God intending to justifie the ungodly had provided for him a righteousness which is therefore called the righteousness of God and his soul was so taken with this discovery of the Love of God Rom. 1.17 and the Grace of Christ that he saith I felt my self presently new-born and seemed to my self to have entred into Paradise 3. Hence there is wrought in the soul an exclusive resolution to taâ—◠〈◊〉 other way to Life and Salvation but this alone because there is salvation in no other neither is there any other name given under Heaven and therefore he confines all his thoughts and hopes and expectation unto Christ alone and his eye is only upon him he counts all things else as dross he undervalues all duties and performances all hopes and possibilities in nature as things not worthy to be named the same day with the righteousness of Christ and therefore he is desirous to glorifie God in this way of his Son and to submit to the righteousness of God Rom. 10.3 If he had the righteousness of Angels offered to him to be his he would undervalue all for he saith as it is not proportionable to his necessity so it is infinitely short of that righteousness that was discovered unto him 2 Cor. 3.18 He doth behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord and therefore he takes up such a resolution as the Lepers did by which our Divines commonly ex◠〈◊〉 If we stay here we perish if we go into the city the famine is there therefore 〈…〉 the Syrians if they save us we shall live 2 King 7.3 4 and if they kill us we â—an but 〈◊〉 And 〈◊〉 those servants of Benhadad which is another instance used come with ropes about their necks cannot tell whether they shall be saved or hanged but yet they will go because they had heard that the Kings of Israel were merciful Kings And as the Prodigal son in the Gospel I will go to my Father for if I continue here â—ere is nothing but death to be expected So says the Soul if I continue in sin there is â—othing but Hell to be expected and if I fly to the merits of duties there is no comâ—ort and peace to be had they all say salvation is not in me therefore to him will I â—ook for with him is mercy and in him is plenteous redemption And this confineâ—ent of thoughts is not easie for in danger the heart of man is in a hurry Psal 38.10 and runs â—o and fro as a Merchant it is tossed to and fro as a Meteor and a man turns every stone and knocks at the door of every creature and is willing to seek help any way â—s we see in Temporal deliverances what a hard matter it is to be confined to God â—one the heart of man will be plodding ways for its own deliverance and cannot stand â—till to see the Salvation of God And as the heart of man seeks out many inventions â—n a way of committing sin so also in getting off the guilt and the burden of sin â—ut after once this discovery is made to the soul it shuts the eyes upon all things else â—nd now he is willing to part with all his own righteousness and duties and possibilities all his former rotten hopes and whatever before was gain to him and which he â—hought should have brought him in glory at the last and to trust perfectly in the â—race revealed in Christ Jesus whom he chuseth to rule and guide him for ever 4. There is put into the soul an instinct after union with Christ and it doth breath â—â—d gasp after him from day to day the desires of his soul and the soundings of his â—wels all of them run out this way that he might know him and be found in him â—â—ving found the pearl of great price Phil. 3. Cant. 5. he can have no peace in himself till he has bought 〈◊〉 and now his heart being thus touched with a Magnetick touch there is mirrh dropt 〈◊〉 at the hole of the door an impression is left upon his soul that it must go after him 〈◊〉 Elisha had upon him when Elijah cast his mantle upon him What have I done to thee â—ow he follows him from Ordinance to Ordinance now he crys for Wisdom now he â—igs for it now in all his duties he drives no more that low trade of satisfying a natural conscience and those poor and low aims of flesh but it is the merchandize of Wisdom trading for Christ in his Ordinances alone Prov. 3.15 now if God offer him a bribe of all the creatures and indeed with this many a false heart goes away satisfied if he may have but a quiet conscience if he may have plenty peace and ease to his flesh yet still this soul who has an instinct after Union says what is all this to me if I go Christless c. His soul makes after him as the stone to the center as that alone which is the fountain of his happiness and the end of his hopes 5. The Soul accepts of Christ upon his own terms and receives him its whole bent Joh. 1.12 and all the faculties of it open to embrace him and he saith Lift up your heads O ye gates that the King of Glory may come in Whereas before his will was desperately shut against him and Christ would have gathered him but he would not now his will is brought off and the man is made willing Rev. 22.17 For the Covenant between Christ and the Soul is a Matrimonial Covenant and Marriage lyes mainly in consent and now the Soul says He shall be my Lord and my God for ever And this consent to him is to take him with all his Offices as a King as well as a Priest and to take him with all his Graces with his Love and Meekness with his Patience Humility Self-denial for the whole train of these Graces come into the Soul with Christ as his attendants with all the relations of God and of his people the meanest Saint he will own as a brother or as a friend he will take Christ with all his inconveniencies with his Cross as well aâ— with his Crown and can truly say I am as willing if the Lord shall call to bear the one as the other as willing to die for him as live with him to suffer with him as to be glorified with him Christ though with reproach with poverty and with disgrace Christ and a prison Christ and a faggot is welcome he is willing to follow him without the gate bearing his reproach and that he might fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ And he can say when they come as good Ignatius did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now I begin to be a Disciple c. Psal 1â— 6. He gives up himself unto him and leaves himself with him The poor leaves himself with thee He gives up himself unto Christ and gives the Lord
as it is the misery of the Creatures to serve the lusts of men so it 's the curse upon the body to be an instrument to serve the lusts of the soul there is a fitness in it for the service of sin Rom. 6.13 They are weapons of unrighteousness As grace in the soul does fit the members that a man is prepared to every good work so does sin also prepare to every evil work The beam in the eye is but a part of the grown wood that is in the heart Davids's grace made his tongue as the pen of a ready writer and Doeg's sin made his tongue cut as a sharp razor There is a fitness in the members to evil there is a readiness and proneness in the members to sin as there is a backwardness in them to whatever is good Luk. 24.25 Slow of heart to believe and dull of hearing a heavy ear and a blindness So they are prone to evil the poison of asps is under their tongue they have it in a readiness and their feet are swift to shed blood very ready to be sent on such a message and imploy'd in such a business c. Moreover there is a greediness even in the members to sin 2 Pet. 2.14 They have eyes full of adultery that cannot cease to sin it was as a spring tide that over flowed all Act. 13.10 A facility to evil and they ran greedily after the error of Balaam Jude v. 11. They were as a swift dromedary c. All these expressing the readiness and greediness even of the body to be an instrument to the sin of the soul 3 There is an universal frustrating of all a mans labours Eccles 9.11 I saw under the Sun that the race is not to the swift nor the battel to the strong There is nothing that a man does shall prosper he shall reap no fruit of all his labour for he has but laboured for the wind Jer. 22.30 Write this man childless a man that shall not prosper in his days It 's the happiness of a godly man as in Joseph whatever he doth the Lord makes it to prosper But it 's the misery of a man under the curse that nothing he does shall prosper Psal 1. ult God turns their way upside down they hatch a Cockatrice egg and they weave a spiders web which never becomes a garment § 3. There is also a curse of God upon a man in reference to his name and reputation amongst men and that also in many Particulars 1 A man shall be famous for wickedness and for that get to himself a name which is a great curse upon a man Gen. 6.4 From those unlawful Marriages between the sons of God and the daughters of men there were born Giants which were in those days men of renown In sua truculentia celebres Par. it being an expression taken in the worse part for men notoriously wicked It 's an observation of Mr. Medes that from these Hell had its first and ancient name Prov. 21.16 The man that wanders out of the way of understanding shall remain in Câ—tu Gigantum in the congregation of Giants And Prov. 11.18 Her house inclines unto death and her paths ad Gigante to the Giants And so it had its name from these men that were the first eminent and famous inhabitants of it and yet in their life-time these were men of renown The same thing is too common in all ages men are famous as they do some eminent evil as Augustin says Pudet non esse impudentem it is a shame not to be impudent 2 When a man shall not have a name answerable to his desert Eccles 9.11 There shall not be favour to men of skill but folly is set in great dignity As Chap. 10.5 i. e. Men of weak abilities and low parts are advanced to great honour and rule in the Commonwealth and men of great ability and fit for publick Employment sit in a low place in a mean and obscure condition men of no note in the world those that no man look after servants are on horse-back men of servile parts and spirits that a man would look upon them as men ad mancipium nati born to vassalage and yet they are brought to great honour and Princes 〈◊〉 Princely spirits do lacky it on foot by them We read Eccles 9.14 There was a little 〈◊〉 and few men in it and there came a great King with an Army against it and besieg'd it but a poor wise man deliver'd it but he was rewarded with disgrace disrespect and forgetfulness no man regarded him Yea even the Saints of God of whom the world is not worthy yet they are counted the scum of all things and men do cast out their names as evil It was part of the sufferings of Christ the reproaches that he was loaden withal a part of the curse that he did undergo for us Psal 22.6 I am a worm and no man a reproach of men and despised of the people all they that see me laugh me to scorn they shoot out the lip and shake the head c. They say He is a Traytor a Drunkard a Conjurer and one that did cast out Devils by the power of Satan a Blasphemer c. All this is indeed to the godly turn'd into a blessing and addes to their glory but yet it is in it self a â—urse as all other afflictions are and a part of this death which is the curse of the Covenant 3 When a man has gotten to himself a name and honour and repute it proves his snare and he is lifted up by it Pulchrum est digito monstrari and it shall be said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Demosthenes and then the man is so exalted in himself that the earth cannot bear him Nebuchadnezar was come to be one of the greatest Monarchs of the Earth Isa 14.13 Thou hast said in thy heart I will ascend into Heaven I will exalt my Throne above the Stars of God c. and Ezech. 28.2 His heart was lifted up and he said I am a God and I sit in the seat of God yet thou art man and not God though thou set thy heart as the heart of God And Herod when the people exalted him in that blasphemous speech It 's the voice of God his heart was lifted up and the Angel smote him So I have read of a Doctor that read excellent Lectures concerning the two Natures of Christ and was much admired by his Auditors and then the blasphemy of his heart brake forth Quantum mihi debes Jesu c. How much dost thou owe unto me Jesus c. There is many a man whose head is very giddy by the wind of honour and he is as a Boat that is sunk by his own sail 4 When men have gotten great honour then shall they by some means or other blemish it and God will give them over to dishonourable lusts Eccles 10.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As a dead fly causes the
purchased possession Act. 20.18 whether it be in grace or glory and therefore Christ looks upon all graces and all priviledges as part of his due from God the Father and that they should be bestowed upon them for whom he laid down a price And therefore we read that though Christ while he was upon earth was a man of sorrows and had little comfort in this World yet he did take delight in this the fulfilling of the promises unto him in the conversion of Souls and perfecting Saints When the Woman of Samaria was converted he said Luk. 16.20 'T was his meat and drink to do the will of his father he rejoyced in spirit that souls were converted and that the mysteries of the Gospel were revealed unto babes And Joh. 11.15 when he called Lazarus from the Grave they said he is dead and he said I was glad for your sakes to this end that you might believe he rejoiceth that there was an opportunity to add unto their faith and that it might grow and increase one degree more It was the joy of his heart to see of the travel of his soul Isa 53. And there are three things that Christ hath respect unto herein 1 His sufferings past and therefore he doth in his intercession always sprinkle his blood before the mercy seat his blood is a speaking blood he hath laid down the price and therefore surely he expects the purchase 2 It is the joy of his heart now he is in Heaven to see the graces of his people grow and flourish it is the meat that he is said to seed upon as we see Cant. 5.2 I have mingled my wine with my milk and eat my honey c. and thou art the fairest amongst women thou hast ravished me with one of thine eyes c. It 's a joy to the Angels when a soul is converted and a joy to the Ministers the Angels upon earth when they grow in grace and stand fast in the faith And if the servants and children of the Bridegroom rejoyce in it how much doth the Bridegroom himself rejoyce in it 3 In reference to the glory that is to come at the day of Judgement he comes to be admired in his saints 1 Thes 1. and afterwards he doth present the Church unto God the Father which some conceive to be the giving up of his Kingdom that God may be all in all and he shall have an eternal glory that shall be reflexed upon him from the Saints who shall sing for ever hallelujah unto him who is the head and King of Saints Therefore all these promises are made first unto him and do principally belong unto him and he is most concerned in them that if they be not fulfilled he shall be the greatest loser by them lose his sufferings past and his delight for the present and his glory to come so that in the performance of them God hath a special respect to Christ and they belong unto us and are fulfilled unto us only as we are in Christ and no otherways 2. There is in these promises an active and a passive a giving and a receiving 1 They are made unto Christ as the giver and unto us only as those that must receive all things from him the Oil is poured first upon his head Isa 53. and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand of his fulness we receive grace for grace he hath given him power over-all flesh John Ephes 5. Heb. 12.2 that he may give eternal life unto those that are given him he gives repentance unto Israel and forgiveness of sins he washeth them and sanctifies them for he is the prince of life Act. 3.15 the author and the finisher of our faith the Captain of our salvation that in all things he may have the preheminence 2 The passive part of these belong unto the Saints but it is as they are one with him and as they have an interest in all this grace received by their head that it may by him be dispensed unto them for 1 Joh. 5.11 he hath laid up all their life in him for all the promises are made unto his seed though in a different order and in different respects some promises made formally to him and some promises fulfilled in his members Object 2 This will bring Christ under both Covenants for we heard before Gal. 4.4 that he came under the Covenant of works he was made under the Law and now this Doctrine doth bring him also under the Covenant of Grace Answ Indeed no meer man can stand under both Covenants Gal. 4. no more than he can be born of two Mothers The two Covenants are the two Mothers and a man can no more be under both Covenants than it 's possible for him to grow upon a double root to be a member of the first and at the same time to be a member of the second Adam But the Lord Jesus Christ came under both Covenants Tit. 1.2 2 Tim. 1.9 1 The Covenant of Grace was made with him from all eternity and therefore there is a promise made and eternal life given us before the World began and it was in this Covenant that Souls were given to Christ all that he should save and therefore he hath a Book of Life Rev. 13.8 Those that were given him in Covenant he took their names and upon this Covenant he did rejoyce in the habitable parts of the earth before there was either earth or inhabitant Prov. 8.31 And it was the Covenant of Grace that was first made and was first intended as being stablished between God and Christ before the World began as a Parent may make a Covenant or take a Lease in behalf of his Child before he is born or in being but this Covenant was not actually to take place it being a Covenant of reconciliation and in the hand of a Mediator till the first Covenant was broken and then comes in the manifestation of the second Covenant life and immortality being brought to light by the Gospel 2 But when this Covenant was to take place Christ finds all mankind under the Covenant of their Creation and that broken and they brought under the curse of it and now the Covenant of Grace cannot take place unless he will come under the first Covenant and thereby abolish it the sin against the first Covenant could never be pardoned unless he be made sin and the curse of the first Covenant could never be satisfied unless he be made a Curse and the Covenant it self never abolished for any unless he be made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law as a Covenant that they may be translated Gal. 4.5 Only there is this difference Christ being under both Covenants man was first under the Covenant of Works and Christ came in in the second place as our surety standing in our stead paying our debt and therefore he puts his name to our bond
by living in any sin destroy your own prayers And take not only the example of the Angels but the example of our Lord Christ the rule and pattern of holiness for you to walk by he is your Prince your Leader c. all manner of terms that note out exemplariness and require imitation and he was faithful in the Covenant made with God he doth for the active part of his obedience fulfill all righteousness and for the passive part he paid the utmost farthing though the Lord did hide his face and his enemies did rage and triumph over him it was the hour of the power of darkness and if the flesh did desire its own preservation yet the will of nature did give way unto the will of duty and He did drink up the Brook in the way Psal 110. ult that Torrent of Curses and wrath that lay between us and glory and therefore did lift up his head and he is now in Heaven as Gods servant and so shall be till the last day that he shall give up the Kingdom unto God the Father he is performing the remaining acts of his Office there and by his Spirit on Earth and by his presence and intercession in glory and all is that he might be a faithful High-Priest and able to save to the uttermost those that come unto him But we have yet a higher pattern and that is God the Father himself he is alwayes mindful of his Covenant Psal 111.5 Psal 9.34 Mic. 7.20 Ezech. 16.61 My Covenant I will not break for he is a faithful God and he will perform his truth to Jacob and his mercy unto Abraham as he has sworn in the days of old And the faithfulness of God is infinitely seen in this that the unfaithfulness of man cannot make the faithfulness of God of none effect Says the Lord I will give thee thy Sisters thy elder and thy younger Sister unto thee as Daughters but not by thy Covenant it is a promise that though they had by doing more wickedly justified the Gentile nations and he instances in Sodom and Samaria and therefore worse judgements should come upon them yet the time would come that the Lord would remember his Covenant that he had made with their Fathers and he would make them the Mother-Church and all the Gentile Churches and Nations should flow unto her and it shall come to pass that ten men out of all the Nations under Heaven should lay hold on the skirt of a Jew Zac. 8.23 but all this shall not be by thy Covenant sic non desciverant ut Deus esset liber Cal. and therefore it was not in reference to their keeping Covenant with God but in remembrance of Gods Covenant with them and therefore he refers them unto his faithfulness and not to theirs and therefore when they should see it they should be ashamed and put their mouths in the dust to think that the Lord should continue faithful unto those that had been so unfaithful every way to him as they had been 4. The people of God in this life do miss of many of the Promises of the second Covenant that they are not accomplished unto them because they do not walk exactly according to the rules of this Covenant therefore Psal 25.10 But the wayes of the Lord are mercy and truth unto them that keep his Covenant The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting unto them that fear him Psal 103.18 to such as keep his Covenant and think upon his Commandments to do them but else though they shall not fail of eternal mercy Christ is the surety that the Covenant shall not be broken yet there be many promises of the Covenant that in this life they shall never have accomplished to them 1 Sam. 2.29 saies the Lord I said thy House and the House of thy Fathers should stand before me for ever but now that be far from me saies the Lord for they that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed The promises of God are of two sorts 1 Some are absolute which God hath undertaken to perform of his own free grace not only citra meritum but also citra conditionem not only without merit but without all supposed or prerequired conditions in us As I will be your God I will give you my Son I will pour out my Spirit I will pardon your sins c. I will take away the heart of stone and give a heart of flesh these are absolute promises 2 There are conditional promises which shew what God will do upon such duties performed by the creature which are such as without Gods special grace he is never able to perform and these are made for the encouragement of men in a way of obedience but they do not alwaies promise the purpose of God to give the condition of the reward for as it is in Judgements there are some conditional threatnings which upon a change in the creature never come to pass Jer. 18.7 At what time saies God I speak against a nation to pluck up and destroy if that nation turn from their evil I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them and if I speak of a Nation or a Kingdom to build and plant it if it do evil in my sight I will repent of the good I would do unto them so it is in the conditional promises Novit Deus mutare decretum si tu non noveris em ndare delictum God knows how to change his declared promise if thou know not how to change thy sin which I conceive to be the meaning of all those places where God is said to break Covenant with his people Numb 14.34 You shall bear your iniquity even forty years and you shall know my breach of promise that is by woful experience you shall find what a misery it is to have such glorious promises made unto you but by reason of your unfaithfulness on your part they being conditional shall never be performed and so the Psalmist has it Psal 89.39 Thou hast made void the Covenant of thy servant all his posterity were cut off from this mercy and promise in this life because they disobeyed the word of the Lord and walked not in his Covenant c. and so Zach. 11.10 I will break my Covenant with them it is spoken of a national Covenant and casting off the Nations from being a Church or people unto himself wherein even the Saints must needs be deprived of many temporal promises of the Covenant because they did not walk stedfastly with God therein And if a man shall consider the example of the sufferings of many of the Saints as of Eli David Sampson and Solomon though they were beloved of God and in Covenant with him yet by their unfaithfulness in the Covenant how many temporal promises of the Covenant did they miss Faith is the condion of the Covenant Foederis pacti
have Gods inheritance is in them Eph. 1.18 and theirs is chiefly in God therefore Heaven is called the Kingdom of the Father in this life it is the Kingdom of Christ There is a progress and a regress of this Kingdom it is from the Father and returns unto the Father again 8. Christs great comfort in departing this life was that he should go to the Father If you loved me you would rejoyce Joh. 20.17 Joh. 14.28 Luk. 23.46 because I go to the Father this would make the thoughts of death sweet and the thoughts of Eternity desirable Christ at his death resigns his soul into the Fathers hand the people of God in this world are as it were orphans but they have a Father in Heaven and who would not make haste to him for your happiness and your home is in your fathers house Joh. 14.2 In my Fathers house are many mansions and Christ is gone before to prepare a place for you 1 Joh. 3.1 2. Now we are the sons of God but it appears not what we shall be that is adoptionis fructus nondum apparet It 's in our Fathers house that our portion is laid up therefore long for the adoption even the redemption of your bodies and in the mean while keep the truths that you have heard that you may continue in the Son and in the Father 1 Joh. 2 2◠2 Joh. 9. that you may have both the Father and the Son abide in their favour and their fellowship having once attained it keep the commandments of the Father and abide in his love as Christ the Son did Joh. 15.10 and the day will come that thou shalt shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of thy Father Concerning the relations of the Father under the second Covenant we are to take this general rule that in the same relation that he stands unto Christ in the same according to our place and station he stands unto us yet so as Christ in all things is to have the preheminence for that in all things must be reserved unto him Col. 1.18 and the ground of this rule is from that Joh. 20.17 I ascend unto my Father and your Father my God and your God This benefit the Saints have by their union with the Lord Jesus Christ that they not only stand in many sweet and comfortable relations unto him but through him in their own sphere they stand in the same relation unto God the Father together with him § 2. The second relation of the Father unto Christ is that he is Christs King and his Lord 1 Cor. 11.3 The head of Christ is God the head of every man is Christ 1 Cor. 11.3 and the head of the woman is the man It 's not spoken of Christ ratione naturae in regard of his nature for he is God equal with the Father and he counts his equality no robbery he takes but what is his own but ratione oeconomiae in respect of his office that he has undertaken by the appointment of the Father Now how is the Father the head of Christ as Christ is the head of the Church and the man of the woman that is in respect of the guidance and government he has over us and so Christ is the Churches head is called the Churches King and it is usual in the Hebrew to call Princes heads of the people Num. 14.4 Let us make us a head and return into Egypt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a prince a ruler Judg. 11.8 They said unto Jephtath Be thou our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead be thou our King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hos 1.11 it 's spoken of the conversion of the Jews after they were called Loammi and therefore it 's not yet come they shall appoint unto themselves one head Ezech. 37.24 David my servant shall be King over them and David my servant shall be their Prince for ever it 's spoken of their chusing Christ to be their King and their glory in the day when the Lord shall raise up the Tabernacle of David that is fallen down So here by Head is meant that the Father is Christs King and he doth rule him as a King in the whole work of his Mediatorship and he is Christs Lord so he himself doth call him Psal 16.2 It 's the speech of Christ as appears by the whole Psalm and he saith unto Jehovah Thou art my Lord Adonai Now in this relation the Father also stands to all those that are Saints and members of Christ he is their Lord and their King also Mat. 22.1 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king that made a marriage for his son God the Father is the King Mat. 22.1 Christ the Son is the Bridegroom the Elect of God is the Spouse the Lambs wife their marriage is their union with Christ and the marriage-feast are the Ordinances unto which the guests were by his servants invited and of how great consequence this is we shall see in the person of Christ himself as God the Father is his Lord and King 1 He doth give unto Christ a Law as he is his Lord and King for God the Father is the great Law-giver Christ doth nothing but as the Fathers subject and in obedience unto him so Esay 42.1 he is called but the Fathers servant and he does only the Fathers business Luk. 2.49 and he receives a Law from him Joh. 10.18 This commandment have I received of my Father this law is in the middle of my bowels and it was a law commanding him to lay down his life for his people and so do the Saints for Christ is God the Fathers King Psal 2.1 1 Because he receives his government from him he it was that did anoint him and set him up he did receive his Kingdom from the Ancient of days Dan. 7.14 2 He hath from him the laws and rules of his government for he says I came not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me therefore all the laws that he gives they are no other than those he has received from the Father 3 For the ends of his government they are also prescribed him For I seek not mine own glory but the glory of him that sent me Now it 's a happiness for any people to have a wise and a righteous Law-giver and this is a comfort and an honour to the Saints that they have Christ their King and the law that he has given them is a royal Law Jam. 2.8 much more should the Saints rejoyce in this that he that is Christs King and Lord is their Lord also and he that is Christs Law-giver is also theirs the subjection of the Angels should be enough unto a man that he should be brought into subjection but much more we should be content to receive the law at his mouth and rejoyce in it when he is unto Christ himself a Lord and a Law-giver 2 As he is King and Lord
to him and consent to perform all acts towards him as God ibid. Those who are out of Covenant are very miserable Pag. 261 262 The baseness and unworthiness of a mans spirit is seen in nothing so much as in taking any thing for a God ib. It is more to lose God than all other blessings ibid. He that hath not the Lord for his God shall surely have him for his enemy Pag. 263 Those who have God to be their God are a happy people for he is a perfect proper and eternal Good ib. Interest in God is the ground of all the great things God hath done and will do for his people ib. A man may know he hath Jehovah for his God 1 If he hath chosen him for his God 2 If he hath no other God 3 If he exercise all those acts of Soul towards him as becomes a God Pag. 265 God hath made over all his Attributes unto the â—â—ints Pag. 266 That God should thus do is peculiar to the second covenant Pag. 268 Vnder this covenant there is a fuller and more glorious discovery of all Gods attributes than under the first ib. The manner how God makes over all his attributes unto his people Pag. 269 The end for which God hath in covenant made over all his Attributes unto his people Pag. 271 The Attributes of God made over to his people is a glorious Inheritance 274 When God takes away the Creature from his people they should retire to him as their portion Pag. 278 Those that have an interest in the attributes of God should not give place to carnal fear ibid. The wicked shall never prevail against the Saints because all the attributes of God are engaged for them Pag. 280 Saints should exercise Faith in every Attribute Pag. 281 Such a Priviledge should raise an holy greatness of mind in the Saints above all their fear and dangers Pag. 282 Saints should get a resemblance of every attribute stampt upon their hearts ib. CHAP. III. The Beatifick Vision of Gods Essence explicated and applyed All the happiness Saints shall have in glory is nothing else but that which is here made over to them in the Promises Pag. 283 Saints have a threefold title to Heaven 1 In its Purchase 2 In the Promises 3 In its first-fruits Pag. 284 The Portion of the Saints lyes in the very Essence of God ibid. God becomes the Happiness of his people by way of Vision Pag. 286 The Nature and Properties of this Vision We see God 1 In all his positive excellencies 2 Immediately and intuitively 3 As our own 4 We see our selves in God 5 All things that concern our selves in God 6 This Vision shall be everlasting ibid. Eternal Happiness consists in Vision of God 1 Because this is the Only way agreeable to the rational Nature 2 Because the essential part of Glory consists in Contemplation 3 Because the Vnderstanding is the leading faculty Pag. 288 The Essence of God in Glory cannot be seen with bodily eyes proved by Scripture and Reason Pag. 290 There is an Intellectual Vision of God ibid. Though Saints shall see God in his Essence yet they shall not see the Essence of God unto perfection Pag. 291 The Vision of Gods Essence makes the Creature happy 1 In that thereby there is a full and perfect accomplishment of all the Promises And 2 of the whole purchase of Christ 3 Then God shall be all in all 4 Our Sanctification shall then be perfect 5 Our Communion shall be perfect and 6 There shall be fulness of Fruition Pag. 291 The folly and misery of all who place their happiness in any thing else but God Pag. 293 Our hearts and thoughts should rise unto this height to seek God for himself and to be satisfied with nothing else Pag. 299 CHAP. IV. In the Covenant of Grace God makes over all the Persons in the Trinity When God promises to be the God of his People he makes over to them in Covenant all the Persons in the Divine Nature as appears 1 From their having all given themselves 2 From the Vnion a Saint hath with them all 3 From the distinct communion of the Saints with them all 4 From the distinct Acts and Offices which they have undertaken for the good of the Saints 5 When the Saints come to Glory their communion with all shall be perfected Pag. 301 The Reasons why all the Persons are so made over 1 That our Happiness might appear to consist in the vision and fruition of them all 2 That the Soul may honour them distinctly 3 That in this life distinct Acts of faith may be exercised upon them all 4 That we may honour them in our Prayers distinctly 5 That we may have a distinct fellowship and communion with them all 6 That we may draw Arguments unto Duty and against Sin from them all Pag. 304 God the Father makes over himself in covenant unto the Saints as he is the Father with which Relation they are greatly affected Pag. 306 The Actions that the Father hath undertaken in this Covenant are some before time and some after Pag. 309 Those before time are 1 A purpose to glorifie himself in the Son 2 To glorifie the Son in the Saints that he might make him the Head both of Angels and men 3 To glorifie the Elect which he chose to himself out of both 4 The Father made motion to Christ 5 He proposed it to him by way of a covevenant In which 6 He appointed what glory Christ should have and what the Saints 7 He appointed the souls he should save 8 And what degrees of grace and glory they should have here and hereafter ibid. Those acts that take place in time are 1. Such as concern Christ as 1 That in the fulness of time he should be sent into the world 2 He commands him to undertake the actual administration of all things 3 He prepared the nature Christ was to assume 4 He filled it with all habitual grace 5 Then he sent him into the world and owned him to be his Son 6 He appointed how long he should live in the world 7 He becomes his Executioner 8 Being satisfied by his Sacrifice he raises him from the dead 9 He exalts him above Principalities and Powers 10 Gives him the fulness of the Spirit 11 Puts him into actual administration of his government as he is man Pag. 311 2. They are such acts as more immediately respect the Saints As 1 Vocation 2 Reconciliation 3 Justification 4 Adoption 5 Acceptation with God 6 Communion with him Pag. 315 The Father having made over himself in covenant to his people they have an interest in all the relations of the Father to Christ 1 He is their Father 2 He loves them as children 3 He acquaints them with his secrets 4 He delights in them 5 Holds communion with them 6 Hears their prayers 7 Gives them an inheritance 8 When they die they go to the Father Pag. 317 As the Father
their much speaking and stand upon their justification I fast twice in the week and pay tythe of all that I possess says the Pharisee The Apostle Rom. 9.31 says They followed after the righteousness of the Law by their own performance of the works of the Law And to this end because they could not rise up to the spirituality of the Law they did therefore bring down the Law by their interpretation unto their own obedience and all was to make their own righteousness available for justification Therefore Paul saith Concerning the righteousness of the Law blameless Phil. 3. The young man says All these have I kept from my youth Therefore the Papists teach That men may perfectly fulfill the Law Bellar. de Justific l. 2. c. 2 3. and do also some works of Supererogation over and above the Law that the formal cause of Justification is inherent righteousness though Christs righteousness is the meritorious cause Christ having merited that our righteousness may justifie c. And though not works by nature yet by Grace even Faith it self as a work is that which God accepts being performed by us instead of all the righteousness required in the Moral Law These and many more are the ways by which men seek to establish their own righteousness in matter of Justification 2 As for Salvation also All men would be working and doing something for Heaven Good Master what shall I do to inherit eternal life What shall we do to work the works of God Joh. 6. They were all upon a way of doing they did expect a reward for all They had a high esteem of their own services and therefore they did boast themselves and glory in them it 's the law of saith only excludes boasting Rom. 3.27 The Creature being sinful is lifted up by works proud of a little God knows And therefore Jehu says Come see my zeal for the Lord of hosts and there is nothing in the world that the pride of man will appear more in than in righteousness for pride is an overweening apprehension of a mans own excellency and the higher the excellency the greater the pride Rom. 7.9 I was alive says Paul without the Law alive in performances and alive in presumptions he thought he had done much for God and therefore his zeal did rise to a madness in persecuting of the Church It 's a hard matter for a man to be a painful Preacher a zealous professor a faithful Statesman or a man that has laid out himself for the publick any way but his heart will swell with privy pride therein yea even though he do profess to despise and to disesteem the praise of men § 3. But now more particularly so far as any man does not submit unto the righteousness and the grace of the second Covenant so far he manifests his desire to be still under the first Covenant but all men by nature refuse to submit to the righteousness and the offers of the second Covenant and therefore they desire to continue under the first The Scripture speaks of mens actions and dispositions many times interpretatively not as they are in the intention of the sinner but as they are in truth and in the interpretation of God Prov. 8. ult Men are said to love death all those that hate wisdom and despise Christ and live without him love death Now men will all say that they do hate death but yet in Gods interpretation they hating the only way and means to life they do all of them love death So we read in Ezech. 8.5 They did these abominations that I might go far from my sanctuary It was not their intention in so doing actually and formaliter but interpretative it was because they had set up an image of jealousie in the Sanctuary which would provoke God to remove and yet if they had been asked they would all have said they would by no means have the glory of the Lord to remove So men do not actually desire to be under the first Covenant but yet so long as they reject the offers and the grace of the second so long in Gods interpretation they do desire to be under the Law still and their rejection of the better Covenant offered argues they like and love that under which they are and reject the righteousness of God which is the same which is called the righteousness of Christ and the righteousness of faith as the Apostle says Phil. 3.9 Not having my own righteousness which is of the law but the righteousness which is of God by faith And it 's called the righteousness of God partly because it is found out by God and by God only imputed and therefore is only an act of free grace whereby God will make a sinner righteous before him Rom. 1.17 and partly because Christ offered himself by the eternal spirit without spot to God which is his own Divine nature and so unto all the actions and the sufferings of his Humanity the Godhead gave an efficacy and an excellency even from his person they being all the actions and sufferings of him that was both God and Man And unto this righteousness men through the pride and unbelief of their spirits and contrariety to the Gospel will not submit They have not subjected themselves unto the righteousness of God 1. All a man's sins do stand out and will not submit to the righteousness of God for whoever imbraces the offer of the second Covenant and the grace thereof must take Christ for Sanctification 1 Cor. 1. as well as for Justification for he is made both and he came with water and blood to answer those ways of legal purification and so he must come into every soul but above all sins a mans darling his right hand and his right eye must be parted with and therefore Christ says Joh. 5.44 How can you believe that seek honour one of another The power of any lust in the soul will keep it from believing and accepting of the grace and mercy that 's offered in the second Covenant And so through the power and dominion of sin men cannot submit to the righteousness of God And how miserably is many a man held in captivity this way we all see they are by the snares of darkness led captive by Satan at his will 2. All the gifts and abilities that are in a man are against it for faith is the highest self-denial 2 Cor. 8.2 and gifts do puff up and therefore not many wise are called The wisdom of this world is enmity against God and all their parts and learning their wisdom whether it be natural or acquired doth make them but the stronger enemies and set them the farther off from Christ Hab. 2.4 now this stands in the most direct opposition to faith for that soul that is lifted up his heart is not upright in him In troublesome times to have a mans heart born up by a fleshly prop
to convey the same nature and having transgressed his will being wicked it is a guilty cursed and forsaken nature that is conveyed unto all mankind from him they all sinning in him else corruption of nature might be their punishment but their sin it could never be 2. All Adams posterity comes under the Curse even they that never sinned themselves â—ctually and knowingly as Adam did after the similitude of Adams transgression even Children of a span-long Now the Curse is a Curse of the Covenant Death is a part of Juâ—tice and that must suppose sin upon the person upon whom it is inflicted and no man can â—ome under the curse of the Covenant who is not himself under the Covenant Now â—ad Adam stood Life should have been conveyed unto them and holiness but he falling â—in and death takes hold of them and the Scripture doth speak not only of death entring â—pon all but sin upon all and guilt Rom. 5.12 17 By one man sin entred into the world â—nd death by sin poena mediante reatu Thus if God will deal with a man in a Covenant-way it was necessary if they grow out â—f one common root that a Covenant be made with the first man for all his posterity and 〈◊〉 by Union they become guilty of this sin and come under the curse of the Covenant Now the Lord will have the grace and righteousness of the second Covenant conveyed the â—ame way by a second Adam a publick person Isa 9.6 that should stand in the stead of all his poâ—terity and become an everlasting Father and he will have Adam in all this to become â—he type of him that was to come Rom. 5.14 That as by one man sin entered into the world â—nd death by sin so by one man righteousness and life might enter by one Christ Jesus Reas 2 § 2. Herein our happiness lyes under the second Covenant that it is not made with us imâ—ediately but made with him who is the common head the second Adam and with us in â—â—e second place as we are one with him and no otherwise 1 Herein consists the chief â—â—nour and glory of this Covenant beyond the first because it is made with a more gloriâ—â— head and therefore though the first Covenant had much glory in it yet the second â—â—h far exceed in glory for the first man was but of the earth earthly and the second 〈◊〉 was the Lord from Heaven heavenly 2. And hence it is that the Covenant is sure and everlasting and an unchangeable Covenant because made with an unchangeable head and grounded upon an everlasting righteousness and therefore Rom. 4 it is of Faith that it might be sure 2 Sam. 23. because that makes us one with him with whom the Covenant is established and in whom all the promiâ—es of it are yea and Amen So that it being made with him and he being the surety of it â—nd we one with him it can never fail 3. Hence it is also an Ordered Covenant Heb. 9.12 Lu. 9.24 and therein David takes a great deal of comâ—ort that the mercies of it were the sure mercies of David How Because his Covenant was ordered in all things and sure That as the first Adam in the Covenant of works entred â—nto a Covenant in an order not only for himself but for all his posterity also but so as he himself was primus faederatus and all mankind in him So is Jesus Christ also and the Covenant made first with him and then with all his posterity in him so that it is in the mercies of the Covenant as it is said of the resurrection of the dead all shall rise but every man in his own order first Christ then they that are Christs at his coming c. So it is here all the people of God are in Covenant with him and they are all his Covenant people for all that are in Christ are Abrahams seed but yet every man in his own order first Christ and then they that are in Christ by reason of their Union and no small part of our happiness and comfort comes in this way from the order of the Covenant as will appear afterward if ever we come to handle this property of the Covenant of Grace Reas 3 § 3. Supposing man to be a sinner God cannot enter into Covenant with him immediately any more unless we do suppose that the Lord should forfeit the truth of his threatning and so deny himself for he said Gen. 2.17 The day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye Now while this stands in force against a man God cannot deal with him in any way but to destroy him therefore if he will bring in a second Covenant that must be a Covenant of mercy and reconciliation and in that there must be satisfaction to God as well as sanctification of man the sin must be sent to Hell as well as the sinner to Heaven Now this satisfaction man of himself can never give it cost more to redeem his Soul than if he had offered thousands of Rams and ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl or his first-born for his transgression and the fruit of his Body for the sin of his Soul as Mich. 6.6 7. But we cannot be redeemed by corruptible things and therefore if God will have satisfaction answerable unto the wrong the creature has done him it cannot be had from any creature wherefore he finds out one that is able to bear it one that is mighty the man of his right-hand that he should be made sin and become a curse And how doth the satisfaction that Christ gives to the Lord become ours It can be no other way but by Union and this union must be 1 Natural he must take upon him our nature for our debt was a debt of body and soul to be offered as a sacrifice unto the wrath of God And therefore it is said Heb. 2.1 He that sanctifies and they that are sanctified are both of one He must take our nature and in that nature suffer as being one with us for without shedding of blood there is no remission 2 Voluntary and by consent he becoming our surety and so under our Covenant putting his name into our bond Gal. 4.4 and voluntary on our part accepting of him as our surety and consenting to his Covenant and the terms of the agreement and the consent of the Judge to whom the debt was due and against whom the offence was committed Sin must be condemned by the ordination of the Judge and the Surety must accept and submit to what was required of him in order to a satisfaction and the consent and approbation of the delinquent also and by this is the Union made up and all that Christ hath done becomes ours And thus as man is a sinner God cannot enter into Covenant with him immediately but it must be a Covenant in the hand of a Mediator which can be no otherwise but as we are one with him and consent
given Isa 9.6 And Rom. 5. Herein was the love of Christ that when we were enemies he died for us And Joh. 17.19 For their sakes I sanctifie my self But yet it cannot be denied that the Lord did give glory unto Christ as that which he promised as a reward of his obedience only it was of Grace to appoint it and of Grace to accept it and so by consequence of Grace to reward it 7. And this will appear at the last day that all that Christ hath and doth is from free-grace because the Kingdom that he hath received he must give up then unto God the Father 1 Cor. 15.24 He did receive a Kingdom at the beginning and had a gracious manifestation of it when he did ascend up into Heaven All power is given him in Heaven and in Earth Dan. 7.14 and when the Persecuting Monarchies be taken down there shall be given him a Kingdom which shall not be destroyed but all this shall be given up to the Father at the last day Not that Christ shall cease as Mediator to be the Head of the Church and to have an influence into them in glory God doing all by a Head for I conceive that the Mystical Union is eternal as well as the Hypostatical and that a man under the Covenant of Grace shall never stand before God in his own righteousness to eternity but as he is justified by the righteousness of Christ now by a righteousness imputed so he shall ever be for as here he is accepted of God for his Masters Grace so he shall hereafter enter into his Masters joy but Christ shall give up the Church which is his Kingdom and the present manner of Government of it and shall lay it all down and make it appear before Men and Angels that whatever he hath done it has been as his Fathers servant to please him and to do his will and shall after the day of Judgement which is the last act of his Kingly Office give up his account to him which shall be giving up of the Kingdom to God that so God may be all in all that is have the glory not only of all the glory of the Saints but of all the glory of Christ also and have his Grace honoured as the fountain of all and it shall be manifested to all the world that even the merit of Christ is after a sort Gratia inviscerata Grace inviscerated the Kingdom shall so return unto God as it is now committed and appropriated unto Christ Joh. 5.22 c. The Father judgeth no man and yet Heb. 12.22 he is called God the Judge of all the Father judgeth in the Son but the Son is the person to whom the execution and dispensation of all judgement is committed now he rules his Church by the Ministry of the Word and Sacraments and the supplies of his Spirit by degrees perfecting his Image begun in his Members and by the sword of his mouth destroying his enemies and so he shall do till the Resurrection of the Dead and then after a sort this Kingdom shall cease he shall no more exercise the Office of a Mediator in compassionating defending and interceding for his Church and then this glory he shall publickly â—â—sign before Men and Angels into the hand of his Father as having done all as his servant and he himself as a part of that great Church of the first-born shall appear subject to the Father as having done all by his command and God shall be all in all and have the glory not only of the salvation of the Saints but of the exaltation of his Son also yet so as Christ shall reign for ever as God co equal with the Father and also as Mediator shall be the Head of the Church as glorified for ever Vse 1 § 3. Let us from hence learn that God is willing to be reconciled unto sinners and to exalt his Grace therein for he is first in the reconciliation the Covenant of reconciliation began in him his love had no motive or foundation but within it self he doth it freely and â—or his own sake from the beginning to the end from the foundation to the top-stone there â—s nothing that is primarily active in our Salvation but free-grace he has loved us freely â—hosen us freely freely given his Son freely accepted his obedience for us and imputed it â—o us it is his gift by grace freely given us his Spirit faith and repentance free Rom. 5.18 Phil. 1.29 Gods works are free Ephes 2.10 and Salvation free For by Grace we are saved through faith Tit. 3.5 Even when he does reward our obedience it is free Hos 10.12 We sow in righâ—eousness and reap in mercy The unbelief of a mans heart is in nothing more seen than in jeaâ—ous and suspicious thoughts of God and therein doth the enmity of a mans spirit appear when man distrusts him as an enemy now his intention is to be reconciled and he hath used the most effectual remedy sent his Son and committed unto us the Ministry of reconciliation it was a work that his heart was much in How did it please David when Joab made the motion of bringing home Absalom again because his heart went out to him So it is here could you read the heart of God you think it may be Christ is willing and that he is compassionate towards you but that the Father is hard to be reconciled and Christ hath much ado to plead with him and perswade him but I tell you God is in Christ reconciling the world Christ is a fruit of the Love of God to you Joh. 3.16 Christ doth but his Fathers will when he brings you unto God and his Father loves to have it so for the Father himself loves you be assured thy unworthiness cannot hinder him for he loves freely Cast thy soul upon this free-grace in the Son anchor thou upon this Rock and remember that all glory that is given to Christ and all acts done by him are to be to the glory of God the Father Phil. 2.10 11. It is required not only of the Saints that they close with the Grace of God conveyed by the Covenant but with that Grace that made the Covenant and is the foundation of it and say Here I will rest as the Lepers if free-grace save me I shall live if it will reject me I can but die it is free which way soever he deals with me there is not free-will in me that can make me differ Vse 2 2. How should this draw in our hearts to close with this Love and inflame them after the Lord There is nothing doth inflame the soul towards God but impressions and reflections of the love of God unto us 1 The great business of this Covenant is to win your Love not only that he may be reconciled unto you but that you may be reconciled unto him again 2 Consider what a grief it is to a man to lose his Love Love will be
judgement he went down to the grave as a guilty person but yet says Thou shalt not leave my soul in Hell under the power of death but wilt shew me the path of life 4 Of Justification He is near that justifies me he was justified in the spirit as he died as a publick person under our sins so he rose and when he arose he was justified and declared to be accepted by the Lord. 5 A promise of success Isa 53.10 The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand and by his knowledge he shall justifie many He shall build his Church the stone hewed out without hands and shall break the Mountains and the Images to pieces Zach. 6.12 he shall build the Temple of the Lord. 6 Of a seed He shall see his seed the word in Hebrew signifies a successive generation as the Stars of Heaven or the sand on the sea shore 7 Of glory Phil. 2.10 Heb. 2.7 He has a name above every name crowned with glory and honour and made the head over all things Eph. 1.20 21. and sits down at the right hand of God in glory 8 Of Victory The Lord will divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong He shall lead captivity captive Psal 110.1 1 Cor. 15.25 and shall raign till he has put all his enemies under his feet 9 Of a Kingdom and Government Joh. 5.22 Rev. 11.17 10 Of Worship Heb. 1.6 Phil. 2.10 Every knee shall bow to him And all these Promises the Lord confirmed by Oath to him There is a twofold Oath there is not only an Oath that God has sworn to us that we may have consolation but unto Christ also for he was made a Priest by an Oath Heb. 7.21 so that this Oath was in reference unto this great undertaking of the Priesthood 1 Christ does accept this Office that he may be the Fathers servant in it and he does promise obedience unto his Fathers will he did not glorifie himself in it Heb. 5.1 Joh. 10.18 Psal 4.7 8. Heb. 10.7 That all men may know that I love the Father 2 According to this Covenant he is careful to perform all as God the Fathers servant in all his Government in the world and to let no part of the will of God be undone 3 Upon all these Promises he does exercise faith for their accomplishment He is near that justifies me Joh. 12.49 and so when upon the Cross he crys out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Why is God called the God of Christ but by Covenant he takes a new Covenant-right unto God for us 4 Answerable unto this Covenant Christ doth follow God with Prayers that he may have the glory and the victory that the Lord promised him and that in the Covenant was made over to him before the World was Joh. 17.4 5. and that he might have all the glory that he now has in Heaven Phil. 2.4 Being sat down at the right hand of God where he is exalted by Covenant and is in constant expectation when his enemies shall be made his footstool and the Lord will never cease shaking and working in the World till the whole Covenant between God and Christ be fulfilled and the Mystery of God finished The Covenant of Grace is in the New Testament commonly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which does signifie both a Covenant and a Testament and it 's so commonly translated if we look upon it as a Covenant so Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sponsor or surety Heb. 7.22 and if we consider it as a Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 1.2 so Christ is appointed heir of all things of all the Promises in the behalf of his people that they are made first to him and to us in him 1. We shall consider Christ in this Covenant as the Surety and this very consideration of him as a Surety implys and concludes a Covenant The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by the Learned derived from striking or taking hands one with another as the manner was in making of Covenants in time past and to strike hands is an expression of a Covenant Prov. 22.26 Be not thou one of them that strike hands Prov. 6.1 2. If thou be surety for thy friend if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger thou art insnared with the words of thy mouth 2 Chron. 8. Prov. 11.22 Amicitiae soederis pactionem denotat And so it is said Though hand join in hand yet the wicked shall not go unpunished And therefore the Lord Christ by becoming a Surety did give his hand that is he did enter into Covenant with the Lord and so his name is put into our bond Gal. 4.4 5. he is said to be made under the Law and that as a Covenant and when the Apostle saith He is the Surety of a better Covenant whereas the main of Christs Suretiship refers unto the first Covenant the Covenant of Works broken and therefore in respect of our debt he is the Surety of the first Covenant yet the Apostle does not so express it but of the better Covenant because the commutation of the Person the bringing in of a Surety does properly belong unto the Covenant of Grace and it is a part of the Covenant of Grace that there should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Propitiation one to stand in our stead or to make satisfaction to the Justice of God for the breach of the Covenant of Works and therefore the whole Suretiship of Christ doth refer unto the Covenant of Grace of which his standing in our stead and paying our debt is a principal part 2. God is said in Scripture to be the God of Christ and Christ calls him not only his Father Mat. 26. but his God also My God my God why hast thou forsaken me He shall cry unto me Thou art my Father and my God Now one Person cannot be said to be the God of another the Father is not the God of the Son but the Father for the Godhead is equal in them both and the Son thinks it no robbery so to be therefore as he is the Son Joh. 20.17 the Father cannot be called his God but as he is Mediator and so that grand Promise I will be thy God is made to Christ as well as unto us Now how comes it to pass that God is the God of Christ it is by Donation and Stipulation the Lord bestows himself upon him and he doth accept of him to be his God in Covenant and so though as he is the second Person God is his Father yet as he is the Mediator and he comes into Covenant with him so he is his God and it is a new Covenant-right to God that Christ has taken as Mediator 3. We have a Seal set unto this Covenant made with Christ Sacraments are sealing Ordinances Rom. 4.11 and the great end of
Heaven we shall but enter into our Masters joy Thus every thing that concerns the Covenant belongs first unto him and then unto us and therefore we may safely conclude that the Covenant made with the Saints of Christ it is with Christ primarily and principally and with us at second hand 7. Lastly the great and principal respect that God hath in this Covenant is to him alone and unto us only as we are in him in all the transactions of the Covenant 1 In all the service that we tender unto God by vertue of this Covenant God doth not primarily respect it as it comes from us but as it comes from Christ as fruit in him Joh. 15.2 1 Pet. 2.5 as the Lord doth not meerly make that a ground for Christ says I do not say that I will pray the father for you Jo. 16.27 for the father himself loves you he would thereby pitch their faith upon another ground to assure them that the prayers he makes in our behalf are answered and that it is the love of the Father as well as the mediation of the Son but he loves them in him also and therefore respects their prayers principally as they do proceed out of the Angels hand 2 In all the mercies of the Covenant the primary respect is unto him and it is bestowed upon you only for his sake For thine own sake and for thy words sake 2 Sam. 7.21 Which Glassius and some others do apply unto Christ that Word of the Father though it may be meant as others do expound it for his own promise sake respecting his truth Mic. 7. last therefore Zach. 1.14 though they pray never so long Seventy years yet it is never accomplished till Christ prays and then the Lord answers the Angel with good words and comfortable words he is by and by zealous for Jerusalem And therefore Daniel says Dan. 9.17 Hear the prayer of thy servant cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate for the Lords sake Now if all things that concern the Covenant be in this manner made unto Christ primarily and unto us only as we are in him to him for his own sake and unto us only for his this doth plainly show that the Covenant of Grace though it be made with the Saints yet it is primarily and principally made with Christ § 2. Now we come to the Grounds why this Covenant must be made with Christ first and with us only as we are members of Christ and in him 1. Because the Covenant of Grace is a transcript of the eternal purpose of God in election and doth fully set forth the way how the ends of Gods electing love should be effected Now the ends of Gods electing love are 1 The praise of the glory of his Grace 2 The glory of his Son 3 The holiness and happiness of the Saints These ends are suitably accomplished by this Covenant Ephes 1.3 4 5. Ephes 1.3 4 5. He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ according as he has chosen us in him Here three things are observable 1 It is spoken of Christ as Mediator as God-man for in him we are blessed in him we are chosen but our blessings proceed from Christ as Mediator 2 The order of the election we are chosen in him that is in him as the head and therefore he is first elected as he is first beloved In whom I am well pleased well pleased with his people Matt. 3.17 all the members of Christ but first with Christ and with them only as they are in him and one with him 3 According to this order so are all the blessings of the Covenant of Grace dispensed for he hath blessed us in him as he hath chosen us in him according to the order of election such is the order also of benediction Now the blessing of the Covenant of Grace being only in pursuance of the Election of God the Order of God therein must be answerable to the Election which is first of Christ and afterwards of all the Saints of God in him It 's true there is but one Election as there is but one Covenant but yet there is an Order in Election as well as there is in the Covenant first Christ is elected and we in him as the Lord entred into Covenant first with him and with us in him as a head Here consider 1 that the great and the highest end of the counsel of God in Election next unto his own glory was the glory of his Son for this is the Order of God that the Father may be glorified in his Son and the Son glorified in the Saints and in the last day Christ shall be admired in them that believe 2 Thes 2.10 and that in the glory of Christ God the Father may be glorified and that God may be all in all when the Son also is subject to him Therefore they that make Christ to be chosen only in remedium peccati 1 Cor. 15. and bring him in only by accident for the reparation and restitution of man fallen I think entertain an opinion dishonourable to Christ and far below that great plot of God in Christs Election He is said to be the first-born of every creature Col. 1.15 which I conceive not to be spoken simply of Christ as God but as Mediator it is said before that he is the image of the invisible God If it be spoken of him as God then he is equally invisible with the Father but as Mediator in whom all the glorious Attributes of God do shine forth so he is the Image of God and so I conceive it to refer to the Election of Christ as being Jesus the first-born in the womb of Election the like unto that is Prov. 8.23 c. and in the first going forth in his Decrees towards the creature therefore Christ was first elected and the highest ends of God in the counsels of Election next unto the glory of himself was the glory of his Son 2 This glory of the Son he doth intend to accomplish two ways 1 He will in the fullest manner communicate himself to the Son he will in the highest way delight in him there could not be towards any creature the fullest communication and communion because all communion is founded in union and the higher the union the more glorious the communication Now between God and the creature there was a natural union as between the cause and the effect and there was a voluntary union by Covenant and answerable to these was the communication of God to the creature either ordine naturae or gratiae but yet there being a higher union this must make way for a higher communication and therefore God intending to communicate himself to his Son in the highest way he doth first in order priviledge him to be personally united to a created nature and in this nature he can take full delight which he could not do
grace as well as the righteousness must be in another as a middle person between God and Man by whom all must be bestowed 1. 1 Joh. 5.11 Joh. 3.34 Jo. 1.16 It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell 2. The Spirit could be received in its fullness from no other the Spirit without measure was in him 3 It could be derived by no other the fullness that we do all receive must be dispensed by daily and continued supplies from him Phil. 1.19 for in us it shall not be perfect in this life and who can dispense it but he that hath the Knowledge and Wisdom of a God and an eye over all the earth according to the condition and necessity of his people and he can give them out of himself suitable and seasonable supplies and though he be in Heaven he can be touched with our infirmities 4thly The Covenant must be made with Christ and with us in him because this makes much unto the Honour of Christ the Prince of the Covenant Christ is said to be Head of the Church Col. 1.18 Isa 28.16 John 15.1 Rev. 5.5 Col. 1.18 and he is not only a head of Influence but of Eminence and that in all things and therefore in Scripture all names of precedency and priority are given him in a building he is the foundation in a Tree he is the root nay he is the root of David and therefore David was by him David did not bear the root but the root him There was a double honour that God bestowed upon the first Adam 1 He was caput forense a legal Head as a Covenant was made with him and 2 Naturale a natural head as an Image was laid up in him Now we deny unto Christ one part of his glory unless we acknowledge him to be first in the Covenant a common head of representation as well as in receiving an Image for us Therefore Rom. 11.16 it is the honour of Abraham that the Covenant after a sort in reference unto his family began in him Mic. 7.20 but in this Abraham was but a Type and it must be fulfilled in Christ who was to be the Father of many Nations and in him all Nations should be blessed Isa 9.6 and is therefore called wonderful counseller everlasting father c. They all come under his Covenant as all the Saints did under Abrahams and therefore even the Gentiles also are called Abrahams seed Heb. 2. and so all that come under Christs Covenant are called his seed he shall see his seed and he shall at last day present them to God with this expression Here am I and the children thou hast given me 5thly This doth exceedingly advance the grace of the Second Covenant for God to enter into Covenant with man after his fall and breach of his first Covenant was a great mercy and to be taken into the same Covenant with Abraham was a great mercy but it is one of the highest mercies Isa 49.9 that Christ is given as a Covenant to stand under the same Covenant with the Son of God 1 Under all blessings whatever we receive we receive not apart from Christ but as one with him we are justified by his righteousness sanctified by his spirit receive his Image here and in Heaven we enter into our Masters joy all not apart from him but as one with him 2 All the blessings of the Covenant we may claim in Christs right by vertue of the Covenant made with him for us and therefore Joh. 20.17 Joh. 1.12 to as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe in his name And Dan. 9.17 For the Lords sake for the Covenant is the same between God and Christ that is between God and us 3 We perform all the duties of the Covenant as accepted in the person of Christ the Lord receives them all from the hand of Christ who is ingaged by Covenant to perform them Hos 14.8 In him is all our fruit found And therefore Joh. 15.2 it is bearing fruit in him and they are received as they come out of the Angels hand All our obedience is looked upon by God as the obedience of Christ and all our sufferings as the sufferings of Christ unto this day all our hope is in our head 6thly From the great inconveniences that must needs follow upon the Doctrine that the Covenant should be first made with us and Christ only come in but at second hand to make up our defects 1 Thereby Christ should in a great measure lose the glory of his headship for if it be an honour to Christ to be a Head by receiving an Image then it is an honour also first to receive a Covenant Col. 2.19 as it was of the first Adam It is as great a sin and therefore must needs be as dangerous a Doctrine to look unto our selves only for a Covenant as it is to look into our selves only for an Image 2 This will in a great measure take away the ground of our communion with Christ 1 Jo. 1.3 our fellowship is with him we have a communion with Christ in his righteousness priviledges and victories and the ground of this communion is only the Covenant We have communion with Adam in his sin and curse because the hand-writing of our Fathers is ours so the ground of our communion with Christ in his righteousness is as he is a representative head and as we come under his Covenant and therefore his obedience is ours his sufferings ours we suffered with him we died in him rise with him because we are under the same Covenant with him 3 In this does the stability of the Covenant of Grace lye it is an everlasting Covenant and unchangeable because it is made with an unchangeable head Adams Covenant and so that of the Angels was subject to change because the persons were changeable with whom the Covenant was made if the Covenant were primarily made with us then our unfaithfulness might break the Covenant as Adams did but our Image is not blotted out by our sins as Adams was because the fountain of it is not within us 1 Jo. 5.1 but in another and he hath said because I live you shall live so our unfaithfulness makes not the Covenant void because it is not made with us but with him and with us in him and because he keeps the Covenant it must needs remain sure to all the seed so that as our sins blot not out our Image so they break not the Covenant because Christ is the root and the head in the one as well as in the other and so it is every way more honourable for Christ and comfortable for us that the Covenant should be made with him and he be the person upon whom the principal ingagement should lye and upon us in the second place that so though we be unfaithful yet the Covenant may remain
by his own free and voluntary condescension We were first sin and he was made sin for us we a curse first and he made a curse for us so we were first under the Covenant of Works and he did freely subject himself to be made under the Law he took our nature that he might communicate his to us so he takes our Covenant and subjects himself to it that he might impart unto us his Covenant and bring that into the World But as for the Covenant of Grace it was made first with him and we come under this Covenant only by Union with him Gal. 3. las◠his voluntary union with us as our surety brought him under our Covenant and our voluntary union with him as our head brings us under his Covenant The curse came upon him by our Covenant which we were first in and the blessing comes upon us by vertue of his Covenant in which he was first SECT III. Christs Headship in the Covenant applied Vse 1 § 1. IT instructs us first to observe the rich and free Grace of God that hath given his Son as a Covenant to the Nations which mercy the Prophet Isaiah exalts Isa 42.6 To us a child is born to us a son is given and the giving of his person was the highest honour and the greatest gift but yet it will be more heightned in our thoughts if we consider the ends for which he is given and the glorious retinue of all grace that follows him For he is given as a head with a Covenant and an Image and we admire God that hath laid up all grace in Christ to dispense unto us that of his fulness we may receive grace for grace This is to give him but half of his glory as he is the Churches head and the second Adam for he doth bring a Covenant into the World as well as an Image and in this respect happily amongst others he is called the Angel of the Covenant 1st It is a free gift there are three things in a gift 1 It is not ex debito of debt God did not owe unto man a Covenant it was all free grace it was that made him enter into a Covenant at first barely to sweeten mans obedience and therefore that man might be willing to be bound to obey God himself is content to be bound to reward him But when man had broken the first Covenant and was perfidious before God now to enter into a second Covenant this makes the Grace of God the greater because otherwise he should have perished under the curse of the first 2 It is not ex pretio by price there is no price that did purchase the Covenant though all the benefits and blessings of the Covenant are purchased by Christ yet the Covenant it self is grounded only upon free grace and it is this Covenant that is the ground of all the acts of Christ and the acceptation of them all is grounded only upon free Grace in the Covenant and compact between him and his Father 3 Not ex merito of merit from any thing that we can do for there is not the least blessing in the second Covenant but it is of Grace and the reward is not reckoned of debt but of grace and if all the benefits of the Covenant be so much more the Covenant it self from whence comes all the grace we have to do any thing pleasing in the sight of God 2dly The greatness of the gift is seen in the love of the giver There was a love manifested in the first Covenant but yet it was not such by which he did intend that any of the Sons of men should be saved He has said That by the works of the law shall no man be justified and the inheritance is not by the law c. But the second Covenant did proceed from Gods electing love which is exactly suited thereunto for Ephes 1.3 4. he doth observe the same order in the benediction that he did in election And the more difficulties love breaks through the greater it is Cant. 8.7 Now our Covenant-breaking might provoke God to withdraw his love and yet the greatness of his love is seen in the duration of it The first Covenant was broken and thereby that love was turned into hatred and God became our enemy as common love will end in everlasting hatred but this is from his everlasting love and therefore it is an everlasting Covenant 3dly The greatness of it is seen in our necessity We were 1 under a Covenant broken and therefore under the curse of it 2 It was a Covenant without a Mediator for God could not enter into Covenant immediately with us being fallen as we have heard at large therefore there was in the first Covenant no commutation of the person we must answer for it in our own persons the soul that sins must dye 3 A Covenant that promises no spark of repentance 4 A Covenant that promises no mercy or acceptance upon repentance and therefore man had been left in a remediless condition even as the Devil at this day 2 Pet. 2.4 being bound in the chains of darkness 2 Pet. 2.4 which is nothing else but the curse of their Covenant Now in this condition it is the Gospel of Christ the Grace of God that brings salvation Tit. 2.11 Life and immortality is brought to light thereby 4thly Consider the excellency of this Covenant The first Covenant indeed is that under which the Angels stand by which they do injoy happiness and glory but this is the Covenant under which Christ stands of which he is the Glory the Prince the Messenger the Mediator of a better Covenant which the Angels admire and were it offered to them would change their Covenant and cast away their own righteousness that they might come under the Covenant of Grace by which Covenant the Saints enjoy all their happiness and glory in Heaven and have the promises of the life that now is and that which is to come 5thly That Christ is given as a Covenant doth heighten the promises thereof and make them of a far more glorious nature Rev. 21.7 than those under the first Covenant For I will be thy God and thou shalt have an interest in all that is in me for thy good as truly as it is mine for my own glory The promises are infinitely heightned because he that is the Prince of the Covenant was worthy and capable which no meer creature could be 6thly This makes the promises of it sure unto all the seed for with Christ God cannot break Covenant and there is nothing in this Covenant but is purchased as well as promised and the righteousness is everlasting sin can never spend it Heb. 7.22 Surety of a better testament A surety not only of the old Covenant to pay the debt but also of the new to perform the duty so that God expects all from him and accepts all as it doth proceed from his hand 2. This instructs
promise higher things the Lord to be your God and Christ to be your head your Husband his Spirit to be the guide of your way and also the earnest of your inheritance a higher Righteousness a higher Sonship a nearer Union a fuller Communion as the Spouse of Christ and as his Members and a more exceeding eternal weight of glory being rewarded not according unto the Covenant of man but according to the Covenant of Christ 3 Better promises because of their assurance and stability the promises of the first Covenant might come to an end and be swallowed up in the Curse as they were but the promises of the second are the sure mercies of David for the righteousness of it is an everlasting righteousness and therefore the promises are eternal promises 4 But there is one thing as great as any of these and that is they are all of them the promises made unto Christ and by vertue of the Covenant belong unto him 2 Cor. 1.20 In him are all the promises yea and Amen That is they are made unto him and they belong unto us and unto us are fulfilled only by vertue of our Union with him as we live in him and dye in him so we receive promises in him and this is the sweetness of all Gospel promises they do every one of them carry a man to the fountain of his interest and that brings into the Soul infinitely the more sweetness As if a Wife take a favour from her Husband and look no further there is not so much in it but yet in every favour she is carried back unto the Marriage Covenant which assures her not only of this but also of all others whatever is his she has a right to because of the Covenant past between them this is sweet to her And so here it brings into the Soul the sweetness of all the promises together with the present mercy As to a wicked man in Hell that hath the terrors of God upon him every evil doth carry him unto the fountain of it and that is to the anger and hatred of God and the curse of the Covenant that he hath broken and this imbitters his misery a Thousand times more for now the Soul saith this is but a pledge of infinitely more wrath So it is here every promise carries him to the fountain and that assuring him not only of this supply but whatever else he can stand in need of for in a mans interest in Christ is infinite more sweetness than in any blessing or benefit we receive by him Now when a man shall look upon this promise not only as sweet but as his inheritance as he is a Son of Abraham and an Heir of Promise it brings with it infinitely more sweetness than the promises of mercy it self abstractly and in it self injoyed 5. For all the duties and obedience to the Covenant And this is commonly the great affliction of the people of God the Gospel requires obedience as well as the Law and there is a Law of Christ to be kept and there is a yoak of Christ to be born and Christ that hath abolished the Law as a Covenant and a Curse has established the Law as a rule of Gospel obedience and hath therein made it a hand-maid to the Gospel and therefore the Law upon Mount Sinai was given in the hand of a Mediator Gal. 3.19 And how shall we be able to perform this duty by the power of inherent grace It is impossible 1 from the remainders of sin Rom. 7. There is a law in the members rebelling against the law of the mind and the fulfilling of the Law requires a holy nature as well as a holy life 2 From the imperfections of Grace Says the Apostle Paul Not that I have already attained not that I am already perfect c. And how then shall a man appear before God Now comes in the Covenant of Christ and of this Covenant he is a surety Heb. 7.22 not only to pay the debt that we did owe under the old Covenant but also to perform the duty that is required of me under the new and therefore the Lord did lay help on one that is mighty we should have failed Psal 89. for we could neither pay the debt of the one nor do the duty of the other therefore the Lord hath laid all upon Christ and will expect all of him and he must present us unto his Father as a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle and what imperfection soever there be in our duties he must offer them pure before God with his odours and all this is from the Covenant made with him In him is our fruit found Rev. 8.3 6. The stability of the Covenant can never fail it is an everlasting Covenant and sure mercy 1 Upon the faithfulness of God it 's confirmed with an Oath 2 From the obedience of Christ who hath performed all that is required in this Covenant 3 From the promise made unto him for the Oath is made first to Christ Heb. 7. Psal 110. and if the Lord could fail with you he could not fail with him There are Three things that amongst men are in a special manner noted as the acts of the highest injustice and wickedness 1 To keep back the hirelings wages 2 Not to fulfill the will of the dead 3 The cry of innocent blood going unrevenged and all these the Lord abhors in men and they shall not be found in him Now Christ is Gods hired servant and his reward is Heb. 9.15 16. to see the travail of his soul it is his last Will and Testament when he died that by means of his death they that are called might receive the promise and it 's a blood that speaks better things than the blood of Abel Adams Covenant did change because it was established with a mutable head And hence as the Lord doth make suppositions Isa 54.10 The Mountains may depart and the Hills remove if you can change the Covenant of the day and of the night then may the Covenant of my peace be broken And in assurance thereof the Saints do make supplications The Lord is our God we will not fear though the earth be removed and the mountains cast into the sea Psal 46.1 2. And the root of all the stability of the Covenant lyes in Christ the foundation of the Covenant 7. The acceptation that you find with God is grounded hereupon 2 Cor 5.9 We labour whether present or absent to be accepted of him and there is a double acceptation one of persons and the other of services 1 Of persons as we find Gen. 4.4 If thou dost well thou shalt be accepted says God offer it to thy Prince will he accept thy person 2 Of services Mal. 1. Heb. 12.28 They are acceptable services As God delights in the plagues of wicked men Psal 120. Coals of Juniper which burn sweetly and fiercely so in the services of the
Covenant there is an oath made by God the Father to Christ and there is an oath also made to us there is an oath made unto Christ and therefore he is said to be made a Priest by a Covenant oath Psal 110.4 and the oath to us Heb. 6.17 18. Who are heirs of promise that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie c. God having taken up unchangeable counsels concerning this Covenant he did therefore to shew the Immutability of his Counsel confirm it by an oath and being so engaged he cannot go back though that be true also because he is faithful and cannot deny himself Yet because his counsel was unchangeable and he did never intend to alter his Covenant for ever therefore he did swear that he might shew how much his heart was in it and that he did never intend to change it but his counsel in it was unchangeable And this Doctrine I do the rather pitch upon in opposition to the licentious tenent of the Antinomians from the former Doctrine The Covenant of grace is made with Christ and he has undertaken to perform all duties required of us and bear all the curse for us as he was our surety therefore say they all is required of Christ and nothing of us and so though we walk never so loosly and corruptly yet God will require all at his hands and while Christ doth not fail the Covenant on our part can never be broken Indeed this is a truth that God has laid help upon one that is mighty and he does expect all at Christs hand because he can never fail the Covenant cannot be broken for he is the surety thereof but yet we must remember withall that we come under the same Covenant with Christ and we in our place are bound unto the same obedience and so far as we come short we sin and may be charged with unfaithfulness before God though this shall never break the Covenant nor be imputed unto a man to his destruction because this Covenant has a surety yet as the Covenant with the first Adam bound all his posterity unto the same duty so does the Covenant made with the second Adam also only a man might have broken the first Covenant for himself though he could not break it for all mankind but under the second Covenant a man cannot break the Covenant for himself so as not to be capable of mercy upon repentance because the second Adam is the surety thereof 2. The Reasons why it was necessary that the Covenant of Grace should be made with all the faithful and not with Christ only as their head are Reason 1 1. To answer those great ends why God will deal with man in a Covenant way 1 The Lord will enter into Covenant that he may declare his glory not only in a way of goodness but in a way of faithfulness In the Creation the Lord did shew forth much power and wisdom and in the Law much holiness But there was no way to manifest his faithfulness Mic. 7.20 but by Covenant The Lord hath chosen you above all people that you might know that he is the Lord the faithful God And Rom. 15.8 9. there is the truth of God to the Jews herein manifested and the mercy of God to the Gentiles who were strangers and not before taken into Covenant so that it is hereby the Lord doth gloriously manifest an Attribute and that which shall manifest an Attribute must be no small matter and therefore when the Lord doth shew his power he doth create the Heavens and the Earth and lays the beams of his Chambers in the waters raiseth such a roof as the Heavens and lays such a foundation as the earth and settles it upon nothing if he will shew his love he will give his Son and if his grace he will pardon sin and if his holiness he will give a Law if his mercy to the vessels of mercy give them Heaven a kingdom of joy and glory and if his wrath he will make Hell So that whatever the Lord hath done in the world is for the manifestation of himself and that which shall make manifest any Attribute of God to the World must needs be some great thing It is only this entering into Covenant that hath manifested the faithfulness of God he had not been else known to be a faithful God unto the World as Exod. 3.6 says the Lord By the name Jehovah I was not known to them that is as a God fulfilling of the promises So by the name of a God faithful and true he had not been known but in reference to the Covenant and the faithfulness of God was so much the more manifested by this Had the Lord only entered into Covenant with Christ he keeping the Covenant and yielding obedience to it the faithfulness of God had not been put to that stress and trial as it hath been now that the Covenant is made with man and he unsteady therein and does transgress it and forget the Covenant of his God and yet that the Lord should towards him remember his holy Covenant still and our unfaithfulness not make the faithfulness of God of none effect and the people of God therefore notwithstanding all their unfaithfulness to cast themselves upon the Covenant of God and the promises thereof as David did 2 Sam. 23.5 and his words yet to be found as it were tryed words Psal 12.6 The words of the Lord are pure words tryed as silver seven times Psal 12.6 c. The fire that tries these words was that of affliction and when a man is brought into a streight and then casts himself upon a promise and thereby has experience of the truth and faithfulness of God therein then it is said to be tryed and all the people of God have had experience of it so often that there is no dross to be found in it no more than can be conceived to be in gold and silver purified seven times 2. The Lords intention was to honour man also and it 's one of the greatest and highest dignities that the Lord hath put upon his people Jer. 13.11 to bind them unto himself for a name and a glory and Deut. 26.18 19. the Lord did avouch them to be his people to make them high above all people and therefore the staff of beauty mentioned in Zach. 11.10 is the Covenant between God and his people I brake my staff of beauty that I might break my Covenant which I made with all the people c. and it is a Covenant of friendship a Covenant of marriage and in all this there is an honour and a kind of equality and it 's the ground of all the honour that the Lord doth put upon us for our union with Christ is grounded upon our Covenant with God Had the Lord taken Christ into Covenant with himself only he had indeed honoured his Son but not his Saints but now to make them
any one of them he may by consequence and by way of deduction conclude the Love of them all yet a man should expect to have it not only discursive but intuitive radio directo by a direct beam that a man may in Prayer from a principle of sealing cry to God Abba Father and may say I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine and so the Soul may walk in the Love of them all distinctly though not severally and the Soul is never able to triumph and make his boast of God till he has assurance of his interest in all the persons and in all these respects we see that the great grounds of a Christians comfort lye in his interest in the persons and therefore it 's no wonder if the great promises of the Covenant to a Christian be personal promises CHAP. II. The Covenant of Grace makes God to be our God SECT I. The Covenant of Grace makes God ours and the Benefits hereof § 1. LEt us come more particularly unto the words of the Promise in which the main of the Covenant lyes on Gods part for we have heard it 's unfolded in promises or to use the Apostles word established in Promises Hebr. 8.6 and these promises Musculus calls Caput foederis the Head of the Covenant the chief and the bottom promise on which the Covenant stands is this I will be thy God and Pareus calls it anima foederis the soul of the Covenant for it 's the principal promise of the Second Covenant as in our part of the Covenant there is one great Commandment Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart so there is in Gods part of the Covenant one great promise and that is that he will be our God and we shall be his people and therefore a great weight is to be laid upon it 1. For the opening of it we are to consider there are Two things to be distinctly considered in God 1. Essentia his Essence 2. Subsistentia his Subsistence 1. The Essence of God is but one pure and simple act of Being but yet cannot be comprehended as such by a finite understanding because it 's infinite therefore it is set forth unto us by several Attributes which though in God they be all one yet they are diversify'd according to the different objects upon which they are set and about which they are conversant and the different acts that they do put forth unto the Creatures and so when the Lord doth promise to be our God he doth make over unto the Creature by promise an interest in all the Attributes of the Essence and Divine Nature 2. In this Divine Nature there are three distinct subsistences 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word used by the Apostle Hebr. 1.3 and why we should be offended as some of late at the word Person by which it is expressed I know not but from the novelty and curiosity of this last Age There is in the God-head Father Son and Spirit and these Three are One. Joh. 5.7 Now when the Lord doth promise to be a God to his People he doth make over his whole self God in Essence according to all the Attributes of his Nature and God in Subsistence according unto all the persons or subsistences in the God-head and it is very necessary that as in point of obedience we take in the whole latitude and extent of the Law for the Commandment is exceeding broad so in point of Faith also that we take in the whole latitude and extent of the promises that as in the one our hearts and desires in obeying may answer God's in commanding so in the other our hearts and desires in believing may answer God's in promising 2. To be a God implies a sufficiency 1 It is a term of Sufficiency and so it is here Gen. 17.1 I am God all-sufficient he that is self-sufficient in himself is all-sufficient to his people What is there that can be necessary unto your happiness but it shall be had in me and therefore Psal 144. ult Blessed is the people whose God is Jehovah because in God there is an all-sufficiency that not only you shall have all happiness from him but you shall have all things in him so that as he is sufficient for himself of and from himself without going forth unto any other so shall you have all things in him immediately that you need look unto nothing else to make you happy for all the perfections of a God shall be yours 2 To be a God is a term of Soveraignty for he is the most high King of Kings and Lord of Lords Dan. 4.17 the most High rules in the Kingdoms of mortal men and he is God over all Rom. 9.5 blessed for evermore Therefore to be a mans God is to undertake the rule and government over him and to rule and govern all things for his good that they may be all unto him a blessing Eph. 1. v. ult that as Christ is made the head of all things for the Churches sake so will the Lord rule over all things for his peoples sake rule all as a God as truly for their good as for his own glory 3. It points also to the manner of the fulfilling of this promise it shall be as becomes a God and in the way of a God and so much also A Lapide hints upon the place Ero tuus tuorúmque Deus ut à vobis solus colar I will be the God of thee and thine that I may be worshipped by thee Now there are two ways by which a people employ their interest in God 1 by way of Communion they come unto God and they draw near to him which are terms of Communion 2 by way of Fruition their happiness is in him and he will be their portion and reward in the land of the living When the Lord casts off a people from being a Church to himself he will own them in ways of worship no more he doth express it so Hos 1.9 calls them Loammi they are not my people I will not be their God he does not say You shall not have the creatures to be yours as the fruits of my bounty you shall not have respite of torment as the fruits of my patience but yet when you have all things here below you shall not have me in them all in ways of communion here or of fruition hereafter Doctrine 2 The main intendment of God in the new Covenant is this That he may become the God of his people Every man that is brought into the new Covenant doth change his God Jer. 2.10 it 's said Pass over to the Isles of Chittim and send unto Kedar and see if there be such a thing has any nation changed their God It 's looked upon as a strange thing in the world and yet this is the condition of all those that come under the second Covenant and therefore as the great Commandment to a people
the Word has spoken of each person that we may be assured of that each person has undertaken for the Spirit of God knows the mind of God and the things of God and the Lord would never have spoken so of himself but that he would have us to look upon them as acts that the persons had each of them undertaken for the Elect and these we way build upon in the new Covenant that they have and will perform SECT II. The Actions undertaken by God the Father in this Covenant § 1. GOD the Father has spoken of himself distinctly and has taken upon himself some appropriated acts and hath in them made over himself unto the Saints for their consolation and salvation which we shall demonstrate unto you in these particulars 1. All things begin at God the Father he is first in order of working as he is in the order of subsisting he was the first Plotter and Mover in this great work of mans salvation for the Son saith He can do nothing of himself in it Joh. 5.19 but what he sees the Father do and therefore Luke 24.9 Christ calls it his Fathers business as though Solomon built the Temple yet the Platform was revealed unto David and by him was left unto his son so though Christ this Solomon was to build the Temple the man whose name is the Branch yet the Platform of all was laid by the Father and therefore he is in Scripture every where said to have the first and the great hand therein and I shall reduce these to two heads 1 The Actions that are undertaken by the Father 2 The Relations in which the Saints stand unto the Father 1. The Actions that according unto Scripture-acceptation the Father has undertaken and these are of two sorts 1 There are some acts that are eternal and before time 2 There are some that are done by the Father in time 1. The actions of the Father before all time and they are these 1 He did from Eternity purpose to glorifie himself in the Son for the Father will be glorified in the Son Phil. 2.11 The great end of all the acts of Christ and of all his life is this that every tongue might confess Joh. 14.13 That Jesus is the Lord unto the glory of God the Father for this is the highest way of glorifying the Father and therefore Christ knowing that to be the Fathers end that he might shew himself to be the Fathers servant he did aim at this end and it was always in his eye in all things that he did I seek not mine own glory but the glory of him that sent me Joh. 8.50 There is one that seeks not his own glory and therefore Heb. 1.2 3. he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the shining forth of the glory of the Father for his great aim was from Eternity to be glorified in his Son and therefore 1 Cor. 11.7 Christ is said to be the image and glory of God and the woman the mans glory the head of Christ is God Now glory is the manifestation and the shining forth of some supereminent and transcendent excellency And it was an argument of great excellency that was in man that all the creatures were created for man and put in subjection unto him but the highest honour of man was the woman who was created in the same nature having a reasonable soul as himself had and souls know no sexes being created after the same image and unto the same glory with himself and yet this glorious creature should be created for man and put in subjection unto man for the woman was created for the man so also God hath great glory by all his creatures for Prov. 16.4 He made all things for himself and he has a more special honour from the reasonable creatures the Angels and the Saints but yet the top and the highest of God the Fathers glory is that the Son who thought it no robbery to be equal with God in glory yet shall give up himself to the glory of the Father and this is a far greater glory than the Father has by all the creatures in Heaven and Earth And there is a double glory that the Father did seek by the Son 1 That the Son himself should give him glory should seek his glory in all things reflect all his own glory upon the Father and attribute all to him and be content to veil his own glory that the glory of the Father might appear 2 He has the glory of all that glory that is given to the Son by the Saints it 's all ultimately resolved into his glory who is the Father as all the promises of God in Christ are in him Yea 2 Cor. 1.29 and in him Amen unto the glory of God by us Phil. 2.11 All the confessions and acknowledgments that are made unto Christ do all of them redound unto the praise and glory of God for the more the Son is glorified the more it redounds unto the glory of the Father whose glory the Son seeks in all that he does and therefore in every respect the Father is glorified in the Son and this was the great plot that God made from everlasting 2 The Fathers purpose was to glorifie the Son in the Saints that he might make him the head of both the Creations of God 1 To them that stood so he is the head of all Principalities and Powers that they should all hold of him and so they should all honour the Son as they honour the Father Col. 2.10 and therefore it 's said Heb. 1.6 the Angels do worship him and so Angels are round about the Throne Rev. 5.11 The Father will receive glory from no creature but it shall be by the Son for the great glory of the Father we must still remember comes in by him and all the honour that they do unto the Son redounds unto God the Father 2 As for them that should fall as well as those that stood Joh. 5.23 Joh. 17.10 All men must honour the Son even as they honour the Father and he that honours not the Son honours not the Father and therefore Christ says All thine are mine and mine are thine I am glorified in them so that all the glory that the Son had its foundation was laid in the plot and purpose of the Father I speak of his manifestative glory as for his essential glory he had that from himself as he is God of himself and was therein equal with God and did no more receive his glory from another than he did his essence from another but having one and the same essence they must needs have one and the same glory but as for the glory that he hath amongst the creatures and from them all it 's from and by the plot of God the Father to this end was Christ the head of both Creations Esay 42.1 Eph. 1.4 3 The purpose of the Father was to glorifie the Elect
now are in prison who sometimes were disobedient in the days of Noah They were then men upon Earth but they are now Spirits in prison 5 He gave the Law and he did appoint and institute all those legal ways of worship and all those types and shadows of the Law which were but praeludia humanitatis preludes of the humanity that it might be represented unto the faith of his people as lively as might be till the fulness of time appointed by the Father was come Heb. 12.25 6 He it was that brought Israel into Canaan and planted them a Church there unto himself Esay 5.1 2. I will sing unto my well-beloved a song of my beloveds concerning his vineyard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is generally conceived to be a name given unto the Messiah and he had a vineyard in a fruitful Hill he fenced it and gathered out the stones planted it with the choicest Vine and built a Tower in the middle of it and made a Wine-press therein and all this is the act of him whom he doth call my Beloved 3. The Father did prepare the nature that Christ was to assume unto union with himself Heb. 10.5 Burnt offering hadst thou no pleasure in but a body hast thou prepared me he that called him to be a Sacrifice he did prepare a body c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by this is included the soul also that very individual nature though formed by the Holy Ghost yet according to the appointment of the Father Col. 2.9 for in him was the fulness of the Godhead bodily to dwell that is he was to take our nature thus prepared into a personal union with himself so that not only that Christ should take the nature of man but that very individual soul and body that he was to take was appointed and prepared by God the Father which he would have to be as a Sacrifice to himself and unto him he would give this grace of union that it should become one with the second Person in the Godhead 4. This very humane nature thus prepared by the Father and by the Son thus assumed the Father did fill with all habitual grace Col. 1.19 Col. 1.19 It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell the meaning is not only that he should have fulness of grace in himself but such a fulness also that he might convey and communicate unto us that all the fulness of the creatures should be derived from him Joh. 1.16 That of his fulness we may receive grace for grace he hath given us eternal life and this life is in his Son and he is therefore said to receive the Spirit without measure because he has the Spirit so as to fill all the Saints the Spirit so as to dispense the Spirit this cannot be spoken of Christ as God for so he cannot receive the Spirit and so he cannot receive grace but it 's spoken of him in reference to his humane nature which the Father prepared and anointed as he saith The Spirit of the Lord is upon me for the Lord hath anointed me he cannot be said to be anointed as God but as he is Mediator and therefore there is a double grace comes from the Father upon this nature of Christ a grace of Vnion and a grace of Vnction also so that though the Godhead of Christ were infinitely holy yet his Godhead doth not qualifie the humane nature but he being the Fathers servant and the grace that was to be dispensed was by the appointment of the Father therefore it is the Father that laid up this grace in the humane nature of Christ as in a common Treasury making him a second Adam that he might dispense it unto us 5. Having in this manner prepared him the Father did send him forth into the world and owned him before the world to be his Son at his Baptism Mat. 3. ult A voice came from Heaven saying This is my beloved Son and in his Transfiguration Mat. 17.5 it was again repeated and 2 Pet. 1.17 God the Father gave him glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased God the Father did declare him to be the Son of God with power partly by the doctrine that he preached for no man spake as he spake he spake of heavenly things as one that had seen them for he came down from Heaven as one that came out of the bosom of the Father and also by the Miracles that he wrought the Lord did give a testimony to him to be the Son of God by opening of the eyes of the blind healing the sick raising the dead c. So that the Father did eminently owne him to be his Son before all the world that men might believe in him which is a thing of mighty concernment to us and Heb. 1.6 when he brings his first begotten Son into the world he saith Let all the Angels of God worship him so that he is owned by the Father before men and Angels as the person that it was the design of the Father to set up as the Head of all Principalities and Powers for the happiness of his Saints and the glory of God the Father 6. The Father did appoint how long he should live upon earth and what death he should dye He was delivered by the determinate counsel of God and therefore Christ tells them Act. 2.23 My hour is not yet come and that is given as the reason why they that were so malicious had not seized upon him sooner it was because his hour and the power of darkness appointed by the Father was not yet come he was to dye a crucified death being made a curse for us for it 's written Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree Gal. 3.13 7. The Father also becomes Christs Executioner It is true sin did not only set God against us but all the creatures also and therefore Christ standing in our stead he shall have men to be his enemies and they shall seek to destroy him he shall be delivered into the hands of men and they will serve the turn to destroy his body but it is no more that they can do but it is the soul of man that was the great Traitor against God and men cannot reach the soul to afflict it therefore it pleased the Father to bruise him when he made his soul an offering for sin and therefore his great satisfaction being there his great purchase is made thereby for it is said He shall see of the travel of his soul which then mainly begun in the garden though it 's true all his life time he had been a man of sorrow but specially when he cryed out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. yet he had then some lucida intervalla but in the three hours darkness when he fought it out between God and him alone then the Lord did inlarge his faculties
because all the fulness of Christ he doth receive it from the Father Therefore whensoever we have recourse unto Christ for righteousness holiness and comforts and see him to live by the Father in all these and when we look up unto him who is our Head and see him exalted above all Principalities and Powers and that he lives by the power of God now say Christ lives by the power and the glory of the Father and the life that I live is by the faith of the Son of God 2 As by the Father he is made the fountain of life unto us for the Father did give eternal life unto us when he laid it up in the Son therefore it is said That they killed the Prince of life Joh. 5.11 Acts 3.25 as he is the King of Righteousness and the Prince of Peace it is said Moses was a man of peace but he could not command peace in the mutinous and murmuring people but if he had been a Prince of peace he could and so Christ as a Prince of life can convey life and dispense it Rev. 22.14 We having fallen and forfeited Paradise and the Tree of Life we were secluded from it Now God the Father hath appointed another Tree of Life which is the Lord Jesus Christ and he will give unto men a right or a priviledge to eat thereof also which they were formerly shut out of So that you see it is the Father that hath given him power to quicken whom he will to have life in himself and to give eternal life to as many as believe in him SECT IV. Our Covenant-Interest in Offices Acts and Relations of the Trinity applied Vse 1 § 1. HAving finished the doctrinal part and seen how God the Father makes over himself in the Covenant of Grace to the Saints for their portion lyes in God not only in the Attributes of the nature but in an interest in the persons also and we have an interest in all the actions that the Father appropriated whether they be eternal or in time and those whether terminated in Christ immediately or in us and we have seen how we have an interest in all the personal relations of the Father that in the same relations he stands to Christ in the same he stands to us also he is his Father and our Father his God and our God he is our Father our King our Friend our Husbandman and the Fountain of our life for he hath given us eternal life and this life is in his Son Now we come to apply all this to our selves and it shall be 1. for Information that so in so great a truth as this we may not be mistaken And here we are to consider 1 that a man hath interest in all the persons at once they all be given together a man hath not first an interest in the Father and then in the Son and then in the Spirit but having an interest in one he hath an interest in them all he that hath the Son hath the Father also he hath the Father and the Son Joh. 2.23 Joh. 2.9 And by this we may see what a glorious change there is in a man when he is converted and made one with Christ he hath an interest in all the Attributes of God It 's true that they do all act for him afterwards successively and according to a mans necessity at several times they work for his good sometimes an act of mercy is put forth for him sometimes an act of power sometimes wisdom sometimes patience but yet the soul comes to have an interest in them all at once and at the same time and when he is intitled to the one he is intitled to the other even to them all and so it is with the Persons also the title Believers have to them begins at once As a man hath interest in Christ the Mediator it 's true that Christ doth exercise all his Offices for his spiritual good successively and he is now to him a Priest to offer his Sacrifice and to bear his iniquity now he is a Prophet to teach him now he is a King to govern him and there are distinct acts of all these offices but yet the soul hath an interest in them all at once As it is in all grace it 's true that the graces of Gods Spirit do all of them act in their places 2 Pet. 1.5 for we are to add to our faith vertue and to our vertue knowledge c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is taken ab iis qui choros ducunt from such as lead the dance in which every one keeps his own place and acts his own part for grace brings the most glorious order into the soul that can be but yet all grace is wrought together even the whole new man is begotten at once And so for all the creatures of God it is true that they do all in their places act for the Saints the Stars in their courses do fight against Sisera but yet a man comes to have jus haereditarium an hereditary right to them all at once And this is the glory of the change at a mans first conversion which a man may admire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man that had before no interest in any Attribute of God in any person in the Godhead or any of the Offices of Christ or any grace of the Spirit or any promise of the Gospel or in any creature of God yet at once in the very same instant he comes to have a title unto all these that though all the promises be fulfilled by degrees and in their time yet the soul hath a title unto them all and that as true and as great as he shall have when he comes to Heaven 1 Cor. 13.10 11. for it is by the same title that he shall injoy Heaven for this is but our nonage and childhood yet a child hath the same title to the land his father left him as when he comes to be a man only he hath not the possession of it and so the title by which you shall injoy God for ever is begun in this life only there are two great changes you must pass through the first is conversion the second is death by the one the soul is intitled to his heavenly inheritance and by the other he is fully put into possession 2. Though the interest of Gods people begin at once in all the persons yet the Lord would have us take notice that there is a distinct interest in them all to be attained unto for the more distinct our apprehensions are the more glory we give unto God and the greater will our own comfort be God delights not in generalities neither in general confessions nor in general apprehensions or thanksgivings As it is in the Attributes of the Nature of God though a soul that hath an interest in God in Covenant hath a title to them all at once yet they are all of them as so many
draws virtue from all the objects of it Esa 66.11 It will suck and be satisfied with the breasts of consolation It 's true that we are now in a state of childhood 1 Cor. 13.12 our manhood is to come but yet there are breasts of consolation agreeable unto our condition as Christ cannot be touched by faith but virtue comes out of him Luke 8.46 there is a power and efficacy that goes out of him there is life to be drawn from the living Father and from the Son and from the Spirit a man can exercise no act of faith upon any of the objects of faith but he can find there is an influence that it hath upon the man that believes as it is in all the acts of Christ Phil. 3.9 10. so it is in this much more how should a man rejoyce to see the influence of each person upon his soul 4. There is also an act of resignation for faith hath two hands one to receive and the other to return I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine says the believing soul Cant. 6.3 a man doth as well give up himself to God as he doth receive an interest in God David says as well Lord I am thy servant as O Lord thou art my God and therefore a man should give up himself to the praise and glory of Father Son and Spirit for to be baptized in the name of them all is for a man to give up himself unto the obedience of them all there is a judging and reasoning also in faith says the Apostle Because we thus judge 2 Cor. 5.13 14. if one dyed for all then were all dead if the Father Son and Spirit give up themselves to work for our good and we have an interest in them all how much more should we give up our selves to be to the praise and glory of them all and still keep up the eye of our faith open to see the Lord making himself over to us and the ear of faith open to hear and receive the testimony that is given and be not indulgent to the unbelief doubtings and the misgiving of your own spirits receive the witness of God within you and having received a testimony of thy interest then triumph in God for there is a triumph of faith Eph. 1.3 blessed be God the Father by Christ who was rich in love loved me and gave himself for me glory be to the Father Son and Spirit § ◠Be much in exercising distinct acts of communion with all the persons seeing there is a distinct interest in them all we should labour for a distinct fellowship with them all The ground of all unions and relations amongst all rational creatures is that they might have a fellowship one with another by their interest one in another for their interest must be improved and exercised modo rationali in a rational way It is true that there are relationes aequiparantiae as well as disquiparantiae between inferiour and superiour and between equals but yet the end is communion in them both therefore the man and wife are made one flesh and therefore friends do become one heart and soul therefore in the Church the members do become one body 1 Cor. 12.12 13. as the body hath many members even so is Christs body We are baptized into one body and all is that they might by mutual consent enjoy a communion of Saints amongst themselves and for this cause we become one body with the Angels Eph. 1.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he might gather them all together under one head so that the Saints and the Angels do make but one glorious Church and therefore it is Bernards apprehension That God did elect as many men as should supply the places of the Angels that fell and they should be in Christ taken up into the same body with them in glory and therefore we are said to come to the innumerable company of Angels Heb. 12.23 and all that we might enjoy a communion with them and so much the words ascending and descending imply Joh. 1. ult and this is the end of our interest in Christ the Mediator and we are married to him that we might have fellowship with him and by this means we rise to an higher interest and that is in the Father Son and Spirit and this also is that we might have a distinct communion with them all § 4. Here we will consider 1 That there is a distinct Communion with them all that a Believer may and ought to have with all the persons grounded upon his interest in them all 2 Wherein this Communion doth consist and what are the actings of it 3 Give you some arguments that may perswade the people of God to be much in the improvement thereof that as you have a fellowship with Christ and with the Saints and you look upon that as sweet so you would not neglect this which is the highest fellowship that you do attain by faith and is the end of all your union and communion whatsoever 1. That there is a distinct fellowship and communion to be had with all the persons That will clearly appear from 1 Joh. 1.3 Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ so that we have not only a communion with Christ the Mediator but through him with the Father and 2 Cor. 13.14 we do read of a fellowship with the Spirit also which must be mutual he hath a fellowship with us and we with him we are said to have access unto the Father which are terms of communion and that distinct communion which we have with all the persons Heb. 12.22 as well as they one with the other and therefore 't is said Heb. 12.22 Ye are come unto mount Sion c. Now to come unto the three persons notes 1 faith in them and so we come unto Christ Come unto me all ye that labour Mat. 11.29 that is that believe in him 2 It notes a communion with them and so we have access by him Ad gratiam ad gloriam Patris and thus we are said to come unto God by him Heb. 7. and no man comes unto the Father but by me Joh. 14.6 for he is the Mediator of Communion as well as of Reconciliation and we have as much need of him for the one as for the other If we look upon God and man as enemies then there needs a Mediator that may be as a days-man to lay hold upon both but being reconciled and made friends he having made us near by the blood of his Cross yet we cannot come unto God but by him it is he that gives us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 3.12 Here to come to them is to be taken into favour and fellowship with them all as appears in these particulars 1 We are come unto mount Sion the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem that is the Church of Christ under the New Testament called therefore
thoughts of his own heart do Now there are comforts in God that do delight the soul even then when there are multitude of thoughts that disquiet it We are to consider the delight of the glorious persons one in another Prov. 8.30 I was his delight daily so it is with the Saints in God he is their delight daily for their portion and their happiness is laid up in him alone all pleasure of the creature is but madness out of him I have said of laughter Thou art mad there is more sweetness in the comforts that come into the soul by him than there is in all the creatures in Heaven and Psal 4. Thou hast put more gladness into my heart than when their corn and wine and oyl increased For as there is no comparison between the strokes of the creatures and of God when he smites immediately he will be a consuming fire to the creature so there is no comparison between the comforts of the creatures and those which God gives in immediately and therefore the more it is mixed with any creature comfort the less it influences the soul with consolation it is like unto Physick given in the drug it has the less vigour and strength how much difference is there between the Spirit 's comforting and the comforts that do come in by meat and drink c what though they that love God have no pleasure in the world yet they have joy in God and it 's such a joy as no man can take from them it is such a joy as a stranger cannot meddle withal 4 For Glory and Honour In this world they need none else they say to God Psal 3.3 Jer. 2.31 Thou art my glory and the lifter up of my head can a maid forget her ornaments or a bride her attire but my people have forgotten me days without number the Lord was their ornament and their glory not only their praise is of God but their glory is in God and therefore they are called The Glory Vpon all the glory there shall be a covering that as Mount Sion is the glory of the Earth so are the children of Sion the glory of the sons of men the only glorious ones the only excellent ones and because the Lord is their glory in the midst of them the glory of the Lord is risen upon them Isa 4.5 therefore they are the people that glory in God and they are a people in whom the Lord doth glory 5 They need no Companions but God for matter of communion Isa 60.19 1 Joh. 1.3 their fellowship is with the Father and with the Son Jesus Christ They are many times despised in the world as Christ was rejected of men and cast out of their society as hateful when they have cast out their names as evil but yet if Abraham go out of his own country he must leave all his own friends Isa 43.2 3. and go alone I will be thy God I will be with thee when thou goest through the fire I will be with thee yet sometimes thou must go in untrodden paths and alone but I will be with thee so says Christ Ye shall be scattered every one to his own and leave me alone yet I am not alone but the Father that sent me is with me so the Saints they may be scattered from their friends and forsaken by them but they are not alone God is with them and his Son and Spirit to entertain them The three Children in the fiery Furnace needed no other Comforter than the fourth man who was like unto the Son of God When they were in the Mount with Christ they say It is good to be here when a man hath been with Moses in the Mount and for some time conversed with God he would never chuse to come down to converse with men any more for he knows not how to converse with them again their society is not set by but the wisest company in the world is to him unsavory and unprofitable a man that hath tasted old wine he desires not new but says the old is better 6 He needs no other Pattern or Example Eph. 5.1 Be you imitators of God as dear children be you holy as he is holy and merciful as he is merciful It 's true there are other patterns that he takes notice of even the Saints of God that make it their business to walk as God would have them walk as the Apostle says Be ye followers of us and walk so as you have us for an example We are to look upon Christ as the pattern of Holiness as having left us a copy for us to write after but all these are but to lead us to the Original of all Holiness and that is in God that in these glasses we beholding the glory of the Lord may be thereby both in heart and ways transformed into the same image from glory to glory 2 Cor. 3.18 as by the Spirit of the Lord and the truth is the more immediately a man reads in God the rules of duty the more immediately he fetches from God his motives unto duty and the more perfectly any lays up his comforts in God the more self-sufficient that soul is and the more he doth partake of the alsufficiency of God and that man is the happy man that hath his Heaven so far begun in this life that as far as may be all his comforts concenter in the Lord. 7 He looks for the reward of all his labours from God who hath promised him to be his exceeding great reward and this is the great gift that God bestows upon his precious ones his reward is himself and the soul says it is in God alone that he reaps all his wages and he desires none other none other will satisfie him he will not be put off with a Kingdom for a reward let the Nebuchadnezzars of the world take that for their hire he hath more high and noble aims than the enjoyment of this worlds goods which is what Satan who is the god of this world often tempts them with as he did their Lord and Master Jesus Christ but he can despise it that hath taken imployment under God who he knows hath laid up for him an immortal crown and an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified though he may be poor in this world and without many of the comforts of it yet he hath Treasure in Heaven laid up for him 8 It is God alone that satisfies his desires he shall never thirst it 's true there will be always thirsting for more of the same kind My soul thirsts after God even for the living God and so Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for him but for any thing of any other kind he desires not there is that satisfaction in God that there is no room left for desires which is not so with any thing here if a man have never so much of the creature never so full satisfaction now yet he will thirst
without a yoke and consider that they have no Law but the wills of the flesh and of the mind the Law of sin and death we shall all say O blessed is the man whom the Lord rules and reigns over the Lord rules and reigns let the Saints rejoyce c. 7 In his government they do behold him in his glory for he that doth rule in them doth also dwell in them as in a Temple and he walks amongst them continually Esa 33.17 Thine eyes shall see the King in his glory Now there are many men that are ruled by Kings that never see them but this is a Court where they may see their King and it is the Palace of the great King where he is always to be seen by his Subjects the meanest as well as the greatest non factio sed curia dicenda est Cyprian It 's not a government at a distance in remote parts but so as he takes up his dwelling place there and they are joyful in their King let the children of Zion be joyful in their King always but never so much as when they see him in glory 8 They have a communion with his person all the while there are many that have a benefit by his government that have no fellowship with his person but the Queen the Bride the Lambs wife she has the fruit of his government and communion with his person and delights in his love and in his glory also and the King sits at his round table and we eat with him we sup with him and our souls rejoyce in his salvation his left hand is under our head and his right hand embraceth us he brings us into his banquetting-house and the banner of love is over us as a Bridegroom over his Bride while he rules us as a King he doth delight in us and we have communion with him as a husband continually § 2. There is an external part of the Covenant and so there is of the Kingdom which is the rule and the government that Christ hath over the spirits of those that are under the spiritual kingdom by profession only unregenerate men that joyn to the Church and are with them under the dew and influence of the Ordinances and of the common works of the Spirit of God in them for Rev. 4.5 Rev. 4.5 There are burning before the throne seven lamps of fire which are the seven Spirits of God the Throne is an expression of Majesty and government for unto the King belongs the Throne the Scepter and the Crown they are properly insignia regia c. and by the seven Spirits is meant the Holy Ghost that 's clear from Chap. 1.4 where he wisheth grace and peace from the seven Spirits of God by which surely is meant the Holy Ghost for we are to make our prayers unto God only but yet it is seven Spirits because of the variety of graces and gifts which he doth pour out upon the Church of Christ in his administration and government and here we may observe two things 1 That the spiritual kingdom of God doth not only extend to his rule over the Saints which are his subjects by election and regeneration but also that there is a great deal of dominion which he has even over them that are the subjects of this kingdom only by profession 2 That the rule and dominion that Christ doth exercise over these is for the sake and for the good of the Saints and that they themselves have no benefit by it in the end but all doth turn unto the advantage and the spiritual improvement of them that are heirs of salvation so that the administration unto unregerate men as members of the Church visible is for the good of those that are members of the Church invisible 1. The spiritual kingdom of Christ doth extend even unto unregenerate men who are the subjects of it by profession only where we are to take notice That there are many give their names unto Christ who never give their hearts who have the name of Christ written in their foreheads which have not his image instamped upon their souls 2 Cor. 9.13 there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a profession which is not always accompanied with a real and spiritual subjection unto the Gospel 2. These are all the while subjects to another kingdom for till vocatio alta secreta there be a deep and secret vocation a man is never translated Col. 1.13 the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is è natali solo c. a man is actually under the kingdom of Satan still for while a man is of the world though he be in the Church he is of the worlds kingdom for they are not all of us that are amongst us not all Israel that are of Israel there are some do say that they are Jews and are not but do lye but are of the Synagogue of Satan Rev. 2.9 for the world lies in wickedness in aliquo positum esse est in ejus esse potestate as Cameron hath observed there are many enemies that live in a kingdom against which they conspire and endeavour to destroy it Jesus Christ after this life shall rule over his enemies but in this life he rules in the middle of them Psal 110.2 3. Yet while they do live and in outward shew continue the subjects of this kingdom so long they are to be looked upon in outward shew as subjects and the priviledges of subjects belong unto them they are servants Joh. 8.35 But the servant abides not in the house always there will come a time when the Lord will say Cast out the bond-woman and her son Gal. 4. but yet while they are in the house they do enjoy many priviledges and benefits by being in the family they partake of the sap and the fatness of the good olive Rom. 11.17 and yet be afterwards broken off 4. But they shall not continue subjects of this kingdom always though for a season the tares and the wheat the sheep and the goats may stand together till the day of separation good and bad be in the net together till the one be gathered into the vessel and the bad be cast away for though the spiritual kingdom in respect of Christ shall have no end but Christ shall be so a King in glory that he shall never cease to be a head of eminence or of influence or of guidance for the mystical Union shall never be broken no more than the hypostatical yet his kingdom in respect of those that profess it is but for the time of this life natural worship shall be in glory and they are only Saints that worship Christ therewith but there is instituted worship that is only for the time of this life and it is in this that they worship him and become subjects to him Mat. 8.12 but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out at the last Joh. 15.2 there are branches that bear no fruit in this Vine
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