but our day of nature may out-date our day of grace yet of this we have no assurance but if so it do it were better the day of our being had never been for the opportunity lost we are lost for ever whilst we enjoy the Word and motions of the Spirit we have hope but if ever these cease we are undone Let us startle our souls with these sad thoughts This may be the last day or hour of my life but if not the last day and houre of grace would we hear every Sermon as the last it would rouze our souls to repentance Sixthly Seriously expâ—ct approaching judgement it is an Argument to repentance 6. Help to repentance and very perswasive thereunto as you have before heard the thoughts of the last judgement will cool the courage of the prophanest sinner when he seeth the day approach in which his secrâ—t sins must be laid open a severe sentence cannot be respited or suspended for the least moment but must be executed with speed certainty and severity the Judge is just and will then be inexorable All the shelâ—ers of his power might policies riches honours by which he staved off reproâ—f will now bâ— scattered a d fame vain and bootlesse the Judge is no respector of person a day stored with indignation which will not be mitigated but be poured out in full vials can the heart but tremble that is the subject of these thoughts They that sin with boldnesse set the day of judgement at a distance from their soul but if we will provoke repentance think with Jerom you alwayes hear the Trumpet of the last day sounding in your ears Arise ye dead and come to judgement Excellent was the stratagem to stir up repentance whâ—ch is storied of a Christian King of Hungary who being on a time sad and pensive his brother a jolly Courtier would needs know the cause of his sadnesse O Brother said the King I have been a great sinner against God and know not how to die or to appear before God in judgement his Brother making a jest of it said These are but melancholy thoughts the King replyed nothing at present But the custome of the Country was that if the Executioner came and sounded a Trumpet before any mans door he was presently led to execution the King in the dead time of the night sends the Executioner to sound the Trumpet before his brothers door who hearing it and seeing the Messenger of death sprang into the Kings presence beseeching to know in what he had â—ffended Alas Brother said the King you have never offended me And is the sight of my Executioner so dreadful and shall not I who have greatly offended fear to be brought before the judgement seat of Christ a singular cure for jovial contempt of repentance the sense of judgement is a strong summons to repentance Seventhly Seriously apprehend the possibility nay probability nay the positive certainty of pardon I have before told you 7. Help to repentance Repentance is the result of faith despair deters duty hope in Israel is the great help to repentance the Law leads to conviction but the Gospel to conversion despair is the devils lock to impenitency look up therefore see there is mercy with the Lord that he may be feared and plenteous Redemption that he may be sought unto apprehend then the price of mans sin paid the justice of God satisfied the pardon sealed in and by the blood of Christ and proclaimed in the Gospel so that it is thine with certainty if received with a prostrate soul and sued out by serious repentance nothing needs to deter God is reconciled therefore return unto him 8. Help to repentance Eighthly Soak the heart in the blood of Jesus take every day a turn of meditation in Mount Calvary cast thy eyes on a crucified Christ read the nature of thy sin the provoked wrath of God and passionate loves of a Saviour it is suppling to the Adamantine heart and swasive to the most obdurate soul I have before noted its force and efficacy to repentance be perswaded daily to contemplate the Crosse of Christ 9. Help to repentance Ninthly Speed will much facilitate repentance sin may be removed before it be settled by custome but then it is difficult youth is pliable to precepts strong under burdens dexterous and active in businesse when old age is infirm and impotent the piety of youth is the horrour of the devil the honour of Religion the case and joy of the soul let not sin become customary if you will ever cast it off for it will become a second nature linger not in what you will be rid of for the longer you linger you will be more loth to part like Austins modo sine modo and paululum quod ibat in longum your anon will never come and our little longer in sin will last for ever by the good will of nature singularly good is the counsel of Basil If the thing be honest keep it to the end if filthy and hurtfull why dost thou continue in it doth any that desires to ease the stomach of choler increase it by a continued bad and intemperate dyet if ever you will repent repent betimes late repentance is rarely true but ever difficult 10. Help to repentance Tenthly Sue for it at the hands of God Repentance is Gods gift and therefore must be begged it is Christs purchase the Covenants promise and may be begged with confidence Jesus Christ is exalted to give Repentance therefore go to him in Faith all meanes is ineffectual without Gods Blessing Let therefore Prayer enforce all meanes to this end whilst you sit under the Word study the nature of God examine your selves sit loose to the world see life its brevity and the limitation of the day of Grace seriously expect the day of judgement sensibly apprehend a pardon soake the heart in the blood of Christ and speed Repentance second all with earnest Supplication say with Ephraim O Lord turn thou me and so shall I be turned so shall your stony heart be taken from you and you shall possesse this necessary grace of Repentance in the truth of it which God of his mercy grant us OF Holiness HEB. 13.14 Follow peace with all men and holinesse without which no man shall see the Lord. HEre are two duties enjoyned together in one and the same precept though not enjoyned wâ—th the same penalty peace and holinesse the latter hath a sad threat added if we misse it without which no man shall see the Lord. It is somewhat like that charge Exod 28.34 35. that the Vest of Aaron should be on the skirt with a Pomegranate and a Bell both of gold yet the use of the Bell was far above that of the Pomegranate that the sound thereof may be heard when he goeth in before the Lord that he dye not So are peace and holiness two golden graces or blessings peace is like the Pomegranate
that Jesus Christ is the Lord. For the first of these we will enquire 1. What we are to understand by the Name given unto Jesus Christ 2. How this Name is a Name above every Name 3. How we are to understand this that God hath given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Christ a Name above every Name In Answer to the first First Some by this Name do understand the Name Christ Jesus and so take it literally but neither Jesus nor Christ is a name above every name 1. Not Jesus for that was the name of Joshua the Son of Nun the famous Captain of Israel called Jesus by the Apostle Hebrews 4.8 And of this Name was the High Priest Joshuah the Son of Josedek Haggai 1.1 1 Sam. 24 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unctus sive Christus Domini Isa 45.1 Nomen supra omne nomen non intelligendum est de aliquo externo cognomine vel Jesu vel Christi Brent Heb. 1.4 5. 2. Neither is Christ a name above every name for Saul is called the Lords anointed Christus Domini And so also the Prophet speaking of Cyrus calleth him the anointed of the Lord. We cannot therefore understand this of any name either of Jesus or Christ for Paul is here speaking not what the name of our Saviour was but of the Honour Dignity Power and Majesty to which Christ was advanced Secondly Others as Hierome and Theodoret do think that in that Christ was called the S nne of God he had therein a name above every name and this Exposition is gathered from that passage of the Apostle that Jesus Christ was much better than the Angels as he hath by Inheritance obtain'd a more excellent name than they for unto which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Sonne this day have I begotten thee But though this be true that to be the eternal Son of God is a Name above every Name yet this cannot be meant here for it is spoken of that which Christ was exalted to after his Humiliation but from Eternity he was the Sonne of God and did not cease to be so by his Incarnation and Humiliation Thirdly By Name therefore we are to understand that Power Dignity Per nomen potestas dignitas significatur Calvinus Gen. 6.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Viri nominis 1 Chron. 5.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Viri nominum John 1.14 and Authority which Christ was invested withal after the dayes of his flesh and Sufferings were finished 1 Sometimes in Scripture-phrase Name is put for glory and Renown So we read of men of Renown it is in the Hebrew Men of Name and of famous men Heads of the House of their Fathers What we read famous men is in the Hebrew Men of Names and thus the glory which Christ is invested withal is the Glory of the only begotten of the Father 2. By Name in Scripture-phrase is meant power and Authority and the Soveraignty by which Christ is King of Nations and King of Saints and thus the Scripture speaks The works saith Christ that I do in my Fathers Name John 10.25 they beare witness of me in my Fathers Name i. e. by the Power of God Acts 3.6 Acts 4.7 Thus Pâ—ter speaks to the Criple In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth arise and walk i. e. by the Power of Christ for so it is expressed when the Council questioned them for this thing they are asked By what power or by what name have you done this So then we are to understand by Name that Honour Authority and Dignity which Christ now enjoyes in Heaven of which he spake when he was ascending into Heaven All power is given me in Heaven and Earth Mat. 28.18 and the Glory of Christs Name is such that it shall be celebrated through all the Ages of the World Heaven and Earth shall Ring with the praises of his Name as the Angels praised his Name at his Birth Behold I bring you good tydings of great joy Luk. 2.10 11 13 14. which shall be unto all people for unto you is borne this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord and suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the Heavenly Hoste praising God and saying Glory be to God in the highest on earth peace good will towards men So they do now praise him and worship him in Heaven Heb. 1.6 Rev 5.12 saying Worthy is the Lambe to receive Power and Riches and Wisdome and Strength and Honour and Glory and Blessing Secondly How hath Christ obtained a Name above every Name This Nomen super omne nomen a Name above every Name is a demonstration of Christs Super-Exaltation and it notes four things First This is a Name above every Name that Jesus Christ should be the only Saviour of the World that his Name should be the Only One Name by which we are saved Of this the Apostle The stone which the builders refused Acts 4.11 12. is become the Head of the Corner neither is there any Salvation in any other for there is none other Name under heaven given amongst men John 4.42 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby we must be saved He is indeed the Christ the Saviour of the World which we may understand not only eminâ—ntly but exclusively He is the Saviour there is none besides him We read that God did raise Saviours to his people Israel so acknowledged the Levites in their solemn Fast-day Nehem. 9.27 Thou O Lord deliveredst thy people into the hands of their enemies who vexed them and in the time of their trouble when they cryed unto thee thou heardest them from heaven and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them Saviours who saved them out of the hand of their Enemies Such a Saviour was Moses to the Israelites from the Egyptians Joshua from the Canaanites Gideon from the Midianites Jeptha from the Ammorites and Sampson from the Philistims but all these were but partial petty and temporal Saviours These saved the body from misery and that but for a time Christ saves our souls from our sins Mat. 1.21 and that for ever All these Saviours stood in need of the Saviour Joshua himself had eternally perished had it not been for Jesus Jesus Christ was the only Saviour to whose most precious and saving Name all the Old Testament pointed at He was the Saviour in whom all the Promises were performed all the Types accomplished and all the Prophesies fulfilled Acts 10.43 Gen 49.10 Psal 110.1 Isa 7.14 Jer. 23.5 Dan 9.29 Hag. 2.9 Mat. 12.21 It was unto this only Name the Saviour that all the Prophets bare witness He he it was that was Jacobs Shiloh Davids Lord Isaiahs Immanuel Jeremies Branch Daniels Messiah and Haggie's desire of all Nations It is in his name and his Name alone that all Nations shall trust and that for salvation Secondly Jesus Christ hath a Name above every Name in that he
no lesse concerned in the second than the first Table of the Law If David sin against Bathsheba her chastity or Vriah his life yet he must confesse unto God Against the have I sinned and wrought this wickednesse in thy sight however the trespasse is against man the transgression is against God the sin which is committed against God is to be only confessed unto God not unto man but the sin which is committed against man must be confessed unto God and likewise unto men to God alwayes who can pardon the eternal punishment to men ordinarily as when the Church is scandalized or the particular person is offended and damnified James 5.16 and in this last case restitution must be added to our confession Luke 19. Zacheus like where we have wronged any we must make acknowledgement and reparation and in all offences to men when we come before God we must consider whether our brother hath ought against us Mat. 5.24 and go and be reconciled the God that binds men to forgive till seventy times seven times binds the offendor so often to return and say I have offended Luke 17.4 The auricular confession of the Papists is vanity superstition and evil but particular acknowledgements of sin to God and sometimes to men is duty indispensable in vain doth Saul say to Samuel I have sinned whilst he never seeks to God for the pardon 3. Confession of sin and prayer for pardon must be free and not extorted The natural not forced language of the penitent the confession of constraint falleth equally under suspicion with the unrequired accusations of malice both which are frequently false true repentance doth convince of the sinfulnesse of sin and constraine the soule to confesse it with candor ingenuity and freedome as weary of it as the stomach of nauseous matter that it naturally without any co-action casts up Confession springs from the Saints as Elihu his plea for God against Job I am full of matter the Spirit of the Lord constraineth me saith he to Job Job 32.18 19 20. The confession of the wicked is constrained and no longer doth he cry to God than he is under the cudgel of his judgements or on the Rack of his own conscience so Pharaoh his plagues and Judas his anxiety may extort an I have sinned however the children of God must be sometimes pinched and whipped into their complaints yet their cry is natural and confessions free and voluntary a ready eccho to the least reproof Psal 141.5 and desiring that the righteous may smite and God shew them their iniquity 4. Confession and supplication must not be more free than full not straitned any more than extorted sin must be confest not only in general and in the lump with a Lord have mercy upon us miserable sinners but in its particular species and parts as Israel We have forsaken the Lord and served Baal in Judg. 10.10 and we have to all our sins added this evil to ask us a King to go about to change our Government 1 Sam. 12.19 not only open known hainous and flagitious offences but even secret and particular lusts David bewails and confesseth not only his murther executed on Uriah but his self-revenge intended against Nabal and the very cutting off the lap of Sauls garment not only sin simply in it self but with all its aggravations of time place manner occasion sinne must be taken up by the roots and spread before God in all its branches In iniquity was I conceived in sin brought forth as well as against thee have I sinned In vaine doth Caine confesse his cruelty to Aâ—el and conceale his irreligion to God or Judas complaine of betraying innocent blâ—od whilst he makes no mention of his covetousnesse 5. Shame and sorrow must seize on the confessing suppliant for sinnes pardon Contrition of heart and confusion of face must be the result of confession dayes of atonement Lev. 23.27 28. were dayes of soul-affliction because of confession of sin Davids complaints makes him water his couch and mingle his bred with teares lying in the dust and renting of Garments were required from such as came to confesse iniquity the spirit of repentance is a spirit of mourning 6. Confession must be made with confidence and supplication in hope of pardon the true penitent is prostrate before God as a Father not as a Judge men may confesse and be hanged but the children of God cry with Shecaniah We have transgressed but yet there is hope in Israel concerning this thing Ezra 10.2 they pray in faith Father forgive us our trespasses not in feare mercy my Lord mercy Judas's confession was therefore false because fearful and flying to his own destruction not the innocent blood by him betrayed that he might have been saved we have shewed you the subject of repentance must be the believing sinner hopes of mercy puts halters on our necks confidence of pardon seats us in Gods Chair to condemne our selves the confessions of despair are the outcries of the damned in hell Thus then Beloved I have laid before you the true nature of true repentance I well know it is a common Theme and much Treated of but little practiced nay indeed little considered and understood How many pretenders are there among us that may yet ponder the nature of Gospel-repentance which if it be well understood will neither appeare to be so lightly come by nor sleightly performed as it is deemed we must know that every common repentance will not serve our turn unto the Remission of sin but that repentance which Christ gives is in respect of nature 1. A grace supernatural without the reach of mans arme or acquirement 2. Whereby the believing sinner apprehensive of his own guilt and Gods grace in and through Jesus Christ 3. Sensibly affected with and afflicted for his sin as committed against God under conviction and contrition for all his sin as sin 4. Doth return from sin all sin unto God and God only as his all in all 5. Freely confessing and frequently begging pardon for his iniquity Consider my Brethren this description of Repentance you have had unfolded and the nature of the grace discovered for it will be very useful to you as a touchstone of doctrine and practice for the confutation of all false notions about Repentance as that 1. Repentance is the result of nature and at mans command we may repent when we will as the Arminians teach but you must remember its supernatural 2. That pennance is a transient act of confession and self-castigation as the Papists teach you must know it is a grace or habit 3. That repentance is before faith and not the result of the Gospel and effect of the blood of Christ as some Divines suggest 4. That câ—nviction contrition and confession are not necessary to repentance as the Antinomians teach or sufficient repentance as the Legalist and Pharisee teach that a turning from sin to sin or at least not to God and
Parents be leprous or infected with some other disease not to be named they entail their malady as well as their nature upon their unhappy off-spring Nothing can exceed the vertue of its cause which is the ground of our Saviours assertion John 3.6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh It is very remarkable that the like phrase is not used when Scripture speaks of Adams begetting Cain or Abel though both these were begotten in Adams likenesse too because Abel being to dye without issue and all Cains progeny to be drowned by the flood it is noted the rather of Seth by whom all mankind hath hitherto been continued in the world that he from whom as well as from Adam we all came was begat in Adams own image that into which by sin he had transformed himself and not in that likenesse which was Gods in which God at first made him Nay though the Parents be regenerated yet their children by nature are altogether defiled because they beget children as they are men not as they are holy men though the Parent be circumcised the childe brings into the world an uncircumcised foreskin with it as the purest wheat that is cast into the Field comes up with husks and stalks I might adde that the holiest men upon earth are but holy in part they have a dark side as well as a light side and proles as conclusio sequitur deteriorem partem their children are like to what they were by nature and cannot without the same Almighty mercy be like what they are through grace witnesse Josiah's and Hezekiah's children but there are too many sad Evidences of this amongst us daily Arg. 2. From the Redemption of man by Christ Our second Argument for to prove our corruption by nature the Apostle furnishes us with 2 Cor. 5.14 If Christ dyed for all then were all dead And the stresse we lay upon it it will very well bear for what need all that are saved to be saved by Christ if in themselves they are not ruined Destruction is first asserted to be from our selves and then it follows but from me is your health is not Christ made to all those that shall come to heaven and happinesse wisdome 1 Cor. 1.30 righteousnesse sanctification and redemption Does not his death satisfie for their debts his Spirit sanctifie their hearts Thus none go unto the Father but by him and whosâ—ever would but see the Kingdome of God must be borne again John 3.3 This very reason St. Austin urges concerning children I shall give this Arg. de verbis Domini serm 8. and some larger passages in English that I might not overmuch entangle the thred of my discourse Whosoever sayes that infancy hath nothing from which Jesus should save us he denies Christ to be a Jesus to infants baptized in his Name for what is a Jesus Jesus is by intâ—rpretation a Saviour a Saviour is a Jesus those which he does not save be ause they have nothing that he should save them from or cure in them he is not to them a Jesus Now if your hearts can endure that Christ should not be a Jesus to such I know not whither your faith can be sound c. Thirdly Scripture Ordinances prove this corruption to be in us for else what need their institution to take it from us Third argument is taken from Ordinances Sacraments c. If there be no pollution in the foreskin why was Circumcision appointed to do it away if we have no filth what needs baptismal washing and if we may borrow light from any shadows of the Ceremonial Law why should women be so long unclean and need solemne purification after their child-birth if the fruit of their womb had been so immaculate and pure as some would make us believe 'T is true the Virgin Mary offer'd though she brought forth a holy Childe Isa 53.11 but he was by imputation sinne for we know he bare in Gods account our iniquities Saint Austin upon the bringing of Children unto Christ August serm 36. In Evangel secund Lucam observes this also Children sayes he are brought to be touched to whom are they brought to be touched but to the Physitian if they come to a Saviour they come to be cured and presently after he addes video reatum I see there is guilt in them Another passage of his I shall the willinglier quote because many that oppose this truth pretend much to reverence antiquity De verbis Apostoli serm 8. Wherefore dost thou say this childe or this person is sound and hath no disease why then dost thou runne to the Physitian with him art not afraid lest he should say unto thee Take him away that is sound The Sonne of man came not but to seek and to save that which was lost why didst thou bring him unto me if he were not lost Lib. 1. And in his tract against Julian the Pelagian the same father quotes several that were his predecessors in the maintaining of this very truth as Irenaeus Cyprian Hilary Ambrose c. but I proceed because we have heard a greater than all these God himself so abundantly attesting of it This corruption shews it self by its effects if we be so spiritually foolish Fourth argument The sad effects prove it as not to believe there is such impurity in us from any other Arguments produc'd for the proof of it experience may be our Mistresse to teach it 1. The miserable effects 1. Experiences of multitude of miseries that flow from it This is that Pandora's box which the Heathens so much talk of out of which all manner of mischiefs flow abroad in the world Why do we come into the world crying rather than laughing but as a sad Omen of the world of evils we are ever after here to meet with De Civitate Dei lib. 21. cap. 14. But if there were no sin there would be no suffering in those tender yeares And what have these sheep done When I see a childe lying bound hand and foot in its swadling clouts skreaming and crying out I cann't believe but God and nature would never have dealt so hardly with it so noble a creature especially if guilt had not procur'd these bonds and miseries nay methinks they speak its desert to be bound hand and foot for ever to be speechlesse for ever and to be cast too unlesse infinite mercy prevent where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth for ever And all these things Scripture makes only the products of sin that only is the fruitful Parent of all evils Wherefore does a living man so much as complaine 't is for the punishment of his sinne Lam. 3.39 Death which raigned over all Rom. 5.14 is the wages of sinne Rom. 6.23 Nay of that sin too which is communicated to man-kinde by Adams fall 1 Cor. 15.21 22. By man came death death is not of Gods making but of mans of our sinnes
to be enlarged by another 5. The fifth thing to be considered in the Gospel-Covenant is the efficacy of it I did not so much as mention the efficacy of the former Covenants for there was never so much as any one made happy by them 't is sadly true that the threatnings of punishment for the neglect of duty took hold of them the threatnings seemed plainly to belong to the nature of those Covenants but in the Gospel Covenant 't is otherwise for it is said John 3.36 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abides which shews that the wrath was brought upon them by the violation of the former Covenant he speaks as of that which was upon them already But yet mistake not as if refusing the Gospel were no sin or not punished they sin more grievously that sin against Gospel love than they that sin only against Legal goodness but wrath doth not properly belong to the Essence of the Gospel Thus you have the first thing I undertook namely the nature of the Covenant positively considered the second is the comparative excellency of the New Covenant above others I will be brief in shewing its excellency above the Covenant of Works more large in shewing you how 't is better than the Old Covenant of Grace Only suppose to prevent mistakes that each Covenant is in its own kind most perfect and most accommodated to the state of the people and to the purposes for which they were instituted This premised First The New Covenant of Grace is better than the Covenant of Nature I forbear to speak of the agreement and diffâ—rence of them I shall speak only of the excellency of this better Covenant 1. The Covenant of Works was a Declaration of Gods Justice than which nothing can be more terrible to a guilty sinner but the Covenant of Grace is a Declaration of Gods mercy in Christ and let the overwhelmed conscience speak is not this better 2. The Foundation of the Covenant of Works was the Creation of man and the integrity of his nature the Foundation of the Covenant of Grace is mans Redemption by Jesus Christ 3. The Promise of the Covenant of Works was eternal life in Paradise the Promise of the New Covenant is eternal life in Heaven 4. The Covenant of Works had no Mediator no possibility of recovering the least slip the New Covenant is ratified in the blood of the Son of God 't is composed on purpose for our relief * Camero Thus the New Covenant is better than the Covenant of Works Secondly The Gospel-Covenant is better than the Old Covenant of Grace Beloved you may observe I do not say better than the Covenant strictly Legal but better than the whole Dispensation which the Jews and all other Believers lived under before Christs Incarnation better than the Old Doctrine of spiritual grace delivered by Moses and the Prophets openly promising Eternal life unto the Fathers and the Dull people of the Jews under the condition of perfect obedience to the Moral Law together with the intolerable burdens of Legal rights and yoke of most straight Mosaical policy but covertly under the condition of repentance and faith in the future Messiah prefigured in the shadowes and types of Ceremonies that by this forme of Divine worship and policy a stiffe-necked people might partly be tamed and partly be brought to Christ that lay hid under those Ceremonies So that in short you see the Old Testament or the Old Covenant for by a Metonymie they are chiefly one and the same thing and the Apostle plainly so expresseth himself 2 Cor. 3.14 Untill this day remaineth the same vaile untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament which vaile is done away in Christ and this contains these three things 1. The old kind of doctrine which was openly and principally Legal covertly and lesse principally Evangelical 2. The old way of worship and Legal Priest-hood 3. That Mosaical policy which was tyed to one people * Paraeus This Covenant was made by God to Adam presently after the fall G n. 3.15 afterward to Abraham and his posterity Gen. 17.1 2 7 8. The symbole of this Covenant was circumcision from verse 10. to the 14. I forbear further particularising to whom it was often renewed and confirmed whereupon it is called the Covenants Rom. 9.4 Ephes 2.12 Now the New Covenant of Reconciliation to God by Christ exhibited in the flesh is the better Covenant The Gospel is the Table of the New Testament longè divinioâ— quam smaragdina Hermetis far beyond the Emerauld Table of Hermes which the Chymists vainly boast to yield the Philosophers stone to enrich all persons and the Panacea that cures all diseases here 's the elect and precious stone 1 Pet. 2.6 * Crocii Syntag. But I will come to particulars only premising this Caution Caution Let not any thing I shall say be interpreted as if I put an hostile contrariety between the Old Covenant and the New in spiritual practice they yield spiritual help to each other Justin Martyr saith that grace is not according to the Law nor against the Law but above the Law therefore they are not adversa but diversa the Gospel in Scripture is called the Law Isa 2.3 only 't is the Law of faith Rom. 3.27 and the Law of the Spirit Rom. 8.2 therefore when we advance the Gospel Rom. 3.31 do we then make voide the Law through faith God forbid yea we establish the Law Gal. 3.21 Is the Law then against the promises of God God forbid for if there had been a Law given which could have given life vâ—rily righteousnesse should havâ— been by the law The believers in the Old Testament were saved by the free mercy of God in Christ Gerhar l. c. Heb. 9.15 He is the Mediator of the New Testament and by means of death for the Redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance And their Sacraments and ours Maccov l. c. sealed the same â—hing 1 Cor. 10.3 4. They did all eat the same spiritual meat and did all drink the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ. This premised I shall now shew you the excellency of the Gospel-Covenant 1. The Gospel-Covenant is a better Covenant than the Legal in respect of its Original and manner of patefaction 't is true they have both one principal efficient cause but the Law may in some sort be known by nature it was written in mans heart at the first and the character is not wholly worne out Rom. 2.15 The Gentiles shew the work of the Law written in their hearts but now the Gospel was immediately manifested from God to the Church alone Joh. 1.18 No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him Mat. 16.16 17. And Simon Peter answered