66

Christ was in his Incarnate state, could be outward witnesses of his Incarnation, and what he said, and did in his Incarnate state. The apostles were most eminently qualified for this. When they declared that Christ the life was manifested, that they had seen him, when and where they bare witness to the truth of his Incarnation, to the reality of his Person, to the truth of his word, and miraculous acts, God also bearing them witness, (and, by them of the same) both with signs. and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the holy Ghost, according to his own will." See Heb. ii. 4. To have seen Christ, God manifest in the flesh, must have been a great sight. To retain the true sense and apprehension of what they saw in Him, and heard and received from Him, must have been to them life everlasting. Their whole ministry was filled up, with giving a simple narrative of the Person, Incarnation, Life and Actions, Crucifixion, Death, Burial, Resurrection, Ascension and Exaltation of the Lord Jesus. This they were called to bear their immediate testimony unto. This forms the foundation of the four gospels. And whilst it is by the spiritual apprehension of Christ, as set forth therein, we live, and in which is the life of our souls, yet what hath been expressed concerning the ministry of the apostles, contains the Truth as it is in Jesus. Nor must the history, nor the mystery of Christ be rejected, nor neglected by us. being the foundation of the other. Therefore the one must be of as great importance as the other. We have seen him, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us. Which sight of Him, had influenced their whole minds; swallowed up their whole hearts; fixed their whole affections; engrossed the whole of their intellectual faculties; and fitted them most truly and completely to bear their witness for Him.-To shew Him forth in their ministry and writings.-To declare Him to be that Eternal Life, which was with the Father, a distinct Person from Him, yet co-equal and co-eternal with Him, "the Son of the Father, in Truth and Love." This brings me to my next particular head,

The one

3. What they, i. e. the apostles, declared of Him, which was what they knew, from the divine knowledge which they had of Him, that He was that Eternal Life, which was with the Father.

This must be the fruit of divine revelation and inspiration by which, their minds being renewed by the Holy Ghost, they were, under his further illumination, enabled to receive true and proper apprehensions of the Person, Incarnation, Mission and Commission of the Lord Jesus Christ into their minds. To know Christ as a Person in the incomprehensible Essence, as one in it with the Father and the Spirit, this is beyond all that nature, or natural religion can ever attain unto. This is altogether supernatural and divine. The apostles were under the immediate influences of the Holy Ghost. Their conceptions of divine Truth were immediately from Him. Especially after his descent upon them on the day of Pentecost. They were, as taught by Him, infallible in the Doctrines of the everlasting gospel. It was clearly apprehended by them, the distinction of Persons in the Essence, Subsisting, and Self-Existing. They knew the Personal Existence of Christ in the Godhead was the foundation of his having been set up, as GodMan, from everlasting. They therefore declared Him to be the True God and Eternal Life. That He was the Life, and that Eternal Life,

D

which was co-existent with God from everlasting. That in Him, and by Him, God had shone forth on his church and people in Him. That by the incarnation of this most adorable Person, and in Him, the Father had expressed his love and grace to the very uttermost. Now all they knew of the love of the divine Persons, in Christ, they declared: with all the acts, and outgoings of the eternal Three towards them in Him. Yea, our apostle goes beyond this here. For he declares what Christ is, in Himself. This is necessary for us to know. Or how can we depend on Him for everlasting life? We must most assuredly know Him to be life, and life eternal; or how can we trust in Him for the blessings of the same? But whilst the true knowledge of this is everlasting life to us, yet the aim of the apostles extended beyond this: even to what Christ was, inherently, and of Himself, and that in his own Person, as God-Man, the beginning of all the ways and works of God. As that Eternal Life which was with the Father before the world was. This was what the apostles declared concerning Him, who is here styled the Life, and that Eternal Life, which was with the Father, that the man Christ existed in Personal union with the Son of God, from the beginning, before all worlds. That He lived as the Life, and as that Eternal Life, which was to be manifested in the fulness of time, by his open visible Incarnation. That He and the Father had fellowship in, and with each other, in that society which none but the God-Man, will ever be admitted unto. That the apostles knew Jesus of Nazareth, was the Life, and that Eternal Life which was with the Father. They had seen Him, as Incarnate, in the days of his flesh, when he had a body like their own, some of them once, and but once, shine forth, as none could bear the sight of, or could possibly bear up under, but such as were supernaturally sustained by the Holy Ghost, as the apostles were at that time. Yea, from that shine they were fully convinced, he could only be seen as He was, by saints in glory. His glory being as the only begotten of the Father. When I say, the apostles declared of Him, what they knew concerning Him, from the divine knowledge which they had of Him. That they knew He was that Eternal Life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto them, what proof shall I give you of this? Beloved, I can only refer you to their writings, in which you will find very satisfactory evidence of all this, so far as the Holy Ghost shall be pleased to shine upon the same, and reflect the knowledge of what is revealed, and contained in the same upon your minds. They found real blessedness in the subject. In declaring the same.-In bearing their witness and testimony to the truth thereof.-In shewing forth the eternity, the dignity, the Personal Glories of their, and our Lord Jesus Christ.-In shewing and proving Him to be that Eternal Life which was with the Father, before the incarnation of the Word of life took place. Who in the days of his flesh was manifested unto them. So as that they had been eyewitnesses of his Majesty. All which was a peculiar honour put upon them. This leads me to my last Head of this discourse.

4. To shew that this was a very particular part of the witness which they bare of Him-that He was manifested unto them.

A very singular favour. Such as I conceive we can form no adequate ideas of. How should we? That age is past. It will never

return.

All the Lord's ministers and people, and that to the end of

time, will be witnesses for Him, and shew forth the Truths of his gospel, some in a greater, some in a less measure and degree, yet not in the same way, nor to answer the same end, for which the apostles were appointed. Our Lord prayed the divine Father, that from his ascension down to his coming in his kingdom and glory, all the election of grace, might believe on Him, through their word. John xvii. 20. The church is said to be built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone." Eph. ii. 20. And in the account given by the prophet John, he says, "And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb." Rev. xxi. 14. I only mention this here, to shew they were singular men. Such as were chosen witnesses. Appointed by God. Nor will their places, nor offices ever be supplied. No. Nor are they needed. Their peculiar blessing was to see Christ in the flesh. To know him Personally, and so to converse with Him, as to be fully persuaded that " He was the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world." These lived when Christ made good his promise of sending down the Holy Spirit, and they were hereby endued with power from on high. So that they knew Christ more fully than the whole church without them. They received no part of their knowledge of Christ from the church, but the church received the whole from them. And it may be so said of us, upon whom the ends of the world are come. For the apostolic writings are the foundation of our faith. Every article of which is contained in the same. And by them it is we are led, through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, into that knowledge of Christ, which is life eternal. To the apostles our Lord said, speaking of the Holy Ghost, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath, are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you." John xvi. 13-15. All which was most completely fulfilled unto them. And a very special and particular witness which they bare, and held forth concerning Him, was, that " He was manifested unto them." So that they could not but give a most correct and divine account of Him, in every particular which they declared of, and concerning Him. This consideration adds weight, and stamps dignity on all they have declared, and set before us, in the New Testament scripture. We have in our apostle's gospel, as also in his epistles, his witness and testimony of Christ. When we read the first chapter of his gospel, he in effect says to us, "For the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and shew unto you, that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us.' Which he very fully and freely expresses in ver. 14, of that chap. thus. "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth.' The Incarnation of Christ, hath enlightened the pages of the New Testament with some glorious rays and reflections of his Personal, Inherent, and Ancient Primordial Glory. Yet what John says at the close of his gospel, which he declares is true of our Lord, to which he adds, "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written

:

every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen." John xxi. 25. It may be said of the Personal Glory which Christ shone forth in from everlasting-it surpasseth the uttermost which the reflection of it on our minds, even from the scriptures themselves, can give us any comprehension of. May the Lord bless what hath been delivered. Amen.

SERMON III.

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.-1 JOHN i. 3.

THE apostle in the two former verses had been speaking of Christ, and of the Father, as being in each other, as one in each other, and as having communion with each other. For if Christ was from everlasting with the Father, if He was that Eternal Life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto the apostles by his open Incarnation, then what hath been expressed is most certainly deducible therefrom. So he here in the words before us, informs the saints to whom he writes, concerning his end and design in his writing on this subject unto them. That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. In the vast designs of Jehovah concerning Christ, God-Man, and by the Personal Union of the Essential Word, and Son of God to the Man Christ, a foundation was laid in the infinite mind, for an union and communion of all the elect in Christ, and by Him, and through Him. So that as the Father dwelleth in Christ, and He dwelleth in the Father, and by this most blessed incomprehensible union, the Father is in Christ, and Christ is in the Father, so there follows from it, that communion which is only known to them, and enjoyed by them, and which is wholly incommunicable, and ineffable. Yet as a pattern and evidence of it, the union of Christ as the head of the whole election of grace, with his whole social body, the church, is the foundation of all the communion Christ hath with each, and every member of the same. And from this union, all the blessings of Christ being their eternal head flow down to them. Our Lord saith, "I am in the Father, and the Father in me: the Father dwelleth in me." John xiv. 10. Of his church he says, "At that day. (viz. when the Holy Ghost should be given unto them,) ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." v. 20. Again, “As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so, he that eateth me, even he shall live by me." vi. 57. Where there is union there cannot but be communion. And it is according and in proportion to the union which is the cause thereof. In the words before us, which are a continuation of the former subject, we have the following particulars.

1. The declaration of the apostles, delivered by them, through the mouth of an individual, who spoke for them all. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you..

2. The end and design of the apostle John in this. That ye also may have fellowship with us.

3. Who they were with whom they had fellowship. Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

With the

4. The truth and reality of this, which is thus confirmed. And truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. That we have this fellowship with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ, is infallible truth. I set my seal to it as such, says the apostle John. I am

1. To set before you the declaration expressed in my text: which contains the whole subject of the apostles ministry. Beyond which they could not go. Nor could greater things be expressed. It being the wisdom of God in a mystery. The hidden wisdom of God. The manifold wisdom of God. The unsearchable riches of Christ. The true knowledge of which, in the hand of the Spirit, is the means of comforting the hearts of saints, of "knitting them together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Surely all this, was contained in the preaching of the true doctrines of our Lord Jesus Christ by the holy apostles of the Lord and Saviour. This most assuredly is, for the essence of it, contained in this declaration before us. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you. They could not declare more than they had seen and heard, in Christ, and from Christ, with whom they had personal converse in the days of his flesh. And all which they had seen and heard in Him, and from Him, they made a full declaration of, in their ministry unto the people. They were his witnesses unto the people. They had seen Him, whom many prophets and righteous men had desired to see, yet had not their desires granted. They had heard Him speak, who spake as never man spake, whom prophets and kings had desired to hear, yet were not admitted to have their ears thus favoured. They saw Him, heard Him, conversed with Him, who was the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Even Him, who said, "I came down from heaven." "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world.” "Before Abraham was, I am." They had heard our Lord Jesus Christ speak out all his heart. So that they were most abundantly qualified to bear their testimony of, and concerning Him. Our apostle using the plural number, shews that the whole testimony borne by all the apostles, was one and the same. It was one and the same gospel in each of their mouths. What they knew of Christ, they set forth. What they had received of Him, and from Him, they fully expressed. The communion they had with Him, they made known. They did not keep the knowledge of it within themselves; to themselves: and amongst themselves. The declaration which they made of this, was to saints. Not to others. No. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you. Who are holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling. Who are with us partakers of Christ. A most noble instance of spiritual generosity. Worthy of imitation by all the servants and ministers of Christ, in every age, and throughout all generations. They should be as so many mouths, engaged and employed to speak out his whole heart. To sound forth his most glorious praise. To declare his glorious acts. To talk of his power. To shew forth his salvation from day to day. To speak of the glorious honour