3. 13. And from the penalty thereupon depending For he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed Isa 53. 5. And moreover of guilty sinners we are become justified Saints For we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his bloud to declare his righteousnesse for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God Rom. 3. 23 24 25. In which words we finde the moving or procuring cause of our justification to be the free grace of God the meritorious cause to be Christ the Son the efficient cause to be God the Father the instrumental cause to be Faith in Christ and the final cause to be the glory of God The glory of his righteousnesse for the Remission of sins That he might be just in being the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus verse 26. For as it is just with God to punish the sins of a Reprobate that dieth in his iniquity So it is as just with him to pardon the sins of a believer for which Christ died And as the true believer is delivered from the guilt and punishment of sin by the merit of Christ So is he also preserved from the power of sin by the Spirit of Christ And this he doth By redeeming us from our vain conversation 1 Pet. 1. 18. By purging our consciences from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9. 14. By crucifying our old man the body of sin Rom. 6. 6. By freeing us from the Law the strength of sin 1 Cor. 15. 56 57. By delivering us through grace from the dominion of sin Rom. 6. 14. By strengthening us with might in the inner man Eph. 3. 16. And by making us partakers of the Divine nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. Who will not then conclude with S. Paul In all these things we are more then conquerers through him that loved us Rom. 8. 37. And thus you see that our Lord Jesus Christ by justifying us through his merit hath freed us from the condemning guilt punishment of sin And by sanctifying us through his Spirit he hath delivered and fortified us from and against the prevailing power and insinuation of sin And 〈◊〉 this means he hath redeemed us from 〈◊〉 and destruction being the just reward and recompence of sin And all this meerly and absolutely upon the account of this eternal Covenant of grace For God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life But have everlasting life THis is the blessed Inheritance conferred and confirmed by this Covenant according to this Copy Everlasting life or eternal salvation This is the glorious expectation and inheritance of the Children of God Blessed the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation saith St. Peter 1 Pet. 1. 3 4 5. If in this life onely we have hope in Christ we are of all men 〈◊〉 â—iserable saith St. Paul 1. Cor. 15. 19. 〈◊〉 are troubled on every side saith he yet not â—â—stressed we are perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed Alwayes bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body 2 Cor. 4. 8 9 10. For which cause we faint not but though our outward man perish yet our inward man is renewed day by day for our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory verse 16. 17 18. Truely it is this Assurance that supports and supplies the militant Members of the Lord Jesus Christ throughout their whole warfare It removeth all difficulties sweetneth all discomforts and relieveth all distresses Verily it elevateth the Soul beyond all expectation I take pleasure in infirmities in reproches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for Christs sake saith St. Paul 2 Cor. 12. 10. Good Paul were these thy pleasant recreations Truely it is not to be denied but that they are very profitable exercises For when I am weak saith he then am I strong When I am weak in the flesh then am I strong in the faith For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are nâ—t worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us Rom. 8. 18. What will not a true believer do or suffer in hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began Tit. 1. 2. But forasmuch as there must be a temporal life before there can be an eternal life Therefore as I have formerly set forth unto you the several sorts or degrees of death So I shall here endeavour â—o shew you the several sorts or degrees of life which I conceive to be likewise four That is to say The natural life The spiritual life The peacefull life and the eternal or everlasting life And secondly I shall apply my self to prove that every one of them as a Member or passage of or to this everlasting life is part or parcel of that eternal inheritance whereunto the Son of God hath intituled us by vertue of this Covenant The first I say is the natural life or the life of Nature That which we say we receive from our Parents And it consisteth in the union of the body and the Soul or of the flesh and spirit according to the vulgar sense But in the Scripture sense that is properly called the natural life wherein a man followeth Nature for his chief or onely guide And of such a one St. Paul sayes That the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishnesse unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2. 14. Now this natural life in either of these senses may be said to be the issue of the first birth or of the fleshly generation For that which is born of the flesh is flesh saith our Lord Joh. 3. 6. And they that are after the flesh do minde the things of the flesh saith St. Paul Rom. 8. 5. Verily whosoever liveth meerly this natural life or this life of Nature onely it were better for him that he had never lived at all that he had never been born For we are all by nature the children of wrath According to that of St. Paul Eph. 2. 3. Neverthelesse though accidentally by reason of the corruption of Nature this natural life tendeth
11. With Paul Thou shalt know the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death Phil. 3. 10. And thou shalt know that if thine earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved thou hast a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens with the same Apostle 2 Cor. 5. 1. And when these and the like observations have brought thee to this and the like experience And experience hath setled thee in the faith Then thou shalt know likewise that thou art well rooted in Christ by faith Fourthly we must not be moved away from the hope of the Gospel This is the last sign expressed in this gradation The Devil hath fear but no hope The Reprobate hath hope but no fear I mean no filial fear He may sometimes in spight of his heart fear to appear in Gods presence as he is a just Judge But he cannot at any time or by any means fear to offend God as he is a loving Father for he cannot conceive him so to be he cannot rightly apprehend him under that notion upon any present condition whatsoever And as his fear is commonly desperate so his hope is alwayes doubtfull and dangerous He is soon moved away from his hope for his hope is not the Hope of the Gospel But the true Believer cannot be moved away from the Hope of the Gospel It is the sure and steadfash Anchor of his Soul Hebr. 6. 19. I cannot say but a ship when she rideth at Anchor may be tumbled and tossed by a violent Tempest yet so long as her Anchor continueth firm and stedy she rideth securely be the storm never so outragious But if her Anchor faileth her her danger is dreadfull especially if the Channel where she rideth be Rocky narrow or otherwise unsafe Even so the Soul that is sustained by Hope may peradventure be moved or shaken by some strong distemper Neverthelesse so long as her hope remaineth sound setled and stedfast she is able to bear up in the greatest extremity But if she be quite moved away from the hope of the Gospel 't is dangerous that she is lost for ever And the rather for that the whole Ocean is not so full of Rocks and showls quick-sands wherewith to bulge and break a crasie vessel as the wild world is full of snares offences and temptations to ruine and destroy a silly Soul But you will say what is the difference between an ordinary Hope and this Hope of the Gospel I answer that an ordinary hope is commonly carnall but this hope of the Gospel is altogether spiritual And they differ in these particulars First in their Authour The carnal hope proceedeth of the Devil or Satan It was he that gave hope to the woman that she should not die in her transgression Genes 3. 4. It was he that gave Ahab hope of good successe 1 Kings 22. 21. And it was Satan that filled the heart of Ananias with hope that his Hypocrisie should not be discovered Acts 5. 3. And he feeds and fills us with these false hopes in his malice and emnity to mankinde For he is our adversary who as a roaring Lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour 1 Peter 5. 8. But it is God that giveth us this Gospel-hope and that of his love and grace It is our Lord Iesus Christ himself and God even our Father which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consâ—lation and good hope through grace 2 Thes 2. 16. Secondly they differ in their foundation The carnal hope is commonly built upon casualties upon perhaps oâ— peradventures When Balak besought Bâ—lam to curse the people of God Come I pray thee saith he I will bring thee to another place peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence Num. 23. 27. But this Gospel hope is built upon Christ that never-failing foundation The riches of the glorie of this mystery among the Gentiles is Christ in us the hope of glorie Col. 1. 27. Thirdly they differ in their objects The carnal hope aimes altogether at riches honours pleasures long life or the like worldly injoyments vanity of vanities saith the preacher vanity of vanities all is vanitie Eccles 1 2. But the Gospel hope looks upon the Lord Jesus Christ which is our hope saith the Apostle 1 Tim. 1. 1. And eternal life which God that cannot lye promised before the world began Tit. 1 2. Or if she meets with any worldly good as necessary to this present life she lookes upon it not as a reward but as a blessing from her God in Christ Fourthly they differ in their evidence For what hath a carnall man to shew for all his hopes but onely his own blinde conceptions and imaginations whereas the Gospel hope is evidenced by Gods holy word For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Rom. 15. 4. Fifthly they differ in their effects for the carnall hope doth onely serve to harden us in sin and so to run us up to ruine and destruction But every man that hath this hope in him this Gospel hope he purifieth himself even as God is pure 1 John 3. 3. And lastly they differ in their alliance or society The carnall hope confederates it self with doubts distrusts and a distracted conscience And therefore Zophar telleth Job That the hope of the wicked shall be as the giving up of the Ghost Job 11. 20. But this Gospel hope is the companion of faith and love and that unto the benefit of both For as this hope supporteth and sustaineth her mother faith in her tedious travail towards eternal happiness So likewise she comforteth and confirmeth her sister love by assuring her that her labour is not in vain in the Lord. And therefore the Apostle hath most fitly placed her between them both 1 Cor. 13 13. Having thus considered this Rule of the Apostle according to the four degrees thereof we finde That whosoever continueth in the faith even in the furnace of affliction That groundeth his faith upon that eternall design of Gods glory That is setled in the faith by the constant observation and experience of the favour and loving kindness of God in Christ And is not moved away from the hope of the Gospel He may without any doubt assure himself That he is well rooted in Christ by Faith NOw in the second place if we desire to know whether we beplanted into Christ as trees of Righteousnesse we must consider whether we be full of Sap And this Sap is Love For as the Root draws fatness from the soyl and sends it through the body or the stem in the Sap to every Member Bough and Branch supplying every part with life and nourishment according to its place and property Insomuch that in the Root it may be called life In the Body nourishment In the
shine unto them As in the 2 Cor. 4 4. And well may the Apostle call it the glorious Gospel not onely in regard that it bringeth us unto glory or for that God is so much glorified thereby But principally because that whatsoever God purposed or performed In by or cencerning his said Gospel he did it altogether in relation to the advance of his immortall glory And in testimony of this truth I beseech you let us First consider this glorious Gospel in the Originall thereof even in this eternall covenant of grace concluded and agreed upon between God the Father and his onely begotten Son for and on the behalf of mankinde before the foundation of the world By vertue whereof we were elected and predestinated before the world began And we shall finde that in this great design the Lord did wholy aym at his own glory Blâ—ssed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ saith St. Paul who hath blessed us with all spirituall blessings in heavenly places in Christ According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that me should be holy and without blame before him in love Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his wil To the praise of the glory of his grace Ephes 1. 3 4 5 6. Secondly let us consider our redemption and see how that relateth to Gods glory The Son of God being about to suffer and so compleat the work of our Redemption Father save me from this hour saith he but for this cause came I unto this hour Father glorifie thy name glorifie thy name in the redemption of sinfull man even by the death of thine own sinless Son Then came there a voice from heaven saying I have both glorified it and will glorifie it again Jo. 12. 27 28. I have both glorified it from everlasting and I will glorifie it again to everlasting And excellent to this purpose is that of the Apostle Ye are bought with a price saith he therefore glorifie God in your body and in your Spirit which are Gods 1 Cor. 6. 20. Thirdly he created us for his glory Bring my Sons from farr saith the Lord and my Daughters from the ends of the earth even every one that is called by my name for I have created him for my glory Isa 43. 6 7. Fourthly it is for his glory that he preserveth us For my name sake will I defer mine anger and for my praise will I refrain for thee that I cut thee not off behold I have refined thee but not with silver I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction for mine own sake even for mine own sake will I do it for how should my name be polluted and I will not give my glory to another Isa 48. 9 10 11. Fifthly it is for his own glory that he calleth us Ye are a chosen generation a royal priesthoâ—d an holy nation a peculiar people that ye should set forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darknesse into this marvellous light 1 Pet. 2. 9. And whose offereth praise glorifieth me saith the Lord Psalm 50. 23. Sixthly he justifieth us for his own glory Thy people shall be all righteous they shall inherit the land for ever the branch of my planting the work of my hands that I may be glorified saith the same God Isa 50. 21. Seventhly he sanctifieth us for his own glory I am the true Vine saith the Son of God and my Father is the husband-man every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit John 15. 1 2. And in the 8. verse Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit And this I pray saith St. Paul that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgement That ye may approve things that are excellent that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ being filled with the fruits of righteousnesse which are by Jesus Christ unto the praise and glory of God Phil. 1. 9 10 11. And lastly it is for his glory that he saveth us Father saith our Lord Jesus Christ I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me Joh. 17. 24. And this shall he accomplish most compleatly when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe 2 Thes 1. 10. See here how infinitely the glory of God is interessed in all his Evangelical actions and concessions As namely in his Election Redemption Creation Preservation Vocation Justification Sanctification and Salvation of the Sons of men And doest thou want a sure ground for thy faith Cast away all execrable opinions of humane perfections and performances As truely as I live all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord saith Almighty God Numb 14. 21. Ingage thy Soul therefore boldly upon this eternal design of Gods glory with this assurance that it can never perish so long as the God of all power and glory is able to preserve it This I am confident is the soundest and the most substantial foundation that any Christian can build upon having its Warrant from the manifold wisdom of God Ground thy self therefore firmly thereupon and then doubt not but thou art well rooted in Christ by faith Thirdly to be setled in the faith is a very good argument that we are well rooted in Christ by faith To be setled that is to be confirmed or established in the faith according to that of this Apostle Col. 2. 7. And this is done chiefly by observation and experience Doest thou desire to be setled in the faith Observe Gods mercy and loving kindnesse towards thee Prospering thine honest endeavours in the works of thy lawfull calling blessing thee in thy person and in thy posterity providing for thy necessities preserving thee from thine enemies comforting thee in all thine afflictions delivering thee out of thy distresses and graciously answering thee in thy fervent prayers and supplications But especially consider what great things God hath done to thy Soul In weaning it from the world redeeming it from the bondage of sin and Satan Translating it from darknesse unto light supplying it with good motions and godly desires fixing it firmly upon thy Lord and Saviour And working it to the willing obedience of faith and love If thou shalt thus apply thy self to see the good hand of God upon thee and to feel the sweet influence of his holy Spirit within thee Thou shalt come to know God experimentally Thou shall know that thou knowest him According to that of the Apostle 1 John 2. 3. With Job Thou shalt know that thy Redeemer liveth Job 19. 25. With David thou shalt know that God favâ—ureth thee Psal 41.
made to rejoyce with great joy c. Nehe. 12. 43. At that time were some appointed over the chambers for the treasures for the offerings for the first fruits and for the tythes to gather into them out of the fields of the cities the portions of the law or appointed by the law for the Priests and Levites For Judah rejoyced for the Priests and for the Levites that waited verse 44. But especially the Ministery of the Gospel is to be rejoyced in As it is written How beautifull are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things Rom. 10. 15. And the ninth spiritual blessing is faith by which we are inabled to believe that these And all other Gospel mercies are treasured up for us and given out unto us in and by our Lord Jesus Christ whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory saith that Apostle 1 Pet. 1. 8. And St. Paul prayeth Now the God of all hope saith he fill you with all joy and peace in believing Rom. 15. 13. These are such Gospel mercies as are principally spiritual For they are either the assistants or the assurance or the substance of our spiritual and eternall happinesse And therefore much to be rejoyced in Those that are spirituallized are such things as are common in their own nature and do more eminently concern the pilgrimage of this our present life as being the providences and provisions pertaining thereunto And they may all be referred unto these two generall heads Namely Prosperity and Adversity These are the two large arms of providence with our God stretcheth over all his creatures And in both these the righteous man rejoyceth First his joy is more general As when the Object thereof is the prosperity of Gods Church according to that sweet incouragement Rejoyce ye with Jerusalem and be glad with her all ye that love her rejoyce for joy with her all ye that mourn for her that ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolation that ye may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory Isa 66. 10 11. Secondly the joy of the godly is more particular as when it reflecteth upon those things that do more properly conduce to their own private prosperity Such are their preservations and deliverances I will be glad and rejoyce in thy mercy for thou hast considered my trouble thou hast known my soul in adversities Thou hast not shut me up in the hand of the enemy thou hast set my feet in a large room saith the Prophet David unto the Lord Psal 31. 7 8. And in the 32 Psalm verse 7. Thou art my hiding place thou shalt preserve me from trouble thou shalt compasse me about with songs of deliverance saith the same sweet singer of Israel Secondly the succesfull return of their prayers is the cause of their joy or rejoycing Ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full saith our Lord and Saviour John 16. 24. But we have yet more particular and present Objects of our joy As first our wives live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the dayes of the life of thy vanity saith the Preacher Eccl. 9. 9. Secondly our children Thus Sara rejoyced in the child that God had given her Gen. 21. 6. Thirly our families and friends and all the good gifts of God Thou shult rejoyce in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee and unto thine house thou and the Levite and the stranger that is among you Deut. 26. 11. But you will say do not all men rejoyce in these necessary and convenient comforts of this life The Reprobate as well as the Righteous They do indeed but their affections differ as much as their profession or their practice The natural mans joy spends it self upon some supposed excellency in the Creatures As their usefulnesse their beauty their bravery their pleasure profit preferment or the like carnal cause of commendations Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the Kingdom by the might of my power and for the honour of my Majestie saith King Nebuchad-nezzar Dan. 4. 30. But they do not rejoyce in them as they are Gospel mercies gifts of grace for they scorne to own them as anothers purchace and they will have hold them and desire no favour But the spiritual man rejoyceth not so much in the goodnesse of the Creature as in the goodnesse of the Creator Not in the gift but in the giver He deriveth his interest in all good things from the just purchace of his Lord and Master He owns them as the blessings of his God and pledges of more large and lasting favours And he is carefull to dispose them to the glory of his Patron and Protectour He sees his God in all that he injoyes and so commends them to his gratefull Soul as Gospel mercies spiritualliz'd by grace But yet this spiritual joy is not compleat unlesse it smiles upon adversity What saith Job shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil Job 2. 10. Or shall we rejoyce in prosperity onely and shall we not rejoyce in adversity also Shall we bewayl Gods fatherly corrections Then surely 't is for want of exercise No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyons but grievous neverthelesse afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse to them that are exercised thereby Hebr. 12. 11. Verily it is Gods good pleasure to keep his Saints in the continual exercise of afflictions that so they may be able to run and not be weary and walk and not faint as Isa 40. 31. Thus he dealt with Paul and the rest of his Apostles Till Paul was able to take pleasure in infirmities in reproches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for Christs sake 2 Cor. 12. 10. And other of the Apostles to rejoyce That they were counted worthie to suffer shame for the name of Christ Acts 5. 41. Wherefore my brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations c. Ja. 1. 2. c. And the Apostle Peter Beloved think it not strange concerning the fierie tryal which is to trie you as though some strange thing hapned unto you But rejoice in as much as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings that when his glorie shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy 1 Pet. 4. 12 13. And thus the Saints afflictions become the objects of their joy as Gospel mercies And through these passages their joy becometh a joy unspeakable and full of glory as 1 Pet. 1. 8. And not a compleat or a full joy onely but fulnesse of joy as Psal 16. 11. These six attendants ordinarily live in the presence of our Lord Christ Jesus New Life true Light and sound Humility Gospel Assurance safe Peace compleat Joy Which
this we wait upon the Lord our God without repining murmuring or offence even in the greatest tryals or distresses Ye have heard of the patience of Job saith Saint James and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pitifull and of tender mercie Jam. 5. 11. This patience expecteth no reward but what the Lord is pleased to allow and she as willingly will wait his leisure for the performance of his gracious favour If we hope for that we see not then do we with patience wait for it saith St. Paul Rom. 8. 25. Be of good courage therefore and he shall strengthen your heart all ye that hope in the Lord as Psal 31. 24. I will not say but patience may miscarry And hope deferred may make the heart sick But this Patience of Hope in our Lord Jesus Christ who is the God of patience and of hope Rom. 15. 5 13. This verily is such a threefold cord as never can be broken And thus according to this patience we must continue and conclude the work begun by faith and laboured in by love For let this patience have her perfect work and ye shall be perfect and entire wanting nothing According to that of the Apostle Ja. 1. 4. And when our actions shall be undertaken by such a faith as onely respecteth Gods Commands and laboured in by such a love as onely affecteth Gods glory and continued by such a patience as onely expecteth Gods favour Then we may certainly assure our Souls they have brought forth the fruit of godlinesse And to confirm you further in this Rule I shall present you with some few examples Behold it first in father Abraham In that great work of offering up his son He undertakes it first by Gods command Gen. 22. 1 2. And therefore in the obedience of faith And Secondly his labour is of love of love to God For in comparison of that his love to God he loved not his Son his onely Son Thirdly his willingnesse did manifest his patience his patience of hope who against hope believed in hope saith the Apostle Rom. 4. 18. See it again in Josephs abstinence His Mistris courts him to commit a sin odious to God injurious to his Master and thereupon he could not but believe it was the minde of God he should refuse her Gen. 39. 7. 8. And here his love to God was evident How can I do this great wickednesse saith he and sin against God verse 9. And was it not a sign of Patience that he would rather suffer then accuse his lustfull Mistris or excuse his own abused innocency as verse 20. We likewise find this power of godlinesse in the three children as we use to call them In Shadrach Meshach and Abednego The king injoyns them to fall down and worship his golden image Dan. 3. 14 15. A thing quite opposite to Gods command Exod. 20. 4 5. And therefore in obedience to faith they disobey his heathenish injunction For they answered and said O Nebuchad-nezzar we are not carefull to answer thee in this matter our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thine hand O King But if not be it known unto thee O King that we will not serve thy gods nor worship thy golden image which thou hast set up Dan. 3. 16 17 18. In which reply it likewise may appear they loved God more deerly then their lives Nor is their patience lesse observable in that they went to their intended torture without recanting murmuring or repining As verse 21. Yet one example more and that from Paul The author of this Rule this Golden Chain and in relation to his Ministery unto the which he was commissionated by God in Christ Acts 9. 15 16. Which is yet more exactly set forth Act. 26. 15 c. And set his matchlesse love unto his Lord in his undaunted resolution Act. 20. 22. to 26. And with what patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ he suffered the afflictions of the Gospel it may most perfectly appear unto us in that he gloried in such tribulation We glorie in tribulation also saith he knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed c. Rom. 5. 3 4 5. Now these and every work of the like nature whether it be of doing or of suffering of speech of action or of abstinence begotten by God in the womb of faith and born unto God by the hand of love and nursed for God at the breast of patience This is the sweet fruit which the teeming Soul doth usually bring forth unto her husband to God in Christ her husband And therefore it may very well be called according unto Gods name Godlinesse or after Christs name Christianity I will not say that ever any man except the Son of God both God and Man did fully and exactly steer his course according unto these points But I say that he which failes in any one of these so far he falleth short of godlinesse And yet 't is not denied but he may be a godly man that oftentimes doth misse to shape his actions to these principles Provided that his heart be well disposed that his desires be orderly and good and his endeavours vigorous and constant A Ship at Sea may sometimes be becalm'd and sometimes weather-beaten by a storm so as she cannot keep a steady course Sometimes the winde may set so sore against her that you would think her sailing to a Coast far distant from the Port that she intendeth And yet the Pilot is a skilfull man and brings his Vessel to his wished Haven in a good hour Even so the precious Soul may sometimes want Divine assistance sometimes such a storm of strong temptations may circumvent her as may inforce her from her good desires or Satan in his malice may beset her with some such difficulties as may drive her far distant from the course of her endeavours And yet the body joyned with this Soul is a good godly person and so full both of the seed and fruit of godlinesse That he may lay a warrantable claim unto the title of eternal life as a joynt Heir with Jesus Christ his Lord through the obedience of faith and love by vertue of that Covenant of Grace For God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life FINIS The chief Heads contained in and pertaining unto this Copy of the Covenant of Grace  Page Page THe Covenanters 1. to 25. The Consideration 25. to 29. The Gift 29. to 38. The Provisoe 38. to 55. The Prevention 55. to 65. The Inheritance 65. to 93. Several Pretenders to the said Inheritance together with their Actions their Allegations and their Evidences 93. to 125. The right Heir discovered 125. to 133. His Evidence examined 133. to 200. His rich Plantation 200. to 243. His Souls affection 243. to 258. Her Profession 258. to 270. Her Inquisition 270. to 288. Her Confirmation 288. to 371. Her Satisfaction 371. to 388. Her gracious marriage 388. to 397. Her godly seed 397. ad finem Errata PAge 23. l. 3. r. in the wayes p. 54. l. 3. r. and of the gift p. 103. l. 6. r. of the Lord p. 14. l. 15. r. yet it p. 152. l. 11. r. me to do 193. l. 6. r. but in de p. 199. l. 16. r. such as p. 201. l. 4. r. find it in p. 204. l. 6 r. yet this p. 210. l. 4. r. strange flesh p. 206. l. 5. r. must not be p. 251. l. 13. r. Cant. ◠3. p. 298. l. 24. r. the praises due p. 270. l. 27. r. his prayer p. 271. l. 28. r. 1 King p. 277. l. 19. r. Son p. 281. l. 28. and 29. r. speak p. 283. l. 3. r. learns p. 284. l. 14. r. is leading p. 298. l. 4. r. if the. p. 301. l. 14. for intimated r imitated p. 302. l. 14. r. nor according p. 307. l. 6. r. this is p. 328. l. 13. r. Jo. 1. 29. p. 329. l. 21. r. and is in p. 346. l. 26. r. world lieth in p. 349. l. 2. r. drink wine p. 360. l. 8. r. Haman l. 17. r. or future p. 373. l. 15. r. wary Soul p. 381. l. 8. r. is the third p. 383. l. 19. r. and it is p. 408. l. 17. r. and see his