made with him an everlasting Covenant 2 Sam. 23.5 though he make it not to grow it was not spoken in respect unto himself alone but unto his Family and his House also and that was Luther's will I have neither Lands nor Possessions to leave them Tibi reddo nutri doce serva ut hactenus me qui pater es pupillorum judex viduarum And so a man may dye in faith not only in reference unto himself and his own Covenant-interest but the Covenant-interest of his Posterity also BOOK III. The Covenant of Grace its Nature and Benefits CHAP. I. Gods part of the Covenant doth consist in Promises SECT I. What Promises are why and how the Covenant of Grace doth consist of Promises and of what HAving spoken thus far of two general heads 1 the Person that made the Covenant and had the first great hand in it and that was God and therefore it 's called Gods Covenant and not mans I will establish my Covenant between me and thee 2 the persons with whom this Covenant is made and that in a threefold subordination 1 with Christ as Mediator as a publick person as the second Adam 2 with Believers in him 3 in them with all their seed Let us now come to look into the nature of this Covenant more particularly and examine the essentials thereof There are three things that are ordinarily distinguished by Divines a Law a Testament and a Covenant A Law depends upon the absolute Soveraignty of the Law-giver and requires subjection whether the persons commanded consent to it or no and so all the Laws of God do depend upon the absolute Soveraignty of God as he is a Law-giver able to save and to destroy A Testament is grounded only upon the Will of the Testator bequeathing of such Legacies freely without requiring the consent of the party to whom they are bequeathed but a Covenant differs from them both in this that it requires the consent and agreement of both parties and therein each party binds himself freely to the performance of several conditions each to other Cocceius doth ground it upon that place Heb. 8.6 A Covenant established upon better promises and he defines it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divina legislatio promissionibus sancita It is a Law that God establishes upon Promises and therefore implies two things something on Gods part which is the promise and something on mans part which is the duty and unto both these consent of parties is required Gods consent unto the promise and mans consent unto the service and therefore by a Synecdoche the name Covenant is applied unto both parts of these and both of them are called the Covenant 1 The Covenant is sometimes put for the Promise of God which is the Covenant on Gods part Exod. 34.10 Behold I will make a Covenant before all thy people I will do marvels the meaning is no more but voluntaria promissione me obstringo c. I bind my self by a voluntary promise This is my covenant with thee Esa 59.21 says the Lord My Spirit that is put upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth c. Numb 18.19 All the heave-offering of the holy things which the children of Israel offer unto the Lord have I given thee and thy sons by a statute for ever it it a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord. It is spoken only of the free promise of God made unto Aaron and his sons in reference unto the Prieshood 2 The Covenant is sometimes put for the command of God in which he doth require a duty from man Moses was with the Lord in the Mount forty days and nights and he writ upon the Tables the words of the Covenant Exod. 34.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the ten Commandments and it 's common in Scripture-acceptation to put the command of God and the duty of man under the name of the Covenant of God So that there are in the essentials of the Covenant two things 1 there is the promise on Gods part which is Gods part of the Covenant 2 there is the duty on man's part in reference unto the command of God there is mercy and duty and mutual consent of both We shall begin with the Convenant on Gods part that we may see what of his free grace he doth oblige and bind himself unto though it 's true he is debtor to none any further than his own free grace makes him so Deus promittendo se debitorem fecit Austin Now Gods part of the Covenant consists in promises and rewards and mans part of the Covenant consists in services and in these two are the essentials of the covenant and these will be our three general heads to be spoken to First Gods part of the covenant doth consist in promises such is the covenant that he made with Abraham wherein he does promise to be a God unto him and to his seed after him and this will appear in four things 1 Because in Scripture we find the covenant and the promises to be put for one and the same thing Gal. 3.16 To Abraham and his seed were the promises made and this I say that the covenant confirmed before of God in Christ the law that was four hundred and thirty years after could not disannul or make the promise of none effect And hence it is called the covenant of promise Eph. 2.12 which though some of our Divines do put and may be not unfitly as a distinction of the covenant of Grace into two branches Ball of the Covenant 4. p. 27. the covenant of promise and the new covenant taking this for the covenant made with the Fathers before the exhibiting of Christ in the flesh who did only see the promises afar off and saluted them Heb. 11.13 and therefore they are called the children of the covenant and of the promise Act. 3.25 yet the truth is so long as there is any one part of it unaccomplished so far it will be the covenant of promise and consist in promises still till Gods people do come to Heaven and receive the happiness and the inheritance of the covenant which the Lord has now promised to the Saints 2 A people taken into covenant with God are said to be intitled unto the promises which before they were strangers unto Rom. 9.4 and could claim no interest in when God took the people of Israel into covenant with himself and they became unto him a peculiar people and treasure of all the people of the earth then unto them did belong 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the worship of God and the promises which all the other Nations of the Earth could lay no claim unto and upon this ground all those that are confederates with God and taken into covenant they are called the coheirs of promise because they have a title unto all those great things which God in covenant has ingaged himself to bestow 3 When the Lord
people prepared for the Lord. This Union is wrought by the Spirit of the â—ord Jesus by cutting off the soul from his old root for there is at least in order of nature a cutting off before a grafting in Rom. 11.24 1 Pet. 2.5 We as living stones are built upon him a spiritual house a holy temple Therefore Isa 28.16 Thus saith the Lord God Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone a tried stone c. A foundation that is a sure â—nd a firm foundation for the repetition does signifie excellency and certainty Isa 26.3 He shall keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee Matt. 7.24 Now there are but two foundations the Rock and the Sand a man must be removed and taken off the one before he can be built upon the other Rom. 13.14 Union with Christ is compared to putting him on as a garment a man must put off his old garment before he can put on the new and the wedding-garment which every man by nature is without It is a Matrimonial Vnion and a man must be dead to his former husband that he may be married to another says the Apostle I through the law am dead to the law Rom. 7.4 Gal. 2.19 Rom. 7.9 that I may be married to another Again I through the law am dead to the law that I may live unto God Paul in his state of unregeneracy was alive to the Law that is in the performance of it he thought he could keep the whole Law and expected by it that righteousness that should save him but now the Commandment came in a lively and effectual manner by the mighty working of the Spirit upon his soul convincing him of his guilt and his inability that for the curse of the Law he lay under it and the condemning power thereof by reason of his guilt and that he was able to perform no duty that the Law required through the inability that was in him and so he became dead unto it that is he expected life thereby no more and trusted upon his own strength no more for he knew he was able to do nothing and he that knows he is able to perform no duty of the Law and can expect no reward of the Law he is dead unto it Joh. 16.8 And this is done 1 by a work of Conviction convincing the world of sin that is that a man is in a state of sin under the guilt and power of it under the guilt of it that he is in his own person lyable to the wrath of God for it and that all the curses of the Law are his portion and that by nature Hell is his proper place and he is so under the power of it that he can perform no duty nor resist any temptation cannot subject himself unto the Righteousness of God nor to the Law of God he is in a state of impotency and of enmity and if the Lord do offer him Grace and come to convert him he cannot but resist and there is some special and darling lust in the cords of which he is held that will prove his destruction 2 And by a work of Humiliation the pleasure of all a mans former sins are dampt and taken away and the man is dead to them all and he cannot taste them as in times past and making a man to look upon himself as a miserable and undone man to loath himself to lye under the fear and expectation of wrath that the Law has threatned Acts 2.37 Rom. 7.9 and his guilty condition has deserved which is the proper work of the spirit of bondage to be pricked in his heart for a man to die to look upon himself as a dead man and to be dead in his own apprehension full of confession of his own sin and condemnation of himself as the Prodigal son Father I am unworthy to be called thy Son 3. There is a mighty and a glorious work of revelation discovering to a soul the good will of God the Father and of Christ which is called the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of him Ephes 1.18 revealing his son in a man Gal. 1. And convincing a man of righteousness in Christ Joh. 6. for the salvation of sinners that there is a holiness in the Person of Christ and a sufficiency in his Righteousness for the salvation of sinners This is called seeing the Son Joh. 6.40 which is not barely a notional knowledge which a man had before of Christ but a knowledge and apprehension of Christ and his Glory let into the soul such a knowledge as a man never had before seeing Christ to be a proportionable good to the Saints one that is able to save to the uttermost and one that he may have an interest in and he may become his for ever Joh. 12.44 Which when the Prophet saw he wondered all men did not believe in him his Glory did so ravish him and if a man that slighted Christ before once discern this presently he has an high esteem of this excellent person To them that believe he is precious 1 Pet. 2.7 And they look upon him with another eye than ever they did in time past and this was the plot that God the Father delighted in before the World was and that Christ was but the Father's servant in all this that he did and that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself and that God was not averse to the work as an angry Judge but that Christ would bring souls to God and the Father did love to have it so and that all was the fruit of his own everlasting love to sinners before the world was 1 Joh. 3.16 That God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son And then all the offers of Christ the calls and the invitations of God and his compassionate intreaties that are in his Word all these begin to take place upon the soul Ho every one that thirsteth come to the waters come and buy whosoever will let him come and take of the waters of life freely That the price is already paid and that the blood of Christ was shed to cleanse sinners the Angels need it not the Devils can have no benefit by it it was given only for poor lapsed man and therefore it is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners This is the drawing and the teaching of the Father Joh. 6.44 not but that it is done by the Spirit also but it is said to be the work of the Father because the offer of Christ being Gods gift is presented unto the soul in the Fathers name with a command from him to accept of him and to believe in him For this is his Commandment that we believe in him whom he hath sent because him has God the Father sealed And this took Luther so much when he understood the righteousness of God that
be as voluntary as it was in the making of it to make fair promises while men are under the rod as many do in sickness they promise to lead new lives but yet return to their old ways with the Dog and start aside from these purposes in their prosperity like a broken bow as when the Goths invaded Rome the Christians having some mercy granted them all the Pagans would then become Christians and after proved persecutors of them 5. A man must be willing to bind himself in the highest way unto obedience thereunto When the people did make a Covenant they did stand up to the Covenant and said Amen Amen and they swore to it and that in a publick way with a loud voice Duet 25. v. last Nehem. 9 v. last Neh. 10.29 with shoutings and Trumpets and they did write it down in a Book and it 's a further ingagement to have a mans own hand against him that is a great witness and lays him under more guilt than any witness can fasten upon him and he sets not only his hand but his seal to and binds himself with a curse and by fearful imprecations of vengeance upon himself if he did not perform it as they did Nehem. 10.29 desiâ—e God to avenge upon themselves their falshood in breaking of the Covenant and are content the threatning should take place upon them if they break it as well as the promise if they keep it and thereby they shew that they desire the Covenant should abide firm Jer. 50 5. as they say Jer. 50.5 Let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetual Covenant never to be forgot 6. It must be with an earnest desire to God for grace to keep it and an acknowledgment of our own weakness and inability to perform anyone of the duties of the Covenant for Covenants that are made upon any self-dependance do not long continue as Peters did not when he said Though all men forsake thee yet will not I and though I dye with thee yet will I not deny thee Our promises of duty must be supported by Gods promises of grace or else we shall soon fail in them for God must perform the promises of grace before we can perform our promise of service for without him we can do nothing upon him is all our fruit found Hos 14.8 and therefore in all our Covenants we should have an eye unto the promise that gives grace as well as requires service and say with David I will run the way of thy Commnadments when thou shalt inlarge my heart Isa 38.14 and with Hezekiah Lord I am weak undertake for me The word in the Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and signifies to become a surety and so should we consider the new Covenant is in the hand of a surety and to him we should look for strength for the grace of the Covenant is laid up in him so that there is in our Covenant with God a double bond laid upon us not only an obligation unto the duty injoyned but to have recourse unto God for grace to perform it 4. What are the times and seasons that the people of God have specially observed in renewing of their Covenant with the Lord that so a man may be able to say now God calls me unto this duty For there is a season for every duty and a godly man is to bring forth his fruit in the season Psal 1.3 I find in Scripture that the seasons of renewing their Covenant were commonly these 1. When a man hath eminently fallen into any great sin or hath relapsed into former sins that were repented of and that we have humbled our souls for and if being washed we have again defiled our selves and turned again to folly then is a season in which the Lord calls you to renew your Covenant Peter committed a very great sin it being that sin also which he was warned of and took up great purposes and resolutions against M tt 26 74. it was not a bare denial but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he denies with an Oath nay with cursings and damnings of himself as the word imports imprecating of the wrath of God and eternal separation from his presence if he knew the man Now how must Peter come from this fall It 's called a conversion Luk. 22.31 When thou art converted strengthen thy brethren Recovery out of sin committed is called a conversion There is a two-fold conversion 1 from a general state of sin 2 from a particular way of sin for the first of these Peter had past he was converted before and Christ had given testimony to his faith that it was true and that it should not fail but yet there is a conversion from this particular fall a renewing of his repentance and as it were turning unto God again a-new and that is seen in these two things 1 In renewed humiliation and godly sorrow 2 In a renewed Covenant and a solemn ingagement of reformation for the time to come and this is required in the renewing of a mans repentance after any great and eminent fall The same course doth Paul take Rom. 7.16 after his conflict he doth then renew his Covenant and saith I do break the Law yet my heart doth still cleave to the rule thereof and acknowledge the goodness of it and this consent of speaking the same thing that the Law doth is properly and formally the renewing of a mans Covenant and ingagement and so doth the Church after her great fall and backsliding Cant. 6.3 I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine he feedeth among the lillies which I conceive to be the words of one rejoycing and triumphing in the assurance of his interest in God but also they are the words of one covenanting and renewing the reconciliation of himself unto the Lord as when the Lord hath departed from us through our provocation when he doth return to his people he is said to elect them anew Zach. 1.17 The Lord shall yet comfort Sion and shall yet chuse Jerusalem his returning is as it were a second election So when we return to God after a special fall it is as it were a new conversion and this is a special testimony of the truth of a mans sorrow that it is according to God 2. In time of publick humiliation when men would divert and turn away judgement either from a nation or a person then is the time for them to renew their Covenant and this was the ground of the Covenant the Hezekiah made 2 Chron. 29.8 Our fathers have transgressed and done that which was evil in the sight of the Lord wherefore the wrath of the Lord came upon Judah and Jerusalem to destroy them and he hath delivered them to trouble to astonishment and to hissing as you see with your eyes our fathers have fallen by the sword and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this now it is in my heart to make
Church with them when the Lord shall make the Church of the Jews the Mother-Church and should give them unto the Jews fâ—â— daughters c. so in Abraham and his Posterity and that they might still lay claim unto the Covenant and the Promise made unto their Fathers being born the Sons of the Covenant To have any particular office prescribed by God in a Family is look'd upon and promised as a great mercy to have a Priesthood continued in the Family of Aaron and afterwards of Phineas as a reward of that great act of his in being zealous for the Lord in executing Judgement for the Lord gave him an everlasting Priesthood and to have the Kingdom continued unto David and his Posterity as he takes notice Thou hast spoken of my house for a great while to come there shall not want a man of his loyns to sit upon the Throne of Israel and it 's look'd upon as a great Judgment for a Family and a Posterity to be disinherited as for the family of Esau to be cast out of the Priesthood and the Family of Saul to be cast out of the Kingdom how much more then is it a mercy to have the visible Church of God continued in any mans Posterity for all blessings descend according unto this as it appears in the Sons of Noah there is a blessing upon Shem and Japhet and their Posterity but it is in reference to a Church-state but there is no blessing upon Cham but cursed be Canan God would never take a Church out of his loyns it should never be continued in his posterity There shall not be a Cananite in the house of the Lord for ever Zac. 14. ult and therefore a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren the curse and blessing is answerable unto the respect men have to a Church-state 4. It 's the greatest wrath that God doth pour out upon men in this life to cast them out of external Church-priviledges The Jews as when they were taken into covenant it was for themselves and their posterity that God would owne their seed as his and would avouch them to be his people so when God did cast them out and gave them a bill of divorce called them Loammi and did remove the Candlestick he did cast them out and their seed the natural branches were broken off if it be not a blessing to injoy it surely it 's no great judgment to be deprived of it but the Apostle saith Wrath iâ— come upon them to the uttermost or to the end therefore it the wrath be so great in a casting out surely there is a great deal of mercy shewed in the taking in 5. The Apostle speaks even of an interest in the external priviledges of the covenant as a very great matter having shewed that all men by nature are in the same condition and in a mans spiritual estate outward and Church-priviledges make no difference he doth demand Then what advantage a man hath by Church-priviledges and what good there is in them Rom. 3.22 if they make not men to differ what excellency hath the Jew above any other men or any other people The Apostle says Much every way therefore though they may not differ in reference to a spiritual state yet there is a great excellency and advantage and the Apostle speaking of the grafting in of the Gentiles into the same Church-covenant them and the posterity when the Jews were disinherited he says Rom. 11.17 Privilegia beneficia foederis in Ecclesia patrum deposita Par. That they did partake of the root and the fatness of the olive-tree therefore in Scripture it 's commended as a great advantage and priviledge unto a man to be brought into the external rights and to have an interest in outward priviledges of the Church of God 2. But what are those priviledges and those particular benefits that come upon a person and his posterity thereby 1 Many of them shall be saved elected and converted to God for the Lord doth take the number of his Elect out of the loyns of his own the Church of the first-born whose names are written in Heaven is hid in the visible Church here as wheat in a heap of chaff 2 It 's the only ground of hope that parents have for the salvation of their children dying in their infancy David did hope it though he might say with Austin Ego in illo puero nihil habui praeter delictum yet he saith I shall go to him and his heart was quieted concerning his eternal state by virtue of the Covenant made with him We have no other promise but this I will be thy God and the God of thy seed and this is Gospel a man is as truly bound to lay hold of the promise and cast himself upon it for his seed as for himself 3 There is no ordinary way of salvation but it is amongst them that are taken into Covenant salvation is of the Jews Joh. 4. there was in an ordinary way salvation to be had no where else and therefore by being taken into the outward priviledges of the Church a man is brought into the ordinary way of salvation Esa 5.7 Exod. 15.5 Gen. 6.2 4 It 's a special honour to be the vineyard of the Lord the garden of the Lord hedged in from the rest of the world his wall a wine press a garden inclosed a fountain sealed to be called the Sons of God the people of God and the Lord to avouch them such publickly before all the world to be his peculiar treasure the Lord to be their God and they his people above all people of the earth theirs is the Adoption it 's spoken of this federal external sonship Rom. 9.4 Esa 22.1 29.1 Rom. 3.2 5 By this you have special priviledges Jerusalem is the valley of Vision and Jesuron the seeing people it is Ariel the Altar of the Lord chiefly to them are committed the Oracles of God which they are to keep and to transmit unto posterity it 's a depositum laid up and concredited to them In Judah is God known his name is great in Israel Psal 147. ult he hath not dealt so with other nations they are a people near unto him and the Lord hath promised that he will give them his special presence I will dwell in the midst of them Zac. 8.3 2 Cor. 6. Christ walks in the middle of the golden Candlesticks though he be in glory 6 By coming under the outward priviledges of this Covenant they have very glorious operations mighty works upon them that other men have never experience of and all this even in them that perish and they have this as a fruit of their external interest for Hos 6.5 there is hewing and slaying there is sowing and planting when the rest of the common fields lye untilled Mat. 13.3 1 Cor. 12.8 and there are great gifts bestowed such as the Lord doth not bestow on any
to perform the promise is Gods part and to press God with his promise is our part I will do it for you says tne Lord yet I will be inquired of by you that I may do it for you ask and you shall receive knock and it shall be opened and there is no way that ever any creature could attain any thing of God but this way Upon this very ground Christ himself if he will attain from God he must ask and so 't is with the Angels and so 't is with the Saints in Heaven Dan. 4.17 they cry How long Lord How much more is it to be with dust and ashes 3. That the Lord may honour his own Ordinance and testifie how much he doth delight in the worship of a creature and that thereby he might make it a double mercy For ungodly men to receive blessings as a fruit of Providence unto them it comes always single that is in the thing only but unto a godly man that has it as a fruit of the promise it 's always a double mercy mercy in the thing and mercy to the man not only an accomplishment of Gods promises but the return of the mans prayers the exercise of Gods faithfulness unto us and of our graces towards God and there are no mercies so sweet as those that come in with the exercise of grace in the attaining of them Deum orationibus ambiamus coelum tundimus misericordiam extorquemus as Tertullian says of the power of the Saints prayers because of his delight in the exercise of their graces And there is no duty wherein the graces of the Saints do act with more life and power than they do in prayer there is magna conjunctio a great concurrence of grace in them as we see it in Abraham in his prayer what strong acts of grace he puts forth Gen. 18. The nearer the soul draws to God the fountain of its life the more lively it works and moves the swifter the nearer the centre and there is no duty in which the soul draws nearer to God than it doth in prayer and hath more immediate communion with him than when he is upon his knees before the Throne of grace 4. And lastly the way to attain promises is a patient waiting for them till the Lords time come for it 's true of promises as it is of prophecies though the vision be for an appointed time Hab. 2.3 yet wait for it for it will come and will not tarry It 's a speech like unto that in Luk. 18.7 8. though he bear long with them yet he will avenge them speedily it may tarry long in respect of the time prefixed by us and may seem long to us but it shall not be long when the time comes that is appointed by God The Lord commonly does in the answering of prayers as he does in the fulfilling of Prophecies it 's a great while before the Prophecy seems to speak or to give any hope of its accomplishment as it was in the deliverance out of Egypt and Babylon but yet when once it begins but to dawn its day immediately in a manner it strangely and suddenly breaks forth that the Saints of God can scarce believe their own eyes they are like unto them that dream And so it is in the return of their prayers also as in the calling of the Jews they are as dry bones and they are scattered here and there all the world over but the bones shall come together and it shall be so suddenly done that the Lord saith A Nation shall be born at once and before Sion travelled she brought forth and so it is in the answer of Prayers as it was with Elijah he prayed seven times and his servant looked and there was nothing and yet he continued praying at last there appeared a Cloud like unto a mans hand and by and by the Heavens were covered over with Clouds and then the rain fell when it begins once to appear that the Clouds do break away a little the Lord doth strangely hasten the work and there is a glorious concurrence and falling in of all causes to its accomplishment there is a time of the Promise's accomplishment Acts 7 1◠and a great part of the Mercy is in the season of it the Lord doth not delay because he is unwilling to bestow it or because the Mercy comes hardly off for he knows that to our hasty Nature bis dat qui citò but the Lord doth defer it that he may improve the Mercy by the season of it for Gods time is best and not ours my time is not yet come though your time be alwayes ready all Christs Miracles were so much the more glorious by the seasons of their putting forth and so are Gods Mercies also the more magnified in coming to us in the fittest time he does wait to be gracious that is that he may bestow the Mercy when we are fittest to receive it and our hearts are best prepared for it As in judgement to a wicked man the Lord does watch over him for evil and he shall be ensnared in an evil time as a Bird in an evil snare judgement shall come upon him when he least expects it and is least prepared for it he shall be cut off as the foam upon the waters Hos 10.7 sicut aquae superiores ferventis ollae Jerome for the word spuma doth signifie a bubble that does arise from heat c. when they are swelled up and hold up their heads on high and be lifted up above the rest of the waters then they shall suddenly be cut off As I say there is a time for judgment that Justice doth watch over men for evil so there is also a time for Mercy that Grace does watch over men for good there is a time for the Promise to bring forth as well as the threatning and therefore it 's said That by Faith and Patience the Saints have inherited the Promises and there is as well a Patience in waiting as in Suffering Zeph. 2.1 2. let Patience have its perfect work in you in this respect also that you may be intire and perfect wanting nothing Hebr. 10.36 But the Soul will be ready to say I could be willing to wait Gods time if I could be sure to attain the Promise at the last but what grounds are there to support and underprop my heart that I shall receive the Promise and not miss of it in the end Now the grounds to assure the Soul thereof are these 1. The faithfulness of God the Promises are therefore confirmed by an Oath Heb. 6.17 that by two immutable things wherein it 's impossible for God to lye we might have strong Consolation Quid est Dei juratio nisi promissi confirmatio Aust. infidelium quaedam increpatio An Oath amongst Men puts an end to Controversie much more should the Oath of God put an end to all Controversie and Disputes in the Soul and
man to ingage the Attributes of God against himself as to ingage against those that have an interest in the Attributes of God for the Covenant that God hath made with his people is offensive and defensive and the Lord will surely appear for them it 's therefore a design that did never prosper in the hand of any that did undertake it nay be sure thou wilt perish under the power of those attributes there is no such way to turn the edge of them all against thee as this is as it was said of Canaan It 's a land that eats up the inhabitants so we may say of this it 's a work that devours the workers the Lord will rebuke Kings for their sakes if they touch his anointed and there is no vengeance like unto that of the Temple thou wilt surely perish in thy own opposition for it doth arm all the Attributes of God against thee and they do arm the Church against thee and therefore the worm Jacob must thresh the mountain Isa 41. and when the strength of the Churches enemies is greatest and their hopes highest when they are folded up as thorns and while they are drunken as drunkards Nah. 1.10 they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry and in the same place where they did expect the destruction of the Church they shall be sure to find their own Mic. 4.11 Now also many nations are gathered against thee that say Let her be defiled and let our eye look upon Sion but they know not the thoughts of the Lord neither understand they his counsel for he shall gather them as the sheaves in the floor Arise and thresh O daughter of Sion for I will make thy horn iron and I will make thy hoofs brass and thou shall beat in pieces many people c. They are to the world as a burdensom stone all men will be lifting at them till they be broken in pieces by them it 's their own folly to dash and fall upon them percussum è pectore ferrum 2. It 's a Use of direction to the Saints that have an interest in God as their God in Covenant and so are intitled unto all the Attributes of God 1 Exercise faith upon every attribute and thereby make it to be your own in the use and improvement thereof Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might that is let your faith take hold of the strength of God and thereby let it rise unto such a height of confidence as if you had almighty power in your own hand to exercise if thou be in any streight and dost want wisdom to direct thee in thy way be thou wise by the wisdom of God and let thy faith raise thee up unto that height of confidence that it is as impossible for Satan to out-wit thee as it is to go beyond infinite Wisdom and so if thou sin at any time question thy pardon no more than if thou hadst infinite mercy in thy own hand and wert able to pardon thy self for it 's all made over to thee in this one promise I will be thy God for that which is originally and essentially in God that by our dependency becomes ours as truly as if we were the subjects in which it doth reside 2 It should raise up in a man a holy greatness of mind suitable unto such a priviledge and it 's a thing of no small concernment that the people of God should be raised up to such a holy greatness for it would free them from those vain hopes and fears and those low imployments that now they are busied about for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is nothing great here below a man should look upon all things with the eye of God to have all the Attributes of God made over to him if dangers offer themselves the soul is not surprized for as God sits in Heaven and laughs them to scorn when the workers of Babel did build a Tower to their own confusion so do the Saints also the virgin the daughter of Sion doth laugh thee to scorn c. If wisdom shew it self and a man hath to do with the policy of an Achitophel he fears it no more than folly and believes it shall be as he prays Lord turn it into folly and he laughs at the plot And if the guilt of sin rise up in his conscience he can say Though I have sinned and am a sinner yet God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself and grace is free Jesus Christ is ascended up into Heaven and sits at the right hand of God for it 's a fault in the Saints they think when they sin it 's their duty to question their estates their interest in God and it 's good to question it for tryal and examination but not by way of diffidence unto a mans dejection for the way to increase a mans sanctification is not to weaken his faith in the point of justification and if the power of sin do prevail yet a man goes forth against it in the strength of the Lord and he saith Though it be to 〈◊〉 impossible yet it is possible with God and his power is ingaged for my perfection and this were to live the life of God as grace is called Eph. 4.18 3 Sing unto God the praises of every Attribute for as we should look through all that is in Christ that our hearts might take in whole Christ and the Church doth so Cant. Psal 21.13 5 and Paul Phil. 3.7 8 9. so should we of all the Attributes of God also Be thou exalted in thy own strength O Lord so will we sing and praise thy power and I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of trouble Observe the attributes that at any time God discovers to thee in thy straits specially and unto those sing praises it 's all that the Lord expects as a return for all that his attributes work for you that you should give them glory and the way to ingage any Attribute of God for you again is to give it the glory of any of the former discoveries thereof and the way to disingage an attribute is to neglect to give that attribute its glory when it has been put forth Cessat gratiarum decursus ubi cessat recursus c. Where the recurse or return of graces ceaseth the decurse or flowing forth of fresh graces ceaseth For the Lords aim under the new Covenant is the glory of the attributes of his nature as well as the glory of the persons that they all of them may have their due place and order in our hearts and as the Lord doth distinctly put them forth in their order for a man as his necessity does require so he does expect that we should take them as our portion and rejoycing in the Lord therein give unto them in our hearts their particular and distinct honour for the Lord
their own had not they neglected it by observing lying vanities it might have been truly their own whereas none of the things that they so observe could be for it is but this worlds goods if we are not faithful in that which is another mans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who shall give you that which is your own goods Now God may be a mans own but it cannot be said of any creature-comfort without God and therefore here is your folly to be observing these lying vanities and forsake your own mercies 4. God will set himself against all these things in which you do place your happiness apart from him and there is no such way to engage God against the choicest contentments as this is that thou shouldst place thy portion in them for thou makest that creature an Idol and the Lord will set himself against them in a special manner Esay 2.18 The Prophet Isaiah speaks of a Judgment that the Lord would bring against that people and the daughter of Sion should be left as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers and as a besieged city and what is that great inquisition that God makes at such a time it's only for the Idols and upon these he will suddenly stretch forth his hand the Idols he will utterly * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abolish he will utterly divide them or cut them in pieces The Lord said he would search Jerusalem with candles Zeph. 1.12 the meaning is that the Lord would make a diligent and a very exact search and therefore accensa lucerna quaerere is a Phrase for exactness in this kind and it notes not only things open that are discovered in the face of the Sun and may be seen by its light but the most secret things that are hid in the dark abstrusissima in tenebris latentia the Lord will in this manner search Jerusalem with candles and the great things that the Lord doth search for and discover are the Idols as appears in Ezech. 8. he doth shew the Prophet the things which are done in the dark in the chambers of their imagery and be sure if it become an Idol the Lord is engaged against it to destroy it for he will not give his glory to another nor his praise unto graven images 5. It 's a folly in this because there is no need of it for there is a sufficiency in Go◠you may be happy in him though you have nothing else for he is all-sufficient to himself and his happiness lies in himself he is God blessed for evermore and shall he not be sufficient unto thee He useth this as an argument to Abraham he will need no other Gen. 17.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 21.6 I am the All-sufficient God walk before me and be thou perfect He will need no other he shall inherit all things I will be his God If a man can be happy that has all things then surely he may be whose God is the Lord he is the happiness of the Angels and of Christ himself and of all the Saints after this life when all the comforts of the creatures shall be no more and therefore can you seek happiness in any other As I may reason it with you concerning Christ have not you need of a Saviour and is there salvation in any other has the Lord any more sons in his bosom to bestow and is there any defect in this Christ can you look for a better do you expect one that shall be able to save you more perfectly than he who is able to save you to the uttermost will you go away whither will you go if you depart from Christ So I say also concerning God as your happiness have you n◠need of happiness You are neither the fountain of your own being or well being can it be had in any other but in God who is Lord of all and is there any defect in him that he cannot make thee happy in himself as well as he has done the Lord Jesus Christ who says Psal 16. ult With thee is the fountain of life and in thy light we shall see light It 's a great folly for a man to go far and labour hard for that which may be had near home and at an easie rate it 's the folly that the Lord did reprove in Judah Esay 30. They went down to Egypt for help and they sent their Ambassadors and they were at Zonan and Hanes and they were at great cost they sent their gold and silver on the back of Asses and the bunches of Camels c. and they did trim their way turn themselves into every fashion and every shape abased themselves unto the dust and all to attain the favour of man whereas it might have been had from Gods protection at an easier rate for your strength or security is to sit still and rest upon the Lord for ever for he is a Rock of Ages so it is in point of provision as well as of protection we knock at every door of the creature and with great weariness and pains labour in the fire * Hab. 1.13 To labour in the fire is cùm operis nullus sit fructus c. sed igne statim ut confectum est absumpto and so by labouring in the creatures in this manner a man doth sustain duplicem jacturam a double loss 1 Operae 2 Materiae both of labour and matter a man doth lose the creatures and his labour about them also for the Lord of Hosts doth in judgment make them labour in the fire and weary themselves for very vanity whereas all might be had in God easily and at a far better rate surely Nimis avarus est cui non sufficit Deus He is too avaritious whom God doth not suffice 6. There will come a time when you will have need of God who did offer himself unto you to be your portion and you have refused him and then you can expect no other but as you have rejected him so he should also reject you Israel would none of me Psal 81. so I gave them up c. There will be a time when the chanels of all the creatures shall be stopped and your portion in them shall be no more but it shall be said Son remember that in thy life time thou receivedst thy good things they were given thee but they were only for thy life-time and in them thou didst place thy happiness and thy portion and therefore they are called thy good things for that which a man doth chuse to himself to place his happiness in that is his good things and then the soul must return to God that gave it and at this time will the Lord send thee unto those things wherein thou placedst thy happiness and thy portion Go now unto the Gods that you have chosen and let them deliver you When we come unto God in the day of our distress he will say Go to the
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
thoughts of his own heart do Now there are comforts in God that do delight the soul even then when there are multitude of thoughts that disquiet it We are to consider the delight of the glorious persons one in another Prov. 8.30 I was his delight daily so it is with the Saints in God he is their delight daily for their portion and their happiness is laid up in him alone all pleasure of the creature is but madness out of him I have said of laughter Thou art mad there is more sweetness in the comforts that come into the soul by him than there is in all the creatures in Heaven and Psal 4. Thou hast put more gladness into my heart than when their corn and wine and oyl increased For as there is no comparison between the strokes of the creatures and of God when he smites immediately he will be a consuming fire to the creature so there is no comparison between the comforts of the creatures and those which God gives in immediately and therefore the more it is mixed with any creature comfort the less it influences the soul with consolation it is like unto Physick given in the drug it has the less vigour and strength how much difference is there between the Spirit 's comforting and the comforts that do come in by meat and drink c what though they that love God have no pleasure in the world yet they have joy in God and it 's such a joy as no man can take from them it is such a joy as a stranger cannot meddle withal 4 For Glory and Honour In this world they need none else they say to God Psal 3.3 Jer. 2.31 Thou art my glory and the lifter up of my head can a maid forget her ornaments or a bride her attire but my people have forgotten me days without number the Lord was their ornament and their glory not only their praise is of God but their glory is in God and therefore they are called The Glory Vpon all the glory there shall be a covering that as Mount Sion is the glory of the Earth so are the children of Sion the glory of the sons of men the only glorious ones the only excellent ones and because the Lord is their glory in the midst of them the glory of the Lord is risen upon them Isa 4.5 therefore they are the people that glory in God and they are a people in whom the Lord doth glory 5 They need no Companions but God for matter of communion Isa 60.19 1 Joh. 1.3 their fellowship is with the Father and with the Son Jesus Christ They are many times despised in the world as Christ was rejected of men and cast out of their society as hateful when they have cast out their names as evil but yet if Abraham go out of his own country he must leave all his own friends Isa 43.2 3. and go alone I will be thy God I will be with thee when thou goest through the fire I will be with thee yet sometimes thou must go in untrodden paths and alone but I will be with thee so says Christ Ye shall be scattered every one to his own and leave me alone yet I am not alone but the Father that sent me is with me so the Saints they may be scattered from their friends and forsaken by them but they are not alone God is with them and his Son and Spirit to entertain them The three Children in the fiery Furnace needed no other Comforter than the fourth man who was like unto the Son of God When they were in the Mount with Christ they say It is good to be here when a man hath been with Moses in the Mount and for some time conversed with God he would never chuse to come down to converse with men any more for he knows not how to converse with them again their society is not set by but the wisest company in the world is to him unsavory and unprofitable a man that hath tasted old wine he desires not new but says the old is better 6 He needs no other Pattern or Example Eph. 5.1 Be you imitators of God as dear children be you holy as he is holy and merciful as he is merciful It 's true there are other patterns that he takes notice of even the Saints of God that make it their business to walk as God would have them walk as the Apostle says Be ye followers of us and walk so as you have us for an example We are to look upon Christ as the pattern of Holiness as having left us a copy for us to write after but all these are but to lead us to the Original of all Holiness and that is in God that in these glasses we beholding the glory of the Lord may be thereby both in heart and ways transformed into the same image from glory to glory 2 Cor. 3.18 as by the Spirit of the Lord and the truth is the more immediately a man reads in God the rules of duty the more immediately he fetches from God his motives unto duty and the more perfectly any lays up his comforts in God the more self-sufficient that soul is and the more he doth partake of the alsufficiency of God and that man is the happy man that hath his Heaven so far begun in this life that as far as may be all his comforts concenter in the Lord. 7 He looks for the reward of all his labours from God who hath promised him to be his exceeding great reward and this is the great gift that God bestows upon his precious ones his reward is himself and the soul says it is in God alone that he reaps all his wages and he desires none other none other will satisfie him he will not be put off with a Kingdom for a reward let the Nebuchadnezzars of the world take that for their hire he hath more high and noble aims than the enjoyment of this worlds goods which is what Satan who is the god of this world often tempts them with as he did their Lord and Master Jesus Christ but he can despise it that hath taken imployment under God who he knows hath laid up for him an immortal crown and an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified though he may be poor in this world and without many of the comforts of it yet he hath Treasure in Heaven laid up for him 8 It is God alone that satisfies his desires he shall never thirst it 's true there will be always thirsting for more of the same kind My soul thirsts after God even for the living God and so Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for him but for any thing of any other kind he desires not there is that satisfaction in God that there is no room left for desires which is not so with any thing here if a man have never so much of the creature never so full satisfaction now yet he will thirst
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
order of Gods as we see in David the Lord was provoked against him that he smote Vzzah with death because they sought not God according to the due order and if matters of order be so great what is it for men to vary in matters of faith Col. 2. and to change the covenant of God it's made a great offence Esa 24.5 To change the ordinances of God much more that which is the foundation of all Ordinances the everlasting Covenant A man could not act upon a more dangerous way of sinning than to change the covenant of God that he hath made with his people 2 By this means there is a great injury done unto children which are the Embryo's of the Church of God and Christ saith It 's dangerous to offend one of these little ones they shall be sure of a rebuke from Christ for of such is the kingdom of God to admit any into the Church of God that the Lord would have secluded is a high provocation and a great unfaithfulness in them that have the power of the Keys but to seclude any that the Lord would have admitted is a greater provocation The covenant of grace is not only a covenant Gal. 3.15 but a testament and that is amongst men accounted so sacred that no man disanulleth it or addeth thereunto and if we could say that children were secluded from the covenant because they cannot restipulate then to blot their names out of the last Will and Testament of Christ is a horrible injury to the persons and a very great presumption in the man But there are two special places that I would name to you for this one in 1 Cor. 10.1 2. Our fathers all passed under the cloud and through the sea were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea The scope I conceive to be this where there are the like priviledges of grace there will be the like punishments but we have the like priviledges of grace that they had therefore we may expect altogether with them the like punishments Estius so Estius says of the benefits that they received they were eorum praefigurativa prefigurative of those which we now receive by Christ and therefore he pitches upon two extraordinary Sacraments of the Jews in which if in any thing they might seem to be priviledged but he says that they were also as types and examples unto us and that the Apostle had such an intention is plain to me and that he intended them as sacramental types 1 else he would never have called them spiritual meats and drinks 2 Else he would never have singled out barely these two giving to one the name of Baptism and to the other the name of spiritual Meats The first noted protection for them and their children passing under the cloud and direction also for the cloud did not only go before them as a guide but it was spread also over them as a covering it 's said Num. 9.15 16 19. That the cloud covered the Tabernacle and so it was always that the cloud covered it by day and this was a type of that special protection that the Lord seals unto parents and their children in their Baptism for they are baptized in the cloud and their passage through the red Sea and their preservation from Pharaoh doth signifie properly our deliverance from all our spiritual enemies and is commonly made a type of it in the Scripture and this was a mercy that was vouchsafed unto them and unto their children Now if the Apostles reason shall be of force we must have the same priviledges in Baptism that they had in these or else the Apostles reason doth nor can not conclude Again Baptism is typified by the salvation of Noah and of his family in the Ark and the resemblance seems to lye in this that as the Ark was the Ordinance of God appointed for the safety of the Church in the general Deluge and a family-salvation the father with the child so Baptism is the Ordinance that the Lord has appointed for the salvation of the Church from the general destruction that shall befal the world of ungodly and it doth run by families also Now by this means all these incouragements are denied unto the infants and the families of the Saints which are the great priviledges in the Scripture given unto them as they were unto Israel and happened unto them but for types only and therefore have their accomplishment in their antitypes under the Gospel 3 Hereby the practice and prayers of the Churches of Christ and all the ancient Saints of God are without any Scripture-ground causlesly condemned and rejected as profanations of the Ordinances of God Consuetudo Ecclesiae matris in baptizandis infantibus nequaquam spernenda est nec divina credenda nisi Apostolica esset traditio Aug. de Genes ad literam Tom. 3. p. 464. And it is a dangerous thing for men to blaspheme the Tabernacle of God and them that dwell in Heaven Rev. 13.6 it 's an expression of the true Church of God and to have a mouth given to a man for that end is not the least spiritual judgment as vers 5. there was a mouth given him so to speak and he opened his mouth this way 2. Hereby we may be informed of the cruelty of unbelieving parents men that do not only exclude themselves from the grace of the Covenant but as much as in them lies their posterity also Non parentes sed peremptores Bern. as far as concerns the ordinary way and means of bringing them into Covenant with the Lord. And these are of two sorts 1 Some that are actually without the Church of God 2 Some that are not cast out through the neglect of the Church but yet they ought so to be 1. Unto them that are actually cast out from being a Church unto God and of this number I look upon the Papists to be Abest ut eos baptizemus qui corporis integri membra conseri negarunt Quum in hoc ordine sint Papistarum liberi quomodo baptismum illis administrare liceat non videmus Calv. epist p. 175. whose children are to be secluded from Baptism themselves being not in Covenant nor owned as a Church of God for I cannot but assert with Doctor Whitaker and many others of the Worthies of this Nation Ecclesiam Romanam non esse Catholicam imò ne veram quidem Ecclesiam particularem sed deserendam esse dicimus ab omnibus qui servari volunt tanquam Antichristi Satanae Synagogam De Eccles q. 6. 1 That Church which the Lord has cast off as a Harlot and as the greatest enemy to the Church of God that ever was that he does not owne unto himself as a Church but so has the Lord cast off the Churches of Rome therefore he does not owne them as Churches unto himself it 's Babylon the great the mother of Harlots and she is set every where in opposition to
Sion and her Adherents are those that shall make war with the Saints and they shall be joyned unto this Church whose names are not written in the Lambs book of life the Lord has thus cast out these Antichristian Churches and given them a bill of divorce for ever 2 That Church from which the Lord calls to his people for a separation that the Lord does not owne as a true Church but the Lord calls upon his people for a separation from the Church of Rome Come out of her my people And here I conceive with * Oper. Camer p. 520. Camero A dislike and an abhorrency of their idolatry and superstitions is not sufficient for that should be even in a true Church from which yet a man may not depart so as to hold no communion with them though Churches be very corrupt and 't is a mans duty to separate from the corruptions of them to touch no unclean thing with them as Christ did in the Church of the Jews yet he did hold Church-communion with them all in the Ordinances of God and did not separate from them because they remained a true Church to God and the Lord had not yet called them Loammi and put them away from him therefore the Lords calling out a people to separate from the Church of Rome doth plainly give unto them a bill of divorce and the Lord does thereby manifest that he does owne them for a Church unto himself no longer for if they were a true Church though ye were to separate from the corruptions of it yet not from communion with it 3 Where there is no salvation to be had that is not a Church unto God for extra Ecclesiam nulla salus but in the Church of Rome by the rules of their own Religion there can be no salvation because they make a man to forsake the Lord Jesus Christ the only foundation in point of Justification which whosoever misseth must build upon the sand and not upon the Rock as our own Mr. Perkins c. has long since manifested and where no salvation is to be had surely there is no Church in Gods account They therefore that embrace the Doctrine of Popery and do fully close with it they and their seed are cast out they are no more a Church to God neither to be looked upon as in Covenant with him and to have any right to the seals of the Covenant 2. There are another sort that are not actually cast out through the negligence of the Church being able to bear them that be evil and it 's true while such are owned as members the priviledges of members cannot be denied to them who ought to be as a Heathen man and a Publican and though men do neglect their duty therein yet there is a kind of spiritual Excommunication goes out from God all the while Vse 2 § 2. It serves for Exhortation and that unto three sorts 1. Unto parents it does necessarily inforce upon them to take hold of the Covenant not only for themselves but for their posterity also for 1 he that will embrace the Covenant of God let him accept of the whole Covenant not only that he will be thy God but the God of thy seed also There is no part of the Gospel that should be neglected or any of the grace of the second Covenant that should be received in vain 2 Else thy faith will be defective therein the Apostle speaks 1 Thess 3.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thess 3.10 of a defect of faith and that lies in two things 1 When it does not take in the object of faith in its extent but there is something held forth to be believed that faith is not exercised about 2 When it does not act in the highest degree there is a defect in reference to the object and in reference unto the act also 3 The people of God have exercised faith upon the Covenant for their children and Christ Jesus himself for his children Psal 102.28 Heb. 1.10 11 12. for he shall see his seed and in them he shall prolong his days upon earth and therefore we read of his children There was a Covenant made with Christ personal and a Covenant made with Christ mystical with him as Mediator in regard of what he was to perform and with him as head for us and Christ takes hold of the Covenant in both these respects and all promises made unto a posterity Christ has an eye to the accomplishing of them in the behalf of his posterity as well as himself as being part of the promise and covenant that the Lord made unto him for himself and his seed and so should all the Faithful do look upon all the promises that are made unto the seed of the Faithful in the Scripture and put them in suit before the Lord for thy seed also as being part of the Covenant that the Lord has made with you we might by this means leave and entail very great blessings upon our posterity and live to see the Covenant accomplished unto them unto the great consolation of our souls Psal 128.3 4. Thy children shall be like olive-plants round about thy table Behold thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord the Church is called the Olive-tree as we have seen Rom. 11.16 17. and they as Church-members are as Olive-plants those that are of use and excellency profiting Church and Common-wealth Esa 59.21 This is my covenant says the Lord my Spirit that is upon thee and my words that I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed or seeds seed henceforth and for ever Whilst we straiten the Covenant and our Covenant-interest unto our selves we are enemies to our own consolation the great flourishing of the soul lies in the inlargement of the faculties and they are vast objects that do cause large faculties it 's of admirable use unto a mans own spirit to look unto the Covenant in the extent of it to you and to your seed 2. It is matter of exhortation unto children that they would walk worthy of this mercy this inheritance that God has entailed upon them and not despise the grace of God in their parents Covenant but actually take hold of the Covenant also in their own persons 1 Consider grace hath prevented you and you are taken in by God into a familiar Covenant with himself meerly out of preventing mercy whereas thou mightest have been born among the uncircumcised it 's no small priviledge to be born of those that are themselves in Covenant with God 2 It will be a great aggravation to thy sin and judgment when thou shalt with Esau despise thy birth-right the contempt of a spiritual priviledge is a great sin and dishonour to God and it will surely add to thy judgment Mat. 8.11 The children of the kingdom shall be cast out into utter darkness Mat. 8.11 and how will that