Looking unto Jesus a view of the everlasting gospel, or, the souls eying of Jesus as carrying on the great work of mans salvation from first to last / by Isaac Ambrose ...

SECT. IV. Of hoping in Jesus in this 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. 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 unjust men shall perish.—What is the hope of the hypocrite? — Will God hear his cry whe•• trouble cometh upon him? No, no, The hypocrites hope shall perish? his hope shall be cut off, and his trust shall be as a Spiders web. O 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 purifie the heart; that the more thou hopest, the less thou sinnest; that they de∣pend on sure and infallible causes, as on the truth, power, and mercy of God; on the merits, mediation, and intercession 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; O 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 Spirits 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 have given us of his spirit, which makes us cry unto God with sighs and groans which cannot be expressed; he that will know whether the Sun shine in the Firmament, he must not climb into 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 Fir∣mament: O come and let us ransack our own 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 Spirits intercession on earth are as twins 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 dwel∣ling in Christ, and in all his Members, that moves and stirs them up to cry, Abba Fa∣ther. Here then is my Argument, if Christ hath put his spirit into thy heart, and if the Spirit hath set thine heart on work to make incessant intercessions for thy self, 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 people, O that my Spirit might go down! 2. God harkens to the intercession of Christ, Away holy spirit, get thee down into the hearts of such and such. 3. The spirit waits on the pleasure of them both, and no sooner down, but he sends up his intercession back again: Christ cries to God, and God sends the spirit, and the spirit goes and ecchoes 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 heart, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 crying, (as if he meerly acted our tongues) Abba Father, 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, O that my spirit may be given to these; the Father willingly grants, Away holy spirit, and as my Son asketh, enter, and take possession of those sinful hearts; the holy spirit obeys, and no sooner in the hearts of his Saints, but he cryes 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 prophet, 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 oyl, and they shall shall hear Jezreel. O my soul to the test! hath God sent forth the spirit of his Son into thy heart? hast thou the in-dwelling of the Spirit; and now by the help of the spirit canst thou pray with earnestness, confidence, and an holy importunity? canst thou cry Abba Fa∣ther? Canst thou cry] with earnestness? Father] with confidence? and Abba Father] or Father, Father] with an holy importunity? why, these are the very signs of the spirits intercession. O 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? Canst thou say God hath gi∣ven me his spirit, and his spirit hath shewed me Christ as my Mediator at the right hand of God; and now under the wing of such a Mediator, I can by the Spirits, assistance go with boldness (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 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 inter∣cession mine. Sometimes it pleaseth God to appear in ordinances, and the soul is com∣forted, quickened, enlarged, affected; why, now I look on this as the efficacy of Christ's Blood, and as the power of Christs 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 Je∣sus, who is at God's right hand in heaven, remembring 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 tast of the hony-comb with the end of my rod, dropping from the inter∣cessions

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 receive the Word with joy; they found some sweet and power in the Ordinances of Christ; and Herod heard John gladly; and many for a season rejoyced in John's light and Ministry: Certainly affections in holy ad∣ministrations 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 operati∣on, may exceedingly affect; or the Ministers 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 symptome 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, spiritual, heavenly, saving; I may discern much of this, if I will but look into the grounds and effects of my excited, or stirred up affections; if the ground thereof be fetched from Heaven, and in their effect they tend towards 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 conversation 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 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 center, they tend towards the place from whence they came; and in this respect O that I could never hear a Sermon, without a savory affection of what I hear! O that I could never go to prayer without some warmth, and heat, and life, and fervency! Oh that in every duty I were savingly af∣fected, that I felt the savour 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 caus••d an inward and spiritual fire to fall down upon thy heart warming thy spirit in du∣ty? and carrying it up heaven-ward? Surely it so, thou mayest safely conclude, 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 con∣form to Christ; and this conformity is an evidence or sign to us of our interest in Christ: O my soul go down into the inmost closet of thy heart, look what disposition there is in it towards 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 to∣wards the Saints, and that there is no love in Christ's bosome towards me? what? can I think that my narrow, straitened, sinful bowels are larger than those wide, compassionate, 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 bro∣ther, abideth in death.—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; 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 intercede for a Saint in misery, surely the Lord Jesus hath as much bowels towards me, 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, 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.—I pray that thou wouldst sanctifie them through the truth! neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word or preaching; Father I will that those whom thou hast given me, be with me in glory. He first prayes that we may be called and justified, and then he prayes 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 end is at his heart that he may be the Author and finisher, the first and last, the beginning and ending of our souls salvation: alas! there is nothing in us, 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, sith 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 ex∣perience the truth of Christ's prevailings with his Father in our hearts and lives? O 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 ganlet, and bid defi∣ance 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 intercession for us.

Notes

• Lam. 3.26.
• Prov. 11.7. Job 27.8, 9. Job 8.13, 14.
• Gal. 4.6.
• Mosea 2.21.
• Heb. 10.19.
• Mr. Burges of Assurance. Mat. 13.20. Mark 16.20. John 5.35.
• 1 John 3.14.16.
• John 17, 15, 17, 20, 24.
• Rom. 8.34.