or what need hath God of me? If “all the 
 nations of the earth are to him but as a drop of a bucket, and as the small 
 
80 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK II. 
 
 dust of the balance / ’ Isa. 40 : 15. Oh what a minim am I of that drop ? 
 or what a little little atom am I of that small dust ? And is it probable 
 that the greatness of God, the goodness of G-od, the power of God, the 
 wisdom of G-od, the eternal councils of God, should work for me, to make 
 me glorious, blessed, happy ? to make me one with himself, and one with 
 his Son, and one with his Spirit? What care take I of every dust of the 
 earth or every sand of the sea-shore ? and yet these are my fellow-creatures ; 
 there is a thousand times more disproportion betwixt God and me, and 
 would God take care of me before I was, or before the world was ? What, 
 would he busy himself and his Son about such a worthless, wretched 
 worm? Would he decree Christ to come from the Father for me, to be 
 my Redeemer, my Jesus, my Saviour? I cannot, I dare not, I will not 
 believe. 
 
 0 stay, my soul, and be not faithless, but believing; I will take thy 
 argument in pieces; As, 1. Thou sayest, “ Hath God any thoughts of me?” 
 Yes, saith God, “I know the thoughts that I think towards you, thoughts 
 of peace, and not of evil,” Jer. 29:11. And before the world was, my 
 thoughts and “ my delights were with the sons of men,” Prov. 8: 31. 2. 
 
 Thou sayest, “ I have no thoughts, no care of my fellow creatures as of the 
 dust, or sand, or atoms ?” And what then ? “ My thoughts are not as your 
 thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord ; for as the 
 heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, 
 and my thoughts than your thoughts,” Isa. 54 : 8. What if thou hast no 
 thoughts or care of the smaller creatures*; yet God extends his thoughts, 
 and care, and providence not only to thee, but even to them, “Neither can 
 a sparrow fall to the ground, nor a hair from thy head, nor a leaf from the 
 tree without the providence of our heavenly Father, Matth. 10 : 29, 30. 
 3. Thou sayest, I dare not believe, I am astonished at, confounded in these 
 thoughts of God’s eternal love : It is too high for me, I cannot believe it. 
 I answer, Herein thou sayest something : I know it is an hard thing to 
 believe these great things in reference to thyself: but see now, how God 
 and Christ stoop and condescend to make thee believe : G-od stands much 
 upon this, that the hearts of his saints should confide in him; he accounts 
 not himself honored, except they believe. And therefore mark, 0 my soul, 
 how Christ suits himself to thy weakness; what is it that may beget this 
 faith, this confidence in thy soul ? What is it (saith God) that you poor 
 creatures do one to another, when you would make things sure between 
 yourselves? Why thus, — 
 
 1. We engage ourselves by promise one to another. And so will I, 
 saith God : poor soul, thou hast my promise ; my faithful promise ; 1 have 
 made a promise both to Jews and gentiles, and thou art the one of these 
 two sorts; “The promise is to you, and to your children, and to all that 
 are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call,” Acts 2 : 39. Be 
 only satisfied in that ground of thy hope, that thou art called of God, and 
 then every promise of eternal life is thine, even thine : Thou mayest find a 
 thousand promises scattered here and there in the book of God; and all 
 these promises are a draught of that promise which was made from all 
 eternity, and therefore it is so much the more sure; it is as if Christ 
 should say, “Wilt thou have engagement by promise? This is past long 
 ago ; my Father hath engaged himself to me before the world began ; yea, 
 and I have made many, and many a promise, since the world began. Read 
 in the volume, and thou wilt find here and there a promise, here and there 
 a draught of that first copy of that great promise which my Father made 
 unto me from all eternity.” 
 
 2. When we would make things sure to one another, we write it down; 
 and so will I, saith God, thou hast the scriptures, the holy writ, those sacred 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 81 
 
 volumes of truth and life, and therein thou hast the golden lines of many 
 gracious promises, are they not as the stars in the firmament of the scrip- 
 tures ? Thou hast thy Bible, and in the Bible thou hast many blessed, 
 glorious truths ; but of all the Bible methinks thou shouldest not part with 
 one of those promises; no not for a world. Luther observing the many 
 promises wrote down in scripture, expresseth thus, “ The whole scripture 
 doth especially aim at this, that we should not doubt, but hope, confide, 
 believe that God is merciful, kind, patient, and hath a purpose and delight 
 to save our souls.” 
 
 3. When we would make things sure to one another, we set to our seals. 
 And so will I, saith God ; thou hast my seal, the broad seal of Heaven ; 
 my sacraments, the seals of my covenant ; and thou hast my privy seal also, 
 the seal of my Spirit. “ Grieve not the Holy Spirit, whereby ye are sealed 
 unto the day of redemption,” Eph. 4 :30. 
 
 4. When we would make things sure to one another, we take witnesses. 
 And so will I, saith God, thou shalt have witnesses as many as thou wilt, 
 witnesses of all sorts, witnesses in heaven and witnesses on earth, “For 
 there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the 
 Holy Ghost, and these three are one. And there are three that bear wit- 
 ness on earth, the Spirit, and the Water, and the Blood, and these three 
 agree in one,” 1 John 5:7, 8. 
 
 5. When we would make things sure to one another, we take an oath. 
 And so will I, saith God : “ God willing more abundantly to show unto 
 the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an 
 oath,” Heb. 6 : 17. q. d. There is no such need of an oath ; but I will be 
 abundant to thee, because I would have thee trust me, and confide in me 
 thoroughly; and as I swear, (saith God,) so will I swear the greatest 
 oath that ever was, “I swear by myself,” Heb. 6 : 13. God swears, “ by 
 God : he could swear by no greater, and therefore he sware by himself.” 
 And why thus, but for their sakes who are the heirs of promise ? He 
 knows our frame, and remembers that we are dust ; and therefore to 
 succour our weakness, the Lord is pleased to swear, and to confirm all by 
 his oath. 
 
 6. When we would make things sure to one another, we take a pawn. 
 And I will give thee a pawn, saith God, and such a pawn as, if thou never 
 hadst any thing more, thou shouldest be happy. It is a pawn of my Spirit. 
 “ Who also hath sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit into our 
 hearts,” 2 Cor. 1 : 22. q. d. I will send my Spirit into your hearts ; and 
 this Spirit shall be a pawn, an earnest in your hearts of all the good that I 
 intend to do for you for ever. 
 
 7. When we would make things sure to one another, something it may 
 be is presently done, as an engagement of all that which is to come. And 
 thus will I deal with thee, saith God, who livest in these last of times. 
 Why, thou seest the greatest part of thy salvation already done : I made a 
 promise from all eternity of sending my Son into the world, to be made a 
 curse for sin : yea, and if thou believest, for thy sin; and this is the great- 
 est work of all that is to be done to all eternity. Surely, if I would have 
 failed thee in any thing, it should have been in this; it is not so much for 
 me now to bring thee to heaven, to save thy soul, as it was to send my Son 
 into the world, to be made a curse for sin : but when I have done so great a 
 work, and have been already faithful in that promise, how shouldest thou 
 but believe my faithfulness in making good all other promises? If a mau 
 should owe thee a thousand pounds, and pay thee nine hundred, ninety and 
 nine, thou wouldest think surely, he would never break for the rest. 
 Why God hath paid his nine hundred, ninety and nine; and all the glory 
 of heaven is but as one in comparison of what he hath done : we may 
 
82 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IT. 
 
 therefore well believe that he that hath done so much for us will not leave 
 the little undone. 
 
 Come then, rouse up, 0 my soul, and believe thy interests in those eter- 
 nal transactions betwixt God and Christ: is not here ground enough for thy 
 faith ? If thou art but called, the promise of God is thine : or if thou darest 
 not rely on his promise (which God forbid) thou hast his indenture, his 
 seal, and witnesses of all sorts, both in heaven and earth : or if yet thou 
 believest not, thou hast an oath, a pawn, and the greatest part of thy salva- 
 tion already done to thine hand : nay, I will tell thee more, poor soul, 
 than this; even Christ himself from all eternity hath engaged for thee, 
 that thou shalt believe : 0 then put not Christ to be challenged of his 
 engagement, by refusing the gospel ! surely when thou believest, thou 
 makest Christ’s word good ; He that believeth not, makes God a liar, 
 though in another sense, and, for aught he knoweth, even in this, That he 
 frustrates Christ’s undertaking in the covenant. And therefore believe; 
 yea, and cry, “Lord I believe; help thou my unbelief: increase my faith, 
 till I come to full assurance of faith.” Faith in this sense is the very eye 
 of the soul, reading its name written in the book of life ; it is an apprehen- 
 sion of our particular election. 0 believe, till thou comest up to this fulness 
 of persuasion, of God’s love iu Christ. 
 
 Sect. VI. — Of loving Jesus in that respect. 
 
 6. We must love Jesus, as carrying on that great work of our salvation 
 in that eternity. And this is the fruit, or effect of faith, if once we believe, 
 that all those designs and transactions were for us, even for us; 0 then 
 how should we but love that God, and love that Christ, who thus first and 
 freely loved us ? God loved us before we loved him, for he loved us in that 
 eternity before all worlds; surely then we are bound to love him first and 
 above all things. As the diamond formeth and fashioneth the diamond, so 
 love formeth and fashioneth love, or as fire converteth fuel into fire, so this 
 ancient love of God and Christ may well cause our love again. 0 Christ! 
 didst thou not love us? Who doubts it, that but reads over the project, 
 couusel, foreknowledge, purpose, decree, and covenant of God and Christ? 
 Who doubts it, that but reads the eternal design of God, that Christ should 
 go out of himself, and suffer an ecstasy through the vehemency of his love ? 
 That Christ should so far debase his Majesty, as to die for us, that we 
 might not die but live with him? 0 then, how should this but kindle in 
 our hearts a most ardent love towards God and Christ? What more effec- 
 tual motive to work man’s love than to be prevented by the love and bounty 
 of another ? That this fruit doth spring from the sense of our election, 
 Bernard observes, Epist. 107 : “ Who is righteous, but he that requiteth 
 the love of God with love again ? Which is never done except the Holy 
 Ghost reveal unto a man by faith, God’s eternal purpose concerning his 
 future salvation.” And hence it is that the heart is most in frame, when it 
 is considering the eternal love of God iu Christ : as David said to 
 Jonathan, “ Thou hast been very pleasant to me, thy love to me was 
 wonderful,” 2 Sam. 1 : 26. So a poor soul, gathering up all the goodness 
 of God in that eternity, and feeding upon it, and the variety of it, breathes 
 out in that expression, “ Thou hast been very pleasant to me, 0 God, thy 
 love to me hath been wonderful.” 0 my soul, that thou couldst so live by 
 faith on these eternal passages, as that thou mightest attain to the highest 
 fruits of faith, not only to love God and Christ, but to love them with a 
 burning love, with a mighty love, such a love as lies in the most vigorous 
 prosecution after Jesus Christ, and in the most faithful resignation of thyself 
 to God; such a love as works the most delightful aspect of God and Christ, 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 83 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 as makes a man to behold God and Christ with all cheerfulness ; such a 
 love as works a man to extol the praises of God. 0 in these hinges lies the 
 strength of love. 
 
 But alas ! this is, or at least should be thy grief, That thou canst not love 
 so well, and so warmly as thou art beloved. Christ comes towards thee, 
 11 skipping like the hart, or roe on the mountains of spices,” Cant. 8 : 14. 
 But thy love toward Christ is creeping like the worm in the unwholesome 
 valley. Indeed the best affections have their fits of swooning ; it may be for 
 the present thy love is cold : 0 but come up to this fire; consider how God 
 and Christ loved thee in every one of these. 
 
 1. His project to save thy soul sprung out of his love : love was the first 
 wheel that set all the eternal works of God a going; what was that great 
 design of God, but only an expression of his love ? It was his pleasure to 
 communicate himself, and the rise of that communication was his love. 
 
 2. The counsels of God were all in love. Had not love been as presi- 
 dent of the council, where hadst thou been ? When all the attributes of 
 God were at a stand, it was the love of God in Christ that resolved the 
 question for thy salvation. 
 
 3. The foreknowledge of God was a foreknowledge of love and approba- 
 
 tion : in his eternal love he embraced thee as his own : he foreknew thee, 
 i. e. of his free love he set thee apart to life and salvation ; “ God hath 
 chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world,” Eph. 1 : 4. He 
 chose us in Christ, but not for Christ; nothing at all moved him to elect 
 thee but his own good pleasure and free love. * 
 
 4. The purpose of God was a resolution of love : it speaks of his love to 
 be a constant, settled, abiding love : no unkindness shall alter it : “ For 
 having loved his own, he loves them unto the end,” John 13 : 1. Nay, he 
 loves them without end : from everlasting to everlasting. 
 
 5. The decree of God was an order, (as I may call it,) or an act of love, 
 to give in that grace unto his elect, which before all time he decreed should 
 be an effectual means to bring them unto glory. 
 
 6. The covenant betwixt God and Christ was an agreement of love : God 
 and Christ struck hauds to save our souls ; grace was given in Christ Jesus 
 before the world began, 2 Tim. 1 : 9. Grace was given us, that is, the 
 gracious love and favor of God in Christ was given us before all secular 
 times. This was God’s meaning from everlasting, this was the design, yea, 
 the greatest design that ever God had, to set out the infinite glory, and the 
 riches of his love in Jesus Christ. No question but he had other great 
 designs in doing such great things as he hath done : but above all the 
 designs that ever God had in all his works, this is the chief, to honor his 
 mercy, to glorify the riches of his love and grace : had it not been for this, 
 he would never have made the world; and therefore in that world to come, 
 it will be the delight of God, to show his saints and augels what he is able 
 to do for a creature ; yea, he will to all eternity declare to them, to what an 
 height of excellency and glory, his love and mercy is able to raise poor 
 souls; so that the very saints and augels shall admire and adore, and 
 magnify the name of God everlastingly for it. 
 
 0 my soul, canst thou ponder on this, and not love him dearly, who hath 
 thus loved thee? Come, “stir up the gift that is in thee;” if thou art a 
 Christian, thou hast some sparks, though now (it may be) under the ashes : 
 come rub, chafe and warm thy affections at this fire : love, like a watch, 
 must be wound up, or else it will fail downwards : what doest thou ? “ Why 
 standest thou idle in the heat of the day ?” Christ hath fire in his hand, it 
 is but looking up, and reaching out thy hand to take it from him: 0 take 
 it with both thy hauds and be thankful for it. Prayer, ejaculation, con- 
 
84 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IL 
 
 temptation, judicious observation of tbe Spirit’s season, are the best instru- 
 ments to kindle this fire of love in thee. 
 
 And methinks thy heart should begin now to melt, methinks it should 
 receive more easy impressions from the object before it; methinks these 
 eternal works and acts of God and Christ towards thy poor soul should 
 begin to overcome thee, and to burn thy heart as with coals of juniper, Sol. 
 Song. 6:5. and 8:6. Why, Lord, is it thus? Was I elected from all 
 eternity in Christ? Was I ordained to a glorious inheritance before there 
 was a world? Was this business to make me happy, one of the chief deep 
 councils of God? Was this one of the works of his wisdom that he was ex- 
 ercised about before the world began ? Was this the great design of God 
 in making the world, and in making heaven, that place of glory, to glorify 
 himself, and to glorify such a poor wretch as I am ? 0 then how should 
 
 this but mightily inflame my heart with the love of God, and love of Christ ? 
 How should I choose but say, as the martyr did, “ Oh that I had as many 
 lives, as I have hairs on my head, to lay them down for Christ ?” Ah ! 
 what flames of divine affection, what raptures of zeal, what ravishments of 
 delight, what ecstasies of obedience can be enough for my blessed God and 
 dearest Redeemer ? 
 
 Sect. YII. — Of joying in Jesus in that respect. 
 
 7. We must joy in Jesus, as carrying on that great work of our salva- 
 tion in that eternity. This joy is a passion arising from the sweetness of 
 the object we enjoy. 0 my soul, dost thou believe? And art thou now 
 cast into a pang of love? How then should thy joy come on ? As Christ 
 said to the seventy, “In this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto 
 you, but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven ;” Luke 
 10 : 20. So rejoice not thou in this, that the world is thine, that riches are 
 thine, that thou hast subdued men and devils; but herein rejoice, that thy 
 name is written in the book of life. 0 what a comfortable point is this ! 
 that the Father and Christ should transact a bargain from eternity, con- 
 cerning thee by name, that the Father and the Son should commune 
 together concerning thy heaven, as if their language bad been thus ; 
 “ Father, what shall be given to thy justice to ransom such an one, Abra- 
 ham, Isaac, Jacob, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Mary, Martha, Hannah,” 
 &c. Why no more but this, “Thou shalt die, my Son, and whosoever 
 believeth in thee shall live for ever.” Why then, saith Christ, “ I will 
 engage for such and such an one ; I will enter into bond for such and such 
 a person ; Abraham shall believe in time : see I have wrote down his name 
 in the book of life.” And who art thou that readest ? Art thou a 
 believer ? Dost thou believe in the Lord Jesus Christ ? Christ said the 
 same of thee, and entered into a bond for thee, and entered thy name in 
 the book of life, see the certainty of this in Phil. 4 : 3. Thou Thomas, 
 Andrew, Peter, Christ knows thee by name, and thy name is written in 
 the book of life. 0 go thy way, and rejoice, and take strong consolation ! 
 is there not cause? Why, I tell thee, thy name is in the book of 
 heaven; and, if this may add to thy joy, know there is none in heaven or 
 earth shall ever be able to blot it out again. No, no, poor soul,” “ There 
 is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus,” Rom. 8:1. God 
 hath decreed thy salvation, and God’s decree shall stand, let men and devils 
 say what they will to the contrary, “ The counsel of the Lord standeth for 
 ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations,” Psalm 33 : 11. It is 
 as possible for God to deny himself, as it is possible for thee a believer to 
 perish. “ We are kept (saith the apostle) by the power of God through 
 faith to salvation,” 1 Pet. 1:5. And therefore “rejoice, and again 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 85 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 rejoice : Yea, raise up thy joy to that pitch of triumph, which is joy 
 elevated ; and elevated so high that it comes to victoriousness and magna- 
 nimous conquest of heart over all things. Say with the apostle, “ What, 
 my name is written in the book of life, who shall lay any thing to the 
 charge of God’s elect? — Who then shall separate me from the love of 
 Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or naked- 
 ness, or peril, or sword ? Nay, I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, 
 nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to 
 come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to sepa- 
 rate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus my Lord,” Rom. 
 8 : 33, 35, &c. 
 
 Sect. YIII. — Of calling on Jesus in that respect. 
 
 8. We must call on Jesus, or on God the Father in and through Jesus. 
 
 This also is included in looking; as David while praying, “Unto thee do I 
 lift up mine eyes, 0 thou that dwelleth in the heavens,” Psalm 123:1. 
 Now this calling on God, or looking to God, contains prayer and praise. 1. 
 We must pray that all these transactions betwixt God and Christ may be 
 assuredly ours, and that God would clear up our titles more and more ; yea, 
 and seeing all good things tending to salvation were from all eternity pre- 
 pared for us, we are therefore to pray, that by prayer we may draw them 
 down from heaven; for what though our evidences be clear; yet this must 
 not cast out means : God doth not use to bestow his saving graces on lazy 
 sluggards : those therefore who from the certainty of predestination do pre- 
 tend that the duty of prayer is superfluous, do plainly show that they have 
 no certainty at all. Aquinas, Part. 1. q. art. 8. was orthodox in this, “The 
 predestinate must pray, because by these effects of predestination, the salva- 
 tion of souls is best ascertained.” The same Spirit which witnesseth to our 
 spirit that we are his chosen, is also the Spirit of prayer and supplication ; 
 and therefore he that believes that he is one of God’s elect, he cannot but 
 pray for those things which he believeth that God hath prepared for him 
 before the foundation of the world. — 2. We must praise God. What, that 
 God should look on us, and predestinate us to life ? That he should pass 
 by so many on the right hand, and on the left, and that I should be one 
 whom the Lord did elect? What, such a vile sinful and wretch as I am? 
 Was there ever like love ? Was there ever like mercy ? May not heaven and 
 earth stand amazed at this ? 0 what shall I do to be thankful enough to 
 
 this dear God ? Thus thou that knowest thy interest in Christ, study praise 
 and thankfulness. Say in thyself, Who made me to differ from those cast 
 away souls ? alas ! we were all framed of the same mould, hewed out of the 
 same rock. It is storied of one of the late French kings, that in a serious 
 meditation, considering his own condition of being king and ruler of that 
 nation, “ Oh (said he) when I was born, a thousand other souls were born 
 in this kingdom with me, and what have I done to God more than they ?” 
 0 my soul, what difference betwixt thee and those many thousands of repro- 
 bates that live with thee in the world at this day ? Nothing, surely nothing, 
 but the free mercy, goodness, and love of God in Jesus Christ. 0 then 
 praise this God, yea sound forth “ the praise of the glory of his grace.” 
 Remember that was God’s design, and that is thy duty. 
 
 Sect. IX. — Of conforming to Jesus in that respect. 
 
 9. We must conform to Jesus; we must fix our eyes on Jesus for our 
 imitation ? that also is the meaning of this looking in the text. And, in 
 respect of our predestination the apostle speaks so expressly, “ He did pre- 
 destinate us to be conformed to the image of his Son,” Rom. 8:29. This 
 
86 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK II. 
 
 is one end of predestination, and this is one end of looking unto Jesus, nay 
 it is included in it. A very look on Jesus hath a power in it to conform us 
 to the image of Jesus. “ We are changed by beholding/ ’ saith the apostle, 
 2 Cor. 3:18. Oh when I see God’s love in Christ to me even from all 
 eternity, how should this but stir up my soul to be like Jesus Christ? 
 Where there is a dependence, there is desire to be like, even among men ; 
 how much more considering my dependence on God in Christ should I 
 desire to be like Christ in disposition ! All the question is, What is this 
 image of Christ, to which we must be conformed ? I answer, holiness and 
 happiness : but because the latter is our reward, and the former is our duty, 
 therefore look to that. 
 
 But wherein consists that? I answer, in that resemblance, likeness, and 
 conformity to Christ in all the passages forementioned : and in every of these 
 must we conform to Christ. As, — 
 
 1. Christ is the Son of God; so must we be God’s sons. “ As many as 
 
 received him, to them he gave power to become the sons of God,” John 1 : 
 12. 0 what lies upon us in this respect; “ If I be your Father, where is 
 
 mine honor?” Mai. 1 : 6. And, “if ye call on the Father, pass the time 
 of your sojourning here in fear,” 1 Heb. 1 : 17. God looks for more 
 honor, fear, reverence, duty and obedience from a son than from the rabble 
 of the world : if thou art God’s son, thy sins more offend God than the 
 sins of all the reprobates in the world; why, alas, thy sins are not mere 
 transgressions of the law, but committed against the mercy, bounty, and 
 goodness of God vouchsafed unto thee : thy sins have a world of unthank- 
 fulness joined with them, and therefore how should God but visit? “You 
 only have 1 known of all the families of the earth, therefore will I visit you 
 for all your iniquities.” Amos 3:2. 0 think of this, you that are God’s 
 
 sons, and conform to Christ, for he was an obedient Son. 
 
 2. Christ the Son of God delights in the Father, “ and his delight is also 
 with the sons of men ;” so must we delight in the Father, and delight in 
 his children. “ Delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall give thee the 
 desires of thy heart,” Psalm 37 : 4. And “ the saints that are on the earth 
 are they, in whom is all my delight,” saith David, Psalm 16:3. It is 
 storied of Dr. Taylor, That, being in prison, he could delight in God; and 
 he rejoiced that ever he came into prison, because of his acquaintance with 
 that angel of God, as he called Mr. Bradford. 0 this is heaven upon earth ! 
 not only God, but the very saints of God, are sweet objects of delight. 
 Mark them, and if they be saints indeed, they are savory in their discourse, 
 in their duties, in their carriages; their example is powerful, their society 
 profitable ; how should we but delight in them ? 
 
 3. God and Christ laid this plot from all eternity, That all the world 
 would do, should be “ to the praise of the glory of his grace :” so must we 
 purpose this as the end of all our actions, “Whether we eat or drink, or 
 whatsoever we do, we must do all to the glory of God,” 1 Cor. 10:31. 
 But especially if from God we receive any spiritual good, then give all again 
 to the glory of his grace. “ Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, 
 (saith Daniel 2:20, 23,) for wisdom and might are his; — And I thank 
 thee and praise thee, 0 God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and 
 might.” An excellent spirit of wisdom and might wrought in Daniel, and 
 he acknowledges all to the Giver; “ wisdom and might are his.” Chris- 
 tians, if you feel grace in your hearts, I beseech 3 r ou acknowledge it to 
 Christ. He does all; he subdues lusts, heals wounds, stays inward issues, 
 sets broken bones, and makes them to rejoice; and therefore let him have 
 the glory of all ; do you acknowledge grace in its latitude to the God of all 
 grace. 
 
 4. God and Christ counselled about our salvation • there was a great con- 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 87 
 
 flict in the attributes of God; justice and mercy could not be reconciled, till 
 the wisdom of God found out that glorious and wonderful expedient, “ the 
 Lord Jesus Christ so let us counsel about our salvation : the flesh and the 
 spirit whereof we are qompounded, draw several ways; the flesh draws hell- 
 ward, and the spirit heaven-ward ; come then, call we in heavenly and spiri- 
 tual wisdom to decide this controversy; you may hear its language in Job 
 28 :28. “Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from 
 evil is understanding.’ ’ If we would draw heaven-ward and save our souls? 
 Come then, “ Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, Fear God, 
 and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man,” Eccl. 
 12 : 13. Keep his commandments in an evangelical sense, i. e. look at the 
 expedient, Jesus Christ, who hath kept them for us, and in whom, and 
 through whom, our imperfect obedience is accepted with God. 
 
 5. God and Christ loved us with an everlasting love, so must we love him 
 who hath first loved us; this is the nature of spiritual love, that it runs into 
 its own ocean, “ 0 love the Lord all ye his saints !” Psal. 31 : 23. Who 
 hath more cause to love him than you have ? Who hath been loved so 
 much ? Or who hath so much come under the power of love as you have ? 
 Hath not Christ loved you, not only with a love of well wishing, which is 
 from everlasting, (some call it the love of election, the fountain of love, the 
 well-head of salvation), but also with a love of complacency? Hath not 
 Christ shed abroad his love into your hearts, and shall he lose by it? Will 
 not these cords of love draw up your hearts to love him again ? Sure it is 
 but reason to love him, who hath first loved you, yea, and loved you when 
 you were unlovely, and had nothing in you worthy of love. Christians ! 
 then it was that Christ loved you in rags, it is meet therefore that you 
 should love him in robes. 
 
 6. God and Christ appointed, or purposed us unto salvation ; his love was 
 a sure, and settled, and firm, and constant love, “ The purpose of God ac- 
 cording to election must stand,” Horn. 9:11. So must we love him, and 
 cleave unto him for ever : “ I have inclined my heart to perform thy statutes 
 always even unto the end,” Psalm 119:112. David’s heart was much 
 taken with the statutes of God, and therefore he gives this expression of 
 the fulness of his heart, “always and even to the end.” It is a kind of 
 pleonasm ; his resolutions were such, that he would never depart from his 
 God. 
 
 7. God and Christ decreed, booked and sealed our salvation : And so 
 must we put to our seal that God is true, i. e. we must believe on Christ : 
 for when we believe we make Christ’s word good. He that believes not, 
 makes God a liar (as ye have heard) in that he frustrates, or endeavors to 
 frustrate, Christ’s undertaking in his predestination. 
 
 8. God and Christ entered into covenant concerning our salvation; so 
 must we enter into covenant with him : we must take him to be our God, 
 and give up ourselves to be his people: — Why thus we must in all par- 
 ticulars conform to Christ: The sum of all is this, We must be like Christ 
 in grace, and gracious actings. 
 
 O my soul, see to this grace, see to this conformity to Jesus Christ in 
 gracious actings, and this will enable thee to read thy name written in the 
 book of life. 0 abhor and repel that devil’s dart, “ I am predestinate, and 
 therefore I may live as I list.” How contrary is this, to the apostle? “ He 
 hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should 
 be holy, and without blame before him in love,” Eph. 1 : 4. “And, as the 
 elect of God, but on bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, 
 meekness, long-suffering, forgiving one another, even as Christ forgave 
 you?” Col. 3:12, 13. This conformity to Christ in grace is the very 
 effect of our predestination : 0 look unto Jesus’ and be in grace like unto 
 
88 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK II. 
 
 Jesus : why, Christ is full of grace, a vessel filled up to the lip, or very 
 brim, “Thou art fairer than the children of men, and grace is poured into 
 thy lips,” Psal. 45:2. “Christ was as it were grace speaking,” Luke 
 4 : 22. Grace sighing, weeping, dying, Heb. 2 : 9. Grace living again, 
 and now dropping, or rather raining down floods of grace on his living 
 members, Eph. 4 : 11. Christ is the great apple tree, dropping down 
 apples of life, Sol. Song 2 : 3. And all that falls from this tree, as apples, 
 leaves, shadows, smell, blossoms, are but pieces of grace fallen down from 
 him, who is the fulness of all, and hath filled all things. Christ is the 
 Rose of Sharon, Sol. Song. 2 : 1, and every leaf of this rose is an heaven, 
 every white and red in it is grace and glory, every act of breathing out its 
 smell from everlasting to everlasting, is spotless and unmixed grace : why 
 then, my soul, if thou wilt conform to Christ, conform in this ; “ be holy as 
 he is holy, of that fulness of grace that is in him, do thou receive, even 
 grace for grace,” John 1 : 16. 
 
 Christians ! where are we ? 0 that ever men should hear of so much 
 
 grace, and of such acts of grace in that eternity before all worlds, and yet 
 no impression of grace upon their hearts ! 0 that God and Christ should 
 
 both be in that business of eternity : that heaven, hell, justice, mercy, souls 
 •and deep wisdom should be all in that rare piece, and yet that men should 
 think more of a farm, an ox, a house, a pin, a straw, or the bones of a crazy 
 livelihood ! 0 look up ! look up ! if thou art Christ’s consider what he hath 
 done for thy soul. Why art thou “ predestinate to be conformed to the 
 image of Christ?” 
 
 Thus far we have looked on Jesus, as our Jesus, in that eternity before all 
 time until the creation ; our next work is to look on Jesus, carrying on 
 the great work of man’s salvation in the creation, the beginning of time, 
 until his first coming. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS, 
 
 FROM THE CREATION UNTIL HIS FIRST COMING. 
 
 THE THIRD BOOK. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 * 
 
 The LORD will give thee for a covenant of the People. — Hear, ye deaf, and look, 
 ye blind, that ye may see . — Isaiah 42 : 6, 18. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of Christ promised by decrees. 
 
 In this period, as in the former, we shall first lay down the object, and 
 then direct you how to look upon it. 
 
 The object is Jesus, carrying on the work of man’s salvation ; in that dark 
 time before his coming in the flesh. 
 
 No sooner was the world made, and the things therein, but man was 
 created, that a way might be made for God to show his grace in the salva- 
 tion of his elect. And now was it that God’s eternal project, and counsel, 
 and foreknowledge, and purpose, and decree, and covenant with Christ 
 began to come into execution. 
 
 Indeed at the first moment there was no need of Christ; for man at first 
 was made in holiness to the image of God, and to bear rule over the rest 
 of the visible creatures ; but alas ! this his state was but of little standing : 
 it was the received opinion in former ages, that our first parents fell the 
 very same day they were created. Augustine, amongst the rest, writes 
 that they stood but six hours: but though we cannot determine the 
 certain time, very probable it is, that it was but short : this we find, 
 that after Moses had set down the creation of man, without the inter- 
 position of any thing else, he comes immediately to the fall ; and the 
 devil, no doubt, took the first occasion he possibly could to bring man to 
 the same damnation with himself. Well then, long it was not, but Adam 
 by his sin deprived himself, and all his posterity, of the image of God : as 
 all mankind was in his loins; so, by the order and appointment of God, 
 all mankind partakes with him in the guilt of his sins : hence is the daily 
 and continual cry, not only of Adam, Abraham, David, Paul, but of every 
 saint, “ 0 wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body 
 of this death?” Rom. 7:24. But, sweet souls! stay your complaints, 
 here is gospel news, — 
 
 In this sad hour of temptation God stepped in : he will not leave man 
 without hope; he tells the devil, who began this mischief, “I will put 
 enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, 
 it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel,” Gen. 3 : 15. At 
 the very instant when God was pronouncing judgments upon the 
 several delinquents in the fall ; nay, before judgment was pronounced on 
 
90 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK III. 
 
 the persons tempted, a Jesus is hinted, the covenant of grace is proclaimed. 
 0 the infinite riches of the mercy of God in Christ ! 
 
 But you will say, how comes Jesus in ? how carried he on the great 
 work of our salvation in this dark time ? 
 
 I answer, 1. By assuming and taking upon him the form and shape of a 
 man, and so discharging some special offices in that respect : we read often 
 of Christ’s apparitions, before his incarnation, and then especially when he 
 had to do with this great negotiation of man’s eternal happiness. Some 
 think it not improbable that Christ assumed the form of man when he first 
 created man, and so he made man, not only in his own image which he had 
 as God, in holiness and true righteousness, but in respect of that form 
 which he had assumed. However, this we find, that after man had sinned, 
 Christ then appeared, first to Adam, then to Abraham, then to Isaac, then 
 to Jacob, then to Moses, &c. — First, he appeared to Adam in the garden, 
 “And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden, in the 
 cool of the day,” Gen. 3 : 8. God, as he is God, hath neither voice to 
 speak, nor feet to walk, but assuming the form and shape of a man, he ex- 
 ercised both : and so he was the first that published that first promise to the 
 world, “ It shall bruise thy head.” 2. He appeared to Abraham u in the 
 plain of Mature,” where “ the Lord talked with Abraham,” and Abraham 
 calls him “ the judge of the earth,” which can be ascribed to none but 
 Christ “the judge of quick and -dead,” Gen. 18:1, 3, 25. Some from 
 that saying of Christ, “ Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and 
 he saw it, and was glad,” John 8 : 56, do gather that Abraham saw Christ, 
 not only with the eyes of faith, (as all the rest of the patriarchs and 
 prophets did,) but also in a visible shape which he assumed, like unto that 
 whereunto he was afterwards to be united; and so it was Christ that re- 
 newed the covenant with Abraham, saying, “ I will establish my covenant 
 between me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their generations, for an 
 everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee,” 
 Gen. 17:3-7. He appeared to Isaac, Gen. 26:2, and to Jacob, 
 Gen. 32 : 24, 30. And to Moses, Ex. 3 : 1, 2, 3, and to many others, 
 of which I shall comment in order. And these apparitions of Christ 
 were as praeludiums of his incarnation. But this is not the way I shall 
 insist upon. 
 
 2. Christ carried on the great w r ork of our salvation in that dark time, 
 not by himself exhibited (as when he was incarnate) but only promised. 
 The great King would first have his harbingers to lead the way, before he 
 himself would come in person. As the Lord had observed this method in 
 creating the world, that first he would have darkness, and then light; and 
 as still he observes this method in upholding the world, that first he will 
 have dawning, and then clear day ; so in the framing and upholding of his 
 church, he will first have Christ held forth in ceremonies, rites, figures, 
 types, promises, covenants, and then like a glorious sun, or like “ the day 
 spring from on high, he would visit the world, to give light to them that 
 sit in darkness,” Luke 1 : 78. To this purpose we read, that as Christ, so 
 the covenant of grace, (which applies Christ to us,) was first promised and 
 then promulgated, the covenant of promise was that covenant, which God 
 made with Adam, and Abraham, and Moses, and David, and all Israel in 
 Jesus Christ; to be incarnate, crucified, and raised from the dead; the 
 covenant promulgated, or new covenant, (as the scripture calls it by way 
 of excellency,) is that covenant which God makes with all believers since 
 the coming of Christ, believing in him that is incarnate, crucified, and 
 risen from the dead : and it was meet that the promise should go before the 
 gospel, and be fulfilled in the gospel, that so great a good might earnestly 
 be desired before it was bestowed. In a time of darkness men desire light; 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 91 
 
 as the morning-watch watcheth and longeth for the morning, so the obscure 
 revelation of Christ in a promise, raised the hearts of the patriarchs to an 
 earnest desire of Christ’s coming in the flesh. But in this obscurity we 
 may observe some degrees : before the law given by Moses, the promise was 
 more obscure ; the law being given even to the time of the prophets, the 
 promise was a little more clear; in the time of the prophets even to John 
 the Baptist, it was clearer yet; as the coming of the Messias did approach 
 nearer and nearer, so was the promise clearer and clear still: just as the 
 approach of the sun is near or further off, so is the light that goes before it 
 greater or lesser; in like manner was the revelation that went before Christ 
 more dim or clear as the rising of the Sun of righteousness was more re- 
 mote, or nigh at hand. It was the good pleasure of God to manifest the 
 riches of his grace by degrees, and not all at once ; we see to this very day, 
 that God in his several approaches of mercy and goodness draws nearer and 
 nearer to his church ; even now in this marvellous light of the gospel we 
 have our divine ceremonies and sacraments, we see him afar off, we know 
 him but in part ; but time shall come (even before his second coming) that 
 we or our children shall see him more clearly, perfectly, immediately. My 
 present business is to hold forth Jesus in the covenant of grace as pro- 
 mised, and because the promise receives distinction of degrees according to 
 the several breakings out of it to the dark world, we will consider it as it 
 was manifested, 
 
 1. From Adam till Abraham. 
 
 2. From Abraham till Moses. 
 
 3. From Moses till David. 
 
 4. From David till the Babylonish captivity, or thereabout. 
 
 5. From the captivity, or thereabout till Christ. 
 
 In every of these periods will appear some further and further discoveries 
 of God’s mercy in Christ, of the covenant of grace, of our Jesus carrying on 
 the great work of man’s eternal salvation in that dark time. 
 
 You heard before of the covenant betwixt God and Christ concerning our 
 salvation : but that was not the covenant of grace, which God immediately 
 made with man as fallen ; but a particular covenant with Christ to be the 
 Mediator: or so far as it was a covenant of grace, it was then made 
 betwixt God and Christ, and after to be made betwixt God and us : for a 
 time we were hid in the womb of God’s election, and not being then capable 
 to enter into covenant with God, Christ undertook for us; but yet so that 
 when we come to be regenerate, we are then to strike covenant ourselves. 
 And hence we read expressly of God’s covenanting with sundry particular 
 persons, as with Adam, and Abraham, and Moses, and David, &c. Of 
 which in the next sections. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the covenant of Promise, as manifested to Adam. 
 
 The covenant of grace in this sense is nothing else but a compact 
 made betwixt God and man, touching reconciliation, and life eternally by 
 Christ. Now the first breaking forth of this gracious covenant was to 
 Adam and Eve, immediately after the fall, expressed in these words, “ I 
 will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and 
 her seed, it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel,” Gen. 
 3:15. 
 
 This promise, as it is the first, so the hardest to be understood : it con- 
 tains in it good news of the overthrow of Satan’s kingdom, and of man’s 
 freedom by the death of Christ. But the obscurity is such, that Luther 
 exceedingly complains : The text which of all men should rightly be known, 
 is of no man, that I know (saith he) especially and accurately unfolded • 
 
92 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK m. 
 
 amongst the ancients there is not one that hath explicated this text accord- 
 ing to the dignity of it. 
 
 The occasion was this : the Lord looking down from heaven, and seeing 
 how Satan had prevailed against man, and in some sort undone the whole 
 fabric of the creation, he resolves upon Satan’s ruin, and man’s preserva- 
 tion : “And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done 
 this thou art cursed,” Gen. 3 : 14. This literally is understood of the ser- 
 pent, but spiritually of the devil ; both were as means to draw man unto sin, 
 and therefore they are joined as one in the punishment : “ The Lord cut off 
 the feet of the serpent (say the Rabbis) and cursed him, and he cast 
 Sammael (the devil) and his company out of heaven, and cursed them.” 
 R. Eliezer, C. 14. Indeed man being in the transgression, must also 
 have his punishment, as it follows, verses 17, 18, 19. And yet that 
 God might manifest the riches of his grace, he includes in the serpent’s 
 malediction the everlasting gospel, “ I will put enmity between thee and the 
 woman,” &c. 
 
 For the sense of the words, we shall open these terms, as, 1. Who is the 
 serpent? 2. Who is the woman ? 3. What is the seed of the serpent ? 4. 
 What is the seed of the woman ? 5. What is that HU in our Bible trans- 
 lated IT? 6. What is the serpent’s head, and the bruising of it? 7. What 
 is the heel of the seed of the woman, and the bruising of it ? 8. Among 
 
 whom was the enmity, or rather enmities ? for in the text we find many 
 armies, “ I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy 
 seed and her seed,” &c. 
 
 1. Who is the serpent? I find diversity of opinions among interpreters: 
 some say, it was only the serpent, and that which belongs unto Satan is but 
 mystically understood : others say, it was only Satan under the notion of a 
 serpent, as sometimes he is called the great dragon, “ And the great dragon 
 was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceived 
 the whole world,” Rev. 12 : 9. Others say, it was both Satan and the ser- 
 pent ; as men are said to be possessed of Satan, so is the serpent possessed 
 of the devil. Satan could not provoke our first parents to sin by any inward 
 temptation, as now he doth by the help of our corruption. Nor could he 
 enter into their bodies, or minds, because of the holiness and glory that was 
 in them : and therefore he presumed to take a beast of the earth, and 
 by disposing of his tongue he speaks within him. But what, must the 
 serpent have punishment, that was only Satan’s instrument in the the tempta- 
 tion ? Yes : 
 
 Such was God’s love to man, that he condemns both the author and instru- 
 ment of that evil : as one that in anger breaks the sword wherewith his son, 
 or his friend was wounded ; so God breaks Satan’s sword : the serpent is 
 punished according to the letter of the text, and Satan is punished in the 
 spiritual meaning of the word. 
 
 2. Who is the woman? Some are all for allegories, and they will tell 
 you, that the serpent and the woman are the superior and inferior faculties 
 of the soul, and that ever since the fall there hath been a continual 
 war betwixt these : but I look on this commentary as vain and trifling, 
 though it be fathered on some of the ancients, and of no small note; others 
 say this woman is the blessed virgin, in relation to which they read the 
 last words thus, “ she shall bruise thy head this reading is not only al- 
 lowed, but confirmed by the council of Trent : and in some of their prayer 
 books, the/ call her the mother of the Lord, the tree of life, the breaker 
 of the serpent’s head, and the gate of heaven. Antiphona de Domina 
 nostra secundum usum Eccles. Hildensheim. But I look on this com- 
 mentary as ignorant and idolatrous, and wholly derogatory to the kingdom 
 of Christ. Others are not so easily misled, and therefore say, that the 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 93 
 
 woman wheresoever mentioned in this text, is Eve, and none but Eve ; she 
 it was whom the tempter had seduced, and in just judgment for her famili- 
 arity with the tempter, God meets with her, “I will put enmity (saith 
 God) betwixt thee and the woman.” 
 
 3. What is the seed of the serpent? In scripture phrase, seed is some- 
 times taken collectively, for many at once; as when God said to Abraham, 
 “I will be thy God, and the God of thy seed : and to thee and to thy seed 
 will I give this land ; and I will multiply thy seed as the sand of the sea,” 
 Gen. 17:17, 18. And sometimes it is taken singularly for one only 
 person, thus Eve called her son Seth, “ For God,” said she, “ hath appointed 
 me another seed instead of Abel,” Gen. 4 : 28. And so it is said of Christ, 
 “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,” Gen. 22 : 18. 
 Now, in this place the seed of the serpent is taken collectively, for all the 
 families of devils, for the devil and his angels, (as Christ calls them) and 
 for all the sons of the devil, i. e. for all the reprobate men, whose father 
 and prince is the devil, as Christ told the Jews, “Ye are of your father 
 the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do,” John 8 : 44. And as 
 John tells us, “he that committeth sin is of the devil. In this the 
 children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil,” 1 John 3 : 8, 
 10. And thus both devils and reprobates are reckoned as the seed of the 
 serpent. 
 
 4. What is the seed of the woman. The seed of the woman is that 
 
 posterity of the woman which do not degenerate into the seed of the 
 serpent : This is the meaning of the first sentence. “ I will put enmity :” 
 and then it follows, “ between thy seed and her seed :” and for this sense 
 we have these arguments. 1. The opposition of the seeds; for as the seed 
 of the serpent is taken collectively, so the seed of the woman must be 
 taken collectively, that the opposition may be fit. 2. The enmities fore- 
 spoken do strongly evince it ; now the enmities pertain both to Eve and to 
 all her posterity, if godly, to the end of the world : hence “ all that will live 
 godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution,” saith the apostle, 2 Tim. 
 3 : 12, “ And I will put enmity (saith God) between thee and the 
 
 woman.” Is that all ? No, but also “ between thy seed and her seed :” 
 and who can deny but these enmities have been ever since betwixt Satan's 
 brood and the saints? “We are all wrestlers against principalities, and 
 powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual 
 wickednesses in high places,” Eph. 6 : 12. 
 
 5. What is that HU in our Bibles translated IT, “It shall bruise thy 
 
 head.” Some observe this hu , it, is of the masculine gender, and zera , 
 seed, is of the masculine gender; and jesaphera, shall bruise, is of the 
 masculine gender: which confutes the translation that renders it thus, 
 “She shall bruise thy head,” and which confirms our translation which 
 is thus, he, or it, or that same seed, i. e. one singular person of that same 
 seed, “shall bruise thy head.” Well then, who is this he? or what one is 
 he? even Jesus the Son of the living God. Here is the first hint of Jesus 
 that ever was read or heard of in the world. This was the proto-evangel, 
 or first gospel that ever was published after the creation. 0 blessed news ! 
 fit for God's mouth to speak, and to break first to the world now fallen. 0 
 dear parents ! how would you have despaired, if before sentence you had 
 not heard these blessed tidings ! 0 our first parents upon earth, where had 
 
 you and we been, if this blessed text had not been ! come, set a star upon 
 it, write it in letters of gold, or rather write it on the very tables of our 
 hearts : here is the blessedest news that ever was, or ever shall be : but for 
 this we had all been firebrands of hell ; yea, but for this Adam and Eve, 
 and all their sons and daughters that are now gone out of this world, had 
 been smoking and frying in hell-fire. Away with all gross mistakes, erro- 
 
94 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK III. 
 
 neous conceits, and as you love your souls, yield to this blessed sense ! this 
 it, or he, is one of that same seed, and this one of the same seed is Jesus, 
 and only Jesus, and none but Jesus: and for this sense we have these 
 arguments : 
 
 1. Some observe that this sentence is separated from the former with a 
 period, or great stop; however, God goes on to speak of the seed of the 
 woman, yet he says not, u and that seed shall bruise thy head :” for so we 
 might have thought he had spoken of that seed collectively as he did 
 before : but stopping there, and not repeating that same word again, he 
 gives it thus, “ It, or he shall bruise thy head/' i. e. some individual person 
 of that same seed, some singular one of that same common seed of the 
 woman “ shall bruise thy head,” as David alone of all the host of Israel 
 goes forth to fight with Goliath, and overcomes him : so Christ alone of all 
 the seed of the woman was so to fight with the serpent by his own power as 
 to overcome him, and to bruise his head. 
 
 2. The Seventy in their translations of this place (with which agrees 
 the Chaldee paraphrast) render it (autos) he, which must needs denote 
 some singular person, or son of the woman, and the rather because the 
 seed spoken of before is rendered (to sperma,) to which if the relative had 
 rightly agreed, it should have been (auto) or (tauto) and not (autos). 
 Hereto we may add, that to this it, or he, the seed of the serpent, is not 
 opposed as it was in the former sentence: but the serpent itself; one 
 singular antagonist: here is (siugularis monomachia) a duel, or a combat 
 of two, hand to hand : only Christ and the serpent : “ he shall bruise thy 
 head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” 
 
 8. The bruising of the head doth plainly discover this it, or he, is Jesus 
 Christ : for none can bruise the serpent’s head but only God : “ The God 
 of peace (saith the apostle) shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly,” 
 Rom. 16 : 20. Now there was none of the seed of the woman, that was 
 ever God but only Christ, God-man, Man-God, blessed for ever : and there- 
 fore it must needs be Christ, and only Christ that can bruise this serpent’s 
 head. 0 there is a divine power, a power and virtue of God in it, to bruise 
 the serpent’s head. Observe but the manner of this duel, Christ treads on 
 the serpent; and by this means he comes to have a bruise in the heel, whilst 
 with his heel he bruised the serpent’s head. A wonderful thing that Christ 
 should lay at the serpent’s head with no other weapon, but only with his 
 heel ; it were much for any man to strike at any common serpent 
 with a bare and naked foot ; rather would he take a dart, or club, or any 
 other weapon ; but with a foot to bruise Satan’s head, (that great and 
 fierce, and monstrous serpent) this exceeds any man’s power, or any man’s 
 daring to attempt : hence it is that some one person more than human 
 strength must do this deed, and who is that of the seed of the woman, but 
 only Jesus Christ. 
 
 4. God himself in other places of scripture, doth expressly declare, that 
 this seed here promised is Christ, and only Christ. Mark but where this 
 promise is repeated to the patriarchs, as when the Lord said to Abraham, 
 “ in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,” Gen. 22 : 18. 
 And when the Lord said to David, “ I will raise up thy seed after thee, 
 which shall be of thy sons, and I will establish his kingdom,” 1 Chron. 
 17:11. And you may see it clear that this seed is Christ, and only Christ 
 concerning that promise made to Abraham, the apostle interprets it, “ Now 
 to Abraham, and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to 
 seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ,” Gal. 
 8 : 16. And concerning that promise to David, the prophet interprets it, 
 “ He shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, 
 and to establish it. — Who is that? in the former verse, his name is, Won- 
 
CHAP. I.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 95 
 
 derful Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince 
 of peace,” Isa. 9 : 6, 7. i. e. Christ and none but Christ; “ For unto us a 
 child is born, and unto us a Son is given, ” &c. And who is that but Jesus 
 Christ ? 
 
 5. The accomplishment of this promise in Christ is expressly and clearly 
 
 made out in the New Testament. Was not Jesus Christ of the seed of the 
 woman, born of a virgin ? Was not his heel bruised, himself crucified ? 
 And did he not bruise the serpent’s head, break the power and dominion 
 of Satan ? What saith the gospel, “ For this purpose the Son of God was 
 manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil,” 1 John 3:8. 
 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are 
 subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld 
 Satan as lightning fall from heaven : behold, I give unto you power to tread 
 on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and 
 nothing shall by any means hurt you, Luke 10 : 17, &c. And now is the 
 judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out, 
 John 12 : 31. And “forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and 
 blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through, death he 
 might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil,” Heb. 
 2 : 14. In these and many other places, we find this very promise fulfilled 
 in Christ: and only in Christ: and therefore he, and only he is the seed 
 of the woman (that Hu, it, or he) that shall bruise the serpent’s head. Yet 
 I will not deny, but by way of participation this promise may pertain to the 
 whole body of Christ : “ through him that loved us we are more than con- 
 querors,” saith the apostle, Pom. 8:37. We may conquer Satan, though 
 not in our own strength but Christ’s : and so in a secondary sense, by way 
 of communicating with Christ, under this seed all the faithful are, and may 
 be contained. 1. Because the head and members are all one body, “ Both 
 he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified are all of one,” Heb. 2 : 11. 
 2. Because the faithful are called the seed of Christ, “ When thou shalt 
 make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,” Isa. 53 : 10. 3. 
 
 Because Satan doth not only bruise the heel of Christ, but of all the faith- 
 ful, “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution,” 2 
 Tim. 3 : 12, 4. Because Satan’s overthrow, by Christ our head, is diffused 
 
 to all the members, “ And the God of peace shall bruise Satan uuder your 
 feet shortly,” Pom. 16 : 20. In this sense many of the ancient and modern 
 divines do extend this seed to the whole body of Christ ; but primarily, origi- 
 nally, especially and properly, it belongs only to Christ, and to none but to 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. He only is the seed by whom the promise is accom- 
 plished, though the faithful also are the seed to whom and for whom the 
 promise was made. 
 
 6. What is the serpent’s head, and the bruising of it? 1. For the ser- 
 pent’s head, it is the power, rage, reign and kingdom of Satan : it is 
 observed, that in the head of a serpent, lies the strength, power, and life of 
 a serpent; so by a phrase of speech fitted to the condition of this serpent, 
 that was Satau’s instrument, God tells the devil of the danger of his head, 
 i. e. of his power and kingdom : now, this power and kingdom of Satan con- 
 sists more especially in sin and death, “ for the sting of death is sin,” 1 
 Cor. 15 : 26. And the power of death is in Satan ? Heb. 2 : 14. Hence sin 
 and death are usually called the works and wages of Satan : they are his 
 own, he owns them, and carries them at his girdle. 2. For the bruising 
 of his head, it is the overthrowing of Satan’s power : “ he shall bruise thy 
 head,” i. e. Christ shall break thy power ; Christ shall destroy sin, and 
 death, and “him that had the power of death, that is the devil.” I say, 
 Christ shall do it, though, as I have said, in a secondary sense, the faithful 
 shall do it; Christ overcomes by his own power, and the faithful over- 
 
96 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK III. 
 
 come by the power of Christ ; the victory is common to all the seed ; but 
 the author of the victory is only Christ, the head and chief of all the seed : 
 “ Ye have overcome the evil one,” 1 John. 2 : 13. But how? Not of your- 
 selves, it is “ the God of peace that bruiseth Satan,” Rom. 16 : 20. Well 
 then, here is the sense, the serpent’s head is bruised, i. e. the devil, and 
 sin, and death, and hell are overthrown : not only the devil in his person, 
 but the works of the devil, which by the fall he had planted in our natures, 
 as pride, vain glory, ignorance, lust, &e., not only Satan’s works, but the 
 fruits and effects of his works, as death and hell; so that all the faithful may 
 sing with Paul, “ 0 death, where is thy sting ? 0 grave, where is thy vic- 
 
 tory ? Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord 
 Jesus Christ,” 1 Cor. 15 : 55, 57. 
 
 7. What is the heel of the seed of the woman, and the bruising of it? 1. 
 For the heel, it is the humanity of Christ, according to which Christ pro- 
 perly hath an heel, or (as others) it is the ways of Christ, which Satan by 
 all means he could possibly, would seek to suppress. 2. For the bruising 
 of his heel, it is the miseries, mockings, woundings, death and burial of 
 Christ, all which he endured in his heel, i. e. in his humanity; or it extends 
 further, to all the hurts, reproaches, afflictions, and persecutions of the 
 faithful, by the devil and his agents, all which are but as a bruise in the 
 heel, which cannot endanger the spiritual life of their souls. It is 
 observed, that the serpent hath but one head, but the seed of the woman 
 hath two heels: so that the one may be some help, while the other is hurt: 
 besides an hurt in the heel is far from the head and heart ; and though it 
 may be painful, it is not mortal. Indeed, Christ’s heel was bruised, i. e. 
 he was delivered to death, even the death of the cross ; yet he rose again 
 from the dead ; neither had the devil any advantage by his death, for as 
 angry bees stinging once, make themselves drones, so the devil, now he 
 may hiss at us, but he cannot hurt us; by that wound which Christ 
 received at his death, he wounded all his enemies irrecoverably; the very 
 fight itself was Christ’s triumph; even then was the kingdom of darkness 
 utterly overthrown; sin, death and Satan were conquered, and taken cap- 
 tive, and whatsoever might be brought against us was taken away, as the 
 least bill or scroll. 0 blessed riddle ! “ Out of the eater came forth meat, 
 and out of the strong came forth sweetness,” Judges 14 : 14. In reference 
 to this promise, thou shalt bruise his heel, Christ is said to be “ the Lamb 
 slain from the foundation of the world,” Rev. 13:8. Here is good news 
 betimes. 
 
 8. Amongst whom was the enmity, or this hostile war? We find in the 
 text three hosts, and three battles ; as, — 
 
 1. Betwixt Satan and the woman ; “ I will put enmity between thee and 
 the woman;” i. e. betwixt the seducer and her whom thou hast seduced. 
 This enmity is opposed to the amity and familiarity which had been be- 
 tween the woman and the serpent, and upon that account the woman, and 
 not the man is named ; not but that enmity must be betwixt the devil and 
 the man, as well as betwixt the devil and the woman, but because the wo- 
 man had more tampered with Satan, and being deceived by Satan, was first 
 in the transgression, therefore is she only named, “I will put enmity be- 
 tween thee and the woman.” 
 
 2. Betwixt Satan’s seed and the seed of the woman, “ I will put enmity,” 
 not only between thee and the woman, but also ‘‘between thy seed and her 
 seed.” q. d . This enmity shall not cease with the death of the woman, 
 but it shall contiuue to her seed, and to her seed’s seed, even to the end of 
 the world. We see to this day how the serpent, and serpent’s seed are 
 striving and warring against the church; and a wonder it is (considering 
 the malice of the enemy) that there is a church upon earth, but only that 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 97 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 we have Christ’s promise, “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it 
 and “ Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.” Matth. 16 : 
 18, and 28: 20. 
 
 3. Betwixt Christ and the serpent; 0 this is a bloody conflict on both 
 sides ! “ he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” 
 
 1. “He shall bruise thy head,” Christ shall break thy power, i. e., the 
 power of the serpent, or of the devil himself; he fights not so much with 
 the seed, as with the serpent; if Satan be overthrown, his seed cannot 
 stand. 2. “ Thou shalt bruise his heel ;” thou shalt afflict him and his ; 
 thou shalt cast out of thy mouth a flood of persecutions; “ thou shalt make 
 war with him, and all them which keep the commandments of God, and 
 have the testimony of Jesus Christ,” Bev. 12 : 17. 
 
 I have held you a while in the explication of this first promise, and the 
 rather because of the darkness of it, and the much sweetness that is con- 
 tained in it: it is full of gospel-truths; strike but the flint, and there will 
 fly out these glorious sparkles. 
 
 1. That a Saviour was promised from the beginning of the world. 2. That 
 this Saviour should free all his saints from sin, death and hell, the head, and 
 power of the devil. 3. That to this end this Saviour should be a Mediator, 
 for God would not grant an immediate pardon, but the promised seed must 
 first intervene. 4. That this Mediator should be of the seed of the woman, 
 that is, a man ; and yet stronger than the devil, endued with a divine power, 
 and so he is God. 5. That this Man-God should according to his priestly 
 office be a sacrifice for sin, the serpent shall bruise his heel, he should suffer 
 and die for the people; and yet according to his kingly office he should 
 overcome Satan, for he shall bruise his head, overthrow his kingdom, and 
 make us more than conquerors in him that loved us. 6. That this promise 
 of Christ, and of our justification is free; God of mere mercy, and free 
 grace brings forth this promise ; there could be now after the full no merit 
 in man ; and even now he promiseth remission of sins, and life eternal in, 
 for, and through the Lord Jesus Christ. No question, but in belief of this 
 promise, the patriarchs and fathers of old obtained life, glory, and immor- 
 tality : “ By faith the elders obtained a good report : by faith Abel obtained 
 
 a witness that he was righteous : by faith Enoch was translated that he 
 should not see death : by faith Noah became heir of the righteousness of 
 Christ,” Heb. 11:2, 4, 5, 7. And how should it but revive us in these 
 last times, to hear that the first thing that ever God did after the world was 
 fallen, it was this act of mercy, to make a promise of Christ, and to reconcile 
 lost man to himself through the same Jesus Christ! surely he began to do 
 that soon, which he meant to be always doing, even to the end of the world. 
 Thus far of the promise as it was manifested from Adam to Abraham. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of the Covenant of Promise, as manifested to Abraham. 
 
 The second breaking forth of this gracious covenant was to Abraham, 
 and now it shiues in a more glorious light than it did before; at first it was 
 propounded in very dark and cloudy terms, not easy to be understood, and 
 most things sparingly expressed, but in this second rise and manifestation, 
 we have it laid down in plainer terms, “ I will establish my covenant between 
 me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations, for an everlasting 
 covenant, to be a God to thee, aud to thy seed after thee,” Gen. 17:7. For 
 the right understanding of this, we shall examine these particulars : 
 
 1. What a covenant is. 
 
 2. What is the establishing of this covenant? 
 
 3. Betwixt whom is the covenant to be established ? 
 
 4. For what time is the established covenant to endure? 
 
 7 
 
98 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK III. 
 
 5. What are the privileges of this covenant? 
 
 6. What is the condition of this covenant ? 
 
 7. Who is the head, both as undertaker, and purchaser, and treasurer, 
 upon whom this covenant is established ? 
 
 ] . What is a covenant ? It is a contract of mutual peace and good will, 
 obliging parties on both hands to the performance of mutual benefits and 
 ofiices. Thus was the covenant betwixt God and Abraham ; there was a 
 mutual stipulation in it; on God’s part, to perform his promises of temporal, 
 spiritual, and eternal grace ; and on Abraham’s part to receive this grace 
 by faith, and perform due obedience and thankfulness to God. Hence a 
 little nearer, and we say the covenant is a mutual compact, or agreement 
 betwixt God and man, whereby God promiseth all good things, especially 
 eternal happiness unto man ; and man doth promise to walk before God in 
 all acceptable, free, and willing obedience, expecting all good from God, and 
 happiness in God, according to his promise; for the praise and glory of his 
 grace. Others describing the covenant of grace (for with the covenant of 
 works we will not meddle) they give it thus : “ The covenant of grace is 
 
 a free and gracious compact, which God of his mere mercy in Jesus Christ 
 hath made with sinful man, promising unto him pardon of sins and eternal 
 happiness, if be will but repent of sin, and embrace mercy reaching forth by 
 faith unfeigned, and walk before God in willing, faithful, and sincere obe- 
 dience.” — In this description many things are considerable. As, 1. That 
 the author of this covenant is God ; not as our Creator, but as our merciful 
 God and father in Christ Jesus. 2. That the cause of this covenant is not 
 any worth, or dignity, or merit in man, but the mere mercy, love and favor 
 of God. 3. That the foundation of this covenant is Jesus Christ, in and 
 through whom we are reconciled unto God, for since God and man were 
 separated by sin, no covenant can pass betwixt them, no reconciliation can 
 be expected, nor pardon obtained, but in and through a Mediator. 4. That 
 the party covenanted with, is sinful man ; the fall of our first parents was 
 the occasion of this covenant, and God was pleased to permit the fall, that 
 he might manifest the riches of his mercy in man’s recovery. 5. That the 
 form of this covenant stands on God’s part in gracious and free promises 
 of forgiveness, holiness, happiness ; and on man’s part in a restipulation 
 of such duties as will stand with the free grace and mercy of God in Christ. 
 6. That the stipulation on man’s part required, is repentance for sin, belief 
 in the promises, and a yielding of fear, reverence, worship and obedience 
 to God according to his word. These I might insist on, but my purposed 
 brevity will not permit. 
 
 2. What is the establishing of this covenant? Some say, this speaks the 
 duration of it, of which anon. I suppose it intends also the confirmation of 
 it ; we find that the Lord had before madp a covenant with Abraham, Gen. 
 15 :4, 5. And now he doth not abolish the former, and make another, but 
 rather he renews, confirms, and establishet.il the former. It may be there 
 was some hesitation or doubting in Abraham, so we see; Gen. 15:2, 3. 
 But now God would assure him infallibly of his will and purpose. 0 when 
 a man hears that God will vouchsafe so much favor as to enter into a cove- 
 nant with him, he is ready to say as Gideon did, “Alas ! my family is poor 
 in Manesseh, and I am the least in all my father’s house;” and who am I 
 that I should be raised up hitherto ? That God should make such promises 
 as these to me, Judges 6 : 15. And hence to prevent such objections, the 
 Lord will confirm and establish his covenant; as, sometimes by his promises; 
 sometimes by an oath; sometimes by the blood of Christ himself; some- 
 times by seals. So here, in this very place, God adds the seal of circum- 
 cision, “ Ye shall circumcise the flesh of your fore-skin, (saith God) and it 
 shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and and you,” Gen. 17 : 11. 
 
CHAP. I.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 99 
 
 As sometimes he said of the rainbow, “ I do set my bow in the cloud, and 
 it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth ; — That the 
 water shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. — For I will look 
 upon the bow, that I*may remember the everlasting covenant. ” Gen. 9 : 
 13, 15, 16. After this manner are the signs and seftls of the covenant ; 
 circumcise yourselves, saith God, and when I see the circumcision, I will 
 remember my covenant, and I will make good to you all the promises 
 thereof. But what is circumcision to the covenant? Much every way; 
 circumcision was not without shedding of blood; because the covenant was 
 not yet established in the blood of the Messiah. Sure there was much in 
 this; howsoever the rite of itself was nothing; yet as it led the faithful 
 patriarchs to the blood of Christ, and as it assured the purging away of sin 
 by the blood of Christ, and as it signed the circumcision of the heart by the 
 Spirit of Christ, so it found acceptance with God. No sooner he looks on 
 it, but he remembers his covenant, and confirms it, and makes it good to 
 Abraham, and to his seed after him. 
 
 3. Betwixt whom is the covenant to be established ? “ Between Mo and 
 
 thee (saith God) and thy seed after thee.” The two heads of this covenant 
 are God and Abraham; on God’s part are the whole Trinity of persons, the 
 blessed angels, and all the host of heaven; on Abraham’s part are all his 
 seed, and his posterity, yet with this limitation, that “all are not Israel, 
 which are of Israel ; neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are 
 they all children of Abraham ; but in Isaac shall thy seed be called ; that is, 
 they which are the children of the flesh, are not the children of God ; but 
 the children of the promise are counted for the seed ;” Rom. 9 : 6, 7, 8. 
 No question this covenant was not to be extended to the Ishmaelites, Idu- 
 means or Keturians, Abraham’s carnal seed ; these quickly departed both 
 out of Abraham’s family and Abraham’s faith : no, no, saith God, “ I will 
 establish my covenant with Isaac for an everlasting covenant, and with his 
 seed after him,” Gen. 17 : 19. With Isaac, and with his seed, i. e., with 
 the spiritual seed of Abraham. Now, under the seed, 1. All believing 
 Jews, and 2. All Gentiles are comprehended; all may be called the 
 spiritual seed of Abraham that walk in the steps of the faith of Abraham : 
 and indeed thus runs the promise. “ In thee shall all the families of the 
 earth be blessed,” Gen. 12 : 3. And “ in thee shall all the nations of the 
 earth be blessed,” Gen. 18 : 18. These families and nations must needs 
 comprehend the Gentiles. The apostle is very plain, “As it is written, I 
 have made thee a father of many nations,” Rom. 4 : 17. “ That he might 
 
 be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised, 
 verse 11. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles, 
 through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit 
 through faith,” Gal. 3:14. Christians! here is our happiness, the cove- 
 nant was not “ written for Abraham’s sake alone, but for us also, if we 
 believe in him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead,” Rom. 4 : 
 23, 24. You may think all this while, we are only discovering the privi- 
 leges of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and of the Jews. No, blessed be God, 
 heaven is no freer to a Jew, than to a Gentile; “There is neither Jew nor 
 Greek, there is neither bond nor free, male nor female,” &c. “ But if ye 
 
 be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the pro- 
 mise, Gal. 3 : 28, 29. 
 
 4. For what time is the established covenant to endure ? It is not for a 
 few days, or months, or years, but for ever and ever; it is an everlasting 
 covenant; and indeed the word established sounds this way; “ I will esta- 
 blish my covenant,” that is (say some) I will have it stand and coutiuue 
 for ever : as it was said of David, “ I have made a covenant with my chosen, 
 
 I have sworn unto David my servant, thy seed will I establish for ever,” 
 
100 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK ITT. 
 
 Psalms 89 : 3. And again, 11 My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, 
 ray covenant shall stand fast with him,” Psal. 89 : 28. 
 
 Now this covenant is said to be everlasting a parte ante (as we say) and 
 a parte post. 1. 4 P arfe ante, as being from everlasting in respect of the 
 promise made to Christ for us, which was done (as you have heard) before 
 the foundation of the world; it is not an infant of days ; this covenant bears 
 the same date with the divine being itself : as the et mercy of God is from 
 everlasting,” Psalm 103 : 17, so the covenant of grace is from everlasting; 
 the writs, evidences and charters of our salvation were concluded and passed, 
 the sign and seal of the blessed Trinity from eternity ; the gospel and this 
 covenant is not of yesterday : no, no, it is an old counsel of the infinite 
 wisdom of God. 2. A parte post , as continuing from everlasting to ever- 
 lasting. Hence it is called, “ A covenant of salt,” 2 Chron. 13 :.5. Because 
 it corruptetk not, it faileth not ; hence all the blessings of the covenant are 
 said to be everlasting : forgiveness of sins is everlasting ; being once for- 
 given, they are “never remembered any more,” Jer. 31:34. Peace and 
 joy is everlasting : 11 Your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh 
 from you,” John 46 : 22. Salvation is everlasting : “ Israel shall be saved 
 in the Lord with an everlasting salvation,” Isa. 45 : 17. Decretal covenant 
 mercy was not a lease, but a making the fee-simple (as we call it) of grace 
 and glory to the saints for ever : death may put an end to other covenants, 
 as betwixt man and man, or betwixt man and wife; but this covenant 
 betwixt God and us stands fast for ever; though Abraham be dead, yet 
 God is Abraham’s God still, and by virtue of this covenant Abraham shall 
 be raised up at the last day. 
 
 5. What are the privileges of the covenant? I answer, the privileges 
 of the covenant are many : as, they are great things, and great blessings 
 which our God promiseth, so they are very many and numerous ; the cove- 
 nant is full of blessings, it is a rich store-house, replenished with all man- 
 ner of blessings ; it is not dry, nor barren, but like the fat olive or fruitful 
 vine ; it is a well of salvation, a fountain of good things, a treasure full of 
 goods, of unsearchable riches, which can never be emptied, nor come to an 
 end. Hence it is that our finite narrow capacities can never apprehend the 
 infinite grace that this covenant contains; yet as we may see things darkly 
 as in a map, so let us endeavor, as we are able, to view them in some map, 
 or brief compendium ; that by the little we do see, we may be raised up to 
 the consideration of things not seen, which shall be revealed in due time. 
 
 The privileges of the covenant are folded and wrapped up in the pro- 
 mises of it; every promise contains a privilege; but the time of unfolding 
 every promise is not yet come ; then only shall promises of all sorts be un- 
 folded, when the heavens “ as a vesture shall be folded up,” Heb. 1 : 12. 
 In the mean time we have a right and interest in the privileges of eternity 
 by virtue of the promise ; and hence the very terms of a covenant and 
 promise are taken for the same, Eph. 2:12; Rom. 9:4. I shall for the 
 present confine myself only to those promises and privileges of the covenant, 
 which were manifested to Abraham. And they were, 
 
 Of things Temporal and Spiritual. — 1. Of things temporal. Thus we 
 read God promiseth Abraham, “ I will make of thee a great nation, and 
 I will bless thee, and make thy name great ; and thou shalt be a blessing, 
 and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee, 
 and uuto thy seed will I give this land,” Gen. 12:2, 3, 7. We may 
 add hereto the repetitions that God makes of these promises over and over, 
 te Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, north- 
 ward, and southward, and eastward, and westward, for all the land which 
 thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. And I will 
 make thy seed as the dust of the earth ; so that if a man can number the 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 101 
 
 dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.” Gen. 13:14, 
 15, 16. “ And the Lord brought forth Abraham abroad, and said, Look 
 
 now towards heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them : 
 and he said unto him, so shall thy seed be,” Gen. 15:5. And the Lord 
 again appeared unto Abraham, and said, I will make my covenant between 
 me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly; and thou shalt be a 
 father of many nations, neither shall thy name any more be called 
 Abram, but tby name shall be Abraham, for a father of many nations 
 have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will 
 make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will give 
 unto thee, and thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, 
 all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, Gen. 17 :2, 4, 5, 6, 8. 
 “ By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, that in blessing I will bless 
 thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, 
 and as the sand upon the sea shore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of 
 his enemies/ ’ Gen. 22 : 16, 17. See here the temporal blessings that God 
 promises Abraham, they are heaped together in Gen. 12 : 2, 3, 7. As 
 
 1. “ I will make of thee a great nation ; and this he promiseth once 
 
 and again ; it seemed a thing incredible, because Abraham was old, and 
 Sarah was barren and old, and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner 
 of women ; yet for all this God is all-sufficient : Abraham shall have 
 
 his desire, he shall be a father, not only of a few children, but of a nu- 
 merous nation ; yea, of many nations, Ishmaelites, and Midianites, and 
 that famous nation of the Jews (of whom it is said, “ W hat nation is so 
 great ?” Deut. 4:7, 8,) must all descend from Abraham. Scripture and 
 heathen authors use three things proverbially, to signify an huge and ex- 
 ceeding great number, the dust of the earth, and the sands of the sea, and 
 the stars of heaven ; and all these are brought in to resemble the number 
 into which the seed of Abraham should break forth. 
 
 2. “ I will bless thee,” saith God ; and this blessing had relation to his 
 wealth and riches, “Abraham was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in 
 gold,” Gen. 13 : 2. No question those riches came from this blessing ; 
 “ The blessing of the Lord maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it,” 
 Prov. 10:22. This was God’s care of the children of Abraham, that he 
 would give them riches, but lest their hearts should be lifted up, and they 
 should forget the Lord in the midst of their riches, he learns them, and 
 bids them remember this lesson, “ Say not in thine heart, My power and 
 the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth ; but remember the 
 Lord thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he 
 may establish his covenant, which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this 
 day,” Deut. 8:17, 18. True riche comes from God, and by virtue of this 
 covenant ; 0 that none of us had any wealth, but such as comes by virtue 
 of a promise, and of the covenant of grace ! 
 
 2. I will make thy name great, saith God ; and no monarch ever was 
 so famous in conquering nations, or the whole world, as Abraham for his 
 faith and obedience ; God hath magnified his name amongst the Hebrews, 
 who, for these three thousand years and upward, have acknowledged none 
 (except Moses, greater than Abraham ; the Jews could say to very Christ, 
 “Art^ thou greater than our father Abraham? — Whom makest thou thy- 
 se f ? . John 8 : 53. . And God hath so magnified his name amongst 
 Christians, that all believers look upon it as a glory to be called children 
 of Abraham : nay, we cannot be Christ’s, we have no part in Christ unless 
 we be Abraham’s “ seed, and heirs according to the promise,” Gal. 3 : 29. 
 
 4. “ Unto thy seed will I give this land,” saith God, as “an everlasting 
 possession, Gen. 17 :8. But how should that which the Israelites pos- 
 sessed only for a time, be called an everlasting possession ? The answer 
 
102 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK ITT. 
 
 is, That the word translated everlasting, doth not ever signify that which 
 which shall have no end ; but an age, a term, or continuance ; as it was 
 said of Samuel, “He should appear before the Lord, and there abide for 
 ever, 1 Sam. 1:22. i. e. As long as he lived. And “I will praise the 
 Lord (saith David) for ever and ever,” Psalm 145 : 1, 2. i. e. While I 
 live will I praise the Lord. “As long as I shall have any being I will 
 sing praises unto iny God,” Psal. 146 :2. And the desolations of the cap- 
 tivity were called, “Perpetual desolations,” Jer. 25:9. i. e. long desola- 
 tions, even for seventy years. 
 
 Touching these blessings or privileges, I have no more to say but this, 
 That God gave more of the temporal, less of the spiritual to the natural 
 seed in the first ages, but in the latter ages, more of the spiritual privi- 
 leges, and less of the temporal ; yea, and thus it is this day, for the most 
 part among the Christian seed of the gentiles : “ For ye see your calling, 
 brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, 
 not many noble are called,” 1 Cor. 1 : 26. 
 
 2. Of things spiritual, thus we read, “ Fear not Abraham, I am thy 
 shield, and thy exceeding great reward ; I am God all-sufficient, or omnipo- 
 tent, the almighty God; and I will be a God unto thee, and to thy seed 
 after thee,” Gen. 15:1, and 17:1,7. 0 what precious promises are 
 these ! 
 
 1. I am thy shield, to keep thee from all evil : such a shield as that no 
 creature can pierce through, such a shield as shall cover thee over ; nay, 
 such a shield as shall cover thee about; as sometimes God spoke of Jerusa- 
 lem : “ I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, Zech. 
 2:5. So here, I will be a shield, a wall of fire round about : not only a 
 wall to keep thee safe, but a wall of fire to consume all them that are 
 against thee : as a fire which stands about like a wall, doth not only defend 
 those that are within, but it burns those without that come near unto it ; 
 so is God to his people. 2. I am thy exceeding great reward ; I am the 
 almighty God; I will be a God unto thee. This is the very soul of the 
 covenant, and of all the promises of God : q. d. Quantus , quantus, sim ves- 
 ter ero ; all I am is thine, myself, my goods, my glory, whatsoever is in 
 me, all that I have, and all my attributes are thine ; my power, my wisdom, 
 my counsel, my goodness, my riches, whatsoever is mine in the whole 
 world, I will give it thee for thy portion ; I and all that I have are thine, 
 for thy use. Christians, was not this an exceeding great reward ? Who 
 can understand the height, and depth, and length, and breadth of this re- 
 ward ? Surely, “ Happy is the people that is in such a case ; yea, happy 
 is that people whose God is the Lord,” Psalm 144 : 15. But more of this 
 hereafter. 
 
 6. What is the condition of this covenant ? I answer, The condition of 
 the covenant of grace is faith, and only faith : to this purpose it is said of 
 Abraham, “ He believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righte- 
 ousness,” Gen. 15:6, Rom. 4 : 3, Gal. 3 : 6, James 2:23. This text is 
 often alleged by the apostles : the word “ believed” imports, That he 
 thought the word of God to be sure, certain, stable and constant : it is such 
 a belief as is opposed to fainting: as it is said of Jacob, when he heard the 
 report of his sons, that Joseph was alive, his heart fainted, Gen. 45:26. 
 Because he believed not : but when he believed, his heart revived : and 
 David said of himself, “ I had fainted, unless I had believed,” Psal. 27 : 13. 
 So that it is a lively motion of the heart, assenting unto, and trusting on 
 God, and in the word of God as firm and constant. This was the very con- 
 dition of the covenant, which God required of Abraham, q. d. Abraham, 
 dost thou believe that such a Messiah shall be sent into the world ! Art 
 thou able to believe? Yes, I believe, Lord, said Abraham. Well, said 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 103 
 
 God, I will put thee to the trial : I will give thee a son, though thou art 
 as a dead man, and Sarah as a dead woman : yet I will promise thee a son, 
 art thou able to believe ? Again, thou seest the land of Canaan, thou hast 
 not one foot in it, yet I will give thee this land, the length and breadth of 
 of it for thy possession, art thou able to believe this ? You will say, What 
 are these to the condition of the covenant, which is only to believe in God, 
 and in Jesus Christ ? 0 yes, 1. These were shadows of the great promise, 
 
 Christ : and therefore that act of faith, whereby Abraham believed that 
 he should have a son, and that his children should possess the Land of Ca- 
 naan, was likewise a branch, a shadow, a pledge of that main act of faith, 
 whereby he believed the promised seed, in whom himself and all the nations 
 of the earth should be blessed. But, 2. Let this be remembered, that 
 Abraham did not only believe the temporal promises, but every promise ; 
 as, “ I will be thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward :” now, who is 
 our shield but Christ, and who is our reward but Christ? But especially 
 he believed the promise of the seed ; and who is the head of the seed but 
 Christ ? and who is our reward but Christ ? Yea, he believed in that 
 promised seed, in whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed : and 
 who was that but Christ ? “ Your father Abraham (saith Christ) rejoiced 
 
 to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad,” John 8 : 56. He saw it, how 
 could he see it ? Thou art not yet fifty years old, (said the Jews) and hast 
 thou seen Abraham? Or could Abraham see thee, in thy day? Yes, 
 even then he saw it, when he believed in Christ : he could see it no other- 
 ways but by an eye of faith : and therefore no question he believed in 
 Christ, and that was counted to him for righteousness. 
 
 But (may some say) if faith alone be the condition of the covenant, 
 then what need is there of any obedience, or works of holiness? — This was 
 the old plea of loose libertines in the apostles’ times, to whom James gave 
 an answer, “ But wilt thou know, 0 vain man, that faith without works is 
 dead,” James 2 : 20. “A good tree, (saith Christ,) is known by its fruit,” 
 and so is right and sound faith : let a man believe in truth, and he cannot 
 but love ; and if he love he cannot but be full of good works, thus Abra- 
 ham was justified by faith, “ Abraham believed God (saith the apostle:) 
 and it was imputed to him for righteousness.” But was not this faith ac- 
 companied with works ? observe but (saith the apostle) when God bid him 
 offer his son, did he not do it ? And was not that an exceeding great 
 work ? Surely “ his faith wrought with his works, and by faith was works 
 made perfect,” James 2 :23, compared with 21, 22. 
 
 7. Who is the head, both as undertaker and purchaser, and treasurer, 
 upon whom this covenant is established ? I answer, Christ, and none 
 but Christ. “All the promises of God in him are, yea, and Amen, unto 
 the glory of God by us,” 2 Cor. 1 : 20. This was very darkly held forth 
 in the first manifestation of the covenant to Adam ; but now in this second 
 breaking forth of it, it is very fully expressed, and often repeated ; thus, 
 Gen. 12:3. “In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” And 
 Gen. 18 : 18. “All the nations of the earth shall be blessed in Abraham.” 
 And Gen. 22:18. “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be 
 blessed ; See Gen. 26 : 4, and 28 : 14. In comparing these texts, we have 
 a clear understanding thereof ; in thee, in Abraham shall all the families 
 and natious of the earth be blessed ; but lest Abraham himself should be 
 thought author of this universal blessing, therefore is the explication, “ In 
 thee, i. e. in thy seed; and this seed, saith the apostle very expressly, is 
 Jesus Christ.” “Now to Abraham aud his seed were the promises made. 
 He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed, 
 which is Christ,” Gal. 3 : 16. So then here is the .sense; out of thy pos- 
 terity shall spring the Messiah, by whom not only thy posterity, but all the 
 
104 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [book m. 
 
 nations of the earth shall he blessed. You may remember in the first 
 promise Christ was called the seed of the woman ; but now the seed of 
 Abraham ; Christ was the son of Eve, or (if you will) the sou of Mary, and 
 so the seed of the woman ; and Mary was a daughter of Abraham, and so 
 Christ, and Mary, and all upwards were of the seed of Abraham. But 
 where shall we find mention of the passion of Christ in this expressure of 
 his covenant to Abraham ? In the first manifestation it was included in 
 that phrase of bruising his heel ; and surely this is essential to the covenant 
 of grace in any overture of it; some answer, that this is thrice put on in 
 the passage of this covenant with Abraham ; first, in the federal confirma- 
 tion, by “ the smoking furnace, and burning lamp, that passed between 
 those pieces of the sacrifice;” Gen. 15 : 17. As the sacrifice was divided, 
 so was Christ’s body torn; and as the smoking furnace, and burning lamp 
 passed between the divided pieces, so the wrath of God run betwixt, (as I 
 may say) and yet did not consume the rent and torn nature of Christ. In 
 that federal confirmation by the sign of circumcision : there could not be 
 circumcision without shedding of blood, and where God commands sheddibg 
 of blood in any of his ancient ordinances, it doth certainly reach to the 
 blood of Christ, and his everlasting testament. 3. In the resolved sacrifice 
 of Isaac, which was a plain type of the death of Christ, Gen. 22 : 10. See 
 it in these particulars : 1. Isaac was Abraham’s son, his only son, his inno- 
 cent son, the beloved son of his father, and yet Abraham freely offers up 
 his son ; so Christ was the Son of God, his only Son, his innocent Son, 
 “like to us in all things, sin only excepted:” and the beloved Son of his 
 Father, “ this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased and yet 
 God more freely offers up his Son out of his own bosom. 2. Abraham by 
 God’s commission rose up early in the morning to sacrifice his son; and 
 the Jews by God’s permission rise early in the morning to condemn the 
 Son of God; and hence he is called the Hind of the morning, Psal. 22 : 16, 
 compassed with dogs that hunted and pursued his life. 3. Abraham must 
 offer up his Son upon the mount, the very mount on which Solomon’s 
 temple was built, which typified the body of Jesus Christ, John 2:19. 
 So God offered his Son upon the mount, if not on the same mount (as 
 Augustine thinks,) yet on a mountain not far distant from it; Golgotha 
 was the very skirt of Moriah ; the one being within the gates of the city, 
 and the other not far without, the very nearest to the city of all. 4. Abra- 
 ham first laid the wood on Isaac, and then be laid Isaac on the wood : so 
 God first lays the cross on Christ, “ He bearing his cross, went forth unto 
 a place called the place of a skull,” John 19 : 17, 18. And then he lays 
 Christ on the cross ; there they crucified him, saith John : or there they 
 bound him to the cross, and fastened his hands and feet thereto with nails. 
 5. Isaac must be offered alone, the servants must stay at the foot of the 
 hill, little knowing the business and sorrow in hand ; so Christ must tread 
 the wine-press alone ? Isa. 63 : 3. The disciples fear and flee, and little 
 consider the agony of their master. 6. Abraham carries in his hand the 
 sword and fire against his son; so God carries in his hand the sword and 
 fire, the sword signifying the justice of God, the fire, his burning wrath 
 against the sons of men : and both these were bent against Christ, in whom 
 the justice of God is satisfied, and the flame of his wrath extinct and 
 quenched. That this was a plain type of Christ’s passion, is hinted at in 
 the blessing that God speaks to Abraham after this trial: “By myself 
 have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and 
 hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, 
 and in tny seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,” Gen. 22 : 16, 
 17, 18. All believers are blessed in the death of Christ, who was that 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 105 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 seed of Abraham typified by Isaac, Abraham’s son : for as Abraham in- 
 tended, so God truly sacrificed his Son, his only Son, to take away sin. 
 
 Thus far of the covenant of promise, as it was manifested from Abra- 
 ham to Moses. 
 
 Sect. IY. — Of the covenant of Promise , as manifested to Moses. 
 
 The next breaking forth of this gracious covenant was to Moses. The 
 revenging justice of God had now seized on mankind for many generations, 
 even thousands of years ; so that now it was high time for God in the midst 
 of wrath to remember mercy, and to break out into a clearer expression of 
 the promise, or covenant of grace. To this purpose the Lord calls up Moses 
 to Mount Sinai, and there, of his infinite love, and undeserved mercy, he 
 makes or renews his covenant with him, and the children of Israel, 
 “ I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, 
 out of the house of bondage; Thou shalt have no other gods before me/’ 
 Exod. 20:2. 
 
 For the right understanding of this, we shall examine these particulars. 
 
 1. Whether the law was delivered in a covenant way? 
 
 2. In what sense is the law a covenant of grace? 
 
 .3. How may it appear, That the law in any sense is a covenant of grace ? 
 
 4. Why should God in the law deal with us in a covenant way, rather 
 than a mere absolute supreme way ? 
 
 5. What are the good things promised in this expressure of the covenant? 
 
 6. What is the condition of his covenant on our part, as we may gather 
 it hence? 
 
 7. Who was the Mediator of this covenant? 
 
 8. What of Christ, and his death, do we find in this manifestation of the 
 covenant ? 
 
 For the first, Whether, the law was delivered in a covenant way ? It is 
 affirmed on these grounds. 1. In that it hath the name of a covenant. 
 2. In that it hath the real properties of a covenant. 1. The name of a 
 covenant, as it appears in these texts. “And the Lord said unto Moses, 
 W rite these words ; for after the tenor of these words, I have made a cove- 
 nant with thee, and with Israel. And he was there with the Lord forty 
 days, and forty nights ; he did neither eat bread nor drink water ; and he 
 wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments, 
 Exod. 34 : 27, 28. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he com- 
 manded you to perform, even the ten commandments, and he wrote them 
 upon two tables of stone, Deut. 4 : 13; When I was gone (says Moses) up 
 into the mount, to receive the two tables of stone, even the tables of the 
 covenant, which the Lord made with you, then I abode in the mount forty 
 days and forty nights, I did neither eat bread, nor drink water. Deut. 9 : 9. 
 And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the 
 Lord gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant, 
 verse 11. So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount 
 burned with fire, and the two tables of the covenant were in my two 
 hands,” verse 15. It appears plainly and expressly in these texts, that the 
 law is a covenant. 
 
 2. The law hath the real properties of a covenant, which are the mutual 
 consent and stipulation on both sides. You may see a full relation of this 
 in Exod. 24 : 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. “And Moses came and told the people all 
 the words of the Lord, and all the judgments, and all the people answered 
 with one voice, All the words which the Lord hath said we will do : and 
 Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, 
 and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the 
 
106 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [book in. 
 
 twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the children of Israel, 
 which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the 
 Lord ; and Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons, and half of 
 the blood he sprinkled on the altar : and he took the book of the covenant, 
 and read in the audience of the people : and they said, All that the Lord 
 hath said, will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood and 
 sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, 
 which the Lord hath made with you, concerning all these words.” This very 
 passage is related in the epistle to the Hebrews, 9 : 19, 20. “ When Moses 
 
 had spoken every precept to all the people, according to the law, he took 
 the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and 
 sprinkled both the book and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the 
 testament (or covenant) which God hath enjoined unto you.” In the words 
 you may observe these properties of a covenant. 1. That God on his part 
 expresseth his content and willingness to be their God : this will appear in 
 the preface of the law, of which hereafter. 2. That the people on their part 
 gave their full consents, and ready willingness to be his servants. Both 
 these appear in that, 1. Moses writes down the covenant covenant-wise. 2 
 He confirms the covenant by outward signs, as by the blood of calves and 
 goats, whereof one half he puts in basons, to sprinkle it on the people ; and 
 the other half of the blood he sprinkles on the altar; that sprinkling on the 
 people signified their voluntary covenanting with God, and the blood 
 sprinkled on the altar, signified God’s entering into covenant with the peo- 
 ple. Thus we have real covenanting when the law is given. 
 
 2. In what sense is the law a covenant of grace? I answer, the law may 
 
 be considered in several senses; as, 1. Sometimes it signifies largely any 
 heavenly doctrine, whether it be promise or precept; and in this sense the 
 apostle tells us, “ of the law of works, and of the law of faith,” Bom. 3 : 27. 
 2. It sometimes signifies any part of the Old Testament, in which sense 
 Jesus answered the Jews, “ Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are 
 gods?” John 10:34; Psalm 82:6. Now, where was that written but in 
 the book of Psalms? 3. Sometimes, it signifies the whole economy, and 
 peculiar dispensation of God’s worship unto the Jews according to the 
 moral, ceremonial, and judicial law; in which sense it is said to continue 
 until John, “ The law and the prophets were until John ; but since that 
 time the kingdom of God is preached,” Luke 16 : 16. 4. Sometimes it is 
 
 taken synecdochically for some acts of the law only, Gal. 5 : 23. “Against 
 such there is no law.” 5. Sometimes it is taken only for the ceremonial law, 
 Heb. 10:1. “The law having a shadow of good things to come.” 6. 
 Sometimes it is used in the sense of the Jews, as sufficient to save without 
 Christ; and thus the apostle generally takes it in his epistle to the Bomans, 
 and Galatians. 7. Sometimes it is taken for that part of the moral law, 
 which is merely mandative and preceptive, without any promise at all. 8. 
 Sometimes it is taken for the whole moral law, with the preface and 
 promises added unto it ; and in this last sense we take it, when we say it is 
 a covenant of grace. 
 
 3. How may it appear, That the law in this sense is a covenant of grace? 
 It appears, 1. By that contract betwixt God and Israel, before the promul- 
 gation of the law. “If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my 
 covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people : for 
 all the earth is mine : and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an 
 holy nation,” Exod. 19:5, 6. Whereunto the prophet Jeremiah, 11 : 4, 
 hath reference, saying, “ Obey my voice ; and do them according to all 
 which I command you : so shall you be my people, and I will be your God.” 
 Both these scriptures speak of the moral law or ten commandments, con- 
 taining the prektce and promises : and how shall that law be any other but 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 107 
 
 a covenant of grace, which runs in this tenor, “ I will be your God. and ye 
 shall he my people : my peculiar treasure : a kingdom of priests, an holy 
 nation : if ye will hut hear and obey my commandments ?” Surely these 
 privileges could never have been obtained by a covenant of works. What ! 
 to be a kingdom of priests, an holy nation, a peculiar treasure to the Lord? 
 What ! to be beloved of God as a desirable treasure, (for so it is in 
 the original,) which a king delivers not into the hands of any of his 
 officers, but keepeth it to himself? This cannot be of works. No, no, 
 these are privileges vouchsafed of mere grace in Jesus Christ ; and 
 therefore Peter applies this very promise to the people of God under the 
 gospel, 1 Pet. 2 : 9. 
 
 2. It appears by that contract betwixt God and Israel, in the promulga- 
 tion of the law : then it was that God proclaimed himself to be the God of 
 Israel, saying, “I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the 
 land of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage.” Some hold this to be the 
 affirmative part of the first commandment : in which the gospel is 
 preached, and the promises therein contained are offered. We say, it is a 
 preface to the whole law, prefixed as a reason to persuade obedience to every 
 commandment. But all universally acknowledge that it is a free cove- 
 nant, which promiseth pardon of sin, and requireth faith in the Messiah ; 
 when God saith to Israel, “ I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out 
 of the land of Egypt,” doth he not propound himself as their King, 
 Judge, Saviour, and Redeemer ? Yea and spiritual Redeemer from the 
 bondage of sin and Satan, whereof that temporal deliverance from Egypt 
 was truly a type ? The Lord begins his commandments with an evangeli- 
 cal promise : and it is very observable, that these words, “I am the Lord 
 thy God,” are prefixed immediately to the first commandment: so in sundry 
 places of scripture they are annexed to all the rest: “Ye shall fear every 
 man his mother and his father, and keep my Sabbaths, I am the Lord thy 
 God. Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another; 
 and ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the 
 name of thy God ; I am the Lord. Neither shalt thou stand against the 
 blood of thy neighbor, I am the Lord.” In a word, “ Thou shalt love thy 
 neighbor as thyself ; I am the Lord.” Or if that contain only the second 
 table, “Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes and all my judgments and 
 do them ; I am the Lord,” Lev. 19 : 3, 11, 12, 16, 18, 37. Add we to this, 
 That in the second commandment God is described to be one, showing 
 mercy unto thousands; all which must needs argue the law to be a covenant 
 of grace. 
 
 3. It appears by the contract betwixt God and Israel after the promulga- 
 tion of the law ; is it not plainly expressed by Moses, “ Thou hast avouched 
 the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his 
 statutes and commandments — And the Lord hath avouched thee this day 
 to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest 
 keep his commandments ?” Duet. 26 : 17, 18. Yea, and after this in the 
 land of Moab, Moses was commanded by the Lord to make a covenant with 
 the children of Israel, besides the covenant which he made with them in 
 Horeb ; now this was the very same that God made with them on Sinai, 
 only it must be renewed, and it is expressly said, “ Ye stand this day to 
 enter into a covenant with the Lord your God : — That he may establish you 
 to be a people unto himself, and that he may be a God unto you as he had 
 sworn to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” Deut. 29 : 12, 13. Surely this must 
 needs be a covenant of grace ; how should it be but of grace, that God pro- 
 mises to be the God of Israel ? Here are many sweet and precious promises, 
 and they are all free and gracious : and therefore we conclude the law, in 
 the sense aforesaid, to be a covenant of grace. 
 
108 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK III. 
 
 4. Why should God in the law, deal with us in a covenant way, rather 
 than in a mere absolute supreme way? I answer, 1. In respect of God ; it 
 was his pleasure in giving the law, not only to manifest his wisdom and 
 power, and sovereignty, but his faithfulness, and truth, and love, and the 
 glory of his grace, “That he might make known (as the apostle speaks) the 
 riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared 
 unto glory,” Rom. 9 : 23. God’s love is a part of his name, “For God is 
 love,” 1 John 4 : 8. And God’s faithfulness is a part of his name. “ I saw 
 heaven opened (said John in a vision) and behold a white horse, and he 
 that sat on him was called faithful and true,” Rev. 19 : 11, Now how 
 should we ever have known God’s love, at least in such a measure ? Or how 
 should we ever have known God’s faithfulness, and truth at all, if he had 
 not entered into a covenant with us? It is true, if he had given the law in 
 a mere absolute supreme way, if he had given the precepts without any 
 promise, he might fully have discovered his illimited supreme power, but 
 his so dear love and faithfulness could not have been known : now, there- 
 fore, let the world take notice of his singular love, and of his faithfulness, as 
 Moses said to Israel, “Because the Lord loved you, and because he would 
 keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought 
 you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bond- 
 men, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Know therefore, that the 
 Lord thy God he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and 
 mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand 
 generations,” Deut. 7:8,9. 
 
 2. In respect of us, God would rather deal with us in a covenant-way, 
 than in a mere absolute supreme way, upon these grounds, — 
 
 1. That he might bind us the faster to himself. A covenant binds on 
 both parts, the Lord doth not bind himself to us, and leave us free; no “I 
 will bring you (saith God) into the bond of the covenant,” Ezek. 20 : 37. 
 The Lord sees how slippery and unstable our hearts are, how apt we are to 
 start aside from our duty towards him, “We love to wander,” Jer. 14 : 10. 
 And therefore to prevent this inconstancy and unsettledness in us, and to 
 keep our hearts more stable in our obedient walking before him, it pleased 
 the Lord to bind us in the bond of the covenant, That as we look for a 
 blessing from God, so we look to it to keep covenant with God. You may 
 say, a command binds as well as a covenant; it is true, but a covenant 
 doth as it were twist the cords of the law, and double the precept upon the 
 soul ; when it is only a precept, then God alone commands it, but when I 
 have made a promise to it, then I command it and bind it upon myself. 
 
 2. That our obedience might be more willing and free. An absolute law 
 might seem to extort obedience, but a covenant and agreement makes it 
 clearly to appear more free and willing. This is of the nature of the cove- 
 nant of grace. First, God promiseth mercy to be our exceeding great 
 reward, and then we promise obedience, to be his free and willing people; 
 and thus we become God’s, not only by a property founded on his sovereign 
 power and love, but by a property growing out of our own voluntary con- 
 sent ; we are not only his people, but his willing people; we give him our 
 hand, when we become his, and enter into a covenant with him. See the 
 expression, Ezek. 17 : 18. “ He despised the oath, by breaking the covenant, 
 when lo he had given his hand.” We are his, as the wife is her husband’s. 
 “ I entered into covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest 
 mine,” Ezek. 16 : 8. Now, in marriages, free and mutual consent, you 
 know, is ever given, and so it is here. 
 
 3. That our consolation might be stronger ; that in all our difficulties and 
 distresses we might ever have recourse to the faithfulness and love of God. 
 1. To the faithfulness of God. This was David’s stay, 1 Chron. 17 : 27. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 109 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 And this may be ours, though friends be unfaithful, and may deceive, yet 
 the Lord is faithful, and cannot fail his people. “ His promises are yea, and 
 amen,” 2 Cor. 1 : 20. We may build upon it. 2. That we might have 
 recourse to the love of God; this indeed was the prime 1 end why God 
 delivered his law in way of a covenant, that he might sweeten and endear 
 himself to us, and so draw us to him with cords of love : had God so pleased, 
 he might have required all obedience from us, and when we had done all, 
 he might have reduced us into nothing, or at least, not have given us heaven 
 for an inheritance, or himself for a portion ; but his love is such, that he 
 will not only command, but he will covenant, that he might further express 
 and communicate his love ; how then should this comfort us in all our 
 troubles! How should this but encourage us to go to God in all distresses! 
 O what thankful loving thoughts should we have of God, that would thus 
 infinitely condescend to covenant with us ! 
 
 4. What are the good things promised in his expressure of the covenant? 
 Not to reckon up the temporal promises of riches, honor, victory, peace and 
 protection in a land of oil, olive and honey, the great mercies of God are 
 expressed in these terms, “ I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out 
 of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” This is the great pro- 
 mise of the covenant, it is as great as God himself. That we may better 
 see it, and know it, I shall take it in pieces ; the gold is so pure, that it is 
 pity the least filing should be lost. Here God describes himself by these 
 notes. 1. By his only, eternal and perfect essence, “I am the Lord.” 
 2. By the plurality of persons in that one essence, “ I am the Lord God, 
 Jehovah Elohim.” 3. By the propriety his people have in Jehovah Elohim, 
 11 1 am the Lord thy God.” 4. By the fruit of that propriety in reference 
 to Israel, 11 Which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house 
 of bondage.” 
 
 1. “ I am Jehovah :” we read that he 11 appeared to Abraham, Isaac and 
 Jacob by the name of God Almighty,” but now he was known to the Israelites 
 by his name Jehovah, “ I am the Lord,” Exod. 6 : 3. Why, was it not by 
 that name he appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? No, no, saith God : 
 “ By my name Jehovah was I not known to them,” Exod. 6 : 3. This hath 
 occasioned a question, How can this be? Do we not read expressly that 
 God said to Abraham, “ I am the Lord that brought the out of Ur of the 
 Chaldees ? And again, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the 
 God of Isaac ?” Gen. 28 : 13. How then is it said that by his name Jehovah 
 he was not known unto them ? This place hath perplexed many of the 
 learned, but the meaning seems to be this, that though he was known to the 
 patriarchs by his name Jehovah, as it consists of letters, syllables and sounds, 
 yet he was not experimentally known unto them in his constancy to perform 
 his promise in bringing them out of the land of Egypt until now. This 
 name Jehovah denotes both his being in himself, and his giving of being, 
 or performance to his word or promise : thus indeed he was not known, or 
 manifested to the patriarchs; they only were sustained by faith in God’s 
 almighty power, without receiving the thing promised : it is said of Abraham, 
 that while he was yet alive, u God gave him no inheritance in Canaan; no, 
 not so much as to set his foot on; yet he promised that he would give it to 
 him for a possession, and to his seed after him,” Acts 7 : 5. And now when 
 his seed came to receive the promise, and to have full knowledge and expe- 
 rience ot his power and goodness, then they knew the efficacy of the name 
 Jehovah. So, upon performance of further promises, he saith, they shall 
 know him to be Jehovah, “ And thou shaft know that I am the Lord,” 
 Isa. 43:2,3. Therefore my people shall know my name; they shall 
 know in that day, that “ I am he that doth speak, behold it is I.” Isa. 52 : 6. 
 
 2. “ I am Jehovah Elohim ;” this denotes the plurality of persons. God, 
 
110 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [book m. 
 
 in delivering of the law, doth not only show his being, hut the manner of his 
 being ; that is, the three manner of subsistings in that one simple and eternal 
 being ; or the trinity of persons in that unity of essence. The word signifies 
 strong, potent, mighty; or if we express itplurally, it signifies the Almighties, 
 or almighty powers; hence the scriptures apply the general name, God, to 
 the persons severally : the Father is God, Heb. 1 : 1, 2. The Son is God, 
 Acts 20:28. And the Holy Ghost is God, Acts 5:3, 4. Now God is 
 said to be the author of these laws delivered in a covenant-way by Moses, 
 that so the great authority may be procured to them ; and hence all law- 
 givers have endeavoured to persuade the people, that they had their laws 
 from God. 
 
 3. “ I am the Lord thy God ;” herein is the propriety, and indeed here 
 is the mercy, that God speaks thus to every faithful soul, “ I am thy 
 God.” By this appropriation, God gives us a right in him, yea, a pos- 
 session of him. 1. A right in him, as the woman may say of him to 
 whom she is married, This man is my husband, so may every faithful soul 
 say of the Lord, He is my God. 2. A possession of him : God doth not 
 only show himself unto us, but he doth communicate himself unto us in his 
 holiness, mercy, truth, grace and goodness; hence it is said, “We have 
 fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ,” 1 John 1 : 3. 
 And Christ is said to “come and sup with us,” Bev. 3 : 20. And to kiss 
 us with the kisses of his mouth,” Cant. 1:1, 2. And to be “ near us, in 
 all that we call upon him for,” Deut. 4 : 7. Surely this is the highest 
 happiness of the saints, that God is their God ; when they can say this, 
 they have enough; if we could say, This house is mine, this town, this 
 city, this kingdom, this world is mine, what is all this ? 0 but when a 
 
 Christian comes at length, and says, This God that made all the world is 
 mine, this is enough ; indeed this is the greatest promise that ever was 
 made, or ever can be made to any creature, angels or men ; (if we observe 
 it) God herein gives himself to be wholly ours ; consider God essentially or 
 personally ; consider Jehovah Elohim, all is ours : God in his essence and 
 glorious attributes communicates himself to us for good : and God person- 
 ally considered, as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, they all enter into cove- 
 nant with us. 
 
 1. The Father enters into covenant with us; he promiseth to be a 
 Father to us, hence, saith the Lord, “ Israel is my son, my first born,” 
 Exod. 4 : 22. And again. “ Is Ephraim my dear son ? Is he a pleasant 
 child?” Jer. 31 : 20. The Lord speaketh, as though he were fond of his 
 children : as delighting in them, for so it is said, “ The Lord taketh plea- 
 sure in them that fear him,” Psalm 47 : 11. Or as pitying of them, for so 
 it is said likewise, “ Like as a Father pitieth his children, so the Lord 
 pitieth them that fear him,” Psalm 103 : 13. 
 
 2. The Son is in covenant with us, and speaks to us in this langvage, 
 “ Thou art mine,” Isa. 33 : 1. How comes that about ? Why, I have re- 
 deemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; and therefore thou art 
 mine : this is Christ’s covenant with us : he brings us back to his Father, 
 from whose presence we were banished, and sets us before his face for ever : 
 he undertakes for us to take up all controversies, which may fall out be- 
 tween God and us : he promiseth to restore us to the adoption of sons : 
 and not only to the title, but to the inheritance of sons, that “ we might be 
 where he is,” John 17 : 24. 
 
 I 3. The Holy Ghost makes a covenant with us. “ By one offering he 
 hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified : whereof the Holy Ghost 
 also is a witness and a worker — this is the covenant, that I will make with 
 them : I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I 
 write them : Heb. 10 : 14, 15, 16. I know the Father is implied in this, 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 yet here is the proper work of the Holy Ghost ; what the Father hath pur- 
 posed for us from all eternity, and the Son hath purchased for us in his 
 time, that the Holy Ghost effects in us and for us in our time, he applies 
 the blood of Christ for remission of sins ; he writes the law in our hearts; 
 he comforts us in our sadness; he supports us in our faintings, and guides 
 us in our wanderings. Now he that effects these things for us, and in our 
 behalf, he is therefore said to make a covenant with us. Thus Elohirn, 
 God personally considered, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are in covenant 
 with us. 
 
 4. This is the great promise ? what can be greater ? When God saith 
 
 to Abraham, “ I will be thy God,” what could he give more ? So when 
 God tells us “ I am the Lord thy God,” what could he say more ? “ God 
 
 having no greater to swear by (saith the apostle) he swore by himself,” 
 Heb. 6:13. So God being minded to do great things for his people, and 
 having no greater thing to give, he gives himself. 0 the goodness of God 
 in Christ ! “ I am the Lord thy God.” 
 
 5. Let us see the fruit of this in reference to Israel, “ which brought 
 thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” This was 
 God’s promise long before to Abraham-, “ Know of a surety, that thy seed 
 shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and 
 they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation whom 
 they shall serve will I judge, and afterwards shall they come out with 
 great substance,” Gen. 15 : 13, 14. See here Israel must be strangers in 
 Egypt, and serve the Egyptians four hundred years; but then he will 
 bring them out of the land of Egypt, and out of their servile bondage. 
 Why this argues that God is Jehovah ; now he has performed what he had 
 foretold, and this argues, That God in Christ is our Redeemer. For 
 what was this redemption from Egypt, but a type of our freedom from sin, 
 death and hell? Here is the work of redemption joined with that great 
 name Jehovah Elohirn, to signify that such a redemption is a clear testi- 
 mony of a true and mighty God. Whether this were laid down only as a 
 peculiar argument to the Jews to keep the commandments, or it belongs 
 also to us being graffed in and become of the same stock with them, I 
 shall not dispute : this is without any controversy, that their bondage was 
 typical, and ours spiritual : you see the good things promised in this covenant. 
 
 6. What is the condition of this covenant on our part, as we may gather 
 it hence? The condition of this covenant, is faith in Jesus, which is im- 
 plied in the promise, “I will be thy God, or, I am the Lord thy God;” 
 and commanded in the precept built upon it, “Thou shalt have me to be 
 thy God, or, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Rut where is 
 faith in Jesus Christ mentioned either in promise or precept ? I answer, 
 If it be not expressed, it is very plainly intended or meant; God is not the 
 God of Israel, but in and through the Mediator : neither can Israel take 
 God to be their God, but by faith in. the Messiah. In the prophets we 
 read frequently these exhortations. “ Trust in the Lord; Commit thyself 
 unto the Lord ; lean upon the Lord, and roll thy burden upon the Lord ;” 
 but what the prophets exhort unto, that is commanded in this expressure 
 of the covenant, and who can trust in the Lord, or commit himself to the 
 Lord,, or lean upon the Lord, or roll his burden on the Lord, if he be a 
 sinner, unless it be in and through a Mediator ? Israel must walk before 
 God in all well-pleasing; and the apostle tells us, that “ without faith it is 
 impossible to please God,” Heb. 11 :6. Rut to go no further, what is the 
 meaning of this first commandment in the affirmative part, but to “ have 
 one God in Christ to be our God by faith ?” It is true, there is no men- 
 tion made of Christ, or faith ; but that is nothing, yet there is mention of 
 love, and yet our Saviour discovers and commands it there; when the 
 
112 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK III. 
 
 lawyer tempted Christ, u Master, which is the great commandment in the 
 law ?” You know Christ’s answer, “ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
 with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the 
 first and great commandment/’ Matth. 22 : 36, 37, 38. Now, as our Sa- 
 viour discovers love there, so, in like manner, is faith and Christ, they are 
 the necessary consequents. But you may object, What say we to obedi- 
 ence ? Is not that rather the condition of this covenant, thus shining in 
 the law ? 
 
 Indeed the law and obedience are co-relatives. But in this case we are 
 not to look to the law, as merely mandatory; we gave to you the sense of 
 the word, and how it is used as a covenant of grace : remember only this ; 
 the law i$ considered either more strictly, as it is only an abstract rule of 
 righteousness, holding forth life upon no other terms but perfect obedience ; 
 or more largely, as that whole doctrine delivered on mount Sinai, with the 
 preface and promises adjoined : in the former sense it is a covenant of 
 works ; but in the latter sense it is a covenant of grace. And yet I dare 
 not say, That as the law is a covenant of grace, it doth exclude obedience. 
 In some sort obedience as well as faith may be said to be a condition of the 
 covenant of grace. I shall give you my thoughts in this distinction ; obedi- 
 ence to all God’s commandments is either considerable as a cause of life, or 
 as a qualification of the subject; in the former sense it cannot be a condi- 
 tion of the covenant of grace, but in the latter sense it may : if by condition 
 we understand whatsoever is required on our part, as precedent, concomi- 
 tant, or subsequent to the covenant of grace, repentance, faith and 
 obedience are all conditions ; but if by condition we understand whatsoever 
 is required on our part, as the cause of the good promised, though only 
 instrumental ; why then, faith or belief in the promises of the covenant is 
 the only condition ; faith and obedience are opposed in the matter of justifi- 
 cation and salvation in the covenant, not that they cannot stand together in 
 one subject, for they are inseparably united ; but because they cannot concur 
 and meet together in one court, as the cause, of justification and 
 salvation. Now, when we speak of the condition of the covenant of 
 grace, we intend such a condition as is among the number of true causes ; 
 indeed in the covenant of works, obedience is required as the cause of life ; 
 but in the covenant of grace, though obedience must accompany faith, 
 yet not obedience, but only faith is the cause of life contained in the 
 covenant. 
 
 7. Who was the Mediator of this covenant? To this we distinguish of a 
 double Mediator, viz. Typical and spiritual; Moses was a typical, but 
 Christ was the spiritual Mediator; and herein was Moses privileged above 
 all before him ; he was the mediator of the Old Testament, Christ reserving 
 himself to be the Mediator of a better covenant, Heb. 8 : 6. i. e. Of the 
 New Testament. Moses received the law from God, and delivered it to the 
 people, and so he stood as a mediator between God and the people : never 
 was mortal man so near to God as Moses was ; Abraham indeed was called 
 God’s friend ; but Moses was called God’s favorite : and never was mortal 
 man, either in knowledge, love or authority, so near unto the people as 
 Moses was, which makes the Jews (0 wonderful !) to idolize him to this 
 very day. Moses was called in as a mediator on both parts. 1. On God’s 
 part, when he called him up to receive the law, and all those messages 
 which God sent by him to the people. 2. On the people’s part, when they 
 desired him to receive the law, for they were afraid by reason of the fire, 
 and durst not go up into the mount : mark how he styles himself as a medi- 
 ator, “ At that time (saith he) I stood between the Lord and you, to show 
 you the word of the Lord,” Deut. 5:5. He was God’s mouth to them, 
 and he was their mouth to God; and he was a prevailing mediator on both 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 113 
 
 parts : he prevailed with God for the suspending of his justice, that it 
 should not break out upon the people, and he prevailed with the people to 
 bind them in covenant unto God, and to make profession of that obedience, 
 which the Lord required and called for: yet for all this, I call him not a 
 mediator of redemption, but relation. A great deal of difference there is 
 betwixt Moses and Christ. As, 1. Moses only received the law, and deli- 
 vered it unto the people, but Christ our true Moses fulfilled it. 2. Moses 
 broke the tables, to show ho\y we in our nature had broken the law, but 
 Christ our true Moses repairs it again. 3. Moses had the law only writ in 
 tables of stone, but Christ writes it in the tables of our hearts. 4. Moses 
 was mere man, but Christ is God as well as man. Moses was only a servant 
 in God’s house, but Christ is a Son : yea, Christ is Lord of his own house 
 the church : Moses’ mediation was of this use, to show what was the true 
 manner of worshipping God ; but he did not inspire force and power to fol- 
 low it; he could not reconcile men to God as of himself; and therefore it 
 appeared, that there was need of another reconciler, viz. The Lord Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 8. "What of Christ, and of his death do we find in this manifestation of 
 the covenant? I answer, 1, In delivering the law we find something of 
 Christ ; there is a question, Whether the Lord himself immediately in his 
 own person delivered the law ? and some conclude affirmatively from the 
 preface, “God spake these words, and said,” Deut. 5:22. And from that 
 passage of Moses, “ These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in 
 the mount out of the midst of the fire — And he wrote them on two tables 
 of stone, and delivered them unto me.” But others are for the negative, 
 and say, This proves not that they were pronounced or delivered immedi- 
 ately by God; for we find in the scripture that when the angels were the 
 immediate persons, yet the Lord himself is reported to have spoke unto 
 men,” Gen. 18 : 3, 13; Exod. 3 :2, 6, 7. And Augustine de Trin. L. 2. 
 C. 13. is resolute, that Almighty God himself in the time of the Old Testa- 
 ment, did not speak to the Jews with his own immediate voice, but only by 
 Christ, or by his prophets; and for this ministerial voice of his angels some 
 produce those texts, “ Who have received the law by the disposition of 
 angels, and have not kept it, Acts 7 : 53. And wherefore then serveth the 
 law ? It was added because of transgressions till the seed should come, to 
 whom the promise was made, and it was ordained by angels in the hand of 
 a Mediator, Gal. 3 : 19. And if the word spoke by angels was steadfast,” 
 &c. Ileb. 2 : 2 For my part it hath puzzled me at times, whether of these 
 opinions to take; but others say (and I am now as apt to join with them as 
 with any of the former), That Jesus Christ the second person of the Trinity, 
 to be incarnate, who is called the Messenger of the covenant, Mai. 3:1. 
 and the Angel of his presence, Isa. 03 : 9. was he that uttered and delivered 
 the law unto Moses; and to this purpose are produced these texts : “This 
 Moses is he that was in the congregation with the angel, which spake to him 
 in the mount Sinai,” Acts 7 : 38. Now this angel was Christ, as it is cleared 
 in the following verse 39, “ Whom (or which angel) our fathers would not 
 obey ; but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again to 
 They would not obey the angel, but thrust him from them, i. e. 
 they tempted the angel, whom they should have obeyed; and who was that 
 but Jesus Christ? as it is cleared more fully and expressly by the apostle, 
 l Cor. 10 : 9. “Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, 
 *nd were destroyed of serpents.” Some of the learned are of opinion, That 
 Christ the Son of God did in the shape of a man deliver the law : but I 
 leave that. 
 
 2. In the law itself, as it is a covenant of grace, we find something of 
 Christ; in the preface he proclaims himself to be our God; and in the first 
 
114 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK III. 
 
 commandment we are bound to take this God to be our God; and in the 
 second, he gives us a double reason or motive to obey : “ For I the Lord 
 thy God, am a jealous God, I show mercy unto thousands of them that love 
 me and keep my commandments. ” And in the fifth commandment he 
 gives a promise of long life in Canaan, which is either to be looked at, as a 
 type of heaven, or literally, for a prosperous condition here on earth ; but 
 howsoever it is by virtue of the covenant, and as a testimony of God’s love. 
 Now, all these promises are made in Christ : God is not our God but in 
 and through Jesus Christ : God will not show mercy unto thousands, nor 
 unto one of all the thousands of his saints, but as they are in Jesus Christ; 
 God will not give us long life here, or eternal life hereafter, but in, for, 
 and through the Lord Jesus Christ: what if Moses writ, not down the word 
 of Christ ; yet certainly Moses wrote of Christ : his words imply Christ, as 
 Christ himself told the Jews, “ Had ye believed Moses, ye would have 
 believed me, for Moses wrote of me,” John 5:46. And as Philip told 
 Nathaniel, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and the 
 prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth,” John 1 : 45. Surely Christ was, 
 if not the only subject, yet the only scope of all the writings of Moses; and 
 therefore in the law itself, you see we find something of Christ. 
 
 3. In the exposition of the law, as Moses gives it here and there, we find 
 something of Christ. Yea, if we observe it, Moses brought something more 
 to the expression of Christ, and the covenant of grace, than ever was before : 
 in the first promise it was revealed, That Christ should be the seed of Abra- 
 ham ; but in Moses’ writings, and in Moses’ time we learn more expressly, 
 That Christ should be both God and man : Or that God was to be incar- 
 nate, and to have his conversation amongst men : the promise runs thus, 
 “And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God, and 
 they shall know that I am the Lord their God, that brought them forth out 
 of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell amongst them ; I am the Lord their 
 God,” Exod. 29 : 45, 46. The same promise is renewed or repeated, “And 
 I will set my tabernacle among you, and my soul shall not abhor you, and 
 I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people,” 
 Lev. 26:11, 12. This promise was punctually fulfilled when Christ was 
 incarnate, for then was “ the Word made flesh, and dwelt among us,” John 
 1 : 14. Or if it be referred to the habitation of God by his Spirit amongst 
 the spiritual seed of Abraham, then it implies the incarnation of Christ, be- 
 cause that was to go before the plentiful habitation of Christ’s Spirit in the 
 saints. Again, Moses writing of Christ, “ The Lord thy God (saith he) 
 will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, 
 like unto me, unto him shall ye hearken,” Deut. 18 : 15. Was not this a 
 plain expression ? Peter, in his sermon to the Jews, preached Jesus Christ, 
 and he tells the Jews, that this “ Jesus Christ was preached unto them be- 
 fore :” when before ? Even in Moses’ time ; and for proof he cites this 
 very text, “ For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the 
 Lord your God raise up unto you, of your brethren, like unto me, him shall 
 ye hear in all things, whatsoever he shall say unto you, Acts 3 : 20, 22. 
 
 4. In the confirmation of the law, we find something of Christ. It was 
 confirmed by seals and sacrifices, &c. What were all these but a tyne of 
 Christ? In the former expression of the covenant we found the seal of cir- 
 cumcision, but now it pleased God to add unto the former another seal for 
 the confirmation of their faith, of the passover; and was not this a type of 
 Christ, the immaculate Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the 
 world ? Again in his manifestation, Moses brought in the priesthood, as a 
 settled ordinance to offer sacrifices for the people : and was not this a type 
 of Christ, our true and unchangeable high priest ? I have sometimes seen 
 the articles of a believing Jew’s creed, collected out of Moses’ law; as 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 115 
 
 thus, “ 1 believe that the Messiah should die to make satisfaction for sin 
 this they saw in their continued bloody sacrifices ; and their deliverance 
 from Egypt by the death of a lamb, taught them no less. 2. “ I believe, 
 that he shall not die for his own sins, but for the sins of others ;” this they 
 might easily observe in every sacrifice, when (according to their law) they 
 saw the most harmless birds and beasts were offered. 3. “ I believe, to be 
 saved by laying hold on bis merits. ,, This they might gather by laying 
 their right hand on the head of every beast that they brought to be offered 
 up, and by laying hold on the horns of the altar, being a sanctuary, or 
 refuge from pursuing vengeance. Thus we might go on : no question the 
 death and resurrection of Christ, the priesthood and kingdom of Christ, 
 were prefigured and typified by the sacrifices, and brazen serpent; and the 
 priesthood of Aaron, and the kingdom of Israel : and I cannot but think, 
 That the godly spiritual Jews understood this very well ; and that these 
 did not rest in sacrifices or sacraments, but that by faith they did really 
 enjoy Christ in every of them. 
 
 5. In the intention of God’s giving the law we find something of Christ. 
 The very end of God in holding forth the law was, That upon the sense of 
 our impossibility to keep it, and of our danger to break it, we should desire 
 earnestly, and seek diligently for Jesus Christ. To this purpose saith the 
 apostle, “ Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that 
 believeth.” Christ is the end of the law, i. e. Christ is the end of inten- 
 tion ; God, by giving so holy a law, and by requiring such perfect obe- 
 dience, he would thereby humble and debase the Israelites, so that they 
 should more earnestly fly to Christ. In this sense, “ The law is our school- 
 master to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith ; a 
 schoolmaster (you know) doth not only whip or correct, but also teach and 
 direct : so the law doth not only threaten and curse, if the work be not 
 done, but it shows where power and help are to be had, viz , from the 
 Lord Jesus Christ; if this be so, how much to blame are they that, under 
 pretence of free grace and Christ, cry down the law ? Rather let us cry 
 it up, and this is the way to set up free grace and Christ. Surely he that 
 discovers his defects by the perfect rule of the law, and whose soul is im- 
 bittered and humbled because of these defects, he must needs prize Christ, 
 desire Christ, advance Christ in his thoughts, above all men in the world. 
 
 And thus far of the covenant of promise, as it was manifested from 
 Moses to David. 
 
 Sect. V. — Of the Covenant of Promise , as manifested to David. 
 
 The next breaking forth of this gracious covenant was to David; and in 
 this manifestation appears yet more of Christ ; the expression of it is chiefly 
 in these words, “Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath 
 made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure,” 
 2 Sam. 23:5. 
 
 For the right understanding of this we shall examine these particulars : 
 
 1. Who is the author of this covenant ? 
 
 2. To whom is this covenant made ? 
 
 3. What is this, that the covenant is said to be made? 
 
 4. How is the covenant ordered ? 
 
 5. Wherein is the covenant sure ? 
 
 6. W hether, is Christ more clearly manifested in this breaking forth of 
 the covenant, than in any of the former? 
 
 1. Who is the author of this covenant? David says, “He hath made 
 it;” He, i. e., God the rock of Israel, the everlasting rock, “The rock of 
 their salvation,” Psalm 02 : 2; “The rock of their strength,” Psalm 02 : 7; 
 
116 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [book in. 
 
 “ The strength of their heart,” Psalm 73:26; “ The rock of their refuge,” 
 Psalm. 94 : 22 ; “ Their strength and their Redeemer,” Psalm 19 : 14. The 
 Psalmist is frequent and ordinary in this style, to show that God is the 
 mighty, stable, and immutable foundation and defence of all the faithful, 
 who fly to him, and will trust in him ; he is such a rock as will not shrink 
 or fail his creatures ; man is unstable, but he is God and not man, who is 
 the author of this covenant. 
 
 2. To whom is the covenant made ? Why, saith David, “ He hath made 
 
 with me an everlasting covenant, i. e., either with Christ the antitype, or 
 else with David himself, the type of Christ. To the former sense we have 
 spoken elsewhere ; the latter I suppose more genuine. The covenant indeed 
 was first made with Christ, and then with David as a member of Jesus Christ. 
 Some are wholly for a covenant betwixt God and Christ; and they deny 
 any such thing as a covenant betwixt God and man ; but are not the testi- 
 monies express? “ Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant 
 which the Lord hath made with you,” Deut. 4 : 23. “ And I will make a 
 
 new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah,” 
 Jer. 31 : 31. And by name do we not see God covenanting with Abraham, 
 and with Isaac, and with Jacob, Gen. 17:7; Gen. 26:2; Gen. 35:12; 
 Lev. 26 : 42. And here do we not see God covenanting with David? “I 
 have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David; and once 
 have I sworn by my holiness, that I will not lie unto David. And the 
 Lord hath sworn in truth unto David, he will not turn from it.” Psalm 
 89:31, 35, and 132:11. 0 take heed of such doctrines as tend unto 
 
 liberty and licentiousness ! the covenant God makes with us binds us faster 
 to God ; and if there be no covenant betwixt God and us, it opens a gap to 
 the looseness of our spirits ; for how should we be charged with unfaith- 
 fulness unto God, if we have not at all entered into a covenant with God ? 
 
 3. What is this that the covenant is said to be made ? This holds forth 
 
 to us the freeness of God’s entering into covenant with us ; “ I will make 
 my covenant between me and thee, (saith God,) for I will give my cove- 
 nant, I will dispose my covenant between me and thee,” Gen. 17 : 2. So 
 it is in the original. And elsewhere it is plain, “Behold I give unto him 
 my covenant of peace,” Numb. 25 : 12. When God makes a covenant, 
 then he gives the covenant of his grace unto all that he takes into cove- 
 nant with him: “The Lord set his love upon you (saith Moses to Israel) 
 to take you into covenant with him, not because ye were more in number 
 than other people, but because he loved you, and chose your fathers,” 
 Deut. 7 : 7, 8. As noting out the freeness of his love towards them : He 
 
 loved them, why? he loved them, because he loved them. This freeness 
 of his grace, in giving a covenant, may appear in these particulars. As, 
 
 1. In that God is the first that seeks after us, to draw us into covenant 
 with him ; we seek not him, but he seeks us ; we choose not him, but he 
 chooseth us; “He loved us first,” 1 John 4 : 19. “I am found of them 
 that sought me not; I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was 
 not called by my name,” Isa. 65 : 1. 
 
 2. In that there is nothing in us to draw God into a covenant with us. 
 Many a man seeks first after the unmarried virgin ; but then there is 
 beauty, or there is dowry, or there is something or other, which draws on 
 the man ; but there is no such thing in us ; this made David say, when he 
 heard of God’s covenant with him and his, “ Who am I, 0 Lord God ? 
 and what is my father’s house, that thou hast brought me hitherto ? — And 
 is this the manner of man, 0 Lord God ?” 2 Sam. 7 : 18, 19, q. d. 0 
 Lord God, thou dealest familiarly with me, as a man dealeth with man ; 
 or as it is elsewhere, “ Thou hast regarded me according to the estate of a 
 man of high degree,” 1 Chron. 17 : 17. It would make any soul cry out, 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 117 
 
 that deeply weighs the freeness of this covenant, “ Lord, what is man, that 
 thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou visitest him?” 
 Psalm 8 : 4. 
 
 3. In that there is enough in us to keep off the Lord from ever owning 
 us. We are as contrary to God as darkness to light, or as evil is to good; 
 “ The carnal mind is enmity against God, (saith the apostle,) it is not 
 subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be,” Rom. 8:7. We are a 
 crooked generation, that cannot abide the straight ways of the Lord; our 
 whole nature is sinful and corrupt before him ; and for the most part, when 
 we are most averse and backward, and have least thought of ever seeking 
 after him, then it is that he seeks us to take us unto himself. Thus the 
 Lord called Saul, when he was persecuting, and raging, and breathing out 
 slaughter against the Lord, and against his saints; and thus the Lord called 
 those Jews that mocked the apostles, when they spake divers languages, 
 “ these men are full of new wine,” Acts 2 : 13. Ay, but the next word 
 that they speak is, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” verse 37. 
 
 0 the free and unexpected grace of our God ! 
 
 4. In that we are by nature no better than others, that are without God, 
 “and without covenant,” Eph. 2 : 12. What makes the difference betwixt 
 us and them, but this free grace of God ? Is there any reason in us, why 
 one is taken into a covenant and another is not? Nay, I will tell you a 
 wonder : so it pleaseth the Lord, that sometimes God chooseth the worst, 
 and leaves those that are better than they. We read that publicans and 
 harlots were taken in, and the righteous generation, which justified them- 
 selves, and were justified by others, were passed by : surely God respects 
 none for any thing in them : his design is, that the freeness of his grace 
 might be seen in those whom he takes to himself. Hence the apostle, 
 God chooseth the foolish things of this world, and the weak things of this 
 world, base and despised things, while in the mean time he passeth by 
 “the wise and mighty,” 1 Cor. 1 : 27, 28, 29, and things of high esteem, 
 that all men might see it is the grace of God, and not any thing in man, 
 by which we are taken into covenant with him. 
 
 5. How is the covenant said to be ordered ? The word “ ordered” will 
 help us in the answer. It sets out to us a marshalling and fit laying of 
 things together, in opposition to disorder and confusion. The Septuagint, 
 renders it etoimasaa, which signifies marshalled, disposed, prepared, set 
 forth, as an army in comely order; the same word is in Judges 20:22. 
 “ And the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set their battle again 
 in array.” As we see in the army, every one is set in rank and file, so is 
 every thing in this covenant, ranked, disposed, ordered, that it stands at 
 best advantage to receive and repel the enemy. A poor Christian that 
 hath a troubled spirit, sets himself against free grace, and this everlasting 
 covenant; he raiseth thousands of objections against it: but now the 
 covenant is ordered, it stands like a marshalled army to receive him and 
 repel him. Come, let us see a little how it is “ ordered in all things.” 
 
 1 shall instance only in these particulars. As, 
 
 1. It is well ordered in respect of the root out of which it grew : this 
 (say divines) was the infinite sovereignty, and wisdom, and mercy of God. 
 1. It was founded in God’s sovereignty; he had a right to do what he 
 would w T ith his fallen creatures : he might damn or save whom he pleased ; 
 “ Hath not the potter power over the cla}^, of the same lump to make one 
 vessel to honor, and another unto dishonor?” Rom. 9:21. 2. It w r as 
 
 founded in wisdom ; the covenant of grace was a result of counsel ; it was 
 no rash act, but a deliberate act with infinite wisdom ; God being the sove- 
 reign of all his creatures, and seeing mankind in a perishing condition, he 
 determined within himself deliberately to make such a covenant of peace, 
 
118 LOOKING UNTO JE S U S . [BOOK III. 
 
 first with Christ, and then with all the elect in Christ. 3. It was founded 
 in mercy, i. e. in the goodness of God flowing out freely to one in misery ; 
 for mercy, we may say, is made up of these two acts : 1. There must be 
 
 an object of misery. 2. There must be a free efflux of goodness on that 
 object. Now the covenant of grace is founded on both these : As, 1. There 
 was an object of misery, lost man, wretched man, undone by sin. And 2. 
 There was an efflux of God's goodness, his very bowels moved within him, 
 and they could not hold, “ I have loved thee with an everlasting love, 
 (saith God) therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee/' Jer. 31 : 3. 
 Surely this was well ordered ; a perplexed soul may have its spirit up in 
 arms against the covenant of grace : 0, cries the soul in its sad condition, I 
 am miserable! I shall not live, but die; my sins will damn me! I am 
 lost for ever ! Why, but see how the covenant is ordered in respect of the 
 root or rise ; it stands like a well marshalled army to receive and to repel 
 those doubts : As, 1 . God acted in a way of sovereignty, and cannot God 
 save thee if he will? 2. God acted in a way of wisdom, and though thou 
 seest no way but one with thee, death and damnation ; yet cannot infinite 
 wisdom contrive another way? 3. God acted in a way of mercy, and “ 0 
 thou afflicted, tossed with tempests, and not comforted," Isa, 54 : 11, is not 
 infinite mercy above all thy misery? Why, see, see, poor soul, how the 
 covenant repels all thy oppositions in respect of its rise. 
 
 2. It is well ordered in respect of the persons interested in it from all 
 eternity; and they are God the Father, and Jesus Christ his Son : as for 
 the saints elect, they were not then ; and therefore the covenant could not 
 be immediately struck with them. Now there was great need of this order; 
 for should the covenant have been made betwixt God the Father and the 
 elect from all eternity, and that immediately, a troubled soul would have 
 opposed it thus : 1. If it was from all eternity, how then shall I be capa- 
 ble of it ? Alas ! my being was not so long since. 2. If it were made 
 with me immediately, then I had some part to perform of mine own power 
 and strength ; but, alas ! I have failed and can do nothing. 0 but now the 
 covenant is a well-ordered covenant in these respects : for, 1. Christ had a 
 being from all eternity, and thou, as an elect vessel, hadst thy being in him, 
 as he was thy head. 2. Christ is able to perform the covenant, and being 
 contractor, it lies upon his score to satisfy his Father; he that first made 
 the bargain must look to fulfil it ; and for thy part, if thou dost any thing 
 it must be through him ; “ Without me ye can do nothing," John 15 : 5. 
 Why, see now, see how the covenant repels all thy oppositions, in respect 
 of the persons interested in it from all eternity; God hath his place, and 
 Christ his place, and faith its place, and the sinner his place. 
 
 3. It is well ordered in respect of the method of the articles, in their 
 several workings. First, God begins, then we come on ; First, God on his 
 part gives grace and glory, and then, we on our parts, act faith and obedi- 
 ence : God hath ever the first work ; as, First, “ I will be your God, and 
 then, ye shall be my people ;” First, “ I will take away the stony heart, 
 and give you an heart of flesh," and then, “ ye shall loathe yourselves for 
 your iniquities, and for your abominations ;" First, I will sprinkle water 
 upon you," and then, “ye shall be clean from all your filthiness;" First, 
 “ I will put my Spirit into you, and cause you to walk in my statutes," and 
 then, “ye shall keep my judgments and do them ;" First, I will pour out 
 my Spirit of grace and supplication upon you, and then “ Ye shall mourn as 
 a man mourneth for his only son," Jer. 31 : 33, Ezek. 36:25, 26, 27, 31, 
 Zech. 12 : 10. First, I will do all, and then you shall do something : A 
 perplexed, troubled spirit is apt to cry out, “ O, alas ! I can do nothing ; I 
 can as well dissolve a rock, as make my heart of stone a heart of flesh !" 
 Mark, now, how the covenant stands well ordered, like an army ; I Will do 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 119 
 
 all, saith God, and then thou shalt do something, I will strengthen and 
 quicken you, and then you shall serve me, saith the Lord. 
 
 4. It is well ordered, in respect of the end and aim, to which all the parts 
 
 of the covenant are referred ; the end of the covenant is the “ praise of the 
 glory of his grace,” Eph. 1 : 6. The parts of the covenant are the promise 
 and stipulation. The promise is either principal or immediate, and that is 
 God, and Christ; or secondary and consequential, and that is pardon, justi- 
 fication, reconciliation, sanctification, glorification: the stipulation ; on our 
 
 parts, are faith and obedience, we must believe in him that justifies the un- 
 godly, and walk before him in all well-pleasing. Observe now the main 
 design and aim of the covenant, and see but how all the streams run 
 towards that ocean ; God gives himself “ to the praise of the glory of his 
 grace God gives Christ “ to the praise of the glory of his grace God 
 gives pardon, justification, sanctification, salvation, “ to the praise of the 
 glory of his grace,” and we believe, we obey “ to the praise of the glory of 
 his grace ;” and good reason, for all is of grace, and therefore all must tend 
 “to the praise of the glory of his grace;” it is of grace that God hath 
 given himself, Christ, pardon, justification, reconciliation, sanctification, sal- 
 vation to any soul ; it is of grace that we believe ; “ By grace ye are saved 
 through faith, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,” Eph. 2:8. 0 the 
 
 sweet and comely order of this covenant ! all is of grace, and all tends 
 “ to the praise of the glory of his grace,” and therefore it is called a “ cov- 
 enant of grace*;” many a sweet soul is forced to cry, I cannot believe, I 
 may as well reach heaven with a finger, as lay hold on Christ by the 
 hand of faith ; but mark how the covenant stands like a well-marshalled 
 army to repel this doubt ; if thou canst not believe, God will enable 
 thee to believe, “ to you it is given to believe,” Phil. 1 : 29. 0 the cov- 
 
 enant of grace is a gracious covenant : God will not only promise good 
 things, but he helps us by his Spirit to perform the condition, he works our 
 hearts to believe in God, and to believe in Christ ; all is of grace, that all 
 may tend “ to the praise of the glory of his grace.” 
 
 5. Wherein is the covenant sure? I answer it is sure in the perform- 
 ance and accomplishment of it. Hence the promises of the covenant are 
 called “the sure mercies of David,” Isa. 55:3. Not because they are 
 sure, unto David alone, but because they are sure, and shall be sure unto 
 all the seed of David that are in covenant with God, as David was ; the 
 promises of God’s covenant are not “ yea and nay,” various and uncertain^ 
 but they are “ yea and Amen,” 2 Cor. 1 : 20, sure to be fulfilled. Hence 
 the stability of God’s covenant is compared to the firmness and unmoveable- 
 ness of the mighty mountains ; nay, “ mountains may depart, and the hills 
 be removed by a miracle,” but “ my kindness shall not depart from thee, 
 neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that 
 hath mercy on thee,” Isa 54 : 10. Sooner shall the rocks be removed, the 
 fire cease to burn, the sun be turned into darkness, and the very heavens be 
 confounded with the earth, than the promise of God shall fail. “ The tes- 
 timony of the Lord is sure,” saith David, Psal. 19 : 7. Christ made it, and 
 wrote it with his own blood ; to this very end was Christ appointed, and it 
 hath been all his work to insure heaven to his saints. Some question 
 whether it be in God’s present power to blot a name out of the book of life. 
 We say, No : his deed was at first free, but now it is necessary, not abso- 
 lutely, but ex hypothesi; upon supposition of his eternal covenant. Hence 
 it is that the apostle says, “ if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to 
 forgive us our sins,” 1 John 1:9. It is justice with God to pardon the 
 elect’s sins as the case now stands : indeed mercy was all that saved us pri- 
 marily, but now truth saves us, and stands engaged with mercy, for our 
 heaven ; and therefore David prays, “ send forth mercy and truth, and save 
 
120 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK III. 
 
 me,” Psal. 57 : 3. We find it often in the Psalms, as a prayer of David, 
 “ Deliver me in thy righteousness,” and “Judge me according to thy 
 righteousness,” and “ Quicken me in thy righteousness,” and “ In thy 
 faithfulness answer me,” and, “ In thy righteousness,” Psalm 31 : 1, and 
 35:24, and 119:40, and 143:1. Now, if it had not been for the cov- 
 enant of grace, surely David durst not have said such a word. The 
 covenant is sure in every respect, “ I will make an everlasting covenant 
 with you, (saith God) even the sure mercies of David,” Isa. 55 : 3. 
 
 6. Whether is Christ more clearly manifested in this breaking forth of 
 the covenant than in any of the former ? The affirmative will appear in 
 that we find in this manifestation these particulars, — 
 
 1. That he was God and man in one person; David’s son, and yet 
 David’s Lord, “ The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, 
 until I make thine enemies thy footstool,” Psal. 110 : 1. 
 
 2. That he suffered for us; and in his sufferings how many particulars 
 are discovered? As, First, His cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou 
 forsaken me?” Psal. 22 :1. Secondly, The Jews’ taunts, “He trusted in 
 the Lord, that he would deliver him ; let him deliver him if he delight in 
 him,” Matth. 27:43. Thirdly, The very manner of his death, “They 
 pierced my hands and my feet, I may tell all my bones, they look and 
 stare upon me : they part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my 
 vesture,” Psal. 22 : 17, 18. 
 
 3. That he rose again for us ; “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, 
 neither wilt thou suffer thine holy One to see corruption,” Psal. 16 : 10. 
 
 4. That he ascended up into heaven ; “ Thou hast ascended on high, thou 
 hast led captivity captive, thou hast received gifts for men,” Psal. 68:18; 
 Eph. 4:8; Acts 2 : 31. 
 
 5. That he must be king over us, both to rule and govern his elect, and 
 to bridle and subdue his enemies : “I have set my King upon my holy hill 
 of Zion : I will declare the decree, the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art 
 my Son, this day have I begotten thee,” Psal. 2 : 6, 7 ; Acts 13 : 33. “ The 
 Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine 
 enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send forth the rod of thy strength 
 out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies,” Psal. 110: 1, 2. 
 
 6. That he must be a priest, as well as a king; and a sacrifice, as well 
 as a priest; “The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest 
 for ever after the order of Melchizedek,” Psal. 110:4. “Thou lovest 
 righteousness, and hatest wickedness, therefore God, thy God hath anointed 
 thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows,” Heb. 1:6; Psal 45 : 7 ; 
 i . e., above all Christians, who are thy fellows, consorts, and partners in the 
 anointing; “ Sacrifice and burnt-offering thou wouldst not have, but mine 
 ear hast thou bored; burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required. 
 Then, said I, Lo, I come : in the volume of the book it is written of me, 
 that I should do thy will, O God,” Psalm 40:6, 7; Heb. 10:5, 6, 7. 
 Mine ears hast thou bored, or digged open ; the Septuayint , to make the 
 sense plainer, say, “But a body hast thou fitted to me, or prepared for 
 me,” meaning that bis body was ordained and fitted to be a sacrifice for the 
 sins of the world, when other legal sacrifices were refused as unprofitable. 
 O see how clearly Christ is revealed in this expressure of the covenant ! it 
 was never thus before. 
 
 And thus far of the covenant of promise, as it was manifested from David 
 till the captivity. 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 121 
 
 Sect. VI. — Of the Covenant of Promise , as manifested to Israel about the 
 time of the Captivity. 
 
 The great breaking forth of this gracious covenant was to Israel about 
 the time of their captivity. By reason of that captivity of Babylon, Israel 
 was almost clean destroyed ; and therefore then it was high time that the 
 Lord should appear like the sun after a stormy rain, and give them some 
 clearer light of Christ, and of this covenant of grace, than ever yet. He 
 doth so, and it appears especially in these words, “ Behold the days come, 
 saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, 
 and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant which I made 
 with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them 
 out of the land of Egypt, (which my covenant they brake, although I was 
 an husband unto them, saith the Lord,) but this shall be the covenant that 
 I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith the Lord, I 
 will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and I 
 will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no 
 more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know 
 the Lord ; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the 
 greatest of them, saith the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity, and will 
 remember their sin no more,” Jer. 31 : 31, 32, 33, 34. In this expression 
 of the covenant we shall examine these particulars : — • 
 
 1. Why it is called a new covenant. 
 
 2. Wherein the expressure of this covenant doth excel the former, which 
 God made with their fathers. 
 
 3. How doth God put the law into our inward parts ? 
 
 4. What is it to have the law written in our hearts ? 
 
 5. How are we taught of God, so as not to need any other kind of teach- 
 ing comparatively ? 
 
 6. What is the universality of this knowledge in, u That all shall know 
 me, saith the Lord ?” 
 
 7. How is God said to forgive iniquity, and never more to remember sin ? 
 
 1. Why is it called new covenant? I answer, It is called new, either in 
 
 respect of the late and new blessings which God vouchsafed Israel in bring- 
 ing back their captivity with joy, and planting them in their own land again; 
 or it is called new with respect of the excellency of this covenant : thus the 
 Hebrews were wont to call any thing excellent, new, “ 0 sing unto the Lord 
 a new song,” Psal. 96:1. that is, an excellent song; or it is called new, in 
 contradistinction to the covenant of promise before Christ came; in this 
 latter sense the very same words here are repeated in the epistle to the He- 
 brews, “ Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new 
 covenant with the house of Israel, and the house of Judah. In that he saith, 
 
 A new covenant, he hath made the first old; now that which decayeth, and 
 waxeth old, is ready to vanish away,” Heb. 8 : 8. 13. The new covenant is 
 usually understood in the latter sense ; it is new because diverse from that 
 which God made with their fathers before Christ; it hath a new worship, 
 new adoration, a new form of the church, new witnesses, new tables, new 
 sacraments and ordinances; and these never to be abrogated or disannul- 
 led, never to wax old, as the apostle speaks; yet in respect to those new 
 blessings which God bestowed upon Israel immediately after the captivity, 
 this very manifestation may be called new, and in reference to this, “ Behold 
 the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth 
 which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but the 
 Lord liveth which brought up, and which led the seed of the house of Israel 
 
122 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK III. 
 
 out of the north country, and from alLcountries whither I had driven them, 
 and they shall dwell in their own land,” Jer. 23 : 7,8. 
 
 2. Wherein doth the expressure of this covenant excel the former, which 
 God made with their fathers? I answer, — 
 
 1 It excels in the very tenor, or outward administration of the covenant : 
 for this covenant, after it once began, continued without interruption until 
 Christ, whereas the former was broken, or did expire. Hence God calls it 
 “ a new covenent, — not according to the covenant which I made with their 
 fathers in the day that I took them by the hand, to bring them out of the 
 land of Egypt, which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband 
 unto them, saith the Lord.” In this respect it might be called new, or at 
 least it may be called an incliodtion of the new, because it continued till 
 Christ, which no other expressure of the covenant did before, and so it ex- 
 celled all the former. 
 
 2. It excels in the spiritual benefits and graces of the Spirit. We find that 
 under this covenant they were more plentifully bestowed upon the church than 
 formerly ; mark the promises, “ I will set mine eyes upon them for good, 
 and I will bring them again to this land, and I will build them and not pull 
 them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up ; and I will give 
 them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord, and they shall be my 
 people and I will be their God, for they shall return unto me with their whole 
 heart. — Again, I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall 
 come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The 
 • silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts : the glory of 
 this latter house shall be greater than the former, saith the Lord of hosts, 
 Ha". 2 : 7, 8, 9. And I will put my law in their inward parts, and write in 
 their hearts ; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people, and they 
 shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother, 
 saying, Know the Lord ; for they shall all know me, from the least of them 
 unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniqui- 
 ties, and I will remember their sins no more,” Jer. 31 : 33, 34. 
 
 3. It excels in the discovery and revelation of the Mediator, in and 
 through whom the covenant was made. In the former expressions we dis- 
 covered much ; yet in none of them was so plainly revealed the time of his 
 coming, the place of his birth, the passage of his nativity, his humiliation 
 and kingdom, as we find them in this. 
 
 1. Concerning the time of his coming, “ Seventy weeks are determined 
 upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to 
 make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in 
 everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to 
 anoint the Most Holy,” Dan. 9 : 24. 
 
 2. Concerning the place of his birth ; “ But thou Bethlehem Ephratah, 
 though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall 
 he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth 
 have been from of old, from everlasting,” Micah 5 : 2. 
 
 3. Concerning his name ; “ Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, 
 and the government shall be upon his shoulders; and his name shall be 
 called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the 
 Prince of Peace, Isa. 9:6. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel 
 shall dwell safely : and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The 
 Lord our Bighteousness, Jer. 23 : 6. Behold a virgin shall conceive, and 
 bear a Son, and thou, 0 virgin, shalt call his name Emmanuel, ” Isa. 7 : 14. 
 
 4. Concerning the passages of his nativity, that he should be born of 
 a virgin, Isa. 7 : 14. That at his birth all the infants round about Bethle- 
 hem should be slain, Jer. 31 : 15. That John the Baptist should be his 
 prodromus, or forerunner, to prepare his way, Mai. 3:1. That he should 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 123 
 
 flee into Egypt, and be recalled thence again, Hosea 11 : 1. I might add 
 many particulars of this kind. 
 
 5. Concerning his humiliation, 11 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and 
 carried our sorrows : yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and 
 afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for 
 our iniquities : the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his 
 stripes were we healed. — He was oppressed, and he was afflicted : yet he 
 opened not his mouth. — He was taken from prison, and from judgment, 
 and who shall declare his generation ? He was cut off out of the land of the 
 living : for the transgression of my people was he stricken. — It pleased the 
 Lord to bruise him ; he hath put him to grief. — Therefore I will divide 
 him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, 
 because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with 
 the transgressors, and he bare the sins of many, and made intercession 
 for the transgressors,” Isa. 53 : 4, 5. 7, 8. One would think this were 
 rather an history than a prophecy of Christ's suffering ; you may, if you will 
 take the pains, see the circumstances of his sufferings; as that he was sold 
 for thirty pieces of silver, Zech. 11 : 12. And that with those thirty pieces 
 of silver there was bought afterwards a potter's field, Zech. 11 : 13. That 
 he must ride into Jerusalem before his passion on an ass, Zech. 9:9. I 
 might seem tedious if I should proceed. 
 
 6. Concerning his kingdom, “ Rejoice greatly, 0 daughter of Zion, shout, 
 0 daughter of Jerusalem, behold thy king cometh unto thee; he is just, 
 and having salvation, lowly, and riding on an ass, and upon a colt the foal 
 of an ass,” Zech. 9 : 9. Isa. 62 : 11. Matth. 21 : 5. Behold a King, be- 
 hold thy King, behold thy king cometh, and he comes unto thee. 1. He 
 is a King, and therefore able. 2. He is thy King, and therefore willing. 
 Wonderful love, that he would come ; but more wonderful was the manner 
 of his coming; he that before made man a soul after the image of God, 
 then made himself a body after the image of man. And thus we see how 
 this covenant excels the former in every of these respects. 
 
 3. How doth God put the law into our inward parts? I answer, God 
 puts the law into our inward parts, by enlivening, or qualifying of a man 
 with the graces of God's Spirit suitable to his commandment. First, 
 There is a law of God without us, as we see it, or read it in the scripture, 
 but when it is put within us, then God hath wrought an inward disposition 
 in our minds, that answers to the law without us. For example, this is 
 the law without, u Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 
 and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength,'' Heut. 6 : 5. To answer 
 which there is a promise, “I will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of 
 thy seed, to love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy 
 soul,” Deut. 30 : 6. Now when this promise is fulfilled : when God hath 
 put the affections and grace of love within our hearts, when the habit of 
 love is within, answerable in all things to the command without, then is 
 the law put in our inward parts. Again, this is the law without, “ Thou 
 shalt fear the Lord, and keep his ordinances, and his statutes, and his com- 
 mandments, to do them,” Leut. 13 : 4. To answer which there is a prom- 
 ise, “I will make a covenant with you, and I will not turn away from you 
 to do you good, but I will put my fear in your hearts that you shall not 
 depart from me,” Jer. 32 : 40. Now when this promise is accomplished, 
 when God hath put the affection and grace of fear within our hearts, when 
 the habit of fear is within, answerable to that command without, then is 
 the law put into our hearts. Surely this is mercy that God saith in his 
 covenant, “ I will put my law in their inward parts;” many a time a poor 
 bouI cries out, it is troubled with such a lust, and he cannot keep this and 
 that commandment, he cannot out-wrestle such and such strong inclinations 
 
124 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK III. 
 
 to evil, 0 but then go to God, and press him with this, “ Lord, it is a part 
 of thy covenant, thou hast said thou wilt circumcise my heart : thou hast 
 said thou wilt put thy law into my inward parts : thou hast said thou wilt 
 dissolve these lusts, Lord, I beseech thee do it for thy covenant’s sake.” — 
 But here is another question. 
 
 How may we know this inward work of grace, this law in our inward 
 parts ? The best way to satisfy our doubts in this, is to look within : open 
 we the door, and the closet of our hearts, and see what lies nearest and 
 closest there : that we say is intimate, and within a man, which lies next 
 to his heart : “ He that loveth father or mother more than me, (saith Christ,) 
 is not worthy of me,” Matth. 10 : 37. We know the love of father and 
 mother is a most natural thing : it comes not by teaching, but it is inbred 
 in us as soon us we are born, and yet if we love not Christ more than 
 these, if Christ lie not closer to our hearts than father or mother, we are 
 not worthy of Christ. Our natural life is a most inward and deep thing 
 in a man, it lies very near the heart, “Skin for skin, (said the devil once 
 truly,) and all that a man hath will he give for his life,” Job 2:4. “But 
 he that hates not father and mother, — yea, and his own life also, (said 
 Christ,) he cannot be my disciple,” Luke 14 : 26. Hence the apostle, to 
 express this intimate, inward life of grace, he saith, “ I live, yet not I, but 
 Christ liveth in me : and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the 
 faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me,” Gal. 2. 
 20 What an emphatical strong expression is this, I live, yet not I, but 
 Christ liveth in me ? q. <1. I live not in the life of sense, I breathe not bodily 
 breath, that is, comparatively, to the life of faith : his very natural life, 
 though inward, is said not to be lived in respect of this life of grace, which 
 is more inward. And let this serve for resolution to that question. 
 
 4. What is it to have the law written in our hearts ? This writing con- 
 tains the former, and is something more, the metaphor is expressed in these 
 particulars : 
 
 1. It is said to be written, that there might be something within answer- 
 
 able to the law without; it was written without, and so is written within. 
 This writing is the very same with copying, or transcribing. The writing 
 within is every way auswerable to the writing without : Oh ! what a mer- 
 
 cy is this, that the same God who wrote the law with his own finger in 
 tables of stone, should also write the same law with the finger of his Spirit 
 in the tables of our hearts ? As you see in a seal, when you put the seal 
 on the wax, and you take it off again, you find in the wax the same im- 
 pression that was on the seal; so it is in the hearts of the faithful, when 
 the Spirit hath once softened them, then he writes the law, i. e. he stamps 
 an inward aptness, an inward disposition on the heart answering to every 
 particular of the law ; this is that which the apostle calls the law of the 
 mind, “I see another law in my members warring against the law of my 
 mind,” Bom. 7 : 23. Now, what is this law in the mind, but a disposition 
 within, to keep in some measure every commandmeut of the law without? 
 And this is the writing of the law, (or if you will), the copying or tran- 
 scribing of the law within us. 
 
 2. it is said to be written, that it might be rooted and riveted in the 
 heart, as, when letters are engraved in marble, so is the manner of God’s 
 writing ; if God write,, it can never be obliterated or blotted out ; letters in 
 marble are not easily worn out again, no more are the writings of God’s 
 Spirit ; some indeed would have them as writings in dust : but if Pilate 
 could say, “ What I have written, I have written,” how much more may 
 God ? Hence are all those promises of performance : “ My covenant shall 
 staud fast with him,” Psal. 89 : 28. and “ the root of the righteous shall 
 not be moved,” Prov. 12 : 3. And “ even to your old age I am he ; and 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 125. 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 even to hoary hair will I carry you,” Tsa. 46:4. I deny not hut men of 
 glorious gifts may fall away, but surely the poorest Christian that hath but 
 the smallest measure of grace, he shall never fall away ; if the law be 
 written in our hearts, it still remains there; grace habitual is not remove- 
 able ; sooner will the sun discard its own beams, than Christ will desert or 
 destroy the least measure of true grace, which is a beam from the Sun of 
 Righteousness. 
 
 3. It is said to be written, that it might be as a thing legible to God, to 
 others and to ourselves. 1. To God ; he writes it that he may read it, and 
 take notice of it, he exceedingly delights himself in the graces of his own 
 Spirit : and therefore the spouse after this writing, after the planting of 
 his graces in her, she desires him to a come into his garden, and eat his 
 pleasant fruits,” Cant. 4 : 16. g. d. Come, read what thou hast written; 
 come, and delight thyself in the graces of thy own Spirit. The only de- 
 light that God has in the world is in his garden, a gracious soul : and that 
 he might more delight in it, he makes it fruitful, (and those fruits are 
 precious fruits) as growing from plants set by his own hand, relishing of 
 his own Spirit, and so fitted for his own taste. 2. The law is written that 
 it might be legible to others. So Paul tells the Corinthians, “You are 
 manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ,” 2 Cor. 3:2, 3. How 
 manifestly declared ? Why, known and read of all men. As we are able 
 to read letters graven on stone : so may others read and see the fruits and 
 effects of the law written in our hearts. And good reason, for wheresoever 
 God works the principles of grace within, it cannot but show itself in the 
 outward life and conversation. It is God’s promise, First, “I will put my 
 Spirit within them,” Ezek. 36 : 27. And then, I will cause them to walk 
 in my statutes, and it is God’s truth, “ Out of the abundance of the heart 
 the mouth speaketh,” Matt. 12 : 34. What the mind thinketh the hand 
 worketh. 3. The law is written, that it may be legible to ourselves : a 
 gracious party is privy to its own grace and sincerity, when it is in a right 
 temper : If others may read it by its fruits, how much more we ourselves, 
 who both see the fruits, and feel that habitual disposition infused into us ? 
 Nor is this without its blessed use, for by this means we come to have a 
 comfortable evidence both of God’s love to us, and of our love to God. You 
 see now what we mean, by this writing of the law within us. 
 
 5. How are we taught of God, so as not to need any other kind of teach- 
 ing comparatively ? I answer, — 
 
 1. God teacheth inwardly, “In the hidden part thou hast made me know 
 wisdom,” saith David. And again, “I thank the Lord that gave me 
 counsel, my reins also instruct me in the night season,” Ps. 51 : 6 and 16,7. 
 The reins are the most inward parts of the body, and the night season the 
 most retired, and private time : both express the intimacy of divine teach- 
 ings. Man may teach the brains, but God only teacheth the reins; the 
 knowledge which man teacheth is swimming knowledge; but the know- 
 ledge which God teacheth is a soaking knowledge. “ God who commanded 
 light to shine out of darkness, hath shined into our hearts :” Man’s light 
 may shine iuto the head; but God’s light doth shine into the heart: 6 y a- 
 thedram hahet in cedis qui corda docet ; his chair is in heaven that teacheth 
 hearts, saith Austin. 
 
 2. God teacheth clearly ; Elihu offering himself instead of God to reason 
 with Job, he tells him, “ My words shall be of the uprightness of my heart, 
 and my lips shall utter knowledge clearly,” Job. 33 :3. If ever the word 
 come home to an heart, it comes with a convincing clearness; so the apostle, 
 “ Our gospel came unto you, not in word only, but in power, and in the 
 Holy Ghost, and in much full assurance,” 1 Thess. 1 :5. The word hath 
 
126 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK III. 
 
 a triple emphasis ; assurance, full assurance ; and much full assurance, here 
 is clear work. 
 
 8. God teacheth experimentally; the soul that is taught of God can 
 speak experimentally of the truths it knows: I know whom I have be- 
 lieved, ’’ saith Paul, 2 Tim. 1:12. I have experienced his faithfulness and 
 all-sufficiency, I dare trust my all with him, I am sure he will keep it safe 
 to that day. Common knowledge rests in generals ; hut they that are 
 taught of God can say, “As we have heard, so have we seen ; they can go 
 along with every truth, and say it is so, indeed ; I have experienced this and 
 that word upon my own heart. In this case the scripture is the original, 
 and their heart is the copy of it, as you have heard; they can read over the 
 promises and threatenings, and say, Probatum est. David in his psalms, and 
 Paul in his epistles, speak their very hearts, and feel their very temptations, 
 and make their very objections ; they can set to their seal that God is true, 
 John 3 : 83. They can solemnly declare by their lives and conversations, 
 that God is true and faithful in his word and promises. 
 
 4. God teacheth sweetly and comfortably : “ thou hast taught me,” saith 
 
 David, and then it follows, “ How sweet are thy words unto my taste ! yea, 
 sweeter than honey to my mouth,” Psal. 119 : 102, 103. He rolled the 
 word and promises as sugar under his tongue, and sucked from thence more 
 sweetness than Samson did from his honey-comb : Luther said, “ He would 
 not live in paradise, if he must live without the word. Cam verbo in 
 inferno , facile est vivere , Tom. 4, oper. lat. “ But with the word (said 
 he) I could live in hell.” When Christ puts his hand by the hole of the 
 door to teach the heart, her bowels were moved, and then her fingers dropt 
 upon the handles of the lock, sweet smelling myrrh,” Cant. 5:5. The 
 teachings of Christ left such blessings upon the first motions of the spouse’s 
 heart, that with the very touch of them she is refreshed ; her fingers dropt 
 myrrh, and her bowels are moved at the very movements of his gracious 
 teachings : so in Cant. 1:3. “ Because of the savor of thy ointments, thy 
 
 name is as an ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.” 
 Christ in ordinances doth as Mary, open a box of ointments, which diffuseth 
 a spiritual savor in church assemblies, and this only the spiritual Christian 
 feels. Hence the church is compared to “ a garden shut up, a fountain 
 sealed,” Cant. 4:12. Wicked men are not able to drink of her delicacies, 
 or smell of her sweetness ; a spiritual sermon is a fountain sealed up, the 
 spiritual administration of a sacrament is a garden enclosed : “ Sometimes, 
 O Lord, thou givcst me a strange motion, or affection (said Aug. lib. 16, 
 Confess, c. 40,) which, if it were but perfected in me, I could not imagine 
 what it should be but eternal life.” Christians ! these are the teachings of 
 God, and in reference to this, “We shall no more teach every man his 
 neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord.” God’s 
 teaching is another kind of teaching than we can have from the hands of 
 men ; there is no man in the world can teach thus ; and therefore they 
 whom God teacheth, need not any other kind of teaching respectively or 
 comparatively. 
 
 5. What is the universality of this knowledge, “ They shall all know me 
 from the least of them, to the greatest of them, saith the Lord ?” The 
 meaning is, that all that are in the covenant of grace, shall be so taught of 
 God, as that in some measure or other they shall every one know God in- 
 wardly, clearly, experimentally, sweetly and savingly. I know there are 
 several degrees of this knowledge ; God hath several forms in his school ; 
 there are fathers for experience, young men for strength, and babes for the 
 truth and being of grace : as one star differeth from another in glory, so 
 also is the school of Christ : but here I am beset on both sides, 1. Many are 
 
. //m w/y i /hwyf////Ky//i>(' {////// X 
 
 ///.\ ■////// Y//////WS A'/// (>//// ’/s/;\y// ‘,\ 
 
 '/'/// A///Z//X ///// /sy;/ ; /«///, 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 127 
 
 apt to complain, Alas ! they know little of God : sweet babes, consider, 
 1. It is free grace, you are stars, though you are not stars of the first or 
 secoud magnitude ; it is of the covenant of grace, that God hath let into 
 your souls a little glimmering, though not so much light as others possibly 
 may have in point of holy emulation (as one notes well,, Case correct in- 
 struct.} we should look at degrees of grace, but in point of thankfulness and 
 comfort we should look at the truth and being of grace. 2. If you know 
 but a little, you may in time know more ; God doth not teach all bis lessons 
 at first entrance; it is true, “ The entrance of thy word giveth light,” Psal. 
 119 : 130. But this is as true, that - God lets in his light by degrees; it is 
 not to be despised if God do but engage the heart in holy desires and long- 
 ings after knowledge, so that it can say in sincerity, “My soul breaketh for 
 the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times,” Psal. 119 : 20. 
 
 2. Others on the contrary, ground themselves so learned from this very 
 promise, that they exclude all teachings of men. “ The anointing, (say 
 they) teacheth us all things, and we need not that any man teach us,” 
 1 John 2 : 27. “And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, 
 and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all, &c. 
 Jer. 31 : 34. I answer, the words either relate to the grounds of religion, 
 and so in gospel times Christians need not to be taught in these fundamen- 
 tal points, for now all know the Lord from the least to the greatest ; or else 
 these words are an Hebraism, which deny positively, when they intend it 
 only comparatively, or secundum quid , as when God and men are compared 
 together, man is vanity, lighter than vanity, and a very nothing : here is a 
 comparison of knowledge in gospel-times, with the knowledge of Israel in 
 those dark times, when God brought them out of the land of Egypt; then 
 all was dark, and they were fain to teach one another the very principles, 
 the rudiments of religion, there was very little effusion of God’s Spirit in 
 those times ; “ But in gospel times (saith the prophet) the Spirit of grace 
 and knowledge shall be so abundant, that rather God himself shall be the 
 teacher, than one man shall teach another.” There shall be such exuber- 
 ancy and seas of knowledge under the new covenant, above the covenant 
 made with his people, when he brought them out of Egypt, that men shall 
 not need to teach one another comparatively, for all shall know the Lord, 
 who are taught of God, from the least to the greatest : “An highway shall 
 be there, and it shall be called the way of holiness ; the wayfaring men, 
 though fools, shall not err therein,” Isa. 35 : 8. 
 
 6. How is God said to “ forgive iniquity, and never more to remember 
 sin ? 
 
 For the first, God is said to “forgive iniquity,” when the guilt of sin is 
 taken away ; and for the second, God is said “ never more to remember 
 sin,” in that the sinner after pardon, is never more looked on as a sinner. 
 Is not this the covenant ? q. d. I will remove thy sins, and do them away, 
 as if they had never been : I will blot them out of the book of my memory, 
 I will obliterate the writing, that none shall be able to read it. But you 
 will say, if sin remain still in the regenerate, how are they so forgiven, as 
 to be remembered no more ? Divines tell us of two things in every sin, 
 there is macula et reatus, the filth and guilt; this guilt some again distin- 
 guish into the guilt of sin, which they call the inward dignity and desert 
 of damnation, and the guilt of punishment, which is the actual ordination 
 of a siuner unto damnation. Now, in different respects we say, That sin 
 remains still in believers ; and sin doth not remain in believers. First, 
 if we speak of the filth of sin, and of the desert of damnation, so it remains 
 still; but if we speak of the actual obligation of a sinner to condemnation, 
 so it remains not after pardon, but the sinner is as free as if he never sinned. 
 
 But you will say, is not the filth of sin done away when sin is remitted ? 
 
128 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK III. 
 
 I answer, The filth of sin is not done away by remission, but by sanctification 
 and renovation; and because in this life we have not a perfect inhereut 
 holiness (sanctification at best being but imperfect and wrought in us by 
 degrees), therefore during this life there is something of the filth of sin, 
 and especially of the effects of original sin, sticking and still cleaving to us. 
 But here is our comfort, and herein lies the sweet of the promise, that when 
 God hath pardoned sin, he takes away the guilt as to condemnation ; he 
 acquits the sinner of that obligation ; he now looks upon him, not as a sin- 
 ner, but as a just man ; and so in this sense he will forgive, and never more 
 remember his sin. Ah, Christians ! take heed of their doctrine, who would 
 have justification an abolition of sin in its real essence, and physical indwell- 
 ing; let us rather say, with Scripture, that all the justified saints must take 
 down their top-sail, and go to heaven halting, and that they carry their bolts 
 and fetters of indwelling sin through the field of free grace, even to the 
 gates of glory ; Christ daily washing, and we daily defiling, to the end that 
 grace may be grace. 
 
 I have run through all the manifestations of the covenant of grace, as we 
 have them discovered in the Old Testament; and yet that we may see the 
 better how these things concern us, I shall only propound these two queries 
 more, and then we have done. 
 
 1. Whether is the covenant of grace the same for substance in all ages 
 of the world? We answer, Yea, the fathers before Christ had not one 
 covenant, and we another; but the same covenant of grace belongs to us 
 both. This appears in that, First, They had the same promise. Secondly, 
 they had it upon the same grounds. 
 
 1. They had the same promise, as, “ I will be your God, and you shall 
 
 be my people,” Lev. 26 : 12. “ And happy art thou, 0 Israel, saved by 
 
 the Lord ;” and, “ The Lord is our King, and he will save us,” Isa. 38 : 22. 
 They had not only hopes of an earthly inheritance in Canaan (as some fondly 
 imagine) but of an heavenly inheritance in the kingdom of God : and to this 
 purpose our Saviour speaks expressly. “ Many shall come from the east 
 and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the king- 
 dom of heaven,” Isa. 33:22; Matth. 8:11. 
 
 2. As they had the same promise, so they had it upon the same ground 
 that we have, even by faith in Jesus Christ; “Abraham saw my day,” said 
 Christ, John 8 : 56. And “Christ is the same yesterday, and to-day, and 
 for ever,” Heb. 13 : 8. He is the same not only in regard of essence, but 
 also in regard of efficacy of his office from the beginning to the end of the 
 world. We believe (said Peter) that through the grace of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, we shall be saved even as they, Acts 15 : 11. And “unto us was 
 the gospel preached (saith Paul) as unto them,” Heb. 4 : 2. Some may 
 think they had no gospel, but only the law before Christ; but what say 
 you ? Have we not observed a thread of the gospel and of the covenant 
 of grace, to run through all the Old Testament, from first to last ? and how 
 plain is the apostle, “ For this cause also was the gospel preached also to 
 them that are dead,” 1 Pet. 4 : 6. Head long since; for he speaks of them 
 who lived in the days of Noah. Nay, the apostle to the Hebrews gives us 
 a catalogue of Old Testament believers. “ By faith Abel offered up unto 
 God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. By faith Enoch was translated, 
 that he should not see death. By faith Noah being warned of God, pre- 
 pared an ark. By faith Abraham when he was called to go into a place, 
 which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and he went out, 
 not knowing whither he went. These all died in faith, not having received 
 the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, 
 and embraced them,” Heb. 11:4, 5. 7, 8. 13. Besides these, he reckons 
 up the faith of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph, and Moses, and 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 129 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 Rahab, and Gideon, and Barak, and Samson, and Jephthah, and David, and 
 Samuel, and of all the prophets, who through faith did marvellous things, as 
 it there appears. Surely they had the same doctrine of grace as we have ; 
 it is the very same for substance without any difference. 
 
 2. Wherein is the difference then betwixt the Old and the New Testa- 
 ment; or betwixt the old and new manner of the dispensation of the covenant 
 of grace ? 
 
 They are one for substance, but in regard of the manner of dispensation 
 and revealing in the several times, ages, states and conditions of the church, 
 there is a difference. I shall reduce all to these particulars : they are 
 distinguished, — 
 
 1. In the object. In the old administration Christ was promised, but in 
 the covenant Christ is exhibited : it was meet the promise should go before 
 the gospel, and be fulfilled in the gospel, that so great a good might earn- 
 estly be desired before it was bestowed. 
 
 2. In the federates. Under the old dispensation they are compared to 
 an heir under age, needing a guardian, tutor or schoolmaster, little differing 
 from a servant; but in the New Testament they are compared to an heir 
 come to ripe years ; see Gal. 4:1, 2, 3, &c. 
 
 3. In the manner of their worship; in the Old Testament they were 
 held under the ceremonial law ; and oh what an heap of ceremonies, rites, 
 figures and shadows did they use in their worship ; certainly these declared 
 the infancy and non-age of the Jews, who being not capable of the high 
 mysteries of the gospel, they were taught by their eyes as well as with their 
 ears. These ceremonies were as rudiments, and introductions, fitted to the 
 gross and weak senses of that church, who were to be brought on by little 
 and little, through such shadows and figures to the true image and thing 
 signified : but in the new covenant or testament, our worship is more spi- 
 ritual : our Saviour hath told us, That as “ God is a Spirit, so they that wor- 
 ship him must worship him in spirit and truth.” The hour cometh, and 
 now is (saith Christ) when the true worshippers shall worship the Father 
 in spirit, and in truth : “ for the Father seeketh such to worship him,” John 
 4:23, 24. 
 
 4. In the burden of ceremonies : Peter calls the ceremonies of old, “A 
 
 yoke which neither our fathers nor we (saith he) were able to bear,” Acts 
 15 : 10. And no wonder if we consider, 1. The burden of their costly 
 sacrifices; if any had but touched an unclean thing, he must come and 
 offer a sacrifice, as, sometimes a bullock, and sometimes a lamb : you that 
 think every thing too much for a minister of Christ, if for every offence 
 you were to offer such sacrifices now, you would count it an heavy burden 
 indeed. 2. They had long and tedious journeys to Jerusalem, the land 
 lay more in length than breadth, and Jerusalem stood almost at one end of 
 it, and thither “thrice a year all the males were to go and appear before 
 the Lord,” Deut. 16 : 16. 3. They were tied to the observation of many 
 
 days, the new moons, and many ceremonial Sabbaths ; and they were re- 
 strained from many liberties, as in meats, and the like ; oh what burdens 
 were upon them ! but in the new covenant or testament, the yoke is made 
 more easy : we are bound indeed to the duties of the moral law as well as 
 they, yet a great yoke is taken off from us; and therefore Christ inviting 
 us to the gospel, he gives it out thus, “Take my yoke upon you (saith he) 
 for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light,” Matth. 11 : 29. 
 
 In the weakness of the law of old, the law then was unable to give life, 
 to purge the conscience, to pacify God's wrath ; and therefore, saith the 
 apostle, “ There is verily a disannulling of the commandment going be- 
 fore for the weakness aud unprofitableness thereof,” Heb. 7:18. Hence 
 they are called, “ weak and beggarly rudiments,” Gal. 4:9. In compari- 
 
ISO LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK III. 
 
 son of the New Testament, there was then a less forcible influence of the 
 Spirit accompan} T ing that dispensation of the covenant : the Spirit was not 
 then given in that large measure as now : “ Because Christ was not then 
 glorified/’ John 7 : 39. It appears in these particulars, — 
 
 1. There was less power of faith in the saints before Christ: when the 
 doctrine of faith was more fully revealed, then was faith itself more fully 
 revealed in the hearts and lives of God’s people, “ Before faith came (saith 
 the apostle) we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith, which 
 should afterwards be revealed,” Gal. 3 : ‘23. Surely this implies there was 
 a time when there was less faith in God’s people, and that was the time of 
 the law. 
 
 2. There was less power of love in the saints before Christ; according 
 to the measure of our faith, so is our love; the less they knew the loving 
 kindness of God towards them in Christ, the less they loved. It may be 
 they were more drawn by the terrors of the law, than by the promises of 
 grace, and therefore they had less love in them. 
 
 3. They had a less measure of comfort to carry them on in all their 
 troubles. Christ exhibited, is called, “ The consolation of Israel,” Luke 
 2 : 25. And therefore the more Christ is imparted, the more means of com- 
 fort : hence the primitive saints after Christ, are said to “ walk in the fear 
 of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost,” Acts 9 : 31. Cer- 
 tainly the Spirit was poured in less plenty on the faithful in the Old Testa- 
 ment, because that benefit was to be reserved to the times of Christ, who 
 was first to receive the Spirit above measure in his human nature, and 
 thence to derive grace to his saints. 
 
 6. In the darkness of that administration of old, Christ was but shadowed 
 out to the fathers in types, and figures, and dark prophecies, but now we 
 see him “with open face,” 2 Cor. 3 : 18. Observe the difference in refer- 
 ence to the person of Christ, and to the offices of Christ, and to the benefits 
 that come by Christ. 1. Concerning the person of Christ; it was revealed 
 to them that he should be God, Isa. 9 : 6, and that he should be man ; the 
 same verse speaks of “ a child that is born,” and of a mighty God. But 
 how he should be God and man in one person, it was very darkly re- 
 vealed. 2. Concerning the offices of Christ, his mediatorship was typed out 
 by Moses; his priesthood was typed out by Melchizedek among the Cana- 
 anites, and Aaron among the Jews; his prophetical office was typed out by 
 “Noah a preacher of righteousness;” his kingly office was typed out by 
 David; but how dark these things were unto them, we may guess by the 
 apostles, who knew not that he should die, who dreamed of an earthly 
 kingdom; and till the Holy Ghost came, were ignorant of many things 
 pertaining to the kingdom of God. 3. Concerning the benefits that come 
 by Christ; justification was signified by the sprinkling of blood, and sanc- 
 tification by the water of purification ; heaven and glorification by their 
 land flowing with oil olive, and honey: thus the Lord showed the Jews 
 these principal mysteries, not in themselves, but in types and shadows, as 
 they were able to see them from day to day : but in the new covenant 
 Christ is offered to be seen in a fuller view ; the truth and substance, and 
 body of the things themselves is not exhibited; Christ is clearly revealed 
 without any type at all to be our “ wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, 
 and redemption,” 1 Cor. 1 : 30. 
 
 7. In the number of them that partake of the covenant; at first the 
 covenant was included in the families of the patriarchs, and then within 
 the confines of Judea, but now is the partition wall betwixt Jew and Gen- 
 tile broken down, and the covenant of grace is made with all nations, “He 
 is the God of the Gentiles also, and not of the Jews only,” Rom. 3 :29. 
 Christians I here comes in our happiness; 0 how thankful should we be! 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 131 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 What ? that our fathers for many hundreds and thousands of years together 
 should sit in darkness, and that we should partake of this grace? ^ What? 
 that we that were dogs before, should now be set at the children s table? 
 The very Jews themselves hearing of this, are said to glorify God ; “ When 
 they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, 
 then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life,” Acts 
 11:18. If they praised God for it, how much more should we do it our- 
 selves ! But of that hereafter. 
 
 I have now propounded the object we are to look unto ; it is Jesus as 
 held forth in a way of promise or covenant, in that dark time from the cre- 
 ation, till his first coming in the flesh ; our next business is to direct you in 
 the art or mystery of Grace, how are you to look to him in this respect. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of knowing Jesus ns carrying on the great Work of our Salva- 
 tion from the Creation until his first, coming. 
 
 Looking comprehends knowing, considering, desiring, &c. as you have 
 heard ; and accordingly that we may practise. 
 
 1. We must know Jesus carrying on the great work of our salvation in 
 the beginning, and from the beginning of the world : come let us learn 
 what he did for us so early in the morning of this world ; he made it for 
 us, and he made us more especially for his own glory; but presently after 
 we were made, we sinued and marred the image wherein God made us ; 
 this was the saddest act that ever was ; it was the undoing of man, and 
 (without God’s mercy) the damning of all souls, both of men and women, 
 to all eternity ; and, 0 my soul ! Know this for thyself, thou wast in the 
 loins of Adam at the same time, so what he did, thou didst ; thou 
 wast partaker of his sins, and thou wast to partake with him in his punish- 
 ment : but well mayest thou say, Blessed be God for Jesus Christ ; at the 
 very instant when all should have been damned, Christ intervened : a cov- 
 enant of grace is made with man, and Christ is the foundation in and through 
 whom we must be reconciled unto God : Come, soul, and study this cov- 
 enant of grace in reference to thyself. Had not this been, where hadst 
 thou been? Nay, where had all the world been at this day? Surely it 
 concerns thee to take notice of this great transaction. After man had fallen 
 by sin, Christ is promised ; and that all the saints might partake of Christ, 
 a covenant is entered ; this at the beginning of the world was more dim, 
 but the nearer to Christ’s coming in the flesh, the more and more clearly 
 it appeared : howsoever dimly, or clearly, thus it pleased God in Christ to 
 carry on the great work of our salvation at that time, viz. By a promise 
 of Christ, and by a covenant in Christ : and for thy better knowledge of it, 
 study the promise made to Adam and Abraham, and Moses, and David, and 
 Israel. Come, soul, study these several breakings out of the covenant of 
 grace; it is worth thy pains, it is “a mystery which hath been hid from 
 ages, and from generations, but now is made manifest to the saints,” Col. 
 1 : 26. Here lies the first and most firm foundation of a Christian’s com- 
 fort ; if thou canst but study this, and assure thyself of thy part in this, 
 thou art bvessed for ever. 0 how incomparably sweet and satisfying is it 
 to a self-studying Christian, to know the faithful engagements of the Al- 
 mighty God, through that Son of his loves, in a covenant of grace ! 
 
 Sect. II. — Of considering Jesus in that respect. 
 
 We must consider Jesus carrying on the great work of our salvation m 
 
132 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK ni. 
 
 that dark time ; it is not enough to study it and know it, but we must se- 
 riously muse and meditate, and ponder, and consider of it, till we bring it 
 to some profitable issue. This is the consideration I mean, when we 
 hold our thoughts to this, or that spiritual subject, till we perceive success, 
 and the work do thrive and prosper in our hands. Now, to help us in this, — 
 1. Consider Jesus in that first promise made to man, “ It shall bruise thy 
 head, and thou shalt bruise his heel,” Gen. 3 : 15. When all men were under 
 the guilt of sin, and in the power of Satan, and when thou, my soul, wert 
 in as bad a case as any other, then to hear the sound of this glad tidings, 
 then to hear of Jesus a Saviour and Redeemer, sure this was welcome news ! 
 come draw the case nearer to thyself, thou wast in Adam’s loins ; suppose 
 thou hadst been in Adam’s stead ; suppose thou hadst “ heard the voice of 
 the Lord walking in the garden suppose thou hadst heard him call, 
 “Adam, where art thou,” Peter, Andrew, Thomas, where art thou ? What ! 
 “ Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst 
 not ?” Gen. 3 : 8, 9, 11. Why then appear and come to judgment, the law 
 is irrevocable, “in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die, Gen. 
 2 : 17. There is nothing to be looked for but death temporal, and death 
 spiritual, and death eternal. 0 ! what a fearful condition is this, no sooner 
 to come into the world, but presently to be turned over into hell ! For 
 one day to be a monarch of the world, and of all creatures of the world, and 
 the very next day to be the slave of Satan, and to be bound hand and foot 
 in a darksome dungeon ! For a few hours to live in Eden, to enjoy every 
 tree of the garden, “ pleasant to the sight, and good for food,” and then to 
 enter into the confines of eternity, and ever, ever, ever to be tormented with 
 the devil and his angels ! It is no wonder, if, “Adam hid himself from 
 the presence of the Lord God, amongst the trees of the garden,” Gen. 3 : 8. 
 0 my soul ! in that case thou wouldst have cried to the rocks and to the 
 mountains, “ Fall on me, and hide me from the face of him that sitteth on 
 the throne,” Rev. 6 : 16, 17. If God be angry, who may abide it? “ When 
 the great day of his wrath is come, who shall be able to stand ?” And yet 
 despair not, cheer up, 0 my soul : for in the very midst of wrath, God is 
 pleased to remember mercy; even now, when all the world should have 
 been damned, a Jesus is proclaimed, and promised : and he it is that must 
 die according to the commination, for he is our surety ; and he it is that 
 by death must overcome death and the devil,” “ It shall bruise thy head,” 
 said God to Satan, q. d. Come, Satan, thou hast taken captive ten thou- 
 sands of souls, Adam and Eve are now ensnared, and in their loins all the 
 men and women that ever shall be from the beginning of the world to the 
 end thereof ; now is thy day of triumph, now thou keepest holy-day in 
 hell ; but thou shalt not carry it thus, I foresaw from all eternity what 
 thou hast done ; I knew thou wouldst dig an hole through the comely and 
 beautiful frame of the creation ; but I have decreed of old a counterwork, 
 out of the seed of the woman shall spring a Branch, “ And he shall bruise 
 thy head,” he shall break thy power, he shall tread thy dominion under 
 foot, he shall lead thy captivity captive, he shall take away sin, he shall 
 point out to men and angels the glory of heaven, and a new world of free- 
 grace. In this promise, 0 my soul, is folded and wrapped up thy hope, thy 
 heaven, thy salvation ; and therefore consider of it, turn it upside down, 
 look on all sides of it, view it over and over; there is a Jesus in it ; it is a 
 field that contains in the bowels of it a precious treasure ; there is in it a 
 Saviour, a Redeemer, a Deliverer from sin, death, and hell; are not these 
 dainties to feed upon ? Are not these rarities to dwell on in our medi- 
 tations ? 
 
 2. Consider Jesus in that next promise made to Abraham : “ I will es- 
 tablish my covenant between me and thee ; and thy seed after thee in their 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 133 
 
 generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God to thee, and thy seed 
 after thee. ,, Gen. 17 : 7. In respect of this covenant Abraham is called 
 the father of the faithful, Rom. 4 : 11. And they which are of the faith, 
 are called the children of Abraham, Gal. 3 : 7. And, 0 my soul, if thou 
 art in covenant with God, surely thou dost by faith draw it through Abra- 
 ham, to whom this promise was made ; for “if ye be Christ’s, then are ye 
 Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise,” Gal. 3 : 29. Consider 
 what a mercy is this, That God should enter into a covenant with thee 
 in the loins of Abraham. God makes a promise of Christ, and inclusively 
 a covenant of grace, in his comforting Adam, but he makes a covenant 
 expressly under the name of covenant with Abraham and his seed : 0 
 muse, and be amazed ! What, that the great and glorious God of heaven 
 and earth should be willing to enter into a covenant; this is to say, That 
 he should be willing to make himself a debtor to us ! 0 my soul, think of 
 
 it seriously ; he is in heaven, and thou art on earth ; he is the Creator, and 
 thou art his creature ; “Ah, what art thou, or what is thy father’s house, 
 that thou should be raised up hitherto ?” The very covenant is a wonder, 
 as it relates to God and us ; what is it but a compact, an agreement, a 
 tying, a binding of God and us ? When Jehoshopbat and Ahab were in 
 covenant, see how Jehoshophat expressed himself, “ I am as thou art, my 
 people as thy people, my horses as thy horses,” 1 Kings 22 : 4. So it is 
 betwixt God and us ; if once he gives us the covenant, then his strength is 
 our strength, his power is our power, his armies are our armies, his attri- 
 butes are our attributes, we have an interest in all ; there is an offensive and 
 defensive league (as I may say) betwixt God and us ; and if we put him in 
 mind of it in all our straits, he cannot deny us. As it was with the na- 
 tions allied to Rome, if they fought at any time, the Romans were bound 
 in honor to defend them, and they did it with as much diligence, as they 
 defended their own city of Rome ; so it is with the people allied to God, 
 he is bound in honor to defend his people, and he will do it if they im- 
 plore his aid ; how else ? Is it possible God should break his covenant ? 
 Will he not stir up himself to scatter his and our spiritual enemies? Cer- 
 taiuly he will. Thus runs the tenor of his covenant, “ I will be a God to 
 thee, and to thy seed after thee.” This is the general promise, I may 
 call it the mother promise that carries all other promises in its womb ; and 
 we find a Jesus in this promise ; consider that it is God in Christ that is 
 held forth to us in this phrase, I will be as a God to thee : 0 sweet ! here 
 is the greatest promise that ever was made, Christ, God is more than grace, 
 pardon, holiness, heaven ; as the husband is more excellent than the mar- 
 riage robes, bracelets, rings, so the well and fountain of life is of more 
 excellency than the streams ; Christ Jesus the objective happiness, is far 
 above a created and formal beatitude, which issueth from him. 0 my 
 soul ! is not this worthy of thy inmost consideration ? But of this more in 
 the next. 
 
 3. Consider Jesus in that promise made to Moses and the Isrealites, 
 “ I am the Lord thy God, that brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out 
 of the house of bondage.” Much hath been said to the promise before, as 
 matter of thy consideration : but to contract it, consider of his promise the 
 sufficiency and propriety. 1. Here is sufficiency, it is a promise of infinite 
 worth, an hid treasure, a rich possession, an overflowing blessing, which 
 none can rightly value; it is no less than the great and mighty, and infinite 
 God ; if we had a promise of a hundred worlds, or of ten heavens, this is 
 more than all; heaven indeed is beautiful, but God is more beautiful, for 
 he is the God of heaven, and hence it is that the saints in heaven are not 
 satisfied without their God ; it is a sweet expression of Bernard, “As what- 
 soever we give unto thee, Lord, unless we give ourselves, cannot satisfy 
 
134 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK III. 
 
 thee ; so whatsoever thou givest unto us, Lord, unless thou givest thyself, 
 it cannot satisfy us ;” and hence it is, That as God doth make the saints 
 his portion, so God is the portion and inheritance of his saints. Consider 
 the greatness, the goodness, the all-sufficiency of this promise, “I am the 
 Lord thy God !” no question but Moses had many other rich promises from 
 God, but he could not be satisfied without God himself, “ If thy presence 
 be not with us, bring us not hence/’ Exod. 33 : 15. And no wonder, for 
 without God all things are nothing; but in the want of all other things, 
 God himself is instead of all : It is God’s alone prerogative to be an uni- 
 versal good. The things of this world can but help in this or that par- 
 ticular thing: as bread against hunger, drink against thirst, clothes against 
 cold and nakedness, house against wind and weather, riches against poverty, 
 physic against sickness, friends against solitariness ; but God is an all-suffi- 
 cient good, he is all in all, both to the inner and outer man. Are we guilty 
 of sin ? There is mercy in God to pardon us. Are we full of infirmities ? 
 There is grace in God to heal us. Are we strong of corruptions ? There 
 is power in God to subdue them in us. Are we disquieted in conscience? 
 There is that Spirit in God that is the comforter, that can fill us with joy 
 unspeakable and glorious; and for our outward man, all our welfare is laid 
 up in God, he is “the God of our life,” Psal. 42 :8. “ He is the strength 
 
 of our life,” Psal. 27 : 1. “ He is a quickening Spirit,” 1 Cor. 15 : 45. 
 
 Which, though it be in regard of the inner man; yet there it is spoken of 
 the outward man, which the Lord shall quicken after death, and doth now 
 keep alive by his mighty power, “ for in him we live, and move, and have 
 our being.” Acts 17 : 28. 
 
 0 my soul, that thou wouldst but ruminate and meditate, and consider 
 this promise in all thy wants and discontents; when means fail, and the 
 streams run no more, 0 that thou wouldst then go to the fountain, where the 
 water runs sweeter, and more sure; for as Joseph said to Pharaoh, “It is 
 not in me, God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace,” Gen. 41 : 16. So 
 may silver and gold, and such things, say to thee, It is not in us ; God 
 shall give enough out of himself ; have God, and have ail ; want God, and 
 there is no content in the enjoyment of all; it was the apostle’s case, “as 
 having nothing, and yet possessing all things,” 2 Cor 6 : 10. Surely he 
 lived to God, and enjoyed God, and he was an all-sufficient good unto him. 
 God may be enjoyed in any condition, in the meanest as well as the great- 
 est, in the poorest as well as the richest : God will go into a wilderness, 
 into a prison with his people, and there he will make up all that they are 
 cut short of; thy discontents therefore arise not from the want of outward 
 means, but from want of inward fellowship with God ; if thou dost not find 
 a sufficiency, it is because thou dost not enjoy him who is thy all-sufficient 
 good. 0 stir up faith, and consider the covenant, think seriously on this 
 promise, “ I am God all-sufficient, I am the Lord thy God.” 
 
 2. Here is the propriety of saints, “the Lord thy God.” 0 what is this 
 that God is thy God ? Heaven and earth, angels and men, may stand 
 astonished at it. What ! that the great and mighty God, God Almighty, 
 God all-sufficient should be called thy God? It is observable what the 
 apostle speaks, “ God is not ashamed to be called their God,” Heb. 11 : 16. 
 Would not a prince be ashamed to take a beggar, a runagate, a base and 
 adulterous woman to be his wife ? but we are worse than so, and God is 
 better than so ; sin hath made us worse than the worst of women, and God 
 is better, holier, higher than the best of princes; and yet God is not ashamed 
 to own us, nor ashamed that we own him as our own. I am thy God. It 
 is as if the Lord should say, Use me and all my power, grace, mercy, kind- 
 ness, as thine own; through all my attributes, consider my Almighty power, 
 consider my wisdom, counsel, understanding, consider my goodness, truth, 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 185 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 faithfulness, consider my patience, long-suffering, forbearance ; all these are 
 thine ; as thus, my power is thine, to work all thy works for thee, and in 
 thee, to make passage for thee in all thy straits, to deliver thee out of six 
 troubles, and out of seven ; my wisdom is thine, to counsel thee in any dif- 
 ficult cases, to instruct thee in things that be obscure, to reveal tq thee the 
 mysteries of grace, and the wonderful things contained in my law ; my jus- 
 tice is thine, to deliver thee when thou art oppressed, to defend thee in thy 
 innocencv, and to vindicate thee from the injuries of men. What needs 
 more ? 0 my soul, think of these, and all other God’s attributes ; say in 
 
 thyself, all these are mine ; nay, more, think of God in Christ, (for other- 
 wise what hast thou to do with God in the covenant of grace?) and say in 
 thy heart, Jesus Christ is mine, my Saviour, my Redeemer, my Head, my 
 elder Brother ; his doings are mine, and his sufferings are mine ; his life 
 and his death, his resurrection and ascension, his session and intercession, 
 are all mine : nay, more, if Christ be mine, why then all good things are 
 mine in Christ; I say in Christ, for they came not immediately, but through 
 the hands of a sweet Redeemer ; and though he be a man who redeemed 
 us, yet because he is God as well as man, there is more of God and heaven, 
 and free love in all our good things, than if we received them immediately 
 from God. Ravens have their food, and the devils have their being from 
 God by creature-right, but we have all we have from God in Christ by 
 covenant-right; this surely, this very promise is the main and principal 
 promise of the covenant; it is the very substance, soul and life of all : 0 
 then how careful should thou be to improve the strength of thy mind, 
 thoughts and affections on this only subject? 
 
 4. Consider Jesus in that promise made to David, “He hath made with 
 me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure,” 2 Sam. 28:5. 
 1. An everlasting conenant, consider this in the internal efficacy, and not 
 in the outward administration, it is Christ that hath built and prepared a 
 kingdom that shall never fade, a spiritual and an heavenly kingdom which 
 shall never cease ; and as he hath prepared it, so if thou believest, he hath 
 entered into a covenant with thy soul to bestow it on thee ; it is an everlast- 
 ing covenant, and he will give thee everlasting life. 2. It is ordered in all 
 things : the* covenant of grace is so marshalled and ordered, that, it stands 
 at best advantage to receive and to repel all thy objections. Many and 
 many an objection hast thou raised ; how often have such thoughts been in 
 thee, “Oil am miserable, I shall not live but die, my sins will damn me, 
 I am lost forever ; and again, if God hath made with me a covenant why 
 “ then I have something to do on my part, for this is of the nature of the 
 u covenant to bind on both parts; but, alas, I have failed ! I can do nothing, 
 “ I cau as well dissolve a rock, as make my heart of stone an heart of flesh ; 
 “ I can as well reach heaven, with a finger, as lay hold on Christ by the 
 u hand of faith !” Have not such arguings as these been many, and many 
 a time in thy heart ? 0 consider how the covenant is ordered and mar- 
 
 shalled in respect to the Author of it, of the persons interested in it, of the 
 parts of which it consists, of the end and aim to which it refers, and in 
 some of these, if not in all of these, thou wilt find thy objections answered, 
 removed, routed. 8. It is sure, God is not fast and loose in his covenants; 
 heaven and earth shall pass away, before one jot or tittle of his word shall 
 fail. Consider, 0 iny soul, he both can and will perform his word; his 
 power, his love, his faithfulness, his constancy, all stand engaged. What 
 sweet matter is here for a soul to dwell upon ! What needs it to go out to 
 other objects, while it may find enough here? But especially, what needs 
 it to bestow itself upon vain things ? 0 that so much precious sand of our 
 
 thoughts should run out after sin, and so little after grace, or after the co- 
 venant of grace ! 
 
136 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK III. 
 
 5. Consider Jesus in that new covenant or promise, which God made 
 with Israel and Judah ; “ I will put my law in their inward parts, and write 
 il; in their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 
 And they shall teach no more every man his brother, and every man his 
 neighbor, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the 
 least of them to the greatest of them, saith the Lord : for I will forgive 
 their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more/ 7 Jer. 31 :33, 34. 
 Oh what an error is it, that there is no inherent righteousness in the saints! 
 That there is no grace in the soul of a believer, but only in Christ ! Is not 
 this the ordinary scripture phrase, “I will put my Spirit within you,” Ezek. 
 36 : 27. And “ the water that I shall give you, shall be in you a well of 
 water springing up into everlasting life,” John 4 : 14. And, “ the anoint- 
 ing which you have received of him abideth in you,” 1 John 2 : 27. “And 
 Christ in you the hope of glory,” Col. 1 : 27. Observe how “ the spirit of 
 the living creature was in the wheels,” Ezek. 1 : 20. So that when the 
 Spirit went, they went, and when the Spirit was lifted up, they were lifted 
 up ; even so is the Spirit of Christ in the saints, acting, and guiding, and 
 framing and disposing them to move and walk according to his laws. “ The 
 kingdom of heaven is within you,” saith Christ, Luke 17 : 21: And “I 
 
 delight to do thy will, 0 my Cod, saith David, yea, thy law is within my 
 heart,” Psal. 40:8. 0 my soul, if thou art in covenant with God, be- 
 sides the indwelling of the Spirit, there is a certain spiritual power, or prin- 
 ciple of grace, which Christ by his Spirit hath put into thy heart, enabling 
 thee in some measure to move thyself towards God. And this principle is 
 sometimes called a new life, Rom. 6:4. Sometimes, “a living with 
 Christ,” Rom. 6:8 Sometimes, “ a being alive to God,” Rom. 6:11. 
 Sometimes, “ a revealing of his Son in man,” Gal. 1 : 16. And sometimes, 
 “a putting of the law into our inward parts, and a writing of the law within 
 the heart,” Jer. 31 : 33. 0 consider of this inward principle, it is an ex- 
 
 cellent subject worthy of thy consideration ! 
 
 2. “ I will be their God, and they shall be my people ;” Consider God 
 essentially, and personally, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy 
 Ghost; God in himself, and God in bis creatures: this very promise turns 
 over heaven, and earth, and sea, and land, and bread, and clothes, and sleep, 
 and the world, and life, and death, into free grace. No wonder if God set 
 this promise in the midst of the covenant, as the heart in the midst of the 
 body, to communicate life to all the rest; this promise hath an influence 
 into all other promises, it is the great promise of the new covenant, it is as 
 great as God is, though the heavens and the heaven of heavens be not able 
 to contain him, yet this promise contains him, God shuts up himself (as it 
 were) in it. “I will be their God. 2. They shall be my people, i. e. they 
 shall be to me a peculiar people,” Titus 2 : 14. The word hath this em- 
 phasis in it, that God looks upon all other things as accidents in comparison, 
 and his substance is his people : they are his very portion, “ For the Lord's 
 portion is his people, Jacob is the lot of his inheritance,” Deut. 32:9. 
 They are his treasure, his peculiar treasure above all people ; “ If ye will 
 obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar 
 treasure uuto me above all people, for all the earth is mine,” Exod. 19 :5. 
 Observe, O my soul, All the earth is mine, q. d. All people is my people, 
 but I have a special interest in my covenanted people, they only are my 
 portion, my peculiar treasure. “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria the 
 work of my hands : and Israel mine inheritance,” Isa. 19 : 25. I have 
 made all people : Egypt, and Assyria, and all the world is mine, but only 
 Israel is my inheritance : the saints are those that God satisfies himself in : 
 the saints are those that God hath set his heart upon ; they are children 
 of the highest God, they are the spouse that are married to the Lamb : 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 137 
 
 they are nearer God in some respects than the very angels themselves, for 
 the angels are not in a mystical union so married to Christ, as God’s people 
 are. Oh the happiness of saints; “ I will be their God, and they shall be 
 my people.” 
 
 3. “ They shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man 
 
 his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the 
 least of them to the greatest of them, saith the Lord.” Consider of this ! 
 Oh poor soul, thou complainest many a time of thy weakness, thou knowest 
 little or nothing : why, see here a glorious promise, if thou art but in cove- 
 nant with God, then shalt thou be taught of God, and then thou shalt know 
 God far more clearly than the Jews of old; he will open to thee all his 
 treasures of wisdom and knowledge, he will bestow on thee a greater mea- 
 sure of his Spirit, “ So that out of thy belly shall flow rivers of living 
 waters,” John 7 : 38. We say, a good tutor may teach more in a day, than 
 another in a week, or a month : now, the promise runs thus, “ That all thy 
 children shall be taught of God,” Isa. 54 : 13. Not that private instruction, 
 or public ministry must be excluded ; we know these are appointed under 
 the New Testament, and are subordinate to the Spirit’s teaching; but that 
 the teachings of God do far surpass the teachings of men, and therefore the 
 knowledge of God under the New Testament shall far surpass that under 
 the Old: herein appears the excellency of Christ’s prophetical office, “He 
 is such a Prophet as enlightens every man within, that comes into the 
 world ; he is such a Prophet as baptizeth with the Holy Ghost and with 
 fire, John 1 : 9, 33. “ He is such a Prophet as makes men’s hearts to burn 
 
 within them, when he speaks unto them,” Luke 24 : 32. He is such a 
 Prophet as bids his ministers “ Go, teach all nations, and I will be with 
 you : and I will make you able ministers, not of the letter, but of the 
 Spirit,” Matth. 28 : 19, 20. He is such a Prophet as teacheth inwardly, 
 clearly, experimentally and sweetly : no man in the world can say this, or 
 do this, but Jesus Christ, the great Prophet of the church, whom God hath 
 raised up like unto Moses, or far above Moses. 0 my soul, consider if thou 
 art thus taught of God ! 
 
 4. “ I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no 
 more.” Consider of this. “ Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, 
 and whose sins are covered,” Rom. 4 : 7. Consider, 0 my soul, suppose thy 
 case and thy condition thus ; as thou livest under laws of man, so for the 
 transgression of those laws thou art called to account; the judge weighs, 
 and gives an impartial and just judgment, he dooms thee to the axe, or 
 rack, or wheel ; and because of the aggravation of thy crime, he commands 
 thee to be tortured leisurely, that bones, sinews, lights, joints might be 
 pained, for twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years; that so much of thy flesh 
 should be cut off every day ; that such and such a bone should be broken 
 such and such a day ; and that by art the flesh should be restored, and the 
 bone cured again ; that for so many years, as is said, thou mightest be kept 
 every day dying, and yet never die; that all this while thou must have no 
 sleep, nor ease, nor food, nor clothing convenient for thee; that whips of 
 iron, lashes and scourges of scorpions, that racks, wheels, caldrons full of 
 melted lead should be the prepared instruments of thy continual, horrible, 
 terrible torments : in this case, suppose a mighty prince, by an act of free 
 and special grace should deliver thee from this pain and torture, and not 
 only so, but should give thee a life in perfect healrh, should put thee into a 
 paradise of pleasures, where all the honors, acclamations, love and service 
 of a world of men and angels should await thee, and where thou shoullst be 
 elevated to the top of all imaginable happiness, above Solomon in his highest 
 royalty, or Adam in his first innocency ; were not this a mercy? Wouldst 
 thou not think it the highest act of grace and love, that any creature could 
 
138 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK III. 
 
 extend to his fellow creature ? And yet, 0 my soul, all this is nothing but 
 a shadow of grace in comparison of the love and the rich grace of God in 
 Christ in the justification of a sinner. If thou hast a right to this promise, 
 “ I will forgive thy iniquity, and I will remember thy sins no more,” then 
 thou art delivered from eternal death, and thou art entitled to an eternal 
 kingdom. 0 know thy blessedness aright ! consider how infinitely thou art 
 engaged to God and Christ, and mercy, and free grace ! this promise sounds 
 forth nothiug but grace and blessing ! grace from God, and blessing on us ; 
 it is grace, because nothing but grace and mercy can forgive ; it is grace, 
 because God, if he will, hath power in his hand to revenge ; he doth not 
 pass by sin as men do offences, when they dissemble forgiveness; they may 
 forgive, because they have not power to avenge : it is otherwise with God ; 
 “ To me belongs vengeance, and recompense,” saith God, Deut. 32 : 35. 
 He is able to destroy, and yet he chooseth to forgive. This is his name, 
 “ Strong and gracious,” Exod. 36 :4. 
 
 0 my soul, thou art apt to complain. u What ! will the Lord forgive 
 my sins ? What reason hath God to look on me, to pardon me, to pluck 
 me as a firebrand out of the fire of hell ? Why should God forgive me V* 
 But now consider (if thine heart be humbled) the Lord will do it, — 
 
 1. “Because he delighteth in mercy,” Micah 7 : 18. It is a pleasure to 
 God to forgive sins; never did we take more pleasure, nor so much pleasure 
 in acting and committing of sin, as he doth in the pardoning of sin; he is 
 “ the Father of mercies,” 2 Cor. 1 : 3. He delights in mercy, as a father 
 in his children ; it doth him good to see the fruits of his own mercy, in taking 
 away the sins of his own people. 
 
 2. Because it is his purpose, which he hath purposed within himself from 
 all eternity : this was the great design of God (as you have heard) to make 
 his grace glorious in those whom he intends to save; he will save “to the 
 praise of the glory of his grace,” Eph. 1 : 6. He will not lose his glory, 
 he will be “admired in his saints,” 2 Thess. 1:10. He will make the 
 world to wonder, when it shall be known what sin hath been committed by 
 them, aud paadoned by him. And hence it is that God’s people are called 
 vessels of mercy, “ That he might make known the riches of his glory on 
 the vessels of mercy,” Bom. 9 : 23. For, as vessels are, or may be filled 
 up to the brim, so the vessels of mercy shall be filled with mercy up to the 
 brim, that the riches of his glory in the pardon of sin may be seen and known 
 to the wonder of all the world. 
 
 3. Because it is his nature and inclination to pardon sin. This appears, 
 
 1. In the proclaiming of his name, “ The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and 
 gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy 
 for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin,” Exod. 34:6. 
 
 2. In his gracious invitatious, “Come unto me,” saith Christ, Matth. 11 : 28. 
 If sin burden you, I will ease you. 3. In his patience and waiting for 
 repentance; he waits to this very end, That “he might be gracious, and 
 that he may have mercy, for the Lord is a God of jndgment,” Isa. 30 : 18. 
 
 4. Because it is his promise to pardon sin : “ I, even I am he that blots 
 out thy trausgression for my own sake, aud will not remember thy sins,” 
 Isa. 43 : 25. This promise of pardon is one of the great blessings of the 
 covenant of grace ; you hear the words in this very expressure of it, “ I will 
 forgive their iuiquity, aud I will remember their sins no more,” Jer. 31 : 34. 
 
 Now, come, consider, 0 my soul, of every particular in this gracious 
 covenant, and, 0 ! be serious in thy consideration ; surely there is too much 
 expense of thy spirit upon vain, and transitory and worldly thiugs. Alas ! 
 alas ! thou hast but a short time to live, aud the strength of thy mind, that 
 I call for, it is the most precious thiug thou hast; 0 then let the busiuess 
 and activeness of thy mind, let the inmost thoughts, aud deep affections be 
 
CHAP. II.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 139 
 
 acted and exercised on this subject : be careful that none of these waters 
 run besides the mill. If God and Jesus, and all thy good be included here, 
 why should not thy whole soul be intent on this : Why shouldst thou 
 spend it on the creature? Why shouldst thou be so subject to carnal 
 griefs, and fears ? Surely all these are litter to be fixed on God in Christ, 
 on Jesus in a covenant of grace. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of desiring Jesus in that respect. 
 
 8. We must desire after Jesus carrying on the great work of our salva- 
 tion in a way of covenant, before his coming in the flesh. It is not enough 
 to know and consider, but we must desire. Thus is the order of God’s work ; 
 no sooner hath his Spirit clearly revealed the goodness of the promise, that 
 we come to know, but the soul considers of it, turns it upside down, views 
 it in all its excellencies, weighs it in the balance of its best and deepest 
 meditations. This done, the affections begin to stir, and the soul begins 
 thus to reason ; 0 happy I, that I see the goodness ot this gracious 
 promise ; but miserable I, if I come to see this, and never have a share in 
 it; 0 ! why not I, Lord ! Why not my sins pardoned ? Why not my cor- 
 ruptions subdued? Why not the law written in my heart, and put into my 
 inward parts ? Why may not I say, “ My Lord, and my God; or, I am my 
 Beloved’s, and my Beloved is mine ?” Why not this covenant established 
 between God and me ? Now my soul thirsts after this as a thirsty land, 
 my affections hunger after Jesus in a covenant of grace; “ Oh, I would fain 
 be in covenant with God ; for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, 2 
 Sam. 23 : 5. But here is an objection. 
 
 Object. The object of this desire is apprehended as absent and distant ; 
 we do not covet those things that we do enjoy ; if they are present, we ra- 
 ther rest in them, than move towards them, or desire after them ; how then 
 should David, or any soul, already in a covenant of grace, desire after the 
 covenant? What is this ? “ He hath made with me an everlasting cove- 
 
 nant, ordered in all things, and sure, for this is all my salvation and all my 
 desire,” 2 Sam. 23 : 5. 
 
 Ans. It is true, the object of desire, qua tale , is something absent; yet 
 not always absent in the whole, but in parts and degrees of it : the very 
 presence of a good thing does in some sort quicken the desires towards the 
 same thing, so far forth as it is capable of improvements or augmentations : 
 as we see in external riches of the body none desireth them more eagerly 
 than those that possess them ; and the more gracious the soul is, the more 
 is the heart enlarged in the appetition of a greater measure of grace, as the 
 putting in some water into a pump doth draw forth more : no man is so im- 
 portunate in praying, “ Lord, help my unbelief,” as he that can say, “ Lord, 
 I believe things may be desired, in order to improvement and further de- 
 grees of them. Again, things present may be the object of our desires unto 
 continuance; as he that delighteth in a good thing that he hath, he desireth 
 the continuance of that delight; so the soul of a man having a reach as far 
 as immortality, it may justly desire as well the perpetuity, as the presence 
 of those good things it enjoyeth. 
 
 Come then 0 my soul, and whet on thy desires, in every of these re- 
 spects : as, I. Desire after thy interest in the covenant. 2. Desire after 
 thy improvement of the covenant. 3. Desire after the continuance of thy 
 covenant state. 4. Desire after Jesus the great business, or the all in all 
 in a covenant of grace. 
 
 1. Desire after thy interest in the covenant : 0 say in thyself, Is it thus ? 
 Is the Lord willing to receive me to his grace? Was that his voice in the 
 streets ? “ How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity ? — Turn ye at 
 
140 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK in. 
 
 my reproof? Prov. 1 : 22,23. Behold I will pour out my Spirit unto you? 
 Was that his proclamation, u Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the 
 waters : incline your ear and come unto me ; — And I will make an ever- 
 lasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David,” Isa. 55: 1. 3. 
 Aud are the promises offered in the covenant ? “I will put my law into 
 your inward parts, and I will write it in your hearts, and I will be your 
 God, and ye shall be my people,” Jer. 31 :33. Oh, the blessed condition 
 of those people that are in covenant with God ? “ Blessed art thou, 0 Is- 
 rael, who is like unto thee, 0 people saved by the Lord?” Deut. 33 :29. 
 Oh, happy is the people that be in such a case; yea, happy is the people 
 whose God is the Lord,” Psal. 144 : 15. But, ah ! what can I say ? No 
 sin like unto my sin, no misery like unto my misery; alas ! I am an alien 
 to God, I am separated from his people, I am out of the covenant ; like a 
 poor prodigal, I die for hunger, while those that are in my Father’s house 
 have bread enough : Oh that I were in their condition ! never did David 
 long more for the waters of the well of Bethlehem, than my soul now touch- 
 ed with the sense of sin, doth desire to be at peace with God, and in cove- 
 nant wdth God : Oh, I thirst, I pant, I gasp after him, I long for commu- 
 nion and peace with him : “ With my soul do I desire thee in the night; 
 yea, with my spirit within me do I seek thee early,” Isa. 26 : 9. 
 
 2. Desire after thy improvement of the covenant ; it may be God hath 
 given thee an interest in it, but, alas, thy hold is so weak, that thou scarce 
 knowest the meaning of it : the Lord may answer, but yet he speaks darkly 
 as sometimes he speaks to the woman, John 8:11, “ Go thy way, aud sin 
 no more;” it is a middle kind of expression, neither assuring her that her 
 sin was pardoned, nor yet putting her out of hope but it might be pardoned; 
 so it may be God hath given thee some little ease, but he hath not spoken 
 full peace; go on then and desire more and more after confirmation. Say 
 in thine heart, 0 Lord, thou hast begun to show grace unto thy servant : 
 but, oh, manifest to me all thy goodness. Thou hast given me a drop, and 
 I feel it so sweet, that I now thirst, and long to enjoy the fountain ; thou 
 hast given me a kiss of thy mouth, and now I pant to be united to thee in a 
 more perfect and consummate marriage; thou hast given me a taste, but 
 my appetite aud desire is not hereby diminished, but enlarged ; and good 
 reason, for what are these drops and tastes, but only “ the first fruits of the 
 Spirit ?” Bom. 8 :23. and “ earnests of the Spirit,” Eph. 1 : 14. Oh then, 
 what are those harvests of joy ? What are those treasures of wisdom, and 
 free grace hid in God ? I have indeed beheld “ a feast of fat things full of 
 marrow, of wine on the lees well refined ; but, 0 what a famine is yet in 
 my spirit! 0 Lord, I have longed for thy salvation, I am ready to swoon for 
 further union, and clearer manifestation of my share and interest in this 
 covenant of grace come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. 
 
 3. Desire after continuance of thy covenant-state : many a sweet soul 
 cannot deny but that the Lord hath showed mercy on him, but he fears 
 that he shall not hold out : he feels within such a power of corruption, such 
 strong temptation, so many lusts, that now he doubts. “ 0, what will be- 
 come of my poor soul ? What will be the issue of this woful work ?” Why, 
 come now, and desire after perseverance, when Peter was ravished on the 
 mount, “It is good being here, says he, let us build tabernacles,” Matth. 
 17 : 4. His desire was to have continued there for ever; and it was the 
 prayer of Christ in Peter’s behalf, “ I have prayed for thee that thy faith 
 fail not,” Luke 22 : 32. What was this prayer but Christ’s vehement 
 desire of Peter’s continuing in the faith ? Shall Christ desire, and wilt not 
 thou desire after thy own perfection ? 0, come with these pantings and breath- 
 ings after God; put forth thy desires in these and the like impressions, 
 “ 0 Lord, thou hast said, I will betroth thee unto me for ever,” PIos. 2 : 19. 
 
CHAP, n.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 141 
 
 And what means this, but that the conjugal love of Christ with a gracious 
 soul, shall never be broken ? what means this, but that the bond of union 
 in a believer to Christ is fastened upon God, and the Spirit of God holds 
 the other end of it, and so it can never be broken ? 2. 0 Lord, thou hast 
 
 discovered in thy word, that this union is in the Father, who hath laid a 
 sure foundation, “ The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, 
 the Lord knoweth them that are his,” 2 Tim. 2 : 19. And that this union 
 is in the Son, who loves his to the end : and that this union is in the Spirit 
 who abides in the elect for ever. 3. Thou hast discovered, That “ the 
 mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed ; but my kindness shall 
 not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, 
 saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee,” Isa. 54 : 10. 4. Thou hast said, 
 
 That “ the saints shall be kept by the power of God,” 1 Pet. 1:5. q. d. 
 The special power, I mean, to put forth in this world, it is to uphold the 
 spirits of my saints ; the special work I have in the world to exercise my 
 power about, it is to keep Christ and the saints together, it is through the 
 power of God, that heaven and earth is kept up, but if God must withdraw 
 his power from the one of these, sooner shall heaven and earth fall in 
 pieces, than God would not uphold one gracious soul that hath union with 
 his Son Jesus Christ. And if these be thy sayings, why then, Lord, I 
 desire the accomplishment! 0 fulfil what thou hast said; it would break 
 my heart, if ever the covenant should be broken betwixt me and thee ; my 
 desire is towards thee, and the more I enjoy thee, the more and more I 
 desire and pant after thee ; my desires are like thyself, infinite, eternal, 
 everlasting desires. 
 
 4. Desire after Jesus, the great business, or the all in all, in a covenant 
 of grace; the most proper object of desire, especially to man fallen, is Je- 
 sus Christ; hence it is, that a poor sinner, under the sense of sin, cries 
 out with that vehemency of desire, (Rutherford's trial of faith,) u Christ, 
 and none but Christ ; give me Christ, or I die, I am undone, I am lost for 
 ever.” But what is Christ, or Jesus to a covenant of grace? I answer, 
 He is the great business, he is the all in all. Christ hath at least a six- 
 fold relation to the covenant of grace. 1. As he is more than a creature, 
 he is the covenant itself. 2. As he deals betwixt parties, he is the mes- 
 senger of the covenent. 3. As he saw, heard, and testified all, he is the 
 witness of the covenant. 4. As he undertaketh for the parties at variance, 
 he is the surety of the covenant. 5. As he standeth between the contrary 
 parties, he is the Mediator of the covenant. 6. As he signeth the covenant, 
 and closeth all the articles, he is the Testator of the covenant. 0 here is 
 abundance of fuel for thy desire to work upon. 1. Consider the fuel, and 
 then set on flame thy desire. 
 
 1. Christ is the covenant itself, u I will give thee for a covenant of the 
 people, for a light of the Gentiles, Isa. 42 : 6. And I will preserve thee, 
 and give thee for a covenant of the people,” Isa. 41 : 9. Christ, God and 
 man, is all the covenant: 1. Fundamentally, he is the original of the cove- 
 nant; the covenant of grace takes its being and beginning from Christ, he 
 is the covenant-maker, undertaker, manager, dispatcher, he doth every 
 thing in the covenant. 2. Materially, the very substance of the covenant 
 stands in this, “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Now, 
 Christ he is both these in himself; he is God unto his people, and he is 
 the people representatively unto God, and before God. 3. Equivalently, 
 many branches or fruits of the covenant are to be fulfilled to believers in 
 their season ; but, as soon as ever they are justified, Christ is said to be the 
 covenant, as a present pawn or earnest delivered into the hands of a man at 
 the very instant of his justification ; and this pawn is of equal value and 
 worth with the whole covenant when it is fulfilled to the uttermost. Thus 
 
142 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK III. 
 
 Christ, in every of these respects, is the covenant itself, he is the very peace 
 and reconciliation itself, “And this man shall be the peace, when the Assy- 
 rian shall come into our land/’ Micah 5:5. As fire is hot for itself, and 
 all tilings hot for it; as they participate of it; so Christ is the covenant 
 itself, and all we are so far in covenant to Christ, as we have any thing of 
 Christ; want Christ, and want peace, and want the covenant of grace. 
 
 2. Christ is the messenger of the covenant, “ The Lord, whom ye seek, 
 shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant 
 whom ye delight ifi,” Mai. 3 : 1. Christ travels with tidings between the 
 parties of the covenant. 1. He reports of God to us, he commends his 
 Father to us, “ My Father is the husbandman,” and “ this is the Father’s 
 will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose 
 nothing,” John 15 : 1. 6 : 39, 48. 8 : 12. And he commends himself to 
 
 us. It became the Lord Jesus to commend himself, “I am the bread of 
 life, I am the light of the world, I am the door, I am the good shepherd,” 
 John 10 : 9, 11. It is a wonderful thing how Christ is a broker (as I may 
 say) for Christ; “Wisdom crieth out, she uttereth her voice in the streets, 
 Come, eat of my bread, and drink of my wine which I have mingled,” 
 Prov. 1 : 20, and 9 : 5. Ministers cannot speak of Christ, and of his Father, 
 as he can do himself. 0 my soul, to excite thy desires, come, and hear 
 Christ, speak of Christ, and of his Father, and of heaven, for he saw all. 
 2. He reports of us to God, he commends us to his Father, 0 righteous 
 Father, the world has not known thee, but I have known thee, and these 
 have known that thou hast sent me, John 17 : 25. Christ gives a good re- 
 port of the saints in heaven ; the Father and the Son are speaking of them 
 (as I may say) behind back. And surely a good report in heaven is of 
 high esteem ; Christ tells over Ephraim’s power behind his back, “ I have 
 surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, Thou hast chastised me, 
 and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke ; turn thou me, 
 and I shall be turned, thou art the Lord my God :” And thereupon God 
 resolves, “Is Ephraim my dear son ? Is he a pleasant child? for since I 
 spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still, therefore my bowels 
 are troubled for him, I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord,” 
 Jer. 31 : 18, 20. Happy souls of whom Christ is telling good tidings in 
 heaven ! he is the angel of the covenant. 
 
 3. He is the witness of the covenant ; he saw, and heard all, “ Behold, 
 I have given him for a witness to the people,” Isa. 55 : 4. And he is called, 
 “ The faithful witness. The Amen. The faithful and true witness,” Rev. 
 1 : 5, and 3 : 24. The covenant saith, “ The Son of man came to seek, and 
 to save that which was lost;” Luke 19 : 10. Amen, saith Christ, I can wit- 
 ness that to be true. The covenant saith, Christ died, and rose again for 
 sinners; Amen, saith Christ, “ I was dead, and behold, I live for ever more,” 
 Amen, Rev. 1 : 18. There is not any thing said in the covenant, but 
 Christ is a witness to it, and therefore we read in the very end of the Bible, 
 this subscription (as I may call it) in relation to Christ, “ He which testi- 
 fied these things, saith, “Surely 1 come quickly ” Amen, Rev. 22 : 20. 
 
 4. Christ is the surety of the covenant; “In as much as not without an 
 oath he was made a priest; — By so much was Jesus made a surety of a bet- 
 ter testament,” Heb. 7 : 20, 22. The covenant of works had a promise, but 
 because it was to be broken, and done away, it hath no oath of God as this 
 hath : O doubting soul, thou sayest, “ Thy salvation is not sure ; think on 
 this scripture, thou hast the oath of God for it; it is a sworn article of the 
 covenant, “ Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved.” And 
 to this end is Christ a surety. 1. Surety for God, he undertakes, that God 
 shall fulfil his part of the covenant, “ Fear not, little flock, for it is your 
 Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom,” Luke 12:32. And 
 
chap.il] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 143 
 
 ti all that the Father giveth me, shall come to me, and him that cometh 
 unto me, I will in no wise cast out,” John 6 :37. 2. Surety for us : and 
 
 to this purpose he hath paid a ransom for us, and giveth a new heart to us, 
 and he is engaged to lose none of us, “ Those that thou gavest me, I have 
 kept, and none of them is lost,” John 17 : 12. 
 
 5. Christ is the Mediator of the covenant: the apostle calls him “ Jesus 
 the Mediator of the new covenant,” Heb. 12:24. He hath something of 
 God, as being true God ; and something of man, as sharing with us of the 
 nature of man ; hence he is a Mediator by office, and laying his hands on 
 both parties, as “a days-man doth,” Job 9:33. And in this respect he 
 is a friend, a reconciler, and a servant. 1 . A friend to both parties, he 
 hath God’s heart for man, to be gracious, and he hath man’s heart for God, 
 to satisfy justice. 2. A reconciler of both parties; he brings down God 
 to a treaty of peace, and he brings up man by a ransom paid, so that he 
 may say unto both, “ Father come down to my brethren, my kindred and 
 flesh : and thou my sister and spouse come up to my Father, and thy Fa- 
 her, to my God, and to thy God.” 3. Is a servant, to both parties, “ be- 
 hold my servant,” saith God; “ my righteous servant,” Isa. 42:1, and 
 53:11. Yea, and our servant, “ He came not to be served, but to serve, 
 and to give his life a ransom for many,” Matth. 20 : 28. 
 
 6. Christ is the testator of the covenant : he died to this very end, that 
 he might confirm the covenant, “ Wheie a testament is, there must also of 
 necessity be the death of the testator, for a testament is of force after men 
 are dead, otherwise it is of no strength at all, while the testator liveth,” 
 Heb. 9 : 16, 17. Christ then must die, and Christ’s blood must be shed, to 
 seal the covenant of grace; it is not every blood, but Christ’s blood, that 
 must seal the everlasting covenant, Heb. 13:20. And his blood being 
 shed, he is then rightly called the testator of the covenant. 
 
 0 what fuel is here to set our desires on flames ! Come, soul, and bend 
 thy desires towards Christ, as the sun-flower towards the sun, the iron to 
 the load-stone, and the load-stone to the pole star : yea, the nearer thou 
 drawest towards Christ, the more and more do thou desire after Christ; 
 true desires never determine or expire : “ He that thirsts, let him thirst 
 more, (saith Bernard, delect, evang. serm .) and he that desires, let him de- 
 sire yet more abundantly.” Is there not cause ? 0 what excellencies hast 
 
 thou found in Christ? Poor soul, thou hast undone thyself by sin, there 
 is but a stept betwixt thee and damnation, but, to save thy soul, Christ 
 “ comes leaping on the mountains, and skipping on the hill;” He enters 
 into a covenant with God, he is the covenant, the messenger of the cove- 
 nant, the witness of the covenant, the surety of the covenant, the Mediator 
 of the covenant, the Testator of the covenant, the great business, the all in 
 all in a covenant of grace. If David could say, “ My soul breaks for the 
 longings that it hath to thy judgments at all times,” Psalm 119:20, how 
 mayest thou say, “ My soul breaks for the longings that it hath to thy 
 mercies, and my Jesus at all times?” Oh I gasp for grace, as the thirsty 
 land for drops of rain ; I thirst, I faint, I languish, I long for an hearty 
 draught of the “fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabi- 
 tants of Jerusalem.” Oh that I could see Jesus flying- through the midst 
 of heaven, with the covenant in his hand ! Oh I long for that angel of the 
 covenant! I long to see such another vision as John did, when he said, 
 “ And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the ever- 
 lasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell upon the earth.” What! 
 Is that covenant in the hand of Christ? And is my name written in that 
 roll ? Say Lord, is ruv name written on the heart of Christ? Oh ! if I had 
 the glory and possession of all the world, if I had ten thousand worlds, and 
 ten thousand lives, I wuuld lay them all down, to have this poor trembling 
 
144 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK m. 
 
 soul of mine assured of this : Oh my thirst is insatiable, my bowels are hot 
 within me, my desire after Jesus in reference to the covenant, is greedy as 
 the grave, the coals thereof are coals of fire which hath a most vehement 
 flame. 
 
 Sect. IV. Of hoping in Jesus in that respect. 
 
 4. We must hope in Jesus carrying on the great work of our salvation, 
 in a way of covenant : now, what is hope but a good opinion of enjoying its 
 object? indeed a good opinion is so necessary for hope, that it makes almost 
 all its kinds and differences ; as it is greater, or lesser, so it causeth the 
 strength or weakness, the excess or defect of this passion, hope : this good 
 opinion is that which renders hope either doubtful or certain ; if certain, it 
 produceth confidence, or presumption ; presumption is nothing but an im- 
 moderate hope without a ground; but confidence is that assurance of the 
 thing hoped for, in some measure, as if we had it already in hand. Hence 
 it is, that we usually say, we have great, and strong, and good hopes, when 
 we would speak them assured ; which hath occasioned some to define it 
 thus, hope is a certain grounded confidence, that the desired good will come. 
 Not to insist on this, all the question is, whether those promises contained 
 in the covenant of grace belong unto me ? and what are the grounds and 
 foundations on which my hope is built? If the grounds be weak, then 
 hope is doubtful, or presumptuous : but if the grounds be right, then hope 
 is right, and I may cast anchor, and build upon it. 
 
 In the disquisition of these grounds, we shall only search into those 
 qualifications, which the scripture tells us they are qualified with, with 
 whom the Lord enters into a covenant of grace; and these we shall reduce, 
 1. To the condition of the covenant. 2. To the promise of the covenant. 
 As — 
 
 1. If thou art in covenant with God, then hath God wrought in thee 
 that condition of the covenant, a true, and lively, and soul-saving, and jus- 
 tifying faith. “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved,” 
 Acts 16:31. “ If thou believest, thou shalt be saved,” Rom. 10 : 9. The 
 
 promise of life contained in the covenant is made only to believers. This 
 is so sure a way of trial, that the apostle himself directs us thereunto, 
 “ Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith,” 2 Cor. 13 : 5. Ay, 
 but how shall I examine, for there are many pretenders to faith in these 
 days? Why, thus, 1. True faith will carry thee out of thyself, into Christ. 
 “ I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me,” Gal. 2 : 20. A faithful man 
 hath not life in himself, but in Christ Jesus : he hath his spiritual being in 
 the Father, and in his Son Jesus Christ, he is joined to the Lord, and is 
 one spirit ; he seeth the Father in the Son and the Son within himself, and 
 also the Father within himself through the Son ; “ know ye not that Christ 
 Jesus is in you, except ye be reprobates?” 2 Cor. 13 : 5. “ Ye shall know 
 
 me (saith Christ) that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you,” 
 John 14 : 20. By faith we enjoy the glory of union ; “ The glory which 
 thou hast given men, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we 
 are one, I in them, and thou in me,” John 17 : 22, 23. Though we have 
 not the glory of equality, yet we have the glory of likeness ; we are one 
 with Christ, and one with the Father by faith in Christ. 2. True faith 
 will carry thee beyond the world ; a believer looks on Christ overcoming 
 the world for him, and so by that faith he overcomes the world through 
 him : “ This is the victory that overcometh the world, even your faith,” 
 1 John 5 :4. Hence it is that the saints are said “ to be clothed with the 
 sun, to have the moon under their feet,” Rev. 12 : 1. When through faith 
 they are clothed with “the Sun of righteousness,” the Lord Jesus, then 
 they trample upon all sublunary things as nothing worth in comparison of 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 145 
 
 Christ. 3. True faith is ever accompanied with true love; if once by faith 
 thou apprehendest God’s love and Christ’s love to thee, thou canst not but 
 love that God, and love that Christ who loved thee, and gave himself for 
 thee; “We love him, because he first loved us,” 1 John 4 : 19. He that 
 loveth not God, hath not apprehended God’s love to him ; if ever God in 
 Christ be presented to thee for thy justification, it is such a lovely object, 
 that thou canst not but love him : “he that loveth not, knoweth not God, 
 for God is love,” 1 John 4:8. 4. True faith purifies the heart, and pur- 
 
 geth out sin. When God discovers this, that “ he will heal backsliding, 
 and love freely, and turn away his anger :” Then Ephraim shall say, “ What 
 have I anymore to do with idols?” Hos. 14:8. If ever Christ reveal 
 himself as the object of our justification, he will be sure to present him- 
 self as the pattern of our sanctification : the knowledge of God’s goodness 
 will make us in love with holiness : “ They shall fear and tremble, for all 
 the goodness, and for all the prosperity, that I procure unto them, saith 
 the Lord,” Jer. 33 : 9. The golden chain of mercy let down from heaven, 
 doth bind us faster to the service of our God. 5. Above all observe the 
 rise; true faith, if it be true, it is ever bottomed upon the sense and pain 
 of a lost condition : spiritual poverty is the nearest capacity of believing : 
 this is faith’s method, “ Be condemned to be saved, be sick, and be healed.” 
 Faith is a flower of Christ’s own planting, but it grows in no soul, but 
 only on the margin and bank of the lake of fire and brimstone, in regard 
 there is none so fit for Christ and heaven, as those who are self-sick, and 
 self-condemned to hell. “ They that be whole need not a physician (saith 
 Christ) but they that are sick,” Matth. 9 : 12. This is a foundation of 
 Christ, that because the man is broken, and hath not bread, therefore he 
 must be sold, and Christ must buy him, and take him home to his own fire- 
 side, and clothe him, and feed him there. I know, Satan argues thus, 
 “Thou art not worthy of Christ, and therefore what hast thou to do with 
 Christ? but faith concludes otherwise, I am not worthy of Christ, I am 
 out of measure sinful, I tremble at it, and I am sensible of it, and there- 
 fore ought I, and therefore must I come to Christ.” This arguing is a 
 gospel-logic, and the right method of a true and saving faith : for what is 
 faith, but the act of a sinner humbled, weary, laden, poor and self-con- 
 demned ? Oh take heed of their doctrine who make faith the act of some 
 vile person never humbled, but applying with an immediate touch, his hot, 
 boiling and smoking lusts to the bleeding blessed wounds and death of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 2. If thou art in covenant with God, then hath God fulfilled in some 
 part tbe promises of his covenant to thy soul : as — 
 
 1. Then hath God put the law into thy inward parts, and writ it in thy 
 Heart : look, as indenture answers to indenture, or as face in the glass an- 
 swers to a face, so tbe conformity of thy heart and inwards to the law of 
 God : thou obeyest God’s will, and delightest in that obedience : thou sayest 
 with David, “ I delight to do thy will, 0 God : yea, thy law is within my 
 heart,” Psalm 40 : 8. 
 
 2. Thou hast a covenant-relation to God, and a covenant-interest in God ; 
 and thou art by covenant, as one of the people of God. Christ hath thy 
 soul, thy body, thy affections, thy love to the very uttermost : God hath a 
 propriety and a peculiarity in thee : thou art Christ’s by marriage : thou 
 hast past over thyself unto him to be his jewel, his spouse, his diadem, his 
 crown, his servant, his child for ever. 
 
 3. Then art thou clearly taught to know the Lord ; thou knowest him in 
 another manner than thou didst before : “ I will establish my covenant with 
 thee, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord,” Ezek. 16 : 60, 62. There 
 is a double knowledge. 1. A speculative knowledge, and thus men may 
 
146 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK in. 
 
 know much, but they are not affected according to the things they know. 
 
 2. A practical knowledge; and thus, if we know the Lord, we shall see in 
 him that excellency and beauty, that our hearts will be affectioned towards 
 him, and we shall be able to say, that we love him with all our heart, with 
 all our soul, and with all our strength. 
 
 4. Then hath God pardoned thy sins, and he will remember thy sins no 
 more. But how should I be assured of that? Why thus, 1. If thou hast 
 sincerely confessed, bewailed, and forsaken thy sins; “Wash ye, make ye 
 clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes, cease to do 
 evil ;” — and presently it follows, “Come now, and let us reason together, 
 saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white a3 
 snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool,” Isa. 1 : 16, 
 18. To the same purpose, “ Let the wicked forsake his way, and the un- 
 righteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will 
 have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon,” 
 Isa. 55:7. 2. If thy heart after many storms and troubles be calmed and 
 
 quieted through faith in Christ, “Being justified by faith we have peace 
 with God ;” Rom. 5:1. What ! hast thou peace with God ? and hath Go l 
 stilled thy soul with peace ? This is an argument of thy sin’s pardon 
 
 3. If thine heart be singularly inflamed with the love of Christ ? the woman 
 that “ had many sins forgiven her by Christ, she loved him much,” Luke 
 7 :47. Upon that account she wept, and washed his feet with her tears, 
 and so wiped them with the hairs of her head; she kissed his feet, and 
 anointed them with ointment, nothing was too good for Christ who had for- 
 given her all her sins. 4. If thy heart and soul, and all that is within be 
 singularly enlarged to praise God for his pardons : “ Bless the Lord, 0 my 
 soul, and forget not all his benefits ! who forgiveth all thine iniquities,” 
 Psalm 103 : 1, 2, 3. If thine heart feel his pardons, thy mouth will sing 
 his praises : and hereby thou mayest be assured that God hath pardoned 
 all thy sins. 
 
 Come now, are these, 0 my soul, the grounds of thy hopes; a lively faith 
 in Jesus, an accomplishment in some measure of the promises of the covenant? 
 Why, these are the fuel of hope ; if this be thy case, act thy hope strongly 
 on Christ and on the covenant of grace : say not, hope is only of things future; 
 and therefore if I be already iu the covenant, what need I hope ? For whether 
 thou art in the covenant or no, it is the main question here; nay, though it 
 be granted, that thou art in covenant, and that hope is swallowed up in the 
 complete presence of its object; yet it is not at all diminished, but rather 
 increased by a partial preseuce. As in massy bodies, though violent motion 
 be weakest in the end ; yet natural motions are ever swiftest towards the 
 centre : so in the hopes of men, though such as are violent and groundless 
 prove weaker and weaker, yet those that are stayed and natural (or rather 
 gracious) are evermore stronger and stronger, till they procure the utmost 
 presence and union of their object. The nearer we come to fruition of a 
 good, the more impatient we are to want it. 0 then hope in Jesus ! draw 
 on thy hope yet more and more on this covenant of grace: be not content 
 only with an hope of expectation, but bring it on to an hope of confidence, 
 or assurance; thou canst not fail if thou hangest thy hope on Jesus: Christ 
 is not fastened as a loose nail, or as a broken, rotten hedge in the covenant 
 of grace ; he is there, “ As a nail in a sure place ; and they shall hang on 
 him all the glory of his Father’s house; the offspring and the issue; all 
 vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of 
 flagons,” Isa. 22 : 23, 24. Come, soul, thou art a vessel of small quantity, 
 hang all thy weight on Christ; he is a nail that cannot break. 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 147 
 
 Sect. V. — Of believing on Jesus m that respect. 
 
 5. We must believe on Jesus carrying on this great work of our salvation 
 in a way of covenant. Many a time Satan comes and hurls in a temptation, 
 ‘‘What! is it likely that God should enter into a covenant with thee ?” 
 Yea, sometimes he so rivets in this temptation, that he darkens all within, 
 and there is no light of comfort in the soul : 0 but now believe ; now, if 
 ever, is the season for faith to act ; little evidence and much adherence 
 speaks faith to purpose. We read of some who could stay themselves upon 
 the Lord, while they walked in darkness upon the margin and borders of 
 an hundred deaths. David 11 fears no evil, though he walked through the 
 valley of the shadow of death ;” for his faith told him, that “ God was with 
 him,” Psal. 23 : 4. Heman could say, “ thy wrath lieth hard upon me, 
 thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves,” Ps. 88 : 7. Sure he thought 
 God could do no more to drown him ; not only a wave or two, but all God’s 
 waves were on him, and over him, and yet he believes; “ Lord, I have 
 called daily upon thee,” verse 9. Hezekiah’s comforts were at an hard 
 pinch, “ Mine eyes fail with looking upwards : 0 Lord, I am oppressed ;” 
 yet prayer argues believing : u Lord, undertake for me,” Isa. 38 : 14. 
 Christ’s sense of comforts was ebb and low, when he wept, and cried that 
 he was forsaken of God ; yet then his faith is doubled as the cable of an 
 anchor is doubled when the storm is more than ordinary, u My God, my 
 God,” Matth. 27:46. 
 
 Poor soul ! thou standest wondering at this great condescension of God ; 
 “ What ! that God should enter into covenant with me ? What ! that God 
 should make such great and precious promises with me ? Surely these 
 comforts and these privileges are too high for me, or for any soul breathing.” — 
 It may be so, and yet be not discouraged, for God will magnify his grace, 
 and therefore he will do this great thing; all that thou hast to do, and all 
 that God requires of thee is only to believe : indeed thou hast no part in 
 Christ, no part in the covenant of grace, if thou wilt not believe : faith is 
 the condition of the covenant of grace ; and therefore either believe, or no 
 covenant. 
 
 I know it is not easy to believe ; nay, it is one of the hardest things under 
 heaven to persuade a soul into faith : What ! u will the great God* of heaven 
 
 make a covenant with such a wretch as lam? I cannot believe it.” Why ? 
 what is the matter ? u Ah ! my sins, my sins, my sins ! God is a con- 
 suming fire against such; he cannot endure to behold iniquity; little hopes 
 that ever God should enter into covenant with me.” But to help on or to 
 allure a soul in, consider, 0 thou soul, of these following passages. 
 
 1. Consider of the sweet and gracious nature of God : that which undoes 
 broken hearts, and trembling souls, it is misconceivings of God : we have 
 many times low, diminishing, extenuating thoughts of God’s goodness : but 
 we have large thoughts of his power and wrath : now to rectify these mis- 
 apprehensions, consider his name, and therein his nature, “ the Lord, the 
 Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-sufferimg, and abundant in goodness 
 and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgressions, 
 and sins; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity 
 of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children unto 
 the third and fourth generation,” Exod. 34 : 6, 7. 0 terrible text ! says 
 
 the soul ; alas, I am guilty of thousands of sins; and if this be his name, 
 1 am undone; woe to me and mine unto the third and fourth generation. 
 But consider again, and in this description of God we shall find an ocean 
 of mercy, to a drop of wrath ; a sea of oil, to an half-drop of scalding lead. 
 For, — 
 
148 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK III. 
 
 1. God doth not begin, “ The Lord, the Lord;” that will by no means 
 clear the guilty : but the Lord, the Lord, merciful and gracious, long- 
 suffering ; this is the first and greatest part of his name ; God is loth to 
 speak in justice, and wrath ; he keeps it to the last : mercy lies uppermost 
 in God’s heart; if the sentence must come, it shall be the last day of the 
 assize. 
 
 2. Many words are used to speak his goodness: “ merciful, gracious, 
 long-suffering and abundant in goodness, keeping mercy for thousands, 
 forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin :” here be six several phrases 
 to show the richness of his goodness; but when he speaks his wrath, what 
 haste makes he over it ! There are only two expressions of that; it was a 
 theme he took no delight in ; judgment is “ his work, his strange work ; 
 for he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men,” Isa. 28:21; 
 Lam. 3 : 33. * 
 
 3. There is a difference in the expression : when God speaks of mercy, 
 he expresseth it thus, “ Abundant in mercy, keeping mercy for thou- 
 sands.” But in visitiog sins, it is not to thousauds; but only to the 
 third or fourth generation. Surely u mercy rejoiceth against judgment,” 
 James 2 : 13. God would show mercy to thousands, rather than he would 
 destroy three or four. 
 
 4. What if by no means God will clear the guilty, stubbornly guilty ? 
 yet never will he destroy humble souls, that lie at his feet, and are willing 
 to have mercy on his easy terms. “ How shall I give thee up, Ephraim ? 
 How shall I deliver thee, 0 Israel ? How shall I make thee as Admah ? 
 How shall I set thee as Zeboim ? My heart is turned within me, my 
 repentings are kindled together, I will not execute the fierceness of mine 
 anger, I will not destroy Ephraim : for I am God and not man ; the Holy 
 One in the midst of thee,” Hosea 11:8, 9. 0 my soul! why standest 
 thou at a distance with God ? Why dost thou fancy a lion in the way ? 
 0 believe in God, believe in Jesus! and believe thy portion in this cove- 
 nant of grace ! have sweet and delightful thoughts of God’s nature, and 
 thou wilt not, thou canst not fly from him : some are of opinion, “ That 
 a soul may fetch more encouragements to believe, from the consideration 
 of God’s gracious and merciful nature, than from the promise itself.” 
 
 2. Consider of the sweet and gracious nature of Jesus Christ: our thoughts 
 of God are necessarily more strange than of Jesus Christ; because of our 
 infinite distance from the Godhead; but in Christ, God is come down into 
 our nature, and so infinite goodness and mercy is incarnate ; art thou afraid, 
 0 my soul, at his name, Jah, and Jehovah? 0 remember his Dame is 
 Emmanuel; the lion is here disrobed of his garment of terror; his rough 
 hair is turned into a soft wool ; see thy God disrobed of his terrible Majesty, 
 see thy God is a Man, and thy Judge is a Brother; mince Jehovah with 
 Jesus, and the serpent will be a rod. 0 that balsamy name Jesus! that 
 name that sounds healing for every wound, settlement for every distraction, 
 comfort for every sorrow : but here is the misery, souls in distress had 
 rather be poring on hell than heaven ; rather frighten themselves with 
 the terrors of justice, than staying themselves with flagons of mercy. 
 0 my soul, how canst thou more contradict the nature of Christ, and the 
 gospel description of Christ, than to think him a destroyer of men ? But 
 wherein appears the gracious nature of Christ ? I answer, In his being 
 incarnate. Oh, how could Jesus have manifested more willingness to save, 
 than that the Godhead should condescend to assume onr nature ? Surely 
 this is ten thousand times more condescension, than for the greatest king to 
 become a fly, or a toad, to save such creatures as toads or flies. 2. In his 
 tender dealing with all sorts of sinners, he professed that he u came into 
 the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 149 
 
 be saved. ” He wept over Jerusalem, saying, “0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 
 how oft would I have gathered thee, as a hen gathereth her chickens under 
 her wings? But ye would not, Matth. 23:37. I would, but ye would 
 not. And when his disciples would have had fire come down to consume 
 those that refused him, he reproves them, and tells them, “they knew not 
 what spirits they were of.” 3. In his care of his own ; not caring what he 
 suffered, so they might be saved. Alas, alas, that the Lord Jesus- should 
 pass through a life of misery, to a death more miserable, to manifest openly 
 to the world the abundance of his love; and yet that any soul should suspect 
 him of cruelty or unwillingness to show mercy? ah, my soul, believe; 
 never cry out, “ My sins, my sins, my sins;” there is a gracious nature and 
 inclination in Jesus Christ to pardon all. 
 
 3. Consider of that office of saving and showing mercy which Christ 
 hath set up; this is more than merely a gracious inclination; Christ hath 
 undertaken and set up an office, to seek and to save that which was lost: 
 to bring home straying souls to his Father, to be the great Peace-maker, 
 between God and man ; to reconcile God to man, and man to God, and so 
 to be the head and husband of his people. Is not here a world of encourage- 
 ment to believe in Jesus ? What ! to consider him as one who hath made 
 it his office to heal, and to relieve, and restore, and to reconcile : among 
 merchants, I remember they have an office of security, that if you dare not 
 adventure on seas, yet there you may be ensured, if you will but put in at 
 that office : in this manner Christ hath constituted and assumed the office 
 of being the Mediator, the Redeemer, and the Saviour of men ; he hath 
 erected and set up on purpose an office of mere love, and tender compassion 
 for the relief of all poor distressed sinners, if they dare not venture otherwise, 
 yet let them put in at this office. 0 what jealous hearts have we that will 
 not trust Christ, that will not take the word of Christ without an office of 
 security ? Surely Christ never so carried himself to any soul, that it need 
 be jealous of his love and faithfulness, yet this dear husband meets with 
 many a jealous spouse; 0 my soul take heed of this! Satan hath no 
 greater design upon thee, than to persuade thee to entertain hard thoughts 
 of Christ : believe; never say, God will not take thee into covenant; for to 
 this purpose he hath erected an office to save and show mercy. 
 
 4. Consider of those tenders and offers of Christ, those entreaties and 
 
 beseechings to accept of Christ, which are made in the gospel. What is 
 the gospel ? Or, what is the sum of all the gospel, but this ? “0 take 
 
 Christ and life in Christ, that thou mayest be saved :” What mean these 
 free offers, “ Ho, every one that thirsteth, come to the waters, and whoso- 
 ever will, let him take of the waters of life freely?” And, “ God so loved 
 the world, that he gave his only begotten Son ?” &c. God is the first 
 suitor and solicitor, he first prays the soul to take Christ. Hark at the 
 door ! who is it that knocks there ? Who is it that calls now, even now? 
 “ Open unto me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled, for my head 
 is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night,” Sol. Songs, 
 5:2. See him through the windows, this can be none but Christ; his 
 sweet language, of sister, love, and dove, bespeaks him Christ; his suffering 
 language, “ That his head is filled with dew, and his locks with the drops 
 of the night,” bespeaks him Christ; but hearken the motion he makes to 
 thy soul, “Soul ! consider what price I have given to save thee; this my 
 body was crucified, my hands and my feet nailed, my heart pierced, and 
 through anguish 1 was forced to cry, “ My soul is heavy, heavy unto death, 
 aud now what remains for thee, but only to believe? See all things ready 
 on my part, remission, justification, sanctification, salvation; I will be thy 
 God, aud thou shalt be of the number of my people ; I offer now myself and 
 merits, and benefits flowing therefrom, and I entreat thee accept of this ofler. 
 
150 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK III 
 
 O take Christ and life, and salvation in Christ.” What, is this the voice 
 of my beloved? Are these the entreaties of Jesus? And, 0 my soul, 
 wilt thou not believe ? Wilt thou jiot accept of this gracious offer of Christ ? 
 0 consider who is this that proclaimed, inviteth, beseecheth ? If a poor 
 man should offer thee mountains of gold, thou mightest doubt of perform- 
 ance, because he is not of that power; if a covetous rich man should offer 
 thee thousands of silver, thou mightest doubt of performance ; because it is 
 contrary to his nature: but Christ is neither poor nor covetous ; as he is 
 able, so his name is gracious, and his nature is to be faithful in performance ; 
 his covevant is sealed with his blood, and confirmed by his oath, That all 
 shall have pardon that "will but come in and believe : 0 then let these words 
 of Christ, “Whose lips like lilies are dropping down pure myrrh,” prevail 
 with thy soul; say Amen to his offer, “ I believe, Lord help my unbelief.” 
 
 5. Consider of these commands of Christ, which notwithstanding all thy 
 excuses and pretences, he fastens on thee to believe: “And this is his 
 commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus 
 Christ.” Surely this command should infinitely out-weigh and prevail 
 against all other countermands of flesh and blood ; of Satan, nature, reason, 
 sense, and all the world. Why, this command is thy very ground and 
 warrant, against which the very gates of hell can never possibly prevail. 
 When Abraham had a command to kill his own, only dear son, with his 
 -own hand, though it was a matter of as great grief as possibly could pierce 
 his heart, yet he would readily and willingly submit to it; how much more 
 shouldst thou obey, when God commands no more but that thou shouldst 
 “ believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ?” There is no evil in this 
 command; No, no, it comprehends in it all good imaginable; have Christ, 
 and thou hast with him the excellency and variety of all blessings both of 
 heaven and of earth; have Christ, and thou hast with him a discharge of 
 all those endless and easeless torments of hell ; have Christ, and thou hast 
 with him the glorious Deity itself, to be enjoyed through him to all eternity. 
 O then believe in Jesus! suffer not the devil’s cavils, and the groundless 
 exceptions of thine own heart to prevail with thee against the direct com- 
 mandment of the Almighty God. 
 
 6. Consider of these messages of Christ, which he daily sends by the 
 
 hands of his gospel-ministers. “ Now then we are ambassadors for Christ; 
 as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you, in Christ’s stead, be 
 ye reconciled unto God,” 2 Cor. 5:20. What a wonder is here ! would 
 not an earthly prince disdain and hold it in full scorn to send unto his in- 
 ferior rebellious slaves for reconcilement ? It is otherwise with Christ, he 
 is content to put up at our hands all indignities and affronts; he is glad to 
 sue to us first, and to send his ambassadors day after day, beseeching us 
 to be reconciled unto him; 0 incomprehensible depth of unspeakable 
 mercy and encouragement to come to Christ. That I may digress a little, 
 say thou that readest, Wilt thou take Christ to thy bridegroom, and forsake 
 all others ; this is the message which God hath bid me (unworthy ambassa- 
 dor) to deliver to thee ; the Lord Jesus expects an answer from thee, and I 
 should be glad at heart to return a fit answer to him that sent me ; say 
 then, Dost thou like well of the match ? Wilt thou have Christ for thy 
 husband ? Wilt thou enter into covenant with him ? Wilt thou surrender 
 up thy soul to thy God ? Wilt thou rely on Christ, and apply Christ’s 
 merits particularly to thyself? Wilt thou believe? for that is it I mean by 
 “ taking and receiving, and marrying of Christ Oh, happy I, if I could 
 but join Christ and thy soul together this day ! 0 happy thou, if thou 
 
 wouldst this day be persuaded by a poor ambassador of Christ ! Blame me 
 not if I am an importunate messenger ; if ever I hear from thee, let me 
 hear some good news, that I may return it to heaven, and give God the 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 151 
 
 glory. Come ! say on ! art thou willing to have Christ ? Wouldst thou 
 have thy name enrolled in the covenant of grace ? Shall God be thy God, 
 and Christ thy Christ ? Wilt thou have the person of Christ, and all those 
 privileges flowing from the blood of Christ? Sure thou art willing, art thou 
 not ? Stay then, thou must take Christ on these terms, thou must believe 
 on him, i. e. thou must take him as thy Saviour and Lord, thou must take 
 him, and forsake all others for him. This is true faith, the condition of the 
 covenant : 0 believe in Jesus, and the match is made, the bands are struck, 
 the covenant is established, and all doubts removed. 
 
 Sect. VI. — Of loving Jesus in that respect. 
 
 6. We must love Jesus as carrying on this great work of our salvation 
 in a way of covenant. I know love is reckoned as the first or fundamental 
 passion of all the rest; some call it the first springing and outgoing 
 affection of the soul ; and therefore I might have put it in the first place 
 before hope or desire, but I choose rather to place it in this method, as 
 methinks most agreeing, if not to the order of nature, yet to the spiritual 
 workings, as they appear in my soul : when a good is propounded, first, 
 I desire, and then I hope, and then I believe, and then I love. And 
 some describing this spiritual love : they tell me, u It is an holy disposi- 
 tion of the heart, arising from faith.” (Dr. Preston of love.) But to 
 let these niceties pass for a spider’s web, curious, but thin, certain it is 
 that I cannot believe all these transactions of God by Christ in a covenant- 
 way for me, but I must needs love that God, and love that Christ, who 
 hath thus firstly and freely loved my soul : Go on then, 0 my soul, put 
 fire to the hearth, blow on thy little spark, set before thee God’s love, and 
 thou canst not but love, and therein consider, 1. The time. 2. The pro- 
 perties. 3. The effects of God’s love. 1. For the time; he loved thee 
 before the world was made : hast thou not heard, and wilt thou ever forget 
 it ? Were not these ancient loves from all eternity admirable, astonishing, 
 ravishing loves ? 2. He loved thee in the very beginning of the world ; 
 
 was not the promise expressed to Adam, intended for thee ? As thou 
 sinnedst in his loins, so didst thou not in his loins receive the promise, “ It 
 shall bruise thy head ?” And not long after, when God established his 
 covenant with Abraham and his seed, wast thou not one of that seed of 
 Abraham ? “ If ye are Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs 
 
 according to the promise,” Gal. 3 : 29. 3. He loves thee now more espe- 
 
 cially, not only with a love of benevolence, as before, but with a love of 
 complacency : uot only hath he struck covenant with Christ, with Adam, 
 with Abraham in thy behalf ; but particularly and personally with thyself; 
 and 0, what a love is this ! If a woman, lately conceiving, love her future 
 fruits, how much more doth she love it when it is born and embraced in her 
 arms ? So if God loved thee before thou hadst a being ; yea, before the 
 world, or any creature in it had a being, how much more now ! 0 the 
 
 height, and depth, and length, and breadth of this immeasurable love ! 0, 
 
 my soul, I cannot express the loves of God in Christ to thee ; I but draw 
 the picture of the sun with a coal, when I endeavor to express God’s love in 
 Christ. 
 
 1. For the properties of this love. 1. God’s love to thee is an eternal 
 love. He was thinking in his eternity of thee in this manner. 11 At such 
 a time, there shall be such a man, and such a woman living on the earth. 
 In the last times such a one (I mean thou that readest, if thou believest) 
 and to that soul I will reveal myself, and communicate my loves ; to that 
 soul I will offer Christ, and give it the hand of faith to lay hold on Christ ; 
 and to that purpose now I write down thy name in the book of life, and 
 none shall be able to blot it out again.” Oh, eternal love ! Oh, the 
 
 \ 
 
152 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK III. 
 
 blessed transactions between the Father, and the Son, from all eternity, to 
 manifest his love to thy very soul ! 
 
 2. God’s love to thee is a choice love : it is an elective separating love : 
 when he passed by and left many thousands, then, even then, he set 
 his heart on thee; “Was not, Esau Jacob’s brother, saith God? Yet I 
 loved Jacob and hated Esau.” Mai. 12 : 3. So, wert not thou such a one’s 
 brother, or such a one’s sister that remained wicked and ungodly ? Wert 
 thou not of such a family, whereas many, or some, are passed by, and yet 
 God hath loved thee, and pitched his love on thee ? Surely this is choice 
 love. 
 
 3. God’s love to thee is a free love : “ I will love them freely,” saith 
 God, Hos. 14:4. “And the Lord did not set his love upon you, and 
 choose you, because ye were more in number than any people, — but because 
 the Lord loved you,” Deut. 7 : 7, 8. There can be no other reason why the 
 Lord loved thee, but because he loved thee ; we use to say, This is a wo- 
 man’s reason ; “ I will do it because I will do it.” But here we find it is 
 God’s reason, though it may seem strange arguing, yet Moses can go no 
 higher ; he loved thee, why ? Because he loved thee. 
 
 4. God’s love to thee is love of all relations ; look what a friend’s love 
 is to a friend ; or what a father’s love is toward a child ; or what a husband’s 
 love is towards a wife, such is God’s love to thee ; thou art his friend, his 
 son, his daughter, his spouse : and God is thy all in all. 
 
 3. For the effects of his love, 1. God so loves thee, as that he hath en- 
 tered into a covenant with thee. 0 what a love was this! Tell me, 0 my 
 soul, is there not an infinite disparity betwixt God and thee ? He is God 
 above, and thou art a worm below : “ He is the high and lofty One, that 
 inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy,” and thou art less than the least 
 of all the mercies of God ; 0 wonder at such a condescension ! that such a 
 potter, and such a former of things should come on terms of bargaining with 
 such clay, as is guilty before him ! had we the tongues of men and angels, 
 we could never express it. 
 
 2. God so loves thee, as that in the covenant he gives thee all his pro- 
 mises; indeed what is the covenant but an accumulation, or heap of pro- 
 mises ! As a cluster of stars makes a constellation, so a mass of promises 
 concurreth in the covenant of grace : wherever Christ is, clusters of divine 
 promises grow out of him ; as the motes, rays, and beams, are from the sun. 
 I shall instance in some few, As — 
 
 1. God in the covenant gives the world. “All is yours, whether Paul, 
 
 or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world,” 1 Cor. 3 : 22. “ First seek the king- 
 
 dom of God and his righteousness ; and all these things shall be added 
 unto you,” Matth. 6 : 33. These temporary blessings are a part of the 
 covenant, which God hath made to his people, “ It is he that giveth thee 
 power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore 
 unto thy fathers,” Deut. 8 : 18. Others, I know, may have the world, but 
 they have it not by a covenant right; it may be thou hast but a little, a 
 very little of the world ; well, but thou hast it by a covenaut-right, and so 
 it is an earnest of all the rest. 
 
 2. As God in the covenant gives thee the world, so in comparison of thee 
 and his other saints, he cares not what becomes of all the world. “ I loved 
 thee, saith God, therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life ;” 
 Isa. 43 : 4. If the case be so, that it cannot be well with thee, but great 
 evils must come upon others, kindred, people, and nations, “I do not so 
 much care for them, saith God, my heart is on thee, so as in comparison 
 of thee, I care not what becomes of all the world;” 0 the love of God to 
 liis saints ! 
 
 3. God in the covenant pardons thy sins, this is another fruit of God’s 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 153 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 love, 11 Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins by his own 
 blood,” Rev. 1:5. It cost him dear to pardon our sins, even the heart- 
 blood of Christ, such were the transactions betwixt God and Christ. If 
 thou would take upon thee to deliver souls from sin, saith God to his Son, 
 thou must come thyself and be made a curse for their sins : Well, saith 
 Christ, Thy will be done in it, though I lose my life, though it cost me the 
 best blood iu my heart, yet let me deliver them from sin, this exceedingly 
 heightens Christ’s love; that he should foresee their sin; and that yet he 
 should love ; many times we set our love on some untoward unthankful 
 creatures, and we say, Could I have but foreseen this untowardness, they 
 should never have had my love ; but now the Lord did foresee all thy sins, 
 and all thy ill requitals for love, and yet it did not once hinder his love 
 towards thee, but he puts this in the covenant, “ 1 will forgive thine iniqui- 
 ties, and I will remember their sins no more.” 
 
 4. God in the covenant gives thee holiness and sanctification, “ 1 will 
 sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean : from all your filthi- 
 ness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you,” Ezek. 36 : 25. This holi- 
 ness is our excellency in the eyes of men and angels : this is the crown and 
 diadem upon the heads of saints; whence David calls them, by the name 
 of “ excellent ones,” Psal. 16 : 3. Holiness is a “ Spirit of glory,” 1 Pet. 
 
 4 : 14. It is the delight of God ; as a father delights himself in seeing his 
 own image in his children, so God delights himself in the holiness of his 
 saints; God loved them before with a love of benevolence and goodwill, 
 but now he loves them with a love of complacency, “The Lord takes plea- 
 sure in those that fear him ; the Lord takes pleasure in his people,” Psal. 
 147 : 11, and 149 : 4. Holiness is the very essence of God, the divine 
 nature of God. 0 ! what is this, that God should put his own nature into 
 thee? You are partakers of the divine nature, 0 what a love is this, That 
 God should put his own life into thee ! That he should enable thee to live 
 the very same life that he himself lives ! Remember that piece of the cove- 
 nant, “ I will put my law into their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.” 
 
 5. God in the covenant gives thee the knowledge of himself : it may be 
 that thou knewest him before, but it is another kind of knowledge that now 
 God gives thee than thou hadst before : when God teaches the soul to know 
 him, it looks on him with another eye, it sees now another beauty in God 
 than ever it saw before, for all that knowledge that it had before bred not 
 love; only covenant-knowledge of God, works in the soul a true love of 
 God. But how doth his covenant-knowledge work this love ? I shall tell 
 you my own experiences. I go through all the virtues, graces, and excellen- 
 cies that are most amiable; and I look in the scriptures, and these I find 
 in God alone ; if ever I saw any excellency in any man, or in any creature, 
 I think with myself there is more in God that made that creature ; “ he that 
 made the eye shall he not see?” And so he that made that loveliness, is 
 not he lovely? Now, when by these mediums I have presented God thus 
 lovely to my soul, then I begin to feel my heart to warm. As, when I 
 conceive such an idea of a man, that he is of such a carriage, behavior, dis- 
 position; that he hath a mind thus and thus framed, qualified, and beauti- 
 fied, why then I love him; so when I apprehend the Lord aright, when I 
 observe him as he is described in his word, when I observe his doings, and 
 consider his workings, and learn from all these together a right idea, opinion, 
 or apprehension of him, then my will follows my understanding, and my 
 affectious follow them both, and I come to love God, and to delight in God; 
 0 here is a sweet knowledge ! surely it was God’s love in Christ to put this 
 blessed article into the covenant of grace, “ they shall all know me from the 
 least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord.” 
 
 6. God in the covenant of grace gives thee his Son : “ God so loved the 
 
154 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK III. 
 
 world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him 
 should not perish, but have everlasting life,” John 3 : 16. Nay more, as 
 God hath given thee his Son, so he hath given thee himself. 0 my soul, 
 wouldst thou not thiuk it marvellous love, if God should say to thee, “ Come, 
 soul, I will give thee all the world for thy portion ; or that 1 may give thee 
 a testimony that I love thee, I will make another world for thy sake, and 
 will make thee emperor of it also.” Surely thou wouldst say, God loves 
 me dearly; ay, but in that God hath given thee his Son, and given thee 
 himself, this is a greater degree of love. Christians, stand amazed ! Oh 
 what love is this to the children of men ? Oh that we should live to have 
 our ears filled with this sound from heaven ? “I will be a God to thee, and 
 to thy seed after thee. I am the Lord thy God. I will be their God, and 
 they shall be my people.” 0 my soul ! where hast thou been ? Rouse up, 
 and recollect, and set before thee all the passages of God’s love in Christ; 
 are not these strong attractives to gain thy loves ? What wilt thou do ? 
 Canst thou choose to love the Lord thy God ? Shall not all this love of God 
 in Christ to thee constrain thy love ? It is the expression of the apostle, 
 ‘‘The love of Christ constrains us,” 2 Cor. 5 : 14. God in Christ is the 
 very element of love, and whither should love go but to the element? Air 
 goes to air, and earth to earth, and all the rivers to the sea : every element 
 will to its proper place. Now, “ God is love,” 1 John 4 : 16. And whither 
 should thy love be carried but to the ocean or sea of love ? “ Come, my be- 
 loved, (saith the spouse to Christ) let us get up early to the vineyards, let 
 us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grapes appear, there will I 
 give thee my loves,” Sol. Song 7 : 12. The flourishing of the vine, and 
 the appearing of the tender grapes, are the fruit of the graces of God in the 
 assemblies of his saints: now, wheresoever these things appear, whether in 
 assemblies, or in secret ordinances : then and “ there (saith the bride) will 
 I give Christ my loves.” When thou comest to the word, prayer, medita- 
 tion, be sure of this, to give Christ thy love : What? Does Christ manifest 
 his presence ? Is there auy abounding of his graces there ? 0 let thy 
 
 love abound ; by how much more thou feelest God’s love towards thee, by 
 so much more do thou love thy God again. Many sins being forgiven, 
 how shouldst thou but love much ? 
 
 Sect. YII. — Of joying in Jesus in that respect. 
 
 7. We must joy in Jesus, as carrying on the great work of our salvation 
 in a way of covenant. I know our joy here is but in part; such is the ex- 
 cellency of spiritual joy, that it is reserved for heaven ; God will not per- 
 mit it to be pure and perfect here below; and yet such as it is (though 
 mingled with cares and pains) it is a blessed duty; it is the light of our 
 souls; and were it quite taken away, our lives would be nothing but horror 
 and confusion. 0 my soul, if thou didst not hope to encounter joy in all 
 thy acts, thou wouldst remain languishing and immovable, thou wouldst be 
 without action and vigor, thou wouldst speak no more of Jesus, or of a cov- 
 enant of grace, or of God, or Christ, or life, or glory. Well, then go on, 0 
 my soul, and joy in Jesus; if thou lovest him, what should hinder thy re- 
 joicing in him ? It is a maxim, That as love proceeds, so if there be nothing 
 which restrains the appetite, it always goes from love to joy. One motion 
 of the appetite towards good is to be united to it; and the next appetite to- 
 wards good is to enjoy it : Now, love consists in union, and joy in fruition, for 
 what is fruition but a joy that we find in the possession of a thing we love ? 
 Much ado there is amongst philosophers concerning the differences of love and 
 joy. Some give it thus; as is the motion of fluid bodies which run towards 
 their centre, and think to find their rest there ; they being there, they stop not ; 
 and therefore they return, and scatter themselves on themselves, they swell and 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 155 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 overflow : so, in the passion of love, the appetite runs to the beloved object, 
 and unites itself to it, aud yet its motion ends not there ; for by this passion 
 of joy it returns the same way : again it scatters itself on itself, and over- 
 flows those powers which are nearest to it : by this effusion the soul doubles 
 on the image of the good it hath received, and so it thiuks to possess it the 
 more ; it distils itself into that faculty which first acquainted it with the 
 knowledge of the object, and by that means it makes all the parts of the 
 soul concur to the possession of it. Hence they say, That joy is an effusion 
 of the appetite, whereby the soul spreads itself on what is good, to possess it 
 the more perfectly. 
 
 But not to stay in the inquiry of its nature, 0 my soul be thou in the 
 exercise of the joy. Is there not cause ? Come, see and own thy blessedness ; 
 take notice of the great things the Lord hath done for thee. As, 1. He 
 bath made a covenant with thee of temporal mercies, thou hast all thou hast 
 by free-holding of covenant-grace ; thy bread is by covenant, thy sleep is by 
 covenant, thy safety from sword is by the covenant, the very tilling of thy 
 land is by a covenant of grace, Ezek. 36 : 34. 0 how sweet is this ! every 
 
 crumb is from Christ, and by virtue of a covenant of grace. 2. He hath 
 made a covenant with thee of spiritual mercies : even a covenant of peace, 
 and grace, and blessing, and life for evermore. God is become thy God, he 
 is all things to thee ; he hath forgiven thy sins, he hath given thee his Spirit, 
 to lead thee, to sanctify thee, to uphold thee in that state wherein thou 
 standest, and at last he will bring thee to a full enjoyment of himself in 
 glory, where thou sbalt bless him, and rejoice before him, with joy unspeak- 
 able and full of glory. 0 pluck up thy heart, lift up thy head, strengthen 
 the weak hands and the feeble knees; serve the Lord with gladness and joy- 
 fulness of spirit, considering the day of thy salvation draweth nigh : write 
 it in letters of gold, that thy God is in covenant with thee, to love thee, to 
 bless thee, and to save thee. Yet a little while, and he that shall come will 
 come, and receive thee to himself, and then thou shalt fully know what it is 
 to have God to be thy God, or to be in covenant with God. I know these 
 objects rejoice not every heart; a man out of covenant, if he look on God he 
 is a consuming fire; if on the law, it is a sentence of condemnation ; if on 
 the earth, it brings forth thorns by reason of sins; if on heaven, the gate is 
 shut; if on the signs of heaven, fire, meteors, thunder, strike in him a ter- 
 ror. But 0 my soul, this is not thy case ; a man in covenant with God 
 looks on all these things with another eye; if he looks on God, he saith, 
 This is my Father ; if on Christ, This is my elder brother ; if on angels, 
 these are my keepers; if on heaven, this is my house; if on the signs of 
 heaven, fire, meteors, thunder, These are but the effects of my father’s pow- 
 er; if on the law, The Sou of God hath fulfilled it for me; if on prosperity, 
 God hath yet better things for me in store ; if on adversity, Jesus Christ 
 hath suffered much more for me than this ; if on the devil, death and hell, 
 he saith with the apostle, w 0 death, where is thy sting ? 0 grave (or hell,) 
 where is thy victory V* 1 Cor. 15 : 55. Come, poor soul, is it not thus with 
 thee? What! art thou in covenant with God? Or art thou not? If yet 
 thou doubtest, review thy grounds of hope, and leave not there, till thou 
 comest up to some measure of assurance : but if thou art persuaded of thy 
 interest, 0 then rejoice therein ; is it not a gospel-duty “ to rejoice in the 
 Lord, and again to rejoice ?” Phil. 4 : 4. The Lord is delighted in thy de- 
 lights, he would fain have it thy constant frame and daily business to live 
 in joy, and to be always delighting thyself in him. 
 
 This one promise, u I am the Lord thy God/’ is enough to cause thy ap- 
 petite to run to it, and to unite itself to it by love, and to scatter itself on it, 
 and to overflow those powers of the soul that are nearest to it, that every 
 part of the soul may concur to the possession of it. “ Bless the Lord, O 
 
156 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 BOOK m. 
 
 my soul, (saith David,) and all that is within me, bless his holy name/’ 
 Psalm 103 : 1. So rejoice in the Lord, 0 my soul and all that is within me 
 rejoice in the name of God : this i§ true joy, when the soul unites itself to 
 the good possessed in all its parts : and was there ever such an object of 
 true joy as this ? Hark, as if heaven opened, and the voice came from God 
 in heaven, 11 1 will be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee, I am the 
 Lord thy God, and I will be thy God.” What, doth not thy heart leap in 
 thy bosom at this sound ? John the Baptist leaped in his mother’s womb 
 for joy at the sound of Mary’s voice, and doth not thy soul spring within 
 thee, at this voice of God ? O wonder ! some can delight themselves in sin, 
 and is not God better than sin ? Others more refined, and indeed sanctified, 
 can delight themselves in remission of sin ; grace, pardon, holiness, fore- 
 thoughts of heaven ; bow exceedingly have some gracious hearts been 
 ravished with such thoughts ! But is not God the objective happiness, the 
 fountain of blessedness, more rejoicing than all these ? Why, dear soul, if 
 there be in thee any rejoicing faculty, now awake and stir it up : it is the 
 Lord thy God, whom thou art to rejoice in : it is he whom the glorious 
 spirits joy in : it is he who is the top of heaven’s joy, their exceeding joy : 
 and it is he who is thy God as well as their God : enough ! enough ! or if 
 this be not enough, hear thy duty as the Lord commands thee, “ Bejoice 
 in the Lord, Phil. 3:1. Be glad, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the 
 Lord your God, Joel 2 : 23. Bejoice in the Lord, all ye righteous, for 
 ■praise is comely for the upright, Psalm 33 : 1. Bejoice in the Lord, ye 
 righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness, Psal. 
 97 : 12. Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice, let them 
 ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them ; let them also that love 
 thy name, be joyful in thee, Psal. 5:11. Let the righteous be glad, let 
 them rejoice before God; yea, let them exceedingly rejoice, Psal. 68:3. 
 Glory ye in his holy name, let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord, 
 Psal. 105 :3. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him, let the children of 
 Zion be joyful in their King, Psal. 149 : 2. Be glad in the Lord and re- 
 joice, 0 ye righteous, and shout for joy, all ye that are upright iu heart,” 
 Psal. 32:11. 0 what pressing commands are these ! 
 
 Sect. YIII. — Of calling on Jesus in that respect. 
 
 8. We must call on Jesus, or on God the Father, in and through Jesus, 
 in reference to this gracious covenant. Now, this calling on God contains 
 prayer and praise. 
 
 1. We must pray, we must use arguments of faith challenging God, 
 u Turn thou me, and I shall be turned; Why? For thou art the Lord my 
 God,” Jer. 31 : 18. This covenant is the ground on which all prayers 
 must be bottomed : the covenant we know contains all the promises, and 
 what is prayer but promises turned into petitions? Thus prayed the pro- 
 phet Jeremiah, 14 : 21, 22, “Do not abhor us for thy name’s sake, do not 
 disgrace the throne of thy glory; remember, break not thy covenant with 
 us. — Why? art not thou he, the Lord our God.” And thus prayed the 
 prophet Isaiah, 64 : 9. “ Be not wroth very sore, neither remember iniquity 
 
 for ever, behold we beseech thee;’' and why so? “we are all thy people,” 
 q. d. Every one doeth for its own ; the prince for his people, the father for 
 his children, and the shepherd for his sheep; and will not God do for his 
 own in covenant with him ? Be thy soul in the saddest desertion, yet come 
 and spread the covenant before God. A soul in the greatest depth, swim- 
 ming on this covenant of grace, it keeps it from sinking, whence Christ in 
 his blackest, saddest hour prayed thus, “ My God, my God, why hast thou 
 forsaken me ?” Be thy soul in trouble for sin, and prevailing corruption ; 
 yet go to God and plead his promise and covenant; say as Jehoshaphat, 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 157 
 
 CHAP. Il ] 
 
 “Lord, I am so borne down by the power of my sin that I know not whnt 
 to do, only miue eyes are unto thee, 0 do thou subdue mine iniquities; ” 
 v ]3e thy soul troubled for want of strength to do this or that duty; yet go 
 to God and Christ in the covenant of grace, and say, “ Lord, thou know- 
 est 1 have no strength of myself, I am a barren wilderness, but thou hast 
 entered into a covenant of grace with me, that thou wilt put thy law into 
 my inward parts, thou wilt cause me to keep thy judgments (and do them,”) 
 Ezek. 36 : 27. As sometimes thou saidst to Gideon, “ I have sent thee, 
 and therefore I will be with thee,” Judges 6 : 16. Many are apt to set upon 
 duties iu their own strength ; but, 0 my soul, look thou to the promises 
 of grace, and of the Spirit, and put them in suit, and allege them unto 
 Christ. Many are apt to work out their sanctifications, by their watchful- 
 ness, resolutions, vows, promises made unto God ; but alas, were there not 
 more help in God’s promises which he makes to us, than in our promises 
 which we make to him, we might lie in our pollutions for ever. 0 here is 
 the way, in every want, or strait, or necessity, flee to God and Christ, say- 
 ing, “Thou art our Father, and we are thy people, 0 break not thy cove- 
 nant with us.” I confess strong expressions and affections are good in 
 prayer ; but surely strength of faith in the covenant of God, is the greatest 
 subject of our prayers. 
 
 Object. Here it may be some soul will object, 0 if I were assured, that 
 I were in covenant with God, thus would 1 pray; but, alas, I am a stran- 
 ger, an alien, and so have been to this very day, I have no part in the 
 covenant. 
 
 Answ. I answer, If thou art not actually in covenant, yet thou mayest 
 be in covenant in respect of God’s purpose and gracious intention. How- 
 soever to encourage all to seek unto God, consider these particulars, — 
 
 1. The freeness of the promise in this covenant of grace, “Come, and 
 buy wine without money, or money worth,” Isa. 55 : 1. “ Come, and drink 
 of the waters of life freely,” Rev. 22 : 17. 
 
 2. The extent of the promise in this covenant of grace, I “will pour out 
 my Spirit upon all flesh;” hence the gospel is compared to a feast, and God 
 invites universally, “As many as you find, bid to the marriage,” Matth. 
 22:9. As persons are in estate, so they invite, and so they feast: now 
 Christ is a great king over all the earth ; he hath one house that will hold 
 all ; he hath one table that will hold all ; yea, he hath one dish that will 
 serve all; and, answerably he invites all, “ Ho every one that thirsteth.” 
 
 3. The forwardness of Christ that giveth to every one that asketh accord- 
 ing to his promise. “Iladst thou but asked, (said Christ to the Samaritan 
 woman) I would have given thee living water,” John 4 : 10. Mark here 
 the occasion of Christ’s words; Christ, being weary and thirsty by reason 
 of his journey, he asked of the woman a cup of water to drink ; no great 
 matter, he asks but a cup of water, and the woman stands at the well-side 
 where was water enough ; yet she gives not, but stands wonderiug that he, 
 being a Jew, should ask water of her that was a Samaritan; well, saitli 
 Christ, thou deniest me a cup of cold water, being weary and thirsty; but 
 haust thou asked of me, I would have given thee water of life : wonderful ! 
 Christ is more ready to give water of life, the very Spirit of God, to a poor 
 sinner, than we are to give a cup of common water to a thirsty soul : go 
 theu, thou that hast denied the least mercy and kindness to Christ in any 
 of his members, yet seek grace from him, 0 look up unto Jesus ! ask his 
 Spirit, entreat him to make thy heart new within thee, plead the promise 
 ot his covenant, and wait in hope. 
 
 4. We must praise : 1. If we would have the blessing let us seek it with 
 the same mind that God offers it, i. e. with a purpose and desire to have 
 grace exalted ; thus Moses sought pardon for this very end, That his mercy 
 
158 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK in. 
 
 might appear ; “If thou wilt pardon their sin, thy mercy shall appear, and 
 we shall be thankful unto thee for it/' Exod. 32 : 32. So the words are 
 made out by our expositors, which, in the text, are either passionately or 
 modestly suspended. These are prevailing requests with God, when we 
 plead for the glorifying of his own grace, “ Father, glorify thy name,” saifch 
 Christ, and presently there cometh a voice out of the cloud, “I have glori- 
 fied it, and I will glorify it again,” John 12 : 28. 2. If we have the bless- 
 ing already, then be sure to ascribe the glory unto him that hath made good 
 this promise unto us, “ Who is a God like unto thee, who passest by the 
 transgressions of the remnant of thy heritage ?” Micah 7 : 18. We should 
 make the praise of his grace to ring through the world, that heaven and 
 earth might take notice of it, and wonder at the grace that hath been showed 
 unto us, “ I will mention the loving kindness of the Lord, and the praises 
 of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the 
 great goodness towards the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them, 
 according to his mercies; and according to the multitude of his loving kind- 
 nesses,” Isaiah 63 : 7. See how the prophet mentions the kindnesses, the 
 loving kindnesses, the multitude of his loving kindnesses : the goodness and 
 the great gooduess of God : he could hardly get off it, he would have God 
 and grace to have all the glory : 0 my soul, hath God entered thee into a 
 covenant of grace? Why then, “Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and all that 
 is within me, bless his holy name,” Ps. 103 : 1. But of this more anon. 
 
 Sect. IX. — Of conforming to Jesus in that respect. 
 
 9. We must conform to Jesus, in reference to this covenant of grace. 
 “We are changed by beholding, into the same image,” 2 Cor. 3 : 18. If 
 we look unto Jesus in this respect, this look will have such an influence 
 upon us, that we shall conform to Jesus, but wherein consists this confor- 
 mity ? I answer in these several particulars. 
 
 1. God in Christ offers his covenant to us; so we, through Christ, should 
 embrace his offer. 
 
 2. God in Christ keeps covenant with us ; so we, through Christ, should 
 be careful to keep covenant with him. 
 
 3. God in Christ hath highly honored us, as we are his people; so we, 
 through Christ, should highly honor him, as he is our God. 
 
 1. God in Christ offers a covenant of grace to us, so we through Christ, 
 should embrace this gracious offer. His offers have appeared, from first to 
 last, as 1. To Adam. 2. To Abraham. 3. To Moses. 4. To David. 5. 
 To Israel and to Judah. Take notice of it in that great promise of the 
 covenant, “I will be thy God,” q. d. “Come, soul, if thou wilt but have 
 me, I am thine; here, I offer myself, my Son, my Spirit, justification, sanc- 
 tification, adoption, salvation ; whatsoever I am, or whatsoever I have, all 
 is thine, if thou wilt but accept of me : look over all this wide, wide world ; 
 and if there be any thing in it that can please thy soul, and when thou hast 
 gone through all the world, then come and take a view of me, and see me 
 in my glory, beauty, and excellency ; view me in my attributes, and see if 
 thou fiudest not enough in me worthy of thy acceptance : all this, and more 
 than this, nay more than eye can see, or ear can hear, or heart conceive, I 
 offer to thee, if thou wilt but have me, lo, I will be thy God.” So Chris- 
 tians, God is first with us, he is the first mover, he begins with us before we 
 begin with him, “ I will bring them (saith God) into the bond of the cove- 
 nant.” Now, in this let us conform; doth he offer? 0 let us embrace the 
 offer ! doth he lead the way ? 0 let us follow him step by step in that very 
 way as he goes before us ! let not us prescribe unto God, let not us presume 
 to appoint the conditions of the covenant; let us not seek to wind about the 
 promise of grace to our own mind and will, let us not say, We will have it 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 159 
 
 thus, and thus it shall be, or else we will admit of no conditions of peace : 
 but, 0 come take God and Christ on his own terms ; submit to that way of 
 the covenant, and to those conditions of peace which the Lord prescribeth. 
 Why ? this is to conform to his gracious offer. There is much in this offer 
 of Christ, and conforming to Christ, therefore give me leave to enlarge. As 
 in the offer God usually scatters some little seeds of faith in the hearts of 
 those that he will bring to himself ; so it is worth while to observe the work 
 of faith in receiving and accepting of this gracious offer: only I shall not 
 herein limit the Lord, but I will show what some conceive the most usual 
 and ordinary course of faith’s working, and of the soul’s conforming to Jesus 
 Christ in its closing with Christ, as thus, 
 
 1. Faith hearing the great things proposed in the covenant of grace, it 
 
 stirs up in the heart a serious consideration of their blessed condition that 
 are in covenant with God. “ Blessed art thou, 0 Israel, a people saved by 
 the Lord,” Deut. 33 : 29. “ What nation in the earth is like thy people, 
 
 even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself,” 2 
 Sam. 7 : 23. Time was, (saith the soul) that I counted the proud blessed, 
 and the rich blessed, and the honorable blessed : time was when I placed my 
 blessedness in other things, as in riches, preferments, favor, credit with 
 men : but now these are become vile, and things of no value ; faith makes 
 us change our voice, and speak as the Psalmist, “ Blessed are the people 
 whose God is the Lord,” Psal. 144 : 15. 
 
 2. Faith stirs in the heart a longing desire after this condition. Good, 
 being believed, cannot but be desired and longed for : desire naturally 
 springs from the apprehension of any good being made known : hence faith 
 (we say) is both in the understanding and in the will ; as it is in the under- 
 standing, it opens the eye to see, and clearly to discern the blessing of the 
 covenant* and as it is in the will, it pursues and desires the attaining of 
 the grace revealed ; nor are these desires faint desires, but very earnest, 
 eager, violent : sometimes it is called “ a thirsting after God ;” and some- 
 times a panting after God ; and sometimes a gasping after God : It is such 
 a desire, as cannot be satisfied by any thing without God himself. 
 
 3. Faith stirs in the heart some hope to enjoy this condition, I say, 
 
 “ Some hope;” for faith being as yet in the bud, or in the seed, though its 
 desire be strong, yet hope of obeying is but feeble and weak : hence faith is 
 taken up with many thoughts ; fain would the soul be joined to Christ, but 
 being as yet dismayed with the sense of siu, it stands like the publican afar 
 off ; as yet faith can scarce speak a word to God, only with Jonah, it can 
 “ look toward his holy temple.” As a poor weak babe, who lies in the 
 cradle sick, and weak, and speechless, only it can look towards the mother 
 for help; the cast of the eye expresseth in some sort what it would say; 
 thus faith being weak, it would speak to God, but it cannot or dares not, 
 only it hath its eye towards heaven, as Jehoshaphat sometimes said, “ our 
 eyes are towards thee,” 2 Chron. 20 : 12. It feels a need, and faiu would 
 have, but a sense of unworthiness, and the sense of the law strikes such a 
 fear into the heart, that it dares not come near. Consider Israel’s case, and 
 we shall find it parallel to this : God proclaims on the mount, “ I am the 
 
 Lord thy God.” What was this, but God’s offer to be in covenant with 
 Israel ? and yet the terror of the thunder was so great, that Israel durst not 
 come near : a poor soul hearing the Lord to offer himself to be in covenaut 
 with him, “Come soul, I am the Lord thy God.” Why, alas, it dares not 
 come near; “What am 1, Lord? or what is my father’s house, that I 
 should enter into a covenant with the most high God ?” The soul is un 
 quiet within itself, it is hurried to and fro, and finds no rest, it hears of 
 peace with God, but feels it not, there is much ado with the soul to sustain 
 its hope ; only faith sets the mind again and again to consider the pro- 
 
160 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK III. 
 
 raises, invitations, and all other encouragements which God hath given in 
 his word. 
 
 4. Faith stirs in the heart some resolves to go to God’s throne, and to 
 sue for grace ; faith speaks within as they did, “ Who can tell whether the 
 Lord will return ?” Jonah 3 : 9. And u it may be the Lord God of hosts 
 will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph,” Amos 5 : 15. So who can tell ? 
 saith the soul. u It may be the Lord will,” saith the soul. And this begets 
 some resolves, as those lepers in Samaria knew they were sure to perish, if 
 they sat still, therefore they resolved to try whether the Aramites would 
 save them ; or as Esther knowing all was undone, if she would not stir, she 
 would try whether the king would hold out his golden sceptre ; so the poor 
 soul, knowing there is no way but perishing, if it continue in its natural 
 state, therefore it resolves to go to God : doth the Lord say u Seek my face? 
 Why ! thy face Lord will I seek.” Doth the Lord say, “ Come unto me? 
 Why ! behold, Lord, I come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God,” 
 Jer. 3 : 22. And now the soul betakes itself unto God ; it sends up com- 
 plaints of itself, it laments its own sinful rebellions, it puts out a whole vol- 
 ley of sighs, groans and strong cries towards heaven : it confesseth with grief 
 and bitter mourning, all its former iniquities : it smites, with repenting 
 Ephraim, upon its thigh ; it lies down at God’s footstool, it puts its month 
 in the dust; it acknowledges God’s righteousness, if he should condemn, and 
 cast off forever ; and yet withal it pleads for grace, that it may be accepted 
 as one of his ; it says unto God, “ Lord I have nothing to plead, why thou 
 raayest not condemn me, but if thou wilt receive me, thy mercy shall appear 
 in me. 0 let thy mercy appear, take away all iniquity, and receive me 
 graciously.” Thus ifhe soul lies at God’s throne, and pleads for grace. 
 
 5. As faith is thus earnest in suing to God for Grace, so it is no less vig- 
 ilant and watchful in observing what answer comes from the Lord ; even as 
 the prisoner at the bar, not only cries for mercy, but he marks every word 
 which falls from the judge’s mouth, if any thing may give him hope ; or as 
 Beuhadad’s servants lay at catch with the king of Israel to see if they could 
 take occasion by any thing which ftll from him to plead for the life of Ben- 
 hadad, so the poor soul that is now pleading for life and grace, it wat.cheth 
 narrowly to see if any thing may come from God, any intimation of favor, 
 any word of comfort, that may tend to peace, “ 0 let me hear joy and glad- 
 ness. — I will hear what the Lord will say, for he will speak peace unto his 
 people.” 
 
 6. As faith waits for an answer, so accordingly it demeans itself. 
 
 1. Sometimes God answers not, and faith takes on, and follows God 
 still, and cries after him with more strength, as resolving never to give 
 over, till the Lord either save or destroy : nay, if the Lord will destroy, 
 faith chooseth to die at God’s feet, as when Joab was bidden to come forth 
 from the horns of the altar, and to take his death in another place ; nay, 
 said Joab, “ but I will die here ;” or as when Christ saw no deliverance 
 come in his agony, “ He prayed more earnestly,” Luke 22 : 44. So a 
 poor soul in the time of its agony, when it is striving as for life and death, 
 if help come not at first call, prays again, and that more earnestly. Faith is 
 very urgent with God ; and the more slack the Lord seems in answering, 
 the more earnest is faith in plying God with its prayers; it will wrestle with 
 God as Jacob with the angel, it will take no denial, but will crave still, 
 “ Bless me, even me also, 0 send me not away without a blessing.” 
 
 2. Sometimes God answers in part, he speaks as it were out of a dark 
 cloud ; he gives some little ease : but he speaks not full peace : in this 
 manner he speaks to the woman, “ Go thy way, and sin no more,” John 
 8 : 11. He doth not say, “ Go in peace, thy sin is forgiven thee.” No, 
 do, “ but go thy way, and sin no more hereby faith usually gets a little 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 161 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 strength, and looks after the Lord with more hope ; it begins to plead with 
 G-od, as Moses did, “ 0 Lord, thou hast begun to show grace unto thy ser- 
 vant, go on, Lord, to manifest unto me all thy goodness.” Here faith takes 
 a little hold on the covenant of grace; it may be the hand of faith is feeble, 
 shaking and trembling, yet it takes a little hold, it receives some encour- 
 agement, it finds that its former seeking is not in vain. 
 
 3. Sometimes G-od answers more fully and satisfactorily; applies some 
 promise of grace to the conscience, by his own Spirit ; he lets the soul feel 
 and taste the comforts of himself, or of such and such a promise, more effec- 
 tually than ever before : u Fear not (saith God) for I am thy God,” Isa. 
 41 : 10. Here faith waxeth bold, and with a glad heart, entertains the 
 promise brought home unto it. The apostle calls this, u The embracing of 
 the promises,” Heb. 11:13. Now embracing implies an aflfeetionate re- 
 ceiving with both arms- opened ; so the soul embraeeth the promise, and 
 the Lord Jesus in the promise, and having him, like Simeon, in his arms, 
 it lays him in the bosom, it brings him into the chamber of the heart, there 
 to rest and abide forever. And now is the covenant struck betwixt God and 
 the soul ; now, the soul possesseth God in Christ, as her own ; it rests in 
 him, and is satisfied with him, it praiseth God for his mercies, as Simeou did 
 when he had Christ in his arms; it commits itself wholly and forever to that 
 goodness and mercy which hath been revealed to it. 
 
 0 my soul, hast thou come thus by little and little to touch the top of 
 Christ’s golden sceptre ? Why, then is thy hand given to God, then art 
 thou entered into a covenant of peace, Christ’s offering and thy receiving the 
 covenant of grace, bears a sweet agreement, a harmonious conformity. 
 
 2. God in Christ keeps covenant with us ; so we through Christ should 
 be careful and diligent to keep covenant with God, in the things of this life ; 
 a strict eye is had to the covenants we make ; now, it is not enough for us 
 to enter into covenant with God, but we must keep it. The Lord never 
 will, never hath broken the covenants on his part; but, alas, we on our parts 
 have broken the first covenant of works ; take heed we break not the second ; 
 for then their remains not any more place for any more covenants with us, so 
 let us keep covenant with him : and therein is the blessing : “ The mercy 
 of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting, — to such as keep his cove- 
 nant,” Psal. 103 : 17, 18. 
 
 There is much also in this keeping of the covenant, and therefore give me 
 leave a little to enlarge : sundry acts of faith are required to this keeping 
 of the covenant. As thus, 
 
 1. Faith in keeping the covenant hath always an eye to the rule and com- 
 mand of God ; as in the things to be believed, faith looks on the promise ; 
 so in things to be practised, faith looks upon the command ; faith will pre- 
 sent no strange fire before the Lord ; it knows that God will accept of noth- 
 ing but what is according to his own will. 
 
 2. As faith takes direction from the rule, so in keeping of the covenant 
 it directs us to the right end, that is, to the glory of God : we are of him, 
 and live in him, and by faith we must live to him, and from him : “ For 
 none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself: for whether we 
 live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord, 
 whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s,” Horn. 14 : 7, 8. 
 Again, “ he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live 
 unto themselves, but unto him which died for them,” 2 Cor. 5 : 15. This 
 God claims as his right and due, u Thou shalt glorify me,” saith God; yes, 
 saith faith, “ I will glorify thee for ever,” Ps. 50 : 15. and 86 : 12. 
 
 3. Faith in keeping the covenant shields the soul against all hindrances 
 that it meets withal ; as, for instance, sometimes we are tempted on the 
 right hand by the baits and allurements of the world, all these will I give 
 
162 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK III. 
 
 thee, saith the world “ if thou wilt be mine,” Matt. 4 : 9. But then faith 
 overcomes the world, by setting before us better things than these. Some- 
 times we are tempted on the left hand with crosses, afflictions, persecutions, 
 and sufferings for the name of Christ, but then faith helps us to overcome, 
 and makes us conquerors through Christ that loved us, by setting before us 
 the end of our faith and patience. It is said of Jesus, That “for the joy 
 that was set before him, he endured the cross, and despised the shame,” 
 Ileb. 12 : 2. 
 
 4. Faith encourageth the soul, that the Lord will have a gracious respect 
 unto its keeping covenant ; “ In every nation he that feareth him, and 
 worketh righteousness, is accepted with him,” Acts 10 : 35. Surely this is 
 no small encouragement to well-doing, what would not a servant do, if he 
 knew his Lord will take it in good part now? Now, faith assures the soul, 
 there is not one prayer, one holy desire, or one good thought, or word which 
 is spoken, or done to the glory of God, but God takes notice of it, and 
 accepts it in good part, “ Then they that feared the Lord spake often one 
 to another, and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remem- 
 brance was written before him, for them that feared the Lord, and that 
 thought upon his name,” Mai. 3 : 16. 
 
 5. Faith furnisheth the soul with strength and ability to keep the cove- 
 nant • by faith we get a power and strength of grace ; as thus — 
 
 1. By faith we look at Christ, as having all fulness of grace in himself : 
 “It pleased the father, that in him should all fulness dwell,” Col. 1:19. 
 All others have but their measures, some more, some less, according to the 
 measure of the gift of Christ, but Christ hath received the “ Spirit, not by 
 measure, but in fulness of it,” John 3 : 34. 
 
 2. By faith we know, that whatever fulness of grace is in Christ, he had 
 it not for himself only, but for us ; “ he received gifts for men, Psal. 
 68 : 18. said the Psalmist • not for himself merely, but for men ; “of his ful- 
 ness we receive grace for grace,” saith John 1 : 16. His wisdom is to make 
 us wise, his meekness is to make us meek, and his patience is to make us 
 patient. 
 
 3. By faith we look at Christ, as faithful to distribute such grace unto us, 
 as he received for us ; “ he is faithful in all the house of God,” Heb. 3 : 2. 
 He is faithful in dispensing all the treasures of grace committed unto him 
 for his church’s good : he keeps nothing back, his faithfulness will not suf- 
 for him to keep that to himself which he hath received for us : hence, as 
 the Psalmist saith, “ He receiveth gifts for men,” Psal. 68 : 18. So the 
 apostle renders it, “ He gave gifts unto men,” Eph. 4:8. As he receives, 
 so he gives, being faithful in all that is committed to him. 
 
 4. By faith we seek God, and beg performance of his promises according 
 to our need. Do we want wisdom, meekness, patience, or any other grace ? 
 faith carries us by prayer unto the fountain, and in this way it waits and 
 expects to receive the grace we want. As the child by sucking the breast, 
 draws forth milk for its own nourishment, and thereby it grows in strength ; 
 so do we by the prayer of faith, suck from Christ, and from the promise of 
 grace, and by that means derive strength to our inner man, to fulfil the 
 coveuant which we have made with God. 
 
 6. As faith strengthens us, so if at any times by occasion of temptation 
 we fail in our covenant-keeping, faith recovers us, and restores us again to 
 our former estate. I do not say the covenant can be broken betwixt God 
 and us ; we may offend God, and fail in the service of God, but till we 
 refuse God, and leave God, and choose another master, lord, and husband 
 besides God, there is no dissolution of the covenant of grace : now, this a 
 true believer cannot do ; he may fall, and fall often, yet he doth not fall, but 
 he rises again, he may turn aside, but yet he turns again into the way of 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 168 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 the covenant. What a sweet point is this, Christians ! we may, and some- 
 times we do walk weakly in keeping of covenant, our feet slip, and we step 
 aside out of God’s path, yet faith brings us back again to God ; it casts 
 shame on our faces, that after all the grace showed us, we should so ill 
 requite God : it reminds us of these promises, “ Return unto me, and I will 
 return unto you, Zech. 1:8. Ye have done all this wickedness, yet turn 
 not aside from following the Lord. — For the Lord will not forsake his 
 people for his great name’s sake, because it hath pleased the Lord to make 
 you his people,” 1 Sam. 12 : 20. 22. In the minding of these, and such 
 other promises, faith doth encourage us to return unto God, to take words 
 unto ourselves, and to plead the covenant of his grace towards us ; this work 
 of faith brought Peter back to Christ, whereas Judas, wanting this faith, 
 lies down in desperate sorrow, never able to rise up, or to recover himself. 
 
 0 my soul, art thou acquainted with these acts of faith, enabling thee in 
 some good measure to keep covenant with God ? then is there a sweet con- 
 formity betwixt thee and Jesus. 
 
 3. God in Christ hath highly honored us : as we are his people ; so we 
 through Christ should honor him highly, as he is our God : this is the main 
 end of the covenant, and I shalll end with this. 0 my soul, be like to God, 
 bear the image and resemblance of God thy Father in this respect; he, hath 
 humbled himself to advance thee ; 0 then humble thyself to advance him, 
 endeavor every way to exalt his name. 
 
 We are all willing to be in covenant with God, that we may set up our- 
 selves, that we may sit upon thrones, and possess a kingdom ; but we must 
 think especially of setting up the Lord upon his throne ; “ Ascribe great- 
 ness to our God,” saith Moses, Deut. 32 : 3. Make it a name, and a praise 
 unto him. That he hath vouchsafed to make us his people, and to take us 
 into covenant with himself ; honor him as he is God, but honor him more 
 abundantly as he is our God : who shall honor him if his people will not? 
 The world knows him not. “ The wicked will not seek after God, God is not 
 in all his thoughts,” Psal. 10 : 4. And shall God have no honor ? Shall 
 he that stretched out the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth, and 
 formed man upon it, have no glory ? 0 yes ! the Lord himself answers, 
 
 “ This people have I formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise,” 
 Isa. 43 :21. Surely God will have praise from his own people, whom he 
 hath taken to himself, “ He will be glorified in all these that come near unto 
 him,” Lev. 10:3. 
 
 But how should we honor God ? I answer, — 
 
 1. We must set him up as chief and highest in our esteem : kings 
 account not themselves honored, if they be not set above other men, and 
 hence God’s people have used such expressions concerning God, as do 
 single him forth beyond the comparison of all creatures: Thus Moses, 
 “Who is like unto thee amongst the gods? Who is like unto thee, 
 glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” Exod. 15:11. 
 Thus David, “Thou art great, 0 Lord God, for there is none like thee, 
 neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard 
 with our ears,” 2 Sam. 7 : 22. Thus Solomon, “ Lord God of Israel, there 
 is no God like thee in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, who keepest 
 covenant and mercy with thy servants,” 1 Kings 8 : 23. Thus Micah, 
 “Who is a God like unto thee, vhich passest by the transgressions of the 
 remnant of thine heritage ?” Micah 7 : 18. And thus should we rise up in 
 our thoughts and apprehensions of God, until we come to an holy ecstasy 
 and admiration of God. 
 
 2. We must count it our blessedness and highest dignity to be a people 
 in covenant with God : are we honorable? yet esteem this as our greatest 
 honor, that God is our God : are we low and despised in the world ? yet 
 
164 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK m. 
 
 count this honor enough, that God hath lifted us up to he his people. 
 Christians, if when we are counted as things of nought, we can quiet 
 ourselves in this, that “ God is our God,” if when we are persecuted, 
 imprisoned, distressed, we can say, with Jacob, “ I have enough, because 
 the Lord hath mercy on me, and hath taken me into covenant with him,” 
 surely then we do bear witness of God before heaven and earth, that he is 
 better to us than corn, or wine, or oil, or whatsoever this world affords. 
 
 8. We must lie under the authority of every word of God, and we must 
 conform ourselves to the example of God ; that is, we must labor to become 
 followers of God, and imitate his virtues : it is a part of that honor which 
 children owe to their parents, to obey their commands, and to imitate their 
 godly example; we cannot honor God more, than when we are “humbled 
 at his feet to receive his word,” Deut. 33 :3. Than when we renounce the 
 manners of the world, to become his “followers as dear children,” Eph. 5 : 1. 
 0 think of this ! for then we conform indeed; then are we “ holy as he is 
 holy, and pure as he is pure;” and then how should this but tend to the 
 honor and glory of our God ? 
 
 Thus far we have looked on Jesus, as our Jesus in that dark time before 
 his coming in the flesh ; our next work is to look on J esus, carrying on the 
 great work of man’s salvation in his first coming or incarnation. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS, 
 
 IN HIS BIKTH. 
 
 THE FOURTH BOOK 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Let us now go even to Bethlehem, and see this thing . — Luke 2 : 15. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the Tidings of Christ. 
 
 In this period, as in the former, we shall first lay down the object ; and, 
 secondly, direct you how to look unto it. 
 
 The object is Jesus, carrying on the work of man’s salvation in his first 
 coming in the flesh, until his coming again. But because in this long 
 period we have many transactions, which we cannot with conveniency 
 despatch together, we shall therefore break it into smaller pieces, and 
 present this object, Jesus Christ, 1. In his birth. 2. In his life. 3. In 
 his death. 4. In his resurrection. 5. In his ascension, session at God’s 
 right hand, and mission of his holy Spirit. 6. In his intercession for his 
 saints, in which business he now is, and will be employed till his second 
 coming to judgment. 
 
 First, For the transactions of “ Jesus in his birth,” some things we must 
 propound before, and some things after his birth; so that we shall continue 
 this period till the time of John’s baptism, or the exercise of his ministry 
 upon earth. Now in all the transactions of this time, we shall specially 
 handle these, 1. The tidings of Christ. 2. The conception of Christ. 
 3. The duplicity of natures in Christ. 4. The real distinction in that 
 duplicity. 5. The wonderful union notwithstanding that distinction. 6. The 
 birth of Christ. 7. Some consequents after his birth, whilst yet a child of 
 twelve years old. 
 
 The first passage in relation to his birth, “is the tidings of Christ;” 
 this appears, Luke 1 : 26, 27, &c. u And in the sixth month the angel 
 Gabriel was sent from God,” &c. I shall a little insist on some of these 
 words. 
 
 1. The messenger was an angel : man was too mean to carry the news 
 of the conception of God : never any business was conceived in heaven, 
 that did so much concern the earth as the conception of the God of heaven 
 in a womb of earth : no less therefore than an angel was worthy to be«ir 
 these tidings, and never angel received a greater honor than of this embas- 
 sage. Angels have been sent to divers, as to Gideon, Manoah, David, 
 Daniel, Elijah, Zachariah, &c. And then the angel honored the message, 
 but here is a message that doth honor the angel ; he was highly glorious 
 before, but this added to his glory. Indeed the incarnation of God could 
 have no less a reporter than the angel of God; when God intended to begin 
 
 ( 165 ) 
 
166 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 his gospel, he would first visit the world with his angel, before he would visit 
 the world with his Son ; his angel must come in the form of man, before 
 his Son must come in the nature of man. 
 
 2. This angel salutes the virgin, “Hail, thou that art highly favored: 
 The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women,” Luke 1 : 28. Many 
 men and women have been and are the spiritual temples of God, but never 
 was any the material temple of God, but only Mary, and therefore “ blessed 
 art thou amongst women ;” and yet we cannot say, that she was so blessed 
 in bearing Christ, as she was in believing in Christ; her bearing indeed 
 was more miraculous, but her believing was more beneficial to her soul : 
 that was her privilege, but this was her happiness. Christians ! if we be- 
 lieve in Christ, and if we obey the word of Christ, we are the mothers of 
 Christ. “Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, 
 he is my brother, and sister, and mother,” Matth. 12 : 50. Every renewed 
 heart is another Mary, a spiritual sanctuary of the Lord Jesus. It was the 
 woman’s acclamation, “ Blessed is the woman that bare thee, and the paps 
 that gave thee suck,” Luke 11 : 27. True, said Christ, but that blessing 
 extends only to one; I will tell you how many are blessed, and rather 
 blessed : “yea, rather blessed are they that hear God’s word and keep it,” 
 verse 28. Blessed are they that so incarnate the written word, by doing it, 
 as the blessed virgin gave flesh to the eternal word by bearing it; those 
 that hear and keep God’s word, are they that “ travail in birth again until 
 Christ be formed in them,” Gal. 4 : 19. Hearing, they receive the immortal 
 seed of the word, by a firm purpose of doing they conceive, by a longing 
 desire they quicken, by an earnest endeavor they travail, and when the 
 work is wrought, then have they incarnate the word, and Christ is formed 
 in them. In this respect was Mary blessed; and I make no question but 
 in this respect also the angel calls her blessed, and Elizabeth calls her 
 blessed, and Simeon calls her blessed, and she calls herself blessed, and all 
 generations call her blessed, and God himself calls and makes her blessed; 
 yea, as Paul said, “ cometh this blessedness on the circumcision only ?” 
 Bom. 4:9. So cometh this blessedness on the virgin only? No, even 
 “ blessed are the poor in Spirit, blessed are they that mourn, and blessed 
 are the meek, and blessed are they whose sins are not imputed,” Matth. 
 5 : 3, 4, 5. Psal. 32 : 2. Even these hath God blessed with spiritual 
 blessings in heavenly places, and these shall Christ entertain with a “ Come, 
 ye blessed of my Father.” 
 
 3. This virgin is “ troubled at this salute,” Luke 1 : 29. She might well 
 be troubled; For, 1. If it had been but a man that had come in so sud- 
 denly, when she expected none ; or so secretly, when she had no other com- 
 pany ; or so strangely, the doors being properly shut : she had cause to be 
 troubled : how much more, when the shining glory of the angel so height- 
 ened the astonishment? 2. Her sex was more subject to fear: if Zachary 
 was amazed with the sight of this angel, how much more the virgin ! We 
 flatter ourselves how well we could endure such visions, but there is differ- 
 ence betwixt our faith and our senses ; to apprehend here the presence of 
 God by faith, this goes down sweetly ; but should a glorious angel appear 
 among us, it would amaze us all. But for this the angel comforts her, 
 “ Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God,” verse 30. The 
 troubles of holy minds ever end in peace or comfort; joy was the errand of 
 the angel, and not terror ; and therefore suddenly he revives her spirit with 
 a cheerful excitation, Fear not, q. d. “Let those fear who know they are in 
 displeasure, or know not they are gracious; thine happy estate calls for con- 
 fidence, and that confidence calls for joy; What should they fear, who are 
 favoured of him, at whom the devils tremble? 0 Mary, how should joy 
 but enter into thy heart, out of whose womb shall come salvation ?” I 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 167 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 question not but these very words revived the virgin ; what remote corner 
 of her soul was there into which these beams of consolation did not shine ? 
 
 4. Here is the foundation of her comfort and our happiness; “Behold, 
 thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call his 
 name Jesus,” Luke 1:81. Never was mortal creature thus honored, that 
 her womb should yield that flesh, which was personally united to the God- 
 head, that she should bear him that upholds the world. There is one won- 
 der in the conception, another in the fruit, both are marvellous, but the 
 latter I take is more mysterious, and fuller of admiration; the fruit of the 
 womb, is Jesus, a Saviour, “ the Son of the Highest, a King, God shall 
 give him a throne,” and he shall reign for ever, “ for of his kingdom there 
 shall be no end,” verse 31, 32, 33. Here was a son, and such a son as the 
 world never had before, and here was the ground of Mary’s joy ; how could 
 she but rejoice to hear what her son should be before he was ? Surely never 
 was any mother so glad of her son born, as this virgin was of her son before 
 he was conceived. 
 
 The ground of this joy lies more especially in that name, Jesus. Here, 
 Christians ! here is the object that you are to look unto ; the first title that 
 the angel gives our Saviour, it is Jesus, a Saviour. 0 come, let us dwell a 
 little here : without Jesus we had never known God our friend, and without 
 Jesus, God had never known us for any other than his enemies. This 
 name Jesus is better to us than all the titles of God, indeed, there is good- 
 ness and greatness enough in the name Jehovah, but we merited so little 
 good, and demerited so much evil, that in it alone there had been small 
 comfort for us, but in the name Jesus there is comfort, and with the name 
 Jesus there is comfort in the name of God : in old times God was known 
 by his names of power, and of majesty, and of his nature, but his name of 
 mercy was reserved till now, when God did purpose to pour out the whole 
 treasure of his mercy, by the mediation of his Son. And, as this name is 
 exalted above all names, so are we to exalt his mercy above all his works. 
 
 0 it is a useful name ; in all depths, distresses, miseries, perplexities, we 
 beseech God by the name of Jesus to make good his own name, not to bear 
 it for nought, but, as he is our Saviour, so to save us, and this is our com- 
 fort, that God will never so remember our wretched sins, as to forget his 
 own blessed name, and especially this name Jesus. 0 it is the highest, the 
 dearest, the sweetest name to us of all the names of God. 
 
 The reason of his name was given by the angel to Joseph, “Thou shalt 
 call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins,” Matth. 
 
 1 : 21. But why from their sins ? We seem rather willing to be saved from 
 poverty, ignominy, plague, prison, death, hell, the devil; sin is a thing that 
 troubles but a few ; 0, how few ! how very few there be that break their 
 sleep for their sins ! Alas ! alas ! sin (if we understand) is the very worst 
 of evils : there is no poverty but sin, there is no shame but sin, there is no 
 prison, but that prison is a paradise without sin : there is no death that hath 
 any sting in it but sin; “ The sting of death is sin,” saith the apostle, 1 
 Cor. 15 : 55. Take out the sting, and you may .put the serpent in your 
 bosom ; nay, 1 will say more, there is no hell but for sin ; sin first kindled 
 the fire of hell, sin fuels it; take away sin, and that tormenting flame goes 
 out : and for the devil, sin is his instrument, whereby he works all mis- 
 chief ; how comes a man to be a slave to Satan, but by sin ? But for sin, 
 the devil had no business in the world; but for sin, he could never hurt 
 a soul. 
 
 What abundance of benefits are here, in one word, (i He shall save his 
 people from their sins!” There is no evil incident to man, but it ceaseth 
 to be evil when sin is gone. If Jesus take away sin he doth bless our very 
 blessings, and sanctify our very afflictions : he fetcheth peace out of trouble, 
 
168 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IT. 
 
 riches out of poverty, honor out of contempt, liberty out of bondage. He 
 pulls out the sting of death, puts out the fire of hell. As all evils are wrapt 
 up in sin, so he that saves us from sin, he saves us from all evils whatsoever. 
 
 But is not Christ as precious a name as Jesus is? I answer, No; For, 
 
 1. Christ is not the name of God. God, as he is God, cannot be anointed ; 
 but Jesus is the name of God, and that wherein he more especially delights. 
 
 2. Christ is communicated to others, princes are called Christs, but Jesus 
 is proper to himself, there is no Saviour but he. 3. Christ is anointed ; to 
 what end, but to be a Saviour ? Jesus is therefore the end, and the end is 
 always above the means. Why, this is that Jesus, the Son of God’s love, 
 the Author of our salvation, “ In whom alone God is well pleased,” and 
 whom the angel published before he was conceived, “Thou shalt conceive 
 and bring forth a Son, and shalt call his name Jesus.” 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the Conception of Christ. 
 
 2. The conception of Christ was the conclusion of the angel’s message : 
 no sooner had the virgin said, “ Be it to me according to thy word,” but 
 according to that word it was : immediately the Holy Ghost overshadowed 
 her, and forms our Saviour in her womb: now, Christians! now was the 
 time of love, especially if we relate to his conception and birth, well may 
 we say, Now was it that the day brake up, that the sun arose, that dark- 
 ness vanished, that wrath and anger gave place to favor and salvation : 
 now was it that free grace came down from heaven, thousands of angels 
 waiting on her ; the very clouds part (as it were) to give her way ; the 
 earth springs to welcome her; floods clap their hands for joy; the hea- 
 venly hosts sing as she goes along, “ Glory to God in the highest, peace be 
 upon earth, good will towards men.” Truth and righteousness go before 
 her, peace and prosperity follow after her, pity and mercy wait on either 
 hand, and when she first sets her foot on the earth, she cries, “ A Jesus, 
 a Saviour, hear, ye sons of men : the Lord hath sent me down to bring 
 you news of a Jesus; grace and peace be unto you, I will live with you 
 in this world, and you shall live with me in the world to come.” 0 here 
 was blessed news ! why, this is gospel, pure gospel, this is the glad tidings ! 
 free grace proclaims a Jesus; and a Jesus is made up (as it were) all 
 of free grace : 0 what eternal thanks do we owe to the eternal God ! If 
 there had not been a Jesus, (to borrow that expression) made all of 
 grace, of grace itself, we could never have had dealing with God : 0 how 
 may we say with the angels, “Glory to God, blessed be God for Jesus 
 Christ.” 
 
 But in this conception of Christ are so many wonders, that ere we 
 begin to speak them, we may stand amazed, “without controversy great 
 is the mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh,” 1 Tim. 3 : 16. 
 Say, Is it not a wonder, a mystery, a great mystery, without all con- 
 troversy, That the Son of God should be made of a woman, even made of 
 that woman, which was made by himself? Is it not a wonder, that her 
 womb, then, and that the heavens now, should contain him whom the 
 heaven of heavens cannot contain ? Concerning this conception of Christ, 
 I shall speak a little, and but a little. What man can conceive much of 
 this conception, which was a conception without the help of man ? Our 
 greatest light we borrow from the angel, who describes it thus, “ The Holy 
 Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall over- 
 shadow thee,” Luke 1 : 35. 
 
 Out of these words, observe, 1. The agent or efficient: 2. The fruit or 
 
 effect. 1. The agent or efficient cause of Christ’s conception is the Holy 
 Ghost. This agrees with that speech of the angel to Joseph, “ That which 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 169 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost,” Matth. 1 : 20. Here it may be 
 demanded, why the conception of Christ should be ascribed to the Holy 
 Ghost, which is common to all the actions in the trinity ? I answer, not to 
 exclude the rest, but first to show it was the free grace of God, which is 
 often termed, “ The Holy Ghost.” 2. Because the Father and the Son 
 effected it by the Holy Ghost, so was it his work immediately, and in a 
 special manner ; good reason have we to be thankful to all the three Per- 
 sons, to the Father for ordaining this garment, to the Holy Ghost for 
 weaving it, to the Son for wearing it, to the whole Deity for clothing us 
 with it, and making us righteous by it. — Neither yet is the Holy Ghost 
 Christ’s father; he did not beget him, but form him: he did not minister 
 matter from his own substance whereof Christ was made, but took a part 
 of human nature from the virgin, and of that he made the body of Christ 
 within her : away with all gross opinions and old heresies ! this conception 
 of Christ was not by any carnal effusion of seminal humor, but by way of 
 manufacture, i. e., by handy work, or operation, or virtue of the Holy Ghost; 
 or else by the energetical command and ordination of the Holy Ghost, or 
 else by the benediction and blessing of the Holy Ghost, whereby that part 
 of the virgin’s blood or seed whereof the body of Christ was to be framed, 
 was so cleansed and sanctified, that in it there should be neither spot nor 
 stain of original pollution. 
 
 2. The fruit or effect was the framing of Christ’s manhood, in which we 
 may observe the matter and manner. 1. For the matter observe we the 
 matter of the body, and of the soul of Christ. 1. The matter of the body 
 of Christ, it was the very flesh and blood of the virgin, “ He was made of a 
 woman,” saith the apostle, Gal. 4 : 4, i. e., of the flesh, and blood, and sub- 
 stance of the woman, “And he was made of the seed of David, (saith the 
 apostle) according to the flesh,” Bom. 1 : 3. Otherwise he could not have 
 been the son of David according to the flesh ; and if it be true which the 
 philosophers say, “That the seed of the man doth not fall into the substance 
 of the child, but only doth dispose the seed of the woman (as a workman 
 frameth and disposeth his work) to make the same into the form of a man 
 Why then, I know not wherein the conception of Christ should differ in the 
 matter at all from our conception, save only in the agent or worker of his 
 substance, who was the Holy Ghost. 2. The matter of substance of the 
 soul of Christ was not derived from the soul of the virgin, as a part thereof ; 
 but it was made as the souls of other men be, i. e., of nothing, by the power 
 of God ; and so infused into the body by the hand of God ; but of these 
 things (of his body and soul, and human nature) we shall speak more largely 
 in the next section. 
 
 2. For the manner of framing Christ’s human nature, it was miraculous; 
 the angel ascribes two actions to the Holy Ghost in this great work, the 
 one to come upon the virgin, the other to overshadow her ; by the first is 
 signified the extraordinary work of the Holy Ghost in fashioning the human 
 nature of Christ; as it was said of Samson, “The Spirit of the Lord came 
 upon him,” Judges 14 : 6, i. e., the Holy Ghost inspired him with an extra- 
 ordinary strength, so the Spirit of the Lord came upon her, i. e ., the Holy 
 Ghost wrought in her in an extraordinary way. As for instance, in ordi- 
 nary generation our substance and parts are formed successively by degrees, 
 as first the seminal humor becomes an embryo, then a body inorganical, 
 then are fashioned the liver, heart, and brain, and then the rest one after 
 another ; and it is at least forty days before the body of a child be fully 
 formed : now, it was otherwise with the body of Christ, for in the very 
 instant of his conception, he was made perfect in body and soul, void of 
 sin, and full of grace ; in the very instant of his conception he was perfectly 
 framed, and instantly united into the eternal word, perfect God, and perfect 
 
170 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 man. Surely this was extraordinary, and this is the property of the Holy 
 Ghost, suhito operari., to work instantly and perfectly, u As soon as ever 
 the flesh was conceived, it was presently united and made the flesh of the 
 Son of God.” Aug. L. de fide ad et C. 18. It was suddenly made, per- 
 fectly made, holily made. 
 
 The second action ascribed to the Holy Ghost, is adumbration or over- 
 shadowing of the virgin. This teacheth us that we should not search over 
 much into this great mystery, alas ! it is too high for us ; if the course of 
 ordinary generation be a secret, how past all comprehension is this extraor- 
 dinary operation ! The Holy Ghost did cast a shadow over the virgin, and 
 withal a shadow over this mystery; why should we seek a clear light, where 
 God himself will have a shadow ? “ I know the word was made flesh,” (saith 
 
 Chrysostom, hom. 5.) “ but how he was made, I know not.” 
 
 1. Use. In way of confutation : this word conception is the bane of 
 divers heresies, 1. That of the Manichee, who held he had no true body; 
 if so, one says well, that had been virgo decipiet , not concipiet , rather a 
 deceiving of us, than a conceiving of him. 2. That of the Yalentinian, re- 
 vived lately in the Anabaptist, who hold, that he had a true body, but made 
 in heaven, and sent into the virgin here on earth ; and if so, that had been 
 virgo recipiet , not concipiet , rather a receiving, than conceiving ; yet I cannot 
 but wonder how confidently the Anabaptists tell us, That the flesh of Christ 
 came down from heaven, and passed through the virgin Mary as water 
 through a conduit pipe, without taking any substance from her ; their objec- 
 tions are raised out of these texts : — 
 
 1. “ No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from 
 heaven, even the son of man which is in heaven,” John 3 : 13. I answer, 
 1. The speech must be understood, firstly in respect of his Godhead, which 
 may be said in some sort to descend, in that it was made manifest in the 
 manhood here on earth. 2. This speech may be understood truly of the 
 whole person of Christ, to whom the properties of each nature (in respect 
 of the communication of properties) may be fitly ascribed; but this doth no 
 way prove that his flesh which he assumed on earth, descended from heaven. 
 
 2. “ The first man is of the earth, earthy : the second man is the Lord 
 from heaven, — heavenly,” 1 Cor. 15 : 47, 48. I answer, 1. This holds 
 forth that Christ; was heavenly minded, as sometimes he told the Jews, 
 (i You are from below, I am from above ; you are of the world, I am not of 
 this world ;” Christ was not earthly minded, or swayed with the lusts of the 
 flesh, or any way earthly affected ; as sometimes he could tell his apostles, 
 “ Ye are not of the world,” John 8 : 23, and 15 : 19. So much more might 
 he say of himself, that he was not of this world, but his conversion was in 
 heaven. Or, 2. This holds forth that Christ was heavenly, or from heaven 
 in respect of the glorious qualities which he received after his resurrection, 
 and not in respect of the substance of his body; many glorious qualities 
 was Christ endowed with after he was raised (I shall not dispute them) 
 which he had not before, and in respect of these he might be called 
 heavenly, or from heaven. 3. This holds forth that Christ also was in 
 some sort heavenly, or from heaven in his human nature, in that the human 
 nature was united to the divine, and withal in that the human nature was 
 formed by the Holy Ghost; so John’s baptism is said to be from heaven, 
 though neither he, nor the water wherewith he baptized descended from 
 heaven, but because he received it from God who is in heaven. Christ was 
 conceived (as you heard) by the Holy Ghost, and in that regard his genera- 
 tion was divine and heavenly, or from heaven. 
 
 2. Use. In way of comfort and encouragement, Christ was thus con- 
 ceived that he might sanctify our conceptions : as the first Adam was the 
 root of all corruption, so is the second Adam the root of all sanctification : 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 171 
 
 Christ went as far to cleanse us, as ever Adam did to defile us. What ! 
 were our very conceptions defiled by Adam ? In the first place, Christ takes 
 course for this ; you see he is conceived by the Holy Ghost, and he was not 
 idle while he was in the womb : for even then and there he eat out the core 
 of corruption that cleaved close to our defiled natures : so that God will not 
 account evil of that nature that is become the nature of his own dear Son. 
 
 0 the condescension of our Jesus ! 0 that ever he would be conceived in 
 
 the womb of a virgin ! 0 that he would run through the contumelies of our 
 
 sordid nature, that he would not refuse that which we ourselves are in some 
 sort ashamed of ! Some think it a reason why the Anabaptists, and some 
 others run into such fancies, and deny this conception of Christ, only to 
 decline those foul indignities (as they take them) for the great God of 
 heaven to undergo ; but certainly this was for us, and for our sakes ; and 
 therefore far be it from us to honor him the less, because he laid down his 
 honor for our sakes. No, no, let us honor him more, and love him more : 
 the lower he came for us, the dearer and dearer let him be unto us : con- 
 sider, in all these transactions, Christ was carrying on the great work of our 
 salvation, otherwise he had never been conceived, never had assumed to his 
 person human nature, never had been man. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of the duplicity of natures in Christ. 
 
 8. The duplicity of natures in Christ appears in that he was truly God, 
 and truly man. “ To us a child is born,” saith the prophet. There is a 
 nature human, and “ he shall be called the mighty God,” Isa, 9 : 6. There 
 is a nature divine ; God sent his Son , saith the apostle, therefore truly God, 
 and this Son made of a woman , Gal. 4 : 4. therefore truly man : One 
 
 would have thought this truth would never have come into controversy in 
 our days ; but these are the last days, and that may take off the wonder ; 
 “ In the last days shall come perilous times,” 2 Tim. 3:1. “ Men shall 
 
 resist the truth,” &c. Zech. 12 : 8. In the last days I know there will be 
 abundance of truth revealed, “ The knowledge of the Lord shall be as the 
 waters that cover the sea, and every child shall be as David,” Dan. 12 : 4. 
 And the book that was sealed must be opened, and knowledge shall be 
 increased ; but Satan even then will be as busy to sow his tares, as God in 
 sowing of his wheat : then is Satan active to communicate errors, when he 
 sees God begin to discover truths; he hopes in the heat of the market, to 
 vent his own wares, and I believe this is one reason why now the devil sets 
 on foot so many dangerous errors, that so he may prejudge the hearts of 
 God’s people in receiving and entertaining of many glorious truths. But 
 that we may not pass over such a fundamental error as this, some saying 
 with Martin, That he is God, but not man : and others with Arius, That he 
 is man, but not God : I shall therefore confirm this truth of the two natures 
 of Christ against the adversaries of both sides. 
 
 And, 1. That Christ is true God, both apparent scriptures, and unanswer- 
 able reasons drawn from scriptures do plainly evince. 
 
 1. The scriptures call him God, “in the beginning was the word, and 
 the word was with God, and the word was God,” John 1 : 1. And “unto 
 the Son he saith, Thy throne, 0 God, is for ever,” Ileb. 1 : 8. And 
 “ Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord, and my God : and take 
 heed to yourselves, and to all the flock. — To feed the church of God which 
 he bath purchased with his own blood,” John 20 : 28. Acts 20 : 28. “And 
 hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us,” 
 
 1 John 8 : 16. “And we know that the Son of God is come. — This is the 
 true God, and eternal life,” 1 John 5:20. And “without controversy 
 great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifested in the flesh,” 1 
 Tim. 3 : 16. 
 
172 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 2. Unanswerable reasons drawn from scriptures prove bim God : thus it 
 appears, 1. From those incommunicable properties of the Deity, which are 
 properly ascribed unto him, he is eternal as he is God, Rev. 1 : 17. Fie is 
 infinite as God, Matth. 28:20. He is omniscient as God, Matth. 9:4. 
 He is omnipotent as God, “ He that cometh from above, is above all.” 
 John 3 : 31. “ He is able to subdue all things unto himself,” Phil. 3 : 21. 
 
 “ He hath the keys of hell and death,” Rev. 1 : 18. 
 
 2. From these relations he hath with God, as to be the only begotten 
 Son of God, John 1 : 18. The image of the Father, 2 Cor. 4 : 4. Col. 1 : 15. 
 
 3. From these acts ascribed to him, which are only agreeable to the 
 divine nature, as to be the Author of our election, John 13 : 18. To know 
 the secrets of our hearts, Matth. 9:4. To hear the prayers of his people, 
 John 14 : 14. To judge the quick and dead, John 5 : 22. And thus he 
 creates as God, John 1:4. He commands as God, Matth. 8 : 26. He 
 forgives as God, Matth. 9 : 6. He sanctifies as God, John 1 : 12. He 
 glorifies as God, John 10 : 28. 
 
 4. From all those acknowledgments given to him by the saints, which 
 are only proper unto God; and thus he is believed on as God, John 3 : 18. 
 He is loved as God, 1 Cor. 16 : 22. He is obeyed as God, Matth. 17 : 5. 
 He is prayed to as God, Acts 7 : 59. He is praised as God, Rev. 5 : 13. 
 He is adored as God, Heb. 1 : 6. Phil. 2 : 10. Surely all these are strong 
 demonstrations, and prove clearly enough that Jesus Christ is God. But 
 why was it requisite that our Saviour should be God? I answer, 1. Be- 
 cause none can save souls, nor satisfy for sin but God alone : “ There is 
 none,” (saith the psalmist, Psal. 49 : 7, 15,) “that can by any means re- 
 deem his brother, or give God a ransom for him. — But God will redeem my 
 soul from the power of hell.” 2. Because the satisfaction which is made 
 for sin, must be infinitely meritorious ; an infinite wrath cannot be appeased, 
 but by an infinite merit; and hence our Saviour must needs be God, to the 
 end that his obedience and sufferings might be of infinite price and worth. 
 3. Because the burden of God’s wrath cannot be endured and run through 
 by a Suite creature : Christ therefore must needs be God, that he might 
 abide the burden, and sustain the manhood by his divine power. 4. Be- 
 cause the enemies of our salvation were too strong for us ! how could any 
 creature overcome Satan, death, hell, damnation ? Ah ! this required the 
 power of God : there is none but God that could destroy “him that had the 
 power of death, that is the devil.” 
 
 2. As Christ is God, so he is true man, he was born as man, and bred as 
 man, and fed as man, and slept as man, and wept as man, and sorrowed as 
 naan, and suffered as man, and died as man; and therefore he is man. 
 
 But more particularly, 1. Christ had a human body : “ Wherefore when 
 he came into the world, he said, sacrifice and offerings thou wouldst not, but 
 a body hast thou prepared for me,” Heb. 10 : 5, and when the apostles thought 
 they had seen a phantasm, or a spirit, he said unto them, “ handle me and 
 see, because a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see me have,” Luke 
 24 : 39, here is a truth as clear as the sun, and yet, 0 wonder ! some in our 
 times, (as Cochlaeus witnesseth) do now avouch, That he had an imaginary 
 body, an aerial body, a phantasm, only in show, and no true body. 
 
 2. Christ had a human reasonable soul, “ My soul is heavy unto death,” 
 said Christ, Matth. 26 : 38. And, again, “ Father, into thy hands I com- 
 mend my Spirit,” Luke 23 : 46. Surely, (saith Nazianzen) “either he had 
 a soul, or he will not save a soul.” The Arians opposed this, saying, “ Christ 
 had no human soul, but only a living flesh ;” because the evangelist saith, 
 “that the word was made flesh,” John 1 : 14. But this is a synechdoche, 
 very usual in scripture, to put the part for the whole, and signifieth as much, 
 as though he had said, “ The word was made man.” I know some reasons 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 173 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 are rendered why the evangelist saith, “ he was made flesh/’ rather than 
 “ he was made man/’ As, 1. To show' what part of Christ was made of his 
 mother ; not his Deity, nor his soul, but only his flesh. 2. To express the 
 greatness of God’s love, who for our sakes would be contented to be made 
 the vilest thing, flesh, which is compared to grass. “All flesh is grass,” 
 Isa. 40 : 6. 3. To show the greatness of Christ’s humility, in that he would 
 be named by the meanest name, and basest part of man ; the soul is excel- 
 lent, but the flesh is base. 4. To give us some confidence of his love and 
 favor towards us, because our flesh, which was the part, most corrupted, is 
 now united to the Son of God. 
 
 3. Christ had all the properties that belong either to soul or body of a 
 man : nay, more than so, Christ had all the infirmities of our nature, sin 
 only excepted : I say the infirmities of our nature, as cold, and heat, and 
 hunger, and thirst, and weariness, and weakness, and pain, and the like; but 
 I cannot say that Christ took upon him all our personal infirmities; infir- 
 mities are either natural, common to all men, or personal, and proper to 
 some men, as to be born lame, blind, diseased; as to be affected with melan- 
 choly, infirmity, deformity; how many deformed creatures have we amongst 
 us ? Christ was not thus, his body was framed by the Holy Ghost of the 
 purest virgin’s blood, and therefore I question not, it was proportioned in a 
 most equal symmetry and correspondency of parts, He “was fairer than tho 
 sons of men,” his countenance carried in it, “An hidden veiled star, — like 
 brightness (saith Jerome) which being but a little revealed, it so ravished 
 his disciples’ heart, That, at the first sight thereof they left all, and followed 
 him : and it so astonished his enemies, that they stumbled, and fell to the 
 ground.” So then he had not our personal infirmities, but only our natural, 
 and good reason, for indeed he took not upon him a human person, but only 
 a human nature united to the person of his Godhead. 
 
 But why was it requisite, that our Saviour should be man ? I answer, 
 1. Because our Saviour must suffer, and die for our sins, which the Godhead 
 could not do. 2. Because our Saviour must perform obedience to the law, 
 which was not agreeable to the lawgiver; the Godhead certainly is free from 
 all manner of subjection. 3. Because our Saviour must satisfy the justice 
 of God in the same nature wherein it was offended, “ For, since by man 
 came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead,” 1 Cor. 15 : 21. 
 4. Because “ by this means we might have free access to the throne of grace, 
 and might find help in our necessities, having such an high priest, as was 
 in all things tempted like unto us, and was acquainted with our infirmities 
 in his own person,” Heb. 4 : 15, and 5 : 2. 
 
 Sect IV. — Of the Distinction of the two Natures of Christ. 
 
 4. A real distinction of these two natures is evident, 1. In regard of 
 essence, the Godhead cannot be the manhood, nor can the manhood be the 
 Godhead. 2. In regard of properties, the Godhead is most wise, just, omni- 
 potent, yea, wisdom, justice, omnipotency itself, and so is not the manhood 
 neither can it be. 3. They have distinct wills, “ not my will, but thy will 
 be done, 0 Father,” Luke 22 :42. Plainly differencing the will of a crea- 
 ture from the will of a Creator. 4. The very actions in the work of redemp- 
 tion are indeed inseparable, and yet distinguishable, “ I lay down my life 
 and take it up again,” John 10:18. To lay it down was the action of 
 man, not of God ; and to take it up was the action of God, not of man. In 
 these respects, we say, each nature remains in itself entire, without any con- 
 version, composition, commixion, or confusion; there is no conversion of one 
 into the other, as when he changed water into wine, no composition of both, 
 no abolition of either, no confusion at all. It is easy to observe this real 
 
174 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 distinction of his two natures, from first to last ; as, first, he was conceived 
 as others, and so he was man ; but he was conceived by the Holy Ghost, 
 as never was man, and so he is God. 2. He was born as others, and so he 
 was man : hut he was born of a virgin, as never was man, and this speaks 
 him God. 3. He was crucified, he died, and was buried, and so he was 
 man ; but he rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, and from 
 thence shall come at last to judge the quick, and the dead, and so he is God. 
 Or, if from the apostles’ symbol, we go to the gospel, which speaks both na- 
 tures at large, we find there, 1. He was born of his mother, and wrapped in 
 swaddling clothes, as being a man ; but the star shines over him, and the 
 wise men adore him as being a God. 2. He was baptised in Jordan, as 
 being a man ; but the Holy Ghost from heaven descended upon him, as be- 
 ing a God. 3. He is tempted of Satan, as being a man, but he overcame 
 Satan, and dispossessed devils, as being a God. 4. He travelled, and was 
 thirsty, and hungry, and weary, as being a man, but he refreshed the weary, 
 and fed the hungry, and gave drink even the water of life to the thirsty as 
 being a God. 5. He slept in the ship, and his disciples awoke him, as be- 
 ing a man ; but he rebuked the winds, and stilled the raging of the tumul- 
 tuous seas, as being a God. 6. He was poor and needy, and had not an 
 house to put his head in, as being a man ; but he was, and is rich and 
 mighty, and cannot be contained in the heaven of heavens, as being a God. 
 7. He was sorrowful and sad, he wept and he prayed, as being a man ; but 
 he comforts the sorrowful, and heareth the prayers of all his saints, as being 
 a God. 8. He was whipped, and rent and torn, and crucified as being a 
 man ; but he rent the vail of the temple, and caused the sun to hide his 
 face for shame when he was crucified, as being a God. 9. He cried out on 
 the cross, “ Eloi, Eloi, Lama sabacthani,” as being a man ; but he could 
 say to the thief, “ To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise,” as being a 
 God. 10. He died and was buried, and lay in the grave as being a man ; 
 but he overcame death, and destroyed the devil, and raised up himself to life 
 again, as being a God. 11. After his resurrection, he appeared to his disci- 
 ples, and ate with them, and talked with them, as being a man : but he 
 provided meat, and vanished out of their sight, as being a God. 12. He 
 ascended into heaven, and the heavens now contain him, as he is man ; but 
 he sustains the heavens, and commands all therein, and rides on the same, as 
 being a God. Thus, we see all along two real distinct natures still continu- 
 ing in Christ; God being become man, the Deity was not abolished, but the 
 human nature was adjoined, according to the old distich, Sum quod eram , 
 nee eram quod sum , &c. “ I am that I was, but I was not that I am.” You 
 will say, how then is it said, “ The word was made flesh,” or God became 
 man ? I answer, one thing may become another either by way of change, 
 as when the water was turned into wine, but this was not Christ, the God- 
 head was for a time concealed, but it was never cancelled ; or one thing may 
 become another by way of union, as when one substance is adjoined unto 
 another and yet is not transferred or changed into the nature of the other. 
 Thus, a soldier putting on his armor is an armed man, or a man wearing his 
 own garments is no more naked, but a clothed man ; and yet the armor and 
 the soldier, the man and his apparel are distinct things, and thus it was with 
 Christ; the flesh is said to be deified, and the Deity is said to be incarnate; 
 not by the conversion of either into the nature of the other, but by assuming 
 and adjoining the human nature to the divine, and yet still the human na- 
 ture and the divine are distinct things; both the natures in Christ do remain 
 entire and inconfused ; indeed the humanity is much magnified by the divi- 
 nity; but the divinity is nothing altered by the humanity. Thus much for 
 the distinction of his two natures. 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 175 
 
 Section V. — Of the Union of the two Natures of Christ in one and the 
 
 same Person. 
 
 5. The union of the two natures of Christ, in one and the self-same per- 
 son, is that great wonder, which now we must speak of as we are able ; but, 
 alas ! how should we speak of this union, and not be confounded in ourselves ? 
 It is a great mystery, a secret, a wonder, many wonders have been since the 
 beginning of the world, but all the wonders that ever were, must give place 
 to this, and in respect thereof, cease to be wonderful. Neither the creation 
 of all things out of nothing, nor the restoration of all things into their perfect 
 being ; I mean, neither the first work, nor the last work of God in this 
 world, (though most admirable pieces) may be compared with this. This 
 union of the two natures of Christ into one person, is the highest pitch (if 
 any thing may be said highest in that which is infinite) of God’s wisdom, 
 goodness, power and glory : well therefore said the angel to Mary, “ The 
 power of the Highest shall overshadow thee.” And if God did overshadow 
 this mystery with his own vail, how should we presume with the men of 
 Bethshemesh to look into it ? Christians, if you would needs put it to the 
 question, How that wonderful connexion of two so infinitely differing na- 
 tures, in the unity of one person, should be effected? I must answer you 
 with the apostle, “ Who is sufficient for these things ?” Certainly these are 
 the things which “ the angels desire to stoop and look into,” 1 Pet. 1 : 12. 
 It is an inquisition fitter for an angelical intelligence, than for our shallow 
 capacity ; and yet, as Moses could not choose but wonder, though he must 
 not draw nigh to the bush burning with fire, and not consumed ; so, though 
 he must not draw nigh to see this great sight, “ how poor dust and ashes 
 should be assumed into the unity of God’s own person, and that in the midst 
 of those everlasting burnings, the bush should remain unconsumed, and 
 continue fresh and green for evermore,” Isaiah 83:14. Yet what doth 
 hinder but we may stand aloof off, and wonder at it? This is one piece of 
 our duty, to recite all the long-fore passed acts and benefits of God, (as well 
 as we may, scripture still going along) that thereby we may admire, and 
 adore, and express our love and thankfulness unto God. 
 
 For the untying of this knot, I cannot but wonder what a world of ques- 
 tions have been tossed in schools. As, 
 
 1. Whether the union of the Word incarnate was in the nature? — 2. 
 Whether the union of the Word incarnate was in the person? — 3. Whether 
 the human nature was united to the Word by way of accident ? — 4. Whether 
 the union of the divine and human nature be some thing created ? — 5. 
 Whether the union of the Word incarnate be the same with assumption? — 
 6. Whether the union of the two natures of Christ be the chief of all unions ? 
 — 7. Whether the union of the two natures of Christ was made by grace? 
 — 8. Whether it was convenient for the divine person to assume a created 
 nature ? — 9. Whether a divine person could assume the nature human ? — 
 10. Whether more persons divine could assume one nature human ? — 11. 
 Whether it was more convenient, that the person of the Son should assume 
 human nature than any other of the persons in the Godhead ? — 12. Whether 
 the human nature was more assumptible by the Son of God than any other 
 nature ? — 13. Whether the Son of God did not assume the person of man ? 
 —14. Whether the Son of God assumed the human nature in all its indi- 
 viduals, or as abstracted from all individuals? — 15. Whether the Son of 
 God assumed a true body, soul, and all its intellects ? — 16. Whether the 
 Son of God, in respect of nature, though not of time, did first assume the 
 soul, and then the body of man ? — 17. Whether the Son of God in human 
 nature assumed all the defects of the body ?— 18. Whether the Son of God 
 assumed all the defects of the soul of man ? — 19. Whether by virtue of this 
 
176 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 union, those things which are agreeable to the son of man, may be predi- 
 cated of the Son of God, and e converso? — 20. Whether Christ be one or 
 two? And whether in Christ be one or two wills, one or more operations? 
 These and many other like questions are raised, that in their discussions 
 make up large volumes, but I shall leave them all to the schools. 
 
 In the explication of this union, that which I shall insist on (as the most 
 necessary for our understanding) is, 1. The union itself. 2. The effects or 
 benefits of it. 
 
 1. For the union itself we shall discuss, 1. Of the sorts of union, and of 
 what sort this is. 2. Of the very thing itself wherein this union consists. 
 3. Of the scriptural texts that confirm this union. 4. Of the similitudes 
 that hold forth this union. 5. Of the person assuming, and of the nature 
 assumed, and of the reason of this way. And of these as briefly as I may; 
 
 I would rather say much in a little, than a little in much. 
 
 1. Union is of divers sorts, as natural and mystical, accidental and sub- 
 stantial, essential and integral. But I shall pass these by, and speak only 
 of their sorts. 1. When one of the things united is turned into the other, 
 as when a drop of water into a vessel of wine. 2. When both the things 
 united are changed in nature and essence, as when the elements are united 
 to make mixed or compounded bodies. 3. When there is no change of 
 thiugs united, but the constitution of a third nature out of them both, as in 
 the union of the soul and body. 4. When there is neither a change of the 
 natures united, nor a constitution of a third out of them both, but only the 
 founding, settling, and staying of the one of the things united in the other, 
 and the drawing of it into the unity of the personal being or substance of 
 the other : so the branch of a tree being put into the stock of another tree, 
 it is drawn into the unity of the substance of that tree into which it is put : 
 and whereas, if it had been set in the ground, it would have grown as a 
 separate tree in itself, now it groweth in the tree into which it is graffed, 
 and pertaineth to the unity of it : and this kind of union doth of all others 
 most perfectly resemble the personal union of the two natures of God and 
 man in Christ, wherein the nature of man, that would have been a person 
 in itself, if it had been left to itself, is drawn into the unity of the divine 
 person, and subsisteth in it, being prevented from subsisting in itself, by 
 this personal union and assumption. 
 
 2. For the thing wherein this union of two natures consists, we say, That 
 this union consists in that dependence of the human nature on the person 
 of the Word, and in that communicating of the person or subsistence of the 
 Word, with the human nature that is assumed, so that it is an hypostatical 
 or a personal union, that is, such an union, as that both natures do but make 
 one person of Christ; for the better understanding of this, we must consider 
 what the difference is betwixt nature and person, and what makes an indi- 
 vidual nature to be a person, briefly thus, “ To be this or that, we say, is an 
 individual nature ; to be this or that, in, and for itself, is a person or sub- 
 sistence ; to be this or that, in, and for another, is to pertain to the person 
 or subsistence of another.” Now amongst those created things, which are 
 naturally apt to make a personal being, or to subsist in and for themselves, 
 there is a very great difference. For, — 
 
 1. Some things of this kind may become parts of another more entire 
 thing of the same kind : as we see in all those things wherein every part 
 hath the same nature that the whole hath ; as every drop of water is water, 
 and being left to itself, it is a subsistence in itself, and hath its quality, na- 
 ture, and being in, and for itself, but if it be joined to a greater quantity 
 of water, it hath now no being, quantity nor operation, but iu and for that 
 greater quantity of water into which it is poured. 
 
 2. Other things of this kind cannot naturally put themselves into the 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 177 
 
 unity of any other thing, and yet by the help of some foreign cause they 
 may be united : as the branch of a tree of one kind, which put into the 
 ground would be an entire distinct tree in itself, may by the hand of a man 
 be put into the unity of a tree of another kind : and so grow, move, and 
 bear fruit, not distinctly in and for itself, but jointly in and for that tree 
 into which it is planted. 
 
 3. Other things of this kind cannot by force of natural causes, nor by the 
 help of any foreign thing, ever become parts of any other created thing or 
 pertain to the unity of the subsistence of any such thing; as the nature of 
 man, and the nature of all living things : and yet by divine and supernatu- 
 ral workings, it may be drawn into the unity of the subsistence of any of 
 the persons of the blessed Trinity, wherein the fulness of all being, and the 
 perfection of all created things, is in a more eminent sort than in themselves; 
 for though all created things have their own being, yet seeing God is nearer 
 to them than they are to themselves, and they are in a better sort in him 
 than they are in themselves, and there is no question, but that they may be 
 prevented and stayed from being in, and for themselves, and caused to be in 
 and for one of the divine Persons of the blessed Trinity. 
 
 So that, as one drop of water, that formerly subsisted in itself, if it be 
 poured into a vessel containing a greater quantity, it becomes one in sub- 
 sistence with the greater quantity of water ; and as a branch of a tree that 
 being set in the ground, and left to itself, would be an entire and indepen- 
 dent tree, becomes one in subsistence with that tree into which it is graffed ; 
 so the individual nature of man assumed into the unity of one of the Per- 
 sons of the blessed Trinity, it loseth that kind of being that, naturally left 
 to itself, it would have had, and it becomes one with the person ; for now 
 it is not in, and for itself, but hath got a new relation of dependence and 
 being in another. 
 
 But you will say, All the creatures in the world have their being in God, 
 and dependence on God, and therefore all creatures, as well as man, may 
 pertain to the person, or subsistence of God. 
 
 I answer, it is not a general being in, and dependence upon God, but a 
 strict dependence on man’s part, and a communicating of the subsistence on 
 God’s part, that makes up this union. Hence, we say, that there are four 
 degrees of the presence of God in his creatures ; the first is the general pre- 
 sence, whereby he preserves the substances of all creatures, and gives unto 
 them, “to live, and to move, and have their being,” Acts 17 : 28. And 
 this extends itself to all creatures good and bad. 
 
 The second degree is the presence of grace whereby he doth not only pre- 
 serve the substance of his creature, but also gives grace unto it ; and this 
 agrees to the saints, and God’s people on earth. The third degree is the 
 presence of glory peculiar to the saints and angels in heaven, and hereby 
 God doth not only preserve their substances, and give them plenty of his 
 grace ; but he also admits them into his glorious presence, so as they may 
 behold him face to face. The fourth and last degree, is that whereby the 
 Godhead of the Son is present with, and dwells in the manhood, giving unto 
 it in some part his own subsistence ; whereby it comes to pass, That this man- 
 hood assumed, is proper to the Son, and cannot be the manhood of the 
 Father, or of the Holy Ghost, or of any creature whatsoever, and this is a 
 thing so admirable, and unspeakable, that though we may find some simili- 
 tudes, yet there cannot be found auother example hereof in all the world. 
 
 Hence, it follows, that if the manhood of Christ, consisting of a body and 
 Boul, there is a nature only, and not a person ; because it doth not subsist 
 alone as other men, Peter, Paul, and John do, but it wholly depends on the 
 person of the Word, into the unity whereof it is received ; and this depen- 
 dence of the human nature on the person of the Word, and the communi- 
 12 
 
178 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IV. 
 
 eating of the person or subsistenoe of the Word with the human nature, is 
 the very thing itself wherein this union consists. 
 
 3. For the scriptural texts that confirm this union. You see the well is 
 ■very deep, but where is your bucket ? What texts of scripture have we to 
 confirm this wonderful union of two natures in one person ? Amongst 
 many, I shall cite these : 
 
 When Christ asked his disciples, “ Whom do men say that I the Son of 
 man am ? Simon Peter answered, Thou art the Christ the Son of the living 
 God,” Matth. 16 : 13. 16. Now, if but one Christ, then surely but one 
 person ; and if the son of man be the Son of the living God, then surely 
 there are two natures in that one person ; observe how the son of man, and 
 the Son of God, very man, and very God, concentrate in Christ; as the soul 
 and body make but one man, so the Son of man and the Son of God make 
 but one Christ; “ Thou art Christ, saith Peter, the Son of the living God.” 
 
 So Paul, speaking of Jesus Christ the Son of God, he tells us, Rom. 
 1 : 3, 4, “ That he was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, 
 and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit.” 
 1. “ Made of the seed of David,” of the substance of the virgin, who wa,s 
 David’s posterity. 2. “ Declared to be the Son of God ;” not made the 
 Son of God, as he was made the Son of man, “ but declared to be the Son 
 of God;” the word in the original signifies a declaration by a solemn sen- 
 tence or definitive judgment. “ I will declare the decree, the Lord hath said 
 unto me, Thou art ray Son,” Psal. 2 : 7. That which I point at, he is the 
 Son of David, ( Kata farka ) in respect of his manhood, and he is the Son 
 of God, ( Kata pneuma) in respect to his Godhead. Here be the two 
 natures, but in the words before, these two natures make but one Son, Jesus 
 Christ the Lord ; and in the very words themselves he is declared to be the 
 Son of God ; he doth not say, Sons, as of two ; but “ his Son Jesus Christ,” 
 First, before, and then after ; to show unto us, That as before his making, 
 so after his making, he is still but one Son, or one person of the two distinct 
 natures subsisting. 
 
 To the same purpose is that same text, “ In him dwelleth all the fulness 
 of the Godhead bodily,” Col. 2:9. By the union of the divine nature 
 with the human, in the unity of his person, the Godhead dwelleth in Christ, 
 as the soul in the body : “ it dwelleth in him bodily ; not seemingly, bnt 
 really, truly, and indeed ; not figuratively, and in shadow, as he dwelleth in 
 the temple; not by power and efficacy, as he dwells in all the creatures; 
 not by grace, as in his people ; nor by glory, as in his saints above : but 
 essentially, substantially, personally, the human nature being assumed into 
 the union with the person of the Word. Observe the passages ; he in whom 
 that fulness dwells is the person ; that fulness which doth so dwell in him, 
 is the nature : now, there dwells in him not only the fulness of the Godhead, 
 but the fulness of the manhood also : for we believe him to be both perfect 
 God, begotten of the substance of his Father before all worlds ; and per- 
 fect man made of the substance of his mother in this world ; only he in 
 whom the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth, is one, and he in whom the 
 fulness of the manhood dwelleth, is another; but he in whom the fulness 
 of both these two natures dwelleth, is one and the same Emanuel, and con- 
 sequently one and the same person ; in him, i. e. in his person dwelleth all 
 the fulness of the Godhead, and all the fulness of the manhood : “ In him 
 dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” 
 
 4. For the similitudes that resemble or set forth this mystery, many are 
 given, but for our better understanding, let us consider these few : 
 
 The first is of the soul and body, that make but one man ; as the soul 
 and body are two distinct things, and of several natures, yet being united 
 by the hand of God, they make but one person ; so the Godhead and man- 
 
CHAP. I.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 179 
 
 hood are two distinct things, and of several natures, yet being united by 
 the hand of God, they make but one person. Indeed herein is the simili. 
 tude defective : First, In that the soul and body being imperfect natures, 
 they concur to make one full and perfect nature of a man. Secondly, in 
 that the one of them is not drawn into the unity of the subsistence of the 
 other, but both depend on a third subsistence, which is that of the whole. 
 
 The second is of the light and sun ; as after the collection and union of 
 the light with the body of the sun, no man can pluck them asunder, nor doth 
 any man call one part the sun, and another part the light ; but both of them 
 jointly together we call the sun ; even so after the union of flesh with that 
 true light the Word, no man doth call the Word apart to be one Son of 
 God, and the Son of man another Son of God ; but both of them jointly 
 together we call one, and the self-same Christ. I know in this similitude 
 are many defectives, yet if hereby we be not altogether able to attain the 
 truth of this great mystery, certainly, u we have herein a most excellent 
 similitude, which will greatly help, and contentedly suffice the godly and 
 moderate searchers of this divine truth.” Justin Martyr de recta confess, 
 de Coessent Trin. 
 
 The third is of a fiery and flaming sword ; as the subsistences of the fire 
 and sword are so nearly conjoined, that the operations of them for the most 
 part concur; for a fiery sword in cutting burneth, and in burning cutteth; 
 and we say of the whole, That this fiery thing is a sharp piercing sword, 
 and that this sharp piercing sword is a fiery thing, even so in the union of 
 the two natures of Christ, there is a communication of properties from the 
 one of them to the other, as shall be declared,' if the Lord permit; only this 
 similitude is defective in this, in that the nature of the iron is not -drawn 
 into the unity of the subsistence of fire, nor is the nature of the fire drawn 
 into the unity of the subsistence of iron ; so that we cannot say, This fire is 
 iron, or this iron is fire. 
 
 The fourth is of one man having two qualities, or accidental natures ; as 
 a man that is both a physician and a divine, he is but one person, and yet 
 there are two natures concurring and meeting in that same one person ; so 
 that we may rightly say of such a one, This physician is a divine, and this 
 divine is a physician ; this physician is happy in saving souls, and this divine 
 is careful in curing bodies : even so is Christ both God and man, and but 
 yet one Christ ; and in that one Christ, according to the several natures, are 
 denominations of either part, as, that this man is God, and, this God is 
 man ; or that this man made the world, and, this God died upon the cross ; 
 but in this similtude is this defect, in that the different natures are acci- 
 dental, and not essential or substantial. 
 
 The fifth and last is of the branch and tree into which it is ingraffed ; as 
 suppose a vine branch, and an olive tree; now as this olive tree is but one, 
 but hath two different natures in it, and so it beareth two kinds of fruit, 
 and yet between the tree and the branch there is a composition not hujus 
 ex his , but hujus ad hoc , i. e., not of a third thing out of the two things 
 united, but of one of the two things united or adjoined to the other; even 
 so Christ is oue, but he hath two different natures, and in them he performs 
 the different actions pertaining to either of them ; and yet between the dif- 
 ferent natures (the divine and the human nature) there is a composition, 
 not Jujus ex his , but hujus ad hoc , not of a third nature arising out of these, 
 but of the human nature added, or united to the divine, in unity of the same 
 person : so that now we may say, as this vine is an olive-tree, and this olive- 
 tree is a viue ; or as this vine bear3 olives, and olive-trees hear grapes ; so 
 the Son of man is the Son of God, and the Son of God is the Son of man : 
 or this Son of man laid the foundation of the earth, and this Son of God 
 was born of Mary, and crucified by the Jews. This similitude (I take it) is 
 
180 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 the aptest and fullest of all the other, though in some things also it doth 
 fail; for the branch hath first a separate subsistence in itself, and losing it 
 after, then it is drawn into the unity of the subsistence of that tree into 
 which it is implanted ; but it is otherwise with the human nature of Christ, 
 it never had any subsistence of its own, until it was united to the person, or 
 subsistence of the Son of God. 
 
 5. For the person assuming, and the nature assumed, and for the reason 
 of this way, we say, 1. That the person assuming was a divine person ; it 
 was not the divine nature that assumed a human person, but the divine 
 person that assumed a human nature ; and that of the three divine persons 
 it was neither the first, nor the third, neither the Father, nor the Holy 
 Ghost that did assume this nature, but it was the Son, the middle person, 
 who was to be the middle one, That thereby, 1. He might undertake the 
 mediation between God and us. 2. He might better preserve the integrity 
 of the blessed Trinity in the Godhead. 3. He might higher advance man- 
 kind by means of that relation which the second person, the Mediator did 
 bear unto his Father : for this very end, saith the apostle, Gal. 4:4, 5, 6, 
 “ God sent his own Son made of a woman, that we might receive the adoption 
 of sons; wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son, and if a son, then 
 an heir of God through Christ ;” intimating thereby, that what relation 
 Christ hath unto God by nature, we being found in him, have the very same 
 by grace; he was God’s Son by nature, and we are his sons by grace; he 
 was in a peculiar manner “the first born among many brethren,” Rom. 8 : 29. 
 And in him and for him, the rest of the brethren by grace of adoption are 
 accounted as first born, Heb. 12:23; Exod. 4 : 22, 23. 
 
 2. The nature assumed was the seed of Abraham ; “ For verily he took 
 not upon him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abra- 
 ham,” Heb. 2 : 16. Elsewhere the apostle calls it the seed of David, “ He 
 was made of the seed of David according to the flesh,” Rom. 1 : 3. And 
 elsewhere it is called the seed of the woman, “ I will put enmity between 
 thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed,” Gen. 3:15. 
 And when “ the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son made 
 of a woman,” Gal. 4:4. No question she was the passive, and material 
 principle, of which that precious flesh was made, and the Holy Ghost the 
 agent and efficient; that blessed womb of her’s was the bride chamber, 
 wherein the Holy Ghost did knit that indissoluble knot betwixt our human 
 nature and his Deity; the Son of God assuming into the unity of his per- 
 son, that which before he was not, even our human nature. O with what 
 astonishment may we behold our dust and ashes assumed into the unity of 
 God’s own person ! 
 
 3. For the reason of this way; why did the person assume a nature; or 
 
 rather why did not the person of the Son of God join itself to a perfect 
 person of the Son of man ? I answer, First, Because then there could not 
 have been a personal union of both natures, and so Christ had not been a 
 perfect Mediator. 2. Because then the work of each of the natures of 
 Christ could not have been counted the works of the whole person ; 
 whereas now, by this union of both natures in one person, the obedience 
 of Christ performed in the manhood is become of infinite merit, as being 
 the obedience of God; and thereupon God is said “to have purchased 
 the church with his own blood,” Acts 20:28. 3. Because, if the person 
 
 of the Son of God had been joined to the person of man, there should have 
 been four persons in the Trinity. It is very observable how for the better 
 preservation of the integrity of the blessed Trinity in the Godhead, the 
 human nature was assumed into the unity of the second person ; for if the 
 fullness of the Godhead should have dwelt in any human person, there 
 should then have been a fourth person necessarily added to the Godhead; 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 181 
 
 and if any of the three persons, besides the second, had been born of a woman, 
 there should then have been two sons in the Trinity; whereas now the Son 
 of God and the Son of man, being but one person, he is consequently but 
 one son ; and so no alteration at all made in the relations of the Trinity; but 
 they are still one Father, one Son, and one Holy Ghost. 
 
 These are the deep things of God, and indeed so exceedingly mystical, 
 that they can never be perfectly declared by any man Bernard compares 
 this ineffable mystery of the union of two natures, with that incompre- 
 hensible mystery of the Trinity in unity : in the Trinity is three persons, 
 and one nature ; in Christ is two natures, and one person ; that of the 
 Trinity is indeed the greatest, and this of the incarnation is like unto it ; 
 they both far exceed man’s capacity ; “ For his way is in the sea, and his 
 path in the great waters, and his footsteps are not known,” Psalm 77 : 19. 
 
 2. For the effects and benefits of this hypostatical union, they are either 
 in respect of Christ, or in respect of Christians. 
 
 1. Those in respect of Christ, are, 1. An exemption of all sin. 2. A col- 
 lation of all graces. 3. A communication of all the properties. 
 
 1. We find, That although Christ appeared as a sinner, and that he was 
 u numbered among the wicked, or with the transgressors,” Isa. 53 : 12. yet 
 in very deed and truth u he did no sin, neither was any guile found in his 
 mouth,” 1 Peter 2 : 22. The apostle tells us, “ He was holy, harmless, 
 undefiled, separate from sinners,” Heb. 7 : 26. He assumed the nature of 
 man ; yet by reason of his pure conception, and of this hypostatical union 
 he was conceived, and born, and lived without sin : he took upon him the 
 seed of man ; but not the sin of man, save only by imputation. But on this 
 point I shall uot stay. 
 
 2. The graces collated unto the humanity of Christ, by reason of this 
 union, are very many; I shall instance in some: As — 
 
 1. That the manhood hath subsistence in the second person of the Trinity, 
 whereof itself (as of itself) is destitute. 
 
 2. That the manhood is a peculiar temple for the Deity of Christ to dwell 
 in, it is the place wherein the Godhead shows itself more manifestly and 
 more gloriously, than in any other creature whatsoever. It is true, That 
 by his provideuce he shows himself in all his creatures, and by his grace in 
 his saints, but he is only most gloriously, eternally, according to the fullness 
 of his Deity, and by an hypostatical union in the humanity of Jesus Christ. 
 il In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,” Col. 2 : 9. Some 
 are of opinion, That, as now in this life, “ No man cometh unto God but 
 by Christ.” So hereafter, in the next life, no man shall see God, but in 
 the face of Jesus Christ. 
 
 3. That the manhood is in a nearer familiarity with the Godhead than 
 any other creature ; whether men, or angels ; as sometimes he said, u My 
 father and I are one,” i. e. one essence ; so he may as truly say, The man- 
 hood and I are one, i. e. one person for ever. 
 
 4. That the manhood of Christ, according to its measure, is a partner with 
 the Godhead in the work of redemption and mediation ; as he is Emmanuel 
 in respect of his person, so he is Emmanuel in respect of his office. He 
 must needs be man as well as God ; that he might be able to send this com- 
 fortable message to the sons of men, “ Go to my brethren, and say to them, 
 I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and to my God and your God,” 
 John 20:17. I, as man, am in the work of redemption, and in the work 
 of mediation as well as God, “ My fleslf is indeed the bread of life.” 
 
 5. That the manhood of Christ, together with the Godhead, is adored 
 and worshipped with divine honor; as, in like case, the honor done to the 
 king, redounds to the crown upon his head : not that we worship the man- 
 hood alone, as merely a creature, but that we adore the person of Christ, 
 which consisteth of the manhood and of the Godhead. 
 
182 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK* IV. 
 
 6. That the manhood hath an extraordinary measure, without measure, 
 of habitual graces poured into it : in this he excels the very angels, for to 
 them was given grace only by measure, but to the humanity of Christ was 
 given grace without measure, even so much as a creature is in any ways ca- 
 pable of. I know it is said, That “ Jesus increased in wisdom, and stature, 
 and in favor with God and man,” Luke 2 : 52. But this increase or growth 
 in wisdom is not to be understood in respect to the essence or extension of 
 the habit, (for that he had from the beginning, even from the first moment 
 of his incarnation, and he brought it with him out of the womb) but in re- 
 spect of the act and use of it, or in respect of his experimental knowledge, 
 so he increased, and not otherwise ; never was there any but Christ, whose 
 graces were no way stinted, and that was absolutely full of grace. Divines 
 tell us of a double grace in Christ, the one of union, and it is infinite ; the 
 other of unction, (which is all one with grace habitual) and that it is in a 
 sort infinite : for, howsoever it be but a finite and created thing, yet in the 
 nature of grace, it hath no limitation, no bounds, no stint, but includeth in 
 itself whatsoever any way pertains to grace, or that cometh within the com- 
 pass of it. The reason of this illimited donation of grace bestowed on the 
 nature of man in Christ, was, for that grace was given to it as to the uni- 
 versal cause, whence it was to be derived unto all others; he is the fountain 
 of grace, “ And of his fullness we receive grace for grace,” John 1 : 16. 
 
 3. For the communication of the properties. It is a kind, or phrase of 
 speech peculiar to the scriptures, when the properties of either nature of 
 Christ considered singly and apart, are attributed to the person of Christ 
 from whichsoever of the natures they be denominated ; for the understand- 
 ing of this observe, 1. That words are either abstractive or concretive ; the 
 former speaks of the nature of things, the latter speaks of the person that hath 
 that nature; as the Godhead, and God; the manhood, and man; holiness, 
 and holy. 2. Observe, That abstractive words noting precisely the distinct 
 natures, cannot be affirmed one of the other. We cannot say, the Godhead 
 suffered, or the manhood created ; but we may truly say, that God suffered 
 and man created; because the persons which those concretive words imply 
 is one ; and all actions, passions, and qualities agree really to the person, 
 though in respect sometimes of one nature, and sometimes another : thus, 
 u God purchased the church with ois own blood,” Acts 20 : 28. Not that 
 the Godhead shed blood, but the person which was God : and thus the Son 
 of man talking with Nicodemus is said to be in heaven, John 3 : 13. Not 
 that the manhood was in heaven while he was on earth ; but the person of 
 the Son of man. Thus we may say, that God was born of a virgin, and that 
 God suffered, and God was crucified, not simply in respect of his Godhead, 
 but in respect of his person, or in respect of the human nature which God 
 united to himself, because God here is a concrete word, and not an abstract, 
 and signifieth the person of Christ, and not the divine nature of Christ. 
 And thus we may say, That the man Christ is almighty, omniscient, om- 
 nipresent, yet not simply in respect of his manhood, but in respect of the 
 person, which is the same, God and man ; or in respect of the divine nature 
 of the man Christ Jesus, for that here also mau is a concrete word, and not 
 an abstract, and signifieth the whole person of Christ, and not the human 
 nature : but, on the contrary, we may not say, That the Godhead of Christ 
 was born of a virgin, or suffered, or was crucified : nor may we say, That 
 the manhood of Christ is almighty, omniscient, omnipresent, because the 
 Godhead and manhood are abstract words, i. e. such words, as note to us the 
 two natures of Christ, the one divine, and the other human, and not the 
 person of Christ. 
 
 And this I think, is the mind of Luther, and his followers, and yet (0 
 wonder) what a deal of objections are made to the multiplying of needless 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 183 
 
 and fruitless contentions ; the Lutherans confess, (however they hold the 
 ubiquirary presence of the humanity of Christ) that his body is only in one 
 place locally : “ If we ask them (saith Zanchius, in judicio de dessidio 
 ccenae Dominicae ) “ Whether Christ’s body be every where ?” They answer, 
 That locally it is but in one place, but that personally it is every where. 
 Now if they mean, saith he, That in respect of essence, his body is finite, 
 and confined to one certain place ; but in respect of the being of substance, 
 or of his person, it is infinite, and every where, they say the truth ; and 
 there is no difference amongst us.” Happy are the reconcilers of dissenting 
 brethren : “ unto their assembly, mine honor be thou united.” 
 
 2. The effects or benefits of this hypostatical union, in respect of Chris- 
 tians, or their spiritual union and communion with God and Christ. 
 
 1. There is a spiritual union of Christians with God in Christ; 0 the 
 wonder of these two blessed unions ! First, Of the personal or hypostatical 
 union. Secondly, Of this spiritual or mystical union : in the personal union, 
 it pleased God to assume and unite our human nature to the Deity : in this 
 spiritual union, it pleased God to unite the person of every believer to the 
 person of the Son of God. This union is mystical, and yet our very per- 
 sons, natures, bodies, souls, are in a spiritual way conjoined to the body and 
 soul of Christ; so that “we are members of the body of Christ, and of 
 the flesh of Christ, and of the bones of Christ,” Eph. 5 : 30. And as 
 this conjunction is immediately made with his human nature, so thereby 
 we are also united to the divine nature, 2 Pet. 1 : 4. Yea, the person of 
 the believer is indissolubly united to the glorious person of the Son of God. 
 
 Now, concerning this union, for our better understanding, observe these 
 four things, 
 
 1. It is a most real union, it is not a mere notional and intellectual union, 
 that consists only in the understanding, and without the understanding is 
 nothing; it is not an imaginary thing, that hath no other being but only in 
 the braiu ; no, no, it is a true, real, essential, substantial union : in natural 
 unions, I confess, there may be more evidence, but there cannot be more 
 truth ; spiritual agents neither have, nor put forth less virtue, because sense 
 cannot discern their manner of working; even the load-stone, though an 
 earthen substance, yet when it is out of sight, whether uuder the table, or 
 behind a solid partition, it stirreth the needle as effectually, as if it were 
 within view. Shall not he contradict his senses, that will say, It cannot 
 work, because I see it not? Oh, my Saviour ! thou art more mine than my 
 body is mine, my sense feels that present, but so as that I must lose it, but 
 my faith so feels, and sees thee present with me, as that I shall never be 
 parted from thee. 
 
 2. It is a very near union : you will say, How near ? If an angel were 
 to speak to you, he cannot fully satisfy you in this; only as far as our un- 
 derstanding can reach it, and the creatures can serve to illustrate these 
 things, take it thus, whatsoever by way of comparison can be alleged con- 
 cerning the combination of any one thing with another : that, and much 
 more may be said of our union with Jesus Christ. To give instance out 
 of the scripture, see what one stick is to another being glued together, 1 
 Cor. 4 : 17. See what one friend is to another, as Jonathan and David, 1 
 Sam. 18 : 1. Who were said to be woven and knit, each one to another: 
 see how near the lather and the child are, how near the husband and the 
 wife are, Isa. 62 : 2. See what union is between the branches and the 
 vine, the members and the head : nay, one thing more, see what the soul 
 is to the body : such is Christ, and so near is Christ, and nearer to the 
 person of every true believer. “I live, yet not I, said Paul, but Christ 
 liveth in me,” John 15:5. 1 Cor. 12 : 12. Gal. 2 : 20. q. d. As the 
 soul is to the body of a natural man, that acts and enlivens it naturally, so 
 
184 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IV. 
 
 is Jesus Christ to my soul and body. 0 there is marvellous nearness in 
 this mystical union. 
 
 3. It is a total union, i. e., whole Christ is united to the whole believer, 
 soul and body, if thou art united to Christ, thou hast all Christ, thou art 
 one with him in his nature, in his name, thou hast the same image, grace 
 and spirit in thee as he hath ; the same precious promises, the same access 
 to God by prayer, as he : thou hast the same love of the Father, all that he 
 did or suffered, thou hast a share in it : thou hast his life and death, all is 
 thine : so, on thy part, he hath thee wholly, thy nature, thy sins, the pun- 
 ishment of thy sin : thy wrath, thy curse, thy shame : yea, thy wit, and 
 wealth, and strength, all that thou art or hast, or canst do possibly for him. 
 It is a total union, “My beloved is mine, and I am his:” whole Christ from 
 top to toe is mine, and all that I am, have, or can do for evermore, is his. 
 
 4. It is an inseparable union, it can never be broken. “ I will make, 
 saith God, an everlasting covenant with them, and I will not turn away 
 from them to do them good. I will put my fear in their hearts, that they 
 shall not depart from me,” Jer. 32 : 40. This is a glorious promise, some 
 poor souls may say, “ True, Lord, thou wilt not turn away from me, I know 
 thou wilt not : Oh, but I fear I shall turn away from thee : Oh, alas ! I 
 turn every day towards sin and Satan ! Nay, said God, I will put my fear 
 in thy heart, that thou shalt not turn away from me,” q. d. We shall be 
 kept together for evermore, and never be separated. Hence, Paul trium- 
 phantly challenges all enemies on earth, (or rather in hell) to do their worst 
 to break this knot, “ Who shall separate me from the love of God in Christ? 
 Shall tribulation, distress, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword ?” Rom. 8 : 35. 
 Come, all that can come, and see if that blessed union betwixt me and 
 Christ shall ever be broken, by all that you can do. Thus for the union. 
 
 2. There is a spiritual communion with God in Christ. Both these are 
 the effects of Christ’s personal, or hypostatical union : First, Union to his 
 person, and then communion with his benefits : union, in proper speaking, 
 is not unto any of the benefits flowing to us from Christ : we are not united to 
 forgiveness of sins, holiness, peace of conscience : but unto the person of 
 the Son of God himself : and then, secondly, comes this communication of 
 all the benefits arising immediately from this union to the Lord Jesus : that 
 as Christ was Priest, Prophet, and King, so we also by him are, after a 
 sort, priests, prophets, and kings : for being made one with him, we are 
 thereby possessed of all things that are his, as the wife is of the wealth of 
 her husband, “ Now, all these things are yours, saith the apostle, whether 
 Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world,” &c. 1 Cor. 3:21, 23. 
 
 Hitherto we have taken a view of Christ in his mother’s womb, and 0 
 what marvels there ! Did ever womb carry such fruit ? Well might the 
 angel say, “ Blessed art thou amongst women,” and well might Elizabeth 
 say, “Blessed is the fruit of thy womb;” but the blessing is not only in 
 conceiving, but in bearing, and therefore we proceed. 
 
 Sect. YI. — Of the Birth of Christ. 
 
 The birth of Christ now follows. Now it was that the Son of righte- 
 ousness should break forth from his bed, where nine months he hid himself 
 as behind a fruitful cloud : this was a world’s wonder, a thing so wonderful, 
 that it was given for a sign unto believers seven hundred and forty years 
 before it was accomplished : “ therefore the Lord himself shall give you a 
 sign, Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son,” Isa. 7 : 14. A 
 wonder indeed, and great beyond all comparison, that the Son of God 
 should be born of a woman ; that he who is the true Melchisedeck, without 
 father or mother, Heb. 7 : 3, must yet have a mother virgin; that he that 
 is before Abraham was, should yet be born after Abraham, a matter of two 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 185 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 thousand years; that he who was David’s Son, and therefore born in Beth- 
 lehem, should yet be David’s Lord, “wonderful things are spoken of thee, 
 0 thou Son of God:” before he was born, the prophets sing, the Sibyls 
 prophesy, the patriarchs typify, the types foretell, God promiseth, and the 
 Son of God performeth ; when he was born, angels ran errands, Gabriel 
 brings tidings, the glory of heaven shines, a star displays, and the wise 
 men are the heralds that proclaim his birth. But come yet a little nearer, 
 “Let us go to Bethlehem,” as the shepherds said, “and see this thing 
 which is come to pass,” Luke 2:15. If we step but one step into his 
 lodging, heaven’s wonder is before our eyes. Now look upon Jesus! look 
 on him as in fullness of time, he carried on the great work of our salvation ; 
 here now you may read the meaning of Adam’s covenant, Abraham’s pro- 
 mise, Moses’ revelation, David’s succession; these were but veils; but now 
 shall we draw aside the curtains. Come take a view of the truth itself ; 
 0 wonder of wonders, whom find we in this lodging ? A babe in a cratch, 
 a mother-maid, a father-virgin ? is this the babe whom we look unto as our 
 Jesus? Is this a mother (as Austin) scarce fourteen years of age? Is 
 this the father that “ knew her not until she had brought forth her first- 
 born son ?” Matthi. 1 : 25. What a strange birth is this ! Look on the 
 babe, there is no cradle to rock him in, no nurse to lull him, no linens to 
 swaddle him, scarce a little food to nourish him; look on the mother, there 
 is no midwife’s help, no downy pillows, no linen hangings, scarce a little 
 straw where she is brought a-bed : look on Joseph, the reputed father, he 
 rather begs than gives a blessing; poor carpenter, that makes them a chamber 
 of an ox’s stall, and carves him a cratch to be his cradle ; Mary, that sees 
 with her eyes, and ponders all in her heart, how doth modest shamefacedness 
 change her colors, so often as her imagination works ! “ She must bear a 
 
 Son,” an angel tells her, the Holy Ghost overshadows her, the days are 
 accomplished, and she is delivered ; each circumstance is enough to abash 
 a modest virgin : but who will not wonder? A maid believes, a maid con- 
 ceives, a maid brings forth, and a maid still remains ; how might we descant 
 on this subject ! But I shall contract myself, and reduce all wonders to 
 this word, “ I am the vine,” John 15:5. 
 
 It is a blessed parable, in which under the shadow of a vine, Christ ele- 
 gantly sets forth himself. Christ in many resemblances is a precious vine. 
 But why a vine rather than a cedar, oak, or some of the strongest, tallest 
 trees? Many reasons are given. As, 1. Because of all trees the vine is 
 the lowest; it grovels as it were on the ground. 2. Because of all the 
 trees the vine is the weakest; hence they that have vines, have also their 
 elms to support them, and hold them up. 3. Because of all trees the vine 
 hath the meanest bark, and outside it is of little worth or reputation. 
 4. Because of all trees the vine is the fruitfulest; and therefore it is called 
 “the fruitful vine,” Psal. 128:3. In every of these respects, Christ is 
 called a vine, who by his incarnation took upon him the lowest condition, 
 and “ made himself, by emptying himself, of no reputation,” Phil. 2 : 7. 
 But he was the fruitfulest vine that ever the earth bore, and in this respect 
 no vine, nor all the vines on the earth were worthy to be compared with 
 him, or to be so much as a resemblance of him. I shall not prosecute the 
 resemblance throughout; for so I might pass from his birth to his life, and 
 from his life to his death, when the blood of the grapes were pressed out, 
 only for the present, we will take a view of this vine. 1. In its plant. 2. In 
 its bud. 3. In its blossom. 4. In its fruit; and so an end. 
 
 1. For the plant : the way of vines is not to be sowed, but planted ; that 
 thus translated they might better fructify : so our Jesus, first sprung from 
 his father, is planted in a virgin’s womb; God from God, co-eternal with 
 God ; but by his incarnation made that he was not, and yet remaining that 
 
186 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 lie was; God of bis father, and man of his mother; before all time, yet 
 since the beginning. Bernard, de Passione Down, tells us, “ That this vine 
 sprung of the vine, is God begotten of God, the Son of the Father, both 
 co-eternal, and consubstantial with the Father; but that he might better 
 fructify, he was planted in the e^rth ; i. e., He was conceived in a virgin’s 
 womb.” There is indeed a resemblance in this; yet in this resemblance 
 we must be careful to observe that communication of properties, of which I 
 told you, we may truly say, That God was planted, or conceived, but not the 
 Godhead ; God is a concrete word, and signifies the person of Christ, and 
 his person was planted or conceived, not simply as God, but in respect of 
 the manhood united to it; and thus he that is infinite was conceived; and 
 he that is eternal, even he was born ; the very fulness of all perfection, and 
 all the properties of the divine essence are by this communication given to 
 the nature of man in the person of the Son of God ; no wonder therefore, 
 that we say, that this vine (the Son of God) is planted in Mary ; 1 know 
 some would have the plant more early ; and therefore they say, That Christ 
 was a vine planted in Adam, budded in David, and flourished in Mary : 
 but I take this but for a flourish ; all before Mary were but types, now was 
 the truth : now in Mary was Christ planted, and not before ; as in the 
 beginning “ there was not a man to till the ground, — But out of the ground 
 the Lord made to grow every tree ; — And a river went out of Eden to water 
 the garden so there was no man that tilled this ground, but out of this 
 ground (the virgin) the Lord made to grow this plant, watering it by his 
 Spirit ; “ The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the 
 Highest shall overshadow thee,” Luke 1 :35. Of this conception, and of 
 the Holy Ghost’s efficiency, I believe, spake the prophet, when there was 
 such longing after Christ’s coming in the flesh, “ Drop down ye heavens 
 from above, and let the sky pour down righteousness, let the earth open and 
 bring forth salvation,” Isa. 45:8. But of this conception before. 
 
 2. For the bud ; the nature of vines is to bud before it blossom or bring 
 forth its fruit; so it was said of Christ before he came, “Truth shall bud 
 out of the earth,” Psal. 85 : 11. Now what was this budding of truth out 
 of the earth but Christ born of a woman ? What was the truth, (said 
 Irenseus, L. 3, C. 5, and Augustin) “but Christ? and what the earth but 
 our flesh ? and what truth budding, but Christ being born ?” Here let us 
 stay a while ; surely it is worth the while (as the spouse said in the other 
 case) “ to get up early to the vineyard, and to see how the vine did flourish, 
 and how the tender grape did open,” Sol. Songs, 7 : 12. 
 
 In Christ’s carrying on the great work of our salvation before all worlds, 
 we told you of God’s counsels, as if he had been reduced to some straits 
 and difficulties by the cross demands of his several attributes, but wisdom 
 found out a way how to reconcile these differences by propounding a Jesus; 
 and in him “ mercy and truth meet together, righteousness and peace kissed 
 each other,” Psal. 85 : 10. That reconciliation was in the counsel of God 
 from all eternity : but for the execution of this counsel, it was now in the 
 fullness of time, even at this time when Christ was born. Now indeed, 
 and in truth, in execution, in performance, was the reconciliation of all 
 differences, and of this time was the Psalmist’s prophecy more especially 
 meant, “ Mercy and truth shall meet together, righteousness and peace 
 shall kiss each other : truth shall bud out of the earth, and righteousness 
 shall look down from heaven,” Psal. 85 : 10, 11. 
 
 In these words we find first, a meeting of God’s blessed attributes, and 
 secondly, This meeting at a birth, the birth of truth; at which meeting, 
 thirdly, was that glorious effect, That “ righteousness looked down,” and 
 indeed came down “from heaven.” I desire a little to invert the words, 
 and shall speak first to Christ’s birth; secondly, to the effects of his birth, 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 187 
 
 of “ righteousness looking down from heaven.” Thirdly, To the meeting 
 and agreement of all God’s attributes, as the issue and effect of all; “When 
 mercy and truth met together, and righteousness and peace kissed each 
 other.” 
 
 1. For his birth, our vine doth bud; “truth shall bud out of the earth,” 
 i. e. Christ shall be born upon the earth, or Christ shall be born of a wo- 
 man, for truth is Christ, bud is born, and the earth is a woman. 1. Truth 
 is Christ, “I am the way and the truth,” said Christ, John 14 : 6. He is 
 the truth of all types, and the truth of all prophecies, and the truth of all 
 promises. “For in him are all the promises, Yea and Amen.” 2. Bud is 
 born ; the vine budding, is the first putting forth of the grape, so Christ 
 being born, was truth budding out of the earth, he then first showed him- 
 self to the world, and was first seen (like the vine springing forth) above 
 ground. 3. The earth is the woman, thus we render that text “Let the 
 earth bring forth a Saviour,” Isa. 45 : 8. Look how the field-flowers spring 
 forth of themselves without any seed cast in by the hand of man, so the 
 virgin brings forth Christ. It is observable, that in the creation of Adam, 
 was laid the prognostics of this future birth. Begin with the first man 
 Adam, and you may see him paralleled in this second Adam, Christ. Adam 
 was created of the virgin earth, Christ was born of a virgin mother, the 
 earth had no husbandman, yet brought forth without seed, Mary had no 
 husband, yet brought forth without seed of man ; in the creation God said, 
 “Let us make man,” Gen. 1 : 26. And now, saith the Holy Ghost, “The 
 word is made flesh,” John 1 : 14. Or the word is man indeed; those were 
 but types, but Christ is the truth ; he is the vine that buds, the Messias 
 born; the angels own him, the star designs him, the prophets foreshow 
 him, the devils confess him, his miracles declare him, the sages seek him, 
 and heaven and earth rings with the news, That “ truth is budded out of 
 the earth.” 
 
 2. For the effect of his birth; “righteousness shall look down from 
 heaven.” No sooner is Christ born, but righteousness looked down from 
 heaven ; she cast her eye upon earth, and seeing truth freshly springing 
 there, she looked and looked again ; certainly it was a sight to draw all the 
 eyes of heaven to it. It is said of the angels, That “ they desired to look 
 into these things, 1 Pet. 1 : 12. They looked wishfully at them, as if they 
 would look through them ; no question, but righteousness looked as nar- 
 rowly, and as piercingly as the angels : some observe, That the Hebrew 
 word, “she looked down,” signifies that “she beat out a window;” so de- 
 sirous was righteousness to behold the sight of the vine budding, of Christ 
 being born, That she could not hold, but she beats out a window in heaven ; 
 before this time, she would not so much as look down towards earth ; right- 
 eousness had no prospect, no window open this way ; she turned away her 
 eyes; and clapt to the casement, and would not abide so much as to look 
 on such sinful, wretched, forlorn sinners as we are ; her eyes were purer 
 than to behold iniquity, she abhorred it, and us for it, and therefore would 
 not vouchsafe us once the cast of her eye. 0, but now the case is altered ; 
 no sooner doth our vine bud upon the earth, but she is willing to conde- 
 scend, and so willing that she breaks a window through the walls of heaven 
 to look down upon this bud; and no marvel; for what could righteousness 
 desire to see, and satisfy herself in, that was not to be seen in Jesus Christ? 
 He was all righteous, there was not the least spot of sin to be found in him, 
 his birth was clean, and his life was holy, and his death was innocent ; both 
 his soul and body were without all sin ; both his Spirit and his mouth were 
 without all guile; whatsoever satisfaction righteousness would have, she 
 might have it in him, “Lay judgment to the line, and righteousness to the 
 balance,” and there is nothing in Jesus but straight for the line, and full 
 weight for the balance. 
 
188 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 3. For the meeting and agreement of all God’s attributes, as the issue 
 and the last effect of this budding vine, the verse before tells us, That 
 “ mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed 
 each other ;” this meeting presupposeth a distance before they met, for they 
 that meet come from divers coasts : here then are two things considerable : 
 First, the distance, and secondly, the meeting. But you will say, How came 
 this distauce ? Are they not all the attributes of God’s undivided essence ? 
 Are they not all four in the bosom of God from all eternity ? I answer, 
 Yes: They are undivided in themselves, but they were divided about us; 
 it was Adam’s sin, and ours in him, that first divided heaven, yea, the very 
 attributes of God, and in a sort God himself. I shall speak to both these, 
 that you may first see the difference, and then the agreement and blessed 
 harmony of these glorious attributes. 
 
 1. The difference ; immediately after the fall, the great question (which 
 before you heard of in the decree and counsels of God) was actually pro- 
 pounded, What should be done with sinful man ? In this case we must 
 speak of God after the manner of men ; and I hope you will give me the 
 liberty that others (I suppose warrantably) take : Come, saith God, What 
 shall “be done with sinful man?” He hath violated my law, broken my 
 command, and as much as lies in him unpinned the fabric of the world, 
 spoiled my glorious work of heaven, and earth, and sea, and all therein ; 
 undone himself for ever and ever, and ever. “ 0 what shall be done with 
 this sinful, rebellious, forlorn, unhappy creature man ?” Silence being a 
 while in heaven, and all struck into amaze to see the great God of heaven 
 stirred up in wrath, at last mercy and peace stand up, and they seek with 
 sweet gentle entreaties to pacify God’s anger : but righteousness and truth 
 are on the contrary side, and they provoke God Almighty to go on and to 
 manifest himself (as he is indeed) “a consuming fire,” a sin revenging 
 God. The plea is drawn up and reported at large by Bernard, Andrews, 
 and others. 
 
 1. Mercy began, for out of her readiness to do good, she is ever fore- 
 most ; her inclination is to pity, or rather she herself is an inclination to 
 pity those that are in misery; and if she can but relieve them, let them de- 
 serve what they will, be sure she will relieve them ; for she looks not to 
 the party, what he is, nor what he hath done, nor what he deserves ; but 
 (which is the comfort of us miserable sinners) she looks at what he suffers, 
 and in how woful and wretched a case he is. Her plea was thus, “What, 
 Lord, hast thou made all men in vain ? Wilt thou now destroy him for 
 whom thou madest the world ? Shall the householder be cast out, and 
 thrown into prison, and there remain till he hath paid the utmost farthing? 
 Shall all the men and women in the world, from first to last, be damned 
 for ever and ever ! Alas ! what profit is in their blood ? What will it avail 
 to crowd men and devils together in hell flames ? Will not those devils, 
 the grand enemies of God, rejoice at this ? And what then will become of 
 thy great name on earth ? Is not this thy name, “ The Lord, the Lord mer- 
 ciful, and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 
 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sins ?” 
 “What, will the Lord undo his name? Will the Lord cast off for ever? 
 And will he be favorable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? 
 Will he be no more entreated ? Hath God forgotten to be gracious ? Hath 
 he in anger shut up bis tender bowels?” With these, and such like holy 
 whisperings, or mutterings, did mercy enter into God’s bowels, and make 
 them yearn, and melt again into compassions. 
 
 But, 2. Truth must be heard as well as mercy ; and she lays in matter 
 of exception, and her plea was thus : “ What is God, but his word ? Now 
 this was thy word to Adam, In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt 
 
CHAP. I.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 189 
 
 surely die the death, Gen. 2:17; and this was thy word to all the sons 
 of Adam, The soul that sinneth, that soul shall die, Ezek. 18 : 20. And 
 God may not falsify his word ; his word is truth ; falsify truth, that may not 
 be ; all men are liars, but God is true, even truth itself.” This plea of truth 
 is seconded by righteousness ; and thus she bespeaks God, “ Shall not the 
 Judge of all the world do right? Thou hast declared thyself over and over 
 to be just and righteous; 0 Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous,” Ezra 
 9:15. “ Righteous art thou, 0 Lord, and upright are thy judgments,” 
 Psal. 119 : 137. “ Thou art righteous, 0 Lord, which art, and wast, and 
 shall be, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments,” 
 Rev. 16 : 5. 7. — Yea the Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all 
 his works,” Psal. 145 : 17. And wherein consists this righteousness, but in 
 rendering to every one according to his due ? And what is the sinner’s due 
 but death ? “ The wages of sin is death,” Rom. 6 : 23. What, shall not 
 
 these sinners die the death? That were (as before) to make truth false, so 
 here to do right wrong. 
 
 These were the controversies at that time, so that Peace could not tell how 
 to speak a prevailing word among them : Nay, the controversy grew so high, 
 that they made it their own cases, “ What shall become of me, (said Mercy) 
 if God spare not sinners? And what shall become of me, (said Justice) if 
 God do spare sinners ? What shall become of me, (said Mercy) if God will 
 show no mercy? And what shall become of me, (said Justice) if God will 
 not do justice? Why, alas ! I perish, (said Mercy) If thou wilt not pity; 
 If man die, I die also. And I perish, (said Justice) if thou wilt have mercy; 
 surely I die, if man die not.” To this it came, and in these terms brake up 
 the assembly, and away they went one from another; Truth went to heaven, 
 and was a stranger upon earth ; Righteousness went with her, and would 
 not so much as look down from heaven ; Mercy, she staid below still, for 
 where should mercy be if not with the miserable ? As for Peace, she went 
 between both, to see if she could make them meet again in better terms : in 
 the mean while our salvation lies bleeding, the plea hangs, and we stand as 
 prisoners at the bar, and know not what shall become of us ; for, though 
 two be for us, yet two are against us, as strong, and more stiff than they ; 
 so that much depends upon this meeting, for either they must be at peace 
 between themselves, or they cannot be at peace with us, nor can we be at 
 peace with God. 
 
 Many means were made before Christ’s time for a blessed meeting, but it 
 would not be, “ Sacrifice and burnt-offering thou wouldst not have,” Heb. 
 10 : 5. These means were not prevalent enough to cause a meeting. Where 
 stuck it, you will say ? Surely it was not the fault of Mercy, she was easy 
 to be entreated ; she looked up to heaven, but Righteousness would not look 
 down ; and, indeed here was the business, Righteousness must and will have 
 satisfaction, or else Righteousness should not be righteous, either some satis- 
 faction for sin must be given to God, or she will never meet more ; better 
 all men in the world were damned, than that the righteousness of God 
 should be unrighteous. And this now puts on the great transaction of our 
 Saviour’s birth. 
 
 Well then, our Saviour is born, and this birth occasions a gracious meet- 
 ing of the attributes; such an attractive is this birth, this bud of Christ, 
 that all meet there ; indeed they cannot otherwise but meet in him in whom 
 all the blessed attributes of God do meet : it is Christ is Mercy, and Christ 
 is Truth, and Christ is Righteousness, and Christ is Peace. 1. Christ is 
 Mercy ; thus Zacharius prophesied, That “ through the tender mercy of our 
 God, the day spring, (or branch) from on high hath visited us,” Luke 1:78. 
 And God the Father of Christ, is called “the Father of mercies,” 2 Cor 
 1 : 3. as if mercy were his son, who had no other son but his dearly beloved 
 
190 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 Son in whom he is well pleased. 2. Christ is Truth, “ 1 am the way, and 
 the truth, and the life,” John 14 : 6. That Truth in whom is accomplished 
 whatsoever was prefigured of the Messiah, “ God shall send forth his mercy 
 and his truth,” Psal. 57:3. And, “0 prepare mercy and truth,” Psal. 
 G1 : 7. And this is his name, “The Lord, the Lord abundant in goodness 
 and truth, Exod. 34 : 6. “ He is a God of Truth,” saith Moses, Deut. 
 
 32 : 4. “ Plenteous in mercy and truth,” saith David, Psal. 86 : 15. “ Full 
 of grace and truth,” saith John, 1 : 14. 17. “ For the law was given by 
 
 Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” He is truth by name, 
 and truth by nature, and truth by office. — 3. Christ is righteousness. u This 
 is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our righteousness,” Jer. 
 23 : 6. And “ Unto you that fear my name, shall the Sun of righteousness 
 arise with healing in his wings,” Mai. 4 : 2. And, “ Christ of God is made 
 unto us wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption,” 1 Cor. 
 1 : 30. And according to his type, Melchisedec, this was his style, “ King 
 of righteousness,” Heb. 7:2. — 4. Christ is Peace, This is his “name 
 wherewith he is called, Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The ever- 
 lasting Father, the Prince of Peace,” Isa. 9 : 6. And, “ Christ is our peace, 
 who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of parti- 
 tion between us,” Eph. 2 : 14. Aud therefore prays the apostle, “ Now 
 the Lord of peace himself, (or the Lord himself who is peace) give you 
 peace always by all means,” 2 Thess. 3 : 16. And according to his type 
 Melchisedec, as he was “king of righteousness, so also he was king of Salem, 
 which is king of peace,” Heb. 7 : 2. — Thus Christ is Mercy, and Christ is 
 Truth, and Christ is Righteousness, and Christ is Peace. Now, where 
 should all these meet but in him, who is them all ? Surely, there they meet, 
 and at the meeting they all ran first and kissed the Son ; and that done, 
 Truth ran to Mercy and embraced her, and Righteousness to Peace, and 
 kissed her : they that so long had been parted, and stood out in difference, 
 now they meet and are made friends again : 0 the blessed effect of this birth 
 of Christ ! it is Christ that reconciled them, aud that reconciled us and them. 
 “ He reconciled all things,” (saith the apostle,) “ whether they be things on 
 earth, or things in heaven,” Col. 1 : 20. Now is heaven at peace with 
 itself, and heaven and earth at peace with one another; and that which 
 glues all, and makes the peace, is this birth of Christ; the budding of this 
 vine, “Truth shall bud out of the earth, aud then mercy and truth shall 
 meet together,” &c. 
 
 3. For the blossom ; the nature of a vine is in its season to blossom, 
 or to bear sweet flowers. Pharaoh’s butler, you know, dreamed of a vine, 
 that not only budded but blossomed, “ Her blossoms shot forth,” Gen. 40 : 
 10. And thus Christ our vine, both budded and blossomed; he was full of 
 the sweetest flowers : now, what were these flowers and blossoms of Christ, 
 but his virtues and blessed graces ? In this only Christ differs from the 
 vine, in that in him was seen not only one sort or kind of flowers, but every 
 kind. Bernard, de Passione, Dom. reckons up, “ The violet of humility, 
 the lily of chastity, the rose of patience, the saffron of abstinence;” I may 
 not so enlarge myself, but in reference to his birth, I cannot but admire at 
 his humility, patience and infinite condescension : that the Creator should 
 become a creature ; though an angel, it were a great gulf, which no created 
 understanding could measure ; but that he should reject angels, and take 
 the seed of Abraham : that he should be made lower than the angels, who 
 is God over all ; that he should be conceived, who is the uncreated wisdom, 
 in the dark prison of the womb, who is the light of the world ; and that of 
 a woman the weaker, first sinning sex, who is the holy One, and power of 
 God ; that he would be born, who beareth all things ; the Lord of all, of a 
 lowly hand-maid; in fulness of time, who is eternity; in the night-time, 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 191 
 
 who is “the Sun of righteousness,” in the winter, who gives life and heat; 
 in a time of public taxation, who is the Lord of lords ; and that not at 
 Rome, the lady of nations, nor at Jerusalem, the glory of the East; but at 
 Bethlehem, the least of the thousands of Judah : not in a palace prepared, 
 nor in his mother’s house; but in an inn; not in the best room, nor in any 
 room of the house, but in a stable of beasts ; not attended there with a royal 
 guard, but with Joseph and Mary; not adorned in robes, but swaddled in 
 clouts; not stately enthronized, but laid in a manger; nor, lastly, his birth 
 proclaimed by the king at arms, but by poor shepherds. 
 
 That the Word should be an infant not able to speak a word; that life 
 should be mortal; that power should be subject to a poor carpenter; that 
 the Lord of the covenant should be circumcised ; that the God of the tem- 
 ple should be presented in the temple, that wisdom should be instructed, 
 infiniteness should grow in stature ; that the Feeder of all things should be 
 fed, that all these are preludes, and but beginnings in his sufferings ; O 
 wonderful condescension ! 0 admirable patience ! 0 rare humility ! How 
 strange are the blossoms of this vine ! 
 
 4. For the fruit : the nature of vines is to cast sweet savors, but to bear 
 sour grapes: Christ that was blameless before God and man, yet bore the 
 heavy burden of our sin. 0 the sweetness of his savors ! “ Because of the 
 savor of thy good ointments, thy name is as ointment poured forth,” Sol. 
 Song 1 : 3. Whether by savors we mean his words, the very officers of the 
 Jews can say, “Never man spake like this man,” John 7 : 46. Or, whether 
 by savors, we mean his deeds, his very enemies confess him a just man, so 
 Pilate’s wife could send her husband word, “ Have thou nothing to do with 
 that just man,” Matth. 27 : 19. The wise men that brought their offer- 
 ings, “ Gave him gold, frankincense, and myrrh,” Matth. 2 : 11. Gold is 
 given him, as to a potent king; frankincense, as to a gracious God; and 
 myrrh, as to an holy Priest : he is a King to rule, a God to save, and a 
 Priest to mediate ; thus far he casts sweet savors, but digest them better, 
 and they prove sour grapes; a King he was, but mocked with the title, 
 “ Hail king of the Jews,” Matth. 27 : 29. A God he was, but he emptied 
 himself, “ He made himself of no reputation,” Phil. 2 : 7. An holy Priest 
 he was, but such a priest as must offer up himself for a sacrifice ; the wise 
 men that came from the East, they saw his infirmity, yet adore his power ; 
 they saw his infancy, yet adore his wisdom ; they saw his poverty, yet 
 adore the riches of his mercy; they saw him whom they inquired after, 
 “ Where is he that is born king of the Jews?” Matth. 2 : 2. The very title 
 casts sweet savors, but it bears sour grapes; he is a King, that is a title of 
 honor; but he is King of the Jews, that is a word of reproach. 
 
 All along his life you may see these two ; “ sweet savors, but sour grapes,” 
 Vidt&ti vilia, a udi mirijica, said Ambrose ; the things you see are mean, 
 but the things you see and hear are wonderful ; mean it was to sec a sort 
 of shepherds, wonderful it is to see a troop of angels : mean it was to hear 
 one say, “Laid in the cratch below;” wonderful it is to hear many sing, 
 “ Glory to God on high mean it was to see him man, wonderful it is to 
 
 know him God. Here is a little child fainting and groaning, yet a power- 
 ful God ruling and commanding : hungry himself to show our nature, yet 
 feeding five thousand to show his power ; dying on the cross as the son of 
 Adam, disposing of paradise as the Son of God. As it was said of Bethle- 
 hem, Minima & non minima; “the least of the thousands,” Micah 5 : 2. 
 Not the least of thousands, Matth. 2:6. So we say of this Bethlemite, 
 Minimus , & non minimus ; “ He shall sit upon the throne of David,” Isa. 
 9 : 7. “ Yet he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows, Isa. 53 : 4. 
 “ His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,” Dan. 7 : 27. “ Yet his end 
 shall be, and he shall have nothing,” Dan. 9 : 26. Thus all along from Lis 
 
192 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 cratch to his cross, “ sweet savors, but sour grapes at last, indeed, the 
 grapes grew to a ripeness, and then he was pressed, and his dearest heart- 
 blood run out in abundant streams : this was the sweet juice of our garden 
 vine, God planted it, the heavens water it, the Jews prune it. What re- 
 mains now but that we abide in it? but of that when we come to the direc- 
 tions, how we are to look. 
 
 Sect. YII. — Of some Consequents after Christ’s "birth . 
 
 7. Some consequents after the birth of Christ may be touched, whilst 
 yet he was but a child of twelve years old. As — 
 
 1. When he was but eight days old, he was circumcised, and named 
 Jesus. As there was shame in his birth, so there was pain in his circum- 
 cision ; a sharp razor passeth through his skin, presently after he is born ; 
 not that he needed this ceremony, but that for us he was content legally to 
 be impure; in this early humiliation, he plainly discovers the riches of his 
 grace ; now he sheds his blood in drops, and thereby gives an earnest of 
 those rivers, which he after poured out for the cleansing of our nature, and 
 extinguishing the wrath of God ; and for a farther discovery of his grace, 
 at this time his name is given him, which was JESUS : this is the name 
 which we should engrave in our hearts, rest our faith on, and place our 
 help in, and love with the overflowings of charity, and joy, and adoration : 
 above all things we had need of a Jesus, a Saviour for our souls, and from 
 our sins, and from the everlasting destruction which sin will otherwise 
 bring upon our souls; hence this name Jesus, and this sign circumcision 
 are joined together, for by the effusion of his blood, he was to be our Jesus, 
 our Saviour; “Without shedding of blood is no remission of sins,” Heb. 
 9 : 22. No salvation of souls, “circumcision was the seal,” Rom. 4 : 11. 
 And now was it that our Jesus was under God’s great seal to take his office, 
 we have heard how he carried on the great work of our salvation from eter- 
 nity ; this very name and office of Jesus, a Saviour, was resolved on in God’s 
 fore-council, and given forth from the beginning, and we have heard of late 
 how it was promised and foretold by an angel : but now it is signed and 
 sealed with an absolute commission and fulness of power, “ him hath God 
 the Father sealed,” John 6 : 27. It is his office and his very profession to 
 save, that all may repair unto him to that end, “ Come unto me all ye that 
 are weary,” Matth. 11 : 28. And “ him that cometh unto me I will in no 
 ways cast out,” John 6 : 37. In which respect he is called “the Saviour 
 of the world,” John 4 : 42, i. e. Of Samaritans, Jews, Gentiles, kings, 
 shepherds, and of all sorts of men. 
 
 2. When he was forty days old, “He was brought to Jerusalem, and 
 
 presented to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord, “ Every male 
 that openeth the womb, shall be called holy to the Lord,” Luke 2 : 22, 23. 
 0 wonder ! there was no impurity in the Son of God, and yet he is first cir- 
 cumcised, then he is brought and offered to the Lord ; he that came to be 
 sin for us, would in our persons be legally unclean, that by satisfying the 
 law he might take away our uncleanness ; he that was above the law, would 
 come under the law, that he might free us from the law ; we are all born 
 sinners, but 0 the unspeakable mercies of our Jesus, that provides a remedy 
 as early as our sin. First, He is conceived, and then he is born, to sanctify 
 our conceptions and our births ; and after his birth he is first circumcised, 
 and then he is presented to the Lord, that by two holy acts, that which was 
 naturally unholy might be hallowed unto God : Christ hath not left our 
 
 very infancy without redress, but by himself thus offered, he cleanseth us 
 presently from our filthiness. Now is Christ brought in his mother’s arms 
 to his own house, the temple : and as man, he is presented to himself as 
 God. 0 how glorious did that temple seem, now the owner was within the 
 
CHAP. I.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 193 
 
 walls of it ? Now was the hour, and guest come, in regard whereof the 
 second temple should surpass the first ; this was the house built for him, 
 and dedicated to him, there had he dwelt long in this typical presence, 
 nothing was done there whereby he was not resembled ; and now the body 
 of these shadows is come, and presents himself where he had ever been 
 represented. You will say, What is this to me, or to my soul? 0 yes, 
 Jerusalem is now every where, there is no church assembly, no Christian 
 heart which is not a temple of the living God ; and there is no temple of 
 God wherein Christ is not represented to his Father. Thus we have the 
 benefit of Christ’s fulfilling the law of righteousness ; u God sent his Son, 
 made of a woman, made under the law, that he might redeem them that 
 were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of Sons,” Gal. 
 3:4, 5. It is as if the Father had said to Christ, “ Come, my dear Son, 
 here are certain malefactors under the law to suffer and to be executed ; 
 what say you to them ?” “ Why, I will become under the law, (saith 
 
 Christ) I will take upon me their execution, and suffer for them ;” and to 
 this purpose he is first circumcised, and then he is presented to the Lord. 
 
 3. When he was yet under one year old, as some, or about two, as others 
 he fled into Egypt. As there was no room for him in Bethlehem, so now 
 there is no room for him in all Judea ; no sooner he came to his own, but 
 he must fly from them : what a wonder is this ? Could not Christ have 
 quit himself from Herod a thousand ways ? what could an arm of flesh have , 
 done against the God of spirits? Had Jesus been of the spirit of some of 
 his disciples, he might have commanded fire from heaven on those that should 
 have come to have apprehended him ; but hereby he taught us to bear the 
 yoke, even in our youth, thus would he suffer, that he might sanctify to us 
 our early afflictions ; he flies into Egypt, the slaughter-house of God’s people, 
 the sink of the world, the furnace of Israel’s ancient afflictions; what a 
 change is here ? Israel, the first born of God, flies out of Egypt into Judea ; 
 and Christ, the first born of all creatures, flies out of Judea into Egypt ; 
 Euseb. de Demonst. L. 6. C. 20, reports, that the Child Jesus arriving in 
 Egypt, and being by a design carried into a temple, all the statues of the 
 idol gods fell down, like Dagon, at the presence of the ark ; and to this pur- 
 pose he cites Isaiah’s prophecy, “ Behold the Lord shall come into Egypt, 
 and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence,” Isa. 19 : 1. Now 
 is Egypt become the sanctuary, and Judea, the inquisition-house of the Son 
 of God ; surely he that is every where the same, knows how to make all 
 places alike to his, he knows how to preserve Daniel in the lions’ den ; the 
 three children in a fiery furnace ; Jonah in a whale’s belly ; and Chsist in 
 the midst of Egypt. 
 
 4. When he was now some five years old, say some ; or but two years and 
 a quarter old, say others, an angel appears again in a dream to Joseph, say- 
 ing, u Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and return again 
 into the land of Israel, for they are dead which sought the young child’s 
 life,” Matth. 2 : 19, 20. Herod, that took away the lives of all the infants 
 in, or about Bethlehem, is now himself dead, and gone to his own place ; 
 and by this means, the coast is clear for the return of that holy family ; 0 
 the wonderful dispensation of Christ in concealing of himself from men ! all 
 this while he carries himself as an infant, and though he knew all things, 
 yet he neither takes, nor gives any notice of his removal, or disposing, but 
 appoints that to be done by his angel, which the angel could not have done 
 but by him. As Christ was pleased to take upon him our nature, so in 
 our nature he was pleased to be a perfect child, for that is the word, “Take 
 the young child and his mother;” he supprest the manifestation and exer- 
 cise of that Godhead, whereto the infant-nature was conjoined ; as the birth 
 of Christ, so the infancy of Christ was exceeding humble. Oh how should 
 
 13 
 
194 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IV. 
 
 we magnify him, or deject ourselves for him, who himself became thus hum- 
 ble for our sakes. 
 
 5. When he was twelve years old, u He with his parents goes up to Jeru- 
 salem, after the custom of the feast/’ Luke 2 : 42. This pious act of his 
 younger years intends to lead our first years into timely devotion ; but I shall 
 not insist on that; I would rather observe him “sitting in the midst of the 
 doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions, ver. 46. While the 
 children of his age were playing in the streets, he is found of his parents 
 sitting in the temple, not to gaze on the outward glory of that house, of the 
 golden candlesticks, or tables, or cherubim, or the pillars, or the molten sea, 
 or the altar of gold, or the vessels of pure gold ; no, no, but to hear and 
 oppose the doctors. He, who, as God, gave them all the wisdom they had, 
 doth now as the Son of man hearken to the wisdom he had given therp ; 
 and when he had heard, then he asks, and after that no doubt he answers ; 
 his very questions were instructions, for I cannot think that he meant so 
 much to learn, as to teach those doctors of Israel. Surely these Rabbins 
 had never heard the voice of such a tutor; they could not but see the very 
 wisdom of God in this child, and therefore, saith the text, “ They all won- 
 dered, or they were all astonished, at his understanding and answers/' ver. 
 47. Their eyes saw nothing but a child, but their ears heard the wonder- 
 ful things of God’s law ; betwixt what they saw, and what they heard, they 
 could not but be distracted and amazed. But why did ye not, 0 ye Jewish 
 teachers, remember now the star, and the sages, and the angels, and the 
 shepherds? Why did ye not now bethink yourselves of Herod, and of his 
 inquiry, and of your answer, That “ in Bethlehem of Judea Christ should 
 be born?” You cited the prophets, and why did you not mind that pro- 
 phecy now, That u unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given, and 
 his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the ever- 
 lasting Father, the Prince of Peace ?” Is. 9 : 6. Fruitless is the wonder 
 that endeth not in faith, no light is sufficient, where the eyes are held 
 through unbelief and prejudice. 
 
 6. After this, from twelve to the thirtieth year of his age, we read nothing 
 
 of the acts of Christ; but “ that he went down with his parents into Nazareth, 
 and was subject to them,” Luke 2 : 51. As he went up to Jerusalem to 
 worship God, and in some sort to show himself God ; so now he goes down 
 to Nazareth, to attend his particular calling. This is the meaning of those 
 words. “ And he was subject to them.” Christ’s subjection to his parents 
 extends to the profession, and exercise of his life; certainly Christ was not 
 all that time from twelve to thirty years idle : as he was educated by his 
 parents, so of his reputed father he learned to be a carpenter: this I take it 
 is plain in these words, “ Is not this the carpenter the son of Mary ?” Mark 
 6:3. “ It appears (says our English annotations) that Christ exercised that 
 
 trade in his younger years.” I know Matthew renders it thus, “ Is not this 
 the carpenter’s son ? Is not his mother called Mary ?” Matth. 13 : 55. But 
 Mark thus : u Is not this the carpenter,” &c. Some comment thus, That 
 while Joseph was alive, Christ wrought with him in the trade of a carpen- 
 ter, and when Joseph died, which happened before the manifestation of 
 Jesus unto Israel, he wrought alone, and was no more called the carpenter’s 
 son, but the carpenter himself : here is comfort for men of the meanest 
 callings ; as husbandry was honored in the person and condition of the first 
 Adam before his fall, so now the handicraft. 0 the poverty, humility, 
 severity of Jesus ? It appears at this time especially in his laboring, work- 
 ing, hewing of wood, or the like : here is a sharp reproof to all those that 
 snend their time in idleness, or without a particular calling : that take no 
 pains at all, unless in pursuit after vain, foolish, superfluous, sinful things. 
 What! are they wiser than Christ? Our Jesus would not by any means 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 195 
 
 thus spend his time. Indeed for the while he did nothing famous, or of 
 public note : but neither was this without a mystery, Nihil ftcicndo, fecit 
 magnified , saith one, “ in doing nothing public, he achieved great and 
 sumptuous, and praiseworthy acts.” There is a season and time to every 
 purpose under heaven : as there is a time of silence, and a time to speak : 
 so there is a time for public, and a time for private negotiations ; as yet 
 Christ conceals his virtues, and conforms himself to the conversation of men, 
 that the mystery of his incarnation might not be thought a phantasm : then 
 he would have his virtues and graces to shine out, when men usually come 
 to their vigor and strength, both of body and mind : and besides, as it was 
 said of a divine (Mr. Bolton) that he would never preach a sermon, but he 
 would first endeavor to practise it himself. So I am sure did Christ. He 
 wonld not teach the world, saying, “ Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly 
 in heart,” Matth. 11 : 29. But first he would practise, do, and then teach, 
 as Luke tolls Theophilus, 11 He had writ of all that Jesus began both to do 
 and teach,” Acts 1 : 1. 
 
 But concerning this time of his youth, because in scripture there is so 
 deep a silence : I shall therefore pass it by. 
 
 Thus far I have propounded the object, we are to look unto : it is Jesus 
 in his first coming or incarnation ; while yet a child of twelve years old : 
 our next work is, to direct you in the art and mystery, how we are to look 
 to him in this respect. 
 
 ' CHAPTER II. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of knowing Jesus as carrying on the great work of our salva- 
 tion in his birth. 
 
 What looking comprehends, you have heard before : and that we may 
 have an inward experimental look on him, whom our souls pant after, let 
 us practise all these particulars. As — 
 
 1. Let us know Jesus, carrying on the great work of our salvation in his 
 first coming or incarnation. Come, let us learn what he did for us, when 
 he came amongst us. There is not one passage in his first appearing, but 
 it is of mighty concernment unto us ; is it possible that the great God of 
 heaven and earth should so infinitely condescend, (as we have heard) but on 
 some great design. And what design could there be, but only his glory and 
 the creature’s good ? 0 my soul ! if thou hast any interest in Christ, all 
 
 this concerns thee : the Lord Jesus in all these very transactions had an eye 
 to thee : he was incarnate for thee ; he was conceived and born for thee : 
 look not on these things as notionals or generals : look not on the bare his- 
 tory of things, for that is but unprofitable : the main duty is in eyeing the 
 end, the meaning and intent of Christ; and especially as it relates to thee, 
 not to others, but to thyself. Alas ! what comfort were it to a poor prisoner, 
 if he should hear that the king or prince, of his mere grace and love, visited 
 all the prisoners in this and that dungeon, and that he made a gaol-del iverv, 
 and set all free; but he never came near the place where he, poor wretch, 
 lies bound in fetters and cold irons ? Or, suppose he gives a visit to that 
 very man, and offers him the tenders of grace and freedom, if he will but 
 accept of it; and, (because of his waywardness) persuades, entreats, com- 
 mands him to come out, and take his liberty, and yet he will not regard or 
 apply it to himself ; what comfort can he have? What fruit, what benefit 
 shall he receive ? Bear soul, this is thy case, if thou art not in Christ, if 
 thou hast not heard the offer, and embraced and closed with it, then what 
 is Christ s incarnation, conception, nativity unto thee ? Come, learn, not 
 
196 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 merely as a scholar, to gain some notional knowledge : but as a Christian, 
 as one that feels virtue coining out of Christ in every of these respects : 
 study close. this great transaction in reference to thyself. I know not how 
 it happens, whether out of the generality of some preachers, handling this 
 subject, or whether out of the superstition of the time, wherein it usually 
 hath been handled, it either savors not with some Christians, or it is seldom 
 thought of by the most : 0 God, forbid we should throw out of the doors 
 such a blessed necessary truth ! if rightly applied, it is a Christian’s joy, 
 “ Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy, that shall be to all people, 
 for unto you is born in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the 
 Lord,” Luke 2:10, 11. Sure the birth of Christ is of mighty concern- 
 ment unto thee, “ Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,” Isa. 9 : 6. 
 There is not any piece of this transaction but it is of special use, and worth 
 thy pains. How many break their brains, and waste their spirits in study- 
 ing arts and sciences, things in comparison of no value ; whereas Paul 
 otherwise “ determined not to know any thing among you but Jesus Christ ?” 
 1 Cor. 2:2 To know Jesus Christ in every piece and point, whether in 
 birth, or life, or death, it is saving knowledge : 0 stand not upon cost, 
 whether pains or study, tears or prayers, peace or wealth, goods or name, 
 life or liberty, sell all for this pearl : Christ is of that worth and use, that 
 thou canst never over-buy him, though thou gavest thyself and all the world 
 for him ; the study of Christ is the study of studies ; the knowledge of 
 Christ is the knowledge of every thing that is necessary either for this 
 world, or for the world to come. 0 study Christ in every of the afore- 
 said respects. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of considering Jesus in that respect. 
 
 2. Let us consider Jesus carrying on this great work of our salvation at 
 his first coming or incarnation. It is not enough to study, and know these 
 great mysteries, but according to the measure of knowledge we have, we 
 must muse, and meditate and ponder, and consider of them. Now this 
 consideration brings Christ nearer and closer to the soul ; consideration gath- 
 ers up all the long-fore passed acts and monuments of Christ, and finds a 
 deal of sweetness and power to come flowing from them ; consideration fastens 
 Christ more strongly to the soul, and as it were rivets the soul to Jesus 
 Christ, and fastens him in the heart; a soul that truly considers and medi- 
 tates of Christ, thinks and talks of nothing else but Christ; it takes hold 
 and will not let him go. “ I will keep thee, (saith the soul in meditation) 
 for thou art my life,” Prov. 4 : 13. Why thus, 0 my soul, consider thou 
 of Christ, and of what he did for thee when he was incarnate? And that 
 thou mayest not confound thyself in thy meditations, consider apart of these 
 particulars. As, 
 
 1. Consider Jesus in his forerunner, and the blessed tidings of his coming 
 in the flesh : now the long looked for time drew near, a glorious angel is 
 sent from heaven, and he comes with an olive branch of peace. First, he 
 presents himself to Zachary, and then to Mary; to her imparts the message, 
 on which God sent him into this netherworld, “Behold thou shalt conceive 
 in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus,” Luke 
 1 : 31. Till now human nature was less than that of angels, but by the in- 
 carnation of the Word, it was to be exalted above the cherubim. What 
 sweet news! What blessed tidings was this message ! The decree of old 
 must now be accomplished, and an angel proclaim it upon earth : hear, 0 
 ye sons of Adam, this concerns you as much as the virgin ; were you not 
 all undone in the loins of your first father ? Was not my soul and your soul 
 in danger of hell fire ? Was not this our case and condition, that after a little 
 life upon earth, we should have been thrown into eternal torments, where 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 197 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 had been nothing, but weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth ? and now 
 that God and Christ should bid an angel tell the news, “ Ye shall not die ; 
 lo, here a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and he shall be your Jesus ; 
 he shall save you from this hell, and death, and sin : he shall deliver your 
 souls, he shall save you to the utmost; his name is Jesus, and he shall not 
 bear his name for naught, believe in him, and ye shall live with him in glory.” 
 0 blessed news ! men may talk what they will of this and that news, every 
 one gapes after it, but there is no news so welcome to one even now ready 
 to perish, as to hear of a Saviour. Tell a man in sickness of one that will 
 make him well again ; tell a man in captivity of one that will rescue him, 
 and set him free again ; tell a man in prison condemned to die, of one with 
 a pardon that will save his life ; and every one of these will say, This is the 
 best news that ever was heard. 0 then if it be good tidings to hear of a 
 Saviour, where is only a matter of loss of life, or of this earth ; how much 
 more, when it comes to the loss of heaven, to the danger of hell, when our 
 souls are at stake, and like to be damned for evermore ! What glad tidings 
 would that be to hear of one that could save our souls from that destroyer ! 
 Is not such a Saviour worth hearkening after ? Were not the birth of such 
 an one good news ? 0 my soul, ponder on these words, as if an angel seeing 
 thee stand on the brim of hell, should speak to thee, even to thy soul. 
 
 2. Consider Jesus in his conception ; no sooner is the news heard, but 
 
 Christ is conceived by the Holy Ghost in the virgin’s womb ; this concep- 
 tion is worthy our consideration ; what, that the great God of heaven should 
 condescend so far as to take our nature upon him, and to take it in the same 
 way, and after the same manner that we do ! The womb of the virgin was 
 surely no such place, but he might well have abhorred it ; true, but he 
 meant by this to sanctify our very conceptions ; and to that purpose, he is 
 conceived in an holy manner, even by the Holy Ghost; we must not be too 
 curious to enquire after the manner of the Holy Ghost’s operation, who 
 therefore overshadowed the virgin : this is work for our hearts and not merely 
 for our heads; humble faith, and not curious inquisition, shall find the sweet- 
 ness of this mystery. It was David’s complaint, “behold, I was shapen in 
 iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me,” Psal. 51:5. 0 my soul, 
 
 this was thy case, in thy very first being or beginning, and hadst thou died 
 in that condition, the word is express, that, nothing defiled nor unclean shall 
 enter into the city of glory.” But here is the remedy, thy sinful conception is 
 sanctified by Christ’s holy conception ; the holiness of thy Jesus serves as a 
 cover to hide thy original pollutions from the eyes of God. 0 consider of 
 this ! Jesus Christ was not conceived in vain, he was not idle, while he was 
 in his mother’s womb ; he that from all eternity began, he was then carry- 
 ing on the great work of our salvation for us : 0 consider this conception 
 thus, till thou bringest it near and close to thy soul, till thou feelest some 
 sweetness and power coming and flowing from Jesus in the womb. 
 
 3. Consider the duplicity of natures in Jesus Christ : “the Word was 
 made flesh,” John 1:14. No sooner was he conceived, but he was God- 
 man, mun-God ; he was perfectly framed, and instantly united to the eter- 
 nal Word : “ God sent his Son,” there is the nature divine; “made of a 
 woman,” Gal. 4 : 4 there is the human nature. Certainly great is this 
 mystery, that the word is made flesh; that the Son of God is made of a 
 womau ; that the star gives light to the suu : that a branch doth bear the 
 vine ; that a creature gives being to the Creator : that the mother was 
 younger than what she bare, and a great deal less than what she contained. 
 Admire, 0 my soul, at this ! but withal consider, that all this was for us, 
 and our salvation ; he was man, that he might die for us ; and he was God, 
 that his death might be sufficient to save us; had he been man alone, not 
 God, ke might have suffered, but he could never have satisfied for sin, he 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 could not have been Jesus a Saviour of souls ; and had he been God alone, 
 not man, he had not been of kin to our nature offending, and so he could 
 not have satisfied the justice of God in the same nature wherein it was of- 
 fended ; neither could he as God alone have died for sin ; and the decree 
 was out, that our Redeemer must die for sin, “ For without shedding of 
 blood there is no remission,” Heb. 9 : 22. And no shedding of blood, no 
 passion could possibly befall the Godhead of Jesus Christ. 1 shall not dis- 
 pute the power of God, whether he was able to lay down another kind of 
 way of man's redemption than by the incarnation of the Son of God ; with- 
 out controversy this was the will of God, and he appointed no other way, 
 because he could not. 0 my soul, consider of this in relation to thyself; 
 he is God-man, that he might suffer and satisfy for thy sins; he is God-man 
 that he might be able, and fit most fully to finish the work of thy salvation ; 
 as God, he is able, and as man, he is fit to discharge the office of Mediator; 
 as God he is able to bear the punishment of sin, and as man he is fit to suffer 
 for sin ; 0 the wisdom of God in this very way ! Man’s nature can suffer 
 death, but not overcome it ; the divine nature can overcome death and all 
 things, but cannot suffer it; and hence there is a duplicity of natures in 
 Jesus Christ: 0 muse on this, it is a matter worthy of thy serious consid- 
 eration. 
 
 4. Consider the real distinction of these two natures in Christ. As the 
 unapproachable light of the Godhead was put into the dim and dark lantern 
 of human flesh ; so these two natures remained entire without auy conver- 
 sion, commixion or confusion ; they were not as wine and water that become 
 one by mixing, there is no such blending the divine and human nature, 
 they were not as snow and water, that become one by the dissolving of the 
 snow into the water; there is no such changing of the human nature into 
 the divine, or of the divine nature into the human : some say indeed, That 
 the Godhead was more plentifully communicated with the manhood after 
 his resurrection, than now at his conception ; but howsoever, it did not then 
 swallow up the truth of his manhood, as a whole sea would swallow up one 
 drop of oil ; look, as at first moment of his conception, be was God and man, 
 so these two natures continued still distinct in substance, properties and 
 actions. Why, consider this, 0 my soul, in reference to thyself : 0 there 
 is comfort in this ! by this means thou hast now free access unto the throne 
 of grace, that thou mayest find help in thy necessities; and as thou hast free 
 access, so thou mayest boldly draw near; his Deity indeed confounds, but 
 his humanity comforts faint and feeble souls ; his divine nature amazeth, 
 but his human nature encourageth us to come unto him; even after his 
 resurrection, he was pleased to send this comfortable message to the sons of 
 men, “ Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend to my Father and 
 your Father, and to my God and your God,” John 20 : IT. Now, as long 
 as he is not ashamed to call us brethren, “God is not ashamed to be called 
 our God,” Heb. 11 : 16. 0 the sweet fruit that we may gather off this tree, 
 “ The real distinction of two natures in Christ.” As long as Christ is man 
 as well as God, we have a motive strong enough to appease his Father, and 
 to turn his favorable countenance towards us; here is our happiness, That 
 “there is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” 1 
 Tim. 2 : 5. 
 
 5. Consider the union of the two natures of Christ in one and the same 
 person : as he was the branch of the Lord, and the fruit of the earth, so 
 these two natures were tied with such a gordian knot, as sin, hell, and the 
 grave were Dever able to untie. Yea, though in the death of Christ, there 
 was a separation of the soul from the body, yet in that separation, the hy- 
 postatical union remained firm, unshaken and indissoluble: in this media- 
 tion, thou hast great cause, 0 my soul, to admire and adore, wonderful 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 199 
 
 CHAP, n.] 
 
 things are spoken of thee, 0 Christ ! he is God in person of a Godhead, so 
 as neither the Father, nor the Holy Ghost were made flesh ; and he is man 
 in the nature of man, not properly the person ; the human nature of Christ 
 never having any personal subsistence out of the Godhead ; this is a mys- 
 tery that no angel, much less man, is able to comprehend; we have not 
 another example of such an union, (as you have heard) only the nearest 
 similitude or resemblance we can find, is that of the branch and tree into 
 which it is engrafted ; we see one tree may be set into another, and it groweth 
 in the stock thereof, and becometh one and the same tree, though there be 
 two natures or kinds of fruit still remaining therein ; so in the Son of God 
 made man, though there be two natures, yet both being united into one 
 person, there is but one Son of God, and one Jesus Christ. If thou wilt 
 consider this great mystery of godliness any further, review what hath been 
 said in the object propounded, where his union is set forth more largely 
 and particularly ; but especially consider the blessed effects of this union in 
 reference to thyself; as our nature in the person of Christ is united to the 
 Godhead, so our persons in and by this union of Christ are brought nigh to 
 God. Hence it is, that God doth set his sanctuary and tabernacle among 
 us; and that he dwells with us, and which is more, that he makes us houses 
 and habitations, wherein he himself is pleased to dwell by his Holy Spirit. 
 “ Ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in 
 them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my 
 people/’ 2 Cor. 6:16. Was not this Christ’s prayer in our behalf? “ I 
 pray not for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through 
 their word, That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in 
 thee ; that they also may be one in us, That the world may believe, that 
 thou hast sent me; I in them, and thou in me, That they may be perfect 
 in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved 
 them as thou hast loved me,” John 17 : 20, 21, 22, 23. By reason of this 
 hypostatical union of Christ, the Spirit of Christ is given to us in the very 
 moment of our regeneration, “ And because ye are sons, God hath sent 
 forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father,” Gal. 
 4 : 6, “and hereby we know, that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he 
 hath given us of his Spirit,” 1 John 4 : 13. As the members of the body, 
 however distinct among themselves, and all differing from the head ; yet 
 by reason of one soul informing both the head and members, they all make 
 but one compositum, or man : so all believers in Christ, however distinct 
 persons among themselves, and all distinct from the person of Christ, and 
 especially from the Godhead, which is incommunicable, yet by one and the 
 same Spirit abiding in Christ and all his members, they become one, 
 “There is one body and one Spirit,” Eph. 4 : 4. “He that is joined to 
 the Lord is one spirit,” 1 Cor. 6 : 17. 0 my soul, consider of this, and in 
 
 considering, believe thy part in this, and the rather, because the means of 
 this union, on thy part is a sure and lively faith ; faith is the first effect and 
 instrument of the Spirit of Christ, disposing and enabling thy soul to cleave 
 unto Christ, and “for this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith,” Eph. 
 
 6. Consider the birth of Christ, this man-God, God-man who in his di- 
 vine generation was the Son of God, in his human generation was born in 
 a stable, for the saving of the children of men who were as the ox and mule 
 having no understanding. It were 'a fruitful meditation to consider over and 
 over that sweet resemblance of Christ being a vine ; methinks I hear the 
 voice of my beloved, “ Bise up, my love, — the fig tree putteth forth the 
 green figs, and the vine with the tender grapes gives a good smell : arise, 
 iny love, my fair one, and come away,” Sol. Song 2 : 10, 13. If Christ 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 knocks at the door, who will not awake, and arise? If Christ comes in 
 view, who will not look unto Jesus? If Christ the vine calls us to come 
 see the vine with the tender grape, who will not taste the goodness, smell 
 the sweetness? And after a little taste of that goodness, and sweetness that 
 is in him, who would not long after more, till we come from the first fruits, 
 to the last fruits of the Spirit, even to those visions and fruitions of Christ 
 in glory? Consider, 0 my soul, of this vine till thou hast brought Christ 
 near and close unto thyself! suppose thy heart the garden, wherein this 
 vine was planted, wherein it budded, blossomed, and bare fruit; suppose the 
 Holy Ghost to come upon thee, and to form and fashion in thee Jesus 
 Christ; (thus Paul bespeaks the Galatians, “ My little children of whom I 
 travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.)” Would not this 
 affect? Would not the whole soul be taken up with this? Come, receive 
 Christ into thy soul, or if that work be done, if Christ be formed in thee, 0 
 cherish him ! (I speak of the spiritual birth) 0 keep him in thy heart ! let 
 him there bud, and blossom, and bear fruit ; let him fill thy soul with his 
 divine graces : 0 that thou couldst say it feelingly, “ I live, yet not I, but 
 Christ liveth in me,” Gal. 2 : 20. 0 that this were the issue of thy medita- 
 
 tion on Christ’s birth ! even while thou art going with the shepherds to 
 Bethlehem, and there findest thy Saviour lying on a cratch, that thou wouldst 
 bring him thence, and make th} 7 heart to be his cradle ! I would not give a 
 farthing for a meditation merely on the history of Christ’s birth ; either 
 draw virtue from him, by feeling him within, or thy meditation will be 
 fruitless. 
 
 7. Consider those few consequents after Christ’s birth ; every action of 
 Christ is our instruction ; here are many particulars, but none in vain, Christ 
 is considered under much variety of notion, but he is still sweet under all. 
 Is it possible, 0 my soul, that thou shouldst tire thyself in the contempla- 
 tion of Jesus Christ? If one flower yield thee not pleasure, or delight, go 
 to a second, a third; observe how the bees gather honey, after a while that 
 they have sucked one flower, they go to another; so fora while observe the 
 circumcision of Jesus Christ, and suck there, and gather some honey out of 
 that flower : Christ had never been circumcised, but that the same might be 
 done to our souls, that was done to his body ; 0 that the same Christ would 
 do that in us that was done to him for us ! Again, observe Christ’s presen- 
 tation in the temple; this was the law of those that first opened the womb : 
 now Christ was the first-born of Mary, and indeed “the first-born of all 
 creatures;” and he was consecrate unto God that by him we might 
 be consecrate and made holy, and that by him we might be accepted, 
 when we were offered unto the Lord. Again, observe Christ’s flight 
 into Egypt ; though the infancy is usually most quiet, and devoid of 
 trouble, yet here life and toil began together; and see how speedily this 
 comes after dedication unto God : alas ! alas ! we are no sooner born again, 
 than we are persecuted; if the church travail, and bring forth a male, she is 
 in danger of the dragon’s streams. Again, observe Christ’s return into Judea; 
 he “ was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” Matth. 15 : 24. 
 With them alone he was personally to converse in his ministry, in which re- 
 spect he was called, “ a minister of circumcision,” Bom. 15 : 8. And where 
 should he be trained, and show himself, but amongst them to whom God 
 had sent him ? The gospel first began there, and as a preparation to it, 
 Christ now in his childhood returns thither. Again, observe Christ disput- 
 ing with the doctors in the temple; in his very non-age, Christ gives a taste 
 of his future proof ; see how early his divine graces put forth themselves, 
 “ In him were hid (saith the apostle) all the treasures of wisdom and know- 
 ledge.” Col. 2 : 3. All the treasures were hid in him, and yet some of these 
 treasures appeared very early betimes : his wisdom in his very infancy is ad- 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 201 
 
 CHAP. II. ] 
 
 mired at, nor is it without our profit : “ For of God he is made wisdom unto 
 us ” 1 Cor. 1 : 30. Again observe how he spent the remainder of his youth, 
 in all his examples he meant our instructions, “ He went down with his 
 parents, and was subject to them; he was not idly bred, but serves his gen- 
 eration in the poor way of a carpenter : “ It is every way good for a man to 
 bear God’s yoke even from his infancy,” Lam. 3 : 27. Christ is inured be- 
 times to the hardship of life, and to the strict observation of the law both of 
 God and nature. 
 
 See, 0 my soul, what a world of matter is before thee to consider of; 
 here is Jesus under many a notion, here is the annunciation of Jesus, the 
 conception of Jesus, the duplicity of nature in Jesus, the real distinction, the 
 wonderful union-, the nativity of Jesus, together with some consequents after 
 it. Go over these with often and frequent thoughts, give not over till thou 
 feelest thy heart begin to warm, true meditation is as the bellows of the soul, 
 that doth kindle and inflame holy affections, and by renewed, and more for- 
 cible thoughts, as by renewed and stronger blasts, it doth renew and increase 
 the flame. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of desiring after Jesus in that respect. 
 
 3. Let us desire after Jesus, carrying on the great work of our salvation 
 at his first coming, or incarnation. It is not enough to know, and consider, 
 but we must desire. “Now, what is desire, but a certain notion of the ap- 
 petite, by which the soul darts itself towards the absent good, purposely to 
 draw near, and unite itself thereunto?” The incarnation of Christ according 
 to the latter, was the desire of all nations; so the prophet, “I will shake 
 all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come,” Hag. 2:7. 0 how 
 
 they that lived before Christ, desired after this coming ! Abraham desired 
 to see my day, two thousand years and more before it came ; it was the ex- 
 pectation of all the patriarchs, “ 0 when will that day come ?” And surely 
 the incarnation of Christ in the fruit, or efficacy, or application, is, or should 
 be the desire of all Christians. There is merit and virtue in Jesus Christ, 
 in every passage of Christ, in his conception, incarnation, in his birth, and 
 in those consequents after his birth ; now to make these ours, that we may 
 have our share, and part, and interest in them, we must here begin; 0 my 
 soul, do thou desire, do thou seek to possess thyself of Christ, set thy desire 
 (as the needle point) aright, and all the rest will follow ! never will union 
 be with the absent good, but the soul by desire must dart itself towards it: 
 true it is, and pity it is, millions of souls stand at a distance from Jesus 
 Christ; and why ? They have no desire towards him : but, 0 that my soul, 
 and thy soul (whosoever thou art that readest) would desire ! 0 that we 
 could desire, and long after him until we languish, and be compelled to cry 
 out, with the spouse, “ Stay me with flagons, and comfort me with apples, 
 for I am sick of love,” Sol. Song 2:5. 
 
 Is there not good reason for it ? What is there in Christ that is not desi- 
 rable ? View over all those excellencies of his conception ; of his two natures, 
 really distinguished, yet wonderfully united; of his birth, of those few 
 consequents after his birth ; but above all, see the fruit of all ; he was con- 
 ceived that our conceptions might be sanctified ; he was the Son of man, 
 that he might suffer for us, and the Son of God, that he might satisfy divine 
 justice : he was God and man in one person, that we might be one with him, 
 “ Members of his body, and of his flesh, and of his bones,” Ephes. 5 : 30. 
 He was born of the virgin, that there might be a spiritual conception aud 
 birth of Christ in our virgin- hearts ; or he was conceived aud born, that we 
 might conceive the grace of Christ in our hearts, and bring it forth in our 
 lives! what! are not these desirable things? Never tell me of thy present 
 enjoyments, for never was Christ so enjoyed in this life, but thou hast causo 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 to desire yet more of Christ : it is worth thy observation, That “ spiritual 
 desires after Christ, do neither load nor cloy the heart, but rather open and 
 enlarge it for more and more.” Who was better acquainted with God than 
 Moses? And yet, who was more importunate to know him better? “I be- 
 seech thee, show me thy glory,” Ex. 33 : 18. And who was more acquainted 
 with Christ than Paul? And yet who was more importunate to be with him 
 nearer? “I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ,” Phil. 1:23. 
 Purther, and further union with Christ, and communion with Christ, are 
 most desirable things, and are not these the fruits of his incarnation ? The 
 effects of his hypostatical personal union? More and more peace, and love, 
 and reconciliation betwixt God and us, are desirable things ; and are not 
 these the fruits of Christ’s birth, the effects of his budding out of the earth? 
 Was it not then, “ That righteousness looked down from heaven ? That mercy 
 and truth met together, and righteousness and peace kissed each other?” 
 A higher degree of holiness, sanctification, likeness to God and Christ are 
 desirable things : and are not these the fruits of his circumcision, and pre- 
 sentation to the Lord? The effects of all those consequents that follow after 
 his birth ? Come, soul, and stir up thy desires, true desires are not wa- 
 vering and dull, but resolute and full of quickness ; observe how the nature 
 of the true desires in scripture is set forth by the most pathetical and strong 
 similitudes of hunger, and thirst, and those not common neither, but by 
 “ the panting of a tired heart after the rivers of waters, and by the gaping 
 of dry ground after some seasonable showers.” 0 then how is it that the 
 passages of thy desires are so narrow, and almost shut up : nay, how is it 
 that thy vessels are so full of contrary qualities, that there is scarce any 
 room in thy soul for Christ, and all his train ? Will not the desires of the 
 patriarchs witness against thee? How cried they after Christ’s coming in 
 the flesh : “Bow the heavens, 0 Lord, and come down,” Psalm 144:5. 
 “Oh that thou wouldst rend the heavens, that thou wouldst come down,” 
 Isa. 64 : 1. “ Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour 
 
 down righteousness, let the earth open and bring forth salvation, Isa. 45 : 8. 
 Is it possible that their desires should be more vehement after Christ than 
 ours ? They lived on the dark side of the cloud, but we on the bright side ; 
 the veil was upon their hearts, which veil is done away in Christ; they saw 
 Christ afar off, and their sight was very dim and dark; “But we all, with 
 open face, as in a glass behold the glory of the Lord,” 2 Cor. 3 : 18. One 
 would think the less any thing is known, the less it should be desired ; 0 
 my soul, either thou art more ignorant of Christ than the patriarchs of old, 
 or thy heart is more out of frame than theirs; suspect the latter, and blame 
 thy heart ; may be thy turbid and sluggish nature hath laid thy desires 
 asleep : if an hungry man will sleep, his hunger will sleep with him ; but 
 0 stir up, and awake thy desires ! present before them that glorious object, 
 “ the incarnation of Jesus Christ ;” it is an object which the very angels 
 desire to look into, and art not thou more concerned in it than the angels ? 
 Is not the fruit of the incarnation thine, more especially thine ? Come then, 
 stir up those motions of thy appetite, by which the soul darts itself towards 
 the absent good, draw nearer and nearer, till thou comest to union and en- 
 joyment; cry after Christ, “ Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why 
 tarry the wheels of his chariots ?” Judges 5 : 28. 
 
 Sect. IY. — Of hoping in Jesus in that respect . 
 
 4. Let us hope in Jesus carrying on the great work of our salvation at 
 his first coming, or incarnation : only here remember, I speak not of every 
 hope, but only of such an hope, as is grounded on some certainty and know- 
 ledge : this is the. main question, whether Christ’s incarnation belongs unto 
 me ? The prophet tells, That “ unto us a child is born, and unto us a son 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 203 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 is given, Isa. 9 : 6. But how may I hope that this child is born to me ? 
 And that this son is given to me ? What ground for that? Out of these 
 words of the prophet, I shall draw a double evidence, which may be instead 
 of all : our first evidence from the former words, “ Unto us a child’is born ;” 
 Our second evidence from the latter words, “ Unto us a son is given.” 1. 
 From the former words, I lay down this proposition, “Unto us a child is 
 born,” if we are new born. The surest way to know our interest in the birth 
 of Christ, is to know Christ born in us, or formed in us, as the apostle 
 speaks, Gal. 4 : 19. The new birth is the effect of Christ’s birth, and a 
 sure sign that Christ is born to us. Say then, 0 my soul, art thou born 
 anew ? Is there in you a new nature, a new principle ? Is the image of 
 God and Christ in my soul? So the apostle styles it, “ the bearing of the 
 image of the heavenly,” 1 Cor. 15 : 49. Why then was Christ incarnate 
 for thee, if thy new birth be not clear enough ? Thou mayest try it further 
 by these following rules. 
 
 1. Where this new birth is, there is new desires, new comforts, new con- 
 tentments. Sometimes with the prodigal thou wast content with husks; 
 yet now nothing will satisfy thee but thy Father’s mansion, and thy Father’s 
 feast ; sometimes thou minded only earthly things, but now the favor of God, 
 the light of his countenance, society with him, and enjoying of him, are thy 
 chief desires ; this is a good sign, David’s heart and flesh, and all breathed 
 after God : “ My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord, 
 My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.” Psal 84:2. Men 
 truly regenerate do^pot judge it so happy to be wealthy, great and honored 
 in the world, as to have the light of God’s favor shine upon them. 0 my 
 soul, dost thou see the glory of the world, and thou fallest down to worship 
 it ? Dost thou say in the increase of worldly comfort, it is good to be here ? 
 Then fear thyself ; but if these things, compared with Christ, are vain and 
 light, and of poor and of mean esteem, then, hope well, and be assured that 
 thou art born again, and that Christ is formed in thee. 
 
 2. Where this new birth is, there are new words, new works, new affec- 
 
 tions, a new conversation, “ Old things are passed away, behold, all things 
 are become new,” 2 Cor. 5 : 17. Paul once a persecutor, but “ behold now 
 he prayeth,” Acts 9 : 11. And “such were some of you, but now ye are 
 washed, now ye are sanctified, now ye are justified ; in the name of the Lord 
 Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God,” 1 Cor. 6 : 11. As every man is, so 
 he is affected, so he speaks, and so he lives ; if thy life be supernatural, so 
 are thy affections, so are thy words, so is thy conversation ; Paul lived a life 
 once of a bloody persecutor, he breathed out threatenings against all the 
 professors of the Lord Jesus; but now it is otherwise, “The life which I 
 now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me 
 and gave himself for me.” Gal. 2 : 20. 0 my soul, hast thou the old 
 
 conversation, the old affections, the old discourse, the old passions thou 
 usedst to have ? What ! is thy heart a den of lusts, a cage of unclean im- 
 aginations? Then fear thyself, there cannot from a sweet fountain come 
 forth bitter streams; there cannot from a refined spirit, as refined, come 
 forth corrupted actions or imaginations ; “ A thorn cannot send forth grapes,” 
 saith Christ ; so neither can a vine send forth thorns, say we. I know there 
 is in the best something of flesh as well as of the spirit; but if thou art new 
 born, then thou canst not but strive against it, and will endeavor to con- 
 quer it. 
 
 3. Where this new birth is, there is a new nature, a new principle, Peter 
 calls it, “The hidden man of the heart, The divine nature,” 1 Pet. 3 :4. 2 
 Pet. 1 :4. Paul calls it “ the inward man, the new creature,” Rom, 7 : 22. 
 It is compared to a root, to a fountain, to a foundation, 2 Cor. 5 : 17. And 
 for want of this foundation, we see now in these sad times, so much incon- 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 sistency, and unsettledness in some professors themselves, many have got new 
 and strange notions, but they have not new natures, new principles of grace : 
 if grace were but rooted in their hearts, though the winds did blow, and 
 storms arise, they would continue firm and stable, as being founded upon a 
 rock. Never tell me of profession, show, outward action, outward conversa- 
 tion, outward duties of religion ; all this may be, and yet no new creature : 
 you have some brutes that can act many .things like men, but because they 
 have not a human nature, they are still brutish; so many things may be- 
 done in way of holiness, which yet come not from this inward principle of 
 renovation; and therefore it is but copper and not gold : mistake nut, 0 my 
 soul, iu this, which is thy best and surest evidence; though I call the new 
 birth a new creature, my meaning is not, as if a new faculty were infused 
 into him that is new born : a man when he is regenerate, hath no more fa- 
 culties in his soul than he had before his regeneration, only in the work of 
 regeneration, those abilities which the man had before, are now improved 
 and made spiritual ; and so they work now spiritually which before wrought 
 naturally. As in the resurrection from the dead, our bodies shall have no 
 more, nor other parts and members than they had before, only those parts 
 and members which now are natural, shall then by the power of God be 
 made spiritual. “ It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body, 
 there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body,” 1 Cor. 15 :44. So 
 the same faculties, and the same abilities, which before regeneration were 
 but natural, are now spiritual, and work spiritually; they are all brought under 
 the government of the Spirit of Christ. A lively resemblance of this change 
 in the faculties of the soul, we may discern in those natural and sensitive 
 faculties, which we have common with beasts, as, to live, to move, to desire, 
 to feel ; the beasts having no higher principle than sense, use them sensually; 
 but a man enjoying the same faculties under the command of a reasonable 
 soul, he useth them rationally : so is it in a regenerate man, his understand- 
 ing, will, and affections, when they had no other command but reason, he 
 ouly used them rationally, but now being under the guiding of the Spirit of 
 Christ, they work spiritually, and he useth them spiritually; and hence it 
 is, that a regenerate man is every where in scripture said to “ walk after 
 the Spirit,” Rom. 8 : 1. “To be led by the Spirit, to walk in the Spirit , 19 
 Gal. 5 : 18. 25. The Spirit, by way of infusing or shedding, gives power, 
 and ability, a seed, a principle of spiritual life which the soul had not before; 
 and from this principle of spiritual life planted in the soul, flows or springs 
 those spiritual motions, and operations, (as the Spirit leads them out) ac- 
 cording to the habit or principle of the new creature, the divine nature, the 
 spiritual life infused. Come then, look to it, 0 my soul, what is thy prin- 
 ciple within ? Consider not so much the outward actions, the outward duties 
 of religion, as that root from whence they grow, that principle from whence 
 they came : are they fixed ones, settled ones, by way of life in thee ? Clocks 
 have their motions, but they are not motions of life, because they have no 
 principles of life within. Is there life within; then art thou born again, 
 yea even unto thee a child is born. This is one evidence. 
 
 4. From the latter words, I lay down this position; “Unto us a son is 
 given,” if we are God’s sons. The best way to know our interest in the Son 
 of God, is to know ourselves to be God’s sons of grace, as Christ was God’s 
 Son by nature; Christians, to whom Christ is given, are co-heirs with Christ, 
 only Christ is the first born, and hath the pre-eminence in all things; our 
 sonship is an effect of Christ’s sonship, and a sure sign, that “ unto us a 
 son is given.” Say then, 0 my soul, art thou a son of God, dost tbou re- 
 semble God, (according to thy capacity) being holy, even as he is holy ? 
 Why then, Christ was incarnate for thee, he was given to thee, if thy son- 
 ship be not clear enough, thou mayest try it further by these following rules. 
 
CHAP. IT.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 205 
 
 1. The sons of God, fear God. “ If I be a father, where is my honor? 
 (saith God)" If I be a master, where is my fear?” Mai. 1:6. If I be a 
 son of God, there will be an holy fear and trembling upon me in all my ap- 
 proaches unto God. I know there is a servile mercenary fear, and that is 
 unworthy and unbeseeming the son of God ; but there is a filial fear, and 
 that is an excellent check and bridle to all our wantonness. What son will 
 not fear the frowns and anger of his loving father? “I dare not do this, 
 (will he say) my father will be offended, and I, whither shall I go !” Agree- 
 ably to this is the apostle’s advice, “ If ye call on the Father, pass your 
 sojourning here with fear,” 1 Pet. 1 : 17. 
 
 2. The sons of God love God, and obey God out of a principle of love. 
 Suppose there were no heaven of glory to bestow upon a regenerate person, 
 yet would he obey God out of a principle of love; not that it is unlawful 
 for the child of God to have an eye unto the recompense of reward ; Moses’ 
 reason of “ esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures 
 of Egypt, was, for that he had respect unto the recompense of reward,” he 
 had respect in the original, “ He had a fixed intent eye,” Heb. 11:26. 
 There was in him a love of reward, and yet withal a love of God, and there- 
 fore his love of reward was not mercenary ; but this I say, Though there 
 were no reward at all, a child of God hath such a principle of love within 
 him, that for love’s sake he would obey his God : he is led by the Spirit, 
 and therefore he obeys ; now the spirit that leads him is a spirit of love, 
 and “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, are the sons of God,” 
 Rom. 8 : 14. 
 
 3. The sons of God imitate God in his love and goodness to all men. Our 
 
 Saviour amplifies this excellent property of God, “ He causeth his sun to 
 shine upon good and bad :” and thence he concludeth, “ Be ye perfect as 
 your heavenly Father is perfect,” Matth. 5 : 48. Goodness to bad men is 
 the highest degree of grace, and as it were, the perfection of all : 0 my 
 soul, canst thou imitate God in this ? Consider how thy Father bears it, 
 though the wicked provoke him day by day, yet for all that he doth not 
 quickly revenge; vengeance indeed is only his, and he may in justice do 
 what he will that way; and it is the opinion of some, that if the most pa- 
 tient man in the world should but sit in God’s throne one day, and see and 
 observe the doings and miscarriages of the sons of men, he would quickly 
 set all the world on fire ; yet God seeth all, and for all that he doth not 
 make the earth presently to gape and devour us; he puts not out the glori- 
 ous light of the sun, he does not dissolve the work of the creation, he doth 
 not for man’s sin presently blast every thing into dust : what an excellent 
 pattern is this for thee to write after ? Canst thou but forgive thy enemies ? 
 Do well to them that do evil to thee ? 0 this is a sure sign of grace and 
 sonship ! It is storied of some Heathens, who beating a Christian almost to 
 death, asked him, “ What great matter Christ did ever for him ?” “ Even 
 
 this, (said the Christian) That I can forgive you, though you use me thus 
 cruelly.” Here was a child of God indeed : it is a sweet resemblance ol 
 our Father, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ “to love our enemies, to bless 
 them that curse us, to do good unto them that hate us, to pray for them 
 that despitefully use us and persecute us,” Matth. 5 : 44. 0 my soul, look 
 
 on this, consult this ground of hope ; if this law be written in thy heart, 
 write it down amongst thy evidences, that thou art God’s son, yea, that 
 even unto thee a Son is given. 
 
 lo review the grounds; what, is a child born to me, and a son given to 
 me ? What, am I indeed new born ? Am I indeed God’s son or daughter? 
 Do I upon the search find in my soul new desires, new comforts, new con- 
 tentments? What, are my words and works, and affections, and conversa- 
 tion new ? Is there in me a new nature, a new principle ? Hath the Spirit, 
 
206 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 by way of infusing or shedding, given me a new power, a new ability, a seed 
 of spiritual life which I had not before ? Do I upon the search find, that I 
 fear God, and love God, and imitate God, in some good measure in his love 
 and goodness towards all men ? Can I indeed and really forgive an enemy, 
 and according to opportunity and my ability, do good unto them that do evil 
 unto me ? Why should I not then confidently and comfortably hope, that 
 I have my share and interest in the birth of Christ, in the blessed incarna- 
 tion and conception of Jesus Christ? Away, away, all despairs, and de- 
 jections, and despondencies of spirit ! if these be my grounds of hope, it is 
 time to hold up head, and heart, and hands, and with all cheerfulness and 
 confidence, and to say with the spouse, “ I am my beloved’s, and my beloved 
 is mine.” 
 
 Sect. V. — Of believing in Jesus in that respect. 
 
 5. Let us believe in Jesus carrying on the great work of our salvation, 
 at his first coming or incarnation. I know many staggerings are oft in 
 Christians, “ What, is it likely that Christ should be incarnate for me ? 
 That such a God, should do such a thing for such a sinful, woful, abomina- 
 ble wretch as I am ?” Ah ! my soul, put thy propriety in Christ’s incar- 
 nation out of dispute, that thou mayest be able to say, “ As God was man- 
 ifest in the flesh, and I may not doubt it; so God is manifest in me, and I 
 dare not deny it.” 
 
 But, to help the soul in this choice duty, I shall first propose the hinder- 
 ances of faith. 2. The helps of faith in this respect. 3. The manner how 
 to act our faith. 4. The encouragements to bring on the soul to believe its 
 part in this blessed incarnation of Jesus Christ. 
 
 For the first, there are but three things that can hinder faith ; As — 
 
 1. The exceeding unworthiness of the soul; and to this purpose are those 
 complaints, “ What! Christ incarnate for me! for such a dead dog as I 
 am ! What king would dethrone himself, and become a toad to save toads ? 
 And am not I at a greater distance from God than a toad is from me ? Hath 
 not sin made my soul more ugly in God’s eye, than any loathsome toad can 
 be in my eye ? 0 ! I am less than the least of all God’s mercies, I am fitter 
 for hell and devils, than for union and communion with God and Christ, I 
 dare not, I cannot believe. 
 
 2. The infinite exactness of divine justice which must be satisfied ; a soul 
 deeply and seriously considering of this, startles thereat, and cries, O what 
 will become of my soul ? one of the least sins that I stand guilty of deserves 
 death, and eternal death, the wages of sin is death ; and I cannot satisfy; 
 though I have trespassed to many millions of talents, l have not one mite 
 of mine own to pay; 0 then how should I believe? What thoughts can I 
 entertain of God’s mercy and love to me-ward ? God’s law condemns me, 
 my own conscience accuseth me, and justice will have its due. 
 
 3. The want of a Mediator, or some suitable person, which may stand 
 
 between the siuner and God. If on my part there be unworthiness, and on 
 God’s part, exact, and strict, and severe justice ; and withal I see no medi- 
 ator, which I may go unto, and first close withal before I deal with the infi- 
 nite glory of God himself, how should I but despair and cry out ? “ 0 
 
 wretched man that I am ! 0 that I had never been ; or if 1 must needs 
 
 have a being, Oh that I had been a toad, or serpent, or any venomous crea- 
 ture, rather than a man; for when they die, they perish, and there is an 
 end of them, but the end of a reprobate sinner, is torments without end : O 
 wo and alas! I cannot believe, there is no room for faith in this case!” 
 These are the hinderances. 
 
 2. The helps of faith in this sad condition are these : 
 
 I . A consideration that God is pleased to pass by, and to overlook the 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 207 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 unworthiness of his poor creatures : this we see plain in the very act of his 
 incarnation ; himself disdains not to be as his poor creatures, to wear their 
 own flesh, to take upon him human nature, and in all things to become like 
 unto man, sin only excepted. 
 
 2. A consideration that God satisfies justice, by setting up Christ, who 
 is justice itself ; now was it that “ mercy and truth met together, and 
 righteousness and peace kissed each other ;” now was it that free grace and 
 merit, that fullness and nothingness were made one ; now was it that all 
 things became nothing, and nothing all things : our nature which lay in 
 rags, was enriched with the unsearchable treasures of glory ; now was it 
 that God was made flesh ; and so that flesh which was so weak, as not able 
 to save its own life, was now enabled to save millions of souls, and to bring 
 forth the greatest designs of God; now was it that truth ran to mercy and 
 embraced her, and righteousness to peace, and kissed her; in Christ they 
 meet, yea in him was the infinite exactness of God’s justice satisfied. 
 
 3. A consideration that God hath set up Christ as a mediator, That he 
 was incarnate in order to reconciliation, and salvation of souls : but for the 
 accomplishment of this design Christ had never been incarnate; the very 
 end of his uniting flesh unto him, was in order to the reconciliation of us 
 poor souls ! alas, we had sinned, and by sin deserved everlasting damna- 
 tion, but to save us, and to satisfy himself, God takes our nature, and joins 
 it to his Son, and calls that Christ a Saviour : this is the gospel notion of 
 Christ : for what is Christ, but God “ himself in our nature, transacting our 
 peace ?” In this Christ is that fullness, and righteousness, and love, and 
 bowels to receive the first acts of our faith ; and to have immediate union 
 and communion with us ; indeed we pitch not our faith first or immediately 
 on God himself; yet at last we come to him, and our faith lives in God 
 (as one saith sweetly) before it is aware, through the sweet intervention of 
 that person which is God himself, only called by another name, “ The Lord 
 Jesus Christ/’ and these are the helps of faith, in reference to our unwor- 
 thiness, God’s justice, and the want of a Mediator betwixt God and us. 
 
 3. The manner how to act our faith on Christ incarnate is this. 
 
 1 . Faith must directly go to Christ : we indeed find in the Bible some 
 particular promises of this and that grace : and in proper speaking the way 
 to live by faith ; it is to live upon the promises in the want of the thing, or 
 to apprehend the thing itself contained in the promise : but the promises are 
 not given to the elect immediately without Christ. No, no, first Christ and 
 then all other things; “incline your ears,” and come unto me. 1. Come 
 unto Christ, and then “ I will make an everlasting covenant ; (which con- 
 tains all the promises) even the sure mercies of David,” Isa. 55 : 3. As in 
 marriage, the woman first consents to have the man, and then all the benefits 
 that necessarily follow : so the soul by faith, first pitcheth upon Christ him- 
 self, and theu on the privileges that flow from Christ. Say, soul, dost thou 
 want any temporal blessing ? Suppose it be the payment of debts, thy daily 
 bread, health, &c. Why, look now through the scripture for promises of 
 these things, and let thy faith act thus, “If God hath given me Christ, the 
 greatest blessing, then certainly he will give me all these things, so far as 
 they may be for my good.” In the twenty-third Psalm we find a bundle 
 of promises, but he begins thus, “ The Lord is my shepherd,” said David, 
 Psal. 23 : 1. And what theu ? “ Therefore I shall not want ;” the believ- 
 ing patriarchs “ through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, 
 obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,” Heb. 11 : 33. Did won- 
 ders in the world ; but what did they chiefly look to in this their faith ? 
 Surely to the promise to come, and to that better thing, Christ himself, 
 verse 39,40. And therefore the apostle concludes, “ Having such a cloud 
 of witnesses,” that thus lived and died by faith, “ Lot us look unto Jesus, 
 the author and finisher of our faith,” Ileb. 12:2. 
 
208 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 2. Faith must directly go to Christ as God in our flesh ; some think it a 
 carnal apprehension of Jesus Christ, to know him as in flesh; I confess to 
 know him only so, and absolutely so, to consider Jesus no other way, but 
 as having flesh, and going up and down in weakness ; it is no better than a 
 carnal apprehension ; but to consider Christ as God in flesh, and to consider 
 that flesh as acted by God, and filled with God, it is not a carnal, but a true 
 and spiritual apprehension of Jesus Christ, and hither is faith to be directed 
 immediately, and in the first place; suppose a case of danger by some ene- 
 mies, and I find a promise of protection from my enemies, I look on that ; 
 but in the first place, thus I argue, if the Lord hath given me Christ (God 
 in the flesh) to save me from hell, then much more will he sa-ve me from 
 these fleshly enemies. Thus Judah had a promise, that Syria should not 
 prevail against Judah. They doubted of this; but how doth the Lord seek 
 to assure them ? Why, thus, “ A virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and 
 his name shall be Emmanuel/’ Isa. 7 : 14. This seems a strange reason to 
 flesh and blood ; I knew one turn infidel, and deny Jesus Christ upon this 
 very argument; ah, (thought he) “What a grand imposture is this, that 
 Christ’s conception, and Christ’s birth many years after should be a present 
 sign of the ruin of Resin king of Aram, and of the preservation of Ahaz 
 king of Judah ?” Alas, poor soul, he was not acquainted with this art of 
 living by faith ; he might have seen the very same reason elsewhere, “ The 
 yoke of their burden, and the staff of their shoulder, and the rod of their 
 oppressor should be broken, — For unto us a child is born, and unto us a son 
 is given,” Isa. 9 : 4. 6 If their faith had not first respected Christ incarnate, 
 they could never have expected any temporal deliverance by that promise 
 of deliverance first laid down ; but in this way they might, and so may we. 
 You will say, What is this to us ? They looked for Christ to come in the 
 flesh, but now he is come, and that time and design is gone and past many 
 a year since ; I answer, no; the time is gone, but the design is not; Christ 
 remains God in the flesh to this very day; he came not as once to manifest 
 himself in the flesh, to satisfy God’s justice in the flesh for sin, and so to lay 
 it down again ; that flesh remains, and shall remain ; nor is it without use ; 
 for all the spirit of life which the saints now have, or which the saints shall 
 have unto the end of the world, it is to be conveyed through that flesh ; yea, 
 the Spirit itself dwells in it, and is conveyed through it ; and therefore if 
 they had so much gospel-spirit in the time of the Old Testament (which 
 indeed was rare) how much more should we go to Christ, as God in the flesh, 
 and look upon it as a standing ordinance, and believe perfectly on it ? 
 
 3. Faith must go and lie at the feet of Christ ; faith must fix and fasten 
 itself on this God in our flesh : some go to Christ, and look on Jesus with 
 loose and transient glances, they bring in but fleshly, secondary, ordinary 
 actings of faith, they have but coarse and common apprehensions of Jesus 
 Christ. Oh ! but we should come to Christ with solemn serious spirits; we 
 should look on Jesus piercingly, till we see him as God is in him, and as 
 such a person thus and thus qualified from heaven ; we should labor to ap- 
 prehend what is the riches of this glorious mystery of Christ’s incarnation ; 
 we should dive into the depths of his glorious actings; we should study this 
 mystery above all other studies. Nothing is so pleasant, and nothing is 
 more deep : than one person should be God and man, that God should 
 be man in our nature, and yet not assume the person of a man; that bless- 
 edness should be made a curse, that heaven should be let down into hell, 
 that the God of the world would shut himself up, as it were, in a body; 
 that the invisible God should be made visible to sense ; that all things should 
 become nothing, and make itself of no reputation ; that God should make 
 our nature, which had sinned against him, to be the great ordinance of re- 
 conciling us unto himself ; that God should take our flesh, and dwell in it 
 
CHAP. II.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 209 
 
 with all the fullness, and make that flesh more glorious than the angels, 
 and advance that flesh into oneness with himself, and through that flesh open 
 all his counsels, and rich discoveries of love and free grace unto the sons of 
 men ; that this man-God, God-man should be our Saviour, Redeemer, Re- 
 conciler, Father, Friend ; Oh what mysteries are these ! No wonder if 
 when Christ was born, the apostle cries, “We saw his glory, as of the only 
 begotten Son of God,” John 1 : 14. Noting out, that at first sight of him, 
 so much glory sparkled from him as could appear from none but a God 
 walking up and down the world. 0 my soul, let not such a treasury be un- 
 looked into : set faith on work with a redoubled strength ; surely we live 
 not like men under this great design, if our eye of faith be not firmly and 
 steadfastly set on this. 0 that we were but insighted into these glories ! 
 that we were but acquainted with these lively discoveries ! how blessedly 
 might we “ live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us, and gave him- 
 self for us. Gal. 2 : 20. 
 
 4. Faith must look principally to the end and meaning of Christ, as God 
 coming in the flesh. Now what was the design and meaning of Christ in 
 this ? The apostle answers, Rom. 8:3. God sent his Son in the likeness 
 of sinful flesh, to condemn sin in the flesh,” i. e. God the Father sent into the 
 world his eternal and only begotten Son, whom in his eternal council, he had 
 designed to the office of a Mediator, to take away or abolish, in the first place, 
 original sin. Mark these two words, “ he condemned sin in the flesh,” the 
 first word condemned, is by a metonomy put for that which follows condem- 
 nation, namely for the abolishing of sin ; as condemned persons used to be 
 cut off, and to be taken out of the world, that they may be no more ; so 
 Christ hath condemned or abolished this sin. For the second word, “ in the 
 flesh,” is meant that human nature which Christ assumed : he abolished sin 
 altogether in his own nature : and that flesh of his, being perfectly holy, and 
 the holiness of it being imputed unto us, it takes away our guilt in respect 
 of the impureness of our nature also. Some may object, If this were so, 
 then were we without original sin ? I answer, the flesh, or the nature which 
 Christ took upon him, was altogether without sin, and by imputation of it, 
 we are in proportion freed from sin ; Christ had not the least spot of origi- 
 nal sin : and if we are Christ’s, then is this sin in some measure abolished, 
 and taken out of our hearts. But howsoever the filth of this sin may remain 
 in part, yet the guilt is removed : in this respect the purity of Christ’s hu- 
 man nature is no less reckoned to us for the curing of our defiled nature, 
 than the sufferings of Christ are reckoned to us, for the remission of our ac- 
 tual sins. 0 my soul, look to this end of Christ, as God in the flesh ; if thou 
 consider him as made flesh and blood, and laid in a manger, think withal, 
 that his meaning was to condemn sin in our flesh ; there flows from the 
 holiness of Christ’s nature, such a power, as countermands the power of our 
 original sin, and acquits and discharges from the condemnation of the same 
 sin : not only the death and life, but also the conception and birth of Christ 
 bath its influence into our justification. Oh ; the sweet that a lively faith 
 may draw from this head ! 
 
 4. The encouragements to bring on souls to believe on Christ incarnate 
 we may draw. 
 
 1. From the excellency of this object. This very incarnation of Christ is 
 the foundation of all other actings of God for us ; it is the very hinge, or 
 pole on which all turn ; it is the cabinet wherein all the designs of God do 
 lie; election, redemption, justification, adoptiou, glorification, are all wrapt 
 up in it ; it is the highest pitch of the declaration of God’s wisdom, good- 
 ness, power, and glory; Oh what a sweet object of faith is this! I know 
 there are some other things in Christ which are most proper for some acts 
 of faith, as Christ dying is most proper for the pardon of actual sin, and 
 
210 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 Christ rising from the dead is most proper for the evidencing of our justifi- 
 cation ; but the strongest, purest acts of faith are those which take in Christ 
 as such a person, laid out in all his glory. Christ’s incarnation is more gen- 
 eral than Christ’s passion, or Christ’s resurrection, and (as some would have 
 it) includes all ; Christ’s incarnation holds forth in some sort Christ in his 
 fullness, and so it is the full and complete subject of our faith; or if it be 
 only more comprehensive, why, then it requires more comprehensive acts of 
 faith, and by consequence we have more enjoyments of Christ this way than 
 any other way ; come, poor soul, I feel, I feel thy eyes are running to and 
 fro in the world, to find comfort and happiness on earth, 0 come ! cast thy 
 eyes back, and see heaven and earth in one object ! Look fixedly on Christ 
 incarnate, there is more in this than all the variety of this world, or of that 
 world to come. Here is an object of faith, and love, and joy, and delight; 
 here is a compendium of all glories; here is one for a heart to be taken 
 with to all eternity. 0 lay thy mouth to this fountain, “ Suck and be satis- 
 fied with the breasts of his consolation, milk out and be delighted with the 
 brightness of his glory,” Isa. 66:11. 
 
 2. From the suitableness of this object. Christ incarnate is most suita- 
 ble for our faith to act upon. We are indeed to believe on God, but God 
 essentially is the utmost object of faith; we cannot come to God but in and 
 through Christ. Alas, God is offended, and therefore we cannot find ground 
 immediately to go to God; hence you heard that “ faith must directly go to 
 Christ, as God in our flesh.” 0 the infinite condescensions of God in Christ ! 
 God takes up our nature, and joins it to himself as one person, and lays out 
 that before our faith ; so that here is God, and God suited to the particular 
 state and condition of the sinner. Ob, now with what boldness may our 
 souls draw nigh to God ! Why art thou strange, poor soul ? Why standest 
 thou afar off, as if it were death to draw nigh ? Of whom art thou afraid ? 
 Is God come down amongst men, and canst thou not see him, lest thou die 
 and perish ? Oh, look once more, and be not discouraged. See, God is not 
 come down in fire, God is not descended in the armor of justice and ever- 
 lasting burning. No, no, he is clothed with the garments of flesh, he sweet- 
 ly desires to converse with thee after thine own form ; he is come down to 
 beseech thee, to see with thine own eyes thy eternal happiness, q. d. “ Come, 
 poor soul, come, put in thy hands, and feel my heart, how it beats in love 
 towards thee.” 0 the wonder of heaven ! It is the cry of some poor souls, 
 il Oh that I might see God !” Lo, here God is come down in the likeness 
 of man, he walks in our own shape amongst us ; it is the cry of others, “ Oh 
 that I might have my heart united to God !” Why, he is come down on 
 this very purpose, and hath united our nature unto himself. Surely God 
 hath left all the world without excuse : Oh, that ever there should be an 
 heart of unbelief, after these sensible demonstrations of divine glory and 
 love. Why, soul, wilt thou yet stand off! Tell me, what wouldst thou 
 have God do more ? Can he manifest himself in a more taking, alluring, 
 suitable way to thy condition ? Is there anything below flesh wherein the 
 great God can humble himself for thy good Come, think of another and 
 better way, or else forever believe. Metbinks, it is sad to see believers shy 
 in their approaches to God, or doubtful of their acceptance with God, when 
 God himself stoops first, and is so in love with our acquaintance, that he 
 will be of the same nature that we are. 0 let not such a rock of strength 
 be slighted, but every day entertain sweet and precious thoughts of Christ 
 being incarnate; inure thy heart to a way of believing ou this Jesus, as 
 he carries on the great work of our salvation at his first coming or incarna- 
 tion. .. 
 
 3. From the gospel-tenders and offers of this blessed object to our souls. 
 As Christ is come in our nature to satisfy; so he comes in the gospel free- 
 
chap.il] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 211 
 
 ly and fully to offer thee terms of love : therein are set out the most rich 
 and alluring expressions that possibly can be ; therein is set out that this 
 incarnation of Christ, was God’s own acting, out of his own love, and grace, 
 and glory ; therein is set out the birth, and life, and death of Christ, and this 
 he could not do, but he must be incarnate : God takes our flesh, and usetli 
 that as an organ or instrument whereby to act ; he was flesh to suffer, as he 
 was Spirit to satisfy for our sins. Methinks I might challenge unbelief, and 
 bid it come forth, let it appear, if it dare before this consideration ; wbat, is 
 not God incarnate enough to satisfy thy conscience ? Come nigh, poor soul, 
 hear the voice of Christ inviting, “ Come unto me all ye that are weary, and 
 heavy laden with sin,” Matth. 11 : 28. And 0 let these rich and glorious 
 openings of the heart of Christ overcome thy heart. Suppose the case thus, 
 What if God should have done no more than this ? Had he only looked 
 down from heaven, and hearing sinners cry out, “ 0 wo, wo, unto us for 
 ever ! we have broken God’s law, incurring the penalty, damned our own 
 souls : 0 who shall deliver us ? Who will save us from the wrath to come ? 
 Who will keep us out of hell, our deserved dungeon, where the fury of the 
 great Judge burns in a fiery brimstone, and his revenge boils in a fiery tor- 
 rent, limitless and unquenchable ?” In this, if God hearing sinners thus 
 crying out, had he, I say, only looked down and told them in a sweet lan- 
 guage, “ Poor souls, I will pardon your sins by mine own prerogative : I 
 made the law, and I will dispense with it ; fear not, I have the keys of life 
 and death, and upon my word you shall not perish.” What soul would not 
 have been raised up even from the bottom of hell at this very voice ? I know 
 a poor soul would have scrupled at this, and have said, What then shall be- 
 come of infinite Justice? Shall that be dishonored to save my soul? This 
 would have been scruple indeed, especially considering that great controver- 
 sy, as we have heard of mercy and truth, and righteousness aud peace : but 
 to remove all controversies, God hath not only spoken from heaven by him- 
 self, but he himself is come down from heaven to earth to speak unto us : 
 0 see this miracle of mercy ! God has come down in flesh, he is come as a 
 price ; he himself will pay himself, according to all the demands of his jus- 
 tice and righteousness before our eyes ; and all this done, now he offers and 
 tenders himself unto thy soul. Oh ! my soul, why shouldst thou fear to cast 
 thyself upon thy God ? I know thy objection of vileness : notwithstand- 
 ing all thy vileness, God himself offers himself to lead thee by the hand : 
 and to remove all doubts, God himself hath put a price sufficient in the hands 
 of Justice to stop her mouth : or if yet thou fearest to come to God, why 
 come then to thy own flesh : go to Christ as having thy own nature, it is he 
 that calls thee : how ? Go to flesh, go to thy own nature ; what can be said 
 more to draw on thy trembling heart ? If God himself, aud God so fitted 
 and qualified, (as I may say) will not allure ; must not men die and perish 
 in unbelief ? What, 0 my soul, (give me leave to chide thee) is God come 
 down so low to thee, and dost thou now stand questioning, whether thou 
 shouldst go or come to him ? What is this but to say, all that God is, or 
 does, or says, is too little to persuade me into faith ? I cannot tell, but one 
 would think, that unbelief should be strangled, quite slain upon this con- 
 sideration; all this, 0 my soul, thou hearest in the gospel; there is Christ 
 incarnate set forth to the life ; there is Christ suing thy loves, and offering 
 himself as thy beloved in thy own nature : there it is written, That God is 
 come down in the flesh, with an olive branch of eternal peace in his hand, 
 and bids you all be witness, he is not come to destroy but to save. Oh that 
 this encouragement might be of force to improve Christ’s glorious designs, 
 to the supplying of all thy wants, and to the making up of all thy losses l 
 Believe, Oh believe thy part in Christ incarnate. 
 
212 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IT. 
 
 Sect. VI. — Of loving Jesus in that respect. 
 
 6. Let us love Jesus as carrying on the great work of our salvation at his 
 first coming or incarnation. Now, what is love, but an “expansion or 
 egress of the heart, and spirits to the object loved, or to the object whereby 
 it is drawn or attracted ?” Mark, 0 my soul, whatsoever hath an attractive 
 power, it is in that respect an objeot, or general cause of love. And canst 
 thou possibly light on any object more attractive than the incarnation of Je- 
 sus Christ ? If love be the loadstone of love, what an attractive is this be- 
 fore thee ? Methinks the very sight of Christ incarnate is enough to ravish 
 thee with the apprehension of his infinite goodness : see how he calls out, 
 or, (as it were) draws out the soul to union, vision and participation of his 
 glory ! 0 come, and yield up thyself unto him ; give him thyself, and con- 
 form all thy affections and actions to his will : 0 love him, not with a divided, 
 but with all thy heart. 
 
 But to excite this love, I shall only propound the object, which will be 
 argument enough. Love causeth love; now as God’s first love to man was 
 in making man like himself; so his second great love was in making him- 
 self like to man : stay then a while upon this love, for (I take it) this is the 
 greater love of the two, nay if I must speak freely, I believe this was the 
 fullest visible demonstration of God’s love that ever was ; the evangelist ex- 
 pressed it thus, “ God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
 Son,” John 3 : 16. He gave him to be incarnate, to be made flesh, and to 
 suffer death; but the extension of his love lies in that expression, “ he so 
 loved.” So, how ? Why so fully, so fatherly, so freely, as no tongue can 
 tell, no heart can think : in this love God did not only let out a mercy, give 
 out a bare grace in itself, but he took our nature upon him. It is usually 
 said, That it is a greater love of God to save a soul, than to make a world ; 
 and I think it was a greater love of God to take our nature than simply to 
 save our souls; for a king to dispense with the law, and by his own preroga- 
 tive to save a murderer from the gallows, is not such an act of love and mer- 
 cy, as to take the murderer’s clothes and to wear them as his richest livery; 
 why, God in taking our nature hath done thus, and more than thus ; he 
 would not save by his mere prerogative ; but he takes our clothes, our flesh, 
 and in that flesh he personates us, and in that flesh he will die for us, that 
 we might not die, but live through him for evermore. Surely this was love, 
 that God will be no more God, as it were simply ; but he will take up 
 another nature, rather than the brightness of his glory shall undo our souls. 
 
 It will not be amiss, (whilst I am endeavoring to draw a line of God’s love 
 in Christ, from first to last in saving souls,) that here we look back a little, 
 and summarily contract the passages of love from the eternity before all 
 worlds unto this present. 1. God had an eternal design to discover his in- 
 finite love to some besides himself; 0 the wonder of this ! was there any 
 need or necessity of such a discovery ? Deus unus , licet solus , non solitarius : 
 “ Though God was one, and in that respect alone, (as we may imagine) yet 
 God was not solitary.” In that eternity within his own proper essence or 
 substance, there were three divine persons, and betwixt them there was 
 a blessed communication of love ; Christ on earth could say, “ I am not 
 alone, because the Father is with me,” John 16 : 32. And then before the 
 earth was, might the Father say, “ I am not alone, for the Son is with 
 me ;” and the Son might say, “ I am not alone, for the Father is with me,” 
 and the Holy Ghost might say, “ I am not alone, for both the Father and 
 the Son are with me.” Though in that eternity there was no creature to 
 whom these three Persons should communicate their love; yet there was 
 a glorious communication, and breaking out of love from one to another; 
 before there was a world, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost did infinitely 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 213 
 
 chap, n.] 
 
 glorify themselves, John 17 : 5. Surely they loved one another, and they 
 rejoiced in the fruition of one another, Prov. 8 : 30. What need then was 
 there of the discovery of God’s love to any one besides himself? 0 my 
 soul, I know no necessity for it, only this was the pleasure of God ; “ Even 
 So, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.” Such was the love of 
 God, that it would not contain itself within that infinite ocean of himself ; 
 but it would needs have rivers and channels into which it might run and 
 overflow. 
 
 2. God, in prosecution of his design, creates a world of creatures, some 
 rational, and only capable of love, others irrational, and serviceable to that 
 one creature, which he makes the top of the whole creation ; then it was 
 that he set up one man Adam, as a common person to represent the rest ; 
 to him he gives abundance of glorious qualifications, and him he sets over 
 all the works of his hands, as if he were the darling of love ; if we should 
 View the excellency of this creature, either in the outward or the inner man, 
 who would not wonder? His body had its excellency, which made the 
 Psalmist, say, “ I will praise thee ; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, 
 and curiously wrought in the lowest part of the earth,” Psal. 139 : 14, 15. 
 It is a speech borrowed from those who work arras-work ; the body of a man 
 is a piece of curious tapestry or arras-work, consisting of skin, bones, mus- 
 cles, sinews, and the like ; what a goodly thing the body of man was be- 
 fore the fall, may be guessed by the excellent gifts found in the bodies of 
 some men since the fall : as the complexion of David, 1 Sam. 16 : 12. The 
 swiftness of Asahel, 2 Sam. 2 : 18. The beauty of Absalom, 2 Sam. 14 : 25. 
 If all these Were but joined in one, as certainly they were in Adam ; what 
 a rare body would such an one be ? But what was this body in comparison 
 of that soul ? The soul was it that was especially made after the image of 
 God; the soul was it that was tempered in the same mortar with the heaven- 
 ly spirits ; the soul was God’s sparkle ; a beam of his divine glory, a ray or 
 emanation of God himself; as man was the principal part of the creation, 
 so the soul Was the principal part of man : here was it that God’s love and 
 glory were centered for a time ; here was it that God’s love set and fixed 
 itself in a special manner, whence flowed that communion of God with Adam, 
 and that familiarity of Adam with God. 
 
 3. Within a while, this man, the object of God’s love, fell away from 
 God, and, as he fell, so all that were in him, even the whole world, fell to- 
 gether with him ; and hereupon God’s face was hid : not a sight of him, 
 but in flaming fire ready to seize on the sons of men. And yet God’s love 
 would not thus leave the object; he had yet a further reach of love, and 
 out of this dark cloud he lets fall some glimpses of another discovery: 
 these glimpses were sweet; but, alas! they were so dark, that very few 
 could spell them, or make any sense or comfortable application of them ; 
 but by degrees God hints it out more, he points out with the finger, by 
 types and shadows, he makes some models of it in outward ceremouies; 
 aud yet so hid and dark, that in four thousand years, men were but guess- 
 ing and hoping through promises for a manifestation of God’s love. This 
 is the meaning of the apostle, who tells us of “ the mystery that was hid 
 from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints,” 
 Col. 1 : 26. This love of God was hid in the breast of God from the sons 
 of men for many an age ; so that they knew not what to make of this great 
 design : I speak of the generality of men, for in respect of some particu- 
 lars, as to Adam and Abraham, and Moses, and David, and the patriarchs, 
 you have heard the Lord made his loves clear to them, in a covenant way ; 
 and still the nearer to Christ, the clearer and clearer was the covenant of 
 grace. 
 
 4. At last, God fully opens himself in the fulness of time ; God takes 
 
214 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IV. 
 
 the flesli of those poor sinners, which he had so loved, and joins it to him- 
 self, and he calls it Christ, a Saviour; 0 now it was that God descended, 
 and lay in the womb of a virgin ; now was it that he is born as we are 
 born ; now was it that he joined our flesh so nigh to himself, as that there 
 is a communication of properties betwixt them both, that being attributed 
 to God, which is proper to flesh, as to be born, to suffer; and that being 
 attributed to flesh, which is proper to God, as to create, to redeem; who 
 can choose but wonder when he thinks of this phrase, That a piece of flesh 
 should be called God, and that God should be made of flesh, and dwell 
 amongst us? That flesh should infinitely provoke God, and yet God in 
 the same flesh should be infinitely pleased ? That God should veil himself 
 aud darken his glory with our flesh, and yet unveil at the same time the 
 deepest and darkest of his designs in a comfortable way to our souls ? 0 
 
 my soul, how shouldest thou contain thyself within thyself? How shouldst 
 thou but leap out of thyself, (if I may so speak) as one that is lost in the 
 admiration of this love ? Surely God never manifested himself in such a 
 strain of love as this before; herein was love manifested and commended 
 indeed, that God would come down in our nature to us. One observes 
 sweetly, That “ God did so love the very nature of his elect, that, though 
 for the present he had them not all with him in heaven, yet he must have 
 their picture in his Son to see them in, and love them in.” In this respect 
 I may call Christ incarnate, a statue and monument of God's own infinite 
 love unto his elect for ever. 
 
 Well, hitherto we have followed the passages of his love; and now we 
 see it in the spring, or at full sea : if any thing will beget our love to God, 
 surely Christ incarnate will do it : come then, 0 my soul, I cannot but call 
 on thee to love thy Jesus; and to provoke thy love, 0 fix thy eye on this 
 lovely object; come put thy candle to this flame; what, doth not thy heart 
 yet burn within thee ? Host thou not at least begin to warm ? Why, 
 draw yet a little nearer, consider what an heart of love is in this design. 
 God is in thy own nature, to take upon him all the miseries of thy nature. 
 Mark it well, this is none other than God's heart leaping out of itself into 
 our bosoms, q. d. u Poor souls, I cannot keep from you, I love your very 
 nature : I will be nothing, so you may be something; my glory shall not 
 hinder me, but I will veil it rather than it shall hurt you; so I may but 
 show myself kind and tender to you, and so I may but have communion 
 with you, and you with me ; I care not if I become one with you, and live 
 with you in your very flesh.” Oh, my heart, art thou yet cold in thy loves 
 to Jesus Christ? Cangt thou love him but a little who hath loved thee so 
 much? How should I then but complain of thee to Christ? And for 
 thy sake beg hard of God. “ 0 thou sweet Jesus, that clothest thyself 
 with the clouds as with a garment, and as now clothest thyself with the 
 nature of a man, 0 that thou wouldst inflame my spirit with a love of thee, 
 that nothing but thyself might be dear unto me, because it so pleased thee 
 to vilify thyself, thine own self for my sake.” 
 
 Sect. VII. — Of joying in Jesus in that respect. 
 
 7. Let us joy in Jesus, as carrying on the great work of our salvation 
 for us at his first coming or incarnation. If it be so, that by our desire, 
 and hope, and faith, and love, we have indeed, and in truth reached the 
 object which our souls pant after, how then should we but joy and delight 
 therein ? The end of our motion is to attain quiet and rest. Now, what 
 is joy, but “ a sweet and delightful tranquillity of mind, resting in the fru- 
 ition and possession of some good?” What, hast thou in some measure 
 attained the presence and fruition of Christ, (as God incarnate) in thy 
 soul ? It is theu time to joy in Jesus ; it is then time to keep a sabbath 
 
CHAP. II.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 215 
 
 of thy thoughts, and to be quiet and calm in thy spirit ; but you will say, 
 How should this be before we come to heaven ? I answer, There is not 
 indeed any perfection of joy while we are here, because there is no per- 
 fection of uuion on this side heaven ; but so far as union is, our joy must 
 be ; examine the grounds of thy hope, and the actings of thy faith, and if 
 thou art but satisfied in them, why, then lead up thy joy, and bring it up 
 to this blessed object; here is matter for it to work upon, if thou canst 
 possibly rejoice in any thing at all, 0 rejoice in the Lord, and again, I say, 
 rejoice. 
 
 Is there not cause, read and spell what is the meaning of the gospel of 
 Christ? What is gospel? but good spell, or good tidings. And wherein 
 lies the good tidings according to its eminency ? Is it not in the glorious 
 incarnation of the Son of God? “Behold I bring you a gospel,” so it is 
 in the original ; or, “ Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which 
 shall be to all people : for unto you is born this day in the city of David, 
 a Saviour which is Christ the Lord,” Luke 2 : 10, 11. The birth of Christ 
 to them that have but touched hearts, is the comfort of comforts, and the 
 sweetest balm and confection that ever was. 0 my soul, what ails thee ? 
 Why art thou cast down and disquieted within me ? Is it because thou art 
 a sinner? Why, “unto thee is born a Saviour,” his name is Saviour, and 
 therefore Saviour, because, he will save his people from their sins. Come 
 then, and bring out thy sins, and weigh them to the utmost aggravation of 
 them, and take in every circumstance both of law and gospel, and set but 
 this in the other scale, that, “unto thee is born a Saviour.” Surely all 
 thy iniquities will seem lighter than vanity, yea, they will be as nothing in 
 comparison thereof. “My soul doth magnify the Lord, (saith Mary) and 
 my Spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour,” Luke 1 : 46, 47. Her soul and 
 her spirit within her rejoiced at this birth of Christ; there is cause that 
 every soul and every spirit should rejoice that hath an interest in this birth 
 of Christ. 0 my soul ! how shouldst thou but rejoice if thou wilt consider 
 these particulars. 1. God himself is come down into the world; l>ecause 
 it was impossible for thee to come to him, he is come to thee ; this con- 
 sideration made the prophet cry out, “ Rejoice greatly, 0 daughter of Zion ; 
 shout, 0 daughter of Jerusalem : behold thy King cometh unto thee,” 
 Zech. 9:9. He is called a King, and therefore he -is able, and he is thy 
 King, and therefore he is willing; but in that thy King cometh unto thee, 
 here is the marvellous love and mercy of God in Christ: kings do not 
 usually come to visit and to wait upon their subjects, it is well if poor sub- 
 jects may come to them, and be admitted into their presence to wait on them ; 
 0 but see the great King of Heaven and earth, the King of kings, and 
 Lord of lords stooping, and bowing the heavens to come down to thee ; surely 
 this is good tidings of great joy, and therefore “ rejoice greatly, 0 daughter 
 of Zion.” A little joy is too scant and narrow for this news; hearts should 
 be enlarged, the doors and gates should be set wide open for this King of 
 glory to come in ; as Balaam said of Israel, “ God is with him, and the 
 shout of a king is amongst them ;” so now may we say, God is with us, and 
 the shout of a king is amongst us, “ Rejoice, Zion, shout, 0 daughter of 
 Jerusalem,” Numb. 23 : 21. 
 
 2. God is come down in the flesh, he hath laid aside, as it were, his own 
 glory, while he converseth with thee; when God manifested himself as on 
 mount Sinai, he came down in thunder and lightning, and if now he had 
 appeared in thunder and lightning, if now he had been guarded with an in- 
 numerable company of angels, all having their swords of vengeance and jus- 
 tice drawn, well might poor souls have trembled, and run into corners, for 
 who could ever be able to endure his coming in this way ? But lo, poor 
 soul ! God is come down in the flesh, he hath made his appearance as a man, 
 
216 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 as one of us, and there is not in this regard the least distance betwixt him 
 and us. Surely this is fuel for joy to feed upon; 0 why should God come 
 down so suitably, so lowly as in our nature, if he would have thy poor soul 
 to be afraid of him ? Doth not this very design intend consolation to thy 
 soul? 0 gather up thy spirit, anoint thy heart with the oil of gladness; 
 see God himself is come down in flesh to live amongst us, he professeth he 
 will have no other life but amongst the sons of men; see what a sweet way 
 of familiarity and intercourse is made betwixt God and us, now he is come 
 down in human frailty. 
 
 3. God hath taken on him our nature, as a vast pipe to his Godhead, 
 that it may flow out in all manner of sweetness upon our hearts ; if God had 
 come down in flesh only to have been of us, it had been a wonderful conde- 
 scension, and a great mercy: “If I have found favor in thy eyes, (said 
 Moses) show me thy way that I may know thee,” Exod. 33 : 13. But to 
 come down, aDd to come down in flesh, not only to be seen but to dispatch 
 the great business of our souls' salvation, here is comfort indeed : with what 
 joy should we draw water out of this well of salvation ? Surely the great 
 reason of the shallowness of our comforts, the shortness of our hopes, the 
 faintness of our spirits, the lowness of our graces, is from the not knowing 
 or the not heeding of this particular ; Christ in flesh stands not for a cypher, 
 but it is an organ of life and grace unto us, it is a fountain of comfort that 
 can never run dry. In this flesh there is laid in one purpose, such a fullness 
 of the Godhead, that of his fullness we might receive in our measure, grace 
 for grace. 0 my soul ! thou art daily busy in eyeing this and that, but, 
 above all, know that all the fullness of God lies in Christ incarnate to be 
 emptied upon thee : this was the meaning of Christ taking on him flesh, 
 that through his flesh he might convey to thee whatsoever is in himself as 
 God. As for instance, God in himself is good, and gracious, and powerful, 
 and all sufficient and merciful; and what not ? Now by his being in flesh he 
 suits all this, and conveys all this to thee : Observe this for thy eternal com- 
 fort, God in and through the flesh makes all his attributes and glory service- 
 able to thy soul. 
 
 4. God in our nature, hath laid out the model and draught of what he will 
 do unto all his saints for ever; human nature was never so advanced before. 
 What ! to be glorified above the angels ? to be united in a personal union 
 with the second Person of the Godhead? Surely, hence may be expected 
 great matters, here is a fair step for the bringing of our persons up to the 
 enjoyment of God; if God be come down in the likeness of man, why then 
 he will bring us up into the likeness of God ; look what was done to our na- 
 ture in Christ, the very same (as far as we are capable) shall be done to our 
 persons in heaven. Think of it, 0 my soul, why hath God made flesh so 
 glorious, but to show that he will by that make thee glorious also ? Christ 
 is the great epitome of all the designs of God, so that in him thou mayest 
 see what thou art designed unto, and how high, and rich thou shalt be in 
 the other world, “ Beloved now are we the sons of God, and it doth not 
 yet appear what we shall be, but we know when he shall appear, we shall 
 be like him,” 1 John 3 : 2. He is now like us, but then (saith the apostle) 
 we shall be like unto him, “ he shall change our vile body, that it may be 
 fashioned like unto his glorious body,” Phil. 3 : 21. Oh ! consider what a 
 frame of eternal comfort may we raise up from this ground of Christ incar- 
 nate ; God in the flesh. 
 
 5. God in the flesh is the first opening of his eternal plot to do us good ; 
 the seed of the woman was the first word of comfort that ever was heard in 
 the world, after man was fallen ; the plot was of old, but the execution was 
 not till after the creation, and then was a dim discovery of it, even in the 
 beginning of time, though no clearer manifestation till the fulness of time. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 217 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 Well, take it as you please, whether in the beginning of time, or in the ful- 
 ness of time ; whether in the promise or in the performance ; this discover- 
 ing of Christ incarnate is the first opening of all God's heart and glory unto 
 the sons of men : and from this we may raise a world of comfort, for if God 
 in the execution of his decrees begins so gloriously, how will he end ? If 
 God be so full of love as to come down in flesh now in this world, Oh, what 
 matter of hope is laid up before us, of what God will be to us in that world 
 to come ? If the glory of God be let out to our souls so fully at first, what 
 glorious openings of all the glory of God will be let out to our souls at last? 
 Christians, what do you think will God do with us, or bring us unto when 
 we shall be with him in heaven ? You see now he is manifested in the 
 flesh, and he hath laid out a world of glory in that : but the apostle tells us 
 of another manifestation, for we shall see him as he is ; he shall at last be 
 manifest in himself, “ Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to 
 face, now we know in part, but then shall we know even as also we are 
 known," 1 Cor. 13 : 12. To what an height of knowledge or manifestation 
 this doth arise, I am now to seek, and so I must be whilst I am on this side 
 heaven ; but this I believe, the manifestation of God and Christ is more 
 in heaven, than is, or ever hath been, or ever shall be upon earth ; “ Thine 
 eyes shall see the king in his beauty, or in his glory," saith Isaiah, 33 : 17. 
 There is a great deal of difference betwixt seeing the king in his ordinary, 
 and seeing him in his robes, and upon his throne, with his crown on his head, 
 and his sceptre in his hand, and his nobles about him in all his glory; the 
 first openings of Christ are glorious, but 0 what will it be to see him in his 
 greatest glory, that ever he will manifest himself in ? We usually say, That 
 workmen do their meanest work at first, and if the glorious incarnation of 
 Christ be but the beginning of God’s works in reference to our souls' salva- 
 tion, what are those last works? 
 
 0 my soul, weigh all these passages, and make an application of them to 
 thyself, and then tell me, if yet thou hast not matter enough to raise up 
 thy heart, and to “ fill it with joy unspeakable and full of glory." When 
 the wise men saw but “ the star of Christ, they rejoiced with an exceeding 
 great joy," Matth. 2 : 10. How much more when they saw Christ himself? 
 “Your father Abraham (said Christ to the Jews) rejoiced to see my day, 
 and he saw it, and was glad," John 8 : 56. He saw it indeed, but afar off 
 with the eyes of faith : they afore Christ had the promise, but we see the 
 performance; how then should we rejoice ? How glad shouldst thou be, 0 
 my soul, at the sight and the effect of Christ’s incarnation ? If John the 
 Baptist could leap for joy in his mother’s belly, when Christ was but yet in 
 the womb, how should thy heart leap for joy, who can say with the pro- 
 phet, “ Unto me a child is born, and unto me a son is given ?" If Simeon, 
 waiting “ for the consolation of Israel, took him up in his arms for joy, and 
 blessed God," Luke 2 : 28 ; how shouldst thou with joy embrace him 
 with both arms, who knowest his coming in the flesh, and who hast heard 
 him come in the gospel, in the richest and most alluring expressions of his 
 love ? If the angels could sing for joy at his birth, “ Glory to God in the 
 highest, and on earth peace, and good will towards men ?" Luke 2 : 14. 
 “Awake, awake, 0 my soul, awake, awake, utter a song !" tell over these 
 passages, That God is come down into the world, that God is come down in 
 the flesh, that God is come down in flesh in order to thy reconciliation ; that 
 God is come down in the likeness of man, that he may bring thee up into 
 the likeness of God, and that all these are but the first openings of the 
 grace, and goodness, and glory of God in Christ to thy soul : and oh what 
 work will these make in thy soul, if the Spirit come in who is the Com- 
 forter ! 
 
218 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 Sect. VIII. — Of calling on Jesus , in that respect. 
 
 8. Let us call on Jesus, or on God the Father in and through Jesus 
 Now this calling on Jesus contains prayer, and praise. 1. We must pray, 
 That all these transactions of Jesus at his first coming or incarnation may 
 be ours ; and is not here encouragement for our prayers ? If we observe it, 
 this very point of Christ’s incarnation opens a door of rich entrance into the 
 presence of God ; we may call it, a blessed portal into heaven, not of iron, 
 or brass, but of our own flesh ; this is that “ new and living way, which he 
 .hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh,” Heb. 
 10 : 20. With what boldness and freeness may we now enter into the 
 holiest, and draw near unto the throne of grace ? Why, Christ is incarnate, 
 God is come down in the flesh ; though his Deity may confound us (if we 
 should immediately and solely apply ourselves unto it) yet his humanity 
 comforts our faint and feeble souls ; God in his humility animates our souls 
 to come unto him, and to seek of him whatsoever is needful for us. Go 
 then to Christ ; away, away, 0 my soul, to Jesus, or to God the Father, in 
 and through Jesus; and 0 desire that the effect, the fruit, the benefit of 
 his conception, birth, and of the wonderful union of the two natures of 
 Christ may be all thine. What, dost thou hope in Jesus, and believe thy 
 part in this incarnation of Christ ? Why then, pray in hope, and pray in 
 faith : what is prayer, but the stream and river of faith, and issue of the 
 desire of that which I joyfully believe ? “Thou, 0 Lord God of hosts, 
 God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an 
 house, therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto 
 thee,” 2 Sam. 7 : 27. 
 
 2. We must praise. This was the special duty practised by all saints 
 and angels at Christ’s birth. “ My soul doth magnify the Lord, (said Mary) 
 and my spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour, Luke 1 : 46. And blessed be 
 the Lord God of Israel, (saith Zachary) for he hath visited and redeemed 
 his people, verse 68. And glory to God in the highest,” said the heavenly 
 host: only an angel had before brought the news, “Unto you is born this 
 day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord,” Luke 2:11. 
 But immediately after there were many to sing praises : not only six cheru- 
 bim, as Isaiah saw; not only four and twenty elders, as John saw, but a 
 multitude of heavenly angels like armies, that by their heavenly hallelujahs 
 gave glory to God. 0 my soul, do thou endeavor to keep consort with 
 those many angels. “ 0 sing praises, sing praises unto God, sing praises.” 
 Never was like case since the creation : never was the wisdom, truth, jus- 
 tice, mercy and goodness of God so manifested before : I shall never forget 
 that last speech of a dying saint upon the stage, “ Blessed be God for Jesus 
 Christ.” 0 my soul, living and dying let this be thought on. What, 
 Christ incarnate ! and incarnate for me ! Why, “ bless the Lord, 0 my soul, 
 and all that is within me, bless his holy name.” 
 
 Sect. IX. — Of conforming to Jesus in that respect. 
 
 9. Let us conform to Jesus in reference to this great transaction of his 
 incarnation. Looking to Jesus contains this, and is the cause of this; the 
 sight of God will make us like to God; and the sight of Christ will make 
 us like to Christ; for as a looking-glass cannot be exposed to the sun, but 
 it will shine like the same ; so God receives none to contemplate his face, 
 but he transforms them into his own likeness by the irradiation of his own 
 light; and Christ hath none that dive into these depths of his glorious and 
 blessed incarnation, but they carry along with them sweet impressions of 
 an abiding and transforming nature. Come, then, let us once more look tc 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 219 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 Jesus in his incarnation, that we may conform and be like to Jesus in that 
 respect. 
 
 But wherein lies this conformity or likeness ? I answer, in these and the 
 like particular?. 
 
 1. Christ was conceived in Mary by the Holy Ghost, so must Christ be 
 conceived in us by the same Holy Ghost. To this purpose is the seed of 
 the word cast in, and principles of grace are by the Holy Ghost infused; 
 “ he hath begotten us by the word,” saith the apostle, James 1 : 18. How 
 mean, contemptible or impotent men may esteem it; yet God hath appointed 
 no other means to convey supernatural life but after this manner : “Where 
 no vision is, the people perish where no preaching is, there is a worse 
 judgment than that of Egypt, when there was one dead in every family. 
 By the word and Spirit the seeds of all grace are sown in the heart at 
 once, and the heart closing with it, immediately Christ is conceived in the 
 heart. 
 
 Concerning this spiritual conception or reception of Christ in us there is 
 a great question, whether it be possible for any man to discern how it is 
 wrought? But for the negative are these texts, “Our life is hid with 
 Christ in God,” Col. 3 : 3. And “the wind bloweth where it listeth, and 
 thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, or 
 whither it goeth,” John 3:8. It is a wonderful secret and hidden concep- 
 tion. The Holy Ghost sets out that state of unregeneracy, in which Christ 
 finds us, by the name of death, Eph. 2:1. So it must needs be as impos- 
 sible for us to discover how it is wrought, as it is impossible for one to know 
 how he receives his own life. Some say the first act of infusing or receiv- 
 ing Christ, or grace, (they are all one) is wrought in an instant, and not by 
 degrees, and therefore it is impossible to discern the manner : And yet we 
 grant, That we may discern both the preparations to grace, and the first 
 operations of grace. 1. The preparations to grace are discernible ; such are 
 those terrors, and spiritual agonies, which are often before the work of re- 
 generation : they may be resembled to the heating of metals before they 
 melt, and are cast in the mould to be fashioned : now by the help of natu- 
 ral reason one may discern these. 2. Much more may the first motions and 
 operations of grace be discerned by one truly regenerate, because that in 
 them his spirit works together with the Spirit of Christ ; such are sorrow 
 for sin, as sin, and seeking rightly for comfort, an hungering desire after 
 Christ and his merits; neither do I think it impossible for a regenerate man 
 to feel the first illapse of the Spirit into the soul, for it may bring that sense 
 with itself, as to be easily discerned ; although it did not always see, nor 
 perhaps usually see ; it is true that the giving of spiritual life, and the giv- 
 ing of the sense of it, are two distinct acts of the spirit; yet who can deny 
 but that both these acts may go together, though always they do not go to- 
 gether ? Howsoever it is, yet even in such persons, as in the instant of 
 regeneration may feel themselves in a regenerate estate, this conclusion 
 stands firm, viz. “ They may know what is wrought in them, but how it is 
 wrought they cannot know nor understand.” We feel the wind, and per- 
 ceive it in the motions and operations thereof, but the originals of it we are not 
 able exactly to describe ; some think the beginnings of winds is from the 
 flux of the air, others from the exhalations of the earth, but there is no cer- 
 tainty ; so it is in the manner of this conception, or passive reception of 
 Christ, and grace into our hearts; we know not how it is wrought, but it 
 nearly concerns us to know that it is wrought ; look we to this conformity, 
 that as Christ was conceived in Mary by the Holy Ghost, so that Christ be 
 conceived in us, in a spiritual sense by the same Holy Ghost. 
 
 2. Christ was sanctified in the virgin's womb, so must we be sanctified in 
 ourselves, following the commandment of God, “ Be ye holy, as I am holy 
 
220 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 souls regenerate must be sanctified, “ Every man (saith the apostle) that 
 hath this hope in him, purifieth himself even as he is pure,” 1 John 3 : 3. 
 I know our hearts are (as it were) seas of corruption, yet we must daily 
 cleanse ourselves of them by little and little : Christ could not have been a 
 fit Saviour for us, unless first he had been sanctified, neither can we be fit 
 members unto him, unless we he in some measure purged from our sins, and 
 sanctified by his Spirit. To this purpose is that of the apostle, “ I beseech 
 you brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living 
 sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,” Rom. 12:1. In the Old Testament, 
 they did after a corporal manner, slay and kill beasts, presenting them, and 
 offering them unto the Lord : but now we are in a spiritual manner to cru- 
 cify and mortify the flesh, with the affections and lusts, all our inordinate 
 passions, and our evil affections of anger, love, joy, hatred, are to be cruci- 
 fied : and all that is ours must be given up unto God; there must be no 
 love in us but of God, and in reference to God ; no joy in us but in God, 
 and in reference to God ; no fear in us but of God, and in reference to God ; 
 and thus of all other the like passions. 0 that we would look to Jesus, and 
 be like unto Jesus in this thing! If there be any honor, any happiness, 
 any excellency, it is in this, even in this, we are not fit for any holy duty, 
 or any religious approach unto God without sanctification, u this is the will 
 of God, (saith the apostle) even your sanctification,” 1 Thess. 4 : 3. All 
 the commands of God tend to this, and for the comfort of us Christians, we 
 have under the gospel promises of sanctification to be in a larger measure 
 made out unto us, “ In that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses, 
 holiness unto the Lord — Yea, every pot in Jerusalem, aud in Judea, shall be 
 holiness unto the Lord,” Zech. 14 :20, 21. Every vessel under Christ and 
 the gospel must have written upon it, holiness to the Lord ; thus our spiri- 
 tual services figured by the ancient ceremonial services are set out by a larger 
 measure of holiness than was in old times : it is a sweet resemblance of 
 Christ to be holy, for he is still the holy child Jesus, Acts, 4 : 27. He was 
 sanctified from the womb, and sanctified in the womb, for our imitation : 
 “ For their sakes, I sanctify myself, (saith Christ) that they also might be 
 sanctified,” John 17 : 19. 
 
 3. Christ the Son of man is by nature the Son of God ; so we poor sons 
 
 of men must by grace become the sons of God, even of the same God 
 and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. “ For this very end, God sent his 
 own Son made of a woman, that we might receive the adoption of sons — 
 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son, and if a son, then an heir 
 of God through Christ,” Gal. 4 : 4, 5. 7. This intimates, that what relation 
 Christ hath unto the Father by nature, we should have the same by grace ; 
 by nature, “ He is the only begotten Son of the Father, and as many as 
 received him, (saith John 1 : 12, 14.) to them he gave power to become the 
 sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” It is true, Christ re- 
 serves to himself the pre-eminence : he is in a peculiar manner, “ the first 
 born among many brethren,” Rom. 8 : 29. Yet in him, and for him all the 
 rest of the brethren are accounted as first born : so God bids Moses say unto 
 Pharaoh, 11 Israel is my son, even my first born : and I say unto thee, Let 
 my son go, that he may serve me, and if thou refuse to let him go, behold 
 I will slay thy son, even thy first-born,” Exod. 4 : 22, 23. And the whole 
 church of God consisting of Jew and Gentile, is in the same sort described 
 by the apostle to be, “ The general assembly and chureh of the first-born 
 enrolled in heaven,” Heb. 12 : 23. By the same reason that we are sons, 
 we are first-borns; “ If we are children, then are we heirs, heirs of God, 
 and joint heirs with Christ,” Rom. 8 : 17. 0 who would not endeavor af- 
 
 ter this privilege ? Who would not conform to Christ in this respect ? 
 
 4. Christ the Son of God was yet the Son of man ; there was in him a 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 221 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 duplicity of natures really distinguished, and in this respect, the greatest 
 majesty, and the greatest humility that ever was, are found in Christ ; so 
 we, though sons of God, must remember ourselves to be but sons of men, 
 our privileges are not so high but our poor conditions, frailties, infirmities, 
 sins, may make us low: Who was higher than the Son of God? And 
 who was lower than the son of man ? As he is God, he is in the bosom of 
 his Father; as he is man, he is in the womb of his mother; as he is God, 
 his throne is in heaven, and he fills all things by his immensity; as he is 
 man, he is circumscribed in a cradle, I mean a manger, a most uneasy cradle 
 sure; as he is God, he is clothed in a robe of glory ; as he is man, he is 
 wrapped in a few coarse swaddling bauds ; as he is God, he is encircled with 
 millions of bright angels ; as he is man, he is in company with Joseph, and 
 Mary, and the beasts ; as he is God, he is the eternal Word of the Father, 
 All-sufficient, and without need ; as he is man, he submits himself to a con- 
 dition imperfect, inglorious, indigent and necessitous ; well, “ Let this mind 
 be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, 
 thought it no robbery to be equal with God, but he made himself of no 
 reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the 
 likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself,” 
 Phil. 2 : 5, 6, 7, 8. He that thought it no robbery to be equal with God, 
 humbled himself to become man : we should have found it no robbery to 
 be equal with devils, and are we too proud to learn of God ? What an 
 intolerable disproportion is this, to behold an humbled God, and a proud 
 man ? Who can endure to see a prince on foot, and his vassal mounted ? 
 Shall the Son of God be thus humble for us, and shall not we be humble 
 for ourselves ? I say, for ourselves that deserve to be cast down amongst 
 the lowest worms, the damnedest creatures? What are we in our best con- 
 dition here upon earth ? Had we the best natures, purest conversations, 
 happiest endowments that accompany the saints, pride overthrows all ; it 
 thrust proud Nebuchadnezzar out of Babylon, proud Hainan out of the court, 
 proud Saul out of his kingdom, proud Lucifer out of heaven. Poor man ! 
 how ill it becomes thee to be proud, when God himself is become thus hum- 
 ble ! “0 learn of me (saith Christ) for I am meek, and humble and lowly 
 
 in Spirit, and you shall find rest unto your souls,” Matth. 11 : 29. 
 
 5. The two natures of Christ, though really distinguished, yet were they 
 inseparably joined and made not two, but one person ; so must our natures 
 and persons, though at greatest distance from God, be inseparably joined 
 and united to Christ, and thereby also to God. “ I pray (saith Christ) that 
 they all may be one, as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also 
 may be one in us,” John 17 : 21. That union of Christ’s two natures we 
 call a personal, hypostatical union ; and this union of Christ with us, we 
 call a mystical and spiritual union ; yet though it be mystical and spiritual, 
 this hinders not but that it is a true, real, essential, substantial union, 
 whereby the person of the believer is indissolubly united to the glorious 
 person of the Son of God. For our better understanding we may consider 
 (if you please) of a threefold unity, either of persons in one nature, or of 
 natures in one person, or of natures and persons in one Spirit; in the first 
 is one God; in the second is one Christ; in the third is one church with 
 Christ ; our union unto Christ is the last of these, whereby he and we are 
 all spiritually united to the making of one mystical body : 0 what a privilege 
 is this ! a poor believer, be he never so mean, or miserable in the eye of the 
 world, yet he is one with Christ, as Christ is one with the Father ; “ Our 
 fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ,” 1 John 1 : 3. 
 Every saint is Christ’s fellow; there is a kind of analogical proportion be- 
 tween Christ and his saints in every thing : if we take a view of all Christ, 
 what he is in his person, in his glory, in his Spirit, in his graces, in his 
 
222 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IV. 
 
 Father's love, and the access he hath to the Father, in all these we are in a 
 sort fellows with Christ; only with this difference, That Christ hath the 
 pre-eminence in all things; all comes from the Father to Christ, and all we 
 have is by marriage with Jesus Christ : Christ by his union hath all good 
 things without measure, but we by our union have them only in measure, 
 as it, pieaseth him to distribute. But herein if we resemble Christ, whether 
 in his union with the Father, or in his union of the two natures in one 
 person of a Mediator : if by looking on Christ, we come to this likeness, 
 to be one with Jesus Christ : 0 what a privilege is this ! had we not good 
 warrant for so high a challenge, it could be no less than a blasphemous 
 arrogance to lay claim to the royal blood of heaven ; but the Lord is pleased 
 so to dignify a poor worm, that every believer may truly say, “ I am one 
 with Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is one with me.” 
 
 To sweeten this union to our thoughts, I shall acquaint you with the 
 privileges flowing from it, and let the same stir you up to conform. 
 
 Hence it is that Christ lives in us, and that Christ both gives life, and is 
 our life. “ When Christ which is our life shall appear; Christ is to me to 
 live : and I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me/' Col. 3 : 4. Phil. 1 : 21. 
 Gal. 2 : 20. There is a spiritual and a natural life : for the natural life 
 what is it but a bubble, a vapor, a shadow, a dream, a nothing ? But this 
 spiritual life is an excellent life, it is wrought in us by the Spirit of Christ : 
 there is a world of difference betwixt the natural and the spiritual life, and 
 that makes the difference betwixt what I do as a man, and what I do as a 
 Christian : as a man I have eyes, ears, motions, affections, understanding, 
 naturally as my own ; but as a Christiau I have all these from him with 
 whom I am spiritually one, the Lord Jesus Christ; as a man I have bodily 
 eyes, and I behold bodily and material things; but as a Christian I have 
 spiritual eyes, and see invisible and eternal things, as it is said of Moses, 
 That “ he endured as seeing him who is invisible/' Heb. 11 : 27. As a 
 man I have outward ears, and 1 hear outwardly sounds of all sorts, whether 
 articulate or inarticulate; but as a Christian I have inward ears, and so I 
 hear the voice of Christ, and of God's Spirit, speaking to my soul : as a 
 man I have bodily feet, aud by them I move in my own secular ways, but 
 as a Christian I have spiritual feet, and on them I walk with God in all the 
 ways of his commandments; as a man I have natural affections, and so I 
 love beauty, and fear pain, and hate an enemy, and I rejoice in outward 
 prosperity or the like; but as a Christian I have renewed affections, and so 
 I love goodness, and hate nothing but sin, and I fear above all the displea- 
 sure of my God, and I rejoice in God’s favor, which is better than life. 
 Surely this is a blessed life; and as soon as ever I am united to Christ, why 
 then, I ‘‘ live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me," first, Christ is conceived, 
 and then Christ is formed, and then Christ is born, and then Christ grows 
 in me to a blessed fulness : “ My little childreu, of whom I travail in birth 
 again, until Christ be formed in you," Gal. 4 : 19. Formation follows con- 
 ception, and travail implies birth; then after this we are “babes in Ohrist," 
 1 Cor. 3:1. Or Christ is as a babe in us, from thence we grow up to 
 strength of youth, “ I have written unto you, young men, because ye are 
 strong," 1 John 2 : 14. And at last we come to gospel perfection, even 
 towards the ‘‘measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ," Eph. 4 : 13. 
 Is this all ? Nay, if my union be firm, and Christ live in me, Why then I 
 go on, aud in this condition “I am dead with Christ; and I am buried with 
 Christ: and I am alive again unto God through Christ; and am risen with 
 Christ: and I am glorified with Christ," Rom. 6 : 8, and 6 : 4, 11. Col. 
 3 : 1. Rom. 8 : 17. Nay, yet more, my sufferings are Christ’s, Col. 1 : 24. 
 And Christ’s sufferings are mine ; I am in Christ an heir of glory, Rom. 
 8 : 17. Aud Christ is in me the hope of glory, Col. 1:27. 0 my Christ, 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 223 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 II.] 
 
 my life, what am I, or what is my father's house, that thou shouldst come 
 down into me, that thou shouldst be conceived in the womb of my poor 
 sinful heart, that thou shouldst give my soul a new and spiritual life, a life 
 begun in grace, and ending in eternal glory ? I shall not reckon up any 
 more privileges of this union, methinks I should not need ; if I tell you of 
 grace and glory, what can I more ? Glory is the highest pitch, and Christ 
 tells you concerning it, “The glory which thou gavest me, I have given 
 them, that they may be one, even as we are one," John 17 : 22. Ah, my 
 brethren ! to be so like Christ as to be one with Christ, it is near indeed ; 
 
 0 let us conform to Christ in this ; he is one with our nature in an hypos- 
 tatical, personal union; let us be one with him in a spiritual, holy and 
 mystical union ; if God be not in our persons as truly, though not as fully, 
 as in our nature, we have no particular comfort from this design of his 
 personal, hypostatical and wonderful union. 
 
 6. Christ was born, so must we be new-born ; to this I have spoken when 
 
 1 laid it down as an evidence, That “ unto us a child is born, and unto us 
 a Son is given/' only one word more ; we must be new-born ; as once born 
 by nature, so new-born by grace ; there must be some resemblance in us of 
 Christ born amongst us. As, 1. Christ born had a Father in heaven and a 
 mother on earth ; so in our new birth we must look on God as our Father 
 in heaven, and on the church as our mother on earth ; it was usually said, 
 “Out of the church no salvation," and to this the apostle alludes, “Jerusa- 
 lem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all," Gal. 4 : 26. In- 
 deed out of the church, there is no means of salvation, no word to teach, no 
 sacraments to confirm, nothing at all to hold forth Christ to a soul, and with- 
 out Christ how should there be the salvation of souls ? so that we must look 
 on the church as our mother, and on God as our Father : not that we deny 
 some to be as spiritual fathers unto others, Paul tells the Corinthians, that 
 he was their Father, “ Though ye have ten thousand instructers in Christ, 
 yet have ye not many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you 
 through the gospel," 1 Cor. 4 : 15. But alas ! such fathers are but minis- 
 terial fathers, and therefore Paul seems to correct himself, “ Who is Paul ? 
 And who is Apollos ? but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord 
 gave to every man V } 1 Cor. 3:5. It is God only is our Father principally, 
 originally, supremely : God only puts grace and virtue into the womb of 
 the soul : it is not possible that any creature should be a creator of the new 
 creature. 0 then, let us look up unto heaven and say, “ 0 Lord, new-make 
 me, new-create me, 0 be thou my Father." 
 
 2. When Christ was born, all Jerusalem was troubled ; so when this 
 new birth is, we must look for it, that much commotion, and much divi- 
 sion of heart will be ; the devil could not be cast out of the possessed person, 
 but he would exceedingly tear and torment the possessed person : the 
 truth is we cannot expect that Christ should expel Satan from those holds 
 and dominions he hath over us, but he will be sure to put us to great fear 
 and terror in heart. Besides, not only the evil Spirit, but God’s Spirit is 
 for a while a Spirit of bondage, to make every thing as a mighty burden 
 unto us : there are many pretenders to the grace of God in Christ, but they 
 cannot abide to hear of any pains or pangs in this new birth ; 0 this is 
 legal ! but I pray thee tell me, dost thou ever know any woman bring forth 
 in her sleep or in a dream, without feeling any pain ? And how then should 
 the heart of man be thus new changed and new moulded without several 
 pangs ? Look, as it is in the natural birth, there are many pangs and trou- 
 bles, “ In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children :" so it is, and must be in 
 our spiritual birth, there is usually (I will not say always, to such or such a 
 degree) many pangs and troubles, there is many a throb, and many a heart 
 ache ere Christ be formed in us. 
 
224 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 3. When Christ was born, there was discovery of many of the glorious 
 attributes of God ; then, “ Mercy and truth met together, and righteousness 
 and peace kissed each other then especially was a discovery of the good- 
 ness, and power, and wisdom, and holiness of God. So when this new birth 
 is, we must look upon it as a glorious discovery of those lovely attributes. 
 As, 1. Of his mercy, goodness, love ; how often is this called his grace, and 
 the riches of his grace ? Christian ! you that know what the new birth 
 means, do not you say, The goodness of God appears in this? Surely it was 
 God’s goodness to make a world, but this is the riches of his goodness to 
 create a new heart in you, when man by sin was fallen, he might have been 
 thrown away as refuse, fit fuel for everlasting flames ; it might have been with 
 mankind as it was with devils, in their deluge God did not provide an ark 
 to save so many as eight persons, not one angel that fell was the object of 
 God’s grace ; and that God should pass by all those angels, and many 
 thousands of the sons of men, and yet that he should look upon you in your 
 blood, and bid you live, 0 the goodness of God ! 
 
 2. As of the goodness, so in this new birth there is a discovery of God’s 
 power; and hence it is called, “A new creature,” Gal. 6:15. The very 
 game power that framed the world, is the framer of this new creature ; the 
 work of conversion is set forth by the work of creation ; God only creates 
 man, and God only converts man ; in the creation God said, " Let there be 
 light, and there was light ;” in our conversion, God saith, “ Let there be 
 light,” and presently the same God shines in our hearts : nay, this power 
 of conversion, in some sense far passeth the creation, “ To whom is the 
 arm of the Lord revealed,” Isa. 53 : 1. The Lord puts to his arm, his pow- 
 er, his strength indeed in conversion of souls : when he made the world, he 
 met with nothing to resist him ; he only spake the word, and it was done ; 
 but, in the conversion of a sinner, God meets with the whole frame of all 
 creatures opposing and resisting him, the devil and the world without, and 
 sin and corruption within ; here then must needs be a power against all 
 power. 
 
 3. As of the power and goodness of God, so in this new birth there is a 
 
 discovery of the wisdom of God. I might instance in many particulars ; as, 
 1. In that the regenerate are mostly of the meanest and most contemptible 
 persons, “ Not many wise, not many noble,” &c. 1 Cor. 1 : 26. 2. In that 
 
 many times God takes the worst weeds and makes the sweetest flowers, thus 
 Paul, Zaccheus, the publicans and harlots. 3. In that the regenerate are 
 of the fewest, and least number, (( Many are called, but few are chosen.” 
 4. In that God ehooseth such a time to be his time of love, wherein he 
 usually discovers many concurrences of strange love meeting together, read 
 Ezek. 16 : 4, 5, 6, 8,9. In all these particulars is his wisdom wonderful. 
 
 4. As of the Goodness, power, and wisdom of God, so in this new birth 
 there is a discovery of the holiness of God. If a clod of earth, or piece of 
 muck should be made a glorious star in heaven, it is not more wonderful 
 than for a sinner to be made like an angel, doing the will of God : it argues 
 the holiness of God, and his love of holiness, to make man holy ; he tells 
 us, That “ without holiness none shall see God ;” and therefore first he will 
 make us holy, and then he will bring us to himself. 0 here is a blessed 
 conformity! as Christ was born let us be new-born. 
 
 7. Christ, after his birth, did and suffered many things in his childhood, 
 (I should be too large to speak to every particular) so should we learn to 
 “ bear God’s yoke even in our youth,” Lam. 3 : 29. It is good to imitate 
 Christ even betimes, “ Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, 
 while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, 
 I have no pleasure in them,” Eccl. 12 : 1. Do we not see by experience, 
 what a blessed thing a gracious and an holy education is ? “ Train up a 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 225 
 
 child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from 
 it,” Prov. 22 : 6. 0 ye parents, that ye would do your duties, and in that 
 
 respect imitate Joseph and Mary, in their care and nurture of the holy child 
 Jesus; and 0 ye children, that ye would do your duties, and imitate Jesus 
 the blessedest pattern that ever was, that as you grow in stature, you also 
 might “ grow in favor with God and man,” Luke 2 : 52. Observe him in 
 the temple, when he was but twelve years old, see him in the midst of the 
 doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions ; children while little 
 (if but capable of instruction) should with their parents wait on God in the 
 midst of our assemblies; Moses told Pharaoh, they must have their young 
 ones with them to the solemn worship, Exod. 10 : 9. And when Joshua 
 read the law of God to the children of Israel, they had their little ones 
 with them in that solemn assembly, Josh. 8 : 35. Observe Christ also in 
 Nazareth, where, during his minority, he was ever subject to his parents ; 
 so, “ Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right,” Eph. 6 : 1, 2. 
 Not only the law of God, but the gospel of Christ makes mention of this, 
 “ Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with pro- 
 mise ;” I know the subjection of Christ extends to his particular calling, 
 and this also is for your imitation ; in obedience to his supposed father, the 
 holy child would have a particular employment ; something must be done 
 for the support of that holy family wherein Jesus lived, and to that purpose 
 he puts to his own hands, and works in the trade of a carpenter ; such as 
 will live idle, and without a calling, that serve for no other use but to de- 
 vour God’s creatures, and to make a dearth, 0 how unlike are they to Christ 
 Jesus? It is noted for a grievous sin, and a chjef part of the corruption 
 of our nature, to be unprofitable to the generation with whom we live ; 
 “ They are altogether become unprofitable, there is none that doeth good,” 
 Rom. 3 : 12. Religion and grace wherever it prevaileth, makes men profit- 
 able, and, in this respect the poorest servant and drudge may have more 
 comfort in his estate, than the greatest gentleman that hath nothing to do 
 but to eat, and drink, and play. 
 
 Thus far we have looked on Jesus as our Jesus in his incarnation, or his 
 first coming in the flesh. Our next work is to look on Jesus carrying on 
 the great work of man’s salvation, during his life, from John’s baptism, 
 until his suffering and dying on the cross. 
 
 15 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS, 
 
 IN HIS LIFE. 
 
 THE FOURTH BOOK. — PART II. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 For the Life was manifested, and we have seen it. — 1 John 1 : 2. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the Beginning of the Gospel. 
 
 In this piece, as in the former, we must first lay down the object, and 
 then direct you how to look upon it. 
 
 The object is Jesus carrying on the work of man’s salvation, during the 
 time of his life. Now, in all the transactions of this time, we shall observe 
 them as they were carried on successively in those three years and a half of 
 his ministerial office, or if you will in those four complete years before his 
 passion and death. 
 
 For the first year, and his actings therein, the evangelist Mark 1 : 1, be- 
 gins thus, “ The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God,” 
 q. d. The beginning of that age of the world, which the prophets pointed 
 out for the time of the good things to come; or the beginning of the exhi- 
 bition and completion of that gospel, which in respect of the promise, figures 
 and signification, was from the beginning of the world. This beginning 
 of the gospel, the prophets sometimes expressed by the term of the last 
 days. “And it shall come to pass in the last days,” Isa. 2 : 2. Micah 4 : 1. 
 Sometimes by the term of the acceptable year of the Lord, “ The Spirit of 
 the Lord is upon me, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,” Isa. 
 61 : 1, 2. Sometimes by the term of the kingdom of God, “And in the 
 days of these kings, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall 
 never be destroyed,” Dan. 2 : 44. Sometimes by the term of a new heaven, 
 and a new earth, “Behold I create new heavens, and a new earth, and the 
 former shall not be remembered, nor come in mind,” Isa. 65 : 17. How- 
 soever it is called, this is concluded, that the beginning of the gospel is not 
 to be reckoned from the birth of Christ, but from the beginning of the 
 ministry and preaching of John the Baptist; “From the days of John the 
 Baptist, (saith Christ) the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence; for all 
 the prophets, and the law prophesied until John,” Matth. 11 : 12, 13. 
 And when the apostles were ready, in the room of Judas, to choose a new 
 apostle, it is said, That “ of those men which companied with them all the 
 time that the Lord Jesus went in and out amongst them, beginning from 
 the baptism of John, unto the day that he was taken up, must one be 
 ordained to be a witness,” Acts 1 : 21, 22. And Peter preaching to Cor- 
 
 ( 226 ) 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 227 
 
 nelius, and his friends, he tells them, “ That the word (or gospel) was 
 published throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism 
 which John preached/’ Acts 10 : 87. And see but how immediately these 
 words follow, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of 
 God ; as it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before 
 thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee,” Mark 1:1,2. I know, 
 that John’s ministry was six months before Christ’s; and yet that now was 
 the beginning of the gospel; it appears, 1. In that baptism, (which was 
 only used amongst the Jews for the admission of proselytes or Heathens to 
 their church) is now published, and proposed to the Jews themselves, show- 
 ing, 1. That now they were to be entered and transplanted into a new pro- 
 fession. And, 2. That the Gentiles and they now were to be knit into 
 one church and body. And, 3. It appears, in that the doctrine and preach- 
 ing of John, was in a different strain from the literal doctrine of the law, 
 as it is taken in the sense of the Jews ; for that called all for works and 
 for exact performance, “ Do this and live;” but John called for repentance, 
 and for renewing of the mind, and for belief in him that was coming after, 
 disclaiming all righteousness by the works of the law ; so that here was 
 new heavens, and a new earth begun to be created, a new commandment 
 given, a new church founded, justification by works cried down, and the 
 doctrine of faith and repentance advanced and set up. 
 
 Hence one observes, ( Light/ . Har. of the four Evan.') That the Evan- 
 gelist Luke 3 : 1, 2. points out this year in a special manner; it was the fif- 
 teenth year of Tiberius Caesar, at which time (says he) Pilate was governor 
 of Judea, Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, Philip was tetrarch of Iturea, 
 Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, and Annas and Caiaphas were high priests. 
 And then, even then, The word of God came unto John the Son of Zacha- 
 rias iu the wilderness. See how exact the evangelist seems, that so remark- 
 able a year of the beginning of the Gospel might be fixed and made known 
 to all the world. In this respect I shall begin the first year of Christ’s life, 
 with the beginning of John’s preaching, which was six months current be- 
 fore the ministry of Christ; and in the compass of this first year, I shall 
 handle these particulars. 
 
 1. The preaching of John Baptist. 2. The baptism of Christ Jesus. 3. 
 The fasting and temptation of Christ in the wilderness. 4. The first mani- 
 festation of Jesus by his several witnesses. 5. Christ’s whipping the buyers and 
 sellers out of the temple. Observe, that every of these four years, I shall 
 end at one of the passovers, of which we read during Christ’s ministry ; as 
 of the first passover, John 2 : 13. Of the second passover, in John 5:1. 
 Of the third passover, John 6: 4. Of the fourth passover, John 13:1. 
 And first, of the first year to the end of the first passover. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the preaching of John the Baptist. 
 
 1. For the preaching of John the Baptist : now it was that the gospel 
 began to dawn; and John, like the morning star, or the blushing day, 
 springing from the windows in the east, foretells the approaching of the Sun 
 of righteousness ; now it was that he laid the first rough, hard and unhewn 
 stone of the building in mortification, self-denial, and doing violence to our 
 natural affections. I read not that ever John wrought a miracle, but he was 
 a man of an austere life ; and good works convince more than miracles them- 
 selves. It is storied of one Pachomius, a soldier under Constantine the 
 emperor, that his army being well near starved for want of necessary provi- 
 sion, he came to a city of Christians ; and they of their own charity relieved 
 them speedily and freely ; he wondering at their so free and cheerful dispen 
 sation, inquiring what kind of people those were, whom he saw so bountiful ? 
 It was answered, They were Christians, whose profession it was to hurt no 
 
228 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 man, to do good to every, man. Hereupon the soldier convinced of the ex- 
 cellency of this religion, he threw away his arms, and became a Christian, 
 and a saint. To this purpose, I suppose, John the Baptist spent his time 
 in prayer, meditations, affections, and colloquies with Grod, eating flies and 
 wild honey in the wilderness, that he might be made a fit instrument of 
 preparation and dissemination of the gospel of Christ. 
 
 In his sermons, he sometimes gave particular schedules of duty to several 
 states of persons, he sharply reproved the Pharisees for their hypocrisy and 
 impiety ; he gently guided others into the ways of righteousness, calling them 
 the “ straight ways of the Lord ;” and by such discourses and baptism, he dis- 
 posed the spirits of men for the entertaining of the Messias, and the doctrine 
 of the gospel. John’s sermons were the sermons of Jesus, as a preface to 
 a discourse. 
 
 But observe this, that his most usual note was repentance, “ The axe to 
 the root, the fan to the floor, the chaff to the fire as his raiment was rough, 
 so was his tongue : and thus must the way be made for Christ in stubborn 
 obstinate hearts : plausibility, or pleasing of the flesh is no fit preface to re- 
 generation ; if the heart of man had continued upright, Christ might have 
 been entertained without contradiction ; but now violence must be offered 
 to our corruptions, ere we can have room for grace ; if the great way-maker 
 do not cast down hills, and raise up valleys in the bosoms of men, there is 
 no passage for Christ : never will Christ come into that soul, where the 
 herald of repentance, either on one motive or other, hath not been before 
 him. 
 
 Shall we hear that sermon which John preached in his own words ? 
 Matth. 3:2. in brief gives it in thus, “ Repent ye, for the kingdom of 
 heaven is at hand these are the words when he first began to preach the 
 gospel of Christ ; and indeed we find Christ himself doth preach the same 
 doctrine in the same words, “Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent, 
 for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” Matth. 4:17. And when Christ 
 sent out his disciples to preach the gospel, he commanded them to preach 
 the same doctrine also, “ Gro ye, preach, saying, Repent; for the kingdom 
 of heaven is at hand,” Matth. 6 : 12. and 10 : 7, In this sermon we must 
 observe these two parts, here is, 1. A duty. And 2. a motive to this duty. 
 1. The duty is, Repent; it is not a legal but an evangelical repentance that 
 is here meant : indeed the law strictly takes no notice of repentance, but 
 the gospel : true, and thorough, and consummate repentance is a gospel 
 grace. 2. The motive is this, “For the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 
 This phrase, “ The kingdom of heaven ;” hath several acceptations, and ac- 
 cordingly it hath occasioned some differences. 1. Sometimes it is taken 
 for that glorious condition of the other world : this may be implied : but 
 this I suppose few understand to be the sense of this place. 2. Sometimes 
 it is taken for the church of Christ ; q. d. Repent, for now the pedagogy of 
 the Jews is expiring, or breathing its last, and the church of Christ is at 
 hand, a people that shall bear the very style of Christians ; that shall profess 
 Christ, and close with Christ as their Saviour and Messiah : Of which church 
 that you may be a part, prepare for it, repent. 3. Sometimes it is taken 
 for the spiritual kingdom of Christ, in opposition to those earthly temporal 
 kingdoms, which bore the sway, and domineered over all the world with 
 cruelty and tyranny, before Christ’s coming : of this Daniel, 2 : 44. prophe- 
 sied, “ And in the days of the kings, shall the Grod of heaven set up a king- 
 dom, which shall never be destroyed ;” Now, what was this kingdom, but 
 the kingdom of grace ? It is by an Hebraism called, The kingdom of heaven, 
 that is, an heavenly kingdom : The Jews expected the Messiah, and dream- 
 ed of an outward, glorious, and pompous kingdom : now, saith John, The 
 Messiah is come, and his kingdom is come, but it is not earthly, but an 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 229 
 
 heavenly kingdom, and therefore repent. 4. Sometimes it is taken for the 
 preaching of the gospel, or for the preaching of the kingdom of grace and 
 mercy of God in Christ unto men : q. <7. “ 0 sirs ! look about you, there 
 
 is now a discovery made of the glory and grace of God, in another way than 
 ever formerly ; and therefore prepare for it, repent.” 5. Sometimes it is 
 taken for the gospel of Christ, as it is published and preached unto all na- 
 tions; observe, I do not only say for the gospel, as it is preached ; but as it 
 is preached to the Gentiles, or among all nations ; and this shows how pro- 
 per and pregnant an argument this was to enforce the doctrine and practice 
 of repentance upon the Jews, because the calling of the Gentiles was near 
 at hand, which would prove their rejection aud casting off, if they did not 
 repent. 
 
 Oh how seasonable is this sermon to us? Christians ! hath not the king- 
 dom of heaven approached unto us ? Take the kingdom of heaven for the 
 kingdom of glory, are we not near to the door of glory, to the confines of 
 eternity? “ What is our life, but a vapor that appeareth for a little time, 
 and after it vauisheth away?” We know not but ere the sun has run one 
 round, our souls may be in that world of souls, and so either in heaven or 
 hell. Or take the kingdom of heaven for the church of Christ, and what 
 expectations have we now of the flourishing state of Christ’s church here 
 upon earth ? “Then shall the children of Israel and Judah be gathered 
 together, — for great shall be the day of Jezreel,” Hos. 1 : 11. A time is 
 at hand, that Israel and Judah shall be called together, that the fulness of 
 the Gentiles shall come in ; and what is this, but the great day of Jezreel ? 
 Oh then what manner of persons ought we to be? How spiritual? How 
 heavenly minded ? “Arise, arise, shake off thy dust, for thy light is coming, 
 and the glory of the Lord is rising upon thee,” or, take the kingdom of 
 heaven, for the preaching of the gospel of grace, mercy and goodness of 
 God in Christ, what preachings are now in comparison of what hath been 
 formerly? How doth the Lord set forth his free love, and free grace in the 
 churches of Christ? No question but many former ages have enjoyed their 
 discoveries in some sweet measure, and yet after ages wonder that they 
 have known no more ? And how much of the kingdom of heaven do saints 
 find in this age, as if there were a new manifestation of God unto the 
 world ? And yet I must tell you, that the ages to come shall know more 
 of this kingdom, there shall be further and further openings of this great 
 mystery of grace unto the sons of men : mark the apostle, “ That in the 
 ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kind- 
 ness towards us through Jesus Christ,” Eph. 2 : 7. How is this? Had 
 not God revealed grace enough in former ages? Or had not God revealed 
 grace enough in that present age ? Hid he not then call in the Gentiles ? 
 Were not many thousands converted at one only sermon ? What a deal of 
 that grace had Paul himself received ? He tells us that “ the grace of our 
 Lord Jesus was exceeding abundant to him wards,” 1 Tim. 1 : 3. And is 
 there yet more grace to be revealed ? 0 yes ! herein lies the mystery of 
 
 grace, That he hath reserved exceeding riches of grace for the ages to come, 
 grace that never saw light before ; and I believe there is yet a fuller maga- 
 zine of the riches of his grace for latter ages, even for the ages to come to 
 be discovered, than ever was yet. Oh then repent, repent ! Why ? “ For 
 the kingdom of heaven is at hand;” the very openings of God’s love and 
 grace unto souls, is a way and motive to draw our souls unto God. Or take 
 the kingdom of heaven for the preaching of the gospel to all nations, Jews 
 and Gentiles, what fears and jealousies may this breed in us as well as the 
 Jews ? 0 boast not against the branches ! It may be thou wilt say, “ The 
 
 branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well, because of un- 
 belief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith ; be not high minded, 
 
230 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 but fear. For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he 
 also spare not thee : behold therefore the goodness, and severity of God, ou 
 them which fell severity; but towards thee goodness, if thou continue in 
 his goodness, otherwise thou shalt be cut off.” But I must not dwell on 
 this; my design is to consider of Jesus, and of the transactions of Jesus 
 in reference to our souls' health: now, John's sermons were only a pre- 
 parative to the manifestation of Jesus ; he was only the fore-runner of Christ, 
 and not Christ himself, as himself witnesseth. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of the Baptism of Jesus. 
 
 2. For the Baptism of Christ. He that formerly was circumcised would 
 now be baptized, he was circumcised to sanctify his church that was, and 
 he was baptized to sanctify his church that should be : we find him in both 
 testaments opening a way into heaven. This was the first appearing of 
 Christ in reference to his ministerial office : he that lay hid in the counsel 
 of God from all eternity, and he that lay hid in the womb of his mother for 
 the space of forty weeks, and he that lay hid in Nazareth for the space of 
 thirty years, now at last he begins to show himself to the world, and “ he 
 comes from Galilee to Jordan, to be baptized of him,” Matfch. 3 : 13. The 
 day was but a little broke in John the Baptist, but Christ the Sun of right- 
 eousness soon entered upon our hemisphere; indeed now was the full time 
 come, that Jesus took leave of his mother, and his trade, to begin his 
 Father's work, in order to the redemption of the world. For the clearer 
 uuderstauding of Christ’s baptism, we shall examine these particulars. 
 
 1. What reason had Christ to be baptized? 
 
 2. How was it that John knew him to be Christ? 
 
 3. Wherein was the glory of Christ’s baptism ? 
 
 4. What was the prayer of Christ, at, or after his baptism ? 
 
 5. Why was it that the Holy Ghost descended on Jesus? 
 
 6. Upon what account was it that the Holy Ghost should reveal himself 
 at this time? And why in the form of a dove, rather than some other 
 form ? 
 
 1. What reason had Christ to be baptized ? We find John himself 
 wondering at this, “ I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou 
 to me ?” Matth. 3 : 14. Many reasons are given for Christ's baptism ; As, 
 1. That by this symbol he might enter himself into the society of Chris- 
 tians ; just like a king, that to endear himself to any city of his subjects, 
 he condescends to be made a free man of that gity. 2. That he might bear 
 witness to the preaching and baptism of John, and might reciprocally re- 
 ceive a testimony from John. 3. That by his own baptism, he might 
 sanctify the water of baptism to his own church. 4. That he might give 
 an example himself of the performance of that, which he enjoined on others. 
 5. That he might receive testimony from heaven, that he was the Son of 
 .God. 6. That he might fulfil all righteousness: not only the moral, but 
 the figurative, ceremonial and typical : some think that the ceremony, to 
 which our Saviour looked at in these words, was the washing of the priests 
 in water, when they entered into their function. “And Aaron, and his sons 
 thou shalt bring to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shalt 
 wash them with water,” Exod. 29 : 4. Lev. 8 : 6. And surely this was 
 the main reason of Christ’s being baptized, That by this baptism he might 
 be installed into his ministerial office. 
 
 2. How did John know him to be the Christ? It is very probable he 
 had Dever seen his face before; they had in their infancy been driven to 
 several places, and they were designed to several employments, aud never 
 met (as we may well conceive) till uow ; besides the Baptist speaks express- 
 ly, “ I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 231 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 said unto me, On whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and 
 abiding on him, the same is he that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost/' John 
 1 : 33. Now this descent of the Holy Ghost was not till after baptism ; 
 how then did he know him to be Christ ? 
 
 The answer is given by some, thus, That John knew Christ in some meas- 
 ure before his baptism, but he knew him not so fully as after, when the 
 Holy Ghost had descended on him. Others thus, that John knew Christ 
 before his baptism, by a present revelation, and after baptism by a present 
 sign : it is not unlikely, but John knew Christ at his first arrival by revela- 
 tion ; for if while he was in his mother’s womb, he knew Christ being yet 
 unborn, how much more might he know, and acknowledge him now at his 
 baptism ? Thus Samuel knew Saul, and thus John might know Christ. 
 But for that knowledge he had after baptism, it was a further confirmation 
 of that same knowledge that he had before baptism, and that not so much 
 for his own sake, as for the people’s, “ I saw and bear record that this is the 
 Sou of God,” John 1 : 34. 
 
 3. Wherein was the glory or excellency of Christ’s baptism ? The ancients 
 give many encomiums to it, and in some respects prefer it to the birth of 
 Christ: Thus Aug. &e,rm 36. “ Many great miracles were at Christ’s birth, 
 but they were far greater at his baptism ; the Holy Ghost overshadowed him 
 in the womb, but he brightly shone on him in the river; then was the 
 Father silent, not a word from him ; but now a loud voice is heard from 
 heaven, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; then was the 
 mother under suspicion, because she was found with child without a father, 
 but now is the mother greatly honored, in that the holy child is fathered by 
 God himself:” Then was Christ hid to the world, and this made John the 
 Baptist say, “ There stands one amongst you whom ye know not he was 
 before his baptism, as a sun in a cloud, or a pearl in a shell, or a gold mine 
 in a field, but now he appears in public, and to manifest his glory, the 
 heavens open, and from the heavens the Holy Ghost descends, and alights 
 upon his sacred head, and God the Father gives a voice from heaven, de- 
 claring his divinity to the world. If the Jews require a sign, here is not 
 one, but many signs at once, which as beams to discover a sun, so they dis- 
 cover this Sun of righteousness to be risen amongst them : and herein was 
 the glory of Christ’s baptism. 
 
 4. What was the prayer of Christ, at, or after his baptism ? The evan- 
 
 gelist Luke speaks of his prayer, “It came to pass that Jesus being bap- 
 tized, and praying, the heavens were opened,” Luke 3:21. This was the 
 manner of those that were baptized, as soon as they were baptized to come 
 out of the water and pray, and some think that these words, “ They were 
 baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins,” Matth. 3 : 36. hath refer- 
 ence to this : if so, then Christ having no sins to confess of his own, the 
 tenor of his prayer must needs be to some other purpose : but to what pur- 
 pose ? Some say to the same purpose as his prayers were usually, as in 
 John 17. “ That his Father would preserve his church in uuity and truth, 
 
 and that he would glorify his church, that they also might be one, even as 
 he and his Father are one ; and especially that many might be converted by his 
 ministry, which he was now beginning.” Others think that this prayer at 
 this time, was, for that which followed upon his very prayer, i. e. “ That 
 the Holy Ghost might descend, and that the Father would glorify the Son 
 by a testimony from heaven.” Indeed the text hath laid his prayer, and 
 the opening of the heavens so close together, as that it seems to point out 
 what was the tenor of his prayer by the consequent of it. Before the heaven 
 was mured up, no dove to be seen, no voice to be heard, but straight upon 
 it (as it they had but waited the last word of his prayer) all of them follow : 
 and in another place, we find the like return upon the like prayer, “ Father, 
 
232 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JE.SUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven saying, I have 
 both glorified it, and I will glorify it again,” John 12 : 28. One reason more, 
 if we consider that Christ was now to enter upon the great work of our re- 
 demption, and the preaching of the gospel, it will be less strange to conceive. 
 That he prayed for the visible sealing of him to that work and office, by the 
 coming of the Holy Ghost. To this purpose is that of the Evangelist, “ For 
 him hath God the Father sealed,” John 6 : 27. It is a phrase borrowed 
 from them, who gave their commissions under hand and seal; and this is 
 certain, That upon his prayer God sent the holy Spirit, who sealed him, 
 or allowed, and confirmed him to the office of our redemption ; and therefore 
 very probable it is, That his prayer might tend to that purpose : but herein 
 take heed of excluding what was mentioned in the former opinion. For my 
 part, I suppose Christ’s prayer was both for himself and all believers; that 
 the Holy Ghost might now be joined to the water, and that all others, that 
 should ever after believe in his name (as afterwards he enlargeth his prayer) 
 might have the Holy Ghost descend upon them, John 17 : 20. 
 
 5. Why was it that the Holy Ghost descended upon Jesus ? I answer, 
 for these reasons: 1. That John the Baptist might be satisfied; for this 
 token was given John, when he first began to preach, “That upon whom 
 he should see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he 
 which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost,” John 1 : 33. It was a sure sign to 
 the Baptist, whereby to know the Christ, whose harbinger and prodromus 
 he was. 2. That Christ himself might be anointed, or installed into his 
 function. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; because the Lord hath 
 anointed me, to preaeh good tidings unto the meek,” &c. Isa. 61 : 1, 2. As 
 AarOn and his sons were anointed with material oil, when they entered into 
 their offices, so Christ was by the Spirit, as it were, anointed, that so he 
 might receive his consecration, and institution for the office, that he was to 
 enter on, viz. The preaching and ministry of the gospel. 
 
 6. Upon what account was it, That the Holy Ghost should reveal him- 
 self at this time? And why in the form of a dove, rather than some other 
 form ? 
 
 To the first, I answer, The Holy Ghost now revealed himself; because 
 the spiritual kingdom and sceptre of Christ, in and by wt*ich he was to rule 
 all nations for ever was now at hand. It was agreeable (saith my author, 
 Dr. Light f Harm, of the Evan.') that the spiritualness of this kingdom 
 should be sealed and confirmed by the Holy Spirit’s showing himself even 
 in the beginning of it. The carnal rites of Moses were now to vanish, and 
 his corporeal and ceremonial observances were now to be changed into a 
 spiritual worship ; and “ neither at Jerusalem, nor at Mount Gerizim, nor 
 elsewhere,” must there be any more adoration with fleshly and earthly cere- 
 monies, but he that will worship “ God, must worship him in spirit and in 
 truth,,” John 4 : 21, 24. And therefore it is no wonder, if now the Holy 
 Ghost do reveal himself : I say now, when his spiritual dominion by sancti- 
 fication is to begin. Secondly, Because the Holy Ghost was now in a 
 special mauner to be restored again. Some observe, That he was visibly 
 departed from Israel, after the death of the last prophets : and therefore 
 now at his restoring, he comes in a visible and apparent form : and he lights 
 on him, to whom it belongs to give the Spirit, and his gifts to whom he 
 pleaseth. As John had preached, That Christ should baptize with the Holy 
 Ghost ; so now the Holy Ghost comes, and abides on Jesus Christ in the 
 sight of John : as if the Father should have said, “ Now I seal that power 
 and privilege to Christ my Son, which John hath spoken ; now the Holy 
 Ghost is upon himself, and hereafter he shall baptize others with the same 
 lloly Ghost.” Thirdly, Because at the beginning of the gospel, it was 
 most suitable, That a full, clear, and sensible demonstration of the whole 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 233 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 Trinity should be made. The learned observe, That the Holy Ghost in 
 scripture hath a special regard to express this mystery of the Trinity upon 
 singular occasions : so the very first thing that is taught in all the Bible is 
 this same mystery; “In the beginning God created/’ there is the Father, 
 and “ God said/’ there is the Word, or the Son; “and the Spirit of God 
 moved/’ Gen. 1:1,2, 3. there is the Holy Ghost. And the very first word 
 of the Bible, that speaks of man, it holds out the Trinity as creating him ; 
 “ And God said, Let us make man in our own image,” Gen. 1 : 26. He 
 saith, Let us, to show the Trinity of persons ; and he saith, in our image, 
 not in our images, to show the unity of essence. And when Moses begins 
 to rehearse the law to Israel, the first thing he teacheth them is, the Trinity 
 in Unity, and Unity in Trinity. “ Hear, 0 Israel, the Lord our God, the 
 Lord is one,” Deut. 6 : 4. The last word One denotes the unity ; the three 
 words, The Lord our God, answer the three persons; and the middle word, 
 our God, decyphers fitly the second person, who assumed our nature. How 
 fit then was it, that at the beginning of the new world, and the new law, 
 and the baptism of Christ, the three persons shonld be revealed ; especially 
 since he ordained baptism to be administered in all their uarues ? “ Baptiz- 
 ing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,” 
 Matth. 28 : 19. But where is it revealed ? See Matth. 3 : 16, 17. where the 
 Father speaks from Heaven, the Son comes out of the water, and the Holy 
 Ghost appears in the likeness of a dove. This was the greatest meeting 
 that ever was upon the earth ; every person of the Trinity gives some sensi- 
 ble evidence of his presence at it. 
 
 To the Second, Why in the form of a dove rather than some other form ? 
 Many reasons are given : As, 
 
 1. To show Christ’s innocency, purity, simplicity, charity and love. 
 
 2. To show what innocency and harmlessness should be in those that are 
 baptized. 
 
 3. To answer the figure in Noah’s flood; for as the dove at that time 
 brought tidings of the abating of the waters, so now it brings tidings of 
 the abating of God’s wrath upon the preaching of the gospel ; the first dove 
 we find in the Bible is Noah’s dove, with the olive branch in her bill, pro- 
 claiming peace ; the next is David’s dove, with feathers, silver white, as 
 noting sincerity; then Isaiah’s dove, mourning with her voice, as signify- 
 ing patience. And, lastly, Christ’s dove, innocent and harmless; now all 
 these properties meet in this dove, the Spirit of God. Much more might 
 I add to these, but I desire to hasten to some more edifying truths. 
 
 Use. From this baptism of Christ, we may learn a practical necessary 
 truth ; there is a generation that cries down baptism of water, and upon 
 this score; because they suppose it was proper to John, to “ baptize only 
 with water, and to Christ, to baptize only with the Holy Ghost and with 
 fire.” Indeed, Christ in his own person baptized none otherwise but with 
 the Holy Ghost; immediately after his ascension, he sent his Spirit upon 
 the church, and baptized them with fire, the Spirit appearing like a flame ; 
 and to this day, (though not visible) he baptizeth all the saints with the 
 Holy Ghost, and with fire; but for all this, he appointed John, and not only 
 John but all his apostles, and their successors for ever, to baptize with 
 water, and they did so, and yet do so, obeying the perceptive words of 
 Christ, which were almost the last words that he spake upon the earth. 
 And though Christ himself did not baptize with water; yet Christ himself 
 (we see here) was baptized with water, he himself enters in at that door, 
 by which his disciples must for ever follow after him; and indeed therefore 
 he went in at that door of baptism, that he might hallow or sanctify the 
 entrance, which himself made to the house he was now a building. And 
 for the difference they make betwixt Christ’s baptism and John’s baptism ; 
 
234 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 what is this to the purpose? We all know that in baptism are two parts; 
 the outward part, and the inward part : you may call them, (if you please) 
 the outward baptism and the inward baptism ; the outward baptism is of 
 the minister, but the inward baptism is of Christ. But must we separate 
 these, or rather join them, (if these in ordinary must be joined) as we find 
 them in Christ, and as we desire they may be in us ? I cannot see but the 
 baptism we use, and the baptism of John, are in nature and substance one, 
 and the very same. For, 1. ‘‘John preached the baptism of repentance foi 
 the remission of sins/' Mark 1 : 4. They have therefore the same doctrine, 
 and the same promise. 2. The baptism ministered by John, pertained “to 
 the fulness of all righteousness,” Matth. 3 : 15, and Luke 7 : 29, 30, testifies, 
 that the publicans and people being baptized by John, they “justified God; 
 but the Pharisees despised the counsel of God against themselves, and were 
 not baptized.” Only herein lies the difference, that John baptized in Christ 
 that should die, and rise again ; but we baptize in the name of Christ, that 
 was dead, and risen again. It is a difference in respect of circumstance 
 but not of the substance. Oh, take heed of throwing away the baptism 
 of water, upon the pretence of the baptism only with fire ! Christ (we see) 
 hath joined them together, and let no man separate them asunder; Christ 
 himself was baptized with fire, and yet Christ himself was baptized with 
 water. 
 
 Sect. IY. — Of the Fasting and Temptations of Christ. 
 
 3. For the fasting and temptation of Christ in the wilderness. No 
 sooner is Christ come out of the water of baptism, but he presently enters 
 into the fire of temptation ; no sooner is the Holy Spirit descended upon 
 his head, but he is led by the same Holy Spirit to be tempted in the wilder- 
 ness ; no sooner doth God say, “ This is my Son,” but Satan puts to the 
 question, “ If thou be the Son of God.” All these are but Christ’s pre- 
 paratives to his prophetical office. In the former section, Christ was pre- 
 pared by a solemn consecration, and now he is to be further prepared by 
 Satan’s temptations ; there is much in this particular, and therefore in the 
 same method as the evangelist lays it down, Matth. 4 : 1, 2, 3, to verse 12. 
 I shall proceed, “ Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness 
 to be tempted of the devil,” &c. In the whole, we may observe these 
 several branches, as first, The place where the temptation was, to wit, the 
 wilderness. Secondly, The cause of Christ’s going to the wilderness, “ the 
 Spirit’s leading.” Thirdly, The eod of the Spirit’s leading Christ into the 
 wilderness, “ To be tempted of the devil.” Fourthly, The time and occasion 
 of the devil’s onset, “at the end of forty days’ fast, and when he was an 
 hungered.” Fifthly, The temptations themselves, which are in number 
 three, to which are added as many victories, which Christ had over the 
 tempter; “ who therefore left him, and so the angels came, and ministered 
 unto him.” I shall begin first with the place where the temptation was, 
 to wit, in the wilderness. 
 
 This wilderness was not that same wilderness, or not that same place of 
 the wilderness wherein John the Baptist lived, Matth. 3 : 1. For that 
 wherein John the Baptist lived was a place inhabited, there was in that place 
 cities and towns, and a number of people to whom John preached, but this 
 wilderness was devoid of men, full of wild beasts, so saith Mark 1 : 13. “ He 
 was tempted of Satan, and was with the wild beasts.” As Adam in his in- 
 nocency lived with wild beasts, and they hurt him not; so Christ the second 
 Adam lives here in the wilderness with wild beasts, and he has no hurt at 
 all. He is like Adam in his safety and security, but above Adam in resist- 
 ing temptation. Some say, That in this wilderness during his forty days’ 
 abode, Christ was perpetually disturbed and assaulted with evil spirits, how- 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 235 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 ever the last brunt is only expressed, because it was most violent. Now 
 whether they appeared in any horrid and affrighting shapes during that time, 
 it is not certain; but it is most likely, that to a person of so great sanctity, 
 and high designation as Jesus was, they would appear more angelical and 
 immaterial, and in represeutments intellectual, because Jesus was not a per- 
 son of those low weaknesses, to be affrighted or troubled with any ugly 
 phantasms ; it is not much material toiuquire of this, but in this wilderness, 
 (say they) Christ was perpetually tempted ; and, in this respect, I know not, 
 but the devil had more advantage, now he had Christ in the wilderness ; 
 solitariness is no small help to the speed of a temptation. “ Wo to him that 
 is alone, for if he fall, there is not a second to take him up.” Others say, 
 That in this wilderness during his forty days’ abode, Christ was continually 
 exercised in prayer and fasting, all that while he had his immediate address- 
 es and colloquies with God : he knew he had a great work of redemption to 
 promote ; and therefore his conversation for this interval must be prepara- 
 tory to it : In this respect, I know not but the wilderness might be an ad- 
 vantage to Christ’s design : In this solitary place, he could not but breathe 
 out more pure inspiration ; heaven usually is more open, and God usually 
 more familiar and frequent in his visits in such places. I know not what 
 others’ experiences may be, but if I have found anything of God, or of his 
 grace, I may thank a wood, a wilderness, a desert, a solitary place, for its 
 accommodation ; and have I not a blessed pattern here before me ? It was 
 solitude and retirement in which Jesus kept his vigils, the desert places 
 heard him pray ; in privacy he was born, in the wilderness he fed his thou- 
 sands upon a mountain apart; he was transfigured upon a mountain, he died, 
 and from a mountain he ascended to his Father,” I make no question but in 
 these retirements, his devotion received the advantage of convenient circum- 
 stances, especially of time and place. And yet I dare not deny the first 
 opinion, for I suppose both Christ and the devil had their advantages of this 
 wilderness, the one to pray, and the other to tempt. 
 
 2. The cause of Christ’s going into the wilderness, was the Spirit’s lead- 
 ing. “■ Then was- Jesus led of the Spirit into the wilderness,” Christ was 
 led by the good Spirit, to be tempted by the evil Spirit. 0 wonder ! that 
 the same Spirit which was one with the Father and the Son, that same 
 Spirit whereby Christ was conceived, now drives him or leads him into the 
 wilderness to be tempted of the devil ; the manner of Christ’s leading is a 
 question ; some think he was led or catched away from Jordan, in some visi- 
 ble rapture towards the wilderness ; but to leave that, and to come to truths 
 more necessary, Christ taught us to pray unto his Father, “ Lead us not 
 into temptatiou,” and yet he himself is now led into the same temptation, 
 which now we must pray against; surely this was for our instruction ; we 
 are not to thrust ourselves upon temptation, Christ himself would not go 
 into the combat uncalled, unwarranted; how then should we, poor weak- 
 lings, presume upon any abilities of our own ? Who dares grapple with the 
 devil in his own strength ? 0 take heed, if we are to pray not to be led 
 
 into temptation, much more are we to pray not to run into temptation, be- 
 fore we are led ; and yet for the comfort of God’s people, if it be so that we 
 are led, if by divine permission, or by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we are 
 engaged in an action, or in a course of life that is full of temptations, and 
 empty of comforts; let us look upon it as an issue of divine providence, in 
 which we must glorify God ; but no argument of disfavor, or dislove of God, 
 and why ? Because Christ himself, who could have driven the devil away 
 with the breath of his mouth, yet was by the Spirit of his Father led to a 
 trial by the spirits of darkness. “ My brethren, count it all joy, (saith 
 James) when ye enter into divers temptations, knowing that the trial of 
 your faith worketh patience,” James 1 : 2. 
 
236 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 3. The end of the Spirit’s leading Christ into the wilderness, it was either 
 immediate or remote. 1. For the immediate end; it was to be tempted of 
 the devil : to this purpose was Christ brought thither that Satan might 
 tempt him. One would think it a very strange design, that the Son of God 
 should be brought into a wilderness to be set on by all the devils in hell ; 
 but in this also God had another remote end, i. e. his own glory and our 
 good. 1. His own glory appeared in this. Had not Satan tempted Christ, 
 how should Christ have overcome Satan ? The first Adam was tempted and 
 vanquished, the second Adam to repay and repair that foil, doth vanquish 
 in being tempted ; now herein was the power of Christ exceedingly mani- 
 fested; the devil having the chain let loose, he lets fly at Christ with all his 
 might; and Christ, that without blows, could not have got a victory, by this 
 furious assault of Satan, he both overcomes him and triumphs over him. 
 And herein were the graces of Christ exceedingly manifested ; how was the 
 faith, patience, humility, zeal, and favor of Christ set forth, which they 
 could not have been if he had always lain quietly in garrison, and never had 
 come into the skirmish? Who could have felt the odoriferous smells of 
 those aromatical spices, if they had not been pounded and bruised in this 
 mortar of temptation ? It was by this means that the graces of Christ clearly 
 shined forth to his eternal praise. 2. As it was for his glory, so also for 
 our good. Now we see what manner of adversary we have, how he fights, 
 and how he is resisted, and how overcome; now we see the dearer we are 
 to God, the more obuoxious we are to a trial of temptation; now we see 
 that the best saints may be tempted or allured to the worst of evils; since 
 Christ himself is solicited to infidelity, covetousness and idolatry ; now we 
 see, “ That we have not a Saviour and High Priest, that cannot be touched 
 with the feeling of our infirmities, but such an one as was in all things 
 tempted in like sort, yet, without sin ; and therefore we may go boldly to 
 the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and find grace to help in 
 time of need,” Heb. 4 : 15, 16. 
 
 4. The time and occasion of the devil’s onset, it was u at the end of forty 
 days’ fast, and when he was an hungered.” Some say, (as you have heard) 
 that all these forty days, when Christ was in the wilderness he was tempted 
 only invisibly : for Satan during that time, assumed not any visible or con- 
 spicuous shape, which at the end of the forty days, (say they) he did : my 
 meaning is not to controvert these points. Howsoever for his tempting, 
 yet for his fasting forty days and forty nights, there is no controversy : and 
 of that we had some types before Christ came into the world ; thus Moses 
 fasted forty days at the delivery of the law ; and Elias fasted forty days at 
 the restitution of the law ; and to fulfil the time of both these types, Christ 
 thinks it fit to fast forty days at the accomplishment of the law and the pro- 
 mulgation of the gospel. In fasting so long, Christ manifests his almighty 
 power, and in fasting no longer, Christ manifests the truth of his manhood 
 and of his weakness, that he might prove that there was no difference be- 
 twixt him and us but sin, he both fasted and was an hungered : we know 
 well enough, that Christ could have lived without meat, and he could have 
 fasted without hunger; it had been an easy matter for him to have sup- 
 ported his body without any means of nourishment of life ; but to show 
 that he was man, as well as God, and so a fit Mediator betwixt God and 
 man, he would both feed and fast, make use of the creature, and withal 
 suffer hunger. — And now our Saviour is an hungered, this gives occasion 
 to Satan to set upon him with his fierce and violent temptations; he knows 
 well what baits to fish withal, and when, and how to lay them : he hath 
 temptations of all sorts, he hath apples to cozen children, and gold for men : 
 he hath the vanities of the world for the intemperate, and the kingdoms of 
 the world for the ambitious : he considers the temper and constitution of 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 237 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 the person he is to tempt, and he observes all our exterior accidents, occa- 
 sions and opportunities ; but of this hereafter. 
 
 5. The temptations themselves are in number three : whereof the first 
 was this, “ If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made 
 bread,” Matth. 4 : 3. What an horrible entrance is this? “ If thou be the 
 Son of God no question Satan had heard the glad tidings of the angel, 
 be saw the star, and the journey, and the offering of the sages; he could 
 not but take notice of the gratulations of Zachary, Simeon, Anna; and of 
 late he saw the heavens open, and heard the voice that came down from 
 heaven, “ This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And yet 
 now that he saw Christ fainting with hunger, as not comprehending how 
 infirmities could consist with a Godhead, he put it to the question, “ If thou 
 be the Son of God.” Oh ! here is a point, in which lies all our happiness. 
 Ilow miserable were we, if Christ were not indeed and in truth the Son of 
 God ? Satan strikes at the root in this supposition, “ If thou be the Son of 
 God.” Surely all the work of our redemption, and all the work of our 
 salvation depends upon this one necessary truth, that ‘‘Jesus Christ is the 
 Son of God.” If Christ had not been the Son of God, how should he 
 have ransomed the world ! How should he have done, or how should he 
 have suffered that which was satisfactory to his Father’s wrath? How 
 should his life or death have been valuable to the sins of all the world ? 
 If Christ be not the Son of God, we are all gone, we are lost, we are un- 
 done, we are damned for ever : 0, alas ! farewell glory, farewell happiness, 
 farewell heaven, if Christ be not the Son of'God, we must never come 
 there. Well, Satan, thou beginnest thy assault like a devil indeed, “ If 
 thou be the Son of God;” but what then? “Command that these stones 
 be made bread.” He knew Jesus was hungry, and therefore he invites him 
 to eat bread only of his own providing, that so he might refresh his hu- 
 manity, and prove his divinity, “ Come, says he, break thy fast upon the 
 expense of a miracle : turn these stones into bread, and it will be some 
 argument that thou art the Son of God.” There is nothing more ordinary 
 with our spiritual enemy, than by occasion of want to move us to unwar- 
 rantable courses : “ If thou art poor, then steal; if thou canst not rise up 
 by honest means, then use indirect means.” I know Christ might as law- 
 fully have turned stones into bread as turned water into wine; but to do 
 this in a distrust of his Father’s providence, to work a miracle of Satan’s 
 choice, and at Satan’s bidding, it could not be agreeable with the Son of 
 God. And hence Jesus refuses to be relieved, he would rather deny to 
 manifest the divinity of his person, than he would do any act, which had 
 in it the intimation of a different spirit. 0 Christians ! it is a sinful, im- 
 pious, wicked care, to take evil courses to provide for our necessities. Come, 
 it may be thou hast found a way to thrive, which thou couldst not before : 
 0 take heed, was it not of the devil’s promoting to change stones into bread, 
 sadness into sensual comforts? If so, then Satan has prevailed. Alas! 
 alas! he cannot endure thou shouldst live a life of austerity, or self-denial, 
 or of mortification ; if he can but get thee to satisfy thy senses, and to 
 please thy natural desires, he then hath a fair field for the battle : it were a 
 thousand times better for us to make stones our meat, and tears our drink, 
 than to swim in our ill gotten goods, and in the fulness of voluptuousness. 
 
 But what was Christ’s answer? Why, thus “it is written, Man shall 
 pot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth 
 of God.” 1. It is written, he easily could have confounded Satan by the 
 power of his Godhead; but he rather chose to vanquish him by the sword 
 of his Spirit. Surely this was for our instruction, by this means he teacheth 
 us how to resist and to overcome ; nothing in heaven or earth can beat the 
 forces of hell, if the word of God cannot do it. 0 then how should w*‘ 
 
238 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 pray with David ? <c Teach me, 0 Lord, the way of thy statutes. — And 
 take not from me the words of truth. — Let them be my songs in the house 
 of my pilgrimage. — So shall I make answer to my blasphemers.” 2. “ Man 
 shall not live by bread,” &c. Whilst we are in God’s work, God hath 
 made a promise of the supply of all provisions necessary for us: now this 
 was the present case of Jesus, he was now in his Father’s work, and pro- 
 moting of our interest ; and therefore he was sure to be provided for accord- 
 ing to God’s word. Christians, are we in God’s service ? God will certainly 
 give us bread ; and till he does, we can live by the breath of his mouth, by 
 the light of his countenance, by the refreshment of his promises, by “ every 
 word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God/’ every word of God’s 
 mouth can create a grace, and every grace can supply two necessities, both 
 of the body and of the spirit. 1 remember one kept straitly in prison, 
 and sorely threatened with famine, he replied, That if he must have no 
 bread, God would so provide that he should have no stomach ; if our stock 
 be spent, God can lessen our necessities ; if a tyrant will take away our 
 meat, God our Father knows how to alter our faint, and feeble, and hungry 
 appetites. 
 
 The second temptation is not so sensual ; the devil sees that was too low 
 for Christ, and therefore he comes again with a temptation something more 
 spiritual ; verse 5, 6. “ He sets him on a pinnacle of the temple, and 
 
 saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is writ- 
 ten, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee,” &c. He that was 
 content to be led from Jordan into the wilderness for the advantage of the 
 first temptation, he yields to be led from the wilderness to Jerusalem, for 
 advantage to the second; the wilderness was fit for a temptation arising 
 from want, and Jerusalem is fit for a temptation arising from vain glory; 
 Jerusalem was the glory of the world, the temple was the glory of Jerusa- 
 lem, the pinnacle was the highest piece of the temple, and there is Christ 
 content to be set for the opportunity of temptation. 0 that Christ would 
 sutler his pure and sacred body to be transported, and hurried through the 
 air by the malicious hand of the old tempter ! but all this was for us, he 
 cared not what the devil did in this way with him, so that he might but 
 free us from the devil. Methinks it is a sweet contemplation of a holy 
 divine; he supposed, as if he had seen Christ on the highest battlements of 
 the temple and Satan standing by him with his speech in his mouth, (Dr. 
 Flail,) “ Well then, since in the matter of nourishment, thou wilt needs 
 depend upon thy Father’s providence, take now a farther trial of that pro- 
 vidence, in thy miraculous preservation, cast down thyself from this height; 
 behold thou art here in Jerusalem, the famous and holy city of the world; 
 here thou art on the top of the pinnacle of the temple, which was dedica- 
 ted to thy Father; and if thou art God, why now the eyes of all men are 
 fixed upon thee ? There cannot be devised a more ready way to spread thy 
 glory, and to proclaim thy Deity, than by casting thyself headlong to the 
 earth; all the world will say, There is more in thee than a man : and for 
 danger, (if thou art the Son of God) there can be none : what can hurt 
 him that is the Son of God? And wherefore serves that glorious guard of 
 angels, which have by divine commission, taken upon them the charge of 
 thy humanity ?” Come, cast thyself down : here lies the temptation, 
 “ Come, cast thyself down,” (saith Satan,) but why did not Satan cast him 
 down f He carried him up thither, and was it not more easy to throw him 
 down thence? 0 no, the devil may persuade us to a fall, but he cannot 
 precipitate us without our own act; his malice is infinite, but his power is 
 limited ; he cannot do us any harm but by persuading us to do it ourselves ; 
 and therefore saith he to Christ, “ Cast thyself down.” 
 
 To this Christ answers, verse 7. “ Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 239 
 
 CHAP. Il ] 
 
 God.” Though it is true, that God must be trusted in, yet he must not be 
 tempted ; if means be allowed, we must not throw them away upon a pre- 
 teuce of God’s protection. We read of one Heron, an inhabitant of the 
 desert, that he suffered the same temptation, and was overcome by it ; he 
 would needs cast himself down, presuming on God’s promise, and he sin- 
 fully died with his fall. Christ knew well enough, that there was ordinary 
 descents by stairs from the top of the temple, and therefore he would not so 
 tempt God to throw himself headlong : what, to make trial of God’s power, 
 and justice, and mercy, and extraordinary preservation, where there was no 
 need ? All the devils in hell could not so tempt Christ, as to make him 
 tempt his God. 
 
 The third temptation is yet more horrid : the temple was not high enough, 
 so that now Satan takes him up to the top of an “ exceeding high mountain, 
 and he shows him all the kingdoms of the world, aud the glory of them, 
 saying, All these will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me,” 
 verse 8, 9. Not to insist on those many queries, How should all the king- 
 doms of the world be presented to Christ’s eye, or if they were only present- 
 ed to his imagination, why could not the valley have served the devil’s turn 
 as well as an hill. Or whether was not Home the object that the devil pre- 
 sented ? Because at that time, Rome was the top of all the kingdoms of 
 the world, and the glory of them ? For my part, I think in this temptation 
 the devil united all his power of stratagems, and, by an angelical power, he 
 drew into one centre the several species and ideas, from all the kingdoms, 
 and glories of the world, and he made an admirable map of beauties, and 
 represented them to the eyes of Jesus : he thought ambition more likely to 
 ruin him, because he knew it was that which prevailed upon himself, and 
 all these fallen stars, the angels of darkness ; and therefore, “ Come, (saith 
 Satan) All these will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” 
 How? God worship the devil*/ Was ever the like blasphemy since the 
 first creation ? Indeed now we have many fearful, execrable, cursed blas- 
 phemies belched out, and idolatry, I believe, is the most spreading sin in 
 the world ; but was ever the like blasphemy or idolatry to this, that not 
 only a creature, but the Creator himself, must fall down before the devil, 
 and give worship unto him? The Lamb of God that heard all the former 
 temptations with patience, he could by no means endure this. Our own in- 
 juries are opportunities of patience, but when the Glory of God, and his 
 immediate honor is in question, then our zeal should be all on a flame. Now 
 Christ bids him avaunt, as soou as he observes his demands so impudent 
 and blasphemous, he commands him away, and tells him, verse 10. “It is 
 written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou 
 serve.” Now was the devil put to flight, and in his stead, “ the angels 
 came and ministered unto Jesus,” (i, e.) after his fast, they ministered such 
 things as his necessities required of them. 
 
 Vue. 0 Christian, what shall we say to this? If Christ was thus tempted 
 by Satan, what may we look for? Sometimes it cheers my heart to think 
 that Christ was tempted, because thereby he knows how to succor those that 
 are tempted : and sometimes it affrights my soul to think that Satan durst 
 be so bold with Jesus Christ. Oh ! what may he do with me ? How easily 
 may he prevail against my soul ? When he came to tempt Christ, he found 
 nothing in him to join with him in the temptation ; but my heart is a world 
 of corruptions, aud unless the Lord prevent, I am quickly gone : I may not 
 here fall upon the doctrine of temptations, only a few words. 1. Of Satan’s 
 stratagems. 2. Of some general means to withstand his stratagems ; and 
 I have done. 
 
 1. His stratagems are very many, and very dangerous; as — 
 
 1. He observes and fits his temptations to our dispositions; for example, 
 
240 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IV. 
 
 if he find a man ambitiously affected, then he covers his hook with the bait 
 of honors; and thus he tempted Abimelech to murder his brethren, that he 
 might obtain the sovereignty ; or if he finds a man voluptuously given, then 
 he tempts him with the bait of pleasuress; and thus he allured Noah to 
 drunkenness, David to adultery, Solomon to idolatry; or if he finds a man 
 covetously given, then he lets in the golden hook ; and thus he enticed Ba- 
 laam, by offering him money to curse the people whom God had blessed ; 
 and thus he allured Judas, for thirty pieces of silver to betray his Master. 
 But what need we instances, when we see this day so many thousands en- 
 tangled in this golden net. 
 
 2. He observes and fits his temptations to our complexions; and thus he 
 tempts the choleric to quarrels and brawls, the phlegmatic to idleness and 
 sloth, the melancholy to malice and revenge, the sanguine to pleasure and 
 fleshly lusts ; and hence it is that the apostle tells us, James 1 : 14. that 
 “ Whosoever is tempted ; he is drawn away by his own concupiscence/’ 
 Satan never assaults us, but he is sure there is something within us, that 
 will further him in his temptations. 
 
 3. He observes and fits his temptations to our outward conditions ; thus 
 if we are in prosperity, then he tempts us to pride and forgetfulness of God, 
 to contempt of our brethren, to the love of the world, to coldness in religion, 
 carnal security, and the like : or, if we are in adversity, then he tempts us 
 to the use of unlawful means, to the distrusting of God’s all ruling provi- 
 dence, and never deceiving promises; or, it maybe to despair, murmur, 
 and repining against God : by this temptation, he confidently presumed to 
 have moved Christ to distrust God’s providence, and to shift for himself, by 
 turning stones into bread. 
 
 4. He observes and fits his temptations to our spiritual estate ; thus if we 
 are notoriously wicked, then he tempts us to atheism, contempt of God’s 
 worship, swearing, blaspheming, profaning of the Lord’s day, disobedience, 
 murders, adulteries, drunkenness, theft, covetousness, and all devilish prac- 
 tices ; or if we are civilized, and run not with others into such an excess of 
 riot and sin, why, then he tempts us io a good opinion of such a condition. 
 “I thank thee, 0 Father, that I am not as other men, &c. I deal justly 
 and uprightly with all my neighbors ; I have a good meaning towards God, 
 though I am ignorant of scripture and of the principles of religion;” or if 
 we are professors of God’s truth, and can tip our tongues with glorious words 
 of religion, holiness, Christ ; why, then he tempts us with resting on this ; 
 “What needs more ? If I can but, outwardly perform the duties of piety, 
 as the hearing of God’s word, receiving of the sacraments, public and pri- 
 vate calling on God; in this I am a true protestant, that charity, love, good 
 works, and all the duties of the second table Can never justify me, or save 
 me, but only faith : I believe, and I make a profession of religion, and I 
 hope this will suffice Or, if we are sincere professors and but.weak in the 
 faith ; why, then he tempts us with sad thoughts of our sins ; he sets before 
 us their number and nature, and odiousness in every aggravation : and if 
 therewith he cannot overwhelm us, he adds (it may be) unto them some of 
 his own sins. Thus he casteth into our minds many outrageous blasphemies, 
 such blasphemies as he propounded to Christ, to worship him for our God, 
 to deny Jesus Christ as our God, our Lord, our Saviour, our Redeemer; to 
 say in our hearts, there is no God but nature, no Scripture, no Holy Ghost: 
 many a precious soul feels these injections of Sqian, and I cannot wonder 
 at it, when I see the devil tempting Christ himself to diffidence, presump- 
 tion, vain glory, yea, and to the worshipping of the devil himself : or, if ye 
 are strong Christians, grown men, and still growing towards the fulness of 
 Christ ; why, then he tempts us to sins of presumption against knowledge ; 
 or if he cannot so prevail, he will “ transform himself into an angel of 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 241 
 
 light,” 2 Cor. 11 : 14, and tempt us to the doing a less good that we may 
 neglect a greater; or to the doing of a greater good, but very unseasonably, 
 when as some other duties, in respect of present occasion, are more necessary 
 far : thus many times in the hearing of God’s word, he will cast into our 
 minds, meditations of this or that excellent subject, on purpose to distract 
 our minds and to make us hear without profit; and in prayer to God he will 
 bring into our memories this or that profitable instruction, which we have 
 heard at such, or such a sermon, on purpose to disturb our spirits in that 
 holy exercise, and to keep us from lifting up our hearts wholly and purely 
 unto God. I might add a thousand of these stratagems of the devil, and 
 yet not perhaps tell one of a thousand ; the apostle could say indeed, that 
 he “was not ignorant of his devices,” 2 Cor. 2 : 11. Eph. 6 : 11. Rev. 
 2 : 24. Eph. 6 : 16. And of some of his devices ye see we are not igno- 
 rant ; but, alas, who can discover all his “ methods, wiles, depths, fiery darts V’ 
 For my part I cannot do it, I am yet to learn 
 
 2. The general means to withstand his stratagems are such as these. 
 
 1. A continual reminding of Christ’s commands in this very thing; 
 
 Eph. 6 : 10, 11. 1 Pet. 5:8. “ Be strong in the Lord, and in the power 
 
 of his might : put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand 
 against the wiles of the devil ; him resist in the faith.” 
 
 2. An avoiding of the first suggestions of Satan ; if this gliding serpent 
 
 can but thrust in his head, he will easily make room for his body, and there- 
 fore we must nip and bruise him in the head, Eph. 3 : 27. “ Give no place 
 
 to the devil.” 
 
 3. An objecting of Christ against all his temptations; for example, if 
 Satan tells us, that we are miserable sinners, we may answer, that “ Christ 
 came into the world to save sinners; and that he was wounded for our trans- 
 gressions, and broken for our iniquities — and with his stripes are we healed,” 
 Matth. 9 : 13. Isa. 53 : 5. If Satan tells us, that we are subject to God’s 
 wrath, we may answer, that Christ did bear his Father’s wrath, that he 
 might make our peace; if he tell us, that we are subject to the curse of the 
 law, we may answer, that “ Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the 
 law, when he was made a curse for us,” Gal. 3 : 13. If he tell us, that we 
 are his bond slaves, we may answer, that we were so indeed in times past, 
 but Christ hath paid his Father the price of our redemption, and hath set 
 us free : if he tell us, that we are unjust, and therefore shall be condemned 
 before God’s judgment seat; we may answer, that Christ who was innocent, 
 was therefore condemned, that we who are guilty might thereby be acquit- 
 ted ; and that he that came to save us, will himself judge us, and therefore 
 we need not doubt of mercy, if we plead the merits of Christ; or if Satan 
 will not be thus answered by us, why then, Christians ! there is no other 
 way but to send him to Christ : to this purpose we may tell him, that 
 Christ is our advocate, and if he will needs dispute, let him go to Jesus; 
 he is both able to plead our cause, and to answer all the suits that are made 
 against us. 
 
 4. I may add hearing, reading, meditating on God’s word, holy confer- 
 ences, busy employment in the works of our particular callings, living by 
 faith ; I must not stay on all these means, only remember amongst the rest 
 that one of Christ, Matth. 26 : 41. “ Watch and pray, that ye enter not 
 into temptation ;” praying against it, is a denying of it, and a great part of 
 the victory; for it is a disclaiming the entertainment of it; it is a positive 
 rejection of the crime, it is a calling in auxiliaries from above, to make the 
 victory more certain to us. Hence one sweetly adviseth, “If temptation 
 sets upon thee, do thou set upon God ; for he is as soon overcome as thou 
 art, as soon moved to good as thou art to evil ; he is as quickly invited to 
 pity thee, as thou art to ask him, provided thou dost not finally rest in the 
 
242 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 petition, but pass into action, and endeavor by all means to quench the flame 
 newly kindled in thy bowels, before it come to devour the marrow that is 
 in thy bones : indeed a strong prayer, and a lazy, incurious, unobservant 
 walking, are contradictions in religion: and therefore “ watch, and pray; 
 and pray, and watch.” 
 
 Sect. V. — Of the first Manifestations of Christ. 
 
 4. For the manifestation of Jesus by his several witnesses ; now it was 
 time that “the Sun of righteousness should arise, ” and shine in view of 
 the world; and (because of unbelief which had blinded the world) that 
 some especial witnesses should be chosen out, both to anoint our eyes, and 
 to point to the light, saying, “ This is he of whom Moses in the law and 
 the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph,” John 1 : 45. 
 To this purpose we read much of the manifestations of Jesus; “ God was 
 manifest in the flesh,” 1 Tim. 3 : 16, and Christ “verily was foreordained 
 before the foundation of the world, but was manifested in these last times 
 to you,” 1 Pet. 1 : 20. In that first miracle that ever he wrought this is 
 written upon it, “ He manifested forth his glory,” John 2 : 11. And John 
 the divine in his setting out of Jesus, he tells us, that “the life was 
 manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that 
 eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us,” 
 1 John 1 : 2. 
 
 And there is reason for this manifestation ; 1. Because every manifestation 
 was an approbation of his mission and divinity. 2. Because in the manifes- 
 tation of Christ, there was a manifestation of the grace of God ; and this was 
 the will of God, that he would not only act free grace, but he would have it 
 known, and published to all the world; this is the glory of grace, and sets 
 it out; and therefore saith the apostle, Tit. 2 : 11. “ The grace of God that 
 bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men.” At the opening and discovery 
 of Jesus Christ, Tit. 3 : 4. “ The kindness, and pity, and love of God our 
 Saviour towards men appeared.” 3. Because this manifestation hath some- 
 thing in it of the removal of sin ; it is the voice of Christ unto such as are 
 in sin, Isa. 65 : 1. “ Behold me;” the first step towards the remission of 
 sins is the beholding of Christ : now, we cannot behold him that will not 
 come into view; and therefore saith the apostle, 1 John 3 : 5. “Ye know 
 that he was manifest to take away our sins.” 4. Because this manifestation 
 has something in it to the overthrowing of Satan ; for the while that Christ 
 hid himself, Satan blinded the minds of men, but when once “ Christ the 
 image of God shone forth,” then Satan, like lightning, fell down from 
 heaven, 1 John 3 : 8. “ For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, 
 that he might destroy the works of the devil. 5. Because this manifesta- 
 tion tends to our believing in Christ, and by consequence to our salvation 
 through Christ. John 20 : 30, 31. “ Many signs Christ did in the presence 
 of his disciples which are not written (saith John) that ye might believe that 
 Jesus is Christ the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through 
 his name.” 
 
 Well, but wherein was the first manifestation of Jesus ? I answer, in those 
 several witnesses that held him forth. John 8 : 17. “ It is written in the 
 
 law (saith Christ) that the testimony of two men is true,” but to manifest 
 Christ were many witnesses. As, 1. From heaven the Father is witness, 
 for see, saith Christ, John 8:18. “ The Father that sent me beareth witness 
 of me :” and the Son is witness, for so saith Christ, John 8 : 14. “ I am 
 one that bear witness of myself, and though I bear record of myself, yet my 
 record is true, for I know whence I came, and whither I go ;” and the Holy 
 Ghost is witness, so saith Paul, Heb. 10; 19. “ The Holy Ghost also is a 
 witness to us :” and to that purpose he descended like a dove, and lighted 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 243 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 upon him. 2. On earth John the Baptist is witness, for so saith Christ, 
 John 5 : 33. John 1:7. “ Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto 
 
 the truth. — He came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men 
 through Christ might 'believe.” No sooner was John confirmed by a sign 
 from heaven, that Jesus was the Christ, but he immediately manifests it to 
 the Jews; and first to the priests and Levites sent in legation from the san- 
 hedrim, he professed indefinitely, in answer to their question, that himself 
 was not the Christ, nor Elias, nor that prophet whom they by a special tra- 
 dition expected to be revealed, though they knew not when ; and secondly 
 to all the people he professed definitely, wheresoever be saw Jesus Christ, 
 
 “ This is he;” yea, he points him out with his finger, John 1 : 29. “ Be- 
 
 hold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.” Then he 
 shows him to Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, and then to another disciple 
 with him, “ who both followed Jesus and abode with him all night.” An- 
 drew brings his brother Simon with him, and Christ changes his name from 
 Simon to Peter, or Cephas, “ which signifies a stone,” ver. 42. Then Jesus 
 himself finds out Philip of Bethsaida, ver. 43. and bade him follow him ; 
 and Philip finds out Nathaniel, and bids him “ come and see,” ver. 45. for 
 the Messiah was found ; when Nathaniel came to Jesus, Christ saw his 
 heart, and gave him a blessed character, ver. 47. “ Behold an Israelite in- 
 
 deed in whom there is no guile.” Thus we see no less than five disciples 
 found out at first, which must be as so many witnesses of Jesus Christ. 
 
 And yet we fiud more witnesses, “ The works (saith Christ) that I do, in 
 my Father's name, they bear witness of me,” John 10:25. These works 
 or miracles of Christ were many, but because we are speaking of his first 
 manifestation, I shall instance only in his first work, which was at a mar- 
 riage in Cana of Galilee. The power of miracles bad now ceased since their 
 return out of the captivity ; the last miracle that was done by man till this 
 very time, was Daniel’s tying up the mouths of the lions, and now Christ 
 begins. He that made the first marriage in paradise, bestows his first mira- 
 cle upon a marriage feast ; 0 happy feast where Christ is a guest ! 1 believe 
 this was no rich or sumptuous bridal : who ever found Christ at the magni- 
 ficent feasts or triumphs of the great? The state of a servant (in which 
 state Christ was) doth not well agree with the proud pomp of the world. 
 This poor needy bridegroom wants drink for his guests; and as soon as the 
 holy virgin hath notice of it, she complains to her son ; whether we want 
 bread, or water, or wine, necessaries or comforts, whither should we go but 
 to Christ ; Psal. 23 : 1. “ The Lord is my shepherd,'' and if that be so, it 
 
 will surely follow, “ I shall not want,” John 2 : 4. “But Jesus answered 
 her, woman what have I to do with thee ? Mine hour is not yet come.” 
 This shows that the work he was to do, must not be done to satisfy her im- 
 portunity, but to prosecute the great work of divine designation : in works 
 spiritual and religious, all outward relatiou ceaseth : matters of miracle con- 
 cerned the Godhead only, and in this case, “0 woman, what have I to do 
 with thee ?” We must not deny love and duty to relations ; but in the 
 things of God natural endearments must pass into spiritual, and like stars 
 in toe presence of the sun, must not appear. Paul could say, 2 Cor. 5 : 16. 
 “ Henceforth we know no man after the flesh, yea though we have known 
 Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.” 
 
 At the command of Jesus the water-pots were filled with water, and the 
 water by his divine power is turned into wine; where the different dispen- 
 sation of God and the world is highly observable : “ Every man sets forth 
 good wine at first, and then the worse;” but Christ not only turns water into 
 wine, but into such wine, that the last draught is most pleasant. The world 
 presents us with fair hopes of pleasures, honors, and preferments, but there 
 is bitterness in the end ; every sin smiles in the first address, but when we 
 
244 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 have well drunk, then comes that which is worse ; only Christ turns our 
 water into wine : if we fill our water-pots with water, if with David we 
 water our couch with our tears for sin, Christ will come in with the wine 
 of gladness sooner or later; and he will give the best wine at the last: 0 
 how delicate is that new wine, which we shall one day drink with Christ in 
 his Father's kingdom ? These were the first manifestations of Jesus. You 
 see he had several witnesses to set him forth ; some from heaven, and some 
 on earth ; the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost witness from heaven, the Bap- 
 tist, disciples, and his works witness on earth ; and there is no disagreement 
 in their witness, but all bring in this testimony of Jesus, that x he is “the 
 Messiah, which is, being interpreted, the Christ," John 1 : 41. 
 
 Use. But what are these manifestations to us ? Or to that great design 
 of Christ in carrying on our soul’s salvation ? Much every way. For 
 either must Christ be manifested to us even by these witnesses, in the 
 preaching of the gospel, and manifested in us by that one witness his Holy 
 Spirit, or we are undone for ever. 
 
 1. Christ must be manifested to us in the preaching of the gospel; this 
 
 mercy we have this day; nay, you see every Sabbath day all the witnesses 
 speak in us ; what do we but in God’s stead, in the Baptist’s stead, in the 
 disciples’ stead manifest Christ to you in every sermon ? It is the commis- 
 sion which Christ hath given us of the ministry, “ Go preach the gospel to 
 every creature,’’ Mark 16 : 15. Observe but how open Christ’s heart is to- 
 wards you ; he cannot contain his love, and grace within himself ; he can- 
 not keep his own counsels that are for the good of your souls, but all must 
 be manifest, and that in the openest way, by preaching and proclaiming 
 them to the world; Christ must be laid out to open view; Christ will have 
 nothing of his love kept back : He wills and commands us of the ministry, 
 in the stead of all those former witnesses, to make all known what he is, 
 and what he hath done and suffered for you. Oh, Christians ! how cheap 
 are the mysteries of the gospel to you-ward ? You may know them, if you 
 will but lend an ear, and listen to them, the word is nigh you, even in your 
 mouths ; Christ is proclaimed in your very streets ; you may have him if 
 you will, without money or money-worth, Isa. 55 : 1. “ Come, buy wine, 
 
 and milk, without money, and without price.” Do you not hear ? Christ 
 is laid open for every man’s good and profit; Christ deals not under hand 
 with you ; he must be manifested that you may see what you buy : if I 
 should tell you the meaning of the commission which Christ hath put into 
 our hands, he bids me say thus to your souls, “ Come, poor creatures, you 
 that stand in need of Jesus Christ, here is Christ for you, take him, and 
 do with him in an holy manner what you will ; he is of infinite use, for 
 wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.” What is our 
 preaching but a manifesting of Christ in this manner ? What is the sum 
 of all our sermons, but a discovery of this, that life and light is in Christ 
 for you, that eternal love waits and attends on you, that whatever may do 
 you good is provided and made ready for you ? Oh ! will souls now refuse 
 Christ, when thus and thus manifested ? God forbid. 
 
 2. Christ must be manifested in us by his Holy Spirit. Christians! look 
 to your hearts, what manifestations of Christ are there ? When Paul speaks 
 the gospel in general, he adds in particular, That “ it pleased God to reveal 
 Christ in me,’’ Gal. 1 : 16. And when Peter speaks of the word of God, 
 be adds, That “ we take heed thereunto, 2 Pet. 1 : 19, — until the day dawn, 
 and the day star (that is Christ, Rev. 22 : 16,) arise in our hearts;” till 
 then, though we be circled with gospel discoveries, our hearts will be full 
 of darkness; but when Christ, whom the prophet calls “the Sun of right- 
 eousness,” Mai. 4 : 2, and Peter the day star, shall arise within us, we shall 
 be full of light. Sometimes, I confess I wonder that in these days there 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 245 
 
 should he such glorious discoveries of the beauties, and sweetness, and 
 excellencies of Jesus Christ, and yet that men’s hearts are generally so full 
 of darkness; but this takes off the wonder; hearts are carnal, John 1 : 5. 
 “ Light shines in darkness, but darkness comprehendeth it not ;” lead a 
 blind man through a glorious city, and though there be such and such 
 things in it, yet he tells you, he cannot prize them, he sees them not; 
 though “ Jerusalem should come down from God out of heaven,” (as John 
 saw it in his vision) “ prepared as a bride adorned for her husband,” Itev. 
 21:2, yet the natural man sees neither walls, nor gates, nor streets ; you 
 may tell him, “All is gold, and jasper, and precious stones,” but for all 
 this he cannot prize them, alas, he sees them not : how many glorious ob- 
 jects do the unregenerate slight? They see no beauty in Jesus Christ, 
 they feel no sweet in his ordinances, the Sabbath is a trouble, and no de- 
 light to them ; and whence all this ? It is because there is no light, no 
 manifestation of Christ within them ; the Spirit of Christ hath not witnes- 
 sed, Christ hath not manifested Christ within their souls, and therefore 
 they remain in darkness. 
 
 Sect. VI. — Of Christ's whipping the Buyers and Sellers out of the 
 
 Temple. 
 
 5. Concerning Christ’s whipping the buyers and sellers out of the 
 temple; we read in the gospel, “that the Jews’ passover being at hand, 
 Jesus weut up to Jerusalem,” John 2 : 13. Thither if we follow him, the 
 first place that we find him in, is the temple, whereby the occasion of the 
 national assembly was an opportune scene for Christ’s transactions of his 
 Father’s business. In that temple Christ first espies a mart ; there were 
 divers merchants, and exchangers of money, that brought beasts thither to 
 be sold for sacrifice against that great solemnity, at the sight of which 
 Jesus being moved with zeal and indignation, he makes a whip of cords, 
 and according to the custom of the zealots of the nation, he takes upon 
 him the office of a private infliction of punishment; he drives them all out 
 of the temple, he overthrows the accounting tables, and commands them 
 that sold the doves to take them from thence : and being required to give 
 a sign of this fact, he only foretels the resurrection of his body after three 
 days death, expressing it in the metaphor of the temple, which was never 
 rightly understood till it was accomplished. 
 
 In this heroical act, we may see how Christ is carried on with a zeal for 
 God, insomuch as that it brings to mind that saying of the Psalmist, Psal. 
 69 : 9. “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up;” a metaphor taken 
 from men that receive nourishment, which after its several concoctions is 
 assimilated into the nature of them that receive it. Zeal doth not totally 
 surprise us in what concerns God : in our zeal we do so mind the things of 
 God, as if we minded nothing else. To what dangers, hazards and censures 
 did Christ here in the exercise of the zeal expose himself? His eminent 
 zeal appears, 
 
 1. In the weakness of his means whereby he did both attempt, and effect 
 the work ; we find him not armed with any weapons, that might carry dread 
 and terror with them, at most but with a whip made of a few small cords, 
 which probably were scattered by the drovers which came thither to sell 
 their cattle. 2. In the strength that the opposite power did hold out, which 
 make the encounter so much the more dangerous ; as, 1. A garrison of 
 soldiers ready at hand to appease occasional tumults, ( Chem . in loci) 2. 
 The temper of those men’s spirits with whom the business was ; they were 
 meu set upon gain, the world’s god. 3. The great confluence of the people, 
 it being the most solemu mart of the passover ; oh ! what a zeal was this, 
 that neither the weakness of the means on the one side to effect it, nor the 
 
246 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 greatness of the power on the other side to hinder it, did at all dismay him, 
 or cause him to desist : seem he never so weak, or be they never so strong, 
 he whips them out of the temple, and bids them be gone. 
 
 This action of Christ fulfils that prophecy of Malacbi, Mai. 3 : 1, 2, 3. 
 “The Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple; but who 
 may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appear- 
 eth ? For he is like refiner’s fire, and fuller’s soap, and he shall sit as a re- 
 finer and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge 
 them as gold, and as silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in 
 righteousness.’ ’ 
 
 From the main we may observe, that u a persuasion of Christ’s presence 
 in our church assemblies is a special means or motive to bring all into 
 order.” 
 
 But what is this presence of Christ in church assemblies ? If by Christ’s 
 presence we mean his bodily presence : it is true, that Christ in his humani- 
 ty, whipped the buyers and sellers out of the temple of Jerusalem ; then in 
 his manhood he was upon earth, and accordingly he vouchsafed his bodily 
 presence to their assemblies, and public places; but now his manhood is in 
 heaven, and “ the heavens must contain him till the times of restitution of 
 all things,” Acts 3:21. Now, therefore we cannot expect his bodily pre- 
 sence, unless we will maintain the doctrine of transubstantiation, or of con- 
 substantiation ; which far be it from us. 
 
 2. If by Christ’s presence we mean his spiritual presence, then the ques- 
 tion is, What is this spiritual presence of Christ ? For, if we say it is his 
 presence as he is God, I should then quere, how God is said to be present 
 with men in one place more than another ! God in his essence is fully every 
 where, and inclusively no where ; heaven is his throne, and earth is his foot- 
 stool ; and yet, nor earth, nor heaven, nor the heaven of heavens is able to 
 contain him : whiles we speak spiritually of Christ’s presence in the assem- 
 blies of his people, we cannot mean his universal presence, but his especial 
 presence ; and therefore as yet I suppose, we have not the meaning of it. 
 
 3. If by Christ’s presence we mean the presence of his Spirit, either in 
 
 himself, or especially in his workings, stirrings, actings, and movings in our 
 spirit, I should then subscribe; only I think this is not all that is included 
 in his especial presence. True it is, that when Christ was upon earth, he 
 told his disciples that he must go away ; for if he went not away, the Com- 
 forter would not come unto them, “ But if I depart (said he) I will send 
 him unto you,” John 16 : 7. And accordingly when that church assembly 
 was convened at Pentecost, God sent the Holy Ghost, much people being 
 then gathered at Jerusalem ; that it might be divulged to all the world. To 
 ail the assemblies of the saints, Christ promised his Spirit, though not al- 
 ways in a visible manner, “ Where two or three are gathered together in my 
 name, (saith Christ) there I am in the midst of them,” Matth. 18 : 20. 
 Christ in his Spirit is in the midst of us, stirring and moving in our spirits : 
 or the spirit of unity is, with united spirits. 0 he is a Sweet Spirit, a Spirit 
 of love, and concord, and peace, and glory; and therefore, Where should he 
 be but with those that make harmony upon earth ? He is with them, and 
 amongst them, and in them, 1 Cor. 3 : 16. “ Know ye not that ye are the 
 
 temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? And worketh 
 in you? 
 
 4. If by Christ’s presence, we mean the presence of his angels, I shall 
 then say, we have said enough ; as a king is said to be where his court is, 
 where his train or retinue are, so Christ, the King of kings, is there espe- 
 cially present, where the heavenly guard, the blessed angels keep their secret 
 station and rendezvous wheresoever it is. Now, that this is Christ’s special 
 presence, it will appear in sundry texts. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 247 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 1. When Jacob saw that vision in Bethel, of the ladder reaching from 
 earth to heaven, and of the angels of God ascending and descending upon 
 it; Gen. 28 : 16, 17. “Surely (saith Jacob) the Lord is in this place, and 
 I knew it not; and he was afraid, and said, how dreadful is this place ? This 
 is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” He 
 calls it God’s house, where God and his holy angels, who are of his house- 
 bold are especially present : and he calls it the gate of heaven, heaven’s 
 guild-hall, or court, namely, because of the angels; for the gate, guild-hall, 
 or court, was wont to be the judgment-hall, and the place where kings and 
 senators used to sit, attended by their guard and ministers. The Chaldee 
 addeth, “ This is no common or private place, but a place wherein God taketh 
 pleasure; and over against this place is the gate of heaven.” 
 
 2. When the Lord descended upon mount Sinai, to give the law; some 
 place the specification of God’s presence iu the angel’s, to which purpose are 
 alleged these texts, Acts 7 : 53. “ Who have received the law by the dispo- 
 sition of angels, and have not kept it;” and again, Gal. 3:19. “The law 
 was ordained by angels in the hand of a Mediator.” Again, the apostle 
 calls the law, Heb. 2 :2. “ The word spoken by angels.” I have already 
 delivered my thoughts concerning these angels ; but some (I say) conclude 
 from hence, That the special presence of the divine Majesty consists in the 
 encamping of his sacred retinue, the blessed angels : for that the Lord of 
 himself, who filleth heaven and earth could not descend, or be in one place 
 more than another. There is yet another text very pertinent to this, Deut. 
 33 : 2. “ And he said, the Lord came from Sinai, and arose up from Seir 
 unto them ; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thou- 
 sand of his saints, from his right hand went a fiery law for them the 
 words translated “ Ten thousand of his saints,” are, in the original, “ Ten 
 thousands of sanctity, or holy ten thousands, or holy myriads ; which, in my 
 apprehension, points to the aDgels, rather than the saints; and the Psalm- 
 ists puts it out of question, Psal. 68 : 17. “ The chariots of God are twenty 
 thousand, even thousands of angels, the Lord is amongst them, even as in 
 Sinai iu the holy place.” 
 
 3. After the law given, this presence of God was fixed to the temple, and 
 
 what that was, Isaiah describes thus, Isa. 6:1,2. “I saw also the Lord sit- 
 ting upon a throne, high, and lifted up, and his train filled the temple; 
 about it stood the seraphim; ” they were God’s train, and they filled the 
 temple. And hence David’s addresses to God, were said to be in the pre- 
 sence of angels, Psal. 138 : 1, 2. “ Before the gods will I sing praises to 
 
 thee, I will worship towards thy holy temple.” The septuagint translates it 
 thus, (enantion anyellon ,) before the angels. I know, in the time of the 
 gospel, we do not so fix God’s presence to our temples, or places of public 
 assembling for the worship of his name ; but to our church assemblies in 
 such places, why may we not ? Were the rudiments of the law worthy of an 
 attendance of angels, and are the churches of the gospel destitute of so glo- 
 rious a retinue ? did the blessed spirits wait upon the types and do they de- 
 cline the office at the ministration of the substance ? Is the nature of man 
 made worse, since the incarnation of the Son of God? Or have the angels 
 purchased an exemption from their ministry, since Christ became our broth- 
 er in the flesh ? We have little reason to think so. The apostle treating of 
 a comely and decent demeanor to be observed in church-assemblies, and in 
 particular of women’s being covered, or veiled, there he enforces it from this 
 presence of angels, 1 Cor. 11:10. “For this cause ought the women to 
 have a covering on their heads, because of the angels,” namely, which are 
 there present. Upon this ground Chrysostom reproves the irreverent beha- 
 vior of his auditory, ( Chry. hom. 16. in 1 Cor. hom. 15. in Ilebr .) “The 
 church (saith he) is not a shop of manufactures, or merchandise, but the 
 
248 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 place of angels, and of archangels, the court of God, and the image or rep- 
 resentation of heaven itself. — I know thou seest them not, but hear, and know 
 that angels are everywhere, and especially in the house of God, where they 
 attend upon their king, and where all is tilled with incorporeal powers.’ 7 By 
 this time I hope we know what is the meaning of Christ’s presence in church 
 assemblies : to wit, the presence of his Spirit, and the presence of his 
 angels. 
 
 And if it be so, would not a persuasion of this presence of Christ in our 
 church assemblies, be a special means or motive to bring all into order ? 
 Sometimes I wonder at the irreverent carriage of some hearers, laughing, 
 talking, prating, sleeping, in our congregations : what, is this a demeanor 
 beseeming the presence of angels, and the Spirit of Christ ? . Wouldst thou 
 carry thyself thus in the presence of a prince, or of some earthly majesty ? 
 ( Chrys . ib.') “ if thou goest but into a king’s palace, (as Chrysostom speaks) 
 thou composest thyself to a comeliness in thy habit, look, gait, and all thy 
 guise ; and dost thou laugh ?” I may add, dost thou any way carry thyself 
 indecently in God’s presence ? Some there are that in the very midst of or- 
 dinances, the devil usually rocks them asleep; but oh ! dost thou not fear 
 that thy damnation sleeps not? How justly might Christ come against thee 
 in his wrath, and whip thee out of the temple into hell ? Surely we should 
 do well to behave ourselves in such a presence, with the thoughts and ap- 
 prehensions of heaven about us : our business here is an errand of religion, 
 and God himself is the object of our worship : how then should our actions 
 bear at least some few degrees of a proportionable address to God, and 
 Christ, and the Spirit of Christ ? What ? Is Christ’s presence in his 
 Spirit, and his angels here ? Oh ! let us walk with God, as Enoch did, 
 Gen. 5. : 22. Let us do all we do as in the presence of Christ, and his holy 
 angels. 
 
 And now was the first passover after Christ’s baptism as it is written, 
 John 2 : 13. “ And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to 
 
 Jerusalem.” 
 
 This was the first year of Christ’s ministry; whereof the one half was 
 carried on by his prodromus, or forerunner, John the Baptist : and the other 
 half (betwixt his baptism and this first passover) was carried on by himself. 
 And now hath Christ three years to his death. According to the method 
 propounded, I shall come on to the second year, and to his actings therein, 
 in reference to our soul’s salvation. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the second year of Christ’s Ministry , and of his Acts in 
 general for that year. 
 
 Now was it that the office of the Baptist was expired : and Christ begin- 
 ning his prophetical office ; he appears like the sun in his succession of the 
 morning star : he takes at John, and preacheth the sum of the gospel, faith 
 and repentance, “ Repent ye, and believe the gospel,” Mark 1 : 15. Now, 
 what this gospel was, the sum and series of all his following sermons express- 
 ed and declared. It is fully contained in the new covenant, of which we 
 have spoken : for what is the gospel but a covenant of grace, wherein all 
 the imperfections of our works are made up by the perfection and grace of 
 Jesus Christ ? The gospel is not a covenant of works, (i. e.) it is not an 
 agreement upon the stock of innocence, requiring strict and exact obedience, 
 without any allowance of repentance : no, no, be holy, saith the gospel ; 
 and where that fails, repent, and believe. By this time the work in his 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 249 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 hand was grown high and pregnant, and Jesus saw it convenient to choose 
 more disciples : with this family he goes up and down the whole Galilee, 
 preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing all manner of diseases, curing 
 demoniacs, cleansing lepers, giving strength to paralytics, and to lame 
 people. 
 
 It is not my purpose to enlarge on all the sermons, miracles, conferences, 
 or colloquies of Christ with men : I am not for large volumes; and I suppose 
 with John, that if all the acts of Christ should be written, with commenta- 
 ries on them, that even “the world itself could not contain the books that 
 should be written.” John 21 : 25. 
 
 In this year therefore I shall contract and limit myself to the conside- 
 ration of Christ in these two particulars; as 1. To his preaching. 2. To 
 his miracles : both these relate to the use and exercise of his prophetical 
 office. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of Christ’s Sermons this year. 
 
 1. His preaching this year was frequent, and amongst others his sermons, 
 now it was that he delivered that first sermon, “ Repent, for the kingdom of 
 heaven is at hand.” 
 
 2. Now was it that he delivered that spiritual and mystical sermon of re- 
 generation, at which Nicodemus wonders, John 8:4. “ How can a man be 
 
 born when he is old ? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb 
 and be born ?” But Jesus takes off the wonder, in telling him, This was 
 not the work of flesh and blood, but of the Spirit of God, “for the Spirit 
 bloweth where it listeth;” and is as the wind certain and notorious in the 
 effects, but secret in the principle and manner of production. Then Christ 
 proceeds in his sermon, telling him yet of higher things, as of his descent 
 from heaven, of his passion and ascension, and of the mercy of redemption, 
 which he came to work and effect for all that believe ; of the love of the 
 Father, the mission of the Son, the rewards of faith, and glories of eternity. 
 And this was the sum of his sermon to Nicodemus, which was the fullest 
 of mystery and speculation that ever he made, except that which he made 
 immediately before his death. 
 
 3. Now was it that the throng of auditors forcing Christ to leave the 
 shore, he makes Peter’s ship his pulpit, Luke 5: 1,2, 8, 4. Never were 
 there any such nets cast out of that fisher-boat before : while he was upon 
 land, he healed the sick bodies by his touch, and now he was upon sea, he 
 cured the sick souls by his doctrine : he that made both sea and land, caused 
 both to conspire to the opportunities of doing good to the souls and bodies 
 of men. 
 
 4. Now it was that he preached that blessed sermon on that text, Luke 
 
 4 : 18. “ The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me 
 
 to preach the gospel to the poor.” No question but he preacheth both to 
 poor and rich. Christ preached to all, but for the power and fruit of his 
 preaching, it was only received and entertained by the poor in Spirit. Iu the 
 following particulars, his office is set out still in a higher tenor, “ To heal 
 the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of 
 sight to the blind; or as it is in Isaiah 61 : 1. “ The opening of the pri- 
 
 son to them that are bound.” A sad thing to be bound in captivity, but 
 sadder to be bound in chains or locked up in a prison there ; but, it is most 
 sad of all to be imprisoned having one’s eyes put out ; as it was the case of 
 Samson and Zedtkiah. Now the evangelist willing to render the prophet to 
 the highest comfortable sense that might be, he useth an expression that 
 meets with the highest mystery; that is, when a man is not only shut up 
 in a blinded prisoD, but when he himself also hath his eyes put out ; and 
 to such Christ should preach ; preach what ? Not only deliverance to the 
 
250 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 captives, but also of restoring light to captive prisoners ; nay, yet more, 
 “ recovering of sight to blinded prisoners/’ as the evangelist renders it, 
 Luke 4 : 18. 
 
 5. Now it was that he delivered the admirable sermon, called, “ The ser- 
 mon upon the mount/’ it is a breviary of all these precepts which are truly 
 called Christian : it contains in it all the moral precepts given by Moses, 
 and opens a stricter sense, and more severe exposition than the Scribes and 
 Pharisees had given ; it holds forth the doctrines of meekness, poverty of 
 spirit, Christian mourning, desire of holy things, mercy and purity, and 
 peace, and patience, and suffering of injuries : he teacheth us how to pray, 
 how to fast, how to give alms, how to contemn the world, and how to seek 
 the kingdom of God and its appendant righteousness. 
 
 And thus Christ being entered upon his prophetical office ; in these and 
 the rest of his sermons, he gives a clear testimony, that he was not only an 
 interpreter of the law, but a law-giver ; and that this law of Christ might 
 retain some proportion at least with the law of Moses, Christ in this last 
 sermon went up into a mountain, and from thence gave the oracle. I 
 cannot stand to paraphrase on this, or any other of his sermons, but seeing 
 now we find Christ in the exercise of his prophetical office, let us observe, 1. 
 His titles in this respect. 2. The reason of his being a prophet. 3. The ex- 
 cellency of Christ above all other prophets ; and then we have done. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of Christ’s Prophetical Office. 
 
 1. The titles of Christ, in respect of his prophetical office, were these. 
 1. Sometimes he is called doctor, or Master, Matth. 23:10. “Be ye not 
 called masters, for one is your Master, even Christ the word is ( Kathe - 
 getes ,) which signifies a doctor, moderator, teaching master, a guide of the 
 way. 2. Sometimes he is called a lawgiver, James 4 : 12. “ There is one 
 lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy.” The apostle speaks of the 
 internal government of the conscience, in which case the Lord is our judge, 
 Isa. 33 : 22. “ The Lord is our lawgiver, The Lord is our king, he will save 
 us.” We must hear no voice in our consciences, but God’s : no doctrine in 
 the church, but Christ’s : no offices, institutions and worship must be allow- 
 ed, but such as he hath appointed ; and therefore, when men brought in 
 foreign doctrines, it is said, “ That they did not hold the head,” Col. 2:19. 
 3. Sometimes he is called a Counsellor, u And his name shall be called, 
 Wonderful, Counsellor,” Isa. 9 : 6 . “ Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom,” 
 eaith Christ, “ I am understanding, and I have strength,” Prov. 8 : 14. 
 Christ, by his office, counsels men how to fly sin, and how to please God, 
 and how to escape hell, and how to be saved. 4. Sometimes he is called the 
 apostle of our profession, Heb. 3:1. “ Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers 
 of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle, and high priest of our profes- 
 sion, Christ Jesus.” God sent him as an ambassador to make known his 
 will ; he came not unsent ; the very word imports a mission, a sending, 
 Horn. 10 : 15. “ How shall they preach except they be sent ?” Let all those 
 who run before they be sent take notice of this, for this would not Christ 
 do : he was seut; he was the apostle of our profession. 5. Sometimes he is 
 called the angel of the covenant, Mai. 3:1. “ Even the angel of the cove- 
 nant whom he delights in.” Christ was the publisher of the gospel covenant, 
 he declared the gracious purpose of God towards the elect held forth in the 
 covenant; and in this respect, he is called “a prophet,” Acts 3 : 22. and 
 “ the prophet,” John 7 : 40. and “ that prophet,” 6 : 14. “ This is of a truth 
 that prophet that should come into the world whose office it was to im- 
 part God’s will unto the sons of men, according uuto the name angel. 6. 
 {Sometimes he is called the Mediator of the new covenant, Heb. 9 : 15. 
 
 For this cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament/’ saith the apos- 
 
CHAP. IT.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 251 
 
 tie ; now, a Mediator is such a one as goes betwixt two parties at variance, 
 imparting the mind of the one to the other, so as to breed a right under- 
 standing, and thereby to work a compliance betwixt both. And thus Christ 
 is a Mediator betwixt God and us ; by him it is that the mind and will of 
 God is imparted to man, John 1 : 18. “ No man hath seen God at any time : 
 the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared 
 him j” and by him it is that we impart our mind unto God, Rev. 8 : 4. 
 “ The smoke of the incense which goes up with the prayers of the saints, 
 ascends up before God out of the angel’s hand.” This was typified in Mo- 
 ses, Deut. 5:5. “I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to show 
 you the word of the Lord.” The vulgar renders it thus, Ego sequester et 
 medius, I was a Mediator, a middler betwixt God and you : and so Christ 
 Jesus is a Mediator, a middler, an interpreter, an intermessenger betwixt 
 God and his people. 
 
 2. The reasous of Christ’s being a prophet were these; 1. That he might 
 reveal and deliver to his people the will of his Father. 2. That he might 
 open and expound the same, being once delivered. 3. That he might 
 make his saints to understand, and to believe the same, being once opened. 
 
 1. As a prophet, he delivers to the people his Father’s will, both in 
 his own person, and by his servants the ministers : in his own person, when 
 he was upon earth as a “minister of the circumcision,” Rom. 15 : 8. and by 
 his servants the ministers, from the beginning of their mission to the end 
 of the world : thus the gospel is called, Heb. 2:3. A great salvation, which 
 at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed uuto us by 
 them that heard him. Christ in his own personal preaching, is said but “ to 
 have begun to teach,” Acts. 1 : 1. And the consummate publication was 
 the sending of the Holy Ghost to these select vessels, who were to carry 
 abroad this treasure unto all the world : it was begun by the Lord, and it 
 was confirmed by them that were the disciples of the Lord. In this 
 respect, we cannot look on the publishing of the gospel of the world, but as 
 very glorious : was there not a resemblance of state and glory in the preach- 
 ing of Christ ? You have heard how a forerunner was sent to prepare his 
 way, as a herald to proclaim his approach, and then was revealed the glory 
 of the Lord ; but, because the publication was not consummate till after- 
 wards, Christ carries it on in a greater state afterwards than he did before, 
 Eph. 4:8. “ When he ascended up on high, he then led captivity captive, 
 and gave gifts unto men as princes in the time of their solemn inaugura- 
 tion do some special acts of magnificence and honor, they proclaim pardons, 
 open prisons, create nobles, fill conduits with wine ; so Christ to testify the 
 glory of the gospel at the day of his instalment, and solemn re-admission 
 into his father’s glory, he proclaims the gospel, gives gifts unto men, verse 
 12. “ For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the 
 edifying of the body of Christ.” 
 
 2. As a prophet, he opens and expounds the gospel. Thus, being in the 
 synagogue on the Sabbath day, Luke 4 : 17, 18, 21. “ He opened the book, 
 and he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon 
 me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor,” &c., 
 and then he closed the book, — and said, “ this day is this Scripture fulfilled 
 in your ears.” And thus joining himself with two of his disciples, going 
 towards Emmaus, Luke 24 : 27. “ He began at Moses, and all the prophets, 
 and he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures, the things concerning 
 himself.” “ The prophecies of Christ were dark, and hard to be under- 
 stood, and therefore Christ came down from heaven to discover such truths,” 
 John 3 : 13 . “ No man hath ascended up to heaven,” i. e., to be acquainted 
 with God’s secrets, “but he that came down from heaven.” The gracious 
 purpose of God towards lost mankind, was a secret locked up in the breast 
 
252 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 of the Father; and so it had been even to this day, had not Christ, who 
 was in the bosom of the Father, and one of his privy council, revealed it 
 unto us; hence Christ is called, “The interpreter of God, no man knoweth 
 the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him,” 
 by his interpretation, Matth. 11 : 27. 
 
 8. As a prophet, he gives us to understand, and to believe the gospel, 
 Luke 24 : 45. “ Then opened he their understanding, that they might un- 
 derstand the Scriptures and thus was the case of Lydia, “ whose heart 
 the Lord opened,” Acts 16 : 14. He that at first opens Scriptures, at last 
 opens hearts, John 1:9. “ He is that true light which enlighteneth every 
 man that cometh into the world.” He enlightens every believer, not only 
 with a common natural light, but with a special supernatural light, of 
 saving, spiritual, and effectual knowledge : now, there is no prophet can do 
 this save only Jesus Christ; he only is able to cause our hearts to believe 
 and to understand the matter, which he doth teach and reveal. Other 
 prophets may plant and water, Paul may plant, and Apollos may water, but 
 he, and only he can “ give the increase :” other prophets may teach and 
 baptize, but unless Christ come in by the powerful presence of his Spirit, 
 they can never be able to save any poor soul, 1 Pet. 2 : 5. “We, as lively 
 stones, are built up a spiritual house,” saith Peter ; but Psal. 127 : 1. 
 “ Except the Lord do build the house, they labor in vain that build it.” 
 
 0, alas! Who is able to breathe the Spirit of life into these dead stones, 
 but he of whom it is written, John 5 : 25. “ The hour is coming, and now 
 is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that 
 hear it, shall live?” Who can awaken a dead soul out of a dead sleep? 
 And who can give light unto these blind eyes of ours, but he of whom it 
 is written, Eph. 5 : 14. “Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the 
 dead, and Christ shall give thee light ?” 
 
 3. The excellencies of Christ above all other prophets, are in these re- 
 spects : 
 
 1. Other prophets were but shadows and types of this great prophet; 
 even Moses himself was but a figure of him, Acts 7 : 37, “A prophet shall 
 the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me,” saith 
 Moses; these words “like unto me,” do plainly show, that Moses was at 
 the best but an image and shadow of Christ : now, as substances do far 
 excel shadows, so doth Christ far excel all the prophets; they were but 
 shadows and forerunners to him. 
 
 2. Other prophets revealed but some part of God’s will, and only at some 
 times. God, saith the apostle, “ at sundry times, and in divers manners, 
 spake in times past, unto the fathers by the prophets,” Heb. 1 : 1, i. e. 
 He let out light by little and little, till the day-star and Sun of righteous- 
 ness arose ; “ But in these last days he hath spoken by his Son,” ver. 1, 
 
 1. e. He hath spoken more fully and plainly in this respect, saith the 
 apostle, Gal. 4 : 1, 2. The heirs of life and salvation were but children 
 before Christ’s incarnation. As now we see but through a glass darkly to- 
 wards what we shall do in the life to come, so did they of old in comparison 
 of us; their light in comparison of ours, was but an obscure, glimmering 
 light : Christ’s discovery of himself then was but “ a standing behind the 
 wall, and looking forth of the window, a showing himself through the lat- 
 tice.” Sol. Song 2 : 9. 
 
 3. Other prophets spake only to the ears of men, but Christ spake, and 
 still speaks to the heart : “ He hath the keys of David, that openeth and 
 no man shutteth, that shutteth and no man openeth,” Rev. 3:7. It is a 
 similitude taken from them that keep the keys of a city or castle ; without 
 whom none can open or shut ; no more can any man open the heart or 
 
CHAP. IT.] 
 
 253 
 
 V 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 break in upon the spirit but Christ : he only is able to open the eyes of the 
 mind by the secret, kindly and powerfully working of his own Spirit. 
 
 4. Other prophets preached wisdom unto men, but only Christ preacheth 
 men wise; other prophets warned men, by telling them of their sins, and 
 denouncing the judgments of God ; but Christ reclaimed them, and turned 
 them from sin : hence it is said, that “ he taught as one having authority, 
 and not as the scribes,” Matth. 7 : 29. It came dryly and coldly from them, 
 but it came from him as being full of conviction and reproof, full of the 
 evident “ demonstration of the Spirit, and of power,” 1 Cor. 2 : 4. 
 
 5. Other prophets might not preach themselves; the apostle inveighs 
 against self-commenders, “ We dare not, (saith he) make ourselves of the 
 number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves,” 2 Cor. 
 10 : 12. Yea, Christ himself, relating to himself, as a mere man, saith, 
 That “ his witness is not true, if he bear witness of himself,” John 5:31; 
 But, in another place, relating to himself as a mediator, he speaks clean 
 contrary, “ Though I do bear record of myself, yet my record is true,” 
 John 8 : 14. Here then is quite a difference betwixt other prophets in re- 
 spect of their office and Christ ! they might not preach themselves, but he 
 bears witness of himself, because he hath not a greater in the point of our 
 justification, sanctification and salvation, to bear witness of than himself. 
 And hence are those self-predications of his which we find in Scriptures, as, 
 Isa. 45 : 22. “ Look unto me, and be ye saved, ye ends of the earth,” 
 Matth. 11 : 28. “ Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden.” 
 And conferring with the two disciples, it is said, That “ beginning at Moses, 
 and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures, the 
 things concerning himself,” Luke 24 : 27. Surely it commends to us the 
 prophecy of Christ, that he might preach, and commend himself without 
 any blot or arrogancy, or taking too much upon him. 
 
 6. Other prophets had their commission and authority from him, Eccles. 
 12 : 11. “ The words of the wise are as goads and nails fastened by the 
 masters of the assemblies, which are given from one shepherd,” i. e., the 
 words of the wise are divine and heavenly instructions ; the masters of as- 
 semblies are gospel ministers, and Christ is that one shepherd from whom 
 these words are given, and from whom these masters have their authority ; 
 are they not called “ambassadors for Christ?” 2 Cor. 5 : 20. And doth 
 not Ezekiel tell us, “ that he must drop his words towards the south ?” 
 Ezek. 20 : 46. Now what is the meaning of that dropping ? It is a phrase 
 borrowed from rain, as the clouds from whence the rain descends, have not 
 their water originally and natively in themselves, but from the sea : so have 
 not the prophets a spirit of prophecy of themselves, but all is drawn up out 
 of Christ, as out of a full sea of all excellent wisdom and knowledge. In 
 him are all the treasures, a sea, an ocean of knowledge, and from him all 
 the prophets derived whatsoever they had. 
 
 Sect. IV. — Of Christ’s Miracles. 
 
 2. The miracles of Christ this year were many. Now what were these 
 miracles, but a pursuance of the doctrines delivered in Christ's sermons ? 
 One calls them a verification of Christ's doctrine, a signal of Christ's ser- 
 mons : if we observe, we shall find him to work most of his miracles in ac- 
 tions of mercy. Indeed once he turned water into wine, aud sometimes he 
 walked upon the waters, but all the rest were actions of relief, according to 
 the design of God, who would have him manifest his power, in showing 
 mercy and relief to men. 
 
 Amongst all his miracles done this year, now was it that at Cana, where 
 he wrought the first miracle, he does a second ; “ a certain nobleman,” or 
 
254 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 courtier, or little king, as some would have it, “came to Jesus, and besought 
 him to come down to his house, and to heal his son who was at the point of 
 death/' John 4 : 47. We do not find Christ often attended with nobility, but 
 here he is, 1 Cor. 1 : 26. “ Not many wise men after the flesh, not many 
 mighty, not many noble are called yet God forbid but that some are, and 
 may be; this noble ruler hastens after Christ in his necessity; happy was 
 it for him that his son was sick, for else he had not been so well acquainted 
 with his Saviour: “ 0, we are loathe to come to Christ till we see a need, a 
 necessity for it; and hence it is, that Christ sends weakness, sickness, infirm- 
 ities, oppositions, and many afflictions, that he may be sought unto : come 
 then, are we afflicted ? Whither should we go but to Cana, to seek Christ ? 
 Whither should we go but to that Cana of heaven where our water shall be 
 turned into wine, where our Physician lives, that knows how to cure souls 
 and bodies, and all, that we may once say, “ It is good for me that I was af- 
 flicted." The first answer Christ gives this nobleman, is a word of reproof, 
 John 4 : 48. “Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe in- 
 credulity was the common disease of the Jews, which no receipt could cure 
 but wonders, “ A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after signs." The 
 doctrine of Christ, and all the divine words that he spake, must be made up 
 with miracles, or they will not believe : it was a foul fault, and a dangerous 
 one, “ You will not believe." What is it that condemns the world but un- 
 belief? Here is a noble Capernaumite, that probably had heard many a ser- 
 mon of Jesus Christ ; and yet he is taxed with unbelief. If such as we 
 that live under the clear sunshine of the gospel shall not believe, 0 what a 
 sin is this ? Christ's next answer to this nobleman, is a word of comfort, 
 verse 50. “ Go thy way, thy son liveth." Oh the meekness, and the mercy 
 of Jesus Christ ! when we would have looked that he should have punished 
 this suitor for not believing, he condescends to him that he may believe : as 
 some tender mother that gives the breast to her unquiet children instead of 
 the rod; so usually deals Christ with our perverseness," “ Go thy way, thy 
 son liveth with one word doth Christ heal two patients, the sou and fath- 
 er ; the son’s fever, and the father's unbelief. We cannot but observe here 
 the steps of faith ; he that believed somewhat ere he came, and more when 
 he went, he grew to more and more faith in the way ; and when he came 
 home, he enlarged his faith to all the skirts of his family. “ And the man 
 believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him," and he went his way ; 
 and in the way one meets him and tells him, “ Thy son liveth," verse 51. 
 Which recovery he understands to be at the same time that Christ had spo- 
 ken those salutary and healing words, “ and himself believed and his whole 
 house," verse 53. 
 
 2. (If I mistake not in the year, I shall not contend, because in this year 
 only, I shall mention his miracles,) Now was it that “ a centurion came unto 
 Christ, beseeching him, and saying, My servant lieth at home, sick of the 
 palsy, grievously tormented," Matth. 8 : 5, 6. Many suitors came to Christ, 
 one for a son, another for a daughter, a third for himself; but I see 
 none come for his servant, but this one centurion ; and if we observe Christ's 
 answer to his suit, we see how well pleased Christ is with his request, and 
 Jesus saith unto him “ I will come and heal him," verse 7. When the 
 ruler entreated him for his son, “Come down ere he die," Christ stirred not 
 a foot, but now this centurion complains only of his servant's sickness, and 
 Christ offers himself, “I will come and heal him." He that came in the 
 shape of a servant, would rather go down to the sick servant, than to the 
 ruler’s son, Acts 10 : 34, 35. “ He is no respecter of persons, but he that 
 
 feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted of him It may be this 
 poor sick servant had more grace, or very probable it is he had more need, 
 and therefore Christ (to choose) will go down to visit this poor sick servant. 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 255 
 
 Nay, says the centurion, I am not worthy, Lord, that thou shouldst come 
 under my roof, verse 8. q. d. Alas, Lord ! I am a gentile, an alien, a man 
 of blood, but thou art holy, thou art omnipotent, and therefore, “ Only say 
 the word, and my servant shall be whole.” Mark this, 0 my soul, it is but 
 a word of Christ, and my sins shall be remitted, my soul healed, my body 
 raised, and soul and body glorified forever. The centurion knew this by the 
 command he had over his own servants, verse 9. “ I say to this man, Go, 
 and he goes, and to another man, come, and he cometh, and to a third, do 
 this, and he doeth it.” In way of application, Oh ! that I were such a ser- 
 vant to my heavenly Master ; alas, every of his commands says, Do this, and 
 I do it not : every of his inhibitions says, “ Do it not, and I do it he says, 
 “ Go from the world, and I run to it He says, “ Come to me, and I run 
 from him.” Wo is me, this is not service, but enmity: Oh that I could 
 come up to the faith and obedience of this exemplar, that I could serve my 
 Christ as these soldiers did their master ! verse 10. Jesus marvels at the 
 centurion’s faith. We never find Christ wondering at gold, or silver, or 
 costly and curious works of human skill ; yea, when the disciples wondered 
 at the magnificence of the temple, he rebuked them rather : but when he 
 se^s the grace or acts of faith, he so approves of them, that he is ravished 
 with wonder. He that rejoiced in the view of his creation, rejoiceth no less 
 in the reformation of his creature, “ Behold thou art fair, my love, behold 
 thou art fair, there is no spot in thee. My sister, my spouse, thou hast 
 wounded ray heart, thou hast wounded my heart with one of thy eyes,” Sol. 
 Song 4 : 7, 9. To conclude, he that both wrought this faith, and wondered 
 at it, doth now reward it. “ Go thy way, and as thou hast believed, so be it 
 unto thee, and his servant was healed in the self same hour.” 
 
 3. Now it was, even “ the day after, that Jesus goes in the city of Nain,” 
 Luke 7 : 11. The fruitful clouds are not ordained to fall all in one field ; 
 Nain must partake of the bounty of Christ, as well as Cana, or Capernaum. 
 Thither come, he no sooner enters in at the gate of the city, but he meets a 
 funeral ; a poor widow with her weeping friends, is following her only son 
 to the grave ; Jesus observing her sad condition, he pities her, comforts her, 
 and at last relieves her : Here was no solicitor but his own compassion ; in 
 his former miracles he was sought and sued to ; his mother at the marriage 
 feast begged a supply of wine ; the ruler came to him for a son ; the centu- 
 rion came to him for a servant ; but now Christ offers a cure, to give us a 
 lesson, “ That whilst we have to do with the Father of mercies, our miseries 
 and afflictions are the most powerful suitors.” Christ sees and observes 
 the widow’s sadness, and presently all parts of Christ conspire her good ; his 
 heart melts into compassion of her ; his tongue speaks cheerfully and com- 
 fortably unto her, “ Weep not;” his feet carry him to the bier; his hand 
 toucheth the coffin, “and he said, young man, I say unto thee, arise,” ver. 
 14. See how the Lord of life speaks with command : the same voice speaks 
 to him that shall one day speak to us, and raise us out of the dust of the 
 earth; neither sea, nor death, nor hell, can detain their dead, when he 
 charges them to be delivered : we see not Christ stretching himself on this 
 dead corpse, as Elijah and Elisha upon the sons of the Shunamite, and of 
 the widow of Sarepta ; nor see we him kneeling down and praying, as Peter 
 did for Dorcas; but we hear him so speaking to the dead, as if the dead 
 were alive ; and so speaking to the dead, that by the word he speaks, he 
 makes him alive, “Young man, I say unto thee, Arise; and he that was 
 dead sat up, and began to speak, verse 15. So at the sound of the last 
 trumpet, by the power of the same voice, we shall arise out of the dust, and 
 stand up gloriously, “This mortal body shall put on immortality, and this 
 corruptible shall put on incorruption.” And lest our weak faith should stag- 
 ger at the ascent of so great a difficulty, by this he hath done, Christ gives 
 
256 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 us tastes of what he will do. The same power that can raise one man, can 
 raise a thousand, a million, a world : Christ here raised a widow’s son, and 
 after Jairus’ daughter, and then Lazarus, and, lastly, at his resurrection, he 
 raised a great many at once : he raised one from her bed, another from his 
 bier, another from his grave, and many at once from their rottenness, that it 
 might appear no degree of death can hinder the efficacy of his almighty 
 power. 
 
 4. Now it was that “ in the synagogue he finds a man that had a spirit 
 of an unclean devil,” Luke 4 : 33. This, 1 take it, is the first man that 
 we read of, as possessed with a devil. “And he cried, Let us alone, what 
 have we to do with thee ?” &c., verse 34. In these words, the devil dic- 
 tates, the man speaks, and whereas the words are plural, Let us alone, it is 
 probable he speaks of himself, and the rest of the men in the syuagogue 
 with him. 
 
 So high and dreadful things are spoken concerning the coming of Christ, 
 (Mai. 3 : 2. “Who may abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand 
 when he appeareth ?”) that the devil by this takes opportunity to affright 
 the men of the synagogue with the presence of Christ : he would dissuade 
 them from the receiving of Christ, by the terrors of Christ, as if Christ 
 had come only to destroy them, ver. 34. “Thou Jesus of Nazareth, art 
 thou come to destroy us ? I know thee, who thou art, the Holy One of 
 God.” “And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of 
 him,” verse 35. The word, “ Hold thy peace,” in the original, ( phimoethti ) 
 be muzzled : it was not a bare command of silence, but there was such 
 power in it, that it cast a muzzle upon the mouth of Satan, that he could 
 speak no more, Mark 1 : 26. “And when the unclean spirit had torn him,” 
 not with any gashes in his flesh, or dismembering of his body, for he hurt 
 him not, but with some convulsion fits (as it is supposed) then “ he threw 
 him in the midst,” Luke 4 : 35, and made an horrid cry, and so came out. 
 
 From this miracle, they all take special notice of the doctrine attested 
 by so great a miracle, “ What a word is this ?” verse 36. Or, as the other 
 evangelist, Mark 1 : 27. “ What a thing is this ? What new doctrine is 
 this ?” Surely this was the great design of all the miracles of Christ, to 
 prove his mission from God, to demonstrate his power unto men, to confirm 
 his gospel, to endear his precepts, to work in us faith, to help us heaven- 
 ward, John 20 : 31. “These things are written that we might believe, — 
 And that believing we might have life through his name.” 
 
 Use. I have given you several instances of the miracles of Christ in this 
 second year of his ministry; only a few words on this doctrine of miracles 
 for our information, as, 1. What they are? 2. Why they are? 3. Whe- 
 ther they are chained and continued in this great transaction of our soul’s 
 salvation ? And I have done. 
 
 For the first, What they are? Miracles are unusual events wrought 
 above the course or possibility of nature : such were the miracles of Christ, 
 and such were the miracles of the prophets, and of the apostles of Christ ; 
 for what they did was above nature ; and all the difference betwixt their 
 miracles and the miracles of Christ, was only in this, viz. They wrought 
 them not in their own name and power as Jesus Christ did; thus when 
 Elisha with twenty loaves, and some full ears of corn, fed an hundred men, 
 2 Kings 4 : 42, 43. “ Give unto the people (says he) that they may eat : 
 and his servant said, What, should I set this before an hundred men ? He 
 said again, Give the people that they may eat, for thus saith the Lord, 
 They shall eat, and shall leave thereof.” 
 
 And when Peter cured Eneas, which had kept his bed eight years, and 
 was sick of a palsy, Acts 9 : 34. “ Peter said unto him, Eneas, Jesus Christ 
 maketh thee whole.” And when he cured that man that was lame from 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 257 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 his mother’s womb, whom they laid daily at the gate of the 'temple, Acts 
 3:6. “ Silver and gold have I none, (said Peter) but such as I have give 
 I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” 
 But our Saviour comes in a higher strain to the dead damsel, Mark 5:41. 
 “ I say unto thee, Arise.” And in a higher strain to the stormy winds 
 and seas, Mark 4 : 39. “ Peace, be still.” And, in a higher strain to the 
 raging devil in the possessed, Luke 4 : 35. “ Be muzzled, and come out of 
 the man.” Here is the difference betwixt the Lord and his servants; but 
 in this they agree, their miracles were not miranda but miracula ! not 
 only wonders but miracles indeed ; they were unusual events wrought above 
 nature, or the course of nature. 
 
 For the second, Why they are? Many reasons are given, of which I 
 hinted before, but, in reference to Scriptures, (which is the great controversy) 
 this is the main, and the only true reason ; “ Miracles are wrought for the 
 grounding or confirming of some divine truth or doctrine at its first set- 
 tling.” To this purpose, miracles were as the trumpets or heralds, by 
 which the gospel was first commended unto us; as the law of Moses was 
 first authorized by manifold miracles in Sinai, and in the desert, which after- 
 wards ceased when they came to and were settled in the promised land ; 
 so the gospel of Christ was first authorized by mauifold miracles; but the 
 sound thereof having gone through all the world, these miracles cease : if 
 new additions of miracles for the confirmation of Scriptures should be ex- 
 pected in every age, the former miracles of Christ and his apostles would 
 be slighted of all. Indeed Christ tells us, “ of great signs and wonders 
 that shall be in the last days,” Matth. 24 : 24. But withal he tells us of 
 false Christs and false prophets that must work them. It may be disputed 
 whether these are true miracles or mere deceptions, and magical pretences ; 
 but because they are such as the people cannot discern them from miracles 
 really such, therefore it is all oue to them. Here then is Christ’s rule, 
 verse 23, 25. “ Believe them not — Behold I have told you before.” He 
 
 that foretold us of the man, foretold us also of the imposture, and com- 
 manded us not to trust him : in this respect it had been more likely for 
 Antichrist to have prevailed upon Christians by doing no miracles, than by 
 doing any ; for if he had done none he might have escaped without dis- 
 covery, but by doing miracles or wonders, he both verified the wisdom and 
 prescience of Christ, and he declared to the elect, that he was the very 
 enemy of Christ. As all the prophets that spake of Christ, bad us believe 
 him for his miracles; so all that foretold of Antichrist bad us disbelieve 
 him for his miracles ; which occasioned Augustine to say, Contra rniracu- 
 larios istos cautum me fecit Deus meus. Auy. in Johan . Tract. 3, which 
 is, “Against such miracle-mongers God hath warned me to take heed.” 
 “Go not forth unto such,” saith Christ, Matth. 24 : 16. And therefore, 
 “ brethren stand fast,” saith Paul, 2 Thess. 2 : 15. “ The great beast de- 
 ceiveth them that dwell on the earth by means of miracles;” these arc the 
 words of John, Rev. 13 : 14. But “if any man have an ear let him hear,” 
 i. e., let him beware, Rev. 13 : 9. True miracles that proceed from God, 
 are wrought for the grounding of doctrine at the first settling, and beiug 
 once grounded and settled, and a platform described for the right continuing 
 of it, then we are left to the Scripture, and are not to expect auy new 
 miracles for the confirming of it. 
 
 For the third, Whether they are chained and continued in this great 
 transaction of our soul’s salvation ? I answer, yea ; in this respect miracles 
 cease not. It is without controversy, that Jesus Christ, in carrying on our 
 soul’s salvation, is adding miracle to miracle; there is a chain of miracles 
 in the matter of our salvation, from first to last ! as, — 
 
 1. It was a miracle, that God, in his eternity, before we had a being, 
 
258 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 should have one thought of us; especially that the blessed Trinity should 
 sit in council, and contrive that most admirable and astonishing plot of the 
 salvation of our souls; Oh, what a miracle was this ! 
 
 2. It was a miracle that God, for our sakes, should create the world, and 
 after our fall in Adam, that God should preserve the world, especially con- 
 sidering that our sin had unpinned the whole frame of the creation ; and 
 that God even then sitting on his throne of judgment, ready to pass the 
 doom of death, for our first transgression, should unexpectedly give a pro- 
 mise of a Saviour, when justly, he might have given us to the devil, and 
 to hell, according to his own law, Gen. 2 : 17. In the day that thou eatest 
 thereof, thou shalt die the death. 
 
 3. It was a miracle, that God’s Son should take upon him our nature, 
 and that in our nature he should transact our peace ; that he should preach 
 salvation to us all, if we would believe, and to the end that we might be- 
 lieve, that he would work so many signs and miracles in the presence of his 
 disciples, and a world of men. Was not Christ’s birth a miracle ? And 
 Christ’s life a miracle ? And Christ’s death a miracle? And Christ’s resur- 
 rection a miracle ? And Christ’s ascension a miracle ? Was not Christ’s 
 ministry a miracle? And was it not a miracle that Christ’s word should not 
 be credited without a world of miracles to back it, and confirm it to the 
 souls of men? 1 Tim. 3 : 16. “Without controversy, great is the miracle, 
 as well as mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh, justified in the 
 Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, 
 received up into glory.” 
 
 4. It was a miracle, that God should look upon us in our blood : what a 
 
 sight was it for God when, Ezek. 16 : 4, 5, 6. “ Thy navel was not cut, 
 
 when thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all, when thou wast cast 
 out in the open field to the loathing of thy person ?” Yet, that then, even 
 then the Lord should “ pass by thee, and see thee polluted in thy own blood, 
 and should say unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live, yea say unto 
 thee when thou wast in thy blood, live.” 0 miracle of mercies ! if crea- 
 tion cannot be without a miracle, surely the new creature is a miracle in- 
 deed. So contrary is our perverse nature to all possibilities of salvation, 
 that if salvation had not inarched to us all the way in a miracle, we should 
 have perished in the ruins of a sad eternity. Election is a miracle, and 
 creation is a miracle, and redemption is a miracle, and vocation is a miracle; 
 and indeed every man living in the state of grace is a perpetual miracle : 
 in such a one his reason is turned into faith, his soul into spirit, his body 
 into a temple, his earth into heaven, his water into wine, his aversations 
 from Christ into intimate union with Christ, and adhesious to Christ. O 
 what a chain of miracles, is this ? Why, “ Lord, if thou wilt, thou cansft 
 make me clean;” say thus, You that are yet in your blood, Why, “ Lord, 
 if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean, 0 Lord, I believe, help thou my 
 unbelief.” 
 
 “After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusa- 
 lem,” John 5:1. Some would have the feast to be Pentecost; and, to 
 speak truly, the most of our commentaries run that way : others take this 
 for the feast of the passover, and the rather, because the evangelist John 
 reckons the time of Christ’s public ministry by the several passovers : now, 
 if this feast were not a passover, we cannot find in the gospel so many pass- 
 overs as to make up Christ’s ministry three years and an half. On this 
 ground I join with the latter opinion ; and so here I end the second year 
 of Christ’s ministry, and come to the third, and to his actings therein, in 
 reference to our soul’s salvation. 
 
CHAP. III.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 259 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the third Year of Christ’s Ministry , and generally of his 
 actings in that year. 
 
 Hitherto all was quiet; neither the Jews, nor the Samaritans, nor 
 Galileans did as yet malign the doctrine or person of Jesus Christ ; but he 
 preached with much peace on all hands till the beginning of this year. I 
 shall not yet speak of his sufferings; neither shall I speak much of his 
 doings : many things were done and spoken this year, which I must pass, 
 lest I be too prolix : only such things as refer more principally to the maiu 
 business of our soul’s salvation, I shall touch in these particulars. As, 1. 
 In the ordination of the apostles. 2. In his reception of sinners. 3. In 
 the easiness of his yoke, and the lightness of his burden which he imposeth 
 on men. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of Christ’s Ordination of his Apostles. 
 
 1. In the ordination of his apostles, are many considerable things; the 
 evangelist Luke lays it down thus, Luke 6 : 12, 13. “And it came to pass 
 in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all 
 night in prayer to God ; and when it was day, he called unto him his dis- 
 ciples, and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles.” Till 
 now Christ taught alone ; but because after his ascension he must needs 
 have a ministry to the end of the world ; in the first place, he chooseth out 
 some whom he would have on purpose to wait upon him all the time of his 
 ministry, till he was taken up into heaven. In this election or ordination, 
 here is first, the person by whom they are chosen, Jesus Christ. 2. The 
 place where they are chosen, viz., in a mountain. 3. The time when they 
 were chosen, after his watching and praying all night, and when it was day. 
 4. The company out of whom they were chosen, they were his disciples, 
 and out of them he makes his election. 5. The number of them that were 
 chosen, they were twelve, nor more nor less. 6. The end to which they 
 were chosen, it was an apostleship; “he chose twelve, whom he also named 
 apostles.” 
 
 1. The person by whom they are chosen is Jesus Christ. They chose not 
 themselves but were chosen of Christ. This call was immediate, and there- 
 fore most excellent ; but now we look not after such calls, and therefore I 
 shall not insist on that : only by the way, ministers of the gospel must be 
 ministers of Christ, either immediately or mediately called. 
 
 2. The place where they were chosen, it was on a mountain : mountain- 
 ous places have their situation nearest to heaven, which shows, that they 
 were called to high and heavenly things. Mountains are open and in view, 
 which shows their ministry must be public : they cannot lie hid in a moun- 
 tain, a city that is set upon a hill is exposed to the view of all. Again, 
 mountains are subject to winds and tempests, which shows their callings 
 must meet with many oppositions; and this occasioned Christ to hold up 
 their heart with cordials, Matth. 5:11, 12. “Blessed are ye when men 
 shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you 
 falsely for my sake, — for so persecuted they the prophets which were before 
 you.” The ministers of Christ are sure of opposition ; the “ disciple is not 
 above his master, nor the servant above his lord; if they have called the 
 master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his 
 household ?” 
 
 3. The time when they were chosen, when it was day, “ and after he had 
 
260 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 continued all night in prayer to God ;” he goes not to election, but first he 
 •watches and prays all the night before. This shows the singular care that 
 Christ had in this great employment ; What ? To set men apart to witness 
 his name, and to publish to the world the gospel of Christ ? This he would 
 not do without much prayer. Sometimes we find Christ praying alone, as 
 elsewhere, “ He went up into a mountain apart to pray,” Matth. 14 : 28. 
 And here on this mountain, without any of his disciples or domestics about 
 him, he prays alone : thus, Matth. 6:6. “ When thou prayest, enter into 
 thy closet, (saith Christ) and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy 
 Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward 
 thee openly.” Sometimes we find Christ praying at night, Luke, 21 : 87. 
 “ In the day time he was teaching in the temple, and at night he went out, 
 and abode in the mount, that is called the Mount of Olives.” See Christ 
 in the exercise of his double office ; he preacheth all day, and prays at night. 
 This text tells us, u He continued all night in prayer.” Night prayers 
 have their special spiritual advantages. 1. It is a time fitter for compunc- 
 tion and heart contrition, Psal. 6:6. u All the night make I my bed to 
 swim, I water my- couch with my tears.” As some things are by heat 
 parched in the day, but cooled in the night, so many sins contracted in the 
 day, are seasonably repented at night ; night tears are as sw r eet dews that 
 cool the heat and pride of our spirits. 2. It is a time of silence, and free 
 from distraction : then all tumults cease, and in the secret of our souls, we 
 may silently go and speak with our heavenly Father. In this respect we 
 have a blessed example of Christ praying at night, and especially now. 0 ! 
 he was about the great work of sending his ministers through all the world, 
 and therefore he now spends all the night long in prayer to his Father. A 
 great and extraordinary work is not to be set upon without extraordinary 
 prayer. 
 
 4. The company out of whom they are chosen, “ He called unto him his 
 disciples, and out of them he chose twelve.” A disciple of Christ is one 
 thing, and an apostle of Christ is another thing; those were Christ’s disci- 
 ples that embraced Christ’s doctrine of faith and repentance; it was not 
 material to the constituting of a disciple of Christ whether they followed 
 Christ as many did, or they returned to their own homes, as some others 
 did. The man out of whom the legions of devils were cast “ Besought Christ 
 that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to 
 thine own house, and show how great things God hath done to thee,” Luke 
 8 : 88, 39. I make no question but Christ at the election of his apostles, 
 had many disciples both waiting on him and absent from him ; and out of 
 them that waited on him his apostles were chosen. Christ’s ministers should 
 first be disciples. 0 how unfit are they to take upon them the ministry of 
 Christ, that were never yet the disciples of Christ ! First the grace of God 
 must be within us, and then must that grace of God be discovered by us. 
 
 5. The number of them that were chosen, they were twelve ; very proba- 
 ble it is, there was some peculiar reason in this account; the number (say 
 some) was figured out to us in many particulars, as in the twelve patriarchs, 
 Gen. 35 :22. In the twelve wells of Elim, Exod. 15 : 27. In the twelve 
 precious stones on the breast of the priest. In the twelve tribes of Israel. 
 In the twelve hours of the day. Christ tells them of “ sitting on twelve 
 thrones, and judging the twelve tribes of Israel,” Matth. 19 : 28. But I 
 delight not curiously to descant on these things. This I am sure, that the 
 doings of Christ were done in weight, measure and number. 
 
 6. The end to which they were chosen, it was to apostleship, i. e. That 
 they might be Christ’s legates to the sons of men, that they might be sent 
 up and down the world to persuade men to salvation. “ The dispensers of 
 God’s woru must look to their missions, they must not intrude upon so sacred 
 
CHAP. III.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 261 
 
 a business before they are sent.” Now, this mission is either extraordinary, 
 by immediate instinct and revelation from God, which is ever accompanied 
 with immediate and infused gifts, and this was the case of the apostles : or 
 ordinary, bv imposition of hands and ecclesiastical designation : and in this 
 likewise is required fidelity and ability. 1. Fidelity; it is required of stew- 
 ards, that a man be faithful, that he defraud not Christ of his purchase, 
 which is the souls of men, nor men of their price and privilege, which is 
 the blood of Christ : that he watch as a seer, that he speak as an oracle, 
 that he feed as a shepherd, that he labor as an husbandman, that he be in- 
 stant in season, and out of season, to exhort, rebuke, instruct, to do the work 
 of an evangelist, to make full proof of his ministry, because he hath an ac- 
 count to make. 2. Ability both for right information of the consciences 
 of men, and for the seasonable application of truth to particular circum- 
 stances, which is that which makes a wise builder. Ah ! “ Who is sufficient 
 for these things?” 2 Cor. 2 : 16. How should we but detest the presump- 
 tion of those men, who run before they be sent, and who leap from their 
 manual trades into this sacred and dreadful office, unto which heretofore the 
 most learned and pious men have trembled to approach ? 
 
 Use. This may inform us of our duty, and this may inform you of your 
 happiness. 1. Here is our duty, I mean ours of the ministry; Christ or- 
 dained his apostles to preach the gospel, and Paul’s motto may be ours, 1 
 Cor. 9 : 16. “ Wo unto me if I preach not the gospel : what though I preach 
 the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for a necessity is laid upon me.” 
 This day hath Christ sent me on this errand, Matth 10 : 7. “ Go, preach, 
 
 saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” “ Surely the Lord 
 hath put this message into my mouth, Repent, swearers, repent, drunkards, 
 repent, sinners, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Gospel discoveries 
 are made every day; Christ is arising and shining in our horison more and 
 more clearly : this great design of God’s love to our souls, is manifested in 
 every sermon, on every Sabbath ; is not this gospel preaching ? What is the 
 gospel, but the treasure of God’s love in Christ op< ned to us ? Oh ! it is 
 pleasant work in this respect to be a minister of the gospel, to be always 
 searching into the treasures of love, and to make them known to poor souls 
 for the gaining of them unto God. 2. Here is your happiness, Christ hath 
 not erected any standing sanctuary, or city of refuge for men to flee to for 
 their salvation, but he hath appointed ambassadors to carry this treasure 
 unto men’s houses, where he invites them, and intreats them, and requires 
 them, and commands them, and compels them to come in. Oh, the un- 
 searchable riches of Christ ! I. In respect of the messengers. 2. In respect 
 of their message. 
 
 1. In respect of the messengers, they were first apostles, now ministers, 
 poor earthen vessels. Had Christ himself come in his glorified body, at- 
 tended with his angels, it might in some measure have represented his 
 majesty; but, alas! how would this have dazzled your weakness? Or if 
 Christ had made use of his angels, as he did at his birth to preach the gospel ; 
 had they continually come in state and proclaimed salvation to the sons of 
 men, this would have showed more glory ; but, alas ! how unsuitable had 
 this been to your weak conditions ? Here then is the riches of his grace, 
 that earthen vessels should carry this treasure, that salvation should come 
 out of the mouths of sinful creatures, that hearts should be broken, souls 
 should believe, life should be infused by the ministerial breath of a weak, 
 worthless man, 2 Cor. 4:7. “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, 
 that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” God’s 
 power is more honored this way than if an angel had come in person : it 
 may be in that case, a sinner’s conversion would have been attributed to 
 the power and efficacy of the angel; but, to prevent this, and to preserve 
 
262 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 the power of his glory and grace, Christ takes the treasure, and he puts it 
 into eartheu vessels; it is in the original, “Vessels of shell as precious 
 pearls are found in shells, so the pearl is the gospel, and the shell or mother 
 of pearl, are the apostles and pastors ; it is true, they are vessels of small 
 price, and subject to many knocks and falls, yet in them is the most ex- 
 cellent treasures of the wisdom of God, and of the gospel of Christ. And 
 it is in them on purpose, that the excellency may reflect on God, and not 
 on them. 
 
 2. In respect of the message ; 0 the unsearchable riches of Christ ! 
 What is the message of these men ? What is the treasure they bring, but 
 the blood of Christ, the promises of the gospel, the word of grace ? I might 
 sum up all in one word, “ They bring unto men an invitation from heaven, 
 to heaven.” Observe it, Christians, the gospel is a message; the Lord 
 sends his Son up and down : carries him from place to place ; he is set forth 
 before men’s eyes; he comes, and stands, and calls, and knocks at their 
 doors, and beseecheth them to be reconciled : 0 the free grace of God ! 0 
 that mercy, pardon, preferment, eternal life and salvation should go a beg- 
 ging, and suing for acceptance ! 0 the love of sin, and madness of folly in 
 wicked men, to trample on such pearls, and to neglect so great salvation 
 when it is tendered unto them ! 0 what a heavy charge will it be for men 
 at the last day, to have the mercy of God, the humility of Christ, the 
 entreaties of the Spirit, the proclamations of pardon, the approaches of 
 salvation, the days, the years, the age of peace, the ministry of the word, 
 the book of God, the great mystery of godliness, to rise up in judgment, 
 and to testify against their souls ! 0 the condescensions of Christ ! who are 
 ye that the Lord should send after you ? What need hath God of you ? 
 Suppose you should go on in the ways of death, and perish everlastingly, 
 what shall God lose by it? Christ might say, “If you will go on, go on 
 and perish ; if you love sin so well, take your pleasure in it, and be damned 
 evermore.” Ah, no, saith the mercy of God, and the mercy of Christ, 
 before that be, message after message, “ Precept upon precept, precept upon 
 precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little,” 
 Isa. 28 : 10. This was the design of Christ’s choosing his apostles, Mark 
 16 : 15. “ Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,” 
 that poor sinners may turn from sin, and be saved. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of Christ’s Reception of Sinners. 
 
 2. For Christ’s reception of sinners; I cannot limit this only to one 
 year of Christ’s ministry, but I shall only mention it this year. Now this 
 will appear, 1. In the doctrine of Christ. 2. In the practice of Christ. 
 
 1. In his doctrine, Christ lays it down expressly, Matth. 11 : 28. “Come 
 unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” 
 It is no more, but come and welcome. The gospel shuts none out of heaven, 
 but those that by unbelief lock that door against their own souls. Again, 
 “All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me, and him that cometh 
 unto me, I will in no wise cast out,” John 6 : 37. Here is laid down the 
 full intent and purpose of God and Christ, to pardon and receive sinners. 
 The Father is willing, and the Son is willing. 1. The Father is willing, 
 John 6 : 39. “ This is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all 
 which he hath given me, I should lose none.” The Father is engaged, in 
 that, first, he sent Christ on that errand, to receive sinners. Secondly, in 
 that he gave unto Christ all “ that he would have to be saved by Christ, 
 with a charge to lose none.” Sinners were given unto Christ, by his 
 Father, as so many jewels to look to, and to save. 2. The Son is willing, 
 for “ He that cometh unto me (saith Christ) I will in no wise cast out.” 
 Christ is so willing to receive sinners, as that he sets all his doors open, he 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 263 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 keeps open house, and he casts out none that will but come in : and why 
 so ? “ For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will 
 of him that sent me,” John 6 : 38. 1. “ I came down from heaven,” it was 
 a great journey from heaven to earth, and this great journey I undertook, 
 for no other purpose but to save sinners. Great actions (as one says well) 
 must needs have great ends: now this was the greatest thing that ever was 
 done, that the Son of God should come down from heaven ; and what was 
 the end, bnt the reception and salvation of sinners? Luke 19 : 10. “For 
 the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost Had not 
 Christ come down, sinners could not have gone up unto heaven, and there- 
 fore that they might ascend, he descends. 2. “ I came down from heaven, 
 not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” His Father 
 had sent him on purpose to receive, and to save sinners; and to this purpose 
 he is called the “apostle of our profession, — Who was faithful to him that 
 appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house his Father 
 could not send him on any errand, but he was sure to do it: his Father’s 
 mission was a strong demonstration, that Christ was willing to receive those 
 sinners that would but come to him. 
 
 Again, John 7 : 37. “ Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, 
 let him come unto me and drink.” The very pith, heart, and marrow of 
 the gospel is contained in these words : the occasion of them was thus : on 
 the last day of the feast of tabernacles, the Jews were wont with great so- 
 lemnity to draw water out of the fountain of Siloatn, at the foot of mount 
 Sion, and to bring it to the altar, singing out of Isaiah, 12 :3. “ With joy 
 shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.” Now Christ takes them 
 at this custom, and recalls them from earthly to heavenly waters, alluding 
 to that of Isaiah, 55 : 1. 3. “ Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the 
 waters, — Incline your ears, and come unto me : hear and your souls shall 
 live.” The Father saith, Come, the Son saith, Come, the Spirit saith, Come, 
 yea, “ The Spirit and the bride say, Come and let him that heareth say, 
 Come, and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him drink of 
 the water of life freely,” Rev. 22 : 17. All time of Christ’s ministry, 
 we see him tiring himself in going about from place to place, upon no other 
 errand than this, to cry at the markets, “ Ho, every one that thirsteth, come 
 ye to the waters.” If any sinners love life, if any will go to heaven, let him 
 come to me, aud I will show them the way to my Father’s bosom, and en- 
 dear them to my Father’s heart.” 
 
 Again, hitherto tend all those arguments of God and Christ, to draw souls 
 to themselves. Thus God draws arguments, 1. From his equity, Ezek. 18 : 
 25. “ Hear now, 0 house of Israel, is not my way equal ?” Or, are not 
 
 your ways unequal ? q. d. I appeal to your very consciences, is this equal, 
 That sinners should go on in sin, and trespass against him that is so willing 
 to receive and save poor sinners ?” 2. From our ruin, in case we go on in 
 sin, Ezek. 18 :31. “ Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby 
 ye have transgressed, and make you a new heart, and a new spirit, for why 
 will ye die, O house of Israel ?” 3. From his own dislike and displeasure 
 at our ruin, verse 32. “ I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, 
 saith the Lord God, wherefore turn your souls, and live ye.” 4. From his 
 mercy and readiness to pardon sinners, Isaiah 55 : 7. “ Let the wicked for- 
 sake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto 
 the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will 
 abundantly pardon.” 5. From the freeness of his love, Hos. 14 : 4. “I 
 will love him freely.” And, John 3 : 16. “God so loved the world,” so 
 fully, so fatherly, so freely, “that he gave his only begotten Son, &c. And 
 I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life free- 
 ly/’ Rev. 21:6. 6. From the sweetness of his name, Exod. 34:6,7. 
 
264 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 “ The Lord, the Lord merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in 
 goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, trans- 
 gression and sin.” 7. From the benefits that would follow, Isa. 48:18, 19. 
 
 “ 0 that thou hadst hearkened to my commandment, then bad thy peace 
 been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea, thy seed also 
 had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel there- 
 of.” 8. From his oath, Ezek. 88 : 11. “ As I live, saith the Lord, I desire 
 not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wicked- 
 ness and live.” 0 happy creatures (saith Tertullian) for whom God swears ! 
 
 0 unbelieving wretches, if we will not trust God swearing ! 9. From his 
 
 expostulations, Ezek. 33: 11. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for 
 why will ye die, 0 house of Israel ? Micah 6:3. O my people, what have 
 
 1 done to thee? And wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against me, 
 
 Isa. 5 : 3. “ What could I have done more for my vineyard than I have 
 
 done ? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought 
 it forth wild grapes.” 10. From his appeals, Micah 6:2. “Judge now, 
 0 ye inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. — And hear, 0 ye mountains, the 
 Lord’s controversy, and, ye strong foundations of the earth; for the Lord 
 hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel.” 11. From 
 his groans, Deut. 5 : 29. “ Oh, that there were such a heart in them, that 
 
 they would fear me, and keep my commandments always, that it might be 
 well with them and their children for ever, Deut. 82 : 29. And oh ! that 
 they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their 
 latter end.” 12. From his loafhness to give men up, Ilos. 11:8. “How 
 shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, O Israel ? How 
 shall I make thee as Admah ? How shall I set thee asZeboim? My heart 
 is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.” 0 the goodness 
 of God. 
 
 And as God the Father, so God the Son draws arguments to win souls to 
 himself 1. From his coming; it was the very purpose and design of his 
 coming down from heaven to save sinners, 1 Tim. 1:15. “This is a faith- 
 ful saying, (says Paul) and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came 
 into the world, to save sinners.” 2. From bis fair demeanor and behavior 
 towards sinners : this was so open and notorious, that it was turned to his 
 disgrace and opprobrium, Matth. 11 : 19. “Behold a friend of publicans 
 and sinners :” and the Scribes aud Pharisees murmured at him, and bis dis- 
 ciples, saying, “ Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners ?” 
 Luke 5: 30. 3. From his owning of sinners, and answering for them in 
 
 this respect, “ And Jesus answering, said unto them, They that are whole 
 need not a physician, but they that are sick ; I came not to call the righte- 
 ous but sinners to repentance,” Luke 5 : 31, 32. 4. From his rejoicing at 
 
 sinners’ conversion ; indeed we never read of Christ’s laughter, and we sel- 
 dom read of Christ’s joy; but when it is at any time recorded, it is at the 
 conversion of a poor soul : he had little else to comfort himself in, being a 
 man of sorrows: but in this he rejoiced exceedingly, Luke 10 : 21. “ In 
 
 that hour Jesus rejoiced in Spirit;” it was in that hour when he saw an 
 bandfull of the fruit of his disciples’ ministry, as an earnest of the many 
 thousands that should afterwards come in, John 11:15. “ And I am glad 
 
 for your sakes that I was not there,” (saith Christ when Lazarus was dead.) 
 But why was he glad ? It follows, “ to the intent ye may believe.” He 
 rejoiced if any of his got faith, a little more faith, more and more faith. 5. 
 From his grief in case of sinners’ not repenting; witness his tears over Je- 
 rusalem, and those speeches of his, Luke 19 :41, 42. “ And when he was 
 come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, 
 even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace; 
 but now they are hid from thine eyes.” Look, as it is with a man carrying 
 
CHAP. III.] 
 
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 265 
 
 to be buried, bis wife weeps, bis children weep, bis friends weep ; so our 
 Saviour follows Jerusalem to to the grave, and when he can do no more for 
 it, he rings out. this doleful passing bell, “ Oh that thou hadst known," &c. 
 6. From his wishes, groanings, Matth. 23:37. “ Ob Jerusalem, Jerusa- 
 
 lem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto 
 thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as an 
 hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but ye would not !’’ In this 
 argument, before we pass it, observe we the several passages. Here is, first 
 the groan, Oh ! this aspiration argues a compassionate pang of grief; it ran 
 to the very heart of Christ that Jerusalem had neglected their souls’ salva- 
 tion, Oh Jerusalem ! Secondly, here is an ingemination, or a double calling 
 on Jerusalem, “ 0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem !" the name doubled expresseth 
 great affection in the speaker; as when David doubled the name of Absalom, 
 it is said, “ The king was much moved," and so he cried, 11 O my son Ab- 
 salom, my son, my son Absalom," 2 Sam. 18:33. Thirdly, Here is the 
 monstrous sin wherewith the Lord charges Jerusalem, “ Thou that killest 
 the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee." Jerusalem was 
 the very slaughter-house of the prophets, insomuch that very few of the 
 prophets had been murdered elsewhere ; and so, comparatively, Christ speaks, 
 “ It cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem," Luke 13 : 33. 
 Fourthly, Here Christ’s willingness to save Jerusalem, which he discovers ; 
 
 1. in his frequent applications to it; How often ? q. d. not once, nor twice, 
 nor thrice, but many and many a time have I come to Jerusalem, and spo- 
 ken to Jerusalem, and wooed Jerusalem, “ How often?" 2. In the acting, 
 exercising, and putting forth of his will ; how often u would I have gathered 
 thy children together?" The will of Christ was serious, though not absolute : 
 I know his divine will, absolutely considered, could not have been resisted; 
 but this was not his absolute will, but only a will of divine complacency. 
 There is voluntas absoluta, efficax, decernens, & infallibiliter producens ef- 
 fect um volitum , &■ voluntas condition at a, revelata, approbation is, & simpli- 
 cis complaccntise , August. Tract. 15. in Job. And so he would not have 
 the death of any, but that all should live ; or he speaks here of his human 
 ministerial will (say some) and not of his divine : many a sermon had he 
 preached, and many an exhortation had he dropped ; and every sermon, and 
 every exhortation, proclaimed his willingness, “ I would, yea that I would, 
 have gathered thy children together." 3. In resemblance of his willingness, 
 Christ would have gathered Jerusalem’s children, “ As the hen gathers her 
 chickens under her wings." In the metaphor, Christ’s care is admirably 
 displayed. 1. As the hen with her wings covers the unfeathered chickens. 
 
 2. As the hen provides for their food, not eating herself till they are filled. 
 
 3. As the hen defends her chickens from the ravenous birds, so that to blood 
 she will fight in their defence : so hath Christ’s care been for Jerusalem. 
 “ No bird (saith Austin) expresseth such tender love to her young ones, as 
 the hen doth." No fowls so discover themselves to be mothers, as hens do; 
 other birds we know to be mothers when we see them in their nests, 
 but no other way ; only the hen discovers herself to be a mother when her 
 chickens do not follow her; for then her feathers stand up, her wings hang 
 down, she clocketh mournfully, and goeth feebly; now, in respect of this 
 singular love, Christ compares himself to an hen ; “ As an hen gathers her 
 chickens, so would 1 have gathered Jerusalem." 4. In that he adds so 
 dolefully, “ but ye would not;" I would, but ye would not, q. d. In me no 
 care so great as to save your souls, in you no care so little as your soul’s 
 salvation ; I strove towards you in acts of love, and you strove towards me 
 in acts of ingratitude : I would have done you good, but you would not re- 
 ceive it; I would, yea, how often would I, but ye would not. 
 
 2. Christ’s reception of sinners appears yet more in his practice. How 
 
266 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 welcome were all sorts of sinners unto him ? He casts out none that ac- 
 knowledge him for the Messiah ; he turned none away that gave up their 
 souls to be saved by him in his own way. This he manifests. 1. Par- 
 abolically. 2. Really. 
 
 1. Parabolically, especially in those three parables, of the lost groat, and 
 of the lost sheep, and of the lost son. I shall instance in this last, which 
 may well serve for all the rest. — Luke 15 : 20. “ When the prodigal was 
 yet afar off, his father saw him : and had compassion on him, and ran, and 
 fell on his neck, and kissed him.” In these words observe, 1. His father 
 sees him before he sees his father ; no sooner a sinner thinks of heaven, 
 but the Lord spies him, and takes notice of him. 2. The Lord sees him 
 while be was yet a great way off; he was but in the beginning of his way; 
 his father might have let him alone till he had come quite home to his 
 house, and it had been a singular mercy to have bid him welcome then ; 
 but he takes notice of him yet a great way off ; sinners may be far off from 
 God in their own apprehensions, and yet the Lord even draws near, while 
 thus they apprehend. 3. His father had pity or compassion on him ; the 
 Lord’s bowels even yearn, and work, and stir within him at the sight of his 
 returning prodigals; when Ephraim bad bemoaned himself, Jer. 31 : 18, 
 19. u Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccus- 
 tomed to the yoke;” why then cries God, verse 20. “ Is Ephraim my dear 
 son? Is he a pleasant child ? For since I spake against him, I do earnestly 
 remember him still, therefore my bowels are troubled for him, I will surely 
 have mercy upon him, sait.h the Lord.” — 4. u His father ran:” there is 
 much in this. As, 1. It had been mercy though his father had stood still, 
 till his son had come. 2. What a mercy is this that his father will go, and 
 give his son the meeting? 3. But, above all, Oh, what abundant mercy call 
 we this, that the father will not go, but run ? If he would needs meet his 
 son, might he not have walked towards him in a slow pace? 0 no, if a 
 sinner will but come, or creep towards Christ, mercy will not go a foot pace, 
 but run to meet him ; bowels full of mercy, out-pace bowels pinched with 
 hunger ; God’s mercy is over his works, and so it is over all our needs, and 
 over all our sins. 5. He ran, “ and fell on his neck ;” (i. e.) he hugged and 
 embraced him ; 0 wonder ! who would not have been loath to have touched 
 him ? Was be not in his loathsome stinking rags ? Smelt he not of the hogs 
 and swine he lately kept ? Would not some dainty stomachs have been ready 
 to have cast all up upon such embraeements ? We see mercy is not nice, 
 Ezek. 16 : 6. “ When I passed by (saith God) I saw thee polluted in thy 
 blood, and I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, live; yea, I said 
 unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, live that very time of her blood, 
 was the time of love ; then the Lord “ spread his skirt over her, and covered 
 her nakedness, and sware unto her, and eutered into a covenant with her, 
 and she became his,” ver. 8. 6. He ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed 
 him; who would have brooked a person in so filthy a pickle? What? Kiss 
 those lips that had been so lately lapping in the hog’s trough ? Those lips 
 that had so often kissed those base and beggarly, and abominable harlots ? 
 One would think he should rather have kicked, than kissed them. There 
 is a passage somewhat like this, and u Esau ran to meet Jacob, and embraced 
 him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him,” Gen. 33 : 4. Before he had 
 thought to have killed him, but now he kissed him ; it is not to tell how 
 dear the father was to his prodigal son, wheu “ he ran and fell on his neck, 
 and embraced and kissed him.” The scope of the parable is this, That 
 Christ is willing and glad to receive sinners, Ezek. 33 : 11. u Turn ye, turn 
 ye, from your evil ways, for why will ye die, 0 house of Israel !” 
 
 2. Christ manifests this willingness iu his practice really. Amongst 
 many instances, I shall insist only on one, a notable instance of this year : 
 
CHAP. III.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 267 
 
 one of the Pharisees named Simon, invited Christ to eat with him, Luke 
 7 : 37. Into whose house when he had entered, a certain woman that was 
 a sinner abiding there in the city, heard of it ; a widow she was, and, 
 prompted by her wealth and youth to an intemperate life, she came to Jesus 
 in the Pharisee’s house; and no sooner come, but she lays her burden at 
 Jesus’ feet, and presents him with a broken heart, and weeping eye, and an 
 alabaster box of ointment, verse 38. “ She stood at his feet behind him 
 weeping, and began to wash his feet with her tears, and to wipe them with 
 the hairs of her head; and she kissed his feet, and anointed them with 
 ointment.” 1. She stands at his feet, a sign of her humility; 0 what a 
 change ! She that was before married to a noble personage, a native of the 
 town and castle of Magdal, from whence she had her name of Magdalene; 
 and she that now was a widow, and therefore now took her liberty of pride 
 and lust ; who so proud and vile as Mary Magdalene ? At this time, she 
 comes in remorse, and regret for her sins, and throwing away her former 
 pride, she stoops, and waits, and humbly stands at Jesus’ feet. 2. “She 
 stood at his feet behind him ;” a blushing sign of faith : it comprehends in 
 it a tacit confession of her sins : she knew herself unworthy of Christ’s 
 presence, she durst not look him in the face, but believingly she waits be- 
 hind him ! her shame speaks her repentance, and her waiting on him, and 
 not flying from him, speaks her faith. 3. “She stood at his feet behind 
 him weeping,” her grief burst out in tears, she heeds not the feast or feaster, 
 though usually they are accompanied with joy, and mirth, and music; and 
 such feasts attended with such vanities, she many a time had probably 
 observed, yet now she comes in trembling to this feast, and falling down 
 before Christ, she weeps, and weeps bitterly for her sins. 4. “ She began 
 to wash his feet with tears;” her tears were not feigned but fruitful; she 
 wept a shower of tears : one considering her tears, cries out, Terra riyat 
 coelum, The very earth bedews heaven ; her eyes that before were abused 
 to lust, are now fountains of tears, she pours out a flood, great enough to 
 wash the feet of her blessed Jesus; this was the manner of the Jews, to 
 eat their meat lying down, and leaning on their elbows : or if many eat 
 together, leaning on the bosoms of one another ; thus at the passover, it is 
 said, That “ there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom, one of his disciples whom 
 Jesus loved,” John 13 : 23. And in this posture, Jesus sitting or lying at 
 meat, Mary had the conveniency to weep on his feet, which he had cast 
 behind his fellow ; and, 0 how she weeps amain ! the tears so trickled, 
 that she begins to wash Christ’s feet ; she not only waters them, but washes 
 them. That which Jeremiah wished, Jer. 9 : 1. “0 that my head were 
 waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears !” Mary fulfils, for her head is 
 waters, and her eyes are fountains; rivers of tears run down her eyes, Oh ! 
 she had pierced Christ with her sins, and now she weeps over him whom 
 she had pierced; crying out as we may imagine, 0 my sins! and, 0 my 
 Christ! 0 foul sins! and 0 sweet Jesus!” 5. “She wipes his feet with 
 the hairs of her head ;” her hair added to her beauty, sometimes in curling 
 rings, or unseemly sheds; she made it a snare for men, but now she con- 
 secrates it to her Lord, and makes it a towel to wipe Christ’s feet withal : 
 0 here is a worthy fruit of serious repentance, the apostle calls it “a holy 
 revenge,” 2 Cor. 7 : 11. 6. She kissed his feet, in token of her new 
 
 choice, and new love, and new affections : her kisses had been formerly to 
 wantons, but now she bestows them on the feet of Christ. 7. “ She 
 anointed them with ointment,” which expression was so great an ecstasy 
 of love, and sorrow, and adoration, that to anoint the feet of the greatest 
 monarch, was long unknown, and in all the pomp of Roman prodigality, it 
 was never used till Otho taught it Nero. When Simon observed this sinner 
 so busy in the expressions of her religion, he thought within himself, that 
 
268 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 Christ was no prophet, that he did not know her to be a sinner ; for, 
 although the Jews’ religion did permit harlots to live and to enjoy the 
 privileges of the nation, save that their oblations were refused, yet the 
 Pharisees, who pretended to a greater degree of sanctity than others, would 
 not admit them to civil usages, or the benefits of ordinary society ; and, 
 hence, Simon made an objection within himself, which Jesus knowing, (for 
 he understood his thoughts as well as his words) first he makes her apology, 
 and then his own ; the scope giving us to understand that Christ was not 
 of the same superciliousness with the Pharisees, but that repenting sinners 
 should be welcome to him ; and this welcome he published first to Simon, 
 Luke 7 : 47. “ Her sins which are many are forgiven ;” and then to the 
 woman, verse 48. “ Thy sins are forgiven thee, verse 50. Thy faith hath 
 saved thee, go in peace.” 
 
 Use. I have been long on the proof ; but a word of use, and I have done. 
 What, is Christ most willing to receive siuners? 0 then be exhorted, Who 
 would not come to Jesus Christ? Methinks, nowall sinners of all sorts 
 should say, Though I have been a drunkard, a swearer, an unclean person, 
 yet now I hear Christ is willing to receive sinners, and therefore I will go 
 to Jesus Christ. This is my exhortation, 0 come unto Christ, come unto 
 Christ ! behold, here in the name of the Lord, I stand, and make invita- 
 tion to poor sinners; Oh, will not ye come ? How will you answer it at the 
 great day, wheu it shall be said, The Lord Jesus made a tender and offer 
 of mercy to you, and you would not accept of it? Oh, come to Christ, and 
 believe on Christ : as Christ is willing to receive you, so be you willing to 
 give up your souls to him. The motives to this I may lay down in these 
 particulars. 
 
 1. The doctrine of Christ, “ Come unto me, — and him that cometh unto 
 me I will in no wise cast out.” All the arguments of God and Christ, of 
 which you have heard, the practice of Christ while he was upon the earth, 
 aud the heart of Christ now in heaven : lay these together, and apply them 
 to your own souls; Oh, what work will they make !- 
 
 2. The calls of God and Christ, as they are frequent in the Scriptures : 
 consider that text, “ Ho, every one that thirsts come ye to the waters,” Isa. 
 55:1. (Ho.) He begins proclamation-wise: we usually say, vocations, 
 interjections speak very affectionate motion towards the distressed. Cer- 
 tainly Christ’s love is a very affectionate love : he lays his mouth to the 
 ears of those that are spiritually deaf, and cries aloud, (Ho,) every one, 
 Christ invites all : “As many as ye shall find, bid them to the marriage,” 
 Matth. 22 : 9. As the heavens are general in their influence, not one grass 
 on the ground but is bedewed : so are Christ’s invitations to his feast : not 
 one man in all the world but he is invited ; “ (Ho, every one that thirsteth) 
 so the apostle,” Let him that is athirst, come ; and whosoever will let him 
 take the water of life freely, Rev. 22 : 17. A thirst and a will is one and 
 the same ; it is your will that makes up the match : if you will but sit 
 down at God’s table, if you will but have the honey-comb with the honey, 
 if you will drink his wine with his milk; if you will drink, yea, drink 
 abundantly of the flagons of the wine of his kingdom ; why, then, “ Come 
 ye to the waters, come unto me aud drink.” Christ’s arms are spread 
 abroad to receive sinners : he calls and knocks, and calls and waits, and 
 calls and beseeches : every word here hath such sweetness and dearness in 
 it as it plainly speaks him free and willing to receive you, if you will but 
 come. 
 
 3. The wooings of Christ are to gain your hearts : consider him bowing 
 the heavens, and coming down, aud laying aside his robes of majesty : con- 
 sider him going about from place to place on no other errand, but to gain 
 your hearts, and win your souls : and, who ever spake such effectual words 
 
CHAP. III.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 269 
 
 as Christ spake when he was upon earth ? Who ever gave such precious 
 jewels to a bride, as Christ gave to his spouse ? Who ever put on such an 
 apparel as Christ did when he wooed his church ? The prophet wonders at 
 it. “ Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Boz- 
 rah ! — Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him 
 that treadet.h in the wine-fat !” Isa. 63 : 1, 2. Who ever gave such a love- 
 token as Christ gave when he laid down his life ? Oh, consider him living 
 or dying, and say, “Never love like to this.” Ah, poor sinner! see your 
 Jesus hanging on the cross, dropping out his last blood, breathing out 
 his last breath, stretching out his dying arms to encircle sinners ; and 
 come, oh, come and throw yourselves into his bleeding arms ! away with 
 all prejudicate opinion ! who will say, Christ is not willing to save him, 
 and not blaspheme eternal love ! Speak truth, corrupt hearts, speak truth, 
 say not Christ is unwilling, but you are unwilling ; I would, but ye would 
 not. 
 
 4. The weepings of Christ if he cannot prevail. Thus we find him in 
 the gospel expressing himself, not only in words, but in tears. And when 
 he was come near Jerusalem, he beheld the city, aud wept over it, Luke 
 19 : 41. Christ coming to the city, and seeing, aud foreseeing the desola- 
 tion that should come upon it, his bowels yearned within him towards the 
 people, and he mourned secretly within himself, q. d. 0 Jerusalem, thou 
 hast had many priests to advise thee, and many prophets to instruct thee in 
 the ways of life, but now these days are gone and past ; nay, the great pro- 
 phet of the world is come to woo thee, but yet thy heart is hardened, and 
 thou wilt not receive the things belonging to thy peace, and therefore I will 
 turn my preaching into mourning and sighing, “ Oh that thou hadst known, 
 even thou, at least in this thy day the things belonging to thy peace-” — 
 Aud then bis heart even breaks, and he weeps again, “ but now they are 
 hid from thine eyes !” Sinners, suppose Christ should come and weep over 
 you, as he did over Jerusalem, saying, 0 ye sinful souls, had but you known 
 even you in this your day the things belonging to your peace !” And, 
 suppose you should see one tear trickling down after another : what, Christ 
 to weep for you, over you ? methinks, if you had hearts of stone, it should 
 melt your hearts : surely it is no light matter that makes Christ weep ; 
 children weep often, but wise men seldom, yet here the wisest of men 
 weeps for them that would not weep for themselves : Oh Jerusalem, Jeru- 
 salem ! 
 
 Sect. IV. — Of Christ’s easy Yoke , and light Burden. 
 
 3. For the easiness of Christ’s yoke, and the lightness of Christ’s bur- 
 den, Christ delivers it in these words, Matth. 11 : 29, 20. “ Take my yoke 
 upon you and learn of me, — for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” 
 See the actings of Christ this year in reference to our soul’s health. 1. He 
 commissions his apostles to call sinners in. 2. He stands ready to receive 
 them, if they will but come in. 3. He sweetens the way of Christianity to 
 them when they are come in. Many fears and jealousies are in the hearts 
 of men, of the difficulty, austerity and severity of Christ’s institutions; and 
 therefore, to remove that objection, he tells them plainly, there is no such 
 thing, but rather clean contrary, u For my yoke is easy, and my burden is 
 light.” 
 
 “ My yoke,” (i. e.) my commandments : so the apostle John gives the 
 interpretation, 1 John 5:3. 11 His commandments are not grievous.” My 
 
 yoke is easy, (i. e.) My commandments are without any inconveniency : 
 the trouble of a yoke is not the weight, but the uneasiness of it, and Christ 
 speaks suitably, “ My yoke is easy, and my burden,” (i, ei) my institutions : 
 the word primarily, signifies the freight or ballast of a ship, which cuts 
 
270 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK TV. 
 
 through the waves, as if it had no burden ; and without which burden there 
 is no safety in a ship, ( Phortion para to pheresthei ’) a ferendo , a burden, 
 which is laid upon the shoulder, or rather which is put into a ship, that it 
 may go steadily and safely. My burden is light : the yoke of the law was 
 hard, and the burden of the Pharisees was heavy, but Christ’s yoke is easy, 
 and his burden is light, every way sweet and pleasant. 
 
 Christian religion, and the practice of it, are full of sweetness, easiness 
 and pleasantness ; my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. The prophets 
 prophesying of this, say thus, Isa. 40 :4. “ Every valley shall be exalted, 
 
 and every mountain and hill shall be laid low, the crooked shall be made 
 straight, and the rough places plain.” The meaning is, that the ways of 
 Christianity should be levelled and made even ; and that all lets and im- 
 pediments should be removed out of the way, that so we might have a more 
 easy and convenient passage unto heaven : to the same purpose is that other 
 prophecy. “ And an highway (or causeway) shall be there : and a way, 
 a causeway, and a way;” (that is, a way cast up,) Isa. 35 : 8. “ And it 
 shall be called the way of holiness (or a way for the saints of God, and not 
 for the wicked, Matth. 7 : 14.) “ The unclean shall not pass over it, but it 
 shall be for those ;” (Or, he shall be with them, or be a guide unto them, 
 by his word and Spirit, Isa. 30 : 21.) The wayfaring men, though fools, 
 shall not err therein.” Christ’s way is so easy, that the simplest so con- 
 ducted by his word and Spirit, shall not miss it, Psal. 25 : 9. “ The meek 
 
 will he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach his way.” 
 
 The apostles are yet more clear, 1 John 5:3. “ For this is the love of 
 
 God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not 
 grievous,” Rom. 8 : 2. “ And the law of the Spirit oflife in Jesus hath made 
 me free from the law of sin and death,” Rom. 7:6. “ And now are we 
 
 delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we 
 should serve in the newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.” 
 Christ Jesus came to break off from our necks those two great yokes; the 
 one of sin, by which we were kept in fetters and prisons : the other of Moses’ 
 law by which we were kept in pupilage and minority : and now Christ 
 having taken off these two, he hath put on a third ; he quits us of our bur- 
 den, but not of our duty; he hath changed the yoke of sin, and the yoke 
 of the law strictly taken, into the sweetness of his fatherly regimen, whose 
 very precepts carry part of their reward in hand, and assurance of glory 
 afterwards. 
 
 The reasons of the sweetness, easiness, and pleasantness of Christian re- 
 ligion, and the practice of it, I shall reduce into these heads. 
 
 1. Christian religion is most rational. If we should look into the best 
 laws that the wisest men in the world ever agreed upon, we shall find that 
 Christ adopted the quintessence of them all into this one law ; the highest 
 pitch of reason is but as a spark, a taper, a lesser light, which is involved 
 and swallowed up in the body of this great light, that is made up by the 
 Sun of righteousness. Some observe, that Christ’s discipline is the brevi- 
 ary of all the wisdom of the best men, and a fair copy and transcript of his 
 Father’s wisdom, There is nothing in the laws of Christian religion, but 
 what is perfective of our spirits ; rare expedient of obeying God, and of doing 
 duty and benefit to all capacities and orders of men. Indeed the Greeks 
 whom the world admired for their human wisdom, accounted the preaching 
 of the gospel foolishness, and thereupon God blasted their wisdom, as it is 
 written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing 
 the understanding of the prudent,” 1 Cor. 1 : 19. The gospel may be as 
 foolishness unto some, but u unto them which are called — Christ the power 
 of God and the wisdom of God,” 1 Cor. 1 : 24. 
 
 2. Christian religion hath less trouble, and slavery in it than sin, or any 
 
CHAP III.] 
 
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 271 
 
 thing that is contrary to it ; as for instance, he that propounds to biraself, 
 to live a low, a pious, an humble and retired life, bis main employment is 
 nothing but sitting religiously quiet, and undisturbed with variety of im- 
 pertinent affairs, but he that loves the world entertains a thousand busi- 
 nesses, and every business hath a world of employments : how easy a thing 
 is it to restore a pledge? But if a man means to defeat, or to cozen him 
 that trusts him, what a world of arts must he use to make pretences ? As 
 first to delay, then to excuse, then to object, then to intricate'the business, 
 then to quarrel; and all the way to palliate the crime, and to represent 
 himself an honest man ; the ways of sin are crooked, desert, rocky, and 
 uneven ways; the apocryphal book of Solomon brings in such men, as if 
 in hell they were speaking this language, Wisd. 5 : 7. “We wearied our- 
 selves in the way of wickedness, yea, we have gone through deserts, where 
 there lay no way ; but as for the way of the Lord we have not known it.” 
 Wicked men are in thraldom, but “ where the Spirit of the Lord is, there 
 is freedom,” 2 Cor. 3 : 17. 0 the pains, troubles, expenses that men are 
 
 at to serve their sensuality! see how the ambitious man riseth early, and 
 goes to bed late ; see how he flatters, dissembles, solicits to obtain nothing 
 but a little wind, a puff, a breath of vain men’s mouths ! see how the 
 covetous man toils, as if he were tied in a galley by the leg, within a chain, 
 to serve by rowing for ever ! so I have heard that Turks use some Chris- 
 tians; but this is a thousand times worse servitude; for such a one is in 
 servitude to a more base creature than a Turk ; and he lies bound not only 
 by the feet, but also by the hands, ears, eyes, heart, and all. Only the 
 Christian is at liberty : only Christian religion, and the practice of it, sets 
 men at liberty, John 8 : 31, 32. “ If ye continue in my word, (saith Christ) 
 theu are ye my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth 
 shall make you free.” 
 
 3. Christian religion is also composed of peace, “ Her ways are the ways 
 of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace,” Prov. 3 : 17. Christ framed 
 all his laws in compliance of this design of peace, peace within, and peace 
 at home, and peace abroad : 1. It holds forth a certain heavenly peace, and 
 tranquillity within, Psal. 119 : 165. “Great peace have they which love 
 thy law, and nothing shall offend them.” But on the contrary, “The 
 wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up 
 mire and dirt; there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked,” Isa. 
 57 : 20, 21. Their passions were never yet mortified, and such passions 
 usually range in wicked men, as are most contrary, and demand contrary 
 things; the desire of honor cries, spend here; but the passion of avarice 
 cries, hold thy hands; lust cries, venture here; but saith pride, no such 
 thing, it may turn to thy dishonor; anger cries, revenge thyself here; but 
 ambition says, it is better to dissemble. And here is fulfilled that of the 
 Psalmist, “ I have seen violence and strife in the city,” Psal. 55 : 9. The 
 vulgar renders it, “ I have seen iniquity and contradiction in the self same 
 city.” First, iniquity, for all the demands of these passions are unjust. 
 And, 2. Contradiction, for one passion cries out against another. But now, 
 “ Great peace have they that love thy law;” for by the aid of Christ and 
 his grace, their passions are in some sort subdued ; and they pass on their 
 life most sweetly aud calmly, without any perturbations much troubling 
 their spirits; they have that “peace which passeth all understanding: 
 which the world can neither give, nor taste of,” as Christ affirmeth, John 
 14:27. 
 
 2. It holds forth peace at home; the laws of Jesus teach us how to bear 
 with the infirmities of our relatives; and indeed whosoever obeys the laws 
 of Jesus Christ, he seeks with sweetness to remedy all differences; he 
 throws water upon a spark; he lives sweetly with his wife, affectionately 
 
272 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 with his children, discreetly with his servants ; and they all look upon him 
 as their guardian, friend, and patron ; hut look upon an angry man not 
 subject to these Christian laws, and when he enters upon his threshold, it 
 gives an alarm to his house : every little accident is the matter of a quarrel, 
 discomposes the peace of the house, and sets it on fire, and no man can tell 
 how far it may burn. 0 the sweetness, easiness, pleasantness of Christian 
 religion ! where that is embraced and followed, the man is peaceable, and 
 charitable, and just, and loving, and forbearing, and forgiving; and how 
 should there be but content in this blessed family ? 
 
 3. It holds out peace abroad ; it commands all offices of kindness, gentle- 
 ness, love, meekness, humility, lowliness of mind towards others; and such 
 sweet dispositions are usually received with fondness, and all the endear- 
 ments of the neighborhood : it prescribes an austere, and yet a sweet de- 
 portment : it commands all those labors of love, as to relieve the stranger, 
 to visit the sick, to wash the feet of the poor : it sends us upon charitable 
 embassies, to unclean prisons, nasty dungeons, and in the cause of Christ, 
 to lay down our lives one for another : it teacheth us how to return good 
 for evil, kindness for injuries, a soft answer for the rough words of an 
 enemy : oh ! when I think of this, I cannot but think of him who said, 
 that “ either this was not the Christian religion, or we are not Christians.” 
 For my part, I am easily persuaded, that if we would but live according to 
 the discipline of Christian religion, one of those great plagues that vexeth 
 the world (I mean the plague of war) would be no more : certainly this was 
 one of the designs of Christianity, That there should be no wars, no jars, 
 no discontents amongst men ; aud if all men that are called Christians, 
 were indeed charitable, peaceable, just, loving, forbearing one another, and 
 forgiving one another, what sweet peace should we have ? How would this 
 world be an image of heaven, and of that society of saints and angels above 
 in glory ? 
 
 4. Christian religion affords to us all assistances, both outward and in- 
 ward, in some respect: I know the duties of Christianity are hard and 
 heavy, but whatsoever Christ hath imposed as heavy and hard, he hath 
 made it light in aids. I shall show the helps in these particulars. As, 
 
 1. The holy Scriptures be our helps ; this was the very scope and aim 
 for which the sacred volume was sent from heaven, viz., That we might 
 decline from evil, and do good ; that we might die to old Adam, and live 
 to Christ; that we might crucify sin, and follow virtue: what are the 
 Scriptures but the registers of God’s will, the letters of God’s love, to 
 invite us to grace, and to dehort us from vice ? 0 the persuasion, directions, 
 and commands of God that we might become holy ! and, 0 the dissuasions, 
 diversions, threatenings, and terrifying of God, that we might flee profane- 
 ness ! 
 
 2. The ministers of Christ be our helps ; thou hast the Scriptures, but 
 it may be thou canst not read, or thou canst not understand the sense and 
 meaning thereof : Christ therefore, for thy help, hath set up a ministry, 
 “ for the edifying of the body of Christ,” Eph. 4 : 12. These are the 
 watchmen over the house of Israel, to cry like trumpets, and to blazon the 
 sins of the house of Israel, these are the suitors of God and Christ, to 
 speak out his good will in thiue ears ; they call, they cry, they wait, they 
 woo, “ they pray you in Christ’s stead, that you will be reconciled unto 
 God,” 2 Cor 5:20. 
 
 3. The lives of saints be our helps : we have not only teachers in word, 
 but the saints in all ages as so many stars have given us light how to 
 walk in the darkness of this life. • The examples of the godly are very 
 drawing, and much for our imitation ; and therefore the Psalmist bids us, 
 Psal. 37 : 37. “ Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 273 
 
 CHAP, m.] 
 
 of that man is peace.” 0 ! it is a blessed help to a Christian life to read 
 over, much more to mark, and observe the holy and godly lives of the saints 
 of God ; how doth their zeal condemn our coldness, their diligence, our neg- 
 ligence, their watching and prayer, our sluggishness and indevotion ? And 
 how are they as spurs to quicken us forward in our spiritual voyage towards 
 heaven ? 
 
 4. Christ’s ordinances be our helpers : as the word, and sacraments, and 
 prayer, and meditation, and conference, &c. What are they but fountains 
 of grace, conduits and conveyances of the blood of Christ ? To what end 
 were they instituted, but for the watering of our souls, to the increase of 
 grace, and to supplanting of sin and vice, and all manner of evil. 
 
 5. The encouragements of reward be our helps. Now, in the practice of 
 Christian religion, there is a double reward. 1. The reward of duty, Psal. 
 19 : 11. “ In the keeping of thy commandments there is great reward he 
 saith not, “ For keeping them, but in keeping them there is great reward 
 there is a grace, a beauty, an excellency in every gracious acting. 2. The 
 reward according to the duty : to this exercise of religion Christ hath an- 
 nexed many sweet and gracious promises both for this life, and that to come ; 
 and these promises may be used as helps : Heb. 11 : 26. “He had a re- 
 spect unto the recompense of reward.” To this purpose are the glorious 
 things of heaven set open before us that we may have an eye to them, and 
 be encouraged by them, “ So run that ye may obtain,” 1 Cor. 9 : 24 
 
 6. The openings and discoveries of the pains of hell are as helps to re- 
 strain us from sin, and to keep us in the way of Christ, this some call legal, 
 but Christ in the gospel tells us of this ; in the gospel we find a description 
 of hell pains, set out by “ weeping and wailing, and gnashing of teeth : by 
 a worm never dying, and a fire never going out,” Matth. 8 : 12. and Mark. 
 9 : 44. Oh ! when I think of these unquenchable flames, those remediless 
 torments, without hope of recovery, remission, or mitigation ; when I think 
 of that privation and loss of the sight of God’s face, prepared only for those 
 that serve him in holiness, how should I but look about me, and prepare 
 for my reckoning ! Nay, how easy should I think any pains in comparison ? 
 Some persons in affrightment have been seen to carry burdens, and leap 
 ditches, and to climb walls, which their natural power could never have 
 done : and if we understood the sadness of a cursed eternity, from which 
 we are commanded to fly, and yet knew how near we are to it, and likely to 
 fall into it, if we continue in sin, it would be able to create fears greater than 
 a sudden fire, or a midnight alarm. 
 
 7. A principle of love (wheresoever it is planted) is our help : be the 
 yoke never so uneasy, yet love will make it light : Solomon compares the 
 state of the church to a chariot, and it is described to have “ pillars of silver, 
 and a bottom of gold, and a covering of purple, the midst thereof being 
 paved with love,” Cant. 3 : 10. A strange expression that the midst of a 
 chariot should be paved with love, but it is plain, the chariot wherein Christ 
 carries his people up and down in the world, and brings them to himself, is 
 such a chariot as the midst thereof is paved with love : in this case, if there 
 were neither heaven nor hell, yet a soul would be in the duties of Christianity. 
 I remember how Ivo, bishop of Chartres, meeting a grave matron on the 
 way, with fire in one hand, and water in the other, he asked her, what those 
 symbols meant ? and what she meant to do with her fire and water ? She 
 answered, “ My purpose is, with the fire to burn paradise, and with the water 
 to quench the flames of hell, that men may serve God (said she) without 
 the incentives of hope and fear and purely for the love of God, and Jesus 
 Christ.” Surely it was an high expression; for my part, I dare not sepa- 
 rate those things which God hath joined together; only this I say, that 
 where true love is ; there is an excellent help in our way heaven-wards. 
 
 18 
 
274 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 8. The angels be our helps : “ They are ministering spirits, sent forth to 
 minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation/' Heb. 1 : 14. And the 
 kind of their administration is excellently set forth by the Psalmist, “ They 
 shall keep thee in all thy ways, they shall bear thee up in their hands, lest 
 thou dasb thy foot against a stone," Psal. 91 : 11,12. In this place the 
 angels are compared to nurses that have a charge over weak children, to 
 keep them and guard them ; so the angels do all the offices of a nurse, or 
 mother : they keep us, guard us, instruct us, admonish us, correct us, com- 
 fort us, preserve us from evil, and provoke us to good. 
 
 9. The motions, inspirations, blessed influence of the Spirit of Christ be 
 our helps : many a time the Spirit cries, and calls on our hearts, saying, 
 “ This is the way, walk therein," Isa. 80 : 21. As the evil spirit, or devil 
 in wicked men is continually moving, and inclining them to all evil thoughts, 
 affections and desires, so the good Spirit of God in good men doth incline 
 and move them to good thoughts, good affections, good actions; and hence 
 they are said “to be led by the Spirit," Rom. 8: 14. There are indeed 
 several acts of the Spirit ; as sometimes, there is a breathing or stirring : 
 sometimes a quickening or enlivening : sometimes a powerful effectual in- 
 clining, or bending of our hearts unto good things : now, in some of these 
 works the Spirit is principal, for in the progress of sanctification, we need 
 a continual help and influence from God’s Holy Spirit, and when we obey 
 these conducts, we are said to “ walk in the Spirit," Gal. 5 : 24. And as 
 all these are helps in the ways of Christianity, so by these helps and 
 assistances of Christ’s Holy Spirit, Christianity is made very easy unto us. 
 
 10. The grace of God is our help : many feeling the strength of corrup- 
 
 tion, cry out, with Paul, “ 0 wretched man that I am, who shall deliver 
 me from the body of this death ? 01 find a law in my members warring 
 
 against the law of my mind," Rom. 7 : 28 and 24. But they consider not 
 the comfortable saying of Christ to Paul, 2 Cor. 12 : 9. “ My grace is suf- 
 
 ficient for thee ;" by the assistance of grace, Paul could do any thing : “ I 
 can do all things through Christ that strengthened me," Phil. 4 : 13. Yea, 
 “ In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us," 
 Rom. 8 : 37. The Psalmist hath a notable expression to this purpose : “ I 
 will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart," 
 Psal. 119 : 32. This enlargement of heart was by the grace of God ; grace 
 is compared to oil : as a dry purse is softened and enlarged by anointing it 
 with oil, so the heart drawn together by sin is opened and enlarged, by the 
 pouring of grace into it: and if grace be present, then saith David, “ I will 
 run the way of thy commandments," not walk, but run ; it is an allusion to 
 a cart wheel, which crieth and complained under a small burden, being 
 dry, but when a little oil is put into it, it runs merrily, and without noise; 
 and if David could say thus in his time, how much more should we that live 
 in these gospel times, when grace in greater measure is effused, and poured 
 out? “ By the grace of Christ (should we say) we will walk, and run, and 
 fly in the way of his commandments." 
 
 Use 1. Well then, is Christian religion and the practice of it, full of 
 sweetness, easiness, and pleasantness? In the first place for conviction, this 
 may take away the cavils of some men : what is said in the way of objec- 
 tion, I shall reduce to these particulars. 
 
 1. They object, that Christ himself confessed it to be the yoke, and a 
 burden; but to that we answer, with Christ, “ His yoke is easy, and his 
 burden is light." Certainly there are burdens which grieve not the bearers 
 at all, as the burden of feathers upon a bird’s back; it is nothing grievous 
 to her, but rather bears her up, and a burden of gold and jewels upon a 
 man’s back (supposing it the reward of his portage, and the hire of his 
 labor) it is nothing grievous to him, but rather cheers him up. Men, 
 
CHAP. III.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 275 
 
 brethren, and fathers, if we will but come and close with Christ, the Spirit 
 is given to enable us, and heaven is promised to encourage us ; the one 
 gives power, and the other stirs up our affections, and how then should we 
 complain of pressure ? 0 it is a sweet burden ! sweetened by his grace, and 
 sweetened by his Spirit, and sweetened by a principle of love, Psal. 119 : 
 97, 174. “ 0 how love I thy law ?” and sweetened by a principle of de- 
 light, “ Thy law is my delight ;” and sweetened with a promise of reward, 
 Psal. 19 : 11. “ In keeping of thy commandments there is great reward.” 
 
 2. They object, We feel no. such thing; you tell us of sweetness, easi- 
 ness, pleasantness; but if we must speak out our own experiences, Mai. 1 : 
 13. “ 0 what a weariness is it?” Amos 8:5. u When will the new moon 
 be gone, that we may sell corn ? And the Sabbath, that we may set forth 
 wheat?” We feel a sweetness in these present enjoyments of the world; 
 but as for holiness, grace, religion, the discipline of Christ, we wonder 
 where the sweetness is : we can find no such secret golden mines, in these 
 spiritual diggings. 
 
 I answer, 1. This indeed is the speech of carnal and profane men ; they 
 feel no sweetness, easiness, pleasantness in God’s ways, 1 Cor. 2 : 14, 15, 
 “ The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they 
 are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are 
 spiritually discerned ; but he that is spiritual judgeth or discerneth all 
 things.” Poor souls ! till God speaks to your hearts, you cannot under- 
 stand this hidden manna : it is observed that God never sent the pleasant 
 manna unto Israel so long as their flour and bread of Egypt lasted, so 
 never will you taste how good the Lord is, so long as you dote on sin and 
 vanity. 
 
 2. Though you feel not these things for the present, yet in time you may 
 do ; yea, certainly if you belong to God, in time you will do; 0 but when ? 
 you will say, When ? I answer, the first taste of this sweetness, is usually 
 at the first taking of Christ’s yoke upon us; as merchants desirous to sell 
 their wares, are content in the first place, to let you see, and handle, and 
 taste, thereby to induce you to buy: so Jesus Christ, willing (as it were) 
 to part with heaven, he is content in the first place, to impart a certain taste 
 beforehand, and to sweeten the ways of godliness unto us, Hos. 2 : 14. 
 “Behold I will allure her (saith God) and bring her into the wilderness, 
 and speak comfortably unto her.” What is it that God means by alluring 
 of his people ? I answer, it contains these things : As, 
 
 1. A discovery of the beauty of holiness; when God first effectually calls 
 the soul home to himself, he sets open the beauty of his Service : naturally 
 the heart is possessed with much prejudice against the ways of religion. 
 Oh ! what a strict rule is this to carnal men, to pull out their right eyes, 
 and to cut off their right hands, to hate father, and mother, and wife, and 
 lands, and life for the name of Christ, to cross their own desires, to deny 
 their own selves, to mortify their earthly members, to follow the Lamb 
 through evil report and good report, through afflictions, and persecutions, 
 and manifold temptations whithersoever he goeth ; to war with principali- 
 ties and powers, and spiritual wickednesses in high places ? and hence it 
 is, that the Lord is forced to set forth the ways of Christ as beautiful, even 
 under crosses and afflictions; thus when the watchmen smote the church, 
 and wounded her, and took away her veil, yet she still acknowledged Christ 
 (for whose sake she suffered) to be white and ruddy, the fairest of ten thou- 
 sands, Sol. Song 5:7, 10. Christ sets forth himself and his ways in all 
 the grace, and goodness, and beauty, and sweetness, and loveliness that pos- 
 sibly may be ; q. d. by these I will allure them that belong unto me. 
 
 2. An out- bidding of all the temptations of other lovers; before Christ 
 comes, souls go a whoring from Christ, their hearts are allured by other 
 
276 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 lovers ; the world, the flesh, and the devil comes in, and they proffer souls 
 such and such contentments ; but when Christ comes, he deals with souls 
 in a more powerful way, and he out-bids all their former lovers, q. d. Did 
 their lovers proffer them comfort ? I will bid more comfort. Did their 
 lovers proffer gain ? I will bid more gain. Did their lovers proffer honor 
 and respect ? I will out-bid them in that also. And indeed, then hath the 
 gospel a true, and full, and gracious work upon the heart, when it yields to 
 the proffers of the gospel, as finding that all that the world can bid is now 
 out-bidden. You know, when one comes to offer so much for a commodity, 
 and another out-bids him, he carries it away; so when the world, and lust, 
 and sin proffer to the soul such and such contents, then comes Christ and 
 out-bids all, and so the bargain is made up, and Christ carries the heart 
 away : sinners ! it may be as yet you feel none of these things, but in time 
 you may do, and in the mean time you see here is a word for it, “ Behold, 
 I will allure her,” &c. 
 
 3. They object, The saints themselves feel no such things for aught ap- 
 pears to the world ; whose spirits are more heavy and sad ? as it is said of 
 Christ himself, that he never laughed ; and as David said of himself, Psal. 
 42 : 5. “ Why art thou cast down, 0 my soul, and why art thou disquieted 
 with me !” So it may be said of some Christians, if they are strict, that 
 they are seldom merry, or pleasant. 
 
 But I answer, — 1. Christians that keep indeed close to the rule, are for 
 the most part serious, and the world may suppose them as sad. 
 
 2. It may be, they are not in their element but in the acts of religion, 
 and therefore they cannot express their spiritual cheerfulness ; a fish can- 
 not delight itself on earth, but when it is in the water; a bird doth not 
 sing on the ground, but when it is got up into the air ; God’s people cannot 
 rejoice in sin, as drunkards and revellers do, but when their hearts are in 
 religious exercises, and in communion with God, they are merry and 
 pleasant. 
 
 3. It may be they are in such company as may make them sad ; the 
 men of the world object against saints, that they are heavy, and sour, and 
 melancholy men, but, in the mean time, they consider not that their swear- 
 ing, revelling, and dishonoring of God hath made them so pensive. Why, 
 sinners ! your carriage grieves the very Spirit of God, u You grieve God at 
 the heart,” as it is expressed, Gen. 6 : 6. And therefore, no wonder if the 
 godly cannot rejoice in your sinful society; you are the cause of their sad- 
 ness ; but admit them once into the company and fellowship of the saints, 
 and they know how to be joyful. 
 
 4. If it be so, that usually they are pensive and sad, it is not because 
 
 of religion, but because they are not more religious; because they find so 
 much want of godliness in their own hearts ; this was the cause of Paul’s 
 heaviness, Bom. 7 : 24. “ 0 wretched man that I am, who shall deliver 
 
 me from the body of this death ?” and yet know, that all these sadnesses 
 are true preparatives of joy; and therefore in the very next words, the 
 apostle breaks out into that sweet doxology, “ I thank God through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord.” Never was true sorrow for sin, but it ended in rejoic- 
 ings and praises, and thanksgiving to God. 
 
 Why then be convinced, ah, deceived souls ; say not that God is an hard 
 master, reaping where he sowed not, and gathering where he strawed not ; 
 say not that his ways are tedious, and irksome, and uncomfortable ways, 
 but rather taste, and see, and try how good the Lord is ; experience the 
 truth of these words, “ My yoke is easy, and my burden is light ;” what is 
 lighter than that burden, which, instead of burdening, cheers up the party 
 on which it is laid ? just like those burdens of cinnamon that refresh those 
 that carry them through the deep sands of Arabia. A holy divine, once 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 277 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 endeavoring to convince men of the sweetness and pleasantness of God’s 
 ways by his own experiences, “ I call heaven and earth to record (saith he) 
 that these things are truths of God ; they are not notions or conceits, but 
 certain realities another flies somewhat higher, “ if men would, in earnest 
 (saith he) abandon the devil’s service, and give up their names to Christ 
 in truth, and try, I dare assure them, in the word of life and truth, they 
 would not exchange the saddest hour of all their life afterward with the 
 prime and flower of all their former sensual pleasures, might they have ten 
 thousand worlds to boot “ her ways are ways of pleasure,” saith Solomon, 
 Prov. 8 : 17. ‘ 
 
 6W2. You that are convinced, I beseech you carry on the work of God 
 sweetly, comfortably, and with delight; the Psalmist says, Psal. 1 : 1, 2. 
 u Blessed is the man that delights in the law of the Lord,” And Psal. 
 119 : 1. “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk cheerfully in the 
 law of the Lord. And blessed is. the man that delighteth greatly in his 
 law.” And it was written upon the heart of Christ, Psal. 40 : 8. u I de- 
 light to do thy will, 0 my God, yea, thy law is within my heart as God 
 loves a cheerful giver, so a cheerful server, “ Come, take my yoke upon you, 
 (saith Christ) for my yoke is easy it is not an iron yoke of bondage, but 
 a chain of heavenly pearls to adorn your souls. 
 
 Quest. 1. Oh, but how should we carry on the work, the yoke, the duty, 
 the practice of piety, and of religion pleasantly? I answer. 
 
 Answ. 1. Be sure to keep the heart right and upright within ; let all we 
 do be in sincerity, and let all we are, in respect of the inner man, be at 
 peace within; sense and reason can tell us, that according to the temper 
 within, so there is the relishing of things without ; he that acts in sincerity, 
 and hath peace within, can easily go through the duties that are required 
 without, with joy and comfort. 
 
 2. Exercise faith in the work and office of the Holy Ghost; I mean that 
 work and office to which the Holy Ghost is designed by the Father and the 
 Son ; both to help his people, and to be the comforter of his people. 1. 
 The Holy Ghost is designed to help his people, Rom. 8 : 26. “ Likewise 
 the Spirit helpeth our infirmities ;” the word in the original, (sunantilamba- 
 netai) doth properly imply such an help, as when another man of strength 
 and ability steppeth in, to sustain the burden that lieth upon weak shoul- 
 ders; why, this makes Christ’s burden light : we do not bear all the weight, 
 for the Holy Ghost puts under his shoulder. 2. The Holy Ghost is de- 
 signed to comfort his people, Christ calls him u the Spirit, the Comforter,” 
 John 14 : 26, and 15 : 26, because he brings in a kind of spiritual joy and 
 spiritual comfort. Mark, it is not a natural, but a spiritual joy : Oh ! what 
 a vast difference is there betwixt the comforts of a carnal heart, and the 
 comforts of the godly?. The one comes from a little meat, or drink, or crea- 
 ture-vanity; but the other comes from the exercise of faith, about the office 
 of the Holy Ghost, who is designed to this work. Surely here is the way 
 to carry on duty sweetly and comfortably, and with delight, (i. e .) to be in 
 the exercise of faith on the work and office of the Holy Ghost, as he is our 
 helper and comforter. 
 
 3. Understand what is in Christian religion, and in the practice of it to 
 cause delight. As, — 
 
 1. In every duty and gracious acting of it there is more of the glory of 
 God than in the whole frame of heaven and earth besides : “ Herein is my 
 Father glorified, that you bear much fruit,” John 15 : 8. Oh, if we but 
 thus looked at the profession and practice of Christian religion, we could 
 not but take pleasure in it. 
 
 2. In every duty and gracious acting of it, there is the seed of glory and 
 eternal life ; sometimes there breaks out in the very exercise of duty, a joy 
 
278 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 in the Holy Ghost, a foretaste of glory ; but howsoever there is the seed of 
 glory ; and though the seed of glory be not seen, but lie, as it were, under 
 ground dead and unseen, yet in time it will spring up unto eternal life : 
 why, thus look at the practice of religion, and it will be sweeter to us than 
 honey, and the honey-comb ; it will be more precious than gold, yea, than 
 much fine gold. 
 
 Quest. 2. But how should we know the difference betwixt the natural 
 pleasantness, and this spiritual pleasantness in religion ? I know Christians 
 may put a lustre upon the ways of God by their natural pleasantness and 
 cheerfulness of spirit; but because we speak of a spiritual joy and comfort, 
 and not of a natural, wherein lies the difference ? I answer, — 
 
 Ans. 1. If it be a spiritual pleasantness, it will be serious, Eccl. 2 : 2. 
 u I have said of laughter, it is mad, and of mirth, what doeth it V ’ There 
 is much lightness and vanity in such breakings out of natural pleasantness, 
 but in pleasantness spiritual, all is grave, and sober, and exceeding serious. 
 
 2. If it be a spiritual pleasantness, it can stand with repentance and hu- 
 miliation, and the fear of God, Psal. 2 : 11. u Rejoice with trembling, ” 
 saith the Psalmist : spiritual rejoicing may consist with trembling : and 
 “ Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his 
 commandments/’ Psal. 112 : 1. The fear of God may consist with these 
 spiritual delights in the commandments of God. 
 
 3. If it be spiritual pleasantness, it is our strength, Neb. 8 : 10. “The 
 joy of the Lord is our strength,” saith Nehemiah : nothing animates souls 
 more in duties than joy doth ; it carries on the soul more fully : it is as oil, 
 that causeth the wheels of Christian practice to go on more freely : we may 
 be naturally pleasant, and then coming to spiritual duties our hearts are 
 dead, but if our pleasantness be spiritual, our hearts will be strengthened 
 in the ways of God. 
 
 4. If it be a spiritual pleasantness, it will bear up the heart in want of all 
 outward pleasantness, Hab. 3 : 17, 18. “ Although the fig-tree shall not 
 blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail, 
 and the fields shall yield no meat, the flocks shall be cut off from the fold, 
 and there shall be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I 
 will joy in the God of my salvation.” When all is dark abroad in the 
 world, the soul in this frame will rejoice in God alone ; on the contrary, the 
 soul that hath only a natural pleasantness of spirit, when affliction comes, it 
 is all amort and down. I appeal to you that have the most delightful spirits, 
 when you have friends and means, and all you like, you are jocund and 
 merry, but when affliction comes, how quickly are your spirits down ? Sure- 
 ly your pleasantness is not spiritual, for, if so, it would bear up your hearts 
 joyful in affliction. 
 
 And now again u the passover, a feast of the Jews^ was nigh,” John 6 :4. 
 Our English annotations on these words, can tell us, That this seems “ to be 
 the third passover after Christ’s baptism.” (So Aretius, and others.) And 
 therefore here I conclude the third year of Christ’s ministry : there is but 
 one year more before Christ’s death, to which now I come, and to some 
 passages therein, most observable, in reference to our souls’ salvation. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the fourth Year of Christ’s Ministry , and generally of his 
 actings in that year. 
 
 This was the last year of Christ’s ministry, in which were thousands of 
 passages: The evangelist John relates more of Christ this year than in all 
 
CHAP. IV.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 279 
 
 the former, and if I studied not brevity, we might dwell more on his actings 
 for us this year, than hitherto we have done from the beginning of his min- 
 istry : now it was that he was transfigured, now it was that he instituted 
 that sacrament called “ the Lord’s supper/’ now it was that after supper, he 
 made his farewell sermon, rarely mixed of sadness and joys, and studded 
 with mysteries as with emeralds : now it was that after sermon he blessed 
 his disciples and prayed for them; and then having sung an hymn, he went 
 out into the mount of Olives, where, in a garden he began his sufferings. 
 On these passages I thought to have enlarged, but I see the book swells 
 under my hands, and now that I am drawing near Christ’s sufferings, I 
 shall only touch one point, which hitherto I have pretermitted, and is the 
 most comprehensive of any passage I can touch. 
 
 Many questions are about the holiness, or righteousness, or obedience of 
 Christ; as, whether it belongs to us? And, whether it be the matter of 
 our justification ? And, whether Christ was bound to observe the law of 
 works, as a Mediator, or only as a mere man ? And whether we are not 
 justified by the passive righteousness of Christ only ? And seeing now we 
 are discovering Christ’s actings, in reference to our soul’s salvation, we 
 cannot pass this main business, whereof much relates to Christ’s life, as well 
 as to his conception, or birth, or death, or sufferings. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the Distinctions , or several Divisions of Christ’s righteous- 
 ness. 
 
 For the better understanding of Christ’s righteousness, we usually dis- 
 tinguish that Christ’s righteousness is either that righteousness inherent in 
 him, or performed by him : the righteousness performed by him, is either 
 his fulfilling the commandments, or his satisfying the curse of the law. The 
 same distinction is given by others, in these terms, Christ’s righteousness is 
 either his original conformity, or his active and passive obedience unto the 
 law : his original conformity, is that gracious inherent disposition in Christ, 
 from the first instant of his conception, whereby he was habitually conforma- 
 ble to the law; and this original righteousness answered for our original un- 
 righteousness ? his active obedience, is his doing of legal obedience unto the 
 command ; and his passive obedience, is his suffering of punishment due 
 unto us for our sins. — I shall yet a little further enlarge this distinction of 
 the righteousness of Christ, and give it in thus, viz. The righteousness of 
 Christ, is either negative, (if I may so speak) or positive. By the negative, 
 I understand the absence of all sins aud vices forbidden in the law. By the 
 positive, I mean both a presence of all virtues and duties required to the 
 perfect fulfilling of the law, as also a voluntary suffering of the penalty, to 
 satisfy the couimination aud curse of the law. 
 
 1. The negative righteousness is that which we call the innocency of 
 
 Christ: we read often in scriptures, that he was both blameless and spotless. 
 1. Blameless, free in himself from all imputation of sin : to this purpose 
 Christ challenged the Jews, John 8 : 46. “ Which of you convinceth me of 
 
 sin ?” In all his life he was unblameable and unreprovable ; and therefore 
 now, towards the end of his life, he asks the people with whom he had con- 
 versed, Which of you convinceth me of sin ? 2. Spotless, free from all infec- 
 tion of sin. Peter calls him, 1 Pet. 1 : 9. “ A Lamb without blemish and 
 without spot. ’ And Paul, Hab. 7 :26. 11 An high Priest, holy, harmless, 
 aud uudefiled ;” one who never did evil; nor spake evil: he did no sin 
 (saith the apostle) neither was guile found in his mouth,” 2 Pet. 2 : 22. 
 One who never offended so much as in thought, but was absolutely, and in 
 all respects (choris amartias ) “ without all sin,” Heb. 4 : 15. 
 
 2. The positive righteousness of Christ is two fold, his perfect fulfilling of 
 all things commanded, and his perfect satisfying of the punishment threat- 
 
280 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 ened : the former is the holiness of Christ; this also is two fold, the holi- 
 ness of his nature, and the holiness of his life and conversation : the former 
 is that we call his habitual righteousness; the latter is that we call his ac- 
 tual obedience. And thus much of the distinction of the righteousness of 
 Christ. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of the Holiness of Christ’s nature. 
 
 Now in the first place, for the holiness of his nature, the Psalmist tells 
 us, Psal. 45 : 2. “ Thou art fairer than the children of men, and grace is 
 poured into thy lips.” Which is all one with that description of Christ by 
 the spouse, Sol. Song 5 : 10. “ My beloved- is white and ruddy, the chiif- 
 
 est of ten thousands.” As in the fairest beauty, there is a mixture of these 
 two colors of white and ruddy, so in Christ there is a gracious mixture and 
 compound of all the graces of the Spirit; there is in him a sweet temper of 
 gentleness, purity, righteousness, meekness, humility, and what not ? Col. 
 2 : 3. “In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge :” and I 
 may add, of all other gifts and graces ; not a grace but it was in Christ, and 
 that in a higher way than in any saint in the world, and therefore he is 
 called “ fairer than all the children of men,” Observe, “ there was more 
 
 habitual grace in Christ than ever was, or is, or shall be in all the elect, 
 
 whether angels or men.” He received the spirit out of measure ; there was 
 in him as much as possibly could be in a creature, and more than in all 
 other creatures whatsoever. As the sun is the prince of stars, as the husband 
 is the head of the wife, as the lion is king of the beasts, so is this Sun of 
 
 righteousness, this head of the church, this lion of the tribe of Judah, “the 
 
 chiefest of ten thousands.” If we look at any thing in heaven or earth, 
 that we observe as eminently fair, by that is the Lord Jesus in respect of his 
 inward beauty set forth in scriptures, “ He is the Sun of righteousness, the 
 bright morning star, the light of the world, the tree of life, the lily and the 
 rose ;” fairer than all the flowers of the field, than all the precious stones of 
 the earth, than all the lights in the firmament, than all the saints and an- 
 gels in heaven. 
 
 You will say, What is all this to us? Certainly much every way; the 
 apostle tells you, Rom. 8:2. “ That the law of the Spirit of life, which is 
 in Christ Jesus, hath freed me from the law of sin and death :” let us in- 
 quire into these words, “the law of the Spirit of life ;” the Spirit of life is 
 here put for life as elsewhere, “After three days and an half, the Spirit of 
 life coming from God shall enter into them,” Rev. 11 : 11. Now, life is 
 that whereby a thing acteth and moveth itself, and it is the cause and be- 
 ginning of action and motion ; and this “ Spirit of life,” or life itself, being 
 here applied to Christ, it is that in Christ, which is the beginning and 
 cause of all his holy actions, and what was that but his original holiness, or 
 the holiness of his human nature ; but why is the holiness of Christ’s 
 nature called “ the Spirit of life ?” I answer, 1. Because it was infused into 
 his manhood by the Spirit of God, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon 
 thee, — therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be 
 called the Son of God,” Luke 1 : 35. 2. Because it is a most exact, and 
 
 absolute, and perfect holiness; the Scripture-phrase setting out things in 
 perfection or fulness, usually adds the word spirit unto them ; as the spirit 
 of pride, the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error ; so then the meaning 
 of the Spirit of life is all one with the most absolute and most perfect 
 purity and holiness of the nature of Christ. It is briefly as if the apostle 
 had said, The law of the Spirit of life, or the power of the most absolute 
 and perfect holiness of the nature of Christ, “ hath freed me from the law 
 of sin and death ;” hath acquitted me from the power of my sinful nature, 
 and from the power of death due to me, in respect of my sinful and cor- 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 281 
 
 CHAP. IV.] 
 
 rupt nature. We might draw from hence this conclusion, u That the bene- 
 fits of Christ’s habitual righteousness infused at his first conception, is im- 
 puted to believers to their justification.” As the obedience of his life, and 
 the merit of his death, so the holiness infused at his very conception, hath 
 its influence into our justification, it is by the obedien e of his life, that we 
 are accounted actually holy, and by the purity of his conception, (or ha- 
 bitual grace) that we are accounted personally holy. But I must not stay 
 here; thus much of the holiness of Christ’s nature. 
 
 Sect. IV. — Of the Holiness of Christ’s Life. 
 
 2. For the holiness of Christ’s life, the apostle tells us, “That by the 
 obedience of one, many shall be made righteous,” Rom. 5 : 19. Here is 
 the obedience of Christ, and its influence on us. 1. The obedience of 
 Christ, is that whereby he continued in all things written in the book of 
 the law to do them ; observe, Christ’s life was a visible commentary on 
 God’s law. For proof, Matth. 5 : 17. “ Think not that I am come to de- 
 stroy the law, or the prophets, (saith Christ) but to fulfil them.” And, 
 John 8 : 29. “The Father hath not left me alone, (saith Christ) for I do 
 always those things that please him.” Hence Christ in the Scripture is 
 called, Acts 3 : 14. “ Holy and just,” and Acts 2 : 27. “The holy One,” 
 Dan. 9 : 24. “ The most holy.” By his actual holiness Christ fulfilled in 
 act every branch of the law of God; he walked in all the commandments 
 of God; he performed perfectly, both in thought, word and deed, whatso- 
 ever the law of the Lord required. — I do not, cannot limit this obedience 
 of Christ to this last year of his ministry, for his whole life was a perpetual 
 course of obedience; he was obedient unto death, saith the apostle, (mechri 
 thanatou ) “even until his death,” Phil. 2 : 8. And yet because we read 
 most of his holy actings this year, and that this was the year wherein both 
 his active and passive obedience did most eminently shine and break forth ; 
 the year wherein he drew up all the dispersions of his precepts, and cast 
 them into actions, as into sums total; therefore now I handle it, and I shall 
 make it out by the passages following, only in this one year. As, — 
 
 1. Now he discovered his charity in feeding the hungry, as at once five 
 thousand men, with five loaves and two fishes, John 6 : 9, 10, 11. And, at 
 another time, four thousand men, with seven loaves and a few small fishes, 
 Matth. 15:34. 
 
 2. Now he discovered his self-denial and contempt of the world, in flying 
 the offers of a kingdom : when the people were convinced that he was the 
 Messiah, from that miracle of feeding five thousand men with five loaves, 
 presently they would needs make him a king; but he that left his Father’s 
 kingdom for us, he fled from the offers of a crown and kingdom from them, 
 as from an enemy; “When Jesus perceived that they would come and take 
 him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain him- 
 self alone,” Johu 6 : 15. 
 
 Now he discovered his mercy, in healing the woman’s daughter that had 
 an unclean spirit; the woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; 
 and, in that respect, Christ called her “a dog,” Mark 7 : 26, 27. And 
 yet Christ gave her the desire of her soul ; O the rich mercy of Christ, 
 that he would admit a dog to his kingdom ! O grace ! 0 mercy ! that Christ 
 should black his fair hands in washing foul and defiled dogs ! what a motion 
 of free mercy was this, that Christ should lay his fair, spotless, and chaste 
 love upon the black, defiled, and whorish souls ? 0 what a favor that Christ 
 maketh the leopard and Ethiopian white for heaven ? 
 
 4. Now he discovered his bounty, in giving the “ keys of the kingdom 
 of heaven,” Matth. 16:19, to his apostles, and to their successors: this 
 was a power which he had never communicated before : it was a gift greater 
 
282 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 than the great charter of nature, and the donative of the whole creation. 
 Indeed, at first God gave unto man, Gen. 1 : 26, “ a dominion over the 
 fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over 
 the earth ;” but till now heaven itself was never subordinate to human 
 ministration; herein was the acting of Christ’s bounty, he gives unto his 
 ministers the keys of heaven, that “ whatsoever they shall bind on earth 
 shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever they shall loose on earth, shall be 
 loosed in heaven.” 
 
 5. Now he discovered his patience in suffering all injuries : from hence 
 forward to the death of Jesus we must reckon his days like the vigils, or 
 eyes of his passion : for now he began, and often did ingeminate those sad 
 predictions of the usage he should shortly find, that he should be “ rejected 
 of the elders, and chief priests, and scribes, and suffer many things at 
 Jerusalem, and be killed, and be raised up the third day,” Matth. 16 : 21. 
 And, in the mean time, he suffers both in word and deed ; they call him a 
 glutton, a drunkard, a deceiver, a sinner, a madman, a Samaritan, and one 
 possessed with a devil ; sometimes they take up stones to stone him, and 
 sometimes they lead him to an hill, thinking to throw him down headlong; 
 and all this he suffered with patience ; yea with much patience he posses- 
 sed his soul. 
 
 6. Now he discovered his glory, in being transfigured on the mount : 
 however, the person of Christ was usually depressed with poverty, disgrace, 
 ignominy : so that neither Jews nor Gentiles, nor the apostles themselves, 
 could at first discern the brightness of his divinity : yet now Christ gave an 
 excellent probation of that great glor} 7 , which in due time must be revealed 
 to all the saints, Luke 9:28,29, 80, 31. “For taking with him Peter, 
 James, and John, he went up into the mountain to pray, and while he prayed, 
 he was transfigured before them, and his face did shine like the sun, and 
 his garments were white and glistering ; and there appeared talking with 
 him Moses and Elias, speaking of the decease which he should accomplish 
 at Jerusalem : the embassy of Christ’s death was delivered informs of glory, 
 that so the excellency of the reward might be represented together with the 
 sharpness of his sufferings : now, if ever while he was upon earth, was the 
 beauty of Christ seen at height. Peter saw it, and was so ravished at the 
 sight, that he talked he knew not what; in respect of this glorious beauty, 
 bis face is said u to shine like the sun.” I cannot think but his shine exceeded 
 sun, moon and stars ; but the sun is the brightest thing we know, and 
 therefore it is spoken to our capacity: here is one strain of exaltation, 
 though mostly all Christ’s life was a state of humiliation : It learns us to 
 be content with, yea, to expect most humiliation, little exaltation here : 
 we may have a taste, but no continued comforts till we come to heaven. 
 
 7. Now he discovered his meekness “ in riding upon an ass, and a colt, 
 the foal of an ass,” Matth. 21 : 5, which was according to the prophecy ; 
 “ Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek ;” and especially in rebuking 
 the furious, intemperate zeal of James and John, who would fain have called 
 for fire from heaven to have consumed the inhabitants of a little village, 
 who refused to give Christ entertainment. Ah, saith Christ, Luke 9 : 55, 
 “ Ye know not what spirits ye are off,” q. d. You must learn to distinguish 
 the spirit of Christianity from the spirit of Elias ; why, “ Christ cometh 
 with a purpose, to seek and save men’s lives, and not to destroy them,” 
 verse 56. It were rashness indeed to slay a man on some slight displeasure, 
 whose redemption cost the effusion of the dearest heart-blood of the Son of 
 God. See here the meekness of Christ, in opposition to the fury and anger 
 of his owu disciples. 
 
 8. Now he discovered his pity and compassion, in weeping over Jerusa- 
 lem, Luke 19 : 41, 42. “ And when he was come near, he beheld the city, 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 283 
 
 CHAP. IV.] 
 
 and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou,” &c. We read 
 of Joseph, that there was in him such a brotherly and natural compassion, 
 that “ his bowels yearned upon his brethren,” Gen. 43 : 30, “ and he could 
 not refrain himself before all them that stood by him,” Gen. 45 : 1. His 
 love was like a hot furnace. Now Jesus Christ hath the same heart and 
 bowels of a man, and I conceive, as Christ was a man void of sin, so the 
 acts of natural virtues, (as to pity the afflicted, to compassionate the distress- 
 ed) were stronger in him than possibly they could be in any other man. 
 Sin blunteth natural faculties, especially such as incline to laudable and good 
 acts, as to love, and pity, and compassionate the miserable; in this respect, 
 Joseph was nothing to Christ; when Christ saw Jerusalem, he wept, and 
 wept; his compassion strangled and inclosed within him, it must needs 
 break out : it may be in some measure it eased Christ’s mind, that his bowels 
 of mercy fouud a vent : we read that pity, kept within God’s bowels, pains 
 his very heart, so that it must needs come out, IIos. 11:8. “ Mine heart 
 
 is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.” 
 
 9. Now he discovered his humility in washing his disciples’ feet, John 
 
 13 : 4, 5. “ Supper being ended, he laid aside his garments, and took a 
 
 towel, and girded himself, and poured water into a basin, and began to wash 
 his disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was gird- 
 ed.” In this ceremony, and in the discourses following, he instructs them 
 in the doctrine of humility; yea, he imprints the lesson in lasting charac- 
 ters, by making it symbolical. Hut, why should he wash their feet, rather 
 than their hands or heads ? I answer, It is probable on this account, that 
 he might have the opportunity of a more humble posture. See how he lays 
 every thing aside, that he may serve his servants : heaven stoops to earth, 
 one abyss calls on another, the miseries of man which were next to infinite, 
 are excelled by a mercy equal to the immensity of God. It is storied of one 
 Guericus, that, upon the consideration of this humility of Christ in washing 
 his disciples’ feet, he cried out, “Thou hast overcome me, 0 Lord, thou 
 hast overcome my pride, this example hath mastered me.” 
 
 10. Now he discovered his obedience to his Father, in preaching the gos- 
 pel up aud down. He foresaw that the night drew on in which no man 
 could work, and therefore now he hastened to do his Father’s business, now 
 he pours out whole cataracts of holy lessons : and still the people drew water 
 from this fountain, which streamed out in continual emanations; he added 
 wave to wave, and line to line, and precept to precept; and at last he 
 gave them his farewell sermon, which is the most spiritual aud comfortable 
 piece that ever was uttered : it comprehends the intentions of his departure 
 to prepare places for his saints in heaven ; and in the mean while he would 
 send tnem the Holy Ghost, to supply his room, to furnish them with propor- 
 tionable comforts, to enable them with gifts, to lead them into all truth, and 
 to abide with them for ever. In conclusion of all, he gave them his bless- 
 ing, and prayed for them, and then having sung an hymn, he goes away, 
 and prepares for his sufferings. 
 
 2. Hitherto of the obedience of Christ ; what was it but “ a visible com- 
 mentary of God’s law ?” But now for its influence on us, Bom. 5 : 19. “ By 
 the obedience of one, many shall be made righteous.” Observe, “ The 
 righteousness of the law fulfilled, and fully accomplished in the person of 
 Christ, is as truly ours, if we believe in Christ, as if it were in ourselves, or 
 as if the law had been fulfilled in our own persons.” “ Thus Christ is the 
 end ol the law (saith the apostle) for righteousness to every one that believ- 
 eth,” Bom. 10:4. Christ hath not only determined, and put an end to the 
 ceremonial law ; but he is also the end of the moral law, he hath perfectly 
 in his owu person accomplished the moral law, and that not for himself, but 
 for righteousness to every one, that truly believes in him, Bom. 8 :4 “And 
 
284 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 God sent his Son, — that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us 
 these words, in us, much trouble interpreters : for though we believe, yet 
 we are imperfectly holy : how then should the law be fulfilled in us ? But 
 it is answered, That the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us, not by 
 inhesion, or sanctification, but by imputation, and application ; (i. e.) in our 
 nature which Christ took upon him ; it was in Christ and is imputed unto 
 us, and so the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us. It is well observed 
 of Beza, that the apostle saith not, “ That the righteousness of the law 
 might be fulfilled by us, or of us, or by any righteousness inherent in our 
 own persons, but in us, because it is to be found in Christ, whose members 
 we are who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit.” The point is sweet, 
 but I cannot stay on it. In reference to what I have spoken of the righte- 
 ousness of Christ, habitual and actual, a great controversy is risen in our 
 days; of which in the next section. 
 
 Sect. V. — Of the great controversy , Whether we are not justified by the 
 
 passive righteousness of Christ only , without any consideration had, to 
 
 the righteousness of Christ either inherent in him, or performed by him ? 
 
 For my part, I am for the negative, upon these well known grounds. 
 
 Arg. 1. By that alone the law is not. fully satisfied, by that alone we are 
 not justified ; but by the passive obedience of Christ alone, the law is not 
 fully satisfied : therefore by his passive obedience only we are not justified. 
 Thus far I grant that the law is fully satisfied by his passive obedience, in 
 respect of the penalty therein threatened, but not in respect of the com- 
 mandment, for the obtaining of the blessedness therein promised; and the 
 righteousness of the law is thus described, that “ the man which doeth these 
 things shall live by them,” Rom. 10 : 5. 
 
 Against this are divers exceptions of the adversaries: as, 1. That the 
 law is satisfied either by doing that which is commanded, or by suffering 
 the punishment which is threatened. Ans. It is true in respect of the penal 
 statutes of men, but not in respect of the commandments of God, in which 
 there is not only a penalty threatened, but a blessedness promised : if man 
 had continued in his integrity, the law might have been satisfied by obedi- 
 ence only ; but being fallen into a state of disobedience, two things are 
 necessarily required to the fulfilling of the law, (i. e.) The bearing of the 
 penalty, and the performing of the command, the one to escape hell, and 
 the other to obtain heaven. 2. They except, That whosoever are freed from 
 hell, are also admitted to heaven. Ans. The reason thereof is, because 
 Christ who did bear the punishment to free us from hell, did also fulfil the 
 commands to bring us to heaven ; but howsoever these two benefits of 
 Christ do always concur in the party justified, as the causes thereof con- 
 curred in Christ, who not only did both obey, and suffer, but in obeying 
 suffered, and in suffering obeyed ; yet both the causes between themselves, 
 and the effects between themselves, are carefully to be distinguished ; for 
 as it is one thing to obey the commandment, and another thing to suffer the 
 punishment; so it is one thing to be freed from hell by Christ’s suffering 
 the penalty, and another thing to be entitled to heaven, by Christ’s fulfill- 
 ing the commandments. 3. They except, That God is a most free agent, 
 and therefore he may, if he will, justify men by the passive righteousness 
 of Christ only, without fulfilling of the law. Ans. What God may do, if 
 he will, I will not dispute, but sure I am, that he justifieth men according 
 to his will revealed in his word, and there we find, that, as we are justified 
 from our sins by the blood of Christ, so also we are made just by the active 
 (though not only by the active) obedience of Christ, Rom. 5 : 19. u For as 
 by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of 
 one shall many be made righteous.” And, Rom. 5 : 10. “ If when we 
 
CHAP. IV.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 285 
 
 were enemies, we were reconciled to God, by the death of his Son, much 
 more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life;” by his life, which 
 he lived before his death, and by his life, which he lived, and doth live, 
 after his death; by the acts of his life, before his death meritoriously, and 
 by the acts of his life after his death (as by his resurrection, asceusion, 
 session, and intercession,) effectually, 1 Cor. 1 : 30. “ Christ is made unto 
 us of God, (saith the apostle) both redemption and righteousness;” redemp- 
 tion, to deliver us from sin, and righteousness, “ to bring in everlasting 
 righteousness,” Dan. 9 : 24. 4. They except, That if we are justified by 
 
 Christ’s fulfilling the law, then we are justified by a legal righteousness, but 
 by such a righteousness as without the law is revealed in the gospel. Ans. 
 The same righteousness by which we are justified, is both legal and evan- 
 gelical, in divers respects ; legal, in respect of Christ, who being made under 
 the law, that he might redeem us who were under the law, perfectly fulfilled 
 the law for us ; and evangelical, in respect of us, unto whom his fulfilling 
 of the law is imputed. And herein stands both the agreement and differ- 
 ence betwixt the law and the gospel ; the agreement, in that both require 
 the perfect fulfilling of the law unto justification; the difference in that the 
 law requireth perfect obedience, to be performed in our own persons, but 
 the gospel accepts of perfect obedience performed by Christ, our Surety, 
 and imputed to us ;* and so it is all one as if it had been performed in our 
 own persons. 
 
 2. If Christ, by his conformity to the law, fulfilled the law for us, then 
 are we justified by his habitual and actual righteousness, and not merely by 
 his passive; but Christ, by his conformity to the law, fulfilled the law for 
 us, for so we read, “ He was born for us,” Luke 2:11. “ He was made 
 
 subject to the law for us,” Gal. 4 : 4, 5, and “ for our sakes he sanctified 
 
 himself,” John 17 : 19. And for our sakes he did the will of God, “ Then 
 
 said I, lo I come to do thy will, 0 my God; by the which will we are 
 
 sanctified,” Heb. 10 : 7, 10. 
 
 Against this are divers exceptions : as, 1. That Christ obeyed the law, or 
 conformed to the law (as need was) for himself, “ Christ (say they) as he 
 was a man, was bound to obey the law for himself.” Ans. This assertion 
 detracts from the merit of his obedience, and from the dignity of his person. 
 1. From his merit, for if his obedience were of duty, then it were not 
 meritorious,* Luke 17 : 10. And if this be true, then have we no titie to 
 heaven. 2. From the dignity of his person, as if he needed either to obey 
 for himself, or by his obedience were any way bettered in himself. 0 that 
 these men would remember that the person who did obey the law was, and 
 is not only man, but God also. Christ fulfilled the law not only as man, 
 but as God-man Mediator ; and therefore as his blood was God’s blood, so 
 his obedience was the obedience of God, Acts 20 : 28. “ Who being in the 
 form of God, thought it no robbery to be equal with God,” Phil. 2 : 6, 8. 
 “And being fouud in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became 
 obedient unto death,” or until death. We find him here God-man, and 
 from hence we conclude, that all the legal actions of Christ from his in- 
 carnation to his passion inclusively, were the actions of Christ God-man, 
 Mediator, and surety for us in a way of covenant; and consequently they 
 were not performed of duty nor for himself. 2. They except, That if Christ 
 obeyed the law for us, that by his obedience we might be justified, then 
 shall not we ourselves need to obey the law ; but the consequent is absurd, 
 therefore the antecedent. Ans. We need not to obey the law to that end, 
 that we may be justified thereby ; for this is impossible to us by reason of 
 the flesh, and therefore our Saviour fulfilled it for us; and yet it follows 
 
 * Debitum non est meritum. 
 
286 
 
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 [BOOK IY. 
 
 not, but that we may endeavor to obey the law for other ends; as to glorify 
 God, to obey his will, to testify our thankfulness, to edify our brethren, to 
 assure ourselves of our justification, and so to make our calling and election 
 sure ? in this study and practice of piety consisteth our new obedience, 
 which we must therefore be careful to perform, though Christ as to justifi- 
 cation hath performed it for us. 3. They except, That if Christ by his 
 active obedience, fulfilled the law for us, and that so we are justified from 
 all kind of sin both original and actual, then Christ’s suffering was in vain. 
 Ans. Christ’s active obedience is an essential part of our justification, but 
 not all our justification ; the material cause of our justification is the whole 
 course of the active and passive obedience of Christ, together with his 
 original righteousness, or habitual conformity unto the law ; I say, together 
 with his original righteousness, because many authors express no more, but 
 only Christ’s active and passive obedience; but they are to be understood, 
 as asserting his original righteousness implicitly, the act presupposing the 
 habit. And here observe the difference betwixt the law in case of innocency, 
 and the law in case of sin ; the law in case of innocency required only 
 doing, but the law in case of sin cannot be satisfied without doing and 
 suffering, Gal. 3 : 10. Gen. 2 : 17. Original justice and active obedience 
 was sufficient to justify man in his innocency, but not to justify man fallen ; 
 and therefore we do not separate these, the original, the actual, and the 
 passive righteousness of Christ, as to the matter of justification, but we 
 imply all. 
 
 Arg. 3. We read in scripture of two parts of justification, viz. The ab- 
 solving of a believing sinner from the guilt of sin and death ; and the 
 accepting of a believing sinner as righteous unto life. The former is wrought 
 by the sufferings of Christ imputed as a full satisfaction for sin, the other by 
 imputation of Christ’s perfect obedience, as a sufficient merit of eternal life ; 
 by the former we are freed from hell ; by the latter we are entitled to the 
 kingdom of heaven ; of them both the apostle speaks, Rom. 5:9. “ We 
 
 are justified by his blood.” And verse 19, we “ are made righteous by his 
 obedience.” Our adversaries deny these two parts of justification, saying, 
 that it consists wholly in remission of sin. But we reply, In every mutation, 
 though it be but relative, we must of necessity acknowledge two terms, Ter- 
 rninum a quo , <Sc terminum ad quevi, the denomination being commonly 
 taken for the latter : as in justification there is a motion or mutation from 
 sin to justice, (from which term justification hath its name) from a state of 
 death and damnation, to a state of life and salvation : but if justification be 
 nothing else but bare remission of sins, then is there in it only a not impu- 
 ting of sin, but no acceptation as righteous; a freedom from hell, but no 
 title to heaven. — They say indeed, that to whom sin is not imputed, to them 
 righteousness is imputed ; and we grant that these things do always concur, 
 but yet they are not to be confounded, for they differ in themselves, and in 
 their causes and in their effects. 1. In themselves, for it is one thing to be 
 acquitted from the guilt of sin, and another thing to be made righteous, as 
 we see daily in the pardon of malefactors. 2. In their causes, for the re- 
 mission of sin is to be attributed to Christ’s satisfactory sufferings, and accep- 
 tation as righteous unto life, to Christ’s meritorious obedience. 3. In their 
 effects, for by remission of sin we are freed from hell, and by imputation of 
 Christ’s obedience we have right unto heaven. I will not deny but that 
 to Christ’s habitual and actual righteousness is sometimes attributed freedom 
 from sin and hell, as iu Rom. 8:2. “ The law of the Spirit of life, which is 
 iu Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” And 
 on the contrary side, to Christ’s passive obedience, is sometimes attributed 
 a right unto a heaven, as in Heb. 9: 15. u That by means of his death — 
 they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance ;” 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 287 
 
 CHAP. V.] 
 
 but such places as these are to be understood by a synecdoche which puts 
 only one part of Christ’s obedience for the whole obedience of Christ. But 
 I must recall myself; my design in this work was not for controversies; I 
 leave that to others; see Downham, Burges, Norton, &c. For my part I 
 am sure, I have before me a more edifying work, which is to take a view of 
 this Jesus, not only for intellection, but for devotion, and for the stirring 
 up of our affections. 
 
 Thus far I have held forth Jesus in his life, or during the time of his 
 ministry, till the last passover, aud now it was, “ That Jesus knew his hour 
 was come, and that he should depart out of this world unto the Father,” 
 John 13 : 1. but of that hereafter. Our next business is to direct you in the 
 art or mystery, how we are to look unto Jesus in respect of his life. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of knowing Jesus , as carrying on the great Work of our Salva- 
 tion in his Life. 
 
 From the object considered, that we may pass to the act. 
 
 1. Let us know Jesus carrying on the great work of our salvation during 
 his life. We have many books of the lives of men, of the lives of Heathens, 
 of the lives of Christians, and by this we come to know the generations of 
 old: oh, but above all, read over the life of Jesus, for that is worth thy 
 knowing. To this purpose we have four evangelists, who, in blessed har- 
 mony, set forth his life; and to this purpose, we have “ the book of the 
 generation of Jesus Christ,” Matth. 1 : 1. Now these should be read over 
 and over, Hos. 6:3. “ Then shall we know, (saith the prophet) if we follow 
 on to know the Lord.” Ah, my soul ! that which thou knowest of Christ 
 already, it is but the least part of what thou art ignorant of, 1 Cor. 13 : 9. 
 “ We know but in part,” said Paul to himself and others : the highest know- 
 ledge which the most illumined saints have of Jesus Christ, is but defective 
 and imperfect. Come then, and “ follow on to know the Lord ;” still inquire 
 after him, imitate the angels, 1 Pet. 2 : 12. who ever “desire to stoop down, 
 and to pry into the actings of Christ for us men, and for our salvation ; i: is 
 their study, yea, it is their delight and recreation ; Paul seemed to imitate 
 them, when he said, 1 Cor. 2:2. “I determined not to know anything 
 among you but Jesus Christ.” If there be anything in the world worth 
 the knowing, this is it. And for thy better knowledge, that it may not be 
 confused, but distinct, 1. Study over those passages in the first year of 
 Christ’s ministry, as the preaching of John, the baptism of Christ, his fast- 
 ing and temptation in the wilderness, his first manifestation by his several 
 witnesses, his whipping of the buyers and sellers out of the temple. 2. Study 
 over those passages in the second year of Christ’s ministry, as those several 
 sermons that he preached ; and because his miracles were as signals of his 
 sermons, study the several miracles that he wrought; thou hast but a few 
 instances in comparison of all his miracles, and yet how fruitful are they of 
 spiritual instructions ? 3. Study over those passages in the third year of 
 Christ’s ministry : as his commissioning his apostles to call sinners in, bis 
 readiness to receive them that would but come in : and his sweetening the 
 ways of Christianity to them that are come in ; “ For his yoke is easy, and 
 his burden is light.” 4. Study over those passages in the last year of his 
 ministry ; as the holiness of his nature, and the holiness of his life, which 
 appeared, especially in the exercises of his graces of charity, and self-denial, 
 and mercy, and bounty, and meekness, and pity, and humility, and obedi- 
 ence. On, what rare matter is here for a Christian’s study '! Some have 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 taken such pains in the study of these things, that they have written large 
 volumes ; men have been writing and preaching a thousand six hundred 
 years of the life of Christ, and they are writing and preaching still. 0 my 
 soul, if thou dost not write, yet study what is written ; come with fixed 
 thoughts and beat thy brains on that blessed subject, that will make thee 
 wise unto salvation. Paul accounted all things but dung, or dog's meat, 
 “for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord," Phil. 3 : 8. 
 If thou didst truly understand the excellency of this knowledge, thou 
 couldst not but account all things loss in comparison of this one necessary 
 thing. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of considering Jesus in that respect. 
 
 2. Let us consider Jesus carrying on the great work of our salvation 
 during his life. It is not enough to study and know, but we must muse 
 and meditate, and consider of it till we bring it to some profitable issue. 
 By meditating on Christ, we may feel or find a kind of insensible change, 
 we know not how : as those that stand in the sun for other purposes, they 
 find themselves lightened and heated ; so in holy meditation our souls may 
 be altered and changed in a secret insensible way ; there is a virtue goes 
 along with a serious meditation, a changing, transforming virtue ; and there- 
 fore look farther, 0 my soul, have strong apprehensions of all those several 
 passages of the life of Christ. 
 
 1. Consider the preaching of John Baptist : we talk of strictness, but 
 show me among all the ministers or saints of this age, such a pattern of 
 sanctity and singular austerity; the sum of his sermons, was “repentance, 
 and dereliction of sin, and bringing forth fruits worthy of amendment of 
 life." In the promoting of which doctrine, he was a severe reprehender 
 of the Pharisees, and Sadducees, and Publicans, and soldiers, and indeed 
 of all men, but especially of those that remained in their impenitency, for 
 against them he denounced judgment, and fire unquenchable : oh ! he had 
 an excellent zeal, and a vehement spirit in preaching; and the best com- 
 mentary upon all his sermons was his own life ; he was clothed in camel’s 
 hair, his meat was locusts and wild honey; he contemned the world, re- 
 sisted temptations, despised to assume false honors to himself, and in all 
 passages was a rare example of self-denial and mortification ; and by this 
 means he made an excellent, and apt preparation for the Lord’s coming. 
 0 my soul, that thou wouldst but sit a while under this preacher; or that 
 thou wouldst but ruminate and chew the cud : think over his sermons of 
 repentance, and righteousness, and temperance, and of the judgment to 
 come ; and see what influence they have. When Paul preached such a 
 sermon to Felix, it is said that “ he trembled," Acts 24 : 25. A sermon 
 of the “ chaff’s burning with unquenchable fire," it is enough to make thy 
 heart tremble, if powerfully delivered, and affectionately received ; but see 
 what effect doth it work on thy heart and life ? Dost thou feel in thee a 
 spirit of mortification ? Dost thou, with the Baptist, die to the world ? Dost 
 thou deny thy will of all its natural sinful desires ? Dost thou abstain from 
 pleasures and sensual complacencies, that the flesh being subdued to the 
 spirit, both may join in the service of God ? Dost thou kill the lusts of the 
 flesh, by taking away the fuel and incentives of lusts ? This is the work of 
 meditation : it first employs the understanding in consideration of things, 
 and then the will in the reception of things, and both these in order to 
 grace and a pious conversation. That meditation, which determines in 
 notions or speculations of knowledge, is like the winter sun that shines, but 
 warms not. 0 my soul consider, and so long consider on the preaching of 
 this prodromus or forerunner of Christ, till thou feelest this consideration 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS- 
 
 289 
 
 CHAP. V.] 
 
 to have some warmth in thj heart, and influence on thy life in order to holi- 
 ness, self-denial and mortification. 
 
 2. Consider the baptism of Christ; he that never sinned was made sin 
 for us, and so it was proper enough for Christ to take upon him the sacra- 
 ment of sinners, or of repentance for sin ; but especially was he baptized, 
 that, in that symbol he might purify our nature “ whose stains and guilt he 
 had undertaken.” Consider of this, 0 my soul, and bring it home to thy- 
 self : surely every soul that lives the life of grace, “ is born of water and 
 the spirit;” and to this purpose, Christ, who is our life, went down into the 
 waters of baptism, that we who descend after him, might find the effects of 
 it, as a pardon of sin, adoption into the covenant of grace, and holiness of 
 life. Had not Christ been baptized, what virtue had there been in our bap- 
 tism ? As “ it became him to fulfil all righteousness,” Matth. 3 : 15. And 
 therefore he must needs be baptized ; so he fulfilled it not for himself but 
 for us; Christ’s obedience in fulfilling the law, is imputed to all that believe 
 unto righteousness, as if themselves had fulfilled, so that he was baptized 
 for us, and the virtue of his baptism is derived unto us. 0 the sweets of 
 this meditation ! Christ was baptized, and, when baptized, “ the heavens 
 were opened, and the Holy Ghost descended,” and a voice from heaven pro- 
 claimed him to be the Son of God, and one in whom the Father was well 
 pleased ; and the same ointment that was cast upon the head of our high 
 Priest, went unto his beard, and thence fell to the borders of his garment; 
 for, as Christ our head felt those effects in manifestation, so through Christ 
 do we believe the like effects in our very baptism ; the heavens then, (as it 
 were) opened unto us, and the Holy Ghost then descended upon us, and 
 then were we consigned to the inheritance of sons, in whom the Father, 
 through the Son, is also well pleased. 0 my soul, what a blessing is there 
 in the baptism of Christ! and how mayest thou suck and be satisfied, if 
 thou wilt put thy meditation to the right use ? The baptism of Christ is a 
 field of flowers, wherein is a world of privileges, as justification, adoption, 
 regeneration, sanctification, glorification. 0 then fix thy soul, at least on 
 some of these flowers, and leave them not without carrying some honey 
 away with thee : if thou art in Christ, thou art baptized in his death, and 
 baptized into his baptism ; thou partakest of the fruit and efficacy, both of 
 his death, and life, and baptism, and all. 
 
 3. Consider the fasting and temptation of Christ in the wilderness. Now 
 we see what manner of adversary we have, how he fights, how he is resisted, 
 how overcome : in one assault, Satan moves Christ to doubt of his Father’s 
 providence, in another, to presume on his Father’s protection ; and when 
 neither 1 diffidence nor presumption can fasten upon Christ, he shall be tried 
 with honor : and thus he deals with us, if he cannot drive us down to de- 
 spair, he labors to lift us up to presumption ; and if neither of these pre- 
 vail, then he brings out pleasures, profits, honors, temptations on the right 
 hand, which are indeed most dangerous. 0 my soul, whilst thou art in 
 this warfare, here is thy condition ; temptations, like waves break one in 
 the neck of another; if the devil was so busy with Christ, how shouldst 
 thou hope to be free ? How mayest thou account, that the repulse of one 
 temptation will but invite to another? Well, but here is thy comfort, thou 
 hast such a Saviour, Heb. 4:15, 16. “As was in all things tempted in like 
 sort, yet without siu ; how boldly therefore mayest thou go to the throne of 
 grace to receive mercy, and to find grace to help in time of need ?” Christ 
 was tempted that he might succor them that are templed : never art thou 
 tempted, 0 my soul, but Christ is with thee in the temptation : be hath 
 sent his Spirit into thy heart to make intercession for thee there ; and he 
 himself is in heaven, making intercession and praying for thee there ; yea, 
 his own experience of temptations hath so wrought it in his heart, that hi* 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 love and mercy is most of all at work when thou art tempted most. As 
 dear parents are ever tender of their children, hut then especially when 
 they are sick and weak, and out of frame ; so, though Christ be always 
 tender of his people, yet then especially when their souls are sick, and 
 under a temptation ; Oh, then his bowels yearn over them indeed. 
 
 4. Consider Christ’s first manifestations by his several witnesses ; we 
 
 have heard of his witnesses from heaven, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
 and of his witnesses on earth, the Baptist, his disciples, and the works that 
 he did in his Father’s name : and all these witnesses being lively, held forth 
 in the preaching of the gospel, they are witnesses to us; even to this day is 
 Christ manifested to us, yea, and if we are Christ’s, even to this day is 
 Christ manifested within us. 0 my soul, consider this above all the rest ! 
 0 it is this manifestation within that concerns thee most, Gal. 4:6. “ Be- 
 
 cause ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your 
 hearts.” If Christ be not manifested in thy heart by his blessed Spirit, 
 thou art no son of God ; and therefore the apostle puts thee seriously on 
 this trial, 2 Cor. 13 : 5. “ Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith ; 
 prove yourselves ; know ye not your ownselves, how that Christ Jesus is 
 in you except ye be reprobates ?” Is Christ manifested in thee ? Surely 
 this is more than Christ manifested to thee ; the bare history is the mani- 
 festation of Christ unto thee : but there is a mystery in the inward mani- 
 festation. The apostle speaking of the saints, he adds, Col. 1 : 27. “ To 
 whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this 
 mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory.” 
 Oh the riches of the glory of this mystery ! Consider it, 0 my soul, God 
 might have shut thee up in blindness with the world, or he might only have 
 given thee parts and gifts ; or at most he might have enlightened thy reason, 
 to have taken in the outward notions of the gospel : but hath he revealed 
 Christ in thee? Hath he let thee see into the wonders of his glory? Hath 
 he given thee the light of his glory within ? Oh, this argues the witness 
 of Christ’s Spirit ! This only the experimental Christian feels. Chrysostom, 
 sometimes speaking of the more hidden and choice principles of Christianity, 
 he useth this phrase, Sciunt initiate quid dico , “ Those that are initiated 
 or admitted into our mysteries, know what I mean So may the ministers 
 of Christ, preaching of these inward manifestations, say, Sciunt initiati , 
 &c. It is only the spiritual man can know these things, for they are spir- 
 itually discerned. 0 my soul, meditate on this until thou feelest God’s Spirit 
 working in thy spirit these inward gracious, glorious manifestations. “It 
 is Christ in thee is the hope of glory.” 
 
 5. Consider Christ’s whipping the buyers and sellers out of the temple. 
 Sometimes, 0 my soul, thou art in secret, and sometimes thou art in the 
 assemblies of God’s people : and if thou art in duty, wheresoever thou art, 
 consider the especial presence of Christ ; and what is that but the presence 
 of his Spirit, and the presence of his angels ? 1. The presence of his Spirit : 
 this we know by his working in us ; certainly the Spirit doth not only hover 
 over us, but worketh in us : how in us ? I answer, by his quickening, feed- 
 ing, cherishing, healing, mollifying, melting, comforting. In this manner 
 he works in us when we are in ordinances. Why now is he (I hope) riding 
 with triumph in the midst of the assembly; now is he in his chariot: in 
 his throne ; in the hearts of his people : and therefore away, away with all 
 buyers and sellers out of that temple of the Holy Ghost. 2. The presence 
 of Christ is the presence of his angels ; as a kiDg is where his court is, so is 
 Christ the King of kings, especially present where his blessed angels pitch 
 their tents. And the presence of angels is worthy (0 my soul) of thy con- 
 sideration. Certainly they are ministering spirits, that have a work to do 
 upon thy inward man : I grant the Spirit of Christ can only enlighten the 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 291 
 
 CHAP. IV.] 
 
 understanding, and determine the will effectually ; it is he only can bend 
 and turn, and form the mind which way soever he pleaseth ; but the angels 
 can speak also to thy spiritual parts ; and though the spirit only determine, 
 yet their speaking carries a power with it. 
 
 By way of digression, it is a fine skill to know how the angels can speak 
 to us, and how we may know when they 7 speak, and how we may discern 
 what is spoken by the immediate inspiration of the Spirit, and what by the 
 mediation of the angels. 
 
 1. How do the angels speak to us? We must conceive if we understand 
 this, 1 That the images, or phantasms of things received by the outward 
 senses, are kept and preserved by the inward senses, as the species of sounds, 
 of shapes, or whatsoever else. 2. That the images or phantasms so kept, 
 may be so moved by our spirits, or humors, or some extrinsical things, as 
 that they may move the fancy, and provoke it to represent, and conceive 
 such things as neither appear, nor are at that time perceived by any outward 
 sense at all. This appears, 1. In our ordinary course, as we can sit in the 
 dark, where we hear and see nothing, and yet there we can multiply a fancy 
 in infinitum by an act of our own will. 2. This appears in our dreams, 
 when though we hear or see nothing, yet the humor can stir up the memory 
 of things, and provoke our fancies to the apprehension of this or that. 3. 
 This appears also in sickness, which altereth the body, and the humors, and 
 so troubling the fancy, it begets strange fancies, and makes dreadful and 
 fearful representations unto us. Now, this we must know, that whatsoever 
 an inferior power can do, that a superior power can do much more, whatso- 
 ever an act of our own will, or natural dreams, or preternatural sickness can 
 do, that the angels can do more orderly and efficaciously : they know exact- 
 ly how the spirits and humors must be moved, that the images or phantasms 
 may be applied to such or such conceptions or apprehensions, most accom- 
 modated and fitted for the knowledge of what truth they would suggest. So 
 that to me here is the difference between the converse of men and angels ; 
 men can speak to our understandings, by the mediation of our external 
 senses, but angels go a nearer way to work, and speak to the internals first 
 of all ; they do no more but come into the memory, (the treasurer of all our 
 phantasms and imaginations) and there make such and such compositions, 
 even as they please ; and then the understanding takes them off and reads 
 what is written, without more ado. 
 
 2. How may we know when the angels speak to us ? I confess it is a 
 hard question, and easily it cannot be solved; only some conjecture we may 
 have, as in case of evil ; thou art in a way of sin, and near to fall into it ; it 
 may be on a sudden thou hearest within thee some contrary whisperings, 
 which also are above the whisperings of a natural conscience, comioon to 
 the wicked : or in case of good, it may be on a sudden thou hearest within 
 thee, some independent supernatural persuasions and reasonings to this or 
 that good, or to this or that object, which may more easily lead thee to 
 choose the good. In these cases thou mayest conjecturally think that these 
 whisperings or motions are of the angels of God. Bodin tells a story of one 
 who desired of God a guidance and assistance of an angel; and accordingly 
 he had sensible manifestations of a spirit that assisted him, and followed 
 him till his death ; if in company he spake any unwary words, he was sure 
 to be advertised and reproved for it by a dream in the night; or if he read 
 any book that was not good, the angel would strike upon the book to cause 
 him to leave it. 
 
 3. But how should we discern what is spoken by the immediate inspira- 
 tion of the Spirit, and what by the mediation of the angels? Here indeed 
 we are to stand, and therefore my best resolution is that of Calvin, “ That 
 in such secrets we should keep one rule of modesty aud sobriety, and that 
 
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 [BOOK IY. 
 
 we should neither speak, nor think, nor yet desire to know any other thing 
 than such as has been taught us by God’s word.” I know not any great 
 use there may be of this question, and therefore I shall not amuse myself in 
 giving any account of it, only these remain as sure truths. 1. That the 
 things communicated to our inward man, (I mean those inward motions and 
 suggestions of holiness and obedience) are frequently and usually by the 
 administration of angels. 2. That the same things communicated to our 
 inward man, are ever originally and primarily from the Spirit of Christ ; 
 and hence it is, that commonly we put them all on that score, we give them 
 all to Christ’s Spirit. 3. That it is proper to the Spirit to enlighten the 
 understanding, and to determine the will effectually : the angels are but 
 cisterns, the Spirit is the fountain ; the angels may speak and move us to 
 our duties, but the blessing, the efficacy is of the Spirit ; and in this respect, 
 we leave to Christ and his Spirit the all in all. Well, then, 0 my soul, 
 consider, (especially in church assemblies, and in the enjoyment of ordi- 
 nances) the especial presence of Christ, in the presence of his Spirit, and in 
 the presence of his angels : What, dost thou feel any stirrings, actings, 
 movings in thy spirit ? Dost thou feel any quickening, warming, feeding, 
 cherishing, healing, mollifying, melting, comforting, strengthening in thy 
 inward parts ? Say then, “ Surely the Lord is in this place,” Gen. 28 : 16, 
 17. “ This is none other but the house of God, this is the gate of heaven.” 
 
 0 here is the Spirit, and here are the angels, ascending aud descending ; 
 and therefore avoid Satan ! avoid all profane thoughts, and earthly minded- 
 ness ! avoid dulness, deadness, drowsiness! avoid looseness, lasciviousness, 
 and all irreverence, “ Because of the angels,” 1 Cor. 11 : 10. And because 
 of the Spirit; and because of the especial presence of Christ, which includes 
 them both. 
 
 6. Consider the preaching of Christ. 0 the admirable sermons of this 
 great prophet ! The spouse tells us, Cant. 5 : 13. 11 His lips like lilies drop- 
 ped sweet smelling myrrh.” His doctriue was sweet as the lilies, and sound 
 as the myrrh. “ His lips were like lilies that cast forth a sweet smelling 
 savor.” They were full of heavenly grace and sweetness. Grace, saith the 
 Psalmist “ was poured into his lips, and they dropped sweet smelling myrrh,” 
 Psal. 45 ; 2. The nature of this herb, is to keep from putrefaction : as it 
 is sound itself, so it makes other things sound : error is of a putrefying 
 nature, corrupting and defiling the soul; but the doctrine of Christ keeps 
 the soul sound; it is the soul’s preservative, it keeps the soul free from all 
 corruption and defilement. See here the prophetical office of Christ held 
 forth in similitudes, his lips were ever dropping, distilling, publishing sweet 
 and sound truths. — Bead and peruse those sermons he hath left on record, 
 yea, ruminate and meditate on them in order to piety and holy life. How 
 sweet was the first sermon of Christ, Matth. 4 : 17. “ Bepent, for the 
 
 kingdom of heaven is at hand ?” and how spiritual was that sermon of 
 Christ, John 3 : 3. Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom 
 of God ? It may be thou art a doctor, a master of Israel, thou art a learned 
 scholar, thou art a man of parts and abilities in other things : it may be 
 thou hast read so long in the Bible, thou hast heard so many, and so many 
 sermons, &c. But, ah, miserable soul, it may be all the work is to do still 
 within. Come, say this sermon of Christ unto thine own soul, “Unless I 
 be born again, I cannot enter into heaven. Born again ! 0 Lord, 
 what is that? Was ever such a thing done upon me? Was ever I 
 cast into the'pangs of a new birth ? And continued I in those pangs until 
 Christ Jesus was formed in me ? Are old things done away, and are all 
 things now become new ? Is the old man, the old lusts, the old conversation 
 quite abandoned and left ? Are my principles new ? My aims and ends new ? 
 My life and conversation new?” Thus I might paraphrase on all the ser- 
 
CHAP. V.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 293 
 
 mons, but I intend brevity : only consider, 0 my soul, as if this sermon and 
 all the rest had been preached to thee : relish Christ standing by thee, and 
 opening his mouth, and teaching thee, thus and thus : surely there is a 
 speaking of Christ from heaven, Heb. 12 : 25. “ See that ye refuse not him 
 (saith the apostle) that speaketh from heaven. ” And besides, he hath his 
 ministers here on earth, and they are daily preaching over these sermons of 
 Christ, again and again ; they preach such things as were “ first spoken by 
 the Lord himself/’ Heb. 2 : 3. “ They beseech, and pray thee in Christ’s 
 stead,” 2 Cor. 5 : 20. 0 then, “ Meditate on these things, and give thyself 
 
 wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all,” 1 Tim. 4 : 15. 
 
 7. Consider the miracles of Christ in pursuance of the doctrines delivered 
 
 in his blessed sermons. Here is a world of matter to run over ; such mira- 
 cles were done by Christ as never man did before. Moses indeed smote the 
 rock, and the waters gushed out, but he could not turn the water into wine, 
 Eiisha raised a child that was dead to- life; but Jesus raised one that had 
 been dead four days, yea, who was buried and corrupted : Elias and Samuel, 
 and all the prophets, and the succession of the high priests in both the temples, 
 put all together, never did so many, and so great miracles as Jesus did : he 
 turned water into wine : he healed the nobleman’s son even at the point of 
 death ; he cured the lepers by his touch ; he made the lame man to walk ; 
 and the crooked limbs to become straight : he made habitual diseases, and 
 inveterate of eighteen years’ continuance, and one of thirty-eight years, to 
 disappear at his speaking, even as darkness at the brightness of the sun ; 
 he fed thousands of people with two small fishes and five leaves : he cast 
 out devils, and commanded them whithersoever he pleased : he restored 
 sight to the blind. In a word, he did such miracles as no man else ever 
 did ; and the poor blind man proved it by an instance of himself, John 
 9 : 23. “ It was never heard that any man opened the eyes of one that 
 
 was born blind.” 0 my soul consider of these miracles, and believe that 
 doctrine which was ratified with arguments from above ! how shouldst 
 thou but assent to all those mysterious truths which were so strongly con- 
 firmed by an almighty hand ? — What, dost thou think a meditation needless 
 in this respect ? Art thou fully satisfied of the truth of the scriptures ? It is 
 well : I hope thou art ; and yet who knows how soon thou mayest be put to 
 it by an enemy, or a strong temptation ? One can tell us in print, “ Some 
 are now talking of a toleration of all religions ; and some desire that the 
 Jews may have a free commerce amongst us; it is good therefore to be well 
 armed at this point; and the best argument to prove the verity of the gos- 
 pel, next to the inward testimony of the Spirit, is this demonstration or 
 common place of the miracles of Christ. 
 
 8. Consider Christ’s ordination of his apostles, Luke 6 : 13. u He chose 
 twelve, whom he named apostles and what was the office of these apostles, 
 but u to go and teach all nations,” Matth. 28 : 19. The gospel was first 
 preached in Jewry, but afterwards the sound of it came unto us, Micah 4 : 2. 
 “ Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from 
 Jerusalem.” Hildas affirms plainly, “ That Britain received the gospel in 
 the time of Tiberius, under whom Christ suffered : and that Joseph of 
 Arimathea, after the dispersion of the Jews, was sent of Philip the apostle 
 from France to Britain, and here remained in this land all his time. Nice- 
 phorus adds, ( Nicpph . 1. 2. c. 40.) That Simon Zelotes did spread the 
 gospel of Christ to the west ocean, and brought the same into the isles of 
 Britain.” Howsoever it was brought hither, of this we are sure ; that 
 Christ was first discovered to his apostles, and from the apostles was dis- 
 covered to our forefathers, and from them unto us, and from us will be the 
 discovery to others to the end of the world. 0 the goodness of God in 
 Christ ! What ? That “ repentance and remission of sins should be preached 
 
294 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 in his name beginning at Jerusalem, and afterwards among all nations,” 
 Luke 24 : 47. Of what near concernment, 0 my soul, is this to thee? 
 What art thou but a sinner of the Gentiles ? Understand that term ; when 
 the apostle would express the greatest sinners that the world had, he calls 
 them “sinners of the Gentiles/’ Gal. 2 : 15. Why? The Gentiles knew 
 not G-od, the Gentiles were unacquainted with Christ, the Gentiles walked 
 in nothing but sin ; O then what a love is this, that God should ever have 
 a thought of good will towards thee? Surely this is one of “the great 
 mysteries of godliness, God manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, 
 seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles,” 1 Tim. 3 : 16 What? That 
 sinners, and the worst of sinners, should be made the subjects of the utmost 
 discovery of Christ and of the gospel of Christ? This is a mystery indeed; 
 had Christ sent his apostles to proclaim the riches of his grace to some Jews 
 only, or to some unspotted souls among the Gentiles (if any such were) 
 whose hearts might presently have fallen down before it ; this had been 
 something suitable, but, that sinners of the Gentiles, that children of wrath 
 should be the subject of this great design, 0 the mystery ! q. d. “ Go, my 
 apostles into all the nations of the world, and amongst them all go into 
 Britain, into that corner of the world Englaud, and there open the mystery 
 of Christ, there preach life, and reconciliation, and redemption, and glorifi- 
 cation to those poor souls ; lay you (or at least some of you) the foundation 
 of the Christian faith amongst those heathens, those sinners of the Gentiles; 
 and after you, I will raise up some other ministers of the gospel to confirm 
 the same : yea, in the last times, I will raise up many worthies, as Jewel, 
 Usher, Downham, Perkins, Hooker, Rogers, Shepherd, Bolton, Ash, 
 Whittaker, &c., who shall be as bright stars in the firmament of that church ; 
 and after them will I raise up others to discover this great design to their 
 generations amongst whom shall live such and such men, such and such 
 women.” (And herein, 0 my soul, think of thyself, and, if thou wilt, of 
 thy own family and relations) “for I owe a good will towards England; it 
 shall be said of England, as sometimes of Zion, Out of England, the per- 
 fection of beauty, hath God shined,” Psal. 1:2. 0 my soul, how shouldst 
 
 thou be ravished in this one meditation ! What ? That Christ should cause 
 the Sun of his gospel to come into this zodiac, and that now in these latter 
 times (when that Sun is set in Zion, where it first arose) it shall make a 
 noon with us, and shine more brightly here (for aught I know, or can yet 
 learn) than in any other nation, country, kingdom, throughout all the 
 world, Rom. 11 : 33. “Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and 
 counsel of God: how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past 
 finding out !” 
 
 9. Consider Christ’s reception of sinners. He sent forth his apostles to 
 call them in, and if they would but come, how ready was he to receive 
 them ? This was Christ’s errand from heaven, this was the work he came 
 down to do, John 6 : 38, 39. “I came down from heaven, not to do mine 
 own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will 
 which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose 
 nothing.” He must receive all his Father gives him, but he must lose 
 none; Christ must give an account to God the Father of all which he hath 
 given him, and this will be his account/John 17 : 12. “Those that thou 
 gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost.” Ah, poor soul ! Why 
 shouldst thou despair because of sin ? Look on Christ as spreading out both 
 his arms to receive thee to him; look on the gracious nature and disposition 
 that is in Christ ; look on the office of Christ : it is an office of saving, and 
 showing mercy, that Christ hath undertaken; it is an office to receive sin- 
 ners, yea, to “seek and to save that which was lost,” Luke 19 : 10. To 
 briDg home straying souls to God, to be the great Peace-maker between God 
 
CHAP. V.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 295 
 
 and man ; to reconcile God to man, and man to God, and so to be the Head 
 and Husband of his people. Certainly the devil strangely wrongeth many 
 a poor troubled soul, that he can bring them to have hard thoughts and 
 suspicious thoughts of Jesus Christ. How can they more contradict the 
 office of Christ ? How can they more contradict the gospel description of 
 Christ, than to think him a destroyer of his creatures, one that watcheth 
 for their haltiugs, and one that hath more mind to hurt than help them ? 
 Away, away with all prejudicate opinions ! Resolve, 0 my soul, to throw 
 thyself on him for life and salvation ; why, if thou wilt but come, he hath 
 promised freely to make thee welcome : all the day long he stretcheth out 
 his arms, and would fain gather thee and others into his sweet embraces. 
 
 10. Consider the easiness of his yoke, and the lightness of his burden. 
 
 Many a one is willing to take Jesus as their Saviour, but they are unwill- 
 ing to take him on his own sweet terms : Oh, they imagine it an hard task, 
 and an heavy burden, “ Who may endure it ?’’ It was otherwise with Christ, 
 Psal. 40 : 8. “I do delight to do thy will, 0 my God and it is otherwise 
 with Christians, for “his commandments are not grievous,” saith John, 
 1 John 5 : 3. And therefore David calls on others to try this truth, Psal. 
 31 : 8. “ Oh, taste, and see how good the Lord is.” It is said of Mr. San- 
 ders, that a little before his death, and martyrdom, he told his wife, “ That 
 he had no riches to leave her, but that treasure of tasting how sweet Christ 
 is to hungry consciences: and of that, (said he) as I feel some part, and I 
 would feel more, so I bequeath it unto thee, and to the rest of my beloved 
 in Christ,” Act. & Mon. Folio 1361. 0 my soul, if thou canst but taste, 
 
 thou wilt find a world of sweetness in Christ’s ways; there is sweetness in 
 the word, Psal. 119 : 103. “How sweet are thy words to my taste, yea, 
 sweeter than honey to my mouth?” There is sweetness in prayer. Hast 
 thou not kuown the time that thou hast touched the hem of Christ’s gar- 
 ment, aud tasted of the joys of heaven in prayer? Hast thou not seen 
 heaven cleft, aud Christ sitting at God’s right hand? Rom. 10:11. 
 “Surely the Lord is rich to all them that call upon him.” There is sweet- 
 ness in meditation : some call this very duty, the saints’ pastime, which re- 
 creates and perfumes the tired spirits : Now, 0 my soul, thou art in the 
 
 v exercise of this duty, now thou art in the meditation of the easiness of 
 Christ’s burden, aud of the sweetness of his ways. Tell me, is there 
 nothing of heaven in this meditation ? Is it sweet, or is it bitter to thy soul ? 
 Thou mayest read in Scripture of many admirable effects of meditation, as 
 that it confirms our knowledge, Psal. 119 : 99. “ I have more understanding 
 than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation :” that it in- 
 flames our love, verse 97. “ Oh, how love I thy law ? It is my meditation 
 all the day.” That it casts a sweet influence on our lives, verse 15. “ I 
 will meditate on thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.” What, is 
 it thus with thee ? Canst thou say, with David, Psal. 104 : 34. “ My 
 meditation of him shall be sweet ?” and Psal. 94 : 19. “ In the multitude 
 of my thoughts within me, thy comforts exceedingly delight my soul.” 
 Why then, thou hast truly tasted of God’s goodness, thou hast actual dis- 
 coveries of the sweetness of God’s ways ; thou hast experienced this truth, 
 that “ his yoke is easy, and his burden is light,” Matth. 11 : 30. “That 
 his ways are ways of pleasantness, and all his paths are peace,” Prov. 3 : 17. 
 Oh, if men did but know what ravishing sweetness were in the ways of 
 God, they could not but embrace them, “and esteem one day’s society 
 with Jesus Christ,” (ks Caraccioius did) “better than all the gold in the 
 world.” 
 
 11. Consider the holiness of Christ’s nature, and the holiness of Christ’s 
 life. 1. For the holiness of his nature, if thou couldst but clearly see it, 
 what work would it make in thy breast? Christ’s inward beauty would 
 
296 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK TV. 
 
 ravish love out of the devils, if they had hut grace to see his beauty ; yea, 
 he would lead captive all hearts in hell, if they had but eyes to behold his 
 loveliness. 0 what a flower ? what a rose of love and light is the Lord 
 Jesus Christ? Sol. Song 5 : 10. “ My beloved is white and ruddy, (said 
 the spouse) the chiefest of ten thousands. ” Summon before Christ, fair 
 angels, glorified spirits, the azure heavens, the lightsome stars, all the de- 
 licious flowers, gardens, meadows, forests, seas, mountains, birds, beasts, 
 yea, and all the sons of men, as they should have been in the world of in- 
 nocency, and let them all stand in their highest excellency before Jesus 
 Christ, and what are they ? The saints in glory now, “ see the face of Christ,” 
 Rev. 22 : 4, i. e. They see all the dignity, beauty that is in Christ; and 
 they are so taken with his sight, that they do nothing else hut stare, and 
 gaze, and behold his face for ages, and yet they are never satisfied with be- 
 holding; suppose they could wear out their eyes, at the eye-holes, in be- 
 holding Christ, they should still desire to see more. 0 this loveliness of 
 Christ ravishes the souls of the glorified ; how is it, 0 my soul, that thou 
 art not taken with this meditation ? But, 2. Go from the holiness of his 
 nature to the holiness of his life, it may be that will make deep impressions 
 on thy spirit ; consider his charity, his self-denial, his contempt of the 
 world, his mercy, his bounty, his meekness, his pity, his humility, his obedi- 
 ence to his Father. A fruitful meditation on these particulars, cannot but 
 cause some resemblance within, and make thee like Christ. 0 the wonder, 
 that any should disclaim the active obedience of Christ, as to his own justi- 
 fication ! away, away with these cavils, and consider the obedience of Christ 
 in relation to thyself, Gal. 4 : 4. “God sent forth his Son made of a woman, 
 made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we 
 might receive the adoption of sons.” It is a sweet note of Dr. Andrews, 
 “ Christ made under the law, i: e ., under the whole law, the one-half of 
 the law, (which is the directive part) he was made under that, and satisfied 
 it by the innocency of his life, without breaking one jot or tittle of the law, 
 and so he answers that part, as it might be the principal; the other half of 
 the law, (which is the penalty) he was under that also, and satisfied it, by 
 suffering a wrongful death, no way deserved or due by him ; and so ho 
 answered that part, as it might be the forfeiture. But if we come now to 
 ask, for whom is all this? It is only for us, that we might be redeemed and 
 adopted; redeemed from all evil, and adopted or interested into all good.” 
 If this be so, 0 who would, for a world of gold, lose the influence and the 
 benefit of Christ’s active obedience ? Consider of this, 0 my soul, till thou 
 feelest some virtue to come out of Christ’s life into thyself. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of desiring after Jesus in that respect 
 
 3. Let us desire after Jesus, carrying on the work of our salvation in his 
 life : it is not enough to know and consider, but we must desire; our medi- 
 tation of Christ should draw forth our affections to Christ : and amongst all 
 affections, I place this first of all, a desire after Christ. 
 
 But what is it in Christ’s life that is so desirable ? I answer, Every pas- 
 sage or particular named ; yea, every thing of Christ is desirable (named or 
 unnamed ;) all that concerns Christ in any kind whatsoever (if to the former 
 particulars, I should add a thousand and a thousand more) it is very precious, 
 and excellent, and necessary, and profitable, and comfortable, and therefore 
 desirable; but to put them in order. 
 
 1. The meanest things of Christ are desirable things; the very filings of 
 gold; the dust or sparkles of precious stones are of real price and value, 
 yea of much worth : yea, the very leaves of the tree of life are healing; 
 the very hem of Christ’s garment, but even touched, sends forth its virtue; 
 the meanest and worst things of Christ are incomparably to be desired above 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 297 
 
 CHAP. V.] 
 
 all thinsrs; the dust of Zion; the very ground that Christ’s feet treadeth 
 on ; any thing that hath the poorest relation to Jesus Christ, it is desirable 
 for him. Hence we read, that one poor woman sought no more of him but 
 to wash Christ’s feet, and to kiss them ; another woman breathes out these 
 desires after Christ, Matth. 9 : 21. “If I may but touch the hem of his 
 garment, I shall be whole.” Mary Magdalene sought only to have her 
 arms filled with his dead body: Joseph of Arimathea was of the same 
 mind. 0 the bloody winding-sheet, together with the dead and torn body 
 of Christ in his arms are most precious and sweet. Christ’s clay is silver : 
 and his brass gold : John the Baptist thinks it an honor to “unloose the 
 latchets of his shoes,” John 1 : 27. David, though he was a great prophet, 
 and appointed to be a king over Israel, yet his soul pants thus, Psal. 84 : 
 10. “ 0 that I might be so near the Lord, as to be a door-keeper in the 
 house of my God.” Yfea, he puts an happiness on the sparrow, and the 
 swallow, “ that may build their nests beside the Lord’s altar,” Psal. 84 : 3. 
 
 2. The more considerable actions of Christ are especially desirable. Oh 
 my soul, wouldst thou but run through his life, and consider some of his 
 more eminent actions, in relation to his friends, or in relation to his enemies, 
 what desires would these kindle in thine heart after Christ? 1. To his 
 friends, he was sweet and indulgent; where there was any beginnings of 
 grace he did encourage it; so was the prophecy, Matth. 12:20. “A 
 bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench :” 
 nay, where there was but a representation of grace, he seemed to accept of 
 it: thus, when the young man came and said, Mark 10 : 17. “What good 
 thing shall I do to inherit eternal life ?” He embraced him, and made 
 much of him, verse 21. “Then Jesus beholding him, he loved him.” 
 And so the scribe, that asked him, “ Which is the first commandment of 
 all?” Mark 12 : 28. In the conclusion Christ told him, “ Thou art not far 
 from the kingdom of God,” verse 34. He labored to pull him further, in 
 telling him, he was not far from heaven and glory. And so the people that 
 fainted for the bread of life, that were “ scattered abroad as sheep having 
 no shepherd,” Matth. 9 : 36. “ He was moved with compassion on them,” 
 ( esplaykniathe auton.') He was bowelled in heart; his very bowels were 
 moved within him. 2. To his enemies, be was kind and merciful ; many 
 a time he discovers himself most of all unto sinners ; he was never more 
 familiar with any at first acquaintance, than with the woman of Samaria that 
 was an adulteress : and Mary that had been a sinner, how sweetly did he 
 appear to her at the first view ? How ready was he to receive sinners ? How 
 ready to pardon and forgive sinners ? How gracious to sinners after the 
 pardon and forgiveness of sin ? See it in Peter, he never cast him in the 
 teeth with his apostacy. He never upbraided him with it; he never so 
 much as tells him of it, only he looks upon him, and afterwards “ Lovest 
 thou me ? 0 Peter, lovest thou me? Why Peter, lovest thou me?” Often 
 he was wronged and injured by men, but what then ? Was he all on a beat ? 
 Did he call for fire down from heaven to destroy them ? Indeed his disciples, 
 being more flesh than Spirit, would fain have had it so ; but he sweetly re- 
 plies, “ 0 ! you know not what spirits ye are of ; the Son of man is not 
 come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them,” Luke 9 : 55, 56. Some- 
 times we find him shedding tears for those very persons that shed his 
 precious blood, “Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, &c. — If thou liadst known, 
 even thou, at least in this thy day, the things belonging to thy peace,” &c. 
 Why, 0 my soul, if thou wouldst but run through such passages as these, 
 how desirable are they? Well might “they sing in that day in the land of 
 Judah,” Isa. 26 : 1, 8. “In the way of thy judgments, 0 Lord, have we 
 waited for thee, the desire of our soul is to thy name, and the remembrance 
 of thee.” 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 3. The ever blessed and holy person of Christ is desirable above all, Sol. 
 Song 5 : 10, 16. “ My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest of ten thou- 
 sands/’ — Yea, he is altogether lovely or desirable : so Vatablus renders it, 
 Christus est tota de&id evict , Christ is all desires. If the actions of Christ 
 be desirable, what must himself be ? If the parings of his bread be so sweet, 
 what must the great loaf, Christ himself, be ? Christ is admirable in action 
 and person, but above all, his person is most admirable; no creature in the 
 world yields the like representation of God, as the person of Jesus Christ ; 
 (i He is the express image of the person of his Father,” Heb. 1:3. As the 
 print of the seal on the wax is the express image of the seal itself, so is 
 Christ the highest representation of God ; he makes similitude to him, who 
 otherwise is without all similitude. And hence is it that Christ is called 
 the “ standard bearer of ten thousands,” Sol. Song. 5 : 10. All excellen- 
 cies are gathered up in Christ, as beams in the sun. Come, poor soul ! thy 
 eyes run to and fro in the world, to find comfort and happiness ; thou de- 
 sirest after worldly honor, worldly pleasure, worldly profits, cast thy eyes 
 back and see heaven and earth in one ; look, if thou wilt, at what thy vast 
 thoughts can fancy, not only in this world, but in the world to come ; or, 
 if thou canst imagine more variety, see that, and infinitely more, shining 
 forth from the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. No wonder if the saints 
 adore him, No wonder if the angels stand amazed at him. Nd wonder if all 
 creatures veil all their glory to him. Oh ! what are all things in the world 
 to Jesus Christ? Paul compares them together, (ta pnnta ,) all things with 
 this one thing, Phil. 3:8. “ And I account all things but loss, for the 
 excellency of the knowledge of Christ.” (And I count all things,) Surely 
 all things is the greatest count that can be cast up, for it includeth all 
 prices, all sums ; it takes in earth, and heaven and all therein, that are but 
 created things, q. d. Nations, and all nations; gold, and all gold; jewels, 
 and all jewels ; angels, all angels : all these, and every all besides all these ; 
 what are they in comparison of Christ, but as feathers, dung, shadows, 
 nothing? If there be anything worthy a wish, it is eminently, transcen- 
 dency, originally in the Lord Jesus Christ; there is no honor, no felicity, 
 like that which Christ hath; some are sons, Christ is an only Son ; some 
 are kings, but Christ is King of kings; some are honorable, none above 
 angels, Christ is above angels and archangels, Heb. 1:5. “ To which of the 
 angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten 
 thee?” Some are wealthy, Christ hath all the sheep on a thousand hills; 
 the very utmost parts of the earth are his : some are beautiful, Christ is the 
 fairest of all the children of men ; he is spiritually fair, he is all glorious 
 within : if the beauty of the angels (which I believe are the most beautiful 
 creatures the world has) should be compared with the beauty of Christ, 
 which consists in the perfection of the divine nature, and in the perfection 
 of his human nature, and in the perfection of the graces of his Spirit, they 
 would be but as lumps of darkness : the brightest cherub is forced to 
 screen his face from the dazzling and shining brightness of the glory of 
 Christ : alas ! the cherubim and seraphim are but as spangles and twinkling 
 stars in the canopy of heaven, but Christ is the Sun of righteousness, that 
 at once illuminates and drowns them all. 
 
 Come then, cast up thy desires after Christ, breathe, 0 my soul, after the 
 enjoyment of this Christ : fling up to heaven some divine ejaculations, “ Oh 
 that this Christ were mine ! Oh that the actions of Christ, and the person 
 of Christ were mine ! 0 that all be said, and all he did, and all he were 
 from top to toe were mine ! 0 that I had the silver wings of a dove, that in 
 all my wants I might fly into the bosom of this Christ ! Oh, that I might be 
 admitted to his person ! Or, if that may not be, 0 that I may but touch the 
 very hem of his garment ! If I must not sit at table, Oh, that I might but 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 299 
 
 CHAP. IV.] 
 
 gather up the crumbs : surely there is bread enough in my Father’s house : 
 Christ is the bread of life ! this one loaf, Christ, is enough for all the saints 
 in heaven and earth to feed on : and what, must I pine away, and perish 
 with hunger ? Oh, that I might have one crumb of Christ ! thousands of 
 instructions dropped from him while on earth ; Oh, that some of that food 
 might be my nourishment ! “ Oh, that my ways were directed according to 
 his statutes/’ Psal. 119 : 15. Many a stream, and wave, and line, and pre- 
 cept flowed from this fountain Christ : Oh, that I might drink freely of this 
 water of life ! he hath proclaimed it in mine ears, “ If any man thirst, let him 
 come unto me and drink/’ John 7 : 37. Oh, that I might come, and find 
 welcome ! why, sure I thirst, I am extremely athirst, I feel in me such a 
 burning drought, that either I must drink, or die; either the righteousness 
 of Christ, the holiness of Christ, the holiness of his nature, and the holiness 
 of his life must be imputed unto me, or farewell happiness in another world : 
 why, come, come, Lord Jesus, come quickly : Oh, I long to see the beauty of 
 thy face ! thy glory is said to be an enamoring glory : such is thy beauty, that 
 it steals away my heart after thee : and cannot be satisfied, till with Absa- 
 lom, I see the king’s face. Come, Christ ! or if thou wilt not come, “ I 
 charge you, 0 daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell 
 him, I am sick of love,” Sol. Song. 5 : 8. 
 
 Sect. IV. — Of hoping in Jesus in that respect. 
 
 4. Let us hope in Jesus carrying on the great work of our salvation in his 
 life. By this hope I mean, not a fluctuating, wavering doubtful hope, but 
 an assured hope, a hope well grounded. The main soul question is, Whether 
 Christ’s life be mine ? Whether all those passages of his life laid open 
 belong unto me? Whether the habitual righteousness, and actual holiness 
 of Christ be imputed unto my justification ? And what are the grounds and 
 foundations on which my hope is built ? the apostle tells us, 2 Thess. 2 : 
 16. “ that God gives good hopes through grace if hope be right and good, 
 it will manifest itself by operations of saving grace. 0 look into thy 
 soul! what gracious effects of the life of Christ are there? Certainly his 
 life is not without some influence on our spirits, if we are his members., 
 and he be our head : the head, we say, communicates life, and sense, 
 and motion to the members, and so doth Christ communicate a spiritual life, 
 and sense, and motion to his members : 0 the glorious effects flowing out of 
 Christ’s life into a believer’s soul! I shall lay down these : as, 
 
 1. If Christ’s life be mine, then am I freed from the law of sin : this 
 was the apostle’s evidence, Bom. 8:2. u For the law of the spirit of life 
 in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin.” Christ’s life is 
 called “ the spirit of life,” because of its perfection : and this Spirit of life 
 hath such a power in it, here termed a law, that it works out in believers a 
 freedom from the law, or power of sin. I cannot think, notwithstanding 
 the influence of Christ’s life on me, but that sin still sticketh in me ; I am 
 still a sinner in respect of the inherency of sin, but I am freed from the 
 power of sin, (i. e.) from the guilt of sin, as to its condemning power, and 
 from the filth of sin, as to its ruling, reigning power, Bom. 6 : 12. “ Let 
 not sin reign in your mortal bodies, that ye should obey it in the lusts 
 thereof.” 
 
 I grant there is some difference among divines in their expressions, con- 
 cerning the sins of God’s own people, though they mean one and the self 
 same thing. Some call them only “ the sins of infirmity ;” and others 
 grant the name of reigning sins, but with this limitation, That this is not 
 a total reigning. Sin reigneth as a tyrant over them, not as a king : at 
 sometimes (as in David’s case) the will and consent may run along with 
 sin : no actual resistance, may be made against sin at all : and yet at the 
 
300 
 
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 [BOOK IY. 
 
 very same time, “The seed of God remained in them,” 1 John 3 : 9, though 
 it seem dead, and in God’s good time, that very seed will revive again, and 
 throw out the tyrant ; there is not, cannot be that antecedent, and conse- 
 quent consent to sin in the godly as in the wicked : 0 my soul, consider 
 this, if the virtue of Christ’s life come in, it will take down that sovereign 
 high reign of sin, which the wicked suffer, and will not strive against; the 
 flesh indeed may sometimes lust against the Spirit, but it shall not totally 
 prevail, or get the upper hand. Rom. 6 : 14. “ Sin shall not have dominion 
 over you.” Sin may tyrannize it in me for a time, but it shall not king it 
 in me. Look to this ! doth the power and dominion of Christ’s life throw 
 out of my heart and life, that kingly power and dominion of my sin ? Here 
 is one ground of hope. 
 
 2. If Christ’s life be mine, then shall I walk even as he walked. Such 
 is the efficacy of Christ’s life, that it will work suitableness, and make our 
 life in some sort like his life. The apostle observes, that our communion 
 with Christ works on our very conversations, 1 John 2:6. “ He that 
 abideth in him, walks even as he walke$.” And to this purpose are those 
 holy admonitions, Eph. 5:2. “ Walk in love, as Christ also loved us.” 
 And John 13 : 15. “I have given you an example, thatyou should do as I 
 have done unto you.” And, 1 Pet. 1:15. “As he which hath called you 
 is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.” Then is Christ’s 
 life mine, when my actions refer to him as my copy, when I transcribe the 
 original of Christ’s life, (as it were) to the life. Alas ! what am I better 
 to observe in the life of Christ, his charity to his enemies, his reprehensions 
 of the Scribes and Pharisees, his subordination to his heavenly Father, his 
 ingenuousness towards all men, his effusion of love towards all the saints, 
 if there be no likeness of all this in my own actions ? The life of Jesus is 
 not described to be like a picture in a chamber of pleasure, only for beauty 
 and entertainment of the eye, but like the Egyptian hieroglyphics, whose 
 every feature is a precept, whose images converse with men by sense and 
 signification of excellent discourses ; to this purpose saith Paul, 2 Cor. 3 : 
 18. “ 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.” Christ is the image 
 of his Father, and we are the images of Christ : Christ is God’s master- 
 piece, the most excellent device, and work, and frame of heaven that ever 
 was, or ever shall be ; now, Christ being the top excellency of all, he is 
 most fit to be the pattern of all excellencies whatsoever; and therefore he 
 is the image, the idea, the pattern, the platform of all our sanctification. 
 Come then, 0 my soul, look unto Jesus, and look into thyself, yea, look 
 and look, till thou art more transformed into his likeness : is it so that thou 
 art changed into the same image with Christ? look into his disposition as 
 it is set forth in the gospel ; look into his carriage, look into his conversa- 
 tion at home and abroad, and then reflecting on thyself, look there, and tell 
 me, canst thou find in thyself, a disposition suitable to his disposition, a car- 
 riage suitable to his carriage, a conversation suitable to his conversation ? 
 Art thou every way like him in thy measure, in gospel allowance, in some 
 sweet resemblance ? Why then, here is another ground of hope ; 0 rejoice 
 in it, and bless God for it. 
 
 3. If Christ’s life be mine, then shall I admire, adore, believe, and obey 
 this Christ. All these were the effects of those several passages in Christ’s 
 life respectively. 1. They admire at his doctrine and miracles; for his doc- 
 trine, “All bare him witness, and wondered at those gracious words which 
 proceeded out of his mouth,” Luke 4 : 22. And for his miracles, “ They 
 wondered and they glorified the God of Israel,” Matth. 15 : 31. Yea, 
 sometimes their admiration was so great, Mark 6 : 51. “ That they were 
 sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered,” Luke 9 : 43. 
 
CHAP. V.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 301 
 
 “ They were amazed at the mighty power of God, and they wondered every 
 one at all things which Jesus did.” 2. And as they admired, so they 
 adored, Matth. 8:2. “ There came a leper and worshipped him, saying, If 
 thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.” And there came a ruler and 
 worshipped him, saying, “ My daughter is even now dead, come lay thine 
 hand on her, and she shall live,” Matth. 9 : 18. “And they that were in 
 the ship, came and worshipped, saying, “Of a truth thou art the Son of 
 God,” Matth. 14 : 33. The very worshipping of Christ confesseth thus 
 much, that he is “ the Son of God.” 3. And as they adored, so they be- 
 lieved, Mark 9 : 23, 24. “ If thou canst believe,” (said Christ to the father 
 of the possessed child) “ all things are possible to him that believeth : and 
 straightway he cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe, help thou my 
 unbelief.” And when many of his disciples fell away, then said Jesus to 
 the twelve, Will ye also go away ? Peter answers for the rest, “ To whom 
 shall we go?” — Why, Lord, “We believe, aud are sure that thou art the 
 Christ, the Son of the living God,” John 6 : 66, 69. Not only worship- 
 ping of Christ, but believing in Christ, is a right acknowledgment that 
 Christ is God. 4. And as they believed, so they obeyed : “ Ye have obeyed 
 from the heart,” (said Paul to the Homans) “ that form of doctrine which 
 was delivered to you,” Eom. 6 : 17. No sooner Peter and Andrew heard 
 the voice of Christ, “ Follow me,” but they left all and followed him : and 
 no sooner James and John heard the same voice of Christ, “Follow me,” 
 but they left the ship and followed him, Matth. 4 : 19, 20, 22. And no 
 sooner Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom, heard that voice of Christ, 
 “ Follow me,” but he rose and followed him, Matth. 9:9. “ Why then are 
 ye my disciples indeed, (saith Christ to the believing Jews) “ if ye con- 
 tinue in my word,” John 8 : 31. Come then, put thyself, 0 my soul, to 
 the test : thou hast seen and heard the wonderful passages of Christ’s life; 
 the baptism of Christ, the fastings of Christ, the temptations of Christ, the 
 manifestations of Christ, the doctrine of Christ, the miracles of Christ, the 
 holiness of Christ, and is this the issue of all? Dost thou now begin to 
 admire, aud adore, and to believe, and to obey this Christ ? Is thy heart 
 warmed? Thy affections kindled? Forbs tells us, That the word of God 
 hath three degrees of operations in the hearts of his chosen, First, “ It fall- 
 eth on men’s ears like the sound of many waters, a mighty great and con- 
 fused sound, and which commonly brings neither terror nor joy, but yet a 
 wondering and acknowledgment of a strange force, and more than human 
 power.” That is that effect which many felt hearing Christ, when they 
 were astonished at his doctrine, as teaching with authority, what manner of 
 doctrine is this ? Never man spake like this man, Mark 1 : 22. The next 
 effect, is the voice of thunder, which bringeth not only wonder, but fear 
 also, Luke 4 : 32. Not only filleth the ears with sound, and the heart with 
 astonishment, but moreover shaketh and terrifieth the conscience, John 7 : 
 46. The third effect is the souud of harping, while the word not only 
 ravisheth with admiration, and striketh the conscience with terror, but also, 
 lastly, filleth it with sweet peace and joy. In the present case, give me 
 leave to ask, 0 my soul, art thou struck into an amaze, at the mighty 
 miracles and divine doctrine of Jesus Christ? Dost thou fall down and 
 worship him as thy Lord and thy God ? Dost thou believe in him, and rely 
 on him for life and salvation? Dost thou obey him, and follow the Lamb 
 which way soever he goes ? Dost thou act from principles of grace, in new- 
 ness of life, and holiuess of conversation ! Dost thou walk answerable to 
 the commands of Jesus Christ, or at least, is there in thee an earnest en- 
 deavor so to walk, and is it the sorrow of thy soul, when thou obeyest thy 
 failings? And dost thou rejoice in spirit, when thou art led by the Spirit? 
 
302 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IV. 
 
 Why, then here is another ground of hope, that virtue is gone out of 
 Christ’s life into thy soul. 
 
 4. If Christ’s life be mine, then, “I live, yet not T, but Christ liveth in 
 me,” Gal. 2 : 20. Paul speaks on this evidence, “ I am crucified with 
 Christ, nevertheless I live,” &c. He conjoins the death of Christ, and the 
 life of Christ, in one and the same soul, q. d. No man knows the benefits 
 of Christ’s death, but he that feels the virtue of Christ’s life; there is no 
 assurance of Christ’s dying for us, but as we feel Christ living in us ; if 
 the power of Christ’s death mortify my lusts, then the virtue of Christ’s 
 life will quicken my soul ; but what means he by this, “ I live, yet not I, 
 but Christ liveth in me ?” I live, It seems some paradox, “ I live, yet not 
 I y” but a right interpretation reconciles all; as this, I live to God, and not 
 unto myself, I live to Christ, and not unto the world ; I live according to 
 the will of God, and not after my own lust and fancy, or, as some would 
 have it, I live under grace and not under the law, q. d. “Sometimes I 
 lived wholly under the law, which made me a persecutor of the church of 
 God, which wrought in me all manner of concupiscence, and slew me, and 
 then I found myself to be dead in sin; but now I have embraced Christ, 
 and I am no more the man I was : Now I feel Christ quickening, ruling, 
 guiding, and strengthening me by his Spirit ; now I live spiritually, and 
 holy, not of myself but from another.” The very whole of Christians is 
 from Christ; Christ is both fountain-filling, and life-quickening, “ I live, 
 yet not I, but Christ liveth in me,” Christ’s life hath an influence, infu- 
 sion, transmission into ourselves in reference to spiritual life : look, as the 
 heavens by an influence into the earth, do quicken and enliven the earth, 
 make all the seeds and roots hidden in the earth to revive and put forth 
 themselves, so there is an influence that goes forth from the Sun of right- 
 eousness into the souls of men, reviving and quickening them, and making 
 them of dead to become living, and of barren to become fruitful, Mai. 4 : 
 
 2. “ To you shall the Sun of righteousness arise, with healing in his wings, 
 and ye shall go forth and grow up as the calves of the stall.” 0 my soul ! 
 question thyself in these few particulars ; dost thou live to God and not to 
 thyself? dost thou live to Christ and not to the world? dost thou derive 
 thy life from Christ ? and hath that life of Christ a special influence into 
 thy soul ? Dost thou feel Christ living in thy understanding and will, in 
 thy imaginations and affections: in thy duties and services? 1. In thy un- 
 derstanding, by prizing the knowledge of Christ, by determining to know 
 nothing in comparison of Christ ? 2. In thy will, by making thy will free 
 to choose and embrace Christ, and by making his will to rule in thy will? 
 
 3. In thy imagination, by thinking upon him with more frequency and de- 
 light, by having more high and honorable, and sweet apprehensions of Christ, 
 than of all the creatures ? 4. In thy affection, by fearing Christ above all 
 earthly powers, and by hearing Christ above all earthly persons ? 5. In thy 
 duties and services, by doing all thou doest in his name, by his assistance, 
 and for his glory? Why then, here is another ground of thy hope, surely 
 thou hast thy part in Christ’s life. 
 
 Away, away, with all dejecting doubts and perplexing fears ! While 
 Christ was in Augustine’s eye, he said, “ I dare not despond, I know who 
 hath said it, and I dare build upon it : this anchor of hope thus cast out, 
 and fastening upon Christ, it would be admirably useful, when billows of 
 temptations beat upon souls: this helmet of hope, thus used, would keep 
 off many blows, whereby the comforts of distrustful spirits are many times 
 sadly battered.” 0 my soul, look to the grounds of thy hope, if thou 
 findest the power of sin dying in thee, if thou walkest as Christ walked; if 
 thou admirest, adorest, believest, and obeyest thy Christ; if thou livest, 
 and livest not, but indeed and in truth, it is Christ that lives in thee : why, 
 
CHAP. V.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 803 
 
 then, thou mayest comfortably hope and assure thyself, that Christ's habitual 
 righteousness and actual holiness is imputed to thy justification : thou mayest 
 confidently resolve that every passage of Christ’s life, (so far as legal or 
 moral) belongs unto thee. What? would ever Christ have come with his 
 power against the power of sin, if he had not meant to rescue thee ? Would 
 Christ ever have set thee a copy, and have held thy hand and thy heart, to 
 have writ legibly after him, if he had not meant thee “ for a scribe in- 
 structed unto the kingdom of heaven?” Matth. 13 : 52. Would Christ iu 
 his several actings have set himself before thee, as the object of admiration, 
 adoration, belief and obedience, if he had not meant to own thee, and to 
 be owned by thee ? Would Christ ever have come so near to thee, as to 
 have lived in thee, to have been the soul of thy soul, and the life of thy 
 life, the All of thy understanding and will, imaginations and affections, 
 duties and services if he had not purposed to have “ saved thee by his life ?” 
 Rom. 5 : 10. Surely, “ it is good, that I both hope and quietly wait for the 
 salvation of God,” Lam. 3 : 26. I cannot hope in vain if these be the 
 grounds of my hope. 
 
 Sect. V. — Of believing in Jesus in that respect. 
 
 5. Let us believe in Jesus, carrying on the great work of our salvation 
 in his life. 
 
 Many souls stand aloof, not daring to make a particular application of 
 Christ, and his life to themselves : but herein is the property of faith, it 
 brings all home, and makes use of whatsoever Christ is or does for itself. 
 To ponder Christ’s actions during his life, and the influence of his actions to 
 all that are his, what is this to me, uuless I believe my own part in all this ? 
 “ Oh I dare not believe,” (cries many a poor soul,) “ Is it credible, that 
 Jesus Christ the Son of God, the brightness of his Father’s glory, the ex- 
 press image of his Father’s person, should be incarnate for me, and lead 
 such a life upon earth for my soul? What, to be baptized, to be tempted, 
 to manifest himself in the form of man, to whip the buyers and sellers out 
 of his temple, to preach up and down the gospel of the kingdom, to work 
 miracles among men, to send abroad his apostles with a commission to 
 preach, to intite sinners, to ease the burden of duties, and, in a word, to 
 publish the righteousness of his nature and life ; and all this, and a thou- 
 sand times more than all this for my soul ? 0 what am I ? or what is my 
 father’s house? If God should let me live one year in heaven, it were infi- 
 nite mercy : but that the God of heaven should live so many years on earth, 
 and that all that while he should empty himself in watching, fasting, 
 praying, preaching, for my sake; Oh, the depth ! Oh, the depth ! I cannot 
 believe. 
 
 Sweet soul, be not faithless but believing ; I know it is an hard and diffi- 
 cult thing : but to help on a trembling soul, I shall first direct, and then 
 encourage. 
 
 First, For direction, let souls be acquainted how to act their faith on 
 Christ in respect of his life. The manner of its proceedings, I suppose is 
 thus. 
 
 1. Faith must directly go to Christ. Many poor souls humbled for sin, 
 and taken off from their own bottom, they run immediately to the promise 
 of pardon, and close with it, and rest on it, not seeking for, or closing with 
 Christ in the promise : this is a common error among thousands : but wo 
 should observe, that the first promise that was given, was not a bare word, 
 simply promising pardon, p€ace or any other benefit, which God would 
 bestow, but it was a promise of Christ’s person, as overcoming Satan, 
 and purchasing those benefits, Gen. 3:15. “The seed of the. woman shall 
 bruise the serpent’s head.” So, when the promise was renewed to Abra- 
 
304 
 
 [book iy. 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JlJsUS. 
 
 ham, it was not a bare promise of blessedness and forgiveness, but of “that 
 seed/’ that is “ Christ/’ Gal. 3:6. in whom that blessedness was conveyed, 
 Gen. 22 : 18. “ In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” So 
 that Abraham’s faith first closed with Christ in the promise, and therefore he is 
 said to see Christ’s day, and to rejoice in embracing him. Christ, in the first 
 place, and more immediately, is every where made the thing which faith 
 embraceth to salvation, and whom it looks unto, and respects, as it makes 
 us righteous, in the sight of God, John 3 : 16. “God so loved the world, 
 that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should 
 not perish, but have everlasting life,” John 11 : 25. “ I am the resurrec- 
 
 tion and the life, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he 
 live,” Acts 13 : 39. “And by him all that believe are justified from all 
 things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.” Acts 
 16 : 31. And, “ believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” 
 Acts 10 : 43. And “to him gave all the prophets witness, that through his 
 name, whosoever believeth in him, shall receive remission of sins.” And 
 hence it is, that faith is called “ the faith of Christ,” Gal. 2 : 16. Phil. 3 :9. 
 Because Christ is it whom faith apprehends immediately, and as for the 
 other promises, they depend all on this, John 3 : 36. “Whosoever believ- 
 eth on him shall receive the remission of sins ; and he that believeth on the 
 Son of God shall have life everlasting : verily, verily, I say unto you, he 
 that believeth on me hath everlasting life,” John 6 : 47. 0 remember this 
 
 in the first place, faith must go unto Christ ; and yet I mean not to Christ, 
 as abstractly and nakedly considered, but to Christ as compassed with all 
 his promises, privileges, benefits. 
 
 2. Faith must go to Christ, as God in the flesh. Some make this the 
 difference of faith’s acting betwixt believers of the Old and New Testament : 
 under the Old Testament, when Christ was but in the promise, and not as 
 then come in the flesh, their faith had a more usual recourse unto God him- 
 self; as for Christ (God-man, Man-God) they had not so distinct, but only 
 a confused knowledge of him, and therefore we read not so frequently, and 
 usually of their recourse unto him, but only unto God, 2 Chron. 20 : 12. 
 “ 0 our God, wilt thou not judge them ? we know not what to do, but our 
 eyes are upon thee, And “ hear me, 0 Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jeru- 
 salem, believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established.” And, 
 “ the Lord heard this, and was wroth, because they believed not in God, 
 and trusted not in his salvation ;” Psal. 78 : 21, 22. but now, under the New 
 Testament, because Christ as Mediator, who was promised, is come, our 
 faith more usually and immediately addresseth itself unto Christ as God in 
 the flesh. God dwelling in our nature is made more familiar to our faith, 
 than the person of the Father, who is merely God : God in the flesh is more 
 distinctly set forth in the New Testament, and so he is more distinctly to 
 be apprehended by the faith of all believers : “ Ye believe in God, (saith 
 Christ to his disciples, whose faith and opinion of the Messiah, was till 
 Christ’s resurrection of the same elevation with that of the Old Testament 
 believers,”) John 14:1. “Ye believe in God,” but he rests not there, 
 “ Believe also in me make me the object of your trust and salvation as 
 well as the Father, “Believe also in me;” not only so, but believe in the 
 first place on me. One sweetly observes, that when faith and repentance 
 came more narrowly to be distinguished by their more immediate objects, 
 it is laid down thus, Acts 20:21. Repentance towards God, and faith 
 towards our Lord Jesus Christ,” not but that God and Christ are the objects 
 of both, but that Christ is more immediately the object of faith, and God is 
 more immediately the object of repentance, so that we believe in God 
 through believing in Christ first, and we turn to Christ by turning to God 
 first. 0 remember this ! let your faith, in the more direct and immediate 
 exercise of it, be pitched upon Christ as God in the flesh. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 305 
 
 CHAP. V.] 
 
 3. Faith must go to Christ as God in the flesh, made under the law : and 
 hence it is that the apostle joins these together, Gal. 4:4. “ God sent his 
 Son made of a woman, made under the law;” if Christ had been out of the 
 compass of the law, his being incarnate, and made of a woman had done us 
 no good. Suppose one in debt and danger of the law to have a brother of 
 the same flesh and blood, of the same father and mother, what will this 
 avail, if that same brother will not come under the law, (i. e.) become his 
 surety, and undertake for him ? It is our case ; we are debtors to God, and 
 there is “an hand writing against us, and contrary to us,” Col. 2 : 14. 
 Here is a bond of the law which we have forfeited : now, what would 
 Christ avail, if he had not come under the law ? If he had not been our 
 surety, and undertook for us ! Our faith therefore must go to Christ, as 
 made under the law, not only taking our nature upon him, but our debt 
 also, our nature as men, and our debt as sinful men ; “ He hath made him- 
 self to become sin for us, who knew no sin,” 2 Cor. 5 :21. (i. e.) He made 
 him to be handled as a sinner for us under the law ; though he knew no 
 sin on his part, but continued in all things written in the book of the law 
 to do them. If faith be inquisitive, when vfas Christ made under the law ? 
 I answer, Even then when he was circumcised : thus Paul protests, Gal. 
 5 : 3. “ I testify to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do 
 the whole law.” Christ at his circumcision entered into bond with us, and 
 undertook for us ; and therefore then, and not till then, he had his name 
 given him,” Luke 2:21. “ Jesus a Saviour;” and from that time he was 
 a debtor “ to do the whole law :” not only to suffer, but also to do, for he 
 both satisfied the curse, and fulfilled the commandmeuts. 0 remember 
 this ! as Christ, and as Christ in the flesh, so Christ in the flesh, made 
 under the law, is principally to be in the eye of our faith : if we pull all to- 
 gether, our first view of faith is to “ look on Christ, God in the flesh, made 
 under the law.” 
 
 4. Faith going to Christ as God in the flesh, and as made under the law, 
 it is principally to look to the end and meaning of Christ, as being God in 
 the flesh, and as fulfilling the law. 
 
 Now, if we would know the meaning of Christ in all this, the apostle 
 tells us of a remote, and of a more immediate end. 
 
 1. Of a remote end, Gal. 4 : 4, 5. “God sent forth his Son made of a 
 woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, tliat 
 we might receive the adoption of sons :” this was Christ’s meaning, or tiae 
 remote end of Christ. Alas ! we were strangers from the adoption, and we 
 lay under the law as men whom sentence had passed on : now from this 
 latter we are redeemed; he was under the law, that we might be redeemed 
 from under the law : nor is that all, but as we are redeemed, so are we 
 adopted the children of God : and this end I rather attribute to the life of 
 Christ, “that we might receive the adoption,” (i. e.) from the estate of 
 prisoners condemned, that we might be translated into the estate of children 
 adopted. 0 the mercy of God ! who ever heard of a condemned man to 
 be afterwards adopted? Would not a condemned prisoner think himself 
 happy to escape with life ? But the zeal of the Lord of hosts hath per- 
 formed this ; we are in Christ both pardoned and adopted ; and by this 
 means the joy and glory of God’s heavenly inheritance is estated upon us; 
 0 let our faith look mainly to this design and plot of Christ! he was made 
 under the law, yea, and under the directive part of the law; by his life he 
 fulfilled every jot and tittle of the law, by his active obedience, that we 
 might be entitled to glory, that we might be adopted to the inheritance of 
 the saints in glory. 
 
 2. For the more immediate end of Christ, the apostle tells us, that Christ 
 was nude under the law, or fulfilled all righteousness, Horn. 3 : 4. “That 
 
306 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 the law might he fulfilled in us.” In Christ’s life were we represented, 
 and so this fulfilling of all righteousness is accounted ours, “That the law 
 might be fulfilled in us.” 0 my soul, look to this ! herein lies the pith 
 and the marrow of thy justification ; of thyself, thou canst do nothing 
 that is good, but Christ fulfilled the law in thy stead, and if now thou wilt 
 but act and exercise thy faith, thou mayest thereby find, and feel the virtue 
 and efficacy of Christ’s righteousness, and actual obedience, flowing into thy 
 own soul. But here is the question, how should I manage my faith? Or 
 how should I act it to feel Christ’s righteousness my righteousness ? I an- 
 swer, 1. Thy way is to discover and discern this righteousness of Christ; 
 this holy and perfect life of the Lord Jesus Christ in the whole, and in all 
 the parts of it, as it is laid down in the written word : much hath been said 
 of it in those four years of Christ’s ministry, but especially in the last year; 
 I shall say more anon in our conformity to Christ, whither also thou mayest 
 have recourse. 2. Thy way is to believe, and to receive this discovery, as 
 sacred and unquestionable, in reference to thy own soul, as intended for 
 thee, for thy use and benefit. 3. Thy way is to apprehend, apply, and im- 
 prove this discovery, according to that judgment and proposal, to those uses, 
 ends and benefits, to which thou believest they were designed. Yea, but 
 here lies the question, how may that be done ? I answer, 
 
 1. Setting before thee that discovery (that perfect life of Christ in the 
 whole, and all the parts of it) thou must first endeavor to be deeply hum- 
 bled for thy great inconformity thereto, in whole and in part. 
 
 2. Still keeping thy spirit intent on the pattern, thou must quicken, pro- 
 voke, and increase thy sluggish and drowsy soul, with renewed, redoubled 
 vigilance and industry to come up higher towards it, and (if it were pos- 
 sible) completely to it. 
 
 3. Yet having the same discovery, rule, and copy before thee, thou must 
 exercise faith thereupon, as that which was performed, and is accepted on 
 thy behalf. And so go to God, and there represent, offer, and tender 
 Christ’s holy life, and active obedience unto him. And that first to fill up 
 the defects of thy utmost endeavor. Secondly, To put a righteousness, 
 price, value, and worth, upon what thou doest, and attainest to. Thirdly, 
 To make Christ’s righteousness thy own, that thou mayest say with the 
 Psalmist, in way of assurance, “ 0 God, my righteousness.” 0 my soul, 
 if, thou wouldst thus live by faith, or thus act thy faith on Christ’s life, 
 Christ’s righteousness, Christ’s active obedience, what a blessed life wouldst 
 thou live ! Then mightest thou find and feel Christ’s righteousness thy 
 righteousness; I say thy righteousness, in respect of its efficacy, but not in 
 respect of its formality; for so sinners would be their own mediators. But 
 of some of these particulars I shall speak more largely in our conformity 
 to Christ’s holy life. 
 
 2. For encouragements to bring on souls thus to believe on Christ, 
 consider, 
 
 1. The fulness of this object; Christ’s life is full, it is very comprehen- 
 sive; it contains holiness and happiness, sanctification and justification : if 
 Christ’s garments were healing,, how much more so main and essential a 
 part of Christ, even the half of Christ as it were, for so is Christ’s life : 
 it is vehemently to be suspected, that the true reason why so much is said 
 of his death, and so little in comparison of his life, it is either because we 
 understand not the fulness of his life, or because we are carnal and selfish, 
 affecting freedom from hell, more than holiness on earth, some benefit from 
 Christ more than conformity to Christ. 0 come ! see the fulness of Christ’s 
 life in reference to our sanctification ; was it not a most exact model of 
 perfection ? A most curious exemplification of God’s whole word ? an ex- 
 press idea, image, representation of the whole mind of God ? A full pre- 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 307 
 
 CHAP. V.] 
 
 cedent, for all others to walk by, to work by, to live by ? And in reference 
 to justification, is not Christ’s life tbe object of faith and justification? 
 Nay, is not Christ’s life the object of justifying faith, as well as Christ’s 
 death, resurrection, ascension, intercession ? The assertors of Christ’s ac- 
 tive and passive obedience for us, can tell us of two tilings in the law in- 
 tended, one principal, viz. Obedience; and another secondary, viz. Male- 
 diction, upon supposition of disobedience ; so that sin being once com- 
 mitted, there must be a double act to justification, the suffering of the 
 curse, and the fulfilling of righteousness anew ; the one is satisfaction for 
 the injury we have doue unto God as our judge, and the other is a per- 
 formance of a service which we owe unto God as our Maker. 0 then, 
 how large, and full, and comprehensive is this life of Christ. 
 
 2. Consider the excellency, the glory of this object : Christ’s life is glo- 
 
 rious, and hence it is that the righteousness of Christ is the most glorious 
 garment that ever the saints of God did wear. It is Marlorat’s saying, 
 “ That the church which puts on Christ and his righteousness, is more 
 illustrious than the air is by the sun.” John thus sets her out in his vision, 
 Rev. 12 : 1. “ And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman 
 
 clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet.” I take this to be a 
 lofty poetical description of Christ’s imputed righteousness. Imagine a 
 garment were cut out of the sun, and put upon us, how glorious would we 
 be? 0, but the righteousness of Christ is much more glorious; no wonder 
 if the church clothed with the sun “ tread the moon under her feet,” i. e. 
 if she trample on all sublunary things, which are uncertain and changeable 
 as the moon, Phil. 3 : 8, 9. “I count all things but dung (saith Paul) that 
 I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, 
 which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, in the 
 righteousness which is of God by faith.” When Paul compares Christ’s 
 righteousness with the glory of the world, then is the world but dung. 0 
 the glory ! 0 the excellency of the righteousness of Christ ! 
 
 3. Consider the suitableness of this object ; Christ’s life, and the virtue 
 of it, is most suitable to our condition : thus I might apply Christ to every 
 condition ; if thou art sick, he is a physician : if thou fearest death, he is 
 the “ way, the truth, and the life if thou art hungry, he is the bread of 
 life : if thou art thirsty, he is the water of life. But not to insist on these 
 words, it is the daily complaint of the best saints, “ 0 my sins ! I had 
 thought these sins had been wholly subdued, but now I feel they return 
 upon me again ; now I feel the springs in the bottom fill up my soul again; 
 Oh Tam weary of myself, and weary of my life ! Oh ! What will become 
 of me?” In this case now Christ’s life is most suitable; his righteousness 
 is a continual righteousness; it is not a cistern but “a fountain open for 
 thee to wash in,” Zech. 13 : 1. As sin abounds, so grace in this gift of 
 righteousness, abounds much more. Christ’s life in this respect is com- 
 pared to “changes of garments,” Zech. 3 : 4. Thou criest, “0 what shall 
 become of me? Oh I feel new sins, and old sins committed afresh;” Why, 
 but these “ changes of garments” will hide all thy sins : if thou art but 
 clothed with the robes of Christ’s righteousness, there shall never enter 
 into the Lord s heart one hard thought towards thee of casting thee off, or 
 of taking revenge upon any new occasion or fall into sin. Why, here is 
 the blessedness of all those that believe. Oh, then believe ; say not, 
 “Would Christ be incarnate for me; would he lead such a life for my 
 soul ! M hy ? Yes, for thy soul ; never speak of thy sins as if they 
 should be any hinderance of thy faith : if the wicked that apply this 
 righteousness presumptuously can say, “ Let us sin that grace may abound,” 
 and so they make no other use of grace but to run in debt, and to sin with 
 license ; how much rather mayest thou say on good grounds, “ Oh, let me 
 
308 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 believe ! Oh, let me own my portion in this righteousness of Christ ! that 
 as my sins have abounded, so my love may abound; that as my sins have 
 been exceeding great, so the Lord may be exceeding sweet; that as my 
 sins continue and increase, so my thankfulness to Christ, and glory in God, 
 and triumph over sin, death and the grave, may also increase.” Why, thus 
 be encouraged to believe thy part in the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 Sect. VI. — Of loving Jesus in that respect. 
 
 6. Let us love Jesus as carrying on the great work of our salvation for 
 us during his life. Now what is love, but “a motion of the appetite, by 
 which the soul unites itself to what seems fair unto it ?” And if so, O 
 what a lovely object is the life of Christ? Who can read over his life? 
 Who can think over his worthiness, both in his person, relations, actions, 
 and several administrations, and not love him with a singular love ? That 
 which set the daughters of Jerusalem in a posture of seeking after Christ, 
 /was that description of Christ, which the spouse made of him, Sol. Sono-. 
 5:10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. “ My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest 
 of ten thousands. His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy 
 and black, as a raven. His eyes are as the eyes of doves, by the rivers of 
 water, washed with milk, and fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, 
 and sweet flowers : his lips like lilies dropping sweet smelling myrrh, ” &c. 
 By these are intimated unto us the government of Christ, the unsearchable 
 councils of Christ, the pure nature of Christ, without any impurity or un- 
 cleanness ; the gracious promises of Christ, the soul-saving instructions of 
 Christ; the holy actions, and just administrations of Christ, the tender 
 affections and amiable smilings of Christ, the gracious, inward, and won- 
 derful workings of Christ; so that he is altogether lovely, or he is com- 
 posed of loves : from top to toe there is nothing in Christ, but is most fair 
 and beautiful, lovely and desirable. — Now, as this description inflamed the 
 daughters of Jerusalem, so, to act our loves towards the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 take we a copy of the record of the Spirit in the scriptures : see what they 
 say of Christ; this was his own advice, “ Search the scriptures, for — they 
 are they which testify of me/’ John 5 : 39. 
 
 0 my soul, much hath been said to persuade thee to faith; and if now 
 thou believest thy part in these several actings of Christ, why let thy faith 
 take thee by the hand, and lead thee from one step to another; from his 
 baptism to his temptations, from his temptations to his manifestations; and 
 so on : is not here fuel enough for love to feed upon ? Canst thou read the 
 history of love (for such is the history of Christ’s life) and not be all on 
 flame ? Come, read again ! there is nothing in Christ but it is all lovely, 
 winning, and drawing; as, 
 
 1. When he saw thee full of filth, he goes down into the waters of bap- 
 tism, that he might prepare a way for the cleansing of thy T defiled and pol- 
 luted soul. 
 
 2. When he saw the devil ready to swallow thee up, or by his baits to 
 draw or drag thy soul down to hell, he himself enters into the list with the 
 devil, and he overcomes him, that thou mightest overcome, and triumph 
 with Christ in his glory. 
 
 3. When he saw thee in danger of death, through thy own unbelief, for 
 u except thou sawest in his hands the print of the nails, and put thv finger 
 into the print of the nails;” except thou hadst clear manifestations of 
 Christ even to thine own sense, thou wouldst not believe ; he condescends 
 so far to secure thy weakness, as to manifest himself by several witnesses; 
 three in heaven, and three on earth ; yea, he multiplies his three on earth 
 to thousands of thousands; so many were the signs witnessing Christ, that 
 the disciples which testified of them could say, John 21 : 25, <( If they should 
 
CHAP. V.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 309 
 
 be written every one, the world could not contain the books that should be 
 written. ” 
 
 4. When he saw thee buying and selling in the temple, yea, making 
 merchandise of the temple itself, I mean of thy soul, which is the temple 
 of the Holy Ghost; he steps in to whip out these buyers and sellers, these 
 lusts and corruptions ; 0 (cries he) “ will ye sell your souls for trash : O 
 what is a man profited, though he gain the whole world, and lose his own 
 soul ?” 
 
 5. When he saw thee like the horse and mule, Prov. 30 : 2, 3. “ More 
 brutish than any man, not having the understanding of a man ; thou neither 
 learnedst wisdom, norhadstthe knowledge of the most holy ;” he came with 
 his instructions, adding line unto line, and precept on precept, “ teaching and 
 preaching the gospel of the kingdom,'’ Matth. 4 :23. ' And sealing his truths 
 with many miracles that thou mayest believe, “ and in believing thou might- 
 est have life through his name;” and 0 what is this but to make thee wise 
 unto salvation ! 
 
 6. When he saw thee a sinner of the Gentiles, a stranger from the com- 
 monwealth of Israel, and without God in the world, he sent his apostles 
 and messengers abroad and bade them to preach the gospel to thee, q. d. 
 
 “ Go to such a one iu the dark corner of the world, an isle at such a distance, 
 from the nations of the Jews, and set up my throne amongst that people ; 
 open the most precious cabinet of love there, and amongst that people tell 
 such a soul, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom 
 he is one.” 0 admirable love !” 
 
 7. When he saw thee cast down in thyself, and refusing thy own mercy, 
 
 crying, and saying, “ What? is it possible that Jesus Christ should send a 
 message to such a dead dog as I am ? Why, the apostle’s commission seems 
 otherwise, Matth. 10 : 6, 6. “ Go not into the way of the Gentiles, or into 
 
 any city of the Samaritans, enter ye not ; but go rather to the lost sheep of 
 the house of Israel.” “0 1 am a lost sheep, but not being of the house of 
 Israel, what hope is there that ever 1 should be found ?” He then appear- 
 ed, and even then he spread his arms wide to receive thy soul : he satisfied 
 thee then of another commission given to his apostles, “ Go, teach all na- 
 tions : and he cried even then, come unto me, thou that art weary and heavy 
 laden with sin, and I will receive thee into my bosom, and give thee rest 
 there,” Matth. 28 : 19. 
 
 8. When he saw thee in suspense, and heard thy complaint, “ But if I 
 come, shall I find sweet welcome ? I have heard, that his ways are narrow 
 and strait :” oh it is an hard passage, an high ascent up to heaven, Luke 
 13 : 24. “Many seek to enter in but shall not be able;” oh ! what shall 
 become of my poor soul ? Why, he told thee otherwise, that “ all his ways 
 were ways of pleasantness, and all his paths peace,” Prov. 3 :17. He would 
 give thee his Spirit, that should bear the weight, and make all light : he 
 would sweeten the ways of Christianity to thee, that thou shouldst find by 
 experience, that “ his yoke was easy, and his burden was light,” Matth. 
 11 : 29. 
 
 9. When he saw the wretchedness of thy nature, and original pollution, 
 he took upon him thy nature, and by this means took away the original sin. 
 0 here is the lovely object ! what is it but the absolute holiness and perfect 
 purity of the nature of Christ 1 This is the fairest beauty that ever 
 eye beheld : this is that compendium of all glories : now if love be a motion 
 and union of the appetite to what is lovely, how shouldst thou flame forth 
 in loves upon the Lord Jesus Christ? This is rendered as the reason of 
 those sparklings, “ Thou art fairer than the children of men,” Psal. 45 : 2. 
 
 10. When he saw thee actually unclean, a transgressor of the law in 
 thought, word, and deed ; then said he, Ileb. 10 : 9. “ Lo, I come to do 
 
310 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 thy will, 0 God ;” And wherefore will he do God’s will but merely on thy 
 behalf? 0 my soul, canst thou read over all those passages of love, and 
 dost thou not yet cry out, “ 0 stay me, comfort me, for I am sick of loVe.” 
 Can a man stand by a hot fiery furnace, and never be warmed ! Oh for an 
 heart in some measure answerable to these loves ! surely even good natures 
 hate to be in debt for love ; and is there in thee, 0 my soul, neither grace 
 nor yet good nature ? 0 God forbid ! awake, awake thy ardent love towards 
 thy Lord Jesus Christ ! why, art thou rock and not flesh, if thou be not 
 wounded with these heavenly darts ? Christ loves thee, is not that enough ? 
 Fervent affection is apt to draw love where is little or no beauty ; and ex- 
 cellent beauty is apt to draw the heart where there is no answer of affection 
 at all ; but when these two meet together, what breast can hold against 
 them ? See, 0 my soul, here is the sum of all the particulars thou hast heard, 
 Christ loves thee, and Christ is lovely : his heart is set upon thee, who is a 
 thousand times fairer than all the children of men : doth not this double 
 consideration, like a mighty loadstone, snatch thy heart unto it, and almost 
 draw it forth of thy very breast ? 0 sweet Saviour, thou couldst say even 
 of thy poor church, (though laboring under many imperfections) Sol. Songs 
 4 : 9, 10. “Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse, thou hast 
 ravished mine heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. 
 How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse ? How much better is thy love 
 than wine, and the smell of thine ointments than all spices?” Couldst 
 thou, 0 blessed Saviour, be so taken with the incurious and homely features of 
 the church : and shall I not much more be enamored with thy absolute 
 and divine beauty ? It pleased thee, my Lord, out of thy sweet ravishments 
 of thy heavenly love, to say to thy poor church, “ Turn away thine eyes 
 from me, for they have overcome me,” Sol. Songs 6 : 5. But 0, let me say 
 to thee, Turn thine eyes to me, that they may overcome me : my Lord, I 
 would be thus ravished, I would be overcome, I would be thus out of myself, 
 that I might be all in thee.” 
 
 This is the language of true love to Christ ; but, alas ! how dully and 
 flatly do I speak it? 0 my soul, how art thou out of frame ? In creature 
 communion, I usually feel thee warm, and vigorous ; active, and very strong ; 
 but now thy heart is enditing of a good matter, thou art speaking of the 
 things which thou hast made concerning the king : thy words do almost 
 freeze between thy lips; how chill and cold art thou in thy converse with 
 Jesus Christ? Oh ! this puts me in mind of my deserts ; surely had Christ’s 
 love been but like this faint and feeble love of miue, I had been a damned 
 wretch without all hope. 0 Christ, I am ashamed that I love thee so little, 
 I perceive thy loves are great by all those actings in thy life ; come, “ blow 
 upon my garden,” persuade me by thy Spirit, that I may love thee much : 
 “ Many sins are forgiven me,” 0 that I may love thee much. 
 
 Sect. VII. — Of joying in Jesus , in that respect. 
 
 7. Let us joy in Jesus, as carrying on the great work of our salvation 
 for us during his life. But what is there is Christ’s life, or in all the pas- 
 sages of his life to stir up joy ? I answer, All his life, and all the passages 
 of his life, if rightly applied, are excellent matter for the stirring up of thy 
 affection : indeed the main of the work is in the application of Christ’s life : 
 if ever we rejoice spiritually in Christ, we must bring together the object 
 and the faculty : and this union of the object and the faculty is usually 
 wrought by contemplation, or by confidence, or by fruition. I shall but a 
 while insist on these, that we may come up at last to rejoice in Christ; yea, 
 if it were possible to rejoice, and again rejoice. 
 
 1. Let us contemplate on this life of Christ. Let us think of it in our 
 niiuds, there is a kind of delight in knowing some things speculum ely, 
 
CHAP. V.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 311 
 
 which we would abhoi to know experimentally; and therefore the devil’s 
 first temptation was drawn from the knowledge of evil as well as good : he 
 knew that the mind of man would receive content in the understanding of 
 that, which in its own nature had no perfection at all. Now, if there be a 
 delight in the contemplation of evil, how much more in the contemplation 
 of that which is good ! And is not the life of Christ, the graces, the vir- 
 tues, the holy actions, the dear affections of Jesus Christ to us-ward good, 
 and very good? Come, then, stir up our memories, let us be settled men ! 
 Let us spend our frequent thoughts upon this blessed object : the reason we 
 miss of our joys, is because we are so little in contemplations of our Christ. 
 It is said, “That he pities us in our sorrows, but he delights in us when we 
 delight in him.” Certainly he would have us to delight in him; and to 
 that purpose he way-lays our thoughts, that wheresoever we look, we shall 
 still think on him : 0 my soul, cast thine eyes which way thou wilt, and 
 thou shalt hardly look on any thing, but Christ Jesus hath taken the name 
 of that very thing upon himself; What, is it day? And dost thou behold 
 the sun? He is called “ the Sun of righteousness,” Mai. 4 : 2. Or is it 
 night? And dost thou behold the stars? He is called a star, Numb. 24 : 
 17, 19. “There shall come a star out of Jacob. — Out of Jacob shall he 
 come that shall have dominion.” Or, is it morning? And dost thou be- 
 hold the morning star? He is called “ the bright morning-star,” Lev. 22 : 
 16. Or, is it noon ? And dost thou behold clear light all the world over 
 in thy hemisphere? He is called “the light, and that light that lighteneth 
 every man that cometh into the world,” John 1 : 7, 8, 9. Or, to come a 
 little nearer, if thou lookest on the earth, and takest a view of the creatures 
 about thee, seest thou the silly sheep ? He is called a sheep, Isa. 53 : 7. 
 “As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” 
 Or, seest thou a lamb bleating after the harmless sheep ? He is called a lamb, 
 John 1 : 29. “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the 
 world.” Seest thou a shepherd watching over his flock, by day or night? 
 He is called a shepherd, John 10 : 14. “ I am the good shepherd, and 
 know my sheep, and am kuowu of mine.” Or, seest thou a fouutain, rivers, 
 waters? He is called a fountain, Zech. 13 : 1. “In that day there shall 
 be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Je- 
 rusalem, for sin aud for uncleanness.” Or, seest thou a tree good for food 
 or pleasant to the eye? He is called the tree of life, Prov. 3 : 18. And 
 as “ the apple-tree among the trees of the wood so is my beloved among the 
 sons,” Cant. 2 : 3. Seest thou a rose, a lily, any fair flower iu thy garden? 
 lie is called a rose, a lily, Cant. 2:1. “I am the rose of Sharon, and the 
 lily of the valleys;” or, to come a little nearer yet, art thou within doors? 
 John 19 : 9. “I am the door, by me if any man enter in he shall be saved, 
 aud shall go in and out, and shall flud pasture.” Art thou adorning thy- 
 self, and takest a view of thy garments ? He is called a garment, Lorn. 
 13 : 14. “ Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Art thou earing meat, and 
 takest a view of what is on thy table ? He is called “ bread, the bread of 
 God, true bread from heaven, the bread of life, the living bread which came 
 down from heaven,” John 6 : 32, 35, 51. Why thus Christ way-lays our 
 thoughts, that wheresoever we look, we should ever think of Christ. — Now 
 these thoughts of contemplation of Christ are they that bring together the 
 object and the faculty of joy; I cannot think of Christ, or the life of 
 Cnri't, of Christ preaching, or of Christ preached, but I must rejoice in 
 Christ, as sometimes the apostles said, Phil. 1: 18. “Christ is preached, 
 whether in pretence or truth, 1 matter not, but in that he is preached, I 
 therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.” 
 
 2. Let us consider in Christ, let us upon good grounds hope our share 
 and interest in the life of Christ; 0 this would strengthen our joy, yea, 
 
312 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK TV. 
 
 fill us with joy unspeakable and glorious • where true joy is, there is first, 
 a thinking of the good in our mind ; and 2dly, an expecting of it in our 
 heart. Hence it is, that whatsoever doth encourage our hope, the same 
 doth enlarge our delight : the apostle joins both these together, Rom. 12 : 
 12. “Rejoice in hope:” hope and joy go both together; if I have but 
 assured hope that Christ’s life is mine, I cannot but rejoice therein ; on the 
 contrary, if my hope fluctuate, if I am but uncertain, if I look on the in- 
 fluence and benefits of Christ’s life as only possibly mine, and no farther, 
 then is my comfort but unstable and weak ; sometimes we find Christ com- 
 pared to a rich store-house ; “ In him (saith the apostle) are hid all the 
 treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” Col. 2 : 3. Rut, alas ! what am I 
 richer for all his treasures, if I have no claim thereto, or interest therein ? 
 Or what can T joy in another’s riches, when I myself am wretched, and 
 miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked ? Look to this, O my soul, pe- 
 ruse again and again thy grounds of hope as afore laid down; do not 
 slightly run them over, thou canst not be too sure of Christ ; thou readest 
 in the gosp«l this and that passage of thy Jesus, canst thou lay thine hand 
 on every line, and say, This passage is mine, this sermon was preached, and 
 this miracle was wrought for me, “ that 1 might believe, and that in be- 
 lieving I might have life through his name?” 0 then, how shouldst thou 
 but rejoice ? When Zaccheus, in the sycamore-tree heard but Christ’s 
 voice, “ Zaccheus make haste, and come down, for to-day I must abide in 
 thy house,” Luke 19 : 5, 6. 0 what haste made Zaccheus to feceive 
 
 Christ? He came down hastily and received him joyfully. This offer of 
 Christ to Zaccheus is thine as well as his, if thy hope be right, “Come 
 down, poor soul, (saith Christ) “ this day must I abide in thy bouse.” Q 
 then, what joy should there be in thy heart when Christ comes in, or when 
 thou feelest Christ come in, John 3 : 29. “ The friend of the bridegroom 
 rejoiceth greatly, because of the bridegroom’s voice;” how much more may 
 the bride herself rejoice ? 
 
 3. Let us come up to more and more, and more fruition of Christ; all 
 other things work our delight but as they look towards this : now, in this 
 fruition of Christ are contained these things; First, A propriety unto 
 Christ, for as a sick man doth not feel the joy of a sound man’s health, so 
 neither doth a stranger to Christ feel the joy of a believer in Christ : how 
 should he joy iu Christ that can make no claim to him in the least degree ? 
 But to that we have spoken. Secondly, A possession of Christ, this ex- 
 ceedingly enlargeth our joy. 0 how sweet was Christ to the spouse, when 
 she could say, Sol. Song 6 : 3. “ I am my well-beloved’s, and my beloved 
 is mine, he feedeth among the lilies,” q. d. We have taken possession of 
 each other, he is mine through faith, and I am his through love; we are 
 both so knit by an inseparable union, that nothing shall be able to separate 
 us two; “he feedeth among the lilies,” he refresheth himself and his 
 saints by his* union and communion with them : many are taken up with 
 the joy and comfort of outward possessions, but Christ is better than all ; 
 in one Christ is comprised every scattered comfort here below, “ Christ is 
 mine,” (saith the soul) “and all mine.” 3. An accommodation of Christ 
 to the soul, and this is it that completes our joy : it is not bare possession 
 of Christ which bringeth real delight, but an applying of Christ unto that 
 end and purpose for which he was appointed : it is not the having of Christ; 
 but the using of Christ, which makes him beneficial. 0 the usefulness of 
 Christ to all believing souls ! the scriptures are full of this, as appears by 
 all liis titles in scripture; he is “our life, our light, our bread, our water, 
 our milk, our wine ; his flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink in- 
 deed.” He is our father, our brother, our friend, our husband, our king, 
 our priest, our prophet; he is our justification, our sanctification, our 
 wisdom, our redemption; he is our peace, our mediation, our atonement, 
 
CHAP. V.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 313 
 
 our reconciliation, our all in all. Alas ! I look on myself, and I see I am 
 nothin", I have nothing without Jesus Christ : here is a temptation, I can- 
 not resist it; here is a corruption, I cannot overcome it; here is a persecu- 
 tion, I cannot down with it; well, but Christ is mine, I have interest in 
 Christ, and I have possession of Christ, and I find enough in Christ to 
 supply all my wants, he was set up on purpose, to give me grace, and to 
 renew my strength, so that if I make my application to Christ, “ I can do 
 all things,” Phil. 4 : 13. “I can suffer the loss of all things,” Phil. 3 : 8. 
 I can conquer all things, nay, “in all things be more than a conqueror 
 through him that loves me,” Rom. 8 : 37. 0 the joy now that this 
 
 accommodation brings to my soul ! I see it is nothing but Christ, and 
 therefore I cannot but rejoice in this Christ, or I must rejoice in nothing at 
 all. Surely “we are the circumcision, which rejoice in Christ Jesus, and 
 have no confidence in flesh,” Phil. 3 : 3. 
 
 0 my soul ! where is thy faculty of joy ? Come, bring it to this blessed 
 object, the Lord Jesus Christ; if thou knowest not how? First, contem- 
 plate on Christ, think on those several passages in his life : those that lived 
 with him, and stood by to see them, it is said of them, That “ they all re- 
 joiced for the glorious things that were done by him,” Luke 13 : 17. Or 
 if thy heart be so dull and heavy, that this will not raise it up, then look 
 to thy grounds of hope, and confidence in Christ : so long as thou doubtest 
 of him, or of thy interest in him, how shouldst thou rejoice, or be cheer- 
 ful in thy spirit? The poor man could not speak it without tears, “Lord, 
 I believe, help thou mine unbelief,” Mark 9 : 24. A believing unbelief, a 
 wavering, staggering, trembling faith cannot be without some wounds in 
 spirit; 0 be confident, and this will make thee cheerful: or if yet thou 
 feelest not this affection to stir, aspire to fruition, yea, to more and more 
 fruition of Christ, and uuion with Christ ; and to that purpose, consider thy 
 propriety to Christ, thy possession of Christ, and the accommodation or 
 usefulness of Christ to thy condition, whatsoever it is. What! will not 
 these things move thy spiritual delight? Canst thou not hear Christ say, 
 “All I am is thirTe, and all I have done is thine, for thy use, and for thy 
 benefit?” And doth not thine heart leap within thee at each word ? 0 my 
 soul, I cannot but check thee for thy deadness : it is said, That when 
 “ Christ was at the descent of the mount of Olives, that the whole multi- 
 tude of disciples began to rejoice, and praise God with a loud voice, for all 
 the mighty works that they had seen,” Luke 19 : 37. What? A multitude 
 of disciples rejoicing in Christ’s acts? And art thou not one amongst the 
 multitude ? If thou art a disciple, rejoice thou : surely it concerns thee as 
 much as them, and therefore rejoice; lift up thy voice in harmony with the 
 rest; “rejoice, and again rejoice.” 
 
 Sect. VIII. — Of calling on Jesus in that respect. 
 
 8. Let us call on Jesus, or on God the Father, in and through Jesus. 
 Thus we read, That looking up to Jesus, or lifting up the eyes to Jesus, 
 goes also for prayer in God’s book, Psal. 5:3. “ My prayer will I direct to 
 thee (saith David) and will look up,” Psal. 69 : 3. And “ mine eyes fail 
 with looking upwards.” Faith in prayer will often come out at the eye in 
 lieu of another door ; our affections will often break out at the window when 
 the door is closed : thus “ Stephen looked up to heaven,” Acts 7 : 55. He 
 sent a post, a greedy, pitiful, and hungry look up to Jesus Christ out at the 
 window, at the nearest passage, to tell him, that a poor friend was coming 
 to him ; why thus, let us look up to Jesus by calling ou him : now this 
 calling on him contains prayer, and praise. 
 
 1. We must pray, that all these transactions of Jesus during his life, or 
 during his ministry upon earth, may be ours; we hope it is so, and we be- 
 
314 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [book y. 
 
 lieve it to be so, but for all that we must pray that it may be so; there is 
 do contradiction betwixt hope and faith, and prayer, but rather a concate- 
 nation, Mark 9 : 24. “ Lord, I believe,” yet help my unbelief, or be it to 
 me according to my faith, how weak soever: it will bear that sense. 
 
 2. We must praise God for all those passages in Christ’s life. Thus did 
 the multitude. “ They praised God with a loud voice, for all the mighty 
 works that they had seen,” saying, Luke 19 : 37, 38. “ Blessed be the king 
 that comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven, and glory in the 
 highest.” What, my soul, hath Christ done all this for thee ? Was he 
 made under the law, to redeem thy soul, and adopt thee for his son to the 
 inheritance of heaven ? Came he down from heaven, and travelled he so 
 many miles on earth, to woo and win thy heart ? Spent he so many sermons, 
 and so many miracles to work thee into faith ? 0 how shouldst thou bless, 
 and prize, and magnify his name ? How shouldst thou break out into that 
 blessed hymn, “ To him that loved us, and hath made us kings and priests 
 unto God, and his Father, to him be glory and dominion, for ever and ever, 
 Amen,” JEtev. 1 : 5, 6. 
 
 Sect. IX. — Of oonf arming to Jesus in that respect. 
 
 9. Let us conform to Jesus, as he acted for us in his life. Looking to 
 Jesus intends this especially ; we must look as one looks to his pattern ; as 
 mariners at sea, that they may run a right course, keep an eye on that ship 
 that bears the light ; so, in the race that is set before us, we must have our 
 eye on Jesus, our blessed pattern. This must be our constant query, “ Is 
 this the course that Jesus steered ?” Or that I may enlarge : — 
 
 In this particular I shall examine these three queries : 1. Wherein we 
 must conform ? 2. Why we must conform ? 3. How we must conform to 
 this life of Jesus. 
 
 For the first, wherein we must conform ? I answer, — 
 
 1. Negatively. We must not, cannot conform to Christ, in those works 
 proper to his Godhead, as in working miracles. I deny not but that the 
 works of miracles were by way of privilege, and temporary dispensation 
 granted to the apostles and some others, but this was but for ministry and 
 service, not for their sanctity or salvation ; nor must we conform to Christ 
 in those works of his mediation, as, in redeeming souls, in satisfying divine 
 justice for our sin, Psal. 49 : 7. “No man can redeem his brother, or give 
 to God a ransom for him,” 1 Tim 2:5. “ There is but one Mediator be- 
 tween God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” Nor must we conform to 
 Christ in those works of his government, and influence unto his church, as 
 in his dispensing of his Spirit: iu quickening of his word ; in subduing of 
 his enemies; in collecting of his members: all these are personal honors, 
 which belong unto Christ, as he is head of the church : and to these works, 
 if we should endeavor to conform, we should crack our sinews, dissolve our 
 silver cords, and never the nearer. Nor need we to conform to Christ in 
 some other particulars, in his voluntary poverty, “ he became poor for our 
 sakes,” 2 Cor. 8 : 9. In his ceremonial performances, as going up to Jeru- 
 salem at the feasts ; in his perpetual grave deportment : we never read that 
 Jesus laughed, and but once or twice he rejoiced in spirit. Alas ! the de- 
 clensions of our natures cannot come up to this pattern, nor do I look at 
 these passages as any acts of moral obedience at all. 
 
 2. Affirmatively or positively, we must conform to Christ’s life. 
 
 1. In respect of his judgment, will, affections, compassions. Look we at 
 his Spirit, observe w r hat mind was in Jesus Christ, and therein do we en- 
 deavor to conform, Phil. 2:5. “Let the same mind be in you (saith the 
 apostle) which was in Christ; aud “ w r e have the mind of Christ,” (^aith 
 the apostle.) 1 Cor. 2 : 16. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 315 
 
 CHAP. V.] 
 
 2. In respect of his virtues, graces, habitual holiness, Matth. 11:29. 
 tl Learn of me (saith Christ) for I am meek and lowly in heart,” Christ was 
 of a meek and gentle spirit, “ I beseech you by the meekness and gentle- 
 ness of Christ,” saith Paul, 2 Cor. 10:2. And Christ was of an humble 
 and lowly spirit, Phil. 2:6, 7. “ Being in the form of God, he thought it 
 no robbery to be equal with God : yet he made himself of no reputation, 
 and took upon him the form of a servant.” I might instance in all other 
 graces, for he had them all in fulness, “ And of his fulness have we all re- 
 ceived, grace for grace,” John 1 : 16. 
 
 3. In respect of his words, talk, spiritual and heavenly language. The 
 verv officers of the priests could say of Christ, “ Never man spake like this 
 man,” John 7 : 46 And sometimes they “all wondered at the gracious 
 words which proceeded out of his mouth,” Luke 4 :22. He never sinned 
 in word, “ neither was guile found in his mouth : who, when he was reviled, 
 reviled not again,” 1 Pet. 2 : 22, 23. The apostle, speaking thus of Christ, 
 he tells us, “ That herein Christ left us an example, that we should follow 
 his steps,” verse 21. 
 
 4. In respect of his carriage, conversation, close walking with God. The 
 apostle sets forth Christ as an high priest, who “ was holy, harmless, unde- 
 filed, and separate from sinners,” Heb. 7 : 26. And in like manner, saith 
 Peter, “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a 
 peculiar people ; that ye would show forth the virtues of him, who hath 
 called you out of darkness into his marvellous light,” 1 Pet. 2 : 9. that ye 
 should show forth the virtue, (i. e.) That in your lives and conversations, 
 you should express those graces and virtues which were so eminent and 
 exemplary in Jesus Christ : that you should not only have them, but that 
 you should hold them forth; ( euangrlein ,) the word signifies properly to 
 preach, so clearly should we express the virtues of Christ, as if our lives 
 were so many sermons of the life of Christ. 
 
 5. In respect of all his acts, practices, duties of moral obedience : we 
 find in the life of Christ many particular carriages, and acts of obedience 
 to his heavenly Father, whereof some were moral, and some ceremonial. 
 Now, all these are not for our imitation, but only such moral acts, as con- 
 cerning which we have both his pattern and precept: come let us mark 
 this one rule, and we need no more, whatsoever he commanded, and what- 
 soever he did, of precise morality, we are therein bound to follow his steps. 
 1 join together his commands and deeds, because in those things which he 
 did, but commands not, we need not to conform ; but in those things which 
 he both did, and commanded, we are bound to follow him. In such a case, 
 his laws, and practice differ, but as a map and guide, a law, a judge, a rule 
 and precedent. 
 
 In respect of all these particulars, and especially in respect of Christ’s 
 moral obedience, the whole life of Christ was a discipline, a living, shining 
 and exemplary precept unto men : and hence it is that we find such names 
 given to him in scripture, as signify not only pre-emiuence, but exemplari- 
 ness ; thus he was called “A prince, Dan. 9:25. A leader, Isa. 55:4. 
 A governor, Matth. 2:6. A captain, 10. A chief shepherd, 1 Pet. 
 5:4. A forerunner or conductor into glory, Heb. 6 : 20. A light to the 
 Jews, Exod. 13:21. A light to the Gentiles, Luke 2:3. A light to 
 every man that entereth into the world.” John 1 :9. All which titles, as 
 they declared his dignity, so his exemplariness, that he was the author and 
 pattern of holiness to his people. And as for all other saints, though they 
 are imitable, yet with limitation unto him, only so far as they express his 
 life in their conversation, 1 Cor. 11:1. “Be ye followers of me, even as I 
 am of Christ.” 
 
 For the second, Why we must conform ? Upon what motives ? I an- 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 swer, 1. Because Christ hath done and suffered very much to that end and 
 purpose. Sometimes I have wondered why Christ would do so much, and 
 sulfer so much, as the evangelists, in their histories, relate. This I believe, 
 that Jesus was perfect God, and perfect man ; and that every action of his 
 life, and but one hour of his passion and death, might have been satisfac- 
 tory, and enough for the expiation and reconcilement of ten thousand 
 worlds. But now I am answered, that all those instances of holiness, and 
 all those kinds of virtues, and all those degrees of his passion, and all that 
 effusion of his blood, was partly on this account, that he might become an 
 example to us, that he might shine to all the ages and generations of the 
 world, and so be a guiding star, and a pillar of fire to them in their journey 
 towards heaven. 0 my soul ! how doth this call on thee to conform to 
 Christ? What? that a smaller expense should be enough to thy justifica- 
 tion : and yet that the whole magazine should not procure thy sanctification ? 
 That, at a lesser sum of obedience, God might have pardoned thy sin ; and 
 yet, at a greater sum, thou wilt not so much as imitate his holiness? In a 
 dark night, if an ignis fafuris go before thee, thou art so amused with that 
 little flame, that thou art apt to follow it, and lose thyself; and wilt thou 
 not, follow the glories of the Sun of righteousness, who by so many in- 
 stances calls upon thee, and who will guide thee into safety, and secure 
 thee against all imaginable dangers? God forbid 1 If it had not been for 
 thy imitation, I cannot think that Christ should have lived on earth so 
 many years to have done so many gracious meritorious works. 0 think 
 of this ! 
 
 2. Because Christ is the best and the highest exemplar of holiness that 
 ever the world had ; hence we must needs conform to Christ, (as the 
 apostle argues) because “ he is the first born among many brethren,” Rom. 
 8:29. The first in every kind is propounded as a pattern of the rest; 
 now Christ is the first born, Christ is the head of all the predestinate, as 
 the first born was wont to be the head in all families. The old saying is, 
 Regis ad exemplar , &c. A very deformity was sometimes counted an 
 horror, if it were an imitation of the prince : It is storied of Nero, that 
 having a wry neck, there was such an ambition in men to follow the court, 
 that it became the fashion and gallantry of those times, to hold their necks 
 awry; and shall not Christ the king of saints be much more imitated by 
 the saints? Christ is “ the head of the body, the beginning, the first born 
 from the dead, in all things he hath the pre-eminence,” Col. 1 : 18. And 
 the rule is general, that, “ That which is first, and best in any kind, is the 
 rule and measure of all the rest.” Why, such is Christ, 0 then let him 
 be the guide of our life, and of our manners. 
 
 3. Because Christ doth not only give us an example, but he doth cherish, 
 succor, and assist us by its easiness, complacency, and proportion to us. 
 Some sweetly observe, that “ Christ’s piety (which we must imitate) was 
 even, constant, unblameable, complying with civil society, without any 
 affrightment of precedent, or without any prodigious instances of actions, 
 greater than the imitation of men.” We are not commanded to imitate a 
 life, whose story tells us of ecstasies in prayer, of abstractions of senses, of 
 extraordinary fastings to the weakening of our spirits, and disabling of all 
 animal operations; no, no; but a life of justice, and temperance, and chas- 
 tity, and piety, and charity, and devotion ; such a life as without which 
 human society cannot be conserved : — And it is very remarkable, that 
 besides the easiness of this imitation, there is a virtue in the life of Christ; 
 a merit and impetration in the several passages of Christ’s life, to work out 
 our imitation of him. In the Bohemian history, it is reported, that Win- 
 ceslaus their king, one winter’s night going to his devotion in a remote 
 church, his servant Pedavivus, who waited on his master, and endeavored 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 317 
 
 CHAP. V.] 
 
 to imitate bis master’s piety, be began to faint through the violence of the 
 snow, and cold; at last the king commanded him to follow him, and to set 
 his feet on the same footsteps which his feet should mark, and set down for 
 him ; the servant did so, and presently he fancied, or found a cure. Thus 
 Christ deals with us; it may be we think our way to heaven is troublesome, 
 obscure, and full of objection; well, saith Christ, “But mark my footsteps; 
 come on and tread where I have stood, and you shall find the virtue of my 
 example will make all smooth and easy; you shall find the comforts of my 
 company, you shall feel the virtue and influence of a perpetual guide. 
 
 4. Because Christ in his word hath commanded us to follow his steps, 
 Matth. 11 : 29. “Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.” John 
 13 : 13, 14, 15. “And ye call me Master, and Lord, and ye say well, for 
 so I am : If I then your Lord and master have washed your feet, ye also 
 ought to wash one another’s feet, for I have given you an example that ye 
 should do as I have done to you,” Col. 3 : 12, 13. “ Put on therefore 
 
 bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, 
 forbearing one another, and forgiving one another ; if any man have a quar- 
 rel against you, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye,” 1 Pet. 1 : 15, 
 16. “And as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner 
 of conversation ; because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy.” — Against 
 this some object, How can we be holy as Christ is holy ? first, the thing is 
 impossible ; and, secondly, if we could, there would be no need of Christ. 
 But I answer to the first; the thing if rightly understood, is not impossible : 
 we are commanded to be holy as Christ is holy, not in respect of equality, 
 as if our holiness must be of the same compass with the holiness of Christ ; 
 but in respect of quality, our holiness must be of the same stamp, and truth, 
 as the holiness of Christ; as when the apostle saith, Bom. 13 : 9. “That 
 we must love our neighbor as ourselves :” the meaning is not, that our love 
 to our neighbor should be mathematically equal to the love of ourselves, for 
 the law doth allow of degrees in love, according to the degrees of relation 
 in the thing beloved, Rom. 12: 9. “Do good unto all men, especially to 
 those of the household of faith.” Love to a friend may safely be greater 
 than love to a stranger; or love to a wife, or child, may safely be greater 
 than love to a friend ; yet in all our love to others, it must be of the self 
 same nature, as true, as real, as cordial, as sincere, as solid as that to our- 
 selves ; “We must love our neighbor as ourselves,” (i. e) unfeiguedly and 
 without dissimulation. — Again, I answer, to the second, Christ is needful, 
 notwithstanding our utmost holiness, in two respects : 1. Because we can- 
 not come to full and perfect holiness, and so his grace is requisite to pardon 
 and cover our failings. 2. Because that which we do attain unto, it is not 
 of, or from ourselves, and so his Spirit is requisite, to strengthen us unto his 
 service. We must be holy as Christ is holy, yet still we must look at the 
 holiness of Christ, as the sun, and root, and fountain; and that our holiness 
 is but as a beam of that sun, but as a branch of that root, but as a stream 
 of that fountain. 
 
 For the third, How must we conform to his life? I answer; 
 
 1. Let us frame to ourselves some idea of Christ, let us set before us the 
 life of Christ in the whole, and all the parts of it, as we find it recorded in 
 God’s book. It would be a large picture if I should draw it to the full, 
 but for a taste, I shall give it in few lines. Now then, setting aside 
 the consideration of Christ as God, or as Mediator, or as the head of his 
 church, — 
 
 1. I look at the mind of Christ, at his judgment, will, affections ; such as 
 love, joy, delight, and the rest; and especially at the compassions of Jesus 
 Christ. 0 the dear affections and compassions which Christ had towards 
 the sons of men ! this was his errand from heaven, and while he was upon 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 the earth he was ever acting it, I mean his pitifulness, I mean his affections, 
 and compassion “ in healing broken hearts,” Luke 4 : 18. So the Psalmist, 
 Psal. 147 : 3 “ Pie healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their 
 wounds.” It is spoken after the manner of a chirurgeon : he had a tender 
 heart towards all broken hearts: he endeavors to put all broken bones into 
 their native place again : nor speak I thus only of him in respect of his 
 office; but as he was man, he had in him such a mind, that he could not 
 but compassionate all in misery : 0 what bowels, what stirrings and boilings, 
 and wrestlings of a pained heart, touched with sorrow, was ever, upon 
 occasion, in Jesus Christ! peruse these texts, Matth. 14 : 14. “ And Jesus 
 went forth, and saw a great multitude, and he was moved with compassion 
 towards them, and he healed their sick.” Mark 6: 34. “And Jesus when 
 he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion towards 
 them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd.” Mark 1 : 40, 41. 
 “And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to 
 him, and saying to him, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean : and Jesus 
 moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I 
 will, be thou clean.” Matth. 15 : 82. “ Then Jesu's called his disciples unto 
 him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude.” And for the two 
 blind men that cried out, “ Have mercy on us, 0 Lord, thou son of David ;” 
 it is said, that “Jesus stood still, and he had compassion on them, and 
 touched their eyes,” Matth. 20 : 34. And the poor prodigal returning, 
 Luke 15 : 20. “ When he was yet a great way off, his Father saw him, and 
 had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.” How 
 sweet is this last instance ! that our sense of sinful weakness should be sor- 
 row and pain to the bowels and heart of Jesus Christ ? You that are parents 
 of young children, let me put the case, If some of you standing in the rela- 
 tion of a father, should see his child sweat and wrestle under an over-load, 
 till his back were almost broken, and that you should hear him cry, “ Oh I 
 am gone, I faint, I sink, I die :” would not your bowels be moved to pity : 
 and would not your hands be stretched out to help ? Or, if some of you 
 standing in the relation of a mother, should see your sucking child fallen 
 into a pit, and wrestling with the water, and crying for help, would you not 
 stir, nor be moved in heart, nor run to deliver the child from being drowned ? 
 Surely you would, and yet all this pity and compassion of yours is but as a 
 shadow of the compassions and dear affections that were and are in the heart 
 of Jesus Christ : 0 he had a mind devoid of sin, and therefore it could not 
 but be full of pity, mere}’, and tender bowels of compassion. 
 
 2. I look at the grace in Christ; O he was full of grace, yea, full of all 
 the graces of the Spirit, Sol. Songs 1 : 13, 14. “A bundle of myrrh is my 
 well-beloved to me ; — My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in 
 the vineyards of Engedi.” A bundle of myrrh and a cluster of camphire 
 denote all the graces of the Spirit: as many flowers are bound together in 
 a nosegay, so the variety of the graces of the Spirit concentrated in the 
 heart of Jesus Christ, Ex. gr. 
 
 1. In him was meekness, Matth. 21 : 5. “ He cometh unto the meek :” 
 he had a sweet command and moderation of his anger; he was meek as 
 Moses; nay, though^ Moses was very meek, “and very meek above all the 
 men which were upon the face of the earth,” Numb. 12 : 3, yet Christ’s 
 meekness exceeded Moses’, as the body doth exceed the shadow. 
 
 2. In him was humility : he saved not the world by his power but by his 
 humility: in his incarnation Christ would be humble; and therefore he 
 was born of a poor virgin, in a common inn : in his life, his way on earth 
 was a continual lecture of humility : a little before his death, he gave such 
 an example of humility as never was the like, John 13 : 5. “lie poured 
 water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet.” 0 ye apostles, 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 319 
 
 CHAP. V.] 
 
 why tremble ye not at the wonderful sight of this so great humility ? 
 Peter, what doest thou? Wilt thou ever yield, that this Lord of majesty 
 should wash thy feet? Methinks I hear Peter saying, “What, Lord, wilt 
 thou wash my feet ? Art not thou the Son of the living God, the Creator 
 of the world, the beauty of the heavens, the paradise of angels, the Re- 
 deemer of men, the brightness of the Father’s glory ? And I, what am I, 
 but a worm, a clod of earth, a miserable sinner? and wilt thou, notwith- 
 standing all this, wash my feet? Leave, Lord, 0 leave this base office for 
 thy servants; laydown thy towel and put on thy apparel again; beware 
 that the heavens, or the angels of heaven be not ashamed of it, when they 
 shall see that by this ceremony thou settest them beneath the earth ; take 
 heed lest the daughter of king Saul despise thee not, when she shall see 
 thee girded about with this towel after the manner of a servant, and shall 
 say, That she will not take thee for her beloved, and mu -h less for her 
 God, whom she seeth to attend upon so base an office.” Thus may I ima- 
 gine Peter to bespeak his master, but he little knew what glory lay hid in 
 this humility of Christ; it was for us, and our example : an humble Christ 
 to make humble Christians. 
 
 3. In him was patience; 0 when I think of Christ’s labors in preaching, 
 weariness in travelling, watchfulness in praying, tears in compassionating; 
 and when I add to all these his submission of Spirit, notwithstanding all 
 the affrouts, injuries, and exprobations of men : How should I cry out, “0 
 the patience of Christ !” The apostle tells us, 1 Pet. 2 : 23, that “ when 
 he was reviled, he reviled not again, when he suffered, he threatened not, 
 but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.” — I have already 
 given you a touch of the graces of Christ, which now I may set before me. 
 In him was wisdom, and knowledge, and justice, and mercy, and temperance 
 and fortitude, and every virtue, or every grace that possibly I can think of; 
 “A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me, as a cluster of camphire 
 in the garden of Engedi.” 
 
 4. I look at the conversation of Christ in word and in deed , for his 
 words they were gracious. Not an idle word ever came out of the lips of 
 Christ; himself tells us, that “of every idle word we must give an ac- 
 count,” Matth. 12 : 36. 0 then, how free was Christ of every idle word ! 
 He knew the times and seasons when to speak, and when to be silent; he 
 weighed every word with every circumstance, time, and place, and manner 
 and matter, Eccles. 3:7. “ There is a time to keep silence, and a time to 
 speak,” said Solomon, when he returned again to his wisdom ; and hence 
 we read, that sometimes Jesus being accused, he held his peace, and when 
 he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing, Matth. 
 26 : 63, and 27 : 12. But at other times he pours out whole cateracts of 
 holy instructions : he takes occasion of vines, of stones, of waters, and 
 sheep, to speak a word in season; he is still discoursing of the matters of 
 the kingdom of heaven, and he speaks such words as give grace unto all 
 the hearers round about him; so for his deeds and actions they were full 
 of grace and goodness. The apostle Peter gives him this character, (which 
 I look upon as a little description of Christ’s life) “ who went about doing 
 good,” Acts 10 : 38. It was his meat and drink to do all the good he 
 could : it was as natural to him to do good, as it is for a fountain to stream 
 out; he was holy and heavenly, unspotted every way; 0 the sweet conver- 
 sation of Christ! How humbly carries he it among men'! How benignly 
 towards his disciples ! How pitiful was he towards the poor ! To whom, 
 (as we read) he made himself most like, 2 Cor. 8:9. “ He became poor, 
 that we might be made rich,” he despised or abhorred none, no not the 
 very lepers that were eschewed of all; he flattered not the rich and 
 honorable, he was most free from the cares of the world, his prescriptions 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 were, u Care not for the things of the morrow;” and in himself he was 
 never anxious of bodily needs, above all, he was most solicitous of saving 
 souls. Much more I might add, if I should go over the particulars in the 
 gospel; but by these few expressions of Jesus Christ, we may conceive of 
 all the rest. 
 
 2. Let us be humbled for our great inconformity to this copy : what an 
 excellent pattern is here before us ? And how far, how infinitely do we 
 come short of this blessed pattern ? 0 alas ! if Christ will not own me, 
 
 unless he sees his image written upon me, what will become of my poor 
 soul! Why, Christ was meek, and humble, and lowly in spirit; Christ 
 was holy and heavenly, Christ ever went about doing good : and now when 
 I come to examine my own heart according to this original, I find naturally 
 a mere antipathy, a contrariety, I am as opposite to Christ as hell and 
 heaven ; 1. For my thoughts; within I am full of pride and malice; I am 
 full of the spirit of the world ; what is there in my heart but a world of 
 passions, rebellions, darkness and deadness of spirit to good ? And, 2. If 
 the fountain be so muddy, can I expect clear streams ? What words are 
 these that come many a time from me ? Christ would not speak an idle 
 word, but how many idle, evil, sinful words come daily flowing from my 
 lips? “ Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” And 
 if I may guess at my heart by my words, where was my heart this Sabbath, 
 and the other Sabbath, when my discourse was all on my calling, or on the 
 world, or, it may be, on my lusts, or on my Delilahs, on my right hand 
 sins, or on my right eye sins? And, 3. What actions are these so fre- 
 quently performed by me ? If I must read my state by my conversation, 
 “whose image and superscription is this?” The last oath I sware, the 
 last blasphemy I belched out, the last act of drunkenness, idolatry, adultery 
 I committed : (or if these sins are not fit to be named) the last piece of 
 wrong I did my neighbor, the last prank of pride I played on the stage of 
 the world, the last expense of time when I did no good in the world, neither 
 to myself nor others, the last omission of good as well as commission of 
 evil : 0 my soul, whose image is this ? Is it the image of Christ or of 
 Satan ? If the worst scholar in the school should write thus untowardly 
 after his copy, would he not be ashamed ? If in my heart and life I ob- 
 serve so many blots and stains, so great dissimilitude to the life of Christ, 
 how should I but lie in the dust ? 0 wo is me ! what a vast disproportion 
 
 is betwixt Christ’s life and mine ? Why thus, 0 my soul shouldst thou 
 humble thyself ; each morning, each prayer, each meditation, each self- 
 examination, shouldst thou fetch new, fresh, clear, particular causes, occa- 
 sions, matters of humiliation : as thus, Lo, there the evenness, gravity, 
 graciousness, uniformity, holiness, spiritualities, divineness, heavenliness of 
 Jesus Christ: lo, there the fragrant zeal, dear love, tender pity, constant 
 industry, unwearied pains, patience, admirable self-denial, contempt of the 
 world in Jesus Christ; lo, there those many, yea, continual, devout, divine 
 breathings of soul after God, his Father’s glory, after the spiritual and im- 
 mortal good of the precious souls of his redeemed ones : Oh ! all the ad- 
 mirable meekness, mercifulness, clemency, charity, with all other excellent 
 temperature, rare composure, wonderful order of his blessed soul I 0 the 
 sweet expressions, gracious conversation ! 0 the glorious shine, blessed 
 
 lustre of his divine soul ! Oh the sweet countenance, sacred discourse, 
 ravishing demeanor, winning deportment of Jesus Christ ! and now I reflect 
 upon myself, Oh, alas, Oh the total, wide, vast, utter difference, distance, 
 disproportion of mine therefrom ! I should punctually answer, perfectly 
 resemble, accurately imitate, exactly conform to this life of Christ, but ah 
 my unevenness, lightness, vanity ! Ah my rudeness, grossness, deformity, 
 odiousness, slightness, contemptibleness, execrableness ! Ah my sensuality, 
 
CHAP. V.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS 
 
 321 
 
 brutishness, devilishness ! how clearly arc these, and all other my enormi- 
 ties discovered, discerned, made evident and plain, by the holy life of 
 Jesus? So true is that rule, Contraria juxta sr posrta mayis elucescunt. 
 
 3. Let us quicken, provoke, and incense our sluggish drowsy souls to con- 
 form to Christ, If we will but strictly observe our hearts, we shall find 
 them very backward to this duty, and therefore let us call upon our souls 
 as David did, Psal. 103 : 1. “ Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and let all that 
 is within me bless his holy name let us work upon our souls by reason- 
 ing with our own hearts, as if we discoursed with them thus, “ 0 my heart,,” 
 or, “ 0 my soul,” if in the deep councils of eternity this was God’s great 
 design to make his Son like thee, that thou also mightest be like his Son, 
 how then shouldst thou but endeavor to conform ? And what says the 
 apostle ? Rom. 8 : 29. “ For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate, 
 to be conformed to the image of his Son this was one of his great pur- 
 poses from eternity ; this law God set down before he made the world, that 
 I should conform to his Son ; and what, 0 my soul, wouldst thou break tho 
 eternal bands of predestination ? 0, God forbid ! Again, if this was one of 
 the ends of Christ’s coming to destroy the works of the devil, to deface all 
 Satan’s works, especially his work in me, his image in me, and to set his 
 own stamp on my soul ; how then should I but endeavor to conform ? I 
 read but of two ends of Christ’s coming into the world in relation to us, 
 whereof the first was to redeem his people, and the other to purify his 
 people ; Titus 2 : 14. “ He gave himself for us, that he might redeem us 
 from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good 
 works.” The one is the work of his merit, which goeth upward, to the 
 satisfaction of his Father; the other is the work of his Spirit and grace, 
 which goeth downwards to the sanctification of his church ; in the one he 
 bestoweth his righteousness on us by imputation, on the other he fashioneth 
 his image in us by renovation : and what, 0 my soul, wouldst thou destroy 
 the end of Christ’s coming in the flesh ? Or wouldst thou miss of that end 
 for which Christ came in relation to thy good ? 0, God forbid ! again, con- 
 sider the example of the saints before thee; if this was their holy ambition 
 to be like their Jesus, emulate them in this; for this is a blessed emulation. 
 It is observable how the heathens themselves had learned a rule very near 
 to this; “ Seneca advised, that every man should propound to himself the 
 example of some wise and virtuous personage, as Cato, or Socrates, or the 
 like.” (Senec. ep. 11.) And really to take his life as the direction of all 
 their actions; but is not the life of Jesus far more precious, and infinitely 
 more worthy of imitation ? We read in history of one Cecilia, a virgin, who 
 accustomed herself to the beholding of Christ for imitation, and to that 
 purpose she ever carried in her breast some pieces of the gospel which she 
 had gathered out of all the evangelists, and thereon night and day she was 
 either reading or meditating; this work she carried on in such a circulation, 
 that at last she grew perfect in it, and so enjoyed Christ and the gospel, not 
 only in her breast, but also in the secrets of her heart; as appeared by her 
 love of Christ, and confidence in Christ, and familiarity with Christ; as 
 also by her contempt of the world, and all its glory, for Christ’s sake ; there 
 is some resemblance of this in the spouse, when she resolved of Christ, Sol. 
 Song 1 : 13. “ lie shall lie all night betwixt my breasts,” q. d. He shall 
 be as near me as near may be ; my meditation (and by consequence my imi- 
 tation) of him shall be constant and continual ; not oidy in the day, but he 
 “shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.” What, 0 my soul, was this the 
 practice of the saints? aud wilt thou not be of that communion? 0, God 
 forbid ! thus let us quicken and provoke our souls to this conformity ; let 
 us excite, rouse, incense, awake, and sharpen our wretched, sluggish, drowsy* 
 lazy souls; our faint, feeble, flagging, faltering, drooping, languishing affec 
 
322 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 tions, desires, endeavors ! let us with enlarged industry, engage and en- 
 courage our backward and remiss spirits to fall upon this duty of conformity, 
 again and again ; let us come up higher towards it, or, if possible, we may, 
 completely to it, that the same mind, and mouth, and life, may be in us 
 that was in Jesus Christ, that we may be found to walk after Christ, that 
 we may tread in the very prints of the feet of Christ, that we may climb up 
 after him into the same heavenly kingdom, that we may aspire continually 
 towards him, and grow up to him, even “ to the measure of the stature of 
 the fulness of Christ.” 
 
 4. Let us regulate ourselves by the life of Christ : whatsoever action we 
 go about, let us do it by this rule, what, would Christ have done this, or at 
 least, would Christ have allowed this ? It is true, some things are expedient 
 and lawful with us, which were not suitable to the person of Christ. “ Mar- 
 riage is honorable with all men, and the bed undefiled ;” but it did not 
 befit his person, who came into the world only to spiritual purposes, to beget 
 sons and daughters. Writing of books is commendable with men, because 
 like Abel, being dead, they may still speak, and teach these who never saw 
 them, but it would have been derogatory to the person and office of Christ, 
 for it is his prerogative to be in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, 
 to be present to all his members, to teach by power, and not by ministry, to 
 write his law in the hearts of his people, and to make them his epistle. 
 Contrition, compunction, mortification, repentance for sin, are acts and 
 duties necessary to our state and condition ; for we are sinners, and sinners 
 of the Gentiles, u To whom God also hath granted repentance unto life,” 
 Acts 11 : 18. But these were in no sort agreeable to Christ; for he was 
 without sin, and needed not repentance, nor to any part of it. The several 
 states of men, as of governors, kings, judges, lawyers, merchants, &c., are 
 convenient for us, otherwise what a tax and confusion would there be in 
 the world ? And yet Jesus never put himself into any of these states, John 
 18 : 36. “ My kingdom (says he) is not of this world.” Now, as in these 
 things we must only respect the allowance of Christ, so in other things we 
 must reflect upon the example of Christ; as, 1. In sinful acts eschewed by 
 Christ. 2. In moral duties that were done by Christ. 
 
 1. In sinful acts eschewed by Christ, as when I am tempted to sin, then 
 am I to reason thus with myself ; would my blessed Saviour if he were upon 
 earth, do thus and thus ; When I am tempted to looseness and immoderate 
 living, then am I to ask conscience such a question as this, would Christ, 
 have done thus; Would he have spent such a life upon earth as Ido? 
 When I am moved by my own corruption, or by Satan, to drunkenness, 
 gluttony, sinful and desperate society, to swearing, cursing, revenge, or the 
 like; then am I to ask, Is this the life that Christ led? Or, if he were to 
 live again, would he live after this manner? When I fall into passion, pee- 
 vishness, rash words, or if it be but idle words, then am I to consider, 0 but 
 would Christ speak thus? Would this be his language? Would such a rot- 
 ten or unprofitable speech as this drop from his honey lips ? 
 
 2. In case of moral obedience, concerning which we have both his pattern 
 and precept, I look upon Christ as my rule, and I question thus, Did Christ 
 frequently pray both with his disciples, and alone by himself? And shall I 
 never in my family, or in my closet think upon God? Did Christ open his 
 wounds for me, and shall I not open my mouth to him ? Did Christ serve 
 God without all self ends, merely in obedience and to glorify him ? And 
 shall I make God’s worship subordinate to my aims aud turns? Did Christ 
 show mercy to his very enemies ? and shall I be cruel to Christ’s very mem- 
 bers? 0 my soul, look on all thy sins, and in all thy duties to thy origiual; 
 and measure them by the holiness of Christ. Whether in avoiding sin, or 
 in doiDg duty; think, What would my blessed Saviour do in this case; Or, 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 323 
 
 CHAP. V.] 
 
 what did he do in the like case when he was upon earth? If we had these 
 thoughts every day, if Christ were continually before our eyes, if in all we 
 do or speak, we should still muse on this, What would Jesus Christ say if 
 he were here ? I believe it would be a blessed means of living in comfort 
 and spiritual conformity to the commands of God, yea, of acting Christ's 
 life (as it were) to the life. 
 
 3. Let us look fixedly on Jesus Christ, let us keep our spiritual eyes 
 still on the pattern, until we feel ourselves conforming to it : it is a true 
 saying “That objects and moving reasons kept much upon the mind, by 
 serious thoughts, are the great engine, both appointed by nature and grace 
 to turn about the soul of man." If I may deliver it in fewer terms, “ Ob- 
 jects considered much, or frequently, do turn the soul into their own na- 
 ture." Such as the things we are most thinking of and considering of, 
 such will be ourselves : or if we be not so, it is not through any imperfec- 
 tion in the object, (especially in such an object as Jesus Christ is,) but be- 
 cause it is not well applied, and by consideration held upon the heart till it 
 may work there, indeed the manner of this working may be secret and in- 
 sensible, yet if we follow on we shall feel it in the issue. The beholding 
 of Christ is a powerful beholding : there is a changing, transforming virtue 
 goes out of Christ, by looking on Christ : can we think of his humility and 
 not be humble ? Can we think of his meekness and gentleness of spirit, and 
 yet we continue in our fierceness, roughness, frowardness of spirit ? Can a 
 proud fierce heart apprehend a meek, and sweet, and lowly Jesus ! No, no, 
 the heart must be suitable to the thing apprehended ; it is impossible other- 
 wise, certainly if the look be right, there must be a suitableness betwixt the 
 heart and Christ. Sight works upon the imagination in brute creatures ; as 
 Laban’s sheep, when they saw the party-colored rods, they had lambs suit- 
 able : now, will sight work upon imagination, and imagination work a real 
 change in nature ; and is not the eye of the mind, (especially the eye of 
 faith) more strong and powerful ? If I but write after a copy, I shall in a 
 while learn to write like it : if I seriously meditate on any excellent subject, 
 it will leave a print behind it on my spirit : if I read but the life and death 
 of some eminently gracious and holy man, it moulds, and fashions, and 
 transforms, and conforms my mind to his similitude; even so, and much 
 more is it in this case, since the eye of faith works in the matter, which in 
 itself is operative and effectual, and therefore it cannot but work more than 
 where there is only simple imitation, or naked meditation. 0 then let us 
 set the copy of Christ’s life (as before described) in our view, and let us 
 look upon it with both eyes, with the eye of reason, and with the eye of 
 faith. 
 
 But how should we keep the eye of our faith on this blessed object, until 
 we feel conformity in us? I answer: 
 
 1. Let us set apart sometimes on purpose to act our faith in this respect, 
 
 Eccl. 3:1. “ There is a time for all things uuder the sun," saith Solo- 
 
 mon. It may be sometimes we are in our civil employments, but then is 
 not the time ; yet when they are doue, and the day begins to close, if toge- 
 ther with our closet prayer we would fall on this duty of looking unto Jesus 
 by lively faith ; how blessed a season might this be ? I know not but that 
 some Christians may do it occasionally, but for any that sets some time 
 apart for it every day, aud that in conscience, as we do for prayer, where is 
 he to be found ? 
 
 2. Let us remove hiuderances ; Satan labors to hinder the soul from be- 
 holding Christ with the dust of the world, “ The god of this world blinds 
 the eyes of men.’’ 0 take heed ot‘ fixing our eyes on this world’s vanity ! 
 our own corruptions are also great hiuderances to this view of Christ; away, 
 
324 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IV. 
 
 away with all carnal passions, base humors, sinful desires; unless the soul 
 be spiritual, it can never behold spiritual things. 
 
 3. Let us fix our eyes only on this blessed object : a moving, rolling eye 
 sees nothing clearly, 1 Pet. 1 : 13. “ When the angels are said to look 
 into these things,” the word signifies, that they look into them narrowly, 
 as they who bowing or stooping down, do look into a thing ; so should we 
 look narrowly into the life of Christ ; our eye of faith should be set upon it 
 in a steady manner, as if all the world could not move us, as if we forgot 
 all the things behind, and had no other business in the world but this. 
 
 4. Let us look wishingly and cravingly ; there is affection as well as vision 
 in the eyes; as the lame man that lay in Solomon’s Porch looked wishfully 
 on Peter and John, 11 Expecting to receive something of them,” Acts 3 : 5. 
 So let us look on Christ with a craving eye, with an humble expectation to 
 receive supply of grace from Christ, “ Why, Lord, thou art not only 
 anointed with the oil of gladness above thy fellows, but for thy fellows ; I 
 am earthly-minded, but thou art heavenly; I am full of lusts, but the image 
 of God is perfect in thee : thou art the fountain of all grace, an head of in- 
 fluence, as well as of eminence : thou art not only above me, but thou hast 
 all grace for me ; and therefore, 0 give me some portion of thy meekness, 
 lowliness, heavenly-mindedness, and of all other the graces of thy Spirit. 
 Surely thou art an heaven of grace, full of bright shining stars. Oh that 
 of that fulness thou wouldst give me to receive even grace for grace : I pray, 
 Lord, with an humble expectation of receiving from thee : Oh let me feel 
 the droppings of the two olive trees into the golden candlesticks; yea even 
 into my soul. 
 
 5. Be we assured that our prayer (if it be in faith) is even now heard : 
 never any came to Christ with strong expectations to receive grace, or any 
 benefit prayed for that was turned empty away. Besides, Christ hath en- 
 gaged himself by promise to write his law in our hearts : to make us like 
 himself ; “ As he which hath called us is holy, so should, (yea, and so shall) 
 we be holy in all manner of conversation,” 1 Pet. 1 : 15. Oh let us build 
 on this gracious promise : u Heaven and earth shall pass awaj T , before one 
 jot or tittle of his word shall fail :” only understand we his promise in this 
 sense, that our conformity must be gradual, not all at once, 2 Cor. 3 : 18. 
 u 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,” (i. e .) from grace to 
 grace, or from glory inchoate in obedience, to glory consummate in our 
 heavenly inheritance. 
 
 6. If, notwithstanding all this, we feel not for the present this conformity 
 in us, at least in such a degree, let us act over the same particulars again 
 and again : the gifts of grace are therefore communicated by degrees, that 
 we might be taken off from living upon a received stock of grace ; and that 
 we might still be running to the spring, and drinking there : why, alas ! we 
 have a continual need of Christ’s letting out himself and grace into our 
 hearts, and therefore we must wait at the well-head Christ; we must look 
 on Christ, as appointed on purpose by his father to be the beginner and 
 finisher of our holiness ; and we must believe that he will never leave that 
 work imperfect whereunto he is ordained of the Father. “ We may be con- 
 fident, (saith the apostle) of this very thing, that he which hath begun a 
 good work in us, will perform it, or finish it until the day of Jesus Christ,” 
 Phil. 1:6. Oh then, be not weary of this work until he accomplish the 
 desires of thy soul. 
 
 I have now done with this subject : only before I finish, one word more. 
 Sometimes I have observed that many precious souls in their endeavors 
 after grace, holiness, sanctification, have been frequent in the use of such 
 and such means, duties, ordinances : wherein I cannot say, but they have 
 done well ; and for their help, I therefore composed that piece called Media : 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 325 
 
 CHAP. V.] 
 
 but of all the ordinances of Christ, this looking unto Jesus is made least use 
 of though it be chief of all ; it is Christ, (when all is done) that is that great 
 ordinance appointed by God for grace and holiness ; and certainly those 
 souls which trade immediately with Jesus Christ, will gain more in a day, 
 than others in a month, in a year. I deny not other helps, but amongst 
 them all, if I would make choice which to fall upon, that I may become 
 more and more holy, I would set before me this glass, (%. e.) “ Christ’s holy 
 life,” the great exemplar of that holiness : we were at first created after his 
 image in holiness, and this image we lost through our sin, and to this image 
 we should endeavor to be restored by imitation : and how should this be 
 done, but by looking on Christ as our pattern? By running through the 
 several ages of Christ, and by observing all his graces, and gracious actings ? 
 In this respect I charge thee, 0 my soul, (for to what purpose should I 
 charge others, if I begin not at home, and with thee ?) that thou make con- 
 science of this practical, evangelical duty ; 0 be much in the exercise of it ! 
 not only in the day intend Christ, but when night comes, and thou liest 
 down on thy bed, let thy pillow be as Christ’s bosom, in which John the 
 beloved disciple was said to lean : there lean thou with John, yea, lie thou 
 between his breasts, aod “ let him lie all night betwixt thy breasts,” Sol. 
 Song. 1 : 13. Thus mayest thou “lie down in peace and sleep, and the 
 Lord only will make thee to dwell in safety,” Psal. 4 : 8. And when the 
 day returns again, have this in mind, yea, in all thy thoughts, words and 
 deeds, ever look into Jesus as thy holy exemplar, say to thyself, “ If Christ 
 my Saviour were now upon earth, would these be his thoughts, words and 
 deeds? Would he be thus disposed as I now feel myself? Would he speak 
 these words that I am now uttering? Would he do this that I am now 
 putting my hand unto ? 0 let me not yield myself to any thought, word 
 
 or action, which my dear Jesus would be ashamed to own !” Yea, (if it were 
 possible for thee to be so constant in this blessed duty) going and standing, 
 sitting and lying, eating and drinking, speaking and holding thy peace, by 
 thyself, or in company, cast an eye upon Jesus: for by this means thou 
 canst not choose but love him more, and joy in him more, and trust in him 
 more, and become more and more familiar with him, and draw more and 
 more grace and virtue and sweetness from him. 0 let this be thy wisdom, 
 to think much of Christ, so as to provoke thee to the imitation of Christ ! 
 then shalt thou learn to contemn the world, to do good to all, to injure no 
 man, to suffer wrong patiently ; yea, to pray for all those that despitefully 
 use thee and persecute thee, then shalt thou learn to condescend to the 
 weak, to condole sinner’s’ cases, to embrace the penitent, to obey superiors, 
 to minister to all : then shalt thou learn to avoid all boasting, bragging, 
 scandal, immoderate eating and drinking : in a word, all sin. Then shalt 
 thou learn to “ bear about in thy body the dying of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in thy body so the apos- 
 tle, “ for we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, 
 that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in thy mortal flesh,” 
 2 Cor. 4 : 10, 11. Why, this is to follow Christ’s steps, he descended from 
 heaven to earth for thy sake ; do thou trample on earthly things, “ Seek 
 after the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” for thy own sake : though 
 the world be sweet, yet Christ is sweeter ; though the world prove bitter, 
 yet Christ sustained the bitterness of it for thee ; and now he speaks to 
 thee, as he did to Peter, Andrew, James, and John, “ Come follow me;” 
 0 do not faint in the way, lest thou lose thy place in thy country, that 
 kingdom of glory. 
 
 Thus far we have looked on Jesus as our Jesus in his life, during the 
 whole time of his ministry : our next work is to look to Jesus carrying on 
 the great work of man’s salvation, during the time of his suffering, and dy- 
 ing on the cross, until his resurrection from the dead. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS, 
 
 IN HIS DEATH. 
 
 THE FOURTH BOOK.— PART III. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold and see. Lam. 1 : 12. 
 Consider him who hath endured such contradiction of sinners against himself 
 
 Heb. 12 : 3. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the Day of Christ’s Sufferings , divided into parts and hours. 
 
 The Sun of righteousness that arose with healing, we shall now see go 
 down in a ruddy cloud : and in this piece, (as in the former) we must first 
 lay down the object, and then direct you to look upon it. 
 
 The object is Jesus, carrying on the work of man’s salvation during the 
 time of his sufferings. Now, in all the transactions of this time, we shall 
 observe them as they were carried on successively in those few hours of his 
 passion and death. 
 
 As this work of man’s salvation was great, so we cannot but observe 
 how every piece of it was carried on in its due time, even from eternity 
 to eternity. The very time of Christ’s passion depended not on the will 
 of man, for his enemies sought many a time before to slay him, as Herod 
 in his infancy, Matth. 2 : 16. The Jews in his riper age, when sometimes 
 they took up stones to stone him, John 8 : 59. and sometimes they would 
 have broken bis neck from an hill, Luke 4 : 29. but his time was not then 
 come. We read of the Paschal Lamb that it was to be slain, Exod. 12 : 2. 
 6. On the fourteenth day of the first month called Abib or Nisan, at the 
 full of the moon, in the evening, or between the evenings : some think this 
 month answers to our March, others to our April, I shall not be too curi- 
 ous in the inquisition, for I think it not worth the while ; only this I can- 
 not but observe, that the same day that the lamb must be slain, must our 
 Paschal Lamb begin his sufferings : and as then it was full moon, so it 
 notes unto us the fulness of time which now was come ; and as it was in 
 such a month, as when light prevails against darkness and every thing 
 revives and springs, so Christ (by his sufferings) was to chase away our 
 darkness and death; and to bring in light, and life, and a blessed spring of 
 grace and glory : and as it was to be slain in the evening, or between the 
 evenings; so must Christ the true Paschal Lamb, be sacrificed about the 
 very same hour that the mystical lamb was slain. To understand which 
 we must know, that the Jews distinguished their artificial day into four 
 
 (326) 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 327 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 parts, from six to nine, from nine to twelve, from twelve to three, from 
 three to six. This last part was counted the evening of the day; and the 
 next three hours the evening of the night : now, in this last part of the 
 day used the paschal lamb to be slain ; and after it was slain, some time 
 was taken up to dress it whole for supper; so Christ, at the fourth part of 
 the day, at their ninth hour, that is, at our three of the clock in the after- 
 noon, “ between the evenings, with a loud voice, yielded up the Gkost. ,, 
 Matth. 27 : 50. 
 
 For the whole time of these last and extreme sufferings of Christ, I shall 
 reduce them to somewhat less than one natural day ; or, if we may take the 
 whole day before us, consisting of twenty-four hours, and begin with the 
 evening, and according to the beginning of the natural days from the 
 creation, (as it is said, Gen. 1:5. “ The evening and the morning made 
 the first day,”) in this revolution of time, I shall observe these several 
 passages. — As, 
 
 1. About six in the evening, Christ celebrated and eat the passover 
 with his disciples, at which time he instituted the sacrament of the Lord’s 
 supper; and this continued till the eighth hour. 
 
 2. About eight in the evening, he washed his disciples’ feet, and then 
 leaning on the table, he pointed out Judas that should betray him; and 
 this continued until the ninth hour. 
 
 3. About nine in the evening, (the second watch in the night) Judas, 
 that traitor, went from the disciples; and, in the mean time, Christ made 
 that spiritual sermon, and afterwards that spiritual prayer recited only by 
 John, John 14. 15. 16. 17. chapters; and this, together with a psalm they 
 sung, continued at least until the tenth hour. Thus far we proceeded 
 before we had done with the life of Christ. That which concerns his 
 passion follows immediately upon this; and of that only I shall take notice 
 in my following discourse. 
 
 The passion of Christ I shall divide between the night and the day. 
 
 1. For tfcie night, and his sufferings therein, we may observe these periods, 
 or thereabouts. As, — 
 
 1. From ten to twelve he goes over the brook Cedron to the garden of 
 Gethsemane, where he prayed earnestly, and sweat water and blood. 
 
 2. From twelve to three he is betrayed ; and by the soldiers and other 
 offieers he is bound, and brought to Jerusalem, and carried into the house 
 of Annas, who was one of the chief priests. 
 
 3. From three till six, they led him from Annas to Caiaphas, when he 
 and all the priests of Jerusalem sat upon Jesus Christ; and there it was 
 that Peter denied Christ; and at last the whole Sanhedrim of the Jews 
 gave their consent to Christ’s condemnation. 
 
 2. The night thus despatched, at six in the morning, about sun rising, 
 our Saviour was brought unto Pilate, and Judas Iscariot hanged himself, 
 because he had betrayed the innocent blood. — About seven in the same 
 morning, Christ is carried to Herod, that cruel tyrant, who, the year be- 
 fore, had put John the Baptist to death. At eight of the same day, our 
 Saviour Christ is returned to Pilate, who propounded to the Jews, whether 
 they would have Jesus or Barabbas let loose unto them. — About the ninth, 
 (which the Jews call the third hour of the day,) Christ was whipped and 
 crowned with thorns. About ten, Pontius Pilate brought forth Jesus out 
 of the common hall, saying, “ Behold the man and then in the place 
 called Gabbatha, he publicly condemned Christ to be crucified. About 
 eleven our Saviour carried his cross, and was brought to the place called 
 Golgotha, where he was fastened on the cross, and lifted up, “as Moses 
 lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.” — About twelve (in that meridian 
 which the Jews call the sixth hour) that supernatural eclipse of the sun 
 
328 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 happened. — And about three in the afternoon, (which the Jews call the 
 ninth hour) the sun now beginning to receive his light, Christ cried, “ It 
 is finished ;” and commending his Spirit into his Father’s hands, he gave 
 up the ghost. — I shall add to these, That about four in the afternoon our 
 blessed Saviour was pierced with a spear : and there issued out of his side 
 both blood and water. — And about five, (which the Jews call the eleventh, 
 and the last hour of the day) he was buried by Joseph of Arimathea, and 
 Nicodemus. — So that in this round of one natural day, you see now the 
 wonderful transactions of Christ’s sufferings. I shall take them in order, 
 and begin with his sufferings in that night before his crucifying. “And 
 Jesus said unto his disciples, all ye shall be offended because of me this 
 night,” Matth. 26 : 31. And lie said unto Peter, “That this day, even in 
 this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice,” Mark 
 14 : 30. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the brook over which Christ passed. 
 
 The first passage of that night, was Christ’s going over the brook Cedron 
 to the garden of Gethsemane. “ When Jesus had spoken these words, he 
 went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, 
 into which he entered, and his disciples,” John 18 : 1. 
 
 In this passage observe we these particulars. 1. The river over which 
 they passed. 2. The garden into which they entered. 3. The prayer he 
 there made; and the dolors and agonies he there suffered. 
 
 1. He and his disciples went over the brook Cedron. So it was called 
 (say some) from the many cedars that grew all along the banks; or, (say 
 others) from the darkness of the valley : so Kader signifies darkness : and 
 this was done to fulfil a prophecy, “ He shall drink of the brook in the way,” 
 Psal. 110 : 7. By the brook or torrent, we may understand mystically the 
 wrath of God, and the rage of men, the very afflictions which befel Jesus 
 Christ; and by his “drinking of the brook,” we may understand Christ en- 
 during afflictions ; or (as others) his enduring many afflictions, and not a 
 few. 1. That afflictions are understood by waters, we find it very frequently 
 in scriptures; “ The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of Belial 
 made me afraid,” Psal. 18 : 4. — “Beep calleth unto deep, at the noise of 
 the water-spouts, all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me,” Psal. 42 : 7. 
 And, “ Ssve me, 0 God, for the waters are come in unto my soul,” Psal. 
 69 : 1. “And 'if it had not been the Lord, who was on our side, — then 
 the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our souls, then 
 the proud waters had gone over our souls,” Psal. 124 : 1,4, 5. 
 
 2. As waters signify afflictions, so Christ drinking of those waters, it 
 signifies “ Christ’s suffering of afflictions ; or, as others, it signifies “ Christ’s 
 suffering of many afflictions.” Thus we find together two words with rela- 
 tion thereunto, “Are ye able to drink of the cup (saith Christ) that I shall 
 drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with ?” 
 Matth. 20 : 22. He that drinketh hath the water in him; and he that is 
 baptized, dipped or plunged, hath the water about him : so it notes the 
 variety or universality of afflictions which Christ suffered; it was within 
 him, and it was about him ; he was every way afflicted. 
 
 Not to speak yet of those sufferings, which yet we are not come to speak 
 unto, we find here in the way, betwixt the city and the garden, that Christ 
 went over the brook Cedron : in the night he wades through the waters, 
 yea, in a cold night he wades through cold waters on bare feet; and as he 
 wades through them, he drinks of them; he doth not sip, but drink; “He 
 shall drink of the brook in the way.” I know some would not have this 
 prophecy accomplished till after Christ’s apprehension, when it is said, That 
 the rude rout brought him again to Jerusalem, over the brook Cedron; and 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 329 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 then he drunk of the brook : but I find no mention of this brook in scrip- 
 ture at such a time : only now, in this way, I find these passages, 1. His 
 conference with his disciples as they go along. 2. The disciples’ reply upon 
 his conference. 3. His dolorous passage over the brook, betokening the 
 very wrath of God. 
 
 1. In the way* he hath a serious conference with his disciples: so the 
 evangelist, Matth. 26 : 30, 31. “And when they had sung an hymn, they 
 went out towards the mount of Olives; and then saith Jesus unto them, all 
 ye shall be offended because of me this night, for it is written, I will smite 
 the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.” Christ 
 now begins the story of his passiou : “the shepherd shall be smitten;” and 
 he proves it from God’s decree, and from the prophecy of the prophet, Zech. 
 13 : 7. “ Awake, 0 sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that 
 is my fellow, — smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered abroad.” 
 God the Father is here brought in, as drawing and whetting his sword, and 
 calling upon it, to do execution against Jesus Christ; God the Father had 
 an hand in the sufferings, “It pleased the Lord to bruise him, be hath put 
 him to grief,” Isa. 53 : 10. — “ I will smite the shepherd,” saith God. It 
 was not a naked permission, but a positive decree, and actual providence of 
 God that Christ should suffer : the plot was long since drawn, and lay hid 
 in God’s bosom, till he was pleased (by the actions of men) to copy it out, 
 and to give the world a draught of it. This was not a thing of yesterday: 
 no, no ; God spent his eternal thoughts about it ! The story was long since 
 written in ZecharialTs book : and in the volume of God’s book; Psa. 40 : 8. 
 Christ was ordained to be a Lamb slain from the beginning of the world, 
 “ him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of 
 God, ye have taken (saith Peter) and by wicked hands have crucified and 
 slain,” Acts 2 : 23. The enemies of Christ, though they broke commands, 
 yet they fulfilled decrees, “ Against thy holy child Jesus whom thou hast 
 anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and people of 
 Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy coun- 
 sel determined before to be done,” Acts 4 : 27, 28. The story of Christ’s 
 sufferings was long since taken up, and resolved on in the councils of hea- 
 ven. And now in the way, “ The only begotten Son, which lay in the 
 bosom of his Father,” reveals this story, he tells the disciples, “ it is written, 
 I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered.” 
 
 2. The disciples hearing this discovery of “ the shepherd being smitten, 
 
 and the sheep being scattered,” they are amazed : what, shall Christ die ? 
 and shall we like cowards, run away and leave him alone in the combat? 
 Peter, who seems boldest, he speaks first, “ Though all men should be 
 offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.” 0 rash presump- 
 tion ! it appears in these particulars; 1. Peter prefers himself before the 
 rest, as if all the other disciples had been weak, and he only strong, “ though 
 all should be offended, yet will not I.” 2. Peter contradicts Christ’s great 
 
 discovery of his Father’s great design from all eternity, with a few bragging 
 words ; q. d. What, though Zechariah hath said it, and God hath decreed 
 it, yet, on my part, I will never do it, “ Though I should die with thep, I 
 will not deny thee.” 3. Peter, in his boast, never mentions God’s help, or 
 God’s assistance ; whereas, in relation to future promises, the apostle’s rule 
 is, “ ye ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that,” 
 James 4: 15. So Peter should have said, “By God’s assistance, I will not 
 be offended, by the Lord’s help, I will not deny thee; if the Lord will, I 
 will not do this, and that, I will live with thee, and die with thee, rather 
 than I will deny thee;” but we find no such word in all the story; and 
 
 * Vid. Aretius in locum. 
 
330 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 therefore Christ takes him off his bottoms in the first place, “ Yerily I say 
 unto thee, Peter, that this night before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny 
 me thrice/’ Matth. 26 : 35. Oh no, saith Peter, he will not go off his pre- 
 sumptuous confidence, “ Though I should die with thee, I will not deny 
 thee ; likewise said all his disciples.” But I must not dwell on these 
 passages. 
 
 3. His dolorous passage over the brook succeeds; “He went forth with 
 his disciples over the brook Cedron;” I never read of this brook Cedron, 
 but some way or other, it points at the sufferings of our Saviour; I shall 
 instance in some places: 1. When David fled from Absalom out of Jeru- 
 salem, it is said, “ That all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the 
 people passed over : the king also himself passed over the brook Cedron, 
 towards the way of the wilderness,” 2 Sam. 15 : 23. In this story we find 
 David passing over this brook Cedron with bare head and bare feet ; and 
 he and all his men “ weeping as they went up by the ascent of mount 
 Olivet,” verse 30. I cannot think, but in this, king David was a type of 
 king Jesus; Christ, as another David, with his soldiers or disciples, goes 
 out of Jerusalem, bare head and bare foot, (as this type seems to speak) 
 what weeping was in the way I cannot tell ; but probably sadness was in 
 the hearts both of him and his disciples, whose conference was of fleeing, 
 suffering, dying the most grievous death that ever was : all the difference 
 that I find betwixt the type and antetype in this passage is, in that David 
 fled from the face of Absalom; but Christ goes out of Jerusalem, not to 
 flee from Judas, or the Jews, but rather to commit himself into their 
 hands. 
 
 2. When Solomon confined Shimei to his house in Jerusalem, saying, 
 
 “ Dwell there, and go not forth from thence any whither, for it shall be 
 that on the day thou goest out, and passest over the brook Cedron, thou 
 shalt know for certain that thou shalt surely die,” 1 Kings 2 : 36, 37. 
 Now, two of the servants of Shimei running away from him, he follows 
 after them, and passing over this brook Cedron, it became his death ; why, 
 here was a type of Jesus Christ ; we were those fugitive servants that ran 
 away from God, and to fetch us home, Jesus goes over the brook Cedron ; 
 rather than he will lose his servants, he will lose his life. All the differ- 
 ence that I find betwixt Shimei and Christ in this, is in that Shimei was 
 but a wicked man, and yet he died an honorable death, not for his servants, 
 but for his own transgression : but Christ being a just man (so Pilate’s wife 
 sent her husband word, “have thou nothing to do with that just man,”) he 
 died a most ignominious shameful death, even the death of the cross, and 
 that not for himself, but for us, Isa. 53 : 5. “ He was wounded for our 
 
 transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.” 
 
 3. When the good kings, Hezekiah and Asa, and Josiah, had purged 
 the city and the temple of idolatry, they burned the cursed things at the 
 brook Kidron, and cast them therein. “And Asa cut down the idol, and 
 he brought out the grove from the house of the Lord without Jerusalem 
 into the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron,” 2 Kings 23 : 6. 
 “ And the priests went into the inner parts of the house of the Lord to 
 cleanse it, and brought all the uncleanness that they found in the temple 
 of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord; and the Levites took 
 it to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron,” 2 Chron. 29 : 16. “And 
 they arose, and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the 
 altars for incense took they away, and cast them into the brook Kidron, or 
 Cedron,*’ 2 Chron. 30 : 14. All these note unto us, that the brook was, as 
 it were, the sink of the temple, into which all the purgamenta , and un- 
 cleanness of God's house, and all the accursed things were to be cast ; and 
 here again was a type of Christ; upon him was cast all the filth of our sins, 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 331 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 that, as a river or fountain, he might cleanse us from them ; in this respect 
 he is said to be “ made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made 
 the righteousness of God in him,” 2 Cor. 5 : 21. He was made sin for us, 
 and a curse for us, that so he might swallow up sin and death, and might 
 be the destruction of hell, and all. 
 
 I cannot pass over this passage of the brook, without some use or appli- 
 cation to ourselves. 
 
 Use 1. It informs. Methiuks this valley, and this brook of Cedron, is a 
 right representation of a Christian’s life; Jesus went forth with his disci- 
 ples over the brook Cedron : what is our life if we are Christ’s, but a passage 
 through a vale of tears, and over a brook of several afflictions ; “ Many are 
 the troubles of the righteous,” Psa. 34 : 19. The very word Cedron, which 
 signifies darkness, denotes this state : an horror of great darkness was said 
 to fall on Abraham ; and then said God, “ Know thou of a surety, that thy 
 seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, 
 and they shall be afflicted four hundred years,” Gen. 15 : 12, 13. As God 
 made the evening and the morning the first day, and second day, and third 
 day, &c., so the life of God’s saints is as the evening of troubles, and their 
 happiness hereafter is as the morning of glory; God’s worst is first, with 
 those that are his; the way to Canaan is through the wilderness; “ The 
 way to Zion is through the valley of Baca,” Psa. 84 : 6. “ Through much 
 
 tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God,” Acts 14 : 22. “ In 
 
 the world ye shall have tribulation,” saith Christ, John 16 : 33. Yea “ all 
 that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution,” saith the 
 apostle, 2 Tim. 3 : 12. Our rest is not here in this world ; what is this 
 world, but an ark of travail, a school of vanities, a fair of deceits, and 
 labyrinth of error, a barren wilderness, a stony field, a tempestuous sea, a 
 swelling brook, a vale of tears full of all miseries ? 
 
 2. It reproves. It is the first passage of Christ when he begins his suf- 
 ferings, to go over the brook Cedron, and it is the A, B, C, of Christianity 
 (as Bradford said) to learn the lesson of taking up the cross, and following 
 Christ. Surely this world is no place, and this life it is no time for plea- 
 sure; God hath not cast man out of paradise, that he should find another 
 paradise on this side heaven. Oh ! why do we seek the living among the 
 dead : Why do we seek for living comforts, where we must expect to die 
 daily? It is only heaven that is above all winds, and storms, and tempests, 
 and seas, and brooks, and waves : Oh ! why do we look for joys in a vale 
 of tears ? It was an heavy charge that the apostle James laid upon some, 
 that “ they lived in pleasure upon earth,” James 5 : 5. q. d. Earth is not 
 the place for pleasure : earth is the place of sorrow, of trouble, of mourn- 
 ing, of affliction, “ Bemember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good 
 things, and Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted, and thou art tor- 
 mented,” Luke 16 : 25. All the pleasure that wicked men have, it is upon 
 earth, but the condition of the godly is clean contrary; Oh ! it is sad to 
 outlive our happiness; and when we shall come to live indeed, then to 
 want our comforts and our joys, Mattb. 6:2. “ Verily, I say unto you, 
 
 they have their reward,” said Christ of hypocrites, their heaven is past. 
 “ They spend their days in wealth or in mirth,” (saith Job of the wicked) 
 “and in a moment go down to the grave,” Job 21 : 13. Alas ! their best 
 days are then past, and they must never be merry any more. Ah, fond 
 fools of Adam’s seed, to lose heaven for a little earthly contentment ! how 
 should this sour your carnal joys, when you remember, all this is only upon 
 earth, it cannot be for ever! There must be a change of all things, here 
 you laugh, and hereafter you must howl ! no sooner death comes, but then 
 you will cry, “Farewell world, Oh into what a gulf am I now falling !” 
 
 3. It instructs. Ah ; my brethren ! let us remember, we are pilgrims and 
 
332 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 strangers upon earth, and our way lies over the brook and valley of Cedron : 
 we cannot expect to enter with Christ into glory, but “ we must, first drink 
 of the brook in the way/’ (i. e.) we must endure many afflictions, variety 
 of afflictions. You will say, “This is an hard saying, who can bear it?” I 
 remember, when Jesus told his disciples of his sufferings to be accomplished 
 at Jerusalem, Peter takes the boldness to dehort his Master, “be it far 
 from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee,” Matth. 16 : 22. But Jesus 
 thereupon calls him Satan, meaning that no greater contradictions can be 
 offered to the designs of God and Christ, than to dissuade us from suffer- 
 ings. There is too much of Peter’s humor abides amongst us ; Oh ! this 
 doctrine of afflictions will not down with libertines, Antinomians, or the 
 like ; and hence I believe we have our congregations so thin in comparison 
 of some of theirs ; they that can break off the yoke of obedience, and untie 
 the bands of discipline, and preach a cheap religion, and present heaven in 
 the midst of flowers, and strew palms and carpets in the way, and offer 
 great liberty of living under sin, and reconcile eternity with the present 
 enjoyment, shall have their schools filled with disciples; but they that 
 preach the cross, and sufferings, and afflictions, and strictness of an holy 
 life, they shall have the lot of their blessed Lord, (t. e.) they shall be ill 
 thought of, and deserted and railed against. Well, but if this be the way 
 that Christ hath led us, while others abide at ease in Zion, let us follow 
 him in the valley, and over the brook that is called Cedron. 
 
 Thus far have we observed Christ in the way together with his passage 
 over Cedron ; we come now to the garden, into which he entered and his 
 disciples. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of the Garden into which Christ entered. 
 
 Matthew relates it thus, Matth. 26 : 36. “Then cometh Jesus with them 
 into a place called Gethsemane,” ( eis chorion) it signifies in special, a field, 
 a village ; but more generally a place, as we translate it ; and this place 
 was called Gethsemane, (i. e.) “ a valley of fatness certainly it was a 
 most fruitful and pleasant place, seated at the foot of the mount of Olives : 
 accordingly John relates it thus, John 18 : 1. “Jesus went forth with his 
 disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden;” many mysteries are 
 included in this word, and I believe it is not without reason that our Saviour 
 goes into a garden. — As, 1. Because gardens are solitary places, fit for 
 meditation and prayer; to this end we find Christ sometimes in a mountain, 
 and sometimes in a garden. 2. Because gardens are places fit for repose 
 and rest : when Christ was weary with preaching, working of miracles ; and 
 doing acts of grace in Jerusalem, then he retires into his garden. 3. Be- 
 cause a garden was the place wherein we fell, and therefore Christ made 
 choice of a garden to begin there the greatest work of our redemption : in 
 the first garden was the beginning of all evils ; and in this garden was the 
 beginning of our restitution from all evils ; in the first garden, the first 
 Adam was overthrown by Satan, and in this garden the second Adam over- 
 came, and Satan himself was by him overcome ; in the first garden sin was 
 contracted ; and we were indebted by our sins to God, and in this garden 
 sin was paid for by that great and precious price of the blood of God : in 
 the first garden man surfeited by eating the forbidden fruit, and in this 
 garden Christ sweat it out wonderfully, even by a bloody sweat; in the first 
 garden, death first made its entrance into the world; and in this garden life 
 enters to restore us from death to life again ; in the first garden Adam’s 
 liberty to sin brought himself and all of us into bondage ; and, in this 
 garden, Christ being bound and fettered, we are thereby freed and restored 
 to liberty. I might thus descant in respect of every circumstance, but this 
 is the sum, in a garden first began our sin, and in this garden first began 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 333 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 the passion, that great work and merit of our redemption. 4. Christ goes 
 especially into this garden, that his enemies might the more easily find him 
 out ; the evangelist tells us that this garden was a place often frequented by 
 Jesus Christ, so that Judas, “ which betrayed him, knew the place, for 
 Jesus oftentimes resorted thither with his disciples,” John 18 : 2. Sure 
 then he went not thither to hide himself, but rather to expose himself; and, 
 like a noble champion, to appear first in the field, and to expect his enemies. 
 Thus it appears to all the world that Christ’s death was voluntary. “ He 
 poured forth his soul unto death,” (saith the prophet,) Isa. 53 : 12. “He 
 gave himself for our sins,” (saith the apostle) Gal. 1 : 4. Nay, himself tells 
 us, “ Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life : no 
 man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself, I have power to lay it 
 down, and I have power to take it up again,” John 10 : 17, 18. But I will 
 not stay you at the door ; let us follow Christ into the garden, and observe 
 his prayer, and his sufferings there. 
 
 Sect. IV. — Of the prayer that Christ there made. 
 
 Jesus entering the garden, he left his disciples at the entrance of it, 
 called with him Peter, James and John ; they only saw his transfiguration, 
 the earnest of his future glory : and therefore his pleasure was, that they 
 only should see of how great glory he would disrobe himself even for our 
 sakes. — In the garden we may observe, first his prayer, and secondly his 
 passion. 
 
 1. He betakes himself to his great antidote, which himself (the great 
 physician of our souls) prescribed to all the world ; he prays to his heavenly 
 Father : he kneels down ; and not only so, but falls flat upon the ground : 
 he prays, with an intention great as his sorrow ; and yet with a submission 
 so ready, as if the cup had been the most indifferent thing in the world. 
 The form of his prayer runs thus, “ 0 my Father, if it be possible, let this 
 cup pass from me, nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt,” Matth. 26 : 
 39. In this prayer, observe we these particulars, 1. The person to whom he 
 prays, “ 0 my Father.” 2. The matter for which he prays, “ let this cup 
 pass from me.” 3. The limitation of his prayer, “if it be possible,” and 
 “ if it be thy will.” 
 
 1. For the person to whom he prays, it is his Father; as Christ prayed 
 not in his Godhead, but according to his manhood, so neither prayed he to 
 himself as God, but to the Father, the first person of the Godhead : hence 
 some observe, that as the Father sometimes saying, “ This is my beloved 
 Son,” he spake not to himself but to the Son ; so the Son usually saying, 
 “ 0 my Father,” he prays not to himself, but to the Father. 
 
 2. For the matter of his prayer, “ Let this cup pass from me,” some in- 
 terpret thus, u Let this cup pass from me, Oh that I might not taste it.” 
 But others thus, “Let this cup pass from me, though I must taste it, yet, 
 Oh that I may not be too* long or tediously annoyed by it !” That which 
 leads us into this last interpretation, is that of the apostle, “ Christ in the 
 days of his flesh offered up prayers and supplications, with strong cries and 
 tears, unto him that was able to save him from death, and he was heard in 
 that he feared,” Heb. 5 : 7. How was he heard? Not in the removal of 
 the cup, for he drank it up all; but, in respect of the tedious annoyance, 
 or poisoning of the cup ; for though it made him sweat drops of blood, 
 though it grieved him, and pained him, and made him cry out, “ My God, 
 my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Though it cast him into a sleep, 
 
 * Quod dicit, transfer calicem istarn a me, non hoc est, non adveniat mihi : nisi 
 enim advenerit, transferri non poterit; sed sicut quod peterit, nec intactum est, nec 
 permanens; sic salvator leviter in vadentem tentationem flagi tat pelli. Sic, Diony- 
 sius Alexandrinus. 
 
334 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 and laid him dead in his grave, and there sealed him for a time, yet pre- 
 sently, within the space of forty hours, or thereabouts, he revived, and 
 awakened as a lion out of sleep, or as a giant refreshed with wine ; and so it 
 passed from him, as he prayed, in a very short time ; and by that short and 
 momentary death, he purchased to his people everlasting life. 
 
 3. For the limitation of his prayer, “ If it be possible, if it be thy will ;” 
 he knows what is his Father’s will, and he prays accordingly, and is willing 
 to submit unto it : if the passing of the cup be according to the last inter- 
 pretation, we shall need none of those many distinctions to reconcile the 
 will of God and Christ : “if it be possible,” signifies the earnestness of the 
 prayer; and “if it be thy will” the submission of Christ unto his Father. 
 The prayer is short, but sweet : how many things needful to a prayer do we 
 find concentered in this one instance. Here is humility of spirit, lowliness 
 of deportment, importunity of desire, a fervent heart, a lawful matter, and 
 a resignation to the will of God. Some think this is the most fervent 
 prayer that ever Christ made upon earth, “ If it be possible, 0, if it be pos- 
 sible, let this cup pass from me ;” and I think it was the greatest derelic- 
 tion and submission to the will of God that ever was found upon the earth, 
 for whether the cup might pass or not pass, he leaves it to his Father; 
 “nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt,” q. d. Though in this cup 
 are many ingrediants, it is full red, and hath in it many dregs ; and I know 
 I must drink and suck out the very utmost dreg; yet, whether it shall pass 
 from me in that short time, or continue with me a long time, I leave it to 
 thy will. I see, in respect of my humanity, there is in me flesh, and blood ; 
 0 I am frail and weak, I cannot but fear the wrath of God, and therefore I 
 pray thus earnestly to my God, “ 0 my Father, if it be possible, let this cup 
 pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.” 
 
 But what was there in the cup, that made Christ pray thus earnestly that 
 it might pass from him ? I answer, — 
 
 1. The great pain that he must endure, buffetings, whippings, bleedings, 
 crucifying; all the torments from first to last throughout all his body; why, 
 all these now came into his mind, and all these were put into a cup, of 
 which he must drink. 
 
 2. The great shame that he must undergo; this was more than pain, as 
 “ a good name is better than precious ointment, and loving favor better 
 than silver and gold,” so is shame a greater punishment to the mind than 
 any torture can be to the flesh. Now came into his thoughts, his appre- 
 hending, binding, judging, scorning, reviling, condemning; and oh, what a 
 bloody blush comes into the face of Christ, whilst in the cup he sees these 
 ingredients ! 
 
 3. The neglect of men, notwithstanding both his pain and shame, I look 
 upon this as a greater cut to the heart of Christ than both the former, when 
 he considered that after all his sufferings and reproaches few would regard. 
 0 this was a bitter ingredient; naturally men desire, if they cannot be deli- 
 vered, yet to be pitied : it is a kind of ease, even to find $ome regard among 
 the sons of men ; it shows that they wish us well, and that they would give 
 us ease if they could ; but, oh, when it comes to this, that a poor wretch is 
 under many sufferings and great shame; and that he finds none so much as 
 to regard all this: now, verily, it is a heavy case, and hence was Christ’s 
 complaint, “ Have ye no regard, 0 all ye that pass by the way ? Consider 
 and behold, if ever there was sorrow like unto my sorrow, which was done 
 unto me, wherewith the Lord bath afflicted me in the days of his fierce 
 anger,” Lam, 1:12. Christ complains not of the sharp pains he endured; 
 but he complains of this, “ Have ye no regard ?” He cries not out, “ Oh 
 deliver me and save me ; but Oh, consider and regard me ” q. d. All that 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 335 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 I suffer I am contented with, I regard it not, only this troubles me, that 
 you will not regard ; why, it is for you that I endure all this, and do you 
 look so upon it, as if nothing at all concerned you ? Suppose a priuce should 
 pay some mighty price to redeem a slave from death, and the slave should 
 grow so desperate, as after the price paid, to throw himself upon his death, 
 yea, with all the strength and might he hath, to offer a death upon his very 
 redeemer. Would not this trouble? Why, thus it was, Christ is willing 
 to redeem us with his own precious blood, but he saw many to pass by with- 
 out any regard, yea, ready to trample his precious blood under their feet; 
 and to “account the blood of the covenant as an unholy thing,” Heb. 10 : 
 29. Oh ! this was another spear in the heart of Christ, or a bitter ingredient 
 iu this cup. 
 
 4. The guilt of sin which he was now to undergo; “upon him was laid 
 the iniquity of us all,” Isa. 53 : 6. All the sins of all believers in the world, 
 from the first creation to the last judgment, were laid on him : Oh ! what 
 a weight was this ? Surely one sin is like a talent of lead ; oh then, what 
 were so many thousands of millions ? The very earth itself groans under 
 the weight of sin until this day ; David cried out, That “ his iniquities were 
 a burden too heavy for him to bear,” Psal. 38 : 4. Nay, God himself com- 
 plains, “ Behold I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of 
 sheaves,” Amos 2 : 13. Now then no wonder, if Christ bearing all the sins 
 of Jews and Gentiles, bond and free, cry out, “My soul is heavy,” for sin 
 was heavy on his soul. In that I say, all the sins of all believers were laid 
 on Christ, understand me soberly; my meaning is not that believers’ sins 
 were so laid on Christ, as that they ceased to be believers’ sins according to 
 their physical, and real indwelling, but only that they were laid on Christ 
 by law imputation, or by legal obligation to satisfactory puuishment. I 
 make a difference betwixt sin and the guilt of sin ; for sin itself is macula , 
 the blot, defilement, and blackness of sin, which I conceive is nothing but 
 the absence and privation of that moral rectitude and righteousness which 
 the law requireth : but the guilt of sin is somewhat issuing from this blot 
 and blackness, according to which the person is liable and obnoxious to’ 
 eternal punishment. Some indeed give a distinction of the guilt of sin, 
 there is reatus culpce , the guilt of sin as sin : and this is all one with sin, 
 being the very essence, soul, and formal being of sin ; they call it a funda- 
 mental or potential guilt; and there is reatus pause reatus , personae , reatus 
 actualis , the guilt or obligation to punishment, the actual guilt, or actual 
 obligation of the person who hath thus siuned to punishment; and this guilt 
 is a thiug far different from sin itself, and is separable from sin ; yea, and 
 is removed from sin in our justification. Now, this was the sin or guilt 
 which was laid on Christ, in which sense the apostle speaks, “ Who his own- 
 self bare our sins in his own body on the tree,” 1 Pet. 2 : 24. How bare 
 our sins on the tree, but by his sufferings ? — “ And he hath laid on him the 
 iniquity of us all,” Isa. 53 : 6. — IIow laid on him but by imputation ? — 
 “ And he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin,” 2 Cor. 5 : 21. 
 How made sin for us? Surely there was in Christ no fundamental guilt; 
 no, no, but he was made sin by imputation and law account : he was our 
 surety, and so our sins were laid upon him in order to punishment, as if 
 now in the garden he had said to his Father, “ Thou hast given me a body, 
 as I have taken the debts and sins of all believers in the world upon me. 
 Come now and arrest me, as the only pay-master; lo, here I am, to do and 
 suffer for their sins whatsoever thou pleasest,” Psal. 40 : 6, 7, 8. Heb. 10 : 
 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Or as if he had said to his Father thus, “ I am the sinner, 
 0 Father, I am the surety, all my friends’ wants, and all their debts let 
 them be laid on me; my life for their lives, my soul for their souls, my 
 glory for their glory, my heaven for their heaven.” Now, this was no small 
 
336 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IV. 
 
 matter ; little do we know or consider, what is the weight and guilt of sin. 
 And this was another ingredient in Christ’s cup. 
 
 5. The power and malice of Satan ; the devil had a full leave and license, 
 not as it was with Job, “ Do what thou wilt, Satan, but save his life no, 
 no, he had a commission without any such restriction or limitation : the 
 whole power of darkness was let loose to use all his violence ; and to afflict 
 him as far as possibly he could; and this our Saviour intimates, when he 
 saith, “ That the prince of this world cometh,” John 14 : 30. Now was it 
 that the word must be accomplished, “ Thou shalt bruise his heel, Gen. 
 3 : 15. The devil could go no higher than the heel of Christ, but whatever 
 he could do he was sure to do : he had been nibbling a great while at his 
 heel ; no sooner he was born, but he would have killed him, and after he 
 fell fiercely on him in the wilderness : but now, all the power and all the 
 malice of hell conjoins. If we look on the devil in respect of his evil nature, 
 he is compared to a roaring lion; not only is he a lion, but a roaring lion, 
 his disposition to do mischief is always wound up to the height; and if we 
 look on the devil in respect of his power, there is no part of our souls or 
 bodies that he cannot reach : the apostle describing his power, he gives 
 him names above the highest comparisons, as “ principalities, powers, 
 rulers of the darkness of this world, spiritual wickedness above,” Eph. 6 : 
 12. Devils are not only called princes, but principalities : not only mighty, 
 but powers; not only rulers of a part, but of “all the darkness of all this 
 world ;” not only wicked spirits, but spiritual wickedness : not only about 
 us but above us : they hang over our heads continually ; you know what a 
 disadvantage it is to have your enemy get the hill, the upper ground ; and 
 this they have naturally, and always. Oh then, what a combat must this 
 be, when all the power and all the malice of all the devils in hell should 
 (by the permission of God) arm themselves against the Son of God. Surely 
 this was a bitter ingredient in Christ’s cup. 
 
 6. The wrath of God himself : this (above all) was the most bitter dreg ; 
 it lay in the bottom, and Christ must drink it also : “ Oh ! the Lord hath 
 afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger,” Lam. 1 : 12. God afflicts some 
 in mercy, and some in anger ; this was in his anger, and yet in his anger, 
 God is not alike to all, some he afflicts in his more gentle and mild, others 
 in his fierce anger; this was in the very fierceness of his anger. It is agreed 
 upon by all divines, that now Christ saw himself bearing the sins of all 
 believers, and standing before the judgment seat of God; to this end are 
 those words, “Now is the judgment of this world, and the prince of this 
 world shall be cast out,” John 12 : 31. Now is the judgment of this world, 
 q. d. Now I see God sitting in judgment upon the world ; and as a right 
 representative of all the world of believers, here I stand before his tribunal, 
 ready to undergo all the punishments due to them for their sins; why, 
 there is no other way to save their souls, and to satisfy justice, but that the 
 fire of thy indignation should kindle against me; q. d. “0 1 know it is a 
 fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God ;” 0 I know God is 
 a consuming fire : “ who can stand before his indignation ; and who can 
 abide in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and 
 the rocks are thrown down by him,” Nah. 1 : 6. But for this end came I 
 into the world ; 0 my Father, I will drink this cup, lo, here an open breast, 
 come prepare the armory of thy wrath, and herein shoot all the arrows of 
 revenge. And yet, 0 my Father, let me not be oppressed, subverted or 
 swallowed up by thy wrath ; let not tby displeasure continue longer than 
 my patience or obedience can endure ; there is in me flesh and blood in 
 respect of my humanity ; “ and my flesh trembleth for fear of thee, I am 
 afraid of thy judgments : oh ! if it be possible, if it be possible, let this cup 
 pass from me.” 
 
■CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 337 
 
 Sect. V. — Of the dolors and agonies that Christ there suffered. 
 
 Christ’s passion in the garden was either before, or at his apprehen- 
 sion; his passion before is declared: 1. By his sorrow. 2. By his 
 
 sweat. 
 
 1. For his sorrow; the evangelists diversely relate it, u He began to be 
 
 sorrowful, and very heavy,” saith Matthew, Matth. 26 : 37. “ He began to 
 
 be sore amazed, and to be very heavy,” saith Mark, Mark 14 : 33. “And 
 being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly,” saith Luke, Luke 22 : 44. 
 “ Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say ? Father, save me from 
 this hour; but for this cause came I unto this hour,” saith John, John 12 : 
 27. All avow this sorrow to be great, and so it is confessed by Christ him- 
 self : “ then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto 
 death,” Matth. 26 : 38. Ah Christians ! who can speak out this sorrow ? 
 “ The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who 
 can bear ?” Prov. 18 : 14. Christ’s soul is sorrowful : or if that be too flat, 
 his soul is sorrowful, exceeding sorrowful ; or if that language be too low, 
 his soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death ; not only extensively, such 
 as must continue for the space of seventeen or eighteen hours, even until 
 death itself should finish it ; but also intensively, such and so great as that 
 which is used to be at the very point of death ; and such as were able to 
 bring death itself, had not Christ been reserved to a greater and an heavier 
 punishment. Of this sorrow is that especially spoken, “ Consider, and be- 
 hold if ever there was sorrow, like unto my sorrow,” Lam. 1 : 12. Many a 
 sad and sorrowful soul hath, no question, been in the world, but the iike 
 sorrow to this, was never since the creation ; the very terms of the evange- 
 lists speak no less; he was sorrowful, and heavy, saith one; amazed and 
 very heavy, saith another ; in an agony, saith a third ; in a soul trouble, 
 saith a fourth. Surely the bodily torments of the cross were inferior to this 
 agony of his soul ; the pain of the body is the body of pain ; oh ! but the 
 very soul of sorrow and pain is the soul’s sorrow, and the soul’s pain. It 
 was a sorrow unspeakable, and therefore I must leave it, as not being able to 
 utter it. 
 
 2. For his sweat, Luke only relates it, “And his sweat was as it were 
 great drops of blood falling down to the ground,” Luke 22 : 44. In the 
 words I observe a climax. 1. His sweat was as it were blood; Ethymius 
 and Theophilact interpret those words as only a similitude or figurative 
 hyperbole; an usual kind of speech to call a vehement sweat a bloody 
 sweat; as he that weeps bitterly is said to weep tears of blood ; Augustine, 
 Jerome, Epiphanius, Athanasius, Ireneus, and others, from the beginning 
 of the church, understand it in a literal sense, and believe it was truly and 
 properly a bloody sweat ; nor is the objection considerable, that it was Sicut 
 guttae sanguinis , “ as it were drops of blood ; for if the Holy Ghost had 
 only intended that sicut for a similitude or hyperbole, he would rather have 
 expressed it, as it were drops of water, than as it were drops of blood. 
 We all know sweat is more like to water than to blood; besides, a sicut in 
 scripture phrase doth not always denote a similitude, but sometimes the 
 very thing itself, according to the verity of it; thus we “beheld his glory, 
 the glory, as it were of the only begotten Son of the Father,” John 1 : 14. 
 “ And their words seemed to them as it were idle tales, and they believed 
 them not,” Luke 24 : 11. The words in the original ( [hosei leros, ) are the 
 same ; here is the first step of this climax , his sweat was a wonderful 
 sweat, not a sweat of water, but of red gore blood. 
 
 2. Great drops of blood, ( tliromboi uimatos .) There is, sudor diapho- 
 riticus , a thin faint sweat ; and sudor grumosus , a thick, concrete and 
 clotted sweat; in this bloody sweat of Christ, it came not from him in 
 22 
 
338 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 small dews, but in great drops, they were drops, and great drops of blood, 
 crassy and thick drops; and hence it is concluded as preternatural, for 
 though much may be said for sweating blood in a course of nature, Aris- 
 totle* affirms it; Augustinef grants, “ That he knew a man that could sweat 
 blood, even when he pleased :” in faint bodies, a subtile, thin, blood like 
 sweat, may pass through the pores of the skin ; but that through the same 
 pores, crassy, thick and great drops of blood should issue out, it was not, it 
 could not be without a miracle, some call them grumes, others globes of 
 blood ; certainly the drops were great, so great, as if they had started 
 through his skin, to outrun the streams and rivers of his cross. 
 
 3. Here is yet another climax , in that these great drops of blood did not 
 only distillare drop out ; but decurrere , ran the stream down so fast, as if 
 they had issued out of the most deadly wounds; they were great drops of 
 blood falling down to the ground: here is magnitude and multitude; great 
 drops, and those so many, so plenteous, that they went through his apparel, 
 and all streaming down to the ground ; now was it that his garments were 
 died with crimson-red ; that of the prophet, though spoken in another sense, 
 yet, in some respect, may be applied to this ; “ Wherefore art thou red in 
 thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine fat?” 
 Isa. 63 : 2. 0 what a sight is here ! his head and members are all on a 
 
 bloody sweat; this sweat trickles down, and bedecks his garments, which 
 stood like a new firmament studded with stars, portending an approaching 
 storm : nor stays it there, but it “ falls down to the ground :” 0 happy 
 garden, watered with such tears of blood ! how much better are these rivers 
 “ than Abana, and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus,” yea, than all the waters 
 of Israel, yea, than all those rivers that water the garden of Eden ? 
 
 Use 1. This may inform us of the weight and burden of sin, that thus 
 presseth Christ under it till he sweat and bleed : when the first Adam had 
 committed the first sin, this was the penalty, “ In the sweat of thy face 
 shalt thou eat thy bread,” Gen. 3:19. but now the second Adam takes 
 upon him all the sins of all believers in the world; he sweats not only in 
 his face, but in all his body; 0 then how was that face disfigured, when it 
 stood all on drops, and those drops not of a watery sweat, but of a gore 
 blood? we see in other men, that when they are disquieted with fear or 
 grief, the blood usually runs to the heart, indeed that is the principal mem- 
 ber, and therefore leaving the other parts, it goes thither as of choice to 
 comfort that; but our sweet Saviour contrariwise (because he would suffer 
 without any manner of comfort) he denies to himself this common relief 
 of nature ; all the powers of our souls and parts of our bodies were stained 
 with sin, and therefore he sweats blood from every part; we sin, and our 
 eyes will scarce drop a tear for sin ; but his eyes, and ears, and head, and 
 hands, and feet, and heart, and all run rivers of tears of blood for us, even 
 for our sins. Let Jesuits and Friars in meditating of Christ’s sufferings 
 cry out against the Jews : In this bloody sweat of Christ, I see another 
 use ; alas ! here is no Jew, no Judas, no Herod, no Pilate, no Scribe, no 
 Pharisees, here is no tormentors to whip him, no soldiers to crown his head 
 with thorns; here is neither nails, nor spear to fetch his blood out of his 
 body; how comes it then to pass? is there any natural cause? Ah no! 
 the night is cold, which naturally draws blood inwards; in the open air he 
 lies grovelling on the ground, and there “ he sweats and bleeds,” 2 Sam. 
 12 : 5. “ 0 my heart, who hath done this deed?” “As the Lord liveth, 
 
 the man that hath done this thing, shall surely die,” verse 7. So saith 
 David, when Nathan replied upon him, “ Thou art the man,” 0 my heart ! 
 
 * Arist. L. III. de Hist. Animal, c. 29. 
 f August. L. XIV. de Civit. Pei. c. 24. 
 
CHAP. I.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 339 
 
 my sinful heart ! 0 my sinful, deceitful, abominable heart ! thou art the 
 murderer; thy sin sat upon the heart of Christ as heavy as a mountain of 
 lead or iron, when none was near, but a few dull, heavy, sleepy disciples ; 
 then all the sins of believers (and amongst them thy sins) fell upon the 
 soul of Christ, as so many murderers, and squeezed blood, and made him 
 cry out, “ My soul is heavy, heavy unto death.” Go thy ways now and 
 weep with Peter, and say with David, “ I have sinned against the Lord,” 
 verse 13. 0 how should these eyes of mine look upon Chri-st thus sweat- 
 
 ing, bleeding, streaming out blood, clouds of blood, great drops of blood, 
 from all the parts and members of his body, but I must “ mourn over him, 
 as one that mourneth for his only son ; but I must be in bitterness, as one 
 that is in bitterness for his first born,” Zech. 12 : 10. 
 
 2. This may inform us of the extraordinary love of Christ. It is said 
 of the Pelican, that when her young ones are struck with the tail of some 
 poisonous serpent, she presently strikes her breast with her beak or bill, 
 and so lets out her own blood as a medicine for them, that they may suck 
 and live ; even so Christ seeing us struck with the poison of sin, he is im- 
 patient of delay, he would not stay till the Jews let his blood with their 
 whips, and thorns, and nails; “ I have a baptism to be baptised with, (saith 
 Christ) and how am I straitened till it be accomplished ?” Luke 12 : 50. 
 He is big with love ; and therefore he opens all his pores of his own accord, 
 he lets blood gush out from every part, and thereof he makes a precious 
 balsam to cure our wounds. 0 the love of Christ ! as Elihu could some- 
 times say, u Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent, it is ready to 
 burst like new bottles,” Job 32 : 19, so the heart of Christ was full, even 
 full of love, so full that it could not hold, but it burst out through every 
 part and member of his body, in a bloody sweat. I will not say, but that 
 every drop of Christ’s blood was very precious, and of sufficient value to 
 save a world ; but certainly that blood which was not forced by whips, or 
 thorns, or spear, is to be had in singular honor; as the myrrh, that by in- 
 cision of the tree flows out, is very precious, yet that which drops out of 
 its own accord, is accounted as the first and choice; and as the balsam 
 which way soever it come, is sweet, yet that which falls of its own accord 
 is held the most pure and odoriferous ; to this alludes that apocryphal saying 
 in Ecclesiasticus, “ I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon, and I yielded a 
 pleasant odor like the best myrrh,” Eccl. 24 : 15. The vulgar translates it 
 thus; Quasi libanus non incisus vaporavi, as the myrrh-tree that is not 
 cut, I evaporated; as if Christ should have said, Without any lancing, 
 cutting, pruning, out of mere love I poured out my blood upon the earth : 
 This is certain, at this time; no manner of violence was offered him in 
 body, no man touched him or came near him, in a cold night (for they were 
 fain to have a fire within doors) lying abroad in the air, and upon cold 
 earth, he casts himself into a sweat of blood; surely love is hot, he had a 
 fire in his breast that melts him into this bloody sweat! 0 wonderful love ! 
 
 3. This may inform us of the design of Christ in these very sufferings; 
 “ Christ* weeps, (saith Bernard) not only in his eyes, but in all his mem- 
 bers, that with the tears of his body he might wash and purify his body, 
 which is the church.” Or Christ weeps blood, that he might give us a 
 sign of the enemy’s ruin; sweat in sickness is a crisis, or promising sign, 
 that nature with all her force, hath strove against the peccant humor, and 
 hath now overcome it; so this bloody sweat is a blessed crisis, or argument 
 of sin decaying, and that the Lamb hath overthrown the Lion. As Christ 
 sometimes said, “ Now is the judgment of this world : Now shall the piiuce 
 of this world be cast out, And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw 
 all men unto me,” John 12 : 31, 32. 
 
 * Bern. Serm. in dom. Palm. 
 
340 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 Thus far of Christ’s passion, before his apprehension. And now we may 
 suppose it about midnight, the very time which Christ called “ the hour, 
 and power of darkness/’ Luke 22 : 53. What followed from twelve till 
 three at night, we shall discover in the next section. 
 
 Sect. YI. — Of Judas’s treason , Christ’s apprehension, binding and leading 
 
 unto Annas. 
 
 By this time the traitor Judas was arrived at Gethsemane ; and being 
 near the garden door, Jesus goes to his disciples, and calls them from their 
 sleep, by an irony (as some think) he bids them “ sleep on now, and take 
 their rest,” meaning, if they could for danger, that was near; but withal, 
 he adds, “ Behold the hour is at hand ; and the Son of man is betrayed 
 into the hands of sinners : Rise, let us be going : behold he is at hand that 
 doth betray me,” Matth. 26 : 45, 46. That it might appear he undertook 
 his sufferings with choice and free election, he not only refused to fly, but 
 he calls his apostles to rise, that they might meet his murderers. And now 
 they come “with swords and staves,” or, as John adds, “with lanterns and 
 torches, and (Judas going before them, and drawing near unto Jesus to kiss 
 him) they took him, and bound him, and led him away to Annas first,” 
 Matt. 26:47; John 18 : 3, 12, 13. 
 
 In this period I shall observe, 1. Judas’s treason. 2. Christ’s apprehen- 
 sion. 3. Christ’s binding. 4. Christ’s leading to Annas, one of the chief 
 priests, as to his first station. 
 
 1. Judas’s treason, “and while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he 
 that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near 
 unto Jesus to kiss him,” Luke 22 : 47. This traitor is not a disciple only, 
 but an apostle; not one of the seventy, but one of the twelve. Augustine 
 speaks of many offices of love that Christ had done to Judas in especial 
 manner; he had called him to be an apostle, made him his friend, his 
 familiar, caused him to eat of his bread, sit at his table, and to dip his hand 
 in the dish with him; yea, if his tradition be true, “Jesus* had delivered 
 Judas often from death, and for his sake healed his father of a palsy, and 
 cured his mother of a leprosy, and next to Peter honored him above all 
 other his apostles.” Of this we are sure, that he kissed him, and washed 
 his feet, and made him his treasurer, and his almoner; and now that Judas 
 should betray Christ; 0 how doth this add to the sufferings of Christ, and 
 to the sin of Judas! “Behold a multitude,” and Judas in the front; he 
 went before them, tarn pedibus quam moribus ; in his presence, and in his 
 malice. The evangelist gives the reason of this, that he might have the 
 better opportunity to kiss him ; that this was the sign, he gave the rout, 
 “Whomsoever I shall kiss, that is he, lay hold on him;” he begins war 
 with a kiss, and breaks the peace of his Lord by a symbol of kindness : 
 Jesus takes this ill. What, Judas, “ betrayest thou the Son of man with a 
 kiss?” Luke 22 : 48, q. d. What, dost thou make the seal of love the 
 sign of treachery? What, must a kiss of thy mouth be the key of treason? 
 0 what a friendly reproof is here ! by way of use : 
 
 Use. “Itf were well for the world (said Chrysostome) especially for tho 
 children of God, that Judas were alone in this transgression, that there 
 were no more perfidious, treacherous persons in it besides himself.” But 
 oh ! how full is the world of such miscreants ? There was never yet an 
 Abel, but he had a Cain to murder him ; never yet a Moses, but he had a 
 Jannes and Jambres to resist him; never yet a Joseph, but he had unkind 
 brothers to envy him ; never yet a Samson, but he had a Delilah to betray 
 him ; never yet a David, but he had an Ahithophel to hurt him ; never 
 
 * Aug. Serm. 28, ad fratres. 
 f Utinam Judas solus sic peccasset Chrysos. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 341 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 yet a Paul, but there was an Alexander to do him much evil ; nay, it is 
 well if in every assembly we meet not with a Judas: in civil affairs how 
 many are there that live and make gain by lying, swearing, cheating, co- 
 zening, selling away Christ and their own souls, for a lesser matter than 
 thirty pieces of silver; and in religious affairs, how many secure and drowsy 
 professors have we amongst us, that salute Christ, both by hearing the 
 word, and receiving the seals, and yet in their lives and conversations, they 
 deny Christ? “They honor God with their lips, but their hearts are far 
 away from him,” Matth. 
 
 2. For Christ’s apprehension, “ Then came they, and laid hands on 
 Jesus, and took him :” they apprehended him whom the world cannot com- 
 prehend ; and yet before they took him, he himself begins the inquiry, and 
 leads them into their errand; he tells them, that he was “Jesus of 
 Nazareth, whom they sought;” this was but a breath, a meek and gentle 
 word, yet had it greater strength in it than the eastern wind, or the voice 
 of thunder; for G-od was in that still small voice and it struck them down 
 to the ground. 0 the power of Christ ! they come to him with clubs, and 
 staves, and swords, and he does no more, but let a word fly out of his 
 mouth, and presently they stagger, run “backward, and fall to the ground,” 
 John 18 : 6. Oh ! if we cannot bear a soft answer of the merciful God, 
 how dare we so provoke, as we do, the wrath of the Almighty Judge ? and 
 yet he suffered them to rise again, and they still persist in their inquiry 
 after him; and he tells them once more, “I am he;” he offers himself, he 
 is ready and desirous to be sacrificed, only he sets them their bounds ; and 
 therefore he secures his apostles to be witnesses of his sufferings : in this 
 work of redemption, no man must have an active share besides himself, he 
 alone was to tread the wine-press : “ If, therefore, ye seek me (saith Christ) 
 let these go their way,” John 18 : 8; thus he permits himself to be taken, 
 but not his disciples. 
 
 And now they have his leave ; oh ! with what fierce and cruel counte- 
 nances, with what menacing and threatening looks, with what malicious 
 and spiteful minds, do they invade and assault our Saviour ? they compass 
 him round : then they lay their wicked and violent hands upon him, in the 
 original, ( epebalon ) signifies a violent taking. One speaks the manner of 
 his apprehension in these words, “ Some of them lay hold on his gar- 
 ments, others on the hair of his head : some pluck him by the beard, 
 others struck him with their impious fists, and being enraged, that with 
 a word he had thrown them backwards on the ground, they therefore 
 threw him on his back, and basely tread him under their dirty feet.”* An- 
 other author gives it thus, “ As a roaring, ramping lion draws along the 
 earth his prey, and tears it, and pulls it, so they hauled Christ all along 
 the earth, spitting, buffeting, pulling him by the hair.”")* Another, in like 
 manner thus, “ They all run violently upon him, they fling him to the 
 ground, they kick him, tear him, spurn him, pull off the hair, both of his 
 head and beard. ”J Of every of these passages, we find scriptures full, 
 “ Many bulls have compassed me, strong bulls of Bashan have beset me 
 round, they gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and roaring 
 lion,” Psal. 22 : 12, 13. 
 
 Use. We are apt to cry out on Judas and the Jews; and we think, Oh 
 if we had been in their stead we should never have done this : but lay 
 aside a while those instruments, and look we at the principal cause ; had 
 
 * Quidam apprehendebant vestes ejus, alii mittebant manus in capillos capitis, &c. 
 Homil Johan. Carthag. Hispan. 
 
 t Sicut leo rugiens et rapiens trahit prsedam per terram et lacerat, et laniat, &c. 
 Jacob, de Valenti in Psal. 21. 
 
 % Omnes impetum faciunt in eum, &c. 
 
342 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 not we an hand in all these actings ? Did not we conspire his death, and 
 apprehensions in reference to it? Oh, my sins, my sins! these were the 
 hand, the captain, and the officers ; these were the multitude, a multitude 
 indeed. If I should tell them, I might tell a thousand, and yet not tell 
 one of a thousand, these were the soldiers that beset him round, the bulls 
 that compassed him about, the roaring lions that gaped upon him with 
 their mouths. 0 my heart, why shouldst thou rise up against the Jews, 
 when thou findest the traitor, and the whole rout of officers in thyself? 
 Oh that thou wouldst turn the edge of thy detestation into its right stream 
 and channel ! Oh that thou wouldst “ remember thy own ways, and all 
 thy doings, wherein thou hast been defiled/ 7 and that thou wouldst “ loathe 
 thyself in thy own sight, for all the evils that thou hast committed/ 7 
 Ezek. 20:43. 
 
 3. For Christ’s binding, the evangelist tells us, “That the band, and 
 the captain, and the officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him/ 7 John 
 18 : 12, ( edesari ) they bound his hands with cords; a type of this was Sam- 
 son, whom Delilah bound with ropes, or cords, foreshowing hereby, that he 
 must die, they never using to bind any with ropes or cords, but those 
 whom undoubtedly they purposed to crucify : some add the circumstances 
 of this binding, that they bound him with three cords, and that with such 
 violence, that they caused blood to start out of his tender hands; certainly 
 they wanted no malice, and now they wanted no power, for the Lord had 
 given himself into their hands. Binding argues baseness ; it is storied 
 of Alexander, that when some arrow that was shot into him was to be 
 drawn out, his physicians advised to bind him, for that the least motion (as 
 they said) would do him hurt; but he answered, “ Kings were not fit to be 
 bound, the power of a king was ever free and safe. 77 * And David in his 
 lamentation over Abner, said, “ Died Abner as a fool dieth ? Thy hands 
 were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters/ 7 2 Sam. 3 : 33, 34. Fools 
 and slaves were accustomed to be bound, and so were thieves; they that 
 open their hands to receive other men’s goods, it is fit their hands should 
 be bound and tied up; but is our Saviour numbered amongst any of 
 these? O yes, “In that same hour said Jesus to the multitude, Are ye 
 come out as against a thief, with swords and staves ? Math. 26 : 55. “ He 
 
 made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant,” 
 Phil. 2:7. 0 wonderful condescension of Christ ! 0 admirable exinani- 
 
 tion ! He that was eminently just, is reputed a thief; he that was equal 
 with God is become a servant; he that was stronger than Samson, and 
 could have broken his cords from off his arms like a thread, he is bound 
 with cords ; and as a poor lamb, he continues bound for the slaughter; and 
 thus began our liberty, and redemption from slavery, and sin, and death, 
 and cursings. 
 
 But besides these cords, the word (edesari) signifies a binding with 
 chains, Mark 5 : 3, 4 : and some are of opinion, that they shackled both his 
 hands and feet, pedicis et catenis vinctus, Mark 5 : 4, and others say, “ that 
 they put about his neck a chain of iron;”f and it is not altogether im- 
 probable but they might be as cruel to the master as to the servants ; I 
 cannot think they were so enraged against Peter, as they were against 
 Christ, and yet they laid on him “ two chains,” Acts 12 : 6. Nor can I 
 think they were so enraged against Paul, as they were against Jesus, ami 
 yet “the chief captain took him, and commanded him to be bound with 
 two chains,” Acts 21:33. And that this might be their dealing with 
 
 * Non decet vinciri regem, cum libera sit regis et semper salva potestas. Bern. 
 Serm. de pas. 
 
 •j- Quidam existimaverunt catena ferrea collum ejus alligasse, quod mihi certe, 
 incredibile non est. Hon. Joh. Carthag. 
 
CIIAP. i ] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 343 
 
 Christ, Judas by his counsel, seems to speak, “ Hold him fast,’ Matth. 
 26:48. — “Take him and lead him away safely,” Mark 14:44, q. d. 
 Make kina sure : that he escape not out of your hands, he hath deceived 
 you often, and therefore chain him with an iron chain, that will be sure to 
 hold. I cannot pass this without some word to ourselves. 
 
 Use. Christ undergoes this restraint, that all sort of persecution might 
 be sanctified to us by his susception. Again, Christ was faster bound with 
 his cords of love than with iron fetters, his love was strong as death, it over- 
 came him who is invincible, and bound him who is omnipotent; the Jews’ 
 cords were but the symbols and figures, but the dear love, the tender bowels 
 of Jesus Christ were the morals and things signified: again, Christ was 
 bound that we might be free ; the cords of Christ were so full of virtue, 
 that they loosed the chains of our sins, and tied the hands of God’s justice, 
 which were stretched out against us for our sins. Again, he was bound 
 for us, that so he might bind us to himself. “ I drew them with cords 
 of a man, with bands of love,” Hosea 11:4. A strange thing it was, 
 to see the king bound for the thieves’ offence ; but such was Christ’s love, 
 that he might draw sinful mankind to the love of him again. Lastly, One 
 good lesson we may learn from wicked Judas, “ Take him and lead him 
 away safely ; — hold him fast.” Come, Christians ! here is good counsel 
 from a Judas, like another Caiaphas, he prophesies, be knows not what; 
 “ take him and lead him away, and hold him fast.” It is of necessity, that 
 those who spiritually seek after Christ, should take him by faith, and hold 
 him fast by love : “ I will rise now, (saith the spouse) I will seek him 
 whom my soul loveth :” — and anon, “I found him whom my soul loveth, 
 I held him and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my 
 mother’s house, into the chambers of her that conceived me,” Sol. Songs 
 3:2, 4. We must arise out of the bed of sin, we must seek Christ in the 
 use of ordinances; and there if we find him, we must take him, lay hold 
 on him by the hands of faith, and not let him go, but lead him safely until 
 we have brought him into our mother’s house, into the assemblies of his 
 people : or, if you will, until we have brought him into our souls, where 
 he may sup with us, and we with him. 
 
 4. For his leading to Annas, John records it, That “they led him away 
 to Annas first, for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, who was high priest 
 that same year,” John 18 : 13. 1. They led him away, (< apegagon ,) it refers 
 to the place whence they led him ; the garden was the terminus a quo , 
 there they apprehended him, and bound him, and thence led him away; 
 but the word ( apago ) is something more than merely abduco ; sometimes 
 it signifies ah 'ujo , to drive away, whether by force or fraud : sometimes 
 rapio ad supplicium, ad judicandum , to snatch away either to punish- 
 ment or judgment: it is said, “They* drew him away by the hairs of 
 the head, and that they led him in uncouth ways, and through the brook 
 Cedron, in which the ruder soldiers pluuged him, and passed upon him all 
 the affronts and rudeness, which an insolent and cruel multitude could 
 think of.” So that now again was the fulfilling of the prophecy, “He 
 shall drink of the brook in the way,” Psal. 110 : 7. I dare not deliver 
 these things as certain truths, only this I affirm, that they led him, snatched 
 him, hauled him from the garden back again to Jerusalem, over the brook 
 and valley called Cedron. 2. They led him first to Annas; why thither, is 
 a question, the cognizance of the cause belonged not properly to Annas, but 
 to Caiaphas; all that can be said for Annas, is, that he was the chief of the 
 Sanhedrim, and father-in-law to Caiaphas, and to be high priest the next 
 year following. 
 
 * Ecce trabebatur passis Priamidia virgo crinibus. Yirg. /Eneid. 1. 
 
344 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 Use. Oh ! when I think of Jesus being led away to Annas first, when I 
 think of him partly going, and partly hauled forward, and forced to hasten 
 his grave pace; when I think of him thrown into, or plunged in the waters 
 of the brook, and so forced to drink of the brook Cedron in the way ; 
 when I think of him presented by a deal of soldiers, and rude catchpoles 
 to this mercenary Annas; and withal think that I had an hand as deep as 
 any other in these acts, my heart must either break, or I must proclaim it 
 an heart of flint, and not of flesh : come, Christians, let us lay our hands 
 upon our hearts, and cry, “ Oh, my pride ! and oh, my covetousness I and 
 oh, my malice and revenge ! oh my unbelief! and oh, my unthankfulness ! 
 and oh, my uncharitableness to the needy members of Christ Jesus! why, 
 these were the rout, these were they that led, and dragged, and drew Jesus 
 (as it were) by the hair of his head; these were they that took hold of 
 the chains, and pulled him forwards, and showed him in triumph to this 
 bloody Annas; nay, these were the Judas, Jews, Annas, and all : Oh! that 
 ever I should lodge within me such an heart, that should lodge in it such 
 sins, such betrayers, such murderers of Jesus Christ.” 
 
 But I must remember myself, “Watchman, what of the night? Watch- 
 man, what of the night?” Isa. 21 : 11, 12. “If ye will inquire, inquire ye, 
 return, come,” Matth. 14 : 25. We may now suppose it about the third 
 hour, or the last watch : in the gospel it is called the fourth watch of the 
 night, Exod. 14:24. Elsewhere it is called “the morning watch,” Psal. 
 130 : 6, which continued till the morning. And of the acts done in this 
 interval of time, we are next to treat. 
 
 Sect. YII. — Of Christ’s Examination and Condemnation , with their 
 
 Appendices. 
 
 Now it was, that they led him from Annas to Caiaphas; and presently a 
 council of high priests, scribes and elders; these were the greatest, gravest, 
 learnedst, wisest men amongst them, and they all conspire to judge him, 
 who is the greatest judge both of quick and dead. 
 
 In their proceedings we may observe, 1. The captious examination of 
 the high priest. 2. The sacrilegious smiting of one of the servants. 3. 
 The impious accusations of the witnesses. 4. The sentence of the judges. 
 5. The perfidious denial of perjured Peter. 6. The shameful delusion and 
 abuses of the base attendants. 
 
 1. For the captious examination of the high priest, “The high priest 
 then asked Jesus of his disciples, and of his doctrine,” John 18:19. 1. 
 Of his disciples; what the questions were, it is not expressed, but pro- 
 bably they might be such as these, “How many disciples he had? And 
 where they were ? And what was become of them ? Why he should take 
 upon him to be better guarded than others of greater place and calling ? 
 Whether it did not savor of sedition and disturbance of the state, to lead 
 about such a crew of disciples and followers after him ? And what was 
 the reason of their flight, whether it were not a token of their guiltiness 
 of some disorder, or of riotous practices ?” It is not for me to speak how 
 many queries the high priest might make to tempt Jesus, but certainly he 
 was sifted to the bran, examined to the full, of all such circumstances as 
 either might trap Christ, or in the least degree, advance and help forward 
 his condemnation : to this question concerning his disciples, our Saviour 
 answered nothing; alas, he knew the frailty of his followers ! he might have 
 said, “ For my disciples, you see one hath betrayed me, and another will 
 anon forswear me, he stays but for the crowing of the cock, and then 
 you shall hear him curse and swear that he never knew me : and for all the 
 rest, a panic fear hath seized upon their hearts, and they are fled, and have 
 left me alone to tread the wine-press.” Ah, no, he will not speak evil of 
 
CHA1 I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 345 
 
 the teachers of his people; it was grief to him, and added to his suffer- 
 ings, that all had forsaken him : once before this, “ many of his disciples 
 went back, and walked no more with him,” which occasioned Jesus to say 
 to the twelve, “ Will ye also go away ?” Why, no, said Peter then, “Lord, 
 whither shall we go, thou hast the words of eternal life : and we believe, 
 and are sure, that thou art that Christ, the Sou of the living God,” John 6 : 
 67, 68, 69. Oh, Peter ! What a strong faith was that? “ We believe, and 
 we are sure ;” but how is it now that ye have no faith ? Or why are ye so 
 fearful, 0 ye of little faith ? I believe this sat upon the heart of Christ, 
 and yet he would not accuse them who now stood in their places, and was 
 accused for them, and for us all; and therefore to that question of his dis- 
 ciples, he answered nothing. 
 
 2. He asked him of his doctrine ; what his questions were of that, are 
 not set down neither, but probably they may be such as these, “ Who was 
 his master or instructor in that new doctrine, he had lately broached? 
 Why did he seek to innovate and alter their long practised and accustomed 
 rites? And what ground had he to bring in his own devices in their 
 steads ? As baptism for circumcision, the Lord’s Supper for the passover, 
 himself and his apostles for the high priests and Levites, when neither he, 
 nor most of them were of that tribe? Why he was so bold and saucy, 
 (being but three and thirty years of age), to declaim so bitterly and satiri- 
 cally against the Pharisees and Sadducees, and Scribes, and priests, and 
 elders of the people.” Much of this stuff he might bring out in his inter- 
 rogatories, that so, by his questioning him in many things, he might trap 
 him in something to his confusion and destruction. — And to this ques- 
 tion our Saviour answers, but, oh, how wisely! “I spake openly to the 
 world (said he) I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither 
 the Jews always resorted; and in secret have I said nothing, Why askest 
 thou me ? ask them which heard me, what I said unto them, behold they 
 know what I said unto them,” John 18 : 20, 21. q. d. I appeal to the tes- 
 timony of the very enemies themselves : thou suspectest me to be a seditious 
 person, and one that plots mischief against the state in secret : I tell the 
 truth, “ I speak nothing in secret ;” i. e., nothing in the least manner tend- 
 ing to sedition ; my doctrine I brought with me from the bosom of my 
 Father, it is the everlasting gospel, and not of yesterday; and it contains 
 nothing in it of sedition, faction, rebellion, treason ; ask these thine enemies, 
 these who have apprehended and bound me, and brought me hither : They 
 know what I said, let them speak, if they can, wherein I have transgressed 
 the law. 
 
 2. For the stroke given Christ by that base servant : “ one of the officers 
 who stood by, struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerest 
 thou the high priest so?” John 18 : 22, that holy face which was designed 
 to be the object of heaven, in the beholding of which, much of the celestial 
 glory doth consist : that face which the angels stare upon with wonder, like 
 infants at a bright sunbeam, was now smitten by a base varlct in the 
 presence of a judge; and howsoever the assembly was full, yet not one 
 amongst them all reproved the act, or spake a word for Christ; nay, in this 
 the injuiry was heightened, because the blow was said to be given by Mal- 
 chus,* an Idumean slave; it was he whose ear was cut off by Peter, and 
 cured by Christ; and thus he requites him for his miracle. Amongst all 
 the sufferings of Christ, one would think this were but little, and yet when 
 I look into the scriptures, I find it much; thus Jeremy, “lie giveth his 
 cheeks to him thatsmiteth him, he is filled full with reproach :” Lam. 3 : 30. 
 Thus Micah speaking of Christ, “They shall smite the judge of Israel with 
 a rod upon the cheek,” Micah 5 : 1. There was in it a world of shame; 
 
 * Chris. Horn. 82, in Joh. 
 
346 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 the apostle lays it down as a sign of suffering and reproach, 2 Cor. 11 : 20. 
 “If a man smite you on the face,” nothing more disgraceful, (saith Chrys- 
 ostom *) than to be smitten on the cheek ; the diverse reading of the word 
 speaks it out farther, “ He struck him with a rod, or he struck him with the 
 palm of his hand, ( edoke rapisma '{') the word (rapisma') say some, refers 
 to his striking with a rod, or club, or shoe, or pantoffle ; or, as others, it 
 refers to his striking with the palm of his hands : of the two, the palm of 
 the hand is judged more disgraceful than either rod or shoe; and therefore 
 in the text we translate it, “ With the palm of the hand he struck at Jesus,” 
 (». e.) with the open hand, with his hand stretched out. 
 
 The ancients J commenting on this cuff; “Let the heavens be afraid 
 (saith one) and let the earth tremble at Christ’s patience ; and this servant’s 
 impudence. 0 ye angels, how were ye silent ? § How could you contain 
 your hands, when you saw his hand striking at God ? If we consider him, 
 (saith another,) who took the blow, was not he that struck him worthy to 
 he consumed of fire, or to be swallowed up of earth, or to be given up to 
 Satan, and thrown down to hell?” If a subject should but lift up his hand 
 against the son of an earthly sovereign, would he not be accounted worthy 
 of punishment : How much more in this case, when the hand is lifted up 
 against the King of kings, and Lord of lords, whom not only men, but the 
 cherubim and seraphim, and all the celestial powers above, adore and 
 worship? Bernard || tells us, “That his hand that struck Christ was armed 
 with an iron glove; and Vincentius^f affirms, That by the blow Christ was 
 felled to the earth ; and Lodovicus ** adds, “ That blood gushed out of his 
 mouth; and that the impression of the varlet’s fingers remained on Christ’s 
 cheek, with a tumor and wan color.” I need say no more of this, only one 
 word in reference to ourselves. 
 
 Use. Come, look upon this lively and lovely picture of patience ; he was 
 struck on the face, but he was never moved in his heart ; notwithstanding 
 the abuse, he shewed all mildness and gentleness towards his enemies; 0 
 what art thou that canst not brook a word, that canst not bear a distasteful 
 speech, that canst not put up the least and smallest offence, without thy 
 wrath and fury? 0 proud man ! 0 impudent wretch ! How art thou so 
 
 suddenly moved at the least indignity, when thou seest thy Saviour quietly 
 suffer great affronts ? Come learn of Christ, if ever we mean to have a 
 share and interest in his sufferings, let us conform to him in meekness and 
 patience, in gentleness and lowliness of mind; and so we shall find rest 
 unto our souls. 
 
 3. For the accusation of the witnesses; he is falsely accused, and charged 
 with the things that he never knew; in his accusation, I observe these 
 things. 1. That they sought false witnesses, for true witnesses they could 
 have none : “ Now the chief priests, and all the councils sought false wit- 
 nesses against Jesus, to put him to death,” Matth. 26 : 59. They were 
 resolved in a former council, that he should not live but die : and now pal- 
 liating their design with a scheme of a tribunal, they seek out for witnesses ; 
 0 wonder ! who ever heard that judges went about to inquire for false wit- 
 nesses, and suborned them to come in against the prisoner at the bar ? 2. 
 
 “ Though many false witnesses came in to testify against him, yet they 
 found none,” verse 60, because “their witnesses did not agree together;” 
 Mark 14 : 56. 0 the injustice of men in bringing about the decrees of 
 
 God ! the judges seek out for witnesses, the witnesses are to seek out for 
 
 * Chris. Horn. 82, in Joh. 
 
 f- (Rapis) & virgam & crepidam significat. Lei. crit. Sacr. 
 
 J (Kolaphos) pugno, (rapis) pami. Idem Chrys. Horn. 18, in Joh. C. 18. 
 $ Aug. in Tract. 113. || Bern. Serm. de pass. 
 
 Vine. Serm. de pass. ** Lodo. de vita. Christi. 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 347 
 
 proof, those proofs were to seek for unity and consent; and nothing was 
 ready for their purpose. 3. At last after many attempts, came two false 
 witnesses, and said, “ This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of 
 God, and to build it in three days,” verse 61. They accuse him for a figu- 
 rative speech, a trope which they could not understand, which if he had 
 effected according to the letter, it had been so far from a fault, that it would 
 have been an argument of his power; but observe their false report of the 
 words he had spoken, for he said not, “ I am able to destroy this temple of 
 God, and to build it up in three days but, “ destroy ye this temple, and 
 in three days will I raise it up,” John 2 : 19. The allegation differs from 
 the truth in these particulars, 1. “ I am able to destroy,” say they : ay, but, 
 “ destroy ye,” saith Christ. 
 
 2. “I am able to destroy this temple of God,” say they; ay, but “ de- 
 stroy ye this temple,” saith Christ, simply this temple, without addition. 
 
 3. “ I am able to destroy this temple of God, and to build it in three days,” 
 say they; ay, but “destroy ye this temple, and in three days I will raise 
 it up,” said Christ: he spoke not of building an external temple, but of 
 raising up his own body, which he knew they would destroy. These were 
 the accusations of the false witnesses, to all which Jesus answered nothing; 
 he despised their accusations, as not worth an answer; and this vexed 
 more — But, 4. Another accusation is brought in ; Caiaphas had a reserve, 
 which he knew should do the business in that assembly, he adjured him by 
 God, to tell him if he were the Christ, “I adjure thee by the living God, 
 that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ the Son of God;” Matth. 
 26 : 63. The holy Jesus being adjured by so sacred a name, would not 
 now refuse an answer, but he confessed himself to be “the Christ the Son 
 of the living God :” and this the high priest was pleased (as the design was 
 laid) to call blasphemy; and in token thereof, he rends his clothes, pro- 
 phetically signifying, that the priesthood should be rent from himself. 
 
 Use. We are taught in all this quietly to suffer wrong. “If my adver- 
 sary should write a book against me, surely I would take it upon my 
 shoulder (saith Job) and bind it as a crown to me,” Job 31 : 35, 36. It 
 is impossible, if we are Christ’s servants, to live in this world without false 
 accusations; come let us take heart, and in some cases say not a word; 
 since he that was most innocent, was most silent, why should we be too 
 forward in our excuses ? I know there is a time to speak, as a time for 
 silence ; if it may tend to God’s honor, and to the spreading of God’s truth, 
 and that right circumstances do concur, it is then time to open our mouths, 
 though we let in death. So did our blessed Saviour; 0 let us learn of him, 
 and follow his steps. 
 
 4. For the doom or sentence of these judges, Caiaphas pre-judging all 
 the Sanhedrim, in declaring Jesus to have spoken blasphemy, and the fact 
 to be notorious, he then asked their votes; “What think ye?” and they 
 answered aud said, “ He is guilty of death,” Matth. 26 : 66. They durst 
 not deny what Caiaphas had said, they knew his faction was very potent, 
 and his malice great, and his heart was set upon the business ; and there- 
 fore they all conspire, and say, as he would have them, “ He is guilty of 
 death.” Oh ! here is Jesus’ sentence, which should have been mine, “ He 
 is guilty of death.” But this sentence was but like strong dispositions to 
 an enraged fever; they had no power at that time, to inflict death, or such 
 a death as that of the cross, they only declared him apt, and worthy and 
 guilty of death. 
 
 “ In the multitude of counsellors there is safety,” said Solomon, Prov. 
 11 : 14. But we must take this in, “if it be of good men, and to good 
 purpose;” for otherwise the meetings and assemblies and councils of the 
 wicked are dangerous and deadly : “ The kings of the earth set themselves, 
 
348 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his 
 anointed,” Psalm 2 : 2. Such councils we had many in our times; I know 
 not whether we may call them councils, or struma tantum civitatis , an ulce- 
 rous bunch, raised by the disorder and distemper of the city. 
 
 5. For Peter’s denial and abjuration ; whilst these things were thus 
 acting concerning Christ, a sad accident happened to his servant Peter; at 
 first a damsel comes to him, and tells him, “ Thou wast with Jesus of 
 Galilee,” Matth. 26 : 69. And then another maid tells the by-standers, 
 “This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth,” verse 71. And after a 
 while, they that stood by spake themselves, “ Surely thou art one of them, 
 for thy speech betrayeth thee,” verse 73, q. d. Thy very idiom declares 
 thee to be a Galilean; thou art as Christ is, of the same country and sect; 
 and therefore thou art one of his disciples : Peter thus surprised, without 
 any time to deliberate, he shamefully denies his Lord. And, 1. He doeth 
 it with a kind of subterfuge, “I know not what thou sayest,” verse 70. 
 He seems to elude the accusation with this evasion, I know not thy meaning, 
 I understand not thy words, I skill not what thou sayest, verse 72. 
 
 At the next turn, he goes on to a licentious boldness, denying Christ 
 with an oath, “ I do not know the man.” And, lastly, he aggravates his 
 sin so far, that he grows to impudence, and so denies his Lord with “ cursing 
 and swearing, I know not the man,” verse 74. Here is a lie, an oath, and 
 a curse : the sin is begun at the voice of a woman, a silly damsel, not any 
 of the greatest ladies, she was only a poor serving-maid that kept the doors; 
 but it grew to ripeness, when the men-servants fell upon him ; now he 
 swears, and vows, and curses himself if he knew the man. 0 Peter, is the 
 man so vile that thou wilt not own him ! hadst thou not before confessed 
 him to be Christ, the Son of the living God ? And dost thou not know 
 him to be man, as well as God ? Say, is not this the Man-God, God-Man, 
 that called thee and thy brother Andrew at the sea of Galilee, saying, 
 “ Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Is not this he whom 
 thou sawest in mount Tabor, shining more gloriously than the sun ? Is not 
 this he whom thou sawest walking on the waters, and to whom thou saidst, 
 “ Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the waters ?” Matth. 14 : 28. 
 How is it then that thou sayest, “ I know not the man ?” Surely here is 
 a sad example of human infirmity : if Peter fell so foully, how much more 
 may lesser stars ? And yet, withal, here is a blessed example of serious, 
 thorough repentance ; no sooner the cock crew, and Christ gave a look on 
 Peter, but he goes out and weeps bitterly, verse 75. The cock was the 
 preacher, and the look of Jesus was the grace that made the sermon ef- 
 fectual : 0 the mercy of Christ ! he looked back on him that had forgot 
 himself: he revives his servant’s memory to think on his Master’s words; 
 he sends him out to weep bitterly, that so he might restore him mercifully 
 to his favor again. 
 
 Use. Let us learn hence, to think modestly and soberly of ourselves ; 
 yea, “ Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall,” 1 Cor. 
 10 : 12. If Peter could first dissemble, and then lie, and then forswear, 
 and then blaspheme and curse, 0 let “ not us be high-minded but fear,” 
 Rom. 11 : 20. And in case we fall indeed, as Peter did, yet let us not 
 despair as Judas did, but still, upon our repentance, let us trust in God. 
 When Christ looked on Peter, he wept bitterly; notwithstanding our sins 
 are great, yet one look of Christ is full of virtue, and enough to melt us 
 into tears : 0 let us not sink in despair, but look up to him, that he may 
 look down on us. Pliny* tells us of some rocks in Phrygia, that when 
 the sun doth but shine upon them, they send out drops of water, as if they 
 
 * Plin. Hist. 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 349 
 
 wept tears; Peter signifies a rock, and whilst Peter persisted in his sin of 
 denying Christ, his heart was hard as the rock ; but when Christ the Sun 
 of righteousness looked upon him, his heart was softened, and he dropped 
 tears continually. Such is the virtue of Christ’s look, “ It turns the rock 
 into a standing water, and the flint into a fountain of waters,” Psalm 114 : 8. 
 Lastly, Let us not decry repentance, but rather be in the use, and practice, 
 and exercise of it; is not here a gospel precedent? Clement,* an ancient 
 writer, of whom Paul makes mention, Phil. 4 : 3, expresseth Peter’s re- 
 pentance to have been so great that “ in his cheeks he made (as it were) 
 furrows, in which, as in certain channels, his tears run down.” The text 
 tells us he wept bitterly, and Clement adds, “ That while he lived, as often 
 as he heard a cock crow, he could not but weep, and bewail his denial.” 
 David is another like example, “All the night, said he, I make my bed to 
 swim, I water my couch with tears,” Psalm 6 : 6. David makes mention 
 of his bed and couch, because there most especially he had offended God : 
 it was on his bed that he committed adultery; and it was on his couch, 
 that he designed and subscribed with his own hand, that Uriah must die; 
 and hence it is, that he waters his bed and couch with his tears ; the very 
 sight of his bed and couch brings his sin into his remembrance, as the very 
 hearing of the crowing of a cock ever after awakened Peter to his task of 
 tears : that repentance is a gospel duty, we have spoke elsewhere, 0 take 
 heed of decrying it ! as we are often sinning, so let us often repent, it con- 
 cerns us near to be frequent in this duty of bewailing sin, and turning to 
 God. 
 
 6. For the abuses and derisions of the base attendants offered to Christ, 
 the evangelist tells us, “Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him, 
 and others smote him with the palms of their hands, saying, Prophesy 
 unto us, thou Christ, who is he that smote thee ?” Matth. 26 : 67, 68. And 
 as Luke adds, “ Many other things blasphemously spake they against him,” 
 Luke 22:65. What those many other things were, it is not discovered, 
 only some ancient writers say, That Christ in that night suffered so many, 
 and such hideous things, | “ that the whole knowledge of them is reserved 
 only for the last day of judgment.” Mallonius writes thus, “After 
 Caiaphas and the priests had sentenced Christ worthy of death, they com- 
 mitted him to their ministers, warily to be kept till day ; and they imme- 
 diately threw him into the dungeon in Caiaphas’s house, there they bound 
 him to a stony pillar, with his hands bound on his back, and then they 
 fell upon him with their palms and fists.” Others add, “ That the soldiers 
 not yet content, they threw him into a filthy dirty puddle, where he abode 
 for the remainder of that night;” of which the Psalmist, “ Thou hast laid 
 me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps,” Psal. 88 : 6. “ And I 
 sink in the deep mire, where there is no standing,” Psal. 69 : 2. “ Behold 
 the bed which is Solomon’s,” Sol. Song 3 : 7, or rather which is Christ’s, 
 for a greater than Solomon is here : behold the flourishing bed, wherein 
 the King of saints doth lie, surely a place most sordid, full of stench ; his 
 other senses had their pain, and his smell fell a loathsome savor, in this 
 noisome puddle. 
 
 But we need not borrow light from candles, or lesser stars : the scripture 
 itself is plain ; observe we these particulars. 
 
 1. They spit in his face : this was accounted among the Jews a matter 
 
 * Flevit quidem tanta lachrimarum inundatione ut in maxillis profundos fuloos 
 haberet, per quos quasi per quosdam canales aut aquaeductos lachrimae ejus deflue- 
 bant. Clem. Quoties galli cantum audiebat, in laelirimas prorumpebat, per totuin 
 Yitae tempus negationis culpam frequenter adeo planxit. Idem. 
 
 f Hier. ut citat. Guliel. statione tertia Christi patientis. Mallon. do flagellatione 
 Christi, c. 6. Landul. de pass. & alii. 
 
350 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 of great infamy and reproach ; u And the Lord said to Moses, If her father 
 had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days?” Numb. 
 12 : 14. We ourselves account this a great affront, and so did Job, 30 : 9, 
 10. “ I am their song, yea, and their by-word ; they abhor me, they flee 
 far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.” Oh that the sweet face 
 of Christ, so much honored and adored in heaven, should be defiled and 
 deformed by their spitting ! Oh that no place should be thought so fit for 
 them to void their excrements and drivel in, as the blessed face of Jesus 
 Christ. “ I hid not my face (saith Christ) from shame and spitting,” Isa. 
 50:6. I used no mask to keep me fair, though I was fairer than the sons 
 of men, I preserved not my beauty from their nasty phlegm, but I opened 
 my face, and I set it as a butt for them to dart their frothy spittle at. 
 
 2. They buffet him ; we heard before, that one of the officers struck 
 Jesus with the palm of his hand, but now they buffet him; some observe 
 this difference betwixt rapisma and kolaphas : the one is given with the 
 open hand, but the other with the fist shut up; and thus they used him at 
 this time, they struck him with their fists, and so the stroke was greater, 
 and more offensive ; “ By this means they made his face to swell, and to 
 become full of bunches all over.” One gives it thus, “ By these blows 
 of their fists, his whole head was swollen, his face became black and blue, 
 and his teeth ready to fall out of his jaws.”* Very probable it is, that 
 with the violence of their strokes, they made him reel and stagger, they 
 made his mouth and nose, and face to bleed, and his eyes to startle in his 
 head. 
 
 3. They covered his face, Mark 14 : 65. Several reasons are rendered 
 for it, As, 1. That they might smite him more boldly, and without shame. 
 2. That they might not have that object of pity in their view, it is sup- 
 posed that the very sight of his admirable form, so lamentably abused, 
 would have mollified the hardest heart under heaven ; and therefore they 
 veiled and hoodwinked that alluring drawing countenance. 3. That they 
 might not see their own filth in his face ; however his beauty was winning, 
 yet they had so bedaubed it with their beastly spitting, that they began 
 to loathe to look upon him, “ It was a nauseous sight, (saith one) and 
 enough to make one spew to look upon it.”f But, whether his splendor or 
 his horror occasioned this veil over his face, this is most certain, that it 
 veiled not their cruelty, but rather revealed it, and made it manifest to all 
 the world. 
 
 4. They smote him with the palms of their hands, saying, u Prophesy 
 unto us, thou Christ, who is he that smote thee ?” To pass away that 
 doleful, tedious night, they interchangeably sport at him, first one, and 
 then another gives him a stroke, (we usually call it a box on the ear) 
 and being hoodwinked, they bid him “ guess who it is that smote him.” 
 Some reckon these taunts amongst the bitterest passages of his passion ; 
 nothing is more miserable, even to the greatest misery, than to see itself 
 scorned of enemies. It was our Saviour’s case, they used this despite 
 for their disport; with a wanton and merry malice, they aggravate their 
 injury with scorn, q. d. u Come on, thou sayest thou art Christ, the Son 
 of the living God, and therefore it is likely thou art omniscient, thou 
 knowest all things; tell now, who is it that strikes thee; we have blind- 
 folded thee, that thou canst not see us with thy bodily eyes, let thy divinity, 
 guess, tell, prophecy, who is it now that smote thee last? Who gave thee 
 that blow?” O impiety without example! Surely if his patience had been 
 
 * Colaphis illi tuber totum caput facies livida fecit & excussit deutes. 
 f Nauseum ipsis spectatoribus faeditas ilia provocabat. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 351 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 less than infinite, these very injuries would have been greater than his 
 patience. In the way of application. 
 
 Use 1. Consider, Christians, whether we had not a hand in these abuses: 
 For, 1. They spit in the face of Christ, who defile his image in their souls; 
 who reject his holy and heavenly motives in their hearts. 2. They buffet 
 him with their fists who persecute Christ in his members, “Saul, Saul, why 
 persecutest thou me ? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” 3. 
 They cover his face that do not readily and willingly confess their sins, that 
 extenuate their frailties and imperfections with counterfeit pretexts. 4. 
 They mock and scoff at Christ, that scorn and contemn his messengers and 
 ministers, Luke 10 : 16. “ He that despiseth you, despiseth me,” saith 
 
 Christ. 0 that we would lay these things to our hearts, and see and ob- 
 serve wherein we stand guilty of these sins, that we may repent. 
 
 2. Consider, Christians, and read Christ’s love in all these sufferings ; 0 
 unheard of kindness, and truly paternal bowels of pity and compassion ! 
 who ever heard before, of any that would be content to be spit upon, to wipe 
 their filths who spit upon him ? That would be content to be beat and buf- 
 feted, to save them from buffets who were the buffeters ? That would be 
 content to be blindfolded, that he might neither take notice of, nor see the 
 offeuces of them that blindfolded him ? That would be content to be made 
 a scorn, to save them from scorn that shall scorn him ? Christians ! you 
 that take your name from Christ ! how should you admire at the infinite- 
 ness and immensity of this love of Christ ! Was it a small thing, that the 
 wisdom of God should become the foolishness of men, and the scorn of men, 
 and ignominy of men, and contempt of the world for your sins’ sake. 0 
 think of this ! 
 
 And now the dismal night is done, what remains, but that we follow 
 Christ, and observe him in his sufferings the next day. The Psalmist tells 
 us, “ Sorrow may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning,” Psa. 
 30 : 5. Only Christ can find none of this joy neither morning nor evening, 
 for after a dismal night, he meets with as dark a day ; what the passages 
 of the day were, we shall observe in their several hours. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of Christ’s Indictment , and Judas’s fearful end. 
 
 About six in the morning, Jesus was brought unto Pilate’s house : “ Then 
 led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment, and it was early, 
 John 18 : 28. — When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders 
 of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. And when 
 they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius 
 Pilate, the governor. Theu Judas which had betrayed him hanged him- 
 self,” Matth. 27 : 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 0 the readiness of our nature to evil ! 
 
 when the Israelites would sacrifice to the golden calf, “They rose up eirly 
 in the morning,” Exod. 32 : 6. If God leave us to ourselves, we are as 
 ready to practise mischief, as the fire is to burn without all delay. But on 
 this circumstance I shall not stay; the transactions of this hour I shall con- 
 sider in these two passages, Christ’s indictment and Judas’s fearful end. 
 
 In Christ’s indictment we may observe, 1. His accusation. 2. His ex- 
 amination. 
 
 In his accusation we may observe, 1. Who are his accusers. 2. Where 
 he was accused. 3. What was the matter of which they do accuse him. 
 
 1. His accusers were “the chief priests and elders of the people,” 
 Matth. 27 : 12. The very same that before had judged him guilty of death, 
 
352 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV 
 
 are now his accusers before the temporal judge : but why must our Saviour 
 be twice judged? Was not the Sanhedrim or ecclesiastical court sufficient 
 to condemn him? I answer, — he is twice judged, 1. That his innocency 
 might more appear; true gold often tried in the fire, is not consumed, but 
 rather perfected : so Christ’s integrity, though examined again and again by 
 divers judges wholly corrupt, yet thereby it was not hurt, but made rather 
 more illustrious. 2. Because his former judgment was in the night, and a 
 sentence pronounced then, was not reputed valid : it is said of Moses, that 
 “he judged the people from the morning unto the evening/’ Exod. 18 : 13, 
 for until night no judgment was protracted. 3. Because, said the Jews, 
 “It is not lawful for us to put any man to death,” John 18 : 31. These 
 words had need of exposition; we know Moses’ law prescribed death to the 
 adulterers, idolaters, blasphemers, man-slayers, sabbath-breakers, but now 
 the Romans (say some) had come and restrained the Jews from the execu- 
 tion of their laws ; others are of another mind, and therefore the meaning 
 of these words, “ It is not lawful for us to put any man to death,” may be 
 understood (sa}' they) in a double sense. 1. That it was not lawful for 
 them to put any man to such a death, as the death of the cross; Moses’ 
 law was ignorant of such a death ; and the following seem to favor this 
 interpretation, “That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which he spake, 
 signifying what death he should die,” John 18 : 32. We read only of four 
 sorts of deaths that were used amongst the Jews, as strangling, stoning, 
 burning, and killing with the sword ; crucifying was the invention of the 
 Romans, and not of the Jews. — 2. That it was not lawful for them to put 
 any man to death at such a time; on this day was celebrated the Jews’ pas- 
 sover, which was in memory of their deliverance out of Egypt; so that now 
 they had a custom to deliver some from death (the case of Barrabbas) but 
 they could not now condemn any one to death ; hence it was, that after 
 Herod the Jew had killed James, he proceeded further to take Peter also; 
 yet, during the days of unleavened bread, he delivers him to be kept in 
 prison, “intending (saith the text) after Easter to bring him forth to the 
 people,” Acts 12 : 4. Pilate, a Gentile, was not tied to these laws; and 
 therefore they led Jesus “ from Caiaphas, unto the hall of judgment, or unto 
 Pilate’s house.” 
 
 2. The place of the accusation was at the door of the house ; “ They would 
 not go in to the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled, but that they 
 might eat the passover,” John 18 : 28. See what a piece of superstition 
 and gross hypocrisy is here ! they are curious of a ceremony, but make no 
 strain to shed innocent blood ; they are precise about small matters, but 
 for the weightier matters of the law, as mercy, judgment, fidelity, and the 
 love of God, they let them pass; they honor the figurative passover, but 
 the true passover they seize upon with bloody and sacrilegious hands. 
 
 3. The matter of which they accuse him. 1. That he seduced the people. 
 2. That he forbad to pay tribute to Caesar. 3. That he said he was a king. 
 How great, but withal, how false were these their accusations? For the 
 first, Christ was so far from stirring up seditions, that he strove and endea- 
 voured to gather the people into one. “ 0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often 
 would I have gathered thy children together, even as an hen gathers her 
 chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” Matth. 23 : 37. For the 
 second, instead of denying to pay tribute to Caesar, he paid it in his own 
 person, “ Take twenty pence out of the fish’s mouth,” (said he to Peter) 
 “ and give it unto them for me and thee,” Matth. 17 : 27. And “ give unto 
 Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,” (said he to the people) “ to God the 
 things that are God’s,” Luke 20 : 25. For the third, instead of making 
 himself a king, be professeth that “his kingdom is not of this world,” John 
 18 :36. And when they would have him made king, instead of flattering 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 353 
 
 CHAP, n.] 
 
 them, he flieth from them, and that into the wilderness; or, “into a moun- 
 tain himself alone,” John 6 : 15. — Thus much of the accusation. 
 
 2. For his examination, Pilate was nothiug moved with any of the accu- 
 sations, save only the third ; and therefore letting ail the rest pass, he asked 
 him only, “Art thou the king of the Jews?” To whom Jesus answered, 
 “My kingdom is not of this world,” &c. John 18:33,36. He saith not 
 my kingdom is not “ in this world,” but “ my kingdom is not of this world,” 
 by which Pilate knew well that Christ was no enemy unto Caesar; Christ’s 
 kingdom is spiritual, his government is in the very hearts and consciences 
 of men ; and what is this to Caesar ? Hence Pilat-e useth a policy to save 
 Jesus Christ ; they tell him that Christ was of Galilee, and therefore he 
 takes occasion to send him to Herod, who was governor of Galilee. But of 
 that anon. 
 
 Use. How many lessons may we learn from hence ? 1. Christ was accused, 
 who can be free ? The chief priests and elders of the Jews accused Christ, 
 no wonder if those that are chief and great amongst us accuse poor Chris- 
 tians : Oh ! there is a perpetual enmity between the seed of the woman, and 
 the seed of the serpent, there is an everlasting, irreconcilable, implacable 
 enmity and antipathy between grace and profaneness, light and darkness, 
 Christ and Belial ; as it is reported of tigers, that they rage when they-smell 
 the fragrancy of spices, so it is with the wicked, who rage at the spiritual 
 graces of them that are sincere for God. 
 
 2. Christ’s accusers would not go into the judgment-hall, lest they should 
 he defiled; the very profane can learn to be superstitious in lesser matters ; 
 how many amongst us, will make conscience of outward ceremonies (as of 
 eating meats, observing days) but as for the weightier matters of the law, 
 judgment and mercy, they leave them undone ? 
 
 3. Christ is most falsely accused of sedition, seduction and usurpation : it 
 were indeed to be wished, that they who take upon them the name of Chris- 
 tianity were guiltless of such crimes ; but let them look to it who are such : 
 this I am sure was Christ’s rule and practice, “ Be subject to every consti- 
 tution and authority of man, for the Lord’s sake,” 1 Pet. 2 : 13. If any 
 dare to resist the power that is of God, “ They shall receive to them- 
 selves damnation,” Bom. 13 : 2. Nor can we excuse ourselves, because our 
 governors are not godly ; for all the governors to whom Christ and his apos- 
 tles submitted themselves, and to whom all those strict precepts of duty and 
 obedience related in the New Testament, were no better (for aught 1 know) 
 than tyrants, persecutors, idolaters, and heathen princes. 
 
 4. Christ is examined only of his usurpation, “Art thou the king of the 
 Jews?” John 18 : 33. The men of this world mind only worldly things; 
 the apostle so describes them, “Who mind earthly things,” Phil. 3:19. 
 Pilate regards not Christ’s doctrine, but he is afraid, lest he should aspire 
 to the kingdom; and concerning this our Saviour puts him out of doubt, 
 “ My kingdom is not of this world.” As Pilate and Christ, so worldlings 
 and Christians are of different principles; “they mind earthly things, but 
 our conversation (saith the apostle) is in heaven,” verse 20, our conversa- 
 tion, (i. e .) the aim and scope of our hearts in every action, is only for heaven, 
 whatsoever we do, it should, some way or other, fit us for heaven ; we should 
 still be laying in heaven against the time that we shall come and live there : 
 we should have our thoughts and hearts set upon heaven ; so it is said of 
 holy Mr. Ward, That being in the midst of a dinner, very contemplative; 
 and the people wondering what he was musing about, be presently breaks 
 out, “ For ever, for ever, for ever;” and though they endeavored to still him, 
 yet he still cried out, “ forever, for ever, forever; oh eternity ! to be for ever 
 in heaven with God and Christ how shall this swallow up all other thoughts and 
 aims ? and especially all worldly, careful, sinful thoughts, aims or ends ?” 
 
354 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 2. Pilate having dismissed Jesus, this hour is concluded with a sad disas- 
 ter of wicked Judas; “Then Judas which had betrayed him, when he saw that 
 he was condemned, repented himself, ” &c. Matth. 27:3. Now his con- 
 science thaws, and grows somewhat tender, but it is like the tenderness of a 
 boil, which is nothing else but a new disease ; there is a repentance that 
 comes too late ; Esau wept bitterly and repented him when the blessing 
 was gone ; the five foolish virgins lift up their voices aloud when the gates 
 were shut; and in hell men shall repent to all eternity; and such a repent- 
 ance was this of Judas; about midnight he had received his money in the 
 house of Annas, and now betimes in the morning, he repents his bargain, 
 and throws his money back again ; the end of this tragedy was, That Judas 
 died a miserable death ; he perished by the most infamous hands in the 
 world (4. e .) by his own hands: “ He went and hanged himself,” Matth. 
 27 : 5. And as Luke, “he fell headlong, and burst asunder, in the midst, 
 and all his bowels gushed out in every passage of his death we may take 
 notice of God’s justice, and be afraid of sin : it was just that he should hang 
 in the air, who for his sin was hated both of heaven and earth, and that he 
 should fall down headlong, who was fallen from such an height of honor ; 
 and that the halter should strangle that throat through which the voice of 
 treason had sounded ; and that his bowels should be lost, who had lost the 
 bowels of all pity, piety’, and compassion; and that his ghost should have 
 its passage out of his midst, (he burst asunder in the midst) and not out of 
 his lips, because with a kiss of his lips he had betrayed his Lord, our blessed 
 Jesus.. 
 
 Use. Here is a warning piece to all the world; who would die such a 
 death for the pleasure of a little sin ? Or, who would now suffer for mil- 
 lions of gold, that which Judas suffered, and yet suffers in hell for thirty 
 pieces of silver ? Now the Lord keep our souls from betraying Christ, and 
 from despairing in God’s mercy through Christ. Amen, Amen. 
 
 I see one sand is run, and I must turn the glass; now was the seventh 
 hour, and what were the passages of that hour, I shall next relate. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of Christ’s mission to Herod , and the transactions there. 
 
 About seven in the morning, Jesus was sent to Herod, “who himself 
 also was at Jerusalem at that time,” Luke 23 : 7. The reason of this was, 
 because Pilate had heard that Christ was a Galilean, and Herod being 
 tetrareh of Galilee, he concludes that Christ must be under his jurisdiction ; 
 Herod was glad of the honor done to him, “ for he was desirous to see Christ 
 of a long season, because he had heard many things of him, and he hoped 
 to have seen some miraele done by him,” verse 8. That which I shall ob- 
 serve in this passage, is, 1. Herod’s-questioning of Jesus Christ. 2. Christ’s 
 silence to all his questions. 3. Herod’s derision ; and Christ’s dismission 
 back again to Pilate. 
 
 1. “ Herod questioned with him in many words,” verse 9. What those 
 words were, are not expressed, only we have some conjectures from Luke 
 23 : 8, q. d. “ What, art thou he, concerning whom my father was so 
 mocked of the wise men, and for whose sake my father slew all the children 
 that were in Bethlehem? I have heard thou hast changed water into wine, 
 aud hast multiplied loaves, whereon so many thousands fed; come, do 
 something at my request, which elsewhere thou hast done without request 
 of any ; come, satisfy my desire, work now but one miracle before me, that 
 I may be convinced of thy divinity.” I dare not deliver these words as 
 certain truths, because of that silence that is in scripture, only we read, 
 that “ he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him.” Herod could 
 not abide to hear his word, and to bear his yoke : but he was well content 
 to see the works and miracles of Jesus Christ. 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 IOOKIN/} UNTO JESUS. 
 
 355 
 
 2. Whatever his questions were, “he answered him nothing,” verse 9. 
 
 Many reasons are given for this, as, 1. Because he inquired only in curi- 
 osity, and with no true intent or end ; concerning which, saith the wise 
 man, “ answer not a fool according to his folly, ” Prov. 26 : 4, and “ye ask 
 and receive not. (saith James) because ye ask amiss,” James, 4:3. 2. Be- 
 
 cause Christ had no need of defence at all : let them go about to apologize 
 that are afraid or guilty of death : as for Christ he despiseth their accusa- 
 tions by his very silence. 3. Because Herod had, the year before, put 
 John the Baptist to death, who w T as that voice crying in the wilderness, 
 now that voice being gone, Christ the word will be silent, he will not give 
 a word. 4. Because Herod had been sottishly careless of Jesus Christ, he 
 lived in the place where Jesus more especially had conversed, yet never 
 had seen his person, or heard his sermons. It gives us to learn thus much, 
 that if we neglect the opportunities of grace, and refuse to hear the voice 
 of Christ in the time of mercy, Christ may refuse to speak one word of 
 comfort to us in our time of need ; if we, during our time, stop our ears, 
 God will, in his time, stop his mouth, and shut up the springs of grace, 
 that we shall receive no refreshment, no instruction, no pardon, no salva- 
 tion. 5. Because Christ was resolved to be obedient to his Father’s ordi- 
 nance, he was resolved to submit to the doom of death, with patience and 
 silence; for this purpose he came into the world, that he might sutler in 
 our stead, and for our sins; and therefore he would not plead his own cause, 
 nor defend his own innocency in any kind ; he knew that we were guilty, 
 though himself was not. 
 
 3. This silence they interpret for simplicity; and so, 1. They despised 
 him, and, 2. They dismissed him; “ aud Herod with his men of war set 
 him at nought, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and 
 sent him again to Pilate,” Luke, 23 : 11. They arrayed him with a white, 
 glittering, gorgeous raiment : ( [lampras ) signifies gorgeous, bright, resplen- 
 dent, such as nobles and kings used to wear : the Latins sometimes render 
 it .« plendidam vcftem ; and sometimes candid am ) or, albam vestem, we 
 translate it a gorgeous robe, and the ancients call it a white robe, in imita- 
 tion whereof, the baptized wore wont to put on white raiment which they 
 called (Jamprarijrhoan , ) but whether it were white or no, I shall not con- 
 trovert : the original yields thus far, that it was “ a bright and resplendent 
 garment, such as came newly from the fulling,” many mysteries (if it be 
 white) are found out here; some say this held forth the excellency or dig- 
 nity of Christ; white color is most agreeable to the highest God, he many 
 times appeared in white, but never in any other color; and the saints in 
 heaven are said to be clothed in long white robes, Rev. 4 : 4, and peers, 
 kings, and Caesars were usually clothed in white, saith Jansenius; others 
 £ay this held forth the innocency of Christ, and that they were directed 
 herein by divine Providence, declaring plainly against themselves, that 
 Christ should rather have been absolved as an innocent, than condemned as 
 a malefactor. But to leave these mysteries, the meaning of Herod was not 
 so much to declare his excellency, or innocency, as his folly, or simplicity; 
 certainly he accounted him for no other than a very fool, an idiot, a passing 
 simple man. “The philosophers (says Tertullian) drew him in their pic- 
 tures attired by Herod, like a fool, with long asses’ ears, his nails plucked 
 off, and a book in his hand,” &c. Oh marvellous madness ! oh the strange 
 mistakes of men ! in his lifetime they accounted Jesus a glutton, a drinker 
 of wine, a companion of sinners, a blasphemer, a sorcerer, and one that cast 
 out devils through Beelzebub prince of devils; yea, and one that himself 
 was possessed with a devil, Matth. 12 : 19. Mark, 2 : 7. Matth. 12 : 24 
 John, 8 : 48. And now towards his death, he is bound as a thief, he is 
 struck in the house of Caiaphas, as an arrogant and saucy fellow, he is ac- 
 
356 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 cused before the Sanhedrim of blasphemy, he is brought before Pilate as a 
 malefactor, a mover of sedition, a seducer, a rebel, and as one that aspired 
 to the kingdom : he is transmitted unto Herod, as a juggler to show tricks; 
 and now in the close of all he is accounted of Herod and his men of war, 
 as a fool, an idiot, a brute, not having the understanding of a man. But 
 soft, Herod, is Christ therefore a fool, because he is silent ? And art thou 
 wise, because of thy many words, and many questions? Solomon, a wiser 
 man than Herod, is of another mind : “ in the multitude of words, there 
 wanteth not sin, but he that refraineth his lips is wise,” Prov. 10 : 19. 
 Again, “ He that hath knowledge spareth his words, and a man of under- 
 standing is of an excellent spirit; even a fool when he holdeth his peace, 
 is counted wise; and he that shutteth his lips, is esteemed a man of under- 
 standing,” Prov. 17 : 27, 28. Ah, poor Herod, consult these texts, and 
 then tell me who is the fool. What ! thou that speakest many words, and 
 questionest about many things, which in time will turn to thy greater con- 
 demnation ? or Christ Jesus that was deeply silent to the world’s eternal 
 salvation ? Paul was of another spirit, and of another judgment concerning 
 Christ, in him was knowledge : nor is that all, in whom was wisdom and 
 knowledge : nor is that all, in him were treasures, and all treasures of wis- 
 dom and knowledge : “ in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and 
 knowledge,” Col. 2 : 3, and yet that is not all neither, not only is wisdom 
 in him, but he is wisdom itself (for that is his name and title in the book 
 of Proverbs,) and yet by Herod and his courtiers, he is reckoned, arrayed 
 and derided as a mere simple man. 
 
 2. They dismissed him in this posture, they sent him away again to 
 Pilate; to all their former derision they added this, that now he was ex- 
 posed in scorn to the boys in the streets : Herod would not be content that 
 he and his men of war only should set him at nought, but he sends him 
 away through the more public and eminent streets of Jerusalem, in his 
 white garment, to be scorned by the people ; to be hooted at by idle per- 
 sons ! and now was fulfilled the prophecy of Christ, Lam. 3 : 14, “ I was a 
 derision to all my people, and their song all the day long.” 
 
 Use. Of this let us make some use. Was the eternal love of God, and 
 the uncreated wisdom of the Father reputed a fool ? No wonder if we suf- 
 fer thousands of reproaches; “ We are made a spectacle unto the world, and 
 to angels, and to men : we are fools for Christ’s sake, saith the apostle, — 
 we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscourings of all things 
 unto this day,” 1 Cor. 4 : 9, 10, 13. Christians must wear the badge and 
 livery of Jesus Christ : we cannot expect to fare better than our Master, 
 why then should we despond : I never knew Christians in better heart, 
 than when they were styled by the name of puritans, precisians, hypocrites, 
 formalists, or the like. 
 
 2. Let us not judge of men and their worth, by their outside garments; 
 wisdom may be, and often is clad in the coat of a fool : as beggarly bottles 
 oftentimes hold rich wines, so poor robes contain sometimes many precious 
 souls; in right judgment we should look only to the mind, and soul, and 
 inside of a man ; yea to the hidden man of the heart : and for ourselves, 
 we should look to the inward, and not to the outward adorning: men and 
 women especially have rules for this, “* your adorning, let it not be the 
 outward adorning, of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or putting 
 on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is 
 not corruptible,” 1 Pet. 3 : 3, 4 Oh what is it for a man to be clothed 
 in gold, while his soul is “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, 
 and naked?” 
 
 3. Let us admire at the condescension of Christ, who for our sakes came 
 down from heaven to teach us wisdom ; and for us who were fools indeed, 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 357 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 was content to be accounted a fool himself; yea, and if need had been, 
 would have been ready to have said with David, “ I will yet be more vile 
 than thus, and will be base in mv own sight, ” 2 Sam. 6 : 22. I know this 
 doctrine is an offence to many, “ Christ crucified is unto the Jews a stumb- 
 ling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness,” 1 Cor. 1 : 23. To tell natu- 
 ral men, (such as Herod, and his men of war) that this same Jesus whom 
 they mock, and set at nought, is the Son of God, and the Saviour of the 
 world, they cannot believe; it is plainly evident, “ that not many wise 
 men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called ; but God 
 hath chosen the foolishthings of the world to confound the wise/’ 1 Cor. 
 1 : 26, 27. Why? this is the fruit of Christ’s condescension, called “the 
 foolishness of God,” verse 25. Wisdom itself was content to be counted 
 a fool, that those who are accounted the foolish things of the world, might 
 be wise unto salvation. 
 
 4. Let us search whether Herod and his men, do not keep a rendezvous 
 in our hearts; do not we set Christ at nought? Do not. we mock him, and 
 array him in a gorgeous robe? Whatsoever we do to one of the least of 
 his saints, he tells us that we do it to himself, Matth. 25 : 40, 45. And 
 have we not dealt thus with his saints? Have we not dealt thus with his 
 ministers? When Elisha was going up to Bethel, “ there came little chil- 
 dren out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, go up thou bald- 
 head, go up thou bald-head,” 2 Kings, 2 : 23. A reproach of bald-head, 
 round-head, given to a faithful Elisha, or minister of Christ, proclaims you 
 as bad as those little children : yea, as bad as Herod and his men of war; 
 such Herods were a little before the destruction of Jerusalem, some there 
 were then, “ that mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, 
 and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his 
 people, till there was no remedy,” 2 Chron. 36 : 16. 0 take heed of this 
 
 sin, banish Herod out of your hearts, or Christ will never lodge there; 
 ruin without remedy will seize on those souls that Herod-like, mock the 
 messengers of God : what is it but to mock the messenger, the angel of 
 the covenant, even Christ himself? as Herod sent Christ away, so let us 
 send Herod away, and give him a dismission out of our doors. 
 
 The hour strikes again and summons Christ and us to another station ; 
 let us follow him still, as Peter did, when he went into the high priest’s 
 palace, “ and sat with the servants to see the end,” Matth. 26 : 58. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of Christ and Barabbas compared; and of the Question 
 debated betwixt Pilate and the Jews. 
 
 About eight in the morning our Saviour Christ is returned to Pilate, 
 who propounded to the Jews, whether they would have Jesus or Barabbas 
 let loose unto them. “ Ye have a custom (said he) that I should release 
 unto you one at the passover, will ye therefore that I release unto you the 
 king of the Jews ? Then cried they all again, saying, not this man, but 
 Barabbas : Now Barabbas was a robber,” John 18 : 39, 40. It is sup- 
 posed, that in this passage Pilate endeavored Christ’s liberty, “he knew, 
 that for envy they had delivered him,” Matth. 27 : 18. And he saw that 
 Herod had sent him back again uncondemned, and therefore now, he pro- 
 pounds this medium , to rescue him from their malice, “ Who will ye that 
 I release unto you, Barabbas or Jesus which is called Christ?” In the 
 prosecution of this passage, I shall observe, 1. Who this Barabbas was. 
 2. What is the difference betwixt him and Christ. 3. How they vote. 
 4. Pilate’s query upon the vote. 5. Their answer to his query. 6. His 
 reply unto their answer. 7. Their reduplication upon his reply. 
 
 For the first, what was this Barabbas, but a notable prisoner ? Matth. 
 27 : 16. “ One that had made insurrection, and who had committed murder 
 
358 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IV. 
 
 in the insurrection ?” Mark 15 : 7. “ One that for a certain sedition made 
 in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison,” Luke 23 : 16. “One 
 that was a robber, or an highway thief,” John 18 : 40. One that was the 
 greatest malefactor of his time, And must he be taken, and Jesus cast? 
 Must he be saved, and Christ condemned ? 
 
 For the second, what the difference is betwixt him and Christ, let us 
 weigh them in the balance, and we may find, 1. Barabbas was a thief, and 
 by violence took away the bread of the needy, but Christ was a feeder 
 and supplier of their needs. 2. Barabbas was an highway thief, wound- 
 ing them that travelled by the way, but Christ was the good Samaritan 
 that healed such, binding up their wounds, and pouring into them wine 
 and oil. 3. Barabbas was a murderer, and had slain the living, but 
 Christ was the Saviour, restoring life unto the dead. 4. Barabbas was a 
 seditious tumult raiser, he made a certain sedition in Jerusalem, but 
 Christ was a royal tribute payer, and his commands were, “ Give unto 
 Caesar, the things that are Caesar’s.” 5. Barabbas was a bloody revenger, 
 a man of blood, that hunted after blood, but Christ was of a meek and 
 quiet spirit, and what with sweating, binding, buffeting, bleeding, was now 
 become almost a bloodless Redeemer : light and darkness have not less 
 fellowship, Christ and Belial no lesser discord : here is a competition 
 indeed, the author of sedition, with the Prince of peace; a murderous 
 mutineer, with a merciful Mediator; the son of Belial, with the Son of 
 God. 
 
 3. For their votes, they gave them in thus; “ Not this man, but Barab- 
 bas,” John 18 : 40, q. d. “ Let us have him crucified who raised the dead, 
 and him released who destroyed the living; let the Saviour of the world 
 be condemned to death, and the slayer of men be released from prison, 
 and have his pardon.”* A strange vote, to desire the wolf before the lamb, 
 the noxious and violent before the righteous and innocent : here was the 
 prophetic parable of Jotham fulfilled. “ The trees of the forest have chosen 
 the bramble, and refused the vine,” Judges 9 : 14. But there is some- 
 thing more observable in this vote; the Jews had a custom not to name 
 what they held accursed ; “ I will not make mention of their names within 
 my lips,” Psal. 16 : 4, and surely this speaks their spite, that they would 
 not vouchsafe to speak the name of Jesus, the cry is not thus, “Not 
 Jesus but Barabbas ;” but thus, “ Not this man, not this fellow, but Barab- 
 bas,” as if they meant first to murder his name, and then his person. 
 
 4. For Pilate’s query upon the vote, “ What shall I do then with Jesus 
 which is called Christ ?” Matth. 27 : 22. Pilate gives him his name to the 
 full, “Jesus who is called Christ; his name is Jesus Christ.” There is 
 more pity in a Gentile Pilate, than in all the Jews; in some things Pilate 
 did justly, and very well; as first, he would not condemu him before his 
 accusations were brought in, nor then neither, before he was convicted of 
 some capital crime, because he perceives, that it was envy all along, that 
 drove on their design, he endeavors to save his life by balancing him with 
 Barabbas; and now he sees that they prefer Barabbas before Jesus, he puts 
 forth the question, “ What shall I do then with J esus which is called Christ ?” 
 q. d. 1 know not what to do with him, it is against my light to condemn 
 him to death, who is of innocent life : I could tell what to do with Barabbas, 
 for he is a thief, a mutineer, a murderer, a notable malefactor : but there is 
 no such a thing proven against Jesus, who is called Christ. “ What then 
 shall I do with him ?” 
 
 5. For their answer to this query, “and they all said unto him, let him 
 be crucified,” Matth. 27 : 22. This was the first time that they spake openly 
 
 * Aug. trac. 15, in Johan. Leo. Serm. de Pass. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 359 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 their design, it had long larked within them, that he must die a cursed 
 death; and now their envy bursts, and breaks out with unanimous consent, 
 and cry, “Let him be crucified.” 0 wonderful! must no other deaths 
 stint their malice, but the cross ? Other deaths they had in practice, as the 
 towel, stoning, and beheading, more favorable and suitable to their nation; 
 and will they now pollute a Jew with a Roman death ? Magna Crudelitas ,* 
 &c., a great cruelty; “they sought not only to kill him, but to crucify him, 
 that so he might die a lingering death.” The cross was a gradual and slow 
 death, it spuu out pain into a long thread, and therefore they make choice 
 of it, as they made choice of Jesus; let him die, rather than Barabbas, and 
 let him die that death of the cross, rather than any other speedy, quick, 
 dispatching death. 
 
 6. For Pilate’s reply unto their answer, “ Why, what evil hath he done ?” 
 Matth.,27 : 23, he was loath to satisfy their demands, and therefore he 
 questions again, “What must he die for?” Was it meet that he should 
 condemn one to death, and especially to such a death, and no crime com- 
 mitted ? “Come on, (saith Pilate), what evil hath he done?” Augus- 
 tine^ upon these words, “ ask, (saith he), and let them answer with whom 
 he conversed most, let the possessed who were freed ; the sick and languish- 
 ing who were healed, the leprous who were cleansed, the deaf that hear, the 
 dumb that speak, the dead that were raised, let them answer the question, 
 What evil hath he done?” Sometimes the Jews themselves could say, 
 “ He hath done all these things well ; he maketh both the deaf to hear, and 
 the dumb to speak,” Mark 7 : 37. Surely, he had done all things well, he 
 stilled the winds, and calmed the seas, with the spittle of his mouth he cured 
 the blind, he raised the dead, he prayed all night, he gave grace, and he 
 forgave sins, and by his death he merited for his saints everlasting life; 
 why then should he die, that bath done all things well ? No wonder if 
 Pilate object against these malicious ones, “ What evil hath he done ?” 
 
 7. For their reduplication on his reply, “ They cried out the more, say- 
 ing, Let him be crucified,” ibid. Instead of proving some evil against 
 him, “they cried out the more!” as Luke, “they were instant with loud 
 voices,” Luke 23 : 23, they made such a clamor, that the earth rang with 
 it, the cry was doubled and redoubled, “ Crucify him, crucify him,” twice 
 crucify him, as if they thought one cross too little for him. 0 inconstant 
 favor of men ! their anthems of Hosanna, and Benedict.us not. long since joy- 
 fully spoken, are now turned into jarring, hideous notes, “ Let him be cruci- 
 fied.” Aud now is Pilate threatened into another opinion, they require his 
 judgment, and the voices of them, and of “the chief priests prevailed,” 
 verse 23, so it follows, and when “ he saw he could prevail nothing, but 
 rather a tumult was made,” Matth. 27 : 24, why then Barabbas is released 
 unto them, and Jesus is delivered to be scourged. 
 
 I would not dwell too long on Pilate, the high priests, and the Jews, the 
 application is the life of all. — Now then, 
 
 Use. 1. Give me leave to look amongst ourselves, Is there not some or 
 other amongst us, that prefer Barabbas before Jesus? 0 yes! those that 
 listen to that old mutinous murderer in his seditious temptations, those that 
 re ject the blessed motions of God’s own Spirit, in his tenders and offers of 
 grace, those that embrace the world, with its pleasures and profits, and 
 make them their portion; all these, choose Barabbas, and reject Jesus 
 Christ; little do we tliiuk, that every wilful act of sin is a sedition, a mutiny 
 against our souls, another Judas Galileus that stirs up all the passions of 
 our miud against our Jesus. I cannot but think what drawing and solicit- 
 ing of our souls is made by virtue and vice in our passage towards that other 
 World; on the one hand stands vice, with all her false deceits and flatteries, 
 
 * Be da. 
 
 f Aug. tract. 15, super Joh. 
 
360 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK 1 V 
 
 her temptations are strong, “Come let ns enjoy the good things that are 
 present, and let us speedily use the creatures, as in youth, let us fill our- 
 selves with costly wine and ointments, and let no flower of the spring pass 
 by us, let us crown ourselves with rose-buds before they be withered, let 
 none of us go without his part of jollity, let us leave tokens of our joyful- 
 ness in every place, for this is our portion, and our lot i-s this,” Wisd. 2 : 
 6, 7, 8, 0. On the other hand stands virtue, or grace, with all the promises 
 of future happiness, she points at Jesus, and cries, “0 come unto Christ 
 and live ; wisdom is better than rubies, her fruit is better than gold, yea, 
 than fine gold, and her revenue than choice silver; they that love Christ 
 shall inherit substance, and he will fill them with treasures, even with dur- 
 able riches, Prov. 8 : 11, 18, 19. But oh ! how many thousands and ten 
 thousands neglect this cry, and follow vice? What millions of men are 
 there in the world that prefer Barabbas before Jesus? If we proclaim it in 
 our pulpits, that “ Christ is the chiefest of ten thousands, that he is fairer 
 than all the children of men, that he is the standard-bearer, and there is 
 none like to him :” That if you will but have Jesus Christ, you need no 
 more, yet do not many of you say in your hearts, as Pilate here, “ What 
 shall I do with Jesus that is called Christ?” Or as the devils said else- 
 where, “ What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God?” Nay, 
 hath not many times the secret grudgings of your reluctant souls, accounted 
 the gracious offer of speedy repentance, to be but as a coming of Christ to 
 torment you before your time? Why, alas ! what is this now but to prefer 
 Barabbas before Jesus? You that swear as the devil bids, and as Christ 
 forbids; you that profane Sabbaths, that revel, that drink to excess, or it 
 may be to drunkenness, surely your vote goes along with the Jews, “Not 
 this man, but Barabbas.” 
 
 *2. Give me leave to look on the love and mercy of God in Christ; our 
 Jesus was not only content to take our nature upon him, but to be compared 
 with the greatest malefactor of those times, and by public sentence, yea, 
 votes and voices of the people, to be pronounced a greater delinquent, and 
 much more worthy of death than wicked Barabbas. 0 the love of Christ ! 
 we read in Lev. 14 : 4, 5, 6, 7, that in the days of the cleansing of the leper, 
 the priest was to take two birds, (or two sparrows) alive, and the one of 
 them must be killed, and the other being kept alive, must only be dipped 
 in the blood of the bird that was slain; and so it must be let loose into 
 the open field. Barabbas, say some, but all believers, say we, are that live 
 sparrow, and Jesus Christ is the sparrow that was slain, the lot fell upon 
 him to die for us, all our sins were laid upon his soul ; so that in this 
 sense Jesus Christ was the greatest sinner in the world, yea, a greater sin- 
 ner than Barabbas himself ; and therefore he must die, and we being dipt 
 in the blood of Christ, must be let loose and set at liberty ! Was not this 
 love ? He died that we might live ; it was the voico of God as well as men, 
 “Release Barabbas, every believing Barabbas, and crucify Jesus.” 
 
 Another hour is gone ; let us make a stand for a while ; and the next 
 time we meet we shall see farther sufferings. 
 
 Sect. IV. — Of Christ stripped, whipped , clothed in Purple , and crowned 
 
 with Thorns. 
 
 About nine, (which the Jews call the third hour of the day) was Christ 
 stripped, whipped, clothed with purple, and crowned with thorns; in this 
 hour his sufferings came thick, I must divide them into parts, and speak of 
 them severally by themselves. 
 
 1 When Pilate saw how the Jews were set upon his death, he consented 
 and delivered him first to be stripped. “ Then the soldiers of the governor 
 took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 361 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 of soldiers, and they stripped him,” Matth. 27 : 27. They pulled off his 
 clothes, and made him stand naked before them all ; he that adorns the 
 heaven with stars, and the earth with flowers, and “ made coats of skin to 
 clothe our first parents,” Gen. 3 : 21, is now himself stripped stark naked. 
 
 I cannot but look on this as a great shame ; it appears so by our first 
 parents, Adam and Eve, who no sooner had sinned, and knew themselves 
 naked*, but they “ sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons,” 
 Gen. 3:7. If Adam was so ashamed of his nakedness before his own wife, 
 (who was naked too as well as he) what a shame and blush was it in the 
 face of Christ, when in the common hall, in the view of the whole band or 
 company of soldiers, he stands all naked ? “ My confusion is continually 
 
 before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,” saith David in the 
 person of Christ, Psal. 44 : 15. It is reported in the ecclesiastical story, 
 that when two martyrs, and holy virgins, (they called them Agnes and 
 Barbara) were stripped stark naked for their execution, God pityiug their 
 great shame and trouble, to have their nakedness discovered, made for them 
 a vail of light, and so he sent them to a modest and desired death ; but our 
 Saviour Christ, who chose all sorts of shame and confusion, that by a ful- 
 ness of suffering, he might expiate his Father’s wrath, and consecrate to us 
 all kinds of sufferings and affronts, he endured the shame of his nakedness 
 at the time of hi3 scourging; see here a naked Christ, and therein see the 
 mercy of Christ to us; he found us like the good Samaritan, when we were 
 stripped, and wounded, and left half dead, and that we might be covered, he 
 quietly suffered himself to be divested of his own robes, he took on him the 
 state of sinning Adam, and became naked, that we might first be clothed 
 with righteousness, and then with immortality : Oh what a blessed use may 
 we make of the very nakedness of Christ. 
 
 2. Pilate gave him to be scourged; this some think he did, upon no 
 other account, but that the Jews being satiated and glutted with these tor- 
 tures, they might rest satisfied, and think themselves sufficiently avenged, 
 and so desist from taking away his life : that he was scourged is without 
 controversy, for so the evangelist relates, “ Then Pilate therefore took Jesus 
 and scourged him,” John 19 : 1. And that Pilate might give him to be 
 scourged on that account, is very probable, because, that after the scourg- 
 ing, he brings him out to the Jews, proclaiming, “ I find no fault in him,” 
 verse 6, and before his scourging, he speaks it more expressly, “ he hath 
 done nothing worthy of death, I will therefore chastise him, and release 
 him,” Luke 23 : 15, 16. And it adds to this, that howsoever the custom 
 was, that those that were to be crucified must first be whipped, “if they 
 were adjudged to die, their stripes must be less, and if they were to be set 
 at liberty, they must be beaten with more stripes.”* And Pilate endeavor- 
 ing to preserve his life, they scourged him above measure, even almost to 
 death. 
 
 In this scourging of Christ I shall insist on these two things : 1. The 
 
 shame. 2. The pain. 
 
 1. For the shame, it was of such infamy, that the Romans exempted all 
 their citizens from it. “ Is it lawful for you (said Paul) to scourge a man 
 that is a Roman ? — And when the centurion heard that, he went and told 
 the chief captain, saying, take heed what thou doest, for this man. is a 
 Roman,” Acts 22 : 25, 26. The Romans looked upon it as a most infamous 
 punishment, fit only for thieves and slaves, and nut for free-born or privi- 
 leged Romans; and the Jews themselves would not suffer it above so many 
 stripes, lest a brother should seem vile unto them ; “ If a wicked man be 
 worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, forty 
 
 * Hier, in Mattheum, Tom. IX. 
 
S62 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 stripes he may give him, and not exceed, least if he should exceed, and 
 heat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother shall seem vile 
 unto thee,” Deut. 25 : 2, 3. Whipping is so unworthy a puuishment, that 
 only children, bond slaves and rogues, were used to be corrected therewith, 
 especially if they exceeded the number of forty stripes. When Paul was 
 thus used, he tells us, “ Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes, save 
 one,” 2 Cor. 11 : 24. Theophilact says, They would not exceed that num- 
 ber, lest Paul should have become infamous, and ever after incapable of 
 public office, and hoping they might have regained him, they would not 
 brand him with that note of infamy. 0 then, if one stripe above forty was 
 so infamous amongst the Jews, what shame, what infamy was this, when so 
 many scores, hundreds and thousand of stripes, (as some reckon them) were 
 laid on Jesus Christ? And yet our Lord doth not disdain to undergo them 
 for our sakes, he bears in his body those wounds and stripes that we had 
 deserved by our sins. 
 
 2. For the pain : this kind of punishment was not only infamous, but 
 terrible; no sooner the soldiers had their commission, but they charged and 
 discharged upon him such bloody blows, as if he had been the greatest 
 offender and basest slave in all the world. Nicephorus* calls these whip- 
 pers, bloody hangmen, by the fierceness of whose whipping, many had died 
 under their hands; “The manner of their whipping is described thus:*j" 
 After they had stripped him, they bound him to a pillar, whither came six 
 young and strong executioners, scourgers, varlets, hangmen, (saith Jerome) 
 to scourge him, and whip him while they could, whereof two whipped him 
 with rods of thorns; and when they had wearied themselves, other two 
 whipped him with ropes or whip-cords, tied and knotted like a carter’s whip ; 
 and when they were tired, the other two scourged off his very skin with 
 wires or little chains of iron ; and thus they continued, till by alternate and 
 vsuccessive turns, they added stripe upon stripe, and wound upon wound, 
 latter upon former, and new upon old, that he was all over in a gore-blood.” 
 The Scripture tells us, That “ he was wounded for our transgressions, and 
 bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was laid upon 
 him, and with his stripes we are healed,” Isa. 53:5. He was wounded, 
 bruised, chastised, whipped with stripes; if you would know with how- 
 many stripes, some reckon them to the number of the soldiers, six hundred 
 and sixty, or a thousand stripes; others reckon them according to the num- 
 ber of the bones compacted in a man’s body, which, say anatomists, are two 
 hundred and sixty; and Christ having received for every bone three stripes, 
 according to the triple manner of his whipping, they amounted in all to 
 seven hundred and eighty stripes ; others reckon them to five thousand 
 above the forty, which the Jew's were commanded not to exceed in. — And 
 the truth is, if the whole band of soldiers were the whippers of Christ, (as 
 some would have it) I cannot but see but his stripes might be more than 
 so : when the son of an Israelitish woman blasphemed God, the Lord said 
 unto Moses, “ Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp, and let 
 all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congrega- 
 tion stone him,” Lev. 24 : 14. Now Christ had said before all the band, 
 “That he was the Son of God,” which they called blasphemy; and there- 
 fore why might they not all (according to this law) lay their hands upon 
 him, and fall upon him, if not with stones (w'hich w r as now turned into 
 whipping) yet with rods, whip-cords, and little chains ! 
 
 1 shall not contend about the number of his stripes, but this is certain, 
 that the soldiers, with violence and unrelenting hands, executed their 
 commissions; they tore his tender flesh, till the pillar and pavement were 
 
 * Nicep. L. 1, C. 3. 
 
 | Bosq. de pass. Domini, pag. 840. 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 363 
 
 purpled with a shower of blood ; and if we may believe Bernard, “ They 
 plowed with their whips upon his back, and made long furrows ; and after 
 that, they turned his back upon the pillar, and whipped his belly and his 
 breast, till there were no part free from his face unto his foot.” A 
 scourging able to kill any man, and would have killed him, but that he 
 was preserved by the Godhead to endure and to suffer a more shameful 
 death. 
 
 Use. We may read here a lecture of the immense love of God in Christ 
 to us poor Gentiles ; he is therefore whipped, that he might marry us to 
 himself, and never reject us, or cast us off ; we read of a law in Moses, that 
 if a man took a wife, and hated her, and gave occasion of speech against 
 her, and brought an evil name upon her undeservedly, that then “ the 
 elders of the city should take that man and chastise him — and she should 
 be his wife, he might not put her away all his days,” Deut. 22:18, 19. 
 There is a great mystery in this ceremony, for that man (say some) was 
 Christ, who by his incarnation, betrothed unto himself the Gentile church ; 
 but he seems to hate her, and to give an occasion of a speech against her, 
 and to bring an evil report upon her, as “ into the way of the Gentiles ye 
 shall not go, and into any city of the Samaritans ye shall not enter, Matth. 
 10 : 5. And it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and cast it unto 
 dogs,” Matth. 15:26. And now he is accused before the elders, now he 
 is whipped and chastised, and commanded by his Father, to take her to 
 bis wife, and not put her away all his days. I know there is much un- 
 likeliness in this mystery, for Christ was not whipped for calling the 
 church adulterous, that indeed was chaste, but he was whipped to present 
 the church as a chaste virgin to his Father, that indeed w r as adulterous : 
 “ Oh he loved the church, and gave himself for it. — That he might pre- 
 sent it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any 
 such thing, but that it should be holy, and without blemish,” Eph. 5 : 25, 
 27. This was the meaning of Christ’s whipping, “the chastisement of 
 our peace was upon him, and with his stripes are w r e healed,” Isa. 53 : 5. 
 Come then, and let us learn to read this love-letter sent from heaven in 
 bloody characters, Christ is stripped, who clothed the lilies of the field; 
 Christ is bound hand and foot, his hands that multiplied the loaves, and 
 his feet that were weary in seeking straggling sheep : Christ is scourged 
 all over, because all over, we were full of wounds, and bruises, and putre- 
 fying sores, Isa. 1 : 6. And there was no w’ay to cure our wounds but by 
 his wounds ; our bruises, but by his bruises, our sores, but by his sores : 
 0 read, and read again, Christ is whipped, belly, back, side, from his shoul- 
 ders, to the soles of his feet, the lashes eating into his flesh, and cutting 
 his very veins, so that (as some say with much confidence, though I know 
 not with what truth) the gashes were so wide, that you might have seen 
 his ribs, and bones, and very inwards : what, was there ever love like unto 
 this love? Had he not been God as well as man, he could never have had 
 in his heart such a love as this : 0 it was a divine love, it was the love of 
 a Jesus, a love far surpassing either the love of men or women, or of 
 angels. 
 
 3. They put on him “a purple robe, ora scarlet robe,” John calls it 
 purple, John 19:2, and Matthew scarlet, Matth. 27:28. Howsoever, 
 some difference may be, yet because of their likeness, they are put some- 
 times oue for another: “they put on him a scarlet robe;” it is in the 
 origiual, A scarlet cloak ;* it was a loose short garment, at first used only 
 by kings or emperors ; and the color of it was suitable to Christ’s condition, 
 for he was now purple all over, as well within it as without it : his body 
 
 * Klamuda kockiuen. 
 
364 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 and his garment were both of a deep dyed sanguine color. Some out of 
 Zachary, where it is said, “That Joshua was clothed with filthy garments,” 
 Zech. 3 : 3, conclude the old ragged, thread-bare filthiness of his robe; so 
 that every thing shall have its office and several share in his abuse ; the 
 color and the manner of the garment .suits his kingdom ; the barrenness, 
 his outward estimation with the people, the raggedness, his late scattered 
 retinue, the sulliedness, his stained, spotted life, as they pretended, saying, 
 “ He was a friend of publicans and sinners. ” — But out of this darkness 
 the Lord can bring light, he hath his mysteries wrapt up in the malice of 
 his enemies ; for both on his garment, and on his thigh, was written a 
 mystery, Rev. 19:16. And in this sense, what other is his garment but 
 the emblem of his humanity? And what is his scarlet garment, but the 
 emblem of his wounded body ? That as he spake of the woman, “ She 
 anointed him aforehand unto his burial,” John 12 : 7. So Pilate, in the 
 mystery, clothes him aforehand unto his bloody death. 
 
 4. They “ platted a crown of thorns, and put it upon his head,” Matth. 
 27 : 29, a goodly crown for the King of kings; we read of many sorts of 
 crowns, as of the triumphal, laurel, naval, mural, &c., but never till this, 
 did we read of a crown of thorns; a crown it was to deride him, and a 
 crown of thorns to torment him : in this we may read both his pain and- 
 shame. 1. For his pain, it bored his head, saith Osorius, with seventy and 
 two wounds; Bernard* speaks of many more, mille punqturis , &c. 1 know 
 
 not what ground they have to number them ; but certainly many wounds 
 they made ; and the rather may we say so, because, that after they had put 
 it upon his head, “They took a reed, and smote him on the head,” Matth. 
 27 : 30. i. e. They smote him on the head, to fasten the crown of thorns 
 upon him surer, and to imprint it deeper, till, as some think, it pierced his 
 very skull. 2. Nor was it only pain, but shame; when Jotham put out 
 his parable to the men of Shechem ; “ The trees (said he) went out on a 
 time, to anoint, a king over them, and they said unto the olive-tree, reign 
 thou over us. But the olive-tree said unto them, should I leave my fatness, 
 wherewith by me, they honor both God and man, and go to be promoted 
 over the trees ? And the trees said unto the fig-tree, come thou and reign 
 over us. But the fig-tree said unto them, should I forsake my sweetness, 
 and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees ? Then said the 
 trees unto the vine, come thou and reign over us ; and the vine said unto 
 them, should 1 leave my wine which cheereth God and man, and go to be 
 promoted over the trees? Then said all the trees unto the bramble, come 
 thou and reign over us ; and the bramble said unto the trees, if in truth, 
 ye anoint me king over you, then come, and put your trust in my shadow; 
 and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Le- 
 banon,” Judges 9 : 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. As Jotham put out his 
 parable in scorn of Abimelech, so the soldiers in scorn, put on Christ’s 
 head this bramble crown, q. d. “ Come, thou sayest thou art king of the 
 Jews, and therefore we will make thee a crown of bramble, king of trees;” 
 by which means they protest against Christ as a feigned fabulous king, as 
 if he were no fitter to be king of the Jews, than the bramble was to be 
 king of all the trees in the forest. 
 
 Use. Ilow many lessons might we draw from hence? They put upon 
 his head a crown of shame, of death, of torture, who came to give us a 
 crown of victory, of life, of glory. 2. Our sins caused the earth to bring 
 forth thorns and briers ; and our Saviour must wear them, both to take 
 away our sins, and in the issue, to take away sin’s curse, thorns or briers, 
 or whatsoever. 3. From the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, we 
 
 * Bern. Serm. de Pass. Dom. 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 365 
 
 were full of sin, and Christ accordingly must shed his blood from bead to 
 foot, their whips did not reach his head, their nails could not pierce it with- 
 out an end of torture, but now they draw blood from it with thorns, Isa. 
 1 : 5. “The whole head is sick,” saith the prophet of us; and the whole 
 head of Christ is bruised with thorns to cure our sickness. 4. Christ is not 
 crowned with thorns without a prophecy or type; here he is “a true lily 
 among thorns,” Cant. 2 : 2, here he is, as Isaac’s “ram tied fast by the 
 head in thorns,” Gen. 33 : 13, he was ever intended to be a sacrifice, and 
 a ransom for our sins ; and to that purpose he was caught in a thicket, he 
 was crowned with thorns. 5. 0 what a shame is it, for any of us to crown 
 our heads with rose-buds, (as the wanton worldlings would say) afore they 
 were withered, to spend our time in vanity, folly, sin, when Christ our Lord 
 had such a grove of thorns growing on his sacred head ? “ The disciple is 
 
 not above his master, nor the servant above his lord : it is enough for the 
 disciple to be as his master, and the servant as his lord,” Matth. 10 : 24, 
 25. If our Lord and Master was crowned with thorns, surely the members 
 of Christ should not be soft, delicate and effeminate, wholly sensual, or given 
 up to pleasures. 6. “As every bird sitteth upon the thorns in the orchard,” 
 Baruch 6:7, so let us draw near, and make our nests in these blessed 
 bushes : let us abandon all the colors of other captains, as the world, flesh, 
 and devil; and let us keep close to the royal standard of our King, under 
 these thorns we may find shelter against all our enemies; from these thorns 
 we may undoubtedly gather grapes, even a vintage of spiritual joy and 
 gladness. 
 
 Now, the hour sounds again, and calls us to go forth, and to behold King 
 Jesus, with the crown wherewith he was crowned, in the day of his espou- 
 sals. And this we shall do the next hour. 
 
 Sect. V. — Of Christ brought forth and sentenced. 
 
 About ten, Christ was brought forth and sentenced. 1. For his bring- 
 ing forth, I shall therein observe these particulars. As, — 
 
 1. We find Pilate bringing forth Jesus out of the common ball, and show- 
 ing this sad spectacle to all the people. “Then came Jesus forth, wearing 
 the crown of thorns, and the purple robe, and Pilate saith unto them, Be- 
 hold the man,” John 19 : 5. He thought the very sight of Christ would 
 have moved them to compassion; they had lashed him almost unto death, 
 they had most cruelly divided those azure channels of his guiltless blood, 
 they had clothed him with purple, crowned him with thorns; and now they 
 bring him out by the hair of the head, (say some) and expose him to the 
 public view of the scornful company, Pilate crying unto them, “ Behold the 
 man,” q. d. Behold a poor, silly, miserable, distressed man; behold I say, 
 not your king, to provoke you against him, nor yet the Son of God, which 
 you say he makes himself to be ; behold the man, a mean man, a worm, 
 and no man ! behold how he stauds disfigured with wounds, behold him 
 weltering and panting in a crimson river of his own gore-blood ; and let this 
 be sufficient, yea, more than sufficient punishment, let it suffice to satisfy 
 your rage; what would you have more? If it be for malice that you are 
 so violent against him, behold how miserable he is; if for fear, behold how 
 contemptible he is: as fur any fault whereby he should deserve his death, I 
 find no fault in him; he is a Lamb without spot, a dove without gall. 0 
 c°me and behold this man, I can find no fault in him.” Some doctors 
 affirm, That whilst Pilate cried out, Behold the man ; his servants lifted up 
 the purple robe, that so all might see his torn, and bloody, and macerated 
 body ; he supposed his words could not so move their hearts as Christ’s 
 wounds; and therefore, said he, Behold the man, as if he had said again, 
 “ Look on him, and view him well, is not he well paid for calling himself 
 
366 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 king nf the Jews? Now see him stript, and whipt, and crowned with 
 thorns, and sceptered with a reed, anointed with spittle, and clothed with 
 purple ; what would you more ?” 
 
 ! 2 . We find the Jews more enraged against Jesus : “ When the chief 
 priests and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, crucify him, crucify 
 him,” John 19 : 6. The more Pilate endeavors to appease them, the more 
 were the people enraged against him ; and therefore they cry, “Away with 
 him, away with him, crucify him, crucify him,” verse 15. Now was ful- 
 filled that prophecy of Jeremy, “My heritage is unto me as a lion in the 
 forest, it crieth out against me;” Jer. 12 : 8. The naturalists report of the 
 lion, That when he is near to his prey, he gives out a mighty roar, whereby 
 the poor hunted beast is so amazed and terrified, that almost dead with fear, 
 he falls flat on the ground, and so becomes the lion’s prey indeed ; and thus 
 the Jews (Vho were the heritage of the Lord) were unto Christ as a lion in 
 the forest ; they hunted and pursued him to his death, and being near it, 
 they gave out a mighty shout, that the earth rung again. “Away with him, 
 away with him, crucify him, crucify him.” 0 ye Jews, children of Israel, 
 seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is not this he concerning whom your 
 fathers cried, “ Oh that thou wouldst rend the heavens, that thou wouldst 
 come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,” Isa. 
 64 : 1. How is it that you should despise him present, whom they desired 
 absent? How is it that your cry and theirs should be so contrary? The 
 panther (say they) is of so sweet a savor, that if he be but within the com- 
 pass of scent, all the beasts of the field run towards him ; but when they 
 see his ugly visage, they fly from him, and run away : so the Jews afar off 
 feeling the sweet savors of Christ’s ointment, they cried, “Draw me, we will 
 run after thee, Come Lord Jesus, come quickly,” but now in his passion, 
 looking on his form, they change their note, “ he hath no form nor comeli- 
 ness, there is no beauty, that we should desire him,” Isa. 53 : 2. Away 
 with him, away with him. 
 
 3. We find Pilate and the Jews yet debating the business ; Pilate is loath 
 to pronounce the sentence, and the chiefest of the Jews provoke him to it 
 with a threefold argument. As, 
 
 1. “They bad a law, and by their law he ought to die, because he made 
 himself the Son of God,” John 19 : 7. Thus the doctors of the law do ac- 
 cuse the author and publisher of the law; but they consider not the rule 
 concerning laws, “ he may lawfully abolish, who hath power to establish 
 nor did they consider that this law concerned not himself, who is in deed 
 and in truth the Son of God ; the text tells us, that Pilate hearing this argu- 
 ment, was the more afraid.” Pilate (saith Cyril) was an heathen idolater; 
 and so worshipping many gods, he could not tell but that Christ might be 
 one of them; and therefore in condemning Christ, he might justly provoke 
 all the gods, to be revenged of him. This was the meaning of Pilate’s ques- 
 tion, Whence art thou? What is thy offspring? Of what progenitors art 
 thou sprung ? “And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him.” 
 
 2. The Jews come with another argument, they.threaten Pilate, “If thou 
 let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend,” John 19 : 12, a forcible rea- 
 son, as the cause then stood; it was no small matter to be accused by so 
 many audacious impudent men of high treason against Caesar; and therefore 
 under this obligation, Pilate seems to bend and bow; whom the fear of 
 Christ’s divinity had restrained, him the fear of Caesar’s frown provoked to 
 go on to sentence and condemnation. Oh ! he was more afraid of man, 
 whose breath is in his nostrils, than of God himself, who made the heavens, 
 and framed the world. And yet, before he gave sentence, “ He takes water 
 
 * Jijus absolvere, cujus est condere legem. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 367 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 and washeth his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the 
 blood of this just person, see ye to it,” Matth. 27 : 24. 
 
 3. In reference to this, they engage themselves for him, which was their 
 last argument, “ his blood be upon us and our children,” Matth. 27 : 25. 
 q. d. Act thou as judge, let him be condemned to die; and if thou fearest 
 any thing we will undergo for thee, let the vengeance of his blood be on us, 
 and on our children for ever. Thus far of the first general. 
 
 4. For the sentence itself, When Pilate heard that, — he sat down in the 
 judgment-seat, in a place that is called the pavement, because erected of 
 srones, but in the Hebrew Gabbatha, John 19 : 13. — This word signifies a 
 high place, and raised above; it was so on purpose that the judges might be 
 seen of men, when they pronounced sentence. And here Pilate sitting down, 
 he gave the doom. What was the form or manner of the sentence, is a 
 great question amongst divines ; Chrysostom * is of mind that he pronounced 
 no form at all, he only “delivered Jesus unto them to be crucified,” Mark 
 15 : 15. Johu 19 : 16. Others cannot yield to this, for to what end (say 
 they) should he then sit down upon the judgment seat? And yet amongst 
 themselves they cannot agree on a form. Anselmj* gives it thus, “I ad- 
 judge Jesus of Nazareth to that ignominious and shameful death of the 
 cross.” Yincentius| thus, “I condemn Jesus, seducing the people, blas- 
 pheming God, and saying that he was Christ the kiug of the Jews, to be 
 fastened to the cross, and there to hang till he die.” Many other forms are 
 brought in by others, but that of Luke is, I am sure, most authentic, “And 
 Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required, and then he deli- 
 vered Jesus to their will,” Luke 23 : 24, 25. Here is a sentence indeed, a 
 delivery of Jesus, not to his own, but to his enemies’ liberty; to the bound- 
 less bonds, and all the possible tortures of their own wills and wishes. O 
 unjust sentence ! Give me not over to the will of my adversaries, cries 
 David, Psalm 27 : P2, the will of malice is an endless wheel, it cares not 
 how long it spins out pain, and therefore they cried, “ Crucify him, crucify 
 him ! Let him be crucified !” Amen, (says Pilate,) do what you please, 
 crucify him, and crucify him as often as you will, it shall be as you re- 
 quire. Lo now I deliver him to your own will. 
 
 We cannot shake this tree without some fruit; from this sight of Christ 
 and sentence of Pilate we may learn some good. 
 
 Use 1. From this sight of Christ, as he was presented by Pilate to the 
 people, we may learn remorse ; not any of us who have crucified Christ by 
 our sins, but we are called on at this time, “ to behold the man;” suppose 
 we saw him with our bodily eyes; suppose we had the same view of Christ 
 as the Jews had, where he was thus presented : suppose we saw him in the 
 very midst of us wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe, and the 
 cane or reed held in his right hand; suppose we heard the voice of Pilate 
 speaking to us, as he did to the Jews, “ Behold the man ;” suppose we saw 
 the purple robe lifted up, that we might see all under; how his body was 
 torn ; and that some voice from heaven should come to us, saying, “ This 
 same is he whom ye have buffeted, scourged, crowned, crucified by our 
 sins Were not this enough to prick us in our hearts, and to make us cry, 
 “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Acts 2 : 37. Oh ! we look at the 
 instruments, and we cry, “ Fy on Pilate, fy on the soldiers, fy on the Jews;” 
 but we look nut on our sins, saying, fy on them. Could we but realize our 
 sius as the principle of these sufferings of Christ, methinks our hearts should 
 break m very pieces; consider, yesterday in the midst of our markets, so 
 many lies were told, and so many oaths were sworn; and this day so soon 
 as the day-light sprang, so many acts of profaning the Lord’s day were 
 
 * Chrys. 1. Cor. ser. ult. de Eleeraos. -j- Ansel de Pass. 
 
 t Vine, de Pass 
 
368 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 committed by us; little did we think that all this while we had been strip- 
 ping Christ naked, whipping Christ with rods, or little chains, clothing 
 Christ with a purple scarlet robe, platting a crown of thorns, and putting it 
 on his head, sceptring him with a reed, and saluting him in scorn, “ Hail ! 
 king of the Jews.” Men, brethren and fathers, be not deceived, Christ is 
 mocked, scorned, and thus is abused by you when you sin ; your sins that 
 dealt with Christ, and in God’s acceptation your sins thus deal with Christ, 
 even to this very day. Never say it was long since Christ was crucified, 
 and he is now in heaven, for by your sins, you crucify again the Lord of 
 glory, you put him again to open shame, you strip him, and whip him, and 
 torment him afresh. Oh look on him whom you have pierced ! Pilate 
 thought that if the Jews would but see the man, “Behold the man,” their 
 hearts would have mollified ; and shall not I think as well of you ? It is a 
 blessed means to make sin bitter, and to breed in our hearts remorse for 
 sin, if we will but hearken to this voice of Pilate, “ Behold the man.” 
 
 2. From the sentence of Pilate, that Christ should be crucified as the 
 Jews required, we may learn the deceitfulness of our hearts, in making 
 self the end and aim of our particular callings. Pilate as Judge, should 
 have glorified God in doing justice; but, when he hears the Jews cry, “if 
 thou let him go, thou art not Caesar’s frieud,” he then looks to himself and 
 his own interests. Judges can have their ends in the very place of judi- 
 cature : nay, is not this the very common sin of magistrates, ministers, 
 tradesmen, of all sorts of callings ? come, what is it you aim at in your 
 several places? Is it not to be great, and rich, and high, and honorable? 
 Say truly, is it in your heart to say : That by this calling, my chief aim is 
 to glorify God, and to serve my generation with all faithfulness : and these 
 two ends I prefer before all worldly advantages whatsoever? 0 then, what 
 a blessed reformation would be amongst us ? If it be not thus, what are 
 you but as so many Pilates, that if you were but threatened into a sentence, 
 you would rather condemn Christ than yourselves of enmity against Caesar; 
 such would be the cry, Let Christ be crucified and self advanced. 
 
 Much more might be said, but the hour strikes again, Pilate is now risen, 
 the court dissolved, and Jesus is delivered into the hands of the Jews for 
 execution. How that went on, the next hour will speak, only God prepare 
 your hearts to hear devoutly and to consider seriously, what Jesus the great 
 Saviour of the world hath suffered for you. 
 
 Sect. YI. — Of Christ’s Crucifying , with its Appendices. 
 
 About eleven, they prepare with all speed for the execution : in the 
 revolution of this hour we may observe these several passages. As, 1. 
 Their taking off the robe, and clothing him again with his own raiment. 
 2. Their leading him away from Gabbatha to Golgotha. 3. His bearing 
 the cross, with Simon’s help to bear it after him. 4. His comforting the 
 women who followed weeping after him as he went. 5. Their giving him 
 vinegar to drink mingled with gall. 6. Their crucifying, or fastening him 
 on the cross, whereon be died. 
 
 1. The evangelist tells us, Matth. 27 : 31. “ They took the robe off from 
 him, and put his own raiment on him.” Origen observes, “they took 
 off his robes, but they took not off his crown of thorns;” what served 
 their interest, they pursued still, but nothing of mitigation or mercy to 
 the afflicted Son of man. It is supposed this small business could not be 
 done without great pain ; after his sore whipping his blood congealed, 
 and by that means stuck to his scarlet mantle, so that in pulling off the 
 robe, and putting on his own raiment, there could not but be a renewing 
 of his wound* 
 
 2. “They led him away,” Matth. 27 : 31. Some say, they cast a rope 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 369 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 or chain about his neck, by which they led him out of the city to mount 
 Calvary, and that all along, multitudes attended him, and a crier went 
 before him, proclaiming to all hearers the cause of his death ; namely, 
 “That Jesus Christ was a seducer, blasphemer, necromancer, a teacher of 
 false doctrines, saying of himself that he was the Messias, king of Israel, 
 and the Son of God.” 
 
 3. “ He bore his cross,” John 19 : 17. So John relates, before it bears 
 him, he must bear it; and thus they make good their double cry, “ Crucify 
 him, crucify him;” first crucify him with it as a burden, and then crucify 
 him with it as a cross ; those shoulders, which had been unmercifully bat- 
 tered with whips before, are now again tormented with the weight of his 
 cross. As a true Isaac, he bears the wood for the sacrifice of himself ; or 
 Uriah like, he carries with him the very instrument of his own sad death. 
 0 the cruelty of this passage ! they had scarce left him so much blood or 
 strength as to carry himself; and must he now bear his heavy cross? Yes, 
 till he faint and sink, so long he must bear it, and longer too ; did they not 
 fear that he should die with less shame and smart than they intended him, 
 ■which to prevent, they “constrained one Simon a Cyrenian to bear his cross 
 after him,” Matth. 27 : 32. Mark 15 : 21. How truly did they, here again, 
 swallow the camel, and strain at a gnat ? The cross was a Roman death, 
 and so one of their abominations; hence they themselves would not touch 
 this tree of infamy, lest they should have been defiled, but to touch the 
 Lord’s anointed, to crucify the Lord of glory, they make no scruple at all ; 
 but why must another bear the cross, but to consign this duty unto man, 
 that we must enter into a fellowship of Christ’s sufferings? “ If any man 
 will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow 
 me,” Matth. 16 : 24. And therefore Christ hath suffered for us, leaving us 
 an example that we should follow his steps, 1 Pet. 2 : 21. 
 
 4. He comforted the women who followed weeping after him as he went 
 
 along, “ and there followed him a great company of people and of women, 
 which also bewailed and lamented him : but Jesus turning to them, said, 
 Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and 
 for your children,” Luke 23: 27, 28. In the midst of his misery he 
 forgets not mercy ; in the midst of all their tortures and loudest outcries 
 of contumely, of blasphemy, and scorn, he can hear his following friends 
 weeping behind him, and neglect all his own sufferings to comfort them, 
 “ weep not for me.” He hath more compassion on the women that fol- 
 lowed him weeping, than of his own mangled self, that reels along, fainting 
 and bleeding unto death ; he feels more the tears that drop from their eyes, 
 than all the blood that flows from his own veins. We have heard before 
 sometimes he would not vouchsafe a word to Pilate that threatened him, nor 
 to Herod that entreated him ; and yet unasked, how graciously doth he 
 turn about his blessed bleeding face to these weeping women, affording 
 them looks, and words, too, both of compassion and consolation, “ Daughters 
 of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but for yourselves.” And yet observe he 
 did not turn his face to them, until he heard them weep; nor may we ever 
 think to see his face in glory, unless we first bathe our ears in sorrow. It 
 is a wonder to me, that any in our age should ever decry 4ears, remorse, 
 contrition, compunction ; how many saiuts do we find, both in the Old and 
 New Testament, confuting by their practices these gross opinions ? The 
 promise tells us. That “ they that sow in tears shall reap in joy he 
 that follows Christ, or “ goeth forth weeping, bearing precious seed, shall 
 doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him,” 
 Psal. 126 : 5, 6. too 
 
 But, what is the meaning of this, “ Weep not for me ?” May we not 
 weep for the death of Christ ? Do we not find in scripture, that all the 
 24 
 
370 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 people wept at the death of Moses ? Dent. 34 : 8. That all the church wept 
 at the death of Stephen ? Acts 8 : 2. That the women lamented the death 
 of Dorcas ? And if all Christ’s actions be our instructions, I mean not his 
 miraculous, or meritorious, but his moral ones, did not Christ himself weep 
 for Lazarus, and for Jerusalem ? Nay, is he not here weeping showers of 
 blood all along the way ? And may not we drop a tear for all those purple 
 streams of his ? Oh, what is the meaning of this, “ Weep not for me, but 
 weep for yourselves ?” 
 
 I answer, the words are not absolute, but comparative. Christ doth not 
 simply forbid us to weep for our friends, but rather to turn our worldly 
 grief into godly sorrow for sin, as sin. Christ herein pointed the women 
 to the true cause and subject of all their sorrow, which was their sins; and 
 thus we have cause to weep indeed. Oh ! our sins were the cause of the 
 sufferings of Christ : and in that respect, Oh that our heads were fountains, 
 and our eyes rivers of tears ! Oh that our tears were as our meat and drink ! 
 Oh that we could feed with David “ on the bread of tears,” and the Lord 
 would give us “ plenteousness of tears to drink !” Oh that the Lord would 
 strike (as he did at Rephidim) these rocky hearts of ours, with the rod of 
 true remorse, that the water might gush out ! Oh that we could mourn over 
 Jesus, whom we have pierced, and “ be in bitterness for him, as one that is 
 in bitterness for his first born !” Zech. 12 : 10. 
 
 5. No sooner was he come to the place of execution, 11 but they gave him 
 vinegar to drink mingled with gall,” Matth. 27 : 34. In that they gave him 
 drink, it was an argument of their humanity. This was a custom amongst 
 the Jews and Romans, that to the condemned they ever gave wine to drink ; 
 “ Give strong wine unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those 
 that be of heavy heart,” Prov. 31 : 6. But in that they gave him vinegar 
 mingled with gall ; it was an argument of their cruelty and envy. Theo- 
 philact* speaks plainly, that the vinegar mixed with gall was poisonous and 
 deadly ; and therefore, when Christ had tasted it, he would not drink, choos- 
 ing rather the death of the cross, to which he was destinated by his Father, 
 than any poisonous death. 
 
 Use. Ah, my brethren, are not we apt to think hardly of the Jews for 
 giving Christ so bitter a potion at his time of death ? and yet, little do we 
 think, that when we sin we do as much. See but how God himself com- 
 pares the sins of the wicked Jews to very poison, “ For their wine is of the 
 wine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah, their grapes are grapes of 
 gall, their clusters are bitter, the wine is the poison of dragons, and the 
 cruel venom of asps,” Deut. 32 : 32, 33. In this respect we may think as 
 hardly of ourselves as of the Jews, because, so oft as we sin against God, 
 we do as much as mingle rank poison, and bring it to Jesus Christ to 
 drink. 
 
 6. “ They crucified him,” Matth. 27 : 35. (i. e.) They fastened him on 
 the cross; and then lifted him up. A great question there is amongst the 
 learned, whether Christ was fastened on the cross after it was erected, or 
 whilst it was lying on the ground ? I would not rake too much into these 
 niceties, only more probable it is, that he was fastened to it whilst it lay flat 
 on the ground ; and then, “ as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilder- 
 ness, so was the Son of man lifted up,” John 3 : 14. We may express the 
 manner of their acting, and his sufferings now, as a learned brother hath 
 done before us; “Nowj' come the barbarous inhuman hangmen, and begin 
 to unloose his hands, but how ? Alas ! it is not to any liberty, but to worse 
 bonds of nails : Then stript they off his gore glued clothes, and with them 
 
 * Theophil. in Mar. 
 
 f Herle Contemplat. on Christ’s Pass. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 371 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 questionless, not a little of his mangled skin and flesh, as if it were not 
 enough to crucify him as a thief, unless they flay him too as a beast ; then 
 stretched they him as another Isaac on his own burden, the cross, that so 
 they might take measure of the holes: and though the print of his blood 
 on it gave them his true length, yet how strictly do they take it longer than 
 the truth, thereby at once both to crucify and rack him ? that he was thus 
 stretched and racked upon his cross, David gives more than probable inti- 
 mation, Psal. 22 : 17. “ I may tell all my bones ;” and again, u All my 
 bones are out of joint,” verse 14, which otherwise, how could it so well be, 
 as by such a violent stretching and distortion ? Whereby it seems they had 
 made him a living anatomy, nor was it in the less sensible fleshy parts of 
 his body that they drive these their larger tenters, whereon his whole weight 
 must hang, but in the hands and feet, the most sinewy, and consequently 
 the most sensible fleshy parts of all other, wherein how rudely and painfully 
 they handle him, appears too by that of David, “ They digged my hands 
 and my feet ;” they made wide holes like that of a spade, as if they had 
 been digging in some ditch. The boisterous and unusual greatness of these 
 nails we have from venerable antiquity : Constantine the great is said to 
 have made of them both an helmet and a bridle. How should I write on, 
 but that my tears should blot out what I write, when it is no other than he 
 that is thus used, “ who hath blotted out that hand-writing of ordinances 
 that was against me,” Col. 2 : 14. 
 
 But the hour goes on, and this is the great business of the world’s re- 
 demption, of which I would speak a little more : By this time we may 
 imagine Christ nailed to the cross, and his cross fixed in the ground, which, 
 with its fall into the place of its station, gave infinite torture, by so violent 
 a concussion of the body of our Lord. That I mean to observe of this 
 crucifying of Christ, I shall reduce to these two heads, viz ., the shame and 
 pain. 
 
 1. For the shame, it was a cursed death, u Cursed is every one that hang- 
 eth on a tree,” Gal. 3 : 13. When it was in use, it was chiefly inflicted 
 upon slaves; that either falsely accused, or treacherously conspired their 
 master’s death ; but on whomsoever it was inflicted, this death in all ages 
 among the Jews hath been branded with a special kind of ignominy, and 
 so the apostle signified, when he saith, “ he abased himself to the death, 
 even the death of the cross,” Phil. 2:8. It was a mighty shame that Saul’s 
 sous were hanged on a tree, 2 Sam. 21 : 6, and the reason was more espe- 
 cially from the law of God, “ for he that is hanged is accursed of God,” 
 Deut. 21 : 23. I know Moses’s law speaks nothing in particular of cruci- 
 fying, yet he doth include the same under the general of hanging on a tree; 
 and some conceive that Moses in speaking that curse, foresaw what manner 
 of death the Redeemer should die. 
 
 2. For the pain, it was a painful death ; that appears several ways : As, 
 1. His legs and hands were violently racked, and pulled out to the places 
 fitted for his fastening, and then pierced through with nails. 2. By this 
 means he wanted the use both of his hands and l'eet, and so he was forced 
 to hang immoveable upon the cross, as being unable to turn any way for 
 his ease. 3. The longer he lived the more he endured, for by the weight 
 of his body, his wounds were opened and enlarged, his nerves and veins 
 were rent and torn asunder, and his blood gushed out more and more 
 abundantly still. 4. He died by inch meal (as I may say) and not at once; 
 the cross, was a death long in dying, it kept him a great while upon a rack, 
 it wa3 full three hours betwixt Christ’s affection and expiration, and it 
 would have been longer if he had not freely and willingly given up the 
 ghost : it is reported, that Andrew the apostle was two whole days on the 
 
372 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IV. 
 
 cross before be died, and so long might Christ have been, if God had not 
 heightened it to greater degrees of torment supernaturally. 
 
 I may add to this, as above all this, the pains of his soul whilst he 
 hanged on the cross, for there also Christ had his agonies and soul conflicts, 
 these were those ( odinas thanatou ,) those pains, or pangs of death, Acts 
 2 : 24, from which Peter tells us Christ was loosed. The word (odinas) 
 properly signifies the pains of a woman in travail ; such were the pains of 
 Jesus Christ in death ; the prophet calls it “ the travail of his soul,” Isa. 
 53 : 11, and the Psalmist calls it the pains of hell; “ The sorrows of death 
 compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me/’ Psalm 116 : 3. 
 The sorrows or cords of death compassed his body, and the pains of hell 
 gat hold upon his soul ; and these were they that extorted from him that 
 passionate expostulation, “ My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” 
 Matth. 27 : 46. He complains of that which was more grievous to him, 
 than ten thousand deaths, “ My God, my God, why hast thou withdrawn 
 thy wonted presence, and left my soul (as it were) in the pains of hell !” 
 
 Use. 1. And now reflect we on the shame and pain ! 0 the curse and bit- 
 terness that our sins have brought on Jesus Christ! when I but think of 
 these bleeding veins, bruised shoulders, scourged sides, furrowed back, bar- 
 rowed temples, digged hands and feet, and then consider that my sins were 
 the cause of all; methinks I should need no more arguments for self- 
 abhorring ! Christians ! would not your hearts rise against him that should 
 kill your father, mother, brother, wife, husband; dearest relations in all the 
 world ! 0 then, how should your hearts and souls rise against sin ? 
 
 Surely your sin it was, that murdered Christ, that killed him, who is in- 
 stead of all relations, who is a thousand, thousand times dearer to you, than 
 father, mother, husband, child, or whomsoever; one thought of this should, 
 methinks, be enough to make you say, as Job did, “ I abhor myself, and 
 repent in dust and ashes,” Job 42 : 9. Oh ! what is that cross on the back 
 of Christ ? My sins ; oh ! what is that crown on the head of Christ ? 
 My sins ; oh ! what is the nail in the right-hand, and that other in the left- 
 hand of Christ ? My sins ; oh ! what is that spear in the side of Christ ? 
 My sins ; what are those nails and wounds in the feet of Christ ? My 
 sius. With a spiritual eye I see no other engine tormenting Christ, no other 
 Pilate, Herod, Annas, Caiaphas condemning Christ, no other soldiers, offi- 
 cers, Jews, or Gentiles, doing execution on Christ, but only sin : oh my 
 sins, my sins, my sins 1 
 
 2. Comfort we ourselves in the end and aim of this death of Christ; 
 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man 
 be lifted up : that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have 
 everlasting life,” John 3 : 14, 15. The end of Christ’s crucifying is the 
 material business; and therefore let the end be observed, as well as the 
 meritorious cause : without this consideration, the contemplation of Christ’s 
 death, or the meditation of the story of Christ’s sufferings, would be alto- 
 gether unprofitable; now what was the end ? Surely this : “ Christ lifted 
 up, that he might draw all men to him,” John 12 : 32. “Christ hanged 
 on a tree, that he might bear our sins on the tree,” 1 Pet. 2 : 24. This 
 was the plot, which God by ancient design had aimed at in the crucifying 
 of Christ, and thus our faith must take it up ; indeed our comfort hangs 
 on this: the intent, aim, and design of Christ in his sufferings is, that 
 welcome news, and the very spirit of the gospel ! 0 remember this ! Christ 
 is crucified, and why so? That “whosoever believeth in him should not 
 perish but have life everlasting.” 
 
 We are now at the height of Christ’s sufferings, and the sun is now in 
 his meridian, or height of ascent; I shall no more count hour by hour, for 
 “from the sixth hour to the ninth hour, (that is, from twelve to three in 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 373 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 the afternoon) there was darkness over all the land,” Matth. 27 : 45. But 
 of that, and of the consequents after it, in the next sections. 
 
 Sect. VII. — Of the consequents after Christ’s crucifying. 
 
 The particulars following I shall quickly despatch. As thus, 
 
 1. About twelve, when the sun is usually brightest, it began now to 
 darken. This darkness was so great, that it spread over all the land of 
 Jewry; some think over all the world. So we translate it in Luke, “and 
 there was a darkness over all the earth,” Luke 23 : 44, and many Gentiles, 
 besides the Jews, observed the same as a great miracle : Dionysius the 
 Areopagite (as Suidas* relates) could say at first sight of it, “Either the 
 world is ending, or the God of nature is suffering.” This very darkness 
 was the occasion of that altar erected in Athens, and dedicated to “the 
 unknown God,” Acts 17 : 23. Of this prophesied Amos. “And it shall 
 come to pass in that day, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, 
 And I will darken the earth in the clear day,” Amos 8 : 9. 
 
 The cause of this darkness is diversely rendered by several authors ; 
 some think, “ That the sun by divine power withdrew and held back its 
 beams.” Others say, “ That the obscurity was caused by some thick 
 clouds, which were miraculously produced in the air, and spread themselves 
 over all the earth Others say, “ That this darkness was by a wonderful 
 interposition of the moon, which at that time was at full, but by a miracle 
 interposed itself betwixt the earth and sun.” Whatsoever was the cause, 
 it continued for the space of three hours, as dark as the darkest winter’s 
 night. 
 
 2. About three, (which the Jews call the ninth hour) the sun now be- 
 ginning to receive his light, “ Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lama- 
 sabacthani, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Matth. 27 : 46. 
 — And then, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, he said, “I thirst,” 
 And “when he had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished,” John 
 19 : 28, 30. And at last, crying with a loud voice, he said, “ Father, into 
 thy hands I commend my Spirit, and having said thus, he gave up the 
 ghost,” Luke 23 : 46. I cannot stay on these seven words of Christ, which 
 he uttered on the cross : his words were ever gracious, but never more gra- 
 cious than at this time : we cannot find in all the books and writings of 
 men, in all the annals and records of time, either such sufferings, or such 
 sayings, as were these last words and wounds, sayings and sufferings of 
 Jesus Christ. — -“And having said this, he gave up the ghost :” or, as John 
 relates it, “ He bowed his head and gave up the ghost,” John 19 : 30 ; he 
 bowed, not because he was dead, but first he bowed and then died; the 
 meaning is, he died willingly without constraint, cheerfully without murmur; 
 what a wonder is this ? Life itself gives up his life, and death itself dies 
 by his death ; Jesus Christ who is the author of life, the God of life, lays 
 down his life for us, and death itself lies for ever nailed to that bloody cross 
 in the stead of Jesus Christ. And now may we suppose him at the gates 
 of paradise, calling with his last words to have them opened, “ That the 
 king of glory might come in.” 
 
 3. About four in the afternoon, he was pierced with a spear, and there 
 issued out of his side both blood and water. And “ one of the soldiers 
 with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came thereout both blood and 
 water,” John 19 : 34. How truly may we say of the soldiers, “That after 
 all his sufferings they have added wounds :” they find him dead, and yet 
 they will scarce believe it, until with a spear they have searched for life at 
 the well-head itself, even at the heart of Christ; and “forthwith there 
 
 * Said, in vita S. Dion. 
 
 f Hier. in Matth. 17. Orig. tract. 35. in Matth. Dionys. Epist. 7. ad Policarpuia. 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 came out blood and water . ” This was the fountain of both sacraments, 
 the fountain of all our happiness, “ The fountain open to the house of 
 David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness,” Zech. 
 13 : 1. “ There are three that bear witness in earth, (saith John) the 
 
 Spirit, and the water, and the blood/ ” 1 John 5 : 8. Out of the side of 
 Christ, being now dead, there issues water and blood, signifying that he is 
 both our justification and sanctification. Physicians tell us, that about the 
 heart, there is a film or skin like unto a purse, wherein is contained clear 
 water to cool the heat of the heart, and therefore, very probable it is, that 
 that very skin (or pericardium) was pierced through with the heart, and 
 thence came out those streams of blood and water. — “ 0 gates of heaven ! 
 0 windows of paradise ! 0 palace of refuge ! 0 tower of strength ! 0 
 
 sanctuary of the just ! 0 flourishing bed of the spouse of Solomon ! me- 
 thinks I see water and blood running out of his side, more freshly than 
 these golden streams which ran out of the garden of Eden, and watered 
 the whole world. ” Here, if I could stay, I might lengthen my doctrine 
 
 during my life; Oh ! it were good to be here, it were a large field and a 
 blessed subject. 
 
 4. About five (which the Jews call the eleventh, and the last hour) 
 Christ was taken down, and buried by Joseph and Nicodemus. But 
 enough, I must not wear out your patience altogether. 
 
 Thus far we have propounded the blessed object of Christ’s suffering and 
 dying for us : our next work is to direct you (as formerly) in the art or 
 mystery, how you are to look unto him in this respect. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Sect. 1. Of knowing Jesus , as carrying on the great work of our Salva- 
 tion in his death. 
 
 1. Let us know Jesus, carrying on the great work of our salvation, dur- 
 ing his sufferings and death. This is the high point which Paul was ever 
 studying on, and preaching on, and pondering on; “For I determined not 
 to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified,” 1 Cor. 
 2 : 2. Christ crucified is the rarest piece of knowledge in the world; the 
 person of Christ is a matter of high spe-culation, but Christ farther consi- 
 dered, as clothed w^h his garments of blood, is that knowledge, which 
 especially Paul pursues; he esteems not, reckons not, determines not to 
 make any profession of any other science or doctrine, than the most neces- 
 sary and only saving knowledge of Christ crucified. 0 my soul, how many 
 days, and months, and years, hast thou spent to attain some little measure 
 in the arts, and tongues, and sciences ? And yet what a poor skill hast 
 thou attained, in respect of the many thousands of them that knew nothing 
 at all of Jesus Christ? And what if thou hadst reached out to a greater 
 proficiency ? Couldst thou have dived into the secrets of nature ; couldst 
 thou have excelled “ the wisdom of all the children of the east country, 
 and all the wisdom of Egypt, and all the wisdom of Solomon, who spake 
 of beasts, of fowls, of fishes, of all trees from the cedar tree that is in 
 Lebanon, even to the hyssop that springeth out of the wall,” 1 Kings 
 4 : 33. Yet, without the saving knowledge of Christ crucified, (Christ suf- 
 fering, bleeding and dying) all this had been nothing, see Eccl. 1 : 18, only 
 that knowledge is worth the having, which refers to Christ : above all, 
 that is the rarest piece of Christ’s humiliation, which holds him forth suf- 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 375 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 fering for us, and so freeing us from hell sufferings. Come then, and 
 speud thy time for the future more fruitfully, in reading, learning, and 
 knowing this one necessary thing. Study Christ crucified in every piece 
 and part; 0 the precious truths, and precious discoveries that a studying 
 head and heart could hammer out here ! much hath been said, but a thou- 
 sand thousand times more might yet be said; we have given but a little 
 scantling of that which Christ endured ; volumes might be written till they 
 were piled as high as heaven, and yet all would not serve to make out the 
 full discoveries of Jesus’ sufferings. Study therefore, and study more, 
 but be sure thy study and thy knowledge, be rather practical than specu- 
 lative ; do not merely beat thy brains to learn the history of Christ’s death, 
 but the efficacy, virtue and merit of it : know what thou knowest in refer- 
 ence to thyself, as if Jesus had been all the while carrying on the business 
 of thy soul’s salvation, as if thou hadst stood by, and Christ had spoken 
 to thee, as sometimes to the women, “Weep not for me, but for thyself,” 
 thy sins caused my sufferings, and my sufferings were for the abolition of 
 thy sins. 
 
 Sect. II. Of considering Jesus in that respect. 
 
 2. Let us consider Jesus, carrying on this great work of our salvation, 
 during his sufferings and death. “ They shall look upon me whom they 
 have pierced,” saith the prophet, Zech. 12 : 10, (i. e.) they shall consider 
 me, and accordingly says the apostle, “looking unto Jesus, or considering 
 of Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy of our salva- 
 tion set before him, endured the cross, and despised the shame,” Heb. 
 12 : 2. Then indeed, and in that act is the duty brought in : it is good in 
 all respects, and under all considerations, to look unto Jesus from first to 
 last; but above all, this text relates firstly to the time of his sufferings; 
 and hence it is that Luke calls Christ’s passion ( theorian ) theory or sight; 
 “And all the people that came together to that sight, — smote their breasts 
 and returned,” Luke 23 : 48. Not but that every passage of Christ is a 
 theory or sight worthy our looking on, or considering of: Christ in his 
 Father’s purpose, and Christ iu the promise, and Christ in performance, 
 Christ in his birth, and Christ in his life; 0 how sweet! what blessed 
 objects are these to look upon ! But above all, “ consider him (saith the 
 apostle) that endured such contradictions of sinners against himself,” 
 Heb. 12:3, — “Consider him, who for the joy that was set before him, 
 endured the cross, and despised the shame,” verse 2, of all other parts, 
 acts or passages of Christ, the Holy Ghost hath only honored Christ’s 
 passion, (his sufferings and his death) with his name of theory and sight. 
 Why surely this is the theory ever most commended to our view and 
 consideration ; 0 then let us look on this, consider of this. As in this 
 manner, — 
 
 1. Consider him passing over the brook Cedron ; it signifies the wrath 
 of God aud rage of men; the first step of his passion is sharp and sore; 
 he cannot enter the door, but first he must wade through cold waters on 
 bare feet, nor must he ouly wade through them but drink of them ; through 
 many tribulations must they go that will purchase souls, and through many 
 tribulations must they go, that will follow after him to the kingdom of 
 glory. — Cousider him entering into the garden of Gethsemane ; in a gar- 
 den Adam sinned, and iu this garden Christ must suffer, that the same 
 place which was the nest where sin was hatched, might now be the child- 
 bed of grace and mercy ; into this garden, no sooner was he entered, but 
 he began to be agonized, all his powers and passions within him were in 
 conflict. Consider, 0 my soul, how suddenly he is struck into a strange 
 fear ; never was man so afraid of the torments of hell, as Christ (standing 
 
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 [BOOK IT. 
 
 in our room) is of his Father’s wrath ; fear is still suitable to apprehension, 
 and never man could so perfectly apprehend the cause of fear as Jesus 
 Christ, nor was he only afraid but very heavy ; “ My sonl is exceeding sor- 
 rowful, even unto death.” His sorrow was lethal and deadly, it melted 
 his soul gradually, as wax is melted with heat: it continued with him till 
 his last gasp, his heart was like wax burning all the time of his passion, 
 and at last “it melted in the midst of his bowels,” Psalm 22 :19, Mark 
 14 : 33. Nor was he only afraid and heavy, but he began to be sore 
 amazed ; this signifies an universal cessation of all the faculties of the soul 
 from their several functions; we usually call it a consternation, it is like a 
 clock stopped for the while from going, by some hand or other laid upon 
 it : or if it was not wholly a cessation, yet was it at least an expavefaction, 
 such a motion of the mind, as whereby, for the present, he was disenabled 
 to mind anything else but the dreadful sense of the wrath of God. 0 what 
 an agony was this ! 0 what a struggling passion of mixed grief was this ? 
 
 What afflicting and conflicting affections under the sight and sense of im- 
 minent peril was in this agony? “And being in an agony, he prayed more 
 earnestly,” Luke 22 : 44. Thrice had he prayed, but now in this agony he 
 prayed more earnestly. “ 0 my Father, if it be possible let this cup pass 
 from me, nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Though I feel the 
 soul of pain in the pain of my soul, yet there is divinity in me, which tells 
 me there is a wage for sin, and I will pay it all. 0 my Father, since thou 
 has bent thy bow, lo, here an open breast, fix herein all thy shafts of fury, 
 better I suffer for a while, than that all believers should be damned for 
 ever; thy will is mine, lo, I will bear the burden of sin, come and shoot 
 here thy arrows of revenge. And thus as he prayed he swate, and his 
 sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground, Luke 
 22 : 44. Oh ! what man or angel can conceive the agony, the fear, the 
 sorrow, the amazement of that heart, that without all outward violence, 
 merely out of the extremity of his own passion, bled through the flesh and 
 skin, not some faint dew, but solid drops of blood? Now is he crucified 
 without a cross, fear and sorrow are the nails, our sins the thorns, his Fa- 
 ther’s wrath the spear, and all these together, cause a bleeding shower to 
 rain throughout all his pores ; 0 my soul, consider of this, and if thou 
 wilt bring this consideration home, say, “ Thy sins were the cause of this 
 bloody sweat,” Jesus Christ is that true Adam, that is come out of paradise 
 for thy sins, and thus labored on earth with his bloody sweat, to get the 
 bread that thou must feed on. 
 
 2. Consider his apprehension ; Judas is now at hand with a troop follow- 
 ing him to apprehend his master, see how without all shame, he set himself 
 in the van, and coming to his Lord and Master, gives him a most traitorous 
 and deceitful kiss, “What, Judas! betrayest thou the Son of man with a 
 kiss ?” Hast thou sold the Lord of life to such cruel merchants, as covet 
 greedily his blood and life ? 0 alas ! at what price hast thou set the Lord 
 
 of all the creatures ? At thirty pence. What a vile and slender price is 
 this for a Lord of such glory and majesty ? God was sold for thirty pieces 
 of silver, but man could not be bought without the dearest heart blood of 
 the Son of God. At that time, said Christ, “ Be ye come as it were against 
 a thief with swords and staves ? I sat daily among you teaching iu the 
 temple, and ye never laid hands on me, but this is your hour and the power 
 of darkness,” Luke 22 : 52,53. Now the prince of darkfcess exercised his 
 power, now the hellish rout, and malicious rabble of ravenous wolves assaulted 
 the most innocent Lamb in the world, now they most/furiously hauled him 
 this way and that way; 0 how ungently did they handle him? How un- 
 oourteously spake they unto him ? How many blows and buffets did they 
 give him? What cries, and shouts, and clamors made they over him? 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 377 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 Now they lay hold on his holy hands, and bind them hard with rough and 
 knotty cords, so that they gall the skin of his arms, and make the very 
 blood spring out ; now they bring him back again over Cedron, and they 
 make him once and again to “ drink of the brook in the way ;” now they 
 lead him openly through the high streets of Jerusalem, and carry him to the 
 house of Annas in great triumph. 0 my soul, consider these several pas- 
 sages, consider them leisurely and with good attention, consider them till 
 thou feelest some motions or alterations in thy affections : is not this he, 
 that is the infinite virtue, the pattern of innocency, the everlasting wisdom, 
 the honor of earth, the glory of heaven, the very fountain of all beauty, 
 whether of men or angels? how is it then, that this virtue or power is tied 
 with bands, that innocency is apprehended, that wisdom is flouted and 
 laughed to scorn, that honor is contemned, that glory is tormented, that he 
 who is fairer than all the children of men, is besmeared with weeping, and 
 troubled with sorrow of heart? Surely there is something, 0 my soul, in 
 thee, that caused all this : hadst not thou sinned, the Sun of righteousness 
 had never been eclipsed. 
 
 3. Consider the hurryings of Jesus from Annas to Caiaphas; there a 
 council is called, and Caiaphas, the high priest, adjures our Lord to tell 
 him, “if he was Christ the Son of God,” Matth. 26 : 63. No sooner he 
 affirms it, but he is deemed guilty of blasphemy, and so guilty of death; 
 verse 66. Now, again, they assault him like mad dogs, and disgorge upon 
 him all their malice, fury and revenge; each one to the utmost of his pofver, 
 gives him buffets and strokes ; there they spit upon that divine face with 
 their devilish mouths; there they hoodwink his eyes, and strike him on the 
 cheek, scoffing and jesting, and saying, “ Prophesy who is it that smote 
 thee.” 0 beauty of angels ! was that a face to be spit upon ? Men usually, 
 when they are provoked to spit, turn away their faces towards the foulest 
 corner of the house; and is there not in all that place a fouler place to spit 
 in than the face of Jesus? 0 my soul, why dost thou not humble thyself 
 at this so wonderful example ? How is it, that there should remain in the 
 world any token of pride, after this so great and marvellous an example of 
 humility ? Surely I am at my wit’s end, and very much astonished to con- 
 sider how this so great patience overcomes not my anger, how this so great 
 abasing assuageth not my pride, how these so violent buffets beat not down 
 my presumption. Is it not marvellous, that Jesus Christ by these means 
 should overthrow the kingdom of pride ; and yet, that there should remain 
 in me the relics of pride? Consider all those night-sufferings of Christ; 0 
 cruel night! unquiet night! now was the season that- all creatures should 
 take their rest, that the senses and members wearied with toils and labors 
 should be refreshed ; but on the contrary, Christ’s members and senses were 
 then tormented, they struck his body, they afflicted his soul, they bound 
 his hands, they buffeted his cheeks, they spit in his face; 0 my soul thou 
 sinnest in the dark, in covert, in secret, when no eye is upon thee, when 
 the sun, that eye of the world, is set or hid; and therefore all the night 
 long is Christ thus tormented by thy sins; not one jot of rest hath Christ; 
 not a wink of sleep must seize on him, whom thou by the alarm of thy sins 
 disquieted both at evening, at midnight, and at the cock crowing, and at the 
 dawning. 
 
 4. Consider the hurryings of Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate ; now he 
 stands before Pilate where he was accused of sedition, seduction and usurpa- 
 tion. Not only Jews, but Gentiles, have their hands imbrued in the blood 
 of Christ; Pilate was delegated from Caesar, both of them Gentiles; yet 
 not without a prophecy, “Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and all things 
 that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man, shall be accom- 
 plished, for he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles,” Luke 18:31, 32. At 
 
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 [BOOK IY. 
 
 the Gentile tribunal he is questioned of his kingdom, and he answers both 
 the Jews and Gentiles that they need not fear his usurpation, “ My kingdom 
 is not of this world,” John 18 : 36. He gives kingdoms that are eternal, 
 but he will take away none that are temporal ; Christ came not into the world 
 to be Caesar’s, or Pilate’s, or Herod’s successor, but if they had believed, to 
 have been their Saviour. Look through the chronicles of his life, and we 
 find him so far from a king, that he was the meanest servant of all men ; 
 where was he born ? But at Bethlehem, a little city. Where did the shep- 
 herds find him ? But in a poor cottage. Who were his disciples ? But a deal 
 of fishermen. Who his companions? But publicans and sinners. Is he hun- 
 gry ? Where stands his table ? But on plain ground. What are his dainties ? 
 But bread and a few fishes. Where is his lodging ? But at the stern of a 
 ship. Here is a king without either presence-chamber, or bed-chamber, 
 u The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of 
 man hath not wherein to lay his head.” Come, fear not Pilate the loss of 
 thy diadem : it may be the people would sometimes have made him a King, 
 but see how he flees from it, “ My kingdom is not of this world,” saith Je- 
 sus. Oh ! that I could but contemn the world as Christ did. Oh ! that 
 first, and above all, I could seek the kingdom of God, and his righteousness. 
 Oh, my soul ! I feel it, I feel it, unless I can be free from the affection of 
 all creatures, I cannot with freedom of mind aspire unto divine things : un- 
 less I be willing with Christ to tread on crowns and sceptres, to be despised 
 and forsaken of all, and to be esteemed nothing at all, I can have no inward 
 peace, nor be spiritually enlightened, nor be wholly united to the Lord Je- 
 sus Christ! 
 
 5. Consider the hurryings of Jesus from Pilate to Herod : there is he 
 u questioned of many things,” but justly is the Lamb of God dumb, and 
 opened not his mouth to him, that not long before had taken away his voice; 
 upon this “he is mocked and arrayed in a gorgeous robe,” Luke 23 : 11. 
 Wisdom is taken for folly, virtue for vice, truth for blasphemy, temperance 
 for gluttony, the peace-maker of all the world, for a seditious disturber of 
 the world, the reformer of the law for a breaker of the law, and the justifier 
 of sinners for a sinner, and the follower of sinners. See how he emptied 
 himself, and made himself of no reputation, that he might fill thee with 
 goodness, and make thee spiritually wise unto salvation. 
 
 6. Consider the hurryings of Jesus from Herod back again to Pilate ; 0 
 
 my Saviour how art thou now abused ? New accusations are forged ; and 
 when Pilate sees that nothing will do, but Christ must die, he delivers him 
 to be stripped, whipped, clothed in purple, crowned with thorns, and scep- 
 tred with a reed. He that with spittle cured the eyes of the blind, is now 
 blinded with their spittle ; who can number those stripes wherewith they 
 flay and tear his body, one wound eating into another, that “ there is no health 
 in his bones by reason of my sins ? 0 Jesus ! was that frothy spittle the 
 
 ointment, those thorns thy crown, that reed thy sceptre, that purple dyed 
 and embroidered with blood thy royal robes? Or, because Adam’s sin 
 brought forth thorns, must it therefore be thy penance to wear them ? Un- 
 thankful people, thus watered with his blood, that bringeth forth nothing* 
 but thorns to crown him. But oh ! that the Lord of heaven, the Creator 
 of the world, the glory of the angels, the wisdom of God, should for my 
 sake, be punished with whips and scourges! 0 my heart, how can I think 
 or. this without tears of blood ? 0 joy of the angels, and glory of saints, 
 who hath thus disfigured thee ? Who hath thus defiled thee with so many 
 bloody blows ? Certainly they were not thy sins but mine; it was love and 
 mercy that compassed thee about, and caused thee to take upon thee this so 
 heavy a burden ; love was the cause why thou didst, bestow upon me all thy 
 benefits ; and mercy moved thee to take upon thee all my miseries. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 379. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 7. Consider that sad spectacle of Jesus, when “ he came forth wearing 
 
 the crown of thorns, and the purple robe, and Pilate saying unto them, Be- 
 hold the man,” John 19:5. 0 my soul, fix thy eyes on this sad object; 
 
 suppose thyself in the case of Jesus ; what, if in so sensible and tender a 
 part as thy head is, men should fasten a number of thorns, yea, and those 
 so sharp, that they should pierce into thy skull : why, alas ! thou canst 
 hardly abide the prick of a pin, much less the piercing in of so many thorns. 
 0 ! but my Jesus was crowned with thorns, and sceptred with a reed, and 
 that reed was taken out of his hands to beat the crown of thorns into his 
 head; and, besides, thy Jesus was whipped with cords, and rods, and little 
 chains of iron, that from his shoulders to the soles of his feet, there was no 
 part free ; and being now in this plight, thou art called on to “ Behold the 
 man dost thou see him ? Is thy imagination strong ? Canst thou con- 
 sider him at present, as if thou hadst a view of this very man ? Methinks it 
 should make me break out, and say, 0 brightness of thy Father’s glory, 
 who hath thus cruelly dealt with thee ? 0 unspotted glass of the majesty 
 of God, who hath thus wholly disfigured thee ? 0 river that flows out of the 
 paradise of delights, who hath thus troubled thee ? It is my sins, 0 Lord, 
 that hath so troubled thee, my sins were the thorns that pricked thee, and 
 lashes that whipped thee, the purple that clothed thee : it is I, Lord, that 
 am thy tormentor, and the very cause of these thy pains. 
 
 8. Consider Pilate’s cruel sentence, That “Jesus should be crucified as 
 the Jews required.” Now they had him in their will, and they did to him 
 what seemed them good. Follow him from Gabbatha to Golgotha, see how 
 they lay the heavy cross upon his tender shoulders, that were so pitifully 
 rent and torn with whips, accompany him all the way to the execution, and 
 help to carry his cross to mount Calvary, and there, as if thou hadst been 
 frozen hitherto, thaw into tears ; see him lifted up on that engine of torture, 
 the bloody cross, he hangs on nails, and as he hangs, his weight becomes 
 his own affliction ; 0 see how his arms and legs were racked with violent 
 pulls, his hands and feet bored with nails, his whole body torn with stripes, 
 and gored with blood : And now, 0 my soul, run with all thy might into 
 his arms, held out at their full length to receive thee : Oh weigh the matter ! 
 Because sin entered by the senses, therefore his head, in which the senses 
 flourish, is crowned with searching thorns ; because the hands and feet are 
 more especially the instruments of sin, therefore his hands and feet are 
 nailed to the cross for satisfaction. 0 marvellous ! What king is he, or of 
 what country, that wears a crown of thorns? What man is he, or where 
 lives he, whose hands and feet are not only bored, but digged into, as if they 
 had been digging with spades in a ditch ? Surely here is matter for a serious 
 meditation ; be enlarged, 0 my thoughts, and dwell upon it ! Consider it, 
 and consider it again ! 
 
 9. Consider the darkness that spread over all the earth ; now was the sun 
 ashamed to show his brightness, considering that the Father of lights was 
 darkened with such disgrace, the heavens discolored their beauty, and are 
 in mourning robes, the lamp of heaven is immantled with a miraculous 
 eclipse, the sun in the firmament will sympathize with “ the Sun of righte- 
 ousness,” it will not appear in glory though it be mid-day, because the 
 Lord of glory is thus disgraced. And now hear the voice that comes from 
 the Son of God, “ My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?” Christ 
 in the garden tasted the bitter cup of God’s fierce wrath, but now he drunk 
 the dregs of it : he then sipped of the top, but now he drunk all off, top, 
 and bottom, and all. 0 ! but what is the meaning of this, “ My God, my 
 God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Surely, 1. This was not a total, but a 
 partial dereliction ; this was not a perpetual, but a temporary forsaking of 
 him ; the God-head was not taken away from the manhood, but the uuiou 
 
380 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 remained still, even now when the manhood was forsaken. 2. This was 
 not a forsaking on Christ’s part, but only the Father’s part ; the Father 
 forsook Christ, but Christ went after him ; God took away the sense of his 
 love, but the Son of God laid hold upon him, crying, and saying, “My 
 God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?” 3. This forsaking was not in 
 
 respect of his being, but in respect of the feeling of God’s favor, love and 
 mercy ; certainly God. loved him still, oh ! but his sense of comfort was 
 now quite gone ; so as it never was before : in his agony there was some 
 inklings of God’s mercy now and then, at least there was some starlight, 
 some little flash of lightning to cheer him up, but now all the sense and 
 feeling of God’s love was gone, and not so much as any little star-light of 
 the same appeared. Christ now took the place of sinners, and God the 
 Father shut him out (as it were) amongst the sinners; he drew his mercy 
 out of sight, and out of hearing, and therefore he cried out in a kind of 
 wonderment, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” After 
 this he speaks but a few words more, and he gives up the ghost. He dies 
 that we might live, be is dissolved in himself, that we might be united to 
 his Father ; 0 my soul, see him now, if thou canst for weeping, his eyes are 
 dim, his cheeks are wan, his face is pale, his head is bowing, his heart is 
 panting, himself is dying; come, come, and die with him, by a most exact 
 mortification ; look pale like him with grief, and sorrow, and trouble for 
 thy sins. 
 
 10. Consider the piercing of his side with a spear, whence came out a 
 stream of blood and water; 0 fountain of everlasting waters ! Methinks I 
 see the blood running out of his side, more freshly than those golden 
 streams which ran out of the garden of Eden, and watered the whole world. 
 Consider the taking of his body down by Joseph ; the burying of it by 
 Joseph and Nicodemus; 0 here is excellent matter for our meditation ! 0 
 
 my spirit, go with me a little ! Christ being dead, it is a pity but he 
 should have a funeral according to the letter, let Joseph and Nicodemus 
 bear his corpse ; let the Blessed Virgin go after it sighing, and weeping, and 
 at every other pace looking up to heaven, let Mary Magdalene follow after 
 him with a box of precious ointment in her hand, and with her hair hang- 
 ing ready (if need were) to wipe his feet again ; or, that in this meditation, 
 I may be more spiritual, let the usurer come first with Judas’s bag, and 
 distribute to the poor as he goes along ; let the drunkard follow after, with 
 the sponge that was filled with gall and vinegar, and check his wanton 
 thirst : let the young gallant, or voluptuous man, come like his Master with 
 bare foot, and with the crown of thorns set also upon his head ; let the 
 wanton person bear the rods, and whips, and wires wherewith Christ was 
 scourged, and fright his own flesh ; let the ambitious man be clad in the 
 purple robe, the angry person in the seamless coat; my meaning is, let 
 every sinner, according to the nature of his sin, draw something or other 
 from the passion of Christ, to the mortifying of his sin : yea, let all turn 
 mourners, let all bow their heads, and be ready to give up the ghost for the 
 name of Christ. And let not Christ be buried without a sermon neither, 
 and let the text be this, “ The good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep,” 
 John 10 : 11, and in the end of the sermon, (whether it be in use or no) 
 let the preacher take occasion to speak a word or two in the praise of 
 Christ; let him say with the spouse, “That he was the chiefest among ten 
 thousand, that he was altogether lovely,” Sol. Songs 5 : 10, 16. That being 
 God above all gods, he became man beneath all men ; that when he spake, 
 he began ordinarily, “ Verily, verily, I say unto you,” that he was an holy 
 man, that he never sinned in his life, neither in thought, word or deed ; 
 that being endowed with the power of miracles, he lovingly employed it in 
 curing the lame, and blind, and deaf, and dumb, in casting out devils, in 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 381 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 healing the sick, in restoring the dead to life; that as he lived, so he died, 
 for b(Ting unjustly condemned, mocked, stripped, whipped, crucified, he 
 took all patiently, praying for his persecutors; and leaving to them, when 
 he had no temporal thing to give them, a legacy of love, of life, of mercy, 
 of pardon, of salvation. When the sermon is done, and the burial is 
 finished, let every mourner go home, and begin a new life in imitation of 
 Jesus Christ. 0 my soul that thou wouldest thus meditate, and thus imi- 
 tate, that so thy meditation might be fruitful, and thy imitation real : that 
 thy life and death might be conformable to the life and death of Jesus 
 Christ. But of that hereafter. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of desiring Jesus in that respect. 
 
 3. Let us desire after Jesus, carrying on the work of our salvation in 
 his death. Jesus Christ, to a fallen sinner, is the chief object of desire, but 
 Jesus Christ, as crucified, is the chief piece of that object. Humbled souls 
 look after the remedy, and they find it chiefly in Christ crucified ; and hence 
 are so many cries, “after bathings in Christ’s blood, and hiding in Christ’s 
 righteousness, active and passive.” Indeed, nothing doth so cool and re- 
 fresh a parched, dry, and thirsty soul, as the blood of Jesus, which made 
 the poor woman cry out so earnestly, “ I have an husband and children, 
 and many other' comforts, but I would give them all, and all the good things 
 that ever I shall see in this world, or in the world to come, to have my 
 poor thirsty soul refreshed with that precious blood of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ.” 
 
 But what is there in Christ’s blood, or death, that is so desirable. I 
 answer : 
 
 1. There is in it the person of Christ, he that is God-man, man-God. 
 “ The brightness of his Father’s glory, and the express image of his per- 
 son,” Heb. 1:3. It is he that died; every drop of his blood was not only 
 the blood of an innocent man, but of one that was God as well as man, 
 “ God with his own blood purchased the church,” Acts 20 : 28. Now 
 surely every thing of God is most desirable. 
 
 2. There is in it a worth of price ; Christ considered, under the notion 
 of a sacrifice, is of infinite worth ; now this sacrifice (saith the apostle) he 
 offered up, Heb. 9 : 28. He offered up, not in heaven, as the Socinians 
 would have it, in presenting himself before God his Father, but upon earth, 
 viz. in his passion upon the cross. No wealth in heaven or earth besides 
 this, could redeem one soul ; and therefore the apostle sets this against all 
 corruptible things, as silver and gold, the things so much set by amongst 
 the men of this world : “ Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as 
 silver and gold, 1 Pet. 1 : 18. But with the precious blood of Christ, as 
 of a Lamb without blemish, and without spot.” 
 
 3 There is in it a merit and satisfaction ; the Scripture indeed doth not 
 expressly use these words, but it hath the sense and meaning of them as in 
 that text, “ He hath made us accepted in the beloved, in whom we have 
 redemption through his blood,” Eph. 1:7. I know there is a different 
 notion in these words, for merit doth properly respect the good that is to be 
 procured, but satisfaction the evil that is repelled ; but in Christ we stand 
 not on these distinctions, because in his merit was satisfaction, and in his 
 satisfaction was merit. A great controversy is of late risen up, “ Whether 
 Christ’s death be a satisfaction to divine justice?” But the very words 
 “ redeeming and buying,” do plaiuly demonstrate, that a satisfaction was 
 given to God by the death of Jesus, “ He gave himself for us that he might 
 redeem us,” Tit. 2 : 14. Ye are bought with a price, 1 Cor. 6 : 20. And 
 what price was that ? Why, his own blood. “ Thou wast slain, and hast 
 redeemed us to God by thy blood,” Iiev. 5 : 9, (i. e .) by thy death and 
 
382 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [book iy. 
 
 passion. This was the ( lutrori ), that ransom which Christ gave for his elect. 
 “The Son of man came to give himself a ransom for many,” Matth. 20 : 
 28, or as the apostle, “ He gave himself a ransom for all,” 1 Tim. 2 : 6, 
 the word is here ( antilutron ), which signifies an ade-quate price, or a coun- 
 ter-price ; as when one doeth, or undergoeth something in the room of 
 another; as when one yields himself a captive for the redeeming of another 
 out of captivity, or gives up his own life for the saving of another man’s 
 life; so Christ gave himself (antilutron') & ransom, or counter-price, sub- 
 mitting himself to the like punishment that his redeemed ones should have 
 undergone. 
 
 The Socinians tell us, that Christ’s sufferings and death were not for 
 satisfaction to God, but in reference to us, that we might believe the truth 
 of his doctrine confirmed and sealed (as they say) by his death, and that 
 we might yield obedience to God, according to the pattern that he hath set 
 before us; and that so believing and obeying we might obtain remission of 
 sins, and eternal life. 
 
 But the Scripture goes higher; in that mutual compact and agreement 
 betwixt God and Christ, we find God the Father imposing, and Christ sub- 
 mitting to this satisfaction. 1. The Father imposeth, by charging the sins 
 of his elect upon Jesus Christ, “ The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of 
 us all, ’ A Isa. 53: 6. Not the sins themselves, not the evil in them, or 
 fault of them, but the guilt and penalty belonging to them; this God laid 
 upon his Son, and charged it upon him ; he charged it as a creditor chargeth 
 the debt upon the surety, requiring satisfaction. 2. Christ undertook it, 
 “ He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,” verse 7, or as some translate, 
 u It was exacted, and he answered,” (i. e.) God the Father required satis- 
 faction for sin, and Jesus Christ as our surety, answered in our behalf; “ He 
 bare the sins of many,” verse 12. He bare them as a porter that bears the 
 burden for another which himself is not able to stand under; he bare them 
 by undergoing the punishment which was due for them ; he bare them as 
 our surety, submitting himself unto the penalty which we had deserved ; 
 and by that means he made satisfaction to the justice of God. Surely 
 Christ’s death was not only for confirmation of his doctrine, but for satis- 
 faction to God. 
 
 4. There is in it not only a true, but a copious and full satisfaction ; 
 Christ’s death and blood is superabundant to our sins : “ The grace of our 
 Lord was exceeding abundant,” 1 Tim. 1 : 14, ( uperepleonase ) it was over 
 full, redundant, more than enough. Many an humble soul is apt enough 
 to complain, “ Oh ! if I had not been so great a sinner, if I had not com- 
 mitted such and such transgressions there might have been hope.” This 
 is to undervalue Christ’s redemption ; this is to think there is more in sin 
 to damn, than in Christ’s sufferings to save, whereas all thy sins to Christ 
 are but as a little cloud to the glorious sun, yea, all the sins of all the men 
 in the world, are but to Christ’s merits as a drop to the ocean. I speak 
 not this to encourage the presumptuous sinner, for alas, he hath no part in 
 this satisfaction, but to comfort the humbled sinner, who is loadened with 
 a sense of his sins : what though they were a burden greater than he can 
 bear, yet they are not a burden greater than Christ can bear? There is in 
 Christ’s blood an infinite treasure, able to sanctify thee and all the world ; 
 there is in Christ’s death a ransom, a counter-price sufficient to redeem all 
 the sinners that ever were or ever shall be : the price is of that nature, 
 that it is not diminished, though it be extended to never so many; as the 
 sun hath fulness of light to enlighten all the world, and if the blind do not 
 see by it, it is not any scarcity of light in the sun, but by reason of his 
 own indisposition : so, if all men are not acquitted by Christ’s death, it is 
 not because that was insufficient, as if it had not virtue enough to reach 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 383 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 them, as well as others, hut because they, by their unbelief, do reject this 
 remedy. Oh what large room hath faith to expatiate in ! sit down, and 
 dive, and dive, yet thou canst not come to the bottom of Christ’s blood ; 
 but as the prophet Ezekiel saw still more and greater abominations, so 
 mayest. thou, in the sufferings of Christ, observe more and more fulness. 
 See what a notable apposition the apostle makes, Rom. 5 : 15, 16, 17, 18, 
 19, 20, 21, between the first and second Adam, proving at large, that 
 Christ doth superabound in the fruits of his grace, above the first Adam 
 in the fruits of his sins : he calls it grace, “ and the abundance of grace,” 
 verse 17, and this abundance of grace reigneth to life, so that these texts 
 should be like so much oil poured into the wounds of every broken-hearted 
 sinner. Oh ! is there anything that can be desired more than this ? 
 
 5. There is in it remission of sins ; so saith Christ, “ This is my blood 
 of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins,” 
 Matth. 26 : 28. Remission of sins is attributed to Christ’s death as a cause, 
 it is not thy tears, or prayers, or rending of heart that could pay the least 
 farthing, “ Without shedding of blood (saith the apostle) there is no re- 
 mission,” Ileb. 9 : 22. God will have tears and blood also, though not for 
 the same purpose ; for all thy tears thou must flee to Christ only as the 
 cause : it is true thou must mourn, and pray, and humble thyself, but it is 
 Christ’s blood only that can wash us clean : Oh remember this ! God will 
 not pardon, without satisfaction by the blood of Christ. And surely this 
 makes Christ’s death so desirable ; “ Oh ! my sins afflict me, (cries many a 
 one,) 0 ! I am loathsome in mine own eyes, much more in God’s ; surely 
 God is offended with my dulness, slothfulness, and my thousand imperfec- 
 tions ; I am all the day long entangled with this sin, and that sin, and the 
 other sin but let this contrite spirit look on Christ’s death, and therein 
 he may find all sin is pardoned, see here what an argument is put into thy 
 mouth from these sufferings of Christ; well mayest thou say, “ 0 Lord, I 
 am unworthy, but it is just and right that Christ obtain what he died for! 
 0 pardon my sins for his death’s sake, and for his precious blood’s sake.” 
 
 6. There is in it reconciliation and peace with God; “In Christ Jesus 
 ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ, 
 for he is our peace, which hath made both one, and hath broken down the 
 middle wall of partition between us,” Eph. 2 : 13, 14. When we were 
 enemies, we were reconciled unto God by the death of his Son, Rom. 5 : 
 10. “ That he might reconcile both (viz. Jews and Gentiles) unto God 
 in one body by the cross,” Eph. 2 : 16. And having made peace through 
 the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things to himself, Col. 1 : 20. 
 This certainly should admirably support the drooping soul; it may be 
 thou criest, “ My sins have made a breach betwixt God and my soul ; I 
 have warred against heaven, and now God wars against me ; and, oh what 
 odds ! If the Lord be angry, yea, but a little, what will become of my 
 poor soul ; is a little stubble able to contend with the consuming fire ? 
 How then should I contend with God?” But come now, and look on 
 Christ’s death as the means and meritorious cause of reconciliation, and 
 thou canst not but say, 0 this death is desirable ! When God the Father 
 looks at a sinner in the bloody glass of Christ, then saith God, “ Oh ! now 
 fury and wrath is not in me; I have no more quarrel or controversy with 
 this soul, seeing Christ hath suffered, it is enough, I have as much as my 
 justice can demand, my frowns are now turned into smiles, and my rod of 
 iron into a sceptre of grace.” Why, this is it that makes Christ’s death 
 and blood so desirable to the soul; what, shall Jacob so rejoice in seeing 
 Esau’s face altered to him? shall he say to Esau, “I have seen thy face, 
 as the face of God !” How much rather may the humble and believing 
 
384 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IV. 
 
 sinner be filled with gladness, when through Christ’s blood, God should be 
 thus appeased and reconciled with him. 
 
 7. There is in it immunity, and safety from all the judgments and dan- 
 gers threatened against our sins. Surely, if there were such force in the 
 blood of the type, that by the effusion of it the Israelites lay safe and un- 
 touched of the revenging angel, how much more in the blood of Christ ; 
 Satan himself is said to be “ overcome by the blood of the Lamb,” Rev. 
 12 : 11. And God’s revenge due to our sins is said to be removed by the 
 blood of Jesus, therefore it is called, “ The blood of sprinkling, that speaks 
 better things than the blood of Abel,” Heb. 12 : 24, the blood of sprink- 
 ling was for safety, and Christ’s blood is for safety, it cries not for revenge 
 as Abel’s blood cried, but for mercy, and for deliverance from all misery. 
 
 8. There is in it a blessed virtue to open heaven, to make a passage 
 thither for our souls, “ Having boldness or liberty to enter into the holiest 
 by the blood of Jesus,” Heb. 10 : 19. It is the blood of Christ that rends 
 the vail, and makes a way into the holy of holies, that is, into the kingdom 
 of heaven ; without this blood there is no access to God ; it is only by the 
 blood of Christ that heaven is open to our prayers, and that heaven is open 
 to our persons. This blood is the key that unlocks heaven, and lets in the 
 souls of his redeemed ones; “And I looked (saith John) and behold a 
 door was opened in heaven, and the first voice I heard was, as it were of 
 a trumpet talking with me, which said, Come up hither,” Rev. 4 : 1. And 
 no sooner was he in the Spirit, and entered in, but he heard the new song 
 of the four beasts, and four and twenty elders, saying to Christ, “ Thon 
 art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast 
 slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood,” Rev. 5 :9. 
 
 Come now, and gather in all these several particulars ; there is in Christ’s 
 blood inclusively, the person of Christ, the price of souls, a merit and satis- 
 faction, a copious and full satisfaction, remission of sins, reconciliation with 
 God, immunity from dangers, a passage into glory: I mightf add all other 
 privileges, benefits, dignities of the soul, for they all flow from the blood 
 of Jesus, and they are all contained either expressly, or virtually in the 
 blood of Jesus : and is not all this worth the looking after ? 0 my soul, 
 
 where is thy languor and fainting towards this blessed object? Shall Ahab 
 eagerly desire after Naboth’s vineyard; yea, so eagerly desire it, that his 
 desire shall cast him upon his bed ? And is not Christ’s blood better than 
 Naboth’s vineyard ? How is it, 0 my soul, that thou art not sick on thy 
 bed in thy desires after Jesus. When David desired strongly after God’s 
 law, he expressed his longings by the breaking and fainting of his soul, 
 “ My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath to thy judgments at all 
 times; — And my soul fainteth for thy salvation,” Psal. 119 : 20, 31. Oh 
 where be these breakiugs and faintings? Strength of desire is expressed 
 by the apostle, by groaning, 2 Cor. 5 : 2, which is the language of sick- 
 ness; oh! where be these groanings after Christ’s death? When I call to 
 mind that Christ’s death is my ransom, that Christ’s wounds are my salves, 
 that Christ’s stripes are my cures, that Christ’s blood is my fountain to 
 wash in, and to be clean ; how should I but pray in this sense, “ His blood 
 be upon us, and on our children ?” Oh, I am undone except I have a share 
 in this blood ! why, it is only this blood that can heal my soul, it is only 
 this fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jeru- 
 salem, that can quench my thirst; and now I have seen the fountain 
 opened, how should I but thirst and cry out with the woman of Samaria, 
 “ 0 give me this water, that I thirst no more ?” John 4 : 15. But alas, I 
 say it, I only say it, Oh, that I could feel it! Oh, my Jesus! that thou 
 wouldst breed in me ardent desires, vehement longings; unutterable groans, 
 mighty gaspings : 0 that I were like the dry and thirsty ground that gapes 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 385 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 and cleaves, and opens for drops of rain ! when my spirit is in right frame, 
 I feel some desires after Christ’s blood, but how short are these desires ? 
 How unworthy of the things desired ? Come, Lord, kindle in me hot, 
 burning desires, and then give me the desirable object. 
 
 Sect. IV. — Of hoping in Jesus in that respect. 
 
 4. Let us hope in Jesus, carrying on the great work of our salvation 
 in his sufferings and death. By this hope, I intend only that which the 
 apostle calls “full assurance of hope,” Ileb. 6 : 11. The main question is, 
 Whether have I any part in Christ’s sufferings ? They are of excellent 
 use, and of great value to believers; but what am I the better for them, if 
 I have no part in them ? Or if I say, I hope well. Oh ! but what grounds 
 of that hope ? It is not every hope that is a well-grounded hope, full 
 assurance of hope, an high pitch of hope; and every Christian should 
 strive and endeavor after it : now that we may do it, and that we may dis- 
 cern it, that our hope is not base, but right born, that the grounds of our 
 hope in Christ’s death are not false, but of the right stamp, I shall lay 
 down these signs. 
 
 1. If Christ’s death be mine; then is Christ’s life mine. And contra- 
 riwise, if Christ’s death be mine, then is Christ’s life mine. Christ’s ac- 
 tive and passive obedience cannot be severed ; Christ is not divided : we 
 must not seek one part of our righteousness in his birth, another in his 
 habitual holiness, another in the integrity of his life, another in his obe- 
 dience unto death. They that endeavor to separate Christ’s active and 
 passive obedience, they do exceedingly derogate from Christ, and make 
 him but half a Saviour : was not Christ our surety? Heb. 7 : 22, and there- 
 upon was he not bound to fulfil all righteousness for us? (i. e.) As to suffer 
 in our stead, so to obey in our stead. Oh ! take heed of opposing or sepa- 
 rating Christ’s death and Christ’s life ; either we have all Christ, or we have 
 no part in Christ; now, if these two be concomitants, well may the one be 
 as the sign of the other : search then, and try, 0 my soul, hast thou any 
 share in Christ’s life ? Canst thou make out Christ’s active obedience unto 
 thy own soul? If herein thou art at a stand, peruse those characters laid 
 down in the life of Christ; the many glorious effects flowing out of Christ’s 
 life unto a believer’s soul we have discovered before. 
 
 2. If Christ’s death be mine, then is that great end of his death accom- 
 plished in me, viz. “By the sacrifice of himself, he hath put away sin,” 
 even my sin, Heb. 9 : 26. — And, “in him I have redemption through his 
 blood, even the forgiveness of sins,” Eph. 1 : 7. As on this account he 
 suffered, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, and to make 
 reconciliation for iniquity, Ban. 9 : 24, so, if his death be mine, I may as- 
 suredly say, “ My sins are pardoned, and my iniquities are done away.” 
 Come then and try by this sign, canst thou assure thyself that thy sins are 
 forgiven thee? Hast thou heard the whispers of God’s Spirit, “Son, or 
 daughter, be of good comfort, thy sins are remitted?” There is no ques- 
 tion then but thou art redeemed by his blood, thou hast part in his suffer- 
 ings. Indeed this very character may seem obscure, assurance of pardon 
 is the “ hidden manna, the white stone, which no man knoweth, saving he 
 that receives it, and feels it;” and yet, if thou diligently observest the 
 Spirit’s actings even this may be known ; remission of sin, and repentance 
 for sin, are twins of a birth ; these two God in Scripture hath joined to- 
 gether, “ If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive our sins.” 
 1 John 1 : 9. — And “repent and pray, if the thought of thy heart may be 
 forgiven thee,” Acts 8 : 22. And “ Christ is a Prince and a Saviour to give 
 repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins,” Acts 5 : 31. — And “ thus it 
 is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer,” Luke 24 : 46, 47. That 
 
386 ' LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IV. 
 
 u repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name.” In 
 this way David assured himself, PsaL 32 : 5. “ I said, I will confess my 
 transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my siu, 
 Selah.” It is no more than but to ask thine own soul, What are thy re- 
 pentings kindled together? Hast thou seriously and sincerely repented thee 
 of sin as sin ? Hast thou turned from all sin unto God with constancy and 
 delight? Surely this is peculiar and proper to the child of God by virtue of 
 Christ’s death. 
 
 3. If Christ’s death be mine, then am I ingrafted into the likeness of 
 Christ’s death, then am I made conformable to Christ in his death ; “ That 
 I may know him, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made con- 
 formable unto his death,” Phil. 3 : 10. The same that was done to Christ 
 in a natural way, is done and performed in the believer in a spiritual way, 
 (i. e.) as Christ died, so the believer dies ; as Christ died for sin, so the 
 believer dies to sin ; “ In that he died, he died unto sin, — likewise reckoa 
 ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin,” Rom. 6 : 10, 11. Observe 
 here the analogy, and proportion, and resemblance betwixt Christ and us; 
 both die unto sin, Christ by way of expiation, suffering and satisfying for 
 the sins of others, we, by way of mortification, killing, and slaying, and 
 crucifying our own sins. I look upon this sign as the very touchstone of 
 a Christian, and therefore I shall insist upon it. 
 
 Two questions I suppose needful to resolve the grounds of our hope, con- 
 cerning our interest in the death of Christ. 
 
 ]. Whether indeed, and in truth, our sins are mortified? 
 
 2. Whether we increase, or grow in our mortification ? 
 
 For the first, whether indeed, and in truth our sins are mortified? It is 
 a skill worth our learning, because of the many deceits that are within us; 
 sin may seem to be mortified when the occasion is removed : or sin may 
 seem to be mortified when it is not violent but quiet : or sin may seem to 
 be mortified when it is but removed from one siu unto another; or sin may 
 seem to be mortified when the sap and strength of sin is dead, as the lamp 
 goes out when either the oil is not supplied or taken away. Now, that in 
 this scrutiny we may search to the bottom, and know the truth and cer- 
 tainty of our mortification, it will appear by these rules. 
 
 1. True mortification springs from a root of faith. Every thing in the 
 world proceeds from some cause or other ; and if the cause be good the 
 effect must needs be good, but if the cause be evil, the effect must' needs 
 be evil ; “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, and an evil tree cannot 
 bring forth good fruit,” Matth. 7:18. In this case, therefore let us examine 
 the cause, if we can make out this truth that we believe in Christ, that we 
 roll ourselves on the Lord Jesus Christ for life and for salvation ; and that 
 now we begin to feel in us the decay of sin, we may conclude from the cause 
 or rise, that this decay of sin is true mortification ; surely it hath received 
 the deadly wound : it is a blessed effect, arising from a good, and right, and 
 genuine cause. 
 
 2. True mortification is general ; not only one sin, but all sins are mor- 
 tified in a true believer. As death is unto the members of the body, so is 
 mortification unto the members of sin ; now death seizetli upon every mem- 
 ber, it leaves not life in any one member of the body, so neither doth mor- 
 tification leave life in any one member of sin ; my meaning is, it takes away 
 the commanding power of sin in every member : “ mortify your members 
 which are upon the earth,” (saith the apostle) your members, not one mem- 
 ber; and then he instanceth, “fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affec- 
 tions, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry,” Col. 3 : 5. 
 Christians that have their interest in Christ’s death, must not only leave 
 pride, but lust; not only uneleanness, but covetousness: sin must not only 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 387 
 
 chap, m.] 
 
 be slain in the understanding, but in the will and affections : mortification 
 is general. 
 
 You will say this is an hard saying. Doth any man, any believer, leave 
 all sin ? yes, in respect of ruling power, he leaves all sin, all gross sins, and 
 all other sins ; only with this difference, all gross sins in practice and ac- 
 tions, and all frailties and infirmities in allowance and affection. It is good 
 to observe the degrees of mortification. The first is, to forbear the prac- 
 tice of gross and scandalous sins, in word and deed, “If any man offend 
 not iu word, the same is a perfect man,” James 3 : 2. And this perfection, 
 by the help of grace, a godly man may reach to in this life. The second 
 is, to deny consent and will to all frailties and infirmities, “the evil which 
 I would not, that do I,” Rom. 7 : 19. I may do evil, and yet I would not 
 do evil, there is a denial of it in the will. The third is, to be free from 
 any settled liking of any evil motion, not only to deny consent and will, 
 but also to deny the very thought or imagination, settledly and deliberately 
 to delight in sin ; I know, to be void of all evil motions arising from the 
 flesh, or of all sudden passions within, or of all sudden delights in sin, or 
 of all deadness aud backwardness to good things by reason of sin, it is an 
 higher pitch than any man can touch in this present world; for whilst we 
 live, the law of members will be working, and we shall find cause enough 
 to complain of a body of death ; only, if when these motions first arise, we 
 presently endeavor to quench them, to reject them, to detest them, and to 
 cast them away from us, therein is true mortification ; and thus far we must 
 look to it, to leave all sin. 
 
 3. True mortification is not without its present combats, though at last it 
 conquer, many a time corruption may break out, and lust may be strong 
 and violent; but this violent lust is only for the present, whereas a lust un- 
 mortified ever reigneth. It is with sin in a believer, as it is with a man 
 that hath received his deadly wound from his enemy ; he will not presently 
 fly away, but rather he will run more violently upon him that hath wounded 
 him ; yet, be he never so violent, in the middle of his action he sinks down, 
 because he hath received his deadly wound ! so it is with a believer's sin, 
 aud with a mortified lust, it may rage in the heart, and seem to bear sway 
 for a time, but the power and strength of sin is mortified, it sinks down, and 
 wants ability to prevail : by this sign we may know whether the corruptions 
 and stirrings of our hearts, proceed from a mortified or from an un mortified 
 lust; a lust though mortified, may rage for a time, but it cannot rule; it 
 may strive, but it cannot totally prevail ; it may be in the heart, as a thief 
 in the house, not to reside or dwell, but to lodge for a night and be gone : 
 and (that which is ever to be observed) after its swing and breaking out, the 
 heart that lodged it, abhors itself in dust and ashes, cries mightily unto God 
 for mercy and pardon, repairs the breach with stronger resolution, and more 
 invincible watchfulness against future assaults : but a lust unmortified pos- 
 sessed itself, and rules and reigns in the heart and soul ; it abides there, 
 and will not go away ; I shall not deny but there may be a cessation of its 
 actings for a time ; but that is not any want or good-will, as they say, but 
 ouly of matters, means, opportunity, enticement, company, provocation, or 
 the like; and after such cessation, or forbearance, the heart usually enter- 
 tains it again with more greediness; it lies and delights in it as much as 
 ever ; it hardens itself most obstinately in it, as if it were impossible to leave 
 it, or to live without it, with any kind of comfort. 
 
 4. True mortification is a painful work. The very word imports no less ; 
 to kill a man or to mortify a member, will not be without pain ; hence it is 
 called a crucifying of the flesh, and a cutting off the right hand, a plucking 
 out the right eye, “ They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh," Gal. 5 : 
 24. “ If tny hand offend thee, cut it off, and if thy eye offend thee, pluck it 
 
388 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 out,” Matth. 5 : 29, 30. In this respect, this death unto sin carries with it 
 a likeness to the death of Christ; it is attended with agonies and soul con- 
 flicts, both before and after our conversion. 
 
 1. Before conversion, before the first wound be given it; why then, ordi- 
 narily there is some compunction of spirit, some pricking of heart, what a 
 ease do we find the Jews in, when after Peter’s sermon, they were pricked 
 at their hearts? Acts 2 : 37. And what an agony do we find the jailor in, 
 when he came trembling in, and falling down at the apostles’ feet, and cry- 
 ing out, u Sirs, what shall I do to be saved ?” Acts 16 : 36. With such ago- 
 nies as these, is the beginning of mortification usually attended ; I do not 
 say they are alike in all, whether for degree or continuance ; but an ordi- 
 nary, true and sound conversion is not without some of these soul-conflicts. 
 
 2. After conversion, after the first round there are some agonies still ; 
 for though a believer be delivered of sin, in respect of the guilt and reigning 
 power, yet he hath still some remainder of sinful corruption, left within him, 
 which draws many a groan, and many a sigh from his trembling heart, “ We 
 also which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within 
 ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our bodies,” 
 Bom. 8 : 23. Such are the groans of mortified saints, saints dying unto 
 sin, like the groans of dying men, whose souls being weary of their bodies, 
 do earnestly desire a dissolution ; and thus Paul groaned, when he said, “ 0 
 wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?” 
 Bom. 7 : 24. 
 
 Oh ! what a touchstone is this ? How will this discover true mortification 
 from that which is counterfeit? Some may think they are dead unto sin, 
 when indeed and in truth, they are not dead but asleep unto sin ; and it ap- 
 pears by this, because there were no pangs in their death ; you know there 
 is a difference between death and sleep, there are pangs in the one, but not 
 in the other. 0 my soul examine, what pangs were there in thy death 
 unto sin ? What agonies, what soul conflicts hast thou felt ? What com- 
 punction of heart, what affliction of spirit hast thou endured for sin ? 
 AVhat trouble hast thou had to find, “such a law in thy members rebelling 
 against the law in thy mind, and bringing thee into captivity unto the law 
 of sin,” Bom. 7 : 23. Why surely thou art not so mortified as to be free 
 wholly from the power of sin ; it may be it doth not rule in thee as a prince, 
 yet certainly it tyrannizeth over thee ; it oft-times carries thee contrary to 
 the bent of thy regenerate mind, to the omitting of what thou wouldest do, 
 and to the committing of what thou wouldest not do ; and is not this an 
 affliction of spirit ? Doth not this cause frequent conflicts in thy spirit? if 
 not, thou mayest well suspect that sin is not dead but asleep ; or if it be 
 dead to thee, yet thou art not dead to it. I confess, death pangs are not all 
 alike in all, some have a more gentle, and others a more painful death ; so 
 it is in this spiritual death unto sin : and that herein there rnay be no mis- 
 take, I shall propound this question, What is the least measure of these 
 pangs, these soul agonies and conflicts that are necessarily required to true 
 mortification ? I answer, 
 
 1. There must be a sense of sin, and of God’s wrath due unto sin ; such 
 a sense we find in Jesus Christ, he was very sensible of the weight and 
 burden of those sins, and of that wrath of God that lay upon him, which 
 made him cry out, “ My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Thus 
 souls in the act of mortification, sometimes cry it out, 0 my sins, and 0 
 God’s wrath. 
 
 2. There must be a sorrow for sin. Such an affection we find also in 
 Jesus, “ My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death ;” (peril linos'), 
 he was beset and surrounded with sorrows; so every mortified sinner at 
 some time or other, feels an inward sorrow and grief, even that godly sor- 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 389 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 row which the apostle speaks of, “a sorrow according to God,” (?*. e.) 
 comius: from God, well pleasing to God, and bringing to God back again. 
 
 3. There must be a desire of being freed and delivered from sin ; such a 
 desire we find also in Jesus Christ, “ I have a baptism to be baptized with, 
 and how am I straitened until it be accomplished ?” Luke 12 : 50. A rege- 
 nerate soul earnestly desires to be freed, not only from the guilt, but also 
 from the power of sin, “ 0 wretched man that I am, who shall deliver 
 me ?” &c. 
 
 4. There must be answerable endeavours in effectual striving against sin, 
 “Ye have not resisted unto blood, striving against sin,” Heb. 12 : 4. How 
 did our Saviour wrestle in the garden, “offering up prayers and supplica- 
 tions with strong crying and tears?” Heb. 5:7. So will a regenerate soul 
 wrestle with God, about the death of sin, praying, watching, going out in 
 the strength of God, and engaging in a continual war, a deadly feud against 
 it; and these are the least of those soul conflicts, wherewith this mortifica- 
 tion or death unto sin is attended. 
 
 Now try we the truth of our mortification by these signs ; doth it spring 
 from a right root of faith ? Is it general and universal in respect of all 
 sins? Is it accompanied with combats? Doth the flesh lust against the 
 spirit, and the spirit against the flesh ? And in this combat, doth the spirit 
 at last prevail and triumph over the flesh ? Do we find it a painful work 
 both before and after conversion ? Why, then may I say with the apostle, 
 “Now I know Christ, and the fellowship of his sufferings; now, by the 
 grace of Christ, I am made conformable unto his death.” As he died for 
 sin, so I die to sin ; and here is the ground of my hope, that Christ’s death 
 is mine. 
 
 For the second, Whether we increase and grow in our mortification ? 
 This question is as needful as the former, or to satisfy our soul’s interest 
 in the death of Christ. As true grace is growing grace, so true morti- 
 fication is that which grows. Now, that we may be resolved in this 
 point also, the growth of our mortification will appear by these following 
 signs. 
 
 1. Growing mortification hath its chiefest conflicts with spiritual lusts. 
 At first, we mortify grosser evils, such as oaths, drunkenness, unclean- 
 ness, worldly mindedness, or the like ; but, when we grow in this blessed 
 duty, we then set ourselves against spiritual wickedness, as pride, pre- 
 sumption, self, carnal confidence in a man’s own graces, or the like. This 
 method the apostle sets down, “ Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness 
 of flesh and spirit,” 2 Cor. 7 : 1. First, from all filthiness of the flesh or 
 body, and then from all filthiness of the spirit or soul ; as the children of 
 Israel, in their entrance into the land of promise ; first, they set upon the 
 frontiers and skirts of the land, and then they fought it out, and prevailed 
 in the heart of the country ; so Christians in their mortification, they first 
 set upon worldly lusts, gross evils, outward sins; and when they have 
 encountered them at the frontiers, they then conflict with such corruptions 
 as lie more inwardly in the very heart, spiritual wickednesses that are 
 within. Now, if this be our case, here is one sign of our growth. 
 
 2. Growing mortification is more even, constant, lasting, durable, when 
 there is in the heart a sudden flowing and reflowing, it comes from those 
 vast seas of corruptions that are within us : many souls have their ague fits, 
 sometimes hot and sometimes cold; it may be now they are in a very good 
 frame, and within an hour or two a mighty tide comes in, and they are 
 borne down by sin and corruption ; in this case mortification is very weak ; 
 but, on the contrary, if we find our standing more firm and sure, if in the 
 maiu we walk evenly, and keep closely to the Lord, it carries with it an 
 evidence that our mortification grows. 
 
890 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 3. Growing mortification feels lust more weak, and the spirit more 
 strong in its ordinary actings. If we would know the truth of growth, let 
 us look to our usual fits of sinning, for then a man’s strength or weakness 
 is discerned most; as a man’s weakness to good is discerned most when he 
 comes to act it, “ to will is present with me, but how to perform that 
 which is good, I find not,” Rom. 7:18. So a man’s weakness to sin is best 
 discerned when he comes to act it; mark then the ordinary fits (as we call 
 them) of sinnings; sometimes God is pleased to appoint some more fre- 
 quent assaults, as if he would on purpose suffer the law in the members to 
 war and muster up all their forces, that so we might the rather know what 
 is in our hearts : at such a time, if we find that resistance against sin grows 
 stronger, that sin cannot advance and carry on his army so as formerly, 
 that sin is encountered at first, or met withal at the frontiers, aud there 
 overthrown; this is a good sign, that now our mortification grows; as, sup- 
 pose it to be a lust of fancy, it cannot boil up to such gross fancies as it 
 was wont ; or, suppose it to be a lust of pride, it boils not up to such a spirit 
 of pride as formerly ; instead of bringing forth fruit, it now brings forth 
 blossoms; or, instead of bringing forth blossoms, it now brings forth 
 nothing but leaves; why, this is a sure sign that this lust is' withering 
 more and more, when the inordinate thirst is not so great in the time of 
 the fit, when the inward lusts pitch upon lower acts than they had wont ; 
 when the waters abate, and fall short and lessen, and overflow less ground, 
 we may conclude certainly that mortification grows. 
 
 4. Growing mortification hath more ability to abstain from the very occa- 
 sions and beginnings of lust : thus, Job, (whom we look on as a man 
 much mortified) “ made a covenant with his eyes, that he would not think 
 upon a maid,” 31:1. And no question as he made a covenant, so he kept 
 his covenaut : oh ! when a man cannot endure to come where such a one 
 is that he loves not, when he cannot endure the sight of him, or anything 
 that puts him in mind of him, not so much as to parley or speak with him, 
 this is a sign of a strong hatred ; and so when a man hates the very garment 
 spotted with the flesh, here is a good sign ; I know this height is not easy 
 to attain to, and therefore some, in imitation of Job and David, have bound 
 themselves with vows aud promises; as much as might be, to abstain from 
 the appearance of evil, to crush the cockatrice’ egg before the serpent should 
 creep out of it, to avoid sin in its first rise ; but, alas ! how have they 
 broken their vows from time to time ? For all this I dare not speak against 
 vows, provided, that 1. They be of things lawful. 2. That we esteem them 
 not as duties of absolute necessity. And, 3. That we bind not ourselves 
 perpetually, lest our vows should become burdens unto us, but only for some 
 short time, and so renew them as occasion requires : in this way, our vows 
 might much help us in our mortification ; and if once, through the help of 
 tows, or prayer, or “ looking unto Jesus,” or going to the cross of Jesus 
 Christ, or by any other means we feel ourselves more able to resist sin, to 
 liate sin, in its first rise, first motions, first onset, we may assuredly hope 
 that now our mortification grows. 
 
 0 my soul, try now the growth of thy mortification by these signs ; hast 
 thou overcome grosser sins, aud is now thy chiefest conflict with spiritual 
 wickedness ? is thy standing and walking with God more close and even, 
 and constant, than sometimes it hath been ? Is thy lust more weak, and 
 thy grace more strong in ordinary actings ? I say in ordinary actings, for 
 the estimate of thy growth must not be taken for a turn or two, but by a 
 constant course; hast thou now more ability to quench the flame of sin in 
 every spark, to dash Babylon’s brats against the stones, even while they are 
 little; to abstain from sin, in its first motion or beginning? Why, then is 
 the promise accomplished, “ He will subdue our iniquities,” Micah f : 19. 
 
CHAP, m.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 391 
 
 Surely thou art a growing Christian, thou hast fellowship with Christ in 
 his sufferings, thy ground is solid, firm and stable, thy hope hath a rock 
 foundation, and thou mayest build upon it, that Christ’s death, and blood, 
 and sufferings are thine, even thine, “ He loved thee, and gave himself 
 for thee.” 
 
 Sect. V. Of believing in Jesus in that respect. 
 
 5. Let us believe in Jesus, carrying on the great work of our salva- 
 tion for us, during his sufferings and death : every one looks upon this as 
 an easy duty, only the humble soul, the scrupulous conscience cries out, 
 what, “Is it possible that Christ should die, suffer, shed his blood for me? 
 His incarnation was wonderful, his life on earth was to astonishment; but 
 that the Son of God should become man, live amongst men, aud die such 
 a death, even the death of the cross, for such a one as I am, I cannot be- 
 believe it; it is an abyss past fathoming; the more I consider it, the more 
 I am amazed at it:” suppose I had an enemy in my power, mau or devil, 
 one that provokes me every day, one that hunts my soul to take it away, 
 should I not say with Saul, “ If a man find his enemy, will he let him go 
 well away?” 1 Sam. 2-1 : 19, it may be an ingenuous spirit (such as David) 
 would do thus much : but would David, or any breathing soul, not only 
 spare his enemy, but spill himself to save his enemy? Would a man be- 
 come a devil to save devils? would a man endure hell pains to free all the 
 devils in hell from their eternal pains ? And yet what are these in com- 
 parison of what Christ hath done or suffered for us. It is not so much for 
 us to suffer for devils (for we are fellow creatures) as it is for Christ God- 
 man, man-God to suffer for us; oh ! what an hard thing is it, considering 
 my enmity against Christ, to believe that Christ died for me, that he gave 
 himself to the death, even to the death of the cross for my soul? 
 
 Trembling soul! throw not away thyself in a way of unbelief. It may 
 be thou wouidst not die for an enemy, an irreconcilable enemy; but are not 
 the mercies of God above all the mercies of men ? 0 believe ! and that 
 
 1 may persuade effectually, I shall lay down first some directions, And 2. 
 Some encouragements of faith. 
 
 1. For the directions of faith in reference to Christ’s death, observe these 
 particulars. 
 
 1. Faith must directly go to Christ, not first to the promise, and then to 
 Christ, But, first, to Christ, and then to the promise; the person ever goes 
 before the prerogative. 
 
 2. Faith must go to Christ “as God in the flesh;” this was the differ- 
 ence betwixt the New Testament and Old Testament believers; their faith 
 directs only to God, but our faith looks more immediately to Jesus Christ, 
 “ Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved.” 
 
 3. Faith must directly go to Christ as God in the flesh, “made under 
 the law.” He continued in all things written in the book of the law to do 
 them, and so our faith must look upon him : but of these before; I shall 
 now say nothing to these particulars. 
 
 4. Faith must go to Christ, not only as made under the directive part 
 of the law by his life, but under the penal part of the law by his death; 
 in both these respects, “Christ was made under the law;” the one half 
 of the law he satisfied by the holiness of his life, he fulfilled the law in 
 every jot arid every tittle; the other half of the law he satisfied by his 
 enduring the death of the cross; he paid both the principal and the forfei- 
 ture ; and though men do not so, yet Christ did so, that the whole law 
 might be satisfied fully, 1 y his being uuder both these parts of the law, 
 pay, and penalty; come then, and look upon Christ as dying; it wa-s the 
 serpent “ us lifted up,” and so looked at, that healed the Israelites of their 
 
392 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 fiery stings. Alas ! we are diseased in a spiritual sense, as they were, and 
 Christ Jesus was “lifted up, as a remedy to us, as the serpent was unto 
 them ; it remains therefore, that as they looked up to the brazen serpent, so 
 we look up to Jesus, believe in Jesus as lifted up for life, and for salva- 
 tion :” “ As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must 
 the Son of man be lifted up : that whosoever believeth in him should not 
 perish, but have eternal life/- John 3:14, 15. Indeed some difference 
 there is betwixt the serpent and Christ. 
 
 As, 1. The brazen serpent had not power in itself to cure, as Christ 
 hath. 2. The serpent cured the Israelites, but only for a time, to die again ; 
 but whomsoever Jewsus cures in a spiritual sense, he cures for ever, “They 
 shall never die,” John 11 : 26. The serpent also had its time of curing, 
 it did not always retain the virtue, but during the time they were in the 
 wilderness ; only Jesus Christ, our brazen serpent, doth ever retain his 
 power and virtue to the end of the world ; and hence it is, that in the min- 
 istry of Christ he is still held forth as lifted up, that all that but look on him 
 by faith may live. 3. The serpent, sometimes a remedy against poison, 
 was after turned, even to poison the Israelites, which made Hezekiah to 
 crush it, and break it, and stamp it to powder; but Jesus Christ ever re- 
 mains the sovereign and healing God, he is “ the same yesterday, and to- 
 day, and for ever.” He is unchangeable in his goodness, as he is an holy 
 and divine nature; he can never be defaced, nor destroyed, but he abideth 
 the Saviour of sinners to all eternity • why then, let us rather “look unto 
 Christ, and believe in Christ as lifted up.” (i. e.) As he was crucified, and 
 died on the cross. Iu this respect he is made a fit object of sinners' faith 
 to trust upon, and to rest upon : “ Christ as crucified, as made sin, and a 
 curse for us, is the object of our pardon :” 0 this is it that makes Christ's 
 death so desirable ! why, therein is virtually and meritoriously pardon of 
 sin, justification, redemption, reconciliation, and what not? Oh! cries a 
 sinner, “ Where may I set my foot ? Ilow should I regain my God ? My 
 sin hath undone me, which way should I cast for pardon !” Why, now 
 remember, that in seeking pardou, Christ was crucified, Christ as dying is 
 principally to be eyed and looked at; “Who is he that condemneth? It 
 is Christ that died,” Kom. 8 : 34. No question Christ's active obedience 
 during his life, was most exact, and perfect, and meritorious, yet that was 
 not the expiation of sin, only his passive obedience, Christ only in his suffer- 
 ings took away sin, the guilt of sin, and punishment of sin, “We have 
 redemption through the blood of Christ, even the forgiveness of sins,” 
 Eph. 1:7 If any humble soul would have recourse to that Christ, who 
 is now iu heaven, let him first, in the actings of his faith consider him as 
 crucified, as lifted up, as made sin for us, as through whom (as under that 
 consideration) he is to receive pardon of sin, justification, redemption, 
 reconciliation, sanctification, salvation. 
 
 5. Faith in going to Christ, as lifted up, it is principally and mainly to 
 look uuto the end, meaning, intent, and design of Christ in his sufferings 
 as he was lifted up ; we are not barely to consider the history of Christ's 
 death, but the aim of Christ in his death; many read the history, and they 
 are affected with it; there is a principle of humanity in men, which will 
 stir up compassion, and love, and pity towards all in misery ; whilst Christ 
 was suffering, the women followed after him weeping, but this weeping, not 
 being spiritual or raised enough, he said to them, “ Daughters of Jerusa- 
 lem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves.” The way of faith draw- 
 ing virtue out of Christ's death, it is especially to look to the scope, and 
 drift of Christ in his sufferings; as God looks principally to the meaning 
 of the spirit in prayer; so doth faith look principally to the meaning of 
 Christ in his sufferings : mistake not, my meaning is not that we should be 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 393 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 ignorant of the history of Christ’s death, or of the manner of Christ’s 
 sufferings ; you see we have opened it largely, and followed it close from 
 first to last: but we must not stick there, we should, above all, look to the 
 mind and heart of Christ in all this : some observe, that both in the Old 
 and New Testament we find this method ; first the history, and then the 
 mystery ; first the manner, and then the meaning of Christ’s sufferings ; 
 as in the Old Testament, we have first the history in Psalm 22, written by 
 David ; and then the mystery in Isa. 53, written by Isaiah ; and in the 
 New Testament we have first, the manner of his suffering, written at large 
 by all the evangelists ; and then the meaning, written by the apostles in 
 all their epistles. Now, accordingly are the acts of faith ; we must first 
 “ look on Jesus as lifted up,” and then look at the end and meaning, why 
 was this Jesus thus lifted up ? Well, but you may demand, what was the 
 end, the plot, the great design of Christ in this respect ? 
 
 I answer, some ends were remote, and others were more immediate ; but 
 omitting ail those ends that are remote, his glory, our salvation, &c., I 
 shall only answer in these particulars. 
 
 1. One design of Christ’s death, was to redeem us from the slavery of 
 death and hell, “ lie hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being 
 made a curse for us, as it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on 
 a tree,” Gal. 3 : 13. Hence it is, that we say, That “ by his sufferings 
 Christ hath redeemed us from hell, and by his doings Christ hath given us 
 a right to heaven; he was made under the law,” Gal. 3:4, 5. Alas! we 
 were carnal, sold under sin, whereupon the law seized on us, locked us up 
 as it were in a dungeon ; yea, the sentence passed, and we but waited for 
 execution; now to get us rid from this dismal, damnable estate, Christ him- 
 self is made under the law, that he might redeem us : redeem us, How ? 
 Not by way of entreaty, to step in and beg our pardon ; that would not 
 serve the turn; sold we were, and bought we must be; a price must be laid 
 down for us, it was a matter of redemption, but with what must we be re- 
 deemed ? Surely with no easy price: ah I no, it cost him dear, and very 
 dear, “ Ye were cot redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, 
 but with the precious blood of Christ,” 1 Fet. 1 : 18. His precious blood 
 was the price we stood him, which he paid when “ he gave his life a ran- 
 som for many,” Matth. 20 : 28, the case stood thus betwixt Christ and us 
 in this point of redemption, we all like a crew or company of malefactors, 
 were ready to suffer, and to be executed : now, what said Christ to this ? 
 “Why, I will come under the law, said Christ, I will suffer that which they 
 should suffer, I will take upon me their execution, upon condition I may 
 redeem them :” Now this he did at his death ; and this was the end w T hy he 
 died, that by his death we might be redeemed from the slavery of death 
 and hell. 
 
 2. Another design of Christ’s death, was to free us from sin; not only 
 would he remove the effect, but he would take away the cause also, “ whom 
 God hath set forth to be a propitiation — for the remission of sin, Horn. 
 3 : 25. — Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world, 
 John 1 : 29. — He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that 
 we might be made the righteousness of God in him,” 2 Cor. 5 : 21. — 
 “ Once hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, Heb. 
 9 : 26. — And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from sin,” 1 
 John 1 : 7. This was the plot which God by an ancient design aimed at 
 in the sufferings of Jesus Christ ; that he would take away sin ; and thus 
 faith must take it up, aud look upon it. When Peter had set forth the 
 heiuousuess of the Jews’ sin, in killing Christ, he tells them at last of 
 that design of old, “All this was done, (said he,) by the determinate 
 cuuucil of God,” Acts 2 : 23. His meaning was, first to humble them, 
 
394 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 and then to raise them up, q. d. it was not so much they that wrought his 
 death, as the decree of God, and the agreement of God and Christ ; there 
 was an ancient contrivement that Jesus Christ should die for sin, and that 
 all our sins should be laid on the back of Jesus Christ; and therefore he 
 seems to speak comfort to them in this, that however they designed it, yet 
 God and Christ designed a further end in it than they imagined, even the 
 remission of sins ; “ Who was delivered to death for our sins, and rose 
 again for our justification,” Rom. 4 : 25. The death of Christ (as one 
 observes) was the greatest and strangest design that ever God undertook; nnd 
 therefore, sure he had an end proportionable to it : God that willeth not 
 the death of a sinner, would not for any inferior end will the death of his 
 Son, whom he loved more than all the world besides; it must needs be 
 some great matter for which God should contrive the death of his Son, and 
 indeed it could be no less than to remove that which he most hated, and 
 that was sin. Here then is another end of Christ’s death, it was for the 
 remission of sin, one main part of our justification. 
 
 3. Another design of Christ’s death was to mortify our members which 
 are upon the earth. Not only would he remit sin, but he would destroy 
 it, kill it, crucify it; he would not have it “ reign in our mortal bodies, 
 that we should obey it in the lusts thereof,” Rom. 6 : 12. This design the 
 apostle sets out in these words, “ He bare our sins in his own body upon 
 the tree, that we being dead unto sin, should live unto righteousness,” 
 1 Pet. 2 : 24. Christ by his death had not only a design to deliver us from 
 the guilt of sin, but also from the power of sin ; “ God forbid that I should 
 glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is 
 crucified to me, and I unto the world,” Gal. 6 : 14. Paul was a mortified 
 man, dead to the world, and dead to sin, but how came he so to be? Why, 
 this he attributes to the cross of Christ, to the death of Christ; the death 
 of Jesus was the cause of this death in Paul, “ How much more shall the 
 blood of Christ — purge your consciences from dead works to serve the 
 living God ?” Heb. 9 : 14. There is in the death of Christ, first, a value, 
 and secondly, a virtue; the former is available to our justification, the 
 latter to our sanctification : now sanctification hath two parts, mortification, 
 and vivification ; Christ’s death or passive obedience is more properly con- 
 ducive to the one, his life or active obedience to the other. Hence believers 
 are said to be “ ingrafted with Christ in the likeness of his death,” Rom. 
 6 : 5. There is a kind of likeness betwixt Christ and Christians: Christ 
 died, and the Christian dies; Christ died a natural death, and a Christian 
 dies a spiritual death ; Christ died for sin, and the Christian dies to sin : 
 this was another end of the death of Christ ; there issues from his death a 
 mortifying virtue, causing the death of sin in a believer’s soul, one main 
 part of our sanctification. 
 
 0 my soul look to this, herein lies the pith and marrow of the death 
 of Christ; and if now thou wilt but act and exercise thy faith in this re- 
 spect, How mightest thou draw the virtue and efficacy of his death into 
 thy soul? Rut here is the question, How should 1 manage my faith, or 
 how should 1 act my faith, to draw down the virtue of Christ’s death, and 
 so to feel the virtue of Christ’s death in my soul-mortifying, crucifying and 
 killing sin ? 
 
 1 answer, 1. In prayer, meditation, self-examination, receiving of the 
 Lord’s Supper, &c. I must propound to myself and soul the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, as having undertaken and performed that bitter and painful work 
 of suffering, even unto death, yea, that of the cross, as it is held out in the 
 history and narrative of the gospel. 2. I must really and steadfastly 
 believe, and firmly assent, that those sufferings of Christ, so revealed arid 
 discovered, were real and true, undoubted, and every way unquestionable 
 
CHAP. III.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 895 
 
 as in themselves. 3. I must look upon those grievous, bitter, cruel, pain- 
 ful, and withal opprobrious, execrable, shameful sufferings of Christ, as 
 very strange and wonderful ; but especially considering the spiritual part 
 of "bis sufferings, viz ., the sense and apprehension of God’s forsaking, and 
 afflicting him in the day of his fierce anger, I should even be astonished 
 and amazed thereat ; what ? that the Sou of God should lay his head on 
 the block, under the blow of divine justice? That he should put himself 
 under the wrath of his heavenly Father ? That he should enter into the 
 combat of God’s heavy displeasure, and be deprived of the sense and feel- 
 ing of his love and mercy, and wonted comfort? How should I but stand 
 aghast at these so wonderful sufferings of Jesus Christ? 4. I must weigh 
 and cousider what it was that occasioned and caused all this, viz. : Sin, yea, 
 my sin, yea, this and that sin particularly. This comes nearer home ; and 
 from this I must now gather in these several conclusions. As, — 
 
 1. It was the design of Christ, by his sufferings, to give satisfaction to 
 the infinite justice of God for sin. 2. It was intended and meant (at least 
 in a second place) to give out to the world a most notable and eminent 
 instance and demonstration of the horridness, odiousness, and execrable- 
 ness of sin, since no less than all this, yea, nothing else but this would 
 serve the turn to expiate it, and atone for it. 3. It holds forth again, as 
 sin is horrid in itself, so it cannot but be exceeding grievous and offen- 
 sive to Christ; Oh ! it cost him dear, it put him to all this pain and torture, 
 it made him cry out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” 
 How then should it but offend him above all, above any thing in the world ? 
 4. If therefore there be in me any spark of love towards Christ, or any 
 likeness to Christ, or, if I would have Christ to bear any affection, love, 
 regard, or respect unto me, it will absolutely behoove me, by all means, to 
 loathe sin, and to cast it away from me, and to root it up, to quit my hands 
 and to rid my heart of it. The truth is, I cannot possibly give forth a 
 more pregnant proof of my sincere love, entire affection, respect, confor- 
 mity, resemblance, sympathy to, and with Christ, than by offering all vio- 
 lence, using all holy severity against sin for his very sake. 
 
 Now, when the heart is thus exercised, God by his Spirit will not fail 
 to meet us : our desire and endeavor of soul to weaken and kill sin in the 
 soul is not without its reward : but especially when sin hath in this way, 
 and by this means, lost the affection of the soul, and is brought in hatred 
 and disesteem, it decays, and dies of itself, for it only liveth and flourish- 
 eth by the warm affections, good thoughts, and opinion that the soul hath 
 of it. So that matters going thus in the heart, the influence that should 
 nourish and maintain sin is cut off, and it withers by degrees, till it be 
 finally and fully destroyed. 
 
 Thus for directions; now for the encouragements of our faith to believe 
 in Christ’s death. Consider, — 
 
 1. The fulness of this object, Christ crucified; there is a transcendent 
 all-sufficiency in the death of Christ. In a false sense it contains in it 
 universal redemption : it is sufficient for the redemption of every man in 
 the world, yea, and effectual for all that have been, are, or shall be called 
 into the state of grace, whether Jews or Gentiles, bond or free. I know 
 some hold, that Christ died for all and every man with a purpose to save; 
 only thus they explicate. 1. That Christ died for all men, considered in 
 the common lapse or fall, but not as obstinate, impenitent, or unbelievers; 
 he died not for such as such. 2. That Christ died for all men in respect 
 of the request or impenetration of salvation ; but the application thereof 
 is proper to believers. 3. That Christ died not to bring all or any man 
 actually to salvation, but to purchase salvability and reconciliation so far-, 
 as that God might and would ( salva justitia) deal with them on terms of 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 a better covenant. 4. That Christ hath purchased salvability for all men, 
 but faith and regeneration he hath merited for none ; because God is 
 bound to give that which Christ hath merited of him, although it be not 
 desired, or craved. I cannot assent to these positions; but this far I grant, 
 that Christ’s death in itself is a sufficient price and satisfaction to God for 
 all the world; and that also it is effectual in many particulars to all men 
 respectively in all the world : every man in one way or other hath the fruit 
 of Christ’s death conferred upon him; but this fruit is not of one kind, 
 for, 1. Some fruit is common to every man, as the earthly blessings, which 
 infidels enjoy, may be termed the fruits of Christ’s death. 2. Other fruit 
 is common to all the members of the visible church, as to be called by 
 the word, to enjoy the ordinances, to live under the covenant, to partake 
 of some graces that come from Christ. 3. Other fruit is indeed peculiar 
 to the saints of God, as faith unfeigned, regeneration, pardon of sin, adop- 
 tion, &c. And yet this fruit is universal to all the saints, whether Jews 
 or Gentiles : in which sense speaks the apostle, “ He spared not his own 
 Son, but delivered him up for us all,” Rom. 8 : 32. — And “ he gave him- 
 self a ransom for all,” 1 Tim. 2 : 6. — “And God hath concluded them all 
 in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all,” Rom. 11 : 32. — And “by 
 the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification 
 of life, Rom. 5 : 18. — He tasted of death for all men,” Heb. 2 : 9. — or dis- 
 tributive^ for every man. All which texts are rightly interpreted by 
 Caiaphas, “ He prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation, and not 
 for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the 
 children of God that were scattered abroad,” John 11 : 51, 52. And thus 
 John brings in the four beasts, and four and twenty elders, saying, “Thou 
 art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast 
 slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and 
 tongue, and people, and nation,” Rev. 5 : 9, and thus Paul rightly argues, 
 
 “ Is he the God of the Jews only ? Is he not of the Gentiles also? yes, of 
 the Gentiles also,” Rom. 3 : 29. 0 the fulness of Christ’s death ! — Many 
 
 are apt to complain, “ Would Christ die for me ? Why, alas, I am an alien, 
 
 1 am not of the commonwealth of Israel, I am a dog, I am a sinner, a 
 grievous sinner, a sinner of the Gentiles and what then ? “ Ye who 
 sometimes w 7 ere afar off, are now made nigh by the blood of Christ, for he 
 is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle 
 wall of partition between us, that he might reconcile both unto God in one 
 body by the cross.” Eph. 2 : 13, 14, 16. Oh ! what encouragement is 
 this for thee to believe thy part in the death of Christ? 
 
 2. Consider the worth, the excellency of this glorious object, Christ 
 crucified. There is an infinity of worth in the death of Christ; and this 
 ariseth, 1. From the dignity of his person, he was God-man; the death of 
 angels and men, if put together, could not have amounted to the excel- 
 lency of Christ’s death : stand amazed, 0 believer, thou hast gained by 
 thy loss, thou hast lost the righteousness of a creature, but the righteous- 
 ness of an iufinite person is now made thine : hence it is many times 
 called the “righteousness of God,” Rom. 10:3; 2 Cor. 5:21. Both be- 
 cause Christ is God, and because it is such a righteousness as God is sat- 
 isfied with : he looks for no better, yea, there can be no better. 2. This 
 worth is not only in respect of the dignity of the person, but also in re- 
 spect of the price offered : 0 it was the blood of Christ, one drop whereof 
 is of more worth than thousands of gold and silver ! it was this “ blood that 
 purchased the whole church of God,” Acts 20 : 28, which a thousand 
 worlds of wealth could never have done. This worth is not only in re- 
 spect of the person and price neither, but also in respect of the manner of 
 the oblation, i Pet. 1 : 18. Christ must die on the cross, as it was deter- 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 397 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 mined : the price in itself is not enough, unless it he ordered and propor- 
 tioned according to the will of him who is to be satisfied : if a man should 
 give for a captive prisoner an infinite sum of money, sufficient in itself to 
 redeem a thousand, yet, if not according to such a way as the conqueor 
 prescribeth, if not according to the condition, it could not be called a sat- 
 isfaction. Now this was the condition that Christ must die, and die that 
 death of the cross; and accordingly he undertook and performed, which 
 set a lustre, and glory, and excellency, and worth upon his death. 0 the 
 worth, 0 the excellency of this death of Christ ! — Many are apt to com- 
 plain, 0 the filth of my sins! u O the injuries and unkindness that have 
 been in mine iniquities ! It is not my misery, my destruction that so much 
 troubles me, as that God is displeased.” Sweet soul ! turn thine eyes 
 hither ; surely this death of Christ is more satisfactory to God, than all thy 
 sins possibly can be displeasing to God, there was more sweet savor in 
 Christ’s sacrifice, than there could be offence in all thy sins; the excel- 
 lency of Christ’s death in making righteous, doth superabound the filthi- 
 ness of sin in making a sinner. Come on then, and close with Christ 
 upon this encouragement : there is a dignity, an excellency in this object 
 of faith, Christ crucified. 
 
 3. Consider the suitableness of this blessed object, the death of Christ. 
 There is in it a suitableness to our sinful condition ; -whatsoever the sin is, 
 it is the cry of some, “ They dare not believe, they dare not touch Christ 
 crucified, they dare not approach to that precious blood, because of this sin, 
 aud that sin, and the other sin.” Whereas in the death and blood of Christ 
 (if they could but take a full view of it) they might find something suitable 
 to their state : as for instance suppose thy sin the greatest sin imaginable, 
 except that against the Holy Ghost, art thou a murderer? Hast thou had 
 thy hands imbrued in the blood of saints? Why, see now how Christ, for 
 thy sake, was esteemed of the Jews a murderer, and worse than a murderer. 
 Barabbas is preferred before Jesus, Barabbas is released, and Jesus mur- 
 dered ; yea, his blood is shed to wash away thy blood-shed: art thou a sor- 
 cerer, a necromancer? Is thy- sin the sin of Manasseh, of whom it is said, 
 That “he used enchantments, and witchcrafts; and dealt with a familiar 
 spirit, and with wizards,” 2 Chron. 33 : 6 Why, see now how Jesus Christ, 
 for thy sake, was esteemed of the Jews as an impostor, an enchanter; for so 
 some say, that he got the name of God, and sewed it in his tbigh ; and by 
 virtue thereof he wrought all his miracles; and they commonly reported of 
 him that he had a devil, and that “ he cast out devils, through Beelzebub, 
 prince of devils.” Art thou a blasphemer? Hast thou joined with those in 
 these sad times, who have opened their mouths against the God of heaven, 
 enough to make a Christian rend his heart, and weep in blood? Why, see 
 now how Jesus for thy sake was judged of Caiaphas, and all the Sanhedrim, 
 for a blasphemer of God, and that in the highest kind of blasphemy, as 
 making himself equal with God : yea, see how “ the high priest rends his 
 clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy,” Matth. 26 : 65. Surely all this 
 he endured, that every blasphemer may find mercy, if they will but come 
 iu, and believe in Jesus. I might instance in other sins, Art thou a traitor, 
 a glutton, a drunkard, a wine-bibber, a thief, a seducer, a companion of sin- 
 ners? Why, see now how Jesus Christ was for thy sake thus called, reputed, 
 accounted : whatever the sin is, there is something in Christ that answers 
 that very sinfulness; thou art a sinner, and he is made sin to satisfy the 
 wrath of God even for thy sin ; thou art such, and such a sinner, and he is 
 accounted such, and such a sinner for thy sake, that thou mightest find in 
 him something suitable to thy condition, and so the rather be encouraged 
 to believe, that in him, and through him, all thy sins shall be done away. 
 Away, away unbelief, distrust, despair ! you see now the brazen serpent 
 
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 [BOOK IY. 
 
 lifted up, you see what a blessed object is before you ; 0 believe ! 0 look up 
 unto Jesus ' 0 believe in him thus carrying on the work of thy salvation in 
 his death. 
 
 Sect. VI. — Of loving Jesus in that respect. 
 
 6. Let us love Jesus as carrying on the great work of our salvation for 
 us, during his sufferings and death. What, did he suffer and die ? “ Greater 
 love than this hath no man, that a man should give his life for his friends ;” 
 — u But God commendeth his love towards us, in that while we were yet 
 sinners, Christ died for us,” Bom. 5 : 8. Why, here is an argument of love 
 indeed. How should we but love him, who hath thus loved us ? In pro- 
 secution of this, I have no more to do, but first to show Christ’s love to us, 
 and then to exercise our love to him again. 
 
 1. For his love to us, had not God said it, and the Scriptures recorded it, 
 who would have believed our reports? Yet Christ hath done it, and it is 
 worth our while to weigh it, and consider it in a holy meditation. Indeed 
 with what, less than ravishment of spirit can I behold the Lord Jesus, who, 
 from everlasting, was clothed with glory and majesty, now wrapped in rags, 
 cradled in a manger, exposed to hunger, thirst, weariness, danger, contempt, 
 poverty, revilings, scourgings, persecution ? But to let them pass, into 
 what ecstasies may I be cast, to see the Judge of all the world accused, 
 judged, condemned ? To see the Lord of life dying upon the tree of shame 
 and curse ? To see the eternal Son of God struggling with his Father’s 
 wrath ? To see him, who had said, “ I and my Father are one,” sweating 
 drops of blood in his agony, and crying out on the cross, “ My God, my 
 God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Oh! whither hath his love to man- 
 kind carried him ? Had he only sent his creatures to serve us, had he only 
 sent his prophets to advise us in the way to heaven, had he only sent his 
 angels from his chamber of presence to attend upon us, and minister to us, 
 it had been a great deal of mercy; or if it must be so, had Christ come down 
 from heaven himself, but only to visit us, or had he come only and wept 
 over us, saying, “ Oh ! that you had known, even you, in this your day, the 
 things belonging to your peace ! Oh ! that you had more considered of my 
 goodness ! Oh , that you had never sinned !” This would have been such a 
 mercy as that all the world would have wondered at it; but that. Christ him- 
 self should come and lay down his blood, and his life, and all for his people, 
 and yet I am not at the lowest, that he should not only part with life, but 
 part with the sense and sweetness of God’s love, which is a thousand times 
 better than life, “ Thy loving kindness is better than life,” Psa. 63 : 3. 
 That he should be content to be accursed, that we might be blessed ; that 
 he should be content to be forsaken, that we might not be forsaken ; that be 
 should be content to be condemned, that we might be acquitted : oh ! what 
 raptures of spirit can be sufficient for the admiration of this so infinite 
 mercy ? Be thou swallowed up, 0 my soul, in this depth of divine love, 
 and hate to spend thy thoughts any more upon the base objects of this 
 wretched world, when thou hast such a Saviour to take them up. Come, 
 look on thy Jesus, w r ho died temporally, that thou mightest live eternally^, 
 who out of his singular tenderness, would not suffer thee to burn in hell, 
 for ten, twenty, thirty, forty, an hundred years, and then recover thee ; by 
 which, notwithstanding, he might better and deeper have imprinted in thee 
 the blessed memory of a dear Redeemer; no, no: this was the article be- 
 twixt him and his Father, “ That thou shouldest never come there.” See, 
 but observe but Christ’s love in that mutual agreement betwixt God and 
 Christ, , “ On ! I am pressed (saith God) with the sins of the world, as a cart 
 is pressed that is full of sheaves; come, my Son, either thou must suffer, or 
 I must damn the world.” Accordingly I may imagine the attributes of 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 399 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 God to speak to God, Mercy cries, I am abused ; and patience cries, I am 
 despised ; and goodness cries, I am wronged ; and holiness cries, I am con- 
 tradicted : and all these come to the Father for justice, crying to him, “ That 
 all the world were opposers of his grace and Spirit; and if any bq saved, 
 Christ must be punished/' In this case we must imagine Christ stepped 
 in: “rather than so, (saith Christ) I will bear all, and undertake the satis- 
 fying of all/' And now look upon him, he hangs on the cross all naked, 
 all torn, all bloody, betwixt heaven and earth, as if he were cast out of hea- 
 ven : aud also rejected by earth : he has a crown indeed, but such a one as 
 few men will touch; none will take from him; and if any rash man will 
 have it, he must tear hair, skin and all, or it will not come : his hair is all 
 clotted with blood, his face all clouded with black and blue; he is all over 
 so pitifully rent, outwards, inwards, body and soul. I will think the rest, 
 alas! when I have spoken all I can, I shall speak under it; had I the 
 tongues of men and angels, I could not express it. Oh ! love more deep 
 than hell ! Oh ! love more high than heaven ! the brightest seraphims that 
 burn in love, are but as sparkles to that mighty flame of love in the heart 
 of Jesus. 
 
 2. If this be Christ's love to us, what is that love we owe to Christ ? Oh 
 now for an heart that might be somewise answerable to these mercies ! Oh 
 for a soul sick of love, yea, sick unto death ? How should I be otherwise, 
 or any less affected ? This only sickness is our health, this death our life, 
 and not to be thus sick is to be dead in sins and trespasses : why surely I 
 have heard enough, for which to love Christ for ever. The depths of God's 
 grace are bottomless, they pass our understandings, yet they recreate our 
 hearts ; they give matter of admiration, yet they are not devoid of consola- 
 tion : 0 God raise up our souls to thee; and if our spirits be too weak to 
 know thee, make our affections ardent and sincere to love thee. 
 
 Surely the death of Christ requires this, and calls for this : many other 
 motives we may draw from Christ, aud many other motives are laid down 
 in the gospel; and indeed the whole gospel is no other thing than a motive 
 to draw man to God by the force of God’s love to man : in this sense the 
 holy scriptures may be called, The book of true love, seeing therein God 
 both unfolds his love to us, aud also binds our love to him ; but of all the 
 motives we may draw from Christ, and of all the arguments we may find in 
 the gospel of Christ, there is none to this, the death of Christ, the blood of 
 Jesus ; is not this such a love-letter, as never, never was the like ? Head 
 these words, “ for his great love wherewith he loved us," Eph. 2 :4. Or, 
 if you cannot read, observe the hieroglyphics, every stripe is a letter, every 
 nail is a capital letter, every bruise is a black letter; his bleeding wounds 
 are as so many rubrics to show upon record : oh ! consider it, is not this a 
 great love? Are not all mercies wrapt up in this blood of Christ ? It may 
 be thou hast riches, honors, friends, means ; oh ! but thank the blood of 
 Christ for all thou hast; it may be thou hast grace, and that is better than 
 corn, or wine, or oil : oh ! but for this thank the blood of Jesus, surely it 
 was the blood of Christ that did this for thee ; thou wast a rebellious soul, 
 thou hadst an hard and filthy heart, but Christ's blood was the fountain 
 opened, and it took away all sin and all uncleanness; Christ, in all, and 
 Christ above all. And what, wilt thou not love him ? Oh ! that all our 
 words were words of love, and all our labors labors of love, and all our 
 thoughts thoughts of love, that we might speak of love, and muse of love, 
 and love this Christ who first loved us, with all our heart, and soul, and 
 might ! What, wilt thou not love Jesus Christ ? Let me ask thee then, 
 Whom wilt thou love, or rather whom canst thou love, if thou lovest not 
 him ? If thou sayest, “ I love my friends, parents, wife, children ;" oh ! 
 but love Christ more than these; a friend would be an enemy, but that the 
 
400 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 blood of Christ doth frame his heart, a wife would be a trouble, but that 
 the blood of Christ doth frame her heart ; all mercies are conveyed to us 
 through this channel; oh ! who would not love the fountain? Consider of 
 it agajn and again, our Jesus thought nothing too good for us, he parted 
 with his life and blood, he parts with the sense and feeling of the love of 
 God, and all this for us, and foroursakes; ah! my soul, how shouldest thou 
 but love him in all things, and by all means ? 
 
 It is reported of Ignatius, that he so continually meditated on the great 
 things Christ suffered for him, that he was brought entirely to love him : 
 and when he was demanded, why he would not forsake Christ, rather than 
 to suffer himself to be torn and devoured of wild beasts ? He answered, 
 that he could not forget him, because of his sufferings; “ Oh ! his sufferings 
 (said he) are not transient words, or removable objects, but they are indeli- 
 ble characters, so engraven in my heart, that all the torments of earth can 
 never raze them out.” And being commanded by that bloody tyrant Trajan 
 to be ripped and embowelled, they found Jesus Christ written upon his heart 
 in characters of gold. Here was an heart worth gold ; oh that it might be 
 thus with us ! If my hands were all of love, that I could work nothing but 
 love ; if my eyes were all of love, that I could see nothing but love ; if my 
 mind were all of love, that I could think nothing but love, all were too lit- 
 tle to love that Christ, who hath thus immeasurably loved me; if I had a 
 thousand hearts to bestow on Christ, and they most enlarged and screwed 
 up to the highest pitch of affection ; all these were infinitely short of what 
 I owe to my dear Lord and dearest Saviour. Come, let us join hands, “ He 
 loved us, and therefore let us love him ;” if we dispute the former, I argue 
 from the Jews, when he shed out a few tears out of his eyes at Lazarus , 
 grave; “ Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him I” John 11 : 86. 
 How much more truly may it be said of us, for whom he shed both water 
 and blood, and that from his heart, “ Behold, how he loved us !” why then, 
 if our hearts be not iron ; yet, if they be iron, how should they choose but 
 feel the magnetical force of this loadstone of love ? For to a loadstone doth 
 Christ resemble himself, when he saith of himself; “And I, if I be lifted 
 up from the earth will draw all men unto me.” John 12 : 32. 
 
 Sect. VII. — Of joying in Jesus in that respect. 
 
 7. Let us joy in Jesus, as carrying on the great work of our salvation 
 in his sufferings and death; what hath Christ suffered for us ? Hath he 
 drunk off all the cup of God’s wrath, and left none for us ? How should we 
 be but cheered ? Precious souls ! why are you afraid ? There is no death, 
 no hell, “ no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus,” Bom. 8 : 1. 
 There is no divine justice for them to undergo, that have their share in this 
 death of Christ; oh ! the grace and mercy tiiat is purchased by this means 
 of Christ ! oh ! the waters of comfort that flow from the sufferings and obe- 
 dience of Christ ! Christ was amazed, that we might be cheered, Christ was 
 imprisoned, that we might be delivered; Christ was accused, that we might 
 be acquitted ; Christ was condemned, that we might be redeemed ; Christ 
 suffered his Father’s wrath, and came under it, that the victory might be 
 ours, and that in the end we might see him face to face in glory : is not 
 here matter of joy ? It may be the law, and sin, and justice, and conscience, 
 and death, and hell, may appear as enemies, aud disturb thy comforts ; but 
 is there not enough in the blood of Christ to chase them away ? Give me 
 leave but to frame the objections of some doubting souls; and see whether 
 Christ’s death will not sufficiently answer, and solve them all. 
 
 1. One cries thus, “ Oh ! I know not what will become of me, my sins 
 are ever before me;” “ Against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this 
 evil in thy sight,” Psa. 51 : 3, 4. “ I have sinned against a most dear, aud 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 401 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 gracious, and merciful God and Father in our Lord Jesus; 0 the aggrava- 
 tion of my sins ! are they not sins above measure sinful !” 
 
 It may be so, but the blood of Christ is “a fountain opened for sins and 
 for uncleanness, Zech. 13 : 1. — In him we have redemption through his 
 blood, even the forgiveness of sins,” Eph. 1:7. “ He by himself purged our 
 sins, Heb. 1 : 3. — And now once in the end of the world hath he appeared 
 to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, Heb. 9 : 26. — And Christ was 
 once offered to bear the sins of many, verse 28, (Anenegchem ,) to bear away 
 the sins of many ” As the scape-goat under the law had upon his head all 
 the iniquities of the children of Israel, and so was “sent away by the hand 
 of a fit man into the wilderness,” Lev. 16 : 21, 22, so the Lord Jesus, of 
 whom that goat was a type, had all the iniquities of his elect laid upon him 
 by God his Father; and bearing them, he took them away, “ Behold the 
 Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world,” John 1 : 29. He 
 bore them, and bore them away ; he went away with them into the wilder- 
 ness, or into the land of forgetfulness. See what comfort is here. 
 
 2. Another cries thus, “ Oh ! I know not what will become of me, the 
 law is mine enemy, I have transgressed the law; and it speaks terribly, 
 “ Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in 
 the book of the law to do them,” Gal. 3 : 10. Oh ! I have offended the law, 
 and I am under the curse.” 
 
 Say not so, for by the death of Christ, though the law be broken, yet the 
 curse is removed; the apostle is clear, “ Christ hath redeemed us from the 
 curse of the law, being made a curse for us,” Gal. 3 : 13. He was made a 
 curse for us, (i. e.') the fruits and effects of God’s curse, the punishment due 
 to sinners, the penal curse which justice required, was laid upon Christ ; 
 and by this means we are freed from the curse of the law. It is true, that 
 without Christ thou art under this law, do, or die ; and if thou offendest in 
 the least kind, thou shalt perish for ever, the curse of the law is upon thee 
 to the uttermost ; but on the other side, if thy claim be right to the blood 
 of Christ, thou art freed from penalty, not but that we may be corrected and 
 chastised; but what is that to the eternal curse which the law pronounceth 
 against every sin? We are freed from the curse, or damnatory sentence of 
 the law, “ There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus,” 
 Rom. 8 : 1, the law is satisfied, and the bond is cancelled by our surety, 
 Christ. Oh ! what comfort is this ? 
 
 3. Another cries thus, “ Oh ! I know not what will become of me, I have 
 offended justice; and what, shall I appeal from the seat of justice to the 
 throne of grace ? My sins are gone before, and they are knocking at 
 heaven’s gates, and crying justice, Lord, on this sinner ; I know not what 
 will be the issue, but either free grace must save me, or I am gone.” 
 
 Say not so, for by this death of Christ, free grace and justice are both thy 
 friends. However some do, yet certainly thou needs not to appeal from the 
 court of justice to the mercy-seat; in this mystery of godliness there may 
 be as much comfort in standing before the bar of justice, as the mercy-seat, 
 (i. e.) by standing therein, and through the Lord Jesus Christ; yea, this is 
 the gospel-way, to go to God the Father, and to tender up to him the active 
 and the passive righteousness of Christ his Son for an atonement and satisfac- 
 tion for our sins ; in this way is the comfort of justification brought ; if we go to 
 God in any other way than this, it is but in a natural way, and not in a true 
 evangelical way. A man by nature may know thus much, that when he 
 hath sinned, he must seek unto God for mercy, but to seek unto God for par- 
 don with a price in our hands, to tender up the merits of Jesus Christ for a 
 satisfaction to divine justice : here is the mystery of faith : and yet I speak 
 not against relying on God’s mercy for pardon, but what need we to appeal 
 from justice to mercy, when by faith we may tender the death of Christ, 
 26 
 
402 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 and so find acceptance with the justice of God itself? Come, soul, and let 
 me tell thee for thy comfort, if thou hast any share in the death of Christ, 
 thou hast two tenures to hold thy pardon and salvation by, “ Mercy and jus- 
 tice, free grace and righteousness :” mercy in respect of thee, and justice in 
 respect of Christ; not only is free grace ready to acquit thee, but a full 
 price is laid down to discharge thee of all thy sins; so that now, when the 
 prince of this world comes against thee, thou mayest say in some sense as 
 Christ did, he can find nothing in me; for how can he accuse me seeing 
 Christ is my surety ? Seeing the bond hath been sued, and Christ Jesus 
 would not leave one farthing unpaid. As Paul said to Philemon concerning 
 Onesimus, “ if he have wronged thee, or oweth thee any thing, put it on my 
 account,” so doth Christ say to God, if these have wronged thy majesty, or 
 owe thee any thing, put it on me. Paul indeed added, “ I Paul have writ- 
 ten it with mine own hand;” but Christ speaks thus, “I Jesus have ratified 
 and confirmed it with my own blood.” 
 
 4. Another cries thus, “ Oh ! I know not what will become of me, the 
 first threat that ever was, “(in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalfc 
 surely die,” Gen. 2:17,) now sits on my spirit; methinks I see the grisly 
 form of death standing before me ; Oh ! this is he that is the king of fears, 
 •the chief of terrors, the inlet to all those plagues in another world; and die 
 I must, there is no remedy. Oh ! I startle, and am afraid of it.” 
 
 And why so, “ It is Christ that died,” Rom. 8 : 84. And by his death 
 he hath taken away the sting of death, that now the drone may hiss, but 
 cannot hurt : come, meditate much upon the death of Christ, and thou shalt 
 find matter enough in his death, for the subduing of thy slavish fears of 
 death, both in the merit of it, in the effect of it, and in the end of it. 1. 
 In the merit of it, Christ’s death is meritorious, and in that respect, the writ 
 of mortality is but to the saints a writ of ease, a passage unto glory. 2. In 
 the effect of it, Christ’s death is the conquest of death ; Christ went down 
 into the grave to make a back door, that the grave which was before a 
 prison, might now be a thoroughfare ; so that all his saints may with ease 
 pass through, and sing, “ 0 death where is thy sting ! 0 hell, where is thy 
 victory !” 8. In the end of it, Christ’s death, amongst other ends, aims “ at 
 
 the ruin of him that had the power of death, that is the devil : and to de- 
 liver them, who through fear of death, were all their lifetime in bondage,” 
 Heb. 2 : 14, 15. Christ pursued this end in dying, to deliver thee from the 
 fear of death; and if now thou fearest, thy fearing is a kind of making 
 Christ’s death of none effect. 0 come, and with “joy draw water out of 
 the wells of salvation ?” Isa. 12 : 3. 
 
 5. Another cries thus, “ Oh ! I know not what will become of me ; the 
 very thoughts of hell seem to astonish my heart : methinks I see a little 
 peep-hole down in hell, and the devil roaring there, being reserved in chains 
 under darkness, until the judgment of the great day : and methinks 1 see 
 the damned flaming, and Judas, and all the wicked in the world, and they 
 of Sodom and Gomorrah, there lying and roaring, and gnashing their 
 teeth : now, I have sinned, and why should not I be damned ? Oh ! why 
 should not the wrath of God be executed on me, yea, even upon me.” 
 
 I answer, the death of Christ acquits thee of all, “ Blessed is he that 
 hath a part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath no 
 power,” Rev. 20 : 6. Christ’s death hath taken away the pains of the 
 second death, yea, pains and power too, for it shall never oppress such as 
 belong to Christ. If hell and devils could speak a word of truth, they 
 would say, “ Comfort yourselves, ye believing souls, we have no power over 
 you, for the Lord Jesus hath conquered us, and we have quite lost the 
 cause.” Paul was very confident of this, and therefore he throws down the 
 gauntle.t ; and challengeth a dispute with all comers, “ Who shall lay any 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 403 
 
 CHAP, m.] 
 
 thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth : who is he 
 that condemneth ? It is Christ that died,” Rom. 8 : 33, 34. Let sin, and 
 the law, and justice, and death, and hell, yea, and all the devils in hell 
 unite their forces, this one argument of Christ’s death, (it is Christ that 
 died) will be enough to confute and confound them all. 
 
 Come then, and comfort yourselves all believers in this death of Christ ; 
 what, do you believe ? And are you confident that you do believe ? Why 
 then do you sit drooping? “What manner of communications are these 
 that you have, as ye walk and are sad ?” Luke 24 : 17. Away, away dump- 
 ishness, despair, disquietness of spirit ! Christ is dead, that you might 
 live and be blessed : in this respect, every thing speaks comfort, if you 
 could but see it ; God and men, heaven and earth, angels and devils ; the 
 very justice of God itself is now your friend, and bids you go away com- 
 forted, for it is satisfied to the full ; heaven itself waits on you, and keeps 
 the doors open that your souls may enter; “ We have boldness, (saith the 
 apostle) to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living 
 way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his 
 flesh,” Heb. 10 : 20. Christ’s death hath set open all the golden gates and 
 doors of glory; and therefore go away cheerfully, and get you to heaven, 
 and when you come there, be discouraged or discomforted if you can. O 
 my soul, I see thou art poring on sin, on thy crimson sins, and scarlet 
 sins; but I would have thee dwell on that crimson scarlet blood of Christ; 
 oh ! it is the blood of sprinkling ; it speaks better things than the blood 
 of Abel, it cries for mercy, and pardon, and refreshing, and salvation ; thy 
 sins cry, “ Lord do me justice against such a soul ;” but the blood of Christ 
 hath another cry, “I am abased, and humbled, and I have answered all.” 
 Methinks this should make my heart leap for joy : Oh the honey, the sweet 
 that we may suck out of the blood of Christ ! Come lay to thy mouth, 
 and drink an hearty draught, it is this spiritual wine that makes merry 
 the heart of man, and it is the voice of Christ to all his guests, “ Eat, 0 
 friends, drink, yea, drink abundantly, 0 beloved,” Sol. Song 5 : 1. 
 
 Sect. VIII. — Of calling on Jesus in that respect. 
 
 8. Let us call on Jesus, on God the Father, in and through Jesus. 
 
 1. We must pray, that all these transactions of Christ in his sufferings 
 and death may be ours; if we direct our prayers immediately to Jesus 
 Christ, let us tell him what anguish and pains he hath suffered for our 
 sakes; and let us complain against ourselves, “ Oh ! what shall we do, who 
 by our sins have so tormented our dearest Lord ? What contrition can be 
 great enough, what tears sufficiently expressive, what hatred and detesta- 
 tion, equal and commensurate to those sad and heavy sufferings of our 
 Jesus ?” And then let us pray, that he would pity us, and forgive us those 
 sins wherewith we crucified him, that he would bestow on us the virtue of 
 his sufferings and death, that his wounds might heal us, his death might 
 quicken us, and his blood might cleanse us from all our spiritual filth of 
 sin : and, lastly, that he would assure us, that his death is ours, that he 
 would persuade us, “ That neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor princi- 
 palities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor 
 depth, nor any other creature should be able to separate us from the love 
 of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord,” Rom. 8 : 38., 39. 
 
 2. We mu^t praise the Lord for all these sufferings of Christ. Hath he 
 indeed suffered all these punishments for us ? Oh ! then what shall we 
 render unto the Lord for all his benefits upon us? What shall we do for 
 him, who hath done and suffered all these things? but especially, if we 
 believe our part in the death of Christ, in all the virtues, benefits, victories, 
 purchases, and privileges of his precious death ; Oh then ! what manifold 
 
404 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 cause of thankfulness and praise is here? Be enlarged, 0 my soul ! sound 
 forth the praises of thy Christ ; tell all the world of that warmest love of 
 Christ, which flowed with his blood out of all his wounds into thy spirit; 
 tune thy heart strings aright, and keep consort with all the angels of heaven, 
 and all his saints on earth; sing that Psalm of John the divine, “Unto 
 him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and made 
 us kings and priests unto God, and his Father, to him be glory and domi- 
 nion for ever and ever, Amen,” Rev. 1 : 5, 6. 
 
 Sect. IX. — Of conforming to Jesus in that respect. 
 
 9. Let us conform to Jesus, in respect of his sufferings and death : look- 
 ing unto Jesus is effective of this; objects have an attractive power, that 
 do assimilate or make like unto them ; I have read of a woman, that by 
 fixing the strength of her imagination upon a blackamore on the wall, she 
 brought forth a black and swarthy child. And no question but there is a 
 kind of spiritual imaginative power in faith to be like to Christ, by looking 
 on Christ; come then, and let us look on Christ, and conform to Christ in 
 this respect. 
 
 In this particular, I shall examine these queries, 1. Wherein we must 
 conform ? 2. What is the cause of this conformity ? 3. What are the 
 
 means of this conformity as on our parts ? 
 
 For the first, Wherein we must conform ? I answer, We must conform 
 to Christ in his graces, sufferings, death. 
 
 1. In the graces that most eminently shined in his bitter passion ; his 
 life indeed was a gracious life, he was full of grace, “And of his fulness 
 have all we received, and grace for grace,” John 1 : 16. But his graces 
 shined most clearly and brightly at his death ; as a lily amongst the thorns 
 seems most beautiful, so his graces in his sufferings show most excellent; 
 I shall instance in some of them : — as, 
 
 1. His humility was profound ; what, that the most high God, that the 
 only begotten and eternal Son of God, should vouchsafe so far as to be con- 
 temned, and less esteemed than Barabbas a murderer ? That Christ should 
 be crucified upon a cross, between two thieves, as if he had been the ring- 
 leader of all malefactors; 0! what humility was this? 
 
 2. His patience was wonderful ; in respect of this the apostle Peter sets 
 
 Christ as a blessed example before our eyes, “ If when ye do well, and suf- 
 fer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God, for even here- 
 unto were we called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an exam- 
 ple that we should follow his steps. — Who, when he was reviled, he reviled 
 not again ; when he suffered he threatened not, but committed himself to 
 him that judgeth righteously,” 1 Pet. 2 : 20, 21, 23. 0 the patience of 
 
 Christ ! 
 
 3. His love was fervent; “ Herein is love, not that we loved God, but 
 that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins,” 1 
 John 4 : 10. This love is an example of all love ; it is the fire that should 
 kindle all our sparks, “ Be ye followers of God (saith the apostle) as dear 
 children; and walk in love as Christ also loved us, and gave himself for us 
 an offering and sacrifice unto God for a sweet smelling savor,” Eph. 5 : 1, 2. 
 Some observe that in the temple there were two altars, the brazen and the 
 golden ; the brazen altar was for bloody sacrifices, the golden altar was for 
 the offering of incense ; now the former was a type of Christ’s bloody offer- 
 ing upon the cross, the latter of Christ’s sweet intercession for us in his 
 glory; in regard of both, the apostle tells, that Christ gave himself both 
 for an “ offering and sacrifice of a sweet smelling savor unto God.” 0 ! 
 wbat love was this ! 
 
 4. His mercy was abundant; he took upon him all the miseries and 
 
LOOKING TJNTO JESUS. 
 
 405 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 debts of the world, and he made satisfaction for them all ; he acted our re- 
 demption immediately in his own person; he would not intrust it to angels, 
 but he would come himself and suffer ; nor would he give a low and base 
 price for our souls, he saw the misery was great, and his mercy should be 
 more great ; he would buy us with so great a ransom, as that he might over- 
 buy us, aud none might outbid him in the market of our souls. 0 ! we 
 undervalue and underbid the mercy of God, who overvalued us ; we will not 
 sell all to buy him, but he sold all he had, and himself too, to buy us ; in- 
 deed, if he had not done it we had been damned; and to save our souls he 
 cared not what he did or suffered; 0 the mercy of Christ ! 
 
 5. His meekness was passing great; in all the process of his passion, he 
 showed not the least passion of wrath or anger ; he suffered himself gently 
 and quietly, to be carried like a sheep to the butchery; and “as a lamb 
 before his shearer is dumb, so opened he not his mouth ;” a lamb is a most 
 meek and innocent creature, and therefore Christ is called “ the Lamb of 
 God which taketh away the sins of the world,” John 1 : 29. — “ And he was 
 brought as a lamb to the slaughter,” Isa. 53 : 7. Why, a lamb goes as 
 quietly to the shambles as if it were going to the fold, or to the pasture- 
 field where its dam feedeth ; and so went Christ to his cross ; 0 the meek- 
 ness of Christ ! 
 
 6. His contempt of the world was to admiration ; he tells them, “ his 
 kingdom was not of this world,” John 18 : 36, John 6 : 15. When a crown 
 was offered him, and forced upon him, he refused ; but above all, behold the 
 bed where the bridegroom lieth and sleepeth at noon-day; here is but an 
 hard flock, and narrow room ; 0 blessed head of a dear Redeemer ! how is 
 it that thou hast not a pillow where to rest thyself ! He hangs on the cross 
 all naked, few kings do so : he hath no crown for his head, but one of 
 thorns ; he hath no delicates, but gall and vinegar ; he is leaving the world, 
 and he hath no other legacies to give bis friends but spiritual things, 
 “ Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, 
 give 1 unto you,” John 14 : 27. He had so contemned the world, that he 
 had not a legacy in all the world to give, “ not as the world giveth, give I 
 unto you.” 
 
 7. His obedience was constant; he became obedient unto death, even the 
 death of the cross, Phil. 2 : 8. — “ He sought not his own will, but the will 
 of him that sent him,” John 5 : 30. There was a command, that the 
 Father had on Christ from all eternity, “ 0 my Son, my only begotten Son, 
 thou must go down, and leave heaven, and empty thyself, and die the death, 
 even the death of the cross, and go and bring the fallen sons of Adam out 
 of hell.” Mankind, like a precious ring of glory, fell off the finger of 
 Almighty God, and was broken all in pieces; and thereupon was the com- 
 mand of God, That his Son must stoop down though it pain his back, he 
 must lift up again the broken jewel ; he must restore it, and mend it, and 
 set it as a seal on the heart of God : all which the Lord Jesus did in time, 
 he was obedient till death, and obedient to death, even to the death of the 
 cross. “Son thou must die, said God, Why, Father, I will do it,” said 
 Christ; and accordingly be freely made his soul an offering for sin.” 
 
 Now, in all these graces we must conform to Christ. “Learn of me, for 
 I am meek and lowly,” Matth. 11 : 29. — “ And walk in love as Christ also 
 hath loved us, Enh. 5:2. It is as if Christ had said, Mark the steps where 
 I have trod, ana follow me in humility, in patience, in love, in mercy, in 
 meekness, in contempt of the world, in obedience unto death ; in these and 
 the like graces you must conform to Christ. 
 
 2. We must conform to Christ in his sufferings, if he calls us to them ; 
 this was the apostle’s prayer, “That I may know him, and the power of his 
 resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings,” Phil. 3 : 10. It was his 
 
406 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 desire, that he might experimentally know what exceeding joy and comfort 
 it was to suffer for Christ and with Christ. Concerning this the other apos- 
 tle speaks also, “ Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example that we 
 should follow his steps/’ 1 Pet. 2:21. But the text that seems so perti- 
 nent and yet so difficult, is that of Paul, “I now rejoice in my sufferings 
 for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my 
 flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church,” Col. 1 : 24. One would 
 wonder how Paul should fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of 
 Christ; were Christ’s sufferings imperfect? And must Paul add to them ? 
 No, surely, “ For by one offering Christ hath perfected for ever them that 
 are sanctified,” Heb. 10 : 14. 1 shall not insist on many commentaries, I 
 
 suppose this is the genuine sense and meaning of the Spirit. “ Now re- 
 joice I in my sufferings for you, whereby I fulfil the measure of those tri- 
 bulations which remain yet to be endured of Christ in his mystical body, 
 which I do for the body’s sake, not to satisfy for it, but to confirm it, or 
 strengthen it by my example in the gospel of Christ.” The sufferings of 
 Christ are either personal or general, his personal sufferings were those he 
 endured in his own body as Mediator, which once for ever he finished ; his 
 general sufferings are those which he endures in his mystical body, which is 
 the church, as he is a member with the rest; and those are the sufferings 
 Paul speaks of, and which Paul fills up. 
 
 But, wherein is the conformity betwixt our sufferings and the sufferings 
 of Christ? I answer, 1. Negatively. 2. Positively. 
 
 1. Negatively, our sufferings have no conformity with Christ in these 
 two things; 1. Not in the office of Christ’s sufferings, for his were meri- 
 torious and satisfactory, ours only ministerial and for edification. 2. Not 
 in the weight and measure of Christ’s sufferings, for his were bitter, heavy, 
 and woful, such as would have pressed any other creature as low as hell, 
 aud have swallowed him up for ever; but ours are but in comparison light 
 and tolerable ; “ There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is com- 
 mon to man, for God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above 
 what you are able,” 1 Cor. 10 : 13. 
 
 2. Positively, our sufferings must have conformity with Christ. 1. In 
 the cause of them, Christ’s sufferings were instrumentally from Satan and 
 wicked men : we must look to suffer by the enemies of Christ, if we have 
 any share in Christ, the enemy continues still, “ I will put enmity betwixt 
 thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed,” Gen. 3 : 15. 
 This was primarily meant between the devil and Christ, but if we conform 
 to Christ, we must expect the very same condition. 2. In the manner of 
 undergoing them, we must suffer with a proportion of that humility and 
 patience, and love, and meekness, and obedience, which Christ showed 
 in his very sufferings. 3. In respect of the issue of them, we must look 
 upon Christ’s issue, and expect it to be ours; “ ought not Christ to have 
 suffered these things, and so enter into glory ?” Luke 24 : 26. And “ if 
 so be that we suffer with Christ, we shall be glorified together with Christ,” 
 Bom. 8 : 17. “ If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him.” 
 2 Tim. 2 : 12. 
 
 By reason of this conformity, we have that communion and association 
 with Christ in all these particulars : as, 1. We have Christ’s strength to 
 bear sufferings. 2. His victories to overcome sufferings. 3. His inter- 
 cession to preserve us from falling away in sufferings. 4. His compas- 
 sion to moderate and proportion our sufferings to the measure of strength 
 which he hath given us. 5. His spirit to draw in the same yoke with us, 
 and to hold us under all sufferings, that we sink not. 6. His grace to be 
 more glorious by our sufferings, as a torch when it is shaken shines the 
 brighter. 7. His crown to reward our sufferings, when we shall have 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 407 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 tasted our measure of them, “ For our light affliction which is but for 
 a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
 glory.” 
 
 0 my soul ! study this conformity, and be content with thy portion ; yea, 
 comfort thyself in this condition of sufferings; must we not drink of our 
 Saviour’s cup? What, not of our Master’s own cup ? We read of Godfrey 
 of Bouillon, that he would not be crowned in Jerusalem with a crown of 
 gold, where Christ was crowned with a crown of thorns, because he would 
 not have such a great disproportion between him and Christ. And we 
 read of Origen, that when Alexander Severus, the emperor, sent for him 
 to Rome, that he might take his choice, whether he would ride thither on 
 a mule or in a chariot, that he refused them both, saying, “ He was less 
 than his Master Christ, of whom he never read that he rode but once.” 
 
 0 the sufferings Christ endured ! He was called a wine bibber, a Samari- 
 tan, a devil ; he was pursued, entrapped, snared, slain : and surely they 
 that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution, 2 Tim. 3 : 12. 
 Never wonder that thou art hated of men, or persecuted of men ; why, I 
 tell thee, if Christ himself was now amongst us, in the form and fashion 
 of a servant, in that very condition that sometimes he was, and should 
 convince men of their wickedness, as searchingly as sometimes he did, I 
 verily think he would be the most hated man in the world. It is plain 
 enough what carnal men would do, by those very doings of the carnal 
 Jews. 
 
 3. We must conform to Christ in his death, carrying in us a resemblance 
 and representation of his death. But, what death is this ? I answer in a 
 word, “ A death unto sin (so the apostle) in that he died, he died unto sin ; 
 likewise reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin,” Rom. 6 : 10, 11. 
 There is a likeness betwixt Christ’s death and our death in this respect, 
 “ We are planted together in the likeness of his death,” Rom. 6 : 5. True 
 mortification carries a similitude, a likeness, a resemblance of the death of 
 Christ. As for instance. 
 
 1. Christ’s death was a voluntary death,* “I lay down my life, that I 
 may take it again : no man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself; 
 
 1 have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again,” John 10 : 
 17, 18. Not all men on earth, nor all the devils in hell could have enforced 
 Christ’s death, if he had not pleased : his death was a voluntary death, a 
 spontaneous act, so is our mortification : “ Thy people shall be willing in 
 the day of thy power,” Psal. 110:3; many may leave their sius against 
 their wills, but this is not true mortification, it bears not in it the likeness 
 of Christ’s death, for he died willingly : it may be thou hast a clamorous 
 conscience, which continually dogs thee, and therefore thou leavest thy 
 sin: thus Judas came in with his thirty pieces of silver, and cast them 
 down in the temple at the high priesc’s feet, Matth. 27 : 5, but no thanks 
 to Judas, for they were too hot for him to hold, or it may be there is some 
 penally of the law, or some temporal judgment that hangs over thy head, 
 like Damocles’ sword; and therefore thou leavest thy sin : thus Ahab, for 
 a time, acts the part of a penitent; but no thanks to Ahab, for the prophet 
 had rung him such a peal for his sin, as made both his ears tingle, “In 
 the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick thy 
 blood, even thine,” 1 Kings 21 : 19. Or, it may be, there is in thee a fear 
 of hell; in thy apprehension death is come, and is ready to carry thee 
 before the dreadful tribunal of a terrible God; and therefore thou leavest 
 thy sin : thus seamen, in a stress, part with their goods, not because they 
 are out of love with them, but because they love their lives better ; they 
 
 * See Mr. Brinsley at large, mystical implantation. 
 
408 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 see plainly, that either they must part with them, or perish with them. 
 Now, in these cases, thy leaving of sin bears no similitude with the death 
 of Christ, for his death was voluntary, and a true mortification is a volun- 
 tary action. 
 
 Quest. But may there not be some reluctancy in this work betwixt the 
 flesh and the spirit? And if so, is it then voluntary? I answer, — 
 
 Ans. Yes : such a reluctancy we find in the human nature of Christ 
 concerning the cup, that it might “pass from him/’ Matth. 27 : 39, and yet 
 his death was a voluntary death. An action is said to be voluntary or 
 involuntary, according to the superior faculties of the soul, and not according 
 to the inferior : if the reasonable part be consenting, the action may be called 
 voluntary, though there be some reluctancy in the sensitive appetite. Thus 
 in the Christian, in whom there is nature and grace, flesh and spirit, an 
 unregenerate and a regenerate part; if the superior and better part be will- 
 ing) I mean advisedly and deliberately willing, with full consent of the 
 inward man) though perhaps there may be some reluctancy in the flesh, 
 in the unregenerate part, yet this is said to be a true voluntary act, “ so 
 then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with my flesh the 
 law of sin,” Bom. 7 : 25. “I delight in the law of God after the inward 
 man ; but I see another law in rny members, warring against the law of my 
 mind,” verse 22, 23. Paul was dead to sin, according to the inward man, 
 the regenerate part, though he found a reluctancy in his outward members; 
 and therefore, his death to sin carried with it the resemblance of the death 
 of Christ; it was a voluntary death. 
 
 2. Christ’s death was a violent death : he died not naturally, but vio- 
 lently; “ He was put to death in the flesh,” 1 Pet. 3 : 18. “ He was brought 
 as a lamb to the slaughter,” Isa. 53 : 7. So is our mortification, it is volun- 
 tary in respect of us, but violent in respect of sin ; and herein is the life 
 (as I may say) of this death ; oh ! when a man lays violent hands on his 
 sins; when he cuts them off 1 , being yet in their flower, and strength, and 
 power, and vigor; when he pulls up those weeds before they wither in 
 themselves, this is true mortification : many have felt their sins, who never 
 mortified them ; so the aged adulterer hath left his lust, because his body is 
 dead : and hence it is, “ That late repentance in an aged sinner is seldom 
 found true ! alas ! he dies not to sin, but his sin dies to him ; I will not say 
 but God may call at the eleventh hour, though it be very seldom, but in 
 that case, you had need to be jealous over yourselves with a godly jealousy; 
 what, do you find some sius within you to be dead that were sometimes 
 alive ? 0 be inquisitive, impannel a jury, call a coroner’s inquest upon 
 
 your own souls, inquire how they came by their deaths, whether they died 
 a violent or natural death : search what wounds they have received, and 
 whether they were deadly wounds, yea, or no; inquire what weapon it was 
 that slew them, whether the sword of the Spirit, that two-edged sword the 
 word of God; what purposes, what resolutions have been taken up and 
 levelled against them ? What prayers and tears have been spent upon 
 them ? If you find not these signs, you may give in your verdict, that 
 they died not a violent, but a natural death. And here is a good caveat for 
 others, “ Bemember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the 
 evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have 
 no pleasure in them,” Eccl. 12 : 1. Oh ! take heed of reprieving your 
 lusts! let them not live till to-morrow; now bring them forth in the sight 
 and presence of God; arraign, condemn, crucify, mortify them whilst they 
 may yet live. Surely this is true mortification, when the body of sin dieth, 
 as Christ died, a violent death. 
 
 3. Christ’s dea-th was a lingering death ; he hung divers hours upon the 
 cross, “ Prom the sixth hour to the ninth hour,” (saith Matthew,) Matth. 
 
CHAP. III.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 409 
 
 27 : 45, i. e., from our twelve to three, before he gave up the ghost; so is 
 our mortification a lingering death ; sin is not put to death all at once, but 
 languisheth by little and little. This is looked upon as one main difference 
 betwixt justification and sanctification : the former is a perfect work, ad- 
 mitting of no degrees, but so is not the latter ? though a believer is freed 
 perfectly from the guilt of sin, yet not from the power of it; sin dwelleth 
 in us, though it hath not altogether a dominion over us, “ It is no more I 
 that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me,” Rom. 7 : 17, like a rebellious 
 tenant, it keeps possession in spite of the owner, till the house be pulled 
 down over his head. True indeed, the body of sin in a regenerate soul 
 hath received its death-wound, and in that respect it may be said to be dead, 
 but it is not quite dead, still it stirreth and moveth, dying but by degrees ; 
 what the apostle saith of the renewing of the new man, we may say of the 
 old man, “The inward man is renewed day by day,” 2 Cor. 4 : 16, and 
 the old man is destroyed day by day ; or as Paul said of himself, in respect 
 of his afflictions, we may say of a Christian in respect of his sins, “ I die 
 daily, ” 1 Cor. 15 : 31. There is not the most sanctified soul upon earth, 
 but it hath some remainders of corruption left in it, which God, in his wise 
 providence permits, for the trying, exercising, and humbling of our souls, 
 and for the making his own rich grace, in renewing and multiplying pardons, 
 so much the more glorious. 
 
 And here is a ground of consolation to a drooping and dejected soul ; 
 such a one cries out, “Alas ! I feel the stirring and vigorous actings of sin, 
 and I am afraid my sin is not mortified, as Rebekah said when she felt the 
 children struggling within her, “ If it be so why am I thus ?” Gen. 25 : 22. 
 So if sin be mortified, (saith the soul) “Why am I thus ?” — Trembling 
 soul ! let not this discourage : Jesus Christ was not dead so soon as he was 
 fastened to the cross; but hast thou taken the same course with the body 
 of sin, that the Jews did with the body of Christ ? Hast thou arraigned 
 it, accused it, and condemned it, and fastened it to the cross ? Hast thou 
 arraigned it at the bar of God’s judgment, accused it by way of humble 
 and hearty confession, condemning it in passing the sentence of eternal 
 condemnation upon thyself for it, and fastened it to the cross, in beginning 
 the execution of it, in setting upon the mortification of it with a serious 
 and unfeigned resolution to use all means for its mortifying and killing ? 
 Why then, be not disheartened, it may be thou feelest it stirring and strug- 
 gling within thee, and so will a crucified man do, and yet in the eye of the 
 law, and in the account of all men that see him, he is a dead man ; surely 
 so is the body of sin when it is thus crucified, though it still move and stir, 
 yet upon a gospel account, and in God’s estimation, it is no better than 
 dead, and it shall certainly die, it shall decay and languish, and die more 
 and more. Is not the promise express ; “ He that hath begun the good 
 work he will perfect it to the day of Jesus Christ,” Phil. 1:6. Of this 
 Paul was confident in behalf of his Philippians; and of this, let all true 
 believers rest confident in respect of themselves. Thus far we see wherein 
 we must conform to Christ, viz. In his graces, iu his sufferings, and in his 
 death. 
 
 For the second query, What is the cause of this conformity ? I answer, 
 The death of Christ is the cause of this conformity, and that a four-fold 
 cause : 
 
 1. It is a meritorious cause; Christ’s death was of so great a price, that 
 it deserved at God’s hands our conformity to Christ. “ Christ loved the 
 church, aud gave himself for it, that by his death he might sanctify it, and 
 cleanse it; — And present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot 
 or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy, and without 
 blemish,” Eph. 5 : 25, 26, 27. 
 
410 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 2. It is an exemplary cause, “ He suffered for us, leaving us an example 
 that we should follow his steps,” 1 Pet. 2:21; he died for us, leaving us 
 an example that we should die to sin, as he died for sin : we may observe 
 in many particulars (besides those I have named) a proportion, analogy, and 
 likeness betwixt Christ’s death and ours ; Qhrist died as a servant, to note 
 that sin should not rule or reign over us ; Christ died as a curse, to note 
 that we should look upon sin as a cursed thing; Christ was fast nailed on 
 the cross, to note that we should put sin out of ease, yea, crucify the whole 
 body of sin ; Christ died not presently, yet there he hung till he died, to 
 note that we should never give over subduing sin, while it hath any life or 
 working in us. 
 
 3. It is an efficient cause, it works this conformity by a secret virtue 
 issuing from it. Thus Christians are said to be “ ingraffed with Christ in 
 the likeness of his death,” Rom. 6 : 5. The word ( omoiomati ,) is of a 
 passive signification, importing not only a being like, but a being made 
 like, and that by a power and virtue out of ourselves, so the apostle else- 
 where interprets, “ That I may know him, — and the fellowship of his suf- 
 ferings, being made conformable unto his death,” Phil. 3 : 10, not con- 
 forming myself, but being made conformable, by a power out of myself. 
 
 Quest. But how then is the power of mortification attributed to men ? 
 As “ Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth,” Col. 3 : 
 5. — “ And they which are Christ’s have crucified the flesh,” Gal. 5 : 24. 
 
 Answ. I Answer, There is a twofold mortification, the one habitual, 
 the other practical ; the former consists in a change of the heart, turning 
 the bent and inclination of the heart from all manner of sin. Now, this 
 is the only and immediate work of the Spirit of grace, breathing and 
 working where it will ; the latter consists in the exercise or putting forth 
 of that inward grace, in the acting of that principle, in resisting tempta- 
 tions, in suppressing inordinate lusts, in watching against sinful and 
 inordinate acts. Now, this is the work of a regenerate person, himself 
 co-operating with the Spirit of God, as a rational instrument with the 
 principal agent: and therefore the apostle joins both together, “If ye, 
 through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live,” Rom. 
 8: 13. 
 
 4. It is an impelling or a moving cause, as all objects are; for objects 
 have an attractive power. Achan saw the wedge of gold, and then coveted 
 it; David saw Bathsheba, and then desired her. As the brazen serpent 
 did heal those who were bitten by the fiery serpent, Tanquam objectum 
 Jidei, merely by being looked upon, so Christ crucified doth heal sin, beget 
 grace, encourage to sufferings, by being looked upon with the eyes of faith, 
 “ Wherefore, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of wit- 
 nesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset 
 us; aud let us run with patience the race that is set before us; looking 
 unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith,” Heb. 12 : 1, 2. The 
 apostle was to encourage the Hebrews to hold on the well-begun profession 
 of faith in Christ; and to that purpose, he sets before them two sights to 
 keep them from fainting, 1. “ A cloud of witnesses,” the saints in heaven ; 
 on which cloud, when he had stayed their eyes a while, and made them fit 
 for a clearer object, he scatters the cloud, and presents “ the Sun of righte- 
 ousness,” Christ himself; and he wills them ( aphora ,) to turn their eyes 
 from it to him, “ Looking unto Jesus,” q. d. this sight is enough to make 
 you run the race, and not to faint ; why Jesus is gone before you, aud will 
 you not follow him? 0 look unto Jesus, and the very sight of him will 
 draw you after him; Christ crucified hath an attractive power, “And I, if 
 1 be lifted up, will draw all men to me,” John 12 : 32. Thus of the causes 
 of our conformity ; we see how it is wrought. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 411 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 3. For the last query, what are the means of this conformity as on our 
 part ? I answer, 
 
 1. Go to the cross of Jesus Christ. It is not all our purposes, resolu- 
 tions, promises, vows, covenants, endeavors without this, that will effect our 
 conformity to Christ in his sufl^rings and death ; no, no, this conformity is 
 a fruit and effect of the death of Christ ; and therefore, whosoever would 
 have this work wrought in him, let him first have recourse to Christ’s cross ; 
 0 ! go we more immediately to the cross of Jesus. 
 
 2. Look up to him that hangs upon it, contemplate the death of Jesus 
 Christ, consider seriously and sadly, his bitter, shameful, painful sufferings : 
 much hath been said, only here draw it in unto some epitome; as, 1. Con- 
 sider who he was. 2. What he suffered. 3. Why he suffered. 4. For 
 whom he suffered. 5. For what end he suffered. 6. With what mind he 
 suffered : every one of these will make some discoveries either of his graces, 
 or of his gracious actings in our behalf : and who can tell how far this very 
 look may work on us to change us, and transform us unto the very image 
 of Jesus Christ? 
 
 3. Let us humbly bewail our defect, exorbitancy, irregularity, and in- 
 conformity either to the graces, sufferings, or death of Christ. As thus, 
 “Lo here the profound humility, wonderful patience, fervent love, abun- 
 dant mercy, admirable meekness, constant obedience of Jesus Christ ! lo 
 here the tortures, torments, agonies, conflicts, extreme sufferings of Christ 
 for the spiritual immortal good of the precious souls of his redeemed ones ! 
 lo here the death of Christ, see how he bowed the head, and gave up the 
 ghost ! why these are the particulars to which I should conform ; but, oh 
 alas ! what a wide, vast, utter difference, distance, disproportion is there 
 betwixt me and them: Christ in his sufferings shined with graces; his 
 graces appeared in his sufferings like so many stars in a bright winter’s 
 night, but how dim are the faint, weak graces in my soul? Christ, in his 
 sufferings, endured much for me, I know not how much. By thine un- 
 known sorrows and sufferings felt by thee, but not distinctly known to us 
 (said the ancient fathers of the Greek church in their liturgy) have mercy 
 upon us, and save us ; his sorrows and sufferings were so great that some 
 think it dangerous to define them : but how poor, how little are my suffer- 
 ings for Jesus Christ? I have not yet resisted unto blood; and if I had, 
 what were this in comparison of his extreme sufferings ? Christ in his suf- 
 ferings died, his passive obedience was unto death, even to the death of the 
 cross ; he hung on the cross till he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost, 
 “ He died unto sin once,” liom. 6 : 10. But alas ! how do I live in that 
 for which he died? To this day my sin hath not given up the ghost; to 
 this day the death of Christ is not the death of my sin ; 0 ! my sin is not 
 yet crucified, the heart blood of my sin is not yet let out ; Oh ! wo is me ! 
 how unanswerable am I to Christ in all these respects. 
 
 4. Let us quicken, provoke, and rouse up our souls to this conformity : 
 let us set before them exciting arguments, ex. gr. The greatest glory that 
 a Christian can attain to in this world, is to have a resemblance and likeness 
 to Jesus Christ. Again, the more like we are to Christ, the more we are 
 in the love of God, and the better he is pleased with us ; it was his voice 
 concerning his Son, “ This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;” 
 and for his sake, if we were but like him, he is also well pleased with us. 
 Again, a likeness or resemblance of Christ is that which keeps Christ alive 
 in the world; as we say of a child that is like his father, “ This man can- 
 not die so long as his son is alive ;” so we may say of Christians who re- 
 semble Christ, that so long as they are in the world Christ cannot die ; he 
 lives in them, and he is no otherwise alive in this nether world, than in the 
 hearts of gracious Christians, that carry the picture and resemblance of him. 
 
412 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK TY. 
 
 Again, a likeness to Christ in his death, will cause a likeness to Christ in 
 his glory. If we have been planted “ together in the likeness of his death, 
 we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection,” Rom. 6:5. As it is 
 betwixt the graft and the stock, the graft seeming dead with the stock in 
 the winter, it revives with it in the spring ; ^after the winter’s death it par- 
 takes of the spring’s resurrection : so is it betwixt Christ and us; if with 
 Christ we die to sin, we shall with Christ be raised to glory; being con- 
 formed to him in his death, we shall be also in his resurrection. Thus let 
 us quicken and provoke our souls to this conformity. 
 
 5. Let us pray to God, that he will make us conformable to Jesus Christ. 
 Is it grace we want ? let us beg of him, that of that fulness that is in 
 Christ, we may, in our measure, receive grace for grace. Is it patience, or 
 joy in sufferings that we want? Let us beg of him, that as he hath pro- 
 mised, he will send us the Comforter, that so we may follow Christ cheer- 
 fully from his cross to his crown, from earth to heaven. Is it mortification 
 our souls pant after ? This indeed makes us most like to Christ in his 
 sufferings and death ; why then pray we for this mortification ? 
 
 But how should we pray? I auswer, 1. Let us plainly acknowledge, and 
 heartily bemoan ourselves in God’s bosom for our sins, our abominable sins. 
 2. Let us confess our weakness, feebleness, and inability in ourselves to 
 subdue our sins. “We have no might (may we say) against this great 
 company that come against us ; neither know we what to do, but our eyes 
 are upon thee,” 2 Chron. 20 : 12. 3. Let us put up our request, begging 
 
 help from heaven ; let us cry to God that virtue may come out of Christ’s 
 death to mortify our lusts, to heal our natures, to staunch our bloody issues ; 
 and that the spirit may come in to help us in these works, “ For by the 
 Spirit do we mortify the deeds of the body,” Rom. 8 : 13. 4. Let us press 
 
 God with the merits of Christ, and with his promises through Christ, for 
 he hath said, “ Sin shall not have dominion over us, for we are not under 
 the law, but under grace,” Rom. 6: 14. and Paul experienced it, “The 
 law of the Spirit of life in Christ, hath freed me from the law of sin and 
 death,” Rom. 8:2. 5. Let us praise God, and thank God for the help 
 
 already received, if we find that we have gotten more ability to oppose the 
 lusts of the flesh, that we are seldom overtaken with any breaking forth of 
 it, that we have been able to withstand some notable temptations to it, that 
 the force of it in us is in any measure abated, that indeed and in truth 
 virtue is gone out of the death of Christ ; 0 then return we praises to God, 
 let us triumph in God, let us lead our captivity captive, and sing new songs 
 of praises unto God, and even ride in triumph over our corruptions, boast- 
 ing ourselves in God, and setting up our banners in the name of the most 
 High, and offering up humble and hearty thanks to our Father for the death 
 of Christ, and for the merit, virtue and efficacy of it derived unto us, and 
 bestowed upon us ! 
 
 6. Let us frequently return to our looking up unto Jesus Christ, to our 
 believing in Christ as he was lifted up : How we are to manage our faith, 
 to draw down the virtue of Christ’s death into our souls, I have discovered 
 before ; and let us now be in the practice of those rules ; certainly there is 
 a conveyance of an healing, strengthening, quickening virtue, flowing into 
 the soul in the time of its viewing, eyeing, contemplating, reflecting upon 
 Christ crucified, Christ lifted up; and this comes from the secret presence 
 of God, blessing this our looking upon Christ, as the ordinance by which 
 he hath appointed to make an effectual impression upon the heart. It is 
 not for us curiously to inquire how this should be : “ principles (we say) 
 are not to be proved;” save only God hath said it, and experience hath 
 found it out, that when faith is occasioned to act on any suitable sacred 
 object, God by his Spirit, doth not fail to answer; in such a case he fills 
 
CHAP. HI.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 413 
 
 the soul with comfort, blessing, virtue : he returns upon the soul, by, from, 
 and through the actings of faith, whatsoever by it is looked for. Indeed 
 none knoweth this but he that feels it, and none feels this that knowetk 
 how to express it ; as there is somewhat in the fire, heat, warmth and light, 
 which no painter can express : and as there is somewhat in the face, heat, 
 warmth, and life, which no limner can set forth, so there is somewhat flow- 
 ing into the soul, while it is acting faith on the death of Christ, which for 
 the rise or manner of its working, is beyond what tongue can speak, or pen 
 can write, or pencil can delineate. Come then, if we would have grace, 
 endure afflictions, die to sin, grow in our mortification, let us again, and 
 again return to our duty of looking unto Jesus, or believing in Jesus as 
 he was lifted up. 
 
 And yet, when all is done, let us not think that sin will die or cease in 
 ns altogether, for that is an higher perfection than this life will' bear; only 
 in the use of the means, and through Cod’s blessing we may expect thus 
 far that sin shall not reign, it shall not wear a crown, it shall not sit in the 
 throne, it shall hold no parliaments, it shall give no laws within us; we 
 shall not serve it, but we shall die to the dominion of it by virtue of this 
 death of Jesus Christ. And this grant he who died for us. Amen, 
 Amen. 
 
 Thus far we have looked on Jesus, as our Jesus, in his sufferings and 
 death. Our next work is to look on Jesus, carrying on the great work of 
 our salvation, during the time of his resurrection, and abode upon earth, 
 until his ascension, or taking up to heaven. 
 
 John 20 : 1 — 19. “ The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene 
 early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken 
 away from the sepulchre,” &c. 
 
 John 20 : 19, 20. “The same day at evening, being the first day of the 
 week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear 
 of the Jews, came Jesus, and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, 
 Peace be unto you; and when he had so said, he showed unto them his 
 hands and his side.” 
 
 John 20 : 26, 27, 28. “And after eight days again, his disciples were 
 within, and Thomas with them ; then came Jesus, the doors being shut, 
 and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you; then saith he to 
 Thomas, reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither 
 thy hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing : 
 and Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord, and my God.” 
 
 John 21 : 1 — 15. “After these things, Jesus showed himself again to 
 his disciples, at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise showed he him- 
 self,” &c. 
 
 Heb. 12 : 2. Matth. 28 : 6. 2 Tim. 2 : 7, 8. “ Looking unto Jesus the 
 
 beginner and finisher of our faith. — He is not here, for he is risen, — Come, 
 see the place where the Lord lay. — Consider what I say, and the Lord give 
 thee understanding in all things : remember that Jesus Christ of the seed 
 of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel.” 
 
 Rev. 1 : 17, 18. “And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead, and 
 he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, fear not, I am the first 
 and the last; I am he that liveth, and was dead, and behold I am alive for 
 evermore.” Amen. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS, 
 
 IN HIS RESURRECTION. 
 
 THE FOURTH BOOK.— PART IV. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 He is risen. — Come see the place where the Lord lay. Matth. 28 : 6. 
 
 Kemember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead. 
 
 2 Tim. 2 : 8. 
 
 Sect. I. Of the time of Christ’s resurrection. 
 
 The sun that went down in a ruddy cloud, is risen again with glorious 
 beams of light. In this piece as in the former, we shall first lay down the 
 object, and then give directions how to look upon it. 
 
 The object is Jesus carrying on the work of man’s salvation in his resur- 
 rection ; and during the time of his abode upon earth after his resurrection. 
 Now, in all the transactions of this time, I shall only take notice of these 
 two things. 1. Of his resurrection. 2. Of his apparition ; for, first, he 
 rose, and secondly, he shows himself that he was risen ; in the first is the 
 position, in the second is the proof. 
 
 1. For the position, the Scripture tells us, That he rose again the third 
 day. In this point, I shall observe these particulars. 1. When he arose. 
 2. Why he arose. 3. How he arose. 
 
 1. When he arose; it was the third day after his crucifying, “As Jonas 
 was three days and three nights together in the whale’s belly, so shall the 
 Son of man be three days and three Dights in the heart of the earth,” 
 Matth. 12 : 40. This was the time he had appointed, and this was the time 
 appropriated to Christ, and marked out for him in the calendar of the pro- 
 phets : Of all those whom God raised from the dead to life, there is not 
 one that was raised on the third day but Jesus Christ; some rose before, 
 and some after ; the son of the Shunamite, the son of the widow of Sarepta, 
 the daughter of Jairus, he of Nain, and some others rose before ; Lazarus, 
 and the saints that arose from the dust when Christ rose, stayed longer in 
 the grave; but Christ takes the third day, which discovers him to be the 
 Messiah ; Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to 
 rise from the dead the third day, Luke 24 : 46. Had he rose sooner, a 
 doubt might have been of his dying, and had he lain longer, a doubt might 
 have been of his rising : he would rise no sooner, because in some diseases, 
 as in the apoplexy, or such like, examples are given of such, as seeming 
 to be dead, have indeed revived: and be would indeed lie no longer in his 
 
 (414) 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 415 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 sjave, because in all dead carcasses, and especially in a wounded body, 
 putrefaction and corruption begin the third day, this may be gathered from 
 the story of Lazarus in the gospel, where Jesus commanding the stone to 
 be rolled from his grave, Martha, his sister, answered, “ Lord, by this 
 time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days,” John 11 : 89. Now 
 the body of Christ, as it was prophesied, must not corrupt, “ For thou 
 wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see 
 corruption,” Psa. 16 : 10. Mark this text ; all men shall rise again, but 
 their bodies must first see corruption, only the Messiah was to rise again 
 before he saw corruption, and therefore he would not delay his resurrec- 
 tion after the third day. Some think this, and that of Hosea, “After two 
 days he will revive us, and in the third day he will raise us up,” Hosea 
 6 : 2, to be the main texts to which Christ refers; when he said, u Thus it 
 is written,” Luke 24 : 46. And to which the apostle refers, when he said, 
 That “ Christ rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,” 1 Cor. 
 15:4. 
 
 I dare not be too curious in giving reasons for this set time, and the 
 rather because Christ is a free worker of his own affairs ; he doeth what he 
 pleaseth, and when he pleaseth ; times and actions are in his own power, 
 and he needs not to give us any account of them ; and yet, so far as Scrip- 
 ture discovers, we may go along, and amongst many others, I shall lay 
 down these following reasons : 
 
 1. Because the types had so prefigured; we see it in Isaac, Jonah, and 
 
 Hezekiah, a patriarch, a prophet* and a king. 1. For Isaac, from the 
 time that God commanded Isaac to be offered for a burnt-offering, Isaac 
 was a dead man, but the third day he was released from death : this the 
 text tells us expressly, that it was the third day when Abraham came to 
 Mount Moriah, and had his son, as it were, restored to him again, Gen. 
 22 : 4, and Paul discovers, that this was in a figure, Heb. 11 : 19. 2. For 
 
 Jonah, from the time that Jonah was cast into the sea, and swallowed up 
 of the fish ; Jonah was in account as a dead man, but the third day the 
 Lord spake unto the fish, “ and it vomited up Jonah upon the dry land,” 
 Jonah 2:10. Aud that this was a figure of Christ, Christ himself dis- 
 covers, “ For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, 
 so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the 
 earth,” Matth. 12 :40. 3. For Hezekiah, from the time that Isaiah said 
 
 unto him, “ Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live,” 
 2 Kings 20:1. Hezekiah was in account as a dead man ; his bed was to 
 him as a grave, but on the third day he was now miraculously raised up 
 again; and as the prophet said, “On the third day thou shalt go up to the 
 house of the Lord,” verse 5. Surely this was a figure of Christ, and these 
 types prefiguring Christ, are as one reason. 
 
 2. Because the prophets and himself had so foretold ; for the prophets 
 we have cited, Psa. 16 : 10. Hos. 6 : 2, and for himself, he told them very 
 expressly, that “ he must suffer many things of the elders, and chief priests, 
 and scribes, and be raised again the third day,” Matth. 16 :21. Yea, said 
 he, “ The Sou of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men, and they 
 shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again,” Matth. 17 : 22, 
 23, and after this he tells them again, That “ the Son of man should be 
 betrayed, — and crucified, and the third day he should rise again,” Matth. 
 20 : 18, 19, so often had he prophesied thus, that the chief priests and Pha- 
 risees came to Pilate after his death, saying, Sir, we remember that this 
 deceiver said, while he was yet alive, after three days I will rise again, 
 command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the thiid day, 
 Matth. 27 : 62, 63, 64. And no question his disciples remembered these 
 sayings, for so the two disciples travelling towards Emrnaus, after they 
 
416 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 had said many things concerning him, and that they trusted it had been 
 he which should have redeemed Israel, they added this as a most special 
 observation above all the rest, That “ to-day is the third day, since these 
 things were done,” Luke 24 : 21. Why, all these signify, that his rising 
 on the third day was the accomplishment of prophecies, and a certain evi- 
 dence that he was the Messiah indeed. 
 
 3. Because that time was most suitable for comforting his friends, for 
 confounding his enemies, for clearing the truth both of his humanity and 
 divinity, he would stay no longer, lest his disciples might have been swal- 
 lowed up with grief ; and he would come no sooner, lest his enemies should 
 have urged, that he had not died ; the watchmen kept the sepulchre till this 
 very time, but then the angels appearing, and the earth trembling, they be- 
 came as dead men ; and as soon as they could they ran away ; and with 
 their tidings confounded all Christ’s enemies. And withal, as Christ con- 
 sisted both of a divine and human nature, so in respect of his humanity, he 
 must die ; and to show his death, it was requisite that he should rise no 
 sooner than the third day, and, in respect of his divinity, it was impossible 
 that he should be held of death any longer than three days, for as he must 
 not see corruption, so, u God raised him up, having loosed the pains of death, 
 because it was not possible that he should be holden of it,” Acts 2 : 24. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the reasons of Christ’s resurrection. 
 
 2. Why he arose, We have three reasons : 
 
 1. That he might powerfully convihce or confound his adversaries, they 
 that crucified him were mightily afraid of his resurrection ; they could tell 
 Pilate, “ Sir, we remember, this deceiver said while he was yet alive, after 
 three days I will rise again,” Matth. 27 : 63, 64. And therefore they desire 
 him of all loves “ to command the sepulchre to be made sure until the 
 third day :” if ever he rise again whom they have killed, then they knew 
 they were all ashamed, then “ the last error, (as they said) would be worse 
 than the first :” all the world would look on them as a cursed generation, to 
 kill the Messiah, to crucify such a one, as after his death and burial should 
 rise again : now then, that he might either convince them, or confound 
 them, notwithstanding their care, their watch, their seal, their making all 
 sure as possibly they could ; at the very same time he had told them be- 
 fore, he broke open the gates of death, and made the gates of brass to flee 
 asunder. 
 
 2. That he might confirm the faith of all his followers, “If Christ be not 
 risen, your faith is vain,” (saith the apostle), 1 Cor. 15 : 14. Christ’s resur- 
 rection both confirms our faith, as to his person and to his office; for his 
 person, this speaks him to be “ the eternal Son of God, by his resurrection 
 from the dead,” Rom. 1 : 4, and for his office, this speaks him to be the 
 promised Messiah, the great Prophet, the chief High Priest, the King and 
 Saviour of his church : when the Jews saw Christ purging the temple, and 
 Messiah-like, reforming what he saw amiss in the house of God : “What 
 sign (say they) showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things ? 
 And he said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise 
 it up. — When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remem- 
 bered that he had said this unto them, and they believed the scripture, and 
 the word which Jesus had said,” John 2 : 18, 19, 22. As the resurrection 
 of Christ argues his Mediatorship, so it confirms their faith, as it is said, 
 “They believed the scriptures, and they believed Jesus Christ.” And thus 
 John writing of his resurrection, tells us, “These things are written, that 
 ye might believe, and that believing,” &c., John 20 : 31. 
 
 3. That it might clearly appear, that he had fully satisfied the justice of 
 God for sin ; so it was, that God laid the forfeiture of the bond on Christ, 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 417 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 he arrested him, brought him to the jail of the grave, and there he was till 
 the debt was paid to the utmost farthing: and then, that it might clearly 
 appear that the bond was cancelled, the prisoner discharged, God’s justice 
 satisfied, he rose again from the dead. Some make a question when this 
 bond was cancelled ; and they say, as the debt was paid, so the bond was 
 cancelled ere he stirred ofif the cross (only by the cross I suppose they mean 
 the utmost degree of Christ’s humiliation, viz., his being held in captivity 
 and bondage under death) and so, “the hand-writing of the law that was 
 against us,” was there delivered him; and there he “blotted it out, can- 
 celled it, took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross,” Col. 2 : 14. Others 
 think, that as to the full discharge of a debt, and freeing the debtor, two 
 tilings are requisite : First, The payment of the debt, Secondly, The tearing 
 or cancelling of the bond ; so the payment was wrought by Christ’s death, 
 and the cancelling of the bond was at his resurrection ; I shall not disprove 
 either of these, I am sure this is without all controversy, that Christ rose, 
 that it might fully appear, that now the bond was cancelled, and God’s 
 justice satisfied. 
 
 4. That he might overcome and conquer sin, death, and devil; and hence 
 the apostle cries victory, upon the occasion of Christ’s resurrection, “ 0 
 death, where is thy sting ! 0 grave, where is thy victory?” 1 Cor. 15 : 55. 
 Now was the day that he broke the prison, and carried the keys of death 
 and hell at his own girdle : now was the day that he spoiled principalities 
 and powers, that he trode on the serpent’s head, and all to bruise it; that 
 he came upon him, took from him his armor wherein he trusted, and divided 
 his spoils: now was the day that the Jew lost his rage, and death his sting, 
 and the grave his corruption, and hell his purchase ! now was the day of 
 his victory over ail his enemies : now was the day that the Phoenix sprung 
 up out of its own ashes, that Jonas came safe out of the belly of the whale, 
 that the tabernacle of David that was fallen was raised again, that the sun 
 of righteousness covered with a cloud, appeared and shone with greater 
 lustre than before ; that Samson took the gates of the city, and carried them 
 away : he rose even up on that account. 
 
 5. That he might “ become the first-fruits of them that slept,” 1 Cor. 
 15 : 20. Christ is called the first-fruits in a double respect. 1. In respect 
 of the day whereon he rose ; Paul was an excellent critic, the very feast 
 carried him to the word ; as the day of his passion was the day of the Pass- 
 over, and the apostle thence could say “ Christ is our passover;” 1 Cor. 
 15 : 7, so the day of Christ’s rising, was the day of the first-fruits : and the 
 apostle thence could say, “ Christ is our first-fruits,” 1 Cor. 15 : 20. Con- 
 cerning this feast of the first-fruits we read, Lev. 22 : 10, 11. It was their 
 harvest, of their basest grain barley, but the full harvest of their best grain 
 of wheat, was not till Pentecost. Now, upon this day, the morrow after the 
 Sabbath, the beginning of their first harvest, when the sheaf of their first- 
 fruits was brought unto the priest, and waved before the Lord; Christ 
 arose from the dead, and in this respect, Paul calls him the “ first-fruits of 
 them that slept,” 1 Cor. 15 : 20, of all the saints. He rose first as on this 
 day, for the full harvest is not till doom’s-day, the general resurrection-day. 
 2. He is called the first-fruits, in respect of them whom he thereby sancti- 
 fied ; for as an handful of the first-fruits sanctified the whole field of corn 
 that was growing, so Jesus Christ, the first-fruits of the dead, sanctifies all 
 those who are lying in the grave to rise again by his power, eveu when they 
 are in the dust of death, “ If Christ be not risen, (saith the apostle) ye are 
 yet in your sins.” — “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become 
 the first-fruits of them that slept,” 1 Cor. 15 : 17, 20. 
 
 6. That being formerly abased as a servant, and crucified as a sinner, he 
 might thus be declared to be the Son of God, and exalted to be a Prince 
 
 27 
 
418 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IV. 
 
 and Saviour of men; and so his name might be glorified of all the world. 
 “He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared 
 to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the 
 resurrection from the dead,” Rom. 1 : 3, 4. It was of necessary consequence, 
 that he that was so humbled, must be thus exalted ; “ Therefore will I 
 divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the 
 strong ; because he hath poured out his soul unto death,” Isa. 53 : 12, 
 agreeable to which is that of Christ, “ Thus it is written, and thus it be- 
 hooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day,” Luke 24 : 
 46. When Peter was preaching Christ to the high priest and council, that 
 condemned him to death, he told them, That “the God of our fathers hath 
 raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree ; him hath God exalted 
 with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour,” Acts 5 : 30, 31. And 
 suitable to this is that of Paul, “ he humbled himself, and became obedient 
 to the death, even to the death of the cross, wherefore God also hath highly 
 exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name,” Phil. 2 : 
 8, 9. It was for his own glory and his Father’s glory that he should rise 
 again from the dead, “ God raised him up from the dead, arid gave him 
 glory,” 1 Pet. 1 : 21, and he was therefore exalted, “That every tongue 
 should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” 
 Phil. 2 : 11. Of all the reasons of Christ’s resurrection we must look upon 
 this as the main, for as he hath made all things for himself, so he hath done 
 all things for his own glory, “ Christ was raised up from the dead (saith the 
 apostle,) by the glory of the Father,” Rom. 6 : 4. By the glory, or to the 
 glory, or for the glory, of himself, and of his Father. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of the manner of Christ’s resurrection. 
 
 3. How he rose; for the manner of his resurrection we may consider in 
 it, these particulars : 
 
 1. That Christ rose again as a common person, he stood in our stead, and 
 therefore when he rose from death, we and all the church of Christ rose 
 together with him and in him. We have formerly observed, that Christ 
 took upon him the person of no man, he took only the nature of man into 
 the union of the second person, that so he might die and rise again, not as 
 a particular, but a common person, that he might be as a representative in 
 our room and stead, that he might be as a spiritual head, and as the second 
 Adam, who could infuse life into all his members. In this respect the 
 apostle makes comparison betwixt Adam and Christ; now Adam, we know, 
 was reckoned before his fall, as a common public person, not standing singly, 
 or alone for himself, but as representing all mankind to come of him ; so 
 Jesus Christ is reckoned to us, before his death, and in his death, and after 
 his death, as a common public person, not living, dying, or rising again, 
 singly, or alone for himself, but as representing all the believers in the 
 world; and hence it is, that Adam is called the first man, and Jesus Christ 
 is called the second man, 1 Cor. 15 : 47, as if there never had been, nor 
 ever should be any more men in the world, save only these two ; and why ? 
 but because these two between them, had all the rest of the sons of men 
 hanging at their girdles : Adam had all the sons of men born in this world, 
 called earthly men, included in him ; and Christ had all his elect, whose 
 names are written in heaven, and therefore called heavenly men, included in 
 him ; so that now whatsoever Christ did, it is reckoned bv God, as if done 
 by us, and for us. When Christ arose, he arose as our head, and as a com- 
 mon person, and in God’s account we arose with him, and in him. As 
 among all the sheaves in the field, there was some one sheaf, that in the 
 name and room of all the rest, was lifted up and waved before the Lord; so 
 when all were dead, Christ as the first-fruits, rose again from the dead, and 
 
 N 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 419 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 by this act of his resurrection, all the elect from the beginning of the world 
 to the end, are risen with him, and in him, “ He is the first-fruits of them 
 that slept,” 1 Cor. 15 : 20, though the saints are asleep, yet. they are vir- 
 tually risen already with Christ, because he is their first-fruits. Let this 
 ever be remembered, that Christ rose again as the first-fruits, as the second 
 man, as an head, as a common person. 
 
 2. That Christ rose again by his own power, this he meant when he said, 
 
 “ Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” John 2 : 19. 
 He saith not* destroy you, and some other shall raise it up ; no, no, but I, 
 even I myself will do it, yea, and I will do it by my own proper power and 
 virtue : here is a plain argument of the divine nature of Christ, for none 
 ever did, ever could do that but God himself : some were raised before Christ 
 was incarnate, but not any by himself, or by his own proper power; only 
 a power was imparted to some prophet by God, for that time and turn, and 
 so they were raised ; but Christ rose again, not by a power imparted to some, 
 but by his own power. The widow’s son of Sarepta was raised by Elias, 
 and the Shunamite’s son was raised by Elisha, both these were raised by 
 others, and those others that raised them, did it not by their own power, 
 but by power given them from above ; and therefore, though in their life- 
 time they raised others, yet being dead they could not raise themselves : 
 but Jesus Christ did not only in his lifetime raise others, but also being 
 dead, and laid in his grave, and pressed with stones, and watched by sol- 
 diers, and sought to be detained by all the powers of darkness ; yet he as a 
 conqueror, by his own power, raised himself to life ; he caused all things, by 
 the strength of his own arm, to give way unto himself, “ I have power to 
 lay down my life, and I have power to take it up again,” John 10 : 18, an 
 equal power to take it up as to lay it down. 
 
 But against this it may be objected, “ The God of our fathers raised up 
 Jesus,” Acts 5 : 80. — “ Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains 
 of death,” Acts 2 : 24. In many places, the resurrection of Christ is as- 
 cribed to his Father; how then is he said to raise up himself by his own 
 power ? 
 
 I answer, it is true that the Father raised him, and yet this contradicts 
 not, but that he raised up himself, “ Whatsoever the Father doeth, I do,” 
 saith Christ, John 5: 19. Christ’s resurrection is the indivisible work of 
 the blessed Trinity; it is a work common to all the three persons, there is 
 but one power of the Father, and of the Son ; so that of both it is truly veri- 
 fied, the Father raised him, and the son raised himself. 
 
 3. That Christ rose again with an earthquake, “ And behold there was a 
 great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven,” Matth. 
 28 : 2. The earth shook at his death, and now it trembles again at his 
 resurrection; plainly speaking, that it could neither endure his suffering, 
 nor hinder his rising. As a lion with a roar is said to make the bed whereon 
 he lies to tremble, so this Lion of the tribe of Judah was able with his voice, 
 or sight, to make his bed (the earth wherein he lay) to tremble; no sooner 
 he snakes himself, but he shakes the earth ; at his first motion the earth 
 moves, and now was fulfilled that prophecy, “ Tremble thou earth at the 
 presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob” Psal. 114 : 7. 
 It is not for us curiously to inquire into the cause of this earthquake; cer- 
 taiuly the cause was above nature’s reach ; it was not any hollow wind got 
 into the bowels of the earth, but either it was Christ’s rising, or the angel’s 
 descending; the earth either danced for joy that Christ was risen, or it 
 trembled tor fear that men would not believe his resurrection. The evan- 
 gelist seems to lay it on the angel, “ For the angel of the Lord descended 
 from heaven ;” sure the power of angels is very great, they can move all 
 corporeal things almost in an instant, they can stir up tempests, they can 
 
420 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 shake the earth, move the waters, only all their power is subjected to God’s 
 will, “ Bless the Lord, all ye angels that excel in strength, that do his will,” 
 Psal. 103 : 20. It was the will of God, that now an angel should take hold 
 on the pillars of the earth, and make it shake; no wonder if for “fear of 
 him the keepers shake, and become as dead men,” Matth. 28 : 4, and if one 
 angel he able to shake the earth, and to shake the keepers, those armed 
 soldiers that were set to watch the tomb, what then will Christ himself do, 
 when he shall come to judgment the second time, with many thousand thou- 
 sands of angels ? Oh ! how terrible and fearful will his coming be ? As at 
 Christ’s resurrection, so at the last resurrection there will “be earthquakes 
 in divers places,” Matth. 24 : 7. Christ hath showed, and he will show him- 
 self to be the absolute Lord of heaven and earth ; see how the earth trem- 
 bling under his feet, doth (as it were) pay him homage ; “ And behold there 
 was a great earthquake.” 
 
 4. That Christ rose again, angels ministering to him, “An angel came 
 and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it,” Matth. 28 : 2. 
 Christ’s power was not included in the grave, or on the earth, but extended 
 to heaven, and to the hosts therein ; however the chief priests and Phari- 
 sees conspired together to close him in the earth, they sealed the stone and 
 set a watch, they made all sure as possibly they could; yet the angels of 
 heaven are ready to wait on him as their sovereign Lord. “ An angel de- 
 scended to roll away the stone,” not that Christ was unable to do it him- 
 self, he shook the earth, and could he not lift a stone ? 0 yes ! but this 
 would manifest his power, by declaring his power over the mighty angels ; 
 he needed but to say this unto his angel, “do this, and he doeth it.” I 
 find some difference amongst authors, why an angel should roll away the 
 stone ; some think that it was only for the women’s sake, that they might 
 go into the sepulchre, and take a view of the empty tomb, and so be satis- 
 fied that Christ was not there, but risen, as they said, “ Come see the place 
 where the Lord lay,” Matth. 28 : 6. Others think it was to do their office 
 of duty and service to Jesus Christ, to make way for his body to pass out 
 of the grave without any penetration of other bodies; for my part, I ad- 
 here to these, though we need not to exclude the former, for the stone 
 might be removed, both that Christ might come forth, and that the women 
 might be convinced that he was risen again. But as for the opinion of 
 them who think the stone was not removed till after the resurrection ; and 
 that the body of Christ went through the grave stone when he arose again, 
 it is without all warrant ; the very order of nature will not permit that one 
 body should pass through another, without corruption or alteration of either; 
 we say two bodies cannot be together, and at once in one proper place ; no 
 more than one body can be together, and at once, in an hundred, or a thou- 
 sand places ; now that angelical argument is full for this, “ He is not here, 
 for he is risen,” Matth. 28 : 6. He is not in the grave, for he is risen out 
 of the grave ; he could not be in the grave, and out of the grave at one 
 and the same time. But I mean not to dwell on controversial points. 
 
 5. That Christ rose again accompanied with others, “ And the graves 
 were opened, and many bodies of saints which slept, arose, and came out 
 of their graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and ap- 
 peared unto many,” Matth. 27 : 52, 53. It may be the graves were opened 
 when Christ was laid down in his grave, yet the spirits came not into the 
 dead bodies till Christ’s resurrection ; the text is plain that they came not 
 out of their graves till Christ was raised, “ Christ is the beginning, (saith 
 the apostle) Col. 1 : 18, the first-born from the dead How the first-born ? 
 I answer, both in time and efficacy. 1. In time, he rose to eternal life, the 
 first of all men. This was the sum of Paul’s preaching, that Christ should 
 6ufler ; “and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead,” 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 421 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 Acts 26 : 23. It is true indeed, that Lazarus, and sundry others, rose be- 
 fore Christ, but they rose to live a mortal life, and to die again : Christ 
 was the first of all that rose to eternal life; never any in the world rose 
 before Christ in this manner. 2. In respect of efficacy, Christ rose first, 
 that by his power all the rest might rise; there is in Christ’s resurrection, 
 a reviving and quickening virtue; and herein is a main difference betwixt 
 the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of any other man ; the 
 resurrection of Abraham avails nothing to the resurrection of Isaac, or of 
 Jacob, but the resurrection of Christ avails to the resurrection of all that 
 have believed, or that shall believe in him : Is not Christ called “ a quicken- 
 ing Spirit?” 1 Cor. 15 : 45. How theu should he but quicken all his mem- 
 bers ? When a man is cast into the sea, and all his body is under water, 
 there is nothing to be looked for but present death ; but if he carry his 
 head above the water, there is good hope then of a recovery; now Christ 
 is the head unto his church, and therefore he being raised, all his members 
 must follow in their time : no sooner did Christ arise, but many of the 
 bodies of the saints arose, not all that were dead, but only some, to show 
 the resurrection of all to come ; the time for the whole church’s rising be- 
 ing not yet till the great resurrection-day. It is a question what became 
 of those bodies which now arose ? Some think they died again ; but it is 
 more probable, that seeing they arose to manifest the quickening virtue of 
 Christ’s resurrection, that they were also glorified with Christ; and as they 
 rose with Christ arising, so they ascended up into heaven with Christ as- 
 cending. 
 
 6. That Christ rose again with a true, perfect, incorruptible, powerful, 
 spiritual, agile, and glorious body. 
 
 1. He bad a true body, consisting of flesh, and blood, and bone; so he 
 told his disciples, when they supposed him a spirit, “ Handle me, and see, 
 (said he) for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have,” Luke 
 24 : 39. I know his body after his resurrection was comparatively a 
 spiritual body ; yet for all that, he never laid aside the essential properties 
 of a true body, as length, and breadth, and Visibility, and locality, and the 
 like ; he still keepeth those, because they serve to the being of a true body. 
 
 2. He had a perfect body ; however he was cut, and bored, and mangled 
 before his death, yet after his resurrection all was perfect : Eusebius tells 
 of one of the children of the Maccabees, that was put to death for the pro- 
 fession of the truth ; and when they cut off his members, says he, “ I have 
 received these from heaven, and now I do give them unto the God of heaven, 
 and I hope I shall have them again.” Not a member of Christ was want- 
 ing, not a bone out of joint, but all was perfect. 
 
 3. He had an incorruptible, immortal body, “To this end (saith the 
 apostle) Christ both died and rose, and revived,” Rom. 14 : 9. And why 
 revived ? But to show that he rose, never to die again. The apostle is yet 
 more express, “ Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more : death 
 hath no more dominion over him,” Rom. 6 : 9. Consonant hereunto is that 
 of Christ, “I am he that liveth, and was dead, and behold I am alive for 
 evermore, Amen,” Rev. 1 : 18. And herein the body of Lazarus, and the 
 rest, whom Christ raised, differed from his, for after they were raised, they 
 died again, but Christ died no more. 
 
 4. He had a powerful body : Luther oould say of the glorified saints, 
 
 that they had a power so great, as to toss the greatest mountains in the 
 world like a ball; and Anselm* hath an expression not much unlike, that 
 “ they have such a power, as they are able to shake the whole earth at their 
 pleasure.” How much more could Christ cause that great earthquake at 
 the rising of his body ? 0 it was powerful ! 
 
 * Ansel. Lib. de simul. Cap. 52. 
 
422 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 5. He had a spiritual body; it needed not meat, drink, and refreshings, 
 as it did before. It is true, that the disciples “ gave him a piece of a 
 broiled fish, and of an honeycomb, and he took it, and did eat before them,” 
 Luke, 24 : 42, 43, but this he did only to confirm their faith, that he ap- 
 peared solidly, and not imaginary ; he ate out of power, and not out of 
 necessity, even as the sun sucks up the water out of power, but the earth 
 out of want : he ate not as standing in need of food, but to show the truth 
 of his being risen again ; as the saints in heaven never eat, nor drink, nor 
 sleep, nor have magistrates, nor ministers, but the Spirit of God is all in all 
 to them : so it was with Christ after his resurrection, he was full of the 
 Spirit; he was enlivened immediately by the Spirit of God, which flowed 
 into him, and that supplied the absence of all other things. 
 
 6. He had an agile body ; it was in his pleasure to move as well upwards 
 as downwards, as it may appear by the ascension of his body into heaven, 
 which was not caused by constraint, or by any violent emotion, but by a 
 property agreeing to all bodies glorified; Augustine* hath an expression 
 concerning the glorified saints, “ that they shall move to any place they 
 will, and as soon as they will, they shall move up and down like a thought:” 
 how much more may it be said of the body of Christ. 
 
 7. He had a glorious body; this appeared in his transfiguration, “ when 
 his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light,” 
 Matth. 17 : 2, but especially after his resurrection and ascension, when 
 “ his head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his 
 eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they 
 burned in a furnace,” Rev. 1 : 14, 15. The glorified bodies of saints which 
 “ are fashioned like unto his glorious body,” Phil. 3 : 21, are said to shine 
 like stars, Han. 12 : 3, or like “the sun itself,” Matth. 13 : 43. Oh then ! 
 how glorious is the “ Sun of righteousness,” from whence all those suns 
 and stars do borrow their light? It is true, that from his resurrection until 
 his ascension, his body appeared not thus glorious to them that saw it; but 
 whether this glory was delayed and he was not possessed of it during his 
 forty days’ abode upon the earth, or whether he so far condescended, for his 
 disciples’ sake, as to keep in his glory, that it might not dazzle them, and 
 therefore appeared sometimes in the form of a “ gardener,” John, 20 : 15, 
 and sometimes in the form of “a stranger,” Luke, 24 : 18, and sometimes 
 in “another form,” Mark, 16 : 12, and sometimes in his own form, in the 
 same form wherein he lived before he was crucified, John, 20 : 20, 27, it is 
 hard to determine. I am apt to think, that in some sort he might draw in 
 the beams of his glory, and yet that he was not entered into that fulness 
 of glory, as after his ascension ; and so some expound these words of Christ 
 to Mary, “ Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father,” q. d. 
 Fix not thy thoughts so much upon my present condition, for I am not yet 
 attained to the highest pitch of my exaltation, nor shall I, until “I ascend 
 unto my Father.” 
 
 Use. From the resurrection of Christ how are we informed, that Christ 
 is the Son of God ? Thus Paul speaks, he was “ declared to be the Son of 
 God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection 
 from the dead,” Rom. 1 : 4. And how are we informed, that Christ is Lord 
 over all things that are? “ For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and 
 revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living,” Rom. 14 : 9. 
 And how are we informed, that Christ rose again for us, as one that stood 
 in stead and room of all the elect? “Rut now is Christ risen from the 
 dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept,” 1 Cor. 15 : 20. And 
 how are we informed, that by his resurrection we are justified? “Who 
 
 * Aug. Lib. 22, de civit. Die Cap. ult. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 423 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification,” 
 Rom. 4 : 25. And that by his resurrection we are regenerate ? For “ he 
 hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus 
 Christ from the dead,” 1 Pet. 1 : 3. And that by his resurrection we are 
 sanctified ? For “ as he was raised up from the dead by the glory of his 
 Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life,” Rom. 6 : 4. And 
 that by his resurrection at the last day we shall be raised? For “if the 
 Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, shall also quicken our 
 mortal bodies,” Rom. 8 : 11. And that by his resurrection, finally we shall 
 be saved ? For after we are raised, “ we shall never die any more, but be 
 equal unto the angels, and be the children of God, as being the children of 
 the resurrection of Christ,” Luke, 20 : 36. 
 
 Thus far of the position, “ Christ arose again the third day.” Now for 
 the proof. 
 
 Sect. IY. — Of the arguments of Christ's resurrection. 
 
 Christ, after his passion, “shewed himself alive by many infallible 
 proofs,” Acts 1 : 3. And so he had need to persuade men into the faith 
 of so strange a truth; if we consult with antiquity, or novelty, with primi- 
 tive times, or latter times, never was matter carried on with more scruple 
 and slowness of belief, with more doubts and difficulties, than was this 
 truth of Christ’s resurrection. Mary Magdalene saw it first, and reported 
 it, “ but they believed her not,” Mark, 16 : 10. The two disciples that went 
 to Emmaus, they saw it also and reported it, “ but they believed them not,” 
 Luke, 24 : 37. Divers women together saw him, and came and told the 
 disciples, “but their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed 
 them not,” Luke, 24: 11. They all saw him, and even seeing him, “yet 
 they believed not for joy, but wondered,” Luke, 24 : 41, when the wonder 
 was over, and the rest told it but to one that happened to be absent, you 
 know how peremptory he was, “Not he, except he saw in his hands the 
 print of the nails, and put his fingers in the print of the nails, and thrust 
 his hands into his side, he would not believe,” John, 20 : 25. In after 
 times, the whole world stopped their ears at this report of the resurrection. 
 It was with the Grecians at Athens a very scorn ; “ When they heard of the 
 resurrection of the dead, some mocked,” Acts, 17 : 32. It was with Festus, 
 the great Roman, ( monia ) a sickuess of the brain, a plain frenzy, “Festus 
 s id with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself, much learning doth 
 make thee mad,” Acts, 28 : 24. — But come we to our own times, the resur- 
 rection of Christ is to this day as much opposed by Jews and Atheists, as 
 any one article of our creed. And surely we had need to look to it, for 
 “ if Christ be not risen (as the apostle argues) then is our preaching vain, 
 and your faith is also vain,” 1 Cor. 15 : 14. “If Christ be not risen, ye 
 are yet in your sins ; and they which are fallen asleep in Christ, are per- 
 ished,” 1 Cor. 15 : 17, 18. Of all the precious truths in the book of God, 
 we had need to preserve this truth, and to be well skilled in the defending 
 of this truth, of the resurrection of Christ. Some talk of a toleration of all 
 religions, and some desire that the Jews may have free commerce amongst 
 us, it will then be time, as I think, to bo well armed at this point. Let the 
 oruiuary professors of our times, who are of weak judgments, and fiery 
 spirits, look to this point, lest as now when they cannot answer a separatist, 
 they turn separatists; and when they cannot answer an Antinomian, they 
 turn Antinomians ; and when they cannot answer a Seeker, Quaker, Blas- 
 phemer, they turn to them ; so when they cannot answer the subtle argu- 
 ments of a Jew, they should as easily turn Jews, and deny Christ, and the 
 resurrection of Christ. 
 
424 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK TV. 
 
 I mean not to enter into controversies, only I shall declare from what 
 heads arguments of this nature may be drawn, — As, 
 
 1. More generally from Gentiles' grants, Jews' concessions, typical in- '* 
 structions, prophetical predictions. 
 
 2. More especially from these clear demonstrations, that circumstantially 
 and substantially do prove this Christ to have risen again. 
 
 1. The arguments in general are, — 
 
 1. From Gentiles' grants; Pilate that condemned Christ, testified in a 
 letter to Tiberius Caesar,* that Christ was risen again, and therefore Tibe- 
 rius desired the Senate to admit Christ into the number of their Gods, 
 which, when they refused, Tiberius was incensed, and gave free leave to all 
 Christians to profess Christianity. And to the Gentiles, Sybilla left written 
 these very words, “ He shall end the necessity of death by three days' 
 sleep, and then return from death to life again ; he shall be the first that 
 shall show the beginning of resurrection to his chosen, for that by conquer- 
 ing death, he shall bring us life." 
 
 2. From Jews' concessions; Josephus, the most learned amongst the lat- 
 ter Jews, acknowledgeth, “ That after Pilate had crucified him, he appeared 
 unto his followers the third day, accordingly as the prophets had foretold." 
 The Scribes and Pharisees being astonished with the sudden news of his 
 rising again, confirmed by the soldiers whom they set to watch, found no 
 other way to resist the same, but only by saying, (as all the Jews do unto 
 this day,) That his disciples came by night, and stole away his body whilst 
 the soldiers slept. 0 strange ! if they were asleep, how knew they that his 
 disciples stole away his body ? And if they were not asleep, how could a 
 few weak fishers take away bis body from a band of armed soldiers ? 
 
 3. From typical instructions; such was Adam's sleep, Isaac's lying upon 
 the altar, Joseph’s imprisonment, Samson's breaking of the gates of Gaza, 
 David's escaping out of Saul’s hands, Jeremiah’s deliverance out of the pit, 
 the raising of the Shunamite's child, of the widow of Sarepta's son, of the 
 temple of Solomon, of Jonah from the deep; a thousand of those types 
 might be produced which relate to this antetype, “ Christ's resurrection." 
 
 4. From prophetical predictions; u Thou wilt not leave my soul in bell, 
 neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption," Psa. 16 : 10. 
 
 “ After two days he will revive us, in the third day he will rise us up," 
 Ilos. 6:2. He will rise us up (». e.) his Son united to us, our flesh as- 
 sumed by his Son, “ Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee," Psa. 
 
 2 : 7, Acts 13 : 33. “ I laid me down and slept, I waked, for the Lord sus- 
 
 tained me," Psa. 3 : 5. Above all, how plain was the prophecy of Christ 
 himself, “ That he must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the 
 elders, and chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the 
 third day?" Matth. 16:21. 
 
 2. The especial arguments are exceedingly many : as, 1. The angel's as- 
 
 sertion, “ He is not here, for he is risen, as he said : come, see the place 
 where the Lord lay," Matth. 28 : 6. 2. The great earthquake, “ And be- 
 
 hold there was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from 
 heaven, aud came and rolled back the stone from the door," Matth. 28 : 2. 
 
 3. The apparitions of raised bodies, and “ the graves were opened, and 
 many bodies of saints which slept arose, aud came out of their graves after 
 his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared uuto many," 
 Matth. 27 : 52, 53. 
 
 4. The sudden courage of the apostles ; whereas a little before they durst 
 not peep out of doors, they presently after compassed the whole world, and 
 
 * Tertul. L. Contingent Egesippus de vita & resur. Christi. 
 
 •j- Joseph. Antiq. Lib. 8, c. 9. 
 
CHAP. I.J LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 425 
 
 confidently taught, “ That there was no other name given under heaven, 
 whereby men may be saved, but the name of Jesus,” Acts 4 : 12. 5. The 
 
 martyrs’ sufferings even for this truth. 6. The adversaries’ confessions even 
 to this truth. 7. The Jews’ punishment even to this day for not believing 
 this saving truth. There is one Rabbi Samuel who, six hundred years since, 
 wrote a tract in form of an epistle, to Rabbi Isaac, master of the synagogue 
 of the Jews, wherein he doth excellently discuss the cause of their long cap- 
 tivity, and extreme misery ; and after that he had proved it was inflicted 
 for some grievous sin, he showeth that sin to be the same which Amos 
 speaks of, “For three transgressions of Israel and for four, I will not turn 
 away the punishment thereof, because they sold the righteous for silver,” 
 Amos 2 : 6. The selling of Joseph, he makes the first sin ; the worship- 
 ping of the calf in Horeb the second sin ; the abusing and killing of God’s 
 prophets the third sin; and the selling of Jesus Christ the fourth sin. For 
 the first they served four hundred years in Egypt; for the second, they 
 wandered forty years in the wilderness ; for the third they were captives 
 seventy years in Babylon ; for the fourth, they are held in pitiful captivity 
 even until this day. 8. The last argument, on which only I shall insist, is 
 the several apparitions that Christ made to others after his resurrection, 
 some reckon them ten times, others eleven times, and others twelve times ; 
 according to the number of his twelve apostles. 
 
 1. He appeared unto Mary Magdalene apart; as a woman was the first 
 instrument of death, so was a woman the first messenger of life ; she 
 brought the first tidings of the resurrection of Christ, which is the surest 
 argument of man’s salvation. 
 
 2. He appeared unto all the Marys together as they returned homewards 
 from the sepulchre ; never any truly sought for Christ, but with these 
 women they were sure to find Christ. 
 
 3. He “ appeared to Simon Peter alone,” Luke 24 : 34, he was the first 
 among men to whom he appeared ; he went into the sepulchre, and he first 
 saw him that was raised thence : he was called first, and he confessed Christ 
 first to be the Son of God; and therefore Christ appears first to him : the 
 angel bade the women to “ tell his disciples and Peter, (that is to say, and 
 Peter especially) that he was risen and gone before them into Galilee,” 
 Mark 16 : 7. Of this speaks Paul, “ He was first seen of Cephas, and then 
 of the twelve,” 1 Cor. 15 : 5. 
 
 4. He appeared to the two disciples journeying towards Emmaus; the 
 name of the one was Cleophas, and probable it is, the other was Luke, 
 “ Who out of his modesty concealed his own name,” * saith Theophilact. 
 
 5. He appeared unto the ten apostles when the doors were shut. Some 
 controversy there is in this, because the evangelist saith expressly, That 
 “the eleven disciples were gathered together, Luke 24:33. — And as they 
 spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them,” verse 36. Now Judas 
 was hanged, and Matthias was not elected, and Thomas Hidymus was not 
 with them when Jesus came, John 20 : 24. How then could he appear to 
 eleven apostles, considering at this time there were but eleven in all ? 
 Some say it is a certain number put for an uncertain. Others say, That 
 the eleven might be together when the two disciples came, and when Jesus 
 came, Thomas might be absent, and gone from amongst them. And if the 
 text be viewed well there is no contradiction in this saying. But I must 
 not dwell on controversial points. 
 
 6. He appeared to all the disciples, “and Thomas was with them,” John 
 20 : 26, and then he shewed them his wounds, to strengthen the weak faith 
 of his wavering servants. Thomas would not have believed unless he had 
 
 * Theop. super. Luk. 
 
426 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IV. 
 
 seen, and therefore Christ shows him the wounds of his body, that he might 
 cure the wounds of Thomas’ unbelieving soul. 
 
 7. He appeared to “ Peter and John, and James and Nathanael, and 
 Didymus, and two other disciples,” John 21 : 2, when they were a fishing 
 at the sea of Tiberias ; there he proved the verity of his Deity by that 
 miracle of the fishes, and the verity of his humanity by eating meat with 
 them. And this was the third time that he showed himself publicly and 
 solemnly unto all, or to the most part of his disciples, verse 14. 
 
 8. He appeared unto more than five hundred brethren at once ; of this we 
 read not in the evangelists, but the apostle Paul records it, “After that he 
 was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greatest 
 part remain unto this present; but some are fallen asleep,” 1 Cor. 15:6. 
 
 9. He appeared unto James, the brother of the Lord, (i. e.) the cousin- 
 german of Christ according to the flesh ; he was called James the just, in 
 regard of his upright and innocent life. Jerome, in his book De viris Ulus - 
 tribus , tells us, That before Christ’s death, this James made a vow, that he 
 would eat no bread till Christ was risen again from the dead ; and now 
 Christ appearing to him, he commanded bread and meat to be set on the 
 table, saying to James, “ 0 my brother, now rise and eat, for now I am risen 
 again from the dead.” Of this apparition Paul makes mention, “After 
 that he was seen of James,” 1 Cor. 15:7. 
 
 10. He appeared to the eleven disciples on mount Tabor in Galilee. 
 And this Matthew intimates when Jesus bade the women “ tell his brethren 
 that he was risen, and that they should go into Galilee, and there they should 
 see him ; and accordingly in that mountain where Jesus had appointed 
 them, they saw him and worshipped him,” Matth. 28 : 10, 16, 17. 
 
 11. He appeared to all his apostles and disciples upon mount Olivet by 
 Jerusalem, when in the presence of them all he ascended up into heaven. 
 This mountain is expressed by Luke, when after Christ’s ascension it is said, 
 That “ the disciples returned back to Jerusalem from the mount called 
 Olivet,” Acts 1 : 12. 
 
 12. He appeared unto Paul travelling unto Damascus, this indeed was 
 after his forty days’ abode upon the earth ; and yet this Paul mentions 
 amongst the rest of his apparitions; and, “last of all, he was seen of me 
 also, as of one born out of due time,” 1 Cor. 15 :8. 
 
 My meaning is not to speak of all these apparitions in order, for some of 
 them we are neither assured o* the order, nor of the time : but of the most 
 considerable and most edifying we shall treat. 
 
 Sect. Y. — Of Christ’s apparition to Mary Magdalene. 
 
 On the first day were many apparitions, but I shall speak only to one or 
 two, as related by the evangelist John. 
 
 1. Christ appeared unto Mary Magdalene apart : “ The first day of the 
 week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepul- 
 chre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre,” John 20: 1. She 
 came whilst it was yet dark, she departed from home before day, and by that 
 time she came to the sepulchre, the sun was about to rise : thither come, 
 she finds the stone rolled away, and the body of Jesus gone; upon this she 
 runs to Peter and John, and tells them, “They have taken away the Lord 
 out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.” Then 
 Peter and John ran as fast as they could to see, they looked into the sepul- 
 chre, and not finding the body there, they presently returned. By this time, 
 Mary Magdalene was come back, and howsoever the disciples would not stay, 
 yet sne was resolved to abide by it, and to see the issue. 
 
 We find this apparition, for our further assurance, compassed and set about 
 with each needful circumstance : here is the time when, the place where, 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 427 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 the persons to whom, the manner how he appeared ; together with the con- 
 sequents after his apparition. 
 
 1. For the time when he appeared ; u now upon the first day of the week, 
 very early in the morning, ” John 20 : 1. It was the first day of the week, 
 the next day to their Sabbath ; I shall speak more particularly to this in the 
 next apparition ; and it was “ very early in the morning ;” the apparition 
 was early, but Mary’s seeking of Christ was so early, that “ it was yet dark :” 
 she is going to the grave, when by course of nature she should have been 
 in her bed; she sought him early whom she loved entirely; giving us to 
 learn, that we should seek Christ betimes, “ even in the days of our youth,” 
 Eccl. 12 : 1. That in these first days of the week we should rise up early 
 to inquire after Christ : they that will not seek Christ until they have given 
 over seeking other things, may justly fear to miss Christ, “ First seek the 
 kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and then (saith Christ) all other 
 things shall be added unto you,” Matth. 6 : 33. 
 
 2. For the place where he appeared, it was in the garden where Christ 
 was buried ; in a garden Adam first sinned, in a garden Christ first appeared, 
 in a garden death was first threatened and deserved, and in a garden life is 
 restored and conferred upon us; Christ makes choice of a garden, both for 
 his grave, and resurrection, and first apparition, to tell us where we might 
 seek him, if we have lost him, “ My beloved is gone down into his garden, 
 to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies,” Sol. Songs 
 6 : 2. That is, Jesus Christ is to be sought and found in the particular 
 assemblies of his people ; they are the garden of his pleasure wherein are 
 varieties of all the beds of renewed souls, there he walks, and there he feeds, 
 and there he solaced himself with those fruits of righteousness and new 
 obedience, which they are able to bring forth to him. 0 ! there let us seek 
 him, and we shall find him. 
 
 3. For the person to whom he appeared, it was Mary Magdalene; she 
 that sometimes lived a sinful life, that was no better than a common cour- 
 tezan, now is first up to seek her Saviour. Let never any despair of mercy, 
 that but hears of the conversion of Mary Magdalene : Dionysius tells us, 
 “ That she that was loose and dissolute iu her youth, betook herself in her 
 old age to a most solitary life ; that she sequestered herself from all worldly 
 pleasures in the mountains of Balma, full thirty years; iu all which time 
 she gave herself to meditation, fasting and prayer.” The text tells us, 
 “ That much was forgiven her, and she loved much,” Luke 7 : 47. Her 
 love to Christ appears at this time, “But Mary stood without at the sepul- 
 chre weeping, and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the se- 
 pulchre,” John 20 : 11. This scripture we may call “a song of loves,” or, 
 if you will, “a song of degrees;” every word is a step or degree of love 
 more than another. As : 
 
 1. “Mary stood at the sepulchre;” she stood by the grave of Christ, it 
 signifies her great love to Jesus Christ; many would stand by him while he 
 was alive, but to stand by him dead, none would do it; those we love most, 
 we will wait on them living, or if they die, we will bring them to the grave, 
 and lay them in the grave, but there we leave them. — Only Mary chooseth 
 Christ’s tomb for her best home, and his dead corpse for her chief comfort, 
 she praised the dead more than the living, and having lost the light of the 
 Sun of righteousness, she desired to dwell in darkness, in the shadow of 
 death. 
 
 2. “ But Mary stood ;” q . d. others did not, but she did : Peter and John 
 were there even now, and when they could not find Jesus, away they went, 
 but Mary went not, she stood still : their going away commends her staying 
 behind : how many circumstances we may observe in Mary, setting out her 
 love to Christ above them all. To the grave she came before them ; from 
 
428 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 the grave she went to tell them ; to the grave she returns with them ; and 
 at the grave she stays behind them. Certainly there was in Mary a stronger 
 affection, than either in Peter or John, and this affection fixed her there, 
 that she could not stir; go who would, she would not go, but stay still, 
 “but Mary stood without/ ’ 
 
 3. “ But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping this was love 
 indeed ; see how every word is a degree of love. But Mary stood there 
 weeping : when Christ stood at Lazarus’s grave-side weeping, the Jews said 
 then, Behold how he loved him ; and may not we say the very same of 
 Mary, Behold how she loved him ? her very love runs down her cheeks, 
 she cannot think of Jesus as lost, but she weeps : she weeps for having lost 
 him whom she loved : at first she mourned for the departing of his soul out 
 of his body, and now she laments the taking of his body out of the grave ; 
 at first she mourned because she could not keep him alive, yet that sorrow 
 had some solace, in that she hoped to have enjoyed him dead : but when 
 she considers that his life was lost, and not so much as his body could be 
 found, Oh ! she weeps and weeps. The last office she could do, was to 
 anoint his body, and to bewail his death : and to that purpose she comes 
 now unto his grave, as sometimes she had washed his feet with her tears, 
 now she would shed them afresh upon his feet, and head, and hands, and 
 heart, and all : but when she saw the grave open, and the body gone, and 
 nothing of Christ now left her to mourn over, she weeps the more, she 
 weeps most bitterly: “But Mary stood there weeping.” 
 
 4. “And as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre.” 
 She did so weep as she did seek withal; her weeping hindered not her 
 seeking, she sought and sought : to what purpose ? That Christ is not in 
 the tomb, her own eyes have seen : the disciples’ hands have felt, the empty 
 winding sheet doth plainly avouch; Peter and John had looked in before, 
 nay, “ they went into the sepulchre, and saw the linen clothes lying, and 
 the napkin that was about his head, wrapped by itself,” John 20 : 6, 7, 
 and yet for all this she will be stooping down, and looking in; she would 
 rather condemn her own eyes of error, and both their eyes and hands of 
 deceit, she would rather suspect all testimonies for untrue, than not to look 
 after him whom she had lost, even there where by no diligence he could be 
 found : “ It is not enough for love to look in once.” You know this is the 
 manner of our seeking, when we seek something seriously; where we have 
 sought already, there will we seek again ; we are apt to think we sought 
 not well, but if we seek again, we may find it where we sought : and thus 
 Mary sought, and when she could think of no other place so likely to find 
 Christ in, as this, she sought again in this, she will not believe her own 
 senses, she would rather believe that she looked not well before, than she 
 will leave off looking. When things that are dearly affected are gone and 
 lost, love’s nature is, never to be weary of searching, even the oftenest 
 searched corners ; there must still be an haunt for hope. Oh ! love thinks 
 it hath never looked enough ; in the first verse she looked, and saw the 
 stone taken away from the sepulchre; and now again she stooped down and 
 looked into the sepulchre. 
 
 4. For the manner how he appeared; it was first by his angels, and se- 
 condly by himself. 
 
 1. There was an apparition of angels, she seeth “two angels in white, 
 sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet where the body of 
 Jesus had lain,” John 20 : 12, 13. I will not stay here, only for the open- 
 ing of the words I shall answer these questions; as, 1. What means the 
 apparition of angels ? I answer, it is only a preparation to Christ’s appari- 
 tion. Mary’s loss must be restored by degrees; though she saw not Christ 
 at first, yet she saw his angels ; it often pleaseth Christ in the desertions of 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 429 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 his people, to come to them by degrees, and not at once, he comes first by 
 his angels, so it was at his birth, and so it is at his resurrection. — But, 2. 
 What "do angels in a sepulchre ? It is a place fitter for worms, than angels : 
 we never read of angels being in a grave before this time, they are blessed 
 creatures, and is the grave a fit place for them ? 0 yes ! since Christ lay 
 
 in the grave, that very place is a blessed place ; “ Blessed are the dead 
 which die in the Lord, from henceforth,” Rev. 14 : 13. “Precious in the 
 sight of the Lord is the death of his saints,” Psal. 116 : 15. — But, 3. 
 Why are the angels in white ? Solomon answers, that white is the color 
 of joy, “Let thy garments be always white, and let thy head lack no oint- 
 ment,” Eccles. 9 : 8. When Christ was transfigured, his “ raiment was all 
 white, no fuller in the earth could come near it,” Mark 9 : 3. And the 
 saints in heaven are said to “ walk in white robes,” Rev. 7 : 9. And here 
 the angels are in white, to signify the joy they had in Christ’s resurrection 
 from the dead. — But, 4. Why is the one at the head, and the other at the 
 feet, where the body of Jesus had lain? Some answer, That as Mary 
 Magdalene had anointed his head and feet, so at those two places the two 
 angels sit, as it were, to acknowledge so much for her sake. Others think 
 it speaks comfort to every one of us ; if we are but in Christ, we shall go 
 to our graves in white, and lie between two angels, who are said to guard 
 our bodies even dead, and to present them alive again at the day of the 
 resurrection. 
 
 But in this apparition we see farther, a question and answer: 1. The 
 angels question Mary, “Woman, why weepest thou?” May I paraphrase 
 upon these words ; it is as if they had said, 0 Mary ! what cause is there 
 for these tears ? Where angels rejoice, it agrees not that a woman should 
 weep ; thou couldst before with a manly courage, arm thy feet to run among 
 swords, when thou earnest to the grave, and art thou now so much a woman 
 that thou canst not command thine own eyes to forbear tears ? “0 woman, 
 
 why weepest thou ?” If thy Christ were here in his grave, under this tomb- 
 stone, we might think thy sorrow for the dead enforced thy tears ; but now 
 that thou findest it a place of the living, Why dost thou stand here weeping 
 for the dead? If thy tears be tears of love, as thy love is acknowledged, 
 so let these tears be suppressed ; if thy tears be tears of anger, they should 
 not here have been shed, where all anger was buried : if thy tears be tears 
 of sorrow, and duties to the dead, they are bestowed in vain, where the 
 dead is now revived ; and therefore, “ 0 woman, why weepest thou ?” 
 Would our eyes be dry, if such eye streams were befitting for us! Did 
 not angels always in their visible resemblances, represent their Lord’s in- 
 visible pleasure, shadowing their shapes in the drifts of his intentions ? 
 As for instance, when God was incensed, they brandished swords; when he 
 was appeased, they sheathed them in scabbards; when he would defend, 
 they resembled soldiers; when he would terrify, they took terrible forms; 
 aod when he would comfort, they carried mirth in their eyes, sweetness iD 
 their countenance, mildness in their words, favor and grace, and comeliness 
 in their presence; why then dost thou weep, seeing us rejoice? Dost thou 
 imagine us so degenerate from our nature, or to forget any duty whose state 
 is neither subject to change, nor capable of the least offence ? Art thou 
 more fervent in thy love, or more privy to the counsel of our eternal God, 
 than we that are daily attentive at his throne of glory ? “ 0 woman, why 
 weepest thou ?” Thus for paraphrase. 
 
 2. For her answer; “ She saith unto them, because they have taken away 
 my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him,” John 20 : 13. Here 
 was the cause of Mary’s tears; 1. “They have taken away my Lord. 2. 
 I know not where they have laid him,” q. d. He is gone without all hope 
 of recovery; for they, but 1 know not who, have taken him away, but 1 
 know not whither; and they have laid him, but I know not where : there 
 
430 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 to do to him, hut I know not what. 0 what a lamentable case is this ; she 
 knows not whither to go to find any comfort; her Lord is gone, his life is 
 gone, his soul is gone, his body is gone, yea gone, and carried, she knows 
 not whither; and do they ask her, “Woman, why weepest thou?” Why, 
 here is the case, “They have taken away my Lord,” (i. e.,) the dead body 
 of my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him, “ Where a little 
 of Christ is left, and that is lost, it is a lamentable loss.” Mary had some- 
 times a possession of whole Christ, she had his presence, she heard his 
 words, she saw his divinity in his miracles, and in casting seven devils out 
 of her own body ; but now she had lost all Christ, his presence lost, his 
 preaching lost, his divinity lost, his humanity lost, his soul lost, and last of 
 all his body lost. Ob ! what a lamentable loss was this ! Mary would now 
 have been glad of a little of Christ : 0 ye angels fill bat her arms with the 
 dead body of her Jesus, and she will weep no more ; one beam of that Sun 
 of righteousness would scatter all the clouds of Mary’s grief. 
 
 Quest. But doth Christ ever leave his totally ? 
 
 Ans. I answer, not in deed, but only in apprehension. In desertion, a 
 Christian may to his own apprehension find nothing in Christ : and this was 
 the case of Mary Magdalene; or, if Christ desert a soul indeed, and truth, 
 (for desertions are sometimes in appearance, and sometimes real) yet never 
 doth he forsake his own both really and totally. “ The Lord will not wholly 
 forsake his people, for his great name’s sake,” 1 Sam. 12 : 32, the acts of 
 his love may be withdrawn, but his love is still the same, it is “ an ever- 
 lasting love,” Jer. 31 : 3. Those acts which are for well being may be 
 withdrawn, but his acts of love that are for being shall never be removed, 
 “ No such good things will God withhold from them that walk uprightly,” 
 Psal. 84 : 11. Or Christ may go away for a season, but not for ever, “For 
 a moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee : 
 in a little wrath, I have hid my face from thee for a moment; but with 
 everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Re- 
 deemer,” Isa. 54 : 7, 8. It was Christ’s promise to his disciples, “I will 
 not leave you comfortless, or as orphans, but I will come again,” John 14 : 
 18. Though his compassions may be restrained, yet they cannot be extin- 
 guished : as the sun sets to rise again, and as the tender mother lays down 
 her child to take it up again, so deals Christ with his, only for the present 
 it is a sad thing; 0 ! it is a lamentable thing to lose all Christ, though but 
 in our apprehensions. To hear Mary’s pitiful complaints, “They have 
 taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have lain my Lord,” it 
 would make a flint to weep ; methinks I hear her cries, “ 0 my Lord, what 
 has become of thee ? Time was that my soul was an enclosed garden, and 
 the c-hiefest of ten thousand did walk in the shadow of the trees; but now 
 the fence is down, my love is gone, and Sharon is become a desert; time 
 was that I sat at the feet of my Lord, and I received daily oracles from his 
 mouth; but now he hides himself, and will not come at me; I pray, but 
 he hears not; I hearken after him, but he speaks not; I call, but he 
 answers not. 0 my Lord, if I had never known thee, I could have lived 
 without thee, but this is my misery; not so much that I am without thee, 
 as that I have lost thee; many are well without thee, because they never 
 enjoyed thee; the children of beggars count it not their misery that they 
 are not princes: but, oh ! the grief, when the children of princes shall be 
 turned to beggars ! 0 my Lord, once I had thee, but now I have lost thee, 
 
 yea, I have lost thee every jot, and piece, and parcel of thee; 0 ! ye apos- 
 tles, where is the dead body of my Lord ? 0 ! sir angel, tell me if you 
 
 saw his torn, his macerated, crucified body ? 0 grave ! 0 death ! show me, 
 
 is there any thing of Christ’s body (though but a few dead ashes) in your 
 keeping? No, no, all is gone; I can hear nothing of what I would hear, 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 431 
 
 death is silent, the grave is empty, the angels say nothing to the purpose, 
 the apostles are fled, and they (I know not who) have taken away my Lord, 
 and I know not where they have laid him. 
 
 2. After this, Christ himself appears, but first as unknown, and then as 
 known. 1. As unknown, “ She turned herself back, and saw Jesus stand- 
 ing, and knew not that it was Jesus, Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why 
 weepest thou ? Whom seekest thou ? She supposing him to be the gar- 
 dener, ” &c., John 20 : 14, 15. In this apparition of Christ unknown, I 
 shall only take notice of Christ's question, and Mary’s inquisition; his 
 question is in these words, “ W oman, why weepest thou ? Whom seekest 
 thou ?” 1. “ Why weepest thou ?” This very question the angels asked 
 
 her before, and now Christ asks it again ; sure there is something in it, 
 and the rather we may think so, because it is the first opening of his mouth, 
 the first words that ever came from him after his rising again ; some say 
 that Mary Magdalene represents the state of all mankind before this day, 
 viz. One weeping over the grave of another, as if there were no hope : 
 and now at his resurrection, Christ comes in with weep not : “ Woman, 
 why weepest thou ?” q. d. There is no cause of weeping now, lo, I am 
 risen from the dead, and am become the first-fruits of them that slept. 
 
 And yet we may wonder at the question, Why should Christ demand of 
 Mary why she wept? But a while since she saw him hanging on a tree, 
 with his head full of thorns, his eyes full of tears, his ears full of blasphe- 
 mies, his mouth full of gall, his whole person mangled and disfigured, and 
 doth he ask her, “Woman, why weepest thou?” Scarce three days since, 
 she beheld his arms and legs racked with violent pulls, his hands and feet 
 bored with nails, his side and bowels pierced with a spear, his whole body 
 torn with stripes, and gored in blood, and doth he ask her, “Woman, why 
 weepest thou ?” She saw him on the cross yielding up his soul : and now 
 she was about to anoint his body, which was the only hope she had alive : 
 but his body is removed, and that hope is dead, and she is left hopeless of 
 all visible help: and yet doth he ask her, “Woman, why weepest thou?” 
 0 yes ! though it may be strange : yet it is not a question without cause. 
 She weeps for him dead, who was risen again from the dead : she was sorry 
 he was not in his grave, and for this very cause she should have been rather 
 glad : she mourns for not knowing where he lay, when, as in deed and in 
 truth, he lay not any where : he is alive, and present, and now talks with 
 her, and resolves to comfort her, and therefore, “Woman, why weepest 
 thou ?” 
 
 2. “ Whom seekest thou ?” She seeks Christ, and Christ asks her, 
 “Woman, whom seekest thou?” We may wonder at this also, if she seek 
 Christ, why doth she not know him ? or, if she knew Christ, why doth she 
 seek him still ? 0 Mary ! is it possible thou hast forgotten Jesus ? There 
 
 is no part in thee but is busy about him, thy eye weeps, thy heart throbs, 
 thy tongue complains, thy body faints, thy soul languished, and notwith- 
 standing all this, hast thou now forgotten him ? What, are thy sharp eyes 
 so weak-sighted ? That they are dazzled with the sun, and blinded with the 
 light? O yes! a shower of tears comes betwixt her and him, and she 
 caunot see him ; or it may be “ her eyes were holden that she should not 
 know him,” Luke 24 : 16; or it may be he appeared ( etera morphe ) in 
 some other shape, such as resembled the gardener, whom she took him for; 
 howsoever it was, “ she saw Jesus standing, but knew not that it was Jesus, 
 and therefore saith Jesus to her, “Woman, why weepest thou? whom 
 seekest thou?” John 20 : 14,15. There is a double presence of Christ, 
 felt, and not felt; the presence felt, is when Christ is graciously pleased to 
 let us know so much, and this is an heaven upon earth ; the presence not 
 felt, is that secret presence, when Christ seems to draw us one way, and to 
 
432 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 drive another way ; so he dealt with the woman of Canaan ; he seemed to 
 drive her away, but at the same time he wrought in her by his Spirit an 
 increase of faith, and by that means drew her to himself. Thus may the 
 soul suppose Christ lost, and seek and weep, and weep and seek, and yet 
 Christ is present. 
 
 2. For Mary’s inquiry, “ She supposing him to be the gardener, said unto 
 him, Sir, if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, 
 and I will take him away.” 
 
 In these words we may observe, 1. Her mistake. 2. Her speech upon 
 her mistake. 
 
 1. Her mistake, “She supposing him to be the gardener:” 0 Mary! 
 hath Christ lived so long, and labored so much, and shed so many showers 
 of blood, to come to no higher preferment than a gardener ? This was a 
 very grange mistake ; and yet in some sense, and a good sense, too, Christ 
 might be said to be a gardener : as, 1. It is he that gardens all our souls, 
 that plants in them the seed of righteousness, that waters them with the 
 dew of grace, and makes them fruitful to eternal life. 2. It is he that 
 raised to life his own dead body, and will turn all our graves into a garden- 
 plot, “ Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they 
 arise ; awake, and sing, ye that dwell in dust, for the dew is as the dew of 
 herbs, and the earth shall east out the dead,” Isa. 26 : 19. Besides, there 
 is a mystery in her mistake : as Adam in the state of grace and innocency, 
 was placed in a garden, and the first office allotted to him, was to be a 
 gardener; so Jesus Christ appeared first in a garden, and presents himself 
 in a gardener’s likeness : and as that first gardener was the parent of sin, 
 the ruin of mankind, and the author of death ; so is this gardener the 
 ransom for our sins, the raiser of our ruins, and the restorer of our life. 
 In some sense, then, and in a mystery, Christ was a gardener; but Mary’s 
 mistake was in supposing him the gardener of that only place; and not the 
 gardener of our souls. “ Souls in desertion are full of mistakes, though in 
 their mistakes are sometimes many mysteries.” 
 
 2. Her speech upon her mistake, “ If thou hast borne him hence,” &c., 
 we may observe, 
 
 1. That her words to Christ are not much unlike the answer she gave the 
 angels, only she seems to speak more harsh to Christ than she did to the 
 angels ; to them, she complains of others, “ they have taken away my 
 Lord;” but to Christ, she speaks as if she would charge him with the fact, 
 as if he looked like one that had been a breaker up of graves, a carrier 
 away of corpses out of their place of rest, “ Sir, if thou hast borne him 
 hence.” But pardon love, as it fears where it needs not, so it suspects very 
 often where it hath no cause ; “ When love is at a loss, he, or any that 
 comes but in our way, hath done it, hath taken him away.” 
 
 2. That something she spoke now to Christ which she had not mentioned 
 to the angels. She said not unto them, “ tell me where he is,” but reserved 
 that question for himself to answer, “ Come, tell me where thou hast laid 
 him,” q. d. Thou art privy to the place, and the action of removing Christ 
 my Lord ; Oh how she errs, and yet how she hits the truth ! Jesus must 
 tell her what he hath done with himself, sure it was fittest for his own speech 
 to utter, what was only possible for his own power to do. 
 
 3. That the conclusion of her speech was a mere vaunt or flourish, “And 
 I will take him away.” Alas ! poor woman, she was not able to lift him 
 up, there are more than one or two allowed to the carrying of a corpse, and 
 as for his, it had more than an hundred pound weight of myrrh and other 
 odors upon it, sure she had forgotten that women are weak, and that she 
 herself was but a woman ; how was it possible that she should take him 
 away? She could not do it; well, but she would do it though “there 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 433 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 is no essay too hard for love ;" she exempts no place, she esteems no 
 person, she speaks without fear, she promises without condition, she makes 
 no exception, as if nothing were impossible that love suggesteth : the dark- 
 ness could not fright her from setting out before day ; the watch could not 
 fear her from coming to the tomb where Christ was laid; she resolved to 
 break open the seals, and to remove the stone far above her strength ; and 
 now her love being more incensed with the fresh wound of her loss, she 
 speaks resolutely, “ I will take him away/’ never considering whether she 
 could or no; love is not ruled with reason, but with love; it neither re- 
 gards what can be, nor what should be ; but only what itself desireth to do. 
 
 4. That through all this speech she omits the principal verb, she in- 
 quires for Jesus, but she never names him whom she inquires after. She 
 could say to the angels, “ They have taken away my Lord ;" but now she 
 talks of one under the term of him, “ If thou hast borne him hence, tell 
 me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away :" him, him, him ; 
 but she never names him, or tells who he is; this is solecismus amorh , an 
 irregular speech, but love's own dialect, q. d. Who knows not him ? Why, 
 all the world is bound to take notice of him ; he is worthy to be the owner 
 of all thoughts, and no thought, in my conceit, can be well bestowed upon 
 any other than him ; and therefore, Sir, gardener, whosoever thou art, “ If 
 thou hast borne him hence," thou knowest who I mean, thou canst not be 
 ignorant of whom I love, there is not such another among the sons of men, 
 as the Psalmist, “ He is the fairest among the children of men," Psal. 45 :2, 
 or as the spouse, “ He is the chiefest of ten thousands;" and therefore tell 
 me some news of him : of none but him ; of him, and only of him : 0 ! tell 
 me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away ? “A soul sick of 
 love, thinks all the world knows her- beloved, and is therefore bound to tell 
 her where he is : the daughters of Jerusalem were very ignorant of Christ, 
 Sol. Songs 5 : 9, and yet, “ I charge you, 0 daughters of Jerusalem, (said 
 the spouse) if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him I am sick of love," Sol. 
 Songs 5:8. 
 
 2. Christ appears as known: “ Jesus saith unto her, Mary, she turned 
 herself, and said unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master, John 20 : 1G. 
 Sorrow may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning :" she that 
 hitherto had sought without finding, and wept without comfort, and called 
 without answer, even to her Christ now appears : and at his apparition these 
 passages are betwixt them : first he speaks unto her, Mary, and then she 
 replies unto him, “ Rabboni, which is to say, Master." 
 
 1. He speaks unto her, Mary! it was but a word; but 0 what life; 
 what spirit ? what quickening and reviving was in the word ? The voice 
 of Christ is powerful ; “ If the Spirit of Christ come along with the word, 
 it will rouse hearts, raise spirits, work wonders." Ah, poor Mary ! what a 
 case was she in before Christ spake unto her? She rau up and down the 
 garden, with “ 0 my Lord, where have they laid my Lord ?" But no 
 soouer Christ comes, and speaks to her by his Spirit, and with power, but 
 her miud is enlightened, her heart is quickened, and her soul is revived. 
 Observe the difference betwixt the word of the Lord, and the Lord speak- 
 ing that word with power and spirit : we find sometimes the hearts of saints 
 are quickened, fed, cherished, healed, comforted in the use of means, and 
 sometimes again they are dead, senseless, heavy and hardened; nay, which 
 is more, the very same truth which they hear at one time, it may be affects 
 them, and at another time it doth not; the reason is they hear but the 
 word of the Lord at one time, and they hear the Lord himself speaking 
 that word at another time; Mary heard the word of the Lord by an angel, 
 “ Woman why weepest thou ?" But her tears dropped still ; she heard 
 again the word of the Lord by Christ himself, “ Woman why weepesr 
 
434 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 thou ?” And yet she weeps, and will not be comforted; hut now Christ 
 speaks, and he speaks with power, Mary ! and at this word her tears are 
 dried up, no more tears now, unless they are tears for joy : and yet again, 
 observe the way how you may know and discern the effectual voice of Jesus 
 Christ, if it be effectual, it usually singles a man out ; yea, though it be 
 generally spoken by a minister, yet the voice of Christ will speak particu- 
 larly to the very heart of a man, with a marvellous kind of majesty and 
 glory stamped upon it, and shining in it; take an humble, broken, droop- 
 ing spirit, he hears of the free offer of grace and mercy in Jesus Christ, 
 but he refuseth the offers ; he hears of the precious promises of God in 
 Christ, but he casts by all promises as things that are generally spoken 
 and applied by man ; but when the Lord comes in, he speaks particularly 
 to his very heart, he meets with all his objections, that he thinks “ this is 
 the Lord, and this is to me.” Thus Mary before heard the voice of an 
 angel, and the voice of Christ, “Woman, why weepest thou?” It was a 
 general voice, no better title was then afforded, but woman ; thou weepest 
 like a woman, 0 woman, and too much a woman, why weepest thou ? 
 But now Christ comes nearer, and he singles her out by her very name, 
 Mary ! 0 ! this voice came home, he showed now that he was no stranger 
 
 to her, he knew her by name ; as sometimes God spake to Moses : “ Thou 
 hast found grace in my sight, I know thee by name,” Exod. 33:17, so 
 Christ speaks to Mary, “Thou hast found grace in my sight, I know thee 
 by name.” Why, how should this voice be ineffectual ? Oh now it 
 works ! now she knows Christ, which before she did not ; and indeed this 
 is the right way to know Christ, to be first known of Christ. But now 
 (saith the apostle) “after that ye have known God, (and then he corrects 
 himself) or rather are known of God,” Gal. 4 : 9, for till he know us we 
 shall never know him aright. Now her dead spirits are raised, which 
 before were benumbed ; and no marvel that with a word he revives her 
 spirits, who with a word made the world, and even in this very word 
 showed an omnipotent power. “The gardener had done his part (saith 
 one) in making her all green on a sudden.” But even now her body 
 seemed the hearse of her dead heart, and her heart the coffin of her dead 
 soul; and see how quickly all is turned out and in; a new world now; 
 Christ’s resurrection is Mary Magdalene’s resurrection too; on a sudden 
 she revives, raised (as it were) from a dead and drooping, to a lively and 
 cheerful state. 
 
 2. “ She said unto him, Babboni, which is to say, Master.” As she 
 was ravished with his voice, so impatient of delay she takes his talk out of 
 hi-s mouth, and to his first and only word, she answered but one other, 
 “ Babboni, which is to say, Master.” A wonder that in this verse but 
 two words should pass betwixt them too; but some give this reason, “That 
 a sudden joy rousing all her passions, she could neither proceed in her 
 own, nor give him leave to go forward iu his speech.” Love would have 
 spoken, but fear enforced silence, hope framed words, but doubt melts 
 them in the passage ; her inward conceits served them to come out., but 
 then her voice trembled, her tongue faltered, her breath failed; why, such 
 is the state of them that are sick with a surfeit of sudden joy; her joy 
 was so sudden, that not a word more could be spoken, but “ Babboni, which 
 is to say, Master.” Sudden joys are not without some doubts or tremb- 
 lings; when Jacob heard that his son Joseph was alive “ his heart fainted,” 
 Gen. 45 : 26, he was even astonished at so good news; when God restored 
 the Jews out of captivity, they could think of it no otherwise than as a 
 dream, Psal. 126 : 1, when Peter was by an angel delivered out of prison, 
 he took it only for a vision, or apparition, and not for truth, Acts 12 : 9, 
 IV hen Christ manifested his resurrection to his disciples, it is said, That 
 
CIIAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 435 
 
 “for joy they believed not,” Luke 24 : 41, their fears (as it were) kept 
 back, and questioned the truth of their joys. As in the sea when a storm 
 is over, there remains still an inward working and volutation ; even so in 
 the mind of man, when its fears are blown over, and there is a calm upon 
 it, there is still a motus trepidation is, a motion of trembling, or a kind of 
 solicitous jealousy of what it enjoys ; and this might be Mary Magdalene’s 
 case ; though she suddenly answered Christ, upon the first notice of his 
 voice ; yet because the novelty was so strange, his person so changed, his 
 presence so unexpected, and so many miracles were laid at once before her 
 amazed eyes, she found (as it were) a sedition in her thoughts; her hope 
 presumed best, but her fear suspected it to be too good to be true; and 
 while these interchange objections and answers, she views them better, but 
 for the present canuot speak a word more, save this, “ Rabboni, which is 
 to say, Master.” 
 
 5. For the consequents after this apparition, Jesus saith unto her, “ Touch 
 me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father ; but go to my brethren, 
 and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, aud to your Father, and to 
 my God, and your God,” John 20 : 17. 
 
 In these words we may observe, a prohibition and a command; the pro- 
 hibition, “ Touch me not,” the command, “ but go to my brethren, and say 
 uuto them,” &c. 
 
 1. “Touch me not.” It seems Mary was now fallen at his sacred feet, 
 she was now ready to kiss with her lips his sometimes grievous, but now 
 most glorious wounds, “ Such is the nature of love, that it covets not only 
 to be united, but if it were possible to be transformed out of itself, into the 
 thing it loveth.” Mary is not satisfied to see her Lord, nor is she satisfied 
 to hear her Lord, but she must touch him, embrace his feet, and kiss them 
 with a thousand kisses ; oh ! how she hangs and clings about his feet ! or* 
 at least how she offers to make towards him, and to fall upon him ! — But, 
 on a sudden, he checks her forwardness, “Touch me not.” 
 
 What a mystery is this ! Mary a sinner touched him, and she being now a 
 saint, may she not do so much ? She was once admitted to anoint his head, 
 and is she now unworthy to touch his feet? What meaned Christ to debar 
 her of so desired a duty ? She had the first sight of Christ, and heard the 
 first words of Christ after his resurrection, and must she not have the 
 privilege of his first embracing? There is something of wonder in these 
 word^; and it puts many to a stand, and many an interpretation is given to 
 take off the wonder; I shall tell you of some of them, though for my part 
 I shall cleave only to the last. 
 
 1. Some think, that Mary not only essayed to kiss his feet, but to desire 
 the fulfilling of the promise of the Spirit of Christ; this promise Christ 
 made to his disciples at his last supper, “ I will send you the Comforter,”* 
 John 16:7; and she expected it to be now performed after his resurrec- 
 tion : to which Christ answered, That he would not then give the Spirit 
 unto her, for that as yet he was not ascended into heaven ; whence the 
 Spirit should come, q. d. Forbear, Mary, if this be the meaniug of thy 
 complaint, hands off, 0 touch me not! “for I am not yet ascended to my 
 Father.” 
 
 2. Others think, that Mary was forbidden to touch because of her 
 unbelief jj - she had not the least thought till just now, that Christ was risen, 
 or that he should ascend; and therefore she deserved not the least favor at 
 
 * Quia nondum sanctum Spiritum misserat. ideo a tactu suo Mariam proliibebat, 
 dicens nondum ascendi in coelura, unde ipse per me Spiritum sanctum ad vos mitter. 
 Cyril. 1. 12. in Joha, c. 50. 
 
 t Noli me tungere, quiae in side tua nondum resurrexi, & ad glorise statum perreni. 
 Hieronym. epist. 95, c. ad Uidibiam. 
 
436 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 his hands, q. d. a Touch me not, for in thy faith I am not risen, nor shall 
 I ascend unto my Father; thou complainest of men, they have taken away 
 my Lord, thou seekest for the living among the dead, and therefore thou 
 art unworthy of a touch, or any approach, 0 touch me not !” 
 
 3. Others think, that Christ forbade Mary’s touch, because she looked 
 upon it as the most manifest confirmation of her faith touching Christ’s 
 resurrection. There was a more sure and certain evidence of this thing, 
 than touching, or feeling, and the discovery of that was to be after his 
 ascension, when the Holy Ghost should be given, q. d. “ Touch me not, for 
 I would not have my resurrection chiefly approved by the judgment of 
 sense ; rather expect a while till I ascend unto my Father in heaven, for 
 then I will send the Holy Ghost, and he shall declare the truth and cer- 
 tainty of my resurrection, far surer and better.”* 
 
 4. Others think this touch was forbidden, that Christ might show his 
 approbation of chastity, and sanctity, and inward purity; Mary was now 
 alone with Christ, and that he might give an example of most pure chastity, 
 he forbids her to touch, which afterwards, in presence of others, he admits 
 her and other women too, for it is said, “ That they came and held him by 
 the feet, and worshipped him,” Matth. 28 : 9. And to this exposition the 
 reason affixed doth well agree, for I am not yet ascended to my Father, 
 q. d. For an example of holy chastity touch me not now, but hereafter in 
 heaven I will give thee leave; when men and women shall be as the 
 holy angels, and shall neither marry, nor be given in marriage, then mayest 
 thou touch, there will be no need of the like example then as now : “ Then 
 I will not forbid thee, but till then, especially if thou art alone, Oh, touch 
 me not !”j* 
 
 5. Others think, that Mary too much doated upon that present condi- 
 tion of Jesus Christ; she looked upon it as the highest pitch of Christ’s 
 exaltation, she desired no more happiness than to enjoy him in that same 
 condition wherein she now saw him ; and thereupon said Christ, “ Touch 
 me not, for I am not yet ascended,” q. d. 0 Mary ! fix not thy thoughts 
 so much upon my present condition, inasmuch as this is not the highest 
 pitch of my exaltation. I am not as yet attained to that, nor shall I attain 
 to it until I ascend. The degrees of my exaltation are, 1. My resurrec- 
 tion. 2. My ascension. 3. My session at God’s right hand, but that is 
 not yet. 
 
 6. Others think, that Mary carried it with too much familiarity toward 
 Christ;J she looked upon Christ as she did formerly, she had not that 
 reverence or respect of Christ, as she ought to have had, she differenced 
 not the mortal state of Christ from his now glorified state after his resur- 
 rection ; whereas with him the case was quite altered ; he is risen in a far 
 otherwise condition than he was, for now his corruptible hath put on incor- 
 ruption, and his mortal hath put on immortality : he died in weakness and 
 dishonor, but he is risen again in power and glory ; and as in another state, 
 so to another end, he was not now to stay upon earth, or to converse here 
 any longer, but to ascend up into heaven, q. d. Though 1 be not yet 
 ascended to my Father, yet I shall shortly ascend ; and therefore measure 
 
 * Noli me tangere, noli meam resurrectionem judicio sensuum comprobare sed 
 parumper expecta tempus meae ascensionis et missionis Spiritus, sancti, & tunc 
 longe melius & tenacius percipies veritatem resurrectionis meae, quam modo me 
 oontingens, Bern. ser. 28. in Cant. 
 
 j- Ut ogtenderet manifestam calistatem & sanctimoniam per sanctificationem dixit 
 Mariae, ne me attingas. Epipha, haeresi 26. prode. finern. 
 
 J Ne pristina ilia familiaritate, qua cum in carne mortalem intuebatur, pertrac- 
 taret, judicans post resurrectionem gloriam reverentius, & gravius cum illo agendum 
 esse, Chrysost. hom. 58. in Johan. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 437 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 not thy demeanor towards me by the place where I am, hut by that which 
 was due to me, and when thou wilt rather with reverence fall down afar off, 
 than with familiarity seem to touch me; Thus touch me not. 
 
 7. Others think, this prohibition* was only for that time, and that be- 
 cause he had greater business for her in hand : Christ was not willing now 
 to spend time in complaints, but to despatch her away upon that errand, 
 “ Go to my brethren,” &c. And the reason following suits with this com- 
 ment, “ For I am not yet ascended to my Father,” q. d. Thou needest not 
 so hastily to touch me now, for I am not yet ascended ; though I be going, 
 yet I am not gone, another time will be allowed, and thou mayest do it at 
 a better leisure, only forbear now ; and the first thing thou doest, “ go to ray 
 brethren ;” it will do them more good to hear of my rising than it will do 
 thee good to stand here touching, and holding, and embracing, and therefore 
 in this respect now — “ touch me not.” 
 
 8. Others think, that Christf in these words, meant to wean her from all 
 sensual touching, and to teach her a new and spiritual touch by the hand of 
 faith; and to this sense the reason agrees well, for I am not yet ascended, 
 or I shall quickly ascend unto my Father ; till Christ were ascended she 
 mmht be touching with a sensual touch, but that would neither continue, 
 nor do her any good, but if she would learn the spiritual touch, no ascend- 
 ing could hinder that, one that is in heaven might be touched so : and hence 
 it is, that if now we will but send up our faith, we may touch Christ to this 
 day, and there will virtue come out of him. It was Christ’s care to wean 
 Mary from the comfort of his external presence, and to teach her how to 
 embrace him by a true and lively faith : he was not long to be seen in his 
 visible shape, being shortly to ascend unto his Father ; and therefore the 
 main business was to learn that touch, that would both continue and do her 
 good to her soul’s health. And I believe, for this cause, Christ would not 
 stay long with any of his disciples at any time ; he only appeared to mani- 
 fest himself, and to prove his resurrection, and then to wean them from all 
 sensual and carnal touching, he would quickly have been gone. Observe, 
 that “ a spiritual touch of Christ by faith, is that which Christ prefers above 
 all touches ;” it is the apostle’s saying, “ Henceforth know we no man after 
 the flesh, yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now hence- 
 forth know we him no more.” The words have a double interpretation, as, 
 1. “ Henceforth know we him no more.” If we had any earthly carnal 
 thoughts of Christ like unto the rest of the Jews that he as the king of Is- 
 rael should begin an earthly temporal kingdom, and that we should enjoy 
 all manner of earthly carnal privileges, as honor, riches, power, yet now we 
 know him no more, we have put off all such carnal imaginations of his king- 
 dom. Or, 2. u Henceforth know we him no more ;” we stand no longer 
 affected towards Christ, after any merely human, civil, or natural manner of 
 affections, such as those bare to him who conversed with him before his 
 resurrection, but altogether in a divine and spiritual manner, agreeable to 
 the state of glory, whereunto he is exalted. Some vilified the ministry of 
 Paul below that of the rest of the apostles, because he had not been con- 
 versant with Christ in the flesh, to which Paul answers, away with this flesh- 
 ly knowledge, u henceforth know we no man after the flesh ;” our way to 
 
 * Christus non aliud prohibuit Magdalenam, quam ne nimium temporis absumeret, 
 prout antea solebat, ad pedes ejus, sed quam citius inde se expederit, ut de ejus 
 resurrectione certiores saceres fratres suos, Card. Tolet. sup. cap. 20. Joh. 
 
 t Christus loquitur de tactu, & de ascensione, non corporali, sed spirituali. Et 
 exinde Magdalena a Christo Domino illuminata suit, ut deinceps non solum credide- 
 rit, sed & alias feminas ad credendum instruxerit, Vid. Aug. tract 21. in Joh serm. 
 60. de verbis Domini & 252 et 155. de tempore Ambros. Luc. ult. & lib. de Isaac. & 
 anima. c. 5. and ser. 58. 
 
438 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV 
 
 deal with Christ is in a spiritual manner, yea, the blessing is upon this man- 
 ner, and not on that, ‘‘Blessed are they which have not seen, and yet have 
 believed,” John 20 : 29. It is said of Mary, his mother, that she had a 
 double conception of Jesus Christ, one in the womb of her body, another in 
 the womb of her soul ; the first indeed was more miraculous, the second 
 more beneficial ; that was a privilege single to herself ; but this was her 
 happiness common to all the chosen, it is the work of the inward man that 
 God accepts ; a spiritual touch of Christ by faith, is that which Christ pre- 
 fers before all touches. 
 
 2. “ But go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Fa- 
 ther, and your Father, and to my God, and your God,” this was the com- 
 mand of Christ, instead of touching him, she must go with a message to his 
 apostles, and this was more beneficial both to her and them. The first 
 preacher of his resurrection (besides the angels) was Mary Magdalene ; she 
 that before had seven devils cast out of her, had now the Holy Spirit within 
 her, she that was but a woman, is now by Christ made an apostle ; apostal- 
 orum apostola, for to them she was sent, and the message she was to deliver, 
 it was Christ’s rising and ascending; and what were they but the gospel, 
 yea*/ the very gospel of the gospel ? This was the first sermon that ever was 
 made by auy mortals of Christ’s resurrection ; and this her fact had some 
 reference unto Eve’s fault ; a woman was the first messenger of this our joy, 
 because a woman was the first miuister of that our sorrow. 
 
 But, what means he to speak of the ascension, when as yet we are but 
 upon the resurrection ? I suppose this was to prevent their mistake, who 
 might have thought if Christ be risen, why then we shall have his company 
 again as heretofore ; No, saith Christ, I am not risen to make any abode 
 with you, or to converse with you on earth as formerly; my rising is in 
 reference to my ascending ; look how the stars no sooner rise but they are 
 immediately in their ascendant; so Christ is no sooner risen but he is pre- 
 sently upon his ascending up. 
 
 But whither will he ascend ? “ To his Father and our Father, to his 
 God and our God.” Every word is a step or round of Jacob’s ladder, by 
 which we may ascend up into heaven: as, 1. Father is a name of much 
 good will, there is in it, bowels of compassion ; Oh ! what tenderness is in 
 a father ? and yet many a father wants good means to express his good 
 will unto his child ; now therefore God is added, that he may not be 
 thought to be defective in that way. Oh, blessed message ! this is the voice 
 of a father to his son: “All that I have is thine,” Luke 15:31; now if 
 this father be also God, and if all that is God’s be also ours, what can we 
 desire more than all that God hath, or all that ever God was worth ? Oh ! 
 but here’s the question, Whether his Father and God be also ours ? That 
 he is Christ’s Father, and Christ’s God, is without all question; but that 
 his Father should be our father, and that his God should be our God ; this 
 were a gospel indeed ; 0 then ! what a gospel is this ? “ Go to my brethren, 
 and say unto them, That our relations and interests are all but one : the 
 same father that is mine is theirs ;” and the same God “ that is mine is 
 theirs his relations are made ours, and our relations are made his inter- 
 changeably. No wonder if Luther tells us, That the best divinity lay 
 in pronouns, for as there is no comfort in heaven without God, and no com- 
 fort in God without a father so neither is there comfort without Father, 
 heaven, or God, without ours, to give us a property in them all. 0 the 
 blessed news that Christ tells Mary, and that Mary tells us ! I ascend “ to 
 my Father, and your Father, to my God and your God.” Oh ! what dull 
 hearts have we that are not more affected with this blessed news ? No 
 sooner was Christ risen from the dead, but he takes care in all haste to 
 appear unto Mary ; and no sooner does he appear to her, but he sends her 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOCKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 439 
 
 away in all haste to others, “ go to my brethren, and tell it them ;” he would 
 both have Mary, and the rest of the apostles, to hear of his loving kindness 
 betimes in the morning. Why, alas ! they had for some days been amazed 
 with sorrow and fear, but now he provides for their joy : and no sooner they 
 hear the news, but they “joy according to the joy in harvest, and as men 
 rejoice when they divide the spoil, ” Isa. 9 :3. Christ’s resurrection was a 
 cause of unspeakable joy to them : how is it that we hear the very same 
 glad tidings, and yet we are no more affected with them ? Come, Chris- 
 tians, since the occasion extends to us, let us tune our hearts to this key ; 
 that as upon Christ’s absence, we may “ weep with them that weep,” so 
 upon his return, we may spring out in joy, aud “ rejoice with them that 
 rejoice. So much l'or the first apparition. 
 
 Sect. YI. — Of Christ's Apparition to his ten Disciples. 
 
 On this day, some reckon five apparitions, but of them five as we have 
 seen the first, so I shall now only take notice of the last, “ Then the same 
 day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, 
 where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and 
 stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you, and when he 
 had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side,” John 20 : 19, 
 20. In these words, we have the apparition of Christ in all its circum- 
 stances : as, 1. When he appeared. 2. Where he appeared. 3. To whom 
 he appeared. 4. How he appeared. So necessary was it to confirm this 
 point, that not a needful circumstance must be wanting. And first is laid 
 down the time, “ Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the 
 week.” 
 
 How exact is the evangelist in this circumstance of time? It was the 
 same day, the same day at evening, and yet lest the day might be mistaken, 
 it was the same day at evening, being the first day of the week. 1. It was 
 the same day, (i. e.) the very day of rising; he could not endure to keep 
 them in long suspense : the' sun must not go down before the Sun of right- 
 eousness would appear. The same day that he appeared to Peter, to the two 
 disci pies going to Emmaus, to the women coming to the sepulchre, and to 
 Mary Magdalene, as we have heard ; the very same day he appears to the 
 ten. Oh ! what a blessed day was this? It was the day of his resurrec- 
 tion, and the day of these several apparitions. 
 
 2. It was the same day at evening. Both at morn, noon, and evening, 
 Christ showed himself alive by many infallible proofs. Early in the morn- 
 ing he appeared to Mary, and presently after to the three Marys, who touched 
 his feet, and worshipped him : about noon he appeared to Simon Peter, in 
 the afternoon he travelled with two of his disciples almost eight miles, to the 
 castle of Emmaus; and, in the evening of the same day, he returned invisi- 
 ble from Emmaus to Jerusalem. At all times of the day, Christ is prepared, 
 aud preparing grace for his people. 
 
 3. It was the same day at evening, “ being the first of the week,” (Te mia 
 
 ton sabbaton ,) that is one of the Sabbaths, but the Greek words are an 
 hebraism, and the Hebrews use often by one to signify the first, as in Gen. 
 1:5. “ The evening and the morning were one day,” (i. e.) the first day. 
 
 Aud whereas the Greek sounds one of the Sabbaths, ( ton sabbaton ,) it must 
 be understood either properly for Sabbaths, or else, figuratively signifying 
 the whole week; and this acceptation was usual with the Jews, so the evan- 
 gelist brings in the Pharisee speaking, Nestuo dis tou sabbaton,” “ I fast 
 twice in the sabbath,” Luke 18 : 12, (i. e.') in the week, for it is impossible 
 to fast twice in one day; aud hence the translators render it thus, prima del 
 hebdomad is, on the first day of the week, in which is a discovery of his 
 mercy : Christ took no long day to show himself to his apostles, nay, he took 
 
440 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 ■no day at all, but “ the very first day.” When Joseph showed himself unto 
 his brethren, he would not do it at first; and yet he dealt kindly, and very 
 kindly with them ; 0 but Christ’s kindness is far above Joseph’s, for'on 
 the first day of the week, the very same day that he arose from the dead, he 
 appears unto them. Thus for the time. 
 
 2. For the place, it is laid down in this passage, “where the disciples 
 were assembled.” Now if we would know where that was, the evangelist 
 Luke speaks expressly, it' was in Jerusalem, Luke ‘24:38, but in what 
 house of Jerusalem it is unknown : only some conjecture that it was in the 
 house of some disciple, wherein was an upper room. This upper room, ac- 
 cording to the manner of their buildings at that time, was the most large and 
 capacious of any other, and the most retired and free from disturbance, and 
 next to heaven, as having no room above it. Mede* tells us expressly, this 
 was the same room where Christ celebrated the passover, and instituted the 
 Lord’s Supper, and where, on the day of his resurrection, he came and 
 stood in the midst of his disciples, the doors being shut; and where, eight 
 days after, “ the disciples being within,” John 20 : 26, he appeared again 
 to satisfy the incredulity of Thomas : and when the apostles met, after 
 Christ was ascended, “ Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount 
 called Olivet, — and when they were come in, they went up into an upper 
 room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and the rest,” Acts 
 1 : 12, 13. If this be true, it should seem then that this ( uperoon ) this 
 UDper room, first consecrated by Christ at his institution and celebration of 
 the Lord’s Supper, f was thenceforth devoted to be a place of prayer, and 
 holy assemblies: and for certain the place, t of the ( vperoon ) was after- 
 wards enclosed with a goodly church, known by the name of the church of 
 Sion ; to which Jerome made bold to apply that of the Psalmist, “ the Lord 
 loveth the gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.” 
 
 Now of this upper room the doors are said to be shut, and the reason, by 
 way of adjunct, is “for fear of the Jews :” they were shut up as men envi- 
 roned and beleaguered with enemies : and here a question is raised, Whether 
 Christ could enter, “ the doors being shut?” The text is plain, that he 
 came in suddenly, and because of his sudden presence, (the doors being 
 shut) “ they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen 
 a spirit,” Luke 24 : 87. The ancients speaking of it, tell us, “That he en- 
 tered while the doors were shut, and yet be was no phantasm, but be had a 
 true body consisting of flesh and bones.Ӥ Now how such a body consisting 
 of crass parts, should enter into the room, and no place at all open, is a 
 great question; but it is generally answered, That it was by miracle. [| As 
 by miracle, “ he walked on the sea,” Matth. 10 : 25. And as by miracle 
 he vanished out of their sight, Luke 24 : 31, so by miracle he came in, “ the 
 doors being shut.”^[ I know it is against the nature of a body, that one 
 should pass through another, both bodies remaining entire ; aud it is an 
 axiom in philosophy, “That penetration of bodies is merely impossible 
 yet for my part, I shall not dispute the power of the Almighty ; this answer 
 is enough for me to all the objections either of Papists or Lutherans, 
 “ That the creature might yield to the Creator, and the Creator needed not 
 to pass through the creature :” Christ came in when the doors were shut, 
 either causing the doors to give place, the disciples not knowing how : or 
 else altering the very substance of the doors, that his body might pass 
 through them without destruction : I know not but he that thickened the 
 
 * Mede of churches. f Nicephor, 1. 8. Ec. hist. cap. 30. Psal. 87 : 2. 
 
 I Jer. in Epitaphio. Paul* epist. 27. \ Aug. in Serm. 59. 
 
 jj Aug. in Serm. Pasch. 
 
 U Jest quest. 117. Qui intravit per ostia clausa non erat phantasma, &c. Chrys 
 
LOOKING UNTO JE&US. 
 
 441 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 waters to carry his body, might also attenuate the doors to make way foi 
 his body. 
 
 8. For the persons to whom he appeared, they were his disciples; they 
 that were shut up in a conclave, not daring to step out of doors for fear of 
 the Jews, to them now Christ appeared. It is Christ’s usual course to ap- 
 pear to them who are full of fears, and griefs, and most in dangers, “When 
 thou passest through the waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers 
 they shall not overflow thee,” Isa. 43 : 2. — “ Yea though I walk through 
 the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil (saith David) for thou 
 art with me,” Psal. 23 : 4. He was with Joseph in prison, with Jonas in 
 the deep, with Daniel in the lion’s den, with the three children in the fiery 
 furnace. “ Lo, I see four men (said Nebuchadnezzar) walking in the midst 
 of the fire, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God,” Dan. 3 : 24. 
 And thus he was with Paul, when he stood before Nero, u Though all men 
 forsook me, yet Christ the Lord stood by me, and strengthened me,” 2 Tim. 
 4: 16, 17. And do not his apparitions this day speak thus much ! When 
 Mary was full of grief, then Christ appeared to her; when the two disciples 
 travelling towards Emmaus, talking together of all those things which had 
 happened, and were sad, “ then Christ appeared to them,” Luke 24 : 17. 
 And when the apostles were afraid of the Jews, and therefore shut the doors 
 that none might enter, then Christ appeared to them, they were his disci- 
 ples, his sad, distracted, timorous disciples to whom Christ appeared. 
 
 4. For the manner how he appeared ; it appears in these passages. 1. 
 “ He stood in the midst. 2. He said, Peace be unto you. 3. He showed 
 unto them his hands and his side.” 
 
 1. “ He stood in the midst.” Herein he represents himself as a com- 
 mon good ; things placed in the midst are common ; and he stands in the 
 midst as a common Saviour, and hence it is that our faith is called a com- 
 mon faith. “To Titus my son after the common faith,” Tit. 1 : 4. And 
 our salvation is called a common salvation, “ I give all diligence to write 
 unto you of the common salvation,” Jude 3. And in that way as salvation 
 is common, Christ Jesus is called a common Saviour, “Behold I bring you 
 glad tidings of great joy which shall be to all people, for unto you (unto all 
 you) is born, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord,” 
 Luke 2 : 10, 11. This posture of Christ (standing in the midst) declares 
 that he despiseth none, but that he takes care of them all. Some observe, 
 that all the while Christ was on earth, he most stood in this posture; at his 
 birth he was found in a stable in the midst of beasts; in his childhood he 
 was found in the temple, in the midst of the doctors, Luke 2 : 46, in his 
 manhood, John the Baptist told them, “ There standeth one in the midst of 
 you, whom ye know not,” John 1 : 26, and he said of himself, “ I am in 
 the midst of you as one that serveth,” Luke 22 : 27, at his death, that very 
 place fell to his turn ; for they crucified him in the midst betwixt two thieves, 
 “ One on the right hand, and the other on the lefr,” Luke 23 : 33. And 
 now at his rising, there we find him again, the disciples in the midst of the 
 Jews, and he in the midst of his disciples. After this in Patmos, John 
 saw him in heaven, “in the midst of the throne,” Rev. 7 : 17, and in the 
 earth he saw him “in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks,” Rev. 1 : 
 13, and in the last day he shall be in the midst too, “ of the sheep on his 
 right hand, and of the goats on his left,” Matth. 25 : 33. 
 
 But I find there is yet more in it, “ that he stood in the midst,” for the 
 midst is Christ’s place by nature, he is the second person in the Trinity; 
 and the midst is Christ’s place by office, he dealeth betwixt God and man : 
 and in the midst is Christ’s place in respect of his person, he is God-man, 
 one that hath interest in both parties; it was the middle persou who was 
 to be the middle one, that undertook this mediation betwixt God and ua. 
 
442 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 We read in the Roman history, that the Romans and Sabines joining battle 
 together, the women being daughters to the one side, and wives to the other, 
 interposed themselves, and took up the quarrel : and by their mediation, 
 who had a particular interest in either side, they, who before stood upon 
 the highest terms of hostility, did now join themselves together into one 
 body and state. God and we were enemies, but Christ stood in the midst 
 to reconcile us unto God, and to slay this enmity ; and to this purpose Christ 
 is called ( mesites ) a Mediator, a term peculiar to the Scriptures, not to be 
 found among profane authors. 0 ! what comfort is here to see Jesus Christ 
 stand in the midst. Now may the disciples behold him as their blessed 
 Peace-maker, their Mediator, as one that hath slain the enmity, Eph. 2:16, 
 not only that enmity betwixt men and men, Jews and Gentiles, but also 
 betwixt God and men. This he did by his death, and now he declares it 
 at his resurrection ; for so the apostle there goes on, “ Having slain the 
 enmity by his cross, he came and preached peace,” verse 17, and so the 
 evangelist here goes on after his resurrection, “Jesus came and stood in the 
 midst, and said unto them, Peace be unto you.” You see how he stood. 
 
 2. What he said, this is the next passage ; “ He said peace be unto you,” 
 a seasonable salutation; for now were the disciples in fear and trouble; 
 they had no peace with God or man, or with their own consciences; and 
 therefore a more welcome news could not have come; I suppose this peace 
 refers to all these. As, — 
 
 1. It speaks their peace with God : sin was it that brought a difference 
 betwixt God and man, now this difference Jesus Christ had taken away by 
 his death, “Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the 
 world,” John 1 : 29, he hath taken it away in its condemning power, or as 
 to its separating power betwixt God and them; this was the great design of 
 Christ’s coming to make peace betwixt God and man ; bis Father imposed 
 this office upon him, and Jesus Christ undertook it, and discharged it, and 
 now he proclaims it, in the first place to his disciples, ‘ Peace be unto you.” 
 
 2. It speaks their peace with man : I know no reason why we should ex- 
 clude civil peace out of Christ’s wish, many, and many a promise and pre- 
 cept we have in the word scattered here and there to this purpose ; “And I 
 will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down and none shall make you 
 afraid,” Lev. 26 : 6. — And “ thou shalt be in league with the stones of the 
 field, and thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shalt be in peace,” Job. 5 : 
 23, 24. “And seek the peace of the city, — and pray unto the Lord for it; 
 for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace,” Jer. 29 : 7. And “ follow 
 peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see God.” 
 Heb. 12 : 14. Orbern pacatum , was ever a clause in the prayers of the 
 primitive church, that “ the world might be quiet;” I am sure it is Christ’s 
 command, “ if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peacably with all 
 men,” Rom. 12 : 18. 
 
 3. It speaks their peace among themselves, peace one with another. Such 
 is, or should be the condition of the church, “ Jerusalem is builded as a 
 city, that is compact together, or at unity within itself,” Psal. 122 : 3. The 
 apostle dwells on this unity, “ There is one body, and one spirit, and one 
 hope, and one Lord, and one faith, and one baptism, and one God and Fa- 
 ther of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all,” Eph. 4 : 4, 
 6, 6. The church is a court, whose very pillars are peace ; the building 
 of Christianity knows no other materials to work upon ; if we look upon 
 the church itself, there is one body; if upon the very soul of it, there is 
 one Spirit ; if upon the endowment of it, there is one hope ; if upon the 
 head of it, there is one Lord ; if upon the life of it, there is one faith ; if 
 upon the door of it, there is one baptism ; if upon the father of it, “ there 
 is one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 443 
 
 all :” it was sometimes Christ’s command unto his apostles, “ have salt in 
 yourselves, and have peace one with another,” Mark 9 : 50. And as a 
 blessed effect of this salutation, (for I look upon them as words full of 
 virtue,) the apostles and churches of Christ in primitive times, kept a most 
 sweet harmony, “ the multitude of them that believed were of one heart, 
 and of one soul,” Acts 4 : 32. 
 
 4. It speaks peace within, peace of conscience; the apostles had exceed- 
 ingly fallen from Christ : one betrayed him, and another denied him, but 
 all ran away, and left him alone in the midst of all his enemies; and yet 
 to them he speaks this salutation, Peace be unto you ; I know not a better 
 ground for comfort of poor humble sinners, than this is; it may be you 
 have dealt very unkindly with Jesus Christ, you have forsook him, denied 
 him, forsworn him; 0! but consider all this hindered not Christ’s appa- 
 rition to his apostles ! he comes unexpected, and quiets their spirits : he 
 stays not till they had sued to him for mercy or pardon, but of his mere 
 love and free grace, he speaks kindly to them all, he stills the waves, and 
 becalms their troubled spirits, working in them according to his words, 
 Peace be unto you. 
 
 0 the sweet of peace ! It is all wishes in one ; this little word is a bre- 
 viary of all that is good : what can they have more than peace with God, 
 and peace with men, and peace within ? Sure there is much in it, because 
 Christ is so much upon it; at his birth the angels sing, “Glory to God in 
 the highest, and on earth peace,” Luke 2 : 14, at his baptism the form of a 
 dove lighted upon him, and, what meant this? But peace. In his life the 
 fort of integrity was his court, and what was here but peace ? Near his 
 death he gives peace as a legacy to his church, “ Peace I leave with you, 
 my peace I give you,” John 14 : 27, at his resurrection his first salutation 
 to his apostles is a wish of peace, “Peace be unto you ;” what can I say 
 more to make us in love with peace? Why, all Christ did, and all Christ 
 suffered was for peace, he prayed for it, “Neither pray I for these alone, 
 but for them also which shall believe on me, — that they all may be one, as 
 thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us,” 
 John 17 : 20, 21. And he wept for it, “If thou hadst known, even thou 
 at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace,” Luke 19 : 
 42. And he died to purchase it, “ But ye who sometimes were afar off, 
 are made nigh by the blood of Christ, for he is our peace,” Eph. 2 : 13, 14. 
 Of this we need no other proof or sign, but that of the prophet Jonas; and 
 when the sea wrought and was tempestuous, “ What shall we do unto thee, 
 (said the mariners) that the sea may be calm unto us ? And he said, take 
 me up, and cast me forth into the sea, and so shall the sea be calm,” Jonah 
 1:11, 12. When that great enmity was betwixt God and us, What shall 
 I do (said God) that my justice may be satisfied, aud my wrath appeased, 
 and that there may be a calm ? Why, take me, (said Christ,) and cast me 
 forth unto the sea, let all thy waves and thy billows go over me, make me 
 a peace-offering and kill me, that when I am dead there may be a calm, and 
 when I am risen I may proclaim it, saying, “Peace be unto you.” You 
 hear what he said. 
 
 3. What he showed; this is the next passage, “ He showed unto them 
 his hands and his side.” I look upon this as a true and real manifestation 
 of his resurrection; and we find that without this, Thomas professed he 
 would never have believed, “Except I shall see in his hands the print of 
 the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand 
 into his side, I will not believe,” John 20 : 25. But a question or two is 
 here raised, As whether these wounds and prints of the nails and spear, can 
 possibly agree with a glorified body ? And why Christ retained those wounds 
 and prints ? For the first, whether those prints could agree with a glorified 
 
444 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 body? Some affirm it with much boldness; and they say, That Christ not 
 only retained those prints whilst he abode upon earth, but now that he is 
 ascended into heaven, he still retains them; for my part I dare not go so 
 far, because Scripture is silent; but the day is coming when we shall see 
 Christ face to face, and then we shall know the truth of this; only I con- 
 ceive that Christ’s body yet remaining on earth was not entered into that 
 fulness of glory, as it is now in heaven, and therefore he might then retain 
 some scars, or blemishes, to manifest the truth of his resurrection unto his 
 disciples, which are not agreeable to his state in heaven. But this I deliver, 
 not as a matter of faith ; reasons are produced both ways by the ancient 
 writers, and I refer you to them. 
 
 For the second, Why Christ retained these wounds and prints, many 
 reasons are rendered, though I shall not close with all. 
 
 1. Some think those scars or prints were as the trophies of his victory; 
 nothing is more delightful to a lover, than to bear about the wounds under- 
 gone for his beloved ; and nothing is more honorable for a soldier, than to 
 show his wounds undergone for his country’s good ; what are they but as 
 so many arguments of his valor, and trophies of his victory? This was 
 Beda’s sense,* “ Christ reserved his scars, not from any impotency of 
 curing them, but to set out the glory and triumph of his victory over death 
 and hell.” 
 
 2. Others think those scars or prints were for the setting out of Christ’s 
 splendor and beauty, as in cut or pinkt garments the inward silks do ap- 
 pear more splendid, so in Christ’s wounds there appears inwardly far more 
 beauty. Aquinas affirms, “That in the very place of the wounds there is 
 a certain special comeliness in Christ.” And Augustine thinks, “That 
 the very martyrs may retain some scars of their wounds in glory, because 
 there is no deformity, but dignity in them, and besides a certain beauty 
 may shine in their bodies answerable to their virtues wherein they ex- 
 celled.’^ 
 
 3. Others think that Christ retains those scars, that be might by them 
 intercede for us; and upon these very words, “We have an advocate with 
 the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,” 1 John 2 : 2, they comment thus : 
 “That God is appeased by Christ’s representing to him the prints and 
 scars of his human nature. Christ’s wounds are so many open mouths, 
 which cry at the tribunal of his Father for mercy, as Abel’s blood cried for 
 revenge. 
 
 4. Others think that Christ retains those scars, that thereby in the day 
 of judgment he might confound the Jews, and all the wicked in the world. 
 It is Augustine’s judgment, that as Christ showed Thomas his hands and 
 his side, because otherwise he would not believe, so at the last day will he 
 show those wounds to all his enemies, saying, come, behold the man whom 
 you have crucified, Come, see the print of the nails, and the print of the 
 spear ; these be the hands and the feet you have nailed and clenched to a 
 piece of wood ; this is the side you pierced ; by you and for you was it 
 opened, but you would not enter in “that you might be saved. ”j" And for 
 this opinion they allege this text, “ Behold he cometh with clouds, and 
 every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him ; and all kindreds 
 of the earth shall wail because of him : even so. Amen,” Bev. 1 : 7. 
 
 5. All think that Christ retained his scars, that he might convince the 
 unbelieving disciples of his resurrection ; hereby they are assured that 
 Christ is raised, and that the same body of Christ is raised, that before was 
 crucified ; and to this we cannot but subscribe, “ The scars of his wounds 
 
 * Beda in Luc. f Thom. 3, part q. 53, a cert. Aug. 22, de civit. Dei. 
 
 X Thom, in 1 Joan, 1,2. \ Aug. 1, 2. de cymb. c. 8. 
 
CIIAP. I.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 445 
 
 were for the healing of their doubts.” Luke brings in Christ bespeaking 
 his disciples thus, “ Behold ray hands and my feet, that it is I myself, han- 
 dle me and see,” 24 : 39, q. d. “ Come, let your fingers enter into these 
 prints of the nails, and let your hands be thrust into the depths of this 
 wound ; come and open these holes in ray hands, open this wound in ray 
 side : 1 will not deny that to ray disciples for their faith, which I denied 
 not to mine enemies in their rage, open and feel till thou hast come to the 
 very bone, that so both bones and wounds may witness, That I am he 
 that liveth, and was dead, aud behold 1 am alive for evermore, Amen,”* 
 llev. 1:18. 
 
 Use. What testimonies are here to convince the world of Christ’s resur- 
 rection ? Surely this argues the goodness of God that strives thus wonder- 
 fully with the weak faith of those that are his. At first he appeared to 
 one, even to Mary Magdalene ; and after he appeared to two, saith Mat- 
 thew, “To Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary,” Matth. 28 : 1, or to 
 three saiih Mark, “To Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and 
 Salome,” Mark 1G : 1. But'of this apparition he is seeu of ten at least; 
 and to confirm their faith, not a considerable circumstance must be wanting; 
 here is time and place, and persons to whom he appears, and the manner 
 how lie appears, he stands in the midst to be seen of all, he speaks to 
 them, breathes on them, eats with them, and shows them his hands and 
 side; 0 the wonderful condescension of Christ! what helps doth he con- 
 tinually afford to beget in us faith ? if we are ignorant, he instructs us ; if 
 we err, he reduceth us; if we sin, he corrects us; if we stand, he holds us 
 up; if we fall, he lifts us up again ; if we go, lie leads us; if we come to 
 him, he is ready to receive us ; there is not a passage of Christ betwixt him 
 and his, but it is an argument of love, and a mean either of begetting, or 
 of increasing faith : 0 then believe in Christ, yea, believe thy part in the 
 death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; considering that these apparitions 
 Were not only for the apostles’ sakes, but if Christ be thine, they were for 
 thy sake, that thou inightest believe, and be*, saved. But I shall have occa- 
 sion to speak more of this in the chapter following. So much of the second 
 apparition as it is recorded by the evangelist John. 
 
 Sect. VII. — Of Christ’s Apparition to all his Apostles. 
 
 IMMEDIATELY after this apparition to his ten apostles, the next is to all 
 bis apostles, not one being absent; and “after eight days, again his dis- 
 ciples were withiu, and Thomas with them, then came Jesus, the doors 
 being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you ; then saith 
 he to 'ihoinas, reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands : and reach 
 hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but be- 
 lieving; and Thomas answered, and said unto him, my Lord and my God ; 
 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou has believed, 
 blessed are they which have not seen, and yet have believed,” John 
 20 : 2G, 27, 28, 29. 
 
 In the whole story we have Christ’s apparition, and the fruits of it. 
 
 1. For the apparition (as in the former) we have, 1. The time. 2. The 
 place. 3. The persons to whom he appeared. And, 4. The manner how 
 he appeared. 
 
 1. For the time, and after eight days; it was on the same day seven 
 night, after the former apparitions, which was the first day of the week, and 
 now because of his resurrection, aud apparitions, called “ the Lord’s day ; 
 1 was in the spirit on the Lord’s day,” Kev. 1 : 10. This (in my appre- 
 hension) makes much for the honor of the Lord’s day; the first assembly 
 
 * Aug. Tract. 121, in Johan. 
 
446 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IV. 
 
 of ihe apostles after Christ’s death was on the first day of the week, and the 
 second church assembly that we read of, was again on the first day of the 
 week ; “ and after eight days;” a sign that the Lord’s day, Sabbath, was on 
 the first, day instituted, and that the more solemn assemblies of God’s people 
 were henceforth to be on the Lord’s day. It is an usual observation, that 
 “ things and persons which are named the Lord’s, are sacred and venerable 
 in an high degree as the grace of our Lord, Rom. 16 : 24, the Spirit of 
 the Lord, 2 Cor. 3 : 17, the beloved of the Lord, Rom. 16 : 8, the glory of 
 the Lord, 2 Cor. 3 : 18, the word of the Lord, 1 Tim. 6 : 3, the cup of the 
 Lord, 1 Cor. 11 : 27. Augustine tells us,* “ That the Lord’s resurrection 
 promised us an eternal day, and that it did consecrate unto us the Lord’s 
 day.” Surely then this day must needs be venerable, and a solemn day 
 among us Christians. Now it was that as the rising of the sun dispelleth 
 darkness, so Christ the Sun of righteousness, shined forth into the world by 
 the light of his resurrection ; and hence we read of the apostles’ observation 
 of this very day above all others. “ The first day of the week, the disci- 
 ples being come together to break bread, Paul preached unto them,” Acts 
 20 : 7, — “and concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order 
 to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye : upon the first day of every week, 
 let every one lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him,” 1 Cor. 16 : 
 1, 2. Charitable contributions, and church assemblies, were in use and 
 practice on the first day of the week, (i. e.) on the Lord’s day. An argu- 
 ment sufficient to me against all the opposers of this sacred truth, that the 
 first day of the week is our Christian Sabbath; why then Christ arose, and 
 at sundry times appeared before his ascension, and after his ascension, 
 Christ sent down the Holy Ghost, on that very day; and after the sending 
 of the Holy Ghost, the apostles then preached, the churches then assem- 
 bled, charities were then gathered, the Lord’s supper was then celebrated : 
 Christ’s first apparition was on that day, and after that day finished, not any 
 other apparition before this time, “ and after eight days.” 
 
 2. For the place, it is said to be within, probably it was the very same 
 house wherein the former apparition was; the house wherein Christ cele- 
 brated the passover, and instituted the Lord’s Supper, wherein was the large 
 upper room made ready for Christ, Mark 14 : 15. In this upper room, 
 immediately after Christ’s ascension, was that famous assembly of all the 
 apostles, as we have heard. And in this upper room was that other famous 
 assembly of all the twelve, when the Holy G-host came down upon them in 
 cloven tongues of fire at the feast of Pentecost, Acts 2:1; and, if we may 
 believe tradition, in this upper room the seven deacons (whereof Stephen 
 was one) were elected and ordained, Acts 6. And in this upper room the 
 apostles and elders of the church at Jerusalem, held that council, the pat- 
 tern of all councils, for the decision of that question, u Whether the Gen- 
 tiles that believed were to be circumcised ?” Acts 15. In this upper room 
 the apostles and disciples frequently assembled for prayer and supplications; 
 yea, “ they continued therewith one accord in prayer and supplication,” 
 Acts 1 : 14. And hence, Cyril, who was bishop of the place, f calls it (lie. 
 onotera ekldesia ton apostolori) the upper church of the apostles; but of 
 this upper room, and of the doors of it being shut, we have spoken before. 
 
 3. For the persons, they were his ten disciples, to whom he had appeared 
 formerly, only now Thomas was with them, and so the number is complete, 
 which before was not; his disciples were within, and Thomas with them; 
 and, why Thomas with them ? Was not Thomas one of them ? Was not 
 Thomas a disciple of Christ as well as the rest ? I grant; but Thomas is 
 added, because Thomas was not present at the last apparition, and this ap- 
 
 * Aug. de verb. Aposto. serm. 15. 
 
 f Cyril. Jerus. Cat. 16. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 447 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 pnrition was more especially for Thomas’s sake ; 0 the admirable love of 
 Christ towards poor sinners ! observe, “ in Christ are bowels of mercy to 
 his straying sheep;” the disciples in danger had fled away from Christ, but 
 he will not fly away from them : no, no, he seeks them, he stands in the 
 midst of them, and he comes again with an olive-branch of peace, saying, 
 “ Peace be unto you.” Of all these we have touched before, but here is 
 something new, a new mercy breaking out on faithless Thomas : Christ 
 proves it by lively examples, and strong arguments, That “ he will not 
 quench the smoking flax, nor break the bruised reed,” Isa. 42 : 3. That 
 “ he came to seek and to save that which was lost,” Luke 19 : 10. That 
 he was sent to bind up the broken-hearted, and to heal the sick, to reduce 
 the abject, and to bring to the fold the straying sheep; for the sake of one 
 Thomas, Christ appears again, that to him, as well as the rest, he might 
 communicate his goodness, bequeath his peace, and confirm him in this ne- 
 cessary point of faith, that he was risen again. 0 the goodness of Christ! 
 “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear 
 him,” Psalm 103 : 13. He that left the ninety and nine in the wilderness 
 to go after that sheep that was lost, declares his desire to save sinners, “Of 
 all that thou hast given me I have not lost one,” John 17 : 12 ; not one of 
 his sheep; he may suffer them awhile to stray as this one disciple, who con- 
 tinued incredulous for one whole week, but a Lord’s day comes, and then 
 Christ appears in the midst of the candlesticks, “The Lord is not slack 
 concerning his promise, (as some men count slackness) but he is long- 
 suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should 
 come to repentance,” 1 Pet. 3 : 9. Humbled sinners that despair in them- 
 selves, may here find encouragement; it is their usual cry, “0 my sins! 
 these sins are heinous, these sins will damn me ” Oh ! but consider, hath 
 not the Lord pardoned as great sins? If thou art wicked, consider the 
 publican, if thou art unclean, remember Magdalene, if thou art a thief, a 
 man-slayer, muse on that thief that was crucified with Jesus Christ, if thou 
 art a blasphemer, call to mind the apostle Paul, who was first a wolf, and 
 then a shepherd; first lead, and then gold; first a Saul, and then a Paul : 
 if thou art faithless, diffident, an unbeliever, one that hath turned thy back 
 on Christ, fled away from thy colours, look on Thomas, he fled away from 
 Christ as soon as any, and he is longest from Christ after his resurrection 
 of all the rest; and though his fellow-disciples say, “ They had seen the 
 Lord, and that he was risen indeed,” yet this will not sink into his head, 
 he will not acknowledge it, but is most peremptory, “ Except he sees in his 
 hands the print of the nails, and put his fingers into the print of the nails, 
 and thrust his hand into his side, he will not believe,” John 20 : 25. Oh ! 
 Why should any sinner despair of mercy? Thou sayest, “I am wicked,” 
 and God saith to thee, “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure 
 in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and 
 live,” Ezek. 33 : 11. Thou sayest, “I am an unbeliever, I am shut up in 
 the prison of unbelief under bolts and fetters, that I cannot stir one inch 
 towards heaven ;” why, so was Hidymus, and yet he obtained mercy; and the 
 apostles tell us, That “ God hath concluded all, (or shut up altogether) in 
 unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all,” Horn. 11 : 32. He despiseth 
 none, rejects none, abhors none, unless they continue to despise, reject, and 
 abhor the Lord ; Oh ! what a sweet point is here to gain sinners, to move, 
 to melt, to thaw hard hearts ? The incredulity of this disciple turns to our 
 profit, and tends more to the confirmation of our faith, if we are but tyeak, 
 than the very faith of all the other disciples of Jesus Christ; had not 
 Thomas disbelieved, we had not received so great encouragements to have 
 believed in £Jhrist, as now we have. 
 
 Excuse me that I speak thus much to encourage 'sinners to come to 
 
448 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IY. 
 
 Christ, I would be sometimes a Boanerges, and sometimes a Barnabas ; a 
 son of thunder to rouse hard hearts, and a son of consolation to cheer up 
 drooping spirits. All ministers may learn of the great Shepherd and Bishop 
 of our souls, to have a respect in their ministry to one sinner, to one in- 
 credulous Thomas; we cannot be ignorant of these scriptures, “Him that 
 is weak in the faith receive you,” Bom. 14 : 1. — And to the weak I became 
 as weak, that I might gain the weak, 1 Cor. 9 : 22. — And we exhort you, 
 brethren, "warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support 
 the weak, be patient towards all men, 1 Thes. 5 : 14. — And of some have 
 compassion, making a difference ; and others save with fear, pulling them 
 out of the fire, Jude 22 : 23. — And brethren, if a man be overtaken in a 
 fault, ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, 
 Gal. 6 : 1 . — And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle 
 unto all men, apt to teach, patient in meekness, instructing those that op- 
 pose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance, 2 Tim. 
 2 : 24, 25. Dear souls ! How do we long for your conversion and salvation? 
 How are you in our hearts, in our prayers, in our sermons ? “ My little 
 
 children, how do we travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,” 
 Gal. 4 : 19. How gladly would we spend and be spent for you, though the 
 more abundantly we love you, the less we are loved of you ?” 2 Cor. 12 : 15. 
 If I knew but one Thomas in the great assembly of God's people, I should 
 think it as a crown, and the glory of my ministry to persuade this man 
 unto faith. Christ in this apparition eyes one especially above all the rest, 
 “ when his disciples were within, and Thomas with them, then came Jesus.” 
 
 4. The manner how he appeared. 1. He came, the doors being shut. 
 2. He stood in the midst. 3. He said, peace be unto you. All these we 
 have despatched in the former apparition ; I shall therefore proceed to that 
 which is peculiar to this, “ Then saith he to Thomas, Beach hither thy 
 finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into 
 my side, and be not faithless but believing,” John 20 : 27. In this appa- 
 rition he argues his resurrection, 1. From words, 2. From deeds. 
 
 1. From the words, Thomas had said, “ Except I see in his hands the 
 print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust 
 my band into his side, I will not believe.” Now Christ repeats the very 
 self same words, and therein gives in an argument of his resurrection; for 
 if Christ could know what Thomas had said, How is he but alive, and risen 
 from the dead ? The dead have not sense, much less the use of reason, but 
 least of all the knowledge of another’s mind : but Christ hath sense, and 
 reason, science and omniscience; observe, “ though Christ be absent, as in 
 his bodily presence, yet he understandeth all our thoughts, and if ueed were, 
 he could repeat all our sayings, word by word ;” how then may this con- 
 vince all unbelievers in the world, that Christ is risen, that he that was 
 dead, now liveth, and that he is alive for evermore? 
 
 2. He appears arguing his resurrection from deeds, wherein is an act and 
 object, 1. The act is, Thomas seeing and feeling, q. d. Thomas thou wilt 
 not believe, except thou seest and feelest; now this is against the nature of 
 faith, it consisteth not in seeing and feeling; but on the contrary, “Faith 
 is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen,” 
 Ileb. 11 : 1. Indeed iu things natural, a man must first have experience, 
 and then believe ; but in divine things, a man must first believe, and then 
 have experience; and yet to help thy unbelief, (said Christ) I am willing 
 thus far to condescend, and to yield unto thy weakness, come feel the print 
 of the nails, and of the spear, “Come reach hither thy finger, and behold 
 my hands, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side, and be 
 not faithless but believing.” Christ compassionates his children, though 
 full of weakness aud wants, “he pities them that fear him, for he knows 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 449 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 Dur frame, he remembers that, we are but dust,” Psal. 103 : 13, 14. 2. The 
 
 object is Christ seen or felt; his prints and his scars, are the very witnesses 
 of our redemption, and of his resurrection : they declare that Satan is over- 
 thrown, that death and hell are swallowed up in victory, that “ he hath 
 spoiled principalities and powers,” Cob 2:15, and to this purpose are these 
 texts, “Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from 
 Bozrah?” Isa. 63:2,3. By Edom is meant death; by Bozrah, (the 
 chiefest city of Edom) is meant the state of the dead, or hell, from both 
 which Christ returned at his glorious resurrection, “ For thou wilt not leave 
 my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption,” 
 Psal. 16 : 10. Now saith the prophet, or some angel, “'Who is this that 
 cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah ?” Who is it that 
 cometh so triumphantly, with the keys of Edom and Bozrah, of death and 
 hell at his girdle ? To which the answer is given, “ I that speak in 
 righteousness, mighty to save;” as much as to say, it is I Jesus Christ, I 
 that am righteous in speaking, and mighty in saving; whose word is truth, 
 and whose work is salvation, it is I, even I : this answer given, another 
 question is propounded, “ Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy 
 garments like him that treadeth in the wine fat ?” q. d. Here is nothing but 
 scars, and wounds, and blood ; if thou art so mighty to save, how comes thy 
 apparel to be so red, and sprinkled, or stained with blood ? To which Christ 
 answers, “I have trodden the wine press alone, — and I will tread them in 
 mine anger,” I was trod and pressed till the very blood streamed out of my 
 hands, and feet, and side, so pressed, that they pressed the very soul out 
 of my body. See here, “ Behold my hands, and my feet, and my side, that 
 it is I myself, that have trode the wine press alone.” But as I was trode, 
 so I will tread; up he gets, and he treads on them that trode on him; his 
 enemies of Edom and Bozrah are now like so many clusters under his feet, 
 and he tramples upon them as upon grapes in a fat, till he make the blood 
 spring out of them, and all to sprinkle his garments, as if he had come out 
 of the wine press indeed. See here a double sight, his own blood and his 
 enemies’ blood ; here is the blood of the Lamb that was slain, and the blood 
 of the dragon that was trodden upon ; here is a show both of his passion 
 and resurrection, of his suffering and triumphing. — Another text of this 
 nature, “And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thy hands? 
 Then he shall answer, those with which I was wounded in the house of my 
 friends,” Zech. 13 : 6. I know instead of Christ, some have applied these 
 words to the false prophets, as if they had passed through the church’s dis- 
 cipline and so had received their wounds. But others refer them to Jesus 
 Christ, of whom, without controversy, the next verse speaks ; and of whom 
 the first verse of this chapter speaks, and of whom after a long parenthesis, 
 the prophet seems to return; “And one shall say unto him, Who was the 
 fountain opened? What are these wounds in thy hands?” Or, as the 
 Septuagint, “In the midst of thy hands?” A wonder it is to see those 
 prints and scars in the hands of Christ; and therefore is the question, What 
 are these wounds ? To which Christ answers, “ Those with which I was 
 wounded in the house of my friends,” (i. e.) in the house of my beloved, 
 the children of Israel, my brethren according to the flesh, the people of the 
 Jews : why, these are the wounds they gave me, and which now I show as 
 the sign of my victory, and as the marks of my resurrection. 
 
 Thus far of the first head, the apparition of Christ. 
 
 2. For the fruits of this apparition, they contain Thomas’s confession, and 
 Christ’s commendation of him in some respects. 
 
 1. Thomas’s confession, “And Thomas answered and said unto him, my 
 Lord, and my God:” a few words, but of great weight. 1. He acknow- 
 ledgeth Christ a Lord, into whose hands are put the very keys of heaven 
 29 
 
450 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [book iy. 
 
 “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth,” Matth. 28 : 18. 2. 
 
 He acknowledged Christ to be God : whom he saw with his eyes, and felt 
 "with his hands, he looks on, not as mere man, but as God, and as the se- 
 cond person in the Godhead. 3. He acknowledged Christ to be his Lord 
 and his God; this appropriating of Christ, is the right character of faith, 
 by which he brings home all the benefits of Christ unto his own soul. I 
 shall awhile insist on all these. 
 
 1. He acknowledged Christ a Lord. How is he a Lord? I answer, 1, 
 By essence, as God is Lord, so Christ is Lord, the Father is Lord, the Son 
 is Lord, and the Holy Ghost is Lord, and yet they are not three Lords; but 
 one Lord. 
 
 2. By creation, “ Christ is before all things, (saith the apostle) and by 
 him all things consist,” Col. 1 : 17. This very thing is an argument of his 
 Lordship, “To us there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all 
 things, and we by him,” 1 Cor. 8 : 6. 
 
 3. By redemption, unction, office and Mediatorship, unto which he was 
 designed by his Father, and therefore the apostle saith, That “ God hath 
 made him Lord and Christ,” Acts 2 : 36, he is a Lord by his office, and by 
 the accomplishment of his office, in dying, rising, and reviving, he became 
 Lord both of quick and dead, “ For to this end Christ both died, and rose, 
 and revived, that he might be Lord both of dead and living,” Bom. 14 : 9. 
 And thus he is Lord in two respects, 1. A Lord in authority, to command 
 whom and what he will ; he only is Lord over our persons, over our faith, 
 over our consciences : to him only we must say, “ Lord, what wilt thou 
 have me do ? Lord, save us, or we perish.” 2. A Lord he is in power, 
 he hath power to forgive, and power to cleanse, he hath power to justify, 
 and power to sanctify, he hath power to quicken, and power to save to the 
 uttermost, all that come unto God by him ; he hath power to hold fast his 
 sheep, and power to cast out the accuser of his brethren ; he hath power to 
 put down all his enemies, and power to subdue all things unto himself : in 
 every of these respects Christ is a Lord. True, say blasphemers, he is Lord 
 by office, but he is not Lord “ by essence as God is Lord,” No ! peruse 
 some texts in the Old Testament, where the title of Lord is essentially 
 spoken of, and we shall find the very same texts and titles applied to Christ 
 in the New Testament. As for instance, in Isa. 6:5. “Wo is me, (saith 
 Isaiah) for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts :” Now this 
 John refers to Christ, “These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, 
 and spake of him,” John 12 : 41. In Psalm 68 : 17, 18, “The Lord is 
 among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place; thou hast ascended on high, 
 thou hast led captivity captive, thou hast received gifts for men;” now this 
 the apostle applies to Christ, “ When he ascended up on high, he led capti- 
 vity captive, and gave gifts unto men,” Eph. 4:8. In Psal. 110 : 1. “The 
 Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine 
 enemies thy footstool ;” now this Jesus Christ applies to himself, saying, 
 “That David in Spirit called him Lord, saying, the Lord said unto my 
 Lord,” Matth. 22 : 43, 44. In Isa. 40 : 3. “ The voice of him that crieth 
 in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord :” now this the evange- 
 list applies to Christ, “ This is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, 
 saying, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of 
 the Lord,” Matth. 3:3. No wonder, if Thomas call Christ Lord ; why, 
 both the Old and New Testament agree in this, Christ is Lord, Lord by 
 creation, and Lord by redemption, Lord by office, and Lord by essence. 
 
 2. He acknowledged Christ to be God, as well as Lord, My Lord and my 
 God. But how is he God? I answer, not only by participation, similitude, 
 or in some respects, as angels and men are called gods, but simply, abso- 
 lutely essentially, and without any restriction. Sometimes we read in 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 451 
 
 scripture, that men or angels, good and bad, are called gods, “ And the 
 Lord said to Moses, see I have made thee a god to Pharaoh,” Exod. 7 : 1, 
 “ And thou shalt be instead of (rod to Aaron, ” Exod. 4 : 16. Thus Nebu- 
 chadnezzar is called the mighty one, or “ the god of the Heathens,” Ezek. 
 31 : 11, and Satan is called “the god of this world,” 2 Cor. 4:4. Thus 
 magistrates are called gods, “ Thou shalt not revile the gods,” Exod. 22 : 28. 
 I have said ye are gods, Psal. 82 : 6. Angels are called gods, “ Before the 
 gods will I sing praises unto thee,” Psal. 138 : 1. But in all these there 
 is some restriction, or improper speech : Moses is called Pharaoh's god, and 
 Aaron’s god, not absolutely, but with restriction to Pharaoh and Aaron ; 
 Nebuchadnezzar is called the god of the Heathen, and Satan the god of 
 this world, not absolutely, but with restriction to the Heathen, and this 
 world ; magistrates are called gods, and good angels are called gods, not 
 absolutely, but in respect of some offices or excellencies which they par- 
 take of from God. Only Jesus Christ is called God, without any restric- 
 tion, and not only in respect of some office, or similitude, but absolutely, 
 essentially, properly ; as being from all eternity God of God ; as being God, 
 of the substance of the Father, before all worlds; what, is Christ only God, 
 as an angel is God ? I challenge here all blasphemers in the world. “ Unto 
 which of the angels said he at any time, thou art my Son, this day have I 
 begotten thee,” Heb. 1 : 5. Or, unto which of the angels said he at any 
 time, “ Thy throne, 0 God, is forever and ever,” verse 8. Or, to which of 
 the angels said he at any time, thou art my Son, “ my own Son, my only 
 begotten Son,” Rom 8:32; John 3 : 16. Unto which of the angels said 
 he at any time, “ This is the true God, the great God, who is over all, God 
 blessed for ever, Amen,” 1 John 5 :20; Tit, 2 : 13 ; Rom. 9 : 5. Unto 
 which of the angels are those divine attributes given, as of eternity, 
 immutability, omnipotency, omniscience, omnipresence? And yet are all 
 these given to Christ ; for eternity, “ I was set up from everlasting, from 
 the beginning, or ever the earth was,” Prov. 8 : 23. For immutability, 
 “ Thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail,” Heb. 1 : 12. For omnipo- 
 tency, “All things are delivered uuto me of my Father, Matth. 11:27. 
 For omniscience, “ He needed not that any should testify of man, for he 
 knew what was in man,” John 2 :25. For omnipresence, “ Lo, I am with 
 you always unto the end of the world,” Matth. 28 : 20. 
 
 Men, brethren, and fathers, I am forced to make this defence of the 
 divinity of Christ, because of the blasphemy of those Arians, Photinians, 
 Eunomians, now again raked out of hell. 0 ! who would think that such 
 a generation of men should be amongst us in this island, where the gospel 
 hath shined so brightly for so many years? We maintain Christ is God, 
 and Christ is Lord : we say with Thomas, “ My Lord, and my God.” Ay, 
 say blasphemers, “ Christ is God, and Christ is Lord, as magistrates and 
 angels are called gods and lords.” I hope I have said enough to difference 
 betwixt Christ and them ; howsoever I conclude with the apostle, “ Though 
 there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth (as there be 
 gods many, and lords many) yet to us there is but one God, the Father, of 
 whom are all things, and we in him ; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom 
 are all things, and we by him, 1 Cor. 8 : 5, 6. 
 
 3. He acknowledged Christ to be his Lord and his God, “ And Thomas 
 answered, and said unto him, my Lord, and my God.” Now his faith 
 broke out; from the things seen and felt, he is raised up to believe things 
 neither seen nor felt; he sees the prints and scars in the manhood of 
 Christ, and now he believes that Christ is God, yea, that Christ is his God, 
 “My Lord and my God.” Observe here, That faith gives the soul “a pro- 
 priety in God and Christ.” As God loves some with a special and pecu- 
 liar love, so faith answers God and Christ’s particular love, by a particular 
 
452 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK rv. 
 
 application, “My Lord, my God, and my Christ.” Faith is an appro- 
 priating, an applying, an uniting grace : in the acting of faith on God, or 
 on Christ as God, we may observe these steps. 
 
 1. It sees God in his glory and majesty, in his greatness and goodness, 
 and all other his attributes ; it sees God as the infinite fountain of all good, 
 and it considers what an infinite dreadful thing it were to be separated from 
 this God ; it sees God, and this sight makes a deep impression on that 
 very soul ; the love of that God is more to the soul than all the world : and 
 the least displeasure of that God is more trouble to that soul than all the 
 miseries that all creatures under heaven are able to bring upon it. 
 
 2. It discovers the reality of this glory and majesty, of this greatness 
 and goodness of God. Before any faith is planted in a soul, the very use 
 of reason may come to understand much of God and Christ, but in com- 
 parison it looks upon God and Christ as notions, conceits, and imaginary 
 things : only faith convinces the soul thoroughly of the certainty and truth 
 of such : where true faith is, the things we believe are more certain to us 
 than the things we see, or feel, or handle ; faith is so sure in its apprehen- 
 sions of God and Christ, that it will venture soul and body, the loss of all 
 upon that account; it will bear any hardship, yea it will venture the infinite 
 loss of eternity upon them. 
 
 3. It enables the soul to cast itself upon God and Christ for all the good 
 and happiness it ever expects. Alas ! saith the soul, I have formerly rested 
 on worldly things, I looked upon them as the only real sure excellencies 
 that I had to enjoy, but now I find they are but vain things, deceitful 
 things, no better than reeds of Egypt, vanity of vanities ; and nothing is 
 real, sure, excellent on this side God and Christ; and therefore I will rely 
 upon him, and none but him ; it is only God as an all-sufficient good, it is 
 only Christ that is the rock that will never fail, on him will I roll myself, 
 unto him will I make an absolute resignation, I will entrust him with all I 
 have, and all I am, I will commit all unto him for ever and ever. 
 
 4. As faith relies all upon God in Christ, so it appropriates all God, and 
 all Christ unto itself, “ I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine,” Sol. 
 Songs. There is a mutual propriety betwixt Christ and the church, and 
 betwixt Christ and the soul ; Christ hath a propriety in me, and I have a 
 peculiar propriety in Christ. Christ is mine, so as I have none in the 
 world so mine, “ Whom have I in heaven but thee ? and there is none upon 
 earth that I desire beside thee,” Psal. 73 : 35. Christ is mine, and mine 
 in a peculiar manner, there is a propriety with peculiarity, “ My Lord, and 
 my God.” 0 the excellency of faith ! this step goes beyond all the rest; 
 it is a blessed thing to have a true sight of God, there is much power in 
 it; but to see God in his glory, majesty, greatness, goodness, as my God; 
 to see all the attributes of God as those things that my soul hath an 
 interest in ; to see Christ coming from the Father for me, to be my Re- 
 deemer ; to see Christ, in whom all fulness dwells, in whom the treasures 
 of all God’s riches are, not only Christ dying as man, but rising as God for 
 me, and my salvation ; to see Christ, and then to lay hold on Christ, and 
 to say, “ My Lord, and my God.” O ! this is the work of precious faith, 
 and to this now is Thomas arrived in this confession of his, “ My Lord, and 
 my God.” 
 
 2. Hereupon follows Christ’s commendation and correction ; Jesus saith 
 unto him, “ Thomas, because thou hast seen, thou bast believed ; blessed 
 are they that have not seen, and yet have believed,” John, 20 : 29. In the 
 first place, Christ commends Thomas’s faith, “ because thou hast seen me, 
 thou hast believed,” q. d. Thou hast seen me a man, but considering how 
 I am risen from the dead, thou believest in me as God ; I commend thy 
 faith, but it is weak faith in respect of its rise ; now therefore to correct it, 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 453 
 
 CHAP, i ] 
 
 I pronounce those blessed to all generations, that when I am gone, as in 
 regard of my bodily presence, yet they will believe in me, “ blessed are 
 they that have not seen, and yet have believed. ” I am afraid of tedious- 
 ness, and therefore I shall not enlarge any more on this apparition. 
 
 Sect. VIII. — Of Christ's Apparition to some of liis Apostles at the sea of 
 
 Tiberias. 
 
 There is but one apparition more recorded by John. “ After these 
 things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias, 
 and on this wise showed he himself/ ’ John, 21:1. In these apparitions, 
 the evangelist useth one and the same method : as in the former, so here 
 again is set down the time, the place where, the persons to whom, the man- 
 ner how he appeared ; not one of these circumstances must be wanting, to 
 show the evidence and certainty of his resurrection. 
 
 1. The time, after these things; after the three former apparitions, he 
 comes to a fourth, and he concludes with this, as therein making some 
 mention of himself, with which he concludes the whole book, “This is the 
 disciple which testifieth these things, and wrote these things, and we know 
 his testimony is true,” verse 24. 
 
 2. The place, “at the sea of Tiberias,” or at the lake of Genezareth, 
 where he had called them to the apostleship, there now he appears to these 
 apostles ; they were at first fishers, and now they are at their calling upon 
 the sea, Christ standing upon the shore. 
 
 3. The persons to whom he appears, they were disciples, their names are 
 in the next verse. All Christ’s apparitions were to the disciples of Christ; 
 we read not that ever he showed himself after his resurrection to any but 
 his followers ; he showed himself openly, “ not to all the people, but unto 
 witnesses, chosen before of God, even to us who did eat and drink with him 
 after he rose from the dead,” Acts 10 : 41. Strangers to Christ must be 
 no witnesses of Christ’s resurrection, and this was his meaning, “ Yet 
 a little while, and the world seeth me no more, but ye see me,” John, 
 14 : 19. 
 
 4. For the manner of his apparition, “ on this wise showed he himself.” 
 
 1. He showed himself; so it is in this verse twice repeated, “After 
 
 these things Jesus showed himself, and in this wise showed he himself.” 
 “ Christ now was not seen or known to the bodily eye, (for his body was 
 immortal) unless by dispensation he condescended thereto.”* I deny not, 
 but that glorified bodies are ever actually seen of bodies that are glorified ; 
 but of mortal men, who are yet in this vale of tears, those glorious crea- 
 tures cannot be actually seen, except there be some peculiar and divine 
 dispensation. As the air is too subtile to be seen, or as the sun is too glo- 
 rious for a weak eye to behold, so are glorified bodies too subtile, too splen- 
 did for a mortal eye to pierce ; our Saviour tells us, that the bodies of the 
 saints “ do shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father,” Matth. 
 13 : 43, and that they are as the angels, Matth. 22 : 30. And the apostle 
 tells us, that their bodies are spiritual bodies, “there is a natural body, and 
 there is a spiritual body,” 1 Cor. 15 : 44. Now without dispensation, we 
 cannot see spiritual things. And hence it is, that when Christ showed 
 himself to the two disciples at Emmaus, it is said, that “ their eyes were 
 opened, and that they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight,” 
 Luke, 24 : 31. Mark, first their eyes were opened; why, no question but 
 their eyes were opened before, they did not walk with him, and talk with 
 him, and sit with him, and eat with him, but their eyes were then opened ; 
 ay, but now their eyes were opened in another manner, as it is said of 
 
 * Chrys. hom. 86, in Joh. 
 
454 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IV. 
 
 Elisha’s servant, that at the prayers of Elisha, “ the Lord opened the eyes 
 of the young man, and he saw, and behold the mountain was full of horses, 
 and chariots of fire round about Elisha,” 2 Kings, 6 : 17, in like manner 
 their eyes were so opened, that they knew Jesus. And then, 2. He van- 
 ished out of their sight; in a strange, unusual manner they lost his sight, 
 and they could not tell what was become of him; in a moment he was 
 invisible to them whose eyes he had opened : it plainly shows that glorified 
 bodies, as corpulent, and commensurable, may be seen of mortals, but as 
 they are subtile, and spiritual, they cannot be seen actually without dispen- 
 sation. “ Christ appeared, (saith Damascene) not by necessity, but by his 
 own free will; not by the law of nature, but by way of dispensation.”* It 
 was his mere condescension and permission that he would show himself at 
 any time unto his disciples. 
 
 2. He showed himself on this wise, “ there were together, Simon Peter, 
 and Thomas called Didymus,” &c. John 21 : 2, 3, 4, &c. In the whole 
 narration we may observe, 1. The occasion, and 2. The apparition. In the 
 occasion, we have a council among the apostles what to do : and it is con- 
 cluded they would go a fishing; they did so, though to no purpose; for 
 they fished “ all night, but caught nothing,” verse 3. In the apparition. 
 1. Christ is unknown, “he stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not 
 that it was Jesus,” verse 4. In this condition we have Jesus speaking, 
 and then working a miracle; he bids them “cast the net on the right 
 side of the ship, and then draw, but they were not able to draw for the 
 multitude of the fishes,” verse 6. 2. Hereupon Christ is known, “there- 
 
 fore that disciple whom Jesus loved, saith unto Peter, it is the Lord;” 
 the alarm given, now all the disciples bestir themselves. 1. Peter “ he 
 casts himself into the sea,” verse 7. 2. The other disciples, they came 
 
 in a little ship to the land, and there they dine, and commune with Jesus, 
 which is the end of the history, and so ends this book of our evangelist 
 John. 
 
 Thus far we have propounded the object; our next work is how to di- 
 rect you to look unto Jesus in this respect. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Sect. I. Of knowing Jesus as carrying on the great work of our Salva- 
 tion in his Resurrection. 
 
 That in all respects we may look on Jesus. 
 
 1. Let us know Jesus carrying on the great work of our salvation for 
 us in his resurrection, and during the time of his abode upon the earth 
 after his resurrection. This is worth the knowing, on it depends our jus- 
 tification, sanctification ; “ for if Christ be not risen we are yet in our sins, 
 and our faith is in vain, and our hope is in vain :” little hope have we 
 either of heaven, or of resurrection, if Christ be not risen ; of all men we 
 are most miserable that believe in Christ, if he whom we believe in be not 
 risen again. 0! my soul, study this point; many take it up in gross, 
 they can run over this article of their creed, “ the third day he rose again 
 from the dead;” but for a particular understanding of it in respect of the 
 time, or the end, or the manner, or the certainty, how many are to seek ? 
 I shall appeal to thyself, are not many discoveries already made, which 
 
 * (Ougoma phuseos alia tikonomas topo,) Damas, 1. 4, c. 1. 
 
CHAP. II.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 455 
 
 before thou never tookest notice of? And if thou wouldst but study this 
 point, how much more might yet appear? Especially, how much more 
 miiiht yet appear as to thine own good ? It is not enough to Jniow Christ’s 
 resurrection, unless thou know it for tfeyself. Be sure thou hast this in 
 mind, “ that Christ rose again but what is that to me ? Saving know- 
 ledge is ever joined with a particular application, if Christ be my head, 
 then he could not rise, but I rose with him and in him ; and thus, 0 my 
 soul, look on Christ, and thus search into ever particular of Christ’s resur- 
 rection; come study when he rose, study the arguments that make out 
 Christ’s resurrection sure and certain; study all the apparitions of Jesus 
 Christ: Oh what delightful studies are these ? Hadst thou been with them 
 to whom Christ appeared, would not thy heart have leaped with joy ? Come, 
 study it close, for the benefit of these apparitions extend to thee, the fruit 
 of Christ’s resurrection is thine, even thine as well as theirs, u Know this 
 for thyself,” Job 5 : 27. 
 
 Sect. II. Of considering Jesus in that respect. 
 
 2. Let us consider Jesus carrying on this great work of our salvation 
 for us in his resurrection. It is not enough to know a saving necessary 
 truth, but it is required farther that we digest truths, and that we draw 
 forth their strength for the nourishment and refreshing of our poor souls. 
 As a man may in half an hour chew and take into his stomach, that meat 
 which he must have seven or eight hours at least to digest ; so a man may 
 take into his understanding more truths in an hour, than he is able to 
 digest well in many ; what good those men are like to get by sermons, or 
 providences, who are unaccustomed to this work of meditation, I cannot 
 imagine : it is observed by some, that this is the reason why so much 
 preaching is lost amongst us; why professors that run from sermon to 
 sermon, and are never weary of hearing or reading, have notwithstanding 
 such languishing starved souls, because they will not meditate. And there- 
 fore God commanded Joshua, not only to read the law, but to consider of 
 it, and dwell upon it, “ This book of the law shall not depart out of thy 
 mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night,” Joshua 1 : 8. Why, 
 this is the duty that I am now pressing to, if thou knowest these things, 
 consider, ruminate, meditate, ponder on them again and again. And be- 
 cause this work requires enlargedness of heart and spirit, therefore take it 
 into parts, and cousider of each of them apart by itself. As, 
 
 1. Consider of the time when Christ rose again. As Christ had his 
 three days, and no more, so must thou have the same three days like unto 
 his ; the first day was called the day of preparation, the second was the 
 Sabbath day, and the third was the resurrection day ; so thy first day is a 
 day of preparation, a day of passion, wherein thou must strive and struggle 
 against sin and Satan, wherein thou must suffer all their bitter darts till 
 thou diest, and give up the ghost. And thy second day is a day of rest, 
 wherein thy body must lie in the grave, and thy flesh rest in hope; wherein 
 thou shalt u enter into peace, and rest in thy bed,” Isa. 57 : 2, until the 
 trumpet sound, and bid thee arise, and come to judgment; and thy third 
 day is a day of resurrection unto glory. It is the first day of the week, or 
 the first beginning of a never ending world. Thus consider the time of 
 Christ’s resurrection, and thence mayest thou draw down some use for thy 
 soul’s nourishment. 
 
 2. Consider of the reasons why Christ arose; was it not to confound the 
 Jews? They could not endure to hear of Christ’s resurrection, and there- 
 fore, when Peter aud the other apostles preached that point, u They were 
 cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them,” Acts 5 : 33. It Is the 
 case of them to say, “ We will not have that man to reign over us.” They 
 
456 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 Vhat by their sins crucify Christ every day, cannot without horror think of 
 his exaltation, it cuts them to the heart that Christ is risen to be their judge. 
 Again, was it not to confirm the faith of Christ’s followers? Till he was 
 risen their faith was but a weak faith, weak in knowledge, weak in assent, 
 weak in confidence, weak in assurance ; much ado had Christ with them, 
 many a time had he chid them, “ Why are ye fearful, 0 ye of little faith?” 
 But after he had showed himself alive by many infallible proofs, they 
 eould then £ry it out, “ My Lord, and my God.” Again, was it not to 
 evidence that he had fully satisfied all our debts ? “ The apostle tells us, 
 
 That Christ was our surety,” Ileb. 7 : 22, at his death he was arrested and 
 cast into prison, whence he could not come till all was paid ; and, therefore 
 to hear that Christ is risen, and that he hath broken the bolts and fetters 
 of the grave; it is a clear cvidcnco that God is satisfied, and that Christ 
 is discharged by God himself. Oh ! what breasts of consolation are here? 
 Again, was it not to conquer sin, death and devil? Now he took from 
 death his sting, and from hell his standard ; now he seized upon the hand 
 writing that was against us, and nailed it to his cross; now he spoiled 
 principalities and powers, and carried the keys of death and hell at his 
 own girdle ; now he came out of the grave as a mighty conqueror, saying 
 as Deborah did in her song, “ 0 my soul, thou hast trodden down strength, 
 thou hast marched valiantly,” Judg. 5:21. Again, was it not to become 
 the first-fruits of them that sleep? Christ was the first that rose again 
 from the grave to die no more; and by virtue of his resurrection (as being 
 the first-fruits) all the elect must rise again, “ As in Adam all die, even 
 so in Christ shall all be made alive : but ever) 7 man in his own order, 
 Christ the first-fruits, and afterwards they that arc Christ’s at his coming,” 
 1 Cor. 15 : 22, 23. Some may wonder, can the resurrection of one, a 
 thousand six hundred years ago, be the cause of our rising? Yes, as well 
 as the death of one, five thousand six hundred years ago, is the cause of 
 our dying; Adam and Christ were two heads, two roots, two first-fruits, 
 either of them in reference to his company whom they stand for. And 
 now, 0 my soul ! thou mayest say with Job, “ I know that my Redeemer 
 liveth ; and that I shall sec him at the last day, not with other, but with 
 these same eyes,” Job 19:25. If Christ live, then must I live also, 
 if he be risen, then “ though after my skin worms shall destroy this body, 
 yet in my flesh I shall see God,” verse 26. Again, was it not that he 
 might be declared to be the Son of God ? was it not that he might be ex- 
 alted and glorified ? This is the main reason of all the rest : see thou to 
 this; 0! give him glory, and praise of his resurrection; so muse and 
 meditate, and consider on this transaction, as to ascribe to his name all 
 honor and glory ; what, is he risen from the dead ? “ Hath God highly 
 
 exalted him, and given him a name above every name?” Phil. 2:9. 0 ! 
 
 then let “every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of 
 God the Father.” 
 
 3. Consider of the manner of Christ’s resurrection ; he rose as a common 
 person ; in which respect his resurrection concerns us no less than himself. 
 We must not think that when Christ was raised, it was no more than when 
 Lazarus was raised ; his resurrection was the resurrection of us all, it was 
 in the name of us all, and had in it a seed-like virtue to work the resurrec- 
 tion of us all. 0 the privilege of this communion with Christ’s resurrec- 
 tion ! if I believe this truly, I cannot but believe the resurrection of my 
 body, and the life everlasting; why, Jesus Christ hath led the dance, and 
 though of myself 1 have no right to heaven or glory, yet in Christ my head 
 I have as good right to it as any heir apparent to his lands. — 2. He rose by 
 his own power; and so did none but Jesus Christ: from the beginning of 
 the world it was never heard, that any dead man raised himself; indeed 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 457 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 one instance we have that a dead man’s corpse should raise up another dead 
 man, “ They cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha, and when the 
 man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood 
 upon his feet,” 2 Kings 13 : 21. Elisha raised up a dead man from the 
 'grave, but dead Elisha could not raise up himself from the grave; only 
 Christ rose himself, and at the same time he raised many others; and here 
 was the argument of his Godhead, “I have power to lay down my life, and 
 I have power to take it up again,” John 10 : 18. How shall we but trust 
 him with our life, who is the resurrection and the life, “ He that believeth 
 in him though he were dead, yet shall he live.” 0 my soul ! he was able 
 to raise himself, much more is he able to raise thee up; only believe, and 
 live for ever. — 3. He rose with an earthquake. 0 the power of Christ in 
 every passage! what aileth thee, 0 earth, to skip like a ram? Was not 
 the new tomb hewn out of a rock ? and was not a great stone rolled to the 
 door of the sepulchre ? The ground whereon he lay was firm and solid. 
 And “shall the rock be removed out of his place?” Job 18:4. 0 yes ! 
 
 “ the Lord reigneth, and therefore the earth is removed,” Psal. 99 : 1. Oh ! 
 what a rocky heart is this of mine ! How much harder is it than the rock, 
 that moves not, melts not at the presence of God, at the presence of the 
 God of Jacob ? the sun (they say) danced that morning at Christ’s resurrec- 
 tion ; the earth (I am sure) then trembled ; and yet my heart is in no way 
 affected with this news; I feel it neither dance for joy, nor tremble for 
 fear ; 0 my soul ! be serious in this meditation, consider what a posture 
 would thou have been in, if thou hadst been with those soldiers that 
 watched Christ ; to realize this earthquake, as if thou now felt it trembling 
 under thee. 
 
 4. An angel ministered to him at his resurrection, “An angel came and 
 rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it,” Matth. 28 : 2. Angels 
 were the first ministers of the gospel, the first preachers of Christ’s resur- 
 rection, they preached more of Christ than all the prophets did ; they first 
 told the women that “ Christ was risen Luke 24 : 6, and they did the 
 first service to Christ at his resurrection, in rolling the stone from the door’s 
 mouth; 0 my soul, that thou wert but like these blessed angels ! how is it 
 that they are so forward in God’s service ? and thou art so backward ? One 
 day thou expectest to be equal with the angels, and art thou now so far 
 behind them? What, to be equal in reward, and behind them in service? 
 Here is a meditation able to check thy sloth, and to spur thee on to thy 
 duty. — 5. Many of the bodies of the saints arose out of their graves at his 
 resurrection; as the angels ministered, so the saints waited on him. In this 
 meditation trouble not thyself whether David, Moses, Job, Abraham, Isaac 
 and Jacob, were some of those saints, as some conjecture upon some grounds ; 
 it is a better consideration to look upon them as the fruit of Christ’s resur- 
 rection, and as an earnest of thy own; the virtue of Christ’s resurrection 
 appears immediately, and it will more appear at the general resurrection 
 day. As sure as these saints arose with him, and went into the holy city, 
 and appeared to many ; so sure shall thy body arise again at the last day ; 
 and (if thou art but a saint) it shall go with him into the heavenly Jerusa- 
 lem, and appear before God, and his Son Jesus Christ in glory. — 6. Christ 
 rose again with a true and perfect body, with an incorruptible body, with a 
 spiritual and an agile body, with a glorious body, brighter than the sun in 
 his utmost glory. On these things may the soul expatiate ; 0 ! it is a worthy, 
 blessed, soul-ravishing subject to think upon ; and the rather if we consider 
 that conformity which we believe, “We look for a Saviour (saith the apos- 
 tle) the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile bodies, that they may 
 be fashioned like unto his glorious body,” Phil. 3 : 20, 21. 0 my soul, 
 
 that this clay of thine should be a partaker of such glory ! that this body 
 
458 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 of dust and earth should shine in heaven like those glorious spangles of the 
 firmament; that this body that shall rot in dust, and fall more vile than a 
 carrion, should rise and shine like the glorious body of our Saviour on 
 mount Tabor: surely thou owest much to Christ’s resurrection. 0! con- 
 sider of it, till thou feelest the influence, and comest to the assurance of this 
 blessed change. 
 
 4. Consider of the several apparitions of Jesus Christ, especially of those 
 written by the evangelist John. As, 
 
 1. Muse on his apparition to Mary Magdalene; Oh the grief before he 
 appeared ! and oh the joys when he appeared ! — 1. Before, she apprehended 
 nothing but that some or other had taken away her Lord ; these were all 
 the words she uttered before he appeared, u They have taken away my Lord, 
 and I know not where they have laid him so she told Peter and John ; 
 and when two angels appeared in white, asking her, u Woman, why weepest 
 thou ?” She gives the same answer to them, “ They have taken away my 
 Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.” A soul in desertion 
 knows not what to do, but to weep and cry, “ Oh my Lord is gone, I have 
 lost my Lord, my God, my Jesus, my King;” in this meditation, consider, 
 0 my soul ! as if thou hadst been in Mary’s case ; was it not a sad case, 
 when the angels of heaven knew not how to comfort her ? Suppose any son 
 of consolation had stood by, and had such a one persuaded, “ Oh Mary ! 
 suppress thy sadness, refresh thy heart with this blessed vision, thou didst 
 seek but one, and thou hast found two, a dead body was thy errand, and 
 thou hast alighted on two alive: thy weeping was for a man, and thy tears 
 have obtained angels; observe them narrowly, the angels invite thee to a 
 parly, it may be they had some happy news to tell thee of thy Lord ; re- 
 member what they are, and where they sit, and whence they come, and to 
 whom they speak ; they are angels of peace, neither sent without cause, 
 nor seen but of favor, they sit on the tomb, to show they are no strangers 
 to thy loss; they come from heaven, from whence all happy news descend- 
 eth; they speak to thyself, as if they had some special embassage to de- 
 liver unto thee.” No, no; these cordials are in vain; neither man nor 
 angel can do her good, or comfort her drooping soul ; either Christ himself 
 must come in presence, or she cries, “ Miserable comforters are ye all. Alas ! 
 small is the light that a star can yield when the sun is down, a sorry ex- 
 change it is to go and gather crumbs after the loss of the bread of life; Oh ! 
 what can these angels do ? They cannot persuade me that my master is not 
 lost, for my own eyes will disprove them ; they can less tell me where he 
 may be found, for they themselves would wait upon him, if they knew but 
 where ; I am apt to think they know not where he is, and therefore they 
 are come to the place where he last was, making the tomb their heaven, and 
 the remembrance of his presence the fuel of their joy; alas ! what do angels 
 here ? I neither came to see them, nor desire to hear them ; I came not 
 to see angels, but the Creator of angels, to whom I owe more than both to 
 men and angels.” 
 
 2. After he appeared she was filled with joy; for so it was, that when 
 nothing else would satisfy, or comfort this poor creature, Jesus himself ap- 
 pears ; at first he is unknown, she takes him for the gardener of the place, 
 but within a while he utters a voice that opens both her ears and eyes, 
 “ and Jesus saith unto her Mary.” It was the sweetest sound that ever 
 she heard; many a time had she been called by that name, but never heard 
 she a voice so effectual, powerful, inward, feeling as at this time ; hereby 
 the cloud is scattered, and the Sun of righteousness appears; this one word 
 Mary, lightens her eyes, dries up her tears, cheers her heart, revives her 
 spirits, that were as good as dead. One word of Christ wrought so strange 
 an alteration in her, as if she had been wholly made new, when she was 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 459 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 only named. And hence it is that being ravished with his voice, and im- 
 patient of delays, she takes his talk out of his mouth, and to his first and 
 only word, Mary, she answers, “ Rabboni, which is to say, Master,” q. d. 
 Master is it thou ? With many a salt tear have I sought thee, and art thou 
 unexpectedly so near at hand ? Thy absence was hell, and thy presence is 
 no less than heaven to me ! oh ! how is my heart ravished at thy sound ? 
 If the babe leaped in the womb of Elizabeth, when she had but heard the 
 salutation of Mary, how should my heart but leap at thy salutation ? I feel 
 I am exceedingly transported beyond myself. Instead of my heavy heart 
 and troubled spirit, I feel now a sweet and delightful tranquillity of mind ; 
 thou art my solace, and soul delight; whom have I in heaven but thee? 
 And whom desire I upon earth in comparison •of thee? And yet I am not 
 satisfied ; not only fruition of thee, but union with thee, is that which my 
 soul longs after; not only thy presence, but thy embraces, or my embraces 
 of thee can give content; come then, and give me leave, my Lord and my 
 God, to run to the haunt of my chief delights, to fall at thy sacred feet, and 
 to bathe them with my tears of joy; 0 ! my Jesus, I must needs deal with 
 thee, as the spouse dealt with thee, “ Now I have found thee whom my soul 
 loves dearly, I will hold thee, and will not let thee go,” Sol. Songs 3 : 4. 
 
 I know not in all the book of God, a soul more depressed with sorrow, 
 and lifted up with joy; 0 meditate on this ! if Christ be absent, all is night, 
 but if Christ appear, he turns all again into a lightsome day; there is no 
 sorrow like that which apprehends Christ’s loss, and therefore in hell it is 
 looked upon as the greatest pain ; of the two (say divines) it is a greater 
 torment to lose God, and to lose Jesus Christ, than to endure all those 
 flaming whips, unquenchable fires, intolerable cold, abominable stench; 
 aud on the other side, there is no joy in heaven like to that which appre- 
 hends Christ’s presence, “ In thy presence there is fulness of joy, and at 
 thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore,” Psal. 16:11. I had 
 rather be in hell with Christ (said one) than in heaven without Christ. 
 This is the very top of heaven’s joy, the quintessence of glory, the highest 
 happiness of the saints; 0 my soul, seek with Mary, yea seek and weep, 
 and weep and seek, and never rest satisfied till Christ appear, if thou art 
 but in the use of means, he will appear sooner or later ; or what if thou 
 never sawest a good day on earth, one sight of Christ in heaven will make 
 amends Surely if thou knewest the joy of Christ’s presence, thou wouldst 
 run through death and hell to come to Christ, it was Paul’s saying, “ I de- 
 sire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ, which is far better,” Phil. 1 : 
 23, he cared not for death, so he might go to Christ, for that was better 
 than very life itself. 
 
 2. Muse on his apparition to the ten disciples, u When the doors were 
 shut for fear of the Jews, then came Jesus and stood in the midst, saying 
 to them, Peace be unto you,” John 20 : 19. Before his apparitions sorrow 
 and fear had possessed all their spirits ; sometimes they walked abroad and 
 were sad, and sometimes they kept within, and shut the doors upon them 
 as being exceedingly afraid : in this condition Jesus Christ (that knows best 
 the times and seasons of grace and comfort) comes and stands in the midst 
 of their assembly; he comes in, they know not how, and no sooner he is 
 in, but he salutes them in this manner, Peace be unto you. 
 
 This was the prime of all his wishes; no sooner is he risen, but he wish- 
 eth peace to all his apostles ; no sooner meets he with them, but the very 
 opening of his lips was with these words ; they are the first words, at the 
 first meeting, on the very first day. — A sure sign that peace was in the heart 
 of Jesus Christ: howsoever it is with us, peace or war, there is a common- 
 weal where Christ is King, and there is peace, and nothing but peace ; come, 
 sift and try, and examine, art thou, 0 ! my soul, a member of this body, a 
 
460 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 subject of this commonwealth ? Hath the influence of Christ’s peace 
 (wrought and declared at his resurrection) any force on thee ? Hast thou 
 peace with God, and peace within, and peace without? Host thou feel that 
 ointment poured upon Aaron’s head, and running down to the skirts of his 
 garment ? Host thou feel the dew of Hermon, and the dew that descends 
 upon mount Sion, dropping (as it were) upon thy heart? Hoth the Spirit 
 assure thee, that Christ the Prince of peace, hath made peace and reconcili- 
 tion betwixt God and thee, betwixt the King and thee, a rebel to his crown 
 and dignity? 11 0 ! how beautiful upon the mountain would the feet of 
 him be, that should publish peace, that should bring these good tidings ?” 
 Isa. 52 : 7. That thou art a citizen of that Jerusalem, where God is king, 
 and Christ the Prince of peace ! Where all the buildings are compact to- 
 gether, as a city that is at unity within itself? Psal. 122 : 3. 
 
 3. Muse on his apparition to all the apostles, when they were all con- 
 vened, and Thomas with them. This apparition was occasioned by Tho- 
 mas’s incredulity, “ Except (said he) I see in his hands the print of the 
 nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into 
 his side, I will not believe,” John 20: 25. Now, therefore saith Jesus to 
 Thomas, “ Come, reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach 
 hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but be- 
 lieving,” verse 27. Methinks I see Thomas’s finger on Christ’s bored hand, 
 and Thomas’s hand in Christ’s pierced side. Here is a strong argument to 
 convince any soul that Christ is risen from the dead ; why, see, this is the 
 same Christ that was crucified ; the same Christ that had his hands bored 
 with nails, and that had his heart pierced with a spear ; though the wounds 
 are healed as to sense of pain, yet the scars, and holes, and clefts remain 
 as big as ever ; the hole of his hand is yet so large, that Thomas may put 
 his finger not only on it but into it ; and the cleft in his side yet so large, 
 that Thomas may thrust his whole hand into his side, and with his fingers 
 touch that heart that issued out streams of blood for my salvation. In this 
 meditation be not too curious, whether the print of the nails were but con- 
 tinued till Christ had confirmed his disciples’ faith, or whether he retains 
 them still for some further use. It is a better consideration to look upon 
 them so as to confirm thy own faith ; is there not too much of Thomas’s in- 
 credulity in thy breast? Host thou not sometimes feel some doubtings of 
 Christ’s rising? Or, at least, dost thou not question, Whether Christ’s re- 
 surrection belongs unto thee ? Is not Satan busy with a temptation ? Is 
 not thy conscience troubled for thy sins, and especially for thy sin of unbe- 
 lief? If so, (and I know not but it may be so with thee, and the best of 
 saints) “ Come then, and reach hither thy finger, and behold Christ’s hands, 
 and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into his side:” my meaning is, 
 come with the hand of faith, and lay hold on Christ, yea, hide thyself in 
 the holes of the rock, “ Be like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides 
 of the hole’s mouth, Jer. 48 : 28. The dove that would be safe from the 
 devouring birds, or from the fowler’s snare, she flies to the hole in a rock, 
 and thus Christ invites his spouse, “ 0 ! my dove that are in the clefts of the 
 rock, in the secret places of the stairs ! let me see thy countenance, let me 
 hear thy voice,” Sol. Songs 2 : 14. In the clefts of the rock, I am safe, 
 (said Bernard) “ There I stand firmly, there I am secure from Satan’s 
 prey.”* It is storied of a martyr, That writing to his wife where she might 
 find him, when he was fled from home, “ 0 my dear ! (said he) if thou 
 desirest to see mo, seek me in the side of Christ, in the cleft of the rock, 
 in the hollow of his wounds, for there I have made my nest, there will I 
 dwell, there thou shalt find me, and no where else but there.”f 0 my soul, 
 
 * Bern. ser. 61, in Cant. 
 
 f Surius in vita sancti Elzearii. 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 461 
 
 that thou wouldst make this use of the wounds of Christ ! are they not as 
 the cities of refuge, whither thou mayest flee and live? “ Nothing is 
 more efficacious to cure the wounds of conscience, than a frequent and seri- 
 ous meditation of the wounds of Christ.”* Come, be not faithless, but be- 
 lieving : these monuments of Christ’s resurrection are for the confirmation 
 of thy faith ; if well viewed and handled, they will quiet thy conscience, 
 quench the fiery darts of Satan, increase thy faith, till thou comest to assur- 
 ance, and sayest with Thomas, “ My Lord, and my God.” “I may be trou- 
 bled, but I shall not be overwhelmed ; because I will remember the print 
 of the nails, and of the spear, in the hands and side of Jesus Christ. ”f 
 
 4. Muse on his apparition to the seven disciples at the sea of Tiberias : 
 First, Christ appears, and works a miracle ; he discovers himself to be Lord 
 of sea as well as land ; at his word multitudes of fishes come to the net, 
 and are caught by his apostles ; nor is this miracle without a mystery, 
 “ The kingdom of heaven is like a drawn net, cast into the sea, which when 
 it is full, men draw to land,” Matth. 13 : 47. What is this divine trade of 
 ours, but a spiritual fishing ? The world is a sea, souls like fishes, swim at 
 liberty in this deep, and the nets of wholesome doctrine are they that draw 
 up some to the shore of grace and glory. 2. Upon this miracle, u The dis- 
 ciple whom Jesus loved, said unto Peter, it is the Lord.” John is more 
 quick eyed than all the rest, he considers the miracle, and him that wrought 
 it, and presently he concludes, it is the Lord ; 0 ! my soul meditate on the 
 mystery of this discovery ; if ever a soul be converted and brought home to 
 Christ, it is the Lord ; but, Oh ! whither is Christ gone, that we have lost 
 so long his converting presence ? Oh ! for one apparition of Jesus Christ ! 
 Till then we may preach our hearts out, and never nearer : do what we can, 
 souls will to hell, except the Lord break their career ; ministers can do no 
 more but tell, thus and thus men may be saved : and thus and thus men 
 will be damned, u He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life, and he 
 that believeth not the Son shall not see life,” John 3 : 36, but when they 
 have said all they can, it is only God must give the blessing : Oh ! what 
 is preaching without Christ’s presence. One hearing what mighty feats 
 Scanderbeg’s sword had done, he sent for it ; and when he saw it, “ is this 
 the sword (said he) that hath done such great exploits? What is this 
 sword more than any other sword ? 0 ! (says Scanderbeg) I sent thee my 
 
 sword, but not my arm that did handle it ;” so ministers may use the sword 
 of the Spirit, the word of God, but if the Spirit’s arm be not with it, they 
 may brandish it every Sabbath to little purpose ; when all is done, if ever 
 any good be done, “ It is the Lord.” No sooner John observes the mira- 
 cle, that a multitude of fishes were caught and taken, but he tells Peter of 
 a blessed discovery, “ It is the Lord.” 3. Upon this discovery, Peter 
 throws himself into the sea; 0! the fervent love he carries towards 
 Christ ! if he but hear of his Lord, he will run through fire and water to 
 come unto him; so true is that of the spouse, u Many waters cannot quench 
 love, neither can the floods drown it ; if a man would give all the substance 
 of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned,” Sol. Songs 8 : 7. 
 If I love Christ, I cannot but long for communion and fellowship with 
 Christ ; l ' W heresoever thou art, 0 blessed Saviour, give me no more hap- 
 piness than to be with thee ; if on the earth, I would travel day and night 
 to come unto thee ; if on the sea, with Peter, I would swim unto thee ; if 
 riding in triumph, I would sing hosanna to thee ; but if in glory, how 
 happy should I be to look upon thee ?”| Christ’s apparitions are ravishing 
 
 * Bern. ibid. 
 
 f Turbabor, sed non perturbabor, quia vulnerum Christi recordabor, Aug. 
 
 X Ubicunque fueris 0 doinine Jesu, &c. Aug. 
 
462 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 sights; if he hut stand on the shore, Peter throws himself overboard to 
 come to Christ ; why now he stands on the pinnacles of heaven, wafting 
 and beckoning with his hand, and calling on me in his word, “ Rise up my 
 love, my fair one, and come away,” Sol. Songs 2:10. 0 ! my soul, make 
 
 haste ; in every duty look out for another apparition of Jesus Christ, when 
 thou comest to hear, “say, Have over, Lord, by this sermon;” and when 
 thou comest to pray, “ say, Have over, Lord, by this prayer to a Saviour;” 
 neither fire nor water, floods nor storms, death nor life, principalities nor 
 powers, height, nor depth, nor any other creature should hinder thy pas- 
 sage to Christ, or separate thy soul from Christ, “ Consider what I say, 
 (saith Paul) and the Lord give thee understanding in all things; remember 
 that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according 
 to my gospel,” 2 Tim. 2 : 7, 8. That Christ was raised is a gospel truth ; 
 ay, but do thou remember it, do thou consider it, and the Lord give thee 
 understanding in all things. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of desiring Jesus in that respect. 
 
 3. Let us desire after Jesus carrying on the great work of our salvation 
 for us in his resurrection. What desire is, we have opened before ; “ Some 
 call it the wing of the soul, whereby it movetb, and is carried to the thing 
 it expecteth, to feed itself upon it, and to be satisfied with it.” 
 
 But what is there in Christ’s resurrection, that should move our souls 
 to desire after it. 
 
 I answer, 1. Something in itself. 2. Something as in reference unto ns. 
 
 1. There is something in itself; had we but a view of the glory, dignity, 
 excellency of Christ as raised from the dead, it would put us on this heav- 
 enly motion, we should “fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat,” Hab. 1 : 8. 
 The object of desire is good, but the more excellent and glorious any good 
 is, the mere earnest and eager should our desire be; now Christ as raised 
 from the dead is an excellent object ; the resurrection of Christ is the glo- 
 ritying of Christ, yea, his glorifying took its beginning at his blessed re- 
 surrection ; now it was that “ God highly exalted him, and gave him a 
 name above every name,” &c., Phil. 2 :9. And in this respect how desi- 
 rable is he ? 
 
 2. There is something in reference unto us; as 1. “ He rose again for 
 our justification,” Rom. 4 : 25. I must needs grant, that Christ’s death, 
 and not his resurrection is the meritorious cause of our justification ; but on 
 the other side, Christ’s resurrection and not his death is for the applying 
 of our justification ; as the stamp adds no virtue, nor matter of real value 
 to a piece of gold, but only it makes that value which before it had actually, 
 appliable and current unto us ; so the resurrection of Christ was no part of 
 the price or satisfaction which Christ made to God, yet it is that which 
 applies all his merits, and maketh them of force unto his members. Some 
 I know would go farther, Lucius, a learned writer, saith, “ That justification 
 is therefore attributed to Christ’s resurrection, because it was the complete 
 and ultimate act of Christ’s active obedience and from hence inferreth, 
 “ That remission of sin is attributed to his passive obedience, and justifica- 
 tion or imputation of righteousness, to his active obedience.” Goodwin, no 
 way inferior to him, saith, that justification is put upon Christ’s resurrec- 
 tion with a “ Rather, Who is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that died, 
 yea, rather that is risen again,” Rom. 8 : 34, not but that the matter of our 
 justification, is only the obedience and death of Christ; but the form of 
 our justification, or the act of pronouncing us righteous by that his obedi- 
 ence and death depends upon Christ’s resurrection; for then it was that 
 Christ himself was justified, and then he was justified as a common person, 
 representing us therein, so that we were then justified with him, and in him, 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 463 
 
 and we are said, “ to be risen with him, and to sit with him in heavenly 
 places. ” Berges, one admirably judicious, said, That justification is given 
 to Christ’s resurrection, is a privilege flowing from its efficient cause : In- 
 deed Christ’s death “is the meritorious cause of our justification, but 
 Christ’s resurrection, is, in some sense (said he) the efficient cause, because 
 by his rising again, the Spirit of God doth make us capable of justification, 
 and then bestoweth it on us.” I know there is some difference amongst 
 these worthies, but they all agree in this, that the resurrection of Christ 
 was for our justification, and that by the resurrection of Christ, all the 
 merits of his death were made applicable unto us. As there was a price 
 and ransom to be paid by Christ for the redemption of man, so it was neces- 
 sary that the fruit, effect, and benefit of Christ’s redemption should be ap- 
 plied and conferred : now this work of application and actual collation of the 
 fruit of Christ’s death, began to be in fieri upon the resurrection day, but it 
 was not then finished and perfected ; for to the consummation thereof, the 
 ascension of Christ, the mission of the Holy Ghost, apostolical preaching of 
 the gospel to Jews and Gentiles, the donation of heavenly grace, and Christ’s 
 intercession at the right hand of God, were very necessary. 0 the benefit of 
 Christ’s resurrection as to our justification ! “ If Christ be not risen again, 
 
 ye are yet in your sins, and your faith is vain,” 1 Cor. 15 : 17. Remission 
 of sin, (which is a part of our justification,) though purchased by Christ’s 
 death, yet could not be applied to us, or possibly be made ours, without 
 Christ’s resurrection ; and in this respect, Oh ! how desirable is it ? 
 
 2. He rose again for our sanctification. So the apostle, “ He hath quick- 
 ened us together with Christ, and hath raised us up together with Christ,” 
 Eph. 2 : 5, 6. Our first resurrection is from Christ’s resurrection; if you 
 would know how you that were blind in heart, uncircumcised in spirit, 
 utterly unacquainted with the life of God, are now light to the Lord, affect- 
 ing heavenly things, walking in righteousness : it comes from the blessed 
 resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are “ quickened with Christ:” it is Christ’s 
 resurrection that raised our souls, being stark dead, with such a resurrection 
 as that they shall never die more : whence the apostle, “ Reckon yourselves 
 to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord,” 
 Rom. 6 : 11. We are dead to sin, and alive unto God by the death and 
 resurrection of Jesus Christ; we may reckon thus for ourselves, that if we 
 be in Christ, there comes a virtue from Christ, an effectual working of 
 Christ by his Spirit into our hearts, and it is such a work as will conform 
 us to Christ dead, and to Christ risen ; why, reckon thus, saith the apostle, 
 go not by guess, and say, I hope it will be better with me than it hath 
 been ; no, no, but reckon, conclude, make account, “ I must live to God, I 
 must live the life of grace, for Christ is risen.” To the same purpose he 
 speaks before, “Like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of 
 the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life,” Rom. 6 : 4. 
 Christ rose again to a new life, and herein his resurrection differed from the 
 resurrection of those others raised by him, as of Lazarus, Jairus’s daughter, 
 the widow of Nain’s son, for they were but raised to the same life, which 
 formerly they lived, but Jesus Christ was raised up to a new life : and ac- 
 cording to this exemplar we should now walk in newness of life : this is the 
 end of Christ’s resurrection, that we should be new creatures, of new lives, 
 new principles, new conversations: he rose again for our sanctification. 
 
 3. He rose again for our resurrection to eternal life. Christ is both the 
 pattern and pledge, and cause of the resurrection of our bodies, “ For since 
 by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead : for as 
 in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive,” 1 Cor. 15 : 21, 
 22. There is a virtue flowing from Christ to his saints, by which they 
 shall be raised up at the latter day; as there is a virtue flowing from the 
 
464 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 Lead to the members, or from the root to the branches, so those that are 
 Christ’s shall be raised up by Christ. Not but that all the wicked in the 
 world shall be raised again by the power of Christ as he is a Judge, for 
 “all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and they shall come forth,” 
 yet with this difference, “ They that have done good unto the resurrection 
 of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation, ” 
 John 5 : 28, 29. In this respect the saints shall have a peculiar resurrec- 
 tion ; and therefore they are called “ the children of the resurrection/ 7 
 Luke 20 : 36, because “ they shall obtain a better resurrection/’ as the 
 apostle calls it, Heb. 11 : 35. And is not Christ’s resurrection desirable in 
 this very respect? If we should think, these bodies of ours being dust 
 must never return from their dusts, it might discourage ; but here is our 
 hope, Christ is risen, and therefore we must rise ; it is the apostle’s own 
 argument against those that held “ that there was no resurrection of the 
 dead,” why, saith the apostle, “ If there be no resurrection of the dead, 
 then is not Christ risen, — If the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised; — 
 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them 
 that slept,” 1 Cor. 15 : 12, 13, 16, 20. He argues plainly that Christ’s re- 
 surrection is the principal efficient cause of the resurrection of the just, “I 
 am the resurrection, and the life,” saith Christ, John 11 : 25. (i. e.) “ I am 
 the author, and worker of the resurrection to life.” “As the Father raiseth 
 up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he 
 will,” John 5:21, and hence is it that Christ is called “a quickening 
 Spirit,” 1 Cor. 15 : 45. Christ is the head and stock of all the elect, 
 Christ is the author, procurer, conveyer of life to all his offspring, by the 
 communication of his Spirit. Christ is a quickening Spirit, quickening 
 dead bodies, the author both of the first and second resurrection. And is 
 not this desirable ? 
 
 4. He rose again for the assurance of our justification, sanctification, and 
 salvation. This is the reason why the apostle useth these words to prove 
 the resurrection of Christ, “ I will give you the sure mercies of David,” 
 Acts 13 : 34, none of God’s mercies had been sure to us, if Christ had not 
 risen again from the dead ; but now all is made sure ; his work of re- 
 demption being fully finished, the mercy which thereupon depended, was 
 now made certain, (and as the apostle speaks) “ sure unto all the seed,” 
 Rom. 4 : 16. 
 
 Methinks a thought of this object in respect of itself, and in respect of 
 us, should put our souls into a longing frame; is it not a desirable thing to 
 see the King in his beauty? Were not the daughters of Zion glad to go 
 forth, and “ to behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother 
 crowned him in the day of his espousals?” Sol. Song 3 : 11. If Christ 
 incarnate, and in human frailty was the desire of all nations, how much 
 more is Christ exalted, and in his glory ? If it was Augustine’s great wish 
 to have seen Christ in the flesh, how should we but wish to see Christ as 
 risen again from the dead ? He is altogether lovely, or he is altogether de- 
 sirable,” Sol. Song 5 : 16, desirable in the womb, desirable in the manger, 
 desirable on the cross, even when despised, and numbered with thieves, 
 desirable in his resurrection, yea, all desirable, as risen, exalted, glorified; 
 in this consideration we cannot fathom the thousand, thousand part of the 
 worth and incomparable excellency of Jesus Christ. Or, if Christ’s re- 
 surrection in itself will not stir up our lazy desires, is it not desirable as 
 in reference unto us ? What, that he should rise again for our justification ? 
 That by virtue of his resurrection thy soul should appear righteous before 
 the judgment seat of God ? 0 ! what a ravishing word is that, what a tri- 
 umphant challenge? “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s 
 elect? It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 465 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 that died, yea, rather that is risen again,” Rom. 8:33, 34. Oh! the 
 stings that many have, saying, What shall I do when I die, and go down 
 to the dust ? May not the Lord have something against me at the day of 
 reckoning? Why, no poor soul, if thou art in Christ, it is he that died, yea, 
 rather that is risen again for thy justification ; by his resurrection he hath 
 cleared all reckonings, so that now who shall condemn ? Not sin, Christ 
 hath taken it away; not the law, Christ hath fulfilled it for us; not Satan, 
 for if the judge acquit us, what can the jailor do? 0 ! my soul, that thy 
 portion may be with theirs who hath right and title to this blessed resur- 
 rection of Jesus Christ; but thou sayest again, What is it to me if I be 
 justified in Christ, and yet my heart remain unholy, and unsubdued to 
 Christ? It is true, thou findest a woful, sinful nature within thee, cross and 
 contrary unto holiness, and leading thee daily into captivity ; yet remember 
 it is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, and by virtue of his re- 
 surrection he hath given thee a new nature ; another nature, which makes 
 thee wrestle against sin, and shall in time prevail over all sin. But thou 
 sayest again, What if I be justified and sanctified, if after death I shall not 
 be raised to life ? Why, fear not, 0 my soul, for if Christ be risen thou 
 shalt rise, and rise to eternal life, “ I am the resurrection and the life/’ not 
 only the resurrection, but life is in him originally, as water is in the foun- 
 tain, and from him it is derived to us, “ because I live, ye shall live also,” 
 John 14 : 19. But thou sayest again, 0 ! that I were assured of this. 
 Many doubts and jealousies are upon me from day to day. Sometimes in- 
 deed, I have a comfortable hope of my justification, sanctification, salvation, 
 and sometimes again, I am forced to cry, “ Lord, why castest thou off my 
 soul ? why liidest thou thy face from me ?” Psalm 88 : 14. 0 ! consider 
 
 of the ends of Christ’s resurrection, was it not to give thee the sure mercies 
 of David ? was it not to apply the merits of Christ’s active and passive 
 obedience, and to bring them home to thy soul ? was it not to confirm and 
 ratify thy faith, “else were it in vain?” 1 Cor. 15 : 17. 0! the person of 
 
 Christ ! and 0 the privileges of Christ as being raised from the dead ! 0 ! 
 my soul, that thou wert on the wing in thy desires after Christ ! 0 ! that 
 thy motions were as swift as the eagle’s that hasteth to eat ! 0 that feel- 
 ingly thou knewest him, and the power of his resurrection ! that thou wert 
 resolved to give no sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids, until 
 thou could say, “ Christ’s resurrection is mine !” Why Lord, that I should 
 long for vanities, trifles, toys, pleasures, profits, earthly contentments; that 
 I should long, like some women with child, for a deal of baggage, ashes, 
 coals, very loathsome food ; and yet that I should feel no pantings, breath- 
 ings, hungerings, thirstings after Christ’s resurrection, to feed upon it, and 
 to be satisfied with it? Come, here is a blessed object, here is delicious fare, 
 0 ! stir up thy appetite, “ suck and be satisfied, drink, yea, drink abund- 
 antly, 0 my beloved.” 
 
 Sect. IV. — Of hoping in Jesus in that respect. 
 
 4. Let us hope in Jesus, as carrying on the great work of our salvation 
 for us in his resurrection. Only remember, I mean not a fluctuating, wa- 
 vering, unsettled, unestablished hope, no, no, let us hope firmly, surely, 
 fixedly; let us come up to that plerophory, or full assurance of hope, that 
 we may conclude comfortably and confidently, Christ’s resurrection is ours ; 
 and yet that our conclusion may not be rash, but upon right grounds, we 
 may examine the firmness, solidness, substantialoess of our hope in Christ’s 
 resurrection by these following signs. — As, 
 
 L If Christ’s resurrection be mine, then is Christ’s death mine, the 
 fruits or effects of Christ’s death and resurrection cannot be severed; “If 
 we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be 
 30 
 
466 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 also in the likeness of his resurrection/ ’ Rom. 6 : 5. Mortification and 
 vivification are twins of one and the same Spirit, “ Depart from evil, and 
 do good, Psal. 34 : 14. — Cease to do evil, learn to do well,” Isa. 1 : 16, 17. 
 Many may think they have their part in the first resurrection, but can they 
 prove their death unto sin ? As there cannot be a resurrection before a 
 man die, so there cannot be a resurrection to a new life, but there must 
 be a separation of the soul from the body of sin. What, shall a man cleave 
 to sin, be wedded to sin ? Yea, shall a man like it, love it, live in it, and 
 yet say or imagine that Christ’s resurrection is his ? 0 be not deceived, 
 
 God is not mocked ! come search, try, examine, Hast thou any share in 
 Christ’s passion? Knowest thou the fellowship of his sufferings? Art 
 thou made conformable to his death, that as he died for sin, so thou diest 
 to sin ? If herein thou art at a stand, peruse these characters laid down in 
 his sufferings and death, the truth and growth of our mortification, or of our 
 death unto sin is discovered before. 
 
 2. If Christ’s resurrection be mine, then is Christ’s Spirit mine, yea, 
 then am I quickened by the Spirit of Christ, “ If any man have not the 
 Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. — But if the Spirit of him that raised 
 up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you, then he that raised up Christ from 
 the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies, (and I may add your im- 
 mortal souls) by his Spirit that dwelleth in you,” Rom. 8 :9, 11. Christ’s 
 Spirit (if Christ’s resurrection be ours) will have the same operation and 
 effect in our souls, that it had in his body ; as it raised up the one, so it 
 will raise up the other; as it quickened the one, so it will quicken the 
 other. But the question here will run on, How shall we know whether we 
 have received this- quickening Spirit ? many pretend to the Spirit, never 
 more than at this day ; but how may we be assured that the Spirit is ours ? 
 I answer, — 
 
 1. The Spirit is a spirit of illumination, here is the beginning of his 
 work, he begins in light; as in the first creation, the first born of God’s 
 works was light, u God said, Let there be light, and there was light,” Gen. 
 1 : 3, so in his new creation, the first work in light, “ God who commanded 
 the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined into our hearts, to give the 
 light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,” 2 Cor. 4 : 6. Hence 
 the state of nature is called darkness, and the state of grace is called 
 light, “ Ye were sometimes darkness, but now ye are light in the Lord,” 
 Eph. 5 : 8. And “ he hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous 
 light,” 1 Pet. 2 : 9. There is a light in the mind, and a light in the heart 
 of those who have the Spirit of Christ; there is a speculative and an 
 effective knowledge, not only to know the truth, but to love it, believe it, 
 embrace it. 0 my soul ! wouldst thou know whether Christ’s Spirit be 
 thine ? Consider, and see then, whether any of this new light hath shined 
 into thy heart; take heed, deceive not thyself, thou mayest have a great 
 deal of wit, and knowledge, and understanding, and yet go to hell; this 
 light is a light shining into thy heart, this light is a Christ-discovering 
 light, this light is a sin-discovering light ; this light will cause thee to find 
 out thy hypocrisy, deadness, dulness in spiritual duties; if thou hast not 
 this light, thou art near to eternal burnings; darkness is one of the pro- 
 perties of hell, and without this light inward darkness will proceed to utter 
 darkness, where is nothing but “ weeping and wailing, and gnashing of 
 teeth.” 
 
 2. This quickening Spirit is a spirit of faith, as it reveals Christ, so it 
 inclines men’s hearts to close with Christ upon those gospel terms as he 
 is offered. I know there are degrees and measures of faith, but the least 
 measure of faith is a desiring, panting, breathing after the Lord Jesus ; and 
 DU sooner hath the soul received that new light from the Spirit of Christ, 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 467 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 but it is presently, at the same instant exceedingly affected with Jesus 
 Christ ; 0 ! it desires Christ above all desires. I know not a more unde- 
 ceiving sign than this, read over the whole Bible, and wherever there was 
 any soul-saving discoveries, there ever followed inward desires, soul- 
 longings after Jesus Christ ; when Paul preached of the resurrection of 
 Christ, some there were that mocked, jeered and slighted that doctrine, 
 but others, (whose hearts the Lord stirred) they were exceedingly taken 
 with it, saying, “We will hear thee again of this matter;” yea, and this 
 very sermon so wrought on some, that “ they believed, among whom was 
 Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with 
 them,” Acts 17 : 32, 34, and when he preached another sermon on the 
 same subject at Antioch, the Jews were much offended, but the Gentiles 
 were so exceedingly taken with it, that “they besought Paul, that these 
 words (the very same resurrection sermon) might be preached to them the 
 next Sabbath day,” Acts 13 : 42. Their very hearts did so long after 
 Christ, whom Paul preached, that “when the congregation was broken up, 
 many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas; 
 and the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the 
 same sermon,” verse 43, 44. 0 my soul ! dost thou hear these sermons 
 
 of Christ’s resurrection ? Dost thou hear sweet gospel-preaching ? Dost 
 thou hear the free tenders and offers of Christ, with all his glory and ex- 
 cellency to poor sinners, to vile, lost, undone souls ? And art thou no 
 whit taken with them ? Canst thou sleep away such sermons as these ? 
 Hast thou no heart risings, no stirrings, workings, longings, desires in thy 
 soul? Oh! take heed, this is a dangerous case, but on the contrary, if 
 thou sayest in thy heart, “ Oh ! that I could hear this sermon again ! 0 
 
 the sweet and virtue of Christ’s resurrection ! I had not thought such 
 honey could have dropped out of this rock ; 0 the blessed beginnings and 
 springings of grace which I felt in my soul on such a meditation ! Oh the 
 desire, the delight ! 0 the longings ! 0 the comforts of Christ’s resurrec- 
 tion ! 0 the drawings of the Spirit, inclining my heart to receive Jesus 
 
 Christ, to close with him, and to rest on him, and to give up myself to 
 him !” Why, the Spirit of faith doth argue thy title and interest to the 
 quickening Spirit of Christ. 
 
 3. The quickening Spirit is a Spirit of sanctification; such was the 
 Spirit whereby Christ was raised, “He was declared mightily to be the 
 Son of God,, according to the Spirit of sanctification, by the resurrection 
 from the dead,” Bom. 1 : 4. That same Spirit which raised up Jesus Christ, 
 was that same divine Spirit which sanctified his human nature, wherein it 
 dwelt; and such is this quickening Spirit to all in whom it dwelleth, it is a 
 Spirit of holiness, and it works holiness, changing the heart, and turning 
 the bent of it from sin to holiness, “ If any man be in Christ, he is a new 
 creature ; old things are passed away, behold all things are become new,” 
 2 Cor. 5 : 17, q. d. When once the believer is by an act of faith passed 
 over unto Christ, there goes immediately from the Spirit of Christ into his 
 soul an effectual power, which alters and changes the frame of the whole 
 man ? now he is not the same that he was, he is changed in his company, 
 in his discourse, in his practice, he is changed in his nature, judgment, 
 will, affections, he is sanctified throughout in soul, body, and spirit; 0 my 
 soul ! try thyself by this sign, dost thou find such an inward change wrought 
 in thy soul? Dost thou find the law of God, a law of holiness, written in 
 thy heart? Dost thou find a law withiu thee, contrary to the law of sin, 
 commanding with authority that which is holy and good ? So that thou 
 canst say with the apostle, “ I delight in the law of God after the inward 
 man; and with my mind I myself serve. the law of God,” Rom. 7 : 22, 25; 
 if so, surely this is no other “ but the law of the Spirit of life in Jesus 
 
468 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IY. 
 
 Christ,” Rom. 8 : 2, or the law of this quickening Spirit communicated from 
 Christ unto thy soul. 
 
 4. If Christ’s resurrection be mine, then I am planted together in the 
 likeness of Christ’s resurrection,” Rom. 6 : 5, then do I resemble, and am 
 made conformable to Christ in his resurrection ; now, if we would know 
 wherein that resemblance is, the apostle tells us, “ That like as Christ was 
 raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should 
 walk in newness of life,” Rom. 6 : 4. Our mortification is a resemblance 
 of Christ’s death, and our vivification is a resemblance of Christ’s resurrec- 
 tion. In this ground of our hope, concerning our interest in the resurrec- 
 tion of Christ, I shall propound these questions : 
 
 1. Whether in deed and in truth our souls are vivified? 
 
 2. Whether we increase and grow in our vivification ? 
 
 For the first, the truth and certainty of our vivification will appear by 
 these rules : 
 
 1. True vivification is general, both in respect of us, and in respect of 
 grace. 
 
 1. In respect of us, it is diffused throughout the whole man, “ The very 
 God of peace sanctify you wholly, (saith the apostle,) and I pray God, that 
 your whole spirit, soul and body, may he preserved blameless unto the 
 coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,” 1 Thess. 5 : 23. And, 2, in respect of 
 grace, it is in every grace, I know it is a questien, Whether all graces are 
 so connected and chained together, that possibly they cannot be severed ? 
 But I suppose it is truly answered, that, in respect of habit, they cannot be 
 severed, though in respect of the act or exercise they may be severed; 
 some graces are more radical than others, as faith and love, and therefore 
 they first appear; but, as a man lives first the life of a plant, then of sense, 
 then of reason, though all were radically there at first, so it is in graces ; 
 experience tells us, that some Christians are eminent in some graces, and 
 some in other graces; some have more love, and some more knowledge, 
 and some more patience, and some more self-denial; but all that are true 
 Christians, have each of these graces, in some measure or other, or, at 
 least they have them in habit, though not in the act ; if vivification be true, 
 there is a whole work of grace both in heart and life ; as the light in the 
 air runs through the whole hemisphere, so the whole work of grace runs 
 through, and is diffused through the whole man, soul, body and spirit. 
 0 my soul ! this may put thee to thy study, because of the several consti- 
 tutions or tempers of graces ; thou mayest find this or that grace ; this or 
 that image of Christ clearly stamped on thy heart, but thou canst not find 
 such and such graces; in this case fear not, for if in truth and sincerity 
 thou hast but one grace, thou hast the whole chain of graces. But to speak 
 to some graces in particular : 
 
 2. True vivification is a new life, acting upon a new principle of faith, 
 11 the life which I now live in the fle-sh, I live by the faith of the Son of 
 God,” Gal. 2 :20. They are the words of a man pursued by the law unto 
 Christ ; Paul, seeing he was dead by the law, he speaks for a better hus- 
 band; the law finds him dead, and leaves him dead; Nevertheless I live, 
 (saith Paul) what, means he a natural life? Why, so he lived before now; 
 no, no, it is a better life than a natural life : such a life is no contentment 
 to a soul pursued by the law; very heathens and infidels have such a life, 
 and in that respect are as happy as the best of saints; Paul’s life is a 
 spiritual life, and the spring of his life is the Son of God; Jesus Christ is 
 essentially, radically, fundamentally, life itself, and by his incarnation, pas- 
 sion, resurrection, he is life for his saints, they live by him, and in him, 
 and for him, and through him ; he is the heart and liver of their spiritual 
 life. But, as from the heart and liver there must be arteries and veins for 
 
CHAP, ir.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 469 
 
 maintenance of life, and the conveyance of blood through all the body ; 
 so from Christ there must be a conveyance to bring this life unto us, and 
 this is by faith, “ I live by the faith of the Son of God.” 0 my soul ! dost 
 thou live this life of faith on the Son of God? Canst thou make use of 
 Christ in every state, and in every condition ? As for instance, in thy par- 
 ticular calling, dost thou look to Christ for wisdom, success, blessing, 
 ability, dost thou say, “ If I have ill success, I will yet go to Christ, it is 
 he that set me here, and it is he that will enable me ?” in case of pro- 
 vision, Dost thou run to Christ, and dost thou hang upon him for all things 
 needful ? Dost thou say, “ If I want means, God will create means, he 
 commands all means, and he can suddenly do whatsoever he will ?” In 
 case of protection, dost thou look unto Jesus to be thy shield and pro- 
 tector ? dost thou mind the word of God to Abraham ? “ Fear not, Abraham, 
 for I am God all-sufficient, thy buckler, and thy exceeding great reward,” 
 Gen. 15:1. In case of thy children, goest thou to Christ, saying, “Are 
 not my children thy children, and wilt thou not provide for thy own?” It 
 is true, thou must do what thou canst, but for the rest despair not, cast 
 thy burden upon him, who hath commanded thee “ in nothing to be care- 
 ful, but in all things to make thy suits known with prayer and supplica- 
 tion,” Phil. 4 : 6 “When my father and mother forsake me, God will take 
 me up,” saith David, Psal. 27:10. He is a father to the fatherless, he 
 provided for them in the womb, he provided breasts for them ere they saw 
 the sun ; and therefore, how should he but have care and compassion over 
 thy children ? In case of prosperity, dost thou see Christ’s love in that 
 state? Dost thou set him in the first place, receiving all and joining in all 
 as coming from him ? Is this it that makes thy prosperity sweet, because 
 thou knowest and believest that thy sins are pardoned ? Otherwise what is 
 thy silver and gold, so long as thy pardon is not sealed in the blood of 
 Jesus Christ? If a prisoner, condemned to die, should abound in all out- 
 ward plenty, what comfort could he have so long as his pardon were not 
 sealed ? It is the life of faith that sweetens prosperity : Who are better 
 
 Christians than they, who know they enjoy these things with God’s favor 
 and blessing ? Faith sees God’s love in all, and so is abundantly thankful ; 
 faith makes a man to eat, and drink, and sleep, and to do all in Christ, as 
 it cost Christ dear to purchase our liberty to the creatures, so faith sees 
 Christ in the first place, it receives all as coming from him, it returns all as 
 to the glory of him : in case of disgrace, dost thou commit thy credit to 
 Jesus Christ? Dost thou look up to Jesus, and desirest no more good 
 name, repute, or honor, than Christ will afford thee ? Or, in case of death, 
 dost thou like Stephen resign up thy soul to Christ? Dost thou see death 
 conquered in the resurrection of Christ ? Dost thou look beyond death ? 
 Dost thou over-eye all things betwixt thee and glory ? 0 the sweet of this 
 life of faith on the Son of God ! if thou knowest what this means, then 
 mayest thou assure thyself of thy vivification. 
 
 3. True vivification is a new life acting upon a new principle of hope of 
 glory, “ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which 
 according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, 
 by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incor- 
 ruptible and undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,” 
 1 Pet. 1 : 3, 4. By Christ’s resurrection we have a lively hope for our 
 resurrection unto glory. Is not Christ our head? And if he, be risen to 
 glory, shall not his members follow after him ? Certainly there is but one 
 life, one Spirit, one glory of Christ and his members, “ The glory which 
 thou gavest me, I have given unto them,” said Christ, John 17 : 22. The 
 soul that is vivified hath a lively hope of glory on several grounds : as, 1. 
 Because of the promises of glory set down in the word; now on these 
 
470 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 promises, hope fastens her anchor, if Christ hath promised, how should I 
 hut maintain a lively hope: 2. Because of the first-fruits of the Spirit; 
 there are sometimes foretastes of the glory, drops of heaven poured into a 
 soul, whence it comfortably concludes, if I have the earnest and first-fruits, 
 surely in his time Jesus Christ will give the harvest. 3. Because of 
 Christ’s resurrection unto glory ; now he rose as a common person, and he 
 went up into heaven as a common person, whence hope is lively, saying, 
 Why shall I doubt or despair, seeing “ I am quickened together with Christ, 
 and raised up together with Christ, and am made to sit together with Christ 
 in heavenly places ?” Eph. 2 : 5, 6. Try, 0 my soul, by this sign ; art 
 thou lively in thy hope of glory ? Doth thy heart leap and rejoice within 
 at a thought of thy inheritance in heaven ? In a lively fountain the waters 
 thereof will leap and sparkle ; so if thy hope be lively, thou wilt have 
 living joys, living speeches, living delights; amidst all thy afflictions thou 
 wilt say, these will not endure for ever; I myself shall away ere long, glory 
 will come at last, 0 the sweet of this life of hope ! If thou feelest these 
 stirrings, it is an argument of thy vivification. 
 
 4. True vivification acts all its duties upon a new principle of love to 
 Christ; men not enlivened by Jesus Christ may do much, and go far in 
 outward service, yea, they may come to sufferings; and yet without love to 
 Christ all is lost, all comes to nothing, “ Though I speak with the tongues 
 of men and angels, — though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand 
 all mysteries, and all knowledge, — though I bestow all my goods to feed 
 the poor; and though I give my body to be burnt, and have not love, it 
 profiteth me nothing,” 1 Cor. 13 : 1, 2, 3. All the rest may be from the 
 flesh, and for the flesh, and fleshly ends; but a true gospel-love is from 
 Christ, and tends to the glory of Christ, “ For love is of God, and every one 
 that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God,” 1 John 4 : 7. But how may 
 we know that all our actings are out of love to Jesus Christ ? I answer, — 
 
 1. If we act by the rule of Christ, “ If you love me, keep my command- 
 ments. — He that hath my commandments and keepeth them : he it is that 
 loveth me. — If any man love me, he will keep my commandments,” John 
 14 : 15, 21, 23, 24. He that loves Christ, he will look upon every act, 
 every service, every performance, whether it be according to the rule of 
 Christ, and then on he goes with it. 
 
 2. If we act to the honor of Christ, we may pray, and hear, and preach, 
 and act self more than the honor of Jesus Christ; whilst Christ showed 
 miracles, and fed his followers to the full ; they cried up Jesus, and none 
 like Jesus; but when Christ was plain with them, “ Ye seek me, not be- 
 cause ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were 
 filled,” John 6 : 26. When he pressed sincerity upon them, and prepara- 
 tion for sufferings, “ From that time many of his disciples went back, and 
 walked no more with him,” verse 66. It is no news for men to fall off 
 when their ends fail ; only they that love Christ look not at these outward 
 things in respect of the honor of Jesus Christ; and hence it is, that in all 
 their actings, they will carry on the design of the Father, in advancing the 
 honor of the Son, whatever it costs them. 0 my soul, apply this to thy- 
 self! If thou livest the life of love, if in all thy actings, duties, services, 
 thou art carried on with a principle of love to Jesus Christ, it is a sure 
 sign of thy vivification. 
 
 For the second question, Whether we increase and grow in our vivifica- 
 tion ? We may discover it thus, — 
 
 1. We grow when we are led on to the exercise of new graces: this the 
 apostle calls adding of one grace unto another, “Add to your faith, virtue, 
 and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance 
 patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly-kindness, and 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 471 
 
 to brotherly-kindness charity,” 1 Pet. 1 : 5, 6, 7. At first a Christian doth 
 not exercise all graces; though habitually all graces may be planted in him, 
 yet the exercise of them is not all at once, but by degrees; thus the church 
 tells Christ, “At our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, 
 which I have laid up for thee, 0 my beloved,” Cant. 7:13; she had all 
 manner of fruits which she had reserved for Christ, new and old ; she had 
 young converts, and more settled professors, as some; or she had new and 
 old graces, as others ; she added grace to grace, she was led on from the 
 exercise of one grace, unto another new grace : as wicked men are led on 
 from one sin to another, and so grow worse and worse, so godly men are led 
 from one grace to another, and so they increase, “ Knowing that tribu- 
 lation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope,” 
 Bom. 5 : 3, 4. 
 
 2. We grow when we find new degrees of the same grace added; as 
 when love grows more fervent, when knowledge abounds, and hath a larger 
 apprehension of spiritual things; when faith goes on from a man’s casting 
 himself on Christ, to find sweetness in Christ, and so to plerophory, or full 
 assurance of faith : when godly sorrow proceeds from mourning for sin, as 
 contrary to God’s holiness, to mourn for it as contrary to him who loves us, 
 which usually follows after assurance : when obedience enlargeth its bounds, 
 and we abound more and more in the work of the Lord, “ I know thy 
 works (saith Christ to the church of Thyatira) and the last to be more than 
 the first,” Bev. 2 : 19. 
 
 3. We grow when the fruits and duties we perform grow more ripe, more 
 spiritual, and more to the honor of Christ ; it may be we pray not more, 
 nor longer, than sometimes we used ; it may be, our prayers have not more 
 wit or memory, than sometimes they had, yet they are more savory, more 
 spiritual, and more to Christ’s honor, than sometimes they were ; now we 
 must know that one short prayer put up in faith, with a broken heart, and 
 aiming at the honor of Christ, argues more of growth in grace, than prayers 
 of a day long, and never so eloquent, without the like qualifications. In 
 every duty we should look at their ends and aims ; for, if we debase our- 
 selves in the sense of our own vileness, and emptiness, and inability, and if 
 we aim at God’s honor, and power and praise, and glory, it is a good sign 
 of growth ; we call this the spiritual part of duty, when it is from God, and 
 through God, and to God. 
 
 4. We grow when we are more rooted in Christ; so the apostle describes 
 it, “A growing up unto him in all things,” Eph. 4 : 15. This is scripture 
 phrase ; growth of grace expressed by growing unto Christ, u But grow in 
 grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” 2 Pet. 
 3 : 18. As if to grow in grace without him were nothing, as indeed it is 
 not. Philosophers, moral men, and others may grow in virtues, but not in 
 Christ. Come then, search and try whether we are more rooted in Christ; 
 when a young plant is new set, the roots are a small depth in the earth, one 
 may pull them with his hands ; but as the tree shootetl^ up in height, so it 
 strikes the root deeper and deeper downward, that no force can move it; so 
 it is with us, we have not for degree so firm and near a conjunction with 
 Christ, at our first uuion ; but the more we live in him, like good trees 
 spreading in the sight of all men, and bringing forth the fruits of righteous- 
 ness, the more we come to root downwards by a more firm faith, and firm 
 confidence. Our uuion is answerable to that which uniteth us; now at the 
 first, faith is but weak, like a smoking wick, or a poor bruised reed, but 
 while faith is drawing the spirit from Christ, the more it exerciseth, the more 
 it is strengthened ; even as in babes, their powers every day, at first are 
 feeble, but the more they feed and exercise, by so much the more they put forth 
 their strength in all their operations; time was that Peter’s faith was so 
 
472 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 weak, that at the voice of a damsel Peter was shaken ; hut by walking 
 a while in Christ, he was so rooted that neither threatenings, whippings, im- 
 prisonments, conventings before great powers, nor any other thing, could 
 shake him : you may object, if we are not at first rooted in Christ, a weak 
 faith may be be quite overthrown, we may then fall away ; true, if we be 
 not rooted in any manner; but this we are not at our first setting into 
 Christ by faith ; only this I speak of, is an higher degree of rooting, which 
 doth not only shut out falling away, but very shaking, and tottering in a 
 good measure ; surely this is not the state of every believer,; No, no; it is 
 only the condition of such who have long walked in Christ, and are grown 
 in grace, holiness and vivification. 
 
 0 my soul ! try now the growth of thy vivification, by these few signs ; 
 art thou led on to the exercise of new graces, adding. grace to grace ? Post 
 thou find new degrees of the self-same grace ? Is thy love more hot ? Thy 
 faith more firm ? All thy boughs more laden and filled with the fruits of 
 righteousness. Are all thy duties more spiritual ? Are thy ends more raised 
 to aim at God, to sanctify him, and to debase thyself? Art thou more rooted 
 in Christ ? In all thy duties, graces, and gracious actions, hast thou learned 
 habitually to say, “ I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me ?" Post thou 
 interest Christ more and more in all thou doest; dost thou know and affect 
 Christ more and more ? Oh ! when would an ambitious courtier be weary 
 of being graced by his prince ? When would a worldling be weary of hav- 
 ing the world come in upon him ? Why shouldst thou, Omy soul, be weary 
 of insinuating thyself by faith and affection into Christ? Come, search, try, 
 it may be, little winds have formerly shaken thee, but so it is, that insensi- 
 bly, and thou knowest not how, thy root is struck lower and lower into 
 Christ, and now thou art not so soon shaken with every wind ; surely thy 
 hope is well grounded ; thou hast a part in Christ's resurrection, it is thine, 
 even thine. 
 
 Sect. V. — Of believing in Jesus in that respect. 
 
 5. Let us believe in Jesus as carrying on the great work of our salvatioh 
 for us in his resurrection. This is one main article of our faith, “ The third 
 day he rose again from the dead," and this now I propound as the object 
 of our faith : 0 let us believe it, let us believe our part and interest in it. 
 And to that purpose let us look on Jesus as a common person; whatever 
 consideration he passed under, it was in our stead, and in that respect we 
 are to reckon ourselves as sharers with him. Scrupulous souls may object. 
 Is it possible that Christ should rise, and that I should rise with him, and 
 in him ? is it possible that Christ should die as a common person for my 
 sins ? And that Christ should rise, and by his resurrection should be justi- 
 fied as a common person in my room ? 0 the mystery of this redemption ! 
 without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest 
 in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, 1 Tim 3 : 16. It is a mystery beyond 
 my fathoming, that Christ, who is God in the flesh, should be justified in 
 the Spirit for my justification ; that Christ should die in my stead as a con- 
 demned man, and when he had finished his work, that he should rise again 
 in my stead as a righteous person. These passages are past fathoming, and 
 beyond believing ; 0 ! what shall I do ? I find it hard, very hard to believe 
 this point. 
 
 Scrupulous souls -throw not away your confidence. 11 Ought not Christ to 
 have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory," Luke 24 : 26. Was 
 not satisfaction and justification, payment of debt, and discharge of bonds 
 required of him, and of necessity for us ? 0 believe ! and that I may per- 
 suade to purpose, I shall lay down, 1. Some directions, and, 2. Some encour- 
 agement of faith. 
 
CHAP. II. J LOOKING UNTO JESLS. 473 
 
 1. For directions of faith in reference to Christ’s resurrection, observe these 
 particulars. 
 
 1. Faith must directly go to Christ 
 
 2. Faith must go to Christ, as God in the flesh. 
 
 3. Faith must go to Christ, as God in the flesh, made under the law. 
 
 4. Faith must go to Christ, not only as made under the directive part 
 of the law by his life, but under the penal part by his death ; of all these 
 before. 
 
 5. Faith must go to Christ, as God in the flesh, made under the direc- 
 
 tive and penal part of the law, and as quickened by the Spirit, “ He was 
 put to death in the flesh (said Peter) but quickened by the Spirit,” 1 Pet. 
 
 3 : 18. And accordingly must be the method and order of our faith : after 
 
 we have looked on Christ as dead in the flesh, we must go on to see him as 
 quickened by the Spirit, “ if Christ was not raised, or quickened, (saith the 
 apostle) your faith were in vain,” 1 Cor. 15 : 17. q. d. To believe in 
 Christ, is only in respect of his birth, life, death, and to go no further, 
 were but a vain faith; and therefore, shore up your faith to this pitch, that 
 Christ who died is risen from the dead ; to this purpose all the sermons of 
 the apostles represented Christ, not only as crucified, but as raised : in that 
 first sermon after the mission of the Holy Ghost, “ Ye have crucified Christ, 
 (said Peter to the Jews) and then it follows, whom God hath raised up, 
 having loosed the pains or chains of death, because it was not possible that 
 he should be holden of it,” Acts 2 : 23, 24. In the next sermon Peter tells 
 them again, “ Ye have killed the Prince of life;” and then it follows, 
 “ whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses,” Acts 
 3 : 15. In the next sermon after this, “ Be it known to you all, (said Peter) 
 and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Naza- 
 reth, whom ye crucified, and whom God raised from the dead, — Is this man 
 whole,” Acts 4 : 10. And in the next sermon after this, “ The God of our 
 fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree,” Acts 5 : 30. 
 And as thus he preached to the Jews, so in his first sermon to the Gentiles, 
 he tells them, “ We are witnesses of all things which Jesus did, both in the 
 land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem, whom they slew, and hanged on a tree ; 
 him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly,” Acts 10 : 39, 
 40. And as thus Peter preached, so in that sermon of Paul at Antioch, 
 he tells them of the Jews crucifying Jesus, and then it follows, “ But God 
 raised him from the dead,” Acts 13 : 30. — “And as concerning that he 
 raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said 
 on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David, and thou shalt not 
 suffer thine Holy One to see corruption,” verses 34, 35. And after this, 
 Paul as his manner was, went into the synagogue at Thessalonica, and three 
 Sabbath days he reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening and 
 alleging, “ That Christ must needs suffer and rise from the dead,” Acts 17 : 
 2, 3. This was the way of the apostles’ preaching; they told them an his- 
 tory, (I speak it with reverence,) “ Of one Jesus Christ, that was the Word 
 of God, and that was become man, and how he was crucified at Jerusalem, 
 and how he w'as raised from the dead;” and all this in a plain, simple, spi- 
 ritual way and manner; and while they were telling those blessed truths, 
 the Spirit fell upon the people, and they believed, and had faith wrought in 
 them. Faith is not wrought so much in a way of ratiocination, as by the 
 Spirit of God, coining upon the souls of people by the relation, or repre- 
 sentation of Jesus Christ to the soul. And this our Lord himself hints, 
 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son 
 of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but 
 have everlasting life,” John 3 : 14. When the people were stung, God so 
 ordered, that the very beholding of the brazen serpent should bring help 
 
474 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 (though we know not how) to those that were wounded and stung by those 
 fiery serpents; so God hath ordained in his blessed wisdom, that the dis- 
 covery of Jesus Christ, as crucified and raised, as humbled and exalted, 
 should be a mean of faith; come then, set we before us, Christ raised; 
 not only Christ crucified, but Christ raised, is the object of faith ; and in 
 that respect we must look up to Jesus. 
 
 6. Faith in going to Christ as raised from the dead, or as quickened by 
 
 the Spirit, it is principally, and mainly to look to the end, purpose, intent 
 and design of Christ in his resurrection ; very devils may believe the his- 
 tory of Christ’s resurrection, “ They believe and tremble,” Jam. 2 : 19, but 
 the saints and people of God are to look at the meaning of Christ, why he 
 rose from the dead. Now the ends are either supreme, or subordinate. 
 1. The supreme end was God’s glory, and that was the meaning of Christ’s 
 prayer, “ Father, the hour is come, glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may 
 glorify thee,” John 17:1, with which agrees the apostle, “ He rose again 
 from the dead to the glory of the Father,” Rom. 6:4. 2. The subordinate 
 
 ends were many : 1. That he might tread on the serpent’s head. 2. That 
 he might destroy the works of the devil. 3. That he might be the first- 
 fruits of them that sleep. 4. That he might assure our faith, that he is 
 the Lord, and that he is able to keep that which we have committed to him 
 against that day. 5. That he might be justified in the Spirit, as he was 
 begotten in the womb by the Spirit, led up and down in the Spirit, offered 
 up by the eternal Spirit, so he was raised up from the dead by the Spirit, 
 and justified in his Spirit at the resurrection. Christ was under the greatest 
 attainder that ever man was, he stood publicly charged with the guilt of a 
 world of sins, and if he had not been justified by the Spirit, he had still 
 lain under the blame of all, and had been liable to the execution of all ; 
 and therefore he was raised up from the power of death, that he might be 
 declared as a righteous person. 6. That he might justify us in his justifi- 
 cation ; when he was justified, all the elect were virtually and really justified 
 in him ; that act of God which past on him, was drawn up in the name of 
 all his saints ; as whatever benefit or privilege God meant for us, he first of 
 all bestowed it on Christ ; thus God meaning to sanctify us, he sanctified 
 Christ first: and God meaning to justify us, he justifies Christ first; so 
 whatever benefit or privilege he bestowed on Christ, he bestowed it not on 
 him for himself, but as he was a common person, and on representing us, 
 thus Christ was sacrificed instead of us, “ For their sakes I sanctify myself, 
 that they also may be sanctified through thy truth,” John 17 : 19, and thus 
 Christ was justified instead of us, “For as by the offence of one judgment 
 came upon all for condemnation ; even so by the righteousness of one, the 
 free gift came on all men unto justification,” Rom. 5 : 18. 
 
 7. That he might regenerate us, and beget us anew by his resurrection, 
 
 “ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which accord- 
 ing to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again, — by the resurrection of 
 Jesus Christ from the dead,” 1 Pet. 1:3. And this he doth two ways. 
 1. As our pattern, platform, idea, or exemplar, “ Like as Christ was raised 
 from the dead, — even so we also should walk in newness of life,” Rom. 6 : 
 4, “ and likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be alive unto God through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord,” verse 11. As the efficient thereof, “ For when we 
 were dead in sin, he hath quickened us together with Christ,” Eph. 2 : 5, 
 and “ ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who 
 hath raised him from the dead,” Col. 2 : 12. 0 the power of Christ’s re- 
 
 surrection in this respect ! if we saw a man raised from the dead, how should 
 we admire at such a wondrous power ? But the raising of one dead soul is 
 a greater work than to raise a church-yard full of dead bodies. 
 
 8. That he might sanctify us, which immediately follows after the other, 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 475 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 — “ But ye yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, 
 and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God,” Rom. 6 : 13. 
 In our regeneration we are risen with Christ, and it is the apostle’s argu- 
 ment, “if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, 
 — set your affections on things above, and not on things on the earth,” Col. 
 3 : 1, 2. We usually reckon two parts of sanctification, viz.: mortification 
 and vivification, now the death of Christ hath a special influence on our 
 vivification, “He hath quickened us together with Christ, and hath raised 
 us up together with Christ.” Eph. 2 : 5, 6. 
 
 0 my soul look to this main design of Christ in his rising again ; and if 
 thou hast any faith, 0 set thy faith on work to draw this down into thy 
 soul! but here is the question, how should I manage my faith? Or how 
 should I act my faith to draw down the virtue of Christ’s resurrection for 
 my vivification ? I answer. 
 
 1. Go to the well-head, look into the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This 
 one act contains in it these particulars, as, 1 . That I must go out of myself 
 to something else, this is that check that lies upon the work of grace, to 
 keep out pride, that faith sees the whole good of the soul in a principle ex- 
 traneous, even the springs of Jesus Christ. Alas ! if this vivification were in 
 me, or in my power, what swellings and excrescences of pride should I 
 quickly nourish ? God therefore hath placed it in another, that I may be 
 kept low, and that I may go out of myself to seek it where it is. 2. That 
 I must attribute wholly, freely, joyfully, all that I am to Jesus Christ, and 
 to the effectual working of his grace, “ I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in 
 me,” Gal. 2 : 20. “And, by the grace of God, I am what I am ;” and “I 
 labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God 
 which was with me.” 1 Cor. 15 : 10. The life of grace springs only from 
 the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and therefore, as I must deny my- 
 self, so I must attribute all to him from whom it comes. 3. I must lie at 
 his feet with an humble expectation of, and dependency upon him, and him 
 alone for the supplies of grace ; this was the apostle’s practice, “ 0 that I 
 may be found in him ! 0 that I may know him, and the power of his resur- 
 rection ! — 0 that by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the 
 dead ! He lay at Christ’s feet, with an humble expectation to feel the power 
 of Christ’s resurrection in raising him first from the death of sin to the life 
 of grace, and after from the death of nature to the life of glory. 
 
 2. Lay to these springs thy mouth of faith ; it is not enough to have all 
 the treasures of grace, all the actings of Christ for thee, laid before thee, but 
 thou must act thy faith upon that object; 0 ! then go to Christ’s resurrec- 
 tion and believe, make a particular application of those glorious effects of 
 Christ’s resurrection upon thy soul. Say, “ Lord, thou diedst that I might 
 die to sin, and thou wast raised from the dead, that I might be raised to 
 newness of life. Come, Lord, and quicken my dying sparks, give me to ad- 
 here to it, and to rest upon it, and to close with it : I see without faith, I 
 am never a whit better for Christ’s resurrection, and thy commands are upon 
 me, “ Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it,” Psal. 81 : 10. Why, “ Lord, 
 I believe, help thou my unbelief,” Mark 9 : 24. This faith is necessary to 
 our vivification as well as Christ. Christ is the fountain of life, but faith is 
 the means of life ; the power and original of life is entirely reserved to Jesus 
 Christ, but faith is the radical bond on our part, whereby we are tied unto 
 Christ, and live in Christ; and thus saith Christ himself, “I am the resur- 
 rection and the life,” Is that all? No, “ he that believeth in me, though he 
 were dead, yet he shall live,” John 11 : 25. “ And I am the bread of life,” 
 Is that all ? No, “ he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that 
 believeth on me shall never thirst,” John 6 : 35. 
 
 3. “Suck and be satisfied, milk out and be delighted,” Isa. 66: 11. 
 
476 
 
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 [BOOK IV 
 
 Christ’s resurrection is a breast of consolation ; there is in it abundance of 
 life and glory, and therefore we should not believe, a little, but much ; the 
 word suck, is as much as to exact on Christ; draw hard from Christ ; the 
 more we exercise faith, the more we have of Jesus Christ and of vivification; 
 there is a depth in Christ’s resurrection that can never be fathomed ; when 
 the soul hath as much as its narrow hand can grasp; whole Christ is too 
 big to be enclosed in mortal arms; only the longer our arm of faith is, the 
 more we shall grasp of him ; and therefore suck and pull, and draw hard, 
 and to this purpose, 
 
 1. Pray for an increase of faith, complain to Christ of the shortness of 
 thy arm ; tell him thou canst not believe as thou wouldst, thou canst not 
 get in so much of Christ into thy soul as thou desirest, thy vivification is 
 very poor and small; Oh! when Christ hears a soul complain of dwarfish- 
 ness in faith and grace, then is he ready to let out his fulness, even grace 
 for grace. 
 
 2. Act thy faith vigorously on Christ’s resurrection for a further degree 
 of quickening activity, and lively ability of grace. Christ is an overflowing 
 fountain, and he would have believers to partake abundantly of what is in 
 him ; he cannot abide that any should content themselves with a present 
 stock of grace ; Christ is not as a stream that fails, or as a channel that runs 
 dry ; Christ is not as water in a ditch, which hath no living spring to feed 
 it; no, no; Christ is the fountain of life, he is the chief ordinance of life 
 that ever God set up. I know there are other means of Christ’s appoint- 
 ment, but if thou wilt live at the spring, and drink in there, yea, drink 
 abundantly, according to the overflowings of this fountain, 0 the life, and 
 growth of life that would come in ! Oh ! the virtue of Christ’s resurrection 
 (that Christ’s Spirit meeting and assisting) would flow into thy soul for thy 
 vivification. 
 
 Thus for directions ; now for the encouragement of our faith to believe 
 in Christ’s resurrection. 
 
 1. Consider of the excellency of this object. A sight of Christ in his 
 beauty and glory, would ravish souls, and draw them to run after him ; the 
 wise merchant would not buy the pearl, till he knew it to be of excellent 
 price; great things are eagerly sought for; Christ raised, Christ glorified, is 
 an excellent object; 0! who would not sell all to buy this pearl? Who 
 would not believe ? 
 
 2. Consider of the power, virtue, and influence of this object, into all 
 that golden chain of privileges, “ If Christ be not raised, you are yet in 
 your sins ; then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished,” 1 
 Cor. 15 : 17, 18. From the resurrection of Christ flows all those privileges, 
 even from justification to salvation. The first is clear, and therefore all the rest. 
 
 3. Consider that Christ’s resurrection and the effects of it are nothing 
 unto us, if we do not believe ; it is faith that brings down the particular 
 sweetness and comforts of Christ’s resurrection unto our souls : it is faith 
 that puts us in the actual possession of Christ’s resurrection ; whatsoever 
 Christ is to us before faith, yet really we have no benefit by it until we be- 
 lieve; it is faith that takes hold of all that Christ hath done for us, and 
 gives us the actual employment of it; Oh ! let not the work stick in us; 
 what, is Christ risen from the dead, and shall we not eye this Christ* and 
 take him home to ourselves by faith ? The apostle tells us, that u he that 
 believeth not, hath made God a liar, because he believeth not the record 
 that God hath given of his Son,” 1 John 5 : 10. Unbelief belies God in 
 all that he hath done for us. 0 ! take heed of this, without faith what are 
 we better for Christ’s resurrection ? 
 
 4. Consider of the tenders, offers, apparitions that Christ raised, makes 
 of himself to our souls ; when first he rose (to confirm the faith of his disci- 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 477 
 
 pies) he offers himself, and appears to Mary Magdalene, to the other women, 
 to Peter, Thomas, and all the rest; and all these apparitions were on this 
 account that they might believe, “These things are written that ye might 
 believe/’ John 20 : 31. In like manner Christ at this day offers himself 
 in the gospel of grace; and by his Spirit he appears to souls. Methinks 
 we should not hear a sermon of Christ’s resurrection, but we should imagine 
 as if we saw him, “ Whose head and hairs are white like wool, as white as 
 snow, whose eyes are as a flame of fire, whose feet are like unto fine brass, 
 as if they burned in a furnace, whose voice is as the sound of many waters,” 
 Rev. 1 : 14, 15. Or, if we are dazzled with his glory, methinks, at least, 
 we should hear his voice, as if he said, “Fear not, I am the first, and the 
 last, I am he that liveth, and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore, 
 Amen,” verse 17, 18. q. d. Come, cast your souls on me; it is I that have 
 conquered sin, death, and hell for you; it is I that have broken the serpent’s 
 head, that have taken away the sting of death, that have cancelled the bond 
 of the hand-writing against you, that have in my hands a general acquittance 
 and pardon of your sins ; come, take it, take me, and take all with me ; see 
 your names written in the acquittance that I tender, take out the copy of it 
 in your own hearts; only believe in him who is risen again for your justifi- 
 cation. 0 my soul ! what sayest thou to this still sweet voice of Christ ? 
 Shall he who is the Saviour of men, and the glory of angels desire thee to 
 believe, and wilt thou not say Amen to it? Oh ! how should I blame thee 
 for thy unbelief,? What aspersions doth it cast on Christ? He hath done 
 all things well, he hath satisfied wrath, fulfilled the law, and God hath ac- 
 quitted him, pronounced him just, saith he is contented, he can desire no 
 more ; but thou sayest by unbelief that Christ hath done nothing at all, un- 
 belief professeth Christ is not dead, or at least not risen from the dead, un- 
 belief professeth that justice is not satisfied, that no justification is procured, 
 that the wrath of God is now as open to destroy us as ever it was. Oh ! 
 that Christ should be crucified again in our hearts by our unbelief; come, 
 take Christ upon his tenders and offers, embrace him with both arms. 
 
 Sect. VI. — Of loving Jesus in that respect. 
 
 6. Let us love Jesus, as carrying on the great work of our salvation for 
 us in his resurrection : surely if we hope in Christ, and believe in Christ, 
 we cannot but love Christ; if Christ’s resurrection be our justification, and 
 so the ground both of our hope and faith, how should we but love him, who 
 hath done such great things for us? She that had much forgiven her, loved 
 much; and if by virtue of Christ’s resurrection we are justified from all 
 our sins, how should we but love him much ? But that I may let down 
 some cords of love, whereby to draw our loves to Christ in this respect, let 
 us consider thus : 
 
 Love is a motion of the appetite, “ by which the mind unites itself to that 
 which seems good to it.” You may object that Christ is absent, how then 
 should our souls be united to him; but if we consider that objects, though 
 absent, may be united to the powers by their species and images, as well as 
 by their true beings; we may then be said truly to love Christ as raised, 
 though he be absent from us; come then, stir up thy appetite, bring into 
 thy imagination the idea of Christ as in his resurrection; present him to 
 thy affection of love, in that very form wherein he appeared to his disciples; 
 as gazing upon the dusty beauty of flesh, kindleth the fire of carnal love, 
 so this gazing on Christ, and on the passages of Christ in his resurrection, 
 will kindle this spiritual love in thy soul : draw near then, and behold him, 
 “Is he uot white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousands? Is not his 
 head as the most fine gold, are not his locks bushy, and black as a raven, 
 
478 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 milk, and fitly set ? Are not his cheeks as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers ?” 
 Sol. Songs 5 : 10, 11, 12, 13. Thus I might go on from top to toe; but 
 that thou mayest not only see his glory and beauty wherein he arose, but 
 that thou mayest hear his voice ; doth he not call on thee, as sometimes he 
 did on Mary, on Thomas, on Peter, or on the twelve? As the angel said 
 to the woman, “Remember how he spake, when he was yet in Galilee,” 
 Luke 24 : 6, so say I to thee, remember how he spake while he was yet on 
 earth ; surely “ his lips like lilies dropped sweet smelling myrrh,” As thus : 
 
 1. In his apparition to Mary, Jesus saith unto her, “ Woman, why weep- 
 est thou? Whom seekest thou?” John 20 : 15. Were not those kind 
 words ? and hast thou not had the like apparition ? Hast thou not heard 
 the like sweet words from Jesus Christ ? How often hath thy heart sobbed 
 and sighed out complaints, “ 0 where is he whom my soul loveth ? I charge 
 you, 0 daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that ye tell him I 
 am sick of love,” Sol. Songs 5 : 8. And then was not Christ seen in the 
 mount? Was not thy extremity his opportunity to do thee good? Did 
 not he bespeak thy comforts with these words, “ Sweet soul, Why weepest 
 thou? Whom seekest thou? What wouldst thou have that I can give 
 thee? And what dost thou want that I cannot give thee? If any thing 
 in heaven or earth will make thee happy, it is all thine own ? Wouldst 
 thou have pardon, thou shalt have it, I freely forgive thee all the debt ? 
 Wouldst thou have myself? Why, behold I am thine, thy friend, thy 
 Lord, thy husband, thy head, thy God.” Were not these thy Lord’s re- 
 viving words? Were not these the melting, healing, ravishing, quickening 
 passages of Christ’s love ? 
 
 2. In his apparition to the ten, “ Jesus stood in the midst, and saith unto 
 them, Peace be unto you,” John 20 : 19. Lo, here more words of love; 
 in midst of their trouble Christ stands in the midst, speaking peace to their 
 souls ? And hath not Christ done the like to thee ? Hast thou not many 
 and many a time been lapt in troubles, that thou knewest not which way to 
 turn thee ? Hast thou not felt the contradiction of men, railings of Rab- 
 sheka’s? And hast thou not sometimes shut thy door upon thee for fear 
 of such Jews ? And then, even then, hath not Christ come to thy spirit 
 with an olive branch of peace, saying to thy restless soul, “ Peace and be 
 still?” Hath he not wrought wonders in the sea of thy restless thoughts? 
 Hath he not made a calm ? And more than so, Hath he not filled thee 
 with joy and peace in believing ? Hath he not sent thee away from thy 
 prayers and complaints with a peace of heaven in thy soul, so that thou wasfc 
 forced to conclude, “ Surely this is the peace of God, which passeth all un- 
 derstanding ?” 
 
 3. In his apparition to the eleven, Jesus saith to Thomas, “Reach hither 
 
 thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it 
 into my side, and be not faithless, but believing,” John 20 : 27. 0 sweet 
 
 condescending words ! how far, how low would Jesus stoop to take up souls ? 
 And 0 my soul, are not these the very dealings of Christ towards thee ? 
 He that called Thomas to come near, hark how he calls on thee, “ Come 
 near, poor, trembling, wavering, wandering soul ; come, view the Lord thy 
 Saviour, and be not faithless, but believing; peace be unto thee, fear not, 
 it is I.” He that called on them who passed by, to behold his sorrow, in 
 the day of his humiliation, doth now call on thee to behold his glory in the 
 day of his exaltation ; look well upon him, Dost thou not know him ? Why, 
 his hands were pierced, his head was pierced, his side was pierced, his heart 
 was pierced with the stings of thy sins, and these marks he retains, even 
 after his resurrection, that by these marks thou mightest always know him ; 
 is not the passage to his heart yet standing open ? If thou knowest him 
 not by the face, the voice, the hands; if thou knowest him not by the tears, 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 479 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 and bloody sweat, yet look nearer, thou mayest know him by the heart, that 
 broken healed heart is his, that dead revived heart is his, that soul-pitying, 
 melting heart is his; doubtless it can be none but his, love and compassion 
 are its certain signatures. And is not here fuel enough for love to feed 
 upon ? Doth not this hear.t of Christ even snatch thy heart, and almost 
 draw it forth of thy breast ? Canst thou read the history of love any fur- 
 ther at once? Doth not thy throbbing heart here stop to ease itself? if 
 not, go on, for the field of love is large. 
 
 4. In his apparition to the seven, “Jesus saith to Simon Peter, son of 
 Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? And he said to him the second 
 time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me ? He said to him the third time, 
 Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me,” John, 21:15, 16, 17. Oh the love 
 of Christ in drawing out man's love unto himself : how often, 0 my soul ! 
 hath Christ come to thy door and knocked there for entrance ? How often 
 hath he sued for love, and begged love, and asked thee again and again, 
 “Ah soul ! dost thou love me more than these ? Come, tell me, dost thou 
 love me, love me, love me ? Come, wilt thou take me for thy Lord ? wilt 
 thou delight in me as thy treasure, thy happiness, thy All ?" Oh fy ! shall 
 Christ raised, a glorious Christ, thus woo, and sue, and call, and wilt not 
 thou answer as Peter did? “Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. — 
 Yea, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee." Nay, 
 art thou not grieved that Christ should ask the third time for thy love ? 
 Art thou not ashamed out of thy stupidity, and forced to say, 0 my blessed 
 Lord, I have been too proud, too peevish, but thy free grace and undeserved 
 love hath beaten me out of all my pride, so that now I fall down at thy 
 footstool, and lay myself flat before thee; at first I wondered to hear 
 preachers talk so much of Christ, and I was bold to ask my friends, What 
 was their beloved more than another beloved ? But now 1 wonder that I 
 could be so long without thee; truly Lord, I am thine, only thine, ever 
 thine, all that I am is at thy command, and all that I have is at thy dis- 
 posing, be pleased to command both it and me. 
 
 1 might thus go on to consider other passages in other apparitions ; but 
 are not these enough to draw thy love ? Oh ! what love was this ? Oh ! 
 what humility was this ? that Christ, after his resurrection, should converse 
 with men during the space of forty days? Worthy he was after so many 
 sorrows, sufferings, reproaches, after so cruel, ignominious, and bitter a 
 death, immediately to have rid in triumph to glory; and for the confirma- 
 tion of his disciples' faith, he might have commanded the angels to have 
 preached his resurrection ; oh ! no, he himself would stay in prison, he 
 himself would make it out by many infallible proofs that he was risen again ; 
 he himself would, by his own example, learn us a lesson of love, of meek- 
 ness, of patience, in waiting after sufferings for the reward. 
 
 Methinks a few of these passages should set all our hearts on a flame of 
 love; we love earth, and earthly things; we dig into the veins of the earth 
 for thick clay : but if Christ be risen, “ Set your affections on things above, 
 and not on things on the earth," Col. 3 : 1, 2. Oh ! if the love of Christ 
 were but in us, as the love of the w.orld is in base Worldlings, it would make 
 us wholly to despise this world, it would make us to forget it, as worldly 
 love makes a man to forget his God; nay, it would be so strong and ardent, 
 and rooted in our souls, that we should not be able voluntarily and freely 
 to think on anything else but Jesus Christ; w*e should not then fear con- 
 tempt, or care for disgrace, or the reproaches of men ; we should not then 
 fear death, or the grave, or hell, or devils, but we should sing in triumph, 
 “ 0 death ! where is thy sting? 0 grave ! where is thy victory? — Now 
 thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ our 
 Lord," 1 Cor. 15: 55, 57. 
 
480 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 Sect. VII. — Of joying in Jesus in that respect 
 
 7. Let us joy in Jesus as carrying on the great work of our salvation 
 for us in his resurrection. This is the great gospel duty, we should “re- 
 joice in the Lord, and again rejoice,” Phil. 4 :-4, “yea, rejoice evermore,” 
 
 1 Thess. 5:16. A Christian estate should be a joyful and comfortable 
 estate, none have such cause of joy as the children of Zion, “ Sing, 0 
 daughter of Zion, shout, 0 Jerusalem, be glad and rejoice with all thy heart, 
 
 0 daughter of Jerusalem,” Zeph. 3 : 14. And why so? A thousand rea- 
 sons might be rendered; but here is one, a prime one, “ Christ is risen from 
 the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept,” 1 Cor. 15 : 20. A 
 commemoration of Christ’s resurrection hath ever been a means of rejoicing 
 in God. 
 
 Some may object, What is Christ’s resurrection to me? Indeed, if thou 
 hast no part in Christ, the resurrection of Christ is nothing at all to thee ; 
 but if Christ be thine, then art thou risen with him, and in him; then all 
 he did was in thy name, and for thy sake. 
 
 Others may object, supposing Christ’s resurrection mine, What am I 
 better ? How, do not all the privileges of Christ flow from the power and 
 virtue of his resurrection, as well as his death ? Tell me what is thy state ; 
 what possibly can be the condition of thy soul wherein thou mayest not 
 draw sweet from Christ’s resurrection ? As, — 
 
 1. Is thy conscience in trouble for sin? the apostle tells thee, “The 
 answer of a good conscience towards God, is by the resurrection of Jesus 
 Christ from the dead,” 1 Pet. 3:21. 
 
 2. Art thou afraid of condemnation? The apostle tells thee, “He was 
 delivered for our offences, and he was raised again for our justification,” 
 Korn. 4 : 25. 
 
 3. Dost thou question thy regeneration ? The apostle tells thee, “ He 
 hath begotten us again by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” 
 
 1 Pet. 1 : 3. 
 
 4. Art thou distressed, persecuted and troubled on every side; the apos- 
 tle tells thee wherein now consists thy confidence, comfort and courage ; 
 to wit, in the life of Christ, in the resurrection of Christ, “We always 
 bear about in the body, the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus 
 might also be made manifest in our body. For we which live, are always 
 delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be 
 made manifest in our mortal flesh,” 2 Cor. 4:10, 11. And thus Beza in- 
 terprets those following words, “ Knowing, that he which raised up the 
 Lord Jesus, shall raise us up also by Jesus,” verse 14, (%. e.) unto a civil 
 resurrection from our troubles ; Paul was imprisoned, and in part martyred; 
 but by the virtue of Christ’s resurrection he foresaw his enlargement. 
 And this interpretation Beza grounds on the words following, and fore- 
 going, wherein Paul compares his persecutions to a death, and his 
 preservation from them to a life, as he had done before also, Chap. 1, 
 ver. 9, 10. 
 
 5. Art thou afraid of falling off, or falling away ? Why, remember, that 
 the immutable force and perpetuity of the new covenant is secured by the 
 resurrection of Jesus Christ, “I will make an everlasting covenant with 
 you, even the sure mercies of David,” Isa. 55 : 3, this the apostle applies 
 to the resurrection of Christ, as the bottoming of that sure covenant, “ And 
 as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, he said on this wise, I 
 will give you the sure mercies of David,” Acts 13 : 34. 
 
 6. Art thou afraid of death, hell, and the power of the grave? Why, 
 now remember that Christ is risen from the dead, and by his resurrection 
 death is swallowed up in victory; so that now thou mayest sing, “ 0 death ! 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 481 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 where is thy sting? 0 grave ! where is thy victory? Now thanks be to 
 God, which hath given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ,” 1 Cor. 
 15 : 55, 57. It is the voice of Christ, “ Thy dead men shall live, together 
 with my dead body shall they arise : awake and sing ye that dwell in the 
 dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the 
 dead,” Isa. 26 : 19. David was so lifted up with this resurrection, that he 
 cries out, “Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth, my flesh 
 also shall rest in hope ; for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt 
 thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption,” Ps. 16 : 9, 10. But especially 
 Job was so exceedingly transported with this that he breaks out into these 
 ecstacies, “ 0 that my words were now written. 0 that they were printed 
 in a book ! that they were graven with an irou pen and lead, in the rock for 
 ever ! for I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the 
 latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms shall 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, though my reins be consumed 
 within me,” Job 19 : 23, 24, 25, 26, 27. No man, ever since Christ did 
 speak more clearly of Christ’s resurrection and his own, than Job did here 
 before Christ. Observe in it, 0 my soul ! Job’s wish, and the matter 
 wished : his wish was, That certain words which had been cordial to him, 
 might remain to memory; and this wish hath three wishes in one. 1. 
 That they might be written. 2. That they might be registered in a book, 
 enrolled upon record as public instruments, judicial proceedings, or whatso- 
 ever is most authenticated. 3. That they might be engraven in stone, and 
 in the hardest stone, the rock ! records might last long, yet time might 
 injure them, and these words he would have last forever ; 0 that they were 
 graven in the rock for ever ! Moses and Job are said to have lived at one 
 time; now Moses writ the law in stone, and considering that these words 
 were gospel, there was no reason the law should be in tables of stone, and 
 the gospel in sheets of paper; no, no; it were fit that this should be as firm 
 and durable as that; “Oh ! that my words were written, 0 that they were 
 printed in a book,” &c. 
 
 2. The matter wished, or the words he would have written are these, “ I 
 know that my Redeemer liveth, and that I shall live again.” Here is first, 
 his Redeemer, and his rising. 2. His own rising, and his seeing God. 0 ! 
 this was the matter of his joy, his Redeemer must rise again, and he must 
 rise too, and see his Redeemer, it was a point that exceedingly ravished and 
 revived Job, and therefore he iterates the same thing over and over, “I 
 shall see God, and I shall see him for myself, and I shall see him with my 
 eyes, and not for others.” As Christ said of Abraham, “Your father 
 Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad,” John 8 : 56. 
 So it appears of his servant Job, he saw Christ’s day, both his first day, and 
 his latter day, and he rejoiced and was glad. 
 
 Away, away all scrupulous, doubtful, dumpish thoughts !* Consider what 
 joys were of old at the foresight of Christ’s resurrection, but. especially what 
 joy was all the world over, when he rose again from the dead ; then came 
 the angels from heaven, and appeared in white; then the sun danced for 
 joy, (so it is storied,) or shone sooner, and brighter than ever it did before. 
 “ Then (I am sure) the disciples were exceeding glad when they saw the 
 Lord, yea, so glad, that they believed not for joy,” f Luke 24 : 41. It is 
 worthy our observing, to see how all the primitive saiuts were effected with 
 
 * Greg. hom. in pas. ca. John 20 : 20. 
 
 f Apostoli die Dominico exhilerati non solum ipsum festivissimum esse volutrimt 
 verum etiam per omnes hebdomadas frequentandum esse duxerunt, Juno Cent, i 
 Epistad. Decent. 11. 4. 
 
 31 
 
482 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 this news, and because of it, with the very day on which Christ rose ; some 
 call it “ the first day of joy and gladness, and because of the joy occasioned 
 on this day, the apostles, say they, devoted the first day of the week to the 
 honor and service of Jesus Christ.” Augustine applies the words of the 
 Psalm unto this day, “ This is the day which the Lord hath made, let us be 
 glad and rejoice in it,” Psa. 118 : 24. Ignatius who lived in the apostle's 
 age, and was John's disciple, calls it “The queen, the princess, the lady 
 paramount among the other weekly days.” Chrysostom calls it a “ royal 
 day,” and Gregory Nazianzen, Orat. 42, saith, “ it is higher than the highest, 
 and with admiration wonderful above other days.” Certainly, the Lord's 
 day was in high esteem with the ancient church, and the principal motive 
 was because of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. 0 that on these days 
 we could rejoice in the Lord, and again rejoice; it is observed, “ That many 
 Christians look upon broken-heartedness, and much grieving and weeping 
 for sin, as if it were the great thing that God delighted in, and requireth of 
 them; and therefore they bend all their endeavors that way, they are still 
 striving with their hearts to break them more, and they think no sermon, 
 no prayer, no meditation, speeds so well with them, as that which can help 
 them to grieve or weep ; but, 0 Christians ! understand and consider, saith 
 my author, that all your sorrows are but preparatives for your joys, and that 
 it is a higher and sweeter work that God calls you to, and would have you 
 spend your time and strength in. ‘ Delight thyself in the Lord, and he 
 shall give thee the desires of thine heart,' Psa. 37 : 4. Never take your 
 hearts to be right, till they be delighting themselves in their God : when 
 you kneel down in prayer, labor to conceive of God, and bespeak him, that 
 he may be your delight; do so in hearing, and reading, and meditating, 
 and in your feasting on the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ at his supper. 
 Especially improve the happy opportunity of the Lord’s day, wherein you 
 may wholly devote yourselves unto this work.”* 0 spend more of this day 
 in spiritual rejoicing, especially in commemoration of Christ’s resurrection, 
 yea, and of the whole work of redemption; or else you will not answer the 
 institution of the Lord. 
 
 Sect. VIII, — Of calling on Jesus in that respect. 
 
 8. Let us call on Jesus; that is to say, 
 
 1. Let us pray that Christ’s resurrection may be ours, and that we may 
 
 be more and more assured of it. Let us say with the apostle, “0 that I 
 may know him and the power of his resurrection,” Phil. 3 : 10. 0 that I 
 
 may find the working of that power in my soul, which was showed in the 
 resurrection of Christ from the dead ! 0 that the Spirit of holiness, which 
 
 quickened Christ from the dead, would by the same glorious power, beget 
 holiness, and faith, and love, and all other graces in my poor soul ! 0 that 
 Christ would by his resurrection, apply his active and passive obedience to 
 me ! 0 that he would be to me the Lord of the living, and Prince of life ! 
 
 that he would overcome in me the death of sin, and that he would regene- 
 rate, quicken, renew, and fashion me by the power of godliness to become 
 like himself. 0 that all the virtue, power, privileges, and influences of 
 Christ’s resurrection might be conferred on me, and that I might feel them 
 working in me every day more and more. 
 
 2. Let us praise God for Christ's resurrection, and for ail the privileges 
 flowing from Christ’s resurrection into our souls, “ Blessed be the God and 
 Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath begotten us again by the resur- 
 rection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” 1 Pet. 1:3. Christ is risen, and 
 by his resurrection he hath justified, sanctified, quickened, saved our souls, 
 
 * Baxter’s method for a settled peace. 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 483 
 
 and therefore “ blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ;” 
 surely God requires a thousand, thousand hallelujahs, and that we should 
 bless him upon a thousand-stringed instrument : here is fuel enough, the 
 Lord kindle a great fire in every one of our hearts to burn out all our lusts, 
 and to inflame all our hearts with a love to Jesus Christ. Can we ever too 
 much praise him for all his actings in our behalf; are not all God’s crea- 
 tures called upon to rejoice with us, and to bless God for his redeeming of 
 us? “Sing, 0 ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it; shout, ye lower 
 parts of the earth, break forth into singing, ye mountains, 0 forest, and 
 every tree therein, for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself 
 in Israel, ” Isa. 44 : 23. This is the duty we shall do in heaven, and I 
 believe we are never more in heaven, while on earth, than when we are in 
 this exercise of praising God, and blessing God for Jesus Christ. Come, 
 let us praise God for Christ, and especially on this day called therefore the 
 Lord’s day, because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ: it is the design 
 of God to glorify Christ redeeming us, as much, or more than he glorified 
 himself creating us : and therefore he purposely unhinged the Sabbath 
 from the last day to the first day of the week, that it might be spent as a 
 weekly day of praise and thanksgiving for the more glorious work of our 
 redemption, that love might not only be equally admired with power, but 
 even go before it. It is the advice of a godly divine, that we should “ im- 
 prove the happy opportunity of the Lord’s day, wholly to devote ourselves 
 to his work.” * And he adviseth ministers and others, “ That they spend 
 more of those days in praise and thanksgiving, and be briefer in their con- 
 fessions and lamentations; — that they would make it the main business of 
 their solemn assemblies on those days, to sound forth the high praises of 
 their Redeemer, and to begin here the praises of God and the Lamb, which 
 they must perfect in heaven for ever. — That they would spend a greater 
 part of those days in psalms, and solemn praises to their Redeemer; — and 
 that some hymns and psalms might be invented, as fit for the state of the 
 gospel-church and worship, to laud the Redeemer, come in the flesh, as ex- 
 pressly as the work of grace is now expressed.” 0 that these directions 
 were put in practice ! 0 that our churches and families would make our 
 
 streets to resound with the echoes of our praises ! 0 that this were the 
 
 burden of each duty on these days ! “Now blessed be the God and Father 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, 
 by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” 
 
 Sect. IX. — Of conforming to Jesus in that respect. 
 
 9. Let us conform to Jesus in respect of his resurrection. In this par- 
 ticular I shall examine these queries. 1. Wherein we must conform? 2. 
 How this conformity is wrought? 3. What are the means of this con- 
 formity as on our parts ? 
 
 For the first, Wherein we must conform ? I answer in a word, in our 
 vivification. There is a resemblance of our vivification to Christ’s resur- 
 rection ; and if we would know wherein the analogy or resemblance of our 
 vivification to Christ’s resurrection doth more especially consist; the apos- 
 tle’s answer is very express, “ Like as Christ was raised up from the dead 
 by the glory of the Father : even so, we also should walk in newness of 
 life,” Rom. 6 : 4. Christ’s resurrection was to newness of life : it was a 
 new life, a life different from that which he lived before, and so is our vivi- 
 fication a new life ; it is a life of a new principle, of new actings, of a new 
 state, of a new relation, of a new income, and of a new kind or manner. 
 
 1. It is a life of a new principle : before vivification, our principle was 
 
 * Baxter’s method of peace and comfort. 
 
484 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 the flesh, or world, or devil, “In time past ye walked according to the 
 course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the 
 spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience / 7 Eph. 2:2; but 
 now we have a new principle, a Spirit of holiness or sanctification, the 
 Spirit of God, even the same Spirit which dwelt in the human nature of 
 Christ, and raised him, “ If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the 
 dead dwell in you,” Rom. 8:11; it is an indwelling Spirit; even as the 
 soul dwells in the body, so doth the Holy Ghost dwell in the soul of a re- 
 generate person, animating, and actuating, and enlivening it. This is the 
 new principle that God puts in us after vivification. 
 
 2. It is a life of new actings. According to our principle so will be our 
 actings, “ They that are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh ; 
 but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit,” Rom. 8 : 5. 
 If some men hear of a good bargain, they mind it, they find their souls 
 going on with much activity ; there is something in them proportionable to 
 that which is propounded; but if they hear of divine love, and of the 
 riches of grace, they find their souls flat, immoveable, and dead, they mind 
 no such things : now, on the other side, they that are vivified, according to 
 their principle, they put forth their power more or less; if they hear of the 
 glorious things of the gospel, they find inward workings, (unless it be under 
 a temptation) they find their souls drawn out to close with the goodness of 
 the thing propounded, “They mind the things of the Spirit,” i. e., they 
 muse and meditate, and think on these things, they affect them, and love 
 them, and like them, they care for them, and seek after them with might 
 and main, they “ live in the Spirit, Gal. 5 : 25. They walk in the Spirit, 
 they are led by the Spirit, Rom. 8 : 1, 14. They serve in newness of the 
 Spirit,” Rom. 7 : 6. How might we try our vivification even by these act- 
 ings of our principle within ? What, do we mind the things of the Spirit ? 
 Do we find things heavenly and spiritual, to be sweet and savoury, and best 
 pleasing to us ? Is the Sabbath our delight ? Do we long for it before it 
 come ? Do we rejoice in it when it is come ? Do we consecrate it as 
 “glorious to the Lord,” Isa. 58 : 13. Do we come to the exercise of reli- 
 gion, whether public or private, with much delight, and with cheerfulness 
 as to a feast ? What is this but the life of God ? But if these things be 
 harsh and unpleasant, if the Sabbath be a burden, if holy exercises be irk- 
 some and tedious, if in attending on the word we are heavy and drowsy, 
 and we find no relish, no sweet, no savor, in the ointments of Christ, no 
 goings out of the soul with an activity to the things propounded ; 0 then 
 deceive not ourselves; we have no good evidence of our vivification. 
 
 3. It is a life of a new state : before vivification we are in an unjustified 
 estate ; sins are unpardoned, we are unreconciled, “ And such were some of 
 you, (said the apostle to his Corinthians,) but now ye are washed, now ye 
 are sanctified, now ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and by the Spirit of our God,” 1 Cor. 6: 11. This justification denotes a 
 state, and is universal and unalterable. I know Armenians deny such a 
 state, for as by their doctrine, no man can be absolutely elected till he die, 
 so neither absolutely justified ; for (say they) he may fall into such sins, as 
 that though formerly justified, yet now he may be condemned; yea, to-day 
 he may be justified, and to-morrow thrown out of that estate. But again, 
 this we hold, that those that are once justified, are never again cast out of 
 God’s favor. As Christ once died, but rose again never to die more, death 
 hath no more power over him ; so a justified man once allied to God through 
 Jesus Christ, doth from that time forward, as necessarily live, as Christ 
 himself by whom he doth live; there is an immortal and indissolvable union 
 betwixt Christ the head and every believer; our justification depends not 
 on our own strength, but it is built on Christ himself, who is the same 
 
CHAP. II.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 485 
 
 yesterday, and to-day, and forever, and hence it is that a justified man can 
 no more cease to live in this state of justification, than Christ can cease to 
 live in heaven. 
 
 4. It is a life of new relations : this immediately follows our state; if 
 once we are justified, then we are related to God and Christ, and to the 
 covenant of grace. 1. To God. Before we were vivified, God and we 
 stood at a distance, God was our enemy, and we were his enemies, “ At that 
 time (saith the apostle) ye were without God in the world, but now in 
 Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were afar off, are made nigh by the blood 
 of Christ,” Eph. 2 : 12, 13. God that was a stranger, stands now in near 
 relation, he is a friend, a father, a God all-sufficient to us. 2. We are re- 
 lated to Christ. Before vivification, we were a Christless people, “At that 
 time we were without Christ,” Eph. 2 : 12, but now we are united to Christ, 
 and (which is more) now we make use of Christ with the Father : 0 the 
 comfort of this relation ! a troubled spirit looks on his sins, and they thrust 
 him away from God, what communion hath light with darkness? But then 
 comes the Lord Jesus, and takes him away by the hand, and leads him to 
 the Father, and says, “ Come, soul, come along with me, and I will carry 
 thee to the Father, wilt thou make use of me ?” It is the apostle’s saying, 
 That “ through him we have an access by one spirit unto the Father,” Eph. 
 
 2 : 18, we have a leading by the hand, “ Christ hath once suffered for sins, 
 the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God,” 1 Pet. 3 : 18. By 
 nature we are severed from God, and if he manifest himsflf, he is dreadful 
 to us, “Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and 
 your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear,” Isa. 59 : 2. 
 But in Christ we approach boldly before him, because Christ hath taken 
 away our sins which are the mountains of separation. “ In Christ we have 
 boldness, and access with confidence by the faith of him,” Eph. 3 : 12. 
 Here is the difference betwixt a man related to Christ and a mere stranger; 
 the stranger knows not how to go to God, God stands as a judge, he is as a 
 malefactor, the law an accuser, sin his indictment, and what is the issue? 
 “ Every mouth is stopped, and all the world is guilty before God,” Rom. 
 
 3 : 19. But he that is related to Christ, Christ takes him by the hand, and 
 
 so he goes with boldness and confidence, and pleads his righteousness before 
 the Father; “ Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect ? It is 
 God that justifieth ? Who is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that died, 
 yea, rather that is risen again,” Rom. 8 : 34. In the very matter and cause 
 of justification, wherein no man can stand, or dare to appear or show his 
 face ; a Christian coming with Christ his advocate, he dares to appear, and 
 to plead his cause, and to stand upon interrogatories with God himself, yea, 
 and to ask God himself, (humbly and with reverence,) What he hath to lay 
 to his charge ? What more he will, or can in justice require for satisfaction, 
 than his surety hath done for him ? 3. We are related to the covenant of 
 
 grace. Before vivification we had no such relation, “ At that time ye were 
 without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers 
 from the covenants of promise,” Eph. 2 : 12. But now the covenant is ours, 
 that fountain or bundle of promises is ours, God is our God, and we are his 
 people. 0 the blessedness of this privilege ! “ Happy is the people that be 
 in such a case, yea, happy is the people whose God is the Lord,” Psal. 144 : 
 15. The covenant is reckoned all happiness, it contains in its bowels all be- 
 nefits in heaven, or under heaven, as a man may say of any thing he hath 
 in possession, This is mine, so may they that are in covenant with God, say, 
 he is mine, I have God himself in my possession. How might we try our 
 vivification even by this communion we have with God and Christ, and the 
 coveuant of grace ? Christians ! look unto your own hearts ! have you not 
 felt in your approaches to God, some risings or workings of the Spirit of the 
 
486 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IY. 
 
 Lord, concluding the pardon of your sins ? Hath not Christ taken you by 
 the hand, and led you to the Father? It may be your own guilt made you 
 afraid, but the discovery of Jesus your righteousness, made you bold to go 
 to God ; you felt boldness coming in on this ground, because all your ap- 
 proaches or drawings near to God, were bottomed on Jesus; hath not God 
 married you to himself? Hath he not conveyed himself (through his holy 
 Spirit) into your own hearts by way of covenant ? Hath he not sometimes 
 whispered to your souls, thou art mine ? and have not your souls echoed 
 back again to the Lord, thou art mine ? Much of the truth of all this would 
 appear, if Christians would but daily observe the movings of their own 
 hearts; for as he that hath the spirit of Satan, shall ever find him putting 
 on and provoking to evil, so he that hath the Spirit of God, shall most (or 
 at least frequently) find and feel it active and stirring in the heart, to the 
 reforming of the whole man ; the holy Spirit is not idle, but he rules and 
 governs, and maintains his monarchy in us, and over us, in spite of the 
 power of Satan, and privy conspiracy of a man’s own flesh. 
 
 5. It is a life of a new income, I mean of a saving income, as of grace, 
 power, light, &c. Before vivification there was no such income, a man be- 
 fore his conversion might hear, and pray, and do all duties; but alas! he 
 feels no sweet, no power, no virtue, no communion with Christ. If I might 
 appeal unto such, I beseech you tell me, you have been often at prayer, 
 what have you gotten there ? What income hath appeared ? If you an- 
 swer truly, you cannot but say, “ I went to prayer, and I was satisfied that 
 I had prayed; I never observed whether I had got any power, or strength, 
 any thing of mortification or vivification ; I never found any lively work of 
 God in my soul, either in prayer or after prayer :” Or you hav^e been often 
 at this ordinance of hearing the word ; what have you gotten there ? What 
 income hath appeared? “Why, truly nothing at all; it may be a little 
 more knowledge, but nothing that I can say was a saving work of God : 
 some one that sat with me in the same seat, found much stirrings of God; 
 Oh what meltings ! cheerings, warmings of the Spirit, had such a one, and 
 such a one! The word was to them as honey, and as the honey-comb; but 
 to me, it was as dry bread; I found no sweet, I got no good at all.” Or, 
 you have been often tossing the Bible, and you have observed this or that 
 promise; but, 0 what income hath appeared! surely nothing at all. “I 
 wonder at saints, that tell of so much sweetness, and comfort, and ravishing 
 of heart, that with joy they should draw water out of these wells of salva- 
 tion, whereas I find therein no joy, no refreshing at all.” Ah ! poor soul ! 
 thou art in a sad ca-se, thou art not yet vivified, thou hast not the life of 
 God in thee. After vivification, thou wilt in the use of ordinances, at least 
 sometimes, if not frequently, feel the saving incomes of God. In prayer, 
 thou wilt feel the Spirit breathing in, and carrying up thy soul above itself, 
 plainly declaring there is another power than thy own, which makes thee 
 not only to exceed others, but thyself also; in hearing of the word, thou 
 wilt see the windows of heaven set wide open, and all manner of spiritual 
 comforts showered down upon thee ; thou wilt hear the rich treasury of 
 everlasting glory and immortality unlocked and opened, so that thou mayest 
 tumble thyself amidst the mountains of heavenly pearls and golden plea- 
 sures, joys that no heart can comprehend, but that which is weaned from all 
 worldly pleasures, “ As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that 
 preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things?” Bom. 
 10 : 15. In the meditation of the promises, or of divine love, thou wilt find 
 meltings, quickenings, encouragings, filling thy heart with gladness, and 
 glorying, and thy mouth with praises, and songs of rejoicings : Oh ! what 
 fountains of life are the promises to a living man ! to a soul that is vivified ! 
 "What food, what strength, what life is a thought of Christ, of heaven, and 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 487 
 
 of God’s love to a spiritual man ? Whereas all these glorious things of the 
 gospel, are to the natural man but as a withered flower, a sealed book, a dry 
 and empty cistern, he hath no use of them. 
 
 6. It is a life of another kind or manner. Before vivification our life 
 was but death, because we ourselves were but dead iu sin, even whilst alive, 
 “ She that livcth in pleasure, is dead while she liveth,” 1 Tim. 5 : 6. 
 ‘‘And ye were dead in your sins, aud the uncircumcision of your flesh,” 
 Col. 2:13. But after vivification we live, How live? a spiritual life, “I 
 live by the faith of the Son of God,” Gal. 2 : 20, an heavenly life, “ For 
 cur conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, 
 the Lord Jesus Christ,” Phil. 3 : 20, an immortal life, “ Christ being raised 
 from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him ; — 
 likewise reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord,” Rom 6:9, 11. You know the meaning 
 of Christ, “Whosoever liveth, and believeth in me, shall never die,” John 
 11 : 26, he shall never die a spiritual death, never come under the dominion 
 of sin, never totally fall away from grace ; that incorruptible seed by which 
 he is regenerate shall abide in him for ever. “ If Christ be in you, the 
 body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness,” 
 Rom. 8 : 10, the body indeed is subject to corporal death, through the re- 
 mainders of sin, but the spirit is life, even that little spark of grace, through 
 the most perfect righteousness of Christ imputed, is life here, and shall be 
 life hereafter, even for ever. And herein is our vivification answerable to 
 Christ’s resurrection, “Like as Christ was raised up from the dead, by the 
 glory of the Father,” raised up to a new life, “even so we also should walk 
 in -newness of life,” Rom. 6 : 4. 
 
 For the second question, how is this conformity or vivification wrought ? 
 I shall answer only to the state, and so our vivification is usually wrought 
 in us in this manner. As, first, In the understanding. Secondly in the 
 will. 
 
 First, The understanding lets in the verity and truth of what the gospel 
 hath recorded, “ in him was life, and the life was the light of men, John 
 1 : 4. — I am the bread of life, he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and 
 he that believeth on me shall never thirst, John 6 : 35. — I am the resur- 
 rection and the life, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall 
 he live, John 11 : 25. — I am the way, the truth, and the life, John 14 : 6. — 
 And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life 
 is in his Son ; he that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son, 
 hath not life,” 1 John 5 : 11, 12. 
 
 2. This light let in, the understanding thence inferreth as to a man’s 
 own self, that by the assistance of the Spirit of holiness who raised up Jesus 
 from the dead, it is possible for him to attain this life ; others have attained 
 it, and why not he? “You hath he quickened who were dead in tres- 
 passes and sins;” here is a precedent for a sin-sick soul ; “ in time past ye 
 walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the 
 power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobe- 
 dience,” Eph. 2 : 1, 2, this was the state of the Ephesians, But were they 
 all ? No, no ; ye, and we also, “ among whom also we had all our conver- 
 sations in times past. — But God who is rich in mercy for his great love, 
 wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened 
 us together with Christ, — That in ages to come he might show the exceed- 
 ing riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus,” 
 verse 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Christ’s dealings with some are as flags and patterns 
 of mercy hung forth to tell, and to bring others in : whence the understand- 
 ing infers, “It is possible for a dead soul, yea, for my dead soul to live; 
 others have lived, aud why may not I ? I discover in those Scriptures, 
 
488 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IT. 
 
 even m these precedents, a door of hope to myself,” why u Lord, if thou 
 wilt, thou canst make me clean, Matth. 8 : 2. — yea, if I may but touch thy 
 garments, I shall be whole, Matth. 9 : 21, if thou wouldst but say, 0 ! ye 
 dry bones hear the word of the Lord, then breath would enter into me, and 
 I should live,” Ezek. 87 : 4, 5. Surely if Christ be risen again from the 
 dead, there is no impossibility but I may rise, if others have been raised by 
 the virtue of Christ’s resurrection, why may not I ?” However, this may 
 seem to be little or nothing, yet considering the soul in a mourning, dark, 
 disconsolate frame, under deep apprehensions of sin, guilt and wrath ; full 
 of confusions, distractions, despondencies, staggering and sinking terrors ; it 
 will find it something ; yea, it will look on it as a glorious work to discover 
 but the morning star through so much darkness, any thing of life, in such 
 a valley, and shadow of death. 
 
 3. The understanding hath yet some brighter believing beams ; it confi- 
 dently closeth with this truth, that it is the will of the Lord that he should 
 come, and live, and believe, and lay hold on Christ; it apprehends the particu- 
 lar designs of mercy to him, and doth really principle the soul with this, that 
 God doth particularly call, invite, and bid him come to Christ the fountain 
 of life, for life. Now the understanding takes in general gospel calls in par- 
 ticular to himself, “ It is my poor languishing soul which the Lord speaks 
 to, when he says, “ Come to me all ye that are weary, and I will give you 
 rest, Matth. 11 : 28. — x\wake, thou that sleepest, and rise from the dead, 
 and Christ shall give thee light,” Epb. 5 : 14. Surely this is a great work 
 when set home by the Lord, that the soul acts in its addresses to Christ in 
 the strength of a particular call from God. 
 
 2. And now the answer to this call is wrought up in the renewed will; 
 as thus, — 
 
 1. The will summons all its confidences, and calls them off from every 
 other bottom to bestow them wholly upon Christ; and this consists in our 
 voluntary renouncing of all other helps, excepting Jesus Christ alone ; now 
 the soul says to idols, “ Qet ye hence, Ashur shall not save us, we will not 
 ride upon horses, neither will we say any more to the works of our hands, 
 ye are our gods,” Ilos. 14:8. u Ashur shall not save us,” not only can- 
 not, but shall not save us; now as the soul is dissatisfied in judgment, as 
 to the resting on anything but Christ alone, so the heart and will is dis- 
 affected to all other helps but Christ alone; now it renounceth its owa 
 righteousness, and worthiness, not only because of their inability to save, 
 but mainly because their glory is swallowed up in that unmatebable excel- 
 lency, which appears in the way of life and salvation by Jesus Christ. It 
 calls home dependence from every other object. 
 
 2. Hereupon there is a willing and cheerful receiving of Christ, and 
 resignation of ourselves to his actual disposal, to quicken us, and save us 
 in his own way. A great part of the answer of faith to the call of Christ 
 lies in this ; for as faith sees life and salvation in the hands of Christ, so it 
 considers it to be given forth in the methods of Christ ; and so believing 
 lies not only in assent, but consent of heart, that Christ shall save us in 
 his own way; this is called u a receiving of Christ; as many as received 
 him, to them he gave power to become the Sods of God,” John 1 : 12. 
 Many a soul would be saved by Christ, that sticks and boggles at his 
 methods ; they will not pass to happiness by holiness, nor set him up as a 
 King and Lord, whom they could consent to set up as a Saviour: oh ! but 
 now Christ that “ stood at the door and knocked,” Rev. 8 : 10, is received 
 in ; consent hath made up the match, and the door is opened that never 
 shall be shut again. 
 
 3. Upon this follows the soul’s resting and relying; the soul’s confidence 
 and dependence upon Jesus Christ for life and for salvation ; this closeth 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 489 
 
 up the whole business of believing unto righteousness ; those various expres- 
 sions used in scripture of “ committing our way and selves to God ; of cast- 
 ing our care upon God, of rolling ourselves on him, of trusting in him and 
 hoping in his mercy, &c., wrapt up in faith in this affiance, dependence, not 
 without some mixture of confidence, and resolved resting upon Jesus Christ; 
 a clear beholding of God in Christ, and of Christ in the promises doth 
 present such variety and fulness of arguments to bear up hope and affiance, 
 that the heart is resolved ; and so resolved that we commit ourselves, and 
 give our souls in charge to Christ, “ I know whom I have believed, and I 
 persuaded he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against 
 that day,” 2 Tim. 1.12; 1 Pet. 4 : 19. 
 
 4. The upshot of all is this, that the same close which the soul makes 
 in believing with Jesus Christ as to justification and righteousness, is not 
 fruitless to this effect of conveying life and virtue from Jesus Christ as to 
 grace and holiness ; for that union which then and thereby comes to be 
 enjoined with Christ, is such an union as is fruitful in begetting a quicken- 
 ing power and principle in heart; and this is that which we ordinarily 
 intend by saying, saving faith to be operative ; that faith which brings 
 forth nothing of holiness, what is it but a dead faith ? “As the body with- 
 out the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also,” James 2 : 26. 
 Justification and sanctification are twins of a birth; and hence it is that 
 vivification (which is one part of sanctification) is wrought in the soul after 
 the self same manner; as, 1. The understanding is enlightened. 2. The 
 will is changed. 8. All the affections are renewed. 4. The internals being 
 quickened, there ensueth the renewing of the body with the outward actions, 
 life, and conversation. And now is fulfilled that saying of Christ in a 
 spiritual sense, “ The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear 
 the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live,” John 5 : 25. 
 Now is the soul vivified, now it begins to live the life of God, now it feels 
 the power of Christ’s resurrection, and is made conformable to it : and 
 immediately upon this, joy is made in heaven by the angels, God himself 
 applauding it, “ For this my Son was dead, and is alive, he was lost, and 
 is found,” Luke 15 : 24. 
 
 Thus is the state of vivification wrought. I know it is not in all men 
 after one manner for every circumstance; the methods of God are exceed- 
 ing various, and we cannot limit the Holy One of Israel; I have sometimes 
 concerning this, desired the communications of other’s thoughts, whom I 
 looked upon as such, who had more than ordinary communion with Christ’s 
 Spirit; and from one of such I received this answer, “I must profess to 
 you, I have in all my speculations in divinity, found dissatisfaction in the 
 writings of men in nothing more, than in the work of clear and distinct 
 conceptions concerning regeneration, which yet is of such a cardinal 
 importance, as that the great doors of heaven move upon the hinges of 
 it; the Lord enlighten us more, for we see but in part, and prophecy but 
 in part.” 
 
 For the third question, What are the means of this conformity or vivifi- 
 cation which we must use on our parts? I shall answer herein both to the 
 state and growth of our vivification. As, — 
 
 1. Wait and attend upon God in the ministry of the word, this is a mean 
 whereby Christ ordinarily effecteth this vivification By this means it was 
 that those dead bones were quickened in Ezekiel’s prophecy, viz. : By the 
 prophet’s prophesying upon them, “And he said unto me, son of man, — 
 prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ! ye dry bones, hear the 
 word of the Lord,” Ezek. 87 : 4. And by this means it is that dead souls 
 are quickened, the ministry of the word is the trumpet of Jesu3 Christ; when 
 
490 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IV. 
 
 that sounds, who knows but he may quicken the dead ? Hearken therefore 
 to this word of God. 
 
 2. Act faith upon the Lord Jesus Christ as to justification. As is the 
 clearness and fixedness of our souls in bottoming ourselves on Christ for 
 righteousness ; so will be our quickness, and successful progress in the 
 work of* holiness; because “ Mary’s sins, which were many, were forgiven 
 her, therefore she loved much; but to whom little is forgiven, the same 
 loveth little// Luke 7 : 47. Many a soul loseth much of vivification, for 
 want of clearness in its justification, or for want of settledness and stronger 
 measure of acting faith. Oh! what life would be raised as to holiness? 
 What working, binding, filling the laws of love, retribution and thankful- 
 ness would there be, when we see ourselves clearly reconciled with God, and 
 wrapt up in the foldings of everlasting love? 
 
 3. Trace every ordinance, and every duty for the appearings of the 
 
 Son of God. Be much in prayer, hearing, reading, and fellowship with 
 the saints, living in the fulness of sacraments ; be much in secret con- 
 versings with God, in meditation, expostulation, inquiries and searchings; 
 and (which is a precious work) be much in diligent watching, of hearken- 
 ing and listening to the movings, workings, hints, and intimations of the 
 Spirit of God; be much in observing the methods, and interpreting the 
 meanings and language of God in all his secret dispensations with the 
 soul ; certainly there will be abundance of the life of God conveyed to 
 him that walks in these paths, “ Blessed are they that dwell in thy house,” 
 might David well say, aud one reason is pertinent to this case, because “in 
 your Father’s house is bread enough and to spare,” Luke 15 : 17, while the 
 prodigal that goes out from it shall feed upon husks, and with Ephraim 
 swallow up the east wind. Oh for a spirit of prayer, meditation ! &c. Oh 
 for a spirit even swallowed up in communion with God ! “ Thou meetest 
 
 him that worketh righteousness, and those that remember thee in thy ways,” 
 Isa. 64 : 5. 
 
 4. Look much at Christ raised, Christ glorified : Christ’s resurrection 
 was the beginning of his glory, and therein is comprehended both the 
 glory that draws desires towards Christ, and the grace aud power that 
 established faith in its dependency, “ They looked unto him and were 
 lightened,” Psal. 34 : 5. Unto thee I lift mine eyes, 0 thou that dwellest 
 in the heaveus ; behold as the eyes of the servants look unto the hand of 
 their master, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, so 
 our eyes wait upon the Lord our God,” Fs. 123 : 1, 2. It is said of Moses, 
 that “ he endureth affliction, as seeing him who is invisible,” lleb. 11 : 27. 
 Oh ! could we but keep our hearts in a more constant view, and believing 
 meditation of the glory of Christ, our faces would certainly bring some 
 beams of divinity with them from the mount, “ 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,” 2 Cor. 3 : 18. The very beholding of Christ 
 hath a mighty conforming and assimilating virtue to leave the impressions 
 of glory upon our spirits. 
 
 5. See our own personal vivification linked inseparably unto, and bot- 
 tomed immovably upon the resurrection of Christ : when we can by faith 
 get a sight of this, it is not to speak how courageously and successfully 
 the soul will grapple in the controversies of the Lord against the devil, and 
 our own deceitful hearts; with what strength could Joshua, Gideon, &c. 
 go on, when backed with a promise, and their spirits settled in the per- 
 suasion of it? And what use will the promises be in this kind ? And 
 (more than all) the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ, when we can 
 clearly and steadfastly rest upon this ; that there is an inseparable con- 
 nexion betwixt the resurrection of Christ and our personal holiness, aud 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 491 
 
 perseverance to the end ? 0 that I could act my faith more frequently o' 
 
 Christ’s resurrection ! so that at last I could see it by the light of God to 
 be a destinated principle of my vivification in particular ! what a blessed 
 means would this be ? 
 
 6. Walk as we have Christ Jesus for an example. This example of 
 Christ, though it be not ours, as it is the Socinians totum Christ i ; yet 
 certainly it yields much to our vivification : who can deny but that acting 
 with the pattern ever in one’s eye is very advantageous? Come then, and 
 if we would live the life of God, let us live as Christ lived after his resur- 
 rection. But how is that ? I answer, 
 
 1. See that we return to the grave no more; take heed of ever returning 
 to. our former state ; you may say, What needs this caveat? Hath not 
 Christ said, “ He that liveth and believeth in me shall never die, or never 
 fall away ?” I answer, It is true, they shall never totally and finally fall 
 away, yet they may fall foully and fearfully; they may lose that strength 
 and vigor, that sense and feeling which sometimes they had; they may 
 draw so nigh to the grave, as that both by themselves and others, they may 
 be accounted amongst them that go down to the pit, “ free among the 
 dead,” as Heman saith of himself, Psal. 88 : 5. The apostle saith some- 
 thing that might even startle Christians : he tells of some, “ who have 
 been ouce enlightened,” (by the word) “ and have tasted of the heavenly 
 gift,” (some flashes of inward joy and peace) “and were made partakers 
 of the Holy Ghost,” (the common gifts and graces of the Spirit) “and 
 have tasted the good word of God,” (have found some relish in the sweet 
 and saving promises of the gospel) “ and the powers of the world to come ;” 
 (have had some refreshing apprehensions of the joy and glory in heaven) 
 “and yet fall away,” (by a total apostasy), Ileb. 6 : 4, 5, 6. Christians, 
 how far goes this ? I know it is said only of such who have a name to 
 live, and no more : but surely it gives a warning to us all that we come not 
 nigh the verge, the brink of the grave again ; let us not give way to any 
 one sin, so as to live in it, or to continue in it. 
 
 2. Let us evidence our resurrection ; Christ being raised, he showed 
 himself alive by many infallible proofs ; so let us evidence our vivification 
 by many infallible proofs, (i. e .) let us “yield ourselves unto God, as those 
 that are alive from the dead,” Bom. 6 : 13, let us walk as men of another 
 world. “ If ye be risen with Christ, seek the things which are above, 
 where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God,” Col. 3 : 1, let us serye God 
 in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life ; surely this is the end 
 for which we are delivered out of the hands of our enemies, sin, death and 
 hell, “Ye were sometimes darkness,” (during your abode in the grave of 
 sin), “ but now (being risen) ye are light in the Lord, walk therefore as 
 children of light,” Eph. 5 : 8. Walk, (i. e.) bestir yourselves in the works 
 of God, “Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is 
 risen upon thee,” Isa. 60 : 1. When God doth let the Sun of righteous- 
 ness arise, it is fit that we should be about the business of our souls. We 
 see that the night is dedicated to rest, and therefore God that doth order 
 all things sweetly, draws a curtain of darkness about us, which is friendly 
 to rest; like a nurse, that when she will have her little one sleep, casts a 
 cloth over the face, and hides the light every way : but when this natural 
 sun ariseth, then men go out to their work ; so must we, though in the 
 darkness of the night wo snorted in sin, yet now we must bestir ourselves, 
 seeing the sun of the spiritual world is risen over us. 
 
 And yet when all is done, let us not think that our vivification in this 
 life will be wholly perfect ; as it is with our mortification, in the best, it is 
 but an imperfect work ; so it is with our vivification, it is only gradual, and 
 never perfected till grace be swallowed up in glory. Only let us ever be 
 
492 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [book iv. 
 
 in the use of means, and let us endeavor a farther renovation of the new 
 man, adding one grace to another, “ To faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 
 to knowledge temperance, to temperance patience, to patience godliness,” 
 &c. 2 Pet. 1 : 5, 6, till we “ perfect holiness in the fear of God/’ 2 Cor. 
 
 7:1, till we shine with those saints in glory at the perfect day. 
 
 Thus far we have looked on Jesus, as our Jesus in his resurrection, 
 and during the time of his abode on earth. Our next work is to look on 
 Jesus carrying on the great work of our salvation in his ascension into 
 heaven ; and in his session at God’s right hand ; and in his mission of the 
 holy Spirit. 
 
 Mark 16 : 19. “ So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was 
 
 received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.” 
 
 Heb. 4 : 14. “ Seeing theu that, we have a great high-priest that is 
 
 passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our pro- 
 fession.” 
 
 Heb. 8 : 1, 2. “Now of the things which we have spoken, this is the 
 sum ; we have such an high-priest, who is set on the right hand of the 
 throne of the majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of 
 the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man.” 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS, 
 
 IN HIS ASCENSION, &c. 
 
 THE FOURTH BOOK. — PART Y. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Looking unto Jesus, — who is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 
 
 Heb. 12 : 2. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of Christ's Ascension , and the manner how. 
 
 Thus far we have traced Jesus in his actings for us, “ Until the day in 
 which he was taken up/’ Acts 1 : 2. That which immediately follows, is 
 his ascension, session at God’s right hand, and mission of his Holy Spirit; 
 in prosecution of which, as in the former, 1 shall first lay down the object, 
 and secondly, direct you how to look upon it. 
 
 The object is threefold: 1. He ascended into heaven. 2. He sat down 
 at God’s right hand. 3. He sent down the Holy Ghost. 
 
 1. For the ascension of Christ, this was a glorious design, and contains in 
 it a great part of the salvation of our souls. In prosecution of this, I shall 
 show, 1. That he ascended. 2. How he ascended. 3. Whither he as- 
 cended. 4. Why he ascended. 
 
 1. That he ascended. 1. The types prefigure it, “ Then said the Lord 
 to me, This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened; it is for the prince; 
 the prince he shall sit in it, to eat bread before the Lord ; he shall enter by 
 way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same,” 
 Ezek. 44 : 2, 3. As the gate of the holy of holies was shut against every 
 man but the high-priest, so was that gate of heaven shut against all, so that 
 none could enter in by their own virtue and efficacy, but only our prince 
 and great high-priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, indeed he hath opened it for 
 us, and entered into it in our place and stead, “ Whither the forerunner 
 is for us entered, even Jesus,' made an high-priest for ever after the order 
 of Melchisedec,” Heb. 6 : 20. 2. The prophets foresaw it, “I saw in the 
 
 night-visions, and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of 
 heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before 
 him, and there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom,” Dan. 
 7 : 13, 14. 3. The evangelists relate it, u He was received up into heaven, 
 
 Mark 16 : 19. He was carried up into heaven,” Luke 24 : 51. 4. The 
 
 eleven witnessed it, “ For while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud 
 received him out of their sight,” Acts 1:9. 5. The holy angels speak it, 
 
 “ For while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold 
 
 (493) 
 
494 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 two men stood by them in white apparel ; which also said, Ye men of Gali- 
 lee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven. This same Jesus which is taken 
 up from you into heaven, shall come in like manner as ye have seen him go 
 into heaven,” Acts 1 : 10, 11. 6. The blessed apostles in their several 
 
 epistles ratify and confirm it, “When he ascended up on high, he led cap- 
 tivity captive, and gave gifts unto men, — he that descended, is the same 
 also that descended up far above all heavens,” Eph. 4 : 8, 10. “Who is 
 gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God : angels, and authorities, 
 and powers, being made subject unto him,” 1 Pet. 3 : 22. 
 
 2. How he ascended. The manner of his ascension is discovered in 
 these particulars: — 1. He ascended, blessing his apostles. “While he 
 blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven,” Luke 
 24 : 51. It is some comfort to Christ’s ministers, that though the world 
 hate them, Christ doth bless them ; yea, he parted with them in a way of 
 blessing ; as Jacob leaving the world blessed his sons, so Christ leaving the 
 world, blessed his apostles, and all the faithful ministers of Christ, unto the 
 end of the world. Some add, that in these apostles, not only ministers, but 
 all the elect to the end of the world are blessed : The apostles were then 
 considered as common persons, receiving this blessing for all of us; and so 
 these words uttered at the same time, are usually intrepreted, “ Lo, I am 
 with you always even to the end of the world,” Matth. 28 : 20. This was 
 the last thing that Christ did on earth, to show that by his death, he had 
 redeemed us from the curse of the law, and that now going to heaven, he is 
 able “ to bless us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places,” Eph. 1 : 3. 
 
 2. He ascended visibly in the view of the apostles, “ While they beheld, 
 he was taken up,” Acts 1 : 9, he was not suddenly snatched from them, as 
 Elijah was, nor secretly and privily taken away as Enoch was; but in the 
 presence of them all, both his apostles and disciples, he ascended up into 
 heaven : but why not in view of all the Jews, that so they might know that 
 he was risen again, and gone to heaven ? Surely this was the meaning, God 
 would rather that the main points of faith should be learned by hearing, 
 than by seeing; however Christ’s own disciples were taught the same by 
 sight, that they might better teach others which should not see, yet the 
 ordinary means to come by faith is hearing, “ how should they believe in 
 him of whom they have not heard ? — So then faith cometh by hearing, and 
 hearing by the word of God.” And as for the Jews, saith the apostle, 
 “ Have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth, 
 and their words unto the end of the world,” Rom. 10 : 11, 17, 18. 
 
 3. He ascended principally by the mighty power of his Godhead; thus 
 never any ascended up into heaven but Jesus Christ ; for though Enoch and 
 Elijah were assumed into heaven, yet not by their own power, nor by them- 
 selves, it was God’s power by which they ascended, and it was by the help 
 and ministry of angels, “ There appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of 
 fire, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven,” 2 Kings 2 : 11. 
 
 4. He ascended in a cloud, “ While they beheld, he was taken up, and a 
 cloud received him out of their sight,” Acts 1 : 9. Hereby he shows that 
 he is Lord of all the creatures; he had already trampled upon the earth, 
 walked upon the sea, vanquished hell or the grave, and now the clouds re- 
 ceived him, and the heavens are opened to make way for this King of glory 
 to enter in. When Christ shall come again, it is said that he shall come 
 in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory,” Matth. 24 : 30. 
 “ Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power, 
 and coming in the clouds of heaven,” Matth. 26 : 24. Which verifies that 
 saying of the angel, “This same Jesus which is taken up from you into 
 heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven,” 
 Acts 1:11. He went up in clouds, and he shall come again in clouds. 
 
CHAP, i ] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 495 
 
 5. He ascended with the sound of a trumpet; not on earth, sounding 
 Hosanna, but in heaven crying Hallelujah ; so the Psalmist, “ God is gone 
 up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet, ” Psa. 47 : 5. Cer- 
 tainly great joy was in heaven at Christ’s ascending thither; the very 
 angels struck up their harps, and welcomed him thither with hymns and 
 praises. 
 
 6. He ascended in triumph, as a Roman victor ascended to the capitol, 
 or as David ascended after his conquest up to Zion. Now we read of two 
 triumphal acts in Christ’s ascension, whereof the first was his leading of 
 his captives, and the second was the dispensing of his gifts ; the apostle 
 and the Psalmist join both together, “When he ascended up on high, he 
 led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men,” Psa. 68 : 18. Eph. 4 : 8. 
 1. He led them captive, who had captivated us, death was led captive 
 without a sting, hell was led captive as one that had lost her victory, the 
 law was led captive, being rent and fastened to his cross, as it were, en- 
 sign-ways, the serpent’s head being bruised, was led before him in triumph, 
 as was Goliath’s head by David returning from the victory; and this was 
 the first act of his triumph. 2. He gave gifts unto men : this was as the 
 running of conduits with wine, or as the casting abroad of new coin, or as 
 the shutting up of Christ’s triumph in his ascension up to heaven : what 
 these gifts were, we shall speak in his mission of the Holy Ghost ; only 
 thus much for the present. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the place xchither he ascended. 
 
 3. Whither he ascended, the gospel tells us into heaven : only Paul 
 saith, that “ he ascended far above all heavens,” Eph. 4 : 10. But the 
 meaning is, he went above all these visible heavens, into those heavenly 
 mansions where the angels and the spirits of the just have their abode. Or, 
 if the highest heavens be included, I see no absurdity in it; the highest, 
 heaven, we usually call the kingdom of heaven, which is either heaven 
 material, or heaven spiritual ; and first for the material heaven, in some 
 sense he may be said to ascend above that, both in respect of his body, 
 because the body of Christ is more glorious than any material heaven : and 
 in respect of his soul, because the soul of Christ is more blessed than all 
 things else whatsoever. And, 2. For the spiritual heaven, i. e. all angel- 
 ical or heavenly perfections, he is said to ascend above them all, both in 
 respect of his humiliation, because he hath vilified himself below all things, 
 and therefore he is worthily exalted above all things ; and in respect of his 
 perfection, because the human Dature of Christ is more excellent than any 
 creature, it being joined to the Godhead by an hypostatical union. Some 
 there are that understand this place of “ Christ’s ascending far above all 
 heavens,” not so much by a local motion, as by a spiritual mutation and 
 exaltation of his person ; as earth heightened unto a flame, changeth not 
 its place only, but form and figure ; so the person of our Saviour was raised 
 to a greatness and glory, vastly differing from, and surmounting any image 
 of things, visible or invisible, in this creation ; so it is. fitly expressed, “ He 
 was made higher than the heavens,” Heb. 7 : 26. He was heightened to 
 a splendor, enlarged to a capacity and compass above the brightest, and 
 beyond the widest heavens; he transcended all in the spirituality of his 
 ascension : but I will not much insist on that. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of the reasons why he ascended. 
 
 4. Why he ascended ; the reasons are, 1. On Christ’s part, that through 
 his passion he might pass to glory. “ Ought not Christ to havo suffered 
 these things, and so to have entered into his glory ?” Luke, 24 : 26. I shall 
 not insist on that controversy, whether Christ merited for himself; this is 
 
496 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IV. 
 
 without controversy that by his passion (I shall not say he properly merited, 
 but) he obtained glory, because he humbled himself so low ; God exalted 
 him above the grave in his resurrection, above the earth in his ascension, 
 and above the heavens in placing him at his right hand. And he ascended, 
 that all those prophecies which were foretold of Christ, might be accom- 
 plished, “Thou hast ascended on high,” Psa. 68 : 18. — “ And his feet shall 
 stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on 
 the east,” Zech. 14 : 4. The types of this were Enoch’s translation, Elijah’s 
 ascension, Samson’s transportation of the gates of Gaza into an high moun- 
 tain, the high priest’s going into the holy of holies, “Seeing that we have 
 an high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,” 
 Heb. 4 : 14. Why, all these prophecies, types and figures, must needs be 
 accomplished, and therefore on his part, it was necessary that Christ must 
 ascend, and go into heaven. 
 
 2. The reasons on our part are, 
 
 1. That in our stead he might triumph over sin, death and hell. In his 
 resurrection he conquered, but in his ascension he triumphed; now it w’as, 
 that he led sin, death and the devil in triumph at his chariot wheels : and 
 this is the meaning of the psalmist, and of the apostle, “ w hen he ascended 
 up on high, he led captivity captive,” Eph. 4 : 8. He vanquished and 
 triumphed over all our enemies, he overcame the world, he bound the devil, 
 he spoiled hell, he weakened sin, he destroyed death, and now he makes a 
 public triumphal show of them in his own person ; he led the captives 
 bound to his chariot wheels, as the manner of the Roman triumphs was, 
 when the conqueror went up to the capital. It is to the same purpose, that 
 the apostle speaks elsewhere, “ Having spoiled principalities and powers, he 
 made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in himself,” Col. 2 : 
 15, it is a manifest allusion to the manner of triumphs after victories 
 amongst the Romans; first, they spoiled the enemy upon the place, ere they 
 stirred off the field ; and this was done by Christ on the cross; and then 
 they made a public triumphal show ; they rode through the streets in the 
 greatest state, and had all their spoils carried before them, and the kings and 
 nobles, whom they had taken, they tied to their chariots, and led them as 
 captives; and thus did Christ at his ascension, “Then be openly triumphed 
 (en auto) in himself,” (i. e.) in his own power and strength ; other con- 
 querors do not thus ; they conquer not in themselves, and by themselves, 
 but Jesus Christ conquered in himself, and therefore he triumphed in him- 
 self. And yet though he triumphed in himself, and by himself, it was not 
 for himself only, but for us, which made the apostle to triumph in his tri- 
 umph, “0 death! where is thy sting? 0 grave! where is thy victory? 
 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law; but thanks bo 
 to God which giveth us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ,” 1 Cor. 15 ; 
 55, 56, 57. If I may speak out what I think was this victory of Christ,. 
 I believe it was that honor given to him after his resurrection by the con 
 version of enemies, by the amazement of the world, by the admiration of 
 angels, and especially by his sitting down at the right hand of the Majesty 
 on high ; for therein is contained both his exaltation and his triumph over 
 all his enemies to the utmost. 
 
 2. That he might lead us the way, and open to us the doors of glory. 
 It is a question, whether ever those doors of heaven were opened to any 
 before Christ’s ascension? Christ tells us, “In my Father’s house are 
 many mansions, if it were not so I would have told you, but I go to prepare 
 a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, 
 and receive you unto myself, that where I am ye may be also,” John, 14 : 
 2, 3. Some infer hence, as if there should be many outer courts, and many 
 different places or states in glory ; and yet that there is one place whither 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 497 
 
 the saints should arrive at last, which was not then ready for them, and was 
 not to be entered into, until the entrance of our Lord had made the prepa- 
 ration. Again, the apostle tells us, that “the fathers received not the pro- 
 mises, God having provided some better things for us, that they without us 
 should not be made perfect,” Heb. 11 : 40. Whence some infer that their 
 condition after death was a state of imperfection ; and that they were placed 
 in an outer court on this side heaven, called paradise, or Abraham’s bosom ; 
 and thither also Christ went, when he died, and was attended with the 
 blessed thief. For my part, I shall not join with such who think that all 
 souls of saints shall go to paradise, where they must remain till the day of 
 judgment, and then, and not till then, must enter into that heaven, called 
 “the third heaven,” or the kingdom of heaven. Indeed, some of the 
 ancients make heaven, and the immediate receptacles of souls, to be distinct 
 places, both blessed, but hugely differing in degrees ; a modern writer is 
 very confident, “ That no soul could enter into glory before our Lord en- 
 tered, by whom we hope to have access;”* and to that purpose he cites 
 those texts, John, 14 : 2, 3, Heb. 11 : 40. But I see no ground, why the 
 souls of saints should be excluded heaven, either before, or after Christ. 
 As for that text of John, 14 : 2, Christ saith, “In my Father’s house are 
 maDy mansions,” not many outer courts, not many different states : and as 
 for the fathers mentioned, Heb. 11 : 40, “Surely they without us shall not 
 be made perfect,” and we without them shall not be made perfect, in some 
 sense, until the day of judgment. But our perfection is not in respect of a 
 more glorious place, but in respect of that perfection whereof all the faithful 
 shall be made partakers, as well in body as in soul, at the resurrection of 
 the just. Thus far I grant, that no soul ever entered into heaven, but by 
 the virtue and power of Christ’s ascension ; and that no soul and body 
 jointly ever ascended (except Christ’s types) before Christ himself opened 
 those doors, and led the way ; and in this respect he is called “ the fore- 
 runner of his people,” Heb. 6 : 20. 
 
 3. That he might assure us, that now he had run through all those offices 
 which he was to perform here on earth for our redemption, “ he that hath 
 entered into his rest, hath also ceased from his own works, as God did from 
 his,” Heb. 4 : 10. He was first to execute his office, and then to enter into 
 his rest, though he were a son, and so the inheritance were his own, “yet 
 he was to learn obedience, by the things which he suffered, before he was 
 made perfect, and so to become the Author of eternal salvation unto all 
 them that obey him,” Heb. 5 : 8, 9. This was the argument which Christ 
 used when he prayed to be glorified again with his Father, “ I have glorified 
 thee on earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do; and 
 now, O Father! glorify thou me with thy own self, with the glory which I 
 had with thee before the world was,” John 17 : 4, 5. This was the order 
 of the dispensation of Christ’s offices; his first work was a work of ministry, 
 and service in the office of obedience and sufferings for his church ; and his 
 next work was the work of power and majesty in the protection and exalta- 
 tion of his church. And there was a necessity in this order. 1. In respect 
 of God’s decree, who had so fore-appointed it, Acts 2 : 23, 24. 2. In re- 
 
 spect of God’s justice, which must first be satisfied by obedience before any 
 entrance into glory, Luke 24 : 26. 3. In respect of Christ’s infinite person, 
 which being equal with God, could not possibly be exalted without some 
 preceding descent and humiliation, “That he ascended, (saith the apostle) 
 What is it, but that he descended first into the lower parts of the earth?” 
 
 * Dr. Tayl. Great Exemplar. 
 
 t Multaa dicit non varias aut dispares, sed quae pluribus sufficiant, acsi diciret 
 non si bi uni, sed omnibus etiam discipulis locum illic esse. Calvin in loc. 
 
 32 
 
498 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 Eph. 4:9. 4. In respect of our evidence and assurance, this is the sign 
 
 that Christ hath finished the work of our redemption upon the earth ; first, 
 he was to act as our surety, and then he was to ascend as our head or advo- 
 cate : as the first-fruits, the captain, the prince of life, the author of salva- 
 tion, the forerunner of his people. 
 
 4. That he might thoroughly convince the world of believers of their 
 perfect righteousness, “The Spirit when he comes (saith Christ) shall con- 
 vince the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, be- 
 cause they believe not on me, — of righteousness, because I go to my Father, 
 and ye see me no more,” John 16:8,9, 10. If Christ had not fulfilled 
 all righteousness there had been no going to heaven for him, nor remaining 
 there; certainly God would have sent him down again to have done the 
 rest, and the disciples should have seen him with shame sent back again; 
 but his ascension to heaven proclaims openly, 1 . That he hath completely 
 finished the work he had to do for us here, that no more was to be done in 
 this world for us, that the satisfactory work to justice was in itself finished. 
 
 2. That God was well pleased with Jesus Christ, and with what he had 
 done and suffered for us : yea, God was so infinitely taken with him, and 
 his oblation afrer his sufferings, as that he thinks it not fit to let him stay 
 above forty days longer in this world ; he cannot be without him in heaven, 
 but he takes him up into glory, and gives him a name above every name. 
 
 3. That we have our share in heaven with him ; he went not up as a single 
 person, but virtually, or mystically, he carried up all the elect with him into 
 glory; or otherwise how should the spirit convince the world by his ascen- 
 sion of their righteousness ? or otherwise how should the Son of God con- 
 vince his Father of the righteousness ? I look upon Jesus Christ going 
 into heaven, as a confident debtor after payment going into a court, and 
 saying, Who hath any thing to lay to his charge? All is paid, let the law 
 take its course. When Jesus entered into heaven, he seemed thus to chal- 
 lenge justice, “Make room here for me and mine, Who should hinder? 
 Hath the law any thing to say to these poor souls for whom I died? If 
 any in heaven can make objection, here I am to answer in their behalf.” 
 Methinks, I imagine a silence in heaven, (as John speaks) at this speech, 
 Rev. 8:1, only mercy smiles, justice gives in the acquittance, and God sets 
 Christ down at his right hand. 4. That he hath a new design to be acted 
 in heaven for us; he is taken up into glory that he may act gloriously the 
 second part of our righteousness, I mean that he might apply it, and send 
 down his Spirit to couvince us of it. He acted one part in the flesh, in the 
 habit of a beggar, clothed with rags : but now he is gone to act the person 
 of a prince in robes of glory, and all this to manage our salvation in the 
 richest way that may be. Three great things Christ acts for us now in 
 glory : First, He is in place of an advocate for us, “ He liveth to intercede 
 for us,” Heb. 7 : 25. He is always begging of favor and love for us; he 
 lies there to stop whatever plea may be brought in against us by the devil, 
 or law; yea, he is there to get out fresh pardon for new sins. Secondly, 
 he is the great provider, and caterer for us ; he is laying in a great stock 
 and store of glory for us against we come there, “ In my Father’s house are 
 many mansions — I go to prepare a place for you,” John 14 : 2. Jesus 
 Christ went before to take up God’s heart for us, and now he is drawing 
 out the riches of love from God his Father, and laying them in bank for 
 us, which made the apostle say, “ My God shall supply all your need, ac- 
 cording to his riches by Christ Jesus,” Phil. 4 : 19. Thirdly, he sends 
 down his Spirit to convince us that Christ’s righteousness is ours : indeed 
 the means of procuring this was the life and death of Christ, but the means 
 of applying this righteousness, are those following acts of Christ’s resurrec- 
 tion, ascension, session, intercession, &c. By his death he obtained righteous- 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 499 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 ress for us, but by his ascension he applies righteousness to us : now it is 
 that in special manner he convinceth us of righteousness, “ because he is 
 gone to his Father, and we shall See him no more.” 
 
 5. That he might receive his Kingdom over us in the place appointed 
 for it; look as kings are crowned in the chief cities of their kingdoms and 
 keep their residence in their palaces near unto them ; so it was decent that 
 our Saviour should be crowned in heaven, and there sit down at God’s 
 right hand ; which immediately follows after his ascension, to which we 
 now come. 
 
 Sect. IV. — Of God’s right hand , and of Christ’s session there. 
 
 For the session of Christ at God’s right hand, which is a consequent 
 following his ascension into heaven, I shall examine. 1. What is God’s 
 right hand? 2. What is it to sit there? 3. According to what nature 
 
 doth Christ sit there ? 4. Why is it that he sits at the right hand of God 
 
 his Father in glory ? 
 
 1. What is this right hand of God? I answer, 1. Negatively, It is not 
 
 any corporal right hand of God ; if we speak properly, God hath neither 
 right hand, nor left hand; for God is not a body, but a Spirit, or a spiritual 
 
 substance. 2. Positively, the right hand of God, is the majesty, dignity, 
 
 dominion, power, and glory of God. “ The right hand of the Lord is ex- 
 alted, the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly,” Ps. 118 : 15. “ Thy 
 
 right hand, 0 Lord, is become glorious in power, thy right hand, 0 Lord, 
 hath dashed in pieces the enemy,” Exod. 15:6. “ Thou hast a mighty 
 
 arm, strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand,” Ps. 89 : 13. / Mine 
 hand hath laid the foundations of the earth, and my right hand hath span- 
 ned the heavens,” Isa. 48 : 13. I know some of our divines make this 
 right hand of God something inferior to God’s own power, but others speak 
 of it as every way equal, and I know no absurdity to follow on it. 
 
 2. What it is to sit at the right hand of God ? I answer, it is not any 
 corporal session at God’s right hand, as some picture him with a crown of 
 gold on his head, sitting on a throne, as if he had no other gesture in 
 heaven but sitting still; which Stephen contradicts, saying, “I see the 
 heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God,” 
 Acts 7 : 56. The words sitting or standing, are both metaphorical, and 
 borrowed from the custom of kings, who place those they honor, and to 
 whom they commit the power of government, at their right hand; more 
 particularly, this sitting at God’s right hand implies two things. 1. His 
 glorious exaltation. 2. The actual administration of his kingdom. 
 
 1. Christ is exalted, “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and 
 given him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee 
 shall bow,” Phil. 2 : 9. This session is the supreme dignity and glory given 
 by the Father unto Christ after this ascension ; this session is the peerless 
 exaltation of the Mediator in his kingdom of glory. But how was Christ 
 exalted ? I answer, 1. In regard of his divine nature, not really, or in itself. 
 Impossible it was, that the divine nature should receive any intrinsical im- 
 provement, or glory, because all fulness of glory essentially belonged unto 
 it : but declaritorily, or by way of manifestation ; so it was that his divinity, 
 during the time of his humiliation, lay hidden and over-shadowed as the 
 light of a candle is hidden in a dark and close lantern; but nowin his 
 se-sion that divinity in glory which he had always with his Father, was 
 showed forth and declared, “ He was declared to be the Son of God with 
 power,” Rom. 1 : 4, both at his resurrection and at his session. 2. In re- 
 gard of his human nature; and yet that must be understood soberly, for I 
 cannot think that Christ’s human nature was at all exalted in regard of the 
 grace of personal union, or in regard of the habitual perfections of his human 
 
500 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 soul, because he possessed all these from the beginning: hut in regard of 
 those interceptions of the beams of the Godhead, and divine glory : and in 
 respect of the restraints of that sense and sweetness, and feeling operations 
 of the beatifical vision during his humiliation ; in these respects Christ was ^ 
 exalted in his human nature, and had all the glory from the Deity commu- 
 nicated to it, which possibly in any way it was capable of. There was a 
 time, when the office which Christ undertook for us made him a man of 
 sorrow, but when he had finished that dispensation, then he was filled with 
 unmatchable glory, which before his session he enjoyed not; there was a 
 time when the natural consequence and flowings of Christ’s glory from that 
 personal union was stayed and hindered, by special dispensation, for the 
 working of our salvation ; but when that miraculous stay was once removed, 
 and the work of our redemption fully finished, then he was exalted beyond 
 the capacity or comprehension of all the angels of heaven : “ To which of 
 the angels said he at any time, sit at my right hand ?” Heb. 1 : 13, in this 
 respect it is said, that God highly exalted him ; exalted he was in his re- 
 surrection, ascension, but never so high as at his session ; in his resurrection 
 he was exalted with Jonah from the lower parts to the upper parts of the 
 earth ; in his ascension he was exalted with Elijah above the clouds, above 
 the stars, above the heavens; but in his session he is exalted to the highest 
 place in heaven, even to the right hand of God, “ far above all heavens, that 
 he might fill all things,” Eph. 4:10. 
 
 3. Christ reigns, or actually administers his glorious kingdom, and this 
 is the principal part of Christ’s sitting at God’s right hand. So the psalmist, 
 “The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, until I make 
 thine enemies thy footstool . the Lord shall send the rod of thy strength 
 out of Zion ; rule thou in the midst of thy enemies,” Ps. 110 : 1, 2. The 
 apostle is yet more large, “ God set him at his own right hand in the hea- 
 venly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, 
 and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which 
 is to come : and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the 
 head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him 
 that filleth all in all,” Eph. 1 : 20, 21, 22, 23. Some describe this session 
 at God’s right hand to be all one with his reigning in equal power and glory 
 with the Father, but the Son hath always so reigned, and the Holy Ghost 
 hath always so reigned, who yet is not said in scripture to sit at the right 
 hand of the Father; I believe therefore, there is something in this session 
 or reign of Christ, which doth difference it from that reigning power and 
 glory of the Father, and of the Son as only God, and of the Holy Ghost; 
 and if we would know what this is, I would call it an actual administration 
 of his kingdom, or an immediate executing of his power and glory over 
 every creature as Mediator. There is a natural, and a dispensatory king- 
 dom of Jesus Christ; for the first, the Father reigns immediately by the 
 Son, but by the Holy Ghost the Father doth not reign immediately, but 
 through the Son ; the same order is to be kept in their power, which is in 
 the persons; the Father reigns not by himself, but of himself; because he 
 is of none; the Son reigneth by himself, not of himself, because he is be- 
 gotten by the Father; the Holy Ghost reigneth not by himself, but from 
 the Father and Son, from whom he doth proceed. x\nd as in the natural, 
 so in the dispensatory kingdom, the Father reigns immediately by the Son 
 as Mediator; and hence it is that the Son, as Mediator, is only said to sit 
 at God’s right hand, because the right of actual administration, or immediate 
 execution of the sovereign power is appropriate and peculiar to the Son, as 
 Mediator betwixt God and man, and this made Christ to say, “ The Father 
 judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment unto the Son,” John 
 5 : 22, as Mediator. You may object, Christ was a Mediator immediately 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 501 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 after his incarnation, but he did not actually administer his kingdom then. 
 I answer, it is true, Christ for a time did by a voluntary dispensation empty 
 himself, and laid aside the right of actual administration of his kingdom ; 
 but immediately after his ascension, the Father by voluntary dispensation 
 resigned it to the Son again, “ Come now, saith the Father, and take thou 
 power over every creature, till the time that all things shall be subdued 
 under thee.” This right the one relinquished in the time of that humilia- 
 tion of himself; and this right the other conferred at the time of the 
 exaltation of his Son. 
 
 Sect. V. — Of the two natures wherein Christ sits at God's right hand. 
 
 3. According to what nature is Christ said to sit at the right hand of 
 God ? I answer, according to both natures ; First, he sits at God’s right 
 hand as God ; hereby his divinity was declared, and his kingdom is such, 
 that none that is a pure creature can possibly execute, “ The Lord said to 
 my Lord, (saith David,) sit thou at my right hand,” Ps. 110 : 1, the Lord 
 said to my Lord, (?’. e.) God said to Christ ; now Christ was not David’s 
 Lord merely as man but as God. And 2. He sits at God’s right hand as 
 man too ; hereby his humanity was exalted, and a power is given to Christ 
 as man ; “ he hath given bim power to execute judgment, in as much as he 
 is the Son of man,” John 5 :27. In the administration of his kingdom 
 the manhood of Christ doth concur, as an instrument working with his God- 
 head. Hence this session at God’s right hand is truly and properly attri- 
 buted to Christ as (theanthropos ;) and not only to the one nature of Christ, 
 whether divine or human. Or, it is attributed to Christ as Mediator ; in 
 which respect he is called an high-priest, “ We have such an high-priest, who 
 is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,” Heb. 
 8 : 1. And in which respect he is called a Prince, u Him hath God exalted 
 with his right hand, to be a Prince and a Saviour, Acts 5 : 31. Now Christ 
 is not a priest and a prince merely according to one nature, whether divine 
 or human. I deny not but Christ had a natural kingdom with his Father 
 as God, before the foundation of the world ; but this kingdom as God-man, 
 Christ had not before his ascension into heaven. So then Christ sitteth at 
 the right hand of God by a mediatory action, which he executeth according 
 to both natures, the word, working what pertaineth to the word, and the 
 flesh what appertained to the flesh ; Christ is Mediator as God and man, 
 and glory hath redounded unto him as God and man, and living in this 
 glory, he ruleth and governeth his church as God and man ; he ascended 
 indeed into heaven in his humanity only, but he sitteth at the right hand 
 of God as Mediator in respect of both natures. Lutherans attribute this 
 session at God’s right hand only to the human nature of Christ; they say 
 that this session is nothing else but the elevating of his human nature to 
 the full and free use of some of the divine properties, as of omnipotence, 
 omniscience, and omnipresence; the ground of this error is, that they suppose 
 upon the union of the two natures in Christ, a real communication of the 
 divine properties to follow, so that the human nature is made truly omnipo- 
 tent, omniscient, and omnipresent, not by any confusion of properties, nor 
 yet by any bare communion and concourse of it to the same effect, each na- 
 ture working that which belongeth to it with communion of the other, (for 
 this we grant) but by a real donation, by which the divine properties so be- 
 come the properties of the human nature, that the human nature may work 
 with them no less than the divine nature itself, for the perfecting of itself. 
 Against this opinion we have these reasons, 1. The union cannot cause the 
 human nature to partake more in the properties of the divine, than it 
 causeth the divine to partake in the properties of the human. 2. If a true 
 and real communication did follow to the divine attributes, it must needs 
 
502 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 be of all the attributes, as of eternity, and infiniteness, seeing these are 
 the divine essence, which can no way be divided. 3. Infinite perfections 
 cannot perfect finite natures, no more than reasonable perfections can make 
 perfect unreasonable creatures. 4. To what end should created gifts serve, 
 which Christ hath received above measure, if no more noble properties 
 should enter and be conferred on Jesus Christ? Other reasons are given 
 in, but I willingly decline all controversional points. 
 
 Sect. YI. — Of the reasons why Christ doth sit on God’s right hand. 
 
 4. Why doth Christ sit at the right hand of God, his Father, in glory ? 
 I answer, 1. On Christ’s part that he might receive power and dominion 
 over all the creatures, “ All power is given unto me in heaven and in 
 earth,” Matth. 28 : 18, he speaks of it as done, because it was immediately 
 to be performed ; Christ at his session received a power imperial over ev6ry 
 creature : that he hath power over the angels is plain, both by the reve- 
 rence they do him, and by their obedience towards him, at the “ name of 
 Jesus every knee must bow,” good angels and evil angels must yield signs 
 of subjection to Jesus Christ; if the saints shall judge the angels, how 
 much more shall Christ? Oh ! what power hath Christ himself this way? 
 And as for the excellencies on earth, they all receive their power from 
 Christ, and are at his disposal; it is Jesus Christ that is “ crowned with 
 glory and honor, and all things are put under his feet,” Heb. 2 : 7, 8. 
 And hence it is that when the apostle speaks of Christ’s session at the right 
 hand of God, he tells us that he is “far above all principalities, and powers 
 on earth, and mights, and dominions in heaven,” Eph. 12:1. “Yea, 
 that angels and authorities, and powers are made subject unto him,” 1 
 Pet. 3 : 22. 
 
 2. On our part many reasons may be given, as, 
 
 1. That he might be the head of his church. I mean not head in a 
 large sense, for one who is in any kind before another; for so Christ is the 
 head of aDgels, and God is the head of Christ; and to this we have spoken 
 before. But in a strict sense, for to one that is in a near and communica- 
 tive sort joined to another, as the head is conjoined with the body and 
 members ; and so is Christ the head of his church. Look as the king hath 
 a more intimate and amiable superiority over the queen, than over any of 
 his other subjects ; so is it here in Christ our king, he is more amiably 
 tempered, and more nearly affected to his spouse and queen, the church of 
 God, than to any other whomsoever. And to this purpose he sits at God’s 
 right hand, that having now fulness of grace and glory in himself, he 
 might be ready to communicate the same to his church, who are the mem- 
 bers of his body, that he might give them grace here, and glory hereafter, 
 when he shall deliver up his kingdom to his Father, and be all in all. 
 
 2. That he might be the object of divine adoration : then especially it was 
 said and accomplished, “Let all the angels of God worship him; and let 
 all men honor the Son, as they honor the Father,” Heb. 1 : 6. John 5 : 23. 
 After Christ’s session, Stephen looked up into heaven, and saw the glory of 
 God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and then he worshipped, 
 and called upon God, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” Acts 7 : 59. 
 It is true that the ground of this divine adoration is the union of the two 
 natures of Christ, and therefore the Magi worshipped him at his birth, and 
 as soon as ever he came into the world, “ the angels of God worshipped him, 
 Heb. 1 : 6, but because by his session at God’s right hand, the divine nature 
 was manifested, and the human nature was exalted to that dignity and glory 
 which it never had before, therefore now especially, and from this time was 
 the honor and dignity of worship communicated to him as God and man. 
 And hence divines usually make this one ingredient of Christ’s sitting at 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 503 
 
 the right hand of God, viz. That Christ, God and man, is the object of di- 
 vine adoration.* “ 0 ! it is a great thing, and admirable, and full of won- 
 der, that the man Christ should sit above, at God’s right hand, and be 
 adored of angels and archangels.” Before this was the grace of union con- 
 ferred on Jesus, and so he was adored before he suffered; but after he “had 
 humbled himself, and was made obedient unto death, even to the death of 
 the cros£, then (yea and therefore) God highly exalted him, and gave him a 
 name, which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee 
 should bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the 
 earth, and that every tongue shall confess, that Jesus is Lord to the glory 
 of God the Father, Phil. 2 : 8, 9, 10, 11. he was Lord before, in that he is 
 the Son of God ; but now he is Lord again by virtue of his humiliation and 
 session at God’s right hand. Trouble not yourselves with their objections, 
 who say, That if adoration be due to Christ as God and man, that then the 
 human nature is to be adored; the person adored is man, but the humanity 
 itself is not the proper object of that worship. There is a difference betwixt 
 the concrete and the abstract, though the man Christ be God, yet his man- 
 hood is not God, and by consequence, not to be worshipped with that wor- 
 ship which is properly and essentially divine. Certainly if adoration agree 
 to the humanity of Christ, then may his humanity help and save us ; but 
 the humanity of Christ cannot help and save us, because, omnis actio est 
 suppositi, whereas the human nature of Christ is not supposition, a substance 
 or personal being at all. 
 
 3. That he might intercede for his saints, “ Now of the things which we 
 have spoken this is the sum, we have such an high-priest, who is set on the 
 right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, and a minister of 
 the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not 
 men : Heb. 8:1,2. He is set on the right hand of God as an high priest, 
 or minister to intercede for us. “ For as Christ is not entered into the holy 
 places made with hands which are figures of the true, but into heaven itself 
 now to appear in the presence of God for us,” Heb. 9 : 24. This appearing 
 is an expression borrowed from the custom of human courts ; for as in them, 
 when the plaintiff or defendant is called, their attorney appeareth in their 
 names; so when we are summoned by the justice of God to answer the com- 
 plaints, which it preferreth against us, “we have an advocate with the 
 Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,” John. 2 : 1. And he standeth up, and 
 appeareth for us : Or, it may be, this appearing hath a respect to the man- 
 ner of high-priests in the time of the law, Exod. 28 : 9, 10, 11, 12. For as 
 they used to go into the most holy place, with the names of the children of 
 Israel written in precious stones, for a remembrance of them, that they 
 might remember them to God iu their prayers; so Jesus Christ being gone 
 up to heaven, ho there presents to his Father the names of all his chosen, 
 and he remembers them to his Father in his intercessions. Certainly Christ 
 is not gone to heaven, and advanced to the right hand of God, only to live 
 in eternal joy himself, but also to procure happiness for his saints. It is to 
 excellent purpose, and to the great good of his church, that he sits at the 
 right hand of his Father, for thereby he governs and protects his people, 
 and he continually executes the office of his priesthood; presenting himself, 
 aud the sacrifice of himself, and the infinite merit of that sacrifice, before the 
 eyes of his Father in their behalf. 
 
 4. That true believers may assuredly hope by virtue of Christ’s session, 
 to sit themselves in the kingdom of glory. It is true, that Christ, and only 
 Christ hath his seat at the right hand of God, “ To which of the saints, or 
 of the angels did he ever say, Sit thou at my right hand ?” Heb. 1:5. It is a 
 
 * Chrys. Horn. 5 in Heb. 
 
504 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 prerogative above all creatures, and yet there is something near it given to 
 the saints, “For him that overcometh, I will grant to sit with me in my 
 throne, even as I also am set down with my Father in his throne/ 7 
 
 Rev. 3 : 21. There is a proportion, though with an inequality ; we must 
 
 sit on Christ’s throne, as he sits on his Father’s throne, Christ only sits at 
 the right hand of God ; but the saints are to sit at the right hand of Christ, 
 and so the Psalmist speaks, “ Upon thy right hand did stand the queen, in 
 gold of Opbir,” Psal. 45 : 9. It is enough to greaten the spirits of saints, 
 how should they tread on earth, and contemn the world, when they consider, 
 that one day they shall judge the world ? “ Do ye not know that the saints 
 
 shall judge the world ?” 1 Cor. 6 : 2. Nay, when they consider that one 
 day they shall reign with Christ? “ If ye suffer with him, ye shall reign 
 with him,” 2 Tim. 2 : 12. Christ sitting in heaven is a very figure of us; 
 Christ’s person is the great model and first draught of ail, that shall be done 
 
 to his body, the saints ; therefore he is said to be the captain of our salva- 
 
 tion that leads us on ; he is said to be our forerunner into glory, he breaks 
 the clouds first, and appears first before God, he sits down first and is glori- 
 fied first, and then we follow ; Christ wears the crown in heaven as our KiDg, 
 and he is united and married to God, as our proxy. 
 
 And yet there is another ground of hope ; not only shall we sit with 
 Christ in glory, but even now do we sit with him in glory. Christ is not 
 only gone to heaven to prepare a place for us, but he sits in heaven in our 
 room, and God looks on him as the great picture of all that body whereof 
 he is head; and he delights himself in seeing them all glorified as in his 
 Son. To this purpose, the saints are said to sit down with Christ at this 
 present, “ He hath made us sit together with him in heavenly places in 
 Christ Jesus,” Eph. 2 : 6. Christ in our nature is now exalted : this is that 
 admirable thing which carried up Chrysostom into an ecstacy, that the same 
 nature of which God said, “ Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return,” 
 should now sit in heaven at God’s right hand : but not only the human 
 nature, but Christ in person sits there as a common person in our stead; he 
 is in his throne, and we sit with him in supercelestial places. O what struc- 
 tures and pillars of hope are raised up here ! 
 
 5. That he might defend the church against her enemies, and at last de- 
 stroy all the enemies of the church. Such is the power of Christ’s session, 
 that by it he holds up his saints, in the midst of their enemies, so that the 
 gates of bell shall not prevail against them : true indeed that many times 
 they are used as lambs amongst wolves; but so Christ orders, that the blood 
 of martyrs should be the seed of the church, hereby his church, like a tree, 
 settles the faster, and like a torch shines the brighter for the shaking. And 
 as for the enemies of his church, there is a day of reckoning for them, “ He 
 that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in de- 
 rision, the day is a coming, that he will speak unto them in wrath, and vex 
 them in his sore displeasure,” Psa. 2:4, 5. In the mean while Christ is 
 galling and tormenting them, by the sceptre of his word; and at last he 
 will put them all under his feet, “The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at 
 my right hand until I make thine enemies th}' footstool, Psa. 110 :1. — For 
 he must reign till he put all his enemies under his feet,” 1 Cor. 15:25. 
 That the enemies of Christ must be made his footstool, notes the extreme 
 shame and confusion which they shall everlastingly suffer : in victories 
 amongst men, the party conquered goes many times off, upon some honor- 
 able terms, or at worst, if they are led captive they go like men ; but to be 
 made a stool for the conqueror to insult over, this is extremity of shame : 
 and as shame, so it notes the burden which the wicked must bear; the foot- 
 stool bears the weight of the body, so must the enemies of Christ bear the 
 weight of his heavy and everlasting wrath ; such a weight shall they bear, 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 505 
 
 that they would gladly exchange it for the weight of rocks and mountains; 
 rather would they live under the weight of the heaviest creature in the 
 world, than under the fury of him that sitteth upon the throne. And 
 withal it notes an equal and just recompense to the wicked ; the Lord useth 
 often to fit punishments to the quality aud measure of the sins committed : 
 he that on earth denied a crumb of bread, was in hell denied a drop of 
 water, and thus will Christ deal with his enemies at the last day; here they 
 trample upon Christ in his word, in his ways, in his members, “ They make 
 the saints bow down for them to go over; yea, they have laid their bodies 
 as the ground, and as the street to them that went over,” Isa. 51 : 23. They 
 “ tread under foot the Son of God, the blood of the covenant/’ Heb. 10 : 
 29. They “ tread down the sanctuary,” Isa. 63 : 18. And “ put Christ to 
 shame,” II eb. 6:6. And therefore their own measure shall be returned 
 into their own bosom, they shall be constrained to confess with Adoni- 
 bezek, “as I have done, so God hath requited me,” Judges 1:7. Yea, 
 this shall they suffer from the meanest of Christ’s members, whom they 
 here insult over; the saints shall be as witnesses, and as it were co-asses- 
 sors with Christ., to judge the wicked, both men and angels, and tread them 
 under their feet, “ they shall take them captives, whose captives they were, 
 and shall rule over their oppressors : all they that despised them shall bow 
 themselves at the soles of their feet,” Isa. 14 : 2. 
 
 6. That he might send down the Holy Ghost; to this purpose Christ 
 told his disciples whilst he was yet on the earth, that he must ascend into 
 heaven, and reign there, “ It is expedient for you, that I go away, for if I 
 go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will 
 send him to you,” John 16 : 7. Christ is now in heaven, and sits at God’s 
 right hand, that he may send us his Spirit, by whose forcible working we 
 seek after heaven, and heavenly things, where now Christ sits. But on 
 this I shall insist larger, it being our next subject. 
 
 Sect. VII. — Of the time when the Holy Ghost was sent. 
 
 3. For the mission of his Spirit : no sooner was Christ set down at God’s 
 right hand, but he sends down the Holy Ghost. It was an use among the 
 ancients in days of great joy and solemnity, to give gifts, and to send pre- 
 sents unto men ; thus, after the wall of Jerusalem was built, it is said, 
 That “ the people did eat and drink, and send portions,” Neh. 8 : 12. “And 
 at the feast of Purim, they made them days of feasting, and joy, and of 
 sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor,” Esth. 9 : 22. Thus 
 Christ, in the day of his maje>ty aud inauguration, in that great and so- 
 lemn triumph, “ When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, 
 and did withal give gifts unto men,” Eph. 4 : 8. 
 
 Concerning this mission of the Spirit, or these gifts of Christ to his 
 church, I shall discover the accomplishment, as it appears in these texts, 
 “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come; they were all with one 
 accord in one place, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a 
 rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they wero sitting; 
 and there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon 
 each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to 
 speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance,” Acts 2:1, 
 2, 3, 4. Out of these words, I shall observe these particulars: the time 
 when, the persons to whom, the manner how, the measure what, and the 
 reason why, the Holy Ghost was sent. 
 
 1. For the time when the Holy Ghost was sent, it is said, “When th-e 
 day of Pentecost was fully come,” this was a feast of the Jews called pen- 
 tehoste a pentechdeka, from fifty days, because it was ever kept on the fifti- 
 eth day, after the second of the passover. We find in Scripture sundry 
 
506 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IV. 
 
 memorable things reckoned by the number of fifty : As fifty days from Is- 
 rael’s coming out of Egypt unto the giving of the law. And the fiftieth 
 year was that great feast of the jubilee, which was the time of forgiving of 
 debts, and of restoring men to their first estates: and fifty days were in 
 truth the appointed time of the Jews’ harvest; their harvest being bounded 
 as it were with two remarkable days, the one being the beginning, the 
 other the end thereof, the beginning was deutera tou pascha ; the second 
 of the passover; the end was pentekoste, the fiftieth day after called the 
 Pentecost upon the deutera ; they offered “ a sheaf of the first fruits of 
 their harvest,” Lev. 23 : 10. Upon the Pentecost they offered “ two wave- 
 loaves,” Lev. 23 : 17, the sheaf being offered, all the after-fruits through- 
 out the land were sanctified ; and the two loaves being offered, it was a 
 sign of the harvest being finished and ended ; and now we find, that as 
 there were fifty days betwixt deutera and the Pentecost, so there were fifty 
 days betwixt Christ’s resurrection, and the coming down of the Holy Ghost. 
 What was the meaning of this, but to hold harmony and to keep corres- 
 pondency with those memorable things ? As on the day of Pentecost, 
 (fifty days after the feast of the passover) the Israelites came to mount 
 Sinai, and there received they the law; a memorable day with them, and 
 therefore called the feast of the law; so the very same day is accomplished 
 that prophecy, “ Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the 
 Lord from Jerusalem,” Isa. 2 : 3, now was the promulgation of the gospel 
 called by James, “the royal law,” James 2:8, as given by Christ our 
 King, and written in the hearts of his servants by the Holy Ghost; it 
 seems to shadow out the great difference betwixt the law and the gospel ; 
 the law was given with terror, in lightning and thunder : it discovers sin, 
 declares God’s wrath, frights the conscience ; but the gospel is given with- 
 out terror; there was no lightning and thunder now; no, no, the Holy 
 Ghost slides down from heaven with grace and gifts ; and with great joy 
 sits on the heads and in the hearts of his saints. 2. On the Jubilee, or 
 fiftieth year, was a great feast, whence some observe, That the Latins made 
 their word Juhilo , to take up a merry song : though the word be derived 
 from the Hebrew Jobel, which signifies a rain’s horn ; for when they blew 
 with rams’ horns, or when they gathered the people to the congregation, 
 they blew with silver trumpets. There were many uses of this feast; 1. 
 For the general release of servants. 2. For the restoring of lands unto 
 their first owners who had sold them. 3. For the keeping of a right chro- 
 nology and reckoning of time ; for as the Greeks did reckon by their Olym- 
 piads and the Latins by their Lustra, so did the Hebrews by their Jubi- 
 lees ; this falls fit with the proclaiming of the gospel, which is an act or 
 tender of God’s most gracious general free pardon of all sins, and of all 
 the sinners in the world; now was the sound of the gospel made known 
 unto all, “out of every nation under heaven,” Acts 2:5, now was that 
 spiritual Jubilee, which Christians enjoy under Christ; now was the re- 
 mission published, which exceeded the remission of the Jubilee, as far as 
 the Jubilee exceeded the remission of the seventh year, (?. e.) not only 
 seven times, but “seventy times seven times,” Mat.th. 18 : 22. 3. On the 
 
 day of Pentecost, “ they offered the two wave-loaves, called the bread of 
 the first-fruits, unto the Lord,” Lev. 23:17, 20. In like sort this very 
 day, the Lord of the harvest so disposing it, the apostles, by the assistance 
 and effectual working of the Spirit, offered the first-fruits of their harvest 
 unto the Lord; for “ the same day, there were added unto them about three 
 thousand souls,” Acts 2: 41. We see the circumstance of time hath its 
 due weight, and is very considerable; When the day “of Pentecost was 
 fully come, then came the Holy Ghost.” 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 507 
 
 Sect. YIII. — Of the persons to whom the Holy Ghost was sent. 
 
 2. For the persons to whom the Holy Ghost was sent, it is said, “ To 
 all that were with one accord in one place,” Acts 2:1. Who they were it 
 is not here expressed, yet from the former chapter we may conjecture, they 
 were “ the twelve apostles, together with Joseph called Barsabas, and the 
 women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brethren,” Acts 1 : 13, 14. 
 These all continued with one accord in one place, for so was Christ’s com- 
 mand, “That they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the 
 promise of the Father, which, saith he, Ye have heard of me,” Acts 1 : 4. 
 This promise we read of in the evangelists, “ When the Comforter is come, 
 whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which 
 proceedeth from the Father, he will testify of me,” John 15 : 26 “And 
 behold I send the promise of the Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city 
 of Jerusalem, until you be endued with power from on high,” Luke 24 : 49. 
 It was the great promise of the Old Testament, that Christ should partake 
 of our human nature, and it was the great promise of the New Testament, 
 that we should partake of his divine nature ; he was clothed with our flesh 
 according to the former, and we are invested with his Spirit according to the 
 latter promise. For this promise the apostles and others, had long waited, 
 and for the accomplishment they were now fitted and disposed. 1. They 
 had waited for it from the ascension day till the feast of Pentecost : he told 
 them at the very instant of his ascension, that he would send the Holy 
 Ghost, and therefore bade them stay together till that hour; upon which 
 command they waited, and continued waiting “until the day of Pentecost 
 was fully come. — He that believeth shall not make haste,” saith Isaiah 
 28 : 16; surely waiting is a Christian duty, “for the vision is yet for an 
 appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie : though it tarry, 
 wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry,” Hab. 2 : 3. Well 
 may we wait, and wait for him, if we consider how God and Christ have 
 waited for us and our conversion, and especially if we consider that the 
 Comforter will come, and when he comes, that “ he will abide with us for 
 ever,” John 14 : 16. But, 2. As they waited for the Spirit, so they were 
 rightly disposed to receive the Spirit, for “ they were all with one accord in 
 one place.” Mark here the qualifications of these persons, “ they were all 
 with one accord in that place,” &c. To those that accord is the Spirit given ; 
 where is nothing but discord, jars, divisions, factions, there is no Spirit of 
 God; for the Spirit is the author of concord, peace, unity, and amity; he 
 is the very essential unity, love, and love-knot of the two persons, the 
 Father and the Son ; even of God with God : and he was sent to be the 
 union, love, and love-knot of the two natures united in Christ, even of God 
 with man; and can we imagine, that essential unity will enter but where 
 there is unity ? Can the Spirit of unity come or remain but where there is 
 unity of spirit? Yerily there is not, there cannot be a more proper and 
 peculiar, a more true and certain disposition to make us meet for the Spirit, 
 than that quality in us, that is likest to his nature and essence ; and that is 
 unity, love, and concord : do we marvel, that the Spirit doth scarcely pant 
 in us ? Alas ! we are not all of one accord : the very first point is wanting 
 to make us meet for the coming of the Holy Ghost upon us. We see the 
 persons to whom the Holy Ghost was sent, they were, “ they that were 
 together with one accord in one place.” 
 
 Sect. IX. — Of the manner how the Holy Ghost was sent. 
 
 3. For the manner how he was sent, or how he came to these apostles; 
 we may observe these particulars. 
 
 1. He came suddenly, which either shows the majesty of the miracle, 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 that is gloriously done which is suddenly done ; or the truth of the miracle, 
 there could be no imposture or fraud in it, when the motion of it was 
 sudden, or the purpose of the miracle, which was to awake and affect them 
 to whom it came ; usually sudden things startle us, and make us look up. 
 We may learn to receive those holy motions of the Spirit, which sometimes 
 come suddenly, and we know not how ; I am persuaded the man breathes 
 not amongst us Christians, that sometimes feels not the stirrings, movings, 
 breathings of the Spirit of God. 0 that men would take heed of despising 
 present motions ! 0 that men would take the wind while it blows ! and 
 
 the water while the angel moves it, as not knowing when it will, or whether 
 ever it will blow again. 
 
 2. He came from heaven; the place seems here to commend the gift; as 
 from earth, earthly things arise, so from heaven, heavenly, spiritual, and 
 eternal things. And this is one sign to distinguish the spirits, “Beloved, 
 believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God,” 1 
 John 4:1. If our motions come from heaven, if we fetch our grounds 
 thence from heaven, from religion, from the sanctuary, it is the Spirit of 
 God ; or, if it carry us heavenward, if it make us heavenly-minded, if it 
 wean us from the world, and if it elevate and set our affections on heavenly 
 things, if it form and frame our conversations towards heaven, we may then 
 conclude the motions are not from below but from above. 0 that Christians 
 would be much in the observation of, and in listening to, the movings, 
 workings, hints, and intimations of that Spirit that comes from heaven. 
 Certainly that Spirit is of God, that comes down from heaven, and that 
 lifts up our souls towards heaven. 
 
 8. He comes down from heaven like a wind ; the comparison is most apt; 
 of all bodily things, the wind is least bodily; it is invisible, and comes 
 nearest to the nature of a spirit ; it is quick and active as the Spirit is. 
 But more especially the Holy Ghost is compared to a wind in respect of its 
 irresistible workings; as nothing can resist the wind, it goes and blows 
 which way soever it will; so nothing can resist the Spirit of God, where- 
 soever it hath a purpose to work efficaciously; I will not say but the heart 
 of a man may resist and reject the work of the Spirit in some measure, and 
 in some degree; Stephen told the Jews, “ They had always resisted the 
 Holy Ghost,” Acts 7 : 51. And the apostle tells of “strong holds, and of 
 every high thing that exalteth Itself against God.” 2 Cor. 10:5. So 
 there is a natural contrariety, a constant enmity, and active resisting of 
 God’s Spirit by our spirits ; we must therefore distinguish between a prev- 
 alent and a gradual resisting; the Spirit in conversion so works, that he 
 takes away the prevalent, but not the gradual resisting; a man before he 
 be converted is froward, and full of cavils and prejudices, he is unwilling 
 to be saved; he cannot abide the truth, he doeth what he can to stifle all 
 good motions ; yet if he belong to the election of grace, God will at last 
 over-master his heart, and make him of unwilling, willing; he will omnip- 
 otently bow and change the will, and work on his soul by his mighty power, 
 efficaciously, insuperably, and irresistibly. Again, the Holy Ghost is com- 
 pared to wind, in respect of its free actings, “ The wind bloweth where it 
 
 listeth,” saith Christ, John 3 : 8. And so the Spirit bloweth where it 
 
 listeth ; who can give any reason why the Spirit breathes so sweetly on 
 Jacob, aud not on Esau; on Peter, and not on Judas? Is it not the free 
 
 grace and good pleasure of God? Springs it not from the mere freedom 
 
 and pure arbitrariness of his own only workings ? “ To you it is given to 
 know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, (saith Christ) but to them 
 it is not given,” Matth. 13 : 11. And “I thank thep, 0 Father, Lord of 
 heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and 
 prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes, even so, Father, for so it 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 509 
 
 seemed good in thy sight,” Matth. 11 : 25, 26. These, and the like texts 
 are as so many hammers, to beat in pieces all those doctrines of free will, 
 and of the power of man to supernatural things ; grace makes no gain of 
 man’s work; free will raaj r indeed move and run, but if it be good, it must 
 be moved, and driven, and breathed upon by God’s free grace. The Spirit 
 blows where it listeth. 
 
 4. He came like “a rushing mighty wind;” as the wind is sometimes of 
 that strength, that it rends, and rives in sunder mountains and rocks, it 
 pulls up trees, it blows down buildings ; so are the operations of the Holy 
 Spirit, it takes down all before it, it brings into captivity many an exalting 
 thought, it made a conquest of the world, beginning at Jerusalem, and 
 spreading itself over all the earth ; it is mighty in operation, able to shake 
 the stoutest and proudest man, and to break in pieces the very stoniest 
 heart; indeed our words without this Spirit are but weak wind; we may 
 spend ourselves and never waken souls ; but if the Spirit blow, he will 
 amaze the consciences of the stoutest peers, and drive away our sins, as the 
 wind drove away the grasshoppers and locusts, that overspread the land of 
 Egypt. Some analogy there is betwixt this vehement wind, and the Spirit’s 
 workings; the Spirit first comes as a Spirit of bondage, and then as a Spirit 
 of adoption ; the Spirit of bondage is as a vehement wind that terrifies, to 
 show that we are not fit to receive the grace of God, unless the door be 
 first opened by fear and humiliation. Others say, That the vehement rush- 
 ing of this wind showed how irresistibly the apostles should proceed in 
 preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ; they had a commission to go into all 
 the world, and to teach all nations, and they bad a promise, that though 
 many might oppose, yet the gates of hell should not prevail against the 
 church ; the Spirit should go along with them, and he iu them, and they 
 tn him, should prevail mightily like a rushing mighty wind. 
 
 5. He filled all the house where they were sitting; there were none there 
 that were not filled with the Holy Ghost ; this room contained a congre- 
 gation of none but saints. All the men and women (an hundred and 
 twenty, as some think) Acts 1 : 15, in this room were visited from on high, 
 for the Holy Ghost came upon them, and dwelt in them ; well might David 
 say, “Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, — I had rather be a door- 
 keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness,” 
 Psal. 84 : 4, 10. They that abode in this house were under a promise, 
 That the Spirit should come, and now was the promise accomplished ; “ For 
 it filled ail the house where they were sitting;” I say, where they were 
 sitting, to signify, that all the other houses in Jerusalem felt none of this 
 mighty rushing wind ; there was no assembly of saints in any part of the 
 city, but only iu this house; or if any other assembly might be, this Spirit 
 blew upon none of them, where these men were not; that, and only that 
 house is filled, where these men were sitting. And this point of blowing 
 upon one certain place, is a property very suitable to the Spirit of God, 
 “ The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, 
 but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth, so is every one 
 that is born of the Spirit,” John 3 : 8. The Spirit blows where it will, 
 and upon whom it will, and they shall plainly feel it, and others about them 
 not one jot; have we not sometimes the experience of this in our very con- 
 gregations? One sound is heard, one breath doth blow, and it may be one 
 or two, and no more hears the sound, or feels the breath inwardly, savingly; 
 it may be one here, and another there, shall feel the Spirit, shall be affected 
 and touched with it sensibly; but twenty on this side them, and forty on 
 that side them sit all becalmed, and go their way no more moved, than 
 when they came into God’s presence. 0 ! that this Spirit of the Lord 
 would come daily and constantly into our congregations ! 0 ! that it would 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 blow through them, and through them ! 0 ! that it would fill every soul in 
 the assembly with the breath of heaven ! “ Come, holy Spirit ; awake, 0 
 north-wind, and come thou south-wind, and blow upon our gardens, that the 
 spices thereof may flow out,” Sol. S. 4 : 16. 
 
 6. He came down in the form of tongues. As one saith well, “This 
 wind brought tongues, even a whole shower of tongues.” The apostles 
 were not only inspired, for their own benefit, but they had gifts bestowed 
 on them to impart the benefit to more than themselves. But why did the 
 Holy Ghost appear like tongues? I answer, 1. The tongue is a symbol of 
 the Holy Ghost’s proceeding from the word of the Father; as the tongue 
 hath the nearest affinity with the word, and is moved by the word of the 
 heart, to express the same by the sound of the voice ; so the Holy Ghost 
 hath the nearest affinity that may be with the word of God, and is the ex- 
 presser of his voice, and the speaker of his will. 2. The tongue is the sole 
 instrument of knowledge, which conveys the same from man to man ; 
 though the soul be the fountain from whence all wisdom springs, yet the 
 tongue is the channel and the conduit-pipe, whereby this wisdom and know- 
 ledge is communicated and transferred from man to man ; in like manner 
 the Holy Ghost is the sole author and teacher of all truth ; though Christ 
 be the wisdom of God, yet the Holy Ghost is the teacher of this wisdom 
 to men ; and hence it is that the Holy Ghost appeared in the form of 
 tongues. 
 
 And yet not merely in the form of tongues, but thus qualified; 1. They 
 were “cloven tongues,” to signify, that the apostles should speak in divers 
 languages ; if there must be a calling of the Gentiles, they must needs have 
 the tongues of the Gentiles wherewith to call them ; if they were “debtors 
 not only to the Jews, but to the Grecians, not only to the Grecians, but to 
 the Barbarians also,” Bom. 1 : 14, then must they have the tongues not 
 ouly of the Jews, but of the Grecians, and the Barbarians, to pay this debt, 
 and to discharge this duty of, “Go, and teach all nations,” Matth. 28 : 19. 
 Surely this gift was bestowed for the propagating of the gospel far and 
 wide : the tongues were cloven, that the apostles might speak all languages, 
 and that all nations of the world withersoever they came might hear them, 
 and understand them speaking in their own tongues. 2. They were fiery 
 tongues, to signify, That there should be an efficacy, or fervor in their 
 speaking.; the world was so overwhelmed with ignorance and error, that 
 the apostles’ lips had need to be touched with a coal from the altar; tongues 
 of flesh would not serve the turn, nor words of air, but there must be fire 
 put into the tongues, and Spirit of life into the words they spake ; with 
 such a tongue Christ spake himself, when they said of him, “ Hid not our 
 hearts burn within us, while he spake unto us by the way?” Luke 24 : 32. 
 And with such a tongue Peter spake at this time, something like fire fell 
 from him on their hearts, when they were pricked in their hearts, and 
 said, “Men, and brethren, What shall we do?” Acts 2 : 37. Oh ! that 
 we of the ministry had these fiery tongues ! 0 that the Spirit would put 
 
 his live coal into our speeches ! Oh that our sermons were warming ser- 
 mons ! may we not fear that the Spirit is gone, whilst the people are dead, 
 and we are no more lively in our ministry ? It is said of Luther, That 
 when he heard one preach very faintly, “ Cold, cold, says he, this is cold 
 preaching, here is no heat at all to be gotten.” Oh ! when the Spirit 
 comes, it comes with a tongue of fire; instead of words, sparks of fire will 
 fall from us on the hearts of hearers. 
 
 3. These cloven fiery tongues sat upon each of them, to signify their 
 constancy and continuance; they did not light and touch, and away after 
 the manner of butterflies; but they sat, they abode still, they continued 
 steady without any stirring or starting. This was the privy sign, by which 
 
CHAP. I.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 511 
 
 John the Baptist knew Jesus to be Christ, “Upon whom thou shalt see 
 the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he which bap- 
 tizeth with the Holy Ghost,” John 1 : 33. It was not only the Spirit’s 
 descending, but the Spirit’s remaining on him, that was the sign. The 
 Spirit of God is a constant Spirit, Psal. 51 : 10, it abides on the soul to 
 whom it is given ; and therefore the psalmist ascribes these great transac- 
 tions of Christ to this very end, that the Spirit might dwell with us, 
 “ Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive, thou hast 
 received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might 
 dwell among them,” Psal. 68 : 18. Not only that he might stay and lodge 
 for a night, as a way-faring man, that comes to his inn, and then is gone 
 in the morning : no, no ; but that he might take up his residence, and 
 dwell in them. I know it is a question, Whether the Holy Ghost may be 
 lost? But certainly of the elect he is never totally or wholly lost, only I 
 dare not say, but as touching many gifts, he may be lost even of the elect 
 themselves : David, after his sin, was forced to cry, “ Cast me not away 
 from thy presence, 0 Lord, and take not thy holy Spirit from me ; restore 
 unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free Spirit,” 
 Ps. 51 : 11, 12. We find here, that in respect of some gifts, even of re- 
 generation, the Spirit is sometimes lost, but that the godly shall retain no 
 remnants of the Spirit in their worst declinings, I cannot imagine; John 
 teacheth expressly, “ Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin, (a 
 sin unto death,) for his seed remaineth in him, neither can he sin, because 
 he is born of God,” 1 John 3 : 9. David in his fall lost the joy of his 
 heart, the purity of his conscience, and many other gifts which he desired 
 to have restored to him ; but the Holy Ghost he had not utterly lost; for 
 if so, How could he have prayed, “ Cast me not from thy presence, and 
 take not thy Holy Spirit from me?” I have done with the manner of the 
 Spirit’s mission. 
 
 Sect. X. — Of the measure of the Holy Ghost now given . 
 
 4. For the measure, What or how much of the Spirit was now given ? 
 This question is necessary, because we bring in the Spirit’s mission after 
 Christ’s ascension, as if the Holy Ghost had not been given before this 
 time. That this was the time of the coming of the Holy Ghost is very 
 plain, but that the Holy Ghost was not given before this time, we cannot 
 say ; certainly the prophets spake by him, and the apostles had him, not 
 only when they were first called, but more fully when “ he breathed on 
 them, and said unto them, receive ye the Holy Ghost,” John 20 : 22. So 
 that if ye study the reconciliation of these things, I know not any way 
 better than to put it on the measure, or degrees of the Spirit’s mission. I 
 know some go about to reconcile it thus, The Holy Ghost was given before, 
 secretly with grace, but now he was given in a visible shape with power. 
 Others thus, that the Holy Ghost was before given in respect of grace and 
 ministerial gifts, but now he was given in respect of virtue, or ghostly 
 ability to work wonders, and to speak with divers languages. But we find 
 that the prophets and apostles before this had not only grace, and ministerial 
 gifts, but a miraculous virtue, even the Spirit of powerful and extraordinary 
 operations : only here was the difference, that before this the Spirit was but 
 sprinkled (as it were) upon them, but now it was poured upon them ; be- 
 fore this they wore gently breathed on, and refreshed with a small gale; 
 but now they were all blown upon with a mighty wind; without contro- 
 versy a difference there is in the Spirit’s mission ; and that some lay down 
 chieiiy in these three things. As, — 
 
 1. In the manner of the Spirit’s mission to the old church, the Spirit 
 came usually in dreams, or visions, or in a low still voice, or in some 
 
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 [BOOK IV 
 
 latent ways ; but now he came in power, in evidence, and demonstration, 
 and therefore it is called, “ the Spirit of revelation and knowledge/’ Eph. 
 1 : IT. At the apparition of God to Elijah, it is said, that “ the Lord 
 passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in 
 pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind : and 
 after the wind an earthquake ; but the Lord was not in the earthquake ; and 
 after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the 
 fire, a still small voice, and then Elijah wrapped his face in his mantle, as 
 knowing the Lord’s presence was therein/’ 1 Kings 19 : 11, 12. The Spirit 
 came not of old, save in a vision, or dream, or in a still small voice ; but 
 now the Spirit came in a rushing mighty wind, in fiery tongues, in earth- 
 quakes, in so much that “ the place was shaken where they were assem- 
 bled, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,” Acts 4 : 31. The 
 Spirit now made choice to come in such apparitions, as should have in them 
 a self-discovering property, which would not be hidden ; and here is one 
 difference. 
 
 2. Another difference is, in respect of the subjects unto whom he was 
 sent ; before now he came only upon the enclosed garden of the Jews, but 
 after the ascension of Christ the Spirit was poured upon all flesh, now every 
 believer is of the Israel of God, every Christian is a temple of the Holy 
 Ghost; now we receive the Spirit too, or else it is wrong with us, for “if 
 any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his,” Horn. 8:9. At 
 Peter’s sermon to Cornelius, it is said, that “ the Holy Ghost fell on all 
 them which heard the word, and they of the circumcision which believed 
 were astonished, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift 
 of the Holy Ghost,” Acts 10 : 44, 45. It was some wonder at first, even 
 to the apostles themselves, but in this sermon Peter acknowledges, “ of a 
 truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation 
 he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him,” 
 Acts 10 : 34, 35. Mark, “in every nation, upon all flesh, I will pour out 
 my Spirit.” Here is another difference. 
 
 3. One difference more, is in the measure of his mission. At first, he 
 was sent only in drops and dew, but now he was poured out in showers in 
 abundance, “ The Holy Ghost (saith Paul) was shed on us abundantly 
 through Jesus our Saviour,” Tit. 3 : 6. As there are degrees of the wind, 
 aura , ventus, procella , a breath, a blast, a stiff gale : so we cannot deny 
 degrees in the Spirit, the apostles at Christ’s resurrection received the 
 Spirit, but now they were filled with the Spirit; then it was but a breath, 
 but now it was a mighty wind. And indeed never was the like measure 
 of the Spirit given to men as at this time; the fathers before this, and we 
 and our fathers since this, have but, as it were, a bin of the Spirit to their 
 ephah ; such a Pentecost as this, never was but this, never the like before 
 or since; it was Christ’s coronation day, the day of placing him in his 
 throne, when he gave these gifts unto men, and therefore that day was all 
 magnificence showed above all other days; thus for the measure of the 
 Spirit now given to the church of Christ. 
 
 Sect. XI. — Of the reasons why the Holy Ghost was sent. 
 
 5. For the reasons why the Holy Ghost was sent, they are several : as, 
 
 1. That all the prophecies concerning this mission might be accomplished. 
 Isaiah speaks of a time when “ the Spirit should be poured upon us from 
 on high, and the wilderness should be a fruitful field,” Isa. 32:15. And 
 Zachary prophesies, “ That in that day I will pour upon the house of 
 David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and sup- 
 plication,” Zech. 12 : 10. And Joel prophesies yet more expressly, “ It 
 shall come to pass, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 513 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your 
 young men shall see visions ; and also upon the servants and upon the hand- 
 maids in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy,” 
 Joel 2 : 28, 29. This very prophecy was cited by Peter in his first sermon 
 after the Spirit’s mission, Acts 2 : 17, 18 ; in which we read of two pourings 
 of the Spirit, one upon their sons, and the other upon his servants; the 
 former concerned only the Jews, they should have prophecies, visions, and 
 dreams, the old way of the Jews; but the latter concerns us, we are not of 
 their sons, but of his servants, to whom visions and dreams are left quite 
 out : and therefore if any now pretend to those visions and dreams, we say 
 with Jeremy, “The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream, but 
 he that hath my word let him speak my word faithfully ; what is the chaff 
 to the wheat ?” Jer. 23 : 28. But of all the prophecies concerning the 
 mission of the Holy Ghost, our Saviour gives the clearest and tho most 
 particular; two great prophecies we find in the Bible, the one is of the Old 
 Testament, and the other of the New; that of the Old Testament was for 
 the coming of Christ: and this of the New Testament was for the coming 
 of the Holy Ghost : and hence we say, that the coming of Christ was the 
 fulfilling of the law ; and the coining of the Holy Ghost is the fulfilling of 
 the gospel. In this respect let us search and see those prophecies of Christ, 
 the great Prophet in the New Testament, “I will pray the Father, and ho 
 shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever, even 
 the Spirit of truth,” John 14 : 16, 17. “ But when the Comforter is come, 
 whom I will send unto you from the Father, he shall testify of me, John 
 15 : 26. And behold I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry 
 ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high, 
 Luke 24 : 49. It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, 
 the Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I depart, I will send him 
 unto you,” John 16 : 7. Why, it was of necessity that all these prophecies 
 and promises must be accomplished, and therefore was the Holy Ghost sent 
 amongst us. 
 
 2. That the holy apostles might be furnished with gifts and graces 
 suitable to their estates, conditions, stations, places. To this purpose, no 
 sooner was the Spirit sent, but “ they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and 
 began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance,” 
 Acts 2 : 4. They were filled with the Holy Ghost, not that they were be- 
 fore empty, but now they were more full of the Spirit than ever they were 
 before, and “they spoke with other tongues;” other than ever they had 
 learned ; probably they understood no tongue but the Syriac till this time, 
 but now on a sudden they could speak Greek, Latin, Arabic, Persian, Par- 
 thian, and what not ? The wisdom and mercy of God is very observable 
 herein, that the same means of divers tongues which was the destroying of 
 Babel, should be the very same means here conferred on the apostles to 
 work the building of Sion ; that the curse should be removed, and a bless- 
 ing come in place, that confusion of tongues should be united to God’s 
 glory; that this should be the issue of tongues, that neither speech nor 
 language should be upon all the earth, but his praise and glory, and gospel 
 should be heard amongst them. And here is something more observable, 
 in that they spake with other tongues “ as the Spirit gave them utterance ;” 
 the word utterance is in the original apophtheygesthai , you have heard of 
 apothegms , i. e., wise and weighty sententious speeches : now such as these, 
 the Spirit gave them to utter, Magnolia. Dei , as in the eleventh verse, 
 “ the wonderful works of God,” verse 1 1 ; they spake of those singular 
 benefits God offered to the world by the death of his Son : they spake of 
 the work of our redemption, of the merits of Christ, of the glory and 
 riches of his grace, of the praises due to his name for all his mercies. 
 33 
 
514 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 Others add, That they spake of those admirable works of the Trinity, as 
 of our creation, redemption and sanctification, and of whatsoever generally 
 concerned the salvation of mankind. Their speeches were not crudities of 
 their own brain, trivial, base, or vulgar stuff; but magnolia , great and high 
 points, apothegms , or oracles, “ as the Spirit gave them utterance.” But 
 these reasons are remote as to us. 
 
 3. That he might fill the hearts of all the saints, and make them temples 
 and receptacles for the Holy Ghost, “Know ye not that your body is the 
 temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye 
 are not your own ?” 1 Cor. 6 : 19. It is said here, that after the mighty 
 rushing wind and cloven fiery tongues, they were all filled with the Holy 
 Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, Acts 2 : 4. First, They were 
 filled with the Holy Ghost, and then they spake with other tongues ; the 
 Holy Ghost begins inward, and works outward ; it first alters the mind, be- 
 fore it changes the speech ; it first works on the spirit, before on the phrase 
 or utterance ; this was the first work of the Spirit, it filled them. And thus 
 for the daily ministrations, such must be appointed as were “ full of the 
 Holy Ghost,” Acts 6:3. And Stephen is said to be “full of the Holy 
 Ghost,” Acts 7 : 55, and Barnabas is called “ a good man, and full of the 
 Holy Ghost,” Acts 11 : 24. The Holy Ghost is usually said to fill the saints, 
 only whether it be the person of the Holy Ghost, or the impressions of the 
 Holy Ghost is a very great question ; for my part I am apt to incline to 
 their mind, who say not only the impressions of the Spirit, the qualities of 
 holiness, the gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost, or as some think, habitual 
 grace in a special manner ; but that the Holy Ghost himself doth fill, and 
 dwell, and reign in the hearts of all regenerate men. And this seems clear 
 to me. 1. By Scriptures. 2. By arguments. 
 
 1. The Scriptures are such as these, “He that believeth on me, as the 
 Scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living waters ; but this 
 spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive, for 
 the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified,” 
 John 7 : 38, 39, for these words, “ out of his belly shall flow rivers of living 
 water by living water is meant grace, by rivers of living waters is meant 
 the manifold graces of the Spirit, by the flowing of these rivers is meant the 
 abounding and communicating of those graces from one to another, and by 
 the belly out of which these rivers should flow, is meant the heart endued, 
 or filled with the Holy Ghost; now the spring and rivers, the fountain and 
 the streams, are divers things, and to be distinguished : the one is the 
 cause, and the other the effect ; the one is the tree, and the other the fruit; 
 it is the Holy Gho^t filling the hearts of believers, that is the spring and 
 fountain whence all those rivers of living waters flow, and therefore saith 
 the evangelist expressly, “ This spake he of the Spirit, which they that 
 believe shall receive;” of what spirit? even of the Holy Ghost, which in 
 full measure was not yet given, because that Christ was not yet glorified ; it 
 is the same spirit which believers receive, whence all these rivers of living 
 waters flow ; but those rivers flow not from habitual grace, nor from any of 
 the graces of the Holy Ghost, but from the Holy Ghost himself. 
 
 Again, “ When the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all 
 truth, — and he will show you things to come,” John 16 : 13. Now the 
 habits of grace cannot guide or teach, or show a man things to come ; the 
 habits of grace cannot speak and hear, as it is there written, “ He shall not 
 speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak.” This 
 can be no other than the Spirit in his own person, this is the Comforter, 
 that hears, and speaks, and guides into all truth, and shows us things to 
 come. 
 
 Again, “ The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 515 
 
 Ghost, which is given unto us,” Rom. 5 : 5. Besides, the grace of the Spirit, 
 which is the love of God, the Holy Ghost, or the Spirit itself is said to be 
 given unto us. 
 
 And “ ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit 
 of God dwell in you, Rom. 8 : 9. Here is a plain distinction betwixt the 
 new man, our being in the Spirit, and the Spirit dwelling in us : “ Now if 
 any man have not the Spirit of Christ,” i. e. the same Holy Spirit which 
 dwelleth in our head and Saviour Jesus Christ, “ he is none of his. — But 
 if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he 
 that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies, 
 by his spirit that dwelleth in you,” verse 11. This Spirit cannot be meant 
 of habitual grace, for habitual grace did not raise up Jesus from the dead : 
 no, no, it was the same Spirit that dwelt in Christ, and that dwells in us. 
 
 Again, “ Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit 
 of God dwelleth in you?” 1 Cor. 3:16. “ And know ye not that your 
 body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you ?” 1 Cor. 6 : 19. 
 Now gifts and graces are not properly said to dwell in temples ; this belongs 
 rather to persons than qualities ; and therefore it is meant of the Holy 
 Ghost himself, ye are the temples of the living God; surely graces are not 
 the living God, “ but ye are the temples of the living God, as God hath 
 said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and 
 they shall be my people,” 2 Cor. 6:16. 
 
 2. The arguments to confirm this, are such as these : 
 
 1. Actions are ascribed to the Holy Ghost, as given unto us, or dwelling 
 in us, 11 When the Spirit is come, he will reprove the world of sin. And 
 when the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth, John 
 16 : 8, 13. — And ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby ye cry 
 Abba, Father ; — and this Spirit beareth witness with our spirits that we are 
 the children of God,” Rom. 8:15, 16. These actions are usually given to 
 the Holy Ghost, I mean to that Holy Ghost which we receive, and dwelleth 
 in us ; it reproves, it guides, it helps, satisfieth, it witnesseth : now actiones 
 sunt suppositorum, actions are of persons and not of qualities : habitual 
 grace cannot reprove, or guide, or teach, or help our infirmities : these are 
 the actions of the Spirit himself, in his own person. 
 
 2. The Spirit itself is the bond of our mystical union with Jesus Christ, 
 and therefore it is the Spirit itself that dwelleth in us. Look, as it is in our 
 body, there is head and members, yet all are but one natural body, because 
 they are animated and quickened by one and the self-same soul ; so it is in 
 the mystical body, Christ is our head, and we are his members, and yet both 
 of us are but one mystical body, by reason of the self-same Spirit dwelling 
 in both. And hence it is said, That Christ dwelleth in us by his Spirit, 
 “ Know ye not that Christ Jesus is in you, except ye be reprobates,” 2 Cor. 
 13 : 5. u He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, 
 and I in him,” John 6 : 26. And “ I live (saith Paul) yet not I, but 
 Christ liveth in me,” Gal. 2 : 20. How in me ? Not corporally, for in 
 that sense “ the heavens must receive him until the time of the restitution 
 of all things,” Acts 3 : 21, but spiritually according to the testimony of the 
 apostles, “ because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son 
 into your hearts,” Gal. 4 : 6. This is the mystery that should be known 
 among the Gentiles, the glorious mystery, yea the rich and glorious mys- 
 tery; the apostle gives it all these epithets, “ The riches of the glory of this 
 mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory,” Col. 1 : 27. 
 
 3. As Satan keeps his residence in wicked men, working them unto all 
 mauner of sin, and holding them captive to do bis will; so the Spirit of 
 God comiug and thrusting him out of possession dwelleth in us, leading us 
 into all truth, replenishing us with all grace, and inclining us to all holy 
 
516 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 obedience. There is little question, but whilst men remain in the state of 
 infidelity, the strong man Satan ke-eps possession, and dwelleth in them, 
 though not after a gross and sensible manner as in demoniacs, yet invisibly, 
 and spiritually ruling and reigning in them, and making them his slaves to 
 do his will ; and therefore by the same reason when a stronger than he 
 cometh, even the good Spirit of God, he casts him out, and takes posses- 
 sion, and dwells, and reigns, and rules in our souls and bodies. 
 
 4. If the Spirit itself dwell not in us, then how would there be three 
 that bear witness ? The apostle tells us, “ There are three that bear witness 
 in earth, (or in our hearts,) the Spirit, the water, and blood,” 1 John 5:8; 
 now by water is meant sanctification, or it is our sanctification that bears 
 witness with us that we are the children of God ; and this sanctification 
 consists either in the habit of grace, or in the actings of grace ; if there- 
 fore the Spirit of Christ in a believer were nothing else but grace, then it 
 were all one with the testimony of water; but there are three that bear 
 witness, there is the testimony of the Spirit, of blood, and of water; not 
 only justification and sanctification, which are but two witnesses, but the 
 Spirit is superadded, and that also bears witness in our consciences, that 
 we are the children of God, and that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 
 Christians ! think me not tedious in these proofs, these are not specula- 
 tive notional points, that tend not to edification, but are exceeding profit- 
 able. Only concerning the manner of the indwelling of this Spirit in us, 
 it is most difficult to conceive. Certainly it dwells not in us as in Christ, 
 viz.: bodily, Col. 2 : 9, unmeasureably, John 3 : 34, originally, 2 Cor. 3:17; 
 the Spirit is in Christ, as light in the sun, but the Spirit is in us as light 
 in the air:* neither dare I affirm, that the Spirit is in us more essentially 
 than in any other men or creatures, for the essence thereof is individual 
 and omnipresent : but this I say, That the Spirit is in the faithful above 
 all others. 1. In respect of covenant, the saints have the Spirit by God’s 
 free grace and covenant, “ I will put my Spirit within you,” Ezek. 36:27; 
 37 : 14, saith God in the covenant, which is not only to be understood of 
 the gifts and graces of his Spirit, but also of the Spirit itself. 2. In respect 
 of intimate familiarity and near acquaintance, the Spirit is in the faithful, 
 like an intimate co-inhabitant, comforting, directing, ruling, strengthening 
 and cherishing them ; in which respect they are said to be his houses and 
 temples, in which he dwelleth ; whereas contrariwise, worldlings and infidels 
 to all these purposes are mere strangers unto him, “ The world cannot 
 receive him, saith Christ, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, 
 but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you,” John 
 14 : 17. 3. In respect of virtue and efficacy, the Spirit works efficaciously 
 in his saints : he chooseth them for his own people, he possesseth them as 
 of his own right, he rules in their hearts as in the chief seat of his king- 
 dom, he purgeth and purifieth them from their sins, he replenisheth and 
 filleth them with his saving graces, he guides and directs them in the way 
 of holiness, and never leaves them till he brings them to his kingdom. 
 4. In respect of union, it was au old error of the Heathens, that the soul 
 remained in the body after death, which opinion of theirs, though false, 
 because it contradicts the word, yet the thing itself is possible, and doth not 
 contradict reason, for the soul may have its local being in the body, and yet 
 not give life to the body, for it is not the soul’s being in the body, but its 
 being united to the body, which makes the body live; so it is not the 
 Spirit’s being locally with the soul, but being mystically united to the soul, 
 that gives it spiritual life. Now, in all these respects, the Spirit is in the 
 faithful above all others. 
 
 * In Christo ut lux in sole, in nobis ut lumen in aere. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 517 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 I know the objections, as, — 1. If the Spirit be united to a believer’s 
 soul, and so made one with him, then may a believer say, “I am the Spirit, 
 or I am equal with God in respect of the Spirit in me, though not as 
 Peter, Thomas,” &c. Bat I answer, This follows not, though the Spirit be 
 really uuited to a believer’s spirit, so that he may say with the apostle, 
 “He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit,” 1 Cor. 6: 17, or hath one 
 spirit ; yet, first, this union is a voluntary act, and not a natural act, and 
 in that respect the Spirit may unite himself to the soul as far as he pleaseth, 
 and no farther; and certainly thus far he is not pleased to unite himself 
 to a believer, as that a believer should say properly, “ I am the Spirit, or 
 I am equal with God in respect of the Spirit;” for then a believer might 
 be worshipped with divine worship. 2. This union is by way of applica- 
 tion, and not by way of mixture ; if an heap of wheat and a stone should 
 be joined together, there is an union, they make both one heap, but the 
 wheat cannot, say, I am a stone, nor can the stone say, I am wheat, because 
 this union is only by way of application ; but if wine and water should 
 be joined together, then every part may say, I am water, and I am wine, 
 because this union is not only by way of application, but by way of mixture. 
 Certainly there is a great union betwixt the Spirit and a believer’s soul, yet 
 cannot the believer say properly, “ I am the Spirit, or I am equal with 
 God,” because their union is only by way of application, and not by way 
 of mixture. 
 
 2. Obj. No more was the union of Christ as God, with our nature as 
 man, any union by way of mixture, yet could he say, I am God, and I am 
 man. But I answer, Christ’s union was not only spiritual or mystical, 
 but hvpostatical or personal; and, in that respect, though there was no 
 mixture, yet there was such an union as cannot be paralleled in all the 
 world. Our soul’s union with the Spirit of Christ goes very far, and 
 indeed so far as we cannot express it, though we had the tongues, and 
 heads, and hearts of men and angels, yet comes it short of that union 
 betwixt the second person in the Trinity, and the soul and body of Christ; 
 his union was personal, but so not ours : a believer is a person before he 
 is united to the Spirit of Christ; but now Christ’s soul and body were not 
 a person before united to the person of the Godhead. Go we therefore as 
 far as we can, and I shall easily yield that our union with the Spirit is a 
 true, real, essential, substantial, spiritual, invisible, mystical, and intimate 
 union, yet it is not a personal or hypostatical union ; the Spirit doth not 
 assume the soul or body of a believer, as the second person assumed the 
 soul and body of Christ. Away, away with these cavils and blasphemies, 
 wherewith too many unstable souls are now infected ! I have done with 
 this reason. 
 
 4. That the Holy Ghost might, according to his office, endue men with 
 gifts, no sooner he bestows his person, but immediately he fills us with 
 his train. 
 
 Now the gifts of the Spirit are of these two sorts, some are common to 
 good and bad ; others are proper to the elect only. Those gifts which 
 are common, are again two-fold, for some of them are given but to cer- 
 tain men, and at certain times, as the gift of miracles, of tongues, of 
 prophecies, and these were necessary for the apostles, and the primitive 
 church, when the gospel was first to be dispersed ; others are given to all 
 the members of the church, and at all times, as the gifts of interpretation, 
 sciences, arts, prudence, learning, knowledge, eloquence, and such like ; 
 the former gifts we have not, but these latter are now given to every 
 member of the church, according to the measure of Christ’s gift; as the 
 calling and vocation of every member needeth. As for those gifts and 
 saving graces which are proper for the godly, I shall speak of them anon 
 
 
518 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 Now here is another reason of the Spirit’s mission, “That he might give 
 gifts unto men,” Eph. 4 : 8. If you ask, What are these gifts? The 
 apostle tells you in one place, “ He gave some apostles, and some prophets, 
 and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers/’ verse 11. Three 
 of those gifts are now gone, and their date is out, but in the same place 
 we find pastors and teachers, and them we have still ; Oh ! how may this 
 teach us to think of such, (even of pastors and teachers,) as of the special 
 gifts and favors of Jesus Christ ; if our special friend should but send us 
 from a far country, one of his chief servants, would we not welcome him ? 
 Christ now is in heaven, and he sends us ministers, as the stewards of his 
 house ; sure if we had any love to Christ, “ The very feet of them would 
 be precious, and beautiful, who bring us glad tidings of peace,” Rom. 
 10 : 15. Again, the apostle tells us in another place, That “ there are 
 diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit ; and diversities of callings, but the 
 same Lord or Christ; and diversities of works, but the same God and 
 Father, which worketh all in all,” 1 Cor. 12 : 4, 5, 6. Christ’s errand being 
 done, and he gone up on high, the Spirit came down, and in Christ’s stead 
 established order in the church, which order or establishment is here set 
 down, by gifts, callings and works. Here is First, a gift, Secondly, a call- 
 ing, Thirdly, a work. Gifts are ascribed to the Spirit, callings to Christ, 
 and works to God, even to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; where the 
 Spirit ends, Christ begins, and where Christ ends, God begins ; if no gift, 
 we must stay there, and never meddle with the calling; and if no calling, 
 we must stay there, and never meddle with the work ; first the Spirit 
 comes, and bestows the gift, and then Christ comes, and bestows the call- 
 ing, and then God the Father comes, and sets us to the work : the gift is 
 for the calling, and the gift and calling are both for the work. And if 
 this be the order established by the Spirit in his church, Oh ! what shall 
 we say of them that either have no gifts, yet step into the calling, as if 
 there were no need of the Holy Ghost ; or that have no calling, and yet 
 will fall upon the work, utterly against the mind and rule of Jesus Christ? 
 Oh ! what the poor church of Christ suffers at this time in these respects ! 
 Certainly these men have no commission from the Holy Spirit; he was 
 never sent to them that break this order, first gifts, and then calling, and 
 then the work. 
 
 But why doth the Spirit endue men with gifts? Surely saith the apostle, 
 to this end, to profit withal, 1 Cor. 12 : 7. Gifts are given for the good of 
 others, gifts are for edifying : we should not contemn them, gifts are a bless- 
 ing of God, and therefore we are to endeavour after them, “ Let thy profit- 
 ing appear to all, and covet earnestly the best gifts,” 1 Tim. 4:15, “and 
 yet (says Paul) I show unto you a more excellent way,” 1 Cor. 12 : 31, and 
 that was true grace, of which he discourseth in the next chapter, and this 
 brings in another reason of the Spirit’s mission. 
 
 5. That the Holy Ghost might, according to his office, endue men with 
 graces. In doing this, he first gives the inward principle and habit of 
 grace, and then the fruit or actings of grace. 1. He gives a power, a habit, 
 a spiritual ability, a seed, a spring, a principle of grace, whatsoever we call 
 it, I cannot conceive it to be a new faculty, added to those which are in 
 men by nature : a man when he is regenerate, hath no more faculties in his 
 soul than he had before he was regenerate, only in the work of regeneration, 
 those abilities which the man had, are improved to work spiritually, as be- 
 fore naturally; as our bodies in the resurrection from the dead shall have 
 no more, nor other parts than they have at present, only those which are 
 now natural, shall then by the power of God be made spiritual, 1 Cor. 15: 
 44. Now this principle is infused or poured in by the Spirit of God; and 
 hence he is called “ the Spirit of sanctification/’ 2 Thess. 2 : 13. 2. He 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 519 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 gives the fruit or actings of grace, “ but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, 
 peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, ” 
 Gal. 5 : 22, 23. Some call these the diversifications of the actings of that 
 spiritual principle within us; certainly the Spirit doth not only at first in- 
 fuse the principles of grace, but he doth also enable us to act and improve 
 those blessed principles; he doth not only give us power to holy actions, but 
 he also works the holy actions themselves, God worketh in us not only to 
 will, but to do, Phil. 2 : 13. God hath a twofold grace, initial and convert- 
 ing, exciting and quickening ; in respect of this last, David prays, “ Quicken 
 me after thy loving kindness, 0 Lord, and so shall I keep thy testimonies,” 
 Psal. 119 : 88. This is the actuating grace that we need every hour, and 
 every moment, and must pray for more earnestly than we should pray for 
 our daily bread. Two privileges more especially flow from this : as, — 1. 
 Hereby the soul will be kept from negligence and dulness, from gross and 
 foul sins ; the apostle calls it “ Grace to help in time of need,” Heb. 4 : 16. 
 Oh 1 this is admirable, when grace comes in the very nick of need ; it may 
 be some time or other thou wcrt even falling into such and such a sin, it 
 may be thou wert some time or other drowning in such and such a wicked- 
 ness, and this exciting, quickening grace, came in and kept up thy head 
 above the waters. 2. Hereby the soul will be kept in a frame for every 
 duty; if the Spirit come but with exciting, quickening grace, then it is 
 ready to say, “ My heart is prepared, 0 Lord, my heart is prepared, I can 
 now do and suffer thy will.” Sometimes the principle of grace lies still 
 within us, and begins to rust, but then comes the Holy Ghost, and breathes 
 upon our souls, and so it excites, and quickens, and commands faith, pa- 
 tience, zeal, and other graces to be in exercise : and this is as it were the 
 file to take off the rust, it is the whetting of the edge, it is the stirring up 
 of the coals into a mighty flame. Christians ! have you not clear experi- 
 mental demonstrations of this truth ? Sometimes you are on the wing of 
 duty, and sometimes you are dull and dead ; sometimes the least temptation, 
 the least snare is ready to make you fall, and sometimes again, though 
 strong winds and tempests blow upon you, yet you are able to stand like 
 Mount Zion that cauuot be remeved : Oh ! What is the reason of the differ- 
 ence ? Surely according to the incomes of the Spirit of God, this difference 
 comes not from ourselves, but from the Spirit ; as this exciting quickening 
 grace is ready or afar off, so is our condition ; you know what changes 
 David usually found in his own heart, sometimes he was able to trust in 
 God, and at other times he was so cast down, as if he had no strength within 
 him, and whence all this, but from the ebbings and flowings of exciting 
 quickening grace? Well may we cry, Come holy Spirit; Oh! what a com- 
 fortable condition would it be, if our spirits never lay still, but we were 
 always hungering, thirsting, or moving after God and goodness? 
 
 6. That the Holy Ghost might according to his office, comfort his saints 
 amidst all their afflictions; this was that which Christ had so often told his 
 apostles, “ I will not leave you comfortless, I will come unto you, John 14 . 
 18. — Aud I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, 
 that he may abide with you for ever, verse 16. — But the Comforter which 
 is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach 
 you all things, verse 26 : — But when the Comforter is come, whom I will 
 scud unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which procedeth 
 from the Father, he shall testify of me, John 15: 26. — If I go not away, 
 the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart I will send him unto 
 you,” John 16 : 17. 
 
 But how is it that the Spirit comforts saints ? I answer, in these particu- 
 lars. 
 
520 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 1. * The Spirit discovers sin, and bends the heart to monrn for sin ; and 
 such a sorrow as this, is the seed and matter of true comfort ; as Joseph's 
 heart was full of joy, when his eyes poured out tears on Benjamin's neck, 
 so there is a certain seed and matter of joy in spiritual mourning ; I know 
 they are contrary, but yet they maybe subordinate to each other: as a dark 
 and muddy color may be a fit ground to lay gold upon. Certainly there is 
 a sweet complacency in an humble and spiritual heart, to be vile in its own 
 eyes; but especially, the fruit of it is joy, and great joy, “A woman when 
 she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come, but as soon as she 
 is delivered of the child, she remembered no more the anguish, for joy that 
 a man is born into the world, and ye now therefore have sorrow, but I will 
 see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from 
 you,” John 16 : 21, 22. 
 
 2. The Spirit doth not only discover, but heal the corruptions of the soul, 
 and there is no comfort to the comfort of a saved and cured man ; the lame 
 man that was restored by Peter, expressed the abundant exultation of his 
 heart, by leaping and praising God, Acts 3 : 8, and for this cause the Spirit 
 is called, The oil of gladness, because by that healing virtue that is in him, 
 he makes glad the heart of man. 
 
 8. The Spirit doth not only heal, but renew and revive again ; when an 
 eye is smitten with a sword, there is a double mischief, a wound made, and 
 a faculty perished ; and here, though a surgeon can heal the wound, yet he 
 can never restore the faculty, because total privations admit no regress or 
 recovery. But the Spirit doth not only heal, and repair, but renew, and re- 
 edify the spirits of men ; as he healeth that which was torn, and bindeth up 
 that which was broken, so he reviveth, and raiseth up that which was dead 
 before, Hos. 6:1,2. And this the apostle calls, “ The renovation of the 
 Spirit,” Tit. 3 : 5. Now this renovation must needs be matter of great joy, 
 for so the Lord comforts his afflicted people, “ 0 thou afflicted, tossed with 
 tempests, and not comforted, behold I will lay thy stones with fair colours, 
 and lay thy foundations with sapphires; and I will make thy windows of 
 agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones,” 
 Isa. 54 : 11, 12. The meaning is, that all must be new, and new built up, 
 as for a godly, costly, and stately structure. 
 
 4. The Spirit doth not only renew and set the frame of the heart aright, 
 and then leave it to itself ; but being thus restored, he abideth with it to 
 preserve and support it; and to make it victorious, against all tempests 
 and batteries ; and thus further multiplieth the joy and comfort of the heart ; 
 victory is ever the ground of joy, “ They joy before thee, — as men rejoice 
 when they divide the spoil,” Isa. 9 :3. And the Spirit of God is a victori- 
 ous Spirit, “A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall 
 he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory,” Matth. 12 : 20. 
 
 5. The Spirit doth not only preserve the heart which he hath renewed, 
 but he makes it fruitful and abundant in the work of the Lord. And fruit- 
 fulness is a ground of comfort, “ Sing, 0 barren, thou that didst not bear, 
 break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with 
 child, for more are the children of the desolate, than the children of the 
 married wife, saith the Lord,” Isa. 54:1. 
 
 6. The Spirit doth not only make the heart fruitful, but gives it the 
 pledge and earnest of its inheritance, and thereby it begets a lively hope, 
 an earnest expectation, a confident attendance upon the promises, and an 
 unspeakable peace and comfort thereupon. Oh ! Wheu I feel a drop of 
 heaven’s joy, shed abroad into my soul by the Holy Ghost, and that I look 
 upou this as a taste of glory, and a forerunner of happiness, How should I 
 
 *See at large Dr. Reynolds on Psal. 110. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 521 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 but rejoice with joy unspeakable? In all these respects, the Spirit is our 
 comforter : and this is another reason why the Holy Ghost is sent, “ I will 
 not leave you comfortless, saith Christ, No, no, for I will come unto you by 
 mv Spirit.” 
 
 7. That the Holy Ghost might according to his office “ seal us unto the 
 day of redemption,” Eph. 4: 30. By sealing is meant, some work of the 
 Spirit by which he assures a believer, that he is God’s : it is all one with 
 the Spirit’s witnessing ; only under that notion I shall speak of it another 
 time. 
 
 But all the question is, what is that work of the Spirit by which he as- 
 sures ? I answer, this work is manifold. As, 
 
 1. There is a reflex work of faith, and this is the work of the Spirit too, 
 assuring our souls of our good estate to God-ward, and Christ-ward, “ He 
 that believeth hath the witness in himself :” 1 John 5 : 10. He carries in 
 his heart the counterpane of all the promises, this is the first seal, or if you 
 will, the first degree of the Spirit’s sealing; the first discovery of our elec- 
 tion is manifested to us in our believing, “ as many (saith the text) as were 
 ordained to eternal life believed,” Acts 12 :48. 
 
 2. -There is a work of sanctifying grace upon the heart, and this is a seal 
 of the Spirit also ; for whom the Spirit sanctifieth, he saveth. “ The Lord 
 knoweth who are his,” saith the apostle, 2 Tim. 2 : 19. Ay, but how should 
 we know it? why, by this seal ; as it follows, “ Let every one that nameth 
 the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” None are children of God by 
 adoption, but those that are children also by regeneration ; none are heirs of 
 heaven, but they are new born to it, “ Blessed be God the Father of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, who hath begotten us anew — to an inheritance incorrup- 
 tible,” 1 Pet. 1 : 3, 4. This seal of sanctification leaves upon the soul, the 
 likeness of Jesus Christ, even grace for grace. 
 
 There is a work of assisting, exciting, quickening grace ; or of God’s 
 gracious concourse with that habitual grace which he hath wrought in his 
 people ; now, this is various, according to the good pleasure of his will ; the 
 Spirit is more mightily present to some than others, yea more to the same 
 man at sometimes, and in some conditions; sometimes the same Christian 
 is as a burning and shining light, sometimes as a smoking flax, “ The Spirit 
 blows where it listeth,” John 3 : 8. Sometimes he fills the soul with fuller 
 gales, sometimes again she is becalmed, a man bath more of the Spirit at 
 one time than another; now when the Spirit comes in thus by exciting, 
 quickening, stirring, and enabling us to act, so that we can say as sometimes 
 the prophet said, “ It was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, 
 and I was weary with forbearing, and could not stay,” Jer. 20 : 9. Why, 
 then the Spirit seals and gives assurance to our souls, that we are his. 
 
 4. There is a work of shining upon, or enlightening those graces which 
 the Spirit plants in us, and helps us to exercise, this seals to the purpose; 
 and of this it is that the apostle speaks, We have received not the spirit of 
 the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we may know the things 
 that are freely given us of God, 1 Cor. 2 : 12. The things given to us, 
 may be freely received by us, and yet the receipt of them not known to 
 us ; therefore the Spirit for our farther consolation doth, as it were, put his 
 hand and seal to our receipts, he shines upon our graces, or he enlightens 
 our graces, whereby we may know we believe, and know that we live. In- 
 deed this is rare with God’s own people; sometimes, notwithstanding this 
 seal, we may be in such a state as Paul and his company were in the ship, 
 u When they saw neither sun nor star for many days together,” Acts 27 : 
 20. So it may be that for a time we may see neither sun nor star, neither 
 light in God’s countenance, nor light in our souls, no grace issuing from 
 God, no grace carrying the soul to God ; yet in this dark condition, if we 
 
522 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 do as Paul and his company did, i. e. if we cast anchor even in the dark 
 night of temptation, and pray still for day, God will appear, and all shall 
 clear up : we shall at last see light without, and see light within, surely the 
 day-star will arise in our hearts. 
 
 5. There is a work of joy and comfort; and this is a super-added seal 
 of the Spirit; the works of the Spirit you may see are of a double kind; 
 either in us by imprinting sanctifying grace, or upon us by shining on our 
 souls, and by sweet feelings of joy ; habitual grace, or sanctifying grace 
 is more constant, and always like itself; but this work of comfort and 
 joy, is of the nature of such privileges, as God vouchsafeth at one time, 
 and not at another; and hence it is, that a Christian may have grace, 
 and a Christian may know himself to be in the state of grace, and yet 
 in regard of comfort, God may be gone. Thus it was with Job, he knew 
 his Redeemer lived, and he resolved to trust in him, though he killed 
 him ; he knew he was no hypocrite, he knew his graces were true ; not- 
 withstanding all the objections and imputations of his friends, they could 
 not dispute him out of his sincerity, “ My righteousness I hold fast, and 
 I will not let it go,” Job 27 : 6. Yet for the present he saw no light from 
 heaven, but he was in a sore and afflicted condition, till it pleased the 
 Lord to reveal himself in special favor unto him. Now, this work of joy 
 usually comes not till after faith, and many experiences of God’s love, 
 and much waiting upon God. These are the several works of the Spirit’s 
 sealing. 
 
 But why is it that we can neither actually believe, nor can know that we 
 believe, nor can enjoy peace and joy in believing, without a fresh and new 
 act of the Spirit ? 
 
 I answer, because the whole carriage of a soul to heaven is above nature; 
 where the Spirit makes a stand, we stand, and can go no farther; without 
 the help of the Spirit we can neither make promises, nor conclude for our- 
 selves ; it is the Spirit that sanctifies, and witnesses, and “ seals our souls 
 unto the day of redemption.” Many other reasons may be rendered, but 
 I shall speak of them in the end of the Spirit’s mission. 
 
 Thus far we have propounded the object, viz. : The ascension of Christ, 
 the session of Christ at God’s right-hand, and Christ’s mission of the 
 Holy Ghost; our next work is to direct you how to look unto Jesus in these 
 respects. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of knowing Jesus as carrying on the great work of our salva- 
 tion , in his ascension , session , and mission of the Spirit. 
 
 1. Let us know Jesus, carrying on the great work of our salvation for 
 us, in his ascension into heaven, in his sessiou at God’s right hand, and in 
 his mission of the Holy Ghost; these are points of great use: if these 
 transactions had not been, where had we been ? These are points of highest 
 speculation ; if these transactions had not been, where had Christ been ? 
 After his humiliation, herein lay the exaltation of his glorious person; he 
 was exalted above the earth, above the clouds, above the stars, above the 
 heavens, above the heaven of heavens ; 0 ! the glorious majesty of our 
 King Jesus, as sitting down at God’s right hand, our salvation is the 
 greatest mystery that ever was, it being made up of the various workings 
 of the glory of God ; for us men, and for our salvation Christ was incar- 
 
CHAP, n.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 523 
 
 natc, and came down from heaven; and for us men, and for our salvation 
 Christ was exalted, and went up into heaven. Here is an object of admi- 
 ration indeed, the very angels at the sight of it stood admiring and adoring; 
 it took up their heart, astonished their understanding ; surely it was the 
 blessedest sight that ever the angels did, or could behold ; come then, and 
 0 my soul! do thou take a view of that which they admire, the design is 
 not so principally concerning angels, as thyself : they are in it only as afar 
 off, and in general ; but it concerns thee in special and particular ; and 
 therefore study close this argument, and know it for thyself. Study, 1. the 
 ascension of Christ, how, and whither, and why he ascended. 2. Study 
 the session of Christ at God’s right hand ; 0 the mines, the riches of that 
 spiritual heavenly knowledge! 3. Study the mission of the Holy Ghost; 
 not a circumstance in it but deserves thy study : worlds of wealth, ten 
 thousand times better than gold, or silver, or precious stones, may be found 
 in the diggings of these mines. Have not many students beat out their 
 brains on lesser subjects ? What endeavors have there been to dive into 
 the secrets of nature ? What volumes have been written of physics, meta- 
 physics, mathematics ? And is not this subject, Christ, is not every one 
 of these subjects, Christ’s ascension, Christ’s session, Christ’s mission of 
 the Holy Spirit, of more worth, and value, and benefit, than all those? 
 Come, study that piece of the Bible, wherein these are written ; there is 
 not a line or expression of Christ in the Scripture, but it is matter enough 
 for a whole age to comment on ; thou needest not to leave old principles 
 for new discoveries ; for in these very particulars thou mightest find succes- 
 sive sweetness unto all eternity. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of considering Jesus in that respect. 
 
 1. Let us know Jesus carrying on the great work of our salvation for 
 us, in these particulars : we must not only study to know these things, but 
 we must meditate on them till they come down from our heads to our 
 hearts. Meditation is the poise that sets all the wheels within agoing; it 
 were to small purpose to bid us desire, hope, believe, love, joy, &c., if first, 
 we did not meditate; in meditation it is that the understanding works, 
 that the will is inclined to follow, that devotion is refreshed, that faith is 
 increased, hope established, love kindled ; and therefore begin here, 0 my 
 soul ! it is a due consideration that gives both life, and light, and motion, 
 to thy aetings in all proceedings. 
 
 And to take them in order : 
 
 1. Consider of Christ’s ascension into heaven. Methinks souls should 
 put themselves into the condition of the disciples, u when they looked 
 steadfastly towards heaven as Christ went up,” Acts 1 : 10. What, shall he 
 ascend, and shall not we in our contemplations follow after him ? Gaze, O 
 my soul, on this wonderful object! thou needest not fear any check from 
 God or angels, so that thy contemplation be spiritual and divine. No sooner 
 had Christ finished his work of redemption here on earth, but on the mount 
 called Olivet, he assembles with his disciples, where, having given them 
 commands, he begins to mount; and being a little lifted up into the air, 
 presently a cloud receives him into her lap. Herein is a clear demonstra- 
 tion of his Godhead ; clouds are usually in Scriptures put for the house, or 
 temple, or receptacle of God himself. How often it is said, that “ the 
 glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud?” Exod. 16 : 10. And that “lie 
 came to Moses in a thick cloud,” Exod. 19 : 9. And that “ he called unto 
 Moses out of the midst of the cloud,” Exod. 24:16. And that “the 
 Lord descended in the cloud,” Exod. 34 : 5. Is not the cloud God’s own 
 chariot ? “ Behold the Lord rideth on a swift cloud,” Isa. 19 : 1. “Aud, 
 
 0 Lord my God, thou art very great, saith David; great indeed, and he 
 
524 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 proves it thus; who maketh the clouds his chariot,” Psalm 104 : 3. Jesus 
 Christ in his ascension to heaven enters by the way into a cloud ; this was 
 his chariot, led by thousands and ten thousands of his angels, “The chariots 
 of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels, the Lord is among 
 them as in Sinai in the holy place, thou hast ascended on high, thou hast 
 led captivity captive, thou hast received gifts for men,” Psalm 68 : 17, 18. 
 Some are of opinion, that not only thousands of angels led this chariot, but 
 that many of the saints which slept and rose with Christ at his resurrection, 
 now ascended with him, compassed about this glorious cloud; whence they 
 gave this for the meaning of the text, “That when he went up through 
 the air, and ascended up on high, he led captivity captive : that is, he led a 
 certain number of captives, namely, the saints that were long held in cap- 
 tivity of death, whose bodies arose at Christ’s resurrection, and now they 
 accompanied Christ in his triumphant march into heaven.”* However he 
 was attended, be not too curious, (0 my soul in this !) the bright cloud that 
 covered his body, discovered his dignity; and therefore here is thy duty; 
 to look steadfastly towards heaven, and to worship him in his ascension up 
 into heaven ; 0 admire and adore ! 
 
 But stay not thy contemplation in the cloud, he ascends yet higher, 
 through the air, and through the clouds, and through the sphere, or ele- 
 ment of fire, and through those orbs of the Moon, Mercury, Mars; of the 
 Sun, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn; and through that azure heaven of fixed 
 stars, and through that first moveable, and through those condensed and 
 solid waters of the crystalline heaven ; nor stood he still till be came to 
 those doors and gates of the imperial heaven, called “the heaven of 
 heavens;” in all this triumphant glorious march, some tell us of an 
 heavenly harmony made by those choristers of heaven, the blessed angels : 
 “ Some going before, and some going after, they chaut his praises, and sing 
 hallelujahs ;” "j* and that is the meauing of the Psalmist, “God is gone up 
 with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet,” Psalm 47 : 5. In 
 this meditation pass not over thy duty, which immediately follows, “ Sing 
 praises to God, sing praises, sing praises unto our king, sing praises, verse 6. 
 — Sing unto God, sing praises to his name, extol him that rideth upon the 
 heavens, by his name JAH, and rejoice before him,” Psalm 68 : 4. Thou 
 hast great cause, 0 my soul, to praise him, and to rejoice before him, espe- 
 cially if thou considerest that Christ ascended not for himself, but also for 
 thee; it is God in our nature that is gone up to heaven; whatever God 
 acted on the person of Christ, that he did as in thy behalf, and he means 
 to act the very same on thee; Christ as a public person ascended up to 
 heaven ; thy interest is in this very ascension of Jesus Christ, and there- 
 fore dost thou consider thy head as soaring up ? 0 let every member 
 
 praise his name ! let thy tongue (called thy glory) glory in this, and 
 trumpet out his praises, that, in respect of thy duty, it may be verified, 
 “ Christ is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.” 
 And yet stay not by the way, but consider farther, Christ being now ar- 
 rived at heaven’s doors, those heavenly spirits that accompanied him, began 
 to say, “ Lift up your heads, 0 ye gates, even lift up yourselves, ye ever- 
 lasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in,” Psalm 24 : 7. To 
 whom some of the angels that were within, not ignorant of his person, but 
 admiring his majesty and glory, said again, “ Who is the King of glory ?” 
 and then they answered, “ To the Lord strong and mighty, The Lord 
 mighty in battle,” verse 8 ; and thereupon those “ twelve gates of the holy 
 city, of the new Jerusalem,” opened of their own accord, Rev. 21 : 12. 
 And Jesus Christ with all his ministering spirits entered in. 0 my soul ! 
 
 * English annotations on Eph. 4 : 8. 
 
 f Cypr. in Serm. Ascens. 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 525 
 
 how should this heighten thy joy, and enlarge thy comforts, in that Christ 
 is now received up into glory ? Every sight of Christ is glorious, and in 
 every sight thou shouldst wait on the Lord Jesus Christ for some glorious 
 manifestations of himself. Come, live up to the rate of this great mystery, 
 view Christ as entering into glory, and thou wilt find the same sparkles of 
 glory on thy heart. 0 this sight is a transforming sight! “We all with 
 open face, beholding as iu 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,” 
 2 Cor. 3 : 18. 
 
 2. Consider of Christ’s session at God’s right hand : no sooner was Christ 
 
 entered into heaven, but he is brought before his heavenly Father* and 
 herein was the vision accomplished, “ I saw in the night visions, and behold 
 one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the 
 Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him, and there was 
 given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom,” Dan. 7 : 13, Id. This 
 is that we call his session at God’s right hand; a dominion was given him 
 above all creatures, yea, a dominion above the hierarchy of all the angels; 
 0 the glory of Christ at his first entrance into glory ! immediately all the 
 angels fell down and worshipped him ; immediately his Father welcomed 
 him with the highest grace that ever was yet shown, “ Come, (said he,) sit 
 thou at my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy foot-stool,” Psalm 
 110 : 1. One sweetly observes, That usually in the several parts of the 
 performance of Christ’s office, either God is brought in as speaking to 
 Christ, or Christ is brought in as speaking to his Father ; thus when he 
 chose him first to be our Mediator, God speaks to Christ, “ Thou art a priest 
 for ever after the order of Melchisedec,” and when Christ came to take upon 
 him our nature, he spake to his Father, “ Lo, I come to do thy will, a body 
 hast thou prepared for me,” Heb. 10 : 7. Again, when Christ hung on 
 the cross, he speaks to his Father, “ My God, my God, why hast thou for- 
 saken me ?” Psalm 22 : 1. But when Christ rose again from the dead, 
 God spake to him, “ Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee,” 
 Acts 13 : 33. And when Christ ascended into heaven, God spake to him, 
 “ Son, sit thou down at my right-hand,” Heb. 1 : 13. This was the highest 
 point of Christ’s elevation, now was the prophecy accomplished, “ He shall 
 be exalted and extolled, and be very high,” Isa. 52 : 13. The Chaldee 
 paraphrast reads it thus, “ He shall be exalted above Abraham, he shall be 
 extolled more than Moses, he shall be very high, above the brightest 
 cherubim or seraphim !” 0 my soul ! meditate on this session of Christ at 
 
 God’s right-hand ; and thence drawdown some virtue and sweetness into 
 thyself. What? Was Christ exalted ? Had he a name given him above 
 every name ? Walk, then, as becomes those that have so glorious a head : 
 0 defile not that nature which in thy Christ was so highly honored ! it was 
 the apostle’s arguing, “ Shall I take the members of Christ, and make them 
 the members of an harlot !” 1 Cor. 6 : 15. So argue thou, Shall I take 
 the nature of Christ, that nature which he in his person hath so highly 
 glorified, and make it in. my person the nature of a devil? 0 my soul! 
 walk worthy of such a Lord, unto all well-pleasing; since now he is on his 
 throne at God’s right, 0 kiss the Son ! honor the Son with divine 
 worship, reverence, and submission; submit cheerfully and willingly to the 
 sceptre of his word, bow to his name, as it is written, At the name, the 
 person, the power, the sceptre, “ of Jesus Christ, every knee should bow,” 
 Phil. 2 : 10. 
 
 3. Consider of the mission of the Holy Ghost; no sooner is Christ in- 
 augurated in his throne, but he scatters his coin, and gives gifts, “ when 
 he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men,” 
 Eph. 4 : 8. He gave gifts, or the gift of gifts, the gift of the Holy Ghost, 
 
526 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK. IV. 
 
 “ If thou knewest the gift of God,” John 4 : 10, said Christ to the Samari- 
 tan woman, That gift was the water of life, and that water of life was the 
 Spirit, as John who knew best his mind, gave the interpretation, “ This 
 spake he of the Spirit,” John 7 ; 39. 0 my soul ! consider of this princely 
 
 gift of Christ ; such a gift was never before, but when God gave his Son, 
 “ God so loved the world, that he gave his Son,” and Christ so loved the 
 world, that he gave his Spirit ; but, 0 my soul ! consider especially to whom 
 this Spirit was given ; the application of the gift is the very soul of thy 
 meditation, “unto us a Son is given,” saith the prophet, Isaiah 9 : 6, and 
 “ unto us the Holy Ghost is given,” saith the apostle, Rom. 5 : 5. And 
 yet above all, consider the reasons of this gift in reference to thyself, was it 
 not to make thee a temple and receptacle of the Holy Ghost? Stand a 
 while on this; admire, 0 my soul ! at the condescending, glorious, and un- 
 speakable love of Christ in this ! it was infinite love to come down into our 
 nature when he was incarnate; but this is more, to come down into thy 
 heart by his Holy Spirit ; he came near to us then, but as if that were not 
 near enough, he comes nearer now; for now he unites himself unto thy 
 person, now he comes, and dwells in thy soul by his Holy Spirit; 0 my 
 soul ! thou hast many incomes of the world, though many are above thee, 
 yet many are below thee ; but, oh ! what little contentment hast thou in 
 these outward things? Come, here is that which will infinitely content thy 
 vast desires; “ Christ is in thee, really in thee by his Spirit;” will not this 
 content the utmost capacity of an heart? Surely he is too covetous, whom 
 God himself cannot suffice; if thou hast Christ, thou hast all things, and 
 if thou hast the Spirit of Christ, thou hast Christ himself, not notionally, 
 not by the habit of grace only, but really, essentially, substantially by his 
 Spirit; it is the very Spirit of Christ, the Spirit itself; the Holy Ghost 
 itself in his own person that is united to thee, and dwells in thee, not only 
 comes he in person, but he brings along with him all his train ; hath he 
 not endued thee with some gifts ? Hath he not divided a portion and 
 measure to thee in thy place and calling ? Take notice, observe it, and be 
 thankful ; if thou hast a gift of prayer, of prophecy, of wisdom, of know- 
 ledge, it comes and flows from his Holy Spirit; “Unto every one of us is 
 given grace, according to the measure of the gift of Christ,” Eph. 4 : 7. 
 Or, according to the measure of the Spirit, who is the gift of Christ, and 
 all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man 
 severally as he will, 1 Cor. 12 : 11. But besides a gift, hath he not endued 
 thee with his grace ? Hath he not planted in thy soul the habit, the power, 
 the seed, the spring, the principle of grace? Hast thou not felt sometimes 
 the excitings, quickenings, stirrings of the Spirit of God, commanding thy 
 faith, love, zeal, and other graces to be in exercise ? Hath he not many a 
 time at some dead lift, at some mighty strait, at some prevailing temptation, 
 when thou wast even ready to yield to Satan, come in as betwixt the bridge 
 and water, and given thee grace to help in time of need ? Heb. 4 : 16. 0 
 
 the sweet incomes of the Spirit of God ! as he is an Holy Spirit, so he 
 makes holy hearts, and if there be any holiness in thy heart, what is it but 
 an emanation, influence, effect, of the Spirit of God ? If ever thou hadst 
 any flowings of exciting, quickening grace, say, “This is above nature, 
 above flesh and blood, it comes from the holy and blessed Spirit of God.” 
 Some other effects thou mayest consider of, as of the comforts of the Spirit ; 
 what, hast thou not sometimes felt the joys unspeakable and full of glory ? 
 Hast thou not sometimes known a morning’s joy, after a night’s sorrow' ? 
 An healing of thy broken heart, a reviving of thy dead spirit, a drop of 
 heaven’s joy given thee as the handsel, or earnest of thy inheritance ? why, 
 all these are but the workings of the promised Comforter ; “And I will pray 
 the Father, and he shall give thee another Comforter, that he may abide 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 527 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 with you for ever,” John 14 : 16. Another effect is the seal of the Spirit ; 
 and, what, hast thou not sometimes had the seal of the Spirit stamped on 
 thee ? I will not say this is absolutely necessary, but hast thou not some- 
 times been assured of thy salvation, by a reflex act of faith ? Or, by a work 
 of grace habitual or actual ? Or, by an irradiation of the Spirit on thy 
 graces ? Sometimes the Spirit is pleased to shine with its bright, and glori- 
 ous, and heavenly beams into our souls, and then we are assured ; hence 
 the apostle prays for the Ephesians, “ that they might have spirit of reve- 
 lation,” and to what end ? “ That they might know what is the hope of his 
 calling,” Eph. 1 : 17, 18, 19. (i. e.~) That they might know upon what 
 certain grounds and foundation their hopes were built ; and hence the 
 psalmist prays for himself, “ Cause thy face to shine upon thy servant,” 
 Psal. 31 : 16. And again, “ God be merciful unto us, and bless us, and 
 cause his face to shine upon us, Selah,” Psal. 67 : 1. If the Spirit shine 
 upon our graces, then it seals ; 0 consider of this shining sealing work ! 
 and leave it not till the Spirit dart in a spiritual light, and give thee a reve- 
 lation, knowledge, and persuasion of thy effectual calling ; many other 
 reasons are of the Spirit’s mission, but amongst them all, consider, 0 my 
 soul ! and ponder on these few; think over Christ’s ascension, session, and 
 mission of the Spirit; but in every thought be serious, fruitful, and par- 
 ticular; say, ‘‘Christ is gone up into heaven for me, and he is set down at 
 God’s right hand for me ; and he hath sent down his Spirit into my heart.” 
 Oh ! what workings would there be within, if thou wert but lively and 
 active in the meditations of these several passages. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of desiring after Jesus in that respect. 
 
 3. Let us desire after Jesus, carrying on the great work of our salvation 
 for us in these particulars : Who seeing Christ to ascend into heaven, would 
 not be glad to ascend up with him ? Who seeing Christ to sit down at the 
 right hand of his Father, would not be glad to sit down with him ? Who 
 seeing Christ to scatter his gifts and Spirit amongst his saints, would not 
 cry, “ Come, Holy Spirit, 0 Christ give me thy Spirit ! thou that gavest 
 gifts unto men, come, and bestow those gifts on me, even upon me?” The 
 believing soul cannot hear of Christ in any true discovery of his grace and 
 glory, but it must needs send out breathings after him, “ Oh that Christ 
 were mine ! 0 that I had any interest in this transaction !” It is true, 
 
 these transactions are past, but the virtue of them continues still, and ac- 
 cordingly the virtue, power, and influence of these transactions must be the 
 object of our desires. Now, what is the virtue of Christ’s ascension, but 
 that we might ascend ? And what the virtue of Christ’s session, but that 
 we might sit down with him on his throne ? And what the virtue of the 
 mission of his Spirit, but that we might partake of the Holy Ghost ? Oh 
 iet these be the objects of our desires ! come, let us pant and breathe after 
 these things ! As, — 
 
 1. Let us see Christ ascending, and so desire to ascend with him : when 
 Christ ascended it was not merely for himself, but also in our stead ; he 
 ascended as a common person ; as the high-priest ascending into the holy 
 of holies, he carried all the names of the twelve tribes on his breast; so 
 Jesus Christ ascending into heaven, he carried the names of all believers in 
 the world on his breast, thereby showing they were likewise to come after 
 him ; in this case how should we long after him, and cry after him, as 
 Eiisha after Elijah, when he saw him ascending, “ My father, my father, 
 the chariots of Israel, and the horsemen thereof?” 2 Kings 2 : 12. How 
 should we cry after him, “ 0 my Lord, and my God, see that my name be 
 written in thy breast. 0 that virtually I may ascend with thee ! and that 
 ready and bodily, I may at last ascend after thee !” there are many that can 
 
528 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IV. 
 
 say in their heart, u I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be 
 like the Most High,” Isa. 14 : 14, 15. But the prophet tells us, “ Snch 
 shall be brought down to hell, and to the sides of the pit.” 0 the desires, 
 and eager pursuits of men after ambition ! what topping and advancing of 
 one over another? In the mean time the Psalmist’s question is quite for- 
 gotten, “ Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord ? He that hath clean 
 hands, and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity,” Psa. 
 24 : 3, 4. Down, 0 my soul ! with thy top and top-gallant : strike sail to 
 God and Christ, know that God resists the proud, “ How art thou fallen 
 from heaven, 0 Lucifer ! son of the morning ?” Isa. 14 : 12. Even he that 
 would “ exalt his throne above the stars of God, is brought down to hell !” 
 Come, come ! a desire after Christ and his ascension is the way to heaven ; 
 if thou wilt ascend after Christ, set thy desires upon Christ; if thou wilt 
 arrive at true glory, breathe after Christ ascending up into his glory ; let 
 others ascend up into their heaven upon earth, but, 0 my soul ! desire thy 
 interest in Christ’s ascension into the heaven of heavens, Oh when it will 
 once be ! that by virtue of Christ’s ascension, I shall ascend ? Is Christ 
 gone up, and am I yet behind ? Is my head, my husband, my Lord in 
 heaven, and am I a poor member of his body grovelling here on earth ? 
 What, is Christ gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trum- 
 pet? Are all the angels sounding his praise, and bidding him welcome into 
 glory ? And am I sinning here on earth, and by my sins crucifying again 
 and again the Lord of glory? 0 that I might ascend with Christ! Oh 
 that I were now on the wing toward heaven ! Oh ! what is it that hinders 
 my ascension, but this clog of clay? So long as this body remains a natural 
 body, I cannot ascend ; Oh therefore that the change were come ! Oh that 
 this natural body were spiritual ! that this corruptible had put on incorrup- 
 tion, and this mortal had put on immortality ! then could I move upwards 
 as well as downwards ; such is the supernatural property of a glorified body, 
 that it ascends or descends, with equal ease ; or, if this be not possible for 
 my present condition, if this body of mine must first descend, before it 
 ascend, if it must go down into the grave, before it go up into glory : why, 
 yet, oh that my better part were on the wing ! Oh that my soul were 
 mounting upwards ! 0 ! wretched man that I am, who shall deliver my 
 
 soul from this body of death ? Or, if the union be so strong for a while, 
 that neither soul nor body can really or substantially ascend, yet, 0 that I 
 were still ascending in a spiritual way ! 0 that my affections were still on 
 
 things above, and not on things beneath ! yea, I could wish a nearer union 
 even by a dissolution ; why, Christ is ascended : and I would fain be where 
 Christ is, though it cost me dear : I desire to be dissolved, I desire to depart, 
 and to be with Christ which is far better, Phil. 1 : 23. 
 
 2. Let us see Christ sitting down at the right hand of God, and so desire 
 to sit with him : when Christ sat down it was not in his own pure personal 
 right simply, as it is his inheritance, but with relation to his saints and 
 members, “ He hath quickened us together with Christ, and hath raised us 
 up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus,” 
 Eph. 2 : 5, 6. I confess Christ’s sitting at God’s right hand, as taken for 
 the sublimity of his power, is not communicable unto us, for that is Christ’s 
 own prerogative, “ To which of the angels said he at any time, sit on my 
 right hand?” Heb. 1 : 13. Yet his sitting in heaven as it is indefinitely 
 expressed, is in some sort communicable unto us, for he sat down as a com- 
 mon person, thereby showing that we were to sit down with him in our pro- 
 portion, “ Him that overcomes, will I grant to sit with me in my throne, 
 even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne,” 
 Rev. 3 : 21. Christ sits in his Father’s throne, and we sit in Christ’s 
 throne ; Christ sits at the right hand of God, and we sit at the right hand 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 529 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 of Christ. 0 how desirable is this ! The mother of Zebedee’s children 
 understood this mystery very darkly, yet worshipping Jesu^ “She desired 
 a certain thing of him ;” what thing ? Why, “ grant, said she, that these 
 my two sons may sit, the one at thy right hand, and the other on thy left 
 hand, in thy kingdom,” Matth. 20 : 21. Christ blamed them, because they 
 knew not what they asked, verse 22, and yet he tells them, that “ to sit on 
 his right hand, and on his left, is given to them for whom it is prepared 
 of his° Father,” verse 23. 0 my soul ! desire after this, for this is worthy 
 
 of thy desire : this is a great thing, an high exaltation, another manner of 
 honor than any that this world affords ; courtiers desire no more but to sit 
 at the prince’s right hand ; but, 0 the virtue of Christ’s session! that 
 thereby thou shouldst sit at Cod’s right hand : this is the very height and 
 excellency of heaven’s glory; only take heed of apprehending it after a 
 carnal and natural way ; this very exaltation consists in the image of Cod, 
 and communion with Cod; it is the spiritual part, and power, and glory of 
 heaven : if any thing be desirable above another, surely this above all ; 
 what, that Christ should be exalted ; “ above all principalities, and powers, 
 and mights, and dominions, and every thing that is named in this world, 
 and in the other?” Eph. 1 : 20, 21. What, that Christ should sit down in 
 bis Father’s throne, in the highest part of heaven, “ far above all heavens ?” 
 Eph. 4 : 10. And that I a poor worm, dust and ashes, should sit with him 
 in heaven, should be one with him in glory, should be as near him in honor 
 and happiness, as such a poor creature is possibly capable of? Oh ! how 
 should I but hunger and thirst after this ? If I might have a wish, I 
 would not wish low things: why, this is the very top, and height, and 
 quintessence of heaven, Christ in his Father’s throne, and I in Christ’s 
 throne ; in desiring this, I desire all : and therefore whatever thou givest 
 or deniest, Lord give me this, and I have enough for ever. 
 
 3. Let us see Christ’s mission of his Holy Spirit, and so desire a share 
 in that gift ; we cannot expect to sit with Christ, but we must have the Spi- 
 rit of Christ ; and therefore as we would have that, let us desire after this. 
 The greatest gift we can expect in this world is the Spirit of Christ. Con- 
 sider, 0 my soul ! all things here below are either temporal or spiritual 
 things; and of things spiritual, this is the sum, “ the indwelling of the Spi- 
 rit.” 0 Lord give me thyself, and that contains all gifts ! 0 give me thy 
 
 Spirit ! and thou canst not but with him give me all things, “ There be many 
 that say, (saith the Psalmist) who will show us any good ?” Psa. 4 : 6. 
 Earthly things are desired of many; but is any thing on earth to be com- 
 pared with this gift from heaven ? If it were only the beauty of holiness, 
 it were certainly a most desirable thing; if we rightly understand it, holi- 
 ness, though but one effect of the Spirit, is a most rare thing; holiness fills 
 the soul with joy, peace, quietness, assurance; holiness entertains the soul 
 with feasts of fat things, and of refined wines; holiness carries the soul into 
 the banqueting house of apples and flagons ; holiness gives the soul a near 
 communion with God and Christ; holiness brings the soul into a sight of 
 Christ, an access to him, a boldness in his presence; holiness admits the 
 soul into the most intimate conferences with Jesus Christ in his bed-cham- 
 ber, in his galleries of love ; and that which is an argument of more beauty 
 than all the creatures in the world have besides, holiness attracts the eye, 
 and heart, and longings, and ravishments, the tender compassions, and ever- 
 lasting delights of the Lord Jesus; and if holiness be thus lovely, Oh w T hat 
 is the Holy Spirit itself? What is the rise, the spring, the fountain of ho- 
 liness? What, 0 my soul ! that not only grace, but the Spirit of Christ 
 should dwell in thy spirit ? That thou shouldest be God’s building ! 1 Cor. 
 3 : 9. And that not as the rest of the world is, for his creatures to inhabit, 
 but as “a temple for himself to dwell in,” 2 Cor. 6: 16. As “a gallery, 
 
530 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 for himself to walk in,” Sol. Songs 7:5. Oh what longings ! 0 what pant- 
 ings and gaspings ! 0 what faintings and swoonings should there he in thy 
 spirit after this Spirit? “Come, Holy Spirit,” 0 come and dwell in my 
 soul ! I know thou wilt make the place of thy feet glorious ; if I have 
 but thy presence I shall be all glorious within; 0 come, come Holy 
 Spirit.” 
 
 Sect. IY. — Of hoping in Jesus in that respect. 
 
 4. Let us hope in Jesus, carrying on the great work of our salvation for 
 us in these particulars; this was the apostle's prayer, “Now the God of 
 hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing : that ye may abound in 
 hope through the power of the Holy Ghost,” Eom. 15: 13. Could we 
 abound in hope that Christ’s ascension, session, and mission of his Spirit 
 did belong to us, we should never be ashamed, “ Hope maketh not ashamed,” 
 Eom. 5:5. 0 ! then let us look to our hope, and be sure that it be of the 
 right stamp, which in reference to every of these passages we may examine 
 thus. As, — 
 
 1. If Christ’s ascension be mine, then am I ascended with Christ? I 
 mean not in respect of any bodily ascension, for that must not be until the 
 last day; nor in respect of any essential, substantial soul-ascension, for that 
 must not be before the separation of soul and body at our death’s day; but 
 in respect of our spiritual ascension, for so we may ascend into heaven by 
 faith, and love, though for the present we are on earth, “ If ye be risen 
 with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the 
 right hand of God ; set your affections on things above, and not on things 
 on the earth,” Col. 3:1,2. If Christ our head be ascended, then we that 
 are his members, must needs follow after him in our affections ; Christ tells 
 us, “ Where our treasure is, there will our hearts be also,” Matth. 6: 21. 
 If Christ our treasure be ascended into heaven, our loves, our affections, our 
 hearts will follow after him ; and if our hearts be in heaven, no question but 
 we ourselves, both souls and bodies shall at last ascend ; when Christ as- 
 cended, we ascended virtually with him, now we ascend spiritually, and at 
 last we shall ascend bodily, for he that ascended shall descend, and then 
 “we shall meet him in the air, and so shall be ever with the Lord,” 1 
 Thess. 4:17. In the mean time to maintain our hope, let us ascend daily 
 by faith and love; and this is our character, that Christ’s ascension is 
 truly ours. 
 
 2. If Christ’s session be mine, then am I set down with Christ in hea- 
 venly places; I mean not bodily, but by faith, which faith makes it as sure 
 to my soul, as if I had a foot already in heaven, “ Faith is the substance 
 of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen,” Heb. 11 : 1. By 
 faith I now sit in heavenly places, in that I verily believe, I shall do it one 
 day : my hope is now certain, in that I am as sure of that, I look for, as I 
 am of that I have already received; it is the common objection, we see it 
 not, as the apostle saith of Christ, “ we see not yet all things put under 
 him,” Heb. 2 : 8, but he presently answers, “We see Jesus who was made 
 a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor,” verse 9. And 
 so we may be sure the thing is as good as done, for if he be above, all must 
 come under ; in like manner, we see not ourselves in present possession,, 
 but we see Christ crowned, and ourselves sitting with him virtually, and 
 therefore at last we shall see ourselves actually crowned, and sitting toge- 
 ther with Christ in heavenly places. In the mean time, faith takes posses- 
 sion of the kingdom of heaven ; faith makes the soul even now to converse 
 with God and Christ, and saints and angels, “ Faith lays hold upon eternal 
 life,” 1 Tim. 6 : 19. It puts the soul as it were into heaven, and sets it 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 531 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 down at the right hand of Christ; and this is our character that Christ’s 
 session is truly ours. 
 
 3. If Christ’s Spirit be mine, and sent to me, then have I both the per- 
 sou, and train of the Spirit of Christ; it is the having the Spirit, and the 
 working of the Spirit in me, that is my evidence of the Spirit’s mission ; I 
 look upon this as the greatest question, and the weightiest, and most im- 
 portant case of conscience that can be propounded or known to us, viz. Whe- 
 ther the Spirit of Christ doth reside in us? Or whether we have a well 
 grounded hope to say of ourselves that we have the indwelling of the Spirit 
 of God ? “ Know ye not that ye are the temple of God (saith the apostle) 
 and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” 1 Cor. 3 : 16. And again, 
 
 11 Know ye not that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost ?” 1 
 Cor. 6 : 19. In this question, he seems to put it out of question, that true 
 Christians should know, and in right temper do know that the Spirit of God 
 dwells in them ; if we know not this, we cannot know that we have any part 
 in Christ; because the Holy Spirit is the principal bond of our union be- 
 twixt Christ and us ; if we know not this, we cannot know that we are justi- 
 fied, for we have nothing to do with Christ’s righteousness, by which we are 
 justified, until by our spiritual union, Christ is made ours : if we know not 
 this, we cannot know w r e are the adopted children of God, for it is the spirit 
 of adoption, whereby we cry in our hearts, Abba, Father, Rom. 8 : 15. If 
 we know not this, we cannot know that we are sanctified, for it is the Spirit 
 which is the beginner and perfecter of our sanctification ; if we know not 
 this, we cannot know that our prayers are heard, for it is u the Spirit that 
 helps our infirmities, and that makes intercession for us, with groanings 
 w'hich cannot be uttered,” Rom. 8 : 26. If we know not this, we cannot 
 know whether we are in error or truth ; or whether our religion which we 
 profess be true, or false, for it is the Spirit who enlightens us, and teacheth 
 us, and leadeth us into all truth ; if we know not this, we cannot know our 
 own comforts, for he is the only true comforter, from whom all sound com- 
 fort springs. Come, then, and put ourselves to the trial ; let us search whe- 
 ther we have the Spirit of Christ, which we may resolve if we will not deal 
 deceitfully with our own heart by these following signs. 
 
 1. The Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of illumination, if he dwell in us he 
 
 will enlighten our eyes, reveal to us those saving truths of God as they are 
 in Jesus ; “ but the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father 
 will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, John 14 : 26. But ye 
 have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know of all things, 1 John 
 2 : 20. But the anointing which ye have received of him, abideth in you ; 
 and you need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teach- 
 er h you of all things,” ver. 27. And hence it is that this Holy Spirit is 
 called “ the Spirit of wisdom, and revelation, in the knowledge of God,” 
 Eph. 1 : 17. 6 
 
 2. The Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of adoption, it brings our souls into 
 
 that blessed estate, that we are the children of God ; il Ye have not receiv- 
 ed the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the Spirit of . 
 adoption, whereby ye cry Abba, Father,” Rom. 8 : 15. And u because ye 
 are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, 
 Abba, Father,” Gal. 4:6. • 
 
 3. The Spirit of Christ is a Spirit of prayer, “ I will pour upon the house 
 of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of 
 supplication, Zech. 12 : 10. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmi- 
 ties, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit 
 itself maketh intercession for us, with groanings which cannot be uttered,” 
 Rom. 8 : 26. It is not said that the Spirit teacheth us words, and fluent 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 532 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 phrases, but it teacheth us to pray in the heart and Spirit with sighs and 
 groans. 
 
 x 4. The Spirit of Christ is a Spirit of sanctification ; the apostle having 
 told the Corinthians, that they had been notorious sinners, saith farther, 
 That “ they were washed and sanctified by the Spirit of God,” 1 Cor. 6 : 11. 
 Hence the Holy Spirit is called the “ Spirit of holiness,” Rom. 1 : 4. Be- 
 cause he makes us holy, who were in ourselves corrupt and sinful. If we 
 have this Spirit, it inclines our hearts to the things above, it mortifies our 
 lusts, it brings us nearer unto God : the spirit therefore that is impure, and 
 encourageth men in sin, and cries up carnal liberty, is certainly none of the 
 Spirit of Christ ; and by this one sign, many carnal pretenders of our times 
 may be justly convicted. 
 
 5. The Spirit of Christ is a Spirit of love, “ God is love, and he that 
 dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him,” 1 John 4 : 16. As 
 the Spirit is love, so it begets love in the hearts of his people, “ The fruit 
 of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 
 meekness, temperance,” Gal. 5 : 22. All these graces are the fruits of the 
 Spirit, but the first grace in the link is love : by his Spirit we are taught 
 to love God, not only for his benefits, but in respect of his nature, for his 
 goodness, mercy, justice, holiness, and all other his saving attributes ; by his 
 Spirit we are taught to love any thing that hath but the stamp and image 
 of God upon it : “ But as touching brotherly love, ye need not I write unto 
 you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another,” 1 Thess. 
 4 : 2. The most of the heretical spirits of these times, do hereby show 
 that they have not the Spirit : their very religion lieth in railing at minis- 
 ters, and reproaching those that are not in their way ; this is far from the 
 Spirit of love that is in God’s children ; certainly where there is malice, 
 hatred, strife, bitter envyings, railings, revilings, for such kind of persons 
 to lay claim to the Spirit of unity, it is a piece of impudent vanity, and a 
 false suggestion from their own corrupt, erring spirit, or from the spirit of 
 error himself, who is an hater, reviler, and the accuser of the brethren. 
 
 6. The Spirit of Christ is a leading Spirit, “ As many as are lead by the 
 Spirit of God, they are the sons of God,” Rom. 8 : 14. But what is this 
 leading of the Spirit? I answer, 
 
 1. It is a drawing of the soul Christ-ward, “Draw me, (saith the spouse) 
 and we will run after thee,” Sol. Song 1 : 4. There must be a drawing of 
 the soul in every duty to Jesus Christ; for a man may be furnished with 
 eminent gifts, and with suitable assistances in the laying out of these gifts 
 from the Spirit, and yet he may be without the leadings of the Spirit; 
 gifts exercised, cannot suppress corruptions in a man’s own heart, and hence 
 they that used their gifts are called workers of iniquity, Matth. 7 : 23, gifts 
 do not carry out the heart towards Christ, but graces do, “ I will cause him 
 to draw near, and he shall approach unto me, for who is this that engaged 
 his heart to approach unto me, saith the Lord,” Jer. 30 : 21. 
 
 2. It is a giving liberty to the soul to walk in the ways of Christ. 
 “ Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty,” 2 Cor. 3 : 17. I mean 
 not a liberty to sin, but to duty ; nor yet every liberty to duty; for a man 
 may exercise himself in the external part of all duties, and yet be without 
 the leadings of the Spirit ; but I mean such a liberty as when a soul ac- 
 counts it an high favor from the Lord, if he will but use them in any ser- 
 vices for himself. When it finds more delection in these than in any other- 
 wise, “ I have chosen the way of truth, (saith David,) and therein is my 
 delight, Psal. 119 : 34, 173, 174. And I delight in the law of God after 
 the inner man,” (saith Paul,) Rom. 7 : 22. For the law of the Spirit of 
 life in Jesus Christ hath made me free from the law of sin and death,” 
 Rom. 8 : 2. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 533 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 3. It is a corroboration or strengthing the soul against all those impedi- 
 ments that would hinder it in the ways of Christ ; Israel is said to be “ led 
 by the Spirit of the Lord,” And how did he lead them ? But “ by dividing 
 the waters before them, and by keeping them that they should not stumble,” 
 Isa. 63:11, 12, 13, 14. Many times God’s holy ones are beset with tempta- 
 tions, they find their hearts full of deadness, hardness, unbelief, and all 
 manner of distempers ; now if at such a time the mountains have been made 
 plains, if at such a time corruptions have been borne down, and their hearts 
 have been let out towards Christ, certainly these are the leadings of the 
 Spirit, “ If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body ye shall 
 live ; for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, are the sons of God,” 
 Rom. 8 : 13, 14. The particle “ for,” argues mortification to appertain unto the 
 leadings of the Spirit. There is in the saints a constant opposition between 
 the works of the flesh and the works of the Spirit : now when the works of 
 the flesh are kept underneath, and prevailed against, then a soul enjoyeth the 
 leadings of the Spirit, Gal. 5 : 17, 18. I know such oppositions are not in 
 any but the saints : carnal men would wonder that any should complain for 
 want of strength unto duties ; why they can easily come up to them, and 
 be in the exercise of them : but alas ! this arisetk either from Satan’s not 
 molesting them in the performance of duty, because they look not beyond 
 the external part of it; or from their own insensibleness of the workings of 
 corruption, when yet it doth act : only a gracious heart findeth, that if it be 
 not strengthened by a power beyond its own, it cannot act any grace, or per- 
 form any duty as acceptable to God : and hence the apostle prays, u That 
 they might be strengthened with might by the Spirit in the inner man,” 
 Eph. 3 : 16. 
 
 4. It is an enabling of the soul to act in gospel duties for gospel ends : 
 when the Spirit leads, the soul never aims at self-advancement, it never 
 looks at its own name and glory, as they did in Matth. 6:1,5. But it eyes 
 in all its actings the mortification, and corruption, and the attainment of 
 communion with God and Christ, and the increase of all grace, faith, love, 
 patience, meekness, self-denial, &c. Or, if it seeks for outward mercies, 
 it seeks them in a subordination to these, and in a way of subserviency to 
 the interest and designs of Christ; in all things whether outward or inward, 
 it seeks the glory of God as its ultimate end. And, in these particulars, 
 consists the leadings of the Spirit of Christ. 
 
 7. The Spirit of Christ is a witnessing Spirit, “ The Spirit itself beareth 
 witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God,” Rom. 8 : 16, “And 
 every one that believeth hath the witness within himself,” 1 John 5 : 10, 
 but of these two questions. 1. What is this witnessing work of the Spirit ? 
 2. How doth the Spirit thus witness ? For the first, I answer, 
 
 1. In general, witnessing is a giving in some evidence upon our know- 
 ledge how the matter in question standeth, that thereby others may be as- 
 certained of the truth of the thing, “At the mouth of two or three wit- 
 nesses shall the matter be established,” Deut. 19 : 15. These words Christ 
 cited, and said, “ It is written in your law that the testimony of two men 
 is true,” John 8 : 17. Not but that it was certain in itself before, but that 
 now by the testimony of two, it is rendered certain unto those that question 
 the same, this is witnessing. 
 
 2. In special, the witnessing of the Spirit is an office of the Spirit, where- 
 by it works the soul into a knowledge, persuasion, or conclusion of its ac- 
 ceptation into favor with God in Christ. Now the Spirit witnesseth either 
 objectively; or efficiently. 
 
 1. Objectively, When it only affords such special operations as have an 
 aptitude to ascertain the soul, but do not ascertain : thus many a time the 
 Spirit comes and brings in such and such assertions or affirmations of our 
 
534 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 adoption, as if they were duly observed, might manifest the same ; but ws 
 overlook these evidences, we will not hear what the Spirit speaks to us, 
 
 “ We speak that we know, (saith Christ), and testify that we have seen, hut 
 ye receive not our witness,” John 3:11. So may the Spirit complain, “ I 
 have testified to you that which I know, I have said that ye were children 
 of God, but ye have not received my witness.” Doubtless it is a sinful 
 neglect not to yield attention unto the voice of the Spirit, and yet the Spirit 
 in this way may be resisted. 
 
 2. Efficiently, and if the Spirit witness thus, it cannot be resisted; in 
 this way the Spirit causeth the soul to conclude of its adoption by its speak- 
 ing to it : this is not only the assertions or affirmations of our adoption, but 
 the assurances of our souls, that we are adopted, “ I am persuaded,” saith 
 the apostle, Rom. 8 : 38. “And I know that my Redeemer liveth,” saith 
 Job, Job 19 : 25. And “ hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the 
 Spirit which he hath given us,” 1 John 3 : 24. But, 
 
 2. How doth the Spirit thus witness? I answer, 1. Immediately. 2. 
 Mediately. 
 
 1. Concerning the immediate testimony of the Spirit, there is some con- 
 troversy : Antinomians would have no other testimony but this: all other 
 evidences, say they, are deceiving evidences ; or if not deceiving, yet to 
 make use of them, it were but to light a candle to the sun, for what are the 
 graces of the Spirit in comparison of the Spirit’s own testimony ? And it 
 may be the running into this extreme, hath caused others absolutely to deny 
 any such testimony ; or, at least, to say, “ For these enthusiasms or inspi- 
 rations, let them boast of them that have them, we know no such thing,” 
 Methinks a middle betwixt both these, as it is proved by others, is most con- 
 sonant to truth ; for neither can I reject the graces of sanctification from 
 being grounds of our assurance; neither dare I deny but there is something 
 of the work of the Spirit’s testimony, which is an immediate work. Let 
 us hear what others say of it. 
 
 Certainly there is a work wherein the Spirit* acts, as in illumination, 
 and infusion of good motions into us, wherein by a secret influence upon 
 the heart, he quiets and calms the troubled soul, concerning its condition 
 by his own immediate power, without any grounds from Scripture without, 
 or graces within. 
 
 There is a threefold work of the Spirit ;*f* 1. To convey and plant grace 
 in the soul. 2. To act and help us to exercise the graces which are planted 
 there. 3. To shine upon and enlighten those graces; this last work the 
 Spirit fulfils two ways; 1. By arguments, and inferences, which is a medi- 
 ate work. 2. By presence and influence, which is an immediate work; 
 this the apostle calls “ witness bearing, There are three that bear witness 
 in earth, the spirit, and water, and blood,” 1 John 5 : 8. The Spirit brings 
 in the witness of water and blood, which is his mediate work, but besides 
 and above these, he gives a distinct witness of his own, which is his imme- 
 diate work, is in a way of peculiarity and transcendency, “ called the wit- 
 ness of the Spirit.” As it is with the motions of the Spirit; many a time 
 the Spirit excites a man to such or such duties, by laying his hand immedi- 
 ately upon the heart, and thereby inclining it to obey those motions ; so in 
 this case, when a poor soul sits in darkness and sees no light, sometimes 
 upon a sudden, it is, as it were, taken up into the third heaven : and this 
 is in such a way, that though the spirit of a man really believes it, and is 
 immediately calm by it, yet it cannot tell how it came to pass. 
 
 There is a testimony of the Spirit, J which sometimes the Spirit may 
 
 * Ford of the Spirit. f Caryl on Job, chap. 10. 
 
 J Bolton’s Direct, for a comfortable walking with God. 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 535 
 
 suggest and testify to the sanctified conscience with a secret, still, heart- 
 ravishing voice, thus, or in the like manner, “ Thou art the child of God; 
 thou art in the number of those that shall be saved ; thou shalt inherit 
 everlasting life,” and that as certainly and comfortably, as if that angel 
 should say to thee, as he did to Daniel, “ Greatly beloved.” Mighty and 
 remarkable was the work of the Spirit this way, upon the heart of that noble 
 martyr, Robert Glover, upon the first sight and representation of the stake, 
 when he cried, “ He is come, he is come.” Such an immediate springing 
 of the Spirit was in the heart of Mr. Peacock, who after many days of 
 extremest horror, professed, “The joy which he felt was incredible.” Such 
 an immediate work was upon the heart of Mrs. Brettergh, who after the 
 return of her beloved, suddenly cried out, “ How wonderful ! how wonder- 
 ful ! how wonderful are thy mercies, 0 Lord! 0 the joys, the joys, the 
 joys that now I feel in my soul !” We feel and acknowledge by daily ex- 
 perience, that Satan doth immediately inject, and shall not the blessed Spi- 
 rit after his holy and heavenly manner immediately also suggest sometimes. 
 
 “As there is in the eye lumen iiiatum, a certain inbred light, to make 
 the eye see lights and colors without : and as there is in the ear aer interims , 
 a certain inbred sound and air, to make it discern the sounds that are with- 
 out ; so is there in a gracious heart, a new nature, an habitual instinct of 
 heaven to discern the consolation of God’s Spirit, immediately testifying 
 that we are the sons of God ; there are some secret and inexpressible linea- 
 meuts of the Father’s countenance in the child, that the renewed soul at 
 first blush knows and owns it.”* But for fear of mistakes in this case, 
 observe we these rules. 
 
 1. That although the Spirit may immediately testify without any express 
 or formal application of a word, yet he never testifies but according to the 
 word. If a man that never felt sin a burden, that throws away duties of 
 religion, that never prays, reads, hears, or meditates, shall say that he is 
 filled with joy, peace, and the assurauce of God’s word, it is certain the 
 Holy Spirit is not the author of this, because the promise of peace be- 
 longs to noue of this stamp; see Matth. 11:28. Isa. 57 : 15. Mai. 3: 
 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 
 
 2. That ordinarily the Spirit brings in his testimony either in duty, or 
 after duty, “I have seen his ways, aud I will heal him, I will lead him 
 also, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners; I create the fruit 
 of the lips, peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith 
 the Lord, and I will heal him,” Isa. 57 : 18, 19. I know there may be a 
 case of grievous temptations, and at such a time the Spirit of God may 
 come in by a sudden irradiation, and cheer the soul wonderfully, though it 
 knows not how ; yet usually the Spirit brings in his testimony either in 
 duty, or not long after duty. 
 
 3. That such testimonies of the Spirit, beget only an actual assurance 
 during the present exigency, or in order to some present design that God 
 is working thereby ; these are extraordinary dainties, that God will not 
 have us feed constantly upon ; a gleam of light in a dark winter night, 
 when a man cannot coast the country, and discern his way by those marks 
 which direct him at other times; or as a lightning from a thunder cloud, 
 that comes just in a moment, when a man is stepping into a pit that would 
 swallow him up ; now a traveller will not depend always upon such guides, 
 but rather he will choose to travel by day; and learn out such way-marks 
 as may be standing assurances to him, that he is in the way. And there- 
 fore, — 
 
 2. The Spirit witnesseth mediately; and that either without or with 
 argumentation, but both from the word. 
 
 * Rutherford on John 12, p. 100. 
 
536 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 1. Without argumentation, and that is, when the Spirit applies some 
 suitable word to the soul, and without more ado, enables the soul to close 
 with that suitable word. As, for instance, thou art burdened for sin, and 
 thou hast prayed earnestly for pardon of sin, and even then a secret 
 whisper of the Spirit, casts that word into thy heart, “ I will heal thy 
 backslidings, and love thee freely,” Hos. 14 : 4. Or, such a voice as that, 
 “ Come unto me all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give 
 you rest,” Matth. 11 : 28. Now this is a direct testimony; only I dare 
 not leave it without a caution. Some can relate extraordinary passages of 
 providence, attending the coming in of such and such a word, as that they 
 did not know there was any such Scripture, nor did they know where it 
 was, and yet in opening the book, it was the very first place their eye was 
 cast upon ; or they wanted a book, and in the use of some other means, 
 unexpectedly a word was spoken or remembered, so pat to the case, as if 
 it had been a very message from heaven : certainly the Spirit's hinting in 
 of words thus, is very observable; yet a bare giving in of a word, is no 
 warrant that it comes from the Spirit, unless the soul come up to some end 
 which the word itself pointeth at ; there must not only be a word, but a 
 closing with the word, an improving of the word for the end it aimeth at; 
 as quickening, comforting, supporting, acting of some graces, or such like ; 
 and by this we may know that the testimony is true, and proceeds from the 
 Spirit of God. 
 
 2. With argumentation, and that is when the Spirit brings in the testi- 
 mony of blood and water; I may call it a testimony of faith, and other 
 graces of the Spirit, written in our hearts and brought out by the Spirit in 
 a way of argument, as thus, u He that believeth hath everlasting life,” but 
 I believe ; Ergo. The first proposition is the gospel, and in this way, it is 
 the first work of the Spirit to open our eyes for the understanding thereof. 
 The second proposition is thy case, or my case; and here the Spirit en- 
 lightens the soul to see itself under that condition, “ but 1 believe.” Indeed 
 many times this is not so easily done, and therefore the Spirit doth elicit 
 and draw forth the soul to an assent by a farther evidence of argument. 
 u True, saith the soul, he that believes hath everlasting life, but I am none 
 of those believers, and therefore what doth this promise concern such an 
 unbelieving wretch as I am ?” In this case, now the Spirit's work is longer 
 or shorter, even as he pleaseth ; if it will be no better, the Spirit is feign 
 to produce some other proofs of Scripture as evidence of faith in the sub- 
 jects of whom it is : such as purifying the heart, love to God, his ways, 
 his people, &c. And possibly it goes farther yet, and proves those graces 
 to be in the soul by farther marks. I know some object, if the Spirit 
 says thou art a believer, because thou hast love, the soul may doubt still 
 whether it hath love or no ; and if the Spirit say, thou hast love because 
 thou delightest in God's commandments, the question may be still, whether 
 that delight be sincere, or counterfeit, pure or mixed; and therefore say 
 they, “ There can be no judgment of a man’s justification by his sanctifica- 
 tion ; or, of his sanctification by the operation of particular graces. 
 
 I answer, it is true, that whilst I endeavor to discover these graces 
 merely by reason, they may be still subject to question, and so they can 
 make no firm assurance; but in the soul that is graciously assured this 
 way, the Spirit of God rests the heart upon an ultimum quod sic; he con- 
 vinced the soul by that which is most visible in him, and so stops the 
 mouth of cavilling reason, from perplexing the question any more. In- 
 deed it is fine skill to know whether a true assurance be merely rational, 
 or from the witness of the Spirit of God ; whether it be wrought out of a 
 man's own brain, or wrought into his heart by the Holy Ghost. Now in 
 some cases we may discern it, as thus; the assurance that the Spirit gives, 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 537 
 
 CHAP, n.] 
 
 doth sometimes surprise a man unexpectedly, at unawares, as it may he 
 in a sermon that he came accidentally unto, or in a Scripture that I cast a 
 transient glancing eye upon : but thus doth not reason. Again, the assur- 
 ance that the Spirit gives, maintains a soul in a way of reliance and de- 
 pendence, when it sees no reason why he should do so ; or it may be when 
 he sees a reason why it should not be so ; as it is said of Abraham in an- 
 other case, ■“ that he believed in hope against hope,” Rom. 4 : 18. Faith 
 told him there was hope, that he should be the father of many nations, 
 when reason told him there was none : again, the assurance that the Spirit 
 gives, is attended with an high esteem of prayer, duties, ordinances, and in 
 the issue of (which is the most principal sure mark), it purifies the soul 
 that hath it, “ He that hath this hope purifieth himself, even as he is pure,” 
 1 John 3 : 3. He is ever washing himself from sin, and watching against 
 sin, and taking all possible care to keep himself pure and unspotted in this 
 present evil world ; it keeps the soul humble, and lowly, it being im- 
 possible that such a testimony of the Spirit, and so intimate a converse 
 with God, and the light of his countenance, should not reflect low thoughts 
 upon a man’s self, concerning himself; such a man cannot but say, “Lord, 
 what am I, that thou hast brought me hitherto ? What, for such a peevish, 
 unbelieving, impatient soul as mine is, to be carried in thy arms, and 
 cheered with thy smiles, and to enjoy the comforts of thy Spirit? Oh! 
 what a wonderful, merciful, gracious God have I ?” 
 
 Yet in all this, I exclude not the Spirit, in drawing a rational evidence 
 from scriptures; certainly the Spirit helps in a general way, by making use 
 of our reason, only it elevates and improves our reason to a farther assurance 
 by a supernatural assistance, as in prayer, and in preaching of the word, 
 there may be a common assistance of the Spirit of God, but there is another 
 kind of praying and preaching by the Spirit, which the scripture often speaks 
 of and calls the spirit of supplication, and the demonstration of the Spirit ; 
 and that is not performed by a common or general, but by a special and 
 particular assistance of the Spirit of God ; so there is a two-fold influence 
 of the Spirit in putting forth acts of assurance in the heart, even of a godly 
 and sound Christian ; the very same man may act assurance, sometimes 
 rationally, and sometimes spiritually ; in the former the Spirit acts too, but 
 in a common way, only in the latter, is the supernatural, special assistance, 
 which peculiarly is said to be the witness of the Spirit. I speak not against 
 rational evidences, only it concerns us to apply ourselves to the Spirit, to 
 superadd his testimony. 0 let us not so content ourselves with rational 
 evidences ! but that we labor to elevate the evidence of reason into a testi- 
 mony of the holy Spirit of God. To wind up all I have said. 
 
 0 my soul ! try now the hope of the Spirit’s indwelling by these several 
 signs : art thou enlightened savingly in the knowledge of God, and of 
 Christ? Art thou a child of God, one of his adopted sons, for whom he 
 hath reserved the inheritance ? Hast thou a Spirit of grace and supplica- 
 tion ? A spirit of sanctification ? A spirit of love ? Art thou led by the 
 Spirit ? Dost thou feel the drawings of thy soul in every duty to Jesus 
 Christ ? Dost thou feel liberty, or delight in thy soul to walk in the way 
 of his commandments ? Dost thou feel any strength to come in against 
 thy corruptions ? Dost thou feel the Spirit’s help to act in gospel-duties 
 for gospel-ends? Hast thou ever had the immediate testimony of the Spirit? 
 Or, if not so, hast thou ever had the mediate testimony of the Spirit without 
 any argumentation ? Hast thou unexpectedly dipt and lighted on some 
 place of scripture that hath satisfied thy soul, as with marrow and fatness ? 
 Or, if not so neither, hast thou the mediate testimony of the Spirit with 
 argumentation ? Canst thou argue thus ? “ He that believes shall be saved, 
 but I believe, therefore I shall be saved.” Or, if any doubt be made of 
 
538 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 the assumption, canst thou prove it by such other graces as accompany faith, 
 and are the fruits of faith ? Canst thou say by the help of the Spirit, and 
 shining of the Spirit, that these, and these graces are in me, and have been 
 acted by me : yea, “ I do love God and Christ, I do repent of my sins,” &c. 
 Surely then thy hope is well grounded; thou hast the indwelling of the 
 Spirit; it is thine, even thine. 
 
 Sect. V. — Of believing in Jesus in that respect. 
 
 Let us believe on Jesus, as carrying on the great work of our salvation 
 for us in these particulars ; many scruples are in many hearts. “ What, 
 is it possible, that I should have any share in Christ’s ascension, Christ’s 
 session, Christ’s mission of his Spirit? Was it ever in God’s heart that I 
 should partake with Christ in all these glories ? If it must be so, that he 
 would let out his loves to so unworthy a wretch, was it not sufficient for 
 him to have come down from heaven, and to have acted my redemption 
 here below ? Is it not an high favor that a king should leave his court to 
 give a poor prisoner in the jail a visit? But will he take him with him to 
 his own home, and bring him into his own presence-chamber, and set him 
 at his right hand in his throne ? And so that Christ should not only leave 
 his Father’s throne, and give a visit, lying in the dark dungeon of unbelief, 
 but that he should take off the bolts, and set open the prison-doors, and 
 take me up with him into heaven, and there set me down at his right hand, 
 and iu the mean time give me the earnest and pledge of my inheritance, 
 by filling my soul with his own Spirit; 0! what an admirable, incredible 
 thing is this? It was the last vision of John which was so full of wonders, 
 “And I John saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down from God 
 out of heaven. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold 
 the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them,” Rev. 
 21 : 2, 3. Surely it was a miraculous mercy that heaven should come down 
 unto earth, and that God should come down to men : but, oh ! what is this, 
 that earth should go up to heaven, that men should ascend up to God ! Yea, 
 that my soul, with Christ, and by Christ, should ascend to God, and sit 
 down with God in heavenly places? Yea, that my soul should have for its 
 inmate the very same Spirit that Christ himself hath ? Oh ! I cannot, I 
 will not, I dare not believe.” 
 
 Scrupulous souls, be not faithless, but believing; there is none of these 
 particulars for which we have not a warrant out of the word of God ; and 
 therefore believe : but that I may persuade to purpose, I shall lay down, 
 
 1. Some directions; and, 2. Some encouragements of faith. 
 
 1. For directions of faith, observe these particulars. As, 
 
 1. Faith must directly go to Christ. 
 
 2. Faith must go to Christ, as God in the flesh. 
 
 3. Faith must go to Christ as God in the flesh, made under the law. 
 
 4. Faith must go to Christ, not only as made under the directive part of 
 the law by his life, but under the penal part of the law by his death. 
 
 5. Faith must go to Christ not only as put to death in the flesh, but as 
 quickened by the Spirit : of all these before. 
 
 6. Faith must not only go to Christ as quickened by the Spirit, but as 
 going up into glory, as sitting down at God’s right hand, and as sending the 
 Holy Ghost : Faith should eye Christ as far as he goes ; if he be descended, 
 so should faith ; if he go into glory, and sit down there, and there act for 
 his people, so should faith ; and so should we in a way of believing follow 
 after him, and take a view of all his transactions where he is ; we have 
 heard before how faith should go to Christ as dying, and as rising again, but 
 yet faith is low, while it doth not go within the veil, and see him in gloiv ; 
 it is not enough to have only a faith of justification, but of glorification > ) 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 539 
 
 come let us see Christ in heaven ! and we can have no less than a glorious 
 faith ! how many are there that never yet came to act faith in Christ as a 
 glorified Christ ; we are yet still in the lower form ; many of us take in no 
 more of Christ than what was done on the cross, or what some natural, and 
 common resemblance of him can hold forth, we seldom follow Christ into 
 heaven, to see what he is doing there for us. 0 my soul ! and 0 my faith ! 
 mount up and be on the wing ! Christ is gone up to heaven, Christ is set 
 down at God’s right-hand, Christ hath sent down his Holy Spirit ; to this 
 purpose, it was expedient that he should go away, and now he is gone away 
 to do something that remains to be done for thee in his kingdom ; he had 
 still some glorious piece to frame for thy salvation, and therefore he left this 
 world, and went to his Father, that he might act it in glory; and now he is 
 invested with all the riches in heaven, he hath all the keys of heaven and 
 hell, he hath all power to command, he hath received all the promise to 
 himself, and all that he hath to do, it is to let out of himself again unto 
 his saints; he hath not only got his Father’s heart for them, but he hath 
 got all his riches to bestow upon them ; when he came to heaven, the 
 Father bid him sit down at his right-hand, and take what he would, and 
 bestow what he would upon his saints ; and thereupon he gave gifts unto 
 men, yea, he gave the gift of gifts, even the Holy Ghost himself ; what, 
 art thou not a partaker of this gift? 0! then look up unto Jesus in 
 reference to all these actings ! set him before thee, Christ in all these par- 
 ticulars is a right object for thy faith to act upon. 
 
 7. Faith in going to Christ, his ascension, session, and mission of the 
 Spirit, it is principally to look to the purpose, iutent, and design of Christ 
 in each of these particulars : Christ did nothing but he had an end, a 
 meaning in it for our good; and here is the life of faith to eye the meaning 
 of Christ in all his doings. Now the ends of Christ’s ascension, session, 
 and mission of his Spirit were several ; I shall instance only in these few. 
 As, 
 
 1. Christ ascended that we might ascend : look whatever God acted ou 
 Christ’s person, that he did as in our behalf, and he means to act the same 
 on us; was Christ crucified? so are we; is Christ risen again? so are we 
 risen together with him ; is Christ gone up into glory ? so are we ; heaven 
 is now opened and possessed by Jesus Christ for us, and, at last, we shall 
 ascend even as he ascended. Christ cannot be content with that glory he 
 hath in himself until we be with him, “ Father, I will that those also whom 
 thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold, or enjoy 
 my glory which thou hast given me,” John 17 : 24. Christ, as our head, 
 is in glory, and so we are there already with him, and Christ as our advo- 
 cate is in glory, and there he is pleading and praying for us, that we may 
 actually be received and brought up to him, “ Father, I will that those 
 whom thou hast given me may be with me.” Christ’s crown of glory is, 
 (as it were) a burden on his head, until it be set on the heads of all his 
 saints; 0 the blessed end of Christ’s ascension! how should faith pry into 
 this ? Believers, you see your object, and know his person, never be quiet 
 until you come into his condition, as we must go through all ordinances and 
 creatures till we come to Christ, so through all conditions of Christ until 
 we come to glory. 
 
 2. Christ sat down that we might sit with him in heavenly-places ; what 
 is the end of Christ’s session, but that he might invest all his saints with 
 the same privilege ? In this height of glory, Christ is the pattern, and 
 platform, and idea of what we shall be : surely this is the very top of 
 heaven, that we might in our measure and proportion be exalted with 
 Christ; it was Christ’s prayer that his Father, and he, and we might all be 
 one. “As thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may bo 
 
540 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 one in us/’ John 17 : 21. 0 how should faith stand and gaze on Jesus 
 
 Christ in this respect? What, is he on God’s right-hand ? and is he there 
 preparing a room, a seat, and mansion for my soul ? What, shall I sit at 
 the right-hand of Christ? Shall I sit as an assessor on his judgment-seat 
 to judge the world with Jesus Christ ? “ When the Son of man shall sit 
 
 on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging 
 the twelve tribes of Israel,” Matth. 19 : 28. Oh ! what is this ! Had not 
 Christ said it, how could I have believed it ? Admire, 0 my soul, at this 
 aim of Christ ! the meaning of his exalting himself, it was to exalt thee, 
 and the meaning of his exalting thee on this manner, it is to manifest to all 
 the world what the Son of God is able to do, in raising so poor a creature 
 to so rich a glory. 0 the end of Christ’s sitting at God’s right-hand ! 
 hereby the saints are Christ’s assessors ; lords of the higher house, the 
 king’s peers to judge the world with him ; Christ divides (as it were) the 
 throne with them, “ I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath ap- 
 pointed unto me, that ye may eat and drink at my table, in my kingdom, 
 sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel,” Luke 22 : 29, 30. 
 
 3. Christ sent down the Holy Ghost, that he might dwell in our souls, 
 endow us with gifts and graces, that he might comfort us, seal us unto the 
 day of redemption, fit us for glory. Amongst the many ends for which 
 Christ sent down his Holy Spirit, I shall insist only on these two. 
 
 1. That he might help us to cry “Abba, Father,” and make us to come 
 boldly to the throne of grace, as children to a father. It is the Spirit that 
 takes us by the hand, and leads us to the Father, when others stand at a 
 distance, and cannot come near: as a prince’s son is admitted at all times, 
 though others are kept out by officers and guards ; so though there be never 
 so much darkness, and fire, and terror about God, yet the adopted fchild, 
 who hath received the Spirit of adoption, can say, “ Make way there, and 
 let me come to my Father; guards are appointed to keep out strangers, but 
 not sons and no wonder, for “ the Spirit makes intercession for us with 
 groanings which cannot be uttered,” Rom. 8 : 26. The Spirit teacheth us 
 what to pray, and how to pray as we ought; the Spirit puts a courage and 
 boldness into the hearts of his saints, even to admiration ; this appears in 
 that sometimes they have beset God with his promises, that he could no 
 way get off, “Quicken me according to thy word, Psalm 119:25. — And 
 strengthen me according to thy word, verse 28. — And be merciful unto me 
 according to thy word, verse 58. — And uphold me according to thy word, 
 verse 16. — And give me understanding according to thy word,” verse 169. 
 And sometimes they have beset God with their challenges of his justice, 
 faithfulness, and righteousness : so David, “Deliver me in thy righteousness, 
 Psalm 31 : 1. And judge me according to thy righteousness, Psalm 35 : 24. 
 And quicken me according to thy righteousness,” Psalm 119 : 40. And in 
 thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness,” Psalm 143 : 1. Why, 
 this is the Spirit’s work ; he helps our infirmities, he emboldens our spirits 
 in their approaches to God : surely it is one end of the Spirit’s mission, 
 “ because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your 
 hearts, crying, Abba, Father,” Gal. 4:6. I will not deny but that bas- 
 tards, strangers without the covenant, having no right to God as their 
 Father, may yet petition God as a subdued people do their conqueror, or as 
 ravens cry to God for food, or as some “ howl upon their beds for corn and 
 wine,” Hos. 7 : 14. But they cannot pray : in right prayer there is not 
 only required gracious ingredients in the action, but also a new state of 
 adoption and filiation ; many speak words to God, who do not pray; many 
 tell over their sins, who confess not their sins to God ; many speak good of 
 God, who do not praise him; thousands claim Fathership in God, where 
 there is no sonship nor ground in the thing itself. A new nature is only 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 541 
 
 that best bottom of prayer that takes it off from being a taking of God's 
 name in vain. Now this is the fruit of the Spirit, and one of those ends 
 of the Spirit's mission. 
 
 2. That he might guide us into all truth, I mean into all necessary, 
 fundamental, saving truths; in this respect, we have need of the Spirit in 
 these days. He it is that dictates to us which is the true religion ; he it 
 is that transcribes upon our hearts, that which was before only written in 
 our books ; he it is that not only reveals truth from without, but imprints 
 it also on the soul, as a man doth a seal by impressing it on the wax; to 
 this purpose saith the apostle, “ He that believeth on the Son of God hath 
 the witness in himself," 1 John 5 : 10. How in himself? I answer, 1. In 
 that the Spirit gives him the habit of faith. 2. In that the Spirit causeth 
 him to bring it forth into act. 3. In that the Spirit stamps on the soul 
 all those other impressions of desire, hope, love, joy, or whatsoever else 
 we call the new nature, so that now there is a new nature within him, he 
 hath new thoughts, new designs, new desires, new hopes, new loves, new 
 delights, he drives a new trade (as it were), in this world for another 
 world ; be is become in Christ a new creature, “ Old things are passed 
 away, and all things are become new," 2 Cor. 5 : 17. And from hence 
 we may soundly argue the truth of our religion. Mark this, as the written 
 word is the testimony without us, so are these impressions of the Spirit the 
 testimony within us, by which we may know every necessary truth as it is 
 in Jesus: this is the meaning of the apostle, “ He that believeth hath the 
 witness in himself." Unbelievers have indeed a testimony without them, 
 but believers have a double testimony, one without, and one within ; and 
 this witness within us, will go with us which way soever we go ; it will 
 accompany us through all straits and difficulties. The external testimony 
 may be taken from us, men may take from us our Bibles, our teachers, our 
 friends; or they may imprison us where we cannot enjoy them; but they 
 cannot take from us the Spirit of Christ : this witness within, is a per- 
 manent, settled, habituate, standing witness; 0 ! what an excellent help is 
 here, that a poor Christian hath beyond all the furniture of the most learned 
 men that want this testimony of the Spirit of Christ? Surely this advan- 
 tage will exceedingly furnish us against all temptations to any error, that 
 is plainly contrary to the essentials of religion. One of our divines puts a 
 case, — 
 
 If the devil, or any seducer, would draw us to doubt, whether there be 
 indeed a Christ, or whether he did rise again, ascended, sat down at God’s 
 right hand, and thence sent down the Holy Ghost?* What an excellent 
 advantage is it against this temptation, when we can repair to our own 
 hearts, and there find a Christ, or a Spirit of Christ within us ? “ 0 ! saith 
 the sanctified soul, have I felt Christ relieving me in my lost condition, 
 delivering me from my captivity, reconciling me to God, and bringing me 
 with boldness into his glorious presence? and now, after all this, shall I 
 doubt whether there be a Christ in heaven, or a Spirit of Christ in my 
 heart on earth? Have I felt him new-creating me, opening my dark eyes, 
 and bringing me from darkness into his marvellous light, and from the 
 power of Satan unto God, binding the strong man, and casting him out, 
 and yet shall I question, whether there be a Christ, or a Spirit of Christ? 
 Hath he made me love the things which I hated, and hate that which I 
 loved ? Hath he given me such a taste of the powers of the world to 
 come, and possessed me with the hopes of glory with himself, and given 
 me a treasure and portion in God, and set my heart where my treasure is, 
 and caused me in some measure to have my conversation in heaven above, 
 
 * Mr. Baxter’s- Spirit’s Witness to the Truth of Christianity. 
 
542 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 and yet shall I doubt whether there he a Christ above, or a Spirit within ? 
 O what an impudent lying spirit is this, that would tempt me against so 
 much experience !” And thus may a believer argue from the testimony 
 that is within, 
 
 I know some seeming saints have fallen off into as great blasphemies as 
 these I have named : witness the Quakers and Ranters, &c. But I may 
 say of such, as John did, “ They went out from us, but they were not of 
 us, for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with 
 us,” 1 John 2 : 19. It is no wonder if Satan prevail against those that gave 
 Christ no deeper room but in their phantasy, and that did never heartily 
 close with him in love. But for those that have the Spirit of Christ within 
 them, it is not so with them. If they cannot answer the cavils of Satan, or 
 any of his instruments, yet they can hold fast the grounds of faith ; Christ 
 hath a deep room and interest in their spirits : he is held faster by the 
 heart than by the head alone; love will hold Christ, when reason alone 
 would let him go ; his ear is nailed, as it were, unto his door, and because 
 he loveth him, he will not leave him : “ Who shall separate him from the 
 love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, 
 or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (As it is written, For thy sake are we 
 killed all the day long;) nay, in all these things, we are more than con- 
 querors through him that loved us,” Rom. 8 : 35, 36, 37. A modern writer 
 brings in a sincere heart, paraphrasing, as it were, on this text, in this 
 manner,* “Who shall separate me from the love of Christ?” 0 thou 
 malicious devil, thou dost hunt me with thy fiery darts ! 0 ye dull heretics, 
 infidels, blasphemers, that fill up my ears with your foolish sophisms, and 
 trouble me with your disputes against my Lord and Redeemer ! go to him 
 that knows him only by the hearing of the ear, if you mean to prevail : 
 but I have known him by the sweet experiences of my soul ; go to him that 
 makes a religion of his opinion, and whose belief was never any deeper 
 than his fancy, and whose piety never reached higher than to abstinency 
 and tasks of formal duty ; these you may possibly draw away from Christ. 
 But do you think to do so by me ? why, tell me how ? With what weapons or 
 arguments can you think to prevail ? What, shall tribulation be the means ? 
 No, no, I have that promise in the hand of my faith, and that glory in the 
 eye of my hope, that will bring me through all tribulations under heaven : 
 or, shall distress do it ? Why, I will rather stick so much closer to him 
 that will relieve me in distress, and bring me to his rest. Or, Will you 
 affright me by persecution ? I am assured that this is the nearest way to 
 heaven, and am blessed of Christ, when I am persecuted for righteous- 
 ness’ sake. Or, shall nakedness be the weapon ? I had rather pass naked 
 out of this world to heaven, than be clothed in purple, and to be stript 
 of it at death, and to be cast into hell; Adam’s innocent nakedness, and 
 Lazarus’ rags were better than that Epicure’s gay apparel. Or, shall famine 
 be the means? Why man liveth not by bread alone, I had rather my 
 body were famished than my soul ; I have meat to eat that ye know not of, 
 even the bread of life, which whoso eats shall live for ever. Or, will you 
 affright me from Christ by the sword of violence ? I know that the Lord 
 whom I believe in, and serve, is able to deliver me out of your hands ; but 
 if be will not, be it known to you I will not forsake him ; your sword will 
 be only the key to open the prison doors, and let out my soul that hath long 
 desired to be with Jesus Christ. If ye tell me of peril, I know no danger 
 so great as of losing Christ and salvation ; and of bearing his wrath that 
 can kill both body and soul : do I not read in certain histories of that 
 noble army of martyrs, who loved the Lord Jesus to the death, and gloried 
 
 * Mr. Baxter’s Spirit’s Witness to the Truth of Christianity. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 543 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 in tribulation, and would not by the flames of fire, or jaws of lions, be sepa- 
 rated from Jesus Christ ? Did not they pass through the Red Sea, as on 
 dry ground to the promised land, yea, though “ they were killed all the 
 day long, and accounted as sheep for the slaughter?” Did they not stick 
 and cleave fast to the Lord, and to the Captain of their salvation ? Nay, 
 were they not in all this conquerors, and more than conquerors, triumph- 
 ing in flames, to the confusion of Satan, and all their enemies, as Christ 
 triumphed on the cross, destroying by death the prince of death?” Heb. 
 
 2 : 14. Oh ! what a blessed advantage is it against all temptations to 
 have the impress of the gospel of Christ on our heart, and the witness in 
 ourselves ? 
 
 But I hear some object, if the witness in ourselves, be so full and con- 
 vincing, then what need have we any more to make use of Scriptures or 
 ministers? Why should we leave a higher teacher to go to a lower ? 
 
 But I answer, 1. There is more than one thing wanting to make us wise 
 to salvation, as, 1. An outward word. And 2. An outward teacher. 3. 
 An inward light. And accordingly, God supplies this threefold want ; the 
 first, by giving us the Scripture ; the second, by giving us a ministry, and 
 other occasional teachers ; the third, by giving us the illumination of the 
 Spirit, to help us to see by the former means, and to make the word and 
 ministry to us effectual. Now it were a mad thing for a man to say, I have 
 eyes to read in a book, and therefore I have no noed of the light of a candle 
 or of sun ; or I have eyes and sun, and therefore I have no need of the light 
 in the air, which cometh from the sun ; or I have the light both of the eye, 
 and sun, and air ; and therefore I can read by it without a book ; or, I have 
 a book, and therefore I can read it without a teacher : certainly if a man 
 would read, he must have all these, or more than one of these ; so God hath 
 appointed us three necessary means for our illumination and direction, the 
 word, the ministry, and the Spirit ; “ What God hath joined, let no man 
 separate if any would foolishly go, and set one of these against another, 
 when God hath set them all together, and made them all necessary, assign- 
 ing to each a several part in the work of our illumination, they may abuse 
 God and themselves, and go without the light, while they despise the neces- 
 sary causes of it, God’s evidences must not be separated, much less must 
 one be pleaded to the neglect of all the rest; as the work within us is not 
 the first testimony, but a secondary confirming testimony, so doth it not 
 make the first unnecessary and void ; besides that, by the external testimony, 
 we must convince other men, which by the witness within us we cannot do. 
 But this only by the way. 
 
 2. For the encouragement of our faith to believe in Christ, as in reference 
 to his ascension, session, and mission of his Spirit. 
 
 1. Consider the excellency of this object : what is it but Christ ? Christ 
 in his ascendant, culminant, regnant power ? Christ in his marching, con- 
 quering, triumphing postures? In his free, and large, and magnificient 
 gifts, “ When he ascended on high he led captivity captive, and gave gifts 
 unto men.” 0 the glory ! 0 the excellency of Christ in these respects ! 
 
 verily they are enough to tire out men and angels, with the only act of won- 
 dering and surveying of their vastness. Here is the gospel-work for all 
 eternity, to dig into this gold mine, to roll and turn this soul-delighting pre- 
 cious stone, to behold, inquire, and search into these depths and heights of 
 Christ exalted : and I believe this is the satiety, the top, and prime of hea- 
 ven’s glory ; to see and wonder at the virtues of him that sits on the throne, 
 at the right hand of God ; to be filled, but never satiate with the glory of 
 Christ? What, Christ ascended ? Christ set down in glory ? And Christ 
 Bending down his Holy Spirit ? Here is a compendium of all glories ; here 
 
544 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IV. 
 
 is one for an heart to he taken with, made up of nothing but of several 
 mysteries of glory. , 
 
 2. Consider the power, virtue, and influence of this object unto our soul’s 
 salvation ; oh ! what a stately tower have we here erected to see heaven on ? 
 faith may stand, as it were, on this mount, and see itself in glory ; Oh the 
 flowings ! the rich emanations of grace and glory that come from hence ! 
 come, let us draw, the well is deep ; all the drops and dewings that fall on 
 men or angels, are but as chips, in comparison of that huge and boundless 
 body of the fulness of grace that is in Christ; one lily is nothing to a 
 boundless and broad field of lilies ; Christ is in these respects the mountain 
 of roses ; oh how high ! how capacious, how full, how beautiful, how green ! 
 Could we but “ smell him who feeds among the lilies, till the day breaks, 
 and the shadows fly away !” Could we but dive into the golden veins of 
 these unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ, we should say, “It is good to be 
 here !” Oh ! it is good to gather up the fragments that fall from Christ ! 
 his crown shines with diamonds and pearls ; Oh ! why do we toil ourselves 
 in gathering sticks, when to-morow we shall be out of this world and go to 
 Christ; Come, where is our mouth of faith? Let us lay it to here, let us 
 suck and be satisfied with these breasts of consolation, let us milk out and 
 be delighted with the abundance of his glory. 
 
 3. Consider the suitableness of these objects to our several conditions; 
 you may remember the first cry, “ was it not love enough for Christ to come 
 down, and to visit us here ; but that he must go up and take us with him ?” 
 No, no; his love was so great and vast that for our sakes he moves up and 
 down ; this ravished the spouse, “ Behold he comes leaping upon the moun- 
 tains, and skipping upon the hills,” Sol. Song 2 : 8. Gregory, that measured 
 his leaps, thus gives them ; he first leaps from his Father’s mansion to his 
 mother’s womb ; from his mother’s womb to his cratch ; from his cratch to 
 his cross ; from his cross to his grave ; from his grave up again to heaven ; 
 great leaps indeed, that showed both his readiness to love, and willingness 
 to save : infinite love can never be out-tired with greatest actions. But 
 another cries, How should I believe that Christ is exalted, and that by 
 virtue thereof I shall be exalted, when I see myself in a forlorn condition, 
 forsaken of God, an object amongst men : “ Alas ! man at his best is alto- 
 gether vanity, yea, men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree 
 are a lie, to be laid in the balance, I am altogether lighter than vanity ; how 
 then should I believe any such a condition ? Is a worm a fit, or a capable 
 subject to wear a crown ?” Psa. 62 : 9. Yes, the Lord is great, and he can 
 do great things, “ He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the 
 beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them in- 
 herit the throne of glory; for the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and 
 he hath set the world upon them, he will keep the feet of his saints ;” 1 
 Sam. 2 : 8, 9. Why, there is my sadness, cries another, “ He will keep the 
 feet of his saints ;” if I were but a saint, I could believe in his power ; but 
 alas ! I am unholy, an unsanctified piece of clay ; I am a sinner, a sinner 
 of the Gentiles, a chief of sinners; I deserve to be thrown down into hell, 
 rather than to be invested with glory, and to sit in heaven.” True, but yet 
 the Holy Ghost is given to make thee holy ; of thyself, thou art vile, and 
 most vile ; but hath not the Holy Ghost entered in, and taken possession 
 of thy spirit ? Hath he not washed thee with water ? Yea, thoroughly 
 washed away thy blood ? Hath he not anointed thee with oil, and covered 
 thee with silk, and decked thee with gold and silver, and made thee comely 
 through his comeliness, which he put upon thee ? Why, this is the office 
 of the Holy Ghost, and if thou hast but the indwelling of the Spirit, this 
 is thy state ; I know there is a part of thee unregenerate, and it will be so 
 while thou art on earth, but withal there is in thee a new nature, another 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 545 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 nature ; there is something else within thee which makes thee wrestle 
 against sin, and shall in time prevail over all sin, and this is the Spirit of 
 Christ, sanctifying of thee, “ Being sanctified (saitk the apostle) by the 
 Holy Ghost, ” Rom. 15 : 16. Other complaints may be thus brought in, 
 but if we understand the meaning, the design of Christ in his ascension, 
 session and mission of his Spirit, how might a true faith answer all ? Oh 
 believe ! believe thy part in Christ’s ascension, Christ’s session, Christ’s 
 mission of his Holy Spirit, and thou mayest go singing to thy grave ; a 
 lively faith in such particulars, would set a soul in heaven, even whilst yet 
 on earth. 
 
 Sect. VI. — Of loving Jesus in that respect. 
 
 6. Let us love Jesus, as carrying on the great work of our salvation for 
 us in these particulars; much hath been said already of Christ’s conception, 
 birth, life, death, resurrection ; such arguments of love, as are enough to 
 swallow up souls in love to Christ again : 0 the treasures of love, and wis- 
 dom, that have been opened in former passages ! but as if all these were not 
 enough for God, see here new gold-mines, new found out jewels, never 
 known to be in the world before, opened and unfolded in Jesus Christ. 
 Here are the incomes of the beams of light most inaccessible ; here are the 
 veins of the unsearchable glories of Jesus Christ; as if we saw every moment 
 a new heaven, a new treasure of love, the bosom of Christ is yet more 
 opened ; the new breathings and spirations of love, are yet more manifested. 
 See ! Christ for us, and for our salvation is gone up to heaven, is set down 
 at God’s right-hand, and hath sent down the Holy Ghost into our hearts; 
 in the pouring out of these springs of heaven’s love, how should our souls 
 but open the mouth wide and take in the streams of Christ’s nectar, honey 
 and milk, I mean his sweet, and precious, and dear love breathings? We 
 have heard of Christ’s invitations, u Come to me, all ye that are weary and 
 heavy laden,” Matth. 11 : 28. But suppose Christ had never uttered his 
 love in such a love expression, “ Come to me,” yet Christ himself in these 
 glorious particulars is such a drawing object; the very beauty of Christ, the 
 very smell of the garments of Christ, the very capacious and wide heaven 
 of Christ’s exaltation are intrinsically, and of themselves, such drawing, ra- 
 vishing, winning objects, that upon the apprehension of them we cannot 
 choose but love Christ : as gold that is dumb and cannot speak, yet the 
 beauty and gain of it crieth aloud, u Come hither, poor creature, and be thou 
 made rich;” so if Christ should never open his lips, if he should never 
 gently move, “ Open to me my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled, for 
 my head is full of dew, and my locks with the drops of the night,” Sol. 
 Song 5 : 2. Yet the glory, the power, the sovereignty of Christ, the exalta- 
 tion of his person, and the magnificence of his gifts, should even change our 
 souls into a globe or mass of divine love and glory, as it were by the Spirit 
 of the Lord, 2 Cor. 3 : 18. 
 
 Two things I shall instance, which may be as the loadstones of our love 
 to Christ : the first is his glory, and the second his bounty. 
 
 1. For his glory ; no sooner was he ascended, and set down at God’s right 
 hand, but John, the divine, had a sight of him, and oh ! what a glorious 
 sight ! “ He was clothed with a garment down to the feet, and girt about 
 
 the paps with a golden girdle; his head and his hairs were white like wool, 
 as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like unto 
 fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of 
 many waters : and he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his 
 mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun 
 that shineth in his strength,” Rev. 1 : 18 — 16. When John saw him thus, 
 he swoons at his feet, but Christ for all his glory, holds his head in his 
 
546 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 swoon, saying, “Fear not, T am the first, and the last; I am he that liveth, 
 and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore, Amen. And have the 
 keys of hell, and of death,” ver. 17, 18. A glorious Christ, is good for 
 swooning, dying sinners; would sinners but draw near, and come, and see 
 this king in the chariot of love, and come and see his beauty, the uncreated 
 white and red in his sweet countenance, he would certainly draw their souls 
 unto him. Nay, say that all the damned in hell were brought up with their 
 burning fiery chains to the utmost door of heaven ; could we strike up a win- 
 dow, and let them look in, and behold the throne, and the Lamb, and the 
 troops of glorified spirits clothed in white, with crowns of gold on their 
 heads, and palms in their hands, singing the eternal praises of their glorious 
 king : Oh ! how would they be sweetened in their pain, and convinced of 
 their foolish choice, and ravished with the fulness of those joys and plea- 
 sures that are in Christ’s face for evermore ? Surely much more may this 
 glory of Christ warm thy heart, 0 my soul ! What an happiness were it to 
 see the king on his throne ; to see the Lamb, the fair tree of life, the 
 branches which cannot for the narrowness of the place, have room to grow 
 in, “ For the heaven of heavens cannot contain him !” What a happiness 
 were it to see love itself, and to be warmed with the heat of immediate love, 
 that comes out of the precious heart and bowels of this princely and royal 
 standard bearer? As yet thou canst not, must not see these sights, there 
 is no seeing the King thus in his beauty till thou comest to glory ; for then, 
 and then only must thou see him face to face; and yet the idea and image 
 of his glory, is seen, and may be seen in every true believing soul; enough 
 may be seen by an eye of faith, to kindle in thine heart a flame of love to 
 the Lord Jesus Christ : Oh ! who can think of the glory that is in this dainty 
 delightful one, and not be swallowed up in love? Who can think of Christ’s 
 sitting at God’s right hand, and sparkling in this glory round about, and 
 casting out beams of glory through east, and west, and north, and south, 
 through heaven, and earth, and hell, and not love him with the whole heart, 
 soul and might? I remember one dying, and hearing some discourse of 
 Jesus Christ: “ Oh ! (said she,) speak more of this: let me hear more of 
 this; be not weary of telling his praise, I long to see him, how should I but 
 long to hear of him ?” Surely I cannot say too much of Jesus Christ; in 
 this blessed subject, no man can possibly hyperbolize; had I the tongues of 
 men and angels, I could never fully set forth Christ ; it involves an eternal 
 contradiction, that the creature can see to the bottom of the Creator. Sup- 
 pose all the sands on the sea shore, all the flowers, herbs, leaves, twigs of 
 trees in woods and forests, all the stars of heaven, were all rational creatures, 
 and had they that wisdom, and tongues of angels to speak of the loveliness, 
 beauty, glory, and excellency of Christ, “ as gone to heaven, and sitting at 
 the right hand of his Father,” they would in all their expressions stay mil- 
 lions of miles on this side of Jesus Christ. 0 the loveliness, beauty, and 
 glory of his countenance ! can I speak, or you hear of such a Christ? And 
 are we not all in a burning love, in a seraphical love, or at least in a con- 
 jugal love ? 0 my heart ! how is it thou art not love-sick ? How is it thou 
 dost not charge the daughters of Jerusalem, as the spouse did, “I charge 
 you, 0 ye daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, 
 I am sick of love,” Sol. Song 5 : 8. 
 
 2. For his bounty, no sooner was he ascended, and set down at God’s 
 right hand, but he gives gifts unto men ; and he sends down the Holy Ghost. 
 This was the gift of gifts ; I shall ordy weigh two circumstances in this gift, 
 either whereof both diguifies, and casts a sparkle of bounty from the giver, 
 into the heart of the receiver, to move him to love. As, 
 
 1. One circumstance is the greatness of the giver; certainly the preemi- 
 nence of dignity of any principle enuobleth and euhauceth the effect : a gift 
 
CHAP, n.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 547 
 
 coming from a great person carries ever a scent with it of a certain greatness 
 and relish either of excellency, or superiority, or nobility, or all. It is sto- 
 ried of Charles the fifth, that in his wars, being ever pressed with want of 
 money, and so unable to remunerate the services of divers Dutch captains, 
 and nobles whom he had entertained ; he used after any great exploit per- 
 formed by them, to call together his nobles, and camp into such a field, and 
 there in the presence of them all, to take a gold chain from about his own 
 neck, and put it about the neck of such a captain, or such a colonel, and so 
 to embrace him, and to give him thanks for his gallant service : why, this 
 they esteemed a greater favor, (being circumstanced by such a person, in 
 such a way) than if in very deed he had given him a sufficient pay, or re- 
 muneration. 0 ! they valued that chain more than many bushels of the 
 like gold ; the very person of the emperor hanged at the chain, such a pre- 
 cious jewel, as in warlike conceits, a million of gold could not countervail ; 
 0 my soul; if an emperor thus gained the affections of men, how shouldst 
 thou but love Christ, the great emperor of heaven and earth ? It was 
 he that gave thee his Spirit, it was he that “ took of the Spirit which 
 is upon him, (so is the expression of God to Moses) and put it upon thee,” 
 Numb. 11 : 17. And doth npt the person of Christ, the dignity of Christ, 
 enhance the value of the gift ? As all gifts are signs of love, so the love of 
 a great personage, and the gifts issuing from such a love, ought more to be 
 accounted than any gifts of any person whatsoever. 
 
 2. Another circumstance is, the greatness of the gift : this argueth great- 
 ness of good will; and consequently deserveth a correspondence of a sembla- 
 ble affection. Now, what greater gift had Christ in store, than to give his 
 own Spirit? The Spirit proceedeth from him, and is the same essence with 
 himself; the Spirit is the third person of the true and only God-head, pro- 
 ceeding from the Father, and the Son : and co-eternal, and co-equal, and 
 consubstantial with the Father, and the Son ; this appears by those divine 
 attributes and properties which are attributed and communicated to the Holy 
 Spirit : as, 1. Eternity, God never was without his Spirit, “ In the begin- 
 ning God created heaven and earth. — And the Spirit of God moved upon 
 the face of the waters,” Gen. 1:1,2. 2. Omnipotency, because he, together 
 with the Father and the Son, createth and preserveth all things, “ by hid 
 Spirit, he hath garnished the heavens ; the Spirit of God hath made me, 
 Job 26 : 13. — 33 : 4. And all these things workeih that one and the self-same 
 Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will,” 1 Cor. 12 : 11. 3. Omni- 
 sciency, or the knowledge of all things, “ For the Spirit searcheth all things, 
 yea, the deep things of God,” 1 Cor. 2 : 10. 4. Immutability, or unchange- 
 
 ableness, “ Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled 
 which the Holy Ghost spake,” Acts 1 : 16. 5. Infinite mercy, or love, 
 
 “ God is love, — and the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy 
 Ghost, which is given unto us,” Rom. 5:5. 6. Holy indignation, even 
 
 against hidden sins, “ They rebelled, and vexed his Holy Spirit, Isa. 63 : 10. 
 Why, hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?— -Thou hast not 
 lied unto men, but unto God,” (a plain text for the divinity of the Holy 
 Ghost) — “ How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the 
 Lord ? Acts 5 : 3, 4. 9. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye 
 are sealed unto the day of redemption,” Eph. 4 : 30. I might add miracles, 
 and the institution of sacraments, and prophecies, and gifts, and graces, as 
 the effects of his divinity : “ 1 cast out devils (saith Christ) by the Spirit of 
 God, and baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Ghost,” Matth. 12 : 28. — 28 : 19. And the u Spirit speaketh expressly, 
 that in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith,” 1 Tim. 4 : 1. 
 And “ we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by 
 the Spirit of the Lord,” 2 Cor. 3 : 18. See now how the Holy Spirit i 3 
 
548 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 God, co-eternal, co-equal, and consubstantial with God the Father, and God 
 the Son ; is not this a great gift ? Yea, as great a gift as possibly can be 
 given ? What can he do more than to give himself, and to give his Spirit? 
 O the bonds of love that are upon man towards Christ in this respect ? 
 
 Come, my soul, and take a view of the glory and bounty of Jesus Christ. 
 If thy heart be not all brass, and iron, and stone ; if there be any fleshiness, 
 softness, or pliableness in it; why, then how shouldst thou choose but love? 
 if either beauty or bounty, if either majesty, or magnificence can draw thy 
 affection, Christ will have it, for in him is all ; 0 let him be thy all ! surely 
 if thou hast any thing besides himself, he is the donor of all, he is the beauty 
 of all, the sum of all, the perfection of all, yea, he is the author, preserver, 
 and finisher of all. 
 
 Sect. YII. — Of joying in Jesus in that respect. 
 
 7. Let us joy in Jesus, as carrying on the great work of our salvation 
 for us in these particulars ; there is not a particular under consideration, 
 but it is the object of a Christian joy. As, — 
 
 1. How should it heighten my joys, and enlarge my comforts, when I do 
 but consider that Christ is ascended into glory ? By this it is clear and evi- 
 dent, that Christ is accepted of the Father for me, or otherwise, he should 
 never have been received into heaven ; if any frown had been in the face of 
 God, surely Christ coming so near God, he should have had it ; if any ex- 
 ception had been against his satisfaction, any flaw in our pardons, surely 
 Christ should have heard of it, yea, without question, he must have been 
 turned out of heaven, until he had made a full payment of our debts. I need 
 not doubt of my acceptance at the throne of grace, when Jesus Christ is 
 accepted for me, and that I stand in such a relation of Jesus Christ. Oh 
 what joy is in this ! 
 
 2. How should it heighten my joys and enlarge my comforts, when I do 
 but consider that Christ is set down at God’s right hand. Why, now he 
 hath the keys of heaven delivered into his hands. “All power is given 
 unto him in heaven and in earth,” Matth. 28 : 18. And now he can do 
 what he will ; God the Father hath given away (as it were) all his prerog- 
 atives unto Jesus Christ, “All judgment is committed to the Son, for the 
 Father judgeth no man,” John 5 : 22. Now, he is in a capacity of acting 
 out all his love, and the Father’s desire to me in the most glorious way ; 
 he is highly advanced, and thereby he hath the advantage to advance me, 
 and to glorify me ; God hath given into his hands all the treasures and 
 riches of heaven, in bidding him, “sit down at his right hand,” be told 
 him that he would have no more to do with the world, but that Christ 
 should have all, and that Christ should bestow all he had amongst his saints ; 
 and that this should be the reward of his death, and when once his saints 
 were come about him, and sat with him in his glory, why, then Christ should 
 resign up again his place, “And deliver up the kingdom to God, even the 
 Father,” 1 Cor. 15 : 24. Oh ! what joy may enter into this poor dark dun- 
 geon, disconsolate soul of mine, whilst I but think over these glorious pas- 
 sages of my Christ in glory ? 
 
 3 How should it heighten my joys and fill me with joy unspeakable, and 
 full of glory, when I do consider that Christ hath sent down his Holy 
 Spirit into my heart? When sorrow had filled the apostles’ hearts, because 
 he had told them, “ I must go away,” he comforts them with this, “ If I 
 go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will 
 send him unto you,” John 16 : 7. The Spirit is the Comforter, and where 
 he comes, he fills souls with comforts ; 0 what comfort is this ! to know 
 that the Spirit of Christ is my inmate ? That my soul is the temple and 
 receptacle, the house and dwelling of the Spirit of God ? That Christ is in 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 549 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 me of a truth, and that not only by the infusion of his grace, but by the 
 indwelling of his spirit ? Surely it is some comfort to a sickly man that he 
 hath a physician always in the house with him ; and to a woman that is near 
 her travail, that the midwife is in the house with her; but what comfort is 
 it to a poor soul that the Spirit of Christ is always in him ? “I will send 
 you another Comforter (saith Christ) that he may abide with you for ever,” 
 John 14 : 16. Christ in his bodily presence went away, but Christ in his 
 Spirit continues still, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the 
 world,’’ Matth. 28 : 10. He is with us, and which is more, he is in us for 
 our comfort, u Christ in you the hope of glory,” Col. 1 : 27. Not Christ 
 in sermons which we hear, not Christ in chapters which we read, nor Christ 
 in sacraments which we receive, nor Christ in our heads by high notions, 
 nor Christ in our mouths by frequent glorious expressions, but Christ in our 
 hearts by his Spirit, is unto us “ the hope of glory.” The grounds of our 
 comforts in this respect, are — 
 
 1. Christ’s presence. It is said of Paul that after a sad shipwreck, the 
 
 sight of some Christian brethren so cheered him up, that upon the sight of 
 them, “ he thanked God, and took courage,” Acts 28 : 15. It is said of 
 Caesar, that he cheered the drooping mariners in a storm, by minding them 
 of his presence, you carry Caesar; how much more should the in-being of 
 Christ solace saints ? “ Lo, I am with you.” 0 my soul was it not a cor- 
 
 dial to the disciples in a storm, that Christ was with them, whom the winds 
 and waves obeyed ? Cheer up now, for if the Spirit be in thee, Christ is 
 with thee. 
 
 2. Christ’s complacency. If his Spirit dwell in us, How should he but 
 be well pleased with us ? A man cannot be properly said to dwell in a 
 prison, in which he taketh no delight; the Spirit’s indwelling imports a de- 
 light of Christ in such a soul, “ Here will I dwell, for I have desired it, or 
 delighted in it,” saith God of Zion, Psa. 132 : 14, though many times droop- 
 ing Christians, viewing their own beggarliness and vileness, judge themselves 
 to be worthy to be detested and deserted, and would relinquish themselves 
 if they possibly could, yet Christ looketh to the poor and contrite soul, as a 
 meet habitation for himself to dwell in, “ I dwell in the high and holy place, 
 with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit,” Isa. 57 : 15. 
 
 8. Christ’s communications. Union is the ground of our communion with 
 Christ; and the nearer our union, the greater is our communion. If Christ 
 were only in a believer by the habit of grace, the union would not be so 
 great, but if Christ be in us by his Spirit, the union is nearer, and therefore 
 the communion will be greater; 0 my soul ! remember this in all thy straits; 
 there can be no creature-want or danger whatsoever, wherein the improve- 
 ment of this indwelling of the Spirit may not refresh thee. Art thou sick ? 
 The physician both of soul aud body is within thee. Art thou sad ? The 
 Comforter himself that supplies the stead and room of Christ, inhabits in 
 thee. Art thou in exile, in banishment, imprisonment, at great distance from 
 thy dearest friends ? See Paul’s refreshment, when they were ready to puli 
 him in pieces, and threw him into the castle, even u the night following, the 
 Lord stood by him, and said, be of good cheer, Paul,” Acts 23 : 11. Christ 
 will stand by thee, nay, Christ by his Spirit dwelleth in thee, and will speak 
 to thee comfortable words in thy greatest pressures 
 
 4. Christ’s witnessings of his Spirit dwell in us, we may then be assured 
 of future glory. “ Christ in you the hope of glory,” Col. 1 : 27. It is a 
 sweet note of a divine upon it, “ The existency of Christ’s Spirit in be- 
 lievers, giveth existence to their hopes of glory. The Spirit in us is God’s 
 earnest of glory, the Spirit in us doth prepare us for participation in that 
 glory.”* I look upon this indwelling of the Spirit, as that which no hypo- 
 
 * Mr. Ash in his sermon of Christ the riches of the gospel. 
 
550 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 crite in the world can lay any claim unto, as for gifts, or graces, an hypo- 
 crite may attain them, or something like them ; it is said of Simon Magus 
 that he believed, Acts 8 : 13. It is said of Judas that he repented, Matth. 
 27 : 3. And of Esau, “ that he sought the birth-right with tears,” Heb. 
 12 : 17. It is said of some, “ that they partook of the heavenly gift, and of 
 the powers of the world to come, and j^et fell away,” Heb. 6 : 5, 6. And 
 it is said of such others, “ That they trampled upon the blood of Christ 
 wherewith they were sanctified,” Heb. 10 : 29. Thus we find in Scripture 
 phrase, that in a hypocrite or wicked man, there may be a kind of faith and 
 repentance, a taste of heaven, and of sanctification : but where do we find 
 in all the Bible, that Christ or the Spirit of Christ is said to dwell in an 
 hypocrite, or wicked man ? This only is the great privilege of a true be- 
 liever, “ Christ in him the hope of glory. — 0 the comfort of this indwelling 
 of Christ ! if Zaccheus hearing that Christ would abide in his house, re- 
 ceived him joyfully,” Luke 19 : 6. How much greater cause of joy have 
 they who have already lodged him in their hearts ? “ These things have 
 
 I spoken to you, (said Christ), that my joy might remain in you, and that 
 your joy might be full,” John 15 : 11. 
 
 And now, 0 my soul, spread thyself on this great good, Christ’s ascen- 
 sion, Christ’s session, and Christ’s mission of his Holy Spirit. What is 
 joy, but an effusion of the appetite whereby the soul spreads itself on what 
 is good, to possess it more perfectly ? the object is sweet, and large, and 
 therefore the soul hath need to spread itself, that it may be more united to 
 the object, and touch the good in more of its parts, yea, if it were possible 
 in every part, there is not any particular here before thee, but it is fuel for 
 joy; 0 what joy was in heaven, when Christ ascended, and when Christ sat 
 down at God’s right hand, and when Christ sent down the Holy Spirit? 
 How stood the angels wondering and admiring at these several passages ? 
 How did they stoop, “and look with the bowing of the head, and bending 
 of the neck ?” 1 Pet. 1 : 12. As the word implies, and is not thy interest 
 in these transactions more than angels ? 0 rejoice, and again rejoice ! Sup- 
 pose thyself in heaven, and that thou hadst a vision of Christ ascended ; 
 say, Is he not a pleasant object? “In his face there is fulness of joy,” 
 Psalm 16 : 11. Suppose thyself to have been in heaven when he first 
 entered into it, and when he first sat down at God’s right hand, and sent 
 down the Comforter to his saints, Was not heaven full of joy? Methinks 
 the very thought of Christ’s bright face, and Christ’s white throne, and 
 Christ’s harpers, and heavenly troops surrounding the throne, and Christ’s 
 welcome to his Father, both for himself, and all his saints, and Christ 
 carrying thy name upon his breast before his Father, should fill thy soul as 
 full of joy, as possibly it can hold. 0 the first-fruits of Emmanuel’s land, 
 that lies beyond time and death ! 0 the joys that were in heaven at Christ’s 
 first entrance into heaven ! 0 my soul ! why dost thou not check thyself, 
 and lay aside thy sad complaints, and forget this earth and earthy troubles ? 
 Why dost thou not look up to Jesus Christ, and rejoice in him who hath 
 done all this for thy salvation ? Either the Spirit of God is not thy Com- 
 forter, or thou canst not but receive comfort in these passages. 
 
 Sect. VIII. — Of calling on Jesus in that respect. 
 
 8. Let us call on Jesus ; I mean — 1. Let us pray that we may have our 
 part in these transactions ; or let us pray for more and more assurance 
 thereof unto our souls; for though we do believe, yet we may not be with- 
 out our doubts, and in case of doubts, What better means than prayer ? “ I 
 believe, Lord help my unbelief ; Lord strengthen my faith, till I come to 
 that plerophory, or full assurance of faith, that I may know my interest in 
 the ascension of Christ, and session of Christ, and in the mission of Christ’s 
 Holy Spirit.” And if once we are but assured, then, 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 551 
 
 2. Praise God for these great transactions of his Son ; are they not mer- 
 cies like mountains lying one upon another, and reaching up to the very 
 heavens? Did not love break out at first in a direct line ? And as it went 
 along, hath it not wound up itself, in such a variety of unthought of dis- 
 coveries, as that it amazeth men and angels? What, that Jesus Christ 
 should not only act for us here on earth, but also ascend for us into heaven, 
 and sit down there at God’s right hand above the heavens? What, that all 
 this should be for us and our salvation ? And to that purpose, that he should 
 send down his Spirit into our hearts, to fit us, and prepare us for his glory ; 
 “ Now bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy 
 name, bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and forget not all his benefits, Psa. 103 : 
 1, 2. — I will extol thee my God, 0 Kiug, and I will bless thy name for 
 ever and ever, Psa. 145 : 1. — Every day will I bless thee, and I will praise 
 thy name for ever and ever, verse 2. — One generation shall praise thy 
 works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts, verse 4. — I will speak 
 of the glorious honor of thy majesty, and of thy woodrous works, verse 5. 
 — I will utter the memory of thy great goodness, and I will sing of thy 
 righteousness, verse 7. — Thy saints shall bless thee, verse 10. They shall 
 speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power, verse 11. — And 
 make known unto the sons of men thy mighty acts, and the glorious 
 majesty of thy kingdom, verse 12. — Thy glory is above the earth, and 
 heaven, thou also exaltest the horn of thy people, the praise of all thy 
 saints, and people near unto thyself,” Psa. 148 : 13, 14. 0 that ray soul 
 
 were but in David’s temper, thus to breathe out the praises of Jesus, and 
 to bless his name. 
 
 i Sect. IX. — Of conforming unto Jesus in that respect. 
 
 9. Let us conform to Jesus in the foresaid respects. A serious behold- 
 ing of Jesus in his ascension, session, and mission of his Spirit, is enough 
 to change us into the same image from glory to glory. It was the sweet 
 saying of an experienced saint, “View a glorified Christ, see him as in that 
 relation and condition, and you will soon have the sparkles of the same 
 glory in your hearts.” Christ is now exalted, he is now in glory at the 
 right hand of God; 0 let all our actings be glorious ! let all our walkings, 
 joys, breathings, be as in glory, “ If ye be risen with Christ, seek those 
 things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God ; set 
 your affections on things above, and not on things on the earth,” Col. 3 : 
 1, 2. I shall not in this transaction lay out many particular conformities 
 to Christ’s actings, but gather all into one, contained in this text, which is 
 heavenly conversation ; seek things above, set your affections above ; Christ 
 is gone up, and Christ is set down at God’s right hand; and herein if you 
 will conform, let your hearts be in heaven, let your affections be in heaven, 
 let your conversations be in heaven ; it is the apostle’s own practice, 
 wherein stood his conformity to Jesus Christ, “For our conversation is in 
 heaven,” Phil. 3 : 20. I do not know any one thing wherein we can be 
 more like to Christ exalted, whilst we are upon earth, than to have our 
 hearts, our conversations with Christ where he is; now then if we be virtu- 
 ally risen with Christ, and asceuded with Christ, and set down with Christ 
 in heavenly places, let us spiritually ascend, and sit down with him in these 
 respects ; certainly there is a proportion in our heavenly conversations ; Oh ! 
 let our conversations be in heaven. 
 
 In prosecution of this, I shall examine these queries, 
 
 1. What do we mean by our conversation in heaven ? 
 
 2. Why must our conversation be in heaven ? 
 
 3. By what means must we come up to this conversation in heaven ? 
 
 1. By our conversation in heaven, I mean our aim at heaven ; as heaven 
 
552 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 is our home, so our eye is there ; whatever we do, our end, our scope is to 
 fit us for heaven, and to lay in for heaven ; “ We look not (saith the apos- 
 tle) 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,” 2 Cor. 4 : 18. We look not, that is, we aim not at things 
 which are seen ; invisible things are the only scope and aim of a gracious 
 soul. 
 
 2. By our conversation in heaven, I mean our communion with Christ 
 in heaven, “Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son 
 Jesus Christ,” 1 John 1:3. As it is amongst friends that converse to- 
 gether, they act mutually for the comfort of one another, there is a mutual 
 embracing and opening of their hearts to one another at every turn ; so in 
 our conversing with Christ, there is a communion, or a mutual acting of 
 the soul upon Christ, and of Christ upon the soul ; we let out our hearts to 
 Christ, and he lets out his heart to us, especially when we are with Christ 
 in his ordinances ; it is not enough to call upon God, and to use some 
 broken-hearted expressions, But, “ Oh ! What communion have I with 
 Jesus Christ? I cannot be satisfied except I taste and see how good the 
 Lord is ; I cannot be quiet, except I hear something from heaven this morn- 
 ing.” Why, this is an heavenly conversation. 
 
 3. By our conversation in heaven, I mean our living according to the 
 laws of heaven ; in all our ways we must still inquire, What rule is there 
 from heaven to guide me in these ways ? Such and such a thing I have a 
 mind to, but will the law of heaven justify me in this? Have I any word 
 from Jesus Christ to guide me in this? Sometimes indeed my lusts, my 
 own ends, and the common course of the world was my rule, but now I 
 dare not act, but according to the will and sceptre of Jesus Christ, now I 
 am guided by the law of heaven. Why, this is a heavenly conversation. 
 
 4. By our conversation in heaven, I mean our thoughts and meditations 
 of heaven and heavenly things, “ When I awake (said David) I am always 
 with thee.” Ps. 189 : 18. The hearts of believers are frequently upon 
 their heavenly treasures : as it is storied of queen Mary, that a little before 
 her death, she told them, “ If they rip her open, they would find Calais in 
 her heart.” So it may be said of them, whose conversation is in heaven, 
 if you rip them up, you shall find heaven in their hearts; not a day passes 
 over their heads without some converse with heaven, without some thoughts 
 or meditations of heaven and heavenly things. 
 
 5. By our conversation in heaven, I mean our affections on heaven, or on 
 Christ in heaven, “Set your affections on things above,” Col. 3 : 2, He. 
 Set your desires, loves, hopes, joys, breathings on heavenly things : our 
 affections are precious things, and are only to be set on precious objects : 
 Oh ! what a shame is it to set our affections on the things of this life ? 
 Have we a kingdom, a God, a Christ, a crown in heaven to set our affec- 
 tions upon ? And shall we set them upon dross, and dung, and such base 
 things? Are not all our pleasures and vanities base in comparison of 
 Christ ? 0 ! be not we so base to set our affections on earthly things, but 
 rather on God and Christ; and this is our heavenly conversation. 
 
 6. By our conversation in heaven, I mean our tradings, our negotiations 
 for heaven, even whilst we are upon earth : the word in the original points 
 at this hunon gar to polituteuma en ouranois, our trading is in heaven ; 
 though our bodies be not there, yet our trading is there; we carry and be- 
 have ourselves in this life, as free denizens of the city of heaven, our city 
 whereof we are citizens, and whereunto we have right, is in heaven above; 
 in this respect we trade not for trifles, as other men do, but we trade for 
 great things, for high things, we merchandise for goodly pearls, even for 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 553 
 
 God, and for Christ who sitteth at the right hand of God. We see now 
 what we mean by our conversation in heaven. 
 
 2. Why is the conversation of the saints in heaven ? 
 
 1. Because they know full well, that the original of their souls came 
 from God and heaven ; the body indeed was of the dust of the ground, but 
 the soul was the breath of God ; so it is said of the first man, “ God 
 breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul,” 
 Gen. 2 : 7. The soul had a more heavenly and divine original than any 
 of the other creatures that are here in this nether world ; and when God 
 works grace in the soul, and so it begins to know itself, and to return to 
 itself, it then looks on all things here as vile, and as contemptible things; 
 it then looks upwards, and begins to converse with things suitable to its 
 original. As it is with a child that hath a noble birth ; if transported into 
 another country, and there used like a slave, there set to rake channels, or 
 (as the prodigal) to feed swine ; while he is there and knows not his ori- 
 ginal, he minds nothing but to get victuals, and to do his work that he is 
 set about; but if once he come to know from whence he was, that he is 
 indeed born heir to such a prince in such a country, 0 ! then his thoughts, 
 and mind, and longings, will be altered ; “ 0 that I were in my own coun- 
 try ! 0 that I were with my father in his court !” Even so it is with the 
 souls of the sons of men, they are the birth (as I may so speak) of the 
 great King of heaven and earth, and though by the fall of man they came 
 to be as slaves to Satan, yet when God is pleased to convert the soul, then 
 he discovers thus : Oh man ! thou art born from on high, thy soul is (as it 
 were) a sparkle of God himself, thou art come from God, and thou art capa- 
 ble of communion with God, even with God the Father, and God the Son, 
 and God the Holy Ghost. 0 ! consider of thy country whence thou earnest 
 at first, certainly thou never hadst such a divine and excellent being given 
 thee, to delight only in the flesh, to be serviceable only to thy body; 0! 
 look up unto Jesus. Why, this it is that turns the heart, and sets the 
 conversation on heavenly things. 
 
 2. Because their best and choice things are already in heaven. As 
 their Father is in heaven, and their Saviour is in heaven, thither he as- 
 cended, and there now he sits at the right hand of God ; their husband 
 is in heaven, their elder brother is in heaven, their King is in heaven, 
 their treasure is in heaven, their inheritance is in heaven, their hope is in 
 heaven, their mansion is in heaven, their chief friends are in heaven, their 
 substance is in heaven, their reward is in heaven, their wages are in hea- 
 ven : and all these things being in heaven, no marvel their conversations 
 be in heaven. 
 
 3. Because they are going towards heaven, even whilst yet they are on 
 earth. If the nobleman (as we formerly supposed) do once know his con- 
 dition, and begins his travel homeward towards his father’s court, will he 
 not every morning that he rises, converse with them that come from his 
 father to conduct him home ? Doth it not do him good to hear any man 
 speak of his father’s country ? Is it not in his thoughts, in his talk, in 
 his eye, in his aim, at every step? 0 my soul, if thou art indeed tra- 
 velling towards heaven, how shouldst thou but have it in thy motions, 
 affections, conversations? How shouldst thou but daily commune with thy 
 own heart? “ Heaven is the place that I shall come to, ere long I shall be 
 there; I know that in this world I am but for a while, but in heaven I 
 shall be for ever and ever; we shall be caught up into the clouds, to meet 
 the Lord in the air, and so shall we be ever with the Lord,” 1 Thess. 4 : 
 17. Our very travel towards heaven, implies a heavenly conversation, 
 “ They go from strength to strength, till every one of them in Zion, ap. 
 pears before God,” Ps. 84 : 7. 
 
554 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 4. Because much of heaven is already in the saints, (l The kingdom of 
 heaven is within you, saith Christ, Luke 17 : 21. And knowing in your- 
 selves that ye have a better and an enduring substance/’ Heb. 10 : 34. 
 Surely, if the saints have much of heaven within them, it must needs 
 be that their conversation is in heaven ; but they know this in themselves ; 
 they know it by what God hath revealed in their own hearts ; eternal life 
 is already begun in the souls of God’s people; heaven is in them, and 
 therefore no marvel if their conversation be in heaven. My meaning is not 
 as if the saints had no other heaven but that within them; T know there 
 is a heaven above, but some pieces or earnests, or seeds, or beginnings of 
 that heaven above is within them. Is there not a renewed nature, an image 
 of God, a spark of life, a drop of glory, in God’s people ? Surely yes ; 
 and if so, all these will work heaven-ward ; principles of grace will have 
 some actings of grace till we come to glory. 
 
 3. By what means should we attain or come to have our conversation in 
 heaven ? 
 
 1. Let us watch opportunities for heavenly exercises. God now by his 
 ministers calls, “ Come ye to the waters ; come ye, buy and eat : come, buy 
 wine and milk without money : come to me, and your souls shall live,” Isa. 
 55 : 1, 3. Why, “ now is the accepted time, behold, now is the day of 
 salvation,” 2 Cor. 6 : 2. Whilst ministers call, and we live under the 
 droppings of the word, these are opportunities for heaven ; 0 then ! he that 
 never prayed, let him now pray ; and he that never heard, let him now hear; 
 the Lord is now come near to us; Christ Jesus is calling, and mercy is 
 entreating, and love is beseeching, and wisdom is even hoarse with crying 
 after us ; 0 lay hold on these opportunities for heavenly exercises ! and then 
 we shall come up to heavenly conversation. 
 
 2. Take heed of resting in the formality of duties : many souls that have 
 
 enlightenings of conscience, dare not but take opportunities for heavenly 
 duties ; but then comes in the temptations of the devil, and corruptions of 
 their own hearts, and they say, now duty is done, our task is over, and what 
 needs more ? Alas, alas, it is not what have we done, but where have we 
 been? What, have our souls been in heaven, with God and with Christ? 
 Have we had any communion with the Father, and with the Son in our 
 duties ? 0 take heed of formality ! it will exceedingly hinder our conver- 
 
 sation in heaven; 0 keep our eye still upon our heart! ask in duty, what 
 affections have been acted ? How much are we got nearer heaven thereby? 
 And by this means we shall come to an heavenly conversation. 
 
 3. Let us look up unto Jesus, as hanging on the cross, and as sitting on 
 
 the throne; this is the apostle’s rule, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and 
 finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the 
 cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne 
 of God,” Heb. 12 : 2. These two are the objects of a Christian’s look, who 
 studies an heavenly conversation, viz. Christ’s cross, and Christ’s session ; 
 by the cross he is the author, and by the throne he is the finisher of our 
 faith ; in the first, is set down his love to us ; in the second, is set down 
 our hope of him ; with high wisdom hath the Holy Ghost exhorted us, with 
 these two motives, to run and not to faint; first, Here is love, love in the 
 cross, “Who loved us, and gave himself for us a sacrifice on the cross,” 
 Eph. 5:21. 2. Here is hope, hope in the throne, “To him that over- 
 
 cometh, will I give to sit with me in my throne,” Bev. 3 : 21. After 
 Christ’s death, he arose again, ascended, and is now set down at the right 
 hand of the throne of God ; and the same is our blessed hope, Christ’s 
 throne is not only his place, but ours also ; the love of his cross is to us a 
 pledge of the hope of his throne, or of whatsoever else he is worth. Come 
 then, and settle your thoughts and look on this blessed object; a sight of 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 555 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 Christ’s cross, but especially of Christ’s throne, is a blessed mean to wean 
 us from the world, and to elevate and raise up our affections to things above, 
 yea, to form and frame our conversations towards heaven. 
 
 4. Let us wait for the appearing of Jesus Christ, “Our conversation is 
 in heaven, (saith the apostle,) from whence also we look for the Saviour, 
 the Lord Jesus Christ,” Phil. 3 : 20. Where a man’s conversation is, there 
 his expectation may be, and where his expectations are, there a man’s con- 
 versation is, and will be; if we expect ere long that the Lord Jesus will 
 appear in glory, and that we shall see him, not with other, but with these 
 same eyes, the very waiting for these things, will help our conversation to 
 be heaven-ward. Certainly the day is coming, when Jesus Christ shall 
 come with his angels in his glory, and then shall the bodies of the saints 
 shine gloriously before the face of God and Jesus Christ : 0 the wonder 
 of this day ! the glory of Christ shall then darken the glory of the sun, 
 and moon, and stars, but my body shall not be darkened, but rather it shall 
 shine like the glorious body of Jesus Christ; if a candle should be raised 
 to have so much lustre and beauty, as if you should put it into the midst 
 of the sun, yet it would shine, you would think it a strange kind of light ; 
 surely it shall be so with the bodies of saints, for though they are put into 
 the midst of the glory of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ, yet their bodies 
 shall shine in beauty and lustre there : now, did we believe this, and wait 
 for it every day, how should it change us ? How would it work us to an 
 heavenly conversation ? I have a diseased and lumpish body, and my body 
 hinders me in every duty of God’s worship, but within a while Christ will 
 come in his glory, and then he will make my body like unto his glorious 
 body, so that I shall be able to look upon the face of God, and to be exer- 
 cised in holy duties to all eternity, without weariness, without intermission ; 
 I have many things here that trouble my mind and spirit, and that hinder 
 me in my converse with heaven, and heavenly things; but within a while 
 Christ will appear with his mighty angels, to be admired of his saints, and 
 then shall I sit as an assessor on the throne, with Jesus Christ to judge 
 the world, and then shall I live for ever with him, to be where he is, and 
 enjoy all he has, yea, all that he hath purchased for me by his blood; Oh 
 let me wait for this ! let me look for it every day ! God hath but a little 
 work for me here on earth, and when that is done, this shall be my condi- 
 tion. Christians ! if but every day we would work these things on our 
 souls, it would be a mighty help to make our conversations, heavenly con- 
 versations. 
 
 5. Let us observe the drawings and movings, and windings of the Spirit, 
 
 and follow his dictates ; to this purpose Christ ascended, and sat down at 
 God’s right hand, and sent down the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Ghost be- 
 ing come down, he might do his office in bringing on our souls towards 
 salvation ; and if ever our souls get above this earth, and get acquainted 
 with this living in heaven, it is the Spirit of God that must be as the 
 chariot of Elijah, yea, the very living principle by which we must move 
 and ascend ; 0 then take heed of quenching its motions, or resisting its 
 workings ! take we heed of grieving our guide, or knocking off the chariot 
 wheels of this Holy Spirit. We little think how much the life of graces, 
 and the happiness of our souls doth depend upon our ready and cordial 
 obedience to the Spirit of God; when he forbids us our known transgres- 
 sions, and we will go on, when he tells us which is the way, and which is 
 not, and we will not regard ; no wonder if we are strangers to an heavenly 
 conversation ; if we will not follow the Spirit, while it would draw us to 
 Christ, how should it lead us to heaven, or bring our hearts into the pre- 
 sence of God ? 0 learn we this lesson ! and let not only the motions of 
 
 our bodies, but also the very thoughts of our hearts be at the Spirit’s beck ; 
 
556 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 do we not sometimes feel a strong impulsion to retire from the world, and 
 to draw near to God ? 0 let us not despise or disobey ! hut take we the 
 
 offer, and hoist up our sail, while we may have this blessed gale; if we 
 cherish these motions, and hearken to the Spirit, 0 what a supernatural 
 help should we find to this heavenly-mindedness or heavenly conversation ? 
 
 Thus far we have looked on Jesus, as our Jesus in his ascension, session, 
 and mission of his Holy Spirit; our next work is to look on Jesus carry- 
 ing on the great work of our salvation for us in his intercession, which he 
 makes, and will make to his Father on our behalf, till his second commg 
 to judgment. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS, 
 
 IN HIS INTERCESSION. 
 
 VVWWWVWWVV>/VWWW\/WVVV^WW’ 
 
 THE FOURTH BOOK.— PART YI. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Consider the Apostle, and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, — who also 
 maketh intercession for us. — Heb. 3:1; Rom. 8 : 34. 
 
 Sect. I. — What the Intercession of Christ is. 
 
 We have spoken of Christ’s entrance into heaven, and of his immediate 
 actings after his entrance there ; that transaction which yet remains and 
 will remain until his coming again, is his intercession for the saints. In 
 these actings of Christ in heaven, if we will follow him, we must go from 
 glory to glory ; no sooner come we out of one room of glory, but presently 
 we step into another, as glorious as that before; one would think enough 
 had been said already of the glory of Christ, and of our glory in Christ, who 
 would not willingly sit down under the shadow of this happiness, and go 
 no farther ? But yet this is not all ; so thick and fast doth the glory of 
 Christ break in upon us, that no sooner out of one, than presently we 
 are led into the bosom of another. Oh what a blessed thing is it to be 
 viewing Christ! and to be looking up unto Jesus Christ? Saints might 
 do nothing else, if they pleased, but ravish their hearts with the diversity 
 of heavenly light and comfort, which break forth from the bosom of 
 Jesus Christ. Here is now another mystery as great and amazing as the 
 former, which springs out before our eyes in this transaction of Christ’s 
 intercession. 
 
 And in the prosecution of this, as in the former, I shall first lay down 
 the object, and, secondly, direct you how to look upon it. The object is 
 Jesus carrying on the great work of our salvation in his intercession: in 
 ordering of which, I shall examine these particulars : 
 
 1. What is this intercession of Christ? 
 
 2. According to what nature doth Christ intercede? 
 
 3. To whom is Christ’s intercession directed ? 
 
 4. For whom is the intercession made ? 
 
 5. What agreement is there betwixt Christ’s intercession and the inter- 
 cessions of the high priests of old ? 
 
 6. What is the difference betwixt Christ’s intercession and the interces- 
 sions of those high priests ? 
 
 ( 557 ) 
 
558 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 7. What are the properties of this intercession of Jesus Christ ? 
 
 8. Wherein more especially doth the intercession of Christ consist ? 
 
 9. How powerful and prevailing are Christ's intercessions with God his 
 Father ? 
 
 10. What are the reasons of this great transaction of Christ’s intercession 
 for his people ? 
 
 1. What is the intercession of Christ? Some define it thus, “ Christ’s 
 intercession is that part of his priestly office, whereby Christ is advocate, 
 and en treater of God the Father for the faithful.” I shall give it thus, 
 Christ’s intercession is his gracious will, fervently and immoveably desiring, 
 that for the perpetual virtue of his sacrifice, all his members might both for 
 their persons and duties, be accepted of the Father. 1. I call the interces- 
 sion of Christ his own gracious will ; for we must not imagine, that Christ 
 in his intercession prostrates himself upon his knees before his Father’s 
 throne, uttering some submissive form of words or prayers ; that is not be- 
 seeming the majesty of him that sits at God’s right hand ; when he was but 
 yet on earth, the substance of his requests for his saints ran thus, “ Father, 
 I will, that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am,” 
 John 17 : 24. And how much more now he is in heaven is this the form of 
 his intercessions, “ Father, I will this, and I will that.” 2. The ground 
 or foundation of Christ’s intercession is, the sacrifice or death of Christ: and 
 hence we may make two parts of Christ’s priesthood or oblation : the one 
 expiatory, when Christ suffered upon the cross; the other presentory, when 
 he doth appear in heaven before God for us ; the one was finished on earth, 
 when Christ suffered without the gate; the other is performed in heaven, 
 now Christ is within the city; the one was a sacrifice indeed, the other is 
 not so much a sacrifice as the commemoration of a sacrifice; the first was an 
 act of humiliation, and this latter is an act of glory; the first was performed 
 once for all, this latter is done continually ; the first was for the obtaining 
 of redemption, and this latter is for the application of redemption ; so that 
 the ground of this is that Christ fervently and immoveably desires his Fa- 
 ther for the sake and virtue of his sacrifice. 3. The subject matter inter- 
 ceded for, is, “ That all the saints, and their services, might find acceptance 
 with God,” first, Christ’s intercession is for our persons, and then Christ’s 
 intercession is for our works; for as our persons are but in part regenerate, 
 and in part unregenerate, or, in part flesh, and in part spirit; so be our du- 
 ties, part good, and part evil, in part spiritual, and in part sinful ; now by 
 Christ’s intercession is Christ’s satisfaction applied to our persons, and by 
 consequence, the defect of our duties is covered and removed ; and both we 
 and our works are approved and accepted of God the Father. And thus 
 much for the nature of Christ’s intercession what it is. 
 
 Sect. II. — According to what nature Christ doth intercede. 
 
 2. According to what nature doth Christ intercede ? I answer, accord- 
 ing to both natures : according to his humanity, partly by appearing before 
 bis Father in heaven, and partly by his desiring the salvation of the elect, 
 “ Christ is entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God 
 for us, Ileb. 9 : 24. — And I say not unto you, that I will pray, or desire 
 the Father for you, for the Father himself loveth you,” John 16: 26, 27. 
 Secondly, According to his deity, partly by applying the merit of his death, 
 and partly by willing the salvation of his saints ; and as the effect thereof, 
 by making request in the hearts of the saints with sighings unspeakable, 
 “ Elect, through sanctification of the Spirit and sprinkling of the blood of 
 Jesus Christ,” 1 Pet. 1 : 2. This sprinkling is the applying of the blood of 
 Jesus, and that is an act of intercession : again, “ Father, I will, that they 
 whom thou hast given me be with ine where I am,” John 17 : 24, he de- 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 559 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 sires as a man, but he wills as God, and as the effect of this he gives the 
 Spirit, “ the Spirit itself making intercession for us, with groanings which 
 cannot be uttered,” Rom. 8 : 26. But what are the intercessions of the Spi- 
 rit to the intercessions of Christ ? I answer, much every way, the Spirit’s 
 intercessions are as the effect, and Christ’s intercessions are as the cause ; 
 the Spirit’s intercessions are as the echo, and Christ’s intercessions are as 
 the first voice; the Spirit intercedes for men, in and by themselves, but 
 Christ intercedes in his own person ; there is a dependence of the Spirit’s 
 intercessions in us upon Christ’s intercessions in himself. First, Christ by 
 his intercession applies his satisfaction made, and lays the salve to the very 
 sore; and then he sends down his Holy Spirit into our hearts, to help our 
 infirmities, and to teach us what to pray, and how to pray as we ought. Now 
 this he doth as God, for who shall give a commission to the Spirit of God, 
 but God himself? It is as if Christ should say, “ See Holy Spirit, how I 
 take upon me the cause of my saints, I am perpetually representing my sa- 
 crifice to God my Father, I am ever pleading for them, and answering all 
 the accusations that sin or Satan can lay against them, and now go thy way 
 to such and such, and take up thy dwelling in their hearts, and assist them 
 by thy energy, to plead their own cause ; I am their advocate or intercessor 
 by office, and therefore be thou their advocate or intercessor by operation, 
 instruction, inspiration, and assistance.” 
 
 Sect. III. — To whom Christ’s Intercession is directed. 
 
 3. To whom is Christ’s intercession directed ? I answer, immediately to 
 God the Father, “If any man sin, we have an advocate with' the Father, 
 Jesus Christ the righteous,” 1 John 2:1. In the work of intercession are 
 three persons, a party offended, a party offending, and the intercessor dis- 
 tinct from them both; the party offended is God the Father, the party of- 
 fending is sinful man, and the intercessor distinct from them both, is Jesus 
 Christ, the middle person, as it were, betwixt God the Father, and us men ; 
 the Father is God, and not man ; and we that believe in Christ are men and 
 not God; and Christ himself is both man and God ; and therefore, he inter- 
 cedes and mediates betwixt God and man ; if any object, that not only the 
 Father is offended, but also the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and therefore 
 there must be a Mediator to them also, the solution is easy : Christ’s inter- 
 cession is immediately directed to the Father, but because the Father, Son 
 and Holy Ghost, have all one indivisible essence, and by consequence one 
 will : it therefore follows, That the Father being appeased by Christ’s inter- 
 cession, the Son and the Holy Ghost are also appeased with him and in him. 
 I deny not but Christ’s intercession is made to the whole Trinity, but yet 
 immediately, and directly to the first person, and in him to the rest. “ But 
 if so, then in some sense, (say our adversaries) Christ makes intercession to 
 himself, which cannot be; because in every intercession there must of ne- 
 cessity be three parties ;” this point hath sore puzzled the church of Rome, 
 that for the solving of it, they knew no other way but to avouch Christ to 
 be our intercessor only as man, and not as God, which is most untrue, for 
 as both natures did concur in the work of satisfaction, so likewise they do 
 both concur in the work of intercession : and it is an ancient and approved 
 rule, “That names of office which are given to Christ, such as Mediator, 
 Intercessor, &c. agree unto him according to both natures;”* and can the 
 act of Christ’s intercession, be the act of Christ’s manhood alone? What, 
 to hear aud offer up prayers? To receive and present the prayers aud 
 praises, and other spiritual sacrifices of all believers in the world ? To ne- 
 gotiate for them all at one and the same time, according to the variety and 
 
 * Appellationes officii competunt Christo secundum utramque naturum. 
 
560 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 multiplicity of their several occasions? Surely this is, and must he the 
 work of an infinite, and not of a finite agent : this cannot be effected without 
 the concurrence of the divine nature with the human : but what needs any 
 further answer to this objection ? Suppose Christ intercede to himself as 
 God : that is not immediately, and directly to the same person God the Son, 
 though to the same God essentially; indeed Christ, ( Theanthropos God- 
 man, in respect of bis natures, agreeth with both, being not only God, nor 
 only man, but God-man, Man-God blessed for ever; but in respect of his 
 person, being the second person in the Trinity, he is distinct from both. 1. 
 From the personality of man, for he hath only the personality of God, and 
 not of man. 2. From the first person of the Godhead, who is God the Fa- 
 ther, “ For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the 
 Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one,” 1 John 5 : 7, i. e. 
 Three persons, and but one God. 
 
 Sect. IV. — For whom, this Intercession is made. 
 
 4. For whom is this intercession made? I answer, 1. Negatively, not 
 for the world, “ I pray not for the world,” John 17 : 9, saith Christ; whilst 
 Christ was on earth he would not so much as spend his breath, or open his 
 lips for the world, he knew God would not hear him for them; in like 
 manner Christ prays now in heaven “ not for the world,” he never had a 
 thought to redeem them, or to save their souls, and therefore they have no 
 share in his intercessions ; I know the objection, that Christ upon the cross 
 prayed for the bloody Jews, “ Father forgive them for they know not what 
 they do,” Luke 23 : 34, but that might be of private duty as man, who in 
 that respect submitted himself to the law of God, which requires, that we 
 forgive our enemies, and pray for them that persecute us, and not of his 
 proper office as Mediator; or if it be referred to the proper mediatory in- 
 tercession of Jesus Christ, (which I rather think) it will not prove that he 
 prayed for them all universally, but only indefinitely, i. e. only for them 
 that were present at his crucifying, and that in simplicity of heart, and not 
 of affected ignorance, crucified Christ; and accordingly this prayer was 
 heard, when so many of the Jews were converted at Peter’s sermon, Acts 
 2 :41. What needs more? His own words are express, that Christ’s in- 
 tercessions “ are not for the world,” or reprobates. So much negatively. 
 
 2. Positively, Christ’s intercession is general, and particular; for all, and 
 every faithful man, I pray for them, “I pray not for the world, but for 
 them which thou hast given me, for they are thine, John 17 : 9. And the 
 Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he 
 may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not,” 
 Luke 22 : 31, 32. As the high priest went into the sanctuary with the 
 names of the twelve tribes upon his breast, so Christ entered into the 
 holiest of all, with the names of all believers upon his heart, and still he 
 carries them upon his breast, and presents his will and desire unto his 
 Father for them ; nor doth he only intercede in general, but Simon, Simon, 
 mark that; whatever thy name is, John, Peter, Thomas, Mary, Martha, if 
 thou art a believer, Christ prays for thee ; it is our common practice to de- 
 sire the prayers one of another, but 0 ! who would not have a share in the 
 prayers of Jesus Christ? Why, certainly if thou believest in Christ, Christ 
 prays for thee, “ I have prayed, 1 will pray for thee, saith Christ, that thy 
 faith fail not.” 
 
 Sect. Y. — What agreement there is betwixt Christ’s Intercessions , and the 
 Intercessions of the high Priests of old. 
 
 5. What agreement is there betwixt the intercessions of Christ, and the 
 intercessions of the high priests of old? Among the Jews in the times of 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 561 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 the Old Testament, they had an high priest, who was in all things to stand 
 betwixt God and them. Now, as the Jews had their high priest to inter- 
 cede for them, so the Lord Jesus was to be the high priest of our Christian 
 profession, and to intercede for us ; it will therefore give some light to this 
 doctrine of intercession, if we will but compare these two, and first consider, 
 what agreement betwixt Christ and the high priests of old ; betwixt Christ’s 
 intercession, and the high priests’ intercessions ? 
 
 1. Christ and the high priests of old agreed in name ; not only they, but 
 Christ himself is called an high priest, “ We have such an high priest, who 
 is set down at the right-hand of the Majesty on high, Heb. 8 : 1. — Consi- 
 der the apostle and high priest of our profession, Jesus Christ, Heb. 3 : 1. 
 — Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec,” Heb. 5 : 6, 
 the old priesthood of Aaron was translated into the priesthood of Jesus 
 Christ, so that he was a priest as well as they. 
 
 2. They agreed in office ; that consisted of two parts, oblation and pre- 
 sentation. 1. They offered a sacrifice: and secondly, they presented it in 
 the holy of holies with prayer and intercession unto God : the one was done 
 without, the other within the holy of holies; and in answer thereunto, there 
 are two distinct parts of Christ’s priesthood. 1. The offering of himself a 
 sacrifice upon the cross. 2. The carrying of himself and of his blood into 
 the holy of holies, or into the heaven of heavens; where he appears and 
 prays in the force of that blood : and this was so necessary a part of his 
 priesthood, that without this he had not been a complete priest, “ For if he 
 were on earth, he should not be a priest,” Heb. 8 : 4, that is, if he should 
 have made his abode upon the earth, he should not have been a complete 
 or perfect priest, seeing this part of it, (which we call the presentation or 
 intercession,) lay still upon him to be acted in heaven. And indeed, this 
 part of his priesthood is of the two the more eminent, yea, the top and 
 height of his priesthood ; and therefore it is held forth to us in the types 
 of both those two orders of priesthood that were before him, and figures of 
 him, both that of Aaron and Melchisedec. 1. This was typified in that 
 Levitical priesthood of Aaron and his fellows; the highest service of that 
 office was the going into the holy of holies, and making an atonement there ; 
 yea, this was the height of the high priest’s honor, that he did this alone, 
 and it constituted the difference betwixt him, as he was high priest, and 
 other priests; for they killed and offered the sacrifices without as well as he, 
 but only the high priest was to approach the holy of holies with blood, and 
 that but once a year. 2. This was typified by Melchisedec’s priesthood, 
 which the apostle argues to have been much more excellent than that of 
 Aaron’s, in as much as Levi, Aaron’s father, paid tithes to this Melchisedec 
 in Abraham’s loins; now Melchisedec was his type, not so much in respect 
 of his oblation, or offering sacrifice, as in respect of his continual presenta- 
 tion and intercession in heaven : and therefore the same clause, “ for ever,” 
 still comes in when Melchisedec is named. “ Thou art a priest for ever, 
 after the order of Melchisedec,” Heb. 5 : 6. — 7 : 17. Here then is the 
 agreement betwixt Christ and the high priests of old ; in respect of name, 
 both were priests, and in respect of office, both had their oblations and pre- 
 sentations, or intercessions with God in glory. 
 
 3. In the point of intercession, they agreed in these particulars. 
 
 1. The high priests of old, usually once a year, went into the most holy 
 place within the veil; and so is Christ our great high priest, passed iuto the 
 heavens within the veil, even into the holy of holies. Christ by his own 
 blood, entered in once into the holy place. — “ Not into the holy places made 
 with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now 
 to appear in the presence of God for us,” Heb. 9 : 12, 24. 
 
 2. The high priests of old had a plate of pure gold upon their foreheads, 
 
 36 
 
562 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 which was, u To hear the iniquity of the holy things, that they might ho 
 accepted before the Lord,” Exod. 28 : 38, and so doth Christ bear the ini- 
 quity of our holy things. Spiritual Christians ! here is your Comfort, you 
 are not able to perform any duty to God, but there is a great deal of sin ia 
 the same ; you cannot hear, nor pray, nor confer, nor meditate, without much 
 sin ; but Christ bears all these sins, even the iniquity of your holy things, 
 and he presents your persons and prayers without the least spot to his Fa- 
 ther; he is “the Angel of the covenant that stands at the altar, having a 
 golden censer with much incense, to offer it with the prayers of his saints,” 
 Bev. 8 : 3, and so they are acceptable before the Lord. 
 
 3. The Jewish high priests “ bore the names of the children of Israel on 
 the breast plate of judgment upon their hearts, for a memorial before the 
 Lord continually, ” Exod. 28:29. And so doth Christ, our great high 
 priest, bear the names of his people upon his heart before the Lord con- 
 tinually. But how is Christ said to bear the names of the saints upon his 
 heart ? I answer, 
 
 1. Continually, in presenting of them to his Father as they are in him: 
 how is that ? Why, he presents them without spot as righteous in his own 
 righteousness, “Christ loved the Church, that he might present it to his 
 Father, and in him, to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, 
 or any such thing, but that it should be holy, and without blemish,” Eph. 
 5:27. 
 
 2. In his continual remembering of them, “The righteous shall be had 
 in continual remembrance,” Psal. 112 : 6. This is the soul’s comfort in a 
 time of desertion, or in an evil day. If any cry out as sometimes David 
 did, “ How long wilt thou forget me, Lord, for ever? How long wilt thou 
 hide thy face from me?” Psal. 13:1. Let such a one remember, that 
 Christ’s redeemed ones are upon his heart, and he cannot forget them, “But 
 Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.” 
 Oh no ! “ Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have 
 compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet I will not 
 forget thee ; behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands, thy 
 walls are continually before me,” Isa. 40 : 14, 15, 16. The sons of Zion 
 are upon Christ’s heart and bauds, and they are ever in his sight. 
 
 3. In his perpetual loving of them ; they are near and dear unto him, 
 he hath set them as a seal upon his heart; so was the prayer of the spouse, 
 “Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm;” and then 
 it follows, “ for love is as strong as death,” Sol. Song 8 : 6. Christ hath an 
 entire love to his saints; he died for them, and now he intercedes for them; 
 and keeps them close to his heart, and there is none shall pluck them out 
 of his hands, “For whom he loves, he loves unto the end,” John 13:1. 
 Thus far of the agreement betwixt Christ’s intercessions, and the interces- 
 sions of the high priests of old. 
 
 Sect. YI. — What the difference is betwixt Christ’s Intercessions , and the 
 Intercessions of the high priests of old. 
 
 6. What is the difference betwixt Christ’s intercessions, and the inter- 
 cessions of the high priests of old ? There is no question, but howsoever 
 they might agree in some respects, yet Christ officiates in a more transcen- 
 dent and eminent way than ever any high priest did before him ; now, the 
 difference betwixt Christ and them, and betwixt Christ’s intercessions and 
 their intercessions, may appear in these particulars. 
 
 1. They were called high priests, but Christ is called the Great High 
 Priest ; such a title was never giveu to any but Christ, whence the apostle 
 argues for the steadfastness of our profession, “ Seeing then that we have 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 563 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, 
 let us hold fast our profession,” Heb. 4 : 14. 
 
 2. The high priests then, were Aaron and his sons, but Christ our great 
 high Priest, is the Son of God ; for so he is styled in the same verse, the 
 great high Priest that is passed into the heavens, “ Jesus the Son of God,” 
 Heb. 4 : 14. 
 
 3. The high priests then, were but for a time, but “ Christ is a priest for 
 
 ever, after the order of Melchisedec,” Heb. 5:6. “ Melcbisedec, (saith. 
 
 the apostle) was without father, without mother, without descent, having 
 neither beginning of days, nor end of life,” Heb. 7 : 3, that is, as far as it 
 is known ; and so is Christ without a father on earth, and without a mother 
 in heaven ; without beginning, and without end ; he abides a priest perpetu- 
 ally, even to the end of the world ; yea, and the virtue of his priesthood, is 
 infinitely beyond all time, even for ever and ever. 
 
 4. The high priests then entered only into that place that was typically 
 holy ; but Christ is entered into that place that is properly holy ; he is en- 
 tered into the heavens, or (if you will) as into the holy of holies, so into 
 the heaven of heavens. 
 
 5. The high priests then did not always intercede for the people ; only 
 once a year the high priest entered into the holy of holies, and after he had 
 sprinkled the mercy-seat with blood, and caused a cloud to rise upon the 
 mercy-seat with his prayers and incense, then he went out of the holy of 
 holies, and laid aside his garments again ; but our great high Priest is as- 
 cended into the holy of holies, never to put off his princely-priestly gar- 
 ments ; nor does he only once a year sprinkle the mercy-seat with his sac- 
 rifice, but every day ; he lives for ever to intercede : oh ! what comfort is 
 this to a poor dejected soul ? If he once undertake thy cause, and get thee 
 into his prayers, he will never leave thee out night nor day; he intercedeth 
 ever, till he shall accomplish and finish thy salvation ; the smoke of his in- 
 cense ascends for ever without intermission. 
 
 6. The high priest then interceded not for sins of greater instances; if a 
 man sinned ignorantly, there was indeed a sacrifice and intercession for him, 
 but “if a man sinned presumptuously, he was to be cut off from among his 
 people,” Num. 15 : 30. No sacrifice, no intercession by the high priest 
 then, but we have such an high priest as makes intercession for all sins; 
 every sin, though it boil up to blasphemy, (so it be not against the Holy 
 Ghost) shall, by the virtue of Christ’s intercession be forgiven, “ In that 
 day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the in- 
 habitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness,” i. e. for sins of all 
 sorts, Zech. 13 : 1. “Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven 
 unto the sons of men,” Mark 3 : 28, i. e. scarlet sins, or crimson sins; sins 
 of the deepest die shall by Christ’s intercessions be done away ; the voice 
 of his blood speaks better things than the blood of Abel ; it intercedes for 
 the abolition of bloody sins. 
 
 7. The high priests then interceded not without all these materials, viz., 
 a temple, an altar ; a sacrifice of a young bullock for a sin-offering and a 
 ram for a burnt-offering ; a censer full of burning coals of fire taken off the 
 altar, a putting the incense upon the fire, that the cloud of the incense 
 might cover the mercy-seat; a sprinkling the mercy-seat with the blood of 
 the bullock, and of the goat with their finger seven times, 'Lev. 16 : 3. 
 Such materials they had, and such actions they did, which were all distinct 
 as from themselves ; but Jesus Christ in his intercessions now, needs none 
 of these materials, but rather he himself and his own merits are instead of 
 all. As, 1. He is the temple, either in regard of the Deity, the gold of the 
 temple being sanctified by the temple ; or in regard of his human body, 
 “ Destroy this temple, saith Christ,) and I will build it again in three days;” 
 
564 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV, 
 
 it was destroyed, and G-od found it an acceptable sacrifice, and smelt in it a 
 sweet savor as in a temple. 2. He is the altar according to-his Deity, for 
 as the altar sanctifies the gift, so doth the God-head sanctify the manhood ; 
 the altar must needs be of a greater dignity than the oblation, and therefore 
 this altar betokens the divinity of Jesus Christ. 3. He is the sacrifice 
 most properly according to the manhood, for although by communication of 
 properties the blood of the sacrifice is called the “ blood of God,” Acts 20 : 
 28, yet properly the human soul and flesh of Christ was the holocaust, or 
 whole burnt-offering, roasted in the fire of his Father’s wrath. 4. His 
 merits are the cloud of incense, for so the angel Christ is said “ to have a 
 golden censer, and much incense, that he should offer it with the payers of 
 all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne ; and the smoke 
 of the incense which came up with the prayers of the saints ascended up 
 before God out of the angel’s hand,” Rev. 8 : 3, 4. The merits of Christ 
 are so mingled with the prayers of all his saints, that they perfume their 
 prayers, and so they find acceptance with God his Father. — We see now the 
 difference betwixt Christ’s intercessions, and the intercessions of the high 
 priests of old. 
 
 Sect. VII. — What the properties of this Intercession of Christ are. 
 
 7. What are the properties of this intercession of Jesus Christ? I 
 answer, 
 
 1. It is heavenly and glorious ; and that appears in these particulars. 
 
 1. Christ doth not fall upon his knees before his Father, as in the days 
 
 of his humiliation ; for that is not agreeable to that glory he hath received ; 
 he only presents his pleasure to his Father, that he may thereto put his seal 
 and consent. 2. Christ doth not pray out of private charity, as the saints 
 pray one for another in this life, but out of public office and meditation, 
 u There is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the man 
 Jesus Christ,” 1 Tim. 2:5. 3. Christ prays not out of humility, which is 
 
 the proposing of requests for things unmerited, but out of authority, which 
 is the desiring of a thing, so as withal he hath a right of bestowing it as 
 well as desiring it. 4. Christ prays not merely as an advocate, but as a pro- 
 pitiation too ) Christ’s Spirit is an advocate, but only Christ is advocate and 
 propitiation ; Christ’s Spirit is our advocate on earth, but only Christ in his 
 person applieth his merits in heaven, and furthers the cause of our salvation 
 with his Father in heaven. In every of these respects we may see Christ’s 
 intercession is heavenly and glorious. 
 
 2. It is ever effectual and prevailing ; as he hath a power to intercede for 
 us, so he hath a power to confer that upon us for which he intercedes, “ I 
 will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, John 14 : 16. 
 If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart I 
 will send him unto you,” John 16 : 7. If Christ prayed on earth he was 
 ever heard ; but if Christ pray in heaven, we may be sure the Father ever 
 heareth and answereth there : when Christ, as man, prayed for himself, he 
 was heard in that which he feareth ; but now Christ as Mediator praying 
 for us, he is ever heard in the very particular which he desireth. We sin- 
 ful men many a time ask and receive not, because we u ask amiss, that we 
 may consume it upon our lusts,” James 4 : 3. But Jesus Christ never asks 
 amiss, nor to wrong ends ; and therefore, God the Father, who called him 
 to this office of being (as it were) the great “ Master of requests in behalf 
 of his church,” he promised to hear him in all his requests, “ Father, I 
 thank thee that thou hast heard me, and I know thou hearest me always,” 
 saith Christ, John 11 : 41, 42. 
 
 3. It is of all the other transactions of Christ till the very end of the 
 world, the most perfect and consummate : indeed so perfective, that without 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 565 
 
 it, all the other parts of Christ's raediatorship would have been to little pur- 
 pose. As the sacrifices under the law had not been of such force and 
 efficacy, had not the high-priest entered into the holy place, to appear there, 
 and to present the blood there unto the Lord ; so all that ever Christ did or 
 suffered upon earth, it had been ineffectual for us, had he not entered into 
 heaven, “ to appear there in the presence of God for us," Heb. 9 : 24. 
 Surely this intercession is that which puts life into the death of Christ: 
 this intercession is that which strikes the last stroke, during this world, in 
 the carrying on of our soul’s salvation, and makes all sure. It is a witty 
 observation* that one makes of these several steps of Christ’s actings for us ; 
 as first, There was an all-sufficiency in his death, “ Who shall condemn ?’’ 
 It is Christ that died,’’ Rom. 8 : 84. 2. A rather in his resurrection, yea, 
 
 rather, that is risen again. 3. A much rather in his life and session at 
 God’s right hand, “ For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to 
 God, by the death of Christ; much rather being reconciled we shall be saved 
 by his life,’’ Rom. 5 : 10. 4. The apostle riseth yet higher, to “a saving 
 
 to the utmost,’’ and puts that upon his intercession, “ Wherefore he is able 
 to save us to the uttermost, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for 
 us,’’ Heb. 7 : 25. If in the former were any thing wanting, this interces- 
 sion of Christ supplies all : it is the coronis which makes all effectual : it 
 saves to the uttermost, for itself is the uttermost and highest step ; on earth 
 Christ begins the execution of his office, in heaven he ends it ; in his life 
 and death, Christ was the meritorious cause, but by his intercession, Christ 
 is the applying cause of our soul’s salvation. In this very intercession of 
 Christ is the consummation and perfection of the priesthood of Christ. 0 
 then ! how exquisite and necessary must this needs be ? 
 
 4. It is gracious and full of bowels; Christ’s intercession, and indeed 
 Christ’s priestly office is erected, and set up on purpose for the relief of 
 poor distressed shiners. There is no mixture of terror in this blessed office 
 of Jesus Christ, and this doth, distinguish it from his other offices, Christ 
 by his kingly office rules over the churches, and over the world ; but all 
 obtain not mercy whom he thus rules over ; Christ, by his prophetical office, 
 comes to his own, but many of his own received him not; but now where- 
 ever the priestly office of Jesus Christ is let forth upon a soul, that soul 
 shall certainly be saved for ever. 0 this priestly office of Christ, is an 
 office of mere love and tender compassion ! “ Christ (saith the apostle) is 
 
 such an high-priest, as cannot but be touched with the feeling of our in- 
 firmities,’’ Heb. 4 : 15. Oh ! he is “a merciful, and a faithful high-priest 
 in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the 
 people," Heb. 2 : 17. He is merciful and exceeding compassionate, “in all 
 our afflictions he is afflicted ; and in his love, and in his pity he redeemed 
 us/’ Isa. 63 : 9, and in his love and pity he intercedes for us. 
 
 Sect. VIII. — Wherein the intercession of Christ consists. 
 
 8. Wherein more especially doth the intercessions of Jesus Christ con- 
 sist ? Some suppose, that Christ’s very being in heaven, and putting God 
 in mind of his active and passive obedience by his very presence, is all that 
 intercession that the Scripture speaks of. But I rather answer in these 
 particulars : As, 
 
 1. Christ’s intercession consists, in the presenting of his person for us; 
 he himself went up to heaven, and presented himself; the apostle calls 
 this, “ an appearing for us ; Christ is not entered into the holy place made 
 with hands, but into heaven, now to appear in the presence of God for 
 us,’’ Heb. 9 : 24. I believe there is an emphasis in the words, “ appear- 
 
 * Goodwin’s Christ set forth. 
 
566 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IV. 
 
 ing for us.” But how appears he for us? I answer, 1. In a public man- 
 ner; whatsoever he did in this kind, he did it openly and publicly; he 
 appears for us in the presence of God the Father ; he appears for us in the 
 presence of his saints and angels-; heaven’s eyes are all upon him in his 
 appearing for us. 2. He appears for us as a Mediator, he stands in the 
 middle betwixt God and us; hence it is that he is God-man, that he might 
 be a Mediator betwixt God and man. 3. He appears for us as a sponsor 
 and a pledge; surely it is a comfort to a man to have a friend at court, at 
 the prince’s elbow, that may own him, and appear for him ; but if this 
 friend be both a mediator and surety ; a mediator to request for him, and a 
 surety to engage for him ; 0 ! what a comfort is this ? Thus Christ ap- 
 peared in every respect; he is a Mediator to request for us; and he is a 
 surety to engage for us : as Paul was for Onesimus a mediator, “ I beseech 
 thee for my son Onesimus,” Phil. ver. 10, and a sponsor, “If he have 
 wronged thee, or owe thee aught, put that to my account, I will repay it,” 
 verses 18, 19. So is Jesus Christ for his saints, he is “the Mediator of a 
 better covenant,” Heb. 8 : 6, and he “is a surety of a better testament,” 
 Heb. 7 : 22. 4. He appears as a solicitor, to present and promote the de- 
 
 sires and requests of the saints, in such a way as that they might find 
 acceptance with his Father. He is not idle now, he is in heaven ; but as 
 on earth, he ever went about doing good ; so now in glory he is ever about 
 his work of doing good; he spends all his time in heaven in promoting the 
 good of his people ; as from the beginning it was his care, so to the 
 world’s end it will be his care to solicit his Father in the behalf of his poor 
 saints; he tells God, “Thus and thus it is with his poor members, they 
 are in want, in trouble, in distress, in affliction, in reproach ;” and then he 
 presents their sighs, sobs, prayers, tears and groans; and that in such a 
 way as that they may become acceptable to his Father. 5. He appears as 
 au advocate, “ If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus 
 Christ the righteous,” 1 John 2 :1. An advocate is more than solicitor; 
 an advocate is one that is of counsel with another, and that pleadeth his 
 cause in open court ; and such an advocate is Jesus Christ unto his people. 
 1. He is of counsel with them; that is one of the titles given him by the 
 prophet Isaiah, “ Wonderful, Counsellor,” Isa. 9 : 6. He counsels them 
 by his word and Spirit. 2. He pleads for them, and this he doth in the 
 high court of heaven, at the bar of God’s own justice, there he pleads 
 their cause, and answereth all the accusations that are brought in by Satan 
 or their own consciences; but of this anon. 6. He appears as a public 
 agent or ledger ambassador; what that is, some tell us in these particulars. 
 1. His work is to continue peace; and surely this is Christ’s work, “ He 
 is our peace,” Eph. 2 : 14, saith the apostle, that is, the author of our 
 peace; he purchased our peace, and he maintains our peace with God; to 
 this purpose he sits at God’s right-hand to intercede for us, and to main- 
 tain the peace and union betwixt God and us, “ Therefore being justified 
 by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Rom. 
 5:1. 2. His work is to maintain intercourse and correspondency; and 
 
 surely this is Christ’s work also, “ By him we have access unto the Father. 
 In him we have boldness and access with confidence, by the faith of him,” 
 Eph. 2 : 18, 3 : 12. The word access, doth not only signify coming to God 
 in prayer, but all that resort and communion which we have with God, as 
 united by faith to Jesus Christ; according to that, “Christ hath once suf- 
 fered sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God,” I Pet. 
 3 : 18. This benefit have all believers in and by Christ, they come to God 
 by him, they have free commerce and intercourse in heaven. 3. His work 
 is to reconcile and take up emergent differences, and this is Christ’s work 
 also, “ He maketh intercession for the transgressors,” Isa’ 53 : 12. He 
 
CHAP. I.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 567 
 
 takes up the differences that our transgressions make betwixt God and us. 
 4. His work is to procure the welfare of the people or state where he nego- 
 tiates : and this is no less Christ’s work, for he seeks the welfare of his 
 people, he sits at God’s right haud to intercede for tlmm, and commending 
 their estate and condition to his Father, he makes it his request to his Fa- 
 ther, that his members may have “ a continual supply of the Spirit of 
 Jesus Christ,” Phil. 1 : 19, that they may be strengthened in temptation, 
 confirmed in tribulations, delivered from every evil work, enabled to every 
 good duty, and finally preserved unto his heavenly kingdom. 
 
 2. Christ’s intercessions consist in the presenting of his wounds, death 
 and blood as a public satisfaction for the debt of sin; and as a public price 
 for the purchase of our glory. 
 
 There is a question amongst the schools, whether Christ hath not taken 
 his wounds, or the signs, scars, and prints of his wounds, into heaven with 
 him ? And whether Christ, in representing those wounds, scars and 
 prints unto his Father, doth not thereby intercede for us ? Some, I am 
 sure, are for the affirmative, Aquinas* distinguisheth of Christ’s interces- 
 sion, as being threefold. The first, before his passion by devout prayer ; 
 and the second, at his passion, by effusion of his blood; and the third, after 
 his ascension, by the representation of his wounds and scars. Howsoever 
 this held, for I dare not be too confident without Scripture ground, yet 
 this I dare say, that Christ doth not only present himself, but the sacrifice 
 of himself, and the infinite merit of his sacrifice. When he went to hea- 
 ven he carried with him absolutely the power, the merit, the virtue of his 
 wounds, and death, and blood, into the presence of God the Father for 
 us; and with his blood he spriukled the mercy-seat, as it were, seven 
 times. We read in the law, “ that when the high priest went within the 
 veil, he took the blood of the bullock, and sprinkled it with his finger upon 
 the mercy-seat eastward : and before the mercy-seat he sprinkled the blood 
 with his finger seven times,” Lev. 16 : 14. Not only was the priest to kill 
 the bullock without the holy of holies, but he was to enter with the blood 
 into the holy of holies, to sprinkle the mercy-seat therein with it; surely 
 these were “ patterns of things to be done in the heavens,” Heb. 9 : 23. 
 Christ that was slain and crucified without the gate, Heb 13 : 12 ; carried 
 his own blood into the holy of holies, or into the heaven of heavens, “ for 
 by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained 
 eternal redemption for us,” Heb. 9 : 12. And thither come, he sprinkles 
 it, as it were, upon the mercy-seat, i. e. he applies it, and obtains mercy 
 by it ; by the blood of Christ, God’s mercy and justice are reconciled in 
 themselves, and reconciled unto us, Christ sprinkles his blood on the mercy- 
 seat seven times; seven is a note of perfection; where Christ’s blood is 
 sprinkled on a soul, that soul is sure to be washed from all filth, and at 
 last be perfected and saved to the very utmost; Christ’s blood was shed 
 upon the earth, but Christ’s blood is sprinkled, now he is in heaven ; what, 
 is any soul sprinkled with the blood of Christ? Surely this sprinkling 
 comes from heaven: so the apostle, “but ye are come to Mount Zion, 
 and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, — and to Jesus, 
 the Mediator of the new covenant and then it follows, “ to the blood 
 of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel,” Heb. 12 : 
 22, 24. It is upon Mount Ziou where this sprikling is : there is Jesus at 
 God’s right-hand, there he stands, as it were, upon the Mount, and there 
 he sprinkles his blood round about him : heaven is all besprinkled, as the 
 mercy-seat in the holy of holies was, Lev. 16 : 14, 19. The earth is all 
 besprinkled as the altar out of the holy of holies was; heaven and earth 
 
 * Aquinas in John c. 2. 
 
568 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 are all besprinkled with the blood of Jesus, so that the saints and people 
 of God are nowhere, but their doors, and their posts, and houses, (I mean 
 their bodies and souls) are all besprinkled with the blood of the Lamb, 
 slain from the beginning of the world. Why, this is that “ blood of sprink- 
 ling that speaks better things than that of Abel.” Mark, that Christ’s 
 blood hath a tongue, it speaks, it cries, it prays, it intercedes ; there is 
 some agreement, and some difference betwixt Christ’s blood and Abel’s 
 blood. 
 
 1. The agreement is in these things, Abel’s blood was abundantly shed 
 for so it is said, “the voice of blood,” Gen. 4 : 10. And Christ’s blood 
 was let out with thorns and scourges, nails and spear, it was abundantly 
 shed. Again, Abel’s blood cried out, yea, it made a loud cry, so that it was 
 heard from earth to heaven, “the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto 
 me from the ground,” Gen. 4 : 10 ; and Christ’s blood crieth out, it makes 
 a loud cry, it fills heaven and earth with the noise; yea, the Lord’s ears are 
 so filled with it, that it drowns all other sounds, and rings continually in his 
 ears. 
 
 2. The difference is in these things, Abel’s blood cried for vengeance 
 against Cain, but Christ’s blood speaks for mercy on all believers; Abel’s 
 blood was shed because he sacrificed, and he and his sacrifice accepted ; bufc 
 Christ’s blood was shed that he might be sacrificed, and that we through his 
 sacrifice might be accepted. Abel’s blood cried thus, “ See, Lord, and re- 
 venge ; but Christ’s blood cried thus, “ Father, forgive them, for they know 
 not what they do;” and at this very instant, Christ’s blood cries for remis- 
 sion, and here is our comfort; if God heard the servant, he will much 
 rather hear the Son, if he heard the servant for spilling, he will much more 
 hear the Son for saving. Yet, that I may speak properly, and not in figures, 
 I will not say that the very blood which Christ shed on the cross is now in 
 heaven, nor that it speaks in heaven ; these sayings are merely metaphorical; 
 yet this I maintain as real and proper, that the power, merit and virtue of 
 Christ’s blood is presented by our Saviour to his Father, both as a public 
 satisfaction for our sins, and as a public price for the purchase of our glory. 
 
 3. Christ’s intercession consists in the presenting of his will, his request, 
 his interpellation for us, grounded upon the vigor and virtue of his glorious 
 merits, “ 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,” 
 John 17 : 24. This was a piece of Christ’s prayer whilst yet he was on 
 earth, and some say it is a summary of Christ’s intercession which now he 
 makes for us in his glory ; he prayed on earth as he meant to pray for us 
 when he came to heaven ; he hints at this in the beginning of his prayer, 
 for he speaks as if all his work had been done on earth, and as if then he 
 were even beginning his work in heaven, “ I have glorified thee on earth, I 
 have finished the work which thou gavest me to do; and now, 0 Father! 
 glorify thou me with thy ownself, with the glory which I had with thee 
 before the world was,” John 17 : 4, 5. 
 
 I know it is a question, Whether Christ now in heaven do indeed, and in 
 truth, and in right propriety of speech pray for us ? Some able divines are 
 for the negative, others for the affirmative. For my part (leaving a liberty 
 to those otherwise minded according to their light) I am of opinion, that 
 Christ doth not only intercede by an interpretative prayer, as in the pre- 
 senting of himself, and his merits to his Father, but also by an express 
 prayer, or by an express and open representation of his will ; and to this 
 opinion methinks these texts agree, “ I will pray the Father and he shall 
 give you another Comforter, and at that day ye shall ask in my name, and I 
 say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you,” John 14 : 16 ; 16 : 26, 
 27 When he saith, “I say not that I will pray for you,” it is the highest 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 569 
 
 intimation that he would pray for them ; as it is our phrase, u I do not say 
 I will do this or that for you, no, not I," when indeed we will most surely 
 do it, and do it to purpose. Austin confirms this, u Orat pro nobis , orat in 
 nobis, et oratur, a nobis,” * &c. “ He prays for us, he prays in us, and he 
 
 is prayed to by us: he prays for us as he is our priest, and he prays in us 
 as he is our head, and he is prayed to by us, as he is God.” Ambrose *f* 
 tells us, “That Christ so now prays for us, as sometimes he prayed for 
 Peter,” “that his faith should not fail.” Metbinks I imagine as if I heard 
 Christ praying in heaven, in this language, “0 my Father, I pray not for 
 the world, I will not open my lips for any one son of perdition ; but I em- 
 ploy all my blood, and all my prayers, and all my interests with thee, for 
 my dear, beloved, precious saints : it is true thou hast given me a personal 
 glory, which I had with thee before the world was, and yet there is another 
 glory I beg for, and that is the glory of my saints, 0 that they may be 
 saved ! Why, I am glorified in them, they are my joy, and therefore I 
 must have them with me where I am ; thou hast set my heart upon them, 
 and thou thyself hast loved them, as thou hast loved me, and thou hast or- 
 dained them to be one in us, even as we are one, and therefore I cannot live 
 long asunder from them, I have thy company, but I must have theirs too : 
 I will that they be with me where I am ; if I have any glory they must 
 have part of it : this is my prayer, that they may behold my glory which 
 thou hast given me,” John 17:10; 13:24. Why thus Christ prayed 
 while he was on earth, and if this same prayer be the summary of Christ’s 
 intercession or interpellation, now he is in heaven, we may imagine him 
 praying thus; it were too nice to question, whether Christ’s prayer be vocal 
 or mental; certainly Christ presents his gracious will to his Father in 
 heaven some way or other, and I make no question but he fervently and 
 immoveably desires, that for the perpetual virtue of his sacrifice, all his 
 members may be accepted of God, and crowned with glory ; not only is 
 there a cry of his blood in heaven, but Christ by his prayer seconds that 
 cry of his blood. An argument is handed to us by Mr. Goodwin thus : 
 “As it was with Abel, so it is with Christ; Abel’s blood went up to heaven, 
 and Abel’s soul went up to heaven, and by this means, the cry of Abel’s 
 dead blood was seconded by the cry of Abel’s living soul ; his cause cried, 
 and his soul cried ; as it is said of the martyrs, That the souls of them that 
 were slain for the testimony which they held, cried with a loud voice, saying, 
 How long, 0 Lord ! holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our 
 blood on them that dwell on the earth ? Rev. 6 : 9, 10. Even so it is with 
 Christ; his blood went up to heaven, and his soul went up to heaven ; yea, 
 his body, soul, and all his whole person went up to heaven ; and by this 
 means his cause cries, and he himself seconds the cry of his cause; Jesus 
 Christ in his own person ever liveth to make intercession for us : he ever 
 liveth, as the great Master of requests, to present his desires that those for 
 whom he died may be saved.” | 
 
 4. Christ’s intercession consists in the presenting of our persons in his 
 own person to his Father, so that now God cannot look upon the Sou, but 
 he must behold the saints in his Son; are they not members of his body, 
 in near relation to himself? And are not all his intercessions in behalf of 
 them, and only for them ? But how are all the elect carried up into 
 heaven with Jesus Christ, and there set down before his Father in Jesus 
 Christ? I answer, not actually, but mystically; when Christ intercedes, he 
 takes our persons, and carries them in unto God the Father, in a most 
 unperceivable way to us; for the way or manner, I leave it to others, for 
 
 * Aust. Presat. in Psalm 85. 
 X Goodwin’s Christ set forth. 
 
 f Ambr. super ad. Rom. 8. 
 
570 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 my part, I dare not be too inquisitive in a secret not revealed by God ; only 
 this we say, that Christ presents our persons to his Father in his own per- 
 son : and this was plainly shadowed out by that act or office of the high 
 priest, who went into the holy of holies, with “ the names of all the tribes 
 of Israel upon his shoulders, and upon his breast,” Exod. 28 : 22. And 
 this the apostle speaks out yet more plainly, “ By him we have an access 
 unto the Father, and in him we have boldness and access with confidence,” 
 Eph. 2:18; 3 : 12. I shall a little enlarge on both these texts, recorded 
 for our instruction in the law, and gospel, in the Old and in the New Tes- 
 tament. First, We find in the law, “ That Aaron was to put two stones 
 upon the shoulders of the ephod, for stones of memorial unto the children 
 of Israel, and so Aaron was to bear the names before the Lord upon his two 
 shoulders for a memorial,” Exod. 28 : 12. And again, u Aaron was to 
 bear the names of the children of Israel in the breast-plate of judgment 
 upon his heart, when he went into the holy place, for a memorial before 
 the Lord continually,” ver. 29. Here we find the names of the twelve 
 tribes of Israel engraven in stones, which the high priest usually took with 
 him into the holy place, when he appeared before the Lord ; first, upon 
 his humeral, and then upon his pectoral ; in both showing that he entered 
 into that place, not only, or principally in his own behalf, but in behalf 
 of the tribes whom he presented before the Lord ; that they might be in 
 continual remembrance with the Lord ; a lively type of Christ’s interces- 
 sion, who, being ^entered into the heavens, he there appears in the behalf of 
 his eleet, and he presents their persons to his Father, bearing them, as it 
 were, upon his shoulders, and upon his heart; why thus Christ takes our 
 persons into heaven, and represents them in his own person to his Father. 
 Secondly, We fiud in the gospel, a gracious promise, “ That by Christ we 
 have access unto the Father, and in Christ we have access with confidence,” 
 Eph. 2:18; 3 : 12. Where the word access, prosagoge, signifies properly 
 a mauuduction, or leading by the hand to God, an introduction, or bringing 
 in to God : alluding to the custom in princes’ courts, where none may come 
 into the presence chamber, unless they be led, or brought in by some 
 favorite or courtier there ; thus, none may have access into the presence of 
 God, unless they be brought in by this favorite of heaven, the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, whose very office it is to bring men unto God : he takes us by the 
 hand, and leads us to the Father, q. d. “ Come, souls, come along with me, 
 and I will carry you to the Father.” Look, how a child that hath run 
 away from his father, is taken by the hand of a friend, or a brother, and so 
 brought again into the presence of his father; even so all we having run 
 away from God, are by the good hand of Christ taken up, and led again 
 into the presence of the Father; he is that ladder that Jacob saw, upon 
 whom we ascend into the bosom of God, and into heaven; he is that high 
 priest, that takes our persons, and bears them on his shoulders and on his 
 heart, sustaining our persons, and presenting our conditions unto his Father, 
 and our Father, unto his God, and our God. 
 
 5. Christ’s intercession consists in the presenting of our duties unto God. 
 Not only doth he take our persons, and leads and carries them into the 
 presence of God, but together with our persons he presents all our services 
 in his own person. Now, in this act, he doth these two things: 
 
 1. He observes what evil, or what failings are in our duties, and he 
 draws that out, and takes it away, before he presents them unto God; or 
 as a child that would present his father with a posy, he goes into the gar- 
 den, and gathers flowers and weeds together, but coming to his mother, 
 she picks out the weeds, and binds up the flowers by themselves, and so it 
 is presented to the father; thus we go to duty, and we gather weeds and 
 flowers together, but Christ comes and picks out the weeds, and so pre- 
 
CHAP. I.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 571 
 
 sents nothing but flowers to God the Father : and this is plainly set forth 
 by that ceremony of the high priest, in taking away the iniquity of their 
 holy things, “And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it 
 like the engravings of a signet, Holiness to the Lord : and thou shalt put 
 it on a blue lace, that it may be upon the mitre, upon the fore-front of the 
 mitre it shall be. And it shall be on Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may 
 bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall 
 hallow, in all their holy gifts, and it shall be always upon his forehead, that 
 they may be accepted before the Lord,” Exod. 28 : 36, 37, 38. This was 
 the manner of the ceremony, and this was the holy end of the ceremony, 
 that Aaron might bear and take away the iniquity of their holy things : 
 what was this but a type of Jesus Christ? Who, with his most absolute 
 righteousness, covereth all the defects of our good works, which are still 
 spotted with some defect : alas ! “All our righteousnesses are as filthy 
 rags,” Isa. 64 : 6. But Christ draws out the evil of duty, and failings in 
 duty, before he will present them unto God. 
 
 2. He observes what good there is in any of our duties or performances, 
 and with that he mingles his own prayers and intercessions, and presents 
 all as one work interwoven or mingled together unto God the Father, 
 “And another angel stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and there 
 was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers 
 of all saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne; and the 
 smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints ascended 
 up before God out of the angel’s hand,” Rev. 8 : 3, 4. I know there is a 
 controversy, “Who this angel should be, that with the incense mingles the 
 prayers of all saints?” Some conjecture him to be a created angel, in that 
 the incense or odors are said to be given to him, and not to be his own, or 
 to have them of himself. Others say he could be no other but the angel 
 of the covenant, for no angel does intercede or present our prayers but 
 Jesus Christ; as for that which is spoken concerning the seven angels pre- 
 senting the saints’ prayers, “ I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels, 
 which present the prayers of the saints,” Tob. 12 : 15 ; we say it is no 
 canonical scripture, nor is it authorized by any canonical scripture; besides, 
 I cannot think that the priests were types of angels, but only of Christ. 
 Again, howsoever the Greek copies so read that text, yet the ancient 
 Hebrew copy, set forth by Paulus Fagies, and Jerome, who translated it 
 out of the Chaldee, (as Mr. Mede on Zechariah, 4 : 10, avoucheth) reads 
 it thus, “ I am Raphael, one of the seven angels, which stand, and minister 
 before the glory of the Holy One.” And certainly in this text of Rev 8 : 
 3, 4, there is a figurative description of an heavenly service, correspondent 
 to that which was performed in the temple ; namely, that the people being 
 without at prayer, the priest offered incense within upon the altar, Luke 1 : 
 9, 10, to signify that believers’ prayers have always need to be helped and 
 sanctified by Christ’s intercession ; and what though the incense was given 
 him ? We know that Christ himself was given of God, “ God so loved the 
 world that he gave his only begotten Son,” John 3 : 16; and yet this 
 hinders not but that Jesus Christ gave himself, and that he gave himself 
 for an incense too, for so the apostle, “ He hath given himself for us an 
 offering and sacrifice unto God,” Eph. 5 : 2, for an incense or for a sweet 
 smelling savor. In this respect the incense might be given him, and yet 
 the incense was his own, they were only Christ’s merits, righteousness and 
 satisfaction ; they are the sweet odor, by virtue whereof God accepts of 
 his saints’ persons and prayers ; and it is only Christ that presents before 
 God that which he is and hath, he alone being both offering and priest : 
 we can think of no other priest in gospel times but only Jesus, “ The fore- 
 runner, even Jesus Christ, made an high priest for ever after the order of 
 
572 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 Melchisedec,” Heb. 6:20. It is Jesus and only Jesus that presents our 
 prayers, and sanctifies our prayers, and mingles our prayers with his merits, 
 and so makes them penetrate sweetly before his God. 
 
 6. Christ’s intercession consists in the presenting of our plea or answer 
 in heaven, to all those accusations that are brought in against ourselves. 
 And this I take to be the meaning of the challenge, “Who shall lay any 
 thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifies, Who is he that 
 condemneth ? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is 
 even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us,” Rom. 
 8 : 33, 34. Christ intercedes, and who shall condemn ? Christ takes off 
 all accusations, and who shall charge ? If the law, or sin, or Satan, shall 
 dare to accuse, our Jesus is ready at God’s right-hand to answer all. There 
 is a vision in Zechariah, representing this, “And the angel showed me 
 Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan 
 standing at his right-hand to resist him,” Zech. 3 : 1. It was the custom 
 of the accuser to stand at the right-hand of the accused, “ Set thou a 
 wicked man over him, and let Satan stand at his right-hand,” Psa. 109 : 6. 
 Nowhere is Satan standing at Joshua’s right-hand to accuse him; but 
 whereof doth he accuse him ? That appears in the words following, 
 “Joshua was clothed with filthy garments,” Zech. 3 : 3, an ordinary sign 
 of sin ; as a white garment is a sign of Christ’s righteousness, so is a filthy 
 garment, in Scripture, a sign of vileness; alas ! Joshua was defiled with the 
 pollution which he had gotten by the contagion of Babylon, and now at his 
 return, Satan lays it to his charge, but Jesus Christ our great high priest 
 steps in, and takes off the accusation, “And the Lord said unto Satan, the 
 Lord rebuke thee, 0 Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem, 
 rebuke thee,” verse 2, twice he repeats it to show the fulness of Christ’s 
 intercession, q. d. The Lord, my God, my everlasting Father, rebuke, 
 and confound thee Satan, in this thy malicious opposition against my 
 Joshua; and then he goes on in his apology for Joshua, “Is not this a 
 brand plucked out of the fire ?” verse 2. q. d. Is not this one whom of 
 my grace I have reserved amongst my people, whom I caused to pass 
 through the fire of mine indignation ? And shall not my decree of grace 
 stand firm and inviolable towards such ? Or thus, is not this a brand plucked 
 newly out of the fire of affliction ? Was he not in the captivity of Babylon ? 
 And is it likely he should be there, but he would be defiled with the touch 
 of pitch ? Take a brand, and pull it out of the fire, and there will be some 
 dust, and ashes, and filth about it; why Lord, (says Christ) this Joshua is 
 newly pulled out of the burning, and therefore he must needs have ashes, 
 and dust, and filth about him. But come (saith Christ to his holy angels) 
 take away the filthy garments from him, and come (saith Christ to his ser- 
 vant Joshua) “Behold I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and 
 I will clothe thee with change of raiment,” verse 4. And thus Christ 
 took off the accusations that were brought against Joshua by Satan for his 
 filthy garments. In like manner doth our blessed intercessor at this in- 
 stant : if a poor saint falls into any sin, and defiles his garments, Satan 
 comes in, and takes the right hand of him, and accuses him before the 
 Lord, but Christ our great high priest being at the right hand of his Fa- 
 ther, he takes up the cause, puts in a plea, and answers all the accusations 
 of the enemy, “ True Lord, this poor soul hath filthy garments, but is he 
 not a fire-brand newly plucked out of the fire? Was he not in his natural 
 and sinful condition the other day? Is he not yet partly regenerate, and 
 partly unregenerate ? Needs therefore must be some ashes, and dust and 
 filth upon him. 0 my Father ! my will is, that thou consider him in that 
 respect, thou knowest his frame, and thou rememberest that he is but dust, 
 though he have filthy garments now upon him, yet I will give him change 
 
CHAP. I.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 573 
 
 of raiments ; I will clothe him with the robe of my righteousness, and 
 then thou shalt see no iniquity in Jacob, no transgression in Israel. Why, 
 thus the Lord steps in and answers to all the accusations that are brought 
 in against us by the law, or sin, or Satan, to God his Father; and in this 
 respect he is truly called our advocate, “ If any man sin, we have an advo- 
 cate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,” 1 John 2 : 1. We have 
 an advocate that pleads for us, that answers for us ; that in a way of equity, 
 (grounding all upon his own merits) calls for the pardon of our sins, and 
 for the salvation of our souls. 
 
 Sect. IX. — How powerful and prevailing Christ's intercessions are with 
 
 God his Father. 
 
 9. How powerful and prevailing are Christ’s intercessions with God 
 his Father? I answer, Very much, and this will appear, if we consider, as, 
 
 1. That Christ is our great high-priest to God, “ We have such an high- 
 priest, who is set down at the right-hand of the Majesty on high,” Heb. 
 8:1. Now it was the way of God to lend his ear in a special manner to 
 the high-priests ; and therefore the people usually ran to them, when they 
 would inquire of God, “ Before-time *n Israel, when a man went to inquire 
 of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the seer, for he that is now 
 called a prophet, or high-priest, was before-time called a seer,” 1 Sam. 9 : 9. 
 People were wont to repair to the priests, and the priests were wont to go 
 to God: and good reason, for the priests were to mediate for the people, 
 and the people had experience that God would hearken to the cry of their 
 priests, Samuel called unto the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain 
 that day. And .all the people said to Samuel, pray for thy servants unto 
 the Lord thy God. — And Samuel said unto the people, God forbid that I 
 should sin against the Lord, in ceasing to pray for you,” 1 Sam. 12 : 18, 
 19, 23. Now such an high-priest as this, (though with far more eminency) 
 is Christ to God; he intercedes for his people, “ God forbid that he should 
 ever cease to pray for his people,” and he hath God’s ear in special manner; 
 if ever God lend bis ear to any one, it must needs be to this high-priest, 
 because of his office to intercede betwixt God and his people, Christ stands 
 in the middle, or indeed next to God, as he is in these gospel-times our 
 great high-priest; and therefore he must needs prevail with God in every 
 petition he puts up for us. 
 
 2. That Christ was called to this office by God, “ Christ glorified not him- 
 self to be made an high-priest,” Heb. 5 : 4, 5. No, no, but “he was called 
 of God as Aaron was;” it was God the Father, that designed him to it, 
 and that furnished him for it, and that invested him in it, “ The Lord hath 
 sworn, and will not repent, thou art a priest for ever after the order of Mel- 
 chisedec,” Psalm 110 : 4. Now to what purpose should God call him to 
 this office, but especially to intercede for them to whom God was willing to 
 communicate salvation ? It was God’s mind, as well as Christ’s mind, to 
 save his elect : and this was the way whereon they agreed, that an high- 
 priest should be appointed, and an office of intercession should be erected, 
 and by that meaus the salvation purchased should be applied ; many times 
 we are apt to conceive legal or law-thoughts of God the Father, as that he 
 is just and severe, and that Christ his Son is more meek and merciful; but 
 this cannot be, for there are not too infinite wills, nor two infinite mercies, 
 one in the Father, another in the Son, but one will, and one mercy in both. 
 And to that purpose observe but the readiness of God the Father, to re- 
 ceive Christ honorably into heaven, that he might do the work of the high- 
 priest there; no sooner had Christ entered through the gates into the city, 
 but presently, “Sit thou down (saith God) at my right-hand ;” but to what 
 end i Surely not only to rule as king, (of which we have spoken before) 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 571 
 
 but also to rotarpode as our great high priest; hence we find in Scripture, 
 that Christ «. cession and intercession, his kingly and priestly office are joined 
 together, “ He is set on the right-hand of the throne of the Majesty in the 
 heavens,” Heb. 8 : 1. He, Who? why, Christ, our high-priest, we have 
 such an high-priest who is set down. It is as if Christ, in his entrance into 
 heaven, had said, “ My Father, I am come hither as the great high -priest, 
 having on my breast-plate the names of all the elect, and I am come to inter- 
 cede for poor sinners; what, shall I have welcome on these same terms ?” 
 to whom the Father replied, “ Welcome, my Son, my only Son, on these 
 very terms ; Come sit thee down and intercede for whom thou pleasest, I 
 have called thee on purpose to this very office, and thou shalt prevail.” 
 Surely the Father is engaged to purpose to hear his Son, in that he is an 
 high-priest to God, and called to his office by God. 
 
 3. That Christ is God’s Son, and that is more than Christ an high-priest; 
 
 he is his natural Son, his beloved Son, his Son that never gave him the 
 least offence; sure then, when he comes and intercedes for a man he is 
 most like to speed ; if a gracious child do but cry, “ My Father, my Father,” 
 he may prevail very much, especially with a Father that is tender-hearted; 
 Jesus Christ is the gracious, precious* Son of God the Father, and God the 
 Father is a dear and kind-hearted Father; how then should the interces- 
 sions of Christ but be most powerful with God ? Hence some gather the 
 prevalency of Christ’s intercession, because in many places of Scripture 
 where this part of Christ’s priesthood'or intercession is laid down, this Son- 
 ship is also expressed or set forth ; as “ we have a great high-priest entered 
 into the heaven, Jesus the Son of God,” Heb. 4 : 14 ; and “ thou art an 
 high-priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec,’ Heb. 5 : 5, 6. But 
 immediately before, “ Thou art my Son, This day have I begotten thee.” 
 O needs must the intercession of such a Son be very prevalent; I say, Of 
 such a Son ; For was ever any son like this Son of God ? was ever any son 
 so like his Father, or so equal with his Father? We know he is a begotten 
 Son, and yet never began to be a Son ; he is the Son of the Father, and 
 yet never began to have a Father; he is a Branch of the King of ages, and 
 yet in the ages past was never younger ; surely all the relations of son and 
 father in the world, are but a shadow of this relation betwixt God and 
 Christ; it is so near, that though they were two, (as in all relations there 
 must needs be relatum and correlatum) yet Christ speaks of them, as if 
 they were but one, “I and my Father are one,” John 10:30. If then 
 the Father should deny him any thing, he should deny himself, or cease to 
 be one with his Son, which can never be. Christ is God’s Son, his natural 
 Son, his beloved Son, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased,” 
 saith God, Matth. 3 : 17. 0 then! how prevalent must Christ’s interces- 
 
 sions be with God ? 
 
 4. That Christ is God himself, not only God’s Son, but God himself; 
 how powerful in this respect must his intercessions be unto the Father ? It 
 is true, that Christ is another subsistence and person from the Father, but 
 Christ is one and the same God with the Father; Christ is the very essen- 
 tial, substantial, and noble representation of God himself; Christ is the 
 very self of God, both God-sending, and God-sent : Christ is the fellow of 
 God; “awake, 0 sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is 
 my fellow,” Zech. 13 : 7. Nay, Christ is God, and not another God, but 
 one God, “ God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten, 
 not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things 
 were made.” Can we imagine now that God himself should be denied any 
 boon of God himself? If God sometimes spake to his servants, “Ask of 
 me, command ye me concerning all the work of mine hands,” Isa. 45 : 11. 
 Will not God much rather say to God, “Ask of me, and 1 shall give thee 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 575 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for 
 thy possession ?” Psalm 2 : 8. We have brought it now so near, that if 
 God be God, and God be omnipotent, that he can do, and can have whatso- 
 ever he pleases; then Christ being one God with his Father, he must needs 
 prevail ; it is but ask and have, let him ask what he will. 
 
 5. That Christ is God’s darling upon this very account, because he inter- 
 
 cedes for his people, “ Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay 
 down my life that I might take it again,” John 10 : 17. I lay it down by 
 suffering, and take it up again by arising, ascending up into heaven, and 
 interceding there; and “ therefore doth my Father love me.” 0 the love 
 of God to Christ, and of God in Christ to all his saints ! “ God so loved 
 
 the world, that he gave his Son,” and Christ so loved the world, “ that he 
 gave himself;” and now again, because Christ gave himself, and his gift is 
 as a sweet-smelling savor unto God, therefore God loves Christ; 0 what a 
 round of love is here ! “ God loves Christ, and Christ loves us, and the 
 Father loves Christ again for loving of us.” There is not an act of Christ in 
 his work of our redemption, but the Father looks on it with love and liking. 
 At his baptism, Lo, a voice came from heaven, saying, “ This is my beloved 
 Son, in whom I am well-pleased,” Matth. 3 : 17 ; at his death, “ He seeth 
 all the travail of his soul, and is satisfied,” Isa. 53 : 11 ; at his ascension, 
 he heareth of the intercessions of his soul, and he is delighted; Christ’s 
 intercessions are God’s music, and therefore, as sometimes Christ spoke to 
 his spouse, so God speaks to Christ, “ Let me see thy countenance, let me 
 hear thy voice, for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely,” Sol. 
 Song 2 : 14. Now Christ’s intercessions must needs prevail, when God 
 loves Christ for his intercessions’ sake, if before the world was made, the 
 Son was his Father’s darling, (for so it is said), “ When he appointed the 
 foundations of the earth, then I was by him as one brought up with him, 
 and I was daily his delight,” Prov. 8 : 29, 30. In the original, delights, 
 intimating that the eternal Son was variety of delights to his Father. 0 
 then ! what delights, what variety, what infinity of delights hath God in 
 Christ now interceding for us ? What a dear darling is Christ to God, 
 when not only he stands by him, but he represents to him all the elect from 
 the beginning to the end of the world, q. d. “ See, Father, look on my 
 breast, read here all the names of those thou hast given me, as Adam and 
 Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob; of the twelve tribes, and of the twelve 
 apostles, of all the martyrs, professors, and confessors of the law and 
 gospel : I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but only for them, for 
 they are mine. Methinks I hear God answer, What, my Son ! and what, 
 the Son of my womb ! and what, the Son of my vows ! hast thou begotten 
 me thus many sons ? And are all these minQ ? Why then, ask what thou 
 wilt, and have what thou pleasest; I am as strongly inclined and disposed 
 to give thee thy asking, as thou wouldst have it; it is my joy, my delight, 
 my pleasure, to save these souls, and surely the pleasure of the Lord shall 
 prosper in thy hands.” 
 
 6. That Christ is God’s commander, (I speak it with reverence,) as well 
 as petitioner; it is a phrase given to the servants of God, “Command ye 
 me,” Isa. 45 : 11. And may we not give it to the Son of God ? Christians ! 
 God is as ready to do us service as if we had him at command, “This is 
 the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask any thing according to 
 his will he heareth us,” 1 John 5 : 14. And in this sense, we may boldly 
 say, That God the Father is as ready to hear Jesus Christ, as if he had him 
 at command ; not that in deed and reality he commands God, but that in 
 deed and truth he commands all below God, and he commands all in the 
 stead of God. And to this purpose is that voice of God, “ I have set my 
 King upon my holy hill of Zion,” Psal. 2 : 6. And why my King? I 
 
576 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IY. 
 
 dare not say he is God’s King, as if God were Christ’s inferior, or Christ’s 
 subject ; God forbid ! Why then my King? I answer, He is God’s King, 
 because appointed by God ; or he is God’s King, because he rules in the 
 stead of God, “ The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judg- 
 ment unto the Son,” John 5 : 22. God hath given away all his prerogatives 
 unto Jesus Christ, so that now the King of saints can do what he will with 
 God, and with all the world, only it follows, “Ask of me, and I will give 
 thee the heathen for thine inheritance,” As if the Father should have said, 
 “ I cannot deny thee, and yet, 0 my Son ! I would have thee ask, do what 
 thou wilt in heaven, earth, and hell; I have not the heart, indeed I have 
 not the power to deny thee any thing, only acknowledge this power to be 
 originally in myself, that all that honor the Son, may honor the Father, and 
 all that honor the Father, may honor the Son.” These are the terms be- 
 twixt God the Father, and God the Son ; Oh then ! how powerful and pre- 
 vailing are Christ’s intercessions with his Father? If he asks who hath 
 power to command, there is little question of prevailing in his suit. We 
 have heard in our days of a suit managed with a petition in one hand, and 
 a sword in the other, and what the effect is all now can tell. As a king, 
 who sues for peace, backed with a potent army, able to win what he entreats 
 for, must needs treat more effectually ; so Christ, suing to his Father for his 
 saints, with a power sufficient to obtain what he sues for, he must needs 
 effect what his desires may be. It is well observed, “ That Christ first is 
 said to sit at God’s right hand, and then to intercede ; he treats the salva- 
 tion of sinners, as a mighty prince treats the giving up of some town, which 
 lies seated under a castle of his that commands the town.” Or he treats 
 the salvation of sinners as a commander treats the surrendering of a person 
 already in his hands ; it is beyond God’s power (I speak it with submission) 
 to deny his Son in any thing he asks ; if the Lord sometimes cried out to 
 Moses, like a man whose hands are held, “Let me alone,” Exod. 32 : 10, 
 Flow much more doth Christ’s intercession bind God’s hands, and command 
 all in heaven, earth, and hell? Hence we say, That God the Father hath 
 divested himself of all his power, and given the keys into Christ’s own 
 hands, “ I am he that liveth, and was dead. And behold I am alive for 
 evermore, Amen, and have the keys of hell and death,” Rev. 1 : 18. There 
 is no man goes to hell, but he is locked in by Jesus Christ, and there is no 
 man goes to heaven, but he is locked in there by Jesus Christ, he hath the 
 keys of all men’s eternities hanging at his own girdle : if he but say, 
 “ Father, I will that this man, and that woman should inherit heaven;” 
 the Father cannot but reply, My Son, I have no power to deny thy suit, 
 thou hast the keys of heaven in thine own hand, be it even as thou wilt. 
 
 7. I shall only add this on the Father’s part, That God is Christ’s com- 
 mander to this office, as well as Christ is God’s commander in this office. 
 O why should we have hard thoughts of God the Father, more than of 
 God the Son ? Is he not as willing of our salvation as Jesus Christ? Surely 
 it was the oath of God, (I mean of God the Father,) As I live saith the 
 Lord, I would not have the death of a sinner, but that the wicked turn 
 from his sin and live, Ezek. 33 : 11. Was not this the first salute of God 
 to Christ, when he first entered into heaven, “Sit down here on this throne, 
 and ask what thou wilt of thy Father ?” Nay, did not the Father prevent 
 the Son, in laying his commands upon him to ask, before the Son opened 
 his mouth to speak a word, by way of any requests to God his Father? 
 “ Thou art my Son, this day (even this day of thy resurrection, ascension, 
 session,) have I begotten thee, ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen 
 for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy posses- 
 sion,” Psal. 2 : 7, 8, q. d. “ Come Son, thou art my Son, this day have I 
 begotten thee, and though I have begotten thee from all eternity, yet this 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 577 
 
 day, and every day, I am begetting thee still : I said to thee at thy resur- 
 rection, This day have I begotten thee ; and I said to thee at thy ascension, 
 This day have I begotten thee ; and now ask, and be not shy, nor modestly 
 backward in petitioning; I command thee to this office, I make thee here 
 the great Master of requests in heaven ; others may pray out of charity, 
 but none but thyself in a way of justice, authority, and office; and there- 
 fore ask boldly and largely, open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.” 0 
 what a demonstration of love is this, not only to Christ, but to us in Christ, 
 that when man had offended his God, broken covenant with God, and turned 
 enemy to God, and then God the Father should seek peace with man, offer 
 conditions of peace to man, and for that purpose should appoint a Mediator, 
 an Intercessor, and call his own Son to that office ; and now he is in heaven, 
 that he should bid him do his office, and ask freely, so that if the elect be 
 not saved, it should be laid on the score of Christ, for the Father is most 
 willing : “ Surely here is more than intimation of the Father’s inclination 
 to accept of Christ’s intercessions on our behalf.”* We may read here, that 
 the Father’s heart is as much towards us, as Christ’s own heart, Oh ! he is 
 full of bowels, he is gentle and easy to be entreated; Christ needs not much 
 ado to get his grant, “ Christ adds not by his intercession one drop of love 
 to the heart of God ; only he draws it out, which otherwise would have 
 been stopped, nor doth he broach it before his Father command him to it.” 
 Oh then ! how powerful and prevailing must Christ’s intercessions be. 
 
 Sect. X. — Of the reasons of Christ’s Intercessions. 
 
 10. What are the reasons of this great transaction of Christ’s interces- 
 sion for his people ? I answer, 
 
 1. It is the Father’s -will that it should be so; he called Jesus Christ to 
 this office, the command of God is upon Jesus Christ, “Ask what thou wilt 
 for thy redeemed ones, I willingly engage myself to grant, only it is my 
 pleasure thou shouldst ask as sometimes he said to the house of Israel, 
 “I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it; notwithstanding I will yet for 
 this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them,” Ezek. 36 : 
 36, 37. So saith God to Christ, “ I the Lord have spoken, and I will do 
 it, only, my Son, I will be inquired of by thee.” I look upon this as the 
 main reason of Christ’s intercession, “ Even so Father, for so it seemeth good 
 in thy sight ;” it is God’s will that Christ should intercede. 
 
 2. It is the Father’s love to engage his Son for his own people. 0 the 
 comfort of a sound Christian in this respect ! What ! art thou in temptation, 
 or desertion? Surely Christ is engaged by God to petitiou for thee; thou 
 hast put up many petitions to Christ, and he hath put them all up unto 
 God ; he could do no otherwise, for he is in place an advocate, to mention 
 and plead such causes as are moved to him. Methinks 1 imagine God thus 
 bespeaking his Son ; “ See thou do this poor soul good, my Son ; here is 
 for him according to all he needs, only ask according to what thou k nowest 
 will make him happy ; must he have my Spirit, my comforting Spirit? Will 
 no less, no cheaper thing serve his turn ? Then there it is.” Oh how is 
 Christ engaged now to petition for them whom God loves* and for whom he 
 gave himself? Surely if Christ should leave to intercede for such, he would 
 displease his Father, which we know he would not do, he would undergo 
 hell first. 
 
 3. It is Christ’s own inclination to do his office : the power that Christ 
 hath for the good of sinners is necessarily acted : as the sun shines upon all 
 the world, and it cannot do otherwise, so Christ the Sun of righteousness 
 shines or intercedes for all his saints, and he can do no less : what is the 
 
 * Goodwin, Christ exalted. 
 
 37 
 
578 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK IV, 
 
 will of the Father, the will of Christ, (I mean the will of Christ naturally, 
 not artificially in a way of self-denial, as God’s will is said to be our will) 
 so that what the Father would have Christ own, he cannot but own ; for the 
 same Spirit is in Christ, which is in the Father, and in the self-same mea- 
 sure ; as God is captivated with love towards all captives, so am I, saith 
 Christ; as God would have all to be saved, and to come to the knowledge 
 of the truth, so would 1 too, saith Christ. The very same bottomless sea 
 of love, that fluctuates in my Father’s breast, is in my breast, for I and the 
 Father are one, John 10 : 30. 
 
 4. It is Christ/s honor to intercede : hereby is the crown set on Christ’s 
 
 head, much honor and glory redounds to Jesus in this very respect. I be- 
 lieve all the work that is done in heaven, is Christ’s interceding, and the 
 saints and angels’ praising; Christ intercedes for ever, and the four beasts, 
 and four and twenty elders sing for ever, Rev. 4 : 8, 9, 10, 11. An argu- 
 ment of Christ’s honor, by Christ’s intercession, is given in thus by Mr. 
 Goodwin :* if it were not for Christ’s intercession, now would the office of 
 Christ’s priesthood be out of work : and this reason is more than intimated, 
 Heb. 7 : 24, 25. “ This man because he continueth ever, hath an unchange- 
 able priesthood ;” and the work of priesthood is interpreted, verse 25. “ To 
 
 make intercession for ever.” The meaning of this is, that God would not 
 have him continue to be a priest in title only, or in respect only of a service 
 past, and so to have only the honor of priesthood perpetuated to him, out 
 of the remembrance of what he once had done: but God would have him 
 to enjoy as the renown of the old, to a perpetual spring of honor by this 
 new work of intercession, and so to preserve the verdure of his glory ever 
 fresh and green ; and the sum of the apostle’s reasoning is this, that seeing 
 himself was to be for ever, so his work of priesthood should be for ever, 
 that so his honor might be preserved and continued for ever also. 
 
 5. It is Christ’s love to his saints; his heart is so enamored with his 
 saints, that therefore he intercedes for them for ever; love is as strong as 
 death ; it is never weary of doing good for the party beloved ; now Christ’s 
 saints are Christ’s love; “ My sister, my love, my dove,” Sol. Song 5 : 2. 
 The saints in Christ’s book are as so many jewels, “And they shall be mine, 
 saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels,” Mai. 3 : 
 17. The saints are Christ’s only choice, the very flower of the earth, “ You 
 have I chosen out of the world,” John 15 : 19, and ye are “ my people, my 
 chosen,” Isa. 43 : 20. All the world is Christ’s refuse, and kings are but 
 mortar to him, only the saints are Christ’s chosen, they are they whom the 
 Lord in his eternal counsels hath set apart for himself, “ But know (saith 
 the Psalmist) that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly,” Psal. 4 : 3. 
 The saints are Christ’s image, i. e. the resemblance of Christ in all that 
 which is his chief excellency, I mean in his righteousness and holiness; as 
 if 1 would take the picture of a man, I would not draw it to resemble his 
 back parts, but as near as I could, I would draw it to life, the very face and 
 countenance : so are the saints the very picture, the image, the draught of 
 God to his top excellency. The saints are in covenant with Jesus Christ, 
 and therefore in nearer relation than any others, hence it is that they are 
 called the portion of God, the treasure of God, the peculiar people of God, 
 those that God and Christ doth satisfy themselves in, those that God and 
 Christ have set their hearts on ; the children of God the Father, the very 
 spouse and bride of God the Son ; in some respect nearer than the angels 
 themselves, for the angels are not so married to Christ in a mystical union, 
 as God’s people are ; now is it any wonder that those who are so very dear 
 to Christ, should be in the prayers of Christ? If they were so much in 
 
 * Goodwin’s Christ set forth. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 5T9 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 his heart., that sometimes he shed his blood for them, will he not now in- 
 tercede for them ? 0 yes ! to this end he carries them on his breast or 
 
 heart, as near as near may be, that they may be in a continual remembrance 
 before the Lord for ever : his very love compels him to this office, to inter- 
 cede for them. 
 
 6. It is Christ’s delight to intercede for his saints. Before the world 
 
 was, u his delights were with the sons of men,” Prov. 8 : 31. And when 
 the fulness of time came, then said he, “ Lo, I come, in the volume of thy 
 book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will 0 my God,” Psa. 40 : 7, 8. 
 And what was that, but to be with the sons of men ? He knew that was 
 his Father’s pleasure, and in respect of himself, he had a delight to live with 
 them, and to die for them : and no sooner he entered into heaven, but there 
 he delights to .officiate still in behalf of the sons of men ; he carries their 
 names on his heart there, and though some of their persons be on earth, and 
 he in his bodily presence is in heaven, yet distance of place cannot deaden 
 his delights in the remembrance of them ; he is ever minding his Father of 
 his people in the nether world ; he tells them that they are his all in all 
 upon the earth, aud all his joy, and all his delight, all his portion ; as men 
 use to give portions to their children, so God having but one Son by eternal 
 generation, he hath given the elect unto him as his portion ; and hence he 
 makes it his great business in heaven, to provide mansions for his portion, 
 to take up God’s heart for his portion, to beg favor and love for his portion. 
 Here is the joy of Christ in heaven, in going to his Father, and telling him, 
 “ Why Father, I have a small portion yet on earth, and because they are on 
 earth, they are still sinning against thy Majesty, but I have suffered and 
 satisfied for their sins, and hither am I come to mind thee of it, and contin- 
 ually to get out fresh pardons for new sins ; come, look on my old satisfac- 
 tion, didst thou not promise? Is it not in the articles of agreement betwixt 
 thee and me, that I should see of the travail of my soul, and should be satis- 
 fied ? Didst thou not say, That because I poured out my soul, therefore 
 thou wouldest divide me a portion with the great, and the spoil with the 
 strong? Isa. 53 : 11, 12. 0 my Father ! now I make intercession for the 
 
 transgressors ; give me out pardons for an hundred thousand millions of sins ; 
 thou hast said and sworn that thou hast no pleasure in the death of sinners, 
 and it is my pleasure, my joy, my infinite delight to save sinners, these are 
 my seed, my portion, my redeemed ones, and therefore let them be saved. ” 
 Thus Christ intercedes, and his delight is in his saints, as knowing it to be 
 his Father’s mind, draws him on to this intercession ; indeed this reason 
 hangs upon that primary and first reason : it is God’s will that Christ should 
 intercede, and it is Christ’s delight to do the will of his Father in heaven, 
 “ I delight to do thy will, 0 my God.” 
 
 7. It is Christ’s compassion that causeth intercession. u Christ is such 
 an high-priest (saith the apostle) as cannot but be touched with the feeling 
 of our infirmities. He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without 
 sin,” Hob. 4 : 15. When he was on earth he felt our infirmities, frailties, 
 miseries, and as a man that hath felt the stone, or gout, or fever, or especially 
 that has felt soul-troubles, cannot but compassionate those that are in the 
 like condition ; so Christ having had the experience of our outward and 
 inward sufferings, he cannot but compassionate us ; and hence it is, 
 (bis very compassions moving) that he intercedes to his Father on our be- 
 half. It is observed, That the very office or work of the high-priest, was to 
 sympathize with the people of God; only in the case of the death of his 
 kindred, he was not as others, to sympathize or mourn; but Jesus Christ 
 goes beyond all the high-priests that ever were before him ; he doth fully 
 sympathize with us, not in some, but in all conditions, “ In all our afflic- 
 tions, he is afflicted,” Isa. 03 : 9. I believe Christ hath carried a man’s 
 
580 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 heart up with him to heaven ; and though there he no passions in him as he is 
 God, yet the flower, the blossom, the excellency of all these passions, (which we 
 call compassions) are infinitely in him as he is God ; he striketh, and trieth, 
 and yet he pitieth ; when Ephraim bemoaneth himself, God replies, (< Is 
 Ephraim my dear son ? Is he a pleasant child ? For since I spake against 
 him, I do earnestly remember him still, therefore my bowels are troubled 
 for him,” Jer. 31 : 20. Surely there is a violence of heavenly passion in 
 Christ’s heart as God man, which makes him break out into prayer to God, 
 and into compassion towards men : 0 that tempted souls would consider 
 this ; It may be, Christ is giving you a cup of tears and blood to drink ; 
 but who knows what bowels, what turnings of heart, what motions of com- 
 passion are in Jesus Christ all the while ? Those who feel the fruit of 
 Christ’s intercessions know this, and cannot but subscribe to this truth, u 0 
 ye of little faith,” why do ye doubt of Christ’s bowels? Is he not our com- 
 passionate high-priest ? Hath not the tenderest, meekest, mildest heart of 
 a man that God possibly can form, met with the eternal and infinite mercy 
 of God himself in Jesus Christ ? You have heard that Christ in both 
 natures is our high-priest, mediator, intercessor ; and if either God or man 
 know how to compassionate, Christ must do it. 0 the bowels of Christ ! 
 “ He is touched (saith the apostle) with the feeling of our infirmities, Heb. 
 4 : 15. It is an illusion to the rolled and moved bowels of God, in Jer. 31 : 
 20. Christ in heaven is burning and flaming in a passion of compassion 
 towards his weak ones, and therefore he pleads, intercedes, and prays to 
 God for them. 
 
 Thus far we have propounded the object, which is Christ’s inter- 
 cession ; our next work is to direct you how to look upon Jesus in this 
 respect. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of knowing Jesus as carrying on the great work of our salva- 
 tion , in his intercession. 
 
 1. Let us know Jesus carrying on this great work of our salvation in 
 his intercession. Is it not a rare piece of knowledge to know what Christ is 
 now doing in heaven for us on earth ? If I had a weighty suit at court, on 
 which lay my estate and life, if I knew that I had a friend there that 
 could prevail, and that he was just now moving in my behalf, were not this 
 worth the knowledge ? I dare say in the behalf of all believers in the 
 world, Christ is now interceding for us at the right hand of God, ever since 
 his ascension into heaven he hath been doing this work ; it is a work already 
 of above sixteen hundred years, and summer and winter, night and day, 
 without any tiredness of spirit, Christ hath been still praying, still interced- 
 ing, Christ’s love hath no vacation, no cessation at all, yea, even now whilst 
 you read this, Christ is acting as an advocate for you, Christ hath your 
 names engraven as a seal on his heart, and standing right opposite to the 
 eye of his Father, the first opening of the eye-lids of God is terminated upon 
 the breast of Jesus Christ ; is not this worth the knowledge ? 0 my soul ! 
 
 leave off* thy vain studies of natural things ! if they do not conduce some 
 way or other to the right understanding of this, they are not worth the while ; 
 what is it for an Aristotle to be praised where he is not, and to be damned 
 where he is ? 0 the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ ! such a 
 
 knowledge, if true, is no less than saving. Come, study his intercession in 
 all the former particulars; I have run them over, for the work is swoln 
 under my hands, and I would now abbreviate; only remember this, that in 
 
CHAP. II.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 581 
 
 Christ’s intercession are many secrets which we must never know on this 
 side of heaven. Oh ! take heed of entering into this labyrinth without the 
 clew of the word; above all, desire the guidance of the Spirit to enlighten 
 thy darkness, and whatever thou knowest, “ know it still for thyself.” 
 
 Sect. II. — Of considering Jesus in that respect. 
 
 2. Let us consider Jesus carrying on this work of our salvation in his 
 intercession : many of God’s people have found the benefit, and for my 
 part I cannot but approve of it, as an excellent, quickening and enliven- 
 ing duty to be much in a way of meditation, or consideration, especially 
 when we meet with such a blessed subject as this is, “ My meditation of 
 him shall be sweet, (saith David), I will be glad in the Lord,” Psalm 104 : 
 84. It is enough to make a meditation sweet and refreshing, when it is 
 conversant about such a subject, as Christ’s intercession ; is it not as in- 
 cense, a sweet odor, and perfume with God himself? And shall not each 
 thought of it be sweet to us ? Come, let us be serious in this duty ; and 
 that we may do it thoroughly, let us consider it in these several particulars. 
 As, 
 
 1. Consider of the nature of Christ’s intercession : what is it but the 
 gracious will of Christ fervently desiring that for the virtue of his death 
 and sacrifice, thy person and performances might be accepted of God ? As 
 Christ on earth gave himself to the death, even to the death of the cross, 
 for the abolition of sin, so now in heaven he prays the Father, “ by his 
 agony and bloody sweat, by his cross and passion, by his death and sacri- 
 fice,” that thy sins may be pardoned, thy service accepted, and thy soul 
 saved. This is the will of Christ, even thy justification, sanctification, 
 and salvation ; and accordingly he presents his will, “Father, I will that 
 all those privileges flowing from my death, may be conferred on such a 
 person by name ; such a soul is now meditating and considering of my in- 
 tercession, and my will is, that his very meditation may find acceptance 
 with God.” 0 what workings would be in thy heart and spirit, if thou 
 didst but consider, that Christ even now were speaking his will, that thy 
 person and duty might both find acceptance, and be well pleasing with 
 God. 
 
 2. Consider of the person that intercedes for thee, it is Christ in both 
 natures, it is thy Mediator, the middle one betwixt God and man ; in this 
 respect thou mayest consider him as one indifferent, and equally inclining 
 to either party, like a pair of scales that hang even, neither side lifted up, or 
 depressed more than the other : “ a Mediator is not of one,” saith the 
 apostle, Gal. 8 : 20. Christ indifferently partook of both natures, Godhead, 
 and manhood, so that he might be fit to stand in the gap between his Father 
 and us ; he is a priest according to both natures ; he is a days-man wholly 
 for God, and a days-man wholly for us, and on our side. 
 
 8. Consider of the person to whom Christ intercedes; is it not to his 
 Father ? Thou art sure to speed well, 0 my soul ! for God is the Father 
 of thy intercessor. If I had a suit to some majesty, and the prince would 
 but mediate, I might hope to speed; Christ’s is God’s prince, as I may call 
 him, and in respect of us, “ the first begotten of many brethren.” And 
 herein is thy rejoicing, that the party offended is Christ’s own Father, and 
 in Christ thy Father; fathers cannot be cruel to their own dear children ; 
 u What man amongst you, whom if his son ask bread, he will give him a 
 stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?. If ye then being 
 evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall 
 your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him ?” 
 Matth. 7 : 9, 10, 11, and especially if Christ himself ask. 
 
 4. Consider of the persons for whom Christ intercedes, it is for all the 
 
582 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 elect, and in particular for thee. 0 the sweet of this one meditation ! if I 
 knew that my name were written in heaven ; should I not (as Christ bids 
 me) “ rejoice in this?” Luke 10:20. Oh! but what is it to have my 
 name written in the chief part of heaven ? wbat is it to have my name 
 written in the breastplate of Jesus Christ ? Come, read 0 my soul ! is it 
 not thus written ? Isaac, or Jacob, “ I have prayed, and I am praying for 
 thee that thy faith fail not.” Sure I am, that I would not part with my 
 hope in this privilege for all the wide world; the very consideration of this 
 makes me to esteem of all the world as dross and dogs meat. 
 
 And Oh that ever the world, or flesh, or devil, should steal this medita- 
 tion out of my heart ! Oh that ever I should forget that Christ is gone to 
 heaven, that he is entered into the holy of holies, and that he carries my 
 name into the presence of God the Father ! I speak the same to thee that 
 readest, if thou art a believer, there is no doubt of it, but Christ is speak- 
 ing a good word to his Father in thy behalf ; he can no more forget thee in 
 his intercessions, than a mother with full breasts can forget her sucking 
 child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb ; now, 
 if ever, look up to Jesus, yea, look, and never leave looking, till thou 
 spiest thy own name writ on his heart ; it is enough to fix thy soul, and to 
 make it dwell on Jesus Christ, thus carrying thee on his shoulders, and 
 bearing thee on his breastplate for a memorial unto his Father in heaven. 
 
 5. Consider of the agreement and difference betwixt Christ’s interces- 
 sions, and the intercessions of the high-priests of old, they did both inter- 
 cede, but Christ’s intercessions are ever in a more transcendent eminent 
 ■way ; Christ is more faithful in his office and place than ever high-priest 
 was; Christ is more compassionate and pitiful than ever, high-priest was ; 
 and hence it is, that he hath the title of polusplanchos , “One of many 
 commisserations,” James, 5:11. All is mercy, and love, and sweetness, 
 and more than motherly affection that comes from Christ. 0 my soul ! 
 why shouldst thou say with Israel, “ My way is hidden from the Lord, and 
 my judgment is passed over from my God?” Isa. 40 : 27. As if Jesus 
 Christ had left thee out of the count of his people, and out of the roll of 
 those whom he is too look after? No, no; he is a faithful and merciful 
 high-priest, far above all the high-priests of the Old Testament, and if they 
 were so careful not to leave out of their breastplate one name of all the 
 twelve tribes, how much more careful is Christ not to. leave out thy name 
 in his intercession ? From this very argument of Ghrist’s compassion and 
 Christ’s faithfulness, the apostle calls on us to “consider the apostle and 
 high-priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that 
 appointed him,” Heb. 3 : 1, 2, above Aaron, or Moses, or any of the high- 
 priests; why, consider him, 0 my soul! this gospel high-priest is well 
 worthy indeed of thy consideration. 
 
 6. Consider of the properties of Christ’s intercession ; is it not heavenly 
 and glorious, effectual and prevailing, and of all other, the transactions of 
 our salvation whilst this world lasts, the most perfective and consummate? 
 O ! give me the intercession of Christ above all the intercessions of men or 
 aDgels. I know the saints on earth pray mutually one for another, but they 
 pray not in their own names, or for their own merits, but in the name and 
 for the merits of Jesus Christ; and as for the saints and angels in heaven, 
 Cyprian* and Jerome seem to grant, that they pray for the state of the 
 church militant ; but if so, they do it only of charity as brethren, not of 
 office as mediators ; they do it only for the church in general, and not for 
 any particular man or member of the militant church ; such an interces- 
 sion as this, so heavenly, so effectual, so perfective of our salvation, so authori- 
 
 * Cyprian Epist. Hierome Lib. advers. vigil. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 588 
 
 OHAP. II.] 
 
 t itive and public, founded upon the satisfactory merits of the person inter- 
 ceding, is proper only to Christ. I would be glad of the prayers of all the 
 churches of Christ ; 0 that there were not a saint on the earth, but that I 
 were by name in his morning and evening prayer, (whosoever thou art that 
 readest it, I beseech thee pray for me) but above all let me have a property 
 in those prayers aud intercessions that are proper only to Christ ; I am sure 
 then 1 should never miscarry; Christ’s prayers are heavenly, glorious, and 
 very effectual. 
 
 7. Consider of the particulars, wherein more especially Christ’s interces- 
 
 sion consists; Is it not in the presenting of his person, blood, prayers, in- 
 terpellations? Is it not in the presenting of our persons, performances, 
 pleas or answers to the accusations of Satan ? Men little thiuk how busy 
 our Mediator, sponsor, solicitor, and advocate, is now in heaven for us; men 
 little think that Christ is appearing, and his blood is crying, and his prayers 
 are ascending, and his robe of righteousness is covering us, and the iniquity 
 of our hdy things: 0 my soul! look up, consider Jesus thy Saviour in 
 these respects ! 1 am persuaded, if thou didst but know, if thou couldst but 
 
 see what a deal of work Christ hath in hand, and how he carries it on for 
 thy salvation, it would melt thy heart into very tears of joy. Whilst Christ 
 was on earth and his mother had lost him, he could then say, “ Wist ye not 
 that I must go about my Father’s business?” Luke 2 : 49. Now Christ is 
 in heaven, he is about the same business still ; all his employment in heaven 
 is to intercede for us, that we may be saved : very true, there is much in 
 this intercession of Jesus Christ, it is a tree of many branches, and every 
 branch fruitful; so that if thou wouldst enlarge thy mediation in this wide 
 ocean of delights ; there is room enough ; but herein I must leave thee in 
 the duty, for I can but point at the several particulars whereon thou mayest 
 enlarge : 0 think on it, that Christ, and Christ’s blood, and Christ’s prayers 
 should be all at work ! that Christ should play the advocate, and plead thy 
 cause, and perfume thy duties with his incense, and take thy person in an 
 unperceivable way to God his Father, and cry there, “ 0 my Father be mer- 
 ciful to this sinner, pardon bis sin, and save his soul for the sake of Jesus !” 
 O blessed mediation ! 0 blessed is the man ! that on this blessed object 
 
 knows how to meditate both day and night. 
 
 8. Consider of the power and prevalency of Christ’s intercessions with his 
 Father. Is he not to this purpose a priest to God, and called thereto by 
 God? Is he not the Son of God, yea, God himself? Is he not G-od’s 
 darling, God’s commander, as well as petitioner? Nay, is not the hand of 
 God himself in this design ? Is not the Father’s heart as much towards us 
 and our salvation as Christ’s own heart ? As sure then as Christ is gone 
 into heaven with thy name engraven on his heart, so sure shalt thou follow 
 him, and be with him where he is, “ Who shall lay any thing to the charge 
 of God’s elect? Who is he that condemneth ?” Where Christ becomes 
 patron to defend against the sentence of damnation, it is in vain for sin, or 
 law, or Satan, to attempt any thing ; for as an innocent person is safe so 
 long as he hath his learned advocate to answer all objections, so it is with 
 believers who have Christ himself both judge and advocate; a sure advo- 
 cate, he ever prevails in whatsoever he undertakes ; he was never yet cast 
 iu any suit ; he has for these sixteen hundred years carried away all the 
 causes of hundreds, thousands, aud millions of souls ; why, he is so dear, 
 and near to his Father, that he can work him to any thing he will. And, 
 
 0 my soul ! if thou hast any relation to Jesus Christ, Is not here comfort? 
 
 1 dare, in the name of Christ, be thy warrant, and give it under my hand, 
 That if Christ pray for thee, Christ will be sure to save thee; he never yet 
 failed, he never will fail in any of his suits to God. Oh ! consider of this. 
 
 9. Consider of the reasons of Christ’s intercession. Many are given, but 
 
584 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 this may be sufficient, it is God’s own ordinance ; the very wisdom of God 
 found out this way to save our souls, viz., That an high-priest should be ap- 
 pointed, who should die for sinners, and afterwards present his death to his 
 Father, by way of intercession in their behalf. Some may look upon this 
 as needless ; what, could not God have pardoned our sins, and saved our 
 souls without a priest ? I shall not dispute God’s power, but if any will, 
 let such an one tell me, what way could his own wisdom have found out to 
 heaven, between the wrath of God, and the sin of man ! I believe it would 
 have posed all the wisdom of the world, (of men and angels) to have recon- 
 ciled God’s mercy in the salvation of man, and his justice in the condemna- 
 tion of sin : to have poured out hell upon the sin, and yet to have bestowed 
 heaven upon the sinner; now then if God himself did study to find out this 
 way, and that he hath said, “This is my pleasure, that Christ my Son 
 should be a priest, and that he shall offer himself, and present himself and 
 his offering, and his prayer to me for my people.” 0 ! no, soul rest on 
 this as the very ordination of God ; admire at the contrivance of God : say, 
 0 the depth ! question no farther, only meditate, and ponder, and consider 
 of it, till thou feelest Christ’s intercession darting its influence and efficacy 
 on thy sin-sick soul. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of desiring after Jesus in that respect. 
 
 3. Let us desire after Jesus, carrying on this work of our salvation in 
 his intercession. I cannot but wonder what a dulness seizeth on my heart, 
 and on all the hearts of the sons of men, that we have no more longing 
 after Christ, whose heart is ever panting and longing after us. Surely we 
 do not set ourselves to find out experimentally the sweetness that is in 
 Christ ; if there were not another object to think upon, but only this one of 
 Christ’s intercession, is not here enough to put us all into a teeming, long- 
 ing frame ? 0 my soul, rouse up, and set this blessed object before thy 
 
 face! take a full view of it until thy affections begin to warm, and thou 
 beginnest to cry, “ Oh, for my part in Christ’s intercession ! Oh, I would 
 not be left out of Christ’s heavenly prayers for ten thousand worlds !” 
 Come and be serious, the object is admirably sweet and precious; long for 
 it, pant after it ! God understands the rhetoric of thy breathings as well 
 as of thy cry. But what is there in Christ’s intercession that is so desir- 
 able ? I answer, — 
 
 1. In Christ’s intercession, lies the present transaction of our soul’s sal- 
 vation. Such passages as hitherto we have spoken of are done and past; 
 the transactions of eternity were at an end when time began; the trans- 
 actions of Christ promised, had their period when Christ was incarnate ; 
 the transactions of Christ’s birth, and life, and death, and resurrection, and 
 ascension, are now above a thousand and six hundred years old : I know 
 the virtue and influence of all these transactions continue, and will continue 
 for ever and ever; but the several actings had their periods, and only 
 Christ’s session and mission of his Spirit, and his blessed intercession, both 
 were, and now are the very present employment of Jesus Christ. If it 
 were possible that we could see into heaven : if with Stephen, we could 
 look up steadfastly, and see the heavens opened ; if our eyes, by an extra- 
 ordinary power, were carried through the azure sky, and through all till we 
 come to the holy of holies, and to Jesus Christ in his glory; what should 
 we see but Christ interceding, Christ busy with his Father in his poor 
 «aints’ behalf? Now he prays, now he presents his person, merits, inter- 
 cession, interpellation, q. d. “ Father, here are a company of rebels, justly 
 fallen under thy displeasure, they deserve to be set at an eternal distance 
 from thee ; but I must needs have them pardoned, and received into thy 
 bosom; come, make thine own terms, let justice require never so great 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 585 
 
 CHAP. IT.] 
 
 satisfaction, I have paid a price sufficient for all, and effectual for them, 
 give them what laws thou pleasest, I will undertake they shall observe 
 them ; and to this purpose, away, away, Holy Spirit, go to such and such 
 souls, enable them to their duties, yea, enable them in duty, and sanctify 
 them throughout, in souls, bodies, and spirits. Why, this is the present 
 transaction of Jesus Christ, and therefore most desirable : methinks I long 
 to know what Christ is now a doing in heaven for my soul. And is it not 
 thus? Is not all his time spent either in reading pardons for redeemed 
 ones, or in presenting petitions for them, and pleading for them ? Surely 
 he is still interceding every day, it is his present work for our souls; 0 
 desirable work ! 
 
 2. In this present transaction lies the application of all Christ’s former 
 actings, whether of his habitual righteousness, or of his active and passive 
 obedience. All those passages of Christ’s incarnation, conception, circum- 
 cision, birth, life, and death, which more especially we look upon as the 
 meritorious causes of our salvation, had been nothing to us, if they had not 
 been applied by Christ; they were the means of impetration, but Christ’s 
 intercession is the means of application ; Christ purchased salvation by 
 those precedaneous acts, but he possesseth us of our salvation by this per- 
 fective and consummate act of his intercession. The order of this is laid 
 down by the apostle, in that first, “ He learned obedience, by the things 
 which he suffered, and then being made perfect, he became the author (or 
 applying cause) of eternal salvation to all them that obey him; being to 
 this purpose, called of God an high priest, after the order of Melchisedec,” 
 Heb. 5:8,9, 10. Now, is not this the desirable act above all other acts ? 
 Alas ! what am I the better for a mine of gold, in such, or such, or such a 
 field, in which I have no propriety at all ? I am thoroughly convinced, that 
 Christ’s merits are most precious merits, but, Oh that they were mine ! Oh 
 that Christ’s intercessions would bring the salve, and lay it to my sore ; Oh 
 that I could hear that voice from heaven ! “ My son, I was incarnate for 
 thee, and conceived for thee, and born for thee, and circumcised for thee, 
 and I did the law, and suffered the penalty for thee ; and now I am inter- 
 ceding that thy very soul may have the benefit of all my doings, and of all 
 my sufferings.” Why, if Christ’s intercession be the applying cause, if it 
 bring home to my soul all the former transactions of Christ, saying, “All 
 these are thine, even thine Oh how desirable must this intercession be ? 
 
 3. In this application lies that communion and fellowship which we have 
 with the Father and the Son, “I pray for these, that as thou Father art in 
 me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us,” John 17 : 21. Under- 
 stand this soberly, we cannot think that there should be that oneness in 
 equality betwixt God and us, as betwixt God and Christ ; no, no, but there 
 is oneness in similitude and reality, even in this life; by virtue of Christ’s 
 intercession we have oneness with God and Christ, not only in comforts, 
 but also in graces; I pray you mark this, when I speak of communion with 
 God in this life; I mean especially the communication of grace between 
 God and the soul ; on God’s part there is a special influence of grace and 
 favor to man ; and on man’s part there is a special return of grace and 
 honor to God. Some trembling souls are apt to think, that all communion 
 with God and Christ, consists only in the comforts of the Holy Spirit, 
 whereas Christians may as really and advantageously have communion with 
 God in secret conveyances of grace, in inward supports, in a concealed ac- 
 ception of service, in the hidden drawings of the soul Godward ; as in the 
 more open and comfortable manifestations of God unto the soul ; communion 
 with God is a familiar friendship, (I speak it in an holy, humble sense,) 
 now, do we not as usually go to a friend for counsel and advice, as for com- 
 fort and cheering? in a friend’s bosom we intrust our sorrows, as well as 
 
586 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 our joys. Suppose a soul, even spiritually overwhelmed and ready to break, 
 betaking itself unto God, and venting itself before the Lord ; now, if after- 
 wards the soul hath no more ease than by the bare lancing of the sore, if 
 God pours in no balms at all, but only gives support; shall we say that 
 this soul, in this case, hath no communion with God? 0 yes ! in God’s 
 secret visits of the soul, and in the soul’s restless groping after God, though 
 nothing but darkness he apprehended, yet that soul lives in the light of 
 God’s countenance ; the sun shines, though a aloud interposeth ; God 
 smiles, though the soul do not perceive it; or certainly thou hast his 
 strengthening supporting presence, if not his shining; now, this is the fruit 
 of Christ’s blessed intercession, and this is the subject matter of Christ’s 
 intercession, “0 ! my Father, that these may be one in us, I in them, and 
 thou in me,” John 17 : 23. I in them by the influence and power of my 
 Spirit, and thou in me by the fulness and power of the Godhead.” And 
 is not this a most desirable thing? 
 
 4. In this communion lies the vision and fruition of Jesus Christ in 
 glory ; grace brings to glory ; if communion here, we shall have communion 
 hereafter ; and this also is a part of Christ’s prayer and intercession, “ Fa- 
 ther, 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,” John 17 : 
 24. Jesus Christ cannot be in heaven long without his saints, indeed, it is 
 impossible that Christ should be in heaven, and that pieces and bits of 
 Christ mystical should be in hell, or yet long on earth, Christ will draw in 
 his legs and members on earth up nearer to the head ; certainly Christ, and 
 you that are believers, must be under one roof ere long. Is he not gone 
 before to prepare a place, yea, many mansions for you ? John 14 : 2. We 
 think them happy on earth that have their many stately halls and palaces, 
 their summer and their winter houses; 0 Christians ! how happy will you 
 be, when you come to be lords and heirs of many stately mansions in the 
 streets of heaven ? But what speak I of mansions, now I am naming 
 Christ ? Mansions are nothing, many mansions are but little, yea, “ many 
 mansions in Christ’s Father’s home,” are but created chips of happiness, in 
 comparison of that communion, which by virtue of Christ’s intercession 
 we shall have with Christ. It is the saying of an eminently learned holy 
 divine, “ I should refuse heaven, (saith he) if Christ were not there ; take 
 Christ away from heaven, and it is but a poor, dark, heartless dwelling; 
 heaven without Christ would look as the direful land of death.”* And 
 therefore, after Christ had spoken of many mansions, and of a place that 
 he would prepare for his saints; he adds farther, to increase their joy, “I 
 will come again, (saith he) and receive you unto myself, that where I am, 
 there ye may be also,” John 14 : 3. Mansions are but as places of briers 
 and thorns without Jesus Christ, and therefore I would have heaven for 
 Christ, and not have Christ for heaven ; 0 ! this communion with Christ is 
 above all desirable, and this is the subject matter of Christ’s prayer, “ Fa- 
 ther, I would have the saints to be with me where I am, that they may be- 
 hold my glory.” Why, this is the communion which the saints shall 
 have with Christ, never will their eyes be off him, never will their thoughts 
 wander after any other subjects; oh ! the intimacy that will be then be- 
 twixt Christ and Christians ! Oh ! what communication of glory will there 
 be to each other! “ These shall walk with me, (saith Christ,) for they are 
 worthy,” Bev. 3 : 4. 
 
 O my soul ! if this be the business of Christ’s intercession, if all these 
 particulars are contained in the bowels of this one transaction, how is it 
 that thou art not in a fainting swoon ? IIow is it that thou art not gasping, 
 
 * Mr. Samuel Futlierford. 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 587 
 
 groaniug, sick unto death with the vehement thirst after- thy part and por- 
 tion in Christ’s intercession ? If there be such a thing as the passion of 
 desire in this heart of mine, 0 that now it would break out ! Oh ! that it 
 would vent itself with mighty longings and infinite aspirings after this 
 blessed object! why, Lord, I desire, but help thou my faint desires; blow 
 on my dying spark, it is but little ; and if I know any thing of my heart, 
 I would have it more ; Oh ! that my spark would flame ! Why, Lord, I 
 desire that I might desire ; Oh ! breathe it into me, and I will desire after 
 thee ! 
 
 Sect. IV . — Of hoping in Jesus in that respect. 
 
 4. Let us hope in Jesus, carrying on this work of our salvation in his 
 intercession, “ It is good that a man should hope,” Lam. 3 : 26. Indeed, 
 if it were not for hope the heart would not hold : only look that our hope 
 be true hope ; very hypocrites have a kind of hope, but if God’s word be 
 true, “ The hope of the unjust men shall perish, Prov. 11 : 7 — What is the 
 hope of the hypocrite ? Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon 
 him?” Job 27 : 8, 9. No, no, “The hypocrite’s hope shall perish, his hope 
 shall be cut off, and his trust shall be as a spider’s web,” Job 8 : 13, 14. 
 0 my soul ! hope in Jesus, but rest not till thou canst give a reason of thy 
 hope, till thou canst prove that they are the hopes which grace and not only 
 nature hath wrought ; that they are grounded upon scripture promises and 
 sound evidences; that they purify the heart; that the more thou hopest 
 the less thou sinnest; that they depend upon sure and infallible causes, as 
 on the truth, power and mercy of God ; on the merits, mediation, and in- 
 tercession of Jesus Christ; what, is this last amongst the rest (I mean the 
 intercession of Christ) the spring of thy hope ? Canst thou follow the 
 stream, till it brings thee to this fountain, or well-head of hope, that now 
 thou canst say, “ 0 this intercession is mine !” Come, search, and try, it is 
 worth the pains ; and to put thee out of question, and in a more facile way 
 of discerning, I shall lay down these signs. As, 
 
 1. If Christ’s intercession be mine, then is the Spirit’s intercession mine. 
 Or if thou wouldst rather argue from the effect to the cause, then thus; if 
 the Spirit’s intercession be mine, then is Christ’s intercession mine. In this 
 case, we need not to ascend up into heaven to learn the truth, rather let us 
 descend into our own hearts, and look whether Christ hath given us of his 
 Spirit, which makes us cry unto God, “ with sighs and groans which cannot 
 be expressed;” he that would know whether the sun shines in the firma- 
 ment, he must not climb iuto the clouds to look, rather he must search for 
 the beams thereof upon the earth ; which, when he sees, he may conclude, 
 that the sun shines in the firmament; 0 come, and let us ransack our owu 
 consciences ; let us search whether we feel the Spirit of Christ crying in 
 us, Abba, Father ; certainly these two are as the cause and the effect ; 
 Christ’s intercession in heaven, and his Spirit’s intercession on earth are as 
 twius of a birth ; or rather such is the concatenation of these two, that 
 Christ’s intercession in heaven breeds another intercession in the hearts of 
 his saints. It is the same Spirit dwelling in Christ, and in all his mem- 
 bers, that moves and stirs them up to cry, Abba, Father. Here then is my 
 argument, if Christ hath put his Spirit into thy heart, and if the Spirit 
 hath set thy heart on work to make incessant intercessions for thyself, then 
 is Christ’s intercession thine. There is a kind of a round in the carrying 
 on of this great work of intercession; as, 1. Christ intercedes for his peo- 
 ple, 0 that my Spirit might go down ! 2. God hearkens to the intercession 
 of Christ, Awake, holy Spirit, get thee down into the hearts of such and 
 such. 3. The Spirit waits on the pleasure of them both, aud no sooner 
 down but he sends up his intercession back again : Christ cries to God, and 
 
588 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 God sends the Spirit, and the Spirit goes and echoes in the hearts of saints, 
 to the cries of Christ. Much of this is contained in that one text, “ God 
 hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, ( Krazori ) crying, (as 
 if he merely acted on our tongues,) Abba, Father,” Gal. 4 : 6. Here is 
 God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, and all are acting 
 their parts on the elect people of God : the Son intercedes, “ 0 that my 
 Spirit may be given to these !” the Father willingly grants, “Away, holy 
 Spbh, and, as my Son asketh, enter, and take possession of those sinful 
 heaves :” the holy Spirit obeys, and no sooner in the hearts of the saints, 
 1st he cries in them, Abba, Father. God hears Christ, and the Spirit 
 hears God, and the elect hear the Spirit; and now because the Spirit speaks 
 in the elect, God hears the elect. Much like unto this is that of the pro- 
 phet, “And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord ; I 
 will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth, and the earth shall 
 hear the corn, and wine, and oil, and they shall hear Jezreel,” Hosea 2 : 21. 
 
 0 my soul, to the test ! hath God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into thy 
 heart? Hast thou the indwelling of the Spirit; and now by help of the 
 Spirit, canst thou pray with earnestness, confidence, and an holy importu- 
 nity? Canst thou cry, Abba, Father; i. e. Canst thou cry with earnest- 
 ness, Father? With confidence, and Abba, Father, or Father, Father, with 
 an holy importunity. Why, these are the very signs of the Spirit’s inter- 
 cession. 0 my soul ! that thou wouldst deal faithfully with thy own self; 
 canst thou by the help of the Spirit go to the Father in the name of Christ? 
 As Christ is gone before into the holy of holies to intercede, so canst thou 
 with boldness follow after, “ and enter into the holiest by the blood of 
 Jesus,” Heb. 10 : 19. Canst thou say, God hath given me his Spirit, and 
 his Spirit hath showed me Christ as my Mediator at the right hand of God ; 
 and now, under the wing of such a Mediator, 1 can, by the Spirit’s assist- 
 ance, go with boldness ( meta porresias,') with assuming a liberty to speak 
 any thing I will in the ears of God : surely this is the fruit, the effect of 
 Christ’s intercession, and therefore thou mayest comfortably conclude, 
 Christ’s intercession is mine. 
 
 2. If at any time in the midst of duties I am savingly affected, then is 
 Christ’s intercession mine. Sometimes it pleaseth God to appear in ordi- 
 nances, and the soul is comforted, quickened, enlarged, affected ; why, now 
 
 1 look upon this as the efficacy of Christ’s blood, and as the power of Christ’s 
 intercession ; at that very instant that I feel any good in any ordinance of 
 Christ, why then, even then, is Christ prevailing with God his Father; for 
 what I feel, then, even then, may I boldly say, “Now is the Lord Jesus, 
 who is at God’s right hand in heaven, remembering me a poor worm on 
 earth ; Oh now I feel the fruit of his intercession ! Oh what is this spirit, 
 power, grace, comfort, sweetness I drink of ! but a taste of the honey-comb 
 with the end of my rod, dropping from the intercessions of Jesus Christ? 
 And if this presence of Christ’s Spirit be so sweet, What is himself then ? 
 I know we had need to be wary in laying down this sign, it is clearly proved 
 by an eminent divine, “ That sweet motions of heart in holy things, are not 
 infallible evidences of grace.”* The third kind of hearers are said to “re- 
 ceive the word with joy,” Matth. 13 : 20. They found some sweet and 
 power in the ordinances of Christ. And Herod heard John gladly, Mark 
 16 : 20. And many “for a season rejoiced in John’s light and ministry,” 
 John 5 : 35. Certainly affections in holy administrations with delight and 
 joy, may be in those, who, yet have no true grace; so it may be, that the 
 novelty and strangeness of a doctrine may much affect and delight; or the 
 nature of the doctrine, as it is comfortable, without any respect to spiritual 
 
 * Mr. Burges, of Assurance. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 589 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 operations, may exceedingly affect, or the minister’s abilities, because of 
 his parts, eloquence, elocution, affectionate utterance, may much delight 
 and stir up the hearers’ affections; fine head-notions may produce some 
 affectionate heart motions; but what symptom of grace in all this? The 
 sign therefore I lay down of my propriety in Christ’s intercessions is not 
 every sweet motion, or every excited affection, but that which is holy, spi- 
 ritual, heavenly, saving; I may discern much of this, if I will but look 
 into the grounds and effects of my excited or stirred-np affections, if the 
 ground thereof be fetched from heaven, and in their effect they tend to- 
 wards heaven, if they wean my heart from the world, if they elevate and 
 raise up my affections to things above, if they form, and frame my conver- 
 sation heaven-wards, then may I be assured these motions and affections 
 are of the right stamp, for all such motions are but sparks of that heavenly 
 fire, the flame whereof is mindful of its own original; they are the fruits 
 of Christ, and they go back to Christ, they work towards their centre, they 
 tend towards the place from whence they came; and in this respect, 0 that 
 I could never hear a sermon without a savory affection of what I hear ! 0 
 
 that I could never go to prayer without some warmth, and heat, and life 
 and fervency ! 0 that in every duty I was savingly affected, that I felt the 
 
 savor of Christ’s ointments, whose name, and whose intercession is as an 
 ointment poured forth : in times of the Old Testament, if they offered up 
 a sacrifice, and a material fire came down from heaven and burnt up the 
 sacrifice to ashes, it was a certain testimony that the sacrifice was accepted : 
 now, in the time of the gospel, we must not expect material fire to come 
 down upon our duties ; but hath the Lord at any time caused an inward 
 and spiritual fire to fall down upon thy heart, warming thy Spirit in duty, 
 and carrying it up heaven-ward ? Surely if so, thou mayest safely con- 
 clude, these are the very effects of Christ’s intercession ; his intercession is 
 mine. 
 
 3. If in my heart I feel a holy frame, disposition, inclination to pray 
 and cry, and intercede for others, especially for the miseries and distresses 
 of the church of God; then is Christ’s intercession mine. We should (as 
 near as we may) in every thing conform to Christ; and this conformity is 
 an evidence or sign to us of our interest in Christ; 0 my soul ! go down 
 into the inmost closet of thy heart, look what disposition there is in it to- 
 wards the members of Christ ; and thou mayest conclude there is in Christ’s 
 heart the very same disposition towards thee. Ah ! do I think there is 
 love in my bosom towards the saints, and that there is no love in Christ’s 
 bosom towards me ? What, can I think that my narrow, straitened and 
 sinful bowels are larger than those wide, compassionate and tender bowels 
 of Jesus Christ? As a drop of water is in comparison of the ocean, and 
 as a gravel stone is in comparison of the sand, so is my heart to Christ’s, 
 and my love to Christ’s, and my bowels to Christ’s. Come then, and try 
 by this sign, “ Hereby we know that we are translated from death to life, 
 if we love the brethren ; he that loveth not his brother, abideth in death,” 
 1 John 3 : 14. — Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down 
 his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren, verse 
 16. Is not this plain, if I love the brethren, Christ loveth me? If I feel 
 in my heart an holy disposition to go to God, and to pray and cry, and to 
 intercede for a saint in misery, surely the Lord Jesus hath as much bowels 
 towards me, and to go and intercede for me, and to present my prayers unto 
 God the Father; his intercession is mine. 
 
 4. If I am called, justified and sanctified, then is Christ’s intercession 
 mine : are not these the subject-matter of Christ’s intercession ? “I pray 
 (saith Christ) that thou shouldst keep them from the evil,” John 17 : 15. 
 — I pray that thou wouldest “sanctify them through thy truth; neither 
 
590 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 pray I for these alone, hut for them also which believe on me through their 
 word or preaching ; Father, I will, that those whom thou hast given me, be 
 with me in glory,” verses 17, 20, 24. He first prays that we may be called 
 and justified, and then he prays that we may be sanctified and saved : he 
 holds at both ends of this golden chain of our salvation ; the one end is 
 hanged at his breast, where the names of all his saints are written, and the 
 other is at his heart that he may be the author and finisher, the first and last 
 the beginning and ending of our soul’s salvation : alas ! there is nothing in 
 ns, in our reach here below; the first stirrings of grace is up in heaven, at 
 the right hand of the Father; and the far end of any gracious thought is 
 as far above us, as the heart of Christ is above the earth; come then, since 
 all hangs on this great pin of Christ’s intercession, let us search and try, 
 Are we called ? Do we believe on the Son ? Are we sanctified in some 
 measure ? Are we kept from the evil, that sin may not have dominion over 
 us ? Hath Christ put up these prayers in our behalf, that now we feel (as 
 it were) and experience the truth of Christ’s prevailings with his Father 
 in our hearts and lives ? 0 sure signs that Christ’s intercession is ours ! 
 
 Away, away, all diffidence, doubting, wavering, fluctuating hopes ; a soul 
 thus grounded, may with Paul cast the gauntlet, and bid defiance to all 
 the world, “ Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? Who 
 is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen 
 again, who is even at the right hand of God, and who also maketh inter- 
 cession for us,” Rom. 8 : 34. 
 
 Sect. V. — Of believing in Jesus in that respect. 
 
 5. Let us believe in Jesus, as carrying on this great work of our salva- 
 tion in his intercession : wounded spirits are full of scruples, and thus they 
 cry, “ My sins will never be forgiven : have not I sinned against God, and 
 Christ, and the Spirit of Christ? Had I not my hands imbrued in the 
 blood of his Son ? And have not I trodden under foot the blood of God ? 
 And will that blood that I have shed, and trod on, intercede for my pardon ? 
 Had I but gone so far as the Jews did, who indeed killed and crucified 
 Christ, I might have had some hopes, because they knew not what they 
 did, and therefore Christ prayed, “ Father, forgive them, for they know 
 not what they do.” But, alas ! I sinned, and I knew well enough what, and 
 wherein I have sinned, “ Had they known (saith the apostle) they would 
 not have crucified the Lord of glory,” 1 Cor. 2 : 8. But, alas! I knew it, 
 and I was fully convinced that the commission of every sin is a crucifying 
 of Christ; and yet against knowledge, and judgment, and light, and checks 
 of my own conscience, I have crucified the Lord of glory ; and is not the 
 apostle express ? “ It is impossible for those who were once enlightened, 
 and have tasted of the heavenly gift, — if they fall away, to renew them 
 again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God 
 afresh, and put him to open shame,” Heb. 6:4, 6. Oh ! I fear my name 
 is not in the roll of those for whom Christ intercedes, I have crucified him 
 afresh, and will he intercede for such a dead dog as I am? I cannot 
 believe.” Silence, unbelief ! be not tyrannical to thyself, for Christ will 
 not, sin shall do thee no hurt, nor Satan, no, nor God himself, for Jesus 
 Christ can work him to anything ! if he but open his wounds in heaven, 
 he will so work his Father, that thy wounds on earth shall close up pre- 
 sently. “ 0 but I have sinned against light!” and what then? I hope 
 thou hast not sinned wilfully, maliciously, and despitefully against the light : 
 the apostle tells us, That if “we sin wilfully, after we have received the 
 knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a 
 certain looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation,” Heb. 10 : 26, 27. 
 These two texts in Heb. 6:4, and 10:26, are parallel, and give light to 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 591 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 each other ; and, therefore, unless thy sin be unpardonable sin, unless wil- 
 fully, maliciously and despitefully, thou hast crucified Christ as some of the 
 Jews did, never pass a doom of final condemnation on thy soul : what, is 
 there no difference betwixt a sin done wilfully, or purposely, of malice with 
 delight, and against the feeling of thy own conscience, and a sin done 
 of mere ignorance, inconsideracy, infirmity, or through a strong tempta- 
 tion, though against light itself? I know there is a light given in by God's 
 word, and some beams of the Holy Ghost, which yet never penetrated so 
 far as to transform and regenerate the soul wholly to God’s image ; and in 
 such a case, a man may fall away, even into an universal fall, and general 
 apostasy; but dost thou not hope better things of thyself than so? I 
 suppose thou dost; 0 then believe! 0 believe thy part in Christ’s in- 
 tercession ; and for the directions of thy faith, that thou mayest know 
 how, or in what manner to believe, observe these particulars in their 
 order. As, 
 
 1. Faith must directly go to Christ. 
 
 2. Faith must go to Christ as God in the flesh. 
 
 3. Faith must go to Christ as God in the flesh, made under the law. 
 
 4. Faith must go to Christ made under the directive part of the law by 
 
 his life, and under the penal part of the law by his death. 
 
 5. Faith must go to Christ as put to death in the flesh, and as quickened 
 by the Spirit. 
 
 6. Faith must go to Christ as quickened by the Spirit, and as going up 
 into glory, as sitting down at God’s right hand, and as sending the Holy 
 Ghost : Of all these before. 
 
 7. Faith must go to Christ as interceding for his saints : this act of Christ 
 is for the application of all the former acts on Christ’s part ; and our faith 
 closing with it, is for the application of this, and all other the actings of 
 Christ on our part. Now is our faith led up very high, if we can but reach 
 this, we may say, that our faith stands very lofry when it may at once see 
 earth and heaven ; when it may see all that Christ hath acted for it here, 
 and all that Christ doth act, and will act in heaven for it hereafter. It is 
 not an ordinary, single, particular act of faith that will come up to this 
 glorious mystery ; no, no, it is as a comprehensive, perfective act ; it is such 
 an act as puts the soul into a condition of glorious triumph, “Who shall 
 condemn ? It is Christ that will save me to the uttermost, seeing he ever 
 liveth to make intercession for me.” The same word, to the uttermost, is a 
 good word, and well put in ; it is a reaching word,* and extends itself so 
 far, that thou canst not look beyond it : let thy soul be set on the highest 
 mountain that ever any creature was yet set on, and there let thy soul take 
 in, and view the most spacious prospect, both of sin and misery, and diffi- 
 culties of being saved, that ever yet any poor humble soul did cast within 
 itself; yea, join to these all the objections, and hinderances of thy salva- 
 tion, that the heart of man can suppose, or invent against itself; lift up 
 thy eyes, and look to the utmost thou canst see, and Christ, by his inter- 
 cession, is able to save thee beyond the horizon, and farthest compass of thy 
 thought, even to the utmost and worst case the heart of man can possibly 
 suppose; it is not thy having lain long in sin, or long under terrors and 
 despairs, it is not thy having sinned often under many enlightenings, that 
 can hinder thee from being saved by Christ: do but remember this same 
 word, to the uttermost, and then put in what exception thou wilt, or canst.” 
 0 the holy triumphs of that soul that can but act its faith on Christ’s inter- 
 cession ! why this is the most perfect and consummate act of Christ’s 
 priestly office, this argues thy Christ to be a perfect Mediator, and being a 
 
 * Goodwin’s Christ set forth. 
 
592 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IV. 
 
 perfect Mediator, no condition can be desperate, “And being made perfect, 
 (saith the apostle) he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them 
 that obey him,” Heb. 9 : 5. Now, therefore, lead up thy faith to this 
 blessed object, and thou hast under consideration the whole of Christ, and 
 the total of Christ’s actings in this world, from first to last, in respect of 
 mediation ; this is the coronis , the upshot, the period, the consummation, 
 the perfection of all. 
 
 8. Faith in going to Christ as interceding for us ; it is principally and 
 mainly to look to the purpose, end, intent, and design of Christ in his 
 intercession : now the ends of Christ, as in reference unto us, are these, 
 
 1. That we might have communion and fellowship with the Father and 
 the Son, “ I pray for these, that as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, 
 they also may be one in us,” John 17 : 21. 
 
 2. That we might have the gift of the Holy Ghost, “ I will pray the 
 Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with 
 you for ever, even the Spirit of truth,” John 14 ; 16, 17. 
 
 8. That we might have protection against all evil, “I pray (saith Christ) 
 that thou wouldst keep them from the evil,” John 17 : 15. Some may ob- 
 ject, are not the faithful subject to evils, corruptions, and temptations still? 
 How then is that part of the intercession of Christ made good unto us ? I 
 answer, The intercession of Christ is presently available, only it is con- 
 veyed in a manner suitable and convenient to our present condition, so as 
 there may be left room for another life ; and therefore we must not con- 
 ceive all presently done ; it is with us as with malefactors doomed to death, 
 suppose the supreme power should grant a pardon to be drawn, though the 
 grant be the whole thing at once, yet it cannot be written but word after 
 word, and line after line ; so the grant of our protection against all evil is 
 made unto Christ at first, but in the execution thereof, there is line upon 
 line, and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little. We know 
 Christ prayed for Peter, “ I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not ;” 
 yet Peter’s faith did shake and totter ; the prayer was not, that there might 
 be no failing at all, but that it might not utterly and totally fail ; and in 
 that respect Peter was protected. 
 
 4. That we might have free access to the throne of grace : so the apostle, 
 “ Seeing we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus 
 the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession, and come boldly to the 
 throne of grace,” Heb. 4 : 14, 16. And again, “ Having therefore bold- 
 ness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, and having an high 
 priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in a full 
 assurance of faith,” Heb. 10 : 28. 
 
 5. That we might have the inward interpellation of the Spirit, which is 
 as it were, the echo of Christ’s intercession in our hearts, “ The Spirit 
 maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered,” Rom. 
 8 : 26. It is the same Spirit’s groans in us, which more distinctly and 
 fully in Christ prayeth for us, “ These things I speak in the world (saith 
 our Saviour) that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves,” John 
 18 : 13, q. d. I have made this prayer in the world, and left a record and 
 pattern of it in the church, that they feeling the same heavenly desires 
 kindled in their own hearts, may be comforted in the workings of that spi- 
 rit of prayer in them, which testifieth to their souls, the quality of that 
 intercession which I make for them in the heaven of heavens ; certainly 
 there is a dependance of our prayers on Christ’s prayer; as it is with the 
 sun, though the body of it abide in the heavens, yet the beams of it descend 
 to us here on earth ; so the intercession of Christ, though as tied to his 
 person, it is made in heaven, yet the groans, and desires of the touched 
 heart, as the beams thereof, are here on earth. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 593 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 6. That we might have the sanctification of our services : of this the 
 Levitical priests were a type, “ For they bear the iniquity of the holy 
 things of the children of Israel, that they might be accepted, Exod. 28 : 
 38. — And he is the angel of the covenant, who hath a golden censer to offer 
 up the prayers of the saints," Rev. 8 : 3. Some observe a threefold evil in 
 man, of every of which we are delivered by Christ, First, An evil of state 
 or condition under the guilt of sin. Secondly, An evil of nature, under 
 the corruption of sin. Thirdly, An evil in all our services by the adherency 
 of sin, for that which toucheth an unclean thing is made unclean thereby. 
 Now Christ, by his righteousness and merits, justifieth our persons from 
 the guilt of sin ; and Christ, by his grace and Spirit, doth in measure 
 purify our faculties from the corruption of sin ; and Christ, by his incense 
 and intercession, doth cleanse our services from the adherency of sin ; so 
 that in them the Lord smells a sweet savor ; and both we and our services 
 find acceptance with God. 
 
 7. That we might have the pardon of all sin. It is by virtue of Christ's 
 intercession, that a believer sinning of infirmity hath a pardon of course, 
 for Christ is his advocate to plead his cause; or if he sin of presumption, 
 and the Lord give repentance, he hath a pardon at the hands of God the 
 Father, by virtue of this intercession, in a way of justice. And to this 
 end, rather is Christ called an advocate than a potitioner, “ If any man 
 sin, we have an advocate with the Father," 1 John 2:1. The work of 
 an advocate differs from the work of a petitioner; an advocate doth not 
 merely petition, but he tells the judge what is law, and what ought to be 
 done, and so doth Christ, “0 my Father! (saith Christ) this soul hath 
 indeed sinned, but I have satisfied for his sins, I have paid for them to the 
 full; now therefore in a way of equity and justice, I do here call for this 
 man’s pardon." If this were not so, our estate would be most miserable, 
 considering, that for every sin committed by us after repentance, we de- 
 serve to be cast out of the love and favor of God our Father, for ever and 
 ever. 
 
 8. That we might have continuance in the state of grace, “ I have 
 prayed for thee that thy faith fail not," Luke 22 : 32. Some that dissent 
 from in the point of perseverance, object, that in our Saviour’s prayer for 
 Peter, there was somewhat singular; but we say, That iu this prayer there 
 is nothing singular, which is not common to all the faithful, and unto such 
 as are given unto Christ of the Father. They allege, That this privilege 
 was granted to Peter as an apostle ; but we say, That if it was granted to 
 Peter as an apostle, then it was common to Peter and Judas, in that both 
 were apostles. They allege farther, That Christ prays not for the absolute 
 perseverance of believers, but after a sort, and upon condition. But we 
 say the prayer of Christ is certain and not suspended; in this prayer his 
 desire is not for Peter that he would persevere, but his desire is fur Peter 
 that he should persevere ; the object of the thing for which Christ prays, 
 is distinct from the thing itself prayed for. 
 
 9. That we might have the salvation of our souls in the day of Jesus, 
 i( Father, I will, that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where 
 I am, that they might behold my glory," John 17 : 24. Why, this is the 
 main end in respect of us, our glory; and indeed herein is the main piece 
 of our glory, to behold his glory; oh ! to see the Lord Jesus Christ glori- 
 fied, as he shall be glorified, must be a glorious thing; What is it to see his 
 glory, but to behold the lustre of his divinity through his humanity ? In 
 this respect our very eyes shall come to see God, as much as is possible for 
 any creature to see him : we may be sure God shall appear through tho 
 humanity of Christ as much as is possible for the divinity to appear in a 
 creature ; and therefore men and angels will be continually viewing of 
 
 38 
 
594 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 Christ. I know there is another glory of Christ which the Father will put 
 upon him, “ because he humbled himself, therefore God will exalt him, 
 and give him a name above every name ; and we shall see him in his 
 glory.” 0 the ravishing sight of saints ! Christ is so lovely, that the saints 
 cannot leave, but they must and will “follow the Lamb wheresoever he 
 goes,” Rev. 14 : 4. There shall be no moment to all eternity, wherein 
 Christ shall be out of sight to so many thousand thousands of saints ; now 
 this is the glory of the saints above : as a queen that sees the prince in his 
 glory, she delights in it, because it is her glory ; so the church when she 
 shall see Christ her husband in his glory, she shall rejoice in it because she 
 looks upon it as her own. Is not this a blessed end of Christ’s interces- 
 sion ? Why, hither tend all the rest; all the other ends end in this, and 
 
 for this above all Christ intercedes to his Father, “ Father I would have 
 my saints with me ; 0 ! that all the daughters of Zion may behold King 
 Solomon with the crown wherewith thou hast crowned him in the day of 
 his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart,” Sol. Song 3 : 11. 
 
 Only one question, and 1 have done. How should I set my faith oa 
 work to act on Christ’s intercession for these ends? I answer, 
 
 1. Faith must persuade itself, that there is a virtue in Christ’s inter- 
 cession. Certainly every passage and acting of Christ hath its efficacy ; 
 
 and therefore there is virtue in this, it is full of juice, it hath a strong 
 influence in it. 
 
 2. Faith must consider that it is the design of God, and the intendment 
 of Christ, that this intercession should be for the good of those that are 
 given to Christ. 0 ! there is enough in Christ, enough in Christ’s inter- 
 cession to convey communion, the Spirit’s protection, free access to the 
 throne of grace, a spirit of prayer, pardon of sins, continuance in grace, 
 and salvation of souls to the saints and people of God through all the 
 world; and this is the design of God, that Christ’s intercession should be 
 as the fountain from whence all these streams must run and be conveyed 
 unto us. 
 
 3. Faith must act dependently upon the intercession of Christ for these 
 very ends : this is the very nature of faith ; it relies upon God in Christ, 
 and upon all the actings of Christ, and upon all the promises of Christ. 
 So then, Is there a desirable end in Christ’s intercession which we aim at? 
 
 0 let us act our faith dependently ! let us rely, stay, or lean upon Christ 
 to that same end ; let us roll ourselves, or cast ourselves upon the very 
 intercession of Jesus Christ; saying, “O my Christ! there is enough in 
 thee, and in this glorious intercession of thine: and therefore there will I 
 stick, and abide for ever.” 
 
 4. Faith must ever and anon be trying, and improving, and wrestling 
 with God, that virtue may go out of Christ’s intercession into our hearts : 
 
 1 have heard, Lord, that there is an office erected in heaven, that Christ 
 
 as high priest should be ever praying and interceding for his people; 
 0 that I may feel the efficacy of Christ’s intercession ! am I now in 
 prayer? 0 that I could feel in this prayer the warmth, and heat, and 
 spiritual fire, which usually falls down from Christ’s intercession into the 
 hearts of his! Lord, warm my spirit in this duty; give me the kisses 
 of thy mouth. 0 that I may now have communion with thee, thy Spirit 
 upon me, thy protection over me ! 0 that my pardon may be sealed, my 
 
 grace confirmed, my soul saved in the day of Jesus ! In this method, 0 
 my soul, follow on ; and who knows but God may appear ere thou art 
 aware ? Howsoever be thou in the use of the means, and leave the issue 
 to God. 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 595 
 
 Sect. VI. — Of loving Jesus in that respect. 
 
 6. Let us love Jesus as carrying on this great work of our salvation in 
 his intercession. Now, two things more especially will excite our love. 
 
 1. Christ’s love to us. 2. Our propriety in Christ. For the first, many 
 acts of Christ’s love have appeared before, and every one is sufficient to 
 draw our loves to him again. As — 
 
 1. He had an eternal love to man ; he feasted himself on the thoughts 
 of love, delight, and free grace to man from all eternity; since God was 
 God (0 boundless duration !) the Lord Jesus, in a manner was loving and 
 longing for the dawning of the day of the creation ; he was (as it were) 
 with child of infinite love to man, before he made the world. Some 
 observe, That the first words that ever Christ wrote, were “ Love to 
 believers;” and these were written with glory, for it was before gold was, 
 and they were written upon his bosom, for then other books were not. 
 
 2. In the beginning of time he loved man above all creatures, for after 
 he had made them all, he then speaks as he never did before, u Let us 
 make man in our image, after our likeness, and let him have dominion 
 over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, 
 and over all the earth,” Gen. 1 : 26. And though man at that very instant 
 unmade himself by sin, Christ’s love yet was not broken off, but held forth 
 in a promise till the day of performance, “ The seed of the woman shall 
 bruise the serpent’s head. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the 
 earth be blessed.” 
 
 3. In the fulness of time his love was manifested, the seed then blos- 
 somed, and the birth came out in a high expression of love; the man- 
 child, the love of Christ, was born, and saw the light, “ After that saith 
 the apostle) the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man 
 appeared,” Tit. 3:4. I shall not need sure to instance in succeeding 
 passages ; so far as we have gone, we have clearly seen Christ’s life was a 
 perfect mirror of his love ; as there is no beam in the sun, in which there 
 is no light, so there was no act in the life of Christ, but to a spiritual eye 
 it shines with the light of love. But above all, 0 the love of Christ in his 
 death ! ask a malefactor, if the prince’s son should go to his father, and 
 say, “ Father, I confess this wretch hath deserved to die, but I see a will- 
 ingness in thee, that he should live; only I perceive it sticks with thy 
 justice ; why, for that, father, here I am; and to satisfy thy justice I will 
 die myself, only let this poor wretch live to the glory of thine, and my free 
 grace.” Ask, I say, the malefactor what kind of love were this? Surely 
 Christ died for our sins, and Christ rose again for our justification, and he 
 ascended, and sat down at God’s right hand, and sent down his holy Spirit, 
 and all for us : there was not one passage in all these transactions, but held 
 forth the breakings and breathings out of a strong fire of love. 
 
 4. At this time there is a coal of burning love in the breast of Christ. 
 This fire was indeed from everlasting, but their flames are as hot this day 
 as ever : now it is that Christ loves, and lives; and wherefore lives? But 
 only to love us, and to intercede for us. Christ makes our salvation his 
 constant calling; he is ever at his work. “ Yesterday and to-day, and for 
 ever;’’ there is not one hour in the day, nor one day in a year, nor one 
 year in an age, wherein Christ is not busy with his Father in this heavenly 
 employment of interceding for us. He loved us, before he died for us; his 
 love being the cause why he died for us; and he loves us still, in that now 
 he intercedes for us : it is as much as to say, “ Christ hath loved us, and he 
 repents not of his love :” love made him die for us, and if it were to do 
 again, he would die over again ; yea, if our sins had so required, that for 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 every elect person Christ must have died a several death, love, love would 
 have put him willingly upon all these deaths. 0 the love of Christ towards 
 our poor souls ! if X might but stay, and take some turns in this large field 
 of love, how many thousands of particulars might I draw out of scripture, 
 expressing Christ’s love to us in this respect ; though he be in heaven, yet 
 by virtue of his intercession, he bears us in his hands; yea, he leads us by 
 the hand, and arms too, “ I taught Ephraim to go, taking them by their 
 arms, but they knew not that I healed them,” Isa. 40:11; Hos. 11 :3. 
 He dandles us on his knees, he bears us on his wings, “As an eagle stirreth 
 up her nest, fluttering over her young, spreading abroad her wings, taketh 
 them, and beareth them on her wings, so the Lord alone doth lead us,” 
 Deut. 32:11, 12. He carries us on his shoulders, as a man “found his 
 sheep, and laid it on his shoulders rejoicing,” Luke 15 : 5. Nay, I must 
 yet come nearer; for Christ by his intercession sets us nearer yet: “ his left 
 hand is under us, and his right hand doth embrace us,” Sol. Song 2 : 6. 
 He wears us in heaven as a bracelet about his arms, which made the spouse 
 cry out, “ 0 set me as a seal upon thine arm,” Sol. Song 8:6. He stamps 
 and prints us on the palms of his hands, “ Behold I have graven thee on 
 the palms of my hands,” Isa. 49 : 16, as if our names were written in letters 
 of blood upon Christ’s flesh. He sets us as a seal upon his heart; that is 
 the expression of the spouse too, “ 0 set me as a seal upon thine heart/'’ 
 Sol. Song 8 : 6. Nay, so precious are the saints to Jesus Christ, that they 
 lodge in heaven in his bowels, and in his heart, for they dwell in Christ; 
 “Hereby we know that we dwell in him:” 1 John 4:13. And they 
 dwell in God, and dwell in love, “ For God is love, and he that dwelleth in 
 love, dwelleth in God,” 1 John 4 : 16. I know not what more to say. You 
 know, the manner of the high priests was to carry the names of the children 
 of Israel into the holy of holies on their shoulders, and on their breasts; 
 but was it ever heard, that any high priest, besides the great High Priest 
 of our profession, should carry the names of thousands and millions on his 
 shoulders, and on his arms, and on his hands, and on his wings, and on 
 his bosom, and on his heart, and in his bowels, as a memorial before the 
 Lord ? 0 unmatchable love ! 
 
 Methinks this love of Christ should now change my soul into a globe or 
 mass of divine love towards Christ “ as it were by the Spirit of the Lord.” 
 Methinks a sight of Christ in his presenting himself, and his sacrifice to 
 his Father for me, should so enamor my soul, as that I should delight in no 
 other sight but this. Then is a Christian sweetly exercised, when as the 
 golden ball of divine love is tossed to and again betwixt Christ’s bosom and 
 his ; and in this respect it is a wonder that before this I am not sickened, 
 and overcome with love, and ready to cry out with the spouse, “ 0 stay me 
 with flagons, and comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love !” Sol. Song 
 2:5. “ 0 ! I am wounded with the arrows of love, so as neither grave, 
 
 nor death, nor hell, neither angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things 
 present, nor things to come, can ever lick these wounds, or embalm, or bind 
 them up. 0 my Christ, my Lord, my Jesus ! what shall I do but yield 
 over myself as a spouse under the power of her husband ? What shall I 
 do, but lose myself in such a deep ocean of loves, stronger than wine, hot- 
 ter than coals of juniper, which hath a most vehement flame?” 
 
 2. Another motive of our love to Christ, is our propriety in Christ, “ Ye 
 are not your own,” said the apostle of us, 1 Cor. 6 : 16, and he is not his 
 own, may we say of Christ. If any ask how may this be ? I answer, That 
 the soul in loving Christ is not her own, and in regard of loving, Christ is 
 not his own ; every one makes over itself to another; and propriety or in- 
 terest to itself on both sides ceaseth, “my beloved is mine, and I am his,” 
 saith the spouse, Sol. Song 2 : 16, not as if Christ should leave off to be his 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 597 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 own, or to be a free God, when he becometh ours ; no, no, but he so 
 demeans himself, in respect of his loves, as if he were not his own ; he 
 putteth on such relations, and assumes such offices of engagements, as if he 
 were all for us, and nothing for himself ; thus he is called a Saviour, a Re- 
 deemer, a King, a Priest, a Prophet, a Friend, a Guide, a Head, a Husband, 
 a Leader, Ransomer, and Intercessor; and what not of this nature. 
 
 0 my soul ! come hither and put thy little candle to this mighty flame ; 
 if thou hadst ten hearts, or as many hearts in one as there are elected men 
 and angels in heaven and earth, all these would be too little for Jesus 
 Christ ; ouly go as far as thou canst, and love him with that heart thou 
 hast, yea, love him with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and all thy might ; 
 and as Christ in loving thee is not his own, so let thy soul in loving Christ 
 be not her own ; come, love thy Christ, and not thyself ; possess thy Christ, 
 and not thyself; enjoy thy Christ, and not thyself; live in thy Christ, and 
 not in thyself; solace thyself in Jesus Christ, and not thyself, say with the 
 apostle, “ I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but 
 Christ that liveth in me,” Gal. 2 : 20. Certainly, if ever thou coraest to 
 love Christ truly, thou canst not but deny thyself, and all created lovers. 
 This love will screw up thyself so high above the world, and above thy 
 flesh, and above thyself, and above all other lovers, that nothing on this side 
 Christ, whether in heaven or on earth, will come in competition with him. 
 Suppose a man in the top of a castle higher than the third region of the air, 
 or near the sphere of the moon, should look down to the fairest and sweetest 
 meadows, or to a garden rich with roses and flowers of all sweet colors and 
 delicious smells ; certainly he should not see or feel any sweetness, pleasant- 
 ness, color or smell, because he is so far above them ; so the soul, filled 
 with the love of Christ, is so high above all created lovers, that their love- 
 liness cannot reach or ascend to the high and large capacity of a spiritual 
 soul. 0 for a soul filled up with all the fulness of God ! 0 for a soul 
 
 stretched out to its widest capacity and circumference for the entertainment 
 of God ! 0 my soul ! that thou wert but “ able to comprehend with all the 
 
 saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and heighth, and to 
 know the love of Christ that passeth knowledge !” Eph. 3 : 18, 19. Surely 
 if Christ be mine, if his death be mine, his resurrection mine, his ascension 
 mine, his session mine, his intercession mine, How should I but love him 
 with a singular love? Farewell world, and worldly glory; if Christ come 
 in your room, it is time for you to vanish ; I shall little care for a candle 
 when the sun shines clear and bright upon my head ; what, is my name 
 written on the heart of Christ ? Doth he wear me as a favor and love-token 
 about his arms and neck ? Is he at every turn presenting me and my duties 
 to his heavenly Father ? “ Thou hast ravished my heart, my King, my 
 
 Jesus, thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, and with one 
 chain of thy neck,” Sol. Song 4 : 9. 
 
 Suppose, 0 my soul ! thou hadst been with Christ when he washed his 
 disciples’ feet, and that he should have come, and have washed thy feet; 
 would not thy heart have glowed with love to Jesus Christ ? Why, Christ 
 is now in glory, and now he takes thy filthy soul and dirty duties, and 
 washes (as it were) the feet of all, that he may present them to his Father; 
 thou canst not shed a tear, but he washes it over again in his precious blood, 
 and perfumes it with his glorious intercessions. Oh ! what cause hast thou 
 to love Jesus Christ? 0! you that never loved Christ, come, love him 
 now ; and you that have loved Christ a little, 0 ! love him more; above all, 
 let me, 0 my soul ! charge upon thee this duty of love ; Oh ! go away warmed 
 with the love of Christ, and with a love to Christ. 
 
598 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 Sect VII. — Of joying in Jesus in that respect. 
 
 7. Let us joy in Jesus, as carrying on this work of our salvation in his 
 intercession. Surely this is glad tidings of great joy; when wicked Haman 
 procured letters from king Ahasuerus for the destruction of all Jews, then 
 Esther the queen makes request to the king that her people might be saved, 
 and Haman’s letters revoked, “ and the king said to her, What wilt thou, 
 queen Esther ? and what is thy request, and it shall be given thee V * Esther 
 5:9. 0 ! the joy of the Jews at this happy tidings ! “ Then the city of 
 
 Shushan rejoiced, and was glad ; then the Jews had light, and gladnsss, and 
 joy, and honor, in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the 
 king’s commandment, and his decree came, the Jews had joy, and gladness, 
 a feast, and a good day,” Esther 8 : 15, 16, 19. Is not this our very case ? 
 Was there not a law against us, an hand-writing of ordinances, a sentence 
 of a double death, of body and soul ! Had not Satan, as wicked Haman, ac- 
 cused us, and sought by all means our condemnation ? But yet behold, not 
 only an earthly Esther, but Jesus the Son of God was willing, for our sakes, 
 to come down from heaven ; and he it was that took away the hand-writing 
 of ordinances, and cancelled it upon the cross; that ascended into heaven, 
 and there makes requests for us; and he it is in whom his Father is well 
 pleased : never comes he to his Father, but he obtains the grace of the gol- 
 den sceptre ; no sooner he cries, “ I will that these poor souls be eternally 
 saved,” but his Father answers, u Amen, be it so; be it, 0 my Son ! even 
 as thou pleasest.” 0 that we could joy in this ! 0 that we could imitate the 
 Jews ! 0 that light, and gladness, and joy, and honor would possess our 
 
 souls ! If at Christ’s birth was such, and so much joy, because a Saviour 
 was proclaimed, is not our joy to be heightened when salvation is effected ? 
 If the first act of Christ’s mediation was so joyous, shall not the last act of 
 his mediation be much more joyous ? But I hear many objections which 
 keep back joy ; they are as bars and hinderances at the doors of many heavy 
 hearts, that joy cannot enter in : I shall instance in some. 
 
 0 ! I am opposed here in this world, (says one,) men are as wolves and 
 devils, “ dogs have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed 
 me,” Psal. 22 : 16. They have no bowels, they persecute, reproach, 
 revile, so that I am killed all the day long. — And what then ? What mat- 
 ters oppositions of men, so long as Christ doth intercede for thee in heaven ! 
 0 remember Christ’s bowels; it maybe he suffers men to be merciless on 
 earth, that thou mayest look up, and behold how merciful he is who sits 
 above ; and tell me, hast thou no experience of this truth ? Doth not relief 
 strangely come in now and then ? Why write upon the forehead of 
 such favors, “ I have a merciful and compassionate Mediator in heaven.” 
 
 0 ! I am much tempted, says another, that I cannot pray ; had I now 
 the key of prayer, I could then unlock the cabinet where all God’s treasures 
 lie, and take out what I pleased ; but, alas ! my prayers are dull, and weak, 
 and dry, and without spirit and life; I cannot pray. If so, be humbled for 
 it, and yet know this, that when thou canst not pray, Christ then prays for 
 thee, and he prays that thou mayest pray : and tell me, hast thou no expe- 
 rience of this truth ? Hath not thy spirit sometimes been enlarged in prayer ? 
 Hast thou not sometimes felt thy heart warmed or savingly affected ? Hast 
 thou not sometimes in prayer been lifted up above thyself and above the 
 world ? Conclude then, “ My intercessor above hath sent me this gift and 
 spirit ; It is not I but Christ’s intercession, that by an admirable and secret 
 operation hath given me the Spirit to help my infirmity; these are the in- 
 tercessions of the Spirit of Christ, and they are the very echo of the inter- 
 cession of Christ in his own person.” 
 
 0 but I labor under such and such corruptions ! (says another) and the 
 devil is busy, exceeding busy, and he exceedingly prevails : how am I over- 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 599 
 
 come with these corruptions, and with these and these sins ? It may be so, 
 and yet do not altogether despond, for Jesus Christ is at God’s right hand, 
 and there he sits till all his enemies be made his footstool ; and what, are 
 not thy sins his enemies ? 0 be of good comfort ! for Christ will prevail, it 
 is' one piece of his prayer that he puts up for thee, “to keep thee from evil,” 
 John 17 : 15. And surely he will either keep thee from it, or keep thee in 
 it, that in the issue thou shalt have the victory. “ Those that thou gavest 
 me I have kept, (saith Christ) and none of them is lost,” John 17 : 12. If 
 he undertake for thee, thou art safe and sure; “his covenant is everlasting, 
 even the sure mercies of David,” Isa. 55 : 3. And therefore if thou dost 
 not, certainly thou shalt feel the virtue of Christ’s intercession : sin must 
 be subdued, hell gates shall not prevail against thee ; and he will not quench 
 thy sparks until he bring forth judgment unto victory. 
 
 Oh, but I am in a suffering condition ! (says another) that there is none 
 that regards or takes pity on me, all my friends have dealt treacherously 
 with me, among all my lovers there is none to comfort me : they have heard 
 that I sigh, and there is none to refresh me ; I stand for Christ, but there 
 is none stands by me ; I own him but there is none owns me. Bleeding 
 Christians, bear up ! is not Christ’s intercession a sufficient answer to this 
 case? Alas! thou wouldst be pitied for all thy weaknesses ; Why? Know 
 that compassion is natural to Jesus Christ; he is a merciful high priest, and 
 can be no other to thee; God ordained him to officiate in such a tabernacle 
 as wherein thou dwellest, he was in all things like unto thee, sin only ex- 
 cepted. It may be thou art in want, and so was Christ, he had no house; 
 thou art persecuted, and so was Christ; sin loads thee, and so it did Christ. 
 A Christian’s condition needs compassion, and Christ knows how much, and 
 it is his work continually to lay it open above; “0 my Father! thus and 
 thus it is with the militant church, not a member in it, but he is under sin 
 and affliction ; see here the tears, hearken to the sighs and groans, and cbat- 
 terings, and mournings of my doves below ; I present here their persons and 
 performances; and, Oh ! that they may find acceptance through my merits !” 
 Some speak of heaven’s music, some tell us of saints and angels singing and 
 warbling in lively notes, the praises of Christ in heaven; and if any such 
 thing be, certainly it is ear-tickling, heart-ravishing music ; 0 the melody ! 
 O the joy of saints to hear such heavenly airs with heavenly ears ! but be 
 it as it will be, of this I am confident, that heaven itself yields no such music 
 as is the intercession of Jesus Christ; this (if any thing in heaven do it) 
 makes melody in the ears of God, and of all celestial spirits, saints or angels: 
 and 0 my soul ! suppose thyself within the compass, if now thou couldst 
 but hear what thy Jesus is saying in thy behalf; “ Is not this a brand newly 
 plucked out of the fire ? Was not this poor soul but the other day in a 
 state of nature, defiled with sin, within a step of hell ? And did not I send 
 my Spirit to recall him ? Was not this precious blood shed for the redemp- 
 tion of him ? And what though sin stick and cleave to him to this day, 
 yet have I not given thee charge to take away his filthy garments from him, 
 and to clothe him in changes of raiment, even with the shining robes of 
 mine own righteousness? 0 my Father, let this soul live in thy sight ! 0 
 
 cast him not away for whom I have suffered and done all this ! I cannot 
 rest satisfied without his society, I am not right till he is with me in glory : 
 be is my darling, my purchase, my portion, my delight, and therefore let 
 him be saved.” Is not this enough to cause thy very heart to leap in thy 
 bosom ? Bonaventure fondly reports, That Frances hearing an angel a little 
 while playing on a harp, he was so moved with extraordinary delight, that 
 he thought himself in another world. 0 ! but suppose thou shouldest hear 
 the voice of Jesus thy intercessor thus pleading for thee: wouldestthou not 
 be cast into an ecstacy? Would not this fill thee with joys unspeakable 
 
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 [BOOK IV 
 
 and full of glory ? Come, realize this meditation. Certainly if thou art 
 Christ's, he is thus, or in some other manner interceding for thee; as sure 
 as Christ is in heaven, he is pleading with his Father in heaven on thy be- 
 half : 0 the joys ! the joys, the joys that I should now feel ! Tell me, is it 
 not a comfort for a poor beggar to be relieved at a rich man’s door? We 
 are all beggars in regard of heaven, and Jesus Christ doth not only come 
 forth and serve us, but he takes us poor beggars by the hand, and leads us 
 unto his heavenly Father. Oh ! what comfort is here ? 
 
 Sect. VIII. — Of 'praying unto and praising of Jesus in that respect. 
 
 8. Let us pray to, and praise our Jesus in this respect. 
 
 1. Let us pray or sue our interest in this intercession : it is a question 
 
 among the schools. Whether we may conveniently pray to Jesus to pray to 
 his Father in our behalf? And thus far is granted, that we may pray to 
 Christ to make us partakers of his intercessions, and to mingle our prayers 
 with his prayers, that they may find acceptance with God his Father. But 
 that we may use such a form, as Ora pro nobis , “ 0 Christ pray for us/’ 
 it is looked upon as inconvenient in this respect. 1. Because “ we have no 
 such custom, neither the churches of God,” 1 Cor. 11:6. 2. Because it 
 
 savors too much of the error of Arrious Nestorious , and indeed of the 
 Romanists themselves. 3. Because our prayers are mostly directed to 
 Christ in his person or divine subsistence, whose part is rather to give than 
 to ask ; or, if they are directed to Christ as Mediator, and not simply, as the 
 only begotten Son of God, then I see no incongruity, though in the former 
 respect some inconveniency, but that we may pray to Christ to intercede 
 for us, for so he is God and man : and he is considered according to both 
 natures, only the difference of both natures is still to be kept and maintained. 
 Intercession is the office of the whole person of Christ, and of the two 
 natures of Christ; but he performs this office one way according to his 
 divine nature, and another way according to his human nature. I list not 
 to quarrel about niceties, it is thus agreed on all hands, and that is enough 
 to our purpose, that we may call on Jesus, or on God the Father in and 
 through Jesus, that Christ’s intercessions may be ours, and that he would 
 make it out to us in a way of assurance every day more and more. 
 
 2. Let us praise, let us bless God, and bless Christ for every transaction 
 in heaven for us. It is a wonder to observe what songs of praise were 
 chanted to Christ in heaven, for that one transaction of opening the book, 
 and loosing the seven seals thereof; First, “ the four beasts, and then the 
 four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them 
 harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints, 
 Rev. 5 : 8. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take 
 the book, and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and hast re- 
 deemed us to God by thy blood, verse 9. — And then, the angels round about 
 the throne, whose number was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thou- 
 sands of thousands, verse 11, came on, saying, Worthy is the Lamb that 
 was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and 
 honor, and glory, and blessing, verse 12. — And then every creature which 
 is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the 
 sea, came on, saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto 
 him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever, 
 verse 13. — And the four beasts, and four and twenty elders fell down and 
 worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever,” verse 14. I cannot tell 
 what other transactions may be in heaven, we have but hints of them here, 
 nor shall we fully or particularly know them till we come to heaven ; but 
 for this one transaction of Christ’s intercession, we cannot imagine less 
 praise to be given to Christ than for any other. 0 then let us do this duty 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 601 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 on earth, as it is done in heaven ! What, is Christ praying for us ? 0 let 
 us be on the exercise of praising him ! is Christ interceding for us ? Let 
 us give him the glory of his intercession ; heaven is full of his praises, 0 ! 
 why should not the earth ring with the sound thereof? “ Praise the Lord, 
 0 my soul, and all that is within me, praise his holy name.” 
 
 Sect. IX. — Of conforming to Jesus in that respect. 
 
 9. Let us conform to Jesus in respect of his intercession. I cannot 
 think, but in every action of Christ there is something imitable of us. And 
 as to the present work, I shall instance only in these few particulars. As, 
 
 1. Christ appears in heaven for us, let us appear on earth for him. Is 
 
 there not equity as well as conformity in this duty ? 0 my soul ! consider 
 
 what thy Christ is doing, consider wherein the intercession of Jesus Christ 
 consists ; is not this the first part of it? Why, he appears in heaven before 
 saints, and angels, and before God his Father in thy behalf; and art thou 
 afraid to appear before worms, mortals, dust and ashes in his cause, or for 
 his truth? Shall Jesus Christ own thee in heaven, and wilt thou not own 
 Jesus Christ here in this world ? Shall Jesus Christ, as thy great high 
 priest, take thy very name, and carry it upon his breast into the presence 
 of God ; and wilt not thou take the name of Christ, and hold it forth in 
 profession and practice to all men ? Oh ! what a mighty engagement is 
 here to stand to Christ, and to appear for Christ, and to own his cause in 
 these backsliding times ? In that Christ, who sits at the right hand of God, 
 is willing and ready to appear in person for us, both as a mediator, and 
 sponsor, and solicitor, and advocate, and lieger ambassador. 
 
 2. Christ spends all his time for us, and our salvation, let us spend all 
 our time for him, and in his service ; the apostle tells us, That “ he ever 
 lives to make intercession for us,” Heb. 7 : 25. It is not for a day, or a 
 month, or a year, but he lives for ever upon this account; for ever, i. e. } 
 during all the time from his ascension until the end of the world ; he is 
 still interceding, he spends off all that time for us, and shall we think it 
 too much time to spend a few days that we have here to live upon the 
 earth for him ? one thinks this is the greatest argument in the world to 
 make us walk closely with God in Christ, “ He spends off his eternity for 
 us ; and shall we not spend off our whole time for time ?” Surely people 
 do not think what Christ is doing in heaven for them ; if you who are saints 
 would but seriously consider, that Christ, this Sabbath, this day of rest, is 
 at his work, that without any weariness or intermission, from morning till 
 evening, and from evening till morning, he is ever, ever interceding ; How 
 should this engage you in his service ? Ah, Christians ! if you should con- 
 tinue praying, praising, reading, hearing all this day, without any intermis- 
 sion or breaking off, Oh! what weariness? Oh! how would you say, 
 “ When will this day be done? when will the Sabbath be at an end?” 
 Well, but Christ is not weary of serving you; this Sabbath, and the last 
 Sabbath, and the other Sabbath, and every Sabbath, when you had done 
 your duties, he took your persons and duties, and presented all unto his 
 Father; he prayed over your prayers, and continued praying, and saying; 
 “ Lord accept of a short, poor, lean, imperfect service done on earth for my 
 sake, and for these merits’ sake, which I am continually presenting to thee 
 here in heaven.” Oh ! why do we not come up to this conformity ? Oh ! 
 why are we so uncouformable to the actings of Christ ? He is preparing 
 mansions for us in heaven, and are we digging in this world ? He is making 
 mention of our names to God, and are we sinning against him and God? 
 His blood cries, “ 0 that these souls may be saved !” and shall our sins cry, 
 “It is just that these souls should be damned.” 0 ! mind the exemplar; 
 Christ spends all this time for you, do you spend all your time for him : we 
 
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 [BOOK IV. 
 
 cannot but judge this to be most equal, “ That they who live should not 
 henceforth live unto themselves hut unto him who ever lives to make inter- 
 cession for them.” 
 
 3. He prays for us and for all believers unto his Father, and let us pray 
 
 for ourselves, and for all our brethren, and for all sorts of men, though they 
 he our enemies, for we were no better to Jesus Christ; Learn of me, (saith 
 Christ) and as far as he is imitable let us follow him ; Doth Christ pray ? 
 Let us pray. Doth he pray for us and others ? Let us pray for ourselves, 
 and then let us pray one for another. “ 1 exhort therefore (saith the apos- 
 tle) that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and givingof thanks 
 be made for all men,” 1 Tim. 2:1. “ And come, lift up thy prayer for the 
 remnant that is left,” said the king to Isaiah, 37 : 4. And “ wrestle toge- 
 ther in prayer for me,” said Paul, Rom. 15 : 30. And “Give the Lord no 
 rest till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth,” said the prophet, Isa. 
 62 : 7. Christ intercedes, and there is no question but we should intercede 
 for the living saints, “brethren, pray for us,” said the apostle, 1 Thess. 5 : 
 25. Whosoever thou art that readest, “ I beseech thee remember me in thy 
 prayers, it may be thou art nearer God, and more in favor with God than 
 such a poor sinner as I am.” As Mordecai set Esther on work to intercede 
 for him with the king, and for his people, so it is our duty to crave the 
 prayers of such who are upon better terms, possibly, with the Lord, than we 
 ourselves are at the present; “ Only I could wish thy prayers at such a time, 
 when thy heart is got nearest to God, by special stirrings of faith and love.” 
 I suppose thou canst not have a spirit and power of prayer, but sometimes 
 or other thou art, as it were, in the lap of Christ, upon the spouse’s knee, in 
 the beloved’s bosom ; “ 0 then make a request for an unworthy one ! 0 
 
 then, if ever, intercede for me, because then I read Christ’s own interces- 
 sion in thy intercession. What is thy prayer then, but as the echo of 
 Christ’s prayer, the Amen to Christ’s intercessions, which be makes in hea- 
 ven ?” Christians ! it is our duty to put one another upon praying one for 
 another; Christ intercedes for us, and so should we intercede for his, called 
 or uncalled, if so they belong to the election of grace. 
 
 4. Christ takes our prayers, and mingles them with his own prayers, in- 
 tercessions, incense, and so presents all as one work mingled together unto 
 God the Father; 0 ! let this be our care, to put up all our prayers to God 
 in the name of Christ, and to stay ourselves upon the intercessions of Christ; 
 when all is done, let us beg the acceptance of our prayers, not for our sakes, 
 nor for our prayers’ sake, but for his sake, who perfumes our prayers, by in- 
 terweaving them with his prayers. Many a poor soul is many a time afraid 
 to pray to God for want of the due consideration of this conformity ; such an 
 one goes to prayer, and he looks upon it as it lies upon his own heart, or as 
 it comes from himself, and then he cries, “ Oh ! what a poor, weak, sinful, 
 imperfect, impenitent prayer is this?” Well, but if this weak prayer of 
 thine be once mingled with the glorious and heavenly prayer of Jesus 
 Christ, the weakness will soon vanish, and thy prayer will find acceptance 
 with God the Father : it is with your prayers and duties as it is with your 
 fire, your kitchen fire is troubled with abundance of smoke, but if ever it 
 could ascend into the element of fire above, it would smoke no more ; so 
 your' prayer, while it lies upon your own heart, there is a great deal of smoke 
 in it, but if ever it goes up into the hands of Jesus Christ, there it is in its 
 own element, and so it is freed from all its smoke, and so the weakness of 
 it is done away. 0 conform to Christ in this point! he will not present thy 
 prayer to God, but he will first mingle it with his own prayers; no more 
 shouldst thou present a prayer to God, but in Christ’s name, considering 
 that all thy prayers find acceptance in, for, and through, the intercession of 
 Jesus Christ : if it were not for this, I confess I know not how to answer the 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 603 
 
 cavils of our dissolute adversaries, who throw down prayers as of no use at 
 all. For thus they object. 
 
 Obj. Thou canst not pray, (say they,) by thy own confession, without 
 some defect, imperfection, sin ; and if so, there is need of a new prayer, to 
 beg pardon for the defects of that prayer; and then another prayer to heal 
 the flaws of that prayer; and then another to do as much for that, and so, 
 in infinitum : by this means there would be an infinite progression, without 
 any stop at any prayer at all. 
 
 Answ. I answer, this objection were valid, if there were no intercession 
 of Christ to stay ourselves and our prayers on : but as we grant requests 
 many times for some friend’s sake, rather than for the parties’ sake ; so God 
 doth always grant requests for Christ’s sake, never for our own sakes. 
 Thou objectest, There are many defects in our prayers as made by us ; but 
 I answer, There are no defects in the merits and intercession of Jesus Christ, 
 for whose sake aloue they are granted of God : and therefore our prayers 
 being made in Christ’s name, they may stay their heads in Christ’s bosom; 
 in this respect, we need not still to run ourselves in a circle, this being the 
 last resolution, Christ’s merits and Christ’s intercessions : Christ offers up 
 our persons and wooden prayers in his golden censer to his Father ; Christ’s 
 intercession therefore is that which doth the deed. Now to say our prayers 
 are of no use, is all one as to say, his intercession is of no use; not that we 
 are so good, that he cannot take exception against us and our prayers, but 
 because Christ is so good, and his intercession for us is so good, that he 
 neither can, nor will take exception against him, or his intercession for us; 
 and, in this case, Christ and Christians make one person (as it were) in law; 
 his intercession for us, and our intercession for ourselves are but one inter- 
 cession : and indeed, he so mingles them that they seem but one, for “ the 
 smoke of the incense, and the prayers of the saints, ascend up together be- 
 fore God out of the angel’s hand,” Rev. 8 : 4. 
 
 5. Christ pleads the cause of his people, and answers all the accusations 
 of Satan against them ; Oh ! let us plead for them for whom Christ pleads, 
 and answer the accusations of Satan, or his instruments against their per- 
 sons, or their ways. We have a strange generation of men abroad, whose 
 very religion consists in railing, reviling, reproaching the servants of the 
 living God ; not the best men, nor the best ministers under heaven escape 
 them. “ Are they not all, say they, wolves, dogs, hirelings, priests of 
 Baal, covetous, carnal, damned:”* and what not? Are they not all, say 
 they, (as the devil said of Joshua,) “ clothed with filthy garments, defiled 
 totally, utterly defiled with the pollutions of Babylon ?” Christians ! when 
 you hear this language, learn you to conform to Christ ; go you first to God 
 with the Lord’s own plea : “ now the Lord rebuke thee, 0 Satan, even the 
 Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuke thee,” Zech. 3 : 2. And then go 
 on in vindication of their persons and their cause ; are they not precious, 
 gracious, holy, able, shining, and burning lights? It may be, some of 
 their persons have been faulty; but say of such, “ Is not this a brand newly 
 plucked out of the fire?” Failings and human frailties have been in the 
 best, yea, in the most of the prophets and apostles : but shall we therefore 
 condemn to hell the generation of God’s dear children ? Or, howsoever it 
 may be with their persons, yet is not their cause and office of Christ’s own 
 
 * I lately received a paper, wherein the Quakers gave the ministers of Christ 
 these following names, “Conjurers, thieves, robbers, antichrists, witches, blind 
 guides, devils, liars, Baal’s priests, Sir Symonds, dissemblers, upholders of the seven- 
 headed and ten-horned beasts, a viperous and serpentine generation, bloody Herodi- 
 ans, blasphemers, scarlet-colored beasts, Babylon’s merchants, busy bodies, whited 
 walls, painted sepulchres, ravening wolves, persecutors, tyrants, greedy dogs, Pha- 
 risees. 
 
604 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK IY. 
 
 institution ? In this respect, “ he that despiseth you, despiseth me, (saith 
 Christ,) and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me,” Luke 10 : 
 16. Are not the ministers of Christ as stars in the right hand of Christ? 
 They that would do them any deadly harm must pluck them thence. Chris- 
 tians ! conform you to Christ in this point; you see how Satan stands at the 
 right hand of our Joshuas to resist them ; and then plead your cause, and 
 answer the adversaries’ accusations. 
 
 6. Christ by his intercessions, “ saves us to the uttermost,” Heb. 7 : 25. 
 13 let us serve him to the uttermost ; surely all we can do is too little to 
 answer so great a love as this. Oh, Christians ! why should it be esteemed 
 a needless thing to be most rigorously conscionable and exactly circumspect ? 
 Christ paid our debt to the uttermost farthing, drunk every drop of our 
 bitter cup, and now presents all unto his Father, by way of intercession, 
 and saves us, (cis joanteles,) “ Thoroughly, to the uttermost.” Why should 
 we not labor to perform his service, and to fulfil every one of his command- 
 ments thoroughly and to the uttermost also ? Certainly there is a duty 
 which concerns us Christians, as, to be “hot in religion,” Rev. 3:16; to 
 be “ zealous of good works,” Tit. 2 : 14 ; “to walk circumspectly or pre- 
 cisely,” as the word carries it, Eph. 5:15; to be “fervent in spirit,” Rom. 
 12 : 11; to “strive to enter in at the straight gate,” Luke 13 :24; to 
 “contend for the faith,” Jude 3; with an holy kind of “violence to lay 
 hold upon the kingdom of heaven,” Matth. 11 : 12. Oh ! that ever men 
 should be afraid of taking God’s part too much, or fighting too valiantly 
 under the colors of Christ, of being too busy about the salvation of their 
 own souls, of being singular (as they call it,) in the duties of religion ; I 
 observe, men are content to be singular in any thing, save in the service 
 of God ; you desire and labor to be singularly rich, and singularly wise, 
 and singularly valorous, and singularly proud ; but you can by no means 
 endure singularity or eminency in zeal, and the Lord’s service. In matters 
 of religion you are resolved to do as the most do, though in so doing you 
 damn your own souls, Matth. 7 : 13. 0 come, and learn this lesson of 
 
 Christ ! he saves us to the uttermost, and let us serve him to the uttermost, 
 with all our hearts, and with all our souls, and with all our might. 
 
 Thus far we have looked on Jesus in his intercession : our next work is 
 our last work, which is, to look on Jesus, as carrying on the great work of 
 our salvation for us in his coming again, the very end of time, to all eter- 
 nity; he hath no more now to do but to judge the saints, and to lead them 
 into glory, and to deliver up his kingdom to his Father; and so to live with 
 his redeemed ones, for ever, and ever, and ever. 
 
 Matth. 24 : 30, 31. “Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in 
 heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see 
 the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 
 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they 
 shall gather together his elect, from one end of heaven to the other.” 
 
 Matth. 25 : 34, 35. “Then shall the King say to them on his right-hand, 
 Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from 
 the foundation of the world; for I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; 
 I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink,” &c. 
 
 Matth. 19 : 28. “When the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his 
 glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of 
 Israel.” 
 
 1 Cor. 15 : 24, 28. “ Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered 
 up the kingdom to God, even the Father. — And when all things shall be 
 subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him, 
 that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.” 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 605 
 
 Heb. 12 : 2 ; 2 Cor. 3 : 18 ; Phil. 3 : 20 ; Tit. 2 : 13 ; Rev. 20 : 12, 21. 
 1. “Look unto Jesus, the beginner and finisher of our faith. — 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. — For our conversation is in heaven, 
 from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. — We 
 look for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, and 
 our Saviour Jesus Christ. — And I saw the dead, small and great stand be- 
 fore God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which 
 is the book of life. — And I saw a new heaven, and a new earth ) for the first 
 heaven, and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea.” 
 
 1 . ' 
 
 ' •' : ' ’ ' ' . "X 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS, 
 
 IN HIS SECOND COMING. 
 
 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the 
 earth ; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not an- 
 other . — Job 19: 25, 27. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of Christ’s preparing for judgment. 
 
 And is not yet all done ? 0 the unwearied patience, love, mercy, and 
 
 free grace of Christ in carrying on this mighty work ! He begun it before 
 the beginning of the world, since then he hath been laboring in and about 
 six thousand years; and now the time of restoring being come, he will 
 perfect what he hath begun, and bring on the other end of the golden 
 chain, “ Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and 
 whom he called, them he also justified ; and whom he justified, them he 
 also glorified/’ Rom. 8 : 30. In this piece also, as in the former, we shall 
 first lay down the object, and then give directions how to look upon it. 
 
 The object is Jesus, carrying on the great work of our salvation in his 
 coming again to earth, and taking up with him all his saints into heaven. 
 In this work I shall set before you these particulars. 1. Christ’s preparing 
 for judgment. 2. Christ’s coming to judgment. 3. Christ’s summons of 
 the elect to come under judgment. 4. Christ and his saints meeting at the 
 judgment day. 5. Christ’s sentencing or judging the saints for eternal 
 glory. 6. Christ and the saints judging the rest of the world. 7. Christ 
 and his saints going up into heaven ; when shall be the end of this world. 
 8. Christ surrendering and delivering up the kingdom to God, even the 
 Father. 9. Christ’s subjection to the Father, that God may be all in all. 
 10. Christ, notwithstanding this, being all in all to his blessed, saved, and 
 redeemed 1 saints to all eternity. 1. For his preparing for judgment. When 
 once the number of all his elect shall be completed, and the work of his 
 intercession shall be at an end, then immediately will follow these particu- 
 lars. As, 
 
 1. “A great voice comes out of the temple of heaven, saying, it is done,” 
 Rev. 16 : 17. It comes out of the temple of heaven, that we may under- 
 
 (606) 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 607 
 
 stand it to be the voice of Christ. And if this speech be directed unto 
 God, it is as if Christ had bespoke his Father thus, “ and now, 0 ray Fa- 
 ther ! I have done that office of the priesthood, which by agreement we 
 erected, it is now at an end ; here I have sat at thy right hand interceding 
 for my saints, ever since my ascension ; and of all that thou hast given me, 
 by thine eternal election, I have not lost a saint, John 17 : 12. In their 
 several ages I produced them, and gave them a being, and in their times I 
 remembered them, and presented their conditions and necessities before 
 thee ; and now I have not a saint more in the book of life, there is not 
 another name written to be born on earth ; and to what purpose should I 
 now continue the world ? The saints are they for whom I made the world, 
 the saints are they that hold forth the light of my glory in the world, the 
 saints are they for whom my eternal counsels before the world did work, 
 the saints are they for whom I was content to shed my precious blood when 
 
 I was in that world below ; and now their number is completed, I am re- 
 solved to unpin the fabric of the world, and to take it down ; it stands but 
 for their sakes, and therefore now let the seventh angel blow his trumpet, 
 that the mystery of God may be finished,” Rev. 10 : 7. “I swear by him 
 that lives for ever and ever, that time shall be no longer,” ver. 6. 
 
 2. No sooner is this said, but the “ seventh angel sounds/’ Rev. 11 : 15. 
 This seventh angel (saith Pareus) is the archangel that proclaims Christ’s 
 coming with a great and mighty shout, “ For the Lord himself shall de- 
 scend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with 
 the trump of God,” 1 Thess. 4 : 16. The Lord shall descend with a shout, 
 but before he descend, and I believe upon the very discovery of his coming 
 down, there will be a shout in heaven ; for so it follows, “And the seventh 
 angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven,” if we believe com- 
 mentaries,* these are the voices of blessed souls, and blessed angels in hea- 
 ven ; no sooner Christ bids the angels (sound) q. d. Summon those blessed 
 souls that were slain for the word of God, and therefore cried, “ How long, 
 Lord, holy and true ?” Rev. 6 : 10. Summon those blessed souls, that 
 have cried so long, “ Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly,” Rev. 22 : 20. 
 Summon all souls, and summon all angels, and bid them wait on me, now I 
 resolve to go down and to judge the world : no sooner, I say, Christ bids 
 the angel sound ; but presently at the joy of this command, all the voices 
 in heaven gave up a shout; why, this is the long looked for day; the day 
 of perfecting the number of the saints; the day of joining the souls and 
 bodies of the saints together; the day of convening all the families both 
 of saints and angels under one roof; the day of bringing up the bride unto 
 the Lamb, and of completing the marriage into its highest solemnity; and 
 therefore no wonder, if at this news great voices and cries (such as are used 
 by mariners, or gatherers of the vintage) were* made in heaven. Oh ! what 
 an addition of joy is this to heaven’s joy itself. The spirits of the just, 
 and the blessed angels that have lived together in heaven’s bliss, had never 
 such an adventitious joy as this before; now they shout and sing a new 
 and blessed song, “ The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms 
 of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever,” Rev. 
 
 II : 15. We may call this heaven’s triumph for the finishing of God’s 
 mystery. Now it is that Christ will vindicate his kingdom, and overthrow 
 the power of his enemies : they had long set themselves against the Lord, 
 and against his anointed ; the kings of the earth, and the rulers confederated, 
 they ruled all, and as much as in them lay, excluded Christ; but now the 
 kingdoms of the world will return to Christ, and he alone shall rule; and 
 hence the winged choristers of heaven chant forth this anthem, “ The king- 
 doms of the world are become the kingdoms of Christ.” 
 
 * Fareus in loc. 
 
608 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK Y. 
 
 3. After this shout, “The four and twenty elders which sit before God 
 on their seats, fall upon their faces, and worship God, saying, We give thee 
 thanks, 0 Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come, be- 
 cause thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned, and the 
 nations were angry,” &c., Rev. 11 : 16, 17, 18. By these four and twenty 
 elders, we understand all God’s saints of the Old and New Testament, 
 comprehended under the twelve patriarchs, and twelve apostles; others 
 would have them to be only those saints of the Old Testament, and there- 
 fore called elders ; whosoever they are, we find they are so glad at this 
 news, that Christ will now judge the world, that presently they rise off 
 their seats, and fall on their faces ; and first they praise, and then they 
 pray. 1. They praise God for taking to himself his own power; Christ 
 connived (as it were) till now at the power of his enemies; antichrist, and 
 not Christ, seemed to rule, and to sit in the temple of God, but now Christ 
 is resolved to rule himself, and to make all his enemies his footstool; and 
 therefore now “we give thee thanks, 0 Lord God Almighty.” 2. They 
 pray Christ to go on to judgment. 1. Because “the nations were angry,” 
 Rev. 11 : 18, q. d. They have been angry long enough, they have set 
 themselves against Christ, and against his church ; and therefore now it is 
 time to bridle their wrath, and to break them with a rod of iron; “0 let 
 thy wrath come.” 2. Because the time of judgment is now accomplished, 
 which God hath decreed in his eternal counsel, and which the Father hath 
 put in his own power; “This time was not for mortals to know, but now 
 it was revealed to these celestial spirits by Christ ; and therefore they beg, 
 Go on, Lord Jesus; reward now thy servants, prophets, and saints, and 
 destroy them which destroy the earth.”* 
 
 4. God the Father, is well pleased with Christ’s purpose of judging the 
 world. “ The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I 
 make thine enemies thy footstool,” Psal. 110 : 1. I know these words were 
 spoken to Christ at his ascension into heaven ; yet that hinders not but that 
 now God speaks them again to Christ : for “ as yet (saith the apostle) we 
 see not all things put under him,” Heb. 2 : 8. And God’s purpose was 
 that Christ should rule, until he had put all things in subjection under his 
 feet. Nay, why not these words spoken now, rather than before ? Christ 
 indeed reigned as king, ever since his ascension ; but now more especially 
 he is to manifest his kingdom, for now is he to “judge among the heathen ; 
 now is he to wound the heads of many countries,” Psalm 110 : 6. Now 
 is he to overthrow Pope, Turk, and all his enemies, and he alone, with the 
 Father and the Spirit, is to reign in his elect saints and angels. Thus all 
 agree, that Christ in the latter days shall be fully honored in his kingly 
 power; hitherto Christ hath been much honored in his prophetical and 
 priestly office ; but not so much in his kingly office, but now he must be 
 fully honored in his kingly office, now, especially “ the kingdoms of this 
 world must become the kingdoms of the Lord, and his Christ, and so he 
 shall reign for ever and ever,” Rev. 11 : 15. Certainly there is a differ- 
 ence betwixt Christ’s reign before, and his present reign at the day of 
 judgment; Christ hath a double throne wherein he sits and reigns, “To 
 him that overcomes will I give to sit with me in my throne, as I also over- 
 came, and am set down with my Father in his throne,” Rev. 3 : 21. The 
 kingly rule that Christ hath from his ascension is upon his Father’s throne, 
 but the kingdom that Christ shall have at the day of judgment, and ever 
 after, it is the joint reign of him with the Father, he shall have a throne 
 himself, and the saints shall sit with him in his own throne : and now (saith 
 the Father, “ Sit thou at my right hand,” q. d. Sit on my throne by me; 
 
 * Mortalibus ignotum, coelestibus vero nunc revelatum a Christo. Pareus in loc. 
 
CHAP. I.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 609 
 
 go on to judge the nations; I will not judge them but only in thee, and by 
 thee; Lo ! I have committed all judgment unto the Son,” John 5 : 22 ; 
 “and do thou judge them, until thou hast rewarded thy friends, and made 
 thine enemies thy footstool.” Mark, “ he hath committed all judgment to 
 the Son ;” The Father gives the Son a commission, wherein is written (as 
 it were) these words, “ My Son, now is the time and season which I had 
 put in my own power, and my pleasure is that all the world shall be set on 
 fire; These heavens under thee shall pass away with a great noise, and the 
 elements shall melt with fervent heat ; the earth also, and the works that 
 are therein shall be burnt up,” 2 Pet. 3 : 10. “And I will have new 
 heavens, and a new earth, wherein shall dwell righteousness,” ver. 13. Go 
 to then, put on thy robes, appear in thy glory; empty this heaven of all 
 those glorious spirits that are therein, and let them wait on thee to thy 
 judgment-seat; go pass thy doom on all flesh; and send reprobates to hell, 
 and bring up hither all thy saints, that they may live with thee, and here 
 behold thy glory for ever and ever. Lo ! here is thy commission, be gone, 
 and return no more hither until it be accomplished.” 
 
 Use. Christians, I cannot but wonder at this joy and exultation in hea- 
 ven, and that we have so little, or none of this on earth ; we say with cold 
 lips, and frozen hearts, “ Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as 
 it is in heaven ;” but if our prayers were real and fervent, if we could but 
 imitate those heavenly citizens, what longings would be in our hearts after 
 Christ’s coming? How should we rejoice at the very thoughts thereof? 
 Christ comforting his disciples in respect hereof, he speaks these words, 
 “ When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, (said he) and 
 lift up your heads, for }mur redemption draweth nigh,” Luke 21 : 28. The 
 fulness of our redemption is a ground of consolation ; all the spirits above 
 are sensible of this; God, and Christ, and the angels, and saints rejoice, 
 and again rejoice, “ The spirit and the bride say come,” Rev. 22 : 17, and 
 Christ himself saith, “Surely, I come quickly;” 0! let us say, Amen to 
 it; “Even so come, Lord Jesus,” ver. 20. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of Christ coming to judgment. 
 
 2. For Christ’s coming to judgment, no sooner Christ prepared, and all 
 in readiness, but down he descends from his imperial throne, to the judg- 
 ment-seat. In this passage I shall observe these particulars. 
 
 1. He descends with his train ; he comes with his royal attendants out 
 of heaven. This is the glory of a prince, that he hath so many nobles 
 waiting on him ; and this is the glory of Jesus Christ, that when he comes 
 to judge the world, he shall have his saints and angels (the glory of the 
 creation) to be his attendants in that work, “ Behold the Lord comes with 
 mighty angels,” 2 Thess. 1:7. “ Behold the Lord comes with ten thou- 
 
 sands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all,” Jude 14. Certainly 
 a numberless number shall wait upon him ; Daniel tells us of a thousand 
 thousands that this day minister unto Christ, “a thousand thousands min- 
 istered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him,” 
 Dan. 7 : 10. Or if heaven have more, I believe heaven will empty itself 
 of all the saints, and all the angels; net one spirit, whether saint or angel, 
 shall stay behind, when Christ descends; “The son of man shall come 
 in his glory, and all the holy angels with him,” Matth. 25 : 31. Oh ! what 
 a glorious day will this be ? If one sun make the morning sky so glorious, 
 what a bright shining and glorious morning will that be, when so many 
 thousands of suns shall shine over all our heads, the glorious body of our 
 Christ surpassing them all in splendor and glory ? Here’s a new heaven 
 of sun, and stars, such as this nether world never saw : “ Lo, yonder the 
 Sun of righteousness with all his morning stars, singing and shouting for 
 
610 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK V. 
 
 joy !” Heaven now empties itself of all its created citizens, and cleaves 
 asunder to make way for Christ and all his train. 
 
 2. In his descent through the heavens, he shakes the heavens, “ And 
 the powers of the heavens shall be shaken,” Matth. 24 : 29. The whole 
 frame of heaven, most strong and immutable in its being and motion ; or 
 the mighty bodies thereof, most mighty in their substance, lastingness, 
 motion, and operation, shall be shaken. I know by the powers of heaven, 
 some mean the angels, who at this wonderful descent of Christ, shall admire 
 and move; but I rather think the heavens themselves are meant hereby, 
 whose very nature shall be moved and shaken at that day, “At his nod the 
 pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished,” Job 26 : 11. As yet they 
 are subject to vanity, and therefore it is no wonder if at the coming of 
 Christ they tremble and are moved. In this moving or shaking, the evan- 
 gelist adds, that the glorious lights of heaven shall be altered, “ The suu 
 shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall 
 fall,” Matth. 24:29. Many interpretations are given of this; I am not 
 for allegories, but rather conceive these things are real ?* The very coming 
 of Christ shall bring with him such a light, that the splendor of the sun 
 and moon shall be obscured ;j* This is most certain, saith Aretius, that both 
 sun and moon shall surely be darkened at that day; it is the glory of his 
 majesty, that will dazzle those candles. 
 
 3. As he passes through the elementary world, a fire doth usher him, 
 
 “ Our God shall come, aud shall not keep silence : a fire shall devour be- 
 fore him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him,” Psal. 50 : 8. 
 Whence this fire shall come, I shall not dispute, only one tells us with some 
 confidence,^ That it is begotten in the middle region of the air by divine 
 command ; and that it first goes before him, ushering the judge to the judg- 
 ment-seat, and that there it stays during the judgment, and that ended, and 
 the doom passed on all flesh, then it sets on fire all the world. Let this 
 pass as it may, Scripture goes thus far, that “a fire goeth before him, — 
 Psal. 97 : 3. Behold the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots 
 like a whirlwind, Isa. 66 : 15. And the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from 
 heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,” 2 Thess. 1 : 7, 8. In which 
 respect, Daniel saw “ His throne like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burn- 
 ing fire ; a fiery stream issued and came forth from before him,” Dan. 7 : 
 9, 10. And at last, this fire shall have that effect, that the very “ elements 
 shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also and the works that are therein 
 shall be burnt up,” 2 Pet. 3 : 10. 0 Christians ! what cause have we to 
 
 make the apostle’s use on this point? “Seeing all these things shall be 
 dissolved, what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation 
 and godliness, looking for, and hastening unto the coming of the day of 
 God, whereiu the heavens being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements 
 shall melt with fervent heat?” 2 Pet. 3 : 11, 12. 
 
 4. He descends lower and lower till he is enwrapt with clouds, “Here- 
 after shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and 
 coming in the clouds of heaven,” Matth. 24 : 64. When he went up into 
 heaven, it is said, that “a cloud received him out of their sight,” Acts 1 : 
 9, and the angels then said, “ Ye men of Galilee, Why stand ye gazing up 
 into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, 
 shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven,” Acts 1 : 
 
 * Adventum Christi tantum lucis allaturum, ut eo solis et lunge splendor obscu- 
 reter Aretius in loc. 
 
 -j- Certissimum autem dium judicii magna majestate fore, ut recte & sol & luna 
 dicantur obscurandi. Aretius in loc. 
 
 I Suaroz de renovatione inundi, in 3 parts. Thomae. 
 
CHAP. I.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 611 
 
 11, 12. He went up in clouds, and he shall come down in clouds. “I 
 saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with 
 the clouds of heaven/’ Dan. 7 : 13. Here is the first sight of Christ to men 
 on the earth, when once he is come down into the clouds, then shall they 
 lift up their eyes, and have a full view of Jesus Christ ; a cloud first received 
 him out of their sight, and a cloud now discovers him to their sight, ‘‘ Then 
 shall appear the sight of the Son of man in heaven, and they shall see the 
 Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory,” 
 Matth. 24 : 30. Is it not plain that the first appearings and sight of Christ 
 at his second coming from heaven is in the midst of clouds? “ Behold he 
 cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced 
 him,” Rev. 1 : 7. Some controversy there is about these clouds, as whether 
 they be angels. When the Psalmist speaks of all sorts of meteors, as of 
 waters, clouds, winds, flames, some say all these are angels; “and of the 
 angels, he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame 
 of fire,” Heb. 1 : 7. For my part I take it in the literal sense, that upon 
 the very backs of clouds, Christ shall come riding along at the general day; 
 and howsoever this may seem a small matter unto us, yet I cannot look on 
 any circumstance of this transaction as small and trifling ; the very clouds 
 on which Christ rides, speak terror and comfort. 
 
 1. Oh ! what a terror is this to the wicked ? “ They shall see the Son of 
 man coming in the clouds, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,” 
 Matth. 24 : 30. These tribes of the earth are the tribes of the wicked ; no 
 sooner shall they look up,* and see Christ in his clouds, but with incon- 
 ceivable horror will they cry out, “ 0 yonder is he whose blood we neglected, 
 whose grace we resisted, whose counsels we refused, whose government we 
 cast off? 0 yonder is he that comes now in clouds, in tempestuous clouds ! 
 0 see how he storms ! do not these very clouds in which he rides, speak or 
 threaten a storm ?” In the eighteenth Psalm is a description of Christ 
 coming to judgment. But, 0 ! how terrible ? In the seventh verse, we 
 find the earth trembling; in the eighth verse, a fire devouring; in the ninth 
 verse, the heavens bowing downwards; in the 12, 13, 14, 15, verses, are 
 “ thick clouds, darkening the sky, thunders, lightnings, hail-stones flying 
 through the air, the foundations of the world discovered.” Thus the mighty 
 God, our Jesus descends. Oh ! how should the wicked but tremble at this, 
 when but a consideration of this hath sometimes startled God’s own people ? 
 Behold, Habakkuk, with quivering lips, trembling joints, bones mouldering 
 into dust, when he had only a prophetic representation of Christ’s second 
 appearance, Hab. 3 : 16. All the dreadful things that attended the pres- 
 ence of God in Egypt, at the Red Sea, on mount Sinai, through the wilder- 
 ness, are made but types, but shadows of the terrible march of the Captain 
 of the Lord of hosts, and therefore shall the wicked mourn. 
 
 2. Here is the patience, and faith, and joy of saints, “And all the kin- 
 dreds of the earth shall mourn over him ; even so, Amen,” Rev. 1 : 7. 
 This I cannot but understand of the wicked : only some tell us of a double 
 mourning on that day, the one of joy and love, and the other of sorrow 
 and despair ; I shall not deny but there may be some sweet tears upon this 
 sweet subject, Christ’s apparition in the clouds; such a shine will be from 
 Christ in the clouds, that the very shine will pierce the hearts of men with 
 the golden-headed arrow of love, and how may this work tears ? from this 
 text of John, “ Behold he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, 
 and they also which pierced him, and all the kindreds of the earth shall 
 
 * Id de impiis solum intelligo, ad quos planctus & luctus illi miserandos solum 
 pertinent. Aretius in locum. 
 
612 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK V. 
 
 wail,” &c. Rev. 1 : 7. Some divines* gather, that Christ at that day, will 
 show in his glorified body, the wounds of his crucifying, as an infallible 
 trophy of his victory over all his enemies; and hence the wicked, who 
 pierced or crucified the Lord of glory by their sins, will weep and wail. I 
 can think no less, bat that Christ at that day will open his bosom, and show 
 those wounds of love, which he had in his heart from all eternity, together 
 with those wounds which he received on the cross, as they are glorified in 
 his eternal love. And then, as at the discovery of Joseph, he and his bre- 
 thren fell upon the necks of each other, and wept ; so will this discovery, 
 in the appearance of Christ, being a sweet confusion upon the spirits of saints; 
 then shall a saint fall at the feet of his Saviour, and weeping, say, 0 ray 
 Jesus ! thou art my father, brother, husband, self ; while there were other 
 things, I loved other things beside thyself ; but, alas ! they are everlastingly- 
 gone, and have left me alone, yet now thou ownest me. 0 my Jesus ! thou 
 breakest my heart : I cannot but weep out tears of love, and tears of joy 
 at this appearing ; 0 welcome, welcome, sweet Jesus into these clouds ! 0 
 welcome, welcome, sweet Jesus into this nether world. 
 
 In these clouds I must leave our Saviour for a while, and the rather, be- 
 cause I believe he will descend no lower ; only before I pass, one word of 
 use to all his saints. 
 
 Use. You see him still upon his old design, though the world now end, 
 yet hitherto there is no end of this great transaction ; his first coming and 
 his second coming is to save your souls ; his first coming was to purchase, 
 his second to give you the possession of salvation. What ! are you not glad 
 of this gospel news, that Christ will come at last from the imperial throne 
 to his judgment-seat, to give you the possession of salvation? Is not the 
 promise of his coming comfortable ? Is it not comfortable to believe in 
 him, and to hope for him ? Why, muse, then, what comfort will it be to 
 see his person with all his glorious train coming for you ? “ The mighty 
 
 God, the Lord hath spoken, and called the earth, from the rising of the sun, 
 to the going down thereof ; out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, hath God 
 shined ; our God shall come, and shall not keep silence ; a fire shall devour 
 before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him ; he shall call 
 to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people,” 
 Psal. 50 : 1, 2, 3, 4. It is indeed a most terrible day unto the wicked, but 
 Oh ! how sweet, and pleasant, and comfortable to his saints ? Christians ! 
 do we not long to have Christ's Spirit come into our souls with life ? Do 
 we not droop while Christ is absent from our souls ? Are not the feet of 
 them beautiful that bring glad tidings of peace, and of salvation by Jesus 
 Christ ? 0 then ! what will it be to see the king, not in his ambassadors, 
 
 but in his own person, coming for us, to fetch us into heaven ? If we have 
 but a dear friend returned from some far country, how do all run out to 
 meet him with joy? 0 ! saith the child, My Father is come; saith the 
 wife, my husband is come ; and shall not we, when we see our father, our 
 husband, our head, our Saviour returning with great glory, and glorious 
 majesty, cry out, He is come, he is come ! Shall not we at the first view 
 of him in the clouds, cry out, 0 ! yonder is he, whose blood redeemed us, 
 whose Spirit cleansed us, whose prayers prevailed for us, whose law did 
 govern us ! Yonder comes he in whom we trusted ; and now we see he 
 hath not deceived our trust ; yonder is he, for whom we waited long, and 
 now we see we have not waited in vain. 
 
 I verily believe thus it will be with us one day, we shall have comfort 
 then, Oh ! let us comfort ourselves with these words ; and ever and anon 
 
 * Hinc consequitur Christum in eo judicio cicatrices vulnerum ostensurum tan- 
 quam tropliaeum infallibile contra omnes suos hostes. Aretius in loc. 
 
CHAP. I.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 613 
 
 cry, “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly; make haste my beloved, and be 
 thou like to a roe, or to a young hart, upon the mountains of spices,” Sol. 
 Song 8 : 14. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of Christ’s summoning of the Elect to come unto Judgment. 
 
 0. For Christ’s summons of the elect to come under judgment : no sooner 
 is he in the clouds, his throne of judicature, but there he stands, and thence 
 “ he sends his holy angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall 
 gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to 
 auother,” Matth. 24 : 31. Christ’s summons are effectual, if he will have the 
 elect to meet him, they must come; to this purpose, he sends angels, and 
 they return with his saints back again to the judgment seat. In the carry- 
 ing on of this affair, we shall discuss these particulars. 1. His mission of 
 the angels. 2. The manner of the mission. 3. The resurrection of the 
 world. 4. The collection of the saints; wherein, 1. Whence, and, 2. 
 Whither they are gathered. 
 
 1. For Christ’s mission of his angels, “He shall send his angels.” This 
 was their office from their first creation, they were still sent of God this 
 way and that way ; and, indeed herein is one difference betwixt Christ and 
 the angels, he was to sit on God’s right hand, but they were sent abroad 
 to minister to the saints and people of God, “ to which of the angels said 
 he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy foot- 
 stool ? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them 
 who shall be heirs of salvation,” Heb. 1 : 13, 14. Now, according to their 
 office, Christ puts them upon employment at this day, q. d. “ 0 my 
 augels ! You that wait upon me, that excel in strength, that do my com- 
 mandments, and hearken unto the voice of my word,” Ps. 103 : 20. Go 
 your ways now iuto all the four winds of the world, gather all my saints 
 together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice, 
 Psal. 50 : 5. Search iuto all the dusts of the earth, and leave not behind 
 one dust that belongs unto any saint; search into the bottom of the sea, see 
 what becomes of those drowned bodies of my dear ones; if either worms 
 have eaten those in graves, or fishes have devoured them in the deep; why, 
 now restore them ; am not I as able to recover them, as I was to create 
 them ? Is it not as easy for me to raise the dead, as to make heaven and 
 earth, and all of nothing ? Go then, and gather together all those dusts, 
 and let every dust be brought home to its own proper body, and compact 
 those dusts as soft as they are, into solid bones ; and prophesy upon these 
 bones, and say unto them, “0 ye dry bones! hear the word of the Lord; 
 thus saith the Lord, behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye 
 shall live ; and I will lay sinews upon you, and cover you with skin, and 
 put breath in you, and ye shall live, and ye shall know that I am the Lord,” 
 Ezek. 37 : 4, 5, 6. Why, this is my will, and pleasure, and therefore be 
 gone, 0 my angels, do your office, what, have not I commanded you ? 
 
 2. The mission, or commission, or dismission given, the angels, swift 
 messengers of his will, fall on the execution ; and to that purpose imme- 
 diately they sound the trumpet; so it follows, “and he shall send his angels 
 with a great sound of a trumpet.” Here is the manner of their mission; 
 they go, and as they go, they give a shout; what this shout is, or how it is 
 made, is a curious question, and sets many wits on work; in this scripture 
 it is set out by the sound of a trumpet ;* now, some would have it to be a 
 material trumpet, because the scriptures frequently call it a trumpet, “ he 
 shall send his angels with the sound of a trumpet,” (saith Christ,) Matth. 
 24 : 31. “And in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye : at the last trump 
 
 * Anselmus, in eleucidario, Suarez, tuba ex aere. Doctor Slater, who saith I see 
 not but we may take it properly, &c. Cornelius a lapide. 
 
614 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK V. 
 
 we shall be changed, (saith Paul,) for the trumpet shall sound, and the 
 dead shall be raised, 1 Cor. 15 : 52. And the Lord himself shall descend 
 from heaven with the shout, and with a voice of the archangel, and with 
 the trump of God,” 1 Thess. 4 : 16. But, whether this trumpet shall be 
 of silver, or of brass, or of the air, or of the cloud, and meteors whereon 
 Christ rides, they cannot agree. Others, more probably, look upon this 
 trumpet as nothing else but a metaphor, or a sound formed in the air, like 
 the sound of a trumpet.* A voice it is without all controversy; and meta- 
 phorically it may be called a trumpet, both from the clearness and greatness 
 of the sound; so loud shall it be, that it will pierce into the ears of the 
 dead in their graves ; “ It will shake the world, rend the rocks, break the 
 mountains, dissolve the bonds of death, burst down the gates of hell, and 
 unite all spirits to their own bodies.”*!' A horrible, terrible voice shall it 
 be. But how should angels, who are spirits, make a voice ? By a collision 
 of the air, which the angels can move at their pleasure ; and who can tell, 
 say some, but there may be some new-created instrument, trumpet- like, 
 adapted for the angels, at the sides of which, by a force and collision of the 
 air, this great shout may be, to convene all the world ? Or, who knows, 
 (say others,) but that the Lord Jesus may fill the angels, even as trumpets 
 are filled with a loud blast, and that through them this loud blast shall come 
 rushing like a mighty wind upon the dead saints, and so waken their bodies 
 out of the dust? We all know this was usual in all the Jews’ solemnities, 
 to convene the people by the spund of a trumpet, “And the Lord spake 
 unto Moses, saying, make thee two trumpets of silver, that thou mayest use 
 them for the calling of the assembly : — and when thou shalt blow them, 
 all the assembly shall assemble themselves. And if ye go to war, then ye 
 shall blow an alarm with the trumpets,” Numb. 10 : 1, 2, 3, 9. And, in 
 the same way, (say they,) Christ now will convene all the world with the 
 sound of a trumpet, or with the sound of some such instrument of divine 
 power and virtue, whereby the dead shall be raised, and their bodies and 
 souls reunited. Amidst all these authors, if I may deliver my opinion, I 
 suppose the text that will clear all to us above all that is written, is that of 
 1 Thess. 4 : 16, “ For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a 
 shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God.” Give 
 me leave to insist on it, that we may come up yet to a more full and perfect 
 knowledge of this passage. In these words is showed, or held forth the 
 coming of Christ in three particulars, “ with a shout, with a voice, and with 
 a trumpet.” Some think this to be one and the same set out in a variety 
 of expressions; but I am of another mind. It is agreed by most, that the 
 transactions at the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, were a representation 
 of the proceedings which shall be at the great day of judgment; now, in 
 that transaction, we read of a threefold voice, “ The voice of God, the voice 
 of thunder, and the voice of a trumpet,” (Exod. 19 : 13, compared with 
 Exod. 20 : 1.) And accordingly we find the apostle speaking of a threefold 
 voice, “ Of the voice of Christ, of the voice of thunder, and of the voice 
 of a trumpet.” 
 
 1. The Lord himself shall descend with a shout. Arius, Montanus, and 
 the vulgar translate it, with a command. Lyra, and others, think this to 
 be the voice of Christ himself, saying, with a loud voice, “Arise, ye dead, 
 and come to judgment.” Thus Jesus cried with a loud voice, “ Lazarus, 
 come forth,” John 11 : 43. And with such a voice, will he call on the 
 dead at the last day. So much Christ himself hath taught us, “ The hour 
 
 * Piscator, Estius, Aretius & alii fere omnes. 
 
 •j- Cui omnia obediunt elementa, petras scindit, inferos aperit, &c. Chrysost. in 
 1 Cor. 15. 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 615 
 
 is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of 
 God, and they that hear shall live,” John 5 : 25. The hour is, because by 
 his voice he raised some at his first coming : and the hour is coming, because 
 in the like manner he will raise up all men at the last day, “ Marvel not at 
 this, (saith Christ,) for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the 
 graves shall hear his voice, and they shall come forth,” John 5 : 28. As at 
 the creation of the world, he said, “ Let there be light, and there was 
 light; so at the dissolution of the world, he will say, “Let the dead arise, 
 let the sea give up the dead that are in it, and death and hell deliver up 
 the dead which are in them ;” and it will be so. 
 
 2. The Lord shall descend “with the voice of the archangel.” Two 
 questions here, 1. Who is this archangel ? 2. What is this voice ? 
 
 For the first, some argue this archangel to be Gabriel, others Raphael, 
 others Michael. The Jews have an ancient tradition, that there are seven 
 principal angels that minister before the throne of God, and therefore called 
 archangels. The scriptures seem to speak much that way, calling them, 
 “ Seven lamps of fire burning before the throne,” Rev. 4. : 5. And “ seven 
 horns, and seven eyes of the Lamb : and the seven spirits of God sent 
 forth into all the earth,” Rev. 5 : 6. And “ seven eyes of the Lord, which 
 run to and fro through the whole earth,” Zech. 4 : 10. And yet more 
 plainly, “Seven angels that stand before God,” Rev. 8:2. Now, which 
 of these seven is the archangel here spoken of, is hard to determine ; only 
 probable it is, that all the archangels, and all the angdls are hereby under- 
 stood, as comprehended under that one; to which agrees, Matth 24: 31. 
 Mr. Ainsworth observes, That when things are done by a multitude, where 
 one is chief, that the action is frequently ascribed either to the multitude, 
 or to him that is chief, indifferently ; as “ Jehoida brought forth the king’s 
 son, and he put. the crown upon him,” 2 Kings 11 : 12 ; or, “ They brought 
 forth the king’s son, and they put upon him the crown,” 2 Chron. 23 : 11. 
 So David “offered burnt-offerings,” 2 Sam. 6 : 17 ; or, “they offered 
 burnt-offerings,” 1 Chron. 16 : 1. And so, “ he shall descend with the 
 voice of the archangel ;” or, “ he shall send his angels with a great sound,” 
 Matth. 24 : 3. 
 
 That there are seven principal angels, Mr. Mede affirms, and that there 
 is one which yet eminently is called the archangel. Some others affirm, as 
 among devils, there is one chief devil, called “The prince of devils;” and 
 therefore the fire is said to be “ prepared for the devil and his angels,” 
 Matth. 25 : 41. So from this text of 1 Thess. 4:16, and of Dan. 10 : 13, 
 and of Jude, verse 9. Some probably conclude, that the good angels have 
 a prince, even Michael, whom Jude calls the archangel. But of this no 
 more, the Lord keep me from “intruding into those things which I have 
 not seen,” Col. 2 : 18. The day itself will discover it, and so I leave it, as 
 having said enough to satisfy the sober minded. 
 
 For the second, what is this voice of the archangel? I conceive, that 
 thereby we are to understand thunder; Here is, (as we have said,) a mani- 
 fest allusion to the proceedings at the giving of the law ; now, the voice 
 there mentioned, besides the voice of God, and the voice of a trumpet, is 
 the voice of thunder, “And it came to pass on the third day in the morn- 
 ing, there were thunders,” Exod. 19 : 16 — 20 : 18. In this sense some 
 expouud these words of the apostle, where the law is said to be spoken by 
 angels, Heb. 2 : 2, because the angels did raise up those extraordinary 
 thunders, which happily were the matter of the articulate voice, in which 
 the Lord spake to Israel ; Or if the law was spoken by Christ, (as I have 
 delivered my opinion elsewhere,)* he being “the angel of the covenant,” 
 
 * Book 3, Chap. 1, Sect. 4. 
 
616 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK Y. 
 
 Mai. 3 : 1. “And tbe angel of his presence,” Isa. 63 : 9. Yet this hinders 
 not, but that created angels might speak the law too, if not in respect of 
 the articulate voice, yet in respect of the voice of thunders which attended 
 on it. Thus, thunder is often called, “ the voice of God, and the voice of 
 his excellency,” Job 37 : 4, 5. Psal. 29 : 3 — 9. 
 
 3. The Lord shall descend “ with the trump of God.” Such a voice was 
 used also at the giving of the law, Exod. 19 : 16, and Exod. 20 : 18, and 
 so it will be now, when men are called to account for the keeping or break- 
 ing of it. For the understanding of this, our last translation tells us, that 
 “ Christ shall send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet,” Matth. 
 24 : 31, but in four Greek copies, as Beza confesseth, as also in the Hebrew 
 gospel of Matthew, and in the vulgate, and in the margin of our last trans- 
 lation, it is read, that “ Christ shall send his angels with a trumpet, and a 
 great voice.” And so the latter words are exegetical, q. d. with a trumpet, 
 that is, “ with a great voice, like the voice of a trumpet.” So that this 
 reading very probably proves, that the last trumpet is to be taken meta- 
 phorically. For the more full confirmation whereof, I argue thus, when 
 any thing is ascribed to the angels which is not suitable to their spiritual 
 nature, and which they have no need of for the work they are about, it is 
 to be taken metaphorically, unless the context, or some other Scripture 
 force us to a proper acceptation ; but a material trumpet of silver, brass, or 
 the like metal, is not suitable to the spiritual nature of the angels; neither 
 have they need of such a trumpet for producing a great sound in the air. 
 It is evident, that without a trumpet they can make a great sound like the 
 noise of a trumpet; and there is nothing at all in the Scriptures that will 
 force us, or probably lead us to a proper acceptation of the word. Add 
 yet to what hath been said, that sometimes a great voice is set out by the 
 similitude of a trumpet, “ I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trum- 
 pet, Rev. 1 : 10, and the first voice which I heard, was as it were of a trum- 
 pet,” Rev. 4:1. , 
 
 But why is this sound as of a trumpet, called “the trumpet of God?” 
 I answer, for the greatness of it; for it is usual in the Hebrew language, 
 for the setting forth of greatness, excellency, or superlativeness of a thing, 
 to add the name of God to the word whereby the thing is signified, as Gen. 
 23 : 6. “A prince of God,” i. e. a mighty prince ; Gen. 30 : 8, “ with the 
 wrestlings of God,” i. e. with great wrestlings ; Ps. 36 : 6. “ Mountains 
 of God,” i. e. great mountains; Ps. 80 : 10. “Cedars of God,” i. e. very 
 high cedars ; so here “ the trump of God,” i. e. A very great sound, like 
 the sound of a trumpet. It is said in the law, There were “ thunders aud 
 lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet 
 exceeding loud, so that all the people that were in the camp trembled,” 
 Exod. 19 : 16. And if there was trembling at the giving of the law, oh ! 
 what trembling will be at the general assize when sinners shall be condemned 
 for breaking of it ? 
 
 3. No sooner the shout made, but the saints arise; it is true, the saints 
 that are alive need no resurrection, but upon them will this trumpet have 
 its effect. Something like death shall seize upon them, and they shall be 
 changed. The order of this is given in by the apostle from tbe Lord, 
 “ This we say unto you, by the word of our Lord, that we which are alive, 
 and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are 
 asleep, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with 
 the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God ; and the dead in 
 Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught 
 up together with them into the clouds,” 1 Thess. 4 : 15, 16, 17. The first 
 that shall be called, are the saints that sleep, and then the saints which are 
 alive shall be immediately changed. Oh ! What a day will this be? What 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 617 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 a strange sight, to see all the dead ever since the beginning of the world 
 rise out of their graves ? for the wicked, I believe, they shall rise like toads 
 from their holes, in a black, swarthy, ugly color. A question is amongst 
 the schools whether reprobates shall rise again with all their deformities 
 which they had in this life ? As some of them being blind, halt, lame, 
 maimed, deaf, dumb, &c. Whether now they shall rise in the self same 
 condition ? For my part, I conceive, that whereas God the Author of nature, 
 will at that day restore human nature, that therefore there shall be no de- 
 fects of natural parts. Certainly nothing shall be wanting in the damned 
 which may impede the sense of torment in auy part ; now, a defect of any 
 member would hinder these universal torments, that must seize on every 
 part of the bodies of the damned in hell ; their bodies therefore shall be 
 whole, only the bodies of such shall be foul, ugly, heavy, lumpish bodies, 
 as opposed to the glorious qualities of the bodies of saints. Why, what 
 bodies (you will say) have they ? I answer, glorious bodies ; no sooner shall 
 the bodies of the saints arise, but they shall exceed with singular qualities, 
 “ They were sown in corruption, but they are raised in incorruption ; they 
 were sown in dishonor, but raised in glory; they were sown in weakness, 
 but raised in power ; they were sown natural bodies, but raised spiritual 
 bodies,” 1 Cor. 15 : 42, 43, 44. The sun in its shining, doth but shadow 
 forth the glory of their bodies; and this will in some measure torment re- 
 probates to see the difference of their bodies, and the bodies of the saints. 
 O ! (will they say) yonder are they whom we despised, aud now are they 
 honored. See a world of suns rising at once out of all parts of the earth; 
 sometimes we lived on earth, and we never saw but one sun rising in the 
 east, but, lo ! millions of suns on east, and west, and north, and south ; 0 ! 
 those are the glorious saints in heaven ; see with what swift and agile bodies 
 they are preparing to fly iuto the air to meet their Lord and Saviour there, 
 whilst, in the mean time, w r e rise with such heavy, dull, and deformed 
 bodies, that we canuot mount. 0 ! what will become of us ? Why, this is 
 the day of resurrection. The angels have been here to unseal our graves, 
 to roll away the stones, and at their shout, and sound of the trumpet, our 
 scattered dusts have met together ; and, lo ! now we stand upon the earth. 
 
 4. No sooner the saints raised, and their souls and bodies re-united with 
 excellent majesty, but then shall all the elect of God, from first to last, be 
 gathered together. If you ask, Whence? And whither? I answer, 
 
 1. To the question, Whence ? “ From the four winds, from one end of 
 
 heaven to another/’ i. e. From all parts of the world, from east, and west, 
 and north, and south, “ from one end of heaven to another.” A vulgar 
 term in regard of our sight; for in itself heaven is round, and hath no 
 end : the meaning is, that not one saint in all the world, from Adam to the 
 last man, shall be concealed or lie hid; from the most hidden, inward, se- 
 cret bosom of the earth, all shall be gathered. Howsoever their dust may 
 be scattered into a thousand thousand parts, yet the power of Christ shall 
 restore all these dusts, and bring them together into their several com- 
 pacted bodies. 
 
 2. To the question, Whither they shall be gathered? Some say to the 
 valley of Jehoshaphat, from that text, “Let the heathen be wakened, and 
 come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there will I sit to judge the hea- 
 then round about,” Joel 3 : 12. But I believe, this text hath reference to 
 a particular judgmeut of God upon Israel’s enemies which dwell round 
 about Jerusalem, and not the general day of judgment. Others say to 
 mount Olivet, from that text, “ This same Jesus which is taken up from 
 you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into 
 heaven; then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet.” 
 Acts 1:11, 12. But I believe this text speaks only of the manner how 
 
618 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK Y. 
 
 Christ shall come, and not of the place to which he shall come. Indeed, 
 it is not probable that either the valley of Jehoshaphat, or mount of Olivet, 
 can be sufficient places to contain all the men that ever were, are, and shall 
 be ; and therefore if such a thing can be determined, I should rather appeal 
 to that text, “ Then we which are alive, and remain, shall dbe caught up 
 together with them (that are raised) in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the 
 air,” 1 Thess. 4 : 17. When Christ was asked this very question, “ Where, 
 Lord ?” Whither shall the saints be gathered ? Where shall the general 
 judgment be? He answers, “Wheresoever the body is, thither will the 
 eagles be gathered together,” Luke 17 : 87. By the body, Christ means 
 himself; and by the eagles, Christ meant his elect; because their youth is 
 renewed as the eagles’. Now the elect must resort to Christ wheresoever he 
 is, and the apostle is express, that Christ is in the air, and in the clouds : 
 and therefore thither must the elect be gathered ; they shall be caught up 
 by the holy angels into the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. 
 
 Use. 0 my brethren ! what sights are these ? What changes, wonders, 
 strange face of things will be this day ? How is it that we are not as 
 frequent in the meditation of this summons, as Jerome was, who, as he 
 thought, heard daily that sound, “Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment !” 
 Methinks a sad and serious consideration of these passages might keep us 
 close to Christ : come, try a little, if in the hurryings of the day we are so 
 distracted, that we cannot reach the spiritual part of a meditation, yet in 
 the evening, or morning, when all is still ; or in the night season, when all 
 is quiet, then labor to prevent the day of doom ; so realize it as if then we 
 saw Christ in the clouds, sending his angels on this errand, Away, and bring 
 hither all the men and women in the world ; and, in the first place, gather 
 my saints together unto me, Adam, and Abraham, those fathers of the 
 world, and of the faithful, let them see all their children, and let all their 
 children see them, and bring them all to my throne : awaken the world, let 
 them who have slept in their graves some thousands of years, be now roused 
 and raised. Imagine then, as if we hear the trumpet of God sounded by 
 the angels of God, and as the sound of it waxed louder and louder, that we 
 saw the mountains skip like rams, and the little hills like young sheep : 
 that we saw all the graves in churches, or church-yards ; in fields, or plains, 
 or seas, fly open; that we saw all the bodies of the dead beginning to stir, 
 and to stand upon their feet, and presently the angels coming, and taking 
 all the saints upon their wings, and so flying with them through the air, 
 till they came to the throne and judgment-seat of Christ ; is it possible that 
 such a meditation should pass, without some tincture of it on our spirits ? 
 If my ears shall hear that sound, and if my eyes shall see these sights, is 
 it not time for me to lay these things to heart, that I may be found faithful 
 and well-doing? As sure as I have this book in my hand, I must be one 
 of those that shall hear the sound of the trumpet, and awa} 7 I must, from 
 the mouth of my grave, wherever I shall be buried, to the cloud where 
 Christ doth sit. Come then, How would I rise ? As foul as a toad ? Or, 
 As an angel of God ? 0 my God ! set this home on my soul. 0 ! where 
 
 is my lamp ? And where is my oil ? Are all ready ? Aud am I ready 
 furnished, and prepared to meet the Lord in the air ? Christians ! if we 
 have any life in us, let us act and realize this to the life. 0 ! this would 
 keep us close to Christ, and to the banner of Christ: who would not march 
 under this banner, and adhere to him, that but reads over these summons 
 of souls at the last dreadful day I 
 
 Sect. IV. — Of Christ and the saints meeting at the judgment dag. 
 
 4. For Christ and the saints meeting at the judgment-day; no sooner 
 are the saints lifted up, and set before the Judge, but these things follow : 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 619 
 
 1. They look, and gaze, and dart their beams, and reflect their glories on 
 each other. Oh the communications! oh the dartings of beams betwixt 
 Christ and his saints ! look as when two admirable persons, two lovers meet 
 together, their eyes sparkle, they look on, as if they would look through 
 one another : so Christ and his saints at first meeting, they look on, as if 
 they would look through one another : and such is the effect of these looks, 
 that they give a lustre to each other by their looks. Did not Moses’s face 
 shine when he had been with God ? And shall not the faces of the elect 
 glitter and shine when Christ also looks on them ? Nor stays it there ; but 
 as they shine by Christ., so shall their shine reflect on Christ, and give all 
 glory to Christ; and this I take to be the meaning of the apostle, “That 
 when Christ shall come, he shall be glorified in his saints,” 2 Thess. 1 : 10. 
 Not only in himself, but in his saints also; whose glory, as it comes from 
 him, so it redounds also to him, “ For of him, and through him, and to him 
 are all things,” Rom. 11 : 36. 
 
 2. They admire at the infinite glory, and beauty, and dignity, and ex- 
 
 cellency that is in Christ. The glory they reflect on him, is nothing to the 
 glory that is in him. Oh ! when these stars, the saints shall but look upon 
 Christ the Sun of righteousness, they exceedingly admire. So the apostle, 
 u When he shall come, he shall be glorified in his saints, and he shall be 
 admired in all them that believe,” 2 Thess. 1 : 10. All that believe shall 
 break out into admiration of Jesus Christ; they shall at the first sight ob- 
 serve such an excellency in Jesus Christ, as that they shall be infinitely 
 taken with it. Here we speak of Christ, and in speaking we admire; but 
 how will they admire, when they shall not only speak or hear, but see and 
 behold him, who is the “ express image of God, and the brightness of his 
 Father’s glory?” Heb. 1: 3. 0 the lustres that he casts forth each way ! 
 
 is not his very body more sparkling than the diamond before the sun ? Yea, 
 more than the sun itself now shining at noon-day? How should the saints 
 but wonder at this sight? Oh ! there is more beauty and glory in Jesus 
 Christ, than ever their thoughts or imaginations could possibly reach ; there 
 is more weight of sweetness, joy, and delight in Jesus Christ, than either 
 the seeing eye, or hearing ear, or the vast understanding heart (which can 
 multiply and add still to any former thoughts) can possibly conceive, 1 Cor. 
 2 : 9. Every soul will cry out then, I believed to see much glory in Jesus 
 Christ, whenever I saw him ; I had some twilight, or moonlight glances of 
 Christ on earth : but, 0 blind I ! 0 narrow I ! that could never have faith, 
 opinion, thought, or imagination, to fathom the thousand thousandth part 
 of the worth, and incomparable excellency that I now see in him. Why, 
 this causeth admiration, when we see more than ever we could expect. The 
 saints shall then cry out, and say, I see more, ten thousand times more than 
 ever I expected ; I see all the beauty of God put forth in Christ, I see the 
 substantial reflection of the Father’s light and glory in Jesus Christ, I see 
 thousands of excellencies in Jesus Christ that never were revealed to me 
 before. This is the very nature of admiration, it is ever wondering or ad- 
 miring at some new and strange thing : the glory of Christ will then ex- 
 ceed all former apprehension. 0 they admire to see the King in such a 
 beauty ! they admire to see the Judge in such a glittering and glorious robe 
 of majesty ; they admire, and they cannot but admire. 
 
 3. They adore, and magnify the grace and glory of Jesus Christ; as it is 
 said of the twenty-four elders, that “they fell down before him that sat on 
 the throne, and worshipped him, that liveth forever and ever, and cast their 
 crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, 0 Lord, to receive glory, 
 and honor, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure 
 they are and were created,” Rev. 5 : 10, 11. So all the saints, now advanced 
 to come up to Christ, and to stand before the throne, they fall down before 
 
620 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK V. 
 
 Christ, and they worship him that lives for ever, shouting and singing about 
 Jesus Christ, and setting out his glory, grace, and goodness. “After this 
 I beheld, (saith John) and lo, a great multitude, which no man could num- 
 ber, of all nations, and kindred, and people and tongues, stood before the 
 throne, and before the Lamb, — and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salva- 
 tion to our God, which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb; and 
 all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders, and the 
 four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, 
 saying, Amen ; blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and 
 honor, and power, and might, be unto our God, for ever and ever,” Amen. 
 Rev. 7 : 9, 10, 11, 12. Saints and angels will both give glory to Jesus 
 Christ that day; every elect man will then acknowledge, here is Christ that 
 shed his blood for me, here is the Saviour that laid down his life for me, 
 here is the sacrifice that gave himself a propitiation forme; here is the per- 
 son that mediated, and interceded, and made peace for me ; here is the Re- 
 deemer that delivered, and redeemed me from the wrath to come : and then 
 they begin those hallelujahs, that never never shall have an end, “ Halle- 
 lujah ; and again, Hallelujah : and Amen, Hallelujah, for the marriage of 
 the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready,” Rev. 19 : 7. 
 
 4. Christ welcomes them into his glorious presence ; if the Father could 
 receive his prodigal but repenting son with hugs and kisses, how will Christ 
 now receive his saints, when they come as a bride to the solemnization of 
 the marriage ? His very heart springs (as I may say) at the sight of his 
 bride ; no sooner he sees her, and salutes her, but he welcomes her with such 
 words as these, “ 0 my love, my dove, my fair one, come now and enjoy thy 
 husband; many a thought I have bad of thee; before I made the world I 
 spent my infinite eternal thoughts on thy salvation ; when the world began, 
 
 1 gave thee a promise, that I would betroth thee unto me in righteousness, 
 and in judgment, in loving kindness, in mercy, and in faithfulness, Hos. 
 
 2 : 19, 20. It was I that for thy sake was incarnate, and lived, and died, 
 and rose again, and ascended : and since my ascension that have been inter- 
 ceding for thee, and making ready the bride-chamber, where thou and I 
 must live for ever and ever. And now I come hither into the clouds to 
 meet thee more than half the way ; and my meaning is to take thee by the 
 hand, and to bring thee to my Father. Now do I take thee for my own ; 
 0 my sister, my spouse, thou art as dear to me as my own dear heart; come, 
 see into my bosom, see here love written in the golden letters of free grace ; 
 come near, for I must have thee with me, and I will never more be so strange 
 to thee as to this day ; sometimes thy sins have made a wall of partition 
 between me and thee ; sometimes I withdrew and was gone, and I hid my- 
 self beyond the curtains, and for a time thou hast lain hid in the closet of 
 the grave, but now we will never part more, anon I will bring thee to my 
 Father, and I will say to him, Father, behold ! here my spouse that I have 
 married unto myself : in the meantime welcome to thy Jesus, I have pur- 
 chased thee with my blood, I have paid dear for thee, and now I will wear 
 thee as a crown and ornament for ever.” 
 
 5. Christ sets them on his right hand, “ Upon thy right hand, doth stand 
 the queen in gold of Ophir,” Psal. 45 : 9. This is the sign of Christ’s love 
 and respect to his saints; when he himself ascended up into heaven, then 
 said the Father to him, “Son, sit thou down at my right hand;’’ and no 
 sooner the saints are ascended up to Christ, but he speaks the same to them, 
 “ Sit thou down at my right hand.” Christ entertains them, as God the 
 Father entertained him ; he at the right hand of God, and they at the right 
 hand of Christ. And herein is set forth the great exaltation of the saints ; 
 as Christ being set at God’s right hand, God highly exalted him, and gave 
 him a name above every name, so now are the saints highly exalted by 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 621 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 Jesus Christ, now are they filled with unmatchable perfection, now is the 
 ( pleroma ,) the fulness of perfection, and fulness of honor and glory con- 
 ferred upon them ; “ Upon his right hand is set the queen in gold of Ophir,” 
 i. e. in the best, richest, finest gold. The Lord now puts upon his saints 
 heaven’s glory, he adorns them with all his ornaments fit for the marriage- 
 day, and indeed here is the beginning of the solemnity of the marriage of 
 the Lamb, not but that the contract was before, but the solemnity was re- 
 served for this day, and all the glory of this day is for nothing else but to 
 set out the solemnity of the marriage. As the bridegroom on the day of 
 nuptials comes forth in his glory, and as the bride on the marriage-day 
 comes forth in her best array; and as the servants, and parents, and friends, 
 -and all appear on the marriage-day in as much glory as they can, so Christ 
 on this day comes forth in his glory, with all his angels in their glory ; and 
 the saints, the Lamb’s wife, “ The King’s daughter is all glorious without 
 and within,” Psal. 45 : 13. Though stars may lose their shining when the 
 sun ariseth, yet the glory of the saints shall be no less because of the Sun 
 of righteousness, but rather more. This is the day that Christ shall honor 
 his saints before all the world ; come (will he say) and sit you down at my 
 right hand; as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats, so will I sepa- 
 rate you from wicked reprobates; why, you are they for whom the eternal 
 counsels cf my Father did work, you are they iu whom I am now to be 
 glorified for ever; and therefore, now will I exalt, and advance, and honor 
 you ; sit here, or stand here on my right hand ; 0 come ! come hither to the 
 right hand of your Saviour. 
 
 6. Hereupon Christ fully and actually joys in them, and they in him : 
 he joys in them because now he sees of the travail of his soul ; he sees the 
 issue of all his doings and sufferings here on earth ; he sees now the great 
 work he hath brought about, to wit, The glory of his saints, and he cannot 
 but rejoice therein. As a man that makes a work that is very curious and 
 glorious, he takes abundance of delight to look upon it ; when God made 
 the world, he looked upon what he had made, and he saw it was good, and 
 he delighted in it; so Christ looks on his saints, and when be sees what he 
 hath done, in raising so poor a worm to so high an excellency, he takes 
 infinite delight therein. Now he sees that he hath attained his end in the 
 great design, and deepest counsels that he had before the world ; he was 
 then resolved to save a number of sinners, and to bring them at last to him- 
 self, that they might behold him in his glory, and manifest the riches of 
 his grace ; and to that purpose hath he still been carrying on the great work 
 of souls’ salvation, as we have heard ; and now that he sees it accomplished 
 and fulfilled in them, he must needs delight, “ In that day it shall be said 
 to Jerusalem, Fear thou not; and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack : 
 for the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty, he will save, he will 
 rejoice over thee with joy, he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee 
 with singing,” Zeph. 3 : 16, 17. 
 
 And as he joys iu them, so they cannot but rejoice in him ; as he delights 
 in their glory, so they cannot but delight in his glory. Are they not at 
 Christ’s right hand ? and is not that the place of pleasure, the Paradise of 
 God ? “ In thy presence is fulness of joy, and at thy right hand are plea- 
 
 sures for evermore,” Ps. 16:11. The very setting of them on Christ’s 
 right hand, is the beginning of heaven’s joy. u The presence of Christ 
 makes joy, exceeding joy,” saith Jude, verse 24. Oh ! but what joy ? 
 What fulness of joy? What exceeding joy, will it be to be set at Christ’s 
 right hand? Now begins that joy, that never, never shall have an cud. 
 0 the complacency which the blessed feel in their seeing, knowing, loving, 
 and being loved of Jesus Christ! “0 my Christ! let me have tribu- 
 lation hero, let me here spend my days in sorrow, and my breath in sighings; 
 
622 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK V. 
 
 punish me here, cut me in pieces here, burn me here, so that T might there 
 be placed at thy right hand.” For then will joy come, and sorrow will 
 vanish ; sorrow is but for a night, this night of life, but joy will come in 
 this morning of the resurrection, and it never shall be night again. 
 
 Sect. Y. — Of Christ’s sentencing his saints. 
 
 4. For Christ sentencing of his saints : no sooner are they set on his 
 right hand, but he prepares for sentence. In the opening of which we 
 must consider, 1. The preparative. 2. The sentence itself. 
 
 1. The preparative, before sentence, will be some exploration or trial 
 of the parties to be sentenced. As, 
 
 1. The book must be opened, “And I saw the dead, small and great, 
 stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was 
 opened, which is the book of life,” Rev. 20 : 12. It is spoken after the 
 manner of men, in whose public judgments are produced all the writings 
 of the process, informations, depositions of witnesses, to show that all 
 actions, even the most secret ones, shall then be rehearsed and made mani- 
 fest. Augustine* thinks these books to be the books of the Old and New 
 Te-stament, wherein all things either to be done, or omitted, are prescribed 
 by God : and then shall these books be opened, because, according to 
 them, shall sentence be given, “ In that day shall God judge the secrets 
 of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel,” Rom. 2 : 16. Origen,j* 
 and almost all with him, think these books to be the books of our con- 
 sciences, which now are shut up and concealed from men, but then shall 
 be made manifest to all the world. Whatsoever those books are, we find 
 here one book opened, which is proper to the saints, called “ the book of 
 life this book contains in it the names of all that are elected from first 
 to last: thou John, and thou Joseph, and thou Judith, and thou, Mary, 
 and thou Elizabeth, &c., you are all booked down, there is the particu- 
 larity, and there is the certainty, “ Your names are written in heaven, 
 rejoice in it oh ! what is the joy of saints, when once they see this book 
 opened, and their names enrolled, engraven there in letters of glory? This 
 very book clears it to me, that God from all eternity made choice of a 
 particular and determinate number of persons to save them ; and that none 
 other can be saved but those who were to be elected, and whosoever are so 
 elected, they shall not fall away ; “ All that worship the beast, their names 
 are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, from the foundation of the 
 world,” Rev. 13 : 8 ; 17:8. On the other side, “ He that overcometh, the 
 same shall be written in the book of life, and I will not blot out his name, 
 but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels,” 
 Rev. 3 : 5. This is the day when that book of life shall be opened, and 
 Christ shall read the names of every elect person before God and angels; 
 not that Christ needs a book, or indeed reads a name, but that his election 
 stands so firm, that he knows every predestinated saint, as well as we know 
 their names, whom for our memories we commit unto our book ; and then 
 he will so honor his saints that he will publish their names to all the 
 world. 
 
 2. All the actions, demeanors, graces, duties, and (it may be,) sins of 
 saints shall be produced, and laid open ; the Holy Ghost tells us, That 
 “ the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the 
 books.” It appears hence that not only names, but things were written, 
 and these things were produced, and accordingly they were judged. 
 
 1. As to evil things, unfruitful works of darkness. It is a question, and 
 I dare not be too positive in it, viz.. Whether the sins of God’s people 
 
 * Aug. 1. 20. de civitate Dei ; cap. 14. 
 
 f Orig. Com. ad. Rom. 14. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 623 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 shall be made manifest at the day of judgment ? Some are for the nega- 
 tive, because God in his promises speaks so expressly “ of forgiving iniqui- 
 ties, of remembering them no more, of blotting them out, of throwing them 
 into the bottom of the sea, of casting them behind his back,” Isa. 43:25; 
 44 : 22 ; 38 : 17. In which respect, say they, the godly are said “ not to 
 come into judgment,” John 5:24. I suppose this last text is ill urged, 
 for by judgment is not meant discussion, but condemnation, and in our best 
 translations so it is rendered : others are for the affirmative, upon these 
 grounds, 1. Because many of the godly and wicked men’s sins are mingled 
 together, and there cannot be a judgment of discussion, preceding that of 
 condemnation, unless godly men’s sins are also produced. 2. Because it 
 is spoken generally in respect of all sorts, that the books were opened ; by 
 which books, most understand the consciences of men; and by the opening 
 of those books, they understand the manifesting, clearing, and discovering 
 of consciences at that general day. 3. Because the scriptures are express 
 for the affirmative ; not but that those texts are truths, “ That sins are for- 
 given, blotted out, thrown away, to be remembered no more,” i. e., as to 
 condemnation ; but as for exploration or discussion, the Lord speaks uni- 
 versally, that “of every idle word that men speak, they shall give an 
 account thereof at the day of judgment,” Matth, 12:36. If the balance 
 weigh down on this side, (for my part I am not peremptory, but shall 
 easily submit to the spirits of the prophets,) yet this manifestation shall not 
 be for the shame, grief, trouble, ignominy, or confusion of the godly, but 
 only for the setting up of God’s justice, and that the goodness and free 
 grace of God in Christ may be made more illustrious; how will Christ then 
 be exalted, when all the world shall see his righteousness and goodness, his 
 truth and mercy, now again meeting together, and kissing each other ? It 
 was so at his first coming, and it will be so at his second coming; then 
 shall his justice and mercy, his righteousness and goodness, be manifested 
 to all; in that by his own merits, notwithstanding their sins, he will bring 
 all his saints to his heavenly glory. 
 
 2. As for good things, whether good works, duties or graces, there is no 
 question but all these will be that day produced and laid open. 1. We see 
 Christ enumerating the good works of them on his right-hand ; for “ I was 
 an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink ; 
 I was a stranger, and ye took me in ; naked, and ye clothed me ; sick, and ye 
 visited me ; in prison, and ye came unto me,” Matth. 25 : 35, 36. It is true, in 
 this catalogue, we find nothing of faith, but all of works; but certainly faith 
 is included, as the life of the tree is included in the fruit; not only, nor 
 principally, are works here mentioned for the goodness of the work con- 
 sidered in itself; but as these works did express our faith and love to Jesus 
 Christ, in that by faith we could see Christ in a poor beggar, or prisoner, 
 and could love Jesus Christ in these poor, better than all our worldly goods 
 or liberties. I do not wonder that Paul adviseth his Corinthians, “ See that 
 ye abound in this grace, for contribution to the saints,” 2 Cor. 8:7. And 
 that he prayeth his Philippians, “And this I pray, that your love may 
 abound yet more,” Phil. 1 : 9. And that he prayeth for his Thessalonians, 
 “Now the Lord make you to increase, and to abound in love, one towards 
 another, and towards all men,” 1 Thess. 3 : 12. And that he praiseth God 
 in their behalf, “ We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as 
 it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of 
 every one of you all towards each other aboundeth,” 2 Thess. 1 : 3. Chris- 
 tians ! if we did but consider, that every duty done to God or man, that 
 every penny given to a poor naked saint, that every cup of cold water given 
 to a prophet, in the name of a prophet, should not lose its reward ; but this 
 day should be reckoned up, or drawn (as it were) into a full inventory, In 
 
624 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK V. 
 
 Primis, For this piece of silver, given such a day to such a one. Item, 
 For this piece of bread, such a day given to such a one, &c. Oh ! who 
 would not abound in faith and love ? Oh ! who would think any thing too 
 much, too good, too dear, to give to the needy members of Jesus Christ ? 
 There is a charge laid upon ministers to preach this doctrine, I beseech you 
 give me leave to discharge my duty, and to lay it, and leave it at your doors, 
 where beggars usually stand, “ Charge them that are rich in this world, — 
 that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, wil- 
 ling to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation 
 against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life,” 1 Tim. 
 6:17, 18, 19. You to whom God hath given the riches of this world, as 
 you would meet Christ with comfort, learn this lesson ; consider whether 
 of these two reckonings will be more comfortable at that day, Item , so much 
 given to such and such a religious use ; or so much given towards such a 
 feast, and for the entertainment of such brave gallants : so much to promote 
 the gospel, or so much at dice, cards, horse-races. If one should tell you, 
 That either you must feed Christ in the poor, or you must starve in hell : 
 you must either clothe naked Christ in the poor, or you must be laid naked 
 to the fiery indignation of the Lord for ever. Oh ! wbat strictness would 
 you call this ? But I recollect myself, if Christ set you at his right-hand, 
 he will then recount all your charities, and all your labors of love to the 
 saints ; you that are poor, and had nothing to give, he will tell of your 
 good works, if it was no more, but at such a time you cast a mite into his 
 treasure; and, at such a time, you carried a letter for the Lord Jesus; he 
 •will produce and commend these pittances of your poor charities to all the 
 world. 
 
 2. Not only good works to man, but all the saints’ duties to God shall 
 come in remembrance. Oh ! then it will be known who served the Lord 
 in spirit and truth, and who did not; then men and angels shall know, 
 “suck a day this poor saint performed such a spiritual service;” every 
 prayer in public or private, every tear shed for sin, every sob or sigh, every 
 spiritual meditation, or self-examination ; every glance, ejaculation, or look- 
 ing up unto Jesus, shall be recounted by Jesus; it was said of Cornelius, 
 That “ as well his prayers to God, as his alms to men, came up for a memo- 
 rial before God,” Acts 10 : 4. Certainly every duty, in reference to the 
 first table, is booked in heaven, and at this day, the book being opened, it 
 will appear, that such a prayer thou madest such a morning, and such an 
 evening in thy closet, and now will Christ say, “ Did not I tell thee, that 
 if thou wouldst pray to thy Father in secret, then he that saw thee in secret 
 should reward thee openly ? Matth. 6 : 6. — Why, now shalt thou have thy 
 reward in a full view, I will divulge here all thy secret duties to men and 
 angels; all the world shall know it; thy wanderings I told them, and thy 
 tears I bottled them ; lo ! here, are they not all written in my book ?” 
 Psalm 56 : 8. 
 
 3. Not only duties but graces shall now be rehearsed; thy knowledge, 
 
 faith, hope, love, and spiritual joy; thy fear, obedience, repentance, hu- 
 mility, meekness, patience, zeal, and perseverance, shall be fully discovered ; 
 time was, that in the incense of such a prayer many sweet spices were 
 burned together ; therein was faith working by love, therein was humility, 
 therein was patience, in submitting to God’s will and pleasure, therein was 
 hope of a gracious answer in God’s due time, therein was holiness, broken- 
 ness of heart, and love to others, &c. “ Time was, (saith Christ,) that I 
 
 gathered my myrrh with my spices, that I eat my honey-comb with my 
 honey,” Sol. Song 5:1. “ That I both accepted and delighted myself in 
 
 thy heavenly graces ; I shall never forget how thou didst ravish my heart 
 my sister, my spouse ; how thou didst ravish my heart with one of thine 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 625 
 
 eyes, and with one chain of thy neck.” Why thus shall the Lord set forth, 
 and tell all the world what gracious children he had : then will appear in- 
 deed the meekness of Moses, the faith of Abraham, the patience of Job, 
 the zeal of Phineas, the love of Magdalene; and, according to the measure 
 of grace conferred upon thee, Christ will set thee out. “We commend the 
 graces of such and such saints at their death ; but, Oh ! let Christ blazon 
 me, and his grace in me at the resurrection-day.” 
 
 Thus far for the exploration or trial before sentence. 
 
 2. For the sentence itself, then shall the King say to them on his right- 
 hand, “ Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for 
 you from the foundation of the world,” Matth. 25 : 24. Every word here 
 is full of life and joy; 1. Come. This is the King’s invitation of his 
 saints to his court : he had summoned them before to his presence, and now 
 they are about him, he will not part with them, they must come a little 
 nearer yet, they must go with him into his presence-chamber; the mansions 
 are ready, the supper of the Lamb is ready, and now he begins the solemn 
 invitation of his bride, Come. 2. “ Come ye blessed of my Father.” 
 Christ blessed them when he went up to heaven, and whilst yet on earth he 
 pronounced them blessed many a time, “ Blessed be ye poor, blessed are ye 
 that hunger, blessed are ye that weep,” Luke 6 : 20, 21. But now he calls 
 them “the blessed of his Father;” not only Christ, but God the Father 
 hath ever looked upon them as his children ; it is the Father’s will as well 
 as Christ’s that they should be blessed, “Ye blessed of my Father. 3. 
 Inherit the kingdom.” Christ had told them before, “ It is your Father’s 
 pleasure to give you the kingdom,” Luke 12 : 32. But then they were 
 only as servants, or as children under age, but now they are heirs, “ heirs 
 of God, and joint heirs with Christ,” Rom. 8 : 17 ; and now they are come 
 to full age, “To the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ,” Eph. 
 4:13; and therefore they must have the inheritance in possession; they 
 must all be kings; this very word speaks them kings, and makes them 
 kings; it is the solemn coronation of the saints; it is the anointing, the 
 setting of the crown upon the heads of the saints; “Henceforth there is 
 laid up for me a crown of righteousness; which the Lord the righteous 
 judge shall give me at that day, and not for me only, but uuto them also 
 that love his appearing,” 1 Tim. 4:8. 4. Inherit the kingdom prepared 
 
 for you. As Tophet was prepared of old, so was his kingdom prepared of 
 old; it was the first creature that ever God made, “In the beginning God 
 created heaven,” Gen. 1:1. His first work was to make heaven for him- 
 self and his saints to dwell in ; he prepared it for them, and then he pre- 
 pared them for it : but why for them ? Were not the angels the first crea- 
 tures that possessed it ? Nay, were they not created in it, or together with ? 
 Yes; but yet the angels are not properly the heirs, sons, members, spouse 
 of God and Christ, as the saints are; the angels are but ministering spirits, 
 and the servants of the bridegroom ; but the saints are the bride herself, 
 heirs and co-heirs with Christ. 5. “Prepared for you from the foundation 
 of the world.” This was the great design of God and Christ from all eter- 
 nity; before the foundations of the world, and at the first stone laid, and 
 ever since they have been carrying on this mighty work ; it is not a busi- 
 ness of yesterday only ; no, no, the eternal thoughts of God hath been 
 upon it, “He hath chosen us in him before the foundations of the world.” 
 Oh ! what thoughts are in saints when this sentence is propounded ! Oh ! 
 what joy enter into them when now they are to enter into their master’s 
 joy ! methiuks if it were possible that tears could be in a glorified estate, 
 the saints could not see Christ reach out a crown to set it on their heads, 
 but they should weep, and hold away their heads, but Christ will have it 
 so; “This honor have all the saints; praise ye the Lord.” 
 
626 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK V. 
 
 Sect. VI. — Of Christ and the saints judging the rest of the world. 
 
 For Christ and his saints judging the world; no sooner shall the saints 
 be sentenced, justified, acquitted, anointed, and crowned ; but presently 
 they must be enthronized, and sit with Jesus Christ to judge the world. 
 
 In the unfolding of this we may observe these particulars. 
 
 1. As Christ is on a throne, so now must the elect be set on thrones, 
 
 “ To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne,” Rev. 
 
 3 : 21. Thrones are for kings and judges ; and in that Christ hath now 
 lifted up his saints to this condition, he will have them sit with him as so 
 many judges, and as so many kings ; or if it be more honor to have thrones 
 by themselves, than to sit with Christ in his throne, John in his vision saw 
 many thrones, “ And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judg- 
 ment was given unto them,” Rev. 20 : 4. And Christ himself told his 
 apostles, “ Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me in the 
 regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye 
 also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel,” 
 Matth. 19 : 28. Hence some argue, That amongst all the saints, the apos- 
 tles shall have their thrones seated next to Christ : howsoever the rest shall 
 not be deprived of their thrones ; for not only twelve thrones, but twelve 
 and twelve are set about the throne of Christ,” “ And round about the 
 thrones, were four and twenty thrones, (or seats), and upon the thrones I 
 saw four and twenty elders, sitting, clothed with white raiment, and they 
 had on their heads crowns of gold,” Rev. 4 : 4. Only four and twenty 
 thrones, and four and twenty elders are numbered, but thereby is repre- 
 sented the whole church of Christ: it is plain enough, that all the saints 
 shall appear plainly in the glory of Christ’s kingdom, having thrones with 
 him in the air during the time of his judgment. 
 
 2. The goats on the left hand shall then be called to receive their doom j 
 no sooner are the saints enthronized, but then shall Christ say, “Ye blessed 
 angels bring hither all those mine enemies, who have said, I shall not rule 
 over them, that I may bruise them with my iron mace and break them in 
 pieces like a potter’s vessel. 0 ! the fear and trembling that will now 
 seize on reprobates ! do but see the case of prisoners, when the judge speaks 
 that word, “ Come, jailors, bring hither those prisoners to the bar.” But, 
 alas ! what comparison can we make to suit with the condition of these 
 reprobates ? Now, shall their hearts fail them for fear ? now shall they seek 
 death, (0 ! how gladly would they die again)? but shall not find it; now 
 shall they cry to rocks and mountains, “ Fall on us, and hide us from the 
 face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,” 
 Rev. 6:16. Asa prisoner in a desperate case had rather remain in his 
 sordid stinking dungeon, than to come into the open air for execution; so 
 the reprobates newly raised from the earth, would fain return again to the 
 earth, glad to return, though not on the face of it with pleasure, yet in the 
 bowels of it with rottenness and solitude ; like malefactors pressing to 
 death, they cry out for more weight, “ Hills, cover us, mountains, fall upon 
 us, yet more weight, more rocks, more mountains; hide us, press us, cover 
 us, despatch us.” But all in vain, the command is out, angels and devils 
 will force them to the bar, for the Lord hath spoken it, “Those mine ene- 
 mies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring them hither,” 
 Luke 19 : 27. 
 
 3. They shall look on Christ and his saints, now sitting on their thrones. 
 As prisoners that stand at the bar in the face of their judge; so must these 
 reprobates look the judge and all his assessors in the very face. 
 
 1. For the Judge, they shall look on him, “Behold he cometh with 
 clouds, and every eye shall see him. and they also which pierced him.” 
 
627 
 
 CHAP. I.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 We heard before, that no sooner Christ in the clouds, but they saw him 
 then : as the prisoners that see the judge riding to his judgment-seat : Oh ! 
 but now they shall see him in the judgment-seat, ready with sparkling 
 eves, and thundering voice to speak their sentence. Prisoners at the bar 
 must not turn their backs on the judge when he begins their sentence, no 
 more must reprobates ; “They must see him in majesty, whom they would 
 not deign to look upon in humility; that by so much more they may feel 
 his power, by how much more they derided his weakness.”* Oh ! the 
 difference betwixt Christ’s first coming in the flesh, and his second com- 
 ing in the clouds; then he came in poverty, now in majesty; then in 
 humility, now in glory; then with poor shepherds, now with mighty an- 
 gels; then the contempt of nations, now the terror of the world; then 
 crowned with thorns, now with majesty; then judged by one man, now 
 judging all men ; then as a lamb, now as a lion. Oh ! horror to conceive, 
 how will the sight of this Judge amaze the wicked ! and the rather because 
 they shall see him whom they have pierced. Is not this the aggravation 
 of their terror? Conceive the guilty man-slayer coming to his trial, will 
 not the red robes of his judge make his heart bleed for his bloodshed? 
 Doth not that crimson cloth present a monstrous hue before bis eyes? 0 
 then! what sight is this, when the man slain sits in the judgment-seat? 
 The rosy wounds of the Saviour still bleeding (as it were) in the prisoner’s 
 presence ! well may they hang their heads, but they shall not shut their 
 eyes, “ They shall see him, saith the text, yea, they also which pierced 
 him shall see him.” This very sight will be as convincing, as if they 
 heard Christ say, “ Thou art the man didst murder me, thou art the man 
 hast pierced me, this wound, this scar, and this print of the nails in my 
 hands and feet, were thy very doings in thy sinning against me.” And 
 who can tell but Christ may speak in some such a manner as this? “Come 
 all you on the left hand, prepare you for the sentence ; I am the man whom 
 you did crucify afresh ; I am he whose person you despised, whose com- 
 mands you disobeyed, whose ministers you abused, whose servants you 
 hated, whose offers you rejected; and of whom you said, There is no 
 beauty in him that we should desire him. Whatsoever he shall say, this 
 believe, that Christ’s sweet face will be most terrible to the wicked at that 
 day. Oh! it will cut them to see him in the judgment seat, whom they 
 basely shut out of doors, preferring a lust before his presence ; then will 
 they begin, with extremest grief, and bitterness of spirit, to sigh and say, 
 “ Oh ! he that I look upon, and must look upon, and cannot choose but 
 look upon ; he whom I now see sitting in yonder flaming, white, and glo- 
 rious throne, is Jesus Christ, the mighty God, the Prince of peace, that 
 true Messiah, whose precious blood was poured out as water upon the 
 earth, to save his people from their sins : it is he, yea, the self-same he, 
 that many a time, whilst I lived upon earth, invited and wooed me by his 
 faithful ministers, that besought and entreated me with tears of dearest 
 love, to leave my lusts, and to bid the devil adieu : that knocked again and 
 again at the door of my heart for entrance, offering himself to be my all- 
 sufficient and everlasting husband, telling me, That if I would but have 
 embraced him, at this time should have been the solemnity of the mar- 
 riage, and now he would have set an immortal crown of bliss and glory 
 upon my head with his own Almighty hand; but I, alas ! like a wilful des- 
 perate wretch, forsook my own mercy, judged myself unworthy of ever- 
 Listing life, and wretchedly, and cruelly, against my own soul, persecuted 
 all the means which should have sanctified me, and all the ministers which 
 
 * In majestate visuri sunt, quern in humilitate videre noluerunt; ut tanto dis 
 tinctius virtutem sentiant quanto contemptius infirmitatem deriserunt. 
 
628 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK y. 
 
 should have saved me, as instruments in the hands of Christ, and now happy 
 I, if I were an hundred thousand millions of miles distant from this sight 
 of Jesus Christ ; Oh ! that these eyes in my head were holes again, as they 
 were but even now when I was rotting, or rotten in the grave ; oh ! that I 
 could turn any way aside from this glorious sight ! oh that I were a stone, 
 a tree, or air, or any other thing that wanted eyes ! Oh that I had no eye 
 within} nor understanding faculty to conceive of Christ, or to know Christ 
 Jesus as my Judge, now ready to bid me go to hell ! ” Certainly these will 
 be the woful wishes of the wicked, when they shall look on Christ as sitting 
 on his throne of judgment. 
 
 2. For the saints, they shall look on them. Indeed they sit so near their 
 Saviour, that they cannot look on him, but they must look on them ; the 
 saints are on their thrones, either in the throne or about the throne of Jesus 
 Christ ; and the reprobates stand in a direct opposite line to the saints ; so 
 that their eyes cannot be off them ; it is said in the parable, that the rich 
 man being in hell, “ He lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham afar off, and 
 Lazarus in his bosom,” Luke 16 : 23. But the distance being so great as 
 heaven and hell, that it cannot be literally understood, but only paraboli- 
 cally ; it is otherwise here, for howsoever the separation be already made, 
 yet neither is the sentence, nor execution past upon the reprobates ; and 
 indeed as yet, both the saints and reprobates are in the air, the one on the 
 right hand, and the other on the left hand of Jesus Christ, and therefore 
 they cannot but have a full view of each other. In the apocryphal book 
 there is a plain description of this view, “ Then shall the righteous man 
 stand in great boldness before the face of such as have afflicted him, and 
 made no account of his labors ; and when they see it they shall be troubled 
 with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the strangeness of his salvation, 
 so far beyond all that they looked for ; and they repenting and groaning for 
 anguish of spirit, shall say within themselves, this is lie whom we had 
 sometimes in derision, and a proverb of reproach ; we fools accounted his 
 life madness, and his end to be without honor; how is he numbered among 
 the children of God, and his lot is among the saints?” Wis. 5 : 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 
 Here is a sight that will trouble and amaze the wicked, that those who some- 
 times were their footstools should now be on thrones ; that poor Lazarus, 
 who lay at the gates of that certain rich man, should now shine like a star 
 near the Sun of righteousness ; that they who were reproached, reviled, 
 massacred and murdered by them, should now be their judges, joining with 
 Jesus Christ to sentence them to hell. Oh ! who conceive the terrible 
 thoughts of these men’s hearts ! now the world cannot help them, their old 
 companions cannot help them, the saints neither can, nor will; only the 
 Lord Jesus can, but oh ! there is the soul-killing misery, he will not; u Ye 
 men and devils (saith Christ) joint heirs of hell, fit fuel for eternal fire, look 
 on us in our thrones ; time was when we could not have a look from you ; 
 Christ and Christians were an abhorrency of spirit unto you, you trode us 
 under foot, but now we are got above you ; 0 see the vast difference betwixt 
 us and you ; look on us, look on me and my saints; see us on our thrones, 
 see us glittering in glory, and be confounded and amazed for ever.” 
 
 4. A particular strict account shall be then required and given. Of 
 what ? you will say. I answer ; 
 
 1. Of sins. Come (will Christ say) now confess all your sins before all 
 the world ; time was that you concealed your sins, but now every sin shall 
 be laid open before God, angels and men, and now is the black book of their 
 consciences opened, wherein appears all their sins, original and actual, of 
 omission and commission. For omission of duties, all those shall be dis- 
 covered, a Christ hungry, and I gave him no meat ; Christ thirsty, and I 
 gave him no drink; Christ a stranger, and I lodged him not; Christ naked, 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 629 
 
 and I clothed him not; Christ sick and in prison, and I visited him not.” 
 And for commissions of evils, all those shall be discovered. “ These sins I 
 committed in my childhood, youth, ripe age, and old age, these were my 
 gross sins, blasphemy, perjury, idolatry, robbery, drunkenness, profaneness, 
 &c. And these were my less sins, anger, hatred, envy, distrust, impatience, 
 pride, presumption, contention, derision, inconstancy, hypocrisy,” &c. Oh ! 
 the numberless number of evil thoughts, words and deeds that now are laid 
 open ! in the black book is not only written all sins done, but all such sins 
 as were intended or proposed to be 'done ; all the projects of the heart, 
 though never acted, must now be discovered. Men little think of this : if 
 I should tell you of such designs that died in your hearts, and never came 
 out to light, you would now be ready to say, “ Tush, I never did such a 
 thing, I only intended it, or had some thoughts about it. And what then ? 
 Why, then, those very thoughts, secrets, purposes, and projects shall come 
 to light, or, if there be any thing more hidden or secret, as the very 
 bent and frame of your hearts ; the very inclinations of your souls to this or 
 that evil, shall then be manifest to all the world. Nay, yet more, such sins 
 as by the sinners themselves were never taken notice of, either before, or at, 
 or after the commission of them, shall this day come out. Conscience is 
 such a kind of private notary or secretary, that it keeps notes or records of 
 all acts and deeds, whether you observe them or no ; conscience hath 
 the pen of a ready writer, and takes in short-hand, and in a legible charac- 
 ter, from your mouths as fast as you speak, and from your hearts as fast as 
 you contrive. “ Conscience-writing (saith one) is not now legible : as that 
 which is written with the juice of a lemon is not to be read with day-light, 
 but against the fire by night you may read it : so conscience-writing cannot 
 now be read, but in that day when heaven and earth are set on fire, this 
 book shall be opened, and the cypher be discovered.” Oh ! what a day will 
 this be^ when not a sin committed by any reprobate from the beginning of 
 the world, but now it shall be rehearsed ? 
 
 2. As an account of all sins, so an account of all temporal gifts which 
 God hath imparted to reprobates, must now be given. Some have the 
 gifts of the world, as riches, honours, and places of authority ; others have 
 the gifts of the body, as health, strength, beauty, and life ; others have the 
 gifts of the mind, as understanding, wisdom, policy, and learning ; now of 
 all these gifts must they give an account. Come you that are rich, (saith 
 Christ) “render an account of your stewardship;” how have you spent your 
 riches ? The like will he say to the honorable, and to those in places of autho- 
 rity ; “ oh ! remember you were in authority, and office, and place, But 
 what service did you to me, or my members ? You had wisdom and learning, 
 and knowledge, and understanding conferred upon you, But what good had 
 the church or commonwealth by it?” The like will he say to others accord- 
 ing to the talents bestowed on them, “ You excelled in strength, beauty, 
 health of body, and length of days; and now tell me, and publish it to all 
 the world, how were these improved.” I believe many a sad answer will be 
 given to Christ of these things, riches mis-spent, and health mis-spent, and wis- 
 dom, policy, learning, gifts and parts mis-spent; 0 consider it! if the factor, 
 after many years spent in foreign countries, at last returns home without his 
 reckonings, Who will not blame him for his negligence ? But when his master 
 calls him to an account, and he finds nothing but a bill of expenses, this in 
 courting, that in feasting ; who laughs not at so fond a reckoning ? Thus 
 many pass the time of their life as a time of mirth, then when they return 
 to their Lord again, behold all their accounts are sms, their profits vanities. 
 
 3. I shall add one thing more ; not only of gifts temporal, but of all bless- 
 ings spiritual, though but tendered and offered, must all give an account 
 0 ! the sad accounts that many a soul will make of these thiDgs. Mcthinka 
 
630 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK V. 
 
 I hear some wicked wretch confessing this to Christ, tc True, Lord, I lived 
 at such a time when the sun of the gospel shone bright in my face, and in 
 such a place where all was Goshen ; I lived under such a minister, who set 
 before me life and death ; many and many a powerful and searching sermon 
 have I heard, any one passage whereof (if I had not wickedly and wilfully 
 forsaken my own mercy) might have been unto me the beginning of the 
 new birth and everlasting bliss. Sometimes in the use of the means I felt 
 stirrings or strong workings in my heart, and then I was fully purposed to 
 have been another man, to have cleaved to Christ, and to have forsaken the 
 world ; I was almost resolved to have been wholly for God, I was almost 
 persuaded to be areal Christian : oh ! what thoughts were in my heart when 
 such a faithful minister pressed the word home ? Methinks every sermon 1 
 heard then is now a preaching again, methinks I hear still the voice of the 
 minister; methinks I see still his tears dropping down his cheeks. Oh! 
 how fresh is the reproof, admonition, exhortation of such and such a preacher 
 now in my mind? Oh! How earnestly did he entreat me? With what 
 love and tender compassion did he beseech me ? How did his bowels yearn 
 over me ? How strongly did he convince me, that all was not well with my 
 sin-sick soul ? How plainly did he rip up all my sores, and open to me all 
 my secrets, and my whole heart ? But, alas ! within a while I made a jest 
 of all, I hardened my heart against all, I stifled all my convictions, I shut 
 my eyes against his discoveries; I cared neither for the minister, nor any 
 thing he said or did. And yet here is not all, not only the ministers of 
 Christ, but the Spirit of Christ sometimes spake to my heart : I remember 
 at such a time, Christ himself (as it were) condescended and bowed the hea- 
 vens, and came down to entreat me for my soul’s health ; oh ! the strivings 
 of the Spirit of Christ, as if he had been loath to have taken a denial ! 0 
 
 Christ, 1 remember thy words when thou criedst to me, Open sinner, open 
 thy heart to thy Saviour, and I will come in, and sup with thee, and thou 
 with me, Bev. 3 : 20. Why, sinner, are thy lusts better than I ? Thy car- 
 nal pleasures better than I ? Thy worldly commodities better than I ? Why, 
 sinner, what dost thou mean ? How long shall vain thoughts lodge in thee ? 
 0 take pity On thy Jesus ! for here I stand, and wait at the door of thy 
 heart, my head is tilled with the dew, my locks with the drops of the night. 
 But, alas ! I resisted Christ and his Spirit; 0 thou Judge and Saviour of 
 all thine elect ! 1 dealt churlishly with thee, I tired out thy patience, I gave 
 thee a repulse, I told thee I had entertained other lovers, and I would none 
 of thee; I trode on counsel, trampled thy precious blood under my feet, and 
 now I am expecting no other but to eat the fruit of my own way. Now 
 mayest thou accomplish thy word, because I set at naught all thy counsels, 
 and would none of thy reproofs ; therefore thou mayest laugh at my calamity, 
 and mock now, my fear cometh.” Lo, here the confessions of sinners, every 
 thing now comes out; for Christ will have it so as a preparative to his doom 
 upon them. 
 
 4. Christ and his saints proceed to sentence. First, Christ the chief 
 Judge shall pronounce it, “Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire, 
 prepared for the devil and his angels,” Matth. 25 : 41. Every word 
 breathes out nothing but fire and brimstone, vengeance and wo ; to depart 
 from that glorious presence of Christ were hell enough, but they must go 
 with a curse; not only so, but into fire, and that must be everlasting; and 
 therein they shall have no other company or comforters but wicked devils, 
 and they insulting over them with hellish spite, and stinging exproba- 
 tions. 
 
 Give me leave a little to enlarge upon these words. No sooner Christ 
 begins the sentence, “ Depart from me,” but methinks I imagine the repro- 
 bates to reply, How ? Depart from thee ? Why, 0 Christ, thou art all 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 631 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 things ; and therefore the loss of thee is the loss of all things ; thou art the 
 greatest good, and therefore to be deprived of thee is the greatest evil ; 
 thou art the very centre, and perfect rest of the soul, and therefore to be 
 pulled from thee is the most cruel separation. We were made by thee, 
 and for thee, 0 let us never be divided from thee ! We were made accord- 
 ing to thy image ; 0 never drive us from our glorious pattern ! Away, 
 away, (saith Christ) ye have no part in me, or in my merits ; never speak 
 or entreat me any more, but depart from me. But secondly, They may 
 reply again, if we must depart, and depart from thee, at least, give us thy 
 blessing before we go ; thou hast great stores of blessings to give, and we 
 hope thou hast one yet in store for us, we crave but a small thing, but a 
 blessing, 0 it is a little one ; thou art our Father, (witness our creation,) 
 and it is a chief property of a father to bless his children. “ No, depart from 
 me ye cursed, in place of a blessing take the full curse of your father; you 
 have been most prodigal and disobedient children, you have followed him 
 who had my first curse, and now share ye curses with him ; cursed be you 
 in your souls, and in your bodies, and in your thoughts, and in your words, 
 and in the heinousness of your sins, and in the grievousness of your punish- 
 ment.^ But, Thirdly, If we must depart from thee, and depart accursed, 
 yet appoint us some meet and convenient place to go into ; create a fruitful 
 piece of ground, and let a goodly sun daily shiue upon it : let it have a sweet 
 and wholesome air, and be stored with fruits and flowers of all forms and 
 colors ; give us the variety of creatures for our uses : 0 if we must go from 
 thee, the source and fountain of heavenly sweetness, afford us some plenty 
 of earthly pleasures, which may in some sort recompense our pain of loss, 
 speak but the word, and such a place will presently start up and show itself. 
 “No, depart from me ye cursed into fire; though fire naturally burns not 
 spirits, yet I will lift and elevate this fire above its nature ; you have sinned 
 against nature, and I will punish you above nature.” Fire ? Alas, that 
 ever we were born ! Who is able to rest in fire ? The very thought of it 
 already bums us. Of all the creatures appointed by God to be the instru- 
 ments of revenge, fire and water have the least mercy. But, Fourthly, If 
 we must into fire, let the sentence staud but a very short time : quench the 
 fire quickly, half an hour will seem a great while there. u No, depart from me 
 ye cursed into everlasting fire, it was kindled by my breath, and it hath 
 this property, among other strange qualities, that it is an unquenchable fire: 
 as long as 1 am God it shall endure, and ye broil in it : and when I cease 
 to be happy, then shall ye cease to be miserable.” 0 wo is us ! What, 
 to live in a fire perpetually, without all end, or hope of end ? — Yet, Fifthly, 
 Allot us then some comforters, whose smooth and gentle words may sweeten 
 our torments, or somewhat dull the most keen edge of our extremity : 0 let 
 the angels recreate us with songs and hymns of thee, and of thy blessedness; 
 that we may hear that sweetly delivered which others fully enjoy ! “ No, 
 
 no, depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil 
 and his angels; and they shall be your comforters, they that will triumph 
 in your miseries, they that are your daily desperate enemies : they that will 
 tell you by what deceits and by-ways they led you from me, and that will 
 give you every hour new names of scorn and horrible reproach.” 0 sen- 
 tence not to be endured, and yet never, never must it be reversed! 0 my 
 brethren, I tremble at the very mentioning of this sentence ! and 0 what 
 will they do on whom it must pass ! 1 beseech you before we pass from it, 
 
 will you ask but your souls this one question, What, can you dwell with 
 everlasting fire ? If you can, you may go on in sin, but if you cannot, why 
 then stop here, and repent of sin : 0 now say, “ If this be the effect of sin, 
 Lord pardon what is past, and 0 give me grace that I may sin no more, as 
 sometimes I have done.” Methinks, if a temptation should come again for 
 
632 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK V. 
 
 ordinary entertainment, you should fright it away with the remembrance of 
 these powerful words, “ Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire pre- 
 pared for the devil and his angels.” 
 
 2. The saints shall judge the very self-same judgment, “Do ye not know 
 that the saints shall judge the world ?” 1 Cor. 6 : 2. That they, as well as 
 Christ, shall judge the world, is without controversy, “And judgment was 
 given to the saints of the most High,” Dan. 7 : 22. “ Ye also shall sit upon 
 
 twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel, Matth. 19 : 28. Behold, 
 the Lord coineth with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon 
 all,” Jude 14, 15. “ Know ye not that we shall judge the angels ?” 1 Cor. 
 6 : 5. Not only shall we judge the world, but the god of the world; the 
 principalities and powers that lead captive wicked men at their pleasure ; 
 even they must be judged by those whom they formerly foiled : so then 
 there is no question but they shall judge. 
 
 Only how the saints shall judge together with Christ, is a very deep 
 question ; for my part I am apt to think, that it shall not be directly known, 
 ere it be seen and done. I shall only relate what others say to this point, 
 and so leave you to your liberty of judging what is right. 
 
 1. Some say, That the saints shall judge the world by presenting their 
 persons and actions, by compairing their good examples with the evil exam- 
 ples of all the reprobates; and so they shall convince and condemn the 
 world, “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to exe- 
 cute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them,” 
 Jude 15. This I conceive to be a truth; yet surely this is not all truth. 
 
 2. Others say, That the saints shall judge the world by way of indicting, 
 impleading, accusing, witnessing, &c. And I conceive it may be thus too; 
 the saints of the law more especially accusing the breakers of the law, by 
 the law, “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father, there is one 
 that accuseth you, even Moses in whom you trust,” John 5 : 45. And the 
 saints of the gospel more especially judging the profaners of the gospel, by 
 the gospel, “In that day, when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus 
 Christ, according to my gospel,” Bom. 2 : 16. This likewise is truth; but 
 I believe as yet we have not the whole truth. 
 
 3. Others say, That the saints shall judge the world after the manner of 
 exultation, glorying, and rejoicing to see the vengeance, “ The righteous 
 shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance, be shall wash his feet in the 
 blood of the wicked,” Psalm 58 : 10. But this their exulting being a con- 
 stant and perpetual act, not for a time, but for eternity, methinks this pre- 
 sent act should be yet somewhat more. 
 
 4. Others say, That the saints shall judge the world by way of assession, 
 assent, vote, sutferage, comprobation, and the like subordinate and conform- 
 able acts ; “And I heard another out of the altar, say, even so, Lord God 
 Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments, Bev. 16 : 17. And after 
 these things, I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alle- 
 luja, salvation, and glory, and honor, and power unto the Lord our God ! 
 for true and righteous are his judgments,” Bev. 19 : 1, 2. This certainly 
 is truth, and commonly so received; yet neither is this all truth. 
 
 5. Others say, That the saints shall judge the world, i. e. Christ in the 
 saints, and the saints in Christ. He in them, by those infallible principles 
 of divine justice, which are imprest in them : and they in him, by those 
 inseparable bonds of union, whereby they wholly relate to him; or he and 
 they together as head and members, the act of the head imputed to the 
 members, and the act of the members acknowledged by the head ; his 
 judiciary act (especially as from his mediatorship and manhood) having a 
 peculiar influence upon them : and their judiciary act (in a perfect con- 
 formity, though not any absolute proportion) having a peculiar reference to 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 633 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 him. And methinks those texts of Matthew 19 : 28, Jude 14, 15, speak 
 there of Christ’s and of the saints’ judgment, as of one joint act. 
 
 Oh, what terror will it be to all wicked men ! when not only Christ, hut 
 all the saints shall say of them, “Away with them, away with them, let 
 them be damned.” You that are fathers, it may be your children will thu9 
 sentence you: I remember when the Jews told Christ, “That he cast out 
 devils by Beelzebub, prince of devils ;” he answered, “ if I through Beelze- 
 bub, cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out ? Therefore 
 they shall be your judges,” Matth. 12 : 24-27. They liked well enough of 
 the miracles of their children who were disciples of Christ, but they could 
 not endure them in Christ, and therefore he tells them, that their children 
 whom God had converted, and to whom he had given power to do the same 
 works that he did, even they should be their judges to condemn them. 
 And so it may be with you, if any of your children be converted to the 
 Lord, and you remain still in a natural state, your very children shall be 
 your judges, and condemn you to hell. But of that anon. 
 
 6. In this doom which Christ and his saints shall pass on reprobates, 
 our Saviour tells us of some reasonings betwixt him and them, “ I was an 
 hungered, (saith Christ,) and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye 
 gave me no drink,” &c. Then shall they answer, “ Lord, when saw w'e thee 
 an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and 
 did not minister unto tbee? And then shall he answer them, Yerily, I say 
 unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it 
 not to me.” As if Christ should have said, Time was, that I was under 
 reproach, misery, calamity, necessity ; I lay at your doors like Lazarus, full 
 of sores, and as I thought nothing too much for you, so I expected also 
 something from you, but, Oh ! cruelty, to see thy Christ an hungered, and 
 not to feed him ! to see thy Christ athirst, and not to cool or quench his 
 thirst ! to see thy Christ a stranger, and not to give him a night’s lodging ! 
 to see thy Christ naked, and not cover him with a garment, who would 
 gladly have covered thee with the robe of righteousness, the garment of 
 salvation ! 0 monstrous inhuman heart ! 0 prodigious wretch ! who amongst 
 the heathen ever dealt thus with their idols ? Have any of the nations 
 starved their godsy turned them out of doors ? And must I only be slighted : 
 Away, reprobates I you had no mercy on me, and now I laugh at your 
 calamity : surely “ he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed 
 no mercy.” They stand wondering at this, and cannot remember that ever 
 they saw Christ in such a condition, “ Why Lord, (say they,) when saw 
 we thee an hungered, or thirsty, or naked ? art not thou he that rose again 
 from the dead, and ascended on high, and ever since hast been exalted above 
 the highest cherubim, a name being given thee above every name; at which 
 name, to this day, but especially now on this day, every knee doth bow, 
 of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth,” 
 Phil. 2 : 9, 10. How then could we see thee in such a condition ? Is not 
 this thy second coming in glory ? And were we alive at thy first coming 
 in humility? How can this be? Oh! why shouldest thou charge us with 
 unkindness to thyself? Sure, if we had known thee in need, we would 
 have given thee of thy own ; thou shouldest never have wanted, what 
 things we enjoyed, but thou shouldest have commanded both us and them. 
 To which our Saviour replies, “ O deceitful, ignorant, and stupid souls ! 
 Have you no better learned Christ than so ? Am not I Head of the 
 church, and can the head be without members? Yerily, if you had loved, 
 relieved, or done good to them, you had done so to me; but, in being 
 uncharitable to them, you were no less unto me.” Never say you would 
 have been thus and thus kind to Christ, whilst you were unkind to 
 Christians ! herein lies the deceitfulness of your hearts, “ 0 ! they are 
 
634 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK Y. 
 
 deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, Who can know them ? 
 But I the Lord, search the heart, I try the reins, even to give to every 
 man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings,” Jer. 
 17 :9, 10. Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of my members, 
 ye did it not to me; and therefore get ye down to hell, get you out of my 
 presence ; take them devils, away with them, angels, to the devil and his 
 angels for ever. 
 
 These are the reasonings betwixt Christ and reprobates; and if so, may 
 we not imagine the like betwixt saints and reprobates ? Is there not the 
 same reason of reasoning betwixt them and the inferior judges, as betwixt 
 them and the Supreme Judge? For my part I cannot conceive, but if we 
 admit of such disputes betwixt Christ and them, well may there be the like 
 disputes, arguings, and reasonings betwixt saints and them ; for they had 
 on earth more familiarity, converse, and communion together. Some of 
 them, it may be, were in near and dear relations to each other; and now 
 that the one shall judge the other to eternal flames. Oh ! what passages 
 will be betwixt them ! I shall instance in our nearest relations upon earth, 
 as of masters and servants, parents and children, husbands and wives, 
 ministers and people ; no question but in these very relations some shall 
 judge, and others be judged. Our Saviour tells us, “There shall be two 
 men in one bed, the one shall be taken, the other shall be left; two women 
 shall be grinding at one mill, the one shall be taken, and the other left; 
 two men shall be together in one field, the one shall be taken, and the 
 other left,” Luke 17 : 34, 35, 36. Wherein the Lord seems to show, that 
 God’s election doth extend itself to all sorts of persons, and separates the 
 most. They shall not be saved by families, as in Noah’s time; but one 
 friend shall be taken by Christ into heaven, and another left for the devil 
 to carry into hell. Give me leave but to enlarge on those reasonings or 
 discourses, that we may imagine will be now betwixt these several rela- 
 tions. As, 
 
 1. Betwixt master and servant. If the master be the saint, and his 
 servant the reprobate, then shall the master say, 0! thou wicked servant, 
 bow many a time did I call on thee to duty ? How often have I told thee, 
 that I would have thee to be God’s servant as well as mine ? How often 
 came that word to thy ears, “ Servants obey your masters in all things, 
 according to the flesh, not with eye-service, as man pleasers, but in single- 
 ness of heart, fearing God?” Col. 3:22. How often was that precious 
 word laid close to thy conscience, “ He that doeth wrong shall receive for 
 wrong which he doeth ; but in doing service to me, as to the Lord, thou 
 shouldst of the Lord receive the reward of thy inheritance, for in such 
 service thou didst serve the Lord Christ,” Col. 3 : 23, 24, 25. But thou 
 wouldst not be warned, and now thou art justly condemned ; I say, Amen 
 to Christ’s sentence, get thee down to hell, and there serve Satan, and 
 receive his wages in fire and brimstone forever. — Or, if the servant be the 
 saint, and his master the reprobate, Then shall the servant say, 0 my 
 quondam, master, how many a time hast thou tyrannized it over me ? How 
 didst thou use me or abuse me, to serve thy own lust or corruptions? 
 Many a time I have had strong desires to wait upon God in the use of 
 public and private ordinances; this morning, and that evening, I would 
 have served my master the Lord Jesus Christ, but thou wouldst not spare 
 me one hour’s time for prayer, reading, meditation, &e. I was ever faith- 
 ful in thy service, going to bed late, and rising early : “ The drought con- 
 sumed me by day, and the frost by night, and my sleep many a time de- 
 parted from mine eyes; surely God hath seen my affliction, and the labor 
 of my hands, and now he hath rebgked thee,” Gen. 31 : 40, 42. Host thou 
 not observe that admirable justice and righteousness of Christ in the sen- 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 635 
 
 tences passed on us both ? Remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst 
 thy good things, and I received evil things ; but now I am comforted, and 
 thou must be tormented. I now serve a better master; after my week's 
 work with thee, I shall keep a perpetual sabbath with God ; but go thou 
 with thy old companions from thy glorious mansion, to a loathsome dungeou ; 
 from thy table of surfeit, to a table of vengeance; from thy faithful ser- 
 vants, to afflicted spirits ; from thy bed of down, to a bed of tire ; from soft 
 linen and silken coverings, to wish a rock for thy pillow, and a mountain 
 for thy coverlet. 
 
 2. Betwixt parent and child. If the parent be the saiut, and the child 
 
 the reprobate ; then shall the parent say, 0 thou wicked, rebellious, son ! 
 or, 0 ! thou wicked, rebellious, and disobedient daughter, it is I that begot 
 thee, or brought thee forth ; that during thy infancy laid thee in my bosom, 
 and dandled thee on my knee, and carried thee in my arms, and set thee as 
 a seal upon my heart; that during thy minority fed thee, and apparelled 
 thee, and trained thee up in manners, learning, a particular calling, and 
 especially in the nurture and admonition of the Lord ; and then, when I 
 saw thy uutowardness of spirit, and thy breakings out into things forbidden 
 by God and man, 0 ! the admonitions, repreheusions, corrections ! 0 the 
 
 many thousands of warnings that I gave thee of this day ! and of the wrath 
 to come ! and yet thou wentest on in thy stubborness, till thou becamest 
 many and many a time a grief of mind, a bitterness of spirit unto me : 
 and then, how often did I mind thee of thy duty ? “ Children obey your 
 parents in all things, Col. 3 : 20. Honor thy father and mother, which is 
 the first commandment with promise, Eph. 2 : 6. The eye that mocketh 
 his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall 
 pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it,” Prov. 30 : 17. But alas ! all 
 these expressions made no saving impression on thy hardened heart, thy 
 brow was brass, and thy sinews of iron, thou wast very stiff-necked, and 
 now thou art justly damned; I cannot but approve of Christ's judgment 
 upon thee, though thou earnest out of my bowels, yet now I have no pity, 
 no bowels of compassion towards thee ; the glory of God hath so swallowed 
 up all my natural affections, that I cannot but laugh at thy calamity, and 
 joy in thy damnation ; I gave thee a body, and God himself gave thee a 
 soul ; but now let devils have both, and torment them in hell : begone, I 
 shall never see thee again. Or, if the child be the saint, and the parent 
 the reprobate; then shall the child say, 0 unworthy parent! unworthy of 
 eternal life ! I had my natural being from thee, but my spiritual being 
 was from the Lord : if I had followed thy steps, I had been everlastingly 
 damned ; did I not know thy ignorance, thy unbelief, thy worldliness, thy 
 covetousness, thy pride, thy malice, thy lust, thy lukewarmness, thy im- 
 patience, thy discontentment, thy vain-glory, thy self-love ? Didst thou not 
 often check me for my forwardness, and zeal, and holiness, and religion ? 
 Didst thou not ask me, What, art thou wiser than the rest of the neighbor- 
 hood ? Are there not many gray hairs amongst us, whose wisdom and ex- 
 perience thou hast not yet attained ? And canst not thou walk on soberly 
 towards heaven, and either do as the most, or keep pace with the wisest ? 
 What, have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on Christ ? Oh I 
 I shall ever remember to the praise and glory of Christ, what discourage- 
 ments I had, and yet how the Lord plucked me as a fire-brand out of the 
 fire ; and now hath the Lord set me on the throne, to judge thee according 
 to thy demerits ; and therefore I join with him, who is the Father of spi- 
 rits against the father of ray flesh; depart, go to the gods whom thou hast 
 served, and see if they will help thee in the day of thy calamity. 
 
 3. Betwixt husband and wife. Now if the husband be the saint, and 
 the wife the reprobate, then shall the husband say, Thou art she whom I 
 
636 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK V. 
 
 knew in the flesh, whom I dearly affected with my heart and soul ; whom 
 I nourished and cherished as my own body; thou art she that was the wife 
 of my bosom, as near and dear to me as my heart in my bosom ; thou wast 
 my companion, my yoke-fellow, and my very delight; but Oh! I could 
 never rule thee, lead thee, guide thee, in the way of life, in that path that 
 is called holy. Many a time have I wooed, sued, and sought to gain thy 
 soul to that blessed bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ; many a time have 
 I prayed with thee, and for thee; many a time have I stirred thee up to 
 hear the word, to wait upon God in the use of all means public and private ; 
 and instead of embraces, or yieldings to these blessed motions, I have met 
 with contentions and jars, “As a continual dropping in a very rainy day,” 
 Prov. 19 : 13. — 27 : 15. But death hath dissolved that knot, so that now 
 I am no more thy husband. This is the day of separation, and I shall no 
 more consort with thee ; “At the resurrection there is no use of marriage, 
 but now I am to live as an angel in heaven,” Mark 12 : 25. And because 
 thou wouldst not draw with me in Christ’s yoke, now therefore adieu for 
 ever and ever. We shall never more lie in one bed, or sit at one board, or 
 walk in one field, or grind at one mill : thou hast lost me, and thou hast 
 lost Jesus Christ, two husbands in one day : go now and take thy choice in 
 hell ! thou art free from us, but thou shalt be bound there with indissolvable 
 bonds to the devil and his angels. Or, if the wife be the saiut, and the 
 husband the reprobate, then shall the wife say, Thou art he, whom I looked 
 upon as my second self, my head, my governor, my helper, my husband ; 
 for whom I was willing to forsake my native home, father’s house, dear 
 relations of father, mother, brother, sister, and many comforts in that kind ; 
 and I expected to have found new matter, and a continued influence of com- 
 fort, and delight in a marriage-state : but oh the vexation of spirit ! hadst 
 thou not almost drawn me away from Jesus Christ? Was not I forced, 
 through many provocations sometimes to break out and say, “ Surely a 
 bloody husband art thou to me ?” Exod. 4 : 25. Many a time I cried, O 
 my husband ! when wilt thou set up the rich and royal trade of grace in 
 thy family? When wilt thou exercise prayer, reading, tatechising, confer- 
 ence, days of humiliation, and other household holy duties ? Oh, for doing 
 something to assure our souls of meeting together hereafter in heaven ! but 
 alas! it would not be; and now see the effect; here X stand like a queen, 
 decked and adorned with cloth of gold, with raiment of needle-work, with 
 the white robe of Christ’s righteousness, so that the King of Heaven greatly 
 desires my beauty, and my soul is this day married to Christ; I acknow- 
 ledge him and no other husband in the world ; and for thee who refused to 
 join with me in the worship of God, now God hath refused thee. Farewell 
 or fare ill for ever. 
 
 4. Betwixt a minister and some of his people at least : if the people be 
 as so many saints, and the minister the reprobate, then shall the people say, 
 0 ! thou art the man that undertookest that mighty calling of feeding souls 
 with the word of life; but now are thy sins written in thy forehead, for 
 either thou runnest before thou wast sent, or being sent, thou hast been ex- 
 ceeding negligent in the gift that was in thee. Didst thou not prophesy to 
 Baal, and cause God’s people to err? Didst thou not studiously and mainly 
 seek for the fleece, not regarding respectively the flock? Didst thou not 
 strengthen the hands of evil doers, in preaching peace, peace to wicked 
 men ? Wast thou not profane, and wicked, and loose in thy life, and by 
 that means leadest many thousands to hell ? 0 thou bloody butcher of 
 
 souls ! hadst thou been faithful in thy ministry, well might those damned 
 companions about thee have escaped the flames ! but they are doomed to 
 death, and now thou mayest hear their cries, and grievous groans and com- 
 plaints agaiu»t thee; this was the man set over us to give us the bread of 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 637 
 
 life, but, 0 Christ ! did he not fail us ? Did he not feed us with unpro- 
 fitable matter, fables, conceits, airy sentences, rather than with any thing 
 tending to godly edifying, which is in faith? Did not our tongues, and the 
 tongues of our children stick to the roof of our mouths, in calling and cry- 
 ing for bread, for the bread of life, and he would not pity us? We gave 
 him the tenths which thou appointed, but he gave not us thy truth which 
 thou didst command him; why Lord Christ, thou Judge of all the world, 
 didst thou not bid him feed, feed, feed ? Didst thou not bid him feed the 
 flock committed to his charge ? Didst thou not bid him preach the word, 
 u Be instant in season, and out of season ; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all 
 long suffering ?” And notwithstanding all thy commands, did he not miserably 
 starve us ? Instead of feeding us to salvation, hath he not starved many 
 thousands of us to our destruction ? 0 Christ! thou that art the Judge of 
 
 nations, and the revenger of blood, reward thou this man, as he hath re- 
 warded us; he led us in the ways of wickedness, and (if it must be so) let 
 him be our ringleader to hell; and upon his soul once buried in hell, let 
 this be the epitaph, “ The price of blood, the price of blood.” If thou didst 
 hear the blood of Abel, being but one man, forget not the blood of many, 
 now thou art judging the earth. Why, thus do the damned cry about thine 
 ears; and as for us (say the saints) who were once thy people, but now thy 
 judges, we consent to their cry, and to our Saviour’s doom, “ Go, thou 
 cursed into everlasting fire.” 
 
 Men, brethren, and fathers, I begin thus with the minister’s doom, that 
 you may see I would deal impartially; and verily I believe it, if our case 
 come to this, we of the ministry shall be in a thousand times worse condition 
 than any of you, for besides the horror due to the guilt of our own souls ; 
 all the blood of those souls who have perished under our ministry, through 
 our default, will be laid to our charge; little do you know or consider the 
 burden that lies upon us, a burden able to make the shoulders of the most 
 mighty angel in heaven to shrink under it. Chrysostom was a glorious 
 saint, yet casting his eye upon one only text in the Bible,* “ Obey them that 
 have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls 
 as they that must give an account,” Heb. 13 : 17. He professeth, that the 
 terror of this text made his heart tremble. Surely it is enough to make our 
 hearts tremble, if we seriously weigh our terrible doom, in case that we 
 should miscarry. 
 
 But now on the other side, if the minister be the elect, and sentenced to 
 salvation, and many of his people prove no better than reprobates ; then 
 shall the minister say, 0 miserable souls ! now you feel the truth of those 
 comminations and curses which we opened and unfolded, and discovered to 
 you out of God’s word ! we dealt plainly with you, “ That the unrighteous 
 should not inherit the kingdom of God,” 1 Cor. 6:9. We advised you 
 again and again, “ Be not deceived, neither fornicators, no* idolaters, nor 
 adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor 
 thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall 
 inherit the kingdom of God,” verse 10, 11. And such were you, and not- 
 withstanding all our threats, warnings, intreatings, beseechings, thus ye 
 lived, and thus ye died ; and here is the issue, Christ hath now doomed you 
 to hell, and here am I set on a throne to judge your souls; for the saints 
 shall judge the world as well as Christ himself. Oh ! what shall I do? 0 
 my bowels, my bowels ! here is a case beyond all the former, each of them 
 according to their relations judge another; but here is a multitude, not one, 
 or two, or ten, or an hundred, but many hundreds, or thousands, according 
 to the number of such and such congregations, where I have preached. 
 
 * Hujus comminationis terror animum mihi concutit. Clirysost. 
 
638 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK V. 
 
 In Christ’s reasonings with the wicked, we have heard of his sayings, and 
 their answers, and of his replications to their answers, much said on both 
 sides to and again ; I may suppose the like here. Oh ! wbat shall I do, 
 (says the minister) what doom shall I pass on this assembly of reprobates? 
 Can I absolve them whom the righteous God hath condemned? Can I say, 
 come along with me to heaven, now Christ hath said, Go ye cursed into 
 hell ? And Oh ! now shall I turn my speech from my wonted wooing, be- 
 seeching, intreating, exhorting, to a direct dooming, damning, condemning 
 these souls to the pit of hell ? Sometimes indeed I opened to these souls 
 all the armory of God’s wrath. I thundered and lightened in their congre- 
 gations, but my design was to fright them out of bell fire, and knowing the 
 terrors of the Lord, to have persuaded them towards heaven, and heavenly 
 things ; but now if I speak of condemnation, no sooner shall I speak, but 
 their souls will sink down to hell ; 0 miserable souls ! What shall I say, 
 or what can you say for yourselves? Then shall they answer; Oh, Sir, do 
 not you aggravate the torment by your condemnation ; the weight of Christ’s 
 doom is already insupportable, but will you add more weight? Why, re- 
 member, we are, some of us (it may be) of your flesh and blood ; many a 
 time you told us, that you unfeignedly loved us, and that we were dearer to 
 you than all worldly enjoyments, many a time you told us that you were 
 willing to spend yourself for us ; as the candle that burns itself to give others 
 light ; you were pleased to bestow your prayers, tears, sighs and groans for 
 our souls ; your very books and writings were high expressions, and abiding 
 monuments of your dear love to us : you weighed not your strength and spi- 
 rits in comparison of our souls ; And shall this fair comical scene end in a 
 dismal, doleful, bloody tragedy ? Would you do, or suffer any thing to save 
 us, and will you now condemn us ? Oh forbear ! 
 
 Ah ! no, (saith the minister) I cannot forbear, all is true that you say, I 
 loved you dearly, and I was willing to spend, or to be spent for you, but this 
 aggravates the more ; ah ! my travail, pains, books, writings, words, tears, 
 sighs and groans, are in one volume together, and this volume has been 
 opened this day, and now is the question put, What have ye profited by all 
 my words, prayers, tears, sighs and groans ? Is not all lost? And are not 
 your souls lost ? And now, do you tell me of love ? What, did I ever love 
 you more than Christ loved you ? Were the drops of my tears to be com- 
 pared with the showers of his blood ? Were my pains for you equal to the 
 pains of his cross ? And hath not he condemned you to hell ? And shall 
 not I be like-minded to Jesus Christ? Surely the Lord’s will must be my 
 will ; he hath already judged you, and he will make me to judge you; so far 
 am I from pitying you, that if he that formed you will show you no mercy, 
 if he that saves me, and all the elect people of God, will not save you; can 
 I pity you, or save you, or dissent from Jesus in his sentence upon you? 
 Speak no more of flesh and blood, of labors of love, Christ’s sentence must 
 stand, and as I am a member of Christ, and a minister of Christ; I cannot 
 but approve of it ; and so judge you to hell. 
 
 Why then, (say reprobates) we will curse thee, and blaspheme Jesus 
 Christ in hell forever ; cursed be the time that ever we heard of Jesus, or 
 that we ever knew thee, or thy ministry. Do not thy sermons send us 
 deeper into hell ? Had it not been easier for us at this day of judgment, if 
 we had lived in Tyre and Sidon, where the gospel never was preached ? 
 Didst thou not harden our hearts in such and such sermons, when the word 
 came home ? Didst thou not deny us the seals which might have been for 
 confirmation of our souls’ salvation ? Didst thou not estrange thyself from 
 us in respect of any inward, intimate and familiar society which thou 
 affordest to others ? Doth not the event plainly show, that all thy tears, 
 prayers, words, and works, as in reference to us, were hypocrisy, flattery, 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 639 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 deceit and dissimulation ? Oh ! cursed be the day that ever we lived under 
 such a ministry, or that ever we heard of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Nay, then (saith the minister) it is time for us to part, such were your in- 
 vectives on earth, and now they are, and will be your language in hell, but 
 have not I answered these cavils many a time ? Have not I told you that 
 the word would harden some and soften others, the fault being in yourselves ? 
 Have not I cleared it that the seals are not to be set upon blanks, and that 
 confirmation could not be without a work of conversion to lead it ? And 
 were we not commanded in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to withdraw 
 ourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly ? 2 Thess. 3 : 16. Did 
 not the wise man tell us, “ He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled there- 
 with, and he that hath fellowship with a proud man shall be like unto him ? 
 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burnt ? Can a 
 man go upon hot coals and his feet not be burnt ?” Prov. 6 : 27, 28. As 
 for other cavils, the Lord be Judge between you and us; nay, the Lord 
 hath been Judge between you and us ; lo, here we stand on the right hand 
 of Christ; lo, here we sit on our thrones to judge you, and that world of 
 wicked men and angels; let Christ be glorious, and let his sentence stand, 
 and let that word of judgment never be reversed, “ He that loveth cursing, 
 let it come upon him ; and he that clotheth himself with cursing, as with a 
 garment, let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones,” 
 Psal. 109 : 17, 18. No more, but adieu souls, adieu reprobates, adieu for 
 ever; you must descend, but we must ascend. Go you to hell, whilst we 
 mount upwards into heaven and glory. 
 
 At this last word, down they go ; the evil angels falling like lightning, 
 and evil men hauled and pulled down with them from the presence of God, 
 and Christ, and angels, and all the blessed ones; even from their fathers, 
 mothers, wives, husbands, children, ministers, servants, lovers, friends, ac- 
 quaintances ; who shall then justly and deservedly abandon them with all 
 detestation and derision ; and forgetting all nearness, and dearest obliga- 
 tions of nature, neighborhood, alliance, any thing, will rejoice in the execu- 
 tion of divine justice. Oh the shrieks, and horrid cries that now they 
 make, filling the air as they go ! Oh the wailings and wringing of hands ! 
 Oh the desperate roarings ! Oh the hideous yellings, filling heaven, and 
 earth, and hell ; but I shall follow them no farther ; no sooner do they fall 
 into the bottomless pit, but presently it shuts her mouth upon them, and 
 there I must leave them. 
 
 Sect. YII. — Of Christ and his saints going up into heaven , and of the 
 
 end of this world. 
 
 7. For Christ and his saints going up into heaven, and so for the end of 
 this world ; no sooner are the reprobates gone to their place, but the saints 
 ascend ; now Christ ariseth from his judgment-seat, and with all the glorious 
 company of heaven, he marcheth towards the heaven of heavens. Oh ! 
 what a comely march is this ? what songs of triumph are here sung and 
 warbled ? Christ leads the way, the cherubiins attend, the seraphims wait 
 on, angels, archangels, principalities, powers, patriarchs, prophets, priests, 
 evangelists, martyrs, professors, and confessors, of God’s law and gospel 
 following, attend the Judge and the King of glory; singing with melody, 
 as never ear heard ; shining with majesty, as never eye hath seen; rejoicing 
 without measure, as never heart conceived. 0 blessed train of soldiers ! 0 
 goodly troop of captains ! each one doth bear a palm of victory in his hand, 
 each one doth wear a crown of glory on his head ; the church militant is 
 now triumphant ; with a final overthrow have they conquered devils, death, 
 and hell ; and now must they enjoy God, life, and heaven ; sometimes I 
 have, with much wonder and admiration, beheld some regiments passing our 
 
640 
 
 LOOKING ONTO r JESU S. 
 
 [BOOK Y. 
 
 streets ; but had I seen those Roman armies, when they returned victors, 
 and made their solemn triumphs in the streets of Rome, oh then how should 
 I have admired ; never was the like sight to this of Christ and his army 
 in this world. 0 the comely march they make, through the sky, and 
 through the orbs, and through all the heavens till they come to the 
 heaven of heavens! Was ever so many glistering suns together in one 
 day ? Was ever so many glories together this side the kingdom of glory ? 
 Not to speak of Christ or his angels, “ 0 who is she that looketh forth 
 as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an 
 army with banners ?” Sol. Song 6 : 10. Are not in the head of those regi- 
 ments, Adam, and Abel, and Noah, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, 
 and all the patriarchs, and all the prophets, and all the apostles ? And (if 
 thou art a saint that readest this) art not thou one sun appointed by God 
 amongst the rest to follow Christ ? Here is enough to fill thy heart with 
 joy before hand, as sure as yonder sun now shines in the firmament, shalt 
 thou that believest pass by that sun in its very orb, and by reason of thy 
 glory it shall lose its shine ; oh then ! what spreading of beauty and bright- 
 ness will be in the heavens as all the saints go along ? What lumps of 
 darkness shall those glittering stars appear to be, when all the saints of God 
 shall enter into these several orbs and spheres ? And thus as they march 
 along higher and higher, till they come to the highest, at last heaven opens 
 unto them, and the saints enter into their master’s joy. What is there 
 done at their first entrance, I shall discover another time ; only for a while, 
 let us look behind us, and see what becomes of this nether world. 
 
 No sooner Christ and his company in the imperial heaven, but presently 
 this whole world is set on fire : to this profane authors seem to assent ; As, 
 
 1. Philosophers, especially the Stoics, were of this mind. Humor pri- 
 mordium , exitus ignis , said Seneca, “ Moisture was the beginning, and fire 
 shall be the end of this world.” And speaking of the sun, moon, and stars : 
 “ Mark, (says he) whatsoever now shines in comely and decent order, shall 
 at last burn together in one fire.” 
 
 2. The poets grant this, Lucan speaking of those whom Caesar left un- 
 
 burnt at the battle of Pharsalia, Has Ccesar populos sinunc non usserit 
 ignis, uret cum ierris. “ If fire shall not now burn those, when heaven, 
 and earth, and all shall burn, then must they burn.” — Ovid, in like man- 
 ner, Esse quoque in fatis — quo mare, quo tellus — ardeat. “A time shall 
 
 come, when sea, and earth, and all the frame of this great world shall be 
 consumed in flame.” 
 
 8. The Sybils grant this, to which the Roman missal seems to allude, 
 joining them with the prophet David, though I know not by what war- 
 rant. Dies irae dies ilia , solvet saeculum in favilla , teste David cum 
 Syhilla. 
 
 “ A day of wrath, a day of fire, 
 
 So David with the Sybils doth conspire.” 
 
 But to waive all these, one text of scripture is to me more than all these 
 — 2 Pet. 3 : 10. u The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and 
 the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works 
 that are therein shall be burnt up.” Hence all our divines agree, That a 
 fire shall seize on the universe, only some difference is amongst divines, 
 Whether the world shall be wholly annihilated or renewed by fire; Jerome 
 and Augustine, and many after them, say, the end of this fire is for purify- 
 ing and refining of the heaven and earth, for all corruptible qualities shall 
 be burnt out of them, but they in their substance shall remain still; if we 
 ask them, to what end shall this nether world be renewed ? Some say* for 
 
 * Mundus in melius immutatis aperte accommodabitur hominibus in malius im- 
 mutatis. August, de civit. Dei. 1. 20, c. 16. 
 
CHAP. I.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 641 
 
 an habitacle of the restored beasts, others, for a fitter accommodation of 
 men and the glorified saints; others, for a perpetual monument of God's 
 power and glory. Polanus, and some of our moderns are of opinion,* “ That 
 these heavens, and this earth, when purified with those fires, and super-in- 
 vested with new endowments, they shall be the everlasting habitations of 
 the blessed saints.” But, on the contrary, others are of the other opinion, 
 that all the world with all the parts and works (except men, angels, and 
 devils, heaven and hell, the two mansions for the saved and damned) shall 
 be totally and finally dissolved and annihilated. And of this opinion were 
 Hilary, Clement, and all the ancients before Jerome; and of our moderns 
 not a few. For my part, I rather incline this way, because of the many 
 scriptures that are so express, I shall mention only these. — “ Man lieth 
 down, and riseth not till the heavens be no more, Job 14 : 12. Of old 
 thou hast laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the works 
 of thy hands; they shall perish, but thou shalt endure, Psal. 102 : 25, 26. 
 All the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled 
 together as a scroll, and all the hosts shall fall down, as the leaf that falleth 
 from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig-tree," Isa. 34 :4. To which 
 prophecy John seems to allude, “And the heavens departed as a scroll when 
 it is rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their 
 places,” Rev. 6 : 14. Again, “ Heaven and earth shall pass away, (saith 
 Christ,) but my word shall not pass away,” Matth. 24 : 36. The day of 
 the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall 
 pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, 
 the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up, 1 Pet. 
 3 : 10. And the world passeth away, and the lusts thereof, but he that 
 doeth the will of God abideth for ever, 1 John 2 : 17. And I saw a great 
 white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the 
 heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them,” Rev. 20 : 11. 
 Now I would demand, whether “ being no more,” as Job ; and “ perishing,” 
 as David : “ and rolling together, and falling down like a withered leaf,” 
 as Isaiah ; and “ passing away,” as our Saviour and Peter : and “ flying 
 away,” as John ; do not conclude an utter abolition ? If to these scriptures 
 I should add one reason, I would argue from the end of the world's crea- 
 tion : Was it not partly for the glory of God, and partly for the use of 
 man ? Now for the glory of God, the manifestation of it is occasioned by 
 the manifestation of the world unto man ; if man therefore should be re- 
 moved out of the world, and no creature in it be capable of such a mani- 
 festation, What would become of his glory? And for the use of man, that 
 is either to supply his necessity in matter of diet, physic, building, apparel, 
 or for his instruction, direction, recreation, comfort, delight; now, when he 
 shall attain that blessed state of enjoying God, and seeing God face to face, 
 these ends, or the like, must needs be frustrated. This argument is weighty, 
 and we need no more. Only we shall hear our antagonists' objections, and 
 give them their answers, and so conclude. 
 
 The texts more especially objected against this opinion, are two : the first 
 is that in Rom. 8 : 21. “ The creature itself shall be delivered from bondage 
 of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” Here, 
 say they, is an earnest expectation attributed to brute creatures, that they 
 shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty 
 of the children of God. But I answer, that no immortal being of the brute 
 creatures is here promised, but only a simple deliverance and dismission 
 from the servitude they were in to ungrateful men. The birds, beasts, and 
 fishes, do now suffer for our diet; horses, mules, and beasts of that nature, 
 
 41 
 
 * Polan. Syntag. 1. 6, c. 70. 
 
642 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK Y. 
 
 do now groan under the burdens of our pleasures, or necessities ; their an- 
 nihilation therefore to them must needs be a kind of deliverance ; and, at 
 last, they shall be delivered at the time of the glorious liberty of the sons 
 of God ; the text will bear it thus,* (eis pro dia,') “ The creature shall be 
 delivered by the glorious liberty of the sons of God/' t. e. When such a 
 deliverance comes to men, these shall be freed from their servitude, by be- 
 ing not at all, having done all the business for which they were ordained, 
 or created. 
 
 The second text is that in 2 Pet. 3 : 13. We look for new heavens, and 
 a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. These words, say some, imply 
 a purging, rather than abolishing : a taking off the corrupt qualities only, 
 not the substance. But I am of another mind, and if I must give my sense 
 of the place, I say, 
 
 1. Negatively, that “ by new heavens and new earth,” is not meant re- 
 newed heavens and earth : is it not punctually in the seventh verse, that 
 the heavens and the earth, which are now, are “reserved unto fire against 
 the day of judgment?” And doth he not descend unto particulars in the 
 tenth verse, that the heavens which are now, “ shall pass away with a great 
 noise ; that the elements shall melt with fervent heat ; and that the earth 
 also, and the works therein shall be burnt up ?” And doth he not infer 
 thereupon in the 11th and 12th verses, that all these things shall be dis- 
 solved ? and in the 13th verse, that we are therefore to “ look for new 
 heavens, and a new earth ?” 2 Pet. 3 : 7, 10 — 13. Dissolution mends not 
 a fabric, but destroys it; how then should that which is dissolved, be said 
 to be reserved, and let stand ? Surely if Peter had thought of this refining 
 only, some words of his would have intimated so much. The end of these 
 creatures was for man’s use, and man’s using them no more, to what end 
 should they be reserved ? To say for a monument of what hath been, or 
 for the habitation of the saints, or for an outlet for the saints, descending 
 sometimes from the highest heavens to solace themselves here below; are 
 but groundless surmises, and deserve no answer at all. 
 
 2. Positively, by new heavens and new earth, is meant the heaven of 
 
 heavens, and place of glory. Now these heavens are termed new, not in 
 regard of their new making, but of our new taking possession of them for 
 our new habitation ; and they are called heavens and earth, because they 
 come instead of that heavenly covering, and that earthly habitation which 
 we now enjoy; so that the text may well bear this paraphrase, “ We look 
 
 for new heavens,” i. e. the supreme court of God’s presence, “and a new 
 
 earth,” i. e. a new habitation for us; which shall infinitely exceed the com- 
 modities and happiness of these heavens and earth which we now enjoy : 
 thus John in his Revelation, “And I saw a new heaven, and a new earth ; 
 for the first heaven, and the first earth were passed away, and there was no 
 more sea,” Rev. 21 : 1. This new heaven, and new earth, is the place or 
 habitation prepared for the blessed saints and people of God. A new hea- 
 ven, where the moon is more glorious than our sun, and the sun as glorious 
 as he that made it, for it is he himself, the Son of God, the Sun of right- 
 eousness, the Sun of glory : a new earth, where all their waters are milk, 
 and all their milk honey; where all their grass is corn, and all their corn 
 
 manna ; where all their glebe and clods of earth are gold, and all their gold 
 
 of innumerable carats; where all their minutes are ages, and all their ages 
 eternity ; where every thing is every minute in the highest exaltation as 
 good as can be. Of these new heavens, and this new earth, I can never 
 say enough, nor know enough, till I come thither to inhabit it. Something 
 
 * (Eis pro dia.,) Rom.. 8 : 21. 1 Cor. 10 : 2, as sometimes (dia pro eis,) Rom. 4 : 11. 
 1 Cor. 2:15. So Chrysostom expounds it, (eis pro dia.) 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 643 
 
 only we shall discover of it in our next sections ; for now are the saints 
 entered in with Jesus Christ. 
 
 Use. Only one word of use ; Christians ! what is the matter, that we are 
 so busy about this world ? Why, look about you, not one of these visible 
 objects shall that day remain, or have a being, those houses wherein we 
 dwell, these temples wherein we meet, this town, this country, this isle, 
 and the seas and waters that surround it, shall be all on fire, and consume 
 to nothing ; the sea shall be no more, and time shall be no more : Or, if 
 we look higher, yonder sun, and moon, and stars, shall be no more ; that 
 glorious heaven which rolls over our heads, “ shall be rolled together as a 
 scroll, and all the host shall fall down as a leaf falleth from the vine, and 
 as a falling fig from the fig-tree, — Isa. 34 : 4. The heavens shall vanish 
 away like smoke,” saith Isaiah 51 : 6. Comminuentur in nihilum (as 
 Hierom reads it), u They shall be battered into nothing.” Alas, alas ! 
 what do we toiling all the day (it may be all our life) for a little of this 
 little, almost nothing — earth ? You that have an hundred, or two hundred, 
 or a thousand acres, if every acre were a kingdom, all will be at last burnt 
 up ; so that none should say, here was Preston, or here was London, or 
 here was England, or here was Europe, or here was the globe of the earth 
 on which men trod ; let others boast as they will of their inheritances, but 
 Lord give me an inheritance above all these visibles; heaven shall remain, 
 when earth shall vanish ; that imperial heaven, those seats of saints, those 
 mansions above, prepared by Jesus Christ, shall never end; but for my 
 riches, lands, possessions, moveables, goods real or personal, they will end 
 in smoke, in nothing, “ What, wilt thou set thine eyes upon a thing that 
 is not?” Prov. 23 : 5. Upon this the primitive Christians took joyfully 
 the spoiling of their goods, it was but a little loss before the time, and they 
 knew in themselves that they had in heaven a better, and an enduring sub- 
 stance, Heb. 10 : 34. 0 let this be our care ! here we have no abiding 
 
 city, but, 0 ! let us seek one to come, even that one that shall abide for ever 
 and ever. Amen. 
 
 Sect. YIII. — Of Christ’s surrendering , and delivering up the Kingdom 
 to God, even the Father. 
 
 For Christ’s surrendering and delivering up the kingdom to God, even 
 the Father; no sooner is he in heaven but these things follow : — 
 
 1. He presents the elect unto his Father; of this the apostle speaks, 
 il you hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present 
 you holy and unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight,” Col. 1 : 21, 22. 
 To this end Christ died, that he might wash us, and cleanse us by his blood, 
 and then that he might present us without spot unto his Father. We may 
 imagine Christ as going to his Father, with his bride in his hand, and say- 
 ing thus, “ 0 my Father ! here is my church, my spouse, my queen ; here 
 are the saints concerning whom I covenanted with thee from eternity, con- 
 cerning whom I went down from heaven, and died on earth, and ascending 
 up, I have interceded, these many hundred years; concerning whom I went 
 down to judge the world, and having sentenced them to life eternal, I now 
 bring them in my hand, to give fch£m possession of thyself. These are 
 they whom thou gavest me in the beginning of the world, and now I re- 
 store them to thyself at the end of the world, for they are thiue.” Thus 
 he presents them to his Father. Indeed we read that Christ presents the 
 saints to himself, as well as to his Father, “ Christ loveth the church and 
 gave himself for it, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, 
 not having spot nor wrinkle,” Eph. 5 : 25, 27. But this I take it was 
 done before ; when first a soul believes, it is contracted to Christ, when the 
 soul is sentenced to glory, then is the solemnity and consummation of the 
 
644 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK Y. 
 
 marriage, then doth Christ present the soul to himself ; and I know not 
 but that the ministers of Christ may have a part in this matter, “ For I 
 have espoused you to one husband/ 7 (said Paul to his Corinthians) “that 
 I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ/ 7 2 Cor. 11:2. And after 
 this, when Christ takes the bride home, brings her into heaven, and leads 
 her by the hand into his Father’s presence ; then is the last presentation, 
 then, “ he presents her faultless before the presence of his glory with ex- 
 ceeding joy. 77 The word signifies leaping, springing, and exulting joy : 
 0 ! what springing, leaping, and exulting is in heaven, when Christ takes 
 the hand of his bride, and gives her into the hand of his Father ? q. d. 
 “0 my Father! see what a number I have brought home to thee; thou 
 knowest what I have done, and what I have suffered, and what' offices I 
 have gone through to bring these hither; and now my mediatorship is 
 done, I resign all my charge to thee again ; see what a goodly troop, what 
 a noble army I have brought thee home; why all these are mine, and “ all 
 mine are thine, and all thine are mine, and I am glorified in them, all 
 those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost/ 7 John 
 17 : 10, 12. See here is Adam, and Abel, and Noah, and Shem, and every 
 saint from the beginning to the end of the world, the nuptials between 
 them and me is solemnized. And whither should I lead them but to my 
 Father’s house, and into my Father’s presence ? 1 have already pronounced 
 them blessed, “ And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, 
 that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and thou in me, 
 that they may be made perfect in one, 77 John 17 : 22, 23. Here, take 
 them from mine hands, now give them a welcome into glory, and let them 
 know that thou hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” 
 
 2. He presents all his commissions to his Father, as he is a mediator (at 
 least by destination) from all eternity; were not the saints “chosen in 
 Christ before the foundation of the world?” Eph. 1 : 4. Then was he a 
 Mediator in the business of election, and then was he predestinated to be 
 Mediator of reconciliation, “ I was set up from everlasting/ 7 Prov. 8 : 23. 
 (i. e.) I was appointed and designed to be a Mediator from all eternity. 
 Howsoever he was a Mediator virtually and inchoatively from the fall of 
 Adam ; then did he undertake that great negotiation of reconciling God to 
 man, and man to God, and actually he was a Mediator after his incarnation; 
 for then was he manifested in the flesh, then was he manifested to be what 
 before he was, then did he act that part visibly upon earth, which before he 
 had acted secretly and invisibly in heaven, then he entered upon the work 
 of his active and passive obedience, then he discharged his prophetical and 
 priestly office here on earth, which having done, then he entered upon his 
 kingly administration in heaven. Now, as to this work, he was called by 
 God, (“ him hath God the Father sealed, John 6 : 27. It pleased the Fa- 
 ther by him, — to reconcile all things to himself, 77 Col. 1 : 19, 20.) And 
 as to these offices severally he had commission from God, (“ The Lord hath 
 anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek, Isa. 61 : 1. And the 
 Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever, Psal. 110 : 
 4. And the Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand until I 
 make thine enemies thy footstool, 77 Psal. 110 : 1.) So now he comes with 
 all his commissions in his hand, and he delivers them all up unto his Fa- 
 ther again. In this case it is with Christ, as with some general, whom the 
 king sends forth with regal authority to the war, who having subdued the 
 enemy, he returns in triumph, and all being finished, he makes a surrender 
 of his place ; thus Christ having discharged all his offices imposed on him, 
 now the work is finished, he leaves his function, by delivering up his com- 
 missions to his Father. “ In heaven there is no need of sun or moon/ 7 
 Rev. 21 : 23. That is, as some interpret, there is no need of preaching, or 
 
CHAP. 1.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 645 
 
 prophesying, of the word or sacraments, “ For the Lamb is the light 
 thereof.” Christ is the only means of all the communication that the elect 
 there shall have; and as for his regal office, the apostle is express, “Then 
 shall he deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father,” 1 Cor. 15 : 24. 
 Only here is the question, How is Christ said to resign his kingdom to God, 
 even the Father? For saith not the Scripture, “that Christ’s kingdom shall 
 have no end ?” Luke 1 : 33. And that “ Christ’s throne is for ever and 
 ever?” Heb. 1 : 8. For answer, I see nc contradiction, but that Christ 
 may both resign his kingdom, and -yet reserve it. See a like case, “All 
 power, (saith Christ) in heaven and earth is given to me of my Father,” 
 Matth. 28 : 18. Shall we say now, that the Father himself is quite stript 
 of it ? No ; but as the kingdom which the Father gave the Son, is never- 
 theless called the Father’s kingdom, or the kingdom of God, so Christ 
 shall return it, yet retain it also. Two things (we say) are contained in the 
 term of reign, scic. dominion aud execution, to wear the crown, and to bear 
 the sceptre ; now, Christ in the former sense shall reign for ever, the honor 
 and dominion, and of wearing the crown, he shall never resign up to his 
 Father, for his Father’s throne disturbs not his, there are both their thrones 
 at once, Rev. 7 : 11. But the functions of a king to sit in judgment, to 
 reward deservers, to punish evil-doers, to rescue the oppressed, to fight with 
 the enemy, Christ, in this sense, shall cease tq( reign, and shall deliver up 
 the kingdom to his Father. 
 
 More particularly, Christ is said to deliver up the kingdom in three re- 
 spects. 
 
 1. Because he ceaseth to execute that authority, which nevertheless he 
 hath; as a judge that goeth from the bench is a judge still, although he 
 giveth no judgment, but employeth his time in other occasions; so Christ 
 is said to resign his place ; not that his authority is subject to diminution, 
 but in that ho makes no show, for when his enemies are all put under, there 
 is no need that any more blows should proceed from his kingly power. 
 
 2. Because the manner of his kingdom, after the judgment day shall be 
 wholly changed ; he shall not reign in the same fashion that he did before ; 
 there is no need in heaven of good laws to keep men from starting into 
 wickedness ; the orders of this life are changed into a new kind of govern- 
 ment, and in that respect he is said to give over the kingdom. 
 
 3. Because he ceaseth to increase his dominion. In this world Christ 
 was still gaining more souls to his kingdom, by the preaching of his word ; 
 and so he spread his dominion farther and farther; but when the Lord shall 
 have made up the number of his servants to his mind, then he will end the 
 world, and give up the kingdom, (i r e .) he will cease to enlarge his confines 
 any more, he will be content with the number of his subjects he hath 
 already. Here is the second thing, Christ presents all his commissions to 
 bis Father, he gives up his priestly, prophetical, and regal offices at his first 
 entrance into heaven. 
 
 4. He presents himself unto his Father, not only his offices, but Christ 
 himself is presented and subjected unto God. Thu* I take it is the mean- 
 ing of the apostle, when he saith, “ I^hen shall the Son also himself be sub- 
 ject unto him that put all things under him,” 1 Cor. 15 : 28. The words 
 are mystical, and therefore we had need to understand them soberly, and 
 according to the analogy of faith. The Arians hence inferred, that the Sou 
 was not equal with the Father, because he that is subject must needs be 
 inferior to him whose subject he is. But the answer is easy, Christ is con- 
 sidered either as God, or as man, and Mediator betwixt God aud man ; 
 Christ as God, hath us subject to him, aud is subject to none ; but Christ, 
 as man and Mediator, is subject to his Father, together with us. Some 
 would have it, that Christ is subject to his Father, in respect of his mystical 
 
646 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK V. 
 
 body, the church ; and that this only should be the meaning of the apostle, 
 
 “ Then shall the church be subject to the Father ;” but I cannot assent to 
 this exposition. 1. Because the apostle speaks expressly of Christ and of 
 his kingdom. 2. Because though Christ be sometimes in Scripture read 
 for the church, or for the body of Christ, yet the Son as opposed to the Fa- 
 ther, is never so read or understood. 3. Because we read, that he that is 
 to be subject, must first have all things subject to himself. Now, the Fa- 
 ther doth not properly subject or subdue all things to the church of Christ, 
 but only unto Christ, and therefore the apostle speaks of Christ’s subjection 
 to the Father ; in the same way as Christ delivers up the kingdom to the 
 Father, is Christ also to be subject to his Father ; but Christ delivers up 
 his kingdom as man, and as Mediator betwixt God and man : in these re- 
 spects Christ (as we have heard,) must reign no more, at that day his 
 mediatorship shall cease ; and by consequence, in respect of his mediator- 
 ship, or in respect of his humanity, he shall that day be subject to his 
 Father. 
 
 You will say, is not, and was not Christ always subject to his Father, as 
 man, or as mediator betwixt God and man ? How then do we limit this sub- 
 jection to that day? Then (saith the apostle,) shall the Son be subject. 
 
 I answer, this subjection will be then, or at that day, more clearly mani- 
 fested than ever it was before ; then he must surrender the kingdom to his 
 Father, in the sight of men and angels ; then he shall lay aside all his 
 offices in the view of all ; so that thenceforth God shall not reign by the 
 humanity of Christ, but by himself ; nor shall we thenceforth be subject to 
 God through a Mediator Christ, but. immediately to God himself ; nor shall 
 Christ himself reign over us as Mediator any more: for the very glory of 
 his majesty shall become so illustrious, that all eyes shall see how tran- 
 scendency eminent the Deity of Christ is above all creatures, even above 
 the humanity of Christ himself. That a fuller view of Christ’s subjection 
 shall be at that day than ever before, we may illustrate thus; by night the 
 sun reigns or rules over us, but by the moon; for the light of the moon is 
 borrowed from the sun, though in the night we see not any subjection of 
 the moon to the sun at all; but so soon as the sun riseth, presently the 
 moon surceaseth its office of enlightening others, and becomes subject to 
 the sun itself, not by a new subjection, but by a declaration of its former 
 subjection, so that now all may see what eminency of glory and light the 
 sun hath both above the stars, and above the moon. Thus it is with God 
 and Christ, now it is God reigns over us, but only by Christ as Mediator; 
 God’s immediate reign we discern not so clearly for the present, but when 
 the end shall come, and Christ shall surcease his office of mediatorship, 
 then shall the glory of Christ’s divinity appear more eminently, not only 
 above all creatures, but above the brightness of Christ’s humanity itself ; 
 and in this respect Christ then shall be subject, if not by a new subjection, 
 yet certainly by a new declaration and manifestation of his subjection, so 
 as never was before. 
 
 Use. 0 the wonders of this day ! 0 the admirable shows in heaven, at 
 
 Christ and his saints’ first entrance into heaven ! 0 my soul ! where wilt 
 
 thou stand, or what wilt thou say, when Christ shall take thee by the hand, 
 and bring thee into the presence of his glorious Father ? When he shall 
 present thee, and present all his commissions which he received for thee, 
 and present himself unto his Father with thee, saying, u 0 my Father ! 
 here we are all before thy glorious Godhead; thus far I have carried on 
 the great work of man’s salvation, and now all is done according to the 
 covenant betwixt thee and me : lo ! here all the saints, which by decree 
 thou gavest me before the world was made; lo ! here all the commissions 
 which I received from thee in order to their salvation ; lo ! here the 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 647 
 
 humanity which thou gavest me when I came into the world ; such were 
 the sins of my redeemed ones, and grown to such a height, “ That sacrifice 
 and offering thou wouldst not have, but a body hast thou prepared for me,” 
 Heb. 10 : 5. And, lo ! here I present all these before thee : come, take 
 thy commissions, and be thou “all in all.” We praise thee, 0 God, we 
 acknowledge thee to be the Lord. Come welcome me, and welcome mine, 
 we all stand here before thy glorious throne, and expect every way as high 
 an entertainment as heaven, or the God of heaven can afford us. 0 my 
 soul ! what joy will possess thee at this passage ! Be sure now thy danger 
 is over, and thy arrival is safe : neither shall it here be heard, “ Friend, 
 how comest thou hither?” For the Lord himself will run unto thee, he 
 will hug thee, and embrace thee, mouth on thy mouth, eyes on thy eyes, 
 hands on thy hands ; and each hand shall clap for joy, each heart shall 
 warble, each knee shall bend and bow, and each heart shall be merry and 
 glad. 0 for the day ! Oh ! when will the day come on, when Christ shall 
 deliver up the kingdom to the Father ? 
 
 Sect. IX. — Of Christ’s subjection to the Father , that God may be 
 
 all in all. 
 
 9. For the end of Christ’s subjection to his Father, “That God may 
 be all in all,” 1 Cor 15 : 28. Surely this is the meaning, Christ there- 
 fore subjects himself unto his Father, that God himself may be all in all ; 
 that God may no more reign by a deputy, or by a Christ, but that imme- 
 diately and perfectly he may reign for himself, so that every one may see 
 him face to face. Here we enjoy God, (as it were,) by means, as in 
 the use of the word, and sacraments, and the like ; but when that king- 
 dom, (where these administrations are made use of shall be delivered 
 up,) then shall God himself be all in all, without means, without defect, 
 without end. 
 
 It is observable, that Christ in his mediatory kingdom hath some such 
 things, as bear an analogy to the means aud instruments of governing in 
 the kingdoms of men. As, 1. He hath his militia and his laws, with 
 threatenings and promises, in the ordinances of his word. 2. He hath 
 his grants and seals, with many privileges to confirm his people in the 
 ordinances of his sacraments. 3. He hath his officers and ambassadors, for 
 the management of spiritual affairs in the ordinances of his ministry; but 
 the ceasing of Christ’s kingdom, is the ceasing of all these; and he there- 
 fore ceaseth his kingdom, that God may immediately succeed all these 
 without any means, or without any mediator at all, he himself may be 
 instead of all or all in all. 
 
 In prosecution of this, I shall discuss, 1. The meaning, What is it 
 for God to be all in all ? 2. The particulars, wherein more especially is 
 
 God all in all ? 
 
 1. For the meaning: it is a paraphrasis of our complete enjoyment of 
 God. That God may be all in all, is as much as to say, that we may enjoy 
 God alone to all purposes, neither wanting nor willing any thing besides 
 himself; for a person to be all in all to me, it is to have an enjoyment 
 of that person to all purposes, so that I neither do, nor need I to enjoy 
 any thing besides himself : thus God is to the saints in glory, he is their 
 exceeding great reward ; they need nothing else besides himself, their 
 very draughts of happiness are taken in immediately from the fountain, 
 and they have as much of the fountain as their souls in their widest 
 capacity can possibly hold. 
 
 2. For the particulars, wherein more especially is “ God our all in all,” 
 I answer, 
 
 1. In our enjoying God immediately. Here we enjoy God by means * 
 
648 LOOKING UNTO JESU8. [BOOK V. 
 
 either he communicates himself unto us through his creatures, or through 
 his ordinances ; and hence it is that we know him but in part, we see him 
 but in a glass darkly; but when he shall be our all in all, we shall see him 
 face to face, 1 Cor. 13:12; we shall then “see God as he is/ 7 1 John 3:2, 
 clearly and immediately. Oh ! how excellent is this enjoyment above all 
 present enjoyments here below ! As the enjoyment of a friend in his 
 picture, letters, tokens, is short of what we enjoy when we have his personal 
 presence; or as the heat and light of the sun through a cloud, is beneath 
 that heat and light when the glorious body of it is open to us without any 
 interposition ; even so all the enjoyments of God in the use of means, 
 graces, blessings, and ordinances, are infinitely inferior to that enjoyment 
 of God which shall be without all means; all the ravishments of our spirit 
 in prayer, hearing, reading, and meditating, is but a sip of those rivers 
 which we shall have in heaven. I know the remembrance of God in a 
 private meditation is sweet, Psal. 104:34, and communion with God in 
 any ordinance, “ is a feast of sweetness, and marrow, and fatness/ 7 Psal. 
 63 : 5, 6. But when the soul shall immediately possess God, when this 
 kingdom of grace shall expire, and all the administrations of it shall vanish 
 away, will not the fountain be much more sweet than all the streams ? 
 Surely “feasts, and sweetuess, marrow and fatness/ 7 are terms exceedingly 
 too diminutive to give us any more than a small hint of that incompre- 
 hensible satisfaction by immediate communion. O the wonders of heaven ! 
 there shall be light without a candle, and a perpetual day without a sun; 
 there shall be health without physic, and strength of body without use of 
 food ; there shall be knowledge without scripture, and settled government 
 without a written law; there shall be a communion without sacraments, 
 and joy without promises to be its fuel ; the soul in glory shall go straight 
 unto God, and immediately participate his glory and happiness. It is the 
 comparison of a learned divine, “Suppose you saw a company of crystal 
 globes placed in a parallel line, because their positure will not admit the 
 sun’s immediate beams : we will suppose another single set by the middle 
 of them, to transmit the sun’s beams unto all these globes, by this means 
 they all shine, though it be only by reflection : but when the sun shall so 
 come about, as that they may immediately receive its beams, there is no 
 farther use of the single globe then ; so here, while we, through our dis- 
 tance from God, are incapable of immediate enjoyment, there is a necessity 
 of Christ’s mediation ; but when all things that cause that distance are 
 removed, and we brought into the presence-chamber of God himself, there 
 is no such need of a mediator then.” Now, here is one thing, wherein he 
 i3 our all in all, we shall enjoy him immediately. 
 
 2. It consists in our enjoying God fully, “ Now I know in part, (saith 
 the apostle) but then shall I know, even as I am known,” 1 Cor. 13 : 12. 
 Our enjoyment of God is but here in its infancy, there it will be in its full 
 age ; here it is in drops, there it will be in the ocean : here we see God’s 
 back parts, and we can see no more ; but there we shall see his face, not his 
 second face, (as some distinguished) which is his grace and favor enjoyed 
 by faith ; but his first face, which is his divine essence, enjoyed by sight. 
 Yet J mean not so, as if the soul, which is a creature, could take in the 
 whole essence of God, which is incomprehensible : but the soul shall, and 
 must be so full of God, as that it shall not be able to receive or desire one 
 jot more. And, Oh ! how excellent is this enjoyment above all present 
 enjoyments? It is now our highest happiness to have some glimpses of 
 his glory shining on us, and some drops of his favor distilled into us : oh ! 
 but when God shall be our all in all, we shall have as much of God as our 
 souls can hold, we shall have the glory of God so poured in, till we can be 
 able to receive no more. And here is that which gives the soul a full sat- 
 
649 
 
 CHAP. I.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 isfaction : never would it be satisfied till it came to this. Suppose that God 
 should draw out all the beauty, sweetness and goodness that he hath com- 
 municated to all creatures in the world, and bring the quintessence of all, 
 and communicate that unto the soul of one poor saint, certainly it would 
 not serve the turn, there must be a greater communication before the soul 
 be fully satisfied and rest content : only once admit it into the glorious pres- 
 ence of him, who is “all in all,” and presently it expires its infinite desire 
 into the bosom of that God : for there is enough to fill his spirit, he cannot 
 desire so much, but there is more, and yet infinitely more. If there be 
 enough in God for the spirits of all just men made perfect with God ; if 
 there be enough in God for angels, whose capacities are greater than the 
 saints ; if there be enough in God for Jesus Christ, whose capacity is yet 
 far wider than the angels; if there be enough in God for God himself, 
 whose capacity is infinitely greater than them all : then there must needs be 
 satisfaction enough in God to any one poor soul. Here is another thing 
 wherein God is our “ all in all,” we shall enjoy him fully. 
 
 3. It consists in our enjoying God solely. Not as if there were nothing 
 else in heaven but only God, but that God in heaven shall be “all in all,” 
 or instead of all ; it is God in heaven that makes heaven to be heaven ; the 
 saints’ blessedness and God’s own blessedness, doth consist in the enjoy- 
 ment of God himself. The schoolmen tell us, that we shall not properly 
 enjoy any thing else but only God : we may have some use of the creatures, 
 but no fruition : and therefore is God said to be all, or as good as all. And, 
 indeed what can we imagine to be in heaven, which is not eminently in 
 God himself? If it be greatness, and power, and glory, and victory, and 
 majesty, all these are his : if it be joy, or love, or peace, or beauty, or any 
 thing amiable or desirable, all these are in him. Hence some take it to 
 be David’s meaning, when he said, “ He had none in heaven but God,” 
 Psal. 73 : 25. That the sole enjoyment of God, (and of nothing else but 
 God) is the soul’s true happiness, when it is at highest; “ Whom have I in 
 heaven but thee ?” Whom ? Why, there are angels, there are saints, there 
 are the spirits of just and perfect men : Are these nothing with David ? 
 0 yes ! all these are good, but they are not able to satisfy a soul without 
 God himself. Whether God will make use of any creatures for our service 
 then, or, if any, of what creatures, and what use, is more than I yet know : 
 but to make up a full enjoyment there is required a gracious, glorious pres- 
 ence, a sweet effusion or communication of that presence, a just comprehen- 
 sion of the excellency of that communication, a perfect love, and a perfect 
 rest in the love of whatsoever it is we comprehend : now, this is proper 
 only to God, it is he only that fills the whole capacity of the soul, it is he 
 that so fills it that it can hold no more, it is he only that is the object of 
 love intended to the uttermost; and therefore he only is properly enjoyed, 
 he only is possessed with a full contentment, as portion enough, and as re- 
 ward enough for the soul for ever. 
 
 But shall not the saints have to do with something else in heaven, but 
 only with God? 0 yes ! I believe there §hall be in heaven a communion 
 of the blessed spirits of God, an association of the saints and angels of 
 God : yet this shall not take away the sole enjoyment of God, that he should 
 not be their “ all in all ;” for they shall not mind themselves, or their own 
 good, as created things, but altogether God ; they shall not love them, or 
 one another as for themselves, but only for God; here we love God foi 
 himself, and it is a gracious love; but there we shall love ourselves for God, 
 and it is a glorious love. Why, this is to enjoy God solely, in this re- 
 spect, he is “ all and in all ; whom have I in heaven but thee ?” 
 
 Use. Here is a point enough to wean us from this world. Alas ! the 
 
 time is coming on apace, that all this world shall be dissolved, and then 
 
650 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK V. 
 
 “ God shall be all in all.” Here lies the saints 7 happiness to have God 
 immediately, God fully, and God solely : and will not saints prepare them- 
 selves for such a condition as this ? You that have the world, “ Use it as 
 if not, for the fashion of this world passeth away, 1 Cor. 7 : 31. And you 
 that have but a little to do with this world, improve that condition ; surely 
 it is your own fault if you have not more to do with God, for you have 
 little else to take up your hearts ; God may dwell and walk in your hearts 
 without disturbance ; “ Give me neither poverty nor riches, 77 (saith the 
 wise man upon that account) a mean condition is more capable of happi- 
 ness, than that which overloads us with outward things ; whilst others are 
 casting up their accounts, you may say with David, “ How precious are thy 
 thoughts unto me, 0 God? How great is the sum of them? 77 Ps. 139 : 17. 
 Whilst others are following their suits at courts of justice, you may follow 
 all you have at a throne of grace, whilst others are numbering their flocks 
 and herds, all your arithmetic may be employed to number your days, 
 whilst others cannot get out of the clutches of the world, you may get into 
 the embraces of your God ; why, this is to prepare yourselves for fuller and 
 fuller enjoyments of God, it is God will be “all in all, 77 and this is the very 
 top of heaven's happiness ; surely the less you have of the world now, if 
 you can but improve it, the more you may have of heaven's happiness even 
 upon earth : For what is the happiness of heaven but the sole enjoyment 
 of God? Christians! If you feel any inclinations, pantings, breathings 
 after this world, give me leave to tell you, that you will never be happy till 
 you have lost all, till you have no friends nor estates, no enjoyment but 
 God alone ; when all is done, when this world is nothing, when means shall 
 cease both for bodies and souls, and when Christ shall cease his Mediator’s 
 office, and the Son of man be subject to his Father, then God shall be “ all 
 in all. 77 
 
 Sect. X. — Of Christ’s (iiotwithstand ing this) being ail in all to his blessed , 
 saved , and redeemed saints , to all eternity. 
 
 10. For Christ’s being all in all, to his blessed, saved, and redeemed 
 saints to all eternity, we shall dilate in this section. Some may object, if 
 God be all in all, what then becomes of Christ ? Is not this derogatory to 
 Jesus Christ ? I answer, No, in no ways : For, 
 
 1. It is not the Father personally and Only, but the Deity essentially and 
 wholly, that is our all in all : when we say God is all in all, we do not ex- 
 clude the Son and Holy Ghost; for the whole Godhead is “all in all 77 to 
 all the saints, as well as the first person of the Trinity; the Father is all, 
 and the Son is all, and the Holy Ghost is all; and in that Christ is God, 
 and the Son is God, we may say of Christ, that he is “all in all : 77 only the 
 truth of this position is not from the human nature, but from the divine 
 nature of Jesus Christ. 
 
 2. It is not derogatory to Christ, but rather it doth exceedingly advance 
 Christ in the thoughts of all his saints; while it was necessary Christ veiled 
 bis Deity, and when his work of mediation is fully finished, Christ then 
 shall reveal his Deity to his saints more than ever before. In this respect 
 might I say, if any person in the Trinity receives more honor than another, 
 Christ should have most, “ Every creature which is in heaven, heard I say- 
 ing, Blessing, honor, glory, and power be unto him that sirteth upon the 
 throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever, 77 llev. 5 : 13. Not only 
 unto God, but particularly “ to the Lamb for ever and ever. 77 It is true, 
 that God only, and God fully, and God immediately, is “ all in all : 77 but 
 doth that hinder that Jesus Christ is not also, only fully and immediately, 
 “all in all? 77 See how the Scripture joius them together, which plainly 
 argues that they may consist, “ I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 651 
 
 God Almighty, and the Lamb, are the temple of it ; and the city had no 
 need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God 
 does lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof,” Rev. 21 : 22, 23. 
 
 Now then as I have spoken of God, so that I may speak of Christ, and 
 conclude all with Christ, I assert this doctrine, “ Tha£ the glory of Christ, 
 which the saints shall behold in Christ to all eternity, is their all in all. ,, 
 In the discussion of which I shall open these particulars. 1. What is the 
 glory of Christ ? 2. How the saints shall behold his glory ? 3. Wherein 
 
 is the comprehensiveness of this expression, that the beholding of Christ is 
 our “ all in all V 1 
 
 1. What is the glory of Christ? I answer, That the glory of Christ is 
 either human or divine. 
 
 1. There is an human glory, which in time was more especially conferred 
 upon his manhood. 
 
 2. There is an essential or divine glory, which before time, and after 
 time, even from everlasting to everlasting, issueth from the Godhead; I 
 shall speak to both these, that we may rather take a view of Christ in those 
 glories, (as we are able,) wherein he will appear to his saints as their “ all 
 in all” to all eternity. 
 
 First, For his human glory, that is, either in regard of his soul or body ; 
 for his soul, Christ was from the first instant of his conception full of glory, 
 because even then he received grace, not by measure, as we do, but as com- 
 prehensor ; he had the clear vision of God, even as the angels of heaven, 
 which arose from that hypostatical union of two natures at his first concep- 
 tion. It is true, that by special dispensation of God, the fulness of joy 
 accompanying that glory was withheld from Christ in the time of his pas- 
 sion, and the redundancy of glory from his soul into his body, was totally 
 deferred until the exaltation of Christ ; but Christ no sooner exalted, and 
 set on the right-hand of God, but immediately the interruption of joy in 
 his soul, and the interception of glory from his soul to his body, was alto- 
 gether removed. Then it was that his soul was filled with all joy, solace, 
 pleasure, which could possibly flow from the sight of an object so infinitely 
 pleasing, as is the essence, majesty, and glory of God. And then it was, 
 that his body was replenished with as much glory as was proportionable unto 
 the most vast capacity of any creature ; not only his soul, but his body is a 
 glorious creature; it is (soma tes doxes ,) “A body of glory,” that is, a most 
 glorious body in itself, and the spring of glory unto others, “ Ought not 
 Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into his glory?” Luke 24 : 
 26. It is called “ his glory,” as if it were appropriated unto him as the 
 most eminent subject, and principal efficient of glory; as if he had the 
 monopoly of glory : all the glory in heaven is in some sort u his glory.” 
 Surely Christ’s manhood is exalted unto an higher degree of glory, than 
 the most glorious saint or angel ever was or shall be ; principalities, powers, 
 mights, and dominions, fall short of his glory. 
 
 But some object, that the mediatory office of Christ shall wholly cease, 
 and that the body and soul of Christ shall then be annihilated. 
 
 Indeed this was the opinion of Eutyches. That the human nature of 
 Christ should be changed or converted into the divine ; and thus he inter- 
 prets that Scripture, “ Then shall the Son also himself be subject, that God 
 may be all in all,” 1 Cor. 15 : 28. “ What is the subjection, (saith he) 
 
 but a conversion of the creature into the very substance or essence of the 
 Creator himself?”* but we deny the interpretation : the Son, as man, shall 
 
 * Ut ipsam subjectionem, communicationem et conversionem, credat futuram 
 creatura in ipsam substantiam vel essentiam creatoris. Aug. de Trinit. Lib. i. c. 8, 
 et Aret. in loc. 
 
652 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK Y. 
 
 be subject, and yet the manhood of Christ shall still remain ; it is true, 
 that his mediatory office shall wholly cease, but it follows not that therefore 
 the manhood of Christ shall be converted or changed into the Deity. There 
 may be other reasons for the continuation of this human nature, besides the 
 execution of his mediatory office : As, 1. That the lustre of his Deity might 
 shine through his humanity, and that thereby our very bodily eyes may 
 come to see God as much as is possible for any creature to see him, “ I 
 shall see him (saith Job) not with other, but with these same eyes” Job. 
 19 : 27. 2. That the saints may see how the power of an infinite God can 
 
 convey the lustre of his Deity into a creature ; upon this account, I verily 
 believe, that angels and men will be continually viewing Jesus Christ. “ He 
 shall come to be admired of the saints,” 2 Thess. 1 : 10. He shall be ad- 
 mired (as we have heard) at the judgment-day; nor is that all, but the 
 saints in heaven shall see with their eyes such excellencies in Christ, as 
 they shall admire for ever; I say for ever, as much as they did at the first 
 moment when they saw him : here if we see any thing excellent, we admire 
 at first, but after a while we do not so; but in heaven there will be so much 
 excellency in Christ, that we shall admire as much to all eternity, as we did 
 at the very first moment; there will be no abatement in glory of our being 
 taken with the sight of the glory, in Jesus. 3. That Christ by his hu- 
 manity may converse more freely, and familiarly with his brethren in his 
 Father’s house : Oh ! the intimacy that will be there betwixt Jesus Christ 
 and his Christian saints ! Oh ! the mutual rejoicing and delight that will be 
 there betwixt Jesus Christ and his dearest darlings. As Christ from eter- 
 nity rejoiced in the habitable part of the earth, so will the saints (bis 
 habitable earth) to all eternity rejoice in Christ; the eye of the saints in 
 glory can never be off Christ as Mediator and God ; now the eye of the 
 saints in glory shall never be off Christ as God and Mediator then. Thus 
 far of his human glory. 
 
 2dly. For his essential divine glory, it is that glory which Christ hath as 
 God : this he never laid aside, but as the sun in a dark gloomy day may 
 not send forth his beams, so Christ the Sun of righteousness, in the time of 
 his abode upon earth, (except a little glimpse only in his transfiguration,) 
 did not set forth his glorious beams ; but hereafter the body or humanity 
 of Christ shall not hinder the breaking forth of all his divine glory. No 
 sooner the Son is subjected, and his mediatory office discharged, but Christ 
 as God, will manifestly put forth his more immediate glory to all his saints, 
 “ Behold now, we are the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we 
 shall be; but we know when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we 
 shall see him as he is,” 1 John 3 : 2. Mark it, “when he shall appear,” 
 at and after the resurrection day, “ we shall see him as he is,” (i. e.') We 
 shall see the very essential glory of Jesus Christ. Quest. But what is the 
 essential glory of Christ ? Ans. I cannot answer, it is a question not to be 
 resolved by all the men in the world : we know little of the glory of saints. 
 How should we know anything of the essential glory of Christ as God ? 
 The scriptures say, That “ God spake to Moses face to face,” Exod. 33 : 11, 
 yet God tells him, “ Thou canst not see my face,” and he favors him so far 
 as to tell him the reason, “ For there shall no man see my face and live,” 
 verse 20. q. d. No man in this life, he must first die, and be changed, and 
 then he shall have a peculiar revelation of the divine Majesty ; then he 
 shall see him as he is ;” but how that is I cannot tell. Come, let us ques- 
 tion this no further ; surely it is a mercy that this infinite glory is not dis- 
 covered to us ; for as a weak eye is not able to behold the sun, or to see it 
 in rota, (as the schoolmen speak,) in that wheel or circle whereiu the sun 
 doth run, but only in the beams of it ; no more can we see Christ as God 
 in his glorious essence, or in his essential glory, but only in the beams 
 
CHAP. I.] LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 653 
 
 thereof, in his word and effects. If now we know so little of spirits and 
 spirituals, oh ! then, How little do we know of him who is the Father of 
 spirits ? I shall say no more therefore, let us be content to be ignorant of 
 these things till we euter into the confines of eternity. 
 
 Quest. But whether shall this glorious essence, or essential glory of Christ 
 be more seen, or manifested, at, or after the day of judgment, than ever it 
 was before ? I answer. 
 
 Ans. I believe it will. Some * tell us of several periods wherein the 
 glory of Christ is still more and more seen : as, 1. In this life we may see 
 it in part ; thus David speaks of himself, “ My soul thirsteth for thee, my 
 flesh longeth for thee, to see thy power and thy glory, as I have seen thee 
 in the sanctuary ?” but this sight is very dim, “ We see only as through a 
 glass darkly,” 1 Cor. 13 : 12. The second period is betwixt our dissolution 
 and resurrection; and then shall we see the essential glory of Christ more 
 immediately and fully ; our creeping apprehension of God shall then be 
 elevated, and our distance from God shall then be shortened, and all the 
 riddles of grace and of Jesus Christ shall then be opened. This sight is so 
 great, that if a soul should come from heaven to declare it, neither could 
 that soul express it, nor we understand it; we read of Lazarus, whose soul 
 Christ returned into his body, whom much people of the Jews came pur- 
 posely to see, that they might hear stories of the other world, but not a 
 word from him of any such matter ; Paul’s rapture may satisfy with the 
 reason of it, he heard there (arreta remata) ‘‘wordless words,” 2 Cpr. 12 : 
 4, such words as could not possibly be repeated on earth ; and yet all this 
 is but the second step to the full vision of Christ’s essential glory. The 
 third period is at the resurrection, and during the time of the last judgment, 
 and then we shall see more of his glory. Camero affirms, “ That it is no 
 curiosity to say that the saints and angels in heaven had a new glory by 
 the exhibition of Christ, the great mystery of the incarnation being thereby 
 better known.” And we may as safely affirm, that the saints shall have a 
 new glory, by new visions of the glory of Christ at the day of resurrection ; 
 they shall then see the solemnity of heaven’s glory carried on by Jesus 
 Christ in his glorious actings ; and all that ever the soul saw before in being 
 with Christ in heaven till the resurrection, shall be swallowed up with the 
 sight of this glory of Christ at the resurrection day. The last period is after 
 the resurrection, and that shall continue even to all eternity ; now all the 
 manifestations of Christ’s glory before this, are but as a few green ears 
 rubbed in our hands ; so that the full crop, or the full harvest is yet behind. 
 But this is that, (which as we told you before, we cannot tell, though we 
 had the tongues of men and angels. Thus far of the first point, what is the 
 glory of Christ ? 
 
 2. How shall the saints behold this glory ? I answer, as Christ hath a 
 twofold glory, so there is a twofold manner of beholding it, L e. Ocular and 
 mental. 
 
 1st. There is an ocular vision, a sight of Christ with our very eyes, 
 “ Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold him,” Job 19 : 
 27. With these eyes in our heads, we shall one day behold the human 
 glory of Christ : I doubt not we shall behold the beauty of heaven, the shin- 
 ing bodies of the saints, but above all, our very eyes shall delightfully con- 
 template Christ’s glorious body : and indeed this shall drown all the other 
 sights. If any think, that Christ’s glorious body shall be too intensive, 
 and to extraordinary a brightness for our weak eyes; let such consider, 
 that, 
 
 1. The eye in heaven shall be glorified ; now glorification adds a singular 
 
 * Dr. Annesly’s communion with God. 
 
654 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK Y. 
 
 excellency to the faculties, it advanceth the faculties, and raiseth them to a 
 higher pitch of excellency ; glorification adds a greater capacity to the eye 
 than ever it had before. In this world there is a difference in our eyes and 
 sight; a man of a clear sight sees more things, and more of every thing 
 than a dark sight doth ; so a glorified eye sees more of things than our eyes 
 now can see. It shall be enlarged exceedingly to take in objects which 
 now it cannot receive ; glorification adds strength to the faculties both in- 
 ternal and external, so that the eye shall be able to look on the glory of 
 Christ, not with difficulty, but with contentment; in this world every sense 
 we have is apt to be destroyed by excellent objects, and the more excellent 
 and transcendent the object is, the more it hurts and destroys the sense; 
 as the sun by its brightness darkens the eye, and other things by mighty 
 sounds brings deafness on the ear. Paul indeed had a vision of glory, but 
 because his faculties were not glorified, he was he knew not how, “ whether 
 in the body, or out of the body,” whether alive or dead he did not know ; 
 certainly the sight of the glory of the other world would amaze, distract, 
 and destroy us, if we had a sight of it as now we are; but in heaven the 
 eye shall have great pleasure in beholding the brightest light, because it 
 shall be advanced to the highest pitch of strength that may be. 
 
 2. As the eye shall be glorified, so it shall act in a glorified body, and 
 this will make the sight of the glory of Christ instead of hurting us to leave 
 upon us a more sweet, enlivening and powerful impression. By this means 
 all the impediments that hinder the conveyance of divine influences from 
 that heavenly object will be removed. To illustrate this, let the most excel- 
 lent sight be set before a man that is defective in his bodily state, and it 
 doth not take him, what would a sick man do with such things ? He makes 
 nothing of the most pleasant gardens, orchards, buildings, nor of the most 
 glorious sights that are; when he is sick, they are but sick things to him, 
 and of none effect : but in heaven the body shall be glorified, and stript of 
 all corruptions and imperfections ; so that there shall be no bar unto the 
 influences of the glory of Christ which shall there be seen. 
 
 3. As there shall be a glorified eye acting in a glorified body, so it shall 
 be acted by a glorified spirit; the eye is but the organ, or instrument of 
 sight, and without the spirit, would convey no more than a glass doth : it 
 is the spirit of a man that gives life to vision, it is the spirit of a man that 
 discovers things, and sets them forth in their worth, virtues and ends : now 
 in heaven the spirits of men shall be glorified, and enabled to ^perform all 
 those offices in perfection ; so that when a man shall look on the man Christ 
 Jesus, by virtue of a glorified spirit, he shall see more, know more, taste 
 more, than any other can. As a man of understanding, when he looks on 
 a diamond, or a wedge of gold, he hath other apprehensions of it, and a 
 farther touch upon his spirit, than a beast, or a child in a cradle hath ; so 
 where the sight of the eye is acted by a glorified mind, it takes in more 
 from the sight of everything which is to be seen, (inexpressibly more) than 
 what can be done here by the most sanctified spirit in the world. Now, in 
 these respects Christ’s glorified body, (though it be the brightest visible 
 thing in the heaven of heavens) yet may it be the object of the eyes of 
 saints, for they shall have glorified eyes in glorified bodies, and acted by 
 their glorified spirits. 
 
 2dly. There is a mental vision, a sight of Christ by the eyes of our under- 
 standings ; and surely this exceeds the former, the eye of the body is only 
 on the body of Christ, but the eye of the soul is on the body and soul, on 
 the humanity and Deity of Jesus Christ. This is the very top of heaven, 
 when saints shall be enlightened with a clear and glorious sight of Christ 
 as God; divines usually call it, “ Beatifical vision.” 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 655 
 
 Quest. But how shall saints behold the glorious essence, or Godhead of 
 Christ ? 
 
 Answ. 1. Some say, Christ as God, or the Godhead of Christ, shall be 
 known by the humanity of Christ ; such a lustre of his Deity shall shine 
 through his humanity, as that thereby, and by no other means shall the 
 essential glory of Christ appear. 
 
 2. Others say, That besides the humanity of Christ, there shall be a species 
 representing the divine essence of Christ, and a light of glory elevating the 
 understanding by a supernatural strength ; and that thereby the glorious 
 essence of Christ shall be discovered. 
 
 3. Others say, that the divine essence shall be represented to the glorified 
 understanding, not by Christ’s humanity, nor by any species, but immedi- 
 ately by itself; yet they also require a light of glory to elevate and fortify 
 the understanding, by reason of its weakness, and infinite disproportion and 
 distance from the incomprehensible Deity. 
 
 4. Others hold, that to the clear vision of Christ as God, there is not re- 
 
 quired a sight of Christ’s humanity, as the first suppose ; nor a species re- 
 presenting the divine essence, as the second suppose; nor any created light 
 elevating the understanding, as the third suppose ; but only a change of the 
 natural order of knowing; it is sufficient, say they, that the divine essence 
 be immediately represented to a created understanding : which, though it 
 cannot be done according to the order of nature, as experience tells us, (for 
 so we conceive things as first having passed the sense and imagination,) yet 
 it may be done according to the order of divine grace. I shall not enter 
 into these scholastical disputes, it is enough for a sober man to know, that 
 in heaven we shall see him “ face to face,” 1 Cor. 13 : 12. “ His servants 
 
 shall serve him, and they shall see his face,” Rev. 22 : 3, 4. 
 
 Quest. His face, What is that? I answer, 
 
 Answ. 1. They shall see Christ as God, of the same essence with the 
 Father, and the Holy Ghost, and yet a distinct person from them both; 
 they shall see the unity in trinity, and trinity in unity; they shall see how 
 the Son is begotten of the Father, and how the Holy Ghost proceeds from 
 the Father, and the Son ; they shall see the difference between the genera- 
 tion of the Son, and procession of the Spirit. These are mysteries in which 
 we are blind, and know very little or nothing; but in seeing his face, we 
 shall see all these. 
 
 2. They shall see Christ as the first Being, or principle of all the good 
 that is in the world, “ They shall see how all things were made by him, and 
 without him was not anything made that was made,” John 1 : 3. They 
 shall see all the good in the creature as flowing from Christ, and as con- 
 tained in the absolute perfection of Christ’s divine nature ; they shall see 
 in one Christ all the excellencies of all the creatures united, which is indeed 
 to see him in his eminency, if there be any beauty, riches, honor, goodness, 
 in any creature, that is eminently, transcendently, and originally in Christ, 
 and that shall be seen. 
 
 3. They shall see Christ in all his ways, counsels, decrees, executions, 
 and transactions, from everlasting to everlasting, that great business of elec- 
 tion and reprobation will then be discovered : it is an expression of Augus- 
 tine, “ They shall then see the reason why one is elected, and another repro- 
 bated ; why one is rich, and another is poor they shall then see all the 
 works that ever God did, or that ever God will do ; it is not yet 6000 years 
 since the creation of the world, and what is 6000 years to eternity ? Cer- 
 tainly the truth of Origen’s opinion,* li Touching the existency of other 
 worlds before this, and the future succession of other worlds after this,” 
 
 * Orig. 1. de principiis 3. c. 5. 
 
656 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK Y. 
 
 will then be known. If no worlds before this, yet if God in Christ hath 
 done such great things in only 6000 years ; what he may do in the next 
 6000 years, and so in the next 6000 years, who now can tell? We see 
 not these things, but the saints, in seeing the face of Christ, shall see all 
 things. 
 
 4. They shall see Christ in all his glory, ways, counsels, decrees, execu- 
 tions and transactions, as working for their happiness. Now this is more 
 than the former ; there is a great deal of difference in seeing an object, as 
 excellent in itself, and in seeing an object, as conducing to my happiness ; 
 as one that is a stranger, and another that is an heir, rides over such a do- 
 mesne ; the stranger rides over it, and takes delight to see the situation, 
 rivers, trees, and fruits ; but the heir looks upon it in another manner, 
 “ This (saith he) is the land for which my father laid out so much, and all 
 to enrich me, and all to bestow it on me, as my inheritance.” So the saints 
 admitted into the glorious sight of Christ, they take not only a view of 
 Christ, of the essential glory of Christ, of the transactions of Christ, things 
 excellent in themselves, but they see all these as to make them happy : they 
 say of Christ, and of his actings, “ These are mine, and for my happiness 
 
 a stranger may look upon a king, aud see beauty, and majesty, and glory, 
 and honor in him : but the queen looks upon the king and his beauty as her 
 own : so the saints look upon the King of heaven, they see Christ, and all 
 in Christ, as their own, to make them happy forever and ever. 
 
 5. They shall “ see Christ as he is,” 1 John 3 : 2. But what, do we not 
 “see him now as he is?” Oh no ! we now see him not as he is in deed 
 and truth, but only as he is in hear-say and report : we now see him only as 
 he is shadowed out to us in the gospel of peace; and what is the gospel, 
 but the portraiture of the king, which he sent to another land, to be seen 
 by his bride? So kings and queens on earth woo one another; whilst the 
 bride is on earth, she never seeth him as he is in his best Sabbath-royal 
 robe of immediate glory, she seeth him rather by the second hand, i. e. by 
 messengers, words, and meditation, he rather sends his portraiture, than 
 comes himself ; but in heaven the saints “ see him as he is,” they see Christ 
 himself in his own very person, they see the red and white in his own face, 
 they see all the inside of Christ, and thousands of excellencies shall then be 
 revealed, that we see not now, the mysteries of that glorious ark shall then 
 be opened, his incarnation, his two natures in one person, his suffering as 
 man, and his sitting in the seat of God as God, all these shall be seen. 
 
 6. They shall see Christ without interruption, and without intermission 
 to all eternity. If once the eye be set on the face of Jesus Christ, it will 
 never be taken off again. Some conceive this to be the reason why the 
 saints in heaven can never fall away, because they shall have a continual 
 view of Christ as God : surely to have but one glimpse of Christ in this re- 
 spect, though it were gone presently, it were a great happiness beyond all 
 that the world affords : it was sometimes the desire of a philosopher to see 
 the nature of the sun, though he were to be burnt by it ; so if Christ should 
 but grant us this happiness, “ You shall come to see me, but the sight of 
 me will destroy you,” this were a desirable thing : but to have such an ex- 
 cellent glorious sight as shall never end, that Christ should not only pass by, 
 but stand still, so as the soul shall never lose his sight; O how glorious is 
 this ! If a man do but look upon a delightful object, he is loath to have the 
 eyes drawn from it : surely the eyes of saints shall be eternally opened to 
 see the divine nature of Christ : turn them which way they will, they shall 
 never turn aside the busied eyes of their understanding from off the Deity 
 of Christ ; he fills heaven, he is that fair tree of life, the branches whereof, 
 in all these huge and capacious borders of heaven, have not room to grow 
 in, “for the heaven of heavens cannot contain him.” O the wonders of 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 657 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 heaven ! there is Abraham, Moses, Elias, the prophets, the apostles, and all 
 the glorified martyrs, but the saints have neither leisure, nor hearts to feed 
 themselves with beholding creatures; no, no : all the eyes of heaven (which 
 are a fair and numerous company) are upon (only, only upon) the Lord 
 Jesus Christ; the father hath no leisure to look over his shoulder to see his 
 son ; the husband hath no leisure to look over his shoulder to see his wife ; 
 Christ takes all eyes off from such created things : surely it is enough for 
 the saints and angels in heaven to study Christ for all eternity ; it shall be 
 their only labor to read Christ, to smell Christ, to hear, see, and taste 
 Christ, to love, joy, and enjoy Jesus Christ forever and ever. Thus far of 
 the second point, how the saints shall behold the glory of Christ. 
 
 3. Wherein is the comprehensiveness of this expression, that “ the be- 
 holding of Christ is our all in all ?” I answer, — 1. It comprehends the im- 
 mediate seeing and looking upon all that majesty and glory which Jesus 
 Christ hath. In this sense Paul took it when he complained, “We walk 
 by faith not by sight,” 2 Cor. 5 : 7, q. d. On earth we have faith, and in 
 heaven we have sight : it is some comfort that now I see Jesus Christ by 
 faith, but comparatively to that sight which the saints have in heaven, it is 
 as no comfort at all ; alas ! I am not, I cannot be satisfied so long as I am 
 absent from the Lord, I look upon myself as one from home : and as a prince 
 in a strange land sits down sadly, because he hath not the sight of his father, 
 so I am forced to complain, “Oil cannot see my Lord, I would fain be- 
 hold him, I am a stranger on earth, a pilgrim in this world, I am not where 
 I would be, I am absent from him whom I most desire : 0 ! I desire to be 
 dissolved, and to be with Christ; I walk with him here on earth by faith, 
 but to walk with him in the streets of heaven by sight is far better ; 0 ! I 
 long, I pant, I breathe, I desire, I think every day a year, and every year 
 an age, till I be in heaven, at home, in my father’s arms, that I may behold 
 and see him, and that immediately, I say immediately in his glory.” This 
 is one way of beholding Christ, it is an immediate sight. 
 
 2. It comprehends the fruition and enjoyment of Christ in his glory. 
 Surely the saints shall not be mere idle spectators of the glory of Christ, 
 but they shall enjoy him, and be taken into fellowship with him : it was 
 said of Moses, that he did see the land of Canaan, but he was not admitted 
 into it; it is otherwise with the saints, they shall see heaven, and they shall 
 enter into heaven, “ Come thou faithful servant, and enter into thy master’s 
 joy,” not only behold it, but enter into it; they must behold Christ, and 
 take possession of Christ, and enjoy him as their own, and thus the word to 
 see, or behold, is often used in Scripture, “Except a man be born again he 
 cannot see the kingdom of God,” John 3 : 3, i. e. he cannot enjoy it; and 
 “ Father, I will, that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I 
 am, that they may behold my glory,” John 17 : 24, i. e. that they may en- 
 joy my glory; for Christ is nut only glorious in himself, but he is the spring 
 of glory unto others; now, in this respect, more especially is Christ our all 
 in all; he is all in himself, and if we enjoy him, he is “all in all” unto 
 us : to see a little into the state and condition of the saints in glory in this 
 enjoyment of Christ : 
 
 1. They possess Christ as their own, they go to Christ, and they lay hold 
 on him, saying, “ Thou art mine.” It was indeed the language of the 
 spouse whilst yet on earth, “ I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.” 
 There is a right and a propriety made over to her, in her betrothing unto 
 Christ; but after the solemnity of the marriage is over, the possession is 
 then more full; when once the spouse comes to behold Christ in his king- 
 dom, she may then go boldly to her beloved, and say, “ All I see is my 
 own, I had thee in hope, but now hope is vanished, and actual enjoyment 
 comes in its place; lo I now I have thee in my eye. and in my heart, and in 
 42 
 
658 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK Y. 
 
 my hands, and in my arms, and as nothing shall separate us now, for all 
 our enemies are trodden under foot, so never will I part with thee, so far as 
 to be out of my eye, I will still behold thee, and in beholding I will still 
 possess thee, for thou art mine own.” 
 
 2. They have the use of what they possess, and this is an infinite good to 
 the saints, they shall not only possess Christ, but they shall have what use 
 they will of Christ, and of all in Christ; they shall, as they please, make 
 use of his humanity, and of his Deity, of his glorious essence, and of his 
 glorious attributes ; 0 wonder ! that a saint should come to Christ, and say, 
 “ 0 my Lord, thou art mine, and my pleasure is to make use of thy wis- 
 dom, power, and mercy and that Christ should reply and say, “ Welcome, 
 sweet soul, use me and all my glory as thou pleasest.” Why, thus it is, 
 even as a friend will say to his friend, “ Make use of all that I have as your 
 own ;” so will Christ come to his saints, and bid them make use of all his 
 riches, glory and excellency, even as they will, even to the utmost that they 
 are capable of. 
 
 3. They have the sweet and comfort of all they use, and this makes up 
 a complete enjoyment. In things below, we may have the possession of 
 them, and the use thereof, but if we have not the sweet and comfort of that 
 we use, we cannot be said truly or fully to enjoy those things; what is the 
 possession and use of meat and drink, if we taste not the sweet of them ? 
 Hence God is said “ to give us all things richly to enjoy ;” no creature can 
 give us richly to enjoy another; one may give us such and such things 
 wherein there may be comfort, but he cannot give us comfort in such things, 
 it is only God that can give us that; it is so with the saints in glory, God 
 gives them all things, yea, Christ gives himself to them, as “all in all,” to 
 enjoy him richly, fully, sweetly, to the very uttermost. This is another 
 way of beholding Christ, it is a fruition or enjoyment of Christ, wherein, 
 and whereby he is our “all in all.” 
 
 4. It comprehends all the effects and consequents of such a beholding 
 of his glory, which are infinite delight and complacency in the will, and ail 
 praise and thanksgiving in the mouths of his saints. For the first, It is 
 disputed, whether eternal happiness be more in the acts of the understand- 
 ing, or of the will ? And some conclude, that it is principally in the will, 
 because that is an active appetite and predominant in a man, indeed the 
 whole of a man. Oh ! the jov, delight, and complacency that will arise in 
 the will, upon the seeing and beholding of Jesus Christ! they shall delight 
 infinitely in the essential glory of Christ, and in the declared glory of 
 Christ; they shall delight in all that glory that is reflected upon Christ by 
 all his creatures in heaven ; they shall delight in his presence, and in his 
 love ; “ Christ is all delights,” and how then shall they but delight in 
 Christ ? For the second, As they delight in their wills, so will their mouths 
 be filled with praises : we read of saints and angels continually praising 
 God in heaven, there shall be none of our duties of mourning, fasting, pray- 
 ing and humbling ; the acts of patience and justifying faith shall cease in 
 heaven ; but the duty of praising and glorifying God will continue to all 
 eternity. Methinks I see the saints following the Lamb : methinks I hear 
 the familiar converse betwixt Christ and them, as Christ opens himself to 
 them, so they to him : First, He begins, “Oh! my dear saints, you are 
 they, for whom, before all time, I decreed this heaven, and now you see the 
 execution of my decrees; whilst the world stood, I was still carrying on the 
 work of your salvation, either in doing or suffering, or in successive works, 
 applying my doings and sufferings, my active and passive obedience to your 
 persons; and now the world is at an end, you see the end of my work, and 
 the end of your faith, which is the eternal salvation of your souls; Oh ! 
 now I have my wish, and you have your happiness ; here you and I will 
 
CHAP, n.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 659 
 
 live together, that I may for ever behold you, and that you may for ever 
 behold me and my glory. ” Which no sooner said, hut methinks I hear all 
 those innumerable saints in heaven to answer, “ Worthy is the Lamb that 
 was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, 
 and glory, and blessing/’ Rev. 5 : 12. “And therefore unto him that loved 
 us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings 
 unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever, 
 Amen,” Rev. 1 : 5, 0. Yea, methinks I hear every creature in heaven say, 
 “Blessing, honor, glory, and power be unto him that sitteth on the throne, 
 and unto the Lamb for ever and ever, Amen,” Rev. 5 : 13. Why, this is 
 their continual work in heaven, they have nothing else to do, but with joy 
 and gladness to sing forth the praises of G-od, and of Christ, and that his 
 mercy endureth for ever. And this likewise is comprehended under that 
 notion of the saints, “beholding of Christ,” which completely makes up 
 the proportion asserted, “ That Christ, or the glory of Christ, which the 
 saints shall behold to all eternity, is their all in all.” 
 
 Thus far we have propounded the object, which is Jesus carrying on the 
 salvation of his saints, in his coming again to earth, and taking them up 
 with himself and his angels into heaven : our next work is to direct you 
 how to look unto Jesus in this respect, and then we have done. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of knowing Jesus as carrying on the great work of our salva- 
 tion in his second coming. 
 
 What looking is, and what it contains, we have often heard, and that 
 in these respects we may look on Jesus, 
 
 1. Let us know Jesus, carrying on the saints’ salvation in his second 
 coming, and taking them to heaven. Many glorious, excellent things, 
 many precious passages, many high and heavenly carriages are in this 
 transaction : Is it not of high concernment, that he that now sits at God’s 
 right hand interceding for us, should thence come again to judge the 
 world, aud after judgment take up his saints with him into glory? Can we 
 read of the several actings of this general assize, and not desire to read on 
 still ? Nay, is not all our reading mixed with admiration of every passage ? 
 Come ! wonder, and sit, and pause, and stop at every word ; stay, and won- 
 der, aud adore that light, which appears in any beam of truth, and in the 
 admiration of that truth which doth appear, cast thyself down at the feet 
 of Christ, and cry out, “ 0 the depth of glory, and majesty, and goodness, 
 aud grace in thee ! 0 the riches of love, that thou shouldst let out thyself 
 in these several admirable dispensations !” Come, be exact in this study, 
 gather up all the crumbs and filings of this gold; the least beams of the 
 glory of Christ, (especially as it shines and glitters at his second coming,) 
 have so much light, and love, and splendor in them, as that they will 'be 
 very sweet to look upon them : every piece or part of this knowledge will 
 be of very special use and worth ; yea, the low and imperfect knowledge 
 of this mystery is of infinite more value than the high and perfect know- 
 ledge of ten thousand things besides. And one thing, (0 my soul !) let 
 me tell thee, it is possible to thee to attain a very sweet and satisfactory 
 degree of this very knowledge. And therefore study close, run over again 
 all that hath been spoken, and dig yet deeper into that glorious mine ; con- 
 tent not thyself with a bare discovery of that gold ore, which is only upon 
 
660 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK Y. 
 
 the superfices or top of the mine, but go so far as to find out the inward, 
 spiritual, and experimental knowledge, which the saints by the light of 
 the Spirit, may come to attain. 0 ! study Christ in his second coming to 
 judgment. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of considering Jesus in that respect. 
 
 2. Let us consider Jesus carrying on this work of salvation, at his second 
 coming. It is not enough to know, but we must meditate, and seriously 
 consider of it. A mere student may know Christ, and study Christ, as he 
 knows and studies other things ; he may heap together many notions con- 
 cerning Christ, and his coming to judgment, but he hath no impression of 
 the holiness of Christ upon his heart ; and in this respect, he is a stranger 
 to Christ, and to all his actings ; alas ! he studies Christ, but he doth not 
 rightly, seriously, and inwardly consider of Christ ; he doth not look unto 
 Jesus, as one that looks to his pattern, or as one that looks to his refuge, 
 hope and help : true and spiritual consideration is a serious matter; it is not 
 some few and fleeting thoughts that are the discharge of this work, but 
 thoughts resting, dwelling, fixing, and staying upon Christ, until they come 
 to some profitable issue : 0 ! it is another manner of business than many 
 are aware of, it is a thinking with thought upon thought, it is a reiteration 
 and multiplication of the thoughts of the mind upon the subject propounded, 
 so the scripture expresseth it, “ I looked on all the works that my hands had 
 wrought;” and in the next verse, “ I returned to see,” Eccl. 2 : 11, 12. 
 He looked upon, and considered his works, and he returned to behold them ; 
 he thought on them before, but now he returned to think ; he renewed his 
 thoughts upon the matter, and took a new view of them. Indeed when the 
 understanding works seriously and spiritually, it will fetch things into sight, 
 and not only so, but it will hold them there, and fasten upon them, and when 
 they are gone, it will fetch them again, “ My soul hath them still in remem- 
 brance,” Lam. 3 : 20. My soul in remembering doth remember them, and 
 will not off till the end be obtained ; so a man eyes Christ, till he have 
 more of Christ, more of his presence, and more of his light, and more of 
 his favor, and more of his image. 0 ! let this be our work, let us consider 
 Jesus in reference to his second coming to judgment. And that we may do 
 it in order, 
 
 1. Consider Christ’s preparing for judgment; realize it, as if thou sawest 
 or heardest the same ; no sooner the time determined which God hath ap- 
 pointed, but Christ commands, “ Make ready ye angels to wait upon me, 
 and make ready ye glorious souls that now are with me ; it is the Father’s 
 pleasure, and it is my pleasure to go down into the nether world, and to call 
 before me all the men and women that ever lived in it ; there will I pass 
 my doom upon all flesh, and reward every one, good and bad, according to 
 his works.” Oh! what a shout may I imagine in heaven at this news? 
 What joy is in the souls of saints, that now they must go to their bodies, 
 and enter into them, that both their souls and bodies, which sometimes lived 
 together, may now dwell together with Christ in glory, and never part 
 more ? If those that live on earth are commanded by Christ, “ To lift up 
 their heads because their redemption draweth nigh ;” how much more shall 
 they joy in heaven, who also have “ waited for the adoption, to wit, the re- 
 demption of their bodies?” Rom. 8:23. That now the long-looked for 
 day is come, it is come; 0 ! the exultation of the saints and angels at these 
 tidings ! this is worthy of a pause, a Selah to be set upon it. 
 
 2. Consider Christ’s coming to judgment. All now in readiness, the Son 
 of God comes forth with all his glorious attendants, 11 For the Son of man 
 shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels,” Matth. 16 : 27, aud 
 with the souls of saints, that for a time have been in paradise. Oh ! what 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 661 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 a goodly sight is here ! In this meditation I may see with John, “ the new 
 Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride 
 adorned for her husband,” Rev. 21 : 2. Down comes Christ, and down 
 come the angels, and down come the spirits of the just made perfect ; and 
 as they come along, see how they shake the heavens, and dim, and darken 
 the very lights of heaven ; see what a flood of fire goes before them, see 
 how they pass into the cloud, where Christ makes a stand, and erects a 
 throne for himself to sit on. Sure it will be a gilded glorious cloud, when 
 Christ, 'with all his celestial servants, shall sit upon it ; a morning’s cloud, 
 gilded with the beams of the sun, is admirably fair and shining ; but what 
 a shining cloud is that, where the Sun of righteousness, with all his morn- 
 ing stars, do sit and shine ? Here is enough to dazzle my eyes, and take 
 up my thoughts. 0 my soul think on it ! 
 
 3. Consider Christ’s summons of the elect to come under judgment. No 
 soouer in the cloud but “ he shall send his angels with a great sound of a 
 trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from 
 one end of heaven to the other,” Matth. 24 : 31. Will not this be a strange 
 sight, to see Christ a coming, with trumpets sounding before him, causing 
 all the dead to waken out of their sleeps of death ? The very sound of 
 this trumpet was ever in Jerome’s ears, “Arise, ye dead, and come to judg- 
 ment,” and no question but their ears shall be filled with the blast thereof; 
 the trumpet shall sound that shall be heard over all the world, and then 
 shall the dead arise out of their graves, and every saint’s soul shall re-enter 
 into his own body, by virtue of the resurrection of Christ their head. Can 
 I pass this meditation without some reflection on myself? 0 my soul! 
 how joyfully will thou greet thy body, when thou shalt enliven it again ? 
 How wilt thou say, 0 my dear sister ! whom I left behind me in the dust 
 when I went to heaven, how sweet is thy carcass, how comely is thy coun- 
 tenance ? How do I enter into thee, and animate thee, and I will never 
 more leave thee ; thou wast my yoke-fellow in the Lord’s labors, and my 
 companion in persecution and wrong ; now shall we enter together into our 
 Master’s joy ; see, lift up thy head, behold, Jesus Christ yonder, sitting in 
 the cloud, and lo ! here the angels waiting on us, and coming to take us 
 with the rest of the saints into the air, to meet our Redeemer there. Could 
 I but realize this summons, this resurrection, this meeting of the soul and 
 body, and going with the angels into the judgment-seat, oh ! how would it 
 work, and what work would it make within ? 
 
 4. Consider Christ and the saints meeting at the judgment-day ? Oh ! 
 
 how shall the saints look, and stare, and gaze at the beauty of Jesus Christ ? 
 Oh ! how will they break out into admiration at the first view of those 
 glories, which never before appeared on this side heaven ? Is not this he 
 (will they say) of whom we read so often, That he was fairer than the sons 
 of men ? That he was white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousands, 
 That his countenance was as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars, glorious as 
 when the sun shineth in his strength ? But was ever the half told us, of 
 what now we see and behold ? 0 the super-excellent transcendent beauty 
 
 of this Sun of righteousness ? 0 the treasures of loveliness in this Jesus 
 
 Christ never seen before ? and thus as they admire, so they adore ; now 
 they begin those Hallelujahs that never, never shall have an end ; they fall 
 at the feet of Christ, and the Lord Christ takes them up with his hands, 
 and folds them in his arms : oh ! what mutual reciprocal salutations are 
 these betwixt Christ and his members ? Oh my head ! and oh my body ! 
 oh my husband ! and, oh my spouse ! oh my dear ! and, oh my darling ! 
 never two lovers met with such heat of love as Christ and his saints ; 
 “ Come, saith Christ, and sit you down here at my right hand, and let the 
 world be on my left hand ; it was otherwise with you in your life-time, my 
 
662 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. [BOOK V. 
 
 gold and my jewels were then cast in the dust : you were then clothed with 
 infamy, and the vilest of men were then gilded with honor : but now I will 
 set all right, now the dust shall be swept away, and the jewels of my king- 
 dom shall be gathered up; now the goats shall be driven into the desert, 
 and you, who are the sheep, shall be brought into my fold.” Oh my soul ! 
 what a meeting is this ? What a sight will this be to behold the saints in 
 this condition, and thyself amongst them ? Couldst thou but realize this one 
 very passage, it were enough to quench thy lust, and to kindle a flame of 
 pure love in thy heart to Jesus Christ; it is a quickening, rousing, raising, 
 rejoicing consideration. 
 
 5. Consider Christ’s sentencing his saints to eternal glory. Then shall 
 the books be opened, and all the good works of the saints shall be revealed 
 and made known ; and then shall the judge, from his throne of Majesty, 
 (in the sight and hearing of all the world), pronounce that sentence, “Come, 
 ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the 
 foundation of the world,” Matth. 25:34, q. d. “Come my saints, come 
 with me into glory ; come now from labor to .rest, from disgrace to glory, 
 from the jaws of death, to the joys of eternal life; for my sake ye have 
 been railed on, reviled and cursed; but now it shall appear to all those 
 cursed Esaus, that you are the true Jacobs that shall receive the blessing, 
 and blessed shall you be ; come now and possess with me the inheritance 
 of heaven, where you shall be for love, sons; for birth-right, heirs; for 
 dignity, kings; for holiness, priests : come, you may boldly enter in, for my 
 Father hath prepared and kept it for you, ever since the first foundation of 
 the world was laid. 
 
 0 my soul ? dost thou not remember, when sometimes thou hast been at 
 the feet of Christ in the beauty of holiness, and there tookest in those 
 droppings of his Spirit, which were better to thee than the feasts of kings? 
 Dost thou not remember, when sometimes thou hast had the very beams 
 of light darted from the face of Jesus Christ, when he whispered to thy 
 soul the forgiveness of thy sins, saying, “ Fear not, thy sins shall not hurt 
 thee, I am thy salvation ?” 0 what joy was then ! what meltings, movings, 
 stirrings, leapings of heart were then in thy bosom ! but was that joy any 
 thing to this, or to be compared with this? That was a drop, but here is 
 an ocean, here is fulness of joy; oh ! what leapings of heart, what ravish- 
 ments will be within, when thou shalt see thyself in the arms of Christ, 
 and shalt receive words of life from the mouth of Christ, in the face of all 
 the world ? What a thing will this be, when Christ shall pass a sentence 
 of death on others, and speak words of life unto thee ? When thou shalt 
 see him frowning upon the world, (and, oh ! those frowns will break the 
 heart) and shall behold him smiling in the fulness of his love upon thy- 
 self? that Christ at such a time should be delighting thee with all the 
 embraces of love, and with this sweet invitation to heaven, “ Come thou 
 blessed, inherit the kingdom,” it were enough to spirit a soul half dead : 
 the very meditation of this must needs be sweet. 
 
 6. Consider Christ and the saints judging the rest of the world. No 
 sooner are the saints sentenced, but Christ turns to the wicked, and bids 
 them “go into everlasting fire;” in which sentence the saints shall join 
 with Christ himself; “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the 
 world ?” 1 Cor. 6 : 2. When the saints appear, it is not only by a sum- 
 mons, but with commission ; not only to be judged, but to judge ; not only 
 shall they stand at Christ’s right hand, but they shall sit down on the 
 throne of the Son of God, to judge the wicked angels and the world. 0 
 the torment ! 0 the vexation of men and devils, when they shall see those 
 very men whom they scorned, oppressed and persecuted, to be now advanced 
 not only to glory, but to be their judges! it is as if some nobleman had 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 663 
 
 •wronged some poor man, and that, the king should therefore deliver the 
 nobleman unto the poor man to take his own revenge. “ Surely the un- 
 godly shall see this, and be grieved ; he shall gnash with his teeth for 
 indignation, and melt away,” Psal. 112 : 10. But on the contrary, “The 
 righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance, he shall wash his feet 
 in the blood of the ungodly,” Psalm 58 : 10. 
 
 0 my soul, dost thou believe this truth ? And art thou confident that 
 thou shalt sit with Christ on his very throne to judge the world ? Why 
 then be joyful in afflictions, exercise thou patience in the censures and 
 judgments of the world, know thou for thy comfort that there is a turn 
 and time of judging, and therefore say, “ With me it is a small matter that 
 I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment,” as the original hath 
 it, “ of man’s day,” 1 Cor. 4:3. Is it not enough to command patience, 
 if God’s day be at hand, when I shall judge my unjust judges? Hark 
 what the apostle saith, “ Be patient, brethren, unto the coming of the 
 Lord, behold, the husband-man waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, 
 and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain : be 
 ye also patient, stablish your hearts ; for the coming of the Lord draweth 
 nigh. Behold, the judge standeth before the door,” James 5 : 7, 8, 9. 
 Come, exercise patience, let the world be judging; if they will needs 
 slander, reproach and persecute thy soul, they had better abuse any judge 
 on earth than thee; though thou art the poorest, weakest, meanest of God’s 
 saints upon the earth, they will know one da} 7 , that they have abused their 
 own judge in abusing thee; and therefore be thou quiet, silent, patient. 
 Say as David, “ Let him alone, and let him curse, yea, let him judge, for 
 the Lord hath bidden him : it may be the Lord will look on mine affliction, 
 and will requite good for his judging this day; this is his day, but the day 
 of the Lord is my day, and then shall I sit with Christ on his throne to 
 judge the world.” Oh the sweet that I may suck from the honey-comb, 
 of Christ and his saints judging the world ! 
 
 7. Consider Christ and his saints going up into heaven. No sooner 
 hath he done his work with the world, and sent them away, but then he 
 shall conduct all his flock like a faithful shepherd to their fold; then 
 shall he go with all his troops following him into heaven. Hath not Christ 
 said so? “ If I go away, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, 
 that where I am, there you may be also,” John 14 : 3. 0 those songs of 
 
 joy, and shouts of praise that will fill the world at that day ! and thus as 
 they go along, heaven opens unto them, and they enter in ; what welcomes 
 they have there is past my telling ; if we may imagine and guess. 0 the 
 welcome that Christ will give ! “ Come my spouse, and come my dear, 
 
 come all my saints ; here be those mansions that I went before to prepare 
 and make ready for you ; here be those everlasting habitations wherein 
 you and I will dwell together; here is your Father’s house, the building 
 of the wall is all of jasper, and the worst piece of it is all pure gold, 
 like unto clear glass, Rev. 21 : 18. Why this is your home, your house 
 made without hands; here you and I will spend our time, eternity itself, 
 in joying, enjoying aud beholding each other. And as thus Christ salutes 
 them, so will the angels, those created citizens of heaven, salute them 
 too; for if joy be in heaven at the conversion of one sinner, what joy will 
 there be at the glorification of all the saints ? What welcome entertain- 
 ment will the angels give to these new guests at their first entrance into 
 heaven ? 
 
 0 my soul ! if thou art one of them that shall have this welcome, what 
 wilt thou say when thou art admitted in thither, if weeping were in heaven 
 wouldst thou not weep for joy ? Sure these things are no fictions of man’s 
 brain, but truths and realities; and as they are true and real, so they are 
 
664 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK V. 
 
 exceeding full of joy; all the excellencies of this world are hut a dream in 
 comparison of them; even the sun in its brightness is but darkness to this 
 glory that shall then be seen. Come, think over these things, and he so 
 enlarged in thy thoughts, that before they go, thou mayest feel the sweet, 
 and taste of this goodness of the Lord. 
 
 8. Consider all the several transactions that will follow in heaven; then 
 will Christ present all his elect to God his Father; then will he give in all 
 his commissions which he hath received from his Father; “ Then will the 
 Son himself be subject to the Father, that God may be all in all." I can- 
 not stay to enlarge on these; only remember, though God be all in all that 
 excludes not Christ, for he also is all in all to all his saints, even to all 
 eternity; immediate visions and fruitions of Christ as God, is the very top 
 of heaven's joy : Christ is all in all ; Christ is the centre of heaven's happi- 
 ness; Christ is the well-spring that fills the capacities of saints and angels; 
 Christ is the object of happiness itself; there is as much happiness in Christ 
 as happiness is; whatever belongs to glory is in Christ, “in him dwelletb 
 all the fulness/' Whatever excellency is in heaven, it is in Christ, not 
 only in perfection, but connexion ; for all those excellencies meet together, 
 and rest in Christ. Christ is all good things to all his saints in heaven ; 
 he is beauty to their eyes, music to their ears, honey to their mouths, per- 
 fume to their nostrils, health to their bodies, joy to their souls, light to their 
 understandings, and content to their wills; he is time without sliding, 
 society without loathing, desire without fainting, Alpha and Omega, the be- 
 ginning and ending; wanting both, needing neither, yet the author of them 
 both : he is all in all, from one, not all. Even all the strength, wit, plea- 
 sure, virtues, colors, beauties, harmony, and goodness that are in men, beasts, 
 fishes, fowls, trees, herbs, and all creatures, are nothing but sparkles of those 
 things which are in Christ. Christ himself will then supply their use ; so 
 that the best creatures which now serve the saints, shall not have the honor 
 to serve them then ; “ There will be no need of the sun, nor of the moon to 
 shine in that city, for the elory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the 
 light thereof," Rev. 21 : 23. 
 
 And hence the beholding of Christ is the all in all to his glorified saints; 
 this was Christ’s prayer, “ Father, I will that those whom thou hast given 
 me, be with me where I am ;" to what end ? “ That they may behold my 
 
 glory," John 17 : 24. Christ's heavenly presence is conspicuous, he is not 
 present as some things that are not seen and yet are present, but his pre- 
 sence is, or certainly it shall be conspicuous to all his saints : when was 
 in the world his glory was covered under a mean outside, he was like a 
 blight light in a dark lantern, and there were very few that knew him then ; 
 but in heaven he shall be as a cabinet opened, or as the sun in his full 
 glory, “ We shall know him, as we are known, and behold him face to face; 
 we shall see him as he is," 1 John 8 : 2. Nor only will he be conspicuous, 
 but his presence shall be vital : a stone may be with us, and seen clearly, 
 but there is little in the sight of that : in the beholding of Christ there will 
 be an acting of kindness upon the saints, there will be visions with life and 
 dear refreshing. O the influence that the sight of Christ will have on his 
 saints in heaven ! nor only will he be conspicuous and vital, but his presence 
 shall be fixed : he shall abide with the saints, that they may forever behold 
 him. Oh 1 if there were such running after Christ in this world, some get- 
 ting on hills, and others on trees, that they might behold him when he 
 passed by, wbat will the sight of Christ in heaven be, when he shall be 
 always in the eye of his saints, and never out of sight, when they shall be 
 always viewing him, and be always satisfied with that view? Nor only will 
 fie be conspicuous, vital and fixed, but his very presence shall transform ; 
 “ They shall see his face, — and they shall reign for ever and ever," Rev. 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 665 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 22 : 4, 5. 0 the influence of this sight ! it is of such a transforming nature, 
 
 that to see the King will make kings; this vision of glory amounts unto a 
 fruition of glory; if ever thou art a spectator of Christ, thou art sure to be 
 a partaker of Christ in all his glory, “ I shall be satisfied when I awake 
 with thy likeness,” Ps. 17 : 15. “ It doth not yet appear what we shall be ; 
 
 but we Know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him and why 
 so ? “ For we shall see him as he is,” 1 John 3 : 2. And no wonder, for if 
 the imperfect beholding of his glory in the glass of his gospel, “change the 
 soul into the same image from glory to glory,” 1 Cor. 13:12, how much 
 more shall the full view of his glory in heaven transform both the souls and 
 bodies of his saints into a fulness of glory? Here then, is the top of hea- 
 ven, here is the all in all ; here is the satisfaction of souls to the very utter- 
 most ; if Christ's glory in his transfiguration was so satisfactory to Peter as 
 that he desired his sight of it might never have end or interruption, “ 0 ! 
 it is good to be here, let us here build tabernacles ;” and yet Peter was only 
 a spectator of this glory, for he had himself no share in it: 0 then ! what 
 infinite satisfaction mayest thou expect in the beholding of Christ’s glory in 
 heaven, which will be accompanied with an everlasting enjoyment? The 
 lustre of his glory will be diffused unto all, so that some shall enjoy the 
 glory of the sun, others of the moon, and others of the stars. 0 my soul ! 
 if thou art but a star there, yet if thou art filled with that light that comes 
 from the Sun of righteousness, it is enough. Oh remember! Oh con- 
 sider ! Oh never forget this looking unto Jesus ! as it is thy duty on earth, 
 so it is thy privilege and highest happiness in heaven for ever and ever. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of desiring after Jesus in that respect. 
 
 3. Let us desire after Jesus, carrying on this work of man’s salvation at 
 his second coming. It is true, many shrink at the thoughts of death and 
 judgment, and it is a high pitch to desire the dissolution of ourselves, and 
 of this world ; the best Christians are compounded of flesh and spirit, and 
 if the Spirit long to be in heaven, yet the flesh is loath to leave this earth. 
 Speak out, 0 my soul ! thou prayest daily, “ Come Lord Jesus, let thy 
 kingdom come;” but is not the flesh afraid, lest God should hear thy 
 prayers? Oh ! that we could loathe our loathings in that respect! oh, that 
 we could long for this second coming of Christ to judgment ! And Chris- 
 tians, this is attainable, or otherwise I should not persuade you to it ; “I 
 am in a strait, (said Paul,) betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and be 
 with Christ, which is far better,” Phil. 1 : 23. And this is the voice of the 
 desolate bride, Come, for the Spirit of Christ within her saith, “Come; 
 The Spirit and the bride say, Come,” Rev. 22 : 17. Yea, the whole crea- 
 tion saith, “ Come, waiting to be delivered from the bondage of corruption, 
 into the glorious liberty of the children of God : and not only they, but our- 
 selves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit; even we ourselves groan 
 within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our 
 body,” Rom. 8 : 21, 23. Oh that we could groan ! Oh that we could 
 come up to this high pitch, even to/sigh out, not our breath, but our spirits, 
 even to groan out, not some vapors, but our hearts ! 
 
 I know it is suitable to flesh and blood to tremble at the thoughts of 
 judgment, “When Paul reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judg- 
 ment to come, Felix trembled,” Acts 24 : 25. Weak Christians as well as 
 Heathens, may have many terrible fancies and notions of that day; Oh ! to 
 think of a time “When there shall be a great earthquake, when the "sun 
 shall become black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon red as blood ; when 
 the stars of heaven shall fall unto the earth, and when the heavens shall 
 depart as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island 
 shall be moved out of their places. When the kings of the earth, and the 
 
666 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK V. 
 
 great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and every bond-man, 
 and every free-man, shall hide themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of 
 the mountains, and shall say to the rocks, and to the mountains, Fall on us, 
 and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upen the throne, and from the 
 wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall 
 be able to stand ?” Rev. 6 : 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. Will it not be terrible? 
 If the people were so afraid when the Lord came without such attendants 
 to give the law upon Mount Sinai, certainly much more terrible must such 
 a coming in this manner be, when he shall come like a revenging judge, to 
 take an account of the world, for the keeping, or for the breaking of that 
 law. 
 
 In this respect, I wonder not at some weak Christians, that cry out, “ 0 
 Lord, thou knowest that I have not desired this woful day.” A wise Jew 
 was wont to say from a deep foresight of the terror of this day, u The Mes- 
 siah will come, but Lord let me not live to see his coming.” Now, to con- 
 quer this fear, and to abate such slavish terror, in such souls, Oh ! that they 
 would consider it in the whole notion of it, not only as it shall be a day of 
 blackness and of terror, but as it shall be also a day of rest and of release. 
 Some are apt to take it up in the half notion of it; they look upon it only 
 as a day of judgment, and a day of condemnation, and so they fly from it, 
 as from a serpent; but if they would take it up again, and look on the 
 other side, the serpent would be turned into a rod. The day which will be 
 so dreadful to the ungodly, and the beginning of their misery, it will be as 
 joyful to the saints, and the beginning of their glory. 
 
 Rut in what respect is this day of Christ so desirable a day ? I answer, 
 in these particulars, 
 
 1. It is “ a day of refreshing,” Acts 3 : 19. Here the saints work in a 
 furnace, u His fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem,” Isa. 31 : 19. 
 Rut Christ in his second coming, (when all the world shall be on fire,) shall 
 fan wind, (as I may say,) on his saints to cool them : to the wicked it is a 
 hot day, a day of everlasting burnings; but to the saints it is a day of 
 cooling, quickening, reviving, and refreshing. 
 
 2. It is “a day of restoring of all things,” Acts 3 : 21. Every creature 
 is now in its work-day dress, all defiled with sin ; but at that day there shall 
 be a restitution of all things; all the disorders and ruins which sin hath 
 brought into the world shall then be repaired, and man himself, whose sin 
 is the cause of all, shall then be restored to his original glory. 
 
 3. It is “a day of the manifestation of the sons of God,” Rom. 8 : 19. 
 Then shall it be known who are true saints, and who are reprobates : here 
 we live in confusion, and in our most refined churches, (if we have none 
 scandalous,) yet we may have many hypocrites, and we cannot discern them ; 
 but in that day it shall be known who are the Lord’s, and who are not. 
 The hypocrite shall then be unmantled, and the sons of God shall shine and 
 glitter as the sun, that all may run and read, “ These are God’s elect, these 
 are the sons and daughters of the Almighty.” 
 
 4. It is u the day of adoption, and of the redemption of our bodies,” 
 Rom. 8 : 23. It is the day of our sonship and deliverance : I deny not but 
 that the saints are adopted and redeemed before this day ; but this adoption, 
 and redemption is not consummate nor declared, before Christ come again 
 to judgment ; then it is that he takes his saints home to his house, and all 
 the angels and men of the world shall understand the love wherewith he 
 love*s them ; then shall Christ say, “ These are my sons whom I have re- 
 deemed, and as I have set them free, so now shall they live and reign with 
 me for ever and ever.” 
 
 5. It is “ the day of Christ’s coming.” He was here not long since, 
 travelling upon the earth, and about our business; which done, he went 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 667 
 
 away to heaven upon a special errand for his saints; and there now he is to 
 intercede for them, to attend the court, to be their advocate, and to agitate 
 the business of their souls; and withal, there now he is to take up lodgings 
 for them, and to prepare them mansions for eternity. And no sooner shall 
 he hafve despatched his business there, but he will come for earth again, he 
 will bow the heavens, and come down to give a report of his transactions 
 there : hath he not left us a letter to that effect ? “ I will come again, and 
 receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also,” John 14 : 3. 
 0 ! why are his chariots so long a coming ? "Why tarry the wheels of his 
 chariots ? 
 
 6. It is “ the day of Christ's revealing,” 2 Thess. 1 : 7. Christ to many 
 of his saints here is hidden and withdrawn ; it is true, he may be in them, 
 yea, certainly he is in them by his Spirit; but no man knows it, no, nor 
 themselves neither, which makes them cry, Oh ! where is he whom my soul 
 loveth ? But at this day of Christ's revealing, all curtains shall be drawn 
 aside, Christ shall be unhid, and the saints shall see him face to face, they 
 shall never loose him more; for without any intermission they shall stare, 
 and gaze, and be ever looking unto Jesus. 
 
 7. It is “ the day of Christ’s bright and glorious appearing,” Col. 3 : 4. 
 When he was upon the earth he appeared in our dress ; many then saw him, 
 who then said of him, “ there is no beauty in him that we should desire 
 him.” Oh ! it was a sad sight to see him crowned with thorns, and 
 scourged with whips, and nailed to the cross ; but in his next appearing we 
 shall see him in his best attire, arrayed in white, attended with the retinue 
 of glory, riding in his chariot of light, and smiling upon all his saints : now, 
 is not this desirable ? The apostle tells us of the saints “ looking for the 
 glorious appearing of the great God, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ,” Tit. 
 2 : 13. Therefore surely they desire it. 
 
 8. It is the day of Christ's joy. “ Then he shall see of the travail of 
 his soul, and he shall be satisfied,” Isa. 53 : 11. Now what is the travail 
 of his soul ? Is it not the perfection of his redeemed ones ? Oh ! when 
 Christ seeth this, when he seeth his spouse as without spot or wrinkle, then 
 shall be fulfilled that prophecy, “As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, 
 so shall thy God rejoice over thee,” Isa. 42 : 5. Look how the joy of a 
 bridegroom is over his bride upon the wedding day, (surely then, if ever, 
 all is love and joy) so is Christ's joy over his saints at the last day ; then 
 begins their joy, that never, never shall have end, there shall be no moment 
 of time wherein Christ will not rejoice over his saints for ever after. 
 
 9. It is “the day of Christ's perfection.” Christ as Mediator, is not 
 
 fully perfect till all his members be in glory united to him ; as an head that 
 wants an arm, or hand, or leg, we say is lame, so it is a kind of mystical 
 lameness that Christ our head hath not with him all his members ; the saints 
 are little pieces of mystical Christ, and it will not be well till Christ gathers 
 in his arms and thighs, and pulls them nearer to himself in glory. And is 
 not this desirable, to see the Lord Jesus Christ, as head of the church in 
 his perfection ? To see the sun of righteousness with every beam united 
 to him ? 0 ! desirable day ! 
 
 10. It is “Christ’s wedding day,” or “the marriage day of the Lamb," 
 Bev. 19 : 7. The saints are betrothed to Christ, when first they believe in 
 Christ; that is Christ's word, “I will betroth thee unto me, and thou art 
 my sister, my spouse,” Cant. 4 : 10. Not my wife, thou art not yet mar- 
 ried, only contracted here ; but at that day the marriage of the Lamb will 
 be complete, and then will the voice be heard, “ let us be glad and rejoice, 
 and give honor to him ; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife 
 hath made herself ready,” Rev. 19 : 7. 0 ! the joy that Christ, and saints 
 and angels, and all that belong to heaven, will make at this marriage 1 
 
668 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK Y. 
 
 “ blessed are they that are called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb,” Rev. 
 19 : 9. One of the seven angels that came to John in visions, “talked 
 with him, saying, come hither, and I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s 
 wife,” Rev. 21 : 9. If the espoused virgin be willing not to be married, 
 how is it that we cry not, “ Come Lord Jesus, come quickly?” 
 
 11. It is Christ’s day of presenting his saints unto his Father : “ He de- 
 livers up the kingdom to God, even the Father,” 1 Cor. 15 : 24. Then shall 
 he take his bride by the hand and bring her to his house, and present her 
 in all state and solemnity to the Father. Is not this a desirable day ? 
 Surely Christ rejoiceth, and his very heart even springs again to present 
 his church unto his Father, “ Father, here behold my bride, that I have 
 married unto myself.” It is true, a child may sometimes marry such an 
 one, as he may be ashamed to think of bringing to his Father’s house, but, 
 how mean and sinful soever we are of ourselves, when once we are married 
 unto Christ, he will not think it any dishonor, no not before his Father, 
 that he hath such a bride, “ Father (will he say) lo ! here are all my saints, 
 of all that thou hast given me, I have lost none, but the children of perdi- 
 tion ; these are mine, dearly bought, thou knowest the price, 0 ! welcome 
 them to glory !” 
 
 12. “ It is the day of Christ’s glory.” What glorious descriptions have 
 
 we in the scripture of Christ’s coming to judgment ! “ The Son of man 
 
 shall come from heaven with power and great glory,” Matth. 24 : 80. And 
 the work is no sooner done, but he shall return again into heaven with 
 power and great glory. Not to mention the essential glory of Christ, 0 ! 
 the glory of Christ as Mediator; all the glory that Ahasuerus could put 
 upon his favorites was nothing to this spiritual and heavenly glory, which 
 the Father will put upon the Son ; it is a glory above all the glories that 
 ever were, or ever shall be ; it is an eternal glory, not but that Christ shall 
 at last give up his kingdom to his Father; he shall no more discharge the 
 acts of an advocate or intercessor for us in heaven, only the glory of this 
 shall always continue ; it shall to all eternity be recorded that he was the 
 Mediator, and that he is the Saviour that has brought us to life and immor- 
 tality, and upon this ground the tongues of all the saints shall be employed 
 to all eternity to celebrate his glory. This will be their everlasting song, 
 “ Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 
 and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be 
 glory and dominion for ever, and ever, Amen,” Rev. 1 : 5, 6. Now, is not 
 this a desirable thing ? Do we believe there is such a thing as Christ’s 
 mediatory glory, and Christ’s essential glory, as Christ’s human glory, and 
 Christ’s divine glory ? And have we no desires to behold this glory ? 
 Surely Christ himself desired it of God, he would have his saints with him 
 where he is, that they might behold his glory ; and shall not we desire it, 
 whom it most concerns ? 0 ! the sweet temper of the spouse, when she 
 
 cried out “ Make haste my beloved, and be thou like a roe, or to a young 
 hart upon the mountains of spices,” Cant. 8 : 14. 
 
 Come now and run over these particulars. Surely every one is motive 
 enough to desire this day; it is a day of refreshing, a day of restoring, a 
 day of manifestation of the sons of God, a day of adoption, and of the re- 
 demption of our bodies: a day of Christ’s coming, of Christ’s revealing, 
 of Christ's appearing, of Christ’s joy, of Christ’s perfection, of Christ’s 
 wedding, of Christ’s presenting his saints, and of Christ’s glory. What, 
 are we not yet in a longing frame ? The wife of youth that wants her 
 husband for some years, and expects that he should return from over-sea 
 lands, she is often on the shore, her very heart loves the wind that should 
 bring him home ; every ship in view, that is but drawing near the shore, 
 is her new joy, and new reviving hopes; she asks of every passenger, “0 ! 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 669 
 
 saw von my husband ? What is he doing ? When will he come? Is he 
 not jet shipped, and ready for a return ?” Souls truly related to the Lord 
 Jesus Christ should, methinks, long no less; 0! what desire should the 
 spirit and the bride have, to hear when Christ shall say to his angels, 
 “ Make you ready for the journey, let us go down, and divide the skies, and 
 bow the heavens; I will gather my prisoners of hope unto me, I cannot 
 want my Rachel, and her weeping children any longer, behold I come 
 quickly to judge the nations ?” Methinks, every spouse of Christ should 
 love the quarter of the sky, that being rent asunder should yield unto her her 
 husband ; methinks, she should love that part of the heavens where Christ 
 puts through his glorious hand, and comes riding on the rainbow, and clouds 
 to receive her to himself. I conclude this with the conclusion of the Bible, 
 “ He that testifieth these things, saith, surely I come quickly. Amen. 
 Even so, come Lord Jesus,” Rev. 22 : 20. 
 
 Sect. IV. — Of hoping in Jesus in that respect. 
 
 4. Let us hope in Jesus, as carrying on the great work of our salvation 
 for us in his second coming. Hope is of good things to come ; hope is an 
 act of the will extending itself towards that which it loves as future ; only 
 the future good, as it is the object of hope, it is difficult to obtain, and 
 therein it differs from desire ; for desire looks at a future good without any 
 apprehension of difficulty, but hope respects the future good, as it is gotten 
 with difficulty. Lazy hopes that will not be in the use of means, though 
 difficult, are not true hopes ; we see many desirable things set before us, 
 of which we may say, “ Oh ! that we had our part and portion of them.” 
 But shall we go on, and search and find out the truth, whether we have 
 any part or portion in them ? Or, whether we have any hope of any such 
 things ! Oh ! this is worthy our pains. Come then let us yet make a fur- 
 ther progress, let us not only “ desire that it may be thus and so,” but let 
 us say, on some sure and certain grounds, “We hope it is thus and so,” we 
 hope Christ will “come again, and receive us to himself, that where he is, 
 t. ere we may be also,” John 14 : 3. 
 
 Indeed there is the Christian’s stay and comfort, such an hope is a “ sure 
 anchor , ” Heb. 6 : 19, that will hold the ship in a storm; only because our 
 
 souls lie upon it, we had need to look to it that our hopes be true ; the 
 
 worst can say, “ They hope to be saved as well as the best;” but I fear the 
 
 hopes of many will be lamentably frustrated. Our Saviour brings in many 
 
 pleading with confidence at the last day for life, who shall be rejected with 
 miserable disappointment, “ Many shall say to me at that day, Lord, Lord, 
 <fec., and I will confess unto them, I never knew them, depart from me.” 
 Now, to clear this point, that our hopes are of the right stamp, and not 
 counterfeit hopes, I shall lay down some signs, whereby we may know that 
 Christ’s coming is for us and for our good, and for the grace that is to be 
 given us at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 
 
 1. If we are born again, then will his glorious coming be to glorify us, 
 “ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according 
 to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, to an 
 inheritance incorruptible,” 1 Pet. 1 : 3, 4. Whosoever hath the true hope 
 of heaven, he is one that is begotten again : so our Saviour, “ Except a 
 man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” John 3 : 3. Many 
 things may be done, as Herod heard John the Baptist, “ and did many 
 thiugs;” but except a man be born again, those many things are in God’s 
 account as nothing. When Peter had told Christ, that he and his fellow 
 disciples had forsaken all, and followed him, “ Then Jesus said, verily I 
 say unto you, That ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when the 
 Sun of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye shall also sit upon twelve 
 
670 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK Y. 
 
 thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel,” Matth. 19 : 28, q. d. Peter, 
 You have forsaken all, and followed me, but know that bare forsaking is 
 not enough, but you who have felt the work of God regenerating your 
 souls, upon which ye have followed me, ye shall sit upon twelve thrones. 
 In those who are alive at the last day there will be a change, and this 
 change will be to them instead of death : “ Behold I show you a mystery, 
 we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, ” 1 Cor. 15 : 51. Cer- 
 tainly, in those who at the last day shall sit on thrones with Christ, there 
 must be a change likewise in this life, (i. e.) a new spirit, and a new life 
 must be put in them : oh ! what a change is this ! suppose a rational soul 
 were put into a beast, what a change would be in that creature ! suppose an 
 angelic nature were put upon us, what a change would there be in us ! oh ! 
 but what a change is this, when a man is born again of water and of the 
 Spirit : I must tell you, that the highest degree of glory in heaven is not 
 so different from the lowest degree of grace here, as the lowest degree of 
 grace here is different from the highest excellency of nature here; because 
 the difference betwixt the highest degree of the glory of heaven, and the 
 lowest degree of grace is only gradual ; but the difference that is betwixt 
 the lowest degree of grace, and the highest excellency of nature, is a spe- 
 cial difference. Oh ! there is a mighty work of God in preparing souls for 
 glory by grace, and this change must they have, that must sit on thrones. 
 Come then, you that hope for glory, try yourselves by this. Is there a 
 change in your hearts, words, and lives? Is there a mighty work of grace 
 upon your spirits ? Are you experienced in the great mystery of regenera- 
 tion ? Why, here is your evidence that your hopes are sound, and that you 
 shall sit upon thrones to judge the world. 
 
 2. If we long for his coming, then will he come to satisfy our longings, 
 “ Blessed are they that hunger and thirst, for they shall be satisfied.” How 
 satisfied, but in being saved ? “ Christ was once offered to bear the sins 
 
 of many ; and uuto them that look for him shall he appear the second time, 
 without sin unto salvation,” Heb. 9:28. Unto them that look for him, 
 or long for him, shall he appear the second time unto salvation : it is very 
 observable, how this “ looking for Christ,” is in Scripture a frequent de- 
 scription of a true believer in Christ. Who are true, sincere, and sound 
 Christians, but such as live in a perpetual desire and hope of Christ’s blessed 
 coming ? They are ever u looking for, and hastening unto the coming of 
 the day of God,” 2 Pet. 3 : 12. Here are two signs in one verse, “ Look- 
 ing for, and hastening unto :” true believers are not only in a posture look- 
 ing for the coming of Jesus Christ ; but also, as it were going forth to meet 
 Jesus Christ with burning lamps. Luther could say, That u he was no true 
 Christian, neither could he truly recite the Lord’s prayer, that with all his 
 heart, desired not this day of the coming of Christ,” Matth. 6 : 10. It is 
 true, that whether we will or no, that day will come; but in the Lord’s 
 prayer Christ has taught us to pray, that God would accelerate and hasten 
 the day of his glorious coming, “ Thy kingdom come,” (i. e.) the kingdom 
 of glory at the judgment, as well as the kingdom of grace in the church. 
 It is true also, that the day of the Lord is a terrible day, the heavens, and 
 earth, and sea, and air, shall be all in a bonfire, and burn to nothing, 
 “ Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens, and a 
 new earth we that have laid hold upon God, and laid hold on him by the 
 right handle, “ according to his promises,” we look for this day of the Lord, 
 “ we look for it, and hasten unto it ;” we are glad it is so near, and we do 
 what we can to have it nearer; with an holy kind of impatience we beg of 
 the Lord, “ Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.” This was Paul’s character, 
 we know that the whole creation groaneth, and travaileth in pain together 
 until now; and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 671 
 
 of the spirit ; even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the 
 adoption, to wit, the redemption of our bodies,” Bom. 8 : 22, 23. God’s 
 children, such as have the first-fruits of the Spirit, the beginnings of true 
 saving grace in them, they constantly look and long for the day of full de- 
 liverance, or of the coming of Christ. This the apostle instanceth in his 
 Corinthians, “Ye come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ,” 1 Cor. 1 : 7. And in like manner he writes to his 
 Philippians, “ our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for 
 the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,” Phil. 3 : 20. And to Titus himself, 
 he writes the same things, “ We look for that blessed hope, and the glorious 
 appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ,” Tit. 2 : 13. 
 Now Christians, lay this character to heart, do you long, pant, and look for 
 this glorious and second coming of Christ? Have you any such wishes, 
 and sayings of heart and mind, as these are ? Oh ! that Christ would ap- 
 pear ! “ Oh ! that Christ would now break the heavens, and come to judg- 
 ment ! Oh ! that I could see him in the cloud, and on his throne ? Oh ! 
 that his enemies were ruined, my sins subdued, my soul saved, that I might 
 serve him without weariness, for ever and ever !” Surely if these elonga- 
 tions of soul be in you, it is a comfortable evidence that your hopes are sound, 
 and that Christ will come to receive you to himself, and to bring you to 
 glory. 
 
 3. If we love Christ’s appearing, then will he appear on our side; 
 
 “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the 
 Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day ; and not to me only, 
 but unto them also that love his appearing,” 2 Tim. 4:8. A true Chris- 
 tian loves Christ’s appearing in ordinances, and in all the means of grace, 
 How much more in his own person ? But how shall we love that we see 
 not ? 0 yes ! there is a kind of an idea of Christ, and of his glorious ap- 
 
 pearing in every sanctified soul, and in that respect, we love him though 
 we cannot see him, “Whom having not seen, ye love,” saith the apostle, 
 1 Pet. 1 : 8. And so your “ love and faith, at the appearing of Jesus Christ, 
 shall be found unto praise and honor, and glory,” verse 7. Those that 
 have not seen Christ, and yet love the idea of his sight, even they shall 
 appear, at the appearing of Christ in praise, and honor, and glory. Is not 
 the crown laid up for them that love the appearing of Christ? Is it not a 
 sign of a good cause, to love a day of hearing? Surely love of Christ’s 
 coming cannot consist without some assurance, that a soul shall stand up- 
 right in the judgment. He that hath not a confidence in his cause, loves 
 not the coming of the judge; no guilty prisoner loves the sessions, or loves 
 the judge’s presence; it is the cry of reprobates; “ 0 ye mountains! and 
 0 ye rocks ! Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on 
 the throne,” Bev. 6 : 16. But as for Christ and his saints, 0 the mutual 
 loves, and mutual longings in their breasts! The last words that Christ 
 speaks in the Bible, (and amongst us, last words make deepest impressions) 
 are, “Surely I come quickly;” and the last answer that is made in our 
 behalf is, “Amen, Even so, Come Lord Jesus.” I know this character is 
 near the former, and therefore I shall pass it over. 
 
 4. If our work be good, then will he reward us according to our works. 
 
 At that great day, this will be the trial, works, or no works, “ Then will 
 he say to them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit 
 the kingdom prepared for you, for I was an hungered, and ye gave me 
 meat ; 1 was thirsty, and ye gave me drink ; I was a stranger, and ye took 
 me in ; naked, and ye clothed me ; I was sick, and ye visited me ; 1 was in 
 prison, and ye came unto me,” Matth. 25 : 33, 34, 35, 36. Here were works, 
 upon which followed the rewards of Heaven, for these “ went into eternal 
 
 life,” verse 46. I kuow works are not meritorious, and yet they are evi- 
 
672 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK V. 
 
 dences ; I know works without faith are but glistering sins ; and yet works 
 done in faith are signs and forerunners of eternal glory; I know, that if all 
 the excellencies of all the moralities of all the men in the world were put 
 together, these could never reach glory : and yet “ a cup of cold water 
 given to one of Christ’s little ones, in the name of a disciple of Christ, shall 
 not lose its reward,” Matth. 10 : 42. If a Christian doubt, how should I 
 know that my works are of a right stamp? I answer, 1. Look at the prin- 
 ciple, Is there not something above nature? Do I not find some new 
 light let out by God, that shows a glory, and excellency, and beauty in 
 good works ? Is there not something in me that makes the same to be 
 sweet, or pleasant, or agreeable to me ? 2. Look at the end : natural works 
 have no better end than self and creature-respects, but in my works, is 
 there no aim at something higher than self? Whatsoever I do, is not this 
 in mine eye, that all I do may tend to the honor and glory of God ? I had 
 need to take heed of vain glory and self applause? the godly at the day of 
 judgment, do not know the good works they did ; if my aim be at God, I 
 shall forget myself, as if all I did were swallowed up in God. 3. Look at 
 the manner of my doing works: Uzzah had a good intehtion, but his works 
 were not good, because the manner was not good ; Are my works according 
 to the rule ? Do they carry a conformity to the law of God ? “ Let 
 every man try his own work in this.” 0 my soul ! bring thy works to the 
 touch-stone, the scripture, the rule of goodness, is not all thy gold then 
 discovered to be dross ? The scripture doth not only tell of works, but tells 
 us the manner of performing them ; as for instance, if rightly done, they 
 must be done in zeal, in fervency, in activity ; thus God’s people are called 
 “a peculiar people, zealous of good works;” a formal, customary, super- 
 ficial performance of holy works fails in the manner of performing them : 
 what, are my works performed in zeal ? Is there not too much of coldness, 
 emptiness, formality in all I do ? Why, thus I may know whether my 
 works are of a right stamp; certainly all works, duties, acting, which are 
 not done by a gracious heart, through a gracious power, to a gracious end, 
 in a gracious manner, are sins, and not such works as shall have the 
 rewards of heaven. Some may object, this is an hard saying, Who then 
 shall be saved ? I answer, First, by concession, very few, “ What is the 
 whole company of Christians, besides a very few, (said Salvian,) but a sink 
 of vices?” Are they only good works which are thus and thus qualified? 
 It were enough to make us all fear all the works that ever we have done. 
 But, secondly, Here is all our hope, that in a gospel way, Christ looks at 
 our good works in the truth of them, and not in the perfection of them ; 
 no man goes beyond Paul, who, “ when he would do good, found evil 
 present with him,” Rom. 7 : 18, 19. Alas ! there is a perpetual opposi- 
 tion and conflict betwixt the flesh and the spirit, so that the most spiritual 
 man cannot do the good things he would do; and yet we must not con- 
 clude, that nothing is good in us, because not perfectly good. Sincerity 
 and truth in the inward parts, may in this case, hold up our hearts from 
 sinking, as he in the gospel cried ; “ I believe, Lord, help my unbelief ;” 
 so if we cannot but say, “ I do good works, Lord, help me in the concur- 
 rence of all needful circumstances.” Here will be our evidence that our 
 hopes are sound, and that Christ will sentence us to eternal life, “ Come 
 ye blessed,” &c. And why so ? “for I was an hungered, and ye gave me 
 meat,” &c. 
 
 5. If we believe in Christ, then shall we live in Christ; if we come to 
 him, and receive him by faith, then will he “come again, and receive us 
 to himself, that where he is, there we may be also.” Good works are 
 good evidences, but of all works, those of the gospel are clearest evidence, 
 and have clearest promises; come, then, let us try our obedience to the 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 673 
 
 commandments of faith as well as life : let us try our submission to the 
 Lord, by believing as well as doing. Surely the greatest work of God, 
 that ever any creature did, it is this gospel work, when it apprehends its 
 own unworthiness, and ventures itself and its estate upon the righteous- 
 ness of Jesus Christ : if we were able to perform a full, exact, and accurate 
 obedience to every particular of the moral law, it were not so great a work, 
 nor so acceptable to God, nor should be so gloriously rewarded in heaven, 
 as this one work of believing in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the work 
 to which in express terms, salvation, heaven and glory is promised, “ He 
 that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,” John 3 : 36. And he that 
 heareth my words, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting 
 life, and shall not come into condemnation, but he hath passed from death 
 to life,” John 5 : 24. And u this is the will of him that sent me, that 
 every one that seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting 
 life, John 6 : 40. And these things are written, that ye might believe that 
 Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life 
 through his name, John 20 : 31. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 thou shalt be saved, Acts 16 : 31. And if thou shalt confess with thy 
 mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart, that God hath 
 raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved, Rom. 10 : 9. And we are 
 not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe unto 
 the saving of the soul, Heb. 10 : 39. And these things have I written 
 unto you, that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know 
 that ye have everlasting life,” 1 John 5 : 13. Why, this, above all, is the 
 gospel work, to which are annexed those gracious promises of eternal life; 
 so that if we believe in Christ, how may we be assured that we shall live 
 with Christ? 
 
 0 my soul ! gather up all these characters, and try by them. Every one 
 can say, that they hope well, they hope to be saved, they hope to meet 
 Christ with comfort, though they have no ground for it, but their own vain 
 conceits; but hope on good ground is that hope “ that maketh not ashamed,” 
 Rom. 5; 5. Say then, art thou born again? Dost thou look and long for 
 the coming of Christ in the clouds? Dost thou love his appearing? Art 
 thou rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate ? Dost 
 thou obey the commandments of faith as well as life ? Sure these are firm, 
 and sound, and comfortable grounds of an assured hope. Content not thy- 
 self with an hope of possibility or probability, but reach out to that plero- 
 phory, or full assurance of hope, Heb. 6:11. The hope of possibility is but 
 a weak hope, the hope of probability is but a fluctuating hope; but the hope 
 of certainty is a settled hope, such an hope sweetens all the thoughts of God 
 and Christ, of death and judgment, of heaven, yea, and of hell too, whilst 
 we hope that we are saved from it: And are not the scriptures written to 
 this very purpose, that we might have this hope : Rom. 15 : 4. Are we not 
 justified by his grace, u that we might be heirs in hope, heirs according to 
 the hope of eternal life ?” Tit, 3 : 7. And was not this David’s confidence, 
 “ Lord I have hoped for thy salvation? Psal; 119 : 166. Why then .art thou 
 cast down, 0 my soul ? And why art thou disquieted within me ? Hope 
 thou in God, for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance 
 and my God,” Psal. 42 : 11. 
 
 If I may here enter into a dialogue with my own poor trembling, waver 
 ing soul —Person, Why art thou hopeless, 0 my soul ! wouldst thou not 
 hope, if an honest man had made thee a promise of any thing within his 
 power? And wilt thou not hope, when thou hast the promise, the oath, and 
 the covenant of God in Christ? Soul, Yes, methinks I feel some little 
 hope; but, alas ! it is but a little, a very little. Person, Ay, but go on my 
 soul, true^ hope is called a lively Lope, and a lively hope is an efficacious 
 
674 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK V. 
 
 hope ; no sooner faith commands the promise unto hope, hut hope takes it 
 and hugs it, and reckons it as its treasure, and feeds on it as a manna, which 
 God hath given to refresh the weary soul in the desert of sin ; go on then, 
 till thou comest up to the highest pitch, even to that triumphant joyful ex- 
 pectation, and waiting for Christ in glory. Soul , Why, methinks I would 
 hope, I would ascend the highest step of hope ; but alas ! I cannot; oh ! I 
 am exposed to many controversies, I am prone to many unquiet agitations 
 and though 1 have a present promise, yet I extend my cares and fears, even 
 to eternity; alas ! I cannot comprehend, and therefore I am hardly satisfied; 
 my sinful reason sees not its own way and end ; and because it must take 
 all on trust and credit, therefore it falls to wrangling; nay, Satan himself 
 so snarls the question, and I am so apt to listen to his doubts, that in the 
 conclusion I know not how to extricate myself. Person , Sayest thou so ? 
 
 Surely in this case there is no cure, no remedy, but only the testimony of 
 God’s Spirit: But, saith not the apostle, that “ The Spirit itself bears wit- 
 ness with our spirits, that we are the children of God ?” Bom. 8 : 16. If a 
 man, or angel, or archangel should promise heaven, peradventure thou 
 mightest doubt ; but if the supreme essence of the Spirit of God bear wit- 
 ness within, what room for doubting? Why, this voice of the Spirit, is the 
 very voice of God ; hark then, inquire 0 my soul ! if thou hast this testi- 
 mony of the Spirit, thou art sure enough. Soul, Oh, that it were thus with 
 me ! Oh, that the Spirit would even now give me to drink of the wells of 
 salvation ! oh that the Spirit would testify it home ! oh that he would shine 
 upon, and enlighten all those graces which he hath planted in me ! fain 
 would I come to the highest pitch of hope; oh that I could look upon the 
 things hoped for, as certainly future. Person, Thou sayest well, 0 my 
 soul ! and if these wishes be real, then pour out thyself unto God in prayer; 
 this was the apostle’s method, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy 
 and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of 
 the Holy Ghost,” Bom. 15 : 13. Let this be thy practice, pray as he prayed, 
 pray thou for thyself, as he prayed for others; if an earthly father will 
 hearken to his child, “ How much more will God the Father give the Spirit 
 to them that ask the Spirit of him ?” Luke 11 : 13. Soul, Why, if this be 
 it; to thee, Lord, do I come, 0 ! give me the Spirit, the witness of the Spi- 
 rit, the first-fruits of the Spirit, the sealing of the Spirit, the earnest of the 
 Spirit. 0! give me the Spirit, and let the Spirit give me this hope. “0 
 the hope of Israel, and Saviour thereof, in the time of trouble, Why shouldst 
 thou be a stranger in my soul, and as a way-faring man that turneth aside 
 to tarry for a night? Come, 0 come ! and dwell in my soul, Come and blow 
 on my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.” Come and fill me 
 with a lively hope, yea, Lord, excite, and quicken, and stir up my soul to 
 act this hope, yea, so enlighten, or shine upon my hope, that I may know 
 that I hope, and know that I joyfully expect, and w r ait for the coming of 
 Christ ; 0 let me hear thy voice ! “ Say unto my soul, I am, and will be thy 
 salvation,” Psal. 35 : 3. Person, Well now, thou hast prayed, 0 my soul : 
 come, tell me, dost thou feel nothing stir? Is there nothing at all in thee, 
 that assures thee of this assurance of hope ? Is there no life in thy affec- 
 tions ? No spark that takes hold on thy heart to set it on flame ? No com- 
 fort of the Spirit, no joy in the Holy Ghost? Soul, Yes ! methinks I feel 
 it now begin to work, the Spirit that hath breathed this prayer into me, 
 comes in as a Comforter. Oh ! now that I realize Christ’s coming, and my 
 resurrection, I cannot but conclude with David, “Therefore my heart is 
 glad, and my glory rejoiceth, and my flesh also shall rest in hope,” Psal. 
 16 : 9. Oh what an earnest is this ! what a piece hath the Spirit put into 
 my hand of the great sum promised ? not only that he, in great mercy pro- 
 mised me heaven, but because he doth not put me into a present possession, 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 675 
 
 he now gives me an earnest of my future inheritance. Why, surely all is 
 sure, unless the earnest deceive me : and, what, shall I dispute the truth of 
 the earnest? Oh, God forbid ! the stamp is too well known to be mistrusted ; 
 this seal cannot be counterfeit, because it is agreeable with the word ; I find 
 in myself a hope, a true, sincere hope, though very weak ; I find upon trial, 
 that I am regenerate, that I look and long for the second coming of Jesus, 
 that I love his appearance even before hand; that my works, though imper- 
 fect, are sincere and true ; that I believe on the name of the Son of God, 
 and flesh and blood could never work these duties, or these graces in me, it 
 is only that good Spirit of my God, which hath thus sealed me up to the 
 day of redemption. Away, away despair, trouble me no longer with amusing 
 thoughts ; I will henceforth, (if the Lord enable,) walk confidently and 
 cheerfully in the strength of this assurance, and joyfully expect the accom- 
 plishment of my happy contract from the hands of Christ, “ The Lord is my 
 portion, therefore will I hope in him ; the Lord is good to them that wait 
 for him, to the soul that seeketh him ; it is good that I both hope, and 
 quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord, Lam. 3 : 24, 25, 26. It is good 
 that I hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought unto me at the 
 revelation of Jesus Christ,” 1 Pet. 1 : 13. 
 
 Sect. V. — Of believing in Jesus in that respect. 
 
 5. Let us believe in Jesus as carrying on the great work of our salvation 
 in his second comiug. Now, this believing in Christ, is more than hoping 
 in Christ : faith eyes things as present, but hope eyes things as future ; and 
 hence the apostle describes faith to be “ the substance of things hoped for,” 
 Heb. 11 : 1. It is the substance, foundation, or prop which upholds the 
 building; or it is the substance, essence, and existence of a thing hoped for, 
 and consequently absent and afar ofif, to be a firm apprehension of the be- 
 liever, as already present and real. And this is as necessary as the former; 
 Oh, if we could but see things now, as they shall appear at that last gene- 
 ral day of judgment ! how mightily would they work upon our souls ? I 
 verily think the want of this work of faith is the cause almost of all the evil 
 in the world ; and the acting of faith on this subject, would produce fruits, 
 even to admiration. If we could but see that glory of God in Christ, and 
 these glorious treasures of mercies that shall then be communicated ; if we 
 could but see those dreadful evils that are now threatened, and shall then 
 be fulfilled; would not this draw the hardest heart under heaven? Come, 
 let us act faith this day ; as if this day were the last day ; a thousand years 
 are but as one day to faith, it takes hold upon eternal life, whensoever it 
 acts; it takes present possession of the glorious things of the kingdom of 
 God even now. 
 
 0 then ! let us believe in Jesus, as in reference to his second coming to 
 judgment. 
 
 But how should we believe ? What directions to act our faith on Jesus 
 in this respect ? I answer : 
 
 1. Faith must directly go to Christ. 
 
 2. Faith must go to Christ, as God in the flesh. 
 
 3. Faith must go to Christ, as God in the flesh, made under the law. 
 
 4. Faith must go to Christ, made under the directive part of the law by 
 
 his life, and under the penal part of the law by his death. 
 
 5. Faith must go to Christ, as put to death in the flesh, and as quickened 
 by the Spirit. 
 
 6. Faith must go to Christ, as going up into glory, as sitting down at 
 God’s right hand, and as sending down the Holy Ghost. 
 
 7. Faith must go to Christ, as interceding for his saints, in which work 
 he continues till his coming again. Of all these before. 
 
676 
 
 BOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [book y. 
 
 8. Faith must go to Christ as coming again into this nether world, to 
 judge the quick and the dead ; this is the last act of faith in reference to 
 Christ, “ from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.” The 
 coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, the change of the living, the 
 last judgment, and the glory of Christ with his saints to all eternity, is that 
 transaction which must be despatched at the end of the world : now, this is 
 the object of faith as well as the former, Christ’s work is not fully perfected 
 till all these be finished, nor is our work of faith fully completed, till it 
 reach to the very last act of Christ in saving souls. Oh ! what an excellent 
 worker is Jesus Christ ! he doth all his works thoroughly and perfectly : the 
 greatest work that ever Christ undertook, was the work of our redemption : 
 that work would have broken men and angels, and yet Jesus Christ will 
 carry it on to the end, and then will he say, not only prophetically, but 
 expressly, “ I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do,” John 
 17 : 4. Now, faith should eye Christ as far as he goes; if Christ will not 
 have done till he come again, and receive us to himself, and settle us in 
 glory ; no more should faith, it should still follow after him, and take a view 
 of all his transactions from first to last : what, will Christ come again ? 
 Will he summon all the elect to come under judgment? Will he sentence 
 or judge them to eternal life? Will he conduct them into glory, present 
 them to his Father, and be their all in all to all eternity ? Why then, let 
 our faith act itself upon all these promises ; or, if I may instance in one for 
 all, Christ’s coming is the most comprehensive of all : and is not the coming 
 of Christ very frequently mentioned in the promises, as the great support 
 and stay of his people’s spirits till then ? Do not the apostles usually 
 quicken us to duty, and encourage us to waiting, by the mentioning of this 
 glorious coming of Jesus Christ? Why then let us act our faith on this 
 glorious object; Christians! what do we believe, and hope and wait for, but 
 to see his coming? This was Paul’s encouragement to rejoicing, and to 
 moderation, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” — And let your moderation be 
 known to all men, the Lord is at hand, Phil. 4 : 4, 5. To think and speak 
 of that day with horror, doth well beseem the impenitent sinner, but doth 
 ill beseem the believing saint; such may be the voice of an unbeliever, and 
 it may be of a believer in desertion or temptation, but it is not the voice of 
 faith. 0 ! believe on Christ, as carrying on our salvation at his coming 
 again ; “ for yet a little while, and he that shall come, will come, and will 
 not tarry,” Heb. 10 : 37. 
 
 9. Faith must principally and mainly look to the purpose, design, intent 
 
 and end of Christ in his second coming to judgment. Now the ends are, — 
 1. In respect of the wicked, that they may be destroyed, for “ he must reign 
 till he hath put all his enemies under his feet.” He shall come with flam- 
 ing fire, and then he will “ take vengeance on them that know not God, and 
 obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with 
 everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of 
 his power, 2 Thess. 1:8. 0 miserable men ! now it is God’s design to be 
 
 revenged on you. This is the day when the wicked shall suddenly start 
 out of sleep, and meet with ghastly amazedness at the mouth of their sepul- 
 chres; above them stands the judge condemning, beneath, hell gaping, on 
 the right hand, justice threatening, on all sides, the world burning; to go 
 forward is intolerable, and to go backward is impossible, to turn aside is un- 
 available; which way then ? heaven’s gates are shut, hell’s mouth isopen, 
 where they must end their endless misery ; the last torment lasteth ever. 
 O the shrieks of the wicked at every passage of this day ! when the prophet 
 Joel was describing the formidable accidents of this day, he was not able to 
 express it, but stammered like a child, or an amazed imperfect person, 
 A. A. A. for the day of the Lord is at hand. We translate it “Alas, for 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 677 
 
 the day of the Lord is at hand,” Joel 1 : 15. But, Lyra Bibera, the vulgar 
 Latin, and others translate it, A. A. A. in Hebrew it is but one word, and 
 sounds as Aha, which howsoever so written, yet it is pronounced without 
 any aspiration as Aha-ron is pronounced Aaron. The best critics would 
 have it one word, and so they wrote it, A-a-a, “ for the day of the Lord is 
 at hand;” thus they that stammer, and cannot suddenly speak, say, A-a-a, 
 it is not sense at first, the prophet was so amazed, that he knew not what 
 to say ; the stammering tongue that is full of fear, can best speak that terror, 
 which will make all the wicked of the world to cry, and shriek, and speak 
 fearful accents; oh the shrieks ! oh the fearful sounds, that will then be 
 heard, sure that noise must needs be terrible, when millions of men and 
 women, at the same instant, shall fearfully cry out, and when their cries 
 shall mingle with the thunders of the dying and groaning heavens, and with 
 the crack of the dissolving world, when the whole fabric of nature shall shake 
 into dissolution and eternal ashes, “ Now consider this ye that forget God, 
 lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver you,” Psal. 50 : 22. 
 Shall not the consideration of these things awake your spirits, and raise 
 you from the death of sin ? What, do you believe these things, or do you 
 not ? If you do not believe these things, where is your faith ? If you do 
 believe them, and sin on, where is your prudence, and where is your hope ? 
 But enough of this, it belongs to the wicked. 
 
 2. In respect of the godly, that they may be saved. Now this contains 
 several steps, As, 
 
 1. They must be regenerated. It is true, they partake of this grace 
 before, but now is the full perfection and manifestation of it ; and 
 therefore the last day is called “ the day of the regeneration,” Matth. 
 19 : 28. 
 
 2. They must be redeemed. So they are in this life. Paul could tell 
 his Colossians, “ That Christ had delivered them from the power of dark- 
 ness; and that in him they had redemption through his blood,” Col. 1 : 13, 
 14. Yet the scripture calls the day of judgment, in a peculiar and eminent 
 manner, the day of redemption, “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, 
 whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption,” Eph. 4 : 30. 
 
 3. They must be adopted. It is true, they are adopted in this life, “ We 
 are now the sons of God, (saith the apostle,) yet it doth not appear what we 
 shall be,” 1 John 3:2; the glory which Christ will put upon us at the last 
 day is so far transcendent and superlative to what now we are, that we know 
 not what we shall be : sons, and more than sons; and therefore the apostle 
 calls the last day, “ the day of adoption,” Rom. 8 : 23. 
 
 4. They must be justified. I know they were justified by faith before, 
 and this justification was evidenced to some of their consciences : but now 
 they shall be justified fully by the lively voice of the Judge himself; now 
 shall their justification be solemnly and publicly declared to all the world : 
 the Syriac word to justify, is also to conquer; because, when a man is jus- 
 tified, he overcomes all those bills and indictments which were brought in 
 against him : now this is manifestly done in the day of judgment, wheu 
 Christ shall, before men and angels, acquit and absolve his people : Oh ! 
 what a glorious conquest will that be over sin, death and hell, when the 
 Judge of the whole world shall pronounce them free from all sin, and from 
 all those miserable effects of sin, death, hell, and damnation ? 
 
 5. They must inherit the kingdom prepared for them, so is the sentence 
 at that day, “ Come ye blessed, inherit the kingdom,” Matth. 25 : 34. Not 
 only are they freed from hell, but they must inherit heaven. Now herein 
 is a high step of salvation, and a great part of the design of Christ’s coming 
 to bring his saints into heaven ; he went thither before to prepare it for 
 them, and now he comes again to give them the possession of it, “ Come, 
 
678 
 
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 [BOOK V. 
 
 enter into heaven.” Heaven ! what is heaven ? Surely it is not one single 
 palace, but a city, a metropolis, a mother city, the first city of God’s crea- 
 tion ; when the angel “carried John in the Spirit to a great and high 
 mountain, he showed him the great city the holy Jerusalem, descending 
 out of heaven from God, having the glory of God,” Rev. 21 : 10, 11. But 
 a city is too little, therefore it is more, it is a kingdom, “ Fear not little 
 flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom and at 
 the last day he bids his saints to “ inherit the kingdom,” Luke 12 : 32. 
 Or if a kingdom be too little, it is called a world : “ The children of this 
 world marry, and are given in marriage, but they which shall be accounted 
 worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither 
 marry, nor are given in marriage, neither can they die any more, Luke 20 : 
 34, 35, 36. There is another world besides this, and for eminency it is 
 called “the world to come,” Heb. 6:5. 0 the breadth, and largeness of 
 
 that world ! as the greater circle must contain the less, so doth that world 
 contain this; alas ! all our dwellings here are but as caves under the earth, 
 and holes of poor clay in comparison. In the bosom of that heaven is many 
 a dwelling place; “ In my Father’s house are many mansions,” John 14 : 
 2. There lodge many thousands of glorious kings ; 0 what fair fields, and 
 mountains of roses and spices are there ! surely the gardens of length and 
 breadth above millions of miles are nothing in comparison. 0 the wines, 
 the lilies, the roses, the precious trees that grow in Immanuel’s land ! an 
 hundred harvests in one year are nothing there. The lowest stones in every 
 mansion there, are precious stones ; the very building of the wall about it 
 is jasper, and the city is pure gold, like unto clear glass, Rev. 21 : 18. 0 
 
 glorious inheritance ! tell me Christians, in what city on earth do men walk 
 upon gold, or dwell within the walls of gold ? Though none such here, yet 
 under the feet of the inhabitants of heaven there is gold; all the streets and 
 fields of that city, kingdom, world, are pure gold, as it were transparent 
 glass, Rev. 21 : 21. But, alas ! what speak I of gold or glass ? All these 
 are but shadows ; indeed and in truth there is nothing so low as gold, or 
 precious stones ; there is nothing so base in this high and glorious king- 
 dom, as gardens, trees, or roses ; comparisons are but created shadows, that 
 come not up to express the glory of the thing. I shall therefore leave to 
 speak this, because unspeakable. 
 
 6. They must live with Christ in heaven ; they must see and enjoy Christ 
 there to all eternity. This is a main end of Christ’s coming, “ I will come 
 again, and receive you unto myself, that were I am, there ye may be also, 
 John 14 : 3. And Father, I will, that those whom thou hast given me 
 be with me where I am, that they may behold the glory which thou hast 
 given me,” John 17 : 24. 0 let faith eye this above all the former ! What ! 
 will my Saviour come again ? And shall I see his face ? Oh ! what a pleas- 
 ant sight will this same be ! if heaven, if the inheritance be such a wonder 
 to the beholders, what a beauty is that which is in the sampler ! 0'n, what 
 a happiness to stand beside that dainty, precious prince in heaven ! to see 
 the King on his throne; to see the Lamb, the fair tree of life, the flower of 
 angels, the spotless rose, the crown, the garland, the joy of heaven, the 
 wonder of wonders for eternity ! Oh, what a life to see that precious tree 
 of life ! to see a multitude, without quantity, of the apples of glory ! to see 
 love itself, and to be warmed with the heat of immediate love that comes 
 out from the precious heart and bowels of Jesus Christ ! Oh, what a dear- 
 ness to see all relations meet in one ! to see the Saviour, the good Shepherd, 
 the Redeemer, the great Bishop of our souls, the Angel of the covenant, 
 the Head of the body of the church, the King of ages, the Prince of peace, 
 the Creator of the ends of the earth, the song of angels and glorified saints ! 
 not only must they see Christ, but they shall enjoy him whom they see; 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 679 
 
 they fly with doves’ wings of beauty after the Lamb, and in flying after 
 him, they laid hold upon him, and they will not leave him; they can never 
 have enough of the chaste fruition of the glorious prince Immanuel, and 
 they never want his inmost presence to the full ; they suck the honey and 
 the honey-comb ; they drink of the floods of eternal consolations, and fill all 
 empty desires; and, as if the souls of saints were without bottom, afresh 
 they suck again to all eternity. Now, this is salvation indeed; the soul 
 that attains this full enjoyment is saved to the uttermost. 
 
 3. In respect of Christ himself, that he may be glorified. Now, in two 
 things more especially will he be glorified at that day. 1. In his justice. 
 2. In his mercy, or free grace. 
 
 1. His justice will be glorified, especially in punishing the wicked : here 
 on earth little justice is done on most offenders, though some public crimes 
 are sometimes punished, yet the actions of closets, and chambers, the de- 
 signs and thoughts of men, the business of retirements, and of the night, 
 escape the hand of justice; and therefore God hath so ordained it, that 
 there shall b.e a day of doom, wherein all that are let alone by men, shall 
 be questioned by God; “Shall not the Judge of all the world do right?” 
 Gen. 18 : 25. Then all thoughts shall be examined, and secret actions 
 viewed on each side, and the infinite number of those sins which escaped 
 here, shall be blazoned there; all shall have justice, and the justice of the 
 judge shall be so exact, that he will account with men by minutes; and 
 that justice may reign entirely, God shall open his treasure, I mean the 
 wicked man’s treasure, and tell the sums, and weigh the grains and scru- 
 ples, “ Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my trea- 
 sures? I will restore it in the day of vengeance, saith the Lord,” Deut. 
 32 : 34. Oh ! how will God glorify his justice at that day? Surely his 
 justice shall shine, and be eminently glorious in every passage. 
 
 2. His mercy or free grace, will be glorified in rewarding the saints. 
 And this is the main, the supreme end of his coming to judgment, “ He 
 shall come, (saith the apostle,) to be glorified in his saints,” 2 Thess. 1 : 10. 
 Not but that the angels shall glorify the riches of his grace, as well as 
 s ;ints ; but because the angels never sinned, (“They have now kept their 
 robes of innocency, their cloth of gold above five thousand years, without 
 one spark of dirt, or change of color;”) therefore the glory of his grace is 
 more especially fastened on saints, that sometimes were sinners. Oh ! what 
 stories will be told at this day of grace’s acts? “I was a blasphemer, and 
 a persecutor, and an injurious person, (said Paul,) but I obtained mercy,” 
 1 Tim. 1 : 13 (All eleethen ,) “but I was be-mercied,” as if he had been 
 dipt in a river, in a sea of mercy; it may be he will make the same ac- 
 knowledgment at the day of judgment, “ I was a sinner, but the grace of 
 the Lord Jesus to me was abundant, super-abundant; I obtained as much 
 grace as would have saved a world.” Certainly free grace shall then be 
 discovered to some purpose : then it shall be known, “ that where sin 
 abounded, grace far more ; it over-abounded, or more than over-abounded,” 
 Horn. 5 : 20, ( hupereperisseusen ,) it is a word borrowed from fountains and 
 rivers, which have overflowed with waters ever since the creation : then all 
 the saints shall exalt, and magnify, and with loud voices praise the glory 
 of his grace ; they shall look on their debts written in grace’s book, and 
 then shall they sing and say, “ 0 the mystery of grace ! 0 the gold mines 
 and depths of Christ’s free love !” why, this was the great design of our 
 salvation ; at the first, when God was willing to communicate himself out 
 of his aloneness everlasting, he laid this plot, that all he would do, should 
 be “ to the praise of the glory of his grace,” Eph. 1 : 6. And now at his 
 second coming, having done all he will do, the saints, for whom he hath 
 dune all, admire, esteem, honor, and sound forth the praises of his grace. 
 
680 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK V. 
 
 Is not this their everlasting song which they begin at this day, “Glory to 
 the Lamb, and glory to his grace, that sitteth on the throne for evermore V ’ 
 Not but that they glorify him in his wisdom, power, holiness, and his other 
 attributes, aye, but especially in this; it is his grace in which he most de- 
 lighteth, even as virtuous kings affect, above all their other virtues, to be 
 had in honor for their clemency and bounty ; so Jesus Christ the King of 
 kings, affects above all, the glory of his grace. And to this purpose, heaven 
 itself is an house full of broken men, who have borrowed millions from 
 Christ, but can never repay, more than to read and sing the praises of free 
 grace : “ Glory to the Lamb, and glory to the riches of his grace for ever- 
 more.” 
 
 Thus for directions : one word of application, or a few motives to work 
 faith in you in this respect. 
 
 1. Christ in his word invites you to believe, these are his letters from 
 heaven, “Come all to the marriage supper of the Lamb; ho, everyone 
 that thirsts come in ;” heaven’s gate is open to all that knock, but fools, 
 foolish virgins, foolish souls, which have no faith, nor will have any, to 
 render them fit for heaven. This meets with some that scruple, “What, 
 will Christ come again to receive me to himself? Shall I enter with him 
 into glory ? Alas! no unclean thing shall enter into that holy city, and 
 shall such a sinner as I am be admitted ?” Oh believe ! believe thy part 
 in this coming of Christ, to receive thee to himself; and no sin that thou 
 feelest a burden, shall keep thee out of heaven. There is Rahab the harlot, 
 and Manasseh the murderer, and Mary that had so many devils; a man 
 that hath many devils, may come where there is not one, “ lame, and blind, 
 and halt, may enter into heaven, and yet still there is room,” Luke 14 : 22. 
 There is a great variety of guests above, and yet one table large enough for 
 all ; no crowding, and yet thousands, and thousands of thousands sitting 
 together. Ah poor soul ! why dost thou make exceptions, where God makes 
 none? Why shouldst thou exclude thyself out of these golden gates, when 
 God doth not? Believe, only “believe in the Lord Jesus,” and the pro- 
 mise is sure, and without all controversy, “ thou shalt be saved.” 
 
 2. Christ by his ministry entreats you to believe; come, say they, we be- 
 seech you believe in your judge,; it may be you startle at this, what, to 
 believe in him who is coming to be your judge ? But if your judge be 
 Jesus, if the same person that died for you shall come to judge you, why 
 should you fear? Indeed if your judge were your enemy, you might fear : 
 but if he who is your Lord, aud who loves your souls, shall judge you, there 
 is no such cause : will a man fear to be judged by his dearest friends, a 
 brother by a brother, a child by a father, or a wife by her husband ? Con- 
 sider ! is not he your judge who came down from heaven, and who being 
 on earth was judged, condemned, and executed in your stead? And yet 
 are ye fearful, “ 0 ye of little faith ?” Oh what an unreasonable sin is 
 unbelief? Nay, say the scrupulous, if I were assured of this, if I knew 
 that my judge were my friend, I should not fear; but is he not mine enemy ? 
 Have not I provoked him to enmity against my soul? Bo I not stand it 
 out in arms against my judge? Am not I daily sinning against him, who 
 justly may condemn me for my sin ? Give this for granted, that this and 
 no other, no better is my case, and what say you then ? If it be so, hearken 
 then to the voice of our ministry. We poor ministers, that love your souls, 
 (say what you will of us) would fain have all this enmity against God, and 
 against Christ done away ; and to this purpose, we not only appear many 
 and many a time upon our knees to God for you, but (maugre all your op- 
 position against us) we could be content to come upon our knees from God, 
 to you, to beseech you not to provoke your judge against your souls : what, 
 is Christ and you at odds ? Is the difference wide betwixt your judge and 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 681 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 you ? I do now in my Master’s name, in the name of God, and in the 
 name of the Lord Jesus Christ, beseech you to believe, “ I beseech you in 
 Christ’s name, in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled unto God.” . Is not this 
 the apostle’s word? “ Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though 
 God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ’s stead,” 2 Cor. 5 : 20. 
 Christ’s ministers are not only God’s legates, but Christ s surrogates : to 
 make this plain to you, when a prince sends a messenger to another prince, 
 that messenger is only an ambassador, the prince being not bound to carry 
 the message himself in person; but now Jesus Christ, he is the Father’s 
 ambassador, and Christ is thereby bound to bring the message of peace 
 himself; but being necessarily employed elsewhere, (in the same design of 
 grace,) he constituted us his officers, so that we do not come only in the 
 name of God, but in the place of Christ, to do that work which is prima- 
 rily his, “As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you,” John 20 : 21. 
 And this was the commendation of the Galatians, “ That they received the 
 apostle Paul even as Jesus Christ,” Gal. 4 : 14. Now weigh your desire 
 we beseech you to believe ; we beseech you to sign the articles of agree- 
 ment betwixt Christ and you : what, shall some base inconsiderable lust 
 stand in competition with Jesus Christ? Will you not make your peace 
 with your judge whilst you are in the way, and before he sit on his throne ? 
 Behold we give you a warning, “ the judge is at the door, now believe, and 
 be saved.” Oh! how fain would we tempt you (as it were) with glory? 
 We tender Christ, and we offer peace, we come in the judge’s name to be- 
 seech you to make ready for him, and for heaven ; we bring salvation to 
 your very doors, to your very ears, and there we are sounding, knocking, 
 “ Will you go to heaven, sinners? Will ye go to heaven; Oh ! believe in 
 him that will judge you, and lie will save you.” 
 
 3. Christ by his Spirit, moves, excites and provokes you to believe. 
 Sometimes in reading, and sometimes in hearing, and sometimes in medi- 
 tating, you may feel him stir ; have you felt no gale of the Spirit all this 
 while ? it is the Spirit that convinceth the world of sin, John 16 : 8, espe- 
 cially of that great sin of unbelief ; and then of righteousness, which Christ 
 procureth by going to his Father. Observe here, it is the work of the Spirit 
 thus to convince, so that all moral philosophy, and the wisest directions of 
 the most civil men, will leave you in a wilderness; yea, ten thousands of 
 sermons may be preached to you to believe, and yet you never shall, till 
 you are overpowered by God’s spirit ; it is the Spirit that enlightens and 
 directs you, as occasion is, saying, “ This is the way, walk ye in it,” Isa. 
 30 : 21. It is the Spirit that rouseth and awakeneth you by effectual 
 motion, “ Arise my love, my fair one, and come away,” Sol. Song 2 : 10. 
 “ He stands at the door and knocks ;” he stretches out his hand with heaven 
 in it, and he doeth so all the day long. “ All the day long have I stretched 
 out my hand,” Rom. 10:21. And that you may find his yoke easy, and 
 his burden light, it is the Spirit that draws the yoke with you, and by 
 secret animations, and sweet inspirations, heartens and enables you to do 
 the work wiih ease ; and, in this respect, the saints are said “ to be led by 
 the Spirit,” Rom. 8 : 14. Even as a mother leads her child that is weak, 
 and enables it to go the better, so the Spirit leads the saints (as it were) by 
 the hand, and strengthens them to believe yet more and more. I speak now 
 to saints : if whilst I press you to believe in Jesus, you feel the Spirit in 
 bis stirring and impetuous acts, surely it concerns you to believe, it con- 
 cerns you to be obsequious and yielding to the breathings of God’s Spirit, 
 it concerns you to co-operate with the Spirit, and to answer his wind blow- 
 ing. As you are to take Christ at his word, so you are to take Christ’s 
 Spirit at his work : if now he knocks, do you knock with him ; if now his 
 fingers make a stirring upon the handles of the bar, let your hearts make a 
 
682 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK V. 
 
 stirring with his fingers also ; 0 ! reach in your hearts under the stirrings 
 of free grace ; obey dispositions of grace as God himself. If now you feel 
 your hearts as hot iron, it is good then to smite with the hammer; if now 
 you feel your spirits docile, say then with him in the gospel, I believe, Lord, 
 help my unbelief; I believe, what? I believe when Jesus comes again, he 
 will receive me to himself, and that I shall be for ever with the Lord. 
 Amen, Amen. 
 
 Sect. VI. — Of loving Jesus in that respect. 
 
 6. Let us love Jesus, as carrying on the great work of our salvation in 
 his second coming. In prosecution of this, I must first set down Christ’s 
 love to us, and then our love to Christ ; that is the cause, and this the effect ; 
 that is the spring, and this the stream ; in vain should we persuade our 
 hearts to love the Lord, if, in the first place, we were not sensible that our 
 Lord loves us, u We love him (saith the apostle) because he first loved us,” 
 1 John 4 : 19. It is Christ’s way of winning hearts, he draws a lump of 
 love out of his own heart, and casts it into the sinner’s heart, and so he loves 
 him. Come, then, let us first take a view of Christ’s love to us, and see, 
 if from thence, any sparks of love will fall on our hearts to love him again. 
 Should I make a table of Christ’s acts of love, and free grace to us, I might 
 begin with that eternity of his love before the beginning, and never end 
 till I draw it down to that eternity of his love without all ending : His 
 love is as his mercy, from everlasting to everlasting ; he loved us before 
 time, in the beginning of time, iD the fulness of time ; at this time the 
 flames of love are as hot in his breast as they were at first, and when time 
 shall be no more, he will love us still ; this fire of heaven is everlasting ; 
 there is in the breast of Christ an eternal coal of burning love, that never, 
 never shall be quenched. But I have, in some measure, already discovered 
 all those acts of his grace and love till his second coming : And therefore 
 I begin there. t 
 
 1. Christ will come ; is not this love ? As his departure was a rich testi- 
 mony of his love, “ It is expedient for you that I go away ;” so in his return- 
 ing, “ I will not leave you comfortless, I will come unto you,” John 14 : 18. 
 Oh ! how can we think of Christ’s returning, and not meditate on the great- 
 ness of his love ? Might he not send his angels, but he must come himself! 
 Is it not state and majesty enough to have the angels come for us, but that 
 he himself must come with his angels to meet us more than half the way ? 
 What king on earth would adopt a beggar, and after his adoption, would 
 himself go in person to fetch him from the dung-hill to his throne ? We 
 are filthy Lazars, from the crown of our heads to the soles of our feet, we 
 are full of sores ; and yet the King of heaven puts on his best attire, and 
 comes in person with all his retinue of glory, to fetch us from our graves 
 to his own court of heaven. Oh ! the love of Christ in this one act, he 
 will come again, he is but gone for a while, but he will come again in his 
 own person. 
 
 2. Christ will welcome all his saints into his presence : and is not this 
 love ? After he is come down from heaven, he stays for them a while in 
 the clouds, and commanding his angels to bring them thither, anon they 
 come ; and, Oh ! how his heart springs within him at their coming ; what 
 throbs and pangs of love are in his heart at the first view of them ? As 
 they draw near, and fall down at his feet, and worship him, so he draws near 
 and falls upon their necks, and welcomes them. Methinks I hear him say, 
 Come, blessed souls, you are my purchse, for whom I covenanted with my 
 Father from eternity ; Oh ! you are dearly welcome to your Lord, in that 
 now I have you in my arms ; I feel the fruit of my death, the acceptation 
 of my sacrifice, the return of my prayers ; for this I was born and died j 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 683 
 
 for this I rose again and ascended into heaven ; for this I have interceded 
 a priest in heaven these many years, and now I have the end and design of 
 all my actings and sufferings for you, how is my joy fulfilled ! Look, as at 
 the meeting of two lovers, there is a great joy, especially if the distance has 
 been great, and the desires of enjoying one another vehement; so is the 
 meeting of Christ with his saints ; the joy is so great, that it runs over and 
 wets the fair brows and beauteous looks of cherubim and seraphim, and 
 all the angels have a part of this banquet at this day. 
 
 3. Christ will sentence his saints for eternal life ; Here is love indeed, 
 every word of the sentence is full of love ; it contains the reward of his 
 saints, a reward beyond their work, and beyond their wages, and beyond 
 the promise, and beyond their thoughts, and beyond their understanding; 
 it is a participation of the joys of God, and of the inheritance of the judge 
 himself ; “ Come, enter into your master’s joy, inherit the kingdom.” Oh ! 
 but if all the saints have only but one kingdom, where is my room ? Fear 
 not, 0 my soul ! thou shalt have room enough, though but one kingdom, 
 yet all the inhabitants there are kings; whole heaven is such a kingdom, 
 as is entirely and fully enjoyed by one glorified saint; all, and every one 
 hath the whole kingdom at his own will; every one is filled with God, as if 
 there were no fellows there to share with him. Oh ! that I may come under 
 this blessed sentence. Never was more love expressed in words than Christ 
 expresseth in this sentence, “ Come ye blessed,” &c. 
 
 4. Christ will take up all his saints with him into glory, where he will 
 present them to his Father, and then be their all in all, to all eternity. 
 This is the height of Christ’s love, this is the immediate love that comes 
 out from the precious heart and bowels of Jesus Christ; this that zenith of 
 love, when sensibly and feelingly it burns at hottest; it is true, that Christ’s 
 love breaks out in all those precedaneous acts we have already spoken ; Oh ! 
 but what loves will he cast out from himself in glory ? The more excellent 
 the soil is, and the nearer the sun is, the more of summer, and the more 
 of day ; the more delicious the apples, the pomegranates, the roses, the 
 lilies, that grow there ; Surely Christ in glory is a blessed soil ; roses, and 
 lilies, and apples of love, that are eternally summer green, and sweet, grow 
 out of him ; the honey of heaven is more than honey ; the honey of love 
 that is pure and unmixed, and glorious in Christ, must needs be incom- 
 parable. I cannot say, but that Christ’s love, like himself, is the same 
 yesterday, to-day, and for ever; there is no intension, or remission of his 
 love as in itself, for “God is love,” 1 John 4 : 8. He is essentially love, 
 and therefore admits of no degrees ; yet, in respect of this sense, or mani- 
 festation of this love of Christ, there must needs be a difference ; thus if 
 he loved his spouse on earth, how much more will he love her, when his 
 bride in heaven ? If he loves us while sinners, and enemies to his holiness, 
 how much more will he love us, when we are sous and perfected saints in 
 glory ? He that could spread his arms, and open his heart on the cross, will 
 he not then open arms, and heart, and all to them that reign with him in 
 his kingdom ? If, in this life, such is love’s puissance, that we usually say 
 of Christ, Though the head be in heaven, yet he hath left his heart on 
 earth with sinners; what shall we say of Christ in glory, where love, like 
 the sun, ever stands in the zenith ? “ Where the eternal God is the soul’s 
 everlasting refuge, and underneath are his everlasting arms ?” Deut. 33 : 27. 
 
 5. And if Christ love thus, how should we love again for such a love ? 
 Lord, what a sum of love are we indebted to thee? Is it possible that ever 
 we should pay the debt ? Can we love as high, as deep, as broad, as long as 
 love itself, or as Christ himself? No, no, all we can do is but to love a 
 little; and, Oh ! that in the consideration of his love we could have a little 
 in sincerity. Oh ! that we were but able feelingly to say, Why, Lord, I 
 
684 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK V. 
 
 love thee, I feel I love thee, even as I feel I love my friend, or as I feel I 
 love myself. Such arguments of love have been laid before us, as that now 
 I know no more ; we have seen whole Christ cap-a-pie, we have heard of 
 the loves of Christ from eternity to eternity, we have had a view of the 
 everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ, wherein his love is represented to us as 
 hot as death, or as the flames of God, and do we not yet love him ? hath 
 Christ all this while opened his breast and heart to us saying, Friends, 
 doves, come in, and dwell in the holes of this rock ? And do we search his 
 breast? Do we turn our backs upon him, and requite his love with hatred? 
 Surely this is more than sin ; for what is sin but a transgression of the law ? 
 But this sin is both a transgression of the law and gospel. What ! to spurn 
 against the warm bowels of love? To spit on grace? To disdain him who 
 is the white and ruddy, the fairest of heaven ? Oh the aggravations of this 
 sin, it is an heart of flint and adamant that spits at evangelic love ! law love 
 is love, but evangelic love is more than love ; it is the gold, the flower of 
 Christ’s wheat, and of his finest love. Oh the many gospel passages of 
 love that we have heard ! Oh the sweet streams of love that we have fol- 
 lowed, till now that we are come to a sea of love, to an heaven of love, to 
 an infinite, eternal, everlasting love in heaven. I want words to express 
 this love of Jesus, a sea of love is nothing, it hath a bottom ; an heaven of 
 love is nothing, it hath a brim ; but infinite, eternal, everlasting love hath 
 no bottom, no brim, no bounds, and do we not yet love him ? Do we not 
 yet feel the fire of love break forth ? If not, it is time to turn our preaching 
 into prayer, 0 thou who art the element or sun of love ! come with thy 
 power, let out one beam, one ray, one gleam of love upon my soul ! shine 
 hot upon my heart, cast my soul into a love trance, remember thy promise, 
 To circumcise my heart, that I may love the Lord my God, with all my 
 heart, and with all my soul, Deut. 30 : 6. Surely the great marriage of 
 the Lamb is coming on, he will come, and welcome all his saints into his 
 presence ; he will bid them inherit the kingdom, and put them in posses- 
 sion of the inheritance; and then we cannot choose but love our Lord 
 Jesus with all our hearts, and' with all our souls; only begin we it here, let 
 us now be sick of love, that we may then be well with love ; let us now 
 rub and chafe our hearts (our dead, cold hearts) before this fire, till we can 
 say with Peter, “ Why, Lord thou knowest all things, thou knowest that 1 
 love thee.” 
 
 Sect. VII. — Of joying in Jesus in that respect. 
 
 7. Let us joy in Jesus as carrying on the great work of our salvation for 
 us in his second coming. Christ delights to have his people look upon him 
 with delight; for a soul to be always under a spirit of bondage, and so to 
 look upon Christ as a judge, a lion, or an offended God, it doth not please 
 God; the Lord Jesus is tender of the joy of his saints, “Rejoice and be 
 exceeding glad, (saith Christ) Matth. 6 : 12. Rejoice evermore, 1 Thess. 
 5 : 16. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice, Phil. 4 : 4. 
 Let the righteous be glad, let them rejoice before God, yea, let them ex- 
 ceedingly rejoice,” Psal. 68 : 3. All that Christ doeth to his saints tends 
 to this joy, as the upshot or end of all : if he cast down, it is but to raise 
 them up; if he humble, it is but to exalt; if he kill, it is but to make 
 alive; in every disposition still he hath a tender care to preserve their joy. 
 This is the Benjamin about which Christ’s bowels beat, Let my children 
 suffer any thing, but nothing in their joy; I would have all that love my 
 name to be joyful in me. 
 
 Oh ! some say, but Christ’s day is a terrible day; when Christ appears, 
 he will make the heavens, and the earth, and hell to shake and tremble; 
 “ Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence ; a fire shall devour before 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 685 
 
 him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him,” Psalm 50 : 3. 
 True, but what is all this terror but an argument of thy Father’s power and 
 justice against sinners ? If thou art Christ’s, and hast thy part in him, 
 not one jot of all this terror belongs to thee; “the Lord knows how to de- 
 liver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust to the 'day of 
 judgment to be punished,” 2 Pet. 2 : 9. He knows how to make the same 
 day a terror to his foes, and a joy to his people; he ever intended it for the 
 great distinguishing and separating day, wherein both joy and sorrow shall 
 be manifested to the highest. “0 then let the heavens rejoice, the sea, the 
 earth, the floods, the hills, for the Lord cometh to judge the earth ; with 
 righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity,” Psalm 
 98 : 7, 8, 9. If you find it an hard thing to joy in Jesus, as in reference 
 to his second coming, think of these motives. 
 
 1. Christ’s coming is the Christian’s encouragement, so Christ himself 
 lays it down, “ You shall see the Son of man comiDg in a cloud, with power 
 and great glory ; and when these things begin to come to pass, then look 
 up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh,” Luke 21 : 
 27, 28. The signs of his coming are the hopes of your approaching intro- 
 duction into glory ; and what should you do then but prepare for your ap- 
 proaching with exceeding joy ? Many evils do now surround you every 
 where, Satan hath his snares, and the world its baits, and your own hearts 
 are apt to betray you into your enemies’ hands; but when Christ comes 
 you shall have full deliverance, and perfect redemption : and therefore look 
 up, and lift up your heads. The apostle speaks the very same encourage- 
 ment, “The Lord himself descends from heaven with a shout, with the 
 voice of the archangel, and with the trump of Grod, and the dead in Christ 
 shall rise first; then we which are alive, and remain, shall be caught up to- 
 gether with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, — wherefore 
 comfort one another with these words/’ 1 Thess. 4 : 16, 17, 18. Christ’s 
 coming is a comfortable doctrine to all believers; and therefore all the elect 
 that hear these words, should be comforted by them, “ Comfort ye, comfort 
 ye my people.” 
 
 2. Christ our Saviour must be our Judge. The same Jesus that was 
 born for us, and lived and died for us, will come at last to judge us; is not 
 this comfortable ? You that have heard all his transactions, can you ever 
 forget the unweariedness of Christ’s love, in his constant and continual act- 
 ings for your souls ? How long hath he been interceding for his saints ? 
 How long hath he been knocking at their hearts for entrance ? It is above 
 a thousand six hundred years that he hath been praying and knocking; and 
 he resolves not to give over till all be his, till all the tribes in ones and two 
 be over Jordan, and up with him in the heavenly Canaan. And if this be 
 he that must be our judge, if he that loves our souls must judge our souls, 
 if he that hath a great interest and increase of joy in our salvation must 
 pass our sentence, will not this work us into a rejoicing frame ? 
 
 3. Christ’s sentence is the Christian’s acquittance; I may call it his 
 general acquittance, from the beginning of the world to the end, thereof. 
 Hence some call this the day of the believer’s full justification; they were 
 before made just, and esteemed just; but now by a lively sentence they 
 shall be pronounced just by Christ himself; now is the complete acquit- 
 tance, or the full absolution from all sin ; now will Christ pardon and speak 
 out his pardon once for all ; uow will he take his book (wherein all our sins, 
 as so many debts or trespasses, are written) and he will cancel all : “ Your 
 sins shall be blotted out, (saith Peter,) when the time of refreshing shall 
 come from the presence of the Lord,” Acts 3 : 19. And is not this enough 
 to cause our joy ? When the Spirit witnessing with our spirits, doth but 
 in part assure us of sins pardoned, is it not exceeding sweet ? Oh but L jw 
 
686 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK V. 
 
 sweet will be that sentence which will fully resolve the question, and leave 
 no room of doubting any more for ever ? Consider, 0 my soul ! the day is 
 coming when the Judge of heaven and earth will acquit thee of all thy 
 sins before all the world ; it is a part of his business at that day, to glorify 
 his justice and free grace in thy absolution. 0 ! Christians, how may we 
 comfort one another with these words ? 
 
 4. Christ in the issue will lead us into glory. As the bridegroom after 
 the nuptials leads his bride to his own home, that there they may live to- 
 gether, and dwell together, so Christ our royal Bridegroom will lead us into 
 the palace of his glory. And is not this joy of our Lord enough to cause 
 our joy? Oh ! what embraces of love, what shaking of hands, what wel- 
 comes shall we have into this city ? There shall we see Christ in his garden, 
 there shall we be set as a seal on Christ’s arm, and as a seal upon his heart; 
 there shall we be filled with his love, enlightened with his light, encircled 
 in his arms, following his steps, praising his name, and admiring his glory ; 
 there shall we joy indeed ; “ for in thy presence there is fulness of joy, and 
 at thy right-hand there are pleasures for evermore,” Psalm 14 : 11. There 
 is joy, and full joy, and fulness of joy; there are pleasures, and pleasures 
 evermore, and pleasures evermore at God’s right-hand. 0 the music of 
 the sanctuary! 0 the sinless and well-tuned Psalms! 0 the songs of the 
 high temple, without either temple or ordinances, as we have them here ! 
 Can we choose to joy at the thought of this joy above? If God would so 
 dispense, that even now we might stand at the utmost door of heaven, and 
 that God would strike up a window, and give us a spiritual eye, and 
 heavenly heart, so that we could look in, and behold the throne, and the 
 Lamb, and the troops of glorified ones clothed in white; would not this 
 cheer up our hearts, and fill them with joy unspeakable and full of glory ? 
 Certainly this day will come, when Christ will not only bring us to the door, 
 but through the gates unto the city; and then we shall see all these sights, 
 and hear all the music made in heaven ; how then should we but joy in 
 the hope of the glory of God ? 0 ! methinks raised thoughts of our man- 
 sion in glory should make us swim through the deepest sea of troubles and 
 afflictions, and never fear. Come then, 0 my drowsy soul ! and hearken 
 to these motives : If yet thou seest not the sun itself appear, methinks that 
 the twilight of a promise should revive thee, it is but a little while, “ and 
 he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” It may be thou art re- 
 viled and persecuted here on earth, and what then ? Hath not Christ bid 
 thee to rejoice in afflictions ? Is it not his word, That in this very case 
 thou shouldst “rejoice, and be exceeding glad?” Matth. 5 : 12. Is it not 
 his command, “ Think it not strange concerning the fiery trials, but rather 
 rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, that when his 
 glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy ?” 1 Pet. 
 t : 18. We must rejoice now, that we may rejoice then; indeed our present 
 joy is a taste of our future joy, and God would have us begin our heaven 
 here on earth. Come then, come forth, 0 ray dull congealed heart ! thou 
 that spendest thy days in sorrow, and thy breath in sighing, that minglest 
 thy bread with tears, and drinkest the tears that thou weepest : thou that 
 prayest for joy, and waitest for joy, and longest for joy, and complainest 
 for want of joy: 0 ! the time is coming, when thou shalt have fulness of 
 joy; the time is coming when the angels shall bring thee to Christ, and 
 when Christ shall take thee by the hand, and lead thee into his purchased 
 joy, and present thee unspotted before his Father, and give thee thy place 
 about his throne; and dost thou not rejoice in this ? Art thou not exceed- 
 ingly raised in such a meditation as this ? Surely if one drop of lively faith 
 were but mixed with these motives, thou mightest carry an heaven within 
 thee, and go ou ever singing to thy grave : say then, Lost thou believe, or 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 687 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 dost thou not believe ? If thy faith be firm, how shouldst thou but rejoice? 
 If thou rollest thyself on Christ, and on that promise, “ I will see you 
 again and your hearts shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you,” 
 John 16 : 22. How shouldst thou but rejoice, and be exceeding glad ? If 
 thou lookest upon the Holy Ghost, as designed by the Father and the Son, 
 to bring joy and delight into thy soul, How shouldst thou but be filled with 
 the water of life, with the oil of gladness, and with the new wine of the 
 kingdom of God ? 0 the blessed workings of faith on such a subject as 
 
 this ! if once we are but justified by faith, and that we can act our faith on 
 Christ’s glorious coming, then it will follow, that we shall have peace with 
 God, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, and not only so, but we 
 shall glory in tribulation also, Rom. 5 : 1, 2, 3. 
 
 Sect. VIII. — Of calling on Jesus in that respect. 
 
 8. Let us call on Jesus, as carrying on our soul’s salvation, at his second 
 coming; this contains prayer, and praise. 
 
 1. Let us pray for the coming of Christ; this was the constant prayer 
 of the church, “ Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly : the Spirit and the bride 
 say, come,” Rev. 22:17. Well knows the bride that the day of Christ’s 
 comiDg is her wedding day, her coronation day, the day of presenting her 
 unto his Father; and therefore, no wonder if she pray for the hastening 
 of it, “ Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe, or a young hart,” 
 Sol. Song 8 : 14. Thy kingdom come. Many prayers are in the bowels 
 of this, as that Christ, when he comes, may bid us welcome, and give us a 
 place on his throne, on his right hand, and pronounce us blessed, and take 
 us to himself, to live with him in eternal glory, &c. But I mention only 
 this general, and let each soul expatiate on the rest. 
 
 2. Let us praise him for his coming, and for all his actings at his coming. 
 Our engagements to Christ, even for this transaction, is so great, that we 
 can never extol his name; at that day the books shall be opened, and why 
 not the book of our engagements to Jesus Christ ? If it must be opened, I 
 can surely tell you it is written full; the page and margin, both within and 
 without, is written full ; it is a huge book of many volumes ; 0 then let 
 our hearts be full of praises ! let us join with those blessed elders that fell 
 down before the Lamb, aud sang, u Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to 
 receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, 
 and blessing,” Rev. 5 : 12. Yea, let us join with all those creatures in 
 heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, whom John 
 heard, saying, “ Blessing, honor, glory, and power be unto him that sitteth 
 on the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.” Amen, v. 13. 
 
 Sect. IX. — Of conforming to Jesus in that respect. 
 
 9. Let us conform to Jesus as coming again to judge the/world. Look- 
 ing to Jesus contains this ; when the apostle would persuade Christians 
 to patience under the cross, he lays down first the cloud of witnesses, all 
 the martyrs of the Church of Christ; and secondly, Jesus Christ himself, 
 as of more virtue and power than all the rest; the martyrs suffered much, 
 but Christ endured more than they all ; and therefore, saith the apostle, 
 u Look unto Jesus,” Heb. 12:2 Surely he is the best exemplar, the 
 chief pj^ttern, to whom, in all his transactions, we may, in some way or 
 other, conform. 
 
 But how should we conform to Christ in this respect ? I answer, — 
 
 1. Christ will, in his time, prepare for judgment; oh let us, at all times 
 prepare for his judging of us; doth it not concern us to prepare for him, as 
 well as it concerns him to prepare for us ? If Christ come, and find us 
 careless, negligent, and unprepared, what will become of us ? The very 
 
688 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK Y. 
 
 thought of Christ’s sudden coming to judgment, might well put us into a 
 waiting, watching posture, that we might be still in readiness : it cannot be 
 long, and alas, what is a little time when it is gone ! How quickly shall 
 we be in another world, and our souls receive their particular judgments; 
 and so wait till our bodies be raised, and judged to the same condition, or 
 salvation ? It is not an hundred years, in all likelihood, till every soul 
 of us shall be in heaven or hell ; it may be within a year, or two, or ten, 
 or thereabouts, the greatest part of this congregation will be in heaven or 
 hell; and I beseech you, what is a year, or two, or ten? What is an hun- 
 dred, or a thousand years to the days of eternity? How speedily is this 
 done? and how endless is that time, or eternity that is to come? Is it 
 not high time then to prepare our lamps, to trim our souls, to watch, and 
 fast, and pray, and meditate, and to remember, that for all our deeds, good 
 or evil, God will bring us to judgment? Herein is our conformity to 
 Christ’s coming ; before he comes he prepares for us. Oh let us, against 
 his coming, prepare for him. 
 
 2. Christ a his coming, will summon all his saints to arise, to ascend, 
 and to come to him in the clouds; 0 let us summon our souls to arise, to 
 ascend, and to go to Christ in the heavens. What Christ will do really at 
 that day, let us do spiritually on this day. It was the prodigal’s saying, 
 “I will arise, and go to my father, and say unto him,” Luke 15 : 18. 
 
 We are naturally sluggish, we lie in a bed of sin and security; and we 
 are loath to arise, to ascend, and to go to God. Oh then, let us call upon 
 our own souls ! “ Awake, awake, Deborah ! Why art thou so heavy, 0 
 
 my soul?” Let us stir up our spirits, consciences, wills, affections, every 
 day : let us wind them up as a man doth his watch, that it may be in a 
 continual motion. Alas, alas ! we had need to be continually stirring up 
 the gifts and graces that are in us ; it is the Lord’s pleasure that we should 
 daily come to him; he would have us on the wing of prayer, and on the 
 wing of meditation, and on the wing of faith; he would have us to be still 
 arising, ascending, and mounting up in divine contemplation to his Majesty ; 
 and is it not our duty, and the saints’ disposition to be thus? “Where- 
 soever the dead carcass is, thither will the eagles resort,” Matth. 24 : 28. 
 If Christ be in heaven, where should we be, but in heaven with him ? 
 “ For where your treasure is, there will your hearts be also.” Oh ! that 
 every morning, and every evening, at least, our hearts would arise, ascend, 
 and go to Christ in the heavens. 
 
 i 3. Christ will at last judge all our souls, and judge all the wicked to 
 eternal flames ; Oh let us judge ourselves, that we may not be judged of 
 the Lord, in that sad judgment ! “ If we would judge ourselves, (saith the 
 
 apostle) we should not be judged,” 1 Cor. 11 : 31. Good reason we have 
 to conform to Christ in this point; or otherwise, how should we escape the 
 judgment of Christ at the last day ? But in what manner should we judge 
 ourselves? I answer, — 1. We must search out our sins. 2. We must con- 
 fess them before the Lord. 3. We must condemn ourselves, or pass a sen- 
 tence against our own souls. 4. We must plead pardon, and cry mightily 
 to God in Christ for the remission of all those sins, whereof we have judged 
 ourselves, and condemned ourselves. 
 
 1. We^must search out our sins: “Winnow yourselves, 0 people! not 
 worthy to be beloved,” Zeph. 2 : 1. There should be a strict scrutiny to 
 And out all the profaneness of our hearts and lives, all our sins against light 
 and love, and checks, and vows, winnow yourselves. If you will not, I 
 pronounce to you from the eternal God, that ere long the Lord will come 
 in the clouds, and then will he open the black book, wherein all your sins 
 are written, he will search Jerusalem with candles, he will come with a sword 
 ia his hand, to search out all secure sinners every where, and then will all 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 689 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 our sins be discovered to all the world. 0 that we would prevent this by 
 our search and scrutiny aforehand ! 
 
 2. We must confess our sins before the Lord : we must spread them be- 
 fore the Lord, as Hezekiah did his letter ; only in our confessions observe 
 these rules. As, 
 
 1. Our confessions must be full of sorrow, “I will declare my iniquity, 
 (saith David) I will be sorry for my sin,” Psal. 88 : 18. His confessions 
 were dolorous confessions, he felt sin, and it wrought upon him as an heavy 
 burden, “ They are too heavy for me,” verse 4, there is nothing in the 
 world can make a heart more heavy, than when it feels the weight and 
 heaviness of sin. 
 
 2. Our confession must be a full confession, we must pour it out. Thus 
 David styles one of his psalms, “A prayer of the afflicted, when he is over- 
 whelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the Lord,” Psal. 102, pre- 
 face. We must pour out our complaints, as a man poureth water out of a 
 vessel. “ Arise, cry out in the night; in the beginning of the watches, 
 pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord,” Lam. 2 : 19. 
 Water runs all out of a vessel, when you turn the mouth downward, never 
 a spoonful will then stay behind ; so should we pour out our hearts before 
 God, and (if it were possible) leave not a sin unconfessed, at least for the 
 kinds, if not for the particular sins. 
 
 3. Our confession must be with full aggravation : we should aggravate 
 
 our sins, by all the circumstances that may show them odious. Thus Peter, 
 when he had denied Christ, it is said, that “ he thought thereon, and he 
 wept,” Mark 14 : 72. He thought thereon, or he cast in his thoughts, one 
 thing upon another, q. d. Jesus Christ was my master, and yet 1 denied 
 him ; he told me of this before hand, that I might take heed of it, and yet 
 I denied him; I professed to him that I would never do it, I would never 
 forsake him, and yet I denied him ; yea, this very night, and no longer 
 since, I said it again and again, that I would not deny him, and yet I de- 
 nied him, yea, I said, “ Though all others deny thee, yet will not I;” and 
 yet worse than all others, I denied him with a witness, for I affirmed des- 
 perately that I knew not the man, nay, more than so, I sware and I cursed 
 too, u If I knew the man, let God's curse fall upon me,” and all this I did 
 within a few strides of my Lord, at that very time when I should have 
 stood for my Lord, in that all the world forsook him : why, these were the 
 circumstances of Peter's sin, and meditating on them, “ He went out, and 
 he wept bitterly.” And thus we should aggravate our sins in our confes- 
 sions ; 0 my sins were out of measure sinful ! 0 they were sins against 
 
 knowledge, and light, against many mercies, received, against many judg- 
 ments threatened, against many checks of conscience, against many vows 
 and promises ; thus oft, and in this place, and at that time, and in that 
 manner, I committed these and these sins; but of all the aggravations let 
 us be sure to remember how we sinned against the goodness, and patience, 
 and love, and mercy of God; surely these circumstances will make our sins 
 out of measure sinful. The angel that reproved the children of Israel at 
 Bochim, after the repetition of his mercies towards them, and of their sins 
 against him, he questions them in these words, “ 0, why have you done 
 this?” Judges 2 : 2. <?• d. The Lord hath done thus and thus mercifully 
 unto you, Oh ! why have ye done thus unthankfully towards him ? Why 
 was his mercy abused, his goodness slighted, his patience despised ? Do 
 you thus requite the Lord, 0 foolish people and unwise ? In like manner 
 should we confess and aggravate our sins, “0 my God thou art my Father; 
 was I ever in want, and thou didst not relieve me? Was I ever in weak 
 ness, and thou didst not strengthen me? Was I ever in straits, and thou 
 didst not deliver me ? Was I ever in sickness, and thou didst not cure me? 
 
 44 
 
690 
 
 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 [BOOK V. 
 
 Was I ever in misery, and thou didst not succor me? Hast thou not been 
 a gracious God to me? All my bones can say, who is like unto thee? Lord, 
 who is like unto thee ? And shall I thus and thus reward the Lord for all 
 his mercies towards me ? Hear, 0 heavens, and hearken, 0 earth ; sun, 
 stand thou still, and thou moon be amazed at this ! hear angels and hear 
 devils ; hear heaven, and hear hell, and be you avenged on such a sin as this 
 is ! 0, the sinfulness of my sin, in regard of these many circumstances ! ” 
 
 3. We must condemn ourselves, or pass a sentence against our own souls : 
 Lord, the worst place in hell is too good for me ; Lord, there is my soul, 
 thou mayest, if thou pleasest, send Satan for it, and give me a portion 
 among the damned. This self-judging, or self-condemning is exemplified to 
 the life in Ezra; For— 
 
 1. “ He fell on his knees,” Ezra 9:5. He did not bow down his knees, 
 but like a man astonished, he fell on his knees ; he had before rent his 
 garment and mantle, and plucked off the hair of his head, and of his beard, 
 and sat down astonished ; and now at the evening sacrifice he falls on his 
 knees, and on the ground, in great amazement. 
 
 2. “ He spread out his hands unto the Lord,” ver. 5. q. d. Here is my 
 breast, and here is my heart blood ; I spread my arms, and lay all open, 
 that thou mayest set the naked point of thy sword of justice at my very 
 heart. 
 
 3. He is dumb and speechless (as it were) before the Lord, “And now, 
 O our God ! what shall we say after all this, for we have forsaken thy com- 
 mandments ?” ver. 10. q. d. “ Shall I excuse the matter ? Alas ! it is inex- 
 cusable ; What shall we say after all this ? Shall we call for thy patience ? 
 We have had it, but how did we abuse it? Should we call for mercy? 
 Indeed we had it, but our stubborn hearts would never come down, 0 our 
 God ! what shall we say ? I know not what to say, for we have sinned 
 against thee.” 
 
 4. He lays down his soul, and all the people’s souls at God’s feet, q. d. 
 Here we are, thou mayest damn us if thou wilt, “ Behold, we are all here 
 before thee in our trespasses, for we cannot stand before thee, because of 
 this,” ver. 15. Behold, here we are, rebels we are ; here are our heads and 
 throats before the naked point of thy vengeance, if now thou shouldst take 
 us from our knees, and throw us into hell, if we must go from our prayers 
 to damnation, toe cannot but say, That thou art just and righteous : Oh ! it 
 is mercy, it is mercy indeed that we are spared, it is just and righteous with 
 God that we should be damned. 
 
 In this more especially lies self-condemnation : it makes a man to trample 
 upon his own self, it makes a man freely to accept of damnation, “ They 
 shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity, and then will I remember 
 my covenant with Jacob,” Lev. 26 : 41, 42. They save God (as it were) a 
 labor, judging themselves, that they may not be judged. 
 
 4. We must plead pardon, and cry mightily to God in Christ, for the re' 
 mission of all our sins. This is the way of judging ourselves, we see no- 
 thing but hell and damnation in ourselves, but then we fling down ourselves 
 at God’s gate of mercy ; we despair not in God, though in ourselves ; God 
 in Christ is gracious and merciful, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin ; 
 and hence we make bold to entreat the Lord for Christ’s sake, to be merci- 
 ful to us ; surely herein lies the difference betwixt nature and grace ; the 
 natural man may see his sins, and confess his sins, and judge himself for 
 his sins ; thus Saul did, and thus Judas did ; but then they despaired in 
 God, and were damned indeed ; now the gracious man hath a conscience 
 within, that represents to him his damned estate, but withal it represents to 
 him the free grace of God in Jesus Christ, and so he only despairs in him- 
 self, and not in his God ; now thus far good. Come Christians ! do we 
 
LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 691 
 
 CHAP, n.] 
 
 despair in ourselves ? Do we fling off all our own hopes, and our own de- 
 pendencies, hangings, holding on duties, purposes, graces, performances ? 
 And do we go to God in Christ, and tell him, “ We hang upon nothing but 
 the mere mercy, the free grace of God in Christ ; and therefore, Lord par- 
 don, Lord forgive, for thy name’s sake, promise’ sake, mercy’s sake, and for 
 the Lord Jesus’ sake ; 0 let free grace have his work, Lord, glorify thy 
 name, and glorify the riches of thy grace in saving us.” Why, this is the 
 best hold in the world, though the world cannot abide it ; surely if we thus 
 judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 
 
 5. Christ at his coming will be glorified in his saints ; not only in him- 
 self, but in his saints also, whose glory, as it comes from him, so it will re- 
 dound to him ; Oh ! let him now be glorified in us, let us now, in some high 
 way conform to the image of his glory; let us look on Christ till we are 
 like Christ, not only in grace, but in glory; and this glory, as it comes from 
 him, so let it redound to him. I will not say, That the kingdom of heaven 
 and glory is in this life ; I leave this opinion to the dreamers of this time, I 
 mean to the Emilists, Quakers, and such like ; but this I say, That even in 
 this life the saints of God enjoy a begun and imperfect conformity to Christ’s 
 glory, and this is that I would now press upon us, let us so behold the glory 
 of the Lord, in the glass of the gospel, as that we may be changed into the 
 same image from glory to glory, 2 Cor. 3 : 18. (From a lesser measure, to 
 an higher measure of glory.) The day is coming, that Christ will be glori- 
 fied in himself, and he will be glorified in his saints ; 0 ! the glories that 
 then will be accumulated and heaped upon Jesus Christ ! come, now let us 
 behold this glory of Christ till we are changed in some high measure into 
 the same glory with Christ; Christ’s glory rightly viewed is a changing 
 glory ; and herein the views of Christ surpass all creatures’ views ; if we 
 behold the sun we cannot possibly be changed into another sun ; but if with 
 the eye of knowledge and faith, we behold Jesus Christ, we shall be changed 
 into the glorious image of Jesus Christ : if the sun of righteousness cast 
 forth his golden beams upon us, and we enjoy this light, why then, “ who 
 is she that looketh forth as the morning, (as Aurora, the first birth of the 
 day) fair as the moon, clear as the sun ?” Cant. 6:10. 
 
 I know this glorious change is but a growing change by degrees “ from 
 glory to glory;” and yet who can deny but there is some conformity to 
 Christ’s glory, even in this life ? Do not these very texts speak the self-same 
 thing ? “ These things have I spoken to you, that my joy might remain in 
 you, and that your joy might be full,” John 15: 11. And “ these things 
 write we unto you, that your joy may be full,” 1 John 1 : 4. And “ ask, 
 and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full,” John 16 : 24. And u re- 
 joice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her, — that 
 ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations, that ye 
 may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory,” Isa. 46 : 
 10, 11. And “ the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,” 
 Korn. 15 : 13. Surely “all joy and peace,” are synechdochically put for all 
 other inchoations of glorification. But how is a saint in this life filled with 
 all joy? I answer, 1. In regard of the object, God and Christ. 2. In re- 
 gard of the degrees ; though not absolutely, yet so far forth as the measure 
 of joy is in this life attainable; I might instance in the joy of Mr. Leacock, 
 Mrs. Brettergh, and of some martyrs, who sung in the fifes. 3. In regard 
 of duration, “ rejoice always,” Phil. 4 : 4, not only in the calm of peace, but 
 in the storm of violent opposition. A saint may have his troubles, but these 
 troubles can never totally or finally extinguish his joy, “ Your joy no man 
 taketh from you,” John 16 : 22. He rejoiceth always. 
 
 0 ! that something of the glory of Christ might rest upon us. Oh I that 
 having this glory of Christ in our thoughts, we could now feel a change 
 
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 from glory to glory ! is it so that the Lord Jesus will he glorified in all his 
 saints ? And shall we have inglorious souls, base and unworthy affections 
 and conversations ? Or shall we content ourselves with a little measure of 
 grace ? 0 ! be we holy, even as he is holy ; let our conversations be hea- 
 
 venly, let us purify ourselves, even as he is pure ; let us resemble him in 
 some high measure of grace. And lastly, let us glorify him in our bodies 
 and spirits; all our glory is from him, and therefore let our glory redound 
 to him ; let us now begin that gospel tune of the eternal song of free grace, 
 which one day we shall more perfectly chant in glory ! “ Allelujah ! and 
 again, Allelujah ! and Amen, Allelujah ! salvation, and glory, and power, 
 and praise, and thanksgiving, and obedience, be unto him that sits on the 
 throne, the Lamb blessed for ever and ever. Amen.” 
 
 THE CONCLUSION. 
 
 And now, my brethren, I have done the errand which Christ sent me 
 on; I verily believe, I have now delivered this work of the everlasting 
 gospel, or of Christ’s carrying on the great work of man’s salvation, and it 
 hath been somewhat long in speaking, but, Oh ! how long in acting ? May 
 
 1 give you a short view of what I have said, and of what hath been acted 
 from eternity ; and will yet be acted to eternity ? You may remember, that 
 God, in his eternity, laid a plot or design to glorify the riches of his grace 
 in saving sinners; and to that purpose, 1. He decreed a Christ. 2. Pre- 
 sently after the fall, he promised the Christ he had decreed. 3. In ful- 
 ness of time he exhibited the Christ that he had promised ; then it was, 
 that the same Christ took upon him our nature, and joined it to his God- 
 head to be one person ; and, in that person he was born, and lived, and 
 died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven : there now he hath been 
 sitting, sending down the Holy Ghost, and interceding for his saints, for 
 above one thousand six hundred years ; and, in this last work, he will con- 
 tinue till the end of the world, and then he will come again to judge the 
 world, and to receive his saints to himself, that where he is, they may be 
 with him, to see and enjoy him to all eternity. This is the epitome of all I 
 have said, only in every particular I have set down Christ’s actings towards 
 us, and our actings towards Christ ; in various forms and outgoings of his 
 love he hath acted towards us; and in various forms, and outgoings of our 
 souls we have been taught fitly and suitably to act towards him. 
 
 Now, in all these actings, how doth the free grace of God in Christ 
 appear ? “Ye are saved by grace,” saith the apostle, Eph. 2 : 5. The decree, 
 the means, the end of our salvation is grace, and only grace. The decree is 
 grace, and therefore it is called, “ The election of grace,” Rom. 11:5. The 
 means are of grace, and therefore “ we are called according to his grace,” 
 
 2 Tim. 1 : 9, and “we are justified freely by his grace,” Rom. 3 : 24, and 
 the end is of grace, for “ eternal life is the gift of God,” Rom. 6 : 23. Both 
 beginning, and progress, and execution is all of grace, “ This is the riches 
 of his grace,” Eph. 1:7; “ the exceeding, the hyperbolical riches of his 
 grace,” Eph. 2 : 7. The conclusion of all, is this, God’s free grace, which 
 was first designed, will at last be manifested, and eternally praised by saints 
 and angels; the same free grace, which from the beginning of the age 
 of God, from everlasting, drove on the saving plot and sweet design of 
 our salvation, will at last be glorified to purpose : when heaven’s inhabitants 
 will be ever digging into this golden mine, ever rolling this soul-delighting 
 
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 and precious stone, ever beholding, viewing, inquiring, and searching into 
 the excellency of this same Christ, and this free grace. Now all is done, 
 shall I speak a word for Christ, or rather for ourselves in relation to 
 Christ, and so an end ? if I had but one word more to speak in the world, 
 it should be this ; Oh ! let all our spirits be taken up with Christ, let us 
 not busy ourselves too much with toys, or trifles, with ordinary and low 
 things, but look unto Jesus. Surely Christ is enough to fill all our thoughts, 
 desires, hopes, loves, joys, or whatever is within us, or without us; Christ 
 alone comprehends all the circumference of all our happiness; Christ is 
 the pearl hid in the large field of God’s word ; Christ is the scope of all 
 the scripture : all things and persons in the old world were types of him ; 
 all the prophets foretold him, all God’s love runs through him, all the gifts 
 and graces of the Spirit flow from him, the whole eye of God is upon him, 
 and all his designs both in heaven and earth meet in him ; the great design 
 of God is this, That “ he might gather together in one all things in 
 Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him,” 
 Eph. 1 : 10. 
 
 All things are summed up in this one Jesus Christ : if we look on the 
 creation, the whole world was made by Christ, if we look on providences, 
 all things subsist in Christ, they have their being, and their well-being in 
 him. Where may we find God but in Christ ? Where may we see God 
 but in this essential and eternal glass ? Christ is “ the face of God,” 
 2 Cor. 4:6. “ The brightness of his glory, the express image of his 
 Father’s person,” Heb. 1 : 3. The Father is (as it were) all sun, and all 
 pearl; and Jesus Christ is the substantial rays, the eternal and essential 
 irradiation of the sun of glory : Christ outs God as the seal doth the 
 stamp : Christ reveals God, as the face of a man doth reveal the man, so 
 Christ to Philip, “ He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father,” John 14 : 9, 
 q. d. I am as like the Father as God is like himself : there is a perfect 
 indivisible unity between the Father and me, “I and the Father are one;” 
 one very God, he the begetter, and I the begotten : Christ is the substan- 
 tial rose that grew out of the Father from eternity : Christ is the essential 
 wisdom of God : Christ is the substantial word of God, the intellectual 
 birth of the Lord’s infinite understanding : oh the worth of Christ ! com- 
 pare we other things with Christ, and they will bear no weight at all ; cast 
 into the balance with him angels, they are wise, but he is wisdom ; cast 
 into the balance with him men, they are liars, lighter than vanity, but 
 Christ is “ the Amen, the faithful witness ;” cast into the scales kings, 
 and all kings, and all their glory, why he is King of kings ; cast into the 
 scale millions of talents’ weight of glory ; cast in two worlds, and add to 
 the weight millions of heavens of heavens, and the balance cannot down, 
 the scales are unequal, Christ outweighs all. Shall I yet come nearer 
 home ? What is heaven but to be with Christ ? What is life eternal but 
 to believe in God, and in his Son Jesus Christ? Where may we find peace 
 with God, and reconciliation with God, but only in Christ ? “ God was in 
 Christ reconciling the world unto Jiimself,” 2 Cor. 5 : 19. Where may we 
 find compassion, mercy, and gentleness to sinners, but only in Christ? It 
 is Christ that takes off infiuite wrath, and satisfies justice, and so God is a 
 most lovely, compassionate, desirable God in Jesus; all the goodness of 
 God comes out of God through this golden pipe the Lord Jesus Christ. It 
 is true those essential attributes of love, grace, mercy and goodness, are 
 only in God, and they abide in God, yet the mediatory manifestation of 
 love, grace, mercy and goodness, is only in Christ; Christ alone is treasury, 
 store-house, and magazine of the free goodness and mercy of the Godhead. 
 In him we are elected, adopted, redeemed, justified, sanctified and saved; 
 he is the ladder, and every step of it betwixt heaven and earth ; he is the 
 
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 way, the truth and the life ; he is honor, riches, beauty, health, peace and 
 salvation ; he is a suitable and rich portion to every man’s soul : that which 
 some of the Jews observe of the manna, that it was in taste according to 
 every man’s palate, it is really true of Christ, he is to the soul, whatsover 
 the soul would have him to be. All the spiritual blessings wherewith we 
 are enriched, are in and by Christ : God hears our prayers by Christ : God 
 forgives us our iniquities through Christ ; all we have, and all we expect to 
 have, hangs only on Christ : he is the golden hinge, upon which all our 
 salvation turns. 
 
 Oh ! how should all hearts be taken with this Christ ? Christians ! turn 
 your eyes upon the Lord : u Look, and look again unto Jesus.” Why 
 stand ye gazing on the toys of this world, when such a Christ is offered to 
 you in the gospel ? Can the world die for you ? Can the world reconcile 
 you to the Father? Can the world advance you to the kingdom of heaven ? 
 As Christ is all in all, so let him be the full and complete subject of our 
 desire, and hope, and faith, and love, and joy ; let him be in your thoughts 
 the first in the morning, and the last at night. Shall I speak one word 
 more to thee that believest ? Oh ! apply in particular all the transactions 
 of Jesus Christ to thy very self; remember how he came out of his Father’s 
 bosom for thee, wept for thee, bled for thee, poured out his life for thee, is 
 now risen for thee, gone to heaven for thee, sits at God’s right hand, and 
 rules all the world for thee : makes intercession for thee, and at the end 
 of the world will come again for thee, and receive thee to himself, to live 
 with him for ever and ever. Surely if thus thou believest and livest, thy 
 life is comfortable, and thy death will be sweet. If there be any heaven 
 upon earth, thou wilt find it in the practice and exercise of this gospel 
 duty, in “ Looking unto Jesus.” 
 
 THE END. 
 

 
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