nigh unto all them that call upon him The like passage in Psal 34.18 The Lord is nigh to them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a Contrite Spirit This then is the first regard wherein Gods People are said to be Near to him viz. God's Nearness unto them 2. In regard of Affection to them he is and is said to be Near to them Lord help us to believe it God's People sometimes can't hardly believe it you know these People whom we by love account dear we account also to be very Near to us Dearness and Nearness are here Convertible Now God's People are the dearly beloved of his Soul Jer. 12.7 in Original but one word I have given the dearly beloved of my Soul Heb. the love into the hands of her enemies And that is one of the titles Christ gives his Church throughout the whole Song of Solomon My Love my Dove c. So near to him the Church desireth to be that Song 8.6 she prays Set me as a Seal on thy heart What is the meaning of that in short love me dearly and love makes as strong an impression on the heart as a Seal doth upon any thing to which it is applyed she desires to be near the heart of Christ and that his Love towards her may have deep impressions there as the names of the twelve Tribes of Israel had on the brest-plate of Judgment which Aaron did bear on his heart when he went in into the Holy-place Exod. 28.21 29. Further she prays there as a Seal upon thine arm for love is as strong as death in which she desires also his Compassion and Affection The Lord expresseth the same thing in a like phrase to his Church saying Behold I have graven thee on the palms of my hands Isa 49.16 I remember the Lord makes use of one expression more to set it forth by the signet on the right hand and that is near in place and affection too Jer. 22.24 where the Lord speaks of Coniah one of the Kings of Judah and saith to this purpose As I live saith the Lord though Coniah the Son of Jehojakim King of Judah were their Signet on my right hand yet would I pluck thee thence c. A Man's Signet that he wears on his right hand what an esteem and love hath he for that yet saith God though he was as the Signet on my right hand would I pluck thee thence Sin will make a separation between a person or people though near to him And that is the second thing God's People are his dearly beloved and so they are near upon the account of Affection 3. In regard of Relation to God they are nearly related to God there is a Spiritual kin and alliance between God and his people you shall find nearness and kin are Convertible in the Scripture Lev. 21.2 But for his kin that is near unto him that is for his Mother and Father and for his Son and for his Daughter and for his Brother and ver 3. and for his Sister That is nigh unto him c. So that Kin and Nearness are joyned together words of the same import Now there is a twofold Relation betwen God and his People which makes the Kin to be so Near. 1. By Regeneration and the new-birth 2. By the Marriage-Covenant and blessed are the people that are in such a Nearness unto God! First by Regeneration and the new-birth that is one way the kin comes in if I may so speak and therefore you shall find throughout the Scripture that they are said to be born of God and born again and hence is it that all that are regenerate are called the Sons and Daughters of the living God and who are nearer to us than our Children these are the Children of God being born of him Joh. 1.12 As many as believed to them gave he power to become the Sons of God How came they to be the Sons of God ver 13. shews which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God So in the Epistle of John throughout are they said to be born of God Now how near is the Father and Son I need not tell you that are Paâ—ents So near is the relation between God and his People 2 Cor. 6.18 I will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty What a Promise is this he will receive them to be as near unto him as he will receive his own Son that serveth him And what a deal of Nearness of Affection as well as Relation is there in this case Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God 1 Joh. 3.1 You that are parents think on this when you see your Children in the streets or any where about you Oh how are your hearts drawn out after them learn hence to be affected with the nearness both of Relation and Affection that is between God and his People you cannot love your Children though your hearts run out after them as God loves his Children all the affection of all the parents in the World to their Children is but the drops of a bucket in Comparison of God's love to his people and his Children 2. By Marriage-Covenant are they Near to God And this is so near a Relation that all other kin are to be left for this Relation they that are married as to their Relation in the flesh are become one flesh so near they are Mat. 19.5 Just as Adam said of the woman when God brought her to him this is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh Gen. 2.23 Beloved Gods people are his married people and they are his espoused people full of this is the Scripture in many places 2 Cor. 11.2 I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you a chast Virgin to Christ Hos 2.19 20. I will betroth thee unto me for ever yea I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and in judgment and in loving kindness and in mercies I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness c. Jer. 3.14 turn Oh backsliding Children saith the Lord for I am married unto you Isa 54.5 For thy Maker is thine husband the Lord of hosts is his name Oh what an husband is this Every woman is apt to admire her own husband but what an husband is this of Souls Mark how the Apostle doth improve this natural marriage to a Spiritual use 1 Cor. 6.16 17. What know ye not that he that is joyned to an Harlot is one body for he saith ye shall be one flesh ver 17. but he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit The Apostles design is to take off people from Fornication and the argument is taken from the design of God in Marriage God made Marriage that there might be an union betwixt the Man and the
Woman Now presently after Marriage for persons to run away one from another for a Man to make himself one body with an Harlot it subverts the design of God in Marriage and the Apostle improves it in the next words He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit A Spiritual mystical Union there is betwixt God and his People and I hope many that heard and now read this have experience and assurance of it and the Lord grant that more may And here also are both the Nearnesses joyned together not only the Nearness of Relation but of Affection if the Affection be strongly knit between the husband and the wife there is no Affection stronger than that and no less strong and faithful between God and the Soul All which shews that they are related to God as near as any Relation in the World 3. I may yet add another Relation which is not so near as the former that are already mentioned though near also that sets forth this Nearness between God and his People and that is that of Servants God is the Master and his People are the Servants too and some Masters and Servants are very dear one to another a wonderful Nearness of Affection there is of some Masters to their Servants and of some Servants to their Masters though no Relation as to the flesh by affinity or Consanguinity yet they love them tenderly I shall give you an instance of this in the Centurion and his Servant Luk. 7.2 A certain Centurions Servant who was Dear unto him was sick and he shewed that he was dear to him in his tenderness of him in that weak Condition he was and applying himself to Christ for him Moses is called the Servant of the Lord Moses my Servant is dead saith God and you know that expression Moses my Servant is a token of the great Affection God had to him and an high honour and esteem that after he was dead the Almighty confer'd upon hm 4. Nay observe in the last place that God's People are as Near to him and as Dear to him as any of our Houshold and Family are to us And therefore are they called the houshold and family of God Eph. 2.13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ Compare this with ver 19. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow-Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God Yea to close up this particular whatsoever Relation may express Nearness and Dearness in that Relation stand God and his People each to other and thus is the third thing fully proved 4. They are near to God in regard of Jesus Christ and that on two accounts 1. Of Union to Jesus Christ 2. Of being purchased by Jesus Christ First in regard of the Near Union there is between Christ and them Nay and add to this the Near Relation that is between Christ and them and there is one that renders these words to this very sense and purpose A people Near unto him One reads it very critically * Populo propinqui sui h. â— eâ—â—s qui accedit ad ipsâ—â—â— ut sacerdos sâ—dâ—t ad dexteram eâ—us ut rex â—empe Christi M. P. syn ex Gel. Cocceio the people of his Near one or of him that is near to him viz. God of him that comes near to him as a Priest and sits at his right hand as a King meaning the Lord Jesus Christ now Christ is near to God and there is none Nearer to God than he So near that he is his only natural Son the only begotten Son of God nay he is God himself he is of the same substance with the Father one that accounts it no robbery to be equal with God Phil. 2.6 and therefore call'd God's fellow Zech. 13.7 they are as near to him as the members are to the body 1 Cor. 12.27 Now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular What a priviledg is here you are the body of Christ that is the mystical body of Christ Christ hath a natural body and a mystical body his natural body is that which was made up of flesh blood formed by the Holy Ghost in the Womb of the Virgin But then his mystical body are all Christians who are as really his members as his Hands and Arms and Feet and Eyes and Legs were members of his natural body Christ is the mystical Head of his Church and every believer is a mystical member of Jesus Christ how fully yet doth the Apostle express this to the same purpose Eph. 5.30 For we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bone He speaks of the Marriage-Union in the neighbouring verses much like that of Adam concerning Eve his wife Gen. 2. This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh But saith the Apostle This is a great mystery but I speak concerning Christ and his Church ver 32. Further if you observe the Nearness of relation they have to Jesus Christ it will also appear how near they are to God They are near to him in regard of their kin and allyance to Christ too He counts them in the nearest Relation to himself and therefore they must be near to God by vertue thereof see it in that full Scripture Mat. 12.46 c. One said to him that is to Christ behold thy Mother and thy Brethren stand without desiring to speak with thee 48. But he answered who is my Mother c. 49. And he stretched forth his hands towards his disciples and said behold my Mother and my Brethren vers 50. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in Heaven the same is my Brother and Sister and Mother Now if they be Near to Christ by vertue of relation and Union to him as we have seen they are in both these regards one together and proved then certainly they must also be Near to God So that that is the first regard they are near to God on the account of Christ viz. their Union and Relation to the Lord Jesus Christ Secondly They are Near to God with respect to the Lord Jesus Christ in regard they are the purchase of his blood They are his purchased people and that makes them Near to God he hath bought them to God by his blood out of every kindred and tongue and nation Rev. 5.9 by the Sufferings of Jesus Christ and by no other means were we brought unto God 1 Pet. 3.18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins the Just for the unjust that he might bring us to God We had never been brought unto God had it not been for the blood of Jesus Christ whereby we that were a-far off were made nigh Eph. 2.14 Time was when there was a great distance between God and them and when they were a great way off what a sad case was that but being bought by Christ's blood we were thereby brought
and the more resolvedly chuse him III. Choice of God doth also imply a desire after and a love to God this is apparent in nature a man will never chuse that against which he hath an enmity or an Antipathy a man will not chuse that meat that he hath Antipathy against Now there is never an one of us but are naturally enemies to God and are haters of God Rom. 5.10 with Rom. 1.30 This people cannot endure to hear of and will hardly believe but so it is Gods Word tells you so God's ministers tell you so that you were born enemies in your mind by wicked works and this is the great Command of God's Law to love the Lord our God with all our heart c. Mat. 22 and they that do not will not chuse him to be theirs chusing of God and loving of God go together Isa 56.4 with 6. Thus saith the Lord to the Eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths and chuse the things that please me c. ver 6. also the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord to love the name of the Lord c. what the heart is most of all set upon with desire and love that it doth chuse Affection always goeth before Election and Election is the issue of Affection The heart must be set upon that which a man takes to himself to be his Isa 26.9 with 13. With my Soul have I desired thee in the night c. 13. other Lords have had dominion over us but by thee only will we make mention of thy name c. If there be the lâ—ast disgust of the heart against and loathing of any thing never do we make choice of that to be ours That we are so far from chusing that we cannot endure it the affections are the ground or beginning of the choice when the heart is drawn up in love toward God and enamoured with desire after him then it will chuse him The choice is of the Heart if that be alienated their 's no closure with nor choice of any thingâ— so nor of God if the heart be still alienated from him if we love him we chuse him These three things are antecedaneous to the choice of God do go before it now there be two other things wherein the very essence of the Act consists and they are Election and Appropriation IV. The first of these or the fourth in order to the former is the Election and preference of God above all so that now all other things are neglected and undervalued in Comparison with God thus David said Psal 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon the earth that I desire in Comparison of thee David chose God because he had God an Esteem above all the World q. d. Take all in heaven and Earth yea Heaven and Earth themselves whosoever will so as I may have God to be mine Now doth thy Soul say so so when Jesus Christ is chosen by a Soul all things else are but dross and dung in Comparison of the Excellency of the knowledg of Jesus Christ Phil. 3.8 9. It is a Christians chief duty and disposition eminently to prefer God and Christ above all Remember that God is a Christian's all and his all is in God And a Soul that is in such a frame chuseth God a right V. But the Second thing wherein the Souls actual choice consisteth is Appropriation of God to a mans self a taking God to be his own when we lay claim to God as our peculiar portion as though there was no one that had interest in nor relation to God but our self only So the Church Psal 67.6 And God even our own God shall bless us I do not know any such expression through the Scripture as here implying such special Appropriation When the Soul takes hold on God receiveth him and embraceth him as his own peculiar as if he was his own and none's else beside The Church seems so to speak as if it was her peculiar priviledg and her 's alone to appropriate and claim God to her self When a man can come to say God is my own God then he hath chosen God indeed So David Psal 18.1 2. I will love thee O Lord my strength the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer my God my strength in whom I will trust my buckler and the horn of my Salvation and my High Tower How many My's be there no less than eight or nine which the Prophet as so many terms of interest doth there use to express propriety and as the Church saith elsewhere My beloved is mine and I am his Song 2.6 VI. â—husing of God consisteth as the issue of all this in the rejection oâ— all others besides God when once God is chosen then all other god's be cast away this is according to what God himself doth call for and require Hos 3.3 And I said unto thee thou shalt abide for me many days thou shalt not play the Harlot thou shalt not be for another so will I also be for thee as God can't endure the soul should have any god besides him but doth command the contrary so neither will the Soul endure it Just as a Virgin that hath many Suitâ—rs when once her affections are set on the person whom she makes choice of then away with all the rest she will not converse with them any more so it is here if there be an indifferency in the affections to divers things it 's a sign the choice is not yet made for the choice being once made all other things are overlooked and refused but ther 's an indifferency still remaining where more than one is entertained Psal 81.9 10. O Israel if thou wilt hearken unto me there shall no strange god be in thee neither shalt thou worship any strange god I am the Lord thy God They that have or will have God for theirs must have no other to themselves but 〈◊〉 thus we see wherein the chusing of God consisteth CHAP. III. The second thing opened viz. Why we are to chuse God to be ours HAving dispatched and cleared the first thing in the Explication we go on to the second viz. Why it is the highest Duty of Christianity to chuse God to be ours In general this is the only reason because God is only Good and this I shall branch out into these three particulars 1. God is the chiefest Good 2. God is a communicative Good 3. God is the only satisfying Good Summum Bonum First God is the chiefest and best Good that can be an undoubted Maxim God is all Good and all Good is in God nothing is Good without God and there 〈◊〉 thing Good to be found ou◠〈◊〉 he is infinitely good and no person or thing is good but God Luk. 18.19 and this we know to be true in nature that good is the proper object of the choice Nothing is chosen but as far as it is Good or appears to
How often do men do this also on their sick-beds their resolution is very earnest and strong and how often doth it issue forth into express promise how apt are men to purpose and promise both when death and judgment look them in the face that they will become the Lords are grieved that sin hath swayd them so much and that they have served it so long and if it ever please the Lord to spare them recover them and continue them longer in the world they will be only for the Lord and for no other that they will drudg for the World fulfil the lusts of the flesh no longer nor ever any more as they have done make provision for it to fulfil them These things are not only determined in mens breasts but uttered by their tongues and with their mouths too at such a time and is not this the same thing the lawfulness of which we hereby labour to justify and establish 5. Nay further yet we find this occasionally done by Gods Saints upon some extraordinary deliverance out of eminent and particular troubles See this clear in the Prophet David's practice Psal 116.16 O Lord truly I am thy Servant I am thy Servant and the Son of thine hand-maid thou hast loosed my bonds The Psalm was penned as most and most rationally too agree upon the same occasion as Psal 18. as may be seen by comparing several verses of that and this together Now upon occasion of this deliverance which was from the hand of all his enemies from the hand of Saul Ps 18. Title the Prophet breaks out into express acknowledgment of his obligation to God and of his own resignation of himself to him accordingly Now all these things being considered and seriously laid together may we not reasonably conclude that a person upon deliberate and weighty consideration may take any such form of words as are drawn up by either of these serious Divines Mr. G. or Mr. A. or any other or any that they may draw up themselves from their own experience according to the Scripture and having done the preparatory duties there directed to fall down before God and solemnly undertake the engagement there proposed and a verbal profession of his acceptation of God his Son and Covenant according to the tenour of that form there drawn up and expressed Object 2. But saith a worthy Divine God never makes a Covenant with a single person personally Mr. Wills's morning Excercise on Rom. 5.12 and individually that all others are unconcerned in it but with whomsoever God enters into Covenant that person is a representative of others and is to be looked upon as a publick person otherwise God should make as many Covenants as there are persons which is the greatest absurdity to assert c. Answ 1. This is true if it be supposed that God makes different Covenants as to the matter of them as the Covenants of Works and Grace were and this is the very ground upon which this passage was uttered and that which it doth purposely drive at it being spoken about the Covenant with Adam and all mankind in him and with Jesus Christ and the elect of God in him For as Adam in the first Covenant of Works stood as the representative of all mankind that should descend from him by ordinary Generation so Christ in the second Covenant of Grace did stand as a publick undertaker in the behalf of all those whom God had appointed to Salvation Answ 2. But this doth not hinder but that God may enter into Covenant with many persons particularly and individually that Covenant being the same with all every one of them not only with the person of the representative himself but also with every particular person of that Collective body included in him that is to say every particular person of that numerous multitude obliged to God upon the termes of one an the same Covenant in that common or publick person may sue out claim and appropriate or apply to themselves in due time the benefits thereof and also may particularly transact with God in an holy giving up themselves to him for the performance through the strength of his own grace of that duty to which they are bound in the participation of those priviledges So God did with all and every particular of mankind under the Covenant with Adam And so with every particular elect person in the Covenant of Grace through Jesus Christ these two do not interfere nor clash one with or against another viz God taking such a number though never so numerous or many into Covenant in the representative and yet entring into Covenant particularly and with every one of them apart and in their own persons insomuch that every one of them may be concerned to lay hold on it as being bound in the same terms with the representative Object 3. But doth not this seem too much to savour of separation and look too much like that dividing practice of some in the Church who many of them otherwise good men as it is to be hoped do yet gather themselves out of and separate themselves from the Communion of the visible Church and enter into an express and explicite Covenant one with another how may these two be said to differ one from another A. For the solution of this Objection several things are to be considered 1. It will tend much to the clearing of the case to unfold in brief the nature of that express Covenant of these persons mentioned for by discerning what this is we shall be the better able to discern the difference between it and that we are now discoursing of For the nature of that Covenant as far as by reading yet I do understand it is this A Combination or joyning together of several Christians by mutual Consent and open and express Covenanting to use their own very words to walk together with such a body of Saints in a participation of all the Ordinances of Jesus Christ 2. But to this we may say as God of the Jews services who hath required this at their hands to make such a Covenant as this is we cannot find any such thing in all the whole Word of God either Commanded by Christ or practised by any former primitive Church It is true the Scriptures mention a general implicite Covenant of the Gospel as some Divines call it in opposition to that of those Brethren fore-spoken of or Covenant of Christianity which all professing Christians entred into by their admission unto the Sacrament of Baptism live in the profession of and hold to whereby they are bound to acknowledg God as their only Lord and Jesus Christ as their only Head Husband and Commander that they will conform to all his Laws and Ordinances appointed in his Word but of peoples openly Covenanting so to do with one another and only in this or that Society as it were apart from all the rest of the particular Congregations of the Catholick
and night I tell you he will avenge them speedily although he bear long with them where the injury and wrong of Gods People are set forth by the injury done by a great person to a poor Widow God avenging them by the parable of a Judg who though he feared not God nor yet regarded Man yet because of the Widows importunity would avenge her of her advesrary now if an unjust Judg will avenge because of importunity a person that is no way allied to him shall not the most righteous God take Vengeance for the wrongs of his own People that are so near unto him Now mind that and comfort your selves God will be careful of your safety no body shall hurt you or if they dare and do endeavour it the Lord to whom vengeance belongeth will take your part and take vengeance for you It may be you may suffer affliction for the Gospels sake wicked men may be injurious to you for Religions sake remember there is a God that will take your part that are thus nigh to him and I could wish that all that are under sufferings for Righteousness sake might have Faith to live upon this Truth and if God call us to more and greater sufferings we might treasure up this Truth against such a time comes 2ly God will fellow-feel with you too if you are a People near unto him and this Priviledg is as great as the former there is a famous Scripture for this Isa 63.9 In all their afflictions he was afflicted and the Angel of his presence saved them in his love and in his pity he redeemed them and bare them and carried them all the days of old The Chapter speaks of the works God had done formerly for Israel but principally with respect to the Wilderness how pitiful was God to Israel when they were in the Wilderness and how did God shew himself to be concerned in all the Affliction that did light upon them by a compassionate Fellow-feeling If any be sick or in Affliction that be near to us how ready are we to lay it to heart how are we affected with it so will God be with all our troubles be they what they will be And mark you the same expression is spoken concerning our inward Affliction and remember it against the time that trouble comes it is spoken of our Lord Jesus Christ Heb. 4.14 Seeing then we have a great high-Priest that is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God For we have not an high Priest that cannot be touched with our infirmities but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin He was tempted to sin though he was not prevailed over by the temptation and therefore Jesus the Son of God can be touched with the feeling of our temptations Sometimes the violence of temptation is so strong and so hard to be dealt with that were it not that a person could look to Christs fellow-feeling and to God's pitty it were a cause not to be undergon I believe I speak to some that understand and experience what I say now if we commiserate those that be Dear and Near to us nay and those that be not so but in the common bonds of nature with us so that we take what hath befallen them as though it had fallen on our own selves how much more will God! and blessed be God that we are nigh to such an one that can fellow-feel with us if not we were an undone people that 's the second 3. A third Priviledg is this the advantage they have of prevailing with God in the requests they do present to him all their suits and requests shall be accepted and granted and free and open access to his presence to ask any thing of him and not be denied still asking according to his Will And hence it is that they are so prevalent with God because they are a people near to God and because they are so near to him that is so near to him that is the Lord Jesus Christ hence it is that they can have all their Payers answered an da l their petitions fulfilled because they are a People near to God the Lord is near to answer all their Prayers the Lord increase our Faith for herein lyes much of the comfort of Christianity You know if a stranger come to request any thing of us or an enemy we do not so much as look on them nor grant them though it should not be so with us and we should not do so but if our familiar friend requests any thing of us he will soon prevail if a wife come and desire her Husband to do something for her or a Child should desire his Father to do something for him or give something to him though another should not yet they shall prevail why Because they be near to him So it is with God God's People are his Married People his new-born Children therefore they have such prevalence with him in all their addresses unto him They may sreely but humbly Converse with him and may have Communion with him 1 Joh. 1.3 God Commanded Exod. 25.22 that there should be a Mercy-seat and over the Mercy-seat two golden Cherubims and they shonld look one towards another and when God did come and speak to his People the text tells us God promised There will I meet with thee and there will I Commune with thee from above the Mercy-Seat and hence the Apostle draws his encouraging argument let us come boldly to the Throne of Grace Heb. 4.16 that we may obtain mercy c. the Mercy-Seat in the Old-Testament is the throne of Grace in the New 4. Their protection is sure God will undertake for their defence which is much of the same importance with the first therefore I shall say by way of addition little of it here their safeguard is sure because God undertakes for them They are as dear to him as the Apple of his eye and he that toucheth you toucheth the Apple of my eye saith God Zech. 2.8 and their safety is set forth by their Nearness to God yea under the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge till these calamities be over-past Psal 57.1 I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand Isa 51.16 he shall cover thee with his feathers Psal 91.4 nearer we can't be nor yet safer 5. They being a People nigh to God God will provide for them too and take care for their supply will not an husband provide for his Wife and a Father for his Children O God be merciful to a great many Husbands and Fathers that have no Compassion on their Wives and Children but spend all they get and undoe their poor families but God is not such an Husband nor such a Father God hath laid a special charge upon Masters of families that they should provide for their own houshold and if a man provide not for his own and specially them of his own house he hath denied the Faith and is