yet would live in hatred of their brother ver 9. They would say they loved God yet loved not their brethren 1 Ioh. 4.20 Now against these Sayers as I may call them that were all in profession and in word saying Lord Lord but not doing his will against these I say the Apostle opposeth these others which had the true work of sanctification in their heart and tells us that hereby we know c. Namely if we doe not onely say we love the brethren but doe indeed love them c. hereby we know that we are passed from death to life Thus by these expressions taken out of the Apostles own mouth we see clearely who they are whom the Apostle meaneth by this we namely not we onely who have received that immediate witnesse of the Spirit assuring us of our election and justification but we also which have this work of sanctification wrought in our hearts by the holy Ghost Quest But some may say why should we goe about to evidence our justification by our sanctification rather then our sanctification by our justification Ans Because though they goe both together in time yet they are not both alike in respect of manifestation Our sanctification is more manifest to us then is our justification It s easier discerned First because our sanctification is the work of the Spirit whose part it is as was said before to make known unto us the hid things of God for which cause he is called the Spirit of Revelation c. Eph. 1.17 Secondly because our sanctification is a work within us wrought in out own hearts Our justification is an act of God without us God not imputing to us our iniquities but our sanctification is an inward work wrought in a mans own bowels of which he hath and cannot but have a sensible feeling in himselfe Obj. But by this reason may some say a man may as well know his justification as his sanctification because we are justified by faith and faith is an inward Grace planted in the heart as well as any other sanctifying Grace which springs therefrom And therefore we may know our justification by our faith as well as by our sanctification Answ True so farre as we discerne our faith we may thereby discerne our justification also But this makes for us not against us Though this withall is to be considered that faith being as the root of all other Graces is more hidden then they are as the root of the tree is more hidden in the earth then the body or branches but this we stand not upon This therefore we would grant that a man may know his justification by his faith but this toucheth not the point in hand For when we goe about to try our justification by our sanctification and by qualifications inherent in us in this way of tryall faith is excluded as much as any other sanctifying Graces be And the meaning of those that doe oppose this way of evidencing by our sanctification is to remove all evidence by any thing in our selves whether by faith or by any other Grace and to urge only the immediate revelation of the Spirit The summe is that this is a safe way of tryall being laid down unto us by the Lord himselfe in the Word And it is a possible way in as much as our sanctification is more evident then our justification this being an act of God without us as was said before and that a work within us which we feele and finde in our own soules Would we then know whether we be of the number of those that are saved by the blood of the Covenant we need not for this ascend up into heaven to search the book of Gods election nor need we to goe down into the lower parts of the earth for any there to tell us that we are deliveâ—ed thence but goe down into our own hearts and if we finde this work of sanctification there wrought then what Moses said of Israel Blessed art thou O Israel a people saved by the Lord the same may be truly said of us Our salvation is begun we have the seale of it the earnest the first fruits which shall at length bring the full possession of the whole harvest Blessed therefore are they which are undefiled in their way saith David which walk in the Law of the Lord Psal 119.1 Blessed are the pure in heart Matth. 5.8 Those that have innocent hands and a pure heart shall surely ascend into the mountaine of the Lord and stand in his holy place Psal 24.3 4. Such as these shall never be moved or confounded Psal 15. end But if in our hearts we doe still nourish impurity if we be fleshly carnall such as have not the Spirit then have we no part nor portion in that salvation which the Covenant brings unto Gods people without holinesse no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 No unrighteous person no uncleane thing shall enter into Gods Kingdome 1 Cor. 6. Quest But how shall we discern our sanctification to be right sincere and sound Answ 1. By the extent of it It goes over the whole man soule body and spirit 1 Thes 5.23 and therefore compared to leaven Matth. 13.33 which runnes through the dough till all bee leavened As corruption had defiled all so Grace sanctifies all The minde which was darknesse before is now light in the Lord to know and understand the will of God and to discerne things that differ The judgement made to approve the good which is known the will to desire and endeavour after the doing of it The conscience is made watchfull and tender fearefull to offend The affections ordered aright to love the things which God loveth and to hate the things which he hateth The body is made an instrument to execute and doe that which is holy and good Both body and spirit are Gods set to doe the things that please him by which he may be glorified 1 Cor. 6. all that is within us and without us is imployed to praise God 2. True Sanctification as it doth sanctifie the whole man so it doth forme the heart to a closing with the whole will of God without exception or reservation when God writes his Law in our hearts he writes all his Commandements there as he wrote all of them before in the Tables of stone and they being all written in the heart now we love all the Commandements of it saying as Paul The Law is holy and just and good now his Commandements are not burthenous or grievous all are equall and right we love all embrace all and labour to practice all duties of holinesse towards God duties of love and righteousnesse towards men goe hand in hand in the life of a sanctified Christian He makes account he hath done but half his duty if either of these be omitted He counts himselfe as debtor to God and man to glorifie God and procure the good of men and desires to keep a cleare conscience
condition must be such as may stand with grace but if works had been the condition this could not have stood with grace Rom. 11.6 Gods maine end in this Covenant is the maniâ—estation of his grace towards his chosen that his grace may be glorified in them Ephes 1.6 2 Thes 1.10 that nothing might be left unto man to glory in but that he which glorieth might glory in the Lord 1 Cor. 1. ult c. 4. It is faith that the blessing might be sure to those to whom it is promised Rom. 4.16 Adam had a promise of life but being made upon condition of working he never got the blessing by that Covenant when Adam first entred into Covenant with God it was uncertaine whether he should live by it or no in regard that it was uncertaine whether he would fulfill the condition and thereupon it was that he had one Sacrament of death as well as another of life to assure him of death in case he sinned as well as to assure him of life in case he obeyed but now the promise of life being made to us upon condition of faith it is thereby made sure to those that doe believe Christ is a sure foundation for them to rest upon Esay 28.16 the promise also is sure and faithfull 2 Sam. 23.5 and faith is as an anchor sure and stedfast Heb. 6.19 and Christ being so sure a foundation the promise sure and faith taking such sure hold upon both these three together are as a threeâ—old cord not easily broken so that the blessing in the Covenant of grace now is not so uncertaine and doubtfull as in the Covenant of works but is sure to those that believe And hence it is that in this Covenant though we have two seales added unto it as well as in the Covenant of works yet there is no Sacrament or seale of death but they are both seales of life and salvation assuring us that if we believe in the name of the Lord Jesus we shall surely have everlasting life 5. Faith is sufficient to make us partakers of all the blessings of the Covenant Look back unto all those blessings before named and you shall see how faith doth possesse us of them all God promiseth to be a God unto us Jer. 31. but how comes he to be our God It is by faith Rom. 3.29 30. He promiseth forgivenesse of sinnes and to remember our iniquities no more and it is faith which maketh us partakers of this blessing also Acts 10.43 Rom. 3.24 25. By faith wee are made partakers of the Spirit of holinesse Gal. 3.14 faith purifies the heart Acts 15.9 26.18 By faith we are kept in the estate of grace unto salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 Rom. 11.20 we stand by faith 2 Cor. 1.24 By faith we are made heires and owners of all the good things of this life We are sonnes by faith Gal. 3.21 and being sonnes we are also heires Rom. 8.17 even heires of the world as Abraham was Rom. 4.13 and if by faich we be partakers of Christ then are we with him interested in all other things also Rom. 8.32 yea all things are ours whether things present or things to come all are ours we being Christs 1 Cor. 3. Lasty by faith we obtaine that great and last blessing of the Covenant even the blessing of eternall life Joh. 3.16 36. So that faith alone makes us possessors of all the blessings of the Covenant and therefore there needs no other condition but faith alone Object But may some say if faith alone be the condition of the Covenant and doe make us partakers of life and forgivenesse of sinne then what need is there of any obedience or works of holinesse faith alone is sufficient in stead of all Answ This was the old plea of loose Libertines in the Apostles times I have faith saith one and though I have no works yet my faith will save me But understand O thou vaine man saith the Apostle James chap. 3. that if thy faith be without works such faith is vaine but like a dead carkasse without soule or spirit it is dead in it selfe and leaves the soule in death wanting life in it selfe and yeelding no living fruit it cannot bring life unto the soule A good tree saith Christ is known by its fruit and so a right and sound faith Let a man believe in truth he cannot but love and if he love he cannot but seek to please God in well doing faith is as a tree of life which abounds with good fruit as therefore when a man desires to have good fruit in his orchard he doth not set the fruits themselves in it but plants the trees which use to beare the fruit as knowing that if the trees be good and kindly the trees will yeeld the fruit so God delighteth to see the fruits of righteousnesse in the lives of his Saints and for this end plants in their hearts the tree of faith as knowing where this tree is planted and takes root the fruit will and cannot but follow faith and holinesse can no more be separated then light can be separated from the Sunne such as say they have faith and hope to partake in the blessing of the Covenant and yet live loosely carnally unconscionably they doe but deceive themselves they may be in Covenant with hell and death but have no part of the Covenant of life and peace Quest 2. But whereas in speaking of faith wee speak sometimes of the habit sometimes of the act of it It may be demanded which of these is the condition of the Covenant whether is it the habit or the act of faith which is required of us Answ It is the latter that is the act faith acting and working towards the promise and from the promise and causing us to live by faith in the promise according to that in Gal. 2.20 the life which I now live I live by the faith of the Sonne of God the habit is freely given us and wrought in us by the Lord himselfe to inable us to act by it and to live the life of faith and then we having received the gift the habit then I say the Lord requires of us that we should put forth acts of faith both by waiting upon him to receive from him all the good which he hath promised and by walking in all obedience of faith in an humble submission to his will this work of faith the Apostle shews fully to have been in those Saints in Heb. 11. both in expecting the promise with patient suffering under the hope of it and in obedient submission to any Commandement of God and these acts of faith are implyed in that expression of walking by faith 2 Cor. 5. and the work of faith 1 Thes 1.3 and in that faith is said to work by love Gal. 5. all tending to shew that it is the act and work of of faith which is required on our part Reas 1. It is the act of faith which receives the promise
in all our wayes to governe us according to his owne will that he may be glorified in us Thus God offers himselfe unto us in his Covenant c. Now the answer is ready to the question propounded how faith doth act in closing with the Covenant the work of faith herein is to carry the soule towards the Covenant in the same order and way as it is propounded First accepting the grace offered resting upon God for all the mercy which he hath promised 2. Taking God to bee a God over us submitting to his government and authority to command us and to rule us in all things according to his own will these two things faith doth and so takes hold of the Covenant in the same way and order as God offers it 1. God makes himself known to us as a God of mercy gracious long-suffering pardoning iniquity transgression and sin he offers himselfe to be reconciled unto us though we have rebelled against him promising to be a Father unto us and to accept of us as his sons and daughters in his beloved Now the worke of Faith in respect of this offer of grace is only to accept the grace offered to lay hold on it and take it unto our selves being so freely offered Faith brings nothing to God of our owne it offers nothing to stand in exchange for the mercy offered it receives a gift but giveth no price The Lord holds out and offers the free grace of the Covenant faith receives it and makes it our owne Hence is that expression used by the Prophet in Esay 56. where we are said to lay hold of the Covenant God holds it forth and we take hold of it the hand of grace offers it and the hand of faith receives it and makes it our owne and this it doth by such steps and degrees as these that follow wherein though I should not limit the Lords dealing with all his yet I will shew what I conceive is the most usuall and ordinary course of Gods dispensation towards those whom he brings into Covenant with himselfe Here then faith closeth with the Covenant in this manner 1. By hearing the great things proposed in the Covenant it stirs up in the heart a deep and serious consideration of the blessed condition of those people that are in Covenant with God Oh what a blessed estate is it thinkes such a one to be in favour with God to be one of his covenanted people It makes him say with Moses Blessed art thou O Israel a people saved by the Lord Deut. 33. It saith with David No people O Lord is like thy people Israel whom thou hast redeemed unto thy selfe 2 Sam. 7.23 Time was when we counted the proud blessed and placed our felicity in other things as in riches preferments favour and credit with men c. but now these are become vile and things of no value faith makes us change our voice and to speake with a new tongue and to say not Blessed are the people that be so but Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord Psal 144. ult This high esteeme of grace being accompanied with a sence of the want of it wee seem unto our selves as undone men lost wretched miserable The poor soul thinkes with it selfe no sin like my sin no misery like my misery I am separated from the Lord an alien from his people Oh blessed are they that are are at peace and in covenant with him this is now the onely pearle of price the rich treasure in the field for which such a one is content to give all the substance of his house In the prodigall when he began to thinke of returning to his father these two things were found in him First a deep sence of his owne misery I die for hunger Secondly a consideration of the wellfare of those that were in his Fathers house they have bread enough So it is with those poor soules in which faith begins to work to draw them back into Covenant with God sensible are they of their own woe highly also doe they prize the excellency of grace if by any means they might attain to have a part in it 2. This high esteem of grace and being in Covenant with God begets a longing desire of it good being beleived cannot but be desired and longed for and therefore faith now beleeving the benefit of being in favour and Covenant with God it cannot but work desires after it desire naturally springeth from the apprehension of any good made knowne Faith is both in the understanding and in the will as it is in the understanding it opens the eye to see and clearly to discerne the blessing of the Covenant and then stirs up the will to pursue and desire the attaining of the grace revealed Never did David more long for the waters of the well of Bethlehem then such a soul touched with the sence of sin doth desire to be at peace with God and in covenant with him and therefore it is that they are said to thirst after the the Lord Psal 42.2 to pant after him Psal 42.1 to gaspe after him Psal 119. longing for communion and peace with him Thus in Esay 26.9 with their soules they desire him in the night and with their spirit in the morning the desire of their soul is set upon him and cannot be satisfied by any thing without him peace with him is their life and to be separated from him is unto them as the shadow of death 3. Faith being yet weak and but as in the bud or in the seed and being yet unacquainted with the Lords dealing with his people not knowing how he useth by terrors of death to bring them to life and peace hence it comes to passe that the soule being pressed with sence of sin therefore though its desires be strong yet hope of obtaining is but feeble and vveak vve seeming to our selves utterly unworthy as indeed we are and uncapable which we are not of so high a priviledge as this is to be in favour and Covenant with the most high God Here therefore faith is taken up with many thoughts thereby to support and keepe up the heart in hope carrying the eye of the soul towards God though as beholding him afarre off faine would the poor soul be joyned to the Lord Isai 56. but being as yet dismayed with the sence of sin he stands like the poor Publican afar off as one afraid to come neere into the presence of the holy God as yet faith can scarce speak a word to God it cannot come neer to call upon him only it can with Ionah look towards his holy Temple as being like the poor weak babe which lies in the cradle being both sick and weak and speechlesse and can onely look towards the mother for helpe the cast of the eye after a sort expressing and signifying what it would say Thus doth faith being yet weak it would speak unto God but cannot onely it hath its eye towards
with open violence in our streets he that rideth upon the Red horse having power given him to take peace from the earth and that men should kill one another Apoc. 6. In these times so full of perplexitie and trouble it cannot but be welcome newes to heare of Conditions of peace and when death comes to our dores and we are at deaths-dore then to be offered a Covenant of life This Covenant here spoken of is a Covenant of life and peace and therefore seasonable It is also the more sutable in regard of that holy and gracious practise begun by our renowned Parliament going before the body of the Kingdome in entring into an holy Covenant with the God of heaven to become the Lords people the onely way to a blessed peace Till we be at one with God it will be in vaine by humane policies to devise wayes of peace with men but peace being once made in heaven will bring peace on earth and good will amongst men If otherwise man still rage yet shall his rage be restrained and turne to Gods praise the Lord on high hath a bridle for his lips and an hooke for his nostrills he will subdue the oppressour and will still the enemy and the avenger Blessed be they whose care it hath been to draw the Land into this holy covenanting with God let mercy and peace be upon them as upon all the Israel of God And blessed be that God who hath put this care into their hearts as being the onely way to obtaine an assured blessing This Covenant so happily begun is the principall subject of this booke in which thou mayst see both the necessitie for every soule to enter into a Covenant with God and how it is to be done as also how those that have made a Covenant with God are to walke in it and what blessings doe belong unto those that so walke When these things were first preached in New-England there was little thought of publishing them in such a time But he which inhabiteth eternitie with whom all things are present fits things past to those that are present and to come that his wisdome might be knowne to order all beyond what we conceive or thinke It is now some five or six yeares since I first began to handle this doctrine now published a time then full of trouble in these American Churches through the inordinate activeness and impetuous violence of some busie spirits of whom the Country is now well rid through the Lords great goodnes deeming all others except themselves to be wholly ignorant of the Covenant of grace and to be shut up under a Covenant of workes All the Preachers in the Land were legall Preachers the Christians legall Christians as having onely the letter of the Gospel but not understanding the mystery or spirituall meaning of it as it was revealed unto themselves by the spirit The disputes about the two Covenants did then exceedingly trouble the minds of many amongst whom there was little speech but about the covenant of grace and of workes and of being under a Covenant of workes I having then in the course of my Ministery propounded to my self this order to follow namely on one part of the Lords day to handle one part of the body of Divinitie concerning God Creation Man his first pure estate and so on concluding that part with his lapsed and falne estate and on the other part of the day to speak of the means of Gods restoring man againe to the state of salvation I could not then passe by the handling of the Covenant of grace without a purposed declining from that which both the agitations of the Countrey and mine own proposed method did lead me unto Hereupon I entred upon the handling of this subject in the ordinary course of my Ministry endeavouring my self so far as the Lord enabled me to settle the minds of those amongst whom I lived in the knowledge of the truth concerning which some were wavering by reason of those spirits of error which were gone abroad deceiving the minds of some This was the occasion of handling this doctrine When I had finished it it pleased God to give it such acceptance in the hearts of the hearers that many of the chiefe amongst them came to me with a solemn request desiring me to publish what I had delivered that so they might have it continue with them which request of theirs as it was unexpected by me so was I both unwilling and unable to satisfie their desire unwilling as being conscious to my self of mine own infirmities unfit to publish any thing in this learned age and unable as not having so penned any part of it as to make it fit for publick use But the earnestnesse of their desire on the one side and the rawnesse of the draught which I had written for the help of my self on the other side so far crossing one another gave occasion of a second revising of what was before done which also caused some further additions thereunto and hath at last brought forth that such as it is which is now presented to thy view And thus thou understandest gentle Reader the occasion both of the preaching and publishing of the doctrine of the Covenant which now comes forth Which notwithstanding the former inducements I should hardly have adventured to have published had I not been encouraged thereto by some others of better note It is not any confidence I have in my self which hath drawne me forth into publick view I thank God I do in some measure know mine own weaknes But if the Lord will use his weakest instruments to perfect his own praise who am I that I should let God I wish this had been undertaken by some other of greater strength but none hitherto appearing in this kinde being desired to what I have done I have been content to yeeld to the desires of those that have perswaded me hereunto There is a Treatise of the New Covenant published some yeares ago by a precious light in the Church of God whose worke is come almost into all mens hands If that worthy servant of Christ had lived to see these dayes we now live in or then were when these things were delivered I doubt not but he would with much more accuratenesse have handled these things then my weaknesse is able to attaine unto But God having carried him to his resting place before these questions brake forth which have since troubled and doe still trouble the world it is not to be marvelled that some one coming after him inferior unto him may adde something to that which hath been before delivered The opinions formerly stirring in New-England and now in old if fame be not a lyer have given occasion to touch some things not of ordinary occurrence As namely 1. Whether the Covenant of grace be made betwixt God and man or onely betwixt God the Father and Christ 2. Where also by occasion of the former question is handled that place in
not regarded It 's a thundering speech of the Apostle in Heb. 10.29 where he saith That those that sinned under Moses Law dyed without mercy and yet much sorer vengeance shall be unto those that despise the Gospel of Christ Can any thing be worse then to dye without mercy Yes saith the Apostle those shall have sorer vengeance It shall be vengeance that they suffer yea sore vengeance and sorer then those suffered which under Moses law dyed without mercy and yet more it shall be much sorer yea so much sorer as cannot be uttered but is left to our consideration to thinke How much sorer vengeance saith the Apostle and it must needs be such when the Lord himselfe professeth he will laugh at such mens destruction and mocke when their misery comes Prov. 1. And saith that he will rejoyce over them in destroying of them Deut. 28.63 No plagues like the plagues of such as reject the Gospel of Christ Reason 1 This sin sets more of God against us then was before before the Gospel came unto us we had justice against us armed with power both which were provoked by us but yet mercy was ready to save us if we would come in and accept of the grace offered mercy was not yet become our enemy as not yet being provoked by us but when it is brought to us by the Gospel and is despised by us now mercy and grace it selfe also is against us and is made our enemy now mercy joynes with justice and increased wrath Reason 2 There is in this sin a speciall indignitie offered unto Christ himselfe the Son is despised in it which the Father will not suffer It is one great part of the Fathers counsell to honour and advance his Son for the Father loveth the Son and will have all men to honour the Son as they honour the Father Joh. 5.23 As the Son did all things to honour the Father Joh. 8.49 Joh. 17.4 So it is the Fathers purpose and will to honour the Son Acts 3.13 2 Pet. 1.17 This contempt therefore which is offered unto Christ when he is offered in the Gospel and is set light by God the Father will avenge to the full As the bloud of Abel cryed to God for vengeance against Cain so doth the contempt done to the bloud of Christ cry to heaven against the despisers of it much more Christs bloud hath a double cry and it will prevaile both wayes First To prevaile for mercy towards those that count it precious and trust in it for them it saith Father forgive them But it cryes also for judgement against the despisers of it that God would avenge the contempt of it upon them and this bloud will be heard whatsoever it calls for whether for mercy or judgement Vse This may serve to be a warning to all such people to whom the Gospel of Christ is come let them in the feare of God take heed lest they neglect so great salvation Heb. 2. and let them with thankfulnesse and love entertain the grace which is brought unto them by the revelation of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1. If you become despisers God will work such things among you as who so heareth them his eares shall tingle Acts 1. and your hearts shall ake in the suffering of them much more Heb. 2. for if every transgression and disobedience committed against the Law or against the dim light of nature doe receive a just recompence of reward if those which are without the Law perished in those sinnes which they committed without the Law and if those which are without the Gospel perish in their ignorance because they know it not how then shall those escape which have both law of grace and Gospel of grace revealed unto them and yet doe neglect those great things Be warned and take heed It will be your wisdome now in this your day to consider the things which concern your peace 2 Cor. 6.1 feare lest you should receive the grace of God in vaine take heed of despising and setting light by the tydings of your salvation lest the same things which were ordained to be unto life be found to be unto you unto death Rom. 7. and then the greater meanes you have had to bring you to life the more bitter will your death be This is the great condemnation of the world that when grace is revealed and tendered unto men yet it is not received with love that they might be saved by it Joh. 3.19 It 's put away and is not esteemed lamentable is the case of such people This made Christ to weep over Jerusalem Luk. 19.41 42. because they knew not they regarded not the things of their peace no peoples case more to be pitied and mourned for then theirs that injoy the Gospel but esteeme it not Let such consider what is said of the Jewes when they put away the Gospel from them they did thereby judge themselves unworthy of eternall life Acts 13.46 Not that they did thinke themselves unworthy of life nor did they with their mouthes speake any such thing but as a man may shew hâ—s judgement of a thing as well by his fact as by his words so did they by their fact in that sinfull rejecting of the Gospel of salvation they did as it were pronounce a sentence against themselves by which all men might see that they were unworthy of the salvation preached to them such therefore as do reject the Gospel do by that contempt testifie and pronounce judgement against themselves that they are unworthy to be saved These as they love not the blessing of the Gospel so it shall be farre from them and as they choose the wayes of sin and death so it shall come unto them they shall dye in their sinnes with a double destruction And heare O England my deare native Countrey whose womb bare me Admonition to England whose breath nourished me and in whose armes I should desire to dye give eare to one of thy children which dearely loveth thee Be thou exhorted thankfully to accept the grace which is now ready to be revealed unto thee The way is now preparing the high mountaines which with their shadowes caused darknesse are now a laying low and the low valleys ready to be exalted the crooked things to be made straight that all flesh that lives within thy borders may see the salvation of our God Thy light is now coming and the glory of the Lord is now rising upon thee though darknesse hath covered a part of thee hitherto through the wickednesse of those that hated light yet now the Lord himselfe I trust will rise upon thee and the glory of the Lord shall be seene upon thee Now therefore stirre up thy selfe with thankfulnesse and joy of heart to embrace the things of thy peace which shall be brought unto thâ—e See that thou love the Gospel not in word and in shew onely but in deed and in truth and not for novelties sake
not to the Angels in heaven is yet pleased for our good and benefit to enter into bonds and bind himself unto us in the bond of a covenant to blesse us and to do us good this ought to be the admiration of heaven and earth See how this affected Abraham Gen. 17.2 3. When Abraham heard that God would enter into covenant with him Abraham falls upon his face before the Lord as first wondering and being astonished to heare and think of such a favour Secondly abased in himself as unworthy to touch the hand of the high God to make up the covenant with him he was abased in himself to see the Lord so abasing himself for his sake Thirdly he falls upon his face as thankfully acknowledging the grace offered Fourthly readily submitting himself to the Lords good pleasure will as one content to lie down at Gods feet submitting to the lowest conditions to do any thing believe any thing so that he might be partaker of this priviledge to be in covenant with the great God See also how this affected David 2 Sam. 7.18 Who am I O Lord c. And hence it is that the Lord mentions this as of his speciall favour which he vouchsafed to Israel Ezek. 16.8 that he entred into covenant with them whereby they became his people let us therefore herein see the abundant goodnesse of God to us Who would not love and fear this God of glory that is pleased to come down and condescend to enter into covenant with us who would not glorifie him for ever and for ever and willingly binde himself to serve and honour him The more he hath abased himself to honour us in taking us into covenant with himself the more let us exalt him and lift him up on high as the Lord did with Christ Phil. 2.8 9. because he humâ—led himseâ—â— â—herefore he exalted him and gave him a name above â—very name c. so should we exalt the name of the Lord our God thaâ—â—e should take us poor worms dust and ashes into covenant and fellowship with himself This lets us â—ee iâ— what way we must every one of us expect to receive Vse 2 the blessing of life and salvation from the hand of God this concerns all neerly to look unto we must enter into covenant with God to take him to be our God and to give up our selves to be his people all men hope to be saved and think that he that made them will save them and though they live as strangers from God and from his covenant and will enter into no bâ—nds with him but walk after their own lusts like the wilde Asse-colt that snuffes up the wind at her pleasure though they break all bonds and burst all cords though they live without care and conscience of Gods covenant yâ—t fâ—r all this they hope to be saved but such men deceive themselves God conveys his salvation by way of covenant and he doth it only to those that are in covenant with him therefore those only may without feare of disappointment look for his salvation that order their conversation aright Psal 50.23 to these will the Lord shew his salvation the loving kindnesse of God is upon those that fear him and keep his covenant Psal 103.17 18. but all those that break his covenant and will walk after their own hearts desire they may look for salvation but they shall be disappointed of it and finde themselves inwrapped in the snares of death God conveys his blessings only by covenant and this covenant must every soul enter into every particular soul must enter into a particular covenant with God out of this way there is no life thereupon is the exhortation of Hezekiah to his people 2 Chron. 30.7 8. Be not you stiff-necked as your fathers but yeeld your selves unto the Lord in the originall give the hand unto the Lord that is they should come and enter into covenant with God he alludes to the custome of men when they make a covenant or agreement they strike hands or take one another by the hand so saith Hezekiah Give the hand unto the Lord that is enter into covenant with him to be his people and then the anger of the Lord shall be turned from you That this is the meaning consider the same kinde of expression in other places Ezek. 17.18 the Prophet speaking of Zedekiah saith he had broken the covenant though he had given the hand c. he broke the covenant which he had made by giving his hand So Ezra 10.3.9 when the people reformed and entred into a covenant they gave their hands that they would put away their strange wives These places I bring to cleer that phrase concerning Hezekiah Give the hand unto the Lord that is enter into covenant with God this we must do every one of us for his own part give up our selves to the Lord as a people in covenant with him as for those that will not come within the bond of the covenant but will walk at liberty after their own hearts such shall never see peace nor did they ever enter into the path of life Such as will be saved must become Gods covenanted people this is the only way wherein we must expect life and salvation Quest If there be such a necessity of entâ—ing into covenant with God what must we do that we may get into covenant with him Answ You must do these five things 1. Break your covenant with your old sins and your lusts or else God will not enter into covenant with you Mat. 6.24 you cannot serve two masters these are so contrary that so long as you are in league with sin and the world you cannot enter into covenant with God take away the matter of provocation which at first brake the covenant between God and you and then there is one step made for your entering into covenant with him Examine thine own heart what is that which maintains the breach between God and thee and makes God a stranger to thee and put that away though never so gainfull never so pleasing a sin without this God will never enter into covenant with thee thou canst not be in covenant with thy sin and God together therefore breake thy covenant with sin if thou desire to be in covenant with God 2. Go before the Lord as guilty of thy former rebellion and unfaithfulnesse in breaking covenant with him and judge thy self for it lay down thy self and life before God confessing and acknowledging that it were just if he should destroy thee condemn thy self for thy former rebellion against him submit thy self to the good pleasure of his will as David saith Here I am let him do with me as seemes good in his eyes put thy life into the mercifull hands of God either to take it from thee or to give it to thee again say unto God If thou wilt save me thou shalt shew abundant grace if thou wilt destroy me thou art just go before God
false Apostles urged it as a worke of the Law as a dutie and worke to be done necessary to justification and salvation Now the Apostle in saying that if they were circumcised they were bound to keepe the whole Law doth not look at the Primitive institution of it but hath respect to that which the false Apostles intended urging Circumcision as a work of the Law necessary to their justification and salvation and thus taking it the Apostle doth truly tell them that if they were circumcised in this manner and to this end they were bound to keepe the whole Law because by what reason Circumcision was necessary by the same reason all the rest of the Law was necessary also and if they were bound to observe Circumcision to be justified by it then were they also bound to observe the whole Law because if wee be justified by workes wee must doe all the Law to obtaine justification by it This is the Apostles intent but this doth no more prove Circumcision to be a seale of the covenant of workes then our Baptisme is Concerning which I may say as much as Paul doth of Circumcision if any shall esteeme Baptisme as a worke by which to be justified I will then say to such a one that if he be baptized in this manner and for this end to be justified by it as by a worke that then he is bound to keepe the whole Law But did not Circumcision in the Primitive institution of it Quest bind them to the observation of the whole Law Yes but not in that sense as now wee speake of Answ it bound Abraham and all his seed and all such people as should joyne themselves unto them to observe all the ordinances and commandements of God But how not as workes to be justified by but as meanes by which they should testifie themselves to be a separated people severed from other people of the world having peculiar Lawes given to them to walke by They had ceremonies to lead them to Christ such as no other people had they had Judgements and Lawes of State given by God himselfe so as no other people of the world had the like they had the Morall Law revealed unto them more fully then any other people and in the observation of all these they were to testifie themselves to be the people of God not communicating with the Lawes of other Nations but walking in their owne but yet not so as to justifie themselves thereby Circumcision bound them to the observation of the Law in the former way but not in the latter Argu. 2 The covenant of workes binds not to the observation of the ceremoniall law but of the Morall onely but that covenant at Mount Sinai bound them to the keeping of the Ceremoniall law and therefore was not properly a covenant of workes Hence saith the Apostle Heb. 9.1 to 6. That the first Testament or Covenant had ordinances of divines service c. By the first Testament meaning the Covenant delivered at Mount Sinai Now these ordinances mentioned by the Apostle were types and figures of spirituall things belonging to the Church of the new Testament and did appertaine to the covenant of grace signifying the blessings wee receive by Christ and if these ordinances respecting Christ were given in the first Testament or Covenant then surely that Testament or Covenant was not a Covenant of workes Argu. 3 That Covenant which did so convince of sinne as that it did also shew the way of expiation of sin and of forgivenesse could not be a covenant of workes for the covenant of workes onely convinceth of sinne and condemnes for sinne but shews not the way of expiation of sinne But this covenant at Mount Sinai did so convince of sinne that withall it shewed the way of forgivenesse for it taught men to looke for righteousnesse by the bloud of the sacrifice which was in type the bloud of Christ and therefore it so revealing and shewing Christ it could not be the covenant of workes Argu. 4 The covenant of workes was in Adam made with all none excepted not with one people more then another But this covenant made with Israel was made with them as with a select chosen and peculiar people whom God had taken to himselfe out of all the people of the earth and thence is that Preface before the Law I am the Lord thy God that brought thee out of the land of Aegypt God had separated them to himselfe from Aegyptians from Canaanites from Edomites c. and then revealed his Covenant unto them therefore this covenant made with Israel alone cannot be a covenant of workes which is made with all flesh That covenant which God made with Moses his person was Argu. 5 not a covenant of workes but of grace but the covenant which God made with them was the same which he made with Moses as appeares Exod. 34.27 therefore c. If any shall say that God then made a covenant of workes with Moses then it must follow that Moses was not now nor before under a covenant of grace which is contrary to the Apostle Heb. 11.23 24. when he saith By faith Moses when he came to yeares c. or else if he were before and now under the covenant of grace and yet now God makes another covenant with him putting him under the covenant of workes then a man may be at the same time under both covenants of workes and grace and so both under blessing and curse and in a state both of life and death If it had been a covenant of workes which God made with Israel Argu. 6 at Mount Sinai then should he have called them from a covenant of grace to a covenant of workes from a covenant of life to a covenant which now in this estate of corruption ministers nothing but death which is contrary to the Apostle Gal. 3.17 where he shews the Law cannot disanull the former Testament this were to make the Lord goe from a covenant of grace to a covenant of workes and it were the same in effect as to make them perfect by the flesh when the Lord had begun with them in the spirit Gal. 3.3 God carries on his people from faith to faith from grace to grace and not from grace to workes Therefore the covenant then establisht with them was not a covenant of workes for them to expect life by but onely the covenant of workes was then revealed with reference to the covenant of grace That covenant which was made by a sacrifice coming between Argu. 7 and confirmed by the bloud of the sacrifice that covenant is not a covenant of workes but this covenant was so made and confirmed Exod. 24.2 3 4 5 6 7 8. that sacrifice typed the sacrifice of Christ that bloud typed out Christs bloud but Christs bloud doth not confirme the covenant of workes but of grace But against this some doe object divers things Object 1 They say the covenant made with Israel at Mount
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
a little season but for evermore Psal 16. ult Whiles we are here we enjoy life here is glory also in a degree and here are pleasures too but here they are not full there is some death mixed with our life some basenesse with our glory some sorrowes with our pleasures And though they were full which they are not yet they last but for a time But there and then they shall be full and for evermore I cannot passe by that admirable expression of the Apostle in 2 Cor. 4.17 where speaking of the blessed estate of Gods people in the life to come he calls it a farre more excellent eternall weight of glory 1. There is glory 2. A weight of glory as much as we are able to beare 3. There is an excellency in it and excellent weight of glory 4. There is one excellency added to another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a most excellent glory 5. and lastly all this eternall a most excellent eternall weight of glory here is a large expression in few words This is the hope of Gods people which they wait for And for this they have Gods faithfull word and promise his Covenant and Testament and for our assurance he hath already given us the earnest of it in our hearts even the Spirit of Grace and the Spirit of glory which by guiding of us in the wayes of Grace here leads us on day by day to come nearer to our salvation then when we first believed till at last he bring us to glory even to the full end of our faith and hope the salvation of our soules And thus much of the benefits of the Covenant The fourth Part. THE CONDITION OF THIS COVENANT IT remaines now that we come to consider the condition of the Covenant in which we must walke that the Lord may performe unto us the mercy which he hath promised us There is a way of the Covenant in which the Lord conveyes his blessings as we may see in that expression used by the Lord himselfe concerning Abraham Gen. 18.19 I know Abraham saith the Lord that he will teach his houshold c. that I may bring upon Abraham that which I have spoken unto him The Lord fully intended to doe to Abraham as he had promised but yet the Lord will have Abraham to walk so and so before him and then God will bring upon Abraham the blessing which he had promised the like we have in Ier. 11.5 6. Great are the blessings which God hath promised to those which are the faithfull seed of Abraham and therefore as we desire to enjoy the blessing promised so we must see also what he requires of us that he may performe unto us what he hath promised and this is called the stipulation or condition of the Covenant And concerning this I will shew these foure things 1. That there is a condition required 2. Why the Lord hath put a condition to the promise of life 3. What the condition is 4. Whether the putting of such a condition doth or can stand with the free Grace of the Covenant yea or no. First That there is a condition of the Covenant The Lord doth not absolutely promise life unto any he doth not say to any soule I will save you and bring you to life though you continew impenitent and unbelieving but commands and works us to repent and believe and then promises that in the way of faith and repentance he will save us He prescribes a way of life for us to walk in that so wee may obtaine the salvation which he hath promised he brings us first through the doore of faith Act. 14. And then carries us on in the way of faith till he bring us to the end of our faith the salvation of our soules There are indeed some promises which seeme so absolute as to exclude all condition on our part as that promise in Esay 43.25 For mine own sake will I put away thy transgressions c. and so Ezek. 36.22 Where there is no mention made either of faith or any other Grace in us as a condition required on our part But if any shall hence argue that the promise of life is so absolute as to exclude all respect unto faith in those to whom the promise is made and because there is no mention made of faith in such promises therefore there is no intendment of it as if it were not understood but wholly excluded I may as well argue against the merits of Christ also and exclude them by the like reason because there is no mention of them no more then of faith in those absolute promises But as there is no remission without the blood of Christ Heb. 9.22 So neither is there without faith in that blood Rom. 3.25 as God never promised to forgive us our sins without respect to Christ though Christ be not alwayes mentioned in every such promise so neither doth he promise to save without faith though it be not alwayes mentioned particularly To prove that there is a condition in the Covenant of Grace it may be made evident sundry wayes 1. From the nature of a Covenant which is an agreement between severall parties Covenanting together upon mutuall conditions required on both parties Foedus saith Rollock is promissio sub certa conditione Roll. de vocatione efficaci A man may make a promise alone without any condition But a Covenant properly binds both parties and hath a condition annexed Abraham and Abimeleck promise one to another in their Covenant made betwixt them they mutually binde themselves Gen. 20. And so it is betwixt God and Abraham Gen. 17.27 I grant that the word Covenant is sometimes used concerning such promises as are without condition as in Gen. 9.9 Where the Lord speaking of his purpose and promise never to destroy the earth any more he calls that promise his Covenant though there be no condition there annexed But the Question is not how a word may be used upon some speciall occasion but what is the proper nature of a Covenant which doth require mutuall stipulation or condition on both parties This is but one place where the word Covenant is taken for a promise without a condition more such places I know not any in Scripture and besides there was speciall reason of calling it a Covenant namely to shew the unchangeablenesse of his purpose touching the mercy promised that it is as sure as if we had tyed him thereunto by Covenant upon some condition performed by us before hand But this is not properly a Covenant where there is not a mutuall obligation and binding of the parties one to another by condition Hereto agreeth that saying of Beza in 2 Tim. 1.12 Mutua est inquit depositi obligatio inter Deum Sanctos ipsius Though on Gods part this obligation is prorsus gratuita wholly free as hee there speaks though Gods binding of himselfe to us bee free yet ours is not so to God But concerning the freenesse of the Covenant
we shall speak hereafter thus much only for the present he affirmes that there is mutua obligatio a mutuall bond or tie by which God binds us to himselfe as well as he binds himselfe to us c. 2. But for further confirmation hereof consider the different kinds of expressions which the Scripture useth in speaking of the Covenant betwixt God and us There is mention made of a Covenant promised And there is mention also of a Covenant commanded not to imply two Covenants but two parts of the same Covenant one part of it standing in the promise from God to us the other in duty from us to God Thus Deut. 7.12 there is the Covenant which God promised and by oath swore unto his people and then in Josh 7.11 there is the Covenant commanded which is the condition on our part required take away the condition you must also take away the Covenant commanded and if there be a Covenant commanded there must of necessity be a condition 3. Consider that expression used in Ezek. 20.37 I will bring you into the bond of the Covenant saith the Lord why doth the Lord speak of a bond of the Covenant If the Lord had bound himselfe only and put no condition upon the Covenant for us he could not have said that he would bring us into the bond of it But hereby he would teach us that when he makes with us a Covenant of Grace and mercy he doth not then leave us at liberty to live as we list but he binds us by Covenant to himâ—elfe he doth not only bind himselfe to us but us to himselfe as in Jer. 13.11 He is said to have tyed to himselfe the whole house of Israel binding them to himselfe as with a girdle in the bond of the Covenant wee were sometimes free from God and free from righteousnesse Rom. 6.20 But now we are by Covenant become the Lords servants 1 Cor. 7.22 being bound unto him by the bond of the Covenant 4. Consider how we are said sometimes to keep Covenant sometimes to break Covenant with God In Psal 25.10 and Psal 103.18 Here we are said to keep Covenant but in Psal 44.17 and Esay 24.5 There is mention made of breaking Covenant with God and in Deut. 29.25 they have forsaken the Covenant of the Lord their God This keeping of Covenant and bâ—eaking or forsaking of it cannot bee conceived to be done otherwise then by observing or violating the condition of the Covenant required on our part Such as are most profane and wa k most loosely they will be forward enough to claime Gods promise but they are faulty in performing their own part of the Covenaâ—t Thus the Jewes they would hold to the promise that God was their God Joh. 8. and yet they brake the Covenant by failing in the condition required of them 5. Consider how the name of Covenant is given not only to the promise which God makes unto us but to that duty which he requires on our part to be done by us in Gen. 17.7 There the name of Covenant is given to Gods promise which he makes to us but afterwards in vers 9. the same name of Covenant is also given to the duty required of us I will saith the Lord to Abraham establish my Covenant with thee and what is that I will be a God unto thee c. and thou also shalt keep my Covenant that is there is the duty I require of thee by which thou shalt testifie thy observance of the Covenant namely in circumcising thy seed This use of the word Covenant being applyed to that which is required of us shewes plainly that there is a stipulalation or condition in the Covenant required on our part 6. We reade expresse mention made of the condition upon which the promise of life and salvation is made as in Act. 16.31 Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved Rom. 10.9 If thou believest thou shalt be saved c. 7. Gods dealing with the Israelites when he made his Covenant with them at Mount Sinai shewes plainly that there is a condition in the Covenant Exod. 24.3 to 9. when the Lord was about to make up his Covenant betwixt him and them you see how Moses rehearseth before them the words of the Covenant that they might know what it was which the Lord required of them and to the end it might be done more seriously he repeats the termes of the Covenant to be observed by them twice over and they doe twice promise to observe the words of the Covenant before the bloud of the Covenant by which it was confirmed was sprinkled upon them shewing unto us thereby that we must for our part assent unto the Covenant not only accepting the promise of it but also submit to the duty required in it or else there is no Covenant established betwixt God and us we must as well accept of the condition as of the promise if we will be in Covenant with God Object But the Covenant is otherwise called a Testament Heb. 7.8 9. Answ This terme or name of Testament is given to the Covenant not to exclude the condition but to shew the firmnesse and inviolable and unchangeable nature of it being confirmed by the death of Christ the Testator and therefore never to bee altered nor changed Whiles men live they may alter their Wills or Testaments as oft as they please but when they are dead it is unalterable Gal. 3. Christ hath dyed to confirm his Testament it s therefore now unchangeable being ratified by his death as a Testament is by the death of the Testator And that this is the true reason why the Apostle calls it a Testament is evident by Heb. 9.16 17. Where a Testament is saith the Apostle there must be the death of the Testator and he gives the reason even now alledged because the Testament is confirmed when men are dead and not before And that the Apostle had no intent in so calling it to exclude the condition is evident by verse 15. where he saith That Christ is made the Mediator of a better Testament that through his death those which were called might receive the promise of eternall inheritance These words those which were called doe plainely and fully imply the condition required in the Covenant of life our calling being finished in the working of faith which is the condition of the Covenant no man is effectually called so as to have part in that eternall inheritance untill he believe so that the Legacies of the Testament being to those that are called that is to those that do believe it is most manifest that the intent of the Apostle in calling the Covenant by the name of a Testament was not to exclude the condition but only as was said to shew the stability and immutability of the Covenant It being now like a Testament confirmed by the death of him that made it The forme of the former Covenant which God made with Israel in the
but legall Christians and legall Preachers as allowed this way All her assurance was from revelation it was revealed unto her that shee was one of the Elect of God and shee knew all things by immediate revelation from above but I fear she knows not that her glorious revelations were but Satanicall delusions Let her damned heresies shee fell into denying the resurrection c. and the just vengeance of God by which she perished terrifie all her seduced followers from having any more to doe with her leaven which shee spred among them Beware of her sinne least yee perish in her plague Vse 2. Is there a condition of the Covenant Then let this provoke us all who look for the blessing which it brings to be faithâ—ull with God in keeping our Covenant with him take heed we fall not short of the condition least we be deprived of the blessing this is that which the Apostle teaches us Heb. 4.1 Seeing we have a promise left us of entering into his rest there is the blessing promised let us feare least through unbeliefe any of us should be deprived there is the condition required The words through unbeliefe are not in the Text expressed but they are evidently implyed as appears both by the coherence with the third Chapter and by that which followes Chap. 4.2 To be deprived of such a blessing is a heavy losse such as can never be recompenced and the preventing of this losse so far as concernes us is by keeping of our Covenant which the Lord commands us to walk in If we forsake the condition we forsake the promise and therefore it is also that when God took Abraham into a Covenant with him he did not only tell Abraham what he would be unto him a God to blesse him but he brings Abraham to walk in Covenant with him Thou also shalt keep my Covenant saith the Lord Gen. 17.9 Thou shalt walk before me and bee upright Gen. 17 1. When God takes us into Covenant with him we are said to be brought into the bond of the Covenant Ezek. 20. to teach us that now we must look at our selves as tyed and bound unto God in a Covenant never to be broken we are not now any longer at our own liberty to walke as we list but must observe our Covenant to walk therein when we walk so that we may truly say before the Lord our heart is not turned back from thee neither have we dealt falsely with thee in thy Covenant as it in Psal 44.17 18 this keeps the heart in a comfortable expectation of the blessed hope which is set before us Thus Paul I have kept the faith I have finished my course and now henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousnesse 2 Tim. 4.7 8. Let us carefully walk in the condition and then the promise will be sure not only sure in it self but suâ—e to us 2 Pet. 1.10 These bonds of the Covenant are not like the fetters of a prison they are like the pleasing bonds of wedlock vincula nuptiarum which every one gladly enters into Oh let us love these bonds give up both our hands unto the Lord yea and our hearts also to be bound in them for ever these are sweet bonds they work no griefe seek not therefore to break them Psal 2. nor cast them from you say not we will be our own and walk by our will such lawlesse and licentious spirits as will be at liberty they shall be at liberty to their wo they shall have such a liberty as Jeremy threatned to the rebellious Jewes a liberty to the sword to the famine and to the pestilence Jer. 34. a liberty to goe to hell to their eternall destruction a liberty with a curse granted unto them in wrath which shall end in chaines of everlasting darknesse and bring them into that prison from whence there is no going out Therefore let all such as look for the blessing and life promised in the Covenant Let them walk faithfully in the condition of it and in this way expect the mercy which is promised Thus wee have shewed First That there is a condition of the Covenant Secondly Why the Lord hath put a condition unto it 3. The third point follows to shew what the condition is which though it hath been obiter mentioned before yet is now to be spoken of more particularly The condition then of the Covenant of Grace is faith Rom. 4.16 Rom. 10.9 10. If thou believest in the Lord Jesus thou shalt be saved so Acts 18.31 Joh. 3.16 hence in Rom. 3.27 The Gospel is called the Law of Faith because as the Law of works doth put works as the condition of that Covenant so the Gospel puts faith as the condition of the new Covenant Quest But why is faith made the condition of the Covenant Answ 1. The blessing of life promised is not in our selves but in Christ Christ is life and he which hath the Sonne hath hath life and he which hath not the Son hath not life 1 Joh. 5.12 We are dead Colos 3.3 and our Works are dead Heb. 9.14 there is no life in them they cannot bring life unto them that doe them nor can wee quicken our own soules but Christ is the life of men Joh. 1.4 Colos 3.4 and the way to receive Christ and the life which is in him is only by faith Ioh. 1.12 unbeliefe rejects Christ and puts him away But faith as an hand puts forth it selfe to receive him in whom our life is If we had life in our selves and could have found it in our own works it had then been needlesse to appoint faith as the condition of the Covenant but being that both we our selves are dead in sinne and our works are dead works nothing but death to be found in either therefore it s required that wee believe in Christ that we may receive life from him 2. The condition of the law is now become impossible unto us through the infirmity of our flesh Rom. 8.3 and therefore the Apostle saith that the Law cannot possibly give life Gal. 3.21 Therefore the Lord would go that way with us no more the Lord saw by Adam what would be the fruit of that condition if we had been put upon the same as Adam was we should have done as he did we should have shewed our selves men like men transgressing the Covenant as Hoseah speaks Hos 6.7 This condition being above our ability to performe the Lord hath in goodnesse appointed another which is possible through grace to be fulfilled by us having now received a spirit of faith 2 Cor. 4.13 It is now given us to believe Phil. 1.29 this is possible 3. It is by faith that it might be by grace Rom. 4.16 The Covenant is stablished upon the condition of faith that it might appeare to be by grace that wee obtain the blessing the condition must answer the nature of the Covenant therefore being a Covenant of grace the
should have said unto us you have once broken my Covenant and yet if you will at last fulfill my Law which I gave unto you I will yet accept you as just unto life yet we could not have done it the condition was too hard for us to perform If we had been held close to this condition of fulfilling the Law we should have missed of life for ever The Lord therefore seeing and pittying of our infirmity was pleased to propound unto us another condition saying unto us only beleive Beleive on my son trust on my grace and thou shalt be saved herein the Lord hath condescended to our weaknesse taking compassion of our infirmities laying upon us no other burthen but this Beleeve my promise accept my grace and rest upon it and this thy faith shall save thee Thou shalt never perish 3. It serves for comfort to all Gods faithfull ones that have beleived through grace if you have received this first gift if it be given you to beleeve you shall not fail of a second gift even the gift of eternall life through Iesus Christ our Lord Though your repentance be lesse then to equall the measure of your sins though your obedience be imperfect yea though your faith it selfe be weak also yet if it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unfained syncere and sound this your faith is accepted of God and is imputed to you for righteousnesse Those that are of faith are blessed with faithfull Abraham saith the Apostle Gal. 3.9 Blessed is shee that beleeveth saith the Angell Luke 1.45 and the Son of God comes in as a third witnesse testifying that whosoever beleeveth in him shall not perish but is passed from death to life Iohn 3. Here are three witnesses from heaven and earth all witnessing the blessed estate of such as do beleive Faith is well termed precious faith 1 Pet. 1.2 Pet. 1.1 because it makes us partakers of all the precious blessings of grace which are contained in the Covenant The faithfull are inheritours of all the priviledges which God hath promised to his chosen and therefore it is that they are called heires of promise Heb. 6.17 and heires of blessing 1 Pet. 3.9 You beleevers be exhorted to see and owne your blessednesse take notice of the great things the Lord hath done for you he hath made a covenant with you even a Covenant of peace and blessing and life for ever God is become your God he will be all things unto you and when all helpes under heaven fail you yet from himselfe he will do you good all your sins are forgiven you his spirit is yours to lead you to sanctifie you and to heal the evils that be in you he will uphold you in that state wherein you stand and will keep you that you shall never perish and will at last bring you to a full injoyment of himselfe in his heavenly Kingdome where you shall for ever blesse him and be made blessed by him and shall rejoyce before him with joy unspeakable and glorious pluck up your hearts therefore and be glad lift up your heads strengthen the weak hands and the feeble knees serve the Lord with gladnesse and joyfulnesse of spirit considering the day of our salvation draweth neer though now for a time you may be in heavinesse through manifold temptations and afflictions in this evill world yet faint not you being partakers of that precious faith you have the holy and faithfull God in Covenant with you to love you to blesse you and to save you and yet a little while and he that shall come will come and receive you to himselfe and then you shall fully know what it is to have beleived and to have been in Covenant with God what it is to have God to be your God when you shall see him and enjoy him as he is Only nourish your faith and live by faith make much of this precious grace cherish it by thinking often on the promises and of that grace which hath been shewed upon you from on high study to walke worthy of that mercy received and in so doing wait for the end of your faith the salvation of your soule 4. If faith be the condition of the Covenant then woe to all unbeleevers that go on in their impenitency and unbeleife Their unbeleife deprives them of that good which the Lord hath by his Covenant promised to his people they have no part nor portion in God they are without God without Christ without Covenant without promise without mercy their sins are unpardoned they are under the curse the wrath of God abides upon them there is nothing to take it away from them but if they abide in unbeleif wrath abides upon them for ever There is a wrath wherby God is angry with his own people but that anger lasts but for a little season it is but for a moment Isai 4.7 8. it passeth away and abides not upon them but the unbeleiver hath wrath abiding on him for ever John 3.36 In Iude 5. it is said that God afterwards destroyed those Israelites that beleived not when once they had had the means of grace made known then not beleiving God afterwards destroyed them you that tread in the steps of their unbeleif you are little troubled to thinke what misery is comming upon you as not knowing that you are in danger but you are under wrath your judgement hastneth and your damnation sleepeth not be awakened therefore be thinke your selves and consider what your end will be by your unbeleif you put a bar to exclude your selves from the blessing of life promised to Gods people you thus continuing the Lord neither will nor can save you You will thinke this an hard saying but you will finde it too true God cannot lye Titus 1.2 much lesse can he forswear but God hath sworne this that such shall never enter into his rest Psal 95. and Hebr. 3. ult In Mat. 13. ult It s said Christ did not many great works in his owne country for their unbeleifes sake But in Marke 6.5 it s said hee could not doe them he neither did them nor could do them unbeleif stops the course and diverts the stream of Gods goodnesse from comming unto us Christs usuall speech to those that expected any blessing from him was this According to your faith be it unto you faith makes all things possible Marke 6.23 It will reverse the sentence of death which is passed upon us and bring us back unto life but unbeleife makes it impossible so that we cannot be saved The Lord can do nothing against his own counsell and will and he hath concluded this with himselfe to save none but such as beleive and that whosoever beleeveth not shall perish all you unbeleevers consider this your unbeleefe will bee your destruction Secondly Is there such a work of faith in bringing us into Covenant with God and in enabling us to walk in Covenant with him 1. This serves to direct all the people of God