when it began to be published in the simplicity of it by the Apostles of Christ 2 Cor. 11.3 Nay is not the time come wherein the Lord of hosts seemes to have a quarrell against all the world and especially his Churches and people whom he goes on to waste by the sharpest sword that almost was ever drawne out and is it not the dutie of all that have but the least sparke of holy feare and trembling to aske and search diligently what should be the reason of this sore anger and hot displeasure before they and theirs be consumed in the burning flames of it Search the Scriptures and there we shall find the cause and see God himself laying his finger upon that which is the sore the wound of such times for so it is said Isa 24.1 to 5. Behold the Lord maketh the earth emptie and waste and turnes it upside downe and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof and it shall be as with the people so with the Priest and the Land shall be utterly spoyled Why For the earth is defiled under the Inhabitants thereof Why so Because they have transgressed the Lawes changed the Ordinance and broken the Everlasting Covenant and therefore when the Lord shall have wasted his Church and hath made it as Adnah and Leboim when heathen Nations shall aske Wherefore hath the Lord done all this against this Land what meaneth the heat of his great anger The answer is made by the Lord himselfe expresly Deut. 29.25 viz. Because they have forsaken the Covenant of the Lord God of their fathers c. And no wonder for they that reject the Covenant of grace they breake the league of peace between God and themselves and hence if acts of hostilitie in desolating Kingdomes Churches families and persons break out from a long suffering God they may easily see the cause and that the cause and quarrell of God herein is just As all good things are conveyed to Gods people not barely by common providence but by speciall Covenant Isa 63.8 9. So all the evills they meet with in this world if in them the face of Gods anger appeares upon narrow search will be found to arise from breach of Covenant more or lesse So that if it be the great Cause of all the publick calamities of the Church and people of God and those calamities are already begun and Gods hand is stretched out still Was there then ever a more seasonable time and houre to study the Covenant and so see the sin repent of it and at last to lay hold of Gods rich grace and bowels in it lest the Lord goe on and fulfill the word of his servants expose most pleasant lands to the dolefull lamentation of a very little remnant reserved as a few coales in the ashes when all else is consumed As particular persons when they breake their Covenant the Lord therefore breaks out against them So when whole Churches forsake their Covenant the Lord therefore doth sorely visit them Sins of ignorance the Lord Jesus pities Heb. 5.2 and many times winkes at but sins against light he cannot endure 2 Pet. 2.21 Sins against light are great but sins against purpose and Covenant nay Gods Covenant are by many degrees worse for the soule of man rusheth most violently and strongly against God when it breakes through all the light of the mind and purposes of the will that stand in his way to keep him from sin and is not this done by breach of Covenant And therefore no wonder if the Lord makes his peoples chaine heavy by sore affliction untill they come to consider behold this sin and learne more feare after they are bound to their good behaviour of breaking Covenant with God againe It is true the Covenant effectually made can never be really broke yet externally it may But suppose Gods Churches were in greatest peace and had a blessed rest from all their labours round about them yet what is the childes portion but his legacy left him written with the finger of God his Father in the new Covenant and the bloud of Jesus Christ his redeemer in his last Will and Testament What is a Christians comfort and where doth it chiefly lie but in this That the Lord hath made with him an everlasting Covenant in all things stablished and sure Which were the last breathings of the sweet Singer of Israel and the last bublings up of the joy of his heart 2 Sam. 23.5 God the Fathers eternall purposes are sealed secrets not immediately seene and the full and blessed accomplishments of those purposes are not yet experimentally felt the Covenant is the midst between both Gods purposes and performances by which and in which we come to see the one before the world began and by a blessed Faith which makes things absent present to enjoy the other which shall be our glory when this world shall be burnt up and all things in it shall have an end For in Gods Covenant and promise we see with open face Gods secret purpose for time past Gods purposes toward his people being as it were nothing else but promises concealed and Gods promises in the Covenant being nothing else but his purposes revealed as also in the same Covenant and promises we see performances for future as if they were accomplishments at present Where then is a Christians comfort but in that Covenant wherein two Eternities as it were meet together whereby he may see accōplishments made sure to him of eternall glory arising from blessed purposes of eternall Grace In a word wherein he fastens upon God and hath him from everlasting to everlasting comprehended at hand neare and obvious in his words of a gracious Covenant The Church of God is therefore bound to blesse God much for this food in season and for the holy judicious and learned labours of this aged experienced and precious servant of Christ Jesus who hath taken much paines to discover and that not in words and allegories but in the demonstration and evidence of the Spirit the great mystery of godlines wrapt up in the Covenant and hath now fully opened sundry knotty questions concerning the same which happily have not been brought so fully to light untill now which cannot but be of singular and seasonable use to prevent Apostasies from the simplicity of the Covenant and Gospel of Christ The Sermons were preached in the remote ends of the earth and as it were set under a Bushell a Church more remote from the numerous society of others of the Saints if now therefore the light be set upon a hill 't is where it should stand where Christ surely would have it put The good Lord enlighten the minds of all those who seek for the truth by this such like helps and the Lord enlighten the whole world with his glory even with the glory of his Covenant grace love that his people hereby may be sealed up daily unto all fulnesse of assurance and peace in
and obey him no need was there to stirre him up to believe Gods goodnesse towards him of which he had no cause to doubt But when God cometh to make a Covenant of grace with man he finds him in his sin and rebellion full of feares and doubts and therefore had need to be encouraged to believe that God will be reconciled but then it was not so there was then nothing to cause distrust and therefore faith was not expressed in that covenant yet faith was then required as wee have shewed though not the same faith that is required in the covenant of grace But they differ in three things 1. The covenant of workes commandeth faith in God as a creator to preserve our being but not as a redeemer to deliver us from misery Adam was not bound to believe on God as a redeemer for then he needed no redemption But the Covenant of grace requires faith in God as a redeemer redeeming us from sinne and misery The Jewes professed they believed on God but by what faith When the faith of the Gospel was preached unto them by Christ and his Apostles they counted it a strange thing they clave to the Covenant of workes they therefore believed on God as a Creator but believed not on grace revealed in the Gospel by this faith they believed not on him 2. The Covenant of workes required faith to believe in God loving mee as created holy and continuing in the same puritie and holinesse before him and no further but the Covenant of grace commands faith to believe in God loving us and pitying us lost sinners 3. The faith required in the Covenant of workes was mutable as now all the righteousnesse required in that Covenant and so might be lost as afterwards it was by the sinne of Adam but the faith required in the Covenant of grace is such as is begotten of an immortall seed 1 Pet. 1.23 and therefore cannot be lost but abideâ— and continues for ever It is a faith that cannot faile Luk. 22. Thus yee see the same faith is not required in both Covenants Secondly It is not required in the Covenant of grace for the same end as it was in the Covenant of workes In the Covenant of workes faith was required as a part of that righteousnesse which the Law required it is one of the duties of the Law but in the covenant of grace it is required not as any part of our righteousnesse but onely as an instrument to receive and apprehend the righteousnesse which is wrought for us by Christ and therefore the faith required in the Covenant of workes was a giving unto God but the faith required in the Covenant of grace is onely a receiving from God that which he freely offers us Quest So that if the question be asked and stated thus Whether the Law and Covenant of workes doe require the same faith and to the same end as the Covenant of grace doth Answ I answer No it doth not as is evident by that of the Apostle Gal. 3.12 The Law is not of faith i it is not the doctrine of faith requiring faith and promising life upon believing but the Law saith thus The man that doth these things shall live in them as if he should say the Law requires not believing but doing therefore those are deceived that would bring in the faith of the Gospel to be required in the Law For the second doubt Quest 2 Whether doth not the Covenant of grace require workes as well as doth the Covenant of workes I answer It doth as is evident Titus 2.11.14 Answ The grace of God that bringeth salvation teacheth us to be zealous of good workes and Mat. 5.16 Let men see your good workes saith Christ though Christ preached not a Covenant of workes but of grace yet he calls for good workes But marke the difference 1. The Covenant of workes doth not require workes for the same end as the Covenant of grace for that requires workes as the matter of our justification before God so saith Moses understanding him in a Legall way Deut. 6. last This is your righteousnesse but the Covenant of grace requires workes not as a part of our righteousnesse but that thereby wee should glorifie God and manifest it that wee are made righteous by Christ James 2. wee are thereby declared to be righteous the godly conversation of a Christian maketh it evident to the consciences of men that he is a justified man 2. The workes that are required in the Covenant of grace are not required from the same beginning the Covenant of workes requires workes to be performed from our own strength and abilitie received in the Creation it presupposeth abilitie in our selves to doe what it requireth But the Covenant of grace requireth workes to be done by the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ Phil. 4.13 I can doe all things saith the Apostle through Christ strengthning mee that is the power which the Covenant of grace directs us unto 3. The Covenant of grace doth not require works in the same order as the Covenant of workes doth for the Covenant of workes requires workes first and then faith to believe our selves beloved unto life but the Covenant of grace requireth faith first and then that we bring forth good workes therefore saith the Apostle Titus 3.8 Let them which have believed be carefull to shew forth good workes He doth not say Let them which have done good workes believe but first believe and then doe good workes he placeth faith before workes and hence it is that the obedience of the Gospel is called the obedience of faith Rom. 16.26 as following faith and springing from it Thus then this difference of the condition of the Covenants remaineth the one Covenant commanding workes the other faith Vse Let therefore every soule looke unto his faith that expects to receive the blessing of life by faith wee are brought into Covenant with God and are enabled to wait for the blessing of it Those that are of faith are blessed with faithfuâ—l Aâ—raham Gal. 3.9 Though there be imperfection in your works yet if your faith be working and it be not a dead faith but fruitfull manifesting it selfe in a holy life here is comfort it is faith that gives interest in the Covenant of grace let it appeare that it is a faith unfeigned and this is the condition to which God hath promised life and salvation Differ 2 The second maine difference is this namely that the Covenant of workes is made without a Mediator to mediate between God and man But in the Covenant of grace there is a Mediator coming between to unite God and man together and make them one Hence Heb. 9.15 Christ is called the Mediator of the new Testament so also Heb. 12.24 but the first Covenant of workes had no Mediator The reason of this difference is because when God came to make a covenant of workes with Adam then there was no disagreement between God and man
makes us to flie from God and to stand afarre off Exod. 20. The Gospel only draws us and brings us unto God This commandement therefore Come unto me that is believe in me being so alluring and drawing as it is must needs be a commandement not of the law but of the Gospel 8. If the law do command faith in Christ then it commands things contrary as namely to look for life by our own personall working and to look for life not by our own working but by anothers That law which binds us to personall fulfilling of it doth not also send us to another to have it fulfilled in him but the law commands us personall obedience to fulfill the commandements in our own persons It urgeth us thus Thou shalt love Thou shalt not lust Thou thy selfe must fulfill all these things and no other for thee but faith looks for these things to be done for us by another and therefore cannot be commanded in the Law By the law the righteousnesse of the righteous shall be upon himself and the man that doth these things shall live in them but by faith the righteousnesse of Christ is upon others even upon those that doe believe faith therefore is not commanded in the Law 9. That which confounds the two Covenants is not to bee admitted but that the commandement commanding faith is a commandement of the law doth confound the two Covenants Law and Gospel and therefore is not to be admitted as true If the commandement commanding faith be a commandement of the law this must needs make a confusion betwixt Law and Gospel so as these two sayâ—ngs Doe and live and Believe and live shall be in effect all one both of them legall one as well as the other which to affirm is to confound things as different as heaven and earth Now that by this opinion this confusion must of necessâ—ty follow I shew thus When a promise is annexed to a commandement the commandement and promise are ever of the same kind either both Legall or both Evangelicall The nature and kind of the promise doth depend upon and follow the nature and kind of the commandement which goes before it The quality of the commandement doth qualifie and distinguish the promise annexed to make it either Legall or Evangelicall For when the Lord saith doe this and live and when he saith believe in Christ and live the life promised is for substance one and the same in both promises yet these promises do differ because the commandement which goes before as the condition of the promise is different in the one and in the other Doing being a Legall commandement Believing being Evangelicall the ground therefore of difference in the promises is from the diffâ—rence of the commandâ—ment which is the condition of the promise so that when it s said Doe this and live Here the promise of life is legall because the commandement of doing is legall on the other side when it s said Believe and live here the promise of life is Evangelicall because the commandement of believing is Evangelicall But if we make the commandement of believing to be legall then the promise of life upon condition of believing must be legall also and then there is no difference left betwixt these two do and live and believe and live which confounds Law and Gospel heaven and earth and makes the two Covenants all one Papists turn the Covenant of grace into a Covenant of works This doth the contrary turning the Covenant of works into a Covenant of grace Chemnitius speaking of the point of justification brings in Andradius his conceit which is this That utraque justitia Legis Fidei c. both righteousnesses both the righteousnesse of the Law and the righteousnesse of Faith doth consist in observatione Legis in the observation of the Law only with this difference that when the Law is fulfilled by the unregenerate then it is justitia Legis the righteousnesse of the Law when by the regenerate then it is justitia Fidei the righteousnesse of Faith Like hereto is this Doctrine that the commandement of faith is a commandement of the Law for then both Covenants both Law and Gospel must stand in observatione fidei in the duty of believing only perhaps the maintainers of this opinion will make a difference thus That that faith which is wrought by the commandement is the faith of the law or Covenant of works and that faith which is wrought by the promise is the faith of the Covenant of grace But as he notwithstanding his distinction of men regenerate and unregenerate doth in effect confound both Covenants changing the Covenant of grace into a Covenant of works So doe these notwithstanding their distinction of commandement and promise they confound both Covenants changing the Covenant of works which stands in doing into a Covenant of grace which stands in believing and so by this Doctrine one of the principall differences betwixt the two Covenants is taken away the one requiring works the other faith the one doing the other believing 10. This is confirmed further by that which is spoken of our Saviour Christ in Mark 1.14 15. where it is said of him that he came preaching the Gospel not the Law but the Gospel and saying Repent and believe the Gospel here the commandement to believe is directly called a preaching of the Gospel and therefore it is a commandement of the Gospel and not of the Law Other Reasons might be added as namely if faith be commanded in the law then a man may be saved by a work of the Law and cannot be saved without it Secondly That this opinion makes the righteousnesse of the law and the righteousnesse of faith to be all one if faith be a duty of the law c. Thirdly What the law commands it commands it as a work but faith is not requird as a work being everywhere in the Gospel opposed to working But these I passe by the other may suffice Thus farre then we are come that the putting of faith as a condition of life in the Covenant of grace doth no whit derogate from the freenesse of grace First Because the gift of faith flows from the same purpose of grace towards us as life it selfe doth Secondly Because faith is an Evangelicall grace of the Gospel not of the Law Thirdly I adde this also that it derogates nothing from grace because faith receives all the blessings of salvation promised only from the hand of grace alone we acknowledge no such condition as by which we might receive life from the hand of justice as putting a price into our hand to be a meritorious cause of life such a condition could not indeed stand with grace but the condition we put is both received by grace is by grace wrought in us and doth also receive all from grace and therefore doth nothing derogate from the grace of the Covenant The Apostle cleares this in that one short speech of his in
Eph. 2.8 9. ye are saved by grace through faith There is first the maine blessing of the Covenant yee are saved There is secondly the fountaine or cause of it by grace yee are saved by grace Then thirdly there is the condition through faith And if any should now ask how it could be by grace and yet depend upon the condition of faith the Apostle goes on and shews how that may be namely 1. Because faith is not of our selves but it is the gift of God and 2. Because faith doth not come to God boastingly to claime life by the works of righteousnesse which we have done but comes to him with an empty hand to receive what grace and mercy is willing to give such a condition as this doth no more derogate from the freenesse of grace then doth the beggers receiving of the almes given him derogate from the kindnesse of him that gave it 4. The grace of the Covenant is free notwithstanding the condition because we doe not put any condition as antecedent to the Covenant on Gods part whereby to induce and move the Lord to enter into Covenant with us as if there were any thing supposed in us which might invite and draw him to take us into Covenant with himselfe only we suppose a condition antecedent to the promise of life which condition we are to observe and walk in and in the observation thereof to expect the blessing of life which the Covenant promiseth If God had not purposed to have dealt with us after his rich grace he might have said to us when he saw us polluted in our bloud I will no more have mercy as it is in Hoseah 1.6 9. ye shall no more be my people neither will I be yours But yet he is pleased to over-look all our sinfull pollutions and to sprinkle clean water upon us and then to take us by the hand and to enter into Covenant with us here is grace free notwithstanding the condition of faith to which the promise is made In a word The Lord out of his free grace purposing life and salvation to his chosen then to make way for the accomplishment of his purpose in bringing us to life first he works in us renewing grace and puts within us a spirit of faith and so leads us on in the way of faith to the obtaining of that great blessing the salvation promised the one of these being antecedent and as a condition to the other 5. It s a good consideration which Doctor Ames hath in Coron Arâ—ic 5. cap. 3. That eadem res absolutè promittitur quia certò efficietur cum conditione quia non alià s efficietur nisi per media in illis mediis hominis ipsius exigitur cura thus forgivenesse of sinne is absolutely promised Esay 43. For mine own sake will I put away thy transgressions and yet it is promised also with condition 1 Joh. 1. If wee confesse our sins he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes These promises are both of them promises of free grace the annexing therefore of a condition doth not impaire the free grace of the Covenant Vses And first from this that faith is the condition of the Covenant from whence first we may conceive how it is that even in the Covenant of grace life is promised unto good works and to well-doing as it is in Iohn 5.29 Luke 14.14 Gal. 6.9 1 Tim. 6.18 19. Hebr. 6. by all which it might seeme that works have the same place in the Covenant of grace as in the Covenant of works even to be proper causes of salvation but where we finde the promise of life made unto good works we must not look at them as works of the Law but as works and fruits of faith wrought by a beleever wrought forth by the power and by the life of faith which being a living grace cannot be idle and fruitlesse but will be working and fruitfull in well doing These kind of promises which promise life unto works are if I may so call them not casuall but declarative making manifest who be those true beleivers to whom the life promised in the Covenant doth belong In these promises workes are not set as the causes of our salvation but as evidences and signes of those that do beleeve unto life distinguishing betwixt beleevers and unbeleevers between those that are sincerely faithfull and seeming professors which professe and say they beleive but indeed their faith is but a dead faith and therefore vaine the promise is made to works not as the cause of our salvation but to note out the nature and quality of that faith which is the condition of life seeing faith is a grace more inward and that act of it by which it saveth is secret and cannot be seen for who knows our resting on or adhering unto Christ therefore this saving faith shews it selfe by some other acts of it setting love a worke which discovers it selfe by obedience in all righteousnesse and true holinesse and these fruits being seen do make knowne the tree from whence they come although therefore the promise of life is made sometimes to faith sometimes to workes yet this is not to note out a twofold condition of the Covenant as if the condition were partly faith and partly works but to note out the property and nature of that faith which hath the promise of life belonging to it not an idle but a working faith not a dead faith but living not ineffectual in word or tongue only but operative and effectuall making us carefull to shew forth good works Tit. 3.8 Otherwise if we look at workes by themselves as separated from faith to such works there is no promise of life made in the Covenant of grace The same work done by a beleever hath a promise of reward and the same work being done by an unbeleever hath no promise which shews that the promise is made rather to the worker or to the beleever thus working then to the worke it selfe and by this meanes the promise of life being made to this kinde of faith which doth thus work hereby the faithfull are enabled the better to see their own estate in the promise of life as having a good foundation of assurance thereby that they shall obtaine eternall life 1 Tim. 6.19 hereby also carnall professors who talk of saith but have no works walking unholily are convinced to have no part and right thereunto 2. This may let us see the kindnesse and love of God towards us in that he hath appointed such a condition of life unto us as through his grace is possible for us to fulfill To fullfill the righteousnesse of the Law is now become impossible through the infirmity of our flesh but it is not impossible to beleeve on him who hath fulfilled all righteousnesse for us Here is grace in appointing such a possible condition for though the Lord should have fully pardoned all our former breaches of Covenant with him and
and so it was with those mockers Act. 2.13 37. here were no dispositions and preparations before on their part but tree and unexpected grace from God 5. Compare those that are taken into Covenant with other that are left out for all are not taken in Ephes 2.12 there be that are without God without Covenant and this will also make it manifest it is free grace by which any are taken in For 1. If we look upon those that are taken into Covenant and those that are left we shall finde that there is no difference in themselves betwixt one and other we have all sinned and there is no difference saith the Apostle Rom. 3.22 23. No reason therefore in us why one is taken into Covenant and not another but only free grace in God for if it be not free grace towards them that are taken in then there is injustice and wrong done to those that are left If there were any worth in those that are taken there was as much in those that are left and therefore either it must be free grace towards the one or there is injustice and wrong towards the other but what blasphemous mouth dare impute unrighteousnesse and wrong to the righteous God he owes nothing to any he may truly say to all men I doe thee no wrong Matth. 20.13 Thou hast as much as I owe thee Both sorts therefore being in themselves alike and no wrong done to those that are left it must needs be free grace in those that are taken in apply Ioh. 14.22 Matth. 11.25 2. As sometimes there is no difference betwixt one and other so sometimes God chuseth the worse takes in the more unworthy and leaves those that are better then they Paul a chiefe of sinners 1 Tim. 1. Publicans and Harlots Matth. 21. Mary Magdalene possessed with seven Devills these were taken in and the righteous generation as they were reputed which justified themselves and were justified by others were left and passed by In Ezek. 3.7 8. The Lord tells the Prophet that if he would have sent him to another strange people as he sent Jonah to the Ninevites they would have hearkned unto him and obeyed him but the house of Israel will not obey thee and yet for all this God sent his Prophet to them and not to the other to the worse and not to the better and so Matth. 11.23 Thus it is in the communication of himself in the Covenant of grace he sometimes passeth by such as seeme better and takes the worse to the end that it might appeare that he respects none for any thing that is in them but that the freenesse of his grace might be seene in those whom he takes unto himselfe This is that which the Apostle points at 1 Cor. 1 27 28 29. God chuseth the foolish things of the world the weak things base and despised things things which are not passing by the wise the mighty and things which are in esteeme that all might see it is nothing in man but the grace of God by which we are taken into communion and Covenant with him c. 2. As the grace of the Covenant is thus free in the making of it so it is also in the accomplishment of it the blessings of the Covenant are as free grace in the bestowing as they were in the promising Not that God is now free to performe or not to performe for he cannot but performe that which he hath promised but yet he owes the blessing to us in regard of his own promise faithfulnesse and goodnesse not in regard of any worth that is in us for though there be our obedience of faith intervening and comming between Gods promise and between his performance yet the performance is as free grace as is the promise because there is no such worth in any of our obedience as to which the blessing should be done in a way of justice He cannot deny himselfe 2 Tim. 2. nor can he alter the thing which is gone out of his lips Psal 89.34 otherwise the blessing of the Covenant is as well freely given as it was freely promised And therefore it is that the Prophet speaking of the performance of the Covenant which God made with Abraham but was to be performed to his seed he speaks in this manner Thou wilt performe truth unto Jacob and mercy unto Abraham as thou hast sworn unto our Fathers in old time Micah 7.20 Gods truth gives assurance that hee will doe it thou wilt performe truth unto Jacob but yet its mercy when it s performed thou wilt performe mercy unto Abraham c. and thence it is that in Iude v. 21. the Apostle speaking to the Saints exhorts them to wait for the mercy of the Lord unto eternall life and in Rom 6.23 Life eternall is called a gift freely given by free grace and in 1 Pet. 3.7 we are said to be heires of the grace of life because grace is the cause as well of our inheriting life as of Gods promising for though we have received a Spirit of grace to renew and sanctifie us yet in many things we offend still standing in need of forgivenesse from day to day and where there is need of forgivenesse there life must needs be of grace and not of merit or works The Reasons why the Lord would have his Covenant to stand upon this foundation of free grace are these 1. To be a ground of hope to such as see themselves unworthy of acceptance with God If the grace of the Covenant were not free such unworthy ones could have no hope 2. It is the glory of grace to be freely communicated Esay 55.1 Come and buy without money It darkens the glory of grace when it is vouchsafed for any benefit received as Potiphar favoured Ioseph because he saw God prosper the things that were under his hand Gen. 39.3.4 but where favour is wholly free there it shines forth in the glory of it and thence it is that when the Lord had made his promise to the dispersed Jewes concerning their gathering in againe he tells them that it is not for their sakes but for his own name sake thereby to maintaine the glory of his free grace towards them 3. The Lord would have his Covenant to be a Covenant of free grace that the blessing of it might be sure unto those to whom the promise is made The Lord saw the unstability of the former Covenant of works the promise being made with respect to that which was in us or to be done by us and so would this new Covenant have been also if it had been built upon the like foundation therefore that the blessing of it might be sure the promise is made to depend not upon any thing to be done by us but upon the free grace of God Rom. 4.16 Vse 1. To enforme us from what hand to expect the blessing of life promised to us in this Covenant even from mercy and from grace not from justice he
There is by nature but one estate of all men whether Jewes or Gentiles whether we speake of sin or misery thereupon it is that what Esay before spake of the disposition and sinne of the Jewes in Esa 59.7 8. the same doth the Apostle apply generally unto all men Rom. 3.15 16 17. As shewing thereby what is spoken of the sin of one people may be spoken of all which are in the same naturall estate with them there may be severall degrees both of sin and misery in severall people but the estate is the same in all It was noted before how the estate of the Jewes in their Babylonish captivitie was applied to three other things as types of them First to the naturall estate of all men who are in spirituall bondage as they were in outward Secondly to the captivity of the Church under Antichrist Thirdly to the servile condition which the Jews are in Now these three are not things so different in nature that they cannot sometimes meet all together in one they being but as so many severall degrees of one and the same naturall estate First some are meerly naturall and no more as not having gone so far as to defile themselves with the abominations of the Whore of Rome Secondly others have proceeded further and dallied with that Strumpet and gone in unto her and have drunk of the wine of her fornication Thirdly others have gone further then both the former even to the execrable malice of the Jews so as to hate and maligne the ways of Christ as the Jews do accurse his name at this day Now whether we consider one or other of these they are all but so many severall degrees of the same estate of nature And so there being but one estate of all men therefore what is truly said of one may be truly said of all only reserving to each of them that particular degree of sin or misery which is proper to them but the same estate is common to all So that the Jews being for their sin cast off and become prisonees in the pit this their estate may fitly be applied to all men that are in the same naturall estate excepting only the particular degree as is before expressed their heighth and excellency belong to them alone and yet the same promises in the substance of them do belong unto all the faithfull so it is concerning their sin and misery which lies upon them a particular degree thereof may be proper unto them but the same estate is common to all So then draw we unto our selves that which is here spoken of the Jews and then the summe of this Text is this that even as they so we are naturally in the prison pit till we be brought forth by the blood of the Covenant applied unto us Let me explain the words a little and so make way for the Observations What is meant by the Pit here spoken of So far as concernes the Jews it notes out the present outward thraldome in which they are holden under the nations among which they live as also that spirituall captivity in which they lie being shut up under sin and unbeliefe as it is expressed Rom. 11.32 And in this latter respect it is common to us with them we being all of us captives under the dominion of our spirituall enemies as well as they What is the water here spoken of the pit wherein there is no water the idle toyes and Frier-like conceits about Purgatory drawn from hence I passe by as not worthy spending time about them Waters in Scripture signifie two things sometimes they signifie affliction sorrow danger trouble and perplexity as we may see in Psal 18.16 Psal 32.6 and 69 1 2. Sometimes again they are taken in a quite contrary sense signifying joy comfort and refreshing as in Psal 23.2 Isai 12.3 Jer. 2.13 where the Lord compares him self to a Fountain of living waters which gives plenteous refreshing and consolation In this latter sense it is taken here in this Text for joy or comfort so that the meaning is that as the Jews so we one and other of us we are shut up as prisoners in the dungeon and pit of the prison where there is no water of comfort to refresh our souls withall we may finde dirt and mire there in which we may stick fast as Jeremiah did in his prison but there is no water of comfort to be found there The loosing or sending forth of the pit is the deliverance and freedome which comes by the blood of Jesus Christ called here The blood of the Covenant First because it ratifieth the Covenant betwixt God and us as we shall see afterwards Secondly because the Covenant directs us to the blood of Christ to seek our freedome from it c. Thus having the sense we may in the words consider these two things 1. The naturall estate of men set forth in two degrees 1. We are prisoners in the pit captives 2. Destitute of all comfort being in a pit wherein is no water 2. The promise of deliverance I have loosed that is will loose I will grant a deliverance and this is set forth First by the moving cause namely Gods free grace not expressed but implyed in this when it 's said By thy covenant I will send forth c. q. d. by that free goodnesse and grace of mine by which I first entred into a covenant with thee and for thee will I send thee deliverance out of this misery Secondly by the meriting cause of it The blood of the covenant the blood of Christ for though the deliverance be free to us by free grace in respect of any thing done by us yet it is obtained for us by the blood of Christ From all together observe these four things 1. That we are all naturally in a state of bondage as prisoners in the pit 2. That so long as we continue in this estate nothing that we do enjoy can give us any sound comfort there is no water in the pit 3. That though our condition be thus miserable and comfortlesse yet there is both freedome from this bondage and comfort to be obtained by the blood of the covenant in Christ there is both an opening of the prison â—o those that are bound and fountains of living water to refresh the thirsty souls 4. That whatsoever salvation and deliverance God gives unto his people in setting them free from this misery he doth it by vertue of and according to his covenant These are the summe of all These four points the Text offers to our consideration all which though handled publikely and intended to have been published with that â—hich now comes forth yet finding the Treatise to grow bigger then I thought in the beginning I have now upon second consideration resolved to suppresse the three first observations and to insist only upon the fourth as being that which is most pertinent to the present scope intended The thing then which here we have now to
expect from him he prayeth not for them he pleads onely for them that fly to grace through him these that enter into a covenant of grace have Christ their advocate but as for those that are under the Law they have God against them the Law against them they have all creatures to accuse and to testifie against them but have not one to mediate for them no Christ no Mediator to stand up in their cause to turne away from them the wrath which they have provoked It may serve for direction Doe we then desire to be in covenant Vse 2 with God to be under grace and to partake with the Saints in the blessings of this Covenant Then trust not to your selves to your own righteousnesse but goe to Jesus Christ the Mediator of the Covenant give up your selves unto him put your selves into his hand and goe hand in hand with him into the presence of the Father that he may mediate for you and plead your cause As the Israelites said unto Moses Goe thou and speake unto God for us so let us say unto Christ Lord Jesus Goe thou and plead with the Father for us if wee come neare unto God without thee wee dye the fire will consume us wee are destroyed This is the way All men hope well of themselves and trust to their own righteousnesse or else they thinke that the promises of God are large and that Christ is a Mediator for all men and as the Jewes trusted in Moses Joh. 5. so doe all now trust in Christ And usually none are more confident then those that never knew their need of a Mediator betwixt God and them But as the Israelites had they not heard those thundercrackes seene the lightning and tempest and earthquake had not these made them afraid and shaken their hearts they would never have gone so unto Moses and besought him to be a Mediator between God and them so surely is it with us wee never come to Christ to mediate for us till by the Law wee see our selves to be dead condemned men Here therefore begin look upon the terrors of the Law see and read thine own condemnation and curse against thee by that Covenant and then as the Israelites when they were slung with the fiery Serpents they looked up to the brasen Serpent by it to be healed and as they in their feare went unto Moses so let us in our feare goe unto the Lord Jesus who is the onely Mediator between God and us It may serve for incouragement unto such as are smitten downe with the terrors of the Almightie so as they dare not approach neare unto God to offer up any service or sacrifice unto him but God appeares in their eyes as a consuming fire they had rather fly unto the holes of the rockes and have mountaines to cover them and hills to fall upon them then to approach before the face of the dreadfull and just God As Exod. 20.21 the children of Israel stood afar off from God they durst not draw near because they saw God as a consuming fire Exod. 24.7 so it is with some fearfull consciences God is terrible unto them they dare not come neare where the Lord is to have any thing to doe with him thus it was with Adam after he had sinned he runs into the thicket to hide himselfe from the presence of the Lord and rather would he have had the trees fired about his eares and himselfe to have been turned to ashes with them then to have been brought forth before the face of God to answer for his sin which he had done Thus also it was with David himselfe after his sin of pride in numbering the people 1 Chron. 21.30 But let such remember what the Lord spake to the children of Israel in the like case Exod. 20.18.20 Feare not saith Moses for God is come to prove you that his feare may be in you that you sin not feare not with a slavish and servile feare to fly from his presence onely feare him with a reverend feare feare to sin against him Let them not be afraid to come before God but consider though there is no accesse to the Lord whiles they be under the Law there being none there to mediate for them yet let them fly from that Covenant to a Covenant of grace and here there is an Advocate a Mediator ever standing at the right hand of God to plead for such as come unto God by him so that though we have been enemies and strangers yet coming for grace in the Mediator his name there is hope wee may finde grace and acceptance by him therefore saith the Apostle Eph. 2.18 19. Through him wee have accesse unto the Father c. and Chap. 3.12 In him wee have boldnesse and accesse with confidence Heb. 7.25 He is able to save all that come unto God by him Be our case never so miserable in our owne eyes yet if wee come unto God by him he is able to save us to the uttermost and if wee come unto him he will not cast us away Joh. 6.37 For comfort to such as are entred into Covenant with God by Vse 4 the mediation of the Lord Jesus the Mediator of the Covenant here is their comfort that this covenant so made can never be disanulled or broken off Satan will not be wanting to make a breach if possible he can he envieth this uniting of God and man in covenant one with another As soone as ever he saw a Covenant passed between God and our first parents he presently bestirred himselfe to make a breach between them he did then cast between them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an apple of strife as I may so call it to draw man to violate the Covenant of obedience which God had bound him in and so he broke asunder the Covenant between God and man and thus he seekes still to disanull all Covenants between God and us And were our Covenant now without a Mediator as the former was he might prevaile against us and make a new breach as he did before but now here is our stay and strong assurance that if we be once taken into this Covenant of grace this covenant will hold though God might in his Justice breake with us and we◠would breake with God through our sinfull infirmitie and backsliding disposition that is in us yet the Mediator the Lord Jesus Christ standing betwixt God and us keeps us together that wee can never fall asunder he pleads with the Father to reconcile him to us when he is angry with us he pleads also with us and when wee are going backe from God he brings us to him againe by renewing in us our repentings before him he draws the heart againe before the throne of grace powres upon us a spirit of grace and supplication puts in our mouths words of confession and stirres up in us sighes and groanes of spirit intreating the Lord that though wee have gone backe from him yet he
such hypocrisie in their best actions that they cannot thinke that ever such sorry services such lame and sick sacrifices should be accepted of God But tell me you that thus complaine To what do you look that you may finde acceptance with God To your workes or to the riches of grace revealed in the covenant of grace accepting your person through Christ Doe you looke that your worke should be accepted for its own sake or through grace in Christ your persons being first accepted in him If you looke to your workes God regards neither you nor them but if you fly to the aboundance of grace looking for your acceptance there then feare not thy weakest endeavours are accepted before God and doe find favour in his fight Our comfort lyes not in the excellency of our duties but in our free acceptance in Christ Thinke thus thy workes being done never so weakly are not worse then thou thy selfe wast when first thou wentest to the throne of grace begging to be received through grace If then God did in mercy accept thee when thou wast so vile doubt not but out of the same grace and mercy he will accept thy worke also his promise being that he will spare such as a man spareth his sonne that serveth him Mal. 3.17 Mal. 3.17 Great cause hast thou to be humbled and displeased with thy selfe that thou canst performe no better service to thy God that thou art so dead and livelesse in the things of thy God who hath so graciously looked upon thee But no cause therefore to thinke that thy service is not accepted because Gods acceptance begins in the person not in the worke accepting the worke for the persons sake And therefore if God have accepted thy person he will accept thy worke also The fourth difference is this In the Covenant of workes a man Differ 4 is left to himselfe to stand by his own strength But in the Covenant of grace God undertakes with us to keep us through faith The reason of this difference is because when God comes to make a Covenant of workes with Adam he finds him furnished with a sufficiency of power which was put into him in his creation But when he comes to make with us a Covenant of grace in this estate of sin he finds us of no strength Rom. 5.6 Rom. 5.6 impotent feeble possessed with a spirit of infirmitie made up of weaknesses having no power and therefore Isa 40.29 the Lord promiseth unto such that he will give strength unto them and increase power The Lord knowes the infirmitie of our flesh how impossible it is for us to fulfill any part of the righteousnesse which the Law requires Rom. 8.3 Rom. 8.3 He knowes also what powers we have against us Ephes 6. and therefore he tells us that we are kept not by our own power but by his power through faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 1 Pet. 1.5 And hence is that in Joh. 10.28 Joh. 10.28 Christ tells us that none shall plucke us out of his hand And this is the reason that though Adam fell from his first estate and lost the life promised in that Covenant made with him yet we fall not he had more strength of grace then wee and wee have more corruption then he for he was then pure without sin yet being left to his own liberty he willingly forsooke the commandement of God and fell into a state of perdition But wee being weaker then he yet being once taken into the Covenant of grace though we have the same powers of darknesse against us as he had yet wee fall not so as to sin unto perdition as he did because wee are supported by the power of God Adams life was put into his own hand ours is put into the hand of Christ wee are committed to his care and trust The Father hath given us unto the Sonne the Sonne hath taken us at the hand of the Father and hath undertaken with the Father for us to present us before him As in Gen. 43. Gen. 43. Judah undertakes with his father for Benjamin At my hand saith he shalt thou require him c. So doth Christ undertake for us at his hand the Father requires us and Christ hath ingaged his own faithfulnesse to keepe us till he have presented us perfect before his Father Vse 1 See hence the ground of that which sometimes seems marvellous in our eyes we see men of different abilities some simple weak and despised others indued with eminent gifts and excellent parts yet those that so excell many times fade and fall away their graces wither their light is extinct and they go out like the smoke of a candle with an ill savour whereas the weak and simple ones are upholden and go from strength to strength and increase with the increasings of God The reason hereof is because the one sort viewing themselves and their own excellencies in the glasse of their own conceit they trust in themselves and in their own strength and do not commit their souls to God to be kept by him and so are left unto themselves And then at length meeting with some temptation which is stronger then they their confidence and their strength fails them and so they fall and being left unto themselves they are never able to rise any more whereas the other being sensible of their own infirmitie and casting themselves on the power of God to be kept thereby they are hereby preserved and upholden against all the powers of darknesse which are against them so that either they fall not or if they do fall yet they rise again And thus it comes to passe that these that are weak in themselves they are strong through Christ as 2 Cor. 12.9 2 Cor. 12.9 And those that are strong in themselves are indeed weake in the power of God having no help nor assistance from him and so are quite overthrown This may stay the mindes of those that are weak they think they Vse 2 shall never hold out They cannot deny but the Lord hath shewed mercy on them and wrought his grace in their hearts but they feare they shall not hold out they feel such a power of corruption in themselves so many lusts such strong temptations who can endure True not of your selves but God is able to make you stand Rom. 14.4 Rom. 14.4 do but commit your soules to him in wel-doing as 1 Pet. 4.19 1 Pet. 4.19 And then consider that noble resolution of the Apostle 2 Tim. 1.12 2 Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him go thou and do likewise If a friend relying upon thy trust and faithfulnesse should bring a Jewell to thee and intreat thee to keep it carefully thou wouldest be ashamed to be carelesse of it Christ is the faithfull and true witnesse therefore commit thy soul to him and he will keep
the fruition of the blessed God Vse 1 This may let us see the abundant grace of God towards us in this promise of the covenant that hee is pleased to become our God this may be the wonder of the whole world that which Heaven Earth Angels and Men may stand astonied at that the high God should enter into a covenant with us to become our God There are divers things that manifest the riches of grace in this blessing First it we consider what it is that is given it is no lesse then the great mighty and infinite God Secondly unto whom he hath given himselfe even to us a generation of sinfull men the wretched children of apostatizing Adam that he should give himselfe to us though we had forsaken him and cast him off this is wonderfull grace It was no small thing that the Lord would at first enter into covenant with Adam though carrying upon him then the lively image and representation of Gods holinesse yet this was lesse wonderfull a righteous God to be in covenant with righteous man the holy God to be in covenant with man indued with the like holinesse But this is the wonder of grace that the just and holy God should enter into covenant with and communicate himselfe to such sinfull polluted loathsome and unclean creatures as the sonnes of men be We might justly have been left to the God of this world 2 Cor. 4.4 2 Cor. 4.4 because we had preferred him before the true God But God is pleased to give himselfe to us to become our God This Angels may stand and wonder at here is infinite grace Justice can lay no claim to this blessing well therefore mâ—y we say unto it Grace Grace Thirdly it is more grace still because his entring into this covenant with us his bestowing of this grace is of himselfe onely of his own good will and pleasure without our seeking or enquiring for him Indeed before wee get full interest in the covenant we are glad to seek and sue but the Lord begins and offers himself unto us as 2 Cor. 6.17 2 Cor 6.17 Come out from amongst them saith the Lord and I will be a Father unto you Men seek not after God as Psalm 14.2 but the Lord takes them by the hand and saith as Psalm 81.11 12. O Israel I will bee thy God So also he tells his people Ezek. 16.6 8. that when they lay in their bloud them he said unto them Live and sware unto them and entred into a covenant with them And yet here is more grace stil unto those that God enters into covenant with in that he is not the God of the whole world but of a remnant a little handful of people whom God hath chosen Out of the whole masse of sinfull men the Lord picks out a few base poore despised ones things of no account as 1 Cor. 1.27 28. and gives himselfe to such passing by those that count themselves Gods in comparison of other men passes by Saul that sits on the throne and chuses David that followeth the sheep here is the grace of the covenant this may cause us to wonder and say as Judas John 14.22 What is the cause that thou wilt shew thy self to us and not to the world To teach us all that doe heare of the covenant and of the rich Vse 2 and abundant blessing that is enjoyed thereby to give up our selves wholly and onely unto God who hath given himselfe wholly and onely to those that are in covenant with him Mete unto God as hee metes to you As hee maketh a covenant with you to give himself wholly to you so doe you devote and consecrate your selves your wit strength gifts and all to be wholly for him Doe not as the Israelites Psalm 81. God offered himselfe to them but they would have none of him God is a God to us and not to the world let us be a people unto him and not to the world The covenant between God and us must bee as the covenant between man and wife Hosea 3.3 Thou shalt be for me and I will be for thee The Lord takes it ill when as Isai 57.8 his people run after other lovers and commit fornication with Idols and with the world Live therefore unto him who lives and works all things for us and for our salvation To teach us in all our straits and necessities to flie unto this Vse 3 covenant that the Lord hath made with us to claim the right and interest that we have in him and to look unto him for succour in all the distresses that we meet withall Goe unto him and say Thou art our God now we stand in need of thy help all creatures cannot yeeld it doe not thou therefore faile us Look unto this promise I will be a God unto thee This course the Church taketh Isai 63.15.16 Isai 63.15.16 and by vertue of his covenant they plead for mercy in their great misery Doubtlesse thou art our Father look down c. This also the Church pleads with God in time of famine Jer. 14.21 Jerem. 14.21 Break not covenant with us it is thou the Lord our God that must give rain c. This is a sweet plea for every child of God to plead with the Lord by Vse 4 To teach us how we ought to walk in an holy fellowship with God without estrangednesse seeing he hath made a covenant with us and given himselfe to us Take heed of causing estrangednesse between God and us As friends that are in covenant the one with the other are carefull to shun all offences whereby they might grieve one another or cause any alienation of affection between them so should it be with us God doth nothing to grieve us he deales lovingly kindly and mercifully with us and therefore expostulates with his people Micah 6.3 Wherein have I grieved thee Lay against me the matter of accusation Oh that we could say the like unto him But let us labour so to walk in all holy fellowship and care to please him in reverence and feare of him that we may not doe any thing but that which is acceptable in his sight It may also direct us how to walk towards every person in the Trinity seeing they all enter into covenant with us Let us carry our selves to the Father as children in feare of him with faith depending upon him walk before him in child-like obedience Let us labour to honour the Son who hath abased himselfe to redeem us unto himselfe 1 Cor. 6. last 1 Cor. 6. last And seeing the holy Ghost is our Sanctifier and Comforter labour to walk as the Temples of the holy Ghost keeping our vessels in holinesse and honour that he may delight to dwell in us and take heed of grieving the holy Spirit of God whereby you are sealed to the day of redemption and submit your selves to his gracious directions in all things Vse 5 A ground of infinite comfort
was at first full of grace and goodnesse an Image of the blessed God but now he is become a spectacle of misery So all other things under the Sun are to him turned to vanity and vexation of spirit As a deale of wind in the body doth not refresh it but gripe and pain it so all the windy comforts of the world cannot satisfie but rather trouble us till we recover our fellowship with God As we lost our felicity in losing God so we must recover it again by recovering him Therefore wee find in experience that the soule never finds setled test till it come to rest in God As the Bee goes from flower to flower because there is not full contentment to be found in any one so the soulâ— from creature to creature til it comes to God Hence the Lord is called the rest of the soule Psalm 116.7 And this the Lord knowing that the soule cannot find rest any where else but in him therefore he will communicate himself to them this being his end to make the creature blâ—ssed by enjoying of him Consider how God is an All-sufficient God to us in two respects First in respect of all our occasions and necessities whatever our case be It 's Gods prerogative alone to be an universal good The things of the world can help but against some one thing bread against hunger drink against thirst cloathes against cold and nakednesse houses against wind and weather friends against solitarinesse riches against poverty Physick against sicknesse c. But God is an All-sufficient good he supplies all the necessities of his people he is all in all to them he is habitation to them he is life c. he doth good to the inward and outward man his grace is sufficient to help all the defects of the soule Look upon the guilt of sinne there is abundant grace to pardon Are our infirmities many there is power in Gods grace to heale them Are our corruptions strong the power of Gods Spirit can overcome them and make us able to keep his Statutes and Judgements and to doe them Are our consciences disquieted and our peace broken His joy is able to make us rejoyce with joy unspeakable and glorious Again his sufficiency extends also to the body all the welfare of the outward man is laid up in God he is the God of our life Psal 42.8 Psalm 42.8 and the strength of our life Psal 27.1 Psalm 27.1 He is a quickning spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 1 Cor. 15.45 which though it be true in regard of the inward man which he doth also quicken by his Spirit and grace yet it is there spoken of the outward man of the body which the Lord shall quicken after death and doth now keep alive by his power For in him we live and move and have our being Acts 17.28 Acts 17.28 When God formed the body at first out of the dust whence had it life Not from it selfe nor from any creature God breathed into him the breath of life and so he still keeps the breath in our nostrils and upholds our soule in life or else we should presently return to dust Secondly God is an all-sufficient good in respect of all times and seasons both for this life and the life to come Other things serve but in their seasons as it was said of David that he served his time so doe the things of this life but they continue not our health and strength are with us in youth but they stay not The flowers give their smell in the spring but by and by they are withered and gone The Sunne gives light in the day time but hides it selfe in the night cloathes keep us warme but they wear away But God is a lasting yea and an everlasting good He is God and changeth not and therefore is called God from everlasting to everlasting Psal 90.2 In a word he is sufficient First to save us from all evill and thence hee is said to bee a Wall of fire round about his people Zach. 2.8 So also a Cloud against the heat a Shield and Buckler against the Sword c. an all-sufficient protection to his people against all evill Secondly an all-sufficient good to communicate all blessings to us which we stand in need of therefore hee promises to open his good treasure Deut. 28.11.12 And hee tells Abraham when hee enters into covenant with him that he will be his exceeding great reward I will be all things to thee Hence the Lord is called a Sunne Psalm 84. that as the Sun is the cause of all fruitfulnesse to the earth bringeth forth corn grasse and hearbs and withall cherishes them so the Lord by the influence of his grace and goodnesse bringeth forth something out of every creature for the good and comfort of his people Thirdly he is able to make up all our losses whatever wee have forgone for his Names sake and his Gospels we shall have an hundred fold more either in the same kind or in contentation or inward peace of conscience Thus the Prophet tells Amaziah 2 Chron. 25. when he asked what he should doe for the hundred talents saith the Prophet The Lord is able to give thee more then this Have we with Abraham forsaken our native countrey and our kindred The Lord is able to make up all Fourthly He is sufficient to work for us and by us what ever we desire according to his will What ever enterprise wee have in hand or goe about though wee have mountaines against us as Zach. 4.7 yet the Lord can make them plains and work all our works for us Have we any grace to bee wrought in us Hee can make all grace to abound in us He hath abundance of spirit Heb. 13.21 and can work both will and deed Thus you see that God is every way sufficient to his people Vse 1 This may let us see both the cause and cure of those manifold discontents that we meet withall in our daily course troubled we are on every side nothing satisfies the unsatiable desires of our hearts but when we have the things we sought at Gods hand yet we are discontented The reason of all is because we doe not injoy God we doe not live upon him wee doe not possesse nor improve our interest in him We pore upon the Creature and place our rest there and so misse of our expectation If we did injoy God in our daily conversation wee might finde a sufficiency and contentment in every estate as Paul did Phil. 4.13 Phil. 4.13 2 Cor. 6.10 as having nothing and yet possessing all things He lived to God and enjoyed him and he was an all-sufficient good to him Wee may injoy God in any condition in the meanest as well as the greatest in the poorest as well as the richest Nothing can separate us from God but sin alone God will goe into a wildernesse into a prison into a low condition with his people and he
and above us he must rule us and we must be ruled and governed by him How may we know that the Lord hath taken us into his government and that we are ruled by him alone Quest By these foure things we may know it First Where the Lord sets himselfe over a people Answ he frames them unto a willing and voluntary subjection unto him that they desire nothing more then to be under his government they count this their felicity that they have the Lord over them to governe them As the servants of Solomon were counted happie that they might stand before him and minister unto him so it is the happinesse of Gods people that they are under him and in subjection unto him The Lords government is not a Pharaoh-like tyranny to rule them with rigour and make them sigh and groane but it is a government of peace he rules them by love as he first winnes them by love He conquers them indeed by a mighty strong hand but withall he drawes them by the cords of love He overcometh our evill with the abundance of his goodnesse therefore his spirit though sometime it be called a spirit of power yet it is also a spirit of love joy and peace though the spirit put forth his power in vanquishing our enemies that held us in bondage yet it overcometh us by love making us to see what a blessed thing it is to have the Lord to be over us Thus when the Lord is in Covenant with a people they follow him not forcedly but as farre as they are sanctified by grace they submit willingly to his regiment Therefore those that can be drawne to nothing that is good but by compulsion and constraint it is a signe that they are not under the gracious government of the Lord God Secondly If God be God over us governing us by the government of his grace wee must yeeld him universall obedience in all things He must not be over us in one thing and under us in another but he must be over us in every thing Gods authoritie is cast away by refusing obedience to one Commandement as well as by refusing obedience unto all His authoritie is seene in one as well as in another And he that breaketh one doth in effect breake all as James 2.11 James 2.11 When God cometh to rule he cometh with power to cast downe every strong hold and every high thought that is exalted against the power of Christ He cometh to lay waste the whole kingdome of sinne all must downe not a stone left of that Babel The Lord will reigne in the whole soule he will have no God no King with him And therefore herein looke unto it if he be God over us he alone must rule over us and no other with him Consider whether Gods dominion hath its full extent in us whether there be not some corruption which thou desirest to be spared in Canst thou give up thy selfe wholly to the power of grace to be ruled by it Canst thou part with thy Absalom thy beloved lust and be content that God should set up his kingdome in thy whole soule Then is God over thee and thou in Covenant with him But if thou canst not submit that the life of some darling lust should goe if there be any sinne that is dearer to thee then to obey God if thou hast thy exceptions and reservations and wilt not yeeld universall obedience then art thou an alien from God and his Covenant God is no God unto thee nor art thou one of his people Thirdly Where the Lord governeth and setteth up his kingdome over the soule he carries and lifts up the heart to an higher pitch and above that which flesh and bloud could or would attaine unto And that both in the things themselves and the ends which they ayme at in them He makes a man undertake such things as his owne heart would refuse and turne from as Ezek. 3.14 Ezek. 3.14 he was very backward to preach to the Jewes and yet when he saw it was the Lords minde he submitted So Paul Rom. 15.20 Rom. 15.20 enforced himselfe to preach the Gospel yet it was not a constrained force but the love of Christ constrained him 2 Cor. 5. 2 Cor. 5. So Moses though at the first very loath to goe to Pharaoh yet when the power of grace prevailed in him he contends with Pharaoh as with his equall in the cause of God and would not yeeld to the fiercenes of the King not for an hoofe so though he fled from the serpent at the first fight yet at Gods commandement he taketh it up in his hand This also wee see in Abraham when he was commanded to sacrifice his owne sonne though he loved him yet he loved God more and therefore obeyed which nature alone could never have done In all these they wrought against the streame doing that which flesh and bloud could never have done Againe the power of Gods Grace in his government lifts up the soule to higher ends and aymes then flesh and bloud can attaine unto The kingdome of Gods grace is called the kingdome of heaven his aymes and ends are on high not earthly but heavenly his government is an heavenly regiment the Lord governeth the hearts of his people to the same end which he hath propounded to himselfe Gods ends and our ends meet in one which is the glorifying of his Name This putteth the difference between all formall hypocrites and those that are ruled by the spirit of grace hypocrites are ruled by their owne spirit and they never ayme at higher then their owne ends their owne honour credit profit c. Though their actions may be spirituall yet their ends are carnall but when God taketh the heart into his guidance then he maketh us to set up him as highest in the throne and all is done for his honour It makes a man to use and imploy himselfe wisdome strength riches credit and esteeme in the Church and all for God not for himselfe God is his last end in every thing as most worthy to be glorified by all Indeed a man in Covenant with God may doe many things for himselfe ayming at the furtherance of his owne good both spirituall and temporall and also ayme at the good of other men but this is not in opposition but in subordination to God and his glory that last and maine end must sway all other ends Nothing must be done to crosse and hinder his glory this is the government of Gods Grace Consider how Gods spirit guides thy heart to those things and aymes that flesh and bloud cannot at all reach unto for if thou hast onely thine own end and ayme then thou art thine owne and not under the government of God Fourthly The Covenant of Gods grace causeth the peace of God to lodge in that soule in which it ruleth Rom. 14.17 Rom. 14.17 The kingdome of God is righteousnesse peace and joy in the Holy Ghost
Grace and peace goe hand in hand There is a raigne and rule of grace Rom. 5.21 Rom. 5.21 And so there is of peace Colos 3.15 Colos 3.15 As under the raigne of Solomon there was abundance of peace so there is under the government of Christ he is the King of Salem And the more the soule is subjected unto his government the more peace it finds And that may be seene in these two things First In the dispensations and administrations of Gods providence though things goe crosse against us we meet with many troubles Gods providences seeme to crosse his promises yet there is peace to the soule in it therefore saith Christ Joh. 16. last In the world you shall have trouble but in mee you shall have peace Certain it is that if ever our hearts be out of quiet it is because there is some sedition and trayterous conspiracy which hath been rising up against the kingdome of Christ and this workes trouble but where the soule is subjected to the regiment of grace it maketh it to rest in peace In all wrongs injuries and crosses it knowes the Lord will right them In all wants it knowes that he will provide In all kind of tryalls that he will with the temptation give an issue in due time But the heart that is unsubdued to Gods kingdome is ready to fret against God and sit downe discontented when any thing crosseth him Secondly As it resteth in peace under the dispensations of Gods providences so it rests in peace in regard of the spirituall enemies of our salvation which fight against our soules Whatsoever threatens our ruine the soule shrowds it selfe under the wing of the Almightie and concludes with the Prophet Isai 33.22 The Lord is my Judge he is my King and he will save me Let us examine our selves by these things and we may see whether we be under the government of God and so whether we be in Covenant with him Vse 3 This may serve for a rule of direction and withall for a ground of consolation to the Lords servants when they feele the strength of their corruptions working in them and their lusts prevailing against them that they make them groane and cry with Paul O wretched man that I am c. when they find themselves foyled againe and againe and can get no helpe against those evills let them fly to this promise of grace let them lay this promise of the Covenant before them and remember what the Lord hath said I will rule over you with a mightie hand Ezek. 20.33 Ezek. 20.33 Remember the Lord of his promise and claime it that it may be made good unto thee And say Lord thou hast promised that thou wilt rule over me why is it then that these tyrants rule and raigne in my soule why doth unbeliefe pride worldlinesse rule Thus make we our refuge to the throne of Grace and then as the Lord will fulfill the other promises of his Covenant so he will also fulfill this and will rule us by his Grace he will come and plead the cause of his people against all their enemies and say as Isai 52.5 Isai 52.5 What have I to doe here that my people are taken away for nought they that rule over them make them to howle c. His meaning is as if he should say What doe you meane Aegypt and Ashur to trouble my people that you put me also to trouble in rescuing them let them alone or else I will make you feele my power c. So it is in the enemies of our soules when we are forced to howle unto God by reason of the bondage of our corruptions he will set us free he himselfe will be a God over us to rule us by his Spirit This being one of the blessings of the Covenant of Grace to have Vse 4 God to be Lord over us let us then all be admonished to give up our selves to the regiment of his grace as the Macedonians 2 Cor. 8.5 2 Cor. 8.5 They gave themselves to the Lord. The Lord gives himselfe to us good reason that we should give up our selves to him O happy day when the soule is perswaded to give up it selfe into such an hand Thinke it enough that yee have spent the time past in the service of sinne and Satan those cruell Lords which you have obeyed 1 Pet. 4.3 1 Pet. 4.3 and now for time to come give up your soules to him that is ready with stretched out armes to receive those that come to him When God calls to us to returne then let us answer Behold we come unto thee Jer. 3.22 Jer. 3.22 And for a motive consider First That though you may stand out against the government and authoritie of Gods grace yet you cannot resist the government of his power but there the Lord will be above you as he was above Pharaoh and the Aegyptians Exod. 18.11 Exod. 18.11 He thought to have been above God and to have kept the children of Israel in bondage but wherein they dealt proudly he was above them If thou wilt not be subject to his grace yet thou shalt be subject to his power which no creature can resist therefore all the while that thou standest out against the government of Gods grace thou dost but spurne against the prick which is hard to doe Secondly Looke at this as one of the great blessings of the Covenant to be under the Lords government and guidance Is it not better to be under the government of the blessed holy gracious and mercifull God then under the uncleane wicked and cruell enemy Satan the Devill But it may be some will say they will be under neither but that cannot be there are no more spirituall regiments in the world he that is not subject to the government of Gods grace is a subject to the Devill What a glorious priviledge is this that a Christian may say that no creature nor Angel nor Devill nor sin hath power over him but God alone This is even to be a King upon earth Let every soule therefore be exhorted to come under this government and let us not doe as the Israelites 1 Sam. 8.7 1 Sam. 8.7 who cast off God from being their King Cast not off the Lord lest he cast off you and you become a reprobate people but if you will be your owne men you will not have God to be over you if it seeme evill unto you to serve the Lord then choose you whom you will serve goe every one and serve his own Idolls as Ezek. 20.39 Ezek. 20.39 and walke after your own counsell but withall remember what Samuel told the Israelites that if they would have a King they should at last cry out for the King that they had chosen so you that will not have God to rule over you but your own lusts you will cry out one day and howle for the King that you have chosen and you shall then
taken away from us Thirdly it is sin which brings all sorrowes and miseries upon us this is that which brings sword famine pestilence nakednesse and all such outward calamities sin iâ—â—he true cause of all these These spring not out of the dust nor come by chance but are the fruit which growes upon the forbidden tree of sin but let sin once be forgiven then are these things which are in themselves evill turned unto good unto us Affliction is good when the sin which causeth it is gone and done away one that hath his sin forgiven may rejoyce in affliction Rom. 5. Romans 5. yea hee may be exceeding joyous in all tribulations 2 Cor. 7.4 2 Cor. 7.4 When sin which is the sting of every crosse is removed is pulled out then may we take up that crosse which before we fled from as from a serpent and put it in our bosome and not be hurt by it Fourthly it turns good things into evill unto us sometimes God gives good things even to wicked and evill men making his Sunne to shine and rain to fall upon the wicked and unjust Matth. 5.45 Matth 5.45 But so long as sinne is unpardoned though the things be good in themselves yet they are not good unto them sin corrupts the good things they enjoy it turns blessings into curses as the Lord saith in Malachi 2.2 Malachi 2.2 I will curse their blessings thâ—ir health wealth peace and prosperity are as snares unto them to work their ruine Psal 69 22. Psalm 69.22 But where sin is pardoned there is no more curse Apoc. 22. Apocal 22. Then the blessing returnes to the creature and is in the creature the rain is a rain of blessing Ezek. 34.26 Ezek. 34.26 our meat and our talk a blessing our prosperity a blessing we are then blessed in all we enjoy in all we put our hands unto Fifthly what an evill sin is and what a benefit forgivenesse is we may conceive if we doe but look on such men as have felt the sting of sin in their own consciences and have felt the burthen of it â—ying on them Look upon Cain crying out in the horror of his conscience My sin is greater then can bee forgiven Gen. 4. Genesis 4. Look upon Saul complaining that God was departed from him I am saith he in great distresse 2 Sam. 28.15 Look upon Judas when his sin pressed upon his conscience how unable he was to beare it very anguish of conscience on earth makes him cast himselfe into the gulfe of hell Prov. 18.14 The spirit of a man will beare his infirmity all outward sorrowes so long as his conscience is at peace free from the trouble of sin but when sin comes and burdeneth the conscience of a man this none can beare This David found to bee a burthen beyond his strength he was not able to beare it Psal 38.3 Psalm 38.3 A stone is weighty and the sand is heavie but sin upon the conscience is heavier then them both Pro. 27.3 Prov. 27.3 This burthen makes the whole creation to groan under it Rom. 8. Romans 8. And whosoever hath felt the guilt of his own sin lying upon him such an one wil easily conceive what a blessing this is to have sinne forgiven By forgivenesse the burden is lightned the wound is healed the soule is eased of that anguish and bitternesse which it was in before While our sin was unpardoned we looked at God as an enemy to condemne us but now we have peace towards God we are reconciled the cause of the enmity being taken away All this considered well might Dâ—vid say as he did Blessed is the man whose sin is forgiven and iniquity covered Psal 32. Psalm 32. Now this great blessing God hath promised in his covenant he will forgive the sin of his people which give up themselves to walk in covenant with him Hee will not remember against them their former iniquities their sins shall be as if they had never been hee will see no iniquity in Jacob nor transgression in Israel he will passe by the sin of the remnant of his heritage he will remember their sins no more yea though their sins be great yet hee will forgive them though they abound yet his grace shall abound much more in the forgivenesse of them Rom. 5.20 See Isai 43.25 And this the Lord will doe First because mercy pleaseth him Micah 7. It is a pleasure to him to shew mercy to his covenanted people Never did we take more pleasure nor so much in the acting and committing of our sins as he doth in the pardoning of them Hee is the Father of mercy 2 Cor. 1. 2 Cor. 1. And therefore delights in mercy as a father delighteth in his children It doth him good to see the fruit of his own mercy in the taking away of the sins of his people Secondly it is the purpose which he hath everlastingly purposed within himselfe to make his grace glorious in those whom he hath by covenant given unto Christ to be saved by him he will have the praise of the glory of his grace Ephes 1.6 Ephes 1 6. Hee will not lose this glory he will be admired in the Saints 2 Thess 1.10 2 Thess 1.10 Hee will make the world to wonder when it shall bee known what sin hath been committed by them and pardoned by him Gods people are called vessels of mercy Rom. 9. Rom. 9. As those therefore which are vessels of wrath shall be full of the wrath and indignation of the Almighty to make his wrath known in them so the vessels of mercy shall be filled with mercy filled up to the brim God will have no empty vessels all shall be full one sort filled with wrath the other with mercy Thirdly The Lord hath received a satisfaction to his Justice in Christ what ever Justice could require at our hand Christ hath satisfied for us to the utmost farthing So that now Justice cannot complaine though that sin be forgiven unto us because it was fully punished in Christ Fourthly If the Lord should not forgive the sinnes of his people which believe on Christ Christ his sufferings should be in vaine To what end was it for him to suffer the just for the unjust Why was the chastisement of our peace laid upon him if wee should also suffer for our owne sinnes God would never have laid our iniquities upon him but that he intended to forgive them unto us Fifthly There is no other way to have sinne done away no other meanes to get free from sin but by forgivenes Either God must forgive sin or all the world must be condemned and lie under his curse for ever But there are a remnant that God will save from perishing in the condemnation of the world c. Sixthly The Lord hath not onely promised forgivenes and spoken it with his mouth but his act and deed gives us assurance that he will
I will forgive let every soule say within it selfe Surely then I will try I will seeke I will sue for mercy that I may be forgiven But what should I doe that I may be forgiven Quest 1. Enter into thine owne heart Answ and search out all the sinnes of heart and life which thou art privie unto Lament 3.40 Lam. 3.40 This is the Lords owne direction Jer. 3.12 13. Jer. 3.12 13. when the Lord first promised that he would shew himselfe mercifull and not let his wrath fall upon them yet presently addes But know thou thine iniquitie for thou hast fallen by rebellion c. 2. When thou hast found out thy sin goe then before the Lord and confesse and judge thy selfe before him as Ezra 9.6 Ezra 9.6 Confesse thy selfe worthy to be destroyed Doe as the Prodigall did Luke 15. Luk. 15. I am no more worthy to be counted thine 3. Present before the Lord the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus bring no satisfaction of thine owne make no mention of thine own righteousnesse or good deservings but fly onely to the bloudy sufferings and sacrifice of Christ to find acceptance reconciliation through him without that bloud there is no forgivenesse Heb. 9. Heb. 9. 4. Come not before God with an heart purposing still to continue in thy sinne but together with prayer for pardon joyne prayer for a spirit of grace and holinesse to make thee a new heart and a new spirit that sin may live in thee no more be willing to bind thy selfe by Covenant to the Lord to glorifie that grace shewed on thee if he will please to be gracious towards thee in taking away this sin Hos 14.3 with 9. Hos 14.3 with 9. Thus come before the Lord and then as men that have any great legacy left them by the will of another they will intreat for it they will plead the Testament of the Testatour and if that will not prevaile they will bring it into the Court of Justice and there sue for it So let us doe beg intreat require the performance of this legacy of the new Testament which grace hath bequeathed unto us and if this obtaine not then bring our cause into the Covenant of grace and there sue and plead before the throne of grace There bring out the words of the Testament and say Lord here is thine owne Covenant and promise hold the Lord fast to his promise which he hath made and plead with him and say Lord why are thy mercies restrained from me where is thy faithfulnesse why dost not thou pardon mine iniquitie Though I be worthy to perish yet remember thy Covenant make good thy promise in which thou hast caused thy servant to trust Such importunitie the Lord will not take ill he delights thus to be overcome by the pleas of his people Doe thus and he that hath promised will also fulfill and will take away all thine iniquitie and receive thee graciously Hos 14.3 Vse 5 For singular comfort to all the people of God who doe in any faithfulnesse and truth of heart endeavour to walke according to the Covenant they have made with him To all such this word of Consolation doth belong that their iniquitie is pardoned their sin is forgiven It was a word of comfort Christ spake to the palsie man Mat. 9.2 Mat. 9.2 Sonne be of good comfort thy sinnes are forgiven thee So Isai 40 1 2. Isai 40.1 2. And thence was that speech of Christ to Mary in Luke 7.48.50 Thy sinnes are forgiven thee goe in peace There is peace indeed when Christ promiseth sin to be forgiven Now so it is to all the covenanted people of God their sin is forgiven here is their comfort See Psal 103.17 18. Psal 103.17 18. If wee keepe his Covenant his loving kindnesse and mercy is ours to forgive us our sinnes Shall man saith Eliphaz be more just then God shall man be more pure then his maker Job 4.17 Job 4.17 So may we say in this case Shall man be more faithfull then God more mindfull of his Covenant and promise then his Maker No God is the faithfull God keeping Covenant and mercy with those that feare him If we then which are so apt to breake our Covenant with God and men if wee be carefull to keepe Covenant with him how much more will God performe this promise of his Covenant towards us to pardon our sinnes If wee be not unfaithfull towards him he cannot be unfaithfull towards us Nay though we were in part unfaithfull yet cannot he deny himselfe 2 Tim. 2.13 2 Tim. 2.13 Quest But how may I know that my sinnes are forgiven me Answ 1. A plainer evidence I cannot give then this before named scil a carefull conscionable and constant endeavour to walke in Covenant with God Psal 103.17 18. Psal 103.17 18. But I have many failings in the keeping of my Covenant Object Yet so long as you doe not renounce your Covenant Answ and breake the bond till you doe agree to the loosing of the knot in which you have bound your selfe chusing to turne back after your former liberties the substance of the Covenant is not yet broken though some article of the Covenant may be violated There be some trespasses against some particular clauses in Covenants which though they be violated yet the whole Covenant is not forfeited 2. An affectionate and cordiall love to the Lord Jesus who hath washed us from our sinnes in his bloud is a sure signe that our sins are forgiven us Luk. 7.47 when wee so thinke of Christ as that nothing is too much for him nothing enough all we doe or can doe is too little for him and as nothing to that which our soule desireth this love never goes alone but is accompanied with this blessing of forgivenesse And sure thus it is with those that feele in any measure the efficacy of Christs bloud easing their consciences from the guilt of sin They could be content to wash Christs feet not with teares onely but with their hearts bloud and to dye for love of him who hath loved them and given himselfe for them to save them from their sinne 3. The mortification and dying of sinne in our hearts is a signe that our sinnes are forgiven us When Christ takes away Jacobs sinnes he also turnes away ungodlinesse from Jacob Rom. 11.26 27. Rom. 11.26 27. If sin live in us the guilt of it remaines still upon us I meane if it live in us in full strength 4. If we have a tender heart to mourne over Christ whom wee have pierced Time was when we could tread under feet that precious bloud by which we are sanctified But now it melts the heart to thinke that that bloud which wee have so despised should yet be sprinkled upon us to wash us from our sinne This kindnesse of Christ towards us makes our hearts to mourne over him Zach. 12.10 Zach. 12.10 They shall mourne over
pray for but God doth promise to us these outward things therefore we may pray for them Christ also hath taught us the same Matth. 6. and it s our duty to doe it thereby to testifie our dependence upon God our heavenly Father for the supply of all our necessities and in so doing wee give glory to God as acknowledging that every good gift must come from him James 1.17 3. Whereas some of Gods servants are possessed with doubts concerning their estate before God as fearing that they are not the Lords people because they are suffered to prosper so much in outward things this point may serve to remove that scruple because these outward blessings are blessings of grace to the people of God and therefore may well stand with a gracious estate If we endeavour to walk before God in truth and uprightnesse striving to keep a pure conscience in all things towards God and man then for any one to say I feare I am none of Gods people because I prosper in the world is all one as if he should say I feare the Lord intends me no good because he makes good unto me the blessings which he hath promised in his Covenant Vse 3. For direction 1. In the want of these outward blessings 2. In the enjoyment of them First In the want of them and here consider 1. The cause whence it is that we are deprived of them 2. What to doe to get them supplyed I. As for the cause of our wants what shall we say is God unfaithfull doth his promise faile is he unmindfull of his Covenant if not then think what is the cause of these wants which lie upon us c. In Iosh 7. when Ioshua saw the people flie before their enemies which seemed contrary to the promise of God the Lord having before promised to Joshuah that not a man should stand before him all the dayes of his life Joshuah falls on his face before God and begins to expostulate with him why he had brought them thither to destroy them But mark the Lords Answer Get thee up saith the Lord to Ioshuah why lyest thou upon thy face Israel hath sinned and therefore they cannot stand before their enemies Ioshuah not knowing nor considering the sinne of the people hee wonders at their overthrow as if the Lord had not been mindfull of his promise he having promised that not a man should be able to stand before them But the Lord tells Ioshuah Nay saith the Lord It is not I that have failed in my Covenant towards you but you have broâ—en Covenant with me Israel hath sinned and transgressed my Covenant and therefore it is that they cannot stand before their enemies So we when we feele our selves pressed with wants and necessities we are apt to think that Gods falls short of his promise towards us He hath promised sufficiency of all good things to his servants but we see not his promise made good unto us we suffer wants And now we are ready to aske why hath the Lord brought us hither into this wildernesse to destroy us But let us know it is not the Lord which hath broken promise with us but we have sinned and broken Covenant with him There is amongst us an accursed thing which till it be cast out of the campe of Israel we shall not stand before our necessities but they will prevaile against us as an armed man They are our iniquities which have turned away these things and our sins have hindred good things from us Jer. 5.25 Our own wayes and doings have procured these things unto us we may thank our selves if we be cut short in the things we would have Let God be true and every man a lyar Let him be acknowledged faithfull in his promise but we have dealt treacherously against him we have sinned and there is the true cause of our misery 1. We have amongst us Achans sinne I saw and coveted saith he we have amongst us worldlinesse and coveteousnesse which hath seised upon us and hath eaten up our hearts The rust hereof hath consumed the good that was in us we pretended to come hither for ordinances but now ordinances are light matters with us and we are turned after the prey Had any other people that professed themselves to be of the world and for the world had they thus walked the Lord would have said of them they are gone thither for the worlds goods and let them take their fill of it let them have what they goe for But as for us the Lord will not suffer us so If he see us forsaking the substance the true treasure to runne after these shadows they shall flie from us the more that we pursue them till we turn againe unto the Lord and then though we follow not them yet they shall follow us and shall pursue us and overtake us as Moses speaks Deut. 28.2 As now we are pressed with wants so then we shall be laden with benefits Psal 68. 2. We have amongst us excesse and pride of life pride in apparell daintiness in dyet and that in those who in times past would have been glad to have been satisfied with bread this is the sinne of the lowest of our people 3. Another sort are idle and walk inordinately not labouring at all but live unprofitably going from house to house They cannot put their hand to works 4. We have abundance of oppression and injustice in our dealings with breach of Covenants and promises there is want of truth and justice it is almost departed from our streets The Lord may now complaine of us as sometimes he did before of Israel I looked for judgement but behold oppression for righteousnesse but behold a crying Isai 5.7 and this sin will make a fire which is not blown by man to kindle of it selfe to consume us Job 20.19 26. 5. By these our sinnes we have brought a reproach upon the Gospel the glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ which should have been glorified by us So long as the Gospel held its credit amongst us so long the Lord also manifested his marvellous goodnesse towards us upholding us also and keeping us from those wants which now we feele But when the credit of the Gospel began to suffer by us we began to suffer with it also receiving therein a just recompence of our evill as was meet 6. There is amongst us a straight-heartednesse and close-handednesse towards the Lord in not ministring to the things which concern his worship the least portion is enough and the worst is good enough for those things that concern his honour This is a sinne which the Lord hath ever been wont to punish with scarcity as we may see in Hag. 1. Mal. 3.9 10. Prov. 20.25 These are the Achans which have robbed us of our silver and gold these sinnes have spoyled us of our substance and where the e things are found it is no marvell though we complaine of wants yet not through breach of Covenant on
to that Prayer of his in Iohn 17.4 I have glorified thee here on earth now therefore glorifie me with thy selfe with that glory which I had with thee c. so must we doe we must walke by the same way we must here glorifie that grace by which we look for glory and honour and eternall life 2. The Lord would hereby justifie the way of his grace and stop the mouthes of all such as ate ready to murmure against him herein shewing his righteousnesse in saving those that do beleeve the wicked are forward to complain against the Lord himselfe they had wont to say The wayes of the Lord are not equall Ezek. 18. and in Mat. 20.11 there are that murmure against him as if he dealt not equally with them they are complainers Iude 16. ready to challenge God righteousnesse that they themselves are not saved as well as others These mouthes must be stopped and when the Lord hath carried on his people in a way of grace through faith patience submission and obedience to his will others continuing still in their caâ—nall licentiousnesse this will stop the mouthes of all such complaâ—nours and murmurers It will shew forth the righteousnesse and equity of the Lords proceeding in judgement against them in condemning them and saving those that doe beleive 1 Thes 1.6 3. It s also for the greater consolation of the Saints that wee seeing the condition to be wrought in us and finding our selves to be guided by his Spirit and inabled in any gracious measure to keep the way of his Covenant which he hath appointed for us to walke in we might thereby have the more strong consolation assuring our selves of the fulfilling of his gracious promise towards us that his loving kindnesse shall be for ever and ever on them that fear him and keepe his covenant thinking upon his Commandements to do them Psal 103.17 18. And thus both in respect of glorifying of God the stopping of the mouthes of the wicked and for the comfort of the Saints it was meet there should be a condition annexed to the Covenant Before we proceed to the third point let us make a little use of that already delivered If there be a condition of the Covenant then hence it follows That for the tryall of our interest in the Salvation which the Covenant promiseth there can be no more direct evident and certain way taken then by examining our selves concerning the condition of the Covenant expressed in the conditionall promises The promise of life is made onely to beleevers who are described by other graces accompanying their faith and therefore termed sometimes such as love God sometimes merciful poor in heart upright and such other all these flowing from faith faith shewing it selfe by them Now then faith being the condition of the Covenant as we shall shew afterwards and being known by these other graces accompanying it here is the way for us to try our selves before God whether the promise of salvation doe belong unto us even by looking to the condition of Faith and such other graces as doe accompany it in them that doe beleive This is so sure away of tryall that the Apostle himself directs us thereunto 2 Cor. 13.15 Prove your selves whether yee be in the faith or no If we would know our selves to be such as are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be disallowed or rejected there is no better way to know it then by our faith And Iohn tells us that in this way we shall assure our hearts 1 Iohn 3.14 18 19. In Rom. 10. The Apostle doth propound the doubt of a weak beleever inquiring how he may know that he shall be saved and the Apostle himself answers his doubt telling him that it is not by ascending or descending hither or thither but by looking to his faith For if thou beleevest with thine heart in the Lord Iesus thou shalt be saved v. 9. This way of tryal sheweth the true use of those promises which we call conditional we do not make the graces expressed in them as the matter of our righteousnesse and yet neither do we cast them aside as if they were Legall promises and not Evangelicall but the use of them is thereby to try our selves by the graces expressed in them and this is the chiefest way of tryall which the Word doth direct us unto Yea I doubt not to affirme that if we will in ordinary course have any tryall of our estates by the Word we must have it in this way by the conditionall promises The absolute promises do not describe the persons to whom the blessings of the Covenant doe belong onely the conditionall promises do point out the persons to be saved as the absolute do shew the cause of our salvation if therefore we will try and in a way of tryall have any knowledge of our personall interest in the salvation promised we must either come to know it by the conditionall promises or not have it from the word at all c. Yet neither would I make rhe absolute promises uselesse as some have gone about to do with those that are conditionall I acknowledge they are of singular use First in that they shew unto us the onely cause of our salvation even free grace and no other Secondly they are a foundation for the faith of adherence or dependence to stay upon they yeeld a singular incouragement to a poor dejected soul that finds nothing in it self but sin and misery with hope to cast it selfe upon the free grace of God seeing he looks at nothing in us for which he should save us but onely to glorifie his own grace in us But still though in these regards there be great use of these absolute promises yet the tryall of our estates is not by them because they doe not note out the persons to whom the salvation is promised but this is done as was said by the conditionall There be two acts of faith one of adherence or dependance another of assurance There be also two kinds of promises absolute and conditionall marke now how these doe fit and answer one to the other the absolute promises to the faith of adherence the conditionall to the faith of assurance For example God comes and sayes For mine owne sake will I doe thus and thus unto you in an absolute promise here is a ground for the faith of adherence to cleave unto though I be most unworthy yet I will hang upon this promise because it is for his owne sake that the Lord will perform this mercy that he may be glorified There be also conditionall promises He that beleeveth shall be saved by meanes of which we having the experience and feeling of such grace in our selves we grow to an assurance that we are of those that he will shew that free grace upon And thus the absolute promises are laid before us as the foundation of our salvation which is wrought in the adhering to the promise and the conditionall as the
foundation of our assurance But may not will some say and doth not the Lord sometimes give comfort to his servants by an absolute promise and if so then what need we looke to those that are conditionall Ans I doubt not but the Lord doth give refreshings to the souls of his beloved by such absolute promises for there being a sum of grace contained in every promise whether absolute or conditionall the Lord may let the soule raste of the comfort of that grace by what promise he will when the soule is taken up with some deep and serious meditation of that abundant grace and free goodnes of God towards us and the minde is fastned upon some expression of such a promise setting forth that grace unto us the Spirit sends down that sweetnesse of grace into our hearts letting us taste and feel the comfort of it This none will deny But 1. the question is not whether we may taste of comfort by an absolute promise but by what kinde of promise we are to try our selves the Spirit may give refreshing by an absolute promise but our way of tryall is by the conditionall examining our selves by the graces expressed in them and thereupon making application to our selves of the mercy promised which we cannot doe by the absolute there being nothing expressed in them to helpe us in this way 2. Though comfort may he had by an absolute promise yet it is never given if it be true and not a delusion but where the condition of Faith and other graces are in being and are first wrought otherwise it is lying false comfort not true and saving 3. Though we may have comfort by an absolute promise yet when times of temptation doe return when scruples and doubts doe afterwards arise in our heart we must then turn to the conditionall promises trying whether the graces expressed in them be wrought in us and then finding in our selves that faith and love which is in Christ Jesus we doe thereby grow up in assurance that the former consolation was no other but the consolation of Gods own Spirit So that upon the point here is the usuall and ordinary way of tryall of our estates even to try our selves by the graces expressed in the conditionall promises And though the comfort so tasted as was before expressed be the more sweet and delightfull whiles it is felt yet the assurance which we have by the tryall of our graces is the more constant and durable If upon pretence of the seale and witnesse of the Spirit in an absolute promise any shall despise this way of tryall by the graces that are in them let them take heed least Sathan who knows how to transforme himselfe into an Angel of light doe deceive them with false flashes of comfort which in the end will cause them to lie down in sorrow It is but an unpleasing businesse to separate and oppose the things which God hath so nearely joyned together to oppose the absolute promises against the conditionall or the conditionall against the absolute the Lord hath made no such separation or opposition betwixt them The absolute and conditionall promises are both one in substance though they differ in manner of expression For when the Lord saith he will forgive our sins for his own sake Esay 43. which is an absolute promise this promise intends faith in those in whom it shall be fulfilled though he do forgive our sinnes for his own sake yet he doth it only to such as doe believe faith therefore is implyed in that promise though not expressed And on the other side when God promiseth life to such as doe believe which is a conditionall promise this promise implies the former freenesse of Grace as was before expressed in the absolute promise to doe it for his own sake the expressing of faith the condition doth not exclude the freenesse of Grace nor doth the expressing of freenesse of Grace exclude the condition these two kinde of promises help to explaine one another not to contradict or overthrow the truth of either When we heare a conditionall promise believe and be saved if any shall now aske Why will the Lord save such as believe without works To this the Lord answers in the absolute promise for mine own sake will I doe it On the otherside when hearing an absolute promise As for mine own sake will I doe this If any shall here aske To whom will the Lord performe this mercy promised To this he answers in the conditionall promise I will doe it to them which doe believe so sweetly doe these promises agree betwixt themselves helping to explaine and expound one another Let us not then dash them on against another and betwixt themselves they will not jarre The Apostle found no disagreement betwixt Grace and Faith or betwixt being saved by Grace and being saved by Faith Ezek. 2.8 and if Grace and Faith agree so well then must the absolute and conditionall promises agree also the one expressing the Grace of God as the cause of our salvation the other expressing the condition Faith by which it is received and our interest in it discerned this way of tryall by conditionall promises Let none count a legall course as not agreeable to the spirit of the Gospel This is that way of tryall which Paul who was no legall Preacher directed the Saints unto So doth Peter also 2 Pet. 5. to 11. v. Some that love to be wise above that which is written and not according to sobriety despise this way as fit for novices but not for such as are perfect as they are They have their assurance by revelation seeing the very book of life unsealed and opened unto them so that they may see and reade their own names written in it it is too low a work for them to descend into themselves and to examine how it is with them within whether they be in the faith or no. But if this people have any eare to heare Let them take heed of speaking evill of the way of the Lord which is so clearely laid down in the Word or if they be already hardned in their own way and being wise in their own eyes will count this way legall and contrary to the free Grace of the Covenant I doubt not to tell them that an humble soule which is able to prove his estate in life by his faith and other Graces accompanying it as holy mourning for sinne which they set so light by love of God and of the bretheren care to please God and such like shall finde more setled and sure comfort in the truth of these then they shall doe in their fancyed revelations and absolute way neglecting the state of the inward man That wretched Jezabell whom the Devill sent over hither to poyson these American Churches with her depths of Sathan which she had learned in the Schoole of the Familists who made her selfe a Prophetesse as understanding all secrets of the counsell of God shee counted all such
which is shewed on us First loving the Lord not for his gifts and rewards but with a free love as he hath loved us and serving him with a free spirit and a willing minde Secondly be free in doing good unto all men even to such as have deserved nothing or if any thing onely evill at our hand though they be aliens and strangers and such as we never hope to receive any good from yet freely do them good even where we look for nothing againe Luke 14.12 14. as God hath done unto us so doe we unto them in this we shall shew our selves the children of our Father in heaven Matth. 5. 2. As it is a free Covenant so it is a sure Covenant certaine to bee performed It cannot faile those that rest upon it shall finde it will not be as a lie unto them to deceive them but the accomplishment will every way answer their expectation and hope Thus saith David 2 Sam. 23.5 God hath made with me a Covenant perfect in all points and sure and in Esay 55.3 The promises of the Covenant are called the sure mercies of David not because they are sure unto David alone but because they are sure and shall be sure unto all the seed of David that are in Covenant with God as David was The promises of Gods Covenant are not yea and nay various and uncertaine but they are Yea and Amen sure to be fulfilled 2 Cor. 1. There shall not faile so much as one word of all that good which God hath promised to doe for his people see Iosh 21.45 23.14 1 King 8.56 The stability of Gods Covenant is compared to the firmnesse and unmovablenesse of the mighty mountaines Esay 54.19 and to the unvariable course of the day and night Jer. 33.20 to imply that it is as easie yea more easie as the places quoted import for the mountaines to remove out of their places and the course of the day and night to cease as for the Covenant of God to faile Reas 1. The Covenant and promises of grace are built upon the unchangeable purpose of God which is a foundation remaining sure and cannot be shaken 2 Tim. 2.19 and for this cause it is that in Tit. 1.2 the Lord is said to have promised eternall life before the world began not that any promise could then be made to us in person but because first God then purposed it in himselfe secondly According to that his purpose he promised life to Christ for us and in our behalfe and thirdly because the promise of life which is in time made unto us in our own person is according to that purpose of God in himselfe and that promise from everlasting made unto Christ and hereto agrees that of the Apostle in Heb. 6.17 where he grounds the truth and certainty of the promise upon the stablenesse of Gods counsell so that unlesse Gods Counsell and purpose change the promise cannot faile Reas 2. The freenesse of the Covenant proves the surenesse and certainty of it as before we argued It is free that it might bee sure so here its sure because its free the former Covenant of works was not sure because it was not free but depended upon some things in our selves which were mutable and changeable and if the Covenant of grace did depend upon the mutability of our will as that did the promise of life now made to this Covenant could be no surer then it was before but this Covenant is free and therefore sure nothing can hinder free grace from giving eternall life to whom it will mans unrighteousnesse comming betweene may prevent a promise made upon condition of righteousnesse but it cannot prevent a promise of free grace Reas 3. God hath given us many pledges to assure us of the certainty of his Covenant and the blessing of it First his word is gone out of his mouth and he cannot alter it Psal 89. Secondly he hath written it to make it more sure and what he hath written is written never to be blotted out Thirdly He hath sealed it with his own seale and so it is become as the Laws of the Medes and Persians which alter not Fourthly He hath sworn it Psal 89.3 â—5 Heb. 6.17 Fifthly He hath given us the earnest of his Spirit 2 Cor. 1.22 Sixthly Christ the Mediator and Testator of it hath confirmed it by his own blood Heb. 9.16 17 18. What can then be more sure Object But in Numb 14.34 God tells the Israelites they shall feele his breach of promise and in Ezek. 16.59 he tells them that he would deale with them as they had done with him in breaking his Covenant and so in Zach. 11.10 by all which it may seeme Gods Covenant may faile Answ Men may be said to be in Covenant with God two wayes First In appearance by visible profession Secondly According to truth the former sort professe hope in the promise of life but being hypocrites which never gave themselves to the Lord in truth they fall short of the promise and are deprived Heb. 4. But those which are truly in Covenant with God having given up themselves unto him in simplicity and truth to be his people towards these Gods promise stands firme never to be changed There were in Israel a mixt people some believed some believed not and yet they all did in shew accept the conditions of the Covenant and professed themselves to be a people in Covenant with God Those of them which in truth believed had the promise of God fully accomplished unto them Those that believed not they enjoyed it not because of their unbeliefe they were in truth none of the children of the Covenant although they professed it and therefore no marvell they missed of the blessing promised As in Exod. 32.32 33. Some are said to be blotted out of the book of life not that those which are written in it are ever indeed blotted out but because some which seemed to have their names written therein are at length declared and made manifest that they never were of those that were written there but were written in earth as Jeremy speaks Jer. 17.13 rather then in heaven so it is here in the case in hand God seemes to break his promise with some but not with those which are truly in Covenant with him only he makes such hypocrites as professe and pretend hope of obtaining the promise to see and feele that all their expectation is in vaine when they finde themselves disappointed of the blessing they hoped for The one sort namely such as truly believe they enjoy the promise following faith to the conservation of the soule the other sort namely seeming hypocrites and formall professors deprive themselves through unbeliefe but the Covenant and promise of God stands firme and sure to all that lay hold on it by a true faith Vse 1. This may shame us for our unbeliefe When we heare of the great things of the Covenant which God hath promised we heare
an holy calling 2 Tim. 1.9 and we called unto holinesse 1 Thes 4.7 and when God takes us into Covenant with him he chargeth us henceforth to touch no unclean thing 2 Cor. 6.17 4. In regard of the effect it works holinesse in those that are called It worketh effectually that which it promiseth and commandeth The promises of the Covenant have a sanctifying vertue in them to sanctifie those to whom they are made for God by them conveyes the Spirit of holinesse into our hearts as the Apostle implyes in 2 Pet. 1.4 and we are thereby encouraged and quickned to grow up â—n all holinesse according to the will of God as is evident by that in 2 Cor. 7.1 compared with chap. 6. end where God having made that sweet promise Come out from among them and touch no unclean thing and I will receive you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty from hence the Apostle inferres Having then such promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthinesse of flesh and spirit and grow up unto full holinesse in his feare c. And in regard of this effect of the Covenant thus working holinesse in those that are the people of God they are called the holy people Dan. 12.7 and the people of Gods holinesse Esay 63.18 So in all these respects the Covenant may well be called an holy Covenant And it must needs be an holy Covenant First because the Lord himselfe is the author and ordainer of this Covenant the summe and substance of it was framed and set down in heaven in the counsels of eternity comming forth from the bosome of the Father and concluded by the assent of the Sonne and holy Ghost All the articles of it were first decreed and concluded there and therefore must needs be holy If they had been devised by men they would have been of an other quality savouring of the sinfull and licentious spirit that is in man but being a Covenant of the Lords own drawing he setting down all the articles and conditions of it it must needs be as himselfe is an holy Covenant proceeding from so pure and holy a God hence it is that in Psal 60.6 he hath spoken the words of his Covenant in his holinesse Look as grace and holinesse are united together in God so they are in his Covenant God can no more cease to be holy then he can to be gracious he is both gracious and holy so that his Covenant of Grace is also an holy Covenant as proceeding from him which is both gracious and holy 2. Because the end of this Covenant is to make us partakers of all the holy things of God from which all unholy and uncleane ones are excluded Levit. 12.2 3 6. Psal 50.16 but those that are sanctified enjoy them and use them as their own they are their portion their inheritance Deut. 33. their pearles Matth. 7.6 The Lord would have all his Ordinances to be used holily he cannot abide to have them prophaned and therefore it is that in Ezra 6.21 none but such as were separate from their uncleanesse might eat of the holy things and therefore the Lord will have his people to be an holy people that they may participate in all his holy things Nay more we are called not only to participation of these holy things of God but to fellowship with God himselfe 1 Ioh. 1.3 The Lord saith unto them ye are my people and they say unto him thou art our God Zach. 13. ult But without holinesse no man can have fellowship with God and therefore they must be an holy people that are taken into Covenant with God to enjoy followship and communion with him Quest But wherein stands that holinesse which the Covenant requires of all Gods covenanted people Answ There is a twofold holinesse 1. Relative 2. Positive First Relative in two things 1. In separation from common use 2. In dedication to God 1. There must be a separation from common use in this sence things holy are called separate things Deut. 19 2. Things common in Scripture are opposed to holy to shew that holy things must be separate from common use Hence Solomon speaking of Gods taking Israel to be his own he useth that expression Thou hast separated them unto thy selfe from all the people of the earth c. and thence was that exhortation of Ezra Separate your selves from the people of the lands Ezrah 10.11 and that of the Apostle Come out from among them and separate your selves 2 Cor. 6.17 If then we will be holy we must be separate from the common conversation of the world having no fellowship with the works thereof 2. There must be a dedication and devoting our selves unto God we must be offered up and given unto him Thus the holy dayes were dedicated unto the service of God they were not only separated from common and ordinary use but were dedicated to the Lords service thus were the first fruits called holy and thence the holy things and the dedicated things are taken for one and the same 1 Kings 15.15 as the Altar Numb 7. end the Temple 1 King 8.63 and thus must we be dedicate or given to the Lord as is said of the Macedonians that they gave themselves to the Lord 2 Cor. 8. we must resign up our selves unto him to be his and for him alone Secondly Positive and this is also twofold Habituall Actuall 1. Habituall qualifying and fitting us by graces infused for the service of God which we are devoted unto as all the things that were appointed for the service of God were anoynted with the holy oyl Exod. 30.26 27. so must we be anoynted with the sweet oyntments which are the graces of the spirit 2 Cor. 1.21 1 Ioh. 2.27 The oyntment of the holy Ghost which was poured upon the head of Christ Acts 10.38 must run down upon us that the savour of his oyntment may be found upon us Cant. 1. we must be sanctified throughout in soule in body and in spirit 1 Thes 5.23 2. Actuall it s not enough to have grace in us but there must be an holy use and exercise of those graces that are in us they are not given to us to be idle or that we should be slothfull in the possessing of them but that we should put them forth in our practice so as to be fruitfull in the improvement of them 2 Pet. 1.8 and thence it is that the Apostle speaking of the holinesse which the Lord requires to be in his people he doth not only require a holinesse of disposition by inherent graces but that we should be holy in all manner of conversation 1 Pet. 1.15 16. and for this cause the way of Saints is called holy Esay 35.8 they are sanctified not only in their vessels as 1 Sam. 21. but their way is holy also and they are said to be undefiled in their way Psal 11 9. where the soule is sanctified by the spirit of Christ the life will be