SERMON IV.

With all blessings.—VER. 3.

In that old dispensation, when Jacob blessed his twelve sons, and in them their posterity, the twelve tribes, in the conclusion of his blessing it is said, These are the twelve tribes, and every man, according to his blessing, he blessed them.' That is, Joseph had some one eminent earthly blessing bestowed on his tribe, Reuben another, and Naphtali a third, and so the rest. None there are said to be blessed with all blessings. But when God comes to open his treasures of blessings in Christ, and to profess to bless indeed and altogether, he blesseth with all blessings. Every child of his he blesseth, even with the fulness of the blessing of the gospel,' as, Rom. xv. 29, it is called. For when God gives us Christ, and blesseth us in him, 'how shall he not with him freely give us all things?' Having given you my Son, nay then take all else, and take all freely; having given the greater so willingly, sure you shall have all the rest, which are the lesser, more willingly.

It is observable that when Esau approached his father, to ask the blessing like one that came to glean after another's harvest already reaped, Jacob having been before him, how hard, how difficult he found his father to be, and upon what low terms is Esau fain to beg something, anything of him. 'Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?' that is, hast thou given all away? And ver. 38, 'Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, me also, O my father.' And how doth Isaac his father speak? As having nothing now left he could think of to bestow; with these, and these things, says he, have I blessed him, and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?' He casts about with himself to think what should be left ungiven away. This had not been if Jacob had not gone away with all. Now, as our Apostle says in the Epistle to the Galatians, of Ishmael and Isaac, 'these things are an allegory; so expressly the same Apostle affirmeth these also to have been, Heb. xii. 17. The father is God, whom in this dispensation Isaac the father represented; the elect, the 'us' here, are Jacob or Israel, as frequently they are called; whom God endues with all blessings in solido, at once makes over all to them alone, as their inheritance; so as for the rest there is not anything left, but things earthly and carnal, which is the superfluity and redundancy of that fulness bestowed on his own, and which they may well spare. Hast thou not reserved one blessing? No, not one. God hath blessed us with all. Oh, infinite goodness and special grace!

With all.-Even each saint with all. If with any one blessing, then with all; they hang together and go in a cluster. Whom he hath predestinated, them he hath called; whom he hath justified, them he hath glorified,' and not one is wanting. If thou hast one grace, thou hast all, and all gracious privileges together therewith; even all the things that belong to life and godliness; all the promises of this life and that to come.

MEDITATION.

O Christian! see and rejoice in thy lot and portion. God himself hath but all things, and so hast thou.

Sit miser, qui miser esse potest, 'Let him be miserable that can be, for I cannot,' may a believer say to all others in the world. For can that man be ever miserable that is blessed with all blessings? whereof, even to be thus blessed for ever must needs be one, or he hath not all; and to whom all things are turned into blessings, even the evils that befall thee. If men curse and revile thee, God will bless; as David spake, when Shimei cursed him; and if men envy thee for good, this shall turn to thy salvation, as Phil. i. 19. If the devils spite thee, God will bless thee; there is no witchcraft against Israel. He turned Balaam's society and dealing with the devil to curse into a blessing. It is an observation which Nehemiah, chap. xiii. 2, makes upon that passage of Moses' story: Balak 'hired Balaam against them, that he should curse them; howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing.' God, who was able and did make that strange change in our persons, of cursed children to be men of blessedness, blessed with all blessings, can much more, as he doth, change and turn all things that befall us, though curses in themselves, into blessings unto us. That man cannot be miserable whom all passages whatever do call, yea make blessed, and who himself is called to nothing else but blessing; and oh, if God thus turneth all things into heavenly blessings unto us, how engaged are we to be heavenly in all things towards him!

Spiritual blessings.-This openeth the mystery of what was even now spoken of; for why should such a limitation and confinement or eminent designation rather be here specified? Hath not godliness all other temporal earthly blessings entailed upon it?

This is spoken in difference from the literal dispensation of the old covenant, (which notion doth still and will all along accompany us,) which ran in the letter, most in promises of blessings earthly and outward.

The Apostle Paul, in the third of the Galatians, treating of the blessings of Abraham, (or promised to Abraham, and in him to all nations, ver. 8, and now come upon them, ver. 14,) doth clearly in the 14th verse explain and declare it to be a spiritual blessing, or the promise of the Spirit: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.' The latter words, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit,' is a manifest exegesis or explanation of those former words, 'that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles,' thereby explaining what manner or kind of blessing that was which was intended to Abraham, and comes upon the Gentiles through Christ. It is the Spirit, which if taken of the Holy Ghost that is given us, the promise of the Spirit imports all spiritual blessings, as in the seed, the root, the fountain of them. To say we have the Spirit given us, or promised to us, is all one as to say that we have all spiritual things conveyed. He is the immediate author and effecter in us of all grace and glory. And then what Christ in one Evangelist calleth 'giving of the Spirit to them that ask him,' in another he termeth 'giving good things,' that is, the things which are truly good, which the Spirit brings with him, who is the author of things spiritual, the best of blessings. But Calvin, and Pareus after him, commenting on those words, Gal. iii. 14, are bold to interpret the promise of the Spirit, the promise of spiritual things. He says not, say they, 'the Spirit of promise,' but the promise of the Spirit,"

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which I take, says he, for spiritual more Hebraico; he speaking in opposition, says he, to things outward, and those words, through faith,' confirm it. That is, whereof faith is sensible and apprehensive, takes in, and receives, as it doeth all spiritual things, and is a principle suited to them. And so it is one and the same kind of blessing which comes on the Gentiles, who had not the promise of Canaan, and upon the Jews, which is his scope: 'that we Jews might receive,' &c., as well as the Gentiles, and both the same; and also which Abraham himself received, who had not a foot of land in Canaan, Acts vii. 5, and yet is said to have obtained, possessed, the pro mise, Heb. vi. 15, And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise;' which obtaining the promise, or thing promised, is evidently there spoken of as an actual enjoyment, or possession of it, after the making of it; as the word obtained implies, and after patient waiting, and it is the very promise of blessing, 'I will bless thee,' ver. 15. The things or blessings then promised to Abraham, consisted in things spiritual; and so the Gentiles, as well as the Jews, were capable of them, even all of one and the same blessing.

Thus, also, when Jacob was blessed by Isaac, and with so vast and great a difference put both in God's intention and Isaac's apprehension between him and that of Esau in his blessing of him, which Esau was also sensible of; and yet if we read that whole legacy of blessings bequeathed to Jacob, we find none but outward and earthly in the letter spoken of, Gen. xxvii. 28, 29, 'God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine. Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee; be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee. Cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.' Yea, if we compare herewith the blessing afterwards estated upon Esau, ver. 39, 40, 'Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above. And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass, when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck;' this is, as to the point of earthly blessings, well-nigh as full a portion as that of Jacob was, so as, if that the spiritual blessings promised in Christ, the blessed seed, had not been typically and mystically intended and signified by and under those earthly unto Jacob, it could not have been collected by the Apostle from the story of it that Jacob inherited the blessing, and that Esau was rejected, for all such earthly blessings he inherited as well as Jacob; nor had Isaac reason so bitterly to lament that he had, as it were, nothing left of blessing to bestow upon Esau, 'What shall I do for thee, my son?' Nor could there be supposed any other ground why, notwithstanding the equality of these blessings for ought was visible, the difference between them should yet be held up at so high a disproportion.

This, therefore, evidently argues that there was another sort of blessings, which were latent and hid, even a substantial, spiritual, invisible kind of blessings for evermore, whereof these things were but the shadows, as that which put that difference. And so the Apostle expressly interprets it in the fore-cited Heb. xii. 17, 'Ye know that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected,' or denied. Mark it, that which Jacob obtained is called the blessing, eminently such, or it was the 'blessing indeed,' 1 Chron. iv. 10, which was in Jabez' eye under all those veils ; the blessing, even life for evermore,' as the Psalmist speaks by way of exposition, Ps. cxxxiii. 3. And, indeed, when Isaac afterwards with such vehemency doubles 'I have blessed him, yea, and he shall be blessed,' Gen. xxvii. 33, this

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imports a blessing indeed to have been contained and involved in that blessing; and therein Isaac also shewed that the same blessing that was promised to Abraham, which was spiritual, as I have shewn, was it that was made over by inheritance to Jacob. The words of Abraham's blessing have the same emphatical duplication that we find in Jacob's, 'In blessing, I will bless thee,' Gen. xxii. 17. Further, the last words in that blessing of Jacob's, ver. 29, which are left out in Esau's, manifestly refer to the blessing made to Abraham, Cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee;' being part of the words that are used in Abraham's, Gen. xii. 2, 3, 'I will make thee a blessing, and I will bless thee, and thou shalt be a blessing, and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee.'

And in this like strain of outward blessings Moses afterwards goes on. Thus speaks the old covenant, Blessed art thou in thy store, blessed in thy basket, in the field,' &c. And so on the contrary, the curses, Deut. xxviii. throughout. Now, then, our Apostle comes, and, as became the gospel, which is the new spiritual covenant established upon better promises, shadowed forth by these, he overlooks all these things; his eye being, as the gospel intention is, not upon things that are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, as all these are, but the things which are not seen are eternal; and therefore, instead of things temporal and earthly, he writes and sets down spiritual and heavenly. Instead of Blessed art thou in the fields,' write down, 'Blessed art thou in the assemblies of the saints, under the enjoyment of spiritual ordinances and communion of saints.' There the Lord commands,' and, commanding, communicates, 'the blessing, even life for evermore,' Ps. cxxxiii. 3. Instead of 'Blessed art thou in thy store,' set down, 'Blessed are the rich in good works;' and others accursed that are rich, and not towards God, as James and our Saviour speak. And thus the gospel throughout carries it, and as if those kind of outward blessings had utterly now ceased, passeth them over as not worth the naming or the intention of those that live under the bare and naked discovery of spiritual and heavenly, as the Apostle sets them forth in their native, real glory; and thus Christ and his apostles carry it all along in their publications of the gospel, even as in his celebration of praise here. When the Apostle preached the gospel to the Jews, Acts iii., he pitcheth upon opening this very blessing of Abraham. Read the words, ver. 25. And how doth he expound it? It follows, ver. 26, 'Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning every one of you from your iniquities.'

How low doth this fall in the expectations of a carnal Jew, whose eyes are veiled with the outward letter of promises earthly, to hear that Jesus the Messiah was sent to bless them in turning them from their iniquities! They look for a kingdom in glory and pomp, to be brought with their Messiah; and for him to turn them from iniquities is so poor, and low, and mean a thing with them; whereas, indeed, to be converted to God and turned from iniquity is a greater blessing (spiritual) than if God should make every one of you kings and rulers of worlds, and create variety and multiplicity of them for each of you; for this is a spiritual and heavenly blessing. Peter, therefore, mentions but this one for all the rest, to shew what a sort they are all of; as also, because this is the first and foundation of all other, and all other the concomitants or consequents of this; even as, in correspondency to this very speech of his, the same Apostle makes mention of regeneration, or being born again, in his first Epistle to the converted Jews, cast out, for

their cleaving to the gospel, of their land given them to inherit, entitling it, therefore, 'To the strangers,' namely, Jews, (for the Gentile Christians there were natives,) 'scattered throughout Asia;' notwithstanding, (to comfort their hearts,) Blessed be the God and Father of Christ, that hath begotten you again,' or turned them from their iniquities, 'to an inheritance immortal, reserved in the heavens for you,' better than Canaan; and this is the blessing of Abraham. Now, as Christ in another case, all the rest of gospel blessings are like to this, spiritual all. If you will have David's description, says Paul, of the blessedness of his blessed man he so often speaks of, Rom. iv., " even as David describeth the blessedness of the man,' &c., ver. 6, 'Blessed is the man whose sin is pardoned,' ver. 7, out of Ps. xxxii. ; 'Blessed is the man that is poor in spirit, meek, pure in heart,' Matt. v. The blessedness, you see, lies in and is made unto spiritual graces and dispositions of holiness. As also blessed is he that walks holily, he is blessed in his deed,' James i. 25; yea, 'blessed is he that endures temptation,' ver. 12. And after this account and rule are we now blessed under and by the gospel; the gospel, not deigning so much as to mention any one earthly, carnal blessing as here, slips them over, and takes no notice of them, as not worthy to come into the catalogue of those more choice and divine blessings it makes promise of. Yea, it professeth to all its followers, that in this life we are of all men most miserable, the offscouring of the world; which carnal men observing, will be ready to say, as in another case our Apostle speaks, Where is the blessedness you speak of? It lies in a higher sort of things you wot not of, and therefore with the same breath pronounceth us most blessed when most miserable. 'Blessed are you when men revile you, and persecute you, both say and do all manner of evil against you,' says our Saviour; 'rejoice and be exceeding glad,' for as these are multiplied and enlarged, your treasures in those things, which are the real blessings, are increased, as it follows, 'for great is your reward in heaven' greater, as the proportions of your persecutions are. Which hath brought me to the next word :—

I. In heavenly places, or things.-The phrase in the original is barely év éπovрavíos, in the heavenlies,' without this addition of either places or things. And it is a speech proper to this epistle, and nowhere else used, and four or five times used therein; and according as the context requires, we may add places or things, sometimes the one, sometimes the other; and perhaps in this place, which is so general and comprehensive, we may take in both, to fill up the Apostle's meaning:

1. In heavenly places. So twice in this and the ensuing chapter. Speaking of Christ, God hath set him at his right hand in heavenly,' ver. 20 here places must be added; the correspondency with the words 'set him calls for it. So likewise, chap. ii. 6, he speaketh the same of us in a conformity to Christ our head, hath set us together in heavenly;' here places is to be added, as suited to 'setting.' The like he speaks of the good angels, the inhabitants of the heavenly world, to whom we being thus advanced, we are made like unto; as Christ says, chap. iii. 10, 'principalities and powers' that are constituted and set 'in heavenly places.'

2. In heavenly things. Thus, chap. vi. 12, 'For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.' It is translated high places' in your margin. According to the Greek, it is ' in heavenlies,' the same word that is here, and places is added, but not genuinely, but things rather should there be supplied. For this being spoken

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