in being and well-being He that made the world is still upholding all things by the word of his power 2. Governing and disposing all Creatures and all their actions even the least and smallest of them all The LORD hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens and his Kingdome ruleth over all Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father but the very hairs of your head are all numbred 3. Oâ—dering and directing all creatures and al their actions to his own glory and his peoples good Ioseph said to his brethren God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance So now it was not you that sent me hither but God Ye thought evil against me but God mean't it unto good c. So didst thou lead thy people to make thy self a glorious name For of him and through him and to him are all things As for Gods special Creation of man and Providence over man in his fourefold state viz. of 1. Creation 2. Corruption 3. Restitution and 4. Perfection They will come farther to be considered in the next branch the knowledge of our selves Hitherto of the first branch of knowledge requisite in some competent sort before communicating viz. The Knowledge of God 2. Knowledge of our selves Knowledge of our selves is the next point of Knowledge necessary to a worthy Communicant Christians eyes and apprehensions should be like the windowes of the Temple widest inward narrowest outward far more dispoâ—ed to look home then abroad better acquainted with themselves then with others And not like Plutarch's Lamiae or Witches that put on their eyes when they went abroad but put up their eyes in boxes when they came home The necessity of this Self-Knowledge hath before been evidenced The particulars of Self-Knowledge follow We are principally to know our selves 1. What we were in Adam before the fall 2. What we are in Adam since the fall 3. What we should and may be in Iesus Christ the second Adam I. What were we in Adam before the fall Answ. Before the fall Adam was the happiest creature under the Sun enjoying many surpassing Priviledges And all mankind being then in his loyns enjoyed in him the same happinesse and Priviledges viz. 1. A reasonable and immortall soul personally joyned with a suitable body both of them fearfully and wonderfully made yea curiously wrought according to divine Consultation of the blessed Trinity Adams soul was so rationall that he knew the nature of all the creatures which God brought before him and named them accordingly And so immortal that it cannot die a natural death as many Scriptures intimate But the souls of all other sublunary creatures besides man are irrationall and die with their bodies 2. A most pleasant Habitation God planted a Garden Eastward in Eden and there he put the man A garden is the glory of the fields A garden of Gods planting the glory of all gardens Herein grew every tree pleasant to the sight and good for food And a Quadripartite or four-streamed river to water the garden Oh what a garden of delights what an earthly Paradise Here man was placed to dresse this Garden Man must not be idle no not in Paradise 3. Liberall Provision Man was allowed freely to eat of every herb and of the fruit of every tree in the Garden except only the tree of Knowledge of good and evil His food therefore was most various and delicious 4. Vniversal dominion over the creatures Let them have dominion over the fish of the Sea and over the fowle of the air and over the cattell and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth This dominion was not supreme but subordinate to Gods dominion Adam was Monarch of the earth God the sole Monarch of all the world Lord what is man that thou art mindfull of him the Son of man that thou visitest him Thou hast made him to have dominion over the works of thy hands thou hast put all things under his feet So that all sublunary creatures were to do homage unto Adam 5 Conjugal society with his wife created out of Adams side while he was asleep She was thus taken out of man that she might be a meet help for man and become affectionately dear to man as bone of hâ—s bone and flesh of his flesh Man is naturally a sociable creature and loves society And Marriage-society is the sweetest of all natural societies 6. Innocency God made man upright As man came at first out of Gods hands he was spotlesse undefiled and wholly without sin Hence that state is stiled The state of innocency Except Christ never man on earth was perfectly without sin as Adam was in his first Creation The holiest Saints in this life have sinne in them though sin reigne not over them We were without sinne in the earthly Paradise and shall be without sin in the heavenly Paradise How happy is a sin-less state 7. The image of God God created man in his own image in the image of God created he him There was not only an utter absence of all sinfulnesse but also a presence of all due righteousnesse in him in which regard he was perfectly conformable to the will of God This image of God in man seems principally to consist in 1. Knowledge 2. Rigâ—teousnesse and 3. True holinesse or as the Greek phrase is Holinesse of truth This image of God in Adam made him ful of divine beauty whereby he was all glorious within surpassing all sublunary creatures 8. A Covenant-state with God In all times and states of the Church God hath pleased to deal with his people by way of Covenant Adam before the fall being perfect and without sin had perfect ability given him to keep that Covenant with God in which he was naturally enstated The Covenant into which Adam was admitted with God was the Covenant of Works the substance whereof is the Morall Law or Ten Commandements The Morall Law was perfectly written in Adams heart for the substance of it so that he was fully able to know and keep it for even since the fall the Gentiles which have not the written Law do by nature the things contained in the Law which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts Much more was the Law written in Adams heart before the fall This Covenant of Works the substance whereof is contained in the Morall Law required personal perfect and perpetual obedience under the severest penalties Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them Vnto this Covenant of Works with Adam seem to be annexed two Sacraments viz. The Tree of Life assuring him of life upon his keeping Covenant and eating of that
reprobate Angels even The Angels that kept not their first estate the Devil and his Angels for whom everlastâ—ng fire is prepared God intending more especially to glorifie himself in the intellectuall creâ—tures Angels and Men hath more especially decreed their final state all things concerning them tending thereunto This the Apostle calls Predestinating us to the Adoption of châ—ldren by Iesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his Will to the praise of the glory of his grace And in order to this end Whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified This Decree of God whether more Generally or more Specially considered hath theâ—e excellencies and perfections in it It is Eternal Vnchangeable Free Wise Iust and the Cause of Causes 1. Eternal According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world c. 2. Vnchangeable for it is said That the purpose of God according to Election might stand with whom is no variablnesse neither shadow of turning And The foundation of God standeth sure having this Seale The Lord knoweth them that are his and there is a determinate number of them which cannot be increased nor diâ—inished 3. Free Gratuitous and meerly â—ndependent on the creature or any thing in the creature haâ—ing no inward impulsive cause moving him thereunto but the good pleasure of his Will not foreseen Faith Works Freedome of Will Perseverance c. Having predestinated us to the Adoption of children by Iesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his Will Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ before the world began I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion 4. Wise For We are predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things according to the Counsell of his own Will O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and his ways past finding out for who hath known the minde of the Lord or who hath been his Counsellor 5. Just and most equal Gods Decrees may be secret and mysterious cannot be unjust or injurious God is so just yea such infinite justice that he can do or decree nothing but what is just and equal It is written Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated What shall we say then is there unrighteousness with God God forbid Hath not the Potter power over the Clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour And hath not God greater power to dispose by his decree of his creatures yet God no way wrongs the crâ—ature nor the Potter the Clay 6. Finally Gods Decree is the Cause of Causes All inferiour Causes and Means conducing to the ends whereunto God decrees any thing are subordinate to Gods decree as the supreme cause of them all Gods Decree not onely fore-appoints the end but also all the secondary causes and means tending and conducing to that end Hence that Concatenation of the causes of our salvation Whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified Thus of Gods works before all time His Decrees 2. The works of God in time are His executions of his Decrees God executeth his Decrees 1. Partly in the beginning of Time by Creation 2. Partly in the succession and continuance of time by Providence By both which God makes himself most gloriously known to his creatures Discovering his invisible perfections by his visible works 1. Creation is Gods making the world and all things therein of nothing in the space of the first six dayes very good by the word of his power for himself Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear In six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day Man was reserved to the last place as Gods most accurate and curious piece being by reason of his heavenly soul and earthly body as an Epitome or Abstract of Heaven and Earth and thence justly styled the Microcosme or Little-worlds And God saw everything that he had made and behold it was very good The LORD hath made all things for himself yea even the wicked for the day of evil In this work of Creation Gods Freedome Wisdome Power and Goodnesse shine forth most gloriously 1. Freedome in that he hath done whatsoever he pleased He made one world and no more such creatures and no other in such sort and not otherwise because he pleased None may controll his work Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it Why hast thou made me thus 2. Wisdome for he worketh all things according to the Counsel of his own Will How many ways hath God discovered his wisdome herein As in the Order of Creation He made all things in six days He could have made them in one day in one houre as easily but he would shew himself a God of Order He first made the Creatures containing then the contained and from the more imperfect proceeds to the more perfect Creatures In the variety of Creatures O LORD how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all In the distinct Natures and Properties of all those varieties Ther 's one glory of the Sun another glory of the Moon another glory of the Stars and one Star differeth from another Star in glory Some of the Elements are hot some cold some moist some dry some light some heavy The vertues of plants fruits c. are innumerable In the sweet Harmony of the whole Vnivere though consisting of such different creatures the wisdome of God also wonderously appears 3. Power in that he could frame all things of nothing without any pre-existent matter and all most easily by his word He said Let there be light and there was light c. He spake works more easily then we can speak words He spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fast He commanded and they were created It was but A word and A work 4. Goodnesse in that God though infinitely happy and satisfied in himself was pleased to create the world especially Men and Angels to communicate himself and his goodnesse to them 2. Providence is Gods sustaining governing and ordering all Creatures together with all their actions to his own glory So that in Gods Providence generally considered there are three grand acts viz. 1. Sustaining upholding or preserving of the Creatures
can truly say The Lord hath written his law in their hearts and made them know him For carnal unregenerate men who seek not for a saving interest in Christ the second â—â—am according to the tenour of the New 〈◊〉 they do evidently content the◠〈◊〉 with their lapsed condition in the first Adam and so remaine still under the forfeit penalty and curse of the first Covenant of Works broken by Adams fall These things are principally to be known touching the New covenant by worthy Communicants that they may have a true notion or apprehension of that Covenant which is seaâ—ed unto them by tâ—e Lords Supper 5. Knowledge of the Lords Supper it self Finally the fifth and last point of Knowledge especially necessary to qualifie a person for worthy communicating is The knowledge of the true nature of Sacraments and particularly of the Lords Supper it self For How can that be duly managed which is not truly understood To this end we are to know 1. That the Lord hath been wont to deal with his Church and people by way of Sacraments in all times and ages As 1. With Adam and his posterity in a sort For it is supposed by the learned that when God cloathed Adam and Eve with skins he taught them also to sacrifice the bodys of those beasts with whose skins they were cloathed and this is the more probable because the Scripture declaring Abels Religion makes mention only of his Sacrificing the firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof These Sacrifices were types of Christ yea pledges tokens and as it were Sacraments confirming the first promise of the seed of the woman Jesus Christ. 2. With Abram when God stablished his Covenant with him and his seed he annexed Circumcision as a Token or Sacrament of the Covenant 3. With Israel when God by the hand of Moses brought them out of Egypt destroying Egypts first-born that they might let Israel go he appointed the Sacrament of the Passeover as a pledge of the preservation of all Israels first-born from Gods wrath 4. When God brought them through the wildernesse in an extraordinary sort Israel also had four extraordinary Sacraments signifying to them spiritual Mysteries in Christ viz. 1 Baptizing in the cloud that both sheltred them from the heat and guided them in their way 2 Baptizing in the Sea which saved them when the Egyptians were drowned 3 Mannah that spiritual meat 4 Water out of the Rock that spiritual drink These four Sacraments were extraordinary and continued but a while viz. during Israels abode in the wildernesse The other lasted till Christs coming in the flesh 5. With the people of God under the New Testament the Lord dealeth also by way of Sacraments ordaining Baptisme and the Lords Supper as standing Sacraments till the end of the world But why doth the Lord thus deal with his people by way of Sacraments in all ages Answ. This comes to passe 1. From Gods familiar love and condescension to his people delighting most plainly and easily to make known spirituals unto them 2. From the abstrusenesse and mysteriousnesse of Christ and the things of Christ which are sublime high heavenly worthy of the quickest inâ—pection of Angels themselves and therefore so far above humane â—pprehension in their heavenly â—uâ—â—re that God represents them in earthly resemblances 3. From the dulnesse of our understandings in conceiving aright of the great Mysteries of Christ therefore God â—â—oops to us â—etting them forth in sensible and visible Elements He descends to our Carnalnesse that we may aâ—cend to his Spiritualnesse He helps our outward senses that they may help our inward graces II. Sacraments are part not of Gods naturall but of his instituted worship Gods Naturall worshâ—p is that which is required in the first Commandment and which the light of Nature dictates to be due unto him Instituted worship is that which is contained in the second Commandment which light of natâ—re cannot particularly lead us unto but onely some posâ—tive divine Institution Now Sacraments are not of Gods Natural but onely of his Instituted worship No light of nature can intimate to us that under the Old Testament God would be worshipped with Ciâ—â—umcision and the Passeover and under the New Testament with Baptisme and the Lords Supper had not God by expresse and positive Inâ—â—itution appointed both Whatsoever Sacraments are they are wholly by Institution We have no other particular ground or foundation for them at all Therefore in the administration of the Lords Supper and of every Sacrament both Ministers and People respectively must cleave close to the Institution The neerer we come up thereto the more acceptable we are to the Lord. As Paul both in planting Sacraments at first and reforming Sacrament-abuses afterwards precisely followed the Lords Institution III. All the Sacraments that ever were instituted since Adam's fall to this day were Tokens Pledges or Seals of the Covenant of grace As Circumcision was a Token of this Covenant a Seal of the righteousnesse of faith c. For since the fall God never set on foot any other Covenant but the Covenant of Grace The Old and New Covenant are both the Covenant of Grace When therefore we come to the Lords Supper we come to renew Covenant with God and to have his gratious New Testament sealed to us IV. Every Sacrament both ordinary and extraordinary of Old or New Testament represents principally Jesus Chrst and him as crucified Adam's sacrifices types of Christ the true sacrifice Circumcision a pledge of our heart-Circumcision through Christs blood The Passeover a token and type of Christ our Passeover sacrificed for us The extraordinary Sacraments Signes of Christ and his sufferings By Baptisme we are said to be baptized into Christ and into his death And by the Lords Supper we so oft as we eat and drink it are said to shew forth the Lords death until he come So that Christ and his death Christ as crucified is the golden thread that runs along through every Sacrament and is the substance and mystery of all Sacraments When therefore we come to the Lords Supper we come to partake a Seal and solemn Memorial of Christ crucified and of all the benefits of his death V. Sacraments are of severall sorts viz. 1. Sacraments of the Old Testament signifying Christ crucified to come afterwards and these were either ordinary or extraordinary Ordinary Sacraments of the Old Testament were chiefly two 1 Circumcision the initiating Sacrament denoting the cutting off of the corruption of the heart by Christ and his grace 2 The Passeover the consummating Sacrament signifying spiritual nourishment by Christ and preâ—ervation from Gods wrath through him Extraordinary Sacraments of the Old Testament were four 1 The Cloud 2. The Sea 3 Mannah from Heaven 4 Water out of the Rock All these were Sacraments of the Old Testament 2. Sacraments of the New Testament signifying Chriâ—t crucified already