An Appendix Concerning Christ's Manifestation of Himself — Section 8

Use 3. The Third Use does concern you that do love Christ, and have the manifestations of his love to your souls: Three things be exhorted to; 1. Rejoice in the Lord. 2. Admire his free grace. 3. Labor to retain these manifestations.

You that have the manifestations of the love of Christ, rejoice in the Lord; of all persons in the world, you have most reason to rejoice, you are the happiest men and women alive. It is not wealth in the greatest abundance which can make men happy, the richest persons have often thorns of the greatest discontent to pierce their hearts, and stings of the greatest guilt to wound their consciences: It is not the highest honor and worldly dignity which can make men happy; the vilest men are often exalted, and those that are in the highest places, are in the most slippery places, from where they are soon cast down into destruction, and whatever security they have in life, yet they are usually consumed utterly with terrors when grim death does appear and summon them to depart. It is not the sweetest sensual delight which can make men happy; vanity is the attendant, and vexation of spirit is the consequence of all those pleasures that are sensual and sinful, which are the seed also of pain and everlasting torment: Such only can be said to be happy in truth, as are really united and related to Jesus Christ, and through him reconciled to God, and entitled to the Kingdom of Heaven; but you are the most happy, and have reason to take the most comfort, who have not only relation to Christ, but also the manifestations of him; who know that Christ is yours, and you are his, that Christ loves you, and that his love, as it had no beginning, so it is without changing, and will know no ending. If you know that Christ loves you, you have reason to rejoice, because hereby you may know assuredly that you are elected, that God by an eternal and unchangeable decree has chosen you, when he has chosen so few of fallen men, and none of the fallen angels, and when there was not the least foreseen motive to induce him to do so; the assurance of this may yield inexpressible sweetness to you. If you know that Christ loves you, you may know assuredly your effectual calling, conversion, and wonderful union to Christ; and O what matter of joy is it to think, how God has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light! how he has delivered you out of the snare of the Devil, and the bonds of your own lusts, and set your souls at liberty! how he has wrought a miracle in your first resurrection from the grave and spiritual death of sin, and put forth the same power in your new creation and change of your natures, as in his first creation of the world! how he has dissolved and made a divorce between your hearts and your sins, and so wonderfully united and espoused you to the Lord Jesus, and by this conjunction and relation given you an interest in all the privileges which Christ has purchased. If you know that Christ does love you, you may know assuredly that you are justified through his merits and mediation, and O what matter of joy is this, to think that all your sins original and actual, are pardoned, that none can lay any sin to your charge, because God has justified you! that there is none that shall condemn you, because Christ has loved you, and out of love has died for you, and is now making intercession for you at the right hand of God (Romans 8:33-34), to be acquitted from all guilt, and no more liable to future wrath than if you had never offended; and when you had no righteousness of your own, to be accepted as perfectly righteous in the sight of God, through the imputation of Christ's perfect righteousness! Who have reason to rejoice, if you have not reason? If you know that Christ loves you, you may assuredly say, that you are the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty; and will you not rejoice, when of children of the Devil, children of disobedience, children of wrath, you are made the children of God, the glorious Jehovah, that is the supreme sovereign and King of the whole world, and when you have not an empty name only, but are entitled to all the privileges of his children? If you know that Christ does love you, you may know assuredly that he will keep alive his interest in you, preserve his grace in your hearts, and enable you to persevere in faith and holiness, notwithstanding all the alluring temptations which you may meet with in the world, notwithstanding all the suggestions and oppositions of Satan, and notwithstanding all the powerful workings of your remaining lusts and corruptions, all which do combine together, and use all their power and policy (which is great) to extirpate your grace, to draw you to sin, to entice or force you out of the ways of God; and O what matter of comfort is it, that the Lord Jesus who loves you, has undertaken for you, to keep you in his hand, and by his unseen but mighty power to enable you to resist and overcome, to hold on in his ways, and hold out to the end, so that you may triumph with the Apostle, and say, as (Romans 8:35, 37), Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Indeed, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. And you may be persuaded as Paul was, and greatly rejoice therein, that, as (verses 38-39), 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 separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus your Lord. If you know that Christ does love you, you may know assuredly that your prayers have audience with God, that whatever imperfections and sinful mixtures they have, yet that they are mingled with the sweet incense of Christ's merits, through which they are perfumed and accepted; and what comfort is this, that whatever you ask of the Father in the name of your dear Lord Jesus, if it be for his glory and your good, he will certainly procure it for you. To conclude, If you know that Christ does love you, you may know assuredly that you are heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven, and that as certainly as you are alive, you shall attain eternal felicity in the beatific vision and fruition of your Lord; as certainly as you have the first fruits, so certainly shall you have the harvest; as certainly as you have the earnest, so certainly shall you have the inheritance; as certainly as you see Christ by faith here, so certainly shall you have the beatific vision of his person and glory in heaven, and be made perfectly happy in the eternal and full enjoyment of him; O how should you then rejoice in the Lord, rejoice in his person, rejoice in his love, rejoice in his benefits, rejoice in what you have, and rejoice in what you hope to have by him; rejoice in what you see now, and feel now, and taste now; and rejoice in the foresights and foretastes of your happiness to come. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.

2. If you have manifestations of Christ's love to you, admire his free grace in these manifestations; as in (John 14:22), when Christ had promised to manifest himself to such as love him, Judas (not Iscariot, he was the traitor, and had no true love to his Master, but Judas the brother of James) says to him, Lord how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world? This question is not a question of inquiry concerning the way and manner how Christ would manifest himself to them, but it is a question of admiration concerning the thing; [illegible]. What is done? Or what has come to pass? How is it? Or from where is it? His question did not expect an answer, neither do we find any to it, but only expressed his wonder that Christ should manifest himself to them. And how should you wonder then that the Lord Jesus should manifest himself to you! That the Lord Jesus, whose name is wonderful, and has so many wonders in him, a person of so great eminence and excellence, who has such a crown of glory upon his head, such robes of glory upon his back, and on the vesture of his garment and his thigh a name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords; that this most excellent person should manifest himself to you, such as you, when he conceals himself from the greatest princes of the earth, who by their interest, authority and influence might that highly promote his glory, he should manifest himself to you, who for the most part are low and mean, poor and despised in the world; that when he hides himself from most of the wise and prudent, and great scholars in the world, who by their parts and learning might magnify his name, and spread his fame, he should manifest himself to you, who for the most part are persons of mean parts and education; that when Christ hides himself from many moralists, who have escaped the grosser pollutions which are in the world, he should reveal and manifest himself to you, some of whom before conversion were notoriously guilty of most foul sins; that when Christ manifests himself to so few, that you should be in the number of those few; how many wonders are here! That this glorious person should send down another glorious person, I mean the Holy Ghost, from heaven, (which is more than if he had sent down all the glorious angels which are in heaven) to make this discovery of himself to you; that he should make use of the foolishness of preaching as a means to effect this great thing, that while a man of like passions and infirmities with yourselves is opening and applying the Scriptures, the Lord by this means should unveil himself and open the treasures of his love to you: that your humble, fervent, and believing prayers here on earth should ascend up to the throne of God that is in heaven, and move the Lord Jesus that is there to come down from there, though not in person, yet by his Spirit; that prayer should open heaven's gate, and have such a prevalence for this manifestation and discovery of Christ; though the best prayers of the best men are not without mixture of sin: that while you are sitting at the Lord's table, the Lord himself should give you a visit, and while you are eating bread and wine at the Sacrament, he should give you to see and feel and taste himself and his love by your spiritual senses. It was wonderful humiliation in Christ that when he could have commanded the most stately horses, indeed lions, elephants, or unicorns, he should ride to Jerusalem upon an ass, and when Christ has the chariots of so many thousand glorious angels, which he could command and ride triumphantly in, when he makes discovery of himself to his people, that he should make use of the chariots of such mean ordinances in the discovery of himself to you; how many wonders are here? How should you admire his wonderful grace and love, and say, what is man that you are thus mindful of him, or any of the sons of men, that you should thus visit them? What are we, unworthy wretches? And why should you manifest yourself to us? Even so, dear Jesus, because it seemed good in your sight: especially you have reason to wonder and admire at the manifestations which Christ has given of himself and love to you, when you consider the excellence of these manifestations and discoveries beyond all other discoveries. If you have seen the most rare works of art and human invention, the most curious pictures, the most stately edifices, or any other works of the most ingenious contrivance: if you have viewed the works of nature which do far exceed those of art, the beautiful frame of the heavens over your heads, and the glorious luminaries of sun, moon, and stars, in their wonderful light and motion; the earth under your feet when it has got on its best attire, when the fields are clothed with grass in the spring, or enriched with corn in the summer; if you have seen the most pleasant brooks and streams, and fountains of water, the most stately groves with lofty and broad shadowing trees; the most flourishing orchards, most richly laden with variety of the most delicious fruit; the most delightful gardens with variety of the choicest flowers casting forth the most fragrant smell; if you have seen all sorts of birds and fowls in the air, all sorts of beasts on the earth, all sorts of fish in the sea; if you have seen the most goodly men that ever were born; the fairest women, with the most sparkling beauty: what is the sight of all these things, and the most lovely objects that ever were visible to the eye of the body? The sight of all is but mean and contemptible and not worthy to be named in comparison with the sight of the Lord Jesus by the eye of the soul; whatever beauty and loveliness there is to be found in any, or in all visible creatures, there is infinitely more beauty and loveliness in Jesus Christ; all visible beauty is but a shadow, in Christ there is substantial beauty; all visible beauty is fading, like the flower that soon withers, like the leaf that soon fades, but in Christ there is permanent beauty; all visible beauty is inferior and mean, indeed deformity compared with Christ's transcendent loveliness. There is no discovery to the eye of the mind comparable to the discovery of Christ to the eye of faith; the light of nature in the greatest improvement of it, is but a weak and dim light in comparison with the spiritual light of the knowledge of Christ; no light so clear and bright, no light so pure and sweet, as that which makes discovery of the Lord Jesus to the soul. This discovery of Christ does dispel clouds from the mind, and exhale lusts from the heart; it does brighten the understanding and cleanse the affections; it does warm the heart with love, and fill the heart with comfort; it quiets the conscience and purifies it; it gives a most sweet peace and tranquility to the spirit, and also brings in such spiritual joy, as is unspeakable and full of glory. O how then should you admire the riches of the grace, and kindness of the Lord Jesus Christ to you! that he should give to you this discovery of himself, when the discovery is so admirable, so excellent, so desirable, so useful, and which does lift you up into a far higher degree of excellence, than the otherwise most accomplished persons in the world, that are without this discovery.

Thirdly, to conclude, if you have these manifestations of Christ and his love to you, labor to retain these manifestations. In a word, take heed of indulging yourselves in any sins, which may provoke him to depart from you, and withdraw the sweet and comfortable influences of his Spirit, and be diligent in the use of all means and ordinances, public, private and secret, whereby you may maintain daily communion and fellowship with him.

FINIS.