of this life the Princes robes and the beggars rags lie down together but the difference in their spirits is eternal and therefore the blessing or the curse upon the soul is much more than that on the body or the estate many of these being but for the time of this life 3 Sin is chiefly an act of the soul The sin of the soul membra sunt arma the members are but weapons it 's the soul that 's the hand and the chief cause of enmity lies therein and therefore the chief vengeance lights upon that God will punish sin not only here but eternally Therefore as the greatest blessing is upon the soul so the greatest curse also And as the School-men say of Glory so we may say of Wrath it is Radicaliter in corde redundanter in corpore radically in the heart but redundantly in the body the main object of wrath and curse is the soul 2 Pet. Mat. 16. 4 The great evil that sin does a man it fights against his soul and the great loss that it occasions is the loss of the soul men do often complain of losses but they may be all made up in this life as Job's were or if not yet the afflictions of this present life are not worthy of the glory that shall be reveal'd they work for us a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory and Quaedam amittere ut majora lucreris non amissio est sed mercatura to lose some things that thou maist gain better is not loss but a thriving trade But the loss of the soul is the great loss that can never be made up and therefore the curse of the soul is the great curse 5 The curse of the soul being taken off all other curses are taken off also as the curse remaining on the soul all blessings are turn'd into curses they may be blessings in the thing but they are curses to the man So on the other side all cursings are turn'd into blessings they may be curses in the thing but they shall prove blessings to the man To the unclean all things are unclean for their minds and consciences are defiled Tit. 1. When once Grace comes into the soul malediction goes out all things shall work for your good and the curse is taken off from all the Creatures for your use Life is yours and death is yours so that as the precept of the Law is made a servant to the promise of the Gospel for it was added by way of subordination and subserviency thereunto so the curse of the Law is made a servant to the Grace of the Gospel also and a Saint has a sanctified use of that as a blessing which is in it self a curse 6 The chief satisfaction that was given for sin has reference to the soul In the sacrifice there was offred the life and the blood but it was the blood that made an atonement for the soul and without shedding of blood there is no remission And when Christ came to stand in our stead as a surety the main of the sufferings he endured were in his soul Isa 53.10 God made his soul an offering for sin Christ did as our surety and therefore he put his name to our bond and was made under the Law Now being our surety he was to pay our debt and that was mainly in the soul The Sacrifice that was to be accepted of God was to be a whole burnt-offering now if Christ had but suffered in his body it had been but a half burnt-offering He offered himself Heb. 9.10 therefore it must be his whole manhood and before his bodily suffering came while he was in the Garden he says My soul is heavy unto death Mar. 14.33 amazed or astonished the word is rendred a failing of spirit his spirit died even within him his thoughts were wholly abstracted from all things else and the wrath of God that lay upon him did wholly fill up his soul c. Now in all these respects the curse upon the soul which is spiritual death is the greatest part of the Curse far greater than that upon the body upon Creatures or Relations § 2. And now let us come to consider wherein this Curse upon the Soul lies 1. It lies in this That a man has forsaken God as his chief Good and as his utmost End Man in his Creation was carried towards God as that chiefest Good wherein his happiness consisisted and acted towards God as him to whom all his actions were refer'd and wherein his blessedness lay and therefore Augustin speaking from a spirit renew'd and having the same principle begun in him says Omnis copia quae non est Deus inanis egestas est All plenty that is not God is poverty And Bernard says Animam Dei capacem quicquid est Deo minus non implebit nothing less than God will fill the soul capable of God Man having all in God must needs do all for him and refer all to him for he that is the chief Good must needs be also the utmost End Now the death of the soul lies mainly in this first it 's taken off from God as the chief Good for that 's the first thing sin does Jam. 1.14 it draws a man away from God who was the Center where the soul rested Psal 116.7 Return to thy rest O my soul They have forsaken their resting place they have wandred upon every mountain And therefore Jude v. 18. all the lustings and inclinations of the soul they are call'd ungodly lusts because they have nothing else in them that being the main bent in them all to take off the soul from God and carry it away from him Jer. 2.13 It 's forsaking the fountain of living water And Heb. 3.12 It 's departing from the living God And hence it is that repenting is call'd returning because we have departed from him and conversion is nothing else but returning to God as a mans chief Good And man being thus departed from him God is not in all their thoughts for they look for no good from him their good lies not in him and therefore they live without God in the world they know him not they love him not they expect nothing from him it 's to them as if there were no God to judge nor reward and hence it is that men can live without the favour of God all their life-long and never be troubled because they have not made it their happiness But take a man that has set up this as his happiness a frown is to him as the messenger of death and not to see the Kings face puts him into the shadow of death for he can breath in no other air as Absalom said He could not live unless he saw the Kings face And so David God had hid his face which made him like to them that go down into the pit Man in his Creation as he was wholly of God so he was wholly for him and so it is when the Image
But here it may be men will wonder that time should be spent amongst us in beating men out of this being under the first Covenant and getting life upon impossible terms to undertake perfectly to keep the Law and to seek justification by works seeing we are neither Jews nor Papists We know we cannot fulfill the Law but that there is iniquity in our holy things and we are so far from resting in our duties that we acknowledge our righteousness is as filthy rags that if God should look upon them as they are he must needs abhor them and us for them and therefore surely there are none amongst us that do so all this labour might be spared for we are so far from desiring it that we disclaim it and abhor it But I answer to this Answer that a man ought to read in other mens practices his own inclination this was a desire in Adam 1 Cor. 15.49 and in his Posterity who do all bear the image of the earthly for as face answers to face in the water so sin is alike in all men and that man perfectly likes an example of sinning in others that does not reflect upon himself and see that there are seeds of it in him that doth not read his own nature in another mans life 2. If there be the seeds of it in thy own heart then though it never should break forth into act yet there is just cause that God should loath thee for it as we do Toads though they hurt us not And indeed the main part of our enmity against God and Gods against us lies in the contrariety of our nature to him Col. 1.21 we are naturally enemies to God in our minds and this is the top of all a godly mans humiliation this is but a part of all that evil treasure that is within Psal 51.7 and there is more in the Ware-house than in the Shop And that Christian is never kindly humbled for any sin if his humiliation ends in the sin it self and ascend not to the fountain that is within him that raging sea that always is casting out mire c. We know that in the Saints there is no lust perfectly mortified in this life Rom. 6.6 for sin dies a crucified death and therefore though in a Saint it be still upon the Cross and dying daily yet it shall never be perfectly destroyed till this corruptible shall put on incorruption The Saints have the seeds of this sin of trusting in themselves in them also and this lust will not lye idle in them the flesh will lust against the spirit Gal. 5.17 and it shews how prone the nature of man is to it and the actings of it because it has shewed it self so in all ages And therefore one being asked why Pelagianism did spring up in all ages answered Because there were Pelagianae fibrae in the hearts of all men So if this be asked you Why this lust of carnal confidence always breaks forth into sinful acts c. you may also answer There are fibrae of it in the heart of all men Therefore if God have kept this lust from acting in thee so much as it has done in others O be thankful for so great a mercy but be careful that thou say not that it is not in thee because God has restrained the lust from acting for then it may be just with God to give a man over to the power of it and he shall see by experience that it 's a mercy to have it restrained seeing he cannot be wholly freed from it in this life It 's a great evil when God preserves men from sin for them to think there is no such danger in it Take heed lest God let out such a lust upon thee that will make thee a mourner all thy days and remember how presumptuous Peter was against his denial of Christ yet how soon he was guilty of it And how apt are Christians for not prizing a preservation from gross sins to walk fearlesly and then God often leaves them to the power of lust and shews them the mercy of his former restraint Indeed all lusts in the heart of man do not act alike some lusts do work directly and press men to sin as that of Whoredom and Drunkenness a man has distinct thoughts about them but there are some that do work indirectly and in a secret way to guide men in their practise and yet never come into distinct thoughts but work as principles that lye low and a man acts in the power of them and yet observe them not as in a Watch every one may observe the wheels that move but every one does not observe the spring from whence their motion proceeds as a Scholar that speaks and writes Latin he does not think of the rules of Grammar every sentence he speaks and yet those rules have an influence into every word and his whole discourse is framed after those rules so there are some sins as Atheism c. a man it may be never says in actual thoughts that there is no God and yet this principle sways with a man and is at the bottom of every sin And so it is with this sin it may not come into actual thoughts that there is Eternal life to be had by our works and we will exclude the righteousness of Christ and yet it may have a very great influence upon the man in his whole course as being a fundamental and mother-sin 1 So far as any man does desire to establish his own righteousness so far he desires to be under a Covenant of Works for justification and life but this is the disposition of every man by nature therefore every man by nature desires to be under the first Covenant still this was the great fruit of it amongst the Jews Rom. 10.3 and the words are very significant Going about to establish their own righteousness i. e. seeking or studying for it as students use to do It signifies to labour for a thing with a mans utmost endeavour even with all his might as Mat. 6.32 After these things do the Gentiles seek and it answers to the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 9.31 Rom. 9.31 They followed after the law of righteousness but they attained it not The law of righteousness is the righteousness of the Law that is justification by it for the righteousness of the Law to be fulfilled in them by their own personal obedience not by faith but by works this they followed after with all their might And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Imbecillitatem propriae justitiae denotat denotes the imbecillity of their own righteousness that it could not stand alone but they must set it up and support it and make it stand by their own opinion and presumptions Now you see this all along how men expect acceptation with God for their services Isa 58.1 Wherefore have we fasted and thou regardest not Men do think to be heard for
both these 1 In reference to the precept of the Law and the Remunerative justice of God so God did require of his Son that he should perfectly obey that Law that man had broken and this obedience of Christ consists 1 In this That it must proceed from a nature perfectly answering the Law Heb. 7.26 he was holy and harmless c. 2 Holy actions Matt. 7.3 Joh. 8.29 Rom. 8.2 5 19 he did fulfill all righteousness and it is becoming him so to do He knew no sin neither was there guile found in his mouth 3 Herein he did continue and persevere unto the end He doth always the things that do please him and these go unto Gods satisfaction and to our justification as by Adams actual disobedience many are made sinners so by Christs active obedience many are made righteous Rom. 3. last Dan. 9.23 Rom. 8.3 And he saith he came not to destroy the law but to fulfill it And the way of the Gospel doth not make void the Law but establish it and there are two parts that Christ must act to finish transgression and make an end of sin and to bring in an everlasting righteousness and therefore the righteousness of the Law is said to be fulfilled in us and it is the righteousness of the Law and that which doth exactly answer the Law in all things Ambros It is fulfilled in us while it is imputed to us 2 In reference to the curse of the Law and the vindicative justice of God and herein are four things 1 He must represent our persons and therefore he is called a surety that must stand instead of the debtor as the sacrifice did dye instead of the man And he is said to bear our names in his heart as the High Priest did upon his breast-plate as one that represented all these before God and therefore he is said to be made sin for us and a curse for us and to suffer the just for the unjust for us that is in our stead Therefore we need not say how can one person make satisfaction for so many thousands Truly there is a worth and an excellency in the person of Christ equivalent to the persons of all the elect and he did as their surety represent them all before the Lord. 2 He must bear their sins and all the guilt of them 't is all charged upon him 2 Cor. 5.21 He was made sin for us that knew no sin The greatest sinner says Luther Christ was because he bore the sins of all the elect of God God did make to meet on him the iniquity of us all Isa 53.6 Psal 40.12 Gal. 3.13 He did confess our sins as his own Mine iniquities have taken hold of me God did impute sin to him 3 He must suffer our Curse He hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us the chastisement of our peace was upon him when God made his Soul an offering for sin 4 He must pay the utmost farthing and that he did John 16.10 of righteousness Because I go to my father and you see me no more It was an argument that the debt was paid for the High Priest entred into the most holy place once a year but I go to the Father where I should never have come if I had not discharged the debt and I have done it once for all and therefore you see me no more He is gone into Heaven he was taken from Prison he was put into the Grave as a Prison and as a Malefactor but to shew that our debt was satisfied the Lord sent an Angel as a publick Minister of Justice Psal 110. last and did open the Grave and gave him a release he did lift up his head having drunk of the brook in the way And all this Christ did perform not of his own will meerly and of his own accord but he did it in obedience to a command John 10.18 I lay down my life and take it again for this commandment I received of my father Thy law is in the midst of my bowels Psal 40.7 8. it is the law of dying to be made a sacrifice And he saith Psal 40.7 8. In the volume of the book it is written of me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some do understand it of the Book of Gods Decrees and so this of Christ was first the Lord priviledging him to be the Churches head in the first page of this Book it was written of him that he should do his will others understand it of the Book of the Scriptures the Prophecies and Predictions of Christ in them and the Lord in them did foretell what past between the Father and the Son at the Council Table of Heaven before ever Christ came into the World the Lord Christ said Sacrifice and burnt-offering thou wouldest not it would not satisfie him but thou hast told the World of me that it was thy will that I should do it and I am ready to obey Gal. 4.4 c. Thus was Christ made under the Law as our surety and laid down an answerable price unto whatever the Law and Justice of God could expect of us 2. Christ did whatever is required unto mans sanctification 1 He gathers them Other sheep I have that are not of this fold them I must bring in Joh. 10.16 Joh. 8.39 it is spoken as a duty that lay upon him which God required of him I must do it it is the will of him that sent me that of those that thou hast given I should lose none but raise them up again 2 He must govern them and erect a throne of grace in their hearts and rule in them Isa 40.10 11. His arm shall rule for him and he shall feed his flock as a shepherd gathers the lambs with his arm 3 He sanctifies them receives the spirit for them and dispenseth it unto them Isa 42.1 2. He is my servant I put my spirit upon him and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles And therefore he went to Heaven as a publick person as the second Adam and having himself received the Holy Ghost he doth send forth the gifts and graces of it more abundantly for Christ is in Heaven by vertue of Office and it was necessary in that respect that he should depart from us because by Covenant he was to perform some acts of office in Glory he was to go before and prepare a place for you 4 To be their Advocate and plead their cause and the word as Cameron observes is in opposition unto an accuser 1 Joh. 2.1 Rev. 12.10 Satan is the great Accuser of the brethren he doth accuse the brethren before God day and night And we see Zac. 3.1 2. Satan stands at his right hand as the manner of accusing was in antient times as we see in Jobs instance but Christ makes answer for them there is a difference between Christ as a surety and as a publick person who
in the Law is to present another and act for him as in his stead as an Attourney or an Ambassador 5 Christ is their Intercessor he offers their sacrifices and attains all mercies for them He offers them sacrifices mixed with his own odours Isa 53. last vers Rev. 8.3 5. for his blood is a speaking blood and it is always sprinkled before the mercy seat 6 He must come again and fetch them and present them unto his Father as a glorious Church before Men and Angels saying Here I am and the Children that thou hast given me and this Chrysostom doth conceive to be the Kingdom that is the Church which Christ shall give up unto his Father 1 Cor. 15.24 2. Now follows the promise if Christ doth perform this in obedience to his Father not seeking his own glory but the glory of him that sent him God doth assure him 1 of assistance in his work he shall have all the power of God ingaged to carry him through it as Isa 42.4 6. I will hold thy hand and thou shalt not be discouraged Isa 45.1 2 Of acceptance a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour and therefore compared unto odours the presentation of it should be sweet unto God Rev. 8.4 3 Of deliverance that he should not lye under the guilt of sin but be justified Isa 50.8 For the debt was paid and the bond was cancelled justified in the spirit nor under the power of death it was impossible he should be held by death Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell c. 4 He should have a seed Psal 72.22 His name shall be continued amongst his posterity Isa 5.3 He shall see his seed and who shall declare his generation 5 He shall have rule and dominion a Kingdom John 5.22 not only in the Church but over all things to the Church a providential as well as a spiritual Kingdom Eph. 1. last Isa 42.4 He shall set judgment in the earth Mic. 4.3 He shall judge among the Nations and he shall govern as King of Saints Rev. 11.17 6 He shall have a worship and a glory Isa 5.5 Nations shall run to thee because I have glorified thee A name above every name a worship from Men and Angels Heb. 1.6 and a publick honour as the Author of all their salvation at that last and great day when he shall the judge the World in righteousness and shall come to be admired in his Saints who shall be with him in Heaven for ever For they shall enter into their masters joy and this is the reward the Lord promises Christ for his services with which he comforts himself Isa 45.4 3. Unto these Articles both parties agree and 4. they are bound by their own consent 1 Christ doth accept of this office upon the Fathers terms and doth freely submit unto the Fathers will he takes the nature of man and in that nature subjects himself Isa 50.5 He gave his face to the smiters and he did the work that the Father sent him to do and he failed not in a tittle thereof and he doth it freely and cheerfully 't is as his meat and drink Lo I come to do thy will O God And he is now in Heaven by vertue of office Psal 40.8 as he is God the Fathers servant as our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 2 Upon these promises he doth exercise faith and his soul rests upon them Isa 5.7 9. The Lord will help me my God shall be my strength Heb. 2.13 Psal 16.10 he is near that justifies me he will not leave my soul in hell and upon the Cross he cries out My God c. It is his God by Covenant Christ is the highest pattern of believing and as a publick person trusts God for all the benefits of the Covenant for himself and us 3 The promises of this Covenant he doth follow by a continued Prayer for he doth obtain it by Prayer as we do Psal 2.8 Ask of me and I will give thee c. John 17.4 Now glorifie me now let the glory of the Godhead shine forth in the humane nature the time of my suffering being ended 4 All the glory that Christ has now in Heaven and Earth is nothing else but in performance of this Covenant that the Father made with him God hath exalted him and he hath received the promise of the holy Ghost Act. 2.33 Christ must first suffer and afterwards enter into his glory and he hath fulfilled it and the Lord hath given him as a light to the Gentiles Isa 49.8 and for salvation to the ends of the earth 5 He is in constant expectation of the full accomplishment hereof when the glory of Christ in his mystical body shall be full and his joy full and his sufferings full and his enemies perfectly subdued and his people perfectly glorified Heb. 10.13 and all this by vertue of the Covenant that past between God and him grounded upon the love and faithfulness of God in Covenant being a God that keeps covenant for ever § 4. Now the Uses and Corollaries that follows from this part of the Covenant which was made with Christ in reference unto the trust that he hath undertaken are many and of very great use both for matter of instruction and of practice Use 1. This gives us a great light into the election of Christ The Scripture doth commonly assert that he is the elect of God chosen both to duty and glory a work that he was to do Isa 42.1 and a reward that he was to receive and we are said to be chosen in him Ephes 1.4 which notes properly the order in which God elects his Saints First Christ God and Man as the head as primus foederatus the prime sederate after whom and in whom in the order of nature all the body are elected so that the grace of election begins first in Christ our head and descends unto us in him it notes the order in which we are elected and not the cause of our election not that we were first elected and then Christ chosen by occasion of our fall but he is the first born in the womb of Gods election The first born amongst many brethren Now the election of man is an act of sovereignty and meerly comes under the will of God Rom. 3. He has mercy on whom he will have mercy And as the Potter has power over the clay c. But Christ as God could not come under an act of his will as election is but by his own consent Ephes 1.5 It is according to the good pleasure of his will he is appointed Heir of all things as he was the Son he was haeres natus a born heir that being an act of his nature but as the head of the Church so he was hares constitutus a constituted heir and comes under an act of Gods will Christ was elected to be Gods great servant in reference unto man and that under a double
and good will for his Purposes and Decrees are immutable as himself is and there can nothing arise de novo that should cause him to change his purpose but more that he proceeded herein to a treaty with his Son about it to be his Servant in this great work to bring Jacob again unto him Isa 49. and made a solemn Covenant pass between these glorious persons about it and that those thoughts should delight them before the World began and that the Lord should bespeak his Son with all the terms of dearness that can be to undertake this service Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee and therefore being his Son it was only an office fit for him and as being his Son there was all fitness in him so there was all dearness to him and by this Christ did upon this motion of the Fathers undertake this service and there was a solemn Covenant passed between them Jer. 30.21 And thus the Lord did as it were bind himself and his Son unto this great work of your Salvation before the World was not only laying his love but also his faithfulness to pawn though not in a Covenant to you before you were yet in a Covenant to his Son and therefore there was a promise of eternal life given us in him before the World began 3 When he doth Covenant with Christ to be a Priest Tit. 1.2 it is a Covenant that he confirms by an Oath to shew that he doth never intend to alter and change his resolution Psal 110.4 The Lord has sworn and will not repent c. Psal 110.4 Heb. 7.21 This Priest was made by an Oath by him that said unto him Thou art my Son the Lord swore and will not repent and this was from everlasting for then it was that Christ was first appointed or set apart to become a Priest Now all this shews how much the heart of God was in it For the Word of God is as true as his Oath and as infallible and therefore if he had but said it it had been enough for there is a greater stability in his Word than there is in Heaven and Earth but yet it is observed by Divines that between the Word of God and his Oath there is this difference though the Lord speaks the word yet there may be some secret and tacite condition or some subsequent declaration of the mind of God As for Nineveh God said Within fourty days Nineveh should be destroyed yet there was an implyed condition of repentance which being performed the Judgement was not executed And so to Ely I said that thy fathers house should walk before me for ever but now I say Be it far from me and so the promise is reversed and it may be that is the meaning of the expression in Numbers You shall know my breach of Covenant But if God swears it shews the unchangeableness of his counsel an absolute act that nothing can arise de novo and nothing can be supposed that can cause God to change it he will never have a relenting thought for the pardon of sins and saving of sinners for ever and therefore he swore and made him a Priest by an Oath and this Oath some conceive to be the seal of God by which he did in a solemn manner set apart his Son for this great office and designed him to it from everlasting Joh. 6.27 John 6.27 Him hath God the father sealed So that as he has sealed up his decrees concerning you that they can never receive an alteration or change more how changeable soever you be 2 Tim. 2.19 as 2 Tim. 2.19 The foundation of God remains sure having this seal the Lord knows who are his so he hath sealed up also his Covenant with Christ and that by an Oath Now if it were but a Kings Seal who could reverse it But this is the King of Kings 4 We see that their hearts were much in it for neither of these persons ever repented of it to this day 1 If God the Father would have repented a man would have expected that it should have been when he came to make his Son an offering for sin Oh! what relenting thoughts and rolling of bowels had Abraham when his Son must dye and he himself must have a hand therein and become the executioner So it pleased the Father to bruise him Matt. 26.29 and Matt. 26.29 there is a necessity or an impossibility spoken of and it lay wholly in the will of God for so he adds not my will but thy will be done If God could have changed his Will Christ might have lived and the Cup passed away but God had covenanted to make him a surety he had made him a Priest by an Oath and his will could not change he could not repent of it therefore this Cup he must drink Thus Isa 53.5 the same word is used and it signifies to beat a thing to pieces as in a Mortar and God was pleased with it Ephes 5.2 The offering of Christ was to God a Sacrifice of a sweet savour What made it so Only the end Finis dat mediis amabilitatem the end gives sweetness to the means Had it not been for that the Lord must needs have abhorred it 2 And Christ accepts of the Covenant and never repented he did never call back his word or change his ingagement he had the law of dying written in the middle of his bowels as it was the pleasure of the Lord so it was his with desire have I desired it and I have a baptism and I am straitned till it be fulfilled Vse 3. Thence we see the ground of the pardoning of all the sins of the ancient Saints under the first Testament Rom. 3.25 Heb. 9.15 The debt was not paid and the Sacrifice was not offered and yet their sins were pardoned and their souls saved it was by vertue of the Covenant and ingagement of Christ unto God the Father there was blood of Bulls and Goats and that could only signifie Christ but could not satisfie God but when Christ came and performed the Covenant now he satisfied for the transgressions under the first Testament and in this respect he was a Lamb slain from the beginning though offered in the latter days of the World because the Covenant immediately from the fall of man took place and God looked upon him by virtue of this Covenant as our surety and required all of him Vse 4. It is a mighty ground of Faith that all shall be performed for if these glorious persons could break Covenant with you yet they will not break one with another therefore surely 1 on Gods part all his promises unto Christ shall be made good every knee shall bow taken him all his enemies shall become his footstool all the persecuting Monarchies shall be taken down and the stone without hands shall fill the earth and the Mountain of the Lord shall be exalted upon the top of all the
his wisdom and industry could not find out And what is that secret of the Covenant The Covenant is the secret and it is with them that he may make it known unto them therefore there is a mysterie in the dutys of the Covenant that is not revealed unto all but it is unto them that fear him and the Lord will do it suitably unto our frame as our grace comes in by constant supplies of the Spirit of God so doth our knowledge also and all by a daily increase of light from the Spirit and this is by a frequent repetition of the same act of faith and therefore the people of God love to repeat it and thereby they see farther into these mysteries from day to day and they do the more exceedingly prize the mercy of the Covenant as the greatest mercy they can injoy 3. How is this work to be done and what is it for a man to renew his Covenant 1. He that will renew his Covenant with God must be deeply sensible of the breach of Covenant and of the unfaithfulness of his heart therein It should deeply humble us to consider that no bonds should hold us If there were no other tye upon us but that of our creation that we had our being from him and that out of nothing but when unto this natural and necessary bond we have added a voluntary and have consented unto the Lord yet now for us to forget the Covenant of our God and prove perfidious to him and draw back is this your return unto God for his Grace in taking you into Covenant and who doth always remember Covenant mercies for you even then when you forget duty to him Is this your requital of the Lord who in the performance of the Covenant did not spare his Son when he cryed that he might be saved God was so resolved upon his Covenant with you that the death of his Son was a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour and he was delighted in it in performance of the grace of the Covenant made with you And also the Lord Christ met with variety of discouragements not only the weight of sin in the guilt of it which he complained of as his own though he knew no sin Psal 40.12 but the wrath of the Father the rage of his enemies the hour and the power of darkness the falshood of his Disciples and yet when he was tempted to come down from the Cross he doth hold it out that he might thereby shew that he loved you to the uttermost and would save you to the utmost And now for you Prov. 20.25 after vows to make inquiry whenas no man doth receed or go back from the Covenant in which he hath ingaged himself without infamy and it 's as odious as for a man to prove false to his friend and betray him and as unfair dealing it is as for a Servant to run away from his Master or a Soldier from his Commander and as David says by way of reproach he hath broken his Covenant and laid his hand upon him that was at peace with him yea for the Wife of a mans bosom to betray a man and to forget the Covenant of her God for a man to forget his Oath that he took at his Baptism and as the Jews did labour to make their circumcision uncircumcision and to do this unto a God that was never a Wilderness to you nor ever gives you cause to repent of your ingagement surely hereby you see not only your perfidiousness and unthankfulness but also fully to make forfeiture of all Covenant mercies to bring upon your selves all the curses of the Covenant Gen. 2.28 Num. 14.34 and to put God upon breach of Covenant with you who have behaved your selves so unfaithfully towards him and thereby you acknowledge though you have subscribed your names in the register of Zion yet you deserve unto your perpetual ignominy to have them expunged thence and to be written in the earth and given up to an everlasting forgetfulness So it was with Josiah when he made his Covenant his heart was tender and he did humble himself before the Lord for their Covenant-breaking 2 Chron. 34.27 31. Neh. 10. And Ezra 10. it doth follow upon a great humiliation a man that is not sensible of and his heart not affected with the breach of Covenant that man is not fit to renew his Covenant with the Lord. 2. It must be with a resolution of heart to break all other Covenants men are said Isa 28.15 To make a Covenant with death and hell that is they were as secure Isa 28.15 and as fearless of it as a man that hath a person in Covenant with him whom he looks upon as his friend and fears him not and thus they make a Covenant with sin and ingage themselves to serve other gods and so when the people renewed the Covenant in Joshuah's time you see the Command you have chosen the Lord to serve him Josh 24.22 put away therefore your strange gods and so the command was to put away their strange wives Ezra There are cords of vanity and there are bonds of iniquity by which men do bind themselves Now all these Covenants must be broken if a man come to renew his Covenant with the Lord for the answer you must give to the Covenant must be the answer of a good conscience and that Conscience that reserves to it self any league with sin unbroken 1 Pet 3.21 is not a good conscience before God a Covenant that is sinful is in it self void and a nullity because in every such ingagement there is dolus deceit and error which are destroying to the nature of a Covenant which should be free and deliberate and therefore it is in all such Covenants as with Herods Oath they bind to nothing but repentance for Juramentum non est vinculum iniquitatis and therefore a man must resolve to break Covenant with all sinful ingagements if he do intend to renew his Covenant with the Lord. 3. A man must know the terms and read over the Articles of the Covenant anew for no wise man will set his hand to an obligation of which he is not well acquainted with the condition and if there were no other cause nor ingagement upon man to know the will of God and their own duty this were enough they have bound themselves to serve him and therefore by the same Covenant they are bound to know the rules by which he will be served for Deo serviendum non est ex arbitrio sed ex imperio so doth Josiah 2 Chron. 34.30 he caused to be read in the ears of the people all the words of the book of the Covenant and then he stood up and made a Covenant before the Lord to perform all the words of the Covenant written in the Book 4. It must be with a free and full consent of heart for the Covenant in the renewing of it must
but it 's said That from that time they came no more upon the Sabbath and surely this duty lies upon the Christian Magistrate also and it 's his sin if he do it not and so for private persons in reference to their families Thou and thy son and thy daughter thy man servant c. 4 The Jews did meet to worship God publickly upon the Sabbath day and there they had the Law and the Prophets read and preached to them every Sabbath day and from hence it 's a good argument to infer the publick meeting of Christians to worship God publickly upon their Sabbath Act. 13.27 15.21 and that part of this worship should be a constant reading and publishing the will of God in the Law and in the Prophets and in the Gospel It will be a hard matter to find rules for this under the New Testament but we must be regulated by the practice of the institutions under the former administrations I conceive it will be in this counted but a slender answer to say The institutions of the Old Testament must in nothing regulate those of the New and that argument drawn from them by way of Analogy or à pari ratione is but the presumption of man and can no way reach the mind of God The like instance I may give for the publick worship of God his commands or institutions given to the Jews and their practice will be good arguments to regulate us Christians 1 They did with a great deal of diligence and conscience frequent the place of publick worship three times a year at Jerusalem and in their Synagogue every Sabbath day They went from strength to strength every year appearing before God in Sion 2 Their coming at the beginning and staying during the whole time of the service as Ezech. 46.10 when the people shall go in he shall go in and when the people go forth he shall also go forth c. 3 We are to behave our selves with a great deal of reverence during all the time of the Ordinances Lev. 19.30 Ye shall reverence my Sanctuary 4 That you are not to depart without a blessing which is to be done by way of Office in the Name of Christ as an Ordinance Num. 6.27 Aaron and his sons did bless the people It will be hard for a man to find rules for these in the New Testament and yet it will be as hard to say that these institutions and commands of the Old Testament should not regulate us under the New We have another instance of Tithes which was a legal institution under the Old Testament I would not enter upon any unwelcome Disputes about it the Apostle lays down this as a rule That he that serves at the Altar should live of the Altar he should receive by the Law of God from his people as a reward of his labour and as a testification of the honour that is due unto him such a maintenance as may be a support and supply for necessaries to him and his that he should not go to warfare at his own charge I do not speak these things out of partiality and affection unto my own cause and calling but the Law says the same Thou shalt not muzle the mouth of the ox doth God take care for oxen It is spoken there for our sakes that the incouragement of the Ministers in their service might depend upon the Law of God and not on the will humours and allowances of covetous cruel men And our Divines reason commonly from the manner of Gods dealing with the Priests and Levites under the Law and from thence argue the care that God takes of his Ministers Lev. 27.30 Num. 35.2 and that it must be a free and a liberal maintenance for they had the tenth of all the increase of seed or fruit of all their great and small cattel they had forty eight Cities with their Suburbs they had all the first-fruits also besides the sin-offering the meat-offering all their vows and voluntary oblations and from a parity of reason they do infer that the like care ought to be taken and the like maintenance in the days of the Gospel And whereas the people though in a poor condition failing in this are said to rob God and therefore are cursed with a curse that they did sow much and bring in little they do from thence conclude and infer that where the like sin remains it will be looked upon by God with the same eye Mal. 3.7 and will surely be followed by him with the same curse and many such instances may be given of rules to be drawn from Old Testament-institutions to regulate men in many things of the New or else we shall in many things be left without direction 5. Let 's examine how far our Divines do argue from the seals of the O. T. unto those of the New and it will appear that every position hath enough in Scripture to warrant it 1 Our Baptism is the seal of the same Covenant that Circumcision was then the Covenant of Grace was the same for substance with that under the New Testament for it 's Abrahams Covenant that was sealed in Circumcision and so it is in Baptism also for Rom. 4. Abraham is the father of all that are circumcised and of all that are uncircumcised also to that Covenant the righteousness whereof is the righteousness of faith that of Circumcision was a seal and we are also baptized into Christ into his Death and Resurrection c. 2 The persons taken into Covenant of old were the children and their parents I will be thy God and the God of thy seed their children are the sons of the Covenant and of the promise that God made with their fathers c. This has been manifested not only under the Law but before the Law from the beginning and also under the Gospel the Lord as he did cast off the Jews and their children so he took in the Gentiles and their children into Covenant with himself and though they were by nature the wild Olive-tree Rom. 11. yet they were ingrafted into the good Olive-tree and do partake of the root and fatness thereof and when he will take in the Jews again they shall be taken in they and their seed as they and their seed were disinherited and cast out 3 That Baptism succeeds in the room and place of Circumcision as the seal of the same Covenant and as the Ordinance of Initiation which will appear 1 Because the end was the same in both viz. to be the Sacrament of admission of visible members 2 Because the grace of the thing signified is the same Circumcision is cutting off of the body of sins in the flesh and Baptism a being buried with Christ in his death by a work of mortification c. and so much the Apostle doth intimate Col. 2.9 10 11 12. he had said we need joyn nothing of the Law for we are compleat in Christ and therefore
God to sin against God See thou do it not c. 5. The Angels do sweetly comfort and chear the souls of the Saints in their dejections when Daniel was troubled an Angel bids him not to fear thou art a man of desires they delight as well in your consolation as in your conversion and so they did with Christ in his agony the Angels comforted him and so to Paul Be of good chear says the Angel Acts 27. Discamus optimos constantissimos amicos nostros esse Angelos qui fide benevolentiâ omnibus amicitiae officiis visibiles amicos longè superant sicut diaboli omnes hostes visibiles The Angels are our best and most constant friends c. Luth. Lastly At death they carry the souls of the people of God into Abrahams bosom and they do rejoyce in such a conveyance that they may be imployed to bring another into society and communion with themselves in that glory which they by Christ attain unto for they delight in the filling up of the body of Christ and when a soul is converted there is much joy not only to the Angels but even to God himself how much more therefore when a soul is glorified c. as the Devil from a principle of enmity is ready as an Executioner to conduct souls to be tormented in hell to carry them from the presence of the Lord so are the blessed Angels from a principle of love as Officers for our conduct to enter into our Masters joy and sweet shall the converse of the soul and the Angels be in that pleasant passage but as terrible in the passage will the converse of the soul and the Devil be there shall be nothing but weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth c. SECT III. What Interest the Saints have in Christs Providential Kingdom as to the greatest and least things § 1. WE have spoken of the Spiritual and come now unto the Providential Kingdom which is a further manifestation and exercise of the Soveraignty of God and this also have the Saints an interest in and it is in the second Covenant made over to them for their good that it shall be wholly administred for them and this will appear in these particulars 1. There is a special Providence over them above all the rest of the Creation it is true that there is a general Providence of God that doth reach unto every thing even the meanest and the vilest creatures Mat. 10.29 a sparrow a hair He doth whatever it pleases him in heaven and earth and in the sea c. there is a Divine manuduction c. and there is a concourse God has not set up a world to act of it self but there is and must be a concurrence that is 1 with all second causes or else they cannot act this appears in the Furnace of Babylon if the Lord do but suspend his act the creatures immediately work not and therefore there is an immediate acting that is with all second causes causa prima concurrit immediatè cum omni agente creato c. But 2 in a special manner over the Saints for that 's the scope of Christs reasoning Mat. 10.29 c. Ye are of more value than many sparrows he that feeds the ravens and cloaths the lilies will he not much more you O ye of little faith and not one of them is forgotten by your heavenly Father vocula Pater tanta est in corde eloquentia quam Demosthenes Cicero non possunt exprimere c. Luther all the rest are but his servants but he will much more take care for his sons to the rest of the world he is but a Master but he is unto you a Father and his affection answers his relation c. and therefore Deut. 33.3 All thy Saints are in thy hand that is under thy power for their preservation as Joh. 10.28 29. None can pluck them out of my Fathers hand and they are also under his care for their direction Num. 4.28 Vnder the hand of Ithamar and by the hand of Moses and Aaron and of David he rules them with the skilfulness of his hand c. they are as the apple of his eye Zac. 2.8 tactum pro injuria ponit so Jerome and 't is that which is the dearest to him and therefore it 's that which he has the more tender care of Psal 83.3 they are his Jewels and his hidden ones Psal 83.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those that are kept as in chambers that are never exposed unto open view as it 's spoken of the chambers of the South of the stars that are under the Southern Pole which are not seen in our Horizon but are as it were locked up in their chambers and so it is with these Saints they are shut up in the secret of the Tabernacle and as it were kept in the Holy of holies where no man may come c. Now wherein doth this special Providence over the Saints consist It is 1 in ordering ruling and over-ruling all things for their good that nothing shall touch them or do them hurt for he could not preserve them if he did not rule and order all things for their good he doth so order all things that nothing shall do them hurt let there be the most cross turnings among the creatures that can be Psal 46.1 2. let the earth be moved and let the mountains shake let the Sea roar yet they will not fear how is it that they are so fearless Truly it is when they are not faithless and the ground of it is because there is a Providence that watches over them that none of these things shall do them any hurt Luke 10.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is nothing shall by any means hurt them It is true that they have enemies they have one great enemy who is called the Envious man and all the means that he can use is to turn every thing to their hurt but they shall tread down all the power of the enemy that none shall be able to hurt them as it is said of the Patriarchs He suffered no man to do them wrong but he reproved Kings for their sakes there were many that had a mind to do them wrong but he suffered them not and any that did attempt it the Lord turned it into their good and they did it not impunè it was unto their own destruction Esa 49.17 There is no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper and this is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord it is that which belongs to them only and that which they have a glorious title to it is jure haereditario theirs it descends unto them by their interest in God as their Father and they that have God for their Father have the secret Providence of God as their inheritance so that there is nothing shall work against them when God is for them 2 Every thing shall work for their good and their
live not by bread only and therefore if God do withdraw his acting or withhold it the second cause is of no value it is but as an axe in the hand of a man or as a pen it is but as it were a dead instrument as the Apostle says of himself 2 Cor. 3.2 3. and therefore the people of God put no confidence in them I will not trust in my bow and it is not my sword that shall save me it is thou O Lord that savest us from our enemies this is the language of a true Saint and therefore it is only the Lords withdrawing and then all second causes work not whence it is said That they shall eat and they shall not be nourished and they shall put on cloaths but not be warmed there is a natural aptitude in these means to produce such effects but yet if the Lord do but suspend his influx they can do nothing And therefore in the Babylonish Furnace Divines do commonly say that the Lord did not take away the nature of the fire it remained to be fire still only in reference unto such an object he did suspend his own concurrence so that though it remained in actu primo yet it was not able to produce actum secundum because the immediate concurrence of the first cause was denied so it is in all means and this is the reason of their want of efficacy the same Ordinances would be as effectual at one time as at another and unto one man as unto another there is no difference in the means only in the concurrence of the first cause with the means and so it is with creatures also the same land would be as fruitful at one time as at another and there is no difference only when thou tillest thy land it shall not yield its strength says the Lord there is not the same concurrence of God with it which is his blessing upon it and that is the true reason of all the difference in the use and the success of means whatsoever 3. Though the Lord doth in the administration of all things in the providential Kingdom use means and therefore hath made all things in a due order and subordination yet he doth delight sometimes to work without means by his own immediate hand not by power nor by might but by my Spirit Zac. 4.7 if there be none to help yet his own arm shall bring salvation And the Lord doth this 1 that he may sometimes shew forth some special discoveries of his own power The heart of man would be wholly terminated in the creature as we are very apt to be and we would look no further therefore the Lord is pleased sometimes to shew forth something more than the power of the creature and sometimes he will go in an ordinary way of nature sometimes in a miraculous way to shew that there is a higher hand that rules all things that he may not be forgotten by us 2 To shew that he doth not use the creature necessarily but voluntarily and therefore he can use it or lay it aside at his pleasure work by it or work without it that the souls of his people may depend upon him alone both in the want and in the injoyments of the creature and the good effect is never the further off when they want it nor ever the nearer when they do injoy it whether they have it or not it is all one they can rejoyce in the Lord and glory in the God of their salvation Hab. 3.17 18. 3 That he may still keep up in the remembrance of his people a creating power when there was nothing but himself immediately there was no means used It hath been disputed by the School-men Whether the ministry of Angels were not used in the creation of the world and it is commonly answered No it was not it could not be because in the exercise of almighty power there can be no concurrence of the creature no creature can be raised by the power of God unto such an elevation as to be made capable to put forth any act of omnipotence and therefore that this power of the Creation of God may be kept up he doth do the like often in the world that as he hath appointed a day to remember the Creation and would have us to remember our Creator so he doth works that he may keep it continually in our remembrance providence is said to be nothing but a continued Creation therefore the Lord will do something that shall be as a Creation still that this great work may never be forgotten he that doth create grace in the souls of men daily doth put forth other acts answerable thereunto 4 The Lord doth it that he may train up his people by it unto a remembrance of Heaven where all means shall cease for God shall be all in all that is he shall be all unto his people immediately It is true that the Saints do injoy God here and they injoy all in God he is their portion and their hope but all this is in the use of means as they see him in a glass so they shall injoy him also but there is a time that will shortly come when all means shall be done away and he that now governs the world and so dispenses himself by second causes will do all by his own immediate hand there shall be immediate therefore pure mercy and pure wrath and pure power and pure acts of Omnipotence In this life we are by the creatures refreshed and when he comforts us by the creature those comforts lose much by reason of the vessel and so when he doth teach us by the creature that treasure is in earthen vessels it is much otherwise when he teaches himself immediately and so when he doth punish by the creature it is but as a mighty man correcting a man with a straw it 's true that he is mighty but it is but a small thing that is in his hand which is nothing in comparison of that which shall be hereafter it shall be all immediate and that keeps up in his people an expectation of this that they may have herein a kind of foretaste of Heaven by beholding the immediate working of God without the help of creatures or their concurrence Now this immediate acting of Providence is wholly for the good of his people and is so managed sometimes he will use means for their good and sometimes he will for their good work without means but still so as his Soveraignty is made over unto them in these his actings and herein we are to observe 1. The Scripture speaking of a creating power which the Lord doth often put forth for the good of his people Esa 4.5 Esa 4.5 there 't is said I create upon every dwelling place a cloud c. Upon every dwelling place there is a protection that which is immediate and beyond the power of second causes when there is no defence in them yet their succour
shall be from the immediate hand of God and that by a creating work that when the people shall look to the creatures and say we see no means to defend us yet they can look to an immediate acting of Omnipotency Esa 67.17 and that by a creating work for his people I create a heaven and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness it is spoken of the glorious reformation that shall be in the later days it is there spoken not of renewing the substance but of the qualities of Heaven and Earth a glorious restitution of their primitive and original glory a mighty work that God shall not only pass upon Saints but on the creatures which shall be restored and delivered into the glorious liberty of the sons of God and he that looks upon the corruptions of men and the desolations of nations and the confusions amongst the creatures that shall be immediately before those days he will say How can these things be It is impossible that such a glorious reformation should be wrought But to strengthen their faith and to raise them up to expect it he puts them off from second causes and tells them it shall be an act of almighty power it is by a creating work and surely the same hand and the same power that did make them at first can also renew them and restore them unto their primitive and original glory that as the said immediate power is put forth for the renewing of their souls Eph. 2.10 We are created in Christ to good works all is made new within him by an immediate power so also all shall be made new without him by an immediate providence that though there be no concurrence of means and second causes yet if God can make a new world then he can renew this he can create a new Heaven and a new Earth and he can create Jerusalem a rejoycing and the people a joy as the promise is unto them so that the Lord will not always work for his people in a ruling but sometimes in a creating way in which there is an immediate putting forth of power and there is not there cannot be any concurrence of means or second causes with it 2. God puts forth an immediate providence for the Churches preservation he doth many times work immediately when there is no help in second causes but all men are ingaged on the contrary part and the Lord looks and there is none to help and the Lord wonders that there was no intercessor no helping of them none to intercede for them there was none so much as by way of prayer that comes in for them and yet now the Church must be preserved Zac. 4.23 Zac. 4.2 3. the Candlestick is the Church but by what means shall this be maintained there can be no supply of oil expected from men but the Lord will make Olive-trees to grow by it that shall make oil of themselves and shall drop into the bails thereof that though no men in the world stand by it or prepare for it yet the Lord will supply it in an immediate way from himself and by himself and by this means the lamp in this Candlestick shall never go out for by an immediate provision of God they shall be maintained Mic. 5.7 Mic. 5.7 The remnant of Jacob shall be as dew from the Lord and as showers upon the grass when they were Jezreel strengthned by the Lord though amongst many people that should hate them and persecute them yet should they be preserved and therefore as Calvin observes rorem pro prato rorido like unto the herbs which are nourished by the dew from Heaven and by the showres from above which stay not for man it tarries not for the sons of men that as the grass is nourished immediately by the dew and doth not depend upon the labours and the watering of man so shall these from God immediately there shall come from him an immediate dew an influence shall come by which they shall be supported that they shall not need to stay for any creatures assistance or any concurrence of second causes whatsoever 3. There is an immediate Providence that is seen in restraints upon the souls and spirits of men when there are no hindrances in second causes and yet this shall work for the people of God see it Gen. 20. Sarah was in the hand of Abimelech and his lust was stirred up towards her when he heard of her and there was nothing to hinder him but he might have had his will of her and yet for Abrahams sake she was returned unto him chast and undefiled but it was by an immediate working of God upon his spirit when there were no second causes in the way the Lord saith I did hold thee that thou shouldst not touch her And the same thing is true of the people of Israel when they went up to worship at Jerusalem and all the males left their habitation the fittest advantage that could be for the neighbouring Nations who hated them and sought to invade them and did it at other times yet that now they should not have made inrodes upon their Land in the several borders thereof when there was no restraint in second causes no man can give a reason for it but the immediate working of providence that the Lord doth put forth his power upon the spirits of men that it shall be enough if he withhold them There is a bridle without and there is a bridle within by which the spirits of men are turned about there is a hedge for mens ways God doth many times hedge up mens ways with thorns but there is a hedge for the spirits of men also that when there is no hindrance in second causes and none to lift up a hand against them yet their spirits are restrained by an immediate hand And indeed when the secrets of the counsels of Gods providence shall be made manifest at the last day many and glorious will â—he records of such immediate puttings forth of providence be We have an instance in Esau his malice was stirred and he had power in his hand he had three hundred men by which he might have cut off his brother Jacob but only there was an immediate appearance of God upon his spirit and that put a restraint upon him that he could not so much as speak an ill word unto his brother 4. The Lord appears immediately for the destruction of the Churches enemies when their means fail When there was no help from second causes to destroy Egypt or deliver themselves for the Israelites had no power but they cryed unto the Lord and in the night the Lord looked upon the Egyptians host and troubled them and took off their chariot-wheels and they drove heavily and there was a terrour upon their hearts that they said Let us flye for God fights for Israel And so he will do in the destruction of Antichrist the little horn who doth arise with the ten horns and