their much speaking and stand upon their justification I fast twice in the week and pay tythe of all that I possess says the Pharisee The Apostle Rom. 9.31 says They followed after the righteousness of the Law by their own performance of the works of the Law And to this end because they could not rise up to the spirituality of the Law they did therefore bring down the Law by their interpretation unto their own obedience and all was to make their own righteousness available for justification Therefore Paul saith Concerning the righteousness of the Law blameless Phil. 3. The young man says All these have I kept from my youth Therefore the Papists teach That men may perfectly fulfill the Law Bellar. de Justific l. 2. c. 2 3. and do also some works of Supererogation over and above the Law that the formal cause of Justification is inherent righteousness though Christs righteousness is the meritorious cause Christ having merited that our righteousness may justifie c. And though not works by nature yet by Grace even Faith it self as a work is that which God accepts being performed by us instead of all the righteousness required in the Moral Law These and many more are the ways by which men seek to establish their own righteousness in matter of Justification 2 As for Salvation also All men would be working and doing something for Heaven Good Master what shall I do to inherit eternal life What shall we do to work the works of God Joh. 6. They were all upon a way of doing they did expect a reward for all They had a high esteem of their own services and therefore they did boast themselves and glory in them it 's the law of saith only excludes boasting Rom. 3.27 The Creature being sinful is lifted up by works proud of a little God knows And therefore Jehu says Come see my zeal for the Lord of hosts and there is nothing in the world that the pride of man will appear more in than in righteousness for pride is an overweening apprehension of a mans own excellency and the higher the excellency the greater the pride Rom. 7.9 I was alive says Paul without the Law alive in performances and alive in presumptions he thought he had done much for God and therefore his zeal did rise to a madness in persecuting of the Church It 's a hard matter for a man to be a painful Preacher a zealous professor a faithful Statesman or a man that has laid out himself for the publick any way but his heart will swell with privy pride therein yea even though he do profess to despise and to disesteem the praise of men § 3. But now more particularly so far as any man does not submit unto the righteousness and the grace of the second Covenant so far he manifests his desire to be still under the first Covenant but all men by nature refuse to submit to the righteousness and the offers of the second Covenant and therefore they desire to continue under the first The Scripture speaks of mens actions and dispositions many times interpretatively not as they are in the intention of the sinner but as they are in truth and in the interpretation of God Prov. 8. ult Men are said to love death all those that hate wisdom and despise Christ and live without him love death Now men will all say that they do hate death but yet in Gods interpretation they hating the only way and means to life they do all of them love death So we read in Ezech. 8.5 They did these abominations that I might go far from my sanctuary It was not their intention in so doing actually and formaliter but interpretative it was because they had set up an image of jealousie in the Sanctuary which would provoke God to remove and yet if they had been asked they would all have said they would by no means have the glory of the Lord to remove So men do not actually desire to be under the first Covenant but yet so long as they reject the offers and the grace of the second so long in Gods interpretation they do desire to be under the Law still and their rejection of the better Covenant offered argues they like and love that under which they are and reject the righteousness of God which is the same which is called the righteousness of Christ and the righteousness of faith as the Apostle says Phil. 3.9 Not having my own righteousness which is of the law but the righteousness which is of God by faith And it 's called the righteousness of God partly because it is found out by God and by God only imputed and therefore is only an act of free grace whereby God will make a sinner righteous before him Rom. 1.17 and partly because Christ offered himself by the eternal spirit without spot to God which is his own Divine nature and so unto all the actions and the sufferings of his Humanity the Godhead gave an efficacy and an excellency even from his person they being all the actions and sufferings of him that was both God and Man And unto this righteousness men through the pride and unbelief of their spirits and contrariety to the Gospel will not submit They have not subjected themselves unto the righteousness of God 1. All a man's sins do stand out and will not submit to the righteousness of God for whoever imbraces the offer of the second Covenant and the grace thereof must take Christ for Sanctification 1 Cor. 1. as well as for Justification for he is made both and he came with water and blood to answer those ways of legal purification and so he must come into every soul but above all sins a mans darling his right hand and his right eye must be parted with and therefore Christ says Joh. 5.44 How can you believe that seek honour one of another The power of any lust in the soul will keep it from believing and accepting of the grace and mercy that 's offered in the second Covenant And so through the power and dominion of sin men cannot submit to the righteousness of God And how miserably is many a man held in captivity this way we all see they are by the snares of darkness led captive by Satan at his will 2. All the gifts and abilities that are in a man are against it for faith is the highest self-denial 2 Cor. 8.2 and gifts do puff up and therefore not many wise are called The wisdom of this world is enmity against God and all their parts and learning their wisdom whether it be natural or acquired doth make them but the stronger enemies and set them the farther off from Christ Hab. 2.4 now this stands in the most direct opposition to faith for that soul that is lifted up his heart is not upright in him In troublesome times to have a mans heart born up by a fleshly prop
have made which are not many regard principally the Explication of some few Texts and Interpretation of Latin Sentences for the use of vulgar Capacities As for Diminutions I have religiously avoided more than seemed necessary to make the sence and Contexture clear And whereas I gave the Subscribers a promise to review the Copy and take care that it be well done what endeavours I have exerted yea how many hours I have borrowed from my natural Refreshments to make good this my word is not meet for me to mention only the Reader may judge somewhat hereof if he consider how many Imperfections must unavoidably attend such Posthumous Transcripts and that out of Manuscripts written in Characters and I am apt to perswade my self the Subscribers when they have considered the whole will not think themselves deceived in this particular specially if they compare this with other pieces of our Author formerly published out of his own Notes And I have herein endeavoured to fulfill that great Effate of our Lord To do as I would be done unto in the like case I judge some guilty of much unkindness to their deceased Friends as well as injustice to the World in thrusting forth Posthumous Works without due emendation and correction Whatever service has been performed herein is no more than what is required by and due to the Lord of the Harvest from an unprofitable Servant Theophilus Gale TABLE of CONTENTS A Discourse of the two Covenants BOOK I. Of the Covenant of Works CHAP. I. The Curse of the first Covenant Gen. 2.17 THE Covenant of friendship made with Adam Pag. 1 Why God adds the threatning to Adam with the use of threats and promises Pag. 3 The temporal curse that follows Adams fall Pag. 4 1. All the creatures cursed thereby Pag. 5 2. The curses upon mans body Pag. 6 3. The curse upon mans name Pag. 7 4. The curse on relations 1 On Magistrates Pag. 8 On the people towards Magistrates Pag. 9 2 On Ministers and people Pag. 10 3 On husband and wife Pag. 11 4 On parents and children Pag. 12 The spiritual curse as privative of God Pag. 13 1. Mans forsaking his chief good Pag. 14 2. His loss of an interest in God Pag. 15 3. His loss of Gods image Pag. 16 4. His loss of communion with God ibid. 5. His hatred of God Pag. 17 The spiritual curse as to the soul it self ibid. 1. The souls desertion ibid. 2. The guilt of the soul Pag. 18 3. The dominion of sin Pag. 19 4. The power of Satan Pag. 20 5. The curse on ordinances ibid. 6. Spiritual judgments ibid. Eternal death Pag. 21 CHAP. II. Gal. 4.21 Mens desire to be under the Law To be under the Law most desirable to corrupt nature Pag. 22 1. All men desire to establish their own righteousness Pag. 25 2. All men would be doing something for heaven ib. So far as any man submits not to the righteousness of the second covenant so far he manifests his desire to be still under the first covenant Pag. 26 1. Mens sins will not submit ibid. 2. Their gifts and abilities will not submit ibid. 3. Their own righteousness before or after conversion will not submit Pag. 27 4. Awakened consciences think the second covenant too good news to be true ibid. Two things in a man under the covenant of works 1. An answerable spirit ibid. 2. Suitable fruits 1 Placing Religion in outward performances Pag. 28 2 Doing all their services without a Mediator ib. 3 Doing all with a legal spirit ibid. The causes why men desire to be under the Law ibid. 1. A principle of ignorance ibid. 1 Of the Law Pag. 28 29 30 2 Of the Righteousness of Christ Pag. 30 31 2. A principle of enmity against God 1 His wisdom 2 his justice 3 his power 4 his love 5 his soveraignty Pag. 31 32 3. A principle of pride exemplified in seven particulars Pag. 32 The Application 1. God wrongs not the unregenerate in leaving them under the first covenant Pag. 33 34 2. A state of sin is miserable Pag. 34 3. An exhortation to three duties 1. Humiliation for this sin Pag. 35 2. Watchfulness over the heart ibid. 3. No satisfaction without the contrary grace Pag. 36 CHAP. III. Rom. 7.8 How sin takes occasion and is irritated by the Law Pag. 37 Doct. Every man out of Christ is under a Covenant of Works and under the irritating power of the Law Pag. 39 Sin hath a threefold power from the Law ibid. 1. Of condemnation ibid. 2. Of conviction ibid. 3. Of irritation ibid. 1. In the unregenerate there is the seed of all sin ib. 2. Lusts are acted and drawn forth by degrees ib. 3. There is nothing to the unregenerate that is not a means to draw out and improve their lusts 1 All creatures 2 All opportunities 3 All estates Pag. 40 How sin takes occasion by the commandment ibid. 1. The Law as a glass discovers sins ibid. 1 It acts many sins because they are forbidden ib. 2 It is against light ibid. 3 In that man hates the light ibid. 2. The Law restrains sin whence it breaks out more violently ibid. 1 It spreads the more ibid. 2 It is the more enraged Pag. 41 3 It improves it thereby ibid. 3. There is a condemning power of the Law And from this sin takes occasion 1 By reason of terrors 2 By driving to despair 3 Whence follows a giving up to excess of riot 4 And it rises to blasphemy and rage against God ibid. Whence it is that the law exasperates and increases sin ibid. The law is not the formal cause ibid. But the accidental cause Pag. 42 The proper causes of it are 1. Lust 1 which is carried towards its object with earnestness violence and vehemency 2 which is proud and swells the heart 3 which is resolute 4 a principle and root of enmity against God Pag. 42 43 2. The curse of God that is come upon all under the Fall which is twofold 1 emptiness and deceiving 2 Corrupting and defiling Pag. 43 44 45 Quest Whether are true Believers wholly freed from the law in respect of its irritation Pag. 45 46 47 48 Quest If Believers be under this irritation where lies the difference between them and wicked men Pag. 48 The Doctrine improved Pag. 48 49 CHAP. IV. Gal. 5.18 Wherein the coactive power of the Law consists Pag. 90 Doct. Every man out of Christ is under the coaction and rigor of the Law which 1. Requires perfect obedience Pag. 51 2. Gives no strength to perform it Pag. 52 3. Lays it upon him as a burden which he loves not ib. 4. Nor takes delight in ibid. 5. Which forbids sin but heals it not Pag. 53 6. Carries a man to God as a Judge ibid. 7. Forces a man to see sin whether he will or no. Pag. 53 54 8. It forces to a self-judgment and condemnation for sin Pag. 54 Whence the Law hath this coactive power Pag. 55 1.
content to be under it and seek righteousness and life thereby if they do follow the Law for righteousness and submit not to the righteousness of God and this be interpretatively and in Gods account a desire to continue under the first Covenant still though it be not formally and directly so then this clears the justice of God in two things by way of Vse and Application 1. That the Lord doth unregenerate men no wrong if he leave them still under the first Covenant for he does but give them the desire of their own hearts All the Heathens therefore that sit still in darkness and in the shadow of death that never heard of another righteousness in which they might appear before God but their own to whom the righteousness of God under the Gospel even the righteousness of the new Covenant the righteousness of God by faith was never made known The giving of the knowledge of this righteousness and this new Covenant unto some and hiding it from others was grounded on no precedent differences and dispositions in the man either to whom it was revealed or to whom it was denied it was only the Mystery hid in God in his own Will and in his own Counsel And the same good-will that was the cause of the revealing it to the one was the cause also of the hiding it from the other Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 3.9 Mat. 11.25 and revealed them unto babes For the Lord leaves them under that Covenant under which they did desire to be and under that righteousness by which they did desire to establish themselves and to be justified and did not reveal unto them the second Covenant which they had an inward disposition to despise and the righteousness thereof unto which by nature they could not submit Therefore it is riches of compassion that he has revealed it unto any but it is exceeding just that he has hid it from any And for those that live under the Gospel and have the tenure of the second Covenant made known to them and the glory of the righteousness thereof discovered and yet accept it not submit not thereunto it will be enough to clear the justice of God at the last day that they are left under the first Covenant under which they did desire to be and therefore as it is justice with God to leave a man under Adam's image and under the power and dominion of their own lusts to give them unto the power of their own hearts lusts and suffer them to walk in their own counsels and to say Ephraim is joined to Idols let him alone and he that is filthy let him be filthy still so it is just with God also to leave men under Adam's Covenant and to seek righteousness and life thereby and so not attaining to the law of righteousness they perish under the curse thereof for ever 2. He shall do no man wrong if in the general Judgment he do proceed against men according to the rules of the Covenant of Works for he will surely deal with men according to the tenure of the Covenant under which they stand and every man is under that Covenant which he desires to be 1 If they have all their sins laid upon their own score and give account for every vain thought in the heart and every vain word in the mouth every sinful purpose of the heart for he will bring every work to judgment with every secret thing and not a drop of the blood of Christ shall go to wash away the least of their sins and transgressions therein they must bear their own sins and their own shame and it is just with God for their Covenant admits of no Mediator 2 When God shall reject thy best services for the failings that are in them and look upon thy righteousness as a filthy rag abhor thy prayers for the noisome savours that be in them and they be turned into sin because thy person is not accepted thy Covenant is not changed the Lord will tell thee thy Covenant requires perfect obedience and if thou dost well thou shalt be accepted if thou dost evil sin lies at thy door and all thy services are but as if a man did bless an Idol and offer swines flesh and as if a man did cut off a dogs neck for thou art not in a state of acceptation thou art not found in his beloved Son in whom alone he is well pleased 3 When thou shalt have none to intercede for thee Joh. 17.9 and to plead thy cause before the Lord he prays for no such I pray not for the world as soon as thou shalt peep out of the Earth in the day of the Resurrection and lift up thy trayterous head out of the grave thy Conscience shall condemn thee thy heart shall fail thee and he also that is greater than thy Conscience Then shall the King say I was hungry and you gave me no meat c. and then thou shalt look for Christ to plead thy cause but thy Covenant admits no Advocate thou must plead for thy self which because a man cannot do having nothing to say he shall be speechless for ever 4 Then thou wilt repent and say I have perverted righteousness and it has not profited me for there shall be sorrow enough perfect sorrow in Hell even weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth but God can accept no repentance thy Covenant as it gives no repentance Revel 2.21 so it promises no repentance no acceptance and the time of repentance is past there is but a time of it 5 Thou wilt expect Christ as a skreen to stand between thee and the fathers wrath Gal. 3.13 for under the second Covenant he was made a curse for us but thy Covenant admits no surety the soul that sins shall die there is no ransome paid for thee for being under this Covenant either the Law must be obeyed but that it is not for thou art a sinner or else it must be abrogated but that it is not for not an Iota of the Law shall pass or it must be mitigated but that it is not for it is inflexible the Law is holy and just and good and remains the same that is was to Adam in the state of Innocency the curse must be executed the penalty inflicted even indignation and wrath upon every soul that does evil c. 6 When you shall look to have your services rewarded as mens Religious duties are the great actions of their lives and therefore men have the greatest hopes grounded upon them Phil. 3.7 it was in Paul's account gain to him and he did expect a reward answerable now when the Lord shall reject them and say that the inheritance is not by the Law since the Law became weak through the flesh but the inheritance is by promise and all comes by the second Covenant this can be no wrong to any unregenerate man
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
nisi quod traditum yet conceiving it after my best examination to be a truth of God for I did desire to believe before I spake I could not but speak what I apprehended to be the mind of God therein I should not desire to obtrude any thing upon you without examination if it be upon tryal but hay and stubble I shall be content that it shall burn but if it be a truth of God it will abide the tryal and though such a truth as this is may receive some prejudice by the weakness of the instrument yet if it be a truth the Lord Jesus will certainly raise up such instruments as shall be able to carry it through against all opposition I come now to answer the former Objection I do acknowledge that there is no way for the Gentiles to come under Abrahams covenant but by faith they cannot claim a title from Abraham begetting that belongs to the Jews only who are therefore called by the Apostle the natural Branches Rom. 11.24 and the Gentiles are said to be ingrafted contrary unto nature and therefore the Gentiles can claim no interest in Abrahams covenant but from believing Abraham and yet I deny that the faith which shall give a man any kind of right or title must be true saving and justifying faith And to clear this I must give you a threefold distinction 1. Of Abraham as a father and it 's plain that the Scripture speaks of a threefold paternity of Abraham 1 Abraham is a natural father and so to the Jews only for they are his posterity according to the flesh the natural branches that grow out of this root and this is the paternity that the Jews did glory in We have Abraham to our father Mat. 3.9 Joh. 8.39 2 Abraham is a spiritual father unto all true Believers who walk in the steps of the faith of Abraham whether they be of the Jews or of the Gentiles and they shall be blessed with faithful Abraham Rom. 4.11 12. for which cause I suppose it is that Heaven is called Abrahams bosom Luk. 16.22 Luk. 16.22 Abraham being the father of all the Faithful they shall be received into the same happiness with himself and he will shew unto them special love and tenderness Infantes in parentum sinu gestati amorem benevolentiam intimam experiuntur and so to be gathered to the Saints our fathers is a special mercy because we shall have an experience of the highest love of the Saints even Abraham himself the father of us all will owne us for his sons and receive us into his bosom Others take it as a Metaphor from the custom of the Jews in conviviis in their feasts where they did alter in alterius sinu occumbere lye down one in the others bosom Joh. 13.23 answerable unto that Mat. 8.11 They shall sit down with Abraham Isaac Joh. 13.23 Mat. 8.11 and Jacob in the kingdom of God which doth very fitly suit unto the Parable in hand Lazarus stands at the door of the rich man and was not admitted to taste of his meat much less to sit down at his table but he shall sit down in Heaven at the supper of the Lamb with Abraham Isaac and Jacob he shall there lean upon Abrahams bosom 3 Abraham is also an Ecclesiastical or a Church-father Rom. 11.16 as it appears Rom 11.16 he is the root upon which the Churches of the Jews did grow and into which the Churches of the Gentiles are ingrafted many of the Jews were not spiritually his seed and yet they are said to be broken off not from being Abrahams natural seed that they could never be deprived of they were the posterity of Abraham according to the flesh and so they do remain even after their breaking off but they are only broken off from a Church-relation and so they are the seed of Abraham no more and the Gentiles are grafted not into Abraham as a natural father a natural root for they never can be the posterity of Abraham according to nature and many of them are not from him as a spiritual father for many of them believe not and therefore are in danger of being cut off as the Jews were broken off whence they grow upon Abraham and are ingrafted into him as an Ecclesiastical or Church-father So then the answer is there is not a sufficient enumeration of Abrahams paternities It 's confessed the Gentiles cannot become the posterity of Abraham as a natural father or as a spiritual father for so many of the Gentiles are not of the seed of Abraham as do not walk in the steps of his faith but yet Abraham is an Ecclesiastical father unto the Gentiles as well as he was to the Jews that believed not for the Gentiles are ingrafted into the same root out of which the natural branches were broken off which cannot be spoken of his faith and grace that 's never broken off therefore it is of his Ecclesiastical or Church respect it must be meant 2. In the Covenant of Abraham there are two parts the one spiritual consisting in the inward graces and priviledges the other external consisting in outward priviledges only and this doth plainly appear in Isaac who was the child of the free woman and unto whom the Covenant descended according to the spiritual graces and priviledges thereof and in Ismael who was the son of the bond-woman born after the flesh and taken into covenant only in reference to the external priviledges thereof Deut. 29.10 12 13 14. Rom. 9.4 and thus were all the Jews taken into covenant with God as it appears Ezech. 16.8 and yet with many of them God was not well pleased they never had an interest in the saving graces and the spiritual priviledges of the Covenant for Rom. 9.6 They are not all Israel that are of Israel they were all inchurch'd Israel but they were not all of elected Israel for as there is an external calling Mat. 22.14 and sanctification Mat. 22.14 Joh. 15.2 Heb. 10.29 and an external being in Christ so there is also an external being in Covenant with God or being taken into the Covenant of Abraham for Abraham is the root of the Covenant into which the Gentiles also are ingrafted Rom. 11.17 there is a fatness that is from the Olive-tree communicated to the branches even to such branches as were broken off in whose places the Gentiles were grafted in Now the saving graces of the Covenant are not communicated from any Company of men in the world no not from the invisible Church but from Christ only who is therefore said to be the Root of David Rev. 22.16 and the fountain of the Gardens Cant. 3.15 but Ordinances and outward Priviledges are properly the Churches and from the Church are communicated to others as members whether they be elect or reprobate the Gentiles therefore may have an interest in Abrahams Covenant in reference to the outward Priviledges and Ordinances thereof though
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
has bid Shimei curse and if Job lose all that he has though by the hand of creatures yet he saith The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away there is no evil in the city that the Lord has not done and therefore Christ saith Thou couldst have no power over me unless it were given thee from above Now as you look upon them as vain that worship an Idol and stand in fear of it though you know they do but bow down to the stock of a Tree yet a deceived heart has turned him aside c. that he cannot discern the deceit and say Is there not a lye in my right hand Esa 44.20 so when men fear creatures it is but as if a man feared an Idol that can do him no hurt and they can do you no good though every man seeks the face of the Ruler and they think that he is able to shew them much favour in judgment yet let him do what he can Prov. 29.26 Psal 33.15 and intend never so much good to you all that is good to you is from the Lord in his judgment He doth fashion the hearts of men and he considers all their ways c. they have the same apprehensions that he gives them and the same affections and intentions if they do thee any good it is because the Lord has assisted and touched their hearts for they have but such a fashion as he gives them therefore he is said to ascend and descend Prov. 30.2 3 4. it 's conceived by some to be an expression taken from Jacobs Ladder in which there were Angels ascending and descending as it is Joh. 1. ult but yet in all the administrations of the best of creatures it is he that ascends and descends for all the good of the creature is at his dispose and he must give the creature a commission to do good as well as to do us evil and will you flye unto that for sufficiency that can neither do good nor evil 4. Will you place your sufficiency in the creature when it cannot reach unto that which is best in the man Every holy man doth take a measure of all things as they relate unto his soul and that which doth his soul most good that he judges best for him and that which doth the soul most hurt that he judges worst for him for Saints measure all prosperity by that of the soul but all creature-comforts are but food that perishes and therefore we are exhorted not to labour for them for they will all die unto us Joh. 6.27 and therefore that men might not dote upon carrying them with them into another world consider we brought nothing into this world 1 Tim. 6.7 neither shall we carry any thing out of this world as soon as we have put off this Tabernacle all the necessary supports thereof will be of use to us no more for they are all in reference to the Tabernacle it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He only can cure the heart that formed it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys de poenit hom 4. when God establishes the heart in peace no creature can move it 5. The creatures have no good in them but what is borrowed All the good that is in the creatures is either real or apparent 1 If there be any real good in any creature it is derived unto it from God they are all cyphers and they have no good in them of themselves but what is put into them if God will put much of his Spirit into a Magistrate as he did into Moses the abilities of many men shall be in that one man he shall rule his people with great success and if the Lord will afterward take it away and divide it amongst men it is as he will dispose of it whether to fill the vessel or empty it and if the Lord will create the fruit of the lips peace a Minister shall be able to speak peace and administer a word that shall be in season unto him that is weary but else though he speak with never so much eloquence it will be to no purpose there is no more in it than God puts into it 2 There is appearing good and that is put into the creatures by the subtilty of Satan and by the lusts of men 1 By the subtilty of Satan for he intending to make use of the creature to betray the soul of a man doth put a fair gloss upon it and a varnish as we see he did to Christ when he represented to him the Kingdoms of the world and the glory of them in a moment of time so doth Satan represent the creatures to us in his own glass and deceives us with the apparent good that is in them 2 There is also something that the lusts of men do add and that is a conceit that there is some such excellency in it Prov. 18.11 it is a strong hold and a high wall it 's desirable for food and pleasant to the taste but it is but in his own conceit and all the pomp of the world is but fancy and all the great things of the world are not great in reality but only that great affection and the high apprehension that men have of them makes them seem so to be Psal 36.9 but with God only is the fountain of life by life is meant all good and it is in God originally as in a fountain it is in the creatures but derivatively as in a stream and therefore it 's the greatest folly for a man to leave the fountain to go to the streams and to forsake the Sun to take our light from the Moon and the Stars which shine only by a borrowed light and upon this ground the Saints are not much troubled at the miscarriages in creatures when they promise fair but by and by their hopes are nipt and it brings not the work to perfection therefore they regard it not and say it is but a bucket broken and a stream dried up a pipe stopped but there is as much water in the fountain still as ever and unto that he has immediate recourse 6. A man's retiring unto creatures in any of his straits is that which doth cause God to leave him for no man is to have a double dependence because that argues a double heart God will be all in all for supports and supplies as well as Christ will be all in all for righteousness and salvation 2 Chron. 26.15 and therefore it is said That Vzziah was helped till he was strong he was marvellously helped but then his heart withdrew from God unto his own supports and then the Lord left him to them which proved his overthrow for with him only the fatherless find mercy they that are truly so in their own esteem and account and have none to look to or make provision for them any more than fatherless children have it is in him that they shall find mercy but they that say unto
and that will vent it self in time when the thorns shall spring up to choak the word notwithstanding all the restraints that are upon their lusts for a season 3 Thereby they do good many times and give great encouragements to the Saints by their example for their lamps do shine as lights in the world and there are many that do shew others the way in which they themselves walk not but they have their diverticula their crooked ways they go forth with the people of God Psal 125.5 and yet they do afterwards repent themselves and turn back again from the way that 's called holy 2 Pet. 2.21 Godly men do not only follow the example of the Saints that is those that are really and truly so but they have many times very great encouragement from the example and the countenance of them that are not so as we see it in the instance of Joash how he did encourage the builders of the Temple especially when they are men in authority and power they do encourage and go before the Saints of God unto the end whereof they never come and so we have much experienced in our days 2. By their gifts also no man hath his gifts for himself they are this worlds goods they are not thy own but another mans as thy riches are and they are the Churches Treasure and they will fall from a man when he dyes as Elijahs mantle for they are of no use in the world to come and therefore shall not continue 1 Cor. 13.8 9. they are 1 for the Churches collection that so they may be instrumental in gathering in others As for that dispute Whether a man that is unregenerate is made use of by God to convert others I shall not now insist on but I conceive the power of conversion being not of man but of God the Lord calling such as belong to the Election doth according to his good pleasure concur with the one as with the other the gifts of the Ministry are for the gathering of the Saints Eph. 4. many of them are unregenerate men and yet have received a gift Mat. 7.21 and can say to Christ We have prophesied in thy name yet are cast-aways themselves for Christ has received gifts for men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell amongst them Psal 68.18 that is that the Lord might have a Church for a habitation amongst them Habes ingenium verè aureum saith Austin of Lycentius diabolo propinas teipsum Deus populo suo tam per pios quà m per impios magna facere donare potest Luth. Golden wits may be the Devils vassals 2 For the perfection of the Saints for during the standing of this great house the vessels shall continue and there will be a continual use of them that though they serve their lusts yet by the use of their gifts the Lords ends are accomplished Phil. 1.18 Some preach Christ out of envy but yet Christ is preached and thereby the savour of the Gospel is spread abroad and souls are converted and edified for there is many a man that builds an Ark that saves others that never saves himself that preaches to others and is himself a cast-away there were many that converted others to the Faith in the times of Popery that yet departed themselves from that Faith when suffering came And I fear it will also be said of some Ministers now amongst us that seem great Zealots for the cause and ways of God that when the hour and power of darkness that is coming once again in this Nation shall over-spread it they will draw back from the plough to which they have before so many witnesses put their hand c. the love of many shall wax cold 3. All their services also for they have gifts for service and it is for the service of the house and they are therefore called servants and truly it 's an honour to be a servant to the Saints seeing the Angels are so and there is much benefit that the Saints have by it as we see in Saul the spirit of government was upon him and that service he did in it was for the Saints and Zac. 4.12 they are said to empty the golden oyl out of themselves c. but it is all for the good of the Candlestick it is that the light thereof may be maintained 1 Sometimes they protect as Badgers skins the Ark from storms that the Church is exposed to unregenerate men may be very serviceable to the Church of God as we see in Cyrus c. 2 Sometimes they may assist them in any work that they set upon they may stand by them and strengthen their hands as we see Joash the King did about the building and repairing the House of the Lord. 3 Sometimes they may supply them there is many a man that supplies the necessities of the Saints that doth it to be seen of men and have their reward for they are labourers in the Lords Vineyard and it is for the benefit of it that they are imployed and they have their penny and they may also bear much of the burden and heat of the day as it seems they that murmured did and they do commonly set a high price upon their own services and hereby the Saints do glorifie Christ who has given such gifts to men and when he hath given such to his enemies O what are those gifts that he hath reserved for his sons They see it is the great fruit of the Ascension of Christ and as from the seven Spirits that are before the Throne and they can bless God for his goodness to the children of men and though they pity such a soul to see him destroyed by his own gifts in his abusing of them non est calamitosior homo in terris quà m doctor superbus There is not a more piteous man in the world than a proud Doctor Luth. yet they glorifie Christ therein and see this as a fruit of his government that there may be those that shall build the Tabernacle of God as it is said of Bezaleel and Aholiab that they were gifted for the work c. 4. By their sins for 1 the Lord doth let them live for the Saints sake le ts both good and bad grow together to the harvest and he will weed them out for the Saints sake also for he will gather out of his Kingdom all that offends and whoever works iniquity and he will not have the society of the Saints always polluted by the chaff of the world for they are spots in their feasts and therefore he doth take them away as unfruitful fig-trees he cuts them down and gives them to salt to a perpetual barrenness for the grace and ordinances of the Gospel will heal even the dead sea Ezech. 47.11 12. therefore he casts them out in order to their destruction 2 The Lord will not have his people always deluded the Saints many times are mistaken in their opinion
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
of God is exalted in their hearts so much the more which might have suffered them for ever to have walked in the errour of the wicked and to have gone in the same way with them Psal 69.27 Add iniquity unto their iniquity that is as the Saints go from one degree of grace to another they go from glory to glory from strength to strength so let these go from one sin to another God lets them do it till they have filled up their measure and then le ts go judgment after it upon them by giving them over unto it that so they may fill up their measure for there is a measure of sin as well as of grace Joel 3.13 Put in thy sickle and reap for the harvest is ripe the press is full there is a measure of iniquity and then they do come up in remembrance before God the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full A dismal judgment it is that a man should live for no other end but to fill up iniquity 3 Hereby the Saints are daily admonished what they are in their own nature if the Lord leave the best men to themselves and kept it not under the restraint of grace 2 Tim. 2.19 they seeing others Apostasie fear themselves and Christ speaking of him that was to betray him all the Disciples began to fear lest it should be themselves this sin is in my nature say they and therefore it is meer mercy that I am not so wicked as Cain and Judas I am as like to commit it as they if the Lord should leave me to my self that gratia subsequens the Rock that followed them preserves his people from the sin that is in their natures and they reflect upon that when they see others fall into sin considering themselves lest they also be tempted Gal. 6.1 4 Hereby they are minded of the ends that sin brings men to that they may fear them As the ends of godly men are to be observed whose faith follow knowing the end of their conversation so we are called upon in Scripture to consider the ends of the wicked Prov. 23.21 Drunkenness will cloath a man with rags who hath redness of eyes and wounds without cause Prov. 6.26 By the means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a morsel of bread and a dart striking through his liver and he gets a wound and dishonour that shall never be wiped off Prov. 21.16 The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in coetu gigantum in the congregation of the Giants they being the first sort of sinners that ever went into Hell and so did give the first denomination unto the place of the damned 5 By this the Saints are put upon many duties towards them which will abound unto their account and 1 to pity their souls and to wait for them with patience Tit. 3.2 3. Shewing all meekness towards all men for we our selves were such Rom. 11.31 says the Apostle That through your mercy they also may obtain mercy 2 Despair not of them because the Lord shewed mercy to you therefore wait if at any time God will give them repentance 1 Tim. 1.16 He shewed in me a pattern to them that should hereafter believe in him c. we have in our selves an instance 3 We are to undervalue the persons of thes◠men how great soever Prov. 29.27 The wicked is an abomination to the just Psal 15.4 Dan. Dan. 4.17 4.17 they are the basest of men be they never so great 4 As the people of God fear the ends of the wicked so they hate their ways He walks not in the counsel of the ungodly Psal 1.1 he stands not in the way of sinners when sinners entice him he consents not Gen. 49.6 My soul come not thou into their secrets unto their assembly my honour be not thou united Psal 141.4 let me not eat of their dainties and also Psal 26.9 Gather not my soul with sinners nor my life with bloody men there is a bundle of the living there is a being gathered unto ones fathers and people wicked men are so and godly men are so they both have their people let me not be gathered with them that are ungodly O Lord. 2. Now more particularly the Saints are by Providence gainers by the plots of wicked men and their counsels by their attempts against them and by their executions and in all these the secret providence of God over them is manifested First by their plots and counsels a great part of the evil of wicked men lies in their plots devices and machinations Psal 35.20 They devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land they never know what they are doing or meditating on their thoughts are a continual forge of evil the Devils anvil always at work against the people of God Jer. 18.18 Jer. 18.18 Let us devise devices against Jeremiah it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a cunning plot and a curious work c. and the Saints fear their plots commonly more than their power as they fear the Devil more as a Serpent than as a Lyon and yet by their plots they travail with mischief devise evil continually Prov. 6.14 and it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies fodit he hath a Mine within Prov. 6.14 and is always digging out mischief as a godly man hath a fountain that is always issuing good there is a good treasure and an evil treasure and the Holy Ghost speaks much of the plottings of wicked men against the Saints which never come unto any thing they weave a spiders web which never becomes a garment and by these plots the Saints are gainers 1 They see the Lord restraining their very plots that they do not always rise none of them shall desire thy land they shall not see their own advantages and they shall grope at noon day Job 5.14 it is spoken of their counsels he disappoints the counsels of the crafty and that is by snarling their thoughts confounding their plots that they do not see their own way they want no will to effect their mischievous devices but yet they cannot tell what way to take against the people of God therein the Lord is seen 2 He clogs them their hands cannot perform their enterprise they cannot bring their wicked devices to pass always when they should come to execution when the children are come unto the birth there is no strength to bring them forth for the Lord doth blow upon them and they wither as the grass upon the house top and they bear no fruit 3 They end in their own destruction Esa 59.5 They hatch cockatrice eggs and weave the spiders web c. a serpent a viper eats out the bowels of the mother they themselves are stung with them unto death they are taken in their own craft the wicked is insnared in the work of his own