when Jonathan the Heir of the Crown would vouchsafe to enter into Covenant with him a poor Shepherd 1 Sam. 20.11 16 c. that was much but this is a million more This made Abraham abase himself as one unworthy to touch the Hand of the most high God held out in tendring this Covenant and abasing himself even below himself to such an unworthy Worm hereby lifted up above it self thus his Children must lye at Gods Foot Isa 41.2 and cry VVho am I Lord 2 Sam. 7.18 Second Object Was not the Covenant God made with Moses and with Israel as 't is expressed Exod. 34.27 upon Mount Sinai a Covenant of Works not of Grace in the Moral Law Answ 1. 'T is call'd indeed a Subservient Covenant by great Divines yet this may not be understood so as to constitute it a third Covenant distinct from both the other two of Works and of Grace as if that of Works were a Natural that on Sinai were Legal or Mosaical and that of Grace were Evangelical But Melancthon Chron. lib. 4. assures us that this three-fold Covenant was an old Monkish Dream whereon the Doctrine of Merits was Designedly as well as Dotingly grounded The truth is the Mosaical Covenant is a compound of both the two Covenants as to its Inward Essence and Constitution 't is a Covenant of Grace but as to its Outward Form and Dispensation 't is a Copy of the Covenant of Works as the sequel will evidence That the whole Doctrine delivered by God to Moses on Mount Sinai was in its Essence and Substance the same with the Covenant of Grace given before to Adam Noah and Abraham appeareth by many Arguments Arg. 1. That Covenant in which God promiseth to be our God since the Fall must be the Covenant of Grace and the Praeface of the Decalogue saith I am the Lord your God c. This God cannot be to Man since he sinned but in Christ Arg. 2. That Covenant as the Law is called Deut. 4.12 13. 5.2 3. which holdeth forth Sin-pardoning Mercy is the Covenant of Grace but so doth the second Commandment set forth God as shewing mercy to thousands where pardoning-mercy stands in opposition to a visiting of Iniquity Arg. 3. That Covenant which is founded upon Mercy must be the Covenant of Grace but such was this of Sinai 't was not a Covenant of Friendship as was that of Works betwixt an holy God and holy Adam in his state of Perfection but it was a Covenant of Mercy with a stiff-necked people Deut. 9.6 wherein he loved them not because they were lovely but because he loved them Deut. 7.7 8. 1 Sam. 12.22 meerly from the good pleasure of his goodness 2 Thes 1.12 Deut. 7.9 12. God joins Covenant and Mercy together as also 2 Chron. 6. v. 14. 2 Kings 13.23 Neh. 1.5 to shew his Covenant did flow from his Mercy Arg. 4. That Covenant which was the same with Abraham is granted by all to be the Covenant of Grace for as that Covenant at first found Adam an Apostate so after it found Abraham an Idolater Josh 24.2 It was not Grace in faln Adam or in Idolatrous Abraham that drew God into Covenant with either of them but it was Grace in God that moved him to take the one and the other into Covenant with himself and thus also took he stiff-necked Israel as before as he was the God of Abraham and so of his Seed by vertue hereof He brought them out of the Bondage of Egypt which Typified their Freedom from the Bondage of Sin so it was the Covenant of Grace whereof Circumcision was given as a Seal both to Abraham and to Israel under this Covenant of Sinai Rom. 4.11 Typing that of the Heart Rom. 2.29 and the Apostle saith he that is Circumcised is Debtor to the whole Law Gal. 5.3 c. which shews it was the Seal of Sinai's Covenant but this of Sinai is so Deut. 8.18 Levit. 26.41 42. Exod. 2.24 and 3.6 7. Deut. 6.10 and 7.12 The fifth Argument That Covenant which was confirmed by the Blood of Sprinkling was a Covenant of Grace but so was the Covenant on Sinai Exod. 24.5 and behold the Blood of the Covenant sprinkled upon the Book which the Lord hath made with you and sprinkled upon all the people ver 6 8. shewing thereby as by all their Sacrifices so many Types of Christ the Grand Sacrifice that without shedding of Christs Blood for us and its sprinkling on us there could be no Remission of Sin Heb. 9.19 20 21 22 23. The sixth Argument All the Ceremonies of Sinai's Covenant were the shadows of good things to come and Types of Christ who is the Body Heb. 9.1 c. All the Ordinances of Worship and the worldly Sanctuary there mentioned belonging to Sinai's Covenant are Expounded as pointing out the Covenant of Grace The Ceremonial Law was no other than their Gospel The seventh Argument That Covenant made with a Mediator is the Covenant of Grace and so was that of Sinai Gal. 3.19 Adam had no need of one before the Fall Israel had Moses their Mediator not Redemptions sed Relationis wherein he was a Typical Mediator only The Second Answer is The Law pressed upon Israel on Sinai was not a Covenant of VVorks but a darker dispensation of the Covenant of Grace for the better understanding of this consider four things 1st That the Law given upon Mount Sinai is taken either Strictly or Largely 1. Strictly as the Moral Law is press'd upon Israel for an exact rule of all Righteousness and promising Life upon condition of personal perfect and perpetual Obedience so it was indeed given in the form and as a copy of the Covenant of VVorks being materially and for substance the same with that to Adam in Innocency thus the Apostle saith Rom. 10.5 6. that in this sense the Law is not of Faith for its Righteousness speaketh in this manner he that doth them shall live in them where such a condition is propounded as neither is nor can be fulfilled by any Man save only by the Man Christ Jesus in the faln estate hence Luther raiseth an Holy Rapture saying the Law speaking thus to any Mortal Man Do and Live may as well say Morere Die out of Hand for there is no Man Lives and Sins not he can as soon cease to Sin as his Pulse to beat or his Heart to pant and his Lungs to breath 2. Largely as the Law contains the whole Doctrine delivered upon Mount Sinai with all the Precepts and Promises which may be reduced thereunto all the Ceremonies and Sacrifices which were Shews and Shadows of our Saviour the Body so 't was a darker dispensation of the Covenant of Grace to Israel 2dly Consider The off-spring of Abraham the Jews were of two sorts there was his Carnal and his Spiritual Seed represented to us in Gods Promise to Abraham Gen. 22.17 I will multiply thy Seed as the Stars of Heaven and as the Sand
the Mountain for the Elders ver 1. the Top of the Mountain for Moses and the bottom of it for the People ver 2. Secondly The Manner how Wherein is related what 1st Moses did who 1. Wrote all God's Statutes in a Book ver 4. Heb. 9.19 2. In the Morning the very next day after the fiftieth Day whereon the Law was given he erecteth an Altar to represent Christ and twelve Pillars to represent the twelve Tribes who were both the Parties in the Covenant 3. He sent the First born who were the Sacrificers till the Levites were taken in their stead Numb 3.41 c. to offer up burnt offerings and Peace-offerings both Types of Christ to sanctifie the People for entring into Covenant with God ver 5. 4. With half of the Blood he besprinkled the Altar and the Book that lay upon it to be sanctified thereby ver 6. Heb. 9.19 5. He took the Volume of the Covenant and read it in the Audience of the People that he might bring them into the Bonds of the Covenant ver 7. Ezek. 20.37 6. He took the other half of the Blood and besprinkled the People or the twelve Pillars or the seventy Elders that did represent them ver 8. all which were Patterns of those heavenly Things done by Christ sanctifying us by the Blood of a better Covenant Joh. 17.19 Heb. 9.13 14 18 23. 1 Pet. 1.2 2dly What both Moses said and the People too 1st Moses explained the Covenant and Commands of God to the People ver 3 and 8. as if he had spoke thus This whole People thus besprinkled with the Blood of the Covenant are received into God's Covenant Care and Custody yet upon that Condition If they will exactly keep the Law of their God and in Truth obey all his Commandments 2ly The People Promise their Obedience to all these Conditions of the Covenant ver 3 7. as they had done before Exod. 19.8 and 20.10 Thus the Covenant betwixt God and Israel was establish'd by a mutual and willing Consent though as yet they knew not the Impossibility of the Law which is weak through the Flesh Rom. 8 3. nor did Mind the twelve Pillars of Stone representing to them how their hard stony Nature was thereby resembled to them as the two Tables of Stone did resemble their hard stony Hearts Exod. 31.18 2 Cor. 3.3 3ly The Issue and Effect of this entring into Covenant The Elders of Israel that before might not come near the Lord now see his Glory eat and drink before him and he layeth not his avenging Hand upon them c. ver 9 10 11. Great Joy it was also to all the People ver 15 17. But Moses is call'd up into the Mount with his Servant Joshua ver 12 13. where he must abide to receive the Tables of Stone and the Pattern of the Tabernacle with all the Utensils of it c. In whose absence Aaron and Hur must manage all matters of Controversie in the Camp ver 14. The Glory of the Lord on Mount Sinai appearing all that Time in their sight like consuming Fire ver 15 16. Six days God prepares Moses for receiving the Law as in six days he created the World and rested upon the seventh Gen. 2.2 The same number is here at the giving of the Law wherein God manifested as much Wisdom as in making the World Psal 19. per totum Upon the Seventh day God calls Moses alone into the Cloud who stood at a distance with his Servant till called of God That Seventh Day is supposed to be the Sabbath being call'd the Seventh Day by an Emphatick Article as the Christian Sabbath is emphatically also call'd the Lord's Day above others Rev. 1.10 The People had but three Days of Preparation to receive the Law Exod. 19.10 11. But Moses must have Six to shew what singular Holiness is required of Ministers The Measures of the Sanctuary as the Shekel Cubit c. were double to the ordinary among the People Ministers must wish with Elisha a double Portion of the Spirit that they may save themselves and those that hear them Moses abode in the Cloud Forty Days and Nights ver 18. without eating Bread or drinking Water Deut. 9.9 The like number of days Elias fasted for Reviving the Law which in his day was lost 1 King 19.8 And Christ did the same when he entred into his Ministry of giving the Gospel Matth. 4.2 and it must be supposed that the Lord enabled Moses to abide there forty days as well as to enter the Cloud which he could not do Exod. 40.35 N. B. If it be asked What became of Joshua all this time for he came down with Moses and knew nothing of the Calf set up in the Camp Exod. 32.17 when Moses brought the two Tables It is thus answered Tho' it be expresly said That Joshua went up with Moses and came down with him yet is it not mentioned in Scripture how high he went or whether he heard what God said to Moses c. It seemeth he staid still with Moses during the six days preparation till God call'd his Master from him into the Cloud and like a faithful Servant he staid in some place where his Master appointed and knew how to find him upon his Return Exod 32.17 18 not knowing any thing of Israel's Idolatry so had no meat from the Camp nor did he fast the forty days as Moses did but was as some say sustained all that time with Manna c. in some extraordinary manner by the Lord. In this forty days and nights Conference which the Lord held with Moses in the Mount God gave him the Ceremonial Law which was the Shadowed Gospel for this Infant Church as before he had given the Moral and the Judicial Laws The Ceremonial Law was to direct this Church in the External Worship of God As 1. That a place be prepared for his Publick Worship called then the Tabernacle which as Josephus saith was a portable Temple 2. That the People now in Covenant with their God must offer voluntarily all materials for the making of this Tabernacle both for the outward Fabrick and all the inward Utensils thereof Exod. 25 26 27 and 30. chapters 3. God ordains the Persons to attend the Service of this Sanctuary and they are Aaron and his Sons of the Tribe of Levi who are directed both as to their Garments and as to their Sacrifices and Ceremonies of their Consecration chap. 28 and 29. 4. God calls forth and qualifies the Persons for the whole workmanship of the Tabernacle within and without as Bezaleel and Aholiab with others whom he filled with the spirit of Wisdom and made them meet for the making of all sorts of the Manufacture thereof chap. 31. All which materials must be exactly made according to the Pattern or Model that God now shewed in a Vision unto Moses in the Mount giving him as is supposed an Aetherial Idea or Platform both of persons and things as God afterward
is no less a wonder that good Jehosaphat should stand by and both hear and see all those insolent Tricks and Transactions in abusing God's Prophet whom he had caused to be sent for yet becomes a mere mute as too loth to displease Ahab whose crafty Insinuations had too great Influence upon him so that this good King had not one word to speak in the behalf of that good Prophet which shews saith Peter Martyr N. B. That ill Company many times marrs good men and is as an infectious Air too familiarly to breath in bad Society doth deaden or at least damps true Sanctity in the best Souls c. Mark 4. Bold Micaiah cannot be conquer'd with all Ahab's Threats ver 28. but casts the credit of his Calling upon the Issue as Moses did Numb 16.29 Deut. 18.21 22. He was assured from Heaven of the Event on Earth and that God would deliver him out of the mouth of this Lion as 2 Tim. 4.17 18. therefore he with the greatest Confidence and ministerial Authority denounceth Ahab's Doom That he should never return in peace as he had promised to himself his Hope shall perish Prov. 11.7 and prove no better than a giving up the Ghost which is but cold comfort Job 11.20 and the Prophet calls all the People to be Witnesses of the truth of his Prophecy by the event of it N. B. That when they saw those things he had foretold come to pass saith Vatablus they might all then understand that he had delivered his Message by divine Inspiration and that he though but one and all alone was in the Truth and that the four hundred Prophets of Baal notwithstanding their noise multitude and uniformity were in the Error and acted by that lying Spirit the Devil as in ver 21 22. Now come we to the Concomitants which is the second Part after the Antecedents the first Part Here be two Particulars First the Expedition undertaken and Secondly the Fatal Conflict Remarks upon the Expedition are First Jehosaphat joins with Ahab in undertaking the War N. B. 'T is strange a man in whom good things were found 2 Chron. 19.8 durst do so having such fair forewarning from God's Prophet yet adventures ver 29. We are told in 2 Chron. 18 ver 1 2 c. where this History is not Abridged as is usual with that Author in other cases but related at large as being exceeding excellent in the whole of it how Jehosaphat having abundance of Wealth made him too much fond of his new Affinity with Ahab matching his eldest Son with Ahab's Daughter 2 Kings 8.18 and now was he and his Retinue royally Feasted by Ahab and he being of too facile a Disposition enters into a League with him for waging this War before he had consulted God by his Prophet whether he might engage himself in it or no After his Vows of Engagement it was then his snare to make enquiry Prov. 20 25. At this Consultation it was that sawcy Zedekiah smote Micaiah in the open Court and in such a Presence as is before related which was the greatest Impudency and because he had no better Arguments to confute Micaiah's dissuasives from this War he answers him in the Figures and Moods of Barbara and Ferio terms in Logick which signifie a barbarous smiting him N. B. Had Micaiah so smitten Zedekiah what a noise had been made of it by that bad King and his corrupt Courtiers Jehosaphat saw all this foul play heard the Prophet's Prophesie yet as loth to break his tash League goes along with Ahab to the hazard of his own Life Remark the Second Ahab durst not trust his Baal's Prophets so far as to trust himself in his own Royal Robes but disguises himself and makes Jehosaphat Generalissimo of both the Armies saith Osiander pretending hereby to Honour the King of Judah but indeed intending to save himself and to elude Micaiah's Predictions ver 30. This he did saith Grotius because he understood the Syrians chief aim would be to cut off Ahab the only Author of the War and so in truth Benhadad had commanded his Captains ver 31. As this was sublime Ingratitude in Benhadad principally to seek the Life of him who so lately gave him his Life Chap. 20.33 34. N.B. Ill was that Snake saved saith Dr. Hall that requites the favour of his Life with a Sting and our English Proverb Save a Thief from the Gallows and he will be the first to harm you was herein verified So it was a sordid Treachery in Ahab saith Peter Martyr to secure himself from harm as he thought and expose good Jehosaphat knowingly to the utmost Peril This is the right Character saith he of a wicked Man so he may but save himself he matters not what mischief befals his Friends and Relations Remark the First upon the fatal Conflict The Battle begins and Jehosaphat is mistaken for Ahab ver 32 33. he is furiously assaulted and now sees to his sorrow what an evil it was to be in bad Company yea almost too late had he not cried to God for help 2 Chron. 18.31 and the Lord helped him N. B. which precious Passage is not here but is added by the Penman of the Chronicles who relateth former Histories Recorded but oft with advantage the Syrians perceiving it was not Ahab perhaps by his calling upon Jehovah only and not upon Ahab's Idols or however by a sweet Providence of God in whose sight the life of his Saints is precious Psal 116.15 they turned away from him Oh how good was God here Remark the Second upon the Conflict is The apparent Evidence of God's All-ordering Providence even in things merely casual and contingent Deut. 19.4 A man draws his bow at a venture ver 34. neither knowing Ahab's Person nor that God had doom'd him to Death yet the Hand of Heaven carries the Arrow between the Joints of Ahab's Harness to his Heart 2 Chron. 18.33 and surely his Sin now found him out Numb 32.23 this Shaft was God's swift Messenger to convey Death to a disguised Debtor c. The last Parts are the Consequents of this Conflict Remark First Ahab now lays bleeding in his Chariot ver 35. N. B. Well might he now wish he were Micaiah in the Jayle What Joy could he now have of his white Ivory Palace ver 39. built for pomp and pleasure while his black Soul was bleeding it self out of his Body The wicked have the advantage of the way saith Dr. Hall but the godly of the end his blood is running out to pay Naboth his Arrearages and at Evening he dyed Josephus saith without Book that only Ahab was slain all the Army escaped Remark the Second Ahab's Death dissolves the Army ver 36 37. A Proclamation is made to scatter the Sheep when the Shepherd was smitten according to Micaiah's Prophecy ver 17. What God speaks with his mouth he will fulfil with his hand 1 Kings 8.15 nor suffer his faithfulness to fail Psal 89.33 Micaiah had pawned