'Thou art anointed with the oil of gladness above thy fellows/ Ps. xlv. 8, Acts iv. 27. Thou hast a larger effusion of the Spirit upon thee than others; thou art anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power after an extraordinary measure and manner; thou art endued with all beroical gifts and excellencies, plentifully, abundantly, transcendently ; thou art Bealed and predestinated;1 thou art invested into this office of Mediatorship under the Father's hand and seal : and therefore whither should I go for salvation, for remission, for redemption, for grace, for glory, but to thee ?
(5.) Fifthly, If you would be good betimes, then you must know be- times, that there is no way to salvation but by Jesus Christ.
'Neither is there salvation in any other'2 (speaking of Christ), 'for there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved,' Acts iv. 12. If ever you are saved, you must be saved by him, and him only; you must not look for another saviour, nor you must not look for a co-saviour; you must be saved wholly by Christ and only by Christ, or you shall never be saved ; you must cry out, as Lam- bert did when he was in the fire, and lifted up his hands, and fingers '- ends flaming, 'None but Christ, none but Christ'!3 When Augustus Caesar desired the senate to join two consuls with him for the better government of the state, the senate answered, that they held it as a diminution of his dignity, and a disparagement of their own judgment, to join any with so incomparable a man as Augustus.4
Ah ! friends, it is a diminution of Christ's dignity, sufficiency, and glory, in the business of your salvation, to join anything with the Lord Jesus ; and it is the greatest disparagement in the world to your own judgments, knowledge, prudence, and wisdom, to yoke any with Christ in the work of redemption, in the business of salvation.
Augustine saith, that Marcellina hung Christ's picture and the pic- ture of Pythagoras together ; many there are, not only in Rome, but in England (yea, I am afraid in London), who join Christ and their works together, Christ and their prayers together, Christ and their teachers together, Christ and their mournings together, Christ and their hearings together, Christ and their alms together.
Ah, what a poor, what a weak, what an impotent, what an insuffi- cient Saviour doth these men make Jesus Christ to be ! Except these men come off from these things, and come up only to Jesus Christ, in the great business of salvation, they will as certainly and as eternally perish, notwithstanding their hearing, knowing, and talking much of Christ, as those that never heard of Jesus Christ.
In the Old Testament, God commands them not to wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together, ' neither shall a gar- ment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee,' Deut. xxii. 11.
This law was figurative, and shews us that in the case of our justifi- cation, acceptation, and salvation, we are not to join our works, our
1 John i 16, iii. 34. * U &xxu, that is, by or through the mediation of any other.
* Act. and Mon. [Foxe, sub nomine — G.] 4 Suetonius.
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services, with the righteousness of Christ. God abhors a linsey-woolsey righteousness. And as by the letter of this law, in the Hebrews' account, one thread of wool in a linen garment, or one linen thread in a woollen garment, made it unlawful, so the least manner of mixture in the business of justification makes all null and void.1 'And if by grace, then it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace, otherwise work is no more work.'2 He that shall mix his righteousness with Christ's, he that shall mix his puddle with Christ's purple blood, his rags with Christ's royal robes, his copper with Christ's gold, his water with Christ's wine, &c, is in the ready way to perish for ever.
On earth kings love no consorts ; power is impatient of participation. Christ will be Alexander or Nemo, nobody ; he will be all in all in the business of justification, or he will be nothing at all. We must say of Christ, as it was once said of Csesar, Socium habet neminem, He may have a companion, &c, but he must not have a competitor, 1 Cor. i. 30, Rom. v. 19, 20.
Let us say of Christ, as the heathen once said of his petty gods, Con- temno minutulos istos deos, modo Jovem propitium habeam, so long as he had his Jupiter to friend, he regarded them not. So, so long as we have our Jesus to friend, and his righteousness and blood to friend, we shall contemn all other things, and abhor the bringing of any thing into .competition with him. A real Christian cares not for any thing that hath not aliquid Christi, something of Christ in it. He that holds not wholly with Christ, doth very shamefully neglect Christ, Aut totum mecum tene, aut totum omitte, saith Gregory Nazianzen. (Eph. iii. 9, 10, Ps. lxxi. 15, 16, 19, compared.)
There is no other name, no other nature, no other blood, no other merits, no other person to be justified and saved by, but Jesus Christ. You may run from creature to creature, and from duty to duty, and from ordinance to ordinance, and when you have wearied and tired out yourselves in seeking ease and rest, satisfaction and remission, justifica- tion and salvation, in one way and another, you will be forced after all to come to Christ, and to cry out, Ah ! none but Christ, none but Christ ! Isa. lv. 2, Rom. x. 3. Ah ! none to Christ, none to Christ ; no works to Christ ; no duties, no services to Christ ; no prayers, no tears to Christ ; no righteousness, no holiness to Christ. Well ! friends, remember this, that all the tears in the world cannot wipe off meritoriously one sin, nor all the grace and holiness that is in angels and men buy out the pardon of the least transgression. All remission is only by the blood of Christ.
(6.) Sixthly and lastly, If you would be good betimes, then you must know betimes, that the heart of Jesus Christ is as much set upon sinners noiv he is in heaven, as ever it was when he was upon earth.
Christ is no less loving, less mindful, less desirous of sinners' eternal welfare now he is heaven in a far country, than he was when he lived on earth. Witness his continuing the ministry of reconciliation among poor sinners in all ages ; witness the constant treaties, that by his ambassadors and Spirit he still hath with poor sinners, about the things
1 Philip, iii. 9, 10 ; Rev. xix. 8 ; Gal. iii. 28, ii. 16. 8 Horn. x'i. 6 ; Eph. ii. 5 ; Rom. v. 15-18.
246 APPLES OF GOLD. [1 KINGS XIV. 13.