is called and compared to a Vine And it 's of this Vine that Christ is the root for it 's not spoken of Christ as he is a Head in Heaven so he has no dead members there are membra praesumptiva quae ad columbam non pertinent Austin but it 's spoken of Christ spreading himself into a visible Church here upon earth and his being the root notes two things 1 Their union with him as the branches have with the root and therefore they are said to be in him even those that bear no fruit some are in him only by profession and some by a real coalition 2 They may suck sap from him for the foolish Virgins have the oyl in their lamps from him as well as the wise that have oyl in their vessels the one have the oyl of gifts from whence their greenness comes though they afterward wither and the other have the oyl of their graces the one has it from the Spirit of Christ assisting and the other from the same Spirit inhabiting or informing for there are two sorts of branches in this Vine as the Text makes manifest 2. Why is he called the true Vine He may be fitly resembled to a Vine as he is called the true light Joh. 1.9 and the true bread Joh. 6.32 because he has the excellency of the Vine in a spiritual sense he is a spiritual Root that has spiritual branches and they bear spiritual fruit for omnia corporalia sunt imagines quaedam rerum spiritualium all corporals are images of things spiritual and as Christ did condescend unto the lowest condition for our salvation he became a worm and no man Psal 22. so he doth compare himself unto the lowest of creatures for our instruction but yet so as the creatures are but shadows and weak resemblances in respect of those spiritual excellencies that are in him so he is the true bread and so his flesh is meat indeed and his blood is drink indeed Joh. 6. that is it is spiritual nourishment and is to the soul that which all earthly food is to the body for as the creatures are but shadows of God so Christ and spiritual things have the truth of all excellency of which the creatures are but resemblances 3. How is the Father said to be the Husbandman There are six main acts of the Husbandman and all of them are in the Scripture attributed to God the Father 1 The husbandman doth plant the Vine it 's true here both in the root and branches both are the plantation of God the Father 1 It is true of Christ the Root who though in some respect he be called a Branch as he did grow out of the dead and withered stock of the house of David as a branch out of a dry tree and yet so the Father brings him forth Zac. 3.8 Behold I will bring forth my servant the branch yet as all the other branches do grow upon him being one with him so he is in a more special manner termed a Root the root of David as he is called Rev. 5.5 and it is the Father that did cause this branch to grow Est radix Davidis quia portat non portatur Bernard Jer. 33.16 and it 's the Father that planted this Root for he bids you look unto him Zac. 6.12 The man whose name is The Branch he shall build the Temple of the Lord and he is made unto us of God wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption It 's by the Fathers appointment that he is become the Churches Root he had never had a Church built upon him had not the Lord laid him in Sion as the chief corner-stone 1 Pet. 2.6 and a Church had never grown out of him as the root had it not been of God the Fathers planting for he has given us the rule Mat. 15.13 Every plant that grows alone in the Church and is not planted by the Father shall surely by the Father be rooted up 2 He it is also that doth plant or ingraft all the branches into this root Esay 60.21 Thy people shall be all righteous branches of my planting that I may be glorified and therefore Rom. 6.5 we are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 planted together into the likeness of his death and his resurrection created in Christ unto good works for we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things made by him Eph. 2.10 Now if we do consider Christ not only as a Head in Heaven in reference unto the Church mystical and invisible but as he is a root on earth spreading himself into a Church visible and the great benefits that we have thereby as the incomes of Ordinances the labours of Officers and the fellowship of Members we owe these all unto God the Father he is the Husbandman that planted them all 2 The Father as Husbandman fenceth the Vine he that plants the Vine he it is also that makes the fence for the invisible Church of God has spiritual enemies in heavenly things but the visible Church that has variety of outward enemies as the lily amongst thorns sometimes the Foxes by their subtilty seek to spoil the vines and sometimes the wild Boar out of the wood doth endeavour to root it up and yet it is preserved the bush is in the fire and yet it 's not consumed it is because there is a hedge about it Joh. 10.29 says Christ My Father that gave them me is greater than all and no man can pluck them out of my Fathers hand Job 1.10 Thou hast made a hedge about him and all that he has round about and this hedge of protection is sometimes made by Gods own immediate hand Zac. 2.5 God himself is a wall of fire about Jerusalem he doth himself become their hedge and their defence upon all the glory he doth stretch forth a covering and sometimes he doth make others to be a hedge sometimes his own Angels and they pitch their Tents round about them that fear the Lord Rev. 5.11 they were round about the Throne and sometimes he does make Rulers which are the shields of the Earth to become the shields of the Church but their protection and defence is the work of the husbandman Now when the Lord doth pluck up the hedge and break down the wall of the visible Church we then see what terrible inroads all the enemies do make and how they come in and spoil her The Boar of the wood doth waste it and the beasts of the field devour it Psal 80.13 so that it 's God the Father only that makes the hedge and he it is that doth remove the fence and he it is that has the hand in making it up again 3 He as the Husbandman doth hire labourers into his Vineyard for it is the work of God the Father Mat. 20.1 as he is the Lord of the harvest so he doth thrust forth labourers into his harvest as he is the husbandman so he doth hire labourers into his vineyard which
Charter by which he has a Law-right to all the Priviledges and Blessings of the Gospel Doth not this Covenant give us assurance not only of Gods gracious and merciful Nature but also of his good will towards sinners It 's true Gods Nature gives us full assurance that what he has promised shall be performed but what gives us assurance of the Promise but the Covenant of Grace Yea what are all the Promises but so many lines of the Covenant concentring in Christ the Prince and Mediator thereof Do not all the Promises spring from that mother-root the Covenant of Grace in Christ Yea what is the New-creature but a conformity to this New Covenant Is there any condition that a Believer can fall into but he may find some Promise in this Covenant to relieve him therein Yea is there any excellence in God or his creature which is not made over for your use in and by this Covenant Are not all Gods good things yours and all your afflictive things Gods by this Covenant May you not then lay the stress of all your cares and burdens on this Covenant Are you Bondslaves of the Law will not this Covenant make you Freeholders if you come unto it and embrace it Is there any thing commanded in the Law which this Covenant doth not enable to perform The Law may fret and grind your spirits to powder but what can melt them but this Covenant The Law weighs Obedience by the Ballance and if there be the least grain wanting doth it not reject all But doth not this Covenant examine all by the Touch-stone and accept what is sincere albeit imperfect Art thou very unlike to God and is this thy great burden consider then has not this Covenant a transformative spirit to make thee like him What is the scope of this Covenant but to make God thine and thee Gods And dost thou not hereby acquire an interest in all the blessings of God Doth not this give thee the best assurance thou canst desire for any desired or enjoyed Mercy Doth the first Covenant stop thy mouth before God and doth not this second Covenant stop the mouth of the first Are not the riches of free Grace laid up in Christ and are not the riches of Christ laid up in the Covenant of Grace Doth not the believing Soul by cleaving to this Covenant grow out of it to the stature of a perfect man Whence come all the hopes comforts and happiness of the Saints but from this Covenant as 2 Sam. 23.5 O! what glorious Relations between God and Man arise from this Covenant what an interest doth man acquire in God as well as God in man by this Covenant yea are not the smallest mercies by this Covenant made exceeding great and sweet O the infinite boundless Dimensions the invisible Miracles and wonders of free Grace lodged in the Covenant of Grace Are there any banks or bottoms to this Ocean of free Grace Can the sins of the vilest men sink them beyond the depths thereof could they by faith swim thereon What wonders are here for Faith's Contemplation Admiration and Adoration Are not these ways and methods of free Grace comprehended in the Covenant of Grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imperscrutable such as all the wit and sagacity of Men and Angels cannot prie into Rom. 11.33 as also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 impervestigable such as leave no Vestigia or foot steps for carnal Reason to trace out as Rom. 11.33 Ought we not then with Paul that great Miracle of Grace to stand on the banks of this Ocean of free Grace expressed in this New Covenant and crie out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O the Depths of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! So great and excellent are the Benefits of this Covenant 3. Let us a little inquire into the Mediator and Prince of this Covenant 3. The Covenant of Grace made primarily with Christ which also will give us a further Demonstration of its excellence The Apostle instructs us Gal. 3.16 that Christ is the Seed to whom the Promises or Covenant was primarily made by seed some understand Christ Personal others Christ Mystical but we may with our Author Gal. 3.16 very safely take in both senses understanding it primarily and principally of Christ Personal who is the prime Federate and thence of Christ Mystic Abraham and his believing seed considered as members of Christ with whom the Covenant was primarily made Now this Covenant as made with Christ terminates on him under a two-fold respect 1 In relation to his own Mediatory Office 2 In relation to his Body the Church as he is Head thereof 1 As it regards Christs Mediatory Office and his more compleat discharge thereof so God the Father by donation and stipulation constituted him Mediator and Surety of this Covenant gave him a promise of Assistence Deliverance Acceptance Justification Exaltation and success in the management of his Mediatory Kingdom This part of the Covenant belongs solely to Christ wherein his members have no share albeit much benefit thereby 2 There is another part of this Covenant made with Christ primarily which regards him as Head of his body mystic For look as the first Adam as a public person and representative head received both a Covenant and Image to communicate to his posterity who were both legally and naturally in him so also this our second Adam received both a Covenant and Image for his seed to be imparted to them Are not all the promises made primarily to him and in him to his members And if there be any promise to be fulfilled must not thy soul look up to Christ and his worthiness alone for its fulfilling Is not the righteousness of the Covenant laid up in him and by virtue of union with him made ours Is there any dram of the holy oil of Grace imparted to us but what was first poured out on the sacred head of this our High Priest Do not also all the priviledges of the Covenant primarily belong to him and to us only as in him Hast thou any duty to perform and must thou not look up to Christ for strength to perform it Doth it not belong to him only to â—ive supplies Or hast thou any service to be accepted and can it be accepted any other way than as perfumed with the Incense of his Merits Are not all the sons of the first Adam by sin cut off from all communion with God the Fountain of all good Can they then receive any good thing from him but by the hand of this Mediator Doth God give the least good to any sinner immediately Have sinners any thing to do with God in a way of mercy immediately in themselves If we speak a good word of prayer to God or he speak a good word of comfort to us must it not be in and by the Angel of his presence Are not all debts paid in him all duties performed by him all blessings conveyed
to the terms of the same Covenant and these are the grounds why the way of Translation must be a way of Union SECT III. What the difference in a mans state before and after his Translation is Q. 3. WHat is the difference in a mans state before and after his translation How is a a mans condition changed from what it was before 1. His state is changed in Gods account and the Lord looks upon him no more as the Son of Adam and as growing upon the old root though God has in his eternal Purpose chosen his elect in Christ and given them to him before the world began yet they are not actually in him according to the rules of the word till they be converted and ingrafted into him and therefore they as well as others are dead in trespasses and sins and are without God and without Christ in the World Rom. 4.16 Gal. 4. But being once converted Abraham is their Father and Sarah is their Mother and they are Children of the bondwoman no more 2. Being in Christ and their Covenant changed they are under the Law and the rigour of it no more For that requires perfect holiness to justification and life in a mans own person Rom. 10.5 Rom. 5.16 17. The righteousness that is of the Law saith This do and thou shalt live And therefore it 's said By the offence of one man death reigned and not only so but it 's also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by one offence But now faith is imputed unto a man for righteousness not of him that works but of him that believes in him that justifies the ungodly 3. Before he was under the Curse of the Law and the condemnation of it For the Law says Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book But now Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ there is a Supersedeas for the Curse Gal. 3.13 He has delivered us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us 4. Before he had right to no promise to no blessing by promise but now he is become an heir of Promise Gal. 4.28 We as Isaac are children of the promise c. There is a double right unto blessings there is a right of providence and of promise a jus politicum a jus evangelicum a publick and evangelick right An unregenerate man may have a right of Providence to Blessings but it is only a man in Christ that has a right of Promise and though he possesseth nothing yet he has a jus haereditarum an hereditary right hereditary to all things All things are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods 1 Cor. 3.22 5. A mans covenant being changed God is reconciled for the Covenant is a Covenant of reconciliation so that the Lord does look on him as an enemy no more A man stands in no relation unto God before his Covenant is changed but as he is Gods creature but when there is a translation out of the first Covenant into the second a man is said to be in God and to dwell in God and God in him God is now Christs Father and our Father his God and our God whereas before they were enemies to God 1 Thes 1 1. Joh. 4.16 2 Cor. 6.16 and God to them 6. A mans Covenant being changed his sufferings and services are accepted as being Christs for Joh. 15.5 it is fruit in him and born by vertue of Union with him that only is accepted of God Gal. 2.20 says Paul Nevertheless not I but Christ liveth in me Hos 14.8 Our sins indeed are our own but all our duties are his because they are done by vertue of Union with him and all that is done by us is tendred unto God as his Rev. 8.3 And as his passive obedience after a sort is said not to be full till all the obedience of the Saints is filled up Col. 1.24 so it may be said of his active obedience also and all our sufferings are Christs Gal. 6.7 Heb. 13.13 7. All things work together for good unto him whose Covenant is changed Rom. 8.28 Whereas to a man under the first Covenant God does watch over him for evil and every thing proves but an execution of the curse of his Covenant his blessings become curses according to the threatning I will curse your blessings his Table is made a snare and the Ordinances of God are cursed to him and he is cursed in every thing that he puts his hand â—nto but to a man in Christ not only all the blessings but even what is in it self a curse is â—lessed to him death is yours as well as life 8. Sin has no condemning power in a man in Christ though it 's true sin remains in him 1 Cor. 3. â—hich is in its own nature damnable that is it does deserve damnation yet it can never infer â—â—mnation it can never bring it upon a man 1 Joh. 5.12 because he that is in Christ is passed from death 〈◊〉 life 9. A man is brought into a state of communion with God for all communion is grounâ—ed on union There can be no communion with God till a man receives the Spirit of God for regenerate and unregenerate men are of another Generation and there is no more a principle of fellowship with God in a man before conversion than there is in a beast to have â—â—llowship with a man natural parts and natural conscience cannot do it if we believe we â—â—ve fellowship with the father and not else 1 Joh. 1.3 10. A man then becomes one with all the Saints and of the same body with them Ephes â— 10 There is a gathering together under one head and being a member of the Church of â—he first-born whose names are written in Heaven for from the head all the members are â—tly formed and bound up in the bundle of the living SECT IV. The APPLICATION Vse 1 1. IF the way of Translation be by Union then labour for Union with Christ and be not satisfied with any thing else Truly the state of Grace does not lie in the change of a mans opinion or the change of his actions simply but in the change of a mans Covenant and his Image and the foundation of both are laid in a mans union this was the Apostles great aim to be found in him Phil. 3.7 8. For as the branch cannot bear fruit of it self except it abide in the vine neither can you except you abide in me for without me or separated from me â—ou can do nothing And without this all a mans Religion is worth nothing before God Joh. 15.4 5. Here I will shew what is the ordinary and usual way of Vnion and what a man must or â—an do towards his own Vnion I will not now enter upon the grand controversie about â—ur preparatory works unto Faith and Union which is insisted upon from that Scripture Making ready a
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
Mountains and the Kingdoms of the earth shall become the Kingdoms of the Lord. And Zach. 6.8 There is a spirit that in a way of providence will never leave stirring up the spirits of men till this great work be effected For the Lord hath said Sit thou at my right hand till I have made thy enemies thy footstool And he shall have a name written upon his right hand and forehead King of Kings and Lord of Lords 2 On Christs part if he might disregard us now he is in Heaven yet his Covenant and ingagement is unto the Father of Heaven he hath promised and vowed obedience and therefore as he hath as our surety performed all that which he was bound to in his state of humiliation so he will also do in his state of exaltation and glory apply all the benefits of his death and attain all for you that he hath purchased for you and will come again to fetch you for he arose as your surety and he is exalted as your representative and is gone to Heaven as your forerunner and therefore he vvill surely gather in his Saints compleat their number and perfect their Graces and their light The light of the moon shall be as that of the sun and the weak shall be as David for courage and boldness in the cause of God and the stronger Christian that was before as David Zach. 12.8 Heb. 12.27 shall have even the courage of an Angel of God before him 5. When you see God making good his Covenant unto Christ in any of the parts of it rejoyce in it If you loved me you would rejoyce because I go to the father Love does divide griefs and multiply joys He is your Husband your Head your Friend and Surety in the good that is bestowed upon him you may have a share Now when the Lord plucks down Enemies defeats Counsels shakes Mountains out of their places works great changes in the earth the foundations are cast down all this is but to make a place for the throne of Christ that he may be exalted in the earth and that this Stone may fill the earth Rev. 11.16 17. There be great breaches made by God in the World but the Saints do rejoyce in them as Paul did though he Preached the Gospel in much affliction yet so Christ be Preached and exalted whatever become of me I do and will rejoyce So though I undergo never so much yet all this while God is performing his Covenant unto Christ for his sake we should be glad Vse 6. Pray unto God that he would perform his Covenant to his Son Phil. 2.5 The things of Christ are and should be very precious to a gracious Soul and a man should seek unto God for the accomplishment of all things concerning his Son and there are no Prayers that come up unto the Lord with so much acceptation as those do If you desire to know whether Christ prays for you in Heaven and takes care for you see what affections he works in you to pray to God for the accomplishing of the promises made unto Christ while he was upon the earth his great care was for you when his death drew near yet he takes care to comfort you John 14.1 And when he was near his sufferings yet he lays up prayers for Peter beforehand and now he is in Heaven he is not so taken up with his own glory but that his care is towards his people he hath seven eyes and seven horns Rev. 5.7 perfection of wisdom and power for your good Now as he lays out himself for you so do you for him also and press God with his ingagement to his Son and he can deny thee nothing let thy prayers be for the Kingdom of Christ and the accomplishment thereof say Thy Kingdom come Let the Lord reign and let his name be exalted Psal 7.2 and let his comeing in glory be hastened when he shall be made glorious before men and Angels let us always say Come Lord Jesus come quickly SECT II. The Covenant of Grace made with Christ as the Churches Head § 1. THat the Lord Jesus Christ is the person with whom primarily and principally the second Covenant is made must be considered two ways 1 In respect of the Office that he hath undertaken 2 As he is the head of the Church and makes up one body with them And these two are to 〈◊〉 distinguished and have in the Covenant distinct considerations for there are some promises that belong unto Christ alone as made unto his office the promise of bringing Jacob to him of assistance and acceptance in the work of justification by his righteousness and the honour of having a name above every name and the Angels of God to worship him of a resurrection from the dead without seeing corruption which though promised unto David yet never was fulfilled unto any of the Types but in his own person as the Apostle sets it forth Acts 13.36 37. For David saw corruption And there are other promises that are made unto him as he is our Head and to us in him in which together with him we have a share and are made partakers And there are some acts of office which belong unto him alone which though we have benefit by yet we have no share in for redemption belongs unto him alone and there is no other name given under Heaven but one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus and as there is but one Mediator for satisfaction so but one for intercession also for none hath to do with the Censer to offer Incense upon the Golden Altar that hath not also to do at the Brazen Altar to offer sacrifice and though in our justification Justitia Mediatoris the righteousness of the Mediator is imputed unto us yet not Justitia Mediatoria not the mediatory righteousness The righteousness of the Mediatorship belongs to him alone who is Jehovah our righteousness Jer. 23.6 Therefore this first branch of the Covenant though it were made with Christ for us for whatever he was and whatever he did was for us for us he descended into the lower parts of the earth and for us he ascended far above all Heavens yet it was not a Covenant made with us formally for the acts were to be performed by him without us and the promises made unto him though for our good yet were not made unto us But the Covenant that now we are to speak of is the Covenant of Grace made with us but with Christ primarily and principally and with us in him as he is the head and we his members Doct. The Covenant of grace made with the Saints is primarily and principally made with Christ as he is the Churches head and the second Adam In the opening of this Doctrine I will 1 give you some Demonstration for the proof of it 2 Give you the Reasons or Grounds of it 3 Answer some Objections that may arise against it 4 Make
do the Saints that are of the same body with themselves for they do none of them live barely as private men though they are not all publick persons in respect of office and function yet they are in respect of their relation and they have all of them reference unto the body and they do pray as members of the body and have in all things respect unto the good of the body for as the Spirit that doth interpret the Scripture is not a private Spirit so the Spirit that doth act the Saints is not a private Spirit therefore as in the good of every member the body is interessed so also in the prayers of every one the body is interessed therefore as we are to look upon all the prayers of Christ not as the prayers of a private man but as put up by him who is the Churches Head so we are also to look upon the prayers of all the Saints not as of private men but also as under the relation of membership under which they stand in the body of Christ and as we are to look upon their sufferings as being of the body so are we also to look upon their services as being done by the members of the same body and all of them for the good and benefit of the body Moses obtained great benefits to the people of Israel by his prayers their blessings depended much upon his prayers Pardon them as thou hast done it from Egypt till now and the Lord answers I have pardoned them according to thy word and again Moses prays Go before them or carry us not from hence the Lord answers My presence shall go with you and I will give you rest The blessings that godly men attain are not barely the fruit of their own prayers and yet they that are godly do pray also but they are a concurrence of prayers and by them we do attain mercy yea sometimes when we are little able to pray for our selves when the spirit of prayer is low in its actings in us yet then the souls of some of the Saints are upon the wing and the Lord will have respect unto them for they are of the body As we rejoice not in the gifts of others because we look upon them as given unto other men and do not look upon them as a part of the body and so see our interest in them that they are given them for our good and therefore they are to us rather matter of envy than of rejoicing so we take no comfort in the prayers of the Saints upon this ground because we look not upon them as praying upon the same common interest with us and as praying for us as fellow-members who have with them an equal interest in the good of the body and its prosperity And as they obtain mercy so they keep off judgment if Noah Daniel and Job stood before me he speaks it as the most effectual way of prevailing with him and as that which he would least of all deny and yet the Decree being gone forth his heart could not be towards them The Saints have in their ages attained great mercy for the body and therefore Elijah is called the chariot of Israel and the horse-men thereof their main defence lay in him under Heaven they had not so great a one and therefore godly men in all ages have looked upon it as a great misery for the godly of the age to be removed as having their party and their interest upon earth weakned as if an eminent man of any party be taken away it 's looked upon as a great weakning to them and he is thereupon greâ—â—y bewailed by them Wherefore it is reproved as their sin Esa 57.1 That the righteous perish and no man layeth it to heart c. and Mic. 7.1 it is expressed by the Prophet as a duty and so it was with Austins mother he saies of her Orationibus vivebat and it was in answer to her prayers that he was new-born unto God Parturivit me carne ut in hanc temporalem corde ut in aeternam lucem renascerer Tom. 9. cap. 8. She travailed with me as in her flesh to bring me forth to a temporal life so in her heart to an eternal life he was an eminent instrument in the Church in the age in which he lived and mightily confuted the false Teachers of the time and did gloriously defend the truth and appeared for it and all this he did attain by the benefit of his mothers prayers And they do bring upon the Churches enemies very great and terrible judgments by their prayers there is a fire that comes out of their mouths and consumes their enemies and that not as they are theirs but as they are the Churches enemies And not only the prayers of the present age shall have power against Antichrist but the prayers of the former ages as to instance in the prayers of David taking place against Judas Act. 1. so there have been prayers for many years that have been going for the Reformation of England from Popery which have been answered eminently in our daies and will be more and more answered in succeeding generations the people of God pray continually for more degrees of grace and light Now it 's true that when men strike an Oak with many blows yet it doth not fall till the last blow and yet we say that it is not the last blow that fells the Oak but all that went before so 't is here as it was in the death of Christ his last act was the full payment but yet all his former obedience and sufferings did concur thereunto to all that full satisfaction that was given by him to the Father and it 's dreadful when the prayers of all the people of God do fall upon a man surely vengeance will overtake him as an armed man Look as all the prayers of the Saints do at the last day meet together in the Devils destruction so it shall be in the destruction of any great and eminent instrument of his as in attaining special deliverances the Lord stands upon number so it is in bringing in eminent judgments also and therefore Hezekiah sends for Isaiah and tells him That the children were come to the birth the promises did travail with deliverance but there was no strength to bring forth unless he would add his prayers also and so it is with the people of God it is much more to lose one praying man than a plotting or a fighting man and that is the meaning that great Babylon came into remembrance before God how was it it was from the Lords remembrancers for the Vials did come out of the Temple Rev. 16.1 all their prayers met together Rev. 16.1 and there is a full cry that the Lord is put in remembrance which by his long delay and forbearance he had seemed to neglect and forget 8. By their Faith the people of God attain much mercy to others as well as by their
through him Have we then any thing to do with or receive from God in a covenant way but by this Mediator and union with him Did not God from all Eternity give his Son as the foundation of this Covenant to the Elect as also give them to him as a seed And is not this the true import of their being elected in him Is it not also hence said Tit. 1.2 That eternal life was promised to the elect before the world began How could it be promised to them but by this Covenant of Redemption with Christ their Head Did not the Church Christs mystic body lie hid in him from Eternity as Eve lay hid in Adam her head Are not all Believers by the Covenant of Grace in Christ as by nature we are all in the first Covenant And is not Christ in every Believer as Adam in all his natural seed How is the first Adam in us but as the original cause of our nature and its moral vitiosity which causeth death And is not Christ the second Adam in all Believers as the original cause of their restauration and life What is there good in man but what is first in Christ as the original Head of the Covenant and public Receiver Wouldst thou see Gods love and grace streaming towards thy soul Must thou not then first see it lodged in Christ as the Fountain of all Dost thou desire to see all thy sins wiped off Must thou not then see them first wiped off from Christ thy Representative Wouldst thou by a prevision of faith see thy self in a glorified state O then by faith look on Christ the Head of the Covenant as glorified for thee Alas if thou look on thy self in thy self growing out of thine own natural root what art thou but as a branch cut off from the Olive-root But O! how comfortable and sweet is it to see thy self crucified acquitted and glorified in Christ the Head of the Covenant Yea doth he not only become a surety for us to God but also a surety for God to us And O! how much doth this engage sinners to exalt this glorious Head and Mediator of the New Covenant Was not this the grand design of God in making this Covenant that his Son the Prince of it might be in every thing exalted Why are all the promises of the Covenant dispensed first unto him and all the duties of the Covenant required first of him and of us in him but that he may have the preeminence in all things and a name above every name That the Son of God and Lord of Glory should by his own consent in the Covenant of Redemption between him and the Father come under an act of Gods will and undertake in the fulness of time to take upon him the form of a servant to pay debts who never owned any that he that was Lord of the Law should be made under the Law that all the Elect should have their names transcribed out of the Fathers book of Election into the Lambs book of life Rev. 13.8 yea have their names written in his heart from all Eternity and thereby to have such a blessed Being in him so long before they had the least Being in themselves what an essential obligation are they hereby brought under to exalt this glorious Head and Prince of their Covenant 4. But let us discourse a little of the Nature of this second Covenant 4. The Nature of the Covenant as relating to Believers as terminating more immediately on Believers And here the Reader will excuse me if I studiously avoid the controversies of these times and touch only on that which is more essential to Faith and Godliness The Covenant of Grace as made with Believers has a twofold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 habitude or regard the one externe the other interne (1) As to its externe Dispensation which is The Covenant of Grace as to its externe Habitude and Dispensation admits some Variety Generality and Conditionality which is not applicable to the interne spirit and mind thereof [1] Various It admits of some Variety It has pleased the infinitely wise God out of his rich mercy and condescendence to the condition of his people in all Ages to suit the externe Dispensation of his second Covenant to their infirm capacity albeit as to the spirit and substance thereof it hath been ever the same Thus in the first promulgation of it to Adam after his Fall God expressed it by the seed of the woman and its bruising the serpents head c. Gen. 3.15 which was a form most agreeable to their present state introduced by the Serpents subtility and craft So in the second promulgation of this Covenant unto Noah after the Floud Gen. 9.17 God expressed it by the Ark and Rain-bow c. as it 's repeated Esa 54.9 which were symbolic Images very apposite and agreeable to their preservation newly obtained The like Variety God manifested in the repetition of this Covenant unto Abraham Gen. 17.2 to 16. where God promulgates his Covenant as to its externe Habitude under the symbolic forms of multiplying his natural seed the sign of Circumcision c. which were â—ll lively figures very much adapted to his present state he having no children So again when God renewed this Covenant with the Israelites after their coming out of Egypt what variety doth he use Is not the very Prologue to it touching their deliverance out of the house of bondage an illustrious Symbol to mind them of their miserable state by the first Covenant What were all the Sacrifices but federal Symbols representing to the life mans sin and misery under the first Covenant and reconcilement to God by the second So also for the moral Precepts with which this Mosaic Covenant was ushered in of what use and intendment were they but to make way for the promulgation and advance of free Grace as John Baptist made way for Christ It 's true some of late from this variety have started a Notion of a threefold Covenant one natural another legal or Mosaic and the third Evangelic but this Notion was the figment of the old Origenistic Monks to establish their Antichristian merits as Melancthon Chron. lib. 4. assures us The true Idea of the Mosaic Covenant seems this it was indeed as to its interne spirit mind form and essence Evangelic albeit as to its externe form and dispensation it was mixed and composed of moral Precepts and symbolic Types or shadows and O! how agreeable was this to the infantile state of the Israelitic Church Did not the wise God herein act like a curious Limner who first gives an adumbration and dark shadow with a rude Pencil and then adds lively colours to compleat his Picture What were all the Types but Evangelic shadows whereby the Grace of the second Covenant became visible and sensible [2] Indifferent and general The Covenant of Grace as to its externe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and dispensation admits of some
David p. 113 114 All the three persons in the Trinity do enter into this Covenant and bind themselves over to the Elect but yet the person that hath the first and main hand therein is in Scripture said to be God the Father Pag. 114 115 116 God after the fall deals with his People in a covenant-way Pag. 116 Why God will so deal with them Pag. 116 117 The main part of this Covenant is transacted by God without us Pag. 117 118 119 Free Grace the fountain of this Covenant proved 1 From the Person first in it Elshaddai God Alsufficient 2 From fallen man under the curse of a Broken Covenant 3 From its being given to some and not to others 4 Because herein our Persons are taken into the same Covenant with the Son of God which is the highest advancement And our services have reference to a reward Pag. 119 120 Christ did not purchase this Covenant or by entreaty obtain it Pag. 120 God is willing to be reconciled to sinners Pag. 123 CHAP II. This Covenant as made primarily with Christ the second Adam Gal. 3.16 By the Promises in the Text made to Abraham and his seed is meant the whole Covenant of Grace p. 125 Abraham in this Covenant stands as a publick Person common Root or Parent unto all the faithful ib. By Christ the seed is meant Christ personal primarily and principally and then Christ Mystical Pag. 126 There is a Covenant made with Christ Personal in respect of his Office as Mediator which hath the promise of assistance acceptance deliverance justification success of a seed of glory of victory of a kingdom and of Worship confirm'd by Oath to him Pag. 127 The considering Christ as a Surety implyes a Covenant Pag. 128 God is said to be the God of Christ as he is the Mediator ib. God will deal with Christ in a way of Covenant 1 Because he will have Christ propounded to the World as the second Adam 2 Because he will advance the free Grace of Father and Son 3 Because he will deal with Christ in a Judicial Way 4 That the Promise may be sure to all the seed Pag. 129 130 This Covenant passed between the Father and Son before the World began Pag. 130 131 The terms required in a Covenant applyed to God and Christ Pag. 132 133 134 The Difference between a Law and a Covenant Pag. 131 The Grace of Election begins first in Christ our Head and descends unto us in him Pag. 134 The Plot of our Redemption by Christ was laid in a deep counsel between Father and Son from eternity Pag. 135 136 By vertue of this Covenant-engagement of Christ unto the Father all the sins of Old Testament Saints were pardoned ibid. That the covenant of Grace made with the Saints is primarily and principally made with Christ as the Churches head proved by several Arguments Pag. 138 139 140 Perfect Obedience not required in the Covenant of Grace as the Righteousness thereof Pag. 139 The Grounds why this covenant must be made with Christ first and with Saints in him 1 Because the covenant of Grace is a transcript of the eternal purpose of God in Election and fully sets forth the way how the ends of Gods electing love should be effected Pag. 140 141 142 2 Because after the Fall no covenant could be made without a Mediator Pag. 142 143 3 Because in him alone is the Righteousness of the covenant laid up Pag. 143 144 4 Because it makes much to the honour of Christ ib. 5 Because it exceedingly advances the Grace of the second covenant ib. 6 Because of the great inconveniences that necessarily follow from the contrary Doctrine ibid. The covenant is chiefly seen in the Promises of it Pag. 147 Saints should observe Gods rich and free Grace in giveing Christ as a covenant Pag. 147 148 They should admire honour and exalt Christ thus given as a covenant Pag. 148 149 150 Saints should know their place and station under this covenant viz. that they come in at second hand under the grace favour and acceptance of another Pag. 150 151 Those who have an Interest in Christs covenant must become one with him Pag. 151 152 The terms and conditions of this Vnion are that you shall receive and accept Christ and give up your selves to him Pag. 153 The will of man is desperately shut against this way ib. When God brings a man into the bond of this covenant he puts forth an almighty power upon the will to perswade it Pag. 154 That it is Christs covenant is an argument why we should lay hold on it ib. The glory of this covenant is very great 1 It gives us an interest in the Trinity 2 It brings in a Righteousness beyond that of Angels Pag. 154 155 The consolations of this second covenant are very glorious 1 It is a great honour that God hath put upon his people that they should be conformed to the Image of his Son and have in their place and degree the same claim to mercy that Christ hath 2 It is wonderful comfort to them to stand before God in the Righteousness of Christ and 3 To have a share in his Merits 4 In the better Promises of this covenant 5 In the Surety of it who doth not only pay our debt but perform the duty required of us 6 This covenant can never fail 7 Your Acceptation with God is founded hereon 8 The Saints glory is Christs glory Pag. 155-159 CHAP. III. The Covenant of Grace made with Believers opened and applied Gen. 17.7 That the Covenant of Grace is made with Believers appears 1 From the covenant made with the first Adam who was a type of the second which was made with him and all his posterity 2 We read of a covenant made with persons and people 3 Men are said to make the covenant and break it 4 The promises though they are Yea and Amen in Christ yet are they properly and formally made unto us 5 The covenant of grace is a covenant in the hand of a Mediator and confirmed by the death of the testator 6 The Sacraments are seals of the covenant of grace 7 There is a double oath to confirm this covenant one made to Christ the other to us Pag. 160 It was necessary the covenant of grace should be made with the Faithful as well as Christ 1 To answer the great ends why God will deal with man in a covenant way as 1 That he may declare his glory in a way of faithfulness 2 That he may honour his people 3 That he may bind them to him the more firmly in a way of obedience and that the obedience may be made more sweet 4 That his people might exercise faith in their prayers putting these bonds in suit that God hath made over to them Pag. 162 2 That they may see that they are as strictly bound to obedience in their own persons under the second covenant as they were under the first Pag. 163 3
in all things written in the book of the Law to do them which cannot be meant of the Ceremonial Law but of the Moral Law and therefore if this Interpretation could stand the answer were easie that the subserviency of the Ceremonial Law was to end when the seed came and yet the Moral the copy of the first Covenant was still to remain and might be a servant to the Gospel and Gospel-ends but it must be understood of the Moral and that was the Law that was added till the seed came 2. Some by the Law understand the whole Pedagogy of Moses in the Ceremonial Judicial and Moral Law and so Beza and Pareus that way of discovering of the mind of God under the time of the Law which was to last only till the coming of Christ the promised seed and all these were added because of transgression that the Jews might thereby be stirred up to long for Christ to come and to pray and wait for the consolation of Israel being shut up under the Law and this darker and obscurer and less spiritual administration till Faith should come that is the dispensation of the Gospel which was afterward to be revealed as it is ver 23. for though the Saints were heirs of the Promises yet they were during that administration as it were under the morning twi-light the Sun not being yet risen as Beza has it and so by the Law he understands the same that before we understood in the continuance of the Law and the Prophets untill John and makes the sense of the words to be the same 3. Some do conceive the seed to be meant primarily indeed of Christ personal but yet in the second place of Christ Mystical Christ with the whole body of Christ and the Church the promise being made unto Christ primarily being primus foederatus the second Adam and the Head and Prince of the Covenant yet so that as the first Covenant was not made with the first Adam in his person only but together with him with all his posterity in him so the Covenant is first made with Christ the second Adam but yet not with him apart from his body but with them in him and so they understand the seed to be not only Christ in himself though he be primarily meant but also Christ in his body all the faithful and then the meaning seems to be this that so long as there are any of this seed to come or to be brought into the body of Christ and to be continued and kept there so long there will be this use of the Law Reinolds the use of the Law as given for the Seed discovering sin restraining it and condemning it that they may with the greater earnestness fly to the city of refuge And as for those places Rom. 6.14 and Rom. 7. it is spoken of Adam as under the Law as a Covenant and as a Husband irritating strengthning and stirring up sin in us sin taking occasion by the Commandment for so he saith Sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the Law as a husband stirring up sin in you and thereby bringing forth fruit unto death but under grace as pardoning and so healing corruption and subduing sin and breaking the power thereof and so you are not under the Law provoking sin and strengthning it but under Grace healing sanctifying and subduing it Gal. 5.18 As many as are led by the Spirit are not under the law irritating sin and forcibly compelling unto duty Thus a man may be freed from the Law in these evil effects of it which are but fruits of the Curse even upon the Law of God it self accidentally as it meets with a corrupt nature and yet the Law remain unto those good ends for which it was given in the hand of a Mediator for our Salvation and to advance the Grace of the Gospel Vse 1 § 4. First then it is for Instruction in several particulars 1. It shews us the great end of God in publishing the Law it was for the Saints and for their good only The Law was published by Christ he was the Law-giver of him Moses received lively Oracles Act. 7. and Heb. 12. the end and giving of the Law was in reference unto the seed to whom the promise was made As there is a double end of the Gospel so there is of the Law 1 That which was intended principally and by it self and that only was Salvation both in the Law and in the Gospel to advance the ends of the Gospel 2 There is an accidental end Intentio principalis per se that which follows not from the nature of the thing but from the evil disposition of the subject and so unto all unregenerate men the Law doth discover their sins and make them out of measure sinful doth irritate and stir up their corruptions and so doth heighten and increase them and their condemnation for them as the Gospel doth but yet we may say of the Law as Christ does of himself That he came not into the world to condemn the world but that the world by him might be saved yet by accident he did condemn the world being despised and set for the falling as well as the rising of many in Israel but the proper and principal intent of his coming was salvation and not damnation so here I may say of the Law as it 's said of Christ had there not been some souls that Christ did intend to life he had never come into the world so had there not been a seed unto whom the Law vvas to be a servant the Lord had never given the Lavv never renevved it for there vvas condemnation enough in the vvorld before and death enough before and the vvrath of God did abound upon men the Gospel brings it not upon them but leaves them under it neither vvas it Gods intention in the Lavv to bring them under further condemnation though it does through their corruption prove so but had it not been for the seed the Lavv had never been added as a handmaid to the Gospel so that all the use of the Lavv and the discoveries of it to unregenerate men they do ovve to the Saints for it vvas for their sakes only that Christ did reveal it again to the vvorld 2. See the folly of those that cry dovvn the preaching of the Lavv it vvas published by Christ the foundation of the Gospel and the only Gospel Preacher the great Evangelist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Gloss and Jerome do expound the vvord Isa 41.27 and yet the Lavv is dispensed unto the seed by and in the hand of this Mediator he that loved this seed so that he laid dovvn his life for it abased his glory and veiled his Godhead yet he did as a fruit of his love unto this seed deliver the Lavv unto them and in the days of his flesh interpreted it and vvill you slight his Love vvill you say it is
all the Faithful are justified by faith in the same way that Abraham was for the Covenant was not only made with Abraham but with his seed also and that seed is not many for then the Covenants must be many but whether they be Jews or Gentiles if they do believe they are all of them the seed of Abraham one seed and therefore come under the same Covenant and must expect justification and life the same way by vertue of the same Covenant The reason seems very plain on both sides and I do conceive that they have the truth between them and that it is to be understood both of Christ Personal primarily and principally and afterward Christ Mystical Gomar and Mr. Perkins and so many Divines do expound it and that the Covenant made with Abraham was confirmed unto Christ and that herein the strength and stability of the Covenant stands this is plain in the next verse and that it is in this seed that Abraham is blessed as well as all the Nations of the Earth for he is the root of all the Patriarchs Rev. 5.5 called therefore the root of David he did come out of Jesse but yet he is the root also upon which David did grow and we see that Abraham was justified by faith and that was in this promised seed Gal. 3.15 called the seed of the woman before he was called the seed of Abraham and therefore it was in him that the Covenant vouchsafed to Abraham was confirmed and established And for the order here no man will wonder if he look upon Christ as the Son of Abraham that he is set first with him and his seed it is no more derogatory from Christ than that the mercies of the second Covenant should be called Isa 55.3 Psal 89.4 Luk. 1.32 Hos 3.5 The sure mercies of David or that the Covenant should be made with David and that he should sit upon the Throne of David and succeed David in his Kingdom and that he should plead the Promises made unto the Fathers as if he did come under their Covenant in the actual ministration of it they being types of him though he himself was the root and foundation of the Covenant as the Psalmist speaks of Christ Psal 22.4 Our Fathers trusted in thee and thou deliveredst them As the Son of David he is said after a sort to enter upon Davids Kingdom as the Son of Abraham upon his Covenant and yet he is the root and foundation of the one as well as of the other From all this it is plain here are three sorts of Persons with whom the Covenant is made 1 Here is Christ Personally with whom Abrahams Covenant is confirmed the seed in which Abraham and all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed 2 Here is Abraham the Father of the Faithful 3 Here is another sort of seed the faithful and they are taken into the Covenant at second hand and from hence we do learn that the Covenant of Grace is made with Christ Personal the Mediator Gal. 3.3 and then there being none in this Covenant but they that are one with him they that are Christs are Abrahams seed therefore the Covenant is made with all the Faithful in the second place as they are one with him and with their seed § 2. Thus the first person with whom the Covenant of Grace is made is the Lord Jesus Christ as God and man and so the observation is this Doct. The Lord Jesus Christ as the second Adam is that person with whom primarily and principally the Covenant of Grace was made and to whom primarily and principally all the promises of that Covenant belong This Covenant made with Christ we see Isa 49.8 As the first Adam was the head of the first Covenant so whatever is done in the second Covenant it is by Christ Ephes 1.9 and therefore he is said to be our Covenant as he is our peace for he is Caput Confoederatorum the Head of the Confederates not only by purpose in himself Tit. 1.2 2 Tim. 1.9 Rev. 13.8 but by promise there was Grace given us before the world began it could not be unto us in our own Persons before we were and therefore it must be unto another as one that undertook for us and therefore we read Rev. 13.8 there was the Lambs book from the foundation of the world the Lord gave the souls unto Christ that he should save and Christ did write them down in his book as the persons that God the Father had given him and he had engaged to save and this Covenant of Christ took place immediately after the Fall and by vertue thereof God pardoned all the sins of the ancient Saints Rom. 3.25 Christ did keep the thing that he did Covenant to pay the debt that we owed to God and all was viz. transacted by God the Father and Christ in a Covenant way so that as now Christ trusts God for the performance of his Promise so God did trust Christ for the payment of his Debt and therefore as the first Covenant was made with Adam Gods friend so the second Covenant was made with Adam Gods fellow and I know not what else can be the meaning of Prov. 8.22 To be set up or anointed as a King before the foundations of the Earth were laid The same word is in Psal 2.6 in reference to the Covenant and the transactions that were between the Father and the Son before the World was And this Covenant made between God and Christ hath two parts 1 There is a Covenant with Christ as Mediator ratione muneris in regard of his Office 2 There is a Covenant made with Christ as the Churches Head ratione Corporis as his body there is a Covenant made with him alone though it was made for us yet not with us and there is a Covenant made with him and with us in him but with him primarily as the Head and with us as the Members as we come under his Covenant 1. There is a Covenant made with Christ Personal Ratione muneris in respect of his Office as Mediator that he hath undertaken and this we shall see is plain Here is God the Father entring into Covenant with Christ he did lay upon him an Office and he made him a promise thereupon an Office he did ordain him 1 Pet. 1.18 Isa 42.1 Joh. 6.27 Joh. 10.18 he chose him and sealed him add sanctified him set him apart for this work and laid a commandment upon him to execute it Joh. 10.18 This Commandment I received of my Father and to this the Lord added a promise 1 Of assistance Isa 42.4 6. He shall not fail nor be discouraged I am by thee and I will hold thee by the hand and I will keep thee 2 A promise of acceptance I go to the Father says Christ Mat. 3.17 Jer. 34 2◠Gen. 8. Psal 53.8 Isa 50.8 3 Of deliverance Isa 53.8 Taken from prison and from
both these 1 In reference to the precept of the Law and the Remunerative justice of God so God did require of his Son that he should perfectly obey that Law that man had broken and this obedience of Christ consists 1 In this That it must proceed from a nature perfectly answering the Law Heb. 7.26 he was holy and harmless c. 2 Holy actions Matt. 7.3 Joh. 8.29 Rom. 8.2 5 19 he did fulfill all righteousness and it is becoming him so to do He knew no sin neither was there guile found in his mouth 3 Herein he did continue and persevere unto the end He doth always the things that do please him and these go unto Gods satisfaction and to our justification as by Adams actual disobedience many are made sinners so by Christs active obedience many are made righteous Rom. 3. last Dan. 9.23 Rom. 8.3 And he saith he came not to destroy the law but to fulfill it And the way of the Gospel doth not make void the Law but establish it and there are two parts that Christ must act to finish transgression and make an end of sin and to bring in an everlasting righteousness and therefore the righteousness of the Law is said to be fulfilled in us and it is the righteousness of the Law and that which doth exactly answer the Law in all things Ambros It is fulfilled in us while it is imputed to us 2 In reference to the curse of the Law and the vindicative justice of God and herein are four things 1 He must represent our persons and therefore he is called a surety that must stand instead of the debtor as the sacrifice did dye instead of the man And he is said to bear our names in his heart as the High Priest did upon his breast-plate as one that represented all these before God and therefore he is said to be made sin for us and a curse for us and to suffer the just for the unjust for us that is in our stead Therefore we need not say how can one person make satisfaction for so many thousands Truly there is a worth and an excellency in the person of Christ equivalent to the persons of all the elect and he did as their surety represent them all before the Lord. 2 He must bear their sins and all the guilt of them 't is all charged upon him 2 Cor. 5.21 He was made sin for us that knew no sin The greatest sinner says Luther Christ was because he bore the sins of all the elect of God God did make to meet on him the iniquity of us all Isa 53.6 Psal 40.12 Gal. 3.13 He did confess our sins as his own Mine iniquities have taken hold of me God did impute sin to him 3 He must suffer our Curse He hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us the chastisement of our peace was upon him when God made his Soul an offering for sin 4 He must pay the utmost farthing and that he did John 16.10 of righteousness Because I go to my father and you see me no more It was an argument that the debt was paid for the High Priest entred into the most holy place once a year but I go to the Father where I should never have come if I had not discharged the debt and I have done it once for all and therefore you see me no more He is gone into Heaven he was taken from Prison he was put into the Grave as a Prison and as a Malefactor but to shew that our debt was satisfied the Lord sent an Angel as a publick Minister of Justice Psal 110. last and did open the Grave and gave him a release he did lift up his head having drunk of the brook in the way And all this Christ did perform not of his own will meerly and of his own accord but he did it in obedience to a command John 10.18 I lay down my life and take it again for this commandment I received of my father Thy law is in the midst of my bowels Psal 40.7 8. it is the law of dying to be made a sacrifice And he saith Psal 40.7 8. In the volume of the book it is written of me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some do understand it of the Book of Gods Decrees and so this of Christ was first the Lord priviledging him to be the Churches head in the first page of this Book it was written of him that he should do his will others understand it of the Book of the Scriptures the Prophecies and Predictions of Christ in them and the Lord in them did foretell what past between the Father and the Son at the Council Table of Heaven before ever Christ came into the World the Lord Christ said Sacrifice and burnt-offering thou wouldest not it would not satisfie him but thou hast told the World of me that it was thy will that I should do it and I am ready to obey Gal. 4.4 c. Thus was Christ made under the Law as our surety and laid down an answerable price unto whatever the Law and Justice of God could expect of us 2. Christ did whatever is required unto mans sanctification 1 He gathers them Other sheep I have that are not of this fold them I must bring in Joh. 10.16 Joh. 8.39 it is spoken as a duty that lay upon him which God required of him I must do it it is the will of him that sent me that of those that thou hast given I should lose none but raise them up again 2 He must govern them and erect a throne of grace in their hearts and rule in them Isa 40.10 11. His arm shall rule for him and he shall feed his flock as a shepherd gathers the lambs with his arm 3 He sanctifies them receives the spirit for them and dispenseth it unto them Isa 42.1 2. He is my servant I put my spirit upon him and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles And therefore he went to Heaven as a publick person as the second Adam and having himself received the Holy Ghost he doth send forth the gifts and graces of it more abundantly for Christ is in Heaven by vertue of Office and it was necessary in that respect that he should depart from us because by Covenant he was to perform some acts of office in Glory he was to go before and prepare a place for you 4 To be their Advocate and plead their cause and the word as Cameron observes is in opposition unto an accuser 1 Joh. 2.1 Rev. 12.10 Satan is the great Accuser of the brethren he doth accuse the brethren before God day and night And we see Zac. 3.1 2. Satan stands at his right hand as the manner of accusing was in antient times as we see in Jobs instance but Christ makes answer for them there is a difference between Christ as a surety and as a publick person who
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
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 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
mans God is to have an interest in infinite mercy and power and grace the God of my mercy and the God of my strength c. and have the Lord thine in a way of communion and fruition that the Lord will impart himself so as to become my portion the Covenant of Grace being a Covenant of Friendship and this is much more if we consider it is not in our own but in Christs right and therefore I having naturally no distinct title unto God yet being under his Covenant he is become my God as he is Christs God John 20.17 I ascend unto my Father and your Father my God and your God 2. This Covenant brings in a righteousness beyond that of the Angels 1. It is the righteousness of God Dan 9.24 and not meerly of a creature 2. It is a righteousness that sin can never spend an everlasting righteousness it is a Garment that will cover all the sins of the Elect of God a Sun of righteousness that though it enlighten all the Stars and the Earth yet every day it goes forth as a Bridgroom out of his Chamber as full of glory as ever it was 3. It is a Covenant by which Heaven is opened which was before shut against all the sons of men Heb. 10.20 we have access with boldness into the most holy place by the blood of Jesus by a new and a living way which he has consecrated through the veil c. when Heaven was shut by sin there was no way to open it but the Lord himself to descend from Heaven and to take upon himself a created nature so that the way to Heaven is by Christs Incarnation and Satisfaction in the Flesh and it is the way that Christ has made new because the old way was shut and man cast out of Paradise a Type of Heaven and it is a new way because it shall never wax old as the former Covenant did and a livingway because it gives life unto the Passenger that walks to Heaven in it and in the way of the Law there is no Life to be found but this is a living way a man finds life in it though the Law indeed was a way to Heaven but a man must bring life with him that will walk in it And by this opening of Heaven we have a double benefit 1 All good comes out of Heaven to us John 1. ult 2 We ascend up to Heaven to receive the mansions that are prepared for us and so Heaven is our home our House not made with hands and all by this Covenant 4 It is by this Covenant that a man hath the service of all the Angels and the inheritance of all the creatures it 's Christ whom the Angels serve and they ascend and descend upon the son of man there was no such thing under the first Covenant they were our fellow servants but our servants they were not till the grace of the second Covenant was made manifest it is first Christ that they serve the Lord bringing his only begotten Son into the world he saith Heb. 1.6 1 Cor. 3.21 Fidelibus est totus mundus divitiarum Jo. 5.22 and let all the Angels of God worship him and of all the creatures 't is said all things are yours for they are Christs Inheritance and ours only as we are in him there is dominium Politicum and Evangelicum a Politick and Evangelick dominion they have the use and the good of all the creatures 5 It 's by this Covenant that your Government of the World is changed and committed into another hand the Lord hath committed all judgement to the Son Christ is now King of Nations as well as of Saints and he has as Mediator a providential Kingdom as well as a Spiritual he is the Head over all things to the Church Ephes 1.22 a head of Guidance as well as of eminence the Keys of Hell and Death are committed to him the Government is upon his Shoulder as the great Officer that the Lord employs Esa 9.6 and it is our happiness that he that is our Head and Husband hath the rule of all things in his hand should the Lord have continued to have governed the world he must without a Mediator have destroyed it according to the first Covenant and the rules of his Government therefore the Lord saith I cannot go before you but I will send mine Angel take heed of him and obey his voice and it 's the happiness of the world that the Lord Christ raigns Let the earth rejoyce c. 6 It is by this Covenant that the world stands he upholds all things by the word of his power had not he put under his hand Heb. 1. the Earth had melted and come to nothing he establishes the earth for the curse of the first Covenant coming upon the creatures must have received them all Yet that 's not all but that the earth should stand firm and that by his word he shall raise the earth and elevate the creatures this is much more for there is an earnest expectation of all the creatures for a deliverance as well as of the Saints and hence we look for a new Heaven and a new Earth What change soever shall be made in the creatures at the last day whether in substance or in quality it shall be perfective not destructive for it is a promise that the Saints expect and pray for and all the creatures do groan and wait for when the glory of the Sons of God shall be made manifest Vse 3 § 3. It 's for consolation it is this in which the soul lives and the privation thereof is the death of the soul in Hell where it is utter darkness Now as in the first Covenant there is a life of Comfort in the duties of it he that doth them shall live in them Heb. 10.38 Gal. 2.20 so there is the second Covenant also and therefore the just is said to live by faith as the other by doing shall live in it so he shall by believing in believing he shall live not only a life of holiness but a life of comfort and therefore as the second Covenant is the better Covenant because it is established or founded upon better promises so the comforts that do flow from those promises are higher and more glorious consolations and therefore all the ordinances and promises of it are called the breasts of consolation Esa 66.11 Heb. 6.18 out of which a man may suck and be satisfied the comforts of the second Covenant are strong consolations that which is powerful and able to bear up the spirit in the greatest assaults of temptation either from sin or Satan 2 Thess 2.16 and it is everlasting consolation and good hope through grace and such were not the comforts and consolations of the first Covenant But the more immediate any mercy and comfort is and the nearer it is to the fountain of Consolation the sweeter it is now
authority it self and this power is either Monarchical in Christ the Churches Head the only King and Law-giver to whom all power is given in heaven and earth Mat. 28.18 Rev. 3.7 He hath the key of the house of David or else it is Ministerial whether in the Church as some or in the Officers as others as in its proper subject I shall not now inquire whether in the Church radicaliter radically and in the Officers formaliter formally c. as some do speak but 1 the use of those Kyes is to bind and loose that is to open and shut the Kingdom of Heaven either to receive men in or to cast men out for surely they that have authority to cast out have power to take in and it is an authoritative act to admit as well as to eject c. 2 It 's an act that is to be denied unto none that have right to admission if so the power of the Keys is abused for it is not used unto that end for which it was appointed by the Lord for all the Churches power is but ministerial and must be according to Christs order therefore as to cast them out that ought not to be cast out as the Pharisees did if any man confessed Christ he should be put out of the Synagogue Joh. 9.22 and Diotrephes Joh. 3.10 he cast them out of the Church and Antichrist Rev. 13.7 he cast them out no man should buy and sell that had not the mark of the beast and to keep them in that ought to be cast out as the incestuous Corinthian and Rev. 2.2 as to be able to bear them that are evil and not reject them is an abuse of Church-power so not to admit those that ought to be admitted and have a right to it is but an abuse of the same power 3 It 's a power therefore to be exercised with judgment 1 Cor. 5.12 we judge them that are within It 's true a judgment of certainty and infallibility it cannot be and therefore it 's commonly called a judgment of charity but yet that must be more than a good hope or some negative judgment that I judge so because I know nothing to the contrary there must be a good rule and something positive that must be the ground of this judgment it must be a judicious charity something there must be that may be a ground to build a judgment upon that a man may be able to say by this rule I admit this person and open Heaven to him and by this rule I do not admit of another Those that I cannot know to have a title to membership I cannot in faith by the power of the Keys admit therefore if it be done in faith it must be an act of judgment and I must have a ground to go by therein 4 In admission the Lord that has always loved variety has taken two ways some are in covenant by their own personal right and some have been taken into the Church by their parents right and as it were their birth-priviledge being born of parents in covenant as all the Church of the Jews were taken into a Church-covenant with their parents though they were not able to restipulate and therefore they are called the Children of the Kingdom those born in it others were men born out of the Church and as Proselytes were added thereunto Now the ground that a man must go by in admissions of the one and the other must be visible for they are admitted into the visible Church into the invisible Church their admission is an act of God only and by a work of faith which no men are imployed in therefore it must be something visible and so Christ says of infants Suffer them to come to me therefore it might be judged who those infants were of whom was the Kingdom of Heaven or else how should we know to whom this injunction is directed Suffer them to come to me and forbid them not Now there is a double ground of this judgment suitable to the condition there is the profession of the Adult and there is the parents covenant and Gods promise in men grown if they be admitted the ground of judgment is the mans profession Now in reference to an inward and spiritual right I may be deceived in both but I may make as true a judgment upon the one as upon the other nay I look upon the promises of God taking in the children into the parents covenant to be a far greater and surer ground of judgment in the one than any mans profession can be in the other so that the Lord will take them into covenant to shew his love to their parents and this shall be the ground of their being a visible Church of Christ and their being thus taken into covenant shall be the ground of a judgment in those that have the power of the Keys for their admission into the visible Church unto whom of right it does belong SECT II. Twelve Questions for the stating Childrens Covenant-right resolved § 1. HAving thus far carried on the Proof of the Doctrine let us now come to the Explication thereof and that shall be in answer to these Questions 1 Whether all children of confederate parents be taken into their Covenant or only some God putting a distinction between their seed as we see he did between the seed of Abraham when he said In Isaac shall thy seed be called 2 Into what of the Covenant the children of Believers are taken whether into the regenerating and converting Grace of it or only into the external parts of it the outward priviledges 3 If only into external parts what advantage that is to them and what they gain by it 4 What this federal Right or childrens Holiness is wherein it does consist 5 What it is in the parents that give this right unto the child whether grace and the power of godliness in the parents or else their profession God taking them and their seed into a visible Church 6 What Right this is whether it be only a right before men or whether it be a right before God unto the visible Priviledges of the Church 7 From what parents this right is derived whether from those that are immediate only or whether from them that are more remote and where we must stay 8 Why God will have the Covenant run by way of entail in reference to the outward priviledges of it and not for the inward seeing in the first covenant Adam was to convey the image that he had received and the children of Adam were taken into his covenant for the spiritual part the grace of the covenant as well as for the priviledges of it for the internal as well as for the external Now the grace of the covenant is not conveyed from parents to children it is no more ex traduce than the reasonable soul is Joh. 1.13 they that believe are born not of blood or of the will of the flesh nor of
the bond-woman shall be born of the free-woman then can a man that is under the Covenant of works while he does so remain unbroken off be also under the Covenant of grace Answ 1 1. Of the Covenant of Grace there are two parts answerable to the two sorts of Promises that belong unto it as there are the Promises of this life and that which is to come so there are in the Covenant spiritual Priviledges and there are saving Graces and a man may be in the Covenant for the one and not for the other All that are truely converted they come under the Covenant in both respects but they that are onely so by Profession and outwardly they have it for the external Priviledges of the Covenant onely And this is clear from two places Rom. 3.1 he had shewed before that nothing but true faith and holiness gave a man an interest in the spiritual part of the Covenant it was not those outward things that a mans eternal happiness did consist in he is not a Jew that is one outwardly and although they be members of the Church of God as they are visible Professors Austin yet they are not partes sed pestes non membra sed ulcera c. as our Divines generally maintain it against the Popish Doctrine Vt Ecclesia catholica quam credimus ex solis constat electis Daven determ 46. And therefore these outward things avail nothing to the inward and spiritual part of the Covenant as before God but thy circumcision will be uncircumcision and the Lord saith Jer. 9.23 he will joyn them all together the circumcised with the uncircumcised for one is uncircumcised in flesh and another in his heart and therefore the Lord call'd them Rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrhae and their outward priviledges will serve to encrease their condemnation ripen their sins and hasten their ruine for he onely is in Gods account a Jew that is one inwardly Rom. 3.1 in the spirit not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now he comes to propound this very question Rom. 3.1 What advantage then has the Jew or what excellency has the Jew more than others for so the word is used Math. 5. What excellent thing do you now he addes that unto them did belong the external priviledges of the Covenant who had nothing to do with the spiritual graces of the Covenant and he makes it not a small matter to be under or have a right unto these outward priviledges but much every way chiefly in that unto them is committed the Oracles of God that the Law of God was written unto them Hos 8.12 and that it should be call'd Your Law John 8.7 they had a peculiar interest in it above all other people of the world it was a Law written unto them and as a Depositum committed unto them to keep and so I conceive the word used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notes namely credita vel concredita sunt not onely as Beza saith ut proprium ipsorum thesaurum notat As it notes their proper treasure but also as that which they were to be Stewards of Isa 2. and to convey and transmit unto other people for the Law was to come out of Sion and the Word of God from Jerusalem and in the latter days the water shall issue out of the Sanctuary also Ezek. 47.8 and from thence shall go into the East countrey into the desart and shall go forth into the Sea and thereby the waters shall be healed so Rom. 9.4 he doth recount the external priviledges of the Jewish Church and Members thereof and he doth reckon up eight very remarkable ones whose is the adoption not spiritual adoption Rom. 9.4 but the honour to be called the Sons of God and to be separated from all other people Deut. 14.1 1 Sam. 4.22 and Nations under Heaven by a Marriage-covenant Exod. 19.5 the glory the Ark was the special token of Gods presence and to them was given the Law the Worship of God Praesentiae Dei Symbolum the Promises of whom were the Fathers and of whom according to the flesh Christ came Now all these did belong to the body of the Nation as being taken into a Marriage-covenant and the external priviledges of it which did belong to them that should never have any spiritual and saving benefit by it It 's one thing to have an interest in the Covenant in reference to the spiritual and eternal mercies of it call'd the sure mercies of David by the Prophet and by the Apostle the holy things of David and another to have interest in the Covenant only in reference unto the temporal Promises and outward priviledges thereof and there is many a man that has interest in the one that neither hath nor ever shall have benefit by the other Therefore those that are the Elect of God when converted they are taken into the Covenant for both but all the seed of Parents in Covenant are taken into the outward Court the external part of the covenant the temporal Promises and outward priviledges of it and are to enjoy them and may claim them as their priviledge and right till by their sin they do deserve to be ejected and cast out of the Church and excluded from this priviledge which as a kind of a birth-right by grace does belong unto them * As there is a two-fold being in Christ so there is a two-fold being in Covenant with God Christ considered as a head in Heaven so he has none but living members but considered as a Vine spreading himself into a visible Church on Earth so he has many unfruitful branches 2. I do not only grant but teach that as there are two Covenants so all Mankind for the state of their persons come under one of these they are all of them children and sons of a covenant answerably to their union with the heads of the Covenants the first and the second Adam Therefore 1 Cor. 15.47 the Apostle Paul makes but two men in the world Adam and Christ for both of them are Heads of a Covenant they that are in the first Adam not yet translated who do yet bear his Image they stand under his covenant and they that are in the second Adam bear his Image they stand under his covenant Gal. 3.29 and if you be Christs you be Abrahams seed c. and it 's as impossible for a man for the state of his person to be under both covenants as it is for a plant to grow upon two roots or for a man to be born of two Mothers the heads of the covenants are so expressely contrary and the terms of these covenants so directly opposite that it can never be that a man can belong to them both he that is admitted into the covenant of Grace must of necessity first be cut off from the covenant of Works for he cannot live by
unto their Parents use they are so counted by God and are to be so reputed by men Now what is this holiness I answer first Negatively what it is not 1. It 's not spoken of a Holiness of Conversion and Regeneration for 1 The Sin of Adam came alike upon all Mankind and by Nature all are alike polluted and therefore the Apostle speaking of Jews and Gentiles he says in this respect there is no difference but even the Elect of God are the children of wrath as well as others Rom. 3.22 Ephes 2.3 5. and if the Election of God have not that power upon a man to sanctifie him much less any relation else in the world can have in reference unto Regeneration till the Spirit of God put forth upon him a work of his Almighty power 2 This is not spoken of Regeneration for it is a holiness that comes upon the Child through the Faith of the Parent whether he be a Believer in verity or in visibility only but the holiness of Regeneration doth not come upon the child any such way if neither of the Parents do believe the child is unholy but if either of them be a Believer there is from the faith of the believing Parent a holiness comes upon the Child but that is not of Regeneration 3 It 's a Holiness that may be lost Joh. 1.13 Rom. 11.20 for these branches may be broken off that is either cast out with their Parents as the Church of the Jews were when the Lord was pleased to unchurch them and call them Loammi he did with their Parents cast out their Children and they were holy unto God no more or else they may be cast out and justly deprived of their own priviledges by their own personal offences and so be cast off from this estate of holiness but this cannot be said of the holiness of Regeneration and Conversion for there a mans holiness is everlasting because a man receives a seed of holiness and sanctification which shall never dye which can never be broken off for he receives a spirit of sanctification within him and has not onely an outward respect to holiness put upon him c. but there is many a man in Christ as he is a Vine that spreads himself into a visible Church on Earth that may be cut off from him and may be cast out as a branch and wither and yet if we look upon Christ as he is a head in Heaven so he has no dead members but as a Vine upon Earth so he has many a withered branch that may be cut off and be cast out and men gather them and they may be cast into the fire and burn that is they burn hotter because they prove more wicked than other men and their priviledges do but adde to their sins and quicken their destruction 2. It 's not meant of Legitimation that is a civil holiness as some will call it as if the meaning were else were your children bastards but now they are holy that is lawfully begotten 1 Because the Legitimation of the child does not depend upon the faith of the Parent either one or both for we know that there were lawfull marriages among the Heathen and where the marriage is lawfull by the consent of one man and one woman there the seed is legitimate though neither of them be a Believer as on the other side a child may be a Bastard and illegitimate though both Parents be believers if not begotten in lawful marriage by the mutual consent of both parties giving up themselves each to other in such a relation as we see it in the child of David begotten in Adultery which was illegitimate though both the Parents were Saints for so we have good ground to conceive of Bathsheba Prov. 31.2 Solomon the Son of my Vowes now the holiness here spoken of is such as depends upon and flows from the faith of the Parents one or both and which onely faith can give and nothing else 2 The Holiness that is here spoken of is such as may be lost Rom. 11.20 there is a holiness that is derived from the root unto the branches and the branches may be broken off and others may be grafted in now a man that is legitimate cannot be made illegitimate and a man that is illegitimate cannot be made legitimate there is no way in the thing it self to make him so whatever may be done in the account and repute of men to civil ends 3 It has been well observed by some of our Divines that this doth wholly take away the strength of the Apostles answer and make it to be nothing to the purpose for when once the Corinthians were converted they did scruple in point of Conscience whether they might lawfully live with their Pagan yoak-fellows for fear of being corrupted by them Now the Apostle answers this case thus You may lawfully live with them for ye are lawfully Man and Wife your marriage is lawfull if your Marriage were not lawfull your children were bastards but your Marriage is lawfull and therefore your children are legitimate which makes the Apostle speak that which is nothing in it self for who did not well know that the legitimation of the Child did flow from the lawfulness of the Marriage and that if the Marriage be not lawful the Child cannot be legitimate This makes the Apostle speak nothing to the purpose or to the case that is propounded to him 3. There is yet another interpretation given of it by Estius which also I find Jerome in one of his Epistles to Paulinus to give as the sence that Tertullian did put upon these words asking Fidelium filii dicuntur sancti quia sunt quasi fidei candidati How the Children of believing Parents are holy He answers Because they are as it were in a way unto Faith and to Conversion and brought under the power and blessing of a Christian Education and have the example of the Saints before their eyes which may be powerful to Conversion and so say they Sanctification is such a preparation one deputed and prepared for such an end Isa 13.3 the Medes and Persians are called Gods sanctified ones that is such as he has set apart and prepared for such a work and so do these seem to be set apart by holy Education and as it were prepared unto holiness and conversion and this is a sence also that some do catch after to avoid the true sence of the holiness that is here spoken of by the Apostle But this cannot be the meaning here 1 Because the Apostle does not here speak as Chamier hath well observed de re incerta futura of a thing uncertain and future but of something which was already actually in being not only they were in a way or preparation to holiness but they are holy and the wife is sanctified as that which all the Believers in the Church of Corinth that were thus unequally yoak'd might build
rejection by immediate parents that there is of reception but the rejection may be in the one without respect unto Ancestors therefore it must be so in the reception also 1. There are some Ordinances that are purely so and may be dispensed to all that will partake in them but there are some Ordinances that are such as carry also priviledges with them and belong not unto all men that will receive them but in Scripture are appointed to some only and amongst these chiefly are the seals of the Covenant which are not to be administred to all men for Christ did never appoint his Ministers to baptize all mankind but Believers only and their seed whom he takes into Covenant with himself 2. I look upon Baptism as a great Ordinance 1 As being one of the first Institutions of the New Testament and which the Lord Jesus Christ himself subjected unto by the hand of a servant 2 In respect of the things signified and sealed thereby which are our first union with Christ the great promise of the Spirit of Sanctification our Redemption by Christ and communion with him in his Death and Resurrection 3 It being the Ordinance of publick admission into the visible Church for as under the Old Testament the admission was by Circumcision so under the New it has always been by Baptism They were baptized and added to the Church 3. It being an admission into the visible Church it is a power committed unto men unto whom the power of the Keys is committed for as admission into the Church invisible is an immediate act of Christ so admission into the Church visible is committed unto the Officers under Christ Mat. 16.19 I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven in Scripture a Key is symbolum potestatis a symbol of power as Esa 22.22 and this power is twofold 1 Supreme and absolute which is in the hand of Christ who is said to have a double power the Keys of Hell and Death and the Key of the Church called the Key of David Rev. 1.18 3.7 and this is by some called the Key of Royalty he being the Head and King of the Church but there is also 2 A power subordinate and limited potestas oeconomi the power of a steward as Beza does expound it a power of Ministry by which all the affairs in his house as visible may be acted and ordered according to his mind for the ends that he has proposed and this is a Key of Ministry which some do call a Key of Charity Esa 22.22 Rev. 3.7 and these Keys are for opening and shutting the doors of the visible Church and therefore the persons to whom they are committed whether they be committed to the Church first as the first subject or to the Officers we need not now dispute they both have an authority to open the Kingdom of Heaven unto some and to shut it unto others 4. Christ owns their acts no further than in them they walk by his rule and observe his order as it is in Excommunications and Ejections if they be clave errante they do not bind in Heaven as we see in the putting out of the Synagogue by the Pharisees and by Diotrephes his usurped power as also by that of Antichrist who ordains Joh. 3.10 Rev. 13.17 Mede That no man must buy or sell save he that had the mark anathematis Ecclesiastici censura innuitur Now as such Ejections are not owned by Christ so neither are Admissions that are not according to the same rule because they are exercised errante clave and therefore all that labour is in vain and is a meer abuse of the power of the Keys and so a dishonour put upon the Ordinance of Christ in the one as well as in the other because the rule is transgressed in both for he has in his Word given rules for the one as well as for the other 5. The trust committed unto Officers in this kind is exceeding great and therefore the account will be dreadful for what is a particular visible Church but a golden Candlestick and the Sponse of Christ and the Body of Christ Now how great a trust is it to be imployed in things of so high concernment and how dangerous must the errour needs be to espouse a soul to Christ that he neither can nor will owne for his How great a wrong is it Now the nearer the relation the greater the transgression and so it is to place a member in the body of Christ that he abhors and therefore Admissions and Ejections of Church-members are some of the greatest acts of mens lives and should be done with greatest heed and the greatest solemnity and how shall that Officer appear before the Lord at the last day who through ignorance knows not Judicatur magno cum pondere ut apud certos de Dei conspectu summumque futuri judicii praejudicium Apol. c. 37 39. or through carelesness or custom regards not the rules of Christ in either of them which Tertullian says was the greatest mischief that could befal the Heathen Hoc solum sufficit neutra ultioni quòd vacua exinde possessio immundis spiritibus pateret To leave men out of the Church as a possession of Satan to leave a man to Satan and to deliver him to Satan admits not much difference and so for their receptions they were solemn things for what can be greater than to receive a man into the Kingdom of Heaven or to deliver a man unto Satan and bind his sins upon his conscience until the coming of the Lord 6. There ought to be as great care in one Sacrament that it be not misapplied as there is in the other It is granted that to administer the Supper of the Lord in a promiscuous manner to all without distinction were a great evil a giving of the childrens bread to dogs a great means to harden the hearts of profane men in an evil way looking upon themselves as having a right to all the priviledges of the Saints though they be such as hate holiness and by this means great breach of trust in them that do administer it and therefore the Church in ancient times did proceed with much wariness and tenderness in it as appears by the instance of Chrysostome and they took the same care for Baptism also they must be audientes and afterwards competentes before they were admitted unto Baptism and therefore the rule in the Nicene Council as it is recorded by Balsam is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That no unbeliever be baptized without sufficient instruction and tryal c. They were first to be instructed in the Principles of Religion and if well catechized yet not by and by to be admitted unto Baptism because the tryal of those things do require time and if a man had scandalously sinned there was a great deal of care taken of readmission as we see how much there was of the incestuous Corinthian before he
their infants were circumcised therefore are ours to be baptized They that are Antipedobaptists do say Antipedobaptists objection that no argument drawn from the Ordinances of the old Testament conclude in reference to the Ordinances of the new by that analogy and parity of reason and therefore by our own reason to draw consequents from Circumcision which was an Ordinance of another Covenant is to set our posts by Gods post and to be wise above what is written for Ordinances are grounded upon Institutions meerly and have their efficacy only from the will of the Institutor and do not depend at all upon the reason of the thing neither are we to make like Institutions from any analogy to the Ordinances of the old Testament that our reason suggests unto us and we are desired by them to consider that this way of arguing has brought in many a great Errour into Popery As because the Jewish Church was but in one Nation then till the bounds were enlarged so now the Gospel being preached unto every creature under Heaven by just consequence the Church should depend upon one head so that as there were many subordinate Priests and Levites among the Jews yet there was but one high Priest so by just consequence it must needs be in the Churches of the New Testament there is but one Pontifex Maximus great Bishop of our Souls in the Church all the world over and yet these we deny to be good arguments therefore that which is drawn from the circumcision of the Infants of the Jews unto the Baptism of the Infants of the Christians there being an express word of Institution for the one but not for the other but only grounded upon inferences drawn by way of analogy it is conceived that way of reasoning in the one as well as in the other is alike unsafe and unsound Answ Now to give an answer to what is said and to sum it up as briefly as may be I would lay down these Conclusions 1. In all Ages there has been great designs upon the Word of God to make it void and enervate it Men generally that are in an evil way bear the same affection to the Word that Jehoiakim did unto Jeremiahs roll which he cut in pieces with his Pen-knife and cast it into the firâ—â— that was upon the hearth But because that they cannot cut it therefore they would take it away in a secret manner and undermine it specially that part of the Word that is contrary either to their corrupt opinions or practice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Martyr Ep. ad Zenam Et Scripturas secundum sensum suum legit voluntatem sequitur nunquà m audit sed quam attulit Aust de gra Christi And this did David complain of Psal 119.126 Psal 119.126 the word signifies non palam ex professo sed obliquè to do it secretly and under-hand and so did the Pharisees ye have made void the Law Matth. 15.6 it was not by denying it but by false Glosses and corrupt Interpretations they took away the ruling power and authority thereof and this has been mainly done in this latter age by these two wayes 1 Some men deny the authority of the whole Old Testament at least any further than it is in express words confirm'd in the New and this is looked upon as an argument sufficient to answer any argument that is brought for any thing of the Old Testament Can you shew any thing in the New Testament for it as if the Old Testament were now antiquated and out of date but we dare not divide the two words of the Apostle which he doth apply generally unto all the Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 3.16 The whole Scripture is given by inspiration and is profitable c. therefore either we must deny it to be of divine Inspiration or we must say not only that it was but it is still profitable and we know that Christ and his Apostles do generally confirm the Doctrines of the Gospel by Moses and the Prophets and our Divines do generally therefore say that the Old Testament is but Evangelium sub velo which now we see with open face The Apostle speaks of a great trust that was committed to the Jews in the Word Rom. 3.2 Rom. 3.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to them were the Oracles of God concredited that is committed unto them by way of trust that they might transmit them unto others and it is a testimony that 's given to the Jews to their honour Judaeum centies potius moriturum quà m ut pateretur legem in aliquo mutari And there is the like and a greater trust committed unto Christians for the Church is the Pillar and the ground of truth I desire we may be as faithfull to Posterity therein as the Jews were and not sell any part of the Truths of God unto the Lusts of men 2 Men take away the Authority of the Word by denying if not the express words of the Scripture yet all things that are drawn though by evident and necessary consequences out of the Scripture and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. They do steal from us a great part of the Word of God for a great part of it lyes in consequences We know 1 That Christ himself does cite Scripture by a consequence and prove the Doctrine of the Resurrection by a Consequence out of Scripture Mat. 22.32 2 We know the Apostles and Evangelists do often assert that to be Scripture which is no where in express terms to be found in the Scripture 2. I do acknowledge that no Ordinance of the Old Testament is a ground for the Institution of the same under the New Testament neither is it safe to make one Ordinance institutive of another neither can any Inferences made from a mans own Reason be a ground for any Institution in the Worship of God 1 I say one Ordinance cannot be institutive of another for Institutions do depend purely upon the will of God manifested to the creature in matter of Worship and therefore it were sinfull to say Because there were two Sacraments under the Old Testament therefore there must be two under the New and because there was one Sacrament of Initiation and the other of Confirmation therefore it must be so under the New unless we had a word from Christ that did warrant it or to say Because they had a Sabbath amongst the Jews a day of Religious rest therefore we must have so amongst the Gentiles that are now Christians unless we have a word that doth manifest this to be the will of God that he will in such Ordinances be worshipped in the Church and therefore we are far from making Circumcision to be the ground of the institution of Baptism 2 It is no inference from reason that man can make can be a ground in the things of God in which the reason of man must only stoop unto the will of
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
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
of persons they may as Eli did misreprove a Hannah in the Church of God and as David believe a Zibi against the son of his friend for commonly the best deserving Christians are clouded by the glaring light of the lamps of Hypocrites who make it their business to raise false reports against such as outshine them in true grace and holiness but at last God will discover them and cast them out of the Churches prayers and affection they shall not always abide with them 1 Joh. 2.18 that they may be made manifest not to be of them and they that are approved shall be made manifest and so shall they that are corrupted also they shall be found lyars and they shall be cast out the Lord will cut them off that they may deceive the expectations of the Saints no more the Lord doth delight to do it and we should wait his leisure in it who will certainly shew himself a God that judges in the earth 3 That thereby the Saints may be awakened and admonished when Hymeneus fell then 2 Tim. 2.7 is that exhortation most seasonable Let him that names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity and let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall when a man observes horrendas tempestates flenda naufragia horrid tempests it is a hint to the Saints look to your standing see that you be built upon a Rock that storms and tempests may not overthrow you 5. In their judgments for they are terrible judgments that the Lord doth execute upon unregenerate men in the Church there are no mercies like those out of Sion and there are no judgments like them no men are so eminently under the curse as they are Out of the Throne came thundering and lightning and voices Rev. 4.5 for the Churches sake and by their prayers And this is 1 that the Saints may be thankful how great a mercy is it that I had not fallen away as well as he Joh. 14.22 2 That they may take heed of the same sins lest they be overtaken by the same plagues Remember Lots wife the natural branches are broken off thou standest by faith be not high-minded but fear they entred not through unbelief let us fear lest we also come short c. Heb. 4.1 § 3. There belongs also unto the spiritual Kingdom reductivè all the works and the dispensations of God amongst the creatures for though only men that live in the Church be the proper subjects of the spiritual Kingdom and in respect of the spiritual part of it only the Saints yet as the Mediator undertook the government of all other things for the Churches sake so in the government of all things he has a special respect unto their good Eph. 1. ult Joh. 17.2 so that all the creatures and the government of them all comes under the spiritual Kingdom two ways 1 As they tend to perfect the graces of the Saints 2 As they belong unto the priviledges of the Saints so reductivè they belong to the spiritual Kingdom 1. Christ in the spiritual Kingdom doth so order and dispose of all the creatures that they do all tend to perfect and increase the graces of the Saints Rom. 8.28 Rom. 8.28 All things shall work together for good to them that love God the Apostle speaks it in reference unto affliction but yet because there was a general doctrine in it he would not restrain it and therefore he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is all creatures and all events 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. 1 they shall not work so of themselves but by a blessed and gracious concurrence of God with them all as it is said That Ministers are workers togethers with God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 6.1 Alas it is not any thing we can do or by any power that is in us but only there is a concurrence of the principal with the instrumental cause for instrumentum agit dispositivè in virtute principalis agentis 2 Some refer it unto the creatures themselves that they do not do this apart as if any one action or any one dispensation meerly did it but they do it as it were in a conspiracy or concatenation they all joyn together in the work that if we take any one particular we may seem to go backward and it may tend to the disadvantage of the spiritual Kingdom but we must take them all together as we are not to judge of the works of God ante quintum actum so neither are we to judge of the fruits of his works but by laying of them all together and see how they work in a due order and subordination one to another c. and unto what is it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is ad aeternam piorum salutem for sine summo bono nil bonum As there is nothing good without the chiefest good so there is nothing good that doth not lead a man unto the chief good and therefore when it 's said That all things work together for good the meaning is they shall all make for the increase of their grace here and their glory hereafter all of them shall work for the eternal good of their souls whereas unto all wicked men all the creatures and all the dispensations of God in the ordering of the creatures cedunt in perniciem tend to their perdition they are unto the one in praemium for a reward unto the other in supplicium for punishment as Prosper has it Or as Cyprian saith of the Sacrament it was Petro in remedium Judae in venenum a remedy to Peter but poyson to Judas so it is here all the creatures that the wicked do enjoy they are indeed seemingly blessings but really curses outwardly bread but in verity a stone a fish in shew but in truth a scorpion for they do all of them tend to the ripening of their sins and the hastning of their ruine but to the Saints 1 Cor. 3.21 22. All things are yours he was speaking of glorying in men they should not boast of their Teachers though it is true indeed that the Primitive Church had their Crown of twelve Stars yet they were all the servants of the Churches debent tam corpori quà m capiti servire they ought to serve the body as well as the head and therefore some will have it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the Apostle doth speak here as in the fore-quoted places as I conceive where though speaking of one particular yet there being a general truth in it he doth propound it generally for it is not to be restrained to persons as the after-enumeration shews for he speaks of life and death things present and things to come now how doth he mean that all is ours that is aedificationi saluti destinata as ordained for our edification and salvation there is a special design of grace in ordering and disposing of them all so as
never to expect the like again yea after the same manner as he did deliver them when they came out of Egypt in a miraculous way by signs and wonders so he will do again and the grounds of it is the same Hab. 3.9 Thy bow was made quite naked according to the oaths of the Tribes Hab. 3.9 even thy word Selah thou didst cleave the earth with rivers c. it is according unto the oaths that he swore unto the Tribes even his word the juramenta quae saepiùs repetita c. 2 When he doth work in an ordinary way according unto the course that he has set in nature and according unto the dependence that things have one upon another Hos 2.22 the heavens shall hear the earth and the earth the corn and the wine and they shall hear Jezreel c. there are the ordinances of Heaven of the Sun and the Moon and the Stars Jer. 31.35 that constant and established course that God has set amongst the creatures c. Now whether the Lord work by means or without means by his own immediate hand all is and shall be ordered and disposed for the good of the Saints all the governments that the Lord doth exercise in the world either of those ways 4. The Providence of God is either seen 1 in things necessaria which have a necessary dependence upon their causes and we may accordingly expect them as the Sun and Moon to shine or to be in their Eclipse as we say It will be foul weather to day for the skie is red and it will be fair to morrow for the skie is red which men do conclude of by their observation because they have a necessary dependence upon their causes Mat. 16.2 3. And as it is in natural things so it is in morals also there are signs of the times by which things may be as well known and as certainly concluded by an observing man a man may as well know the signs of the times as the Stork and the Crane and the Swallow know their times Jer. 8.7 8. or else why should they be blamed for it as being more unwise for themselves than the brute creatures are c. 2 There are some things that are accidentalia that are casual or fall out so as we can give no reason for them there is no expectation of it in man as the disposing of the minds of men the Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord Prov. 21.1 as in King Ahasuerus in the business of Mordecai there was a concurrence of many things that were casual and so Prov. 16.33 The lot is cast into the lap but the whole disposing of it is from the Lord so that there is not the most casual thing that can be but it comes under a providence and in all these also it is for the good of the Saints as it 's said 2 Kings 3.22 a rumour Sennacheribs Army shall hear they shall have such an apprehension that because the Sun shines upon the water therefore the Kings have slain one another for this is blood c. 5. Providence is either circa bonum vel malum either 1 in all good so the Lord doth work and order the spirits of men for as every good gift is from above so every good work is from him that is the Father of lights and the Fountain of all goodness 2 Also of all the evil that is in man there is a providence for God would never have suffered sin to have come into the world if he had not known how to have wrought his own ends by it even by the vessels of dishonour he is served in his house 2 Tim. 2.21 he doth order and over-rule even the sins of men unto his own high and most glorious ends he doth uphold Pharaoh and let out his spirit but it is that he might shew his power in him Even the wrath of man shall praise him and the remainder he will and doth restrain and Gen. 20.3 I kept thee that thou shouldst not touch her There is a letting out of sin and there is a restraint upon sin so far as it may serve to his ends Now all the providence of God whether it be for good or ill either permitting or disposing it is all of it for the good of the Saints 1. The Providence of God is circa maxima and that is for the good of the Saints and this I will reduce unto two heads 1 His government over the Angels 2 Over men in all the great turnings and changes in the world in the policies and in the governments thereof for it is the most High rules in the Kingdoms of mortal men and all this is done for the Saints sake and all is ordered so as it shall be for their good 1. For the government of the Angels either good or bad it 's all for the good of the Saints 1. As for the good Angels it 's true they are part of the spiritual Kingdom and shall make up part of that great Church and body of which Christ is the head and therefore Heb. 12.22 we are said to be come unto them and therefore it is ordinary with the Fathers and the School-men as I told you to intimate that there are as many men elected as there were Angels that fell and that they are taken in to fill up that number qui locum illum supplerent ruinas Jerusalem restaurarent Bern. But they are also used by the Lord in the providential Kingdom and all is for the Saints good in their whole Ministry it is for the sake of them that are heirs of salvation Heb. 1.14 And Ezech. 1.5 c. Ezech. 1.5 c. we have the manner how the Lord governs all things in a threefold subordination there are the wheels and the living creatures that act them and one as the Son of man by whose command and by whose Spirit they do move in all their ways and the wheels by them 1 They do by a secret virtue work upon and over-rule the hearts and the wills of men and therefore the Trumpets and the Vials are given unto the hands of Angels that is they do fashion the hearts of men and stir up their spirits unto such a work and strengthen their hearts in it for as the Devil doth fashion the minds and wills of men and gives suggestions suitable to his designs so do the good Angels also and as Satan strengthens the resolution of wicked men so do the good Angels also for they have a power upon the soul also being Spirits and a more immediate work upon the minds of men as Ahabs false Prophets thou shalt perswade them and prevail there is an impression upon their hearts they have their arguments and suggestions and they follow them with reasonings till the men be overcome so do the good Angels also Rev. 2.10 the devil shall cast some of you into prison it 's Satans working powerfully in his instruments and upon
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
administer it unto one that hath spiritually no right to it as we see in the Scripture the Apostles themselves were deceived but Gods promise in giving the children an interest in the fathers priviledge is a sure ground to go by more than any mans believing or profession in the world can be for himself and therefore a man is bound to believe that his seed is taken into covenant and that they do belong to the Election of grace and are truly justified sanctified adopted and accepted in Christ till they manifest the contrary and we have more than a negative ground for it that we know nothing to the contrary for we have a positive ground and that is the indefinite promise which we have cause to interpret in the most favourable sense and I am sure is a more certain ground for me to pass a judgment upon than any mans profession can be seeing that I know my judgment is not infallible in either but I may be deceived in reference to the person to whom it 's applied therefore consider that 1 Children while in their infancy are members of the visible Church of God 2 They have always been taken into membership in the same Church with their parents and accounted as of the same Church with them 1. Children while they are infants may be members of the visible Church of God before they come to years to be able to understand the nature of a Church or to consent unto the Duties unto which they are obliged in that relation and that will appear Luk. 18.16 Mar. 10.13 1 What children were those spoken of they were not children in meekness and harmlesness as some would have it but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 infants young children teneri adhuc ab uberibus pendentes pueruli Beza the same word is used of new-born babes 1 Pet. 2.2 and so much do the words also import 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he took them in his arms which notes that they were children in their infancy 2 What doth he say to these children he saith That the kingdom of heaven did belong to such what doth he mean by the Kingdom of Heaven the Kingdom of Heaven is put for the Kingdom of Grace here in a visible Church or else for the Kingdom of Glory Mat. 8.11 12. Many shall come from the East and shall sit down with Abraham in the kingdom of heaven i. e. shall be added unto the Church upon Earth and shall enter into the Kingdom of glory when the children of the Kingdom of the Jews the natural branches born children by an external right shall be cast out And Mat. 16.19 I give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven it 's meant of the Kingdom of Grace here the Church and the Kingdom of Glory in Heaven for he gives him power to bind on earth and loose on earth and promises that it shall be ratified in Heaven but yet all Officers are for the visible Church and all their power is to be exercised in the visible Church and though it be for the good of the Elect the Church of the first-born the Church invisible yet that is not the proper place thereof but Officers are for the visible Church So then theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven that is not only they shall be saved and so fill up the Kingdom of glory but also they belong to the Kingdom of grace and the Subjects of this Kingdom here are members of the visible Church they are actually Subjects of this Kingdom 3 Neither doth he speak of these very individual children as a priviledge which belonged unto them alone he by his omniscience knowing them to be elected of God but he saith Of such as these are delivering it therefore as an ordinary rule of our judgment in the like case of all other children of parents in covenant unto the end of the world therefore children that are infants are members of the visible Church and therefore taken into a Church-covenant with their parents for by nature no man is a Church-member Eph. 2.12 but all strangers to the Common-wealth of Israel and men afar off for if any man were so by nature then all men by nature must be so therefore it 's a priviledge by grace that they are taken into their parents covenant and are members of the same Church with them 2. Children have been always taken into the same covenant with their parents and have been members of the same Church with them When the Lord made a covenant with Abraham he took in his family to be a Church when he took in the Jews he took in their children also to be unto him a holy and a peculiar people and when he did cast out the children of the Kingdom and did give them a bill of divorce removing the candlestick he did excommunicate and disinherit their children and when he takes the Gentiles into covenant also it is with them and with their seed in their generations and therefore the master of the family being converted salvation is come to his house and there is a Church in his house his family becomes of those of whom the visible Church is constituted for the Gentiles were grafted in as the Jews were broken off and that was in reference to a Church-state for themselves and their posterity and so were the Gentiles grafted into a Church-state for themselves and their posterity and the Lord has given us a rule for it Deut. 29.14 Deut. 29.14 15. when he enters into a Church-covenant with that people and with their little ones that they should be a people unto himself that is a Church unto God vers 15. Neither with you only do I make this covenant but also with him that is not here with us this day If you understand it of the Jews only this leaves to us these two things 1 That children are included in their fathers covenant though they be not of themselves able to restipulate 2 That it is the will of God it should not only be so at that time but in after-ages with them and their seed in their generations But if we understand by them that are not here this day all that shall be taken into the same covenant in time to come as it may be then it will leave a door open to bring in all the believing Gentiles and their seed to the end of the world Thus the Lord out of love unto the parents doth take not only them but their seed also into a visible Church that they may be a holy and a peculiar people unto himself 5. They that have a right of membership are to be admitted into the visible Church and to be looked upon as having a right Mat. 16.19 for the Lord has appointed the power of the Keys in his Church unto this end Church-power and authority is commonly expressed in Scripture by the name of Keys the sign being put for the thing signified and the ensign of authority for the
make their abode with him Joh. 14.23 They dwell in God that is in the sense and the apprehension of his love from day to day 1 Joh. 4.16 they are in the Father and in his Son Christ friends do impart secrets and divide grief 1 Thess 1.1 and multiply joys and because we cannot ascend up unto God therefore he will come down to us We will come to him and dwell in him c. There is a great deal of sweetness in society where a man loves We took sweet counsel together and walked to the house of God in companies but there is none like unto that that is between Heaven and Earth I saw heaven opened and the Angels ascending and descending upon the sons of men Joh. 1. ult Joh. 15.1 § 4. As Christ is the true Vine so the Father is the Husbandman Christ is not here spoken of as a head in heaven for so he has no dead members but it 's spoken of him as spreading himself into a visible Church which is sometimes compared unto a Vine Jer. 2.21 and sometimes to an Olive-tree Rom. 11. and of this Vine the Father is the Husbandman or the Vine-dresser for there are branches in this Vine that do bear no fruit parentes pampinarii Now there is a double act of the Father in this relation 1 The unfruitful branches he takes away that is all hypocrites and unsound-hearted in the Church visible he takes away partly because they dishonour the root and partly because the husbandman has no fruit by them Cant. ult 11 12. For who is he that plants a vineyard and doth not drink thereof he lets it out unto vine-dressers c. and it was to yield for the fruit of it a thousand pieces of silver there is nothing more hateful than an empty Vine Hos 10.1 and these branches he takes away and they are cast out 1 They are cast out of the hearts of Gods people and out of their prayers and in the end they are cast out of their society 2 They wither their gifts wither and their former seeming graces from which they had their greenness decay their lamps go out 3 Men gather them Hereticks gather them or profane men gather them for they shall be gathered together in bundles those of their own kind and all those spiritual judgments that compleat a man for separation from God befal such a man and this punishment is from God the Father who is the Husbandman 2 All the branches that are fruitful he doth purge them that they may bring forth more fruit There are two parts of Sanctification and there is a growth of a Christian seen in them both there is a growth in grace the new image is more visibly seen and there is a growth in mortification or the decay of the old image the new man is renewed day by day and the old man decays day by day c. In visible Churches the purging of the members is the Fathers act the remainders of sin are the great misery of a Saint Now to whom should a man look to be cleansed It 's true that it 's the sprinkling of the blood of Christ upon the conscience by which it is done but it is properly the act of God the Father applying this blood for every degree of grace in the one or the other it 's an act of the grace of the Father But more particularly here are three things to be spoken to for the opening of this relation that we may receive the fruit and taste the sweetness thereof 1 How and in what respect is Christ compared to a Vine 2 Why is he said to be a true Vine 3 How is the Father said to be the Husbandman and what doth he unto this Vine as he is the Husbandman 1. How and in what respect is Christ compared to a Vine and here we are to consider that the visible Church is in Scripture compared in Scripture to four trees because there is no one that is able to resemble it 1 It 's compared to an Olive-tree Rom. 11.17 Jer. 11.16 Rom. 11.17 and that for its profitableness for the Olive-tree is for light which makes the lamp to burn and there is all light in the Church and it 's for nourishment to be eaten Lev. 6.15 16. and so there is all food in the Church and it 's for ornament for oyl makes the face to shine Psal 104.15 the trees of the Lord are full of sap c. 2 It 's compared to a Palm-tree Psal 92.12 The righteous shall flourish like a paâ—m-tree which lives always so there is a flourishing and a greenness and glory that is upon the Church of God and that in the greatest winter of affliction when other trees do cast their leaves Again a Palm the more weight it has hung upon it the more it grows and the deeper it takes root as the Walnut-tree the more it 's beaten the more it bears 3 It 's compared to a Cedar Psal 92.12 and Ezech. 17.23 He shall grow as a cedar in Lebanon 1 For its deep rooting for it 's the strongest of all the trees as the wood of it is of all other least subject unto putrefaction so in respect of the deep rooting of it it 's of all other trees least subject unto subversion so the Israel of God is said to be He shall cast forth his roots as Lebanon Hos 14.5 c. 2 For its growth and height it 's therefore called the Cedars of God Psal 80.10 3 For it's spreading nature the boughs spread to the Sea and the branches to the River therefore the birds make their nests and sing in the branches of it Psal 104.17 4 But the Church is specially in the Scripture compared unto a Vine 1 for its excellency for in the Parable of Jotham this is recorded amongst the most excellent the Vine the Fig-tree and the Olive Judg. 9. 2 For its spreading nature for it will not only compass the house but it will fill the land Psal 80.9 3 For its fruitfulness it is the fruitful Vine and the excellency of its fruit is such Psal 128.3 Judg. 9.13 that it is said by it to chear God and man Judg. 9.13 it 's said to chear God and man where by Elohim I should understand great men the great ones as well as the mean ones are cheared and revived by it Some do expound it of God and how the Lord was pleased with it and it was offered unto him in Libamina for a drink-offering 4 Of all trees there is none requires so much husbandry and such a continual labouring about it it is a tree that hath more enemies than any other whether they are suckers from within which call for continual pruning or beasts from without which will surely waste the Vine and root it up or else the Foxes Cant. 2.15 for they all will spoil the Vines and prey upon the grapes and it 〈◊〉 in this respect that the Church