see that we abiding with him in the places he hath set us in he will be with us and blesse us so as we shall want nothing that is good For direction to all such as desire to find the accomplishment Vse 3 of this gracious promise of God to his people that God will be from himselfe an all-sufficient good to them this is to teach them how to walk that they may find this blessing performed to thâ—m let them betake themselves to God alone and cast themselves wholly upon him Let them make him all unto them let them make it appeare that they look after nothing in heaven but him nor desire any thing in the earth in comparison of him as Psal 73.25 Psal 73.25 And then when thâ—ir hearts are taken off from these râ—eds and broken staves which they râ—sted on when it is with thâ—m as the Prophet speaketh Isai 17.7 8. that they look unto tâ—eir maker and not to the creature not to thâ—ir own devices and projects but onely to the holy One of Israel then will the Lord appeare in his glory and will make it manifest that from himselfe he will be an all-sufficient good to his people Let all other things be to us as though they were not use them as though we used them not see a fulnesse of all things in God Let us cast our selves upon the bounty kindnesse and all-sufficiency of the Lord And then will he arise and help us and doe for us according to our need Imitate the practise of Jehoshaphat 2 Chron. 20. when hee saw himselfe destitute of help Our eyes saith he are unto thee O Lord we know not what to doe Let the Lord sâ—e that our hearts are withdrawn from the creature and those helps which we leaned upon and that we doe faithfully relie upon him and then will hee ride upon the heavens for our help as Deut. 33.26 Deut. 33.26 and say This is a people that will not lie they have cast themselves upon mee and therefore I will not faile them nor forsake them I will be an all-sufficient good unto them For comfort unto godly and faithfull parents that having Vse 4 come over hither have here spent their estates by which they might have provided comfortably for their children they have come hither for the name of Christ that they might enjâ—y him in the means of his worship and though they doe here find grace and mercy from the Lord and a spirituall advantage to their souls yet they meet with losses troubles and straits for the outward man that they can now doe little for them What shall parents now doe What shall children doe Here is comfort look to the all-sufficient God that from himselfe will be all in all to his people Though there bee no blessing in the hand of the Parent yet there is in the hand of the Lord. What hee would have done for the children by the hand of the Parents he wil now doe it from himselfe by his own hand It is said of Isaac that after the death of Abraham God blâ—ssed him Gen. 25.11 Gen. 25.11 If Isaac prosper whiles Abraham lives he might seem to be upholden by the substance of his father But when Abraham was dâ—ad then it was evident that the blessing upon Isaac came from the Lord So whiles the Parents estates continue children might seem to bee enriched by them but when their fathers estates are wasted and come to nothing and yet the children are provided for and prosper then it appeares to bee from the Lord. Lâ—t therefore both parents and children depend upâ—n him and live by faith in him who wil be a Father to them an all-sufficient good to those that trust in him 3. Now to the third and last particular in this promise I will be your God To be God implies soveraignty and superiority over all To be over all as Rom. 9.5 Rom 9.5 and above all aâ— Ephes 4.6 Ephes 4.6 This therefore is also comprehended in the promise That hee wil bee God over us and above us to rule us to command us to direct and order our wayes for us That though he doe advance and set us up on high when he takes us into covenant with himselfe as Deut. 26.18 19. yet so as that he wil be Lord and Gâ—d over us as Pharaoh said to Joseph when he advanced him to that high honour Yet saith he on the Kings Throne I will bee above thee So though God do lift up his people by entring into covenant with them so that all the world are but servants to minister unto them for their good yet will the Lord still retain his soveraignty over them and bee exalted above them As he wil be above all his â—nemies in that wherein they deale proudly as hee was above the Egyptians Exod. 18.11 to breake them in peeces with a rod of Iron So hee will bee above his owne people to rule them with a golden Scepter And this is a blessing of the covenant of grace Now this benefit implies these things First that the Lord will bring his people from under the power and dominion of other Lords which have gotten the superiority over them and bring them into subjection unto himselfe alone so that whereas they might say concerning the time before as Isai 26.13 Other Lords have had dominion over us besides thee yet now they shall rule over them no more but they shall be subject to him only Hence saith the Lord Joel 3.3 4 Joel 3.3 4. c They have cast lots for my people c. And what have you to doe with me O Tyre and Zydon and all the coast of Palestine will you render mee a recompence c. The meaning is as if God should speak to the enemies of his Church You have trampled upon my people and dealt cruelly with them and this you have done in revenge against me because I have plagued you Will you thus recompence me I will break you in peeces and deliver my pâ—ople from under yâ—ur power As a King when he makeâ—h a covenant with a people to be King over them he then covenants with them to save them out of the haâ—ds of all their enemies to suffer no foraigne power to tyrannize over thâ—m So it is here the Lord promiseth that no tyrant shall rule over his people neither sinne nor Satan nor the world nor the lust of their own hearts but he himselfe will rule over them 2. When he hath delivered us from our enemies then he will be God over us to command us and appoint us what wee shall doe to please him Though he communicate himselfe to us in all his goodnesse grace and mercy yet he will not lose his soveraignty over us In Exod. 4.16 Exod. 4.16 Moses was called a God unto Aaron because he was to command appoint and direct Aaron in all and Aaron was to execute all according to the direction received from Moses So the Lord
of God and have such promises made unto them What shall we doe to helpe forward their calling and conversion Quest Take away as much as in us lyes the stumbling block which Ans 1 hinders their coming in and these blockes are two First The one is the Idolatry of Christian Churches especially that of Rome whiles we doe any thing to uphold these Idolatries we doe put the stumbling block before them to hinder them but take away these stones and blockes which they stumble at and then their way will be more easie and plaine Secondly The other is the carnalnesse and licentiousnesse of the lives of Christians this is a great stumbling blocke unto them remove this from before them let them see a spirit of grace shining upon us and appearing in our lives and then we shall make plaine the way of the Lord for them to returne to Sion see Esay 57.14 Intreat the Lord for them that he would visit them in due time be we their remembrancers before the Lord they have long lyen in the dungeon as Esa 42.22 and been made a prey of and there hath been none to say restore let us therefore speake unto God in their behalfe and say Lord restore thy ancient people bring them back to the fellowship of thy Church take to you the words of Micah Chap. 7.14 Feed thy people with thy rod and the flock of thine inheritance in the middest of Carmell let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in old time commend their estate unto God and the rather should we doe this Because 1. They prayed for us when we were no people that we might be the people of God Psal 67.1 2. When the salvation of God was revealed to them they prayed that it might be revealed unto us Wee have a little sister said they Cant. 8.8 They took thought for us we being then that little sister and so let us doe for them 2. It is from them that the meanes of salvation is come to us the Law is called their Law Joh. 10.34 It was given as an inheritance to the children of Israel Deut. 33.4 And the spirituall things of the Gospel are called their spirituall things Rom. 15.27 And thence is that in Esa 2.3 The Law shall goe forth of Sion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem yea and of them came Christ concerning the flesh Rom. 9. All the meanes of grace and salvation are theirs first and from them they come unto us and thence it is that Christ himselfe tells us That salvation is of the Jewes Joh. 4.22 Wee owe them this therefore as a requitall unto them 3. Consider a further good that shall come unto our selves by their calling unto Christ there shall be an increase of blessing coming to our selves Great light shall be manifested and knowledge shall increase Esa 24. ult The light of the Sunne and of the Moone shall be darkned by the light which shall come from that Church the light of the Jewish Church which was but as the light of the Moone and the light of the Gentile Churches which is as the Sunne shall both be dim in comparison of the light which shall be in that Church when the glory of the Lord is risen upon them See Esa 60.1.2 which speakes of the estate of the Jewish Church after their calling as appeares by that which goes before Chap. 59. end Many of those dark Prophecies which now lye hid in obscuritie shall then be brought to light the accomplishment of them will then give us the interpretation 4. Admit we neither had received benefit from them hitherto nor could expect any further blessing hereafter yet consider the glory which shall then come to Christ by their coming in the glory of his kingdome shall be enlarged Jerusalem shall be a throne of glory to him Jer. 3.17 then shall the Lord be glorified in them all the house of Israel shall glory in the Lord Esa 45.25 and shall draw others of the Gentiles unto them 5. If there were neither good to our selves nor glory to Christ by their calling yet even pitie and compassion should move us consider who they are even the children of Abraham our father and Sarah our mother they are our brethren and our flesh and how should it pitie us to see the children of our father in the dungeon and prison-pit Oh pray for them that the blessing of Abraham their father may come upon them For consolation to such parents as have entered into a Covenant Vse 2 with the Lord and have in truth given up themselves unto him to be his people they may be assured that the vertue the blessing and efficacy of the Covenant shall never be disanulled but it shall goe on to you and your children for ever by your Covenant you have such hold of God that you may be assured he will be a God not to you onely but to a thousand generations after you not but that there may be an interruption for a time but the strength of the Covenant will take hold againe so as there shall not faile but some of your seed shall stand before the Lord to serve him for ever This you see fulfilled in the people of the Jewes though there hath been a breaking off for a time yet the Covenant will bring them in againe and Gods Covenant is the same with you as it was with Abraham and therefore looke what mercy Abrahams seed have belonging to them the same doth belong to yours also therefore give up your selves unto God make a Covenant with him and this your Covenant shall draw in your children to partake of the blessing and grace of the Covenant with you even to many generations never to be broken off Vse 3 It may also serve for a consolation unto such children as are descended from parents that have been in Covenant with God they may goe to God and plead the Covenant of their fathers and hope to be received to favour The people of Israel in their distresses ordinarily used to plead the Covenant which God had made with Abraham Isaac and Jacob as Exod. 32.13 Deut. 9.26 27. If you have had godly parents though you have walked frowardly against God yet cast not away all hope but remember the Covenant the Lord hath made with thy fathers and entreat that it may be extended unto thee The Lord himselfe lays this foundation of comfort for such children Esa 51.1 2. Looke unto the rocke whence yee are hewen consider Abraham your father q. d. Consider what mercy I shewed unto him and the same mercy expect for your selves the oyle that is powred out upon the head will run downe to the rest of the members Thus we have heard the scope of these words as they respect the Jewes in particular to whom they were first spoken let us now a little further consider of them as they concerne our selves What was spoken of them is appliable to all that are in the same estate with them
consider is this sc That all the deliverances and salvation Doctr. 4 which the Lord communicates to his people he doth it by vertue of and according to his Covenant So in the Text by the blood of thy Covenant I have c. He doth not say by blood simply but by the bood of the Covenant because the blood goes with the Covenant betwixt God and us Hence it is that we reade in 2 Sam. 23.5 when David looked at the Covenant which God had made with him he makes that the ground and foundation of all the mercy and deliverance which he obtained Herein saith he is all my salvation that God hath made with me a sure Covenant Consider the truth of this point both in temporary deliverance and spirituall salvations as the Text points at both as we shewed before First concerning temporall deliverances see what God saith unto Noah concerning his deliverance from the flood Gen. 6.18 with Chap. 8.1 With thee will I establish my Covenant c. and then God remembers Noah and all that was with him in the Ark and brought them to dry land again his deliverance was given him by covenant See also Exod. 6.4 5 6. God promises to bring his people from under the Egyptian bondage and why so because he remembred his Covenant with their fathers in Lev. 26.25.44 45. The Lord tells them vers 25. that if they sinned against him he would avenge upon them the quarrell of his Covenant but yet in vers 44 45. if they returned to him he would remember the Covenant which he had made with them and deliver them out of their captivity Secondly all spirituall salvation is communicated by Gods Covenant Psal 111.9 he sent redemption to his people because he was ever mindfull of his Covenant he commanded his Covenant for ever as the word is there i. e. he commanded it to stand fast for ever So in Mic. 7.17 18. he will return and have compassion upon us and forgive our iniquities what is the foundation of this he will remember his Covenant which he hath made with us Luke 1.74 that he might shew himself mindfull of his holy Covenant therefore he sent the Lord Jesus to perform the work of redemption for his people as in the beginning when God first promised life to Adam it was not without a covenant made with him though not the same that we must look for life by as we shall see more afterwards yet God made a covenant with him Do this and live so it is now with us it is by vertue of the Covenant that we must expect life and salvation from Gods hand the beginning of our salvation which is begun in the first grace given to us in our conversion and turning unto God is given unto us according to the covenant begun with us in Christ and the end of our salvation is according to the covenant which he makes with our selves in our own persons The grounds and reasons why the Lord taketh this course to convey life and blessednesse to us by covenant are these Reason 1 God doth herein wonderfully glorifie himself in the manifestation of his faithfulnesse and truth in keeping covenant with his people God saith in Scripture sometimes he will do this or that and you shall know that I am the Lord Gods glory is in being known Rom. 2.5 and 9.22 God will have his wrath and power known and so also his faithfulnesse for that is a part of his name whereby he is made known unto us and he is not fully known neither can be glorified till his faithfulnesse be made known In Apoc. 19.11 God is called faithfull and true and that is his name now we could never have known Gods faithfulnesse and truth if he had not entred into covenant with us God might have shewed forth his power mercy and goodnesse without any promise or covenant but his faithfulnesse could not be known and therefore saith Moses Deut. 7.9 The Lord hath set his love upon you and chosen you above any other people that you might know he is the Lord the faithfull God c. therein God shewes his faithfulnesse in performing his covenant with their fathers by choosing their seed to be a people unto him And the Apostle also when he speaks of Christs coming in the flesh attributes it to Gods truth and faithfulnesse in keeping covenant with their fathers Rom. 15.8 9. It was mercy to the Gentiles as he saith that the Gentiles might glorifie God for his mercy but it was truth and faithfulnesse to the Jews if he had never entred into covenant with us he might have manifested mercy unto us but he could never have made known his faitfulnesse The Lord doth it to this end to bind his people the faster to himself Reason 2 that he might keep them in more faithfull dependance upon him and constant walking with him A covenant binds on both parts the Lord doth not binde himself to us and leave us free the confederacy is mutuall In Gen. 31.44 saith Laban to Jacob Let us make a covenant I and thou c. not I alone with thee nor thou alone with me but I and thou both one with another so it is betwixt the Lord and us there is a mutuall tie the Lord is pleased to tie himself to us and we are bound also and tied to him hence saith the Lord in Jerem. 13.11 I have tied the whole house of Israel to me In what bond were they tied in the bond of the covenant as it is Ezek. 20.37 The Lord sees how slippery and unstable our hearts are how apt we are to start aside from our duty towards him as Jer. 14.10 we love to wander like sheep that straggle from the fold and therefore to prevent this unconstancy and unsettlednesse and to keep our hearts more stable in our obedient walking before him therefore he bindes us in the bond of the Covenant Hence saith the Lord to Abraham Gen. 17.7 I will stablish my Covenant with thee and then in versâ— 9. he addes thou shalt therefore keep my Covenant Abraham must keep covenant with God as he looks for blessing from him The Lord doth it for the stronger consolation of his people that Reason 3 in all their distresses and difficulties they might ever have recourse to the faithfulnesse of the covenant which the Lord hath made with them he is a God that cannot lie nor alter the things which have gone out of his lips and therefore we have the stronger consolation Heb. 6.17 18. his promises beings yea and Amen which cannot fail 2 Cor. 1.20 This was Davids stay 1 Chron. 17. ult though friends be unfaithfull and many deceive yet the Lord is faithfull and cannot fail his people this is the foundation of their comfort a rock for them to stand upon when the storms blow and the waters beat and they finde themselves destitute of all other comfort and help Reason 4 The Lord doth hereby put an honour upon his people
false Apostles urged it as a worke of the Law as a dutie and worke to be done necessary to justification and salvation Now the Apostle in saying that if they were circumcised they were bound to keepe the whole Law doth not look at the Primitive institution of it but hath respect to that which the false Apostles intended urging Circumcision as a work of the Law necessary to their justification and salvation and thus taking it the Apostle doth truly tell them that if they were circumcised in this manner and to this end they were bound to keepe the whole Law because by what reason Circumcision was necessary by the same reason all the rest of the Law was necessary also and if they were bound to observe Circumcision to be justified by it then were they also bound to observe the whole Law because if wee be justified by workes wee must doe all the Law to obtaine justification by it This is the Apostles intent but this doth no more prove Circumcision to be a seale of the covenant of workes then our Baptisme is Concerning which I may say as much as Paul doth of Circumcision if any shall esteeme Baptisme as a worke by which to be justified I will then say to such a one that if he be baptized in this manner and for this end to be justified by it as by a worke that then he is bound to keepe the whole Law But did not Circumcision in the Primitive institution of it Quest bind them to the observation of the whole Law Yes but not in that sense as now wee speake of Answ it bound Abraham and all his seed and all such people as should joyne themselves unto them to observe all the ordinances and commandements of God But how not as workes to be justified by but as meanes by which they should testifie themselves to be a separated people severed from other people of the world having peculiar Lawes given to them to walke by They had ceremonies to lead them to Christ such as no other people had they had Judgements and Lawes of State given by God himselfe so as no other people of the world had the like they had the Morall Law revealed unto them more fully then any other people and in the observation of all these they were to testifie themselves to be the people of God not communicating with the Lawes of other Nations but walking in their owne but yet not so as to justifie themselves thereby Circumcision bound them to the observation of the Law in the former way but not in the latter Argu. 2 The covenant of workes binds not to the observation of the ceremoniall law but of the Morall onely but that covenant at Mount Sinai bound them to the keeping of the Ceremoniall law and therefore was not properly a covenant of workes Hence saith the Apostle Heb. 9.1 to 6. That the first Testament or Covenant had ordinances of divines service c. By the first Testament meaning the Covenant delivered at Mount Sinai Now these ordinances mentioned by the Apostle were types and figures of spirituall things belonging to the Church of the new Testament and did appertaine to the covenant of grace signifying the blessings wee receive by Christ and if these ordinances respecting Christ were given in the first Testament or Covenant then surely that Testament or Covenant was not a Covenant of workes Argu. 3 That Covenant which did so convince of sinne as that it did also shew the way of expiation of sin and of forgivenesse could not be a covenant of workes for the covenant of workes onely convinceth of sinne and condemnes for sinne but shews not the way of expiation of sinne But this covenant at Mount Sinai did so convince of sinne that withall it shewed the way of forgivenesse for it taught men to looke for righteousnesse by the bloud of the sacrifice which was in type the bloud of Christ and therefore it so revealing and shewing Christ it could not be the covenant of workes Argu. 4 The covenant of workes was in Adam made with all none excepted not with one people more then another But this covenant made with Israel was made with them as with a select chosen and peculiar people whom God had taken to himselfe out of all the people of the earth and thence is that Preface before the Law I am the Lord thy God that brought thee out of the land of Aegypt God had separated them to himselfe from Aegyptians from Canaanites from Edomites c. and then revealed his Covenant unto them therefore this covenant made with Israel alone cannot be a covenant of workes which is made with all flesh That covenant which God made with Moses his person was Argu. 5 not a covenant of workes but of grace but the covenant which God made with them was the same which he made with Moses as appeares Exod. 34.27 therefore c. If any shall say that God then made a covenant of workes with Moses then it must follow that Moses was not now nor before under a covenant of grace which is contrary to the Apostle Heb. 11.23 24. when he saith By faith Moses when he came to yeares c. or else if he were before and now under the covenant of grace and yet now God makes another covenant with him putting him under the covenant of workes then a man may be at the same time under both covenants of workes and grace and so both under blessing and curse and in a state both of life and death If it had been a covenant of workes which God made with Israel Argu. 6 at Mount Sinai then should he have called them from a covenant of grace to a covenant of workes from a covenant of life to a covenant which now in this estate of corruption ministers nothing but death which is contrary to the Apostle Gal. 3.17 where he shews the Law cannot disanull the former Testament this were to make the Lord goe from a covenant of grace to a covenant of workes and it were the same in effect as to make them perfect by the flesh when the Lord had begun with them in the spirit Gal. 3.3 God carries on his people from faith to faith from grace to grace and not from grace to workes Therefore the covenant then establisht with them was not a covenant of workes for them to expect life by but onely the covenant of workes was then revealed with reference to the covenant of grace That covenant which was made by a sacrifice coming between Argu. 7 and confirmed by the bloud of the sacrifice that covenant is not a covenant of workes but this covenant was so made and confirmed Exod. 24.2 3 4 5 6 7 8. that sacrifice typed the sacrifice of Christ that bloud typed out Christs bloud but Christs bloud doth not confirme the covenant of workes but of grace But against this some doe object divers things Object 1 They say the covenant made with Israel at Mount
such hypocrisie in their best actions that they cannot thinke that ever such sorry services such lame and sick sacrifices should be accepted of God But tell me you that thus complaine To what do you look that you may finde acceptance with God To your workes or to the riches of grace revealed in the covenant of grace accepting your person through Christ Doe you looke that your worke should be accepted for its own sake or through grace in Christ your persons being first accepted in him If you looke to your workes God regards neither you nor them but if you fly to the aboundance of grace looking for your acceptance there then feare not thy weakest endeavours are accepted before God and doe find favour in his fight Our comfort lyes not in the excellency of our duties but in our free acceptance in Christ Thinke thus thy workes being done never so weakly are not worse then thou thy selfe wast when first thou wentest to the throne of grace begging to be received through grace If then God did in mercy accept thee when thou wast so vile doubt not but out of the same grace and mercy he will accept thy worke also his promise being that he will spare such as a man spareth his sonne that serveth him Mal. 3.17 Mal. 3.17 Great cause hast thou to be humbled and displeased with thy selfe that thou canst performe no better service to thy God that thou art so dead and livelesse in the things of thy God who hath so graciously looked upon thee But no cause therefore to thinke that thy service is not accepted because Gods acceptance begins in the person not in the worke accepting the worke for the persons sake And therefore if God have accepted thy person he will accept thy worke also The fourth difference is this In the Covenant of workes a man Differ 4 is left to himselfe to stand by his own strength But in the Covenant of grace God undertakes with us to keep us through faith The reason of this difference is because when God comes to make a Covenant of workes with Adam he finds him furnished with a sufficiency of power which was put into him in his creation But when he comes to make with us a Covenant of grace in this estate of sin he finds us of no strength Rom. 5.6 Rom. 5.6 impotent feeble possessed with a spirit of infirmitie made up of weaknesses having no power and therefore Isa 40.29 the Lord promiseth unto such that he will give strength unto them and increase power The Lord knowes the infirmitie of our flesh how impossible it is for us to fulfill any part of the righteousnesse which the Law requires Rom. 8.3 Rom. 8.3 He knowes also what powers we have against us Ephes 6. and therefore he tells us that we are kept not by our own power but by his power through faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 1 Pet. 1.5 And hence is that in Joh. 10.28 Joh. 10.28 Christ tells us that none shall plucke us out of his hand And this is the reason that though Adam fell from his first estate and lost the life promised in that Covenant made with him yet we fall not he had more strength of grace then wee and wee have more corruption then he for he was then pure without sin yet being left to his own liberty he willingly forsooke the commandement of God and fell into a state of perdition But wee being weaker then he yet being once taken into the Covenant of grace though we have the same powers of darknesse against us as he had yet wee fall not so as to sin unto perdition as he did because wee are supported by the power of God Adams life was put into his own hand ours is put into the hand of Christ wee are committed to his care and trust The Father hath given us unto the Sonne the Sonne hath taken us at the hand of the Father and hath undertaken with the Father for us to present us before him As in Gen. 43. Gen. 43. Judah undertakes with his father for Benjamin At my hand saith he shalt thou require him c. So doth Christ undertake for us at his hand the Father requires us and Christ hath ingaged his own faithfulnesse to keepe us till he have presented us perfect before his Father Vse 1 See hence the ground of that which sometimes seems marvellous in our eyes we see men of different abilities some simple weak and despised others indued with eminent gifts and excellent parts yet those that so excell many times fade and fall away their graces wither their light is extinct and they go out like the smoke of a candle with an ill savour whereas the weak and simple ones are upholden and go from strength to strength and increase with the increasings of God The reason hereof is because the one sort viewing themselves and their own excellencies in the glasse of their own conceit they trust in themselves and in their own strength and do not commit their souls to God to be kept by him and so are left unto themselves And then at length meeting with some temptation which is stronger then they their confidence and their strength fails them and so they fall and being left unto themselves they are never able to rise any more whereas the other being sensible of their own infirmitie and casting themselves on the power of God to be kept thereby they are hereby preserved and upholden against all the powers of darknesse which are against them so that either they fall not or if they do fall yet they rise again And thus it comes to passe that these that are weak in themselves they are strong through Christ as 2 Cor. 12.9 2 Cor. 12.9 And those that are strong in themselves are indeed weake in the power of God having no help nor assistance from him and so are quite overthrown This may stay the mindes of those that are weak they think they Vse 2 shall never hold out They cannot deny but the Lord hath shewed mercy on them and wrought his grace in their hearts but they feare they shall not hold out they feel such a power of corruption in themselves so many lusts such strong temptations who can endure True not of your selves but God is able to make you stand Rom. 14.4 Rom. 14.4 do but commit your soules to him in wel-doing as 1 Pet. 4.19 1 Pet. 4.19 And then consider that noble resolution of the Apostle 2 Tim. 1.12 2 Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him go thou and do likewise If a friend relying upon thy trust and faithfulnesse should bring a Jewell to thee and intreat thee to keep it carefully thou wouldest be ashamed to be carelesse of it Christ is the faithfull and true witnesse therefore commit thy soul to him and he will keep
condemnation but the gift is of many offences unto justification c. Adams one sin brought guilt upon him and all his posteritie because he was under the covenant of workes and therefore justification can be had by that Covenant no more But it is not so in the Covenant of grace neither one sin nor many sinnes doe exclude from life in this covenant But this gift is of many offences c. And this holds true not onely of such sinnes as are committed before our entrance into a covenant of grace with God but of such sins as are committed afterward as is evident Psal 89.31.34 God having made a Covenant with them though he chastise them yet his Covenant will be not breake c. The reason of this difference is from the summe and scope of the Covenant of workes which is to bind us to a totall full perfect and constant obedience of the Law in all things unto the end Gal. 3.10 so that one or once fayling breakes that Covenant But in the Covenant of grace God promiseth not onely to forgive but to multiply forgivenesses Isa 55.7 Isai 55.7 Hence though in many things we sin all as James 3.2 yet 1 Joh. 2.2 1 Joh. 2.2 wee have an Advocate with the Father And 1 Joh. 1.7 The bloud of Christ cleanseth us from all sin No number of sinnes doth exclude from salvation till they be accompanied with finall Apostasie impenitency and unbeliefe till as Heb. 3.12 wee doe by an evill heart depart away from the living God Hence also saith the Apostle Rom. 5.19 Where sin abounds there grace abounds much more God will glorifie his grace by our sinne As sin takes occasion by the Law Rom. 7.10 so grace takes occasion by our sin God will glorifie his grace thereby and make it marvellous in the eyes of the world so that men shall wonder that such grace should be shewed in pardoning such sinnes that they shall say as Micah 7.18 Micah 7.18 Who is a God like unto thee who passest by the transgression of the remnant of thy people Consolation to the weake Saints of God Vse who are often cast downe in themselves through sense of their own infirmities and the many falls they are subject unto by reason of which they are cast into sad feares and doubts concerning themselves yea so farre as to make conclusions against themselves that they cannot belong unto God because as they thinke if they were the Lords people and his grace were effectuall in them they should not be so often overcome But such must know that so long as the sinnes that are in us be repented of and mourned for it is not one nor many infirmities which can make voyd the Covenant of grace which wee are entred into or hinder us of the blessing that comes thereby Wee must remember that we are not under the Law but under Grace wee must not be too severe against our selves like Novatians denying pardon to second falls In so doing we set such limits to the grace of God as he himselfe hath not set God hath not said He will pardon once and no more or that he will pardon sinnes before grace received but not those committed after God never so stinted his grace but his gift of grace is against many offences unto justification of life In denying therefore of pardon to our selves for sins iterated and for our often infirmities so long as there is a spirit of repentance working in us and we are humbled for them before God we doe not onely wrong our selves and deprive our soules of the peace we might enjoy but we do wrong to the grace of God as if that grace were not sufficient for us as if that God could not or would not renew his gracious pardon to us as wee renew our repentance towards him Let such consider what the Lord hath commanded us to doe we must not onely forgive seven times but seventy times seven times if our brother turne againe and say it repenteth me And can wee thinke that God lookes for more mercy from us towards our brethren then he will shew towards his owne children He hath bidden us daily to pray for the forgivenesse of our sinnes as knowing that we are subject to daily infirmities and doe stand in need of daily mercy and forgivenesse And therefore to limit Gods grace as we are apt to doe is in effect to turne the Covenant of grace into a Covenant of workes as if there were no more grace under the one then under the other Know therefore that whiles there is in us an holy watchfulnesse against the sin that dwells within us whiles it is our desire and care to please the Lord whiles we feele in our selves the spirit of grace causing us to mourne over him whom we have pierced by our sinnes though we be overtaken again and again through the infirmity of the flesh that is in us yet know that it is not one nor many offences that can deprive us of the blessing of this covenant of grace in which God hath promised to multiply forgivenesses according to the multitude of his great mercies Yet let no man abuse this doctrine unto carnall liberty this is childrens bread impure dogges and carnall livers that make no conscience of sinning have nothing to doe with this consolation it is onely to support the weak to comfort the feeble minded not to encourage the wicked and impenitent in their sin Let such know that though God abound in mercy and do multiply forgivenesses unto such as are humbled for their sins yet he will multiply plagues also upon impenitent wretches that goe on in their evill way To such neither many nor any one of all their sins shall be forgiven but being under the law they shall make an account to God for every transgression God will repay them all their wickednesses not one shall be forgotten or forgiven He is indeed abundant in goodnesse reserving mercy for his people and so he is also abundant in wrath against rebellious sinners and will abundantly reward the proud doer That the covenant of works if it be accomplished and fulfilled Differ 8 leaves in man matter of glorying and boasting in himselfe but the covenant of grace excludes all glorying in a mans selfe and leaves him nothing of his own to boast of but in the grace of God If Adam who was under the covenant of works had fulfilled that covenant he might have come before the Lord and said Behold Lord I have fulfilled the commandment which thou gavest me and done thy will now therefore justifie me and give me the life which thou hast promised here Adam had had something in himselfe to glory in Thus the Apostle speaks of Abraham that if he had had the righteousnesse of works by his fulfilling of the Law he should have had whereof to glory before God Rom. 4.1 Rom. 4.1 he might have said as the elder son did in Luk. 15.29 Luke 15.29
light and new truths we drinke not in old poysoned errors and be fed with windy fancies in stead of bread Aske for the old way Jer. 6.16 Jer. 6.16 The old way is the good way wherein you must finde rest to your soules Men have itching eares itching mindes and itching tongues also itching to be fed with and to be venting novelties It hath been the blemish of our English Nation that they have been alwayes new-fangled running after new fashions taking up the fashions of every Nation The poverty of our estates will not here permit us to follow new fashions but yet still the vanitie of our mindes is working and doating upon our new opinions whereby men are led into pathes that were not troden by the Fathers of old God charges the false Prophets Jer. 18.15 Jer. 18.15 that they led his people from the ancient wayes Whiles every one is forward to vent his own imagination and hath libertie so to doe every one saying I have seene I have seene when indeed they have seene nothing but the vanitie and lying imagination of their own heart they fill the world with idle fancies which breed questions rather then godly edifying Aske therefore for the way which Abraham David Moses Isaiah and Jeremy with the rest of the Prophets walked in and departed not therefrom Though we have cause to praise the Lord for the aboundant manifestation of the Doctrine of Grace in these dayes more then before Christs coming in the flesh yet the Doctrine is the same As the light of the Sun which shines at noone-time or mid-day is the same light which shined in the morning onely more cleare and bright then before so the Doctrine of Grace though more clearly manifested then formerly when hid under types and shadowes yet the truth is the same Wee hope to be saved by grace as they did and they had the same Doctrine of Grace as we have therefore seeke we after the old way 2. But though the substance of the Covenant was the same then and now yet there is a difference in regard of the manner of dispensation and revealing it being diversly propounded according to the severall times ages states and conditions of the Church delivered one way before the coming of Christ and another way afterward And therefore in regard of the old way and manner of administration of it it 's called the old Covenant and in regard of the new manner of dispensing it 's called the new Covenant The same Covenant therefore is called both new and old as is evident Heb. 8.8.13 Heb. 8.8 13. But lest any should thinke that the old Covenant there spoken of was properly and strictly the Covenant of workes see what is said before Pag. 59 60. c. Wherein stands the difference between the old and new manner of the dispensation of the Covenant of grace Quest It stands principally in foure things Answ 1. One more burthensome another more easie 2. One more darke the other more cleare 3. One more weake the other more lively and strong 4. In regard of the extent of the dispensation one dispensed to that one people of the Jewes the other to all Nations First The Covenant in the former dispensation of it was more burthensome and heavie to be borne and is now made to us more easie which appeares by those places of Scripture-speeches which the Holy-Ghost useth of the Ordinances of the old Testament Acts 15.10 Acts 15.10 They were a yoke which neither we nor our Fathers could beare and Colos 2.20 Colos 2.20 If saith the Apostle you be freed from these worldly Ordinances why are you burthened with traditions He did not say Why will you take upon you the observation of traditions but why are yee burthened with them implying they were an heavy burthen So Galat. 4.3 Galat 4.3 he comparing the state of the Church then and now he saith they were then in a kinde of bondage in respect of us now In the dayes of the New Testament the burthen is made light c. Therefore saith Christ Mat. 11. Take my yoke upon you for my yoke is easie and my burthen light He taketh off the burthen of the Ceremoniall Law that we need not be bâ—â—thened with it Consider the burthen that lay upon them First The burthen of their costly Sacrifices that if any had but touched an uncleane thing he must come and offer sacrifice sometime a bullock sometime a lambe If we were for every offence to offer such sacrifices we should count it an heavie burthen Secondly They had long and tedious journeys to Jerusalem the Land lay more in length then breadth and Jerusalem stood almost at one end of it and thither thrice a yeare all the males were to goe and appeare before God Deut. 16.16 Thirdly They were restrained from many liberties which wee now enjoy we are allowed many creatures for meat which they might not eat as the Hare swine c. Difference of meats is now taken away Fourthly They were tyed to the observation of many dayes the new Moones and many Ceremoniall Sabbaths to which they were bound and not at libertie as we are Now whether wee respect one of these or all together it was a burthensome thing to them But now the yoke is made more easie therefore Christ compares the Jewish Church to a childe that in his nonage is under tutors and governours till the time appointed by the Father But the Church now is like a man growne up that hath his patrimony in his own hand Gal. 4.1 2. Gal. 4.1 2. Though we be bound to the duties of the Morall Law as well as they yet a great yoke is taken off from us Vse Seeing we have so much libertie in the dayes of the Gospel and are eased of the burthen that lay upon them it must teach us with the more freedome and willingnesse to offer up those spirituall sacrifices unto God which he calls for at our hands He hath taken off from our shoulders the heavie yoke which lay upon them Let us not therefore be as the people of Israel of whom the Lord complains Hosea 11.3.4 Hosea 11.3.4 that though he had taken off the yoke and laid meat before them yet they were like an unruly beast that kicketh with the heele If now when the Lord hath taken off the yoke of the Ceremoniall Law and hath given us the Covenant of his grace without those burthens that lay upon them if yet we deale unkindly with him and count those spirituall services which he requires from the inward man to be a burthen unto us how may the Lord complaine of us much more Let us therefore give unto the Lord voluntary and spirituall sacrifices the lesser that our burthen is the greater is the sin if we serve not the Lord with a chearfull heart in the services he requires from us Secondly The Covenant was then revealed more darkly and obscurely but now the dispensation of it is
more cleare and evident the light now is marvellous it is as the Sun shining at noone-day Hence Rom. 16.25 26. Rom. 16.25 26. the Gospel is called the revelation of the ministery which was kept secret since the foundation of the world but it is now made manifest c. Though it was revealed before yet it was but darkly but now it is revealed more clearly since the coming of our Saviour Christ so also Ephes 3 4 5. Ephes 3.4 5. and Colos 2.26 Colos 2.26 Consider the truth of this in some particulars First Consider the promise of eternall life it was darkly covered over not clearly promised to them The promise of eternall life is very rarely in expresse termes mentioned in the old Testament I know but one place which is in Dan. 12.2 Dan. 12.2 where plaine mention is made of life eternall It was shadowed out to them in the promise of inhabiting in the Land of Canaan which was a shadow of eternall life so the threatning of eternall death was typed out by the threatning of exclusion out of the Lords Land Hosea 9.3 Hosea 9.3 When they should be driven into captivity it was a type of their sending into hell if they did not returne to walke with him in his Covenant And hence are those promises They shall inherite the land and dwell in the earth Psal 37.11 Psal 37.11 Not as if that were all they were to looke for but because it was the type of another and better inheritance in heaven This was the cause that made Jacob Gen. 49.29 Gen. 49.29 give that charge to his sonnes that they should not bury him in Aegypt but carry him into the land of Canaan And Joseph Gen. 50.24 25. tooke an oath of his brethren that they should carry his bones with them And why was this done but because they looked at that Land as more then an earthly possession taking it as a type of heaven and by giving that charge they testified their faith in the promise of God concerning the possession of life eternall Therefore also it was that Abraham though he indured many troubles and injuries in the land of promise and had time to have returned into his own Country yet he would not Heb. 11.15 Heb. 11.15 because he looked at that as a land of promise and a type of the rest that remained for him in the kingdome of God Thus was the promise of eternall life obscurely propounded Secondly Consider the revealing of Christ either the person of Christ or his offices and wee shall see that they were darkly propounded unto them in respect of what they are to us Christ was but shadowed out to them in types and figures and dark prophesies Concerning his person it was revealed unto them that he should be God as Isai 9.6 Isai 9.6 where he is called the mighty God and also that he should be man and therefore said to be borne Isa 9.6 But how he should be both God and man in one person was very darkly revealed Which made the Jewes that they could not answer to that question how Christ should be both Lord and sonne to David So for his offices his Mediatorship was typed out by Moses his being between God and the people his Priesthood typed out by Melchisedek among the Canaanites and Aaron among the Jews and his sacrifice by their sacrifices his Propheticall office shadowed to them by Moses who revealed the minde of God to the people Therefore saith Moses Deut. 18.18 Deut. 18.18 A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you like unto me which is applyed unto Christ Acts 3.22 Acts 3.22 His Kingly office typed out in the kingdome of David and Solomon Luk. 1.31 Luk. 1.31.32 God shall give him the kingdome of his Father David But how darke these things were unto them you may perceive by the speeches of the Disciples unto Christ who knew not how he should execute those offices they knew not that he should dye they dreamt of an earthly kingdome they saw Christ under a vaile but wee see him with open face 2 Cor. 3. 2 Cor. 3. end Thirdly The benefits that come by Christ were not so clearly made knowne to them as they are to us Justification was signified by the sprinkling of the bloud of the sacrifice Exod. 24.7 8. Exod. 24 7 8. So sanctification was typed out by the water of purification The benefits which are so clearly revealed unto us that Christ is our wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption were but darkly propounded unto them So that the light now is become like the light at noone day the light that they had was but like the dawning of the day or the light of the starres Hence is that of Christ Mat. 13.16 17. Blessed are your eyes for they see and your eares for they heare c. Quest Why was the Covenant revealed more darkly then and more clearly now 1. Answ Because the work of our redemption was not then transacted and accomplished the things were not then passed as now they be and therefore as the light of the Sun is lesse before its rising then afterward so Christ before his rising in the world was not so fully knowne as since 2. The Church was then in its minority and infancy but now it is of full age Gal. 4.1 2. Galat. 4.1 2. Therefore as a Father gives some hints of his purpose and will to his childe when he is under age but makes knowne all his minde to him when he is growne up so dealt the Lord with his Church then as with children c. 3. It was meet that this glory should be reserved to Christ himselfe he being the great Prophet of the Church that he should reveale more to the world then ever was knowne before It was not meet that all should be revealed before his coming but that he should have the glory of revealing those deepe things which were hid with God making them knowne to his Church and people And therefore they were more darkly revealed before Onely this observe that the further the times were from Christs coming the lesse light they had and the nearer to Christ the more light sprung up The promise to Eve was more darke more cleare to Abraham and still more cleare to David c. And the reason of this is First Because Christ is the light of the world Now as the Sunne the further it is from rising the lesse light it gives and the nearer to rising the more so did Christ the Sun of righteousnesse Secondly The more light was discovered neare the coming of Christ to stirre up the mindâ— of people to wait for Christ and his coming The more knowne the more desired Ignoti â—â—lla câ—pido the lesse knowne the lesse desired Thirdly Before the Law was given there was lesse sense of sin and therefore the lesse revelation of Christ But as the sense of sin increased by the
Covenants about childrens toyes and light matters but such as concerne the welfare of the Kingdome so when the great Monarch of heaven and earth enters into Covenant with us it is about the great things of our salvation the great things of heaven yea of God himselfe The Covenant is full of blessings it is a rich store-house replenished with all manner of blessings It is not dry nor barren but like the fat Olive or fruitfull Vine the fruit whereof cheares the heart of God and man God himselfe is delighted in the communication of his grace to his people and they are delighted with the participation of his grace from him The Covenant is a tree of life to those that feed upon it they shall live for ever It is a Well of salvation Isai 12.3 Isai 12.3 It 's a fountaine of good things to satisfie every thirstie soule Zach. 13.1 Zach. 13.1 It is a treasure full of goods as Deut. 28.12 Here is unsearchable riches in this Covenant which can never be emptied nor come to an end Our finite narrow understandings can never apprehend the infinite grace this Covenant containes no more then an egge-shell is able to containe the water of the whole Sea Yet it is not in vaine to consider them as wee are able to expresse them though they be above that which we are able to speake or thinke As Moses though he could not see Gods face nor discerne his glory to the full yet he was permitted to see his back parts so we may take a little view of the blessings promised though the full cannot be seene As in a Map we have the bounds of a Lordship set forth the rivers woods meadowes pastures c. these are seen darkly in the Map but they are nothing to that when they are seen in their own beautie and greennesse to see the silver streames in the rivers the beautifull woods the large medowes fat pastures and goodly orchards which are farre more excellent in themselves then when they are seene in the Map So we can shew you but a little Map of those glorious things which the Covenant containes but by that little that you doe see you may be raised up to the consideration of the things that are not seene but are to be revealed in due time Now the blessings of the Covenant are infolded and wrapped up in the promises of it every promise of Grace containing a blessing in it as every threatning of the Law contains a curse They are now infolded in the promise the time of unfolding is not yet come The time of full discovery is when the heavens come to be folded up Heb. 1.12 Heb. 1.12 then the promises shall be unfolden and then wee shall fully see the blessings of the Covenant Wee have now a right and interest in them which is safe and sure but as yet we have them but by promise onely and therefore it is that the termes of Covenant and promise are taken for the same Eph. 2.12 Ephes 2.12 Rom. 9.5 Hence also we are said to be heires in hope of eternall life Tit. 3.7 Titus 3.7 not in present possession but in hope Therefore if wee would see what are the blessings of the Covenant we must looke into the promises Now the promises and blessings of the Covenant are of two sorts First of things spirituall and eternall Secondly of things temporall that concerne this outward life The spirituall blessings of the Covenant are chiefly comprehended in these places of Scripture Jer. 31.31.33 Jer 31.31.33 This shall be my Covenant saith the Lord after those dayes I will put my Law in their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them for I will forgive their iniquitie and remember their sinne no more So Ezek. 36.25 26 27 28. Ezek. 36.25 26 27 28. Then will I sprinkle cleane water upon you and yee shall be cleane from all your filthinesse and from all your Idolls will I cleanse you A new heart also will I give you c. So also Jerem. 32.38 39 40. They shall be my people and I will be their God and I will give them one heart c. Gen. 17.7 Gen. 17.7 I will be a God unto thee and thy seed These places compared together with such other doe expresse the summe of all the great things promised in the Covenant First Here is that great promise I will be your God and you shall be my people Secondly But if any say Alas how can God be a God unto me so sinfull as I am that have sinned provoked him as I have done therefore to take away this God saith that shall not hinder I will forgive your iniquities and remember them no more Thirdly But if the soule say further that though God should take all my former sinnes away and pardon them yet I have such a sinfull wretched nature in me that I shall breake out into new sinnes against him and bring a new guiltinesse upon my selfe The Lord removes and takes away this also and promiseth that he will renew our natures and give us hearts of flesh he will wash us from our filthinesse and write his law in our hearts and inable us to keepe his Statutes c. Fourthly But because some may yet say Though God should doe all this for me yet such is my infirmitie and weaknesse that I shall depart againe from the Lord I shall never hold out Therefore the Lord makes answer to this also and tells us that he will never depart away from us and that he will put such a feare of him into our hearts that wee shall never depart from him Jer. 32.40 To begin with the first which is the great promise of the Covenant I will be thy God Gen. 17.7 Gen. 17.7 Jer. 31.33 Jer. 31.33 This is set in the midst of the promises as the heart in the midst of the body to communicate life to all the rest of the members This promise hath influence into all the rest As Christ speaking of the Commandements of the Law calls that commandement of loving the Lord with all our heart the great Commandement so may this be called the great promise of the new-Covenant It is as great as God is He is an infinite God the heaven of heavens is not able to contain him Yet this promise containes him God shuts up himselfe in it I will be your God 1. Here is sufficiency It is a promise of infinite worth an overflowing blessing a rich possession an hid treasure which none can rightly value It was a great promise that Balak made to Balaam Numb 22.17 Numb 22.17 I will promote thee to great honour A greater which Ahâ—suerus made to Esther cap. 5.6 That he would give her the halfe of his kingdome A
and above us he must rule us and we must be ruled and governed by him How may we know that the Lord hath taken us into his government and that we are ruled by him alone Quest By these foure things we may know it First Where the Lord sets himselfe over a people Answ he frames them unto a willing and voluntary subjection unto him that they desire nothing more then to be under his government they count this their felicity that they have the Lord over them to governe them As the servants of Solomon were counted happie that they might stand before him and minister unto him so it is the happinesse of Gods people that they are under him and in subjection unto him The Lords government is not a Pharaoh-like tyranny to rule them with rigour and make them sigh and groane but it is a government of peace he rules them by love as he first winnes them by love He conquers them indeed by a mighty strong hand but withall he drawes them by the cords of love He overcometh our evill with the abundance of his goodnesse therefore his spirit though sometime it be called a spirit of power yet it is also a spirit of love joy and peace though the spirit put forth his power in vanquishing our enemies that held us in bondage yet it overcometh us by love making us to see what a blessed thing it is to have the Lord to be over us Thus when the Lord is in Covenant with a people they follow him not forcedly but as farre as they are sanctified by grace they submit willingly to his regiment Therefore those that can be drawne to nothing that is good but by compulsion and constraint it is a signe that they are not under the gracious government of the Lord God Secondly If God be God over us governing us by the government of his grace wee must yeeld him universall obedience in all things He must not be over us in one thing and under us in another but he must be over us in every thing Gods authoritie is cast away by refusing obedience to one Commandement as well as by refusing obedience unto all His authoritie is seene in one as well as in another And he that breaketh one doth in effect breake all as James 2.11 James 2.11 When God cometh to rule he cometh with power to cast downe every strong hold and every high thought that is exalted against the power of Christ He cometh to lay waste the whole kingdome of sinne all must downe not a stone left of that Babel The Lord will reigne in the whole soule he will have no God no King with him And therefore herein looke unto it if he be God over us he alone must rule over us and no other with him Consider whether Gods dominion hath its full extent in us whether there be not some corruption which thou desirest to be spared in Canst thou give up thy selfe wholly to the power of grace to be ruled by it Canst thou part with thy Absalom thy beloved lust and be content that God should set up his kingdome in thy whole soule Then is God over thee and thou in Covenant with him But if thou canst not submit that the life of some darling lust should goe if there be any sinne that is dearer to thee then to obey God if thou hast thy exceptions and reservations and wilt not yeeld universall obedience then art thou an alien from God and his Covenant God is no God unto thee nor art thou one of his people Thirdly Where the Lord governeth and setteth up his kingdome over the soule he carries and lifts up the heart to an higher pitch and above that which flesh and bloud could or would attaine unto And that both in the things themselves and the ends which they ayme at in them He makes a man undertake such things as his owne heart would refuse and turne from as Ezek. 3.14 Ezek. 3.14 he was very backward to preach to the Jewes and yet when he saw it was the Lords minde he submitted So Paul Rom. 15.20 Rom. 15.20 enforced himselfe to preach the Gospel yet it was not a constrained force but the love of Christ constrained him 2 Cor. 5. 2 Cor. 5. So Moses though at the first very loath to goe to Pharaoh yet when the power of grace prevailed in him he contends with Pharaoh as with his equall in the cause of God and would not yeeld to the fiercenes of the King not for an hoofe so though he fled from the serpent at the first fight yet at Gods commandement he taketh it up in his hand This also wee see in Abraham when he was commanded to sacrifice his owne sonne though he loved him yet he loved God more and therefore obeyed which nature alone could never have done In all these they wrought against the streame doing that which flesh and bloud could never have done Againe the power of Gods Grace in his government lifts up the soule to higher ends and aymes then flesh and bloud can attaine unto The kingdome of Gods grace is called the kingdome of heaven his aymes and ends are on high not earthly but heavenly his government is an heavenly regiment the Lord governeth the hearts of his people to the same end which he hath propounded to himselfe Gods ends and our ends meet in one which is the glorifying of his Name This putteth the difference between all formall hypocrites and those that are ruled by the spirit of grace hypocrites are ruled by their owne spirit and they never ayme at higher then their owne ends their owne honour credit profit c. Though their actions may be spirituall yet their ends are carnall but when God taketh the heart into his guidance then he maketh us to set up him as highest in the throne and all is done for his honour It makes a man to use and imploy himselfe wisdome strength riches credit and esteeme in the Church and all for God not for himselfe God is his last end in every thing as most worthy to be glorified by all Indeed a man in Covenant with God may doe many things for himselfe ayming at the furtherance of his owne good both spirituall and temporall and also ayme at the good of other men but this is not in opposition but in subordination to God and his glory that last and maine end must sway all other ends Nothing must be done to crosse and hinder his glory this is the government of Gods Grace Consider how Gods spirit guides thy heart to those things and aymes that flesh and bloud cannot at all reach unto for if thou hast onely thine own end and ayme then thou art thine owne and not under the government of God Fourthly The Covenant of Gods grace causeth the peace of God to lodge in that soule in which it ruleth Rom. 14.17 Rom. 14.17 The kingdome of God is righteousnesse peace and joy in the Holy Ghost
him or for him not for our selves but for him mourning that we have pierced him and grieved his Spirit by our sinnes 5. An heart willing to forgive and to doe good unto those that have done evill against us Mat. 6.14 Mat. 6.14 when wee cannot onely forbeare them but forgive them and beare a loving heart to them that have been unloving towards us This disposition of heart in us springs from an higher fountaine of grace which hath been shed downe upon us in forgiving our sinnes When the heart can reason with it selfe to suppresse revengefull desires when they are stirring in us and can argue as Mat. 18. and Eph. 4. Mat. 18. Eph. 4. the Lord is willing to forgive me my debts and ought not I also to forgive my fellow-servant that hath offended me Such a disposition of heart is a fruit and token of the forgivenesse of our sinnes Mat. 6.14 The grace that hath been shewed us in the forgivenesse of our sinnes workes an answerable disposition in us making us ready to forgive the sinnes of our brethren 6. A free and full confession of sinne when we deale openly with the Lord freely willing to open all our whole heart before the Lord discovering knowne sinnes secret sinnes the most prevailing beloved and inward corruptions willing to take the shame of all unto our selves and still to be more vile in our selves that mercy might be glorified in our forgivenesse When we can bring out the whole pack and not keepe a sin back so farre as wee know any thing by our selves but lay all open and naked before the face of God till there be no more to be found such confession hath a promise of forgivenesse 1 Joh. 1.9 1 Joh. 1.9 There may be a forced confession as was that of Saul when he was so fully convinced of his sinne that he would no longer deny it 1 Sam. 15. And of Judas who out of extremitie of horror and rage of conscience was made to confesse his wickednesse in betraying innocent bloud There may be also a formall superficiall and partiall confession when we doe in a generall fashion confesse our selves sinners which confession hath no promise of forgivenes because these confessions are ever accompanied first with a desire if possible to maintaine our own innocency secondly with a spirit of unbeliefe and misgiving heart fearing lest our own mouth should judge us and wee become witnesses against our selves Thirdly with a spirit of pride loath to confesse our selves to be so vile as we must acknowledge our selves to be if we should confesse all our sinnes against our selves But when a man is willing to search out all his sin unto the last that he may lay open all his heart and confesse all his iniquitie against himselfe before the Lord being vile in his own eyes and desiring to be more vile loathing himselfe for all his abominations of such an one that can thus come before the Lord in humble confession of his sinnes I doubt not to say unto him Goe thy way in peace thy sin is forgiven thee If God give us a heart thus humbly to confesse it is unto us a signe there is in God a heart mercifully to forgive Exhortation to all the Saints that have tasted of this rich grace Vse 6 in the forgivenes of their sinnes Let them ascribe glory unto him that hath shewed this mercy on them extolling that grace which hath forgiven them this the Lord lookes for he would have his grace glorified by us Eph. 1.6 Ephes 1.6 The Lord himselfe publisheth this as his own glory that he is a God forgiving iniquitie transgression and sin Exod. 34.6 Exod. 34.6 And the servants of God have herein given glory unto him as Micah 7.18 Micah 7.18 Who is a God like unto thee who passeth by the transgression of the remnant of thine heritage We should make the praise of this grace to ring through the whole world that heaven and earth may take notice of it and wonder at the grace that hath been shewed on us This grace can never be sufficiently glorified by us To teach us willingly to become servants unto this God of all Vse 7 Grace who dealeth thus mercifully with his people See Hos 14.5 Hos 14.5 When the Lord there promiseth to heale the rebellions of his people by taking away their iniquities from them marke what this workes in them ver 9. What have wee say they any more to doe with Idolls with our former sinnes we will serve them them no more we will henceforth serve thee our gracious God which promisest to heale all our backslidings His will wee be him will wee serve And thus much of the second Benefit The third Benefit of the Covenant is the renewing and sanctifying of our natures by the graces of the Spirit The Lord having first justified us by his grace in the forgivenesse of our sinnes he theâ— goes on to sanctifie us that we might be an holy people unto him to serve him in holinesse and righteousnesse all our dayes Luk. 1. Luke 1. When he hath made us imputedly righteous he will have us inherently righteous also And by the promise of this benefit the Lord answers another scruple which his people might be subject unto We might thinke with our selves this is indeed a great benefit which the Lord hath promised hithâ—rto namely to forgive all my sin But though the Lord should performe all this mercy unto mee forgiving unto me all my former sins unto this day yet I have such a vile sinfull nature within mee that I shall returne and sin againe as wickedly as ever I did before and so shall bring a new guiltinesse upon my self Hereto the Lord answers No it shall not be I will renew alter and change that sinfull and wicked nature that is in you I will make your heart a new heart so as you shall be enabled to doe my will and walk in my wayes I will sanctifie you to be an holy and pretious people to my self This renovation and sanctification of our nature stands first in cleansing away our sinfull corruption and then in an infusion and filling of us with the holy graces of the Spirit As a vessell which wee intend for any honourable use first wee scoure and rinse out the filth that is in it and then we sweeten it with other things and so make it fit for service and use Satan had defiled us with his loathsome filthinesse but so many as the Lord sets apart unto himselfe to be vessels of honour in his house those hee cleanseth from all filthinesse of flesh and spirit and seasoneth them with all the sweet and gracious gifts of his Spirit Hence it is that we are said to be made partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 2 Peter 1.4 and to be renewed with the renâ—wing of the holy Ghost Titus 3.5 And we are said to be created new in Christ Jesus Eph. 2.10 because
unto him to bee kept by him unto salvation according to his Covenant and promise And thus is this part of the Covenant made up betwixt God and us and the soule now sayes within it selfe I that was sometimes an enemy he hath now reconciled unto himselfe I that was in times past without God without Christ without promise without Covenant without hope none of Gods people not under mercy yet now I have God for my God Christ is my peace in him I have obtained mercy and am now become one of Gods people the Covenant of his peace now belongs unto me the Lord also is become my salvation and here the soule rests and is satisfied as with marrow and fatnesse saying as Jacob The Lord hath had mercy on me therefore I have enough I have all that my heart hath desired Gen. 33.11 Thus we see how faith closeth with the first part of the Covenant that God will be a God of mercy unto us to blesse us with blessings of peace c. 2. Concerning the other part of it wherein God offers himselfe unto us to be a God over us to rule us and govern us in obedience to his will faith works the soule to a closing with this also The converting sinner having tasted the fruit of his own former wayes and finding how bitter and evill it is that he hath sinned doth now desire to resign up himself to the Lords government being willing to deny his own will and to take up the Lords yoke and to be subject thereunto he now sayes no more who is Lord over me Psa 12. He doth no longer look at himself as his own to live to himself after his own minde and will but being weary of his own wayes and finding it sufficient and too much that he hath spent the time past in the lusts of the flesh now he commits himselfe to the Lords government taking him to be a God over him to rule and order him in all his wayes The Covenant which passeth betwixt God and us is like that which passeth between a King and his people the King promiseth to rule and govern in mercy and in righteousnesse and they againe promise to obey in loyalty and in faithfulnesse faith sets up God upon his throne and sayes Let the Lord reigne for ever and ever reigne thou over mee O Lord and lead me in the way which leads unto thee And this doth faith work in us by these or the like meanes 1. Faith looks at the manner of Gods invitation and call when he invites us to come and enter into Covenant with him he doth not offer himselfe to be a God to us to blesse us without being a God over us to order and govern us but links these two both together If we will have his blessing his peace we must bee under his Dominion Look as in a Common-wealth or Kingdom none hath the benefit of the Law but those that subject themselves to the Law none have the protection of authority but those that obey it so here God doth not promise to pardon our sins leaving us still at our own liberty to live as we list but if he doe at all make a Covenant with us he will be a God to us as well to rule us as to save us To say live as yee will sinne as yee will and yet you shall be saved is the Devils Covenant not Gods and therefore it is that when the Lord calls us into a Covenant with himselfe he bids us come out from among the wicked separate your selves and touch no uncleane thing saith the Lord 2 Cor. 6.17 and in this way he promises to receive us and to be a God unto us How vile soever we have been before time it hinders us not from entring into Covenant with God but if we will now become his people we must henceforth walke no more as we had wont to doe we must henceforth be separate from our uncleannesse Ephes 4.17 Esay 1. ver 6.7 8. Come let us reason together let us make an agreement but withall wash you make you clean c. This is the Lords manner of invitation so that faith sees a necessity of submitting to Gods authority because it may not take hold of one part of the Covenant without the other If we will have God to bee our God to pardon us and to blesse us wee must have him a God over us to govern us after his own will 2. Faith opens the understanding convincing us by arguments how just how equall and reasonable it is that God should rule and we obey by faith we see the invisible things of God that is his eternall power and Godhead which before we saw not by faith we see him in his Excellency and Majesty cloathed with glory and honour riding upon the Heavens attended upon with thousand thousands of Angels ministring unto him By faith we see him moderating the whole world by his wisdome and power Psal 103. We look at him as King of Kings as Prince of all the Rulers of the earth Neither doe we by faith thus see God as he is in himselfe but as he is to us as having power in his hand either to save or destroy so that there is no resisting we know now that if we fall upon that stone by our rebellion it will grinde us to powder now there is no more question made who shall have the dominion though in times past we had said this man shall not reign over us Luk. 19. yet now it is our chiefe desire that his Kindome may come into us and beare sway in us Faith sets before us also the benefits and kindnesse of God towards us and so perswades us by those mercies of God to give up our selves as a sacrifice in humble obedience unto his will Rom. 12.1 Faith reasoneth in the heart as David did I will prayse thee O Lord with my whole heart yea I will glorifie thy name for ever for great is thy mercy towards me thou hast delivered my soule from the lowest grave Psal 86.12 13. Faith makes us speak to God as the Israelites did to Gideon when he had delivered them out of the hand of the Midianites Come say they unto him and reign over us both thou and thy son for thou hast delivered us out of the hand of Midian Iudg. 8.22 Now God is counted worthy of all honour and service Apoc. 4.7 5.12.13 Worthy to be exalted and glorified thus faith urgeth it as a thing most reasonable that God so glorious in himselfe having power over us to save or destroy and when he might have destroyed us yet hath saved us from so great a death and prepared for us so great salvation should be glorified by us wee submitting our selves unto the obedience of his will 3. Faith makes us look at the Lords government as a mercifull goverment bringing peace and blessing unto those that are under it it looks at this King of Israel as a mercifull King
an holy calling 2 Tim. 1.9 and we called unto holinesse 1 Thes 4.7 and when God takes us into Covenant with him he chargeth us henceforth to touch no unclean thing 2 Cor. 6.17 4. In regard of the effect it works holinesse in those that are called It worketh effectually that which it promiseth and commandeth The promises of the Covenant have a sanctifying vertue in them to sanctifie those to whom they are made for God by them conveyes the Spirit of holinesse into our hearts as the Apostle implyes in 2 Pet. 1.4 and we are thereby encouraged and quickned to grow up â—n all holinesse according to the will of God as is evident by that in 2 Cor. 7.1 compared with chap. 6. end where God having made that sweet promise Come out from among them and touch no unclean thing and I will receive you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty from hence the Apostle inferres Having then such promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthinesse of flesh and spirit and grow up unto full holinesse in his feare c. And in regard of this effect of the Covenant thus working holinesse in those that are the people of God they are called the holy people Dan. 12.7 and the people of Gods holinesse Esay 63.18 So in all these respects the Covenant may well be called an holy Covenant And it must needs be an holy Covenant First because the Lord himselfe is the author and ordainer of this Covenant the summe and substance of it was framed and set down in heaven in the counsels of eternity comming forth from the bosome of the Father and concluded by the assent of the Sonne and holy Ghost All the articles of it were first decreed and concluded there and therefore must needs be holy If they had been devised by men they would have been of an other quality savouring of the sinfull and licentious spirit that is in man but being a Covenant of the Lords own drawing he setting down all the articles and conditions of it it must needs be as himselfe is an holy Covenant proceeding from so pure and holy a God hence it is that in Psal 60.6 he hath spoken the words of his Covenant in his holinesse Look as grace and holinesse are united together in God so they are in his Covenant God can no more cease to be holy then he can to be gracious he is both gracious and holy so that his Covenant of Grace is also an holy Covenant as proceeding from him which is both gracious and holy 2. Because the end of this Covenant is to make us partakers of all the holy things of God from which all unholy and uncleane ones are excluded Levit. 12.2 3 6. Psal 50.16 but those that are sanctified enjoy them and use them as their own they are their portion their inheritance Deut. 33. their pearles Matth. 7.6 The Lord would have all his Ordinances to be used holily he cannot abide to have them prophaned and therefore it is that in Ezra 6.21 none but such as were separate from their uncleanesse might eat of the holy things and therefore the Lord will have his people to be an holy people that they may participate in all his holy things Nay more we are called not only to participation of these holy things of God but to fellowship with God himselfe 1 Ioh. 1.3 The Lord saith unto them ye are my people and they say unto him thou art our God Zach. 13. ult But without holinesse no man can have fellowship with God and therefore they must be an holy people that are taken into Covenant with God to enjoy followship and communion with him Quest But wherein stands that holinesse which the Covenant requires of all Gods covenanted people Answ There is a twofold holinesse 1. Relative 2. Positive First Relative in two things 1. In separation from common use 2. In dedication to God 1. There must be a separation from common use in this sence things holy are called separate things Deut. 19 2. Things common in Scripture are opposed to holy to shew that holy things must be separate from common use Hence Solomon speaking of Gods taking Israel to be his own he useth that expression Thou hast separated them unto thy selfe from all the people of the earth c. and thence was that exhortation of Ezra Separate your selves from the people of the lands Ezrah 10.11 and that of the Apostle Come out from among them and separate your selves 2 Cor. 6.17 If then we will be holy we must be separate from the common conversation of the world having no fellowship with the works thereof 2. There must be a dedication and devoting our selves unto God we must be offered up and given unto him Thus the holy dayes were dedicated unto the service of God they were not only separated from common and ordinary use but were dedicated to the Lords service thus were the first fruits called holy and thence the holy things and the dedicated things are taken for one and the same 1 Kings 15.15 as the Altar Numb 7. end the Temple 1 King 8.63 and thus must we be dedicate or given to the Lord as is said of the Macedonians that they gave themselves to the Lord 2 Cor. 8. we must resign up our selves unto him to be his and for him alone Secondly Positive and this is also twofold Habituall Actuall 1. Habituall qualifying and fitting us by graces infused for the service of God which we are devoted unto as all the things that were appointed for the service of God were anoynted with the holy oyl Exod. 30.26 27. so must we be anoynted with the sweet oyntments which are the graces of the spirit 2 Cor. 1.21 1 Ioh. 2.27 The oyntment of the holy Ghost which was poured upon the head of Christ Acts 10.38 must run down upon us that the savour of his oyntment may be found upon us Cant. 1. we must be sanctified throughout in soule in body and in spirit 1 Thes 5.23 2. Actuall it s not enough to have grace in us but there must be an holy use and exercise of those graces that are in us they are not given to us to be idle or that we should be slothfull in the possessing of them but that we should put them forth in our practice so as to be fruitfull in the improvement of them 2 Pet. 1.8 and thence it is that the Apostle speaking of the holinesse which the Lord requires to be in his people he doth not only require a holinesse of disposition by inherent graces but that we should be holy in all manner of conversation 1 Pet. 1.15 16. and for this cause the way of Saints is called holy Esay 35.8 they are sanctified not only in their vessels as 1 Sam. 21. but their way is holy also and they are said to be undefiled in their way Psal 11 9. where the soule is sanctified by the spirit of Christ the life will be
he is to be God over us that wee must neither spâ—ak nor do but according to the command of God As a man when he maketh a covenant of marriage with a woman he covenants with her to be her head to rule her that she shal be subject to him to please him or as when a man hires a servant c. So when the Lord takes us into covenant with himselfe it is that we shall bee his servants to doe his will pleasure and commandement When Isaac sent away his son Jacob to Padan Aran hee blessed him but withall he gâ—ve him a charge Gen. 28.1.6 Gen. 28 1.6 in both verses the blessing and the charge are mâ—ntioned togâ—ther So whâ—n the Lord giveth this blessing to us That hee will bee our God the charge goeth with it see thâ—t you keep the charge of the Lord your God and that you do whatsoever I commâ—nd you 3. B cause the Lord knows as he speaks himself Isai 48.4 Isai 48.4 that we are obstinate and our neck is an Iron sinew c. and are râ—ady to say as Jer. 2.31 Wee are Lords wee will not come at thee we will have none to command us Therfore the Lord promiseth this alâ—o when he saith That I will be a God over you that hee will subdue the rebelliousnesse of spirit that is in us and the stoutnesse of our hearts that he will bend and bow these stiffe necks of ours and make us pliable to his will in all things He will subdue our rebellions Micah 7.19 He will over-rule our unruly proud and presumptuous spirits and cause us to keep his Statutâ—s and Commandements to doe them This the Lord promiseth Ezek. 20.33 As I live saith the Lord surely with a mighty hand and wiâ—h a stretched out aâ—m and with fury powred out will I rule over you These words are a promise of grace that though they had other purposes in their minds they were thinking to goe after their Idols and to become as other countries serving wood and stone as verse 32. yet saith the Lord it shall not bee so I will over-rule these sinfull Idolatrous hearts of yours and you shal not serve these false Gods which you are doting upon but I will bring you unto my selfe and you shall serve me And this exposition is confirmed by the 34 37 38. verses compared together I will bring you into the wildernesse and there plead with you face to face and thâ—re make you ashamed and I will make you passe under the rod and bring you into the bond of the covenant and purge out from among you the rebels c. This is therefore a promise of grace There is indeed one word which seems to favour another interpretâ—tion given by some as if God did herein threaten a judgement because he saith I will rule you with wrath powred out verse 33. But this doth not hinder but the words may bee taken up as a promise of grace For the wrath here threatned may bee intended against the counâ—ries into which they were scattered a d who held them in bondage as verse 34. or else it may be extended to the hypocrites and reprobates amongst themselves whom the Lord would separate and cut off from them as verse 37.38 God might threaten wrath to them though he extend grace and mercy to his own people Or if it be understood of the judgements which he would execute upon his owne people taken into covenant with him yet this makes nothing against the interpretation before given Because the Lord doth by his corrections in which he shewes himselfe angry with his people subdue their stout hearts and over-power their rebellious natures and make them submit themselves unto him hee maketh those messengers of his wrath to become meanes of good unto his people he layes his yoak on them to tame their unruly spirits Thus saith the Lord concerning Solomon 2 Sam. 7.14 That if he did sin against him he would correct him And it is said 1 Kings 11.9 that God was angry with Solomon and he powred out wrath against him stirring up adversaries to trouble him A father rules over his childâ—en in love and tender compassion and yet by reason of their unruly disposition hee is sometimes forced to shew himselfe angry with them by some sharp corrections So it is with the Lord in the rule that he exerciseth over his people Therefore though we do restraine the wrath powred forth to be upon his own children yet it may bee a promise of grace that the Lord will by meanes thereof bring under and over-rule the stubbornnesse of their hearts and governe them with a mighty hand whether they will or no. Thus hee over-ruled the spirit of the Prophet Ezek. 3.14 Ezek. 3.14 that though hee had no mind to preach to the Jewes being such a rebellious people yet the hand of the Lord carried him to the performance of it with indignation of his own spirit which was against it 4. When he hath subdued our spirits unto him and brought us to submit unto his will then he will be God over us to teach instruct and direct us in the way wherein we should walk that if either ignorance or heedlesnesse doe turn us out of the way then the Lord guides us into the right way wherein we ought to walk as Isai 48.17 And this he promiseth to doe Isai 30.21 You shall heare a voyce behind you c. we are apt to heare and passe by as though we heard not therefore the Lord is said to call after us as one that speaks behind us and cries to us Ho Ho you are out of your way this is the way c. This also hâ—e promiseth Psalm 25.9.12 Psal 25.9.12 that when he hath once meekned our crosse spirits and made us willing to obey him then he will guide us in judgement and teach us the way which himself chuseth for us And thus the Lord will be God over his people a God above them as a Prince is ovâ—r his pâ—ople an husband over his wife a father oâ—e his children a master over his servants or a shepheard o er his flock to rule and order them according to his owne mind And this is no small benefit and blessing of the covenant For look as it is for the good of a people to be under the government of a gracious King the good of the wife to bee under the government of a prudent husband the good of a child to be under the government of a godly father and for the good of the flâ—ck to be under the guidance of a skilfâ—ll shepheard So it is for the good of the people of God that hee will bee pleased to bee a God over them and that he will not leave them to the rebellious lusts of their own hearts This is a rich blessing of the covenant of grace As it is said of Solomon that because the Lord loved Israel therefore he gave them such a King 2