administer it unto one that hath spiritually no right to it as we see in the Scripture the Apostles themselves were deceived but Gods promise in giving the children an interest in the fathers priviledge is a sure ground to go by more than any mans believing or profession in the world can be for himself and therefore a man is bound to believe that his seed is taken into covenant and that they do belong to the Election of grace and are truly justified sanctified adopted and accepted in Christ till they manifest the contrary and we have more than a negative ground for it that we know nothing to the contrary for we have a positive ground and that is the indefinite promise which we have cause to interpret in the most favourable sense and I am sure is a more certain ground for me to pass a judgment upon than any mans profession can be seeing that I know my judgment is not infallible in either but I may be deceived in reference to the person to whom it 's applied therefore consider that 1 Children while in their infancy are members of the visible Church of God 2 They have always been taken into membership in the same Church with their parents and accounted as of the same Church with them 1. Children while they are infants may be members of the visible Church of God before they come to years to be able to understand the nature of a Church or to consent unto the Duties unto which they are obliged in that relation and that will appear Luk. 18.16 Mar. 10.13 1 What children were those spoken of they were not children in meekness and harmlesness as some would have it but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 infants young children teneri adhuc ab uberibus pendentes pueruli Beza the same word is used of new-born babes 1 Pet. 2.2 and so much do the words also import 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he took them in his arms which notes that they were children in their infancy 2 What doth he say to these children he saith That the kingdom of heaven did belong to such what doth he mean by the Kingdom of Heaven the Kingdom of Heaven is put for the Kingdom of Grace here in a visible Church or else for the Kingdom of Glory Mat. 8.11 12. Many shall come from the East and shall sit down with Abraham in the kingdom of heaven i. e. shall be added unto the Church upon Earth and shall enter into the Kingdom of glory when the children of the Kingdom of the Jews the natural branches born children by an external right shall be cast out And Mat. 16.19 I give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven it 's meant of the Kingdom of Grace here the Church and the Kingdom of Glory in Heaven for he gives him power to bind on earth and loose on earth and promises that it shall be ratified in Heaven but yet all Officers are for the visible Church and all their power is to be exercised in the visible Church and though it be for the good of the Elect the Church of the first-born the Church invisible yet that is not the proper place thereof but Officers are for the visible Church So then theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven that is not only they shall be saved and so fill up the Kingdom of glory but also they belong to the Kingdom of grace and the Subjects of this Kingdom here are members of the visible Church they are actually Subjects of this Kingdom 3 Neither doth he speak of these very individual children as a priviledge which belonged unto them alone he by his omniscience knowing them to be elected of God but he saith Of such as these are delivering it therefore as an ordinary rule of our judgment in the like case of all other children of parents in covenant unto the end of the world therefore children that are infants are members of the visible Church and therefore taken into a Church-covenant with their parents for by nature no man is a Church-member Eph. 2.12 but all strangers to the Common-wealth of Israel and men afar off for if any man were so by nature then all men by nature must be so therefore it 's a priviledge by grace that they are taken into their parents covenant and are members of the same Church with them 2. Children have been always taken into the same covenant with their parents and have been members of the same Church with them When the Lord made a covenant with Abraham he took in his family to be a Church when he took in the Jews he took in their children also to be unto him a holy and a peculiar people and when he did cast out the children of the Kingdom and did give them a bill of divorce removing the candlestick he did excommunicate and disinherit their children and when he takes the Gentiles into covenant also it is with them and with their seed in their generations and therefore the master of the family being converted salvation is come to his house and there is a Church in his house his family becomes of those of whom the visible Church is constituted for the Gentiles were grafted in as the Jews were broken off and that was in reference to a Church-state for themselves and their posterity and so were the Gentiles grafted into a Church-state for themselves and their posterity and the Lord has given us a rule for it Deut. 29.14 Deut. 29.14 15. when he enters into a Church-covenant with that people and with their little ones that they should be a people unto himself that is a Church unto God vers 15. Neither with you only do I make this covenant but also with him that is not here with us this day If you understand it of the Jews only this leaves to us these two things 1 That children are included in their fathers covenant though they be not of themselves able to restipulate 2 That it is the will of God it should not only be so at that time but in after-ages with them and their seed in their generations But if we understand by them that are not here this day all that shall be taken into the same covenant in time to come as it may be then it will leave a door open to bring in all the believing Gentiles and their seed to the end of the world Thus the Lord out of love unto the parents doth take not only them but their seed also into a visible Church that they may be a holy and a peculiar people unto himself 5. They that have a right of membership are to be admitted into the visible Church and to be looked upon as having a right Mat. 16.19 for the Lord has appointed the power of the Keys in his Church unto this end Church-power and authority is commonly expressed in Scripture by the name of Keys the sign being put for the thing signified and the ensign of authority for the
surely then if the Childrens right come from the Parent it must be from the faith of the Parent which only gives himself a right thereunto Here are four things to be spoken of Answ 1 That it 's not the Grace and saving faith of the Parents that gives either them or their children right unto external Church-Priviledges 2 That it 's a visible Profession of faith that does it 3 Yet it is not a bare Profession and a bare living in a Christian Church that is sufficient either for the Person to claim a title or for the Church to admit of it 4 I will give an answer to the Objections that are before mention'd of the entrance into Abrahams Covenant and having a title to be call'd Abrahams Children 1. I say it is not Grace regenerating and sanctifying that gives a title either to the Parent or to his seed and that I shall prove by these particulars 1. If men that have no Grace that were never regenerated never new-born to God may have a Covenant-title then that which gives a man a title is not Grace but a man that has no Grace that was never born from above may have a true title therefore it 's not their Grace that gives them this title Here consider 1 That the Church of God is either Invisible or Visible the Invisible Church is the Church of the first-born Heb. 12.23 whose names are written in Heaven and consists only of regenerate and Believers in truth this is the body of Christ the Spouse of Christ and the fulness of him that filleth all in all But as for the Visible Church it is made up of visible Saints and it does enjoy visible Ordinances as we see in the Church of the Jews and in all the converted Churches of the Gentiles they did all imbody for the publick Worship of God 2 This visible Church has visible Members and visible Priviledges as the Church invisible has invisible members and invisible Priviledges Indeed it is unto these that all the spiritual Promises of the Covenant do belong and all the saving Graces of the Covenant are conferr'd but yet there are many visible Priviledges of the visible Church which none but the visible members according to the Rules of the Word are to partake of we have these summed up in eight particulars Rom. 9.4 5 6. These are the visible Priviledges of the visible Church 3 Unto these a man that has no saving Grace may have a right according to the Rules of the Word and being looked upon by the Word as a visible member of a Church he has by the same Rule a right to the visible Priviledges which belong unto a Church-member A man may be a true member of the visible Church without Grace for the Net gathers of every kind some good and some bad Matth. 13.47 and into this Society many are called that are not chosen there be foolish as well as wise Builders and Virgins unclean as well as clean Beasts branches in Christ as he spreads himself upon Earth into a visible Church that bear no fruit and yet are truly said to be members and grow as members of the Church and therefore the Jews are said to be broken off Rom. 11.19 that the Gentiles might be grafted in now what were the Gentiles grafted into not into the Church invisible for many of them have no saving Grace never were regenerated therefore they were grafted into Christ spreading himself into a visible Church upon Earth and what were the Jews cast off from not from being members of the Church Invisible for there the calling and election of God is without repentance he knows who are his and he never casts out whom he knows to be his All the Jews were call'd Loammi they are not my people Rom. 9.26 they were once owned by God as a peculiar people and as a holy Nation unto him but now he will be no more styled their God and as men may have a visible standing in the Church and a visible right of membership without Grace so a man may partake in and have a right to the visible priviledges of a member though he have no Grace Rom. 11.17 Thou being a wild Olive Tree wast grafted in amongst them and to what end were they ingrafted it was that they might with them partake of the root and fatness of the Olive-tree this root and fatness cannot be meant of saving grace for if they had partaken of them Pareus they had never been broken off therefore it 's meant of outward priviledges only therefore the Gentiles have their priviledges into which they are ingrafted that is installed as well as the Jews had and yet it 's not saving grace in them that entitles them unto this priviledge because he says Let them also take heed for all this lest they also be broken off as the Jews the natural branches were 2. These external priviledges are such as belong to the visible Church into which men must admit and they cannot judge of the truth of grace and regeneration by an infallible judgment and therefore there must be some visible signs which as rules they are to act by in things of so high a nature As the Church is distinguished into visible and invisible so there is a double power of the Keys answerable 1 The Lord Christ has a Key of Royalty Rev. 3.7 as you have heard the Key of David which I conceive to have respect to the Church only and he admits into the Church invisible and it 's by vocation and union with Christ which is the end or terminus of vocation 2 There is a Key of charity as some call it though improperly yet true in this respect because it 's only the judgment of charity that they can proceed by and not of infallibility and this is an act belonging properly to Church-officers Mat. 6.19 by virtue of an institution of Christ unto that end and they that are imployed in this work cannot judge infallibly of the truth of grace in any they admit Though it 's true that the tree is much known by the fruit yet we find that Peter did baptize Simon Magus and the Church admitted Ananias and Saphira and those mentioned in 1 Joh. 2.19 they were admitted amongst them though afterwards they appeared not to be of them and that which was said of Israel is true still of the visible Church They are not all Israel that are of Israel The Church invisible has no Officer but Christ alone and he admits by a judgment of infallibility but the visible Church has visible Officers who are to proceed by a known rule and Baptism being the ordinance of admission is by them to be administred to persons as visible and not as invisible members of the Church all these therefore that are to be admitted by them must be admitted by a known rule which they can judge of which is not truth of grace for that they cannot know it
is called and compared to a Vine And it 's of this Vine that Christ is the root for it 's not spoken of Christ as he is a Head in Heaven so he has no dead members there are membra praesumptiva quae ad columbam non pertinent Austin but it 's spoken of Christ spreading himself into a visible Church here upon earth and his being the root notes two things 1 Their union with him as the branches have with the root and therefore they are said to be in him even those that bear no fruit some are in him only by profession and some by a real coalition 2 They may suck sap from him for the foolish Virgins have the oyl in their lamps from him as well as the wise that have oyl in their vessels the one have the oyl of gifts from whence their greenness comes though they afterward wither and the other have the oyl of their graces the one has it from the Spirit of Christ assisting and the other from the same Spirit inhabiting or informing for there are two sorts of branches in this Vine as the Text makes manifest 2. Why is he called the true Vine He may be fitly resembled to a Vine as he is called the true light Joh. 1.9 and the true bread Joh. 6.32 because he has the excellency of the Vine in a spiritual sense he is a spiritual Root that has spiritual branches and they bear spiritual fruit for omnia corporalia sunt imagines quaedam rerum spiritualium all corporals are images of things spiritual and as Christ did condescend unto the lowest condition for our salvation he became a worm and no man Psal 22. so he doth compare himself unto the lowest of creatures for our instruction but yet so as the creatures are but shadows and weak resemblances in respect of those spiritual excellencies that are in him so he is the true bread and so his flesh is meat indeed and his blood is drink indeed Joh. 6. that is it is spiritual nourishment and is to the soul that which all earthly food is to the body for as the creatures are but shadows of God so Christ and spiritual things have the truth of all excellency of which the creatures are but resemblances 3. How is the Father said to be the Husbandman There are six main acts of the Husbandman and all of them are in the Scripture attributed to God the Father 1 The husbandman doth plant the Vine it 's true here both in the root and branches both are the plantation of God the Father 1 It is true of Christ the Root who though in some respect he be called a Branch as he did grow out of the dead and withered stock of the house of David as a branch out of a dry tree and yet so the Father brings him forth Zac. 3.8 Behold I will bring forth my servant the branch yet as all the other branches do grow upon him being one with him so he is in a more special manner termed a Root the root of David as he is called Rev. 5.5 and it is the Father that did cause this branch to grow Est radix Davidis quia portat non portatur Bernard Jer. 33.16 and it 's the Father that planted this Root for he bids you look unto him Zac. 6.12 The man whose name is The Branch he shall build the Temple of the Lord and he is made unto us of God wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption It 's by the Fathers appointment that he is become the Churches Root he had never had a Church built upon him had not the Lord laid him in Sion as the chief corner-stone 1 Pet. 2.6 and a Church had never grown out of him as the root had it not been of God the Fathers planting for he has given us the rule Mat. 15.13 Every plant that grows alone in the Church and is not planted by the Father shall surely by the Father be rooted up 2 He it is also that doth plant or ingraft all the branches into this root Esay 60.21 Thy people shall be all righteous branches of my planting that I may be glorified and therefore Rom. 6.5 we are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 planted together into the likeness of his death and his resurrection created in Christ unto good works for we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things made by him Eph. 2.10 Now if we do consider Christ not only as a Head in Heaven in reference unto the Church mystical and invisible but as he is a root on earth spreading himself into a Church visible and the great benefits that we have thereby as the incomes of Ordinances the labours of Officers and the fellowship of Members we owe these all unto God the Father he is the Husbandman that planted them all 2 The Father as Husbandman fenceth the Vine he that plants the Vine he it is also that makes the fence for the invisible Church of God has spiritual enemies in heavenly things but the visible Church that has variety of outward enemies as the lily amongst thorns sometimes the Foxes by their subtilty seek to spoil the vines and sometimes the wild Boar out of the wood doth endeavour to root it up and yet it is preserved the bush is in the fire and yet it 's not consumed it is because there is a hedge about it Joh. 10.29 says Christ My Father that gave them me is greater than all and no man can pluck them out of my Fathers hand Job 1.10 Thou hast made a hedge about him and all that he has round about and this hedge of protection is sometimes made by Gods own immediate hand Zac. 2.5 God himself is a wall of fire about Jerusalem he doth himself become their hedge and their defence upon all the glory he doth stretch forth a covering and sometimes he doth make others to be a hedge sometimes his own Angels and they pitch their Tents round about them that fear the Lord Rev. 5.11 they were round about the Throne and sometimes he does make Rulers which are the shields of the Earth to become the shields of the Church but their protection and defence is the work of the husbandman Now when the Lord doth pluck up the hedge and break down the wall of the visible Church we then see what terrible inroads all the enemies do make and how they come in and spoil her The Boar of the wood doth waste it and the beasts of the field devour it Psal 80.13 so that it 's God the Father only that makes the hedge and he it is that doth remove the fence and he it is that has the hand in making it up again 3 He as the Husbandman doth hire labourers into his Vineyard for it is the work of God the Father Mat. 20.1 as he is the Lord of the harvest so he doth thrust forth labourers into his harvest as he is the husbandman so he doth hire labourers into his vineyard which
other sort of people in the world for the great gifts that come from Christ as ascended are upon the visible Church of God yea the thorns and briars in the Church have the rain and influences great and many common works of the Spirit raising and elevating and improving nature the least of which works and motions is more worth than the world it is so in the things though it prove at last a curse to the man 7 They by this means come under the care of the Church and under the power of the Keys under the prayers and under the censures of the Church which do restrain them and are many times blessed to bring men in as the Apostle says We judge them that are within 1 Cor. 5.11 8 They attain many temporal blessings and are delivered from many temporal afflictions thereby Ismael had many outward blessings by Abrahams Covenant the external blessings of the Covenant are made good to them God will not destroy Jerusalem and the judgment came not upon King Hezekiah for David my servants sake and I will not rent from Rehoboam because I will not put out the light in Israel There are two arguments that I would insist on 1 A visible Membership is promised as a very special mercy 2 The contrary to be cast out of it is threatned as a great judgment 1. Gen. 9.27 A visible Membership is promised as a special mercy Gen. 9.27 God shall perswade Japhet c. Noahs family was the Church of God but he did foresee a defection or an Apostasie that should befal the posterity of Cham and Japhet and that the visible Church of God should only be continued a long time in the posterity of Shem but yet he doth foretel that though Chams posterity should be for ever cast off yet there should come a time when the posterity of Japhet tandem redirent ad unitatem Ecclesiae Pareus should at length return to the unity of the Church Now we read Gen. 10.5 that by the posterity of Japhet the Isles of the Gentiles were overspread this is therefore a Prophecy of the bringing in of the Gentiles into the number of Gods people and they shall become a visible Church unto God for coming into the Tents of Shem is being made members of the visible Church There is a double conversion of the Gentiles which the Apostle speaks of Rom. 11.12 If the fall and diminishing of the Jews be the riches of the Gentiles how much more shall their fulness be If upon their breaking off the Gentiles were gathered in and inriched with their Church priviledges how much more when they shall be called and come in in their national fulness shall the Gentiles be inriched by them Rev. 7.3 4. This is prophesied Rev. 7.3 4. Hurt not the earth c. and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the Tribes of the children of Israel c. It cannot be spoken of the Church of the Jews for it is set after the seals as a Prophecy that ushers in the Trumpets and as the seals refer unto Rome Pagan so do the Trumpets unto Rome Christian Now there were four winds that were to blow upon the earth and by their blasts they would hurt the earth and the Sea for there was power given to them by God unto that end the winds do signifie motus bellicos and impetus hostiles c. warlike commotions as we read in Jer. 49.36 Vpon Elam I will bring the four winds and I will scatter them and there shall be no nation whither the out-casts of Elam shall not come Dan. 7.2 3. Dan. 7.2 3. The four winds contended upon the great sea so that hereby is meant the incursion of all the barbarous People and Nations with their power and might upon the Roman Empire but in this general invasion there are some that the Lord would specially protect upon whom these destroying winds should have no power and that is meant by sealing of them Glass Amoris singularis curae symbolum sigillum est The sealing is a symbol of singular love and care and yet when it is spoken of the Church of God of the Gentiles in the Roman Empire upon whom these storms should fall and over whom these winds should have power they are said to be of the Tribes of Israel There were sealed 144000 of all the Tribes of Israel whereas Israel was cast off and dispersed upon all the four winds long before and God had wholly cast off the care of them and reputed them as a people to himself no more why then are the Gentiles called the Tribes of Israel The reason is this Quia in Israelis vicem successerit fuitque Israel surrogatus They were surrogated Israel they are Japhet brought into the Tents of Shem that is become the Church of God and had all the Priviledges of the Church stated upon them instead of the Jews and therefore their sealing is called the sealing of the Tribes of Israel But there is yet another call of the Gentiles spoken of Rev. 7.9 Rev. 7.9 And after this I beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could number out of all nations and kindred and people and tongues stood before the Throne and before the Lamb cloathed with white robes and palms in their hands c. that is afflicto Ecclesiae statui succedit amplissimus foelicissimus ejusdem status This is to be referred unto the time of the seventh Trumpet when the Jews shall be called and new Jerusalem shall come down from God out of Heaven when the mountain of the Lords house shall be exalted on the top of the mountains and all Nations flow in unto it when the Gentile Churches shall be given unto the Church of the Jews for daughters Ezech. 16. and they exalted as the mother-Mother-Church over all the world when the Nations that are saved shall walk in the light of it and the Kings of the Earth shall bring their glory and honour to it Rev. 21.24 and I conceive it 's to be understood of taking of both Jews and Gentiles into a visible Church by a first and second conversion and it is unto both promised as a special mercy it 's made also a special mercy by the Apostle Rom. 11.17 24. Rom. 11.17 24. and that both in reference unto Jews and Gentiles 1. For the Gentiles Thou being a wild olive-branch for that must be the meaning as Beza observes art made partaker of the root and fatness of the olive-tree c. By the Olive-tree is meant the Church of Israel Jer. 11.16 the visible Church Jer. 11.16 The Lord called thy name a green olive-tree fair and of goodly fruit and the Lord did thus honour it because this is one of the most excellent of all the trees the Fig-tree the Olive and the Vine and that 1 for its greenness for it doth flourish and is always green 2 for its
They may not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rightly proceed nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rightly divide and so by doctrine and example they may hurt souls Ezech. 13.18 20. and their trading may be as that of Rome for the souls of men The Apostle says there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a craftiness to deceive and draw disciples after them And the Father says There is a bait of heresie something that the flesh of man is taken with 3 They may stir up great divisions and contentions in Churches and States There was a contention begun amongst the Disciples which of them should be the greatest And by Diotrephes from love of Preheminence He prates against us with malicious words and he neither receives the brethren 3 Joh. v. 10. and forbids them that would casting them out of the Church And in the Revelations they go forth together with the Kings of the Earth to the great battel of Armageddon Therefore Nazianzen bitterly bewails the contentions between the Ministers in his time If I saith he be the cause of this division if I be the Jonas then cast me out And he makes that as his last request to Theodosius the Emperour That he would compose those divisions telling him This should be as the ornament and glory of all his former Victories and Trophies 4 They may be a means to ripen the sins and to hasten the Judgment of God upon a people Isa 6.10 Heb. 6.8 and increase their condemnation Go make the heart of this people fat c. And the ground that drinks in the rain and bears briers and thorns is near to cursing If I had not come and spoken to you you had had no sin but now there is no cloak for your sin c. 2. There is a Curse that comes upon the Ministers by the peoples sin 1 For the peoples sins God does many times hide his face and his truth from their Ministers Psal 74.9 Ezech. 26. There is not a Prophet there is none can tell us how long I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth and thou shalt be dumb and not be a reprover to this people The Sun shall go down upon your Prophets and the day shall be dark over them c. For they do receive Truths as stewards to dispense them and when God will punish the family then he does straighten the stewards and hides his face from them 2 For the peoples sins God does many times give the Ministers up to errours and delusions that as the people are such also shall the Priest be They love lies and say prophesie and declare to us smooth things prophesie deceit therefore if any man will prophesie of wine and strong drink he shall be a Prophet for this people Ahab's sin did provoke God to send the Devil to be a lying spirit in the mouth of all the Prophets And 2 Thes 2.10 11. the people not receiving the truth in the love of it the Ministers were given over to that efficacy of deceit and the people were ensnared by it that all they might be damn'd that had pleasure in unrighteousness and had not pleasure in the truth 3 The people are many times a continual grief to their Ministers I was amongst you as a nurse and therefore did bear with much frowardness and perverseness in the people to the grief of his soul if you will not hear my soul shall weep in secret for your pride saith Jeremy And how much bitterness of spirit the Ministers of God have felt by the perversness of the people is known to God and their own souls 4 They many times make them to prophesie in sackcloth and ashes in a poor low afflicted and contemptible condition look upon them as the scum of the world and the off-scouring of all things It has in all ages been the portion of the Witnesses that God has stir'd up to be lookt upon as enemies to men because they tell them the truth and therefore there are snares laid for them to reprove in the gate And though the Lord says they should be counted worthy of double honour that labour in the word and doctrine yet amongst the generality of men they that labour most shall be honour'd least And though the Lord says Let him that is taught in the word make him that teaches partaker in his good things yet men are willing to make them partakers in nothing and yet if they sow to you spiritual things is it a great matter that they reap carnal things from you Yes men think it great and look not upon it as a duty but give it with the same repining that nigards give an alms at their door c. 3ly The Curse is also come upon the relation of Husband and Wife 1 When a Wife shall become a snare to a mans soul and be to him but one of the Devils darts a Serpent in his bosom 'T is said in 1 King 21.20 There was none like Ahab who sold himself to work wickedness whom Jezabel his wife stir'd up To have a Wife instrumental to further the lust of her Husband in what kind soever what a snare is that for her to entice him to the worst of evils Idolatry c. as Deut. 13. 2 When a Wife shall be false to her Husband in the Marriage bed Thy wife shall be a harlot in the middle of the city is threatned as the Husbands Curse Amos 7.17 And Job 31.10 Let my wife grind to another man c. And for a man to mistrust his Wife Keep the door of thy lips from her that lies in thy bosom 3 When a Wife shall be an enemy to Religion and a scoffer as Michal How glorious was the King of Israel to day when he was uncovered before the maids And for Job's Wife to joyn with his friends yea with Satan against Dost thou still retain thy integrity curse God and die It 's question'd why the Devil should spare Job's Wife when he took away his Goods and Children there is surely more comfort in a Wife than in all things in this world The reason given is because he did intend to make her an instrument to perswade her Husband to curse God hoping to conquer him by her And how this evil in a Wife imbitters the spirit of a Husband and what animosity it raises in him against her and what suspicious thoughts and what estrangement this does usually work in their minds one from another we many times by experience find And the Husband also becomes a Curse to the Wife 1 By a spirit of jealousie over her which though sometimes it may be upon just ground and cause given in the Wife yet sometimes it may be causless as appears Numb 5.12 13. We see what great care the Lord did take of Marriage-Chastity it being his own Ordinance he did appoint an Offering and a water of Jealousie the one to be offered to the Lord and the other to be drank by the
nor under the curse Now hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he has given us of his spirit if any man has not the spirit of Christ he is none of his Now wheresoever the spirit of Christ is it is a spirit of mortification as Rom. 8.10 for Christs Spirit had the same end that Christ had 1 Joh. 1.8 1 A mans darling lust is mortified for a man converted hates every sin but especially these as a Deer that is shot is not quiet till the Arrow that has wounded him be taken out Psal 18.23 Hos 14.3 and the Psalmist says I was also upright before him and I kept my self from my iniquity There is no greater sign that a man is acted by the spirit of the Devil than indulging this way of sinning 2 A man conflicts specially against spiritual sins for those sins make a man most conformable to the Devil as for gross sins restraining grace and a natural conscience will go far to keep them under all sins are from the Devil either per modum servitutis or imaginis in a way of servitude or image Pride and contempt of God and drawing others to sin and delighting in it hating godliness in others obstinacy and impenitency c. these sins argue whose children we are That we are of our father the Devil for his lusts we do c. Spiritual lusts are his image 2. Where the Spirit of Christ dwells the spirit of the second Covenant he is a spirit of Sanctification Joh. 3â—6 there is a renewing of the inward man that which is born of the spirit is spirit the spirit of God is not only water but fire which turns all into it self it is a spirit of Wisdom and a spirit of faith love meekness and of a sound mind conforming the outward man making him follow the Lord fully he is willingly ignorant of no truth he does not hide his eyes Numb 14.24 nor stop his ears from hearing of it nor does he imprison any truth in unrighteousness he will walk up to his light in every thing though duties be difficult to honour God and own his people before the world as we may live to see it a crime to countenance a profession of godliness yet this man that has received another spirit as Caleb had can let the world see that all his delight is in the Saints and though he should be reckoned singular and go alone with Athanasius and Luther yet he still keeps on his way notwithstanding all opposition and lays out all that is in him and dear to him for Christ and if he perish in a way of duty he perishes Luk. 11.21 he will venture life and all for God as Nehemiah and Hester did Vse 2 § 2. Hence we may see the sinfulness of an unregenerate state in this That all of you that are so are strangers to the Covenant of promise and this is set forth by the Apostle as that state of sin in which the Gentiles lay before their conversion Chrysost Chrysostome says that they were not only separated from this Covenant and without it but wholly strangers to it and though as to the terms of the Covenant we be not so great strangers now because the Gospel of Grace is made known to us yet all they that do not accept of the terms of the Covenant but do stand out in their unbelief and do not imbrace the Lord Christ offered in the Gospel they are as truly in Gods account still strangers unto the Covenant of Promise as the Gentiles were before the Gospel was preached unto them and let no man say What are we all Heathens will you put us into the same condition with them Let me tell you the Covenant of Grace has been offered unto you and the terms of it plainly set before you And they are 1 God will be yours if you will be his he will be wholly yours so as you must be wholly his Cant. 6.2 I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine Bernard says Mea non placent nisi mecum Christ will neither marry a Widow nor a Harlot Lev. 21.14 he will have the first Love and the whole Love Hos 3.3 Thou shalt be unto me alone and unto none other 2 Thou shalt give all that is thine unto him and he will give all that is his unto thee thou shalt have an interest in what is his but so as Christ will have an interest likewise in all that is thine He â—hat does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple thou must follow the lamb whithersoever he goes thou must forget thy own kindred and thy fathers house forsake yea hate thy â—wn life if it come in competition with thy duty and love to Christ for a man to be willing 〈◊〉 reserve any thing at his own dispose that he may enjoy a-part from Christ it is a token 〈◊〉 a false heart and the Lord abhors it To do as Ananias and Saphira did keep back part 〈◊〉 the price reserve something that they would not give up and yet pretend to give up all â—is abominable to God and that man that does not consent unto the Covenant upon these â—â—rms does not give the hand unto the Lord and subscribe with his hand unto the Lord 〈◊〉 2 Chron. 30.8 he that is not willing to come and take of this water of life Isa 44. Rev. 22. his name shall â—e blotted out of the book of life c. If he do not accept of nor consent to the Covenant â—â—at man though he live in the Church he is in Gods account as a Heathen and a stranger 〈◊〉 the Covenant of Promise as truly as they that live at the furthest ends of the earth to â—hom the offer of a second Covenant never came and in some respects are worse than they â—â—erefore we read that David calls the Ziphims though they were the Inhabitants of Judah Ezek. 16.3 Hos 12.7 Amos 9.7 Isa 1.10 â—â—rangers and Sauls Courtiers that were wicked men and persecutors of him he called Heathens and Saul himself he calls Cush and that as one well observes not without some â—llusion unto his fathers name Cush an Ethiopian Psal 7.1 and it 's said Rev. 11.2 The â—utward Court shall be trodden down of the Gentiles which is meant of those that receive the â—ark of the Beast and bear his image for Popery is nothing else but Paganism under a â—orm of Christianity and therefore such are Gentiles in Gods account and the Lord meaâ—â—res all with one line He will punish all them that are circumcised with the uncircumcised Jer. 9. ult 8. 9. â—gypt and Judah and Edom and the children of Ammon and Moah and all that are in the â—â—ermost corners that dwell in the wilderness for all these Nations are uncircumcised and all 〈◊〉 house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart c. The misery of not being translated into the second Covenant has been
consist of Promises they are many Promises of this life and of the life to come Promises absolute and conditional Promises of Grace and to Grace and they are therefore called better Promises and so because in respect of the Fathers their good things were even wholly contained in Promises as the Ceremonial Law was contained in Ordinances and they saw nothing in the one but in the Type and nothing in the other but in the Promises they did salute them afar off and imbracing them died in the faith of them but they never received the thing promised Heb. 11. Joh. 8.57 only as Abraham desired to see my days says Christ and he saw it and was glad And it is sometimes called the promise because they are all one in Christ being in him all yea and amen as lines in a Center are one follow any promise to its Original as rivers unto the head and rise of them and they will all lead you unto Christ and yet they are Promises in themselves many as the lines are in the Circumference though but one in the Center Ephes 2.12 the Apostle Paul useth a quite different expression Strangers unto the Covenants of promise he doth as it were make the promise but one for substance and the Covenants many the Covenants are many because of their manifold delivery being severally renewed and yet in all these in several ages the promises the same as if but one promise 2. How and in what order is Abraham to be considered in this Covenant and in receiving this promise In this Covenant Abraham stands as a publick person as a common root Rom. 11. or as a common Parent unto all the faithful unto the worlds end as one that did receive the Promise not only for himself but for all those that should after his example believe in Christ and become his Children and therefore he is said to be the father of the faithful Rom. 4.16 and they that do believe are Abrahams seed and also heirs of the Promise For as Austin hath observed there are three sorts of Fathers and of Sons some are according to nature and others are secundum Doctrinam according to Doctrine so Paul was father to Timothy having begotten him by the Gospel others secundum imitationem according to imitation as filii Abrahami nos sumus cujus fidem imitamur we are Abrahams children if we imitate his faith And this the Lord doth for a double end 1 To put an honour upon his servant as a great reward of his faith and therefore he changed his name calling him the Father of many Nations as one that was the root and first in the Covenant and they all coming in at second hand under Abrahams Covenant and therefore Mic. 7.20 it is mercy to Abraham Mic. 7.20 and truth to Jacob because in Abraham after a sort the Covenant did begin not that to him the Covenant of Grace was first revealed for it was made known unto Adam and Abel was justified by faith Heb. 11.3 but because unto Abraham was the clearest discovery of the Covenant and the Lord did in the most solemn manner enter into Covenant with him therefore it is mercy to Abraham that being the foundation of making the Covenant as his truth and faithfulness is of keeping the Covenant 2 The Lord does it thereby to make Abraham as it were a Type of Christ that it may be continued unto posterity that the way by which God intended to dispense the Grace of the Covenant was from one common head or root as the first Covenant to the first Aam and all his posterity so the second Covenant with the second Aam of whom first Abraham and afterwards David were the fullest Types and resemblances Thus that the Lord might honour Abraham his friend with the highest honour as the root of all the Faithful and that this manner of conveyance of the Grace of the Covenant from one common root might be made known and thereby mans heart led unto Christ the root and Prince of the Covenant therefore it was made with Abraham as a publick person and the father of us all 3. What is meant by Christ here the seed of Abraham not seeds as of many Here Interpreters are divided There is a twofold seed of Abraham to which they have an eye according unto these two promises In thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed Gen. 22.18 Christus in individuo Christus in aggregato and Gen. 17.7 I will be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee and answerably unto these they observe in Scripture a twofold Christ Christ Personal and Christ Mystical so 1 Cor. 12.12 the whole Church is called Christ and the sufferings of the Church are called the sufferings of Christ Ephes 1.23 and the fulness of the Church the fulness of Christ as Col. 1.18 Here some say is to be understood Christ personal for two reasons 1 The person to whom the promise is made is the same in whom all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed but this is by Abraham in reference to this seed It 's true all the faithful as they are the seed of Abraham they are blessed with faithful Abraham but they are not that seed in whom all the Nations of the world shall be blessed Rutherf Triumph of Faith p. 51. Gen. 22.18 that is in Abraham as this seed should come out of his loins and it refers us only to the person of Christ which cannot be understood of Christ Mystical therefore Ambrose saith of this promise Impletum est in Christo ideoque non in multis sed in uno firmata est promissio 2 Because it is said verse the 17. the Covenant was made before of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 erga Christum or ad Christum in or to Christ speaking of the same seed that he had spoken of in the verse before now this promise and Covenant was not confirmed in Christ Mystical but Christ Personal in whom all the promises of God are Yea and Amen And hence Pareus and divers others do conclude it to be understood Individuè de uno Christo ex quo omnis spiritualis benedictio in fidelem diffluit c. Individually of Christ from whom all spiritual benediction flows Others do conceive it is to be understood of Christ Mystical 1 From the order that is here mentioned the promise is made first unto Abraham and then unto his seed therefore the seed here spoken of must be such a seed as comes to have a right to the promise as second Bulkley of the Gospel-Covenant p. 37. in order unto Abraham but this cannot be Christ Personal for he has not a right unto the Promise from Abraham but Abraham from him and therefore it must be understood of Christ Mystical who are to look upon Abraham as the root and themselves as branches 2 They argue from the Apostles scope in this place which is to prove that
in the Law is to present another and act for him as in his stead as an Attourney or an Ambassador 5 Christ is their Intercessor he offers their sacrifices and attains all mercies for them He offers them sacrifices mixed with his own odours Isa 53. last vers Rev. 8.3 5. for his blood is a speaking blood and it is always sprinkled before the mercy seat 6 He must come again and fetch them and present them unto his Father as a glorious Church before Men and Angels saying Here I am and the Children that thou hast given me and this Chrysostom doth conceive to be the Kingdom that is the Church which Christ shall give up unto his Father 1 Cor. 15.24 2. Now follows the promise if Christ doth perform this in obedience to his Father not seeking his own glory but the glory of him that sent him God doth assure him 1 of assistance in his work he shall have all the power of God ingaged to carry him through it as Isa 42.4 6. I will hold thy hand and thou shalt not be discouraged Isa 45.1 2 Of acceptance a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour and therefore compared unto odours the presentation of it should be sweet unto God Rev. 8.4 3 Of deliverance that he should not lye under the guilt of sin but be justified Isa 50.8 For the debt was paid and the bond was cancelled justified in the spirit nor under the power of death it was impossible he should be held by death Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell c. 4 He should have a seed Psal 72.22 His name shall be continued amongst his posterity Isa 5.3 He shall see his seed and who shall declare his generation 5 He shall have rule and dominion a Kingdom John 5.22 not only in the Church but over all things to the Church a providential as well as a spiritual Kingdom Eph. 1. last Isa 42.4 He shall set judgment in the earth Mic. 4.3 He shall judge among the Nations and he shall govern as King of Saints Rev. 11.17 6 He shall have a worship and a glory Isa 5.5 Nations shall run to thee because I have glorified thee A name above every name a worship from Men and Angels Heb. 1.6 and a publick honour as the Author of all their salvation at that last and great day when he shall the judge the World in righteousness and shall come to be admired in his Saints who shall be with him in Heaven for ever For they shall enter into their masters joy and this is the reward the Lord promises Christ for his services with which he comforts himself Isa 45.4 3. Unto these Articles both parties agree and 4. they are bound by their own consent 1 Christ doth accept of this office upon the Fathers terms and doth freely submit unto the Fathers will he takes the nature of man and in that nature subjects himself Isa 50.5 He gave his face to the smiters and he did the work that the Father sent him to do and he failed not in a tittle thereof and he doth it freely and cheerfully 't is as his meat and drink Lo I come to do thy will O God And he is now in Heaven by vertue of office Psal 40.8 as he is God the Fathers servant as our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 2 Upon these promises he doth exercise faith and his soul rests upon them Isa 5.7 9. The Lord will help me my God shall be my strength Heb. 2.13 Psal 16.10 he is near that justifies me he will not leave my soul in hell and upon the Cross he cries out My God c. It is his God by Covenant Christ is the highest pattern of believing and as a publick person trusts God for all the benefits of the Covenant for himself and us 3 The promises of this Covenant he doth follow by a continued Prayer for he doth obtain it by Prayer as we do Psal 2.8 Ask of me and I will give thee c. John 17.4 Now glorifie me now let the glory of the Godhead shine forth in the humane nature the time of my suffering being ended 4 All the glory that Christ has now in Heaven and Earth is nothing else but in performance of this Covenant that the Father made with him God hath exalted him and he hath received the promise of the holy Ghost Act. 2.33 Christ must first suffer and afterwards enter into his glory and he hath fulfilled it and the Lord hath given him as a light to the Gentiles Isa 49.8 and for salvation to the ends of the earth 5 He is in constant expectation of the full accomplishment hereof when the glory of Christ in his mystical body shall be full and his joy full and his sufferings full and his enemies perfectly subdued and his people perfectly glorified Heb. 10.13 and all this by vertue of the Covenant that past between God and him grounded upon the love and faithfulness of God in Covenant being a God that keeps covenant for ever § 4. Now the Uses and Corollaries that follows from this part of the Covenant which was made with Christ in reference unto the trust that he hath undertaken are many and of very great use both for matter of instruction and of practice Use 1. This gives us a great light into the election of Christ The Scripture doth commonly assert that he is the elect of God chosen both to duty and glory a work that he was to do Isa 42.1 and a reward that he was to receive and we are said to be chosen in him Ephes 1.4 which notes properly the order in which God elects his Saints First Christ God and Man as the head as primus foederatus the prime sederate after whom and in whom in the order of nature all the body are elected so that the grace of election begins first in Christ our head and descends unto us in him it notes the order in which we are elected and not the cause of our election not that we were first elected and then Christ chosen by occasion of our fall but he is the first born in the womb of Gods election The first born amongst many brethren Now the election of man is an act of sovereignty and meerly comes under the will of God Rom. 3. He has mercy on whom he will have mercy And as the Potter has power over the clay c. But Christ as God could not come under an act of his will as election is but by his own consent Ephes 1.5 It is according to the good pleasure of his will he is appointed Heir of all things as he was the Son he was haeres natus a born heir that being an act of his nature but as the head of the Church so he was hares constitutus a constituted heir and comes under an act of Gods will Christ was elected to be Gods great servant in reference unto man and that under a double
of all his that die in their infancy because the Covenant is the same with both and the persons taken into Covenant are the same Thou and thy seed after thee This truth therefore we had need to be carefully instructed in and which has stirred up those that are faithful unto God and his Truth to contend earnestly for this Doctrine as delivered unto and this priviledge as conferred on the Saints against those that would put their children into the same condition with those who are farthest off from God Jude 3. so that though they be the children of their flesh yet they are not of their Covenant There has of late years been much written about it and therefore I shall not enter into the disputation as that which you may read every where and inform your selves at leisure about but barely lay down the truth in a positive way in which I shall but nakedly represent unto you what I find delivered by those that hold and love the truth herein I shall first begin with the proof of the Doctrine That children are taken into their parents Covenant together with themselves which I shall endeavour to make good to you by these clear and evident Arguments 1. This ever hath been since the Fall and ever since the Father has gathered unto the Lord Jesus his Son a Church upon Earth the way of the Lords administration of the second Covenant that whensoever he has taken parents into Covenant with him into his Kingdom and Family he has taken in their children together with them Acts 3.25 and has counted them as part of his Family and Kingdom therefore they are called the Sons of God Gen. 6.1 and the children of the Lord your God Deut. 14.1 and amongst the Gentiles Gal. 3.26 he saith That you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus and therefore called the children of the Kingdom Mat. 8.12 Rom. 9.2 3. not that they are all born of God and are inwardly as to the state of their persons the children of God but Rom. 9.2 3. Theirs is the Adoption it is not meant of an inward and spiritual Adoption but it 's meant of an external and visible Adoption to be separated from all other people and to be owned by God as his children Israel is my son my first-born Exod. 19.5 6. yet there were many in Israel that were inwardly and for the state of their persons enemies to God and the children of the Devil and so much the Apostle does evidently assert Rom. 11.21 Rom. 11.21 Here 's a twofold Olive-tree there is the true Olive-tree and that is Abraham Isaac and Jacob by virtue of their Covenant Non quibus à natura inesset sanctitas sed quia ex iis erant nati quos Dominus foedere gratuito à reliquis gentibus sibi segregat Beza and they that were born of them are called the natural branches and what is the wild Olive that is all those that were out of the Church of the Jews that were not visibly taken into Abrahams family and Covenant so that now there is a threefold Israel of God 1 There is natural Israel and they are taken into Covenant for their fathers sake as they are natural branches growing upon the good Olive-tree 2 There is surrogated Israel those that are grafted in when they were broken off therefore as the other did grow upon the root of Abrahams Covenant so do these also for they were gathered in Rom. 11.17 that is as Beza renders it for those * Pro ipsis in locum ramorum defractorum that were broken off therefore as the others grow upon his root they and their children so do these also 3 The Lord shall return again in mercy to his people Israel they shall be taken in again for their parents Covenant for they are beloved for their fathers sake and they shall be again ingrafted into their own Olive-tree so that it has been the constant way of Gods administration of the Covenant of grace he has taken the parents into Covenant and they being ingrafted into a visible Church of God they are grafted in as the root and all their children are as branches growing thereupon 2. When the parents are disinherited and cast out of the Covenant so are the children also therefore when the parents are taken in the children are taken in Rom. 11. we read of a breaking off and a grafting in Now the breaking off and grafting in must answer to and expound one the other now how were they natural branches They were so called by reason of their birth growing naturally upon Abraham the root How were they broken off They were rejected from being a visible Church the Lord called them Loammi and would owne them for his people no more deprived them of the adoption which did before belong unto them they were formerly counted the people of God above all Nations under Heaven 1 Thess 2.16 but now rejected and this the Apostle calls wrath come upon them to the uttermost men that are members of the invisible Church cannot be broken off their sins though they may vastare conscientiam yet they cannot excutere fidem c. So then as the Lord took in the believing Gentiles and their children into a visible Church unto himself and translated the adoption unto them so he did cast off the Jews and their children he broke off the natural branches that they should be unto him no longer as a peculiar people so that together with their fathers the children were broken off therefore together with their parents the children of the Gentiles are grafted in and therefore all is put upon the parents Covenant for their opposition to the Gospel the Lord laid this great wrath upon them and their posterity 3. Children are members of the visible Church where their parents are in Covenant with God grafting in is admission into visible membership as breaking off is a casting out of visible membership so Mar. 10.14 Of such not only of these very little ones but of such as these is the Kingdom of Heaven Now by the Kingdom of Heaven is meant the visible Church and it 's commonly so put in the Gospel so that of such is the visible Church of God constituted and made up therefore little children born in the Church are by Christ counted as those of whom the Church and Kingdom of Christ in part consists Now all men by nature are children of wrath and enemies to God strangers to the Common-wealth of Israel Eph. 2.12 there is no difference but only by virtue of the Covenant of grace which cannot come upon their own but only in their parents right no man is born a member of the Church naturally but 't is a birth-priviledge that comes upon them by grace through their parents Covenant 4. Hence it comes to pass that there is a holiness comes upon those children of believing parents Rom. 11.16 Rom. 11.16 If the
priviledge and therefore 't is said Gen. 48. of Jacob that he blessed Joseph and wherein did the blessing consist not so much upon Josephs person as upon his posterity and that was that the name of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob should be called upon his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh this is spoken only in reference to the Covenant and the benefits thereof which was to descend upon them from their Parents and it became their right because it was their Parents priviledge and therefore though they had other personal names Ephraim and Manasseh yet this was a name given them from their federal right and is called the blessing of Joseph in his childrens covenant-blessing for it is a conveying of the benefit of the covenant from Gods abundant grace not only to himself but to his posterity and so David looks upon it and admires the mercy 2 Sam. 7.18 19. Lord who am I and what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto And yet as if this were a small thing in thy sight O Lord thou hast spoke of thy servants house for a great while to come and is this the manner of men O Lord for thy Word sake and according to thy own heart hast thou done all these great things to make thy servant to know them It is therefore to manifest the extent of the grace of the second Covenant that God takes in their seed and gracious Parents do exceedingly rejoyce therein in behalf of their Posterity and look upon it as a special priviledge and their childrens peculiar right 2. God has so ordered the eternal decree of Election that the great number of the Elect of God do proceed out of the loyns of his own people and therefore the Promises being but the indefinite expressions of his Dâ—crees they run to parents called and unto their children because the great number of them that shall be called are their children It 's true that God hath a seed of Grace that runs through the loyns of the wicked and the Lord will take Proselytes from amongst the Heathen and they shall be added to the Church but this is not the ordinary way but a more extraordinary way of salvation and very many of the children of believing parents within the covenant are wicked which we see in Cain Cham and Ishmael yet in their Posterity hath the Church of God been continued there is yet a Seth and a Sem and an Isaac in which their seed should be called and answerable to the Election of grace continued and this doth appear undeniably by this argument the visible Church of God is made up of Parents in covenant and of their seed and therefore while the Church of God was oeconomical and in families onely they were the families of those that were in covenant in which the Church was continued and after it did spread into a Nation they and their seed make up a Church unto God Now though there be many in the visible Church that are not ordained unto life for many are called but few are chosen and many shall seek to enter in at the strait gate and shall not be able c. yet the Church invisible is gathered out of the visible Church they are hid there amongst the Hypocrites and false-hearted men as wheat is hid amongst the chaffe now the Promises of God are suitable to his Decrees and the events answer unto both wherefore if the greatest part of the Elect proceed out of the loyns of a people in covenant as they do then the promises of the second covenant being but indefinite it was necessary that they should run unto them and to their seed upon whom if you look distributively there are many that shall perish yet if you look upon them collectively you can and may see the seed of the Lord is there and there are many amongst them that are ordained unto life and the persons upon whom God has set his everlasting love are amongst that number though we know not particularly who they are that 's a secret that the Lord has hid in himself 3. To shew his peculiar love to their seed Deut. 7.6 7 8. 10.15 therefore he will gather out of their seed a visible Church and if so he must make with their seed a marriage-covenant And therefore if any say Why doth not the Lord leave their children till they enter into covenant themselves and give testimony of their faith and conversion The reason is because God will make them a Church to himself and therefore will make a Church-covenant with them Now the children of believing parents are taken into a visible Church Deut. 4.37 Because the Lord loved your parents therefore he chose their seed after them There 's a two-fold election as there is a two-fold adoption an election to life and unto Church-priviledges it 's not an election to life that is there spoken of but as Zac. 2.7 the Lord shall yet chuse Jerusalem as he had rejected them and cast them off from a Church-state and called them Loammi so now he will chuse them again in reference to a Church-state And thus he is to chuse their children after them not unto life for that is grounded only upon his own love unto the persons of men but it 's spoken in reference to a Church-state which was grounded upon his love unto their parents therefore when parents were converted there was a Church in their house and the posterity and family was looked upon as a Church unto God and theirs was the Adoption the priviledges of sons externally belonged to them and God owned them for his above all other families in the whole earth now those that were taken into a Church-state unto them and their posterity there did belong a Church-covenant and that 's the meaning of Ezech. 16.8 I entred into covenant with thee and thou becamest mine 4. This is the surest ground of a mans judgment in reference to persons whether it be a private Christian or a chosen Officer There are some persons to be admitted into the visible Church and there are some priviledges of the visible Church that are to be dispensed by judgment in the person that doth dispense or administer them for we are not sent to baptize all mankind nor to administer Sacraments and censures unto all mankind as we are sent to preach the Gospel neither are we to expect a satisfactory convincing ground that this person is inwardly and spiritually holy and savingly interessed in the covenant of grace for that we cannot infallibly judge of but though it cannot come under our judgment yet our judgment must not be blind charity we must take the rule of the word and keep close to it And what is the surest rule There are two that are known either the mans profession or else the promise of God in respect of the childs Church-state by the Fathers priviledge Now as to the first of these my judgment may be deceived and I may
authority it self and this power is either Monarchical in Christ the Churches Head the only King and Law-giver to whom all power is given in heaven and earth Mat. 28.18 Rev. 3.7 He hath the key of the house of David or else it is Ministerial whether in the Church as some or in the Officers as others as in its proper subject I shall not now inquire whether in the Church radicaliter radically and in the Officers formaliter formally c. as some do speak but 1 the use of those Kyes is to bind and loose that is to open and shut the Kingdom of Heaven either to receive men in or to cast men out for surely they that have authority to cast out have power to take in and it is an authoritative act to admit as well as to eject c. 2 It 's an act that is to be denied unto none that have right to admission if so the power of the Keys is abused for it is not used unto that end for which it was appointed by the Lord for all the Churches power is but ministerial and must be according to Christs order therefore as to cast them out that ought not to be cast out as the Pharisees did if any man confessed Christ he should be put out of the Synagogue Joh. 9.22 and Diotrephes Joh. 3.10 he cast them out of the Church and Antichrist Rev. 13.7 he cast them out no man should buy and sell that had not the mark of the beast and to keep them in that ought to be cast out as the incestuous Corinthian and Rev. 2.2 as to be able to bear them that are evil and not reject them is an abuse of Church-power so not to admit those that ought to be admitted and have a right to it is but an abuse of the same power 3 It 's a power therefore to be exercised with judgment 1 Cor. 5.12 we judge them that are within It 's true a judgment of certainty and infallibility it cannot be and therefore it 's commonly called a judgment of charity but yet that must be more than a good hope or some negative judgment that I judge so because I know nothing to the contrary there must be a good rule and something positive that must be the ground of this judgment it must be a judicious charity something there must be that may be a ground to build a judgment upon that a man may be able to say by this rule I admit this person and open Heaven to him and by this rule I do not admit of another Those that I cannot know to have a title to membership I cannot in faith by the power of the Keys admit therefore if it be done in faith it must be an act of judgment and I must have a ground to go by therein 4 In admission the Lord that has always loved variety has taken two ways some are in covenant by their own personal right and some have been taken into the Church by their parents right and as it were their birth-priviledge being born of parents in covenant as all the Church of the Jews were taken into a Church-covenant with their parents though they were not able to restipulate and therefore they are called the Children of the Kingdom those born in it others were men born out of the Church and as Proselytes were added thereunto Now the ground that a man must go by in admissions of the one and the other must be visible for they are admitted into the visible Church into the invisible Church their admission is an act of God only and by a work of faith which no men are imployed in therefore it must be something visible and so Christ says of infants Suffer them to come to me therefore it might be judged who those infants were of whom was the Kingdom of Heaven or else how should we know to whom this injunction is directed Suffer them to come to me and forbid them not Now there is a double ground of this judgment suitable to the condition there is the profession of the Adult and there is the parents covenant and Gods promise in men grown if they be admitted the ground of judgment is the mans profession Now in reference to an inward and spiritual right I may be deceived in both but I may make as true a judgment upon the one as upon the other nay I look upon the promises of God taking in the children into the parents covenant to be a far greater and surer ground of judgment in the one than any mans profession can be in the other so that the Lord will take them into covenant to shew his love to their parents and this shall be the ground of their being a visible Church of Christ and their being thus taken into covenant shall be the ground of a judgment in those that have the power of the Keys for their admission into the visible Church unto whom of right it does belong SECT II. Twelve Questions for the stating Childrens Covenant-right resolved § 1. HAving thus far carried on the Proof of the Doctrine let us now come to the Explication thereof and that shall be in answer to these Questions 1 Whether all children of confederate parents be taken into their Covenant or only some God putting a distinction between their seed as we see he did between the seed of Abraham when he said In Isaac shall thy seed be called 2 Into what of the Covenant the children of Believers are taken whether into the regenerating and converting Grace of it or only into the external parts of it the outward priviledges 3 If only into external parts what advantage that is to them and what they gain by it 4 What this federal Right or childrens Holiness is wherein it does consist 5 What it is in the parents that give this right unto the child whether grace and the power of godliness in the parents or else their profession God taking them and their seed into a visible Church 6 What Right this is whether it be only a right before men or whether it be a right before God unto the visible Priviledges of the Church 7 From what parents this right is derived whether from those that are immediate only or whether from them that are more remote and where we must stay 8 Why God will have the Covenant run by way of entail in reference to the outward priviledges of it and not for the inward seeing in the first covenant Adam was to convey the image that he had received and the children of Adam were taken into his covenant for the spiritual part the grace of the covenant as well as for the priviledges of it for the internal as well as for the external Now the grace of the covenant is not conveyed from parents to children it is no more ex traduce than the reasonable soul is Joh. 1.13 they that believe are born not of blood or of the will of the flesh nor of
the will of man but of God why will the Lord have the same conveyance still continue for the externals and the priviledges of it when for the graces of it the intail is cut off for ever 9 How far the administration of the old Covenant should as a rule determine the administration of God under the new that we may be able to reason from one to the other he did so with Abraham and his posterity therefore he will do so with the Saints now and whether in Abraham there were not something personal and peculiar to him and his seed according to the flesh that they only that come in by a claim to the faith of Abraham cannot take unto themselves For Abraham in reference to the covenant is set forth two ways either as a begetting Abraham Rom. 4. or as a believing Abraham and whether the priviledges of both the children of Abraham according to the flesh or by promise be the same 10 How far the Jews by virtue of Abrahams Covenant as being his seed and as being taken into a Church-covenant in their parents being the only visible Church unto God on Earth could pretend to a right unto the ordinances and priviledges of the Church of God under the New Testament For if the parents were in covenant so were their children taken in at least into the externals of the covenant 11 How children can be said to be taken into Covenant when they cannot restipulate nor be said to be obliged by their Covenant 12 Seeing there is so much dispute about it were it not much better to leave children out of this claim For if they be elected we may rest quietly in that state and leave them in the arms of Gods electing love and resting upon that foundation for their eternal salvation the Lord knows who are his and to defer their claim to the covenant till they themselves are able to take hold of the covenant and to give their consent thereunto to give the hand unto the Lord and then they may claim it with comfort children from their parents right and parents for their children and then we may with comfort seal up that which we have good ground upon judgment to conclude to be a mans title and interest and then the parents covenant-interest will come in at second hand and a man having himself first taken hold and consented to the covenant in his own person it will be a good argument for a man to plead with God for the mercies and blessings of the covenant Lord thou art my God and my fathers God as Moses did Lord I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid and so the Church For thy servant Davids sake turn not away c. Remember the covenant that thou hast made with Abraham and Isaac c. And so did Austin after his conversion take a great deal of comfort in his mothers covenant-interest and in all the prayers that she did put up to God for him Confess l. 3.11 Salutem meam sempiternam chariùs parturibat corde casto c. till the Lord in a dream gave her great hopes concerning his salvation but till then a man can have little comfort in it Quest 1 Are all the children of parents in covenant taken into covenant with their parents or only some selected by God himself as he did in the children of Abraham when he said in Isaac shall thy seed be called Answ The parents covenant takes in all their seed and they are all in covenant with God till they be ejected Cain was in covenant as well as Abel till cast out of the presence of the Lord and Ismael as well as Isaac till the sentence upon his mocking cast out the bond-woman and her son and the Jews not only for their children immediately but those for many ages to come Deut. 29.13 14. Joh. 8. 1. If we look into Abrahams posterity we read that they were of two sorts a seed according to the flesh a carnal generation which the Jews stood so much upon and gloried in Mat. 3.9 We have Abraham to our father and there is a seed of Abraham that walk in the steps of the faith of Abraham and in this respect Abraham is called the father of us all here is a double paternity from begetting Abraham and believing Abraham and here is a double sonship children according to the flesh and the heirs of promise Rom. 9.6 7 8. They are not all Israel who are of Israel neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children but in Isaac shall thy seed be called that is they that are the children of the flesh are not the children of God but the children of the promise are counted for his seed and because they are the seed of Abraham they are not therefore all children and this is more fully set forth in that Allegory of the Apostle Gal. 4.22 23. where we have Abrahams family set forth as a pattern and a resemblance of the visible Church of God in which there are two sorts of sons and two sorts of mothers there is the bond and the free woman and so the Apostle says it was then and so it should continue in the Church of God while its militant state did last and yet both these seeds are taken into their parents covenant and therefore all the posterity of Seth are called the sons of God Gen. 6.1 and all without the Church the daughters of men all the Israelites were Jews outwardly Ye are the children of the Lord your God says Moses Deut. 14.1 his peculiar people and treasure called also the children of the Kingdom and the children of the Covenant Act. 3.25 Mat. 8.12 And this is not only so of the Jews but the Gentiles also Gal. 3.26 Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus and yet I suppose no man will say that all in the Church of the Galatians were truly really and savingly so therefore all their children were taken into the same covenant with their parents faith and holiness 2. The sentence of Excommunication hath passed upon such and they have been ejected and cast out of the Church and from all the visible Communion and Priviledges of it Now Church-censures are to extend to none but Church-members 1 Cor. 5.12 13. 1 Cor. 5.12 13. We judge them that be within what have we to do to judge those that are without We see 1 That Church-government is an authoritative thing a power of judgment and so the Authority of Christ is called Joh. 5.25 2 There is a distinction of men some are without and some within and this is a rule Differentia divisiva est etiam constitutiva there is something therefore that makes them to be without and something that makes them to be within and this can be nothing but their own personal consent or their coming in by their fathers covenant 3 This authority is not exercised upon them without they are
left to the judgment of God as a man is that is wholly cast off from all care of the Church 1 Cor. 16.22 let him be Anathema maranatha to shew that the Church had done their utmost used all means that were possible for them to do and they did avail nothing and therefore they did now cast him off as incurable and left him to the judgment of the Lord at his coming so they that are without are left to Gods judgment but they that are within are under the Churches care and judgment Now that Cain was cast out is plain Gen. 4.14 Gen. 4.14 Thou hast cast me out from the face of the earth and from thy face c. and so the meaning is a vagabond I shall be on the earth from thy face shall I be hid Of this there 's a double interpretation that 's commonly given answerable to a twofold acceptation of the face of God 1 By Gods face is meant Gods favour love protection and all the fruits of favour as all men seek the face of the Ruler and God says I 'le shew thee the back and not the face in the day of their calamity Mercer Gloss 2 Others by the face of God do understand locum patefactionis divinae c. the place of Gods manifestation and so it 's put for the visible Church where the Lord in a special manner doth reveal himself and therefore are the Jews called Jesuron or the seeing people and Jerusalem called the valley of Vision c. and so to be hid from the face of God est ab Ecclesia parentum ubi cultum Deo praestabant c. is to be cast out of the parents Church c. and this is the interpretation that most of our Divines give of it 3 It 's said That whoever did find him would slay him Cain was therefore a man taken into a Church-covenant together with his parents though he was but the seed according to the flesh and so he continued till for the just desert of his own sin he was cast out and had an immediate sentence of Excommunication past upon him by God himself the first example that we read of in Scripture of a Church-censure and the same is true also of Ismael Gen. 21.10 12. Gal. 4.30 Cast out the bond-woman and her son she did speak it may be sensu suo de haereditate facultatum but the Lord did carry it higher as Pareus hath observed and he expounds it de haereditate spirituali Abrahams family was a resemblance of the visible Church and the ejection was a casting out of the visible Church and is to be understood of a visible casting out therefore while Ismael and his mother were in Abrahams family they were members and came under Abrahams covenant but when they were cast out then they were to be looked upon as people in covenant with God no longer they could lay no claim to the covenant of Abraham The same may be said of the whole Nation of the Jews who were all taken into a Church-covenant they and their children Deut. 29.12 14. and yet but a remnant a very few of them were saved and taken into the spiritual benefit of the covenant and those that were not taken in they and their posterity were also ejected and the Lord called them Loammi and gave them a bill of divorce to be such as he would owne in way of Church-fellowship and Communion no longer and the same course the Lord takes with the Gentiles also when he removes the Candlestick Rev. 2.5 Rev. 2.5 By the Candlestick is meant not only the preaching of the Gospel and the Ordinances thereof but the Church it self for so Rev. 1.20 the seven Candlesticks are the seven Churches and the Lord would take away his Ordinances and they and their posterity should be no more owned by God as his Church and people in covenant with him so that they were broken off as the Jews were Now they that are spiritually and savingly in the covenant can never be cast out of any part of the covenant it 's everlasting and they never can be broken off therefore it 's meant of the carnal seed those that are externally in covenant but not spiritually and savingly 3. As for that place Gen. 21.12 For in Isaac shall thy seed be called Gen. 21.12 which is made so much use of to overthrow this Doctrine and that none are taken into covenant with God but the◠that do truly believe and be the sons of Abrahams faith the meaning seems plainly to be this 1 It is to be understood that the Messiah the promised seed should not come from Ishmael but from Isaac It 's to be understood de semine benedicto 2 Of the spiritual Seed and that in a double sence 1 Of the peculiar and electing Love of God which should run in Isaac and his posterity 2 De privilegio foederis for all his Posterity were not elected and spiritually holy and in covenant with God but in his seed the visible Church of God should be continued and they should be those amongst whom the Lord would hold forth his Name and set up his Worship and this must be chiefly the meaning for it 's a comfort to Abraham against casting out of Ishmael out of his Family which had a resemblance of the visible Church and in the execution of this Church-censure to be done by Abraham the Priest of the Family he must excommunicate one Son as he was as a Priest to offer the other and now the Lord comforts him in this affliction that the seed that should be accounted his and should be continued as the blessed seed amongst the Nations should be the Posterity of Isaac and they should be reckoned for his Seed an expression answerable unto that of Eve Gen. 4.15 God has appointed me another seed instead of Abel whom Cain slew that is in whom and in whose posterity the Church of God should be continued unto the end of the world though Cain were excommunicated and Abel slain yet the Covenant of God should be made good unto the Woman and her seed and so by thy seed shall be called in Isaac is meant the continuance of the visible Church in the Posterity of Isaac when Ishmael was cast out and therefore this makes nothing to prove that none of Abrahams seed were taken into the Covenant but those that were elected and did walk in the steps of the Faith of Abraham Quest 2 § 2. Into what of the Covenant are they taken and in what respect can they be said to be under the Covenant of Grace who are in a state of nature in the old Adam and therefore as you have shewed us under a Covenant of works and we have heard from Gal. 4. that it 's as impossible for a man to be under two Covenants at one and the same time as it is for a man to be born of two Mothers and when the son of
the bond-woman shall be born of the free-woman then can a man that is under the Covenant of works while he does so remain unbroken off be also under the Covenant of grace Answ 1 1. Of the Covenant of Grace there are two parts answerable to the two sorts of Promises that belong unto it as there are the Promises of this life and that which is to come so there are in the Covenant spiritual Priviledges and there are saving Graces and a man may be in the Covenant for the one and not for the other All that are truely converted they come under the Covenant in both respects but they that are onely so by Profession and outwardly they have it for the external Priviledges of the Covenant onely And this is clear from two places Rom. 3.1 he had shewed before that nothing but true faith and holiness gave a man an interest in the spiritual part of the Covenant it was not those outward things that a mans eternal happiness did consist in he is not a Jew that is one outwardly and although they be members of the Church of God as they are visible Professors Austin yet they are not partes sed pestes non membra sed ulcera c. as our Divines generally maintain it against the Popish Doctrine Vt Ecclesia catholica quam credimus ex solis constat electis Daven determ 46. And therefore these outward things avail nothing to the inward and spiritual part of the Covenant as before God but thy circumcision will be uncircumcision and the Lord saith Jer. 9.23 he will joyn them all together the circumcised with the uncircumcised for one is uncircumcised in flesh and another in his heart and therefore the Lord call'd them Rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrhae and their outward priviledges will serve to encrease their condemnation ripen their sins and hasten their ruine for he onely is in Gods account a Jew that is one inwardly Rom. 3.1 in the spirit not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now he comes to propound this very question Rom. 3.1 What advantage then has the Jew or what excellency has the Jew more than others for so the word is used Math. 5. What excellent thing do you now he addes that unto them did belong the external priviledges of the Covenant who had nothing to do with the spiritual graces of the Covenant and he makes it not a small matter to be under or have a right unto these outward priviledges but much every way chiefly in that unto them is committed the Oracles of God that the Law of God was written unto them Hos 8.12 and that it should be call'd Your Law John 8.7 they had a peculiar interest in it above all other people of the world it was a Law written unto them and as a Depositum committed unto them to keep and so I conceive the word used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notes namely credita vel concredita sunt not onely as Beza saith ut proprium ipsorum thesaurum notat As it notes their proper treasure but also as that which they were to be Stewards of Isa 2. and to convey and transmit unto other people for the Law was to come out of Sion and the Word of God from Jerusalem and in the latter days the water shall issue out of the Sanctuary also Ezek. 47.8 and from thence shall go into the East countrey into the desart and shall go forth into the Sea and thereby the waters shall be healed so Rom. 9.4 he doth recount the external priviledges of the Jewish Church and Members thereof and he doth reckon up eight very remarkable ones whose is the adoption not spiritual adoption Rom. 9.4 but the honour to be called the Sons of God and to be separated from all other people Deut. 14.1 1 Sam. 4.22 and Nations under Heaven by a Marriage-covenant Exod. 19.5 the glory the Ark was the special token of Gods presence and to them was given the Law the Worship of God Praesentiae Dei Symbolum the Promises of whom were the Fathers and of whom according to the flesh Christ came Now all these did belong to the body of the Nation as being taken into a Marriage-covenant and the external priviledges of it which did belong to them that should never have any spiritual and saving benefit by it It 's one thing to have an interest in the Covenant in reference to the spiritual and eternal mercies of it call'd the sure mercies of David by the Prophet and by the Apostle the holy things of David and another to have interest in the Covenant only in reference unto the temporal Promises and outward priviledges thereof and there is many a man that has interest in the one that neither hath nor ever shall have benefit by the other Therefore those that are the Elect of God when converted they are taken into the Covenant for both but all the seed of Parents in Covenant are taken into the outward Court the external part of the covenant the temporal Promises and outward priviledges of it and are to enjoy them and may claim them as their priviledge and right till by their sin they do deserve to be ejected and cast out of the Church and excluded from this priviledge which as a kind of a birth-right by grace does belong unto them * As there is a two-fold being in Christ so there is a two-fold being in Covenant with God Christ considered as a head in Heaven so he has none but living members but considered as a Vine spreading himself into a visible Church on Earth so he has many unfruitful branches 2. I do not only grant but teach that as there are two Covenants so all Mankind for the state of their persons come under one of these they are all of them children and sons of a covenant answerably to their union with the heads of the Covenants the first and the second Adam Therefore 1 Cor. 15.47 the Apostle Paul makes but two men in the world Adam and Christ for both of them are Heads of a Covenant they that are in the first Adam not yet translated who do yet bear his Image they stand under his covenant and they that are in the second Adam bear his Image they stand under his covenant Gal. 3.29 and if you be Christs you be Abrahams seed c. and it 's as impossible for a man for the state of his person to be under both covenants as it is for a plant to grow upon two roots or for a man to be born of two Mothers the heads of the covenants are so expressely contrary and the terms of these covenants so directly opposite that it can never be that a man can belong to them both he that is admitted into the covenant of Grace must of necessity first be cut off from the covenant of Works for he cannot live by
unto their Parents use they are so counted by God and are to be so reputed by men Now what is this holiness I answer first Negatively what it is not 1. It 's not spoken of a Holiness of Conversion and Regeneration for 1 The Sin of Adam came alike upon all Mankind and by Nature all are alike polluted and therefore the Apostle speaking of Jews and Gentiles he says in this respect there is no difference but even the Elect of God are the children of wrath as well as others Rom. 3.22 Ephes 2.3 5. and if the Election of God have not that power upon a man to sanctifie him much less any relation else in the world can have in reference unto Regeneration till the Spirit of God put forth upon him a work of his Almighty power 2 This is not spoken of Regeneration for it is a holiness that comes upon the Child through the Faith of the Parent whether he be a Believer in verity or in visibility only but the holiness of Regeneration doth not come upon the child any such way if neither of the Parents do believe the child is unholy but if either of them be a Believer there is from the faith of the believing Parent a holiness comes upon the Child but that is not of Regeneration 3 It 's a Holiness that may be lost Joh. 1.13 Rom. 11.20 for these branches may be broken off that is either cast out with their Parents as the Church of the Jews were when the Lord was pleased to unchurch them and call them Loammi he did with their Parents cast out their Children and they were holy unto God no more or else they may be cast out and justly deprived of their own priviledges by their own personal offences and so be cast off from this estate of holiness but this cannot be said of the holiness of Regeneration and Conversion for there a mans holiness is everlasting because a man receives a seed of holiness and sanctification which shall never dye which can never be broken off for he receives a spirit of sanctification within him and has not onely an outward respect to holiness put upon him c. but there is many a man in Christ as he is a Vine that spreads himself into a visible Church on Earth that may be cut off from him and may be cast out as a branch and wither and yet if we look upon Christ as he is a head in Heaven so he has no dead members but as a Vine upon Earth so he has many a withered branch that may be cut off and be cast out and men gather them and they may be cast into the fire and burn that is they burn hotter because they prove more wicked than other men and their priviledges do but adde to their sins and quicken their destruction 2. It 's not meant of Legitimation that is a civil holiness as some will call it as if the meaning were else were your children bastards but now they are holy that is lawfully begotten 1 Because the Legitimation of the child does not depend upon the faith of the Parent either one or both for we know that there were lawfull marriages among the Heathen and where the marriage is lawfull by the consent of one man and one woman there the seed is legitimate though neither of them be a Believer as on the other side a child may be a Bastard and illegitimate though both Parents be believers if not begotten in lawful marriage by the mutual consent of both parties giving up themselves each to other in such a relation as we see it in the child of David begotten in Adultery which was illegitimate though both the Parents were Saints for so we have good ground to conceive of Bathsheba Prov. 31.2 Solomon the Son of my Vowes now the holiness here spoken of is such as depends upon and flows from the faith of the Parents one or both and which onely faith can give and nothing else 2 The Holiness that is here spoken of is such as may be lost Rom. 11.20 there is a holiness that is derived from the root unto the branches and the branches may be broken off and others may be grafted in now a man that is legitimate cannot be made illegitimate and a man that is illegitimate cannot be made legitimate there is no way in the thing it self to make him so whatever may be done in the account and repute of men to civil ends 3 It has been well observed by some of our Divines that this doth wholly take away the strength of the Apostles answer and make it to be nothing to the purpose for when once the Corinthians were converted they did scruple in point of Conscience whether they might lawfully live with their Pagan yoak-fellows for fear of being corrupted by them Now the Apostle answers this case thus You may lawfully live with them for ye are lawfully Man and Wife your marriage is lawfull if your Marriage were not lawfull your children were bastards but your Marriage is lawfull and therefore your children are legitimate which makes the Apostle speak that which is nothing in it self for who did not well know that the legitimation of the Child did flow from the lawfulness of the Marriage and that if the Marriage be not lawful the Child cannot be legitimate This makes the Apostle speak nothing to the purpose or to the case that is propounded to him 3. There is yet another interpretation given of it by Estius which also I find Jerome in one of his Epistles to Paulinus to give as the sence that Tertullian did put upon these words asking Fidelium filii dicuntur sancti quia sunt quasi fidei candidati How the Children of believing Parents are holy He answers Because they are as it were in a way unto Faith and to Conversion and brought under the power and blessing of a Christian Education and have the example of the Saints before their eyes which may be powerful to Conversion and so say they Sanctification is such a preparation one deputed and prepared for such an end Isa 13.3 the Medes and Persians are called Gods sanctified ones that is such as he has set apart and prepared for such a work and so do these seem to be set apart by holy Education and as it were prepared unto holiness and conversion and this is a sence also that some do catch after to avoid the true sence of the holiness that is here spoken of by the Apostle But this cannot be the meaning here 1 Because the Apostle does not here speak as Chamier hath well observed de re incerta futura of a thing uncertain and future but of something which was already actually in being not only they were in a way or preparation to holiness but they are holy and the wife is sanctified as that which all the Believers in the Church of Corinth that were thus unequally yoak'd might build
though the Catechumeni were admitted to hear and were called Audientes and Orantes yet those that they did excommunicate they did allow those Ordinances to and therefore they did use to sentence them Orent per triennium inter Catechumenos or sometimes more years according to the nature of the fact but yet they still did deprive them of the seals as being a priviledge of members only 2 Baptism is a Sacrament of initiation and the Ordinance of visible admission into the Church and that must not be done promiscuously and without discrimination for as it 's a sin to keep out those whose right it is so it 's a sin also to admit them that have no right because thereby the Ordinances of Christ are abused and misplaced where he never intended them and for whom he never instituted them Now a person must have a right to membership before ever he is to be admitted a member and he has no right to claim admission of those who have the power of the Keys unless it be upon this ground that a right of membership does belong unto him and therefore he does upon this desire admission as a member that so he be not defrauded of his right And Calvin professes in another Epistle Nisi inter vos vigeat discrimen aliquod ut prohibeantur qui sine crassa Dei injuria admitti nequeunt pro confesso sumo tam baptismum quam coenam profanari To whom is this spoken It was not to Jews and Turks and the admission of Heathens but unto Christians and Professors and yet he says that there must be among them discriminatio quaedam a certain discrimination though they were Christians in profession yet that did not give them all a title if it had there needed no difference to be put and observe he will have this difference to be put in reference to the Sacrament of Baptism as well as the Supper of the Lord and he complaineth of this disorder of administring the Sacrament promiscuously and exhorteth the Ministers to endeavour the reforming it if they could not say how it was lawful for them to hold their places certè ubi rogando hortando nihil proficitur ac frustra etiam conquesti sumus nos religione constringi ne pergamus scientes volentes sacra Dei mysteria profanare in tam confusa ordinis perturbatione quomodo stare nobis liceat nescio 2. Right of membership conveyed unto children from the immediate parents is a truth that the whole Scripture seems to hold forth 1 When-ever the immediate parents were taken into Covenant whatever their Ancestors have been their posterity were taken into Covenant also and had a right to membership together with their parents Abrahams father was Terah And he with his father served other gods beyond the river Josh 24.2 and yet as soon as the Lord took Abraham into Covenant he took in his posterity also with him immediately and therefore the children of those that are Church-members are called the children of the Covenant Act. 3.25 so as their interest in the Covenant comes upon them as their birth-right For it is true that there are but two ways of conveying a Covenant-right unto men either personal by their own faith or parental and this is not of nature for by nature one mans child has as much right as anothers none are born Christians but it 's a gift of grace and which doth follow upon the child by virtue of the parents Covenant and though none of his Ancestors were Believers but served other gods yet the immediate parents being Believers can give a right without respect unto the condition of their Ancestors and so it was with the Proselytes among the Jews their children were taken into Covenant with their immediate parents though their Ancestors were for many generations wicked Many instances of this have been given before 2 Children taken into Covenant have with their immediate parents been cast out Ismael was taken into Covenant and received the seal of the Covenant but when he was cast out though Abraham was alive yet Ismaels family was never after looked upon as in Covenant or as members of the visible Church of God so it was with Esau and his posterity the Edomites their father being put out of Covenant though they did attain Circumcision which was a seal of the Covenant yet it was not Circumcision in Gods account for they were never by God accounted a Church unto him But that 's a remarkable instance amongst the Jews when the Church of God had continued in that Nation for many generations and though God had there a greater income of holiness once than he had in all the world beside and was not ashamed to be called their God and to call them of all the nations of the earth his peculiar people yet when the Lord cast off their immediate parents and gave them a bill of divorce he did also cast off their children who can never claim a right from their Ancestors neither would any man by this claim I conceive admit a Jew unto the seals of the Covenant And yet after this long interruption wherein wrath is come upon them to the uttermost when the immediate parents shall be converted and taken into Covenant with God again then also shall their children be gathered in together with them and this as far as I understand is the whole tenour of the Scripture and I know no instance that children were taken into Covenant whatever their Ancestors were unless their immediate parents were Church-members 3. The right of membership does not consist barely in being baptized and making a profession of the name of Christ and therefore parents may have both these and yet not be judged Church-members 1 Being baptized doth not give a man a right unto Church-membership and the grounds of it are these 1 That which is the seal of our admission into the visible Church cannot give a man a right to it so as to make a man a member that is if a man ought to have the right of membership before he be baptized then his Baptism does not give him this right but seal it only and gives a visible confirmation thereunto but Baptism is a seal of a mans admission therefore it 's not Baptism that gives him a right of admission but the promise Act. 2.39 For the promise is to you and your children therefore says the Apostle Be baptized therefore it 's something before Baptism that gives a right of membership by virtue of which a man lays claim to Baptism for the seals belong to Church-members only 2 If Baptism make a man a member of the visible Church then while the Baptism remains firm the membership remains for forma dat esse rei but we see that is not so in a double case 1. In the case of wilful Apostasie when men withdraw themselves from the Church They went out from us 1 Joh. 2.19 because they were not of us these were
they have no interest in it in respect of the spiritual priviledges and saving Graces of the same Covenant 3. There 's a two-fold Faith that the Scripture speaks of there is true and saving justifying faith which is call'd the Faith of Gods Elect and there is a temporary faith or a faith which is in profession only Math. 13. Heb. 6.4 Act. 8. and not in truth as we see in the stony ground and the temporary Believers and in Simon Magus and as it 's true saving faith that doth give a man an interest in the graces of the Covenant and makes a man Abrahams seed in reference unto grace so there is a visible faith a profession only that which only men are able to judge of to whom the power of the Keys for the dispensing of Ordinances are committed and this gives a man a title to the visible and external Priviledges of the Covenant in for◠Ecclesiae as we see Simon Magus profession of Faith was ground enough for the Apostles to administer Baptism unto him the Seal of the Covenant though afterwards he did quickly manifest that he was in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity Though therefore the Gentiles can never claim Abrahams Covenant as his seed according to the flesh nor many of them a spiritual right as not having the saving faith of Abraham yet they may claim relation to Abraham as an Ecclesiastical father and from a profession of the faith of Abraham may claim a true and a real interest in the external priviledges of Abrahams Covenant though they cannot pretend to his saving Graces and spiritual priviledges having never had any experience of a work of Conversion and Regeneration Quest 8 § 8. Why will the Lord have the Covenant run by way of entail in reference to the outward Priviledges of it and not in reference to the inward Graces of it The Covenant that was made with Adam was to convey the one as well as the other and the image that he had received he was to convey to his Posterity and the promise of Life spiritual and Life eternal was made unto his Posterity in case of their Obedience as well as unto himself and therefore as all dyed in him so all should have lived in him Nos omnes in Adam◠peccavimus in eo sententiam damnationis accepimus omnes Bern. S. 1. de Advent So that by the first Covenant Adam might have conveyed not only outward Priviledges but inward Graces also and whereas now by reason of the fall all Mankind do convey death to their Children Tertul. but not life and so they are become non tà m parentes quà m peremptores not so much parents as destroyers therefore seeing that the first Covenant is broken why doth not the Lord only take the Elect into Covenant and extend the Covenant of Grace unto none else and so make it with particular persons as the Covenant of the Angels did run or if he will make it to descend from Father to Son why doth he not convey the Graces of the Covenant from Parents to Posterity as well as the outward priviledges of the Covenant Why does not the Covenant run for all the Benefits of it as well as for some only the internals of the Covenant as well as the externals Answ 1. The Lord will not have the Graces of the Covenant entail'd from Parents unto Posterity 1 Because the Curse of the first Covenant is now become ex traduce by propagation and all the Posterity of Adam do now as naturally convey the Curse by reason of their broken Covenant as Adam should have conveyed life and blessing if he had stood in his integrity and therefore whatever the immediate Parents be Adams sin comes alike upon all whether they be godly or wicked and the child of a godly Parent is as truly and as deeply guilty of the sin of Adam in his birth as the child of the most wicked man that is that is an entail left upon all mankind that can never be cut off while there is a man born upon earth Rom. 5.12 for in Adam all dye because in him all sinn'd and therefore the children of godly Parents as well as others are born the children of wrath Gregor so that Timothy though there was faith unfeigned that dwelt in his Grandmother and his Mother yet he himself must be converted by the ministry of Paul or else he had no benefit by the faith of his Ancestors Rom. 3.29 and thence the Apostle saith We look upon the Jews as a people holy unto the Lord and the only visible Church upon earth and the Gentiles as strangers unto God who follow'd dumb Idols as they were led and yet in reference to their natural condition the Apostle says there is no difference for all men have sinn'd and come short of the glory of God and therefore all in their births are alike corrupted with the sin of Adam that being imputed but the personal sins of their Parents are not imputed unto them and therefore they are said Joh. 1.13 to be born not of blood that is Joh. 1.13 not by a fleshly generation so some or else as Calvin it is bloods ut longam generis successionem melius exprimeret though Grace has continued long in that line and has as it were run in a blood and comes upon a man by succession as it were for many generations as it was with Timothy c. nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man Idem significat c. If the parents be godly and they never so earnestly desire that their children might be godly also as it was Abrahams desire for Ismael that he might live in Gods sight it was spoken of living before God as in Covenant with him as it appears by the answer that the Lord returns unto him but yet for all that his desire is not granted as concerning him though he saith I will make of Ismael a great nation and many nations shall come from him yet in Isaac shall thy covenant-seed be called and with him will I establish my Covenant c. therefore the Covenant in respect of the grace of it can never be entailed upon posterity because every man begets a son in the likeness of the first Adam as he himself did immediately after his fall Gen. 5.3 and thereby conveyed the image that by sin he had brought upon himself and his posterity 2 Because under the second Covenant it 's the Election of God that takes place and puts all the difference between men and men between whom in themselves there is no difference It 's true that it 's a great dispute Whether the Lord in Election did consider man in massa pura or corrupta and I conceive it was an act of Soveraignty and therefore God respected ma◠in massa pura as a creature and not in massa corrupta as a sinner as the potter hath power over the clay of
seek a sufficiency in themselves and too much omit fastning upon the Lord Jesus who is our Saviour to the uttermost c. Now we come to shew the evil of a self-sufficiency in both these more particularly 1. In respect of gifts for a man to look upon himself and grow in love with his own shadow and to depend upon them and glory in them consider the evil of it in these particulars 1 They are another mans goods they are not thine own men are ready to think so of riches and honours that which is without a man but as for the abilities of his own mind they think those are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their proper goods if any thing be but yet as it is said of riches it 's true also of gifts and all those inward qualifications Luke 16. they are another mans and they are so in a double respect 1 Because they are given thee from another What hast thou that thou hast not received he that doth boast of 1 Cor. 4.7 or trust in any thing that he has received he doth thereby say that it is his own and that he has not received it for if thou hast received it then thy dependence is upon another and not upon thy self mendax de proprio loquitur cùm autem in bonis laudabilis vita ducitur Prosper ad Demest p. 866. Dei est quod geritur Dei est quod amatur 2 They are another mans as riches are for they are given thee mainly for the good of another grace is given a man for himself and is properly his own 1 Cor. 12.7 but gifts are given for the Church and for the edifying of others the manifestation of the Spirit is given unto every man to profit withal and therefore thou art but as a steward of every gift and thou must dispense them and lay them out for the good of the family to give them their meat in due season and if not this will be the benefit that thou wilt have by thy gifts that thy account will be the greater and there will come a time that the same Spirit that is now thy Teacher will surely be thy Accuser Luke 16.1 for wasting thy masters goods Accepta bona dissipamus quando iis nec ad ipsius honorem nec proximi aedificationem nec ad propriam salutem utimur Stella There is a double difference between gifts and graces 1 Grace is for a maâ—â— own salvation but gifts are for the Churches edification and therefore they are but prâ— hoc statu for this state and there is an end the gifts that the Angels have are but for the edification of the Church Dan. 9.23 Rev. 19.10 1.4 He sent and signified it by the Angel unto his servant John and when the Elect of God shall be gathered and the Church of Christ perfected and the Kingdom given up to the Father then as the protection of Angels shall cease for there shall be no more use of it so these qualifications this influence of the Spirit of Christ upon the Angelical nature by way of gifts shall cease also 2 Some put this difference that the Spirit to some gives gifts as a Spirit assisting only but not dwelling there where he assists by gifts but where grace is there is a residence of the Spirit and that not only according unto the gifts and effects as in the other but according to the essence for we are said to be Temples of the Holy Ghost Now to dedicate a Temple to another is to give Divine honour which is not to be done unto the gifts and graces of the Spirit for they are but creatures and therefore the Spirit doth not dwell in them barely by his gifts but according to his essence Habitat verus Spiritus in credentibus non tantùm per dona sed quoad substantiam neque sic dat dona ut ipse alibi sit sed donis adest creaturam suam conservando gubernando addendo The Spirit dwells in Believers not only by gifts but according to his essence neither doth he so give gifts as to be absent himself but he is present c. Luther 2 He doth give them unto wicked men and therefore there is no sufficiency to be placed in that in which God puts no difference Psal 68.18 Christ received gifts for men yea for the rebellious also not only those that were rebellious and are now converted but those that live still in rebellion Christ received many gifts to dispense unto these Christ is in the Scripture set forth as a Head and as a Root he gives graces as Head unto the Church which is his body Joh. 15.1 2. the fulness of him that filleth all in all but as he is a Root he spreads himself into a visible Church upon Earth so he gives much sap and greenness unto those that bear leaves only and therefore it was a good saying of Luther in one of his Epistles Potentior est veritas quà m eloquentia potior spiritus quà m ingenium major fides quà m eruditio A little grace is to be preferred before abundance of gifts and a little of the Spirit of Sanctification above the fulness of the qualifications of the Spirit for the Lord doth cause this Sun to shine upon the evil and unthankful and doth continue it unto them for a while as a Spirit of Qualification to whom nevertheless he will be for ever as a Spirit of Condemnation hereafter 3 When a man depends upon these and places his sufficiency in them he serves Satan in the highest way that can be that is with the gifts and the graces of the Spirit of God Mat. 12.44 45. we read Mat. 12.44 45. there is a house swept and garnished it 's the house that Satan will chuse to himself to inhabit above all other places in the world and therefore he places a strong garrison there of seven Spirits for there is no soul whom he takes so much delight in and in which he doth love so much to dwell as he doth in such a man and therefore it was a great speech of Austin of Licentius a man of a great wit but of an unsound mind Abs te ornari diabolus quaerit Accepisti à Deo ingenium spiritualiter aureum in illo Satanae propinas teipsum The Devil seeks to be adorned by thee c. It was the abuse upon the vessels of the Temple that in Beltshazers time they must be brought forth and used in the worship of their gods which was but the Devil instead of a God the gifts that a man has are the utensils of the Temple of the Holy Ghost and therefore above all others Satan loves to be served with those and if the Devil do but puff a man up with either of these Luther Potentia justitia sapientia that 's the house he delights to dwell in now for a man to serve Satan with his wealth or his honour is a
judge for the breach of it but this is the habitation of the great King 3 In this Kingdom he hath enemies to subdue 1 Joh. 3.8 and therefore he did come to destroy the works of the Devil first to cast out Satan and call men to translate them out of his Kingdom Col. 1.13 and then to destroy the works that he had wrought in their souls Col. 1.13 the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to loose the works of the devil sin and corrupt principles in the heart are the Devils works and the great thing that he doth labour in from day to day now first the word doth signifie to destroy or demolish Joh. 2.19 Destroy this temple and 2 Pet. 3.11 it is the desolation of all things here below so that though the Devil hath erected the building the Lord will surely pull it down he shall not have that habitation for himself to dwell in where Gods Kingdom is to be set up 2. It notes also solvere to loose it so that a man is bound by it and it is unto him as a snare the works of the Devil in a man are an enthralling thing but thus to fight the battels of the Saints doth belong to the spiritual Kingdom of Christ 4 He doth bestow and confer graces and gifts these are the proper gifts that belong unto this Kingdom he is Melchisedeck King of Righteousness and he is also King of Peace he doth give gifts unto men and before the Throne are the seven Spirits of God Rev. 4.5 all the graces of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit are at his dispose and he gives them out as he sees it good 5 He rules in their hearts and in their ways for the Spirit of Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the guide of the way of his Saints he doth lead them Joh. 16.14 My sheep hear my voice they are his sheep he goes before them and they follow him They follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes all that Dominion of God subjecting of their wills unto the will of God and their consciences to the rule of God alone is the spiritual Dominion of Christ within them 6 He hath the keys of hell and of heaven he doth open heaven and translate his people unto glory and they that are in enmity he doth open hell for them for it is he that hath his reward with him Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me there is none can open and shut heaven but Christ and this he doth as he is the spiritual King of his Church this Kingdom he hath entred upon but it is but begun it is not come unto its perfect glory but there will come a time Rev. 11.16 17. That the kingdoms of the earth shall be the Lord's and his Christ's and the mountain of the Lords house shall be exalted upon the tops of the mountains when the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and abundance of grace shall be poured out that the weak shall be as David there shall much more of the glory of the spiritual Kingdom appear than now there doth for now the Devil seems to rule in the hearts of all the men of the world Rev. 20. but then shall Satan be bound for a thousand years in fine seculi millesimi anni malitia omnis aboleatur è terra justitia regnet c. Lactant. 2. The providential Kingdom which is the government of all things in the world 1 All the works of God are committed into the hand of the Mediator Ezech. 1. there is the subordination and so Psal 8. All sheep and oxen are all under his feet which cannot be spoken of Christ as God it 's spoken of Christ as he died and rose again Eph. 1.21 he is made the head of all things unto the Church therefore it must be understood of him as Mediator he hath committed all judgment unto the Son and it is that all men might honour the Son as they honour the Father Phil. 2.11 that every knee might bow to him and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Lord to the glory of God the Father for this is the honour that the Father did promise Christ to give him a kingdom and glory that the government of all things should be in his hands for it is by me kings reign Prov. 8.15 it 's spoken of him whom the Lord possessed in the beginning of his way before his works of old I was set up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I was anointed which is the same word used Psal 2.6 and therefore it 's not spoken of him as God so he was not anointed but it 's spoken of him that was God-man Mediator 2 All the great things in Scripture are attributed unto him he it was that brought the floud upon the old world for it was his Spirit did strive with the old world 1 Pet. 3.19 20. and he it was that destroyed Sodom he it was that brought Israel out of Egypt and that led the people in the wilderness he it was that gave them a Law and he it was that did shake heaven and earth Heb. 12.27 28. all the shakings that have been were from him and he it is that must fulfil all the prophecies and all the promises in the word and then his name shall be called the Word of God Rev. 19.13 and he it is that fights all the battels of his people and he is cloathed with a garment dipt in blood and the armies of heaven do but follow him and he hath a name upon his garments which is the highest name King of kings and Lord of lords c. he doth destroy Antichrist with the breath of his mouth and the brightness of his coming and he it is that doth prepare new Jerusalem as a Bride for the Bridegroom 3 He it is that shall judge the world and he could not judge the world if he did not rule the world he must imploy them and he must reward them for God will give unto every man as his works shall be he doth rule as the Fathers servant and he shall judge as the Fathers servant Judgment being the last act of his Kingly Office having ordered all things for the great accomplishment of all the Fathers ends for he doth all for him according unto the counsels that are in his bosom which he hath revealed to him c. Judgment is committed unto the Son of man both for government here and the sentence hereafter Joh. 5.22 and therefore it is said All judgment is committed to him 4 He shall give up the Kingdom unto the Father 1 Cor. 15.24 that is that which he hath received but it is the government of all things that he shall give up that of the Angels as well as any other he shall lay it down having attained all the ends thereof so that then God shall be all in all in the Saints and in the world c. 5
last days of the world Acts 3.21 there shall be a wonderful change in the creatures doubtless before the last day when the Ass shall eat clean fodder Esa 60.17 or provender and when the stones shall be silver and gold and out of the earth shall come brass c. and when the lyon shall lye down with the lamb Esa 11.6 which some as Lactantius do understand literally to be fulfilled terra aperiet foecunditatem suam rupes montium melle sudabunt non bestiae sanguine alentur non aves praedâ Lactant. lib. 7. cap. 4. The earth shall discover its fecundity the rocks sweat honey c. When Christ shall come to the wedding his servants shall put on their gay apparel and this is the new Heaven and the new Earth which shall begin before and shall in the glory for the substantials of it remain after the Lord by the last fire has purged the world unto which the world is reserved now in this also all the creatures belong unto the spiritual Kingdom of Christ § 4. We have seen that the spiritual Kingdom is in the hand of Christ for the good of the Saints and that 1 in that inward dominion that he has over them in whose hearts he dwells by a spirit of regeneration 2 over them that belong unto this Kingdom by profession only 3 over all the creatures reductivè how they all belong unto the spiritual Kingdom 1 as they tend to perfect their graces 2 as they belong to the priviledges of the Saints There is yet one head remaining and that is how Christ the Mediator who is King in this spiritual Kingdom doth rule and order the Angels that they have an influence and do conduce to the advancement of the spiritual Kingdom and they are of two sorts Angels on Earth his Ministers and the Angels in Heaven for they are both Officers in the spiritual Kingdom under Christ the King and their Kingdom begun with that of the Mediator and he that did set them up will also put them down before he give up the Kingdom unto the Father for they must give up their account unto Christ and Christ must give up his unto the Father for he saith Heb. 2.13 Behold I and the children that thou hast given me 1 Cor. 15.24 1 Cor. 15.24 He shall put down all rule and all authority and power the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some refer it unto all powers opposite unto the Kingdom of Christ and they say that all these he shall put down non modò ut non praevaleát sed ut planè non sit Now he doth over-rule them so that they do advance that Kingdom which they intend to oppose for he rules in the middle of his enemies but then they shall not be able to oppose now he defeats all their plots but then he shall destroy their persons also but others do refer it unto the powers set up by Christ which then he shall put an end unto when the end of that institution is accomplished and that not only unto the mediatory Kingdom which is to last but until the Saints are perfected and till they all come unto the unity of the faith and to a perfect man c. but it is expounded also de principatu Angelico they shall have no further hand in the government of the spiritual nor of the providential Kingdom but during this present state both these powers are to continue till he that did set them up shall put them down and in the continued ordering and rule of these much of the spiritual Kingdom of Christ doth consist and they do much conduce unto the perfection of the spiritual Kingdom and therefore I shall instance in them both 1. For the Angels upon Earth for so the Ministers and Messengers of God are stiled Judg. 2.1 Judg. 2.1 An Angel of the Lord came from Gilgal to Bochim it is most probable that it was a Prophet one that spake to them in the name of the Lord and some conceive it to be Phineas the Priest because he is said to come from Gilgal whereas Peter Martyr well observes if it had been a heavenly Angel it would have been rather said Coelo descendisse c. Eccles 5.6 That he descended from Heaven and Eccles 5.6 Say not before the Angel it is an oversight that is before the Priest before whom the errours of their rash vows were to be confessed Rev. 2.1 Levit. 5.4 5. Rev. 2.1 To the Angel of the Church c. and it is both a term of office and a term of honour for they as well as the heavenly Angels are sent forth for the good of the Elect and they are but Messengers they must do their office and it is also a term of honour for the Lord takes them into the highest imployments and administrations and therefore it is unto an Officer that the promise is made Zac. 3.7 Zac. 3.7 If thou walk in my ways and keep my charge thou shalt judge my house and keep my courts and I will give thee galleries to walk in amongst them that stand by Now Christ being the King of the spiritual Kingdom we shall observe how he doth govern and rule and order things for the Saints sake that he did set up a Ministry in his Church it 's true that he doth give them a Commission to preach the Gospel to all Nations and the sound of it goes forth unto all the earth it comes unto them that are hardned as well as to them that are converted by it but it was only for the sake of the Saints that he did it or else he had never appointed such an office therefore Eph. 4.12 the end of the Ministry is for the perfecting of the Saints and for the edifying of the body of Christ there are indeed many inferiour and subordinate ends there is finis minùs principalis and many of these are attained also by one and the same action and yet it is the principal end that was really the intention of the efficient without which he would never have done it though he also takes in many lesser and inferiour ends it 's true that there are many ends that by the preaching of the Gospel the Lord doth accomplish upon the wicked of the world but yet he had never sent the Gospel for these ends nor set up a Ministry for the publishing thereof but it was only for the Saints for their gathering and their perfecting c. 2. It is for the good of the Saints that he doth furnish them with gifts and abilities for so great an imployment it is onus humeris Angelicis formidandum who is sufficient for these things It requires the highest abilities attainable by the art of man and the grace of God 1 Cor. 4.1 we are stewards of the mysteries of God Parmenid non ad politias regendas aut bella gerenda c. but that the mysteries of God the truths of the
the hearts of men to bring such a design to pass c. 2 They fight for them against their enemies Dan. 10.20 I return and fight against the King of Persia and when I am gone forth c. the Lord goes forth before a people for they go forth under the conduct of the Angels and they do oppose themselves in a secret way that we know not now as it is sometimes a terror to the Saints to consider they fight not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness so it is a mighty terror unto wicked men that they fight against principalities and powers and spiritual holiness in heavenly places those that will be sure to watch over you for evil for the same intention that the Angels had after the Fall with a flaming sword to keep man out of Paradise the same intention they bear still to all that are not the members of Christ and of the same body with them and fellow-servants with them 3 They do execute vengeance upon the enemies of the Saints Zac. 6.6 7. there are black Horses instruments of vengeance and they go forth into Persia but it is to destroy them and to execute upon them the vengeance of the Temple for all the wrong that they had done unto the Saints all was by an invisible virtue that they saw not there the Spirit of God was displeased and would not be pacified till wrath was executed upon them for the same Spirit orders the Kingdom of Providence that doth order the Kingdom of Grace c. and therefore they have their special charge Ezech. 9.1 it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the visitors of the city that draw near first the Angels came and then the instruments of vengeance came they do perform that great work upon them 4 The Angels over-rule the creatures for the good of the Saints even beyond their nature and they are very instrumental in their deliverance and preservation as we see Dan. 3.28 the fire cannot burn the Lord sent his Angel Dan. 6.22 and stopped the Lions mouths there is a secret work that Angels have in all these great things for the Saints deliverance and preservation and therefore it is the Angel that rowls away the stone from Christs grave and it 's an Angel opens the prison for Peter Acts 12. The prayers of the Saints do prevail with God and he commands Angels to do their office it was an Angel that said unto the Christians at Jerusalem Ite ad Pellam and by that means they were preserved in the destruction of the City so that in the ordering of all things they are imployed by God for the good of the Saints 5 It is the Angels that guide them in their way and succeed their business and all their undertakings as we see Gen. 24.7 The Lord of Heaven which brought me out of my fathers house he shall send his Angel before thee and the business shall surely prosper that they do undertake a godly man goes no where without such a guard for his protection and without such an assistance and therefore it was a certain argument Dan. 10. ult that the King of Grecia should prosper because the Angel was gone out before him blessed is he that hath such a guide he shall not dash his foot against any stone c. Lastly They do compass the earth visit all the parts of it for the Saints sake to see how it is with the Churches Zac. 1. All the earth is quiet and still as the Devils do so do the Angels also compass the earth and they do lie in ambush for the Saints that when there is no eye to pity them and there is no remedy or relief for them then they do appear Zac. 1.8 They are behind the myrtle-trees in the bottom and they do watch the fittest season for the deliverance of the Saints which is when they are lowest and when their enemies are highest then they do appear for them therefore the people of God that have such a guard still near at hand that hath been so successful in all ages need not fear what Satan and his Angels are continually plotting against them § 2. We now proceed unto those arcana imperii in reference to the Providence of God in the government of the evil Angels and this also is for the good of the Saints the Soveraignty of God over the Devils in his government of them is wholly for the sake and for the good of the Saints In the opening of this I will lay down these Conclusions 1. That Satan hath a power over all mankind by nature to rule and order them according to the pleasure of his own will for when man at first did freely subject himself unto the Devil God did judicially give him up into the power of the Devil and therefore 2 Tim. 2.26 they are said to be led captive by him at his will 1 Joh. 5.19 they are said to lye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the wicked one that is to be under his power and to be subjected unto his will and it is just with God so to do Illud appensum est aequitatis examine ut nec ipsius diaboli potestati negaretur homo quem sibi malè suadendo subjecerat Aust For of whom a man is overcome unto him he is brought into bondage it 's the manner of Conquerors to use men as slaves whom they have subdued and this was the Devils intent not first to destroy men but to take them alive 2 Tim. 2.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he might use them for service and so rule over them yet the meaning is not as if he had received a commission from God and the Lord had commanded Satan to rule over man for he will surely judge the Devil for it at the last day Non ità debet intelligi tanquam hoc Deus fecerit aut fieri jusserit sed quòd tantùm permiserit justè tamen Aust Tom 3. p. 295. The command unto Ahabs false Prophets was not a commission from God but a permission Thou shalt perswade him and prevail go forth and do so and his going into the herd of swine was not a commission but a permission only when he said unto them Go c. like unto that of Balaam Go with the men and yet the Lord was angry because he went so it is here also 2. This power of Satan is very great and therefore he is called Principalities and Powers the Ruler of the darkness of this world yea he hath the power of a God for he is said to be the God of this world which doth set forth a high condition not the highest power credo posse occidere in una hora quemcunque in terra viventem Luth. for the power that Satan hath is from God and that in just judgment Now if the Lord give so much power to a man as he did to Nebuchadnezzar that none could stand before him but he was the hammer of the whole earth
water and it 's all but the vain presumption of his own spirit 2 Cor. 12.9 My grace is sufficient for thee my strength shall be perfected that is shall be declared to be perfect in weakness therefore I take pleasure in infirmities for when I am weak then am I strong it is an easie thing for the potsherds to contend with the potsherds of the earth but when we come to contend with Spirts and they strengthned by the darkness that is within us now the strength of grace is put to it indeed now we see what power of Christ is in us for there is no power but Christs power that can hold out against temptation 5. That we may know the benefit of Christs Intercession that having so great an Accuser as Satan is we may go to him and strive to find the benefit of such an Advocate O what an advantage was it to Peter to hear this sweet word of Christ to him But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not Christ was tempted in all things like unto us and he is sensible of our infirmities and with the temptation we shall find a way to escape for this very end Christ suffered himself to be tempted by Satan that he might succour us in all our temptations he is pleading for us against the accusations of our subtle adversaries and if he had not undertaken to be our Advocate we had been undone but he still saith to Satan The Lord rebuke thee c. 6. And truly hereby we have experience of the power of our own prayers how many times have the prayers of a Saint stilled the enemy and the avenger that pursued them furiously how many times hath Satan fallâ—n before them like lightning and all the devices of the enemy have come to nought Rev 11.7 And if any man will hurt them fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies c. and they shall not only kill men but Satan shall also be trod under their feeâ— and it 's a great honour to the Saints that in their conquests they can overcome Satan for resist the Devil and he will flye from you that so proud a Spirit should be so subdued by mankind in fide fortes Diabolum despiciunt quasi vermiculum c. Bern. pag. 1309. cùm viderint contemnunt 7. It quickens the people of God to wisdom and watchfulness to wisdom that they may discern the devices of Satan and to watchfulness as the exhortation is 1 Pet. 5.8 Watch therefore and put on the whole armour of God because he is as a roaring lyon seeking whom he may devour Austin observes that there are two ways that Satan hath 1 In times of persecution cogit Christianos negare Christum he compels Christians to deny Christ 2 In times of peace and prosperity he raiseth up Hereticks and so docet Christianos Christum negare teaches Christians to deny Christ Tom. 8. pag. 233. therefore we had need be wise and watchful 8. There is a time coming when this over-ruling power of Christ will put an end unto this dominion of Satan he shall not be the god of this world always but when Christ puts down all rule and all authority and power his Kingdom will for ever be broken it must last no longer than the day of Judgment for there will be no further use of him either in tempting accusing or tormenting but as after the day of Judgment Christ in glory shall make up the head of that great body the Church which shall be gathered unto glory by him as they were here on earth gathered into his Kingdom of Grace so Satan in Hell also shall make up the head of that great body of the wicked that he hath been gathering into his Kingdom here upon earth and he shall be tormented together with them and it is no small comfort that we can look beyond the power of the enemies though they be so powerful for the present it is but for a while Nebuchadnezzar had power to do what he pleased in the world but after a little while this great Monarch shall be destroyed My anger says the Lord shall cease in his destruction c. Lastly The temptations and accusations of Satan shall tend to the greater increase of the glory of the Saints for if these light afflictions that all Saints meet with in the world from lesser evils do work for us much more will such great afflictions Potest inimicus excitare tentationis motum sed quoties restiteris toties coronaberis Bern. p. 11 15. They had their several Crowns in their Triumph answerable unto the several Victories that they won therefore Christ hath upon his head many Crowns because of his many Conquests so it shall be unto the Saints matter of great triumph Satan himself who did above all things desire to keep them from glory his very temptations and his accusations shall be so far useful as that they shall add unto our glory and they that have been most tempted and accused by him and have by grace resisted him shall be most glorified in the day of the Lord. § 3. The next thing propounded was Gods providential Kingdom as it respects men and these either good or bad which belong both unto the providential Kingdom and the Soveraignty of God over them is laid out wholly for the good of the Saints And here first we are to consider Providence ordering all things either in reference unto the Saints own spiritual good that the ordering of all things towards them shall tend unto it or else in reference unto the good of others Providence shall so order things that they shall become a common and a publick good unto others in the generations in which they live yea and it shall extend also unto after-ages 1. Providence shall so dispose of all things as they shall tend unto their own spiritual good and all by reason of their interest in the Soveraignty and the Supremacy of God as 1. If we look upon their conversion Providence doth strangely order things so that they shall be cast upon such societies and opportunities which they never thought of nor lookt after and in these they shall be converted and brought home unto God there is an instance in Onesimus Philem. 10 11. he ran away from his master and by this means was brought to Rome unto the Apostle Pauls ministry and there the Lord was pleased to convert him unto the faith a thing that he little thought of or aimed at in going from his master and yet now he that was before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unprofitable Is profitable both to thee and me says the Apostle Paul to Philemon c. And so it was with Junius his father laying the Scripture before him Joh. 1.1 he fell occasionally and carelesly upon Joh. 1.1 In the beginning was the word c. he was so taken with the majesty of the stile and with the excellency of the matter that he did
but when once they began to turn the head of their policy against the Saints they did very speedily find their ruine therein the Lord did go beyond them and they were taken in their own craftiness For when Satan has ingaged their spirits against the Saints Satan never leaves but he makes them restless raiseth up in them both great plots and great hopes and so they never cease till they meet with the Church as a burdensom stone at which they will always be lifting till they be broken therewith for in their very policy they do perish and in their own plots as in the net which they had privily laid is their foot taken Zac. 12.1 2. Behold I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and Jerusalem 2. How doth the Lord turn these plottings of wicked men be they never so deep unto the good of his people 1. God doth set Divine wisdom on work for them for they have an interest in all the Attributes of God and they shall be put forth for them as their necessities do require Psal 119.120 It is time for thee Lord to work for they have made void thy law The Saints may desire God to put out an Attribute then and they do flye unto their strong hold unto their chambers as Esa 26. as when the power of man is exalted against them now it is time for them to say We have no might against this multitude but our eyes are upon thee it is all one to thee to save with few or with many so when carnal wisdom is exalted now is the time for God to put forth his wisdom for them that are his people for they say We have no wisdom against this wise and subtle generation but our eyes are upon thee and in thee is our wisdom laid up Herod had a plot against Christ and he will come and worship him that is he would come and destroy him and the Wise-men also that came to seek him now is the wisdom of God put forth for Christs preservation one is sent into Egypt and the other are admonished by God and they return into their own country another way And the people of God have more benefit by seeing the wisdom of God acting for them than they can have disadvantage or discouragement by seeing all the wise men of the world against them O great is the sweetness that the people of God have by seeing any Attribute act for them and for their good that by this means they may come to understand their inheritance in Attributes which is far beyond that of creatures or promises as a father his bowels are moved for a child when he sees him in danger and then his affections do discover themselves so do the Saints expect that the Lord shall fulfil his relation in that respect when dangers are pressing upon them c. 2. In the middle of all their plots they comfort themselves in this that they shall take no effect against them till they have done the service which the Lord hath appointed them unto Luke 13.32 they told Christ that Herod had a plot upon him to kill him he saith Go tell that Fox Luk. 13.32 behold I cast out devils and I do cures to day and to morrow and the third day I shall be perfected Franc. in his History Animalium gives us three properties of a Fox he is animal dolosum crudele gulosum subtle and deceitful all for death cruel and all for the prey and there is a double property of him as deceitful 1 Noctu prorepit he only goes forth in the night doth all things secretly and so do Plotters they must not be seen and a great part of their wisdom is to be undiscovered 2 Nunquam rectis incedit itineribus sed ambagibus He doth never go right on but always he hath his windings and turnings so Politicians they love to walk unseen and they never love to go in plain paths but in secret ways to ensnare men But Christ when they told him of the design of this Fox Herod he comforts himself with this there is a set time for my work and then when that is done my service is perfect then shall I dye and I know all his policy shall be able to avail nothing against me till I have finished the work that the Father has given me to do And so may all the Saints comfort themselves against all the plots of wicked men against them they shall finish their work notwithstanding 3. This shall sometimes make way for their service in a wonderful manner the Jews had a plot against Paul and they had taken an oath That they would neither eat nor drink â—ill they had killed him this occasioned his being sent unto Caesarea first and afterwards to Rome where the Lord told him he must bear witness of him also and glorious was the service that he did there and the souls that he converted were many and in a special manner even in Caesars family there were souls brought home unto the Lord Phil. 4.22 All the Saints salute you chiefly those that are of Caesars houshold it was Nero that opprobrium humani generis and yet the Lord had some to pluck out there and the Lord made the plot which they had against him the occasion of all this great work what loser was Paul by it nay how much honour did it bring unto tâ—â— Lord and how great thanksgiving was given unto God by these pâ—or converted souls who came unto the knowledge of the Gospel and the way to life by this means 4. What they do plot to hinder shall by their very plots be advanced Esa 44.25 he turns wise men backward that is they shall see a quite contrary effect unto that which by their wisdom they intended to bring to pass against the Jews and the raising persecution against the Christians since was to hinder the Gospel and to suppress it but this did further the Gospel for it did occasion their going forth unto the Gentiles and by this means the sound went forth into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world and 〈◊〉 the casting off of the Jews became the inriching of the Gentiles by this means which else had never been so gloriously and fully done and I do not doubt but the very opposition that is against the Ordinances of the Gospel shall establish them in the Lords time and the opposition against any truth hath ever established that truth for they are but as winds that root the trees by shaking of them they fasten Jer. 20.10 Report say they and we will report it the wicked plot to take away the good names of the Saints by casting out slanders against them as if they were the vilest wretches upon earth but there is not such a way to bring an honour upon them and to cause the Lord to make their light to break forth out of darkness unto after generations as to reproach them 5. Hereby they have experience of those glorious promises that God has made to his people of frustrating the plots of their enemies Esa 8.10 Consult but it shall come to nought speak the word but it shall not stand for God is with us Prov. 6.14 Frowardness is in his heart he devisâ—th mischief continually he sowed discord therefore shall his calamity come suddenly suddenly shall he be broken without remedy and Psal 19.21 Many devices are in the heart of a man but the counsel of God that shall stand Psal 64.6 7. They search out iniquity they accomplìsh a diligent search the inward thoughts of every one of them and the heart is deep but God shall shoot at them with an arrow and suddenly shall they be wounded Hereby the Saints flye unto those promises and they have experience of their interest and the prayers of the ancient Saints against all the enemies that ever plotted mischief against the Church as the instance of Judas they are answered in after-generations and there is a Communion of Saints that the people of God have with Saints departed upon this ground also they have a benefit by the prayers which they did put up upon earth which are accomplished upon the enemies of the Church and people of God in after-ages Lastly They have experience of strange secret and glorious deliverances by this means and truly experience of God in any kind is no small advantage to the Saints they make much of their own experiences and live upon them afterwards Possidon tells us in the Life of Austin that as he was travelling there were certain of the Donatists whom he calls Circumcelliones that did lay wait for him armed to kill him obvenit Dei providentia sed ductoris errore but he missed the way per hunc errorem manus impias evasit and so escaped This drew forth in him and in many others of the people of God many praises unto God for so great and unknown deliverance and I did the rather insist upon this because the enemies of the people of God are very busie in plotting against the Saints and we have cause to fear the fraud of the enemy as well as their force though if hand joyn with hand yet the wicked shall not be unpunished and the God that has delivered will again deliver These things may one day be worth thinking of when we are cast upon such providences that we know not what to do then the Lord will arise for the help of those that wait on him FINIS