Charter by which he has a Law-right to all the Priviledges and Blessings of the Gospel Doth not this Covenant give us assurance not only of Gods gracious and merciful Nature but also of his good will towards sinners It 's true Gods Nature gives us full assurance that what he has promised shall be performed but what gives us assurance of the Promise but the Covenant of Grace Yea what are all the Promises but so many lines of the Covenant concentring in Christ the Prince and Mediator thereof Do not all the Promises spring from that mother-root the Covenant of Grace in Christ Yea what is the New-creature but a conformity to this New Covenant Is there any condition that a Believer can fall into but he may find some Promise in this Covenant to relieve him therein Yea is there any excellence in God or his creature which is not made over for your use in and by this Covenant Are not all Gods good things yours and all your afflictive things Gods by this Covenant May you not then lay the stress of all your cares and burdens on this Covenant Are you Bondslaves of the Law will not this Covenant make you Freeholders if you come unto it and embrace it Is there any thing commanded in the Law which this Covenant doth not enable to perform The Law may fret and grind your spirits to powder but what can melt them but this Covenant The Law weighs Obedience by the Ballance and if there be the least grain wanting doth it not reject all But doth not this Covenant examine all by the Touch-stone and accept what is sincere albeit imperfect Art thou very unlike to God and is this thy great burden consider then has not this Covenant a transformative spirit to make thee like him What is the scope of this Covenant but to make God thine and thee Gods And dost thou not hereby acquire an interest in all the blessings of God Doth not this give thee the best assurance thou canst desire for any desired or enjoyed Mercy Doth the first Covenant stop thy mouth before God and doth not this second Covenant stop the mouth of the first Are not the riches of free Grace laid up in Christ and are not the riches of Christ laid up in the Covenant of Grace Doth not the believing Soul by cleaving to this Covenant grow out of it to the stature of a perfect man Whence come all the hopes comforts and happiness of the Saints but from this Covenant as 2 Sam. 23.5 O! what glorious Relations between God and Man arise from this Covenant what an interest doth man acquire in God as well as God in man by this Covenant yea are not the smallest mercies by this Covenant made exceeding great and sweet O the infinite boundless Dimensions the invisible Miracles and wonders of free Grace lodged in the Covenant of Grace Are there any banks or bottoms to this Ocean of free Grace Can the sins of the vilest men sink them beyond the depths thereof could they by faith swim thereon What wonders are here for Faith's Contemplation Admiration and Adoration Are not these ways and methods of free Grace comprehended in the Covenant of Grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imperscrutable such as all the wit and sagacity of Men and Angels cannot prie into Rom. 11.33 as also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 impervestigable such as leave no Vestigia or foot steps for carnal Reason to trace out as Rom. 11.33 Ought we not then with Paul that great Miracle of Grace to stand on the banks of this Ocean of free Grace expressed in this New Covenant and crie out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O the Depths of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! So great and excellent are the Benefits of this Covenant 3. Let us a little inquire into the Mediator and Prince of this Covenant 3. The Covenant of Grace made primarily with Christ which also will give us a further Demonstration of its excellence The Apostle instructs us Gal. 3.16 that Christ is the Seed to whom the Promises or Covenant was primarily made by seed some understand Christ Personal others Christ Mystical but we may with our Author Gal. 3.16 very safely take in both senses understanding it primarily and principally of Christ Personal who is the prime Federate and thence of Christ Mystic Abraham and his believing seed considered as members of Christ with whom the Covenant was primarily made Now this Covenant as made with Christ terminates on him under a two-fold respect 1 In relation to his own Mediatory Office 2 In relation to his Body the Church as he is Head thereof 1 As it regards Christs Mediatory Office and his more compleat discharge thereof so God the Father by donation and stipulation constituted him Mediator and Surety of this Covenant gave him a promise of Assistence Deliverance Acceptance Justification Exaltation and success in the management of his Mediatory Kingdom This part of the Covenant belongs solely to Christ wherein his members have no share albeit much benefit thereby 2 There is another part of this Covenant made with Christ primarily which regards him as Head of his body mystic For look as the first Adam as a public person and representative head received both a Covenant and Image to communicate to his posterity who were both legally and naturally in him so also this our second Adam received both a Covenant and Image for his seed to be imparted to them Are not all the promises made primarily to him and in him to his members And if there be any promise to be fulfilled must not thy soul look up to Christ and his worthiness alone for its fulfilling Is not the righteousness of the Covenant laid up in him and by virtue of union with him made ours Is there any dram of the holy oil of Grace imparted to us but what was first poured out on the sacred head of this our High Priest Do not also all the priviledges of the Covenant primarily belong to him and to us only as in him Hast thou any duty to perform and must thou not look up to Christ for strength to perform it Doth it not belong to him only to â—ive supplies Or hast thou any service to be accepted and can it be accepted any other way than as perfumed with the Incense of his Merits Are not all the sons of the first Adam by sin cut off from all communion with God the Fountain of all good Can they then receive any good thing from him but by the hand of this Mediator Doth God give the least good to any sinner immediately Have sinners any thing to do with God in a way of mercy immediately in themselves If we speak a good word of prayer to God or he speak a good word of comfort to us must it not be in and by the Angel of his presence Are not all debts paid in him all duties performed by him all blessings conveyed
is Christs King and Lord so he is the Saints 1 He gives them a Law 2 Carries them through their service 3 Destroys their enemies 4 Receives their accounts 5 Rewards them Pag. 321 As the Father stands unto Christ in the relation of a friend or companion so he doth to the Saints Pag. 323 As Christ is the true Vine so the Father is the Husbandman Pag. 324 The visible Church is in Scripture compared to four trees 1 To an Olive-tree 2 To a Palm-tree 3 To a Cedar 4 To a Vine Pag. 325 The Church is compared to a Vine 1 For its excellency 2 Spreading nature 3 Fruitfulness 4 Want of continual husbandry ibid. God the Father is said to be the husbandman 1 Because he plants the Vine 2 Fences it 3 Hires labourers 4 Waters it 5 Prunes it 6 Purges the fruitful branches that they may bring forth more fruit Pag. 326 As the Father is the fountain of the life of Christ so in him he is the fountain of spiritual life unto his Saints Pag. 328 Joh. 6.57 largely explained ibid. Whoever hath an interest in one Person of the Trinity hath at the same time an interest in them all Pag. 331 Yet there is a distinct interest in them all to be attained Pag. 332 The high advancement of the creature lies in union with the Persons Pag. 333 There is more in union with the Persons than in all other benefits whatever ibid. It is our title unto the Person that gives us a title unto all the benefits ibid. If there is such an interest in the Persons every man should examine himself whether he hath that interest Pag. 334 The way of getting this interest is by closing with the Son Pag. 335 If a man be entitled to the Persons there will be the drawing out of his heart towards each Person ibid. There will never be a fulness of assurance till the Persons that have given an interest in themselves do also witness their interest Pag. 336 We are to exercise faith upon all the Persons thus made over under the second covenant ibid. The objects of saith that the soul is to take in in each of the Persons are 1 The Persons themselves we are to believe the record of them all 2 The soul is to rest upon all the promises that in Scripture are made concerning these Persons 3 Faith is to rest upon the love of them all 4 Also upon the appropriated acts of each Person and rely upon them for the performance of them 5 Faith should expect all the Attributes of God to be distinctly exercised by all the Persons 6 Also it should distinctly close with them all in their witnessing ibid. The acts of faith that are distinctly to be put sort upon them all are 1 A fiducial knowledge that the Persons are made over to us 2 A casting of our selves by distinct thought upon each of these Persons 3 A drawing virtue from all the objects of faith 4 A resignation of the soul to God 5 An exercising distinct acts of communion with all the Persons Pag. 339 That there is a distinct communion with all the Persons proved Pag. 340 This communion doth consist 1 In the love one of another 2 In acting one for another 3 In visitations 4 In imparting of counsels 5 In mutual delights in their interest one in another 6 In calling upon one another for further fellowship and communion ibid. Arguments to stir up hereunto 1 This is the great end of the covenant of grace 2 All Christ hath done and suffered was a preparation hereunto 3 There is sweetness in fellowship 4 All mercies are obtained by it Pag. 342 CHAP. V. God in the Covenant of Grace makes over himself in his Alsufficiency That there is enough in the Alsufficiency of God to supply all a mans wants in this life and in the life to come proved at large Pag. 344 That the Alsufficiency of God is by covenant made over unto the Saints proved 1 By promises 2 By instances Pag. 347 The grounds and reasons of it are 1 His own love 2 The insufficiency of all things else 3 Because God would have the happiness of the creature to concenter in him alone 4 Because he will have the creature perfect with him 5 To make up the banks against the greatest temptation that ordinarily befals men 6 To make the soul fear to lose God above all things because its alsufficiency is in him 7 That the creatures may thereby be kept in their own place 8 That the soul may hereby live on God immediately Pag. 349 The Alsufficiency of God belongs unto none but his own covenant-people Pag. 353 The reasons why God suffers his own people to be in as great wants as other men are 1 That their alsufficiency may be in him alone and that they may trust perfectly in him 2 That they may be made partakers of the sufferings of Christ. 3 That God may be alsufficient to them in the loss of all things and want of all things 4 Because it is very sweet to God when we follow him through a wilderness 5 Gods great glory is to manifest his Attributes in their sufferings 6 As our supplies come from God so there is a special token of love and interest discovered in his sufficiency that is sweeter than the mercy it self Pag. 354 Though wicked men may have great sufficiency in outward things yet 1 It is not from their interest in his alsufficiency 2 It is their portion 3 It is given as a snare to themselves and others Pag. 356 Those are justly reprovable that claim an interest by covenant in God and yet expect a sufficiency in the creature 1 Hereby they dishonour God 2 Themselves 3 The creature to whom they flye for sufficiency can do neither good nor evil 4 The creature cannot reach unto the best in man his soul 5 The creatures have no good in them but what is borrowed 6 Retiring to creatures in straits causes God to leave them Pag. 358 Those that place any sufficiency in themselves are also justly reprovable Pag. 361 There is a twofold sufficiency the heart is apt to go out unto 1 In respect of gifts and inward abilities either acquired or infused 2 In respect of grace received ibid. The evil of a self-sufficiency in respect of gifts 1 They are anothers and not our own 2 They are given to wicked men 3 It is to serve Satan in the highest way that can be 4 These gifts cannot be exercised without Divine aid 5 Nor made successful 6 It will provoke God to take them away ibid. In respect of grace received 1 It is quite contrary to the nature of grace 2 No man can act his own grace 3 Grace is but a creature 4 It makes grace an Idol Pag. 363 There is a great proneness in the best to place their sufficiency in grace received both as to matter of strength and comfort Pag. 364 The great policy of Satan therein Pag. 365 To
as of life and all the works of illumination humiliation seeming conversion and reformation do make them but the stronger enemies to God when they fall from them all they do but prepare a habitation for seven worse spirits for the dog to return to his vomit again as we read such a story of one Eustathius who was first an Arian and then afterwards was converted and subscribed the Articles of the Council of Nice and was a man imployed by the Church and endured a great Persecution with Basil and divers other godly men and yet afterward he turned again into the former Doctrine of Arianisme and never returned And so we read of Alexander in Act. 19.33 and afterwards of his Apostacy and these works do qualifie men for the sin against the Holy Ghost and make them more conformable to the Devil than otherwise they would be 7. There is a giving a man up to Spiritual judgments which are of all plagues the greatest Exod. 9.14 As spiritual sins are the greatest sins so are spiritual judgments the greatest plagues and there is no plague like that of the heart 1 King 8.38 and we have so much the more cause to observe them because God did formerly under the Old Testament punish with outward and temporal punishments but those that live under the Gospel are specially punished with Spiritual judgments as the mercies of the Gospel are more spiritual so are the punishments also and they are 1 a hard heart which implys three things 1 Insensibleness of sin and judgment 2 Taking no impression either from the Word or Spirit and the touches of both 3 Inflexible as an Adamant that you cannot bow nor break it and that heart that is a flint to God is wax to Satan no command nor judgment of God will break it for it 's possest with an iron sinew bray a fool in a mortar yet his folly will not depart 2 There is a spirit of slumber that a man is sensible of nothing no danger can wake him for sleep is the binding up of all the spiritual senses Their eyes are closed and they cannot see their ears are uncircumcised and they cannot hearken let them be smitten and they cannot feel it and nothing does awaken them neither the loudest cry of the Word nor the judgments of God a deep sleep is upon them and they fear no evil 3 A seared Conscience 1 Tim. 4.2 the word signifies to sear with a hot iron and to make insensible to have no feeling or else to cut off by searing so that men walk as if they had no Consciences left 4 An injudicious mind God gives them over to a reprobate mind Rom. 1.28 an injudicious mind is taken with envy error with every vanity and is able to judge aright of nothing 5 Vile affections the basest and most dishonourable lusts even sins that are below a man as brute beasts therein to corrupt themselves and that makes them hateful and abominable to all the world 6 A final impenitency a heart that cannot repent Heb. 6.4 and it 's impossible for them to be renewed again by repentance § 4. Having spoken of Temporal death and Spiritual death we should now come to consider Eternal death which as it is said of the Glory of the Saints Neither eye has seen nor ear has heard neither can it enter into the heart of man to conceive c. it is as true of this Eternal death no ear has heard what it is it is called perdition and destruction the second death And as Heaven is set out by some resemblances of the glory of the things in this life so is Hell in respect of the miseries of this life but all these are but shadows of the one and of the other Psal 90.11 Who knows the power of thy wrath as is thy fear so is thy wrath that is the wrath of God in the dreadful effects of it is such that it passes knowledg and it passes fear The heart of man is able to conceive vast fears as it has vast desires but whatever we can fear there is something in the wrath of God answerable to all But having spoke of this more largely elsewhere I shall but touch upon it at present In this death there is something essential which befalls all that suffer these torments and is inseparable from it as they do fall upon such a subject the essential part of this death the Scripture makes to be of two parts there is punishment of Loss and punishment of Sense There is a loss and a separation of a man from all good things whatsoever there is no man but has some good thing in possession and he has something of which hope gives him a reversion but in this death he shall be separated from them both and this is the privative part This poena damni punishment of loss is double as Durandus has observed pag. 210. either in amissione boni habiti vel nondum habiti in the amission of some good possessed or hoped for Now by this death men shall be shut out from both First they shall be shut out of the presence vision and fruition of God for ever there shall pass upon him an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Divines did anciently call it an eternal excommunication or a non-communion as their spiritual death did consist in an estrangement from God in holiness so their eternal death shall consist in an eternal separation from God in happiness They shall be punished with eternal destruction from the presence of the Lord 2 Thes 1.9 and this was the great torment that Christ does complain of Mat. 27.46 My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and yet it was only substractio visionis a substraction of vision And this is the great affliction of his people here on earth if the Lord hide his face David says Hide not thy face from me lest I be like to them that go down into the pit and yet this is but a hiding of his face as an Eclipse of the Sun for a day he will but hide his face for a little moment but he will have mercy on thee with everlasting loving kindness how much more when God shall cast a man off in wrath for ever and never have an eye upon him more and therefore the Fathers do generally say that the greatest torment of Hell is this of Loss Absentia Dei quoad visionem omnia alia tormenta superat Augustine and Chrysostom in Mat. 7. Mille Gehennae paenas and there is nothing so dreadful as to be separated from God and to be hated by him CHAP. II. How and why men naturally desire to be under the Law Galat. 4. 21 Tell me you that desire to be under the Law do you not hear the Law SECT I. How men naturally desire to be under the Law § 1. THis Text tells us how men are naturally affected with the Covenant under which they stand They still desire to be under it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
But here it may be men will wonder that time should be spent amongst us in beating men out of this being under the first Covenant and getting life upon impossible terms to undertake perfectly to keep the Law and to seek justification by works seeing we are neither Jews nor Papists We know we cannot fulfill the Law but that there is iniquity in our holy things and we are so far from resting in our duties that we acknowledge our righteousness is as filthy rags that if God should look upon them as they are he must needs abhor them and us for them and therefore surely there are none amongst us that do so all this labour might be spared for we are so far from desiring it that we disclaim it and abhor it But I answer to this Answer that a man ought to read in other mens practices his own inclination this was a desire in Adam 1 Cor. 15.49 and in his Posterity who do all bear the image of the earthly for as face answers to face in the water so sin is alike in all men and that man perfectly likes an example of sinning in others that does not reflect upon himself and see that there are seeds of it in him that doth not read his own nature in another mans life 2. If there be the seeds of it in thy own heart then though it never should break forth into act yet there is just cause that God should loath thee for it as we do Toads though they hurt us not And indeed the main part of our enmity against God and Gods against us lies in the contrariety of our nature to him Col. 1.21 we are naturally enemies to God in our minds and this is the top of all a godly mans humiliation this is but a part of all that evil treasure that is within Psal 51.7 and there is more in the Ware-house than in the Shop And that Christian is never kindly humbled for any sin if his humiliation ends in the sin it self and ascend not to the fountain that is within him that raging sea that always is casting out mire c. We know that in the Saints there is no lust perfectly mortified in this life Rom. 6.6 for sin dies a crucified death and therefore though in a Saint it be still upon the Cross and dying daily yet it shall never be perfectly destroyed till this corruptible shall put on incorruption The Saints have the seeds of this sin of trusting in themselves in them also and this lust will not lye idle in them the flesh will lust against the spirit Gal. 5.17 and it shews how prone the nature of man is to it and the actings of it because it has shewed it self so in all ages And therefore one being asked why Pelagianism did spring up in all ages answered Because there were Pelagianae fibrae in the hearts of all men So if this be asked you Why this lust of carnal confidence always breaks forth into sinful acts c. you may also answer There are fibrae of it in the heart of all men Therefore if God have kept this lust from acting in thee so much as it has done in others O be thankful for so great a mercy but be careful that thou say not that it is not in thee because God has restrained the lust from acting for then it may be just with God to give a man over to the power of it and he shall see by experience that it 's a mercy to have it restrained seeing he cannot be wholly freed from it in this life It 's a great evil when God preserves men from sin for them to think there is no such danger in it Take heed lest God let out such a lust upon thee that will make thee a mourner all thy days and remember how presumptuous Peter was against his denial of Christ yet how soon he was guilty of it And how apt are Christians for not prizing a preservation from gross sins to walk fearlesly and then God often leaves them to the power of lust and shews them the mercy of his former restraint Indeed all lusts in the heart of man do not act alike some lusts do work directly and press men to sin as that of Whoredom and Drunkenness a man has distinct thoughts about them but there are some that do work indirectly and in a secret way to guide men in their practise and yet never come into distinct thoughts but work as principles that lye low and a man acts in the power of them and yet observe them not as in a Watch every one may observe the wheels that move but every one does not observe the spring from whence their motion proceeds as a Scholar that speaks and writes Latin he does not think of the rules of Grammar every sentence he speaks and yet those rules have an influence into every word and his whole discourse is framed after those rules so there are some sins as Atheism c. a man it may be never says in actual thoughts that there is no God and yet this principle sways with a man and is at the bottom of every sin And so it is with this sin it may not come into actual thoughts that there is Eternal life to be had by our works and we will exclude the righteousness of Christ and yet it may have a very great influence upon the man in his whole course as being a fundamental and mother-sin 1 So far as any man does desire to establish his own righteousness so far he desires to be under a Covenant of Works for justification and life but this is the disposition of every man by nature therefore every man by nature desires to be under the first Covenant still this was the great fruit of it amongst the Jews Rom. 10.3 and the words are very significant Going about to establish their own righteousness i. e. seeking or studying for it as students use to do It signifies to labour for a thing with a mans utmost endeavour even with all his might as Mat. 6.32 After these things do the Gentiles seek and it answers to the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 9.31 Rom. 9.31 They followed after the law of righteousness but they attained it not The law of righteousness is the righteousness of the Law that is justification by it for the righteousness of the Law to be fulfilled in them by their own personal obedience not by faith but by works this they followed after with all their might And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Imbecillitatem propriae justitiae denotat denotes the imbecillity of their own righteousness that it could not stand alone but they must set it up and support it and make it stand by their own opinion and presumptions Now you see this all along how men expect acceptation with God for their services Isa 58.1 Wherefore have we fasted and thou regardest not Men do think to be heard for
man to seek out curious ways of sinning against it to avoid the power of the law as we see in Gaming c. sin takes occasion by the Commandment that it may sin more artificially and such men are hardly convinced 2 The Law discovers sin and men will not see it and so sin takes occasion by the Commandment and vents it self by refusing knowledge And they stop their ears that they may not be charmed by the voice of the charmer Joh. 3.20 c. 3 Sin takes occasion from hence in that men hate the light of the law and they wish that there were no such law in the world He that does evil hates the light neither cometh he to the light lest his deeds should be made manifest and reproved As the law discovers that to be evil in which the soul placeth its greatest good so this discovery draws out a hatred in the soul a-against that law which does as a glass discover the spots which the sinner would have hidden 2. The law does restrain sin and puts a stop to it and shuts up the sinner as we may read Gal. 3.23 Whence sin breaks forth more violently men being prone to sin and cannot live without it for the comfort of their life comes in by it The Law may restrain and keep in lust for a while Mat. 12.43 but it breaks forth as fire when you suppress it outwardly it burns the hotter within and spreads the more by a restraint 1 It spreads the more in the man by the restraint of the Law a man that hath forborn a sin long there comes seven worse spirits at the last and makes him more the child of the Devil than he was before the former restraint that was upon him makes his inward man the more exceeding sinful As it was with Judas a Devil though a Disciple The restraint of sin by the Commandment causes it to defile his inward man the more 2 The more sin is enraged as Psal 2. They say let us break their bonds and cast their cords from us Chains put not a fierceness into a beast but yet it does outwardly draw forth that fury that was in its nature As a potion in some diseases given for the cure irritates the peccant humour and kills the man the sooner not that it puts a new sickness in but only the humours being stirred are the more enraged 3 So in this case it does not only enrage sin and so make it more fierce but it improves it by this enraging as the presence of an injury doth heighten a mans anger as we see Goliah did David s his brags drew forth David's courage and it rose to the greater height and so any difficulty would Alexander's so that it was an exploit fit for Alexander if none else would undertake it and so a damm in the water it does cause it to swell and foam the more and the coldness of the circumstant air in the winter does not put more heat into the fire and yet by an Antiperistasis it excites it so that it is felt the more And therefore men living under the clearest discoveries of the Law their sins do rise to the greatest height men by the light of nature cannot sin against the Holy Ghost the great and the unpardonable transgression but this sin is by Gospel-light and this draws forth to direct enmity a mans spirit against the light so that he sins wilfully after that he hath received the knowledge of the truth and with despight for it is this being under the irritating power of the Law that is the great occasion of the sin against the Holy Ghost 3. There is a condemning power of the Law it passes a sentence upon a man and upon his estate and let 's into his soul by the spirit of bondage fear of death and dreadful apprehensions of wrath fearful expectations of judgment and of violent fire to devour him And from this also sin takes occasion 1 By reason of terrours that a man should destroy himself and become the instrument of his own mercy and be his own executioner as Judas and Achitophel and many others have done And 2 hence sin takes occasion to drive them to despair and draws it forth fastning their eyes upon the vengeance of God and never shewing them the remedy and the pardon and then with Cain men say mine iniquity is greater than can be forgiven 3 Hence follows a giving up themselves unto all excess of riot there is no hope and therefore I will enjoy the good things that are present and not have a Hell here and hereafter too And therefore they refrain not from any evil way but resolve to take their fill of sin while they are here for they are sure they can be but damned as many a wicked wretch when he is condemned to die he cares not what he does then for he knows he can be but hanged Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die 4 The rage of their spirits does rise from hence even to blasphemy and revenge against God He saith O that I were above God! for I know that he will not have mercy upon me And so the Damned in Hell do blaspheme God by way of revenge because they are shut up under wrath and know that there is no mercy for them And this is the ground also of the great rage and revenge against God that is acted by the Devil ever since the fall Thus men seeing themselves condemned by the Law and being in a continual expectation of this wrath the revenge and rage of their spirits against God is by this means drawn forth and in all these respects sin does take occasion by the Commandment and becomes the more exceeding sinful SECT II. Whence it is that the Law exasperates and encreases Sin § 1. LET us now come having proved the Point to look into the grounds of it How it should come to pass that that which discovers sin and forbids it should exasperate and increase it and that that which is a means to lead the people of God into ways of holiness and to sanctifie them converting the soul making wise the simple should occasion sin and death to others We must lay this as a ground That the cause is not in the Law the Apostles care is to remove any blemish that may be cast on the Law of God as if God had given a Law to this end to add unto the sin of man whereas indeed before the Law sin was in the world and it was out of measure sinful but it did not appear so without the Law There is a twofold cause that the Apostle does here point us unto 1 There is causa per se a formal cause which does of it self and of its own nature properly produce the effect from some inward and intrinsecal power and efficiency and so the Law is not the cause of sin in a man neither is there any thing in the Law that should
shall be effectual to a mans pollution Vse 1 § 5. See here the malignity and the vile nature of sin and what a deadly disease it is when that which God did give of purpose to destroy it will increase it We say that is a very deadly disease that you can apply no physick but it does stir up the disease and it 's increased by it and all that you can take feeds the disease so here sin must needs be a deadly thing that the law should increase it which in its own nature should abate it There are two truths that should be always in a mans eye God to be the chiefest Good and Sin to be the greatest Evil. There is no one thing that does set forth the evil of sin more than this that the Commandment of God which doth forbid it curse it condemn it should improve it It 's no wonder then if mercies make men more wicked and if crosses add to mens sins for the very Law of God and his threatnings and restraints thereof will do it if any thing make sin appear to a man to be out of measure sinful and a disease incurable in it self this will 2. See hereby the vanity of that Doctrine that says Moral perswasion is sufficient unto conversion God enlightning of a mans mind and shewing him what is his duty and what is required of him and perswading of his will it is according to these able to imbrace it and so turn unto God and duty and herein is the drawing of God the Father when as we see that when God does set a mans duty before him in the Law with all the threatnings of it and all the promises of it this is so far from converting the man that it improves his sin sin and makes it the more to rage against God and become out of measure sinful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore there is an inward work of God an Almighty Power put forth in changing the heart and converting of the will Moral perswasions may make a man more wicked but they will never convert him or make him the more holy without this inward work put forth by God in changing the heart 3. See here what is the proper rise and ground of that unpardonable sin the sin against the Holy Ghost It is by a curse of the first Covenant coming upon to the word of God that it is an occasional means lust opposing it to make sin rise the higher and first it brings forth in a man sins against knowledge and afterwards sins with malice and despight If the Law had never been revealed again but man had been left as many of the Heathens are who have but that small glimmering of light which some do call the remainders of the Law within them which the Apostle speaks of Rom. 2. They shew the works of the law written in their hearts this sin had never been heard of in the world it is a sin proper unto the Church of God and cannot be committed out of the Church where men are enlightned in the truth and sin takes occasion from the Law to break forth into despight against it 4. See what a vain thing it is for a man to glory in any Church-priviledge The Jews did stand much upon it and doubtless it was a great mercy that unto them did belong the giving of the Law and the Promises and unto them were committed the Oracles of God and therefore they rested in and made their boast of the Law c. Rom. 2.18 19. And what fruit had most of them by the Law it did aggravate their sins in the guilt of them and drew forth their sins in the power of them unto the greater height and in many of them even to the sin against the Holy Ghost And so it does many men that live under the Gospel at this day they have no other fruit by their ordinances and of the word of God amongst them but to make them more exceedingly wicked 5. See what a misery it is to be in a state of unregeneracy he that is so is wicked by nature and every thing wâ—â— make him worse See also what a mercy restraining grace is to a man that is unregenerate when we read of Judas and how Christs reproof did heighten his malice and of the Pharisees how by Christs Sermon their rage was drawn forth and they gnashed their teeth upon him c. What a mercy is it should every soul say that all the Sermons that ever I have heard of Christ c. should not have wrought the same effects in me long ago Luther saith that reading that place Rom. 1.17 The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith and understanding it only de justitia activa scilicet punientè of Gods punishing justice Non amabam imo odiebam justum punientem Deum tacitaque si non blasphemia certe ingenti murmuratione c. odi istud vocabulum poenitentiae I did not love but hate the just and punishing God and by a silent great murmur if not blasphemy I did hate that word Repentance Now that it has not been so to every one of us and we sinned against the Holy Ghost and in the highest acts of direct enmity that there had been no hope of mercy seeing that we cannot say that we have done it ignorantly Oh what a mercy is restraining Grace 6. Lastly how should it engage the people of God to thankfulness that God has freed them from this great misery that now the Law should subdue their lusts and not enrage them and if it does at any time yet it 's not to bring forth fruit unto death not to have a full dominion over them how should it make them fear when they read or hear the Law lest it should add to the disease Oh! how ought people to pray and Ministers pray that they may not be a curse and that the word which they hear and preach may not ripen their sins and draw out and improve their corruptions but their graces and make them holy CHAP. IV. The Rigor and Coactive power of the Law Gal. 5.18 But if you be led by the Spirit you are not under the Law SECT I. Wherein the Coactive power of the Law consists § 1. THere is a double sense of these words given by Interpreters and both may very well be put together The Apostle having said before That in a godly man there are two contrary principles flesh and spirit and they lust and act one against another so that they cannot do the things they would but when they would do good evil is present with them he adds here a consolation to bear up their hearts in this which is the greatest conflict upon earth between flesh and spirit in the same heart and that which made them to look upon themselves as miserable men all their days Rom. 7.24 but if you are led by the spirit you are not under the law that is though there
in him and this is therefore called the Covenant of Promise Ephes 2.12 2 As it was more fully revealed after Christs coming in the flesh Heb. 8.6 7. so the Covenant as to the Fathers being in the Promise is called the first Covenant and as performed and Christ exhibited 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 8.10 In quo nihil merito potuit requiri post dies veteris testamenti exactos Par. the second Yet the first Covenant comes short of the second in two things First because imperfect and only in Types and Typical representations 2. Because the people kept it not neither were made perfect by it but God found fault with them for their disobedience c. 3 As it shall be more gloriously revealed at the calling of the Jews when the Lord shall make this Covenant with them that is take them into this Covenant again and call them my people who were called Loammi and this is their grafting in again Rom. 11. as the Gentiles were grafted in upon their rejection and therefore Israel under this Covenant is fitly called by some Israel surrogatus c. And of this Covenant with Israel who are the natural branches to whom primarily all the Promises do belong does the Lord speak Ezek. 34.25 The dry bones shall live and they shall dwell in their own land wherein their fathers dwelt they and their childrens children for ever and my servant David shall be their Prince for ever and I will make a Covenant of peace with her and it shall be an everlasting Covenant and I will place them and multiply them and set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore my tabernacle also shall be with them yea I will be their God and they shall be my people c. 3 All the mercies and deliverances that God has given his people have been by Covenant ever since the fall Luk. 1.72 he sent Christ into the world a horn of salvation he raised up that is glorious and victorious salvation in the house of his servant David to perform his mercy promised to our forefathers and to remember his holy Covenant he pardons their sins and subdues their iniquities and carries them into the depths of the sea but it is to perform his truth to Jacob and his mercy to Abraham which he swore unto our forefathers from the days of old And he writes the law in their hearts and sanctifies them to himself Jer. 31.33 A new Covenant will I make with you I will take away the heart of stone and I will write my law in your hearts c. Gen. 6.18 And so for all temporal mercies God delivered Noah from the flood that destroyed the world of the ungodly but it was by a Covenant I will establish my Covenant with thee and thou shalt come into the Ark thou and thy sons c. God brought Israel out of Egypt Exod. 6.4 5. but it was by their Covenant I have established my Covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan Zach. 9.11 the land of their pilgrimage And afterwards delivered them out of Babylon the pit in which there was no water But it is by the blood of the Covenant He did nourish the people of Israel in the Wilderness and fed them there but it was because he was always mindful of his Covenant There were many that did not fear him that were wicked but he fed the wicked for the sake of the righteous their meat was given unto them that fear him Psal 111.5 So that the Dispensations of God in all ages have been by vertue of and answerable to a Covenant § 4. A man for the state of his person cannot stand under both Covenants because the one is contrary unto and makes void the other so the Apostle reasons Gal. 2. ult If righteousness be by the law Christ is dead in vain Though in some respects the Law may and doth stand as a rule and as a hand-maid to the Gospel as Hagar to Sarah and so in subordination yet as a Covenant and in co-ordination it cannot stand so for the one doth actually destroy the other and make it void for if the second Covenant take place the first Covenant is made void and if the first Covenant stand there is no place for the second And this will more fully appear if we consider the direct contrariety in the Terms of these Covenants Tit. 3.5 1. The Righteousness of the first Covenant is in our selves the works of righteousness that we have done and he that doth them shall live in them but the righteousness of the second Covenant is the righteousness of another Christ is the end of the law for righteousness Rom. 10.4 Finis perficiens sed non interficiens Aug. all the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in him It is in the Ark that the law is laid up and the righteousness of the Law is in him alone and in no other else to be found made ours by Imputation only thereby we are made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 Now a man cannot be righteous by his own righteousness and by the righteousness of another 1 Joh. 5.11 12. A man cannot have life in himself and in another and therefore the one destroys the other 2. In the Covenant of Works acceptation is first of the works and afterwards of the person for the works sake and so does the displeasure of God begin first with the work and then redundat in personam it redounds upon the person and therefore God speaks unto Cain Gen. 4.4 If thou dost well thou shalt be accepted there is not acceptation of the person if there be any imperfection in the work Gal. 3.10 Cursed is every one that continues not in the law c. because of a failing in the work there is a curse upon the person Haec doctrinae nostra summa quam docemus profitemur personam priùs Deo acceptam opus fieri acceptum ex persona But in the Covenant of Grace the person is first accepted and the works for the persons sake God had a respect unto Abel and to his Offering and this indeed is even the sum of the Gospel that the work is accepted for the persons sake but if the acceptation of the person be grounded upon the works it is contrary to the Gospel that says The acceptation is first of the person then of the works 3. The Covenant of Works is a Covenant without a Priest there is none to present a mans person but he must stand before God in his own person for the first Covenant was made with man immediately there is none to bear his sin and there is none to offer his sacrifice for it was a Covenant made with man in the state of integrity wherein he needed none of these Adam had no more need of a Priest in this estate than the Angels have but now all unregenerate men that are under
shewed many ways â—â—w we will speak a little to the sin of it and that in these Particulars 1 Hereby thou endeavourest to make void the Covenant of Grace and all those gloriâ—us thoughts that God had towards sinners from everlasting as the highest way to glorifie himself He did therefore purpose it in himself and from himself Prov. 8.30 Psal 40.5 that he will gloriefie himself this way by a second Covenant and God delighted in it and spent infinite thoughts about it it 's the pleasure of the Lord and all this thou dost make void to thy self by continuing under thy former Covenant and if thou accept not the Grace offered in the second Now the Apostle speaks of it as a fearful evil to make void the Law but how great is their â—vil that do their utmost to make the Gospel void 2 Thou hereby at once frustrates the whole end of Christs coming into the world for â—he came into the world as a second Adam with a Covenant and an Image and no man can partake of his Image unless he have an interest in his Covenant for all the Promises of renewing the Image of God in man are not the promises of the first but of the second Covenant Mal. 3.1 Heb. 12.24 Heb. 7.22 and it 's he that is in Christ that is a new Creature 2 Cor. 5.14 For he is given as a Covenant to the Nations The Lord shall come speedily into his Temple even the messenger of the Conant in whom ye delight So that the great end of Christs coming into the world is that he might bring in a second Covenant by which God and man may be reconciled sins pardoned and the sinner saved and whosoever is not translated into this Covenant Christ is come and dead in vain as to him 3 Thou dost hereby reject and despise the greatest grace that ever was shewed to the sons of men for God to enter into a Covenant with man in his Creation was an act of meer Grace God might have required obedience and have promised no recompence for all was by right of creation due from man to God but God did not owe any thing to man again and yet this was but faedus amicitiae a Covenant of Friendship but when man had sinned and become faedifragus a Covenant-breaker now for God to try man again by a second Covenant that it should be a Covenant with man as a sinner is a far greater act of favour to be engaged to him Isa 26.18 19. and that upon higher terms and better promises it 's the admiration of all the Angels in Heaven that God should so far honour a sinful creature as to take him into Covenant with himself Jer. 13.11 Zac. 11.10 4 This is much heightned by this that the Angels that fell were as capable of mercy as we and Christ and his Righteousness as proportionable a good for the Salvation of the Angels as he is for man though they did sin ex destinata malitia maliciously and without temptation Bernard and so perire necesse est poenitere potentes yet had the Lord set his thoughts of mercy upon them and sent his Son with a Covenant to them The same Omnipotency that overcomes the heart of a man could have also overcome the heart of a Devil but he did catch at Mankind when he let the Angels go and never made them the offer of a second Covenant and this mans sin is beyond that of the Devils in that he refuseth to come under this Covenant of Grace 5 Hereby thou takest the name of God in vain and receivest no benefit by all his Ordinances and Promises and motions of the Spirit that thou enjoyest 1 All his Ordinances for to what end is the Ministry of the Gospel set up and appointed by God but only in the first place to bring men into Covenant with God God is in Christ reconciling the world and how is that done why by making a covenant of peace as this second covenant is called Ezek. 37.26 And by perswading men and treating with them to bring them under the bonds of this covenant 2 Cor 5.18 19. for as the Apostle says He has made us the ministers of reconciliation and all the offers that we make unto you of Christ it is but to perswade you to accept of him as God has given him as a covenant to the Nations and until you do accept of Christ in his covenant and consent to that you can have no other benefit by him that will be effectual to the saving of your soul And as for all other benefits of the Ministry without this they will never answer the great end for which the Lord appointed it It were but a low end in a Minister to propound no higher thing to himself than this that he might inform the judgments of men and draw them to some outward conformity or civilize men and to do some duties to satisfie their consciences but our end should be that which God did send us for and to count that we have laboured in vain Act. 26.18 if we miss thereof and that is to turn men from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God to translate men out of the kingdom of darkness into the glorious kingdom of his dear Son the greatest mercies of your lives be offers of Christ and his benefits which are all grounded upon the covenant of Grace 2 All the Promises do belong unto the second covenant and he has given us exceeding great and precious promises 2 Pet. 1.4 whereby we are made partakers of the Divine nature There are promises of pardon and of grace and holiness and happiness promises of the life that now is and that which is to come There are conditional Promises and there are absolute Promises I will be thy God I will give thee my Son and my Spirit I will take away the heart of stone and give a heart of flesh But the bottom of all these is the Covenant and thereunto all the Promises of the Gospel are referred and therefore he that has no interest in the Covenant he in applying a promise takes the name of God in vain for if you be Christs you are Abrahams seed Gal. 3. ult and heirs also of the promise If you are Christs and are in him your Covenant is changed you then come under Abrahams Covenant for it is in respect of this Covenant only Rom. 4.16 Gal. 4.28 that he is said to be the father of us all and if your Covenant be changed you are heirs of the Promise We as Isaac are children of the promise c. And till a mans Covenant be changed there is not a promise in the Book of God that belongs unto him and whensoever he does apply them unto himself he doth wrest the Scripture and he takes the name of God in vain c. 3 As for the Sacraments whosoever has not his Covenant changed they can
do him no good for they are all of them added unto the Covenant of Grace as signes and seals thereof In the ordinance of Baptism there must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 3.21 an answer 1 Pet. 3.21 which I take to be an allusion to the ancient manner of John Baptist Luk. 3.10 the people asked him and what shall we do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thereby implying a willingness to engage themselves unto those practices of repentance and those duties of reformation unto which John did baptize them whence arose that ancient form in the Church in baptizing persons by propounding unto them Questions concerning Faith Repentance renouncing the World the Flesh and the Devil and their solemn engagement and stipulation thereunto which if it were in truth and from a good conscience the person was truly baptized in the sight of God or else he was only baptized with water and no more So what was circumcision but a sign and a seal of the Covenant which if it did reach unto the heart it was circumcision Gen. 17.13 else their circumcision became uncircumcision for the men were not in Covenant with God therefore Jer. 9.25 I will punish all them that are circumcised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jer. 9.25 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Omnes circumcises in praeputio so it is in the Original and so Montanus and others do render it all that are circumcised in uncircumcision Now it is by the Learned observed that the Nations there named did thus circumcise but being a people out of covenant with God it was no circumcision unto them and though they were circumcised yet they were in uncircumcision still and so the Jews they were circumcised and in an outward Covenant but yet their hearts did not consent and therefore though they were circumcised in flesh yet they were not circumcised in heart So for the Sacrament of the Lords Supper it is the New Testament in the Blood of Christ Mat. 26. Zach. 9.12 and this blood is the blood of the Covenant and therefore if thou be a man out of the Covenant thou hast no right to it it can do thee no good but hurt all thy days As Cyprian de Lapsis hath a story of one that when the people of God were receiving the Sacrament came secretly in amongst them to receive it also Ausus est latenter accipere he durst take it secretly and having taken the bread in his hand Cinerem se ferre apertis manibus invenit opening his hand he found it turned into ashes and so Gratia salutaris in cinerem imo in venenum fugiente sanctitate mutatur the salutarie grace is turned into ashes yea poyson c. And therefore if such a man receive the Sacrament he takes the name of God in vain for in Gods account he did never receive it because it is a seal of the Covenant of Grace and he remains still under the covenant of works 4 All the motions of the Spirit of God as the giving of the Spirit doth belong to the second Covenant This is the Covenant says the Lord that I will make with them Isa 5.9 ult my spirit that is upon them c. And it is the Gospel that is the ministration of the Spirit for it is Christ the Prince of the Covenant that doth send the Spirit and what is the end of the Spirits coming it is only to advance the Covenant of Grace He shall take of mine says Christ and shew it unto you that he may bring you into Union with Christ and so into Covenant with God by him and therefore it is the Spirit of the second Covenant and the healing motions and strivings and impressions of the Spirit of God with man are all to this end to bring them within the bounds of the Covenant and though they may receive many gifts and common graces and common works yet the Spirit is grieved resisted and quenched if this great work be not wrought that the spirit may become a spirit of adoption and all those glorious works of the Spirit as a witness as a seal and as an earnest they do all come under the second Covenant and belong to the spirit as the spirit of the Gospel 5 If thou be not translated into the Covenant of Grace thou art left in a remediless condition for thy first Covenant being broken does bring thee under a curse and there is but one remedy against the sting of the Serpent and that 's the brazen Serpent there 's no avoiding the curse of the Covenant but by being translated out of it and this translation thou wilt not accept of therefore thou art in a helpless condition for thy disease is mortal of it self and thou wilt not accept of a remedy and so thou art left to the punishment of the first Covenants curse Joh. 3.33 He that believes not the wrath of God abides upon him not comes upon him only but abides upon him There is ira transiens and ira permanens transient wrath and permanent wrath All sin brings a man under wrath but there is no sin leaves a man under wrath but unbelief because a man will not accept of peace and reconciliation that is made to him And let me tell thee O soul whoever thou art in such a condition thy misery will be so much the greater that thou hast had a second Covenant offered and yet despisest it and in this Sodom and Gomorrah will come in against thee and will condemn thee for if they had had the offers that thou hast had they would have accepted of them yet thou hast rejected them nay the Devils themselves will be brought in against thee for thy condemnation and in this as thy sin is greater so will thy judgment be for they never had an offer of any terms of peace made to them they found themselves shut up under wrath without hope but thou hast had offers and hopes all thy days and this will be matter for that never-dying worm to feed upon at the last and great day when the soul shall reflect seriously upon its by-past life I neglected hopes and possibility and it 's now unrecoverable though there was a time that the offers of mercy were made to me and treaties of Grace made with me by the common works of the Spirit of God which I rejected mercy was upon her knees to me and I had as great possibility and probability to have found mercy as any other there are some that lived under the same Ordinances and offers of Grace with me and many of them had never the opportunities that I have had and yet I see them sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God and I am left out And this will be the great misery of many I may say of most of the children of the Kingdom they that live in the Church at the last and great day § 3. We may hence see the
there is a virtual league with death and with Hell Job 5.23 they shall be at league with Sin and Hell as a good man is in league with peace and rest A formal league with Sin and Hell they are not capable of but a virtual covenant and a league taking off acts of hostility Whatever a man is in Covenant with he fears no danger from and men walk as if Death and Hell were at an agreement with them and they fear no evil but are setled upon their lees and they make lyes their refuge and under vanity they hide themselves There is says Bernard a twofold evil Conscience a peaceable evil Conscience and a troubled evil Conscience And the first state is more dangerous when a man is like unto the dead Sea as some are like the raging Sea which latter is better than the former upon such a soul let wrath be discovered and judgement threatned it is but speaking terrour to a deaf man nay to a dead man nay let plagues be executed and not only so but let the hand of the Lord be lifted up eminently in the threatning and they will not see nay let it fall down in the judgement and they will not see Bray a fool in a mortar and his folly will not depart But he is as a man lying down in the middle of the Sea and as one sleeping on the top of a Mast he sees no danger there is nothing that he can lay to heart but he says Psal 49. I shall have peace as Deut. 29.19 While he lives he blesseth his soul Now comes the Law as a Hammer unto such a soul and that sets before a man its absolute Soveraignty over the man it is the Royal Law shews a man that God is an enemy to him and writes bitter things against him and it is this Law by which he will surely judge him at the last day Zach. 1.6 and though he may fly from it a while yet it will overtake him though the decree may bear a great while a judgement in the womb of it yet it will at last bring forth and for ought thou knowest it may be Hell before the morning there is but a thread of patience between thee and everlasting burnings That shews a man the vanity of all his former hopes and plucks off all that cobweb lawn and varnish that the Devil has cast upon his actions and state and there is a storm that overflows his hiding place the Lord lets him see in Spiritual judgements as he does in Temporal judgments when men promise themselves great things that the bed is too short the covering too narrow for him to rest upon Then offer him the pleasures of sin and he cannot taste them they are to him the greatest detestation Oh how bitter is it to remember that which was formerly sweet to commit and what a terrible companion is that sin in the guilt of it that was in the act of it most delightsome The bitterness of sin is so great that all the comforts of the creatures cannot sweeten it as Judas he cast down the thirty pieces of silver quickly he had no pleasure in his money So a soul crys out My iniquity is gone over my head and as a sore burden too heavy for me to bear § 3. 2. The Law of God condemns the sinner says the Apostle Sin revived and I died Rom. 9.7 Hos 6.5 2 Cor. 3. The ministration of death and condemnation c. There is a hewing and a slaying by the words of the Lord he doth smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he does slay the wicked Jer. 6.11 And therefore the word of the Lord is called the fury of the Lord what fury or vengeance soever is poured out upon a land or soul it is all by this word that is the instrument and these are the effects thereof The Law saith Cursed is every one that continues not in all things written in the Law and Conscience makes the assumption truly this curse is my portion The soul of man is not more prone to sin than it is to self-justification every man desiring to establish his own righteousness And the great work that we have in the Ministry is this to beat them from their own confidences men will not pass the same sentence upon themselves that the Law does If men would but look upon themselves in this glass and stand unto the sentence of this judgment they would not be so severely judged by the Lord but there are ways of self-deceiving from that abundant self-love and self-flattery that is in the heart of man that they desire to be deceived and there is no man in the world that can be so great a flatterer of another as every man is of himself 〈◊〉 does smooth over himself and makes all please as a flatterer doth Psal 36.2 Jer. 23.31 therefore the false â—rophets are said to smooth their tongues that there may be nothing that may distaste 〈◊〉 be unpleasant and so men will not own their own condemnation they will not â—â—e shame But when the Law comes and the Spirit of God therein gives in evidence aâ—â—inst the man brings forth the hand writing and chargeth a man with his pride and unâ—â—â—anness and hardness of heart and says this thou hast done then the soul says I have â—â—ed in betraying the innocent blood I have done exceeding foolishly Men and brethren what â—â—â—l we do to be saved Now every word of the Law comes home to him with life and with â—â—er and all the curses of the book he reads as his portion and says This is the inheriâ—â—e that Adam has left me and this have I also purchased for my self Tertull. There are a generatiâ—â— of godly men in the world that read over the Promises of the Gospel and they do claim 〈◊〉 as their portion and their inheritance for ever but they are nothing to me they are 〈◊〉 childrens bread and I am a dog a devil Truly the Devils are better creatures and were 〈◊〉 to do the Lord more service and yet they perish under the curse of the Law and they â—â—ble at the sentence of it and there is as much hope of a Devil Jam. 2.19 in the state that I am in 〈◊〉 as there is of me I know God is merciful but not beyond the rules of the Word whilst the Word speaks wrath all the men in the world cannot speak peace to me Every â—â—tion is a curse to me and there are no Providences that I can look upon in mercy my â—â—â—ngs are cursed and my ordinances are blasted they shall add to my sins and hasten my â—â—eance It 's wonderful that seeing the time of patience has its period the Lord has â—â—â—â—hed it forth to so great a length that I have had thirty or forty years cut off of eterâ—â—â— as a respite of those eternal torments These are the workings of men
the hearts of wicked men for ever 3. The Spirit of God does make use of the Law as a glorious instrument in this work for he works in restraints partly by the Law of God within and partly by the works of God and afflictions without but all his aim is that men may not find their hope Rom. 1.16 The Gospel is the power of God to salvation that is the great and glorious instrument of the power of God so is the Law also an instrument in the hand of the Spirit for the Spirit of God does work by the Word and answerably to the Word and not above it or without it It is so called by the Lord Jam. 3.2 If any man offend not in word Jam. 1.26 Jam. 3.2 he is able to bridle the whole body to put a bridle to any thing in Scripture does signifie to moderate that thing and restrain all the rage and exorbitances of it Isa 37.29 I will put a book in his nostrils and a bridle in his lips Now what is the bridle that does restrain the enormities of the tongue see vers 15. It is the perfect law of liberty and this also is the bridle for the whole man Psal 149.8 9. Psal 149.8 9. To bind their Kings in chains and their Nobles in fetters of Iron and this honour have all his Saints To be bound in chains signifies two things Subjection and Restraint now how do the Saints of God do it the fire goes out of their mouths Rev. 11. that is Rev. 11. it is partly by their prayers and partly by their words setting the the Law of God before them and by this means they bind them for they bind up their lusts they restrain their sins and they bind over their Consciences unto wrath and all the Judgements denounced in the Word of God they do as it were execute them by their bringing them upon them as Zach. 1.6 Hos 6.5 Glass Rhet. Sacr. Ezek. 20.37 Psal 2.3 So that they do by the Law of God lay chains upon their Consciences and they execute judgements upon their souls and for that cause it is conceived that the Law is called the bond of the Covenant Ezek. 20.37 because 1 as a bond it doth bind to obedience and all disobedience it does restrain 2 The Law is counted a bond by men Psal 2.3 Let us break their bonds and thick weighty cords it is meant the Law of the Lord which brought them into subjection and they count it cords and bonds which are a token of three things 1 Of bondage 2 Of burden 3 Of baseness and that also may be the meaning of that expression Gal. 3.22 For the Scripture has concluded all under sin c. And thereupon Luther says Lex carcer est c. the law is a prison for it does restrain mens lusts they cannot walk at large as they desire to do in ways of evil and he says It is with unregenerate men under the restraints of the law as it is with wicked men in prison he that is shut up does not hate his sin but hates the prison and the thief is grieved at heart that he is not free nor at liberty to steal § 2. How does the Spirit of God make use of the Law for the restraining of sin The Lord has a working upon the hearts of both regenerate and unregenerate men and he has mighty acts of restraint upon them both and they are the wonderful workings of God in the world a man that shall consider the rage and malice of wicked men may wonder that the earth is not more filled with violence there being so many Nimrods mighty hunters of men in the earth that men are not made as the fishes of the Sea the greater to devour the less without controul breaking forth into all excess of riot and blood touching blood Yea he that shall consider the rage and madness that is in the hearts of the Saints themselves as we see it in Asa he put the Prophet in prison when in a rage and David caused them to pass under axes and sawes and harrows and that of Peter who did curse and damn himself and that of Theodosius by whose command seven thousand men were slain in the City of Thessalonica he would soon conclude truly the very mercy and grace of God in restraint is great And he that shall see the horrible abominations that men break forth into from day to day and the strange Apostasies that are come into the world he must conclude even restraining Grace is a great mercy and that this is a glorious and an excellent use of the Law 1 Tim. 1.9 wherein it is wonderfully serviceable to the Gospel Indeed the Apostle says 1 Tim. 1.9 that a man uses the Law lawfully when he knows and considers that the Law was not given for a righteous man There is a double interpretation of it that is most common 1 The Law is not given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is not laid upon a godly man as a burthen for he has not only a Rule without but he has also Grace within that dictates to him a living Law within himself So that a godly man lives above the Law for he has a Law within as well as a Law without to restrain him from sin he has an inward principle that makes him hate every false way and what should an obedient and well managed Horse need a bridle for 2 The condemning power of the Law is not for the righteous man against such there is no Law the Magistrate should be nothing else but Gods Vicegerent and he is not a terror to good works but to evil but yet while the Saints of God do live here and are sanctified but in part they need the Law to restrain their lusts and corruptions afterwards when their Graces shall be perfected they shall need to call in no external help of a Law either to restrain from sin or keep them in duty or to quicken them to it but now corruption gets the head many times of the Law within that a man is induced to call in the force of the Law without also and the best of the Saints make use of many legal considerations and motives to constrain and restrain them in this world 1. The Law does restrain sin when the Lord sets before a man the perfection of it It is therefore called a perfect law of liberty this was the perfection in which man was created this was the perfection of the human nature of Christ a perfect conformity unto this Law in nature and life for he was a living Law And this is the perfection in Glory when the Saints shall have a conformity unto this Law and from hence the soul stands in awe of it the Lord shewing a mans abasement and imperfection so far as he comes short of the Law 2. The Law restrains sin so far as the Lord demonstrates its Authority Jam. 2.8 The Royal or Princely Law
ad omnis generis flagitia sicut ergo hominibus obsessis vincula catenae injiciuntur ne quem laedant sic toti mundo qui est obsessus a diabolo adest Deus legibus cohibens manus pedes ne praeceps ruat in omnis generis flagitia 2 The Lord has set bounds unto the sins of the World as well as unto the sins of particular persons and Nations which when they have by degrees filled up judgment shall come upon them to their destruction As there was a fulness of sin when the Flood came upon the world and it repented the Lord that he had made man upon the earth so there is a fulness of sin when the World shall be burnt and when all the wicked have filled up their measure then shall the fire of Gods wrath be kindled upon the World unto which it is reserved Only then when the World was drowned because there was a holy seed remaining upon the earth the Lord did spare the earth for Noahs sake because there was a blessing but when all the Elect of God shall be translated from this earth to Glory then there shall be an utter destruction and the earth shall be burnt up at least refined by fire Now if there should not be a restraint laid upon the lusts of men every one that is now a Serpent would become a Dragon and they that now sin as men would act like Devils and the measure of mens lusts would be quickly fulfilled and the end of the World would be suddenly hastned Now because God has appointed a time that the World shall stand for Gospel ends and to shew forth the Grace of the Gospel that mercy may rejoice and triumph over judgment therefore he does restrain the lusts of men that the fulness of the sin of the World may be filled up by degrees 2. It does exceedingly exalt the Gospel and the Grace thereof that it does make such a use of the Law as is unto man fallen above the nature of the Law and contrary to the use that sin does make of the Law 1 It is above the power of the Law unto man a sinner for the Law is become weak through the flesh Rom. 8.4 as we see they that know the Law yet pour out themselves to all excess of riot and give themselves over unto all manner of abominations He that says thou shalt not commit adultery doth himself commit adultery c. All this shews that the Law of it self is weak it can forbid sin indeed but it cannot restrain it as it can require duty but it cannot enable a man thereunto but as Bernard has observed It commands without grace and it punishes without mercy Restraining Grace in respect of sin and assisting Grace in respect of duty comes not from the Law but from the Spirit that is given in the Gospel working with it 2 It is contrary to the use that sin makes of the Law for sin takes occasion by the Commandment and the Law is so far from being a means of restraining lust that by the Commandment corruptions are improved and increased Rom. 7.8 11. the flood rises the higher by the damm that is made against it and there is this devillishness in sin that it does take occasion by the Commandment to deceive a man that is it does work in a man a greater apprehension of the sweetness of it and a greater desire to it and longing after it because it is in the Commandment forbidden and from the very prohibition does arise the strength of the temptation a man should never have had his heart so much carried out after it if the Lord had not forbidden it and then a man says Stollen waters are sweet and the bread of deceit is pleasant Now when Satan and sin shall take occasion by the Commandment to improve corruption and to draw it forth that the Spirit of Christ in the Gospel should make a quite contrary use of it to restrain it and bind it up it does much exalt the power of the Gospel and the spirit of the Gospel which works with this Law 3. Restraining Grace which the Spirit of God does work in a man by the Law is of great use and does mightily exalt the Grace of the Gospel in preserving from open violences and immoralities 1 In reference unto the Saints that they are not destroyed for they are sheep in the midst of wolves their souls are amongst lions and therefore it is a wonder that they are not destroyed it is God that lays a restraint upon their enemies lust sometimes and they desire it not and sometimes upon their acts and they cannot effect it Abimelechs lust was restrained in reference to Abraham I kept thee that thou shouldst not touch her And as to Laban God laid a charge upon his spirit and so it was with Herod in reference unto John the Baptist and it is by this restraint laid upon the hearts of wicked men that the lives and liberties of the people of God are preserved and this is every day as great a miracle in some respect as to set bounds to the Sea that it do not overflow and as to stop the Lions mouths or to hinder and restrain actum secundum the second act of the Fire in the Babylonish Furnace that it did not burn so much as the garments of the three Children and that your peace and prosperity and that the progress of the Gospel is not interrupted that the Devil does not cast some of you into prison and seek your blood as in time past it is not that he is not as truly the Destroyer still as in times past but the Lord restrains the lusts of men that he cannot act them and draw them forth as he has done formerly 2 In reference unto wicked and ungodly men that live in their sins and perish in them Though it is true while the corrupt will prevails and a mans enmity to God remains so long is a man a sinner before God in every thing because he is in his habitual frame of heart an enemy unto all righteousness Austins Epist 144. But it is a great common mercy that wicked men have by the Gospel that their lusts are not let out to the uttermost and the greatest judgment that men can be given over to is to be given up to their own hearts lusts delivered over unto the power of sin and to be acted by Satan to the highest and the utmost as Judas the Devil entred into him it was but a higher degree of acting of him in a way of wickedness The restraint that is acted upon them lessens the guilt and does not spread so much in the defilement the act of sin does intend the habit Nor is it so dangerous and infectious unto others for sinners in their actions are corrupters and by their example taint many with evil ways and words the more their restraints are the less will their judgement and condemnation be and
they shall have this fruit by it which will be a great one hereafter Seeing that all men are sinners in Adam alike and sin in one man is as much improved as in another that all men are not alike sinful in this life and alike miserable in the life to come for there be degrees of wrath and that all men do not sin against the Holy Ghost and are not by Satan hurried on to the great Transgression it is no thanks to the man but merely to restraining Grace So in Mar. 10.21 the young man that came to Christ Mark 10.21 Christ is said to love him he was proud and stood upon his own righteousness and he was covetous and did part with Christ to reserve to himself an Estate and went away from him as being offended at his Doctrine and never returned again and yet it is said that Christ loved him what was there lovely in such a man Here Interpreters distinguish 1 of the act 2 of the object 1 Of the Act they say there is a double love of Christ so Cartwright Quia illi grata est humani generis conservatio ideoque politicas virtutes amare dicitur Tenues paulatim per se evanescentes imaginis suae reliquias Beza a Humane and Divine a Divine love that is to Salvation so he loves only the Saints but there was a humane love and so he loved his friends and kindred according to the flesh who yet did not believe in him And some say there is a double love of God and of Christ as God there is a peculiar and a fatherly love and this he bears only to his own people but there is also a common love whereby he loves whatever is of his own in any of the Creatures So Beza and Calvin But I should rather call them the common works of the Spirit of Christ dispensed unto unregenerate men under the Gospel 2 They distinguish of the Object he â—oved the remainder of his own Image or rather the works of his own Spirit in him though they were common that he was preserved unchangeable in tanta morum corruptela where there was such a general and universal overspreading of wickedness and this was Donum Dei gratuitum naturale illam pravitatem non quidem immutantis sed in quibus illi placet paulatim reprimentis Bernard i. e. Not mortifying but restraining sin So that all this was grounded upon the restraining Grace the Lord did vouchsafe unto him in his younger years for to be preserved is a good thing a great gift it is a great mercy not to be tainted with the common corruption and not to wallow in the common mire of the times nor to be given over thereunto 3 In reference unto godly men before and after their conversion 1 Before a mans conversion so it was with Paul Phil. 3. who was concerning the righteousness of the Law blameless and one that did not sin against his Conscience even then when he persecuted the Church Act. 23.1 because there is the greater guilt and horror upon a mans Conscience having so highly dishonoured God the greater bitterness to a man having insnared and corrupted others by his example and the greater matter of temptation Satan representing unto a man anew the sweetness that a man has tasted in former sins and his former experience of it does exceedingly strengthen the temptation and make a mans heart to hanker the more earnestly after them 2 After conversion restraining Grace is a mercy Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins Psal 19.13 Also the word does signifie to restrain or keep a man back or with-hold him as with a bridle the same word is used in Gen. 20. I with-held thee from touching her And so David Set a watch before the door of my lips So that though lust will be in a mans heart and though it will sometimes arise and all the power of Grace cannot keep it under yet to have it restrained that it shall not break forth and a man not to be hurried upon sinful actions is a great mercy After conversion for the lust of Adultery to be up in David and he desired her and yet if he had been kept from the act it had been a great mercy and so in numbering the people his lust was up and to have been kept from the act would have been a great mercy as we see it in the case of Nabal his lust was up but how does David bless God that it did not break forth into acts but that the lust was restrained before-hand and so do all the Saints of God bless the Lord that sometimes by his Law and sometimes by afflictions and by the admonitions of friends or by the reproach of enemies any lust is kept within its bounds from breaking forth or that there is a restraint of it in any measure that a man doth not pour out himself upon it with greediness that a man is not wicked in the highest degree and that carnal fear doth not prevail upon him as it did upon Peter and carnal love as it did upon Sampson or Solomon and passion as it did upon Asa c. 4. By the Gospel lust is subdued and mortified and that is one great end of the Gospel That we should deny ungodliness and worldly lusts Tit. 2.13 14. And having these promises should purifie our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 And he that has this hope does purifie himself even as God is pure But the Spirit of God doth make use of the Law even to this end also and the restraints thereof There is a double way for the mortifying of sin 1 By infusing a new principle of Grace 2 By restraining the old principle of sin 1 There must be a new principle of Grace infused which will work out the contrary and hinder the actings of it the spirits lusting against the flesh We are not under the Law but under Grace therefore sin shall not have dominion over you Rom. 6.12 Not under the Law strengthning and irritating sin but under Grace subduing it the Spirit of God-working in a man a new and another nature Joh. 3.6 which is contrary unto sin and is like unto that spirit of holiness that works it That which is born of the spirit is spirit Joh. 3.6 and it cannot sin because it is born of God 2 There is a power of the same Spirit of God restraining and keeping under the lusts of men Psal 19.13 and thereby destroying them With-hold from me presumptuous sins in me they are and I find in my self a proneness to them but keep them under With-hold me from the actings of them lest they grow upon me and get the dominion over me As by the exercise of sin it does increase so by the restraining of it it does die and is brought to nothing It is as fire if it be covered and have no vent it will go out and as Trees the more
the Law which is a glass to discover sin and a rule to guide in duty to the end of the world and there will be use of this rule without as long as Heaven and Earth shall last and this frame of Heaven and Earth shall continue till the image of God be perfectly renewed in all the Saints and the law written perfectly in their hearts and they are a law fully unto themselves and so can live above the law and can live upon the law till then you will need the law without and so long this law shall continue and be of use in the Church of God 2. The meaning therefore is that the state of the Old Testament which is here called the Law and the Prophets that is that manner of discovering of the mind of God unto his people which was in the Law and the Prophets that was unto John that is by speaking of Christ to come and promising a higher and a greater light and a greater measure of the spirit in after times but yet it was not accomplished but in 1 Pet. 1.12 To them it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister the things that are now reported to us to whom the Gospel is preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven which things the Angels desire to look into So that the state of the Church of God under the Old Testament and the manner of revelation of the mind of God and that measure of dispensation of the Spirit of God and not the Typical part only as some would have it is here meant So that the Ceremonial Law and the Prophets did but speak of Christ to come and did vanish in John's time the Substance being come the Shadows must fly away but also all that manner of dispensation being more obscure and less spiritual and less powerful all that did end because the Law and the Prophets did but speak of Christ to come but John of Christ already come Behold the lamb of God c. so much that word in the Original signifies 3. At the coming of Christ the Law and the Prophets were as it were taken away not by abrogation but by way of excellency as when the Sun rises the Stars disappear and are darkned and all mens eyes gaze on the Sun This is a new and a higher and more glorious way of discovery 2 Cor. 3.10 That which was glorious had no glory in respect of the glory that excelled because now Christ was manifested to be more fully that which he was stiled to be before Dan. 8.13 the word Palmoni signifies the wonderful numberer of secrets or as Junius and Glass what has innumerable secrets And there are divers such names given unto Christ in the Scripture his name shall be called Wonderful Counseller to set forth his nature and his actions Prov. 30.1 Ithiel and Vcal c. The Angel Dan. 9. prays unto Christ to discover unto him how long the Vision concerning the daily Sacrifice and the desolation of the Sanctuary shall be for as Christ is the head of the Angels so he is the teacher of the Angels also and the secrets of the Counsels of God he knows and he reveals them unto the Angels in answer to their prayers Rev. 5. Now there being a fuller and a more glorious way of revelation and a fuller dispensation of Grace the state of the Old Testament under the Law and the Prophets is to be done away not by way of Abrogation but by way of Excellency and so these Scriptures also I conceive are to be understood They shall say no more The Lord lives that brought up his people out of the land of Egypt Jer. 2.3 c. Not that this mercy should be wholly forgotten but as it were darkned and obscured by a greater mercy and a more glorious deliverance and that place also They shall no more teach one another saying Know the Lord for they shall be all taught of God from the greatest unto the least that is there shall be a more full and glorious way of discovery that in comparison of that abundance of light when the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the fulness of Grace vvhen the vveak shall be as David there shall be no need of those former vvays of instructions but they shall have their teaching more immediately from the Lord and so that place There shall be no more need of the light of the Sun and of the Moon there shall be a fuller and more glorious light there shall novv seem to be no need of these former vvays of instruction by them and also that place they shall see his face Rev. 22.4 not that men shall have the Beatifical vision here but that there shall be a fuller manifestation of God insomuch that in comparison of what it was before it shall be even as seeing his face in glory as there shall be no more death no more sorrow no more crying not that absolutely there shall be no more for while there shall be sin there will be cause of sorrow and there shall be death till the Resurrection when the change of them that are found alive at the Lords coming shall be to them instead of death death is the last enemy that shall be destroyed immediately before the giving up of the Kingdom of Christ unto the Father but the peace and prosperity of the Church shall be such all the former persecuting Monarchies being destroyed that there shall be in comparison of what there was in former times no more death nor sorrow nor crying under persecutions and groaning and mourning under the cruelties of men no more And thus you see for all this the Law and the Prophets continue till Heaven and Earth be no more Object 2 But it is said in this Text Gal. 3.19 that this subserviency of the Law was but to last till the seed should come unto whom the promise was made and afterwards be given in the hand of a Mediator Vers 16. But till then and that seed is said to be Christ and therefore now Christ being come who is that seed this subserviency of the Law is ended for till then it was to last and no longer Answ 1. Some would seem to understand this only of the Ceremonial Law which they say is afterwards said to be a School-master to bring men unto Christ and so Beza seems to carry it namely that the School-master is only the Ceremonial Law which I conceive our former whole discourse of the use of the Moral Law in this great work of bringing a soul to Christ by discovering of sin and restraining sin and shewing a man the way of Gospel-obedience hath fully rectified but if we consider what is said vers 12 13. this will be clearly manifested for he speaks of that Law that saith He that doth them shall live in them and of that Law that saith Cursed is every one that continues not
unnecessary He that appointed the city of refuge did as necessarily appoint an avenger of blood to pursue or else men vvould not have fled unto that city Will you say this is preaching damnation and driving men to despair vvas it not preached by Christ whose heart was so full of love and thoughts of Grace and who wept over Jerusalem he preached the Law and published it for his seeds sake Truly when we preach the Law we preach Salvation and not damnation intentionally the Lord did deliâ—er the Law for Salvation to serve the ends of the Gospel and so we do preach it and â—et if it proves not so it is by accident by reason of the corruption of the heart of man â—he damnation that it meets withal is thence Therefore see your folly and be ashamed of your ignorance It is a high act of Grace and one of the greatest priviledges that Believers have by Christ that the Law is a servant to the Gospel and yet that Mercy you despise and that Grace you do not love you are to be ashamed of your folly and unthankfulness herein 3. It should teach Ministers that the Law must be preached to the same intent that it was revealed and delivered in the hand of a Mediator and to the ends of the Gospel and that not only the curses and threatnings of the Law but the precepts and duties of the Law also In the curses and threatnings of the Law our Divines have usually sent men to Christ to bear those but duties have been pressed though not without Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazian Orat. 17. but that a sufficiency is to be had in him and acceptance from him yet not laying Christ as the foundation of duties as he should have been in time past but men have been prest to duty without a through discovery of a mans Union with Christ as the ground of his assistance and acceptance as there should have been and so men have been put upon duties in a Moral or Legal way as if they had wrought them by their own strength and had a power in themselves though without Christ by reason of their imperfection they could not be accepted and so the way of the Gospel hath not been so clearly discovered and the subserviency of the Law unto the Gospel-grace as it should When the Law is so preached that men are stirred up to seek for Grace in another and to obey him and when the Grace of the Gospel is thus offered as that it inables a man to walk in the way of the precepts of the Law this is indeed to preach the Gospel when a man does so publish the Grace thereof that he does also publish the Law as a servant thereunto 4. See how the heart of God is much in the Salvation of Sinners and to exalt the Grace of the Gospel and honour and magnifie Mercy Isa 53.10 it is now that he would force men to accept of it If men were left unto themselves Christ should never be accepted but die in vain and not a man ever be saved though there were a city of refuge unless there were also an avenger of blood it is not enough for to offer mercy a moral perswasion will not do it but there is without a Law compelling breaking and within there is a spirit drawing and the drawing of the Father Joh. 6.44 lyes in a great measure in this work of the Law the Lord bringing the soul so low that the Blood of Christ and the Grace of the Gospel is precious and a man will accept him upon his own terms and say This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ came into the world to save sinners Thus is the Son a servant unto the Father Isa 42.1 and the Law also a servant to the Son and put into his hand and this shews how much the heart of the Lord is on this work and next to the subjecting of his Son is the subserviency of the Law thereunto Vse 2 It should stir us up to make use of the Law in subserviency to the Gospel for so long as we are in this life the ends of the Gospel are not accomplished there is still sin to be discovered and restrained and condemned there are inward principles the Law in the heart to be perfected and there are duties in which men are to be directed in their whole course and so long as the ends of the Gospel are not attained so long the Law is still to be used and this is that mentioned 1 Tim. 1.8 1 Tim. 1.8 The Law is good if a man use it lawfully that is when it is used by us as it was delivered and published by Christ not for Justification so as to exact righteousness and acceptation from it not to set it up against Christ and the Grace of the Gospel to make the way of the Gospel void as the Jews did Rom. 10.3 but in the hand of a Mediator and for the ends of it and they are the great things of the Law it is the Royal Law and therefore it is a dangerous thing to abase it and therein to take the name of God in vain And as to neglect the Salvation of the Gospel so to despise the convictions or instructions of the Law When the Law is used to discover sin and to keep a man always low and humble in the sense of his own vileness it makes him set a high price upon Christ and the Mercy and Grace of God in him and makes him to keep close to him to keep in the city of refuge because the avenger of blood is without the gate to expect him and that which did at first bring a man in will keep him in for Christ is made a curse for us There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 And when a man comes once to delight in the Law of God it is sweeter to him than honey and dearer to him than thousands of Gold and Silver upon this ground because it furthers the Salvation of the Gospel as Paul says I delight in the law of the Lord in the inward man so far as a man hath an inward principle of conformity to the Law and is regenerate so far the Law is his delight the more a man is sanctified Mat. 11. ult the more precious and sweet it is to him the Commandments of Christ are not grievous but he doth willingly take up the yoke of Christ because it is sweet and light and profitable There is a sweetness in obedience as vvell as an ease and there is a profit also for there is a fruit unto holiness here as vvell as the end everlasting life and vvhen the Lavv does bring a man dovvn to follow the Lamb whither soever he goes and to vvalk humbly vvith his God and say Lord what wilt thou have me to do this is properly for a man to use the Law lawfully for the Law
of the Covenant Ezek. 20.37 2 The Author of this Covenant Jehovah the Lord God alsufficient and therefore he doth not here call it Abrahams Covenant but it is my Covenant 3 The fountain from which in God this Covenant does flow And I will make my Covenant between me and thee and will multiply thee exceedingly This Covenant is a free gift and an act meerly of free grace and so much doth Abraham acknowledge immediately for he falls upon his face to shew that he could never be thankful enough The property of a thankful soul is this the more mercy it receives from God and the more boldness it may have with God and with the greater confidence he may come to him with the greater reverence he does walk towards the Lord for there is nothing that a gracious heart fears more than goodness and he is lowest in himself when the Lord exalts him highest by his Grace And this doth the Lord repeat three times I will make a Covenant with thee and my Covenant shall be with thee and vers 7. I will establish my Covenant with thee I will cause my Covenant to arise that is I will raise up such a relation between me and thee I will take thee into Covenant with my self and I will enter into Covenant with thee and this he doth repeat so often as Mercer does observe partly to confirm the Faith of Abraham in the promised mercy partly to set forth the greatness of the mercy which no words were sufficient to express also the repetition does stir up and awaken Abraham yet further to consider of the greatness of the mercy of God to him in it and the greatness also of his engagement to God thereby And from hence the first observation that I shall give you is from looking upon Abrahams Covenant as being the same with that God made with all the faithful Gal. 3. ult Doct. After man was fallen and had broken the first Covenant the Lord out of his free Grace hath made with his people a second Covenant and a better Covenant In the handling hereof are four things to be cleared 1 The Person that makes the Covenant who it is Jehovah El-shaddai 2 That God will after the fall as well as before deal with his Elect in a Covenant-way 3 The Lord hath the first and the chief hand in it I will do it I even I and therefore he doth every where call it my Covenant 4 That the fountain of this Covenant is from Gods free Grace 1. The Person that makes it the Author of this Covenant and here there are two things 1 That all the persons in the Trinity do enter into Covenant and thereby bind themselves to make themselves over unto the Elect and that will appear to you by these Considerations 1 They have all of them the same nature and essence the same will and have all a hand in the same acts as Creation is the act of them all so they do all concur in making of the Covenant Father Son and Holy Ghost 2 This is a Covenant of peace and reconciliation and the Son and the Spirit are as truly offended with the sin of man and had a hand in the first Covenant and their authority was as truly despised in the first transgression as the authority of the Father and a dishonour was put upon them also and therefore there was as much need that they should be reconciled and enter into a Covenant with man for his Salvation Bern. Ser. 1. de adventu Domini as God the Father Yea some Divines conceive that the first transgression of Angels and men was chiefly against the Son and some of our own Divines as Reinolds in Psal 110. pag. 421. say That the first sin of man was principally committed against the Son it being an affectation of that which did properly belong to him to be like unto God in Wisdom and also in this was sown the seed of the unpardonable sin which was to be the fatal sin under the second Covenant and therefore as the mercy was the more glorious that they would undertake Offices in this Covenant for reconciliation so there was the greater necessity that they should also join and be taken into the Covenant 3 If we consider the person that does transact this business and strike up this Covenant with Abraham who though he did it as the Word of God in the name of all the persons yet it was the Son who did immediately speak in it as Glassius expounds Job 33.3 the word is there The breath of the Almighty and Psal 91.1 where the same word is used it is the shadow of the Almighty c. 4 If we consider that the Son speaks of himself in Covenant as well as his Father for it is by this Covenant that the Lord is the God of Abraham because therein he did promise so to be now Exod. 3.2 6. the Angel of the Lord appeared unto Moses and saith I am the God of thy fathers the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac c. Act. 7.30 and the Angel of the Lord is by Scripture plainly proved to be God the Son and it 's generally or for the most part consented unto by all Divines ancient and modern Mal. 3.1 and it may be that having the great hand in striking up the Covenant he is therefore called the Angel of the Covenant 2. Though all the persons enter into Covenant with the Saints yet the person that the Scripture says we do chiefly enter into Covenant with and that hath the main and first hand therein is God the Father 1. Because it is said in Scripture to be a Covenant of peace and reconciliation and therefore it doth suppose an enmity and a war Now though sin was committed against all the Persons yet the suite against sinners in Scripture does chiefly run in God the Father's name as in all Societies there is usually one in whose name all their suites are commenced therefore 2 Cor. 5.18 19. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself he speaks 〈◊〉 of God the Father who does reconcile us unto himself by Jesus Christ and therefore we are said to be reconciled to God and the work of the reconciliation of a sinner Christ calls his Fathers business and he is said to be an Advocate with the Father 1 Joh. 2.1 Sin is an offence to all the Persons they having all a hand in mans Creation and all of them joining in giving man a Law and entring into Covenant with him in his Creation but in Scripture the suite against sin is said to run every where in the Fathers name and our reconciliation is unto him and therefore it is the Father that has the great hand in the Covenant as the person reconciled 2. Because in the Scripture the other Persons have their peculiar Offices which they have voluntarily undertaken in this Covenant to reconcile men unto God and therefore both are said to be
Because the Lord will honour his Son as the second Adam and the glory of the first Adam was a Covenant and an Image and so shall the second Adam be And he must have a seed also to whom these shall be conveyed Isa 53.8 The word signifies generation In whom he shall see his seed and prolong his days as Psal 72. and Christ is his Son in both generation and succession naturally as they bear his Image and legally as they stand under his Covenant and the Lord will honour the second Adam as he did the first in both these the Lord having made Adam the type of him that was to come 3. That hereby the Lord might honour the Creature the Covenant is the staff of beauty because it is the great beauty and glory of any people that God hath taken them into Covenant Zach. 11.10 specially if we consider the second Covenant to be Matrimonial and the Lord doth thereby betroth him unto himself in loving kindness and mercy and faithfulness as Hos 2.18 the great honour of the people of Israel Deut. 26.18 was that they were a people peculiar unto God thence he is called the God of Israel and this is the great honour of the Saints which makes them more excellent than their neighbours because they have God so nigh them to be their God in Covenant 4. That it may be the greater obligation unto men to obedience Gen. 17.7 I will establish my Covenant with thee thou shalt therefore keep my Covenant And it is the great answer unto all Temptations I am in Covenant with the Lord as a woman that is married it is a sufficient answer unto all other suiters I am already married unto another Je◠13.11 As a girdle to the loins of a man so have I caused the whole house of Israel to cleave unto me that they might be unto me for a name and for a praise The Lord bound them to him by Covenant and it is a great aggravation of sin that the Lord loves us and we forget the Covenant of our God therefore Adultery is aggravated above all other sins Hos 3.2 A woman beloved of her husband yet an adulteress how abominable is it 5. To sweeten obedience and make it the more free and voluntary when a man takes it upon himself and gives the hand to the Lord 2 Chron. 30.7 8. which was the custom amongst men when they entred into Covenant Ezek. 17.18 and that men might see that their good always goes along with their duty and that God that did command to obey did promise to reward and therefore did it not ex indigentia sed potentia out of indigence but from power Christs goodness extends not unto God as munificentia by way of munificence Austin puts the difference between man and God in this as the Earth drinks up the water so doth the Sun-beams also one out of its own necessity but the other out of its power so God requires duty out of bounty for your good always that he may reward it Grace does not destroy but raise and rectifie self-love Christ in his obedience had a glory set before him and so had Moses a respect to the recompence of reward There is a love of reward which is lawful when it is not this that is the only thing that lancheth a man forth in a duty but only fills his sails but when it is mercenary love and has respect to nothing in the duty but the loaves this is sinful and it is this Covenant that makes the yoke of Christ easie and profitable having an eye to the exceeding great and precious promises which engages a man to have respect to all the Commandments for the Lord doth delight to allure men into ways of holiness and duty Hos 2.14 Lastly the Lord will have it so 1 That by the promises of this Covenant he may sanctifie a man change his image and make him partaker of the Divine nature and that every one of them may carry the soul continually to Christ as streams to the fountain 2 Pet. 1.4 in whom they are Yea and Amen 2 That this may be the ground of a working faith and a lively hope and a fervent prayer all which are grounded only upon the promises of this Covenant for had there not been a Covenant between God and us there had been no place for faith no ground for hope and no room for the prayer of faith which only is bottomed upon a promise 3 Whatever is done in this Covenant it is God that has the first and chief hand therein and we do not enter into Covenant with him but he enters into Covenant with us first though the Covenant be mutual yet it is called the Lords Covenant as Christ faith unto his Disciples Joh. 15.16 You have not chosen me but I have chosen you they did chuse Christ as every believing soul doth but the love first began on Christs part and so it does also in this Covenant 1 Joh. 4.10 Not that we loved him but he loved us and me love him because he loved us first so we do not begin the Covenant with God but the Lord doth begin with us and the motion came from him alone God the Father is not passive in it but active he was content that Christ should reconcile us to him As it was to David an acceptable service of Joab in reconciling his Son Absalom to him because his heart did run out to him so God the Father is active in this work he is in Christ reconciling the world and all that Christ does is by the Fathers appointment and he is his servant in it and it is the pleasure of the Lord and he doth love to have it so and had not he imployed Christ in this work there had never been a reconciliation between God and man As it is true by our Union with Christ we are joined to or as the word signifies glewed to the Lord yet the Union doth begin on Christs part first and Christ unites himself to us by the Spirit before we can by our faith be united to him so it is in the Covenant also it does begin on Gods part and as it was the Womans great dishonour to be first in the transgression so it is the Lords great glory to be first in the reconciliation And therefore when Adam after his fall stood trembling and could expect nothing but a sentence of condemnation the Lord was pleased to reveal a new Covenant to him for the Text saith he was afraid and he hid himself so unto Abraham the motion of a Covenant was from the Lord and not from Abraham There is a Grace preceding which works Grace and there is also a Grace co-operating that acts Grace but it is preventing Grace that is the first § 3. The main part of this Covenant is transacted by God without us which will appear if we consider the particulars of it 1. The Purpose and intention of
consideration 1 as a surety 2 as an Advocate or a common person And in these two I conceive Christ as our representative is set forth 1 as a surety that did undertake to do a thing for another and doth by his own consent bind himself thereunto and when he hath done it for the party then he is discharged of his bond and the party also for whom he was bound unto the performance And in this sence Christ was made sin for us and laid down an answerable price for us 2 as a common person as one who personates another and acts his part by the allowance and authority of Law so that what he doth is by the Law reckoned to be done by the person whom he represents and a possession taken by him stands good in Law as if it had been taken by the other And this the Lord hath made Christ unto us that according unto all sorts of Laws among men our redemption and salvation by him might be to declare his righteousness Rom. 3.25 that by all sorts of legal considerations amongst men it might hold good in a way of Justice And unto these two great ends as a double representative of all men as the second Adam Christ was elected and we in him as in a common head Now though man as a creature subjected unto the sovereignty of God comes under an act of his will yet the Lord Christ being the Son and thought it no robbery to be equal with God did not and therefore as he did not suffer without his own consent for a sacrifice it could not be unless voluntary the person having a power over himself and his own actions and therefore the Lord did not by his authority impose it upon him whether he would or no so his being chosen to it was by his consent that as he did chuse you together with the Father and had an equal hand in your election I know whom I have chosen and as you were from eternity given unto Christ by his Father in your election Rev. 13.8 thine they were and thou gavest them to me so did Christ also consent unto his own election and it was not meerly by the appointment of the Father as an act of his will and sovereignty as the election of man was but the Father did appoint him and Christ did consent unto that appointment and determination of the Father before the World began and therefore as he became a surety by his own will so he was by his own will appointed a surety and a common person for all the elect of God And herein we see the great ground of the Covenant between God and Christ before the World was God did not chuse Christ as a person that was to be chosen as he did chuse you but The word was with God God was the word John 1.2 and there were transactions and consultations between God and Christ before the world was and upon the Fathers motion and the Sons consent he was chosen unto this great service and you in him so that the Covenant between the Father and the Son doth reach as high as to be the great ground of the election of Christ unto this great service and office that he hath undertaken For God did not impose it upon him as an act of his dominion but barely by his own consent and as he did not call him unto the execution without his own consent so his own consent did concur unto his election for election is an act of the will of God and of his soveraignty and as he was the Son he could not come under an act of his will but by his own consent Vse 2 2. We may hence see how deep the plot of our Redemption and Salvation by Christ was laid it was not a thing occasionally taken up and barely to serve a turne but it was a plotted thing I confess the Scriptures do hold forth the Incarnation of Christ to be the ground of his redeeming men that were sinners He came to seek and to save that which was lost and when we were weak God commended his love to us in this that he dyed for the ungodly c. But the foundation of this was laid in a deep counsel between the Father and his Son at the Council-Table in Heaven before the World was and the Covenant of mans Redemption was made with our surety before the Covenant of your Creation was made with you And so much those two words Prov. 8.22 23. the Lord possessed me and the Lord anointed me do necessarily import and that word also Mic. 5.2 His goings forth as from the days of eternity Which as Calvin expounds it refer unto the Mediator as being head of the Church and not unto his eternal generation as is commonly expounded and this is the ground of Christs delight with the sons of men before the World was Prov. 8.31 as those whose names he had covenanted to bear and whose persons he had ingaged himself to represent before the Father And this shews how the design of God from everlasting hath been to save sinners and to glorifie himself in a way of mercy and grace through a Mediator And it is the consideration hereof that is the greatest ingagement in the World to sinners to come in and return to him because God is in Christ reconciling the world c. 2 Cor. 5.19 For he did undertake to represent your persons as your surety and representative before the world was 1 This Covenant made with Christ could not indeed actually take place as unto us till man was fallen because it was in the hand of a Mediator and required satisfaction by way of a sacrifice but yet though it be last in execution it was first in intention and the Covenant of Works made in your creation is only called the first Covenant in reference unto the relation and discovery of it unto us but it was the Covenant of Grace in Christ that was the first Covenant in it self and first past between the Father and the Son from everlasting and this shews how exceedingly the heart of God was ingaged in it before you were before you had need of a Surety for the Lord to appoint one and enter into a Covenant with him to perform this work for God to create the World first and bring men into it and for the Lord to take notice of mans necessity of a help meet for him before man did observe any such want of himself this was an argument of great love and care of God towards man but to provide not only a meet help but a meet Mediator and to take care to provide for your salvation and his own glory therein before he did proceed to your creation this shews how strangely his heart was set upon this great design of glorifying himself in the World in a way of Grace in your Salvation 2 If he had only taken up this purpose in himself it had set forth much love
grace as well as the righteousness must be in another as a middle person between God and Man by whom all must be bestowed 1. 1 Joh. 5.11 Joh. 3.34 Jo. 1.16 It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell 2. The Spirit could be received in its fullness from no other the Spirit without measure was in him 3 It could be derived by no other the fullness that we do all receive must be dispensed by daily and continued supplies from him Phil. 1.19 for in us it shall not be perfect in this life and who can dispense it but he that hath the Knowledge and Wisdom of a God and an eye over all the earth according to the condition and necessity of his people and he can give them out of himself suitable and seasonable supplies and though he be in Heaven he can be touched with our infirmities 4thly The Covenant must be made with Christ and with us in him because this makes much unto the Honour of Christ the Prince of the Covenant Christ is said to be Head of the Church Col. 1.18 Isa 28.16 John 15.1 Rev. 5.5 Col. 1.18 and he is not only a head of Influence but of Eminence and that in all things and therefore in Scripture all names of precedency and priority are given him in a building he is the foundation in a Tree he is the root nay he is the root of David and therefore David was by him David did not bear the root but the root him There was a double honour that God bestowed upon the first Adam 1 He was caput forense a legal Head as a Covenant was made with him and 2 Naturale a natural head as an Image was laid up in him Now we deny unto Christ one part of his glory unless we acknowledge him to be first in the Covenant a common head of representation as well as in receiving an Image for us Therefore Rom. 11.16 it is the honour of Abraham that the Covenant after a sort in reference unto his family began in him Mic. 7.20 but in this Abraham was but a Type and it must be fulfilled in Christ who was to be the Father of many Nations and in him all Nations should be blessed Isa 9.6 and is therefore called wonderful counseller everlasting father c. They all come under his Covenant as all the Saints did under Abrahams and therefore even the Gentiles also are called Abrahams seed Heb. 2. and so all that come under Christs Covenant are called his seed he shall see his seed and he shall at last day present them to God with this expression Here am I and the children thou hast given me 5thly This doth exceedingly advance the grace of the Second Covenant for God to enter into Covenant with man after his fall and breach of his first Covenant was a great mercy and to be taken into the same Covenant with Abraham was a great mercy but it is one of the highest mercies Isa 49.9 that Christ is given as a Covenant to stand under the same Covenant with the Son of God 1 Under all blessings whatever we receive we receive not apart from Christ but as one with him we are justified by his righteousness sanctified by his spirit receive his Image here and in Heaven we enter into our Masters joy all not apart from him but as one with him 2 All the blessings of the Covenant we may claim in Christs right by vertue of the Covenant made with him for us and therefore Joh. 20.17 Joh. 1.12 to as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe in his name And Dan. 9.17 For the Lords sake for the Covenant is the same between God and Christ that is between God and us 3 We perform all the duties of the Covenant as accepted in the person of Christ the Lord receives them all from the hand of Christ who is ingaged by Covenant to perform them Hos 14.8 In him is all our fruit found And therefore Joh. 15.2 it is bearing fruit in him and they are received as they come out of the Angels hand All our obedience is looked upon by God as the obedience of Christ and all our sufferings as the sufferings of Christ unto this day all our hope is in our head 6thly From the great inconveniences that must needs follow upon the Doctrine that the Covenant should be first made with us and Christ only come in but at second hand to make up our defects 1 Thereby Christ should in a great measure lose the glory of his headship for if it be an honour to Christ to be a Head by receiving an Image then it is an honour also first to receive a Covenant Col. 2.19 as it was of the first Adam It is as great a sin and therefore must needs be as dangerous a Doctrine to look unto our selves only for a Covenant as it is to look into our selves only for an Image 2 This will in a great measure take away the ground of our communion with Christ 1 Jo. 1.3 our fellowship is with him we have a communion with Christ in his righteousness priviledges and victories and the ground of this communion is only the Covenant We have communion with Adam in his sin and curse because the hand-writing of our Fathers is ours so the ground of our communion with Christ in his righteousness is as he is a representative head and as we come under his Covenant and therefore his obedience is ours his sufferings ours we suffered with him we died in him rise with him because we are under the same Covenant with him 3 In this does the stability of the Covenant of Grace lye it is an everlasting Covenant and unchangeable because it is made with an unchangeable head Adams Covenant and so that of the Angels was subject to change because the persons were changeable with whom the Covenant was made if the Covenant were primarily made with us then our unfaithfulness might break the Covenant as Adams did but our Image is not blotted out by our sins as Adams was because the fountain of it is not within us 1 Jo. 5.1 but in another and he hath said because I live you shall live so our unfaithfulness makes not the Covenant void because it is not made with us but with him and with us in him and because he keeps the Covenant it must needs remain sure to all the seed so that as our sins blot not out our Image so they break not the Covenant because Christ is the root and the head in the one as well as in the other and so it is every way more honourable for Christ and comfortable for us that the Covenant should be made with him and he be the person upon whom the principal ingagement should lye and upon us in the second place that so though we be unfaithful yet the Covenant may remain
by his own free and voluntary condescension We were first sin and he was made sin for us we a curse first and he made a curse for us so we were first under the Covenant of Works and he did freely subject himself to be made under the Law he took our nature that he might communicate his to us so he takes our Covenant and subjects himself to it that he might impart unto us his Covenant and bring that into the World But as for the Covenant of Grace it was made first with him and we come under this Covenant only by Union with him Gal. 3. las◠his voluntary union with us as our surety brought him under our Covenant and our voluntary union with him as our head brings us under his Covenant The curse came upon him by our Covenant which we were first in and the blessing comes upon us by vertue of his Covenant in which he was first SECT III. Christs Headship in the Covenant applied Vse 1 § 1. IT instructs us first to observe the rich and free Grace of God that hath given his Son as a Covenant to the Nations which mercy the Prophet Isaiah exalts Isa 42.6 To us a child is born to us a son is given and the giving of his person was the highest honour and the greatest gift but yet it will be more heightned in our thoughts if we consider the ends for which he is given and the glorious retinue of all grace that follows him For he is given as a head with a Covenant and an Image and we admire God that hath laid up all grace in Christ to dispense unto us that of his fulness we may receive grace for grace This is to give him but half of his glory as he is the Churches head and the second Adam for he doth bring a Covenant into the World as well as an Image and in this respect happily amongst others he is called the Angel of the Covenant 1st It is a free gift there are three things in a gift 1 It is not ex debito of debt God did not owe unto man a Covenant it was all free grace it was that made him enter into a Covenant at first barely to sweeten mans obedience and therefore that man might be willing to be bound to obey God himself is content to be bound to reward him But when man had broken the first Covenant and was perfidious before God now to enter into a second Covenant this makes the Grace of God the greater because otherwise he should have perished under the curse of the first 2 It is not ex pretio by price there is no price that did purchase the Covenant though all the benefits and blessings of the Covenant are purchased by Christ yet the Covenant it self is grounded only upon free grace and it is this Covenant that is the ground of all the acts of Christ and the acceptation of them all is grounded only upon free Grace in the Covenant and compact between him and his Father 3 Not ex merito of merit from any thing that we can do for there is not the least blessing in the second Covenant but it is of Grace and the reward is not reckoned of debt but of grace and if all the benefits of the Covenant be so much more the Covenant it self from whence comes all the grace we have to do any thing pleasing in the sight of God 2dly The greatness of the gift is seen in the love of the giver There was a love manifested in the first Covenant but yet it was not such by which he did intend that any of the Sons of men should be saved He has said That by the works of the law shall no man be justified and the inheritance is not by the law c. But the second Covenant did proceed from Gods electing love which is exactly suited thereunto for Ephes 1.3 4. he doth observe the same order in the benediction that he did in election And the more difficulties love breaks through the greater it is Cant. 8.7 Now our Covenant-breaking might provoke God to withdraw his love and yet the greatness of his love is seen in the duration of it The first Covenant was broken and thereby that love was turned into hatred and God became our enemy as common love will end in everlasting hatred but this is from his everlasting love and therefore it is an everlasting Covenant 3dly The greatness of it is seen in our necessity We were 1 under a Covenant broken and therefore under the curse of it 2 It was a Covenant without a Mediator for God could not enter into Covenant immediately with us being fallen as we have heard at large therefore there was in the first Covenant no commutation of the person we must answer for it in our own persons the soul that sins must dye 3 A Covenant that promises no spark of repentance 4 A Covenant that promises no mercy or acceptance upon repentance and therefore man had been left in a remediless condition even as the Devil at this day 2 Pet. 2.4 being bound in the chains of darkness 2 Pet. 2.4 which is nothing else but the curse of their Covenant Now in this condition it is the Gospel of Christ the Grace of God that brings salvation Tit. 2.11 Life and immortality is brought to light thereby 4thly Consider the excellency of this Covenant The first Covenant indeed is that under which the Angels stand by which they do injoy happiness and glory but this is the Covenant under which Christ stands of which he is the Glory the Prince the Messenger the Mediator of a better Covenant which the Angels admire and were it offered to them would change their Covenant and cast away their own righteousness that they might come under the Covenant of Grace by which Covenant the Saints enjoy all their happiness and glory in Heaven and have the promises of the life that now is and that which is to come 5thly That Christ is given as a Covenant doth heighten the promises thereof and make them of a far more glorious nature Rev. 21.7 than those under the first Covenant For I will be thy God and thou shalt have an interest in all that is in me for thy good as truly as it is mine for my own glory The promises are infinitely heightned because he that is the Prince of the Covenant was worthy and capable which no meer creature could be 6thly This makes the promises of it sure unto all the seed for with Christ God cannot break Covenant and there is nothing in this Covenant but is purchased as well as promised and the righteousness is everlasting sin can never spend it Heb. 7.22 Surety of a better testament A surety not only of the old Covenant to pay the debt but also of the new to perform the duty so that God expects all from him and accepts all as it doth proceed from his hand 2. This instructs
promise higher things the Lord to be your God and Christ to be your head your Husband his Spirit to be the guide of your way and also the earnest of your inheritance a higher Righteousness a higher Sonship a nearer Union a fuller Communion as the Spouse of Christ and as his Members and a more exceeding eternal weight of glory being rewarded not according unto the Covenant of man but according to the Covenant of Christ 3 Better promises because of their assurance and stability the promises of the first Covenant might come to an end and be swallowed up in the Curse as they were but the promises of the second are the sure mercies of David for the righteousness of it is an everlasting righteousness and therefore the promises are eternal promises 4 But there is one thing as great as any of these and that is they are all of them the promises made unto Christ and by vertue of the Covenant belong unto him 2 Cor. 1.20 In him are all the promises yea and Amen That is they are made unto him and they belong unto us and unto us are fulfilled only by vertue of our Union with him as we live in him and dye in him so we receive promises in him and this is the sweetness of all Gospel promises they do every one of them carry a man to the fountain of his interest and that brings into the Soul infinitely the more sweetness As if a Wife take a favour from her Husband and look no further there is not so much in it but yet in every favour she is carried back unto the Marriage Covenant which assures her not only of this but also of all others whatever is his she has a right to because of the Covenant past between them this is sweet to her And so here it brings into the Soul the sweetness of all the promises together with the present mercy As to a wicked man in Hell that hath the terrors of God upon him every evil doth carry him unto the fountain of it and that is to the anger and hatred of God and the curse of the Covenant that he hath broken and this imbitters his misery a Thousand times more for now the Soul saith this is but a pledge of infinitely more wrath So it is here every promise carries him to the fountain and that assuring him not only of this supply but whatever else he can stand in need of for in a mans interest in Christ is infinite more sweetness than in any blessing or benefit we receive by him Now when a man shall look upon this promise not only as sweet but as his inheritance as he is a Son of Abraham and an Heir of Promise it brings with it infinitely more sweetness than the promises of mercy it self abstractly and in it self injoyed 5. For all the duties and obedience to the Covenant And this is commonly the great affliction of the people of God the Gospel requires obedience as well as the Law and there is a Law of Christ to be kept and there is a yoak of Christ to be born and Christ that hath abolished the Law as a Covenant and a Curse has established the Law as a rule of Gospel obedience and hath therein made it a hand-maid to the Gospel and therefore the Law upon Mount Sinai was given in the hand of a Mediator Gal. 3.19 And how shall we be able to perform this duty by the power of inherent grace It is impossible 1 from the remainders of sin Rom. 7. There is a law in the members rebelling against the law of the mind and the fulfilling of the Law requires a holy nature as well as a holy life 2 From the imperfections of Grace Says the Apostle Paul Not that I have already attained not that I am already perfect c. And how then shall a man appear before God Now comes in the Covenant of Christ and of this Covenant he is a surety Heb. 7.22 not only to pay the debt that we did owe under the old Covenant but also to perform the duty that is required of me under the new and therefore the Lord did lay help on one that is mighty we should have failed Psal 89. for we could neither pay the debt of the one nor do the duty of the other therefore the Lord hath laid all upon Christ and will expect all of him and he must present us unto his Father as a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle and what imperfection soever there be in our duties he must offer them pure before God with his odours and all this is from the Covenant made with him In him is our fruit found Rev. 8.3 6. The stability of the Covenant can never fail it is an everlasting Covenant and sure mercy 1 Upon the faithfulness of God it 's confirmed with an Oath 2 From the obedience of Christ who hath performed all that is required in this Covenant 3 From the promise made unto him for the Oath is made first to Christ Heb. 7. Psal 110. and if the Lord could fail with you he could not fail with him There are Three things that amongst men are in a special manner noted as the acts of the highest injustice and wickedness 1 To keep back the hirelings wages 2 Not to fulfill the will of the dead 3 The cry of innocent blood going unrevenged and all these the Lord abhors in men and they shall not be found in him Now Christ is Gods hired servant and his reward is Heb. 9.15 16. to see the travail of his soul it is his last Will and Testament when he died that by means of his death they that are called might receive the promise and it 's a blood that speaks better things than the blood of Abel Adams Covenant did change because it was established with a mutable head And hence as the Lord doth make suppositions Isa 54.10 The Mountains may depart and the Hills remove if you can change the Covenant of the day and of the night then may the Covenant of my peace be broken And in assurance thereof the Saints do make supplications The Lord is our God we will not fear though the earth be removed and the mountains cast into the sea Psal 46.1 2. And the root of all the stability of the Covenant lyes in Christ the foundation of the Covenant 7. The acceptation that you find with God is grounded hereupon 2 Cor 5.9 We labour whether present or absent to be accepted of him and there is a double acceptation one of persons and the other of services 1 Of persons as we find Gen. 4.4 If thou dost well thou shalt be accepted says God offer it to thy Prince will he accept thy person 2 Of services Mal. 1. Heb. 12.28 They are acceptable services As God delights in the plagues of wicked men Psal 120. Coals of Juniper which burn sweetly and fiercely so in the services of the
Covenant there is an oath made by God the Father to Christ and there is an oath also made to us there is an oath made unto Christ and therefore he is said to be made a Priest by a Covenant oath Psal 110.4 and the oath to us Heb. 6.17 18. Who are heirs of promise that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie c. God having taken up unchangeable counsels concerning this Covenant he did therefore to shew the Immutability of his Counsel confirm it by an oath and being so engaged he cannot go back though that be true also because he is faithful and cannot deny himself Yet because his counsel was unchangeable and he did never intend to alter his Covenant for ever therefore he did swear that he might shew how much his heart was in it and that he did never intend to change it but his counsel in it was unchangeable And this Doctrine I do the rather pitch upon in opposition to the licentious tenent of the Antinomians from the former Doctrine The Covenant of grace is made with Christ and he has undertaken to perform all duties required of us and bear all the curse for us as he was our surety therefore say they all is required of Christ and nothing of us and so though we walk never so loosly and corruptly yet God will require all at his hands and while Christ doth not fail the Covenant on our part can never be broken Indeed this is a truth that God has laid help upon one that is mighty and he does expect all at Christs hand because he can never fail the Covenant cannot be broken for he is the surety thereof but yet we must remember withall that we come under the same Covenant with Christ and we in our place are bound unto the same obedience and so far as we come short we sin and may be charged with unfaithfulness before God though this shall never break the Covenant nor be imputed unto a man to his destruction because this Covenant has a surety yet as the Covenant with the first Adam bound all his posterity unto the same duty so does the Covenant made with the second Adam also only a man might have broken the first Covenant for himself though he could not break it for all mankind but under the second Covenant a man cannot break the Covenant for himself so as not to be capable of mercy upon repentance because the second Adam is the surety thereof 2. The Reasons why it was necessary that the Covenant of Grace should be made with all the faithful and not with Christ only as their head are Reason 1 1. To answer those great ends why God will deal with man in a Covenant way 1 The Lord will enter into Covenant that he may declare his glory not only in a way of goodness but in a way of faithfulness In the Creation the Lord did shew forth much power and wisdom and in the Law much holiness But there was no way to manifest his faithfulness Mic. 7.20 but by Covenant The Lord hath chosen you above all people that you might know that he is the Lord the faithful God And Rom. 15.8 9. there is the truth of God to the Jews herein manifested and the mercy of God to the Gentiles who were strangers and not before taken into Covenant so that it is hereby the Lord doth gloriously manifest an Attribute and that which shall manifest an Attribute must be no small matter and therefore when the Lord doth shew his power he doth create the Heavens and the Earth and lays the beams of his Chambers in the waters raiseth such a roof as the Heavens and lays such a foundation as the earth and settles it upon nothing if he will shew his love he will give his Son and if his grace he will pardon sin and if his holiness he will give a Law if his mercy to the vessels of mercy give them Heaven a kingdom of joy and glory and if his wrath he will make Hell So that whatever the Lord hath done in the world is for the manifestation of himself and that which shall make manifest any Attribute of God to the World must needs be some great thing It is only this entering into Covenant that hath manifested the faithfulness of God he had not been else known to be a faithful God unto the World as Exod. 3.6 says the Lord By the name Jehovah I was not known to them that is as a God fulfilling of the promises So by the name of a God faithful and true he had not been known but in reference to the Covenant and the faithfulness of God was so much the more manifested by this Had the Lord only entered into Covenant with Christ he keeping the Covenant and yielding obedience to it the faithfulness of God had not been put to that stress and trial as it hath been now that the Covenant is made with man and he unsteady therein and does transgress it and forget the Covenant of his God and yet that the Lord should towards him remember his holy Covenant still and our unfaithfulness not make the faithfulness of God of none effect and the people of God therefore notwithstanding all their unfaithfulness to cast themselves upon the Covenant of God and the promises thereof as David did 2 Sam. 23.5 and his words yet to be found as it were tryed words Psal 12.6 The words of the Lord are pure words tryed as silver seven times Psal 12.6 c. The fire that tries these words was that of affliction and when a man is brought into a streight and then casts himself upon a promise and thereby has experience of the truth and faithfulness of God therein then it is said to be tryed and all the people of God have had experience of it so often that there is no dross to be found in it no more than can be conceived to be in gold and silver purified seven times 2. The Lords intention was to honour man also and it 's one of the greatest and highest dignities that the Lord hath put upon his people Jer. 13.11 to bind them unto himself for a name and a glory and Deut. 26.18 19. the Lord did avouch them to be his people to make them high above all people and therefore the staff of beauty mentioned in Zach. 11.10 is the Covenant between God and his people I brake my staff of beauty that I might break my Covenant which I made with all the people c. and it is a Covenant of friendship a Covenant of marriage and in all this there is an honour and a kind of equality and it 's the ground of all the honour that the Lord doth put upon us for our union with Christ is grounded upon our Covenant with God Had the Lord taken Christ into Covenant with himself only he had indeed honoured his Son but not his Saints but now to make them
be like him for we shall see him as he is answerable to our vision of him such will be our conformity to him Mercies unto wicked men are suitable to their services they give to God unsanctified services and God does give them unsanctified rewards and their services are seemingly services but really sins so are the mercies that God gives them seeming blessings but really curses they are indeed blessings in the thing but as they draw out their corruptions so they are curses unto the men So Iratus dat amanti quod malè amat as Austin saies God gives it in wrath as he did to them Quails c. and though they were fed to the full yet he sends â—anness into their souls he gave them their hearts desire in wrath 5 By this Covenant you do ingage your selves that whatever God bestows in mercy you will return again in duty that you may injoy nothing apart from God but as the Lord saith of his people in Covenant they are his portion so you also say of God he is your God and as all that is in him is made over unto you so you will be his people and all that is in you shall be made over unto him and should be laid out or laid down for him and you shall resign to him whatever he shall call for and this is for a man to hate Father and Mother and his own life and acknowledge as David did of thine own have we given thee God gave it unto them and they do return it willingly unto God again that which is a Samuel asked of God shall be also lent unto the Lord and the soul never desires or expects good from any mercy from which God hath no glory for a man is a servant to God and it is all the Master 's that the servant hath of gains as the Law saith Cant. 8.11 Servi sunt res Domini quicquid acquirunt acquirunt domino c. Solomon had a Vineyard and he let it out to keepers and he expected the fruits thereof even a thousand pieces of Silver and of the Husbandmen to whom the Vineyard was committed the Lord expected fruits c. a soul is never so well pleased as when it brings forth fruit for God and lays out his strength to the uttermost that he may bring in a revenue of glory to the Lord his God 6 When all the duties of the Covenant are performed by us in the fittest time and in the highest and the best manner 1 In the fittest time as the Lord takes the fittest time to show us mercy so should we also take the fittest time to perform our duty to him and it 's a great matter to know the season there is an accepted time there is a day of salvation 2 And also we must perform it in the highest manner as David said It is for the Lord and therefore the house must be magnificent this have I done out of my poverty though he offered the wealth of a kingdom And the Lord says to Israel Wouldest thou offer this to thy prince I am a great king God expects we should perform all our duties with that reverence and exactness as we do when we offer any gift or present to a Ruler over us 2. We are to improve the Covenant in reference unto God for the obtaining all the mercies of the Covenant because therein the Lord hath in faithfulness ingaged himself Debita reddit nulli debens c. God pays debts and yet is debtor to none but to his own faithfulness So do they Isa 63.18 19. The Lord was departed and had sold them into the hand of strangers and they possessed their Land they pray Return for thy servants sake the tribes of thy inheritance the people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while we are thine thou never barest rule over them and thy name was never called upon them they were never a people whom thou tookest into Covenant as thou hast done unto us And so Isa 63.9 Be not wroth very sore nor remember our iniquity for ever behold I beseech thee we are all thy people Jer. 14.8 9. O thou the hope of Israel the saviour thereof in the time of trouble why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land why shouldest thou be as a man astonished as a mighty man that cannot save if thou O Lord art in the midst of us and we are called by thy name Thy name is called upon us we are thy people in Covenant The Lords portion the lot of his inheritance for God is always mindful of his Covenant and in pursuance thereof he doth whatever he doth in the world if he give Christ it is with respect to the Covenant he hath raised up an horn of salvation Luk. 1.72 that is a strong and powerful Saviour for he has laid help upon one that is mighty And all is that he might perform his Covenant unto our fathers and to remember his holy Covenant Christ and all the mercies by him which are given to us are a fruit of the Covenant that was made with Christ before the world was Lev. 26.41 42. if their uncircumcised hearts be humbled and they accept the punishment of their iniquity then will I remember my Covenant with Jacob and with Isaac and with Abraham and I will remember the land Now How should a man improve his Covenant in reference unto God 1. Consider rightly the latitude of Covenant mercies and the greatness of them for it is in this Covenant that all your salvation lies that your hearts may be carried out answerable to the vastness of the loving-kindness of God and that no mercy of the Covenant may be left unconsidered and untasted of but that you may have a taste that the Lord is gracious in every one of them and that a man may see that it is the weakness of his heart and the lowness of his spirit that he doth not press towards them all for the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.9 He labours whether present or absent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are ambitious c. habet sapientia sui generis superbiam and therefore a godly man is not willing to leave out any thing either of the graces or the priviledges of the Covenant for they are Covenant mercies that are the precious mercies of your lives the flower of all the mercies of a mans life it is therefore said to be a Covenant stablished upon better promises the first Covenant did promise life for ever in Heaven as it did threaten death for ever in Hell but yet there are better promises as he said Est aliud in Christo formosius salvatore There is something in Christ more beautiful than a Saviour so there is something in the Covenant that is better than Heaven 1 The Lord hath made over himself to us in this Covenant He is not ashamed to be called our God to be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee
our names to God in this Covenant given the hand to the Lord it is a duty often to renew it and to repeat unto a mans soul the same obligation and here I will show 1 That it is not enough that a man do enter into Covenant with the Lord but that he renew it often 2 I will give you the grounds why a man should renew his Covenant 3 Shew the times when in a special manner the Lord expects it and when it is a way to find mercy with the Lord. 4 Show you the manner how it is to be done 5 I 'le press it by setting before you the great benefits and fruits that do flow from a renewed Covenant with the Lord. 1. A man being once entred into Covenant with God is held and obliged by that Covenant for ever as we see the Devils entred into Covenant and this Covenant they have broken in respect of the precept yet they are all still under the curse of it and shall be for ever and that curse the chains of darkness in which they are held so man being once ingaged is for ever engaged therefore it 's his duty often to renew his Covenant and that will appear in these particulars 1. The Lord hath often renewed his Covenant with his people he made a Covenant with Abraham Gen. 15.18 and yet he renews his Covenant again Gen. 17.2 4 7. So the Lord did take Israel into Covenant with himself and his name was called upon them he doth take them into their Fathers Covenant he remembred his Covenant with Abraham and Isaac Exod. 6.4 5 7. and he saith I will take you unto me for a people and I will be to you a God and you shall know that I am the Lord your God c. and yet this Covenant he renews in a publick and solemn manner upon Mount Sinai when out of his mouth went a fiery law Deut. 5.2 3. Deut. 5.2 3. He made a Covenant with us in Horeb he made not this Covenant with our Fathers some refer it unto all the Patriachs from Adam and so the Covenant was the same for they entred into Abrahams Covenant but it is spoken in regard of the publick and glorious way of revealing it to them beyond what it was to their Fathers which was not revealed with that solemnity and speaking with and seeing God face to face or else by the Fathers some do understand those that died in Egypt and in the Wilderness who had forgotten the Covenant of their Fathers and the Lord did not renew it with them and yet afterwards Exod. 24.7 8 10. Moses takes the book of the Covenant and reads it in the audience of the people and they ingaged themselves to do all that the Lord had said and be obedient to his requirings and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the people and said This is the blood of the Covenant which the Lord hath made with you and v. 11. They did eat and drink before the Lord and see the glory of the God of Israel and upon the people he laid not his hand c. and yet this is not enough but the Lord renews his Covenant again Deut. 29.1 The words of the Covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab besides the Covenant that he made with them in Horeb and v. 10. 12. You stand before the Lord this day that you should enter into Covenant with the Lord and into the oath which the Lord made with thee to establish thee this day for a people to himself that he might be unto thee a God as he hath sworn unto thy Fathers c. thus you see the Lord has often renewed his Covenant with his people 2. The people of God have often renewed their Covenant also with him it was not enough that they had in Moses time been taken into Covenant so often but before he died he renewed the Covenant with them and they did solemnly ingage themselves The Lord will we serve Josh 24.25 and his voice will we obey and he set up a Stone under an Oak for a witness against them 2 Chron. 15.12 2 Chron. 29.10 2 Chron. 34.31 if they should hereafter deny the Lord their God And this Covenant was renewed in the days of King Asa and Hezekiah and Josiah and Ezra 10.3 and Nehemiah 9.38 therefore renewing of the Covenant is a duty that we owe unto the Lord and that ingagement must be reiterated c. 2. But seeing that a Covenant once made doth alwayes bind a man and the force of it continues distance of time doth not wear it out why should it be needful for men to renew their Covenant so often The grounds of it are these 1. Because of the unbelief of our spirits and from the infirmity of our faith for the confirmation of our faith in the mercy and grace of the Covenant Therefore David made it the matter and ground of all his delight and his thoughts were wholly upon it Why did God renew the Covenant so often with Abraham but to strengthen and confirm his faith therein that it was a sure Covenant and should never be forgotten The mercies of the Covenant are great and the heart of man would fail and his spirit sink in the expectation of them but then he calls to mind his Covenant and renews his Covenant-ingagements with them and for this cause we receive the seals of the Covenant often and every time we do so we renew the Covenant between God and us Gods seals are set to our seals that this may be like unto Joshua's stones a testimony that we have entred into Covenant with the Lord. 2. To manifest the sincerity of our hearts that though we fail in the duty of it yet our hearts still stand to it we delight in the Law according to our inward man though we fall every day yet saies a soul in Covenant with God I love to think of renewing the ingagement that is between God and me as a loving and tender Wife loves often to renew her ingagement to her Husband and to have it much in her mind that she may not forget the Covenant of her God so to shew that a man doth not repent but his ingagement â—s still pleasing to him he renews it often and if it were to do again and again a man would do the same thing if it were every hour to let the world see he is not turned back from the Covenant of his God Phil. 3.9 saies the Apostle I suffered the loss of all things and do count them dung c. I have not repented of it I am of the same mind still there is not in me a principle to draw back and to depart from the living God I am willing to renew this â—ngagement still When there is an error in the contract that a man makes with another then â—f it were to do again the soul would not do it so
his wisdom and industry could not find out And what is that secret of the Covenant The Covenant is the secret and it is with them that he may make it known unto them therefore there is a mysterie in the dutys of the Covenant that is not revealed unto all but it is unto them that fear him and the Lord will do it suitably unto our frame as our grace comes in by constant supplies of the Spirit of God so doth our knowledge also and all by a daily increase of light from the Spirit and this is by a frequent repetition of the same act of faith and therefore the people of God love to repeat it and thereby they see farther into these mysteries from day to day and they do the more exceedingly prize the mercy of the Covenant as the greatest mercy they can injoy 3. How is this work to be done and what is it for a man to renew his Covenant 1. He that will renew his Covenant with God must be deeply sensible of the breach of Covenant and of the unfaithfulness of his heart therein It should deeply humble us to consider that no bonds should hold us If there were no other tye upon us but that of our creation that we had our being from him and that out of nothing but when unto this natural and necessary bond we have added a voluntary and have consented unto the Lord yet now for us to forget the Covenant of our God and prove perfidious to him and draw back is this your return unto God for his Grace in taking you into Covenant and who doth always remember Covenant mercies for you even then when you forget duty to him Is this your requital of the Lord who in the performance of the Covenant did not spare his Son when he cryed that he might be saved God was so resolved upon his Covenant with you that the death of his Son was a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour and he was delighted in it in performance of the grace of the Covenant made with you And also the Lord Christ met with variety of discouragements not only the weight of sin in the guilt of it which he complained of as his own though he knew no sin Psal 40.12 but the wrath of the Father the rage of his enemies the hour and the power of darkness the falshood of his Disciples and yet when he was tempted to come down from the Cross he doth hold it out that he might thereby shew that he loved you to the uttermost and would save you to the utmost And now for you Prov. 20.25 after vows to make inquiry whenas no man doth receed or go back from the Covenant in which he hath ingaged himself without infamy and it 's as odious as for a man to prove false to his friend and betray him and as unfair dealing it is as for a Servant to run away from his Master or a Soldier from his Commander and as David says by way of reproach he hath broken his Covenant and laid his hand upon him that was at peace with him yea for the Wife of a mans bosom to betray a man and to forget the Covenant of her God for a man to forget his Oath that he took at his Baptism and as the Jews did labour to make their circumcision uncircumcision and to do this unto a God that was never a Wilderness to you nor ever gives you cause to repent of your ingagement surely hereby you see not only your perfidiousness and unthankfulness but also fully to make forfeiture of all Covenant mercies to bring upon your selves all the curses of the Covenant Gen. 2.28 Num. 14.34 and to put God upon breach of Covenant with you who have behaved your selves so unfaithfully towards him and thereby you acknowledge though you have subscribed your names in the register of Zion yet you deserve unto your perpetual ignominy to have them expunged thence and to be written in the earth and given up to an everlasting forgetfulness So it was with Josiah when he made his Covenant his heart was tender and he did humble himself before the Lord for their Covenant-breaking 2 Chron. 34.27 31. Neh. 10. And Ezra 10. it doth follow upon a great humiliation a man that is not sensible of and his heart not affected with the breach of Covenant that man is not fit to renew his Covenant with the Lord. 2. It must be with a resolution of heart to break all other Covenants men are said Isa 28.15 To make a Covenant with death and hell that is they were as secure Isa 28.15 and as fearless of it as a man that hath a person in Covenant with him whom he looks upon as his friend and fears him not and thus they make a Covenant with sin and ingage themselves to serve other gods and so when the people renewed the Covenant in Joshuah's time you see the Command you have chosen the Lord to serve him Josh 24.22 put away therefore your strange gods and so the command was to put away their strange wives Ezra There are cords of vanity and there are bonds of iniquity by which men do bind themselves Now all these Covenants must be broken if a man come to renew his Covenant with the Lord for the answer you must give to the Covenant must be the answer of a good conscience and that Conscience that reserves to it self any league with sin unbroken 1 Pet 3.21 is not a good conscience before God a Covenant that is sinful is in it self void and a nullity because in every such ingagement there is dolus deceit and error which are destroying to the nature of a Covenant which should be free and deliberate and therefore it is in all such Covenants as with Herods Oath they bind to nothing but repentance for Juramentum non est vinculum iniquitatis and therefore a man must resolve to break Covenant with all sinful ingagements if he do intend to renew his Covenant with the Lord. 3. A man must know the terms and read over the Articles of the Covenant anew for no wise man will set his hand to an obligation of which he is not well acquainted with the condition and if there were no other cause nor ingagement upon man to know the will of God and their own duty this were enough they have bound themselves to serve him and therefore by the same Covenant they are bound to know the rules by which he will be served for Deo serviendum non est ex arbitrio sed ex imperio so doth Josiah 2 Chron. 34.30 he caused to be read in the ears of the people all the words of the book of the Covenant and then he stood up and made a Covenant before the Lord to perform all the words of the Covenant written in the Book 4. It must be with a free and full consent of heart for the Covenant in the renewing of it must
a Covenant with the Lord God of Israel that his fierce wrath may turn away from us The end of his making the Covenant was to divert the Judgement And so we read also in the Book of Nehemiah and thus gracious is the Lord Nehem. 9.38 that when he doth send judgement for sin he doth not continue the judgement but till he doth see an humiliation and reformation in act let there be but the serious purpose of reformation and let the Covenant be renewed to ingage the soul thereunto and the Lord doth remove the judgement and when the will is in his people he doth accept it for the deed as David Psal 32.5 I said I will confess my sin unto the Lord and the Lord forgave me my sin and the prodigal Son doth but say I will go to my father and while he was yet a great way off the father met him 3. In a time of publick reformation when the foundations have been destroyed and all things out of course and a great deal of difficulty appears and even impossibility in carrying on the work yet the people of God looking upon it as a duty have set upon it with full resolution and purpose of heart and have covenanted to go through with the work notwithstanding all opposition Jehoiada made a Covenant between the Lord and the King and the people that they should be the Lords people here Religion was corrupted and Dominion was usurped and the Lord put it into the heart of Jehoiada the Priest to endeavour the reformation of both and therefore he brought forth the Kings Son to whom the government did rightly belong and did set him up in the Throne and deposed Athalia the usurping Queen and he doth make a double Covenant 1 A Covenant between God and the King and the People and in this Covenant the King and the people do make up but one party and they ingage themselves to be Gods people and the King to rule for God as under him 2 There is also a Covenant between the King and the People that he ruling for God and under God they will for Conscience sake obey Now my Covenant with any Magistrate must be understood as being a second and subordinate Covenant I am so to keep Covenant with them that I must also keep my Covenant with the Lord. Wherefore after they had thus strengthened themselves by a Covenant in the next verse they set upon the work of reformation effectually for all the people of the land went into the house of Baal and brake it down And so did Josiah he made a Covenant with the Lord To walk after the Lord and keep his Commandments with all his heart 2 King 23.3 4. and then he commanded them to bring out of the Temple of the Lord all the Vessels that were made for Baal c. and wrought the most glorious reformation that ever ' was by any of the Kings of Judah having his heart and hands strengthened by a Covenant with the Lord. 4. As a testimony of a mans Thankfulness for any great mercy or special deliverance or as an argument of faith that a man is to use unto God when he doth pray for and expect from God any special mercy 1 As an argument that a man should use unto God to obtain mercy it is that artificial way of praying that the Lord himself teaches his people Hosea 14.2 Take away our iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the calves of our lips Assur shall not save us we will not ride upon Horses neither will we say any more to the work of our hands Ye are our Gods for in thee the fatherless find mercy c. And so Jacob also Gen. 28.20 22. he begged a blessing in his journey and he doth follow the prayers he had put up with a vow if the Lord will be with me he shall be my God and if he bring me to my Fathers house this Stone shall be Gods House and if the Lord bless me with an estate I will surely return him of his own I will give the tenth unto thee so punctual is this holy man to restipulate or return something unto God answerable unto the mercy that he doth beg of God If Hezekiah may be delivered from death Esay 38.20 and David from guilt Psal 51.14 they promise to sing aloud of so great a mercy and to teach transgressors the way of God also the Fathers to the Children shall declare his truth When a man in desiring the mercy doth it with a spiritual eye and doth not ask amiss he is truly careful to perform the duty that such a mercy calls for that he may return as well as receive for quantum à praeceptis tantum ab auribus Dei sumus Tertullian When there is no obedience to God there must be expected no audience by God And therefore one special argument that the people of God do use in their prayers to obtain mercy is a renewing their Covenant 2 It is to be done in testimony of thankfulness for mercy received and then doth a man indeed make a right use of a mercy when he is bound the closer unto God by such cords of Love and the more the Lord doth ingage him the more he is willing to ingage himself to God A great army of Ethiopians came against the King of Judah with an host of a thousand thousand men and the Lord delivered them into his hand now at their return they came to Jerusalem to give God the glory of the victory and they offered unto him of the spoil which they had taken and now they enter into Covenant with the Lord to seek the Lord God of their Fathers with all their hearts and with all their souls and so the renewing of the Covenant is their return made unto God for the mercy And so the Jews at their return out of Babylon Jer. 50.4 5. They come with weeping and seek the way to Sion with their faces thitherward and they say Let us bind our selves unto the Lord by a perpetual Covenant never to be forgotten so that in receiving and attaining the mercy God calls for a Covenant as also in returning the mercy 5. When a man finds his heart bent to backsliding and he is unsteady and unstable in any good way Moses finding the people of Israel a very unsteady people and whose hearts were not stedfast with the Lord after that solemn Covenant with them upon Mount Sinai he renews it again a little before his death when they were come to the borders of the promised Land and inforceth it both with the wonders that God wrought upon Pharaoh and also the great miracles that he had wrought for them when he led them through the wilderness forty years And the same thing was the ground of Joshua's renewing his Covenant Josh 24. Josh 24. And Nehemiah finding that many of the Jews loved their strange Wives and the children that they had by them
priviledge and therefore 't is said Gen. 48. of Jacob that he blessed Joseph and wherein did the blessing consist not so much upon Josephs person as upon his posterity and that was that the name of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob should be called upon his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh this is spoken only in reference to the Covenant and the benefits thereof which was to descend upon them from their Parents and it became their right because it was their Parents priviledge and therefore though they had other personal names Ephraim and Manasseh yet this was a name given them from their federal right and is called the blessing of Joseph in his childrens covenant-blessing for it is a conveying of the benefit of the covenant from Gods abundant grace not only to himself but to his posterity and so David looks upon it and admires the mercy 2 Sam. 7.18 19. Lord who am I and what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto And yet as if this were a small thing in thy sight O Lord thou hast spoke of thy servants house for a great while to come and is this the manner of men O Lord for thy Word sake and according to thy own heart hast thou done all these great things to make thy servant to know them It is therefore to manifest the extent of the grace of the second Covenant that God takes in their seed and gracious Parents do exceedingly rejoyce therein in behalf of their Posterity and look upon it as a special priviledge and their childrens peculiar right 2. God has so ordered the eternal decree of Election that the great number of the Elect of God do proceed out of the loyns of his own people and therefore the Promises being but the indefinite expressions of his Dâ—crees they run to parents called and unto their children because the great number of them that shall be called are their children It 's true that God hath a seed of Grace that runs through the loyns of the wicked and the Lord will take Proselytes from amongst the Heathen and they shall be added to the Church but this is not the ordinary way but a more extraordinary way of salvation and very many of the children of believing parents within the covenant are wicked which we see in Cain Cham and Ishmael yet in their Posterity hath the Church of God been continued there is yet a Seth and a Sem and an Isaac in which their seed should be called and answerable to the Election of grace continued and this doth appear undeniably by this argument the visible Church of God is made up of Parents in covenant and of their seed and therefore while the Church of God was oeconomical and in families onely they were the families of those that were in covenant in which the Church was continued and after it did spread into a Nation they and their seed make up a Church unto God Now though there be many in the visible Church that are not ordained unto life for many are called but few are chosen and many shall seek to enter in at the strait gate and shall not be able c. yet the Church invisible is gathered out of the visible Church they are hid there amongst the Hypocrites and false-hearted men as wheat is hid amongst the chaffe now the Promises of God are suitable to his Decrees and the events answer unto both wherefore if the greatest part of the Elect proceed out of the loyns of a people in covenant as they do then the promises of the second covenant being but indefinite it was necessary that they should run unto them and to their seed upon whom if you look distributively there are many that shall perish yet if you look upon them collectively you can and may see the seed of the Lord is there and there are many amongst them that are ordained unto life and the persons upon whom God has set his everlasting love are amongst that number though we know not particularly who they are that 's a secret that the Lord has hid in himself 3. To shew his peculiar love to their seed Deut. 7.6 7 8. 10.15 therefore he will gather out of their seed a visible Church and if so he must make with their seed a marriage-covenant And therefore if any say Why doth not the Lord leave their children till they enter into covenant themselves and give testimony of their faith and conversion The reason is because God will make them a Church to himself and therefore will make a Church-covenant with them Now the children of believing parents are taken into a visible Church Deut. 4.37 Because the Lord loved your parents therefore he chose their seed after them There 's a two-fold election as there is a two-fold adoption an election to life and unto Church-priviledges it 's not an election to life that is there spoken of but as Zac. 2.7 the Lord shall yet chuse Jerusalem as he had rejected them and cast them off from a Church-state and called them Loammi so now he will chuse them again in reference to a Church-state And thus he is to chuse their children after them not unto life for that is grounded only upon his own love unto the persons of men but it 's spoken in reference to a Church-state which was grounded upon his love unto their parents therefore when parents were converted there was a Church in their house and the posterity and family was looked upon as a Church unto God and theirs was the Adoption the priviledges of sons externally belonged to them and God owned them for his above all other families in the whole earth now those that were taken into a Church-state unto them and their posterity there did belong a Church-covenant and that 's the meaning of Ezech. 16.8 I entred into covenant with thee and thou becamest mine 4. This is the surest ground of a mans judgment in reference to persons whether it be a private Christian or a chosen Officer There are some persons to be admitted into the visible Church and there are some priviledges of the visible Church that are to be dispensed by judgment in the person that doth dispense or administer them for we are not sent to baptize all mankind nor to administer Sacraments and censures unto all mankind as we are sent to preach the Gospel neither are we to expect a satisfactory convincing ground that this person is inwardly and spiritually holy and savingly interessed in the covenant of grace for that we cannot infallibly judge of but though it cannot come under our judgment yet our judgment must not be blind charity we must take the rule of the word and keep close to it And what is the surest rule There are two that are known either the mans profession or else the promise of God in respect of the childs Church-state by the Fathers priviledge Now as to the first of these my judgment may be deceived and I may
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
other sort of people in the world for the great gifts that come from Christ as ascended are upon the visible Church of God yea the thorns and briars in the Church have the rain and influences great and many common works of the Spirit raising and elevating and improving nature the least of which works and motions is more worth than the world it is so in the things though it prove at last a curse to the man 7 They by this means come under the care of the Church and under the power of the Keys under the prayers and under the censures of the Church which do restrain them and are many times blessed to bring men in as the Apostle says We judge them that are within 1 Cor. 5.11 8 They attain many temporal blessings and are delivered from many temporal afflictions thereby Ismael had many outward blessings by Abrahams Covenant the external blessings of the Covenant are made good to them God will not destroy Jerusalem and the judgment came not upon King Hezekiah for David my servants sake and I will not rent from Rehoboam because I will not put out the light in Israel There are two arguments that I would insist on 1 A visible Membership is promised as a very special mercy 2 The contrary to be cast out of it is threatned as a great judgment 1. Gen. 9.27 A visible Membership is promised as a special mercy Gen. 9.27 God shall perswade Japhet c. Noahs family was the Church of God but he did foresee a defection or an Apostasie that should befal the posterity of Cham and Japhet and that the visible Church of God should only be continued a long time in the posterity of Shem but yet he doth foretel that though Chams posterity should be for ever cast off yet there should come a time when the posterity of Japhet tandem redirent ad unitatem Ecclesiae Pareus should at length return to the unity of the Church Now we read Gen. 10.5 that by the posterity of Japhet the Isles of the Gentiles were overspread this is therefore a Prophecy of the bringing in of the Gentiles into the number of Gods people and they shall become a visible Church unto God for coming into the Tents of Shem is being made members of the visible Church There is a double conversion of the Gentiles which the Apostle speaks of Rom. 11.12 If the fall and diminishing of the Jews be the riches of the Gentiles how much more shall their fulness be If upon their breaking off the Gentiles were gathered in and inriched with their Church priviledges how much more when they shall be called and come in in their national fulness shall the Gentiles be inriched by them Rev. 7.3 4. This is prophesied Rev. 7.3 4. Hurt not the earth c. and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the Tribes of the children of Israel c. It cannot be spoken of the Church of the Jews for it is set after the seals as a Prophecy that ushers in the Trumpets and as the seals refer unto Rome Pagan so do the Trumpets unto Rome Christian Now there were four winds that were to blow upon the earth and by their blasts they would hurt the earth and the Sea for there was power given to them by God unto that end the winds do signifie motus bellicos and impetus hostiles c. warlike commotions as we read in Jer. 49.36 Vpon Elam I will bring the four winds and I will scatter them and there shall be no nation whither the out-casts of Elam shall not come Dan. 7.2 3. Dan. 7.2 3. The four winds contended upon the great sea so that hereby is meant the incursion of all the barbarous People and Nations with their power and might upon the Roman Empire but in this general invasion there are some that the Lord would specially protect upon whom these destroying winds should have no power and that is meant by sealing of them Glass Amoris singularis curae symbolum sigillum est The sealing is a symbol of singular love and care and yet when it is spoken of the Church of God of the Gentiles in the Roman Empire upon whom these storms should fall and over whom these winds should have power they are said to be of the Tribes of Israel There were sealed 144000 of all the Tribes of Israel whereas Israel was cast off and dispersed upon all the four winds long before and God had wholly cast off the care of them and reputed them as a people to himself no more why then are the Gentiles called the Tribes of Israel The reason is this Quia in Israelis vicem successerit fuitque Israel surrogatus They were surrogated Israel they are Japhet brought into the Tents of Shem that is become the Church of God and had all the Priviledges of the Church stated upon them instead of the Jews and therefore their sealing is called the sealing of the Tribes of Israel But there is yet another call of the Gentiles spoken of Rev. 7.9 Rev. 7.9 And after this I beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could number out of all nations and kindred and people and tongues stood before the Throne and before the Lamb cloathed with white robes and palms in their hands c. that is afflicto Ecclesiae statui succedit amplissimus foelicissimus ejusdem status This is to be referred unto the time of the seventh Trumpet when the Jews shall be called and new Jerusalem shall come down from God out of Heaven when the mountain of the Lords house shall be exalted on the top of the mountains and all Nations flow in unto it when the Gentile Churches shall be given unto the Church of the Jews for daughters Ezech. 16. and they exalted as the Mother-Church over all the world when the Nations that are saved shall walk in the light of it and the Kings of the Earth shall bring their glory and honour to it Rev. 21.24 and I conceive it 's to be understood of taking of both Jews and Gentiles into a visible Church by a first and second conversion and it is unto both promised as a special mercy it 's made also a special mercy by the Apostle Rom. 11.17 24. Rom. 11.17 24. and that both in reference unto Jews and Gentiles 1. For the Gentiles Thou being a wild olive-branch for that must be the meaning as Beza observes art made partaker of the root and fatness of the olive-tree c. By the Olive-tree is meant the Church of Israel Jer. 11.16 the visible Church Jer. 11.16 The Lord called thy name a green olive-tree fair and of goodly fruit and the Lord did thus honour it because this is one of the most excellent of all the trees the Fig-tree the Olive and the Vine and that 1 for its greenness for it doth flourish and is always green 2 for its
fruitfulness And that it 's not spoken of the invisible Church the Church of the first-born whose names are written in heaven is plain for these two reasons 1 Because the Jews are said to be the natural branches of the good Olive-tree and the Gentiles are said to be branches of the Olive-tree that is wild by nature and were grafted in contrary to nature Now to Jews and Gentiles grace and regeneration are alike contrary by nature so that there are no natural branches neither is there any grace derived from parents unto children Saving grace flows not from any company of men no not from the invisible Church they are only Christs and he only can communicate them but Church-ordinances and priviledges are properly the Churches and by the Church are derived unto all the members thereof whether they be Elect or Reprobate Mic. 3. ult We are born again not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man Joh. 1.13 for amongst Jews and Gentiles there is no difference All men have sinned and come short of the glory of God Rom. 3. but this is spoken of a birth-right priviledge which doth descend and come upon a man as he grows upon such a root therefore this is meant only of a visible Church-state 2 It 's spoken of an Olive-tree which hath two sorts of branches some remain in their own Olive-tree and are never broken off but some there are that are broken off for as Christ spreading himself as a Vine into a visible Church hath both fruitful and unfruitful branches some are in him that bear no fruit Joh. 15.2 so hath the Church of God as an Olive-tree some branches that abide and some that are broken off Now in the invisible Church there are no branches to be broken off for ex solis constat electis it 's the Church of the first-born whose names are written in Heaven therefore this Olive-tree is a visible Church and the branches growing in it are visible members they that are grafted in are taken into visible membership and they that are broken off are cast out from a visible membership the root of this Olive-tree is Abraham the father of the Faithful with whom as it were the Church-covenant did begin for there was not a covenant made with him only for himself That the Lord would be his God but also the God of his seed and therefore it 's mercy to Abraham but it 's truth to Jacob and the benefit of their grafting in is this they partake of the root and of the fatness of the Olive-tree the root is Abraham and that in reference unto the Church-covenant made with him and his seed wherefore they are the children of Abraham and of the Israel of God and they partake of the fatness of Church-blessings priviledges and ordinances for that must be meant for it 's such a fatness that the Jews did partake of that were broken off and such a fatness from which they also might be cut off vers 22. if they continued not in his goodness therefore it must be meant of Church-ordinances and priviledges only and not of the saving graces of the Spirit which flow immediately from Christ and not from the Olive-tree the Church 2. It is made a special mercy to the Jews when they shall be grafted in again into their own Olive-tree that is become a Church of God and be taken into Abrahams Church-covenant and be made partakers of Church-priviledges and ordinances and this shall be the new Jerusalem that is to come down from God out of Heaven Rev. 1.2 and this Church shall injoy communion by outward priviledges and ordinances as the Churches of the Gentiles do for there shall be a gathering of men to the Lord by them Esa 66.19 there shall fishers in abundance stand upon the waters and the fish which is the persons that shall be taken and converted by them shall be as the fish of the great sea exceeding many Ezech. 47.10 for the great harvest of the Church is reserved for the latter days and the Ministry must continue so long as there are any of the body to be gathered in or to be perfected till we come to the unity of the faith Eph. 4.13 and to be perfect men and there shall be Church-censures administred in their glory and in the highest majesty and authority there shall no unclean thing enter there Rev. 22.11 without shall be dogs and every one that loves and makes a lye and it 's that this Church shall bewail as the great want in those rising Gentiles we have a little sister and she hath no breasts Cant. 8.8 by breasts she means the ordinances and the ministry of the word wherein milk for babes is laid up therefore this Church that she complains had no breasts was the Gentiles as afterwards the Gentile Churches do with joy and triumph relate of themselves vers 10. That their breasts were like towers c. and as formerly the children of the Jews were taken into the Church-covenant with their parents and made members of the visible Church which no man can deny so it shall be with them again as they were broken off with their parents so with their parents they shall be grafted in and those promises made good unto them their children were Church-members and so shall they again be Esa 65.23 they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord and their off-spring with them the promise is Ezech. 16.20 21. Jer. 30.20 Cant. 7.2 Their children shall be as afore-time and their congregation shall be established before me which latter words do refer unto their Church-state they shall be sons of the Church as they were in former times and the Lord says that the ordinance of Baptism shall be very fruitful even unto those infants of the Church and very efficacious though now it 's dark and we find little benefit by it being an ordinance of God appointed by him to convey secretly gracious influences tending unto infants spiritual welfare so some expound that place Cant. 7.2 Thy navel is like a round goblet c. The Church is here compared unto a mother conceiving and bringing forth now here is the way of nourishment for children in the womb not yet brought forth which is ministred by the navel as to children brought forth it is taken in by the mouth Now there being no ordinance of which children in the womb of the Church while infants are capable but Baptism therefore it 's conceived by some to be meant here by the navel of the Church and thus we see it shall be a special mercy to the Jews when they shall be ingrafted in again into the external form of a visible Church 2. To be cast out from being a visible member is the greatest judgment that can befal a person or a people in this life God doth then cut them up by the roots 1 Vpon a person 1 Cor. 5.5 such
to the Jews and their children but also to the Gentiles for that is meant by afar off Eph. 2.17 all that shall be converted and take hold of the Covenant for themselves their posterity shall be taken into their Covenant-right also and that 's the inducement and the argument used Act. 2.39 The great plague of sin lies in this that a man does not only undo himself but his posterity as it was in Adam and the great comfort in grace is that a man shall do good to his posterity as it was promised to Christ Psal 89.29 filiabitur nomen ejus his name shall be continued amongst his posterity in the Church Now for God to give a man a name in his posterity to owne them it 's a great mercy to speak of a mans house a great while for to come and it 's exceedingly heightned by this Adams sin was imputed to his posterity as well as his grace now the priviledges of the Fathers Covenant shall be entailed but the sins of the parents are personal and shall never be imputed unto the children It 's true that the sin of Adam is imputed but the sin of the immediate parents is not imputed unto the children and though God doth visit the iniquity of the parents upon the children yet it is as true that the children do not bear the iniquities of the fathers so that the fathers priviledges are the childrens but the fathers sins are his own for every man now sins as a private person for himself not as a publick person as a representative head as Adam did for himself and his posterity 3 The Lord would engage their children to himself above all the Families and Posterities of the Earth Ezech. 16. and therefore he calls them the children born unto him thou hast taken my sons and my daughters that thou hast born to me and they shall have the Priviledge that none upon Earth have that thereby they may be engaged to God and if they be wicked they may be the more left without excuse as Nazianzen says in Orat. 40. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are persons given up and dedicated to God in their infancy and from the womb there is written upon them holiness to the Lord and if outward and temporal mercies be such great Obligations upon the Soul what are spiritual and church-Church-mercies and therefore the condemnation of the children of the Kingdom shall be greater than of the children of this world because their mercies and priviledges and opportunities are greater the Lord would bind them unto himself by higher cords of love than he does the rest of the world he does make the Sun to shine and the rain to fall upon other men filling their hearts with food and gladness There are temporal mercies that God dispenses to all men but they are not like unto the mercies of spiritual and Church-priviledges that 's beyond what other men injoy the Lord would bind them that are his Covenant-people unto himself by this cord beyond the rest of the world 4 To shew forth the goodness and overflowing mercy of Christ under the second Covenant unto unregenerate men who for the state of their persons are under the Covenant of Works and are enemies unto the Covenant of Grace and yet they shall injoy many priviledges and benefits thereby and this the Lord does bestow upon them either as preparatives and as means to fit them for services or as priviledges and rewards of services for all the creatures are now given into the hands of Christ and all men in the Church belong to him they all come under him either as servants or as sons they that are sons partake in the graces of the Covenant but the servants also partake in the priviledges of it for they abide in the house though not for ever and while they are in the house they have bread enough and to spare they partake of the root and fatness of the good Olive-tree they have Church-ordinances that fit them for service and they receive Church priviledges as temporal rewards of service 5 For the Elects sake there are some upon whom the grace of the Covenant is bestowed and unto whom the Priviledges of the Covenant do chiefly belong and they are the Elect of God but because they are bound up in the same bundle with the rest of mankind and men cannot distinguish for it is electing Love that puts the difference therefore as Ordinances are continued unto all for the Elects sake so Priviledges are bestowed upon all but the primary intention of them is for the Saints the Elect of God that they might partake in them for whom they were specially purchased and intended As the preaching of the Gospel was primarily intended for the Elect of God that they might partake in it and for the gathering in of Souls unto him but because the Elect of God are amongst the wicked of the world therefore if men be to dispense Ordinances they must do it in common and wait upon God in the use of them and the grace of God will fall upon the Elect unto Conversion and so it does accidentally come upon ungodly men but primarily and intentionally it is given only for the Elects sake as appears by this that when the Lord has finished and gather'd in the number of the Elect he will continue Ordinances and Church-priviledges unto unregenerate men no longer therefore as Ordinances being dispensed by men must be in common for the Elects sake so must priviledges dispensed by men be also as the World stands for the Saints and yet ungodly men enjoy much of the comforts of the world that a man would think it were all for their sakes so Church-priviledges are vouchsafed to ungodly men as a great part of the Church that a man would think all were for their sakes and yet it is with a special respect and primary intention to the Saints that both the one and the other are continued in the world wicked men shall share with the Saints in the external priviledges rather than the Saints of God be wholly deprived of them And upon these grounds I conceive it mainly is that the Covenant is entailed from father to son for the outward priviledges but not for the inward graces thereof § 9. How far Arguments drawn from Circumcision Quest 9 being an Ordinance of the Old Testament can by way of Rule determin any of the Essentials of Baptism which is an Ordinance of the New Testament that is how far this argument has force in it to say The Children of the Jews being infants came under their fathers Covenant and therefore were by Gods command initiated and sealed by Circumcision which was the Seal of the Covenant therefore under the New Testament the children of Christians while infants are taken into Covenant with their Parents and so ought to be initiated and sealed by Baptism which is the Seal of the Covenant under the new Administration as Circumcision was under the old
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
till then our iniquities are then perfectly blotted out when the time of refreshment shall come then a man shall be perfectly acquitted from all sin for ever and have an absolute sentence past upon him by God and in his own soul for ever As the Lord did give his Son by degrees and yet there is a further giving of him when he that is gone before shall come again and fetch you also there are degrees of giving of the Spirit and there is yet a further degree to come when the weak shall be as David so the Lord will be your God hereafter more eminently than he has been in giving you not only grace but glory Now as the Lord doth take up and possess the soul to himself as his habitation so he does more and more become a God to that soul who is never perfected till he come to glory till he enjoy him as he is Vse 1 § 4. 1. Look on the promises therefore as precious and store thy soul with them for they are all that you have to shew for an interest in God in this life that by which you hold your inheritance all is in promises the richest adornment and furniture that the soul can have in this life is grace and promises and therefore have thy inward man filled with them Vse 2 2. Upon all occasions stay thy sinking soul upon a promise for it 's as firm as the faithfulness of God and it 's grounded thereupon If there be any truth in the Covenant of Grace it lies in the promises of it on Gods part and we should observe the performance of promises as we do of prophecies Psal 144. as Austin says Ingrate Legis debitum cernis redditum non credis promissum Vngrateful wretch thou seest the debt of the Law paid and yet believest not the promise Vse 3 3. Look unto all the promises for their accomplishment The heirs of a promise have a great happiness that they have such an inheritance It 's â—er be as low as Hell with a promise Ego quidem sine Verbo ne in Paradiso optarim vivere at cum Verbo etiam in inferno vivere sacile est Luth. than with Adam in Paradise without it For it 's in the promises of the new Covenant in which the glory and the stability of the Covenant lies but if they be so sweet and precious in the contemplation and in the working of faith upon them while they are in hope only what must they needs be in the fruition The Wise man says The desire accompished is sweet unto the soul there is an unexpressible sweetness in it when the desire comes it's a tree of life it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vitarum of lives there are all lives in it and it sets a man as it were in Paradise again And this is one thing that will make Heaven the sweeter because it is a perfect accomplishing of all those promises with which the soul was feasted and entertained here with the hopes of in its pilgrimage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysostom for Christ will be the sweeter when we come to Heaven because having not seen him yet we loved him here and we shall find him to be the same Christ in all things that before we heard him to be in the Gospel And so the society of the Saints Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the rest of the Saints in Heaven so much the more precious will they be by how much our hearts have been taken with any of them while they lived here and for this cause the promises may well be called precious 2 Pet. 1.4 2 Pet. 1.4 the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and signifies either precious or honourable to him that believes he is precious 1 Pet. 2. or an honour 1 as they are the price of his blood who was the Saviour of the World 2 as they are the evidences of our inheritance and all we have to shew for Heaven 3 as they are instruments of purification and sanctification 2 Cor. 7.1 2 Pet. 1.4 But 4 they are specially precious in this 1 that they are Gods part of the Covenant 2 this has been the happiness of the Saints and the contrary is noted as an imperfection in their condition here Heb. 11.13 These all dyed in faith not having received the promises it 's spoken of the ancient Saints of whom it 's said some of them attained promises and others of them received them not but only saw them afar off and saluted them c. and to attain promises is reckoned with stopping the mouths of lions and quenching the violence of fire and hereby there is more of God made known Exod. 6.3 By the name of Jehovah I was not known to them It 's spoken in reference unto the accomplishment of the promises and their attaining of them there is something further that God discovered and his name Jehovah further manifested to the Saints 3 specially in our times upon whom the ends or as some render it the perfections of the world are come for as the great harvest of the Church shall be in the latter days of the world so there shall be the great harvest both of prophecies and promises for the ancient Prophets did speak of good things to come but it was manifested unto them that they did not administer for themselves but for us 1 Pet. 1.12 they should be gathered to their Fathers and never live to see the good things that the Lord would do but should dye in the Wilderness as many of the ancient Saints of Israel did and never inherit the promised Land for all the things that the Lord hath spoken shall have their accomplishment at the sound of the seventh Trumpet shall the Mystery of God be finished Rev. 10.7 They are glorious things that the Lord has spoken of the latter days of the world and it 's a great unworthiness and lowness of spirit in Saints that they should be content and sit down satisfied whilst they go without any part of their inheritance and that they should think much of any thing they have attained si dicas sufficit c. It 's true that we are less than the least of all his mercies and we should think every one of them great to express our thankfulness but we should not think any of them great to nourish our slothfulness He that has an interest in the great God must strive to have his heart formed into a holy greatness of mind there is a lowness of spirit that does no ways become men that have high hopes and high expectations to be content to go without any thing that God has promised he has promised not only truth of grace but growth as the willows by the water-courses strength of grace strengthned with all might according to his glorious power comfort of grace as the Apostle has it to be filled with a spirit of consolation and to walk in the assurance
all the creatures of God for his inheritance Lastly the application of all unto our selves 1. That the Lord has made over all his Attributes unto the Saints And that will appear by these arguments or demonstrations 1. The Lord is said in Scripture to be the portion of his people their lot and their inheritance so the Church Lam. 3.24 The Lord is my portion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says my soul And it is the same claim and in the same way that Christ made unto God Psal 16.5 The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance The word signifies to divide into parts as the land of Canaan was divided by several lots and every man had his share and thus it is here there is a division and a distribution made all ungodly men have their portion out of God Psal 17.14 because they are not in Covenant with him and they have their portion in this life and in the things of this life Son remember that in thy life time thou hadst thy good things but in this a Saint is not satisfied he will not be put off with this worlds goods as Luther says Valde protestatus sum me nolle sic satiari I greatly protested I will not be so satisfied Gen. 15.1 And the Lord says I am thy exceeding great reward the word in the Original doth signifie praemium laboris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the reward of thy labour c. and the Hebrews having no Superlatives do express them by an Adjective and an Adverb and so it is here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exceeding great and it 's as much as to say thy greatest reward There are variety of rewards that God gives unto all his labourers even in this life though it be true as Manasse Ben Israel has observed That this life is mundus laboris the world of labour and the world to come retributionis of reward yet the reward is begun in this life There is no man that shall labour for God in vain no man shall shut his door or open it for nothing but yet God doth give many things as a reward unto those to whom he doth never give himself because there are many that do work for God that do never give themselves unto God and therefore Jehu shall have a Kingdom and Nebuchadnezzar shall have Egypt for his hire c. they have their reward from God but yet the Lord himself is not their reward And even the people of God have many great blessings from the Lord as the reward of their services 1 Cor. 3.21 for the Apostle Paul says All things are yours but yet the greatest of all their rewards and that without which all the rest were nothing lies in this that the Lord is their God Now how doth God become the portion and reward of his people in this life but as he has revealed himself There is a discovery of God that is beyond the capacity of grace in this life and the people of God by virtue of this promise may rejoyce in the hope of it as Rom. 5.2 but yet they cannot possess it in this life but as the Lord has revealed himself to his people in this life so he hath made over himself unto them Now the great discovery of God being in the Attributes of the Divine Nature it 's in thi◠that he has made over himself unto his people this is the portion Christ had and his reward and ours also by virtue of the same Covenant 2. This will appear also if we consider the Promises are that we shall have all in God He that overcomes shall inherit all things I will be his God the Lord is his Inheritance Revel 21.7 and he that has God he doth inherit all things he shall have a hundred-fold more in this life Mark 10.30 that forsakes any comfort of it for God in this present time Now a man cannot understand this formaliter formally but eminentèr eminently he shall have that in God that shall exceed all this if they were a hundred times multiplyed and so the Lord is a Sun and a Shield Psal 84. and how is all this to be understood but that we have all in God It 's true that a Christian has all things in promises but yet the promises are not the root of his inheritance but there is something that is a root and is the foundation of all the promises and that is the Attributes of the Divine Nature and the goodness and faithfulness of God c. which I conceive also is the meaning of that Isai 2.6 and last Come my people enter into your Chambers c. it 's refer'd unto the mind and the state of the Soul and so it doth signifie pacatum animi statum the quiet state of the mind But I conceive this is not all the meaning Calvin that the Soul is quiet as in its Chambers of refuge in the time of the greatest trouble and unquietness but as Forer hath it Ne solliciti essetis de rerum visibilium vicissitudine sed de Deo c. be not solicitous about visible things but about God And the Chambers in which the Soul only rests are the Chambers of Promises and of Providences For upon all the Glory there shall be a defence but the Attributes of God are the secrets of his presence in them both so that the people of God have all in him as there are attributes in him that answer unto all their conditions 3. So much the several relations in which God stands to his People do imply the Lord is said to be unto them a Father I will be their Father and they shall be my Sons and Daughters 2 Cor. 6.16 Isai 54.5 James 2.23 and he is said to be their Husband Thy Maker is thy Husband and their Friend as he was Abraham's Friend and he was called the Friend of God and the terms of friendship are mutual and it is the sweetest relation a true friend is as a mans own soul Now what do all these relations import amongst the Creatures but this that answerably to the Wisdom and the Power and the Mercy and the Love that is in me saith God so will I lay them all out for you as the duties or offices of my relation do require and we know amongst men relations are great obligations and they do carry with them vast affections they are maxima efficaciae of greatest efficace as the School-men speak therefore though it be less to say I will be thy Father thy Husband or thy Friend than it is to say I will be thy God because this imports an Infinite Being yet it is as much he being a God to stand in these relations as if he should have said I will be thy Father and Husband and Friend after the manner of a God whatever there is in infinite wisdom and in infinite power and in infinite goodness or holiness to dispense it shall be laid out for thee
suitable unto the relation in which I stand unto thee for though men in their relations act weakly as men yet in the relations which God stands in to his People he doth act infinitely and as it becomes a God 4. It will appear also by the expressions in Scripture that the Saints have interest in several Attributes of God and from their interest in some of them we may conclude their interest in all for God is not divided Integram salutem à Deo diviso sperare non possumus we may not hope for an entire salvation from a divided God Psal 59.10 he is call'd not only the God of Mercy as he is commonly but the God of my Mercy so of all the Mercy that was in God David lays claim to it as his Mercy it 's in God indeed subjectivè but yet it is mine even all the Mercy that is in God and he is the God of my Mercy Psal 84.5 Ephes 6.10 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee and the Apostle's exhortation is Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might the meaning is that very Omnipotence that is in God is by the Covenant on Gods part so made over unto his people that it becomes as effectually theirs unto all the ends and intents thereof as if they themselves were the subjects of it and the meaning of the Apostle doth arise unto this height that they should take unto themselves as great confidence in the overcoming of enemies be they never so powerful and in performing of duties also be they never so difficult as if they had Omnipotence in their own hand to exercise and put forth according to their own desires and for the effectual procuring of their own happiness and on this ground it is that the Saints are said to glory in God and make their boast of him all the day long Hab. 3.18 and they triumph in the God of their salvation because they do look upon all things as having the attributes of God ingaged unto them and by this means the Soul treads down strength for what can be too intricate for infinite wisdom and what can be too hainous for infinite mercy or too difficult for infinite power c and so the Soul does laugh at all oppositions and all the power of man to scorn because he looks upon himself with all the Saints to be interessed in all the Attributes of God and fortified by them 5. The great end of Christ's coming into the world was to bring us unto God and that was not only 1 Pet. 3.18 that all the Attributes of God should work for us as they did for Christ which because we had forfeited therefore they all acted against us and should have done for ever but that Christ by bringing us to God might give us also an interest in them all that they should all become ours as they were his for Christ is but the way as he himself saith I am the way the truth and the life and therefore Aquinas hath well branched Divinity into these heads De Deo de Christo prout via est nobis tendendi in Deum Of God and of Christ as he is the way tending to God Christ came to reconcile all the Attributes of God unto Man and the great purchase of the death of Christ was not an interest in all the Creatures but an interest in all the Attributes of the Divine Nature that they should be ours and should act for us 1. Pet. 1.21 6. The highest object of faith is God he is Objectum ultimatum the ultimate Object Christ is but Mediatum the Mediate Object Now what is there in God that is revealed unto our Faith but his Attributes we know him no otherwise but by his back parts and we know that every Attribute of God is an object of Faith in the Scripture and whatever Faith lays hold on as its object it makes it to become its own in ipso amplexu in the very embracement He that takes hold of Christ by Faith makes him his own Thou art my Lord and my God and if it lay hold of its promises they become its own and there is nothing that gives a propriety to the Soul but its receiving of it and appropriating it he loved me and died for me and gave himself for me Thus Faith argues and appropriates Christ and all his Benefits and so it is in laying hold of every attribute of God that doth appropriate it unto his person and it becomes his own rests upon infinite wisdom and lays hold on infinite power and relies upon infinite mercy and holiness and grace and all shall be thine Believe Soul and all shall be thine for all the objects of faith are offered and propounded by God and nothing is required to make them ours but receiving them as it 's said of Christ Joh. 1.12 To as many as received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God to them that believe in his Name so it 's of promises and of attributes also and if they be not ours it 's because we receive them not our interest lies in our application § 2. This is peculiar to the Second Covenant that the Lord should make over unto his people the inheritance of all his Attributes 1. It 's true that Adam had an interest in God or else he could not have lost it But we have heard of Mans great misery in the Fall that it lay in his loss of God Ephes 2.12 and we know that if he had continued in that state of Innocency that Covenant would have brought him unto God for death threatned upon his breach of it was eternal separation from God in Hell therefore the Life promised must be an eternal fruition of God in Heaven but yet it was not such an interest as the Saints have under the second Covenant for that was limited only unto one condition that men if they did stand in their integrity the Lord would be so unto them but if they fell the Lord would become their God no more but now is become their enemy c. But there is this in the New Covenant that the Lord is their God in all conditions whatever and they have in all conditions an interest in all the Attributes and they may expect that they shall be all imployed for them and every Saint may conclude with the Psalmist surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all my dayes which is more than the petra sequens that Rock that followed the People of Israel in the wilderness in their long journey they had wisdom to direct them and power to protect them and mercy to pardon them and grace to heal them and so it is of all the other Attributes of God they belong unto his People in all conditions and though there be never so great changes in them yet there is no change in the Lord. Isai 57.17 18. We read in Isai
the invisible God Joh. 5.22 All the glorious Attributes of God do shew forth themselves in Christ he it is that acts them all the love of God to the Saints is exercised by Christ and all the grace of God is dispensed by Christ and the wrath of God against his enemies is executed by Christ and therefore we read of the wrath of the Lamb for it 's he that shall give every one of them their portion Now if it be so that all the Attributes be in the hand of Christ to exercise and act then the Lord raigne therefore let the earth rejoyce Christ Jesus exerciseth all the Attributes of God for his people in another way than ever they could else have been acted by God immediately Now if we be in Christ and by a mystical union make up one body with him then as he doth exercise and act all the Attributes of God as the Soveraignty of God is given to him and he sits upon the Throne of God in the administration of all things so they shall be all laid out for us for the Church which is the body of Christ and the fulness of him that fills all in all 3. Though all the Attributes be made over unto us in this manner yet it 's after a certain order in the Attributes the Attribute that the soul doth first close with is the mercy and the free grace and love of God and by that a man comes to have an interest in all the rest and the Attribute that is ingaged for all is the faithfulness and truth of God 1 The attribute that the soul first closes with is his love and mercy and free grace which are the attributes that the Lord doth mainly exalt in this life and has most gloriously set forth and therefore 't is called riches of mercy and the glory of God the knowledge of the glory of God It 's this attribute in which the Lord doth mainly glory 2 Cor. 4.6 and therefore it 's called his glory and it 's said that mercy rejoyceth over judgment for in the time of this life under the offers of the Covenant of grace the attribute that God doth mainly exerercise in the Gospel is free grace that God is in Christ reconciling the world and has sent abroad the ministry of reconciliation and God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son This is the great Load-stone that doth draw in the heart unto God 1 Tim. 1.14 God who is rich in mercy out of his abundant love c. Now the soul being thus drawn in with a cord of love the Lord giving a command unto loving kindness to fetch in such a wandring soul unto himself hence the soul at first coming unto God grounded upon his mercy by closing with him in this is made partaker of all the attributes of God and has an interest in them all but so as the soul doth close with mercy first and with free grace As it is in the offices of Christ the soul doth close with them all and has an interest in them all but yet so as it doth take Christ as he is offered him by the Father and that is first as a Priest as a surety for sinners and as one set forth to be a propitiation for sin and the soul having in this manner closed with Christ as a Priest and having a title to the Priestly Office now he has taken whole Christ and submits to him as his Prophet and King also thus as the immediate object of faith that justifies is Christ dying and rising and as made sin and as made a curse for us c. and then the soul having closed with Christ it has an interest in whole Christ with all his Offices so it 's here also though all the attributes of God are gloriously displayed in the second Covenant yet the attribute that mainly the Lord delights to honour is mercy and free grace and the soul first closes with this and so comes to have a title and an interest in all that is in God in every attribute 2 As his love is the first attribute that the soul closes with and so comes to have an interest in them all so it 's his faithfulness that is ingaged for the exercise of them all and therefore all our forgiveness is put upon his faithfulness He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins Isa 49.7 How do we know that the pardoning mercy of God shall be exercised towards us when we have sinned God is faithful who has promised 1 Joh. 1.2 and he hath wholly made over himself unto us in every attribute and the promise and the oath of God are both grounded in his faithfulness for the performance thereof so that the faithfulness of God doth not only assure us that all creatures shall work for us shall all work together for our good Rom. 8.29 but that all the attributes of God shall work for us in their season and in their order as it is said That the stars in their courses fought against Sisera so there is an order for the working of all the attributes and every one of them in their courses work for the Saints the faithfulness of God is ingaged for them so to do § 4. What are the ends for which God has in Covenant made over the Attributes unto his people They are many and we shall best discover them by the use that the people of God have of all the attributes in the Scripture 1. That they may be all discovered and made known unto the Saints there is in all men a blindness of heart and that specially in reference unto God from whom they are estranged through the ignorance that is in them Eph. 4.18 19. Now they having an interest in them all the Lord will proclaim his name and cause his mercy and goodness to pass before them though not in that visible manner as he did unto Moses Exod. 33.19 yet in a more spiritual way they do behold the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus 2 Cor. 4.6 and therefore the great aim of God in all his works is the discovery of his attributes unto the Saints and all his great works are done to that very end and therefore he gives them a Law that he may manifest his Holiness To shew his power he has made a world to manifest his love he has given Christ to declare his grace he doth pardon sin and to shew his justice and wrath he has made Hell and laid the foundations of the bottomless pit and this is the first end why God has made over his attributes unto his people it is that they may know them and therefore the great thing the Saints look at in all Gods works and his goings forth is what attributes are discovered I would see thy power and thy glory in the Sanctuary Psal 63.2 Psal 10.6 8. He saved them for his name sake that he
1 Joh. 4.24 and therefore must be worshipped in spirit and truth 5. That the great motives unto duty and the great restraints from sin be taken from these It 's a matter of great consequence not only that we do the duties that God requires but also what motives they are that fill the sails in our performances For a man to perform high duties upon low motives argues a heart full of flesh to preach the Gospel is a high service but to do it to serve a mans belly or his pride to gather Disciples after him that he may have the credit of a Teacher of others and be cryed up amongst them this doth in a great measure blast all his service therefore let men look to their motives in their performances And so for sin it 's not enough to abstain from sin but a man is to have an eye upon the principle that lyes the restraint upon him what it is many a man may be kept from sin for fleshy aims as Haman refrained himself till he came home and so King Joash during all the days of Jehoiada the fear of man will restrain lust many times where there is no fear of God There are as it were several topicks from which the arguments and reasonings of the soul are taken for the Word of God is quick and powerful c. Heb. 4.12 the one refers to principles for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the seat of principles and the other to the dianoetick faculty a mans arguments and reasonings from those principles and there are some high and noble motives suitable to the nature of grace and there are some low and sinful motives agreeable to the nature of flesh and the Word of God is a curious discerner of both and it 's a great matter from what topicks a man doth take the argument that does mainly act his spirit in duty and as the highest rule of duty is to be found in the attributes of God so the noblest motives unto duty are to be found in them also Joel 2.13 Rent your hearts and not your garments and turn to the Lord your God for he is merciful and gracious he is long-suffering slow to anger and of great kindness who knows if he will return and repent And Gen. 17.1 I am God all-sufficient walk before me and be upright There are arguments enough to be taken from God and those of the highest kind to quicken a soul in all duties required of him And so it is also as to restraint from sin Hos 3.5 They shall fear the Lord and his goodness Heb. 12.29 Let us have grace to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire Exod. 34.14 Thou shalt worship no other God for the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God 6. That they may be unto the Saints the ground of prayer and that is in three things 1 They desire that God would manifest his attributes it 's something of God that they would have discovered therefore they cry out with the Psalmist Psal 57.3 O send out thy light and thy truth send forth thy mercy and thy truth it is the discovery and manifestation of an attribute that is the great thing the people of God do beg in all their prayers Num. 14.17 Let the power of my Lord be great according as thou hast said 2 It 's the great argument that they use in prayer the main argument of faith is from an attribute and a mans interest therein Remember me O Lord for this and pardon me according to the greatness of thy mercy Nehem. 13.22 Psal 115.1 2 Chron. 14.11 for thy mercy and for thy truths sake And Asa argues from the power of God It 's all one to thee to save with few as with many 3 They do come to God under such an attribute suitable to the mercy that they beg and their faith is staid thereupon and 't is a great matter to look upon God under an attribute that answers our necessity as Christ when he would speak of Judgment Mat. 11.24 Joh. 17. Num. 14.14 and give God thanks for it he call him righteous Father and when he begs Sanctification for his people he calls him holy Father and so when Moses prays for the pardon of sin he calls him the Lord merciful and gracious 7. That they may admire and adore the Lord for the excellencies that are in his Divine Nature and that they may give him the glory of every attribute Glory is but the shining forth of an excellency the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Effulgence and brightness of it Heb. 1.3 and our giving glory is but the reflexion of this excellency Now we give God the glory of his works and of his going forth unto the creature but we should not only give him the glory of these but also of the excellency of his own nature there is none holy as the Lord who is a God like our God pardoning iniquity If we had hearts truly spiritual we would admire God more for the excellencies that are in himself than for all his goings forth to the creature and so the Saints and Angels in Heaven do 8. That in the manifestation of every attribute and the working of it for his people the Saints may rejoyce and particularly give God the glory of that attribute which he hath now so eminently put forth for them and that they may glory in their inheritance thereby Psal 21.13 Be thou exalted O Lord in thy own strength so will we sing and praise thy power I will sing of thy power Psal 59.16 17. and I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble To thee O my strength will I sing for God is my defence and the God of my mercy Rev. 4.8 and so do all the Saints holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which is and was and is to come The attributes of God are the last city of refuge that the Saints can flye unto Prov. 18.10 even the Name of the Lord is their strong tower and when the Lord doth make bare his arm and takes to himself his great power and sends forth his mercy and relieves his people in their distresses Oh! how then do the Saints triumph and rejoyce in him The last refuge is in God and the highest triumph is in God and these are the glorious ends for which God has made over his attributes unto the Saints § 3. See the glory of this inheritance that of the creatures is indeed glorious and that of promises is more but the foundation of all and top of all lyes in attributes It 's of no small concernment for a soul to know the glory of his own inheritance partly because there is a prophaneness of heart in all men that do undervalue spiritual things as well spiritual priviledges as spiritual truths or spiritual graces with
earth 5. Creatures and promises could never make a man happy if a mans interest in them were never so clearly discovered to him for it could never put his soul into a fruition of the chiefest good it would only make all to be faith and we should rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God 1 Pet. 1.9 and it is true that this is a joy unspeakable and glorious Fruitio est actus voluntatis circa finem importat quietationem delectationem anima in amato Fruition is an act of the will about the end and it imports the quietation and delectation of the soul in its beloved Medin But the soul would be for ever unquiet and always full of restlesness still tending towards God Heb. 12.23 therefore it enjoys him as the end of faith and hope and thence souls in Heaven are made perfect not only because their image is perfected by the beatifical vision but also because they are put into a fruition of that which was the highest and ultimate object of their faith and love and fruitio est nobilissima actio voluntatis the most noble act of the will and it 's this act upon the highest object that doth perfect the will and the perfection of the will is the perfection of the man as the act of the will is the act of the man Vse 1 § 4. From hence see the misery of all those that are out of Covenant with God they have all the Attributes of God against them and they have no inheritance in him thou mayst have large revenues amongst the creatures for God doth give Kingdoms unto the basest of men but it is but mica canibus projecta a crum thrown to a dog as Luther speaks of the Turkish Empire and in them all thou shalt but inherit the wind Prov. 11.29 for thou hast no inheritance in the Lord he is no God to thee tolle meum tolle Deum take away my and take away God it is unto thee as if there were no God And here it 's good to consider 1. If a man had all the creatures armed against him for his destruction as all men out of Covenant have for the Creation groans under their service that is the bondage of corruption spoken of Rom. 8.21 but also they are very ready to make war upon thee for when a man is taken into Covenant with God there is a league made with the beasts of the earth the stones of the field and the creeping things of the ground And God will hear the Heavens and the Heavens shall hear the Earth Hos 2.21 and the Earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oyl and they shall hear Jezreel and I will sow her unto me in the earth and will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy c. All the creatures shall work together for their good and yet if God arm the meanest of the creatures against a man they shall destroy him Pharaoh the great King of Egypt that durst presume to war against God cannot contend with Flyes nor with the Lice and the Frogs he cannot fight a pitcht battel with the waves Now if a man cannot stand out a battel with the smallest of the creatures how can he fight against God Therefore I would a little reason with you as God doth with his people if thou hast run with the footmen Jer. 12.5 and they have wearied thee how wilt thou contend with horses and if in a land of peace they have wearied thee what wilt thou do in the swellings of Jordan if thou canst not stand it out against creatures how wilt thou be able to endure when the Lord shall rise up and all his Attributes shall be armed against thee For as this is the great comfort of the Saints and their last refuge so it 's the great terrour unto wicked men and their last destruction 2. Consider if it were but a threatning what a miserable thing it is to lye under any evil aspect thereof the Lord has spread out the Expansum of his Word over the rational world and the Lord rules all by it and according to it he will judge them all Zac. 1.6 Did not my word overtake your fathers for the Decree will surely bring forth it will not always carry the judgment in the womb of it and if it be so terrible a thing to be under the power of any one threatning of God Zeph. 2.2 what is it to lye under the evil aspect of all the threatnings of God that there is not a word in this book but speaks terrour unto the man much more under the evil aspects of all the Attributes of God 3. This is the happiness of the Saints that they have something in God to plead for them they have as it were a threefold Advocate 1 within themselves and so the Spirit pleads the causes of the soul 2 without them and so Jesus Christ is an Advocate with the Father 3 they have something in God himself I say not that I will pray the Father for you for the Father himself loves you c. So here is the misery of wicked men not only the Spirit pleads against them and will strive with them no more but becomes unto them a spirit of bondage in themselves and binds them over unto wrath and Christ pleads against them as Luther tells a story of one Doctor Krans in a Tract of his De Fascina spirituali in Gal. 3. Ego Christum negavi ideo stat coram Patre accusat me illam cogitationem tam fortiter conceperat ut nullâ adhortatione aut consolatione sibi pateretur excuti atque ita desperavit seipsum miserrimè occîdit c. I denied Christ and therefore he stands before the Father and accuseth me c. The learned do for our understanding frame a holy kind of conflict between the Attributes of God according to the liberty allowed them in Scripture speaking of God after the manner of men in the work of our Redemption as if the Lord were reduced into some straights by the cross demands of several Attributes Justice calling for vengeance upon sinful and cursed creatures and with Justice the Truth of God doth joyn to make good his threatning the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye and mercy on the other side pleads for compassion towards miserable and seduced man and this sets infinite wisdom on work to reconcile the different pleas of the Attributes of God in mans redemption but what a misery will that man be in that shall have no Attribute of God to plead for him but they shall all joyn in their pleas and demands against him not only those terrible Attributes that the soul is afraid of as Justice and Truth and Holiness but also the Attributes in which a mans hope is Men cry out God is merciful Oh but mercy is set against thee O sinner and thou hast no interest in his mercy
is not a God of confusion he loves to have every thing done distinctly he cannot delight in a general confession of sin because generals do not affect nor afflict neither can he take pleasure in a general thanksgiving and blessing of his Name but he delights to be honoured by distinct apprehensions in the soul and as it brings the greatest honour unto God so it will surely bring the sweetest consolation unto the creature Eph. 4.24 4 Get a resemblance of every Attribute stampt upon thy heart There is a double image that we read of that of God after which we were created and that of Christ according to which we are renewed Rom. 8.29 Now as we must get an impression of all the graces that be in Christ receiving of his fulness grace for grace that we may be conformable to the image of Christ so we must also of all the Attributes of God that we may be made conformable to the image of God there is something in grace that doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make us God-like as Nazian And he that is a Christian saith Ignatius is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man that carries God with him wheresoever he goes he has an image of the Omnipotency of God and may say I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me and also of the Eternity of God he doth all things upon eternal principles and unto eternal ends and of the Immutability of God his heart is established and will not shrink he is not changed with evâ—ry wind but he is steddy in his course as the Sun going forth in its strength 1 This is the only ground of assurance that thou hast an interest in that attribute for if it work no resemblance of its self in thee 2 Cor. 3. ult it is none of thine For beholding would transform thee into the same image if thou wouldst know whether thou hast an interest in any of the graces of Christ look into thy own heart and on the prayer of Christ in Heaven look into the workings of thy own heart and see if there be any resemblance between Christ and thee and then thou maist conclude it so it 's here also if thou hast an interest in any Attribute there is a resemblance wrought in thee 2 This will give thee a ground of assurance that it shall be put forth for thee or else it will be exercised against thee he that shews mercy shall attain mercy and on the contrary he shall have judgment without mercy that shews no mercy and therefore it 's of great concernment to the Saints that they may have in themselves an image and resemblance of every Attribute for though their portion lye not in that but in God yet in that is a great ground of their assurance that it 's theirs and shall be acted for them in its season CHAP. III. The Beatific Vision of Gods Essence explicated and applied SECT I. What the Saints Happiness in the Vision of God is § 1. WE now come to the second particular in this great Promise and that is The Lord doth hereby make over his Essence to his people In the Essence of God there are two things which the Lord himself distinguishes his face and back parts Exod. 33.23 Similitudo ab hominibus sumpta quos non agnoscimus nisi ex parte Calvin si aliò conversa sit eorum facies c. The similitude is taken from men whom we know not but in part if they turn their face from us It notes to us that weak and imperfect knowledge that we have of God or can have in this life which is but as if a man should see a mans back and no more whereas ex oris vultûs intuitu perspicua est cognitio The perfect knowledge we have of a man is by his face only so here the one of these is agreeable unto the state in this life and that is in the attributes and the other is agreeable unto the state of the life to come for here we do behold God non sicuti est sed sicuti vult Bernard not as he is but as he wills In the opening hereof there are these particulars to be spoken to 1 That all the happiness that the Saints shall have for ever is nothing else but a fruit of the promise which they have here a right unto 2 That their portion lyes in the very Essence of God 3 The manner how this becomes happiness unto them and that is by way of Vision 4 The nature of this Vision as it conduces unto happiness is to be opened also and how the creature can be said to see God in his Essence or as he is 1. All the happiness that the Saints shall have in Glory for ever is nothing else but that which is in the promises here made over to them Godliness has the promise of the life that now is 1 Tim. 4.8 and that which is to come and therefore the life to come and all the glory and happiness of it is in nothing else but a fruit of the promise Heb. 6.12 and so the Saints are said through faith and patience to inherit the promises and therefore eternal life is said to be promised before the world began so that eternal life is but a fruit of the promise Tit. 1.2 and Heaven is but a promised inheritance though it 's true that refers unto a promise made unto Christ and not unto us for a purpose there might be concerning us before we were but a promise doth suppose the partie to whom it is made subsisting This promise therefore was made unto Christ as representing our persons as standing in our stead as being our surety one that received a Covenant and a promise for us and therefore Heaven is a Kingdom which he has promised unto them that love him Jam. 2.5 and so Chap. 1.12 and this is the promise that the Lord has shewed us even eternal life 1 Joh. 2.25 Hence there is a double distinction that is commonly used by our Divines 1. That the Saints have a double right to Heaven There is 1 Jus ad rem a right to the thing as an Heir has to his Land in his nonage which as yet he enjoys not because he is not meet for it he is not able to manage it and therefore is under Tutors and under Guardians till the time appointed by the Father and so it is with the Saints till they be made meet Col. 1.12 2 There is jus in re when a man has a right to it as being in possession of it It 's true that we have not so a right to Heaven because we look on it but by an eye of faith 2 Cor. 5.7 and we rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God Rom. 5. and it is by faith that we walk and not by sight and that argues that we have not the thing in possession but in expectation only but when we
their mercies taste the love of God and delight themselves in his goodness as Nehemiah acknowledged Gods goodness in all his favours from the King 2 A cistern will hold but a little when it 's put into it for it is of a narrow capacity there is a great deal of difference between the fulness in the cistern and in the fountain As it is with the Saints in point of grace so it is with the creatures in point of comfort the fountain can never be drawn dry nay the more it is drawn the quicker the springs are there is never the less and it is most true in God the more a man doth draw happiness from him the quicker the returns are and there is never the less in God for he doth communicate good as the Sun doth light emanativè by way of emanation and that must needs be without diminution c. but the creatures are but as the Moon Rev. 12.1 that has but a little light and that but borrowed and as soon as the Sun turns away its reflexion its light is darkned and the Moon is cloathed with sackcloth and its light doth not appear 3 Water in a cistern will dye and lose its vigour as we see it is in a standing pool Gen. 26.19 it 's said of the servants of Isaac that they digged a well of living water so water in the spring or fountain is called but it is not so with water in the cistern it will dye and putrifie and stink and grow noisom in the end creature-comforts will not be comforts always the good that is in them will not be always sweet let but the Lord change the mind of a man and that which was before sweet will be bitter even the water of gall take a man that is converted and the creature-comforts that before he delighted in are not now pleasant to him dulce est istis suis voluptatibus carere and it is so to ungodly men also when once they are converted the world passeth away and the lusts thereof sometimes the creature leaves a man but the comforts of it will certainly before a man dyes and let once the lust pass away a man has no desire to it and he finds then no satisfaction and contentment in it Prov. 25.27 The searching out of glory is not glory that is search it to the uttermost and there will never be a satiety it will be glory still but take the choicest and the sweetest contentments in this life and they will be so a man may eat honey till it will not be honey to him but prove loathsom and so a man may in the enjoyment of any creature be nauseated and his soul may loath that which before was dainty meat but in God it is not so the comforts that there are to be had in him are always fresh living and vigorous for they are in him as water is in a fountain 4 If God put into the creatures any comfort it is but into cisterns that are broken and they 'l leak out they cannot hold them long for sin hath made a crack in all the creatures that as fast as God puts comfort into them they do leak them out again Heb. 2.1 as it 's in reference to the Word of God we prove leaking vessels and let the things slip from us that we have heard so do the comforts also of the creatures that God gives us in reference to all the sweetness and comfort that is put into them by God If a man have an Estate he puts it into a bag with holes when a man hath gotten it all his care will not keep the comfort of it long for there is a vanity by sin come upon all the creatures they are blasted quickly It 's true that in the Creation they were but cisterns and it was but little that they could hold a mans great comfort and satisfaction came not in by them they were made to be his servants but not his portion to enjoy and therefore by sin there is a vanity put into the creatures that though they may satisfie a while yet their comfort will quickly be gone as they themselves will for the world passes away and the fashion of it and it is but a fashion and an outside and no more 3. If you place your happiness in any thing else you do but forsake God other things may be enjoyed in subordination to God yet so as your Heaven must be in him alone but they must not come in competition with God for he will be God alone When Parmenio made the motion to Alexander to accept the terms that Darius did offer and perswaded the King to it he told him the Heavens could have but one Sun and surely the heart of man can have but one God there can be but one last end one chief good Now as a man that doth not sell all cannot buy the Pearl for it is to be had at no other price as says Christ Luk. 14.33 He that forsakes not all that he has cannot be my Disciple all things are to be forsaken not only as an oblation but as a condition without which Christ is not to be had so it is also in this Jonah 2.8 he that will have his portion in God must have no other God they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy the word doth signifie to keep also as of Jacobs keeping of sheep taking care of them as his charge that none of them were lost or did miscarry and so men do keep lying vanities their great care is over them that they lose them not that their Idols be not taken away from them And so Prosper also says of all those things in which men place their happiness labore quaerunt cura servant anxiâ delectatione possident they seek them with labour keep them with care and possess them with anxious delectation And it 's used for the most heedful observation Psal 130. and thus it is with a great deal of heed care and industry that men preseve their Idols So all these things that we are so careful of they are but lying vanities or the vanity of a lye to shew the emptiness of them they are called vanities in the abstract in the Plural which is ordinary with the Hebrews to do though they are nothing but emptiness yet they are such vanities as carry that curse with them that they do raise a mans expectation and he believes great things from them and by that means they become a lye and therefore men of low degree are vanity Isa 44.20 and men of high degree are a lye he cannot say Is there not a lye in my right hâ—nd and Rev. 22. Every one that loves and makes a lye Now what is the misery of that man and his folly in it Quam Deus illis largissimè offert Drus why he doth by observing these but forsake his own mercy that is that mercy which is offered to them and might become
and prove a curse and not a blessing 4. Because it is very sweet to God when we follow him through a wilderness and see nothing but an alsufficiency in him through a land not sown Jer. 2.2 then you shew your love to him and he looks upon it as the day of your espousals Hos 9.10 I found Israel as grapes in the wilderness it is a proverbial speech when you have none to look to but God Drusius when you are in a land of drought it is never so pleasing unto God as when we are brought into a wilderness and yet there to follow him and the Lord doth never speak so sweetly to us as when he doth deprive us of these outward things that our hearts may stay upon him alone and therefore Hos 2.14 he says I will allure her into the wilderness what was there in the wilderness that might allure her The wilderness has a double consideration 1 It was a place of affliction and so there was nothing to allure for no affliction for the present is joyous but grievous 2 The wilderness was a place of manifestation where God did shew himself in his Ordinances and in his mighty works and if the wilderness be so there is an alluring in it and then saith God will I speak to her heart O when God brings into the wilderness and gives discoveries of himself there are the greatest comforts and the sweetest speakings unto the souls of his Saints the Lord doth not fail them in their time of need 5. Gods great glory is to manifest his Attributes in the sufferings of his people and it is the great work that he doth in the world and the greatest comfort that the Saints have is to see the Attributes of God drawn forth and to work for them Jer. 2.31 Have I been a wilderness to Israel It 's true says the Lord I brought them into a wilderness and did allure them thither but when they were there I was not a wilderness unto them they found all in me though the earth afforded them nothing yet there was nothing wanting from Heaven it was not a wilderness when they were in the wilderness See an instance of it Jer. 29.22 there were two false Prophets that did strive to make provision for themselves and they pleased the people Jer. 2.29 and said The King of Babylon should not carry them away captive they spoke lies in the name of the Lord and we see what became of them but Jeremiah that made no provision for himself did not as Baruck seek great things for himself we see how he is provided for even in the enemies hand Jer. 39.11 12. Look well to him do him no harm but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee how good is it to look up to God for all our supplies and not to distrust his goodness and power in any danger or strait that we may be exposed to 6. As our supplies do come from God so also there is a special token of love and interest discovered in his sufficiency and that is sweeter than the mercy it self the Lord loves to give unto his people every mercy that they need and as it is lined with love so it shall be faced with love that the mercy shall come in according unto the promise and he can look upon it as the birth of the promises as a pledge and a fruit of interest in the alsufficiency of God it 's a great thing and is much more than the blessing it self if it were a thousand times multiplied that all the promises lead a man to Christ the foundation of them all 2 Cor. 1.20 they do lead a man as beams to the Sun so when the mercy leads a man to his interest in the alsufficiency of God that 's more than the mercy it self when a mâ—n sees it 's given in to the bargain when he seeks first the Kingdom of Heaven all things in this world shall be added to him Psal 6.33 though they are in themselves but small yet they are magni amoris indicium there is a great deal of difference between a kiss and a reward though there may be a greater bounty in the one but there is more love in the other and so far as the people of God taste that the Lord is gracious so far they taste his love is sweeter than all unto them for if there were not love in the gift there were no relish in it we use to despise the gifts only of enemies and indeed the hearts of all the Saints do so far undervalue them as Luther that they can tell God Let thy gifts of this worlds goods only be to another but let me have a smile from thy face one kiss of thy mouth and it shall chear me more than corn or wine and oil as for all other things they are but as Luther said of the Turkish Empire mica canibus projecta a mite cast to the dogs because there was no love in it therefore a little that the righteous hath is better than the riches of many wicked as a little that the righteous doth is better than the pompous services of many wicked persons because there is love in the one and none in the other and without this all is as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal Object 2 You say that none have an interest in the alsufficiency of God but his Covenant-people But we see that the men of the world have great sufficiency Psal 73.7 they have more than heart can wish they enjoy all manner of abundance that one would think the alsufficiency of God were made over to them rather than to the Saints one would have thought it to have been the portion of Dives rather than Lazarus For the wicked fare deliciously every day c. Answ It 's true indeed that many wicked men who are strangers to God and his Covenant have great sufficiency in outward things but yet 1 though it be from the alsufficiency of God for he it is that is the Fountain of common mercies he doth cause the Sun to rise upon the unjust c. he opens his hand and fills every living thing it is he therefore that is said to fill their bellies with his hid treasure Psal 17.14 but yet it is not from their interest in his alsufficiency they have all from God but they have no interest in God it 's one thing to receive mercy from God ex largitate from an overflowing of his goodness and another thing to receive it ex proprietate from an interest in his goodness There are some benefits by Christ that wicked men have that have no interest in Christ there are many works that the Sun doth effect in the earth when it never shines and so it 's with Christ he vouchsafeth good things to many a soul in whose Horizon he doth never rise there is a great difference in the manner of conveyance 2 A sufficiency they have
the Romans in praelio in a battel sometimes sed nunquam in bello never in war so does Satan against the Saints but they surely have the victory in the end and therefore faith has its triumphing as well as its relying act c. 4. Corruptions of men shall tend to the Saints spiritual advantage though God is not the Author of sin yet he is the Orderer of it 1 He doth not let out the corruptions of other men any further than for the good of his Saints The wrath of man shall praise thee no man shall desire thy land I suffered thee not to touch her the Lord withholds men from hurting his people and his restraining grace is not only upon their acts but upon their corruptions also so as they are not let out but unto the Saints spiritual advantage also 2 Not only the corruptions of other men but those of the Saints themselves the falling out of any new and eminent fall the Lord will make as a new conversion Luke 22.32 When thou art converted strengthen thy brethren the foundation is laid anew and there is also a renewing of justification a more fast application of the Righteousness of Christ I will take away thy filthy garments and I will cloath thee with change of raiment Zac. 3.4 I have caused thy iniquity to pass from thee and this makes way for a glorious assurance and for an eminent imployment for God sets a Mitre or a Crown upon his head and he was thereby fitted for the great work of the Temple and taken into society with them that stand by 5. All a mans imployment it is a testimony that a man is a vessel of honour when in every condition he is fitted for the masters use and it 's a token that a man is called unto any imployment in mercy when he has the graces of that condition drawn forth a man may be called to the Ministry or the Magistracy but not in mercy without this there is an election to an imployment as well as to life Paul was separated from his mothers womb unto the Gospel of Christ c. If David be a shepherd he follows the Ews great with young and he doth it with faithfulness and if he be taken from the sheepfold to feed Jacob the Lords people and Israel his inheritance he doth it with the integrity of his heart and the skilfulness of his hand Acts 13.22 Vis me constituere pastorem ovium aut regem populorum ecce paratum est cor meum c. sometimes friends sometimes enemies sometimes the chief of the Princes were against David but God was with him 6. Even death it self and the agonies thereof for even death it self is yours it is a servant and not an enemy because it doth improve and further a mans spiritual interest 1 As men dye in the Lord Rev. 14.13 death is theirs by virtue of their union with Christ that as they bear fruit in him so they dye in him death cannot dissolve the union between a soul and Christ 2 As they die to him so they live to him that is Rom. 14. ◠they make him their end in living and dying they would live no longer than he might be glorified as Paul says and they would then die when he might be glorified that Christ might be magnified in my body Phil. 1. and they count not their lives dear 3 It is a life of glory that death lets the Saints into it opens the door unto a weight of eternal life it doth perfect the purer part of man delivers him from the body of sin for he that is dead is freed from sin and it doth let him into the beatifical vision and thereby his sanctification also is perfected as it is recorded of Bernard when he was sick unto death there was a great while nothing heard of him but this Tempus perdidi quà m perditè vixi but at last he adds Hoc meum solatium duplici in re Christus regnum possidet quà filius quà passus hoc secundo nihil ei opus fuit sed mihi dedit and under this consolation he fell asleep 2. All the creatures belong to the spiritual Kingdom reductivè as they do belong to the priviledges of the Saints for all things are yours because you are Christs there is a double right jus politicum evangelicum now in this manner they belong to the spiritual Kingdom 1. In respect of their continuance for it is for their sakes that the world stands By virtue of the ancient curse Cursed be the ground for thy sake the earth would sink under us but that the Lord Jesus did put under his hand and keep it from ruine by virtue of the new Covenant therefore he is brought in as the upholder of all things who also purged our sins and is sate down at the right hand of the Majesty on high Heb. 1.3 for the Lord did not continue the creatures in their being to serve his enemies but the subordination of creatures depends upon the second Covenant as appears Hos 2.21 and the Lord will surely manifest it in these two things 1 In the latter days the Kingdom and Dominion of the whole Earth shall be taken out of the hands of the enemies and shall be given into the hands of the Saints to the end of the world Dan. 7.18 and then all the wicked of the earth shall lick the dust of their feet and it is in order thereunto that it is continued to this day 2 As soon as the Lord has gathered in the number of his Saints and has perfected their graces he will take down the stage of this world and overturn it that it shall be no more at least such as now it is Now they that are the heirs of this world as Abrahams seed are called they are translating and Gods children being called home the Lord will not continue the world for servants but he will break up house-keeping and he will send every one of them unto their own place c. the tares and the wheat do grow till the harvest but the Lord will not suffer the tares to grow again after the harvest and therefore the very continuation of the creatures belongs unto the spiritual Kingdom as one part of the priviledges of the Saints 2. The restitution of the creatures for as they were made subject unto vanity by sin for they all came under mans Covenant and therefore you have heard in mans fall the curse took hold upon them they being made for the use of man Rom. 8.20 21. they shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption and therefore they wait for the manifestation of the glory of the sons of God not that all the creatures shall be continued in being for many of them shall be consumed in that last conflagration but yet the substance shall continue as standing monuments unto Gods glory as matter of praise and of delight unto the Saints which shall be begun in the
do the Saints that are of the same body with themselves for they do none of them live barely as private men though they are not all publick persons in respect of office and function yet they are in respect of their relation and they have all of them reference unto the body and they do pray as members of the body and have in all things respect unto the good of the body for as the Spirit that doth interpret the Scripture is not a private Spirit so the Spirit that doth act the Saints is not a private Spirit therefore as in the good of every member the body is interessed so also in the prayers of every one the body is interessed therefore as we are to look upon all the prayers of Christ not as the prayers of a private man but as put up by him who is the Churches Head so we are also to look upon the prayers of all the Saints not as of private men but also as under the relation of membership under which they stand in the body of Christ and as we are to look upon their sufferings as being of the body so are we also to look upon their services as being done by the members of the same body and all of them for the good and benefit of the body Moses obtained great benefits to the people of Israel by his prayers their blessings depended much upon his prayers Pardon them as thou hast done it from Egypt till now and the Lord answers I have pardoned them according to thy word and again Moses prays Go before them or carry us not from hence the Lord answers My presence shall go with you and I will give you rest The blessings that godly men attain are not barely the fruit of their own prayers and yet they that are godly do pray also but they are a concurrence of prayers and by them we do attain mercy yea sometimes when we are little able to pray for our selves when the spirit of prayer is low in its actings in us yet then the souls of some of the Saints are upon the wing and the Lord will have respect unto them for they are of the body As we rejoice not in the gifts of others because we look upon them as given unto other men and do not look upon them as a part of the body and so see our interest in them that they are given them for our good and therefore they are to us rather matter of envy than of rejoicing so we take no comfort in the prayers of the Saints upon this ground because we look not upon them as praying upon the same common interest with us and as praying for us as fellow-members who have with them an equal interest in the good of the body and its prosperity And as they obtain mercy so they keep off judgment if Noah Daniel and Job stood before me he speaks it as the most effectual way of prevailing with him and as that which he would least of all deny and yet the Decree being gone forth his heart could not be towards them The Saints have in their ages attained great mercy for the body and therefore Elijah is called the chariot of Israel and the horse-men thereof their main defence lay in him under Heaven they had not so great a one and therefore godly men in all ages have looked upon it as a great misery for the godly of the age to be removed as having their party and their interest upon earth weakned as if an eminent man of any party be taken away it 's looked upon as a great weakning to them and he is thereupon greâ—â—y bewailed by them Wherefore it is reproved as their sin Esa 57.1 That the righteous perish and no man layeth it to heart c. and Mic. 7.1 it is expressed by the Prophet as a duty and so it was with Austins mother he saies of her Orationibus vivebat and it was in answer to her prayers that he was new-born unto God Parturivit me carne ut in hanc temporalem corde ut in aeternam lucem renascerer Tom. 9. cap. 8. She travailed with me as in her flesh to bring me forth to a temporal life so in her heart to an eternal life he was an eminent instrument in the Church in the age in which he lived and mightily confuted the false Teachers of the time and did gloriously defend the truth and appeared for it and all this he did attain by the benefit of his mothers prayers And they do bring upon the Churches enemies very great and terrible judgments by their prayers there is a fire that comes out of their mouths and consumes their enemies and that not as they are theirs but as they are the Churches enemies And not only the prayers of the present age shall have power against Antichrist but the prayers of the former ages as to instance in the prayers of David taking place against Judas Act. 1. so there have been prayers for many years that have been going for the Reformation of England from Popery which have been answered eminently in our daies and will be more and more answered in succeeding generations the people of God pray continually for more degrees of grace and light Now it 's true that when men strike an Oak with many blows yet it doth not fall till the last blow and yet we say that it is not the last blow that fells the Oak but all that went before so 't is here as it was in the death of Christ his last act was the full payment but yet all his former obedience and sufferings did concur thereunto to all that full satisfaction that was given by him to the Father and it 's dreadful when the prayers of all the people of God do fall upon a man surely vengeance will overtake him as an armed man Look as all the prayers of the Saints do at the last day meet together in the Devils destruction so it shall be in the destruction of any great and eminent instrument of his as in attaining special deliverances the Lord stands upon number so it is in bringing in eminent judgments also and therefore Hezekiah sends for Isaiah and tells him That the children were come to the birth the promises did travail with deliverance but there was no strength to bring forth unless he would add his prayers also and so it is with the people of God it is much more to lose one praying man than a plotting or a fighting man and that is the meaning that great Babylon came into remembrance before God how was it it was from the Lords remembrancers for the Vials did come out of the Temple Rev. 16.1 all their prayers met together Rev. 16.1 and there is a full cry that the Lord is put in remembrance which by his long delay and forbearance he had seemed to neglect and forget 8. By their Faith the people of God attain much mercy to others as well as by their
prayers for as by their prayers they do not only attain mercy for themselves so they do not only by their faith attain mercy for themselves it is said of the men that came to Christ Jesus That when he saw their faith he said to the sick of the palsie Son thy sins are forgiven thee c. Mark 2.5 There is a question put by Interpreters whether any man be saved by another mans faith or what benefit a man may have by the faith of another to which they commonly give this answer That the faith of others may be very useful unto men though they be sinful in reference unto temporal mercies and deliverance as the Saints are said by faith to subdue kingdoms attain promises stop the mouths of lyons out of weakness were made strong Heb. 11.33 waxed valiant in fight and turned to flight the armies of the aliens c. in which works there were many others had the benefit of them besides themselves and yet all is attributed to their faith And therefore if by the faith of one many even ungodly men may fare the better how much more may all the Saints who are one body and live not only for their own good but also for the good one of another by their faith attain very many temporal blessings one from another and by the faith one of another Yea they go further though it 's true that no man can be saved but by his own faith and it was by this mans faith also laying hold upon pardon that his sins were forgiven him yet ubi est mutuus fidei consensus ab aliis juvari aliorum salutem Calv. The Lord even in granting spiritual blessings to his people hath as well respect unto the faith of others as unto the prayers of others as when we pray and others pray for us the mercy is granted as a return unto both prayers so when we believe and others also do believe the mercy is given with respect to the faith of both parties and this is the blessed condition of Saints that they do not only attain temporal mercies one for another and are the better in temporal things but even in spiritual and eternal things they do attain mercy as by their prayers so by the faith one of another as they may pray one for another so they may also believe one for another and the mercies be granted to them so there be a concurrence also of the faith of the person that receives the mercy It was a great mercy that the people of Israel should enter into â—anaan by the faith of Abraham and Jacob and Joseph they only believing and embracing those promises which they never lived to see fulfilled and accomplished But if it be so great a mercy to enter into the earthly Canaan and yet some entred not because of their unbelief for a mans own proper unbelief may deprive him of those temporal blessings which a man might else attain how much more a mercy is it to enter into the spiritual Canaan that of the Gospel even the promised Land the spiritual Priviledges of the Gospel and those that are eternal and that with the assistance of another mans faith It is ordinary with us to desire the prayers one of another and by the same reason that we have an interest in the prayers of the faithful we have an interest in the faith of the faithful also and we may as well desire them to improve and exercise their faith for us as their prayers and so did Monica for her son and parents should do it for their children as well as for their own souls and so for our friends also Austin speaking of the former experiences that his mother had in the answer and return of her prayers saies of her Semper orans tanquam chirographa tua ingerebat tibi c. And truly the returns of the faith of the faithful would be as great though they be not so commonly known as the return of their prayers and yet their prayers will avail nothing if they be not the prayers of faith § 4. Thus we have spoken something of the providential Kingdom in over-ruling all things for the good of the Saints in reference unto Good men now follows that we speak something also in reference unto Evil men for there is a Government and Soveraignty that the Lord doth also exercise towards them and all for the good of his own people Now the Lord Jesus hath a rule and dominion not only over his own house but also over the world and he doth rule them with a rod of iron Psal 2.9 and it is in this only that the people of God when they look upon wicked men in the world can comfort themselves that the Lord reigns and the power and the government of themselves is not in their own hand even the vessels of dishonour in his great house whether we understand it of the Church or of the world are for the masters use and at the masters command even wicked men as well as Devils are not at their own dispose there is a government that he doth exercise over them for he hath undertaken the government of all things for the good of his people and for their sake and if he do administer all for their good he must rule their enemies in all things as well as the Saints that the people of God may say That neither Angels nor principalities nor powers nor any creature shall be able to separate them from the love of God in Christ Rom. 8.38 he orders all the motions of enemies as well as the motions of his people as the Captain of the Lords Host and he orders all things so as it shall be for the destruction of the enemy at the last for all things are put under his feet the last enemy that is destroyed is death therefore all is put under his government and he doth rule them so as that in their own actings they do find their own destruction his government over them is that they might be destroyed and in their own way find their destruction but yet so as they shall be wholly ruled and ordered for the good of his people and that will appear in these particulars 1. That they have a being and standing in the world is for the good of the Saints caeteri mortales qui ex isto numero non sunt ad utilitatem nascuntur istorum August They had never been born if God had not had some use to make of them for the good of the Saints non enim quenquam istorum Deus temerè aut fortuito creat God creates none of them in vain as if he knew not what use to make of them it is for the Saints sake that they have their standing in the world for it is for them that the world stands it is but that the number of the Elect may be gathered and perfected and when that is done the stage of this world shall be taken down
the Lord shall so lead thee that thou shalt not dash thy foot against a stone tibi nocere non possunt sed coguntur inservire 2 Stones were for bounds and Land-marks and they shall not be removed but you shall continually enjoy the bounds of your own habitation they shall not be removed it shall be as sure as if you were in league with the Stones that they shall not depart from your bounds 3 Cocceius hath out of Vlpian a certain punishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appellant whence they did use to heap stones upon a ground that it might never be plowed to hinder its fruitfulness Thus the sense is The Stones shall be at league with thee that none of them shall hinder the fruitfulness of thy land and make it lye barren and untilled as in judgment they might doe Now if there be a Covenant by God made with all these for his people then surely the Motions and the Actings of all these shall be for the good of his People But you will say In what particular do all these little things work for the good of the Saints It will clearly appear in these particulars 1. In the smallest things the people see God and their spirits are elevated and raised up to behold him in them for not only the Heavens declare the Glory of God Psal 19.1 but even the meanest Creatures in all their motions do it Repraesentat quaelibet herba Deum Now there is a threefold Vision of God in this World in his Works and in his Word and in his Son and it is of special use that the works of God are unto the Saints in all their being and motions that they can see something of God in them Our Communion with God depends upon our Vision of God and the more we see God in all things the more we converse with him Now there is not the least of all the Creation of God but it doth represent him to us and we look upon it as a footstep of God it is that which doth raise up our hearts unto Heaven while we are upon Earth and causeth us to look upon nothing small that hath so glorious a Creator and so wise a Disposer in minimis lauda magnum says Austin when he speaks de culice there is much of God to be seen and the heart is much to be over-aw'd not only in the lesser things of the Word but also of the Works of God 2. It is unto the people of God matter of praise even in the actings of the meanest of the creatures to see how they work unto an end that they know not but the wise disposer of them knows all their motions and directs them unto his end the out-goings of the morning and evening do praise thee that is objectivè and occasionaliter as they give unto his people matter and occasion of praise In the creation the Morning Stars did sing Job 38.7 and so they do in all the Executions of Providence also fitting them for this end and guiding them to this end c. Austin in Psal 148. blames those that dislike and find fault with the works of God In officina non audent vituperare fabrum tamen audent reprehendere in mundo Deum Perdidisti Hallelujah A man doth lose his praise and the matter and occasion of it which is unto a Saint a great loss for praise is his delight and he loves the occasion of it 3. There is great matter of Meditation even in these ordinary things such as do mightily affect the Souls of the Saints it was so to David Psal 148.7 8 9 10. Praise the Lord from the earth ye Dragons and all deeps fire and hail snow and vapours stormy wind fulfilling his Word mountains and all hills fruitful trees and all cedars Beasts and all cattel creeping things and flying fowls and how can this be Nudae creaturae Deum celebrant Moller dum ad mirandam ejus sapientiam potentiam quotidie ostendunt The dangers prevented and the good things conferred such as are secrets unto us and we know not we consider not of as Luther saith of himself in the like case Somnia nostra observat quando nescimus nos vivere c. equidem odi carnem meam quòd haec scio vera esse iis tamen non seriò afficior c. It gives the Soul high matter of Meditation puts it into the Mount with God 4. It is unto the People of God a great ground of exercising their Faith and that in two things 1 Upon the word of Promise that all these creatures are his by Covenant in all their motions and therefore he has not a common interest in them with the rest of the world but they come unto him from another hand and he receives them by another tenure Now any mercy that has the respect of the Covenant put upon it is infinitely heightned unto them the smallest mercy enjoy'd by Covenant is better than the greatest without the Covenant it is better be as low as Hell with a promise than in Paradise without it therefore it is true that other men walk upon the Stones and they hurt them not and the Beasts break not in upon them the Sun shines and the Rain falls upon them yet here is the sweetness to a Believer This I enjoy as a fruit of an everlasting Covenant as an heir of Promise and as a Pledge of an eternal Inheritance 2 It will be a ground to exercise a mans Faith for a support if the Lord cloath the grass of the field how much more will he cloath you and if he feeds the Ravens he will surely not starve his Children nay if the supply of all the Creatures will be a Provision for you you shall not want it they shall all act for you and if it were possible to put a Saint of God in this life in such a condition as he should want the supply of all the creatures at once they should surely all work for his good for the Lord provides them of purpose and for that very end that they may work for you and therefore are they continued in their being and to that end are govern'd by him 5. The Love of the People of God is drawn out by them exceedingly even by small Mercies for it is not the greatness of the Blessing but the abundance of Love discovered to the soul in it that takes a gracious heart for we love him because he loved us first And as his love is discovered such are the outgoings of our love to him again Now these small things may be magni amoris indicium an ordinary turn of the creature may testifie a great deal of love from God to the Soul as when Israel came out of Egypt Joh. 19.36 not a Dog did move his tongue Exod. 11.7 if they had the matter had not been great for in the night they use to bark but though there was a great cry amongst the Egyptians
setting them their habitation the earth is the Lords and he hath given it unto the children of men but he hath set every man in his place in the earth the bounds of their habitation are set so he doth tell Paul I will send thee afar off to the Gentiles that he should preach amongst the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ The Ministers of the Gospel are the Stars in the right hand of Christ â—ev 1. ult and he doth set them in their orbs where they shall shine as well as give them light by which they shall shine there are some Stars primae magnitudinis of the first magnitude but they are not all so one Star differs from another in glory Jonah must go to Nineveh Amos must prophesie at Bethel though it be the Kings Chappel and the Kings Court John Baptist must preach in the Wilderness of Judea and he must not spare the sins of any of his Auditors neither the Publicans nor the Souldiers and if the Pharisees come they shall meet also with their reproof O generation of vipers who hath forewarned you to flee from the wrath to come We have an instance in Nazianzen who was chosen by the people to be Minister at Nazianzum which was the place of his birth and from whence he hath his name but at his hearing of it he did declare the work was that which he thought himself no way fit for and yet after some stay and much ado the Lord brought him thither and so for Musculus when he was turned out of the Covent and deprived of all means of livelihood he betook himself unto a Weavers house that was an Anabaptist and there he wrought some two years where confuting a Teacher which used to come unto his master he was thereupon displaced and now he knew not what to do and then resolved for a livelihood to go work in the Town-ditch for they were making of Fortifications and walking there the night before he made these Verses Est Deus in coelis c. and so next morning one sent unto him to be Minister of a Church c. 3. In giving them occasion and opportunity to exercise their graces for opportunity is the spring time of grace and of sin Phil. 4.10 Ye but wanted opportunity and Judas sought an opportunity to betray Christ there is much within that if there were not opportunity would never be vented it 's this that gives the vent unto the inward man Now opportunity and occasion of sinning is a judgment and it is one way that the Lord hath a hand in the ordering of sinful actions he doth give the occasion to them he ordered it that Judas should have the bag and Achan should see the wedge and the young man have a harlot come out to meet him c. So the Lord doth give occasion and opportunity for the exercising of graces and it is a special providence so to do 1 Cor. 1.6 9. A great door is open to me that is a great and a blessed opportunity of service Rev. 3.8 I will set before thee an open door that is give a man a great opportunity and to continue to a man such an occasion as this is a door that shall not be shut though not only service but even opportunity of service shall be sure to meet with many adversaries This is a special mercy unto the people of God and a great gift if the Lord doth in providence so order things that it shall be so unto them So the obedience of Abraham in leaving of his country and his offering of his son the strength of Jacob in prayer therefore Esau shall meet him the chastity of Joseph and the patience of Job the zeal of Jehosaphat and his readiness to work for God he â—â—d abundance and his heart was lifted up in the ways of Gods commandments and the courage and height of spirit in Luther he shall meet with opposition that shall draw it forth gratia vexata seipsam prodit he had never appeared unto that hâ—ight had it not been that the Lord by their opposition gave him occasion and opportunity for such eminent service Prov. 17.16 and Prov. 17.16 Why is there a price in the hand of a fool 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hoc pretium this great and this excellent price some expound it of riches which the Lord doth give men that they might by them endeavour to get wisdom and to exercise it but it is I conceive of a larger extent and to be understood of any talent which the Lord doth put into a mans hand it is all given by God that it may be used and improved unto a spiritual end and the wisdom and the folly of a man is much discovered in the use of the price that is put into his hand wise men have a heart to it that is they do understand it what they are betrusted with and they have a will and a desire and they do their endeavour to imploy it but fools understand not what it is neither do they consider it and therefore they have no desire to use it unto the end for which God gave it they know not the season in which talents are continued nor the end for which they were committed unto men and therefore they use them for their hurt and are but as a sword put into a mad mans hand to hurt all that comes near him and they cast fire-brands and say I am in sport c. Now it 〈◊〉 true opportunity is a great talent it is a mans day of visitation for service as there is a day of visitation for grace and if a man know it not and take it not but let it slip it is his folly and his sin and will prove a curse to him There is many a â—â—n that has as much sin as another but yet it is not so improved because he never had in providence the opportunity which makes others grow more exceedingly and out of measure sinful and so it is also in this there is many a man that has much more grace because he had more opportunity of exercising it and drawing it forth and so the habit is exceedingly improved and there are glorious fruits of it all which do abound unto the account of the Saints thus providence orders opportunities of service 4. There is a special Providence unto his people in â—ppointing of their societies that as ungodly men are permitted to be cast upon some that will improve their sin for a man is much built up by his society either unto Heaven or Hell Prov. 1.10 If sinners entice thee consent thou not sinners will entice and a man shall be cast into such companies and such occasions of converse he knows not how so there is a providence also in casting of the people of God upon their societies Act. 18.24 25. Apollos came to Ephesus and at the same time Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome now Aquila and Priscilla
our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 which we do by his Grace yet there is a concurrence of ours therein 5 That the Patience and forbearance of God even towards the Vessels of mercy may be so much the more exalted Num. 14.17 Moses says Let the Power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken the Lord long-suffering and of great mercy even his forbearance is an act of his power it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is an impotency in a man that he cannot forbear if he be injured it is utterly a fault amongst you but it is not so with God it is his Power that he can forbear 't is the patience of his power and therefore we are not consumed when we daily provoke him the imagination of a mans heart being continually evil he is God and not man Gen. 6.5 Gen. 8.21 Hos 11.9 therefore Gen. 6.5 and 8.21 they do seem to cross each other in the first place 't is said the Lord will destroy man because the imaginations of his heart were evil and in the other I will not again curse the ground for mans sake for the imaginations of his heart are evil from his youth it seems to be given as a reason of two contraries he will and he will not every imagination of the heart of man is evil therefore I will no more curse the Earth for his sake it seems strange reasoning it is by the Jesuites and Arminians looked upon as an extenuation of Original sin There is now that infirmity come upon him which was in Adam indeed a sin but now it is become a disease an infirmity a condition of Nature and therefore humanae infirmitatis miserebor I will pity humane infirmity so A Lapide and others who make the being of sin in us to be no sin but there is quite another sence of the words the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken either causativè or adversativè and so it is rendred sometimes quia because and sometimes quamvis although Glass Rhet. pag. 606. Our translators take the first for the imaginations of the heart or because the imaginations of the heart of man are only evil and so Brentius Pareus c. Si vellem semper genus humanum diluvio punire c. If I should always bring upon them a flood for their iniquity I should not leave a man upon the earth all man-kind would be destroy'd for the imaginations of his heart are evil from his youth and therefore now having smelt a savour of rest from a sacrifice I will not for this cause destroy them any more by a flood But many of the learned render it adversativè and so it is although so Exod. 13.17 The Lord led them not thorough the land of the Philistins although that was near it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 34.19 Let my Lord I pray thee goe amongst us for it is a stiffe-necked people that is although it be a stiffe-necked people and so it is an expression of the wonderfull patience of God that though men provoke him daily and all the imaginations of their hearts are evil continually yet hoc non obstante I will shew my patience towards them and will no more curfe the ground for mans sake c. and it is spoken of all men not only wicked men but godly men for whose sake the Lord doth spare the creatures for it is for the Saints sake that the world stands and that the earth is not destroyed and yet the imaginations of their hearts are evil from their youth and by this the patience of God towards the vessels of mercy as well as towards the vessels of wrath is very highly exalted 6 That the Lord may hereby shew how great a grace that donum perseverantiae gift of perseverance is and what an almighty power doth concur thereunto Adam had no sin and yet he fell from his first state how then shall we stand that have in us nothing else but sin something of the venom of the old Serpent that is ready to open unto him upon every suggestion and ready to take fire by every temptation a sin that doth easily beset us or compass up about Heb. 12.21 And the great aim of Satan without and sin within is to extinguish grace that this seed may dye in the man but it is maintained and there is an almighty power that does it therefore 1 Pet. 1.15 We are kept by the mighty power of God through saith unto salvation or else we should perish every day and this exalts the grace of the second Covenant unto the souls of the Saints because there is not only a grace of conversion but of perseverance also the Spirit of Christ having once taken possession of the soul takes possession for ever never to leave it again if Christ hath cast out the strong man he will never himself be cast out till Satan be stronger than he which is never possible 7 That the souls of the Saints may be kept here in a continual longing and a groaning condition for glory there is nothing so great an evil as sin and therefore nothing should make the soul weary of this life so much as sin because it cannot end but with our life and this is one blessed fruit of it Rom. 8.13 We groan for the Adoption but why do we groan 2 Cor. 5.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there are many burdens that the people of God are under in this life but there is no burden like unto that of the body of death that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a weight indeed Heb. 12.1 and they groan therefore to put off this tabernacle because without it there is no putting off this body of sin but by being freed from this prison we are so apt to be in love with this present life that we had need of something that might be bitterness to us and imbitter it to us so that we take not up our rest here but that the soul may look for and hasten to the coming of the day of God and may rejoyce to put off this Tabernacle be willing that the flesh should be destroyed that thereby there may be the destruction of the body of sin in us also And thus we see the Soveraignty of God working for the Saints in this great state of the being of sin in the Saints in this life bringing much good unto them as well as much glory unto himself thereby § 3. 2. As the being of sin comes under the Soveraignty of God so doth the rising of it in the heart which doth never break forth into act it is true that the heart of man is an evil treasury and it is an evil fountain but though it be always issuing yet it doth not vent it self the same way but sometimes in this kind and sometimes in that Seneca in omnibus omnia vitia sunt licèt non se exerunt c. Mar. 7.21 22 23. For out
of the heart proceed evil thoughts adulteries fornications murders thefts covetousness wickedness deceit lasciviousness an evil eye blasphemy pride foolishness all these evil things come from within and defile the man c. for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh Mat. 12.34 Now how comes it to pass that now one sin riseth in the heart and sometimes another sin when there is an equal propension unto all sin it riseth out of the heart but there is a Soveraignty of God that doth order these motions and desires in the heart permitting such motions and stirrings of heart now which he had not before Jam. 1.15 Lust conceiveth and brings forth sin there is original sin the root of corruption which is called Lust Jam. 1.15 and that is the mother of all sin and it is said to conceive when it is formed into motions reasonings consultations and desires and consents but yet there is many a lust conceived that never is brought forth into act and the permitting the rising as well as of the being of lust depends upon the Dominion and the Soveraignty of God As there came into the heart of Esau such a resolution when my father is dead I will slay my brother Jacob so there came a motion into the heart of Judas to betray Christ and thereupon he consulted how to do it with the greatest advantage and how to take the fittest opportunity to bring it to pass so a thought came into Davids heart to number the people Satan stirred it up but God in judgment giving him over that it should be at this time when God was angry with Israel and Ezech. 38.10 It shall come to pass at the same time that things shall come into thy mind and thou shalt think an evil thought a thought that he did not think before the time of his destruction was near then such motions shall arise as it did in Ahab Is not Ramoth in Gilead ours c which was the occasion of his destruction There is a providence even in the rising of lusts in the hearts of his own people that this lust at this special time and another lust at another time should rise in them it is the same Soveraignty of God that doth draw forth gracious desires in the Saints and doth permit corrupt desires in them also God is not the Author but the orderer of them and yet even in this also the Soveraignty of God is exercised for the good of the Saints and that many ways 1 In this that all lusts break not forth in the soul continually for lust that is the mother of all sin original sin stands equally prepared unto all sin at all times and therefore that all lusts be not stirring in the heart together is from a glorious act of the soveraign restraint of God Hos 4.2 By swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery they break out c. erumpunt it is taken from waters that have been hid or from fire shut up in an oven or a furnace Hos 7.6 sometimes it breaks forth into thoughts in the soul and sometimes into acts in the life Now there is a double restraint that the Soveraignty of God has over mens acts and over their lusts and it 's a great mercy to have acts of sin restrained as it was in Abimelech Gen. 20.6 his lust was let out but God restrained the act and it is a greater mercy to have the lust restrained than the act as the Lord said They shall not desire thy land Now the Lord doth restrain the Devils acts but for his lusts he doth let them range and so he doth very far also restrain the acts of wicked men when he sets no bounds unto their lusts next to being freed from the being of sin it 's a mercy to be delivered from the rising of sin and in that there is a special manifestation of the Soveraignty of God for if the rising of one sin be so troublesom unto a godly man that he strives and prays and wrestles with it and it is unto him as the thorn in his flesh he cannot be quiet in himself by reason of it how miserable and continually unquiet would the heart of a godly man be if he should have many such strangers and way-faring men come to him as it was said of the lust that came into Davids heart how should a godly man be able even to stand under the burden of them therefore even this restraint of the rising of some lusts is a special mercy that Josephs lust should not rise and conceive in him at such a time and when he had such an opportunity And it is the greater because I conceive the Spirit of God by a peculiar work and not a common doth restrain the lusts of the Saints It 's true that there is restraining grace both unto the godly and the wicked but not both from the same principle but the Spirit having once taken possession of a godly man for his own house and Temple he doth never work common works in that man more as a Spirit assisting barely but as a Spirit inhabiting 2 There is a great deal of mercy in the Lords ordering of the rising of lust when lust doth not rise when the object is present there is the object and the opportunity but the lust is past away as Ruth lay at Boaz his feet all night yet no lust ariseth towards her and David had an opportunity of killing Saul but yet when Saul was in his hand and he was stirred up to it by his servants also yet God restrained his lust it did not rise in him which we may see by the contrary in other men as soon as the object is offered the lust is up in the young man Prov. 7. he met a harlot and he went after her straight-ways and there is a man that no sooner sees his neighbours wife but he doth lust after her his lust riseth as soon as the object is presented and so it was with Achan I saw and I coveted and I took and so it is with many a man let the least shew or provocation be given and his spirit is on fire immediately but it was not so with Abraham though he was the better man and had a better right than Lot yet in the contention the lust of pride and passion did not arise in him Let there be no strife between me and thee for we are brethren A man of understanding is of a cool spirit he doth not take fire immediately that lust should rise at one time and not at another it can be attributed unto nothing but the Soveraignty of God ordering and over-ruling and restraining it c. 3 The Lord doth let some lusts at this time arise that it may shew a man that such a sin is in his nature which formerly he haply never considered never particularly repented of and never saw the fruit of it breaking forth in his life Now to lead a man
mercy God hath shewed in me a pattern of Patience Oh that ever such a one should find mercy and favour with him that he should take me into his bosome 8 It puts a man upon the greater Mortification of sin he doth with the greater hatred abhorr all evil ye that fear the Lord hate evil Dolor dolore tollitur venenâ— venenis dispeâ—luntur Aug. now hatred will be contented with nothing but destruction the more the Enemy doth arise the more doth a mans hatred arise Gratia vexata seipsam prodit a man shall say What have I to doe any more with Idols to the Moles and to the Batts David hates that sin that had so defiled him and this sets him against the whole body of sin I was shapen in iniquity and now he looks for the Root Psal 51. and he doth hate sin in the Fountain of it And as it is in a sin in Practice so it is in an errour in Judgement he will not only be watchfull against it but he will also hate it the more There was not such an enemy against the Manichees in the world as Austin was because he had been himself deluded with it as when he was to dispute with Fortunatus Secum in eodem errore constitutum congredi putabat And so Luther that of Popery Brevi efficiam c. and so he doth answer himself Vincet mea audacia in Christo and Paul with more Zeal did preach that Faith which before he destroyed and thereby the Saints glorifi'd God for him Gal. 1. ult it makes a man zealous to honour God in that thing wherein he had so highly dishonour'd him 9 It makes a man tender towards others Gal. 6.1 he will put on a spirit of Meekness to others because he hath found the mercy of God to his own Soul and therefore he despairs of nothing that they may also through your mercy attain mercy Rom. 11.31 there being the same mercy shewed unto them that was shewed unto us and they are as capable of the same mercy as we were Christ shewed tenderness unto Peter and he appeared unto him one of the first after his Resurrection and he did comfort him even against his fall shewed him great favour and surely so will the soul be ready to comfort others also he that hath received mercy will put on bowels of mercy who is offended and I burn not no man is put off no man encouraged in his sin the pride of a mans heart is as well broken with Mercies as it is with Crosses and Afflictions and the Lord doth hide pride from the heart in them both that a man that doth put his mouth in the dust when God is pacify'd will be as low as the dust towards another in the same Offence with himself this I have had experience of and yet received unto mercy and it becomes me to put on the same bowels to others 10 Providence orders it for the consolation of the people of God and it is a mighty argument of faith as if when God gives his Son he will give all things so if God do bring good out of sin all shall work together for good Sin is the greatest evil greater than Hell the one God is the Author of but not of the other the one is against an uncreated good the glory of God the other is but against the good of the creature and yet even this shall be for good and so a man may say with Gregory of Adams sin foelix culpa but not talem meruit Redemptorem § 5. 2. Not only a mans own sins but other mens sins are turned unto the good of the Saints also the providence of God doth so order all things that they have a benefit by them and that both by wicked and godly mens sins and in the sins of wicked men it is true what Austin saith That God had never suffered sin to come into the world if it had been such an evil as he could have brought no good out of it Bonitas tua novit malis nostris bene uti Anselm Non solùm mala passiva quae nobis irrogantur in bonum cedunt sed etiam activa quae nos ipsi facimus Luther Collaudandus est benignissimus omnipotens Deus qui malis nostris non solùm non vincitur sed ex iis operatur nostrum bonum Gerson Omnipotens Deus cùm summè bonus sit nullo modo sineret aliquid mali esse in operibus suis nisi adeò esset omnipotens bonus ut benefaceret etiam de malo illorum nequitia est malè uti bonis operibus ejus sic illius sapientia est bene uti malis eorum operibus August And as all the sins of ungodly men shall turn to the glory of God so they shall all of them be for the good of his people they shall be gainers by all the wickedness that is done in the world as the Lord will work his glory out of all Though the Lord forbid sin and hate it and thereby appears not to be the Author of it so the Saints do hate sin and mourn for it that thereby it may appear that they are not partakers in it and yet for all this God doth work his glory and the good of the Saints out of all the wickedness and all the confusions that are in the world and next to the pardon of sin this is the great priviledge of the second Covenant that their own and other mens sins do work together for their good those things that they do mourn for and pray against c. And this I will manifest 1 in general and then 2 in some of the particulars thereof because it is maximum divinae providentiae argumentum Clem. Alex. 1. In general how doth God make the sins of wicked men to conduce unto the good of the Saints This will appear in these particulars 1 Hereby they may always read what they were as in the example of the Saints they may always read what they ought to be the one is set before them as a pattern as well as the other Tit. 3.3 We our selves were sometime disobedient foolish deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy and it is good for the Saints to be mindful thereof what they have been sic fuimus olim I was once saith Luther Monachus miserrimus look to the rock whence thou wert hewn Paul kept the condition of his unregeneracy always in his mind It is true God forgets our sins but we should not see the wickedness that is in the lives of other men and read thine own in it as Austin did in a child vidi puerulum c. and thence he doth conclude it was so with him quando minimus fui 2 By this they see what they are delivered from might not I have been such a one 1 Cor. 6.11 Such were some of you but now you are washed you are sanctified you are justified and by this the grace
doth perform any promise he is then said to keep his covenant and to remember his covenant to perform his mercy promised unto our Forefathers when he did fulfil his promises he remembred for them his covenant so that as when they do transgress his command that being part of his covenant they are said to break covenant with God so when the Lord does not perform his promise he is said to break the covenant Psal 89.39 Zac. 11.10 and to make it void 4 The end of the covenant is but to inherit the promises all the Saints are said to be the Sons of Abraham because they are taken into the same covenant with him with whom God did eminently make the covenant and for this cause the children of the same covenant are called the Sons of Abraham and Heaven being the same inheritance that Abraham had as the end of his covenant and the same that all the Saints enter into it 's therefore called in respect of them Abrahams bosome they sit down with Abraham in the kingdom of God that is having the same reward of their covenant that Abraham had and that 's nothing but the promised inheritance they do inherit the promises Heb. 6.12 so that all the glory that the people of God have in Heaven it 's nothing else but the accomplishment of promises it 's both a purchased and a promised possession it is true that one ingredient of the covenant is Law but that belongs unto the covenant as it contains the rules of our services and the covenant on our part and not to the covenant on Gods part for to make a Covenant is simply an act of Grace whereas to give a Law is simply an act of Soveraignty and absolute Dominion Here my purpose is not to handle the Doctrine of the promises in the extent or full latitude thereof but only speak of it as it refers mainly unto the point in hand First we will consider what a promise is It is the declaration of the eternal purpose of God concerning good things to come which he doth ingage his faithfulness freely through Christ to bestow upon his people Eph. 3.9 1. I say it 's a declaration of Gods eternal purpose the purposes of God are secret and hid in his own breast only these are Mysteries hid in God that is while it remains only in his own purpose and is not discovered unto the creature and this purpose of his as it is the ground so it 's the rule of all the good that he intends to do unto his Saints he doth call them according to his own purpose and grace 2 Tim. 1.9 It 's true we read of a promise made before the world began Titus 1.2 but it was in respect of the covenant that passed between the Father and the Son and could not be formally made unto the Saints but is secret in his own thoughts and purposes and these thoughts of God to us-ward as they are innumerable so they were exceeding delightful to the Lord Jesus Christ Psal 40.5 How wonderful are thy works and thy thoughts to us-ward c. but the breaking forth of this purpose of God is seen in his promises There is a double consideration of the will of God 1 voluntas propositi his will of purpose 2 praecepti of precept there is the will of God that he would have us do and the manifestation thereof is his precept and there is the will of God which he himself will do and that is expressed in Prophecies that he will accomplish and Promises that he will fulfil And there is a great deal of difference between this his revealed will and his secret will for the whole will of his precepts is revealed and therefore the Apostle says he has declared the whole counsel of God Act. 20.27 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and there is enough to make the man of God perfect perfectly instructed to every good work and much of the will of his purpose what he will accomplish is revealed also though much of it be secret in the breast of God yet all the Prophecies he will accomplish and all the promises he will assuredly fulfil as he has declared his whole will concerning mans duty what he should do so he has also declared his whole will concerning all the good he doth purpose to do for men and this declaration of the will and the mind of God is called the promise of God 2. Promises are of good things to come threatnings and promises are both conversant about things to come but threatnings are about evil things to come Heb. 11.7 Zac. 1.6 Zeph. 2.1 2. Noah being warned of God concerning things not seen as yet c. And promises are of good things to come Josh 23.14 You know in all your hearts that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you c. As when the Lord doth perform any word of his it 's said he doth cause it to arise he has confirmed his word Dan. 9.12 excitavit or surgere fecit Calvin he has caused his word to arise so when it is not performed it is truly said to fall David says Thou hast spoken of my house a great while to come All the great promises that God made to David are of things to come and therefore David says 2 Sam. 7.19 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life As it was the happiness of the people of Israel that they had in the Wilderness a Rock that followed them not only for a present supply but for a future provision 1 Cor. 10. so are the promises also unto the Saints in mercy received they have the glory of the Lord going before them and his promises to follow them they have the glory to be their rereward they are compassed about with mercy on every side they have goodness that goes before them in performance and mercy that follows them in promises as the rereward that as a wicked man â—gh there be evils tnreatned fall upon him here yet they are but the first-fruits 〈◊〉 â—cium Divini judicii the prejudgment of Divine Judgment but the main of the evil thinâ—â—e threatning is to come so though godly men have much good that they receive aâ—â—sent yet the main of it in the promise is yet to come 3. Unto the performance of these though they be made freely yet the Lord does ingage his faithfulness by virtue of the Covenant If we look upon the promises in fieri in making so we must look upon his free grace only but if we look on them in facto esse as made so we must have an eye unto his faithfulness his love and mercy is the only reason of making promises but his faithfulness and truth is the ground of keeping and performing promises as it 's spoken of his promise made to David and his house for thy words sake according to thy own
heart hast thou done these great things that is of thy own free grace and unexpected Love because thou wouldst have mercy and yet it is Mercy to Abraham but it is Truth to Jacob c. Mic. 7. v. ult and therefore Austin calls the promise Chirographum Dei Gods Bond it is the bond or hand-writing that God has given the creature to assure him of Heaven so that as the Apostle calls the Law Chirographum contra nos Col. 2. a bond against us so are the promises the bond that is for us because they do speak God to be with us 4. All this is through Christ both making and performing 2 Cor. 1.20 so it is in him that the promises are Yea and Amen as all the precepts of the Law though given to us yet they are principally required of Christ as our surety and the transgressions of them are laid upon him so all the promises of the Gospel though they be made unto the Saints yet they be primarily made unto Christ as our head and representative for as we have heard he is the seed with whom the covenant is made and he is given unto us as a covenant so he is primarily the Heir of promise and as in respect of possession Esa 49.8 we enter into his inheritance called our masters joy so in respect of the promise and reversion we come under his covenant and so partake of his inheritance and have no further any promise made to us than as we are one with Christ and no promise is performed to us but by virtue of union with him and therefore it's Christus in aggregato Christ mystical that is the proper subject of all the promises and their accomplishment is to himself as the head and to the Saints as the body § 2. Why doth Gods part of the Covenant in this life mainly consist in promises It 's true that these promises shall end in performances and Heaven is the accomplishment of all the promises it is a promised as well as a purchased possession when the Saints are all gathered home all the promises shall be at an end and therefore in that respect faith shall cease for the object of it shall be taken away and therefore the acts of it must needs come to an end though it 's true that the habit of faith as well as all other graces being a part of the image of God and the new creation of Christ is of an eternal nature but yet the Lord does mainly dwell with his people in a way of promise and the covenant on his part doth run in promises 1 Cor. 2.5 7. 1. The life that the Saints live in this world must be a life of faith and not by sight there is another life though we live by faith and not by sight here that in glory is reserved for us and another manner of living and the main objects of faith are the promises Rom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4.19 21. He staggered not through unbelief He did not reason pro and con about it because faithful is he that has promised and he will also do it he is able to perform It 's true there is a faith that rests upon the whole Word of God as true and good and so the soul receives it but yet the object of faith by which the soul rests on God is mainly the promise so that as obedience is the Law written in the heart so also the object of faith is the promise written in the heart the Lord lets in the promise and the soul rests thereupon and if the Lord had not dealt so in a way of promises our life could never have been a life of faith 2. They are the great grounds of our hope and thereby the Lord will sweeten our obedience he doth not give forth a bare command as an act of Soveraignty but he adds thereunto a promise as an act of Grace Heb. 6.18 The Lord willing to shew the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath that we might have strong consolation who are fled for refuge to the hope set before them which hope we have as an anchor to the soul And the Anchor is cast under water and takes hold of something that is not seen as yet for if I see it why do I yet hope for it Now though it 's true a godly man should not yield obedience meerly for reward yet a man may have respect to the recompence of reward and though it is true that this should not be the great thing that should launch them forth in duties of holiness yet this is a good wind to fill the sails the Lord letting him see that there is an inseparable communion of Gods glory and our good also duty and mercy 〈◊〉 hand in hand and that the Lord requires no duty but it is for our good always t◠he may perform unto us the promise that is annexed thereunto There is an amor merc◠〈◊〉 love of reward that is not mercenary Heb. 12.1 Christ had the joy set before him that did sweete 〈◊〉 sufferings he had a glory and a posterity promised him and Moses had respect also to the recompence of the reward Heb. 11.25 And the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 4.18 While we look at the things that are not seen that is the scope and the main aim of the soul in all our obedience active or passive and by this the Lord doth delight to sweeten our way 3. The promises are the great means of the souls purification 2 Cor. 7.1 Let us purge our selves having these promises and perfect holiness And by these great and precious promises we are made partakers of the Divine nature The promises are the Treasury of all that grace that God doth intend to bestow upon his people and from thence do the Saints fetch it Isa 12.3 for they are the wells of salvation and it is by this that the soul is fitted for the performance there is a being made meet and 't is the promise that made them so as a mans beholding of God in himself doth transform him perfectly into the image of God Col. 1.12 2 Cor. 3.18 so beholding God in the promise does transform a man by degrees into the image of that holiness that is in the promise A man looking upon himself sees his heart as a barren wilderness as empty of grace as the first Chaos was of form and beauty Now he says what is impossible with man is possible with God and the soul sucks a promise and is thereby changed into the image thereof 4. That they may be the rule of the prayers of the Saints for his will must be the rule of our prayers as well as of all other acts of our obedience the precepts of the one and the promises of the other we must ask according to his will if we hope to speed and therefore our prayers should be nothing else but pressing God with