to perform the promise is Gods part and to press God with his promise is our part I will do it for you says tne Lord yet I will be inquired of by you that I may do it for you ask and you shall receive knock and it shall be opened and there is no way that ever any creature could attain any thing of God but this way Upon this very ground Christ himself if he will attain from God he must ask and so 't is with the Angels and so 't is with the Saints in Heaven Dan. 4.17 they cry How long Lord How much more is it to be with dust and ashes 3. That the Lord may honour his own Ordinance and testifie how much he doth delight in the worship of a creature and that thereby he might make it a double mercy For ungodly men to receive blessings as a fruit of Providence unto them it comes always single that is in the thing only but unto a godly man that has it as a fruit of the promise it 's always a double mercy mercy in the thing and mercy to the man not only an accomplishment of Gods promises but the return of the mans prayers the exercise of Gods faithfulness unto us and of our graces towards God and there are no mercies so sweet as those that come in with the exercise of grace in the attaining of them Deum orationibus ambiamus coelum tundimus misericordiam extorquemus as Tertullian says of the power of the Saints prayers because of his delight in the exercise of their graces And there is no duty wherein the graces of the Saints do act with more life and power than they do in prayer there is magna conjunctio a great concurrence of grace in them as we see it in Abraham in his prayer what strong acts of grace he puts forth Gen. 18. The nearer the soul draws to God the fountain of its life the more lively it works and moves the swifter the nearer the centre and there is no duty in which the soul draws nearer to God than it doth in prayer and hath more immediate communion with him than when he is upon his knees before the Throne of grace 4. And lastly the way to attain promises is a patient waiting for them till the Lords time come for it 's true of promises as it is of prophecies though the vision be for an appointed time Hab. 2.3 yet wait for it for it will come and will not tarry It 's a speech like unto that in Luk. 18.7 8. though he bear long with them yet he will avenge them speedily it may tarry long in respect of the time prefixed by us and may seem long to us but it shall not be long when the time comes that is appointed by God The Lord commonly does in the answering of prayers as he does in the fulfilling of Prophecies it 's a great while before the Prophecy seems to speak or to give any hope of its accomplishment as it was in the deliverance out of Egypt and Babylon but yet when once it begins but to dawn its day immediately in a manner it strangely and suddenly breaks forth that the Saints of God can scarce believe their own eyes they are like unto them that dream And so it is in the return of their prayers also as in the calling of the Jews they are as dry bones and they are scattered here and there all the world over but the bones shall come together and it shall be so suddenly done that the Lord saith A Nation shall be born at once and before Sion travelled she brought forth and so it is in the answer of Prayers as it was with Elijah he prayed seven times and his servant looked and there was nothing and yet he continued praying at last there appeared a Cloud like unto a mans hand and by and by the Heavens were covered over with Clouds and then the rain fell when it begins once to appear that the Clouds do break away a little the Lord doth strangely hasten the work and there is a glorious concurrence and falling in of all causes to its accomplishment there is a time of the Promise's accomplishment Acts 7 1◠and a great part of the Mercy is in the season of it the Lord doth not delay because he is unwilling to bestow it or because the Mercy comes hardly off for he knows that to our hasty Nature bis dat qui citò but the Lord doth defer it that he may improve the Mercy by the season of it for Gods time is best and not ours my time is not yet come though your time be alwayes ready all Christs Miracles were so much the more glorious by the seasons of their putting forth and so are Gods Mercies also the more magnified in coming to us in the fittest time he does wait to be gracious that is that he may bestow the Mercy when we are fittest to receive it and our hearts are best prepared for it As in judgement to a wicked man the Lord does watch over him for evil and he shall be ensnared in an evil time as a Bird in an evil snare judgement shall come upon him when he least expects it and is least prepared for it he shall be cut off as the foam upon the waters Hos 10.7 sicut aquae superiores ferventis ollae Jerome for the word spuma doth signifie a bubble that does arise from heat c. when they are swelled up and hold up their heads on high and be lifted up above the rest of the waters then they shall suddenly be cut off As I say there is a time for judgment that Justice doth watch over men for evil so there is also a time for Mercy that Grace does watch over men for good there is a time for the Promise to bring forth as well as the threatning and therefore it 's said That by Faith and Patience the Saints have inherited the Promises and there is as well a Patience in waiting as in Suffering Zeph. 2.1 2. let Patience have its perfect work in you in this respect also that you may be intire and perfect wanting nothing Hebr. 10.36 But the Soul will be ready to say I could be willing to wait Gods time if I could be sure to attain the Promise at the last but what grounds are there to support and underprop my heart that I shall receive the Promise and not miss of it in the end Now the grounds to assure the Soul thereof are these 1. The faithfulness of God the Promises are therefore confirmed by an Oath Heb. 6.17 that by two immutable things wherein it 's impossible for God to lye we might have strong Consolation Quid est Dei juratio nisi promissi confirmatio Aust. infidelium quaedam increpatio An Oath amongst Men puts an end to Controversie much more should the Oath of God put an end to all Controversie and Disputes in the Soul and
them all the good things that they enjoy below and all that communion which they enjoyed here with him where they see his back parts there they shall see his face for ever and therefore it 's beyond the hopes and the expectation of the Saints ◠Thess 1.10 He shall come to be glorified in his Saints and admired in them that believe Now the ground of admiration is the over-plus of expectation they shall say as the Queen of Sheba did of Solomons glory We have heard of thee here below but the half was not told and this glory lies in God alone It 's true there is not the meanest reward but it is beyond the desert of the best of our services and it is meerly free grace that rewards them but if the Lord should give a man as he did Nebuchadnezzar Egypt for his hire Kingdoms and Nations as the reward of his services that he did in this life and yet say to him at the last day You have your reward you were herein for ever miserable 4. Thy portion in the creatures will fail thee for ever and deceive thee as a brook that passes by for all flesh is grass and the glory and the pride of it is but as the flower of the field and it will be said to thee In thy life-time thou hadst thy good things for as you brought nothing into this world so it 's certain that you can carry nothing out but the soul shall be stripped of whatever is dear to it here below for they are this worlds goods and given but as a viaticum in the way till a man come to his journies end and whether they be ad regnum or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad supplicium as Chrysost it 's all one they are not of any use in the life to come and therefore when all men have acted their parts here and are gathered into their own place then there shall be a general conflagration of the world when the earth and all the works of men shall be burnt up 2 Pet. 3. for they are but for the present time of this life and they will afterwards be of no further use to a man for ever but hereafter God shall be all in all 1 Cor. 15.28 and God will work all things by himself immediately Here he doth comfort us by the creatures and rules us by Angels by Magistrates and Ministers but that shall not be in the life to come for he will work all himself immediately In this life we are to be taken up about God the knowledge of God and the love of God but we are busied with many things else cumbred about many things and we are to take care of the things of this life in our calling which interrupts our abiding with God but these imployments are but for the support of humane society in this present state that we might serve God and the good of Community but we shall be taken up with God and the things of God only in the life to come and with God immediately not God in the creatures as now we are In this life we take pleasure in many things besides God the works of God are sought out by his servants and we please our selves with the comforts that he has given us in our way for in this life God heaps variety of benefits upon us he loads us daily with his benefits but after this life there shall be but one great reward and a man shall go out unto creatures for nothing unto eternity there shall be a comfort in them but not out of necessity but variety all of them seeing God in themselves and in each other but if a mans portion be in any thing without God I tell thee thou must leave it behind thee Isa 50.11 when thou comest to lie down in the grave and so having kindled a fire you compass your self in your own sparks you shall lye down in sorrow All the comforts of an ungodly man in this life are compared to the light of a candle not only because they are maintained by creatures base matter here below but also because they will go out in the end for the longest candle will end in a snuff but now the light of the godly and their comfort being in God it shines as the Sun more and more unto the perfect day 5. It shall be unto you according to your desire you shall never have any part or portion in God for ever that which is thy sin shall be thy punishment as Christ made it to them that were invited they shall never taste of my supper so it shall be with you you will have no interest in God neither shall you have unto eternity depart from me you cursed cursed with eternal destruction from the presence of God and the glory of his power 2 Thess 1.9 and this is called utter darkness It 's true our Divines commonly say that the Torments of Hell are of two sorts 1 Poena damni something privative which is the loss of God and the happiness of the Saints 2 Poena sensus which is something positive a punishment inflicted by God immediately upon soul and body But it 's said commonly by Divines that it 's the first that is the greatest part of a mans torment and it 's that which makes Hell properly such which is demonstrated 1 from the meritorious cause of it which is sin There are in the Law two things 1 the precept 2 the prohibition Now the mind of the Law-giver was most in the precept and therefore the omission is a greater offence than the commission if they be apart considered now the punishment of loss is proportioned unto the omission of the precept as the punishment of sense is unto the commission of the sin 2 It will appear in this that the blessedness of the Saints in Heaven doth mainly consist in the vision of God that they shall see him face to face and in this is the happiness of the Angels and Saints yea of Christ himself Psal 16.1 therefore on the contrary doth the misery and damnation of the wicked lie that they shall be deprived of the vision of the face of God for ever Mille gehennae poenae at nihil est quale à gloria Dei excludi à Deo odio haberi c. Chrys 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil in oratione de extremo Judicio 6. He that has his portion in any thing below God and not in the Essence of God God will be ingaged against him for ever and his judgment shall flow from God immediately For either thou must have thy happiness in him immediately or else thy misery will come in immediately from him for ever for as after this life God will not govern by the creatures nor comfort by the creatures so neither will he afflict or punish by them but it shall be from his own immediate hand therefore the fire of Hell is not material fire as some
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
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
Covenant with the Lord knowing the falseness and instability of my spirit the duties are many and it is impossible for me to observe them all Take these directions 1. Get a true heart Heb. 10.22 Let us draw near with true heart a true heart is a heart perfect with God that 's the condition of the Covenant though your ways be party-coloured yet if you have the answer of a good Conscience i. e. when your heart doth inwardly answer to what you do profess and there is not a root of bitterness left in you that draws you back from the Lord this is a true heart It is called the Girdle of truth Ephes 6.14 Ephes 6.14 and that is as I should understand it not doctrinally but morally practically full of stedfastness and stability of soul in the discharge of all the ingagements wherein we stand bound unto God without shrinking or tergiversation as it is the sin in the practice of too many professors both to God and man there is a vein of dissimulation runs through their conversation they will dissemble love to persons behind whose backs they will accuse and represent them as persons blame-worthy and through the self-flattery that is in their spirits they will strive to lessen the excellencies and vertues that are in others that they may shine the more in the esteem of men and hereby they manifest they love the praise of men more than the praise of God and herein they may have their reward though it will bring in but little comfort when they come to dye or when they râ—flect upon this great condition of the Covenant which is to draw near to God with a true heart Isa 11.5 For this faithfulness is a noble girdle it was Christs and therefore it should be ours it is this truth in the inward parts that will keep the Covenant that it shall not be broken notwithstanding thy daily failings Heb. 13.9 Act. 11.23 Psal 86.11 2. Desire of God a stablished and a fixed heart To have the heart stablished with grace is a good thing and with full purpose of heart to cleave to the Lord. And the Psalmists prayer is Vnite my heart to fear thy name my heart is fixed O God c. And there is not a greater spiritual judgment in this life than to be given up to a light vain and unstable soul that is moved with every wind of Doctrine or with every wind of temptation when a man is carried to and fro to have the heart still fluctuating and be sometimes fixt upon one thing and sometimes upon another and unsetled in the principles of Grace such as are unstable shall not excel 3. Exercise faith upon the Grace of God in this Covenant which is eternal love and have an eye unto the surety of the Covenant in whom only it remains sure for it is an ordered Covenant and therefore sure and for this cause Christ is called the Covenant it self Isa 49.6 he is given as a Covenant to the Nations to establish the earth because in him only all the stability of the Covenant is to be found Consider in the time of affliction what a sweet thing it will be and what boldness it will give a man before God when he is able to say Though thou hast smitten us in the place of Dragons and covered us with the shadow of death Psal 44.17 yet have we not gone back from thee nor behaved our selves falsly in thy Covenant and when at death a man shall look over to the common-wealth of another World and shall be able to say Lord remember that I have walked before thee all my days with a perfect heart my heart hath stood to the Covenant and I have not chosen any other Lord though in many things my ways have not been answerable unto the rule of the Covenant Vse 3 § 3. Now having entered in this manner into Covenant with God it is our duty to have respect unto our Covenant and to improve our interest in it in all our ways The Covenant is to run through our whole life for it 's a Covenant for a mans life it being a Marriage Covenant and In matrimonio est perpetua quaedam servitus In matrimony there is a perpetual kind of servitude a Woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he liveth Rom. 7.2 and David puts all his hope in the Covenant 2 Sam. 23.5 his happiness consisted in it and all his joy and delight his soul did run out upon this Covenant and from hence all his joy came in There are in Scripture several ways of sinning against this Covenant 1 There is transgressing the Covenant like Adam Hos 6.7 Hos 6.7 There have they dealt treacherously against me c. which is taken Two ways either as Adam they have broken the Covenant in which they bound themselves or else as Tremelius hath it they have broken the Covenant as if it were the Covenant of a man and as if they had to do with man in it and not with God 2 It is rejecting the Covenant 2 King 17.15 to despise it as a poor and unworthy thing not to be regarded by them 3 There is forsaking the Covenant as a thing that they are not bound by neither will they be bound by any longer Deut. 29.25 Mal. 2.8 10. And then 4 there is corrupting the Covenant and profaning it They have corrupted the Covenant of Levi that is the Covenant of life and peace which God made with him they have corrupted the Law and they have profaned the Covenant as if it were a common and ordinary thing for to profane is to make a thing common 5 There is a dealing falsly in the Covenant Psal 44.17 which signifies to lye to a man and deal treacherously with him in a Covenant made when a man pretends fair and doth the quite contrary there is no trust to him no hold upon him 6 There is Deut. 4.23 Deut. 4.23 forgeting the Covenant Take heed says Moses lest you forget the Covenant of the Lord your God which he made with you Now when a man in Scripture is said to forget a thing Verba sensus significant cum affectu effectu The words of sense signifie affects and effects God is said to forget men when he doth not appear for their help Psal 13.1 How long wilt thou forget me O Lord and hide thy face from my troubles We are said to forget God when we do not honour him as God and are not affected towards him as becomes a God and so men are said to forget the Covenant of God when they have not those affections as so great an ingagement doth require do not know and improve their interest in it as they ought to do do not make it as David did all their salvation and all their delight and therefore 't is said Psal 10.5 he is always mindful of his Covenant that is
our names to God in this Covenant given the hand to the Lord it is a duty often to renew it and to repeat unto a mans soul the same obligation and here I will show 1 That it is not enough that a man do enter into Covenant with the Lord but that he renew it often 2 I will give you the grounds why a man should renew his Covenant 3 Shew the times when in a special manner the Lord expects it and when it is a way to find mercy with the Lord. 4 Show you the manner how it is to be done 5 I 'le press it by setting before you the great benefits and fruits that do flow from a renewed Covenant with the Lord. 1. A man being once entred into Covenant with God is held and obliged by that Covenant for ever as we see the Devils entred into Covenant and this Covenant they have broken in respect of the precept yet they are all still under the curse of it and shall be for ever and that curse the chains of darkness in which they are held so man being once ingaged is for ever engaged therefore it 's his duty often to renew his Covenant and that will appear in these particulars 1. The Lord hath often renewed his Covenant with his people he made a Covenant with Abraham Gen. 15.18 and yet he renews his Covenant again Gen. 17.2 4 7. So the Lord did take Israel into Covenant with himself and his name was called upon them he doth take them into their Fathers Covenant he remembred his Covenant with Abraham and Isaac Exod. 6.4 5 7. and he saith I will take you unto me for a people and I will be to you a God and you shall know that I am the Lord your God c. and yet this Covenant he renews in a publick and solemn manner upon Mount Sinai when out of his mouth went a fiery law Deut. 5.2 3. Deut. 5.2 3. He made a Covenant with us in Horeb he made not this Covenant with our Fathers some refer it unto all the Patriachs from Adam and so the Covenant was the same for they entred into Abrahams Covenant but it is spoken in regard of the publick and glorious way of revealing it to them beyond what it was to their Fathers which was not revealed with that solemnity and speaking with and seeing God face to face or else by the Fathers some do understand those that died in Egypt and in the Wilderness who had forgotten the Covenant of their Fathers and the Lord did not renew it with them and yet afterwards Exod. 24.7 8 10. Moses takes the book of the Covenant and reads it in the audience of the people and they ingaged themselves to do all that the Lord had said and be obedient to his requirings and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the people and said This is the blood of the Covenant which the Lord hath made with you and v. 11. They did eat and drink before the Lord and see the glory of the God of Israel and upon the people he laid not his hand c. and yet this is not enough but the Lord renews his Covenant again Deut. 29.1 The words of the Covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab besides the Covenant that he made with them in Horeb and v. 10. 12. You stand before the Lord this day that you should enter into Covenant with the Lord and into the oath which the Lord made with thee to establish thee this day for a people to himself that he might be unto thee a God as he hath sworn unto thy Fathers c. thus you see the Lord has often renewed his Covenant with his people 2. The people of God have often renewed their Covenant also with him it was not enough that they had in Moses time been taken into Covenant so often but before he died he renewed the Covenant with them and they did solemnly ingage themselves The Lord will we serve Josh 24.25 and his voice will we obey and he set up a Stone under an Oak for a witness against them 2 Chron. 15.12 2 Chron. 29.10 2 Chron. 34.31 if they should hereafter deny the Lord their God And this Covenant was renewed in the days of King Asa and Hezekiah and Josiah and Ezra 10.3 and Nehemiah 9.38 therefore renewing of the Covenant is a duty that we owe unto the Lord and that ingagement must be reiterated c. 2. But seeing that a Covenant once made doth alwayes bind a man and the force of it continues distance of time doth not wear it out why should it be needful for men to renew their Covenant so often The grounds of it are these 1. Because of the unbelief of our spirits and from the infirmity of our faith for the confirmation of our faith in the mercy and grace of the Covenant Therefore David made it the matter and ground of all his delight and his thoughts were wholly upon it Why did God renew the Covenant so often with Abraham but to strengthen and confirm his faith therein that it was a sure Covenant and should never be forgotten The mercies of the Covenant are great and the heart of man would fail and his spirit sink in the expectation of them but then he calls to mind his Covenant and renews his Covenant-ingagements with them and for this cause we receive the seals of the Covenant often and every time we do so we renew the Covenant between God and us Gods seals are set to our seals that this may be like unto Joshua's stones a testimony that we have entred into Covenant with the Lord. 2. To manifest the sincerity of our hearts that though we fail in the duty of it yet our hearts still stand to it we delight in the Law according to our inward man though we fall every day yet saies a soul in Covenant with God I love to think of renewing the ingagement that is between God and me as a loving and tender Wife loves often to renew her ingagement to her Husband and to have it much in her mind that she may not forget the Covenant of her God so to shew that a man doth not repent but his ingagement â—s still pleasing to him he renews it often and if it were to do again and again a man would do the same thing if it were every hour to let the world see he is not turned back from the Covenant of his God Phil. 3.9 saies the Apostle I suffered the loss of all things and do count them dung c. I have not repented of it I am of the same mind still there is not in me a principle to draw back and to depart from the living God I am willing to renew this â—ngagement still When there is an error in the contract that a man makes with another then â—f it were to do again the soul would not do it so
mercy to thousands in them that love him and keep his commandments Thus God extends Covenant-mercy not only to parents but to their children also and that to succeeding generations and we must not limit the grace of God for that were to limit the holy One of Israel For Answer hereto 1 if the meaning here be of the priviledges of the Covenant which are conveyed by the parents unto the child then if any of them were godly from the beginning of the world this Scripture will intail Church-priviledges upon them by a lineal descent unto the end of the world for it 's likely there shall not be a thousand generations from the beginning of the world to the end thereof because these are called the latter times wherefore this is but a certain for an uncertain number and therefore in this case we must know where to stop there must be a period put that a man may be able to say none of them was holy in the second third or fourth generation and therefore now the federal holiness that was this mans or this childs is expired 2 If it should be understood of Church-priviledges and a federal holiness that descends upon the child from the parents then how shall this promise and threatning be both made good for it may be some of the Ancestors have been godly but the immediate parents are wicked and profane why may we not as well and much rather say that God will visit the iniquity of the immediate parents upon the children as that he will shew mercy unto the children for the grace and holiness of their remote parents 3 Of what mercy soever it 's thus understood whether of saving mercies or of outward blessings it 's plain that it 's only unto those children which walk in the same ways of holiness with their parents for God will visit the iniquity of the parents upon the children and if his hatred to children to the third and fourth generation be of them that walk in the ways and wickedness of the fathers then his mercy to thousands is upon them that walk in the ways of their fathers obedience So much I conceive the last words imply vers 6. Shewing mercy to them that love me and that keep my commandments if this be the meaning it will be easily granted that the children of godly parents who walk in the same ways of holiness with their parents shall obtain mercy from God unto many succeeding generations but that is nothing to the thing in hand which does suppose children to grow wicked and to degenerate from the holiness of their parents and yet men would infer that their fathers priviledges do unto many generations descend unto them which I conceive is far from the scope and intent of the Holy Ghost Object 2 But the Israelites were circumcised though their immediate parents were wicked of which the instances before given are many and therefore our children should be baptized though the immediate parents be wicked and if the profaneness of a Jew did not prejudice the childs right why then should the profaneness of a Christian take away the childs title are not our priviledges as large as theirs In answer hereto Answ 1 of Circumcision there was no set Officer appointed by God to administer it and therefore commonly the parents did it and it 's plain by those that write their stories that women did it commonly now there being no set Officer to administer it there was no set Officer to suspend it But in the Christians Baptism it 's not so there is a set Officer who is to administer it with judgment and as he is to deny it to none to whom it belongs so he is to dispense it to none but such to whom it belongs 2 The Lord took the whole Nation of the Jews into a Church-covenant and they became a peculiar people unto him and whoever was born of that Nation was therefore born a Church-member and had right unto the priviledges of the Church it is not so with any other people under Heaven there is something more required to make a man a Church-member than barely to be born of such a Nation and therefore while they continued Church-members though they were never so profane and wicked this could not prejudice the priviledge of the Church And though such deserve to be cast out yet as long as the Church doth through negligence or connivence continue such in a state of membership they cannot deny them the priviledge of members but yet it doth appear that now under the Gospel many men that live in the Church are not true members of the Church or if they be cast out then they and their children are justly deprived of the priviledges of members because it doth not belong unto them and though the posterity of Ismael and Esau did use Circumcision after they were separated from the Church of God yet it was unto them only a vain and an empty sign and no Church-ordinance neither was it unto them a Church-priviledge any longer than they continued Church-members 3 This seems to be demonstrative that none are to be looked upon as within the Covenant and to have right unto the seals but Church-members and that the Church-membership of children is a priviledge that they receive from their immediate parents only and that it 's not barely a parents being baptized and making a profession of Christ that doth de jure give him a right to membership and therefore if parents profess Christ and yet are not to be looked upon as members of the Church then Calvins rule I think will hold He that is not a Church-member himself cannot convey a right of membership unto his children Here are three things to be proved 1. That none have a right to the seals of the Covenant but those that are members of the Church This Calvin in an Epistle to Mr. Knox clearly asserts Semper attentè cavendum est ne profanetur hujus mysterii sanctitas quod fieri certum est si promiscuè alicui conceditur vel quispiam recipitur qui inter legitimos Ecclesiae cives numerari nequeat Therefore they that are baptized must be Cives Ecclesiae those that have a title to membership for the Ordinance of Baptisme is profaned if it be applied unto any other and the clear grounds of it are these The scals are the priviledges of Church-members only and if they be administred unto any whose priviledge they are not they are certainly profaned for Christ admitted none but Disciples Act. 2. and his Disciples afterward admitted none but Disciples They that believed were of one heart and they continued in breaking of bread and prayer c. and afterwards when the Church grew more corrupt and more remiss that such were admitted who did manifest they had no right unto this priviledge they were looked upon as spots in their feasts and it was judged a dishonour unto that Church And for this cause in the primitive times
Jews and Gentiles do grow 2 It is put for Abraham with whom this Covenant was first made and in whom after a sort the Covenant began and so I conceive Root is taken vers 16. If the root be holy so are the branches neither is there any inconvenience to say that the Covenant is the Root upon which Abraham and all the rest of his branches did grow and also that Abraham was the Root from which his seed did grow up into Covenant for he was the Root only by virtue of the Covenant which did in a manner begin with him and by virtue of this Covenant all his seed were as so many branches to grow upon him and were owned as a Church unto God 3 As the Olive-tree is the Church and that is but one and the Root is the Covenant and that is but one so the branches of this Olive-tree are to grow upon this Root and though many of the natural branches were broken off yet that does not make void the Covenant the Root still remains the same for others to be grafted in upon and some branches were grafted in that were taken out of another stock and that never grew upon this Covenant and their grafting in was being made members of the Church who were before strangers to the Common-wealth of Israel and the Covenant of promise and standing upon the Root was being taken into Covenant so that he that is taken into Covenant is thereby made a Church-member Whosoever therefore is taken into Covenant with God and hath a federal relation unto God that man is grafted into the Root and is made a branch of the true Olive-tree and grows upon the same Root that all the Saints of God do grow on and therefore to be taken into Covenant and to be made a member of the visible Church is in the notion of the Spirit of God and in the language of the Scripture the same thing Whence it appears that there is but one Covenant between Jews and Gentiles one Root that bears them both 2. Though the Covenant be the same in substance yet it is under different administrations In the Covenant three things are carefully to be distinguished for the external Ordinances thereof There are three things in the Doctrine of the Covenant that are carefully to be distinguish'd 1 There is a twofold being in Christ one by a Mystical Union so he that is in Christ is a New Creature and the other by an external Profession and so as Christ is a Vine spreading himself into a visible Church 2 Cor. 8.17 he has many unfruitfull branches 2 The Covenant has two parts 1 One inward and spiritual which is by Faith and Conversion and the benefits of it are Justification Adoption and Sanctification which is the Covenant spoken of Jer. 31.33 I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts 2 Another external which entitles a man to the outward priviledges only and this is the Covenant in regard of the outward administrations owning them for a visible Church of God thus God is said to break with the Jews for the Covenant of Grace in the spiritual part of it is everlasting Zach. 11.10 and cannot be broken 3 Answerable to this two-fold consideration of the Covenant so there are different Seals annex'd thereunto unto the spiritual part of the Covenant there is added the Seal of the Spirit which is secret between God and the Soul Eph. 1.13 4.30 and unto the external part of the Covenant there are added visible Seals before men and these visible Seals are different amongst the Jews and the Christians the Ordinance and Seal of Admission amongst the Jews was Circumcision but it 's Baptism amongst Christians therefore the administration is varyed though the Covenant remain the same Heb. 9.10 and for this cause the times of the Gospel are call'd the times of Reformation that is when all these weak and beggerly Elements though they were Gods Ordinances should be removed and new and more spiritual and unchangeable Ordinances stablished in their room for the Ordinances and Administrations of the Gospel are those that shall never be changed but continue the same to the end of the world as they are the best so they shall be the last as these Two places do clearly prove Matth. 28.19 Go teach and baptize all Nations and I am with you to the end of the world therefore that administration shall never be changed and 1 Cor. 11. Ye shew forth the Lords death till he come therefore that Administration shall last unto the second coming of the Lord. Heb. 8.7 There is a double time that the Saints of God in all ages have had a special eye upon they in the Old Testament upon the times or as it is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the season or the fit time appointed by the Father for the reformation of all things and there is a time that the Saints in the New Testament are to have an eye upon and that is the time of the restitution of all things which referre to the same time 2 Pet. 3.13 and Revel 21.1 a new Heaven and a new Earth for the first Heaven and Earth is passed away c. Heb. 8.8 and it is therefore commonly call'd a New Covenant because though it be the same yet it 's under new outward administrations and this was prophesied Dan. 9.27 Dan. 9.27 he shall confirm the Covenant with many for one week That is in the last seven years of that Provincial Kalender the Seventy two weeks which was the time of the continuance of the Jewish Church and Worship after their return out of Babylon in the last seven years thereof Christ the Messiah should establish the Covenant with many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it 's meant of preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles and bringing them into the Fellowship of the Gospel and the New Covenant who were before strangers to it and it is said Multitudes should be converted and in three years and a half that is half the week by the Ministry of Christ the Jewish Sacrifices and Oblations and all their Ceremonies shall be disanulled and the administration changed and that shall make way for the destruction of their City and State 3. The administration being changed in reference to the new Administration the Jews and the Gentiles are upon equal terms and have an equal right one as well as another whosoever freely and voluntarily submits thereunto A mans external right to the Covenant comes from his subjection to the present administration under which God has put the Covenant the Covenant of Grace was the same which God revealed unto Adam immediately after his fall in that first Promise Gen. 3.15 and when the Saints did gather into visible Churches or Societies and thereby separate themselves from the world to worship God in a Communion of Saints it was the external Priviledges of the same Covenant Gen. 4. ult
of promise who is the earnest of your inheritance And so 1 Pet. 1.2 Elect according to the fore-knowledge of God through the sanctification of the Spirit and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ therefore by reason of the special interest that they have given unto the Saints in themselves they have undertaken distinct offices and this is plain in Son and Spirit which are terms of office He that is sent doth imply as much as to be imployed in the business of another and to receive his commission from another This will appear 1 in the work of Conversion and Election the Father begets calls draws For no man says Christ can come to me except God the Father draws him Christ he receives men but he receives none but those that the Father has given him he gives him the souls that he must save and they that come to him are so given him of the Father these shall come and none else he will in no wise cast them off And as Christ receives them so the Spirit unites God and the soul for he is the bond of union between them and their Head he that is joyned unto the Lord is one Spirit and we are one Spirit baptized into one body and therefore in the work of Election each of them have their distinct acts and office 2 In all the duties of the Saints they have their proper and distinct works as in hearing it is God the Father whose the truths are that they hear Eph. 3.9 they are a mystery hid in God from ages and from generations The book of his counsels are in the hand of him that sits upon the Throne who is the Word of God that is the Interpreter of the Fathers mind as the word of a man is of the mind of a man which I conceive is the proper meaning of that expression and so Joh. 1.17 The law came by Moses but grace and truth by Jesus Christ meritoriously for there is not a truth revealed but cost the blood of Christ and it is as the Lamb that was slain by virtue of his Priesthood that he doth open the book Rev. 5. And so the Spirit is the Eye-salve that gives us an understanding to receive the truths that are revealed and doth ingraft the word into the heart so in prayer also Joh. 5.20 the Father is prayed unto and therefore Christ teaches us in our prayers to look up unto God and to cry Our Father not but that Christ and the Spirit may be prayed to for they are God they are believed in and therefore are to be prayed unto but yet because of the different offices of the persons in this work of prayer therefore we are mainly directed to pray unto the Father so that he hears prayers and the Spirit indites them Rom. 8.26 and the Son he offers them with his own odours Rev. 8.3 3 It will appear also in the sealing of the Saints which I conceive is not the working of grace as some say and so the allusion is of a seal modo naturali and so the Spirit in working an impression of the image of Christ upon the soul is said to seal it leaving the like impression in the man but it is after a man believes Eph. 1.13 and I conceive that sealing is used in Scripture chiefly in a metaphorical sense to assure and to mark out a person as it 's said Ezech. 9. They were sealed that is set apart for it and seal the stone that is to make it sure to ratifie and confirm it Now there are the distinct seals of all the persons unto the evidences of the Saints they have all of them a distinct witness 1 Joh. 5.7 The Father the Word and the Spirit and they three agree in one they do all of them testifie the same thing but yet they do all of them give a distinct witness in the hearts of the Saints as they did witness unto Christ the Father from Heaven and the Son in his Baptism and the Spirit descending as a Dove so they do also unto the souls of the Saints and therefore Sacraments are called Seals not that they do work the righteousness of faith in any man for they do not work grace but strengthen and witness grace but because they do assure it unto the man that doth receive them and for that cause are said to be sealing Ordinances § 2. Now these distinct acts of office they do perform are grounded upon the distinct interest that the Saints have in them all and I call these acts of Office upon a double ground 1 Because they are but for a time during the present administration of the mediatory Kingdom which shall have its period and then the Father will draw souls to Christ no more the Son will present sacrifice to God no more 1 Cor. 15.24 the Spirit will no longer assist call purge sanctifie seal but all the graces of the Subjects of the Kingdom of Christ shall be perfected and all Gods ends in the Covenant of grace attained and then the offices that were undertaken but for the accomplishment of these ends shall be laid down 2 Because there is a personal glory that doth redound unto each person by these offices there be natural acts that do add to the essential glory the glory of the nature but acts of Office being personal they add unto the glory of the persons that do perform them 1 Cor. 5.17 18. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself the Father hath the glory thereof and the Son he hath taken the form of a servant and paid the service and made a purchase and he has the glory thereof all Nations are given unto him and the honour of it in the hearts of all the Saints Joh. 5.23 That all men may honour the Son c. And the Holy Ghost he works all in the hearts of the Saints he begins the good work Phil. 1.6 and he perfects it for all the graces of the Saints are but fruits of the Spirit and therefore he has a distinct glory also The great end and intent of God in the new Covenant was not only to shew forth the Attributes of his Nature and to glorifie them in a higher way than ever they were formerly under the first Covenant discovered as we have formerly seen but also to exalt the glory of all the persons in the hearts of the Saints that they might with hearts ravished with the love goodness and the offices of them all cry out Glory be unto the Father Son and holy Ghost and pray unto them all Rev. 1.5 6. Grace be unto you and peace from him which was and is and which is to come and from the seven Spirits before the Throne and from Jesus the faithful and true witness the first begotten of the dead and the Prince of the Kings of the Earth who has loved us and washed us from our sins by his own blood and has made
draws virtue from all the objects of it Esa 66.11 It will suck and be satisfied with the breasts of consolation It 's true that we are now in a state of childhood 1 Cor. 13.12 our manhood is to come but yet there are breasts of consolation agreeable unto our condition as Christ cannot be touched by faith but virtue comes out of him Luke 8.46 there is a power and efficacy that goes out of him there is life to be drawn from the living Father and from the Son and from the Spirit a man can exercise no act of faith upon any of the objects of faith but he can find there is an influence that it hath upon the man that believes as it is in all the acts of Christ Phil. 3.9 10. so it is in this much more how should a man rejoyce to see the influence of each person upon his soul 4. There is also an act of resignation for faith hath two hands one to receive and the other to return I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine says the believing soul Cant. 6.3 a man doth as well give up himself to God as he doth receive an interest in God David says as well Lord I am thy servant as O Lord thou art my God and therefore a man should give up himself to the praise and glory of Father Son and Spirit for to be baptized in the name of them all is for a man to give up himself unto the obedience of them all there is a judging and reasoning also in faith says the Apostle Because we thus judge 2 Cor. 5.13 14. if one dyed for all then were all dead if the Father Son and Spirit give up themselves to work for our good and we have an interest in them all how much more should we give up our selves to be to the praise and glory of them all and still keep up the eye of our faith open to see the Lord making himself over to us and the ear of faith open to hear and receive the testimony that is given and be not indulgent to the unbelief doubtings and the misgiving of your own spirits receive the witness of God within you and having received a testimony of thy interest then triumph in God for there is a triumph of faith Eph. 1.3 blessed be God the Father by Christ who was rich in love loved me and gave himself for me glory be to the Father Son and Spirit § ◠Be much in exercising distinct acts of communion with all the persons seeing there is a distinct interest in them all we should labour for a distinct fellowship with them all The ground of all unions and relations amongst all rational creatures is that they might have a fellowship one with another by their interest one in another for their interest must be improved and exercised modo rationali in a rational way It is true that there are relationes aequiparantiae as well as disquiparantiae between inferiour and superiour and between equals but yet the end is communion in them both therefore the man and wife are made one flesh and therefore friends do become one heart and soul therefore in the Church the members do become one body 1 Cor. 12.12 13. as the body hath many members even so is Christs body We are baptized into one body and all is that they might by mutual consent enjoy a communion of Saints amongst themselves and for this cause we become one body with the Angels Eph. 1.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he might gather them all together under one head so that the Saints and the Angels do make but one glorious Church and therefore it is Bernards apprehension That God did elect as many men as should supply the places of the Angels that fell and they should be in Christ taken up into the same body with them in glory and therefore we are said to come to the innumerable company of Angels Heb. 12.23 and all that we might enjoy a communion with them and so much the words ascending and descending imply Joh. 1. ult and this is the end of our interest in Christ the Mediator and we are married to him that we might have fellowship with him and by this means we rise to an higher interest and that is in the Father Son and Spirit and this also is that we might have a distinct communion with them all § 4. Here we will consider 1 That there is a distinct Communion with them all that a Believer may and ought to have with all the persons grounded upon his interest in them all 2 Wherein this Communion doth consist and what are the actings of it 3 Give you some arguments that may perswade the people of God to be much in the improvement thereof that as you have a fellowship with Christ and with the Saints and you look upon that as sweet so you would not neglect this which is the highest fellowship that you do attain by faith and is the end of all your union and communion whatsoever 1. That there is a distinct fellowship and communion to be had with all the persons That will clearly appear from 1 Joh. 1.3 Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ so that we have not only a communion with Christ the Mediator but through him with the Father and 2 Cor. 13.14 we do read of a fellowship with the Spirit also which must be mutual he hath a fellowship with us and we with him we are said to have access unto the Father which are terms of communion and that distinct communion which we have with all the persons Heb. 12.22 as well as they one with the other and therefore 't is said Heb. 12.22 Ye are come unto mount Sion c. Now to come unto the three persons notes 1 faith in them and so we come unto Christ Come unto me all ye that labour Mat. 11.29 that is that believe in him 2 It notes a communion with them and so we have access by him Ad gratiam ad gloriam Patris and thus we are said to come unto God by him Heb. 7. and no man comes unto the Father but by me Joh. 14.6 for he is the Mediator of Communion as well as of Reconciliation and we have as much need of him for the one as for the other If we look upon God and man as enemies then there needs a Mediator that may be as a days-man to lay hold upon both but being reconciled and made friends he having made us near by the blood of his Cross yet we cannot come unto God but by him it is he that gives us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 3.12 Here to come to them is to be taken into favour and fellowship with them all as appears in these particulars 1 We are come unto mount Sion the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem that is the Church of Christ under the New Testament called therefore
beggerly rudiments and Nehushtan a little piece of brass God will abase the excellency of all creatures that we make an Idol of and the Lord will let you see that your grace cannot preserve you and therefore there are two reasons why God hath let the Saints fall and hath set before you their example 1 Ostendit infirmitatem nostram ut timeamus Luther 2 Judicium suum quòd minus nihil ferre possit quà m superbiam He shews 1 our infirmity that we may fear 2 His judgment how much he hates pride For it is for this cause that he doth give up the Saints unto such gross and dangerous falls either to prevent pride or to cure it and therefore Bernard demands Why when the people of God do pray for grace above all things God many times denies them the degree of grace that they desire Oportet ipsam gratiam temperari ne in elationis vitium incidamus pag. 521. interdum subtrahitur gratia interdum retrahitur To keep from pride c. all is grounded upon pride vel superbia quae jam est vel quae futura est c. pag. 729. either the pride that already is in the heart or that which may be 6. The supplies of grace the more immediate they are the sweeter they are for they come with a greater favour from the fountain of grace from which they flow 2 Cor. 12. My grace is sufficient for thee and a Saint hath more sweetness when grace comes in from God and Christ immediately than if it were in his own power or hand to lay it out upon himself at his own pleasure and as in respect of creatures a supply from God immediately is sweeter than all the second causes in the world as the womans meal was better than if she had it still in her own hand so much more is the supply of grace dulcius ex ipso fonte c. for hereby Christ is immediately honoured and there is a continued love testified it was the first sin and the first temptation to be simile Deo scilicet ut bonorum suorum ipse sibi sit fons ipse sibi copia to be like God the fountain of good to himself Prosper c. a godly man hates it and curseth it to Hell from whence it came as God hath laid up all grace in Christ as the Steward to dispense it so a gracious soul desires and delights it should be in Christs hand rather than in his own and he would not take it out of Christs hand or make himself the fountain of his own grace for a world for he says My life is in Christ and because he lives I shall live also Vse 3 § 3. It serves also for exhortation unto all you that have chosen the Lord for your God that you be content with him alone though you have nothing else for there is an alsufficiency in him he that was sufficient unto himself before there was any creature in Heaven and Earth his self-sufficiency shall be thy alsufficiency it is your Election that gives you an interest in God Josh 14.22 you have chosen the Lord unto your selves the Lord will not put himself upon any man but he doth inlighten their minds and sets the will at liberty to chuse him for himself for every mans portion is of his own choice he is in this sense though not in the Arminian notion propriae fortunae faber c. so Dagon became the god of the Philistins and Chemosh the god of the Amorites it was by their own election and having chosen the Lord God Jehovah to be your God O study him let your heart be rapt up in the contemplation of him there is a kind of ecstasie in love there is a rapture which is nothing else but supremus contemplationis gradus mentis excessus the supreme degree of contemplation and excess of mind and be exhorted to use all the means to know God There are three ways by which we may know God 1 Viâ negationis by way of negation denying all the imperfections that are in the creatures to be in him 2 Causalitatis in a way of causality all the good that is in the creatures comes from him as its proper cause 3 Eminentiae in a way of eminence and therefore all is in him and in him in a more glorious manner than is or can be in the creatures a man should use to set God before him in his greatness and in his glory see him as a Sea as being without banks or bottom this is life eternal to know God O it is good for a man to drown his thoughts in this Sea to cast himself into it by a holy meditation and think till his thoughts be at a loss till he can think no more As a poor troubled soul when he looks upon the wrath of God his soul is swallowed up with it and he can think himself into an endless maze till he lose himself so you should do in the alsufficiency of God they are the narrow thoughts that we have of God that are dishonourable to him and are also uncomfortable to us my thoughts are not as your thoughts he is able to do above all that we can ask or think according to thy fear such is thy wrath and when you have viewed him in this manner and found that there is a good in him beyond all things more than thy thoughts and desires can reach and what thou canst desire is not to be compared to him and yet the heart of man can frame to it self vast desires now say This God shall be my God for ever and ever and in him alone will I place my happiness and hope I will be content with him alone though I have nothing else Lam. 3.4 and let this be the full resolution and bent of thy heart so to do The Lord is my portion saith my soul It 's true that all men will acknowledge that God is the Fountain of life and the chiefest good but it is in ore tantùm only in mouth but the Church brings in her soul speaking it as verbum mentis the word of her mind it 's that which my soul doth embrace and consent unto and that will make a man to be contented with him alone Psal 37. and he will go out to no other and so it was with David Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee c. Now wherein is this contentment of soul in God to be found and manifested 1. The soul lays up all in God in him alone it hath nothing out of God as it hath nothing apart from God for a godly man enjoys all in God and God in all things so that there is nothing that is not to be found in him Thou art a shield for me my glory and the lifter up of my head the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer my God my
never to expect the like again yea after the same manner as he did deliver them when they came out of Egypt in a miraculous way by signs and wonders so he will do again and the grounds of it is the same Hab. 3.9 Thy bow was made quite naked according to the oaths of the Tribes Hab. 3.9 even thy word Selah thou didst cleave the earth with rivers c. it is according unto the oaths that he swore unto the Tribes even his word the juramenta quae saepiùs repetita c. 2 When he doth work in an ordinary way according unto the course that he has set in nature and according unto the dependence that things have one upon another Hos 2.22 the heavens shall hear the earth and the earth the corn and the wine and they shall hear Jezreel c. there are the ordinances of Heaven of the Sun and the Moon and the Stars Jer. 31.35 that constant and established course that God has set amongst the creatures c. Now whether the Lord work by means or without means by his own immediate hand all is and shall be ordered and disposed for the good of the Saints all the governments that the Lord doth exercise in the world either of those ways 4. The Providence of God is either seen 1 in things necessaria which have a necessary dependence upon their causes and we may accordingly expect them as the Sun and Moon to shine or to be in their Eclipse as we say It will be foul weather to day for the skie is red and it will be fair to morrow for the skie is red which men do conclude of by their observation because they have a necessary dependence upon their causes Mat. 16.2 3. And as it is in natural things so it is in morals also there are signs of the times by which things may be as well known and as certainly concluded by an observing man a man may as well know the signs of the times as the Stork and the Crane and the Swallow know their times Jer. 8.7 8. or else why should they be blamed for it as being more unwise for themselves than the brute creatures are c. 2 There are some things that are accidentalia that are casual or fall out so as we can give no reason for them there is no expectation of it in man as the disposing of the minds of men the Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord Prov. 21.1 as in King Ahasuerus in the business of Mordecai there was a concurrence of many things that were casual and so Prov. 16.33 The lot is cast into the lap but the whole disposing of it is from the Lord so that there is not the most casual thing that can be but it comes under a providence and in all these also it is for the good of the Saints as it 's said 2 Kings 3.22 a rumour Sennacheribs Army shall hear they shall have such an apprehension that because the Sun shines upon the water therefore the Kings have slain one another for this is blood c. 5. Providence is either circa bonum vel malum either 1 in all good so the Lord doth work and order the spirits of men for as every good gift is from above so every good work is from him that is the Father of lights and the Fountain of all goodness 2 Also of all the evil that is in man there is a providence for God would never have suffered sin to have come into the world if he had not known how to have wrought his own ends by it even by the vessels of dishonour he is served in his house 2 Tim. 2.21 he doth order and over-rule even the sins of men unto his own high and most glorious ends he doth uphold Pharaoh and let out his spirit but it is that he might shew his power in him Even the wrath of man shall praise him and the remainder he will and doth restrain and Gen. 20.3 I kept thee that thou shouldst not touch her There is a letting out of sin and there is a restraint upon sin so far as it may serve to his ends Now all the providence of God whether it be for good or ill either permitting or disposing it is all of it for the good of the Saints 1. The Providence of God is circa maxima and that is for the good of the Saints and this I will reduce unto two heads 1 His government over the Angels 2 Over men in all the great turnings and changes in the world in the policies and in the governments thereof for it is the most High rules in the Kingdoms of mortal men and all this is done for the Saints sake and all is ordered so as it shall be for their good 1. For the government of the Angels either good or bad it 's all for the good of the Saints 1. As for the good Angels it 's true they are part of the spiritual Kingdom and shall make up part of that great Church and body of which Christ is the head and therefore Heb. 12.22 we are said to be come unto them and therefore it is ordinary with the Fathers and the School-men as I told you to intimate that there are as many men elected as there were Angels that fell and that they are taken in to fill up that number qui locum illum supplerent ruinas Jerusalem restaurarent Bern. But they are also used by the Lord in the providential Kingdom and all is for the Saints good in their whole Ministry it is for the sake of them that are heirs of salvation Heb. 1.14 And Ezech. 1.5 c. Ezech. 1.5 c. we have the manner how the Lord governs all things in a threefold subordination there are the wheels and the living creatures that act them and one as the Son of man by whose command and by whose Spirit they do move in all their ways and the wheels by them 1 They do by a secret virtue work upon and over-rule the hearts and the wills of men and therefore the Trumpets and the Vials are given unto the hands of Angels that is they do fashion the hearts of men and stir up their spirits unto such a work and strengthen their hearts in it for as the Devil doth fashion the minds and wills of men and gives suggestions suitable to his designs so do the good Angels also and as Satan strengthens the resolution of wicked men so do the good Angels also for they have a power upon the soul also being Spirits and a more immediate work upon the minds of men as Ahabs false Prophets thou shalt perswade them and prevail there is an impression upon their hearts they have their arguments and suggestions and they follow them with reasonings till the men be overcome so do the good Angels also Rev. 2.10 the devil shall cast some of you into prison it 's Satans working powerfully in his instruments and upon
yet amongst the Israelites not a Dog did move his tongue Signum est magni silentii dum canes silent A great love may be seen in an ordinary Providence to a man as Grapes to be had in a wilderness as a Messenger sent one of a thousand a word spoken in due season a Scripture opened to me when I had need it was directed to me in my necessity such a comfort administred at such a time when I was in extremity and it came in the season of it it is an argument of great love as when David was besieged and Saul thought that he had them sure now a report must be brought that the Philistins had invaded the Land and so change his Counsels and divert the forces from pursuing David 6. Small and ordinary things shall be for their preservation Exod. 23.25 He shall bless thy bread and thy water and will take sickness away from the midst of thee that whereas other mens food breeds and nourishes diseases his food shall be blest unto him that it shall be healthful and not hurtful and when Sennacherib is come to besiege Jerusalem after all his ranting and threatning he shall hear a rumour a report shall be brought him that the King of Ethiopia had invaded his Land and so change his purpose and it shall be for the preservation of the people of God 7. Ordinary things shall tend unto the destruction of the enemies and they shall fall by the turning of an ordinary providence the smallest things shall even ruine persons and nations as Pharaoh and all Egypt were even destroyed by flies and lice c. the Sun shines upon the water and they shall say that it is blood The Kings have destroyed one another 2 King 3.22 23. Sometimes by the turning of the wind great things have been done for the people of God great battels have been won both by Land and Sea and sometimes by rain strange things have been wrought for the defeating of the counsels of enemies Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an East-wind c. And we know what small providences have cast the balance for the people of God against the enemies and that in many doubtful cases when they had nothing but providence to work for them 8. Consider how by small and ordinary things the Lord doth preserve the lives and support his people in the world by causing the Sun to shine and the rain to fall the earth to bring forth the fig-tree to blossom and we see he gives them food out of the earth and the beasts do them service and they do it willingly and readily Now what a miserable life were the life even of a Saint here if it were not for such common and ordinary refreshments if the Lord should as a Lion watch over us as he doth threaten them he would be as a Lion and a Leopard in the way to observe them There is a providence that hath given these unto the sons of God as their inheritance so that they do injoy the comfort of them and eat the fruit of them day by day the service of thy hand maid and of thy beast all act for thee as being made by God to be thy servants It is true that the service of the Angels is comfortable but it would not be sufficient without these which are ours in a way of ordinary providence Cogita te esse in regione deserti in peregrinatione vitae Aug. and such as we account less though we taste the good of them from day to day Surely therefore all things even the smallest things shall work together for good to them that love the Lord for the good of their spiritual and temporal state also SECT IV. The Saints Interest in Gods Providential Kingdom both mediate and immediate necessary and contingent § 1. WE have gone thorow the first distinction of the providential Kingdom we come now to the second which is that Providence is either immediate or mediate The one is when the Lord works without means putting forth his own power immediately to the producing of any effect without the concurrence of any means or help of second causes and this is called making bare his arm or making it naked Esa 52.10 So long as the Lord doth work by means though there be his hand yet his hand is hid and covered under the appearance of creatures so that our eyes are either wholly or mainly upon them but when the Lord lays creatures aside and his own arm doth appear to bring salvation so that nothing else is seen but the hand of God in it without the concurrence of creatures the Lord is then said to make bare his own arm that is to shew forth his own power Hab. 3.9 purely and nakedly so Hab. 3.9 His bow was quite made naked c. he speaks it of the discoveries of Gods power in an immediate way and his bow is vis tua robur tuum Drus he speaks it of the dividing of the red Sea and the turning back of Jordan in its own chanel the power of God did immediately appear without any concurrence of means and any instrument or second causes and therefore his bow was naked c. the Scripture doth speak of the Lords smiting with the rod and with his fist c. And here there are three Propositions that I must lay down 1. That whatever the Lord does by means he can work immediately by his own hand without all means he that did give being unto the second causes can without those causes produce their effects he is independent in his working as well as in his being and doth not depend upon means and second causes in any thing that he doth and therefore if he do deprive his people of the means and will supply it in himself it shall be infinitely better they shall have a hundredfold more in this life eminenter the Sun shall be no more thy light by day but the glory of the Lord shall be the light thereof if he deprive them of the light of the Sun yet he gives them his own glory to be instead thereof and it shall abundantly answer it He hath indeed bound us in duty to use the means but he hath not bound himself he is still at liberty either to work by his own immediate hand or in the way that he hath set in the order and subordination of causes yea as much as if no such order had been made by him and therefore the time will come when God shall be all in all and this order of causes shall surely cease and then all effects shall be produced by God immediately and that in a far more glorious manner than now they are by the influences of their causes amongst the creatures 2. In the means which he doth use there is an immediate concurrence of his own power to the producing of the effect concurrit immediatè c. and without this the second cause could do nothing men
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
he is strong not by his own power for the ten Kings give their kingdoms to him and he doth exercise the power of the former beast before him and it is said Dan. 8.25 He shall be broken without hands that is by the breath of the Lord and the brightness of his coming 2 Thess 2. by an immediate manifestation of God against him not by any power of second causes for the people of God may expect the same immediate workings of providence for them that they have had in times past Esa 10.26 He will stir up a scourge for them according to the slaughter of Midian and he shall lift it up after the manner of Egypt Now as for that of Egypt it was by an immediate appearance of God when there was no means used and so for that of Midian Judg. 7.19 20. they blew the Trumpets and they broke their pitchers and that was all that was done which was a means that of it self had no influence into the effect but the Lord set every mans sword against his fellow and such immediate discoveries and actings of providence the Lord doth promise unto his people and they may expect them from him in all their straits when the enemy comes in like a floud c. 5. They may expect immediate deliverances Laban came out against Jacob with an evil intention but he saith Gen. 31.29 It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt but the God of your fathers spoke to me yesternight saying Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad And so Balaam had a will to curse the people of God and he wanted no incouragement and solicitation from the King of Moab to do it and yet remember what Balack consulted and what Balaam answered And the instance of Abraham when his hand was up to flay his son and the Lord called to him out of Heaven Stay thy hand Mic. 6.5 and thereby it was a Proverb reserved in the Church of God ever since Jehovah jireh In the Mount will the Lord be seen that is when all means and hopes of preservation is past that they look upon themselves as to be sacrificed now they may expect an immediate appearance of God for them 6. For their immediate Support if the Lord call Moses to him into the Mount he shall there be mantain'd forty days and nights and neither eat bread nor drink water but his support shall come from an immediate hand and so it was with Christ also in his temptation by Satan when he had fasted so long when the Lord does deny his People the means he doth give them a support in himself that they shall have no want of the means as it is in a spiritual way so it is also very often in a providential way that when the Lord denyes the means he doth give unto his People a support in himself that so they may learn to trust unto him and to know that they have an interest not only in his mediate but in his immediate Providence and that the special Providence of God towards his people has both these parts in it to shew that though they see not Providence in the use of all the ordinary means yet that they tempt not God nor look for all things in a common way in the use of means that it may appear that they trust in God alone and can shut their eyes and say I know not how it will come in I see no means but there is a Providence that is above means with him the fatherlâ—ss find mercy So it is in all inward afflictions also and distresses of Conscience the Soul has many times nothing to look upon but an immediate and almighty hand all means fail they have gone from Ordinance to Ordinance and they have waited when a Messenger one of a thousand should be sent to them but there is none that can speak peace to them there is no fruit of the lips to refresh them and when the mans soul draws near to the Grave and his life to the destroyer then he doth immediately lift up the light of his countenance and thereby his soul is revived again and delivered from going down into the pit that as the Lord Jesus Christ when there was nothing of creature comforts to uphold him for they all forsook him and fled then the Promise of the Lord was made good Isa 42.6 Isa 42.6 I will hold thee by the hand and I will keep thee when all the creatures withdrew their succour not one of them did hold forth their hand to him now there was from the Father an immediate and a secret support so it is with the Saints also Psal 37.24 Though he fall he shall not be utterly cast away for the Lord upholds him with his hand but there is sometimes an immediate income that is known unto the Soul the Lord lifts up the light of his countenance in the darkest night when he sees nothing but Hell and Destruction before his Eyes which is called the hidden Manna Rev. 2.17 and the new Name and the white Stone Rev. 2.17 They had no Manna till they were in the Wilderness and all hope of support from creatures did fail now the Manna comes and such are the incomes of the Spirit into the Soul and a new Name and a white Stone when he comes to judgment upon himself and he is ready to pass an eternal sentence upon himself counts himself free amongst the dead like them that lye in the Grave whom thou remembrest no more never to have a good look from God now the Lord comes in with a sentence of absolution and gives a man a name that none knows but he that has it but then the Lord will make him to know it it is speaking peace from the Lords immediate voice as the Martyr when he came to the Stake and had no means of comfort in a Desertion before now he cryes out He is come he is come It is with many a Soul as with the woman that had the issue of blood twelve years and had waited upon the Physicians attended on the means which God had appointed and spent all her time and pains upon them and yet was not the better but rather the worse and she is reserved for an immediate cure by Christ and an immediate rouch from him shall do the work that as Bernard observes concerning the time when Christ came in the flesh which is in Scripture call'd the fulness of time Non apparebat Angelus non loquebatur Propheta cessabant velut desperatione victi tunc dixi ecce venio c. so it is with the coming of the Spirit also when all means have been used and all fail and the soul is ready to sink under the burden now the Spirit saith Lo I come the soul did before find that there were everlasting arms under it and that it did hang as the Earth upon nothing did not know how it was