CXLV expository sermons upon the whole 17th chapter of the Gospel according to St.…

¹And first, Herein is his power over all flesh, especially his Church seen, that he is the author and fountain of all the grace the godly have; And this is a glorious demonstration of his power, that not we our selves or any Angel in heaven can inspire one good thought, mollify and convert the heart, adorn the soul with all kind of graces, but Christ only, Joh. 1.16. Of his fullness we all receive grace for grace, that is, as some expound, abundance and heaps of grace, as it were, or grace that is suitable and proportionable to that in Christ, As the child receiveth from the Father limb for limb, Of his Fullness, Christ then hath Fullness not only for himself but for us, as the Sun hath fullness of light for the whole world, The Ocean Fullness of water for all the streams; The Angels and Saints glorified in Heaven, yea, Adam in the state of integrity he had a Fullness of grace, but it was limited and stinted in him, only Christ received it without measure: In Christ there is plenitudo fontis, in Angels or Adam there was only plenitudo vasis, as Divines express it: Now this Fullness of Christ is for communication and our participation ⟨p. 41⟩of •t; Therefore in other places he is compared to the Olive Tree, from which the godly receive all their fatness, Rom. 9. To the Vine, Joh. 15. so that unless we are branches in him we can do nothing: If than we should say, Where is the power of Christ, how is it manifested? I answer, look upon all the godly, Are they able to mourn for sin with a godly sorrow? Are they able to believe in the promise? Can they mortify their lusts? Herein is Christs glorious power seen, I know this doth not so much affect us, as outward extraordinary instances of Christs power in temporal things, but certainly this is greater, for as Moses and Joshua's deliverance of the people of Israel out of Egypt, is nothing to that spiritual deliverance which Christ as Jesus vouchsafeth to his people in saving them from sin and hell, yet no doubt an Israelite or Jew after the flesh would far prize the former before the latter, though the Jew after the Spirit would far esteem the latter;