the Lord revealed things to us and our Children PART III. Setting forth the Publication of gospel-Gospel-Grace from the Fall to Abraham the State of the Church until that time the Covenant made with him the Nature of the Old Testament Church-State and the New Testament Church-State CHAP. I. Of the Publication of gospel-Gospel-Grace from the Fall to Abraham the Church-State during that Dispensation OUR first Parents Adam and Eve having by Disobedience brought themselves and all their Offspring being included in them under the Penalty of the first Covenant the great God whose Mercy Grace and Goodness is over all his Works doth in his threatning against Satan publish the glad Tydings of the Gospel and doth hold forth a Redeemer to come of the Seed of the Woman Gen. 3.15 And I will put Enmity between thee and the Woman and between thy Seed and her Seed it shall bruise thy Head and thou shalt bruise his Heel In which Threatning we may observe that in the Word It and His the Person of the Redeemer was held forth unto our first Parents and upon the performance of this Threatning against Satan which did carry Gospel-Grace in it did the Children of God that lived in the World before Abraham relie They by Faith beheld him that was to come and through that Grace which was granted to poor Sinners in him they were brought to walk with God and to enjoy him In the prosecuting of the third Part of this Book I shall by the Assistance of the Spirit of God make it appear That the Gospel as to the Matter of it is one and the same with what is contained in this Threatning against Satan and that what renewals of Grace God hath in a Covenant-way bestowed upon any of his Children as upon Abraham and David they were but as so many Confirmations of the Certainty of a Redeemer to come and tended to streng-then this first Threatning and to confirm the Faith of the Fathers in the certain Performance of it That the Publication of Gospel-Grace did not br with God that were under the found of it is very clear It is not the bare Performance of those Duties required by the Gospel that doth evidence Persons being in Covenant with God but the Principle by which they are enabled to perform them An Instance of which we have in the two Brothers Cain and Abel Gen. 4.3 4 5. And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the Fruit of the ground an Offering unto the Lord. And Abel he also brought of the Firstlings of his Flock and of the Fat thereof and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his Offering And unto Cain and his Offering he had not respect and Cain was very wroth and his Countenance fell We cannot think that these two Brothers as they were the Children of Adam and Eve could be ignorant of the Threatning against Satan That the Seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpent's Head But one of them offer'd a more excellent Sacrifice than the other by Faith having a view of this blessed Redeemer upon the account of whose Worthiness and in whose Name he offer'd up his Offering unto God Abel's Soul being led by Faith to the Redeemer and through him unto God meets with the acceptance of his Person and of his Offering Cain who wants Faith hath both his Person and his Offering rejected How small was the number of the Spiritual Seed yea into what a small compass was the outward face of the Church brought when God brought the Flood upon the old World the outward face of the Church confined to Noah's Family Gen. 6.11 12 13. And the Earth was corrupt before God and the Earth was filled with Violence And God looked upon the Earth and behold it was corrupt for all Flesh had corrupted his way upon the Earth And God said unto Noah The end of all Flesh is come before me for the Earth is filled with Violence through them and behold I will destroy them with the Earth Although wicked Ham lived in this religious Family whose Father hath this Character given him by God himself Gen. 7.1 And the Lord said unto Noah Come thou and all thy House into the Ark for thee have I seen righteous before me in this Generation And although he was preserved with his Father from the Deluge his Heart is not the least touched with it but he seems rather hardned in his Wickedness as appears by that brutish Act of his to his Father when he lay uncovered in the Tent. Although Christ had a Church in the World from Adam until Abraham's time and as far as Light can be afforded from the holy Scriptures the Church did remain privately in Families yet that all those that were in the Family were Members of the Church much less brought into the Covenant of Grace the Scripture gives us no ground to believe I cannot but a little wonder to behold the Confidence of some Men who do assert That there was no Covenant of Grace before Abraham and in publick in my hearing have affirm'd that to make the Threatning against Satan the Covenant of Grace is to make God covenant with the Devil And again That when God ever took any Person into Covenant with him he also took all the Offspring or all his Seed into Covenant with him To question the Reality of such Assertions is to bring one under the Reproach of being Deniers of the Covenant of Grace as if they had a mind to inhance a kind of Infallibility to themselves by making Persons believe things from their pare Assertions CHAP II. Of the Covenant made with Abraham and of the Old Testament Church-State what was required to be a Member of it THAT the Covenant made with Abraham had something in it peculiar to him as a Believer for the strengthning of his Faith and likewise relating to a numerous Offspring which were to proceed from his Loins is that which I hope to clear up in the following Discourse And first relating to him as a Believer for the strengthning of his Faith in the blessed Redeemer who then was to come He hath this exceeding great Favour bestowed upon him to have the Promise of the Redeemer's coming renew'd unto him and that by a new Promise with this additional Favour annexed to it that the Redeemer according to the Flesh should be of his Seed which must certainly bring a great deal of comfort with it to believing Abraham Gen. 12.3 And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee and in thee shall all the Families of the Earth be blessed compared with Gen. 22.18 And in thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed The Apostle Paul recites the very Words of the Promise and calls it a preaching the Gospel before unto Abraham Gal. 3.8 And the Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Heathen through Faith preached before the Gospel unto Abraham saying In thee shall all
it when it hath answered the end for which it was brought upon you the Providence will be changed or you taken from under it home to your Father's House 5thly Endeavour to get imprinted upon your Minds the necessity of having your Zeal in the Worship of God regulated by the Word of God It is good for to be zealously affected always in a good thing mind that it be from the Inlightenings of the Spirit within you that you are led to behold the Truth in the Letter of the holy Scriptures and that by comparing Scripture with Scripture you receive full satisfaction concerning the Truth you lay hold upon Let this go before and then your Zeal in worshipping of God by it and in bearing a Testimony for it follow after How many Persons are exceeding zealous for things which they practise in their Religious Worship that they have no ground for from the holy Scriptures and do place all their hope in this their superstitious Zeal not being brought in the least to witness the dealings of God with their Hearts What mischievous work hath blind Zeal made in the Christian World All the Sufferings and Troubles that have befallen the Children of God in all Ages have come in by it true Zeal desires to destroy Error and to save the Person that is carried away with it false Zeal falls upon the Person and endeavours to ruin the outward Man for the pretended Errors of the inward Man Where Persons are one with you in the Foundation and do walk with God by Faith answerable to their discoveries of Truth tho you should differ from them in many other things let your Moderation be shewn towards them And for those that may differ from you in the Publick Worship of God upon further discoveries of Light received have you a care of condemning any such of being guilty of Error before you are able from the Letter of the Scripture to lay open their Error It is the Scripture laid down in the Letter that is the Rule and not Mens Consequences from it Consequences may be allowed to strengthen the Rule but must not be allowed to be added to it 6thly Endeavour to get imprinted upon your Minds the necessity of a holy Conversation before Men this is that which keeps up the Credit of Religion in the World in despite of all its Adversaries The World knows how to deal with Religion when they meet it in a loose Professor but they know not what to say to it nor how to deal with it when they meet it in a sincere self-denying Christian whose Conversation pleads for the Reality that is in Truth and gives a check to the Opposers of it By a holy Conversation we vindicate the Interest of the Son of God in the World and do invite poor Sinners that are convinced of the Evil that is in Sin to come and taste of that pleasant Fruit that the ways of Holiness do afford to those that walk in them There is a great difference betwixt the ways of Sin and Holiness Sin tho it affords a seeming Pleasure in the committing of it yet draws after it Guilt and Misery Holiness tho in the Acts of it we receive Reproach from the profane World a train of inward Peace and Comfort doth follow it A Profession of Words cannot be taking to any Person where the Conversation doth speak a quite contrary Language To be loose in Conversation under a pure Profession is for a Man to contrive how he may make himself the miserablest of Persons when he comes in Eternity The Prophet Isaiah speaking of the Gospel in Chap. 35. v. 8. saith And an High-way shall be there and a way and it shall be called the way of Holiness the unclean shall not pass over it but it shall be for those the way-faring Men tho Fools shall not err therein It shall be called the way of Holiness the unclean shall not pass over it Where pardoning Grace is inwardly received for all Sins the Soul under the sense of Divine Love hath an inward hatred against the very nature of Sin begotten in it and an inward yearning after Holiness as that which adds Strength and Vigor to the new Creature in the Souls of the Saints Where there is inward Strength and Vigor in the Soul against that Corruption which hinders Communion there will be a watchfulness against those things that tend to the dishonouring of God by our Conversation Holiness inwardly and sincere Obedience outwarldy are so inseparable that whoever hath the one it is impossible but he must have the other As by a growth in Sin Sinners do ripen for Hell and eternal Misery so by Holiness Saints do ripen for Heaven and eternal Glory Holiness makes us meet for the Heavenly Canaan without Holiness no Communion with God in this Life without Holiness no Enjoyment of God in Glory and as it makes us meet for the new Jerusalem so without Holiness no entering into that holy City Rev. 21.27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth neither whatsoever worketh Abomination or maketh a Lie but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life I shall conclude this Book and my Directions to you with the words of the Apostle Paul to the Philippians Chap. 4. v. 8 9. Finally my Children whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any Vertue think on these things Those things which you have both learned and received and heard and seen of me do and the God of Peace shall be with you FINIS The Contents PART I. Chap. I. OF the first Adam the Excellency of the State in which he was created page 1. Chap. II. Of the Nature of the first Covenant-light in the state of Innocency page 4. Chap. III. Of Adam's Fall the miserable change of his Condition thereby how all his Offspring were included in it page 13. Chap. IV. Of God's Image on the Heart of Adam how it discovers it self in the Hearts of his fallen Children The nature of the leadings of that first Covenant-light and the Condition of those that stand under the highest attainment of it page 25. PART II. Clearing that the Covenant of Grace and Redemption is but one and the same Chap. I. Of Election bottom'd on the Soveraignty of God How the Eternal Word united to Man's Nature is chose by electing Love as the Head of the Elect c. page 38. Chap. II. Of the Redemption of the Lord Jesus in two parts 1. Perfect Obedience to the Law 2. Satisfaction to the Penalty of it for the Elect c. page 47. Chap. III. Of Christ's Mediatorship in two parts 1. In sending the Spirit to fit for the publishing of the way of Salvation 2. For the Spirit 's accompanying the outward Declaration by opening the Heart c. page 61. PART III. Chap. I. Of the Publication of gospel-Gospel-Grace from the Fall to Abraham the Church-state during that Dispensation page 87. Chap. II. Of the Covenant made with Abraham and of the Old Testament Church-state what was required to be a Member of it page 92. Chap. III. Of the Ordinances of the Old Testament Church what they pointed at to the carnal Seed of Abraham and what to his spiritual page 97. Chap. IV. Of the New Testament Church and what 's requir'd to be a Member of it page 116. Chap. V. Of the Ordinances of the New Testament Church what is requir'd to fit for the partaking of them and what they hold out when administred according to the Rude of the Word page 132. PART IV. Being an Appendix which the Author leaves for a Legacy to his Children page 149. 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secure to the Saints the certainty of persevering and of enjoying Heaven at last but was not able to reconcile them with other Scriptures where Promises and Threatnings were annex'd together and seem'd to stand upon terms with the Creature But he who hath been pleased to reveal his Son in me having brought me to see that the Children of Adam are distinguished as standing under the two Covenants of Works and Grace and standing in this different state the Scriptures speak a Language which meets the Experience of each of them I then with great pleasure beheld the Harmony that was in the holy Scriptures and having for many Years been trained in the School of the Covenant of Works I have taken it in my way to clear it before I entred upon that well-ordered Covenant by which all that are once enter'd into it are secured I wish thou mayst not be offended at the plainness of the Stile in which the Truths contained in this Book are laid down and so I rest a Lover of thy Soul Robert Prudom Truth Unvailed BY Scripture-Light c. PART I. CHAP. I. Of the first Adam the Excellency of the State and Condition in which he was created AFter God had made the World and all sorts of living Creatures in it he proceeds to make Man as the Perfection of this lower Region consisting of two Parts a comly Body more beautiful than the rest of the Creatures not attended with the least Infirmity and a rational Soul fitted to hold Communion with God and to bear Rule over the rest of the Creatures From a sight of the Creation and of Man as the Lord of it while he stood in his Obedience to his Creator the Psalmist David breaks forth into a holy Wonderment Psal 8.3 4 5 6. When I consider the Heavens the Work of thy Fingers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained What is Man that thou art mindful of him and the Son of Man that thou visitest him Thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels thou hast crowned him with Glory and Honour Thou madest him to have Dominion over the Works of thy Hands thou hast put all things under his feet A curious Canopy over his Head and a furnished World for him to walk in all Creatures giving a willing Subjection to him And the great Creator that he might shew unto Man the Authority that he had invested him withal brings every Beast of the Field and every Fowl of the Air unto Adam to receive its Name and whatsoever Adam call'd every living Creature that was the Name thereof How great was the Happiness of Adam while he stood in that state in which he was created He knew no wants in his Body he had always a furnished Table before him the Earth affording him all the Varieties that Nature brings forth and that without any Toil or Labour he had a Garden and that of God's planting to walk in and furnished with Trees bearing Fruit of every kind What Gardener so skilful as the great Creator and what Fruit so pleasant as that which is of his own making He not only planted the Trees but causeth them by his own Power to bring forth and ripens them to the height of Perfection there were all sorts of Fruits that were pleasant to the sight and good for Food a pleasant River goes forth from this Garden to water it And to add to Adam's Happiness he is blest with the happy company of his Creator Stop a little my Soul and take a view of Adam before Sin entered and the Off-spring of the second Adam when wholly delivered from Sin and clothed upon with their glorified Bodies This beautiful Eden or Earthly Paradise is but a Type of the Heavenly Paradise into this Paradise did the Tempter enter into the Heavenly Paradise he cannot come this Happiness was but short but that which is to come is eternal In this God was enjoyed as Creator in the other God will be enjoy'd as a Father the Son as a Husband to us Thy Maker will be thy Husband the holy Spirit for ever tabernacling in thee the holy Angels and glorified Saints thy Companions O my Soul is this the happy Country that thy Lord hath provided for thee and hast thou indeed the clear Evidences of an Interest in it then surely thou wilt be pressing towards it and learn to live more and more above the things of this World CHAP. II. Of the Image of God in which Adam was created and the nature of that first Covenant-Light while in the state of Innocency THE Apostle John in the first Chapter of his Gospel and the 2d 3d and 4th Verses speaking of the second Person in the Godhead the eternal Word saith The same was in the beginning with God All things were made by him and without him was nothing made that was made In him was Life and that Life was the Light of Men that is That Divine Life which was in the eternal Word Creator did give forth the Beams of its Life and Light in making of the Soul of Man Not that the Soul of Man did thereby become any part of the Godhead to think this is no less than Blasphemy but an Image of God Gen 1.26 27. And God said Let us make Man in our own Image after our Likeness and let him have Dominion over the Fish of the Sea and over the Fowl of the Air and over the Cattel and over all the Earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the Earth So God created Man in his own Image in the Image of God created he them This Image of God did not consist in the curious shape of his Body altho the Beauty of it did far exceed the rest of the Creatures for this were to make God to consist of Bodily Parts and so confinable to one place for a Body cannot be in two places as once but this glorious Image consisted in the Faculties of the Soul and the Impressions of the Law upon it The Faculties of the Soul consisted of a spiritual Substance which God breathed into that frame of the Body to give it Life it was not made of any earthly Matter as was the Body but of a spiritual nature like unto its Creator for altho it had not its being from Eternity yet it was to continue to Eternity and from the time of its Creation was never to come under a Dissolution it was not made like the Soul or Life of Beasts of the same Matter whereof the Body was made and therefore dieth with them but was created by God immediately out of nothing in which respect God is said to be the Father of our Spirits Heb. 12.9 Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of Spirits and live As it had Life in it self when it was join'd to the Body so it retaineth Life when it is separated from the Body and liveth for ever It consisteth of these five Faculties 1. The Vnderstanding
took he Counsel and who instructed him and taught him in the Path of Judgment and taught him Knowledg and shew'd him the way of Vnderstanding Behold the Nations are as a drop of a Bucket and are counted as the small Dust of the Balance Behold he taketh up the Isles as a very little thing The Majesty and the infinite Power that is in God when some glimmering of it is beheld by the Soul how doth it lay it in the Dust before him and make it willing to be resigned up unto him to be disposed of by him For as his own Pleasure and his own Glory was the moving Cause why he created Angels and Men so in disposing of them according to his own good Pleasure who shall say to the most High Why dost thou thus God will be honoured by all his Creatures in a way of Mercy or in a way of Justice That he secured part of the Angels in the state wherein he created them is infinite Grace to them that he gave up others that fell from him to follow the Counsel of their own Wills and to persist in a course of Rebellion against him that so they might glorify the Attribute of his Justice is no Injustice in him the Evil which they brought upon themselves being a voluntary Act of their own That part of the Offspring of Adam are rescued out of their fallen state by rich and free Grace whilst the rest are left to the Light or Law of the first Covenant under which the great Creator hath placed them determining to proceed towards them according to the Tenor of that Covenant which they stand under before him is his own good pleasure In clearing up the Soveraignty of God I shall proceed a little further and before I leave it open two or three Scriptures in Job Chap. 2.3 And the Lord said unto Satan Hast thou considered my Servant Job that there is none like him in the Earth a perfect and an upright Man one that feareth God and escheweth Evil and still he holdeth fast his Integrity altho thou movedst me against him to destroy him that is in his outward Estate without cause From hence I observe that Sin was not the moving cause why that great outward Calamity fell upon Job but an Act of God's Soveraignty over his Creature intending to bring Glory to himself out of the Misery of his Servant of whom he might dispose as he pleased without the least Injustice And Job beholding God dealing with him in a way of Soveraignty his Soul was kept in a right frame before him ver 9 10. Then said his Wife unto him Dost thou still retain thy Integrity Curse God and die But he said unto her Thou speakest as one of the foolish Women Shall we receive Good at the hand of God and shall we not receive Evil The best Support for God's Children when under Affliction is to look at the Soveraignty of God that so they may be kept from murmuring against him When we look up unto God as no ways bound to us but as he is pleased himself it makes us stoop before him and when the Soul goeth from its Duty here it goeth from that which should support it in Peace and Quietness An Example we have in Job when he begun to stand upon terms with God how was his Spirit unsettled as Chap. 31. from ver 1 to the 35th and then he breaks forth O that one would hear me Behold my desire is that the Almighty would answer me And in ver 37. I would declare unto him the number of my steps as a Prince would I go near unto him Look forward into Job 40. from ver 1 to 15. and we find that God doth come forth to answer Job but how doth he answer him Doth he give Job an account why he brought such Calamity upon him No he stands upon his Soveraignty ver 2. Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him He that reproveth God let him answer it Doth Job now make good what he said that he would declare unto him the number of his steps as a Prince doth he go nigh unto him No he falls under him ver 3 4. Then Job answered the Lord and said Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my hand upon my mouth Here is the end of the Creatures standing upon terms with God and here is the safety of God's Children to endeavour to witness a humble submissive frame of Spirit to him I have treated hitherto of the Soveraignty of God I come now under the second Head to shew that Election proceeds from God as an Act of Grace and Goodness the advancing of his own Glory being that which is carried on in the Decree of Election Rom. 9.23 And that he might make known the Riches of his Glory on the Vessels of Mercy which he had afore prepared unto Glory For altho God was infinitely happy in himself yet so great is his condescending Grace to those whom he doth by his eternal Decree choose to be Vessels of Mercy that he is pleased to manifest of his Goodness to them and to take them into a state of eternal Glory with himself nothing foreseen at all in them being the moving Cause of God's choosing of them the only Cause being the good Pleasure of his Will 2 Tim. 1.9 Who hath saved us and called us with an holy Calling not according to our Works but according to his own Purpose and Grace which is given us in Christ Jesus before the World began Chap. 2.19 Nevertheless the Foundation of God standeth sure having this Seal The Lord knoweth them that are his This Doctrine administreth great Comfort to the Saints who feel the Work of Election upon their Hearts that their Salvation standeth by God's eternal Decree that cannot be changed and not in themselves that daily might lose it How doth this make the Saints love God to the uttermost who hath manifested so great Love to them How doth this serve to humble them that they had nothing of themselves for their Salvation but it freely came from God Thirdly I shall proceed to shew how the Lord Jesus Christ is made the Head of the Elect and the way through which electing Love doth pass to every elect Person I shall prove it by these following Reasons 1st Because that our Nature in him was fitted as a Tabernacle for the receiving of the eternal Word the second Person in the Godhead the Holy Ghost by his incomprehensible Power working his Conception supernaturally purifying that Matter of which his Human Nature was taken in the Womb of the Virgin so that his Nature had not the least Defilement in it The Divine Nature and the Human Nature became united in him to him run all the Promises and to all the Elect as they are united in him 2 Cor. 1.20 For all the Promises of God in him are Yea and in him Amen unto the Glory of God by us that through him