SERMON
III
Who has blessed us with all
blessings. - VER. 3.
I COME to the third general head the text was divided into
- the matter for which he blesseth God - namely, for his blessing us with all
blessings: Who hath blessed us with all blessings.
Who. - God, as he alone is blessed, styled therefore the Blessed One,
Mark xiv. 61, so he alone blesseth, and is alone able to do it; and others,
when they bless, their blessings are but invocations upon him, that he would
bless some other person in what they desire for him. So all particular
benedictions, made by parents or others, run in Scripture, as Gen. xlviii. 15,
16; which that saying, once for all other, shews, We bless you in the
name of the Lord, Ps. cxxix. 8. Yea, when man is made an instrument of
conveying good things unto us, yet he cannot make them blessings; for this they
have recourse to God. And in so doing, all have thereby acknowledged him the
fountain of all blessings and blessedness; and so even Balaam himself confessed
to Balak, Num. xxii. 38, and chap. xxiii 8, 20. I wot that he whom thou
blessest is blessed, Num. xxii. 6. I shewed afore, in general, that the
apostle blesseth God under the consideration of being the God and Father of
Christ, because thereby he becomes our God, and our Father also. I shall add
now, how that under each of these considerations or relations it is that he
blesseth us.
That which in general I shall premise, as common to the
explication of these two particulars last mentioned, is that notion commonly
received among the schoolmen, which I gladly took up from them : That one
requisite ingredient to move God to love, and to shew mercy unto us intelligent
creatures of the sons of men, is an apprehending our misery,as his own. And
again, - That God hath mercy on us, by apprehending our misery as his own,
which is done by an union of affection to us; and God is not executively
merciful, but for his love, and is so far merciful to us, as he looks at us, as
we are something of his own, or something of himself.
This I greedily take
hold of, to illustrate and carry on the ground and foundation of the special
love he bears to his elect, and as agreeing with what the Scriptures say; both
that love is in God, (which no man can deny to be in the nature of God to love,
for he loves himself, his Son, &c.,) and that love is the ground of mercy,
and, by the same reason, special electing love the ground of mercy in God to
sinners. Thus, Eph. il. 4, But God, who is rich in mercy, (having
in the foregoing verses set forth our sinfulness and misery,) for the
great love wherewith he loved us, the. And is made the measure of the
great and infinite difference of his love to creatures. There is a common love
to men as creatures, so he loves every man and thing he hath made; but where he
shews special mercies, as pardon of sin and the like, there is an in
quantum, he loves, as the foundation of that, a special love. But still the
question will be, What should be the ground of a special love in God to some,
with such an infinite difference of that love from what it is to others in
common? Aquinas resolves that, with this further foundation, to make those he
specially loves some way his own, and then the consequence of that to be, to
look upon their misery as his own ; and with that the Scriptures also agree,
Isa. lxiii. 9, In all their affliction he was afflicted; the like
in Exod. iv. 31.
But then another question, (to drive the matter home to
its head,) and that is, What is it in God, or in the creature, makes them to be
in so special manner his own, who or what hath put so great a difference?
Nothing but election, which follows in the next according as he hath chosen
us. There is Aquinas in quentum, so far as he loved us, so
far he hath blessed us, with special blessings appropriate, suitable thereunto.
Now the fundamental therefore of all, and of the difference is, he makes us
first his own by love, by that special love specially his own. And, which is
the head I approach next to, he became our God first, and our Father, and chose
us so to be his as none else is. And then we were something of himself and his
own indeed, by special propriety. You have this in effect in that 63rd of Isa.
ver. 8, 9, So he was their Saviour, and so redeemed them. But in
more express words, in the two particular relations specified, he first made
himself and became our God and our Father, and then to be sure we are his own.
1. God blesseth us, as having first become our God. - It is true,
indeed, that God, as God, is full of blessedness in himself, and that is it
which provokes him to communicate blessings to his creatures. God is good and
doth good, says the Psalmist, and so God is blessed, (an all-sufficiency of all
good,) and so bestoweth blessings; but yet know, that those he communicates
Himself in blessing unto, he first becomes their God. And then having taken
that relation on him, he pours forth all his blessedness and blessings on them,
so Ps. lxvii. 6, God, even our own God, shall bless us; and when he
is once so become, and hath taken upon Him to be our God, he cannot but bless
us. There is therefore, besides that emphasis put upon it, a duplicate made of
it in the psalm; it is a second time repeated and said, God shall bless us; he
cannot but do it, having made himself our God, and our own God to that,
God, even our own God, shall bless us, ver. 7. Yea, and they all
would not be blessings to us at all, unless God had first become our God, and
blessed us with giving himself to us. And whence caiue that, that he became our
God, our own God? Why, by choosing us to be his, which was done by election
entirely, both at once together; which is the very import of that speech,
thine they were, says Christ; those speeches or clauses, say
interpreters, do mutually speak each other : as to say, Thine they were by
election, and thou gavest them me; or to say, By election they became thine,
thou electedst them. You have the like unto it in the same Isa. lxiii. 8,
For he (God, namely) said (as within himself of old), Surely they are my
people, and therefore also children that will not lie; and so he
was their Saviour. And that which answereth and agrees to this, too, is
that other speech of Christs, Luke xviii. 7, His own elect;
and then you have election, by which they are made his own, and all to meet in
their being something of his own indeed. This for the first, his becoming our
God first, on purpose to bless us. If, therefore, we would have any or all
blessings from God, we must first seek of him to be our God; and then, as the
Psalmist, " God, even our Cod, will bless us;" he will be sure to do it, upon
the same account and for the same end and purpose He became our Father.
2. God blesseth as under the relation of our Father. - The first on
earth that ever took upon them to bless others, and brought up that custom (or,
as I may say, fashion) of blessing, were those that bore the relation of
fathers. Their hearts were filled with the greatest love and good-will to their
own children, did bless them, that is, wish well to them ; and their hearts
being enlarged to wish them more good than they found themselves able to
bestow, they had recourse to God to bless them, and perform their desires, as
that which was not in their own power to do. So the patriarchs, who blessed
their children and posterity, and were the first of men that brought in this
way of expressing their good-will which we call blessing, - as Moses termeth
Gods blessing, a manifestation of good-will Rom.e to him whom he blesses,
Deut. xxxiii. 16, in his blessing from God the several tribes: And for
the good-will, says he, of him that dwelt in the bush,
(which was Christ appearing to Moses, Exod. in . 2 - 5; Acts vii 32-33,)
let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the
head of him that was separated from his brethren, (as Joseph was,) and
thus singularly he blesseth Joseph, as separate from and above all the other
tribes, - and thus God blesseth us out of infinite good-will, and thus it is a
natural and a kindly act to come from fathers, and thus God blesseth us. It is
the first fruit of good-will- that is, of that natural love and care which
parents bear their children, it doth all. Love in fathers is that principle
that doth of itself provoke them to wish the greatest good to their children,
which if any good be in their own power to give, they give it from that
principle; and when they have it not in their own power to bestow, if they are
holy men, and have an interest in God the fountain of all good, they use that
interest, and invocate God to bestow it; which invocating of God for them we
use to call blessing a child, which is as much as in them lies to do.
Now,
as Christ says of giving good things unto their children, (and parents
blessing is but a giving their children good things, by invocating of God to
bestow them, as it is called in Isaacs blessing, Gen. xxvii. 27,)
If you then being evil, says Christ, Matt. vii. 11, that is, are
full of self-love, that of itself would tempt you to keep and retain to
yourselves, and not willingly to give away any good thing, yet ye know how,
says Christ, - that is, you have the hearts and the affections by a natural
instinct to spy out the best things for your children, which you judge to be
such, - and if ye know how to give good things to your children,
how much more, says Christ, shall your Father which is in
heaven, who to this very end was pleased to become a Father to you, and
has all in heaven to bestow, even that God who is styled the Blessed One in
Scripture, who is an ocean of all blessedness, which seeks an outlet for itself
to communicate to creatures, whom he hath loved and chosen, and hath been
pleased to bear that relation towards us to this great end; he hath done all
his to pour out his blessedness by and through that relation towards us, upon
us his adopted sons; and who, by what he finds to be natural in himself towards
his own natural Son, (whom he blesseth every day for ever, Ps. xlv. 2,) he for
his sake and relation to us is further pleased to pour forth all blessings also
upon us, having become in Christ a Father to us; and so to bear such a
good-will to us in Christ, as members of him, and a spouse to him.
Hath
blessed with all blessings - You see here both the act of grace on
Gods part bestowing good on us is expressed by blessing, and
the things bestowed are called blessings. He gives one and the same
denomination or name to either, which argues this expression of blessing to be
full and as adequate as could be chosen forth. I shall endeavour to explicate
both the name and thing itself - what it is to bless, as on Gods part,
and what is a blessing, and what it is that truly makes and constitutes good
things to be blessings to us.
I. For the word blessing, or
to bless. - It is evident by that extensive comprehensiveness of speech
which the Apostle here useth, that the whole, the total, and all particular
good things, which he after enumerates, which God ever means to give, or the
gospel promises, even all of them are to the utmost spoken of under and by this
word of blessing. And it is worth our consideration that it is that original
word under which the promise of the covenant of grace was at the first given to
Abraham, the father of all the faithful; as which contained all particular good
things, as his loins did that seed to whom that promise was made. And this I
mention now at first as a fundamental consideration, that will have a great and
necessary influence into the explication of the particulars that follow in this
verse. The apostle here framing these words with an eye of allusion to, and
comparison between those promises given them, and these promises which the
gospel here declares; therefore unto that promise given them we shall have
recourse again and again, to make our Apostles meaning here the more
manifest. That before me at the present is, that the sum and substance of
gospel-promises began then to be set forth and expressed under this blessed
word of blessing. I will bless thee, said God to Abraham, and
in thee all the families of the earth shall be blessed, Gen. xii. 2, 3.
And again, because it could not be better expressed by any other word, God doth
but double the same, saying, In blessing I will bless thee, Gen.
xxii. 17 ; that is, I will bless thee and bless thee again, which is equivalent
to the expression here, with all blessings hath he blessed us. and
what doth or can the great God say more? It is enough.
Now, that in
Gods intendment the whole total of the gospel was expressed to Abraham,
and wrapt up in that term of blessing, the avowed explications and
interpretations made thereof by the apostles do undeniably declare. Thus,
presently after Christs ascension, in one of the first made sermons, Acts
in ., speaking to the Jews; ver. 25, Ye are the children of the covenant
God made, saying to Abraham, In thy seed shall all the kindred of the earth be
blessed; which he expounds unto them thus, that first God sent his Son
Jesus to bless you, namely the Jews. And yet more expressly, Gal. in . 8,
God preached the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations
be blessed. So that as Abrahams style was the blessed of the
Lord, Gen. xiv. 19, and also the children of God are all said to be
blessed with faithful Abraham, in the following ver. 9 ; and again, Heb. vi.
13, 14, For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by
no greater, he sware by himself; saying, Surely blessing I will bless
thee, which, ver. 17, is said to contain the whole of his counsel to the
heirs of promise, and that to shew the immutability of that his counsel, he
comfirmed it by an oath.
Hence therefore, although the gospel in most
things speaks greater things than the Old Testament, and in higher terms, yet
hath it not altered, nor can it better this. Christ himself; that began to
preach this gospel in that his first large sermon that is recorded, it is the
first word he therein utters, Blessed are the poor in spirit, Matt.
v. 2, 3; and because he could not add to tlns, he does but repeat it over and
over, as the general that contained in it the kingdom of heaven, ver. 3;
comfort here, ver. 4; inheriting the earth, ver. 5; filling with all good, ver.
6 ; obtaining mercy, ver. 7; seeing God, ver. 8 ; adoption and being Gods
children, ver. 9 and if there be any other particular, all are summed up in
this word blessed. Each and every particle of our salvation or
happiness being blessings, as here, all the gospel can say is but blessing;
which is therefore called in the lump of it, the fulness of the blessing of the
gospel, Rom. xv. 29, for it cannot speak beyond what this word reacheth. All
that Christ could do when he ascended was but to bless; and after Christs
ascension, the last book of the gospel, the Revelation, doth continually and
throughout use the same style, and at the latter day, when heaven doors are to
be set open for the righteous to enter in , their everlasting happiness is
uttered by it, Come, ye blessed.
II. For the thing, or what import this
word carries with it - As you heard what it was for us to bless God, so now
I am to shew what it is for God to bless us. Gods blessing us, is his
bestowing or communicating all good together with himself, with all hearty
good-will, out of love to our persons.
1. It is a bestowing or
communicating of good. - The Jews defined it in general, grounded upon
Psalm cxv., where what in ver. 12, 13 is expressed by blessing, in ver. 14 is
God add to you, namely, good or well-being, unto your being, or what is already
given you. And the Scripture often useth the word blessing for a gift or
present bestowed. Gen. xxxiii., that which Jacob calls his present or gift,
ver. 10, he calls his blessing bestowed, ver. 11, Take, I pray thee, my
blessing which is brought thee. And, 2 Cor. ix. 5, 6, their bountiful
gift to the churches he calls their blessing in the margin; you have the same,
2 Kings v. 15 ; the like, Lev. xxv. 21. And to be sure, whatever mans
blessings are, all Gods blessings are the giving and accumulation of good
to us, or doing us good. And though the word signifies but his good word to and
concerning us, yet Gods word is his deed. And by a bare word of command
he blesseth; Ps. cxxxiii. 3, there he commands the blessing, that
blessing of blessings, even life for evermore; like as it is said,
he commnanded, and they were created, Ps. cxlviii. 5. So he
commands and we are blessed. Alas! when we creatures bless God, we express but
our well-wishes or joyful acclamations to that blessedness is in himself
already; but when God blesseth us, he altogether gives, he communicates.
2.
It is the communication of all good, yea of himself - God gives and blesseth
like himself when he blesseth. He blesseth indeed, as the phrase
is, 1 Chron. iv. 10, and will not bless under giving all. He blesseth
altogether, as the phrase is, Num. xxiv. 10; therefore in the text
here, with all blessings. He cannot bless less, for he is God, and
hath all to bestow. Thou art God, says David, and do thou bless me, 1
Chron. xvii. 26, 27. He urgeth that, for he knew what it was for God to bless,
and that he blesseth as the great God and like himself, both with all that God
himself is, and all that God can effect and do for us; or as he hath created
and made all things, he hath all things to bestow; therefore to make up this
total, I have put in both the communication of himself, and all good things
with himself.
To his purpose I observe, that in the mention of the
evangelical blessings, - Abrahams blessing, as I may call it, - both
Gods own all-sufficiency in himself; and Gods power in his works
and to effect all things, are still mentioned; sometimes the one, sometimes the
other, because in blessing us he is considered as both; he both gives himself
and all things else to us, and so we are blessed indeed. Thus to Abraham whom
God in blessing blessed, I am El-shaddai, says he, God that am and
have all-sufficiency, Gen. xvii. 1. When Isaac would bless Jacob with this
blessing of Abraham, he thus speaks, God all-sufficient bless thee, Gen,
xxviii. 3, (the same word in both.) and though in the translation it is
restrained to almightiness, yet it also imports Gods all-sufficiency and
abundance; and so this blessing intends a comnmunication out of that riches and
fulness of blessedness which God himself enjoys. This for the first.
Secondly, In other places his titles, that import power and sovereignty in
making and possessing all in heaven and earth, are prefixed to his blessing.
Thus, when Melehisedec pronounces Abraham blessed, Gen. xiv. 19, he calls him
the blessed of God under this title, the most high God, possessor of
heaven and earth, who had therefore all things in heaven and earth to
bless him withal. And the Jews used the same, Ps. cxv. 15, You are the
blessed of the Lord, who made heaven and earth, and so is able to do all
things for you, by the same power whereby he made the world. The like Ps.
cxxxiv.; these have been inferred out of Abrahams blessing.
Now, that
not only God doth bless with all other good things, but above all by
communicating himself and his own blessedness unto them, the Scriptures are
elsewhere express, when this blessing is spoken of. They shall not only not
want any good, as the Psalmist, Ps. xxxiv. 10, No good thing will he
withhold; as Ps. lxxxiv., but give both grace and glory; but
himself will be a sun unto them; as there, ver. 11, The Lord God is a sun
and shield. The sun doth not only enrich the earth with all good things
which by its influence it produceth, (called the precious fruits brought
forth by the sun, Deut. xxxiii. 14,) but glads and refreshes all with
shedding immediately its own wings of light and warmth, which is so pleasant to
behold and enjoy. And thus doth God, and Christ the Sun of righteousness, and
accordingly it follows there, Blessed is the man that trusts in
him; for in being our sun, himself becomes our blessedness. Thus his
promise of blessing Abraham, God himself interprets, Gen. xv. 1, I am thy
exceeding great and abundant reward; I, that am El-shaddai, that have
infinite paps of sweetness for you to suck; breasts of consolation, as the
prophet expresseth it; who am the God of all comforts, as 2 Cor. i. 3, lo, I
hold them all forth naked to thee, for thee to draw and fetch comfort from.
Thou shalt have all my blessedness to make thee blessed, which the Apostle
fitly renders, Eph. iii, being filled with all the fulness of God;
and indeed all things else without God or besides God could never make us
blessed. The Psalmist, after an enumeration of all sorts of blessings, having
pronounced them happy that are in such a ease or state, by way of correction
adds, as not having uttered wherein the top of blessedness lies; he adds,
yea, blessed is the people whose God is the Lord, Ps. cxliv.
15.
And hence the people of God, as sensible wherein their interest of
happiness lies, as they are termed the blessed of the Lord, so they are said to
bless themselves in the Lord; which is to rejoice and make their boast in him
alone, and how happy they are in him, (as Christ in the 16th Psalm doth.)
The Lord is my portion, and my lines are fallen in a good ground; I have
a goodly heritage. And that promise of blessing to Abraham, to which I
still have recourse, runs thus indifferently, either that in thy seed, that is,
Christ, (Gal. in . 16,) they shall be blessed, so Gen. xii. 3, xxviii. 14; or
xxii. 18, they shall bless themselves, or account themselves blessed in him -
so Junius upon that place - namely in Christ, who is God blessed for ever,
Rom.. ix., for else they could not bless themselves in him. And thus Isaiah
makes it the top of evangelical perfection, which he prophesied of; chap. lxv.
16; yea, and of the state of the people of God in the new heaven and new earth,
wherein righteousness dwells, of which ver. 17, 18, that he who should bless
himself in the earth, should bless himself in the God of truth; that is, God
and Christ, that is alone the truth and the firm substance of all blessedness
and happiness; according to that also of the Psalmist, Whom have I in
heaven but thee, and in earth in comnparison of thee? That as a wicked man is
said to bless himself in his life, Ps. xlix. 18, that is, to applaud his own
souls happiness, (Soul, take thine ease,) in having goods laid up for
many years, for to make him, as he judgeth, happy; so the saints bless
themselves in their God, their glory, not in riches or wisdom or strength, but
they glory in this, that they understand and know God, Jer. ix. 23, 24, and by
knowing him are made happy in him. For that is eternal life, John xvii. 3. And
so by having God and Christ for their blessedness, they have all things with
them, and so are blessed with all blessings. I will be his God that
first; then follows, and he shall inherit all things.
Lastly, God blesseth out of hearty good-will and love to our persons. And
this is as the soul or form of blessing, whether ye will take it for the act of
blessing in God, or the matter of blessing bestowed upon us. It is the
good-will of God that causeth each of these to have the denomination and nature
of a blessing.
1. It is the spring and fountain of that act of blessing, as
that which constitutes it such. To bless is to wish, or, wishing, to bestow all
good out of good-will; as when we bless God, it is the good-will we express
therein which makes it termed blessing him, and so to differ from praise, as
was shewn. So in Gods blessing us, (his blessing us to be sure at least
answereth to our blessing of him, and infinitely exceeds it.) In him it is a
fatherly act, and so proceeds from mere natural and pure good-will and
affection. The Lord first loves, then blesseth; Jehovah thy God will love thee,
and so will bless thee, Deut. vii. 12, 13. And so likewise in Ps. v. 12,
Gods blessing us is exegetically expressed and explained to be a
compassing a man round about with favour and good-will, clasping and accepting
him, as with everlasting arms, Deut. xxxiii. 27. Thou Jehovah wilt bless the
righteous, thou wilt encompass him round with favour, or favourable
acceptation, goodwill or gracious good-liking and acceptance, joined with a
delight in their persons, and rejoicing to do them good, as the same word (Isa.
xl. 1, in whom my soul delights, spoken of Christ,) imports. And it
is an encompassing round, because that man hath nothing else from God but love
and favour coming in upon him on every side and surrounding him, and hence it
is that a man is blessed with all blessings. In these terms therefore doth
Moses pour forth his prayers of blessing on Josephs head, who was
separated from his brethren, as the choicest of them all. The good-will
of him that dwelt in the bush, let it come upon the head of Joseph, and upon
the crown of the head of him that was separated from his brethren, (Deut.
xxxiii. 1, 16, compared.) He invocates the original, the fountain of all
blessings; namely the good-will of that God who in the bush had appeared and
said, I am the God of Abraham, &c., Exod. in . 2, 6. And surely
if God communicates himself to whom he blesseth, his blessing of them must
proceed from the deepest good-will; and indeed is the reason why he giveth
himself; as in marriage they bestow themselves and all, to whom they bear their
special good-will.
And,
2. This goodwill of God, accompanying each
thing bestowed, is that which maketh a blessing of it, and so to be more than
merely gifts bestowed. The Hebrews termed their gifts or presents a blessing.
Thus 1 Sam. xxv. 27, Abigail to David, This blessing which thine handmaid
hath brought unto my Lord; also 2 Kings v. 15; whereby they would have it
understood by the receiver, that they proceeded from their free and most hearty
goodwill; and that to be more than the gift. Thou hast given long life to thy
king, says David to God, and so blesseth him for that. But because long life in
itself was as no blessing to him without Gods favour, in another psalm he
says, Thy loving-kindness is better than life, and all the
privileges of it better than the things bestowed. And therefore after that
Jacob had wished his Joseph all the precious things, as he terms them, all the
dainties heaven or earth afforded, both which he distinctly mentions, Dent.
xxxiii., (read ver. 13, 14 afore,) then after all he prays, as without which
these would not prove blessings, the good-will of our God, says he, come upon
him, so invocating this fountain of all. Thus take any particular outward mercy
which hath the name of a blessing, and it is the blessing of God, that is, his
favour accompanying it, that maketh it such. It is the blessing of God, as
Solomon says, that maketh rich, Prov. x. 22; and so in all other, otherwise
their blessings are turned into curses, as Mal. ii. 2. Out of good-will,
good-will to our persons themselves, it is that he blesseth us, as in our
blessing of God we heard it imported pure good-will to himself; so in his
blessing us. In that short and fervent prayer of Jabez, Oh that thou
wouldest bless me indeed ! 1 Chron. iv. 10, this passage follows,
that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! I
observe from thence, that our God who undertakes to bless us, loves us so well,
that he is so moved (such is his love to our persons) with the pleas of
selflove in us, when concurring with his own glory. For this holy man, in
seeking Gods blessing on him to be kept from evil, urgeth this to God,
that it may not grieve me. Such free and pure good-will doth God
bear to us, that he loves we should love ourselves, and is affected with what
proceeds from love to ourselves; for this request God granted; so then it is
genuine to the nature of a blessing, and indeed to bless another doth naturally
and evidently of all acts else imply a pure and candid aim in wishing and
desiring anothers good, out of a special love unto their persons. Thus
much for what this word to bless, as an act of Gods, as also what a
blessing as the thing bestowed, holds forth to us.
Us, -
who in and of ourselves are by nature children of wrath, as in
chap. ii. 3, and cursed children, 2 Pet. ii. 14, to whom all the
curses written and unwritten are due, - are yet rendered blessed in Christ, and
blessed not with one sort or kind, but all blessings, termed therefore by way
of distinction from other men that remain under the curse, the blessed of the
Lord. So Abraham first, Gen. xiv. 19, Melchisedec gives it him as a most royal
title for himself and his children to inherit, that it grew to be ordinarily
their style and attribute by heathens themselves, who observed the blessing of
Jehovah to environ them. Thus Abimelech treats Isaac, Gen. xxvi. 29, Thou
blessed of the Lord; yea, this appellation Laban gives Abrahams
servant, Gcn. xxiv. 31, and so it came to be given to all others of his seed,
as Pa. cxv. 15. And as it is their name and denomination, so the end of their
calling, even that which they are called unto, unto nothing else but blessing,
1 Pet. in . 9, Ye are thereunto called, that you should inherit a
blessing; in relation to which it is Christs own compellation, when
they are to possess it, Come, ye blessed, inherit the kingdom,
Matt. xxv. 34. Yea, they are not blessed men only, but men of blessedness, as
in the Hebrew it is; made up of nothing else, ordained to nothing else ; yea,
to a surplusage flowing over; such as to be blessings to others with whom they
live, and whom they have relation to; all they come near, says God to Abraham,
Gcn. xii. 2, and ushers it with a word of command, Be thou, or thou
shalt be, a blessing, and I will bless them that bless thee; which
is repeated to Jacob by his father Isaac, and so is true of all the seed, Gen.
xxvii. 29, and fulfilled in Joseph, Gen. nxix. 5, for whose sake God blessed
Potiphar and all his house.
MEDITATION.
Oh, then, let your
hearts be full of nothing but of blessing, both blessing God and blessing
others; and let no cursing or reviling be found in our mouths, which is the
Apostles inference, 1 Pet. iii.. 9.
Us, - whose
persons he loved with a special love, and out of that love hath chosen from the
rest of men, as it follows in the next verse; thus Ps. xxxiii. 12, 13,
Blessed are the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. The
Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men; that is,
whereas he hath all the sons of men afore him, he loved and chose these out to
bless, and it is said he loved and blessed them above all people, as Deut. vii
14. Which discovered itself in the difference put between Jacob and Esau: Jacob
have I loved, and out of love blessed him, peremptorily and unchangeably, for
he added, Yea, and he shall be blessed, Gem xxvii. 33, which old
Isaac, the father, spake as in the person of God; whereas Esau with much
difficulty obtains a poor pittance of outward blessings for a season.
Us. - But these meditations on this word, though quickening,
yet that which is more conjunct with the Apostles intimate scope, and was
the main provocation in his thoughts, with this vehemency of spirit to pour
forth this offering of blessing to the Lord, was the fresh and recent
experience of Gods gracious performance of that great promise made to the
patriarchs of blessing in Christ both Jew and Gentile of all nations with the
fullness of the blessing of the gospel. And that which induceth me to this, is,
I consider that he writing to the Ephesians, Gentile converts, in whose hearts,
as in other nations, the gospel had taken place, he so carrieth his following
discourse, setly and intentionally, as still to involve both Jew and Gentile
together in the same spiritual privileges, in making his applications sometimes
to the one, sometimes to the other, all along his discourse, in this and the
following chapters, which hath been the general observation of interpreters,
sometimes speaking of the Jew, which himself was: we who first trusted in
Christ, ver. 11, 12 ; sometimes of the other, ye also, ver.
13; and so chap. ii. throughout; and accordingly in this general introduction
of blessing God, he wraps them both in one and the same us; and we
as in a community partake of all the sanie benefits, in ver. 4 - 9. The access
of which Gentiles unto the Church, and to be made partakers of the blessimig of
Abraham according to the promise and prophecy, was but then effected in his
days. Oh, blessed be God, says he, and the Father of Christ, that hath thus
blessed us; and blessed are the ears and eyes of us that live in these days
wherein we have and see these things fulifiled: the mystery opened and
discovered, which in former ages was not made known, that the Gentiles should
be fellow-heirs and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel, as
himself; as referring to the things delivered here and the rest of this
chapter, speaks, chap. III 3, compared with ver. 4 - 6. This was so vast a
prospect, as he falls down at the first and general view and consideration
thereof: Blessed be God the Father that hath blessed us, us Jews, and with us,
you Gentiles, with the blessings promised Abraham. And so much for the persons
blessed.
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