Chapter X
The engagement on Christ s part for our preservation, that ariseth from his
interest in that glory we are by him called into. That it is his glory, as he is our head, and communicated to us only as we are his mem
bers, and therefore he is the first and grand proprietary of it. This
glory is above the natural dues of creation, and therefore we must be raised up into it by another superior right. The glory of the immediate
vision of God was only the natural due and right of Christ God-man. We have our right to it, and the participation of it only by virtue of our
relation to Christ ; as it is his glory, he is engaged to bring us to it, and maintain us in it. This glory is his, because he bought it with a price, and he would lose his purchase if ice did not come at last to the enjoyment of it. He hath taken possession of this glory for us, and therefore will take effectual
CHAP. X.] OF ELECTION. 363
care that we be not defrauded of it. His glory is enlarged and greatened by the bringing us to glory, whom he hath thus called unto it, and therefore since his own interest is so much concerned, he will sufficiently look to it to preserve and bring us safe to heaven.
Who hath called us into his glory by Jesus Christ. 1 PETEE V. 10.
The concernment of Christ in this particular is so great, that we may be sure of him that he will do the utmost to bring us into, and so to keep us until the actual possession of this glory.
I. It is Christ his own glory which we are to be brought into, and it is espe cially glory to him to keep us for it ; and upon several accounts the text only speaks of his glory as being the Father s, who hath called us into his glory, but other scriptures do as expressly term our glory the glory of Christ, by whom we are called into it ; and therefore it full well concerneth him to bring us into it, for else he should lose so much of his own glory as would accrue to him in us and by us.
Now that Christ is the great proprietary of this glory, the Scriptures are express. In the second of the Thessalonians, ii. 13, 14, the glory we are called into is expressly termed the glory of Jesus Christ himself: But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth : whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Also, John xvii. 22, Christ assumes unto himself, both that the glory he shall have is his glory,^and that it is his gift also, as well as his Father s. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them ; that they may be one, even as we are one. And it is his upon many accounts. I shall content myself in this only with those two particulars I pursued in that first head ; namely,
1. That it is his glory as he is Christ our head, the natural Son of God, dwelling in our nature : and so is communicated to us, as we are members
of, and a spouse unto him ; and in that respect he is the first, and great, and indeed only proprietary.
2. As Jesus, or the Redeemer, as who hath purchased it, and bought it for us.
1. As Christ, that is, as he is God-man, or man personally united to the Son of God, so it is his glory by a proper and sole right. Understand this
: To see God as we are seen by him, to know God as we are known by him, to love God as we are beloved of him ; in a word, to see the face of God immediately ; these things are above the natural due, either of men or angels, by the law or covenant of their first creation ; and so they must come to be elected or raised up thereto by another superior right. This
thing aright
is evident by this : that if, suppose the angels, the highest rank of mere
creatures, and created inhabitants of the heavens (as for the place of their
station), had been created under this immediate seeing the face of God, it is
certain, then, that they had never, nay, they could never have fallen. I may
say, None ever saw the face of God and died ; and the state which the fallen
angels had, was the same which the angels had by their first creation in common together ; and that the good angels stood when the other fell, was because they were raised up unto a state above the law of their creation, or
any promises that did belong thereto : and they are immutable, because admitted into such a new state made manifest in them, and upon them at
OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
their standing, and that was by grace and election/ and not in their natural covenant. Election (which glorious prerogative, with difference from those that fell, is attributed to them, 1 Tim. v. 21) broke forth, and was discovered then upon them, as it is, and doth, at our calling, in and upon us. If, therelore, God bestows this glory in an equitable way upon any mere creatures, though never so pure, it must be by some other right than that of their crea tion, suppose the best state that creatures could be created under. Now what or whose right might this be ? What person might there be, or was there found, to whom these privileges aforesaid of knowing God, and enjoy ing of him, as in himself, might naturally belong unto, and of due belong, and whose interest with God might be such, as to obtain and procure, through his own personal interest in God, any mere creature s participation with him of those high privileges which hold" purely of grace ? I answer, Ihese belonged naturally and of due unto Christ, and to him, as Christ, that is, supposing him united to the Son of God, and considering him as the man now made God s fellow, by being made one person with the Son of God ; for otherwise, that this individual man was united unto the Son of God, that indeed was as merely of grace, as our election is ; but suppose him united once, and thereby we must acknowledge him to have been taken up into the privileges and prerogatives of one that was the natural Son of God : thus, though a creature, yet now in right and dues he was advanced above the rights of any mere creature by the law of its creation. And take we him as Christ singly in his person of God-man, there must be this differ ence in his privileges, above what is any way the natural due by creation to any mere creature whatever ; and that, therefore, if any of them be made partakers thereof, it must be by means and virtue of him, and their relation to him.
Now his right, as a natural due, rose thus : that the only begotten Son
f God was in the bosom of the Father, and saw and knew God immediately and in himself essentially, and thereby it came to pass by the personal union, that there should be an answerable capacity in Christ s human nature, so to know God, as no mere creature by creation could ; for otherwise, there had not been between mere creatures, by the law of their creation, and him, by the law of this high union, any difference as to their privileges ; whereas now this high privilege and glory became a natural right of that man united to this Son of God. And so John i. 18, we find it,
< No man hath seen God at any time ; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the father, he hath declared him. To have God himself to be our inheritance, as immediately to be enjoyed by us, is the height of glory we are called unto, as I shewed. Now this ariseth to us but at the second hand, and upon a new relation both to God and unto the person of the Son of God, namely, of a relation as sons to God, by union and marriage with this natural Son of God, as an head and husband. And thus it is originally only the right of Christ; and ours, suppose us, if you could, the purest creatures that ever God did or could make, but by a borrowed participation. That like as the wife is admitted into a jointure out of the husband s original estate, and into all sorts of rights and comforts with the husband, which she enjoys in a lower degree, and secondarily, so we at second hand are received into the same glory with Christ.
Two or three scriptures confirm this. The first, Rom. viii. 17,
< And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-Heirs with Christ. Observe it, for God himself as immediately en joyed to be the inheritance of the creatures ; this is originally Christ s right, and becomes ours by virtue of being co-heirs with Christ.
CHAP. X.J OF ELECTION. 365
Answerably you find in the 16th Psalm (a psalm, saith Peter, Acts ii. 25, made so of Christ as of no other) this is made Christ s prerogative originally.
* The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot ; ver. 11, Thou wilt shew me the path of life : in thy presence is fulness of joy ; in thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. It was Christ brought up that way of enjoying God, with fulness of
Ver. 5,
pleasures at his right hand. And as it is a new way as to sinners, Heb.
x. 20, so to the creation of God.
* Wherefore receive you one another, as
A third scripture is Eom. xv. 7,
Christ also received us, to the glory of God, where this glory of God is made originally and naturally his propriety, which he might have kept and received* to himself. And if it is said lie received us secondarily, namely, as brought in by his right unto it, ours is a derived, his the original natural
right.
And upon this account, as his, he is engaged to maintain us in it, and
bring us to it, as much as an husband is concerned to maintain his wife s
estate in all things suitable to his own condition, so far as she is any way
capable, either her jointure made out of his own estate and natural inheri
tance, and settled upon her by himself by marriage, or her honour, and honourable estate, as is seen by the marriage of a queen unto a king.
Thus by Christ, as Christ, we are called unto glory ; and thus deeply is he concerned in our glory, and so in his bringing us into it.
2. Secondly, consider him as Jesus, a redeemer or purchaser of this glory, and upon that account also it is his glory, for, quod emis, possis dicere jure
tuitm, what a man buys or purchaseth is by just right the purchaser s, and whose he will please to give it to. As I shewed, Christ bought our calling, our whole time after, and all our temptations, &c., and with the same price he purchased this glory, as the end and issue of all, so as he loseth his pur
chase, the last ultimate bargain in and of that purchase, if we should not
arrive at the enjoyment of it, even as was urged concerning all the former :
* Which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. Look as he in
Eph. i. 14,
his person is termed Jesus and Christ, so that glory, answerably to each, is
styled both an inheritance as Christ, and a purchased possession as Jesus.
And do you consider how he purchased it ? Even by the laying down of all
< For our
that glory naturally due to him as Christ, and even as it is said,
sakes he that was rich became poor, that we might be made rich, by his lay
ing down those riches of glory which were his due.
Though he had it by a natural right, as was declared, yet by purchase also
all his glory became his, as by a new right; for it is no more absurdity to
say, Christ hath a double right to his crown in heaven, than for a prince to
have a natural right to his throne and a title by conquest also. This Phil,
< Who, being in the form of God, thought it no robbery to
ii. 6-9 confirms,
be equal with God ; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him
the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men : and being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. And as to himself, so
in a more full and proper manner for us; even as Jacob speaks, Gen.
xlviii. 22, to Joseph, Moreover, I have given to thee one portion above
thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword
and with my bow. And what Christ hath given away and feoffed us in,
as purchased with his blood and won by conquest, he will be sure to inain-
* Qu. reserved ? ED.
366 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
tain, as setting a value accordingly upon it, even as Jacob there did upon what he had won and conquered.
Thus much for this, that our glory is /MS, and he the proprietary of it.
II. Secondly, add, that as he hath called us into it, so he hath entered
into the possession of it for us, as in our names, in our stead, and in our
behalf, and is gone to heaven to take up our places, yea, and to keep them
for us, and so is engaged to keep us for them. It is certain that as he him
self, upon both those rights fore-mentioned, entered into heaven, and possesseth it, so also, under the name and investiture of both, that is, of being an head to us and redeemer for us, he is entered into heaven, as a fore
runner, and that for us : Heb. vi. 20, Whither the forerunner is for us
entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever, after the order of Mel-
chisedec. Mark it, a forerunner for ns; to take up lodgings and rooms for us against we come thither, to keep places for us. Possession is (you say) eleven points of the law, whether taken by yourselves or your forerunner and representer; yea, and upon these considerations of his being an head, a redeemer, it is that it is said, Eph. ii. 6, that we are made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. It is a point of honour to him to keep our places for us, and not suffer us to be jostled out ; a point of faithfulness
to make good our estates for us, which he was betrusted with, as it is in any that is so trusted to see to it that those the estate [is] intended for be not
frustrated of it. And it is certainly Christ s honour to make our places good to us, and see us perfectly settled in them ; we sit as sure as he ; if he be
able to keep his station, he will be sure to keep ours.
III. Thirdly, add to all these, that as he is the great proprietary, founder and purchaser of our glory, so that his glory is increased and enlarged by the bringing us to glory, whom he hath thus called into it. That is, not the
glory, which Christ reckons on so much, that he should be able to say, I did my part in dying for them, though many of them are now in hell, but that
himself being made perfect, through sufferings, God had many sons actually brought to glory by him, as the Captain of their salvation, as in Heb. ii. 10. As it would be the highest glory of a general to bring off and carry his sol
diers through armies without the loss of a man, through great conflicts and
hazards unto a glory and victory, and to make them more than conquerors in the end. And this of Christ is said ; and this is the very scope of the apostle
there, for Christ glories in it, as it follows, Heb. ii. 13, Behold I and the
* present them to his Father with great joy, as the apostle Jude speaks. And at that
children thou hast given me, when at the day of judgment he shall
time, when this shall be eminently spoken by him, he will have all gathered about him ; therefore of that day it is said in 1 Thes. i. 10, He shall come
to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe, in
that day. The glory of the day is his, and our glory in that day is his,
being glorified in us. It will not be our own glory, as it is ours, that will be counted of by us as the glory of that day ; it will be his glory, as in us, and that will lie in us, that he hath brought unto that glory all which
believe, for indeed all our glory makes up a crown of glory to him ; upon which very ground it is that holy Paul, that was zealously inflamed for the
glory of Christ, is emboldened so vehemently to pray for their preservation, whom he wrote thus unto, in the next llth verse, Wherefore we pray always that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and would
fulfil the work of faith, that is, to keep and preserve you until then, that
the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him. So
CHAP. X.] OF ELECTION. 357
that the apostle, by what his own interest was in the perseverance of his con verted ones, shews how infinitely more Christ s interest was in their glory, there farther declared to be the end and price of our calling, and ultimate and furthest product, and aim of the grace of God and of our Lord Jesus, which are there brought in as the great effects of all this. So he concludes
it, According to the glory of our God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, even as here, the God of all grace, which hath called us into his glorv bv Jesus Christ.
You see clearly from that scripture that as our glory is designed but for the greatening of his, so also our continuing in grace", to the end that he may be then glorified in us (having been so kept by him), is made a great additional unto his honour ; therefore our preservation in grace, and being carried safe through temptations, is of an absolute concernment to that his being glorified then in us, as without which he should be frustrated, and lose of his designed glory, and as by which on the contrary he will be so infinitely exalted.
I observe also, as to this same issue and purpose, that elsewhere our being kept and preserved in grace runs in our deeds for the term of years of our lives after calling ; and the period thereof to run in the style of keeping us to that day. And to that day is still expressed upon that occasion, either by the day of the Lord Jesus, or the coming of the Lord Jesus ; and these words of preserving us, and
* unto that day, are still joined, as having some special inference and aim, and influence upon each other. You may observe it in all those places where those famous promises to confirm us, preserve us, keep us, are recorded ; and how neither of these two were left out in any one of those places ; as, for instance, 1 Cor. i. 8, Who shall
also confirm you unto the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. The like Philip, i. 6, Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ; and 1 Thes. v. 23, And the very God of peace
: and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
sanctify you wholly
And amongst other reasons why the period of our being kept is said to be that latter day rather than the day of death (of which I have elsewhere
spoken), and why that latter day also (when these two are mentioned) is
still styled the day of Christ, and the coming of Christ, the reason thereof is
manifestly this, because the keeping us unto that day doth in so eminent a manner, and above all things so infinitely tend and make for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ at that day, even this, that we have been carried
through all and preserved. The discovery and laying open of this will make a day out indeed, as we use to speak, a day of Christ, his day, a day of glory unto him, who upon this consideration of having called us and pre served us, will above all other be glorified in all our glory, and we in him. How strongly, then, must we all conceive Christ to be obliged to perform this for us, upon the account in hand, that we are called into glory by Jesus Christ ! If in the second chapter of the same 1 Thes., ver. 19, 20,
Paul, a poor minister (whose care and solicitude you may read to have been
so great in the foregone parts of that chapter, to keep them in that holy
calling they had been brought into by his ministry), thought with himself, and so deeply considered his converts wrought upon by his ministry, that
they would persevere to that day, and that upon this account, as appears by those words,
* For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing ? Are
not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming ? for ye are our glory and joy ; how much more may we think that Jesus Christ is
3G8 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
concerned (take in all the interests fore-mentioned, that he hath in us and
in our glory) to look to it, that we be thus kept
! For we may, through his
grace towards us, say it, that we are his crown, and his glory, at that day, and he will then with glorying say, Lo, here am I, and the children which thou hast given me. Lo, I have brought all, and every one of them, safe
to this other side of glory, and not one of them is perished in the way and conduct hitherto. And as a poor minister shall have a personal glory for
his personal holiness, as a Christian, and a superadded glory as a minister, so hath Christ at that day. One personal, as he is the Son of God dwelling in our nature, of which John speaks
: John i. 14, We saw his glory, as the glory of the only begotten Son of God. And another additional, as he
is head and Saviour of his church, which is his body, who are the glory of
Christ, as 2 Cor. viii. 23, The fulness of him that filleth all in all, Eph.
i. 23. So as although his personal fulness is such, as out from it he filleth
all as an head, yet considered as to his body the church, that church is said
to be his fulness. And so if he should want but a member at that day, or
any of his members want a degree of grace or glory designed unto him, Christ should, as in that aspect, as an head, be rendered imperfect ; for as we are complete in him, so in this he is reciprocally complete in us, which
interest of his is his own so highly that it sufficiently causeth him to see unto
the perfecting, strengthening, stablishing of us.
And to conclude ; if this that follows be found so effectual a motive to
him, as by what himself, John xvii. 24, utters, doth appear, Father, I
will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am ; he
loves to see them afore him that they may behold my glory, which thou
hast given me ; if this moved him thus to pray for them, that God would
* keep them from the evil of the world, ver, 15; if this moved him to have them kept, and be brought to glory, that they might (as it were) be but
spectators and beholders of his glory ; and because he would not be in heaven
alone, but be seen and beheld by others ; how much more may the interests and considerations we have mentioned (especially all of them put together) be judged to have power and efficacy upon his heart, to preserve and bring us unto the participation of that glory himself hath called us into ?
Make you sure of Christ, and he will be sure to make you sure, and your interest in glory to you.