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
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
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
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
the generation of them that seek thy face O Jacob. There is a generation of seekers in the world and in that respect the name is honourable though to be Scepticks in Religion is very hateful and they that do in this manner seek him are the true Jacob true Israelites indeed many others may and do pretend to the name to be of the same family and of the posterity of Jacob but they only are so indeed that are those that seek the face of God Hos 14.5 6 7. He shall grow as the lily Hos 14.5 6 7. which is the most beautiful of all flowers Mat. 6.24 Solomon in all his glory was not cloathed like one of these and she shall cast forth her root as Lebanon that is as they should have the beauty of the Lily so they should have the stability of the Cedar which is the strongest of all Trees and is less subject to putrefaction or that Lebanon that is as the goodly Mountain that you may as soon remove a mountain as the Church of God and her branches shall spread there shall be a daily and a wonderful growth in the Church in all the gifts and graces of the Spirit of God yea and the members thereof also they shall thrive and grow from strength to strength for as wicked men grow so do the Saints also Austin Mundus totus est in maligno positus propter zizania sed Christus est propitiatio propter triticum and their beauty shall be as the Olive there is indeed as you have heard a great beauty in the Lily but it will wither at winter and it is but a beauty to the eye for it is but for shew and no more but it bears no fruit but the beauty of the Olive is more there is in it a greenness and a fruitfulness it is green at winter and it bears excellent fruit for light and for food and ornament for it is oyl makes the face to shine c. they smell as Lebanon it 's spoken of the sweetness and the acceptation of their graces services and persons we are in our selves and all that comes from us gall and wormwood Deut. 29.18 and the Lord will not smell in them Amos 5.21 but the services of the Saints shall be a sweet savour unto God and again they that wait on him shall dwell under his shadow there shall be safety and security in all dangers for so much is intended by a shadow so Num. 14.9 They are bread for us for their defence is departed the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their shadow is departed from them and they shall revive as the corn and grow as the vine though the corn fall into the ground and dye though it lie under ground under the nipping frost and the winter snow it will break through all and revive again and so shall the Church of God do in the worst affliction Tertullian as Tertullian saith Omnia pereundo servantur omnia de interitu reformantur All by perishing are saved c. And the Vine doth not only as other Trees cast her leaves but it is pruned and lopped as if it should bear no more but yet it doth spring forth and bear fruit more gloriously and brings forth more abundantly so the people of God the more they are crusht and kept under and lopped by persecution the more they thrive and the more fruitful they grow c. Quest But how comes all this to pass Now he directs the soul unto his alsufficiency in two expressions Hos 14.4 1 Hos 14.4 I will be as the dew the dew is of a heavenly original and it is the cause of all greenness growth savour and fruitfulness that is in things below now saith the Lord I will supply the place and perform the work of this dew and ye shall find all these effects in me It 's true that you are as the dry and barren earth that has no beauty no fruitfulness there is no savour no reviving in your performances but unto all these effects I will be alsufficient I will be as the dew unto thee the dew doth produce all these things in the earth I will be unto thee instead of the dew and thou shalt find all in me 2 I am a green Fir-tree that is as he is sufficient for their spiritual refreshment so he will be the dew and as he is sufficient also for their spiritual preservation in opposition unto all other shelters and hiding-places whatsoever so he will be the Fir-tree the Fir-tree is arbor frigida a cold tree because of the thickness of its boughs and therefore Drusius renders it frondosa and the LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 densam umbram praebens affording a thick shade and it 's known by common experience that it never casts its leaves but yields a perpetual shade both winter and summer and such a protection saith the Lord shall my people have in me I am a green Fir-tree from me is thy fruit thou hast a beauty a growth a sweet smell it is all from me as the dew and thou dost bear fruit it is from me also for though it 's true our works are ours when they are done by us yet it is he that works in us to will and to do the duty is ours but the efficacy is his and thus is he alsufficient but unto whom is all this it is unto none but unto his Covenant people for it is I will be as the dew to Israel therefore he has in the promise made over his alsufficiency unto his Covenant-people and upon this ground it is that being in Covenant with God is more than all earthly blessings from God whatsoever because it does intitle a man unto God in his alsufficiency Gen. 17.21 I have heard thee for Ismael twelves Princes shall he beget and I will make of him a great nation but my covenant will I establish with Isaac this is more than all the promises that were made unto the son of the bond-woman 2. This will appear by instances also There are mainly two 1 Christ himself he had nothing else to live upon but the alsufficiency of God and when he was born he had not a house to put his head in became poor for our sakes so that it is said by some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nihil erit illi c. Dan. 9. the Messiah shall have nothing it was a wonder to see Verbum in fame qui regit sidera sugit ubera the Word in hunger c. but for him that was Heir of all things to have nothing and for him that was Lord of the world not so much as to have a foot in the world nay not so much of his own as a burying place which every one doth challenge in the Earth but he lived upon the alsufficiency of God Psal 16.4 5. The Lord is my portion the lines are fallen to me in pleasant places I desire no other portion
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
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
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
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