There is in Christ, 1. The fulness of the Spirit. 2. The fulness of grace. 3. The fulness of the image of God. 4. The fulness of the Godhead. 5. The fulness of glory. But I must not now open nor dilate on these things, lest I should tire both myself and the reader. Plutarch, in the life of Phocion, tells us of a certain gentlewoman of Ionia, who shewed the wife of Phocion all the rich jewels and precious stones she had. She answered her again, All my riches and jewels is my husband Phocion. So may a penitent sinner say of his blessed Saviour, Christ is all my jewels, my riches, my treasures, my pleasures, &c.; his sufficiency is all these, and more than these, to me. The Spanish ambassador, coming to see the treasury of St Mark in Venice, which is cried up throughout the world, fell a-groping to find whether it had any bottom, and being asked why, answered, In this amongst other things, my great Master's treasure differs from yours, in that his hath no bottom, as I find yours to have,-alluding to the mines in Mexico and Potosi. But what are the Spaniard's treasures to Christ's treasures? A man may, without much groping, find the bottom of all earthly treasures, but who can find the bottom of Christ's treasures?1 Should all created excellencies meet in one glorified breast, yet they could not enable that glorious God-like creature to sound the bottom of those riches and treasures which are in Christ, Ephes. iii. 8; all which speaks out Christ's all-sufficiency; and thus much for the second thing. (3.) Thirdly, If you would be good betimes, then you must know betimes, That there is a marvellous willingness and readiness in Christ to embrace, to entertain, to welcome returning sinners, and to shew mercy and favour to them. The young prodigal did but think of returning to his father, and he ran and met him, and instead of kicking or killing him, he kissed him and embraced him, his bowels rolled within him, and his compassions flowed out freely to him, Luke xv. 20-22. Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price,' Isa. İv. 1.2 Nazianzen improveth this place thus: 'Oh, this easy way of contract, he giveth more willingly than others sell; if thou wilt but accept, that is all the price; though you have no merits, though you have nothing in yourselves to encourage you, yet will you accept? If you will, all is freely yours; the waters shall be yours to cleanse you, and the milk yours to nourish you, and the bread yours to strengthen you, and the wine yours to comfort you. Here poor sinners are called three times to come: Come, saith Christ, come, come, to shew how marvellous ready and willing he is that poor sinners should taste of gospel delicates. So in that John vii. 37, Jesus stood and cried, If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink ;' so in that Rev. xxii. 17, 'Let 1 Ipse Deus sufficit ad præmium.-Bernard. 3 The meaning is, sell thyself, thine own wit, reason, self-worth; and that is all Christ desires, saith Augustine upon the words. 3 Cant. ii. 8, Christ comes leaping upon the mountains, and skipping upon the hills, to shew his readiness and willingness to do good to souls. God. r dilate on these things, lest I should , tells us of a certain gentlewoman of ocion all the rich jewels and precious her again, All my riches and jewels is a penitent sinner say of his blessed my riches, my treasures, my pleasures, and more than these, to me. ing to see the treasury of St Mark in ghout the world, fell a-groping to find being asked why, answered, In this Master's treasure differs from yours, in 1 yours to have,-alluding to the mines are the Spaniard's treasures to Christ's t much groping, find the bottom of all ind the bottom of Christ's treasures! neet in one glorified breast, yet they God-like creature to sound the bottom ch are in Christ, Ephes. iii. 8; all which ; and thus much for the second thing e good betimes, then you must know ellous willingness and readiness in to welcome returning sinners, and em. hink of returning to his father, and he kicking or killing him, he kissed him rolled within him, and his compassions 7. 20-22. Ho every one that thirsteth t hath no money; come ye, buy and eat, without money and without price,' Is his place thus: 'Oh, this easy way of gly than others sell; if thou wilt but Lough you have no merits, though you courage you, yet will you accept? If waters shall be yours to cleanse you, ou, and the bread yours to strengthen Here poor sinners are called Fort you. h Christ, come, come, to shew how mar hat poor sinners should taste of gospel 37, Jesus stood and cried, If any man drink so in that Rev. xxii 17, 'Let ard. wn wit, reason, self-worth; and that is all Christ the mountains, and skipping upon the hills, to him that is athirst come, and whosoever wi life freely'; so in that Rev. iii. 20, Behol knock: if any man hear my voice, and oper him, and will sup with him, and he with xiv. 21, 'The master of the house said to into the streets and lanes of the city, and b the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.' I dignity, of worldly pomp or glory, or of any s to the feast, but a company of poor, ragged,d impoverished, wounded sinners; these are Concerning this willingness of Christ, I sh to deal with old sinners in the close of this you for further and fuller satisfaction concer willingness of Jesus Christ to entertain retu (4.) Fourthly, If you would be good be betimes, That Jesus Christ is designed, se Father to the office of a Mediator.1 Labour not for the meat which perishet endureth to everlasting life, which the Son for him hath God the Father sealed.' Christ's commission authentical, as men do a metaphor, a simile taken from them who g and seal. God the Father hath given it u Jesus Christ is the only person that he allowed and confirmed, to the office of our r were never so able to save, and never so wi sinners, yet if he were not appointed, de work, the awakened sinner would never loo union with him, nor interest in him; and consequence to know that God the Father to be à Saviour to his people: 'Him ha Sealed by way of destination and sealed by by his doctrine, sealed by his miracles, seal his resurrection, but above all, sealed by Spirit of the Lord is upon me; because the preach good tidings unto the meek: he h broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the the prison to them that are bound; to p of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mournin the spirit of heaviness: that they might ness, the planting of the Lord, that he mig Luke iv. 18.2 Neither saints nor angels an great work of redemption, but the Lord J look upon the Lord Jesus as sealed and an diator, and accordingly plead with him. 1 John vi. 27, The Father sealed, even God; so th Christ was anointed of God, 1, by way of desig 3. by way of inauguration. This anointing was ord to offices of any eminence. Ah, Lord! it is thy office, as thou art a sealed and an anointed Saviour and Redeemer, to subdue my sins, to change my nature, to sanctify my heart, to reform my life, and to save my soul; and therefore do it for thy name's sake, oh do it for thy office' sake, do it for thy glory's sake! 'Thou art anointed with the oil of gladness above thy fellows,' Ps. xlv. 8, Acts iv. 27. Thou hast a larger effusion of the Spirit upon thee than others; thou art anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power after an extraordinary measure and manner; thou art endued with all heroical gifts and excellencies, plentifully, abundantly, transcendently; thou art sealed and predestinated; thou art invested into this office of Mediatorship under the Father's hand and seal: and therefore whither should I go for salvation, for remission, for redemption, for grace, for glory, but to thee? (5.) Fifthly, If you would be good betimes, then you must know betimes, that there is no way to salvation but by Jesus Christ. 'Neither is there salvation in any other' (speaking of Christ), 'for there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved,' Acts iv. 12. If ever you are saved, you must be saved by him, and him only; you must not look for another saviour, nor you must not look for a co-saviour; you must be saved wholly by Christ and only by Christ, or you shall never be saved; you must cry out, as Lambert did when he was in the fire, and lifted up his hands, and fingers'ends flaming, 'None but Christ, none but Christ'!3 When Augustus Cæsar desired the senate to join two consuls with him for the better government of the state, the senate answered, that they held it as a diminution of his dignity, and a disparagement of their own judgment, to join any with so incomparable a man as Augustus.* Ah! friends, it is a diminution of Christ's dignity, sufficiency, and glory, in the business of your salvation, to join anything with the Lord Jesus; and it is the greatest disparagement in the world to your own judgments, knowledge, prudence, and wisdom, to yoke any with Christ in the work of redemption, in the business of salvation. Augustine saith, that Marcellina hung Christ's picture and the picture of Pythagoras together; many there are, not only in Rome, but in England (yea, I am afraid in London), who join Christ and their works together, Christ and their prayers together, Christ and their teachers together, Christ and their mournings together, Christ and their hearings together, Christ and their alms together. Ah, what a poor, what a weak, what an impotent, what an insufficient Saviour doth these men make Jesus Christ to be! Except these men come off from these things, and come up only to Jesus Christ, in the great business of salvation, they will as certainly and as eternally perish, notwithstanding their hearing, knowing, and talking much of Christ, as those that never heard of Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, God commands them not to wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together, 'neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee,' Deut. xxii. 11. This law was figurative, and shews us that in the case of our justification, acceptation, and salvation, we are not to join our works, our 1 John i. 16, iii. 34. 2 iv äλaw, that is, by or through the mediation of any other. Act. and Mon. [Foxe, sub nomine.-G.] 4 Suetonius. thee ou art a sealed and an anointed Sa- od betimes, then you must know be n of Christ's dignity, sufficiency, and ina hung Christ's picture and the pic- , what an impotent, what an insuffi- mmands them not to wear a garment services, with the righteousness of Christ. righteousness. And as by the letter of account, one thread of wool in a linen garm a woollen garment, made it unlawful, so the the business of justification makes all null a then it is no more of works, otherwise grad it be of works, then it is no more grace, work." He that shall mix his righteousnes mix his puddle with Christ's purple blood, robes, his copper with Christ's gold, his wa is in the ready way to perish for ever. On earth kings love no consorts; power is Christ will be Alexander or Nemo, nobody business of justification, or he will be nothi Christ, as it was once said of Cæsar, Sociu have a companion, &c., but he must not hav Rom. v. 19, 20. Let us say of Christ, as the heathen once temno minutulos istos deos, modo Jovem as he had his Jupiter to friend, he regarded we have our Jesus to friend, and his righted we shall contemn all other things, and abho into competition with him. A real Christi that hath not aliquid Christi, something holds not wholly with Christ, doth very sha totum mecum tene, aut totum omitte, saith iii. 9, 10, Ps. lxxi. 15, 16, 19, compared.) There is no other name, no other natur merits, no other person to be justified and You may run from creature to creature, a from ordinance to ordinance, and when you yourselves in seeking ease and rest, satisfact tion and salvation, in one way and another, to come to Christ, and to cry out, Ah! r Christ! Isa. lv. 2, Rom. x. 3. Ah! none to works to Christ; no duties, no services to Ch Christ; no righteousness, no holiness to Chris this, that all the tears in the world cannot sin, nor all the grace and holiness that is i the pardon of the least transgression. Al blood of Christ. (6.) Sixthly and lastly, If you would be g know betimes, that the heart of Jesus Ch sinners now he is in heaven, as ever it wa Christ is no less loving, less mindful, less welfare now he is heaven in a far country, on earth. Witness his continuing the minis poor sinners in all ages; witness the cons ambassadors and Spirit he still hath with p 1 Philip. iii. 9, 10; Rev. xix. 8; G Rom. xi. 6; Eph. ii. 5; Rom. v. 1 of their peace, the things of eternity; witness his continual knockings, his continual callings upon poor sinners by his word, rod, Spirit, to open, to repent, to lay hold on mercy, and to be at peace with him; witness his continual wooing of poor sinners in the face of all neglects and put-offs, in the face of all delays and denials, in the face of all harsh entertainment and churlish answers, in the face of all gainsayings and carnal reasonings, in the face of all the scorn and contempt that wretched sinners put upon him,' and witness that plain word, 'Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever,' Heb. xiii. 8. Christ is the same afore time, in time, and after time, he is unchangeable in his essence, in his promises, and in his affections: I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come,' Rev. i. 8, 11, xxi. 6, xxii. 13.2 The phrase is taken from the Greek letters, whereof Alpha is the first and Omega is the last. The first and last letter of the Greek alphabet is a description of me, saith Christ, who am before all and after all, who am above all and in all, who am unchangeable in myself, and in my thoughts and good will to poor sinners. Therefore do not, poor souls, entertain any hard thoughts concerning Jesus Christ, as if he was less mindful, less pitiful, and less merciful to poor souls now he is in heaven, than he was when his abode was in this world. And thus I have gone over those six things that you must know concerning Christ betimes, if ever you be good betimes. When Pope Leo lay upon his death-bed, Cardinal Bembus citing a text of Scripture to comfort him, he replied, Apage has nugas de Christo, away with these baubles concerning Christ! But I hope better things of you, and do desire that you will say of all things below this knowledge of Christ that I have opened to you, as that devout pilgrim, who, travelling to Jerusalem, and by the way visiting many brave cities, with their rare monuments, and meeting with many friendly entertainments, would often say, I must not stay here, this is not Jerusalem. Ah! so do you, young men and women, in the midst of all your worldly delights and contents, cry out, Oh! we must not stay here, this is not Jerusalem, this is not that knowledge of Christ that I must have, if ever I am happy here and blessed hereafter. Duty (4). Fourthly and lastly, If you would be good betimes, then you must acquaint yourselves with those that are good betimes. Direction (1). First, If you would be gracious in the spring and morning of your youth, then you must begin betimes to be much in with them who are much in with Christ, who lie near his heart and know much of his mind. He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed,' or, as the Hebrew hath it, shall be broken in pieces, as when an army is broken and routed by an enemy.3 Holech from Halech, walking with the wise, he shall be wise, for so the original hath it. It is not talking with the wise, but walking with the wise, that will make you wise; it is not your commending and praising of the wise, but your walking with the wise, that 1 2 Cor. v. 20; Rev. iii. 20; Isa. xxvii. 5, lvi. 4; Cant. v. 2; Prov. vi. 9; Matt. xxii. 4, 23, 27. 2 It was a custom among the Turks, to cry out every morning from an high tower, God always was, and always will be, and so salute their Mahomet. Prov. xiii. 20, 17, shall be broken, or shall be worse, from y, to be naught. |