tend faith, love, trust, subjection of soul, invocation on the name of Christ, every act of the soul and mind, whereby we ascribe infinite divine excellencies unto God, which is the worship of the mind. See John v. 23. It is the will of God, that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father.' How do we honour the Father? By divine faith, trust, love, and worship, making him our end and our reward. So the Son is to be honoured. And as to the divine person of the Son of God, being of the same nature, essence, and substance with the Father, there is no dispute of that among them by whom his Deity is acknowledged.

Thirdly, The divine person of the Son of God lost nothing of his glory and honour, that was due unto him, by the assumption of our human nature. Though thereby he became the Son of man, as well as the Son of God, a Lamb for sacrifice; yet he is still in his whole and entire person, the object of all that worship I spake of before; and the whole church of God agree together in giving that worship unto him, Rev. v. 8, 9. 11-13. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders, fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. 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 redeemed us unto God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.' Jesus Christ is here distinguished from the Father; there is 'He that sitteth upon the throne; and the Lamb;' and he is considered as incarnate, as a Lamb slain: and yet there is all the glory, honour, praise and worship, that is given to him that sitteth upon the throne, the Father, given to Jesus Christ, God and the Lamb slain, who hath redeemed us with his blood.

an,

Fourthly, This person of Christ, God-man must not be so much as severed by any conception of the mind. For distinction, as God and man he may be considered two ways; either absolutely in himself, or in the discharge of his mediatory office. And this double consideration produceth a double kind of worship to the person of Christ.

1. Consider Christ absolutely in his own person, as the Son of God incarnate, and so he is the immediate and ultimate object of our faith, prayer, and invocation. So that a man may lawfully, under the guidance and conduct of the Spirit of God, direct his prayer immediately to the person of Christ. You have the example of Stephen in his last prayer. 'Lord Jesus,' saith he, receive my spirit.' These were the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, when he died: Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.' And Stephen, when he died, committed his spirit into the hands of Jesus Christ: 'Lord Jesus,' (for that is the name of the Son of God incarnate, 'He shall be called Jesus, for he shall save you from your sins'), ' into thy hands I commit my spirit.' So that a person may make an immediate address in his prayers and supplications unto the person of Christ, as God and man. I look upon it as the highest act of faith that a believer is called unto in this world, to resign a departing soul into his hands, letting go all present things, and future hopes; to resign, I say, a departing soul quietly and peaceably into the hands of Christ. Now this Stephen did with respect unto Jesus; 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' There he left himself by faith. So we may apply ourselves unto him upon any other account, in the acting of faith upon any other occasion.

2. Consider Christ in the discharge of his mediatory office. And under that formal consideration, as discharging his mediatory office, he is not the ultimate object of our faith and invocation; but we call upon God, even the Father, in the name of Jesus Christ. 'We through Christ have believed in God,' saith Peter in one of his epistles. And it implies a contradiction to have it otherwise: for the calling him Mediator sheweth he is a means between God and us; and so it is contradictory to say, our faith is terminated in his mediatory office. This he calls asking the Father in his name. You shall ask the Father in my name:' that is, expressly plead the intervention of the mediation of Christ. And so the apostle tells usin that grand rubric and direc

tory of church worship, Eph. ii. 18. By whom we have access by one Spirit unto the Father.' The Father is proposed as the ultimate object of access in our worship; and the Spirit is the effecting cause, enabling us unto this worship, and the Son is the means whereby we approach unto God.

All that I shall add hereunto is this: Seeing there is in Scripture a double worship of Christ that is immediate (for his person is considered absolutely, and as mediator between God and man), which of these ought we principally to apply ourselves unto ?

I answer plainly,

(1.) Our direction for solemn worship in the church, generally respects Christ as mediator in Scripture. The general worship that is to be performed unto God in the assemblies of the saints, doth look upon Christ as executing his mediatory office; and so our address is unto the throne of grace by him. By him we enter into the holy place; through him and by him unto God. I bow my knees unto [God] the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ;' Eph. iii. 12. God, considered as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the proper, ultimate object of the solemn worship of the church.

(2.) In treating and dealing about our own souls, under the conduct of the Spirit of God, it is lawful and expedient for us in our prayers and supplications to mak addresse s to the person of Christ, as Stephen did.

DISCOURSE VI.*

Question. How may we make our addresses to Christ for the exercise of grace; that is, that we may have grace strengthened, and be ready for all exercise? Or, how may we make application to Christ that we may receive grace from him to recover from decays?

Answer. I think the direction given by our Saviour himself is so plain, and doth so fall in with our experience, that we need not look much farther. Saith he, Unless ye abide in me, ye cannot bear fruit.' The business we aim at is fruit-bearing; which consists as much in the internal vigor* Delivered April 19, 1676.

ous actings of grace, as in the performance of outward duties; to be faithful in our minds and souls, as well as in our lives. The way for that, saith our Saviour, is, ' abide in me.' And unless we do so, he tells us plainly, do we whatever we will else, we cannot bring forth fruit.' So that the whole of our fruitfulness depends upon our abiding in Christ: there cannot then be much more said unto this business, but to inquire a little, what it is to abide in Christ.

Certainly it is not a mere not going off from Christ, as we say, a man abides when he doth not go away. For I hope, that under all the decays we have complained of, and want of fruitfulness; yet we have not left Christ, and gone away from him. We have so far abode in him, as the branch abideth in the root, from whence it hath its communication and supplies. Therefore there is something in particular included in this abiding in Christ, dwelling in Christ, and Christ dwelling in us.

And there seems to be this in it, That to abide in Christ, is to be always nigh unto Christ, in the spiritual company of Christ, and in communication with Christ. It doth not lie in a naked, essential act of believing, whereby we are implanted into Christ, and will not go from him; but there is something of an especial, spiritual activity of soul in this abiding in Christ; it is abiding with him, and in his presence.

And as this abiding with Christ must be by some acts of our souls, let us consider what acts those are, which may give a little farther light into this matter. And,

First, It must be certainly by some act of our minds.
Secondly, By some act of our wills.

Thirdly, By some act of our affections.

And thus we abide with Christ, which is the way certainly to bring forth fruit.

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First, There is an abiding with Christ in our minds. Now this to me is in contemplation, and thoughts of him night and day I sought him on my bed, in the night,' saith the spouse to consider very much the person of Christ, to eontemplate upon him as vested with his glorious office, and as intrusted and designed by the Father to this work. 'We all,' saith the apostle, 'with open face beholding the glory of God, as in a glass, are changed into the same image from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord.' My brethren!

that which you and I are aiming at, is to be changed into the same image;' that is, into the image and likeness of the glory of God in Christ. I dare boldly say, that by those of us, who have reason to have daily apprehensions of our going out of the world, and leaving this state of things, that we have no greater desire, nor is there any thing more frequent in our minds than this, that we may be more and more changed into that image before we go out of this world; for we are looking after perfection in likeness to Christ. Therefore aged Christians especially will bear witness, that there is nothing now we long for more, than to be more and more changed into the image and likeness of Christ. How shall we get to this? Why, saith he, the way is by looking steadily upon Christ, as a man looks with an optic glass to an object at a great distance. We behold him, saith he, by looking steadily upon Christ himself, and the glory of God in him. Now there is a wonderful large object for us to behold; for when you look upon the glory of God in Christ, you have what you please of Christ for the object of your eye and view; the person of Christ, the office of Christ, the merit of Christ, the example of Christ, the death of Christ, and what you will, so you be much intent in your thoughts and minds, much in immediate contemplation about Christ. I do not know how you find it, brethren; but it is the advice I would give you, who are aged Christians, and not likely to continue long in this world, to exercise yourselves in immediate contemplations upon Christ. All the teachings you have had from ministers, the principal end of them have been to enable you to this; and really if I know any thing, we shall find them accompanied with a sweet, transforming power, beyond what we have had experience of in other ways and duties. 'We shall be changed into the same likeness.'

Well then, we abide with Christ in the acts of our mind, by immediate thoughtfulness and contemplation upon Christ in the night, and upon our beds, and in our walkings, and by the way side, and in times we set apart for meditation; we are greatly to labour after an intuitive view of Christ, that is a direct view in the contemplation of Christ.

Secondly, If you will abide with Christ there must be an acting of your will in it also; and that is in great diligence and carefulness about that obedience which Christ doth re