end what would the Lord shew his people hereby hereby he teacheth them to know by what ability and power to bring mighty things to pass they shall do duties as the Lord commandeth them but he himself will breath in them to make them effectual For though we do never so much yet we cannot reach unto the accomplishment of any good thing not by might nor by strength but by my Spirit the Lord therefore by his Spirit must work all our works for us Here is the freeness of Gods Covenant in that the Lord giveth himself first Jer. 32.40 I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me You may speak of Conditions in this kinde but the Lord doth undertake both for his own part and for our parts also for as the Covenant is free so the Lord will freely maintain and preserve all his Elect and all from the immutable Nature of God it is not possible that God should lye I am Jehovah I change not Mal. 3.6 therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed Hence springeth our Eternity and perseverance unto it Rom. 11.29 for the gifts and callings of God are without repentance And I am perswaded saith the Apostle Paul that he that hath begun this work will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ Phil. 1.6 The Lord took your Father Abram and brought him from the other side of the floud Josh 24.3 and he being called obeyed Heb. 11.8 Thus mind ye the Lord dealeth in the Covenant of Grace he looketh towards those that look not towards him as is held forth Hos 3.3 where the Lord biddeth the Prophet love a woman that was an adulteress and say unto her Thou shalt be for me and I will be for thee this is a branch of the Covenant when the Lord doth undertake to receive Abraham and his seed unto himself his giving himself unto them doth breed a reciprocal returning of them unto him Now it may be demanded How the Lord did take Abraham and his seed to be his people Quest By a double Act As Answ 1. Of Preparation not on Abrahams part nor on his seeds part but on his own part the Lord prepared them 2. The Lord did invest him with the Blessings of this Covenant 1. For Preparation the Lord prepareth them by a double work of his Spirit which are manifest in all the seed of Abraham 1. By a spirit of bondage whereby he cutteth off the seed of Abraham from all worldly intanglements and delights thus God took Abraham and brought him from beyond the floud and so doth he take men off from their countreys and fathers houses he separates them from all such things that he might draw them unto himself thus he dealt with the children of Israel and called them to be a singular People unto himself Deut. 7.6 7 8. Thus doth the Lord deal with all those whom he receiveth to be a people unto himself by this spirit of Bondage he draweth them from all their sinful lusts and passions so as that they can finde no life in them nor any hope of mercy at all in any thing by this Bondage the Lord setteth home unto the consciences of men the weight and danof their sins and bindeth them under the sense of his wrath unto fear of Damnation The Romans first received the spirit of Bondage to fear before ever they came to receive the Spirit of Adoption Rom. 8.25 But thus the Lord doth even shut a Soul out of doors that he may open to him another and a better way 2. The Lord also prepareth his people by a Spirit of burning which upon a Spirit of Bondage he doth shed abroad into the hearts of men this we read of Mal. 4.1 Behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven and all the proud and all that do wickedly shall be as stubble and the day that cometh shall burn them up and it shall leave them neither root nor branch It is spoken of the Ministery of John Baptist which did burn like an oven against all the Scribes and Pharisees and left them neither the root of Abrahams Covenant nor the branch of their own good Works He cutteth them off from the Covenant of Abraham Mat. 3.9 Think not to say within your selves that you have Abraham to your Father for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham and so by cutting them off from the Root he leaveth them no ground to trust on From their good Works also the Lord Jesus Christ cutteth them off Mat. 6.2 When thou dost thine alms sound not a Trumpet before thee as the Hypocrites do that they may have the glory of men and vers 5. When thou prayest thou shalt not be as the Hypocrites are c. and vers 16. When ye Fast ye shall not be as the Hypocrites are of a sad countenance c. This was a Spirit of Burning which the Lord conveyed by the Ministry of Christ and of John Baptist to burn up all the Hypocrites like stubble and the beauty of their works were blasted by it and this is Gods usual manner of dealing Now there are many under a spirit of bondage that never came under a spirit of burning and they being convinced of sin and of the danger thereof yet hope to wrestle it out and work it out by their own performances till the spirit of Burning come and consume all that false confidence But when the spirit of Burning cometh he then blasteth all the fruits and branches of their righteousness and burns up all that a man hath wrought or can work And this is that which the Prophet Esay chap. 4.4 speaketh of that the Lord will purge away the filth of the Daughter of Zion with a Spirit of Judgment and of Burning the one is a spirit of Sanctification and the other is a consuming Fire which forceth them not to build any comfort upon any works that they have done this may Hypocrites reach unto in their judgments so as that they may be convinced that they have neither root within them nor branch growing upon them and yet in the mean while they may not come unto a Spirit of Adoption but hereby also the Lord useth to prepare his people Some bless themselves in worldly courses and never came unto a spirit of bondage Some do finde comfort in their performances and never saw the vanity of their own Righteousness But there are those whom the Lord doth carry further unto a spirit of burning even unto a sensible feeling of Gods wrath burning against whatsoever is as stubble and such is a mans own gifts and parts and worth so that now the poor soul findeth that he hath no Root not any sure mercy of the Covenant of Grace that he can rest upon no green branch of righteousness remaining but all
the opening of the point let us further premise these three things before we come to the Use of it 1. First That the Lord did take Abraham and his seed to be a peculiar people unto himself 2. Secondly How did he so take them to be his people 3. Thirdly Who are meant by those whom he did so take to make them a peculiar people unto himself 1. For the first of these That he did so take Abraham and his seed c. we finde it plain in Deut. 7.6 7 8. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself c. and ver 8. Because the Lord loved you and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers The like we read in 2 Sam. 7.23 24. Thou hast confirmed to thy self thy people Israel to be a people unto thee for ever and thou Lord art become their God and this mercy doth he magnifie toward them when they had no thoughts of him but as he sometimes called his Apostles when they were mending their nets so he called his people Israel when they were making bricks in Aegypt then he said to Pharaoh Let my people go and again If thou slay my son my first born I will stay thy son thy first born and as he sometime took Abraham himself out of Caldea so he took his seed out of Egypt that they might serve him in the Wilderness Now secondly Quest 2 If you shall ask how the Lord called them I answer Answ chiefly two waies 1. First By solemn outward Covenant and that partly in the loyns of Abraham and partly in mount Sinai and yet more solemnly in the plains of Moab Deut. 29. for that was a Covenant of Grace wherein the Lord promised to circumcise their heart and the heart of their seed Deut. 30.6 2. And secondly In one word by this Covenant he doth draw them into union with himself and with his Son from whence it comes to pass that we have communion with him both relative in adoption and justification and positive in sanctification and in fulness of time perfect glorification In the third place Quest 3 What is meant by Abraham and his seed doth God call all the seed of Abraham into a Covenant of grace with himself The answer is shortly this Answ Abraham doth here principally stand as the father of the faithful and so received Circumcision as the Father of the faithful not only of such as were Circumcised but also of such as were uncircumcised The Covenant he received when he was uncircumcised and the seal when he was circumcised that he might be the father of the faithful among Jewes and Gentiles and all the Jewes are not the seed of Abraham but the children of the promise are counted for the seed for they are the seed unto whom the promises are made and he saith it not Unto thy seeds as of many but To thy seed as of one even Christ Gal. 3.16 so that unto Christ and unto all those that have the seed of Christ in them is this Covenant made You will say unto me Object But is it made unto the carnal seed also have they no portion in the Covenant of grace was not Ishmael circumcised as well as Isaac and is it not said Unto them were committed the covenants of God Rom. 9.4 so that both the Covenants were committed to them that fell away from God and hath not God said to those that were circumcised Though Moses and Samuel stood before me yet my mind could not be towards this people and the Lord rejecteth them Jer. 15.1 and 6. ult and 7.29 and yet these whom God rejecteth were made partakers of the seal of the Covenant would God call them to the seal and not to the Covenant would he call them to prophane the Covenant the point is weighty shortly and plainly to speak something to it 1. First they had their part in the Covenant of Grace this they had that they were all called to the solemn receiving of the covenant Deut. 29.10 to 15. Ye all stand this day before the Lord your God c. that thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God c. this was the Covenant of grace now thus far are all the carnal seed of Christian Parents called into the outward fellowship of the Covenant But why would God call them to the outward fellowship of the covenant Object and seal of it and mean while not give them the blessing and kernel of the Covenant this is weighty and considerable how it standeth with the faithfulness of God For answer Answ The Blessings of the Covenant are not far from them for there are two sorts of blessings Some do consist in the outward letter of the Ordinances the Gospel of grace the Sacraments and seals of it and sundry common gifts of the Spirit that are plentifully dispensed in the fellowship of the Church besides a liberal and bountiful use of the creatures for they are all serviceable to the People of God and all these things do flow from the Covenant of grace which God hath made with their Fathers When as Abraham had understood that God would establish the Govenant with Isaac and thereupon made a sad prayer unto God that Ishmael might live in his sight Gen. 18.18 20. the Lord answereth him As for Ishmael I have heard thee behold I have blessed him and will make him fruitful c. and which is wonderful he had the liberty of all the Ordinances until he cut himself off from them Unto this Covenant belong those gifts which the Lord bestows on men from the bloud of Christ Heb. 10.29 so that it is not a meer blank for by it here are sundry spiritual and outward blessings the patience and bounty of God is abundantly poured out upon the carnal seed of Christian Parents as in the wilderness when the displeasure of God was ready to kindle against that carnal generation and he was ready to cut them off he remembred the covenant of his mercy to Abraham and oft times spared them so that if you see much patience extended to the children of Christian Parents and many gifts bestowed upon them whereby they become very serviceable sometimes in the Commonwealth sometimes in the Church know that all these things spring from the Covenant of God with their Fathers I Object but if the very life and kernel of the blessing be wanting if Ishmael do not live in Jesus Christ what will all these blessings do him good will they not aggravate his damnation For answer Answ minde you this that the Lord may be justified he doth not only call them to Church liberty and fellowship nor only bestow upon them sundry gifts of grace and great bounties and manifold preservation from evil but likewise he doth offer them the sure mercies of David for so God doth distinguish the sure mercies of the Covenant Isai 55.3 Encline your ear and come unto me hearken and
seek for some qualification in our selves and think that the Holy Ghost applieth some promise made to such a qualification and so we lay hold upon Jesus Christ a most unsafe building in my understanding for we cannot reach any gracious qualification until we have first received Christ in the Promise and then we must look up unto him to bring us unto the promises and to apply them to us It is not possible that a corrupt tree should bring forth good fruit but first make the tree good and good trees we cannot be till we be ingrafted into Christ which is indeed the ground of my great fear and solicitude and the reason why I dare not be so unfaithful as to set men in a way of faith or any other qualifications thereby to conclude their safe estate before they have received Christ in a promise Indeed when a mans soul is wounded and convinced of some hainous sins the Promises of God in such a case may support his soul but do not lead a man in such a case to see his faith or any other qualification therein to satisfie himself but if I would help and comfort such a soul I would declare to him what the Lord hath done for us in Christ I would shew him all the treasures of the rich grace of Christ I would set in order before him how he loveth freely without any deserts in us I would tell him how freely the Lord Jesus Christ doth invite men to come to him that have neither money nor moneys worth and if the Lord take delight to do him good and to do him good by my mouth he will convey his Spirit of grace in some such word as I have spoken unto him but if the Lord do not breath by his Spirit in my words then I would advise him to go and talk with some other Christians I would not limit him to any one brother but let others also tell him what Christ hath done for their souls it may be the Lord may thereby convey himself and I have sometimes known this in experience that when some have spoken scornfully of the free grace of God yet when the same hath been held forth their spirits have been subdued to stoop unto it so great is the power of the word of Gods free grace set home by the Spirit of God and the meditation thereof doth serve greatly to the firm rooting of the peace of Gods people The fourth Use Use 4 is to such a soul who is brought home to fellowship with Jesus Christ and actually justified being first adopted he is reconciled to God and is become the son of the most High and hath all his sins pardoned both past present and to come It is a ground of much Consolation to such a soul who hath the Holy Ghost dwelling in him he cannot rest till he find the free grace of Jesus Christ revealed to him by his holy Spirit in some promise thereof for Christ himself hath said That the Spirit of truth will take of mine and shew it unto you Joh. 16.14 There is strong consolation laid up for all those that cannot rest without the manifestation of the free grace of God unto their souls other things will not satisfie them the Lord doubtless will withhold no good thing from such We now proceed unto the ninth Question Quest 9 which is How doth God the Son give himself unto Abraham and to his seed in an everlasting Covenant and union that shall never be dissolved In three acts or works about Abraham and his seed Answ 1. First in giving Christ God doth give himself and therefore here is the Son's work to come and take our nature upon him For the Father gave him for that end and the Son came to fulfil the will of the Father and that is the Son's work even the true distinct work of Christ It properly belongeth unto the Son to be our actual Redeemer from all sin and misery 2. As the Father draws us to the Son and reveals the Son unto the soul so doth the Son reveal the Father also Joh. 1.18 Mat. 11.27 3. As the Father doth accept us in his Son as justified by his righteousness so the Son doth preserve us in this estate even to his heavenly Kingdom These therefore are the three works of the Son in the Covenant of Grace He takes our nature upon him for our redemption He reveals the Father to us He preserveth us in the Father and in himself Let us speak something to each of these in particular 1. For the first of these That he took our nature upon him the Apostle saith Heb. 2.14 15. c. For as much as the children are partakers of flesh and bloud he also himself took part of the same that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death that is the devil and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage c. Therefore it was truly said Isa 9.6 Unto us a Child is born unto us a Son is given c. He took our nature upon him lived a miserable life died a cursed death this is the proper character and work of the Son and thus he is made an horn of salvation to us Luk. 1.69 and all this floweth from the everlasting Covenant as also Zachariah Prophesied Luk. 1.72 73. To perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant the oath which he sware to our father Abraham By him we have redemption through his blood Eph. 1.7 Col. 1.14 He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2.14 This then is the first work of the Son to Redeem us And the very phrase of Redemption doth imply a double state of those that are redeemed without which it cannot be understood to wit The state whence and whereunto they are redeemed Even from a state of bondage unto Christian liberty this is found in all redemption properly so called It findeth us in bondage and setteth us in a state of liberty Heb. 2.14 15. He took our nature upon him that he might deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time made subject to bondage And this third thing also is implyed in the word Redemption with both the former namely a certain price by which we are redeemed from bondage unto liberty In a state of Bondage we were under the Law and curse of God but Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law Gal. 3.13 and now sin shall no more have dominion over us for we are not under the law Rom. 6.14 that is not under the Covenant of the Law though we lie under the Commandment of it in Christ we were sometime under the bondage of sin under the guilt and strength of sin but by Christ we have redemption even the forgiveness of our sin and as the Law was the